morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-09-24
From: Pierce Pond Lean-to

To: US201/Caratunk
Miles today: 4.0

0.6 off trail milesSlept fitfully most of the night -- not just because of Two Dogs' chainsaw snoring, but also because I knew I needed to be up by 7 a.m. to make it in time for the much heralded 12-pancake breakfast at Harrison Camps.As it happens, breakfast soared beyond all expectations -- pancakes with chopped apple, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries mixed in, coffee, juice, eggs, sausage. It all disappeared within 30 minutes of sitting down in the camp's dining room, as close as I could sit to the cast-iron stove full of glowing coals.The feast fueled me the last 3.5 miles to the Kennebec River, where Bill (in Ferryman Steve Longley's employ) canoed me across to my breakfast companions, with whom I'm lodging tonight at the Northern Outdoors Center. Wanted to stay at Caratunk House, but it has been closed by the town for serving food to hikers without the proper kitchen certification -- the inspectors were tipped off by proprietor One Braid's competitors for hiker business, Steve Longley and company. > The subeconomies that grow up around the A.T. seem people by piranhas at times. Reputedly, Uncle Johnny (of Uncle Johnny's hiker hostel in Erwin, TN) reported Miss Janet (of Miss Janet's hiker hostel, also in Erwin) for chlid neglect for allowing her children to grow up in her place of business. And at the center of every squabble is, of course, the dollar bill. The A.T. -- it's "Dallas" Redux.
Date: 2004-09-25
From: US201/Caratunk

To: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 14.2

0.4 off-trail milesI beat the "brew-hiking" crowd out of town today; some decided to stay behind to go white-water-rafting with Bill the ferryman.Saw my first moose today!! He was in the trail, just before Pleasant Pond Shelter. I was belting out Harry Belafonte tunes ("Day-o, day-o, daylight come and me wan go home...") when we saw each other. I dropped my hiking sticks to fumble for my camera. He, seven feet tall, dark, bearded and carrying enormous antlers, snorted and stood his ground. (I've learned that moose are near-sighted, so sometimes it takes them a while to register their surroundings.) It wasn't until my flash went off that he high-tailed it into the woods. It is hunting season, after all. I heard shotguns going off all day and hoped that the hunters knew that the hiker superhighway was nearby. Doc Narly, a hiker from Florida, explained that it's bear season, which is better for hikers since bear hunters tend to get in close to their prey -- often using dogs to bait and tree them -- while deer hunters may take a shot (through sights) at a moving object 150 yards away.Afternoon showers at around 5 p.m., but I got into the shelter by 6, before the heaviest part of the downpour. In tonight are Two Dogs, One Thing, and Doc Narly. Tenting (!) are Tripod, Matt, Blue, Gray Panter, and a SOBO.
Date: 2004-09-26
From: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to

To: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

0.2 off-trail milesBeautiful hiking today along the east and west branches of the river. Perfect time of year to be here. The flat surfaces of the streams reflect the yellows and reds of the birch and maple trees in their fall regalia, doubling the blaze of color. Could hear, but not see, logging activity in the woods on the other side of the canyon. Noticed that a number of logging roads in this area look new, and a couple are not listed in Wingfoot.Several stream fords today. I lost my footing on the first one and went in -- pack and all -- up to my waist. Two Dogs had been sitting on the south bank, having lunch on a big flat rock in the sun. His last words before I started my crossing were, "I'm just waiting here to watch you fall in"! He fished my Nalgene out of the water before it floated downstream and suggested I join him for a while in the sun, to dry out a little. Tripod joined as soon and we sat and had lunch together.On my next try, I put my Tivas on, and ended up hiking in them for the rest of the afternoon -- quite practical since there were still several more fordings.I managed to leave Caratunk without getting more stove fuel, so didn't make coffee this morning. Developed a caffeine withdrawal headache this afternoon (yes, I'm an addict) and was trying to avoid getting grumpy, knowing that I would have to build a fire to cook over tonight, but Blue kindly donated some of hers, so I had my dinner earlier than expected and was MOST grateful!
Date: 2004-09-27
From: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to

