morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-07-04
From: Kent, CT

To: Kent, CT
Miles today: 0.0

I am in the bosom of Itchy's family for the holidays. Being totally spoiled.First, I slept in late - to 7 am. It was great. No Itchy saying, "Jan, it's 5:00 am.."I ached all over from yesterday's push. I moved slowly. Giving my stomach a rest from the ibuprofen.Today was simple chore day. I aired out my sleeping bag in the hot sun. I scrubbed all the sweat and grime off my pack and straps. I did gear repairs. Shoo-gooed my trail runners. I washed my knee braces. Derrick has DSL internet access: I checked out my photos online and totally cleaned all the spam out of my Mindspring account - the first thorough clean-up since the trip's start. I learned Turnaround summited Katahdin yesterday - congrats, girl, on finishing.And then I ate and ate and ate. Itchy's family is wonderful, absorbing me right into their fold without missing a beat. Itchy's wife Lupe is a firecracker, and I liked her sass, good humor and spirit immediately. She looks far too young to be running with a stringy old guy like Itchy. Lupe lobbies for Itchy to cut his woolly sea captain's beard in a Sean Connery-esque style when he returns from the wilds. Sean's beard "looks so sexy," she says, winking.Son Derrick and daughter-in-law Brandi were generous and welcoming to a fault, with my kind of humor. I liked them instantly.Their two-year-old daughter Isabella is a doe-eyed beauty, and will stop hearts in about 15 years. We have a picnic supper out in their CT yard, Bella showing me how to draw with chalk on the rocks (even the yards have rocks here) and even body paint with chalk. Brandi grilled steaks and potatoes and veggies. Derrick orchestrated family fireworks after blueberry pie and watermelon.I've always loved the 4th of July.After my day of doing basically nothing, I was exhausted and crashed right after the last sparkler twinkled out. I forgot to mention yesterday, Derrick gave us the 10-cent tour of Kent and the surrounding areas. Many stars and notables reside in these toney environs, including Meryl Streep, Henry Kissinger, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Bacon, Mia Farrow, Marlo-and-Phil, and Tom Cruise has been spotted jogging in the neighborhood.But, that's nothing. What do they know about blisters, bears, bug-swarms, hiker stank and knee-crushing descents? You know, the good life...
Date: 2003-07-05
From: Kent, CT

To: Kent, CT
Miles today: 0.0

Chore day.First stop, Lupe drives me to the post office. I have 3 priority boxes coming.I get to the counter only to find that all three boxes - including the boxes with my brand new shoes - have been returned to their senders. Aaaaaargh! They were all marked c/o General Delivery, and Hold for AT hiker, ETA 7/5. But they sent them back!! Why?!"Oh, you have to notify us in advance if you're sending something general delivery," said the man behind the counter. "They've been sent back."What??? I've been sending boxes for four months, all priority. Never once has one been sent back. You'd think they'd at least hold them till today, to see if I showed up. But they sent them back as soon as they arrived. I think they just didn't want to be bothered. They were a half hour off the AT, and not familiar with thru-hikers. Moral: Don't trust a non-AT PO to handle General Delivery the same. I guess this part of CT doesn't get many vagrants.Well, this vagrant needed to visit a beauty salon for a pre-wedding perm. I couldn't go to my brother's wedding all scraggly-haired, could I?. The chances of getting an appointment on short notice were slim to none. But I took Lupe's suggestion and called the salon she indicated. I was able to get in that morning on someone else's cancellation. More AT Magic. So, I go in all sun-bleached and split-ended, and will return to the Trail tomorrow, all girly, coifed and curled. Wear your sunglasses, world!We also visit an outfitter, and all I can find to buy are some new socks. It's tough to have a consumer's heart and no immediate needs! But what I buy I have to carry. Don't need anything.Connecticut is a lovely state. The houses are very square and colonial, with multi-paned, six-on-six windows and neatly painted trim. The yards are immaculately maintained, with many perennial borders and white picket fences. Often, there is a stone fence, or stonework in the actual house. Stone, after all, is abundant in this glacier-touched land.Once back home, Derrick lets me back on the computer again, and I get to read the good wishes in my guestbook. The comments are really supportive and energizing. Thanks, everybody who signed in. If you're reading along and haven't dropped a hello, please don't be shy. You can't believe the energy and motivation it gives. I also learn the Hospice fund has raised nearly $11,000.I also check up on my fellow hikers' journals on TJ, and see where everyone is. My friend Trooper has set up a TJ site for his Long Trail hike next month. We had hoped to walk the co-joined first 100 miles together, but I will be through there a week before he begins. Bummer! But I sign his guestbook.Back downstairs, I want to take everyone out to eat, but no one wants to go out. They let me buy Chinese though; we were hungry again in two hours. Just like thru-hikers.
Date: 2003-07-07
From: Cornwall Bridge

