morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-08-20
From: Tent, Kinsman Pond

To: Tent, Layfette Campground Franconia NH
Miles today: 2.1

Wake up, and it¢s raining. Pack up your stuff. That is how our day started out. We packed up quickly and walked the big miles down to Silent Bob's car. The car was then used to take us to breakfast at the Longhorn Pancake House. They did have awesome blueberry pancakes.   From that point the day went downhill. The weather kept looking yucky. I couldn't remember where our mail drop was actually going. We stopped at the North Woodstock Post Office. Troll saw the postmistress actually fall on and crush packages. At that point she told him he could come back and sort thru the packages himself. After he didn't find anything for us, I called my brother. My brother and his wife were highly amused when I called asking them to check trail journals for our mail drops. We did have drops at the campground.   At the campground we found a depressing weather report calling for rain today and thunderstorms tomorrow. It was from 0406 in the morning. We then went in search of a more up-to-date weather forecast. Well the White Mountains visitor center would not be the location to find out that information. Troll went in to ask. He asked an old Yankee volunteer for the forecast in the whites. I think she was lucky that he didn't have a leki pole in his hand. The conversation went something like this - Troll "Do you have a recent forecast for Franconia Notch?" Lady "Oh it's bad. I saw it was bad when I drove in this morning¢ Troll "Well I heard that today was rain, tomorrow thunderstorms and then clearing¢ Lady "Oh that's not what I heard on the radio. It's bad¢ Troll "Well do you have a forecast¢ Lady "Just this one from this morning" (same one from 0406 we already saw) Troll "Where did that forecast come from?" Lady "From the computer" (points to computer behind desk) Troll "Can I use that computer to check the weather¢ Lady "Oh I can't let you use that¢ Troll "Where can I find a computer with Internet access so I can check the weather?" Lady "At the village shops in Lincoln. The building looks like an old peppermill". So an extremely agitated Troll came out to the car and we drove down to Lincoln looking for something that looked like a peppermill.   We found an Internet cafe where we confirmed that the weather would be shit for the next 2 days. We bought some food for the next 2 days and some backpack food. We got one of the last sites in the packed campground. Who knows what we will wind up doing. It can be very dangerous not to be weather aware in the Whites.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-21
From: Tent, Layfette Campground Franconia NH

To: Tent, Layfette Campground
Miles today: 0.0

Today it rained again and we didn't hike again. We spent the day reading, playing cards and being lazy. It was pretty good. Oblivious got to play with kids that were at the campground.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-22
From: Tent, Layfette Campground

To: Tent, Stealth btwn Franconia Brook Trail & Gale Rv
Miles today: 11.8

Oblivious had 5 falls today. He is now at 79 falls. I am at 18 and Troll is at 4.   The trail today was rugged and very slow going. The steep ups and downs were certainly challenging. Of course the intermittent rain added to the challenge factor. I feel like I am stuck on the devil's stair master from hell.   The views were wonderful when we got them. The clouds would blow in and hide everything. Then they would blow out and it was beautiful. I was really neat to watch bands of rain blow across mountains and valleys. It was even neater when those bands of rain missed us.   We got a late start today and couldn't seem to get going. But we did. We stopped at a hut (Greenleaf) for their $2.00 bottomless bowl of soup. As always calories that we don't have to tote seem nicer.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-23
From: Tent, Stealth btwn Franconia Brook Trail & Gale Rv

To: Tent, Crawford Notch Campground
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: fog

