morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-07-20
From: Gorham, NH

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0

I awakened in my bottom bunk at 4:45 AM, but didn't get up until 5:15 when I smelled the coffee brewing. Thanks Trip (nobo) for starting the coffee for us all!A zero day means you don't hike ON the trail, but you work most of the day planning your itinerary, buying food, sorting and packing it, and doing laundry....or in the case of White Mountains Lodge, waiting for them to do your laundry, which is wonderful!This morning Marni, the owner is making my favorite: French Toast Casserole. It's warm, gooey, filling and tastes delicious. She also served sausage, hash browns and blueberry muffins, all wonderful, all washed down with orange juice and coffee. I met Flossi and Gray Squirrel (on trail journals), older north bounders and Trip the Light, who had started the coffee. The crowd today is older, and Marni said "quieter" than the younger set she had had for the past few nights. After breakfast, I worked on the itinerary for the next leg of the hike that would take us to Andover, Maine. We were going to have to carry a full 6 days food up and over these already difficult mountains and I was not looking forward to that!To save weight this hike, I was not only going stoveless, I was without my Kindle Fire, which I use to email my daily journal entries to someone to upload on TJ for me. What I did have, was good ol' fashioned paper, so I got busy working on my journal entries which I would be carrying until I got back. In the meantime, I put a picture or two on Facebook daily to let friends and family know that I was alive and well. Actually I chronicled my numerous falls and injuries....until it got embarrassing, then I just stopped doing it At 9:30 AM Mainer, Violet Beauregard and her dog Cricket, 2013 successful north bounder, who we had met on the trail last year arrived for a visit. Violet was going to take my bounce box to the post office for me on Monday and send it to Andover, Maine. Thanks Violet for coming so far to see us and for shipping my box!At the hostel, we met Trail Bunny, who is doing support for her northbound husband, Long Haul Trucker. She was nice enough to take me and Beerdra to Walmart to resupply. When we returned, we spilled our bags out onto the bunk room floor to organize the 6 days of food. I would not be carrying one extra piece of food due to the weight. I finished working on my journal, took a shower, and texted Jack. It's only been a week, and I already miss Jack and the critters. The rest of the day was spent visiting with the other hikers at the hostel, and repacking my pack for an early departure tomorrow. Dinner was my leftovers from the day before, Greek salad and fettucini alfredo. I hit the sheets at 8:30, but due to the noise downstairs, the trucks going by out front, and the constant in and out of other hikers, it was close to 11 by the time I finally fell asleep.
Date: 2014-07-21
From: Gorham, NH

To: Dream Lake
Miles today: 9.7
Weather: clear sky

I awakened at 6:36 after a restless night. I dressed, packed my pack, ate a delicious breakfast of egg,cheese and broccoli strata with hash browns and sausage. I washed it down with half of a blueberry muffin. Of course there are always starving north bounders at the table willing to eat the other half. Beerdra and I hiked out at 8 AM, crossed NH2 and down North Road past the hydroelectric plant, which we both agreed would make an amazing home. We turned onto the gravel Hogan Road and followed it for a bit. After .7 miles of flat, road walking, we turned right and straight up Mt. Hayes for two miles. Then we hiked down Mt. Hayes and up Cascade Mountain.It was a beautiful day but got hot and humid and while in the sun on exposed ledges in the sun, too hot for me. We took our 1st break on top of Mt. Hayes where we met nobo Mosey, 2 sobos and a section hiker. Everyone was feeling the heat.Lunch was taken at a spring after Trident Col Campsite, which was supposed to be our destination for the night at 5.9 miles, but we had passed the campsite at 2 PM and were feeling good so decided to move on. There are lots of bog bridges in this area due to the wet, muddy trail. As I was crossing one, I mentioned how much I hate to be dirty. Before I even finished saying it, my left foot slid off the wet board and dropped into the black mud. Hate it. The terrain today was easier than it had been, but due to the high miles, my hips were cranky, but my knee did fairly well with ibuprofen every 4 hours.At some point late afternoon, we came upon the most gorgeous view of day....Dream Lake. Just amazing. Nowhere to camp though, so we took pictures and moved on. When we got to Dream Lake with it's numerous campsites and a fire ring, we quickly decided that it would be our destination for the night. The tents were put up and my dinner of tortillas with chicken was eaten in haste as the mosquitoes were looking for a good meal before bed. They drove us into our tents at 6:30. It felt good to be in a prone position and although I did not sleep the 12 hours that I was in my tent, I know my body was recuperating from the daily grind.
Date: 2014-07-23
From: Carlo Col Shelter

