morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-09-11
From: ME, East B Hill Road, 1932.2, 

To: ME, South Arm Rd, 1942.3 "The Cabin"
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: clear sky

This morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast at the cabin. Honey made waffles shaped like barns and barn animals and we topped them with delicious homemade blueberry syrup. There was also all you can eat crispy bacon. It rained all morning, but that was fine with us, because we were staying back to go to church with the owners of the hostel. The trail will be nice and wet for us this afternoon.Church was a small bible believing fellowship. Apparently their pastor quit a few years ago and today was the official first sermon by the new pastor. He spoke about gifts and their role in a healthy church. Seemed like a nice group. Definitely was a small country church. Everyone at the church was thrilled with the small bit of rain.When we reached the trail, even the forest seemed happier after drinking some rain. We had a 10 mile section in front of us and got on about 12:30pm. The mountains here had some nice views but nothing quite nice enough to pull out a snickers bar for in celebration. We were secretly hoping we would catch up to and pass cranberry, who started at 8:15am. We enjoy her a lot, but she is a bit pokey. We passed her right before reaching the road- just in time to see her fall into a stream. She was alright except for wet shoes. The climbs and descents were not rough at all and we made pretty good time, finishing by 6:00pm without rushing too much. Dinner back at the cabin was homemade shepherds pie followed by moose tracks ice cream. Speaking of moose, we still haven't seen one but we feel like we are hot on their tracks. We have started to see lots of moose droppings along the trail. If the official state ice cream flavor for Pennsylvania was "Rocky road", then surely "moose tracks" is the flavor for Maine.
Date: 2016-09-12
From: ME, Maine 17, 1955.6 

To: ME, maine 4, 1968.7 "Farmhouse"
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

After another yummy home cooked breakfast, we said our goodbyes to honey and bear and hopped in the car with our packs for a ride with hopper back to Maine 17. Porter wondered aloud rhetorically if any hikers quit this far into the hike. Hopper was quick to let us know that a woman staying at the hostel lasts night was catching a ride to the airport today after walking 1950 miles. She just had anxiety issues and wasn't enjoying it. Wow! Hopefully most people who quit figure it out sooner.   The weather was cool but tolerable and sunny. The hike ahead was basically flat with no mountains to climb all the way to Rangeley. For some reason, we just never found our stride and ended up finishing late and tired. Thankfully, we had made a reservation with the farmhouse and didn't have to think about our evening plans during the day. As we hiked, we passed several pretty ponds, but did not meet any real moose. We did pass "old moose", a very knowledgable trail maintainer and assistant librarian. We showed him pictures of plants we had seen along the way and he new the names of all of them. We learned about edible berries, poisonous ones, names of flowers, etc. we even found out that the photographer we met on moosilauke wa using a common name "blue bead Lilly" for clintonia. After a nice conversation we went on our way. He was surprisingly chatty for an assistant librarian. The other highlight of the hike was coming to a privy in the middle of the trail with its own trail register. Apparently the trail maintainer had a sense of potty humor for placing it there. Needless to say, there were lots of crappy comments. It made for some good reading material while on the pot. Sherpa cleaned his hands thouroughly after reading the tainted logbook.We made poor time, and finished as it was getting dark. That wouldn't have been an issue, except that we were unable to get good enough cell service to call for the free shuttle into town, and it is very difficult to hitchhike after dark.   Town was about 8 miles away. We didn't worry, we prayed. Almost instantly, a car put its blinker on and turned into the parking lot. It was a father and daughter from the local church of the Nazarene. They had posted fliers for a hiker event they held over the weekend and were taking them down. They happily gave us a ride. God supplied our needs yer again. He is faithful. When we arrived at the farmhouse, they gave us a pizza because it was too late for dinner and put us in a really charming room.
Date: 2016-09-13
From: ME, maine 4, 1968.7 

