morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-08-22
From: Caratunk,ME 

To: Pleasant Pond Lean - to
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: broken clouds

Start Caratunk, ME, mile 2034.7Stop Pleasant Pond Lean-to, mile 2040.4Sleep tentCell noneHiked 5.7 miles Northbound145.5 miles remainingHiked 88.10 miles 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:Last night we stayed in luxury at a place called Northern Outdoors. It is more of a vacation destination where people can hike, ATV, Whitewater Rafting, Fly Fishing and just enjoying the outdoors. The place has The Kennebec Brew Pub as their focal point and restaurant. There is also a pool, hot tub, and video arcade for things to do. We had a room above the pub that was comfortable and relatively quiet. We enjoyed a nice meal last night, then again at breakfast and lunch today. We hit the trail at 12:10pm when a shuttle dropped us off at the trail. We only had a 5.7mile day planned so we knew we would make it well before dark. The trail was gradually uphill almost the whole time, we gained about 700ft elevation today without going downhill very much. This sets us up for a big climb tomorrow. We arrived here at the campsite about 3:20pm so we hiked at a speed of about 1 3/4mph. The shelter is very close to a to a road, we can see cars as they drive by. Fortunately the road is in a very remote area so there aren't many cars on it. We also had to cross the road to get water. We went out on someone's dock where we sat down an filtered the pond water for dinner. The water was clear and looked pretty good, in fact all of the water in all of the streams we've seen look good. We're so high up in the mountains that we are getting the rain water close to the source. We filter all the water we drink for safety reasons, it is better to be safe than sorry. Speaking of rain water it has rained a little since our tent has been set up and we are hearing thunder in a distance. I think we will be sleeping in the rain tonight. That would be fine as long as it stops by morning. Check 6's notes:It's 3am Fri as I write my notes now. We decided to sleep in our tent because the weather prediction showed 69% chance of rain through the evening, and then clearing and sunshine for the next few days. With that prediction we decided to take a chance. Well, it did rain quite a bit through the evening and into some of the night, but it's clear now with a bright moon. We'll have to pack a wet tent and put out pack covers on when we start hiking, but that's because the leaves take along time to dry. At least it's not raining any more. The reason it's 3am now is because after dinner (we cooked and ate at the lean-to to be dry), I decided to take advantage of a lull in the rain and go into out tent to read. (I always carry a book while hiking because I enjoy reading. Old Goat carries a small radio.). I read about 2 pages and fell asleep. I remember Old Goat coming into the tent, but I have no idea when that was. I guess I was tired!!Sent from my iPhone
Date: 2013-08-26
From: ME 15 Monson , ME

To: ME, 15 Monson , ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Zero day - Did not hike any miles. Sleep bed in Shaw's Hostel, Monson, MECell none (they have good WiFi)Old Goat's notes:We are getting ready for The Hundred Mile Wilderness. We washed our clothes, and sorted our food for the trip. Tomorrow starts the final push. I remember staying here in 2006. I was a week away from completing my dream. I sat here thinking I wish this would never end and also thinking of going home soon. This time I'm looking forward to the next 114 miles as if it were a the icing on a cake. I'm glad Check 6 is doing this with me and we will accomplish this together. I hear men say they would love to have their wife hike with them, I'm glad Check 6 is adventurous and brave enough to do this. She doesn't see herself as brave, but I know she is; she presses on even when she is terrified. She manages the challenges the trail throws in front of her and the miles slip away. This one year journey is in it's fifth year and yet she comes back. I am blessed to have a wife who loves to do this kind of activity with me. Check 6's notes:I don't know why, but every time we are in a town I get anxious about going back on the trail the next day. It has happened EVERY time as we've been in a town while we've been hiking the AT over these past 5 years, and I can't put my finger on what I'm anxious about. I'm a little anxious today, and I'll be extremely anxious in the morning until we're hiking. I'm irritated with myself that this happens every time. You'd think I'd be over this by now!I know it's all in my head, so I wish I could figure out what I'm anxious about so I could think/talk myself out of it. Oh well, one more aspect of hiking the AT for me. The good thing is that I don't let the anxiety stop me.We met a hiker this morning who is hiking the AT for the 2nd time (only Southbound this time). His trail name is "Don't Panic." He has also hiked the other 2 major North/South US trails 2 times each!! A hiker who hikes all 3 is called a "triple crowner," to have done each twice each is a LOT of hiking! The other 2 trails are the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail - the entire length of the West Coast from Mexico to Canada) and the CDT (Continental Divide Trail...2700 miles on the Continental Divide). WOW!Sent from my iPhone
Date: 2013-08-29
From: Cloud Pond Lean - To 

