morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-10-06
From: Abol Bridge Campground

To: Katahdin Summit
Miles today: 15.4

Appalachian Trail Lodge 10 PM. I made my decision back at the campsite under a star filled sky. I got up at 5:30 and by 6:30 was leaving the campground for the park. I watched the sky turn orange and pink as I headed to the Baxter Park border. The trail followed a body of water and after about an hour and a half I had my first ford. The stream was deep and flowing fast. I picked my way across between rocks as the water rushed around my thighs. On to an easier ford and soon I was nearing Katahdin Stream campground. I arrived at the ranger station at 10:15 and the employee discouraged me from climbing but he gave in and by 10:30 I was heading up to the peak. The first hour was easy but soon I was climbing boulders and climbing on metal handholds. The steep climb to the Tableland was slow going but around 1 I could see the peak in the distance. On the ascent I passed Dirty Dan and Uke. Both had flip flopped and I had not seen them in months. Around 2 I reached the summit to cheers from my fellow northbounders. It was sunny, no wind, and about 60 degrees. I engaged in the peak party for about 45 minutes. Icarus, Roakill, Cheers, NoName, Yodi, PapaSmurf, Acorn and Katsup created a special atmosphere. I experienced every emotion possible as I realized my hike was over for a second time. By 6 I was back at the campground getting a hug from Uncle Buck. We waited for 3 hikers but Roadkill twisted her ankle so Uncle Buck drove me and Katsup and Tails to town where we stopped at the trail cafe for dinner. The place was busy and we walked to the lodge the light rain began to wet the sidewalk. I was tired but happy to be done. I got a bed in a room with PressureD and his wife. After my shower my feet and body felt numb. I could here rain hitting the roof and I was in a dry warm bed.
Date: 2015-04-08
From: Mexican border

To: lake Morena
Miles today: 20.0

In my tent at lake morena campground at 7 PM. Today started at 5:30 when Frodo prepared a good breakfast and by 7 we were driving to the terminus. By 7 the 3 cars had arrived with about 16 hikers. It was clear and 41 degrees. After the group pics, I walked with Lizzy from Steamboat for a few miles. We passed many familiar hikers and I even saw a couple still packing up from a campsite at the 3 mile mark. We met a few more new hikers and by 12:15 I reached the 14 mile mark overlook of Hauser creek. I had a snack with Lizzy and at spent over one and a half hours resting. After chatting at a campsite we power hiked up the 1200 foot mountain. Before the descent to the campground I ran out of energy and slowed down. By 5 I was setting up my tent and heading to the how shower. I cool wind blew as I walked back to my tent. My legs are very sore from the heavy pack and 20 miler. Tomorrow I shoot for Long Creek, about 18 miles.32.6861° N, 116.518° W
Date: 2013-05-15
To: Getting close!
Miles today: 0.0

A month ago I finally began gathering all the stuff I've bought over the past 2 years from REI and Backcountry to try to form what would be my life on my back for 5 months, so that I could do a practice hike. I gathered it all and once I packed it all together in what I thought seemed a reasonable manner, I stepped on the scale to see that my base pack with no food or water weighed 23.5lbs. Not so good. I was too tired to reconfigure and pull everything out so I left it the way it was for my practice hike. My boyfriend, best friend, and her boyfriend did an 8mile hike along the AT in NY, camped over night, and headed back the next day. The terrain wasn't bad, weather was good, and pack and shoes were very comfortable! It was great to test my gear out, but my pack will definitely need a shake-down(former AT thru-hiker will go through my entire pack to tell me what I do and don't need). Now that my hike is less than a month away, I wanted to begin posting this journal and documenting all the steps in my journey from here forward! The next steps are to now reconfigure and revise my pack and have someone take a look at it. I move out of my Brooklyn apartment in 10 days, leave my job in 16 days, and begin my journey in 25 days. It's time to start getting excited
Date: 2013-06-02
To: One Week!!!
Miles today: 0.0

It's official! The trail is one week away! I have butterflies even thinking about it, good and bad (or I guess just nervousness). I moved out of my apartment last weekend, am officially jobless as of Friday, and now just doing any final touches to my gear and visiting friends and family all week! This past Wednesday I went down to REI with my gear and spoke with Paul (a former AT thru-hiker) and after about an hour felt much more comfortable that I have prepared as well as I can. He did a "pack shakedown" which is when a former AT thru-hiker goes through every single thing in your pack to tell you what you don't need, need to get, how to arrange your pack, etc. Just need to ditch a few things but aside from that I am good to go! My base pack weight (without food and water) as of Wednesday before the shakedown was still higher than I would like at about 23lbs, but this next week ill figure out ways to trim down a couple more pounds! Paul said that its a great starting weight and that most people far overpack whereas I was pretty much spot on, but there's got to be a way to get this thing lighter! Will keep y'all posted. Till then, time to eat and drink as frivolously as possible! Cheers!
Date: 2013-06-05
To: 4 Days!!!
Miles today: 0.0

