morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-08-21
From: Kingmans Notch

To: Kingsmans Pond Sheter
Miles today: 11.5

1801.6 miles!! It feels pretty amazing. Only 377.5 to go!   So, as it turns out, people weren't lying when they said that the White's are hard. Today whooped my butt! I got to Eliza Brook Shelter, 7.5 miles around2:15. I was tired, but fine. After a nice lunch, 4 more miles seemed like no big deal. I had no idea however, how hard the climb up Kingman Mountain was going to be. It was serious climbing! The first part was great, again following a cascade of waterfalls surrounded by lush green moss. After about a mile, though, the trail stopped playing around. By the time I reached South Kingsman's peak, I was beat and even 1.5 more miles seemed impossibly far. I made it in, though, and now feel pretty good.   I had planned to go to Chet's hostel (one step at a time) in Lincoln tomorrow, which is now only 5 mies away. Now I kind of feel like going on but the weather is supposed to be awful tomorrow (Heavy rains and possible storms), so I am going to stick to the plan. I'm still on track to finish the Whites in 10 days and if all goes according to plan, I'll be camping at the base of Kathadin one month from tonight.So exciting!
Date: 2010-08-22
From: Kingsmans Pond Sheter

To: Franconia Noatch, One Step At a Time Hostel
Miles today: 4.8

Rain, rain go away. Come again another day. Preferable after I am out of the Whites.   I awoke at the shelter to light rain and quickly realized that I left my clothes outside to "dry" when I went to bed. Oh well. The caretaker, a super nice guy, came down with a weather forecast.....2 - 4 inches of rain in the next 36 hours. It's supposed to be pretty steady rain today and tomorrow with sometimes n hour at a time of heavy soaking rain. This is not the weather I was hoping for to hike Franconia Ridge. I pretty quickly decided that I will not go to Lincoln today, but I will also zero tomorrow. I hate to lose a day off my plan when I'm trying to get home, but I don't want to hike one of the most beautiful spots on the whole trail in horrible weathr.   I stopped by Lonesome Late Hut this morning. The first I've encountered. The hut crew that works there were fantastic! They were incredibly welcoming, med me pancakes and apple juice and refused my off to work for the food, claiming "It's too early to work." They were so great and I'm excited to do a work-for-stay! Lonesome Lake itself was stunning and the trail from there to Franconia Notch (finally!) easy.   I got a pretty easy hitch into town and was at One Step At a Time Hostel or"Chet's" before noon. Chet is a WONDERFUL guy and this hostel is great! There are tons of hikers there. I showered and did laundry (Thanks Thunder and Power Pack) and then headed to lunch and a movie ---Scott Pilgrim vs the World with Bill Hawk. I picked up some stuff for dinner and breakfast at Price Chopper and then was treated to a nice long conversation with Braids. I had an interesting dinner of Spaghetti O's in my jet boil, a yummy Italian Salad, thanks to Dole salad kit, and a tiny bottle of Black Swan Shiraz. I have 3 more of those for tomorrow. I've spent the rest of the evening just hanging out and chatting. The atmosphere here is wonderful! There are people everywhere but everyone is being respectful of one another. This reminds me of the comraderie we all felt at Kincora many months ago. Although I am excited to get home, I will definitely miss this part of trail life.
Date: 2010-08-23
From: Franconia Noatch, One Step At a Time Hostel

To: One Step At A Time
Miles today: 0.0

Great zero day! I went to breakfast a Flapjacks, spent lots of time laying around talking to other hikers and reading my book, walked a couple of miles to a cool bar in North Woodstock for happy hour, started to walk back but thought better of it and hitched a ride to Price Chopper in Lincoln with a super nice lady, bought the small amount of resupply I needed and then came back to the hostel for more chatting and reading. (For some reason today, just needed a run-on sentence).It's been a great relaxing day! It hasn't rained too hard here, but I got validation on the decision to zero when a south bounder came in. He was kind of a cocky jerk but he also said that the weather up on Franconia Ridge was just awful! He seemed utterly miserable so I think I definitely made the right decision. It's going to be a really hard day but I am so excited for tomorrow!If all goes relatively according to plan I should summit on month from today!
Date: 2010-08-24
From: One Step At A Time

