morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-08-20
From: Zealand Falls Hut, WMNF

To: About 2 miles before Mizpah Spring Hut
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: light rain

Funniest night yet...guess what our 2 hour obligation work for stay job was last night? We had to entertain the guests at the Zealand Falls Hut with stories from the trail! About 20 to 25 people were there; families, teens, kids, seniors. The three of us had a blast talking about out experiences. People asked questions which we enjoyed answering. Meanwhile, Carpenter stood out on the porch, out of the view of the guests and made faces and danced ridiculously. I couldn't even look at him because I would have lost it! The girls loved it. Carpenter and Leaks also got food. They had to clean out drawers with bleach wipes. We later scraped the freezer out and rearranged the food. It actually was nice to do some normal chores...it's been so long since we cleaned anything, including ourselves! The dinner we earned was beyond delicious. We slept on the floor of the hut right next to the tables. About 5 am a girl got up and baked cinnamon coffee cakes. Our mouths were watering. We laid there until 6:30 enjoying the smells and the warmth. We got up and set the tables. We had to wait for the guest to eat. We got the leftovers. Again a thrilling experience of eating a variety of foods instead of one huge pot of the same thing. We had real oatmeal in which we could add chocolate chips, brown sugar and nuts. We also enjoyed scrambled eggs with veggies, the coffee cake, pineapple, apple juice and coffee. We actually hummed as we ate, we were so happy. We feel so much more nutritionally charged up! We swept the hut and said our goodbyes. We had a nice hike in unseasonable warm weather...80s. We hiked a ridge and then straight down to our first road: Crawford Notch. Hikers resupply here. We were debating when suddenly we saw vases of flowers with handwritten signs telling us trail magic was ahead. It turns out Clevergirl's mom surprised her and drove an hour from their home with a car full of food, drinks, flowers and the family dog. She baked cc cookies and milk for them. There was every kind of fruit and iced water. The girls were jumping up and down. Clevergirl and their group were all there. The girls loved talking to Mom Clevergirl. When we left Cub said, "She has so much joy coming out of her just like Clevergirl." We then left for a straight up climb. We are headed to Mizpah hut and if we are lucky we'll Yogi more free food. Wish us luck. Loving the Whites like crazy. Views divine. I'm writing this from a cliff that overlooks endless mt ranges......Once again we are poised for a strategic strike in the morning a few miles outside of Mizpah Spring AMC Hut. I can almost smell all the good things cooking from here. Hey hey Boo Boo, well you know we are smarter than the average bear.
Date: 2013-08-21
From: About 2 miles before Mizpah Spring Hut

To: 3 miles Off Trail & Summit of Mt Washington
Miles today: 7.9

Woke up surrounded by a lime green carpet of growth speckled with a variety of mushrooms. Sometimes I think it looks like we are giants sleeping in a Hobbit village. We booked it to Mizpah Spring Hut and yogied more breakfast. We are getting good at this and loving it. We got all the cinnamon pancakes we could eat, oatmeal with cream and peaches. We stuffed ourselves. Nice staff here. We headed off for an estimated 4 hour hike from Mizpah to Cloud Hut. We got there in 2 hours! With photo taking too. We ate several bowls of delicious potato dill soup, snickers bars, carrot cake and lemonade. We then climbed Mt Washington for a sensory overload experience. There are people everywhere here. Too much. There was a line to the summit sign. Cub found this absurd since they'd taken a cog train up and we had hiked it. We didn't bother getting in line because the girls said they had lots o summit photos. Of course we ate up here. I highly recommend the vegetarian chili and ice cream. The girls ate pizza and chips. We were able to get more food for the next few days in case we can't yogi. We are so lucky because it is a spectacularly beautiful and sunny day. There was a sign at the bottom warning of the many deaths up here due to the quick weather changes. Intimidating, but we also know we can probably hike ourselves out of here if we need to. There are many side trails that go down. Tomorrow is supposed to be bad so we will wake up early and haul it to the Madison Hut. We would go now but it's 4:30 and the climb is very hard. We'd be climbing in the dark. The real problem is that we are so high we are above the treeline. It is illegal to camp in an alpine area. The environment is very fragile. Luckily, a guy that guides around here told us about a stealth site 3 miles off the AT, which means 3 today and 3 back up to the AT tomorrow. The Madison Hut is only 7 miles north but its a really hard climb and the weather is not supposed to be good the next 24 hours. We'd probably get there at night and it is just not worth it. We would miss the scenery and risk our bodies on this difficult trail. Better to take longer and play it safe. Right now trying to yogi some cell phone power so I can get this out. Cub will resume her site when we have enough power. She is journaling it so she doesn't forget anything. She got a new shirt today. A very momentous occasion. The older dirt clad, stained and pilled shirt ceremoniously went into the garbage. Her new hiking shirt says, "This body climbed Mt Washington. Elevation 6288 ft". She's so proud that she climbed it in about 35 minutes. ( and didn't cog train it). She's becoming a tough, judgmental mt woman). I really need to go. It's 5 pm an we gotta get to that site.
Date: 2013-08-23
From: Gorham, NH