Today was a long day. When we woke up the sun was shining. It looked like clear blue skies everywhere accept the direction that we were hiking. Of course that direction looked all clouded in.   We walked to Galehead Hut to fill up our water bottles. We scored some leftover pancakes for free. Socks was there sweeping as her work for stay. We hadn't seen her since Duncannon.   Today we met the Muppets (beem, hemlock and birdy). We've been following their entries for forever. We also met Captain Patagonia. It seems so strange to meet these north bounders that we have never met before. How could we have missed them? It's like when I read trail journals. I see journals for all of these people whom I have absolutely no idea who they are.   Oblivious spotted a grouse in a tree beside the trail. Grouse have to be the stupidest birds on earth. They filled in that niche left by the extinction of the dodo bird. Troll snuck up and touched the grouse. Needless to say, it was quite startled and flew all of 5 feet away. I think it thought that it was very cleverly hiding itself. Since the grouse had to turn its head to see us, obviously we couldn't see it.   We visited Zealand Falls hut and didn't get any soup. They were out. Bummer. But some lady gave Birdy her leftover peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Birdy doled them out and everyone got a half. Yum.   Tomorrow we start the presidentials. That is a 25-mile mountain range primarily above tree line. Mount Washington is the highest point in New Hampshire and in this section. We hope to have decent weather and to be able to moon the cog railroad train. There is an Internet observation camera on Mt Washington. http://www.mountwashington.org/cam/deck/index.php   We hope to be there on Thursday. The time will depend on how tomorrow goes.   The hiking is very rugged. My knees and hips talk to me about all of the tall rocks I step up and down on. Motrin is my friend. Luckily, I had years of Navy Motrin usage to accustom my body to its current high Motrin levels. I don't have a BAC (blood alcohol content) level; I have a BMC (blood Motrin content) level. If it goes too low, bad things happen.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-24
From: Tent, Crawford Notch Campground

To: Shelter, Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: light rain

I can't believe that I am laying here just 1.4 miles from the summit of Mt Washington. My little troll family is actually making it through the Whites.    Today was better than yesterday. We did fewer miles but we had some intermittent views. We could see Washington with the weather towers at one point. At other points it was completely blocked by clouds.   We spent a lot of the day in clouds. We seemed to walk in and out of the clouds again and again. There was lots of climbing. There was lots of wind. When you walk through a cloud and the wind is blowing, it gets you damp. On side of Troll's head and beard were covered in mist droplets. Of course the freezing rain and sleet that we walked the last mile in left us a little soaked.   We met up with the Little Dutch Girl and her friend (Apple Pie and Prune Pirate). We lunched with then at mizpah hut. Soup... yum... I have to say that the Troll family was very happy to get our wayward child back with us again. Oblivious had fun hiking with Prune Pirate. They told each other bad pirate jokes and launched barrages of cannon fire at us as we were climbing the mountains. Oblivious is negotiating for a deck hand position with Prune Pirate's imaginary crew. We passed 2 day/section hikers going south. They laughed as they told us that a little guy in a kilt told them that we were uber hikers and therefore needed to hike faster.   We did our 1st work for stay at a hut. It was pretty cool. We got lots of food. I am actually stuffed right now. Troll, Oblivious and I worked with 2 other guys to clean and arrange storage shelves in the kitchen. That was a pretty good bartering for the meal we ate.   Tomorrow we conquer Mt Washington. The home of the worst recorded weather in the world. And what are we hoping for? Good weather. We'll see...   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-25
From: Shelter, Lake of the Clouds Hut

To: Tent, Peabody River
Miles today: 10.8

What was the best part of today? Was it starting the day with as many pancakes as we could shove down our gullets? Was it catching some great views on Mt Washington? Was it the special behind the scenes weather observation tour? Was it climbing up the weather observation tower? Was it getting our picture on the 1246 web cam?   No! It was none of those. It was mooning the cog railroad. All three of us dropped our trousers and slapped our cheeks at the cog railroad. The conductors on the train hurled chunks of coal at us. It was pretty awesome.    When we stopped to wait for the train, up came 2 hikers from Bellingham, Washington and their baby in the carrier. We explained to them what we were about to do. They thought it was hysterical. They got out their camera and took our camera to record the act for posterity. The conductors really tried to bean poor little oblivious with their coal. The fact that he was shining his moon at them for the longest probably had something to do with the amount of coal thrown in his direction. This of course marked another stunning first for him. His first mooning was alongside his parents. Those "if you think you had weird parents - let me tell you about mine" stories keep adding up.    We really lucked out and got decent weather on Mt Washington. The clouds kept rolling in and out and the views kept coming and going. The weather tour was awesome. Thanks Bryan (he offered it when we met him on the trail) and Becky (she gave the tour). Sunshine, the museum gift shop person, gave Oblivious an AT patch.   The trail pretty much sucked and the less said about it, the better. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-26
From: Tent, Peabody River

