morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-08-21
From: Grafton Notch

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 0.0

Here I am on my second zero day buzzing my own hair in a dry tub (to keep all the falling hair contained). Ah, what a pleasure for my wife to visit and bring along my electric hair cutter. I'm now sitting in a laundromat (no, not naked) washing my clothes having just come from a Walmart to pick up various items. It's a luxury to have a rental car and the ability to roam around taking care of various errands.Yesterday Beth and I backtracked into New Hampshire and drove up to the top of Mount Washington where I had hiked a few days ago. I asked her to share her impressions of this mountain. They are that it is phenomenally huge, with much denser forests than in the south, full of beautiful white wooded birch trees. She was amazed at the variety of climates as we ascended in elevation. Also, seeing the rocks and boulders on Mt. Washington that make up the trail, Beth defiantly declared, "That is NOT a Trail." Thus she renamed this portion the Appalachian Way. You are just supposed to "go this way," but there's no actual trail. These couple of days off were recuperative, especially for my knees. It seems that all of us thru-hikers now have sore knees after all of the intense downhills. It's been wonderful to spend R&R time with Beth, and now l'm raring to get back on my way towards Mt. Katahdin to complete this once in a lifetime journey.
Date: 2015-08-22
From: Grafton Notch

To: Andover, ME
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: broken clouds

This is a view as I headed toward the top of Baldpate East, a bald mountaintop in Maine. Today was one of those perfect days for hiking with clear dry weather, a magnificent view from the mountaintop, a warm gentle breeze and a relatively easy trail, at least compared to what I've been facing recently.As I was enjoying the vistas and eating wild blueberries (which I do almost everyday up on these mountain tops), I thought to myself how cool is all this? Here I am on this journey at the top of a mountain that few people ever get to, and enjoying this magnificent scene. I was just struck by how memorable this whole journey is and how glad I am that I undertook this madness. I don't know, maybe I'm starting to sense the end and I'm getting a little reminiscent. I will certainly, for the rest of my life, carry a multitude of memories from this little jaunt up the backbone of the Appalachian Mountains.
Date: 2015-08-23
From: Andover, ME

To: South Arm Rd., Andover, ME
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: light rain

Check out this piece of wood I stepped over on the trail. I did a double take and walked back a few feet to see if that really was a wooden hand. Yep, it was.That goes hand in hand with what I was doing a lot of today. I was really focusing on being aware of my surroundings, especially the smaller things. Up until the last couple of days the trail has been so difficult that I have had to spend most of my mental energy on my foot placement on rocks so as to not bust my butt. But today, with gentler terrain, I was able to spend more time looking around to enjoy the sights and sounds of the forest. I saw several little furry creatures scurrying about and what I think was a red squirrel chattering in a tree. I also noticed seemingly unlimited varieties of mushrooms on the forest floor and tons of fallen needles from the fir and pine trees.That reminds me of a tip I can share. At this time of the year the pine trees are really putting out the sap. There are many times when I have to grab a pine branch or trunk for pulling up or lowering myself down a steep portion. In addition, sometimes I have to thrust myself into the dense branches to get around mud or a granite slab. Somehow, a few days ago, I got a big wad of pine sap stuck in my hair. But you know what gets it out? Normal hand sanitizer with an alcohol base. I had to scrub the area with the hand sanitizer for 5 or 10 minutes and then shampoo afterwards, but it totally all came out.So here is what I have found about the Maine mountains so far. The first couple of days were just like the Mahoosucs, very difficult in steepness and a rocky trail. But now for the last few days here in Maine the trail has been just as steep, but there is much more of a dirt path to walk on. That is so much easier on my feet and mental strain as opposed to the rocks. There are still plenty of rocks and even occasional boulder fields to cross, but overall the path itself is now a good deal easier. I have probably just jinxed myself for tomorrow, but that is what I have found so far.I've been reserving my sign-off phrase for only when I was tenting in the forest. But I am totally happy to be in motel rooms here in Maine and have decided to use my little sign-off phrase again even when I'm not in my tent. So here goes:Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-24
From: South Arm Rd., Andover, ME

