morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-08-28
From: Caratunk, ME

To: East Flagstaff Lake Tent Site
Miles today: 19.1

Section hike 2, day 3 - 08/28/19 - 19.1 (55.8 total miles for this section hike, 170.3 grand total AT miles)9:00 AM to 5:10 PMCaratunk, ME 151.2 to East Flagstaff Lake Tent Site170.36:00 AM to 1:00 PMEven with the late start I was able to meet my mileage goal for the day. There were only three significant climbs today and they were all under 1,000 feet of climbing. That is going to change tomorrow when I hit the Bigelow Mountains. From here on out the mountains get much taller. My legs are hurting just thinking about it!No high alpine type views today but there were several waterfalls and lots of other beautiful scenery. I am happy to report that I have only seen one mosquito, the one that bit me today in a boggy area, so far on this hike. Back in July they were terrible. I am also happy to report that my feet are holding up really well, so far. I think that one of the best pieces of advice that I have heard many times is ¢Hike your own hike¢. I mention this because of an experience I had on Monday, my first day on the trail. I was hiking along at my usual pace when this guy comes blasting by me. Naturally I picked up my own pace to match his just to see how long I could keep up with him. I came to my senses and went back to my normal pace when the guy blasted across a wide stream and soaked both of his feet. I had no desire to intentionally get my feet wet so I took the time to put my water shoes on and then cross the stream. Time to turn out the lights and get some sleep. Rain is pattering on my rainfly so maybe that will help me sleep well tonight. Good night all!
Date: 2019-08-29
From: East Flagstaff Lake Tent Site

To: Horns Pond Lean-toÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs
Miles today: 12.8

Section hike 2, day 4 - 08/29/19 - 12.8 (68.6 total miles for this section hike, 183.1 grand total AT miles)6:00 AM to 4:30 PMEast Flagstaff Lake Tent Site 170.3 to Horns Pond Lean-to 183.1Today¢s hike came close to starting out with a big mistake. I was just about to head out of my campsite when I decided to take a look around to ensure that I wasn¢t forgetting anything. Good thing I did. It was still fairly dark and as I shone my headlamp around I saw that my hammock straps were still strapped to the trees. That would have really sucked. My legs took a beating today with two  climbs each in the 2,000 foot range, above tree line, and a couple in the 400-600 foot range. My legs felt like jelly by the end of the day. Don¢t let the 12.8 miles fool ya, it was hard! Most thru-hikers have told me that it takes several hundred miles to get good strong trail legs. Based on that I still won¢t have them when I reach my exit point in Gorham, New Hampshire, assuming I make it there. The breathtaking scenery makes it all worthwhile. While hiking today I met a NoBo hiker who looked very familiar. Turns out that her trail name is Karma and we figured out that we had met on the AT back in June when she was passing through PA and I was out on one of my shakedown hikes. How cool.Heading in to my second trail town tomorrow. Looking forward to a little rest. Good night all!
Date: 2019-08-30
From: Horns Pond Lean-toÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 5.1

Section hike 2, day 5 - 08/30/19 - 5.1 (73.7 total miles for this section hike, 188.2 grand total AT miles)5:30 AM to 8:00 AMHorns Pond Lean-to 183.1 to Stratton 188.2I woke up before my 5:00 AM alarm this morning and decided to pack up and dawn my headlamp for a pre-dawn start. What I thought would be an easy 5 mile hike, mostly downhill, into Stratton turned into a challenging descent of about 2,000 feet over very technical terrain. I am very surprised that my quads and joints aren¢t crying in agony by now but they seem perfectly fine, so far. Today would be considered what thru-hikers call a ¢Nero¢ which is an abbreviation for ¢Near Zero¢. I did a few miles this morning but fell way short of a full day of hiking. My day in Stratton has been spent pigging out on a big breakfast at the Flagstaff General Store, getting a good hot shower, washing all of my clothing (the hostel provides loaner clothes so you can wash everything), going to Fotters Market across the street for food resupply, devouring an amazingly good 8 ounce wolf burger at the White Wolf Inn next door with a few really super nice north bounders (Frodo, Manifest and Sir Mead), updating my journal, chatting with many other hikers and communicating with my loved ones. All-in-all a pretty darn good day. I plan to buy breakfast as early as possible tomorrow morning and then get shuttled about 5 miles back to the trail head. From there I immediately have a 3,000 foot climb to the top of North Crocker Mountain. My next town stop will be Rangeley which is about 32 rough and tough miles to the south. I expect it to take me 3 or 4 days to get there. Lord give me the strength!Good night all!
Date: 2019-08-31
From: Stratton, ME

