morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2022-09-04
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Carter Notch
Miles today: 5.9
Weather: moderate rain

I leave the lodge at 7.10am, wandering past the visitor centre and along the road until I find the trail heading north.  I am a little nervous today.  Thunderstorms are predicted for early afternoon and the next hut  on the trail is fully booked.  That means I either have to walk 13 miles over very challenging terrain or find a stealth camp spot, ideally before the rain. The trail undulates for a half a mile and then it turns steeply uphill. After a few minutes. I see Mori up ahead and he waits for me.  We then spend the morning hiking together, first up Wildcat Summit D at just over 4000, which takes 3 hours to climb but feels longer as it¢s one of the harder seemingly never ending ascents on the AT.  And it takes us another hour to reach the main Wildcat Summit at 4442ft.  We take a break for water and snacks and take in the view. I keep well away from the immense sheer drop from the peak¢s best viewpoint as my vertigo or ¢don¢t die now reflex¢ kicks in. I drink the last of my water and eat a snickers bar.  The mile down to the Carter Notch hut has steps the whole way like something from my perfect dream descent. Mori and I decide the descent should be renamed as Ernie¢s Stairs. Whilst in the hut, I start chatting to Hope, one of the croo.  She shares that she was adopted and I tell her that I am too. I ask about good stealth camp sites further up the trail, and she asks whether I would like to do ¢work for stay¢.   I agree immediately as it means I will stay dry overnight as I get to sleep in the hut for free and eat dinner with the staff, saving £120.  My work is to clean the double glazed bathroom windows which are full of flies and other insects. I quite enjoy it and I¢m done in 90 minutes.  Mori decided to hike on. Lego is here as a paying guest.  Shadow had a sore knee this morning and took a zero day in Gorham. I eat at 8.30 after all the guests have finished and the croo have cleared up.  Another work for stay hiker does the washing up.
Date: 2022-09-05
From: Carter Notch

To: Route 2, Gorham NH 
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I wake at 5.15am as the Hut Croo start to prepare breakfast.  I grab a coffee and pack my backpack. I want to leave before the 7am hut breakfast, so Hope kindly makes me some porridge with oat milk. It is delicious and I am grateful enough for this and other kindnesses from the Croo to leave a good tip. I walk out into the drizzle with a plan to hike 15 miles to route 2 and a hotel in Gorham.   Plan B is to stop at a shelter at 13 miles, with Plan C a shelter at 7 miles.  The start of the day, the first 7 miles over Carter Dome and three more peaks on the ridge line, and a hairy descent to Imp shelter will be tough and much harder in the rain. The second half of the day has the final mountain in the Whites, and then it¢s all downhill. Optimistically, I leave the hut in shorts and a t shirt. I know I¢ll get wet but I move fast to keep warm. The hike up Carter Dome is super steep rock scrambling and steps to start with and it has me panting.  The climb softens about half way up and by the time I reach the summit it is easy going. No view today as I am blanketed in cloud. That¢s 2.1 miles done. I set about the next three summits in the Carter range that are along an undulating ridge. Three more down and up hikes to summits on rocks, roots and now large puddles. After the third summit, I start down to Imp shelter. They should give ropes out for this descent! It¢s scarier in the rain and I use every trick I can: throwing poles down and scrambling, shuffling down on my ass, and going down near vertical rock faces backwards.  I consider throwing my pack down at one point but worry it will roll off the edge of the trail. During the descent I start to get cold as I am soaking wet and picking my way slowly.  When I get to the hut marker, I fly down the 0.3 to the shelter to get out of the rain.  I change all my clothes, make coffee and eat a snickers. After 30 minutes, I put my waterproofs on and head back to the trail. I hike up Moriah Mountain (4049ft) in a cloud between the pine trees decreasing in size to show my ascent.   There are 2 or 3 places that could have been the summit of Moriah but I missed it wherever it was and the 0.1 spur that would have taken me to the very top.  I am walking up and down in an inescapable cloud!!Once down from Moriah the trail becomes easier, and the last 4 miles are a joy of gently descending trail along the Rattle River bank, albeit in pouring rain. I reach the car park and wonder how I will make the 2 miles into Gorham.  A guy winds down his window and asks if I¢d like a soda.  I reply no thanks but that I could really use a lift into town.  His hiker name is Iceman and he¢s a trail angel supporting thru hiking friends and other hikers.  Iceman takes me all the way to my hotel and does not ask for any money for gas.  A true gentleman of a trail angel.Moriah was the last mountain on the AT in the Whites. And 15.2 miles today means Mt Katahdin is now only 298 miles away. I may have a beer tonight!
Date: 2022-09-07
From: Route 2, Gorham NH 

