Date: 2013-08-07
From: West Carry Pond Lean-to

To: Horns Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 17.9

On today's agenda are the Bogelows,, Little Bigelow Mountain and Bigelow Mountain with Avery Peak. These mountains will be my biggest challenges since Mt Katahdin. Amazingly, this is our third consecutive day without rain. Since I am doing some fairly serious ascents and descents, I am glad it is dry.Little Bigelow is a flat topped mountain of 3010 feet above sea level. It was a long grinding climb from the north side and a choppy, up and down descent on the south side. As soon as the descent ended I started right into the climb of Bigelow at 4,090 feet ASL. The grade is much steeper on this one. It also has a notch at the top separating Avery Peak from Bigelow Mountain west peak.When I struggled my way up to Avery Peak, there was a group of French-Canadian boys waiting there. Two hikers from their group had gotten lost and the boys were waiting there while several of their counselors searched for them. I was admiring the fantastic view from Avery Peak in a strong, cold, bracing wind. In these conditions, my admiration did not take long and I started my descent and climb of the west peak. This was followed by tackling the South Horn and the North Horn.One of the French-Canadian boys came up beside me and we hiked together. We talked and talked as we hiked. I could understand about half of what he was saying and, I'm sure, he could probably understand about half of what I was saying. One thing is for sure, though, his English was much better than my French. His name was Julien, he was 15 years old, he had three older sisters and he resided in Quebec City. He and his group were on a 10 day outing on the AT. As we neared our destination, I asked Julien what he was having for dinner. He said his group had the same thing every night. It's some kind of a cake made of peanut butter and raisin bran, he said, and it's not very good. Well, when we got to the lean-to, I took my food bag out and began preparing my Knorr's Alfredo Broccoli. I felt the same about all this dehydrated stuff that Julien felt about his peanut butter/ raisin bran cakes. I had a supply of Snicker bars in my bag, a requirement for all hikers. So, I asked Julien if he would like one. He said, "what is Snicker bar". I handed him one and his face lit up with a big smile. Before he opened it, he carefully studied it and read all the fine print on the wrapper, asking me what several words meant. Then, he slowly unwrapped it and finally took a bite. His face broke into a huge smile. "Are you kidding me, Julien, you've never had a Snicker bar?" He said, "no, no, never". I said, "you have been living a deprived life, young man". If he can get them where he lives, I guarantee you his first one will not be his last one. Julien was instantly hooked. While I started eating my Alfredo Broccoli, he had finished his Snicker and sat quietly watching me eat. After I had eaten half of it, I asked him if he would like the rest. He said, "really?" I said, "sure". "I get my fork," he said. I'm telling you that young lad ate every morsel and scraped the bottom of my little pot, chasing the last grains of rice.Another good day on the AT comes to an end. Thank You, Lord.Sandman69