morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-07-28
From: Osgood Campsite

To: N.H.16 Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 4.8
Weather: broken clouds

I had a great nights sleep last night. A storm moved in last night. Thunder and lightening, the whole shebang. But I still slept great! Finally, after so many days. We had a short 5 mile hike. I was hoping to hit the road by 12. We had a rocky climb down, rocky flat trial, lots of brook crossing. A rocky climb up. But eventually we hit some trail we could actually walk on. We made it to the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center about 1030. Thank god! We hitched into town. A woman slackpacking her husband picked us up. She dropped us at the caf© in town. We ate and ate! So tasty. We stopped by the wine store to grab some wine for the evening. We checked into our hotel. It was pretty nice. We did a quick resupply for the next 2 days of hiking. Did some chores and relaxed at the hotel. It was glorious to just sit around and relax. We head out tomorrow to do some more of the Whites. We'll hit Gorham, NH again in two days. Then Maine not too long after. Hopefully after we get through the Mahoosuc in Maine we'll be able to log some normal miles. I am dreading the trail tomorrow. I hate these rock climbs.
Date: 2015-07-29
From: N.H.16 Pinkham Notch

To: Zeta Pass
Miles today: 8.5

We got up early to grab some breakfast at the caf© down the street before catching the bus to Pinkham notch. Unfortunately the caf© didn't open until 7. We went to McDonalds instead. It was the slowest McDonalds in the whole world. But finally we got our food. We ate and walked down to the gas station to catch the bus. The Germans were there as well, so we knew we were at the right spot. Lol.The bus dropped us off about 830 at Pinkham. Then we had to climb the wildcats. I was in favor of taking the gondola up...Mighty mouse was not. It was a tough climb. Took us about 4 hours to go 3 miles up to the first wildcat. And there sat the gondola taunting me. Oh how much time and energy it would have saved to ride that up instead. Oh well. We chatted with some day hikers about the AT, ate lunch, and then headed on through the other wildcats. The rest weren't too bad. Up and down rocks but not as bad as the original climb. It was a pretty humid day too. We passed Carter Notch Hut. We didn't stop in. I'm so over the Hut system and the AMC regime. It's just too much. Another giant climb out of the notch. We got to the top of Carter Dome and it started to rain. Of course. As if dry rocks werent challenging enough. Thankfully, it didn't last long. We got down to Zeta Pass about 4 or 5 I think. Guthooks said there were some stealth campsites around and a water source. We decided to try and stay here instead of pushing on 5 more miles to the next campsite. It was getting late and we weren't sure we were gonna make it. Plus we were pretty tired. There was a small spot for camping at the pass. Cookie Monster was there, contemplating staying. And there ended up being no water. Just a muddy pool where the stream shold be. Super diappointing. I had 1 liter of water left. I didn't end up cooking dinner, I ate lunch stuff. And I saved as much water as I could. I usually drink 2-3 liters when I get to camp at night, so this really sucked. But I wasn't going to be dehydrated, I had a ton of water already today and I could survive on a liter until the next water source tomorrow morning.I crawled into my tent, cleaned up a bit and read for a while before bed.
Date: 2015-07-30
From: Zeta Pass

To: U.S. 2 Gorham, NH
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We got an early start today. Out before 7. It was a nice cool morning. Our first climb was up Carter Mountian. Nice views with the morning sun. Our pace wasn't too bad, not our normal pace but fastwe than what we had been doing. About mid morning, I came across a trickling stream. I couldn't pass it up, I needed water bad. I drank a litter and filled up both my bottles. Onward we went. At about lunch time we made it to the top of Mt. Moriah. This was the last mountian in the Whites. Thank god! It was a tough climb. We ate lunch out on the rocks. I was so tired, a headache was starting and I was out of water again. I just wanted a nap. On the way down we ran into Ironman Bill and Just Pete. They were slackpacking south. They gave us hope...the last few miles before town were nice!Once we got off Mt. Moriah, another tough down, and we hit Rattle river things got nice. The last 3ish mIles were a breeze. It felt so strange to walk normally. We made really good time and got to the hostel at about 4.We stayed at the White Mountian Lodge and Hostel. It was right on the trail. It was a decent place. We had to leave our packs in the garage. She also wanted us to change into loaner clothes before coming into the house. Let me just say putting clean clothes on a dirty body is the most disgusting thing in the world. It just made my skin crawl. But we did it. We settled up and then one of the people took us on a tour. As soon as that was over I ran back down to my pack to get my town clothes so I could shower. Much nicer putting clean clothes on a clean body. We made it just in time for the shuttle to walmart. We resupplied for the next few days and got dinner for tonight. I love walmart. Its such a cheap resupply. And i got a whole bunch of tasty food for dinner. My head was killing me by the time we got back. So I ate quick and went up to lay on my bunk. It was about 730 or so. I dozed in and out for a while. It helped a lot. I finally went to bed about 9.
Date: 2015-07-31
From: U.S. 2 Gorham, NH

