morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2021-06-12
From: NH 25A

To: NH 25
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: clear sky

It gets light early here! So up at 5:30 to prep for today¢s hike. The gas station/meat market across the street has a grill that whips up a great bagel, egg, cheese and bacon breakfast sandwich. Yum! And washed down with coffee I was good to go. Marlene showed up on time and she had me in the trail at 8:45. Very pleasant sunny breezy day in the 60s. Could hike in short sleeves. Since it was the weekend saw mostly day hikers. Gentle grades pretty much all day. Some rocks . Stopped during the morning to filter water, drink a lot (camel up) and fill water bottles. Finished up at 3:50, ahead of the planned 4:30 finish. Marlene was a no show. No cell service again. So I walked down the road to the nearby hostel to use their land line. Well she had forgotten. Yikes! She did show up at 5:30 and got me into town pretty quickly. No cost for today¢s shuttles! Back into town to my base, Inn 32. A cozy place along the Pemi River. I showered and went into town for a great meal at the Pemi Public House (named after the river running through town). Then finished up with a milk shake from the local creamery. Great day with the slackpack. Quads a bit stiff from downhills. But a good day. Pleasant weather and feel like I¢m building my trail legs.
Date: 2021-06-13
From: NH 25

To: NH 112 - Kinsman Notch
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: broken clouds

Up early again at 5:30 ready to tackle the mountain. The same breakfast sandwich as yesterday fortified me. Talked to my hotel neighbor, Mike,  out wiping down his bike. Great guy that has started a foundation to help families in need. Funds it with bike rallies and biker donations. Shuttler early and on trail by 8:25. Met a bearded thruhiker, Trail Warden, who!s been in the trail since March 2020. Taking his time northbound. Scary looking but nicest guy. Tough climb up Mt Moosilauke. Lots of rocks. On south summit by 1pm. Main summit at 2. Was a beautiful day to be at the summit. Breathtaking views. Had befriended a day hiker on the way up who I traded cameras with for summit shots. Trip down was very strenuous and full of steep grades and treacherous rocks. Did suffer a fall, scraped shin and had a lower back sprain. Ouch! Put on the bandaids, hiked on and was only 10 minutes late for a 5pm rendezvous with shuttler. Dinner back at the Woodstock Inn, seafood stir fry, and a couple of cold beers out on the patio helped a lot to fix the body. Tough day but conquered the mountain and survived. Onward!
Date: 2021-06-14
From: NH 112 - Kinsman Notch

To: Eliza Brook Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: overcast clouds

This next stretch was originally going to be a one day 16 mile hike. My inner voice said NO! Decided to break it into two days with a tent night in the middle. Glad I listened! Read on! After my usual made to order breakfast sandwich from across the street,  I packed up for an overnight in the woods. Kept my hotel room just for continuity. Marlene and I are now in the groove. She had me on the trail by 8:06. Really a rough, slow day up and down over rocks snd roots in the rain. Still beat up from Mt Moosilauke. Sprained back recovered overnight but legs stiff and low energy. Met a NOBO thruhiker, Colgate, a college student who just seemed to bound right along. Sigh! Also saw Marmot and No Name again. They were back on trail after Marmot bailed out for a time with a stomach virus. All better with help of a urgent car doc. Got into shelter area at 4:30. Chatted with the ladies who were staying in the shelter and beat me there. I put my tent up in a light rain (quickly :-) ) , filtered water then jumped into the tent for clothes change. Surprisingly my Arcteryx rain jacket and pants kept me very dry. My gaiters kept my boots and socks dry. Love it! Had a backpacker lasagna with meat sauce meal. Great to warm up and full up. Nice to be in the tent and wind down. Very tough day. Looking forward to an overnight recovery and recharge. Put in the earplugs to block out the steady rain on the tent. Nighty night!
Date: 2021-06-15
From: Eliza Brook Shelter

