morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-06-08
From: Carlos Col shelter 

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: clear sky

In boxing when a boxer is in trouble or out on his feet, the referee will often step in and give the boxer a standing eight count. It gives the boxer a chance to regain his senses and continue the fight. The last few days have been a long standing eight count for me. In three days we have moved a grand total of 4 miles up the trail. We have been holed up in the Full Goose shelter for 3 days. I have been sick.It all started harmlessly enough. We had a good first day out of Gorham. We spent the night at Carlo Col shelter. It poured that night with high winds. We camped on the tent platform and some of our gear got wet. We slept in and got a later than usual start for us.We only had to climb about 700 feet to hit the high point at Goose Eye Mt but it was a nasty hike. The planks through the bog were under water and we were almost lifted off the peak by 70 mph winds. I have never experienced wind like that.We reached the shelter and decided to dry out our gear. As we were packing up I started to question whether I could get through the. Mahoosuc Notch and Arm. I felt weak. We decided to spend the night at the shelter and head out the next morning. It was all downhill from there. I am not going to go into all the details but I tried on successive mornings to hike out and just couldn't go. RR saved my bacon. I thought that I was a goner. I got a bit hypothermic on top of the original problem whatever that was.Well bottom line is tomorrow is make or break day. We are out of food except for a Snickers and a couple slices of salami. We had intended to resupply in Andover or Rangely but now we are just hoping to make it down and into a town: maybe Bethel. If I am not any better I will check in with a medical clinic. It looks like I got an infected foot on top of the above. All the miles that we had squirreled away are gone. We are on the clock now. Our hike is in jeopardy, we will see what the morning brings. Hoping for the best.Will
Date: 2016-06-12
From: Bethel Maine

To: Bethel Maine
Miles today: 0.0

The good news is that I am a little better and I was able to hike out on my own. The bad news is that Annie is not feeling well and her knee is still bothering her.We are mulling over our options today. Basically we narrowed it down to three: 1) quit and go home 2) take some rest days and hike at a leisurely pace and see how far we can get 3) try to reach Mt Katahdin.We have eliminated number 2. We will see how we feel tomorrow and then make a decision. We are now down to the point where time is becoming a major factor.Will
Date: 2016-06-13
From: Grafton Notch

To: Frye Notch
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up this morning and I was feeling well enough to give it a try. We needed to resupply and get some breakfast before we headed out. We asked Kevin, the owners boyfriend about restaurants.   He said there were a couple in town. But when we asked which he would recommend, he said neither. He talked it over with Ruth and the next thing we knew he was handing us his car keys and telling us to drive down the road to a very good restaurant called tht Hub. Let someone you don't really know drive off with your car just to be nice and help them out? Not going to happen every day. Wow, we were blown away. And very grateful. The meal was fantastic too. We got the groceries that we needed and then walked the several blocks to the highway.I'm thinking that this was one of the toughest hitches we had on this trail. We stood there for about a half an hour watching the cars go by. There was plenty of traffic but no one would stop and pick us up. Finally, two college age girls pulled over and offered us a ride. As it happened, they were on their way to Grafton Notch for a day hike. They had never met thru hikers before and we're happy to meet us. We were super glad that they were willing to give us a lift. And grateful. We talked hiker talk all the way out to the trail . They expressed interest in hiking out west in the Phoenix area and we invited them to stay with us if they did.It was mid afternoon by the time we hit the trail. Uphill right away of course. As we were taking our first break, we ran into Chef, he had hiked the AT a couple of years ago and was out for a day hike with his dog Victor. We told him the story about going to the Hub Restaurant and low and behold he works there! Small world right?We got to the top of the Bald Pate Mountain and suddenly it started to rain with very strong gusts of wind. Not really where you want to be in those conditions.   The tread on my shoes was just about worn off after 560 miles or so. It was very scary going down that wet, slick, steep rock face with no ability to grip the rock let me tell you.   But we did get down it.We hiked on until we got to the Frye Notch Lean to. No one else was there. We settled in and it started raining hard again. Well, at least we are dry in here. Guess I'll turn in. Catch you later! Road Runner
Date: 2016-06-14
From: Frye Notch

