morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-08-28
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to

To: Sugarloaf Mt. (Sugarshack)
Miles today: 10.9

Day 1678/28s: Poplar Ridge Lean-tof: Sugarloaf Mt. (Sugarshack)m: 10.9w: rainYardsale and I spent the morning reading the responses to FAQs as posted by the area's maintainer and, thus, we began hiking well after most everyone else except Clockwork Orange and Songline. The morning started of pretty smoothly and I stopped at a boulder to try to climb it. Yardsale showed up and I eventually climbed it through the route I was attempting. This was a nice morning break, but we had some more walking to do.Lone Mountain wasn't a very difficult climb, but I would have been hating it if it were in Vermont. Its amazing how quickly I've grown accustomed to climbing bigger mountains in the past few weeks. Most of the climbs that I now describe as "not too bad" or even "enjoyable" would have been awful not long ago. At the top of the mountain, we stopped for a snack as it began to rain. I was hopig the rain was only occuring around the summit but this wasn't the case. We walked on and stopped in at Spaulding Mt. Lean-to to avoid the rain for a while. Car 54 and Where Are You were in for the night and Angry Andy was eating an early dinner. Scared of the Dark (new nobo), Clockwork Orange and Songline came in while we were there but left after a short break.We hiked the remaining few miles to the side trail to Sugarloaf Mt. The tops of the trees indicated that the wind was whipping really franticly, but I was unable to feel the entirity of its force as I walked sheltered below treeline. Even when I stopped to fill up my water bottles at the box spring, I felt comfortable without a shirt and could hardly feel the wind. It is amazing what a wonderful natural barrior trees make from the elements. This principle holds with rain as well since I hardly get wet in some fairly heavy rains because of the protection provided by trees and their leaves. Pretty neat.I eventually did get above treeline and the wind waspretty strong. I was unable to see the building on the summit, but I walked in the right direction and found it pretty quickly. The afternoon and evening were spent hanging out and learning to play cribbage. I went to sleep to the sound of howling wind.
Date: 2005-08-29
From: Sugarloaf Mt. (Sugarshack)

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light rain

Day 1688/29s: Sugarloaf Mt. (Sugarshack)f: Stratton, MEm: 10.6w: rainI woke up and noticed that the wind had died down significantly outside. Wehung around the building for a while, takin our time getting everything togetherbefore we left. Two truckloads of workers arrived to work on the building and Isort of felt like I wasn't supposed to be there. But the workers assured usthat it was okay for us to have slept there, even though the building iscondemned.Yardsale and I left the Sugarshack and started descending Sugarloaf Mountain. The descent was steep and rocky and the rocks were wet from rain. Many peopleconsider themselves "home free" at this point on the trail in terms of theirability to finish, but it is descents like this one and many others in Mainethat remind me that any number of unfortunate events could easily occur at anypoint before I reach the summit of Katahdin. Many have said to me "You mustfeel proud to have made it this far." My response to such a comment can only be"Well, actually, I feel more blessed than proud." For there have been moretimes than I can count on this trail when I have totally lost control of my bodyand it has only been by God's grace that I land in a safe position or locationrather than a crippling one.The climbs up and down the Crockers wern't as bad as Sugarloaf and Yardsale andI passed away the miles into town by making up and refining a riddle (not a verygood one). We saw quite a few puffball mushrooms before town and thought aboutpicking some for dinner, but decided we would see what the local resturants hadto offer instead.Adam, Krazy Katie and Radio acquired one of the last rooms in the White Wolf Innand they were full by the time we got there. So we went to the bunkhouse at theStratton Motel and I am glad we did so. Cooker Hiker was there and he showed usaround the place. We got cleaned up a bit and went to eat with Pac-Man at theWhite Wolf Resturant. We all ordered the Wolf Burger which consisted of a halfpound of beef, bacon, a sausage pattie, mushrooms and cheese. Even though I washungry and certainly could have used the calories, I still felt remorseful aftereating such an artery-clogging meal. But the fun didn't stop there; we went tothe grocery store and bought a half gallon of ice cream along with our regularresupply.I spent the rest of the night making phone calls, playing on the computer andwatching TV - some wilderness experience, huh? I went to sleep late and hadtrouble falling asleep. Whenever I watch TV or a computer screen shortly beforetrying to sleep, the muscles in my eyes are unable to relax and I can't fallasleep. This is the first time I have experienced this difficulty in manymonths and I don't intend to make a habit of it when I return home.
Date: 2005-08-30
From: Stratton, ME

