Day 116 Second to Last

Today we hiked the second to last 4,000 foot mountain. The next major mountain we hike will be Katahdin. 


We had a late start to the day. Ashley left early in the morning to go to the Cape and be with her parents on Father’s Day. Spencer and I spent the morning getting our things together and eating some breakfast at Brooks mom‘s house. Brooke then drove us to the trail, and we started hiking just after 10 AM. All of the generosity from Brooke and her family was really appreciated! Thank you so much!


We started hiking up Bigelow mountain. The ascent was quite gradual. Bigelow is the final 4000 foot mountain on the AT before Katahdin. Bigelow also has a few different peaks. To begin with, we hiked up the Bigelow horn peaks. The horns have an interesting saddle between them. 



The north horn was a short blue blaze off trail. But it had better views than the south horn, which was right on trail.





The south horn wasn’t bad though. 




Then we hiked over to the main peak of Bigelow. The ascent wasn’t very hard. From the peak we could see Katahdin! It’s crazy to see the finish line and know we’ve made it this far. We have around a week left, but it’s going to be over before we know it. I’m so grateful for this hike and everything I’ve learned along the way. Katahdin is the mountain in the distance near the center of the first picture. 





After the main peak we climbed over to the side peak called the Avery peak. There was the base of an old fire tower on top, and the views were spectacular.







We then dropped down and walked over to Little Bigelow, which has a stretch with some cliffs and good views. We stopped to enjoy the views and eat dinner while the sun started to set over the mountains we had just hiked. 




To finish off the day we hiked down to the shores of Flagstaff lake where the sun was setting and we pitched our tents for the night. 



There is a fantastic swimming beach near our tent site, so I will probably swim in the morning. Tonight I will listen to the loons on the lake as I fall asleep. 


Good night,

Walker 

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