To: Carlo Col shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I ride a shuttle to trail at 7am.  I am homesick this morning as it is my son¢s 21st birthday and I would like to have been there with him. I plan a big 17 mile day, attempting to get to the Maine border and set myself up for two shorter 7 mile days over Mohoosuc Notch and the The Arm. I make great ground over two mountains until Gentian pond shelter at 12 miles. The biggest issue today is mud and large pools of water on trail. I reach theshelter at 1.30pm and after a quick snack and water leave it at 2pm  The last 5 miles take me 4 hours. Up Mount Success was a long hard grind, with tired legs a factor as much as the climb. I step in a big up to my thigh a few yards from the summit. Descent is very slow. Lots of mud and steep rock face descents.  The last 0.1 to shelter is almost vertical. I fall and hurt my shoulder at one point by trying to save myself with my hiking pole. Luckily, my shoulder is sore but there¢s no major damage.  Arrive at shelter at 6pm. Watch a downloaded movie on my phone to switch off from trail , whilst tucked up warm in my sleeping bag. Long day. Apologies for badly written journal.
Date: 2022-09-08
From: Carlo Col shelter

To: Informal Tent Site
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: broken clouds

My long day yesterday has set me up for two shorter 7 mile days to slow down for the tough terrain of mohoosuc notch and The Arm. I set a late alarm for 6.30 and potter around eating breakfast (instant oats with chocolate raisins) and making coffee until 8.30. It¢s almost 8.45 when I reach the AT from the shelter spur trail. I am in a funk today, not looking forward to the first 100 miles of hiking in Maine and generally feeling fed up with the daily grind of hard hiking. I am only planning to walk 7 miles but given the terrain I expect this to take about 7 hours.  I climb Carlo Col view for the first half a mile and then start on the three mountain summits on an undulating ridge line; Goose Eye West, East and North. I put on my headphones and listen to Jack¢s Immaculate Vibez playlist on Spotify.  I trudge along and zone out, barely taking in the above the clouds views on the summits.  I cuss the bogs and the mud and the steep climbs and the slippery descents.  I fall twice, just slips and nothing worse than grazed hands. I am not using my hiking poles this morning as there is a lot of scrambling and my right shoulder is sore from yesterday¢s fall. The music is helping and I pass a couple of hikers who left the shelter much earlier than me. And then catch TK, Chipmunk and Patience, a little NOBO tramily. They are good company and I walk with them until the Goose Eye Shelter, where we have lunch at about 12.30. Stove Top arrives about 30 minutes later and joins us. I leave the shelter first, eager to do the 1.5 miles to reach Mahoosuc Notch, allegedly the hardest mile on the trail. The AT throws in an annoyingly steep and scrambling climb for half a mile and then the usual terrifying descent for a mile down to the infamous notch. On the descent my cap falls off down a 20 ft crevice and is lost.  I arrive at the start of the notch at 1.50pm, hoping to complete the 0.9 mile in under 2 hours.  Without my cap my glasses will fall off, so I use my snood as a type of ninja headband, a look improved by my two hiking poles sticking up from the back of my pack. The notch is a steep valley floor with huge boulders at every angle blocking the way through.  As a AT thru hiker, the trick is to find a way to pass these giant rocks by any means possible.  Where it looks impossible there are a few holes to push packs through and crawl under. I find that within a few hundred yards I love the challenge of the notch.  It¢s a huge hiker playground and every few yards presents a new challenge. It reminds me of the army assault course I used to enjoy as a teenage cadet. It helps that I have long legs and enjoy risky rock hopping.  I only take my pack off once to squeeze through a hole, the rest of the time I clamber over every obstacle. I finish the whole notch in a very respectable 80 minutes. I immediately fill my water bottles and look for the camp site. I find it just 0.2 along the trail.  My day is done at 3pm. Dinner is Idahoan instant mashed potato, tuna, a little tub of black olives and some chilli flakes all mixed together. Dessert is a snickers bar.
Date: 2022-09-09
From: Informal Tent Site

