morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-07-20
From: Andover

To: Andover
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Another rainy day. Numb Skull is back, (Neely's boyfriend) so I end up hanging out with him some of the day. Most of the rest of my day was spent getting my pack in order so I can move on tomorrow. After dinner, Numb skull and I hang out some more talking architecture, hiking, a discussion of trying to convert Chuck Norris into a hippy. It was a good night. Dirty Bird, Numb Skull, and Chuck Norris are leaving The Cabin tomorrow as well. Chuck is driving them to Baxter so they can start their Southbound thru. Since Dirty Bird and Numb Skull are used to thru hiking, both have done the A.T. Nobo, Neely has done the Colorado trail, and last year Neely and Jerry hiked the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) together. My thoughts are they should catch me by Penn or Harpers, which would be cool. Maybe I will be able to hang with them the rest of the trip.
Date: 2007-07-21
From: Grafton Notch

To: Full Goose Shelter & Campsite
Miles today: 9.7
Weather: scattered clouds

On the trail by 8:30 and not really motivated to be out here. I start a steep climb up Speck Mountain. I'm about half way up and I'm thinking of turning around and going home. I summit Speck and have some amazing views. I start my descent, and it is a wicked straight down. The wind is gusting and every once in awhile the wind catches me and throws me around. Finally back in the treeline the climb down is a little safer. About a 1/2 mile from the shelter I pass the caretaker, his name is Earle from The Cabin asked me to carry up some beers for him. (AMC runs this stretch thru all of New Hampshire, some of the shelters will now be pay sites with a caretaker. These shelters are no different than what we have been staying in.) I give Zach his booty then I press on to the shelter. Feeling tired I take a 2 hr nap. I wake up with my head on straight and I feel like a thru hiker again. My goal is to make it to the Mahoosuc notch and camp there for the night. To get to the notch I have to go down the Mahoosuc arm, which was a straight down for about 1 1/2 hrs. I spent most of this section sliding down rock face, grabbing trees to keep from falling, scariest down next to Katahdin. I pass the first camp site and there are about 15 locals having a camp out. I walk into the camp, they suggest I move on to another site a little ways down the trail. Walking a few yards seemed to be not a big deal. I just wanted to stop just before the notch so I could hit it first thing in the morning. So I'm walking and I don¢t see a camp site then I hit a boulder field so I start making my way thru this. I realize that I'm now in the mists of the notch. I check my watch and figure I have time to get thru this "toughest mile" on the A.T. So for the next 2 hours I scale over and under boulders. I had to take the pack off 3 times total. Once I finish the Mahoosuc Notch, a feeling of accomplishment rushes thru my body. The notch wasn't as bad as people were making it out to be. Sure it was slow moving, but lots of fun. You spend most of your time staring at the boulders trying to figure out the path you¢re going to take to make it over or sometimes under the huge boulder field. It is now 7:30 and I only have a mile and a half to get to the next shelter. So I start my climb up out of the notch. As I'm climbing the sun is slowly setting. Half way up the climb I run out of water, but I think I can still make it to the shelter. I was wrong. I see a little stream flowing across the trail so I decide to stop and take on water. By the time I'm done filtering and climbing its almost pitch black. At the summit I have a mix of moon and scant sunlight, actually I found this exact moment quite breath taking. Moon high in the sky with the reminents of the sun behind a mountain. Tempted to camp a top this mountain, but I press on. Head lamp shining brightly I make my way down a fairly easy descent to the shelter. It's 9:30 and everyone in the shelter is asleep. I quietly get my pad and sleeping bag out, skip dinner and go straight to bed.
Date: 2007-07-22
From: Full Goose Shelter & Campsite

