morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-08-15
From: Trident Col Tentsite

To: Carlo Col Shelter & Campsite
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: broken clouds

MAINE!!!! WE crossed our last border this afternoon! It was so emotional for me. I cryed and then realized how close we are to accomplishing this amazing goal. It was though sorta a low day for us and for another friend. We're sooooooooo ready to be done and the hiking just keeps looming in front of us. Bootz, myself and our friend Shadow talked about how much we'd rather being doing anything but hiking and decided it was best to hang out at the shelter for awhile and just push forward to the next one. Another short day. But the hiking in Southern Maine is kicking our butts. So many mountains and their steep and rocky.We had planned to be much further along by our second night and had only brought 4 days of food with us. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll have enough to sustain us till our next maildrop. I suspect we will not so that means we have to factor in a stop somewhere new. We talked with Bootz Aunt Carol when we were in Gorham and she lives in the Portland, ME area. She was willing to come meet us but it would need to be near one of the towns closest to the border. I began thinking that since we needed food, we could hitch a ride into Bethal or Andover and call Carol. Maybe she could meet us and then we'd get more food and a much needed visit from family. WE'll see but that maybe a great idea.We pitched our tent up inside the shelter tonight. Still afraid that their may be biting bugs out there and it appeared to be just the 3 of us. We did get 2 more hikers at the shelter really late but there was plenty of room for them on the lower level. We have pictures of the tent in the shelter that we'll post soon.Tomorrow is a big day. We hike Mahoosuc Notch and Arm. We've been hearing for ages that the notch will be the most difficult mile on the trail. Sometimes taking 2-3 hours to complete! WE usually do 2 miles per hour so this thing must be big.
Date: 2005-08-16
From: Carlo Col Shelter & Campsite

To: Old Speck Mtn
Miles today: 10.6

WE hiked 10.6 miles today and it felt like 20. I was dead tired by the end of it. But it was a fun and good day.The Mahoosuc Notch is a mile long part of the trail that is between 2 mountains. It is fairly level but the area is filled with HUGE rock boulders that you must crawl up and over to pass through the area. The recommendation is to approach the trail like it is a playground. They also recommend that you go through this area with someone because there are parts that are quite dangerous and areas that you may need help with passing your packs back and forth.True to the hype, this area was slow and fun. Amazing boulders! The size of small houses! We crawled up and over so many times. Being short, I had trouble getting over some of the areas so I often needed Bootz's help with my pack as I slid down a rock. Ripped a hole in my shorts and got a few bruises but all in all it was fun. We heard that you can see ice/snow in some of the pockets between the rocks and we did. It was nice a cool through this area too. It took us maybe 1.5 hours to make it through but it was a tough go. The really hard stuff came as we tackled Mahoosuc Arm. Basically the uphill portion to get us back on top of the mountain. Ughh, this had to be the most difficult hill we've climbed so far. Straight up and most of it was rock. I mean flat walls of rock that you would look at and say "How the heck am I supposed to climb that?". It was about a 1,600 ft climb but it felt like 3,000 to me. By the time we reached the top I was worn out! We stopped for a bite to eat and decided to push a bit further to Old Spec Mt. There was a campsite at the bottome of Old Spec but they charge an $8 per person fee to stay there. We're not into paying to camp so we saw that there was a side trail to the summit of Old Spec were there is an observation tower. WE thought there was probably a camping spot up there so we pushed to the summit. A great plan too. It was beautiful up there. We enjoyed the view from the tower. It was a nice afternoon and we had 360 degree views. Just awesome. We found a perfect camping spot, even a makeshift picnic table. We got an unexpected rain that night so our things got a bit damp but no problem. A perfect end to a very hard, long day.
Date: 2005-08-17
From: Old Speck Mtn

To: Grafton Notch (Andover)
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: clear sky

