morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-08-26
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Gentian Pond
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: broken clouds

There were a few small tops to traverse today and the meters added up. We thought it would be an easy day and it was, but much to our surprise it all added up to 1111m of climbing. Goose Eye MtnLadder on Goose Eye MtnIn Carlo Col just before the state line there was an impressive pile of rock to climb up, reminiscent of Mahoosuc Notch. It was a last blast from Maine. We saw a grouse on the trail which seemed not at all scared of us. It just ran along in front of us for a while clucking crossly. There were a few NOBOs too but we think the main body has gone through now. Gentian Pond has a really nice shelter, the best we've seen so far. It was not a lean-to but more like an A-frame and had a great view out towards the White Mountains (which is our next challenge). View from Gentian Pond Shelter.There was a lovely little pond, a bit slimy in places and with a strong wind blowing over it, but very attractive. We got here about 2.15 so had a good rest in the afternoon which we really needed. There have been some big days and I am ready for a day off in Gorham 12 miles away. We climbed down from the pond's rocky outlet to a spot well below where people would get their water and had a wash, despite the cold wind. I rinsed out some of my clothes as well, even though we would be in town the next day. Sometimes (often) they just get beyond endurance!Dave has wrenched his right shoulder somewhere along the trail, probably in Mahoosuc Notch, so a rest day will do us both good. The weather looks like becoming fine again after three cloudy days and last night's thunderstorm. Going is getting easier now (but is that just because we've been told it will?). We are now in New Hampshire after nearly 300 miles in Maine.
Date: 2007-08-27
From: Gentian Pond

To: Gorham (Hikers Paradise Motel)
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: clear sky

It was a clear very hot day today with temps ranging from 16-33C. It was our first clear day for a while and we got great views of the Presidential Range where we are going to be in a couple of days time. We have been trying to time our arrival to get good weather, to the extent one can do this, as the whole range is above the bushline and very exposed to any rain and wind. Even though today's hills didn't look like much on the map we climbed 941m and descended 1343m, there being a big descent into Gorham. We are staying at the Hikers Paradise Motel. The motel is a very good place to stay, but the town is not hiker friendly, being spread out along at least 2-3 miles of highway. We had to walk to the supermarket then carry everything back, then walk to the library. You do not really feel like doing this and it detracts from the rest day you have planned. In a car-oriented society these spread-out places work, but only if you have a car.By the way, if anyone wants a map of the Appalachian Trail we have sent a few to Georgie (our niece). She can be contacted at our home phone number and will send you one.
Date: 2007-08-28
To: Zero in Gorham
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We had a zero day in Gorham. We had a bit of a negative experience with Moriah Sports in Gorham. My nice new Salomon boots are coming apart and they are dealers for Salomon so I went in with the boots to see if something could be done. The proprietor was anything but helpful. He did give us Salomon's phone number but would not allow us to use his phone. Understandable, I suppose, as it is a business phone, but it was patently obvious he was not interested in our problem. He told me he'd "seen worse", which was probably true (so have I), but it was the future I was worried about. How long would they last? There are still some miles in the boots but they are on the way out and will have to be replaced soon. Back at the motel I rang Salomon and they were very good on the phone and we have an arrangement that when I get to Hanover I will see one of their dealers there and they will mail them back to Salomon for an assessment. That is fine with me. We both needed hair cuts so we went looking for a hairdresser. There was one across the road but the opening hours were too odd for us. Then we came across one of those hair cutting things (for NZ$9!) that do a number 1, 2 etc, so we bought that and have had a bit of fun trying to cut each other's and our own hair. Personally I think I did a very good job on Dave but just couldn't bring myself to give him free rein on me, so he got to do the back where I can't see!We had another odd experience. The housekeeper came to our unit with more towels. Fine, but she wouldn't go. We talked for a while. She asked about an envelope that had been on the table. We said we'd needed all the space and had thrown it in the bin. She replaced it and specifically told us how her mother had "done it on the computer" for her. There was some message on it about having a peaceful and enjoyable stay or something. Then finally she went off. It occurred to us about two days later that she had been angling for a tip! New Zealanders don't tip back home and all the hints she gave simply passed us by. View from Lookout Tower on Old Speck Mountain ¢ photo by Boo-Boo/Rebecca Sudduth
Date: 2007-08-29
From: Gorham (Hikers Paradise Motel)

