morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-07-25
From: Sabbath Day Pond lean-to

To: Rt. 4 / Rangeley
Miles today: 9.4

Here i am in rangeley. Wasn't expecting to be here, but we were all so demoralized by the rain yesterday, that we came in. The hike here was good terrain, but the trail was still all mud and puddles and streams. Our feet were still soaked. but...(angelic chorus)The sun came out, and stayed out the entire day. Sweet. Too bad we wasted the day in town. I got clean, and did laundry, and resupplied myself though. So that was good, and i made sure i had food at caratunk, so i could get to monson without having to go back into a town.knuckles and i are at the rangeley inn, which is pretty nice, but expensive. Gull pond hostel was full. There are some former hikers who opened a "friendly" to other hikers, and so the rest of the group is there. I was told by both snake-eyes and gobbles not to go there - it is essentially a frat house. So that is why i am here, and not there. Also, i need to get out as early as possible in the morning, and that place wouldn't be good for that.Today was the last day with my team. I thought we would hold together till the end, but we have splintered. knuckles's husband is coming up to hike the final 200 miles with her - she is tired of getting left behind, and feels bad that we have to wait for her, so she wants someone with her for the remainder. gobbles and thud and trust me decided they wanted to take a zero in a fun place, so they are doing it here. snake-eyes s not feeling well still, so he is resting here until he feels better. I need to push on to meet my deadline, and i will need to zero at monson to rest before the wilderness. Plus, i just had 4 easy days to rest, and a zero right now is too soon.They are supposed to catch up with me at monson. We shall see if they can escape the town vortex, or if the fun sucks them into a longer town stay. I hope they escape... i'd really like to finish this adventure with gobbles, since we started it together.Not too much else to say. We lost sleepwalker yesterday - he never came to the shelter. I'm hoping he is all right. The river ford was scary. We also hooked up with chili-pepper, who started in april and caught up to us already. He's pretty cool. He should be hiking out tomorrow as well, if he can escape the vortex.Rangeley is a cool little town. I like it here. A place to come back to one day in the future. when it is sunny. Actually, this whole area looks really pretty in the sunlight, with clear skies. It just sucks real bad during the rain.Tomorrow looks like it should be clear with a chance of afternoon storms, and same with sunday. I am hoping to get my miles in both days, because i have two more river fords, one each day, and i need the water levels low, since i will be crossing them solo.Okay, time to sleep. Have a big day tomorrow... saddleback. woo hoo.220 miles left to go.
Date: 2008-07-26
From: Rt. 4 / Rangeley

To: Spaulding Mountain lean to
Miles today: 18.7

Whooooo.... long day for me. It took me 11.5 hours to get here. I am tired... lots of ups and downs today.I got up about 5:30 and jumped in the shower... so nice... and then finished packing up my stuff. knuckles and i went for breakfast at the diner. Good food but very pricey! She is very excited that her husband is coming. She really misses him, and is looking forward to seeing him. After breakfast, we hitched a ride. She got dropped off at the supermarket, and we said goodbye, then the nice man who gave us a ride took me to the trailhead. I was hiking by 7:30 this morning! excellent....The trail was nice today... gentle ups for the start, and it was much drier today. Still lots of puddles, but for the most part, i could dodge them. Some steep parts, especially towards the top of the mountains today. First mountain was saddleback, and i was above treeline for that. Lots of bare face rock scramble to get there, but once on top, the views were amazing. Maine is pretty when you can see it. So i stayed above treeline for my jaunt over to "the horn", my second peak of the day. And then i wandered over to little saddleback. That was my lunch spot. Nice to sit on top of the world while eating. I almost had a case of megalomania... i could conquer and rule all that i could see... but then i thought about how much work that would entail, and i decided to let those thoughts drop.Oh yeah, along the way, i talked to an ATC guy up here who said he had gotten 8 inches of rain at his house in the last week. 8" !?!?!!! holy guacamole! No wonder the trails are in such bad shape.The river ford today was a cakewalk, (mmmmm.... cake.... i'm hungry) the water only came up to my shorts. I felt no fear. Not like the last one. Then for the grand finale, i climbed 1500 feet up the next mountain (nope, not at the top yet) to get to the shelter. That was a tough climb. My legs were dead...Here i am... chili pepper caught up to me, and we are the only two in the shelter tonight. hiker dude, another nobo is in his tent, and i think there is a sobo in a tent too.I have to get up early, since my next shelter (actually, _the_ next shelter) is 18.6 from here.... so another long day. Time for sleep.feels good to get the miles in...feels good to hike in sunshine again..
Date: 2008-07-28
From: Horns Pond lean to

