morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-08-01
From: Falls River, CT

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: clear sky

Salisbury CT Vanessa's house.10.1 milesTwo town stops in a row, decadence! Todays hike was a quick one, as we effectively slack packed it. The guy Mike from the B+B took most of our gear up to Vanessa's house, so we had light packs. This was good, as we learned a severe T-Storm was heading our way and expected to hit about noon. The first leg of the hike was along the Housatonic falls, then a long climb up to Prospect Mt. The "Giants Thumb", a strange geological formation, was one of the more interesting sights today. All in all, we made excellent time today, arriving in town about noon, along with the promised storm. The worst of it occurred while we were having lunch at a fancy lunch place. Ravon and I had Rubens, which were nothing to write home about. They were okay, but pretty skimpy. This place is not used to feeding hungry hikers. Lots of Wi-Fi networks here, but all are locked, so no free and easy internet access again. Vanessa's house is kind of neat, right off of ¢downtown¢ if thats what you can call the small number of business clustered in the center of town. For $35.00 I had a nice room with an old, but reasonably comfortable bed. No shower, as Vanessa's hot water heater had gone bad and wasn't fixed yet. We could have gone to her sisters house for a shower, but since we had one the night before and had an easy day today, we opted not to. For dinner, we ended up making sandwiches from the supermarket deli. Ravon and I were going to go to the ¢White Hart Inn¢ for dinner, but they couldn't give us a reservation until 8:30 and that was too late. Turns out it would have cost us a good $50.00 each for a meal anyway, so good thing we didn't go. (A room here would have cost us $145.00 and that is the discount hiker rate!) This is an upscale town. Even the IGA supermarket stocks mostly high end food. The generic IGA brand stuff is all on the bottom shelf where no one can see it. Doing resupply here is not cheap.
Date: 2008-08-02
From: Salisbury, CT

To: The Hemlocks Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: overcast clouds

The Hemlocks shelter 14.1 milesCrossed into Massachusetts today ! This section of trail between CT and MASS is the most interesting area so far on this section hike. A long, slow climb takes us to the top of Bear Mt, the highest point in Connecticut. A large pile rocks provides a view all around. Then a steep rocky decent into Sage ravine, where we crossed into Mass. The ravine is a very interesting place, with a cascading stream, rocks, moss and the like. After the ravine, the trail slowly climbs back up to Race Mt, with a walk along exposed ledges with great views. Finally, another decent followed by a stiff climb to the top of Mt Everett. Even though this mountain is somewhat higher than Race, it only has limited views. One final decent down to the shelter, which is a nice modern design of recent construction. We also passed a tree which claimed to be the 1500 mile point on the trail. Maybe, give or take a few miles, as the distance is always changing. Although it sprinkled on us a few times, the weather was nice, mostly sunny and reasonably cool. Were finally starting to get some decent hiking weather.
Date: 2008-08-03
From: The Hemlocks Shelter

To: Tom Lenord Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Tom Leonard shelter 14.3 milesThe day started with a couple of miles of ridge walk, then steeply down "The Jug End", which terminates this section ridge. Then a fairly level hike through farm fields and pine bog. At US7, we stopped at a place called the "Corn Crib" about 0.1 miles from the trail crossing. Primarily a fruit and flower place, they stock hiker snacks such a sodas, candy and ice cream, all of which we indulged in. By this time, it was almost noon and starting to warm up and get a little humid. A couple of more miles of flat trail, then a final 5.1 miles to the shelter. First we had to gain back about 1000 feet to leave the valley, but was rewarded with a nice view from some ledges. Although there was plenty of blue sky, there was also a lot of thick clouds which on occasion sprinkled some rain on us as we were doing the final steep climb. I am tenting out for a more comfortable and bug free night. Lucky, I didn't set up until after a brief shower stopped. Peregrine is set up on a nice tent platform with a great view. There is a spring next to the shelter, but the water is very brown Tannic. We went down to a better spring, but it turned out to be at least 0.2 miles straight down hill, shades of PA. Not sure if it was worth the walk or not. Trout bum, Just Mike and a SOBO(who said he just did 40 miles from Dalton, what is with these south bounders anyway? This is the second one we meet who did a big mile day) are also here to night. A big crowed compared to our usual three sum of late.
Date: 2008-08-04
From: Tom Lenord Shelter

