morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-08-04
From: ME Route 4 1977.8

To: Sluice Brook Logging Road (Old Railway Road) 1991.3
Miles today: 13.5

Hiking Day 132, Elevation 1638 feetI didn¢t sleep well last night, i think it was because I drank coke in the evening. We had a 6:30 a.m. pick up back to the trail this morning so it was a short night. Outside the sky was covered in grey clouds and it looked like we had quite a bit of rain last night. Andrea's knee has been bothering her so she elected to take a zero day instead of hiking on. We started up Saddleback Mountain in a light rain that became a little more insistent. Even when the rain lightened and stopped, it was quite dark under a leaden sky and the tree cover; it felt like twilight and the coming of the night.When we finally climbed above tree line, we walked in a cloud so thick that we couldn't see more than 20 to 30 feet in any direction. it reminded me of Conan-Doyle's ¢Hound of the Baskervilles¢ on the moors in the North of England, shadowy and frightening. I wasn¢t frightened, but it had that "Twilight Zone" kind of feel.Since we walked over Saddleback (4120 feet), the Horn (4041 feet) and Saddleback Jr. (3655 feet) in the fog, we didn't see the wonderful views that must have been there. Instead, in my mind's eye I imagined the vistas of mountains stretching into the distance, blue with the millions of trees that call these mountains home. And because we're in Maine, there would be lakes in the valleys too. And, to the West, Canada is about an hour away!We took a 1 1/2 mile detour down a dirt road to meet our arranged shuttle driver, Dave. we arrived a little after 4 p.m. a half hour early, but two hours later, he still hadn¢t arrived. It was getting cooler and we were worried, with no cell service we were unable to call for help. Fortunately, Rich had an InReach Mini satellite communication device, and after some back and forth, the Jens, who own the Maine Roadhouse Hostel, sent a friend  and neighbor, Adam, to pick us up. He was wonderful and offered to bring us back to this section of the trail, the day after tomorrow, Sunday. We later ran into Dave, who apparently misunderstood where to meet us for the pick-up. The result of all this was that in addition to our trail miles, we walked an extra 5 to 6 miles, making this a 19 to 20 mile day.We arrived at the hostel, wet and exhausted at about 8 p.m. Kerry and I are in the Jens¢ recently purchased motel, the Stratton Motel, as they have no room at the hostel tonight. They brought us beer and Gatorade, pizza and dessert and loaner clothes while we do our laundry. All I had for them was a giant cucumber that Adam gave me, which by the way they were delighted to receive.This was not how we expected to end our day. We are very tired and plan to have a shorter hiking day tomorrow as a result. The adventure always evolving.¢¦it continues!
Date: 2023-08-05
From: Caribou Valley Road 2001.7

To: ME Route 27 2010
Miles today: 8.3

Hiking Day 133, Elevation 1638 feetWe skipped ahead to Caribou Valley Road for a short hike to ME 27 of 8.3 miles, Tomorrow, we¢ll return to Old Raiiroad Road to complete the section to Caribou Road. We did this for two reasons: we wanted a shorter hike today and Adam, who brought us out yesterday, was only available tomorrow to take us back as he was working today.We walked vertically up South Crawford Mountain and then perhaps a little less vertically up North Crawford Mountain. I¢m wondering why they built the trails this way¢¦.perhaps they thought shorter (straight vertical line) is better than a nice easy long zigzag switchback? Or that difficult is good for character building? Anyway, the endurance is not a problem, we don¢t even get winded, it¢s the constant rock climbing that is challenging! That said, it was not a difficult hike today, in fact, it was fun!There were many moments when the sunlight filtered through the trees and puddled on the ground around us that it actually felt like a summer day. A light breeze kept us comfortable and blew away some of the moisture (humidity) that kept fogging up Kerry¢s glasses so he was happy too.We let Felix have some off leash time whilst climbing up the steepest and rockiest part of the trail. He¢s doing very well with this and it gives him a little extra sniffage time to explore all the wonderful forest smells. We have to keep a careful watch on him lest he go into ¢hunt¢ mode, then it¢s back to leash prison!It was a lot like walking in a park today; frequently on a granite path where the bright green moss frames the trail like it was planted just so. The mushrooms are so diverse and numerous, we¢ve even given up photographing all of them. I never get tired of the fairly unchanging landscape, I find it soothing somehow.At 2:30, we reached Caribou Road, where John Webster (a descendent of Daniel, he admitted when asked) plied us with drinks and snacks (including a ¢Little Debbie¢ snack of Bill Bryson fame) whilst we awaited the hostel to pick us up. As we sat there, Kerry with his beer and Little Debbie, the sheriff drove up with his own trail magic. We had heard that he likes to help hikers, but it was still quite a sight to see him pull up with his young son in tow! It felt like we were in another country.After we returned to the hostel, washed our clothes and washed ourselves and we each had a pint of Cherry Garcia ice cream, followed by dinner with Andrea and Rich at Brickyard Hollow where we had our first Maine Lobster Rolls in Maine¢¦.they were great!Tired now and sated¢¦.it¢s amazing what a difference a day makes!
Date: 2023-08-06
From: Old Railroad Road 1991.3

