morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-08-22
From: Speck Pond Campsite, ME

To: Day 121: ME 26 at Grafton Notch. ME
Miles today: 4.6

On AT Day 121 I first got up at 4:00 a.m., but since it was only 34-degrees outside (yes, near freezing in mid-August!), and I only had 4.6-miles to go to reach Hot Chocolate at the Grafton Notch pick-up spot, I stayed in my warm down sleeping bag until 5:00 a.m. I then made breakfast in my tent, packed up and started my hike by around 7:00 a.m.As advertised, the 600-foot climb from the Speck Pond Campsite to the 3,985-foot summit of Old Speck Mountain was a definite challenge with numerous scrambles up steep, slippery and often relatively smooth rock faces. To make matters more interesting, the wind was gusting to perhaps 30-40 miles per hour, but at least it was CLEAR. Given the wind and the mid-30¢s temperature, I started the climb in my ¢early winter¢ gear (thermal underwear, light gloves and Gore-Tex pants and jacket). However, by the time I passed the summit I started my first of two dress-downs to more traditional hiking apparel. I don¢t know if it is planned this way, but I have noticed that the AT often appears to have one easy and one hard route over a mountain and today¢s journey over Old Speck was a great example as the descent was a relatively easy and I completed the day¢s hike by about 10:30 a.m. True, there were still a few smooth and wet rock faces to carefully slither down, but nothing like what I had already done in the climb or other recent descents.I met lots of day and section hikers enjoying the wonderful weather by hiking up to the summit. So all in all the climb up, over and down from Old Speck was a wonderful way to end this segment. I am now eagerly looking forward to my next AT hiking adventure in ME ¢ and of course, each day getting closer and closer to my goal, Mount Katahdin¢¦
Date: 2004-08-24
From: ME 26 at Grafton Notch, ME

To: Seg 29: ME 4 near Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 0.0

AT Segment 29: August 24-27, 2004Starting point = ME 26 at Grafton Notch, MEEnding point = ME 4 near Rangeley, METotal miles for segment = 46.8 (4 days @ 11.7 miles/day)Total miles to date = 1,960.0 (125 days @ 15.7 miles/day) The highlights for this AT hiking segment were re-experiencing what a joy (pleasure and safety) it is to hike in the sunshine, climbing and taking in the beautiful scenery from the completely exposed Baldpate Mountain, enjoying the extraordinary hospitality of two Trail Angels, and the surprise in discovering ¢ so far ¢ that the AT over the mountains in ME is not nearly as hard (or scary) as in NH¢s Whites and as the topographic map suggested (they changed the scale ¢¦). Lastly, with the somewhat easier terrain and the near absence of troublesome injuries (the only exception being the continued soreness of my abdominal and back muscles), I was able to pick up the pace and increase my daily mileage. With the 2,000-mile post nearly upon me ¢ and with only 220 miles left before reaching Baxter Peak on Mount Katahdin ¢ I am really anxious to get back on the trail!
Date: 2004-08-27
From: Sabbath Day Pond, ME

To: Day 125: ME 4 near Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: broken clouds

On AT Day 125 I got up at 4:00 a.m. and hit the trail by a little after 6:00 a.m. I was anxious to get going since I had promised my wife to be at the pick-up spot 9.4 miles away on ME 4 near Rangeley by noon and I had no idea how tough the trail was going to be. Once again, the weather was terrific, although a bit warmer and more humid than the previous three days, so with the exception of having to deal with lots and lots of mud, the relatively gentle rolling hills I encountered were not much of a challenge. In addition to the mud, the terrain was speckled with bogs and dense forest, perfect moose country, but alas no sitings today.The highlight of the morning was the extraordinary early morning view I had of Little Swift River Pond ¢ a classic photo opportunity! When I got to the ME 4 highway parking lot, it was only 11:30 a.m., so I wasn¢t surprised that my wife wasn¢t there, but I still tried to call to confirm, but as usual I had no transmission. In the parking lot, I met a man who was conducting a survey to gage sentiments about a wind machine electrical generating farm being considered for the mountain ranges immediately to the north. Obviously I supported the idea to reduce the amount of fossil fuel we burn and thus pollute the mountain air, but I wasn¢t convinced that these gigantic propellers (80-meter blades!) would produce this result. I was, however convinced that they would produce an ugly destruction of the scenic mountaintops. The before and after simulation pictures were startling, I sure hope this plan is never completed! When my wife arrived, right on schedule, we left for lunch at the near-by Small Falls picnic area and then drove on to our trailer campsite.
Date: 2004-08-31
From: ME 4 near Rangeley, ME