To: Laundry Mat, Book Store, & Feet Up in Bed
Miles today: 0.0

We tried to sleep late but couldn't. Guess we need roots and rocks under our backs. Badonkadonk kept opening he curtains looking hopefully for a vicious thunderstorm. No luck for her. She wanted an excuse to stay in town another day. I said if it was sunny we had to move on. By 8:30 she'd gone to the office and booked two more days, arranged a shuttle and planned a 21 mile slack pack hike for tomorrow. The girls would rather do big mileage without packs and showers at the end than move on. I am so happy with Badonkadonk's initiative. She is a great co-manager to hike with. We all needed our feet rested. My knees feel the impact of going downhill on rocks all day. I need the girls to remind me to listen to our bodies and give them the rest they need. Plus we have a big box of yummy, fatty snacks to eat. We did shuffle out and do the laundry and buy new books. Our only plan is to rest and eat. We have an early start tomorrow...on my Mom's birthday!!! Happy birthday to the world's best mom...the one who raised this crazy, wanderlust daughter. Love you!
Date: 2013-08-25
From: Route 2, Gorham, NH

To: Mt Hayes Summit, NH
Miles today: 3.6

Getting in bed after midnight slowed our plans to get out early. We slept in, rationalizing that we'd paid for a hotel room and hardly used it yesterday. We packed and started the 3 1/2 mile hike back to the trail. We came upon a McDonalds so we ate there. Next we saw Burger King so we got icees there, McFlurries still in our hands. Then we raided Dunkin Donuts. Next we rushed to the camping store for gas canisters as Blueberry warned us that it closed at 1pm. We then stopped by Mr Pizza for a final meal. We hitched a ride from a young guy in a pickup truck with a dog named "Chicken". Hiking up the mt we ran into trail maintainers painting the blazes. We thanked them and told them about our night hike. The blazes save your life at night or in fog or rain. We also ran into Buddy Backpacker's dad. We met Buddy at Pinkham Notch. He is 5 years old and thru hiking the AT!! He wears a Batman shirt and cape. Reminds me so much of my daily uniformed son when he was that age. We climbed Hayes Mt where we could see the makings of a pretty sunset. We decided to hike a bit further and set up our tent. We then returned to the summit and ate dinner and watched the sun setShort hike but our feet and legs are tired from last night. We will try to push it a bit. Who knows how Maine will be. A note on The Whites for you hikers out there. We were warned so much about the difficulty of the area; that there was nowhere to camp(not true) and the huts were mean to hikers(also not true). We loved the Whites. We will miss talking to the friendly crews in the huts, miss their soup and free food. And clean bathrooms. If you have questions about the Whites let me know.
Date: 2013-08-26
From: Mt Hayes Summit, NH

