morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-07-06
From: Moxie Bald Lean-to

To: Caratunk 
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: moderate rain

Didn't sleep well due to the active mice. There was a channel 6 inches from my head that was a mouse highway and kept waking to the scratching noise they make. Up with the light and ready to hit the trail by 6:45. Checked the lake one more time and saw Powder Puff and Hunger Pains still sawing logs in there tents. Just before leaving met two retired marines, hiking with no shirts, very fit and covered with tattoos. talked for a few minutes and the took off. They are much faster then me, but take a number of breaks. Ran into them in and off thru the day. Started the day with a climb over Moxie Bald, a 1500' climb which was not bad first thing in the morning. Down the other side of Moxie, saw the marines at a river crossing. The bright turquoise dragon flies with the black butterfly wings were there, and I stopped to camel up. It was a hot muggy day and I was drinking a lot of water. Next was a climb up to pleasant pond, which rolls up a series of five sholes and seemed to go on forever, for another 1500'. The initial downhill was steep and was hard on my knees and legs. Had lunch just past the top on the downward side which wasand saw the marines again. 7 miles to Caratunk mostly downhill with some good trail. I was moving pretty well but tired 4 miles out and caught my right boot toe on a root growing over a rock. Before I knew what was going on, I was flying through the air head firsts until a big mossy rock stopped me. Laid there for a minute to figure out if I was hurt or ok. Slight bump and scrap on my forehead, and a very stiff neck, but ok. This was my worst fall yet, which seems to happen about twice a day - slippery rock or root and you are down. Pushed on a fairly level trail to Caratunk which is right on the trail. Walking into town stopped at the first B&B run by Paul, a past thru hiker who hiked the AT and the PCT multiple times. Paul is a soft spoken man and a great conversationalist. He made me feel right at home. His B&B was filled with a ton of things that he collected over the years and was really cozy. Showered and got ready for a drive out to a restaurant for dinner with a few other Sobos. A young couple was taking a lazy hike south with the goal to complete the AT in 365 days - wow, I plan on 4 1/2 months. Dinner was a big burger, frys and a big green salad - fantastic. Back to the B&B by 8:30, bought a few Good-to-go bars (which I love, the apricot nut especially) did a few chores and went to bed. I had been feeling worn out during the day and understood why when I started coughing during the night. The curse of the 12 year old at cloud pond lean-to.
Date: 2016-07-07
From: Caratunk 

To: West Carry Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 14.0

Paul made a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and French toast with fresh ground coffee made with a press. It was fantastic. Breakfast was at 7 which timed really well to catch the ferry across the Kennebec River which was just a 10 minute walk from Paul's. The Kennebec is a river just too deep to ford, so the ATC hires a local to ferry hikers back and forth with a canoe. Ferry time is 9-11 until later in July when more Nobos are coming through, then it expands in the afternoon from 1-4. I was at the ferry right at 9 with one other hiker at the river already on the north side. The south side was piled up with about 10 Nobo's, but I would be on the first ride going south. It was raining which persisted throughout the day with patches of calm, heavy rain and thunder. The trail for the day was a mild uphill climb but due to the rain it was really slippery. There were a series of cascading waterfalls to the left of the trail for most of the first 4 miles and they kept pulling me off trail a few tenths of a mile to see. Really nice. I stopped for lunch at a pond during a dry period in the day just before passing a beautiful sand beach on the lake. I got to Carry Pond Lean-to around 4 and had a lot of time to horse around. Eric, another Sobo that stayed at Paul's B&B got in at 5:45, which about when I was making dinner. In the bag around 8 with a chest cold coming on pretty strong. Feeling really tired. Didn't sleep well due to coughing fits I would have through the night and got up the next day tired. Tomorrow would be a really hard day with big climbs up and over the Bigalows.
Date: 2016-07-09
From: Avery Memorial Camp

