morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2021-08-01
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: clear sky

After a warm-up of hiking 1.5 miles, we entered Mahoosuc Notch. The  AWOL Guide says it is  ¢the most difficult or fun mile of the AT. Make your way through a jumbled pit of boulders.¢ It was fun but very tiring climbing up and over and through the huge boulders. It was often unclear where the trail actually was. I had to take off my pack five times in order to fit through some of the tight places. We ate a late lunch after spending three hours completing the mile long Mahoosuc Notch.  Then we had to ascend Mahoosuc Arm.  It was very steep in many places and involved technical rock climbs and scaling of steep granite slabs. It took almost three hours to summit. Janet pulled ahead of us; Susan and I took much longer to ascend.A much less strenuous mile descent brought us to Speck Pond Shelter about 5:00.  It was right on beautiful Speck Pond, but it was too cool to swim. We always seem to be at the ponds at the wrong times.  We secured spots in the shelter with six sobos. We fixed dinners, chatted with teens on a trip with a Maine summer camp, and got ready for bed. 5.1 miles
Date: 2021-08-02
From: Speck Pond Shelter

To: Grafton Notch/ME26 (Pine Ellis Lodging)
Miles today: 4.6
Weather: few clouds

We awoke to the sound of rain.  As we ate breakfast and packed up, the rain stopped ; but the trees and vegetation along the trail dripped on us all morning as we climbed Old Speck. It was just a little over a mile to the summit BUT the last .3 was steep granite slabs above tree line exposed to gusting chilly winds. We called Pine Ellis Lodging from the summit to give them our location and set an approximate pickup time from Graftin Notch/ME26. I was talking to a young woman today on the trail who was hiking sobo from Maine. She said she was from Central SC, close to where I live. I mentioned that I had friends there. She asked who. I told her Jorge and Debby Calzadilla. She actually worked in a chiropractor¢s office where Debby had been a patient.  Small world!The next 3 1/2 miles were generally downhill but lots of mud patches, slick boardwalks, and big stones slowed us down. We finally made it to the parking lot about 2:30 and our shuttle was there waiting for us. We checked in at Pine Ellis, unpacked, took showers, started laundry, and walked a short distance to the only market/diner in town for chefs salads and sweet potato fries for supper. There was a guy from Cumming GA and one from AL at the hostel with us.  When we checked in, the owner said that a 73 year old woman was being brought in by a couple of hikers who were ¢helping her off the trail after an accident.¢  It was Buttercup. She had fallen and hit her head. She has a lump and a black eye. Shortly after arriving, she was taken to the nearest ER and told she had a probable concussion. The doctor told her to take five days off and rest, drink, and eat. She had messaged me a week ago saying she¢d fallen in the Whites and had to take a side trail off the AT to have shin X-rays. Nothing was broken then so she rested a couple of days and continued hiking, skipping some of the more strenuous sections and moving up the trail by shuttles, doing what she can.Susan, Janet and I are up a steep flight of stairs in a gabled attic bedroom by ourselves. We arranged for a shuttle back to the trail for 9:00 am and fell asleep listening to the local church bells chime every hour on the hour. 4.6 much easier miles
Date: 2021-08-03
From: Grafton Notch/ME26

To: East B Hill Road (Pine Ellis lodging)
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Buttercup was planning to shuttle to Walmart for groceries today since she had to stay at the hostel and rest a few days.  She agreed to pick up some things for us too so we put together a list of produce and microwaveable meals. Our shuttle left the hostel about 9 and dropped us back at Grafton Notch about 9:30 to begin hiking with just our day packs. Almost immediately we were  hiking uphill Baldpate Mountain. Along the 4 mile climb, we stopped for a snack break and continued on.  Our packs were light and the weather was beautiful, dry and breezy - perfect for hiking. We eventually summitted West Baldpate, East Baldpate, and Littke Baldpate. There was much steep granite slab to be hiked over closer to the top, some of which had to be done on my hands and knees. From the open summit we had 360 degree views from wide, open slab rock. We snacked on Maine blueberries and cranberries growing beside the trail as we hiked between the summits. We shared the trail with several dayhikers, some sobo thruhikers and a group of teens from a youth camp.Our downhill trail was steep at first and gradually became more moderate as we descended.  Susan had been hiking much slower than usual since her fall and head bump last week. She decided today that she should go to the ER tomorrow and be checked out. We finally reached our road crossing about 6:45 and had to wait until 7:30 for our scheduled shuttle back to the hostel.  Buttercup had been able to get almost everything in our list.  We took turns showering and heating pot pies in the microwave and took our food upstairs to our bedroom to eat.  The common areas (kitchen and living room) of the hostel were closed because of COVID, so we had to eat outside on the porch or upstairs in our own room.10.3
Date: 2021-08-04
From: East B Hill Road