To: Bemis Mt Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: broken clouds

We left the shelter in the early morning fog and mist and after a brief steep climb we had an easy descent down to B Hill road. Yesterday we got caught in a squall on our descent down from Baldpate wet peak. RR was having a great deal of difficulty on the wet slickrock. It was obvious that her footwear was inadequate for the terrain and conditions. Our first order of business was to get to Andover over to see if we could get a ride to an outfitter in Rangeley. We went to Pine Ellis hostel in Andover but the shuttle would be over 50 miles and not doable at this time. So we would have to continue on trail to Rangeley. We had a good weather forecast in our favor so hopefully that meant drier trails and better traction.We got a shuttle back to the trail and enjoyed a cool afternoon of hiking under blue skies. We climbed up over Blue Mt and then had undulating terrain to the. Bemis Mt shelter. We had the shelter all to ourselves so we called it a day.We arrived at the shelter under blue skies but within an hour we were in a torrential downpour. It lasted for quite awhile. It looks like the mountains make their own weather in this neck of the woods and don't care about the forecast.Nice to be warm and dry. On to Rangeley tomorrow, hopefully for a new pair of shoes.Will
Date: 2016-06-15
From: Bemis Mt Shelter

To: Maine Hwy 4 Rangeley
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We have a couple packages coming in to the post office in Rangeley. The post office closes at 4:15pm and we have 19 miles of rugged terrain to go so we agreedto get up at 4am and try to get on trail on or before 5am. We made it by 4:45am.We also need to try and get me some new hiking shoes before I break my neck on some steep, slippery downhill rockface. I injured my knee by falling on it with all my weight on a boulder a couple of weeks ago you may remember. But we had a bit of a road walk around Andover and this has really made my knee angry.   Along with the maximum doses daily of Ibuprofen that I was already taking, I've had to resort to a daily hefty strength pain killer which we carry for emergencies.   Not a really bright thing to do I know, as it can cause you to injure your knee worse with the pain masked. The uphill is not too bad, it's the downhill on rock that I have to jump down and put my weight on the joint that's killer. But, I'm limping constantly and I can feel Wills upset growing. He has told me several times that if everything that happened to me had happened to him, he would have quit the trail long ago. Yeah, right.So we pushed really hard all day. We passed a pretty lake that had the Sabbath Day Lean-to right near it. I could picture us stopping and swimming there on a hot day, but not today, we had to push on. We met a day hiker on our break.   He had section hiked the trail in 1984 and 1985. We chatted with him a while and he offered us a ride into Rangeley if we came off trail at the same time. (That didn't happen because he fell way behind us). I thought the terrain today was a bit gentler. Will didn't think we could make it by the post office closing deadline, since we had a hitch thrown in too, but it was my day to lead and I was determined.   We made it to the trailhead parking area by 3:30pm and hit the road to hitch hike. Not a lot of traffic going our way, hmmmmm. But the 2nd or 3rd car that came along stopped and picked us up! A very nice gentleman on a work vacation training time. He got us into Rangeley by 4pm! He dropped us off at the post office. Talk about service.That was the good news, the bad news was that our packages weren't there. Oh well. I went to the outfitters and was able to be fitted for some shoes which Will bought for me as a belated birthday present. Then we called Stacey at the Farmhouse. She picked us up and we got a private room there. Once we were cleaned up she took us and two other hikers back into town so we could get some supper. Then picked us up at the time appointed. We really enjoyed our stay there and definitely recommend it for anyone hiking by there.That pretty much does it for me. I am exhausted. So I think I'll turn in. Catch you later! Road Runner
Date: 2016-06-16
From: Maine 4 Rangeley

To: N of Overton Creek
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: moderate rain

