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Jul 15, 2022 : Eric and Hayley
Appalachian Trail
When Goshawks Attack
Day 15
It was nice to wake up in our tent again next to a picturesque pond. We enjoyed coffee on the water before packing up and continuing to hike southbound. Enjoyed a second breakfast (S’mores pop tarts for Hayley) less than an hour later at a nice view point looking over Moxie pond.
We had excellent views from the summit of Moxie and Pleasant mountain. Unfortunately we weren’t so lucky with the goshawks today and there was a ground assault. It stood guarding the trail and making angry noises. As we strategized our next move, it aggressively flew at our ankles as we walked past, luckily clattering our trekking poles and backing away kept her off us but she still was formidable and it was surreal being attacked by this small bird.
We warned a passing NOBO about the goshawk shortly after. He also informed us of another aggressive one about 15 miles up trail that flew down and bit his friends ear. Can’t wait…
Arrived at Pleasant pond lean-to a little early so we soaked our feet in Pleasant pond and enjoyed the sun. We made a fire at the lean-to and enjoyed a quiet night. We are halfway through Maine but the hardest part is coming up…
Day 16
Got up and walked the fairly easy 6 miles to catch the Kennebec ferry. Just outside of Caratunk we found beer trail magic for second breakfast! This forced us to take a long morning break and we were excited to find our first trail magic (free food and/or drinks left out for thru-hikers by good Samaritans aka trail angels). We thank the trail angel who left that cooler, it brought such a smile to our faces!
We didn’t wait long for the canoe to arrive that would take us across the vast river. The water was low but fast and deep at certain points. The ferryman was fun and gave us a weather update. It’s as we feared, heavy rain tomorrow so our plan to stop early in the shelter to duck out the rain is sound. He also warned us about the goshawk near pierce pond, it’s been so aggressive a few people had to have their injuries treated at the hospital. Apparently it also steals hats?
Had a leisurely hike past numerous waterfalls and streams, took a lot of breaks and arrived at our lean-to fairly early. We enjoyed swimming in the pond and building a fire.
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