morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-09-05
From: Liberty Springs Trailhead

To: Garfield Ridge Campsite
Miles today: 10.1

'Twas hard to leave the comforts of the Notch but we all had to press on due to the weather window which has a chokehold on our thoughts. The ridge walk up and through Mt Lincoln and Mt Lafayette were spectacular. You could see people ahead of you on the ridgeline marching like ants, with epic sweeping views with clouds creeping up and over mountains and rushing down to the valley below. You could almost here the orchestra swelling while gazing at the view.It was a very sunny and hot day, and the exposure made me a lot thirstier than usual. I was surprised by how many bugs were at the summit, and we kept getting swarmed.At the end of the day we made it to camp, and the soft-spoken soothing caretaker (named Peter so I automatically had a soft spot for him as I do for anyone with the same name as my dad) showed us how to set up our free-standing tends on the elevated tent pad. Dinner was eaten huddled under a tarp and then bedtime.
Date: 2023-09-07
From: Zealand Falls Hut

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 12.0

Gorgeous morning watching the gentle wash of sunrise creep over the mountains, and amazing to have the bathroom right there by covered walkway! We chatted with Jim / Big Foot the guest and after he left we swooped on the breakfast leftovers of bacon, blueberry chocolate pancakes w coconut flakes, and quiche. Blueblazed down to the A-Z trail to the center in the valley to eat lunch and then hike back up to Avalon trail past Crawford up to Lake of the Clouds hut. Beautiful day walking on the open tables and lots of ups and downs and alpine scenery - really fun and varied. A lot of sprinting on my part as every thruhiker was trying for a work for stay in LotC hut due to the positioning at the foot of the climb for Mt. Washington. This hut is.... very different than Zealand Falls Hut... HUGE and loud and chaotic with staff riding around on tricycles and massive numbers of guests and hikers sitting around outside. Kind of felt like what I imagine the last day of winter / day before pickup feels at the Antarctic research station would be like. Instead of work for stay we stayed in the ~Dungeon~ in the basement, and I sadly stared at the mold stains on the ceiling of the bunk bed and contemplated if a night's sleep would cause permanent damage. The winds were fierce all night as a storm rolled through, and I crossed my fingers that I would be able to tackle Mt Washington tomorrow.
Date: 2023-09-09
From: Carter Notch Hut

To: US Route 2
Miles today: 15.2

Long, long day. Took 2 hours 40 minutes to do the climb down from Moriah to Imp (this knee injury is really really slowing my downhills down).I was so tired and defeated that while making late lunch at Imp (our agreed upon stop point for the day) that when I only had gatorade to make ramen I just made the ramen and ate it instead of walking the 100 yards for water. Orange gatorade and beef ramen do not mix well, understandable. While Rabbit and I had agreed to stop here for the day, we misunderstood each other's hints and are both people pleasers, so we ended up deciding to push to town instead of settling into camp for the night.This led to hours of running downhill on bare rock faces racing sunset, and then nighthiking down in the dark (at last I am forced to truly nighthike and it is honestly not terrible), and limping down deliriously tired to the road and walking into Gorham. Grabbed the first food that looked appetizing at the gas station, checked into the motel, showered, and passed out.
Date: 2023-09-11
From: US Route 2

To: US Route 2
Miles today: 0.0

Finally felt like a human being but decided to double zero to actually enjoy and use the zero to resupply and plan. Spent a lot of today in bed, finally reunited with Kodiak since not having seen her since Franklin and met her friend Scrubs who was also going SOBO. Startlingly Scrubs looks A LOT like me and moreso has very similar mannerisms to me - it was very uncanny. I have never met someone who I felt looked like me, and this was like looking in a somewhat warped mirror - very familiar but also slightly different - but very awesome.
Date: 2023-09-12
From: US Route 2

To: Gentian Pond Shelter
Miles today: 11.8

Today was a suck fest, I was so tired climbing out of town that I just slumped over defeated when I saw the 1900 mile marker. I ran into a group of hikers including KP, Hamilton, and Rabbit gathered on a rock face for a snack break, trudged on and fell and hit my nose with a pole which caused some bleeding and a headache. Very frustrating to go from never falling to always falling this late in the game, but everything is so wet and smooth and slippery it's hard not to. The side detour I took for lunch was pointless as there was no shelter from the rain so I moved on. Called Kodiak to complain, then kept going and finally stumbled into camp late. There was an extremely irritating SOBO there, and another hiker was steaming his socks with fire which made the shelter fill with smoke. The shelter was fully packed and we all were like why??? must you make us suffer so??Extremely rainy cold damp miserable weather and went to bed miserable with no warmth in my core or my soul.
Date: 2023-09-13
From: Gentian Pond Shelter

