morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-08-24
From: Jeffers Brook Shelter

To: Campsite near Kinsman Notch
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Short day today.Had a great climb up Moosilauke, and great views from the top. It was sunny and breezy as we sat on top and had a lunchbreak and visited with others who were on top. It sure is nice to be back in the White Mountains.As we were hiking down, suddenly, there was our old friend Dave Roy, who had found out where we were expected to be last night and hiked up to meet us. We had a great visit with him as we hiked down to the Notch. He then took us into Lincoln for pizza, then back to the trail.We have a nice campsite off the AT, next to a brook, and from the old blazes, on the old AT, mot likely in the vicinity of where the old shelter ued to be that Dave was telling us about.
Date: 2006-08-25
From: Kinsman Notch

To: Lonesome Lake Hut
Miles today: 13.4

A great day. Partly sunny, on short sprinkle in afternoon, temps 50 to 60F.Lots of climbing and descending today, much of it semi-technical, requiring lots of hand assist, the climbs very invigorating in the clear autumn air, the views from the tops of the Kinsmans breathtaking. We could see Mt Moosilauke behind, Franconia Ridge and Cannon Mtn to the NE, town of Franconia below us to the north.It seemed so quiet and pristine in these woods. Good smells, no sounds but birds and an occasional falling leaf or trickle of water. The birds were neat, gathering in active, vocal, mixed flocks, very inquisitive when I stopped to "chat" with them, moving closer to eyeball me from a nearby branch. We both felt very alive today, extremely happy to be out here doing this.Just past Kinsman Pond, we met the Kinsman site caretaker, hiking up the trail. He suggested we go to the Lonesome Lake Hut, and assured us we would find a "work for stay" option there. I trotted ahead to the hut, and sure enough, they agreed to give us food and a spot on the floor if we would do a few chores. I stood outside waiting for Jeanne, and ended up talking with a couple of the guests. They said that two of their party had not been able to hike up to the hut, so they had two extra spots they could give us, rather than have them "go to waste". They checked with the crew, and we were suddenly elevated from "work for stay" to "guest" status. This meant that we got all of the benefits of a regular $80/night paying guest, including breakfast and dinner with all the other guests, and our own bedroom in one of the bunkhouses. We were so thankful.Dinner was a yummy tomato-cheese soup, homemade bread served with real butter, canned corn and beans, instant potatoes, chicken pot pie which appeared to have come from a can, homemade ginger bread for desert. Not at all worth $80/night in our opinion, but we were thankful (and well fed). Another neat thing was when one of the hut crew walked up to me and said, "Linc? Do you remember who I am?" Hmmm...familiar face, but... "Avery! From Gothic! (RMBL)" Wow, it's a small world. Good to see you again, Avery!
Date: 2006-08-26
From: Lonesome Lake Hut

To: Liberty Springs Campsite
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: broken clouds

Had a good nite sleep last nite in our bunkroom in the hut. Breakfast call came at 6:30, and we had an all you can eat oatmeal and pancake breakfast.We were taking our time getting out of the hut, as we were expecting to meet our friends Bill and Kirk, and wanted to give them some time to do some of the hike up the hill. As we were getting ready to leave, saying our good byes, they walked into the Hut. Boy, did they get here faster than we expected.After chatting for a while, we all shouldered our packs, and headed down to the parking area where Bill and Kirk had parked. Stopped on the way down at a creek for Linc and I to take a dip in the water and get a little less smelly.Bill brought a delicious lunch of succotash (made by his wife Patricia) - it was absolutely delicious - it was hard to stop eating it, meatloaf (I think made by Bill which was also delicious), organic blue chips, whole wheat bread and homemade dessert bars. We and our stomachs were very happy after that lunch.Bill then took us into Lincoln for resupply at the grocery store - and before we had a chance to realize what he was doing, paid for our groceries - thanks Bill. Stopped at an outfitter and found some insoles to put in Jeanne's imitation Keene sandals which should make them more comfortable to hike in.Back up to the parking area, and we all shouldered our packs once again, and headed up the hill to the campsite. We were very happy to find out that Bill and Kirk had planned to backpack up to the campsite with us, and then to the top of Lafayette tomorrow. We shared dinner of our pasta dinner, and Bill and Kirk' pasta dinner of egg noodles with fresh green pepper, onions and sauteed sausage - it tasted better than our pasta dish.To sleep early to try to beat the rain over the summits tomorrow.
Date: 2006-08-27
From: Liberty Springs Campsite