To: Carlo Col Shelter & Campsite
Miles today: 4.4
Weather: scattered clouds

When I wake up I see a couple that stayed at The Cabin. We talk for a little bit and they mention they are only going 4.4 miles today. As they move out I tell them I will probably see them on of one of the 3 peaks we had to climb today. I start my 1st climb of the day, and as usual I'm quickly in a rock scramble/rock climb. Physically and mentally this section is taking its toll on me. I take a long break on the 2nd peak and decide 4.4 miles is all I'm going. I make it to the shelter by 3:30. I'm spent. Gary (Wheaties) and Ida (Cheerios) are already settled in at the shelter. I notice a pair of women¢s underwear hanging out to dry, that¢s when Ida tells me she stepped in one of the bogs and the mud went up to her waist. As the afternoon went on, a few more hikers show up. Tumble Weed and Timber are 2 Sobos that have been about half a day behind me. We make small talk and we do our daily chores. This is the first night on the trail we have a full shelter.
Date: 2007-07-23
From: Carlo Col Shelter & Campsite

To: Gorham
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Wake up at 3:30ish because Obie, Nate and Peace Train all set their alarms to go off at that time. What made it worse was they didn't even push out, they sat and ate all kinds of food so all I heard were the sounds of wrappers crinkling. I was pissed. Finally around 5ish they leave and I start getting my stuff together for a 10 mile hike for the day. Tumble Weed and Timber are talking about doing a 17 miler. I decide to leave with them in hopes to make my 10 miles quickly. Come to find out Tumble Weed and I have the same pace. So we spend the first 10 miles talking about everything and anything. The miles went by quickly, before I know it we are at the Maine/New Hampshire state line.   Finally a new state!! After 3 hours or so of hiking we make the first 5 miles, and break at the shelter. Feeling good about the miles, Tumble Weed reminds we are doing 17 miles today. We press on. Conversation keeps flowing. It's been great being able to chat with a person for awhile. We make the next 5 miles in great time. Now Team Fall Down (the nickname I gave to them) is talking about town food and this now making me a little more motivated to press on. My thought is to go 5 more miles and make camp. We move out and are making miles but the body is getting very tired. We finally make it to town just before 7. We share a hotel, and we move our bodies to McDonalds where we feast on some fast food. Timber was so hungry that she finished a Big Mac in less then a few minutes. Back to the room with full bellies, and we pass out. Sorry no sexy time with the ladies. Tumble Weed and I talk for a bit, but I'm worn out for the day and fizzle out fast.
Date: 2007-07-24
From: Gorham

To: Gorham
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm up early because I've got a lot to get done today. I have breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts, and make my over to the laundramat. Laundry and mail drop are all done before 9:00. Meet up with the girls and we all decide to walk down to the grocery store to do our resupply. Trouble is brewing within Team Fall Down. Timber bought the new Harry Potter and Tumble Weed is not too happy about the extra weight that will slow Timber down. Everything sort of blows over, and I head over to the next town to get fitted for my tux. Finished with the Tux nonsense, I'm sort of stuck in this town for about an hour until the trolley comes so I can get shuttled back to Gorham. I wander around town a bit and get some lunch at a pizza shop. Just to let you all know Gorham and Berlin are the 2 largest towns I've been in on the trail. I make it back into Gorham. The girls are waiting in the room for me to be done with this last chore so we can all go to the outfitters together. On the way to the outfitters we stop one last time at the post office so Timber and Tumble Weed can send out their Bounce Box (a box that you mail to yourself to be picked up at the next town stop.) I ran into Smiles there and talked with him about his register entry at the last shelter. Now this whole time Timber and Tumble Weed have always been behind Smiles by a day or 2, and based on his hand writing and name they assumed he was a girl. I introduce the girls to Smiles and I think they might be a little disappointed he's not a girl. So Smiles explains his rant in the register. Apparently, he was woken up by to NOBOs having sex, and felt compelled to make the statement not to have sex in the shelter if there is no privacy. We offer to have Smiles join us for the night but he is set on getting back on the trail and to the next shelter. So we move on down to the outfitters, we've also picked Mary Anne up at the post office as well. We make it down to our stop just to find that the store had just closed. We all decide to head over to the library and send out some emails. After the library we all do some dinner and then Timber, Tumble Weed, and I all head back to the room to pass out.
Date: 2007-07-25
From: Gorham

