morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-06-25
From: Waynesboro

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

June 25th, Day 43th, 1st Zero DayRest time.After a late night thunderstorm we woke up dry and hot, and the weather promised to hold and make it a hot day. Sort of glad I'm not hiking in it.First stop was the shower at the YMCA to get cleaned up, followed by a visit to the library. The library here is awesome, and they actually let me get a library card for $3 so I dont have to bother with picking up a visitors pass every time and I can check out books to take back to read with me at the campsite. I figured I would be using their services so much in the next few days (and didnt want them to go to the trouble of making change for my $20 from $3) so I accompanied the payment with a $17 donation to the library, as well as the donation of a book I bought from Kroger yesterday and finished before noon.The afternoon was bland as it consisted of mostly hanging around the campsite and all the characters that are there. Lots of interesting hikers tend to congregate at the free stay places and here is no exception. I'll probably be spending most of the next few days to myself reading by my hammock or up in the library as there is more of a party crowd here that I dont usually get along with too well. Different priorities I guess.I got in touch with my mum and it looks like my family will be driving through on their way south on either Friday or Saturday, so I'll be here til Saturday morning. Still not a bad town to stay in.I shot texts out to the guys and Hog should be getting into the campsite later tonight while Crank should be getting in Thursday or Friday depending on how hard he wants to push. It'll be nice to catch up with them.Other than that life is uneventful. Zero days are super boring, even with books to pass the time. I dont know how people can do these so regularly and be content. The achillies/ankle still feels the same, a touch of soreness and a touch of swelling. Still painful on the downhill. I'm definitely locked in here for the next few days. Time to do gear reviews!
Date: 2013-06-26
From: Waynesboro

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

June 26th, Day 44th, 2nd Zero DayGoodness these zero days are boring. I've been reading through books so fast I dont know what else to do with myself. Today was much more interesting as Hog was in town and I joined him as well as The Voice and Jayhawk at the Chinese buffet for brunch. It was nice to hang out with Hog again and The Voice and Jayhawk were some pretty cool guys. The Voice was saying he met Crank on the trail (apparently his introduction was walking into a shelter shirtless up to the picnic table where everyone was and saying "They call me Crank. Because I Crank out the miles" lol) and that Crank had been talking me up like I do all these thirty plus mile days. Not the worst trail reputation I guess.After Hog and them left it was another quiet afternoon at the library. While computing and updating all the gear stuff a big afternoon rainstorm rolled through and while I was pretty sure I had left my camp waterproofed there is always that bit of doubt. Luckily everything was under my tarp and dry when I made it back after the rain moved on. Gotta remember to batten down the hatches!The evening was uneventful. More reading, and hanging out a bit with Soul Flute and Turtle who arrived at the camp today. Soul Flute set up his hammock next to mine and Walker (I'm not 100% sure thats his name) and we had our little Hennessy Hammock camp as the three of us hung in a triangle from three trees. After staying up way too late reading (curse you Clive Cussler and your continuous cliffhangers!) I called it a night with hopes of sleeping in tomorrow that will probably be dashed by the cursed bright morning sun.
Date: 2013-06-27
From: Waynesboro

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

June 27th, Day 45, 3rd Zero DayUuurrrgghhhhh these are boring. I switched from fiction to non-fiction books because I was blowing through them too fast. Jared Diamond recently released a book about the evolution of societal norms and things we take for granted as common behaviors and how they differ between present society and past traditional hunter-gatherer or early farmer type societies. Nice and dry, takes more time to read, and lots of interesting points.Today Crank came into town with Joe Cool so it was nice to see them. We went to my favorite Chinese buffet (3rd time!) and ate and ate. It was nice to see him again, and at the pace he is going he should be catching up to Hog by the 4th of July. At the camp things have changed as a new group of party-happy campers rolled out. Booze and buds all getting passed around, not exactly my scene. They probably think I'm a quite antisocial recluse who just reads all day. Not the worst reputation. Rabbit also caught up and I tried to make amends but he was too far out of it and probably didnt even recognize me from before. Oh well.Tomorrow will be my last full zero day in Waynesboro and I'm thinking of doing some walking around. More self-applied medical diagnosis has concluded it was just a really high oddly located ankle sprain rather than anything with the achillies which is good news. Even better is that its healing up very well, so I'll definitely be able to start the SOBO hike. I just need to make sure I dont lose that edge over the next week. Theres probably a few 3 hour dayhikes in my future to fill up my zero days.The longer I sit in camp the more anxious I get to be back on the trail. It feels weird to not be hiking. I can feel the changes in my body and rhythms as I've been eating and drinking less, get as little as 7 hours of sleep but still wake up feeling great, etc. I gotta get back to hiking.
Date: 2013-07-12
From: Stealth Camp at Barren Mountain Summit