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: scattered clouds

There's a promise of rain later in afternoon.There's a few sprinkles on the windshield driving out. But you can't call that rain. This has been our longest rainless stretch yet, 14 days. We almost feel like "normal" thru-hikers, whatever those are.The grass is high here. It's aggravating. Where are the weed-whackers in this state? It's not just nasty grass, there are consequences to pushing through the unmown areas. Since NY, we have been reading signs warning us about Lyme's disease. My friend Dale America picked it up last year on his thru-hike. I removed two deer ticks after that section, and I wonder if there are more, unseen.Again, it's baking hot, so we lunch under a huge, black Norway maple, by a community high school. The principal herself leads me back to the cafeteria for water, and there are vending machines and fruit juices. Bathrooms and toilet paper. A telephone.Itchy and I soldier on. Derrick couldn't hike with us today. We come upon the cold outdoor shower at the Falls Village Hydro Station, peeking out through the ivy. It is available to hikers. We both shower with our clothes on, rinsing out the day's sweat. We hoot at the cold and laugh - it's chilly but good.Life feels better after that.Next we cross a blue-painted iron bridge, a real classic antique. I take pictures. Before long, we see a monster falls, truly impressive, several levels, right in the center of a village called Amesville. There are cascades as well as falls. Kids are playing in it.The water looks pretty brown and foamy at the base pool. Itchy goes out and stands on a ledge and I take his photo.There are more hot climbs, and some descents, then suddenly we are on a quiet CT street, looking right at these lovely houses and yards. Itchy's jeep is nearby, a welcome sight on this hot afternoon. The clouds are building, but we beat the rain.That night, we eat a big bowl of guacamole dip and corn chips, and Chinese leftovers. This time, no one is hungry in two hours. Guacamole will stick to the ribs.
Date: 2003-07-27
From: Bromely Peak Warming hut

