morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-07-23
From: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to

To: Non-designated campsite near Maine Rte. 4
Miles today: 18.3

[Note: Readers may have noticed that I used the term "non-designated" when referring to our campsite. Others might have called that a "stealth" campsite, but I follow the understanding that a stealth campsite implies some degree of illegality in the campsite location. For instance, camping in a cemetery, on private property without permission, or in pay sites without paying would all be examples I would consider stealth camping, whereas camping in an appropriate spot in a national forest that allows camping is just...camping.]Today was another long day, this time in terms of terrain and mileage. After a nice stroll down Spaulding Mountain and Lone Mountain [ed. note: not sure why I wrote that since I did my first face plant while coming down Spaulding Mountain], we descended to and crossed Oberton Stream (easy rock hop). From there, it got progressively worse. We first climbed Poplar Ridge then Saddleback Junior. From there we had monstrous climbs up the Horn and Saddleback proper. We were rewarded with superb views at Saddleback Junior, the Horn, and Saddleback. The climb from the Horn to Saddleback was mostly through alpine meadows -- quite spectacular. The descent from Saddleback, while not terrible, was long, rocky, and rooted. We finally arrived at Piazza Rock Lean-to only to find that it was full (mostly with hikers who had slacked in Rangeley). We opted to hike to a spot near the road (Maine Rte. 4) to make tomorrow's run into town faster. I am really looking forward to having something good to drink. I really crave Cokes, sweet tea, milk, and juice while hiking.
Date: 2012-07-24
From: Non-designated campsite near Maine Rte. 4

To: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: light rain

Today started off wet as it rained heavily overnight. Some of the seams of my rain-fly tarp tent wetted-out, so I need to address that if my tenting set-up is going to be viable in all weather. It was a quick jaunt to Maine Rte. 4. Fortunately, though Rangeley is nine miles off-trail, we had easy hitches both ways. We were dropped at the IGA then moved on to the laundromat where the clerk was extremely hospitable. He let us leave our packs and laundry when we went to lunch at Sarge's "Bar and Grub." The large burger and fries were filling. After errands in town, we headed right back out on the trail.Fortunately, it was a very level section. We hiked 4.8 miles to Little Swift River Pond Campsite. On my own, I probably would have opted to stay there as it was already after 5 PM. I get a bit irritated when I arrive at a campsite after dark. We proved to have plenty of time to get here, though. One event that deserves note is that I finally selected a trail name today. I have taken the name Stilts, I suppose as a reflection of my long legs that I display prominently in my short tennis shorts. At Swift River Pond, a NOBO was giving me grief for not having a trail name that far into the trip, so he and Tracker started coming up with names to call me (this can be a very dangerous thing). They wanted to call me Legs, so I quickly intervened with the compromise of Stilts. The last thing I need is to get pink-blazed by guys reading trail registers who want to meet "Legs."
Date: 2012-07-25
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to

To: Black Brook Campsite
Miles today: 17.0

Today was back to the grind after yesterday's half day in town.The day started with some excitement. Very early in the morning Tracker started tapping me. I thought he was just wanting me to get moving so that we could hit the trail exceptionally early, so I just ignored him. He tapped again and again. By the time I finally sat-up, he informed me that there had been a moose that walked right in front of the open face of the shelter and he had been tapping me so that I could see the moose. The hike started with a pleasant stroll along Moxie Pond, though leave it to MATC to find a way to add steep ups and downs to every section. We crossed Maine Rte. 17 where there was an extraordinary view of the Bemis Range and a lake below. From the highway, we dropped steeply to and rock-hopped across an unnamed stream (at least unnamed in our guidebook, though I am sure it has a name). From the stream, it was a moderate climb (I probably would have called it hard ten days ago) to the Bemis ridges. While no one part was "stunning," the ridge was open in several spots with rock domes and good views back toward Maine Rte. 17 and Moxie Pond. We continued across the ridge, which was only a slight elevation change, but still rocky and rooted and thereby slow. The last climb of the day was to Old Blue Mountain, elevation 3,600 ft. Again, nice but not spectacular views. The descent to here was steep, then leveled-off, then again became steep as we dove down into a gorge. Tomorrow will be a hard day terrain-wise, and there is a likelihood of rain. We also nearly got chased out of this campsite by no-see-ums and a NOBO couple that apparently did not want to share the campsite. They have actually been nice to us, but you could tell they were hoping for some "alone" time.
Date: 2012-07-26
From: Black Brook Campsite