To: Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 13.2

I had heard about all of the roots on the trail in Maine. Well, it seems to be true. Here's a picture of a typical part of the trail. Evidently, the evergreen trees have roots close to the surface and this part of the country is thick with evergreens. I like having all of the roots on the steep parts of the trail because they give so many potential footholds and are less slippery than rocks.The Iceman and I went out of sequence today due to the weather report that said it would rain in the second half of today. So we chose a flatter and less dangerous part of the AT for hiking in the rain. Turns out that the rain never materialized today despite the forecast, so we had a beautiful easy-ish day for hiking. We will now have to go back and cover the steeper part we skipped. That's one of the benefits of having Rita and her car to pick us up and drop us off wherever we need to be, so that we may cover every inch of the trail. It appears a big storm is rolling in and we may have to hunker down for a day or two as it rains itself out before we tackle a couple of high elevation, long mileage days.One of my family's traditions has always been to go out and get a Christmas tree at Christmas time. The scent of the evergreen in the Christmas tree lot and then in our living room has always been so pleasant to me. That same scent is especially strong in these forests all day long. I just love it. Besides all of the sights and sounds I'm enjoying so much, Maine also brings this pleasurable aromatic aspect to the party.I'm staying in a small functional (cheap) motel room here in Rangeley, Maine. This will be the last major town (population 1,200) available to us for the rest of the trip. It's right on one of the many thousands of lakes of Maine. I can hear loons and ducks, especially at dusk.Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-25
From: Rangeley, ME

To: Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

This is one of the over 6,000 lakes and ponds in Maine. All of those that I have seen are at high altitudes and the water is often still and mirror-like...just beautiful. I was standing on a beaver dam attached to the shore when I took this picture.I am taking a zero (miles) day today. There's a storm system moving through Maine today and tomorrow and it's more dangerous to negotiate the rocky outcroppings in the rain. The whole thunder and lightning thing at high elevation is not really a good idea, either. In the AT Institute class I took last Fall I learned that I should build buffer days into my hike plan so that I can wait out stormy days up here in the New England mountains. That's exactly what I'm doing, and now I'm glad I pushed myself earlier in my hike to build in some extra time.Now, a couple of AT news updates:- The movie "A Walk in the Woods" is being released on September 2nd. It's based on a book by the same name by Bill Bryson about his hike on the Appalachian Trail. It stars Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. I'm looking forward to seeing it when I get back home.- There was an Appalachian Trail supported-hike speed record set this past July by Scott Jurek. He beat the record set by Jennifer Pharr Davis by three hours, and he ran it in under seven weeks! I had posted on this website that he had run by me back in North Carolina, but after looking at the pictures of him, I see that the same guy I saw was not Scott Jurek. I did see some signs and posters along the trail cheering him on, but I somehow missed seeing him.I was a total slug today other than walking a bit to get to places for breakfast and dinner. But I sure was glad to be in this small town while it was raining here and in the nearby mountains. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-26
From: Rangeley, ME