To: Safford Notch Campsite
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 1698/30s: Stratton, MEf: Safford Notch Campsitem: 10.4w: fog, drizzleI slept wonderfully once I fell asleep and I woke up feeling refreshed. I wentdownstairs and cooked breakfast for Yardsale and myself. Yesterday, we boughtsupplies to make breakfast tacos and I was excited about the food. We each hadplenty to eat and spent the majority of the morning finishing up some choresaround the hostel. Don (the new owner of the motel who recently opened thisamazing bunkhouse) gave us a ride back to the trail around eleven in the morningand we began hiking.Adam (Angry Andy), Radio and Krazy Katie were all hiking with or around usthroughout the day and it was nice to have the added company. We all stopped atthe Horns Pond Lean-tos for lunch and talked with the caretaker for a while. Isaw a decent view from South Horn for about thirty seconds before the cloudcover blanked everything out. The rest of the views from the Bigelows werenon-existant, but at least we wern't being rained on while above the trees. Hurricane Katrina is supposed to provide some sinoff storms tomorrow (possiblyinches of rain), so I was interested in getting over the mountains. We aresupposedly out of th mountainsfrom the Bigelows to Katahdin; I don't know how Ifeel about that, but I'm sure the change in terrain will at least be novel.Yardsale and I left the others behind as they were camping before Avery Peak. The north side of Avery Peak contained more boulders than I've seen in onelocation along the trail and I spent some time checking out possible climbingroutes. Many of the boulders were disappointingly featureless, but many werestunning none-the-less. We arrived to our campsite through a fortification ofboulders and ate dinner after setting up. There were some strange noises in thewoods (sounded human) while we were eating in the foggy last light of dusk and,I must admit, I was a bit spooked. I went to sleep with one eye open.
Date: 2005-08-31
From: Safford Notch Campsite

To: West Cary Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 12.2

Day 1708/31s: Safford Notch Campsitef: West Cary Pond Lean-tom: 12.2w: torrential downpourI woke up several times throughout the night and finally came to the conclusionthat the human-like noises heard earlier were nothing to worry about any longer,but that the now heavy rain was the real problem. I finally woke up to lots andlots of rain and started packing up. Yardsale came over to my tarp and told methat he and everything he owned were wet and that he was not happy. I couldempathize with his situation.On the hike out of the campsite, I saw a overhanging boulder with a perfectlydry campsite under it. All I could do was just keep walking. I passed Yardsalewhile going up a hill and pushed on to the next shelter. The terrain was up anddown and it continued to rain heavily throughout the morning. It took me longerthan I expected to reach the shelter and I halfway expected the it to be at thebottom of every hill I descended.When I finally did reach the shelter, I saw three hikers asleep in theirsleeping bags. Olly, Out of Step and Captain Caveman had spent the night thereand had not moved since. They made me feel like an early riser. I ate somefood and Yardsale arrived. We tried to figure out how many people might be atthe next shelter and what our chances might be on getting a spot under thatcoveted roof. It sounded like the outcome could have gone either way.Yardsale and I hiked on together over wet but easy ground and we made the milespretty quickly. Westopped by Flagstaff Pond to skip some rocks and to look atthe wide assortment of driftwood along the shoreline. We were just standing outthere in the rain, but it didn't matter since we were already soaked. We alsocrossed a commonly-photographed road with "2000 mi" painted in the middle. Thiswas a pretty nice milestone, but the truth of the matter is that we crossed thetwo thousand mile mark yesterday around the Bigelow's West Peak. We walked onthrough continuing rain and arrived at the shelter by the middle of theafternoon. The shelter was not full and I was very happy. I dropped my pack(at least five added pounds of water weight) and went swimming in the pond withall my cloths on; it didn't matter at this point.We hung out in the shelter the rest of the afternoon with Pac-Man and foursection hikers. I felt bad for all the people who arrived after us and wereforced to set up their tents, but there was an empty spot in the shelter thatnobody took. Radio, Krazy Katie and Adam all showed up along with several sobosection hikers. Yardsale and I played a couple games of cribbage, I ate somefood and everyone went to sleep to the sound of the relentless rain.
Date: 2005-09-02
From: Pierce Pond Lean-to

