morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-08-23
From: US 201, Caratunk, ME

To: Bald Mountain Brook Shelter 
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

We were really comfortable in our tent cabin, and when we woke at 6:00 we just laid in bed talking for an hour. After getting all packed to hike, we headed to the lodge for breakfast. We joined Hui who was having the breakfast buffet, but we only had egg sandwiches and home fries. We have learned that a breakfast buffet means we will be miserable trying to hike on overstuffed tummies! Hui, on the other hand, told us he had decided to stay at Northern Outdoors another day and would think about us when he's sitting in the hot tub. Thanks, Hui! Anyway, we were on the trail with dry boots at 9:30 am. Although the trail was still wet in places, it was significantly better than the last few days. After we had gained 1000 miles elevation in MUDS, we started our climb up Pleasant Pond Mountain. We were surprised to encounter several day hikers including a couple each carrying an infant. We are scared at times getting just ourselves up and down these mountains! We had nice views at the summit, hiked down 1400 feet then back up to the Bald Mountain Shelter, climbing a total of 3,230 feet. We crossed a large beaver dam and skirted a huge Maine bog. At the shelter we met Quartz and Schwartz, a couple we had met in Virginia. They flip-flopped at Harper's Ferry and are now headed south. The temperature dropped quickly as the sun set but thankfully we had already eaten dinner. We eagerly crawled into our sleeping bags and read the rest of the night.
Date: 2006-08-24
From: Bald Mountain Brook Shelter 

To: ME 15 Monson, ME
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: broken clouds

t was cold when the alarm sounded at 5:30; Craig said it got down to 39 degrees in the night. We stayed in our sleeping bags, denying we really needed to get going, for half an hour as did Quartz and Swartz. Later, everyone got up and had hot cereal and hot beverages, packed up, and started hiking at 7:15, with us going north and the other couple going south.   We had our only big climb of the day right away, up and over Moxie Bald Mountain, 1,400 feet. The views were spectacular-so many lakes and rivers among the forests, and not a road in sight. We commented how inspiring it is to be in the midst of this pristine environment while being all alone. The balance of our long hike today was continuous "bumps". We would hike along the shore of the Penobscot River, then go midway up the mountain, then back to the shoreline, then back up, etc. We would certainly have preferred to stay on the shoreline! It resulted in a total ascent of 3,230 feet. We had our first experiences with fording rivers too deep for wearing our boots. The crossing of the west branch of the Penobscot was more difficult as it was wider and deeper coming up to our shorts. It also had a stronger current; the east branch crossing later in the day had a more slippery rock bottom especially when wearing Crocs, making it difficult as well. Our plan was to hike to just south of Monson and tent, arriving in the town early Friday morning. However, as we got closer, we couldn't resist the draw of the Sweet Water BBQ and continued into Monson. After a delicious dinner-Craig had a pork AND a beef barbeque--we headed to Shaw's Boarding House, a hiker hostel. One NOBO thru-hiker we know, Tex, was already there. Also spending the night was Rocky and Swamp Fox, a couple we met at Elmer's in Hot Springs NC when they were section hiking in that area. We enjoyed sitting in the hostel "living room" talking with everyone about the trail and our collective excitement about the week ahead until we headed for bed. Tomorrow is a zero day--no hiking--resting our bodies before starting the 100 mile wilderness. We have our last mail drop and mail from home, always a fun time!
Date: 2006-08-25
From: ME 15 Monson, ME

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

No sleeping in this morning because the Hostel serves breakfast at 6:00 AM. However, it's all you can eat so it's well worth getting up for. It was fun eating with all the other hikers. While getting our mail we ran into Hui. He had just gotten into town but is just going to re-supply and then hike to the next shelter. After getting our 3 boxes we worked at organizing our food for the our last seven days in the 100 mile wilderness. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon laying in the sun and reading our books and working on our journal. We talked about our past 6 months and how fast it has gone and yet how it felt like we would never get here. It has been much more challenging than we had expected and yet we feel like we're able to make a strong finish. We went to the Pub for dinner and enjoyed a great meal with new hiker friends, who came to the Hostel today. Later we talked about the coming days and what it will be like to finally be on Katahdin. On the way home from the Pub, we stopped at Monson General Store where a bluegrass band was playing and a number of townspeople had gathered. What a fun ending to our day in this tiny country Maine town!
Date: 2006-08-26
From: Monson, ME