To: Shaws Hostel in Monson
Miles today: 18.0

July 12, day 6. Stealth camp at Barren mountain summit to Shaws hostel in monson.out of the woods and back to civilization!Wow last night was cold. Guesstimate temps in the high 40s but that wind whipping through kept things real chilly. I still had a few spare clothes I didn't put on but it was close. I took advantage of the lack of clouds and my mountain perch to set an alarm for 1am to catch a look at the stars and they were breathtaking. No light pollution and you could see thousands and thousands of them. Amazing.Got an early wakeup at 5 30 and started hiking by 6 as we looked to make it to monson by dinner. For me the days hiking was uneventful though I did manage to slip ankle deep into some mud. The trail was a pretty standard up and down with some views, a waterfall, roots, rocks, and mud. Woodys knee was hurting real bad though particularly for the second half of day so we took it at a pretty slow pace.The fords were easy, 1 of them was a rock hop while the others were real mild. At some point in the afternoon me and woody both got stung on the back of our left calves by hornets which hurt like a bitch. sting twinsies! Still no moose sightings Eventually we made it to monson at 5 and were able to get a ride into town from the trail head from the father of a kid who was hiking and had some more time before he showed up. In monson we got a place at Shaws hostel and got some bbq at the local bbq place which was pretty tasty. After that was showers, laundry, and nice chillin. So good to be clean. I need a haircut, it gets too hot and dirty.tomorrow morning is an ayce breakfast followed by a resupply for the 75 mile hike to Stratton. 4 days. Not bad. Can't wait to eat. Then its back to the trail for some more hiking.me and woody came up with the trail name dookie monster, and have both been trying to pass it on to the other. I hope it sticks with him.
Date: 2013-07-13
From: Shaws Hostel in Monson

To: Moxie Shelter
Miles today: 18.0

July 13th, day 7. Shaws hostel in monson to moxie shelter.Easiest hiking day ever.The morning started pleasantly with a bit of sleeping in followed by Shaws massive tasty breakfast. after a resupply at the local gas station (lots of junk food in my diet for the next few days) we got shuttled back to the trailhead at 10 30, I said goodbye to woody, and set off on my hike.It was a beautiful warm sunny day which made for lovely hiking. the trail was super flat all day, which made for even better hiking. We seriously didn't gain/lose more than 1000 feet in elevation over the course of the 18 mile day, and the trail just rolled by. The three fords (one of which was not listed in the guidebook, surprise!) Were all easy. Super easy hiking day.Despite that I still managed to mess it up. Twice I got muddied, once whenI stepped on a log that splashed a wave of much up my leg and later when I went ankle deep after a misstep on a balancing log. bleh. I also felt some twinges in my left knee so that's something to keep an eye on. Also a bag of granola in my food bag exploded coating everything in a nice granola dust.There's alot of hikers here but I've been unusually terrible with names. There's the guy from Clemson who was at Shaws last night, a Spanish speaking couple (she's from Madrid, he's from Connecticut) that I hiked with for a while that were also at Shaws, and mdot, an older thru who recently retired who I talked gear with at one of the fordings as we sat around drying off afterwards. And surprise of all surprises, woody caught up! That rascally badger! He said the hiking was so easy he just kept moving along.my original plan of 18, 22, 22, 14 to get to Stratton is out the window as the kennebec ferry complicates things. 19.5 miles from where I am now is the kennebec river, too deep and swift to be forded so instead you have to rely on the ferry that runs at 10 am ish and 3 pm ish. I don't think I can do the 20 miles by 3pm tomorrow unless I wake up at 5 (and miss another night of full beauty sleep) so instead I'll sleep in and hike into caratunk, a tiny trail town just before the ferry, and spend the night there. The next morning will then be sleeping in followed by the morning ferry. Not bad. After that two 19 days gets me in to Stratton no problem.While today was easy it was also pretty boring. Tomorrow looks to be pretty flat plus 2 mountain climbs to break up the day. shouldn't be a bad hiking day.
Date: 2013-07-17
From: Stafford Notch Campsite