To: South Arm Road, Andover (Pine Ellis Lodging)
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: broken clouds

Janet and I got up and ate early to be ready to leave by 7:00.  Susan stayed in bed, with plans to go to the ER later in the day. We were dropped up to hike southbound by 7:30 and immediately began the almost two mile climb up Mt Moody.  It involved a lot of stone steps and winding trail so it was not too steep or difficult. It was longer and steeper coming down the other side.We arrived at Sawyer Notch and Sawyer Brook about 9:50. We refilled  our water bottles and noticed a picnic table at the nearby campsite. It was a very pleasant spot to have a snack break.The climb up to Hall Mountain Shelter was steep with many series of stone steps also. I had to take several breaks during the 1.4 ascent. Once at the shelter, we had lunch. As we started to leave, I knocked my left shin against a large rock.  It instantly began to bleed and swell. I cleaned and bandaged it as the goose egg grew.Thankfully we just had another short climb to the top of Wyman Mountain and then we began a gradual 4.5 mile descent to our pickup spot. Close to the end of our day, we stopped at a brook to soak our feet for, which is always refreshing. We arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule to find our shuttle driver there already. After driving back to the hostel we went out to dinner and the market with Susan and Buttercup. It was a fun time. Susan filled us in on her  ER visit and concussion diagnosis and her options for the rest of our hiking schedule.  For now, she¢ll stay at Pine Ellis to rest and eat and drink like Buttercup is doing, while Janet and I hike alone the next two days.
Date: 2021-08-05
From: ME17/Oquossic

To: South Arm Road (Pine Ellis Lodging)
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

Janet and I left at 6:00 to shuttle to our starting point.  We planned to slackpack 13.2 miles sobo from ME17/Oquossic back to South Arm Road.  45 minutes later just before we pulled into the AT parking lot, we saw a moose grazing beside the road.   We stopped to try to take pictures, but it ambled off before we could.  We were hiking by 6:50. Of course, it began uphill. There were several benches along the trail. Since this is so unusual, we stopped to sit on every one of them and take pictures.David our shuttle driver had told us that it was raining in the coast and was forecasted for our area about 5:00.   We wanted to finish before it began.  We completed the first  3.1 miles in 2:20 to the top  of Second Bemis Mountain. The blueberries were ripe and abundant along the trail across the summit and we snacked frequently on handfuls of them.  We arrived at Bemis Mountain Lean-to after 4.6 miles at 10:10 and had an early lunch.  A light mist began as we began the long climb up Old Blue and it was refreshing. It never got any stronger than a mist. From the top of Old Blue we called the hostel to give them our approximate finish time of 5:00.  Then we began the downhill  section.  It was a slow, steep descent and very hard on my knees.  We could hear traffic for an hour as we descended and finally emerged from the woods at 5:05. David said he had heard our pomes clicking on the rocks for an hour as we made our way downhill through the rocks. SusanK booked a flight home for Sunday.  Janet and I will continue toward Katahdin without her.  SusanB still plans to join us for the Hundred Mike Wikderness snd Katahdin. We made arrangements for our final Pine Ellis shuttle for the morning; Janet and I would be dropped off to hike north and SusanK would shuttle with all our gear up to The Hiker Hut in Rangeley. The Hiker Hut is a rustic off-grid hostel just .2 off the trail. It has no electricity, no WiFi, no cell service, but they have tiny cabins for individuals or couples, a six person bunk room and a propane outdoor shower. We showered, did laundry and ate dinner at the hostel, then began packing so we would be ready to leave at 6:00am.13.2
Date: 2021-08-06
From: ME17, Oquossic

