morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-09-16
From: Logon Brook Lean-To

To: Potaywadjo Spring Lean-To 
Miles today: 23.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Weather:Overcast with some light morning rain.Today's Hike: Logon Brook Lean-To to Potaywadjo Spring Lean-To - 23.1 milesWow, today was my biggest mile day on the trail ever and we made it in record timing. I haven't felt this accomplished in weeks! We got an early start this very cold morning (it was in the upper 30's) and started making headway along mostly flat terrain. We only had to climb a single mountain today, boardman, which wasn't much of a climb at all. The sky started spitting on us as we were nearing the summit, but it didn't last long.We knocked out the first 11.7 miles by lunch and took a break at Cooper Falls Lean-To. This place was beautiful. There was a nice cascading waterfall with a large swimming hole in front of the shelter. To bad it was so cold....would have been an awesome swimming spot.The afternoon was completely flat with little maneuvering around rocks and roots. What a treat! We took our next break at Antlers Campsite where apparently LL Bean shoots some of their ads at. I can see why, this campsite was gorgeous! The site itself sits on the edge of Jo-Mary Lake. Tonight the water was completely calm, like glass. This place was the essence of serenity.We made it to our final destination by 7pm. For the first time in what feels like forever we weren't night hiking into camps. This equates to early shut-eye. Score! Tomorrow will be another long day; 22 miles. I hope the terrain will be as easy as it was today......
Date: 2009-09-17
From: Potaywadjo Spring Lean-To 

To: Rainbow Springs Campsite
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: clear sky

Weather:Overcast with some light rain.Today's Hike:Potaywadjo Spring Lean-To to Rainbow Springs Campsite - 22.0 milesSo much for today being as easy as yesterday. Can we say roots? Roots, roots, roots. That's all there was; roots. I could barely see the ground. Roots equals tedious which equals draining. Ugh! If I never have to walk through roots again it just may be to soon.On an upside I saw Katadhin twice today and shes still as massive and beautiful as she appeared to be from the top of White Cap. The first siting was this morning from Pemadumcook Lake and the second was this afternoon from the viewpoint of Nesundabunt Mountain. Even when I see her I still can't believe it. I'm not sure if I'll ever really comprehend what it is I've been doing out here.Grom and I stopped at Wadleigh Lean-To for lunch today where we met up with Nickers, Hobbit, Shark, and Stats. Nickers and Hobbit have officially dubed Grom and I as the Paparazzi Team. We can go with that Although it should be made clear that Grom is the queen of paparazzi's. Think of me as the paparazzi apprentice...learning from the master of the trade It was a late night into camp tonight, we night hiked the last 4.0 miles. Luckily we were joined by a rather large deer and serenaded by loons. Who gets to have that on their nightly exercise? Man, I'm really gonna miss trail life
Date: 2009-09-18
From: Rainbow Springs Campsite

To: Katahdin Stream Campground (The Birches)
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: light rain

Weather:Overcast with some light rain throughout the morning and early afternoon.Today's Hike:Rainbow Springs Campsite to Katadhin Stream Campground (The Birches) - 21.1 milesToday was a day full of mixed emotions. We woke up and packed early along with Nickers, Hobbit, Shark, and Stats. They set off a few minutes before us and we knew it would most likely be our final good-bye. Grom and I were the last to leave camp; by 7:15 we were headed north. We reached the northern end of the 100 mile Wilderness shortly before lunch and stopped briefly for a video break. It's funny how scary the thought of the 100 miles Wilderness was to me a year ago, yet the past 5.5 days seem like a crazy blur of laughter, sweat, and a few tears, but definitely no fear. A true testament to understanding that thinking about what a thru-hike will be like and what it actually will be like will be two entirely different scenarios.We stopped at Abol bridge for a quick resupply. We stayed at the campground during the heaviest rain for the day and ate lunch with Dave, a Baxter State Park Ridge Runner. As we crossed from Abol bridge into the park we were greeted with an army of mosquito's. What the heck? We've gone days without a bug in sight and all of the sudden we were in the middle of a battle field. Luckily Grommet still had some bug spray and we quickly rubbed deet all over our bodies. Bring on the cancer...blast off the bugs.From the park entrance to the Birches campground was nine easy miles. Still, we seemed to drag it out. We had 2 river crossings. It was probably only appropriate that I slipped on a rock at the very edge of the last river crossing. I came down on my knee and my left foot was soaked. I hate river crossings.By 7pm we had officially made it. I am sleeping here at the base of Katadhin. This is really it. This was my last full day hiking. This will be my last night sleeping in my tent which means my last night in the woods. Tonight's pasta will be my last trail dinner. I don't want it to end. This, for a lack of better words, totally sucks.
Date: 2009-01-28
To: Planning
Miles today: 0.0