To: Tent, Nineteen Brook Trail
Miles today: 9.8

Today we made it to Pinkham Notch Camp. We saw Thunder, whom we have not seen since Perrysburg, VA. He looked great. We all can't believe that we are almost done with the Whites.   Troll hitched into Gorham and picked up our mail drop. My mom and Aunt Linda sent us home made pemmican. It is awesome. A Native American energy bar. Beef jerky and dried fruit held together by bacon and bacon grease. It may not sound very good but it is awesome for hikers.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-27
From: Tent, Nineteen Brook Trail

To: Tent, Rattle River
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: broken clouds

I feel like my body has been beat and put away wet. We started the day with a good 45 - 60 minute straight the f*** up hike up Carter Mt. After we did all the peaks of Carter we hiked straight the f*** down Carter. This process was repeated with Mt Moriah.   We were low on Motrin. We will get more tomorrow in Gorham. But it is so slow climbing up and down over rocks and rocky steps. My knees really let me know how much they dislike this process.   I know that this is a national scenic footpath. The signs all say that. But somehow I forget that the AT is a footpath when I am using my hand and fingers to frantically search for handholds to pull myself up and down sheer rock faces. At that point it seems more like a rock climbing / bouldering course. Those who know me and my innate grace understand why I have never wanted to rock climb. I have always considered rock climbing to be an insanely dangerous undertaking. Strangely enough, I might be good at it. I can find those handholds with my fingertips and those toeholds through my hiking shoes. Who knew?   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-28
From: Tent, Rattle River

To: Tent, Trident Col Tent Site
Miles today: 10.3

Today was productive. We got up early and went into Gorham. The walking was pretty easy.   Once in Gorham, the chores started. First stop was the laundromat. There was no bathroom so we had to change out of our hiking clothes in the parking lot. There is nothing like changing from your most dirty clothes to your least dirty clothes in a parking lot to make you feel homeless. Oblivious and I stayed behind to do laundry and Troll hitched to the grocery store.   We really had to do laundry. Yesterday, Troll kept thinking that he smelled a dead animal. I laughed when he realized that the "dead animal" smell was his socks. We hang our socks off of the back of or backpacks to air them and to beat the dirt and stiffness out of them. But eventually the socks need laundry. This was one of those days.   Troll came back with food and we divide up the food between the food bags. They were very heavy. We eat so much food these days. I guess that is because we are so hungry all the time. We got a pizza and ate that. That was in addition to the doughnuts and fruit that we already ate.    I was two days behind on my journal. I just dashed them off at the laundromat before we left. I should have spent more time on them. But what are you going to do when you spend all day hiking?    Troll started reading Jack London's "Call of the Wild " out loud at night. I never read the book as a child. I kind of like hearing it read out here in the wilderness.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-29
From: Tent, Trident Col Tent Site

