morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-08-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

so, as OLG leaves Stratton, i begin to realize how close i am to the end of this journey. less than 2 weeks. time left to contemplate though...we get back on the trail around 9:30am. at this point, we know how many miles we need to do in order to finish. we now have an idea about what the terrain is like. now, the three of us are determined to live it up as chance presents itself--in other words, don't rush things if slowing down means making it more fun.and that's kinda what happened today. it wasn't raining (much) and we hiked 5.3 miles uphill to the top of the Bigelow Range. in theory, this is suppose to be the last Big climb until Katadin. so we get to the top in the afternoon... and are still here in the evening. it was a very pleasant place to be stationary at. there's a pond, good tenting, good water, and since it's still high up, a good view (when the clouds blow away which they actually did near sunset).we read some Fellowship of the ring and met a crazy guy who is the main caretaker for this section.OLG chatted a bit about the End and the After. it's going to be an interesting transition. but if i've learned one thing since i've made it to Maine... it's that I have to go home to find a snowcone cause they don't even know what they are up here. hey, no one pays me for deep thoughts. :-)
Date: 2003-08-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.5

i woke up and it...wasn't...raining. i wasn't sure what to think when i got up and my tent wasn't wet. sure, it was cloudy and overcast but i wasn't expecting the miracle of No Rain. oh happy day! it's been over a week! huzzah!today, i hiked alone the first 10 miles--up and over the Bigelow Peaks. this is the last major climb til Katadin and i enjoyed it. the views were nonexistent (i'm use to that) but the lack of rain made a big difference in the hiking in the morning.and in the afternoon...the sun peeked out her head. heck, it even got Hot. and i was Happy. orb, who is not use to heat and humidity, wasn't though. but we got to go swimming in the evening so he became Happy. OLG hiked the next ~7 miles together after the Bigelows. we're camped near a packed shelter tonight--mainly full of section hikers or local hikers. it's fun but tiring talking to them about thru-hiking and answering a lot of questions.today was a milestone (no pun intended). i have now hiked over 2000 miles of the AT. at a nearby road crossing someone had painted "2000 mi" on the blacktop--photo op for all! good times.so, miles hiked today: 17.5miles left:165.2
Date: 2003-08-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 19.7

today i woke up and it...Was...raining, and had been throughout the night. lucky for me, my full length sleeping pad kept the dampness from disturbing my hiker sleep. it's one heck of a test of will power though: to get up the strength to leave my not-wet-yet sleeping bag, get wet right away when leave my tent and have to pack up my tent when it's wet. ah well, so it goes.i was on the trail around 7amish and immediately asked myself "why am i avoiding the puddles when my shoes and socks are already considered individual small lakes?". so into the puddles i go--it's fun not having to worry about finding ways around them anyway.the rain let up after a couple hours of hiking but the dripping from the trees above lasted all day. it was accutally a very pleasant walking day and it wasn't a cold day so the wettness wasn't Totally uncomfortable. i hiked 10ish miles to a shelter for lunch and ran into a hiker named "mooseless-no-more" who is section hiking the whole AT. we had lunch together and chatted about the trail. LT and orb pull in shortly after to join us. the weather, by this afternoon, has started to break and i even catch glimpses of blue sky here and there. after lunch, the unexpected happens: mooseless asks us if we'll have dinner with him and his wife (carol) when we get to the road after the river crossing. what trail angels! how could we refuse?so, 4 miles from this shelter is the Kennebec River, which the AT crosses. but there is a dam upstream that makes the water flow change without notice and makes fording the river very dangerous. everyday at a certain time someone in a canoe comes and ferries hikers across the river. i remember hearing about this years ago when i was reading everything i could about the Trail so this has become milestone for me. LT and i share a canoe and my arms finally get a needed but brief workout. Mooseless and carol drive us to a nearby store to get enough supplies to last until Monson and then it's Dinner Time!sausages, hamburgers, veggies, chips, beer. sure beats Lipton Noodles... mooseless and carol are wonders--the really made this day memorable.they drove us back to the trail around 7pm (it was going to be earlier than that but a brief and impressive rainstorm blew in. it only lasted 20 minutes but i was happy to avoid it. and then a double rainbow came out so that was our sign to head back.the next shelter was a little less than 6 miles away so we were just going to hike until we either found a campsite (not likely in the dark) or reached the shelter. around 8pm we got our headlamps out for some night-hiking. i don't night hike much but it really changes my perspective on the trail. things appear very different when you can only see a couple feet in front of you.we reached the shelter around 9pm. there wasn't any where to camp that we could see so i guess i'll be in the shelter dealing with the bugs and the snoring tonight.miles hiked today: 19.7total: 2027.1left: 145.5
Date: 2003-08-12
From: Monson

