morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-09-16
From: Stratton, ME

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

   After breakfast we piled into the neighbor¢s car and Linc drove us to Farmington. I caught up in my journal at the library while Linc ran some errands and Dad and Brandon went to the hospital.    Brandon actually broke both of the bones in his forearm. The doctor said that it was a green stick fracture and put a clamshell cast on his arm instead of a regular cast, so any pressure from swelling can be relieved. The doctor also said that Brandon can keep hiking.    The people at the hospital were familiar with thru-hikers. When the nurses found out that Brandon and Dad were thru-hiking they let them pick whatever they wanted from the menu to eat for breakfast. The nurses told them that they could even get two or three of each item. And they did.    We picked up some groceries before heading back. We returned the car clean, with a full tank, and a box of muffins on the seat. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the great company of Linc and Jeanne. They are amazing people. They buy the whole oat and wheat berries when they are home and grind their own flour and roll their own oats with hand-cranked machines. Jeanne made a couple pounds of flour and rolled oats while we were in Farmington. To make four pounds of flour she said that it takes 45 min. of continuous cranking. Whew! Gear tried his hand at it (the good one, that is) and cranked a cup of the wheat berries into flour.
Date: 2006-09-17
From: Stratton, ME

To: Safford Notch Campsite
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: clear sky

   We finished off our town food for breakfast and packed.   Linc and Jeanne¢s neighbor drove us all out to the trailhead and we hiked with them off and on for the rest of the day. Gear did great, hiking with his arm in a cast. We just take it easy on the downhill so there¢s less chance of him falling. He said that his arm got really warm from the extra insulation. He used one pole to help steady himself and would hand it off to Dad or me when he needed to navigate over boulders. Dad was always right there with him in case he needed help. Gear never complained and he was still faster then me, even with his arm in a cast.   There was a long, 2,000-ft. climb up to the top of the Bigelow Range, but the views were worth it. It was a beautiful, clear day full of breathtaking views of Flagstaff Lake from each of the peaks. We climbed up and down the Horns, West Peak, and Avery Peak, which had an old fire tower on top. We climbed up into the alpine zone on top of every peak. The Alpine zone is where the trees, if any, are just tiny shrubs and there are more rocks then dirt. Somehow delicate, little plants still manage to grow in this harsh environment.   We stopped for a long time on top of the summits, talking, taking pictures. The end of our trip is coming fast. Only 177 more miles to go.
Date: 2006-09-18
From: Safford Notch Campsite

To: East Carry Pond
Miles today: 16.3

   Today we passed the 2,000-mile mark! We¢ve hiked 2,000 miles of the AT. Amazing. The 2000-mile mark was made out of sticks on top of Little Bigelow. Before we started our thru-hike, our longest trip had been only 30 miles, and that was while preparing for our thru-hike.    There are so many places along the AT where we feel that we could stay there a week. Flagstaff Lake is one of them. The water had been lowered so there was a wide, rocky beach full of driftwood surrounding the lake. Dad went for a swim in the chilly water. It was nice and warm sitting on the beach in the sun. Right before we left, we saw a bald eagle fly close to us with its talons outstretched as if it was going to catch a fish. The loons on the lake went crazy, calling out to each other, sending out a warning. We could have stayed there all day, but onward we pressed, hoping to camp with Linc and Jeanne again.   We crossed the old 2000-mile mark, painted on a road. Arnold Point looked like a neat place to camp, jutting out into a lake, but we pushed on and soon found Linc and Jeanne camped on the sandy beach of East Carry Pond. Talk about a comfortable spot to sleep! The water lapping on the shore only two feet from our tent, loons calling across the lake, a triple supper; life is good.
Date: 2006-09-19
From: East Carry Pond

