morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-15
From: Baxter State Park

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Beck and I go to the appalachian cafe for a final breakfast. Pretty cool place alot of A.T stuff. We make it to our camp site, nice sites. I set up camp and get prepared for a big climb. mt. kat. 5267' and we are starting at 1090' you do the math. We have a 10.4 mile hike ahead of us. Beck and I hike well as a team. Around the 2 half mile mark Beck makes the summit she was fated with. I proceed on to do the toughest hike to date. Beck called it right "this is not safe"; from the point I left her I was above treeline doing a free climb with no tie off. I hit a plateau where I said, ¢You've got to be kidding.¢ On my way up to said plateau there is a sobo (southbound hiker) that tells me this is as far as he goes today, mind you he tells me this is his second day trying to climb kat. So as I sit on this plateau thinking my fate is similar. to the last sobo, 2 guys from the Maine area ask me, ¢Which way you headed?¢ I explain up and then they reply with no hesitation ¢lets go¢. This would be the scariest climb ever. One wrong move and that¢s it. The climb takes an hour then we hit the rock/boulder infested waste land and I¢m still 2 miles from the top. I finally summit and take an hour break then proceed down what I just came up. When I hit the sketchy as hell part I think at one point I was praying that I don¢t fall off and die. Finally back at camp 11 half hours later. Beck and I collectively make the decision to get a hotel room. No, we don't break down camp we just head out. We stay at an EconoLodge where Beck scores a jacuzzi. Beck rocks.
Date: 2007-06-16
From: Baxter State Park

To: Abol Bridge
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: clear sky

After sleeping in until about 8 I jacuzzi one more time before I pack the pack up to leave. On the drive into Baxter State Park we spot a moose, Beck was so excited. We get to the site we never used and I tear camp down. Beck wishes me farewell, since she is off to a 4 star hotel and then abandons me in the woods. It¢s a short hike to the trail head where to my surprise a moose greets me to the trail.   Day 2 I learn to keep the camera in a pocket on me. It¢s an easy hike but the mosquitos are on patrol. Met a lovely couple during an afternoon break. The wife goes on to tell me she has summitted kat 6 times since her 38 birthday. I think once was enough for me. The bug spray i bought from a local town store quit on me about 3 hrs into the hike. Exhausted and eaten alive by bugs a pull into Abol Bridge to camp for the night. I share the site with a 60 yr old nobo (north bounder) section hiker. He gives me some good tips and we talked about the sections he just came thru. I warned him about kat. i tended to my chafe and went to bed.
Date: 2007-06-17
From: Abol Bridge

To: Rainbow Spring Campsite
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up at 4:30 and laid in the tent for a little bit. My nobo camp mate broke camp down and was on the trail by 6. I laid around a bit, took a shower with the quarters the nobo left me, went up to the camp store for some deet. Pushed out around 8 or 9. Walked past the ¢hurd lean to¢ and was thankful I did not stay there. Pressed on thru mosquito infested bogs; made ¢rainbow ledges¢ by lunch. Heard thunder while eating so rushed to get off the ledges. Walked for about 2 or 3 hrs then the rain hit. I made an emergency camp by a creek and waited out the rain. Emerging from tent I noticed I overshot my camping site by 3/4 mile. A nobo bookworm told me about a great spot to camp at just up the hill. Pushed onto to the ¢rainbow dam campsite¢ and was in awe of the views and scenery. Tended to the chafe and had a nice breezy night.
Date: 2007-06-18
From: Rainbow Spring Campsite

To: Nahmakanta Lake
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: clear sky

Woke up 4:45 to a great sunrise a glorious view of kat. and to loons cooing in the background. I had to force myself to eat, been having a hardtime eating on trail. I should have been thru 2 days worth of supply and barely made a dent into a days worth. Mornings have been a little down, miss Beck. Hope it changes when I start hiking with people. Great hiking weather, breezy and no mosquitos.   Lots of bog walking today, then lunch with a great view. 2 tough climbs but made the best of it. Took a break at the ¢wadleigh lean to¢. I was planning to stay the night but too much food has been left out. Ran into 2 sobos, matt and taylor(knoxville) who were staying at the lean to. Talked with them about the White House Hostil. Pushed onto next camp site 2 miles away. I had to pretty much wade thru a lake to get to the site. Set up camp at a decent spot, tended to the chafe and listened to a loon cooing as I fell to sleep. Thoughts of maybe calling Beck tomorrow.
Date: 2007-06-19
From: Nahmakanta Lake

