morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-06-30
From: Carter Dome

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: mist

Holy moly - a day in which we actually put in some miles! Last night I had felt pretty sick, so I didn't end up staying at Carter Notch Hut, although I had already done my work-for-stay, and opted to camp out instead. I felt a little better in the morning, but something still wasn't quite right.And that was compounded on my way down North Carter where I slipped and slid down a granite slab for about 10 feet, putting a big hole in my ankle, scraping up the side of my hip/butt, and my shoulder. It sucked, and destroyed my confidence in downhills for quite a few days after. Though, it was kind of nice to be hiking alone again for a little bit, I wish that someone had been around for the fall. Oh well.At the rattle river shelter I sat for a long while, nibbling a little, and wallowing in my pain and my down-and-out feeling. Then Scrubbs showed up, and who with him but Pacer! It was good to see both of them, and we made our way quickly to US 2 where at the trail head Shatter was already picking up someone in an AMC pickup truck. Yay! He dropped us off and I went to the post office, got my new pair of Solomons and shipped my Keens (which, after the fall I was not too keen on) home.We got a cheap motel room, went out for pizza and played mini-golf. Pacer kicked both of our butts. Took some beers back to the room, had some showers, and hit the rack. A good and productive town stop, though I wish I had been feeling a little better. Food just wasn't sitting well in my stomach.
Date: 2005-07-01
From: Gorham, NH

To: Gentian Pond Campsite
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: clear sky

After a late morning of doing laundry, eating munchkins from Dunkin' Doughnuts, buying groceries and watching Wimbledon, Scrubs and I finally got moving. Kind of - we stoped off at a nice little cafe with some delicious soup and sandwiches, and didn't really end up leaving town 'till 2pm or so. Outch! Earlier in the morning, however, I had run into Boomerang, Biscuts! and Graham the scott. Got a hitch out to the trail and getting out of the truck we saw Lopsided getting out too. He had hiked the previous day southbound through the Carter/Moriah range. The three of us hiked on our short day towards the Gentian Pond Campsite. Enroute, we saw a Moose! Yay! This was our first moose on the trail, though Scrubs and I had seen one when we were driving around moose hunting with Chuck a while back. But this one was just standing there off the trail munching away.Gentian Pond was really the first time that we were in a shelter with a large group of Southbounders. I don't remember any of their names, but they were all pretty cool, though there was a fair bit of weed smoked by two of them. For breakfast too! ::sigh:: who understands this - isn't the trail enough of a high for people?But anyway, Gentian Pond is a lovely spot next to the waterfall at the end of this pond. Beautiful! Too bad we had little view down.
Date: 2005-07-02
From: Gentian Pond Campsite

To: Old Speck
Miles today: 15.8

ENTERING MAINE: THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE.Scrubs, Lopsided and I got a pretty good start this morning. We met Shatter again at the Maine/New Hampshire state line. He was on his way to Gentian Pond to work on a stone stair project for the AMC. I'm glad I'm not out moving stones by myself. You rock Shatter!We got to the top of Goose Eye Mtn. via a series of ladders - it was quite the climb, but it had an amazing view. To the north we could see, at the end of an above tree-line stretch to the drop-off at Mahoosuc Notch - where we were headed. A lovely walk in some wicked windy conditions. Clothing was flapping around and we had fun leaning into the wind.Mahoosuc notch was a fun challenge. It's not so much the crawling under boulders which makes it difficult, but the uncertainty of leaping across the tops of them, with big gaps between that you're not sure that you could get out of if you fell down into one. It took us about an hour to do the mile - which is fairly typical I think.Up a big up Mahoosuc Arm, and then around to Speck Pond, the highest pond in Maine. It was beautiful and there were some people fishing from it. We had dinner at the Speck Pond shelter and filled up our water. There were quite a few charachters there - Robo and his canadian friends Java Pete and Vince. There were also several large groups of young kids camping at the site as well as an Outward Bound group who chatted with us for a while.But we didn't want to pay to stay in an overcroweded shelter so we headed up a beautiful exposed granite trail on the AT, and then took the .4mi side trail to the top of Old Speck Mtn where there was a fire tower that we caught a spectacular sunset from - looking west over the nortern whites, the green mountains further to the west, and a spectacular string of lakes to the north. It was cold and windy, but it wasn't going to rain so we cow-boyed it in the shelter of some trees on the top of the mountain. Great day!
Date: 2005-07-03
From: Old Speck