To: Bethel
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: few clouds

I wake at 6, after a good night¢s sleep in my tent. I make coffee, eat chocolate raisin porridge (again) and pack my gear.  It¢s just after 7.30 when I leave camp. Less than half a mile in, I stop to collect and filter a litre of water. I start the climb up The Arm, which I know is one of the hardest climbs on the AT, full of confidence after the fun I¢d had scrambling through Mahoosuc Notch yesterday. I keep my poles stashed on the back of my pack and enjoy climbing up the granite slab.  The Arm is steep with steps in places but more often large expanses of granite slabs that I monkey up on all fours or skirt the edges using pine trees for leverage.  I¢m in a zone this morning and enjoy the long tough climb. At the summit, there¢s a great above the clouds view. A nice reward for a punishing hour and a half of effort. The descent is a little sketchy but not too bad by AT standards. I dive with some urgency down a side trail to a shelter to use the privy. It might suit bears to shit in the woods, but it¢s really not my thing if I can avoid it. I soon start up Old Speck, another mountain which is a rocky jumble lower down and as I ascend develops into another granite slab climb, though adding half a mile of above the tree line exposed scrambling for good measure. Not a climb I would like to do on a wet or even worse a windy day. At the summit the sun is shining and I have 3 bars of AT&T!!!  I stop for a break catching up with Fi and also my good friend Jim who has just returned to the UK from a work trip to Thailand. I phone the motel I am staying at tonight to ask for a shuttle pick up at 1.15pm.  3.5 miles of downhill walking is dull and painful on the feet and joints. I slip over twice more on the descent, thankfully more embarrassing than painful.I arrive at the trailhead and Kevin the motel owner is waiting for me. The Bethel Village Hotel is 25 miles from the AT but they offer cheap shuttles to entice hikers. Bethel is a pretty town of 2500 inhabitants with all the amenities a hiker could desire.  I eat a great salmon noodle fusion lunch bowl and enjoy a glass of wine. In the evening, I meet Mori for wings/pizza and beers in Suds Tavern.  Almost a holiday!!
Date: 2022-09-10
From: Bethel

To: East B Hill Road
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: broken clouds

I get a lift back to trail at 6.30 am from Kevin, the motel owner. Mori joins us.  He slept by the river last night after the beers, wings and pizza we shared at Suds pub.  Kevin tells great but rambling stories without beginning, middle or end.  I¢m happy listening to his strong Boston accent and noticing the leaves  beginning to turn a startling shade of red on a few trees. In a few weeks Maine will be in full autumn glory. I am slack packing today, as Kevin is picking me up at the next road crossing, just over 10 miles away.  I begin the big climb of the day up the Baldpate mountains, with a spring in my step from a lack of 30lbs on my back! For the first mile, I feel I am floating up the hill, but as the grade steepens on this long 4 mile ascent I start to feel the usual tightening in my leg muscles.  These mountains are large lumps of granite and that¢s the surface I climb for most of early morning. About half a mile from the peak, I burst through the tree line and  scramble up to the summit, just about about to walk most of the time, but scrambling on all fours when the need arises. The view at the summit is simply stunning. A panorama of mountain peaks with cotton wool clouds masking valleys. I am so far above the clouds it¢s hard to take in. A view I¢d expect from a plane, not whilst hiking!  The hiking is often so hard it¢s difficult to focus on the beauty around me, but today in the sunshine and no pack on my back I appreciate my good fortune. I sit and eat an apple and take it all in. On the third summit on the ridge, Little Bald, I call the motel. It¢s 11am and I judge I¢ll need a pick up at 1pm with 6 miles to go. And this will likely be the last mobile/cell reception. I soon regret this. The descent down wet granite is not much fun and slow going. Though I am glad of my new super grippy trail runners. After 1.5 miles and an hour, I take a short break at a shelter.  I then realise that there¢s 700ft of climb in the next half a mile before I start the descent to the road.  I put the after burners on and fly up the hill with no name ( the sneaky bastard!) and keep up a solid pace for an hour until I am back on schedule for my shuttle.  After the ¢hour of power¢, I slow to my usual pace and enjoy the wildlife: red squirrels, woodpeckers and ever present chipmunks. I step out of the wilderness just as Kevin pulls up. It¢s 1pm and the 10 miles has taken me 6 hours without a pack and with no long break. That would make this an 8, or more likely 9 hour walk with my pack.  Just another day in Southern Maine. So far I am loving it!!!
Date: 2022-09-11
From: East B Hill Road

