morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-08-21
From: Black Brook- stealth site

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Today I was not feeling well at all. I tried really hard to enjoy everything, but really I just felt pretty miserable and was struggling all day. The cool part about today was that I met some new SOBOs! Ice Pack, Blue Tick, and Ado all showed up today. We had passed Blue Tick and Ado while night hiking. So that's pretty cool. Nothing else really to report today. Pretty sure I feel crappy because of the meds I've been on and the fact that it has been in the mid to upper 80s all week. Probably could hydrate a little more. Hopefully yhe side effects subside soon!On a brighter note, I want to thank everyone who's following my blog, hopefully it's at least slightly entertaining! But really, thanks to everyone for your prayers, support, and words of encouragement on here, fb, or via text. It means a lot to hear from people and know that I have a support system =)
Date: 2013-08-21
From: Black Brook- stealth site

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: light rain

Today I was not feeling well at all. I tried really hard to enjoy everything, but really I just felt pretty miserable and was struggling all day. The cool part about today was that I met some new SOBOs! Ice Pack, Blue Tick, and Ado all showed up today. We had passed Blue Tick and Ado while night hiking. So that's pretty cool. Nothing else really to report today. Pretty sure I feel crappy because of the meds I've been on and the fact that it has been in the mid to upper 80s all week. Probably could hydrate a little more. Hopefully yhe side effects subside soon!On a brighter note, I want to thank everyone who's following my blog, hopefully it's at least slightly entertaining! But really, thanks to everyone for your prayers, support, and words of encouragement on here, fb, or via text. It means a lot to hear from people and know that I have a support system =)
Date: 2013-08-22
From: Goddard Shelter

To: Knotty Pine Motel - Bennington, VT
Miles today: 10.1

Well, we weren't going to come into Bennington, but lately I haven't been enjoying the trail as much because I've felt awful, so I decided it was worth it (for me and probably for everyone around me) to come in to town and get checked out at the hospital. Plus, Bennington has a Pizza Hut with a $5 lunch buffet which naturally, for Team D0C0 was the real deciding factor for coming into town =P We did the 10 miles in pretty fast and found Pabst, Commissary, Funk, Bo, and Blue at the Pizza Hut! We destroyed that buffet. Mainly the salad bar. And the pizza bar. So basically all of it. Doc and I talked Blue into staying in town with us, so we all shared a motel room at the lovely Knotty Pine Motel. I went to the ER after getting cleaned up, and as much as I hate hospitals, I have to give some major props to the team at the SW Vermont Medical Center because they had it all together amd were really great! They took some samples, ran some tests, and chatted with me about the trail. Everything came back negative so that's good and they suggested I go off the steroids if my foot feels better snce they suspect that's what has been causing most of my problems. Good deal. To celebrate my health, we gorged on a ton of fried chicken and biscuits from KFC for dinner! We'd been talking aboutfried chicken and biscuits since Gorham. Blue, Doc, and I sat on our porch and watched a storm pass through while Blue played the harmonica some (he's pretty good at it!). Once the storm passed, we went back inside and built a fort out of comforters, mattresses, chairs, parachord, and an ironing board! Good times =)
Date: 2013-08-23
From: Knotty Pine Motel - Bennington, VT