To: Maine Route 15/Monson
Miles today: 9.0

Draggy today, despite promise of hamburger and ice cream in town. Lots of pointless ups and downs on the trail after leaving the river's path. Most folks seemed to be headed to Shaw's hostel, so I made a beeline for the Pie Lady's, in hopes of a quiet night. Sure enough, I was the only one there. (Apparently the Shaws have been telling everyone that the Pie Lady is closed (!). She has sold her house and will be moving within the month -- she has had open heart surgery and is finding hostel work too tiring these days, but still plans to provide a shuttle service after she moves -- but meanshile she has lots of space. One warning: Keep the door of your room shut, because her cute little doggie has a propensity to pee on the bed to mark his territory. I write from personal experience. (The Pie Lady was very apologetic and replaced my sheets for my second night. I thought it was pretty funny.)
Date: 2004-09-28
From: Maine Route 15/Monson

To: Monson
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: mist

Almost caught up on my trail journal today, and got a food drop box mailed to White House Landing Wilderness Camp, the only oasis close to the trail in the 100-Mile Wilderness. It means that I won't have to carry 10 days of food with me -- hallelujah.Had interesting chats with the Pie Lady over breakfast and the owner of the General Store over coffee about local and national goings-on. Was pleasantly surprised to hear both say that so many of the young hikers this year have been so helpful and charming. (Long may that trend continue! It warms the cockles of my teacher's heart to hear about polite and responsible young folks.) It's the older hikers who've been ornery!
Date: 2004-09-29
From: Monson/Maine 15

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Hilly morning on the trail, but a bright, hazy, warm-ish day. I stopped on a rocky ledge for lunch, watched a yellow caterpillar maneuver his way along blades of sedge, grasshoppers bounding, lichen in coral-like outcroppings. Showers forecast for yesterday never materialized here, though I heard from day-hikers that Boston got two inches of rain.The town was thick with hikers when I left -- 50 or so by various reckonings. I really hope I'm not part of an enormous pack summiting over Columbus Day weekend. So far I've managed to avoid the crowds, but this may be the great hiker convergence...Heard a bull moose barking his love song today. White Patch, who came up behind me, saw the fellow at close range. I heard another moose crashing through the trees as I approached; am glad not to have been mistaken for a female moose as yet. And so far, no flying monkeys.Nice group at the lean-to tonight, all new to me -- Skywalker, Chainsaw, Keytones, Chugs and a few others -- I'm having trouble remembering all of the new names. Chainsaw built a nice fire, much appreciated after a chilly river ford in the last mile. White Patch waded across where the white blazes indicated, and was in up to his chest. The rest of us went downriver a little and found a crossing that wasn't more than thigh-high.Had tango music in my head all afternoon, which gave a little swish to my step as I woundmy way through the trees, side-stepping up and down the hills, chicken-stepping through tangles of roots.
Date: 2004-09-30
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Cloud Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: few clouds

4.0 Off-trail milesStarted rereading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods again last night and continued over coffee this morning. The place names, slogs, trail tantrums and joys he describes are all so much more vivid to me now -- a furious Katz hurling spam, rice and other heavy foodstuffs over a cliff on his first day out, then painfully disappointed that Bryson chose to leave all of the Little Debbie cakes at home. Bryson is roundly derided by thru-hikers for not having completed the trail, much of which he "yellow-blazed" (i.e., drove past). Baltimore Jack, a several-time A.T. hiker who has made the trail his home, had t-shirts made reading: "Bill Bryson is a candy ass." Yellow-blazer or not, thought, Bryson does a fantastic job of capturing not only the history of the trail, but also its beauty, the ecological and political threats to its existence, and some of the culture of hiking and hikers.Stopped this morning beside Long Pond Stream to take a dip in one of the pools spilling into each other over smooth rocks. Maine streams are made for mid-day dips! The jagged slate of yesterday has given way to water-smoothed boulders. Had to cut it short, though, to leave time for the climb up and over Barren Mountain.Eve: Made it to Cloud Pond Lean-to before sunset -- gorgeous spot! I've got a tentsite on pine duff on a peninsula jutting into the pond -- sunset on one side, sunrise tomorrow on the other. It's a bit like a private island.Swix from Michigan and Squatter from Nebraska are my companions tonight -- pleasant, low-key company, they are reading Thomas Merton's writings On Solitude. (Ah, readers...my people!)After last night's chilly temps, I've added a layer of clothing tonight, with long pants and extra fleece over my long johns, and the socks are staying on. Being in the tent, too, adds another five degrees of warmth.
Date: 2004-10-01
From: Cloud Pond Lean-to

