morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-09-16
From: Caribou Pond Rd, Stratton, ME

To: Stratton Brook Pond Rd, Stratton, ME
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: clear sky

We found the trailhead with no problem today and were hiking straight up for 2 miles, then down and up to the second over 4200¢ peak, before we went down for the remaining 7 miles. We hiked 9.2 miles from Caribou Pond Road to Stratton Brook Pond Road, which took .9 miles off tomorrow¢s hike. So we¢re hiking about 16 miles tomorrow.Pretty views of mountains and lakes as usual. The Walking Sticks family ¢ Papa Bear, WWIT and Chilly ¢ passed us on our way up. We passed them on our way down while they had lunch at the peak. We met Skog (means ¢forest¢ in Norwegian) who had flip-flopped at Shenandoah National Park in VA and was hiking south from Katahdin. We saw Trail Freckles (who we had seen the night before in the hostel here at Stratton Motel). She had also flipped to complete her hike. We also saw some day and section hikers.After our hike, we took a hot bath before having lunch at the White Wolf Caf©. It was nice to have vegetable soup since most restaurant soups are not vegetarian. I also had sweet potato waffle fries which are yummy! We then reviewed hiking plans and shuttles with Sue. We¢ll be packing up for our move tomorrow to Pine Grove Lodge in Bingham after our 16 mile hike.So far, we have completed 16 out of 36 scheduled hiking days, with around a total of 176 miles.
Date: 2012-09-17
From: E. Flagstaff Rd, Stratton, ME

To: Stratton Brook Pond Rd, Stratton, ME
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

I was so happy the 16 miles we hiked today from E. Flagstaff Rd to Stratton Brook Pond Road were not as tiring as I expected, although the steep ups were challenging as always. The views on top of Avery Peak and West Peak were amazing. We could see a very large Flagstaff Lake, the mountains we climbed today, those we climbed previously, and those yet to come.We met Hunter and his dog Avery on top of Avery Peak. He brought his dog up there because the name was the same. Because we were hiking north to south, we saw lots of hikers we had seen previously, including Mr. Breeze, Trinket, Journeyman, Dreamwalker, Bojangle, Bob, Golden, Long John, Wild Bill, Ghost Smoke, Hillbilly, Sampson, and others we met for the first time. Near the end of our hike I realized I lost my shirt which was hanging loosely from the pack. When I saw Sampson, I asked if he found it if he could bring it to the Ferryman at Kennebec River crossing for him to give it to me. Then I asked the others after him the same. We were happy to be finished with today¢s hike and stopped for dinner on the way to Bingham, ME. We checked in to our cottage at Pine Grove Lodge. We were disappointed that their hot tub is not working but the beds were very comfortable. While checking weather for the next couple days, we saw that the next day which we were planning to take off wasn¢t going to rain til the afternoon, and the following day when we were going to hike, it was going to rain all day. So I called Sue at Stratton and she agreed to shuttle us a day early. So tomorrow we hike 12 miles and rest the following day.
Date: 2012-09-18
From: E. Flagstaff Rd, Stratton, ME

To: Main Logging Road/Carrying Place Rd
Miles today: 12.1

Up bright and early. Found our way easily to trailhead parking at Main Logging Road (with the help of the AT Parking online guide) where we met Sue to shuttle to E. Flagstaff. Had a relatively easy 12.1 mile hike as it didn¢t have a lot of ups, just a couple small ones not more than 700 feet. We were actually hiking 30 minute miles again today.We enjoyed hiking by Flagstaff Lake, West Carry Pond, and East Carry Pond. The wind was blowing the waves into the rocks and shore. We saw frogs, squirrels, ducks. We passed the Walking Sticks family having a snack and met Lori-lee who had hiked to Damascus, flipped to Katahdin and was hiking south as far as her money held out. We also met Bomb who had hiked to NY and flipped and hiking back to NY from Katahdin with a temporary companion, Jam. We met a man named Dennis section hiking and said his son Squatch was summiting today.We saw wild turkeys crossing the road. They ran into the woods when I drove near them. I stopped to take their picture and they ran back into the road again to pose for me.We were happy to get home to eat a snack before dinner which we made in our cottage after a hot shower. We¢re looking forward to having the day off tomorrow to rest and do laundry.
Date: 2012-09-20
From: Main Logging Road, ME