To: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 13.5

Section hike 2, day 6 - 08/31/19 - 13.5 (87.3 total miles for this section hike, 201.7 grand total AT miles)7:20 AM to 4:00 PMStratton, ME 188.2 to Spaulding Mountain Lean-to 201.7Got on the trail a bit late this morning, at least for me, because my shuttle driver opted to stay out late last night partying and singing karaoke at a local bar. I cut him some slack because he is a really nice guy. Besides, I still made it to my designated shelter with plenty of time to spare before nightfall.I¢m not going to get overly optimistic and assume I am getting my hiker legs already but my legs did feel considerably stronger today. I did a total of about 5,200 feet of elevation gain today over three pretty big mountains. Technical, steep Maine mountains. I¢m thinking it may have had something to do with the two 470 calorie Krispy Kreme glazed cinnamon swirl cakes and a couple of chugs of Papa Smurfs Bull energy drink I consumed just before being dropped off at the trailhead that made the difference:-)It is particularly chilly at the shelter this evening, most likely because it is at 3,122 feet elevation. Lucky for me I have my down vest and for sleeping I have a toasty 20 degree Western Mountaineering sleeping bag. BTW - I have decent cell service this evening because from what I have been told there is a Verizon cell tower on Sugarloaf Mountain which I passed earlier today. Good night to all!
Date: 2019-09-01
From: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to

To: Piazza Rock Lean-to
Miles today: 16.9

Section hike 2, day 7 - 09/01/19- 16.9 (104.3 total miles for this section hike, 218.6 grand total AT miles)6:00 AM to 4:20 PMSpaulding Mountain Lean-to 201.7 to Piazza Rock Lean-to 218.6Did lots of climbing again today. Collectively around 4,300 feet including Poplar Ridge Mountain, Saddleback Junior, The Horn and Saddleback. My legs weren¢t working as well for me today and I¢ve come to the conclusion that it is because I did not have any Krispy Kreme pastries or Red Bull for breakfast :-) I did somehow manage to squeeze in an extra 6.2 miles more than originally planned. The benefit of the extra mileage is that I only have 1.8 miles remaining to get to ME Route 4 tomorrow morning rather than 8 miles had I stopped at my original target. Having done 104 miles so far I suppose that I have surpassed the halfway point with only 80 miles to go to get to Gorham, NH. It may take me just as long or longer to do those remaining 80 miles because many NoBo¢s have told me that the terrain gets even tougher in southern Maine. Oh boy, I can¢t wait!My evening meal was especially tasty this evening. A local family is staying in the lean-to tonight and they invited me to join them for dinner. Spaghetti with homemade spaghetti sauce. Best trail magic I¢ve had so far by far. The town of Rangeley is 9 miles from the trailhead so once I get to the ME Route 4 tomorrow morning I will have to get a ride into town somehow so that I can find a place to spend the night. I need to resupply and rest my weary body a bit before continuing south on the AT. I¢m confident that it will all work out.Good night all!
Date: 2019-09-02
From: Piazza Rock Lean-to