To: Stratton Motel
Miles today: 10.0

Day 11, July 17th. Stafford notch campsite to Stratton motel. 10 miles. Time of plenty Great hiking day. hot and sunny with a high of 97, but we spend a good portion of the hiking day running the ridgeline so we had some good breezes. Lots of nice summits above the treeline today with gorgeous views from Avery, bigelow, and the horns. Woody took some ibuprofen and we raced into town. Our good luck continued as after less than 3 minutes at the trail head as we were just about to head out to the road to stick up our thumbs an empty shuttle pulled in and gave us a cheap ride to Stratton.The hostel there was nice, nothing amazing. computer access/wifi, laundry, showers, bunk room, the regular deal. With the two of us out of food we dropped our packs and headed over to the citgo to eat a big late lunch, as we had heard good things about the place. We both got their tasty cheesesteak subs and shared some poutine since woody had never had it before. Because of the train disaster up in Montreal they were out of cheese curds so we had to settle for mozzarella, but it was still tasty. Its shocking to think that the trail in Maine is was closer to Canada than to it is to the Atlantic. No lobster for hikers After a good resupply at the little grocery store it was time for the chilling to begin. This time woody actually bought enough food and was shocked at how much it all weights. The price of not being hungry! Throughout the day more hikers trickled in until eventually breeze (who had been getting a fair amount of crap from some of the guys but put up with it really well), m dot, jarrell (sp?, formerly known as Dr evil), rerun, peter, and uno and live simply (renamed Mr. majestic by woody) showed up. We were also joined by Ian, the caretaker for the bigelow mountain range, delta, a sobo thru who studies at university of Cincinnati, an old section hiker who looked like John Glenn so we called him John Glenn, and another section hiker who is an astro physicist. Cool crowd. Some hit the sauce hard at the pub while most of us chilled around in the living room. I picked up a 2 liter of rootbeer and some ice cream so we could dig in to some rootbeer floats.Not a bad day. Good views, good hiking, good food, and good people.
Date: 2013-07-18
From: Stratton Motel

To: Spaulding Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.5

Day 12, July 18th. Stratton motel to Spalding mountain shelter. 13.5 miles. The day got off to a lazy start as I chatted with some friends back home on Facebook. Eventually enough people woke up and a bunch of us headed across the street to the diner for breakfast. nothing amazing, and kinda overpriced too. after breakfast we took care of more business as woody ordered some shoes to be shipped ahead on the trail and gave his poles to an Austrian kid who was having knee trouble. Guess he really is a nice guy after all, despite all the times he threatened to jab me with those poles for sassing him too much. I was able to handle some apartment application paperwork stuff so hopefully I'll have a place to live in the fall. after initially deciding to throw my caribiners in the hiker box due to their heavy weight I decided instead to slip one into woodys pack maybe it will slow him down some.At 11 30 we finally got everything wrapped up, said goodbye to everyone since it is unlikely we'll be seeing them again with our 4 day 70 mile hike to Andover, and headed out to the road to begin to hitch back to the trail. Before we even got to the spot where we were going to stick out our thumbs a guy pulled over, asked if we were hiking the trail, and offered us a ride to the trail. The incredible streak of lucky hitches continues! He was in town at a high pointers convention that was looking to climb the highest mountain in each county in Maine. Pretty cool stuff.The hiking was tough with lots of hard uphills and downhills, but nothing crazy over the top. we pushed pace and did close to 14 miles in 7 hours, about the usual hiking day pace but not over this sort of terrain with 2 nice long breaks. No really good views today which was a disappointment, but you can't win em all.the shelter had an amazing water source which was nice and after chores and eating and Bearbagging and all that we retreated to our hammocks to do some writing. its raining fairly hard (which is welcome, its been super dry) and there's been thunder but our sites are pretty good. I do wish I had put a bit more effort into putting up my crappy too-small tarp since there is a bit of sag in the middle, but oh well. Woody will just make fun of me in the morning. I also told him about the carabiner and after done disbelief he claimed that's why he had been going so slow and I was still able to keep up hopefully I don't get too wet, but its looking like a cold night up at 3000 feet.Tomorrow is going to be a big day, I'm gonna try to push 22 miles with an earlier 6 30 start, but if we have to stop to dry stuff out or put away super wet stuff in the morning that all might change. We'll see. Until then its time to fall asleep to the sounds of a rare Maine rainstorm. Goodnight!
Date: 2013-07-21
From: Stealth Camp south of Clearwater Brook Trail Inter