To: Caratunk, ME Rt. 201
Miles today: 8.2

Lots of Daves up here. A Dave gave us a ride to the trailhead and a Dave ferried us across the Kennebec River. We hiked 8.2 miles from Main Logging Road to 201 Caratunk, very easy hike (no uphills) except for the streams of water in the trail and one actual ford. We took our shoes off and put our water shoes on to walk through a short stream which was not navigable by rock hopping. It was cold but our feet warmed up eventually after changing back into our shoes and socks. We saw waterfalls, Pierce Pond, streams along the way (besides the ones in the trail). We met a couple section hikers and some more thru hikers. Ike the Hiker was a flip-flopper going back to PA from Katahdin. We were hoofing it to make the 11am deadline for the canoe ferry across the Kennebec. We just made it within a few minutes. The ferryman saw us and canoed over to pick us up and while we were waiting, lo, and behold, Sampson appeared with my shirt. He had been running to make sure he and his friends got the ferry so they could keep progressing in mileage today. What was equally surprising was that Sampson had lost his shirt while chasing his fallen pole in a stream and was just wearing a vest. He said his friend was bringing him a t-shirt so he didn¢t need mine or Dave¢s or a ride to town.So, we had lunch ¢ not many vegetarian options at the two restaurants in town ¢ so we had more salad and fries, same as yesterday. However, we still have our cottage that has a kitchen so we can make our own Indian and rice for dinner. So, we¢re good.Dave Brickley will be joining us tonight to begin hiking the last 3 days before the 100-Mile wilderness stretch of hiking.
Date: 2012-09-21
From: Moxie Pond Rd, ME

To: Caratunk, ME Rt 201
Miles today: 12.0

Today¢s 12 mile hike from Moxie Pond to Caratunk was a very nice trail most of the way north to south. We had a lot of easy gradual climbing for our 4 miles uphill on pine needle covered dirt. As we climbed down, we had more mud and water in the trail. Again, we had great views from the top of the mountain of Moxie Pond and all the surrounding mountains and valleys.We saw Bob McGuire from Edgewater, Fl; Hillbilly from WVA, and met Sweet Time flipping southbound who works as a forest ranger at Pocahontas State Park in VA. My right little toe started bothering me on my hike downhill. Hoping and praying it will be better tomorrow. I may have to hike a little slower. We left our car at Moxie Pond Road and will pack up all our stuff in Dave Brickley¢s car when we move to Shaw¢s in Monson, ME, tomorrow. Dawn from Shaw¢s will shuttle us from Monson to Marble Brook Jeep Road, then we¢ll drive our car back to Shaw¢s at the end of the hike. We¢ll miss Pine Grove Lodge cottage. It¢s been really nice seeing all the stars at night and having a quiet night¢s sleep every night.
Date: 2012-09-22
From: Marble Brook Jeep Rd, Monson, ME

To: Moxie Pond Rd, ME
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I can¢t believe I left out the best part yesterday. On our way back down 201 from dropping Sweet Time at North Woods, we saw a huge bull moose standing right in the middle of the 55mph highway at the AT crossing! I got a picture but I wish I could have gotten him before he started going off the road. When he was in the middle, he was standing straight and tall and very regal with his large antlers.Then today on our drive to Monson to shuttle for our 12 mile hike from Marble Brook Jeep Rd to Moxie Pond Rd, we saw a female moose on the side of the road. We also saw two porcupines walking on the road, wild turkeys, and some grouse fly straight in front of us. We had sprinkles off and on during the day. Peace and I took the bad weather bypass to cut off the .3 miles up to the peak. Dave Brickley came down from the peak saying it was like hurricane winds on top with lots of rain. We enjoyed our two big stream fords today. The water was cold but not frigid so it was refreshing to the feet. We balanced on rocks and trees and made it across without slipping. My toe was good today not having any steep down hills and I¢m very happy. We almost missed Bob on the white blaze AT as he was walking past the blue blaze bypass. Earlier I realized our AT map for the section had fallen out of our pack, so I asked Bob if he could bring it to Shaw¢s when he came in town, since we¢ll be back at Shaw¢s several times. We also saw Hill Billy and Ty-Dye.We stopped at a bakery before checking in to Shaw¢s. We have a nice room. We took a hot bath and spread out all our things to dry. We¢re going 20-30 minutes away to Greenville for dinner with Dave Brickley. Tomorrow after our hike, we will drive to Millinocket AT Lodge to begin our north to south hike in the 100-mile wilderness.
Date: 2012-09-23
From: Marble Brook Jeep Rd, ME