To: Frye Notch Lean-to
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was another hard day with less than 15 miles to show for our efforts. The day started with an incredibly steep climb up Moody Mountain, an extreme descent to Sawyer Notch, and another climb to Hall Mountain. We re-grouped at Hall Mountain Lean-to. The next six miles, minus a brief and moderate climb up Wyman Mountain, were level or downhill and nice trail. The trail bottomed-out at East B Hill Road. From there, the trail climbed to Dunn Notch, a very tight gorge, and beside Dunn Notch Falls. The next four miles to Frye Notch were tiring as the trail climbed steeply, there were a few rock scrambles, and plenty of roots on which to trip. Tracks and I arrived in the 3 o'clock hour, which left a lot of time for lounging, relaxing, and, very unusually for us, building a fire.We have a girls' sleep-away adventure camp group tenting nearby the lean-to tonight. As we were starting to pull out our dinner items, several of the girls came up to the shelter giggling and holding a large cooking pot. They explained that they had made a high-calorie dish using couscous and several other ingredients, but had messed up the recipe portions. Rather than just pitching the dish, they asked us if we would like to have it. We took the rather large cooking pot, and Silver Surfer and I took modest bowl-fulls of the dish. Tracks, however, decided that he was going to take advantage of the free calories. He thought that he could improve the dish by adding almost an entire block of cheese. Silver Surfer and I quickly realized that the dish became harder to eat with each spoonful to the point that it was inedible after about ten spoonfuls. The out-of-portion ingredients simply became too much to stomach. Tracks realized the same thing, only he was either stuck with a huge pot that became increasingly sickening or was out an entire block of cheese. He made the right call -- he got rid of the entire pot, cheese and all.
Date: 2012-07-29
From: Trident Col Campsite

To: White Mountains Lodge and Hostel / US Rte. 2
Miles today: 6.9

Today was a slack day. We hiked less than seven miles from Trident Col Campsite to this hostel near Gorham. The weather started off foggy, but I was walking in moderately heavy rain by the time I reached the flat sections of trail just north of town. I passed Silver Surfer at Mt. Hayes, and he was in a miserable state. The poor man had gotten soaked while hiking yesterday, had water running into his tent all night, and got violently sick (i.e. throwing-up) on top of that [there was a hiker virus going around that affected more than half of the through-hikers in that section]. Talk about a lousy night!The hostel is a beautiful New England house. It used to be a bed-and-breakfast before the current owners acquired it last year. The grounds are impressive, the service friendly, and, like most hostels I have stayed in, the bunk room is hot, stuffy, and loud. We have the windows open to allow for cool air, but that also allows the noise from the road traffic, particularly logging trucks that blast by on the highway. The staff shuttled us to WalMart and fast food, and the day has been spent watching TV -- an inspirational documentary about a rock-climbing near disaster and lots of Olympic coverage from London.
Date: 2012-07-30
From: White Mountains Lodge and Hostel / US Rte. 2