To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.9

[Editor: Yes! I got no entry for 8/11! I got no entry for that day!]i slept great last night--but had some weird dreams about going home. in one, friends and family kept asking me questions about the trail but i was frantically trying to pack up my tent and hike on the trail. odd stuff.OLG hit the trail together around 7:30ish. it was 17.9 miles to hike into Monson. this is the last time the trail goes anywhere near a town before the end. the terrain was pleasant but boy was it muddy. at one point i sunk into the mud up to my calfs. photo op!i hiked alone for the last 5ish miles to a road crossing and waited for LT and orb. we got a hitch into Monson and are staying at Shaw's hostel tonight. this place is the best and we got a home-cooked dinner too (our last big supper until the End).tomorrow, we enter the "100-mile wilderness" which is actually the 114.5 mile wilderness but it doesn't sound as good. this means very few (if any) road crossings or access to "civilization".this will also be my last journal entry until i've summitted Katadin since i won't be anywhere near a phone until Wednesday. my dad and uncle will be there to summit with me. good times to be had by all.the weather is finally looking promising for the next week as well so spirits are up.[Editor: Well, if Goldberry will be back around civilization, this may be my last chance to edit and harrangue, and unfortunately life has me too busy to come up with anything witty. As her brother, I should say I'm proud as (warm place) of her, but I wouldn't want her to get a big head, so instead I'll point out how many zero days she's taken. :) Just kidding. I hope some of you have not been too annoyed at my "witty" commentary. To any of you that choose to follow in Goldberry's footsteps, let someone do your editing... it's a ton of fun!]
Date: 2003-08-13
From: orb's house

To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.3

[Editor: Ha-HA! Y'all thought you were done with me! I just got more journals, though, so here we go...]so the hostel i was sleeping at owns a cow and all night it was Mooing (yep it's a word now!). the cow's name is Hamburger in case you wanted to know. apparently, no one likes it much.[Editor: Poor cow... :( ]but i slept okay anyway--apparently mooing bothers me less than snoring. i had another weird dream last night: i left town and forgot my food bag! what a nightmare!this morning i call my mom one last time before leaving town and got a great surprise: my mom can make it up to Maine next week too! good times, good times.after a great breakfast, we got back to the trail around 9:30ish. in a way, this is the last stretch of the trail. it's exciting, it's sad. it's a crazy world. another hiker summed it up well: my body is ready for the end, my mind and spirit are not.the terrain was slightly more challenging today. it's not too difficult, but there are no stretches of flattness anywhere so it was tiring. OLG hiked together for the whole day. there were a lot of stream crossings which are always fun and at one we took a swim and a sunbath for an hour-ish.i would guess we hiked 14.3 today but can't be sure. we were originally going to a shelter for the night but another hiker going south warned us about a big group of kids (boy scouts?) heading there so we opted for camping out tonight a little before the shelter. it's right next to a rushing river which has a convenient pool for dipping of the skinny persuasion.worse thing about this campsite is that the water is too loud for me to read The Fellowship to orb and LT. ah well. orb built a lovely little fire (that's what boys do), something we haven't had in a long time. i dried my clothes out in the smoke and now, instead of smelling like dirty wet dog, i can smell like campfire--the lesser of two evils.the weather today was spectacular. days like this make up for the past week of rain. hopefully the dreaded Low Front that everyone was talking about has finally shifted. it did actually rain and thunder on us this afternoon...more of a downpour i'd say. but it only lasted 10 minutes before Mr. Blue Sky said to Dark Clouds: "hey clouds, can't you see those hikers want some sun? move on!" and so they did and we dried out fast enough. Mr. Blue Sky is the bestest.oh, and i saw a snake eating a frog today. my first reaction was to try and save the frog but Nature is nature and it just watched it for a while. i saw a huge snapping turtle too. orb tried to pick it up (he IS a boy) but then we suddenly found out the hard way how long a turtle's neck can get so we left it alone while worb still had all our fingers.overall, a very pleasant day. it's days like this that make it sad to think of this lifestyle ending (for a while anyway) in less than a week.
Date: 2003-08-14
From: orb's house

