morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-08-05
From: Kinsman Pond Shelter

To: Liberty Springs Campsite
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: few clouds

We awoke at 6:45am... can't set an alarm in a shelter with 12 other people! As mentioned, none were thru/section hikers, so the desire to get up and out is not there. So at 6:45am only 2 other people were awake. The other problem is the noise we make packing up. So our technique is to pull everything quietly outside the shelter and pack up outside. We finally hit the trail at 7:45am. We had a longer day than originally planned because of our short day yesterday. For the first mile it was more of the vertical granite faces, only many of them had the wooden blocks affixed to them or re-bar steps like we saw on the climb of Mt. Moosilauke. The hikers get treated better on this side of the mountain! After the quick descent, the trail eased a little, but still plenty of rock descents. Our first mishap: Spider slipped and fell on a rock. Unfortunately his trekking pole was between him and the rock and it broke. Fortunately he was able to telescope it back into itself past the break and it was again a functioning trekking pole, albeit shorter. And guess who hikes with a shorter trekking pole? ET! So we have swapped trekking poles.In 1.9 miles we reach our first Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) hut. These are accommodations in the forest similar to the High Sierra Camps in the Sierras, except these are permanent buildings. The AMC also run the campsites like the one we just left. When we paid our fee at Kinsman Pond Shelter, we were given orange cards to signify we were thru-hikers or long section hikers. That card gets us a discount at future AMC campsites and free "goodies" at AMC huts. So we stopped at the Lonesome Lake Hut.Each hut it staffed by a "Croo" that prepares the meals for people staying in the bunkhouses and provides housekeeping, maintenance and the evening's entertainment...all this for about $100 a night/person. When we went in, the cook pointed us to free pastries and the water faucet...ahhh uniodized water! Inside the hut is our picture of the day.When we finally made it back the trail it was significantly easier and flatter. Had to be a little easier for all the folks that have to hike to the hut. In 1.5 miles we came to Cascade Brook. It was still running high from the previous day's rains. The caretaker at Kinsman Ponder Shelter said it had been impassible yesterday, like Eliza Brook. Fortunately for people heading to the hut, a side trail followed the brook down to a parking lot. Unfortunately for us, we needed to cross Cascade Brook. We found some good rocks to cross on, but they required some big jumps. ET gave up on one and just waded across.1.1 miles later we had lunch next to a stream under the I-93 freeway underpass. Then we began our climb of the day, 2000 ft up in 2 miles. The last 1000ft was up a steep rockfall. We finally arrived at 6pm to find the campsite full. There were lots of groups of teens who were getting their outdoor "experience". All that was left were some marginal sites. We took one. Dinner and to bed by 8:30pm.
Date: 2018-08-06
From: Liberty Springs Campsite

To: Garfield Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: overcast clouds

We awoke at 6:15am. Our marginal tentsite was... marginal. We both awakened several times during the night to find we had slid into one corner of the tent or another. We hit the trail at 7:45am.We immediately continued up the rockfall we had been walking up yesterday. We eventually reached the ridge 0.3 miles later. We then followed the ridge for about 1.5 miles to Little Haystack Mtn. It was a fairly difficult climb but only about 500 ft. up. Near the top we broke out of treeline and could see in all directions. Staying above treeline, we hiked up about 300 feet to the top of Mt. Lincoln. The Whites are also known as the Presidential Range because the mountains are named after presidents.We were hiking Franconia Ridge. On a clear day, many of the locals hike the ridge because of its views...and most of them were out today. The trail was packed! After Mt. Lincoln came Mt. Lafayette....not sure how he got a mountain named for him in the Presidential Range, but there it is. We had spectacular views from everywhere along the ridge, as you can see from today's photo.Finally we dropped off the ridge and back into the trees. It was a steep descent and we had to take it slowly. We both ran out of water in our hydration systems, so had to find a spring to filter some water to keep us going. The last challenge was to climb Mt. Garfield - 600 ft up in less than a half mile. It was a tough climb at the end of the day! After reaching the summit, we descended to our shelter, arriving at 6:45pm. It took us 11 hours to go 7.7 miles. I think we are getting slower not faster! Dinner and to bed by 8:45pm.
Date: 2018-08-07
From: Garfield Ridge Shelter