To: ME, logging rd near Rangeley, 1983.6 "Farmhouse"
Miles today: 14.9

We woke up to perfect weather today. While Porter was catching a shower, Sherpa chatted with the owner of the farmhouse about plans for the day. They offered a 15 mile slackpack option that wasn't in our guidebooks because it dropped you about a mile from the trail on an old logging road. Since we went slow yesterday on fairly easy terrain with our packs, and today's hike is over the saddleback which is not just a walk in the woods, we gladly payed for the shuttle. When other hikers found out, beast and big bird joined us, which helped split the cost even more. It was about an hour over bumpy dirt roads that we would have easily got lost in to the dropoff location. Thankful for the opportunity, we set out with a stomach full of granola and leftover pizza. As we began our ascent, we crossed paths with Ukelady, Bilbo, and frog King. Ukelady is a girl we met back in the smokies that we hadn't seen since who carries a ukelele. At a shelter along the way, we learned about hidden treasure in the 100 mile wilderness. Apparently, there are something like 9 weed smoking care packages complete with pipes stashed away for the diligent drug users... We won't be on the lookout. We also met a really cool group of northbound thruhikers on our hike today not far from that shelter. Flying piglet (12), hubbinator (15), twin sisters diva and zooboomafoo (17) are doing the hike as a family, but without parents. They seemed like very responsible sweet kids. Apparently their mother follows them with a chase vehicle and sees them about every other day.The perfect weather really made the hike from little horn to saddleback mountain enjoyable. The section is an exposed ridge line connecting the two peaks. With 360 views, supposedly you can see mt Washington and mt Katadyn on a day like today. All the mountain peaks sort of looked the same to us, but maybe we did see them... Not even one cloud in the sky. Thank you Lord! On top of saddleback we chatted a bit with mogly and Captain Planet before calling successfully for our ride and beginning our descent. We got a special treat on the way down. We saw treehugger and mermaid! We last saw them in the smokies. When we met them, Mermaid had a memorable laugh which someone on the next hill over had mistaken for coyote pups yipping. Our ride was waiting for us when we finished the trail and they brought us in for dinner in nearby Rangeley. A hiker named omega joined us when we ate. He is one of those people that just hasn't adjusted to regular life and will probably find his place in the trail community. We enjoyed our time with him.
Date: 2016-09-14
From: ME, logging rd near Rangeley, 1983.6 

To: Off trail, "Farmhouse"
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We decided not to hike today because there was a system of thunderstorms and the stretch of hiking ahead of us crosses an exposed ridge line along with a steep drop that would be slippery if wet. It worked out because we haven't taken a zero since Porter got back on the trail. We started a leisurely morning off with breakfast in town. After picking up supplies, we walked back to the farmhouse and put groceries for dinner tonight into the fridge. As we were hanging out a truck pulled in dropping off a hiker who had hitched a ride from the nearby town. We caught a ride back with the same person and found out that we had met him hiking yesterday on the trail. He and his girlfriend joined us for lunch at a community center. We came back to our private room and had a nice nap in the afternoon. After writing a few postcards, we made our dinner, a steak with a lobster we had bought at the grocery store. Surf and turf in a hiker kitchen. Yum!
Date: 2016-09-15
From: ME, logging rd near Rangeley, 1983.6 

To: ME, Maine 27, 2000.9 "Stratton Motel"
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: few clouds

Today we got a super early start. Our shuttle was leaving at 0600 so we planned to wake up at 0545. We woke up a little early and were on our way shortly after 0600. One of the other hikers was concerned about his speed so he requested a super early start so he wouldn't be hiking in the dark. We're rooting for him! After hiking the "bonus mile" approach trail to get back to the where we left off yesterday, we started our hike at 0745. With such an early start for our slackpack, we should make good time today. We are hiking to Stratton, ME where we will have our last shower until Monson, ME in about 70 miles. We began our climb and had breakfast a little ways up lone mt. We walked with big bird most of the morning. Big bird is a NICU nurse like Porter so there was a lot to talk about. As the day progressed, we summitted three 4000 foot mountains, including spaulding mountain and both of the crockers. Sadly, there really wasn't much to see today because the mountains did not pop above treeline. We did hit a huge milestone today. Towards the end of our hike, we crossed the 2000 mile mark! Praise God! We headed into the nearby town of Stratton, where we had the farmhouse bump our packs ahead to the Stratton motel which they also own. After a quick resupply at the local grocer we hit up a restaurant where we ordered the last two lobster rolls they had. Third day in a row with lobster! Yum. Loving Maine.
Date: 2016-09-16
From: 9/15 ME, Maine 27, 2000.9 