To: Andover, ME
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

After a nice night cowboy style, Scrubs Lopsided and I got up and made our way down to Grafton to find Scrubs' and my fathers waiting to hike over Baldpate with us. As it turns out, they had come UP to meet us, and we found them chatting with Robo and Vince and Java Pete. A beautiful sunny but windy day. We got up to Table Rock and took a nice long break looking out over the notch, then proceeded up a pretty rugged trail. Took lunch on the east peak. Wes decided to go back the way he had come, so he departed as a whole big crew caught up with us: Java Pete, Vince Kanuck, Lopsided, and were there more? We trooped down to East B Hill Rd. together. Took a quick break at Fry Notch Lean-to. And we say a moose! It was excellent. When we got to the road, mom was there waiting for us with the van and we all went into Andover. We found Robo at the Anderson Guest House, and all went for dinner across the street. Mmmmm pizza. It turned out that on the eve of the 4th of July, some of the locals have a tradition of watching a video of an entire Rush concert. I couldn't keep myself awake long enough to partake.
Date: 2005-07-04
From: Andover, ME

To: Bemis Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: clear sky

After a wicked cheap breakfast at the dinner, and devouring the pie my mom had brought, the whole crew from the Anderson Guest House got a ride up East B Hill road in the proprietor's minivan. Scrubs, Lopsided and I took off and got to the Hall Mountain Shelter for a nice little break. The canadians and Robo caught up to us and we hug there for a short while. But it was long enough to see a group of kids come in from Chewonki. The connection of the hour was that one of the trip leaders was friends of the person who planted the idea to hike the trail in my head. It was a cool revelation, and set the tone of the day.We hiked on, and after a steep decent and a stream crossing came to Moody Mtn, which appears to be aptly named. The climb up and over moody mountain appears to have no purpose whatsoever - it's steep, short and has no view. But whatever, it was a hot day, a good sweating day, and i had fun charging on up, passing two southbounders. Found Scrubs hanging out on the other side, sitting on a rock in the middle of Black Brook, talking to a trio of southbounders on the north bank of the pleasant little stream. We chatted a while, got water, Lopsided arrived, and we continued on.Continued on up Old Blue Mountain. I liked Old Blue. It was getting late in the day, cooling off. At the summit, with a fine view, Scrubs and Lopsided contiued on and I spent some time refleting in the event of the day - meeting the guy who was friends with my friend who is basically responsible for my being on that mountain right then. Thinking about my debt of gratitude and thanks for this person being in my life, and for all the true friends that I have.From Old Blue, cranked out the remaining 6 miles to Bemis Mountain Lean-to, which was fairly flat, with lots of roots, many a bog-log, and a dense forest.
Date: 2005-07-05
From: Bemis Mountain Lean-to

To: Rangely, ME
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Not much to say about this day. Scrubs tried to go swimming in Long Pond, but after walking out a very long way, it didn't get deep enough. We took a long break eating at the picknick table there, and watching the leeches sniff at the shore for our blood. On the way to the Little Swift River Pond campsite the rain came in, and it rained on and off all the way to Rt. 4, where we got a hitch into Rangley. On the way down to the trailhead we saw several interesting species - the majestic moose and the not so majestic soaked day-hiker. Went into Rangely, bought something at the not-an-outfitter store, had an expensive and uninspiring dinner across the street. Crasy rain outside, and when we went out to get out packs and to resuply and call the hostel guy, he found us on the main street, gave us a ride to the grocery, and we went back to Gull Pond for the night.
Date: 2005-07-06
From: Rangely, ME