To: Garfield Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: broken clouds

Today was absolutely spectacular! The weather has been beautiful and several miles of the hike was a ridge walk, completely exposed above tree line along Franconia Ridge. We could see seemingly forever and it was almost a magical experienced. I hardly even thought about hiking because the views were all I had room to think about. Again, I will say if you ever get a chance to hike in the Whites, do it. I am so glad that I took a zero yesterday and wait out the rain.   There is a downside to this though. Many other thru hikers had the same idea so now crowding is a much bigger issue. There are 7 of us in the shelter right now and many others who were headed here and are as of yet unaccounted for. The caretaker here came by a few minutes ago and said he has heard that whole slew of thru hikers are on their way. Oh well, we'll probably spread out a bit before too long.
Date: 2010-08-25
From: Garfield Ridge Shelter

To: Crawford Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 17.4

17.4 miles in the Whites. I didn't think I could do it, but here I am. I am unbelievably exhausted but also feel very accomplished. In just a single day I hiked the mileage I had planned for two, already making up for the zero I took in Lincoln. It rained all day so this also helped spur me on to hike faster. I was on the trail for 10 hours and 20 minutes today and I only took two real sit down breaks. I'm not quite sure how long I was able to do that, but again, here I am. Thankfully the last 8 miles of the day were really easy terrain. (Almost like normal trail, before the Whites). The shelter where I awoke today seems like days ago.   I spent much of the day cold and soaked but there wesre also times that I enjoyed the weather. I was grateful for the experience of high winds and pelting rain above timerline in the Whites, thought I was also grateful that South Twin and Guy of Mountains only took me above tree line for a few minutes each.   I hiked like a machine today and got to the road at 5:45. I hitched west to the AMC Highland Center for the more expensive bunkroom becuases I though Red Hat was going to be there. Upon learning that they had no space (And had sent Red Hat to Pinkham Notch) however, I stood sooping wet in the cold again and hitched back past the trail and 3 miles the other to Crawford Notch Campground. Now I am in a lovely cabin with 5 other hikers, warm, dry and very happy. It has been a fantastic end to a looooong day!
Date: 2010-08-26
From: Crawford Ridge Shelter

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: fog

What to write about today? Absolutely breathtaking, stunning beauty. Climbing rocks with a pack that, given a choice, even without one. I would use a rope and harness. Rain. Hiking through the clouds. Lots of thru hikers (Most of whom are wonderful, some of whom are not). My first work-for-a-stay at a hut (Which so far is great, except for the presence of the aforementioned non-wonderful hikers). Did I mention one of the hardest hikes so far? Crawford Notch to Mizpah Hut is utterly ridiculous and it almost made me cry (But not quite)! The hike to Lakes of the Clouds from Mizpah was much better terrain and absolutely beautiful. The wind is whipping the clouds around. I was completely enveloped in clouds one minute and then had a clear view of surrounding mountains the next. It gave everything a mystical appearance.   This whole work-for-stay thing has been a very interesting experience. It has been great in many ways, plenty of good food, interesting people, warm shelter from the insane weather outside, real bath room. in others, however it's tough. It's late night (9:35 right now, and I just finally got to set up my stuff). Those doing their work this evening are still working. We all just finished dinner less than 30 minutes ago. Due to having no space to lay out any stuff until after all the guests cleared out I feel like a "hobo" now than I have on the whole trail. This has just intensified my excitement to get home. Only 333.9 miles to go. Off to get some sleep now.
Date: 2010-08-28
From: Osgood Tent Site

To: Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: fog

Whew! One more day tackled, conquered, taken down. Today was very tiring but here I am. It always makes me feel great when I meet my goal for the day. We had a fairly easy and pretty hike through the Great Gulf Wilderness to Pinkham Notch this morning. I was there around 0945 and took nearly a two hour break. I got my maildrop, sorted it out and had a yummy hamburger. The hike from there to Carter Notch was not so easy. In fact it kicked my butt. I'm really happy to be here, though. We were welcomed by a super friendly croo and there are five of us doing work-for-stays tonight. Mine will get done during dinner so I can get out early tomorrow and try to do the 15 miles to Gorham. Woohoo!   So, I'm sure I've written that I am looking forward to going home. This is not to say that I don't love the trail or am not insanely grateful for this adventure, but honestly I've been of here for over 5.5 months. I am so excited to be done! So here are the many ways I count down:
Date: 2010-08-28
From: Osgood Tent Site