To: White House
Miles today: 5.2

Woke at 4:40 to loon cooing, I wonder if it is the same loon. Ate a light breakfast and headed out by 7. I had 5 miles ahead of me today to make it to White House. Little did I know I was hiking thru the lair of the beast. At one point looked over my shoulder and was swarmed by mosquitos so I started running from them. Made it to the dock by 10:00 and was safe on the other side of the lake. The White House Hostil run by Bill, Linda, and son, Ben (just a boy) was a well needed stop. The chafe has been killing me and hoping the rest will dry it out. Matt and Taylor showed up about 20 mins after I did. Took a hot shower and did laundry on a old ass washing board/machine. Relaxed for the day, ate a 1lb cheese burger for lunch and listened to Linda tell hiker stories. The chafe is looking bad and I may need to hold up here one more day. We'll see in the morning. Dinner was a 14" pizza. The record here for cheese burgers is 3 by a nobo, and Linda says it's common for a nobo to ask for a burger and while eating that will order a pizza. I can¢t fathom it.
Date: 2007-06-20
From: White House

To: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: moderate rain

Woke up around 5 or so took and took a shower to help take care of the chafe. Bill with the White House Landing hostel made an awesome ¢all you can eat¢ breakfast. Thru a little extra in the boat gas tip jar which got a drop off closer to the trail. Matt, Fiesta Frank and I start down the trail at a pretty high pace, storm clouds were rolling in. By this time we have picked a new member to the hiker train, Brent, a SoBo from New Hampshire, hopped on as Matt and Fiesta took off. Me trying to keep a sensible pace for the next few weeks watched them go. 1st stop ¢potaywadjo lean to¢. This point in my hiking I like to take a break every so often. This place had the best spring, ice cold water bubbling straight out of the ground, did not even bother to filter it. That was some of the best water ever. Brent and I push down the trail with a swarm of mosquitos chasing us, with 5 miles left to the lean to, the sky fell out on us. At this point it was a blessing since the rain was keeping the bugs off of us. Forgot to mention, the chafe has kicked in and I'm walking down the trail like a crazy man. I had so much side step that I would take 2 side steps to equal 1 of my normal steps. We make it to the lean to pretty quick, averaging 3 mph over the last 4 miles. Settled into the lean to, which Fiesta and Matt beat us there by 2hrs, clothes hung everywhere to dry out. Fiesta and I were talking about all the gadgets Brent has. Mac daddy GPS, cell phone, and solar cell charger, no wonder his pack weight is 50+ lbs. so Fiesta turns to me and says what¢s the name of that movie with Jane Fonda in it (he meant Jodi Foster) I said ¢CONTACT¢.   Fiesta yells that¢s Brent¢s trail name, due to all his gadgets (at this point Brent is taking a swim in the stream in front of the lean to.) Brent comes up and asks what we are talking about so we asked if he knew what the movie ¢Contact¢ was about, he says and I quote ¢movie about finding space plans to build a big gadget¢, no sooner does he say this, Fiesta and I are rolling around the lean to in laughter. Another interesting story, somehow we get on the topic of bears, something about a thru hiker is going to stay on the trail until she sees a polar bear (some people are just dumb) so we were talking about the aggressiveness of the different types of bears, then all of a sudden in a calm premeditated speech Fiesta tells us how he was going to deal with a bear. Now according to Fiesta when the bear stands on his hind legs he will swoop under the bears legs simultaneously cutting the bears balls off and then jump on its back and slit its throat all in what sounded like a 2 step dance move, the scary thing was the boy was dead serious. We continued talking bears, did you know this: a man killed a black bear by punching it in the face. Fiesta and Matt told us this story, happened somewhere in Tenn. The guy apparently snapped the bear¢s neck from the blow to the face. How tough is that? The rest of the day was spent drying out and eating, while Matt tried his luck at fly fishing (packed in a portable fly rod).
Date: 2007-06-21
From: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Pretty mundane hike. Hit the 1st big climb since Katahdin, wasn't a cake walk but was able to keep my 1.5 mph pace. I made it to East Branch lean to for lunch, and had a well needed break. I've been finding that a 45 min break around lunch time does wonders for the feet. I hiked a portion of that leg naked for 2 reasons. 1 it was national hike naked day, and also help let my clothes dry out. After East Branch we had a hard 3.8 mile hike up to Logan lean to. During this leg of the hike all I could think of was how nasty I was smelling. Made it to the shelter and saw that another storm is blowing in.
Date: 2007-06-22
From: Logan Brook Lean-to