Aside from the rain we've had, the weather in Maine has been awesome. We've had no humidity, nice 60-70 degree days and cool nights. Perfect for sleeping. The hiking is so much easier in this weather. We decided to hike down to Grafton Notch (about 3.5) miles and try to get a hitch into the town of Bethel. We knew it would be a bit difficult because it is 17 miles off the trail, but not as hard as it ended up being. We tried for at least 1.5 hours with no luck. Finally a man drove up in a van who happened to be picking up another thru-hiker who was going to stay at his hostel that evening. We talked with him and decided to go into Andover instead of Bethel. The weird part about this is that if we had continued to hike today we could have made it the 10 miles to the road that leads to Andover. Now we'll go to Andover and have to come back to Grafton Notch. WE called Bootz's Aunt as soon as we arrived and she said she would drive up to take us to dinner! WE went to the local gas station/short order grill for lunch and our much needed grocery items. We stayed at the Pine Ellis B&B with Paul and Irene. They are so nice. WE had showers and did laundry. Carol arrived around 7pm and we went to the nearby town of Rumsford for dinner. Luckily we arrived just in time because the dinner place we chose, THe Chicken Coop, closed at 8pm! WE convinced them that hikers have big appetites so we were able to have a great dinner. It was great to see Carol. We'll be going to her home the night we finish the trail before heading back to NC.
Date: 2005-08-18
From: Grafton Notch (Andover)

To: Surplus Pond
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: broken clouds

We got up early and went to the Andover General Store for breakfast. We had heard from our friend Choo Choo that they served great pancakes. I'm always in the mood for pancakes. These were amazing. Huge for one but so tasty and cheap. 3 blueberry pancakes, choice of meat, and coffee for $3.95!! We couldn't finish them either because they were so big.WE headed back to the trail. The hike was great. We went over Bald Plate Mt. Mostly above treeline so the views were amazing. Maine is beautiful and you can see for miles. Unlike other areas we've been to you hardly see a road much less civilization. We planned to go 16 miles or so and were making good time. WE stopped to get some water near the road into Andover. As Bootz began to pump the water, the water filter broke. The handle snapped up near the top making the water filter useless. Luckily we were near the road. We decided to hitch back into Andover, return to the B&B to use the phone and get a new filter sent to us. The day was kinda like the movie Groundhog Day. WE found ourselves repeating things. WE called REI and they were great to send us a new filter overnight to the next town, RAngeley. I sent the broken one to Mom and we'll return it for a refund when we get home. Until then we'll use Iodine tablets to purify our water. Since we were in town that meant another meal at the grill. We made it back to the trail around 6pm so we couldn't make it 6 more miles. WE settled for 2.1 and camped near a pond. It was a pleasant evening though.
Date: 2005-08-19
From: Surplus Pond

To: Bemis Stream
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: few clouds

As you can see by the mileage we've stepped it up a notch. We had not planned on going this far today but by lunch time we were both sick of climbing mountains and we knew from looking at an elevation map that just passed Bemis mountains it was fairly level into Rangely. So an a whim we decided to just do it as the saying goes and push out a 20 miler. That would get us passed the mountains and maybe into Rangeley by noon on Saturday. It was really a pretty good hike and we were glad to push out the 20 miles. It helped us to get out of the funk we were in with the low miles we'd been hiking. We met a nice southbound hiker who let us know that if we didn't get to Rangeley in time to pick up our maildrop the next day, we could wait until Stratton and the folks there would drive us back. That was perfect because we could stay the night in Rangeley but hike out the next day, not wait until sometime Monday when the filter arrived. Also we wouldn't have to carry the extra weight of food from our mail drop and instead us that for supplies to get us from Stratton to Caratunk.
Date: 2005-08-20
From: Bemis Stream