To: Rattle River Shelter
Miles today: 1.9
Weather: light rain

I did not sleep very well in the bunk room last night. Between the heat, noise from the road, and my body not being used to a real bed, I was restless. Breakfast this morning was provided by the hostel as part of our fee. While not all-you-can-eat, it was very good and filling including real orange juice. I was of a split mind as I would have loved to have taken a true zero, but felt compelled to keep moving as well as to save money. Silver Surfer and I went with the shuttle to WalMart to look for hiking poles. I ended up buying just one single pole at WalMart, while Silver Surfer opted for the expensive route by buying a bona fide set from the local outfitter. I have a feeling I might have been pence wise but pound foolish by taking the cheap option.We officially lost Tracks as a hiking partner today. He wanted to ramp up the miles in the Whites to 20 plus. No thanks, though I wish him lots of luck and part with him, as far as I am aware, as friends.The shuttle today seemed to forget our group at WalMart, so we ended up staying there for over two hours. By the time we got back to the hostel and got packed, it really felt like we should just chalk the day up and take a zero. But, in the end, Silver Surfer and I decided to make it out of town, even if for no other reason than to break the town's vortex. We didn't even hike two miles, and even the little hiking we did was on flat ground. Nevertheless, we are back in the woods and ready to conquer the Whites. Plus, we had a good day in that we got some new gear, fattened up on more town food, rested our bodies, and got our gear dry in the sun, so all was not lost.Tomorrow it's back to business as we tackle Mt. Moriah, the Carter Range, and hopefully Wildcat Mountain. Tonight, we are camped with the Principal and Blueberry. The shelter is located in a nice setting with the river just to our west.
Date: 2012-07-31
From: Rattle River Shelter

To: Carter Notch AMC Hut
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today started off well with a modest climb along (and over) the Rattle River then up Mt. Moriah. My new WalMart hiking pole seemed to be a good aid. I took the side trail to the summit of Mt. Moriah and was under-impressed. The trail on the other side of the mountain was nice as it passed through a semi-alpine setting. I checked out the Imp Campsite before meeting up with Silver Surfer at the campsite trail junction with the AT. The trail up Carter Mountain, with its multiple peaks, was hard but more just tedious. I felt low on energy climbing Mt. Hight, though it may have been the best view of the day. The constant trail changes contributed to Silver Surfer missing the turn for Mt. Hight. Fortunately, the trail he was on reconnected with the AT. Unfortunately, I opted to wait for him on top of Mt. Hight for about a half-hour before finally deciding something was amiss. I pressed on climbing over Carter Dome and down the extremely steep and rocky trail to here. When I arrived, I was shocked to find Silver Surfer waiting on me with the good news that he and I had been accepted for work-for-stay at the hut.Silver Surfer and I got a crash course on how the AMC hut system works in regards to through-hikers. The huts often will take two to four through-hikers for work-for-stay at small huts, and more at larger huts. Arriving before about 4:15 is a foul and will usually earn a through-hiker an invitation to keep on moving for the day. However, arriving after about 4:30 runs the risk that other through-hikers, or those claiming to be through-hikers, will have taken all of the spots. In our case, an older man arrived just before dinner claiming to be a through-hiker. He was granted work-for-stay, also. Yet, due to having only three guests, one of whom skipped the meal, the next through-hiker was not as lucky. As it turned out, the older man could not honestly be called a through-hiker under just about any definition. He had hiked Springer, but then went off-trail at the North Carolina border. He then skipped up to Pennsylvania for a few miles before skipping even farther north. Even that day he had ridden the gondola up Wildcat Mountain rather than hiking from Pinkham Notch. The guy who got turned away was a true-blue GAME hiker. So, ironically, the one person who had hiked over 1,800 miles got turned away while two relatively new MEGAs and one tour hiker got the gig. But, that's the game in the AMC hut system.Now, work-for-stay does truly involve work. Tonight, Silver Surfer and I, in exchange for a spot on the dining room floor and hearty leftovers, cleaned and reorganized the refrigerator, defrosted the freezer, and placed mouse traps. The hut itself is a very neat building with thick stone walls, strange hiking artifacts, and books in every nook and cranny. This hut is staffed during the summer months by three college-aged students.Tomorrow we face-off with Wildcat and head into the true Presidentials.
Date: 2012-08-01
From: Carter Notch AMC Hut