To: Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Birch trees like these white beauties are fairly common up here. I believe I first started seeing them in Vermont and they seemed to peak in numbers in New Hampshire and now they are trailing off in favor of evergreens here in Maine. But their white trunks and paper-like peeling bark is stunning and like no other tree I have seen.I've read that Native Americans used to use the birch bark to make to make canoes. They would make a long vertical slit in the bark, carefully pulling off an intact large piece of birch bark to fit the size of a canoe. They would turn that inside out so that the white part would face the inside of the canoe, attached to cedar struts for the infrastructure. Then additional birch panels could be sewn onto the larger piece and all seams and stitching were coated with sap from a spruce tree. The same kind of sap that gunked up my hair, and that's some sticky stuff. These canoes could last about five years. One method of storage was to sink them with rocks in water, which preserved the wood. OK. I know I kind of geeked out to learn about and share that bit of birch bark lore. Today it rained again and I was glad to stay in town to avoid the wet rocky peaks. It appears that there will be a good long spell of dry hiking weather soon, and I'll get in some good mileage coming up. Maybe I'll even get through the last of the mountains, other than the final Mt. Katahdin. Oh, I was in the laundromat and my old friends Ukalady and Chameleon showed up. They told me about a SOBO (Southbounder) from Romania that was carrying an EXTRA 40 pounds of trail magic to dole out to NOBOs. His trail name is Soy Nuts. "Soy" in Spanish means "I am". And I think he really must be a little nuts. Tomorrow and again the next day I'll be hiking a cumulative ascent of almost 5,000 feet over about 14 miles. My vacation of zero days is over and I'm ready to get after it. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-27
From: Rangeley, ME

To: Maine Hwy 4
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: broken clouds

This is today's view from Old Blue Mountain. Note the giant wind turbines on the distant ridge. I understand that each blade is about 2/3 of a football field in length, to give you an idea of just how huge those things are. If anyone is planning a thru-hike, save some strength for Maine. These are some seriously steep and difficult mountains. Today was HARD with many steep and rocky ups and downs. And lots of mud. A month or two ago, I hiked off and on for a while with a very cheerful and optimistic woman. I really liked her attitude of embracing and enjoying the challenges of the hike, as well as the beauty of the woods and the views. I met her again today for the first time in a long time and was surprised (and amused) by her extreme frustration and her use of four letter words about the difficulty of Maine. I told Iceman it was as if New Hampshire had knocked us flat on our faces in the mud and Maine came along and stepped on the back of our heads. Maine doesn't get a lot of mention as being particularly hard, but if these mountains were situated among the mountains in the more southern states, I think these lesser known mountains would become very well known and feared.Someone else I hiked with and enjoyed a while back was a guy named All The Way. Today for the first time in a couple of months I reached out to him and sent him a text to ask how he was doing and where he was. This evening when I was at my motel and with no response from him yet, I saw a group of thru-hikers get out of a van across the street and limp (that's how I knew they were thru-hikers) into a restaurant. And get this, one of them was All The Way! What a coincidence! I walked over and we had a nice reunion and conversation. Very cool.I've got another challenging day tomorrow to tackle the formidable Saddleback Mountain. The Iceman and Rita are picking me up at 5:45 a.m. in order to get an early start on what will likely be a long and difficult day of hiking.I've talked with and been hearing about other hikers that are dropping out at this point. I can't believe it. For almost everyone, it's about the knees. My knees ache too, but I don't think they're as bad as a lot of the other hikers'.I'm just thrilled to be as close to the end as I am at this point. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-28
From: Maine Hwy 4

To: Logging trail North of Saddleback Mountain
Miles today: 14.8

No caption necessary. Logging is Maine's number one industry and logging roads criss cross the deep woods. Today the Iceman and I were dropped off at one of them. We hiked in about a mile to get to a trailhead, then we went south on this section so that we would come out near town. By doing so, we ran into many northbound thru-hikers that we hadn't seen for a long time. So it turned out to be quite a social day for me, as I caught up with many of the hikers including Iron Lady.We had three peaks to climb and they were all quite steep and bouldery/rocky, with many steep angled bedrock slabs. (Imagine a rough hewn sidewalk turned at about a 60 degee angle to climb up, and worse, to climb down.) In between the peaks were gaps with lots of mud and water to try to avoid. The tallest peak was the imposing Saddleback Mountain, which was quite a challenge to get up and then over. So it was another difficult day of hiking and rock climbing, but what amazing views I had up there. There was a clear blue sky and I bet I could see for 100 miles. Simply magnificent.When I took the AT Institute class, Dr. Doyle pointed out that in New Hampshire and Maine combined, there are 227 miles of especially steep rocky terrain. I've got 32 more of those miles to go now, and then the elevation variations seem to smooth out a good deal. I am enjoying these waning days of mountain climbing.Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-29
From: Logging trail North of Saddleback Mountain