To: Carlo Col Shelter, ME
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Another scary day, probably worst day every. I'm going to eat breakfast then I'll write more if I can. It was so bad but very amazingly we are okay. We woke up to a soggy bottom. Our tent was in a slight depression that became more apparent when it rained. My sleeping bag was wet, our pads were soaked and the tent was drenched. We hung everything in the trees but there was no sun (none! All day just a blinding white sky) and a constant mist. Moose poop surrounded our tent. We were fairly sure one was sniffing around us last night and the poop was the final evidence. We were probably in its sleeping spot. We finally got packed with our now heavier stuff. We hiked over the very slick rocks. The mist coated them in a slick wetness. I had two big falls in which I slipped off a wet root and another long slip down a large rock via my butt. Badonkadonk fell down another rock on her bottom and ended it with a big cry. I think it scared her more than anything. I wanted to cry but held it together so I didn't scare the girls. I pulled a muscle in my groin which is at least a new pain to focus on. We hiked and hiked and felt like we were getting nowhere. The problem is there are so many boulders to climb up and down. It really slows you down. It got dark on us again. We got our headlamps out but the fog was so thick it bounced the light. I could barely see my feet which means I couldn't see the rocks I was tripping over. Luckily another couple was in front of us. They were as scared as us. They told us what was ahead and it was bad. We had the scariest climbs of our life in the pitch black and fog. I cannot recreate the difficulty of the climbs. We had no place to put up a tent because of the steep, rocky terrain. At one point Badonkadonk was on a rock ledge and her feet couldn't touch the next ledge. She was crying and asking me to get her. I couldn't reach her but I talked her into a free fall. Her feet hit the next ledge and she stuck it. Very frightening. We let our packs roll down the mt and they flew at a rapid pace with a sickening sound. I climbed down to the ledge and had Cub climb down my body, between me and the rock. We got to a mt top and were on ledges but all we could see was fog. Badonkadonk thought we'd taken a wrong turn because we went up and the shelter was down. The couple in front us thought we'd climbed all that in vain. They decided to hike ahead anyways and quickly found the shelter sign. They yelled to us and we followed them in. Of course it was a slippery, rocky path downward. When we got to camp there was no place in the shelter and no place to tent camp. We set our tent up on the rocks next to the shelter. That way we could enjoy all the snoring of the 16 people inside. Rough night's sleep after a hard days climb.But hey! We are in Maine now!!! 11 States!! Katahdin here we come! That is after our Mahoosic Notch labyrinth tomorrow. Wish us luck.
Date: 2013-08-28
From: Bull Branch campsite, ME

To: BaldpÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢tÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ© Lean-to
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: clear sky

Woke up due to a strange guy singing "Old McDonald had a lactose intolerant cow" at the top of his lungs. It was 6am. Sigh! The girls were so annoyed. They've named him E-I-E-I-O-Wacko!!!Buddy backpackers mom heard us worrying over our food situation and offered to pick us up at the road and take us to a gas station for food. We were so relieved and grateful. Andrea hiked down a side trail to the car. We hiked with Buddy and his dad all day. We ran into Crowd Control, the other family out here. I think all the kids on the trail converged at one point. Very cool. Buddy loved seeing 7 year old HighFive. They shook hands when they left each other. Buddy has a website Buddybackpacker.com if you want to check him out. His dad hikes with him and the mom slack packs them. She hiked the tent, three sleeping bags and food into them and then hikes out to the car each day. The logistics of it are amazingly complicated. I don't know how she does it. We loved hanging out with Buddy. He's like Boots at that age. Very talkative, funny, smart and endearing. We sang songs, told stories and talked all day. He's really a super great kid. He wears his Superman shirt and cape like my little boy did. Actually my little Cub did too. We got to Grafton Notch and Andrea was waiting. Happy day... She took us to a campground to get showers first and then to get food. We got so much at the convenience store, the cash register made us charge three separate times. The skies opened up and rained poured down. Luckily by the time we got back to Grafton notch it stopped. We ate our subway sandwiches on a park picnic table and then rushed of to the shelter 3 miles away. Luckily we got a space in Bald Pate Lean to. It rained all night. It is so cold too. Maine is turning out to be very tough. Keep us in your prayers, especially that we can meet Blueberry and Grammie on time at Katahdin.
Date: 2013-08-29
From: BaldpÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢tÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ© Lean-to

To: Pine Ellis Lodge, East B Hill Road
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