Ok Moved up my start date from April 1st, to March 24th, I couldn't wait another week I want to get this party rolling. Booked my train fare from CT to Georgia leaving on the 23rd of March and arriving in GA early on the 24th. As for gear clothes etc, I am all set onlythings I need to pickup is a few misc items such as tooth brush tooth paste, soap. Physical Prep started Jan 1st, with Eliptical(spelling?) and tread mill to build up the legs, also doing light weight weights high rep....Thats about it for now.
Date: 2009-03-24
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mnt
Miles today: 10.0

Arrived today, foggy in the morning but by the time I got to the top of Springer around noon it was sunny and clear. Ran into Lion King at the shelter just north of Springer Summit he was taking a break since he had twisted his back. and was going to rest a while before moving out.Stopped for a quick lunch at some waterfall between Springer and Hawk Mountain. I also met up with a couple of ARMY RANGER Instructors that were setting up aome training for their students.I arrived at Hawk Mountain Shelter later afternoon to find it packed. the comedy of the night was this older guy who everyone was calling "Pugman walking" since he had with him a small drop kick Pug type dog. Well when we woke up it was miserable heavy rain and freezing. It was at that time Pugman walking announced he was quitting and living at the shelter until the weather cleared or he runs out of food. Left early to keep moving to stay warm from the rain and cold weather. Heading towards Cooch shelter.
Date: 2009-03-25
From: Hawk Mnt

To: Cooch Shelter
Miles today: 8.0

I was soaked head to to in the rain. The highlight of the day was dealing with the rain and heavy wind while trying to hike up Sassafrass mountain....Yea fun times!. Made it to Cooch shelter and it was packed the shelter holds I believe 14 but we squeezed in 22 I believe.
Date: 2009-03-26
To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: heavy intensity rain

Very long day today in the rain made it to Neels Gap around sunset then punched on a little bit more where I pitched a tent off trail for the night. Knee is bothering me a bit today from the rain cold weather and miles. Talked briefly to a couple of hikers at Neels and was told rain until Sunday..Oh Joy! I had to steal this picture from Cruiser Don's journal. It was my one night in a shelter a Gooch and as you can see we squeezed everyone in, I am in my sleeping bag 2nd level all the way on the right as your looking at the picture..thanks Don!
Date: 2009-04-04
From: Wallace Gap

To: Wine Spring
Miles today: 11.1

Started late around 2:00 P.M Great day weather wise and my knee felt great with the majority of the day up hill hiking. Wonderfull view from Silas bald..Have a funny story from Silas..you will have to ask me in person. Then around sunset camped near a mother /son that were hiking from WI.
Date: 2009-04-06
From: Tellico Gap

To: NOC
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: light rain

NOC is great it is a white water / hiking outfitter in the middle of no where the rooms were great as was the chow. Temp were freezing with snow when I woke up today, but this was the 1st chance I actually got to sit down and get to meet some of the hikers..
Date: 2009-06-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I am sitting here typing this after my run. It was the first time I've been running since track season ended, and it reminded me of the pain physical exertion can cause. For some reason, the Appalachian Trail has always been somewhat of an enigma to me. Why should I literally leave every comfort and luxury I've ever known, and go frolic around in the woods for the next 5 months? I know I am going to hurt, be hot, become dehydrated, want food all of the time, and simply be filthy, but I still want so badly to do this. I want to see what I can make my body do. I want to see how far I can push myself. Part of it is that I simply don't know what to do since I've graduated High School. My initial career path no longer seems appealing, and I need to rediscover myself. In my experience with backpacking, there are hard moments, but they are greatly outweighed by the amazing ones. The taste of food after a long day of hiking, sitting out looking at the stars, simply feeling the connection to everything living. I have heard people say that to undertake a journey such as this is to give up everything that makes us feel human. While I won't have the luxuries of normal people, I can't help but feel that living this way for 5 months is perhaps the most human thing one can do. I can't know what to expect, and I know it will probably be completely different from anything I try to expect. But that is exactly what I want.
Date: 2009-06-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I am sure that some of you who I told to read this still have no clue what I am doing. I am attempting a southbound throughike of the Appalachian Trail. I will start at the norther terminus of the trail, which is Mount Katahdin in Maine, hike south, and finish at the southern terminus, which is Springer Mountain in Georgia. I will hike the entire way. It should take approximately 5 months. I will carry a backpack with a tent, sleeping bag, stove, food, clothes and little else. My parents at home will mail food to various post offices during the trip, so I don't have to carry any insane amount of food with me. At any given time, I should (hopefully) have 5 days worth of food. Thousands of people attempt this a year, though very few of them finish. Hopefully I will be among the ones that finish. I am heading up to Maine with a good friend from high school who is attempting to throughike also. In libraries along the way, I will hopefully have the chance to get on this site, and tell ya'll about my last week or so in the woods. If you are interested look for updates every week or two.
Date: 2009-06-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I leave in roughly a week. It still seems like ages away. For the most part I have all my gear. I still need to figure out some stuff with food, but other than that there is not much left to do. I somehow can't imagine boarding the plane, let alone taking my first step on the trail. I feel like in some way I am going to become a completely different person in this next week. I always felt I would act different the closer I came to my journey, like I would transcend into some new personality. I know now I will start the trip in much the same mindset as I have now. It is one of complete utter disbelief. I have always lived my life in my little hometown, always gone to school, always been with my family. It's just so hard to imagine entirely reworking my life. Don't get me wrong, this is something I want, It's just hard to actually imagine doing it.
Date: 2009-06-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