To: Caribou Valley Rd. Near Stratton, ME
Miles today: 9.1

Here I am boulder hopping across a river. Sometimes it can get kind of hairy but this one was not too bad.Today the Iceman and I scaled Spaulding Mountain. It was a serious climb up and a bouldery steep descent, but we're feeling now like we can handle any of these mountains. At least when it's not storming.I've become accustomed to little tricks for hiking and climbing, like stepping backwards on a rock for an intermediate step to push off to a higher rock in front of me, or jabbing my pole in at a 45 degree angle to rotate around some obstacle like a pool of mud, or hopping to and from the highest points of boulders rather than stepping down and (grunt) back up again. These techniques make my hike more efficient and ensure I have as little blood spillage as possible. Just kidding, really...I haven't cut or scraped myself very much. I've run across a couple of people with children and wondered how wise it is to have those kids out here. One woman had three children under the age of 8 that she is thru-hiking with. I saw those kids scamper up and down the boulders and they seemed to handle the climbing well, but if something happened to one of them or to her it could be a pretty serious situation. Today I saw a woman with a one year old in a chest strap baby carrier and she was scaling some very steep rocky slopes. She also was dealing with two dogs she had with her. It just seemed like she was one fall away from potentially really hurting that youngster. I know I wouldn't want my grandson in that situation.Okay, here's a silly thing that happens frequently out here, especially in Maine with so many roots on the trail. Typically, I jab my trekking pole into the dirt to help push me forward and when it's behind me I yank it back up for the next step. There is a little leaf catcher skirt near the tip that sometimes gets caught on a root. Because I have the wrist strap on, when it catches I am unexpectedly yanked backwards. It's kind of comical like I'm tied to a bungee cord and get snapped back. Or at least it feels comical to me. I laugh at myself about all sorts of things out here.I'm staying in Stratton tonight, feeling pretty good about having just two more days of difficult mountain hiking.Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-30
From: Caribou Valley Rd. Near Stratton, ME

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 8.3

2,000 MILES! And as the Iceman said, every one of them was hard earned. Getting close to the end!Today I went up and over North and South Crocker Mountains. It was pretty steep and bouldery going up, and the top of the mountains were encased in a cloud. Going down the other side I noticed first evergreens, then birch tree groves, and then evergreens again. All kinds of ferns and other ground cover carpeted the forest floor beneath the various canopies. There was one section so filled with moose poop I couldn't help but step on it. I've only seen one moose so far, but actually I saw her from a car, so I'm not sure that really counts.I'm still slack packing with the Iceman and being supported by his wife Rita. She or an area guide drops us off and picks us up at the various road crossings. This has had a big impact on the distance we can cover in a single day, and today was a lighter mileage day because of that.This last part of my journey has been made a little cushier since I'm slack packing most days and staying in motels at night. I think I have even put back on some weight because I'm eating so much better in the evenings as well. As much as I enjoyed being out in my tent at night, I am way more enjoying the advantage I've been given to eat and sleep better while slogging up and down the AT's most difficult terrain. In addition, Maine's section of the trail is very remote, so the Iceman and I can look out for each other. I'm so grateful that the Iceman and Rita have let me join them for this last part of my hike. I believe I will return to civilization in much better shape because of it.Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-08-31
From: Stratton, ME

To: East Fallstaff Rd. Just past the Bigelows
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: few clouds