To: Carlo Col Shelter
Miles today: 5.2

Woke up to view of sea of clouds wreathing the valley below and left around 7:40am as I was going about a mile an hour if lucky and wanted to get to shelter as fast as possible to dry off and warm up (and pity myself). Slow going, same shitty stuff as days before and the Whites. Fell into several freezing cold mud alpine bogs up to my knees, stumbled around rock faces that were unmarked by neither blaze nor cairn. Passed the NH / Maine border and shed a few tears for reaching the last state, hoisted myself down a treacherous scramble, then went to the shelter for lunch which turned into hunkering down for the day given the rain forecast. I alternatively was bored annoyed at the lack of rain, read in my quilt and finished 'Eiger Dreams', and then ate a protein bar while watching the rain feeling satisfied by my decision to hunker down. WWSPD? Not hike in the rain. Made reservations for the weekend to hunker down while the incoming hurricane passes. KP + Mummy + Food Truck were in shelter with us but thankfully we all have our own space unlike yesterday where we were packed in like sad soggy sardines.
Date: 2023-09-14
From: Carlo Col Shelter

To: Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 9.5

Got up, trudged through the day and to the fabled, hyped up, legendary Mahoosuc Notch. It took me nearly 3 hours to pick through it, and you know what? It's fine. Annoying because anything not strapped down will be lost forever, and the water was not as magical as claimed. It would be extremely fun if an accessible day hike, or even a scramble in a city, but this was just another part of this TERRIBLE CURSED PART OF TRAIL. Steamed up and over Mahoosuc(k) Arm, and went down to the shelter (where I ran into Colossus again) which was tucked by a lake which was pretty in theory but the wind howled through into the shelter at night and it was Quite Cold. Something I want to note is that I had been feeling incredibly insecure about my mileage and speed slowing down SO MUCH, and was struggling with feeling like a phony. I was reading the trail journal at the lean-to before the Notch, and to my surprise it was filled with other hikers pouring out their hearts confessing the same feelings - about hating the slowdown, disappointment in their bodies falling apart, and just hating the trail so so much. I just felt so much better as I was not alone in this, and it really strengthened my resolve that it wasn't just me being a little bitch but we were all Going Thru It.
Date: 2023-09-15
From: Speck Pond Shelter

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 4.6

The climb to Speck mountain was VERY exposed and windy, and I wanted to hustle as rain was forecasted in afternoon and it had been freezing the night before. After Speck the trail calmed down a bit, and the last 1-2 miles into the notch were so relaxed that I actually intentionally slowed down to savor the return of normal trail. We passed a weekend warrior heading up planning on doing an overnight, and we were unable to dissuade him against this despite the hurricane warning. Reader - do not do this. Even if you're safe in a shelter blowdowns could fuck up your way out.Alas we didn¢t have service at the point we were supposed to call the hostel for pickup (despite wandering the area for 10 minutes looking for bars) so we asked a hiker to call the Cabin for us when he got to town (we stupidly turned down a hitch that got offered to us right away thinking the hostel pickup would be there at the set time). After waiting an hour I walked up to an older couple and asked them for a hitch to Bethel, which they kindly did and dropped us off at Butcher Burger. Reader I would like to note that this was the first great burger on trail. Sadly I realized I left my poles at the parking lot of Grafton Notch, and we had to stop by on the way back to get them (where I also found my CNOC which I also accidentally dropped - mess) on our way finally to the hostel. The Cabin which was very old-school AT, aka very... rustic but I was glad to be inside and warm after the past few days (feels like centuries).
Date: 2023-09-17
From: Grafton Notch