This will prolly be my last entry before I leave to got to Katahdin. Its weird that it is so close. I have everything, the only thing left to get is my tent which should arrive in the mail tommorow (at least i hope). I'm sure the trip would be farrr more interesting without my tent, but I'm not like my crazy friend, who wants to go tentless. I definatly prefer to know I have some sort of shelter with me at all times, even if that means carrying extra weight haha. Its been weird saying all these goodbyes to people. It makes me feel like I am never going to see them again (which I hope I am haha). While I'm only going to be gone for about four months, it feels like I'm preparing for some epicly long journey. If you saw the amount of stuff I am taking with me, you'd prolly think I was crazy. It is a lottt of stuff. Rest assured Andrew, if you have foregotten anything, and I mean anything, there is a good chance I have it. Its hard to look at all of it and process everything. Things are literally covering our dining room table. While I'm still rambling on here I really want to thank my parents for helping make this possible. They helped so much in terms of planning. It is quite possible they got every book that had anything to do with the Appalachian Trail from the library (Not to mention the amount of maps I will have with me Dad). And Mom, I'm sorry that you won't be able to sleep at all when I'm gone cause you will probably be too busy dehydrating food for me. But really without them, this trip wouldn't be anywhere near as organized, and quite possibly would'nt be happening at all. I can't really express how gratefull I am for how much time you have put into this. Thank You so much Mom and Dad.
Date: 2009-07-09
To: Monson
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Wow Wow Wow. I am safely at my first town. It is a town called Monson,about 100 miles into the trail. I will be here for a couple of days to refresh and get some resupply stuff. The trail has been pretty crazy so far. It has rained nearly every day,and all my stuff is soaked. I hope to get it all dryed out by tonight. Fortuantly it doesn't rain during the day, but at night. By the morning, the trail is literally a stream. They should call this thing the Appalachian Stream. I've had fun so far. I am hiking with four other guys at the moment. One can make a fire in just about any condidtion, so most of the time I can get my stuff semi dryed out. There was one day of nice weather, where we went up a big mountain called Whitecap, and I was able to get some good pictures. I will try to find a way to get my pictures up so you all can see them. When it is nice out here it is beautiful. the scenery is amazing. It has just been so wet. I can't remember the last time I had dry shoes. About halfway throught the wilderness, I stopped at a place called the white house landing, which is essentially a little hostel in the middle of the woods. While there I had the oppurtunity to eat a 1 pount burger.I probably ate the thing in about 5 minutes. That night(which was july fourth) the owners broke out some fireworks. So yes i did get to see fireworks in the middle of nowhere on on the fourth. It was a pretty good show too, besides the fact that one firework veered off and nearly lit one of the houses on fire. Other than that, This town is my first semblence of civilization. It is nice just to get here and chill out and take a breather. I still do not have a trail name, but the guys I've been with wanted to get them all figured out by tonight in Monson, so maybe tommorrow I will be going by a new name. I can't really think of what else to say. I will get back on tommorow and do another entry.
Date: 2009-07-22
From: Andover

