morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-09-28
From: Cranberry Stream Campsite

To: Little Bigelow Mtn
Miles today: 11.0

We leisurely woke up and got ready for the day. We knew it was going to be tough because we were hiking the Bigelow range today. We were out of camp by 9:00am and climbing. Up for 6 miles. The climb just seemed to keep going and going. We were lucky because it was a clear sunny day so we had beautiful views from the mountain tops. A lot of our day was above treeline, it reminded me of the whites. We took a nice long lunch break at Avery campsite and I climbed .2 up the trail for water. We finished off our hot dogs for lunch. When we got going again I felt really stiff, all of my joints were acheing. We steadily moved along and walked upon Dready and Blaze taking a break. They were feelin it too so we decided if we found water we would camel up and look for a tent site. With pounds of water added to everyones pack we pushed up the climb searching for a spot. It took a while but at about 6 we found a site. I was so happy to stop hiking. I could wait until the morning to become a 2000 miler!! We pitched our tents and then started dinner. It was italian night. Piker made spaghetti and fresh tomatoe sauce. It was great and he diveed it up into two pans. I grabbed the saute pan and began eating. While filling my fork with noodles i guess that I accidently pushed together the wire handle which immediatally collapsted the pan and covered me in pasta. Ugh! However the solution was close at hand. I called my buddy Sampson wver and he took care of the problem, just like I know my girl casey would! It is cold and windy up here. We are hunkered down in our tent. I hope the rain holds off tomorrow. We are both excited about the terrain change and being 2000 milers. Tomorrow should be a good day. Going to let my wiery bones rest and hope that I feel better tomorrow. 174 miles to go. Crazy.                                 Ms. Mileage
Date: 2005-09-29
From: Little Bigelow Mtn.

To: West Canary Pond Lean/to
Miles today: 9.7

I awoke this morning to the threatening sound of trees groaning all around the tent. The wind was blasting hard on my side. My feet felt unusually cold, they were wet. The rain had penetrated the lower half of our dwelling. My feet, sleeping bag, and thermarest were all soaked. Our situation on the side of the mountain seemed unstable at best. Mileage and I prepared for the worst and started to break down in the storm. We became drenched along with all of our belongings.      That out of the way we began to trek twords the summit of little Bigelow. As we approaced an exposed section I saw cloud gusts rapidly slamming into and over the rock scramble of a trail. I turned around and told mileage, "Be careful, these gusts are strong"! I turned and immediatally was blown right off the trail. The fierce wind ripped my pack cover right off and blew it up the mountain. No joke. As I got up we realized the cap to the whisky got knocked off. The cold liquor soaked my side and hip. We went up and over the summit and rushed to lower altitude. A few minutes later the wind became much more stable. We stopped at the first shelter to recover and read the log.      From the shelter the weather and trail really leveled out. I had a good lead ahead of Mileage. We were trying to catch up to Blaze and Dready. I was singing something to myself when I felt a large presence. I looked up and a big Bull Moose was hogging up the trail. I watched him for a while and was just amazed at his size. He crashed off into the woods and that was it.      We caught up to those guys and they were sitting on the trail before a road crossing. They told us congradulations. We were officially 2000 milers. It was painted on the road. We celebrated and took some pictures, some lunch was also had.      A slight drizzle became a major downpour and all there was to do was grin and bare it. The rain kept falling and it was pretty rough. The trail became a full blown stream so I just walked thru it. We came to the next shelter and decided to hold up... Then we decided to stay. Mileage and I hurried and took off our wet clothes. We got in our bags and tried to warm up. It was Blaze, Dready, ToolMan, Rawhide, BubbleToes, Lambie, Gunner, Mileage and I in the shelter. (whats up Mama-Toes?,thanks for writing us) The rain came down but now we were in the shelter. Cold night tonight. Very cold air blowing over the lake is hitting the shelter. Just another day on the AT.                                 PiKeR
Date: 2005-10-03
From: East Branch of Piscataquis River