To: ME Route 4 (Rangeley)
Miles today: 1.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Section hike 2, day 8 - 09/02/19 - 1.8 (106.1 total miles for this section hike, 220.4 grand total AT miles)7:00 AM to 8:00 AMPiazza Rock Lean-to 218.6 to ME Route 4 (Rangeley) 220.4The sound of rain on my rainfly woke me up around 3:00 this morning. My first thought was ¢If it is still raining at 5:00, my usual wake up time, I might just stay in my hammock a while longer. After all, today is going to be a Nero day anyway¢.Turned out that is was still raining at 5:00 AM so I stayed snuggled in my hammock until about 6:15. At that point I was getting antsy and wanted to get on the trail so I packed up, said goodbye to my trail angel friends in the shelter and headed towards ME Route 4, rain still falling at a fairly heavy rate. After reaching Route 4 I headed west in the direction of Rangeley with the intention of checking out a place called ¢Hiker Hut¢ about 1/4 mile up the road to see if they had any suggestions as to how I could get to Rangeley, about another 8 3/4 miles down the road. They do offer a shuttle service but said that it would be a couple of hours until they could take me to town and suggested that I try hitchhiking. So back out to the road I went, in the rain, to attempt my first in my lifetime shot at hitching a ride. Traffic going in the Rangeley direction was scarce, only 3 vehicles in the first 15 minutes when all of the sudden a car that was going in the opposite direction that I wanted to go pulled across the road and stopped beside me. Two guys were in the car, one of which is well known and legendary, according to the other guy, thru-hiker by the name of Hawk, and they asked me if I needed a ride into town. I immediately thought, OMG if this isn¢t trail magic I don¢t know what is! So I threw my wetness into their car and off to town we went. They even offered me a good cold coke. A few minutes later we pulled into a place that I had suggested called Fieldstone Cottages to see if they had any vacancies. My luck  continued to flow as they had a perfect little cottage for me to immediately occupy. As it turned out Hawk checked out from wherever he was and got a cottage there too. I will never forget the day those guys went well out of their way to help out a fellow hiker!I got settled into my new temporary home, hung my hammock in an ¢under construction¢ cottage to dry and took a well needed shower. I then walked to a store down the road called Ecopelagicon that had some basic outdoor gear because I needed a new canister of fuel and a Sawyer water filter. A bit later the owner of Fieldstone Cottages was nice enough to drop me off at the local IGA and I resupplied with enough food to get me through to Andover which will be my next town stop about 37 miles down the trail. I also grabbed some goodies to eat this evening rather than taking the time to go out to eat. Good night and Happy Labor Day to all!
Date: 2019-09-03
From: ME Route 4 (Rangeley)

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: clear sky

Section hike 2, day 9 - 09/03/19- 17.7 (123.8 total miles for this section hike, 238.1 grand total AT miles)7:15 AM to 4:15 PMRoute 4 (Rangeley) 220.4 to Bemis Mountain Lean-to 238.1Hawk an I got shuttled to the trailhead and continued our southbound hikes at 7:15 AM. The first hour was dry and then some unexpected rain started which lasted a couple of hours. Needless to say I got quite wet. I was smart enough to put my pack cover over my pack but not smart enough to put my rain jacket on. Later in the morning it cleared off and I air dried as I hiked. It wasn¢t very cold today so the rain was actually a bit refreshing. I did not keep up with Hawk very long because he has already done a NoBo this year and is now doing a SoBo, this is called a YoYo, so his legs are much stronger and he moves faster. I felt a bit energetic today so I extended my day¢s mileage by about four miles beyond what I had planned. Four miles may not sound like a lot but it equates into about two hours of hiking in this terrain, sometimes more. Rain is forecast for tomorrow too, oh boy! Bemis Mountain Second Peak was the only significant mountain climb today. Unfortunately that was near the end of the day when my legs were already tired. Tomorrow I have several big climbs. The road to my next town stop, Andover, is 19 miles down the trail so I will most likely spend another night in the woods before I get there. Word has it that overnight lows are supposed to get down into the high 30¢s later in the week so we¢ll see how that goes, brrr.Good night to all!
Date: 2019-09-04
From: Bemis Mountain Lean-to

To: South Arm Road (Andover, ME)
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: clear sky

Section hike 2, day 10 - 09/04/19 8.7 (133.5 total miles for this section hike, 246.8 grand total AT miles)6:45 AM to 12:00 PMBemis Mountain Lean-to 238.1 to South Arm Road (Andover, ME) 246.8It was tough getting out of my sleeping bag this morning because the weather was really crappy and was forecast to get increasingly worse through the day. I drug myself out anyway and ate some breakfast, packed up and began to slog, I mean hike, my way over 8.7 miles worth of slippery rocks and tree roots, often times on very steep terrain. When I reached a paved road that leads into Andover, South Arm, I had a decision to make. Continue on the additional 4 miles to my destination lean-to or go into town 10 miles earlier than planned to sit out the rain for the night. My decision was made when a pickup truck pulled over at a parking area right at the trailhead. Turns out that the driver was the owner of a place in Andover called ¢The Cabin¢ that caters to hikers and she was going to wait there to pick up a hiker that had not reached the road yet. This seemed too good to pass up so I confirmed that she had a vacancy in her hostel and jumped in her truck.After a brief stop at a general store in Andover to get some supplies she drove us to ¢The Cabin¢ just outside of town. The Cabin offers an optional home cooked dinner and breakfast and of course I opted for both. Dinner was at 6:00 so in the meantime I took a nice hot shower, washed all of my clothes and prepped all my gear and supplies for getting back on the trail tomorrow morning. Hopefully the weather will have cleared by then. After a 7:00 breakfast tomorrow morning we will be shuttled back to the trailhead to continue our journeys. This may be my last hot shower and home cooked meal before reaching my destination of Gorham, New Hampshire 51.5 miles down the trail.Just finished an amazingly good homemade meal which included tossed salad, spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, corn on the cob and ice cream with a brownie for dessert. It was so good!Good night to all!
Date: 2019-09-05
From: South Arm Road (Andover, ME)