To: Garfield Ridge Shelter and Campsite
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Got started from the campsite at 7:15 a.m. today, but still did not quite manage to beat the rain over the summit. We were actually on the summit of Lafayette when it started spitting rain. We said our good byes to Bill and Kirk here, who headed down toward Greenleaf Hut and then down the Bridle Path, and back to their car. Thanks so much Bill and Kirk for hiking with us - we enjoyed your company.The rain started harded as we descended, but we did not quite make it below treeline before it was really raining an not just spitting. It was a cold rain, with quite a bit of wind.Managed a lunch break just before the top of Garfield Mountain, then continued the climb up and over, and down here to the shelter. Decided to stop in for another snack and to look at the map to see what it looked like to get to Galehead Hut (our intended destination for the night). We got cold, and just could not warm back up, so decided that given the cold, windy, rainy weather, we were better off staying put.We made soup with garlic, italian seasonings, seaweed, black pepper - it helped to warm us up. We finally got warm after the soup and a few hours of hanging out in the shelter in our warm sleeping bags. Glad that we made the decision to stay here and not try to get to Galehead. The wind and rain continue, with the clouds whipping by the shelter entrance. Nice to be warm and dry. Hope for better weather tomorrow.
Date: 2006-08-28
From: Garfield Ridge Campsite

To: Near Ethan Pond
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: fog

The forecast called for clouds and showers today, so we were thankful when it turned out to be clouds down low and sun up high on the summits, much better than yesterday!It felt so good to get dry and warm last night. We had worn our wet clothing to bed, and found that they were dry when we woke in the morning.It was a bit of a scramble down and across the ridge to Galehead Hut, where we stopped to eat some of our bread, butter and honey. A steep climb up to the top of S. Twin, where we emerged from the cold fog into the sun, with other peaks occasional poking up through the low, white blanket into the warm, blue sky around us. Beautiful! We meandered along, cursing Bryan Yeaton, who maintains this section (actually, it looked pretty good, Bryan!), and stopped for another snack break at the summit of Mt. Guyot, then again at Zealand Hut, after a quick look at the incredible view of the upper Pemmigewasset wilderness from the Mt. Zealand cliffs. Then, it was an easier walk down into the Zealand valley, and gradually uphill on an old railroad grade through a northern mixed hardwood forest to a nice unofficial campsite just past the Thoreau Falls trail turnoff. We were joined by 3 other thru-hikers, No-Pliers, Cheetos and Puffy Nipples, who camped nearby.
Date: 2006-08-29
From: Stealth Campsite near Ethan Pond

To: Mizpah Hut Tentsite
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: mist

Got started just after 7:00 this morning under motly cloudy skies. The skies stayed cloudy/foggy all day, so didn't get any views as we climbed along the Webster Cliffs. It was a big climb up to the cliffs - maybe one we will have to repeat some day so we can see the views.Got the hut early (3:00 p.m.), and decided to stay rather than try to push on, since there turned out to be no fee at the campsite due to a lack of caretaker.The weather is predicted to clear for tomorrow, so that will make for a better day on our above treeline trek tomorrow.
Date: 2006-08-30
From: Nauman Tentsite, near Mizpah Hut

