morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-09-10
From: Mahoosuc Notch Trail 

To: Rt. 26 (Bethel, ME)
Miles today: 8.2

Sure was a good idea on the part of that thunderstorm for us to tackle Mahoosuc Notch this morning. It's really a mile-long boulderfield, not exactly a trail. It is definitely the toughest mile on the AT BY FAR. But we had a barrel of fun squeezing through the crawl-spaces and scaling the rock walls, sliding down sheer rock faces on our butts and making heroic leaps of faith from one boulder to another. It was a great upper-body workout as well -- you can forget about using the poles here. Also, a new record for slowness: one mile in two hours! The small, pleasant town of Bethel and its awesome B&B are our reward. Though I suppose sitting in a bar watching the Redskins/Vikings game doesn't really qualify as "savoring every moment" of this precious experience.Or does it?
Date: 2006-09-11
From: Rt. 26 (Bethel, ME)

To: Rt. 26 (Bethel, ME)
Miles today: 0.0

The Chapman Inn in Bethel serves up a great breakfast. Our schedule for the remainder of the trip is set to include zero days each week, Sunday or Monday, for the express purpose of watching football. This gives Marc a reason to enjoy town.Go Birds!
Date: 2006-09-12
From: Rt. 26 (Bethel, ME)

To: Wyman Mountain
Miles today: 14.9

This trail's been hard on me lately -- today was a get up, walk, fall into bed again kind of day. I just can't seem to satisfy my body that it ever gets enough rest. These days I don't even want to chat when we get to camp. I just sort of slump there staring until dinner's over, then immediately fall asleep. Lunch was awesome today, though. Every picnic lunch is awesome, and these are all picnic lunches! We sat directly atop a mountain, under a big pine tree, and watched a woodpecker poke around the trunks above us.
Date: 2006-09-13
From: Wyman Mountain

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: broken clouds

Moose! Today we saw a moose! What a relief -- I was afraid this whole trip would be wasted, since everyone knows the purpose of hiking the AT is to see a freakin' moose in the wild. Just south of Hall Mountian lean-to, this creature was BIG and far away, and Marc frightened it away with the flash as he tried to capture it for posterity. Next time we'll just watch.Most of the maples down at this altitude have turned yellow or red. The seasons are truly progressing and autumn is upon us, though temperatures are still quite comfortable. I wish I could remember that Rilke poem about autumn. I miss books, sometimes.
Date: 2006-09-14
From: Bemis Mountain Lean-to

To: South Pond Campsite
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

A giant dragonfly is threatening me. The pond is deadly quiet except for him and me, and a few jumping fish further out who leave concentric ripples behind them. He better not come any closer, that's for sure.Found some blueberries today, probably the last of the season. Also found tons of moose tracks on the trail and some very large, rather scary-looking bear tracks. I hope we don't meet their creator. Three loons were calling and laughing on Long Pond today. This is one of the most awe-inducing sounds in nature, in my opinion, and I'm not going to attempt to describe it.Don't know if it's the rough terrain (yesterday, Moody and Old Blue were practically undoable, in my state) or just all these miles wearing on me, but I am EXHAUSTED. At this stage, I'm not ashamed to admit it. Down in Gerogia, we were all fresh and optimistic and no one complained about anything. Now we've all been through it, and it's like we've earned the license to bitch. Ironically, I'm probably hurting less right now than I was back then... Tomorrow we'll tackle Saddleback -- going to try and wrestle up some excitement for it!
Date: 2006-09-15
From: South Pond Campsite