To: Cloud Pond Shelter 
Miles today: 19.0

We started the day with another delicious breakfast at Shaw's(Craig had 4 eggs, 4 pancakes, 4 bacon strips, 4 sausages, home fries, 6 glasses of orange juice and 2 cups of coffee and Cathy's serving size was half as big). Then Shaw's gave us a shuttle, and we were on the trail at 7:30--one of our earliest starts out of a trail town. At breakfast we joked with other NOBO that we are now section hiking=hiking the stretch from Monson to Katahdin then going home! That thought made us chuckle as we began. Within the first few miles we passed3 ponds, then we came to the most beautiful lake. We wished we could just pitch our tent and spend the day. But, alas, we have this section to finish.... Our elevation gain for the day was 4,680 feet and the Trail wasn't too bad. We played "leap frog" with Hui throughout the day, the final time at the top of Barren Mountain where we had an incredible view and took pictures of one another. We reached our intended shelter at 3:30--too early to quit hiking--so went another 4 miles to the next shelter. The drawback was that the shelter is .4 off the AT. It meant a little extra hiking, but we're 4 miles closer to Katahdin! Two section hikers were already at the shelter, but there was plenty of room for us. We sent our water filter home to save weight since we have to carry so much food for the 100-mile wilderness, so tonight we experimented with purification tablets in one drinking water and Aqua Mira in the other. Both tasted fine, but the tablets water is quite yellowed. It turned really cold as the sun went down, so we hurried through dinner and hopped into our sleeping bags by 8 PM.
Date: 2006-08-27
From: Cloud Pond Shelter 

To: Carl A. Newhall 
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: overcast clouds

It was another cold night that made it feel like it was already fall. It wasn't easy, but we made ourselves get out of bed at 5:30 AM. The hot cocoa and Oatmeal couldn't have tasted better and helped us warm up some. We were back on the AT again at 7:00. We only had 17 miles to hike but were told that the descent down Chairback Mountain was very difficult and would take a lot of extra time to complete. They also said that it would be dangerous to hike it in the rain, and rain was forecasted for later in the day. We had a couple of nice mountain views even though we didn't climb several tall mountains. When we reached Chairback, the descent did not impress us, and we were down the boulder scramble in a couple minutes. Pennsylvania and New Hampshire have prepared us well. As we were completing our descent we were welcomed by Darrell who had hiked up Trail Magic for us. Darrell had written in our journal about doing this, but we didn't think he would be able to meet us due to a family obligation and the difficulty of identifying a meeting place where there are so few roads. However, Darrell noticed that we were making more miles than when we had corresponded and thought he could catch us if he could hike to us. What a surprise!--and cold pop and ham & cheese sandwiches!. After we had two of each, we made three more for tonight. We had a great time sharing our adventure and filling our tummies. We never expected Trail Magic in the 100 Mile Wilderness; thanks again, Darrell. Later we had to ford the West Branch Pleasant River. It was fairly wide but only came to below our knees, so not too difficult. We climbed 3,480 feet with no real challenging climbs. We only have one more climb until we reach Katahdin. That's so hard to believe! We're trying to take in as much as we can, knowing that this journey is close to it's end. It's hard to fathom that we're even in Maine, let alone in the 100 Mile Wilderness. It started to sprinkle at around 3:00 but didn't get heavy until we reached the shelter at 5:00 PM. We were greeted by three section hikers from Michigan and later four more section hikers arrived. We again were the only Thru-Hiikers so there were many questions for us about our journey. They wanted to know what is was like to hike 2,000 Miles in 6 months. We tried to help them gain some understanding our journey but we don't think you can know what it's about until you do it yourself. It was fun to talk with them about our journey but hopefully we'll catch some of our hiking friends when we reach Baxter State Park. It was a cold evening, low 50's, and raining so we had an early dinner and were in our bags by 7:00.
Date: 2006-08-28
From: Carl A. Newhall 