It was raining all night and in the morning. We decided to wait out the rain. We stayed in the shelter until 10:30am. It just misted and lightly rained the rest of the day. Not bad but did make all the rocks and roots slippery. Just when you think it couldn't get any scarier or harder it does! We had such a steep climb up the Mountain I told the girls I think the top of my feet are hitting my shin bone. That is how straight up it is. My calf muscles and Achilles Tendon are stretched to the max. It was a rainy, white sky day. When we got close to the summit we were astounded. The top was a huge, high rock, slippery and intimidating. We just looked at it and sighed, wishing each other luck. Badonk told us to start climbing and she would take a vertical panoramic photo of us. I got half way up and Cub was a fourth of the way up when Badonk told us to stop. She started the photo and I was already out of her photographic range though we weren't even half way up. We continued to climb, slipping and sliding our way up the huge rock face. The girls scooted on their bottoms and crawled on all fours. The guys we know, BooBoo, Cash, Sky Pilot, all helped us through. They held a ladder that was precariously perched and not attached to the rock in any way. We started down and decided to snack. While we did we noticed that we had a bit of phone service so I blogged a bit and called Blueberry. He said we ought to slack pack in these tough conditions, Bless him! We immediately called the local hostel in Andover. It is called Pine Ellis Lodge. They had a private room for us. David picked us up and gave us ice cold lemonade. The lodge is a 150 year old house in a one block town. All 30 kids from around here go to a single room school house. They do have a single bus to pick them all up. The library is a house. There is a pavilion and a town square. The general store has some groceries, liquor and a small restaurant with the best priced food we've yet seen. We did our part to eat as much of it as we could. We hiked down today with Lady and then went to dinner with her. We had a great time talking to her. We all ordered fresh corn on the cob and just couldn't believe how good it tasted.The owner of the house is a funny, elderly woman named Ilene. She has raised all of her kids and now has opened her house up to all of us dirty hikers. Her ex son-in-law helps her out as does two of her friends. They help shuttle hikers to and from the trail. I am so impressed by people that retire but decide to make their lives so rich and open up their homes to wanderers. I find them wonderful to talk to. Ilene has the most magnificent baptismal gown that her great grandfather was baptized in 1871. It has all handmade lace and white embroidery. She showed my photos of her great grandfather...so interesting to see. All in all, in spite of the terror we survived. I wonder if anything will scare us again, we have overstimulated our adrenal glands so much out here!
Date: 2013-08-30
From: B Hill Road, ME

To: Arm Road South 
Miles today: 10.7

Woke up at 6:25am for a nice breakfast at The Red Hen, the local restaurant. WE were the only ones there but then it filled up. We sat at the counter on spinning stools. We watched the waitress cook our food. It was delicious, especially the endless cup of coffee. I need it to get me up these mts! We started our hike without our packs (Yeah!) We felt like we were flying. We carry one pack with water and snacks (and now we don't forget our head lights!), each of us taking an hour apiece. We stop the clock whenever we stop. That way we know exactly how much time we spend on breaks. We found today easy and nice. We finished by 2pm, which was wonderful. We were able to sit on the porch and eat ice cream. I called my parents to wish them a happy anniversary finally! We were able to hike with Buddy Backpacker for part of the day. He cracks me up. It is so refreshing to be with a 5 year old again. He says the most adorable things. He touches the trees and sap, throws and kicks rocks, and swings between rocks, splashes rain and muck puddles. He loves when we tell him stories. His mom worried that he talked too much but I said I was well trained in that arena starting with the loquacious Boots and continuing with two of his sisters. When we got home we did laundry and went back to the general store to eat. David is the owner's ex-son-in-law, who is a Mayan from Guatemala. He was playing the flute on the front porch. He showed Cub how to play. He got another flute and they played together. It was just so cool to witness my kiddo playing with this interesting and patient man. Cub played really well. I think she would love to have one of these flutes, she loved the sounds it could make. Her oboe teacher should be proud.Today was a peaceful and beautiful day. My feet don't hurt and we had a concert to end the day.
Date: 2013-09-02
From: State Route 4, ME

