Bigelow Range, ME - South Horn, West Peak, Avery Peak
Date: 6/25/2006
Persons in Group: Brian and Greg
Weather Conditions: 80 degrees, Sunny and Clear.
Route: Stratton Pond - Fire Warden Trail - Horns Pond Trail - Appalacian Trail over each peak - back down the Fire Wardens Trail.
Notes: Fantastic day to finish up my dads NE67. Only one peak to go in the 115 (Slide Mountain). We headed in from Northern VT around 2AM for the second strait weekend. (We did Saddleback and The Horn the previous one). We reached the Stratton Pond parking area around 7AM in Stratton ME. The bugs were absolutely killer in this area already, but soon cleared as we got into the woods. We hit the Horns Pond Trail, and flew up to the ridge to the AT where we were met by 2 AMC caretakers. After a quick bite to eat, and talking to them, we headed up the final (steep) stretch to the summit of South Horn. The views were already fantastic, and we continued onward over West Peak, and up to Avery Peak, where at 3:01 PM EST my dad completed his NE67. We took some pictures, ate some food and headed down the Fire Warden trail (And man, the Fire Warden trail is 1) STEEP and 2) covered in blowdown). We got back to the truck around 7PM, spending almost 12 hours on the trail that day.
Here is our track for the day.
Here is our elevation profile.
Stratton Pond, you can see Sugarloaf in the background.
A view from the pond of the South Horn, our first destination.
Once on the ridge, we hit Horn Pond.
The two Horns Pond caretakers. Cool guys.
The summit of South Horn.
Looking over to West Peak and Avery Peak from South Horn.
A shot of Sugarloaf from South Horn.
Horns Pond from South Horn, you can see the Horns Pond campsite.
Climbing to the summit of the West Peak, the South and North Horn are in the background.
Climbing up to the West Peak summit.
From the west peak, looking over at Avery Peak, and Little Bigelow Mountain.
West Peak summit.
Last push to the summit of Avery Peak.
3:01 PM EST, #67.
The Fire Wardens Cabin on Avery Peak.
Looking back over to the West Peak, and you can see the ridge line of the Horns behind that.
Final look at Flagstaff Lake from Avery Peak.