To: Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: light rain

We pushed hard today and made it to town by 11:45. I think that is a record for the number of miles by noon. The terrain was great and it was easy to get there. Since we didn't need to get to the PO by noon, it really was not a big rush. We still haven't seen a moose. Everyone says they are everywhere in Maine. How simple our life is, all we want is to find a moose!! We got a hitch into town just as it started to rain. We stayed at the Gull Pond Lodge. Bob, the owner is super nice. He shuttles folks everywhere they want to go. He also lets you use his kitchen so after we had lunch we gave him a call for a ride. He brought us by the grocery store where we picked up a few supplies plus the fixings for dinner. We basically hung around his place all afternoon. A few other hikers arrived. We made a great dinner and relaxed.
Date: 2005-08-21
From: Rangeley, ME

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

Our plan was to hike out early this morning. Well, we awoke to pouring rain. Bootz and I looked at eachother and said "No way!". We learned our lesson last week when we left in the rain. Bootz's boots are falling apart. He has worn them for the entire trip, plus they were 3 years old when we started. They have been great but the soles have slowly been ripping. He tried new boots in NJ but got tendonitis so he went back to his old ones. Well as we came into Rangeley yesterday, he ripped open the bottoms really bad. There is no way he can hike on them without a repair. We took a ride with Bob to a hardware store and Bootz got some 'Shoe Goo'. This will be this first product he'll use to try and fix his shoes.Although we didn't want to zero today, we did. We relaxed, purchased some more food to make for dinner and fixed his boots. Tomorrow we'll head out for Stratton.
Date: 2005-08-22
From: Rangeley, ME

To: Spaulding Mtn Lean-to
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: few clouds

WE got a late start for us, 9am, but the day was great. The weather was awesome, clear blue skies and great visibility. We hiked up Saddleback Mtn. You may know this one because it is a big ski resort. Man the views were great! Most of the top portion of this mountain and the 2 that follow are above treeline so the views are 360 degrees. They say you can see Katahdin from here and I think we did but then again we don't really know what it looks like so who knows! We could also see Mt WAshington! I'm glad we waited to hike today. We decided to do 18 miles so that we can make up for the time lost yesterday. We are sooooooo close to being finished and we need to be to Katahdin by Sept. 6 when my brother and mom are planning to meet us. Plus our 1 yr anniversary is on Sunday Aug 28th and we'd like to be to Monson so we can celebrate. WE made it with no problem to the shelter. Tomorrow we'll get to Stratton by early afternoon. Bootz's boots aren't holding up too well with the patch he made yesterday. Who knows what he'll do next. It is such a bummer being so close to the end. WE saw our first Moose!!! As we came pretty close to the shelter we came up on a mother moose and her calf. How cool! They were so close to use too, like 20 ft away. We got lots of pictures. They are huge animals with bodies more like horses but faces like cows. We also had the greatest water source at this shelter. The water came straight out of the side of the mountain and had to be 40 degrees. It made your hands numb. This is the great thing about being out here, we find the simple things give us the most pleasure. LIke seeing a moose and having really cold water. WE'll miss those simple pleasures.
Date: 2005-08-23
From: Spaulding Mtn Lean-to

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light rain

I forgot to mention in the last entry that we stayed in the shelter, without our tent, for the first time in ages. The bugs are gone at higher elevations. It was nice but a snorer kept us up a bit.We had a few climbs today but nothing too bad. Luckily by the time we crossed those, the last 5 miles into town were basically downhill or fairly flat. The AT has a way of sometimes bringing you over useless hills. And by this time we're sick of that. A fellow thru-hiker made the anology of these last few weeks of hiking to those of the last couple of weeks of the school year. He said, "It's like the teacher is done teaching but the year is not over, so she makes you copy over the words from the glossary that you've used all year!" So for us we're buying time, crossing over mountains that we've done plenty of already just pushing miles to the big K.We can't believe though that in 2 weeks we'll be finished. It takes my breath away. We made it to Stratton by 1pm. Got a ride to the hostel and Bootz took a ride to Rangeley to get our maildrop. WE had a bit of a mix up with our water filter but it did arrive in Rangeley and Bob brought it over to us. We had access to a kitchen so we bought steak and potatoes to cook for dinner. OUr next stop, just to pick up a maildrop, is Caratunk and then to Monson. We hope to b there by SUnday. That will be the last place we can access email before the end. Thanks to everyone for your support and kind thoughts in the guest book. We are doing great, excited to be nearing the end and ready (we think!) to come home. We know that we've changed over the course of the last 5.5 months, not sure how much but we've certainly find that out as we adjust to being back home.
Date: 2005-08-28
From: East Branch of Piscataquis River

