morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2021-07-28
From: Birches Lean-To

To: Mount Katahdin
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: clear sky

I didn't sleep especially well last night. How could I? The past 3+ months have been building up to this day. I hit the trail at 4:45am and signed the Hunt trail register at 5:03am. After about 30 minutes, I caught up with Demin Dan. He and I hiked the rest of the day together. I really like him. Cool, older guy from West Texas.The clim up Katahdin was pretty intense for about 2 miles. There were three pieces of re-bar on one section which absolutely had to be there. It was that steep. Hand holds were common and trekking poles were pointless. At a couple of points, I had to wedge my feet in rocks and one time I had to lift my entire body (and pack) up using only my arms. Then, the mountain rounded off and the next two miles were pretty easy. I remember first seeing the sign and cairn in the distance. It was surreal. I tagged the cairn and Demin Dan helped me with some photos. We had the summit to ourselves for about 30 minutes. It was super windy and pretty cold, maybe mid to high 40's.After the steep and technical ascent, Denim Dan and I decided to take ABOL trail down. It didn't really matter at that point because our thru-hike was over. The ABOL trail was just as steep, but with a huge rock field instead of boulders. My knees took a beating, but we made it down. At several points, I regretted taking my full pack. I really felt it on the descent.After making it back to the ranger's station, I had to wait until the shuttle arrived at 5pm. A few other hikers jumped on and we went to the AT Lodge in Millenocket about 25 miles away. I had a huge dinner, a shower, and am starting to feel a little more like a human being.Tomorrow will be a travel day. It will take a shuttle and two busses, but eventually I should arrive in Portland for two nights in a hotel before I fly home.
Date: 2021-06-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I've made my list and checked it twice.  Also did an overnight on the AT last week.  Started at the Elk Pen parking lot off Rt 17 in NY, hiking north through the Lemon Squeezer, camping at the William Brien shelter. All went well except I had to stand and stare at my ridge line and tarp, guessing how to pitch them.  Happens every year.  I practiced back home and think I've got it straight now.I'll be hiking with Gayle "Rainbow" again this year.  She's an excellent hiking partner and, though she actually completed her section hike last year, has agreed to hike with me this year as I attempt to complete my own section hike.We'll be heading into New York City on July 14 to take the Dartmouth Coach up to Hanover, NH where we'll be met by old friend Jennifer.  We'll have dinner together and Rainbow and I will spend the night at the Hanover Adventure Tour Hostel.  We start hiking north from the VT-NH border the next morning.
Date: 2021-07-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Hiking partner Gayle, Rainbow, arrived yesterday evening at Newark Airport where I picked her up and headed off to dinner at our dear friends Dotty & Steve¢s home. We enjoyed a fine homemade Mexican-ish meal and lively conversation topped off with homemade ice cream. It¢s 11:00 and we¢re waiting at the River Edge, NJ train station to be whisked away to Penn Station in New York. From there we hike to Port Authority Bus Terminal where we mount the Dartmouth Coach to take us to Hanover, NH where we¢ll be met by my friend Jennifer. We¢ll have dinner together at a local eatery and she¢ll drop us off at a nearby hiker hostel for the night. Tomorrow will be our first day on the AT, hiking from the VT-NH border at the Connecticut River to Moose Mountain Shelter, 11.5 miles north. I¢m starting off with a base weight (excludes food and water but includes fuel) of 24.4 lbs which is a bit heavy. My food bag weighs 8.1 lbs which is also a bit heavy, but contains more food than I need to get me to our first hostel stop after four days of hiking. I really want this hike to be successful. I turn 70 in October and think it would be nice to finish the Appalachian Trail before that particular milestone. Barring serious injury, I believe I can accomplish this. Wish me luck. Now it¢s 2pm and we¢re on the Dartmouth Coach after a bit of drama. I had assumed this bus would be leaving from the PA Bus Terminal. When we got there we learned there was no such bus. After calling the Coach we learned that it leaves across town from near Grand Central. After two cab rides (don¢t ask) we arrived at 150 East 42nd St and the bus was there with a line of waiting passengers. Thank Gosh this bus comes with a potty and free snacks. This is good because a) I needed to pee and b) we hadn¢t had time to grab lunch. I¢m settled in my comfy seat for a 5.5 hour ride to New Hampshire. And now I¢m in bed at Hanover Adventure Tour¢s hiker hostel in Norwich, Vermont.  Our bus arrived in Hanover on time and Jennifer was there to meet us. We enjoyed a nice dinner together reminiscing over old times. This is a nice new hostel. I¢m showered and ready for a 9:00 AM shuttle to the New Hampshire border at the Connecticut River.Carl ¢Farfar¢ Hagelin
Date: 2021-07-15
From: VT-NH border

