Appalachian Trail (day 97) - Nahmakanta Stream Lean To to Golden Road / mile 2182

Only few more miles remain to the Katahdin summit, it was my penultimate night on the AT.

In fact it was the last day of "full" hiking and wild camping as tomorrow I will be staying in state run Birches Campsite just before the final climb.

It was a sunny and peaceful day with more Katahdin viewpoints, lakes, streams and moss covered boulders. I've managed to spot three mooses, one on the top of Nesuntabunt Mountain and two walking on the shore of Rainbow Lake all of them retreated the moment they saw me.

Trail was quite rocky and rooty so the progress was slower but lack of elevation gain made the walk easier on the other hand. I've continued taking pictures of various fungi I saw growing by the path, there was so many different kinds of them!

Trademark and Diehard booked a shuttle back to Millinocket on Saturday 12th of July (today was Thursday 10th), they added me to the list, it would leave the Kathadin Stream Campsite at 4 PM giving us plenty of time to summit and come back down to catch it. I was planning to spend the night at one of the hostels in Millinocket and make my way to Monson the following morning.

I've set my wild camp two miles away from the kiosk at which I would buy a 10$ ticket to be able to camp at Baxter Park tomorrow, kiosk opened at 7 AM and the first 12 thru hikers were able to book a spot so I was planning to be there early to guarantee one.

But for now I was at a cozy camp spot in the forest with couple of birds, many mosquitoes and one deer fly which got trapped underneath the rain cover and was trying to buzz it's way out. The sun was setting down, the entire Hundred Mile Wilderness was going to sleep and I for that short moment was a part of it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 8) - Nantahala Outdoor Centre to Cable Gap Shelter / mile 159

Image
"I don't even know who Rod Stewart is" Rod Stewart I woke up just before seven and started to pack up, everyone else in the room made a move as well. I've grabbed my stuff and went to the kitchen area to sort out the resupply. I've got six plus days worth of food in Dollar General for 35$ yesterday but I didn't have time to repackage it. Fifteen minutes later it was all done and I was ready to go. Next step was an eight miles long and four thousand feet high climb up from the valley NOC was located in. It took several hours of steady climb to reach Cheoah Bald mountain. The night must have been really cold and windy as all the trees were covered in ice, it looked like a winter wonderland up here. Sun was hitting the frozen branches, melting them enough to cause a small icicles fall to the ground when the wind blew on them. It looked really cool and I wondered if there's special name for this phenomenon. My other knee started to hurt now after t...
Read more