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: light rain

Shaker campsite 11.3 milesSome light rain for a few hours after dark last night. Just enough to get the tent wet, but not enough to seep inside. Morning was bright and clear, even a little chilly. Mixed trail today, with some rock scrambles, couple of nice ponds and woods walks. I was thinking of making it a shor day of just 7.1 miles, but got to Mt. Wilcox north shelter about 12:30. It was such a nice day and still early, I decided I really should stay with the girls and also head down to the Shaker campsite. It turned out to be a real easy section of trail, level, tending down hill. Couple more south bounders passed by on this stretch. We got here about 3:30, an early day for a change. Had the place to ourselves until near sunset, when first on couple showed up, then two guys who's gear pegs them as weekend types. Tomorrow is Goose pond and my last night on the trail. Going home via Lee.
Date: 2008-08-05
From: Shaker Campsite

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Upper Goose pond cabin10.5 milesSteady rain started up about dawn. Heavy and steady enough to make the tent start to leak. Was warm enough to pack the sleeping bag before it started to get wet, but stayed in the tent until the rain slacked off before getting out. So, we got a bit of a late start, about 7:30. The sun came out for a minute, but we had some on and off light drizzle most of the morning. The trail crossed several open farm fields and crossed some swampy areas. The trail was brushed well enough we didn't get too wet from the brush, but the boots got pretty damp with the wet trail.Peregrine and I stuck pretty much together today and had a good long talk along the way. When we got to the turn off to the shelter, we had to say good-by to each other. Peregrine had to go on due to having a mail drop at RT20 and I wanted to spend my last night at the cabin. Ravon and I went to the cabin and eventually there was a good crowd there. Johny Thunder showed up, who I hadn't seen for quite a long time. Also Zen, but no Key Chain, who was delayed waiting for a package.
Date: 2008-09-10
From: Gorham, NH

To: Carlo col
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: few clouds

Carlo Col shelter First day back on the trail since Mass, some 4 weeks ago. Peregrine made it up to Gorham and is letting me tag along for a while along the trail in Maine.Rain yesterday delayed our departure, so we got on today. Took the short cut up to Gentian pond shelter and started north. The weather today was clear but brisk. A modest wind made it decidedly chilly in exposed areas. The trail in a word was "difficult". One mile an hour was about all we could manage most of the day. We had hoped to make Full Goose shelter, but we arrived at the side trail to here (Carlo Col) about 4 pm. Although it is only another 4 miles to the next shelter, the trail was unlikely to be any easier than it had been so far. It was also unlikely we'd make it before dark, so we are staying here and hope to do 9 miles tomorrow, all the way to Speck pond, the other side of Mahoosuc notch, the hardest mile on the AT.
Date: 2008-09-11
From: Carlo col

To: Mahoosuc notch
Miles today: 7.0

Stealth camp, east end of Mahoosuc notch.Day two for me and another hard day. First the climb up to Goose eye, which had a series of difficult obstacles to traverse. A couple of not so easy bumbs on the ridge to go over, then finally a crazy decent to the shelter. Ran into Johny thunder again on the trail, along with a number of other thru-hikers. After lunch at the shelter, we did one more climb, then the decent into Moousic notch. A mile long, but filled with a jumble of large bolders which were not easy to get past. We climb over, around and under these things for 3 hours! Peregine, with her short legs and heavy pack had a real hard time of it. Wasn't easy for me either! By the time we got past the notch, it was already 5 pm. We found the first (and only) spot to camp and called it a day. We were both beat and no way could climb the 1500 feet up the arm and make it another 2 mile to Speck pond shelter. So, here we are, next to a little babbling brook which comes out of the notch. With any luck, we will make it to Grafton notch tomorrow, were we have arranged for a ride to the hostle in Andover, and we slack pack for a few days.
Date: 2008-09-12
From: Mahoosuc notch