This is a view of some of the many lakes of Maine. I took this photo today near the top of Avery Peak in the Bigelows, the last tall difficult peak I will face until the finale, Mount Katahdin.When I took the AT Institute course, I learned that there are 227 miles of rocky difficult mountains through New Hampshire and southern Maine. Today I crossed the point where I have finished all of that. Whew! Today's final vertical peak of this section tried to give me a goodbye kick in the butt. It was all sheer rock, and the winds were gusting in the range of 60 to 70 miles per hour. It was very difficult to even stand up. Goodbye tall peaks of the Appalachian Mountains (except for Mount Katahdin in a couple of weeks, of course).The one critter that the Iceman and I have noticed thriving in all 14 states of the AT is the furry little chipmunk. They are as cute as all get out, scampering about sometimes giving little squeaks. They seem to do well in every environment and elevation I have been in. Tomorrow is the first day of bear hunting season up here. I plan to wear my red bandana on my head, and I hope I won't be a target. That reminds me of when I was in grade school learning about misplaced metaphors. One of my favorite examples was the following. "The man ran out of his cabin and saw a bear wearing his blue pajamas." That cracked me up at age 12 and still cracks me up now at age 60.We had to push the miles a little hard today to reach the designated crossroad to get picked up, but I'm so glad to get those last peaks completed. I'm pretty beat and happy to be where I am on the trail. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-09-01
From: East Fallstaff Rd. Just past the Bigelows

To: Scott Rd. Near Caratunk, ME
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

Looking up at part of the evergreen canopy on a warm sunny day.What a difference a day makes. Today we had little change in elevation, but a relatively smooth dirt trail. After all of those miles of mountains and rocks, this was truly a walk in the park. We were walking this section southbound (due to pick-up logistics) and seeing many of our northbound friends. Everyone was wearing smiles, having finally come out of the harsh mountainous terrain into this much "easier on the feet and knees" part of the trail.I'm down to just a couple of weeks of hiking now and thought I would, each day, just share some of my thoughts I've had over the last 5+ months.Attitude. Over the past few years one of the consistent trends I saw in successful thru-hikers' blogs I was reading, was that they maintained a positive attitude. So before I started out I decided I would keep a positive attitude during my trek as well. There are so many things in life we can't control, but we can almost always control our attitude. So why not make it positive, which more easily leads to happiness? What I found out here was that the more often I would be positive, the easier it became to stay positive. At the beginning a large portion of those hiking did not have a great attitude. But by about halfway, it was mostly those with a positive attitude who were still on the trail pressing on. I even found that a positive attitude is contagious among other hikers who may be grumbling about the trail's challenges.And finally...interesting fact: I am now north of Toronto and Montreal, Canada.Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-09-02
From: Scott Rd. Near Caratunk, ME

To: Caratunk, ME
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: few clouds

Here I am paddling in the front of a canoe across the Kennebec River. This was another milestone that I had read about for years. Rather than fording the river by foot, there is a person (paid by the App. Trail Conservancy) who provides ferry service to transport hikers in a canoe across this quite wide and potentially dangerous river. To reassure thru-hikers it's a legitimate way to get across, there is a white blaze painted on the floor of the canoe.Today was a relatively easy day with not much change in elevation and not too many miles. However, the trail was surprisingly rocky and full of roots, but nothing I haven't handled before. The highlight was the canoe ride at the end of the day.Here is something interesting I have noticed in the last couple of weeks. Any dreams I have now, that I can recall, involve the woods and usually hiking. Sometimes I even try to dream about being in a building or somewhere in civilization, but it just immediately changes to a scene on the trail. Crazy.Another final thought near the end of this journey...Leaving my comfort zone. First off, I am so glad that I took on this challenge and I'm pretty thrilled that it appears I will complete it. I really had to put myself out there and take a risk to do this, but I will always be kind of proud of myself that I took it on. It would have been so much easier to simply dismiss the idea as unrealistic. But I took it on, and even if I had had to come off the trail, I'm pretty sure I would still be glad I had attempted the challenge. I've gotten so much out of this trip, including the confirmation that often my own personal growth requires leaving my comfort zone.I'm really far north now where even ferns don't grow probably due to the extremely cold weather. Nowhere I'd rather be.