To: Northside Motel - Williamstown, MA
Miles today: 0.0

Team D0C0 strikes again! We zeroed today...in a town we weren't even planning to stop in! Typical =P BUT we did cross into Massachusetts! I wanted to yellow blaze (move down the trail by vehicular transportation, not actually hiking) because I was frustrated at having to come in to Bennington, and because I'd gotten bored with VT and was ready for a new state. We planned to hike out today frm North Adams (18 flat, boring trail miles skipped) so that Doc could still make it to Cheshire Saturday morning before the PO closed. However, while at the bus station, I realized the bus that we were about to take to Williamstown (for $1) could take us 1 stop further to a terminal where we could get a bus to Boston...where we could catch a Red Sox game at Fenway! It's a goal of mine to see a game at every MLB stadium, and Doc and I are both big baseball fans. And we're relatively close t Boston. And...FENWAY! So it made sense. Unfortunately the Sox are away in LA this weekend, but they're going to be at home this week playing the Orioles which happens to be Doc's team. So, once I shared my idea with Doc, he was immediately on board and claimed I was a genius and the best hiking partner ever (both of which are true, though I'm not sure I'm that great of a HIKING partner since, well, we don't seem to be doing much hiking....so we'll go with "teammate")! So, we began planning a side trip into Boston for this Tuesday/Wednesday for a game! Naturally, this took precedence over hiking...so we ended up in town for another but. But in Massachusetts! Worth it.
Date: 2013-08-24
From: Northside Motel - Williamstown, MA

To: St. Mary's of the Assumption - Cheshire
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was an awesome day! I hitched to the trail before 10 to hike to Cheshire and meet back up with Doc who hitched there in order to get his package. The day began with a hitch from a guy who had an open Rolling Rock in a coozy in his cup holder... he was nice though! The climb up Greylock (Massachusetts' highest point) was grueling but it was nice to be climbing mountains and I really enjoyed myself! At the summit, there's an obelisk war memorial and it was pretty cool t have a look around. The summit was pretty wide open, and there's a road that goes right to the peak, and a lodge u there. So, there were a ton of tourists that had driven up and were crowding my mountain, but it wasn't nearly as frustrating as Mt. Washington for some reason. I really had a good time eating lunch up there and the weather could not have been nicer! As soon as I arrived to the top, a couple immediately approached me and asked if I was thru-hiking. They were super nice and talked with me for a while, and offered me food! I enjoyed lunch up there, and admittedly, I arrogantly enjoyed the fact that it was so populated and that I was the one person there that had actually CLIMBED up. I realize that's kind of jerk-ish of me, but I couldn't help but feel a bit smug. No worries though, Kharma quickly put me back in my place: as soon as I started the very gentle descent down into Cheshire from the summit, I completely wiped out in front of a group "hiking" the half mile to their car. Wounded my pride more than anything, but that's what I get for momentarily thinking of myself as slightly superior. The rest of the hike passed without incident. Went through some fields where I unfortunately got songs from The Sound of Music stuck in my head because that's what the hills looked alive with. Which was weird because I've only seen the movie once and had no clue I knew that many of the songs and that much of the lyrics until today when they wouldn't stop playing in my head! Then, thinking about THAT reminded me of the Beverly Hillbillies because I've MAYBE seen one episode of the show, yet I know the entire theme song for it somehow. I think from my dad. And that's a miniature glimpse of the thought process that goes throug my head while hiking sometimes... Anyway, the trail goes right through Cheshire where I met back up with Doc. We stayed at a Catholic church that lets hikers stay in a couple of their rooms for free so that was cool! And I got a milkshake! And we finalized our Boston plans which I'm real excited about! It'd be better if they were playing the Braves...but FENWAY! Gonna be awesome =)
Date: 2013-08-25
From: St. Mary's of the Assumption - Cheshire

To: Barton Brook - stealth site
Miles today: 11.3

We had a chill day today because we only have 28 miles total - all flat - to cover in two days. So, we left the church and ate breakfast at The Cobbles which is an overlook with a view of the Hoosic River, Cheshire, and Greylock/the ridgeline I covered yesterday. That was pretty cool! Then it was an easy 8 or so miles to Dalton where we ate a big lunch in town (the trail goes rigt through town...we didn't take an actual town day for once =P), ate a popsicle, had a beer, and kept hiking. We were in town for probably 5 hours. Hiked a couple miles more and stealthed out by a brook!Since there's not much to report today, I figured I'd use this time to answer some questions people keep asking:What do I eat? Breakfast: oatmeal (which I just recently finally got sick of...), poparts, or bagel with cream cheese or peanut butter. Sometimes all the above. Lunch: bagel with peanut butter, or a sandwich on a bagel with some kind of meat and cheese if I have it, poptarts. Dinner: Knorr's pasta or rice sides, Ramen, pasta, instant mashed potatoes; tuna or salmon packets go ok with these, and bacon bits. Snacks: it varies, candy bars, granola bars, honey buns (all with pb of course), trail mix, dried fruit. Do you keep up with the news? Just baseball (specifically the Braves...who, last I checked are the best team in baseball and the NL East). Though we hear of any big world of US events.How many days of food do you carry? Typically 3-5 now which weighs between 7 and 10 pounds depending on how big a jar of pb I'm carrying.That's all I can think of for now!
Date: 2013-08-26
From: Barton Brook - stealth site