To: ME 15
Miles today: 12.7

We enjoyed breakfast at Shaw¢s before Dick Marshall shuttled us from ME 15 to Marble Brook Jeep Rd to hike northbound. Dick said the map was wrong and the ford was actually 1.5 miles instead of a quarter mile from the beginning of the hike. So instead of a 12 mile hike, we had 13.5 miles to hike today. We hiked in mostly mud, water, and on roots today. When we got near to the first ford on the West Piscataquis River, the trail was so muddy and watery we decided to go ahead and put our water shoes on then. Dave Brickley started walking right through the mud and sunk at least two feet and his shoes came off his feet. He had to dig around to find them but was successful. We then proceeded to go through a small water crossing. I didn¢t think it was the river but went ahead like the others and put my shoes back on. Not more than about 2 city blocks later we came to the actual river crossing and had to change back to our water shoes. The water was cold but made my feet feel really good afterwards. The water was about knee deep til we came to one spot near the bank where we sank down further which caused the bottom of our shorts to get wet. The trail followed the river several miles before we finally reached the second ford, East Piscataquis. That crossing was similar to the first ford, cool, refreshing, but not quite as deep. We saw a small snake, grouse, and frogs along the way.Last night we met Goat (Joe), southbound hiker, at Shaw¢s. He said the Wilson Stream was about hip deep and Long Stream about knee deep and that some northbound hikers had to wait a day to cross after some rain because it was too deep to cross last week. These will be on our last day of hiking the wilderness so we have to watch to make sure there isn¢t too much rain before we attempt those hikes.We saw Goat hiking southbound today as we hiked northbound. We also saw Bob who caught up to us just after we forded East Piscataquis River. He never saw the map I lost, but it was nice of him to look for us. I¢m guessing it will show up sometime when a hiker needs a map to follow.We¢re very happy with the weather prediction for the upcoming week ¢ no chance of precipitation for Monday or Tuesday when we hike 7.5 and 17.4 miles. Rain showers on Wednesday which is our day off. Clear skies the remaining days of the week for the remainder of our hikes. Hopefully this prediction will be accurate and bless our hikes with lovely weather.We had dinner on our way to Millinocket, checked in at the AT Lodge, squared away our pickup times for shuttles with Ole Man/Paul, and did laundry. Looking forward to hiking tomorrow to Daicey Pond where there is a beautiful view of Katahdin.
Date: 2012-09-24
From: Abol Bridge, Millinocket, ME

To: Daicey Pond, Baxter St Park, ME
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: broken clouds

Drove to Abol Bridge AT crossing after breakfast at AT Caf©. Found the trailhead, said hi to some hikers including Sherlock who we had shuttled to Wal-Mart in Gorham, NH. He said Flintstone was just ahead on his way to the Birches.We hiked a little over 7.5 miles on a nice path along a stream until it turned muddy for a while. We took the ¢high water blue trail¢ to avoid 2 fords today. We saw Big and Little ¢Niagra Falls¢. Saw more frogs, birds, grouse and a deer today.When we got to Daicey Pond, we asked the ranger if he knew anyone who was going back to town. He said a veteran fisherman of the area who comes every year to Daicey Pond was going into town to make a phone call. So we were able to get a ride back to Millinocket and saved $55 that AT Lodge would have charged to come out to pick us up. That was a nice treat. Jim Kick was the veteran fisherman from Connecticut and his business partner Ron Benson owns a ranch in Wyoming in the Black Hills. So we had an enjoyable conversation having just been out to Wyoming in July.Had lunch and will have dinner at the AT Caf©. Paul will shuttle us at 6am tomorrow for our 17.4 mile hike from Pollywog to Abol Bridge.
Date: 2012-09-25
From: Pollywog, ME

To: Abol Bridge, ME
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: clear sky