To: Rangeley Inn, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We decided to not take Sherpa up on her offer of a ride to the trail. We were going to have to take a side trail and we worried we wouldn't be able to find the trail or that her jeep would get stuck. Turns out there is 100% chance of rain. The girls wanted one last sleep in. We also need to do laundry, get groceries and plan the 100 mile wilderness food. We need to get our Leki poles fixed too. The tips are gone and the bottoms occasional fall out. The outfitter in town (Ecopelagicon Nature Store) does that work. Yesterday we were wondering where Mongoose might be. He is one of our favorites hikers to run into. Happily we walked into the diner and there he sat with his girlfriend Sarah, who was on the trail in Vermont with us. They invited us to join them. We thought that was extremely generous given Sarah had driven 5 1/2 hours from Massachusetts to see Mongoose. We had a wonderful, laughter-filled conversation. Again, we are so lucky to be surrounded by such kind and helpful people. Cub and I have been sliding all over the trail with our Keens. Though they've been comfortable they haven't held up well. We are on our third pair. Today we decided to try new boots with Vibram soles, something my friend Terry Scott (the guy who inspired my love of hiking) swore by. Hope his belief in Vibram helps us out. We got our poles repaired and had fun looking at stuff in the shops. It is over stimulating to see so much stuff and refreshing to know we don't need any of it. We went back to the Thai Blossom for more Thai iced tea. It makes the girls think of lunches with Grammie. We can't wait to see her and Blueberry in 14 days or so. Yippee yeah! I need to be smooched. Everyone from home keeps telling me how happy I sound and look. People on the trail tell the girls and I that we look like we are having so much fun. Of course living a life long dream makes that obvious...though how many people do it and its not what they expected? The disappointment is devastating. Luckily I had no real expectation because I felt compelled to go, not only for my soul but also for all of my kids and their specific and individual need to be out here. Now I know I was right to come. Largely, facing challenges daily that I can overcome and feel proud of is so refreshing after these past few awful years where I couldn't change anything in spite of all my struggles to. Things only got worse until I thought I'd lose my mind and the ability to feel joy. I have an enhanced gratitude for this trail and what it has given me. Thanks to all of you who have supported me through all those sorrowful and scary years and continue to support me now. I am utterly content though I miss all of you. I lost myself for a bit but I've found my way back.
Date: 2013-09-04
From: Passed Saddleback Horn, ME 

To: Just Before Sugarloaf Mountain
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up to fierce winds. The girls wanted to snuggle in but we have to get our mileage up. We got up at 6:30am and shook out our very wet tent. Luckily we stayed dry all night. We had a straight up on Saddleback Jr. We had our first big river to ford, Oberton River. It wasn't too bad. We actually dumped our packs and went for a brief swim. I know, we are supposed to hurry but its too hard not to play when we see waterfalls and sparkling clear water. It was probably much colder than a Florida pool in winter, which we'd never go in! It was sunny but very windy all day. Around 3 pm the clouds moved in. The temperature dropped and we got some misty rain. The darkness made for a gloomy afternoon that added to our spooky feelings. We are walking the path Gerry, the missing hiker, was last seen on. We said prayers for her. She wasn't out of our minds or conversations all day. My hope is that she was able to enjoy the spectacular beauty that we witnessed today and yesterday. Today out path ran beside a river of waterfalls. Her husband wrote a touching post that said she died doing what she loved. I love life but would rather it ended here than on some highway or with some disease my body whammed me with. I feel bad that she was also so very close to Katahdin. I cannot imagine how her family goes on not knowing. I hope they find peace in knowing she was surrounded by such beauty. We ate dinner in the chilly wind, trying to down as much food as possible to lighten our loads. Passed a bronze plaque today that marked the spot where the last section of the GA-ME Appalachian Trail was completed in 1937. Less than 200 miles from Katahdin. Camped 1.5 miles from Sugarloaf Mt.
Date: 2013-09-05
From: Just Before Sugarloaf Mountain

To: Horns Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 17.3

Happy Rosh HashanaSo tired I can hardly write. We made it to Horns Pond Lean-to. It was a hard day of climbing straight up and then straight down. The sun did come out around 10am which warmed us up a bit. Tonight is supposed to be 33 in town so we will be much colder. We are on the side of Bigelow Mt. I'm so cold and exhausted I want to go right to sleep. The girls want to eat. Badonkadonk got water and is cooking. Thank goodness for these girls. I'd probably be a walking skeleton without them and their appetites. Sherpa, thanks for the note. We skipped Stratton because our abundance of heavy food! Hope to see y'all soon. We keep seeing Buddy's footprints.