To: Peru Peak Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: light rain

Blustery and grey, the wind shakes the mountaintop hut this morning. I wake and eat breakfast with Eric in a small side room, so as not to wake the others. He gets an early start, but I dawdle, even take a catnap. My tummy feels queasy this morning. I finally leave about 8:30 am. Itchy would be horrified. Two SOBOs, Fox and Roman, hike in as I am leaving.I start to walk, and my pack feels unusually heavy, cutting my shoulders. The wind is strong and the noise in the treetops is constant. It's a bit unnerving, after seeing those trees snapped off before Manchester. I had hoped to be up and watching the sunrise this morning, but there was no sunrise. The world is one, grey, blustery cloud. I walk down to Mad Tom Notch on rubbery legs. Something is not right. My nose is running more than usual. There is a fist clenched in my solar plexus. My low back feels shaky, the muscles feel achy.Is it food poisoning? I had mayo on that sandwich yesterday, and hauled it up uneaten for about three hours. Perhaps that is it? Luckily, I've planned a short, 13.5 mile day to Big Branch shelter. I sit and eat a few ginger cookies to settle my stomach. Nothing else appeals.The climb up Styles and Peru Peaks almost doesn't happen. I sit on every rock, heart racing, legs leaden. I am clammy on the uphills, and shaking, weak. Maybe I will just go to the next shelter then, Peru Peak, and have a nap, then see how I feel.This quickly degenerates into "just get me to Peru Peak so I can quit for the day!" I just feel so bad overall. I don't trust my quivery, aching legs to stop me in the event of a fall. I just want to crawl into my sleeping bag and hole up. The trail is boggy chocolate pudding, and requires care not to slip on a root or rock.Patience, a young woman from Israel, passes me and offers words of sympathy. And then I am alone, with over an hour to go. On top of that, I am running very low on toilet paper, and am worried this stomach thing will turn into an "intestinal event."And then the eerie, windy skies start to spit rain. I want my mommy.Somehow, I drag myself to the shelter and unroll my bag. Kemo, a section hiker is there and offers me Tums. Bank Robber, a NOBO thru-hiker, stops in for a break. The grey is wearing on him too, and the long, hard miles yet left. "Then I think of Lance Armstrong, five time champion, with only one testicle," he says, "and I keep going." He brings news: he thinks that Lance has just won the Tour de France yet again.I sleep for most of the afternoon. Ibuprofen helps, but when it wears off I feel rotten. I take more. The wind continues to blow. Sometimes it rains. I am glad to be holed up.People come in and out, but I barely register. Poncho and his beautiful Dobie Sage stop in for a break. Coop, a SOBO, comes in for the night, and another NOBO. I manage a bit of supper, a ham-and-rice dinner my friend Debby from Southern Pines has sent. And then I fall back asleep.Sleep, the great healer. I hope I can hold it through the night after sleeping all afternoon.
Date: 2003-07-31
From: Vt 4, Sherburne Pass

To: Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 0.0

Early on, I wander down to the Lodge for a quiet cuppa. There is coffee and creamer on a little table, and I seem to be alone. That suits me fine. I enjoy the early morning hush.Eventually, I collect my pocketmail. My friend Cosmo, fresh from the annual App. Trail Conference meeting, passed along a bit of Trail maintainer humor, a sign to post at Trailheads. It would read:"NOTICE TO ALL TRAIL USERS"The Appalachian Trail is a dangerous place. There are poisonous snakes, bees, bears, unpredictable weather, hazard trees, rocks, roots, bumps and humps in the Trail, thieves, murderers, drunks, vagabonds, areas that are slippery when wet, areas that will make you wet, areas that are always wet, bridges, rivers and streams without bridges, hunters with guns, hikers with guns, drop-offs, jump-ups, unmarked road crossings, unoccupied structures, untested and possibly contaminated water supplies, lightning, and many, many, other situations that may cause death or permanent disability. You may become hypothermic or hyperthermic, or contract any number of diseases; you may suffer a heart attack, heat stroke, or heat exhaustion, carpel tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and sore knees; or you may die of thirst.However, the Trail is, according to available statistics, safer than virtually every community in America.Sojourn at your own risk, and by your own unaided efforts."Seems obvious, but you'd be surprised...It's a lazy day. A big breakfast comes with the room, which is a pretty good deal, I think. I catch up on my journaling, and nap. Sparky and Zapman head to town to do chores. I will zero here, and try to fight off this "whatever it is" that is dragging at me again.I've felt fine since my little bout with illness, but last night my intestines staged a minor rebellion. This morning my eyes water, I sneeze, feel achey. Maybe I'm fighting off a cold. I am happy to rest. Sleep feels good.People in Vermont love to leave their windows open. We have an open window and a fan in my room, like my Wisconsin childhood. I love the outdoors breezes, and not being cut off from the outside. There is traffic noise from VT 4, but for some reason it doesn't deter my sleep.After some chores, I catch a long nap. I really am not up to par today. Glad I' not climbing mountains. But I'm up for a jaunt into town. We hitch to Rutland, where I bounce a package ahead. Then we hit Walmart where Chief buys a sweatband and I buy kaopectate. Chief resists my urging to buy a loud, $5 Jimmy Buffet-esque rayon shirt.Then we head to the movies. I've missed them. I watch alot at home. Chief selects Seabiscuit, one I'd like to see. But I had my eye on Pirates of the Carribean - Johnny Depp, oooh baby! It's a good romp. Depp is perfect.After, we bus it back, and I eat a cheeseburger in the pub before retiring.Thus, quietly, ends my fifth month on the Appalachian Trail.
Date: 2003-08-10
From: Kinsman Notch