To: Shaws Monson 
Miles today: 6.7

Typical morning on the trail. Low lying clouds skidding over the river wetting our tent. Having no motivation to wander out into the cold Mileage got up and made oatmeal. Now that she uses the stove I can slack off a bit. The group sat drinking coffee trying to warm up. From the river bank the branches of trees began to part. One larger branch snapped off and hit the water. A Big old Bull crashed down into the water. We scrambled for cameras and scared him off. Nice schene though.      Packs loaded and shoes off we forded the cold river. From there we walked six miles at low elevation. We waded thru mud much of the time. There were a few climbs but nothing that rough. We regrouped at the rode and got a hitch into Monson about 15 minutes later.      Monson is a very small town. We got dropped off at the post office and immediatally saw Drifter and Sensai. Many other hikers were in view because m=Monsons downtown is about 2 blocks long. Drifter offered us to stay at his home when we finished the hike. He has a cabin in the white mountains and said maybe we didn't want to rush back home. Maybe we would like to chill at his pad in the mountains and reflect for a long while. Who knows, sounds like a good idea to me. Sensai filled us in on the wonders of Mt. Katahdin. He had just summited with Vogue and Mother. I miss those two and wish catching up had been a possibility. We are having too much fun to rush and fell so far behind them anyway.      We ended up at Shaws. The place was filled with hikers. The majority were half in the bag, last trail town and people are definitally living in excess. The whole day was spent doing town chores and by the time our tent was up it was dark out. Tenting is cheaper in the Shaws backyard so we went for it but beware, Wingfoot's 05 price listing is not correct, it is 12$ per person, not per site. We stayed up late with a huge crew, some highlights: Tool-Man and Mileage showing off their freestyle skills to the backdrop of REGULATORS including Tool-Mans Hell Ya heard around Monson, and a lot of drunken 2000 miler hi-jinx.      Katahdin is soon but who knows what tomorrow will bring. Some old Monson local let me know, "When you got nothing to do, you never know when your done". It doen't apply to our lifstyle but I thought it was humerous. People in Maine all seem to have a saying or a little slice of life that they are always ready to share. I will always remember that about vacationland.                              PiKeR
Date: 2005-10-04
From: Shaws in Monson

To: Stealth spot in Downtown Monson
Miles today: 0.0

Another day spent in Monson. All fifteen hikers that were here at Shaws including us are taking a zero. Ms. Mileage, Dready, Blaze, and I lounged most of the morning and let our tents dry. We read, talked, and made plans for the final leg of the hike. Mileage and I have decided that 2174 miles might not be enough. If all goes as planned we will re-hike vermont going south after we summit Katahdin. It will be a good way to decompress and maybe get this out of our systems for a little while. I am personally thrilled to know it will not end at Baxter state park.The crew has decided that we cant justify spending any more cash here on lodging. We got our stuff together and just walked down the road. Monson is in the middle of the woods as it is so we just found a rural woods road and threw down our tents. There is even a watersource. We are waiting for a package to come in and hope we don't have to zero again. If we do we will either attempt a slack pack or so some night hiking. Only time will tell.PiKeR
Date: 2005-10-06
From: Long Pond Road

To: Stream Campsite
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: broken clouds

We have always been told that the 100 mile wilderness is a piece of cake. Today we learned that is not true. All of the puds combined with the slippery rocks and roots made it really hard to make miles. We were feeling really beat down.   Our day started early because Ed had offered us a ride back to the trail and we didn't want to miss that opportunity. We hit up "the office" first for some coffee, and then went right to Ed's house. He immediately came out and told us to throw our packs in the truck and he would be right out. It was time for our final departure from Monson. It was a chilly ride in the back of the truck for Dready, Piker, Sampson and Me. Blaze rode shotgun and chatted with Ed. When we got to our road we all thanked Ed and headed up the road to the trail.   We had a really tough 2000' climb up Barrren Mtn. By the time we made it to the summit we were exausted. Today we learned that the trail is like the game telephone that we used to play as children. A fellow thru hiker came up to us and asked us about our experience yellow blazing and having an ATV drive us out to the trail. We all cracked up over this. First of all we didn't yellow blaze or miss an inch of the trail and second we walded the old road 1.5 miles twice to get to the trail. Its funny how stories get imbelished.      After climbing forth Mtn which seemed to to on forever, we began wieghing our options about potential places to stop. We came across a stream and dready spotted some nice tent spots: we were home. We set up and passed around a little Canadian Club thanks to bartender Blaze. Today totally took it out of us. We can't wait to get over White Cap so that we can cruise to Katahdin.                                 Ms. Mileage
Date: 2005-10-07
From: Stream Campsite