To: ME, Campsite, 2018.7
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: clear sky

After checking out of the Stratton motel, we got a ride back to the trailhead without our packs! The group included Beast, Big Bird, Mermaid, Tree Hugger, Constantine, and us. We are friends with everyone in this micro bubble so it was a nice day. We arranged to have the bags dropped off at the end of the day after crossing over the Bigalows, the last 4000foot mountains before Katahdin.We easily traversed over the mountains, briefly chatting with Captain Planet as we progressed. We found out from him that there is someone else on the trail called "Captain Planet". To remedy the potential confusion, he now goes by "the artist formerly known as Captain Planet" but everyone still just calls him by his name. He went at his own pace, which is faster than ours, and headed up the mountain. We saw him again at the top of Avery peak, having lunch with Big Bird. We did not know that they were friends on the trail and didn't think anything of it. There was a really nice spot that looked like it used to be the base of a fire tower, or something similar. Either way, it provided welcome shelter from wind. The peaks can be quite chilly, because there are no trees blocking wind.Coming down from the mountain, we saw treehugger and Constantine hanging out. Mermaid was nowhere to be seen. Mermaid is engaged to treehugger, but they do not hike together. They met Constantine in Damascus and treehugger keeps pace with him and they take lots of smoke brakes together- Mermaid told us she "can't stand the disgusting habit" and puts distance between her and it. We were excited that they were behind us because we are usually the slowest hikers in the pack and we really didn't want to be last today because that meant someone would be waiting for us with our packs. When we made it to the botttom, they had miraculously leapfrogged us on a blue blaze side trail which promised to be 4 miles shorter but let off at the wrong spot forcing to keep walking on a road a few extra miles. when we got to our packs, we saw the group. As typical, mermaid had picked up her pack and kept hiking. Big Bird apparently jumped on a free ride back to Stratton with Captain Planet and a trail angel. Supposedly she had a huge grin on her face. Hopefully we see them again.Putting on packs after hiking 16 miles over mountains for a 1 mile flat walk around a lake sounds easy, but it felt like someone filled up our bags with bricks. We pushed on to a really beautiful campsite where the crew had already built a waterfront fire... Thanks beast! We were also happy to see Turnip and Nora at the campsite, the couple from Tokyo that we have been leapfrogging for the last couple weeks.
Date: 2016-09-18
From: ME, US 201 at Caratunk, 2037.9

To: ME, Troutdale Road, 2049.8 
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: broken clouds

When we tried to find a church last night, we quickly learned that our options in caratunk were very limited. There was the Congregational church that had a service once in June, July, and August. And that was it. The next nearest church was 20 minutes away in Moscow. We called an elder and he was quick to give us a ride. He showed up exactly when he said he would and we hopped in. Beast surprised us when he heard that we were going and joined us. Constantine went to find Mermaid and Treehugger in the mean time. The elder that picked us up turned out to be the Sunday school teacher. The announcements were very thourough, going out past Christmas all the way to Easter 2017! One cool thing they did at Sunday school was a sanctified open mic. The pianist took requests for hymns. The teaching was a very thourough exposition of the Bible. We would have confused it for a service had another not immediately followed. With the reading of the same announcements to mostly the same people, the real service began. Such a joy to fellowship with brothers and sisters who loved the Lord. Especially when it seemed so impossible less than 24 hours prior. Another answered prayer.We had arranged for a slack pack from the owner of the Sterling Inn. His son picked us up as the service finished. He is one of so many that doesn't know he needs the Lord. Now he knows where a church is- who knows? The dropoff point had us walk south back to the hotel. When we started, the rain had recently stopped. It feels like it pays to go to church! This is the second time we missed the rain in a sanctuary. Unfortunately, the rocks were slippery. Beast gave us a head start as we headed up over a gentle mountain standing between us and the motel. We both slipped and fell at least once despite proceeding with extreme caution. After getting past the top, the rocks were much easier to traverse and it quickly became a dirt trail. Thankfully it wasn't too muddy. When we approached the end, Beast came up out of nowhere from behind. Sherpa kicked it into high gear though and we finished together. There is no cell service anywhere in the town so we walked back to the hotel with our thumbs out. We got a bonus hiking mile before getting picked up. Back at the inn, hungry, we caught a ride with the owner of the inn and his son and went to a restaurant with them. Lobster Mac and cheese for Porter. Lobster roll for Sherpa. Perfect finish to the day.
Date: 2016-09-19
From: ME, Troutdale Road, 2049.8 