To: Moose Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Our first day. After walking through the town of Hanover, home of Dartmouth College, for a half hour, we headed into the woods where we belong. It was a definite climb out of town (isn¢t it always?) but the morning offered a decent amount of superhighway, our term for easy-to-walk portions. We stopped for water and snacks around 1:30 and then proceeded to hike uphill for the rest of the day. We arrived at our shelter seven hours after our 9:15 start. It¢s a nice shelter area with a view from Moose Mountain, apparently so named for its distinct lack of moose. No droppings encountered. I had nice chats with other hikers here including with Daybreak and her pooch Clara. Dinner was mac & cheese, peanuts and dried fruit topped off with a cookie bar baked by Gayle¢s friend. I consumed lots of water today. Five or six liters. It was warm and super humid. Even so, my legs cramped up shortly after climbing into my hammock. This always happens to me. Fortunately they stop happening 2 or 3 days into my hikes. Tomorrow the plan is for a short day, but we may continue farther up the trail in order to avoid a 12-miler up Smarts Mountain the following day.
Date: 2021-07-16
From: Moose Mountain Shelter 

To: Lyme-Dorchester Rd
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: scattered clouds

I¢m lying in my hammock at 3:20. It was a short day in terms of miles (8.6), but a tough day. Day 2 of hiking can be challenging with your body beat up from yesterday¢s first day and you¢re not yet conditioned for big miles on tough terrain. Our plan, therefore, was to hike a short day today of 5.7 to Trapper John Shelter. But my plan didn¢t make sense. We made it to that shelter a little before noon. Way too early even for us elderlies. So we hiked an extra 2.9 and set up camp just before a gravel road after which begins the long slog up Smarts Mountain. That will leave us 9.4 to get us to tomorrow¢s planned shelter and a 2115 foot climb. And don¢t count on us sticking to tomorrow¢s plan either. The AT Guide says, ¢Shelter on steep .3 mile side trail, unreliable stream¢¦¢.  We may need to improvise again.Stealth camping is when you make camp at a location other than a designated shelter or campsite area. We found a nice spot with a babbling brook. It¢s funny that my hammock is tied to a tree with a wooden sign nailed to it that probably read ¢No Camping¢, but has since faded away to nothing. Rainbow, hiking behind me, commented that my pants were so soaked with sweat that it looked like I¢d been swimming in them. I wear long pants to help keep the ticks at bay, but I¢d be cooler in shorts. Pretty much all the young hikers who make up the majority of long-distance hikers wear loose fitting shorts. Here¢s another funny. Background:  This is about water treatment. Gayle uses the Sawyer Squeeze filter system, by far the most commonly used method on the trail. I use a SteriPen, a UV method. On the evening prior to starting this hike, I asked Gayle if she carried a backup means of treating water. She said she didn¢t. I¢d been considering ditching my backup which were Aqua Mira drops. I decided to keep my backup as it¢s light and compact. Yesterday, on our first day of hiking, Gayle went to filter water at our very first water stop. It was clogged. Just dripped out pathetically and only after a hearty squeeze. So I zapped water for both of us with my SteriPen. That worked just fine. But¢¦ I left its protective cap there. So now the business end of my UV light travels with me unprotected. And they¢re pretty fragile. So on day 1, we both had failures. I will replace my SteriPen when I get a chance. Gayle¢s thinking about getting one too.There is absolutely no internet here which is sad. I was looking forward to chatting with Joan who¢s hanging with buddies Dotty & Steve. Sadly I fear there will be many such nights along this wilderness path.Today¢s photo is of the privy at Moose Mountain Shelter.  Not so private  Carl ¢Farfar¢ Hagelin
Date: 2021-07-17
From: Lyme-Dorchester Rd