To: Chairback Gap Lean-to
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: clear sky

0.4 off-trail milesRestful night. Took advantage of morning solitude, after my overnight companions marched off over the split-log bog bridges skirting the pond back to the trail, to wipe myself down with damp bandana. The 100-mile wilderness is the first leg of the trail I've done without a supply of baby wipes, and I am really missing them. Keeping my body clean helps keep my sleeping bag clean, and even with Purell handy, I feel better wiping everything off my hands before I touch my food.Having said that, this is much more like the experience I was expecting when I started the A.T. -- spit baths using a bandana and cold water from my cooking pot. I never considered that I might be making weekly stops in town for hot showers, laundry and hamburgers.Still, the 100-Mile Wilderness has not quite reached its full wilderness potential, flying monkeys aside. Yesterday I bumped into a pair of sexagenarian day-hikers -- day-hikers! -- who had climbed Barren Mountain from where they'd parked their car -- their car! -- on a nearby logging road. The day before that, a man putted a golf cart (!) along another logging road around a pond whose beaver dam I was traversing. Apparently, he was out there stocking the pond with fish. This is not Wilderness Maine so much as Vacationland Maine, as the license plates say. Since the logging, paper, slate mining and spruce gum industries have gone under (or abroad) hereabouts, locals are moving out, selling their land to second-home vacationers; property taxes rise as a result, which forces more locals out. Can't blame people for wanting to vacation in this extraordinarily beautiful place, but, of course, the more people come, the less there is of what people come for. And the further displacement and impoverishment of long-time residents.Cloud Pond is supremely still and beautiful, reflecting the full sky. Last night it took on the slate blue glimmer from post-sunset clouds. This morning, a solitary squirrel addressed me angrily, but since then the air's been full of the noise of ravens chatting with one another between the trees and across the pond.-------------------Eve: Physically demanding day despite low mileage. Climbed Fourth, Third, and Columbus Mountains, two of which had near vertical sections of jagged rocky descents, forcing me to decrease my already slow pace.I understand from Cherokee Tears, a young farmhand from Michigan who's in for the night, that the barbarian hordes have left Monson and are closing in on us. The stampede to Katahdin begins tomorrow, apparently. If so, this may be one of my last quiet nights on the trail.And what a night it is. Warmer than last night, it's a socks-off, hat-off, no-long-johns night. The sky is clear and starry. My thermometer reads 47 degrees -- what a difference 7 degrees makes!Cherokee built a little fire to cook his dinner over, so I also saved a couple of ounces of fuel. My food supply on this leg is more than adequate. Wish I could say the same about toilet paper...
Date: 2004-10-02
From: Chairback Gap Lean-to

To: Sidney Tappan Campsite
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

A.m. The squirrels are busy this morning, alternately dropping one pine cone after another from the trees near my tent, and then scurrying down to retrieve them before some interloper does. Nut hatches (Skywalker tells me) are responsible for the morning serenade of multiple monotone blasts, like the overload alarm going off in a distant nuclear reactor.It was a gorgeous clear night with a bright moon, and there's a breeze whispering throug the firs this morning. Must...get...up...Eve: Tomorrow promises the last mountains before Katahdin. After today, too, I'm feeling more confident about summiting a week from today, even with a half day to White House Landing, where my next food drop is -- not to mention a bed, a shower, a cheeseburger, and my good friends Ben and Jerry.I bypassed the Gulf Hapas side trail, reputed (exaggeratedly so, from what I heard this afternoon) to be the "Grand Canyon of New England." I'llhave to come back to it -- and by the looks of all of the 100+ dayhikers there today -- this is "wilderness"?! -- it's easier to get to than my last four days of hiking would suggest.Just finished the last chapters of Bryson's book, in which he describes his foray (not even halfway) into the 100-Mile Wilderness. Not sure that he made it as far as Cloud Pond or Barren Mountain, the latter which offered a spectacular view from the top of an enormous rock slide, itself more like the shifting of dominoed skyscrapers over and against one another.It's raining now, though feels more as if someone up there is just wringing out the laundry -- intermittent, gusty sprinkles of drops.
Date: 2004-10-03
From: Sidney Tappan Campsite