To: Seg 30: ME 27 near Stratton, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

AT Segment 30: August 31- September 2, 2004Starting point = ME 4 near Rangeley, MEEnding point = ME 27 near Stratton, METotal miles for segment = 32.2 (3 days @ 10.7 miles/day)Total miles to date = 1,992.2 (128 days @ 15.6 miles/day) The 32.2 miles of this segment are described in the ATC guidebook as ¢the most difficult along the AT in Maine.¢ With a total elevation gain of 9,600-feet, including crossing or coming close to six 4,000-foot peaks and three others above 3,000-feet, and having to deal with the deep and often steep notches and streams between these peaks, I knew I was set for some exciting hiking. I am pleased to report that my expectations were certainly validated.Thus, the highlights for this AT hiking segment were the fun of climbing above the tree line on Saddleback Mountain in near hurricane force winds and dense foggy mist, getting disoriented in the near white-out conditions of Saddleback¢s summit causing me to descend the wrong direction for nearly an hour, the joy of watching the dense cloud cover blow away as I finally descended in the right direction allowing me to at last see Saddleback and the next summit I was approaching, strong apprehension in mentally preparing overnight and then finally fording rain swollen streams, the return of beautiful although near freezing temperatures at night and on mountain summits, the relative ease (a real confidence builder) in traversing ME¢s mountains compared to NH¢s Whites, a strange ¢organic odor¢ emanating from my drinking water bladder, and having to deal with nagging injuries to my right ankle and rib-cage muscles. All in all, as predicted, a terrific hiking segment! With excellent weather forecast for the next few days, I am once again really anxious to get back on the trail! The only ¢downer¢ will be worrying about what Hurricane Frances may do to my home back in north central, Florida¢¦.
Date: 2004-09-02
From: Crocker Cirque Campsite, ME

To: Day 128: ME 27 near Stratton, ME
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: clear sky

Although predicted, I was still a bit surprised by the near freezing temperatures when I got up around 4:30 a.m. on AT Day 128. Furthermore, the temperature was if anything colder when I started my hike around 6:30 a.m. so I donned my gloves, balaclava, long pants (not my thermal underwear) and my windbreaker jacket. Boy if it¢s this cold on September 2, just imaging what it must be like in winter!The trail from the campsite began with a steep, but quite doable (no huge boulder scalings) steady hike to the 4,040-foot summit of South Crocker Mountain. As expected I soon warmed up to the point that I needed to remove my jacket and balaclava, but I retained my gloves. Shortly thereafter, my interest in this climb was peaked when the trail crossed several steeply rocky sections that are obviously remnants of previous landslides ¢ none today, however¢¦ I rather easily reached the South Crocker Mountain summit by 7:40 a.m. and proceeded down a relatively gentle grade to a col and then up another 500-feet to the 4,228-foot summit of North Crocker Mountain by a little after 9:00 a.m. During all of this climbing, the sun was out under partly cloudy skies with little to no wind and the temperature never got above 35-degrees, perfect hiking weather!After an initial steep, but quite manageable section, the 5.2-mile descent from Crocker Mountain to my pick-up spot on ME 27 near Stratton gently dropped over 2,750-feet and I arrived right on time at 11:00 a.m. after a total day¢s hike of 7.3 miles. Not only was I on time, but Hot Chocolate had just arrived as well and so we were able to quickly get on our way back to Kingfield for lunch in one of the local restaurants.In summary, even if you include the blustery conditions on the way up, down and up again and over Saddleback, the weather was great and with my confidence building experiences in NH¢s Whites, I found ¢the most difficult along the AT in ME¢ to be very enjoyable and now I eagerly look forward to more!
Date: 2004-09-04
From: ME 27 near Stratton, ME

To: Seg 31: ME 15 near Monson, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

