Journey Day 320 | AT Day 143

Horn Pond, Maine, in 1986.

8/18/86
Up for breakfast at the Widow's Walk as it rains outside. Eat with a trio from the University of New Hampshire on a short trip. They leave, I pack, make a call to my Texas lawyer friend Alvarado, hit the bakery, store, hike out. End up walking logging roads to nowhere. Bushwhack toward sounds of work, suddenly find myself up to my hips in a moat.
Angry and amazed, I walk back, get directions and begin climbing the Bigelow Range trail in the rain. Rough climb, fogged in ridges, but blueberries for the picking. Hike to Cranberry Peak, beautiful Cranberry Pond.
Back on the A.T., I walk the ridge, viewless because of the cloud cover. Stop for no particular reason other than hunger and fatigue. Turns out I'm above Horn Pond, which becomes visible after a clearing. Hear voices, hike down after my break to the shelter area. Meet caretaker, French Canadians, read register.
Hike on over the South Horn in more fog, Bigelow Mountain's West Peak to the Myron H. Avery Lean-to in the Bigelow Col. Long walk to water, fogged in dinner in the dark. Crash alone.