morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-08-30
From: Nauman Tent Site

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 4.8
Weather: clear sky

Coming out of camp in the morning, we had a short but steep ascent of Mt. Clinton and then a gradual 3-mile ascent of Mt. Franklin. We knew we had just a little less than five miles to do today all above tree line but in these mountains, it could well take us all day to do it. The clear, 70-degree day was near perfect except for the constant strong breeze which is almost always present above tree line. Signage had recommended and I was happy to have purchased maps for New Hampshire because there are many trails through the Whites and the AT uses the treadway of many of these trails at times. Most of the time the signs show where the AT goes, but not always¢sometimes it just shows the local trail name so we referred to the maps often to be sure we were on track.Best time to arrive at a hut if you're seeking work for stay is about 4:30 in the afternoon. If you get there earlier, they may send you on to the next hut; later and you might not get the work for stay. We didn't want to get to the hut too early so were able to indulge in a leisurely pace often taking breaks and just visually soaking in the amazing scenery. The Lakes of the Clouds hut was tucked between Mt. Franklin and Mt. Washington so we couldn't even see it until we were almost there. We heard it, however, long before we saw it as the directional governor on their wind generator wasn't working properly and the vane blades were making quite a racket in the strong wind. Our timing was perfect and sure enough, the croo hooked us up with work for stay and we chose NOT to stay in "The Dungeon" which is a basement level room reserved for thru-hikers. We opted to sleep in the dining room and were even allowed to wait inside while the paying guests were served dinner. That was very pleasant as once the sun sets, the temperatures outside at this altitude drop abruptly.Seems that Cahoda, Wild Poodle and I have gained a group trail name for the three of us which was started by the croo at Lonesome Lake Shelter. Collectively, we're now known as "The Ladies". I like it.Nice day, not too hard hike, plentiful and delicious food at the hut, and I'm sure will fall asleep within minutes of "lights out".
Date: 2010-09-02
From: Pinkham Notch, NH 16

To: Pinkham Notch, NH 16
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: fog

Took a double dose of Vitamin I (Ibuprofen) today for aching knees that really hadn't liked the long, long downhill yesterday. They better get used to it, there's more to come.Picked up my food mail drop at the post office, had the outfitter straighten my bent pole (he did a great job) and went to AYCE Chinese for lunch. The crown on my back molar fell off so on my way back to the hostel I noticed a dental clinic, stopped in and they were kind enough to accommodate me and take a look at it. There wasn't much left of the tooth under the crown and they recommended extraction. The tooth is dead so I'm in no pain and decided to have it taken care of when I get home in a month rather than dealing with the discomfort of an extraction out on the trail. Saw Q-Tip who was on his way back to the trail.Nice laid-back zero day¢well, except for the tooth.
Date: 2010-09-04
From: Carter Notch Hut

To: Imp Campsite
Miles today: 7.2

Joe, who had camped up by Cody and Stickwalker last night, came down to the hut in the morning to dry out his wet tent and sleeping bag. He had inadvertently camped in a spot where the rain washed downhill straight into his tent. That hasn't happened to me yet but I will pay attention to that potential when setting up my tent in the future. He had a miserable night.We said our goodbyes to the awesome croo and were on the trail shortly after breakfast. As expected, we had a stiff 1,800' climb out of the notch to cap Carter's Dome , cut Mt. Hight down to size and harness South Carter, Middle Carter and North Carter Mountains. (I can't help it¢I get on a roll.) Also as expected, the trail was muddy and the rocks were slippery from the rain. Halfway out of the notch, we were in alpine forest for the rest of the day.The 1,300' descent to the shelter was steep, mostly boulders and rock walls. It wasn't too difficult, just had to take our time and be careful.
Date: 2010-09-05
From: Imp Campsite