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 4.8
Weather: broken clouds

Well, we had intended to go all the way to Madison Hut today, but after climbing in damp fog, winds to 30 mph and temps around 45 F to the hut, finding that we knew two of the crew (Liza, who we had hiked with in the Smokies earlier on the trip, and Sarah Enders, who we knew from working at the Rocky Mtn Biological Lab in Colorado), and being invited to spend the day in the warm kitchen, eating hot soup and helping prepare dinner, we opted to stay.We put together a rice pilaf dish, Jeanne helped Liza make apple-blueberry cobblers for desert, and we washed a bunch of dishes. It was nice to visit with Liza and Sarah, and to relax rather than thrash through the presidential mtns in the fog and wind.
Date: 2006-08-31
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: Osgood Campsite
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Although we only hiked 10 miles today - it was a very tough and absolutely gorgeous 10 miles. Most of the day was above treeline, on very rocky trails. The weather was mostly clear, with the valley clouds occasionally being blown up to temporarily cover the summits. It was cool and windy all day, but with the mostly sunny skies, we got lots of views for our climb above treeling and over Mt. Washington.We had fantastic views from the summit of Mt. Washington, so were really glad we had taken a short day yesterday. We sent postcards from the top, called both Moms, had a lunch break, and after a little over an hour, finally headed northward again.Cheetos, Puffy and Sexy Monk caught up to us as we made our way down the rocky trail, and to where the Cog railway and the AT cross paths. It is traditional for AT thru-hikers to moon the train, so as it passed, Cheetohs and Puffy mooned the passenger car, while Jeanne waited until the engineer's car came along to perform the expected mooning. Sexy Monk declined to do so, while Linc had the camera (Cheetohs and Puffy's camera) and took the pictures.Got to Madison Hut just after 3:00 and decided to make the final three mile trek to the campsite. It was very slow going for Jeanne, taking 3 hours, 10 minutes to get to the campsite, arriving at 7:35, as it was getting dark. It was a very tiring day (especially for Jeanne), and we took the first empty ten platform we saw, instead of doing our usual checking out all the platforms to make sure we had the best one that was available.
Date: 2006-09-01
From: Osgood Tentsite

To: Top of Wildcat Mtn Ski Lift
Miles today: 7.6

Wow, this day worked out so nice. We were wondering how we were going to be able to hike the four or five miles to Pinkham Notch, hitch-hike into Gorham, (a town where stores and post office are really spread out), buy food for the Carters and food to mail to Caratunk, ME, get to the post office to mail the food, hitch-hike back to Pinkham, and then hike the six more miles up over a 2000 foot plus climb and several smaller climbs to the Carter Notch Hut for the night.The answer was our friend Dave Roy, who came walking up the trail from Pinkham as we hiked down. He drove us into town, around to the different stores and post office, and had us back to the trail by 3 pm. Thank you Dave, thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!The climb up Wildcat was incredibly steep, but we're starting to get used to that around here. We ended up stopping short of the hut when we found a tent site with great views of the presidential range, along with a picnic table and even a ski patrol cabin to retreat to if the weather turned bad.Due to the rush in town, we hadn't eaten our heavy town meal (a quart of yogurt with apples, bananas, nuts, oats and honey), but had carried up the climb in our packs. We sat at the table with this wonderful view of Mt Washington across the narrow notch, stuffing ourselves, drinking Balsam Fir tea, and feeling very happy. A Red Fox appeared and trotted leisurely around the area, looking for a tasty scrap or a meadow vole, coming within 20 feet of us at one point.Cheetos and Puffy Nipples showed up, pitched their tent nearby, and got a nice digital photo of the fox.
Date: 2006-09-02
From: Top of Wildcat Mountain Skilift

To: Rattle River Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Had a great nite on top of Wildcat last nite. Got up early, with the hope to get an early start, with the hope that we could actually make it here to Rattle River Shelter, so we could be done the climb over the summits before tomorrow's predicted rainy dat. It was a long day, and we got here about 6:30. Also here is Old Drum, who we ran into about a mile south of the shelterr, and hiked with him to here.The views were great today as we completed the Carter-Moriah Range traverse, under mostly cloudy skies - with a few breaks of sunshine along the way.Linc would hike ahead of Jeanne, stop, make the lunch, and Jeanne would grab her portion as she hiked by. This was done in the hope that we could make it to this shelter, and it would have been more difficult if Jeanne had taken breaks, and since Jeanne is a slower hiker than Jeanne. It was like being a racecar driver and making pitstops along the way.Decided to sleep in the shelter tonite since the rains are supposed to start overnite and we won't have to pack up a wet tent.The climbs were steep at times, and the descents were also equally, or more, steep. Linc had to spot Jeanne a few times on some of the descents. It was a fun day, but both are tired. Will wait to bake our bread in the morning before we make the short trek (2 miles) out to Route 2.
Date: 2006-09-03
From: Rattle River Shelter