To: Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: fog

Whew! One more day tackled, conquered, taken down. Today was very tiring but here I am. It always makes me feel great when I meet my goal for the day. We had a fairly easy and pretty hike through the Great Gulf Wilderness to Pinkham Notch this morning. I was there around 0945 and took nearly a two hour break. I got my maildrop, sorted it out and had a yummy hamburger. The hike from there to Carter Notch was not so easy. In fact it kicked my butt. I'm really happy to be here, though. We were welcomed by a super friendly croo and there are five of us doing work-for-stays tonight. Mine will get done during dinner so I can get out early tomorrow and try to do the 15 miles to Gorham. Woohoo!   So, I'm sure I've written that I am looking forward to going home. This is not to say that I don't love the trail or am not insanely grateful for this adventure, but honestly I've been out here for over 5.5 months. I am so excited to be done! So here are the many ways I count down:         >313.1` more miles         >8 more pages in the data book         >4 more mail drops         >approximately 25 more days         >the distance from Springer to High Rock (27 miles south of Erwin, TN         >the distance from Cookie Lady's to here         >one more state border crossing         >14.37% to go         >16.78% of what we've already done   So close but yet so far! The croo here is wonderful! As they went to bed   one of them said, "Good night snuggle bugs"
Date: 2010-08-29
From: Carter Notch Hut

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: few clouds

Less than 300 miles to go! AAh! Today was a little tougher (Just plagued by stupid hormones again, I think), but the hike ended on a fun note with many of us hiking the last 1.9 miles together in 29". It was so nice to be able to really "cruise" again. Getting over Carter Dome was tough and coming down off North Carter was really hard. It left me a bit scared and nervous about Mt. Moriah, our last of the Whites, but Mt. Moriah was much easier. I passed up a great swimming hole with a rock slide just south of town but I was just so ready to be in town. Right after passing the swimming hole I passed Dan. He's a trail angel who for 8 years has been picking a camp ground near the trail for 2 or 3 nights. He invites hikers over for food and beer and gives rides when he can. He had packed in a few beers and snacks when he went swimming, and Scatters and I split the last one. Down at the road Dan drove us to the hostel at White Birches Campground where we were headed anyway. Before even taking a shower I walked over to Dan's campsite where he fed us cheeseburgers, hot dogs kielbasa and beer. I discovered a Long Trail Blackberry Wheat that is possibly one of my favorite beers ever.   Eventually I went back to be productive; shower, laundry, etc., but Dan really made the evening. Thank you SO much!   Tomorrow I plan to do errands in the morning and only hike 7 miles.
Date: 2010-08-30
From: Gorham, NH