To: Little Bigelow Mtn lean to
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: scattered clouds

An easy day for me! I had the option of doing 10 today and 17 tomorrow, or 17 today and 10 tomorrow. I took the ten today. The last two days were tough terrain, and i did lots of miles, so i decided to let myself take a rest day, and push the big miles the next three days to get to monson. The other reason is because i had no energy climbing the hills, and i couldn't get moving on the flats. So physically, it was in my best interest to rest. Gotta listen to my body. So i got here by 1:30, and used my lazy afternoon to soak my feet in the creek till they were numb, wash my socks (still available for a science fair project...), and take a nap. ahhhhh....I got a late start - 7am... i tried to sleep in, but still woke up at 5:30... so i just laid in bed till 6. First thing out was a nifty climb up the mountain, where i got a good view back to the shelters and the pond. Then i had 2 more peaks to climb. That went as smoothly as expected... meaning it was a slow arduous climb up rocks to the top. And then back down rocks, and back up rocks and back down rocks. The views would have been awesome on a clear day, but it was really hazy today, so they were only so-so. The last climb was a gradual ascent of little bigelow, which was nice - the trail was massively overgrown (anyone have a machete i can borrow?) but it was trail, and gradual. The end of the climb was steep and rocky, but that is typical of maine... you can't get to the top of anything around here unless you are rock climbing. Then it was a nice downhill to the shelter. Lots of open rock face, so if it had been raining, i would have been either crying, or sitting on my butt sliding down the mountain. But it's dry, so i got to walk, and not cry my way down.Oh yeah! The blueberries are starting to ripen, so i was stopping at almost every bush on the way down and grabbing some to eat as i walked. mmmmm... good. I hope moose and bears (and people) aren't peeing on the bushes. But if they did, it still tasted good.Got word through chili pepper (he stopped in stratton last night, and caught up to me here today) that gobbles, thud and snake-eyes are all in stratton, waiting for trust-me to hike there. If all went well, he should be there tonight, and they will all hike to here tomorrow. Go trust-me! yay! glad you hiked it too. boo on everyone else, except snake-eyes who is sick. thud, what happened? You were the last purist... they corrupted you so easily? sigh.... gobbles, i can see why you did it... trail fatigue is setting in. Almost done with this part though. Although you skipped on the nice weather! When you get back out here, it's going to be crap weather again! your trail timing is off!!!But anyway, chili pepper says gobbles has some fun new stories to go along with his adventure of getting from rangeley to stratton. Looking forward to hearing those stories.Time for sleep. 17 miles for tomorrow. A long day mile wise, but easy in terms of elevation gain/loss. No major climbs.... i can't wait.
Date: 2008-07-30
From: Northern Outdoors/Route 201

To: Moxie Bald lean to
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: broken clouds

