morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-08-04
From: Dream Lake

To: Full Goose Shelter and Campsite
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

maine. Maine. MAINE. maine. MaInE. MMMAAAAAIIIINNNNNEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! YES, crossed into maine early this morning. The last state line. The last stae. Maine. I have hiked from Georgia to Maine. I have hiked the east coast all the way to Maine. Maybe if I say it a few more times it will sink in.I woke up full of energy this morning and my fist mountain was name Mt. Success. Its summit is a large bare rock with great 360 degree views and you look south at the whole of the whites, ginormous masses of earth with clouds swirling all around them. How can you not feel what this place is named for. I had breakfast here, taking in the sights, knowing that soon I would be crossing into Maine and starting the last leg of this journey. Wow. There were some steep climbs, big boulders, drops and precariously placed ladders that we used to enter this rocky crevice and then all of a sudden you turn the corner and see this little white sign. I smiled, I sighed, and started to tear up. I was absolutely taken aback by how emotional I was. You¢re just sitting there staring at this symbol of something you been hiking toward the entirety of these past 6 months.   A substantial representative of what up until now was only an idea. All this time I have answered ¢Maine¢ whenever someone would ask me where I¢m going and all that time it felt like some far away abstract concept. Not really real, possible, or achievable. A far off destination that I would spend forever traveling to. And now suddenly I¢m here. It¢s real. It happened. I was bursting with so much emotion that when I got to a high place I stopped and called almost everyone I knew, wanting so much to sing out that I¢d made it to Maine! And further on, I met Duffer, Chicken Feathers, Expediter and Instigator.I¢d hoped for more miles today but the terrain continues to challenge and didn¢t allow for it on top of feeling under the weather. I¢m afraid I may be getting sick again. There were some great blueberry fields today with bogs and planks of wood or chicken runs to travel on even as we travelled across ridge lines. The tress are dense at times but there is lots of scrub and the mountains seem more round and weather than the southern ones. No more switchbacks for us and I keep slipping on the mossy wood boards and almost breaking my legs. Scary thing this far in the game. We are all traveling a little more cautiously now, scared to let an injury take us out of the game.   Lots of amazing views. I may be feeling tired and ready for the daily hiking to end, but these views and the feelings I felt today will never get old.
Date: 2012-08-07
From: stealth camp just after blue mountain

To: Little Swift River Pond Campsite
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: clear sky

An emotional end to a long day. Luckily I was not killed by a tree last night. Instead I got an early start and with better terrain, I thought I was making good time. But still the trail is rocky and rooty and there are ups and downs over and over which are just big enough to slow you down. There was more beautiful views today and some great moments where you stood and just basked in the great expansive mountains that surround the trail here fading on seemingly forever. It was hot tiring day though and while I was tired I decided to push on more. At the end of the day, as it was starting to get toward evening and I was racing the sun, I pushed down to the campsite by the pond to get some water and then realized I had taken a wrong turn at the privy there and ended up walking a ways off the trail and the campsite. So exhausted and having spent most of the day in a little bit of a slump, I started to cry. I had been trying all day for reception to reach my friend and plan her hiking with me, but our schedules were not working out and I felt so dejected as I realized I would not be able to cover the necessary miles to cover the distance between where I was and where she would be able to get to me in the limited window we had. Ah frustration at not being able to do so much of what I wanted to. We¢re still trying to figure it out.And honestly I¢m simply pissed that right now I seem to be hiking so that I don¢t have to face what others think about an incomplete thru hike trail. I¢m so satisfied with what I have accomplished and yet dread that look people get when they think you¢ve failed. I think there still exists such a disconnect between understanding just how long this takes and thinking about the miles and so often people only see the little amount left. But the hiker knows what those remaining 2, 3, or 500 miles will be like, how exhausting, beautiful yet grueling. And no one knows what to say, and though they try to be polite still in their eyes is that shadow. I see it in some of us hikers here that we¢ve gotten defensive of our trail experience in part because of it. Some times I wish I was not doing a journal because then everything would be my own and I wouldn¢t have so much out there for others to comment on.   Sigh. Just got a text from my friend. Looks like there will be no hiking. I am so sad and disappointed but in a way also glad as I can continue to crank out some miles. I¢m also a little worried about how I might feel about the hike years from now ¢¦Tonight is emotional upheaval night.
Date: 2012-08-08
From: Little Swift River Pond Campsite

