morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-07-25
From: Baldpate Lean-to

To: Andover, ME
Miles today: 8.0

Day 135-July 25, Baldpate Lean-to to Andover, ME, 8 miles. First off, thanks to all who left encouraging words in our Guest Book! Getting to Maine is certainly a milestone, but we are getting mentally and physically tired and your words are motivating. Today's big challenge was going up and down both Baldpate peaks, east and west. We had heard that the peaks are above tree line and that the trail goes up and down steep slabs of granite. Just what I need to hear to make my anxiety level rise! The weather cooperated in that it was a cool, dry morning and the only parts of the trail that were wet were parts of the trail that are always wet. The climb up was a good workout but nothing terrifying. The views from the top were hazy, but good. Because there are no trees on which to put the white blaze trail markers, we follow small piles of rocks called cairns, which on open topped peaks makes it easy to see where the trail goes. The hike down was difficult in places, but I did not cry! There were 3 places where ladders had been installed on the vertical cliff faces and I was glad to have the assistance of a ladder, getting to the ladder was scary. I am still not confident on sharply angled rocks slabs, especially when they are wet. But we made it down safely with no tears or curse words! When we were about 4 miles from a road that goes into Andover, on a ridge line, we called the hostel where we had a reservation. We told them that we thought we'd be at the pick up spot in about 2 hours. This meant we had to keep moving because we have not averaged 2 mph very often recently. Our guide map showed the descent to be gentle and we found it to be accurate. We stopped briefly to talk to a southbound slack-packer we knew, Cabo, who assured us the trail was not bad. We also stopped to ohh and ahh over Dunn Falls, see the photo to the left. We arrived at the pick up point about 10 minutes early and were just going to take off our packs when our ride, Gloria-from the Pine Ellis Hostel arrived! Perfect timing! She arrived early because she didn't want us to have to wait and we arrived early so she wouldn't have to wait. Gloria also had cold lemonade for us to drink during the 10 minute drive to town-perfect!Once we were settled into our room at the hostel, before showering, we walked the block into "town" for a big lunch of burgers, fries, onion rings, salad and chocolate milk. After showers and laundry we went back to town for ice cream cones and groceries. We rested in our room until it was time to go to dinner at the Little Red Hen restaurant where the special was prime rib! We've eaten well in the 7 hours we've been here! I've put some new photos up in our gallery so if you are interested, check it out. All is well. 256.9
Date: 2014-07-28
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to

To: Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: clear sky

Day 138-July 28, Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to to Rangeley, ME, 9 miles. We saw a moose today! As we were walking I heard something crashing through the woods ahead of us. We stopped and looked to the sound and we saw this big, dark brown cow moose moving away from us through the woods. It was very exciting! Today was a fairly easy walking day which was a welcome relief. There was 9.4 miles between the Sabbath Day Pond Shelter and the town of Rangeley, ME and it was mostly level and down hill and the trail conditions weren't too bad. To show you how well we were able to move along, we covered those 9.4 miles in under 4 hours! Once we reached ME 4, my job started-to hitch us a ride (9 miles) into town. Two huge pick-up trucks pulling trailers with ATV's blew right by us, but the third vehicle stopped. Less than five minutes and we had our ride with a nice young man who works for an environmental company and his job is to measure water levels in some of the lakes in the area and count the loons on those lakes. He was a nice guy. We've done our town jobs-eating, showering, laundry and grocery shopping and are now resting. We are sharing our room with Sisyfus and Ketchup tonight. They were going to hike 2 miles up the trail to the next shelter but the forecast was not so good for tonight so we offered the floor space in our room. We enjoy their company and will enjoy the evening with them. We've seen a fair number of other hikers in town: Trip, Cabo, the lady with the red hair who is section hiking and whose name I cannot remember, Hiker Monkey, Trail Bunny, Simba, Goat, Marshmallow and Peppa. Tomorrow we head out, rain or shine, but it's supposed to rain, with the destination of a shelter about 10 miles away. Slowly but surely, we're making our way north. We have some bigger mile days planned but we still have some mountains to climb. All is well. 220.4
Date: 2014-07-29
From: Rangeley, ME

