Julie and I are hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US from Springer Mt, Georgia, to Mt Katahdin, Maine, in the north, a distance of almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km). Our journey will start in early May 2023 and is expected to take about five months. We will be mostly camping, carrying 3-5 days of supplies to get us between resupply points, where we will be staying in hostels/hotels/motels where we can. I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail back in 1986 so it will be interesting to see how much has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

Appalachian Trail - Day 138 - Caratunk to Bald Mountain Pond

Day: 138

Date: Saturday, 09 September 2023

Start:  Caratunk (AT Mile 1047.0)

Finish:  Bald Mountain Pond (AT Mile 2065.8)

Daily Kilometres:  30.5 (Ascent 4400', Descent 3694')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  3357.7

Weather:  Mild and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Continental breakfast 

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported 

Highlight:  It's not often that the last four miles of the day are a highlight, but today was an exception.  In serenely calm and clear conditions we climbed over Moxie Bald Mountain (2629') as the evening sun sank low and enjoyed stellar views in all directions from the vast open rock slabs on the summit.  We could easily see the Bigelow Range that we had traversed a couple of days ago along with many other mountains we may have also climbed but couldn't identify.  Ahead were other mountains we may yet have to climb.  Closer below were the mirror-like ponds and lakes of all shapes and sizes surrounded by forest and mountains.

Lowlight:  Dave had a bad morning, falling three times and filling the air with curses.  No harm done apart from some minor cuts and abrasions, but it reinforced his desire to have done with the trail.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke, finished packing and were ready for the continental breakfast at the inn at 6:30am when it opened.  Like everything else at the inn, it was well-organised and good quality and we ate our fill.  The inn provided a shuttle back to the trailhead, which we took along with three other thru-hikers, and were hiking by soon after 7:30am.

Our plan was to reach Bald Mountain Pond, about 19 miles away, by evening which seemed a little ambitious given we hadn't hiked that far in a day for a while (it also seemed ambitious to the three middle-aged thru-hikers with whom we shared the shuttle), so we were a little apprehensive.  However, the trail through the early autumnal forest wasn't too bad and we averaged the two miles per hour we needed.  There were the usual rocks, roots and bogs, but the gradients weren't too bad except for our two mountains of the day - Pleasant Pond Mountain and Moxie Bald Mountain - which slowed us up a bit, but weren't too technical and both offered fantastic views from their open rock slabs summits (see above).

Otherwise there wasn't much remarkable about the day apart from the beautiful ponds we passed and the Moxie Pond ford which we managed safely without getting our feet wet.  We may not be so lucky tomorrow with two more fords coming up.

We reached Bald Mountain Pond just before 7:00pm and were surprised to find no one else there, either camped or staying in the shelter.  It was an absolutely beautiful evening and we regretted not having been a bit earlier so we could enjoy the sunset over the pond.  We found a very nice tent site close to the pond shore and set up camp, washed and ate and were in bed by 9:00pm having had a very satisfying day.

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