To: Brackett Brook
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: few clouds

The rain started mid morning and quickly became heavy. It didn¢t stop till around 3:00. The AT was mud and pools of water. After a while there was no point even trying to avoid the mud. Streams of water were flowing down the trail. But that¢s OK. As the saying goes, ¢No pain, no rain, no Maine¢.I¢m happy to report that my legs are holding up. Despite hiking for 11.5 hours today, I managed to keep going. We hiked a paltry 12.4 miles. That¢s a tiny bit over 1 mile per hour. No doubt about it, we¢re in New Hampshire. We summited two mountains today. Smarts Mountain was the higher of the two but Mt Cube was the killer with miles of ridge climbing across great slabs of granite made slick with the rain. It was slow going and a bit scary. Most of our falls today were slip-sliding in mud and we didn¢t get hurt. As predicted, we didn¢t camp at our plan¢s shelter, Hexacuba. We passed there shortly after 1:00 and decided to move on in order to make tomorrow¢s hike to Hikers Welcome Hostel a bit shorter. It¢s a good thing we did. Though we only hiked an additional 3.3, those 3.3 took us 5 hours. That¢s Mt Cube for you. We¢re stealth camping again at Brackett Brook. It¢s a nice spot and thank Gosh we didn¢t have to make camp in the rain. Wouldn¢t you know. As soon as typed this last sentence, I hear the pitter-patter of rain on my tarp. It¢s 11.5 miles tomorrow to the hostel and the terrain doesn¢t look too bad. We shall see. This state is known for tossing the unexpected at hikers. Again, no cell service tonight. (sad face)
Date: 2021-07-18
From: Brackett Brook

To: Hikers Welcome Hostel
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: light rain

It rained all night and most of the day today. I¢ve never seen the trail this wet and muddy. Water crossings were high. Sometimes we had to be submerged up to our ankles. But overall the terrain was easier than yesterday¢s and we made the 11.5 miles in 7.5 hours. We arrived at 2:00. Had we not hiked the additional 3.3 yesterday, we¢d have arrived here at 7:00. (See yesterday¢s post)After a short road walk from the trail, we arrived at Hikers Welcome Hostel. They¢re best known for facilitating northbound hikers in getting over Mt Moosilauke, the first of the high peaks of the White Mountains. They do so by shuttling hikers to the bottom of the north face of the mountain at Kinsman Notch so they can hike southbound back to the hostel. This is helpful because the north face is very steep and, for hikers like me, going up is far safer than going down. The south face has a longer, less steep descent. I¢ve signed up for tomorrow¢s shuttle. Unfortunately I¢m the 7th person and they can only take 6. That means I¢ll miss the 7am shuttle and will need to wait for the 9am. As a slow hiker, I don¢t like starting out late. I was speaking with a young southbound couple who had just hiked Moosilauke today.  I asked them if they thought climbing its north face in the rain would make it more dangerous. ¢Just watch your footing on the wooden steps and you¢ll be fine¢.  They felt that in general the state of New Hampshire did a lot more than Maine in order to make their challenging sections safe. That¢s good to hear.Carl ¢Farfar¢ Hagelin
Date: 2021-07-19
From: Hikers Welcome Hostel