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 4.4

I awakened at 4:30, but didn't get up until 6. The mice ran around my head all night.For breakfast I downed a Clif Bar and package of Lance crackers washed down with creek water; treated of course.Today was the best day yet. The terrain was difficult and varied with alpine meadows, beautiful flowers and of course difficult ups and downs over Mt. Carlo and Goose Eye Mountain. Too much time was spent in the sun. I should have used more sunblock.We met a dozen sobos today including Sisyfus, Tots, Crouton, Road Runner, Smooth Moose, Matt, Corrin and Jim, Mr Truth and Captain Morgan. Also in the shelter for the night were Grasshopper and Trip whom we had met at the White Mountains Lodge in Gorham. Cabo, a thru-hiker we met in Gatlinburg(and Beerdra hiked with for a time) in 2003 arrived. He was finishing a section he missed last year.We were in the shelter at 1 PM and were staying put due to the expected storms, and storm it did. Before the rains came, I collected my water for the night, set up my sleeping area and journaled. The shelter filled quickly and many tented also. While Beerdra was eating her dinner, a black snake came out from under the shelter and slithered across her foot. She flew backwards and let out a few choice words. It was good for a laugh.Around 4 PM the skies opened and the rain poured down. Thunder and lightning cracked all around us. Water collected in front of the shelter and at one point was about 4" deep. I zipped out of the shelter to clear hemlock needles and enable the water to flow over the hill and away from the shelter. Grey Squirrel did the same before me. For dinner I made 2-6" tortillas with tuna and cheese, and snacked off and on until bed. At some point, I sat on my spare reading glasses. I had left my first pair in Gorham. This is why I buy cheap readers and just leave them all over the house and in our cars I'll buy a few more pairs in Andover and just put the broken ones on the bridge of my nose to write. I climbed into my sleeping bag at 5 PM for the night. Others were cooking and visiting. It was fun talking with the 20 something Cuddle Bubble, as Tots, Road Runner, Crouton, Smooth Moose and Matt are known. They were friendly and entertaining, interacting with the older crowd as easily as they were with the younger set. We're sleeping at 2994' tonight, so the temps should be comfortable. I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face, thinking about walking on the tops of mountains.
Date: 2014-07-25
From: Speck Pond Shelter

To: ME 26
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: scattered clouds