To: Imp Campsite
Miles today: 8.0

Up around 6 and hit Dunkin Donut's again. Get back at the room and pack up my crap and start walking down to the outfitters with the gang. I get there right as they open and I'm able to get a new stuff sack for my tent. Tumble Weed and I wait as Timber gets her stuff situated at the shop as we wait for Mary Anne and Curt. Last night over dinner Curt and Mary Anne said they would handle getting us all a ride back to the trail head. Well this task turned into a cluster. We end up calling the hostel that we stayed at and the owner ran the 3 of us to the trail head. A few minutes later Curt and Mary Anne are dropped off as well. We all hit the trail together and everyone spaces out quickly. Curt is super human and is gone in no time, with Mary Anne was putting on some distance shortly there after. Tumble Weed and I stay step for step and we get some good conversation going. We make the 1st shelter for a break where we all bind back up again. We once again all leave together, and hit the 1st climb. Curt is now gone for the rest of the day. Mary Anne (Cat), Tumble Weed, and I work up this climb spitting conversation out when we can find the air in our lungs. About 2 hours of climbing and we hit the summit. Here we take a break and are captivated by the views. 10 minutes after our summit we are joined by a section hiker named Brian. We rest waiting for Timber to catch up, she arrives shortly after Brian. Once again we're all off to the shelter, which is about 1 1/2 miles from the summit. We are 20 minutes from the shelter and we have dropped Brian. Now hustling to the shelter because I'm out of water, I blow past Curt who has been at this shelter for about 3 hours now, in search of the watering hole. Not far from the shelter I reach my Eden. I spend about 30 minutes filtering the water and rehydrating. While relaxing at the water hole I miss the briefing on The Whites, the work for stay, but did not miss the $8 collection by the AMC Caretaker. I pay the fee and start prepping for dinner. Now I carried a wonderful treat from Gorham. The whole day I carried a big bag of cheesy puffs just for this shelter. I break the bag open and share with the crew. Before long there are only 4 left. I now start on my main meal for the evening. For some reason I was craving something a little different from my mac and cheese feast. I made a typical Todd creation, Chicken noodle soup mixed with instant mash potatoes, with a touch of curry. After dinner we all moved over to a clearing and watched the sun drop behind Mount Washington in the far off distance.
Date: 2007-08-13
From: Mizpah Spring Hut

To: Ethan Pond
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: fog

I wake up to the sound of the "croo" fixing breakfast. I look at my watch to see that it's 5:45. What a horrible night of sleep I got. Once again we wait outside for all the guests to finish their feast. We come back in and are given the leftovers from breakfast. Finish eating and off to do our morning chores so we can get back on the trail. Cruisin¢ down the trail with a beautiful day ahead of us. We make the 1st of 2 peaks in no time. We both sit up here and enjoy the views. We decide to eat lunch on Webster peak, which we figure we should hit an hour later. We actually move at a relaxing pace and make the next peak pretty quickly. We start eating lunch and are visited by 2 Canadian Jays, which they eat food right out of your hands. The spot we are at looks down on the road at Crawford Notch. This always is a bad thing, since we drop several thousands of feet in about a mile and a half, and here I'm looking at the straight down I'm about to do. The down starts with me telling Eric, "This is bullshit" we drop maybe 100 feet or so in the first 5 minutes. 2 hours later we hit the bottom, just to go back up. The first 15 minutes of the climb has Eric dropping back pretty quick. This surprises me, because this whole trip he has been speeding off ahead of me. The terrain mellows out and he takes the lead back. We cross the pond and file into the open shelter spaces. We are surrounded by Nobos. We all eat dinner together and trade trail stories. I head back to the shelter where Aussie (nobo) asks me what to expect in the up coming weeks. I start to tell my version of what I faced, then I'm quickly interrupted by Boo Boo (nobo) who says ¢We're tired of hearing about your 300 miles that you sobos have done, you realize you have 1800 more to go.¢ Her bitterness flows out for about 10 minutes more, about how sobos are silly for doing the best part of the trail first. A section hiker/thru alum tries to stop the flow of negative, but she keeps going until her ignorance runs out. Then I pass out for the night.
Date: 2007-08-14
From: Ethan Pond