To: ME 4 , Rangeley (The Hiker Hut)
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

Day 53 8/6We left Pine Ellis at 6:00 and were hiking by 7:00. It was a beautiful day with much less strenuous terrain. The drive had left me queasy and I had to stop for a couple bathroom breaks before I finally took some pepto and Imodium.  Thankfully I began to feel some better but felt sluggish all day. There were no stunning mountaintop views, but we hiked along several huge beautiful ponds: Moxie Pond, Long Pond with a small sandy beach where Janet went wading, Sabbath Day Pond where we watched loons, Little Swift River Pond where we ate lunch and Janet took a canoe out for a bit, and finally South Pond.Later in the afternoon we stopped at a small brook to soak our feet and rinse the day¢s grime off our arms and legs with our bandanas and the refreshing cool mountain water. The final gradual descent downhill to ME 4 went by quickly. Even with all our stops, we were at the highway by 3:30. A couple in a van there offered us cold drinks and pointed us in the direction to The Hiker Hut. I drank an ice cold strawberry lemonade as we hiked along the highway to the hostel. There are several hikers at the hostel that we¢ve been seeing in the trail the last few days: Trash, TieDye, Pilgrim.  Susan was there already and had our gear on our bunks, so we picked out loaner clothes and towels and took turns enjoying the outdoor shower by the stream, and then got shuttled into town for supper along with Pilgrim, a NC superior court judge.220.4 more miles to Katahdin13.2 Miles
Date: 2021-08-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 54 8/7We took a ZERO at The Hiker Hut in Rangeley, Maine. The Hiker Hut is advertised as 'Quiet and rustic off-grid oasis to rest and rejuvenate. Flower gardens, pet chipmunks and hummingbirds.'  They didn't mention the marijuana plants being grown in the little garden. Trash offered to let us use his car for the day if we left at 7:30 to drive him 20 minutes back to the trailhead where we started yesterday so he could slackpack that 13.2 miles back to the hostel.We dropped him off and drove into town to recharge our phones at the laundramat, take care of bills, catch up on trailjournals, text and call family, and eat lunch at Sarges. I splurged on a can of shave gel and a cheap pack of razors and shaved my legs at the outdoor shower for the first time in weeks; it made me feel so much better!  I called the Hostel of Maine to confirm our night there in three days and add an extra night for a zero so we have plenty of time to resupply and do laundry before our final push to Shaw¢s.After all our errands we came back to The Hiker Hut to lounge and relax and hang out with others hikers. The town food and time to rest was very beneficial! We snacked around the picnic table for dinner, moved to talk on the bunk room porch during a brief rain shower, and stayed up until 9:00 talking around the fire pit.
Date: 2021-08-08
From: ME 4, Rangeley

To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 55 8/8SusanK had a shuttle to the airport this morning. Janet and I rode in Trash¢s car back to the trailhead .3 from the hostel and we started hiking just before 8:00.  He stayed at the parking lot for a few minutes as we left. As we took a break after 1.5 miles, he  caught up to us and passed us. We never saw him again. We stopped at Piazza Rock Lean-to after another .5 to see its somewhat famous double privy with a cribbage board between the seats.  We had come 3.1 miles in 2 hours. It was a pleasant slightly uphill walk by Ethel Pond and Eddy Pond.  We had a 2 mile climb up Saddleback Mountain, above treeline, to 4120 feet elevation. 1.6 later we were atop The Horn at 3975 feet, 2 miles later we were atop Saddleback Junior at 3665 feet. The weather was clear and the views were 360 degrees.  Because it was Sunday and there were shorter, easier access side trails, there were many dayhikers heading up Saddleback.  As we descended Saddleback Junior,  we crossed paths with Scott Jurek (one-time FKT AT supported record holder) and his entourage; he was trying to reclaim the record. He had started at Katahdin a few days ago and was planning to do 45 miles this day!We were happy with doing just 10.7 miles to get to the Poplar Ridge Lean-to. There were two young nobo thruhikers already in the shelter when we arrived, Goose and Oatmeal.  A young man called Tobaggon who slept in the same bunkhouse as us last night was tenting nearby.  Tentpole and her dog Beans who had also been at The Hiker Hut with us were also tenting near the shelter.We claimed our spots in the shelter, made dinner, ate, hung our food bags, and were all in our bags on our phones by 7:00. I tried to clean my retainer after supper and used water that was too hot and the retainer melted a bit. John is overnighting my spare to our next hostel. 10.7 miles
Date: 2021-08-09
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to