To: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to
Miles today: 18.7

A cloudy dreary drizzly morning greeted us, and we made our way up to the Piazza Rock lean-to where we met two groups of little kids who asked Scrubs and I some cute questions, and the second group gave us oranges! Woohooo! Getting back in the drizzle we made our way up to treeline on Sadleback Mtn. We got above the clouds, and had a relatively good view to the north, and we could see Sugarloaf and the direction we were headed for the remainder of the day to the Spaulding Mtn. Lean-to.The decent down Saddleback and The Horn and Saddleback Junior were very trying for me. I just got sick of going down sheer granite rock trails. The slipping, the uncertainty, the bad experience coming down North Carter - all added up and I was sick of it. Chugged along quickly to Popular Ridge Lean-to, where I met up with Scrubs and a handful of southbounders. I was really down in the dumps. I said that if Liana (my girlfriend) showed up at the next roadcrossing and offered to take me back home, I would have taken her up on it. Scrubs was an excellent sport, and was super positive, and I thank him very much for dragging my out of the dumps that I was in.The climb down was not particularly fun, but once we started going up the gentle incline to Lone Mtn, I was feeling much better, and Scrubs and I had a good walk, along side of, and across the several small streams, and into the lush conifer forest. Lone Mtn. has no view, but dose have a summit sign. We passed up the chance to climb Mt. Abraham, and continued onto Spaulding Mtn. A nice spring and hanging with the boys (Lopsided showed up too) raised my spirits, and the only few hours that I ever wanted to stop passed.
Date: 2005-07-07
From: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: broken clouds

Onwards to Stratton! By virture of staying at Spaulding last night we had an excellent hike on up to Sugarloaf in the morning. Climbed up the blue blaze to the top - it was a crystal clear day and we had views all the way to the north and south. We saw Katahdin and Washington at the same time. On the summit, as you may know, there is the abandoned summit lodge which is open to hikers. It has electricity and a telephone and it affectionately known as the "sugar shack". It's not the most beautiful summit - what with the communiations towers and chair lift and lodge, but the views were deffinately worth it. This is the second tallest mountain in Maine.So we eventually had to go down, and on towards the next town - Stratton. Scrubs and I stopped for lunch at the big stream crossing - I cooked up some rice and beans and dried out my tent. After crossing the stream both Scrubs and i decided we didn't really care about climbing the Crockers (about 2,000ft), so we took the logging road and road walked all the way to where the trail intersected Rt. 27. Got a ride from a couple of ladies who had just taken a little day hike. They told us, on our ride into town, about the subway bombings in London.We resupplied, and could have headed out of town (which I was originally contemplating), but Scrubs convinced me to get a room with him at the little motel. It was cheap. Sat down in the restaraunt with a big crew of SOBOs, and then got some Pizzas and beer and hung out with JR and Marty, who were in the room next to us. Good times. Watched too much TV - so I went to bed early. All in all a solid day.
Date: 2005-07-08
From: Stratton, ME

To: Little Bigelow Lean-to
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Got a hitch out of town with JR and Marty, and we struck off together. Passed several southbounders and at least one dog. The climb of Bigelow was really nice. Stoped for quite some time at Horns Pond. Had a long snack break at the lean-to, looking up at the Horns, which were absolutely beautiful. Then talking for a long time with the lady who was caretaker. Great conversation, wonderful woman. To hikers going south came by to stop for the day, and we talked. Very nice.Climbed up Bigelow and met up with Marty and JR on West Peak. Had lunch (a late lunch I assume). They picked up and moved on first, and I enjoyed the breezy tranquility of being one of only three people on the bigelows that late afternoon. Clouds closed in and I got a move on and hustled over Avery peak and across Little Bigelow, where I caught back up to Marty and JR. We spent some time looking down over the valley, and could see a small little air field to the south east.We got to the shelter and found Excaver with her hammock all set up. Cooked dinner and crawled into bed early. I guess JR and Marty played a little frisbe in the dark. The privy at little bigelow is quite nifty - it has curtains over the windows and is rather posh.
Date: 2005-07-09
From: Little Bigelow Lean-to