To: stealth site
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Another relaxing day today! It rained this morning so we got a late start, but that wasn't a problem. Stopped for lunch at a shelter and some day hikers had left some cold Cokes there in the bear box, so that was awesome! Had a gourmet lunch today: beef jerky, sour cream and onion chips, hot sauce, and mayonaise sandwich on a blueberry bagel. Washed down with Coke. It was delicious. We made it to where we were less than a mile to get to the road for tomorrow. The rain held off until we had set up camp and eaten dinner which was really nice of the rain to do for us. Then it poured all night. I love listening to the rain on my tent, though carrying a wet tent isn't as fun, but oh well...that's what a tent is for! Tomorrow, hopefully all goes as planned and we will get into Boston smoothly. I'm super psyched for Boston! =)
Date: 2013-08-27
From: stealth site

To: BOSTON!
Miles today: 1.0

The rain stopped this morning right when we started packing up, how convenient! We got to the road by 7:00am and hitched in to Lee. We were at the McDonald's in Lee by 7:30am. Got breakfast, took a bus to Pittsfield at 8:40 and from there took the bus to Boston! I feel bad for everyone who had to sit near us on that bus...we smelled RANK! And, though I'd had a shower a few days ago...I haven't done laundry since Green Mountain House...and I didn't change into my "clean" clothes for the busride. Oh well! We sat in the back near the toilet to try to help the situation. Anyway, everything went pretty smoothly, but traveling on a schedule stresses me out when I'm not travelling just by myself. Poor Doc had to put up with that all day - props to him for that. Regardless, once we'd gotten on our bus to Boston, I think I was tolerable again and we had a good time. Walked to our hotel from South Station, and that's when I realized...we are NOT in a trail town... My muddy, bloody and bruised, hairy legs with my hiker stench were a tad more out of place than normal in the big city. Luckily, a shower alleviated some of that, and though we couldn't do laundry, my "town clothes" weren't too bad! We took the "T" (Boston's subway system) to Fenway, and I guess at the station, we looked way out of place or lost because a really nice Bostonian came up to us and pointed us to the right train and told us which line to take to the game without us even asking or saying we were going to the game! He was helpful, because we had no clue what we were doing at that moment. We followed the crowd to Fenway, and upon entering the park, we were both like little kids being taken to their first baseball game! Fenway is such a great ball park and I had a really great time! The Red Sox beat the Orioles 11-2, but it was a fun game to watch. Definitely a great experience and a fun side trip! It's been a realllllly long day and it is WAY past hiker midnight (9:00pm)so...bed time!
Date: 2013-08-28
From: BOSTON!

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 2.1
Weather: clear sky

We got up this morning to do a little exploring before checking out. Saw some cool historical parts of the city, and ate breakfast at the harbor by the water. I thoroughly enjoyed that because 1) I love watching water which I realize sounds odd, but I can't explain it, 2) We could see a TON of boats coming in and out and just chillin' in the water, and 3)Logan Int'l Airport is right across the bay and I have always loved watching planes landing and taking off - so that was cool! We walked around a bit - Boston is a really lovely city! We took an Amtrak train back to Pittsfield, took the bus back to Lee, ate dinner, resupplied, and a guy in the parking lot of the Price Chopper offered to give us a ride back to the trail! As soon as we got to trail, it started thunder storming and raining of course. We hiked the 2.1 miles to Upper Goose Pond where there's a caretake who makes pancakes in coffee every morning for the hikers who stay there! We got there a little before 8:00pm, and she was making Miso Soup for everyone! There's all SOBOs here!! Which is exciting. I think we're past the cast majority of NOBOs. The cool part about our side trip to Boston (besides the fact that it's cool in general and was fun)...was that TECHNICALLY, we didn't zero =P but, we are planning to zero here on trail tomorrow, since this place is pretty cool. It's kind of weird though that this morning, I was in a big city in the civilized world, and now, I'm back on trail. Fenway was definitely worth it and I had a blast, but I'm glad to be back. Being in a city was weird. I felt way out of place the whole time except at the game. Tomorrow - a relaxing day of swimming, canoeing, and reading!
Date: 2013-08-29
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