To: Stealth Site about 1993.1
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: mist

Day 56 8/9It rained hard in the night and was still gray and drippy in the morning when we woke up. No one wanted to get out of the shelter, but eventually nature called.  We began to stir, got dressed, ate breakfast, and packed up. Our two younger shelter mates left first. Janet and I left about 8:00. Tentpole and Beans and Tobaggan would leave later but pass us in a few miles. We would leapfrog with them throughout the day.We went downhill to Orbetron Stream which was a challenge to rock hop over.  There was a smashed canoe midstream that had been there a long time; hopefully no one had been in it when it wrecked. The climb up Lone Mountain seemed long; it followed Sluice Brook so we had plenty of water sources. We arrived at Spaulding Mountain Lean-to around 2:00 where we planned to sleep.  It was too early to stop so we filled up with water and kept hiking.  We passed a bronze plaque marking the completion of the last section of the AT 8/14/1937 by the CCC.  We finally stopped at a stealth site at mile marker 1993.1 and set up our tents.  We cleaned up and fixed dinner and ate.  I was in my tent by 6:30, working on my trail journal before bedtime.10.8 miles
Date: 2021-08-10
From: Stealth Site about 1993.1

To: ME27 (The Hostel of Maine)
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: broken clouds

Day 57 8/10We woke early but had to deal with fixing and eating breakfast on the ground and packing up our tents and NOT having a privy at our unofficial tent site. At least it was not raining!  We finally started hiking about 7:30. It was a rough rocky steep descent to the South Branch Carrabassett River.  It reminded me of Mahoosuc Notch with a general direction to follow, but options on which particular rocks we chose to go over. We rested and got water at the river in the gap.  Then we started up the equally rough rocky steep, but even longer, ascent on the other side of the river. We were behind a group of about 10-12 teens from a Maine summer camp.  They were very loud and we finally took a snack break just to let them get ahead of us. Going up wore me out but we eventually summitted South Crocker Mountain.  At the summit, we met the group again, and the leader asked if one of them who had an orange left in his lunch to share with us. Immediately, my opinion of them changed as I pealed and ate a fresh orange while answering their questions about thru-hiking the AT.We had only to descend about .5 before going back up again to the peak of North Crocker Mountain. Neither summit had much of a view. The weather was great though.  We had a more gentle grade for the most part of our 5 mile descent. Somewhere along this stretch I passed my 2000 mile mark! We were racing the clock to get to the road crossing of ME 27 by 4:30, which was our pickup time.  We made it with a few minutes to spare and were ready and waiting when the hostel van pulled up.Within minutes, we were at the Hostel of Maine, taking showers, ordering supper, and having our laundry done. We were in a bunk room with four guys who said they lived near Raleigh. I told them my son had lived in Cary but now lived in Fuquay-Varina. One of them said he was born in FV and another lives there now less than 10 minutes from Matt.  Small world!I was clean and fed and looking forward to sleeping in sheets for two nights!10.7 miles
Date: 2021-08-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