To: Stratton
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

It is a common practice for thru hikers to sleep in you wet clothes, it drys them out so you start with dry clothes for the day. I had been ding this for the past number of days and it works pretty well. Going back to the second day of my hike, I developed bruises and open sores on my shoulders from my pack straps rubbing against the top of my shoulder. Since I hadn't taken off my shirt for awhile I didn't know what was going on with the wounds. Getting up, I noticed that my shirt was stuck to my left shoulder and decided to figure out what was going on when I got to Stratton. The Swiss couple on the next platform over were up before me, packed up and left quickly. They has a large dog with them, which was quit sweet. I got up, hiked up the hill 100 yards to the caretaker cabin, boiled water for oatmeal and coffee and went back down to pack up my tent. The base tent was fairly dry, but the fly was soaking wet. I tied the fly to the outside of my pack after eating breakfast and started to hike up and over the West Peak of Bigelow Mtn. I was still in a cloud going down the steep 1/2 mile climb down toHorns Pond lean-to and found Alex and Clara in the day use lean-to eating breakfast trying to keep out of the rain. I stopped for a break and talked to them for about 20 minutes. Clara grew up in Texas and traveled/worked all over the world including Tacoma WA. We both love Mt Rainier. I was still hunger and ate a Good-Togo bar. My legs were really tired today and heavy from the hard climb the previous day and started the steep hike down with Alex and Clara. They don't have a phone and we're hoping that I would help them get a shuttle ride to the Stratton Motel. The climb down was steep, slippery and slow, but I ended up going much faster than Alex and Clara. I made it to the road before noon, dumped my pack on the ground and called Ben at the Motel for a ride. Ten minutes later I was headed into town. I told Ben that Alex and Clara were behind me, had a dog and needed a ride. He said that he would go back to pick them up after dropping me off. The Stratton Motel was full for the night but I made plans with them to slack pack the section between Stratton and Rangeley, and wold stay at the motel the next night after the first segment of three slack pack days. I stayed at the Inn next door, dryer out my tent, did laundry at a laundromat and took a good look at my shoulder. Two sores on my left shoulder was infected and there was a flap of skin still attached at one end on one wound. Washed it well, treated it with am antibiotic cream and put bandages on them. Went downstairs in the inn and had an Elk burger and a salad - not bad, worked at drying out my stuff and called it a day.
Date: 2016-07-14
From: Bemis Mtn lean-to

To: Hall Mtn Lean-to
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Sorry for not posting in a while. I don't have access to the Internet very often and I'm really behind with updates. For example, I currently am in Glencliff NH and have just walked over the last of the White Mtns. Looking at the map, I thought, ok, some rolling up and down, two decent sand two climbs, but it's only 13 miles, how hard could it be? The Sobos were calling this section the W, and it's brutal. I was the last to leave camp but thought, it's only 13 miles, no problem. All of the others in the lean-to were hiking over Bemis Mtn, up and over Old Blue, down to South Arm Rd and into Andover for a resupply. Creature was going into town for a couple of phone interviews. My shoulder has been improving since I've been using bandages. I still have a cough, but it's improving. The day started warm hiking up and over Bemis and I was feeling a little worn out so I took a slow pace going over Bemis and Elephant Head. At 9:30, breakfast had burned off and I stopped for 2nd breakfast at a spring, pulled some water and made Nuun. There is a steep 700' climb over Old Blue followed by a steep 2200' decent to Black Brook Notch. It was a knee buster and a slow decent. At the bottom I stopped at Black Brook, had lunch of sardines, dried mango and nuts. Drank some Nuun and started up over Moody Mtn, the middle section of the W. I pulled a muscle in my left thigh going down Old Blue and was sweeting like a beast. It was now hot and humid. Moody is a steep 1000' climb followed by a short level walk along the ridge and finally a very steep 1300' down to Sawyer Notch. My knees and feet were screaming at me and I was hot. The climb up Wyman Mtn to Hall Mtn lean-to was a very steep 1500' climb over 1 1/2 miles. I was working on my second quart of Nuun at this point and noticed that a thunder storm was moving in. Please let me get to the lean-to before the rain hits. I stumbled into the shelter around 5:30 and immediately got water for dinner. Back at the shelter, the sky got really dark and then the skies let loose. It was pouring rain. Made Chili Mac for dinner, ate and called it a day at 8 pm. Today was brutal.
Date: 2016-07-15
From: Hall Mtn Lean-to

To: Bald Plate Lean-to
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: few clouds