To: Grafton notch
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Andover, MEUp around dawn, then the long slow climb up the arm to Speck pond. Clouds were slowly moving in, so views were limited once we got up to the ridge line. A slip off a broken bog bridge lead to me putting my right foot ankle deep in the muck. Not too much leaked into the boot, but enough to make it a little sloppy. Thankfully, my thick soaks stay warm when damp. A quick stop at Speck pond shelter, then up to Old Speck proper. At this point, we were trying to get up and over Old Speck before the rain started, as there are some nasty exposed ledges to climb up, which would be really trecherous when wet. Thankfully , we made it. On the way up, we meet some hikers, Pie, The Preacher and Me. I had meet Pie and the Preacher down in NC in the spring, and they are also from Berlin, NH.Light on and off rain on the way down to Grafton notch. We took our time and got there about 4 pm, 1/2 hour before our shuttle to the Pine Ellies B+B in Andover.
Date: 2008-09-13
From: Andover, ME

To: slack pack
Miles today: 10.1

Today was our first slack pack out of Andover. Peregrine and I did South Arm Rd back to East B rd. This was a climb up and over Moody Mtn, then down to a stream, then back up to the top of Wyman Mnt and back down to the East B road. The most interesting and difficult part of the hike was a bushwack around a section of trail on the south side of Moody Mnt which was wiped out by a land slide. It was only about 200 feet long, but muddy, slippery and steep. We also encountered our first iron bars placed in the rocks for foot and hand holds on this section of trail. We would later find these in other places in the next few days here and there. Maine is full of wooden and metal ladders to help get past some tricky parts of the trail. Although helpfull, they can also be very difficult to navigate.
Date: 2008-09-14
From: slack pack

To: slack pack
Miles today: 13.0

Today we did our second slack pack out of Andover between South Arm Road and ME17. First we had a long climb up to the top of Old Blue, which turned out to be a not so difficult climb. A fine day with fine views. Lots of valley fog, making the surounding peaks look like islands in a sea of clouds. Very nice. After decending Old Blue we crossed the ridge line to the Bemis range, which is a series of peaks. We were often above timber line on this section of trail with fine views. A little fall color is starting to show up on the side of the hills in the valleys. I just love above timberline walks. It makes for a lovely walk when the weather is good (which it was, picture perfict) but can be really nasty if the weather is bad, which thankfully it wasn't!
Date: 2008-09-15
From: slack pack

To: slack pack
Miles today: 13.1

Today was our third slack pack out of Andover. The weather changed overnight and today is wet with light drizzle. Therefore, Peregrine planned a hike which would keep us off the mountian tops along a reasonably level section of trail, which was basically a walk in the woods. However, it turned out to be a very muddy walk in the woods. This section from ME17 to ME4 goes past several ponds and had many, many swampy areas,mud holes and miles of log bog bridges which in theory help keep you out of the mud. About mid way into the hike, I slipped off the end of a log trying to jump to another log while crossing a particularly large mud hole. I did a quick three step, each time getting farther out of balance and then found myself laying flat out in the mud! I managed to land on my side and keep my head out of the muck, but got pretty much slimmed up and down my left side. Thankfully, there was a small, clear running stream not too far further up the trail which I used to wash the bulk of the mud of me and my hands. The drizzle tappered off for a few hours around the noon time hours which it will often do. This helped a little, but since the trail was so wet, so were we by the end of it. This is prime moose country and we saw pleantly of sign like moose poop and hoof prints in the trail, but we didn't actually stumble upond any.
Date: 2008-09-16
From: Andover, ME

To: Slack pack
Miles today: 0.0

Pine Ellies hostel day 3Today was a zero, as rain was forcast all day. As it turned out, it didn't rain, but was very windy, so just as well we didn't go anywhere. Both Perergine and myself were pretty beat up from the trail so far in Maine, and really needed a day of rest. So, we basically laid around and watched movies on the cable TV here all day and ate. The house computer's monitor had a very out of focus screen and since I had time to kill, took the monitor apart and adjusted the internal controls to correct the problem. All went well and it is much better now, but on its last legs. It can be handy to know how to do this kind of thing from time to time.
Date: 2008-09-17
From: Andover , ME