To: Trident Col Tentsite
Miles today: 6.9

I'm sitting at Mr. Pizza in Gorham having a margarita and poutine (first time I've found this delicacy since being in British Columbia 2 years ago! Yum!)after having finished all my errands. Now I just have to repack my pack (after getting some resupply) and hitch back to the trail. I got new boots and had breakfast this morning, then went to the post office where I got a WONDERFUL letter from Lisa Gunther and mailed off some stuff including my old boots. They'll definitely never be wearable again but I was disappointed that I had thrown away the pair that wore out in Harpers Ferry. I just had to hang on to these. So, the boots saga is pretty stupid. I last got some new Merrells that I absolutely love in Hamburg, PA. When the toe guard (little rubber bit on the toe) came loose before the rest of the boots wore out around Hanover, I called Merrell. They amazingly said they'd send a replacement pair pair on the trail. The gal I talked to said they can send them 9 days out. They wouldn't make it to Glencliff in time so I tried for my next maildrop spot in Pinkham Notch. She said they can only ship to a post office so that was out. I had here ship to my next scheduled maildrop in Andover, ME. As it turns out that was dumb. By the time I finished the Whites yesterday my tread was completely shot. I realized that it would be unsafe to try Mahoosuc Nortch, a famous mile long boulder scramble so I bit the bullet this morning ;and bought a new pair. Thanksfully the hardward sporting goods store here had the exact same boot. Now I'll just forward the new ones home from Andover. Not that it's all done with I'm justthrilled to have new boots!   Something else cool happened this morning. I woke up with a bit of a different attitude. Now that I'm so close (looking at 24 days, including today and my summit day), I'm just excited to slow down, quit trying to always get ahead of my schedule and enjoy the rest of the experience. Home no longer seems so far away. So now I just feel like I'm on a fun trip, rather than banished to the wilderness. I'm not under any illusion that I'll feel like this every single day between here and Kathadin but it's a delightful state of being right now!   8:00PM Man, my pack is heavy. I can't remember the last time I've carried a full five days of food, snacks and all. I'm planning short days throug the Mahoosucs and there is not place on or near the trail until I get off at the second road to Andover, probably Friday. To make matters worse, I am now up to five snacks a day to keep my crazy appetite satiated. It was fine though. My pack is much heavier than I'm used to, yes, but I made it here (up to mountains) just fine. I'm at a nice little campsite with Butt and Six Toes, currently enjoying the peace and quiet all by myself. Tomorrow I will go to Maine.
Date: 2010-08-31
From: Trident Col Tentsite

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: clear sky

Hey, guess what? I have walked from Georgia to Maine! As thrilled as I am to be here, so far this state is completely kicking my tail. My 14.5 mile day took me 11:20'. I got to the shelter completely and utterly exhausted and I've been sitting here in a bit of a stupor slowly eating my bean and bacon soup. I had a couple of bad falls today and I really just want to talk to Braids. But, alas, I haven't tried for cell service yet but I'm guessing there is none. Mahoosuc Notch tomorrow.   Sorry I'm not very berbose but that's all I've got. I did get 4.5 miles past my original goal for the day, so that gives me the freedom to only do 5 to the next shelter tomorrow if I need to. Tonight will definitely be a "Vitamin I" before bed night.   All the whining aside, I can't believe I've made it to Maine !!!Late addition: I forgot to mention a very cool experience from today. I was taking a break and ran into a SOBO. We talked for a few minutes when I finally asked his name. It was Quarter Pounder! He was a NOBO who got injured in PA and eventually flipped to Maine to hike south. He and I camped together with a few other people by a stream on day 3 of my hike and I haven't seen him since. The trail is so cool! (I added this bit on 9/1 when I was in a much better mood.)
Date: 2010-09-02
From: Speck Pond Shelter

To: East Bee Hill Rd Andover, ME
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: few clouds

I realize that I just said I wasn't going to rush ahead of my schedule and here I am hiking 15 miles when I set out to do 10.5 but I have a really great reason. There are two roads into Andover. My plan was to d a 14 to the second road tomorrow and then either 15 or 17 the following day. In between I'd have to get my maildrop at the post office and get a little resupply. In this terrain 14 miles is doable but unlikely to happen before 5:00. Are you seeing the flaw in this plan? I did, too, and have been worrying about it. It occurred to me that I could huff it to the first road for Andover today, slack pack the 10 miles between the two roads tomorrow and still have plenty of time for the PO before or after hiking. As it turns out this was a great plan. I left it up in the air until I got to the top of Bald Pate (East Peak), my hardest climb of the day. I was there in plenty of time, so I called Ilene at Pine Ellis. She said they had two bunks left and that had I called tomorrow night instead, they would have been full because of the weather. The hurricane (Earl?) is supposed to dump buckets of rain on us tomorrow night. I'm glad I'll be inside! Now here comes the fun part....Ilene said she would have someone pick me up at 6:00 but that there's already a pick up at East B Hill scheduled for 5:00. I decided to try for that one which would mean 6.3 miles over unknown terrain, some of it rather steep, in 3 hours. I had a blast really pushing and were with :22" to spare (even taking one pack off break at Dunn Falls). Unfortunately there are no other hikers here and it's now 5:15. No shuttle has arrived. I'm guessing this just means that something happened with the 5:00 pick up and they'll still be here to get me at 6. A little unplanned down time (read=REST!) never hurt my feelings, particularly when it's quiet time by myself. I can't believe I made it here so quickly. I don't think it's quite sunk in that I have a shower in the near future.   What else? I had heard from numerous sources that all of the mountains get progressively easier or if things just don't seem quite as hard after going through Mahoosuc Notch. I think probably a combination of the two. Either way, it's still tough, but not completely kicking my butt like it was before. I'm grateful for that. Only 256.5 miles to go!   I've seen tons of moose signs lately, both tracks and scat, but no moose yet. I hope I see one. Also, I had this sudden rush of emotions that morning when I sang "On the Loose." It was odd. I've sung it countless times in the last 6 months but suddenly today I got all teared up. I think today was the first time it hit me: barring injury, I'm really going to make it! This realization/gut feeling/what ever, after nearly 6 months of working toward this monstrous goal was absolutely enormous, and, yes, I cried. This time it was totally a good cry!
Date: 2010-09-03
From: East Bee Hill Rd Andover, ME