I awakened around 5:30 AM, but couldn't tell exactly without my phone. You do get good about telling time when you live outdoors. It was a quiet night with only me, Beerdra and Long Haul Trucker in the shelter. Long Haul was the husband of Trail Bunny who we had met back at White Mountains Lodge.For breakfast I ate a package of cheese crackers and some teriyaki bites, a new found that I really like and they are a tasty, easy snack on the trail. The night before, nobo Trip had asked if he could hike out with us in the morning, so right before 7, I headed out and up, and Beerdra and Trip followed a few minutes later. I was cold and needed the extra time anyway on the steep 600' up. At the top, we didn't go the .3 to the fire tower due to our noon pick up. For most of the hike Beerdra led, with me in the middle and Trip bringing up the rear. At 4033' we had a spectacular view, but due to my dead-as-a-doorknob phone, wasn't able to get any pictures. From then on it was a downhill into the notch, except for a few little ups. We reached the stream about a mile before the notch early, so broke to rest and eat.It was a relatively quick 4.1 mile hike into Grafton Notch, arriving around 11:50 AM. We had arranged for The Cabin shuttler, Don to pick us up at noon, so we settled in to relax and eat a snack.Almost an hour later Don arrived, and feeling badly for making us wait, he immediately took us to Rite Aid so I could buy a couple more pairs of cheap readers, then to a local pub for lunch. Trip was an add on to the shuttle and was going to the Pine Ellis Hostel in town, to he treated Don to lunch. Arriving at The Cabin, we quickly chose the blue pop up in the yard as our home for the weekend. It cost us just $15.00 each. I had never slept in a pop up and was looking forward to it At 4 PM I was finally standing in the hot shower, my first since Sunday night. It was now Friday. Words can't describe how wonderful it felt.We did our laundry and were at Honey and Bear's big dinner table at 6 PM sharp. Ketchup and Sisyfus had come in and during dinner, Squatch of PCT fame also joined us. We feasted on spaghetti and meatballs with salad, bread and fresh corn on the cob. We enjoyed brownies and ice cream for dessert. All this for $10.00! I was in bed by 8 PM. It had been a long, long week. I called Jack and he told me all about the skunk that Brooke and Duke had killed.....but not before it skunked them! That's why I have the Nobody Goes Out After Dark Without a Leash rule, but when the cat's away, the mice do play. I updated Facebook while I had a signal and battery life. It took a while for me to fall to sleep.
Date: 2014-07-27
From: Andover, Maine

To: Andover, Maine
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Nature called at 4 AM. Tried to talk myself out of it until 4:30. I fell back to sleep and awakened to the chime of an email coming in from The National Wildlife Foundation about the importance of bird baths. It was 7:07 AM. Rats, breakfast is served at 7 and I wasn't going to miss that, so I jumped out of bed, ran my fingers through my hair, called to Beerdra across the pop-up and headed out the little metal door and was at the table at 7:10. Two section hikers who had arrived after dark were already at the table as were Honey and Bear. B joined us a few minutes later. I had heard heard Honey say earlier that she keeps meaning to weed the flower box that's attached to the dining room window, so after breakfast I popped out the screen and cleaned up the flower box for her.....just as she had hoped I would Bear gave me his USA Today to read later while I zeroed. Molly, their 90 lb yellow lab is always up for some attention, and of course I'm ready and willing to give ear scratches and tummy rubs. Can't ask for much more on a zero day, dogs and working with flowers.At 12:30, Don the shuttler extraordinaire took us the 3 miles into town to eat and resupply. We treated Don today since he made us dinner last night. I had a Greek Salad and a Delicious Steak Bomb sandwich, then bought a whoopie pie the size of my head to take back to The Cabin with me.Between The Mill and Andover Grocery we were able to get what we needed for the next leg of the hike, 4 days from Andover into Rangely.I called and got us a room for two nights at the Farmhouse Inn in Rangely, a new hiker hostel that we'd been hearing a lot about on the trail from southbounders.Our hike is half over. For my almost constant exhaustion from these amazing mountains, I have gotten some pretty stellar thigh and calf muscles. I still can't believe that after just doing this a year ago, Beerdra agreed to do it again with me this summer. She either has a big heart or is a glutton for punishment....or both.
Date: 2014-07-28
From: Andover, Maine