To: Imp Campsite
Miles today: 8.0

The motel owners gave us a ride back to the trail head and we got going at about 7.45. As usual when leaving a town, we had a big climb at first - up 1000 meters - then a few more with the bumps along the tops (total 1166m and 455 down). The temps are holding up with a range of 17-28C - too hot for us. We passed about 10 thru hikers, so many that it got less feasible to spend time talking to them and getting trail names. What with section hikers as well the trail was unusually busy. We got pretty hot going over the smooth rock domes of the tops but had great views of the Presidential Range where we were headed and could see the smoke from the train (yes, train!) that goes up to the top of Mt. Washington. We stopped for lunch on one of the domes and had whole-meal tortillas spread with hummus which was one of my better food finds. I haven't seen it since, but it just needs a bit of water and oil to become very tasty indeed. Pity it is not more readily available. We had to carry all our water today as there was nothing at all beyond the stream which ran beside the trail for the first hour or so. We are taking it quite slowly at this point because there is a front due to go through on Thursday and we want to have a chance at views and good weather in the Presidential Range. So we stopped at Imp campsite where the water source is a very tiny flow down the side of a huge rock face. It is excellent water but you have to spend a long time sitting there collecting it. We are set up on a wooden tent platform at the end of a row of 5 platforms. The shelter is 3-sided with an upper sleeping platform like the one at Gentian Pond. We are now getting into the expensive AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) hut areas where it costs US$90 per person per night if you can't work around it somehow. There are a whole line of these huts all along the White Mountains (includes Presidential Range) and not much in the way of alternatives for stingy hikers. We are heading for Carter Hut tomorrow and will be trying the tried and true strategy for thru hikers of something called work-for-stay. Dave is trying to photograph a woodpecker and there is a family of voles running about. There is a bear box here and everyone is supposed to pack all their food and toiletries into it overnight (bears like toothpaste apparently).Imp Campsite & Shelter
Date: 2007-08-30
From: Imp Campsite

To: Carter Notch Hut, NH
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: broken clouds

We set off for Carters Hut at 7am. It was easy travel over all the Carters, though a fair climb onto North Carter. Mt. Hight was the best top with great views of the Presidential Range. Presidential Range from Mt HightCarter Dome is all covered in trees, although it is higher than Mt. Hight and there is a tough descent down to Carter Notch Hut which we reached at noon. Looking down on Carter NotchThe "croo" agreed to take us on for a work-for-stay and we really wondered what might be involved. First, however, we were told severely that 2pm was the earliest they considered people for work-for-stay, but since they had a couple of jobs we could do them. These involved doing the "day dishes", then cleaning out the freezer (which hadn't been cleaned out forever). We re-stacked the freezer for them and made to throw out some chicken nuggets that had been pushed about for years on the bottom of the freezer. This idea was not greeted with enthusiasm by the croo since they have to carry all meat down and they decided to revive them (we watched out for chicken nuggets for dinner but they were saving them for a particularly noxious group). Other hikers arrived and some were accepted and some not. We had been warned by NOBOs about varying treatment of thru hikers in these huts but our experience was fine. Two of the crew were a bit standoffish, after all we were definitely bludgers, but two were very kind. The croos for the AMC huts are all students or graduates and they vie for the jobs (300 applications for 10 positions). You would wonder why, since they don't get paid much and the work is housekeeping and cooking, hardly glamorous. We finished our jobs and were sitting outside one of the bunkrooms on the porch and there was a ferocious thunderstorm with hail the size of marbles, then lots of heavy rain. The peals of thunder were right overhead and absolutely deafening. It was a great storm, particularly as we were under cover. Dinner was pretty average if you'd paid $90 but being bludgers we couldn't complain ourselves. Being work-for-stay you need to be discriminated against so the paying guests feel they are getting a better deal, so we were allocated the tables in the dining room to sleep on after the guests went to bed. This is par for the course in all the huts if you are doing work-for-stay. We left before breakfast, having done our work the previous day.Carter NotchCarter Notch Hut
Date: 2007-08-31
From: Carter Notch Hut, NH

To: Osgood Campsite, NH
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: fog

We left for Pinkham Notch at 7:30 with a view to getting to Osgood Campsite. The rocks were very slippery from the rain and there were no views, all being in cloud. This was not so good as we were hoping for good weather for the next few days over the Presidential Range. We crossed over the Wildcats - no big deal at all - and came across the lifts at Wildcat Skifield. They were working on the lifts so we asked if we could ride down and up again to look at the field. They were agreeable to this but on the way down the car stopped for a while and we wondered if we'd made a mistake. However, it started again after a bit of a delay and we got back before getting too cold. All in all it took 1/2 hour and we didn't see anything through the mist anyway. We went on to Pinkham, down the longest and possibly hardest descent so far. It probably wasn't but I suppose it seemed that way to me because I was having trouble with one of my knees. It is an old problem and just needs managing but it is hard on a relentless steep and long descent (1350m). Descending from Wildcat RidgeWe had sent a parcel to ourselves care of Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, so picked that up, packed up our food and set off for Osgood Campsite. It is always a shock to pick up food and make a light pack heavy again. By the end of the day we'd climbed over 1100 meters and were feeling pretty tired. We found getting to Osgood Campsite was a bit more stressful than it should have been due to conflicting and confusing signage and few white blazes (the AT trail sign). We spent some time wondering if we were on the right trail. We were, but you don't need that at the end of a hard day.We are going via Madison Hut and Mt Washington to Lakes of the Clouds Hut tomorrow in the Presidential Range. It is meant to be sunny tomorrow! Pinkham Notch (357 Magnum photo)
Date: 2007-09-02
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut, NH