To: Stealth Camp near Zeacliff Pond
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: broken clouds

One thing about sleeping in a campsite with others tenting nearby, when the first person gets up, everyone else is awake. In today's case the first person got up at 5:45am. There was a threat of thundershowers later today and the AT follows the ridgeline for about 6 miles. Lightning and hikers on ridgelines is not a good combination, so some hikers were heading out early. We were okay with an earlier start since we are trying to hike 9.5 miles today to position us to get off the trail tomorrow for a couple zero days..Hooray! We packed and hit the trail at 6:45am.We were warned by another hiker that the first 0.3 miles from the shelter were one of the steepest descents on the AT, and boy was it. Almost a vertical drop! After that the trail began a series of steep, short ups and downs. Finally we started to climb to Galehead Hut, another of the AMC huts. We spotted it yesterday from a viewpoint, sitting on a ridge majestically overlooking the valley.We finally made it to the hut by 10:30am, and once again partook of the left over pastries, and ET got her morning coffee. It was a congregating place for all the hikers that had been at the shelter we had been at last night. We also watered up for the rest of the day's hike. It was tough leaving, but we finally pried ourselves away to start our major climb of the day up South Twin Peak...1200 ft in 0.8 miles!We finally made it to the top of South Twin Peak at 12:30pm. We had great views of the surrounding countryside..and of the building thunderclouds. The picture of the day is looking back at the ridge we hiked yesterday. We could see Little Haystack Mtn to the left, Franconia Ridge, Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Lafayette in the center and Mt. Garfield to the right. It's amazing to the we were there just yesterday!Next we began our descent off South Twin Peak along the ridge - the start of the 6 miles of ridgeline hiking. At about 2 pm we heard our first rumble of thunder. We had decided if it looked like it was really going to rain, we would find a stealth site and quickly set up the tent, instead of getting drenched like we did on our first day of hiking. It began to rain at 4:40pm.we immediately starting looking for a steath site. We had been seeing them all day, but do you think we could find one? Nope! We hiked in the light rain until 5:30pm when we finally found a spot to set up the tent, 1.5 miles short of our planned camping spot. That makes a longer day for tomorrow, and thundershowers are forecast for tomorrow afternoon too!We quickly set up our tent and got inside, expecting the deluge we had experienced on our first day of hiking. But today the rain stopped soon after we crawled into the tent...as of 8pm, no more thunder and no more rain. We'll see how the night goes.
Date: 2018-08-10
From: Royalty Inn, Gorham, N.H.