To: Sidney Tappan Campsite
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Mileage and I awoke with a case of twisted motivation this morning as the bad weather began to move in. We knew there was a big day of up's and downs also. The trail was very slick and soupy. I pulled ahead of Mileage and was starting to move quickly, as I was scaling a steep sheet of wet rock my shoes lost all purchase and I slid about 10' down. I landed right on my feet. It reminded me of skating and I got a little rush off it.      Climbing and decending rain saturated PUDS pretty much sums up todays hike. After hours of this monotinous torture we arrived at our widest river ford to date. Shoes off, feet go in the frigid water. Our crew chilled on the other side, put our shoes and socks back on, and climbed another mountain. I have always heard that the 100 miles is gentle and a good time to reflect on our 7 months spent in the woods. It's really nice but the first 50 miles are a bitch, therefore our AT Reflections got shelved.      The future has been on all of our minds lately. We ponder it as a group, and of course Mckay (Mileages real name) and I also discuss it at great lenth. The future is hard to figure when your present is overcoming natures wrath in the forest. We both have a lot of ideas swirling around in our brains right now. What we do alot is brainstorm and then butt heads. All we know is we will come to a decision together on our post hike plans.      Weather radio says to expect a major rainstorm tonight with significant accumulation. Something tells me we'll be wet by morning, but Mileage and I are in the tent hoping it will weather the storm. Our seams are no longer very waterproof so this storm should be an all out battle. Did I mention the FLOOD WARNING!?                                 PiKeR
Date: 2005-10-08
From: Sidney Tappen Campsite

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 5.4
Weather: few clouds

The forcast was dead on and our tent got raged last night. Hard, cold dropplets drilled the silicon imprgnated nylon dome. It is amazing how much abuse this thing has taken and it still keeps us relatively dry. The rain began around 9:30pm and never stopped. At 10:00am we realized that we had to go for it. Mileage and I got drenched trying to break down. Our hands went numb and stopped working well. We did a rush job and started climbing immediatelly. The steep accent had a nice sized stream that had overtaken it. We battled the rain while we waded thru the flood and rockhopped, this was all literally going up the side of West Peak Mtn. I felt dehydrated through all of this madness, as crazy as that may sound. Woozy and blurry, stumbling and tripping up the sharp rock face I am realizing I may be coming down with something nasty!      After that we went up Hay Mtn. and then up and above treeline to the summit of White Cap Mtn. Freezing wind and horrizontal rain penetrated our already wet bodies. The whole Mtn. was socked in and we missed a good view of Katahdin. I am realizing that you don't want to be above treeline during this season in Maine, very rough and dangerous conditions.      A bone jarring decent produced foot and knee agony that even vitamin I can't help. Blaze and Dready were already in the shelter located at the base of White Cap. They were wet and cold and were trying to warm up in their down bags. The bags had gotten we and lost most of their warmth so Blaze used a risky drying technique: Drying by stove. Mileage and I felt a sense of relief to see two other hikers trying to bail out on the days miles so early. We stripped our wet clothes off and got into our bags quickly. Luckily they stayed dry and we started feeling a little better. Our crew only made about 5 miles today. The weather is pretty scary right know and we still have about 60 miles to go. 7 days left until the cut off date. Will we make it? Of course we will!                                       PiKeR
Date: 2005-10-11
From: Wadleigh Stream Lean-To