To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: light rain

An adventure: we woke in the dark of the night to the CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP of hooves on trail, and the unmistakable sounds of a moose clashing with pond-side vegetation. The creature proceeded to splash about next to our tent (which was situated not far from the pond, on what we now realize was probably a moose-path), either bathing or munching on underwater vegetation. This went on for an eternity. Eventually the moose departed, and was kind enough to pardon our intrusion and not trample our tent.Saddleback was fine. Nice climb, facilitated by the 28 oz. of coffee I guzzled at the Rangely IGA this morning. Now I know how everyone hiked so fast through the Shenandoahs -- it was those free-refill National Park travel coffee mugs everybody had.Anyway, from the top of Saddleback we could see the striated forest below: red for maple bottomlands, yellow for the higher and drier birches, and all green even farther up the slopes for the evergreen forests. Clouds obstructed the distant peaks, but we're getting quite used to that. We shared a positively delectable hoagie from IGA (really, it was an awesome hoagie, and I'm from Philly) and I thought of Warren Zevon telling Letterman to "enjoy every sandwich." I vowed to enjoy all future sandwiches as I did that IGA hoagie... Unless the sandwich is REALLY crappy.So then down Saddleback, up the Horn, down the Horn, up Saddleback Jr., and finally down to Poplar Ridge. These descents (I know I repeat myself a lot lately) are tough. Occasionally I find myself calling out at a particularly slippery, cliff-like, bizarrely-angled rock, "This is NOT a trail!" As if it cares.
Date: 2006-09-16
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to

To: Sugarloaf Mountain
Miles today: 10.9

Hikers pray for days like today in September -- up to 79 degrees, sunny and cloudless. Being a little lower on the mountain, we smelled brittle and moldy leaves all day, that decaying plant smell that dredges up memories of childhood and leaf-piles. At the first whiff of fallen leaves every year I'm unfailingly reminded of a sweatshirt I had when I was about five years old -- it had pink sleeves and picture of the Six-Million-Dollar Man. To this day, I have no idea who the Six-Million-Dollar Man is, but I guess to my young mind, he was THE harbinger of fall.Well, we didn't need sweatshirts today, the sun poured generously through pine-boughs, and the trail was remarkably flat and mud-free. I wondered as I strolled down this perfect path how often, for the rest of my life, I will think of times like these and wish I were back on the AT. Once a month? Once a week? Every day, perhaps?We ended the day with a short blue-blaze up Sugarloaf Mtn and some (disappointingly) hazy views. On a clear day, you can supposedly see 1/6 of the AT, between Katahdin and Mount Washington, but we couldn't see more than 30 miles or so. And the sunset? We agreed, the crappiest sunset we ever saw. (Take that, Sugarloaf!) Still, the Summit Lodge is a nice place to sleep, with lots of room and giant windows.
Date: 2006-09-17
From: Sugarloaf Mountain

To: ME 27 (Stratton, ME)
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: clear sky

Ah, Stratton. Arrived at the White Wolf Inn (a great deal for hikers) early enough to catch the Eagles game. We'd decided on the trail that what we wanted most was to eat an entire pie in town. And, small as Stratton is, there is a handmade sign on the window of the market that shouts, "Fresh Homemade Pies Made Daily!!" Sometimes the trail just works with you. The eating here has been ridiculous, possibly because I know my days of eating like this are nearing their end. After we shared a whole strawberry-rhubarb pie, we split a box of cookies. Then I had chowder and fried chicken for dinner and a pint of ice cream for dessert. And that was all within about eight hours. That's embarrassing.
Date: 2006-09-19
From: ME 27 (Stratton, ME)

To: Safford Notch Campsite
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: broken clouds

Ugh. Hiking did not work out for me today. It started off fine -- the first mile or so went pretty well, and I was happy to be strolling down this relatively flat path, looking at the mottled reds and yellows of the maples and birches. Then the trail got hard, and I kind of fell apart. Knees hurting, I kind of poked along down Bigalow Mountain, unwilling or unable to pick up the pace. Rain was falling, no views. I don't know where all this haze comes from, but even before the clouds came in I couldn't even see Sugarloaf from the Bigalows, let alone anything beyond it. So we stopped early at Safford Notch, which turns out to be an impressive spot, full of magnificent boulders. It boggles the mind to imagine these things, some as big as houses and made of granite, actually falling from somewhere.
Date: 2006-09-20
From: Safford Notch Campsite

To: East Carry Pond
Miles today: 16.3

Tonight we're camped on the narrow sandy beach of a huge pond, surrounded by bog and moss. There are two loons visible on the lake, calling occasionally. Maine is truly the best of the AT, in many ways. We came upon some real, honest trail magic at Long Dam Pond Road today -- uncontrived, spontaneous, the way trail magic ought to be. It was just a guy, drinking beer on the trail just a little ways into the woods. He offered us some and we had a nice chat -- and he took our picture at the 2000 mile sign.
Date: 2006-09-21
From: East Carry Pond