AT Segment 31: September 4-8, 2004Starting point = ME 27 near Stratton, MEEnding point = ME 15 near Monson, METotal miles for segment = 73.3 (5 days @ 14.7 miles/day)Total miles to date = 2,065.5 (133 days @ 15.5 miles/day) The highlights for this AT hiking segment were passing the 2,000-mile point, having to deal with some surprisingly deep and swift river fordings (wading, rock-hopping, and a canoe ferry), the fun of once again climbing in and out of the clouds at or above tree line, the beauty of a seemingly endless array of ponds and lakes, and being able to once again hike at a two mph pace ¢ despite the continuing pain from my right rib-cage muscles. The increased speed did, however, cause one problem ¢ I got to my pick-up spot five hours early and since my cellular phone messages didn¢t get through to my wife, I had a rather long wait¢¦ Happily, this wait was tempered by listening to some outrageous talk radio shows and meeting lots of other hikers (NOBO and SOBO), local citizens interested in providing me with some unsolicited help and even a number of vacationers who seemed to think I was some sort of celebrity (or an example of ME¢s strange wildlife) since they were anxious to ask me about my adventures and take my picture. All in all, with the five days of terrific weather, this was a wonderful hiking segment.When I finally did once again meet up with my lovely Hot Chocolate, I was relieved to learn that Hurricane Frances didn¢t do as much damage to my home back in north central FL as I had feared ¢ lots of big trees and tree limbs down, out-buildings crushed, power out, etc., but my home and cars were mostly spared. Perhaps as some sort of weird payback, the remnants of Hurricane Frances have caused major rainstorms here in ME, so I now need to take an extra day off to allow the streams to go down far enough for a ¢short guy¢ like me to ford without drowning. Next week, it may well be ¢d©j vu all over again¢ as my home in FL is now threatened by the even bigger Hurricane Ivan and of course this means that a week later this monster storm could reach ME (pun-intended!) ¢ I¢d better hurry up and get to Katahdin ¢¦.
Date: 2004-09-05
From: Little Bigelow Lean-to, ME

To: Day 130: Pierce Pond Lean-to, ME
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: overcast clouds

On AT Day 130 I got up at 4:00 a.m., ate breakfast and then took a nap for about 30 minutes to allow it to get lighter and warmer before I packed up and hit the trail around 6:50 a.m. It was still only in the low 40¢s and completely overcast as I began a 500-foot drop over the first mile to reach Bog Brook and an inlet from the huge Flagstaff Lake. Shortly thereafter, I crossed Bog Brook Road and sign painted on the pavement that read ¢2,000 mi.¢ I checked and sure enough, according to my official ATC Companion Guide, the Little Bigelow Lean-to site is 2,001.6-miles from Springer Mountain, so it was clear that I had indeed crossed a major milepost and that I was now an official ¢2,000-miler!¢Perhaps as a reward for this achievement, from that point on for the rest of the day¢s 17.3-mile hike, the AT covered a series of relatively easy (but often rocky, muddy or ¢rooty¢) rolling hills and flat lands skirted by gorgeous ponds, streams and waterfalls. The guidebooks say that many of these water attractions offer good swimming, but as a long-time Floridian, the mid-40¢s to low-50¢s temperatures were a bit too much of a challenge for me.I ate my morning snack at the West Carry Pond Lean-to, had lunch on the sandy beach shores of the East Carry Pond and then had my afternoon snack in the woods a couple of miles before I reached Pierce Pond around 4:50 p.m. I pitched my tent about 20-yards from this Lean-to and the pond¢s shoreline ¢ simply beautiful!! As I was filtering my water for dinner and breakfast, I heard my name called out and turning I saw 30-30, an AT through hiker that I had not seen since GA. 30-30 reminded me that my wife, Hot Chocolate had given him and his female hiking companion, Giggles, a ride into town for supplies and then returned them to the trail. As we were reminiscing on what we had done over the past several months, Giggles arrived and we completed the reunion. Before going to bed, I met several other hikers coming in to stay at the shelter including one, Manitou, who was finishing the last of his 16-year series of section hikes of the AT ¢ clearly he was excited to be so close to Katahdin.
Date: 2004-09-12
From: ME 15 near Monson