To: Abol bridge
Miles today: 23.1
Weather: overcast clouds

23 miles of pure hell I will never forget for the rest of my life.....Ok. The wilderness is completely saturated and no good for hiking right now. The swamps have swollen and released sulfer stinking mud water. For miles we were up to our shins in it. Some how we pushed through and made it to Abol bridge. I ate nothing for the day due to nausea, I will possibly get checked out in Millinocket.      We saw Katahdin for the first time and it was amazing. The crew was awe inspired but at the same time feeling listless and broken. None of us feel very sane or happy with the trail at this late stage of the game. Unbelievably Blaze, Dready, Mileage and I will climb to the top of Mount Katahdin tommorow. It is unfortunate that this all probably sounds very negative but its real and will always be remembered for what it was.                                 PIKER
Date: 2005-10-14
To: Piker
Miles today: 0.0

Hello everybody, Piker here with a little bit of information. We have summited the big mountain and it was a thrill. I wish that the Bruces and Warlock could have been with us as we conquered that Rocky Monster like we had always talked about. There were about 30 of us at the top of Katahdin on that sunny Wednesday afternoon and I will never forget it. About a mile from the old beat up saw horse sign I could already hear the screams and chears of many other thru hikers. Yes, we can now actually call ourselves thru-hikers and have it mean something      Even with all of the excitement something was going wrong for me. I was struggling hard going up Katahdin. I had not felt very good for about a week, especially thru that wild mud pit they call the hundred mile wilderness. Today Mileage put here foot down and made me go to the ER. My worst nightmare became reality when the Doctor told me I tested positive for Giardia. I most likely became infected due to cross contamination. The wrath of the G-Funk is quite nasty and I feel for Mileage and our friends cooped up in a hotel room with me. Having such a supportive girlfriend and good buddies around makes it much easier. Its just too bad that I caught it now after 6 months,22 days on the trail, and over 2000 miles.      I also want to thank our transcribers for the hard work and manu hours devoted to plugging these babies in. Our moms are already busy enough so I will enter the last of the entries over the next week in Burlington. Stay tuned because a lot of crazy stuff went down.         Congradulations to the class of 05, its been an epic adventure!                                    PIKER
Date: 2005-11-11
To: Pik....oops, Dave
Miles today: 0.0

Lets see, did we even hike the AT this year. Right now if you asked me I might say I just imagined it or experienced an extremely detailed dream. McKay and I have been thrusted back into the daily grind. I just got home after working a ten hour shift at my new job. How could I have ever bitched about anoying climbs or a rainy day in the woods. Don't get me wrong, I scored a great job as the Head Chef at the Loyola Mansion in Morristown NJ. Mileage...I mean McKay, is a server in a really upscale Italian restaurant in Bernardsville. She's currently working a twelve or thirteen hour day. For the seven months we spent in the woods we had our fare share of big time fights. Since we have been out of the jungle we rarely disagree and I cant remember the last time we raised our voices to each other. We got so used to being together 24/7 that now we sometimes get some seperation anxiety. Food is also a wierd thing now. Sometimes I catch myself eating for fuel when I don't need to. We used to eat for energy even if we were not hungry. Post trail life will always be interesting. Life will never be the same.Things are good, work is good, and realizing every day how different we are now is also good.I miss all you guys. Class of 05, I wonder what you are doing right now.I will try and keep this journal ongoing for us and anyone else that is interested. If anyone reading this is on the fence about a possible thru hike my suggestion is go for it no matter what kind of sacrafices you have to make because it WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER!!!Dave
Date: 2005-02-16
To: first entry!
Miles today: 0.0

it's hard to believe that i'll be leaving in less than two weeks! there are so many things running through my head, let me tell you. anyway, for those of you that don't know, i'm taking the spring semester (which would have been my last semester) off from the university of tennessee to do this hike. while waiting for march, i've been working at the bp (that's been quite and adventure in itself!). reservations are made at the amicalola lodge for march 1, and i'll be leaving march 2. i won't lie to myself or you and say that i know exactly what i'm doing... in fact, in all my camping and hiking i've never had one serious overnight hike. you could say i'm going into this a bit green.i'll be keeping a handwritten journal on the trail and transfer the entries here as often as possible. also, i will be passing very close to greeneville and knoxville, so be sure and let me know if you'd like to meet me somewhere. i'll have my phone, so just leave a voicemail.i'd like to thank everybody for all the support you've shown me in this preparation. one question i get a lot is a simple "why?" and i'm not sure how to answer it. my parents were moderately avid hikers when i was growing up, and i remember my 7th grade social studies teacher talking about his thru-hike (back in the day) for a solid three days. i guess what finally made up my mind is having someone my age actually complete the trail (in sandals, no less). you can find his trail journal on this site... search for "good to go".earlier this year my trip was put into perspective. in the same week, both my grandfather and a good friend passed away. that sort of thing can make you realize what a selfish undertaking a thru-hike is, but at the same time, i feel like i need to do it for them. i know i'll have plenty of help along the way.that's all for now... sign the guestbook!movie
Date: 2005-02-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