To: Redington Campsite
Miles today: 12.8

Well the feelings of last night spilled over into this morning and I found myself stuck in my own head for miles imagining worse case scenarios until I worked myself up to the point of balling on the side of the trail. Finally I found signal and called my best friend Vicky (note from current times: check out her new trail journal here! http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=14505)and just sat for an hour letting all of my thoughts, doubts, fears spill out. Vicky and I are very close and she is so supportive and connected to me that she said all the right things and had me laughing and smiling and filed with pride and determination again so by the end of our call I was 95% better.2 miles later I was amazing. Totally night and day. My food supplies were too low to risk going further so when I got to the road I tried for a hitch into Rangley which is a good 11-12 miles from the trailhead. 20 minutes later I had managed to secure my first hitch of the entire trail. I normally avoid these if at all possible but the guy was really cool, from Canada and had never heard of the AT. When I explained what I was doing and how far I¢d come he was all ¢wha¢¦¢¦.¢.So got into town at the grocery store and shopped on an empty stomach. Ahahaha, always dangerous so got too much and have an overloaded pack again. I ran into a fellow hiker friend and we had a good lunch together. He was happy to see me too cause he hoped hitching together we¢d do better getting a ride. Just as we finished up and decided to head back I came around the corner of the store prepared to position myself for yogiing when darn if the first guy out of the store didn¢t excitedly exclaim ¢HIKING THE AT!¢ let the yogiing commence! To easy. But really appreciated!Had a beautiful but tiring hike up and then such a wonderful surprise as I ran into willie from Vermont (last seen in NY), blues clues, and FRENCHY! Who I had last seen at the monastery in NY. It was so good to catch up with all of them again. Up and up we went over saddle back but my gosh was it worth it. Wonderfully, gorgeously rocky and open and raw. It reminded me a lot of Franconia ridge in the whites. Of course great lake views and blueberries to boot. Standing on top looking into the dipped valley that gave it its name I watched as my hiker friends, now little color specs moved across and up. I¢m going to miss my little sub community but it was so good to see them again before the end. Blue and I hiked some of the last bit together as he¢s feeling some pain in his feet and we were planning to stop a the same campsite tonight. Great end to a rollercoaster day although the last bit of the climb down certainly made my knees explode in pain again. Come on body, pull through.
Date: 2012-08-09
From: Redington Campsite

To: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 10.7

I stopped rather early today 4:45 pm mostly because it is raining on and off and tomorrow there are only 13.5 miles into Stratton from this point. While my guidebook indicates that there are camping spots on the ridge above me a little further on, I¢m unsure if there will be good hammocking trees that close to the top and really don¢t want to be caught in a bad storm up there. I only did 10.7 miles today mostly because it was a slog of a day and I just could not get into a rhythm. More and more I find that I am simply physically exhausted and my body wakes up tired. Even on the flat stretches it takes a lot of mental will to sustain even close to a 2 mile an hour pace. Perhaps this is just the way it is after nearly 6 months of backpacking. I have all these contradictory feelings and thoughts. I am so ready to be done, tired of trail life and the repetitiveness, the constant aching. But at the same time, I love it, am already missing it, and while it seems that most of my journaling concentrates on the lower points, I spend most of my days appreciating the beauty around me and how good it feels to be active, how calm it is, how simple. While wanting to be done, or at least wanting a break from this, I often have this feeling of wanting it to end now. I am thankful in a way for the deadline as I know that with the way my body is now 200 miles would mean another 2 12 to 3 weeks out here. Sigh, what a journey. What a long, long time to devote so completely to a single endeavor. I guess this is just part of my personality to look at things n big picture and bookend thoughts but more and more I find myself thinking back to those first two weeks on the trail full of doubt, pain, and anxiety as well as the rush of newness. Thank god Maine is so beautiful or I might not even be enjoying it still. I don¢t have the sweeping feelings of joy I once did and am even a little tired/upset by the roots and rocks. But I¢m here and here I will stay. There was a big down and a big uphill today with a few stray thunderstorms that came in and made me wet and cold. As I sleep I nest into my hammock, very cozy and warm again, listening to the massive monsoon like rainstorm beat against the roof and the mountain reverberate with the thunder storm, I feel justified for stopping earlier.   As ever, its really the weather that is the main challenge out here, not the trail. Ran into some old friends today and caught up with them.
Date: 2012-08-10
From: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: moderate rain

It rained all day, but I had a goal in mind that kept me plodding away. Today I would be meeting up with my close friends in Stratton and get to hike with them some. Today¢s trail involved some of the steepest trail I¢ve seen and they literally sent us down scree piles which are really recent landslide activity so the geography major in me was busy calculating the chance of likely death at massive earth movements. I spent a good hour of the day listening to a group of teenage boys calling back and forth to one another in what sounded like polish since one of them had fallen behind. Early on in the shouting game I had frozen in my tracks trying to determine the nature of the calls and see if they were distress calls, i.e. if I would be turning around and hiking back up the slope to give assistance. I very selfishly was relieved once it became apparent that all was well. There was also a kinda neat although blood pumping river crossing today with some big, leap of faith jumps and a very bendy, unsupported board. I could tell normally it would not be a problem but it has rained so much in the last few days that the large creek it was over was swollen and quite dangerous.The last five miles was another slog along normal rocky trail with the ever tempting traces of moose prints reminding me that at any moment I might get to see one. No luck drats.The best part of the day had to be when I suddenly looked up and there down the trail were the smiling faces of some of my best friends, Michelle and Doug. They had such big, ear to ear grins and it was honestly the best sight these eyes have seen in a while. Hugs, sobs, more hugs.
Date: 2012-08-11
From: Stratton, ME

