Sept 24

Letting the trail decide

Today would end up being a lesson in the importance of stopping to smell the roses, so to speak.  I was totally amped to start hiking this morning.  Yesterday had been so incredible, and I wanted more.  I walked an along an easy ridge line, stopping for a snack break after a couple of miles.  I could see back behind me to Avery Peak, and off to my right, was Sugarloaf Mountain.  I continued on, arriving at Little Bigelow Mountain, with more views.  I descended from the mountain, making it to the Little Bigelow lean-to.  If it had been warmer, I would have loved to take advantage of the deep swimming holes at this site.  We all ended up stopping there to have lunch.  We haven't seen Yogi and BooBoo in a couple days though.  They were starting to feel a sickness coming on, and were taking it slow to rest up.  Leaving the shelter, the trail was mostly flat, and really enjoyable.  Red maple leaves were scattered along the path.  Along the edge of Flagstaff Lake, I came to a footbridge.  Really it was just a makeshift pile of sicks and logs, sinking into the water.  Despite badly needing to be replaced, I managed to carefully cross over it with out getting my feet wet, using my trekking poles to maintain my balance.  A mile further up the trail, we arrived at a campsite on the edge of East Flagstaff Lake.  There was a privy, several tenting areas, and a beach on the edge of the lake.  We had hiked 7 miles today.  It was only about 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  This site was too good to pass up though.  There was a fire ring down on the beach with a few driftwood logs to sit on.  Atom Bomb, Apache, and Old Tomato strung their hammocks up in the tree line where the forest met the beach.  Rainbow Eyes grabbed a tent pad just under the tree cover.  I put my tent up right on the beach.  The shore wasn't sandy, covered rather with small pebbles.  No matter, with my sleeping pad, I didn't notice any difference in comfort.  We had plenty of time this afternoon to gather firewood, do some campsite improvements, and just relax.  Apache constructed a four foot tall 'AT' symbol using driftwood and some of his bear bag cordage.  It was another sunny and clear day, and noticeably warmer down at this elevation.  This would end up being my favorite campsite on the entire trail.  I'm glad we all ended up calling the day short to stay there.  When the trail presents an opportunity like this, you don't pass it up.  So many incredible, rugged mountain views today.  Brilliant colors of fall.  And then this campsite.  Heaven.

Tenting on  East Flagstaff Lake.