To: US 2
Miles today: 8.0

Made breakfast from my now almost empty food bag (we'll be in town tonight) and started the difficult climb up the notorious Mt. Moriah. Again, happy I was going up rather than down because it was difficult, challenging, and sometimes downright dangerous. Adding to the challenge was all the running water, mud and roots we encountered. We all fell at least once. I did two times in two minutes. Tough trail. Temperatures were chilly but good for hiking. Dark clouds rolled in but the brunt of the storm hit elsewhere and we only had occasional drizzle. We chose not to take the blue blaze trail to the summit as we had a long, long descent and town was calling to us. Most of the 3,200' (!!!) descent was on wonderful stone steps (thank you, trail builders!) with a nice gently sloping trail along the Rattle River for the last two miles.Once at US 2, a couple of day hikers coming off the trail gave us a ride back to The Barn Hostel in Gorham. After showers, we then got a shuttle to Wal-Mart to do our resupply. It was a late night doing laundry and packing up to be ready for our ride to the trail in the morning. Finally fell into an exhausted sleep about midnight.
Date: 2010-09-06
From: US 2

To: Gentian Pond Shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: few clouds

One of the things I worked on last night was a hike plan to ensure we get to our next town, Andover, before the weekend to pick up our mail drops at the post office, and to make sure we're on track to summit Katahdin by the end of September. My previous hike plans have all been blown in a day or two so we'll just have to wait and see how this one goes. We could have taken our time leaving town and hike 8 miles to the Trident Col Tent Site but word on the trail is that there's a bad bear causing problems there so we're planning a bit more ambitious 12-mile hike to the next shelter.After breakfast, our shuttle dropped us at the trail and we headed out. After crossing the bridge over the Androscoggin River, we saw Tom Thumb and Q-Tip. Q-Tip is laying up for a few days with an ankle injury. His brother, Trinket, is already in Maine.We made the 2,000' climb up Mt. Hayes where we had first lunch and a beautiful view of Mt. Moriah behind us and the river we crossed this morning way down below us. The trail here appears to be not as well traveled but we still had to deal with the usual rocks, roots and mud. One thing we've learned is that the Trail either goes up or down, rarely level. So we went down, then back up Cascade Mountain, down Trident Col, then up Wockett Ledge where we finally did have a couple miles of relative flat.The miles went by slowly, shadows were long and I headlamped the last half hour arriving at the shelter at 7:15. We got the last three spots inside the shelter, and thankfully so because it rained during the night. Got water, changed clothes, cooked dinner, ate, and with last night's loss of sleep, fell exhausted into my sleeping bag.
Date: 2010-09-09
From: Stealth Site in Mahoosic Notch

To: Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 2.7
Weather: light rain

Planned on an early start today¢7:30¢but it didn't happen. I'm usually the first one up and wake up Wild Poodle and Cahoda but the hard days took their toll and I fell back asleep. I didn't wake up until 7:15 so didn't get out of camp until 9:30.I had put my food bag on top of an 8 foot boulder overnight and some little critter chewed a hole in it and ate half a Snickers bar. This is the first time I've had something get into my food. My main upset is the damage to the expensive waterproof stuff sack. Next time I'll definitely hang my food.Remember the lesson I should have learned two nights ago? Well, we headed out across the boulder field. It turned out to be only about 100' across. Twenty minutes later we were out of the notch looking at the campsite where we COULD have been last night. TRAIL TRUTH #19: If you don't learn a lesson, it will repeat itself until you do.It had rained again overnight and was drizzling this morning as we climbed out of the notch and started up Mahoosic Arm (mountain) which had at least a dozen slab rock walls. Challenging under dry conditions but the rain made it wet and difficult. Interspersed between the slab walls were more bogs with slippery puncheons. Today was Wild Poodle's turn to go shin deep in the muck.On the way up we met Bulldog and Hitchcock. They've been a couple days behind or ahead of me for weeks so it was nice to meet them again. Last time I saw them was the night before I started at Springer. The rock walls became more and more challenging, the temperatures were dropping and the wind became fierce. We finally summited the Arm and the drizzle stopped long enough to sit down in a lee spot out of the worst of the wind and have lunch. We were in the clouds and it was cold so didn't tarry too long.We carefully picked our way down the other side of the mountain and arrived at Speck Pond Shelter about 3:00. We were cold and wet, and after the last three hard days decided to stop early and get some rest. We set up all three tents on a tent platform, got water, had an early dinner. Awhile later Bulldog and Hitchcock came in and so did Cody, Stickwalker and Belle, the wonder dog.I put on dry clothes and climbed into the snug warmth of my sleeping bag. Fell asleep with the wind howling across the lake and the rain getting more serious.   Hopefully it will stop tonight so things can dry out a bit. If I had been hiking by myself for these last three days, I think I would have been looking for the first mode of transportation to go home. This is really getting hard. Thankfully, I'm with two great hiking partners. Giving up is a non-issue because we all rely on each other to make it through what the trail throws at us each day. Maine is still kicking our butts, but we're kicking back.
Date: 2010-09-10
From: Speck Pond Shelter