To: Pleasant Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Autumnal Equinox, already. We breakfasted with the loons this morning, and there's a chill in the air befitting the new official season. Right now we're waiting for Steve Longley, the ferryman, to spirit us across the Kennebec River (dangerous to ford due to an upstream power plant, and unbridgeable due to icy northern winters).   I read in the Stratton library that physics itself does not depend on the direction of the flow of time. So, it's just possible that in other universes (if there are other universes), time flows backward. It's a stretch, but some say perhaps OUR particular universe just happens to have had an accidental low-entropy start -- apparently it's just as easy for a universe to come together as to fall apart. I wonder if I would prefer that.
Date: 2006-09-22
From: Pleasant Pond Lean-to

To: Bald Mtn. Stream
Miles today: 15.8

Another moose sighting today -- this one closer! It started to charge out of the woods toward us, then apparently changed its mind and ran back. It's getting colder in the mornings, but our morning climb up Pleasant Pond Mountain took the chill off after about ten minutes. By the time lunch rolled around, it was sunny and warm enough to eat in our short sleeves.The only problem with today is that I can't seem to get enough to eat. But tomorrow we'll be in Monson, our last trail town, and I'm going to eat everything in sight.
Date: 2006-09-23
From: Bald Mtn. Stream

To: ME 15 (Monson, ME)
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: light rain

After fording two branches of the Piscataquis River this morning and painstakingly removing boots and clothing from our lower extremities, we were dismayed to find ourselves soon entirely soaking wet from merciless rain. SO -- wet, cold, tired of walking, not having any fun at all -- fast-forward to Monson:Our final trail-town -- it's what they call bittersweet. We hung out at the Lakeshore Inn with the Four Dirty Old Men, Mary, Hitch, and Beernuts, Bumblebee, AT, and Forest, and Maple Leaf. All near the end of our journeys, all looking forward to the end but most of us, I think, dreading it a little bit too. I'll miss this easy comraderie that comes from sharing most of your experiences for half a year. I'll miss the attitudes of these hikers. They know how lucky they are, and they've all cultivated a certain sense of attachment from petty jealousies, material needs (excepting food of course), competition, and the daily stress of real life. In short, they're great to be around -- they're honest, and they smile a lot.We've got a nice room at the Inn, complete with the head of a deer directly above the bed -- if you stay here, you may want to request NOT waking up to a view of this poor creature's taxidermed nostrils. But I guess it's a matter of personal taste.
Date: 2006-09-24
From: ME 15 (Monson, ME)

To: ME 15 (Monson, ME)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: haze

Shaw's serves the best hash browns I have ever had, and they don't mind if you show up just for breakfast, even if you're not sleeping there. Monson is a nice trail town, despite the fact that there aren't many stores or restaurants. The local bluegrass band plays outside the General Store if the weather's good, and Tim, the store's proprietor, makes you feel right at home.
Date: 2006-09-25
From: ME 15 (Monson, ME)

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: clear sky

Today Marc taught me all the state and provincial capitals. Go ahead, people: ask me anything!The walking was easy, and at one point we ended up atop a fine, sunny ridge from which we could see just how flat this part of Maine is -- at least in one direction. Wilson Creek was a tough ford. The water was deep (mid-thigh on me) and fast, and I can't imagine what it's like to ford in the springtime. Maybe it's impossible? Marc fell in a little bit, and dunked his poor shoes (which had just finally gotten dry). I hope there aren't any more fords like that one.
Date: 2006-09-26
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Tote Road
Miles today: 13.9

Pitcher plants today! We walked through a great Maine bog and saw just tons of them, and other interesting plantlife. At lunchtime, we met a creature entirely new to us: it was climbing a tree like a cat, had a sharp, pointy nose like a fox, a wide tail like a beaver, and a shiny dark-brown coat like a mink. What was that thing?Found a little tough hiking today -- mud, rocks, roots, and another ford (Long Pond Stream). We didn't make it to Chairback Gap, as planned, because I was entirely out of energy. We ended up at this makeshift site by the Tote Road with FDOM (who, I gathered, were feeling much the same way I was).
Date: 2006-09-28
From: Hay Mountain