To: Tent, somewhere by Mt. Carlo
Miles today: 10.5

"They were all terribly footsore. No spring or rebound left in them. Their feet fell heavily on the trail, jarring their bodies and doubling the fatigue of a day's travel. There was nothing the matter with them except that they were dead tired. It was not the dead-tiredness that comes through brief and excessive effort, from which recovery is a matter of hours but it was the dead-tiredness that comes through the slow and prolonged strength drainage of months of toil. There was no power of recuperation left, no reserve strength to call upon. It had been all used, the last least bit of it. Every muscle, every fiber, every cell was tired, dead tired. And there was reason for it. In less than five months they had traveled nineteen hundred miles with but nineteen days rest." That excerpt fro Jack London's call of the wild describes us.   Today was wet and the hiking not great. It started raining yesterday on our way out of town. It has continued. The AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) is responsible for this section and somehow feels that they must take you up and down every sheer steep rock face that they can find. Steep sheer slanted rock + lichen + water = slick as snot danger. I don't understand. This shit that they call a hiking footpath is dangerous when dry and could be deadly when wet.   We are now in our last state. We crossed into Maine. I almost started crying. Immediately into Maine, I had to take my pack off and pass it to Troll to rock climb down the path. This is so stupid.   The last shelter was .3 off of the trail. We didn't stay there. We hiked and found a flattish grassy area between one of the peaks of Mt Carlo. We are all bunched in one pile in a divot in the middle of the tent. The site is not big enough so we have rigged troll's trekking poles to help hold it up. I'm sure it will rain so we'll see what happens.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-30
From: Tent, somewhere by Mt. Carlo

To: Shelter, Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: haze

Today we completed the hardest mile of the AT. I believe it and I don't believe it. The Mahoosuc Notch is a valley between two mountains (Mt Carlo and Mt Speck) that is filled with boulders. Some are car sized. Some are house sized. We had to maneuver our way between them. Some of the boulders we climbed over. Some of the boulders we climbed under.   It sucked. On the whole Oblivious enjoyed it. He really liked finding pockets of ice and snow in the deep crevices and caves. Troll seemed to like it. It wiped me out. It took us three hours to make our way through the one messed up mile. My arms and legs felt like spaghetti when I was done. My skirt and my backpack took some wear from the innumerable times I sat on my butt and scooted. This was complete and total rock climbing.   Of course this extremely difficult 3-hour mile was followed by a steep ass up. We gained 1200 feet in elevation in a mile. Oh and it was a long mile which had plenty of rock steps and sheer rock faces. But we were lucky. It didn't rain on us in the Mahoosuc Notch; it waited until we were on the steep sheer rock faces.   From there the day just got better and better. It started getting dark and foggy. My glasses don't react well to excessive exertion and being inside a cloud. They fog up really quickly every time I am working hard inside a cloud. I've had the pleasure of working hard inside a cloud several times on this journey. Well dusk, fog, and fogged up glasses made it really hard for me to see anything other than white rocks. I kind of lost everything dark (mud, roots, dark rocks...). Boy was it fun getting into camp. Thank God for Seeing Eye husbands and trekking poles.   Today we went over a section that actually used ladders to take you over the sheer rock face. I wish I knew what the criteria for placing a ladder was. They were a welcome treat, because I have gone over the same kind of rock face without a ladder. I know how badly that can suck. I wish there were more ladders. Better yet, I wish there were less sheer rock faces. I miss hiking. I have heard that after the first 37 to 100 miles in Maine you go back to hiking trail. I'll believe it when I see it.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-31
From: Shelter, Speck Pond Shelter

To: Hotel, West Bethel ME
Miles today: 4.6

What a difference a day makes. I've said this again and again and it is so true.    We woke up this morning after arriving dead tired in camp last night. Of course it poured all night and just kept pouring. No one wanted to get going in the rain. It is so very hard to get motivated to go out and be wet and miserable. But eventually we did.   The rain kept pouring. The wind was howling. The trail went up sheer rock faces, surprise, surprise. It was really interesting to see if the wind was going to blow the half fallen tree down the rest of the way as we climbed up past it. We were so wet, absolutely soaked. We were making jokes that the family that faces death and adversity together stays together. Oblivious realized that he could madly stomp and splash in the stream we were walking through. Normally that stream is the trail. There was absolutely no way that his shoes or socks could get wetter and muddier than they already were. It was so miserable we had to laugh.   Then we passed 2 section hikers who had a message for us. The Eastman family was waiting for us in the parking lot! We have been corresponding with them for a long while and have received several very appreciated care packages from them.   They live in NH and have been hoping to meet us. We have successfully played phone tag with them for a while but had yet to actually arrange a meeting. It was so wonderful; they were there with goodies and car.   We wound up at a hotel with laundry facilities. Oblivious got to play with Jonas (11) and Eben (6) and be a boy child for a while. He had such a good time. We got to visit with Jen and Alan. We got to eat town food and to wash and dry all of our clothes. It was really a good time. They have been issued an open invitation to our home in Washington.    This was particularly nice, as many wonderful people have issued us several invitations. We have not been able to take advantage of these kind offers. We missed a night with the Johnson¢s by one hour. Our schedule didn't match up with the Pawling New York family or the Maine Cabin family. Our Troll family trudge has just kept us from being able to meet up with people.      Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-09-01
From: Hotel, West Bethel ME