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0

We decided to zero today. I felt so much better than yesterday, thank god. But some more rest wouldn't hurt. Breakfast was served at 7. It was pretty good. Breakfast burritos, hash browns, sausage, and muffins. I was so full! Such a nice feeling. After breakfast we hung out at the hostel for a while. They were booked solid for the night so we had to find other place to stay. There was an ATV thibg going on in town so everything was booked up. We were able to get the last room at the Town and Country Inn. We hitched a ride to the inn about 11. Checked in and then hitched a ride into town. We hung out at the caf© for a bit. Ate, drank smoothies and looked at books. We went back to the room after 1ish. I hung out and read all afternoon while Mighty Mouse went to the hot tub and sauna. We went down to the resturant for dinner. I got lobster mac and cheese. Not too impressed. I wasnt too impressed with thier cheesecake either. It looked like someone baked it in thier kitchen at home instead of a gorge kitchen like this place was suppose to be. Stayed up way to late watching Footloose on tv.
Date: 2015-08-01
From: Gorham, NH

To: Gentian Pond Campsite
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: clear sky

We got up early to go to the breakfast buffet. It was a pretty decent spread but not worth what I had to pay. I lifted the lid on the bacon pan and holy moly there was at least 20 pounds of bacon under there. Just a giant mound of delicious pig candy...so hard to restrain yourself. Everything else was pretty tasty too. We hitched a ride back to the trail after breakfast. The trail today wasn't too bad. There were actually some parts where you could walk normally. We saw Union Jill at the trail head and chatted with her a bit. Then up we climbed. Long climb but not too much crazy rock climbing. I'm hoping we left that crap behind in the Whites. We stopped at a nice place with a view for lunch. I layed down in the shade and noticed i was right next to a blueberry bush. Pretty tasty.A bit later at a stream crossing we met up with Copperhead. Her friend was here from Oregon and was slackpacking her. We chatted with her for a bit while we filled our bottles. After that we had some pretty rocky climbs and decents. And of course a storm moved in and we were in a down pour for a while. That slowed us down a lot, especially on the rocks. Soon the rain stopped and then we got to camp. It was about 4 o clock. We set up our tents then went to get water. It was a steep climb down for yellow pond water. Warm yellow pond water. Super gross. Thank god for crystal light .We got our chores done and ate dinner and was finished with everything by 6. Really early. Pretty awesome. I read for quite a while. Relaxed in my tent. I really do enjoy laying in my tent at the end of the day.
Date: 2015-08-02
From: Gentian Pond Campsite