To: Osgood Campsite
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Silver Surfer and I planned to make it to Madison Spring AMC Hut tonight, but we were slower to Pinkham Notch than expected, took a long break including lunch at the deli at Pinkham Notch, and got caught in the rain after leaving Pinkham Notch. So, Madison, along with Jefferson and Washington (lots of fellow Virginians here) will just have to wait. We had a nice morning at Carter Notch. We weren't given breakfast, but the young woman working there gave us more leftovers from last night. Wildcat was all around tedious, my new favourite word. The multiple ups and downs on the ridge were tedious, as was the ridiculously steep descent to the flats before the Visitors Center. I did have one funny encounter with a GAME hiker as I came down Wildcat. The woman, whose trail name I forgot, asked for my opinion on the trail difficulty in southern Maine. I told her, quite honestly even if a bit starkly, that I thought it was every bit as tough as rumored. She chided me for being a downer. So, to fix that, I told her that she had already met so many challenges and was so close to the end that southern Maine would be no problem for her. As I walked away, I heard her say to one of her hiking partners that she hated it when people blew sunshine like that. That's what I call unable to be pleased!The trail was surprisingly flat or moderate this side of the Visitors Center, but the rain really hampered progress. Silver Surfer and I, however, did arrive at a good new goal -- making it out of New Hampshire by the 10th, both of our one-month dates from Katahdin. Today I also met the hiking trio of Lucky, Rocket, and dog Bear. They are also camped here at Osgood.
Date: 2012-08-03
From: Lakes of the Clouds AMC Hut

To: Ethan Pond Fee Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: light intensity shower rain

I had a fitful night of sleep at Lakes of the Clouds. This morning, after helping with more kitchen chores, we were treated to an another incredible meal -- literally a heaping mound of eggs. The breakfast work-for-eat did, however, cause us to get off to a late start (after 9 AM). That is the trade-off of using the hut work-for-stay system. If one were to hike from one hut to another, it would be an incredibly short day as he or she would get a late start at the originating hut and would have to report to the destination hut at the usual 4:20(ish) -- hmm, I wonder if it's a coincidence that arriving at 4:20 seems to be when the hut managers are in their best mood...Hiking today was mostly downhill, though not always easy. We started in the high country and went lower and lower every step throughout the day. At US Rte. 302, we were at less than 1,500 ft. elevation, which is incredible considering how high in elevation we had been only hours earlier at Mt. Washington (and even the hut was over 5,000 ft.). The cliffs along Mt. Webster were quite spectacular and jagged. I felt bad thinking of the NOBO hikers having to hike up to Webster Cliffs from US Rte. 302, but SOBOs got hit as bad, and probably worse, at Mt. Madison. The trail has a way of evening things out, at least over the long run. It was a surprisingly easy grade from US Rte. 302 (Crawford Notch) to here.Ethan Pond is a beautiful site and reminds me of the trail in Maine. There is a very loud church group camping at the tent platforms tonight along with a few NOBOs who are hanging out with the caretaker at his tent, and Onward, a fellow MEGA hiker we met in Gorham. We are probably going to be lazy tomorrow and shoot for work-for-stay at Galehead Hut -- only 11 miles away.
Date: 2012-08-04
From: Ethan Pond Fee Shelter