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up to all the Nobos packing up. I laid in the shelter for about another hour before I started to think about moving. I finished breakfast and started to get my stuff together and it starts raining. We sit around and wait for the weather to break. Push out to overcast skies. Eric takes the lead and keeps us moving at a good pace. We hit a blue blaze that took us to a waterfall and gorge. Take a little break then press on to hit Zealand hut for lunch. We are treated to some of the flattest trail to date. We actually walked for about 4 miles on flat terrain and it was heaven. Rolled into Zealand right at lunch time. Talked with 2 nobos and we were joined by 2 sobos, Red Coat and Damsel. We all file out down the trail 1 after the other. Eric takes the lead and I'm right behind him the whole climb. At the summit a nobo was taking his break so we stopped to chat, Red Coat goes flying by. Eric and I press on, about an hour later we get blasted with rain. I'm starting to hear thunder in the distance, and I start making emergency plans with Eric. We decide to hike on until we can find some good flat land to make an emegency stop. We hike for about 5 minutes more and notice the rain is letting up. A few minutes after that we pass a tent erected off to the side in the woods, I yell, "Red Coat is that you" he responds back. Eric and I decide to press on, we figured the storm is almost blown by. We hike for a few more hours and I'm starting to get tired, we take a break for me, as well as try to figure out where we are. After some figuring we think we are about 3 miles from the Galehead hut. We proceed forward and climb South Twin Mountain, and are rewarded with 360 degree views. This point in the trip I realize that Galehead will be the last hut we will pass where we can do work for stay. I make the decision to do a pay for stay as a treat. I hustle down the .8 mile decent to the hut. Make it there in 20 minutes, get checked in and just relax. 20 minutes after my arrival Red Coat and Eric show up. I check to see what Eric¢s plans are. He decides to not do the work for stay and press on another 2 miles to the Garfield Campsite. Red Coat and Damsel are here for the night for the work for stay. It was a nice treat to do the pay for stay. I mingled with the folks at the table, and was bombarded with questions about my thru. After dinner I spent a lot of time hanging with Damsel and Red Coat. Bed time came and I crawled in my bunk and passed out pretty quickly.
Date: 2007-08-15
From: Galehead Hut

To: Franconian Ridge
Miles today: 10.1

I wake up to a little tickle in my throat. This is all I need. I'm already thinking I should be off the trail. I eat a big breakfast with the other paying guests. I notice we are clouded in. I wait around for Red Coat and Damsel to finish their work for stay chores, to see what their plans are. Damsel insists we stay to see what the weather is going to do. I have no problem with this. We sit in the hut and tell trail stories back and forth. Before we know it Nobos are arriving and we do the all you can eat soup and bread. We finally leave around 11:30. The hikes lately have been numb to me. I do the miles more as a chore to get from point A to B. Today was no different. We get to the top of Mt. Garfield and I'm really missing Beck and the kids. Damsel and Red Coat lay together and take in the summit. We stay at the summit for about an hour and a half. Now we start the fun rock scramble up Lafayette. I won¢t lie, every bit of exhausted effort was worth the views and experience of this above tree line ridge. From Lafayette to Liberty Mt. (2-3 mi) has been the best part of the trail. We are up there around sunset and it's amazing. We climb down off the ridge and stealth camp just in tree line. What an ending for the day.
Date: 2007-08-16
From: Franconian Ridge

