On August 7

Little Bigelow Lean-To to Avery Memorial Campsite
Miles Hiked: 7.3
Hours Hiked: 10

My mom had a step-sister named Carol Bigelow- I always thought that was cool because my mom's name is also Carol.

I started out today intending to hike a little over 10 miles, but the miles were harder than I had anticipated.  I hiked two big mountains and decided against hiking the third one to reach the lean-to.  Instead I stayed at a campsite with platforms built so there is a dry, flat place to pitch a tent.  I had hiked about seven miles when I reached Avery Peak where I met Freeman.  I talked to Freeman for awhile.  He has been homeless by choice for about 8 years now.  He told me that it is part of his spiritual journey and he believes that having a job or a house feeds into the war machine, which he does not want to do.  He told me that Jesus is a radical; and he got teary-eyed when he told me that his hometown is a war-zone where he is a missionary.  He was friendly enough but my social worker training began diagnosing him with various paranoid-related mental illnesses.  As we talked, a couple, Mark and Bonnie, hiked up to have dinner on the peak.  They greeted us, then walked on a ways and ate their picnic.  Then they yelled to us to say they had extra food, so we joined them and feasted on cheese and bread and canned salmon.  It was all delicious, and a gift of trail magic.  We all stayed until about 30 minutes before sunset, just enjoying the views.  I was able to call my sister and chat for a little bit, which does not happen often because it can be hard to get cell phone reception.  It was a comforting end to a hard day of hiking.

I took this picture at 7:50 in the morning.

The mountain just left of center is Sugarloaf Mountain, the one with the ski slopes.  I will hike over that in the next few days.

Flagstaff Lake. I have been hiking around Flagstaff for days now.

The Trail, in case you forgot.  Still primarily hiking through Pine forests.

In order to get to a campsite (I didn't stay there, but I was curious to see it) the Blue Blaze trail went through this cave/tunnel.

The sun is blocking the peak I climbed today, this was taken before I climbed Avery Peak.

Freeman sitting at the top of Avery Peak on the remains of an old Fire Tower that was just burned down last summer.

While we had the picnic at that wall you see above, on Avery Peak, these three hikers, going North, climbed up to the summit.  They are standing where the actual sign for the summit of Avery Peak is.

Freeman and Bonnie and Mark at the picnic.  It was really really windy (look at her shorts and Mark's hair), so much so that the next day I had windburn on my face.

View from Avery Peak at sunset