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: moderate rain

We spent a relaxing anniversary in a town nearby Monson named Greenville. We heard from a couple of other hikers that Greenville had a few more services and places to eat/stay. When we got into Monson we were lucky to catch the BBQ place while it was open. We had heard many good reports about their food and they are only open Thurs-Sunday. We actually got there when they were serving breakfast so we started off with a nice morning meal. It took some time to prepare, I guess the locals like to chat but it was a real taste of Maine. After breakfast we headed out to find a phone to call a woman who may be able to shuttle us to Greenville. We stopped at the General Store and they let me use their phone. I couldn't get in touch with her but we did run into a group of men who were visiting the area on a hunting trip. Bootz asked if they were heading to Greenville and one offered to give us a ride. Great!! They had strong southern accents so I knew they weren't from around the area. It was neat to find out they were from Eastern Tennessee and were familiar with the areas we had hiked there. So we made it to Greenville and found a great place to stay at a Bed & Breakfast close to the downtown area. It was a charming place that looked out onto the Moosehead Lake. We showered and then headed out for another MEAL! Bootz has been very hungry and the morning breakfast only made a dent in his appetite. We met a lady who told us about a great local diner place called Auntie M's. We walked there and had a great meal. Bootz ordered 2 meals - a full omelet breakfast and a full hamburger lunch with a milkshake. Now his belly felt better.It rained most of the day but that didn't stop us from doing our errands and relaxing. I went to the laundrymat to find out that I could only wash our clothes because their dryers were full. Oh well, I guess I'll sweet talk the lady at the B&B and ask her to use their dryer. We went to a great local place for dinner - Flatlanders. WE enjoyed talking with a mother and son who were in the area on vacation before he went for his first year at college. All in all a great anniversary!
Date: 2005-08-29
From: Monson, ME

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

WE got a late start today. The trail is near Monson so we needed to find another ride back there. We also had our last maildrop in MOnson so we needed to get those supplies and send a few final items home that we would not need for the rest of the trip. Since we will be heading into a long strech without resupply locations we will be carrying more food than usual. We want to keep our packs a light as we can so sending home extra stuff is a good idea. I called a few people for rides and set up something with an older gentleman who was coming to Greenville for errands. The only thing was that he couldn't pick us up until noon. That means a pretty late start. We actually ended up meeting our trail friend Swifty who is from Greenville and was in town recoverying from strep throat. He and our friend Raj were a few days ahead of us and when they got to Monson Swifty got sick and had to rest for a few days. He brought us to Monson and then back to the trail.We started out around 1:30pm in the rain. Although I hate starting in the rain, we're so close to the end that we had no other options. NO more zero days. We made it to the first shelter around 4 miles out and rested for a bit. We debated staying since it was raining and most of our stuff was still dry. But we decided it was better to stick with the scheduled 10 miles so that we wouldn't have to make up that 6 miles. We hoped to have room in the shelter but when we got there after dark it was packed. Oh well, although it was still raining we were okay with putting up the tent. We quickly got settled, made dinner and got some sleep. We stayed dry and most of our things were stored in the shelter where they stayed dry too.
Date: 2005-08-30
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Cloud Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: overcast clouds

