Day 125 - Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Day 125 🤭😳🙏🏻🎉🥴!!! Who would every think?! And we’re also approaching 1500 trail miles as we should surpass that in a few days! 

We have to modify our hike today as we could not arrange the ferry at the Kennebec River crossing until tomorrow.  So today we are hiking the next section north from US 201, Caratunk, ME (2041.9 NoBo) to Moxie Pond south end (2053.8 NoBo) equaling 11.9 miles. We left my car at East Flagstaff Road so we were shuttled by the Sterling Inn to Moxie Pond. 

We began hiking at 1:45 pm and it was warm 🥵.








I typically add thru hikers that we meet each day. With the bubble now going thru it would be impossible to do as I would spend all my time just talking to hikers 😳. We stopped and met “Navigator” today. He’s not a thru hiker but he sure had a story of tenacity and a love for the AT that I had to share. “Navigator” is from Indianapolis and began section hiking the AT with a friend in 2003. His friend joined him for a few years but then could not continue due to family obligations* but “Navigator”kept chugging along doing a section every year by himself. This year he is going to complete the entire AT and will reach Katahdin around August 22nd. His original hiking buddy is reuniting with “Navigator” one last time when he climbs Katahdin. They started the trail together, now they will finish the trail together. These are the stories that you only read about in Readers Digest. Congratulations “Navigator” to you and your friend!

(*only 20% of all hikers who start hiking the AT complete it. There are 5 reasons why they don’t finish: 1) Lack of funds, 2) Injury or lack of physical preparation, 3) Lack of motivation, boredom, lack of mental preparation, 4) Family issues and 5) Running out of time.) 






Climbing Pleasant Pond Mountain.



Summit of Pleasant Pond Mountain.





Views from Pleasant Pond Mountain.

We finished hiking at 6:45 pm under sunny skies; the temperature was 82°.


Till next time... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋


“Acts of generosity in this wild and primitive setting…where basic amenities…are intentionally absent–are often received in a heightened sense of wonder and gratitude by hikers. These acts of generosity are referred to as “trail magic.”

                  (Appalachian Trail Conservancy)


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