To: Rt 2, Gorham, ME
Miles today: 1.9
Weather: light rain

We woke to gray skies, and light rain began as we packed up at the shelter. A southbound hiker stopped in, commenting that he had through-hiked the AT in 1972, the 53 or 54th hiker to do so, and hadn't seen another through-hiker during his entire hike.Jeanne had come down with a cold during the night, not a good thing to have when you're trying to hike the AT.We hiked the easy 2 miles down to rt 2 in a light rain, wearing our bright blue ponchos over ourselves and our packs. We had trouble hitch-hiking, as no one seemed to want to pick up two large, wet, dancing blueberries, who looked like something out of a Fruit of the Loom commercial. Eventually, we got a ride in to Gorham, where we contacted our friends Dennis and Patricia, who were camping with other friends, Jack and June, at a KOA in nearby Twin Mtn, NH. They said they'd come over and meet us for a meal in town, which sounded great to us. We shopped at the grocery store while they drove over to pick us up. When they arrived, Jack and June ended up inviting us to spend the night in their rented KOA cabin. We resisted, as we didn't want them to catch Jeanne's cold, but they persisted, we couldn't resist a chance to spend time with old friends. We spent a great afternoon, talking, taking showers and doing laundry, and then went out for pizza, before turning in for the night in bunks in Jack and Junes little rented place.
Date: 2006-09-04
From: KOA in Twin Mountain

To: Route 2 near Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: fog

Took a zero day today because Jeanne has a cold and does not feel that she can make the trek up the next mountain.Woke up about 7:00 a.m., had the KOA all you can eat pancake breakfast (courtesy of Jack and June - thank you) - Linc ate 14 pancake.After saying our good byes to Jack and June, Dennis and Patricia brought us back to the trailhead at Route 2, where we said our good byes to them.We walked south on the trail to this tentsite, where we spent the rainy afternoon in the tent, reading the Sunday paper that we got from Jack and June, and Jeanne snoozing to try to beat this cold.
Date: 2006-09-05
From: Route 2 near Gorham, NH

To: Gentian Pond Shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up about 6:30 this morning, but were slow to get up, do our morning chores, pack up and start hiking. Jeanne decided she was well enough to hike at least to the next shelter/campsite, but we ended up making it further. Linc, being the wonderful person that he is, carried one of Jeanne's food bags so as to make her pack lighter and make it easier for her to hike.We had actually hope to camp at Moss Pond rather than come to Gentian Pond, but when we got to Moss Pond, there were no stealth tentsites in view. We were happy to find one tent platform remaining empty at Gentian Pond when we got here. Jeanne was very glad to be done hiking for the day as she was getting quite tired. We are happy to be here, as this is the shelter that we met at through a mutual friend, 16 years ago!!!!!!!Weather was fairly warm today, with a mix of sun and clouds to start the day and is now mostly cloudy again.The trail started out gradual and nice today, and eventually turned steeper, more rugged, and less maintained. There were parts of it when we could not be sure whether or not we were actually on the trail. Too bad we don't live closer to this area - looks like this section of the trail needs a volunteer maintainer.Saw lots of moose tracks and poop again today, but still no moose siting.
Date: 2006-09-06
From: Gentian Pond Shelter

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Today, we made it back to the state of Maine, after 11 months and one day away! It feels good!A tough day of hiking in the Mahoosuc Mtns today, in a mixture of clouds and light rain, cool (50's) temps and gusty winds. All of that water made all of those steep rocks, barkless roots, and muddy spots even slicker. Everything in this area is steep and gnarly, 3500 feet of elevation gain (and approximately the same amount of loss) in ten miles felt like 10 miles in a playground jungle gym in the rain, wearing a 50 lb pack, fun in ways, but tiring and requiring lots of concentration. Some of the rocky sections were like, "they want us to go up (or dn) that???" We were happy to see the mechanical assist offered by elaborate wood ramps and ladders coming off the summit of East Goose Eye Mtn. Climbing down slippery 45 degree rock in the rain would have been a recipe for a broken leg, not a good thing to get way out here.Some bog bridges near the summit of Mt Success had sunk into the bog, necessitating either a thigh-deep mud wrestling bout, or a circuitous trampling of fragile alpine bog vegetation. We sadly trampled the vegetation. The clouds lifted at the right times, allowing us wonderful views from the summits of this rugged area of western Maine-eastern NH. Rugged, nearly inaccessible, but gorgeous!We arrived at Full Goose Shelter where we saw our thru-hiker-friend, Rael, along with several section hikers, and a large group of students from Harvard College. There were tent platforms left, so we grabbed one, hoping to catch up on sleep in preparation for the scramble through Mahoosuc Notch in the morning.While pumping water with our Katahdyn Mini-pocket filter, the cap cracked from the pressure and our second filter of the trail died. Hmph.
Date: 2006-09-07
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Bald Pate Shelter
Miles today: 12.0