To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.4

let me start by saying that if every day was like today, well, than i definitely wouldn't appreciate them as much. with all the rain we've gotten, these days are precious and golden.i got up in the middle of the night and the full moon was making the nearby stream dance like silver chrismas tinsle. gorgeous.i think i hit the trail a little after 7am. the trail climbed up today and left the valley behind. this was perfect timing because it was a great day for vistas from the tops of several mountains. Maine is beautiful.after taking a couple breaks on the tops and ridges, about 12 miles into the day i take a more "official" lunch break at a shelter to wait for lt and orb. the red squirrels at the shelter are very annoyed with my presence but it's fun to scare them when they get too close. simple pleasures.around 4pm i decided to keep walking and would meet Orb and lt later. one mile later i was in a valley with a clear view of the mountain i had just come down and i could see the outline of two hikers walking along the ridge. gee, i wonder who it could be. so i waited for lt and orb there.we hike another 3ish miles to a campsite where the bugs are malicious. overall, though, it was probably one of my best hiking days on the trail. i hiked 16.4 today. tomorrow, we'll be able to see Katadin from the top of Whitecap mountain.WARNING, reflective stuff: so i have less than 100 miles and less than a week to go. I'm looking forward to going home and seeing friends and family. but i'll miss the trail community that i've found out here also. hopefully i'll be able to stay in touch with some of them, but it will probably not be possible to recreate this atmosphere again or see everyone together. on the other hand, all of these friends i've made out here give me plenty of excuses for future road trips... hope my little car is up to the challenge!btw, i got an email from lucky recently. he summitted Katadin a week ago! congrats to him!quote to end the entry with: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (courtesy of Chris Moore)
Date: 2003-08-15
From: orb's house

To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.0

happy anniversary to me! 5 months on the trail as of today. and what a beautiful day too. i LOVE this weather and it reminds me that one day like this makes up for a week of rain. there have been some days when hiking is like a job and some when it's a vacation. and today was like one of those cruises that would cost most people a gazillion dollars.i hit the trail early this morning. good thing too because i got to see 2 moose today! first, i saw a little calf and i thought "uh oh, where's the mom?" the only time a moose is dangerous is if it's protecting their kids. lucky for me, the baby ran off first and the momma, who i saw second, decided i wasn't a threat and followed her kid. the funniest thing about moose is watching them walk--it doesn't look like their thin legs can keep them standing!so today, in theory, was the last day with any significant climbs until Katadin. but it was nice to be up on ridges and mountain tops again and to see where i had been and was going. and yes...on top of Whitecap Mt. i could see where i would be in 5 days. today was my first clear view of Katadin. it took my breath.and boy, was it big. real big.i took a long break and met two section hikers, phillis and carol. then i hiked on to a shelter where i'm tenting tonight. another thruhiker named Little Mermaid (yes, he's a guy) is sleeping here tonight also. LT and orb show up soon after that. we read a little Fellowship, ate a little food, and had a good ole time. today rocked the casbar.as a side note, i heard through the hiker-vine about the east coast blackout. and i heard that Cleveland has to boil their water. Ha! even I don't have to boil my water out here. so much for civilization!i hiked 16 miles today. today, i've hiked over 2100 miles. the casbar is, indeed, rocking.
Date: 2003-08-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 23.1