To: Horns Pond lean-to
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Yay! An amazing day hiking with friends. It was bad weather in terms of rainy drizzle toward the end but quite the break from the day long slogs that have defined much of the second half of the hike. It's always refreshing to see the trail again through new eyes. In describing all that I have seen and experienced, I was able to relive and enjoy it all again. My spirits are lifted. We camped early in the shelters and the sun hints every now and then that maybe just maybe tomorrow will be clear. There is suppose to be a moose family that lives in the area here so perhaps I'll finally see one! Maine's shelters are perfectly suited to hanging and I've taken to setting up my hammock under them when there is space and everyone's cool with it. Of course this is always done after making sure everyone agrees as it is long standing trail etiquette that you are not suppose to set up tents inside shelters and be a space hog. People are still adapting to the hammocking though because it actually takes up less floor space in the shelter but just seems different. I actually practically slept on top of my friends so the three of us took up about two spaces.Cool crowd tonight full of people who started a week or two before me. All familiar names that I have been reading in the trail logs for the whole trip. and one of them was carrying a crank radio so we had tunes. The caretaker here was on hyper alert for "respectful attention to your neighbors!" and was on all of us for various things he felt might upset the delicate balance of shelter cohabitation. Music! Hammock in shelter! food in shelter! snoring! we are all staring at him deadpan having already established a good camaraderie and generally unspoken rules of the night. And he would NOT go away. just sitting there the whole time telling us about his many accomplishments triple crowning and on and on with advice. Everyone there had been on the trial for a good 5 months....we got this. But I could tell he was just rather lonely and looking for human company. I am beyond thrilled to share tonight with my friends and also tonight there are starburst jellybeans. ahhhhhhhhhhhh yyyyyeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh.
Date: 2012-08-12
From: Horns Pond lean-to

To: Bog Brook Rd.
Miles today: 11.8

It started off cloudy with a light mist and steep wet stone step climb up to the top of our first peak of the day. We were in complete white out but then all of a sudden the clouds shifted just a little in front of us to briefly reveal a darker mass of mountains across the valley. It was poking out from a lower sea of clouds and all around us mist would swirl in getting thick and then clear again. It was really spectacular and cool and you were constantly looking around so you wouldn¢t miss a moment of it. Mt Bigalow was certainly a cool experience. Through all this, there was some cold wind and rain and I simply feel alive in it.         We pushed on pretty quickly to get out of the wind and wound our way down the ridge of the mountain. When we got to Mt. Avery it cleared more and we had views between all the low hanging wisps of cloud. The look of the mountains are really interesting with lichen and spruce trees and great shaped rocks. By the end of the day we had such good weather and were still feeling okay that we decided not to stop where we had planned to and instead pushed on an extra two miles o make it to the car. It was about 7 and we still had light. What a good decision! Just as we hit the road, huge thunderclouds rolled in and the sky just dumped water on us. Man what good timing to get out of that storm. So we¢re making the big drive back north to the Finn¢s home where I¢ll prepare for the last few days of my trip. Tomorrow I¢ll be dropped off in the 100 mile wilderness for the last big push. Wow, this is the last food resupply, the last pack up. Just wow.
Date: 2012-08-13
From: Katahdin Ironworks Road

To: Stealth camp
Miles today: 4.7

A relaxing morning already getting a taste for being back in civilization drinking tea, eating garden fresh veggies. After a long drive back into the woods, Michelle dropped me off back onto the AT. I had my first large creek ford where I stripped down and used my camp shoes. From there it was nice flat, almost park like trail that was simply kind. Tonight, laying in my hammock , I am trying to process everything, it¢s almost the end. This is it. I simply cannot process.On another note apparently the trees here have giant sacks of pine puss that can pop at slight pressure. This may just result in a giant wade of sticky pine sap squirting into your eyeball and sealing your eyelashes together. Just maybe. Hammockers beware.
Date: 2012-08-14
From: Stealth Camp