To: Poplar Ridge Lean-to
Miles today: 10.7

Day 139-July 29, Rangeley to Poplar Ridge Lean-to, 10.7 miles. We had a nice evening with Sisyfus and Ketchup and they were up early and out the door by 6 AM. Our room rate included breakfast but it wasn't served until 7:30 so we got a much later start than usual. And it took awhile to get a hitch back to the trail, but we did with a real nice guy who was on his way to Augusta for a dental appointment. This guy showed us a cup full of peach pits that he had carved into little baskets-what a hobby! He gave me one, which I will carry to Katahdin. Today's miles were hard. We climbed 3 mountains, Saddleback, The Horn and Saddleback Junior. The climbs up weren't too bad, but I like to go uphill. The downhills were killers-I won't repeat my usual downhill whining. Things were a bit more wet than they probably normally would be because of all the rain that fell yesterday. On top of all three peaks the wind was ferocious! The hikers we talked with agreed that the winds must have been about 50 mph with stronger gusts. It was hard walking. We had no view on top of Saddleback, but the cloud cover started to break up as we started our descent. By the time we got to the last 2 peaks we were rewarded with incredible views-miles and miles of unspoiled wilderness dotted with numerous small ponds. We got to our shelter and found the one tent spot that was big enough for our tent. The group we loosely hiked with today (Peppa, Marshmallow, GOAT, Simba) got to this shelter but reluctantly had to move on because one of them had a commitment in Stratton tomorrow. The next place to camp is 8 miles from here-I'm sure glad we did not have to go farther, but I am a little jealous that those young people had the energy push on. We hiked a lot with Peppa today, a delightful young woman who goes to Colorado College, where our oldest son went. Peppa's positive outlook and easy-going style made a tough day a bit easier. All is well. 209.7
Date: 2014-07-30
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to

To: Crocker Cirque Campsite
Miles today: 14.2

Day 140-July 30, Poplar Ridge Lean-to to Crocker Cirque Campsite, 14.2 miles. Celebration time! Today we crossed the point where we have less than 200 miles to go! There is excitement in the air-no, wait a minute, that's rain!Rain is in the forecast to tonight and part of tomorrow. Actually rain or thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next few days. Our 14 miles today were much easier than the 10 we did yesterday. There was less up and down and there were no ferocious winds to deal with or terrifying descents. So it's been a good day. We had to "ford" our first stream today. Maine doesn't seem to put bridges over their streams and so far we've been able to rock hop across the smalls creeks and streams we've encountered. Orbeton stream was running a bit high after the rain a couple of days ago so the rocks that might have been used to rock hop were under a couple of inches of water. So we took off our boots and socks, put on our Crocs and waded (forded) across the stream. The water level came up to my knees and I felt quite comfortable walking along the rocky stream bottom with my hiking sticks to help balance. We hiked up hill along a couple of smaller streams today which were tumbling down the mountain side. The cascades, sluices and waterfalls were lovely to look at as we worked our way up hill. Our big climb today was up Lone Mountain, and it was a very manageable hike up and down as the trail had a good mix of dirt and rocks. We then skirted the summits of Spaulding and Sugarloaf Mountains. The descent off of Sugarloaf had its treacherous sections as rock vomit once again made an appearance on the steepest sections. But I was brave and got down without tears or incident. We once again saw some of our thru-hiking friends slack packing this section today. They were all headed back into Stratton, ME to celebrate the completion of an AT hike by Cabo. When Cabo attempted his thru-hike last year he got injured as he came into Maine and got off the trail for a couple of weeks. When he returned to the trail he jumped ahead to finish the hike with friends. So this year he came back to hike this section he missed. We've seen him quite regularly for the past week or and he is a good guy. We are happy for Cabo and send him our congratulations. Tonight we are camped at a site that is tenting only-there is no shelter. But there is a creek quite close that is flowing with cold, crystal clear water. Lately our water sources have had a brownish tinge to them from all the tannin from the pine trees. After setting up the tent we both soaked our feet in the creek and washed off the dirt that accumulates on the insides of our calfs from walking through mud. We have great cell service here because there is a cell tower on top of Sugarloaf Mtn. Even though we are deep in the Maine woods we are benefitting from that nearby tower. Time for some peanut M&M's-my reward at the end of the day! All is well. 195.5
Date: 2014-07-31
From: Crocker Cirque Campsite

