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 144 - Cooper Falls Lean-To to Nahmakanta Lake

Day: 144

Date: Friday, 15 September 2023

Start:  Cooper Falls Lean-To (AT Mile 2138.7)

Finish:  Nahmakanta Lake (AT Mile 2157.7)

Daily Kilometres:  31.2 (Ascent 1047', Descent 1302')

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

Total Kilometres:  3498.5

Weather:  Cool to mild and partly sunny

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Trail mix 

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals, Pop tarts 

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

Highlight:  None really 

Lowlight:  None really 

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We set out about 6:45am on a cool clear morning anticipating easier trail for the day and hopeful of covering a good distance.

It was mostly good trail for the day and there were some beautiful sections where the path meandered through lovely mixed conifer and deciduous forest on a bed of pine needles and autumn leaves.  We passed peaceful lakes and followed rushing streams for long periods.

However, there were other sections of trail where we were constantly negotiating the roots, rocks and bogs that have become a familiar part of our day.  It's hard and slow hiking with constant steps up, down and to the side, always looking where you place your feet and hoping your judgment of the depth of the mud or slipperiness of a root or rock is accurate.

We also had some unexpected and challenging fords today.  The first was quite scary because of the pace and depth of the water in one small part of the crossing and the second was even deeper (waist-level) though not as fast.

The fords slowed us down and we didn't get quite as far as hoped.  However, we ended up at a very pretty campground by Nahmakanta Lake around 6:15pm and had a beautiful sunset accompany our camp setup.  A bonus was the arrival of trail friends Christine and Matthew shortly after us.  We haven't seen them for a few days.

We feel like the Appalachian Trail is making sure our last days are not easy, with challenging fords and endless bogs that are not usually a feature of the trail, but it has been a very wet year.  And now, Hurricane Lee is forecast to hit the Maine coast overnight and bring rain and wind to the state tomorrow.  The coast will be hardest hit, but we are anticipating a wet and windy day in the woods and not looking forward to it.

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