From the National Weather Service about Baxter State Park for Sunday (leaving day):Sunday- A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. Chance of precipitation is 40%.Sunday Night- Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51.Hopefully it turns to no rain so my Dad and I can hike Knife's Edge! Fingers crossed! Google pics to see how awesome it looks
Date: 2013-06-09
To: Day Before Part 2
Miles today: 0.0

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better- Albert EinsteinWell we got here! Finally at Katahdin Stream Campgrounds in Baxter State Park, ME! Took a long days worth of being in a car but we're here! We parked the car at a place called "Shaws" in Monson, ME. It's where we will be staying after we complete the 100-mile wilderness. It was surprisingly packed! I met my first fellow SoBo thru-hikers, whom I will probably never catch up to. After stepping into Shaws they were my first sight; 3 boys eating pints of Ben and Jerry's, icing their knees in front of a TV. I knew they were AT hikers right away. Only got two of their names but so far they are "sure thing" and "righteous". I am yet to have a trail name but it will come with time! We chatted about the 100-mile wilderness that they had completed and I was about to go into. They told me what I had expected after the tropical storm: really wet trails and high waters at stream crossings.... Great! After a quick chat my Dad and I parted ways so that we could be shuttled 3 hours to Baxter State Park, where the beginning of our hike was. Dick, the partner of the owner at Shaws who was Dawn, gave us our ride. He told us a lot of history about Maine and stories of other hikers as we rode through the hundreds of miles of beautiful unorganized wilderness that extended all the way up to the border of Canada. When I asked him about the trail conditions his reply was "nothing short of horrendous". Not so promising. Apparently they had already had lots of calls from injured hikers. To stray from the unfortunately obvious conditions of the trail, I asked if anyone had reported seeing some wildlife. He said nothing yet, and as if the moose had heard us, 2 minutes later down the road we found ourselves 10 feet from from a small female moose. Go figure right? So I take that as a good luck sign! Once we got to Katahdin Stream Campgrounds, we registered and set up camp. In the registration it looked like there were some 40-45 hikers that had already left for Georgia before me! Hopefully I will get to meet some of them! Now it's 6:30pm and we're sitting here in our lean-to bored out of our minds just anticipating tomorrow! It's drizzly here now, but in the morning the sun is supposed to pop out and stay out all day and temps should stay around 70. Perfect day to summit Katahdin to Baxter Peak, the northern terminus of The Appalachian Trail!
Date: 2013-06-12
From: Hurd Brook Lean-to

To: Rainbow Stream Lean-to
Miles today: 11.5

DAY 3MILES ON AT FOR DAY= 11.5MILES TOTAL FOR DAY= 11.5Rain tapping on the steel roof was so soothing to fall asleep to. Waking up and knowing you have to walk over 10 miles through it? Not so soothing. Second day in the rain and our plan was to just make it to the next lean-to which was 11.5 miles away. We headed out around 8:15am, along with the rest of the crew in the lean-to (jack, doodles, and UPS), and right off the bat was a stream crossing where Dad and I and Jack all slipped on rocks and fell in. This would pretty much continue all day. I would say 75% of the hike today was spent in the water. I was told that it was wet in the 100-mile wilderness and that waters were very high in June, but never did I imagine that we would be spending the whole day trudging through marshes, streams, swamps, you name it. For a decent part of the way, the trail was actually a stream we were walking in, literally. Doodles and UPS ended up leap frogging with us all day, staying generally at the same pace, but Jack took off! We gave him his trail name of "chip" because last night he told us that back at Katahdin Stream Campgrounds he had accidentally killed one of the chipmunks trying to get into his food. He felt so bad he tried to revive it and even decided to give it a little funeral ceremony after he couldn't bring it back life. He was then dubbed "chip" from last night forward.Slipping and sliding around all day is exhausting, which is why it's good we only shot to get to the next lean-to. At around 3:00pm I finally saw the lean-to and was ecstatic, until I saw that we had to cross a way overflown stream to get to it. There were two logs laid across to reach Rainbow Stream Lean-to, but the water was running over them, and fast. Sketchy as it was we all made it across. Jack or now "chip" left us a note in the lean-to saying he had gone on to the next lean-to and congrats on not drowning. He's fast so that could be the last time we see him but who knows! My knees were both now killing me so immediately I changed into dry clothes and climbed in my sleeping bag to rest, regretting not taking that ibuprofen earlier this morning. We all took a nap, got up and cooked dinner, and now are preparing to doze off again. Tomorrow is a big day. Better weather should supposedly be hitting us and were going to try to hike 16.3 miles to White House Landing, which will be quite an experience which ill tell you about tomorrow Cheers!
Date: 2013-06-15
From: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 11.7

