morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-08-07
From: Stealthing Northside of Cube Mountain

To: Base of Mt. Moosilauke
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: light rain

This was one of the views on the way up to Smart Mountain yesterday. Sometimes I just stop and look out and think I can't believe I'm doing this and seeing scenes like this. Magnificent. This was my last easy day before tackling the White Mountains. The first major mountain is Mount Moosilauke which will be about a four thousand foot climb up rocks over a three and a half mile span. And then about the same but down on the other side. Today though was relatively flat and easy just to lull me into a sense of complacency.I came out onto a highway this morning and who should I see there but my old friend Iceman and his lovely wife Rita. This is the guy that was in my ATI class last fall. His wife, who describes herself as Iceman's sherpa, is traveling along near him supporting his hike. Iceman is in his 78th year and when he completes this hike he will be the fourth oldest thru-hiker to ever complete it. How cool is that?Iceman and I hiked together for the full day and had easy conversation. We even stopped for a while to pick and eat wild blueberries. A real treat. I had planned to stop at a hostel to sleep on a bunk in a big room tonight, but instead Rita and the Iceman drove me to a hotel near theirs where I am now the happy recipient of a hot shower and air conditioning. We went out to dinner and drank possibly too much wine, and I consumed some serious protein and vegetables. The Iceman and I will hike together again tomorrow up the imposing Mt. Moosilauke and Rita will drive us back to this town tomorrow night for more good food and conversation. You never know when Lady Luck will smile upon you. This was one fine day.
Date: 2015-08-08
From: Base of Mt. Moosilauke

To: Lincoln, NH
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Best view yet! Making it to the top of Mt. Moosilauke in the White Mountains was difficult but not horrendous, and the 360 degree view was magnificent. But coming down? Now that was a rocky, steep, knee-jarring affair. Hardest descent yet. Thank goodness the rocks, boulders, and slabs were dry. And thank goodness for such beautiful sunny clear cool weather. I couldn't have asked for better. Plus, I had the benefit of slackpacking with the Iceman.(Slackpacking - carrying only a light pack with lunch food and water, while someone meets you at the end of your day with all your other equipment.)Speaking of which, my fortunes have turned significantly better. The Iceman and Rita are going to let me tag along with them, slackpacking through most of the White Mountains. Rita will drop us off at a trailhead in the morning and pick us up when we're done in the evening. I'll be staying in motels, eating well, and slackpacking with them for the next week and a half. This is especially generous of them in that the Iceman's daughter has just arrived to hike with him for the next week. That is so nice of them. I'll try to mostly walk ahead to make sure they have plenty of father-daughter time. By the way, the southbounders are telling us that the first hundred miles or so of Maine that we'll face are as tough as New Hampshire's Whites. Well, OK then. But WOO HOO, I'll be a little more rested due to my being able to slackpack now in the early part of the Whites!
Date: 2015-08-09
From: Lincoln, NH

To: US 3 and I-93 near Lincoln
Miles today: 16.1

This is looking down the greater than 45 degree slope coming down Kinsman Mountain in the Whites. The local trail maintenance club has drilled holes in the granite and secured wooden steps to go down certain sections, like this granite slab. This is extremely helpful though there sure are a lot of other places where that also would have been helpful.Today was probably the most RUGGED day of hiking I have had yet, taking me to the top of and back down Kinsman Mountain. There was a lot of upper body work required to pull myself up some fairly sheer walls, then much grasping of roots or rocks to lower myself down. It really was an interesting day of "hiking," and it demonstrated to me New Hampshire's reputation of having the most demanding part of the entire trail.I was hiking with the Iceman and his daughter. It sprinkled on us a bit in the morning, but finally after I sang them a rendition of Zippity Doo Dah, the sun came out. Quite an amusing coincidence.Until now, I have consistently used two trekking poles, but in these conditions I used a technique I learned at my ATI class. Instead, I used one trekking pole so that I had one hand free for grasping roots, rocks, and trees. For instance, when I was lowering myself down I would have my hand on a root with that arm fully extended, and my other hand palming the handle of my trekking pole reaching as far as I could to stabilize it on something secure before I let go of the root. I suspect I will be hiking with one pole for much of New Hampshire and the first part of Maine.The 16 miles we hiked today required a lot more effort than the typical 16 miles. We got out of the woods just before dark, because it took so long. I'm back in a motel, but barely keeping my eyes open as I record the day's events. This will be one soundly sleeping amigo tonight.
Date: 2015-08-10
From: US 3 and I-93 near Lincoln

