morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-09-13
From: US 2

To: Genitan Pond Shelter
Miles today: 11.8

I was up and out of the hostel by 6:45am in order to catch the early shuttle back to trail at 7am. About a mile of two down trail I realized that I forgot my tyvek ground clothe at the Hostel. Doh! I was going to call Opus and have him send my Hubba tent ground clothe by my phone turned on in my pack¢¦AGAIN and went dead. Dangit! I guess it¢s shelter sleeping for me for awhile.The first 6 miles of the hike were easy and I think Powernap and I took it for granted, by taking a lot of breaks. By noon we still had 10 miles to go. Piece of cake right? Wrong. The next 5 miles took more than 3 hours and after a break at Gentian Pond Shelter, it was 4pm. Too late to do another 5 miles on this terrain to the next shelter without night hiking. Crossing into Maine will have to wait til tomorrow. We were also cold and wet from bad weather again today. So home was made 5 miles early today.Our company was made up of Spoon, Joker, Zamboni, Watermelon, (Team, team), Connecticut Bob, Powernap, Dutch, Fresh and myself. We all crammed into the shelter and tried to warm up while we cooked dinner.I¢m exhausted. Time for bed at the new hiker midnight of 8pm.
Date: 2010-09-14
From: Genitan Pond Shelter

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: light rain

Woke up at 6am this morning and the Team Team crew was already up and getting ready to leave. The days are getting shorter and the terrain is getting tougher, so an early start is the only way to cover distance. Power Nap and I left at 7:30am and were pretty confident that we could make 14 miles today. We started with cloudy skies with small patches of blue. The sun was teasing us mostly since it was all rain, wind and clouds today. The first big climb was up Mt. Success which took about an hour. There weren¢t any grand rock scrabbles but the mud was in full force again today. I¢ve just gotten used to having wet boots these days. Shortly after Mt. Success came my final state border crossing into the great state of Maine. It was a good feeling to cross that border and I feel like I am almost done with this thing. As much as I have enjoyed my thru-hike, I am ready to move on to something else. Not being cold and wet anymore would also be nice. I took a few photos at the summit sign and drank a beer for good measure. The next 5 miles proved to be very difficult with rock climbs, endlessly deep mud puddles and bogs, blowing wind, rain and clouds, steep inclines, slippery boardwalks and rock slides. I walked at about a one mile per hour. By the time we hit Full Goose Shelter, it was already 4pm. It took 8 hours to go 9.5 miles. It is incredible how terribly time consuming this section of trail is. I no longer believe that I will make it to Rangeley by Saturday morning. I am now crammed in the shelter with 8 other hikers. I sure hope I can make the 12 miles I have planned for tomorrow. :Z
Date: 2010-09-15
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 9.7
Weather: broken clouds

Power Nap and I got another early start today leaving before everyone else at 7:30am. It was so difficult to put on ice cold wet boots. I don¢t think I could feel my toes for a good hour. We reached the south end of the Mahoosuc Notch just before 9am and it took us 2 hours to reach the other end one mile north. Why did it take so long you ask? Well, because the notch is riddled with boulders the size of houses that you climb up, over, under, along side to get through. I¢ve heard of three hikers who have snapped trekking poles in half here and one who dislocated their shoulder. Even though it took so long, it was kind of fun. I had to remove my pack 6 times to heave it up over rocks or push it through openings under the rocks. Next we climbed the Mahoosuc Arm which was more hand over hand climbs up muddy and rocky ¢trail¢ (a stream was running right down the middle). By the time we were half a mile from the Speck Pond Shelter, the rain turned into hail causing us both to laugh at how ridiculous we both are for being out in all this day after day . . . voluntarily! I guess being warm and dry is overrated or something. There was one more tricky uphill after the shelter and then a pretty long and gradual decent down to Grafton Notch. It was actually nice to have a real trail again that I didn¢t think I was going to break my neck on.By the time we reached the notch the friction burn that had been working on my ankles from the wet, worn out boots I was wearing had gotten so bad I could hardly walk. So, we got a ride into Bethel and are staying at the Chapman Inn.I¢ve got to figure out this boot situation.
Date: 2010-09-16
From: Grafton Notch