To: Mountain View Pond
Miles today: 10.9

a.m. After the rain stopped last night, the temperature dropped -- just above freezing this morning. Wind chill lower, though my water is not yet frozen. Puddle in the tent -- wet sleeping bag and pad. Hung them to dry while I munch a protein bar -- too cold to cook.Eve: Late start after drying tent, sleeping bag, pad, et cetera on my bear line to dry. Glad I did. Beautiful fall day -- cloudless, but very chilly. Wore hat and gloves a good part of the day. Wouldn't want to have to climb into a wet sleeping bag tonight, even if it is synthetic.After passing East Branch Lean-to, I figured I must have missed Rael somehow. He's southbounding (yo-yo-ing) from Katahdin, back to Monson, so that he can stay on the trail until his 50th birthday on October 5. But just a mile past the lean-to, in a narrow fir-lined corridor, there he was. After greetings and some foot-shuffling, I offered to turn back to the lean-to, so that I could properly present him with the birthday card I made for him back in Gorham and got a number of his fellow hikers to sign. He wouldn't hear of it, and instead backtracked with me to this lovely spot next to a pond reflecting the last of the daylight. We had just set up our tents and were preparing to cook dinner when Cherokee Tears appeared. The three of us passed a pleasant evening chatting about the decline and fall of the American Empire under the Demonic Yalee Cheerleader over mashed potatoes, Ramen and instant lentils. An owl joined in on the conversation periodically, hooting his approval (or disapproval).Rael liked his birthday card and seemed touched, and tickled, by it. For my part, I was pleased to see him again before we head off in opposite directions. He's been such an important part of my hike, my trail mentor. At least of the most important lessons I've learned about hiking the A.T. I owe to him.Meanwhile, I can't believe I hiked only 11 miles today -- it felt like so much further. I have 14 for tomorrow, to get to Rael's favorite camping spot on the A.T. -- Antlers Campsite (though I must interject that he has not yet seen Cloud Pond).
Date: 2004-10-04
From: Mountain View Pond

To: Antlers Campsite
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: broken clouds

0.2 off-trail milesMy feet are out of practice for 14-mile days. Ow! I dragged into the campsite and sleep-walked through my chores -- fetching and filtering water, setting up the tent, changing into dry clothes, laying my boots and insoles out to dry, and finally making dinner, with a cup of sweet, milky tea beforehand. I feel like new again. The food bag has only the makings for a modest breakfast tomorrow (2 oz. cheese, mocha milk mix) to get me to White House Landing.Antlers Campsite is beautiful, a sandy, pine-covered peninsula out into Lower Jo-Mary Lake, with the feel of a beach camp. The sun is setting behind me over water, and will rise over water in front of me tomorrow.Pete, a section hiker, tells me there's a huge mob of people aiming to summit on the 9th -- the day I'd been planning to summit. There are only 12 spots reserved for thru-hikers in Baxter State Park, and with this being Columbus Day weekend, no doubt all other campsites will have been booked for months. If I can't beat the mob to the sign-up sheet for the 12 spots at The Birches Lean-to, I may have to hang out at Abol Pines Campground or in Millinocket until after the weekend. Ugh. Maybe I can find a good book to read. I gave Cherokee Tears my copy of Bryson to reread the chapter on the 100-Mile Wilderness (of which Bryson completed about 30 miles).Still Frank says he doesn't think the great unwashed horde of hikers is a single mob so much as groups of six to ten, some ahead, some behind. No point in worrying, though, or changing my current plans on spec. It will be what it will be.The privy here is quite fabulous -- a log cabin with two curtained, paint-trimmed windows, a panelled wood door with glass doorknob, and a washstand! Martha Stewart must have been sentenced to do community service in Maine!Still Frank just came by to give me the weather report: cold front tomorrow -- glad I'll be indoors at White House Landing! -- and cooler overnight temps, with 70% chance of rain over the weekend. Maybe that will scare off some of the weekend campers! Let it POUR! I'm summiting, rain or shine. I may need to don another layer of sleepwear (my rain gear, I suppose) for the nights to come, though -- low thirties predicted.On another subject, often while hiking, I've experienced only what I can assume are olfactory hallucinations. Out in the middle of (usually evergreen) forests, I'll smell coconut, butterscotch, vanilla, marzipan, and a strong floral scent (where there are no flowers). Unlike the auditory hallucinations -- sounds of cocktail party voices created by babbling, gurgling and glugging brooks, babies' cries in creaking trees and bird calls -- they can't be logically explained by what is around me. I wonder if perhaps the "Christmas smell" of conifers is somehow pricking the part of my brain that associates baking smells with Christmastime. It's a mystery.
Date: 2004-10-05
From: Antlers Campsite