here's a map of where i'm going to be for the next five months. it struck me that not everyone may know where the trail falls, so this may help a little.my tent came in the mail today, and so far i'm impressed. it's roomier than i expected, and quite a bit longer... not to mention lighter (packed weight is 33.5 ounces) tomorrow (if i get up in time, which is doubtful) i plan on seam-sealing. the instructions suggest painting lines of seam-sealant on the floor of the tent. considering sil-nylon is more slippery than any fabric i can think of, that's probably a good idea. so that's all my gear... now to figure out a packing strategy...i talked to my advisor at UT today, and i'll be meeting her on wednesday to smooth all my academic issues. well, as far as classes are concerned. one class that i wanted to take is only available in the spring, but luckily i can replace with an upper-level statistics course (luckily). while in knoxville i'll reapply for admission in the fall and maybe stop by financial aid to make sure things are taken care of.my left knee is my only bodily concern. without my brace, just walking a mile or so can make it tighten up. hopefully a combination of stretching and the brace will keep it from bothering me too much.monday is my last day of work! it's been fun, i'll admit... and i've learned a lot. more on that monday.if anyone has an idea for a trail name, i'm wide open to suggestions. "aaagentorangeee" is a little more on the violent side than i'd like to be. i don't want to offend anybody. i'm leaning towards just starting without one.for more on the trail, try appalachiantrail.org. that's where i found the map.
Date: 2005-03-01
To: about to leave...
Miles today: 0.0

well, this is it. i've said my goodbyes, and in an hour or two i'll be leaving for amicalola lodge. my dad and i are going to drive down there this afternoon, and my mom will join us this evening. i'm going to play the first couple days by ear... if i feel pretty good, i'd like to get to neel's gap in two days. next entry will be from the trail!
Date: 2005-03-02
From: springer

To: gooch mountain shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

I was a wreck last night... serious doubts about whether i really wanted to do this. hiking today helped that. i caught up with about eight people at at gooch, and the company was welcome. on the way in i passed a group of florida students and learned later that they had been really loud and obnoxious at hawk mountain shelter the night before. typical gators! the hike was fairly strenuous today, so i'm not sure i'll make it to neel's gap tomorrow night. i'm going to try, though.
Date: 2005-03-03
From: gooch mountain shelter

To: neel's gap
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: overcast clouds

mixed emotions today. i'm homesick, for sure, and the miles about killed me. when i made it to the walasi-yi center in neel's gap, the hostel was full so i pitched my tent. luckily, one of the hikers watned to sleep on the couch (he has giardia... ouch), so i ended up with a bed. everyone here is very cool, which makes me feel a lot better, but unfortunately i developed a couple blisters. one was on my heel and broken... HUGE. looks like a raw steak. i dresed it and am taking an off day tomorrow.
Date: 2005-03-04
From: neel's gap

To: neel's gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I feel much, much better. a zero day was just what i needed. i met more people today as they came in... little bear is an older lady that is here waiting on a friend, and she has some great stories. she's been very encouraging. humpty dumpty (who has a journal on this site) came in tonight, too, and i found out that he was the snorer at gooch two nights ago. luckily it doesn't bother me. turns out he's from maine, which is obvious by his accent. they call him humpty dumpty because his legs have been broken so much. as for me.. a guy at the center named winton (the manager) helped me out with the blisters. i'm going to try and tough out ten miles to low gap shelter tomorrow, but it depends on how these blisters progress.