To: East B Hill Road
Miles today: 10.3

Took a zero yesterday to wait out the hurricane, which didn't directly impact us as we seemed to be just outside the storm boundary according to radar - but we wanted to see what blowdowns/trail damage would happen versus being trapped on trail. I put on Pride & Prejudice which caused a hiker stampede as folks gathered to watch this ICONIC movie.Today we slackpacked to see how the blowdown situation was but it wasn't bad, and the weather was nice again for once :'). It was so nice in fact that I stopped to read for an hour at lunch, and met the Bowdoin Outdoor Club which seemed better behaved than the DOC. Down at the road there was trail magic of hot dogs and root beer, which was miraculous in itself. Not enough root beer is on this trail.
Date: 2023-09-18
From: East B Hill Road

To: South Arm Road
Miles today: 10.1

I was ready to move on from this hostel but forecasts of 2.21 inches of rain tonight called for another slackpack and the weather was nowhere nearly as nice as yesterday's. My poor Frog Toggs are so battered at this point, but I have an almost sick determination to try and make this $20 raincoat make it to Katahdin even with deep rips on the shoulder and a smell emanating from it that could be classified as a biohazard.I struggled up Mt Moody ankle deep in freezing cold water coursing down the trail, cursing my existence and the weather, when I ran into Kaleidoscope, Chunky Monkey, Ra, Mando, and Rabbit clustered at the top waiting for me. It turns out the forecast had changed and the heavy rains were forecasted to start at 3pm. We all became a curious progression, a conga line of soggy misery if you will, racing down Mt Moody.
Date: 2023-09-19
From: South Arm Road

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-To
Miles today: 8.7

I haven't been enthused about updating my diary because the trail has just been sucking so hard with rain, mud, bog, rivers, cold water, slow hiking at barely 1 mph. Am I even a hiker anymore? No good food and it¢s just a zombie march versus enjoying it, cruising, laughing. I'm falling all the time, gingerly going down even more slowly, wet, sigh. It was supposed to be sunny today!!!!! Fucking lies. Finally left the hostel today, was tired of the smell of the fried potatos, but the climb up was slow and it just got worse from there. Decided after 4 miles took 4 hours of hiking that I would stop at the next shelter for the day instead of pushing to do 15. I didn¢t really have service to tell Rabbit so was hoping he would wait for me at the shelter. Passed Ra and Mando who were slackpacking the other way and they said it took them an hour to ford Bemis BECAUSE THEY HAD TO BUILD A BRIDGE ACROSS IT. They probably had like half the day left to go and it was like 2 at this point, no bueno. Got to shelter and was so fucking relieved to see Rabbit¢s poles stabbed at the junction, I decided to take them with me because I was gonna argue the case for staying at the lean-to instead of going forward but turns out he was just talking to Curious George about how to convince me to stop for the day, so we were mutually in agreement. Curious George left and rabbit and I just wallowed in misery until Drunken Monkey and Kaleidoscope came in and we all wallowed in misery together as I struggle bus ate my knorr pasta until I gave up and dumped it in my trash ziploc. We all climbed into our quilts but then! the 2 others we were worried about if they would make it, for they were struggling even more than me speed wise, appeared and we rejoiced that they weren't dead.  Now we¢re all wrapped up in our quilts, wet and cold and miserable together. This makes the Whites seem like VA at this point. I yearn for the flat, warm, bountiful glory of the Shennies and regret the haterade I had back then - oh it was ~boring~ but nays I WAS THE FOOL.
Date: 2023-09-20
From: Bemis Mountain Lean-To

To: Little Swift River Pond
Miles today: 12.9

FINALLY A DECENT DAY It flattened out a lot as we finally crossed the promised land of mile 2025 (after this FarOut just showed GLORIOUS STRETCHES OF FLAT), and I was able to fly at 2.4-2.6mph for a lot of the afternoon which made me feel like a hiker again. After the week+ of struggling to clear a mile an hour this was like getting rockets strapped to my shoes and my heart was SINGING.I was rocking to the new Olivia Rodrigo album which I was digging when I fell weirdly and hurt my back. Laid on the ground like a flipped-over turtle, felt the aches, and then got up and walked more sedately into camp. The campsite was awesome, it had a pond with canoes and Rabbit and I rowed out at sunset and looked around while eating peanut butter (didn't see any moose - at this point every hiker but us wanted a moose sighting but we know better - they're vicious motherfuckers. Fear not the bear, fear the moose). I looked at the stars before going to bed.
Date: 2023-09-22
From: Piazza Rock Lean-to