To: Chairback Lean - to
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: light rain

Start Cloud Pond Lean-to, mile 2090.5Stop Chairback Lean-to, mile 2097.4Sleep lean-toCell okay, but not excellent Hiked 6.9 miles Northbound 88.5 miles remainingHiked 145.0 miles 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:I was glad we were in a shelter last night because it rained through the night and also this morning. When we awoke at 6:00am it had been raining and neither of us wanted to go out in it. We made the decision to stay in the shelter for a while longer. We got up at 7:00am the time we usually start hiking. As we were packing up it started to rain hard again. We took my sleeping bag out of the stuff sack and covered out legs, we were already wearing our down jackets. It rained for another hour which didn't help our spirits. Once it stopped raining we packed up and left the lean-to. We were .4 mile from the AT so we spent our first 20 minutes getting back to the trail. We started hiking at 9:30am. We had to be careful all day, the rocks and roots were wet and slippery. Every step required careful consideration to make sure our next step would be safe. We had some rock climbs up and down but not excessive. Some of the mountain trails had man made steps, this made the climbing and descending a lot safer. The milage today is on the low side but necessary because of the weather. This gets Check 6 depressed when we don't do big miles. It especially hits her when we do 6 miles and thru-hikers are doing 18 miles. I keep telling her that we are doing fine with what we are doing, we are moving forward toward Katahdin. It's about the smiles, not the miles. The problem it is hard work and we're not smiling much. We retrieve our cached food in the morning; hopefully it is where we left it and okay. I've been worried about it for the past 18 days. I'll feel much better once we have the box and everything is okay. These shorter days has caused us to consider alternate plans. We will see what those plans will be when the time comes, weather is a big factor. Check 6's notes:We waited until this morning's rain stopped before heading out, so we had a late start. And then everything was soaking wet, so I was extremely slow. I had a couple meltdowns from the frustration of how slow I had to go with everything being so wet. (And it was wet all day...just the rock walks on the top of mountains were dry because the sun was shining on them by the time we got there...I'm thankful they were dry!). Poor Old Goat, I took some of my frustration out on him..."you said Maine would be easier!"It was a very hard day because of the mountains. (Yes, still mountains!!! And not the mountains that were counted!!!). Mostly because everything was so wet. I'm happy to be planted for the night even though it's short of our original plan. Sent from my iPhone
Date: 2013-08-31
From: Carl A. Newhall lean - to

To: Logan Brook Lean - To
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: light rain