To: ME, Maine 15 (Monson), 2074.6 - Shaws
Miles today: 24.8

This morning, we woke up at the Sterlng Inn in Stratton, enjoyed breakfast with Beast, settled up for the room, and caught the shuttle back to the trail. We started just before Moxie Bald Mountain, and climbed about 1500 feet in the first few miles. We were fresh and the climb didn't slow us down, even with our packs. For once, the trail builders showed some restraint and didn't make us go over the North Peak, instead offering a side trail and a good view. After descending the mountain, the trail crossed the Piscataquis River, (we were able to ford it without getting wet). We then followed the river for 5 miles. We were starting to feel tired by the the end of it. The elevation profile looked flat but there were rolling hills, rocks, and roots which sapped our energy. Porter threatened to write a letter to the conservancy when she found out we had to cross the river a second time. The trail never really just goes North... The trail was strangely empty today. We only saw two weekend hikers and someone going southbound the whole day. We knew there were 3 ways to get to Monson, and were secretly hoping on reaching the furthest one today so that we could start the 100 mile wilderness tomorrow. We had run out of water about 10 miles before Monson and hoped to find some but never did. Without water, we had no choice but to keep pushing on. When we reached the first road, there was no traffic at all so we had to push on. We thought the next option was close to Monson but when we got to it, it turned out to be a 3 mile blue blaze trail into the city that would have only saved us a mile. It was actually the old AT route. We saw Turnip and Nora camping at the trailhead. They invited us to join in them, but we had no water and had to continue on. It got dark around 7pm. Shortly after dark, we came to the top of a hill and found cell phone service. We called Shaws, a local hostel in Monson, and they had one private room available. They told us that they had been completely full but someone had just cancelled. God is so good. If we had called any earlier we would have been turned away. He knew our needs. Sometimes we really push the miles. Can't believe we did 25 miles today! That's a record for us together. They even picked us up after dark. The owner's parents picked us up. They were in town visiting and were very kind. They took us to a nearby gas station to buy food, and waited as it was prepared. They then drove us up to the hostel where we checked in, ate, and immediately went to sleep. There was a quote on the wall of the hostel that summed up the hike decently. "The trail is a great metaphor for life, for learning how to enjoy the journey." Jarrod Hester (owner of Shaws)
Date: 2016-04-18
From: Springer Mtn

To: Hawk Mtn Campground
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

Well the day finally came.One thing I realized so for with this adventure is the unintentional reoccurrence of the #18. 2/18 I joined white blaze ( an AT forum) to start seriously considering this, 3/18 was my last day at work, and 4/18 is my start date. I stayed at the hiker hostel in Dahlonega GA the ivy before which was really nice they then brough all 18 of us to Springer MTN to get started. You actually have to back track 1 mile up Springer to get the the starting point at the top, effectively making my mileage 8.4 miles. I felt great and was rolling, got to hawk MTN campsite around 1:30, way too early and contemplated pushing on 7 more miles to another site. I probably spent 2 hrs trying to make up my mind then figured as fast as I went I'll feel it tmw so let's just stick to the plan. This campsite is brand new and has 30 tent sites I looked at all of them as I was the first to arrive and found one I like which just so happened to be tent site #18. Set up camp and made a meal, tossed my lighter to the side and it landed in my wash bucket and it would no longer light, luckily it dried out and still works. But I made sure to carry a spare now.
Date: 2016-04-19
From: Hawk Mtn Campground