To: Carl A. Newhall Lean-to
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: light rain

Day started out with rain, so we stayed in the lean to until 8 when the rain stopped. It¢s just me and Contact now, in one of the lean to¢s register, Fiesta Frank and matt left a note that they were going to try and make Monson in 2 days, I think it was over 50 miles from where we were. Contact and I pushed out and up a 2hr climb to the top of White Cap Mountain. Unfortunately due to the weather, the views sucked, at points on the climb, the weather conditions were so bad that we were actually hiking through clouds.   We hit our 2nd of 3 mountains for the day, which upon summiting met some flip flop (start the trail at a certain point, then hit a terminus, get back on where they started and hike the other direction until they hit the other terminus) hikers Stickman and his son Faithful. We talked with them for a bit, Stickman said after they summit Kat, they are going back to somewhere in southern Maine and head south to ga. I¢m looking forward to running into him again. Topped our 3rd and final mountain for the day and maybe 50 yards past the summit we run into a porcupine, never seen one of these in the wild. After that the rest of the day was a little blah. Made it to the shelter early, got a fire going while it rained off and on the rest of the day. Weird blue skies then a grey patch would come over, drop a little rain then blue skies, did this 3 or 4 times. A NoBo joined us for the night at the lean to, he got in just around dark. Lee was a pretty cool guy, fire fighter for either Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, can't remember which. This guy has been cruising down the trail, he left Springer March 25th and was hoping to summit Kat. in 2 days. We picked his brain for about hour about places to see, safe hiking mileages, even though he is doing 35 miles a day, he thought my plan for slowly building up miles was smart. He told us about the Whites and other trail stories. Also found out that Matt and Fiesta would probably make Monson in the scheduled time frame. Also found that if you¢re sketchy on the trail, word travels fast. Now Matt, Fiesta, and Contact ran into this joker and all of them said there was something just not right with him. Lee has heard different things about him on the trail but never went in to specifics. Then there is a bookworm I will save him for a zero day.
Date: 2007-06-23
From: Carl A. Newhall Lean-to

To: Chairback Gap Lean-to
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Up at 4:50 and on trail by 6:30. We were making great time, saw a cool waterfall on the Gulf Hagas trail. Stopped and saw the "Hermitage", passed some section hikers and I am noticing that when you try to thru hike people give you a lot of respect just for your attempt. Contact was in my ear most of the morning about wanting to do a big day. I think he's getting antsy after hearing Lee's stories and hearing Matt and Fiesta were probably in Monson today. I just don't understand people wanting to run down the trail, as if the trail is going to disappear next year.Anyways, climbed Chairback mtn.¢ back to rock climbing much like Katahdin. This was another climb where I wished I was roped in on (sketchy and scary as hell) once you get to the top you walk ledges for about a 1/4 mile to the right a shear drop of about 400' to the left boulders and little scrub pine. Conditions were getting sketchy, 15mph winds and the look of a storm coming in. I wanted down off this mountain. Hustled to the lean to in the gap and had a pretty cold and windy night. That afternoon another SoBo stayed in the lean to. Brant from Texas is an English Lit major working on his masters in creative writing.
Date: 2007-06-24
From: Chairback Gap Lean-to

To: Wilson Valley Lean-to
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: few clouds