To: I-93
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Up at 5:30 and on way at 7 after a quick breakfast without hot coffee. Substituted caffeinated Crystal Light. No rain but trail was wet. Sure enough at narrow trail point along the parallel Eliza Brook I slipped and boots got wet. Figured I¢d better stop and change out wet socks to avoid blisters. Delay! Very tough rocks on upgrade to Kinsman South and North Mountain peaks. Both over 4,000¢. It was basically rock climbing instead of hiking. Fell a couple of times barking knuckles and skinning knees. Had to patch a few leakers. Delay! Rain on and off during day. Rain shell and pack cover on and off during day. Delay! Rain made rocks very treacherous. Was passed by NOBO thruhikers, Simba (was caught singing once) and OD (I didn¢t ask!). Stopped at Lonesome Late Lodge for better trail directions. Lots of trail names and no clear AT directions. Saw Marmot and No Name again. They were staying at lodge. Continued on but the mileage didn¢t seem to want to go down.A couple more falls. A couple more leakers. Delay! Finally made it to the shuttler meeting point along I-93 as it was getting dark at 8pm. Way after my original estimate of 4pm. Really a tough patch of hiking. Marlene was there for me! Decided to end the day in a positive note so I shaved and showered quickly and staggered into town. The Woodstock Inn bar was still open but no food. Well guess it was pilsener beers that would have to fill the bill. Struck up a conversation with a nearby group of very friendly bikers . We swapped life stories and by the end of the night they had picked up my bar tab. Nice folks! Had a few snacks back at the room and called it a night - exhausted but rehydrated! :-) Going to have to rethink the schedule for next couple of days. The Trail beat me up bad!
Date: 2021-06-16
From: I-93

To: I-93
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Special Day! Son¢s, Derek, 40th birthday. What a gift in our lives! After beat down on the rocks last couple of days today needed to be a zero day. A nice leisurely breakfast at the Woodstock Inn was a great way to start. The place I¢ve had dinners, beers and now breakfast. The Inn never disappointed. A town mainstay. Saw a guy there with retired Navy chief petty officer ballcap. Thanked him for his service. Turns out he was a Seabee. Can Do! With sun and breezes, all gear dried naturally including the boots. Laundromat across the street helped me check that off the list too. Repacked gear, got in a nap. Some normalcy returning but stiffness still there. It¢s a process. Off to dinner. You guessed it - Woodstock Inn. Great food and beer. Nice enough for outside dining. Love summertime! Great rest and reset day.
Date: 2021-06-17
From: I-93

To: Us 302 Crawford Notch
Miles today: 27.7
Weather: broken clouds

After careful assessment and consideration decided that I would gap out the next couple of planned sections. Needed down time mentally and physically. This would also allow me to maintain the planned schedule. As in the previous sections I will return to hike those gaps sometime in the future. Might also be able to bring friends and family as co- hikers. Marlene picked me up in late morning to reposition me in Gorham, NH. She was also taking some hikers to the top of Mt Washington so it all was in same direction and worked well. Said goodbye to Marlene who, despite a few hiccups along the way, proved to be a fun shuttle support. Checked in to the Moose Brook Inn. I was there before normal check in time but they accommodated me. Cute, cozy place with a pool. Very clean with a very welcoming, friendly staff. Walked into town to check it out and get provisions. Three mile round trip but checked a lot of boxes for snacks, lunch and beer. Also helped to stretch the legs a bit. Nice sunny pool day so had a beer by the pool. Light occupancy so had the place to myself. A slice of Heaven.  Pool a bit chilly but great way to ¢ ice¢ my legs. Felt great! More recovery! Contacted shuttler, Dan, to work out tomorrow¢s pick up and drop off details. He was very helpful. Turns out I could work in a trip up the historic cog train up the mountain. Fun! Final pack and lights out. Think I¢ve had enough rest to tackle the next big trail section.
Date: 2021-06-18
From: Us 302 Crawford Notch

To: Mt Washington 
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: few clouds