To: Pleasant Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: broken clouds

   Today is Dad¢s birthday. Gear and I made birch bark cards for him. What a beautiful place to wake up to in the morning.   It was a rugged, but relatively flat trail all the way to the Kennebec River. The trail followed a tumbling river with many waterfalls all the way there. Fording the Kennebec River is dangerous because an upstream dam lets water out without warning. This can cause the water level to rise 2` to 4` in less time then you can cross the river. Because of the danger, a ferry service has been set up.   There are only set times when hikers are ferried across the Kennebec in a canoe. We were there 45 min. early so we relaxed as other hikers began piling up. Only three people are allowed in the canoe at a time, including the ferryman, so Gear and I went across together and then Dad came over in the next trip. Although there is a ferryman, hikers have to help paddle. The canoe trip is part of the official AT. There¢s even a white blaze painted inside the red canoe.   We topped off our food supply at the only campstore in the tiny town of Caratunk and then booked it to get to the next shelter. We tried to beat the rain, but didn¢t make it. The shelter was full so we had to find a spot to set up our tent. Since it was raining, we set up our rainfly first and then Dad crawled inside and set up the body of our tent. It worked really well; the tent floor wasn¢t wet when we got inside.
Date: 2006-09-20
From: Pleasant Pond Lean-to

To: Moxie Bald Lean-to
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: few clouds

   Today it felt like we had lots of extra time because we got going early and were only going 13 miles. That¢s the nice thing about tenting; you can leave early and not worry about waking anyone up.   We met Old Drum coming the other way. Every time that we meet up with him, we talk for a long time. He always tells great stories. We stopped at the Bald Mtn. Brook lean-to for lunch and ended up staying there for two hours talking to Stretch and Gringo.   The handbook said that we were supposed to be able to see Katahdin from the top of Moxie Bald. We saw a couple of huge mountains out there, the last ones of our trip. Like Dad says, we can count the number of mountains on one hand. Moxie Bald was covered with huge slabs of rock. There were Tibetan prayer flags strung from the summit sign along with a broken pair of spectacles. It was really windy on top and we didn¢t stay long. On our way down we had to employ some sure-footed acrobatics to hop around the mud holes.    We tented near Moxie Bald lean-to. That night we were sitting inside our tent when two red squirrels circled our tent, sprinting, chattering, chasing each other. For a moment or two there, we weren¢t sure if they were going to run under the vestibule and right into the tent.   Our campsite was only a stones throw away from a lake. We could hear the loons calling across the lake as the sun set.
Date: 2006-09-21
From: Moxie Bald Lean-to

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: few clouds

   Today we had our first fords in a long while. The first one was the west branch of the Piscataquis River. There were two streams to cross where the river split around an island. We put on our crocs and tied our socks and shoes to our packs. Dad crossed first to make sure that it was safe, using his poles to steady himself against the current, then he came back to help Gear across, as I videoed it all. The water was so deep that Gear had to roll up his shorts so that they wouldn¢t get wet. Gear hung on to Dad¢s arm to steady himself and Dad walked upstream to break the current a little.    Dad came back to take the video camera and show me the best way to cross. Cold water! Using my poles to help keep my balance, I slowly crept across the two channels, always keeping three ¢legs¢ firmly planted on the rocky riverbed. We all made it across safely. We dried our feet off with our handy-dandy cotton washcloth, and were glad to start walking again to warm up our feet.   When we reached the road into Monson we weren¢t sure if we¢d get a ride until a guy picked us up who had come out just to check for hikers at the trailhead. We were even given a tour. Monson is a small town.   When we were dropped off at the general store, we were surprised to see Sleep Ninja. He had been ahead of us since Stratton. The owner of the Monson General Store is a really nice guy. He let Sleep Ninja and us camp in the yard behind the store. We bought some re-supply food and town food, and then went back to set up our tents. It cooled off very fast. We were glad to be able to sit in our tents and eat.
Date: 2006-09-22
From: Monson, ME