Today was going to be a big day: 15 miles and 4 mountains to climb. If we can get through today we could have a 14 mile hike tomorrow into Monson. Nothing really exciting happened just focused on the days task and hammer out the miles. We pulled into the Wilson lean to around 6ish after a long hard hike. Brant beat us in by a few hrs and had already eaten and was settling down for the night. He made mention there was a train behind us about a day back that was full of great people. Maybe I can hook up with them in Monson because at times I feel my hike holding Contact back. As they say here on the trail "hike your own hike".
Date: 2007-06-25
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Monson ME
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: few clouds

Woke up excited! 10 miles to the highway and another 3 1/2 to Monson if we can't get a hitch. Today mentally was one of the toughest days on the trail. I don¢t know if it was the push yesterday or if is the mental strain of trying to keep a fast pace to get to town, but today has been filled with a ton of ups and downs. Feels as though we have done 20 or 30 of the mindless things. I wish they were gradual but no all are straight up and down. Then repeat process. Took a break at the Leeman lean to, 3 miles to go. About 30 yards after the break I got stung by a bee on the right ankle, but I have a task ahead of me that nothing can stop. Then a 1/2 mile from the highway I roll my left ankle pretty good (heard some cracking noise) but could walk. Finally at 12:30 we make it to the highway. 5 minutes later we have a hitch and headed to what will be heaven. Stopped in at Shaw¢s Hostel and settle in, within 10 minuntes I¢m having an hour long hot shower then it¢s off to get chips and snack cakes. Drank a 2 liter of diet coke in 30 minutes; oh it was heaven. Hit the post office to look to see if my mail drop was in and then over to the library to check on the rest of the world.
Date: 2007-06-26
From: Monson ME

To: Monson ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: haze

Started out my zero day with a nice walk and talk with Brett while we got coffee. Brett is a very interesting person and in our conversations has helped me stay focused or even refocus the things that are important to one¢s life. I hope we stay in contact. Brett is getting off the trail for family reasons as well as he was able to score a ride from a section hiker that also lives in Texas. Brett will be driving cross country in a brand new Porsche Boxster, don¢t know if I could pass that up too. I think his insight and craziness will be missed by me and Contact. Breaking trail news... Contact has been renamed. He is now Faulty Contact due to him trying to fix one of his gadgets (his cell phone) and now it¢s broken. We took a shuttle to the next town over, where I bought an ankle brace and some other odds and ends that Monson could not supply. So here¢s the story on Bookworm. He is a strange guy.   I met him after breaking down my emergency camp due to a thunder storm.   He was making a ruckus as he was running down a hill. He said to me ¢just letting gravity do its job¢, then he was off. So people that stayed with him tell stories of how he has been on the trail since October. Lee said he talked with him and found out that Bookworm was hiking every blue blaze (side trails) on the A.T. So far nothing negative about him, but he is spoken of as a legend for the blue blazing task. The hostel got a little more crowded today, 2 nobos showed up, really nice guys. As the day went on 6 more sobos showed up and are taking a zero tomorrow. It was nice having the hostel to the trio that we have become. There was a certain energy that gelled Brett, Faulty Contact and I together. With the new sobos showing up it was hard to focus on the preparation to leave in the morning. Well, next stop Caratunk in about 3 days.. stay tuned A.T. fans.
Date: 2007-06-27
From: Monson ME

To: Horseshoe Canyon Lean to
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: few clouds

We ended up leaving Monson around 12:30 p.m.   Tim from the general store was from Georgia so that was reason for the late start for the day. Contact and I needed to do 8 miles to get to the lean to. It was an easy flat hike ahead of us, but we both found it hard to get back in the groove. We made it to the lean to around 5 and started dinner. Seth had rolled in about a half hour before us. Seth is from Minnesota and hilarious. Seth is pack weight conscience and never carries water. He gets water only when passing a stream or brook. He has made a ghetto cook set all out of beer cans. He's great company.
Date: 2007-06-28
From: Horseshoe Canyon Lean to