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Just another mountain pic, right? Well zoom in on that exposed rocky ridge and see the size of the people. That is one stark and amazing mountain that completes a three mile exposed ridge walk. I had an incredible 360 degree view of mountains and vast lower lands the whole way. This particular scene was a view of Mt. Lafayette from Mt. Lincoln.I had heard for a long time that The Presidentials were tough mountains. I just learned this week that they're a subset of the White Mountains with individual peaks named after U.S. presidents. Today I climbed Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Garfield. There are lots more presidents ahead. And Mt. Lafayette? I don't recall him being a president.So New Hampshire is totally living up to its rep. as a seriously difficult state to hike with hard STEEP ups and downs and lots of boulders. I'm not sure I ever swung my arms today in a normal walk. For instance, at one point the trail ended at a brook running over rocks down a steep decline. I looked around and finally realized that THAT was the trail! There were enough dry(ish) rocks and boulders to scramble steeply down the maybe 500 yards, but what a bizarre part of the "trail."The Iceman's daughter decided to not hike with us today. They had planned to stay at an AMC White Mountain Hut where they had a reservation for two. (Reservations must be made well in advance.) Her not hiking allowed me to take that second spot. These "huts" are remote cabins with bunk beds, with no roads leading to them. Food is hiked in to a staff that provides breakfast and dinner. The Iceman and I arrived during dinner for about 50 in the mess hall, but we still got to eat a cold but delicious meal. I'm in a bunk now typing this and about to put in my earplugs and konk out from another hard hiking day. 9:00 PM? Hiker's midnight.
Date: 2015-08-11
From: Galehead Hut, White Mtns., NH

To: Crawford Notch at US 302
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: light rain

Since it was raining today, I didn't take any pictures and kept my phone safe in its plastic ziplock-like envelope bag. So here is a picture I took in Vermont of odd markings on a stone I happened across. That circle is about three inches in diameter and I have no idea what made that mysterious design.The Iceman and I had breakfast at Galehead Hut then we immediately set out on a fairly aggressive hike. The weather report predicted heavy rain in the afternoon. We saw that we had a peak to climb early and then by the time the rain was expected, we would be at a much lower elevation and flatter terrain. At least that was the plan. We climbed the spire-like peak and had almost scrambled down the other side when it started to rain, way earlier than predicted. The wind was gusting at maybe 50 miles an hour while we negotiated wet rocks and boulders. I actually laughed out loud at just how difficult the situation was, especially on exposed ridges with no protection from the trees. It rained hard for several hours while we scrambled over rocky steep terrain and sloshed through running drain off water. I was soaked and cold when we came upon the next hut that was selling bowls of hot soup for lunch. Man, did that go down well! Before getting at it again, I added layers of clothing, especially a wool hat, and felt much better as we resumed our hike.Rocks and slabs that are wet eliminate options in picking the best and safest route over or around stone. I expended a lot of mental focus energy and physical energy taking longer safer pathways and hanging onto roots and trees. So this was quite a workout and I was fairly whipped by the end of the day's hike.The Iceman and I had no cell phone coverage all day and his satellite tracking device pooped out and quit sending signals to his wife at around midday. When we finally reached the highway around 6 o'clock p.m., there was no way to let his wife know we were there. So the Iceman stuck out his thumb to hitch a ride up to the next area where he could get cell phone reception. I asked him how long had it been since he had hitchhiked and he laughed and said over 50 years. But he got his ride and in less than an hour Rita drove up to rescue a cold exhausted 3D. Oh great, now I'm referring to myself in the third person. Anyway, she brought me to the motel and the hot shower and dry clothes were a huge wonderful welcome relief.At dinner, The Iceman and I decided to give ourselves a zero day tomorrow to let our knees and a few slip and fall injuries heal a little bit. New Hampshire has had the best views, the most interesting obstacle course terrain, but has also whipped my butt, at least over the first few days here.
Date: 2015-08-13
From: Crawford Notch at US 302

To: Mt. Washington
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Here I am at the top of Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain in the Northeast. (Thank you, friends, for helping me out with that fact.) It looks like some kind of a weird movie set doesn't it? For most of the 20th century this peak had the highest recorded wind speed of any place on Earth, 231 miles per hour. The wind speed record did get beat by an island off of Australia with a typhoon in 2009, but Mt. Washington is still a pretty dangerous place, as we were warned by signs with dire messages on them.Today the Iceman and I hiked in the Presidential Range. There are several intermediate Presidential peaks before Mt. Washington. We crossed by Mt. Pierce, Mt. Eisenhower, Mt. Franklin, and Mt. Monroe. I learned that Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Garfield that I hiked a few days ago are not included in the Presidentials. That seems strange. After all, I think one of those presidents had a pretty prominent role in history and they even named an orange cat after him.We hiked up about 5,000 feet to well above treeline (6,400 feet) and had a good deal of hand over hand rock scrambling along the way. Then we did a lot of walking above treeline and the views were unbelievable. In many cases we were above the bottoms of the clouds and could walk right up to where the clouds met some of the peaks (well, sort of...turns out, clouds are wispy). When we got to the top of Mt. Washington at an intersection with a mountain road, the Iceman's wife Rita picked us up and now we're back in civilization. Today was surreal walking on ridge lines in just scrub grass and rocks looking out at layers and layers of huge stark and beautiful mountains. I will never forget the spectacular views I witnessed today.
Date: 2015-08-14
From: Mt. Washington