To: Crawford Notch Campsite
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: few clouds

We thought in our innocence that this would be an easy day - just 10 miles into Crawford Notch and the map encouraged the idea that it would be mainly easy downhill. Hmm, we climbed 573 meters on our way down into Crawford Notch! The trail was quite spectacular, with lots of views back to Mt. Washington and then along the terrific Webster cliff face looking down to Crawford Notch. You would not want to do this in bad weather. We were very lucky with the clear mostly calm weather we got. A grey jay and friends came and lunched with us, but was very annoyed with me when it landed on my hand as I did not feed it enough. I felt guilty about feeding it anything, as I know better, but we wanted to get a picture of it. This is a poor excuse for making these quite aggressive birds into something of a nuisance. We hitchhiked into Crawford Notch Campsite which took a while as people on holiday from the city weren't interested in picking up smelly hikers. Eventually we got a ride and we are staying in the bunkhouse here. Just done washing, showering and eating tinned veg for dinner! Nasty but what can you do? The shop here caters for souvenirs and gift-giving mostly so we were lucky to find anything. Two more arrived fairly late (Maryland Edge and Loose Bruce). Leaving Lakes of the Clouds HutCrawford Notch from Webster Cliffs
Date: 2007-09-03
From: Crawford Notch Campsite

To: Guyot Campsite, NH
Miles today: 11.5

The Crawford Notch Campground owners gave us a ride back to the trailhead. Dave and I headed for Zealand Falls Hut (another AMC hut) then Guyot campsite. It was a big climb but fairly easy terrain, so we arrived at Zealand Falls at 12:00 and had lunch. There were not so many people around today. We had great views of Mt. Washington which had a cloud cap. Zealand Falls Hut was very nice and we sat on the porch for a while looking out over the valley. There was a ramp as well as steps up into the hut and when I asked about it I was given a magazine article about "accessibility". Apparently an issue about accessibility for disabled came up when the hut was being re-modelled and a large amount of money was spent making the hut wheelchair-accessible. A group of wheelchair-bound people set out to prove that this was necessary by hiring a large number of workers and a lot of gear including ropes, pulleys, winches etc to pull, push and drag themselves up to the hut over several miles of extremely steep rocky trail. You'd have to be very determined and brave to put yourself in such danger for a principle. It was a lot easier day than we'd had over the last few days but we still managed to do 1486m (538m of downhill) by the time we got to Guyot Campsite. Guyot is a long way down off the trail - as it needs to be to have a water source - but it meant an additional 130m climb out the next day. We chose Guyot because we were avoiding Galehead Hut having had enough of work-for-stay. Dinner is getting a bit monotonous but potato can be varied by adding coconut, dried tomato (finally found some) dried fruit and nuts, parsley flakes, onion flakes, olive oil, butter, cheese etc.Maryland Edge's journal entry this date: Got to know our New Zealand bunkmates, Weka and Kea, a little better. Kea commented on my snoring(apparently the cold weather aggravated my congestion). Then I saw that Weka had slept outside. I was pretty upset about that but Weka assured me she is an experienced hiker, and knows how to deal with snoring - she slept outside because it was too warm in the bunkhouse, which may be since she opened a window last night before going to sleep. BTW, they have a trailjournals website of their own, which I look forward to viewing to see the different perspectives of people from half a world away. They also recommended hiking the Bibbleman (sp?)[Bibbulmun] Trail in Australia because of the wildlife viewing.
Date: 2007-09-04
From: Guyot Campsite, NH

To: Garfield Ridge Campsite, NH
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: broken clouds

We set off for Garfield Ridge Campsite at 7am planning a 1/2 day because it was pretty windy and we wanted a good day to go over Franconia Ridge, looming in the not-so-far distance. We stopped at Galehead Hut for snacks and they gave us a large cup of hot water each, so we had hot chocolate with lots of baby formula. This has become quite a staple for us due to its being a lot of "easy" calories. Both of us are finding it hard to eat the quantity of food we need to maintain our energy, so food you can drink is very important. Baby formula has a lot of nutrients too so must be good for people on an otherwise sadly deficient diet.Garfield Ridge has a wonderful spring but it is located a long way below the campsite. I struggled with the water-carrying while Dave put up the "tarp" and tent. We use about 10 liters of water over the evening and morning and at a kilo per liter it is hard work getting enough, especially after a hard day's hiking.Mt. Guyot TrailGarfield Ridge Campsite
Date: 2007-09-05
From: Garfield Ridge Campsite, NH