To: East Branch Shelter 
Miles today: 10.8

It rained all night and was still raining when we woke up at six. We took our time getting ready as we had decided to make it a short hiking day due to rain and wet Trail. We left the shelter at 8:30 and began climbing the first of four mountains for today. The first, Gulf Hages, was a gradual climb to a summit of 2,683 feet. We only descended a few hundred feet before we began to climb West Peak, a little steeper and a little higher. The third mountain was Hay Mountain, and it seemed we kept thinking we were at the summit and then we had further to go. The fourth and final mountain was White Cap, which was the highest at 3,650 feet and is the last tall mountain we will climb before Katahdin. We talked about all the mountains we've climbed in the past six months but couldn't decide which was the hardest; we did agree that they were all hard. There were several balds on top of White Cap Mountain, which surprised us since the other three mountain peaks had been forested. Our total elevation gain for today was 3060 feet and it was all from these four mountains. The descent down White Cap was nearly all boulder steps placed by the Maine Appalachian Trail Club. It was a wonderful relief to our knees! Although it had stopped raining when we left this morning, changing to a light drizzle, the grass and plants along the trail, as well as the trail itself remained very wet. It didn't take long for our feet to be wet also. We arrived at the shelter at 2:30 and decided to stop to dry out and rest after two hard days (19+ and 17+ miles) and two long days ahead (19+ and 18). Craig built a fire and we laid out everything wet. We bathed in the stream then made a huge dinner of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. We were ready to relax and read in our sleeping bags by 6:30.
Date: 2006-08-29
From: East Branch Shelter 

To: Potaywadjo Spring Shelter 
Miles today: 19.5

Early start for a long hiking day-6:20 am. We expected to have to ford the Pleasant River after all of the horror stories in the shelter register, but the water was low enough for us to boulder hop across. We saw several ponds/lakes that were just breathtaking. We got a picture of Cathy in front of a small beaver dam which had created a large pond. As we began to climb Little Boardman Mountain, a moose stirred and Craig was able to catch a glimpse of the huge beast. It wasn't in the mood to hang around to have its picture taken, however. The mountain wasn't high, but it seemed to take forever to reach the "official" peak at 1,980 feet. Our elevation gain today was 1,810 feet and most of it was done on this climb. A little while later we had Trail Magic for the second time in the wilderness! Alongside one of the logging roads was a cooler with fruit, cupcakes, and candy bars. What a treat! Then just after we crossed Jo-Mary Road we encountered two hikers, Still Walking '05 and her father. They had placed the cooler when they began hiking yesterday. We also learned that Still Walking is the person who got Kate, Rob, and Charlotte interested in providing Trail Magic. We stayed at their home in Connecticut, so we owe Still Walking DOUBLE thanks! We couldn't believe how easy the trail was after Little Boardman Mountain. We thought we were almost back in the Shenandoah's again. The fact that rocks and roots were wet slowed us down some, but we made especially good time. We had been told that we could get a Verizon connection at Antlers Campground, so we stopped and--sure enough. We called our kids then uploaded the journals and photos from the past couple of days. We reached the shelter at 4:30, very tired from so many miles (19.5) and found it full of a hiker's gear out to dry. Later we found that she is a Thru-Hiker who had flip-floped; her name is Single Malt. She had fallen in a deep muddy bog and was trying to clean up everything, including herself. Craig built a fire to help with the drying process and we had dinner fireside before going to bed at 7:15. It was an inspiring day, seeing as well as hearing the many different things that the Wilderness provided to us.
Date: 2006-08-30
From: Potaywadjo Spring Shelter 