We saw a moose on Jo Mary Rd as Paul/Ole Man shuttled us at 6am to Pollywog for our 17.4 mile hike to Abol Bridge. We almost got run down by a huge logging truck going very fast on the road. I don¢t think a moose would have stood a chance against the truck! The hike was by Rainbow Lake for at least 8 miles and on top of Rainbow Ledges we saw a great view of Katahdin. We finished in 30 minute miles which made us happy and the anticipated river ford was all rocks.We met south-bounders: Ben, Timba and Joe, and Chief Sherpa. Ben was from Germany and now lives in Columbus, OH. Chief Sherpa was from FL and just retired from the Navy. We saw two section hikers today that we also saw yesterday. A bunch of hikers came into the AT Caf© as we were finishing dinner, including SOS whose journal I had read online, Nice Lady, and Blitz. SOS was planning to have the Summit Sundae¢14 scoops of ice cream (1 for each state hiked) plus a bunch of toppings.Back at the AT Lodge, we met Texas Pete¢s mom, Wishbone, who had to get off the trail in August because of Lyme disease. Learned that she lives in Frostburg, MD, and just retired this year to hike the trail with her son. He will be summiting Friday after we will have left Millinocket. We also met Gyp-c-girl from Australia who had completed two through-hikes of the AT, did a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail and then decided to do VT, NH and ME again and just summited Katahdin today. Go-Man (as in Grumpy Old Man) isn¢t back yet from his summit. We met him yesterday evening.So tomorrow is our rest day and packing up day. We will leave our car on Jo Mary Rd Thursday morning, hike in the wilderness 14.5 miles to White House Landing for an overnight, then hike another 10 miles to our car the next day before we return to Shaw¢s in Monson for a night.
Date: 2012-09-26
From: Millinocket, ME

To: Millinocket, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Breakfast at AT lodge. Packed up for next week. Lunch with Gip-C-Girl and scrabble afterwards. Chief of Police of Millinocket, Don Bolduc, sat down with us and asked if we remembered him from the trail. He and friends were section hiking near the Kennebec River and recognized Peace and me when we came into the AT Caf©. I had trouble remembering him but he said he had a beard then. That was cool! We¢ll have dinner at the AT Caf© again where they¢re saving me a serving of spinach lasagna. Then we¢ll get to bed early for our next morning shuttle to Pollywog to hike 14.5 miles to White House Landing, then out to Jo Mary Rd the next day to drive to Shaw¢s in Monson. We¢ll be unreachable by email or cell from Thursday morning til Friday night, so will do updates then.
Date: 2012-09-27
From: Pollywog Stream 

To: White House Landing, ME
Miles today: 13.0

Paul shuttled us early to drop our car off at Jo Mary Rd Cooper Brook and begin hiking from Pollywog Stream for 13 AT miles plus 1.5 miles further to get to White House Landing for an overnight. We enjoyed the trail going by lakes and saw Katahdin a couple times. Lots of fall colors along the lakes. We had no fords, just rock hops.   We heard loons. A squirrel posed for us eating a nut and left once we got his picture.We saw Texas Pete with Lonesome. I let him know his Mom texted him (which he didn¢t get because of no cell coverage) about not being able to summit with him Friday, that she needed to be with her grandson who was in the hospital again. I also told him the weather was supposed to be good on Friday but not Saturday or Sunday. So he decided to push through the remaining miles so he could summit Friday.We met Sling Shot, Frenchie, and saw Ichy from Japan again. When we reached the trail to White House Landing, we saw Bob and Dave again who we¢d seen the previous two days. Peace blew the horn and Bill from WHL picked the four of us up in a motor boat and took us across the lake to the cabins. We took a shower and chatted with Bob and Dave until dinner. We helped Bob work out an exit plan as they decided they didn¢t want to continue all the way to Monson. We let him know how to use Jo Mary Road to get out, told them about our different shuttlers, but he ended up getting his wife to come pick them up the next day.We were also joined by Red Bull, Hot Foot, and Lucky 70. We had pizza and played scrabble until bedtime. The stars and full moon were wonderful and I got to see them every time I got up to go to the bathroom in the woods during the night.
Date: 2012-09-28
From: White House Landing, ME