To: Crawford Pond
Miles today: 17.2

I came around the corner of white cap mountain today and there in the distance, just 73 miles away, Katahdin rose high as a single large mass. It is distinctive in shape and stands alone in the low valley where the smaller bumps, roads, lakes, and dark shadows cast by clouds are absolutely no competition for it. This is the first time you really get to see it.I started to laugh and cry at the same time. Such unexpected emotions just bubbled up inside of me. I thought I¢d be happy and I am but I was surprised by the relief I felt as if until I saw it with my own eyes, Katahdin was this imaginary destination, no more real than a dream. But there it is. It¢s top half made up of silver rock that was exposed and ready for me to climb. Two years ago, when I was living in Maine and had decided to do this, I purposefully avoided going anywhere near here, wanting this moment to be special, it is, it is, it is. Oh my gosh. I see all the miles I¢ll cover in the next 3 days. Such a wonderful day of feeling strong, doing big miles and once more realizing how much I love and have loved this. Even with the bigger climbs in the morning, I plowed through despite my body feeling it. I still haven¢t seen a moose and hope to get a glimpse of one in the next few days. God how I will miss the trail but I am simultaneously so eager to be done and transition to a new phase in my life. I have seen Katahdin. My journey is almost complete.
Date: 2012-08-15
From: Crawford Pond

To: Wadleigh Stream Lean-to
Miles today: 24.6
Weather: moderate rain

 What a day to experience right at the end. I hiked the most miles in a single day I ever have at 24.5 and I experienced so many joys and trials of the trail at the same time. First off, the trail was wonderfully flat most all the day although still rocky and rooty. 3 miles out from where I slept there was a shelter located right next to a beautiful and wonderfully large cascade and I wish I had made it here last night. All of the Maine shelters seem to be placed to take advantage of these kind of spots. I chatted with a ridge runner some today and then took off knowing today was going to be a big mile day. In the 10 mile swampy stretch, I discovered that somewhere my bug repellent is sitting of no use to me. I was eaten alive, chewed up, bug bitten, huge giant bumps everywhere. Misery! Just pure misery. A constant battle of swatting and thinking, ¢god, just give me a moment of peace.¢ No amount of mental distraction or acceptance alleviates this kind of constant torment. But luckily I begged some spray off a sobo day hiking family. So much better, especially given I no longer was begging for it to rain just to force the bugs into hiding. There was lots of trail magic today, which was surprising and very much appreciated. There were more great views of Katahdin, closer and more imposing from this lower angle. I¢m not sure what pictures I have taken can possibly show this, but it was soul enriching. The last 2.5 miles of the day hugged another beyond gorgeous lake. Awol lied his ass off about the miles today, so I¢m not really sure where I am. But I hiked on still smiling because the sun was setting it cast great golden light on the cloud. And the loons started to call which echoed off the lake. Amazing. Tonight when I got to the shelter Wiffle Ball and All Smiles were there so another great reunion right at the end. We all chatted about how we felt, how weird it was to be so close to Katahdin. Wiffle Ball hasn¢t had enough and I can tell the fire is still burning bright in him.   Wow, long day, so tired but so happy and proud of the miles done today.
Date: 2012-08-16
From: Wadleigh Stream Lean-to

To: Hurd Brook lean-to
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: heavy intensity rain

It rained all last night so I was glad I slept in the shelter last night rather than get my hammock and tarp soaked. It teased some this morning about letting up, but alas no, rain all day. The trail started out on cozy pine needles and big pines which led to large rock cliffs the trail wound through and around. Very intriguing landscape that is ripe for a movie to be shot there. All the wet dampness of the 100 mile wilderness is absolutely gorgeous in its own right but all that swampyness is a recipe for bugs bugs bugs. And they are hungry! No view of Katahdin today because of the rain, but lots of progress was made. The trail was a flooded, muddy mess, and impossible to navigate. I forgot to get food out of my pack this morning and walked 8 miles before my hunger overcame my laziness. I realize there is slight insanity to that statement. Oh sure miles of walking, got it. What?! I¢d have to take my pack off? Screw it. Walking along a impressively overflowing 2 mile long raging cascade, I saw a family of red headed ducks swimming against the flow. Very cool. There were lots of lake walks and I swear the trail might be walking us in circles. All the scenery kept my mind pretty well occupied today and I slogged out the miles. All and all, I was in a good mood and had a great attitude despite the weather. By the time I got to rainbow ledges (everything has been named rainbow for the last few miles. Mario much?) the rain had taken a small break and I got a view of Katahdin. IT¢S SO CLOSE! I finished up the day 13 miles from the campsite at its base. The shelter is full tonight with lots of weekend and section hikers and a married couple where you could tell the woman was very unhappy and every word and movement from her screamed that she was hating her husband for dragging her out here. I was once again very happy about my hammock for keeping me and all my stuff dry and the privacy it gave me. Hoping the weather will clear for my summit. Man it is so cold tonight! After 5+ months on the trail my packa has bought it and the bottom of my pack and sleeping bag are a little wet.