To: Caribou Valley Road 2001.7
Miles today: 10.3

Hiking Day 134, ending elevation 2210 feetAnother glorious Summer Day (the second in a row!)! Adam picked us (Kerry, Rich, Felix and I) up at 6:30 AM and dropped us, 1 1/2 hours later, 1.5 miles from the trailhead, where we should have been picked up 2 days ago. We walked back on the rocky road to the trailhead and started up the usual steep climb, this time up Lone Mountain (3261 feet). On the way up, we passed Sour Patch and Burrito. At the top, we ran into Oatie, Garfield, Cash Money and Butterfly. Later, we ran into Mary Poppins whom we hadn¢t seen since Hopewell Junction, NY. A little farther on, we found McDuck, the Okie and JFK. It was beginning to feel like Grand Central Station!Aside from seeing all the familiar faces, we enjoyed the walk through the forest, even the ever present rocks, mud and roots. Occasionally, the trail would take us out of the forest onto a ledge where we could see the tree covered mountains rolling away from us like giant waves. The view is always predictable and somehow different at the same time. We walked close to Mt Abraham (or Mt Abrams as we were told the locals all it), then up Mt. Spaulding (4010 feet) before beginning the descent to Caribou Valley Road, gently at first, then back to the very steep rock climbing we had hoped we¢d left behind. Eventually, we crossed the fast flowing South Branch of the Carrabassett River just before reaching Caribou Valley Road and meeting up with Rich (he walks faster than us) at about 2:30 p.m. About a half hour later McDuck, the Okie and JFK showed up for the same shuttle we were awaiting. They are staying at the Roadhouse (at the motel, as we did the first night, because the Roadhouse is full) and they also want to shuttle to do the Bigelows tomorrow so we coordinated with them to arrange a 6:15 a.m. shuttle.Today¢s highlight was walking over the 2000 mile mark. There was apparently a marker, but we missed it! None the less, we are feeling very pleased with ourselves to have come this far!Back at the Roadhouse, Sour Patch and Burrito had showed up with Covid. Fortunately, the Jens were on top of the situation, isolating the two of them at the motel. In the meantime, we are back to wearing masks¢¦we spent quite a bit of time with Burrito at the Cabin where she did work for stay. Kerry is not happy about this; he has a susceptibility to lung issues due to a very bad pneumonia he had as a young man.And to top it all off, Tuesday, the day we should be leaving here and heading for Monson is forecast for inches of rain again! As a result, we are now considering staying here another day to wait it out. On the bright side, although I tripped several times today, I didn¢t fall once!¢¦and so it goes¢¦
Date: 2023-08-08
To: Another rainy zero day
Miles today: 0.0

It rained a lot last night, and it is still raining. Only the rain will slow our progress now. We have a small group shuttling to East Flagstaff Road tomorrow, more than an hour away and they have decided to leave at 5 a.m. This will makes short night for me and I¢m not very happy about that, but it will put us back on the trail, about four days out of Monson, so I will be out of touch until then.Today, all we had to do was get everything in order and packed for tomorrow and hope that the weather holds for a few days, which is not likely according to the forecast. We will cross that bridge, so to speak, when we come to it. It has been pouring cats and dogs all day long. I hope it stops tomorrow. Even so, we will have more mud to deal with. Rainy days always get me down.We had a good dinner, now an early night¢the adventure continues tomorrow!
Date: 2023-08-09
From: East Flagstaff Road 2026.6