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

According to most Northbounders, this next section of the trail (Here through New Hampshire) is considered the most difficult part of the entire Appalachian Trail. While I sit here typing this, I'm thinking about all the hard moments so far, and cannot quite possibly imagine the trail being any harder. Most Nobo's tend to give us one of those pitying looks when we describe the hard stuff we've been through. It's as if they know we are about to get our asses kicked and in a way enjoy how naive we are. I can't say I'm really prepared for how hard the trail is going to be. I've learned from track that during hard physical exertion it is better just to take it a moment at a time, and eventually that moment will pass, and so will the next, then before you know it you are done with the hard stuff and are content again. I've been trying to use this same idea with hiking, but it seems to be much harder, since so many other factors come into play. For example, in track you simply where light clothes and go run. Here you are carrying close to 35 pounds (more like 40 for me), and walking up insanley steep mountains for 8 hours a day. The elevation map for the next 40 or so miles is insane. It is literally either straight up, or straight down. In the next 40 miles, I will be arguabally hiking the most difficult mile of the entire AT. It is called the Mahussoc Notch, and most people get some sort of insane grin (like they lost part of their sanity there) on their face when we mention the fact that we are going to do it. It should be an interesting week, and I guess when I see my family in Gorham in a few days, they can test my sanity. Hopefully I will turn out ok. This last week has been really nice. I'm still with the same people I've been hiking with since Monson. We had decent weather. There were not any insane rainstorms, and certainly no camping on top of a mountain like last week. I guess you could just call it another week on the trail. In fact this last tuesday marked my 3 week aniversity out on the trail. The best section of this last week was the Saddleback Mountain range. We had great weather up there, and once we got out of the treeline and onto the ridge, we could see the next 3 or so miles we would be hiking. It was awesome. The hardest part of the last week occured on the day we walked into Andover. Hall Mountain. I though I was going to die about halfway up it. It was only about a 1000 foot elevation gain, but for some reason, I nearly broke down into tears on it. I think I may have left some of my sanity up on Hall mountain. In fact, I would highly NOT recommend it to ANYONE who for whatever reason had an asperation to hike it. You will regret it. You will quite possibly not make it up. The only thing that kept me from jumping off was the thought of a nice pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It was just so steep and so longgg. This next week I will walk into Gorham, and see my family which will be great. Wish me luck on the next part, and I will report again in Gorham.
Date: 2009-07-27
From: Gorham

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I wept tears of joy when I saw the small white sign that signified my completion of Maine, and entrance into New Hampshire. I indeed made it to New Hampshire. It is a pretty good feeling to say "I completed Maine, arguably the hardest state on the AT". That is not entirley true. The White Mountains in New Hampshire are considered the single hardest mountain range, if not section, and I am about to begin climbing those tommorow. However the trail itself is suppose to get a lot easier, with less rocks and roots in it, once out of Maine. You could say I completed the most rugged section. This last trip from Andover to Gorham was decent. Southern Maine is comparable to the White Mountains, and let me tell you southern Maine was not a joke. There were sections where I literally was looking down a 40 foot rock face, and the only thing to help down was a rickety wooden latter. I would not describe it as easy hiking for sure. One day it absolutley poured buckets of rain on us. All my clothes and belongings were soaked. However I told myslef that this was about the most miserable the trail could get, and if I could get through this, the rest of the trail would be a breeze. I also survived the Mahusucc Notch, the hardest mile on the AT, but only barely. At one point I was climbing up a boulder in the notch, and I fell off. When I landed I thought I broke my arm. I layed there for a moment in disbeleif. So this was how the trip was going to end. I was going to have to get air lifted out of the Mahusucc Notch. I then realized my arm was completley Ok after I used it to prop myslef back up. I sat there in a daze. I then looked down at my trekking pole. It was broke. I no longer had any trekking poles left. Damn. I was able to make it through the rest of the trip ok though, and was able to get a new trekking pole here in town. I have met my family here and am looking forward very much to hiking with them. Unfortunalty, the computer use here in Gorham is limited to only a half hour, and my time is about up. I am worried the librarian is going to come over and try to drag me away from the computer. To avoid any confrontations, I will get off now and hopefully get back on in a little while. Talk to all ya later
Date: 2009-08-06
From: North Woodstock

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

It's been a crazy week since I met my family in Gorham. Much has occured. And by that I mean many "dorky" things have occured. We for the most part (or at least I) took it pretty easy. There were no huge, insane mileage days (although the fam might argue it differently). It was actually very enjoyable hiking. For the most part the weather was very good. We had an absolutley incredible day traversing the Presedential range. This mountain range is the largest in the whites. Most peaks are above 5000 feet. It is about a 20 mile walk across exposed ridgeline. It is considered the most scenic section of the entire AT. That day in itself made walking through the BOG that is Maine worth it. The rest of the days were pretty good. We only got rained on one time, however it was during one of the harder climbs. It was sad to have to say goodbye to my Dad and brother Mark, but my other brother Todd is staying until the end of August. We unexpectedly took a day off in a town called North Conway, where Todd worked last year. We were coming down into Crawford notch, and were planning on continuing for a few more days, however everyone was dead on their feet. Mark got a shuttle to where our van was parked and picked us up. It was nice to go into town even though it was a bit unexpected. I would like to write some more, but it's 11am and I have to hike today, and still go in town to mail some stuff. I should probably go do that before I find myself taking a zero day here.