To: Plesant Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 9.7

Day 1729/2s: Pierce Pond Lean-tof: Plesant Pond Lean-tom: 9.7w: sunnyWe woke up pretty early to make it to a breakfast we had signed up for theafternoon before. Harrison Camps is a traditional Maine hunting and fishingcamp that takes in guests and offers a breakfast to hungry hikers. Thebreakfast is fairly expensive for the portion size (12 silver dollar pancakesfor $6), but it is probably worth it if you are hungry. Yardsale, Oly and I allsigned up for the breakfast and were told to "be there by 7:30 sharp". We gotthere within plenty of time and watched the many (over ten) hummingbirds aroundthe porch feeders while we ate. Oly gave Yardsale and I two of his pancakeseach and we were thankful for the extra food.After breakfast, Yardsale and I climbed on this boulder near the camp for aboutan hour until we had to leave to make it to the Kennebec River ferry beforeeleven. We actually had to move pretty quickly in order to get there on timeand we ended up doing the necessary three miles in forty-five minutes. The Kennebec River is about one hundred feet wide and pretty deep in certainspots. The primary problem accompanied with fording the river, however, is thefact that it is dam-controlled and, thus, the water level can raise dramaticlyat any time. The ATC contracts a shuttle service to paddle hikers across theriver since one hiker died trying to ford the river and others have had closecalls. Due to the recent rain, the river was still at a pretty high level todayand I was glad to have the shuttle.Yardsale and I were the last hikers to be shuttled across during the morning andferryman Dean gave us a ride to chief ferryman Steve's store to resupply. Wemade some phone calls from the store and gathered some food for the next fewdays. Steve did us the reat favor of grilling up some hamburgers and hotdogsfor lunch and we had our fill. I ate four big hamburgers and two hotdogs beforeI threw in the towel. Dean gave us a ride back to the trail and, after a quickstop at the post office, we were off. The bugs were the worst they've been in amonth over the next section as we had descended to a lower elevation. I becamefrustrated when trying to precariously avoid stepping in ankle-deep puddleswhile simultaneously tending to the mosquito that was relentlessly buzzing in myear. Aside from the bugs, though, the last few miles of the day went by prettyquickly with almost no elevation change.We arrived at the shelter to find John and Donna, Radio and Krazy Katie, Adam(Uberhiker), and Oly. Everyone except Oly went to the pond for a swim and Ijumped in despite the turbid and turbulant water and the overcast sky. Thispond was fairly developed and the human presence had made a remarkably negativeimpact on all aspects of the landscape. It saddened me to see such apotentially pristine place so hurt by human habitation. I built a fire in orderto cook my dinner since I had neglected to by fuel in town and several folks sataround the warm evening glow until after dark.
Date: 2005-09-03
From: Plesant Pond Lean-to

To: Moxie Bald Lean-to
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Day 1739/3s: Plesant Pond Lean-tof: Moxie Bald Lean-tom: 13.1w: sunshine, lolliepops and rainbowsI woke up early to the sound of Oly's bearbell; I must be part bear becausethose things drive me crazy. Yardsale, Uberhiker and I all got a late startthis morning. We climbed a pretty big hill early on and then descended to MoxiePond. The pond wasn't all that noice for swimming as we had hoped it would be,so we didn't bother. We did, however, get pretty wet when we crossed theflooded river that fed into Moxie Pond. The water level was well past theknees, but the current wasn't particularly strong. I was dragging today and part of me really wanted to stop at the first shelter. But after we arrived at the shelter and had a nice break I was ready to goagain. We climbed up Moxie Bald and recieved our first view of Mount Katahdin. It is pretty strange to be able to see the end of the journey in the distancewhile there is still over one hundred miles left to hike, but it wes somewhatrewarding as well. I don't really know how to describe my feelings at thismoment.Yardsale and I arrived at the shelter to find no company. We sat by the pondfora while with hopes of seeing a moose, but we only saw a lone kayaker. Butchpaddled toward us and we talked for a while. Yardsale and I built a fire andcooked some dinner. Sleep came easily tonight and was well appreciated.
Date: 2005-09-04
From: Moxie Bald Lean-to

