Interesting day. I hiked well, and sure, over pretty tough terrain, the Bigelows. It's my first 4000 footer so far! And it reminded me very much of hiking in the Southern Presidentials. It rained pretty much all night, but I slept well, alone at the the Bigelow shelter. Up early, ate a cold breakfast of Pop-tarts and granola. Even skipped the coffee. Was just nervous, I guess, and having a hard time eating, just wanted to get going, but I knew it's important to eat. But, I stuck a couple of Snickers in my hip-belt pocket. New Rule: always have Snickers on hand when hiking elevation. The more the better. The ones that have 2 little Snickers in the same package are awesome. When I would wake up, last night, alone, in the dark and rain, of course I though of all the things that could go wrong as I crossed the mountains. Lightning (probably the most legitimate worry), as I would be on exposed ridges and summits. Someone told me - I think it was the Northern Outdoors shuttle driver, "If you see lightning in the Bigelows, duck." Thanks, that's helpful. People have a lot of non-advice advice out here. Oh, back to the list. Slip and fall, broken bones, hypothermia, eh, why not throw in "massive heart attack" while I'm at it. Of course, none of these things came to pass. I wouldn't have been nervous about it, really, at all... I mean, I've climbed lots of big mountains, but inclement weather in high elevations still freaks me out a little [I'm not the only one, turns out, lots of hikers share my anxiety]. I wouldn't normally go up a mountain on a foggy, drizzly day, but I'm thruhiking, so I can't really sit around and wait for perfect weather (see rule: sometime you gotta start in the rain). I couldn't sit in the shelter all day waiting for it to clear up, I mean, it could get worse! I can't go back; seriously "Why did you get off the trail?" "Well, it was a little foggy..." So, I just had to pull on the ole boots and go. I made sure everything was water-proofed, brought some extra water, had snacks on the ready, and just started cranking. I knew once I went, I'd feel much better about things. And I did, it wasn't bad, just foggy and gloomy, a bit drizzly. The rocks were surprisingly "sticky" for being wet, and my footing was good. I took it slow and steady, took regular breaks, and before I knew it was up and over Little Bigelow. I was walking by large, open areas of white fog, that I just knew would be an amazing view on a clear day. Before long I was in the col between Little Bigelow and Avery Peak, where there's a campground. I started up Avery Peak, which is kind of a straight shot up, which I like in a way, no false summits! The scenery here was spectacular, just in the forest. Great slabs of rock jutted out over the trail, forming rooved caves (which would make a good shelter, I thought - of course - in the case of an emergency). Everything was covered with lush green moss, streams trickled down the mountains, the fog sat in the notch and gave everything a ghostly quality. I had noticed a little blue sky as I'd gotten up a bit higher on Little Bigelow, so I thought there'd be a chance of getting up over the clouds, and getting some sun and views when I climbed the much higher Avery Peak. And it was so - Avery was beautiful, with the foundation of an old fire tower, I'm guessing, and very reminiscent of the Whites. Gravelly, rocky trails lined with stones, signs warning not to disturb the fragile alpine plants. And sun! A bit anyway, and the fog was breaking up, and restricted but grand views were finally there. I took some pictures and hiked down into the gap between Avery and West Peak, where yet another campground sits, and where Smash and Co. had spent the last night. I ate half a Snickers. Climbed up West Peak, which was pretty socked in - it's actually higher than Avery Peak. Down again, and through a section that had little blazing, maybe because of the kind of trees don't take well to it. But the trail was clear, wide and obvious, with boot prints tramped into the mud from last night's rain. Going up to the Hirn, I ran into a couple of Quebecers (I think), first people I'd seen in almost 24 hours, since I talked to T. We chatted for a bit, they were just out for a dayhike. The view from the top of the Horn was actually quite great, and the sun was out a bit, and the clouds were breaking up, though one large, sad-looking grey cloud floated above me. I sat there for awhile, feeling very safe and satisfied. Nothing had gone wrong! Imagine that. I came up with an exercise to do when I'm feeling panicky or anxious. Think of one thing that I'm grateful for, right here and right now. Sure, it was foggy and windy, but I'm grateful there are no bugs! Maybe this is obvious; an expression of gratitude puts me in the moment, grounds me, and takes some power away from the steady drum beat of "what if" in my mind, about future evens that never seem to unfold. I will practice it regularly. On the way down the Horn, toward the lean-to I'm at now, I ran into some guys on their way up to camp at Avery campsite. They were having a tough time, it's a steep climb. One of them told me there'd be rain in the morning, so I was considering going all the way to Stratton today, but when I got to the lean-to area, it's really nice! Manicured, a caretaker tent, day-use lean-to, a little loop trail around Horn Pond. Also refer to Rule: don't trust anyone's information. It'll probably be lovely tomorrow [it wasn't]. And if not, I'll put on the old raincoat and hike 5 miles to town, can be there for breakfast. I've heard nice things about Stratton, I might even take a full day off, I need to resupply, pick up a drop box, more Aqua Mira, TP, denatured. Maybe a new hat, if anything looks good, like a quick-dry ball cap, this cowboy hat ain't working. Okay - gonna go lay down and rest. Keep on truckin'! - Ups
10.2 Miles. Foggy most of the day, sun came out a bit in the afternoon.
PS. Ditching my Platypus, it's leaking. Fog is blowing by the lean-to like smoke!
"Nothing bad can happen, so long as birds are singing" Now, I know this isn't technically true, but it's an illogical answer to my illogical fears. Thought of it today. [Bible said something similar later to me; as long as birds are singing, he'll hike. If they're silent, watch out...]
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