To: South Arm Road 
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I go downstairs to pay my bill at the Bethel Village Motel at 6.20am. Kevin has the car ready with the trunk open to take me back to the trail. It¢s a 30 minute drive, and as we pull up at the trail head, I see Maui about set off for the day. We chat and walk the first mile or so together. Then he waves me on up the first mountain of the day. Hiking up Wyman Mountain is relatively easy compared to everything else I¢ve climbed in the last few weeks.  I amble up 5 miles of gently ascending trail to reach the summit at just under 3000ft.  Not that I notice the tree covered summit, as when I check my phone to be sure where it is, I realise I have walked past it! The trail undulates for a few miles, past a shelter where I eat my lunch and then a Brook where I collect more water.  Then downhill for long enough for me to get fed up with it. At noon, I¢m 1.4 miles from the top of Moody Mountain and 2.7 from the road where the hostel for tonight will pick me up. In the navigation app, Moody is described as a mile of straight up stairmaster at level 100.  Perhaps an exaggeration but it does make for a tough 30 minutes rock staircase followed by 30 minutes of sprawling upward switchbacks. I call the hostel for my shuttle and set off downhill.  It¢s a kind dirt descent in keeping with most of this fairly easy day.  If not for my hostel booking, I could have hiked a lot longer today. The terrain is getting easier and hopefully that trend continues. I am picked up by 92 year old Honey, who owns the The Cabin hostel.  I pass on Truck¢s love and good wishes and she tells me about how he and his wife stayed with her almost a whole summer. And that she still speaks with Truck on the phone every now and then. Honey and The Cabin have been AT institutions since 1998.
Date: 2022-09-12
From: South Arm Road 

To: Sabbath pond shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The best thing about The Cabin is the family style dinner and breakfast with 92 year old Honey at the head of the table.  Honey drives me to the trail head and chats about how she enjoys meeting hikers and about her recent hikes. For her 91st birthday, she hiked to Zealand hut in the White Mountains.  That¢s 3 miles mostly uphill!  The only down side of family style breakfast at 7 and lots of hikers, is that the shuttle at 8 does not leave until 8.30. It¢s almost 9am when I get to the trail and I have a very long day ahead of me. There¢s 26 miles between me and the next trail town of Rangeley. And heavy rain is due tomorrow afternoon.  So I plan 17 miles today and 9 tomorrow morning. The only thing wrong with my plan is that the first 17 miles are really hard!  The first 7 miles of the day are up Old Blue Mountain (3600ft) and then down and up 900ft to Bemis Mountain (3564ft).  It¢s a slog, with few fleeting views and two summits that go by without me noticing until I check my map. Though there is a bench near Bemis summit, where I sit and have a snickers and drink water.  I arrive at the Bemis Lean To shelter at 1.45pm and eat lunch of salami, cheese and bread until 2.15.  I have 8 miles to go, I¢m tired, it¢s slow going, I and don¢t want to arrive at tonight¢s shelter in the dark. The next 4 miles will take me to route 17.  It continues to be tough going, with the usual mix of rocks, roots and mud pools.  It¢s downhill for the first 3 miles, not too sketchy but the soles of my feet and my toes are sore from the afternoon¢s descent. The last mile up to the road is a classic Maine straight up the mountain clamber. I¢m in no mood to slow down so I work as hard as I can and I am up to the road about 30 minutes ahead of my estimate.  I sit on a bench with a great view of Rangeley Lake and enjoy the moment.  After the road, it¢s a steady climb for a few miles before dropping  down rapidly to a few lakes; Moxie, then Long Pond and finally  Sabbath Day Pond. As I pass Long Pond, the sun is setting behind the far side of the pond. It¢s beautiful but also so bright that it¢s hard to see where I am walking. It¢s 6.45pm when I get to the Sabbath Day Pond Shelter.  I collect water from the pond, make dinner and set up my sleep pad in the shelter as it is getting dark.  I sit in the shelter eating couscous, with red pepper and salmon from my pot, adding two sachets of mayonnaise for extra calories.
Date: 2022-09-13
From: Sabbath pond shelter