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

My ankles felt a little better this morning and I could walk a little better, but the skin on the top of my ankles is still raw and very tender. I¢m afraid that it would just get bad again if I try to continue on without new boots. I have a pair sitting in Rangeley, ME but that is 45 miles from Grafton. So after a quick resupply, P-Nap and I took a shuttle up to Rangeley, but when we got to the post office there, my boots hadn¢t arrived. I had just been driven 2 hours north around the mountains for nothing. So P-Nap and I checked into the Gull Pond Hostel to wait for the boots tomorrow. This is a bit stressful since I am crunched for time. My dad is meeting me in Baxter State Park in 18 days and I still have 267 mile to hike.
Date: 2010-09-17
From: Grafton Notch

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I slept well last night which tells me that my body needed some recoup time. I waited til just before noon to call the PO again and again my boots were not there. We have now burned two days off of the trail and I am stressing out. We are now staying one more day at the Hostel in hopes that my boots will arrive tomorrow. If they aren¢t there, I¢ll have to pony up the money to buy a new pair. It is nice to see some old faces up here in Rangeley though. It is incredible how many thru-hikers are all bunched together here at the end. I spent the evening sitting by Gull Pond right outside of the hostel with Wolfpack, Hook and Fluffy chatting over drinks as the sun set. It was a beautiful evening.We have a full house at the hostel tonight and P-Nap and I volunteered to tent outside to make space. Crossing my fingers for my boots to arrive tomorrow.
Date: 2010-09-18
From: Grafton Notch

To: Frye Notch Lean-to
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, the miracle of all miracles happened today and my box magically appeared at the PO this morning. Now I had my boots, four days of resupply food, I¢m showered and my laundry is done . . . time to hit the trail. But first, to pull off a 2 hour hitch on small country Maine roads back to Grafton Notch. Doh!Our first hitch took up out of town ten miles to where Rt 17 splits from Rt 16 west. Our second hitch took us ten more miles down Rt 16 west. At this point, we were starting to think this was going to be a long day. But as good fortune would have it, our third hitch was a retired man named Bruce that was heading to Grafton Notch to enjoy this beautiful day in nature. Score! I couldn¢t believe our luck. We actually got back on trail at 1:30p today. The parking lot at Grafton Notch was packed! Everyone was out to enjoy the beautiful Saturday weather.Hiking up Baldpate Mountain was a chug, but the trail was much better than the last 30 miles so it didn¢t seem too bad. We made it to the Frye Notch Shelter by evening and planned to get an early start tomorrow. I¢m hoping to make the 40 miles to Rangeley in two and a half days. Onward and upwards!
Date: 2010-09-19
From: Frye Notch Lean-to

To: Campsite 1 mile S. Mt Old Blue
Miles today: 15.9

I was the first up at the shelter, so I got to be that jerk that makes all the noise that wakes everyone up. P-Nap and I started hiking at about 7am and made quick time to the road 4.5 miles away. The sun made an appearance at daybreak with beautiful crimson light poking out between the horizon the clouds above. It was short lived and the sun quickly passed behind the cloud cover. It was overcast all day but no rain! It was cool and nice to hike today.The first 10 miles of the day were pretty easy given the terrain, but the endless mud sure slowed us down. Rock hopping can quickly slow my pace. After Hall Mountain Lean-to, we had a quick decent down to a brook. The next challenge? Well Mt. Moody of coarse. Now Mt. Moody is already a very steep mountain and is difficult to climb. But this season, there had been a rock slide that had taken out a good part of the trail. So we had a good hike up and over boulders and along muddy rock shelves with long drops below. All part of the fun right? We hit Black Brook at the base of Old Blue Mountain at about 5:30p with about an hour left of daylight. We decided to ascend a bit to gain a mile or two. The first mile of the climb up Old Blue is extremely steep (I mean like ladder steep) and quickly tired my already tired legs. I was very happy when I finally got to set up my tent and eat and lay down. Views from Old Blue on the ascent were phenomenal. We looked over the valley far below and caught glimpses of mountains we had already come over in the distance. Good day. Goodnight.
Date: 2010-09-20
From: Campsite 1 mile S. Mt Old Blue