I knew today was going to be a tough one. It did not disappoint. Read on! Ate some breakfast in the room including some of the provisions bought yesterday along with the in room coffee. Dan, the shuttler, picked me up a little before 7:30 and had me to the Mt Washington Cog Train station well before my 9am train trip up. I had decided that I would hike this section from the top of the mountain down 5,027¢ in elevation southbound back to Rt 302. (Despite how it shows above with the start and destination points) . Learned that this cog train , built in 1869, was the first in the world built two years before the famous one on Mt Rigi in Switzerland. While waiting for train  I chatted with a couple of Army vets who saw my Navy Retired cap. We swapped stories. Always amazing and interesting to learn about others and their service to our country, Very informative conductor gave us lots of history on the 45 minute ride up. Very steep. The weather which has a reputation for being very brutal and windy was instead picture perfect. Sunny, light breeze with pleasant temp in the 60-70s. View was clear with 150 mile visibility. You could see the Atlantic Ocean to the east! Started my hike at 10am. A bit late for my liking but the earliest possible given the train schedule. First several hours were above the tree line. No shade so I slathered on lots of sun block, a couple times during day. First half of day I had energy and trail grades weren¢t too bad. It was fun. Later I had to get that second wind. Not quite as much fun. Sparse water was also challenging. Only source was at a hut later in afternoon. Lots of sheer rock faces on way down. Took lots of patience to not rush since fatigue makes for falls. The good news is that the rocks were dry and not slippery as opposed to my experience a few days earlier. Only falls were a couple onto my bottom. Lots of padding there! :-) . No blood! Texted shuttler at last signal availability on the last hilltop since no service at the meeting point. Guessed at finish time. Was late by about a half hour. Had my headlamp on for last 1.5 hours of hike. Finished in the dark at 10:15pm. Had run out of water and was quite tired. But I finished! Felt pretty pumped about that. On the way home we found a source for energy drink and water which I pounded down to rehydrate. That was well timed. Finally back at hotel at 11:15. Decided to wind down soaking in a hot bath tub with some snacks and a cold beer. (well, hydration can come in many forms!). Finally with lights out at 12:45am decided that I was proud of what I had done but not sure I should or would do that again. Lights Out! Well done, Bionic Man!
Date: 2021-06-19
From: Mt Washington 

To: Mt Washington
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Well after a late night it was a slow roll out of bed in the morning. Thunder and a steady downpour made me glad I was not on the mountain today but rather in the cozy Moose Brook Motel. Cobbled together a breakfast with items on hand. Hand washed some clothes. Shaved and showered. Body still very tight. Made lodging reservations down the line in a town that I hadn¢t finalized. Shuttler there contacted as well. Chatted with hotel neighbors. All in town for an ATV riding experience. Some rent, some bring their own. A big thing here. Apparently a thousand miles of trails through the woods that double as snowmobile trails in the winter. A boom for the local economy that took a hit as the pulp and timber industry tanked in recent past. One family here celebrating a son¢s 13th birthday. Fun to see nice folks out for a fun family adventure. Then headed out to closest food joint since I hadn¢t had a full meal in about 36 hours. On the way I stuck my head into a hair salon. Apparently no barbershops around. Old barbers retired and no one came to take their place so women hair stylists fill in. New norms! Well the young lady took me as a walk-in and did a great job for a very reasonable price. No longer a old shaggy hiker. Then on to food. Texas burger, great crispy fries and a grape pop! Yum! Rest, journaling and blogging filled up the afternoon before dinner delivery order came from same restaurant of a couple days ago. Also trying to get to the end of an audible book on the WWII Battle for Italy, Intriguing, brutal but a well written account of that part of the European Theater. Catching up on rest and recoup. Will be ready to go on to next section in a couple of days.
Date: 2021-06-20
From: Mt Washington

To: Mt Washington 
Miles today: 0.0

Yup, another zero day. Rest and recoup continues. More on that later. Being Fathers¢ Day I was spurred on to undertake a spiritual rejuvenation as well. After not having been in attendance at a church service in over a year snd a half decided to attend Mass at the local Catholic Parish, Holy Family Church. A 1.5 mile walk. Great way to stretch legs, get breakfast snd shop for resupply in one trip. All worked well. Met Fr. Kyle opening up the church before service . Tall, young man with a bright smile. Nicely kept church with attendance representing national trends. Older folks, 20% of church capacity. Service with organist and choir, though, and a formal service with incense and bell ringing. Nice homily about Fathers and later all fathers stood for a blessing. Good chance to reflect how proud I am of my family. Luckier than most! Resupplied on the way back at the Dollar General. Surprising variety and only game in town. Another stop for a six pack of cold ones and trip complete. The pool beckoned for a little icing of the legs. Delivery dinner and another recoup day complete, this one more spiritually focused. Felt great! So ¢¦extra gap and zero days- yes! Feeling guilty - a bit! But I have to remind myself of patience and enjoying the here and now. You¢ll get there, Bionic Man. It¢s a journey not a destination. Trying to listen! Hard!
Date: 2021-06-21
From: Mt Washington 