To: Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 5.9
Weather: light rain

Last week, The Iceman's daughter hiked with The Iceman and me. Today, her husband joined us...both wonderful folks. He'll hike with us for three days. We tackled the notorious Wildcats today, some of the toughest hiking (uh, ahem, climbing) on the trail. This photo shows a typical part of the trail today. To give some perspective, the bottom corner tip of the diamond-shaped rock in the middle right is about 7 feet up. The top of the photo is about 30-40 feet up. And it continued going up beyond that.I find that going up these steep inclines is easier than coming down because I can find footholds. There was a lot of pulling up and lowering down using roots, trees, and rock handholds - and plenty of grunts. Knowing it would be a jungle gym climb, we planned on short miles. We had perfect weather and I really enjoyed figuring it all out while not being rushed. A fun day for me. For the first time, I had to hike out of sequence. We didn't hike down Mt. Washington because we had hard-to-obtain reservations at Carter Notch Hut, where I'm typing this now in my bunk. Tomorrow, we'll hike 16 miles to a road crossing to get picked up, and Sunday we'll go back to the top of Mt. Washington to hike down. All steps of the trail in this section will then be covered, but just out of sequence.I had a cool experience when I arrived at the Hut and met a couple, Trial and Error. Trial (the woman) was enthusiastic about meeting me because she's been following me on this blog. She had some truly nice things to say and I have to admit it really felt good to hear and witness her sincerity and excitement.We've got a challenging day planned for tomorrow with some iffy weather, but Sunday on Mt. Washington is supposed to be spectacular.Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-15
From: Carter Notch Hut

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: light rain

In some of the wettest places, the local trail maintenance volunteers put down walkways such as this. This particular one (from earlier in my hike) had nice green ground cover on both sides when usually it's kind of mucky. But it is such a pleasure to walk on these rather than rock hop over mud and puddles. I'm very grateful for the work of the trail clubs all along the entire AT. We had a challenging and long hike planned for today to finish the Wildcats and get to the next road crossing. The weather report predicted thunderstorms in the afternoon, and we had some pretty significant peaks to cross that are not great places to be in a thunderstorm. So the whole morning felt like a race against lightning while tackling super steep and rocky climbs, both up and down. In fact, I reluctantly gave in to the controlled butt-slide technique down some wet rock slabs a few times. In the early afternoon my other two hiking partners were ahead of me when the storms finally rolled in. I was just over the final peak and eager to get to even lower ground, so I put my head down and really focused on hiking fast and scrambling over the rocks as quickly as I could. Now one would think that after as many miles of trail that I have hiked that I would be some kind of an expert at following the trail. Uh, not so much. I walked right past a sign that said the AT took a sharp left, and that going straight turned into a new trail. That was just as the deluge of rain started picking up. I went up a smallish hill, maybe a hundred feet, and just figured that was part of the normal undulations of the trail. But it did move me higher toward where all that thunder was rumbling in the midst of the rain. Then I went up a second similar hill still focused on hurrying. On the third hill up I was really starting to pick up elevation when it dawned on me that I was getting higher than the map profile I had looked at earlier. So I pulled out my phone, turned on the location finder, and fired up my Guthooks app. Yikes, I was at least a third of a mile off of the trail in the midst of a downpour. So I retraced my steps all the way back to where I came to the sign that I had missed, and I continued my hurried hike to lower ground and to my friends. I felt like a pretty clueless woodsman at that point, but at least I was back on track. Anyway, we all finally made it out, soaked, bruised, and bleeding here and there. Lovely Rita ("Meter Maid" - as a Beatles fan, that song often comes to mind) had pizza and beer waiting for us. Talk about a Trail Angel!Tomorrow, the climb back down off of mighty Mt. Washington.
Date: 2015-08-16
From: Gorham, NH

To: Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 13.5

What a view we had today! We started at the top of Mt. Washington on a rare clear day. Well, there were a good number of clouds but they were far below us. See them? By the way, that's the Iceman off to the right. And look at those moon-like rocks we were walking on.For over five hours today we walked above the tree line on treacherous boulders, in beautiful but hot sunshine. We had steep ups and downs on jagged boulders that required quite the balancing act to hop from one to the next. Many of them wobbled when we landed on them, too. It took a lot of mental focus and concern for bodily harm to maintain for all those hours. The Iceman fell one time and got cut up pretty badly, but he'll be ok. We made it down around 6:45, about an hour before it really starts getting dark. But boy, did we have to push all day to make that mileage and beat sundown. As hard as all that was it was really worth it for the views. Just magnificent.The Iceman's son-in-law hiked with us again and he seemed to be able to just glide over those boulders. He shared his trick with me, which is to stay on top of the highest boulders and never stop. He says he just keeps his pace hopping from one to the next to the next. I tried that and definitely increased my speed but it's a technique that requires lots of practice and confidence, especially with jagged rocks and boulders.Today may end up being my most memorable day. Nerve-wracking, exhausting, and absolutely spectacular.
Date: 2015-08-17
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Gentian Pond Tentsite
Miles today: 11.8