To: Grafton Notch, ME 26
Miles today: 4.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We had planned on hiking another 15 miles and going into Andover in a day or two. However, both Cahoda and Wild Poodle had problems with wind driven rain getting water inside their tents last night and soaking all their gear. The rain had stopped by morning but it was cold (in the 40's) and still windy. None of us had a lot of energy this morning after the really rough few days that we've had, so decided to hike to the next road, hitch into town, and take a well deserved break to dry everything out and shake our discouragement.We packed up, ate breakfast, donned our still wet (brrrr) hiking clothes and headed out. We made the 500' climb up Old Speck Mountain but chose not to take the blue blaze trail to the summit where there was an observation tower because we were in the clouds and wanted to stay in the woods out of the wind. The going was slow with lots of slippery mud but we finally made it to Grafton Notch, still wet and dragging our tails.No sooner had we arrived at the parking lot than a pickup truck pulled in, and a local trail angel, Soda Mike, got out and started lining up cans of root beer and packages of peanut butter crackers for us. As miserable as we were, we had to crack a smile. He had been there earlier when Cody, Stickwalker and Belle had come off the mountain and they told him three ladies were coming down the mountain who could really use some magic. We certainly did and it was SO appreciated. We didn¢t have cell service and Soda Mike offered to call the hostel from his house and have them come and shuttle us the 19 miles into Andover. As we were discussing it, an SUV pulls in. Another thru-hiker had been hiking with his dad for a few days and his dad was dropping him off to continue his northbound trek. They had been given a 40-mile hitch the day before from another trail angel and dad offered us a ride into Andover to reciprocate the kindness. That's how trail magic works. We went right to the Pine Ellis Hostel and got the last three bunks¢another bit of passive magic.        TRAIL TRUTH #1: At any given time, you are exactly where you should be.That refers not only to the effort of the miles that you put forth, but if you keep yourself open to the possibilities, the serendipity of the Trail opens itself to you, which leads to:        TRAIL TRUTH #2: The Trail provides.We hiked the one block into town and had a great, inexpensive meal at the Andover General Store, then back to the hostel for showers, laundry and hanging all our wet gear out on the clothesline. Clean, warm, dry, comfortable bunks indoors and bellies full of town food¢exactly what we needed to bolster the flagging spirits.
Date: 2010-09-11
From: South Arm Road