i woke up to hear Little Mermaid (now known as TLM) humming around the area, but i wasn't sleeping soundly anyway and got up early. i was on the trail at 6:30. today was going to be my last big mile day before Katadin. the terrain, sobo hikers say, is really easy so i'm just going to see how far i hike.and boy were they right. today was easier than most days in Virginia. it was great weather for the first half of the day too. i even got to take a Nature Swim in a lake. Yay!TLM and i hiked on and off throughout the day: he hikes a lot faster than me and i take fewer breaks. LT and orb didn't want to hike as far today so we had plans to meet up tomorrow.i was blasted with two thunderstorms in the afternoon. it's amazing how windy it got! i heard a couple of trees above me creek and groan with the windy. i was drenched in seconds.TLM and I got to the end of our day together around 4pm. after hiking 21.9 miles of the AT we came to a grassy road which we had to walk 1.2 miles of to a dock on a big lake where there was an air horn. i blew the air horn and soon after a boat came across the lake to pick us up (doesn't this sound like a video game?). Bill, the boater, drove us his hostel, called the White House Landing, where we got dinner (3/4 pound of cheeseburger!) and got beds for the night. i can now say that i have literally had a chesseburger in paradise.there is a group of 4 wonderful women staying here tonight and i had lots od fun talking to them. Pat, one of these angels, bought TLM and I breakfast for the next day. thank you pat!then the two of us even got to go canoeing on the lake after dinner, which was shock for my arm muscles that i haven't had to use for months!despite the thunderstorms, it was another perfect day. lots of hiking friends ahead of me were planning on climbing Katadin today but the one view i had of the mountain was hidden behind clouds so i hope they made it up okay.
Date: 2003-08-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 9.6

i awoke to yet another spectacular morning. with the lake in the front yard of the hostel, it was a perfect place to just sit and stare. which is what i did until breakfast at 8am.the breakfast, courtesy of trail angel pat as mentioned in the last entry, was spectacular. granted, when it comesto food i'm easy to please, but it was really good stuff and i got stuffed good (yea, i know i should have said "well" instead of good but it's my journal and i'll use bad grammar if i want to).TLM left early. i doubt i'll see him again before Katadin but since he lives in Columbus OH maybe we can meet up sometime. LT and orb were going to hike to the hostel sometime this morning so i was going to wait around until they got there, which was around 10amish.after resupplying with a mail drop that we all sent to the hostel and after getting a normal-person lunch (reads: not gorp), we got into the boat and bill took us back to the trail around 1pm.it was pleasant hiking for the rest of the day. i met a southbound thru-hiker named Sleepwalker (he's got a webpage on trailjournals) who had signed my guestbook previously so it was neat to run into him.OLG are camping on top of Nesuntabunt Mt tonight. it has one heck of a view of Katadin and we had dinner while staring at it as the sun set. the mountain is a bit closer than it was 2 days ago when i first saw it. it was a great way to end any day.today, because of my late start and because there was no good reason to hike farther than our mountain, i hiked 9.6 miles.
Date: 2003-08-18
From: orb's house

To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.7

it was a spectacular morning to be on top of a mountian. i ate my breakfast of poptarts on a rock overlooking Katadin which was about 35 miles away. today is the first day that i have started to notice a slight change in the coloring of the leaves. autumn in coming. when i hit the trail, it felt like the squirrels were trying to knock me out. acorns were dropping from the trees everywhere. i felt like i was playing dodgeball.[Editor: Bloody useless squirrels...]i felt slow today and took a lot of breaks every chance i got: at ponds and streams, went nature swimming again too. ever since last wednesday the weather has been, excluding the occassional thunderstorm, incredible. i feel blessed and i hope that, since i'm ending this 5 month journey on such a high note, i remember this week clearly. LT and orb caught up with me at a shelter taking a break and we spent most of the rest of the day together. around 4pm we climbed to the top of Rainbow Ledges and sat and looked at yet another view of Katadin, but this time it was only 15 miles away! after a long break in the sun, Truck, GI Barbie and their dog (Si) hiked up. we hadn't seen them since nothern NH but they're summitting Katadin on Wednesday as well. good times.OLG are camped out near a shelter tonight. Orb's highlight of the day came when he scooped out some water from the nearby stream and accidentally caught a little fish. so now i'm driking fish water. protein right? don't worry, GI barbie was humane (or is it fishmane?) enough to set the fish back into the stream.all told, we hiked 17.7 miles today. i'm praying that this weather holds until wednesday... but i'm just very happy to have enjoyed the past couple days sooooo much.
Date: 2003-08-19
From: orb's house