To: South Arm Drive Andover ME
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a rough day, but I got 10 more miles down. I didn't feel well this morning, so of course I immediately regressed to the emotional strength of an 8 year old. The first 7 miles of the 10 mile slackpack I did were easy, but I was dragging. Today was my first meltdown in awhile, but the second I started to feel bad I just wanted to curl up in my bed at home.   All this said, I made it through the hike (including Mt. Moody, one of my least favorite so far). I talked to Mom and Braids this afternoon and got back to the hostel with lots of friends and fun hikers and I soon was feeling much better. Earlier today it became quite apparent that I need to zero tomorrow. I looked at the rest of my plan. Right now with the zero, it's looking like I'll get to Caratunk on either Saturday evening Sunday. Either way if this hold, I won't be able to pick up my maildrop until Monday. It looks like I may be zeroing in Caratunk and delaying my summit date by one day to the 23rd. It took me a minute not to feel like this was the equivalent of a week or a month but I quickly reminded myself that one more day on the trail is just not a big deal. We're supposed to get some pretty serious rain from Hurricane Earl tonight and tomorrow so this zero will help me avoid that, too.   I've just laid low the rest of the evening and even had the self-discipline to cook my own supper instead of going out since I have one more than I need for the next section. It's been really fun to see Trigger and Wizard, Trooper and Sourdough again. Hurray for that trail friends!
Date: 2010-09-04
From: South Arm Drive Andover ME

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

Zero, glorious zero! I actually slept in today. Lately I've been up by 6 every morning but today I was almost an hour after that. I laid in bed and read for a while and didn't get up until about 0745.   After taking some things to the post office I had a delightful breakfast at the little Red Hen diner. The 'ultimate home fries', toast from fresh bread and ice tea where all delicious but the best part was listening to all the locals. Andover is a very small town and there was a great "family" feel to the patrons who came in on this Saturday morning. After while Salty, Tiny Dancer and Caribou came in so I quit being a fly on the wall and joined their table. The pancakes they ordered looked so good I decided to have some myself. They were just as fantastic as they looked and beat the ones at the General Store across the street.   When I left the diner the day was absolutely beautiful! Apparently the hurricane dumped about 3.5" overnight but then moved right out. So, I wouldn't have been hiking in the rain after all but this gave me the perfect chance to take a nice nap in the cushioned hammock in the back yard of Pine Ellis.   I enjoyed a leisurely day, having a long talk with Braids, eating Ben & Jerry's for lunch, drinking Smirnoff Blueberry Lemonade, having dinner at the General Store and settling in for a movie night with some other hikers. We watched Up in the Air, a surprisingly honest romantic comedy. I can't wait to have a movie marathon when I get home.   This morning I was able to move to the inside bunk room so I have a much more comfortable bed tonight for the same amount of money. Future hikers....if you go to Pine Ellis (which I suggest), call a few days early to reserve a bed in the inside room. It's the same price of $20 and leaps and bounds above the bunk house.   Now for another good night's sleep