To: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: few clouds

I got a little bit of a late start today at 7:45am. The easy 19 miles I had planned for today quickly changed when the trail yielded more muddy trails for miles. It makes for slow progress when you are hopping from rock to rock and tree root to tree root. My advice for future hikers, DON¢T PLAN. Just go with it and finish when you finish. It will make for a better thru-hike.The rest of the climb up Old Blue Mountain was relatively easy and the view was awesome! The next 6 miles took us along a ridgeline to Bemis Mountain through some amazing conifers forests and rich muddy soils. P-Nap and I stopped for lunch at the Bemis Mountain Lean-to and ran into Babalu. I was sure he was way ahead of us due to our two-days off of trail. Turns out he got sick with something resembling Guardia or food poisoning or something and was laid up for two days. Ah, the life of a thru-hiker.The 8 miles after the Bemis Lean-to to Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to were cake and we arrived here by 5:30pm. I was hoping we¢d go further today but we are both pretty tired.Now we have 9 miles into the town of Rangeley, ME to resupply and then 5 or 6 more miles to get up and over Saddleback Mountain. Big day tomorrow.Sidenote: Saw a lot of grouse today and moose poop but no moose. Sure hope I get to see one before the end.
Date: 2010-09-21
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to

To: Piazza Rock Lean-to
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: clear sky

Woke up to the sound of loons calling across the pond and a red horizon where the sun was starting to rise. Maine is really quite beautiful and more rustic then the rest of the trail. The leaves have been changing for a week or so now and the forest is filled with golden hues of marigold and bright, fiery reds which put a nice contrast to the evergreen trees here. It is breathtaking.It was 9 miles into the town of Rangely from the Sabbath Day Lean-to and it was flat and wonderful. It is so nice to hike on flat ground for a little while and remember the days when miles were much easier. ?I came around one bend in the trail and caught what I thought was a large bird of prey flying across the trail. But it looked too fat and fluffy to be a hawk or something. Then it landed on a branch nearby and turned it¢s head 180 degrees to look at me. It was an owl! I have been hoping to see one all trip and here it is! It was large with grey, black and white feather. Not sure what kind it was. This totally made my day. And when it flew away, it made no sound at all. What a cool animal.We hitched into Rangeley for a resupply and some town food and then hiked 2 miles further to make camp. We spent the night around a camp fire while Gummi Bear and Food Network sang songs and played the mandolin. It was a good day. ?No rain either!
Date: 2010-09-25
From: Stratton, ME (ME 27)

To: Safford Notch Camp
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up feeling a little better today. Still feeling nauseous and not much like eating, but we have to make some miles so we took a 9am shuttle back to the trail with the motel manager and fellow hikers Tecalota and Vernado. They are a father son team that is thru-hiking this year and the son is only eight-years old! Pretty cool!The first 2 miles out were flat and easy and I gained a false sense of recovery from this. The next 3 miles gain steadily up Bigelow Mnt and I was pouring sweat and fighting for breath. Climbing these hills is so hard in my weakened state. I started to think that this may be the end for me. I hit the Horns Pond Lean-to and met back up with Power Nap. He wasn¢t feeling well either. I shared with him my concern about being able to finish this thru-hike in my weakened state and his reply to me (with a cold-stone face) was, ¢you¢re going to give up?¢ It was enough to snap me back into the reality of how much I had fought to get to where I am now. Giving up this close to the finish line was not an option for me. So I do shorter days. So I feel sick. So what. Fight. Fight for what I know I am capable of achieving. So I ate a snickers bar and drank a liter of water and chugged onward. The food really helped and my body amazingly didn¢t reject it. The fuel helped to carry me up to the top of Bigelow Mnt at a slow pace. Powernap is sick now too and we look like a couple of novice backpackers inching up this mountain instead of hikers that have hiked 2,000+ miles. It¢s humbling to say the least.The view from the top of Avery Peak was spectacular with valleys filled with fall colors and mountains in every direction. We also got a good view of Flagstaff Lake. We hoped to make it 5 miles further than where we are but we are both exhausted. So we are at Stafford Notch Campsite where it is rumored there is a problem bear. We hung our food high tonight. I asked Powernap if he thought our bear bag was high enough and he said, ¢No bear is going to get that unless he is a 20 foot bear and then we have worse problems.¢ Lol, true that. Oh! We also saw an Ermine today. It¢s a little weasel about the size and coloring of a red squirrel but with a longer body. We were stopped on trail talking to a sectin hiker and this little guy kept popping up on both sides of the trail from little hide outs he had burrowed under the mosey ground cover. He kept coming closer and closer. He was really cute. Although, I heard these things are fierce as well and can easily take down a rabbit or bird. Pretty sweet!
Date: 2010-09-26
From: Safford Notch Camp

