Horns Pond
This site is part of the 36,000-acre Bigelow Preserve, located in Stratton, Maine. The most popular sites in the Bigelow preserve are two fragile, high elevation zones: Horns Pond and Avery Col.
The Bigelow range is a close second to Katahdin for ridge walking, much of it is above tree line and extremely difficult. Peaks in the alpine zone include Avery Peak (4,088') and West Peak (4,150'). Hikers camp at Horns Pond on their way up to the South Horns and West Peak, then over to Avery Peak.
The total number of trail users recorded by our caretaker in 2004 was 2,332, including 623 day hikers (an increase of 35% since 1980), 421 overnight campers, 765 in organized groups, and 523 thru-hikers.
Horns Pond is our heaviest used site for overnight campers. This site can handle fifty people, maximum, and has seen that many on the busiest weekends. We have two caretakers placed at Horns Pond.
A view of Horns Pond
"My stay at Horns Pond was quite probably the most inspiring learning experience in all my work history. Meeting all the hikers and campers, hearing their stories, spending solo time with the mountains, forest, and pond, opened up a whole new world to me. Creating stone walls, participating in the mixers, cleaning the site, and teaching Leave No Trace ethics to campers and hikers were just a small part of the position. Being a steward of the land and sharing ways to protect it with others was awesome."--Alice Nelder, Horns Pond caretaker (2004)
Kathy Kahler's photos of Horns Pond caretaker pack-in, July 23, 2005
Last updated, May 20, 2006. This webpage was designed by Sarah Herdan
and is maintained by
MATC Webmaster Terry L. Karkos. Copyright © 2005-2006 MATC.
Horns Pond photo is copyright © 1985 Terry L. Karkos.