To: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 1749/4s: Moxie Bald Lean-tof: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-tom: 8.9w: beautifulI woke up somewhat eary this morning and went to sit by the pond to look formoose and read. I didn't find any moose, but I did enjoy the quiet time on thisbeautiful sunday morning. I ate breakfast, read some more and did othermiscelaneous chores before Yardsale and Ileft the shelter around eleven in themorning. Pac-Man, Radio, Krazy Katie and Uberhiker showed up before we left, sowe all set out together. The miles went by pretty fast and we were only slowed down by two substantialriver crossings. At the first of these crossings, Krazy Katie fell down,soaking the bottom portion of her pack and dropping one of her trekking poles. The fall didn't seem to phase her though, as she quickly scurried ashore,dropped her pack and plunged back into the water with absolute determination toretrieve her pole that was escaping downstream. The whole sight was prettyamazing. I made it across this ford without incident, but it didn't quitematter since my shoes were soon soaked with mud from all the ankle-deep puddleswe crossed afterward. The second ford actually came as a relief since it gaveme an opportunity to clean my shoes, socks and feet. We all arrived at the shelter pretty early, but Yardsale and I planned to keephiking after a break. We hung out for a while, built a fire and cooked dinneron the fire over the course of a couple of hours. We started hiking againaround six-thirty in the evening and went pretty quickly for about two miles. At that point, Yardsale realized that he had left his sunglasses at the shelter. We discused our options and decided that it would be best to just return to theshelter for the night. So we backtracked to the shelter, looked for Yardsale'ssunglasses in the dark to no avail and went to sleep.
Date: 2005-09-05
From: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 1759/5s: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-tof: Monson, MEm: 9.0w: beautifulYardsale woke up to look for his sunglasses but he was unable to find them. Westarted hiking pretty early in order to get ME 15 in time to hitch in and out ofboth Greenville and Monson. Yardsale, Radio, Krazy Katie, Uberhiker and I alldecided that it was too expensive to spend the night in town when we could justas easily camp by close to the road and spend the money we save on food. So weall agreed to meet back around the road crossing at the end of the day.The hiking was pretty easy except for the massive amount of mud puddles thatlittered the trail and caused me to slip and slide in every possible direction. I soaked my shoes with mud, spent quite a while cleaning them in a stream beforetown and then slipped off of a bog log and soaked both my shoes and my shortswith mud. I was not a happy camper at this point and I just wanted to get totown.I emerdged from the woods to find Yardsale talking to a guy who said he wouldgive us a ride to Greenville. I went back into the woods and changed into myrain pants before we left so as not to dirty this guy's truck.The guy who gave us a ride to town was named Keneao Kid and he was waiting atthe road for Radio and Krazy Katie. Keneao Kid had met them in Georgia andseemed excited to be able to see them again. Keneao Kid dropped us off at thegrocery store and we bought loads of food for the 100-mile wilderness. Weplanned on taking seven fifteen-mile days to get from Monson to Abol Bridgeincluding a five-mile side trip on the Gulf Hagas Trail. My food bag was morefull than it had ever been when we left the grocery store. We ate some icecream and yogart and got to the business of hitching out of town.The hitch out of town proved to be more difficult than expected and we waitedalmost an hour to get a ride just back to the trail. Once at the trailcrossing, we got a ride into Monson very quickly and soon met the other threeoutside of the general store. They had arranged to sleep in the grass lawnbehind the store and the store owner told Yardsale and I that we could do thesame. We set up our tents and went on a hunt for some dinner.The only resturant-esque establishment in town that was open on Labor Dayevening was the MobileGas station which served pizza. We put in an order for two large pizzas andmade some phone calls during the wait. The pizza was actually very good andseveral other hikers arrived and had pizza as well. We hung out at the gasstation picnic table with Radio and Krazy Katie, Uberhiker, John and Donna,Critter and Kaneao Kid until it was time to go to sleep. I slept horribly dueto all sorts of wierd town noises and an overly-full stomach.
Date: 2005-09-06
From: Monson, ME

