morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2021-08-25
From: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

We left camp about 7:00, needing to cover 3.4 miles to Johnson Pond Road to meet our food drop by 10:00.  It was slightly uphill but moderate and we made better time than we thought we would.  On the way we stopped to chat with a nobo hiker I had met back in Vermont 6 or 7 weeks ago. His wife was traveling up the trail slackpacking him as much as possible. It was his second AT thruhike. He  recommended we read Walking with Buddy, the story of his first thruhike.We reached the road crossing early about 9:00.  Biscuit was there with trail magic again.  I had another hot dog, a dill pickle,  lemonade, a Rice Krispie treat, and some peanut M&Ms. When our food drop arrived, we spent an hour going through our stuff, donating to Biscuit what we didn¢t need or want. Just as we were leaving, Biscuit gave us a fresh avocado.SusanB banged her toe the other day and decided to get off trail to take care of it. Biscuit agreed to shuttle her to Millinocket to get her truck.  She¢ll stay at Shaw¢s a night or two abd rejoin us in a couple days if she can. Janet and I went through our entire packs and gave SusanB any extras we could get rid of to lessen our weight and make room for all our new food.We had a 1.5 mile climb up Little Boardman Mountain that had us sweating and soaking our shirts.  The next three miles were downhill to the East Branch Lean-to.  We stopped there for a snack and water.  We had a mile or so level terrain before the trail got steeper and more strenuous and soon our shirts were soaked again. Halfway up White Cap Mountain we finally arrived at Logan Brook Lean-to.We joined the others at the shelter for our supper.  Janet and I split the avocado and added it to our dinners for a nice treat.  After one of the guys climbed the steep rock steps up to the privy, he said, ¢You don¢t want to start that climb if the turtle is already sticking his head out of his shell.¢ We all just shook or heads at that one. I¢m going to have a hard time getting that saying out of my head. At dusk four nobos came charging in one after another, got water, and moved down the trail. All of us already at the shelter were relaxed and having a good time, but these four were on a mission to do big miles and finish.By 8:05 it was dark and I was ready to turn out my headlamp and call it a night.
Date: 2021-08-26
From: Logan Brook Lean-to

To: Carl A Newhall Lean-to
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Just before we left camp in the morning, a local dayhiker arrived on his way up White Cap Mountain. He was celebrating his 500 mountain climbed by bringing cookies in ziploc bags to pass out to all the hikers he met. That was a nice treat for us.We knew we had a tough day with four peaks to climb so we planned only 7.2 miles for the day.  Even Warren Doyle at his AT Institute warned us that this was a tough section.  He was right.After White Cap Mountain, we summitted Hay Mountain, West Peak, and Gulf Hagas Mountain, taking rests and snack breaks at each peak.  Along the way we crossed paths with PBS. We last hiked with her the morning we crossed the Kennebec River. She¢s probably the last of our nobo friends we¢ll see.  Most have already passed us.  Many have already summitted Katahdin. I got texts and pictures from Silly Bands and her tramily and from Buttercup today with their Katahdin summit pictures.We reached the Carl Newhall Lean-to around 2:00.  We got water, chose tentsites, unpacked, and set up our tents. We took our dirty clothes down to the brook and washed them and ourselves.  We put on our sleep shirts and rain skirts for the rest of the afternoon and hung our clothes on a line to dry.One nobo about our age from College Station PA came to our area to tent for the night.  We ate early about 4:00.  Another nobo joined us about 5:00. We kept checking our clothes on the line to see if they were drying. It grew more and more windy and by bedtime, they had finally dried.
Date: 2021-08-27
From: Carl A Newhall Lean-to

To: Chairback Gap Lean-to
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: fog