We had a nice stay at the Farmhouse and a good dinner at Sarge's. After resupplying at the local IGA we got a ride from Stacy back to the trail. The woods were cool and there was a nice breeze. We had a gentle climb to Eddy pond and then the trail steepened on the way up to Saddleback Mt. The mountain had a broad round peak from which we had nice panoramic views. The wind was gusting and it got chilly fast. We had an easy descent and then another climb up to the Horn. The descent was very steep and although RR's new shoes were a big help, it was still slow going given the condition of her knee. I would say that she was only able to move half speed on the downhill because of the pain. But she is tough and hanging in there. She gets an A for effort.We climbed Saddleback Junior. Then we descended down to Oberton stream, crossed the stream and set up camp. Today was one of our better days of hiking. Great views. Big climbs. A sense of the surrounding Maine Wilderness. Miles and miles of untrammeled forests. More sunshine tomorrow as we head to Stratton Will
Date: 2016-06-17
From: N of Oberton Creek

To: Hwy 27 Stratton Maine
Miles today: 18.0

This morning was climbing time. We left our campsite near the creek. It got chilly last night and the chill continued into the early morning.   We warmed up fast and were shedding layers fast as we started our climbs. We climbed about 1600 feet to Lonesome Mt but there were no views as the peak was covered in with trees.Up up and higher we climbed reaching Spaulding Mt. We traversed toward Sugarloaf and came upon a plaque commemorating the formal completion of the AT. We had a steep descent to the Carravasett river. We crossed the river and met a family with a 14 month old camping on the north side. We began a long climb to South Crocker Mt, dipped down and then climbed North Crocker. We had a 5 mile gradual descent down to Maine 27. Today we ran into about 10 SoBo thruhikers. On our way down to the road we passed the 2000 mile marker. It was noted by a sign made out of branches laid out immaculately on the ground.   We both were kind of taken by surprise and we took a moment to reflect on hiking 2000 long hard miles.We reached the road, stuck out our thumb and a nice lady and her pet boxer drove us to the Stratton motel. We had 3 packages waiting for us including a new phone, ground sheet and two pair of Injinji socks. My feet will be especially thankful.We picked up a pizza and talked with the southbounders. One more big climb and then the trail gets more moderate. We are under 200 miles to go. Now it is starting to sink in. Everyone has been telling us lately, 'you are almost there'. Almost there. Sounds good. Will
Date: 2016-06-18
From: Hwy 27 Stratton Maine

To: The End
Miles today: 0.0

There comes a point when even the Uber hard headed and determined hiker with a high tolerance for pain must throw in the towel. The realization that I could not continue hiking through the pain as well as risk permanent damage to my knee came last night after I hobbled to our room. I decided to 'sleep on it '. However that was a misnomer because I couldn't sleep at all last night.When Will woke up I had to break the news. You can imagine I was weeping as I did so. To be within 190 miles of finishing and then to have to abruptly end your hike is agonizing.   We tried to think of ways that he could continue and finish. We were out of spare days. The chipmunks cheeks were empty so we couldn't just lay low and see if the knee would get better. If he went forward and I couldn't hike, that left me hanging out at Shaws for somewhere for like 9 days which he was not willing to do.He was a bit shell shocked by my announcement, and then a bit down. But he rallied and took care of getting our flights home and researching getting us to the airport.   I went to the office to let Kira know we wouldn't need a shuttle to the trail after all and to see if she had any ideas for getting to Portland to the airport. There were no buses and it was about 2.5 hrs by car. It looked to be a long day of hitch hiking if she didn't have any ideas. But it turned out she did. She was actually on her way to Portland to pick up a friend. She called it serendipity and offered us a ride.One small bright spot in an otherwise abysmal day. We made it into Portland and to the Days Inn near the airport where we had booked a room. We have an early flight out tomorrow.   A huge thank you again to Kira for helping us when we were down and out, we gave her some gas money but that doesn't begin to cover how much she helped us out.And so, to quote part of a Doors song 'This is the End my Friend '. It's funny, even though it's our hike and we are the ones that expended all the energy, time and money to do it, I still feel like I have let the readers of our journal down. I could feel you pulling for us to finish this trail at Mt. Katahdin but I just couldn't do it right now. Even though by all accounts we were ready to begin the easier section.   Ah well, I guess I'll just have to settle for the 2,000 miles that we did hike and be grateful for that, eh?Thanks for reading our journal and to those of you who did, for signing our guest book with such encouraging words. May you walk through this world in peace. Road Runner
Date: 2016-07-20
From: Arizona Desert