Linc is such a slavedriver!!!!!!!!! He made Jeanne hike up to this shelter in the dark. But we're glad we're here. We are the only ones in the shelter, and there are some trail work crew people tented nearby. They are making a new trail above here to the summit of Bald Pate.Today was a slow day of hiking. The first five miles that we hiked took us seven hours to hike, and the second seven miles took us five hours to hike. The first five miles included the mile hike through the Mahoosuc notch, which is the slowest mile on the trail. We spent 2 hours, 3 minutes hiking through the Notch. It was fun. Lots of scrambling, taking off packs and lowering them down spots, or through tight spaces.Stopped at Speck Pond Shelter for lunch and decided to continue on, since it was still early. We were not sure we could make it to here, but figured we would stealth camp along the way. There were campsites at Grafton Notch, but we decided to make the climb up to the shelter, even though we knew we would arrive in the dark. Got here just after 8:00 p.m.The weather today was warm, with a mix of sun, clouds and fog. Nice day, and fun to hike in the dark for a short distance - but it sure is slow for Jeanne.
Date: 2006-09-08
From: Bald Pate Shelter

To: Surplus Pond
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: few clouds

10 miles seems to be about all we can do in a day lately, something to do with rugged terrain and head colds. I (Linc) came down with Jeanne's cold today, but we needed to get to the post office in Andover before it closed Saturday noon for the weekend, so we packed up and headed on.It was so neat going over the two Baldpate peaks, especially west Baldpate. Steep, granite friction climbing with wonderful views of the granite and conifer clad peaks, mixed tree valleys, and small lakes below. Steep, scrambly down into Frye Notch, then up Surplus Mtn, down again to wonderful cascading falls at Dunn Notch (*future hike back here to look at that trail along the falls!), up to East B Hill Road.It didn't look good for hitch-hiking on East B Hill Road, with a car going by (usually the wrong direction) every 5 or 10 minutes. Finally, an elderly gent named Leslie Fuller pulled up in his pickup, parked in the middle of the road and helped us load up our packs. He had a wonderful western Maine accent, and told us of about his past puchasing timber for the mills from treecutters out in the woods, and gave us a detailed account of everything he knew about a recent mass murder in town as he drove us slowly down into Andover.Andover is such a neat little town, kind of off on its own in a remote mtn valley, with quaint old buildings and a quiet, slow-paced feel to everything. We picked up our food drop at the post office, and paid to use the internet and phone at the Andover Roadhouse, a hiker hostel right in the middle of town. There, we checked email, and I arranged to return our broken filter in exchange for a new "filter" which uses ultraviolet light (runs on an AA battery) to purify water. No more moving parts for us!The only additional food we needed was honey, but Jeanne found just the right amount in the hiker exchange box at the hostel, and we immediately found a ride back up the trail with a hiker who was leaving drinking water up there, complements of a local hostel called "the Cabin".We'd hoped to camp right by the road, but found two college groups (Harvard and ?) camped in our spot, so we hoofed it another 2 miles or so up the trail to Surplus Pond, where we found a quiet, piney spot to camp for the night.
Date: 2006-09-09
From: Surplus Pond

To: Hall Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 4.2

Short day today. Linc is feeling the effects of the cold that he now has, and Jeanne is feeling the effects of having hiked with the cold all week.Even though it was a short hike, it was tough for both of us, and we were both glad to arrive here. We spent the afternoon eating, reading the shelter register, and snoozing sitting in the shelter. It showered once early in the afternoon, then a break before the real rain started up. It did stop raining by the time we were ready to go to sleep. We were glad we had set up the tent before it started to rain.Staying in the shelter are Rael, Bearcan and Cheetohs and Puffy.Jeanne took the short, but steep sidetrail up to the viewpoint behind the shelter. It was a nice spot. Don't know if we'll hike on tomorrow or take a zero - we'll see how we feel in the morning.