To: East Carry Pond
Miles today: 16.3

I could have slept all morning and I think P-nap felt the same way. Whatever this bug is, it really zaps your energy. I ate my leftover dinner for breakfast. First time on trail that I couldn¢t finish a meal. A mouse of chipmunk got into P-nap¢s food bag last night. We are still trying to figure out how that happened since there is no hole and the bag was up in a tree. It¢s the Houdini of mice I guess.We finally left camp at 8am and made slow progress up little Bigelow Mnt. It was noon by the time we hit the shelter on the other side. Man, I can¢t catch a break with mileage lately. Luckily, the terrain flattened out after this and we were able to really cruise.All the hills are covered in fall foliage and cloud topped summits and our views of this from Flagstaff Lake were incredible! We sat there awhile and skipped stones. It was a nice break.We made it 4 miles past West Carry Pond Lean-to to a campsite at East Carry Pond. We are camped with one south-bounder, two flip-floppers and a fellow Nobo named Patch. We were hoping to get further so that we could have a chance at catching the 9-11am ferry across the Kennebec River in the morning but the day went too fast. We have 9 miles more to go. Gotta hike fast tomorrow.
Date: 2010-09-27
From: East Carry Pond

To: Caratunk, ME (US 201)
Miles today: 9.9

We were up and out of camp by 7am hiking fast. P-nap is pretty sick, so he is hiking slow, but still keeping within a 10 minute hike of me. I hauled ass thinking that if as least I could make is to the ferry by 11am, I could talk the ferry guy into waiting for P-nap to arrive. I got to the crossing at 10:55am and told the guy what was up. He agreed to wait. Luckily P-nap showed at 11:05am and we got across on the last ferry of the morning. Patch was not so lucky and showed up just five minutes after the guy had left. Fording the Kennebec River is possible but tricky and dangerous. Patch would have to wait 3 more hours til the next ferry service. So instead, he forded. He found a good ¢shallow¢ spot and slowly walked across. It took him 30 minutes and the water came up to his belly button at one point. P-nap and I stuck around to make sure he didn¢t get into trouble. It is now afternoon at this point and P-nap is still feeling pretty ill. So instead of the 10-15 more miles we were going to hike, we hitched down the road to the Northern outdoors Center where we got a cabin and a shower. I got to say good-bye to Mike and Laura here since they were going back to PA for Mike¢s sister¢s wedding. They plan of returning to trail after the wedding and continuing on towards Katahdin.After dinner and a couple of fine drafts from the Kennebec Brewing Company I am ready for sleep.
Date: 2010-09-28
From: Caratunk, ME (US 201)

To: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 14.7

Up Burt and Ernie this morning for muffins and coffee at the lodge. Both me and P-nap are sick again. I really have no idea what this thing is. After my muffin, I chugged some Pepto-Bismol and loaded my pack into the shuttle van.We got on trail at 10am and kept a good pace due to the mild terrain. By noon, we were 6 miles in and I choked down a Snickers bar even though I had no appetite. Next was the climb up Pleasant Mnt, which is a cake climb, but we both moved at a snails¢ pace. Getting up and over this mountain took a bit of time but we still made it 15 miles by 5pm. Not bad for a couple of sickies.Highlight of the day? Well seeing a couple of beavers of coarse! We came upon a Beaver Pond, one of many, and I spotted a big one swimming in the water but not alone. Up popped a baby beaver as well. So cute! We watched then awhile while P-nap made comments like, ¢get a job ya hippie!¢ Most hikers do not like beavers because they pollute the water and flood the trails. I still think it was cool to see them.Well, this beaver was no less destructive and a good section of trail was underwater. We had to cross at the beaver dam with its endless tangles of sticks while P-nap made comments like, ¢beavers, what fine engineers.¢Not much of an appetite still but I forced down dinner anyways. I hope this doesn¢t last much longer. I kind of can¢t wait to be done with this trail. 8 more days potentially. Onto Monson tomorrow.
Date: 2010-09-29
From: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: clear sky

