Date: 2019-08-16
From: Safford Notch Campsite (ME)

To: ME Route 27, Carrabassett Valley, ME
Miles today: 10.4

As you might imagine, I didn¢t sleep well last night. I also woke up when someone came into the campsite at 1:40am. I woke up about 4:30 and I have service so I check the weather. It¢s supposed to start raining at 5am and continue until 11:30. I use the privy and then wake SC up at 5am. I tell her that if we pack up and leave now, she won¢t have to carry a wet tent. It started raining as we were packing. We could hear a few others nearby also getting an early start. We were on the trail about 5:40. Just after 6, we heard thunder, so we took refuge under a huge rock for 20 minutes. Our first summit was Avery Peak of Bigelow Mountain. It was 2 miles in and had taken us nearly 3 hours. There was absolutely no view, so we took a picture with the summit sign and kept going. Next was the West Peak, which was higher than Avery, but we had to go down before going up. The down was difficult. It was pretty much just climbing down a vertical boulder field in the rain. But then there was a flat spot that actually had dirt to walk on and the climb up West Peak wasn¢t too bad. As we got near the tree line, we passed a couple of hikers coming down who warned us it was windy at the top. And they were right! It was the most wind I have experienced on trail. I thought it might whip our packcovers off. I got a picture of SC at the sign. I didn¢t get all the way up because of the wind. Coming down from West Peak wasn¢t as steep and rocky as Avery. The wind did make things interesting and it was hard to find the trail sometimes in the clouds. Finally we had the South Horn. By the time we got here, the rain had mostly stopped. There were still no views, though. We stopped to have lunch at the Horns Pond Lean-Tos. We had completed 5.5 miles and it had taken us 6 hours. I texted the hostel to let them know we would be there tonight, but we might have to call for a later shuttle. We had 5.1 miles to go and 4 hours to do it. The first hour after lunch I managed to go one mile. It was rugged terrain and constantly going down hurt my knees. However, then it finally leveled off, and I did the last 4 miles in 2.5 hours.When we reached the parking lot, a trail angel was there with cold drinks and cookies. All she wanted was for us to sign her book and take a picture of us. As I was sitting there enjoying my Gatorade, a truck comes by and asks if we are going to Hostel of Maine. We are, so we jump in the bed and we¢re off! I don¢t remember the last time I rode in a truck bed, but I must be getting old because it is a lot scarier than I remembered. We were on a highway going highway speeds, and every little bump we hit seemed to have the possibility of launching us into the air. Still we managed to arrive safely.The hostel is full and there are people we know here. Not only have we caught back up with our friend from the 100MW, we ran into a guy we had hiked with near Glasgow, VA! At the hostel we found loaner clothes, took showers, and then walked over to an Italian restaurant just down the road. It was great. Tonight I am dry, clean, and sleeping on the top bunk.