To: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Today started off grey: poor Marc isn't feeling well, rain fell in giant drops, and wind howled around us as we broke camp (luckily we were shielded by a wall of spruce). I was mad -- I thought it would stay like that all day, and I did NOT want to be wet. Magically, the sky cleared before long, and I have witnessed as perfect a September three o'clock hour as these Maine woods have ever seen. The woods we walked are maturing, with white pines so massive I had to stop and look up at each individual giant (this slowed me down a bit, though the walk was flat as a pancake). Maples flaming red, birches (some very large) banana-yellow. Only the beeches seem to be suffering, their bark pocked with cankers and their forms twisted in discomfort.The red squirrels are very busy right now, littering the ground everywhere with unfathomable numbers of pine cone scales. I watched one today nibble the seeds out of a cone, holding it lengthwise and chewing, then turning it clockwise to get the next seed (this all happens extremely fast). Birds are ubiquitous. Sometimes if you stop in the exact right spot, they seem to not know exactly what to do, so they just fly around for awhile from branch to branch, calling one another confusedly. This can be really entertaining when there are many birds involved.The quiet here is centering, calming, humbling. I feel we are back in the wilderness now, despite these logging roads. The cascading waters of Cooper Brook are the only sounds I hear now.
Date: 2006-09-29
From: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to

To: Mahar Tote Rd. (White House Landing)
Miles today: 13.8

After a magical breakfast of oatmeal and trail-mix on a rock overlooking the lovely Cooper Brook Falls, it started to rain. And it did not (hardly) stop all day. I actually told my companions I'd rather be at work than on the AT on a day like today. For the first time, it was true -- even if no one else agreed. Did I mention it was cold? We made it to Mahar Tote Road in record time. White House Landing is pretty great. You blow an air-horn at the dock and the owner comes to pick you up in a tiny motorboat. It's just a short ride across Pemaduncook Lake to the Landing. The autumn leaves are nearly at their peak here, and the lake reflects the colors above. Seagulls cruise across the steely gray sky, calling in a misty rain. Very New England.Because of the day I'd had -- slogging through a downpour, sloshing through puddles of water and lakes of mud, singing every song I could think of to keep my mind off my cold hands and soggy feet -- that boat ride felt like my ticket out of purgatory. I don't know why there weren't rainbows filling the sky and angels singing the Hallelujah chorus.We had a hot shower, changed into dry clothes, sat by the woodstove, and got burgers (from the special "High-calorie" hiker menu) for dinner. The place is the very definition of cozy, but it IS in the middle of nowhere. There's not much running water around, and no flush toilets. Lefty gave this review of Whitehouse Landing this morning when we ran into her on the trail: "Oh, it's really nice. If you spring for the cabin [$50/person!], you can wash your clothes with water you heated up on the stove, and dry them over the woodstove!" Only a hiker could be so sincerely grateful for such rustic accomodations. Tonight we also learned that the strange animal we saw on 9/28 was none other than a pine marten -- common in these woods.
Date: 2006-09-30
From: Mahar Tote Rd. (White House Landing)

To: Pollywog Stream
Miles today: 13.2

My official short list of favorite things about New England: birch trees and blueberry pancakes. Both are freakin' everywhere up here. Especially the pancakes! This morning was AYCE at the Landing, the kind of breakfast you never want to end. Conversation and coffee were flowing and food was disappearing at an outrageous clip. Then a rainbow arched over the water, the sun shone golden on the trees across the lake, and it was going to be a warm, beautiful day for hiking!As soon as Bill and his motorboat had dropped us off on the other shore, it started to rain. This rain was short-lived, but the weather up here can really mess with your head, not to mention your wardrobe (so I wore rainpants all day for no reason -- so what?) Today was (I hope) our last ford, and our first view of Katahdin! I can't describe what a thrill it is to finally see the big, beautiful mountain that'll mark the end of our journey. So I won't try. Nahmakanta Lake is so gorgeous I could stay a very long time, just enjoying the peace of the clear water. The stones on the bottom are smoothly polished, colored like dull gemstones, and just begging to be walked upon. But it's not summer anymore, so I refrain. A red squirrel barked at us today. He stood his ground, a few feet away, and yipped fiercely until we moved along. He was just like a miniature pitbull, defending his territory.The biggest trees here are maples, towering majestically and benevolently over everything. I love to look up at those bright leaves, red with just a hint of fiery orange, so far away and waving like streamers in the blue, blue sky. The angle of the autumn sun is a special thing -- it's what makes everything pop and glisten with a hallucinogenic quality. Today things seem more than they are. Or maybe the trip is just nearing its end, and I'm realizing I'll miss these Maine woods -- so they sparkle for me like diamonds.
Date: 2006-10-02
From: Hurd Brook Lean-to