Awake with the light and out of my bag at 5:30. Cooked oatmeal and made coffee and walking at 7:00. Started with a mild 400' climb up Wyman Mtn filled by a nice 5-6 mile downhill over light bogg to Surplus Pond. It rained throughout the night, so it the trail was wet and squishy with a lot of roots and rocks, but I made good time to the pond. There was a short 200' climb after the pond followed by a steady but mild 2 1/2 mile decent to Dunn Notch. Got water at a stream at the notch and had a nice rolling 1700' climb up and over Surplus Mtn. The day started out muggy, but got nicer as the day developed. Up and over Surplus and down to Frye Notch Lean-to at 1:30 and stopped for lunch. I passed a number of Nobos along the way stopping to talk to a few. Next was a 2 mile 1300' climb. This was steep and I slipped a few times going up and over the twin peaks of Baldplate Mtn. Along the way I met Future Dad, a Nobo who tells really bad corny jokes. Good natured though. The 3/4 mile 1000' decent from Baldplate West Peak was difficult and slow, and I was glad to get to the shelter at 5:30. Sunny Daz was there along with Kremlin, a Sobo in her late 20's, a few day hikers and Hana Solo, a tall cute blond in her 20s. There was a group of French Canadian boys in there teens at the shelter and they had a fire going in the fire ring in front of the shelter. While eating Thai Curry for dinner I mentioned that today was my birthday. The French Canadian group looked up and immediately started singing happy birthday in French. There was a mother daughter combo who were cowboy camping out side the shelter, so when it started to rain at 11:30, they came racing back into the lean-to making a ruckus. It rain d pretty had for about 45 minutes and then calmed down. That's about all I remember until the next morning. Overall, a good day.
Date: 2016-07-16
From: Bald Plate Lean-to

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The day started with a nice 3/4 mile warm up hike from Baldplate followed by a moderately steep 1000' decent to Rt 26. Somewhere around the bottom of the downhill I caught up to Sunny Daz who was out of the shelter before me. We hiked together for the rest of the day. After crossing the road, we started a 3 1/2 mile 2500' climb up to the peak of Old Spec Mtn. This was hard and my legs felt tired from the previous day and I was generally worn out. By noon when I was up and over Old Spec and walked into Spec Pond Shelter for a break and something to eat. At the shelter I met Goldie Lox, Lumberjack, Top3, and Ramen King, all Sobos in there 20s. Speck Pond Shelter sits at the south end of Mahoosuc Arm and the Mahoosuc Notch, and is the place where my brother and I met two Nobo thruhikers back in my early 20s. There was a guy and a gal now in Maine ready to complete there AT thruhike. I talked to the gal for a while and she told me about the AT, the states that it passes, what life is like on the trail and what she liked most about the hike. I remember being in awe of someone doing an epic hike, and it was at that moment that the dream to hike the AT was kindled. Here is a woman who I met briefly for maybe 20 minutes, who changed the course of my life. Back to the present, Mahoosuc Arm is a very steep 1500' decent to Mahoosuc Notch over 1 1/2 miles. We had been hearing for the Nobos how brutal the arm was and took the decent slow and steady. Talking to Sunny Daz, we agreed that it wasn't any worse then previous descents we have already done and before we knew it we were at the notch. The Mahoosuc Notch is a mile long Boulder field wedged between two steep cliffs following a stream bed. The boulders are large and the path through them is a twisted and contorted scramble. We were warned to pack our polls away which we did using our hands in the scramble. The trip through the notch was a blast and took us about 1 hour to complete. Unfortunately, halfway through my Nalgene bottle stuffed in a side pocket of my pack fell out and down a 12' whole. It was gone which was a problem. My water filter attaches to a Nalgene bottle and I use it to fill my water bladder. I'll have to get a new one in Gorham coming up. Following the notch, the trail turns up and south, climbs 1200' up and over Fulling Mill Mtn to full Goose Shelter and actually wasn't that bad for a late day climb. The top of Fulling Mill was beautiful with a number of alpine bogs. We got to the shelter around 5 and met Grey Blaze and Grizzley Adams, both fifty something Nobo's. It was a nice evening and this was my first shelter that had a bear box and bear whistles in the shelter. Made dinner, ate and called it a day around 8:30. Got up at 5:20 the next morning to a wet landscape. It had started to rain in the evening and continued into the morning as light rain.
Date: 2016-07-22
From: Lake of the Clouds Hut

