Date: 2005-08-03
From: Cranberry Stream Campsite

To: East Flagstaff Road
Miles today: 14.8

Miles hiked today : 14.8I woke up this morning at 6:00 a.m., packed up, ate breakfast, and was beginning to put on my boots when one of my boot laces snapped. I'd previously noticed that it was beginning to fray, though I had let it go. Fortunately, I'd been carrying an extra pair of boot laces since Dalton, MA, so I changed out both laces and hiked out at 7:00 a.m.I began my hike today with a gradual climb through a pine forest full of moss covered rocks. There were a few boulder slab caves, which I peeked into on my way up Bigelow Mountain. At 8:45 a.m., I took a short side trail to a viewpoint and was able to see Horns Pond down below with South Horn, one of the many peaks of Bigelow Mountain, immediately behind it. I took in the view for 5 minutes before descending to the Horns Pond Lean-tos, arriving at 9:20 a.m.There were actually 3 lean-tos on site and I took a 35 minute snack, water, and rest break in one of them before hiking on. At 10:20 a.m., I reached the summit of South Horn, which had a magnificent view, including Horns Pond and the now tiny lean-tos. Continuing on, I reached the West peak of Bigelow Mountain at 11:45 a.m. and again enjoyed the far reaching views. I could see the next summit, Avery Peak, from where I stood and noticed a structure on it. I couldn't quite tell what it was, though it looked like a privy. I descended into the sag between West Peak and Avery Peak and reached Avery Memorial Campsite at 12:05 p.m. I continued up to the summit of Avery Peak, and at 12:15 p.m., I arrived at a boxed spring, which, according to the data book, was my only water source for 6.9 miles. I spent 15 minutes filtering 2 liters of water then finished the climb to the summit of Avery Peak, arriving at 12:45 p.m. The structure I'd spotted earlier turned out to be an old cabin, probably for the person stationed in the previously existing fire tower, which had been torn down, though the foundation remained.In addition to 20+ dayhikers, Michael was on site. I stopped for 15 minutes to eat lunch, then we hiked on together. I descended 1,848 feet, arriving at Safford Notch Campsite at 2:15 p.m., where I stopped for a 5 minute rest and water break. Near the bottom of the hill, I'd passed a few boulders that were larger than school buses. Likely carried in by glaciers thousands of years ago, I marveled at their size. It's one thing to see tall stone cliffs, but standing in front of these large boulders was simply amazing.Michael hiked on at a faster rate after my break, so I ended up hiking up Little Bigelow Mountain by myself. The chafed section on my back had been fine all day until I began the climb up Little Bigelow Mountain. There wasn't much I could do, so I just hiked through the pain. At 3:05 p.m., just before the West edge of the Little Bigelow ridgeline, I reached a major milestone in my hike: 2000 AT miles hiked.I continued up to the top of Little Bigelow, ariving at 3:35 p.m. and dropped my pack. There were wild blueberries to be eaten and I spent 15 minutes picking them before hiking on. The top of Little Bigelow was relatively level for over a mile, which was good considering how raw my back felt. I was happy when the trail began descending toward Little Bigelow Lean-to and bypassed the hundreds of wild blueberries I spotted along the way. My back hurt too badly to stop to pick them and I just wanted to get to the lean-to.At 5:25 p.m., I reached the side trail to the lean-to, though there was a note from Michael laying in the trail. Apparently, the lean-to and nearby campsites were all occupied by a large group of French Canadians, so Michael had hiked further up the trail to find a campsite. His note advised Sean and I to gather water at this location and then hike on to meet him. I took 10 minutes to gather 4.4 liters, loaded them into my pack, which added nearly 9 pounds of weight, then continued up the hill.At 6:10 p.m., I reached East Flagstaff Road and found Michael waiting. There was a snowmobile trail which was suitable for our purposes, so I dropped my pack. Annoyingly, the stream that I'd gathered the 4.4 liters from had flowed alongside the trail all the way down the hill, so it was a waste of effort for me to carry that much water. Despite this annoyance, I began treating water and set up my tent and sleeping gear.Sean showed up 20 minutes after I arrived and I asked he and Michael to look at my back. Sean said it looks like a really bad sunburn, while Michael said it looks like a jellyfish sting. Either way, it feels like chewed up meat. I made the mistake of putting lotion on it and nearly screamed from the stinging sensation. To avoid pressure on the sore skin of my lower back, I took my shirt off and began cooking dinner. Before long, the bugs began to annoy me, so I had to put my shirt pack on. The stinging eventually went away and before bed, I put some Goldbond powder on my back. Somehow, I'll have to layer gauze and bandage my lower back so that I can hike tomorrow. The level of pain this afternoon was nearly intolerable.Bedtime at 9:35 p.m.