To: Lincoln (ChesterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs)
Miles today: 10.3

Franconia Ridge, approaching LafayetteFranconia Ridge, view of Lincoln from LafayetteToday was fairly hard with 1180m uphill and 1990m down, but was one of our best days so far. We really liked Franconia Ridge, which consists of open tops with easy travel and lovely views. It was like a good day on the tops at home. We have to enjoy it while it lasts as there is little out of the bushline further south. We really enjoyed the Mt. Washington area too, but the gaggle of tourists at the top definitely took some of the gloss off it. There were a lot of people on Franconia Ridge as there is a good network of AMC serviced huts and they were doing something called "the circuit" around a couple of them. We could see the attraction of this area: easy travel, lovely tops with great views, serviced huts so no need to carry food or sleeping bags. We dropped down to Liberty Springs tent site for lunch, then it was a long downhill to I93 (Interstate 93) and Lincoln. We had to contend with a huge busy interstate highway and found our way to the correct side of it by following the AT underneath double bridges. We hitchhiked into Lincoln, but fell a bit short not knowing where exactly we were going, so ended up having to walk about 1 1/2 miles to get to Chester's where we were staying. Even though he has only had his house set up for hikers for a few months Chester is already a bit of a personality on the trail having had an accident with an MSR stove which left him a paraplegic. (The advice is: for those that have the old yellow pumps, throw them out. They could cause your stove to explode. The new, redesigned blue / green pumps are fine.) He opens his home to hikers and there is no charge. This makes it a bit difficult as you are not sure about using facilities such as shower and washing machine but he makes you so welcome that you relax after a while and try to do things in return. We cleaned the bathroom and floors. Judging by the state of the bath he has a lot of trouble getting people to do it. Dave weighed in at 149 lbs and I was 154. I do not know how accurate the scales are but I think (hope) Dave has stopped losing weight now. I never seem to have that trouble. One thing I wonder is why he needs to eat twice the food I need when we are doing the same amount of work and carrying the same pack weight. It is a mystery and definitely not fair.
Date: 2007-09-06
From: Lincoln (ChesterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs)

To: Kinsman Pond Campsite
Miles today: 4.8
Weather: overcast clouds

We are at Kinsman Pond campsite after a short day, having left Chester¢s at about 12 noon and arriving here at about 3pm. This was not without its problems as the trail was not well marked at the start and the shuttle driver said he didn't know much about the trail and didn't know where to drop us. Where we were dropped was very confusing. We ended up going to the Flume Visitor Center and asking them. They gave us a map and we were right from there, although it added to the road-walking. Road-walking is a problem because it always causes a bit of pain under the balls of my feet. It soon goes but road walking is not so good. We seemed to chalk up a lot of it at Lincoln. Lonesome Lake was lovely and we stopped for a while there to appreciate it. There were a lot of large black birds flying around that looked and sounded like crows to us. Dave got a picture when some of them landed in a tree close by. They are building a new shelter here at Kinsman Pond and there are unpleasant construction noises including a battery-driven de Walt circular saw! They said it would take 3 builders about 2 weeks to build the shelter. All the materials had been flown in by helicopter and I am not sure about the builders.Tomorrow we head to Beaver Brook campsite near the top of Mt. Moosilauke - this is supposed to be the last high peak that we will do until we get down to Tennessee. It is a bit sad as we like the high stuff, the only problems are getting up to it and getting down from it! Will flatter country be boring? My shirt and shorts are still wet from the climb up here, which was probably as steep as we have done anywhere. I've been trying to dry them on my body as I don't want to put on cold wet clothes tomorrow but it is getting late and I want to have a sponge bath and put on something dry. In case you are wondering, sponge baths are great at the end of a sweaty day. You not only feel a lot better but also the night clothes stay more savoury. There is not a lot you can do about the day clothes. We have a bowl that we use for washing - bodies and clothes - made out of a long piece of closed cell foam that fastens in a circle, with a waterproof cloth draped over it and made rigid by tightening a draw cord around the top. It works very well and you can pick the whole thing up to throw the water away. 5pm signals dinner preparation is near. I hope there will be some drying overnight. My day clothes were washed this morning but sometimes you wonder why bother as the minute you start hiking again they are just as nasty as they were before. Must go, as my hand is suffering from cramps. Climbing was 800m today and downhill 80m in temps that we did not record.Kinsman Pond (by Cathe Neuberger)