Feeling better today after some good sleep last night. Our day started with the climb up and over Moxie Bald Mnt. This took up awhile and we didn¢t reach the shelter on the other side until 11am. Eek! And we still had 15 more miles to go to Monson. There was no view on Moxie Bald due to all the cloud cover.The next 15 miles appeared to be flat on the elevation profile map but the trail was littered with mud puddles and slick rocks. That made fast pace I was looking forward to was quickly slipping from my grip. The trail got better after a few miles and we started flying until we hit the chest deep flooded trail. No joke! The only way across was finding logs about thigh deep down in the water and gingerly walking across without going completely in. Right after that, we forded the Piscataquis River, which was only thigh deep. We did the next 3 miles in under an hour and took a quick lunch break at the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to.Two miles past the shelter we forded the Piscataquis River again and were rewarded with a cooler full of soda on the other side. Score! I love random trail magic!We did the last four miles right before dark. We are now staying as Shaw¢s Hostel in Monson. We had dinner as the Lake Shore House and got to catch up with other hikers. Into the 100 mile wilderness tomorrow. Getting close now!p.s. I <3 showers!p.p.s. Saw a mama moose with calf today. My first moose sighting!
Date: 2010-09-30
From: Monson, ME

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: light rain

Woke up at 6:30am like clockwork and made my way into the main house for the Shaw¢s famous breakfast. It was pretty good, though I still say that the best breakfast on trail was at the Mountain Harbor B&B down in Virginia.I hit the post office after breakfast to pick up my resupply boxes and set to work rationing out my supplies for the 100 mile wilderness. I always pack too much food so I¢m going into this with five days of food. I hope this isn¢t a mistake. :ZI made some phone calls after packing up and then took a long, hot shower. I won¢t get to shower again for a week from now.We finally left town at noon just as the rain started pouring. I was soaked in no time, but it still took a good three hours of walking in the rain to dampen my spirits. I wanted to atop at the first shelter but I had to make the miles. So I walked until after dark to the Wilson Valley Lean-to. I had two thigh deep river fords on the way across Little Wilson and Big Wilson Rivers. I was hoping for a spot in the shelter but it was full by the time I got there. I was in a terrible mood being wet, cold and having to set up my tent in the rain. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse and I¢m not looking forward to that. There is supposed to be 2 inches of rainfall and flash flood warnings. Should make river fording interesting tomorrow. Time for bed. Hiking starts at 7am, rain or no rain.
Date: 2010-10-01
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Cloud Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: heavy intensity rain

We were up and out before any of the other hikers which made me feel even more crazy for hiking in this nonsense. Rainy, windy and cold was on the menu for the day. We made it 5 miles to the Long Pond Stream Lean-to by 11am after two gnarly river fords. High water marks were reached on these riverbanks. There was a log to walk across the Long Pond River, but because of the heavy flow, it was pushed down stream. Pretty fun¢¦no really¢¦We took reprieve in the shelter for about 30 minutes before heading into the madness again. We were aiming for 10 more miles but we were both so miserable by the time we hit Cloud Pond Lean-to, we threw up the white flag in defeat. AT ¢ 1, Cerveza ¢ 0.The side trail to the lean-to was flooded; surprise, surprise and I dunked my boots multiple times. I was literally pouring water out of my boots at the lean-to. I immediately put on dry clothes and got into my sleeping bag to warm up. I was so cold and I vowed not to leave the shelter until the rain stopped.I am sharing the shelter with five section hikers. Powernap is hammocked out back as usual. He doesn¢t like sleeping in shelters no matter how bad the weather. Time for a long sleep. I never want to leave the cocoon of my sleeping bag ever again. ?