Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Stratton to Safford Notch Campsite
10.4 miles
Bigelow Mountain west peak at 4150 ft. is the last 4000 footer before Katahdin. The trail is reportedly much easier north of here - ha ha!
We left Stratton and got on the trail at 6:50 after a harrowing shuttle ride with a guy who had been up all night drinking and smoking. They supposedly had arranged for the owner's son to be at the motel early to shuttle but he had not arrived by the time we were scheduled to leave, so we took our lives in our hands and climbed in the car. Thankfully, the trailhead was not too far down the road.
By 11:00 we were catching a beautiful view where we stopped eat lunch, then proceeded on the South Horn by 12:30. By 2:30 we were on Bigelow West Peak then Avery Peak. Needless to say, the views were beyond description on the peaks. The pictures cannot capture the beauty.
We met lots of southbounders headed across the Bigelow's in the late afternoon.
By 5:45 we reached the .3 trail into the Safford Notch Campsite. The trail into the site was a little spooky with big boulders higher than our head all around. Looked the scene of some prehistoric movie. The campsite looked deserted, but soon we heard voices and two boys came from the opposite direction looking for the water hole, which was below were we had pitched out tent on a platform.
It was a very warm day in the 80's today. We kept our headgear wet and our headnets on to thwart the dad-burn mosquitos all day.
YouTube of Bigelow Range
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