To: Andover, Maine
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

My day started at 4:30 AM. For the last few days, I had noticed an orange floater in my right eye, something I had never seen before, but it didn't bother me, so I just got used to seeing it. In the middle of it was a small dark spot. It was front and center, and as I moved my eye, it tracked along with it. Last night while sitting on my bunk in the pop up, I noticed rain drops falling to the right of my head.....but it turned out not to be raindrops, but flashes of white light, sort of dripping from top to bottom. I wondered what was up, but in the absence of pain and no noticeable loss of sight, I didn't pay it too much attention. At 7 AM I had another phenomenal breakfast of fried potatoes, biscuits and gravy, cantaloupe and sausage, lovingly made by Bear, washed down with coffee and oj.Beerdra and I went to the local Walmart with Honey and while there, purchased 3 new movies for the hostel's library. While the rain fell and the thunder rolled we watched all three. During our movie extravaganza, 3 soaking wet Nobos came in. That night, joined by the 3 new hikers, Don the shuttler, Honey and Bear, we dined on a fabulous New England boiled dinner. I will certainly miss this wonderful little pocket of caring and nourishment here in the Maine woods.Beerdra and I settled with Honey and Bear after dinner and retired to the pop up to prepare our packs for morning. I texted Jack and was prone by 8 PM.
Date: 2014-07-30
From: Sawyer Notch

To: Beemis Mountain Hut
Miles today: 11.1

Awakened at 6 AM after a night of awakening at 10 PM, 2:30 AM, and 4 AM. A good night for me is waking up a lot....but being able to go back to sleep easily. That was one of those night. I had to leave the tent twice to pee. Hate to do that when I can't even see my hand in front of my face.Last night I slept with my food for the first time EVER. It was at my feet and I didn't feel good about it, but I did it. I peed at the foot of my tent several times (no, not ON the tent...around it) before retiring and again twice during the night to keep the critters away. It's an old PCT trick taught to me by Lion King. It must have worked, because when I awoke, there were no holes in my tent and my food was intact.I was ready before Beerdra and went to the water with hopes that it had dropped a couple of inches during the night....and it had, exposing several rocks that had been underwater last night. I easily rock hopped the 30' across without a problem and waited for Beerdra on the other side. A few minutes later we were climbing Moody Mountain, the first of our two big ups today. We started at an elevation of 1076' and climbed to 2440', then back down to 1410', where we took a break before climbing Old Blue to an elevation of 3600'. We broke for lunch at the to and as usual, checked the weather for the afternoon. There was a 30-40% chance of rain today between 3-5 PM. Thunderstorms were predicted for Thursday. When we left the hostel, there had been no rain in the forecast for the next 5 days. We had originally planed to to to Beemis Stream Trail to tent, but because of predicted rain, didn't want to tent, so went an additional 2.7 miles to the next Hut.It was a tough, tough day for me. Both knees were bothering me and I fell for the 5th time, cutting my right forearm in the process. I came close to tears, but it was more from my exhausted mental and physical state than from any physical pain. We arrived at Beemis Mountain Hut at 6 PM, 11 hours after starting our hike this morning. I arrived battered and bruised, but happy to be under cover of a roof. There was a nice group of south bounders sheltering tonight and we enjoyed their company. One especially nice young couple have a blog. Check it out: mileswithkerry.blogspot.comFor dinner I ate two tuna tortillas and gave away 2 Nutri Bars to a south bounder. By 7:30 I was journaling, by 8 I was prone and ready for sleep. I'm so very tired tonight.
Date: 2014-07-31
From: Beemis Mountain Hut

To: ME 17 
Miles today: 4.5

I was asleep by 8 last night and awakened several times during the night, but no nature calls, so that's always nice. I awakened at 5:59 this morning, one minute before the young couple's alarm went off. We were only going 7+ miles today, so took our time getting up, eating and packing for the day. I ate a package of cheese crackers and half a Clif Bar for breakfast. I'm getting tired of the Clif Bars....that never happens. We left the shelter at 7:20 AM.The day was warm and sunny on a beautiful trail. I didn't have any falls this morning, but several slips on the wet, muddy trail. We broke for the first time on the second summit of Beemis Mountain. We checked the weather and it didn't take us long to decide to go into Rangely, ME at ME 17 today, instead of at ME 4 tomorrow as big thunder storms were due later in the day. The rain was coming and we didn't' want to be out in it. That's the nice part about section hikes; you can change you schedule at anytime and it doesn't matter. We had made a reservation in Rangely at the new Farmhouse Inn for tomorrow, so called from the mountain and changed it to today, arranging a pick up from the overlook on ME 17 for around 4 PM. So our 7+ mile day became a 4.5 mile day and off we went for just 3.2 more miles. I was beat and those last 3 miles were tough, especially the steep up to the highway; almost a thousand feet in less than a mile. We arrived about 45 minutes early and killed time by eating, taking pics of the phenomenal view, and facebooking. Before we knew it, Shane and Stacy, the new owners of the Farmhouse Inn collected us and took us back to the farm.The picture is of the storm coming toward us. When it arrived, the skies opened and it unleashed a torrent of rain, thunder and lightning. I was happy to watch it unfold from the porch of the Inn rather than from the trail.
Date: 2014-08-01
From: ME 4