To: Seg 32: Jo-Mary Road near Millinocket, ME
Miles today: 0.0

AT Segment 32: September 12-15, 2004Starting point = ME 15 near Monson, ME Ending point = Jo-Mary Road near Millinocket, METotal miles for segment = 58.5 (4 days @ 14.6 miles/day)Total miles to date = 2,124.0 (137 days @ 15.5 miles/day) The highlights for this AT hiking segment were completing over half of ME¢s famed ¢100-mile wilderness,¢ the challenge of wading across some unusually deep and swift cold rivers, the beauty of dozens of large and small ponds (outlet only) and lakes (inlet and outlet), and the challenge of trying to maintain a near two-mph pace ¢ despite the surprisingly difficult hills, mud and roots. After waiting an additional day for the rivers to drop after Hurricane Frances-spawned rains during the first two days of my break, I had clear but often-cold weather for the entire segment ¢ excellent hiking conditions. My wife and I were also relieved to learn that Hurricane Ivan changed its course and now posed little threat to our North Central Florida home, but it sure looks like it is going to rain havoc (pun intended) on the SOBO AT hikers in the mid-Atlantic and southern states. Lastly, from several of this segment¢s mountain tops I got my first views of my ultimate goal, Mount Katahdin. I can¢t wait to get back on the trail and complete this long adventure hike.
Date: 2004-09-13
From: Long Pond Stream, ME

To: Day 135: West Branch of Pleasant River, ME
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: broken clouds

On AT Day 135 I got up at 4:08 a.m. and because of early darkness I experienced on the day before I rushed along so that I was ready to leave at 5:45 a.m., but unfortunately the day¢s lightness shortens at both ends and thus it was too dark to see the trail clearly so I had to wait until about 6:10 a.m. before starting. Even though my camp was in a valley at just over 600-feet, it was in the low 40¢s at the start of my hike in clear to partly cloudy weather, and as I climbed it got colder (low 30¢s) and a LOT windier. What a change from the weather I am used to dealing with back in FL in late summer!When I first planned this day¢s hike I failed to pay much attention to the topographic map, since I knew there were no really tall mountains in this part of ME. Big mistake, since whereas it is true that I would not cross the 3,000-foot point, there was in fact a lot of hill climbing in store for the day and I had work very hard to finish the 16.1-miles before darkness once again.The day began with a two-mile climb of 1,300-feet to reach the rocky landslides and cliffs of the Barren Ledges, followed by a gentle two-mile climb of 700-feet to reach the cloud-enshrouded 2,670-foot summit of Barren Mountain, where I took a picture of the abandoned fire tower since I couldn¢t see much of anything else. The descent from the summit was very gentle, dropping only about 700-feet over 2.5-miles before reaching a bog and starting a much steeper 400-foot climb over 0.4-miles to the 2,383-foot summit of Fourth Mountain. From this peak I got a long-awaited treat, my first clear view of Mount Katahdin over 90-miles away!The AT then took on a series of small, but physically demanding hills along the Barren Chairback Ridge before descending over 1,600-feet to reach the West Branch of the Pleasant River. My original plan had been to ford this relatively large waterway before making camp, but just before I stopped to eat lunch atop Columbus Mountain, I ran into a MATC Ridgerunner who told me that this would not be possible. I was surprised by this exclusion since I knew that although The Hermitage, a stand of white pine trees as tall as 130-feet, was off-limits to camping it was listed as being a quarter-mile north of the river crossing. Apparently, the Forest Service and the MATC doesn¢t want to take any chances with the increased traffic on the AT, so I told her that I would comply, besides I admitted that as hard as I was finding the trail, I wasn¢t sure I would make it that far anyway. Luckily the final decent to the river was rather gentle and fast so I did reach the river¢s edge by 6:20 p.m., but rather than camping there, I back-tracked a quarter-mile or so to a lovely campsite I had passed on one of its tributaries.
Date: 2004-09-14
From: West Branch of Pleasant River, ME

To: Day 136: East Branch of Pleasant River, ME
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: clear sky

