Date: 2021-06-05
From: ME Route 27 Trailhead 

To: Little Bigelow Lean-to 
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

AT day 1315.3 miles to Little Bigelow Lean-toI had a great night of rest at the Hostel of Maine. Unfortunately I woke up at 5:30 instead of the 6:15 that I had my alarm set for. The hostel provides a shuttle back to the trailhead at 7:30. Given a choice I would have requested a 6:00 shuttle. I had the Bigelow Mountains to hike over and there was a good chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. I didn¢t want to to get stuck on waiting out a thunderstorm below tree line. The Bigelow Peaks are above tree line and it would be foolish to hike over the top during lightning. I felt fresh and energized when I started hiking. Today I would climb over the last 4000 foot mountains until Katahdin. The trail miles should get significantly easier after today. Fingers crossed for that. The trail was again in great shape. I¢m fairly sure that the CCC constructed the past 2 days of trail network. I could tell that the MATC volunteers had been out clearing blown down trees because of the fresh sawdust. My first climbs were up 2 mountains called the Horns. I stopped at the summit for a picture and snack. The views were hazy from the overcast weather. I chatted with a 24 year old thru hiker named Two Tents. Bigelow West peak was next. This was the second to last 4K footer. This one was exciting to climb because the last section was above tree line in the alpine zone. The climb reminded me of reaching one of the major passes in the Sierra. The wind was blowing strong and I got blown to the side of the trail on my way up. There was a young couple at the summit and they agreed to take my picture. I grabbed the signpost and it tipped over because it was only being loosely supported by big rocks piled around its base. Less than a mile away was Bigelow Avery Peak. It was also windy and above tree line. The views were nice but not spectacular because of the haze from the humidity. My last Bigelow peak was almost 5 miles away. First came a steepish 2 mile downhill that had a lot of rocks and roots to carefully maneuver around. I keep reminding myself of the hellish trails that I have been on and am thankful for the annoying little rocks and roots. Towards the end of the the descent I felt like a drunken sailor because of being off balance for more than an hour from constantly stepping on irregular shaped rocks and I think I was getting dehydrated. I finally reached the bottom of the descent and came to a trail junction that leads to a campsite with guaranteed water. A couple of hikers just came from there and said the water was flowing but the mosquitoes were relentless. I had a choice of hiking a quarter mile to guaranteed water at the campsite or keep climbing another mile where the guide said there might be water. I knew that I couldn¢t make it another mile without water so I decided to brave the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were swarming at the spring but my treated clothes and Picarden on my exposed skin worked surprisingly well keeping the vampires away. I felt refreshed and ready to go after my water break. The trail became easier and I made good time on my way up to Little Bigelow Mountain. The 2 mile descent to my campsite from Little Bigelow had a mixture of good trail and rooty rocky trail. I made it to camp at 5:30. The campsite has a shelter, 2 wooden platforms and several ground campsites. The ground sites would have been nice if it wasn¢t supposed to rain tonight. I could tell that water would pool under the tent in a rain storm at these sites due to some low spots. The first platform that I chose was just a bit to small for my tent. So after flailing about trying to get my tent to fit I had to move to the larger platform. The water is from a beautiful stream that has several deep pools along its way. If it was a sunny warm day I would have taken a dip. The sign marking the trail to the stream is called the ¢Tubs¢. Tomorrow I plan to get up early to hike 18 miles to the Pierce Pond campsite. This campsite is only 4 miles from the Kennebec river that you have to take a canoe ferry ride across. The ferry only operates between 9 to 11 am. This is a major milestone and indicates that the end of the trail is getting very close. Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.