Hiking (with the hounds)

Thanks Dave, great pics as always. What a nice place to be with the hounds.

 

Bigelow Peaks in Bigelow public reserve land, Carrabassett Valley. The Bigelow range makes up the North side of Carrabasset Valley with the Sugarloaf mountain ski resort and surrounding peaks making up the South. The AT traverses the ridge line of the Bigelow range, with a couple of feeder trails up to the ridge it makes for a nice loop. We went up Firewardens trail, then along the ridge SB on the AT and then back down Horns Pond trail. There are five major peaks along the ridge, Avery (4090ft), West (4145ft), and The Horns both North and South (3800ft) and Cranberry (3213)...we skipped Cranberry as it would have added considerable mileage at the end of a long day. I read somewhere that at one time this range was destined to become THE ski resort of the East, and that plans were made to cover the entire North side of the mountain with ski trail overlooking Flagstaff lake. Luckily the plans were derailed at some point and the land ended up becoming the Bigelow public reserve land, a 56 sqmi chunk of land owned and administered by the State, sort of like a State park but with a lot less oversight.

I've been wanting to get to this trail all summer, I finally made the time and was able to enlist a little help. This trail is pretty rugged, steep the way we went, and gets pretty far into the backcountry, so I was a bit reserved about tackling it by myself with the 5 Hounds in tow. We had a couple new students start in my lab recently and as it turns out they are both pretty experienced in backcountry adventures so off we went. It's pretty much dark at 6 this time of year, the trail head is a solid 3 hour drive and the advertised route length was 12.5 miles, so we had to leave at O'dark thirty in order to safely leave enough time for the hike and not feel rushed, turns out that was a good thing. The foliage was not too great this year as most of Maine is in a considerable drought this year and the leave in the upper elevations are long gone but the valley still had some color.

Here are some pics


The route.


Stafford brook pond in the Valley, some nice campsites here.



The crew for the day, minus a couple of Hounds...prolly chasing a squirrel.


Avery peak, with West peak in the background, the Horns peaks are hidden beyond


A Hound with view...getting in a little rest.


Flagstaff lake, a little video on some history of Flagstaff lake.
Video of making Flagstaff Lake in Maine 1940... great music


Looking Northwest toward Katahdin and the the end of the AT, we chatted with a couple of through hikers here on their way to the finish, they said they had another 15 days or so left.


South Horn looking down the ridge we just came across

 

Bigelow continued:

Typical ridge shot out of the woods from West peak looking at North and South Horn.


Horns pond, a pristine alone lake at about 3600ft, there a maintained group of campsites at the lake.


A dip in Horns pond.


The Humans passed on the swimming, it was mid 60s at the base but a bit brisk at elevation.


A long day, but a great one, with about an hour to spare before sunset.


Fed and loaded up for the ride home.





And a nice write up with a little video of a local newspaper reporter who routinely does hiking reports.
1-minute hike: Bigelow Mountain near Stratton

 

That was quite the hike. Thanks for sharing the pics. That's the type of hiking we used to do when we were younger only we made the trails ourselves. There was one route we always wanted to do and never did. It was like this one you did - from one peak, across an adjoining ridge, to another peak.

 

Thanks for sharing Dave. Looks like you all had a great day for the hike. Would you mind sharing a few pics of the home made dog box?

 

I always enjoy your pics, it reminds me a lot of Maine, just bigger peaks. I was just looking at campinspecter old B&W pics, the one of him on the side of the mountain with the valley behind is amazing.

It was a long day, we spent most of the day today just hanging out on the front porch.

 

Sure. Its just a basic floorless 4x6 box with the plywood on the outside of the frame so that in the winter I can install pieces of 1.5 inch foam to help keep the hounds warm. When the foam is removed it give enough ventilation to keep em cool. The box is strapped to the bed of the truck to some eye bolts, it comes out as one piece. Throw a buncha straw in and the hounds are happy.

 

Thanks Dave. Pretty simple set up and looks to be fair light to move in and out if need be. I need to make something for my walker since he's getting up there in age. It was getting difficult last year for him to turn around in the dog box.

 

This is Pop. We are at our little piece of heaven Western NC ......She loves it there! Pop short for Poppie

LogChain

 

You'll need to check out the pet thread
Giz/Emma and everyones pets on the board

 

Do these dogs hunt? Was wondering why they had tracking collars on.

 

Oh yeah, they hunt, the thing is I don't!

I've always wondered what they think of me, after thousands of trips into the woods! There is no hunting on the island I live on, but my wife and I just bought a big chunk of land just off island so maybe I'll take up the sport someday.

 

The Hounds got me a nice Christmas present!

 

Really enjoyed the Bigelow pics back when you first posted them (and again now). We camped on the north side of the lake many years ago, and in the morning we put the canoe into a boggy area. Before we called it quits there had been 7 moose sightings, with some coming into the water, too. Our long-gone Yellow Lab was with us, and fortunately well behaved.

 

New hiking buddy. 10 week old Black Lab, Lucy.

 

Nice stove too BTW.

 

That is a cute little dog! Reminds me of our two. Been over 5 years now.

 

So cute, Lucy looks like what my Molly looked like when she was a pup!