To: Horn Pond Lean-tos
Miles today: 12.4

Day 141-July 31, Crocker Cirque Campsite to Horns Pond Lean-tos, 12.4 miles. 2000 miles! We passed that milepost today! That is a lot of miles! Today we had a good hiking day with a town stop in the middle of the day. Our morning miles consisted of a steady climb up South and North Crocker Mountains. We had some great views as we went up up the rocky slope of South Crocker-low fog blanketed the valleys below with some distant peaks pushing their way up above the fog. From the summits we began a long, gentle descent to the town of Stratton, ME. Once we got to the road/parking lot we saw some people and asked if any of them were heading into town but they were all going hiking so we went to the edge of the road and I stuck out my thumb. It took about 20 minutes to get a ride but the woman took us all the way to the grocery store in Stratton and gave a good recommendation for the diner next store. The grocery store had everything we needed (and more) so we moved on to the diner for a late breakfast or early lunch. On our way to the diner we saw Simba and Goat at the motel across the street. They weren't sure of their plan for the day. After lunch we saw Cabo, Trip and Sole Power! We haven't seen Sole Power since he got his trail name a week or so after we started this adventure. He is a great guy and we hope to see him again before we finish. Cabo helped us get a ride back to the trail by connecting us with Trail Bunny, who was in town waiting for her husband to finish his section of the trail for the day. We said our goodbyes to all the other hikers who had other plans for the day and got our ride back to the trail. Our afternoon miles were mostly uphill as we entered the Bigelow Range of Mountains. Tomorrow we will summit or go near the summit of a couple of the mountains. The skies darkened and we heard distant thunder as we counted down our last miles of the day. The rain started so we put up our umbrellas and covered our packs. I even put on my garbage bag rain skirt. Then the rain stopped! Horn Ponds Lean-tos is a popular destination-so popular that there are 2 shelters, 2 privies, and many tent sites. Because rain is in the forecast for the night we have set ourselves up in the corner of one of the shelters. I am a bit cold at the moment because I have been trying to dry my sweaty shirt by wearing it. It really isn't working so it may be time for my wool sleeping shirt and puffy coat. Because we had a big meal at mid-day, we are having PB&J for dinner. We may have some Cup-a-soup because it is a cool (cold) damp night. All is well. 183.1
Date: 2014-08-01
From: Horn Pond Lean-tos

To: West Carry Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: light rain

Day 142-August 1, Horns Pond Lean-tos to West Carry Pond Lean-to, 17.9 miles. It has been a long, hard day, but now that I am at our shelter for the night and have had a swim in the pond, I'm feeling better. First, a note from last night. We were very happy to be in the shelter as a thunderstorm blew through for a half hour or so as we were eating our dinner. From the shelter we had a great view of The Horn, the first peak we had to climb today. As the storm progressed we watched the summit go in and out of the clouds. The rain stopped by early evening and it was one of the coldest nights we've had in a long time. I woke up a couple of times during the night and looked up to The Horn to see it encircled in a crown of stars! Lovely!We hiked 17.9 miles and the morning miles were the hard ones as we had to traverse the Bigelow Mountain Range. We climbed up and over the South Horn, the west peak of Bigelow Mtn., Little Bigelow and Avery Peak, named for Myron Avery, the man credited with turning the idea of the Appalachian Trail into reality. The views from the summits were worth the effort it took to get to the tops and the descents were not terrifying. The summits were in the sunshine, but the valleys below were filled with clouds. Impressive! On the trail down from Little Bigelow we found lots of small patches of blueberry bushes with ripe berries! I stopped often to pick a small handful and pop them in my mouth. I bet I got a serving of fruit from all my quick stops to gather the berries! Our after-lunch miles were a bit more mellow with some gentle ups and downs. We walked near the shore of Flagstaff Lake for a bit and heard a pair of loons calling to each other. We briefly heard some loons on this pond this afternoon while we were in for our swim. This pond is huge-I would call it a lake, but here in Maine it is a pond. As we were walking toward the pond/shelter we heard music and another hiker, Marshmallow, told us there was a pontoon boat out on the water but it never came close enough to shore for him to talk to the boaters. We noticed a couple of cabins on the far shore, but they are a long way away. So far we are sharing the shelter with Grasshopper but I wouldn't be surprised to see more hikers here tonight. Tomorrow we get to the town of Caratunk, with a unique stretch of trail right before the town. Stay tuned. All is well. 165.2
Date: 2014-08-02
From: West Carry Pond Lean-to