It was very windy in the night and it cooled off considerably. Because we had washed off in the brook, I was clean and slept quite comfortably.  We were packed up and on the trail by about 7:30. Our morning trended gradually downhill and the miles went by quickly. It was typical rocks, roots, and mud, separated by some nice spruce needle cushiony trail sections. We covered 5.44 miles to West Branch Pleasant River by 10:00.  There was no bridge and we had to take off our shoes and socks and wade across the river.  A quick .6 mile later, we were at Katahdin Ironworks Road and there was trail magic. Three days of trail magic in a row!! A 2010 thru-hiker calling himself Kentucky had a cooler of sodas, water, and Gatorades. He also had mini bags of chips, snack cakes, and assortment of other goodies. I ate a bag of sour cream and onion chips and chugged a  Gatorade. We had heard from nobos that the water at the night¢s shelter tasted like sulphur, so I took an extra bottle of water to go also.  When we left the road, we immediately began a steep ascent up Chairback Mountain. After a half mile or so the incline became more manageable. We passed a group of 10-12 older ladies out for a day hike and lunch. We climbed 2.5 before stopping for a lunch break on some nicely placed rocks. Closer to the top there was a short rock scramble reminiscent of the Whites.  The views from the top were breathtaking!  Chairback Gap Lean-to was just .5 downhill from the summit, and we arrived about 2:00.  SusanB arrived about 3:00 with stories about her adventures with Biscuit on her ¢days off¢.  We set up our tents and aired out our gear in the afternoon. It was breezy and the temperature was dropping. The heat wave has finally broken.  It was nice to have a warm dinner and crawl into my tent. It was only 6:00 and still early, but being in the tent was warmer. We each got in our own tents; SusanB kept us entertained reading aloud from The Old Lady on the Trail.  One passage described how she reached the exact shelter where we were spending the night. I only have 26.2 miles to go to finish the AT.  If I were a marathoner I could run it in a few hours, but I¢m a 63 year old with a 30 pound backpack so I¢ll take two days to hike it.What I ate today:              caloriesStrawberries and cream oatmeal with pecans added Colby Jack cheese stick Chili Cheese Fritos                 160Colby Jack cheese stick Dark chocolate blueberries 1/2 whole wheat pitaPeanut butter cupCFA jellySecond Nature Wholesome Medley   (nuts, chocolate, fruit)              210BBQ chips                        150Mtn House Chicken n Dumplings2 servings                        620w/ Colby Jack cheese stick and 2 slices ready to eat baconTotal calories.                   .Day 76  8/29
Date: 2021-08-28
From: Chairback Gap Lean-to

To: Tent site by Long Pond Stream
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: broken clouds

We left the campsite knowing we had five ups and downs ahead of us. On the way to the privy, we met Dirty Pasta, a nobo, who had camped on the other side of the shelter from us. Her dad was joining her at the end of her thruhike for the Hundred Mike Wilderness and Katahdin. How special!Our first climb was Columbus Mountain. Our second was Chairback Third Mountain.  Our next climb was to The Ledges which gave us a great view of Chairback Fourth Mountain that we would climb next.We walked across Fourth Mountain Bog, an alpine bog below the peak of Fourth Chairback Mountain. The trail traversed the bog on a nearly 100 yard bog bridge. There we saw purple pitcher plants and the round leaf sundew, both carnivorous plants.Our last climb was up Barren Mountain, the western end of the Barren-Chairback Range, which is home to a partially dismantled fire lookout tower. We had a steep rocky descent to the Barren Ledges where we had a gorgeous clear view of Lake Onawa.We had originally planned to stop at Long Pond Stream Lean-to after 10.9 miles, but kept hiking downhill and found a great campsite along Long Pond Stream with plenty of flat space for all three of our tents, an existing fire ring, and easy access to the stream for water.  It was just about perfect for my last night on the trail. When I was hanging my food bag, there was even a huge nail in the tree I chose, which made it super easy to tie off my rope.We all got our tents up, fixed and ate our dinners, heated water to clean up, and got a fire going. We sat around the fire talking until dusk and then SusanB and I climbed into our tents. Janet stayed up to sit by the fire a little longer. It was hard for me to believe that my section hiking of the AT that started in 2014 would end the next afternoon, in just 14.4 more miles.
Date: 2021-08-29
From: Tent site by Long Pond Stream

To: ME 15, Monson (ShawÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs)
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: overcast clouds