To: Crystal Lake
Miles today: 0.0

Zero dayThe first sound I heard was the roar of rain just sheeting down. The first sensation I felt was a sinking in the pit of my stomach. No! No more rain!The second sensation was relief - I was out of the woods. In a four-walled HOUSE. With dryers, the internet and a refrigerator full of food. And a good roof.Let it rain. I was dry and warm.We are billeted in Art and Sue's brand new house, parked as it is on the edge of the lovely Crystal Lake. Despite the rain, Art is in and out of the lake all day.When math teacher Art retired, he and Sue built their retirement dream house on their 1898 family compound. They rent out the other four cabins and bunkhouse to vacationers. Nice retirement digs!Art took us out for hot coffee and donuts, and when we got back Judy fixed us a huge platter of French toast, which we ate down to the last slice. We are being cosseted.For lunch, Art runs us by a fresh market where we pick up an armload of fresh-picked New Hampshire Silver Queen sweet corn, and some grilling chicken and French bread. Oh swoon! We fall upon our meal, and I sucked every sweet kernel off my three ears.We spend a lazy day running errands, driving around, planning our assault of The Whites, eating, phone calls, watching movies, journaling, checking the internet. On the way back from one trip, we passed a wild blueberry farm, natural bushes situated on a rocky hilltop. A bald, the "blueberry meadow" is carpeted with the tiny lowbush blueberries we've been eating all along the mountaintops. You can see the dusky blue of them from the road.Portions of the hill were cordoned off by twine, harvested by special rakes. The dark little berries are much smaller than domestic blueberries, but pack a sweet punch.In the evening, Art had to leave for a bit, but Sue, Chief, and I sat around and watched movies, "The American President" and "Wag the Dog." We learn that it poured two inches today. The mountains are flooding. That's a bunch o' rain. Torrential.SOooooo glad the Cloutman's took us in out of it!
Date: 2003-08-15
From: Crawford Notch

To: The Parsonage, North Conway
Miles today: 0.0

So, I was thinking... You know how people go to the gym for, say, "Leg Day?" Well, in the Whites, every day is Leg Day, and we just don't work out for an hour either, then hit the showers. We do it all day, then get up in the morning all stiff and hobble-legged and do it again. And there's no shower.This can't be healthy.Which is why we are taking a day off, despite the nicest weather in 3 weeks. A weary hiker can rationalize anything.For breakfast, Suz whips up an incredible omelet with fresh vegetables and sets it in front of me, along with a steady stream of toasted, buttered croissants with strawberry jam.After coffee, we all pile in her van to go pick up Hot Dog and Wench in Gorham, the next notch up (Pinkham). It's great to see them and they look happy and reasonably healthy. Dog is on antibiotics for bronchitis.We can see Mt. Washington just catching the very bottom of the cloud ceiling. We'll be up there on Monday, knock wood. Perhaps it will be nice...Suz gives us all a tour of her new house, a vacation retreat called The Tree House. It IS up in the trees, with a sauna, a woodstove, a spectacular bedroom view and decks. It is a private retreat. She'll move in this fall.Over lunch, we talk about future hikes. Chief is just going to "skim the cream" henceforth; hike only the choice bits. "What do I have to prove anymore?" he asks.We rest up, do chores, catch up on the news, eat. Before supper at a Mexican restaurant, Suz drives us up to Cathedral Ledge at sunset. Horsepower rocks!So, tomorrow we set off from Crawford Notch, taking our slow time if the weather is nice and the huts don't send us forward (it's a weekend).And finally, bearing in mind that AT plans are made to be broken, we are aiming to summit the awesome Mt. Washington on Monday. And, this weather observatory on the second highest eastern peak has a weather cam on its observation deck (Mt. Wash has the worst weather on the planet, that's why).So, if you want a possible thruhiker sighting, check this URL out between roughly 9 am and 10 am MONDAY morning:http://www.mountwashington.org/cam/deck/index.phpLook for the gal in the yellow raincoat. The camera updates every 15 minutes.Wish us luck as we set out onto the spectacular 12.5 mile Presidential Ridge.
Date: 2003-08-27
From: East B Hill Rd, ME