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: clear sky

   This morning we hung out in our sleeping bags, talking through our tent to Sleep Ninja until almost ten o¢clock. Time flies when you¢re having fun. It was cold out, but our sleeping bags were warm and the sun was shining on our tent.   While we were finishing re-supplying in the general store, Linc and Jeanne walked in. We hadn¢t expected to see them again since they had gotten behind us somehow.    We only got out of town around 12:30. Hiking away from the road into Monson, we entered the 100-Mile Wilderness. No more trail towns; Monson was the last one. No more crossing macadam highways; the road into Monson was the last one. No more re-supply places except for the Abol Bridge campstore 100 miles up the trail.   Our first day in the 100 Acre Woods we meet Mr. Owl. He was a big, white owl and he simply sat there in the tree and stared down at us. Sleep Ninja had spotted him and pointed him out when we walked up. He said that blue jays had been squawking at the owl.    There were a lot of beautiful ponds along the trail. We stopped at Little Wilson Falls. Little? The water plunged 60 feet down into a ravine. The black rock formed steps for the water to cascade over. The waterfall almost looked man-made with all those right angles. We sat there for a long time, taking it all in.   We crossed a stream on a tiny, wobbly log. When I went across they thought that I was going in the drink, but I saved myself.   Gringo and Stretch were at the shelter when we arrived. There weren¢t any good tent spots, so we stayed in the shelter. We really enjoy tenting. Sleep Ninja got a fire going so that he could roast some hot dogs, and Gear joined him, toasting some of our marshmallows. We found out that toasted marshmallow in a peanut butter sandwich is better then a fluffernutter.
Date: 2006-09-23
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Chairback Gap Lean-to
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: overcast clouds

   Just before we left the shelter we heard, tink, tink, tink, on the metal roof. We were all thinking, no, no, no. Thankfully the rain held off until we reached the first shelter. Gringo, Stretch, and Sleep Ninja were all there. We ate lunch, thank goodness for dry shelters, and then headed back out into the rain.   Barren Mtn was very barren, cold, wet, closed in by fog, there wasn¢t even a viewing platform on top of the fire tower¢s steel supports. We kept walking past the trail leading into the Cloud Pond lean-to; .6 miles just to get in out of the rain for a little? No way. The trail seemed to go on forever. There weren¢t many signs, so we thought that we were further along then we actually were. Not a good thing to do. After being wet for a long time, it starts to get to you, starts to bug you. Especially today because the trail was surprisingly rugged. With a little over 100 miles to go, we thought that we had this in the bag, we thought that it was going to be easy. Not the AT.   Finally we reached the lean-to. The rain had stopped before we reached the lean-to, so we had started to dry out from our own body heat. The shelter was very full with hikers, their gear was hung up everywhere within the shelter, and every nail or peg had something hanging from it. So we set up our tent.    Wet, damp clothes: ewwww.   Warm tent: good.   Cozy sleeping bag: even better.   Trying to sleep in cozy sleeping bag in warm tent in damp clothes: doable.   Hey, they¢re dry in the morning!
Date: 2006-09-24
From: Chairback Gap Lean-to

To: East Branch Lean-to
Miles today: 20.7

   Today we traversed the last of the great mountains before Katahdin; White Cap Mtn, 3654 feet!   We had another ford today. We just walked right through with our boots on since they were already wet.    Pedro and McGruff passed us when we stopped to take off our rain jackets because we were plenty warm. When we stopped at the next shelter for lunch they told us that they were slackpacking through the 100-mile wilderness. Dad asked them why two perfectly healthy young men are slackpacking? Gear¢s 12, has a broken arm, and he¢s carrying all of his own stuff without a problem.    We had four mountains to traverse before reaching the next shelter. We talked the whole way. I prefer going over big mountains then the little, repeated, climbing hand over hand over boulders rugged, never ending ups and downs that we had yesterday. White Cap was open on the summit; it didn¢t have any trees on the top. Thick fog blanketed the summit. Wind swirled around; blowing so hard in gusts and bursts that it almost knocked us down onto the rock field that was the trail.      Hiking down off of White Cap, we finally reached the next shelter. We decided to push on. We were glad that we did because the trail was way easier. After cruising over those 3 and a half miles, we were surprised by who was at the shelter: Red B, Low Profile (a daschhund), Superman, and Pillbox. We hadn¢t seen them since Damascus, VA!   They had music playing, a fire going; it just goes to show how quickly things can change on the AT. As Dad says, ¢Things might be tough. You might be struggling to get through something, but remember that before you know it, everything will be great again.¢
Date: 2006-09-25
From: East Branch Lean-to