To: Mt Washington 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Breakfast - Coffee in room along with some of yesterday¢s resupply purchases. Used morning time to line up shuttler for return to trail on Wednesday. Local guy, Golden Waldo, said yes , so my guy, Dan, from a long way away wasn¢t needed. I thanked him for his support to / from Mt Washington and got off his schedule. Not previously mentioned was that I had a tooth cap fall off several days ago. The proprietor of the motel was kind enough to call her dentist to have them see me. It worked. Got in for a 2pm appt. It was walkable, only 1.7 miles away. Another opportunity to stretch my legs, part of recoup. So I grabbed lunch on the way in, at office on schedule, filled out paperwork galore and had my cap recemented. Very high tech, professional office with welcoming, caring staff. I celebrated on way back with a soft serve ice cream cone. Good feeling to have mouth in order- another piece of recoup in place. Pool leg ¢ icing¢, yup! Delivery order for dinner- yup! Also listened to my audiobooks. As a thunderstorm rolled in in the evening and again overnight I was thinking my timing should be good to return to the trail. Cool, clear weather after the front will be great!
Date: 2021-06-22
From: Mt Washington 

To: US Route 2
Miles today: 34.6

Once again, after careful assessment and consideration of my physical and mental state, I decided that I would gap out a couple of planned hike days. This would allow me to attempt to maintain the planned schedule. Yup, like previous gapped sections, I¢ll be back to complete them in the future. Opportunities! (for a return to this beautiful area, for possible hiking with friends and family, etc.). With that in mind,  I stayed another day at the Moose Brook Inn. With thunderstorms overnight and a cloudy, drizzly day it was good to stay put for the day. Tomorrow¢s forecast was a bit more promising. Talked with my wife by phone to catch up. Did a leg stretching walk into a convenience store for lunch provisions. Napped. Packed up full backpack. Yikes, it¢s heavy! Can¢t wait until I can return to more slackpacking but¢¦ need access points for shuttlers to extract me. Those seem to be uncommon up here in the Whites. Dinner was another door delivery to avoid walking into town in the rain. I¢m a bit worried about starting again tomorrow. Oh boy, am I recovered?  Guess I¢m as rested and ready as I can be. Lights out at 9pm.
Date: 2021-06-23
From: US Route 2

To: Stealth Site - Near Brook
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: light rain

Restless night in anticipation of the hike out in the morning. In the morning ate up leftovers and a wide variety of bars, protein, fruit, juice, milk and coffee. Wanted to be fortified. Golden Waldo, my shuttler,  was early for my 7am pickup. Interesting guy. Spends winters in the south (Louisiana), summers in NH. Has trailers for residences in both places. Is 87 yrs old and likes to help out hikers. Had a big ole sturdy van and got me on the trail by 7am. A very unique guy and a big help. Cool,  breezy, sunny day but had lots of sweat on the rough ups and downs. Views were amazing with a few mountain flowers to add beauty to the day amidst the tight legs and fatigue dragging that pack up and down the grades! Passed by lots of NoBos (northbound thru hikers), some SOBOs. Lost a gaiter but some passing hiker alerted me in time to go back to retrieve. Very thoughtful! Fell short of my planned shelter destination but decided that 10 hours was enough for the day. Found a nice stealth site near a nicely flowing brook. Since I fell short for the day decided to save a bit of my planned dinner for later. Also started working the scenarios of how to plan out the upcoming miles within my available food. One day at a time but glad I stopped when I did for the day before injury or exhaustion, Tomorrow is another day. Crawled into the tent at 7:40 pm for journaling and sleep. A challenging day!
Date: 2021-06-24
From: Stealth Site - Near Brook

To: Carlo Col Sheltet
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: moderate rain

Slept pretty well overnight. Quiet and cold. Layered up inside my bag. Woke to 36°. Up at 5:30am to pack up interior of tent then, brrr, into the elements. Not too bad, had the right layers. After a light breakfast and cold caffeine in my Crystal Light, I was on the trail at 7:25. Met a SOBO- That Other Guy (said he was in a shelter with lots of Mikes. When he introduced himself as yet another Mile he was dubbed his distinguishing trail name). Got passed by a number of NOBO and some SOBO hikers including a group of nice young Amish men (telltale haircuts). Gentle trail grades then steep up to Mt Success (3565¢) Met a young father hiking with his 3.5 yr old daughter. Cute as can be. He says she wanted to hike, including tough rock terrain) and was doing quite well,  better that me! :-) Last two miles to shelter very challenging. Lot of vertical boulder descents. Finally onto blue blaze side trail to shelter. Lots of rocks on this trail as well but a downgrade so was tolerable. Got into shelter site at 6:30. Filtered water. Cooked a ramen and tuna pack hot meal. Stored extra food in the bear box provided and crawled into my tent at 8:30. With the good cell signal communicated with my wife, journaled, then lights out at 9:45. Tough, slow day. Felt less pressured by time but still felt the stiff legs from the endless rocks that really sucked! But now I¢m in Maine. Onward!
Date: 2021-06-25
From: Carlo Col Sheltet