To: Stealth camp on Webster Cliffs
Miles today: 1.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We had the alarm set for 7am, but ended up getting up at 6:30am. First order of business was to take a shower. It's going to be a while, so need to enjoy it while we can. Next on the list was to pack our packs and in the process we repaired a couple things. Then it was off to breakfast. The Inn had recommended a cafe just down the road, Welsh's. It was a great place, good selection of food, large portions and 50's music blaring from the speakers! Back to our room by 9am. Spider called AMC to confirm the shuttle stop location and time and to see if we could make a reservation. No same day reservations so we were "walk-ons". The lady confirmed the shuttle was not full..Whew!We killed time in our room until 10:30am, then headed to the AMC shuttle stop. The shuttle arrived about 11am and we were headed back to Crawford Notch..albiet a little sooner than we were planning when we left there yesterday!Ironically, two of the hikers on the bus live in Del Mar, CA, close to where ET grew up. We shared all sorts of stories of hiking in Cuyamaca and the High Sierra. There was a 30 minute stop at the Highland Center Lodge so the shuttle driver could get lunch. We took advantage of the stop to pick up some snacks for lunch and the trail and Spider called his Mom. Our plans to Facetime with our sons and their families while on a 3-day rest in Gorgan were foiled by our change of plans. At 12:50pm the shuttle continued to the Webster Cliffs trailhead and the AT. We bailed out of the shuttle and hit the trail at 1:05pm.The trail crossed a stream over a bridge then immediately began to climb and climb. Over the course of the next 2.5 hours we climbed 1650 ft in 1.9 miles, parts of it very steep. We took it slowly because we were carrying 8 days of food and extra water since we would be "dry" camping (i.e. not camping next to a water source). With most of the landscape being vertical, there we no places to stealth camp until we reached the top of the cliffs at 3:30pm. There things flattened out and there was a great viewpoint. Today's picture is of ET checking out the views. We decided that this would be a good place to stop for the day. We are now well positioned to make it to Mitzpah Springs Hut tomorrow at a reasonable time. We relaxed for a while then set up the tent. Spider took a snooze while ET read...now this is the way to hike! We got out of the tent at 6pm to fix dinner. Another couple had set up their tent nearby. I guess we were not the only ones with the great idea of staying at this pretty location. Interestingly the temperature has dropped significantly. It's now in the low 50's with wind blowing. Wouldn't you know it just as we are approaching the challenging Mt. Washington. We are carrying several cold weather layers and this is the first time we've had to use them. Good thing the next 3 nights are in huts.To bed by 8pm.
Date: 2018-08-15
From: Joe Dodge Lodge/Pinkham Notch

To: Stealth camp before Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: few clouds

We awoke at 6am and began organizing our gear. At 6:30am we went to the dining room for breakfast, then back to our room to finish packing. We hit the trail at 8am. First we had to cross busy Highway 16, then the trail paralleled the highway for a mile passing by Lost Lake. Finally we met the Wild Cat Trail and started to climb...almost straight up for 1000 ft. Our trekking poles became a liability because we needed our hands to grab on to rocks and trees to pull ourselves up. We let the poles dangle from their wrist straps, but sometimes they got in the way of our feet or got caught in the rocks or trees. Other times they were handy to have, so we kept them on our wrists. Today's picture is one of the more gnarly parts of the climb...not sure how they can call this a "trail"!Along the way, we had a viewpoint where we looked across the valley to the top of Mt. Washington. At a later viewpoint we could not see the top anymore because of thunder clouds, but could see the road going up to it.After 6 hours we had gone 3 miles, a slow day. We arrived at a gondola that services skiers in the winter and sightseers in the summer. We had a similar experience to arriving at the top of Mt. Washington. We had worked our tails off to get to this point and were all sweaty and tired...and then we find people getting off the gondola with a spring in their step and smelling all fresh and clean. What's wrong with this picture?We only had about 6 miles to go for the day, but at the rate we were going we wouldn't arrive at our destination until almost dark! Fortunately, the trail leveled out some, with shorter bursts of vertical climbs and some vertical descents. By our 4:30pm break we had 1.3 miles to go, but a lot of it was a steep descent.We finally arrived at our stealth site at 6:30pm..5.7 miles in 10.5 hours! We ate dinner and were in bed by 8:30pm, pooped!
Date: 2018-08-16
From: Stealth camp before Carter Notch Hut

To: Imp Shelter
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: broken clouds

