Avery Peak June 17, 2011

Based upon our prior experience in Maine my boyfriend and I decided to take my two younger siblings to Bigelow Mountain for the weekend, before heading out to Newport for my sister Birthday. The weather report looked great so 4am Saturday morning we started the 8hr drive from CT to ME. Our initial plan was to hike to the tent platforms and hit the peaks the next morning, however, after pitching the tents we plenty of time to kill and decided to summit Avery and West peak.

West Peak June 17, 2011

Perfect 360 views from Avery and West, we took sometime exploring the castle off to the side of Avery. We were somewhat surprised by the fact that we were the only ones out hiking on such a gorgeous weekend. About half way back to the tent platforms we noticed a huge increase in the amount of bugs, by the time we reached the tent we were getting bitten head to toe and decided to pack up and head back to the car (under the incorrect assumption that once we got a little lower we could get away from the bugs). We proceeded to run/stumble our way back to the car, with my brother full-out sprinting the last 1/2 mile to the car. Although the weather was absolutely perfect I will never again go hiking in Maine during Black Fly season. Note* Those creatures are 100% immune to DEET!