Start Carl A. Newhall Lean-to, mile 2107.3Stop Logan Brook Lean-to, mile 2114.5Sleep lean-toCell noneHiked 7.2 miles Northbound71.4 miles remaining162.1 miles hiked 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:We have been in lean-tos the last few nights because of the rain. This schedule has kept the daily milage low but we are still moving forward. I think the weather is going to be raining for a few more days. Hopefully it will be improved for our last few days so that we will have good memories of this years hike. The shelter is full tonight 6 people sleeping side by side. There is a tent in front of the lean-to and some more .1 mile further north. There is a pack of thru-hikers around us tonight, they'll zoom ahead of us tomorrow. I just heard on the radio rain tonight and a 40% chance tomorrow. Monday has an 80% chance of rain. I guess we'll manage somehow. We met a thru-hiker this morning who hates being told "You're almost there". He said he still has trail ahead and almost doesn't count. Today we hiked over Gulf Hagas, West Peak, Hay Mountain, and the famous White Cap Mountain. It's famous because it is the last big mountain before Katahdin. The hiking will be easy from here on, I promise. Check 6's notes:I'm so excited right now...my phone is being charged as I write this! A hiker at this lean-to doesn't have an iPhone, but he does happen to carry a backup battery charger kit that has all sorts of adapters, and one fits our phone so i could plug it into our phone and our charger. I'm back at 100% charged now. YAY!Another thing I'm happy about is that we went over Whitecap Mountain today. Actually, we went over the peaks of 4 mountains today. They were tough, and we think the next lean-to is going to be full tonight, so stopped early at this lean-to (around 1 pm!). I lied yesterday, however... Looking at the terrain map better I see that there are a couple more mountains ahead of us, but they are smaller than anything we've done in Maine so far. (It's all in the perspective!). They will make me breathe hard, but they are NOTHING compared to all the mountains we've done so far!!! YAY! It's later now and, as Old Goat said, the lean-to is full. I'm amazed at how many people have stopped here and then moved on. I think we saw at least 4 couples and lots of single guys. A whole bunch were heading to the next lean-to and others went to a campsite further up the trail. We stopped here early...now I'm so glad we did! I haven't seen this many hikers so close together since the first couple months of our 2009 thru-hike!Sent from my iPhone
Date: 2013-09-05
From: Wadleigh Stream Lean -To

To: Rainbow Lake Campsite
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

Start Wadleigh Stream Lean-to, mile 2147.8Stop Rainbow Lake Campsite, mile 2159.6Sleep tentCell noneHiked 11.9 miles Northbound 26.3 miles remaining207.2 miles hiked 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:The rain threats have stopped for now but the streams and mud puddles are plentiful. We had a cold front come in and now we are feeling it. The wind was blowing cold air all afternoon but has died down this evening. We have winter gear so we will be fine. We are at a campsite this evening. There are five tents set up and 6 or 7 people here. We didn't use the tent much this last week due to rain but it will get use now. The campsite is next to Rainbow Lake which is pretty big. A seaplane landed on the lake and then took off again, we didn't see it because we were in our tent out of the cold. Check 6's notes:Hiking the 100 mile wilderness is not easy. We often hike alongside lakes, ponds, or waterfalls/streams. It seems that when the trail is near water the tree roots are huge, the rocks are large, and there are a lot of wet areas we have to maneuver...especially after all the rain we had Monday and Tuesday. It's hard to hike among all of that, and exhausting, too. That's one of the reasons we've stopped hiking mid-afternoon these past couple days, and then ended up taking naps. Today we were so cold when we got to the campsite that we got inside our sleeping bags to warm up and fell asleep for a while. After we ate dinner we were warmer, and then the wind died down, so it was a bit warmer this evening. We had a wonderful visit with some other hikers who are camped here. "Nemo" just started a Southbound thru-hike. His attitude is great...I predict he'll make it. "Peanut" had been thru-hiking Northbound in the Spring, but broke her foot and had to get off for a month, then something cane up so she hasn't hiked since June. She's Southbound now, too, and will finish the AT when she gets back to the Partnership Shelter in VA. "Cotton" is just out hiking for a few days. We met him at the last shelter. The AT us a very social trail. One of the things I enjoy is learning about other hikers stories. I enjoyed this evening. It's supposed to go down to 30 degrees tonight. It's going to be hard to get out if our warm sleeping bags in the morning, but the cooler day (50s or 60s) will make hiking easier than when it's real hot. Sent from my iPhone
Date: 2013-09-06
From: Rainbow Lake Campsite