Wow... a long day... i guess today was long just because of the miles...So i got up and was out trying to hitch by 6:15 or so, and the second car picked me up! I squeezed myself into a black two-seater, with pack on my lap and poles on the floor. I was on the trail by 6:30! Yay!The climb up to the first shelter was good. Patches of good trail interspersed with sections of muck. typical....then i had the climb up pleasant pond mtn. It wasn't a particularly tough climb. It wasn't super steep, or rocky and difficult, or any thing like that, but i was dragging going up that mountain. I had no energy. And this is after i ate a power bar at the previous shelter, and i ate a snickers on the way up. I am a little worried. I shouldn't be having this kind of trouble getting up the mountains, esp. these little ones. I am hoping it's just because i am worn out at the moment. The last couple of days have taken their toll on me. I am supposed to take a zero in monson, so i will stuff my face with food and do nothing, and hope that makes the difference.So where was I? Oh yeah, i climbed up pleasant pond mtn, and had good views back to where i was (bigelow was prominent on the horizon) and looked forward to the chairback range, which we will climb in a couple of days...then i came down the other side, and that was nothing spectacular...I got down to the lake and forded the creek there, and started up the next hill. I stopped at the next shelter and ate lunch, and rested for a while. It was only 4.1 to here, so i was in no real hurry. And this is where i cheated today... moxie bald has a bad weather route that bypasses the summit. It cut off a 300 foot climb and descent. I took the bad weather route. I didn't want to do any more climbing over rocks, or go up jumbles or rocks, or face crazy descents on rock slab or anything. So i bypassed the summit. Also, i have been tripping over a lot of roots and stumps today, so i also didn't want to face the rock scrambles when i was clumsy. I can come up with more excuses to justify my decision, but i'll save those for later. Suffice to say, i skipped the summit of moxie bald. I almost feel guilty about it... almost.So then after re-joining the a.t. i wandered down the mountain to here. I got in about 4. A group of summer camp kids are tenting nearby, and are noisy as 10-13 year olds tend to be. Also grey ghost and his grandson dj are here. knuckles had hiked with them way back in va, and had nice things to say about them. I had seen them in the registers, and finally got to meet them tonight. Nice people. They are heading into monson also, so i will see them again tomorrow night.Tomorrow will be a 16.6 mile day into monson. It should be a good walk, mostly flat or downhill. I have 2 river fords, but that should be my main challenge. I hope the weather holds....Nice days while hiking = good.
Date: 2008-07-31
From: Moxie Bald lean to

To: Monson (Shaws)
Miles today: 16.6

I am dry, warm, and full... what a great moment. Today's hike was pretty good. nothing overly tough, just lots of roots, rocks and mud. Lots and lots of mud. I also had 3 river crossings... i had to stop and take my boots off. The water was cold, but nothing dangerous. yay!I like it when i'm not in mortal peril while hiking. I find the experience much more enjoyable that way. But that's just me...The cool part about last night that i didn't get to write about, was that there were loons on the lake last night. I fell asleep listening to their cries. It was neat. I liked that....Today, i got up at 4:45 with grey ghost and dj, and i was on the trail by 6. It's hard to get up, but nice to be on the trail and moving. I don't remember much about the trail, except that i was looking down most of the time, trying not to trip or slip as i walked. The trail was mostly level, some ups and downs, but nothing outstanding in my mind. I went through horseshoe canyon, but i couldn't see much, since i was mostly looking down. But when i did look up, the canyon was covered in trees. Oh well....Still no mooses...So i got to the monson blue-blaze about 1pm, and i followed that the 2 miles here, and was here by 2pm. That was nice. It was also nice to have the 2 mile roadwalk in, because there was no mud or other obstacles in my path. ahhhh....So i got cleaned up, and spent the rest of the afternoon resting and eating junk food. I went to dinner with gentle ben, and got the all you can eat tacos deal at the restaurant. I ate 12 tacos. mmmmm... good.Then i came back here and ate a bunch of yummy cookies my wife sent me in a care package. Now i am overly full.Now i am going to call home, and then go to sleep. I am looking forward to my zero day. I signed up for the AYCE breakfast, so that will be good. Then i will spend the rest of the day eating, and sitting on my butt.I can't wait....
Date: 2008-08-01
From: Monson (Shaws)