The huge SOBO party (Goatman, Jubilee, Phoenix, Chula, Sourpatch and his dog Duma, Skunk and his dog Sugar Ree, Pockets and his dog Dakota, Doc, Trash Can, and myself) all zeroed here except Trach Can who hiked out late. We hung out in the lake, swam, canoed, goofed off, etc. Some of us canoed out to an island where we hung out for a bit. Then Phoenix and I swam back while the others circled us in the two canoes like sharks in case we need to bail out. We didn't! It was somewhere between a 300 and 400 yard swim, and it was nice to swim because I kind of miss it. And that was my exercise for the day. Later, Spunk (formerly known as Funk) and Bo and Stella showed up, and another SOBO Taxi! SO MANY SOBOS!!!!! It's AWESOME! Doc and I dominated Phoenix and Skunk in a game of Spades, and I read The Giver today which I hadn't read since middle school. I found it on the bookshelf here, but already have two books and didn't want to carry a third, so I just read it all today. What a great zero!
Date: 2013-08-30
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: The Ledges - stealth site
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: broken clouds

After the caretaker made pancakes and coffee for everyone, we helped clean up, then hiked out by 8:30. Today was a really good hike! The trail was beautiful and I didn't get bored because it was fun to look at stuff along the way and the scenery changed throughout the day. Also, this was my first full day of hiking since being of the steroids, and it was hot today, but I felt good, so hopefully that means all the stomach and general health problems are behind me! Doc, Taxi, and I ate lunch together at the road to Tyringham, then hiked on. The forest in MA is really pretty and I quite enjoy this state! We camped by a ledge where there was a pretty good view. We were kind of able to see the sun set while eating dinner which was cool. Pretty uneventful day overall, but a really good one nonetheless! =)
Date: 2013-08-31
From: The Ledges - stealth site

To: Jug End Rd. - stealth site
Miles today: 15.4

Today was OK. We went into Great Barrington for breakfast, used the computers at the library, then went back to the same diner for lunch! With way too much food in our bellies, we made our way backto trail which is impressive because outside the diner, we saw Sour Patch, Pockets, and Chula who tried to talk us into staying in town. We resisted! Proud moment for Team D0C0. We then had a misadventure on a blue-blaze loop trail (for once due to Doc's mishap, not my own! =P) before finally getting back on trail. We were walking for a while under an ominous sky and with thunder in the distance, so we set up camp a little early at the base of Mt. Everett instead of trying to get up and over which had been the plan. The water source we were counting on turned out to be nonexistent, so we ended up with a liter of water between the two of us for the rest of the evening and tomorrow morning. Not a big deal, just inconvenient. As the night went in, the storms got closer. In the real world, I love thunderstorms so I was excited, though a little apprenehensive, to experience my first one out here in my tent. When the storm was right on top of us, I was no longer excited, but pretty frightened, admittedly. So, I ran to doc's tent like a little child running down the hall to mom and dad's room. To his credit, Doc let me squeeze in and didn't take the easy opportunity to make fun of me for it. Apparently that was the wrong decision because his tent started to flood a little, and as I was trying to determine whether or not it was my fault (be has a one-man tarp tent and I thougt that wih me in it, the floor may have flattened out to where rain was coming in due to a second person), a limb from a tree flew into my head, effectively scaring the crap out of me and Doc (I'm fine, it left a bruise, but nothing more; luckily I have a hard head). Things eventually calmed down a bit and I was able to sleep a little until it picked back up again. At that point, we noticed that the branch that had fallen on me, had then landed in the corner of Doc's tent, searing a hole in the bottom of the side of his tent. It's a pretty big hole! So we then both crawled into MY tent where nothing fell on us and we survived the storm!
Date: 2013-09-01
From: Jug End Rd. - stealth site