To: End of Golden Road
Miles today: 11.6

Start Rainbow Lake Campsite, mile 2159.6Stop End of Golden Road (Abol Campsite), mile 2171.2Sleep tentCell noneHiked 11.6 miles Northbound 14.7 miles remaining218.8 miles hiked 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:We started hiking at 7:15 am this morning. Last night was cold and windy, thank goodness we have cold weather gear and clothes. We were both warm in our sleeping bags last night and we didn't want to get out of them this morning The hiking was average for Maine rocky, uphill, muddy, and roots. It takes a lot out of you to watch every step and calculate your next move. Most times when we reach a mud puddle we have to stop look at the rocks and plan out how we are going to step to get across. I made the mistake of saying the trail will be easy after lunch. There were a lot of hills to climb that made the going tough. Those 3 miles were the toughest, mentally, we have done in a few days. I have to stop saying it will be easier ahead because it usually isn't. We are at a RV campsite just outside The 100 Mile Wilderness and Baxter State Park tonight. We hiked 11.6 miles today and that was all we had in us. Tomorrow we will hike about 10 miles into Baxter to the Katahdin Stream Campground. That will set us up for a Sunday summit, if the weather is good and we are feeling up to it. We mentioned before that we went up there in 2009, we really do not have to go up to say we've done the whole trail. I've been having back pains most of this hike. I'm afraid the hike, oops I mean mountain climb, will cause me too much pain and we may have to abort the climb. Also the weather is very touchy on top of Katahdin 5268 ft, 12 feet short of a mile up. It has it's own weather up there which is usually more nasty than down below. So we will see what happens. Check 6's notes:We are out of the 100 mile wilderness and back into civilization. We are camped in a family campsite. There are flush toilets, showers, a store, and a restaurant at this campsite. Our tent looks tiny in the big campsite we had to pay for. I had a bad day today. I can't figure out why I'm so exhausted so much of the time. After we stopped for lunch I found myself tripping often. Not enough to make me fall, but enough to make me very upset. We had a couple small mountains today. We tried to send out yesterday's message from the top of the mountain, but it just wouldn't send even though we had fluctuating bars (1 or 2).So I cried a lot again today. Now that we're stopped for the day I feel better, but it was not a good day for me at all. Sent from my iPhone
Date: 2013-09-14
To: Caching food in the 100 mile wilderness
Miles today: 0.0

