morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-07-28
From: Katahdin Stream Campground Lean-to, ME

To: Abol Pines Campsite
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: overcast clouds

The next day we headed out to Abol Bridge. The ranger at Katahdin weighed our packs before leaving and they were 20 kgs for each of us. That included a base weight of 9 kg and the rest food, fuel and water for 11 days. Quite enough for me! The day was pretty uneventful. We met Sandie (Bluebearee) who is the trailrunner in the area and talked about NZ with her for a while. The Abol Bridge store sold a few things like milk and tinned baked beans and peas so we were able to stick to our plan of eating dinner there and breakfast the next morning so as to carry our 11-day food store intact into the "100 mile Wilderness". We camped at the Abol Pines campsite at the furthest site right on the river. It was very picturesque and we were able to swim and wash in the river. Dave's home-made tarp tent is large and roomy and keeps us out of the bugs. It is big enough to cook in too. The first bread proved to be as expected - too heavy - being the result of not being able to buy good bread flour yet. Tasted good though. Today's miles were 9.9 and temp range 21-32C. It was hot and we were glad to be by a river where we could wash. Swimming didn't seem too good an option as the current was quite strong and we had to hang onto a nearby branch to avoid being washed away.As we sat in our tarp tent afterwards, taking refuge from the bugs, we saw rafts with about 10 people each starting to drift by. The timing was good since they could have caught us with our pants down, so to speak, if they'd been a few minutes earlier, and they would have sneaked up on us too unless they were talking. They just kept coming, more and more of them, and by the time they all went past we must have seen 200-300 people out on the river. Rafting must be big in Maine. Bridge Over Katahdin Stream - photo by Allison Adams/Superstar
Date: 2007-07-29
From: Abol Pines Campsite

To: Rainbow Springs Campsite
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

We left the next morning about 7 for Rainbow Springs campsite. There was good swimming there too which was wonderful as we are finding it very hot indeed and very humid. Everyone is saying the heat and humidity are unseasonal and it should cool down before long. We are both having minor foot problems due to always being wet. Sunset over Rainbow LakeGiven the dearth of hiking food supplies at Millinocket I am interested to find out what people eat on the trail. One person we talked to ("Above the Clouds") said he always ate noodles and tuna for dinner. Shopping is easy and he does not have to worry about how to cook anything else. We met a few people like this. Seems noodles are a staple. We had a rice and fruit curry for dinner but it was not very satisfactory due to the lack of vegetable. We met and walked for a while with a young man who called himself "Von Bergen". He is planning to walk the length of the USA, not necessarily on the AT. He knew a lot about the native birds and assured us that they were there even though we haven't seen more than a very few small ones. Seems they are much quieter than ours and stay out of sight most of the time. Temps were a bit lower today at 21-25C but not enough to really help.Another great view of Katahdin (photo by TwoStep)
Date: 2007-07-30
From: Rainbow Springs Campsite

To: Wadleigh Lean-to
Miles today: 12.9

We left the next morning at 7:00 for Wadleigh Lean-to with 20 kms to go. There were several people on the trail. We had a great lunch spot and Dave had a swim. Afterwards we found a leech between his first and second toes! It came off after a struggle and left no mark at all, so maybe hadn't had time to get stuck in yet. There were some water birds making a huge slapping noise on the surface of the lake as they tried to take off. I don't know what they were and unfortunately we didn't have Von Bergen around to identify them. I wondered if they were loons but am not sure if they go around in a flock or not, as these birds were. Loons have a wonderful haunting cry that echoes across the ponds at night. Lying in my sleeping bag listening to them is a truly memorable experience.We got great views of Katahdin when crossing Nesundabunt hill but most of the time the trail was in forest. The ground has been reasonably soft underfoot due to a large amount of leaf litter deposited each year by the mainly deciduous trees, but wear and tear on the trail means there are a lot of exposed roots and rocks and even a bit of mud in places, reminding us of home. Temps remained somewhat like yesterday ranging from 19-26C.
Date: 2007-07-31
From: Wadleigh Lean-to

To:  Twitchell Brook (below Potaywadjo Lean-to)
Miles today: 8.3

Today we had a half-day to let the feet and bodies rest and get used to hiking. Shortly after noon we stopped to set up camp by Pemadumcook Lake at Twitchell Brook - just below Potaywadjo Lean-to. It was not a great spot but adequate. Getting to the lake involved a bash through difficult vegetation and the lake itself was less attractive for swimming than others we'd seen due to quite deep mud and slippery rocks around the edge. We met two young men who had decided to raft part of the lake instead of carry their stuff. It all came to naught as they got stuck in mud at the end of the lake and we saw them returning to the place where they started from a couple of hours later - near where we were camped. Our dinner of pasta, tuna and cheese was not so bad, I suppose! Breakfast was potato, parmesan and skim milk powder. We are really missing full cream milk powder, also coconut milk powder which has very high calories for the weight. We have been told that these items may be available further down the trail where the supermarkets are larger and have a greater range of products and I am certainly looking forward to that. Skim milk powder is poor value for its weight as you have to use a lot of it to get any satisfactorily milky liquid. There has been no let-up of the high temperatures today with a range of 18-27C. We are finding it very hot indeed. Mt Katahdin from Pemadumcook Lake (thank you 357 Magnum)
Date: 2007-08-01
From:  Twitchell Brook (below Potaywadjo Lean-to)