To: Jo Mary Rd Cooper Brook
Miles today: 10.0

We had a delicious breakfast and boated back to pick up the AT where we left off yesterday. I lost my hat in the strong wind on the boat and Bob fished it out of the water for me after Bill circled the boat around to it. We only had 10 miles to hike today and the trail was very easy. Saw a snake cross our path again. I apologized to him for my scream explaining it¢s just my startle reaction. We met Beast Mode, Leap, and Sanchez. We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner on our 1.5 hour drive to Shaw¢s in Monson. At Shaws, we met Disco, Mountain Goat, and Fire Fox.When we were back online, I was able to email Texas Pete¢s mom about our seeing him and what he¢d said about summiting so she would know in case he hadn¢t been able to reach her yet.Had a nice hot bath and got everything organized for our next 3 days in the wilderness. We¢ll be off line again from tomorrow morning until Monday night when we¢ll be at Shaw¢s again. We¢re staying at West Branch Pond Camp Cabins tomorrow night and AMC Gorman Chairback Cabins Sunday night. Unfortunately, it sounds like there are rain showers in the forecast. So we¢ll have our trusty rain gear with us and pray for more clear skies than rainy ones.
Date: 2012-09-29
From: Jo Mary Rd Cooper Brook

To: West Branch Pond Road
Miles today: 14.0

Sue from Shaw¢s shuttled us early to Jo Mary Road at Cooper Brook to hike our 14 miles to West Branch Pond Road. We didn¢t take pictures since it was rainy, wet and cold. We enjoyed the fall colors and balsa fragrance which we hadn¢t noticed in a while. We were able to rock hop the ford of the East Branch of the Pleasant River. We met Bee Bee, Eva, Short Term, Ty Dye and saw Bob one last time.We called West Branch Pond Camp from the top of Little Boardman Mountain and let them know our estimated time of arrival. A pickup from them would save us 3.5 miles of additional walking. We were happy when they showed up within 5 minutes of our arrival. Eric took us to our cabin and showed us how to operate the wood stove and apologized for the drafty cabin. I was shocked to find that it wasn¢t just a mild draft from tiny cracks, but had major 3-4 inch gaps in the log cabin walls. We used the extra towels and cloths to plug up as many holes as we could and it helped somewhat. He gave us a rug to put in front of the two inch gap under the front door. It was way too cold to take a hot shower so we just sponged off while our clothes dried in front of the fire. We had a great view of the lake from our window but could barely see it because of the rain and fog. Someone was actually out on the lake in that weather! It was a lot windier and colder on the lake than it had been on the trail. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of rice, veggie black bean burgers, vegetarian baked beans, salad, corn muffins and gingerbread with whipped cream for dessert. We played scrabble after dinner and tossed a balloon with Eric¢s 4 year old daughter. Dave woke up every hour and put another log in the wood stove to keep the cabin warm, although it wasn¢t bad under the tons of wool blankets on the bed. Of course, I woke every time he got up, but quickly went back to sleep.
Date: 2012-10-01
From: AMC Gorman Chairback Lodge

To: AMC Gorman Chairback Lodge
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We decided to stay another night at AMC Gorman Chairback Lodge, wait for the rain to clear, and begin today¢s hike tomorrow in the sun. The hike we were going to do tomorrow has multiple fords and may be impassable, so we¢ll come back after we finish VT if the water level subsides.Chef David gave Peace and me special attention since we were vegetarians, but also sought to please everyone in general. He cooked me 2 eggs to order, vegetarian sausage and leftover asparagus from last night¢s dinner, along with zuchinni bread for breakfast.   Reminds me of the meals we had in the NH AMC huts but was even better!We were able to chat more with Cokapella about his hike, fall, and plans. We think we met him in VT but not sure. He said he plays the flute and was playing it in the hills of VT when we heard the flute so we now know it was him! He has a small dog named Dee Dee with him.Dave and I played scrabble 3 times, he won 2 out of 3. We read and napped and enjoyed wonderful views of Long Pond, the fall colors, the rain, and eventually sun and clouds from the comfortable lodge chairs. We ate our packed lunch of wheat bread with hummus, cheese and veggies, chips and cookies. We enjoyed yet another yummy dinner and new guests. Later two thru hikers ¢ Red Fury and High Life ¢ stopped in for water. We enjoyed hot showers before retiring for our next day¢s challenging hike.