To: Katahdin Stream Campground
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: light rain

It's a relief to be out of the 100-mile wilderness. As much as I feel at home in the woods, nestled in the trees (provided I'm comfortably ensconced in a well-maintained trailway, of course), I may always be a little nervous anytime I'm a days' walk or more from food, hospitals, etc. I've developed an odd fear of heights, and of crossing running water. Twice today, Marc scampered across rail-less plank bridges, while I suffered from vertigo and ended up scooting across on my butt feeling more than a little silly. When did this happen? Shouldn't this experience have made me LESS afraid, and MORE sure of my footing? We had food and coffee and Abol Bridge, and the rest of the way to Katahdin Stream was easy. Many times today I was struck by the extraordinary vividness of a leaf-pile on the trail -- red-orange, rusty brown, canary yellow, and their ghostly, purple-grey undersides. Does nature achieve these colorful heights anywhere else, I wonder?Baxter State Park is a true wilderness park, set aside for the preservation of nature above all. Katahdin looms above us, lonely and tall in a flat landscape of lakes. When the wind blows, birch leaves come down over the stream like snowfall. We had our last dinner with FDOM, and our last night on the trail is chilly but beautiful.
Date: 2006-10-03
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Katahdin Summit
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Wow, that's a great hike. It's easy to see why so many people I talked to in Maine have climbed Katahdin over and over again. Partly it's because the bouldering is challenging and fun, partly because the forest of the lower altitudes is beautiful, and partly because once you get up there, the loneliness of Katahdin gives you a real sense of being up very high, above everything else. In the Whites, we may have been higher -- but so were the other mountains around us. On Katahdin, you feel like you could step off the mountain into the misty abyss and never hit bottom.There's a feeling of unsure triumph at the top -- we were all ecstatic to have finished of course (FDOM, Catch-up, Bright Eyes, Trickster, What?!, Weatherman, and many others summited today), but we'd been looking forward to it for so long, it was hard to believe we were really there. It was cold and windy up top, so we didn't stay too long at the summit. We had our last picnic lunch by Katahdin Stream Falls, ate our last packs of crackers and tuna, and enjoyed every moment. A few hours later, I was watching the harvest leaves of Baxter State Park recede through the rear window of Iron Wolf's mini-van. We sat on cushions on the floor for the ride back to Millinocket, listening to Iron Wolf and Bumblebee talk. I thought about little, seing nothing but the trees behind me and smelling nothing but some rancid hiking boots that happened to be sharing the back of the van with us.We ended up at the EconoLodge in Millinocket, drinking champagne in a jacuzzi. My stomach full and my body finally warm and resting, I still thought about little.I suppose the thinking will come later, after the initial disbelief (relief?) has played out.
Date: 2006-10-12
To: Normal, yet?
Miles today: 0.0

Reality seeps back in a little at a time. I started with a Scientific American, which I purchased on the way out of Bangor yesterday. After a ten hour drive, we had one celebratory whiskey with my mom, who kindly informed me of just how tragic things are in the world, and what we've been missing. Not two days before our return, a man gunned down four little girls in a rural classroom, not far from where we live.I'm still not able to bear the meaty parts of the newspaper -- the closest I've come to watching "news" was seeing Stephen Colbert's White House Press Corps Dinner speech. I'm still enjoying cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, etc. I've been all sparkly and sociable, enjoying seeing friends and family, laughing a lot. So no, I'm not normal yet.