To: Route 4, Rangeley
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: clear sky

I am up at 6 and on the trail just after 7am, after coffee and porridge. Loons in the lake make a brilliant noise now and then. But I can¢t see them. I¢ve been told the next 9 miles or so are easy. They may be easy for the AT in Maine but they are not easy.  Moderate constant pointless ups and downs (PUDs) would be a better description.  I push myself to keep my pace up to 2mph which is a struggle for the first few miles uphill but gets progressively easier as the trail winds down to the road. It starts to rain at 11, but not too hard.  I get to the road about 11.15 and walk up to The Hiker Hut, a hostel that I hope to stay at tonight. Maui and Timber are already there. It is full but the owner kindly shuttles us all into town, where Timber and I get a room with two huge beds and a kitchen in the Town and Lake Motel. Maui spends the day in town and then heads back up to the hostel to pitch his tent in the grounds.
Date: 2022-09-14
From: Route 4, Rangeley

To: Rangeley 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I take a zero day in Rangeley as it¢s raining and the wind is 45-50 mph above tree line on Saddleback Mountain. I¢ve been considering my plan for finishing this hike and thinking through a couple of options. It¢s now clear to me that I won¢t be coming back in the spring to complete the southern half of a thru hike in 12 months.  That is because the developers have told Fiona and I that we should be able to move into our new passivehaus in Leeds in March.   And I want to be home with Fi for that new and exciting adventure together.  I am also unsure whether I will have time to hike every mile to Katahdin before my flight home in early October.  Nor whether I want to hike lots of very big mile days to make this deadline.  This few days of bad weather also remind me that even if I do hike long days, the weather may thwart my plans. It¢s therefore a relatively easy decision for me to decide to jump up the trail about 90 miles to Monson, just before the 100 mile wilderness and Mt Katahdin. I am not going to achieve a thru hike but I am going to complete more than 1000 miles of hiking on the AT from Harpers Ferry to the trail¢s northern terminus at Katahdin.  Whether I come back next summer or another year to complete the southern section and perhaps fill in the 90 miles I am about to skip is an open question. I¢ll see where life takes Fi and I next. I arrange for a shuttle to pick me up at 6am tomorrow morning to take me to Shaw¢s Hostel in Monson.  There I will buy supplies for the 100 mile wilderness and arrange a food drop at the half way mark to save me carrying to much weight in food.  It¢s good to have the peace of mind of having a plan for finishing this hike and getting home.  I enjoy a nice lunch and a few beers and watch movies in my motel room. Bliss!
Date: 2022-09-16
From: Monson

To: Long Pond Lean To
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Yesterday, I caught a shuttle ride to Monson, the last town before the 100 mile wilderness.  I stayed at Shaw¢s Hostel, an AT institution.  I spent most of the day planning how to get through the 100 mile wilderness, buying supplies, and arranging for Shaw¢s to drop me some food at the half way point. I got up at 6am today, had a shower and ate a big breakfast at 7.  Poet drives a bus full of hikers to the trailhead at 8.40. He takes a group picture and reads a poem and I¢m finally off up the trail! There¢s lots of roots as the trail undulates but it¢s fairly easy going and I cover the first 5 miles in 2 hours.The trail gets a bit trickier with some steeper climbs and the slate rock running perpendicular to the trail is grippy on the dry but also means the trail is uneven.The second five miles of the day takes me 3 hours. As does the last 5 miles of the day as my legs tire.  15 miles in 8 hours including a couple of short breaks is fine, and much more like my pace before I hit the Whites and southern Maine. The lower elevation means more variety of plants and trees. A mixed forest of older established trees with the ubiquitous pine.  Not sure if it applied here, but some areas of Maine had trees preserved by law during the colonial period as they were a good source of masts for the British navy. There are also some beautiful rivers, which are bigger than I have encountered before and trickier to cross.I rock hopped two larger rivers today, and for one I took off my shoes and socks and crossed in my crocs.  Not just camp shoes! I got to Long Pond Lean To (shelter) a few minutes before 5. Hung my bear line, and made dinner of ramen noodles with two packets of chicken added for protein. It¢s getting colder so I am tucked up in my sleeping bag on the shelter floor at 6.30pm!