To: Monson (Shaws)
Miles today: 0.0

Ahhhhh... zero day. It went by fast, despite the fact that i didn't do anything. I was kind of hoping it would last longer....I slept in till 6:30, and then went down for breakfast. I sat with gentle ben, grey ghost, d.j., and a family who was out section hiking. Breakfast was ayce, and it was good!!After that, i watched the weather channel in horror, as i showed me that the weather will essentially be rain until i leave the state. Yippee! I can't wait. There's nothing i love as much as being wet and muddy, and climbing over rock scrambles and open face rock slab when they are wet.I got a ride from gentle ben up to greenville, and i resupplied with enough to get to white house landing. That may cause some issues later, but it seemed easier than trying to carry an extra 4 lbs of food over the next series of mountains. Greenville was a cute tourist town, right on moosehead lake. And i got to see a moose cow on the side of the road as we drove back. Then i just hung out and watched t.v., and ate all day.gobbles got a ride and made it here a little after noon - his feet hurt with some new shoes he got. So he went up to greenville later to get a fix for that.snake-eyes is off the trail. Bummer. He wasn't recovering fast from his sickness, and got out of hiking shape during recovery, perhaps. He is supposed to get back on with trust me at harpers ferry. trust me and thud got here at 9 tonight after hiking 33 miles. It took me two days to do that. Wow. They are strong hikers. Much stronger than me, anyway. Good for them!Now i just have to call home, and say hi... then go to sleep. Half the bunk room is trying to sleep already. It's only 9:15.So i feel rested and ready to tackle the last 114 miles. Mostly 20 mile days or longer left for us. We want to be done. If all goes well, we will climb katahdin on the 7th, and i can get home in time for my birthday.This will be my last entry for a while, since there won't be any phones till i finish. I'll keep the journal going though, and you can read all about my hike once i get back.Time for sleep.
Date: 2008-08-02
From: Monson (Shaws)

To: cloud pond shelter
Miles today: 19.1

oooooowwwwwwww.......i hurt all over. i am really tired too. i just completely negated my rest day.... uuuuuuunnnngggghhhh....we got a late start today, on account of the really good breakfast. that, and we thought we were supposed to wait for trust me and thud, and catch the shuttle together. however, they went back to being purists, and got dropped off at the blue blaze into town. gobbles and i went for the drop off point 2 miles further along the trail... he he heso we didn't get started hiking till 9. the trail was okay by maine standards. lots of slippery rocks, lots of roots, lots of mud. the terrain was gently up and down for most of the day, but the last 4 miles were straight up. well, the last mile was actually rolling, since we go up on the ridge, but before that, it was tough. i pushed myself to go faster than normal, since it was getting dark, and now i have the over-exertion fatigue. bluh...so i am going to hit the highlights and then go to sleep.we had 3 river crossings - i slipped and fell on my butt in the first one. got my pack all wet, and my boot gaitor fell off my boot (tied to my pack, not on my foot) and got washed away. i am now short one gaitor for my left leg. the other two were fine, and they actually had ropes strung up to help us cross....amazing!i also fell on a slippery bog bridge, and first my right foot went into the mud up to my ankle, then my left foot went in, then i plopped down on my butt on the bridge and sat there trying to figure out what happened.my pants have some interesting stains on them now.thud and trust me caught up to us at the shelter just before this one, but they hike way faster than us, so they still beat us here.6 of us in the shelter, 2 others are section hikers.so tired....time for sleep.big 23 mile day tomorrow, and the terrain is going to be more exhausting than today. blugh.i'm tired of maine, and ready to come home. 5 more days.... only 5 more days....
Date: 2008-08-04
From: cloud pond shelter

To: Carl A. Newhall Shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: light rain