To: Saddleback Resort
Miles today: 2.0

Woke up, and used the privy which was the special double seated one with a cribbage board in between the seats aka ¢Your Move¢. Bread & Butter had invited me to be his cribbage / toilet buddy but I was feeling shy. When going myself solo, I had a moment of ¢fuck I should¢ve done this with a buddy' - OH WELL. Word to the wise, don't be shy and grab a friend. I hiked feeling like a zombie despite it being pleasant weather and trail wise, and ran into Rabbit filling his water. We discussed how we both felt like crap from our sniffles and we decided to bail out to get cold meds. We took a blue blaze to the ski resort to get tea and food at the pub, and then got a shuttle to the Maine Roadhouse, which was hyped up to be the hostel that rivaled Quarter Way Inn and you know what? It did, the Jenns were awesome and the space was massive and perfectly dialed in. We popped Sudafed, chilled watching terrible Adam Sandler movies, and for the first time successfully finished off a pint of ice cream in one sitting (and coffee flavor too! my favorite). Much needed down time to beat our colds from the DAYS hiking in rain and mud and bog and wet socks, and I was able to rock a onesie for the first time since perhaps Hidden Pond Hostel? Which also was a great hostel now that I look back w context. My Hokas were delivered so I was able to swap shoes and mail my busted ones back - HELL YEAH.
Date: 2023-09-24
From: ME Route 27

To: East Flagstaff Road
Miles today: 16.6

Took a zero yesterday as I woke up groggy from Nyquil, and asked myself 'if this was earlier in trail and I had all the time in the world would I take a zero?' and the answer was yes so I went back to bed. Today was the longest day mileage-wise since the day I hiked up Smarts Mountain, which WOW. That was a long, long time ago. I woke up from my NyQuil slumber, staggered to breakfast, and enjoyed the really delish cheesy potato casserole which apparently is the Crocker Barrel knock off + fresh cantaloupe which was so juicy and didn¢t taste like acetone at all. Settled up, had my picture taken for the wall, and then headed to the drop off. I was really sleepy and kept nodding off in the car. We decided to do bag drop off at the end point, hopefully that would be fine¢¦ Got to trailhead, started off strong (while adjusting my new Hokas) and did 2.5mph for the first hour but then I started slowing down because I¢m mentally out of shape for these longer mileage days and sustaining these speeds as I had slowed down so much for so long, plus the cold meds? The terrain was nice at first but then it was a few miles of climbing so that had me knackered and I unsurprisingly got passed by a trail running team.I was trying my best not to mosey but I was tired today there were a lot of summit and descents. The view from the Horns and Bigelow peaks were gorgeous, I tried to savor it as it was my last alpine zone until Katahdin. To the left were lakes with clouds reflected on them, and to the right was autumn down in the valley below. When I passed Avery peak and saw the plaque to Myron Avery I teared up. Rabbit and I were leapfrogging a bit up to this point but then he pulled away as there was a long descent, and I was zoning out because my processor battery died so I couldn¢t listen to music so I several times went off trail and had to turn around. I had a late late lunch at 3:30 at Safford Notch, contemplating if I wanted to blue blaze down to the road and then walk 4 miles to the campsite but I rationalized that I was doing this as a challenge to myself and I didn¢t want to give up when it gets hard and just road walk. Plus last major elevation of the trail until the end. Reinvigorated from my sandwich for lunch, I headed out and made better timing and was practically skipping downhill at 1.6mph (lol). I ran into Rabbit outside of the shelter (ahem lean-to as they're called in Maine) and we headed down to the road together (apparently it was freaking him out how fast I was going in the gloaming and he wanted to tell me to slow down), and made it to the road at 7pm so exactly 10 hours. We walked to the campsite where Patches was guarding our stuff, thank you Patches, and set up camp and made dinner. I had a Peak Refuel for the first time in a month and it was so delicious I almost ate the other one right then and there. The Choir rolled up and set up camp as well. I grabbed water while we were looking for the privy, filtered my stuff, and then am laying in bed feeling warm from my Senchi hoodie and actually feeling energized enough to update my diary!
Date: 2023-09-26
From: Pierce Pond Lean-To