It was bittersweet packing up in the morning to leave. I had been pushing my physical limits for 11 weeks on the trail and I was tired and ready to be done. At the same time, I didn¢t want it to end.The elevation for our last day looked relatively mild, hovering between 500-1200 all day. In reality, in was constant little ups and downs all day.  There were no big summits or views, just continual ups and downs. There were no named mountains and the elavation line in guthook looked like a serrated saw blade, so we called the whole day The Sawtooth Range.The AT gave us little bits of it all - little rocks, big rocks, rock slabs, rock climbs, rock ledges, mud, roots, muck, bog bridges, a knee deep stream crossing, a railroad track crossing, a picnic by a waterfall, a few easy level stretches, and lots of hikers along the way. The weather was beautiful. About a mile before we finished the Hundred Mile Wilderness, we crossed paths with 8 year old Supergirl and her Supermom. I¢d been following their hike on their YouTube channel sporadically through the summer and was thrilled to meet them.  They had just left Monson on their final stretch and would summit Katahdin about a week later.   As we neared our final destination of ME 15 about 4:00, Janet and SusanB hung back and I reached the parking lot alone. It was surreal; I was done section hiking the entire AT!  I choked up and began to weep. It started to sprinkle, so we took a few pictures at my last white blaze and called Shaw¢s for a ride. Poet arrived quickly to whisk us away to the hostel. We chose loaner clothes one last time, unpacked in the hostel bunk room, got lukewarm showers, started our load of laundry, and walked into town to celebrate. It was Sunday and the only restaurant in town and the General Store deli both had closed at 7:00.  Fittingly, we ordered takeout pizzas from the gas station for our last trail meal and ate them back at the hostel.
Date: 2021-08-30
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

In the morning as we were packing to leave Shaw¢s and head south, we saw familiar faces. We had last seen Ken and Allie at a hut in the Whites July 27. Today they were taking a zero at Shaw¢s before heading into the HMW, then would flip flop to do the southern half of the trail. It was fun to meet them again after a month.SusanB drove us to CT where I was reunited with my truck. After a long-anticipated steak dinner at Longhorn, we said our goodbyes. SusanB headed home to PA, and Janet and I headed south. We stopped in NJ for the night and finished our trip home the next day.I took it easy for several days at home -  unpacking, cleaning and storing gear, catching up on home stuff, eating, and napping. John had invited friends to celebrate with us on Saturday. Within days of my arrival home, that bottle of untreated water I¢d had on 8/23 began to take effect. The doctor and stool sample confirmed that I had giardia. After a week on antibiotics, I was back to normal again.  Adjusting to the ¢real world¢ is rough after 11 weeks on the trail. My ankles and knees are recovering but my head wants yo be back in the trail.  I can only imagine what thruhikers go through.
Date: 2021-10-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I¢ve been home almost two months now.  I spent the first week mostly sleeping and eating.  I spent the second week dealing with Giardia.  Getting my head back into the ¢real world¢ has taken much longer than I expected.  I have only been back on trails a few times but I have begun jogging again.  I took a short trip to Georgia for a leisurely overnight from Amicalola Falls up the Approach Trail to Springer Mountain. When I was first on Springer in July of 2014, it was raining and we barely took time for a picture before beginning our AT adventure. This time, the day was gorgeous and I took more time for reflection.I went back through my journals and tried to do some math. The numbers may not be exact, but they¢re close.  The farther I got from home and the older I got, the more I spent on slackpacking and hostels/hotels. 192 hiking days14 round trips to and from the trail14 zero days18.9 - most AT miles hiked in one day11.4 - average miles per hiking day15 days - longest stretch of trail without a zero10 days - longest stretch without a shower69 nights spent in a shelter39 nights spent in a tent47 nights spent in a hostel6 nights spent in an AMC hut31 nights spent in a hotel10 nights spent in homesThe only gear I did not replace over the course of my AT hike was one bandana and one pair of Darn Tough socks. Everything else either wore out or got upgraded. I didn¢t keep records of how much I spent on gear, food, overnight stays, and travel. It¢s probably best I don¢t know.  Regardless, it was worth it!
Date: 2021-04-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