After breakfast, we went through the resupply boxes we had sent ourselves back in June, trying to determine exactly how much food we needed to get from there to Shaw¢s in Monson.  We did not want to carry any extra weight. Then we made a short grocery list for extras we still needed to buy.The Raleigh guys had arranged to slackpack the Bigelows. We weighed our options - doing a long tough day as a slackpack or breaking the miles into two days carrying full packs. With some misgivings, we decided to fo the slackpack. Trash was staying nearby at the Maine Roadhouse and offered to pick us up for lunch. He came about 12:00.  Most the the local restaurants had odd schedules and were closed this particular day, so we ended up driving all the way back to Rangeley to eat and go to the IGA for groceries. I had not had much for breakfast and the combination of driving on the windy road for 30 minutes, getting to the restaurant about 1:00, ordering and waiting for food was too much for me. I felt my blood sugar level crashing. Trash went to his car and got a couple Nutrigrain bars for me to eat while we waited for our food; that helped stabilize me.We got back to the hostel about 4:00 and I took a half hour nap. In the afternoon I talked to SusanB to confirm her plans to meet us at Shaw¢s, to my friend Carolyn in SC to catch up, to SusanK to hear about her flight home and about her concussion recovery, and to my Mom.We cooked a frozen pizza to share for supper.  As I fixed the pizza I saw a guy throwing a Naked Mango bottle in the recycling bin. I checked the refrigerator, and sure enough, one of mine was gone. I asked him to check the name on the lid; he realized it was mine. He was apologetic and paid me for it. We were in bed early to get ready for our long slackpack the next day.
Date: 2021-08-12
From: Flagstaff Road

To: ME 27 (The Hostel of Maine)
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

Yesterday we were offered the chance to slackpack the Bigelows sobo, 16.7 miles from 2020.5 - 2003.8.  With some trepidation about the elevation and miles, we agreed.  It was me and Janet with Trash, our four bunk mates from the Raleigh NC area, one young guy, and a 40 year old guy who works at the hostel but has never hiked on the AT. Our shuttle left at 6:00am to be at the trailhead at 7:00. Our driver soon recognized a car in front of us as a local shuttle driver; he seemed to be heading the same place we were. The van began experiencing problems and we had to pull over. A diagnostic device said it was an alternator problem. Justin our driver called the other shuttle driver.  He only had one passenger and agreed to come back and help out.  His original passenger was Big Heart from GA whom we had met at the Pine Ellis Hostel.  Trash, Janet, and I loaded our gear and piled in the backseat. We saw a moose in a boggy field about 100 yards off the road as we drove. We arrived at the trailhead at Flagstaff Road about 7:30. The trail started moderately and we made good time up Little Bigelow Mountain. We had some great views! Trash pulled ahead of us when the uphill began in earnest. The van got a new battery and dropped off the other guys from our hostel 45 minutes after us. The alternator would be replaced in the afternoon.Since we were going sobo, we crossed paths with several of our nobo friends: Tentpole and her dog Beans (she¢s going to find out about boarding her dog when she gets to Shaw¢s and might be doing the Hundred Mile Wilderness with us), TyeDye (who took a few days off when his 40 year old son joined him in Rangeley), and several others we know by face and clothes but not name.The younger guy soon passed us. He would finish the 16.7 miles by 1:30. The other guys all leapfrogged with us up Little Bigelow, Avery Peak, West Bigelow, South Horn and North Horn, and then began to pull ahead of us.   About 4:00 or so we were getting ready to pass a nice pond and we talked about jumping in for a quick swim. Then the skies started growing darker and before we knew it, it was raining, hard. No swim, but we cooled off quickly. About two miles from our destination, I felt my energy taking a nosedive again. I had to sit down and drink and eat something before continuing. The Raleigh guys all finished in 10-11 hours and said Trash had finished just ahead of them and left to drive home. Janet and I arrived at the trailhead finish at just under 12 hours, at 7:14pm. We averaged 1.4 mph for the day on some tough uphill terrain.On the drive back to the hostel, we stopped at a small market and picked up deli sandwiches, salad, juice, and klondike bars for dinner. Back at the hostel, we ate and showered. As we got ready for bed, our laundry was being done, so repacking our backpacks had to wait until morning.