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 140 - Day Off in Monson

Day: 140

Date: Monday, 11 September 2023

Start:  ME Route 15 (AT Mile 2083.7) but staying at Monson.

Finish:  ME Route 15 (AT Mile 2083.7) but staying at Monson.

Daily Kilometres:  0

GPX Track:  Click here and here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her walks around Monson today.

Total Kilometres:  3387.7

Weather:  Dreary and overcast with occasional rain.

Accommodation:  Hostel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cooked breakfast and pancakes.

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese rolls.

  Dinner:  Pizza, brownie & ice-cream 

Aches:  Nothing to report.

Highlight:  A relaxing day at the hostel contemplating, with fellow thru-hikers, our last week on the trail.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

At 7:00am we joined our fellow guests at the hostel for the cooked breakfast for which the hostel is renowned.  It was good and filling and some of us sat around for a while afterwards chatting about this and that.  While most of the 20+ people staying here are thru-hikers, there are also several cyclists as the town is also on a long distance mountain/gravel-bike route.

We then picked up the large box of food we had mail-ordered to the hostel from Walmart just in case they didn't have what we wanted for the next 5-6 days and repacked it for hiking.  After that we walked down to the volunteer-run Appalachian Trail Information Office in town where a very patient lady explained everything we needed to know (hopefully) about the 100 Mile Wilderness ahead of us, including problematic river/stream crossings, and the somewhat officious process for getting approval to camp near the base of Mt Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, and approval to climb it.  Weather could always be an issue for the latter.

For the rest of the day, Dave spent time on admin, planning and reading while Julie went for some walks locally.  Of all the hikers staying at the hostel, she is the only one who had any interest in doing such a thing on her day off.

For dinner, we bought some take-out from the nearby gas station cafe and afterwards finished packing for our return to the trail.  After breakfast tomorrow, there is an 8:30am shuttle back to the trailhead.  Sadly, a lot of rain is forecast for the coming week.  Internet coverage will be sparse, so it may be a week before the next blog updates.

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