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 9.6

Great nights sleep. We left camp about 8 this morning. We only planned for 10 miles today. Right out of the gate we had a pretty steep climb. And then it continued on for a few miles until we got to the top of Mt. Success. Rocky of course. It slowed us down some, but we still had a decent pace. We stopped for a snack break at the top. We met a day hiker out taking pictures with a super nice camera. We chatted for a bit. Everyone likes to describe the trail coming up. Ive heard so many different stories about the terrain.After that it was more rock climbing. Up and down. I was getting pretty exhausted. We hit the Maine border at 12. Thinking about it now, it's pretty exciting. Finally crossed into the last state. Less than 300 miles to go. I can't believe that I'm here already and that I made it this far. It's crazy.We ate lunch at the border...on the Maine side of course. And then we moved on. Another steep climb and then an evil decent. I had to take my pack off in a couple of places to get down. It was really irritating and took forever. I guess it's preparing us for the Mahoosuc notch and arm. After more crazy climbing with rebar and ladders. And then decents with rebar and ladders and wooden planks. And some amazong views. We made it to the shelter. It was about 530. Took all day to go 10 miles again. It sucks. We were pretty tired. And my knees are killing me. There were some northbounders at the shelter. Ironman Bill, Just Pete and Union Jill. Great to see some familiar faces.Jill is going to hike with us tomorrow. We hit the Mahoosuc Notch and arm first thing. It's a giant boulder field where you have to crawl, shove your pack up and over things and a while bunch more fun stuff. It's good to do with a buddy or two to help each other out. Now just relaxing in my tent listening to everyone around me snore. Such a great sound. Hopefully my ear plugs can block out the symphony.
Date: 2015-08-04
From: Maine 26, Grafton Notch

To: East B Hill Rd. Andover, ME
Miles today: 10.3

Woke up about 630. Definitely didn't get enough sleep bit it was great being inside and in a bed. My body is super sore though. I don't think it's ever going to forgive for this trip. And I'm probably going to need knee replacement surgery. Anyways. Beth and Copperhead dropped us off about 8 at the trail. My boots were still soaking wet from yesterday. So delightful. We had a climb first thing. But it wasn't too bad. Sort of. We hit the open ridge and climbed up this intense rock cliff to the top of Bald pate Mountiab. Cool climb, awesome views. I am so glad I don't have to go down that.At the peak we decided to make a reservation at the Pine Ellis Hiker Lodge in Andover. It was suppose to storm again today and we did not want to get stuck in the rain. 6 more miles to the road.Not to sound paranoid but I think these mountians are trying to kill me. Seriously they are out to get me. The climb down the other side of Baldpate was dangerous to say the least. It wouldn't have been so bad but everything was wet from the 3 hour thunderstorm the night before. It was very very slow going. But we eventually made it to the shelter an hour and a half later for lunch. We read through the log book and a NOBO hiker put this."SOBO's if it's raining stop here. The next mountian will try to kill you. Don't help it along" Yup, that about sums it up. After lunch we had an uphill climb for no reason. Then we had a decent to the road. And of course it starts thundering. About 2 miles from the road we get the deluge. The storm wasn't as bad as last night's. Only store ed for about 30 minutes or so. But everything was soaking wet again. It's like a black cloud just follows us around. We made it to the road about 315. Our shuttle was picking us up at 330. Good thing I scheduled it before had because there was no service at the road and there was no traffic either. Our ride showed up and we went to the hostel. The Germans were here! We caught up with them. I shouldn't be suprised. Mighty Mouse and I are bad ass hikers even if we are only doing short miles lately. We got our beds and showers. We were even allowed to bring our packs in the house. We did a short resupply and planned our next days. We went over to Mills Market for dinner. I had the most amazing meatball sub in creation. And jalape±o poppers. So freaking good. Now I'm just relaxing on the bed eating salt and vinegar chips and drinking hard cider. This is the life, lol. And maybe my boots will be dry tomorrow....hahaha yeah right.
Date: 2015-08-05
From: East B Hill Rd. Andover, ME