One thing we didn't stress while hiking was our food cache in the Hundred Mile Wilderness. We left an ammo can at a location just off Katahdin Iron Works road for 18 days. The whole time it was out there I was afraid it would not be there or tampered with. I had dreams that we would get to the can and find it either opened and the contents gone or it completely gone. I am glad to say the box was exactly where we left it and undisturbed. Caching food in The Wilderness has become very popular lately. Hikers like us didn't want to leave Monson with 10 days of food, it would have been very heavy and make our packs overflow. We chose to carry 3 days of food at first and cache 7 days. Most hikers do not place the cache themselves but rather hire someone in Monson or Millinocket to do it. Because we had a car in Maine and an excellent can to cache we decided to do it ourselves. The caches placed by others are either placed on the day of the pickup or they are met and handed their supplies. I spoke to Ole Man from the Appalachian Trail Lodge in Millinocket about caches. He told me he has had only one cache lost or tampered with in the 7 years he has been doing this service. Most hikers respect one another and do not mess with others things. Our original itinerary had us arriving at the cache the evening before we actually did, the rain had shortened our days and we didn't make the miles as planned. Fortunately we only arrived one meal later and we had enough food to cover this delay. This delay actually played out very well for us. While we were at the cache I heard a vehicle pull up to drop off a hiker. Luck would have it the truck was from the Appalachian Trail Lodge in Millinocket the place we would be staying at when we reach Katahdin. I asked the driver "NoKey" if he would take the box back to the lodge and we would get it when we arrived there. He was glad to do it and our can was out of the wilderness before we were. If this hadn't happened we would have had to gone back and retrieve it after our hike. The trip back would have entailed paying a $24.00 toll and driving 14 miles on a dirt road to get it. I'm glad we didn't have to do that.
Date: 2013-09-30
To: Found GPS
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We held back talking about finding a GPS in the Wadleigh Stream Shelter until we found the owner. I felt not making that information public knowledge would ensure my finding the proper owner. I (Old Goat) posted a comment on Trailforums that I found a GPS in Maine but did not give any details. This post got a few comments but not from the owner,This weekend my son and I started plotting the waypoints in the GPS that preceeded Springer Mountain into Google Earth. We immediately discovered the owner probably lived in Colorado because the first waypoints were of trails in that state. As we progressed through the list we found a business and then finally a house. Google Earth gave us the address of the house and a picture of it. We then did another search and found the name and phone number of the owner of the house. I called the number and left a message stating I found a GPS on the Appalachian Trail and that it had a waypoint for their house. I left a voicemail asking the owner if they lost one or knew someone who hiked the trail this year.The next morning the thought came to me to check and see if the owner was on Trailjournals. I was in luck the owner was in fact a 2013 thru-hiker on TJ, same last name same city in Colorado. Long story short the owner returned my call and we talked about the trail a while and I verified the address. I'll be putting the GPS in the mail in a few minutes and sending it back to a happy owner.
Date: 2013-02-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Well, the planning and preparation period is winding down and I am winding up with anticipation and excitement. Just finished probably my 19th book on the Appalachian Trail, "Appalachian Trials" by David "Awol" Miller. I highly recommend it to anyone who plans to through hike the 2,180 mile AT.My planning & preparation started last September when I attended the ATI, Appalachian Trail Institute, in Mountain City, Tennessee. What a cool experience that was. I learned at the knee of Dr. Warren Doyle, the AT Guru, & Jennifer Pharr Davis. Warren holds the record for the most through hikes which is 16 or, 34,000+ miles. Can you imagine walking for 34,000 miles? Yes, it's totally mind boggling, to say the least!! And, that is just the AT. He has also hiked pretty much all the major trails. Jennifer holds the world speed record which is...are you ready for this...46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes!! Yes, this one is hard to wrap your brain around too. A ridiculously extraordinary record! Notice, I did not say women's record. She set the Overall World Record!! To give you some perspective, the average through hiker takes about five months, give or take a few weeks, to get from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. Jennifer and hubby, Brew, became proud new parents of a brand new baby girl, Charlotte, in November.Now this name dropping ain't gonna do me a bit of good when I am out there in the cold, sleet, heat, rain, pain, spiders, snakes, bugs, bears, and blisters...oh yes, and the gloom of night. But, unless "Q" gets in the way, I'll be launching my odyssey Tuesday, 2/26/13. It may last a few weeks or, perhaps, a few months. Stay tuned and let's see what happens.Happy Trails,Eddie, Sandman 69
Date: 2013-02-25
To: MY TRAIL NAME
Miles today: 0.0

It's a tradition on the AT to have a trail name. You can choose one for yourself or, your fellow hikers will give you one. I didn't want to take a chance on being named Goober, Silly Hill Billy, Eddie Spaghetti or some other ridiculous name so I chose to Christen myself Sandman 69.Well, I chose the Trail Name, Sandman 69, because I am from the white sandy beaches of North Myrtle Beach, SC. Also, I chose 69 because 1969 was probably the most memorable of my 64 years here on Planet Earth. After all, the Jets won the Super Bowl, the Mets won the World Series, man first walked on the MOON, which I still think is soooo incredible, and the Woodstock Festival happened. Additionally, the internet was born, The Beatles played their last concert as a group and Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of assassinating Bobby Kennedy. Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Brett Favre, Matthew McConaughey, Marilyn Manson, Emmit Smith and Catherine Zeta-Jones were born in 1969. President Dwight Eisenhower, Boris Karloff, Judy Garland, Mary Jo Kopechne, Rocky Marciano, Ho Chi Minh and Jack Kerouac died in 1969. The world wide Moratoriam protesting the Vietnam War was held in October. And, I survived, by the Grace of God, and returned to "The World" from sunny, tropical South Vietnam as a 20 year old Marine. Many of my Brothers were not so fortunate and a BIG SEMPER FI to them!! Some gave all and all gave some...and, so it goes...