To: East B Hill Road
Miles today: 10.1

Had breakfast at the Red Robin Caf© in town. Jan, the owner served us. Tainted eggs have been in the news lately so we asked her where she got her eggs. With a straight face and a twinkle in her eye, she said, "Mexico." After an awkward moment of silence, she explained they were from Mexico, Maine, a nearby town. Maine humor is always out of left field and always surprises. It's delightful. After breakfast, we discussed slackpack possibilities with Ilene and David, the hostel owner and manager, and decided to do a slackpack today. Anything to get the 30-pound stones off our backs for a day! So we arranged a shuttle to South Arm Road along with Peru and Radar to do a southbound slack to East B Hill Road where David would pick us all up at 5:00.We started with a not too hard 1,000' climb up Moody Mountain with a great view at the top. The day was cool and sunny, perfect for hiking. We encountered a trail re-route where a rock slide had taken out 100 feet of trail. Rock slides devastate the forest¢all the trees had been knocked down and there was an impossible jumble of rocks with the trail buried underneath it all. Unfortunately, the re-route was not well marked and we spent an hour doing a steep downhill and uphill loop and ending up right where we had started on the re-route. Half the re-route was very rough with the bare minimum of walkable tread; the other half had recently laid stone steps and switchbacks. We realized we must have missed the intersection where the AT continues on at the bottom, so climbed back down the "good" half of the loop and found the intersection.After that, we followed a fairly gentle ridgeline for a couple miles before a 1,500' not too hard descent to East B Hill Road. We were really pushing for the last couple of hours because losing that hour at the re-route was going to make us late to our pick-up point. But David was there waiting for us, bless him, even though we were almost an hour late. Then back to the comforts of town and the hostel: dinner at the General Store, showers and soft beds¢tonight in the main house rather than the bunkhouse. It was a good day.
Date: 2010-09-12
From: East B Hill Road

To: Grafton Notch, ME 26
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: overcast clouds

We decided to do another slackpack today and had David drop us off at the trail on East B Hill Road where we would do a 10-mile slack southbound to Grafton Notch where we had gotten off the trail two days ago.After a 1,400' climb, we skirted the summit of Surplus Mountain and then a steep 1,600' climb summiting Little Baldpate and the East and West Baldpate peaks. It wasn't easy but with light packs, we were pleased with how quickly we covered the 512 mile climb. We paid careful attention to our time and allowed plenty of it for the long 2,300' descent to Grafton Notch. Though steep in areas with some bouldering, the downhill was very pleasant¢or perhaps we were just well rested and hiking strong. We arrived at Grafton over an hour early and there was David! Found out later he sort of keeps track of his slack hikers by talking to other hikers coming off the trail and knew we were going to be early. What a sweetie!Back to the hostel, showers and dinner at the General Store. Another good day!
Date: 2010-09-13
From: South Arm Road

To: South Arm Road
Miles today: 0.0

Had planned on hiking out today and continuing our northward journey but the weather turned downright nasty¢cold and raining¢and decided to take a zero day. I was a bit hesitant to do so, but I know how miserable you can get in this kind of weather. Pine Ellis is a great place for zero days.Bulldog and Hitchcock came in last night and Hitchcock was doing video interviews with a number of the hikers. Cahoda had wanted to color her hair for a couple weeks now and today was a perfect day to do it. She was gracious enough to allow Hitchcock to tape us while she was doing her hair. He thought it humorous that she concerned herself with such things while doing an ambitious thru-hike. We did the taping up in our bedroom for about an hour. There were serious moments but also lots of laughter which I'm sure had the other guests wondering what exactly was going on up there. At one point, Wild Poodle asked Hitchcock if she could interview him. She held the camera and asked him questions but only lasted about 10 minutes before her arms got tired and she had to return the camera to him.I worked on a revised hike plan as I'm really feeling the pressure to finish before Katahdin closes down for the season. I sense it's too ambitious, with too many big mile days and no zeros to give us a break. If we can stick to it though, we should be summiting Katahdin October 1st.Packed up so we'd be ready for our 7:30 AM shuttle back to the trail.
Date: 2010-09-14
From: South Arm Road