To: White House Landing
Miles today: 21.9

   Today was a long day of hiking, but the weather was beautiful. It was cold, but that only made us want to hike faster to warm up.    This morning everyone in the shelter got moving early because they were headed for White House Landing, a hostel. We decided to treat ourselves to a stay at the last hostel on the trail. We were dreaming about their one pound hamburgers all day. They were pulling us along, but as usual we hiked those 22 miles ¢Wanderer style¢ and stopped at all the neat spots.   After two bumps of mountains in the morning, it was mostly smooth sailing except towards the end of the day when the trail became more rugged. We could hardly believe that we were on the AT, the trail was so flat and smooth.    We saw our first, good view of Katahdin from across Pemadumcook Lake. We sat for awhile on the sandy beach of Pemadumcook just relaxing and soaking in the beauty of it all and the closeness of our goal.   To get to White House Landing we had to hike over a mile of bumpy, root covered trail. The trail led us to a boat dock on the edge of a lake where we blew an air horn and sat on the dock to wait for our ride. It was over twenty minutes until someone came over to get us in a motor boat. And what of the one pound hamburgers? They told us that they only served dinner between 5 and 6pm. We had arrived at the dock before 6, but they weren¢t going to flop three burgers in a frying pan. Superman was a gentleman and gave us the rest of his pizza.    There were a lot of people at the hostel; Superman, Pillbox, Stretch, Cheeto, Puffy, a couple that we had met a long time ago, and about five other guys.   We claimed our bunks in the bunkhouse and then took our showers. At least we have the AYCE (all you can eat) breakfast to look forward to tomorrow.
Date: 2006-09-26
From: White House Landing

To: Rainbow Spring Campsite
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: light rain

   I got out of bed early this morning. For the past couple of nights, as we¢ve been nearing the end of our journey, we all haven¢t been sleeping much. I walked over to the ¢sitting room¢ half of the bunkhouse and wrote in my journal. Through the big glass windows I had a beautiful view of the misty lake. A loon called. I expected a moose to come meandering of the woods to get a drink from the lake.   AYCE breakfast? Nope. The hostel owners had said that it was AYCE pancakes, but they cut off the pancakes after putting out four plates of them. They said that it was ridiculous. What did they expect? We¢re all hungry thru-hikers. Anyway, I¢ll just say that we wouldn¢t recommend this place to anyone. At least we had five-star company.   During our ride back across the lake we saw a rainbow arched across the sky and three moose further along the shore. The guy driving the boat said that it was a bull moose and two cows. We hiked in to take a closer look.    It was a cow and her two calves feeding by the shore of the lake. We didn¢t feel threatened by them at all. Gear and I walked out on a tree that had fallen on the beach and hid behind its roots to get some great pictures of the moose from only twenty feet away. Superman and Pillbox also came out onto the beach to get some pictures of the moose. It was amazing. After awhile the moose swam across the lake to the other side.    There are so many beautiful lakes in Maine. We stopped for lunch on top of the hardest climb of the day. From our lunch spot we could see Katahdin, where the mountain peaked out from under the low-lying clouds.   We followed the beautiful Rainbow Creek along its winding way, through the gorgeous autumn colors of the New England trees. We said our good byes to Gringo when we saw him at the shelter because he was planning on finishing the day after us. We still had four more miles to go and the sky was going to get dark soon. We followed Rainbow Creek to Rainbow Lake. Now we only needed to follow Rainbow Lake until we reached Rainbow Spring. We flew over the trail and through the mud holes. We were hiking as fast as I usually run. We were moving!   There were a lot of people at the campsite, but we found a spot for us. We had a feast tonight. We even made some peanut butter balls. (It¢s a lot easier when we make them at home.)
Date: 2006-02-13
To: Decision Made!
Miles today: 0.0