To: slack pack
Miles today: 10.3

Pine Ellies hostel ,Today was a fine day. The front moved through and we had a nice cool fall day. Today we went back to Grafton Notch and went over the Baldplates, completing this section of trail. The sky still had a lot of clouds, but we had some fine views from the top of the east and west peaks. There are large areas of exposed ledges on Baldplate, hence the name. These we had to go over. It is a very pretty alpine area and fall colors are finally showing up in the trees in the valleys. The trail was much dryer today, though there are still some muddy areas. These never really go away. There were also a number of freash downed trees across the trail. I was able to clear a way past at least one of these, others were a minor obstacle to get around. Could of used a saw today! Oh well. I've been hiking in my old Limmer boots. These wiegh about 2 pounds each and are like having lead wieghts on my feet. The reason for wearing them is they make my feet bullet proof and stick to wet rock very well. They do make lifting my feet hard after awhile and are hard on the knees. The knee braces do seem to help, but are not the most comfortable things to have on the legs all day! Tomorrow we go and do Old Blue and Bemis mountain. Dave, the shuttle driver will meet us with the rest of our gear and take us go a hostel near Rangely to continue this somewhat expensive slack pack through Maine. Just paid the bill for 5 days here at Andover and all the rides. It was not cheap, but does sort of beat lugging full packs over these hills and camping in the cold, wet woods every night!
Date: 2008-09-18
From: slack pack

To: Slack Pack
Miles today: 14.4

Today was our first slack pack out of Rangeley, ME to do the Saddleback range. Bob, the propritor of the Gull Pond lodge, drive us up a logging road, which used to be a narrow gage railroad bed. He couldn't drive all the way up to the end of the road, so we had about a mile walk to get to where the trail crossed. Both Peregrine and I were really sluggish this morning. It took us almost 3 hours to climb up and over Poplar ridge and down to the shelter, about 3.5 miles. It didn't take us long to realise this was going to be a really long and hard day. Maine was beating us up and we were getting tired. Saddleback is tree peaks, each a significant climb and decent between them First Little Saddleback, then the Horn, then Saddleback proper. The trail between the horn and Saddleback peak is all above timberline and a little over 1.5 miles in length. It was windy and cold up there, but the views were stunning. Apparently, 1/6th AT can be seen from the top of Saddleback, along with Mt Washington and Mt Katahdin. It was clear enough I'm sure we saw all this, but was impossable to know exactly what we were looking at. We arranged to be picked up on ME4 at 6:30 pm, but it became apparent that we would have a hard time making this deadline. At 6 pm we were still about 1.5 miles from the road and started to literally run down the trail to try and make it in time. Amazingly, we made it by 6:35. Thankfully, this last part of the trail was pretty easy, no climbs to speak of and gradually down hill. But we were exausted at the end. Somewhere durring the day I decided this would be my last day in Maine. I would have to leave Peregrine to her own devices to finish up her through hike. The rugged trail and my heavy Limmer boots were taking a serious toll on my knees and legs. I decided it would be better to stop now while I could still walk, rather than push on another few days over some more rugged parts of the trail. It was a good hike through some of the hardest parts of Maine and the AT the last week or so. Don't think I would have made it were it not for slack packing most of it.
Date: 2008-09-19
From: Rangeley, ME

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I found out this moring Bob was willing to drive me all the way home from Rangeley back to Gorham, NH. An expensive ride, but worth every penny not to have to try and hitch hike it. So ends this years AT hiking season. Its getting cold out and before long the snow will be flying. It was a good year, covering the south, middle and northen parts of the trail, almost 50% of the AT. I meet a lot of great people, had a great time and saw some interesting places. Thats what its all about. Will be doing more of it next year, thats for sure!
Date: 2008-06-08
To: It might actually happen...
Miles today: 0.0