Just as we were about to drop off to sleep last night, there was a flash of light in the sky then a rumble..Uh Oh! When the sun set, the sky was clear. We left off the tent rain cover, so we could watch the stars. Needless to say, after this warning we jumped out of the tent and put the rain cover on. After getting back in, we watched the tent periodically light up followed by deep rumbles. Within 30 minutes it began to rain, on and off all night. When we woke at 6am there was a brief shower, but none after that. The wind was blowing. We packed up and hit the trail at 7:10 am.We descended into Carter Notch and soon passed a big pond. We haven't seen many lakes or ponds this year, so decided to make it the picture of the day. After the pond, we started our major climb of the day 1500 ft up to Carter Dome. We were worried it might be a repeat of yesterday's climb up Wild Cat, but it was a little tamer. There were still several places where we had to climb using hands and feet, but not as much. Even so, after 2 hours we had only gone 1.3 miles. We were wondering if we were going to be able to make it to our destination of Imp Shelter, another 6 miles away.Fortunately once we reached the top of Carter Dome, the trail became much easier. Our only problem was that we had planned to fill our water bottles from a spring on the side of Carter Dome...but we never saw itWe still had some water left so figured we would wait until the next water indicated on our map, 1.7 miles away. The clouds finally left and we ended with a clear, sunny day. The winds continued to blow, with 20-30 mph gusts and the temperatures stayed cool..in the 50s. We really noticed this when we climbed to the exposed Mt. Hight around midday...great views, but chilly!After finding the next water source to be unacceptable, we decided to try to make it on what we had. The trail turned very tame as we climbed South Carter Mtn., then Middle Cater Mtn. and finally North Carter Mtn. Spider ran out of water on North Carter Mtn with 1.6 miles to go! We were making very good time and looking forward to getting into camp early. Then we began our 700 ft descent of North Carter Mtn. It was like descending the Wild Cat we had climbed the previous day. It was a nearly vertical descent. In one place there was a vertical wall 30 ft high with cracks in it for toe holds and finger holds. Never assume anything about the trail when hiking in the Whites! ET ran out of water on the descent with 0.8 miles to go.Needless to say this really slowed us down. Even so we made it to Imp Shelter by 5:30pm. We set out our wet tent to dry a little before setting it up and moving in. Then we filtered some water and had a long, slow drink..Ahhh!Tomorrow we head out of the Whites. We wonder what surprises are in store for us. On top of that, it is supposed to rain..Ugh! The good thing is we are getting off the trail to resupply and give our bodies some rest.To bed at 9pm.
Date: 2018-08-18
From: US 2/Gorham, NH

To: US 2/Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0

We awoke at 6am and looked outside and it was raining. Sure glad we are in a snug, dry motel room. In fact today's picture is of our motel room strewn with packs etc. When we move in, we move in! We got dressed, putting on our raincoats, and walked to a nearby cafe, Welsh's, that we had found last time we were in Gorham (the one with the 50's music).After breakfast, ET got to work on our second load of laundry and we both started going through our packs, getting rid of trash, incorporating the contents of the resupply box and collecting things to send home. Now that we are through the Whites, there is no need for cold weather gear.ET started calling family while Spider took the stuff to send home to the post office. Upon his return, Spider began to work the issue of getting back to the AT tomorrow. We didn't want to depend on hitchhiking early on a Sunday morning. Spider lucked out on his call. It was to the guy who was scheduled to pick us up at Crawford Notch a week ago, but couldn't reschedule when we were arriving a day early. This time he was free, so we are scheduled to be picked up tomorrow morning at 7am.The rain was on and off in the morning and intense at times, but by the afternoon it was just overcast. We have been watching all the weather forecasts and everyone seems to agree that the next several days will be nice weather. We sure hope so.Our report on our physical condition is still good. No blisters on our feet, no damaged body parts. We continue to get stronger so that we can go longer between breaks. Spider's new knee is performing great. It's now his "strong" leg. His other knee is okay as long as he wears his brace. We are both losing weight as indicated by having to continue to tighten our belts more to keep our pants up! Also Spider has had to adjust his knee brace twice, as the leg becomes more muscle and less fat! ET is now leading the count in falls 6 to 5. Last week was not a good week for her!We have been disappointed in animal sightings. You will note from previous journal entries that all we have only seen a couple of deer and a grouse in three weeks...not counting lots of chipmunks. We had hoped to see lots more wildlife, specially a moose. So far all we have seen are moose droppings!Bugs have not been a problem. Some of it is because of wind and rain. But mostly it is because we have been at higher elevations. Anytime we drop below about 1500 feet elevation, the pesky gnats or black flies become a problem. They want to fly into our eyes and ears. The worst we have had it was hitching on US 2. We felt like we were walking in a cloud of gnats/black flies! To bed at 9pm. We have an early alarm set for tomorrow so we can be all ready when our shuttle shows up at 7am.
Date: 2018-08-19
From: US 2/Gorham, NH