To: Frye Notch Lean-to
Miles today: 14.6

Section Hike 2, Day 11 - 09/05/19 14.6 (148.1 total miles for this section hike, 261.4 grand total AT miles)8:20 AM to 4:15 PMSouth Arm Road (Andover, ME) 246.8 to Frye Notch Lean-to 261.4After indulging in a delicious hot breakfast at ¢The Cabin¢ this morning  I was dropped off at the trailhead and started my hiking day at 8:20 AM. With the late start I was still able to crank out some pretty descent mileage for the day and it helped that the rocks and roots had dried out a bit since yesterday¢s rain. There were three major climbs for a total of about 4,800 feet and lots of smaller ones. I have no clue as to how many total feet I ascended today. The trail is never flat and you¢re constantly going up or down. My legs still scream at me and continuously remind me that they do not appreciate what I am asking them to do. Toughen up buttercup!I have been seeing fewer hikers the last couple of days. Especially today. I can only assume that most of the NoBo bubble has already passed this point. Baxter State Park closes on October 15th so any NoBo¢s that do not get there by then may not be able to summit Mt. Katahdin to officially finish their hike at the summit. I now have only 36.9 miles to go to get to my final destination of Gorham, New Hampshire. Doesn¢t seem like much but I have been warned by many NoBo¢s that the trail gets much tougher going south from here. Notoriously challenging places like Mahoosuc Notch stand in my way. It is a one mile long boulder field that takes hours to cross. My goal is to try to average 10 miles per day which would get me to Gorham on Monday. We¢ll see how it goes.Good night to all!
Date: 2019-09-06
From: Frye Notch Lean-to

To: Spec Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 10.5

Section Hike 2, Day 12 - 09/06/19 10.4 (158.6 total miles for this section hike, 271.8 grand total AT miles)6:20 AM to 1:40 PMFrye Notch Lean-to 261.4 to Speck Pond Shelter 271.8I got a reasonably early start today because even though my goal for the day was only ten miles I knew that I had a couple of big climbs and the miles are getting tougher. As it turned out I made better time than expected and reached my goal by 1:15 in the afternoon. I climbed over Baldplate East Peak, Baldplate West Peak and Old Spec Mountains. Total ascent of about 4,500 feet. I decided not to push past my day¢s goal in order to rest up my legs for tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be crossing the infamous ¢Mahoosuc Notch¢ which is known as the most difficult mile on the AT. It¢s a one mile long boulder field that takes a couple of hours to navigate. My stay at Speck Pond Shelter was unique in that I did a ¢Work for stay¢ to avoid having to pay the ten dollar fee to camp here. Most shelters do not charge a fee but this one is an exception. It is a really elaborate shelter and even has a caretaker. So I spent an hour helping the caretaker, Tigger, with composting human waste from the privy. It really wasn¢t as gross as you might think. Tigger also invited me to join him in eating two freshly caught trout that a fly fisherman had given him earlier in the day. The trout were caught in the lake right in front of the shelter. Yum yum!Good night to all!
Date: 2019-09-07
From: Spec Pond Lean-to