Well, after dreaming about doing this for many years, I think I might have found the chance to attempt a thru-hike. After leaving my job today, I think Law School is the next place for me to go. Since that won't be until the Fall of 2009, I have the opportunity to hike the Appalachian Trail this summer & fall. I think I should be starting around July 1, depending on how long it takes me to move out of Athens and get my things together. I'm starting to get excited about this as it looks like it might actually happen this time...more entries to come, I'm sure...
Date: 2008-06-12
To: Planning & Preparing
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I've pretty much got everything planned and prepared for the hike, at least in theory. I still have to get in touch with Baxter SP to see about a campsite for the 2nd (tomorrow's #1 priority). The goal is to have all of my gear ordered or in my hand by Saturday night. I know what I want, I just have to see what shows up at REI's Scratch & Dent sale Saturday morning. I've added in some of my gear and most of the mail drops (Mt. Washington is likely to change) to the website and should make another entry some time later this weekend. Tomorrow is my last day at Sugarloaf, and that will leave me 17 days to get everything packed and out of the house...shouldn't be a problem. On an unrelated note, it looks like UGA will be my front-runner for law school...you can't beat the price...
Date: 2008-06-15
To: More Preparation
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I've spent the last two days finalizing gear and what-not. Every bit of gear is either in my hands or on the way. I was pleasantly surprised with how much equipment I already had. I also went to Walmart to buy all of my dry goods for the mail drops. My mom and I organized it on the table in the dining room, and it is quite a sight...I think I set a Personal Best with 102 items bought in Walmart on one receipt. Next thing to do is Wednesday when I will reserve my campsite in Baxter State Park and make my arrangements to get up to Maine (by bus) and to the trail on the 30th, 1st, and 2nd. I am becoming more and more excited by day...I'll be moved out of Athens in less than two weeks now...
Date: 2008-06-18
To: Getting Closer...This is actually going to happen!
Miles today: 0.0

Well, it's officially official. I have my bus ticket to Medway, Maine, my reservations booked at the AT Lodge in Millinocket, and my campsite reserved at the Katahdin Stream Campground. Officially, I'm going...in 12 days. I've got nearly 100% of my stuff together and am finishing the last pieces everyday. I'm starting to pack up the house and my things to be out of Athens on Saturday the 28th...The excitement is overwhelming!
Date: 2008-06-26
To: Getting Closer...
Miles today: 0.0

Well, two more days in Athens now and then the weekend at home before leaving on Monday to travel to Maine. It's getting to be very hectic trying to move out of the house in Athens, get to my parents place in Canton, and making sure that I'm taking care of the next 5 months of business before I leave. It's funny how stressed out I am now with these things, and how much I won't have to worry about any of them a week from now. I did a little two hour hike yesterday in the Botanical Gardens...for any Athenians reading this, if you haven't been out there and you like running/hiking/etc, you should go out there. They have about 7 miles of trails that run the gamut from flat near the river to hilly on the other side of the river...2 days from leaving Athens, 4 days from leaving GA, 6 days from Katahdin...
Date: 2008-06-29
To: Leaving tomorrow...
Miles today: 0.0

Whoa!!!After moving out of Athens yesterday, I am getting on a bus tomorrow and heading to Maine. After arriving Tuesday night, I'll be staying at the AT Lodge Tuesday night before heading up Katahdin on Wednesday ("forecast" for Millinocket - 83 and partly cloudy...we'll see about that one). I can only describe my emotions right now as incredulous. I don't think I ever thought this opportunity would come around. Now that it has, I am in disbelief. That's ok though, because the 36 hour bus ride will fix that. Everything is now packed and ready to go...it's a bit on the heavy side for what I wanted (25lb base), but I'm sure I'll be getting rid of things early on that I don't need. I've done some multi-week trips, so I don't think I'm carrying anything extra, but then again, I've never thru-hiked the AT before (just a few decent sections). Well, it's off to bed for now (an aside: Congrats to Espana today for the soccer victory)...up early to leave tomorrow. My next entry will hopefully be from the other side of the 100 mile wilderness in Monson...Slot Machine