To: Tent, Ellis River
Miles today: 9.8

Enough is enough! I have a limit for sheer rock downhills. Today I passed that limit big time. I could tell when I started crying from nervous exhaustion that I had passed my limit.   Coming down off of Bald Pate mountain was extremely stressful for me. It was sheer rock face that was still damp from yesterday's rain. It went on forever. I was able to make it up the rock face to the top fairly easily. I was able to do the first 10 or 15 minutes of the down with no problems. Unfortunately the rock face continued most of the way down the mountain.   When you climb on sheer rock face, you have to carefully analyze where you will put your poles and feet so you won't slip, slide and fall. Troll and Oblivious can do that analysis very quickly. I can't. It takes me longer. The longer I am on rock face, the longer it takes for me to decide how I can cross it. I start off ok. Then I start getting freaked out. Then I start crying. I might also throw in a long series of butt scooting across the rock before and during the crying.    I hope that I see no more rock face for the next several days. Of course, now I have an entirely new thing to worry about. River fording. It seems that when you are in Maine, you cross-rivers by walking across through them. We walked across a roaring stream just before it shot out into a gorge as a waterfall. You can only imagine the horrific thoughts running through my head as I watched my little 82 lb baby cross this stream with its heavy current. I'm not too keen on the whole fording idea.    There was still plenty of standing rainwater on the trail today. Along with the water was loads of mud. But in spite of the muck, the trail is much better now that we have left AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) lands. The MATC (Maine AT Club) takes care of the trail from now to the end. You can really tell a marked difference in trail quality.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-09-02
From: Tent, Ellis River

To: Tent, South Arm Road
Miles today: 10.6

My feet will never be dry again. I have tromped through more mud and water puddles in Maine than I have ever walked thru in my life. My shoes are soaked. My socks are soaked and mildew. My feet are soaked and rotting. I have decided that nothing will dry until after we finish this trail.   I saw Troll's feet at the end of the day. They were scary. He has dime-sized craters at the back of his heels. I think it is a race to see whose feet will rot away first. What a disgusting thought.   We stopped early today. Old Blue (the mountain) looked pretty rough. So we camped along the river at the bottom of Old Blue. We saw Hairball and Snowbunny for the 1st time since before Trail Days. We finally got to meet Bug and Miss Priss and Train and Raindrop. It is nice to put faces to the names in the trail registers. Apple Pie and Prune Pirate caught up and camped there. We saw Phoenix Rising when she picked up Thunder. Ug, Low Bridge and Professor Nutbag also camped there.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-09-03
From: Tent, South Arm Road

To: Tent, Moxie Pond
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It is about time that we broke into double digits again. The Maine AT club appears to have some knowledge of trail maintenance. That makes the trail a lot nicer to walk on. There are still plenty of roots and rocks. There just seems to be trail. We've actually seen some switchbacks again.   Today we met a section hiker who started in 1996. This year he will finish and summit at Kahtadin. I thought that was really cool that he was able to get this far along and that he will be summating when a whole slew of folks are summiting.   I'm tired. Even though we did biggish miles today it was hard. It seems like every day is hard. Oh well we have to keep hiking to get this thing done.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.