To: Arizona Desert
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

"It ain't over till it's over".                                Yogi BerraI lost count of how many times we fell on this trail. But I would be safe in saying that we have fallen more times on this trail than all of our previous hikes combined. Most of the falls are minor. You trip or slip and before you know it, you are down on the ground. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, laugh it off and continue on your way.But every once in awhile you don't bounce up and laugh it off. I was reading about Moonbeam in Two Peas journal. She sustained a hike ending fractured femur in a fall. And quite honestly I thought 'that could have been us'. You're hiking to Katahdin and in a flash your thruhike is over.RR smashed her face on a rock in a full on face plant early on in our hike. That was by far the worst and scariest of the falls. After that it was a plethora of garden variety falls that got our attention. We got a lot of practice learning to fall. In that millisecond when you realize that you have reached the point of no return and you are going down, it is best if you can do a midair pirouette and land on your backpack or side. Of course this isn't always possible especially on downhills when you stumble forward and your pack and gravity smash you to the ground. It was a relatively 'benign' fall on June 2nd that put an end to our hike.RR fell with her full force on her knee. She tried to hike on it for two weeks. However the pain intensified in spite of Ibuprofen, strong analgesics and some rest when I was sick. Our hike ended in Stratton Maine about 190 miles from Katahdin.We were disappointed. We headed back home to Arizona. Believe me, the desert is the last place you want to be in the summer. It is an inferno. Temps have peaked at 118 degrees and for the most part our daily highs are 110-115. So we sat in our air conditioned home kind of moping around the first two weeks with a major case of thruhike trail withdrawal.Eventually RR went back to work. She got her knee checked out; xrays were negative for a fracture. Good news. She was still hobbling around but suddenly the knee got better. We talked it over and decided right from the start that we would like to finish the trail, the sooner the better. Maine is a long way from our home. If we let those last 190 miles dangle for a few hiking seasons, it would be less likely for us to head back to the AT.So with that in mind we took Yogi Berra's quip to heart and decided 'it ain't over'.We are heading back to the AT. We have our plane tickets. We fly into Portland on 8/9. We will rent a car and drive to Pinkham Notch. We will hike the 21 miles from Pinkham Notch to US2/Gorham. This will allow RR to pick up the miles that she missed when I fastpacked. From there we will drive to Farmington Maine and drop off our rental car. Then we will hitch the 40 miles back to the AT and head north to Monson.Neither of us has done any hiking since getting off trail, so we are planning a leisurely pace. If all goes well we'll see you back on trail in August. On to Katahdin!Will
Date: 2016-08-13
From: Hwy 27 Stratton Maine

To: Little Bigelow Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

We left Gorham and drove to Farmington Maine where we dropped off the rental car. From there we had about a 40 mile hitch back to the trail. The forecast called for heavy rains. Just as we were about to leave the Enterprise car rental the deluge began. We had a torrential downpour unlike any since we began this hike. We waited out the first wave and then got a ride about 8 miles up the road.The next wave hit while we were hitching.   We got drenched but after about 45 minutes one of the locals who was familiar with the trail picked us up and gave us a ride to the trailhead. He had hiked the Bigelows and said that it was a beautiful area. Unfortunately with the cloud cover and rain we would not have any views.We allowed 4 full days of hiking to reach Monson. We are terribly out of shape. Our packs are heavy and the water from the rain only added to the weight. With a late start, the continuing rain and the steep climb in addition to sucking wind big time, we stopped at the Little Bigelow shelter and grabbed a tent site, made dinner and settled in for the nightIt rained all night and our little camp site turned into a lake. We broke camp in the rain. The tent and ground sheet were laden with water and we never got a chance to dry out as it rained all day. We struggled with the terrain. The descents were slick and treacherous.   We continued our penchant for slipping and sliding as we each had a couple of falls. No major damage. Our high points were Bigelow west and Mt Avery each at a little over 4000 feet. When we reached the West Carry Pond shelter early afternoon, we both had decided that we had had enough. We ducked into the shelter but it was full. So we set up our tent on a platform and changed in to some relatively dry clothes, had dinner and got warmed up. Today was one our most miserable days on the trail. Sometimes it feels like the trail is testing one's resolve. Today was one of those days where we had to pay our dues. It can only get better from here on in, eventually. Tomorrow is a new day.Will
Date: 2016-08-14
From: Little Bigelow Shelter