To: Pierce Pond Lean-to 2043
Miles today: 16.4

Hiking Day 136, ending elevation 1146 feetEast Flagstaff Rd 2026.6 to Pierce Pond Lean-to 2043= 16.4What a day! After the rain, the trail was mostly a river, we even had cascading waterfalls on it. Kerry thought we should wear our neoprene socks today because he said our feet would get wet. Well, he was right about that. It took me all of five minutes to slide off a wet board and into the bog, and Kerry uncharacteristically fell 3 times during the day. The mud was everywhere and impossible to avoid, and we didn¢t. We had to ford several streams which was good as it gave us the opportunity to divest ourselves of some of the mud.We were told that after the Bigelows, the terrain would be gentler until we reach Katahdin and this was certainly true today. We walked up and down gentle inclines and around several large ponds that looked more like large lakes or inland seas. The wind was blowing briskly and the lakes had white caps and waves lapping at their shores. This kept the insects away and cooled us all day. We thought today would be easier but it was really hard work focusing our attention on stepping on tree roots and rocks to avoid falling in the water or the mud. Inevitably, we occasionally fell in the mud or water anyway and eventually, I at least, gave up trying to keep my feet out of the mud.One thing I was thinking about today, is the lack of bird song. For the last few weeks we¢ve heard very few birds, especially in the morning. I wonder if they¢ve travelled elsewhere to get away from the bad weather. That said, we did hear loons, now that it¢s sunset, calling on the lake.We came to the shelter and it looks straight out at the ¢pond¢ through the trees so we rinsed our socks and our feet and now I am sitting watching the clouds, laced in gray, floating by whilst the sun lights the undulating water. It¢s so peaceful here. The hostels we¢ve been staying in have been great, but it¢s good to be back on the trail.People we¢ve run into today:Car Jack (a woman from Boston) staying in the shelter with usOrion (a man) from Fredericksburg, VA, in a hammock near byMudder (a man), also camping near the shelterPhoenix (a woman), who keeps trying to retire only to be called back to work as an assistant comptroller.Squirrel, a young man whose friends were looking for him today.
Date: 2023-08-10
From: Pierce Pond Lean-to 2043

To: Stealth Camping at 2058.1
Miles today: 15.1

Hiking Day 137, ending elevation 1175 feetWe had 3.7 miles to the Kennebec River, where the ferry only runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. so there was no point in rushing this morning. Harrison¢s Sport Camp, .3 miles away, has a pancake breakfast that is supposed to be very good but one must walk over there the day before to make a reservation. Needless to say, after a long day of walking, no one wants to do that. So, Orion, Carjack and we all walked over in the morning to see if they might at least sell us a cup of coffee, but we found the place shut up tight and no one was around. We chose to go this way anyway (toward the fish camp) because the water is very high and Harrison¢s has bridges over the dicey bits, for which we were very grateful.The four of us, and Felix walked the 3.7 miles to the Kennebec River together. A lot of it was by the side of the Pierce Pond Outlet stream, which was crashing down the mountainside and flooded over it¢s bank in places. There is still a lot of mud and it is still difficult walking on the trail.We arrived at the river at 8:45 AM and there were five people awaiting the ferry ahead of us. The ferry operator was only taking one person at a time initially as the water was unusually high and the current was very strong. By the time he got to Kerry and I, he decided to take the two of us together with Felix. It was quite a ride! I sat in the middle with Felix, whilst Kerry had to paddle as fast as he could to help the ferryman take us across. By now it was after 10 AM so we were unsure how far we might get today, but decided we would just go as far as we could. We are both getting pretty skilled at root and rock hopping to avoid falling in the mud. Sometimes we miss, but mostly we don¢t, and no falls today! The main issue for us is that it slows us down¢¦it¢s exhausting and not your typical walk in the park.The last 6 miles entailed walking over Pleasant Pond Mountain and Middle Mountain, neither of which are very high, but in typical AT fashion they require one to walk vertically straight up the side and then down the other side before tackling the next vertical climb; all of this in mud!After having plenty of water all day, we had none once we started up the mountains, and this determined our stopping place for the night, near a little creek that is probably a seasonal run off. The water is clear and we found a flat spot covered in dead leaves near by. We¢re happy to be back in the tent and I think we¢ll sleep better for it, even if the predicted rain comes! Oh well, nothing new there!People we met today:A French Computer science PhD candidate studying in Quebec, out day hiking with his parents who were visiting from France.Diving Swan and Remington, a teacher section hiking the AT, southbound for now.
Date: 2023-08-12
From: Tent site at 2070.7