To: Rainbow Spring Campsite 
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up to a much warmer temperature this morning; 55 degrees, making getting up a little easier. We were off and hiking by 6:30 AM hoping to get to the shelter a little early. The trail was easy for about the first mile and then came the rocks and then the roots. In fact the word for today was ROOTS! They were around all day and made the hike unbearable at times. We had our first view of Katahdin shortly after leaving the shelter. The sky was a little overcast but the sighting was still exciting. We again passed numerous lakes, ponds and streams throughout the day. We were able to get a Cellular connection on Nesuntabunt Mountain so we uploaded yesterday's journal and then checked the weather. The report called for cloudy skies on Saturday and rain on Sunday. As a result we changed our plan to summit Katahdin from Saturday to Friday. To do this we needed to hike 22 miles today and 21 tomorrow. We weren't too excited about two more long days but didn't want to hike all this way to have an ugly day on Katahdin. A little later we had a great view of Katahdin, and it only added to our excitement of being there a day sooner. It seemed like our step was quicker and that we didn't notice our pains as much. The extra four miles that we ended up hiking were Very difficult and had numerous bogs. We felt like we were hiking an obstacle course in a swamp. We climbed 2,270 feet but most of it was before the last four miles. The last mile got easier and we made it to the Rainbow Springs Campsite at 5:30 PM. Tree Fingers was already there and even had a fire going. After setting up camp, we cleaned up in the lake and then had dinner with Tree Fingers around the fire. We all talked about how difficult our journeys have been and yet how excited we were feeling about summating Katahdin. It seems impossible that we're going to be in Baxter State Park tomorrow after hiking over 2,000 miles.   After being on the Trail for nearly six months, it's difficult to believe that our long journey is almost at its end. It feels surreal or at best just impossible to be actually true. As we crawled into our tent, Craig said that it took 2000 miles, but he has "warmed up" to our tent and actually enjoys sleeping in it--a acknowledgement on out LAST night in the tent! Tomorrow it's on to Baxter State Park!
Date: 2006-08-31
From: Rainbow Spring Campsite 

To: Katahdin Stream Shelter 
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up this morning realizing that today is our last day on the AT before Katahdin. Just six mornings ago we were sitting down to breakfast at Shaw's; our time in the wilderness simply "flew" by. In fact, as we have noticed leaves changing color, we commented that we missed two seasons, spring and summer, yet the hike seems to have gone quickly in retrospect. Anyway, we had breakfast by the campfire with Tree Fingers and Gaffer and got on our way at 7 am. The first part of the trail was much like yesterday, but the wet spots had dried out some and most bogs had Bog boards. There were still a lot of roots. Maine has the most beautiful lakes, ponds, and streams, and we passed several again today. Cathy always stopped to look for moose, so we noticed every body of water! We reached Abol Bridge at 11:30 marking our completion of the 100 mile wilderness. I t was reunion time--Chill, Marley, Mystic, and Tex were camping there. We got hamburgers and cookies & milk, and had a great time eating and talking with our friends. They are all going to summit on Saturday so they'll stay at Abol Bridge another night. We said goodbye and promised to meet at Trail Days, and we were off for our final 10 miles before our summit. We were almost immediately inside Baxter State Park, and the trail was unbelievable. It was like we walked in a city park (minus pavement) along a river for miles. Of course, there were some interruptions when we crossed bogs, climbed uphill & down, maneuvered around boulders and roots, and the instance when we had to cross the river where the bridge was washed out. But overall, it was an excellent path and we arrived at the Katahdin Stream Ranger Station at 4:30. We registered as Thru-Hikers paid, for our stay, and borrowed day packs for tomorrow's summit. We will be the 188th & 189th Thru-Hikers to summit this year. We had our LAST Lipton pasta dinner, beside our last AT campfire, and crawled into our sleeping bags for the last time this hike at 7:30 PM. Our bodies ache all over and our minds are tired of making them continue to hike on each day. But we're more eager to summit than anything else we can imagine doing at this time!Tomorrow will be an exciting day--hope we can sleep!
Date: 2006-09-01
From: Katahdin Stream Shelter 

To: Katahdin Summit 
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: broken clouds