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. It appears that we won't be getting away from it today. And as you can see we didn't make it too far either. Today was tough. In Maine the trail crosses several rivers that require you to sometimes was through the water to cross, or ford. Well with the increase in rain, we now have pretty full rivers. We knew there were 3 rivers to ford in the first 4 miles today. The thing we didn't expect was how strong the current would be and how dangerous the rivers would be to cross. By 1pm we had finally made it across the last of the 3 fords and were exhausted. The first one wasn't too bad. Just deep and strong but passable. The second ford was much worse. There was a group of 6 of us and we spent at least 1 hour scouring the river banks for the 'best' place to cross. Our friend Juniper tried a few times and fell over into the river. Bootz did a great job at helping to find a good spot and eventually we all made it across. He went first, dropped his pack and then went back into the river to the most dangerous area with strong rapids. He planted himself and then helped steady/pull us across as we got to that spot. By the third river we were all soaked. It was still raining, we were fording the rivers in our boots, why bother taking them off when everything is wet. This ford was really tough. Almost impassable. WE must had walked the banks for 2 hours before we settled on a spot to cross. I can't even express how stressful and uncomfortable this experience was. But we had no real choice. It was either pitch the tent for a couple of days or cross the river and make it to a shelter. We ended up deciding on crossing at the location marked by the AT. It wasn't very good but again, Bootz went first and our friend Spartacus tried another route. He also got across and the two of them made a chain to help others across. Spartacus anchored himself to the shore, then Bootz stationed himself in a rapid, we'd come across and they would drag us toward the shore. I was crying by the end because this was stressful. But we all made it across!We went to the shelter and ate lunch. At that time we'd only gone 4 miles. We had to get a few more in and luckily the next shelter was only a little over 4 miles away so that was our goal for the day.It continued to rain the entire time. WE hate going far off the trail to a shelter and this one was .4 off. But we had to and the rest of our group did too. We filled up the shelter but at least we were dry. I was able to get reception on my radio so I was beginning to learn more about the weather and hurricane Katrina. We knew from the rain was going to continue for at least a little bit. The only thing we didn't know was how delayed we'd get.
Date: 2005-08-31
From: Cloud Pond Lean-to

To: Chairback Gap Lean-to
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: heavy intensity rain

Another day of rain and putting on wet clothes. If it wasn't for the fact that we are almost done, our spirits would be shot right now. But all we need to do is keep chugging along and we'll be done in a week. BUt we will need to make up for lost time. Today doesn't appear to be the day to do that. We got out on the trail after everyone else and were greeted by knee deep mud and water. I can't even explain how awful the trail conditions were today. The entire trail was like a muddy stream. There were do places that were not under water and at times I would sink up to my knees in muck. Bootz had been wearing his boots for the past few days because the weather was bad and we had to cross rivers. But the water had distroyed all of the patch work he had made to the soles of his boots. They were as worse as ever and he decided to give it up and hike in his teva sandles for the day. So here he is slugging through mud, water, over rocks and roots in sandles as it continues to pour. We got to the shelter at noon. We left around 7am so you can see that it was slow going. We can usually cover that distance in less than 3 hours. Bootz and I had caught up and passed the rest of the group so we were first to arrive. We looked at what was ahead of us. WE had planned to hike 17 miles today. But 4 miles ahead was another river to cross and we were certain that it would be impossible to ford. Also the next shelter was 11 miles away and we would not have enough time in these conditions to make it there. Our option was to stay in this shelter and be dry but stop early or continue to hike and be certain to be left with tenting tonight. I knew that today was the forecasted day for the hurricane rain to hit us in Maine so the rain would not end and was probably going to get stronger. So we decided it was best to stay where we were. Big Foot and Gel were next to arrive and they had already decided to stay. Next was Juniper and Plugger with Rainbow and Spartacus right behind. The shelter was meant to hold 6 but we decided to make one continue matress and squeeze everyone in. It was a tight fit but much better than being wet. Around 5-6pm our friend Still Walking showed up. Much to her dismay, the shelter was full. She had passed up the last one thinking there was no was anyone would be at our shleter. She was devasted. But we couldn't see her sleeping in her tent in the rain so we made room. Now there as 9 of us!! WE didn't sleep very well but during the night the rain poured down so hard you could barely stand it. We were glad to be safe, dry, and together.