To: ME Route 15 (Monson) 2083.7
Miles today: 13.0

Hiking Day 139, ending elevation 1208 feetA bit of a slow start this morning but it didn¢t rain last night and we both slept well in our dried out sleeping bags. We had a more than 7 mile (mostly forest service) logging road walk to cross a bridge over the East Branch Piscataquis (pronounced, ¢piss-cat-a-kiss¢) River that was running too fast and high to safely ford and return to the Appalachian Trail. Ordinarily, we don¢t like road walks but we were positively happy to do this one today. The road was puddle-less, mudless, rootless and rock-less, and we just walked and enjoyed the wildflowers and the scenery whilst walking at a good pace. We had almost forgotten how enjoyable this could be. Once we returned to the AT (mud, roots and rocks) we slowed down again, but we got to ME Route 6/15 at 12:30 so much faster than we¢ve been going. We had missed the noon Hostel shuttle, so we hitch-hiked in to town courtesy of Chris, a kind man in an old pickup on his way to town.There isn¢t a lot in Monson but we were able to have a good lunch, followed by a great (in my case) chocolate milkshake, and in Kerry¢s, a strawberry milkshake. We put together a very expensive re-supply from the available sources (a convenience store, the General Store and Shaw¢s Hiker Hostel, where we are staying). This will be our last re-supply, I hope, on our final 115 miles to Katahdin.We had dinner at the Lakehouse Pub, outside at a table overlooking yet another lovely lake. I am impressed with the abundance of waterways in Maine¢¦the entire state is riddled with them, like a giant Swiss cheese. .Tomorrow, no surprise, it¢s supposed to pour rain again, so we are probably going to slack pack the next 15 miles just to keep moving forward. We¢ll have to move to the Lakehouse Pub and Hotel tomorrow night, as predictably, Shaw¢s is all booked up due to the rain. The walk tomorrow includes a five mile road walk to bypass high water at Little and Big Wilson Rivrrs as well as Long Pond.
Date: 2023-08-13
From: ME Route 15 (Monson) 2083.7

To: Near Otter Pond Trail 2099
Miles today: 15.3

Hiking Day 140, ending elevation 1031 feetIt rained hard again last night and we awoke to a foggy morning and a forecast of rain for later in the day. Shaw¢s breakfast was great: eggs, potatoes, bacon and blueberry pancakes, just what a hiker needs to get going!After breakfast, Rich, Kerry, Felix and I piled into a truck with our driver, Long Shot, for a drive that would put us on a detour around the Wilson Rivers that I described yesterday. We began with the five mile road walk, which didn¢t seem that long, probably due to the lack of ¢mud-stacles.¢ In fact, even with a half hour or so for lunch, we were back at ME 15 by 3 p.m, in about 6 hours, so I plan to check the mileage tomorrow¢¦.I don¢t think we walked 15 miles in 6 hours!After the road walk and crossing the bridge over the river, I think it was the Little Wilson River, we walked up another road beside it until it turned into a trail and then we walked up that path beside the river until we reached one of the problematic AT crossings. I don¢t think we could have crossed it, and all the hikers we met coming north bound were planning to take the detour, but I¢m betting someone will try to cross. We were happy with our choice to detour. The forest was rich with tall evergreen trees, and the ground was mostly covered with moss and pine needles. To me, it had the feel of an old forest where magical creatures might live. To support my feeling, I couldn¢t help but notice the plethora of toadstools all around us that would make lovely homes for any of those creatures! Speaking of toadstools, we¢ve been seeing a lot of good sized toads (I wonder if they¢re disguising any princes¢¦.sorry, I can¢t help myself!). Google thinks the one I saw today is a Fowler Toad, but some have been plain old American Toads.About 2 p.m. and 2 miles out from our pick up point, it started to rain gently. At first, it was so gentle we barely felt a few drops through the trees, but when we looked out across Leeman Pond, we could see the rain dropping on the water creating a steady show of splashes where it hit. We were hoping the downpour would hold off until we reached the road and mostly it did, but we knew it was coming. This time, hitchhiking was easier; a young couple, Daniel and Justine picked us up almost right away and brought us into Monson.First stop: a milkshake at the ice cream shop and then on to Shaw¢s to pay our bill and pick up our packs before heading over to the Lakeshore Pub for the night. By now, we had a good rain coming down, so we were happy to be under cover. Once again, we saw lots of hikers converging on the hostel¢¦as we close in on the last 100 miles I suppose this is to be expected. Tomorrow, we will continue through the 100 Mile Wilderness, and I may be off line now until Katahdin. I¢m praying the weather is kinder for a few days, we could use a break!
Date: 2023-08-14
From: Near Otter Pond Trail 2099