To: Pine Ellis Hostel in Andover
Miles today: 5.5

Day 15th, July 21st. Stealth camp south of Clearwater Creek Trail intersection to Pine Ellis Hostel. 5.5 miles.Leisurely dayWe got off to a slow start in the chilly morning up on the mountain. Everything that was wet the night before was still wet, and everything else was damp. To top it all off a half dozen slugs decided to make my shoes their new home. Sticky icky! Neither of us wanted to get up and start hiking so we wound up not hitting the trail until a bit after 7 after spending more than 12 hours in our hammocks. 10 and a half hours of sleep is awesome!Because of the late start, dampness, and woodys knee acting up we unilaterally agreed at the top of old blue mountain that we would just make it down the hill and take the first road into Andover rather than pushing for a 16 mile day. On the way we ran into a nice nobo thru, rock steady, who started his hike mid April at a 4 month pace. Respect. When we made it to the road our hitching luck ran out and it took us half an hour to get ride into town. Unusually, the car that stopped to take us in was a nice Audi with leather seats driven by a German couple. As they rounded the corner I was certain they were just going to fly past, but they proved me wrong!There isn't much going on in the town of Andover but we got lunch at a nice little diner, including a while raspberry pie that I wound up eating a majority of. After checking in to the hostel, showering, throwing a load of laundry in the wash, and hanging my quilt and pad out to dry we moseyed back to the general store to resupply, catch the last 30 minutes of the USA - El Salvador Gold Cup soccer match, and order some dinner. I went with the chowder and lobster roll, because I figured I was in Maine so I should eat Maine food.The evening was chill. David, one of the proprietors of pine Ellis, gave woody a haircut while drinking a beer which was amusing. Luckily it was just a straight buzz which is hard to mess up. Woody is always happiest in towns where he can clean up and smell good and hygiene and stuff.
Date: 2013-07-22
From: Pine Ellis Hostel in Andover