To: Caratunk, ME
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light rain

Day 143-August 2, West Carry Pond Lean-to to Caratunk, ME, 14 miles. So today was a relatively easy day based on Maine standards! The first 10 miles were gentle with decent footing. We passed by 3 wilderness ponds and enjoyed the serene settings of these areas. We even got up-close views of 2 loons in a cove at the end of West Carry Pond. We moved along nicely and arrived at the Pierce Pond Lean-to, a ten mile jaunt, in just under 4 hours. That shows you just how easy the miles were! Even though it was just 10 o'clock we ate our lunch sandwiches before moving on for the next 3.6 miles. Those miles were much more rugged and our speed slowed way down. The trail followed the Pierce Pond outlet stream as it cascaded and fell as it headed towards the Kennebec River. In yesterday's journal entry I hinted that a unique portion of the trail was coming up today. Well, that portion is the ferry across the Kennebec River. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy hires a guy to paddle hikers across the river in a canoe! There is a white blaze in the bottom of the canoe! The Kennebec is a dam controlled river and there are two dams upstream from this crossing. The dams release water without notice so the water level rises without any notice. In the past hikers have been swept away as they tried to ford the river and suddenly the river started rising. This must have happened once too often because there has been a ferry here for 25 years.Once across the river we went into the town of Caratunk, where our Trail Jeannie has sent us a resupply box and we are spending the night. Caratunk's big draw with the hikers is that there is a brewery in town! We are not staying at the brewery but rather at the Sterling Inn, a very hiked-friendly B&B, with a bunch of other hikers we know. We were most surprised to see Wildlife here, a hiker from Switzerland, who we haven't seen since our first week on the trail! The folks here at the Sterling shuttled a bunch of us to the brewery for dinner where we enjoyed the local brews and some tasty burgers. We ate with Trip, Valley Girl and Wildlife and had a fun evening. But were all tired and called the Sterling to pick us up after our meal instead of hanging around for the fun and games the brewery had to offer. A good night's sleep in a nice bed will get us ready for another 14 miles tomorrow. We have three days of hiking to get us to our last trail town, Monson. All is well. 151.2
Date: 2014-08-03
From: Caratunk, ME

To: Bald Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: few clouds

Day 144-August 3, Caratunk, ME to Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to, 14.7 miles. We enjoyed a good night's sleep in a comfy bed at the Sterling Inn and then a tasty breakfast with lots of choices-hard boiled eggs, various breads for toast, bagels, fruit, muffins, juice and hot drinks. At 7:30 AM we got the shuttle back to the trail. Our 14+ miles did not look too difficult on the guide and that proved to be true. We had one good climb up Pleasant Pond Mountain. The mountains have spread themselves out so I could be happy with one a day to keep my mountain climbing muscles in shape. The top of the mountain was an open summit and the blueberries were thriving so we once again had some fresh fruit on the trail. Mid-morning brought the dark clouds in and for awhile I thought we might get rained on. Rain and/or thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next 5 days. But we dodged the rain bullet and arrived at this lean-to before 3 PM. Because of the bugs, we put up our tent. The lean-to is filling up with Grasshopper, Topo, Iron Will and 3 guys who just started a section hike to Katahdin. We had to ford the outlet of Moxie Pond and it went just fine. We changed into our Crocs and made our way across by rock hopping and walking on the submerged rocks. The cool water felt good on our hot sweaty feet! Tomorrow we have 2 more fords, one across a good sized river. Hope it doesn't rain (much) tonight to make the river rise! All is well. 136.5
Date: 2014-08-04
From: Bald Mountain Lean-to

To: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: light rain

Day 145-August 4, Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to to Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to, 13 miles. Our thirteen miles today started right out with a climb up Moxie Bald Mountain. The climb was quite manageable-a steady up with very little rock scrambling. We walked up large sections of rock slabs which were dry so it was almost like walking on a sidewalk. The views from the top of Moxie Bald were awesome, even though it was a partly cloudy, hazy morning. There was still some pink left in the morning sky from the sunrise and we looked down on lots of Maine ponds. This morning on top of Moxie Bald will be remembered as one of my favorite spots on the AT. The beautiful views continued as we started our descent and we stopped to take lots of pictures. We also had to stop to pick blueberries! Anyone else remember the children's book Blueberries for Sal? It is a story about a young child in Maine and picking blueberries. We had two fords today, one was a stream and the other a river. There was a heavy rope suspended across the river so we could hold onto it as we made our way across, which wasn't too difficult. The water level came just to my knees and was not moving too fast. We saw YouTube videos from some hiker friends who crossed last week after a bunch of rain fell and they had a much more exciting crossing! I don't need that kind of excitement!With only one serious climb today we generally were able to move along at a good pace. There were rocky, muddy stretches of trail but there were also longer sections of flat, pine needle covered paths. We arrived at this lean-to at 12:15 PM and promptly ate lunch. There are only 9 miles to tomorrow's town of Monson and the guide makes it looks like fairly flat walking, but one never knows what the rock, root and mud situation will be. We have enjoyed nice hiking temperatures lately, cool in the morning with the temps rising to the low to mid 70's by afternoon. Rain has been forecasted and this morning we got enough drops to make us put on our pack covers. We'll see what happens later this afternoon and tonight. We are grateful for several dry days in a row because we may complain about the mud but it would be so much worse if the rain came as predicted. The nights have been cool enough to need the sleeping bag but not so cold that we have to wear all of our layers to bed to keep warm. We're hoping this continues! All is well. 123.5