To: Cooper Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 12.4

We left at 7:00am for Coopers Brook Lean-to. We met Weatherman and Peanut, father and daughter, hiking together. We arrived at about 2:30, then about 8 others arrived too, all "thru-hikers" heading north, all young (maybe early 20s), and nearly at the end of their trip. A couple of men about our age also arrived and we had a pleasant evening talking to them. One of them has a son who portaged for them for the first couple of days. This spot has the best privy so far (American for "toilet" given "bathroom" clearly doesn't suit) - but located so far above the campsite that maybe it suffers from underuse! Our rice meal was the best so far which is not saying much. Breakfast was rice with skim milk powder, dried apricots and vanilla essence. We always have two brews and it is interesting to see others starting out in the morning with one or two 40gram packets of oatmeal and hardly anything to drink. We wouldn't go far on that! There was a party of 11 young French-Canadian girls camped where we stopped for lunch. I had a hard time trying to work out which of them, if any, was in charge as they all looked the same age to me. Turned out there were two older girls who were outdoor instructors. They certainly come young these days! Just below Logan Brook campsite where we were headed for the night we met an older man who introduced himself as "Moth" - he is hiking to meet his son Katerpillar who has been thru-hiking. A few minutes after talking to Moth we got to the shelter and scouted around looking for a campsite. Up till now we had disdained using the shelters as our tent always looked better to us but this time the campsites looked pretty ordinary. One campsite looked fairly ok until we put our packs down, whereupon three mice came running down the hill towards them. So in our innocence we stayed in the lean-to for the first time. If we'd thought this would solve the mouse problem we were sadly mistaken as the lean-to was alive with mice. There was even a family of them living under the fireplace stones just out in front and they amused us all evening by popping out to check on any food opportunities. All night they ran all over us trying to get at our food. Our food was in our Ursacks which are supposed to be critter-proof, but this is not a complete solution as in their frustration the mice scratched away at the bags all night and kept us (me) awake. At least our food has been safe so far while others have not been so lucky. Logan Brook Lean-to photo by SCUBA - Alex Hausrath
Date: 2007-08-02
From: Cooper Brook Lean-to

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: broken clouds

Today we are heading for Logan Brook Lean-to, past Crawford Pond and over Little Boardman Mountain. Logan Brook is part way up White Cap Mountain which divides the climb into two days instead of tackling it all in one. Climbing was just short of 1000m today, the most since Katahdin. Unfortunately the temperatures were holding up at around 30C (low was 17C) which made the day pretty hard. I was also having trouble with my back. I must have picked up my pack carelessly at some stage and sitting on/getting up from the ground and crawling in and out of a tent as you have to do when tenting was a challenge. I knew it would come right in a few days but I was worried whether I'd be able to keep going while it fixed itself. Funnily, the only time I was ok was when I had the pack on and was walking. Maybe this makes sense to a back expert but it certainly didn't to me. There was no-one else at Logan Brook so we stayed in the shelter instead of putting up the tent. I am not too worried about mice as long as they don't run over me or get in my hair. Or bite me! We were told about one person who was bitten on the arm by a frustrated mouse. It just ran up to him and bit him! Apparently you have to avoid contact with mouse droppings as they carry some sort of disease. We are making a habit of sweeping out the shelters whenever we use them, and putting down a groundsheet. This consists of a large painters' dropcloth which we plan to replace from time to time as necessary.Logan Brook lean-to
Date: 2007-08-03
From: Logan Brook Lean-to