To: Lincoln
Miles today: 2.9
Weather: scattered clouds

What a horrible nights sleep. It's official, I have a cold. I wake up to all kinds of congestion. I was also told last night that Red Coat and Damsel were getting off the trail for good. Come to find out they started as Nobos back in spring. Red Coat rolled his ankle about 40 miles into the trip, went another 25 miles and found that it was getting worse. They pulled off to nurse his ankle back to health. After some rehab they did some section hiking thru Shanandoa. Feeling healthy they decided to flip and Red Coat and Damsel would hike from Katahdin to Franconia Notch, then Red Coat would hang with Damsel until his Visa ran out. So I hike the 6 or 7 miles with a bit of fever and feeling like crap. I decide at one point that I would get off the trail with Red Coat and Damsel. Then the rest of my trip down to the road, I would flip flop on my decision. We make it to the road and I'm just looking for any reason to get of the trail. We end up spending about 45 minutes getting a hitch, but with a little persistence on my part, I get us a hitch on a blue school bus shuttle. Dave the driver tells us he has done 2 thru hikes already, one in like the 60's and another in the 70's. He then tells us that next year he is planning a yoyo. Now Dave has to be in his 60's if I had to guess. Dave drops us off at the McDonalds and we kill the menu. As always I hit that dollar menu. Now with some food in the belly I start thinking about what to do about my hike. I give Beck a call and ask her if she wants me to come home, she throws the ball back into my court and says it's my decision to quit the trail. We make our way over to Chet's house, the local hostel that just opened in June. Thru hikers are pouring out of this place. It's a full house so I decide to tent in his back yard. I sit in the common area and just listen to the nobos and their stories. I'm slowly feeling that I don't want this experience to end. The icing on the cake is Chet tells his story on how got disabled. In 2001 Chet was in his trailer testing his gear before going out on a trip in the area. His MSR stove exploded on him. He was wearing a fleece shirt and nylon pants, so needless to say he lit up like 4th of July. He was burned all the way down to his hip bones. He was in a coma for 8 months, flat lined several times, and all of his major organs stopped functioning at least 3 times. I was so moved by his story. I want to meet more people like Chet. I call Beck back a few hours later and tell her I'm staying on the trail. I do my typical hiker chores and then meet Red and Damsel to see Bourne Ultimatum. After the movie we do dinner then head back to Chet¢s for the night.
Date: 2007-08-17
From: Lincoln

To: Lincoln
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I wake up early in the morning, so I can see Damsel and Red Coat off. I decide to take a zero today so I can try and shake this cold. I pretty much spend most of the day talking with Geoff online thru my Mylo at a local internet cafe. Drank lots of coffee, and ate lots of food. I run into Tortuga, he worked at the Hike Inn, a place that I would go to at least twice a year. We chat for a bit and ask him how is it possible I caught him. Tortuga left June 2nd or 3rd. He told me the 100 miles kick his butt, so some of the nobos suggested he drop down further south and build his trail legs up then come back up to Maine and knock it out. So he did just that. I think he spent 2 or 3 weeks down in Pennsylvania. He said it was the best thing he ever done. The rest of my day was spent pretty low key, just taking easy and relaxing.
Date: 2007-08-18
From: Lincoln

To: Eliza Brook
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: light rain

I join a bunch of nobos for breakfast at a local pancake house. We catch a shuttle from the pancake house and we are at the trail head by 8:30. Tortuga is with us so we southbound together. He takes a break near a stream and I blow right by. I make the 1st 4 miles pretty quick. I sit at Lonesome Lake hut and eat an orange that I had packed in. About an hour later Tortuga strolls in. At this point I decide to do the all you can eat soup and put down 3 bowls. Talk with the crew for a bit then head out to climb the Kinsmans. For some reason I'm still not in the swing of things, but I'm enjoying being on the trail. I make my last peak and decide to take in the views with a nice long break. I share a spot with a nobo named Grits. After some conversation I find out his sister doesn't live to far from me and Beck. Hanging out with Grits on that peak was awesome, by now Tortuga has caught up and was hiking with a nobo that was doing this stretch sobo. We have pretty a wicked down and then another long 2 miles to the shelter. I get settled in the shelter pretty quick and start to eat my heaviest food. A little later a few more nobos show up. I spend some time talking with Tootles the nobo that hiked with us today. She has skipped about 500 miles of the trail so she could catch back up with her hiking buddies. I pass out early.