To: Crawford Notch
Miles today: 11.0

Got up at 5:10 with the kitchen crew starting to make noise. Still somewhat dark, I started to organize and pack up my stuff sitting on a hallway bench nursing a cup of Starbucks Via with a packet of sugar. I had my coffee sitting next to me when a 12 year old came by, put his pack on the bench next to my coffee and walked away. It promptly fell over, hit my coffee which got my hat, pants, shirt and pack. He was very apologetic but the damage was done and I felt that I had to get out of there tied my shoes and left. My left shoe lace broke at the bottom putting on my gaiters but I ignored it for about a mile until my left boot started to get really sloppy. It was 6:10 or so and I stopped to fix the laces and realized that there is a cloth loop at the toe that the laces go through making a very small area for the gaiters to grab. I undid the loop on both boots, tied and fixed the left lace and was on my way again. There was a light wind and I could see dark cloud cover on Mt Washington with grey sky's in my direction. The morning hike follows a rolling down with a few mild climbs up and over Mt Monroe, Franklin, past Eisenhower, over Clinton and finally down to Mizpah Spring Hut. On the way down to Mizpah, I passed a train of hikers with day packs and I knew that breakfast was over at the hut. Stopped in Mizpah and devoured the last of there oatmeal with plenty of cinnamon and sugar. The morning walk had cheered me up and had offered outstanding views of the White Mountain National Forest. After Mizpah, I continued down the rolling descent over Mt Jackson and Webster to Webster cliffs with a steep overlook of Crawford Notch. At this point the trail takes a sharp turn to the left to run parallel to US 302 following the ridge down to the road over a 2 mile stretch. Some of it was very steep dropping 2200' in two miles. I took it slow and was careful with my right ankle, but still managed to tweak it a few times. At the road, I crossed to the other side to figure out where the trail picked up, walked back to the road, took out my phone to find the name of the campground that I had reserved for the night, got ready to hitch a ride when AT trail angel pulled up and asked if I needed a ride. She offered me an apple and grapes, which I accepted and devoured while she shuttled me the 6 miles to the campsite. I expressed my thanks for her generosity during the ride and when she dropped me off, and went in to check into the camp. My tent site was halfway into the camp, went there, set up my tent, and headed back to the main building to charge my phone, buy some chips and grape aide, shower, write in my journal and back to camp. Ate dinner at 5:30 under darkening skies. Was in my sleeping bag at 8 pm and fell asleep to the storm blowing in. It rained hard during the night, but I was tired and slept through most of it.
Date: 2016-07-23
From: Crawford Notch

To: Zero
Miles today: 0.0

I was picked up around 8:30 by the same shuttle driver who drove me from Bangor to Baxter for a ride south to Manchester where I coul rent a car and drive to NJ. It was a long day driving and got to my hotel in Parsippany at 5 or so. Found that there was an REI nearby and drove over to pick up a few things to lighten my load - replaced my MSR Reactor with a Jetboil (lighter, more efficient and has a click start), new sleeping pad (lighter) and new Merrell camp shoes (lighter). Back at the hotel I ordered my Katabatic backpack and arranged to have it express shipped to Glencliff NH.
Date: 2016-07-24
From: Zero

To: Zero
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Got up at a reasonable time, ate a high breakfast, packed up and drove to the town where my cousin Bobby lives. Found a laundromat in the area, washed my clothes and drove over for a 4 1/2 hour visit with my mom, cousins, my aunt Marie (the guest of honor just turned 95) and others. I had a great time. At 5:30 I left and drove back to Manchester NH, returned the car and got a taxi ride to a nearby hotel. It was 11:30 and ended up in a room next to a room with at least 3 people slamming doors and having a wild time. Walked back to the front desk and asked for another room at midnight. Got to sleep at 12:30 or so.
Date: 2016-07-25
From: Crawford Notch