To: Hikers Welcome Hostel
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Mo, Kenwood and I were on the late shuttle to Kinsman Notch this morning for our 3759 ft climb of Mt Moosilauke.  We rode through very heavy rain. After hearing so much about this climb over the north face, I was feeling apprehensive and the rain didn¢t help. As soon as we hit the trail we came to a water crossing. Any stones in place for hopping over were submerged so right off the bat we had waterlogged shoes. With two pairs of socks, hiking shoes and gaiters, that¢s a lot of extra water weight to sling around with every step. Good thing we were slackpacking, carrying just a little food, a headlamp, first aid kit, water, and water treatment. The three of us decided to keep together for safety.Soon enough we were climbing the most vertical slope I¢ve yet to encounter. I was grateful to the Appalachian Mountain Club, the organization that maintains the AT through the Whites, for building features designed to make the ascent safer. In addition to the steps fashioned from granite boulders, there were wooden steps and some rebar grab bars in spots that otherwise would have been treacherous. The trail parallels a waterfall partway up the mountain. Today this waterfall was a powerful, raging spectacle. To be that close to it was awesome and intimidating. What if I were to slip off the trail and get washed down this waterfall? (I get these thoughts sometimes as I hike.). The good news is that death would come quickly as I¢d be dashed against the rocks, bones snapped like dry twigs and be gone before I even had a chance to drown. After an hour and three quarters the trail diverted from the waterfall and became less steep, just another long uphill rocky climb. Mo and Kenwood were waiting for me at that point and we decided to split up and meet back at the hostel. I was glad to no longer be holding them up. There was still a long way to go to reach the summit which turned out to be our first exposed alpine summit. No views for me. Just cold mist blowing from the east. I needed to get back into the woods before I got too cold. The descent was longer, much of it was picking my way through rocks. But the last couple of miles had a lot of superhighway with a gentle downward slope. With my light pack, I felt like I was flying down the trail. Gee Farfar, with all the rain in the last few days, the trail must have been mighty wet. (I know that¢s what you¢re thinking.) We¢ll I¢ve never seen so much water on the trail. It was liberating in a way to be ok with walking straight through streams of flowing water and pools of standing water. No need to hop from rock to rock to avoid pesky puddles. And the water crossings, of which there were many, were the deepest and fastest I¢ve experienced. The last one was up to my thighs and moving fast. All in all it was a very good day. Quite an experience. Not a walk in the park.
Date: 2021-07-20
From: Hikers Welcome Hostel

To: Eliza Brook Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: light rain

With my previous hiking, I¢d come establish a rule of thumb when estimating arrival times. Assume an average of 2 miles per hour and then adjust up or down based on the elevation profile and trail conditions. It¢s usually worked well for me. But now, here in New Hampshire, I¢m defaulting to 1 mile per hour as my starting point. Today, as a good example, we hiked 7.5 miles and it took us 7 hours. We¢re here at Eliza Brook Shelter as are Mo and Kenwood, the NOBO thru hiker duo that shared the shuttle with us this morning. The forecast called for yet more rain at 2:00. Aside from two 1-minute sprinkles, there¢s been no rain and it¢s now 7:00 in the evening. The sun has even made some brief appearances. I¢ve even strung a clothes line. I¢ve got the post dinner chills as most of my blood has vacated my extremities to focus on dealing with the massive dinner in my tummy. This is a common experience for me.   In this case dinner consisted of an entire box of mac & cheese. While that was cooking I snacked on salted peanuts (love that salty crunch) and for dessert I ate a Bobo¢s muffin. This morning for breakfast I heated up two slices of last night¢s pizza of which I¢d eaten only half. If that sounds like restraint, it¢s not. It was a huge 12-slice rectangular number with enough grease to make this morning¢s paper trash fire a bonfire. This is why I hike. It took a while getting used to my full pack again, and climbing out of Kinsman Notch was another one of those now-familiar long, rocky climbs. We stopped twice to snack and once to gather water, of which I consumed four liters. And once again, no views were had. I¢m sure it will clear up some day. No superhighways today and lots and lots of mud, which does slow us down. Tomorrow is an 8.8 mile hike over the Kinsman Mountains and past the first of the AMC Huts, Lonesome Lake Hut, and down into Franconia Notch where we¢ll stay at The Notch Hostel for two nights, taking my first zero. I¢m looking forward to zeroing on Thursday. I need to resupply and rest my limbs. There¢s an outfitter in Lincoln I need to visit. My water bottle rig is failing. My 1-liter bottles hang from cords clipped to loops near the top of my shoulder straps and are secured from flopping about with elastic loops down at my hip belt. This works great as they¢re always at the ready. But here in New Hampshire, each time I take a big step up, which is frequently, my knee hits the bottom of the bottle and out it pops, now dangling free and getting in my way.  It¢s become a major nuisance. There I am trying to remain upright while fitting the bottle, often both, back into their holding loops. While this has always been a downside of this design, it¢s more so up here.I¢ve called for an early start tomorrow, 6:00. I¢m concerned about these Kinsman Mountains.
Date: 2021-07-21
From: Eliza Brook Shelter