To: Mahoosuc Notch
Miles today: 6.0

Woke at 5:30. Already starting to get light. Had a light breakfast, trying to conserve food since I¢m now likely on the trail for extra unplanned days. Packed up and left shelter site onto blue blaze trail and then onto the AT at 7:30am. Lots of ups and downs, 3800¢ peaks, vistas and rocks. A beautiful, sunny, breezy day. Came down Fulling Mill Mountain with some steep grades and iron climbing bars like in the photo. Got to and entered Mahoosuc Notch at 5pm. Young hikers there said it would take 1-1.5 hours to get through the Notch, a jumble of house size boulders that you climb over, around, under and through. A daunting feat with a full backpack. I was heading to a campsite on the other end of the Notch for overnight camping. I hiked hard, it was hard, but doable. Then it started getting dark. I figured I was almost to the end so I put on a headlamp and continued hiking. At midnight I got lost. Couldn¢t get my bearings. No doubt fatigued, hungry and my phone mapping was not helping in the notch without good signal. Luckily in the middle of that boulder jumble I found a small moss covered flat spot to spend the night. It was too small and tilted to put up the tent so I slept on a ground cloth on my mattress in my bag. Finally settled down and got to sleep at 2:30am. I wasn¢t panicking but boy was I tired. Today sure didn¢t turn out like I was expecting. Guess I¢ll sort it out tomorrow.
Date: 2021-06-26
From: Mahoosuc Notch

To: Mahoosuc Notch
Miles today: 0.0

Woke up at 6am. Kept sliding down my tilted ledge (turns out it really wasn¢t that flat of a spot) but did get some sleep. Didn¢t feel too bad. Packed up and was on the trail by 7-7:30am. Found trail immediately in the daylight but I think this is where I started to head in the wrong direction. Didn¢t check my phone mapping since I figured signal in Notch was still bad. I also wasn¢t thinking too clearly at this point. So I believe at this point  I was headed SOBO, the direction I came from the day before! I did stop at a water source and filtered water to rehydrate and eat some breakfast. I met an Outward Bound group of young folks with an adult leader. The leader gave me an extra energy bar since I was running low and wished me luck. I finally made it out of the Notch at 4pm. Turns out that this was the same place I had entered the Notch 23 hours earlier but I didn¢t know it at the time. Yikes! I kept hiking thinking my desired campsite was coming up soon. No luck! I was hiking back up Fulling Mill Mountain again! Well, water was running out, food running low, energy running low, daylight running out, phone out of power. Paper maps not useful since I wasn¢t sure where I was as a reference point. Decided to find a stealth site to camp on the top of Fulling Mill Mountain. It was a nice moss covered spot. I was tired. I was out of water so went to bed dry and didn¢t eat anything since food would have been tough to choke down without water.  I had a bit of cramping and diarrhea at this point. Learned later that those are early signs of dehydration. Despite all of this I was fatigued enough that I did fall asleep pretty fast. Once again, I decided somewhere in here I¢ll need to call for help to get out of here safely. That¢s why I have the Personal Locator Beacon. I¢ll sort it out tomorrow.
Date: 2021-06-28
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

A night!s rest, safely in a motel. I woke at 6am rested but stiff and low on energy. A couple large coffees free from the commons kitchen area helped a lot. Spent the day catching up by phone with my wife (lots of tears and relief), setting up shuttle to airport and flight home, washing some travel clothes and figuring out how to get my gear through the flight home in one piece. I didn¢t have my usual duffel bags so,  with the suggestion of an American travel agent, I discovered you can use heavy duty garbage bags and tape. Brilliant! The gate agents just have to inspect it before you wrap and tape and check it in. The motel provided free garbage bags and I picked up tape in town when I got shuttled in for my takeout from Sud¢s Pub, a local go-to. Crashed early in anticipation of my journey back to Michigan tomorrow.