Castaway turned a young 64 today, and was treated to as nice a day on the AT as you could ask for. Each of the Gang of Four rates this one at least in the top five of the entire trip! It started with an emotional goodbye to our trail archangel Susan who put us back on the trail on her way to the airport and home (although she was still meeting and shuttling other hikers after she saw us!). We hold out the faint hope she will miss us and come back before the end…

We started with a level warm-up mile to Cranberry Stream Campsite before beginning the first Bigelow climb, which turned out to be as pretty, gradual, and pleasant as a 2,000′ ascent can be. A view with Horns Pond below and the Bigelows beyond was especially spectacular, but only the first of many on the day. On the sharp climb to South Horn we met nine kids, half of the high school enrollment from a small island off the coast which brings the entire school on such a trip to start each school year. (The other half/ nine were canoeing on Flagstaff Lake far below.) The two teachers said they give their students a lot of freedom on the trip and it always works out well.

On top of Horn we ran into GOMan (as in “grumpy old man,” at 66 one of the older hikers still out here) who has the well-deserved reputation as the most negative person on the trail. By his own account, he hates everything about the trail on this, his first camping trip. He took a really nasty backwards fall on the Mahoosuc Arm, winding up with a bad cut on his arm. But here he is with less than 200 miles to go, we guess proving that plenty of piss and vinegar is a good recipe for AT success.

As N notes, you can’t have too many 2,000 mile markers on the AT, and today we passed three. The first (and we think this year the most accurate) was carved in moss on a rock. The second was part of the fairly new formal signage on Avery Peak, and the third was a hand painted sign on the next descent. Today under clear blue skies, the Gang of Four enjoyed all three as we soaked in what they stood for…

After a long lunch break taking in the view on Bigelow West and much picture taking on Avery Peak, we started down from our next to the last 4,000 footer. The second mile of this descent was tough on the knees, especially for all those in the group over 64, and was the only downer on an otherwise perfect AT day. At the bottom, we considered making the Little Bigelow climb, but the worry we’d have trouble finding room for three tents on top convinced us to duck into Safford Notch Campsite, where Kleenex produced chocolate chip muffins for the birthday boy, which she had somehow carried all the way from Stratton! Our campsite for the night is quite secluded, and we saw only Nooga camping here as well. We go to bed with many good memories of a spectacularly beautiful day on the AT…