To: Moxie Bald Lean-to
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up in the middle of thunderstorm, the lean to was lit up as plain as day from the lightning. I woke up again at my normal wake up time and the rain was still coming down in buckets. We all sat around the lean to eating breakfast waiting for the weather to break. Around 9ish we pushed out of the lean to in hopes to get 13 miles in before dark. We are back in the groove of hiking and making good time. We stop to ford a stream and the thunder is rolling in on us. From 11 to about 12 we had another thunderstorm to hike thru. The weather lets up again, but now the mosquitos are out and patrolling the area. We are now hiking as fast as possible, one second the sun was shining and the next the sky dumps on us again. It felt like I was in a rain forest. We made it to Moxie Bald Pond by 3 for a break with hopes to dry out some. We took an hour break then push another 4 miles up over Moxie Bald Mountain to the next lean to. 4 o'clock comes and more bad weather looms in the sky. Contact and I decide climbing a mountain in wet gear with winds at the summit may be trouble so we stay here for the night. Someone has split a stack of fire wood at this lean to so we get a nice fire going and start drying out all our clothes. We settled down for bed and 2 nobos show up to share the lean to. They are 2 brothers from Iowa. One of the brothers started his journey hiking the Florida trail and has now made it to Maine. In the middle of the trip he came down with mono and spent 17 days back in Iowa. When getting back on the trail his brother joined him, the 2 have been side by side for the past 900+ miles. They are hiking in packs that are tad bigger then a day pack with weights of about 12 - 15 pounds. It's sick.
Date: 2007-06-29
From: Moxie Bald Lean-to

To: Pleasant Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

It was a lazy morning with the nobos. We climbed to the top of Moxie Bald for some great views. We got to see Mount. Katahdin for the last time on this journey. We made it to our break spot in no time. For the next hour or so I got a little emotional on the trail but pushed thru that. It's truly amazing on how mental the trail is. But I put on the mp3 player and got back in the groove. I received some trail magic around lunch. I ran into a family from Georgia on some random logging road. I talked with them for a good bit and they gave me some Gatoraid. It was 5 more miles to the next lean to with 1 mountain in the way. I hiked for about an hour after meeting the Georgians and took a lunch break. I then proceeded to climb and climb and climb. I made it to the summit around 3 and took a well needed break, hit the descent and was thankful I traveled the direction I did. It was a mile stretch that was straight down. It took me 45 minutes to make my way down. I finally got to the lean to exhausted and out of water. After dinner, Running Bear, a section hiker from Georgia told numerous stories and jokes. I passed out by 8.
Date: 2007-06-30
From: Pleasant Pond Lean-to

To: Caratunk
Miles today: 5.7

Pushed out by 6:30 and had an easy cruise into Caratunk. We did 7 miles in about 3 hrs. It was a 1 mile walk to the resupply then another mile road walk to the Nothern Outdoors Lodge and Resort. I checked in and headed straight to the shower, ate a huge lunch then hit the hot tub. I got funny looks from everyone since the only clean clothing I had was my hiker kilt. Contact and I hit the Micro brew while Seth went fishing. I was drunk after 1 beer. Contact got drunk after 2 beers. Then we headed to dinner. Contact got ribs and we figured out that all the meals he had eaten today and the calorie count was in excess of 4000. Dessert came and it was a chocolate wedge of heaven. We felt so good after dinner. We went back to the room where all 3 of us traded locker room stories of past conquests. Then contact went on some rant about perfect nipples. Seth and I looked at each other and thought contact is in need of a woman soon.
Date: 2007-07-01
From: Caratunk

To: West Carry Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light rain

I got a shuttle from the resort to the trail head. I met Steve, the ferry man, what a good spirited person. Steve has been ferrying hikers across the Kennebec River for 26 years, some 18,000 hikers. He went over all the history of the trail as well as how he got started with the ferry service. I was back on the trail with 13.5 miles to go. The terrain was pretty flat as well as some areas had some serious blow downs. Lost the trail a couple of times today. Around 8 miles in and my feet started to hurt pretty badly. I took a break for about 30 minutes. It seemed to do the trick. I hiked 3 more miles and the pain was back. So I took another break about a mile shy of the lean to. I rolled into camp around 5. We were sharing the lean to with 2 nobo section hikers. One of the section hikers was a 69 yr woman that tried to thru hike 3 yrs ago but was taken off the trail due to injury. Now she is trying to finish this last section in the next few weeks before she turns 70. I¢m starting to feel frustrated that the feet are not holding up. I tented this evening so I can sleep with my feet elevated on my pack. Hope it does the trick.