To: US Route 401
Miles today: 4.1

Woke up early, dragged myself out of bed to make the trek to the pancakes, and hot damn they were amazing: 12 silver dollar pancakes with raspberries, blueberries, and apples mixed in; scrambled eggs and sausage, and tea and coffee. We got to chat with Tim more, I cuddled with Charlie (the svelte lookalike to my dog), and then I rolled out. I was out of it (in a post-pancake haze?) and got lost, unnecessarily fording a river when I could have just taken a bridge - on the AT when the path diverges the answer is 99.9999% of the time take the more annoying / difficult / steep / unmaintained path but this was that 0.0001% I guess. It was OK because there was an inn ahead that provided free laundry and showers so I was going to wash my things there anyways. The forest itself was pretty pine, and I I heard the rushing of the Kennebeck river before I saw it and then I was descending down to the ferry! I saw Rabbit aboard the ferry with Food Truck, and chatted with 2 SOBOs before I was able to climb into the ferry. The ferryman Matt had his adorable cavalier spaniel Ivy with him, and we paddled across the river in no time. We set off for the road and called the Sterling Inn for pick up as Karen and PFT forgot to send it back for us. We got there, immediately showered and started laundry (I hit the loaner clothes lottery when I found a dirndl) and then went to the brewery for food WHICH HAD A HOT TUB! That was amazing to soak in it and ease my tired muscles. We hung there for a while despite our efforts to not get vortexed, and when back at the inn I was torn about whether to hike or stay (I had said if we were still there past 4 we would stay but it was 3:08 and I didn¢t want to go) and the Denim Daddies were considering staying as well. To decide we did a coin flip (which said to go) but I was so sad about that that Rabbit made the executive decision to stay which was such a relief! Immediately after Rabbit remembered I was dizzy yesterday while hiking and he was like ¢well that would¢ve made the decision much easier.¢ We ran to the sun drenched living room (not wet and cold and damp like southern Maine) to watch LotR and eat ice cream, but I felt too gross to properly focus on the movie and out of it despite taking Sudafed and Tylenol cold medicine. I decided to go to sleep, but woke up in the middle of the night coughing uncontrollably so I took some meds (the front desk sold it in unmarked baggies which was SKETCHY but we googled the name on it and it turned out to be Costco-brand Mucinex so decided to roll the dice on it and take it) which helped and I was able to fall back asleep.
Date: 2023-09-27
From: US Route 401

To: US Route 201
Miles today: 0.0

Laid in bed for a lot of today as I couldn't even focus on a book. Spent some time talking with the Choir and Crypt who all rolled in this morning, took a bath with epsom salts to try and warm up my core / dislodge mucus, and met Magic Falcon's dad who was driving the trail alongside him and doing trail magic which was so cute and made me miss my own dad. I was able to sleep much better tonight thankfully, all hail the sketchy Kirkland Mucinex in unmarked baggies
Date: 2023-09-29
From: Bald Mountain Pond Lean To

To: Monson ME
Miles today: 17.9

I spent the morning at the lake watching what felt like a very restrained Japanese ink painting. The glassy blackness of the surface was washed with the faintest suggestion of pink from the cloudy sun which was hidden and emitting nly the faintest pale pink that felt almost infrared. The scene was punctuated with reeds and their reflections. The morning mist hovered still everywhere on the lake, and the headiness of it felt like I was looking from here to eternity. After that view I was off flying down the trail to the final trail town; it felt amazing to have the valves open all the way and effortlessly doing high 2s / 3 mph. There were several river crossings which were fun, and had lunch at a shelter between 2 rivers (I had just missed Rabbit by a few minutes) while reading the trail log. There was a random candle wedged to the floor and I decided not to light it, as this surely would summon a demon from alternate dimension (I was in Stephen King's state after all). After that I hiked into town - I passed Magic Dad at the trailhead while walking through the neighborhood to get into Shaw's and he kindly gave me a lift the last third of a mile to Shaw's as my feet were BEAT. At Shaw's there was, simply put, everybody I ever met on trail. Or it felt like that. Even Magic who had gone up ahead because of her visa was there, as she left the country to reset her visa and come back to surprise Jersey Shore which was amazing. It felt like the end of the videogame where all the people you meet gather one last time before you go fight the Big Bad.The gas station in town had HOT PINK HOTDOGS - appalling. Even worse was Rabbit trying to persuade me that was a normal color for hot dogs. Troubling implications for him to say that.