The days are counting down before we begin our flip-flop journey. We are going to start in Waynesboro at the southern end of Shenandoah National Park going NOBO (northbound). We plan to hit Mt Katahdin in Maine around late August. Our daughter will pick us up there and bring us home to Waynesboro to re-supply and shower and sleep a night in our own bed. Then off to Springer, GA to hike NOBO back to where we started, Waynesboro! I know we will be covering ground we have already hiked, but this will give us a true thru-hike.We laid out our gear in the spare bedroom to make sure we have everything. We should have made a list when we got off the trail in 2019. We find ourselves constantly asking "Did we bring 2 pairs of socks or three?" "How many pairs of pants did we bring?" We are trying to keep our base weight as low as possible. David bought a new warmer sleeping bag that cut almost 2 pounds off his weight. I bought a new backpack that trimmed my base weight by 2-1/2 pounds!During our 2019 hike we discovered that CoffeeBean wasn't eating enough calories. He dropped 30 pounds in a month and looked emaciated. It was scary. He has since done tons of research on food, trail diets, fats, proteins, etc. As a result, we'll be carrying a lot more food than we did the first time. The rule of thumb is a food should provide at least 100 calories per ounce. We went to Walmart the other day to pick up the non-perishables and it was strange to stand there and look for foods or flavors with the highest calories and fats, but you need that when you are burning as many calories as you do on the trail.
Date: 2021-04-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We continue checking over gear. Last night we went through our medical kit to make sure we had enough of everything. Added moleskin this trip in case of blisters. I swear by the Injinji toe socks, so I really didn't have a lot of problems with blisters last hike, but CoffeeBean did. He is going to give the toe socks a shot.I have a new backpack - Zpack Arc Haul. It's extremely light, which I love, but last night I was trying to adjust it and was having trouble making it fit just right. I am used to the fit of the Osprey, which really covers your whole back and is several pounds heavier. I found a video on Zpack's site showing how to adjust the Arc Haul. I will go over it again tonight and see if I can make it work.
Date: 2021-05-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

On Friday, my awesome co-workers threw me a retirement/"when are we rid of you?" party! Everyone brought in goodies and we shared stories and laughed and laughed. Rhonda made these fantastic and creative cupcakes with trees and AT signs on them and painted this gorgeous camping picture. I was also presented with a silver fork engraved with "I'm done 2021". Stick a fork in me, I'm done! Earlier I had been given a silver carbiner with a compass on it and a medallion that read "SDMS 2021". It only weighs 1.3 ounces so it made the weight cut and hangs proudly on my pack! :) (You can see pictures under the "Photos" link.)I just finished Permethrian-ing (a new word just created by me) our boots, pants, shirts, gaiters, packs, and hats. Trying hard to keep the ticks and mosquitoes off for as long as I can.Next up is assembling our food bags. We have laid out everything for each meal and will put the dinners in one bag and lunch and breakfast in another. There's a lot of food! (Wonder how much a mule costs? Can you bring a mule on the AT? I'll have to check into that.) I am in charge of carrying the bag containing snacks, protein bars, Clif bars, etc. It comes in at 6.3 pounds. I'm OK with that because I get first dibs on the Paydays. Worth the sacrifice!
Date: 2021-05-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

So today was my last day working with the best bunch of co-workers and cohorts a person could ask for. It was a sad day and a happy day. I will miss these folks more than I can say. I sent out an email with a link to this blog so they can follow/stalk me on our hike.My assistant principal said that I couldn't leave without one last fire drill. And I got to pull the alarm! Then I got to call the code green! Small things amuse small minds, I've been told. The afternoon brought terrible thunderstorms with strong winds and horizonal rain. There was even hail! All I could think was "Please don't let it be like this tomorrow."At the end of the day, I gave the afternoon announcements beginning with "Please excuse this interruption for my last afternoon announcements." I heard a bunch of "Ahhh"s. Shortly after that, a friend came up and sang a goodbye song to me over the intercom. It was really moving.It was hard to leave after that and I hung around with a bunch of the office staff laughing and telling stories. My boss has offered to hike with us and give us "brilliant" ideas on how to do things better. Other than that he probably won't be much use, so he has been given the trail name of "Dead Weight".Finally came home and did one more pack shakedown. My final pack weight, with food and water, is 32.2 lbs. CoffeeBean's pack weight is 38 lbs.
Date: 2021-05-05
From: Afton Mtn outside SNP