To: Baldpate Shelter
Miles today: 18.0

Day 16, July 22nd. Pine Ellis Hostel to Baldpate Shelter. 18 miles.Half way there!We were signed up for the 7 30 shuttle so I squeezed as much sleep time out of the morning as I could. Real beds are so comfy. At some point I did manage to wave my arms around, snag a hold of the cord leading to an alarm clock on a little shelf above the bed, and bring the while thing crashing down on my head. Ouch.Like all the Maine days this one had mountains, rocks, roots, and mud. There was one cool waterfall through a deep gorge we stopped at for lunch, and when we climbed baldpate mountain it was a neat climb above the tree line over big stretches of bedrock while surrounded by clouds. We decided to call it at 6pm at the shelter on the other side of the mountain for a solid 18 mile day. The plan is to get up early, like 5am early, brave the chilly morning and get past the mahoosic notch by noon, then cruise the afternoon for a 20 mile day.The mahoosic notch is a neat stretch of trail we've been looking forward to for a while. Its a massive boulder jumble a mile long that is more climbing than hiking. Hikers take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to squeeze, crawl, and clamber their way through. I'm super looking forward to it. Hopefully I don't hurt myself, because I've managed to fall 3 times today. No injuries, but I'm kicking myself for not hiking smart and cautious like I should. I know by now which roots and rocks will make me slip, I just need to not be dumb about it.I also saw two moose today, a mother with her calf that we guessed was a year old. I managed to spot them before they saw me and this time I kept my cool rather than screaming "moose!" me and woody watched them for a short bit and were able to take a video of them as they eventually ran off the trail.But above all the most exiting bit of the day was that if my math is right today I passed the half way point on the summit of baldpate. 1092.9 miles down, 1092.9 to go! I celebrated by eating a package of gummy bears, and in Gorham I'll do the thru hiker custom of eating a crap ton (I think its a gallon or half-gallon) of ice cream.Its hard to believe I'm half way through the trail. Its been an awesome summer and while I'm certainly missing out on and missing some things I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have less than 3 weeks of hiking left then its off to school and the beginning of many short section hikes to finish the middle chunk of the trail I will have left for myself.Its looking like another cold night as the sun has been hiding since about 2pm and we're up at more than 2000 feet. We figure the temps will drop to upper 40s which shouldn't be too bad, but getting up in the morning is going to take alot of will power. With the early start its time to go to bed now at 8pm. hopefully the sun sets soon and these birds shut up. Tweet tweet tweet, I get it.
Date: 2013-07-24
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Stealth Camp near Mount Hayes
Miles today: 17.0

Day 18, July 24th. Full Goose Shelter to stealth camp near Mount Hayes. 17 miles.Goodbye Maine, hello New Hampshire!The morning looked like it was going to be a beautiful day but at 6am or so a rain front moved through. Without needing to consult one another me and woody both knew (or were lazy enough) to wait out the rain. In an attempt to get some of my hiking clothes warm and dry I threw them in my hammock. Dumb move, especially since I had just talked about moisture management the night before. While they did dry out a bit it was at the cost of a damp pad and quilt. My body heat couldn't keep up with the moisture. The rain cleared out by 8 and if I had just thrown them on then and hiked they would have been warm within half an hour. Dumb.The morning was pretty dreary with solid clouds and scattered rain. The trail was normal Maine for the most part, and the day was fairly dull. At noonish we stopped for a lunch break right by the Maine-NH border, quick pitching woodys tarp to keep the rain off.The afternoon was a bit better as the rain cleared up and in the evening the sun came out to end the day on a pleasant note, though there is a rather cold breeze blowing through now. I think I'm going to pick up a thermal top and bottom baselayer in Gorham tomorrow. We found a nice rocky spot to dry everything out so our stuff is only mildly damp at the most. Feeling pretty good as we're tucked in for bed, though if this wind keeps up its going to be a chilly night. Through some good food rationing I'm in bed with a stomach full of food and enough for breakfast for me and woody tomorrow, though he's planning on waiting for McDonalds for his breakfast. Bear bagging was super easy because of how light our food bags are!For the millionth day in a row we're planning to get up and start hiking early, though this time I have an alarm set for 5 30 so it might actually happen. I think its about five miles to the road, so hopefully we can be there with our thumbs out by 8 30. For whatever reason we're both craving McDonalds breakfast, so we want to make it in before 10 30. After that will be resupply at the outfitters and Walmart, then we'll find our way over to the hostel to clean up and do laundry.So far New Hampshire has been better than Maine, though our sample size is really small. The trail has been slightly better graded, and with more mud than roots or rocks and that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. There have also been a few switchbacks already, something unheard of in Maine. I'm looking forward to the whites and all their craziness. Hopefully we get good weather, because all the views have been crap these last few days.There's been a couple of crows cawing around our campsite for a while now and I'm curious what all the ruckus is about. Oh well. As long as its not some bear warning sign I'll be okay. Since we hung on the eastern side of the hill to get nice morning sun its already getting dark at 8 15. No reason to stay up too late, especially with the prospect of a lazy town day tomorrow. Goodnight!