DAY 6MILES ON AT FOR DAY= 11.7MILES TOTAL FOR DAY= 11.7Slept for 9 hours. Woke up at 6:30am. Slowly got up and made 3 packets of oatmeal with protein powder and coffee. We decided to take it easy this morning. We had a shorter day of 11.7 miles than what we had been doing. Was feeling much better than the past two days pain wise. After our whole morning process was over we headed out around about 9:20am.The weather was amazing. Sunny and 70 the whole day except for a little shower this afternoon which actually felt nice at the end of our hike. Bugs weren't bad and the trail conditions were great! All in all it was a great hiking day We had more elevation than normal but nothing too crazy. The animals were apparently loving the weather and decided to come out too! A painter turtle was hangin out on the trail, saw 3 Gardner snakes, and TONS of frogs and toads of all kinds. We also met our first NoBo hikers which I didn't expect this early! An Irishman and a West Virginia boy were fording a river just as we were about to in the opposite direction. Apparently the Irishman had started on January 31st in Georgia. It's too cold at that time for hiking for me! We congratulated them and were on our way. Another NoBo hiker passed us but it was a quick hello and goodbye. We ended up getting to our lean-to a little before 5pm. Enough time to cook dinner and relax. We decided to make a fire as well. Unfortunately it was a pain because the wood was all damp but we made it work! This was the first shelter that had a lot of left over equipment that I had read so many times about in my research and books (when campers realize they have too much weight in their pack a lot of times they just ditch the unwanted equipment in shelters). There was even a practically brand new pair of hiking shoes! They looked like they'd never been used! Crazy to me that people would leave this stuff instead of sucking it up till the next town and mailing it home. Oh well! I got a fresh tube of toothpaste and a propane canister
Date: 2013-06-16
From: Logan Brook Lean-to

To: West Branch of the Pleasant River 
Miles today: 12.8

DAY 7MILES ON AT FOR DAY= 12.8MILES TOTAL FOR DAY= 13Got up around 6am and we decided to just have a cold breakfast to get going. Had some trail mix and off we went! Took off around 7am. Oh and I made sure to say Happy Fathers Day The weather was great. A little windy but sunny and 70. The very first part of our hike was a steep summit up White Cap Mountain. Good mornnnnning! We were awake after that! There were some amazing views from the top and again we could see Katahdin which at this point was now much much farther away! White Cap would be the tallest we would climb in the 100- mile wilderness. We ended up doing a series of steep inclines and declines over 3 more peaks. 4 peaks we summitted before 12pm today! The rest of the way to our destination was downhill. At first a steep downhill which was really bothering my knees, but then it became more gradual. We ended up seeing one hiker going the opposite direction and he was the only one we saw all day.Unfortunately after noon it started to rain which was not part of the plan. We thought it was supposed to be nice all day but here it was, the rain that is. We adjusted and covered our packs and got out our ponchos. I was a little let down just because we were going to be setting up camp, not staying at a lean-to. But what can you do? We came across Gulf Hagas Trail which is a side trail loop of about 5 miles that follows a gorge with some beautiful waterfalls. We obviously weren't about to hike the extra 5 miles but we went a little ways down it and got to see Screw Auger Falls (one of the waterfalls). Pretty cool. I want to add that loop to my list of hikes to do next summer! We continued on after and did our longest ford before getting to our campsite on the other side. At least it was only knee deep. We had to search for a whole for this campsite but once we found it we rushed to set up our tents. It's impossible to keep everything dry but we tried out best.Once we got in our tents that was it. We weren't coming back out into the rain. I took off my wet clothes, tried to air out, and then eventually got too cold and put on dry clothes and climbed in my sleeping bag. We decided not to cook because it would be too hard. Trail mix and beef jerky all day long. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner :/ Gave my Dad his Father's Day gift... a card and a mountain house dehydrated dark chocolate cheesecake (it was the lightest present I could carry). Unfortunately we will just have to wait until tomorrow to make it. Praying for this rain to stop over night but thinking its not likely :/ off to bed now at 7:15pm because there's nothing else to do! More rest for the 15 mile day ahead of us tomorrow!OH and it's officially been 1 week on the trail
Date: 2013-07-01
From: Bemis Mountain Lean-to