To: Carlo Col Shelter and Campsite 
Miles today: 9.5

Section Hike 2, Day 13 - 09/07/19 9.5  (168.1 total miles for this section hike, 281.3 grand total AT miles)6:15 AM to 2:15 PMSpeck Pond Shelter 271.8 to Carlo Col Shelter & Campsite 281.3I got a reasonably early start again today and my intention was to only do around 10 miles, same as yesterday. As you may have noticed I have been tending to stop at shelter¢s fairly early in the afternoon with plenty of hiking time left. Reason being, ¢This terrain is super challenging¢. After about 8 hours of hiking/climbing my legs need a good long rest. Only did about 3,500 feet of mountain climbing today but the highlight was Mahoosuc Notch. That 1 mile long boulder field took me 1 1/2 hours to navigate. Incredibly challenging and dangerous but tons of fun. I¢ve been told that some hikers take twice as long to complete it. The Maine/New Hampshire border is only 4 tenths of a mile south of the shelter I am staying at tonight. My goal for this section hike was to finish the state of Maine but unfortunately there are no roads for another 17 miles beyond the border. I simply cannot do 17 miles in one day so I will not arrive at Gorham, NH, until Monday. With any luck I can get a rental car there on Tuesday and drive home. I cannot wait to see my wife. Not being with her is the hardest part about being out here and I miss her dearly.Some of the mountains I climbed today are Mahoosuc Arm, Fulling Mill, Goose Eye North Peak, Goose Eye East Peak, Goose Eye West Peak and Mt. Carlo. Good night to all!
Date: 2019-09-08
From: Carlo Col Shelter and Campsite 

To: Rattle River Hostel, Gorham, NH
Miles today: 17.0

Section Hike 2, Day 14 - 09/08/19 17.0 (185.1 total miles for this section hike, 298.3 grand total AT miles)6:15 AM to 4:00 PMCarlo Col Shelter & Campsite 281.3 to Rattle River Hostel, Gorham, NH 298.3Today was the first time on this section hike that I actually got a bit chilly while hiking, particularly my hands. It rained fairly heavily a good portion of the day. Hiking in the rain is not only uncomfortable but it makes the trail that much more dangerous. It also totally obscures any views from mountain summits. Ultimately the rain did not prevent me from reaching my goal of 10 miles for the day. Actually I was able to surpass that goal by 7 miles for a total of 17. And guess what, that got me to my final destination of Gorham, NH today instead of tomorrow. It helped considerably that the trail got much less technical the last few miles. So my ¢Section Hike 2¢ has come to an end. I do not have a clue at this point as to when I might do a ¢Section Hike 3¢. Sometime in the future I would like to pick up from where I left off, Gorham, and continue south into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I will be spending my final night away from home at a really neat hostel that is right along the AT called ¢Rattle River¢. Tomorrow my plan is to get a shuttle into town to get a one way car rental to get my butt home to my loved ones. A final, for now, good night to all!
Date: 2019-09-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Section Hike 2 ended on September 9th with a pleasant and non-eventful drive home from the wonderful Rattle River Hostel in Gorham, New Hampshire. Initially I was concerned about securing a one way car rental from the local Enterprise, the only car rental business in town, because my attempts to reserve a car online the night before failed miserably. The website consistently told me that one way rentals were not available to anywhere near my home town. Undeterred, the following morning I got a shuttle from the hostel to Enterprise and fortunately for me the employee there was able to pull some strings and secure me a one way rental. Whew...So, over the past few weeks my mind has repeatedly wandered to the trail. I have worked pretty hard getting homeowner to-do list things completed since I returned home from Gorham and have decided, with my wonderful wife¢s consent of course, that I am going to add a Section Hike 3 to 2019. Autumn is my favorite time of the year and what a better way to enjoy it than to take a nice long walk on the AT. The plan - Although I had initially planned to always resume my AT hike from where I had left off the time before I have decided that delving into the White Mountains of New Hampshire at this time of the year presents too much of a risk. Instead, I have decided to jump about 600 trail miles south to Delaware Water Gap (the NJ/PA border) and continue southbound from there with the intention of hiking the Gorham, NH to Delaware Water Gap section at a later time. My wife and I will be driving to and spending the night at Delaware Water Gap on Tuesday, October 1st. The following day my wife will be joining me, weather permitting, for the first mile or two of my SoBo hike, possibly summiting Mt. Minsi with me. At that point she will return to the car and I will continue my trek southward. The initial separation from her never gets easier!As for my goal for this section hike, well, let¢s just say that ideally I would like to complete all 230 miles of PA or however many miles I can cover in two weeks or less so we¢ll just see how it plays out. The terrain should be considerably easier than up north so hopefully my daily mileage will increase a bit. Rocksylvania here I come!