To: Mahar Tote Road/White House Landing Wilderness Cmp
Miles today: 5.9

1.5 off-trail milesGorgeous, clear sunset. My first unobstructed sunrise from the trail, from my tentsite at Pemadumcook Lake this morning. Clouds came up from the north quickly afterwards, following Still Frank's weather predictions. Cold air, showers. Took my hat and gloves off after half an hour of walking and warming up; within an hour I had to put them back on again!Made for quick walking, apart from the stopping and starting to rearrange clothing, put pack cover on, etc. A long, windy blue-blaze led to the White House Landing dock, where I stood after blowing the airhorn, putting on layer after layer of clothing to keep out the bracing wind until Bill Ware and son Ben arrived by boat to ferry me across the lake to their home and wilderness camp. WHL is famous for its one-pound hamburgers. I can't believe that I was able to wolf it down, and still had room for a pint of ice cream, the latter which I downed while sitting by the wood stove in the bunk house, starting a new book and promptly falling asleep. Napped all afternoon, then did laundry in a metal tub of lake water and an antique laundry ringer.Dingle Haus, Gordy, Munchkin, UltraLite and Seraphim came through for beer and dinner before crossing back to the trail to hike on. Linda Ware donated a pair of her own sweat pants to Gordy to cover her bare (!) legs under her flimsy hiking skirt. With temps supposed to be in the 20s tonight, I'm glad I'll be indoors.Jack the polymath section hiker -- he's a Boston lobsterman in his other life -- is also here, talking nonstop as is his way. A quieter section hiker, a carpenter named Pete/"Yeti", is also here. And Wu Li (whose name I first heard as "Woolly", a retired businessman from Akron, paid for Doc Narly, the veterinarian technologist from Florida, to stay here, too, so that he could be eligible to get some food from the hiker box. He was running dangerously low. Doc looks as if he's had a hard life, and sounds as though he's pulled himself up by the bootstraps from his Worcester, MA, and Burrillville, RI, upbringing -- red blistered skin, bad teeth, haggard face, a VietNam vet (MP) -- a very sweet, kind man, into martial arts, speaking with reverence of his sensei.Wu Li (self-named from Gary Zukov's The Dancing Wu Li Masters, a book about the new physics), wears a baseball cap he had machine embroidered for his 2002 thru-hike with his trail name and "Katahdin or Bust" on it, as well as the initials of each state the trail passes through, next to each of which he sewed a white button as he finished hiking that state. He is a pleasant, quiet, thoughtful man.
Date: 2004-10-06
From: Mahar Tote Road/White House Landing Wilderness Cmp

To: White House Landing Wilderness Camp
Miles today: 0.0

Temperature got down to 21 degrees Fahrenheit last night. It was up to 50 degrees by the time we'd finished breakfast -- a mountain of eggs, bacon, roasted potatoes, English muffins, coffee, OJ, and blueberry pancakes. And lots of chatter. Bill told us the story of how he made the transition from chimney sweep (complete with top hat and tails!) to lodge manager. Apparently there's a good living to be made in chimney lining, but after a bad fall from a roof, he started getting panic attacks and decided he needed to change careers. He was out fishing on Lake Pemadumcook one day when he saw the "for sale" sign on a tree on this gorgeous property with cabins. Within a year, he had bought it, and now he and Linda have been here for over 12 years, open to hikers in the summer, and to hunters and snowmobilers in the winter.It's a beautiful, rustic spot -- a place to which I'd love to return (with friends who don't mind having to use an outdoor privy).