To: South Arm Rd. Andover, ME
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Ate about 5 donuts for breakfast. As I was hiking I thought I should eat donuts for breakfast more often because it's the longest I went without a snack break. I was just rocking up the trail. We got dropped off at the trail about 715am. We had a slow, sometimes steep climb up a mountian. Pretry uneventful. We got to the lean to for a snack break about 1030/11ish. The weather was holding out. Sunny for the moment but we were suppose to get storms again in the afternoon. The next part of the trail looked difficult. A steep down, steep up and then a steep down again. The first down was actually pretty decent. We got down to the notch and there were some pretty nice campsites there. With a picnic table. Pretty awesome. But alas, we had to go on. The climb up Moody Mountian was steep and rocky in some parts. But nothing extremely horrible. And then back down again. Some steep rocky parts. But not too bad. We made it to the road about 230. We crossed the stream and set up our tents at a really nice stealth campsite. The Germans and Union Jill showed up a bit later, they camped on the other side of the stream, more room for thier tents there. We set up our tents and relaxed. I read outside for a bit until the rain started. It spit on and off for a while. It stopped for a bit so I went out and made dinner. Very quickly! As soon as I packed everything back up we got hit with a fownpour. Thankfully, it didn't last long. And I found I had a tiny hole in the bottom of my tent and water was leaking in. Just great. Mighty mouse had some tent repair tape that came with her tent. Worked great!I read for the rest of the evening. It was nice getting into camp early and being abe to relax.
Date: 2015-08-06
From: South Arm Rd. Andover, ME

To: Bemis Stream
Miles today: 12.5

Woke up and didn't want to get out of my sleeping bag. I was so comfy and it looked like crappy weather outside. But gotta keep moving. We packed up and left camp a little after 7. First off we had a long steep 3 mile climb. Took forever. Plus the weather was foggy, windy and somewhat rainy. It would spit on and off on us. After the giant climb it was some what nicer walking. No crazy ups, but there were a lot of mud bogs, rocks and roots to pick our way around. Slowed us down some. And it's super annoying. We were gping up and over rock balds as well. Super tricky in the rain. About mid afternoon we got to the lean to. We took a break and ate lunch here. There were a few southbounders at the shelter.we chatted with them for quite a while. After that we pushed on to the stream. The last 4 miles took a while. There were lots of steep rock/root climbs, mud bogs and it just takes forever. I've seen some people just run down these things. Super annoying and makes me want to trip them. We made it down to the stream about 5ish. Lots of great campsites down here. We set up our tents and did our chores. It was getting chilly so we were in our tents early. Going to try and make it into Rangely tomorrow.
Date: 2015-08-07
From: Bemis Stream

To: Maine 4, Rangeley ME
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Had a pretty bad storm last night but I stayed dry! We left camp about 7. Had a steep climb first thing this morning. It was about a mile and the view was amazing. Its called the Height of the Land. Pretty amazing. It was a nice day out. Sunny and breezy. Everything was wet on the trail but we actually had trail today. There were a pot of mud bogs that we had to navigate but we actually got to hike today. At a normal pace. We passed a couple of ponds. We took a break by the Sabbath Day Pond lean to, right by the pond. From there we only had about 10 miles left to town and it was only 10am! Amazing. Onward we went. I started to not feel very well. I was getting really lightheaded. I stopped again, ate another snack and drank water. But it didn't go away. I really wanted to lay down and take a nap but that wasn't an option. All I could do is keep moving. Thankfully it was normal trail today. I don't think I could have done rock climbing with the way I was feeling. I was really unbalanced. About 1130 we stopped for lunch. I ate as much as I could in the hopes it would help. After a bit, the extra food did help but still felt like crap. Onward we hiked. I still kept a pretty decent pace and we finally got to the road about 315. Not too shabby. It felt sooooooooo good to hike!We went over to the Hiker Hut. A hostel .3 up the road. We checked it out but since we had so much to do in town, we couldn't stay there. Plus they only had a solar shower and no laundry. So we went back to the road and hitched. Union Jill was walking up as we got back to the road. A few minutes later so nice women in a van picked all 3 of us up. They dropped Mighty mouse and I at the Saddleback Inn. We got a room and showered. They had a resturant next door. 4th liberty bbq. Amazing food!!! Absolutely amazing. I love BBQ. Plus it's amazing to feel full. I never really feel full on the trail. It's hard to carry enough food. We worked out our miles for the rest of the trip. Kind of daunting that we are almost done. About 2ish weeks left to go. After stuffing our faces we walked to the grocery store to resupply. We got stuff for the next few days and to send a box to Monson. There isn't good resupply in MonsoN I've heard and its the last town before the 100 Mile wilderness. I bought too much crap like always, lol. But it's hard to restrain myself. I will never appreciate food they way I appreciate it on the trail. After groceries we went back to the room to relax. Such a good night.
Date: 2015-08-08
From: Maine 4, Rangeley ME