I've been thinking about posting a picture of moose poop so that everyone can see what that looks like. However, it just never rose to the level of "photograph of the day." But when I came upon moose poop that somebody had formed into the shape of a heart, I just couldn't resist. For perspective, each of those separate droppings is about an inch long. Observe and enjoy.The Iceman and I set out today with full packs and food for a few days as we will be tenting for a couple nights. There weren't any road crossings to meet Rita in the evenings before spending a couple of nights out here.Whether it was the cumulative 5,000 feet that we hiked today over many steep rocky climbs, the weight of full packs for a change, or the humid 90 degree heat, we both were just kind of dragging today. I also think that the accumulation of all of our miles to date has created a deep body fatigue. I don't really like admitting or thinking about that because my energy level is diminished if I focus on something like that. But whatever it was, today's hike was slow and tiring. Wait, there was something big and energizing... We passed the 1900 mile mark! And tomorrow, we'll cross over into, drumroll please....Maine!Tonight, I set up my tent on a wooden platform. I had to rig my tent pegs to make it all work, but between jamming them between boards and using rocks I was able to set it up. First time on one of these wooden platforms.Actually, I'm quite glad to be back in my tent tonight - on a warmish and windless night.Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-18
From: Gentian Pond Tentsite

To: Full Goose Shelter and Campsite
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: light rain

Ta Dah! Maine! The 14th and final state. I have officially completed the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Man, they were tough. And spectacular.Today I started Maine's Mahoosuc Mountains and guess what? It's really no different. Up and down and up and down cliff-like terrain all day. It's as if someone dropped me off in Manhattan, New York and I walked over to the first skyscraper. I got into the stairway and I climbed all the way to the very top floor. I stepped out into a large room full of cubicles and walked across the entire room. Heads popped up like prairie dogs and watched as the mountain man with backpack walked into the stairwell at the other end of the floor and proceeded to go down. I got to the bottom of that stairway walked out onto the street again and stepped into the next skyscraper and up the stairway I went. All day today it was kind of like that. Minus the cubicles and prairie dogs.Poor Iceman slipped on one of the many long and slippery granite slabs, slid about eight feet (could have been much more), and took most of the skin off of one his inner forearms. He also later stepped onto innocent looking, wettish dirt and sank up to both knees in mud. That didn't stop him though. He's one tough hombre.We've stopped at a shelter and tent site area and everyone is walking around slowly and kind of dazed. It was hard hiking on everyone today. Hello Maine.I'm in my tent early with plans to start early tomorrow and tackle the famous Mahoosuc Notch and Mahoosuc Arm. More on that in tomorrow's post. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-19
From: Full Goose Shelter and Campsite

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 9.7

This is Maine's notorious Mahoosuc Notch and that's Iceman in the middle of the picture. What is Mahoosuc Notch, you ask? Here's how my trail guide describes it : "Most difficult or fun mile of the AT. Make way through jumbled pit of boulders." What a crazy mile it was between two huge cliffs where boulders the size of buses and cars have fallen and are piled along the valley floor. We had to go over, around, and crawl through whatever openings we could find (sometimes pushing our backpacks). It took a lot of balancing and upper body effort to make it through. We usually cover a mile in half an hour but this took us an hour and 45 minutes and lots of sweat. I found it both difficult and fun, but more on the fun side. We then ascended the equally notorious Mahoosuc Arm, about a 1600 foot STEEP rise including many bedrock slabs of granite. And we made it. These were the last two well known obstacles on the trail besides Mt. Katahdin, the huge mountain at the end of the trail. Great sense of accomplishment (and relief!)I have pushed myself pretty hard the last couple of weeks and I'm glad to take a couple of days off. My wife Beth arrived tonight for three nights of visiting and R&R for me. I've really been looking forward to her visit and this time off. The Iceman and I are planning to hike the rest of the trail together. I'm enjoying his company and enjoy his wife Rita allowing us to slack pack frequently. I also get quite a kick out of telling fellow hikers that when he completes the thru-hike he will be the fourth oldest person to ever do it. When I finished these two major hurdles today I felt like I have really conquered the hardest part of the trail. The upcoming Bigelow mountains in Maine have a pretty BIG (not low, heh heh) reputation for being tough as well, but I think I've got this now.