To: Calf Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up at 6:20 and we both took long luxurious showers. Kenz had asked for homemade waffles but David wanted something less sugary and more filling. I was so anxious that I only got a bite of cereal in me and I was sick to my stomach. David had his oatmeal and an English muffin with jelly. We heard a noise in the garage and saw Megan coming in the kitchen door with that 4-legged fluff ball, Mando! Megan got up at 3:30 this morning and left at 4:30 so she could say goodbye before we left. We were so surprised and happy. She and Kenz had been planning this surprise.We took some pictures of us all geared up and some with the girls. I flushed the toilet a couple times just to enjoy the sound of indoor plumbing once more.  Said goodbye to Mando and Indy the snake (she wasn¢t impressed) and then climbed in the car. David drove us to rt 250 and after lots of hugs and kusses we started our walk into Shenandoah National Park at 9:45am.Shortly into the park we had to fill out a tag with info about us and how long we would be in the park. One copy was hung on David¢s pack and the other 2 went back into the box there (It¢s the govt. Gotta have everything in triplicate.)The trail really wasn¢t bad as far as ups and downs. At one point I was in the lead and looked down to check my footing and walked straight into a pointed branch from a downed tree. Thank God for glasses! It knocked my glasses askew and bruised above my eye a little. I hope the Lord reminds me of this next time I complain about having to wear glasses. It definitely would have gouged my eye!We continued on and occasionally had mists of rain with the wind so it kept us cool.We passed 2 sets of 2 hikers. Both were doing section hikes.With the extra weight put on during the pandemic and not having gone to the gym in a year, we were really hurting. We both struggled and stopped more often to rest.We arrived at the Calf Mountain Shelter about 3:15 and had lunch. We were starving! BBQ flavored tuna fish with avocado wrapped in a tortilla. Sounds disgusting but absolutely delicious if you¢re starving!We filled our water bottles from the pipe spring by the shelter. Decided to camp here tonight because the next shelter is 13 miles and there¢s very little water. We also didn¢t want to push it too much our first day. It¢s extremely windy snd the temperature is dropping. Time to hunker down.On our previous hike we picked upa great tip from another hiker. He always brings a large lawn and leaf bag to put his pack in. It keeps it dry if it rains and he would also throw gear in it he was done using. This was he never left gear behind. We got brought bags and as we were putting our packs in them realized we picked up the scented ones. They smell great. Just hope the bears don¢t think so too.We only did 7.5 miles today.
Date: 2021-05-06
To: Blackrock Hut
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Yesterday during the day was pretty humid so we are getting stinky already. We have definitely entered into Stinkyville! In fact, I made this great DIY water bottle holder to hang on my shoulder pad. The only problem is when I lift the bottle I can smell myself. ¢Take a drink and get a whiff of stink.¢The night was unbelievable windy and cold. Even though I checked all the sleeping pads before we left, I think mine has a slow leak because I spent much of the night on the cold ground. I pulled my fleece on during the night but couldn't find my socks. So it was a cold night for me. David said he was cold too. The morning was chilly but the wind had finally abated. We didn't get out and moving until about 7:30am.We had our bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Not quite the same taste when the bagels are cold. We drank Instant Breakfast with powdered milk. Just add water. That was actually very good. I was only able to get about half the bagel down. We left at 9:15am. It was still cool in the beginning so I kept my fleece on and we both wore our gloves. It eventually warmed up enough that we were down to short sleeves. A lot of ups today or at least it seemed that way. We are still struggling and having to rest often. Can¢t wait until we have our hiking legs!We had our first trail magic today! We had crossed Skyline Drive and had walked a short way when we saw about a dozen gallons of different drinks and a cooler with goodies! It was awesome! Found out later it was put there by Stanimals, the hiker hostel in Waynesboro. Lady Slippers and Wander Lost are the ones that did it. We met a thru-hiker named Sailor Jack. The Jack part of his name came from the fact that he looks like Jack Nicholson, the actor. We ended up in the same shelter, Blackrock Hut. We were joined later by Friendly Ghost, Lone Wolf, and much later Foxtrot.After a hot dinner, we decided to sleep in the shelter. Rain is due tomorrow so we won¢t have to pack up a wet tent. David mentioned that he had been talking to Kenz about bringing a Jack Reacher book. (He has really gotten into that series.) He said he was going to read a page and then tear it out and throw it in a campfire. That way the book would get lighter as he went. Kenz was appalled and said tearing or burning a book was almost sacrilegious! David thought that was pretty funny. He didn¢t bring his book. We hiked 13.9 miles today.