To: Hall Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 12.8

DAY 22MILES ON AT FOR DAY- 12.8MILES TOTAL FOR DAY- 12.8"A bad day in the woods is still better than a good day at work." - Aunt Tina TooleSince we had gotten to the shelter at a more normal time than the night before, getting up was much easier. We ate, packed up, and hit the trail by 7am. We had good energy because it wasn't raining and we were in a new month!We still had a bit more of Bemis Mountain to conquer leaving the shelter and then we were on to Old Blue Mountain. I had noticed that my Achilles really hadn't been bothering me the past few days. Maybe now that I had hit 3 weeks on the trail I finally had my hiking legs under me! At the top of Old Blue we decided to have lunch. Had pepperoni and white cheddar cheese in a wrap for the first time. Gotta say that it was a great, tasty lunch and held me over for a long time for all you hikers out there! High in calories! While we ate lunch at the top of Old Blue we met a guy named Lewis who was just up for a day hike. He had had minor back surgery a few weeks prior and decided to just tag along with us down the mountain. The hike off of Old Blue and down into Black Brook Notch was very steep.There were tons of monkey bars or rebars put in, stairs, and ladders to help you get down. That should give you an idea of how steep it was haha. It was almost like a giant playground. As we hiked up the other side, we reached the top of Moody Mountain and then it decided to start raining. We still had another huge notch called Sawyer Notch to get down and up before we reached our lean-to. It was very taxing hitting those two notches right at the end if the day and the rain definitely slowed us down as well. When we did finally reach the lean-to at about 7pm, it was even more full than the last one had been and we were soaked. We had to pitch our tents for the 3rd night in a row in rain and tonight there was just no hope for staying dry. There were puddles in most of the tent sites and no matter what the inside of my tent would be wet. Unfortunately it happens. I just tried to stay on top of my sleeping pad so I could keep at least my sleeping bag dry. Really all you can do it those situations. And pray for no rain when you wake. We also wouldn't be cooking for another night so I had the same thing I had for lunch. Pepperoni and cheese wrap and some Reese's and trail mix. Good enough!P.S. We found out later that the guys in the shelter were just doing a few overnighters and had a tent set up but weren't sleeping in it. The shelters are meant for the thru-hikers. If you are ever in a shelter and are not a thru-hiker or section hiker, please know this is the etiquette or at least try to make space. When I asked these guys in the shelter they stared at me like a deer in headlights. For the future it's something people should know P.S.S. Notches suck. Two notches in a row with 1500 feet of elevation in a mile is rough at the end of your day. Black Brook Notch and Sawyer Notch, I will never forget you.
Date: 2013-07-02
From: Hall Mountain Lean-to

To: Frye Notch Lean-to
Miles today: 10.5

DAY 23MILES ON AT FOR DAY- 10.5MILES TOTAL FOR DAY- 10.5Well my wish didn't come true. I woke up and it was pouring, there were puddles in my tent, and the last thing I wanted to do was move. I was afraid I would teeter off my sleeping pad and get soaked. I could hear my aunt and uncle moving around in the tent next to me and knew they were probably thinking the same thing. What do we do now. I yelled over to them and we decided to wait it out an hour and see if the rain would clear. Well I read and we waited, but it didn't clear. It didn't even let up. You can't just sit in your tent and try to avoid getting wet all day. We had to make a decision and the decision was to force ourselves to pack up and move on to the next shelter.After we packed up we passed by the lean-to and a group of boys were leaving so we decided to stop to at least make ourselves a hot breakfast. Again, it's really hard to get motivated to get hiking in the pouring rain. We had our hot breakfast and chatted with some of the section hikers and Nightwalker as we just stared out into the rain. We were finally ready to go as Nightwalker said he was going to zero for the day. I looked at him and was like, "Come on. I know you're tired and wet and cold... But do you really want to take a zero day here? The next shelter is only 10 miles. Come with us." He had been doing some big miles the few days before and getting into the lean-to's late and in rain so I could understand how exhausted he must've felt. He finally said ok and came with us.After not even an hour of hiking the rain did start to clear. We had Wyman Mountain to go over and Dunn Notch to go down but they were easy miles and gradual climbs. It ended up being a pretty easy 10.5 miles and Nightwalker was glad we dragged him along. We did have to ford a river along the way though(I believe called Dunn Falls?), only about up to our knees, but if you fell you were a goner! There was a very steep waterfall only 10 feet after where you crossed (can see in pictures). We had a gradual climb up to the lean-to after that and thankfully we found it wasn't full! We also arrived at a reasonable time of 5:30pm. Much better than the few nights before! Mutt and Slips were there who we had seen leave that morning and that was it. A big Girl Scout group had taken over the campsite but my aunt and uncle were able to find a spot (they only tent). I got to get to know Slips and Mutt more which was cool. They were both from CT but had just graduated from Norwich College in NH. They were both 22 years old. They were very nice guys and I'm sure I'd end up leap-frogging with them down the trail. A little later while we were all cooking dinner some NoBo section hikers came through but they decided to tent. One was a female whose trail name was Wilson who was from Brooklyn as well and lived literally 5 minutes walking distance from my apartment. Small world! After dinner we went to bed early. I was finally in a shelter and it was time to catch up on some sleep!