Today I crossed the point of no return. I gave notice at work. A place I have been for almost 14 years. Now the dreaming is over and the clock has started ticking. My planned start date is around March 29, 2006. My list of things to do is long. I did reserve the storage unit today. $60.00 a month. All pennies count now so I will have to be diligent with my expenditures. Oh, and I got registered here on trailjounals. Tonight I will work more on my trip planning working out maildrops, and any reservations I will need. Lots to do so more later.Clay
Date: 2006-02-16
To: Still Planning
Miles today: 0.0

More planning done and more to do. I have most of my gear, but need to finalize, and if I have time, test some of it. Most is new, and I am happy with it. I have worked hard at getting good gear at good prices. I got new light weight boots today, and have about 6 weeks break them in. I have my current pair to use as a back up. I have my storage unit reserved, so I will need to begin packing up. YUK! I have decided I will have a few mail drops, maybe 6. Just to get seasonal gear when needed. I will work on that this weekend during the ice storm we will be having here. I will settle the health insurance issue next week. More later.Clay
Date: 2006-02-17
To: more preparation
Miles today: 0.0

We are having an ice storm here this weekend so no testing of my gear. I am making some modifications to my pack and testing some recipes I plan on using. I have a few more items I think I need to acquire. A pack cover, a water carrier, etc... I will then weigh and pack. I think my final weight will be just under 30 lbs. At least I hope it is no more than that. My maps and data book will get here next week. Anxious to be able to study the maps and what I will be traveling over in 6 weeks. More Later.Clay
Date: 2006-03-04
To: Pinnacle Mountain
Miles today: 0.0

Saturday wonderful weather,about 55 degrees. I have hiked up Pinnacle Mountain in Central Arkansas. A nice training hike. Should be about a 6 mile round trip when I am finished. Pinnacle mountain is a big ((for Arkansas)) Granite peak rising up over 1,000 feet above the Arkansas river valley. The view is beautiful. There are lots of people hiking today. Spring may soon to be here. The Bradford Pears, Forsythias and the Daffodils are beginning to bloom There is a troop of young boy scouts up here. Very amusing. Those Scoutmasters have my respect. The boys never cease talking, and roaming around and exploring. The Scoutmasters have to have their head on a swivel to keep up with Them all. It is especially dangerous here. A trip and fall around here gets a twisted ankle and bump on the head at a minimum. And considerably worse if you don't manage to stop bouncing and rolling right away.   This week has surely been an up and down. I originally thought I had a nice tax return of $1,500 to count on. But it turns out I will have to pay over $3,800. Some errors in the initial computing of my taxes to be withheld. Needless to say I panicked.So Monday I called up the boss and asked for my job back! She was speechless and said she would get back in touch with me. Tuesday she emailed and said I really need to do this this and what can we do to work it out so you do? So he rest of the week I and with the help of our office manager crunched the numbers. With the payment of some unearned vacation pay and adjusting my tax withholdings I was again comfortable with proceeding with my trip. Also this week I shopped for health insurance for my trip as well. That was an additional nightmare. But I was able o find something near my budget. I just hope I don't need it. It is basically only good for a one time use for a major catastrophe. My first hike day is still planned to be March 29. That leaves a little over 3 weeks to clean out the apartment, and arrange all the logistical stuff, bills, mail, etc... My brother is going to help out and that helps. His son is 3 years old today. I look forward to seeing him in a few weeks. He is a pistol. Curly black hair,and always on the go. It is also would be my dad's 73rd birthday. He has been gone for 15 years and I still miss him I could certainly us his support and advice for this trip. Well break is over. Time to get back down the mountain. Since It's is a day hike only trail, I am getting lots of strange looks with my full pack on my back. That is fine. I gladly step to the side and let them pass by. They think I am being courteous. Not true, I am just using it as an excuse to rest! Later.