To: Pierce Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: moderate rain

Left the shelter rather late today - hard to get motivated to walk in the rain. But once the walking had commenced, it was nice enough to be out. Reached the fabled "2000 Miles" road in solitude. The marking in the middle of the road had been painted over slightly by a brand-new yellow stripe. Is "progress" coming to the back woods of Maine?Past several SOBOs in the rain on the way to West Carry Pond Lean-to. They had decked themselves out in raingear and didn't look to be having too much fun. Having just hiked 2000 miles, I was a little bit elated, and probably seemed a bit wacky with the huge grin that was on my face as I waleked through the rain.A West Carry Pond Lean-to there was a group of four SOBOs who had decided to take a zero in the shelter that day, though it wasn't raining too hard. They seemed pretty cool, and it was tempting to stay, but I wanted to be able to make it to the Kennebec in the morning to catch the ferry.Pressed on with Lopsided through the swamp that Bennedict Arnold got bogged down in. The water was a little high in one place, so the bog-logs were floating and when you stepped on them they sank down into the brown water. It was a fun game kind of jumping between them. Around the crossing with the Aronld Trail, the AT runs over a series of cool, what must be, glacial eskers. Really neat.Anyay, on the way up Bates Ridge the real rain came. And it POURED. Probably the hardest rain that I've seen on the trail so far. Followin up along side of the stream up Bates Ridge, the lightenign moved in, the trial was flooded out, it was an absolute deluge. I just took of and flew down the hill to Pierce Pond. Pulling up to the shelter I was surprised, but eventually glad, not to see JR and Marty there. They had gone ahead to Harrison's. Well, it was good that they did, because there were already 6 in the shelter when I got there. And Lopsided was somewhere behind me.They were a great group of SOBOs in the shelter, and we had a great time chatting. There wasn't enough room to squeeze Lopsided in on the platform, so he spent the night down on the ground. Bummer.
Date: 2005-07-11
From: Moxie Bald Lean-to

To: Shaw's in Monson, ME
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: broken clouds

I hiked alone today for the whole trip to Monson. The Southbounders weren't even out of bed by the time I left. I made good time, and enjoyed very much some of the absolutely flat walking on the decent to the West Branch of the Piscataquis River. There were a big section along Bald Mountain stream where the trail was at the top of a very large berm decending down to the river which was continually washing it away. That was followed by an old logging road which was completely grown over, but still as smooth as an interstate. It was so enjoyable.There were several good stream crossings. At the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to, Mississippi Alan had drawn a hilliarous cartoon of a "typical southbounder" which was in response to a previously drawn "typical northbounder" depicted in the register. Sure enough I passed a couple more such hikers on the rest of the journey to Monson.The trail between the crossing of Shirley-Blanchrd Road and the blue blaze into Monson was a terrible bit of trail, mainly consisting of ATV and snowmobile ruts and routes. Kind of a downer for the end of the day. I arrived in Monson via. the Blue Blaze around 2pm or so - far earlier than I had anticipated. I got settled in at Shaw's, laid out the tarptent to dry etc. I sorted out the things that I wouldn't be needing in the 100 Mile Wilderness, and put a whole bunch of things in my bump box, and shipped it all back home. Kind of the first monumental "this is the end" moment - when you have used all the maps, you won't need anymore Dr. Bronner's to shower with at the next hostel etc. Mom had sent me a package of things, including a head net for the bugs, which I neglected to bring with me.Lopsided and I did laundry, and got a pizza and ben & gerry's at the deli/mini-mart at the other end of town. We consumed the ice cream on the spot waiting for our pizzas to cook, and then relocated to the laundrymat. At that point Marty and JR had gotten into town and were repacking their re-supply. They were planning on doing the whole thing without stopping at White House Landing - so they had 5 (or 6?) full days of food in their packs. Wow!I bought a few things, JR and Marty took off for the trail, and I returned to Shaw's to have a beer with Jaybird and Keith Jr.
Date: 2005-07-12
From: Shaw's in Monson, ME