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

Next day started uphill with the rest of Whitecap Mountain to cross. There were quite a few stone steps to ascend on the way, all nicely built and spaced. I wonder who does all this trail work. Some of the rocks are so big that I don't know how the trail builders can move them, let alone weld them into an evenly spaced stone staircase. The top of Whitecap gets out of the treeline which is nice. It was the first time we'd seen views all around since Katahdin. The views are of endless spruce and fir-covered hills interspersed with lots of lakes. It would be easy to get lost here as to our untrained eyes there aren't any landmarks. This was the day of the thunderstorm! We had set up camp over the stream from Carl A Newhall lean-to. We had been hearing thunder all day and as we were sitting in the stream having a bit of a wash the impending storm really worked itself up and we had one of the loudest, wettest and windiest and shortest storms I've ever experienced. We had to hold down the sides of the tarp tent so the stakes wouldn't pull out of the ground. I had unpacked but luckily all my stuff was in waterproof silnylon bags so nothing got wet. I wasn't sure that the tarp would stand up to the huge gusts of wind, being made out of 1.1oz silnylon, but it proved to be quite strong enough. We knew it was totally waterproof having tested it at home with the hose on full force and sure enough no water came in through the roof. We did find out that really heavy rain does not soak away fast enough to prevent pooling, probably due to high usage making the ground in the campsites very hard. We were ok due to being on a slight bump, but it was obvious that in rain this intense you might need a tent with built-in floor especially as the campsites we have seen so far tend to be concave instead of convex. It is probable they will be similar all down the trail. We always look for a slight bump when looking for a suitable site but the prepared sites just do not have this. So in Monson where we have sent our bounce box (a "bounce box" has back-up gear in it and is mailed forward repeatedly as one progresses down the trail) we will pick up our tent and carry that as well as a tarp to provide a place to cook if it is raining.At the time, we wondered if this sort of weather was the norm or not, but have found out since that they had power outages in Maine when that storm went through. You would not want to be above the bushline in a storm like that. After the storm the sun came out and it was very hot and humid. I played some games with a cheeky chipmunk which kept attacking our stove and food bags. It was fetchingly cute, and I got some good pictures of it, but had to sacrifice a little bit of food to persuade it to pose. I felt guilty about this as I knew it would only be encouraged by success.
Date: 2007-08-04
From: Carl A Newhall Lean-to

To: West Pleasant River
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: clear sky

We got away at 7.30 this morning heading towards the west branch of the Pleasant River. We had been wondering whether to divert from the AT and look at Gulf Hagas, which is supposed to be an attraction not to be missed. Although there is so far to go to Springer we didn't want to just walk past. We are not going to be here again so there is only one chance. So we took the "cutoff" trail to Gulf Hagas and found a very attractive slate stream valley with nice waterfalls and rocky cliffs. We had expected a smooth "tourist" trail but were surprised by lots of wind-falls and rock scrambles which made the going pretty slow and tiring with a pack. The stream was quite attractive with good vantage points but there was not enough to hold interest for too long under the circumstances, so eventually we gave it away and found our way back onto the AT. There were a few people about and a couple we met said the storm had been a big one with significant damage and power outages. There is a tourist complex there for Gulf Hagas visitors and a carpark located on the other side of the Pleasant River. People were sitting on both sides taking off or putting on their shoes or wading across. A couple offered to take out our small bit of rubbish and gave us some bottled water and snacks. Due to the diversion to Gulf Hagas we only managed about 5 miles on the AT but I knew we'd have regretted not going there if we'd walked past.
Date: 2007-08-05
From: West Pleasant River

To: Cloud Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we headed for Cloud Pond Lean-to. Just before the climb up Chairback Mountain we met Sarah Taylor, a young NZer from Tauranga who was in charge of a group of girls on a camp, so we stopped and talked to her for a while. It was fun to meet another NZer. This proved to be our hardest day yet climbing 1360 meters over 4 tops with good views. It was a gorgeous day with temps ranging from 18-24C, the coolest day we'd had so far. It was pretty hard climbing up Chairback Mtn as there was a lot of rock, some but not all formed into rock steps. It was pretty steep and tiring although our packs are significantly lighter now which helped a lot. Third Mountain has a top with a large expanse of smooth rock and great views all around. I don't know what the rock would be like in the rain, probably slippery. Cloud Pond photo by Spicy - Matthew McKinneyCloud Pond Shelter was a little way off the trail near the beautiful Cloud Pond. The shelter had a couple staying there who we thought it might be fun to talk to so we decided against the lovely campsite just next to the pond and stayed at the shelter instead. Our companions were pleased to have someone to talk to. She said she had run out of topics of conversation with her son so was very glad when we showed up. She is 75 and had done all of the rest of the AT over the years except for Maine. Maine is reputed to be the hardest part of the trail and I must say I thought it might have been better not to have left it till last, however here they are. They said they had been caught above the treeline on Chairback Mountain in that storm and then had been forced to camp waterless between 3rd and fourth peaks because they had run out of time to get to the shelter. They said the lightning had been quite frightening and we could sympathise with that given the stories we have all heard of hikers being killed by lightning. They were short of food, having been longer on the trail than intended, and said they thought they'd be pretty hungry before they got to Monson. We had an extra meal which we wanted to give them but her son is allergic to coconut unfortunately, and our meals all have coconut in them so we were only able to give them part of it. I have been feeling quite worried about them.
Date: 2007-08-06
From: Cloud Pond Lean-to