To: Long Pond Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 15.1

Day 1769/6s: Monson, MEf: Long Pond Brook Lean-tom: 15.1w: beautifulI woke up to a tarp soaked with dew and condensation. Everyone else seemed tohave the same problem and we all hung our shelters out to dry while we went tothe post office. I sent my bounce bag (no longer a box) home since I will notneed it again before I finish. Keneao Kid met the five of us along with a guynamed Rabbit at the post office and took us into Greenville where someresupplied but where Yardsale and I just bought breakfast. After a quick stopat the outfitter where Keneao Kid works, we went to the trail. It was pretty exciting starting the 100-mile wilderness; so much so that it made me forget that I was carrying seven days of food for a while. Early on in the day we passed a number of ponds that were all quite scenic but were not properly stocked with moose. I will have to remember to talk with the MATC about this problem.We passed by Little Wilson Falls which were really beautiful, but the bottom ofthe falls was deep in a gorge and was inaccesable from where the trail brushedup against the waterfall. However, the trail crossed the stream furtherdownstream so I decided to try to follow the river upstream to the base of thefalls. The gorge closed in pretty quickly and created for some relatively swift water and a cold environment. I found myself swimming upstream and climbing up short rock walls along the sides of smaller waterfalls all to reach this currently invisible destination. I made my way through some very interesting terrain, but was ultimately thwarted by a twenty-foot waterfall with sheer rock faces on both sides. So I swam visciously to the base of that waterfall, touched the wall and turned around to begin making my way back downstream. The trip back provided some challenges as well, especially since I was shivering heavily and, thus, having to work particularly hard to control my body. By God's grace, I made it back to the trail without incident and I was quickly able to get warm again. Yardsale and Uberhiker were at the stream and I recounted my adventure to them; I don't think they appreciated theenjoyment, intensity and interesting marriage of these two characteristics.The rest of the day involved two more fun river crossings, both of which werecharacterized by somewhat swift and deep water. The five of us arrived at theshelter together just after dark and we were happy to find it empty. We atedinner, enjoyed the relief from our particularly heavy packs and went to sleep.
Date: 2005-09-07
From: Long Pond Stream Lean-to

To: West Branch of Pleasant River
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

Day 1779/7s: Long Pond Stream Lean-tof: West Branch of Pleasant Riverm: 15.3w: warmEveryone in the shelter arose at about the same time in the morning, but Radioand Krazy Katie got moving before Uberhiker, yardsale and me. The three of usstragglers went down to Long Pond Stream and went for a brisk morning swim below a waterfall to get the blood flowing. Uberhiker actually just watched while Yardsale and I tested the mighty waters of the somewhat flooded waterfall that time and again drove us downstream. Such exercises serve as nice ways to wake up in the morning - more exciting than coffee and healthier as well.We had some difficult miles ahead of us today and the dificulty beganimmediately as we started climbing Barren Mountain. Third, Fourth, Columbas and Chairback Mountain all followed with steep ups and downs in between each. I started out walking pretty slow but picked up the pace by the afternoon. Ithink it was Third Mountain that had a particularly nice summit; it was aclassic transition from chugging along uphill through the trees and up and overrocks to breaking forth out onto a flat open summit that affords spectacularviews. Such summits make the climb so much more rewarding and climactic.I forded the West Branch of the Plesant River late in the afternoon only to find out that camping was prohibited for the next two miles of trail. So I told the others not to cross and we camped just south of the river crossing. Uberhiker, Yardsale and I all camped together a couple hundred yards south while Radio and Krazy Katie camped in the middle of a tourist trail leading to the river. The three of us stayed up for a while and talked about the meaning of life.