To: Guyot Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: broken clouds

My shuttle ride picked me up at 8 am and had me back at the trailhead at Crawford Notch at around 10:30. The trail starts with a moderate 2 mile 1700' climb up to an easy 5-6 mile level walk to Zealand Hut. It was a nice day and I was cruising over nice trail. Along the way, I came up to Cucumber, his son and his daughter Hummingbird. I had met them at the White Mountain hostel. A day after leaving the hostel I realized that I had two identical ExOfficio bugs away long sleeve T's. As I approached them I said, "Cucumber is that you? - yes - did you loose a bugs away T? - yes, well my son did, but we aren't sure where we lost it - well I have it, accidentally picked it up from the laundry since I have an identical shirt, are you stopping at the Zealand Falls Hut? - yes - good, we can make the exchange there." Cucumber is a 55 year old who just retired from A technology career at Target. Hummingbird is a very fit cute gal who just graduated from college and wanted to hike the trail before starting her career in material and clothes design. I think that Cucumber was hiking the trail with her to keep the pink blazers off her. Hummingbird and I hiked together to the Zealand Falls Hut and left dad and brother behind. The hut is located next to a spectacular cascading water fall that goes on for a good distance. At the hut I gave her the shirt and stopped in for a bowl of potato leek soup and a lemonade. I camel'd up at the hut and headed out for the final 4 1/2 miles of my day. The trail after the hut follows the falls up for a while. I saw GoldieLox, Top3, Lumberjack and Creature just before leaving and talked to them for a few minutes. The 4 miles above the hut was really sloppy trail and wore me out. About 2 1/2 miles up going over a rocky ledge interspersed with some alpine marsh, I heard a scream up ahead. About 1 minute later passed a dude with a fanny pack (ok, no problem there), carrying a large SLR (ok, heavy but it's his business) wearing a T that was just a little too tight (still no problem). As I passed him he said "your poles on the rocks freaked me out man." He screamed because of the noise that my poles made - that's it, he's a girly man. Any one or two things alone were fine, but wth that girly scream - girly man. Left him behind shaking my head and was ready for the day to end. Got to the trail junction for Guyot at 5 and rushed down the .6 miles to the shelter to get settled. My feet were sore and I was glad to get out of my boots. There was a troop of scouts at the shelter along with a mix of Nobos. Top3 and his crew came in after an hour or so. Ate dinner and talked to the other hikers until it was dark and time to call it a night. A few of the hikers were talking about slacking the Kingsman stretch from a motel in Lincoln with the owner Paul who shuttles thru hikers if you stay at his motel. I decided to do the slack and got the contact info from Top3 before it got too dark. I was warm all night and didn't sleep well. It was time to swap my 15 degree bag for a 40.
Date: 2016-07-26
From: Guyot Shelter

To: US 3, Franconia Notch
Miles today: 16.5

Up just after 5, Creature left at 4 wanting to hike the 16 miles to Franconia Notch by noon to meat up with her family. Breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and out at 6:30. There was an immediate level uphill but very rocky and sloppy trail for the first 2 miles over South Twin Mtn followed by a moderate to steep descent of 1200' to a ridge running at 3500' for the next 2 1/2 miles. The descent was an ankle and knee buster and I took it slow. The ascent up Garfield was a steep 1000' climb but was rewarded with great views of Mt Lafayette and the trail up ahead. I tried to order my 40 degree bag from Garfield since I had 3 bars of 3G service. Got up to the point of entering my credit card and then nothing, no internet service, couldn't make a call, but still showed 3 bars - maddening. It was cold in Garfield and a little windy and my fingers were frozen and decided to give it up and handle it later. The next 7 mile stretch along the Franconia Ridge was spectacular. Even with the high points in a cloud it was the most beautiful ridge I had ever walked on. It was cold and windy, my fingers were white and frozen, but I loved every minute of it. I passed a lot of day hikers and hikers heading to Greenleaf Hut, one mile off to the north of the ridge. I stopped for a bite along the ridge ducking behind a rock to get out of the wind, but it was still cold and I didn't linger too long. After a 1000' decent to Liberty Spring Shelter, I camel'd up ate another snack and started the 2000' descent down to Franconia Notch. I was tired and went down as fast as i could and was in zombie hiker mode for a while, mindless, just bouncing down the trail as quickly as I could completing the final 3 miles in just over an hour. At the road, I called Paul from the motel and he came to pick me up. It was a hard, but outstanding day. I showered, met Top3, Lumberjack and GoldieLox for dinner at a pub in town - a salad, burger, fries and a beer. Stopped in at the grocery store for some Kind bars, nuts and berries to add to my oatmeal. Back at the motel, I finished the order for my sleeping bag, a few new stuff sacks and called it a day.