To: Maine 17
Miles today: 13.1

My day started when fellow bunkmates got up at 5 to catch their 5:30 shuttle.Today Beerdra and I were doing a 13.1 mile southbound slack pack from ME 4 to ME 17. Along with 4 nobos, we got dropped off at 7:45 and were hiking south at 7:50. The day would be long, but on easier terrain and with less weight on our backs than the previous 3 weeks.The air was warmer than it had been since we began our hike. The sun was shining, but in the deep, dark Maine woods, we could hardly tell.There was lots of standing water on the trail from the 2" of rainfall on Thursday night. I had gotten new trail shoes at a shop in Rangely, but didn't want to test new shoes on my 1st 13 mile day, so wore my old ones for the last time.This was the first day we could actually hike, not climb up, climb down or boulder hop. We moved along at an easy 2 mph pace. It felt so good to actually be moving along through the woods. The day progressed beautifully trailwise and weatherwise. There were lots of beautiful mushrooms to photograph, flowers in bloom, I had no falls, and we saw plenty of moose prints.....always hoping to see a moose around every corner.We broke at Sabbath Day Pond first then Moxie Pond for lunch. The skies darkened and the wind came up, so with 1.7 miles left to ME 17, we finished and headed out. When we got to the parking area on ME 17, the sun was shining and lots of people were there enjoying the view. We shed our packs and sat on the sidewalk with backs against the guard rail while we waited for Shane to collect us for another night at the cozy Farmhouse Inn.
Date: 2014-08-02
From: Maine 17

To: Farmhouse Inn, Rangely Maine
Miles today: 0.0

Today we helped Stacey with putting clean sheets on beds and playing with the kids. The hostel is full and I can see she's a bit overwhelmed; and who wouldn't be with a big hostel, a shop and 4 little ones! I also restocked the fantastic little shop they have that carries most everything a hiker could need. Later, Stacey surprised me and Beerdra with pecan pancakes and bacon. Amazing!The late season hiker crud had hit Andover, Maine right after we left, and now it's on its way here with the northbounders. We'd been hearing stories about how bad it was in Andover. Ugh. We talked with Stacey about how to handle it when it got here....and it would. They are new to the hostel world and were open to any and all helpful information. It's always good if you have an area where you can put sick peeps with their own bathroom!Beerdra and I decided to host a hiker feed tonight for any hikers that were at the Inn and for Shane, Stacey and the kiddos for having this amazing hostel for us to come to off the trail, so around noon, we went to the local grocery store and shopped til we dropped. Back at the hostel, we begged and borrowed pans, bug spoons and anything else we needed to make this happen. We planned to serve hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans and potato salad, chips and a big, chocked-full-of-veggies salad.The afternoon was spent preparing the meal and playing with the kids. There were lots of veggie scraps that Haelyn took down to the chickens and 2 miniature pot bellied pigs. No rain in the forecast, so we will plan to eat out back.Luckily, everything came together and at 6 PM we fed about 20 people. Everyone was very appreciative and we felt good for giving back to the hiking community. We packed our packs and hit the sheets. Four more days to Stratton, Maine and the end of our hike.