To: North of Barren Mountain
Miles today: 25.5

Departed this morning relatively early, though not as early as planned. Lopsided had already been to the trailhead and then come back, because he had forgotten something important at Shaw's. Here I am in Maine, about to enter the hundred mile wilderness, and what do I do? I take my first yellow blaze. oops! I was originally planning to road-walk up Rt. 15, since I had taken the blue blaze into Monson. But I was being offered a ride right from Shaw's and lopsided was already in the car, so I said "what the heck", hopped in and didn't look back. It turned out to be a decent idea, because we quickly caught up to JR and marty and we all traveled together over and along the bizzare little granite ridges or ledges. Took some pictures at Little Wilson Falls with the disposable camera, and thought about swimming, but kept going. It was pretty hot out by the time we got to the railroad tracks, at which point Lopsided declared "WOW! this is quite the wilderness!" Encountered a huge group of weekenders at the Wilson Valley lean-to, who warned us of the impossibility of finding the trail coming across the slide another two miles up the trail. They were almost right, except for someone going southbound (which they were) there were some pretty clear blazes. Ah well. I left lopsided after filling my water at the lean-to, and continued on, determined to camp at the top of a mountain tonight. Saw one or two other people headed south. Miraculously found a dry route across Long Pond Stream, after about 10-15 minutes of searching. I don't thinkn it was so much about staying dry, as wanting to outsmart the water. I succeded. It was a pretty cool gorge on the way up to Long Pond Stream lean-to, clearly a place frequented by day-hikers (WOW, some wilderness!). I picked up a nalgene that someone had dropped on the trail, left it in the lean-to and wrote a sarcastic note in the register about fashionable urban day-hikers and slow-to learn southbounders. Of course, I was that way too. It took me 'till New Jersey to dump my nalgene. I was addicted, and cool. But dumb.It was a lovely climb up to the Barren Ledges, which affored a georgous view of Lake Onawa. A woman hiking southbound peered out to the ledge, said 'hi', and kept on going down the hill. Beautiful silence. Except for the sound of the train down on the other side of the lake. (WOW, some wilderness!) Climbed up Barren Mountain to find Marty sitting by the base of the firetower talking to JR who was nowhere in sight. Where was he? Down the hill aways taking a load off. A humerous yet serious conversation about defication ensued. The top of the firetower had an INCREDIBLE view. I could have stayed up there for hours. too bad it doesn't have a platform on it, because I probably would have slept there. Marty broke out the bottle of scotch that his girlfriend had sent him, and we consumed it and moved on down the mountain. We camped between Barren and 4th Mtn. in a lovely col with many signs of moose. Yet, we didn't see any. Great night.
Date: 2005-07-13
From: North of Barren Mountain

To: Junction w/ White Brook Trail
Miles today: 18.4

We all awoke to the thundering of feet, which we hoped was going to be a moose, but it turned out to be Lopsided moving at an incredible rate along the trail. I don't think he even saw our tents!We got up and started moving over the bumpy ridge of the Barren Chairback Range on our way to Chairback Mountain, the last hill before plunging down towards the Pleasant River and Gulf Hagas. What a georgous day! We were pretty sure we could see the peak of Katahdin on the other side of Whitecap, which was coming up, and would be the last mountain on the trail before the Big-K. It was dry and clear, and rather warm.Lopsided and I moved on down the mountain, passed a group of four or five southbounders, crossed the road and changed into Waldies and Crocs to get across the river. No way we were going to get our shoes wet now! Kept them on the the mile or so up to the side trail to Gulf Hagas. Crossed that stream, found a beautfiul series of waterfalls, climed over to a hard to get to and beautiful perch and ate a late lunch. We continued up "the gulf" and I split off at the "cut-off" halfway to the end, back to the AT. Trucked like a bat out of hell up alongside gulf hagas brook to the Carl A. Newhall Lean-to, where came soon a group of high-school and junior high kids. Great folks, and their leaders had them ask me questions about the trail.Grabbed some water from the nasty looking beaver brook, purified it, and hauled up to the top of Gulf Hagas Mtn, which had some newly cut trail. At the top of Gulf Hagas Mountain, which looked as if it had been mostly cleare at one point in the past, there was this rock with an arrow pointing the way to Katahdin. But I had accended into the cloud, so there was no view. Hike on.Pitched my tent for the night at the junction of the AT and the White Brook Trial between Hay and Whitecap Mountains. Nice little spot tucked away to fit my tent. Had a great night and listend to some thunder rumble in the distance and had some sprinkels on the tent.