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: light rain

It was another beautiful day ranging in temperature from 12-24C. There were great views from Barren Mountain and again from Barren Slide part way down where huge precariously balanced rocks tumble down the side of the mountain. We had planned to camp at Little Wilson Stream, but we got to Wilson Valley Lean-to in time for lunch and the rain came down (yep, it can really bucket down here). So we stayed where we were and ended up staying the night too. There is nothing like a heavy shower of rain to dampen one's enthusiasm for hiking. Later that afternoon two wet, bedraggled hikers came in - they were "Slow But Not Sure" and his son. They have done the whole trail and we were interested to hear that they had hiked with John Craig (our friend from Wellington) in 2003. John made a big impression and they wanted to be remembered to him. Even later another group came in, also very wet and tired. We squeezed in the two daughters and Christine, one of the adults, but there just wasn't room for everyone, so one of them had to stay in his tent. Christine lost food to a critter during the night so we gave her some of ours since we were going out to Monson tomorrow. Christine said it was a red-letter day as it was pretty rare for thru-hikers to give away food. We seem to have given away a bit of food on this section so clearly are carrying more than we need. Actually we have been surprised at how little food the thru-hikers we have met so far have been carrying. No wonder they look gaunt. Little Wilson Stream - photo by Andrew Breecher/Haiku
Date: 2007-08-07
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Monson
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: broken clouds

This was our biggest day so far in terms of distance. Looking at the map we didn't think there was much climbing but all those small undulations added up and we climbed 831m and went down 875m. I was quite amused that at Big Wilson Stream we stopped on the bank and took off our boots! This is not what you'd do at home since there is not much chance of keeping boots dry what with rain and lots of water crossings. You'd be taking your boots off all the time and wouldn't get to your destination. And the boots would get wet anyway! Everyone here takes their boots off for the infrequent crossings. In fact people talk about the crossings. There are so few of them that they get talked about! There were some lovely granite outcrops today with good views looking down onto ponds. The ponds are really lovely and I will be sorry when we pass the last of them. an enduring memory of Maine will be ponds! And loons! We got across Little Wilson stream without having to take our boots off although it was touch and go. Little Wilson Falls was a cascade down a series of even rock steps and quite impressive especially as there are not many waterfalls in this part of the world. We hitchhiked into Monson without having to wait too long, despite my pessimism. I really don't like hitchhiking but there is not much choice when the town is a few miles off the trail. View from Pleasant Pond Mtn. (photo by Bill Cooke ¢ CookerHiker)
Date: 2007-08-08
To: ZERO Day in Monson
Miles today: 0.0

Well, here we are in Monson after surviving the 100 Mile Wilderness. So this is a big update since we have not seen a computer since leaving Millinocket on 27 July. So far, the trip has been absolutely fantastic. The bush is great, the people we meet are great, the few views we get are good and the travel under-foot is just what we are used to - roots, rocks and mud! So we are now in Monson having a "zero day" and sorting out our bounce box for posting in the morning. We are staying at Shaw's which is something of an institution on the trail. There are not too many others there yet as the bulk of northbounders are still to arrive and the southbounders have gone through. We are on the tail end of these. Tomorrow we head for Caratunk, 4 days away, and hope to update then, but time will be tight. A zero day sounds like a day off but with laundry, washing, cleaning and buying and preparing supplies for the next stage; as well as eating, email and writing this, it can be busier than a walking day. Shaw¢s in Monson photo by Adam Bradley
Date: 2007-08-09
From: Monson

To: Bald Mountain Pond 
Miles today: 12.4

From Monson, the hostel owner ferried four of us to the trailhead, Bonnie, Dave and myself going south and Tom going north. We hike faster than Bonnie ("Barney" she calls herself- and it took a while before I realised her name was "Bonnie") so haven't seen her again as yet. We had planned on hiking until 4 then looking for a tent site but it was pretty hard to find a spot amongst the rocks and trees so ended up going till about 5. The spot we finally found was at the outlet of Bald Mountain Pond about 6 miles past the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to. We hung a washing line over the trail at about garotting height so that Bonnie wouldn't miss us if she came through late, but she didn't show up. The day's travel was easy with 735m up and 755m down and nice easy trail. We covered 12.4 miles in temps of 17-25C. There was a family fishing in Bald Mountain Stream catching brook trout as we went by. The two they had caught were about 300mm long and they said they were good eating. We had tuna, pasta, cheese sauce, dried tomatoes and coconut threads for dinner. Things are looking up foodwise, but there is some way to go yet!Waterfall - photo by Jim Bolen/Icebeard