SUMMIT DAY!We woke up off and on throughout the night, and discovered we were both awake anticipating the day ahead. We talked about our journey and how quickly it has now come to an end. We rolled out of our sleeping bags as soon as it was light enough to see for cooking and packing. We prepared the daypacks that we got from the park ranger, packed up everything we wouldn't need today, and had our oatmeal and hot cocoa, then we were off. We started up the mountain at 7:00, signing the summit registry when we began. The trail began similar to what we have been hiking most recently. The first two miles we increased elevation 2,000 feet, and we were so "psyched" it didn't seem bad at all. Then we began to get more rocks than dirt in our pathway, and the rocks got bigger as we got higher up the mountain. By the time we reached the timberline, some boulders were as big as Cathy. The boulder scramble lasted nearly a mile becoming more steep as we got closer to the summit. Then all of a sudden, the boulders ended and we were on the ridge line. We still ascended 500 feet to reach our 4,400 total for the day, but very gradually. When the sign came into view we just stopped in awe. We were REALLY going to make it! The hustle up the ridge line was a blur as we were drawn to the Katahdin signon the summit. How do we describe actually touching our goal after 2,174 miles and 169 days? Yes, there were smiles and tears of joy. Yes, there were "high fives" and shouts of CONGRATULATIONS. And yes, there was a longing to just linger near the sign despite the wind and mist. After many photos, we started down the mountain. It only took us 3 1/2 hours to summit, but it took longer to make our descent. After reaching the ranger's station to retrieve our packs, we stopped by the campground for one more good-bye and to show our hiking friends our summit photo. In addition to Chill, Marley, Mystic, and Tex, Ork & Bean and Rip & Hugger had arrived. They all applauded when we arrived and many hugs were shared. All of them plan to summit tomorrow (Saturday). After saying our final good-byes we hitched a ride into Millinocket where we got a room at the Appalachian Trail Lodge. We immediately telephoned our kids and other family members to share our excitement. After dinner in a local caf© and doing laundry, we were back in our room, reminiscing about our incredible day. Such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment AND the knowledge that we don't have to hike tomorrow was a sedative that had us sleeping in minutes!PS: Epilogue to follow.
Date: 2006-09-04
To: Bermuda
Miles today: 0.0

EPILOGUEIt's amazing how the hardships of the past five and one half months begin to fade when you reach that sign atop Mount Katahdin! Our knees, ankles and the bottoms of our feet hurt every morning. We missed the comforts of home like running water you can drink without filtering, a hot shower anytime, anything cold to drink, fruit and veggies, and even a comfortable place to sit after a long hard day. An experienced hiker and past Thru-Hiker told us that over the next three years we will recognize and appreciate all we learned from our hike, and we're sure she is right. We have had some amazing experiences. We've seen God's magnificent handiwork in countless fashion. We've challenged ourselves in ways we never imagined we would encounter, and have overcome those challenges. And we've met incredible people, most of whose "real" names we don't even know, but we won't soon forget their faces or their spirits. We have continuously been reminded of the goodness in people. The hike would truly not have happened without trail maintenance by volunteers and the Trail Magic food, rides, overnight stays, and encouragement of people we met and those following our journal. As we write this final entry, we have had over 210,000 "hits" on our trail journal site and over 600 messages in our log book. THANK YOU for taking this journey with us. Some have asked if we're going to write a book. We're actually considering doing so from a couple's perspective, something we have not seen available. We'd be interested in learning anything you think should be included or expanded upon.   People have asked about our gear. We cannot applaud enough our smart phone, a Treo 700, with service from Verizon. It has been our phone, camera, and Internet connection for the entire trip. It also has the Microsoft office suite so we have recorded our expenses on Excel (now included under "stats" in our journal) and kept notes on Word. Our gear list, as included on our journal site is complete. The only change we made was a switch to canvass boots in May, and we chose not to go back to leather. We also never switched to lightweight sleeping bags; on the few nights that were really warm, we slept in our liners. Other gear questions? Please ask. Finally, if you've been following our trek and haven't ever signed the guest log, please do. We would love to hear from you.THANK YOU, again, for being part of this adventure in our lives. Now we're off to soak our feet in ocean waters and heal our bodies in the Bermuda sun!