To: Harrison Cabins at Pierce Pond
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

All the literature and guide books, as well as our fellow thruhikers, have been talking about how much easier the terrain will become on this section of the trail. I have been cautiously optimistic about these declarations. After all, in my book it's all relative. To one hiker certain terrain may be easy, while to another that same terrain may be very hard.Case in point. We were sitting at break a couple days ago and bumped into a hiker named Grandma. He is in his twenties and got busted knitting a hat for himself early on in his hike. We started chit chatting and he said 'it's supposed to get easier soon. The trail should level out. Let's see what mile are we at? Yeah, we have one mile left of the hard stuff and then it will all be easier. ' To which I replied what I have already told you. Easy is relative and he might not want to bank on that because it could mess with his head if it proved to be untrue. Bingo! You already know from Wills journal entry that between the combination of terrain and torrential downpour, it was anything BUT easy. I chose the title 'What a difference a Day Makes' for today because that about sums it up. When we left the shelter and started our hike we felt like we had been transported to another Trail via an alien space ship during the night or something.   Gone was the steep, boulder filled trail with nowhere to safely step. And in its place was a much smoother, leveler trail that was a relative pleasure to hike. Oh, don't get me wrong, there were still some smaller rocks and plenty roots of evil, but comparatively speaking, a veritable race track of trail lay before us.Not only that, but the woods had thinned out and we passed several large, very beautiful lakes along the way.   We met some hikers both at our rest stop at a shelter and on the trail. They seemed like very nice people all. We had been thinking about whether we would camp or get a cabin at the Harrison Lodge. Our gear is pretty wet still and it would be nice to get it dried out.   So we decided to check out the lodge. We had heard it was pretty rustic and it was. But, it had hot water for showers, a cabin on a beautiful river and a 12 pancake breakfast with eggs and sausage thrown in. Take a wild guess which we chose to go for. The lodge you say? Winner winner chicken dinner! Yep, we are staying at the lodge. And we feel like we made the right choice.So, we're clean, we've cooked our dinner and eaten, and we're in our cabin listening to the melodic sound of the river as it passes by our front porch. I guess I'll turn in now. Catch you later!Road Runner
Date: 2016-08-15
From: Pierce Pond

To: Bald Mountain Brook
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: light rain

We had a great stay at the Harrison Cabins at Pierce Pond We got most of our gear dried out. The tent and ground sheet are back to their normal light weight. Tim provides great hospitality. We met Tom and Dave two section hikers who are finishing the trail, Monson this year, Katahdin next.We got a great start to the day with sausage, eggs and a 12 pancake breakfast. We had downhill cruising to the Kennebec river where we picked up a ferry across in an aluminum canoe. Then we had a gradual 2000 foot climb to the top of Pleasant Pond Mt. We had blue skies and cooler temps with a nice breeze. All in all it was a much more enjoyable hiking day. We have been in a mini bubble of thruhikers. We have met Junco from Arizona, Blazer from Germany, Reader Man and the Conductor from Michigan. I get the sense that after 2000 miles and change that everyone is ready to be done. We are still meeting a lot of southbounders. They keep telling us 'you're almost there'. It seems like we have been hearing 'almost there' for the last 300 miles. When we get under 100 miles to go then it will start to feel like we are 'almost there'.We passed some nice lakes today or ponds as they are called in Maine. But for the most part it was another walk in the woodsWill