To: Bearded Woods Hostel
Miles today: 2.0
Weather: few clouds

Needless to say, neither of us got much sleep last night between the storms and there being 2 of us crammed into a 1-person tent. We'd heard there was supposed to be storms the next couple days and we were tired and didn't really want to climb mountains or do anything, so we did what we do best...and went to town! Hitched into Salisbury, CT where Hudson, from the Bearded Woods Hostel, picked us up after we did our resupply. This place is awesome!! I know I keep saying it, but this place is the best hostel experience yet on the trail. Hudson and Big Lu are absolutely amazing and go out of their way to make us feel like part of their family. Hudson gave us a tour of the place, showed us to our beds, and did our laundry for us! We spent the afternoon and evening playing darts (I'm getting better!) and watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Good movie. A NOBO section hiker, Brown Sugah, is staying here too- she seems pretty cool! Big Lu cooked dinner tonight and Oh my God, she is an amazing cook!! Grilled chicken with bbq sauce, grilled corn on the cob, some kind of awesome salad/mixed veggies thing, baked beans, potatoes that were sliced and roasted or something fancy, AND the best cornbread ever. All fresh and homemade. Dessert was ice cream cones! The five of us ate together and there was great conversation to go with the great food. Hudson and Big Lu really made us feel like part of the family. After dinner, Hudson helped us plan a couple days of slackpacking! We'll do a 17 mile section tomorrow from Salisbury to West Cornwall, then the next day we'll NOBO the 13 mile section we skipped by hitching into town instead of hiking into town. From there, Hudson will bring us our packs then take us to where we will have left off at West Cornwall Rd...that was probably a little confusing. The important part is that it will be my first slackpacking experience, and I'll stay another night here!
Date: 2013-09-02
From: Bearded Woods Hostel

To: Bearded Woods Hostel
Miles today: 17.5

Big Lu made breakfast for us this morning: a frittata-esque dish, toast, and she put out leftover cornbread that we devoured. Also, coffee and OJ. Good, hearty breakfast. Slackoacking today was awesome! Slackpacking is where you take a daypack with the essentials (lunch, snacks, water, water treatment, trekking poles) for a day, as well as some emergency items (1st aid, headlamp, raingear or warm layer, "just in case" things) and hike a predetermined distance, generally from one road to another, amd get picked up and taken back to wherever (in our case, the hostel). It's great to hike without 30 lbs on your back! I felt so light!! We felt so light that we even did a few 2-3 minute sessions of trail-running! My idea, but Doc enjoyed it more since it's a hobby of his, and I, well, hate running. As soon as Hudson dropped us off, it started thundering. It poured all morning which I love even more knowing that my clothes will be washed later, and none of my stuff is getting wet! The really bad thunder and lightning only lasted for maybe and hour, though it felt a lot longer. I don't particularly like hiking in thunderstorms, though for some reason, keeping moving made me much less nervous than the other night when I was in my tent. The afternoon was beautiful though!! We got done pretty quick - I really didn't expect to be able to move at that much of a faster pace without a pack! When Hudson picked us up, he had a cold Sprite for each of us. We got back to the hostel, showered, Hudson did our laundry for us again, and Big Lu cooked another amazing meal: baked ziti, garlic bread, 2 awesome salads, and I think something else I'm forgetting. Dessert tonight was chocolate "lava" cupcakes with ice cream. So much food!! During dinner, I asked how they met, and it was funny to hear them try to tell the story together because they both remembered it slightly differently. Another great night here with the same great company =)