Day 144 ME27, Stratton to Little Bigelow Lean-to

Today's miles 15.3.  AT miles 2012.4

We passed 2000 miles today!
We had another tough day ahead of us over the Bigelow range so were up early and hitching a ride back out of town to the trailhead for 7am.  We only had to wait about five minutes when a very friendly hiker couple and their dog picked us up.  We were walking for 7:15.  It was a cloudier day today but very warm and humid from the start.

It seemed a long three mile climb up to Horns Pond Lean-to at the start of the Bigelow ridge, it was hard work today in the humid heat.  We stopped there for a break and topped up our water.  It was another three and a half miles up, down and along a ridge line to the main peak, Avery Peak 4090ft.  We first had to ascend South Horn 3831ft and Bigelow Mountain west peak 4145ft.  The views from the top weren't great today which was a bit of a shame as lots of people had said how good the views were from the Bigelow's.  It was very hazy but we could see the huge Flagstaff Lake in the valley below.  There was a memorial plaque on the summit in memory of Myron Avery, a founder of the Appalachian trail.  As we were about to descend from Avery Peak we could see the cloud blowing over the mountain below us, clearer on one side, thick cloud the other. 

We descended two miles down to Safford Notch where there were some huge boulders, then three miles back up again to Little Bigelow Mountain.  The profile for this uphill section followed by a flat plateau in our guide book looked relatively easy, it was tiring though, it tired us out anyway, lots of little ups and downs, not many flat sections.  Another mile and a half downhill and we reached Little Bigelow Lean-to just before 5:00 where we stopped for the night. We did think about carrying on another two and a half miles to the next camp spot but were too tired.   About an hour after we'd set up camp we had a few rain showers so we stopped at the right time.  It continued showering on and off through the night.

In all the books, past blogs etc. about the trail everyone says you'll be in your fittest and best shape when you finish the trail.  We're very close to the end now, about ten days to go, I think Nigel most of the time feels on top of the world fitness wise, a bounce in his stride.  I however, although fitter, feel my body is ready for a rest.  I feel great the first day after a rest day but after accumulative days hiking my body tires much quicker than the earlier days on the trail.  We have however just hiked the toughest section of the trail over the last few weeks, The Whites of New Hampshire and Southern Maine's mountains.  The trail eases a bit from now on though until we reach Katahdin, we've completed all the big mountain ranges and are back on lower ground again - the AT trail though is never easy!