To: Galehead Mountain AMC Hut
Miles today: 11.8

Today turned out to be a little more slack than I preferred [not sure why I wrote that since we were planning to go to Galehead. Maybe I changed my mind on that overnight]. Silver Surfer and I ended up doing just 11.8 miles.The first five miles from Ethan Pond to Zealand Falls AMC Hut were perfectly flat. I loved every flat, root-free step that I took. We ate some free pancakes that had been left at the hut and saw Onward, Lucky, Rocket, and Bear (dog) while breaking there. The climb up Zealand Mountain and Zeacliff wasn't terrible, just tiring. We had good views at Gayot Mountain and, toward the end of the day, superb views at South Twins Mountain. Ironically, Silver Surfer and I talked about having to take it slow to get our timing right for arriving here, but we ended up arriving at about the right time without intentionally changing our pace. Silver Surfer, Onward, and I took a major gamble and had a moment of MEGA unity by approaching the hut manager as an all-or-nothing team of work-for-stayers. The manager lectured us a bit about how that's not how the system works, but she reluctantly took us on anyhow. Boy, I am glad it worked out because the hut served a full turkey dinner tonight. It was Thanksgiving in August, which is a good time for a MEGA hiker to have that sort of meal! Why wait until after the trail is complete? We met Camera, a nice GAME hiker from Tennessee who earned his trail name by taking constant pictures and videos, especially of the people he was meeting. Tomorrow, we hope to make Lincoln, New Hampshire! Even with the food we have been getting from the huts, town is still just as big of a thrill.
Date: 2012-08-05
From: Galehead Mountain AMC Hut

To: Liberty Spring Fee Campsite
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: light rain

Today was, honestly, disappointing. We had a great breakfast at Galehead Hut, but that also got us off to a very late start. We had a short downhill followed by a moderate climb up Garfield Ridge. We didn't go to the campsite / shelter there. After cresting the ridge (no view due to fog), we descended past Garfield Pond. From there, we began a long, sometimes steep ascent of Mt. Lafayette. The hike became especially cool after breaking the treeline. The mountain began to remind me of Mt. Madison with lots of rocky false summits. Toward the top of the ridge, the wind was howling at tropical storm strength. We hunkered down for lunch in an area that had been developed as a wind block for just such days. Some nice day hikers from Greenleaf Hut gave me some cookies. Unfortunately, the views were quite limited by the continued fog, though the wind did blow the fog off on occasion giving decent views with about ten miles of visibility. Mt. Lincoln and Haystack Mountain were much the same. Moderate rain began falling as I reached the end of the exposed ridge and reentered the treeline. I stopped here thinking that Silver Surfer and I would just regroup before continuing to Lincoln, NH, but Silver Surfer talked me into stopping for the night. I am growing concerned that we are getting too lax. Maybe the issue will cure itself after we get out of the touristy section of the Whites, namely once we get beyond Moosilauke.
Date: 2012-08-06
From: Liberty Spring Fee Campsite

To: Econolodge, Lincoln, New Hampshire
Miles today: 2.8

After last night's entry, things went downhill quickly. A storm started up around 9 PM, and, actually, the storm was only of moderate intensity. The problem was that the lousy AMC fee campsite had major drainage issues, and I was quickly in a pond of water while Silver Surfer was in a creek. When I tried to move my tent site in the middle of the storm, everything I owned got soaked including my down sleeping bag. After floundering for an hour or so, I finally got my tent re-pitched on a sloping rock. It was extremely uncomfortable, but at least it wasn't under water. The rest of the night, I was barely able to maintain my body temperature as I was in a soaked bag. Morning finally broke after a very long night, and Silver Surfer and I made quickly for Interstate 93 and Lincoln. Following the advice of Grover, an experienced through-hiker we had met in Maine and again at Gorham, we went past Franconia Notch, found an informal trail right along the side of I-93, and walked about a quarter-mile on the interstate to the next exit. We were able to get a hitch from local teacher who dropped us off at the laundromat. We immediately went about washing and drying our clothes and drying our sleeping bags. From there, we went and nearly took up residence at the local McDonald's buying multiple rounds from the dollar menu and sucking down Coke and sweet tea. We headed to the Comfort Inn, but due to a Jewish convention in town, they were mostly booked and expensive for the remaining rooms. Nevertheless, the clerk was quite nice and even called around to other motels and hotels for a room on a hiker's budget. We ended up here at the Econolodge in North Lincoln. The hotel is nice with two pools, a hot tub, and a sauna, all of which we used. We each had a pizza delivered for dinner. I am very much looking forward to a real night of sleep! Hopefully, once Silver Surfer and I are well rested tomorrow, we can begin to seriously step-up the mileage now that we have cleared the most touristy area of the Whites and won't have to deal with huts.