On AT Day 136 I got up at 4:10 a.m., but given the cold and darkness I experienced the day before, I thought it might be prudent to take my time in packing up so that I to leave around 6:50 a.m. When I reached the West Branch of the Pleasant River¢s edge around 7:00 a.m. I was greeted with the fact that the air and water temperature was nearly freezing (35-degrees on my thermometer), luckily there wasn¢t any wind. Regardless, after taking off my boots and putting on my water sandals, I plunged across the 50-yard wide, mid-calf to knee-deep water. I assure you that this Floridian vocalized the shock of each step across the river and that I wasted no time on the north bank in drying off my feet and putting on my heavy socks and long pants. My toes didn¢t seem to warm up for perhaps two miles ¢ a strong motivation to complete the day¢s 16.6-mile hike as quickly as possible so that I could ford the East Branch of the Pleasant River before nightfall.Despite the cold start, the weather for this day was actually quite delightful with the temperature slowly rising to the mid-50¢s under clear skies. After crossing the river I followed the AT up a very gentle 5.5-mile climb of 1,200-feet to the Carl A. Newhall Lean-to. I then began a more challenging one-mile climb of 900-feet to the 2,750-foot summit of Gulf Hagas Mountain. This was followed by a gentle 250-foot descent over one-mile before starting an even more challenging 0.7-mile climb of 750-feet to the West Peak¢s 3,178-foot summit where I once again got a clear glimpse of Mount Katahdin. After a sharp descent of 300-feet or so from the West Peak, I negotiated a gentle climb up Hay Mountain followed by another gentle descent of 200-feet and finally a much steeper climb of 500-feet to the rocky 3,650-foot summit of White Cap Mountain. The 360-degree views from this mountain were spectacular, especially the long and clear look I had of Mount Katahdin.After an initial steep section, the 5.3-mile descent of nearly 2,500-feet to the East Branch of the Pleasant River was fast and relatively easy. Determined not to repeat this day¢s early morning freezing river crossing, I passed up the East Branch Lean-to and went on ahead to the river that I reached and forded (a tricky rock-hop this time) around 5:20 p.m. Once on the other side I realized that I would have to establish a stealth camp in the dense woods or else go back across the river to the established sites at the East Branch Lean-to. Even though crossing the East Branch, unlike the West Branch of the Pleasant River did not involve getting my feet wet, I was in no mood to take any chances, so I took 20-minutes or so to prepare a site for my tent and made camp for the night. To be honest, I was glad to have at least an extra hour to relax this night, as the past three days had been more tiring than I had expected. Besides I needed to be rested since I wanted to make sure I could complete the 11.5-mile dash to Hot Chocolate at our scheduled pick-up site on the Jo-Mary Road by noon tomorrow!
Date: 2004-09-15
From: East Branch of Pleasant River, ME

To: Day 137: Jo-Mary Road near Millinocket, ME
Miles today: 11.5

On AT Day 137 I got up at 4:00 a.m. and hit the dimly lit trail by 6:08 a.m. The nearly perfect weather I had been experiencing for the past three days was if anything better today with temperatures in the mid-40¢s in the morning and rising to upper-50¢s under clear skies by the time I met up with my wife at 11:30 a.m. This meeting was not at Jo-Mary Road since Hot Chocolate had taken the initiative to hike in about a mile and greet me personally ¢ What Service!In route to this reunion, the trail was relatively flat (with the usual rocks, roots, boot-sucking mud, log bridges, etc.) and fast and the only break I took was at the Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to where I ate my morning snack and gazed at the impressive water falls and swimming pools that set this lovely shelter apart from all others I have seen. One surprising (and somewhat disappointing) thing I noticed was that with the increased mileage and speed of the previous several days, the soles of my feet were sore on this last day even though the trail surface was quite forgiving. I guess, being a little guy, the way I pick up speed is to take longer steps and with my still-heavy pack this puts even more pressure than usual on the balls of my feet ¢ alas, speed has its price!After returning to our truck, I was surprised to learn that my wife had been required to pay $8 just to drive down the road to pick me up. It seems that although the Jo-Mary Road is open to the public, the well-graded dirt and gravel roadway passes through privately managed lands and in fact is most often used by a lumber company for their large trucks to help harvest trees. Regardless, I assure you that it was well worth the $8 to see my Hot Chocolate once again.The plan now was to leave after a one-day rest on what may well be my last AT hiking segment, finish the ¢100-mile wilderness¢ and climb Mount Katahdin! To say I¢m excited is a clear understatement, but to be honest, I think my wife is even more excited, especially since she has cautiously pledged to join me on the 4,200-foot climb to Baxter Peak on Mount Katahdin. Stay tuned to see how WE make out.