okay, a shorter day than intended... but it started raining on us AGAIN. my goodness, it has rained on me every single day i've been in this state. what's going on???we decided to stop here at this shelter and make up the miles later, rather than climb over whitecap in the rain (rock scrambles in rain = suck) and also if it kept raining, we didn't want to get to the shelter at 8pm and find it full. so we stopped here. tomorrow we will tackle whitecap and finally get into the flat sections.it will be nice to only have to worry about slogging thru mud, and giant puddles, and slippery roots and slippery bog bridges rather than all of the above in addition to slippery rock scrambles and falling off mountains. i can't wait...today's story begins last night when it started raining about 10pm, and it didn't stop until about 3am. wheeee!all the rocks we were going to face today would be nice and slippery, AND, we would have nice giant puddles and fresh mud! goody!we got started about 6:30, and averaged a good pace through the various peaks of the chaiback range. we did 4th mtn, then 3rd mtn, then columbus mtn, then chairback. all of them with steep little climbs, except 3rd mtn, and that was a gradual one. all of the had the maine rock scramble at the top. it's not a maine mountain without that scramble.i did get to see a moose cow this morning. i scared her, and she ran off into the woods before gobbles got to see her. sometimes it's good to be out front - you get to see wildlife. unless you are in grizzly country, in which case being in the rear is better.the climb down off the ridge was actual trail, so i was very excited about that, and we got down to the river ford by 12:30. we missed out on some trail magic, because it had all been eaten by the time we got there. bummer. we forded with no problems... water only came up to my knees, and i managed not to fall down in this one...we ate a quick lunch there and pressed on... we had 12 more miles to go! but it started pouring rain on us... as we climbed past gulf hagas, and then it cleared up for a bit, and we saw blue sky, and then it started poiring on us again. so we stopped at this shelter.i've had it with this rain... i never want to hike in the rain again. ha ha ha.. not going to happen... i've got 3 days left on maine, so of course i'll be hiking in the rain some more... it's inevitable. plus, it keeps raining now... it hasn't stopped all afternoon.so that's about it. we have 78.6 miles left to go. some long days ahead of us, but they should be managable once we hit the flats. i hope.gobbles says hi.....
Date: 2008-08-07
From: Rainbow Stream Shelter

To: Katahdin Stream Campground/Millanocket
Miles today: 24.9
Weather: light rain

today was one of the most miserable hiking days we have had out here, but it ended on a realy good note.it rained all night, and then continued all day. yay... we got to hike in the rain all day. we had to deal with giant puddles, mud (lots and lots and lots and lots of mud), slippery wet roots (lots and lots of those) and wet slippery rocks. and 2 river fords. the trail was flat for the most part, only some minor climbs, but it was like hiking through an obstacle course. all that was missing was a gym teacher blowing a whistle and yelling at you. and it was raining. did i mention how it was raining all day? we did the 25 miles in 10 hours, and finished by 4:30, but it felt like a lot longer than that.we stopped at the abol bridge camp store and got lunch, and that was good, but we ended up sitting in a shed to eat, because that was the only place out of the rain. we got microwave sandwiches, but that was fine - they were warm.at the end of the day, we saw a moose and her calf. that was cool. we sat and watched for a few minutes. then when we got to the campground, we got a ride down to millanocket, so we could stay here tonight, warm and cozy. we were going to try to stay at the birches - the shelter reserved for thru hikers, but only 8 people can fit in the shelter, and we were numbers 9 and up. so we would have had to tent. that makes me super glad we are here. that would have sucked to have to stay out in the rain after hiking in it all day. i am showered, well fed (spinach lasagna, garlic bread and a salad for dinner) and i am sitting in a real bed with sheets, and we even did our laundry. my socks still smell bad, but it is not too bad at the moment.tomorrow is the big climb, and the weather is supposed to be worse than today. then we will dive straight home to maryland. i can't wait.
Date: 2008-08-18
To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

What a summer it has been. Record rainfall in the Northeast, flooding, new experiences, hanging out on the AT...I've spent the last two months working for the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, leading a trail crew on Stratton Mountain, on the Appalachian Trail in Southern Vermont. Those of you on the trail now know that it's a huge mud pit down there because both July and August (and maybe June, too; I can't remember) had over 8 inches of rain. It was a mess. I was soaked and slimed without a chance to dry off for weeks at a time. But it was a good time. And hopefully that one mile of the AT is easier to traverse now because of my efforts.The job ended yesterday, and I'm trying to get a job with the Green Mountain Club for the year. That would mean relocating semi-permanently to Vermont, which is a bit scary, but the people I've met at VYCC are amazing, and I'd be hanging out with them a bit longer. Since I won't know if I have the job for at least a few weeks, I'm just going to hike for a while.I've had plans to hike Katahdin and the 100-Mile Wilderness at the end of this summer for a while, so the time is now. My college buddy Yvonne is flying into Portland tonight, I'm picking her and her friend up there, driving home to Belfast, and tomorrow we'll be staying in Millinocket for a hike up the Big K the next day. Not much time for planning, but that's the best way, I think.I'm in Vermont this morning. Tonight I'll be in Belfast. Tomorrow night in Millinocket, and the night after on the AT. Here we go!