To: The Cabin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Zero day, The CabinWell, we had intended to hike today, but when it began to pour down rain, we both lost heart. Yeah, we're getting soft! Of course, the sun came out an hour later, but I could tell, by all the naps my body requested, that it was wanting rest.Later in the morning Bear and I drove into town to find the waitress who'd been ripped off. He had some more "hat money" for her. But it was her day off. Perhaps tomorrow we will find her and give her the envelope.Another huge supper, an expected visit by hiker friends Smooth and Wasabi, then it's off to bed.PS: I also got some exciting news. My buddy Skeemer summitted Katahdin today. And is in a van heading home! CONGRATULATIONS, BUDDY! You Da Man!Skeemer said he is already missing the Trail, and was having trouble not urinating whenever, wherever. Readjustment is going to be tough!
Date: 2003-08-28
From: East B Hill Rd, ME

To: South Arm Rd
Miles today: 10.1

Fall is in the air. Mornings run chilly these days. The blueberry bushes on the high tops are turning reddish in spots, and the dog hobble is starting to sport burgundy splotches. A discerning nose can smell the wood smoke in the air these nippy, Maine evenings.Back home in NC, friends tell me, the heat index has been over 100 for the last three days. I am thankful I don't have to hike in that! I am liking the Maine August so far.Another fantastic breakfast. The four girls, Hover, Tadpole, Strappy and Big Red have finally broken free of The Cabin's gravitational pull, and escaped before they got "fat and lazy," as my friend DaleAmerica teases. He was the first one to recommend the Cabin to me.Bear drives us to the Trailhead and points us in the right direction. Today we are ascending Hall and Moody Mountains, hardwood ascents under 2,800 feet, largely viewless.We see lots of moose scat, but Moody's resident moose once again eludes us. The wind is rolling again today, bending the treetops, chilling us when we pause. That doesn't stop the sassy red squirrels from scolding us as we pass.Did I say lots of scat?! Every 15 feet we see healthy piles of moose "acorns." This impressed Chief no end. "There's not just one moose here," he said admiringly. "There's MEESE!" As we are working our way uphill, down come Cobra and Splash. They tell us it is bear hunting season here in Maine; they saw a recent kill on the back of a truck, all dressed out. This surprises me - it's still August. "Gosh, bear hunting season?" I said. "Should I be wearing orange?"Cobra tells us that the hunters bait the bears with barrels that they fill up with donuts. They wait, then shoot it. These barrels are usually located near enough road access that the dead 400-pound bear can be carried out to a vehicle. "So, if you see a barrel full of donuts, run!" said Cobra. What an unsporting thing to do to a bear, put a barrel of donuts out in the woods. To say nothing of the thruhikers! I make a mental note to leave untouched any woods-found donuts.We run across thruhikers Triple Seven and So Far So Good. I haven't seen them since southern Virginia. They hiked south from Delaware Water Gap, then flipped up to Katahdin and are hiking south to their endpoint. I've seen a number of familiar faces that way, as those several states behind me "flip" up to hike the north before snows fly and the end terminus, Katahdin, closes October 15.We reach the Trailhead about the same time. We're surprisingly early. Easy terrain. Moody Mountain did not live up to its fearsome reputation. The flip-floppers offer to give us a ride to Andover, which we accept to spare Bear the trip. We get halfway there and here comes Bear and his red truck. We both slam on brakes, and make the switch.A smaller dinner tonight with Gutsy, Honey, Bear, Chief and me. It's nice, with wine. Tomorrow is a harder day, gotta catch some rest now.