Date: 2004-09-10
From: White Wolf Inn, Stratton, Me

To: East Flagstaff Road
Miles today: 16.7

"Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far." Thomas JeffersonIt rained on and off throughout the night and finally quit just before morning light. Daylight revealed Dark gray clouds hugging the surrounding mountains hiding them from view. The ground was saturated with water in town, I knew the trail in the mountains was going to be like a running creek and very muddy.Quest, Catdog and I were up early and had breakfast at the Stratton Diner. Hitchhiked out of town and was on the trail by 8:45 hitting the Bigelow Mountains, the last 4000 foot mountain until Katahdin. The Bigelow was just another mountain that I needed to go up and over to reach my goal. Like the other mountains behind me, I expected the climb to be a thigh burner with rivulets of water cascading down the worn path. The wind blew harder and was colder as I gained elevation. Wind swept clouds would sweep across the trail in front of me. All the great viewpoints that I heard about were complete whiteouts. Lunch-thirty was at the historic day use only lean-to at Horn Pond. This was one of the few remaining CCC built shelters left on the trail. I used it as a refuge to escape the biting cold wind. The climb up the West Peak of Bigelow Mtn. (4145 ft.) was most memorable. Out of the mountain forest I entered the alpine zone and followed the white blazes marked on the rockface. Stunted plant life was located on either side of the rockface trail. Nearing the 4000-foot level the majority of the plant life disappeared exposing the rockface. A line of rocks and small boulders helped mark the borders of the trail. The wind was strong enough to knock you off your feet if you were not careful. I had to walk leaning into the wind and using my walking sticks as a support to keep from being blown over. I would guess the steady wind speed was in excess of 45-50 mph with gusts in the 60 mph range. At one point the gust was so strong I was crawling on my hands and knees. The howl of the wind made it almost impossible to hear the person next to you shouting. Visibility was poor at times from the blankets of fog-like clouds. Near the summit I got temporarily misplaced on the trail and could not find the white blaze. Scarecrow came up behind me and shouted that he thought he found a blaze. We reversed our travel and found the trail going up and over a large elevate rockface. The struggle to reach the summit was only half completed. The second half was a descent under the same conditions. The whole process was repeated for my climb on Avery Peak. Back in the trees after completing Avery Peak, I found the whole experience exhilarating. It was also then I realized I was still in my short pants. I was in a natural high I did not feel the cold.Little Bigelow Mtn. (3025 ft.) was a milestone event of going over 2000 miles. I was confident, barring serious injury, that I would accomplish my goal. Still, I find it hard to believe that I have walked from Georgia to Maine a distance of 2000 miles. 6:45 I reached Little Bigelow Lean-to where I heard there was trail magic 1.4 miles beyond the lean-to at East Flagstaff Road. Quest and Catdog stayed at the shelter because of the dark. I headed for the trail magic. I arrived and found other thru-hikers surrounding a tent setup by Old Fart, Mad Mike and another gentleman whose name I cannot remember. All past thru-hikers. These guys want to give back the magic they found during their hikes. Set up my tent with the others and spent the night at the magic site.