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: light rain

Said our farewells to David and Ilene. Our stay at their Pine Ellis Hostel had been awesome and it was hard to leave.The day was wet and sloppy day with on and off rain, about 50°, and mud up to our ankles. We started out with a 1,200' up and down over Old Blue Mountain and immediately started a 2,000' climb up the West Peak of Bemis Mountain. This was challenging with wet rock walls and slabs. Each of us fell twice during the course of the day¢no injuries except for some bruises in tender places. Then we did the East Peak of Bemis and Third Peak. We had a tremendous view north but because of the rain, the cameras were deep in our backpacks. There's some big mountains ahead but not too many before we hit the long stretch of relatively flat trail leading to Katahdin. Glacial ponds abound both in the valleys and up on the mountains. Maine is breathtakingly beautiful.We made it to the shelter in the late afternoon and set up our sleeping bags inside. Cody and Stickwalker were there and Carl Sagan and many others.I was relaxing with a cup of hot tea after dinner when I saw Cahoda slip on a tree root on her way back from the privy. She got up holding her wrist and said she thought she broke it. It certainly looked like it as it was misshapen and starting to swell. Wild Poodle made a splint out of the cardboard back to the shelter register and an Ace bandage she had with her. One of the other hikers had a prescription low-grade painkiller so we made Cahoda as comfortable as possible with our minds racing on how we were going to get her down this mountain in the morning. My heart breaks for her if she has to get off the trail being so close to the end. Slept restless and troubled with concern.
Date: 2010-09-16
From: ME Rte. 17

To: Piazza Rock Lean-to
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Slept in, went to breakfast and then discussed plans with Cahoda and Wild Poodle. Cahoda has a follow-up visit for her wrist in a week so cannot hike right now. Wild Poodle wants to take a couple days off to calm down from yesterday's upset and stay with Cahoda. I feel the pressure of the time line I've set for summiting Katahdin, so we decided I would hike out this afternoon, Wild Poodle would meet me in Stratton in 3 days and the two of us would hike north from there, and depending on what the doctor says next week, Cahoda will either meet us up the trail¢¦or not. Because of the afternoon start today, I arranged for David to shuttle me to Rangeley thereby "yellow-blazing" 13 miles of trail. In Rangeley, I picked up a mail drop and a prescription. On the way through town, we saw Cody and Stickwalker at the laundromat so stopped, gave them an update on Cahoda, and thanked them for calling the EMT's. Said my goodbyes to David and picked up a few fresh items and lunch at the grocery store.After lunch, I got a fairly quick hitch from a local who brought me to the trailhead and I was back in the woods. It was rather strange after all these weeks to be hiking alone again. Made it to the lean-to and decided to stay in the shelter as it was starting to drizzle. Also there were Utah, Puma, Country Gold, Timone, Puma, Forest, and Chef. One of them started a great fire that even the rain didn't put out. They had seen an article in the paper about Cahoda's rescue.After dinner, Forest started playing his backpack guitar and singing. One of them brought a "wet floor" sign, the lightweight fabric kind you see at Wal-Mart, hung it from the ceiling in the shelter, turned on his headlamp and placed it in the middle of the sign and, voila, we had an overhead "lamp" in the middle of the woods.   I got into my sleeping bag just after dark, watched the fire, listened to some really good music, and gently drifted off to sleep.
Date: 2010-09-17
From: Piazza Rock Lean-to

To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Cool, foggy morning that promised to get cooler as I started the 2,100' climb up Saddleback Mountain. As I gained altitude, the wind became stronger with spits of drizzle to add to the fun. I had bought a pair of waterproof winter mittens in Rangeley and although a bit clumsy for holding onto my poles, they kept my hands warm which is always a challenge on cold, wet days. Stopped for first lunch in the lee of a rock wall near the summit with Puma, Forest, Timone and Chef. Didn't stay stopped for long and then had a long ridgewalk over rock slabs. Thankfully the trail was well marked with cairns or it would have been easy to get off trail. There was a lot of standing water so the feet got wet pretty quickly. Unfortunately I was in the clouds so did not get the promised view of Katahdin.Then climbed The Horn and had 1.7 miles of steep walls to go down. It was wet, muddy and dangerously slippery so took my time and was very careful trying not to fall. Climbed Little Saddleback and again had a steep descent.Finally made it to Poplar Ridge Lean-to about 8:00 and tented along with Cody, Stickwalker and Belle. Putting on dry clothes and getting out of the wind felt so good.