To: The Notch Hostel 
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: overcast clouds

After writing yesterday¢s journal and reading a few pages in my book, I was ready for sleep. It wasn¢t long before I saw the first flash of lightning followed by long rolling thunder. Soon the rain started. Lightly at first, but soon heavy. The thunderstorm kept on for a couple of hours, keeping me from falling asleep. The thunder claps would start off loud and crisp and bounce around the mountains and valleys and resolve into deep bass rumbles you could almost feel. What especially concerned me were the occasional drops of water dripping on my face. Will I wake up soaking wet?As it turned out, by the time my alarm sounded, the rain had stopped. But oh what a mess the heavy rain had made. The torrents of water running off my tarp had splattered mud and leaf litter on all the gear and clothes I¢d carefully stashed under my hammock. A new step in breaking camp was born:  wringing out my socks.Because of the earlier 6:00 am start, I skipped breakfast and coffee and stopped for snacks along the way. In hindsight, not a good idea. Gayle commented that I seemed a bit sluggish as we picked our way up the Kinsmans. It was another day of overcast and occasional drizzle leaving me still wanting for a view. The hike up included many opportunities to puzzle over how to navigate climbing up or down giant boulders and granite slabs. Kinda fun. But the relentless rocky descent was slow and the days of rain had turned the long section into a stream. I will admit to entertaining thoughts of quitting, thinking about how much I wanted to be back to the comforts of home. It was then that I tripped on a rock and fell, landing twisted up on top of my new poles. I lay there, half submerged in water, thinking maybe I¢m not good enough for this. But I made it to Franconia Notch.  We called the hostel and got instructions for how to get there which essentially involved another mile of road walking and a call to a local taxi service. The driver agreed to stop at a local store to pick up dinner. A cob salad and a tuna wrap.They say never quit on a bad day. And when all was said and done (and thought), I enjoyed my evening at the hostel and was cozy and warm in bed. Tomorrow¢s a zero and we¢ll be boxing up much of our gear to ship six days ahead while we slack pack through the AMC Huts.  More on that later.
Date: 2021-07-22
From: The Notch Hostel 

To: The Notch Hostel 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Happy Days!  The sun is out. The birds are chirping. It¢s a zero mile day here at The Notch Hostel. I was up early so as to not waste a minute of this. We set out and hung our wet gear outside to dry and booked a taxi into Woodstock for breakfast. We had an outdoor table and truly enjoyed ourselves. Back at the hostel we divided our gear between what we¢ll be carrying as we slack pack through the AMC huts for the next six days. We won¢t need our hammocks or cooking kits and we¢ll only need snacking material as we¢ll be feasting on great breakfasts and dinners at the huts. Off next to Lincoln for the post office. I mailed two boxes ahead to Joe Dodge Lodge where we¢ll land after our hut crawl. We then hit the grocery store to resupply food and finally to the outfitter where I bought a new SteriPen and a bottle harness to replace my failed method. It¢s mid afternoon now and I¢m chilling on the deck. We¢ll probably head back to one of those two towns for dinner.The big highlight for tomorrow is walking the 2-mile Franconia Ridge, all above tree line. It¢s considered the most beautiful stretch of the AT aside from standing atop Mt Katahdin. We¢ll pay our dues though, getting up there with a huge climb up Mt Lincoln, the first of the Presidentials.