To: View Entry
Miles today: 13.1

in a way, this was my last day of "backpacking". this was just a thought that was in the back of my mind throughout the day...a moose visited each of our tents in the middle of the night. it walked by me first, LT got a closer encounter when she could hear it breathing right outside her tent door, and orb slept right through it. Neato!i took my sweet time getting out of camp this morning. today was only a lovely 13.1 mile stroll to my last camp near the base of The Mountain and where i would meet up with my parents and Uncle (hereafter known as mommaberry, poppaberry and uncberry). i hiked the first 3.5ish miles to a place where the trail walks right in front of Abol Bridge campground with a Campstore. they have Ice Cream and sodas in campstores so i made an effort to deplete their supplies while basking in the sun and waiting for LT and orb who showed up too quickly (i was only just about to get another ice cream bar)we had a second late breakfast or a firdst late lunch there before hitting the trail for the last 10 miles. all three of us made a successful effort to take our time and enjoy ourselves. this included several breaks, a bath in a waterfall, and a couple side trails to other things. again, it was an incredible day. LT's stepdad was also meeting us today and he found us around 3pm so we hiked a while with him. our party increased by one. soon after that, orb, who was in front, says hello to this guy hiking the trail who, by the looks of his beard, could have been a thru-hiker except for his socially acceptable smell. when i get closer i think the first think i say is just "yay!" lt and orb are like "uh, what?" but it was uncberry! i wasn't expecting to see them until the evening or tomorrow morning! my parents are soon to follow! it was a merry meeting. huzzah! and our party increased to 7. we all hiked the last mile together to the campsite called the "birches" where thru-hikers can stay before summitting Katadin.my dad cooked up some split-pea soup and my mom supplied some goodies and more trail magic to all the hikers around. it was a splendid way to end a wonderful day.
Date: 2003-08-20
From: orb's house

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

and today was the day. the end. the beginning of a transition. the signal thatthis journey has ended. 5 months and 5 days ago i left a mountain and today i climb another...and the weather for the day? well, i won't complain. it was hazy but it was perfect compared to the day i left springer mountain in Georgia and compared to the many day of rain cna clouds that followed. heck, i even got a little sun today!so Orb, LT, and Goldberry-x, Tom, uncberry jay, and poppaberry Jerry left camp a little before 7am. momaberry sue would pick us up on the other side of the mountain in the evening to save us from coming down the same trail we would hike up.we all hiked a pleasant pace. today was not about racing to the top or making "good time". OLG each carried their backpacks up (but they were mainly filled with props for the pictures of the top and food for the day). this was definitely one of my favorite hiking days on the trail (and not because of the mountain we were climbing or what it meant to me).we all hiked together until the last mile when our adreniline kicked in and OLG rushed ahead at a fast pace. we reached The Sign around 11:30. we took pictures (LOTS of pictures), we ate, we talked, and we stayed up there for a good hour i think.all of us hiked down a trail called the Saddle. unc, poppa, and goldberry went swimming in a pond we passed on the way down. we met mommaberry around 5pm and it was a happy reunion. after a long drive on dirt roads, we all made it back to Millinoket, the closest town, and got rooms. this will be the last hotel room i'll be splitting with LT and orb . today was "the last" of a lot of things. it is a physical ending to a long walk. it is the beginning of a different lifestyle for me: a blend of my old with what i've learned on the AT. but, honestly, what it meant to climb Katadin today has not really hit me yet. i don't think it will until OLG, the three-headed monster, looses a head on friday morning when I say a temporary goodbye to two of the most spectacular people i will probably ever meet.Thanks to all who supported me through this. I'll mention this more in the next entry i write. No more journal entries for a week or so, but check back. i might have a chance to upload some pictures when we all go to Orb's house tomorrow night. If anyone reading this hasn't signed my guestbook, please do--i'm going to print it out for my scrap-book.