To: Lance Creek Campground
Miles today: 17.1

Got up and was pretty sore as expected. Decided to start early and do a bigger day the am should at this point but it would set me up nicely for the next day which would be very tough with blood MTN and would make it easy for me to avoid having to camp in a bear canister only area. I don't carry a bear canister. I slugged on regretting the speed at which I hiked the day before. Finally making it to Lance creek around 5:30 to see it was packed. Tried to pitch on a slight incline but it didn't work my tent kept sliding when u would get in. So tired and slightly po'd I picked u everything and went in hoping to find another place. After a few hundred yards a guy eating by the trail stopped me and said there were no spots anywhere near but there was room for one more tent by him. I thanked him and gladly took him up on the offer. Shutterbug is his trail name, even saved me the trouble of hanging my bear bag and hung mine with his. I spent about 30 mins trying to find my tent stakes which ended up being right in front of me. Was a long day but thanks to some help from another hiker it was all good.
Date: 2016-04-20
From: Lance Creek Campground

To: Bull Gap
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Well this morning started off interesting. I was camped on an old logging road on the edge of of a ridge going into a deep deep bottom. As I was packing I accidentally kicked my sleeping bag sending it rolling down. I took off after if hoping the creek in the bottom was dry. The chase exhausted me and took me a good while to get back up but all I could do was laugh at myself. I got going and my knees started hurting a bit. Finally came to Blood MTN, the climb was easier than expected. I got to the top thinking I don't know why everyone talks so bad about blood MTN. I began to understand as I began my descent, my knees really started killing me. I hobbled into Neels Gap for a resupply and to get some better insoles since my feet were also killing me. I also went a lured and got a shower which helped to revive me some. Met 2 guys from Fort Polk, one who attempted a thru hike once before and gave me some good tips and encouragement. Also met David (later to be dubbed Townie by me) and spoke with a few other guys who were headed to Bull Gap for a short day after being whipped by Blood. Got to Bull Gap and met Sprinter, Zing, Encyclopedia, Townie, and a few others. Hung my first Bear Bag that night which was an interesting ordeal just trying to find the right tree (which has gotten much easier to do). We made a fire and went to bed pretty early.Side note it has been harder than expected to find the time/wifi/service/etc to update my journal on a day by day basis. It may end up just being general updates when in tow but for know I will try to divide it out day by day then enter then all from my hand written journal/memory to here ASAP.
Date: 2016-04-21
From: Bull Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I got up early and took off before everyone else at the campsite. Knees killing me but I figured I would just take it slow. I got passed by almost everyone from the campsite despite starting much earlier. In pain I was happy to see Trail Magic at one of the Gaps. I caught up with Encyclopedia, Zing, Townie, and Sprinter here. They went on and I stayed at the trail magic for a while taking advantage of the ice packs. I realized I had not been taking any Vitamin I (ibuprofen) so I took two and things got a little better. They wanted to slack pack me for the remaining hills for the day but I'm stubborn and thanked them for the offer and pushed on. I eventually rolled in to Low Gap where Encyclopedia and the rest were there and said there was one spot left in the shelter and I should take it with the weather coming. Well like many I came into the AT saying I would never stay in a shelter, but when it came down to it I really didn't care that it was obviously Mice infested. I like the idea of not having to deal with a wet tent. Zing successfully thru hiked before (when he was 9!) and gave us tips about not sleeping against the wall and leaving all pockets open. I had no issues with nice. Townie forgot a protein bar and had a few droppings on his book but that was it. We did have flying squirrels come in that night which was a cool experience. I didn't sleep too well with the older couple in the shelter both sawing logs all night.