To: Piazza Rock Lean To
Miles today: 1.8

Had a decent nights sleep in the motel. I tried to sleep in but some jerk where standing right outside our room having a loud discussion and playing with thier atvs. Irritating. Mighty mouse ran out earlier to do laundry. I got up and showered. So nice being able to shower again! Check out wasn't until 11 so we hung out and relaxed all morning. Then we realized it was Saturday and the post office closes at 12pm. We grabbed our crap and walked quickly into town! Lol! We mailed our resupply packages to Monson. Then we hung out in town. Rangeley is such a cute little town. We stopped for lunch at the pub. We both got lobster rolls! Yum!! Unfortunately after eating the lobster roll and a plate of fries I was still starving. We walked down to the ice cream place. I got a grilled cheese with tomato and bacon. And then I got some ice cream. Super tasty. We sat by the pond and watched the ducks while we ate our ice cream. After we stopped at the Moose Cafe and grabbed some sandwiches to pack out for dinner. We decided to nero out of Rangeley and go 2 miles to the next shelter. We went back to the hotel and grabbed our packs. They were kind enough to let us keep them in one of the rooms. Mighty mouse called her sister and I ordered new boots. The Whites ate my boots and I really needed a new pair. Unfortunately REI didn't have the exact boots that I've been wearing. So I'm trying a different kind. They're still Keens so I'm hoping they will be ok. I hate changing things this late in the game. I really dont want to screw up my feet for the last 2 weeks. We went down to the road and got a hitch within seconds! Really nice people. They dropped us at the trail head and off we went. It was a quick easy hike to the shelter. We got there about 4. We set up camp and met the caretaker. Her name was Grace, she was pretty cool!At the road we saw a sign that people were getting sick from the water in the area even though they were filtering. We didn't want to take any chances...well Mighty Mouse didn't want to take any chances. So she treated her water as well as filtered it. *sigh* so I treated mine with the iodine tablets as well. I knew if I got sick and she didn't all I would hear is 'I told you so', and I just couldn't deal, lol. The water tasted like crap after that, even with drink mix in it. But I guess it's better than being sick all over the place. Although the privy at this shelter was ideal for being sick. It had two seats and a cribbage board between them. Too funny.I packed out a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. It was pretty amazing and way better than what I normally eat on the trail. So worth the weight. After dinner I relaxed in my tent. I'm really going to miss my tent when I'm done with the trail.
Date: 2015-08-09
From: Piazza Rock Lean To

To: Orberon Stream
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: scattered clouds

It was a grey foggy morning. It stayed that way all morning. We had 3 climbs to do today and I was hoping the rain would hold off. We went up and over Saddleback Mountian and up and over the Horn. All above tree line. It was suppose to have the most amazing views. Sadly we saw diddly squat. Except clouds. Although we passed a pond earlier that morning and watched the fog move across the top, it was pretty awesome because all of a sudden this island in the middle of the pond showed up then a few seconds later it was gone again. Next we went up to Saddleback Junior. Finally some views. The clouds let up some and we could see! The sun was shining so we stopped there for lunch. Great place!After lunch we started the decent down, all the way down. We stopped for a quick water break at a shelter but kept moving down. It wasn't too bad. In fact the whole hike today wasn't too bad. Even with the constant ups and downs. My knees were getting tired though. At some point Happy Warrior came up behind us. It was nice to see him again. Many Faces had passed us earlier, he was moving on to the next shelter. We weren't going that far and neither was Happy Warrior so he hiked with us. We made it down to the river crossing. There were some nice stepping stones across. We all made it safe and sound. Then we had a steep rock scramble up .1 to the logging road. Here there was some nice stealth campsites. We set up camp, got water at the stream and made dinner. I was in my tent early again. Relaxing and reading. Someone else came to the campsite. It was Wall-E! He recognized our tents so he stopped by. We're doing another short day tomorrow. Although they never turn out short. The terrain makes it hard to go our normal speed still. But it's getting better.