To: Atop Chairback Mountain 
Miles today: 11.5

Hiking Day 140, ending elevation 2142 feet?We had breakfast sandwiches and coffee at the General Store before heading back to Shaw¢s where Kerry bought his fifth pair of new shoes: some lone peak altras. Poet (who owns the hostel with his wife, Hippy Chick) drove us, Rich and 2 women back to the road we started on yesterday, Before leaving us there he said a haiku poem he had written and took our photos.Kerry and I weighed our packs before we left the Lakeshore Lodge and with extra food for us and the dog, his weighed 34 lbs and mine surprised me at 33 lbs. I have not weighed my bag before; I didn¢t want to know how heavy it was but I think this must be the heaviest so far.At the drop off point, we said, ¢goodbye¢ to Rich before he took off with his usual speed, then Kerry and I immediately started our negotiations with the mud, which we eventually lost. There was too much of it to avoid ad eventually we each had two wet muddy feet.We climbed several mountains (Barren, 3 Chairback mountains and Columbia mountain), a fairly strenuous day but it was the mud, roots and slippery wet rocks that continued to challenge us. The forest was easy on the eyes and every once in a while we¢d come out on the ledges to lovely views (yes, the usual tree-covered mountains). Someone told us we would get our.kfirst glimpse of Katahdin today, and we probably did, but neither of us knew what we were looking at.On top of one of those mountains, we encountered the small plane crash that Wendy at the ATC told us about. It happened a couple of years ago and the father and young son that got into foggy weather which caused the crash, apparently we¢re able to camp that night on the mountain and walk out the next day. I suppose in a way it was fortunate for them that they crashed practically on the AT.We made slow progress today, Kerry had a couple of falls on those slippery roots and that made him more cautious and we decided to stop at the Chairback Gap Lean-to, but when we arrived, there were already 4 people spread out who didn¢t seem interested in making room for us so we decided to move on. Sandman, who we haven¢t seen in weeks, was there but he too was oddly reticient.The first place we came to that wasn¢t wet and where we could squeeze our tent in was atop Chairback Mountain. The wind was blowing hard¢¦a little night music to go to sleep to and the sunset was glorious¢¦we¢ve seen far too few of those!It¢s good to be back in our tent, alone again, the way we like it!People we saw today:Ole Man who used to own the AT Hostel in Milliknocket, he told me what transportation to take to Portland when we¢re ready to go home.Roxie, she told us she is the oldest black woman on the trail. She is from GuyanaAcorn and Uncle SamMcDuck, JFK and the OkieMB at the Lakeshore House
Date: 2023-08-15
From: Atop Chairback Mountain 

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 16.5

Hiking Day 144, ending elevation 2402 Feet.The alarm went off at 5 a.m. I thought I set it earlier but we both slept well and probably benefitted from the extra sleep. Even though the wind blew much of the night, the inside and outside of the tent was unexpectedly wet this morning, so we had to put the tent away damp. We had some fresh berries for breakfast though,,,,bog berries all around us!Like last night we had a glorious sunrise and of course, we had a view across the valleys and the more distant mountains. It was slow going climbing over rockfalls etc to get to The West Branch of the Pleasant River, one of the potential problematic crossings that turned out to be no problem at all. The water came to just below our knees so we got some of the mud off our pants and shoes. Even Felix was able to walk across and he got cleaned up too!After that the trail was remarkably level for awhile although I had a bad fall when I tripped on a root whilst watching someone coming toward me instead of the ground, Around noon, Rich and Andrea passed us and he told us that it was 10:30 p.m. before he returned to the hostel yesterday, because the other hiker being shuttled was late and did not go to designated pick up point. Anyway, they are camped nearby tonight. Kerry and I chose to stay in the shelter because we are tired and our tent is wet.In the afternoon, we climbed four mountains including White Cap, which we are told is the last big mountain before Katahdin. I don¢t mind climbing mountains, it tends to keep us out of the mud.It¢s dark now and everyone around me is asleep so it¢s time for me to go too!In the shelter:Drifter and his adult son, Joe, hiking the100 mile Wilderness.We saw Sandman on the trail3 guys from Shaw¢s southbound MaxTrack who distracted me when I fell.