To: Gentian Pond Shelter 
Miles today: 11.5

We set the alarm for 5:15am, got up and took a shower, the last for a while! Then to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. After that we walked back to the motel and finished packing. At 6:45am we walked out of our room only to find the shuttle service guy waiting out front. So we checked out and hit the road. We were dropped off at the Rattle River Hostel, where we had started our hitchhiking adventure the day before. We hit the trail at 7am.The "trail" started out as a road-walk first. We walked down North Rd. then Hogan Rd. for 1/2 mile, then began our 1700 ft climb. The trail was a normal trail that worked it's way up the mountain. We were rewarded once we got to the top with views in all directions. We had climbed above the fog from the valley below. Today's picture is of ET at one of our first viewpoints. I say "first viewpoint" because the day was full of ups and downs, but after almost every climb we were rewarded with a viewpoint on a rock outcropping. This has not been the case with most days. Normally we have been stuck in the "green tunnel" or the white cloud. The trail, for the most part was easy, with only a few places where we needed our hands to climb down. One thing we are seeing more is bogs since leaving the crest of the Whites. These are areas that have deep mud or standing water. Many have plank walkways constructed by trail maintenance crews to keep you above the muck. Unfortunately some areas don't have planks, so we spend our time trying to find our way around or through the mines. These bogs can appear anywhere, in the valleys or at the top of the mountains. All that is needed is a flat area that has collected water, forest duff and many footsteps.Something else we saw more of today was ponds. We passed by 4 . That may be more in one day than in the whole of our trip so far! We wonder if bogs and ponds are harbingers of what Maine is going to be like.We finally arrived at the shelter at 6:15pm..a long day and higher mileage than usual. The water source is a beaver pond - Gentian Pond. We had been warned in New York to treat beaver pond water well to prevent "beaver fever" so we filtered this water AND Iodized it. To bed at 9pm.Milestones: We passed the 150 mile mark for this year's hike AND we passed the 1900 mile mark for our hike of the AT.
Date: 2018-08-20
From: Gentian Pond Shelter 

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 9.6

We awoke at 6am, packed up and hit the trail at 7:10am. After some steep ups and down, we tackled our big climb of the day, Mt. Success. 1300 ft pretty steeply up, but nothing requiring our hands. That happened when we started down the other side of Mt. Success. There were several areas that were very steep with big rocks.One area was a rockfall with rocks the size of refrigerators. It took all our ingenuity to navigate down. Spider took advantage of his long reach while ET used her canvas-augmented hiking pants to slide down some of the bigger ones.This rockfall was New Hampshire saying "goodbye" since soon after that we came to the New Hampshire/ Maine border. Wahoo! That is today's picture. We have completed 13 of 14 of the states traversed by the AT.It didn't take Maine very long to welcome us. Within 1/2 mile of the border we came to a rockfall with even BIGGER rocks. This one included a slot between two huge boulders which Spider and his pack barely made it through.Next we worked our way up to a ridge the gave us great views for several miles along its crest. We also came across some impressive bogs. Fortunately trail crews had put plank bridges across them because the mud was 2-3 ft deep!Then we came to East Goose Eye Mtn. To get to the top was only a 200ft climb but it was vertical using re-bar steps in the wall and wooden ladders. Definitely not a Sunday stroll!After another ridge walk, we finally arrived at the shelter at 7:10pm...12 hours of hiking..Whew!The reason we have been forcing some big miles the last couple days is to position ourselves close to Mahoosuc Notch. It is now about 1.5 miles away. Mahoosuc Notch is known as the "hardest mile" on the AT. Oh Boy. More on that tomorrow!We hurriedly put up the tent, got water and made dinner. We ate dinner by twilight, then to bed by 8:30pm.