morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-07-14
From: IMP shelter

To: Gorham?
Miles today: 8.0

Monday. Up & out early as usual. Left IMP campsite about 6:15 AM. Arrived at Rt 2 at 2PM. Did about 8 miles in 7 & 3/4 hours. Finally a day averaging over 1 mile per hour. This under 1 mile per hour is just emparassing. I have never hiked this slow before but then I have never hiked any part of the At that was this hard before. The day started with a 900 foot climb up MT Moriah. The trail was the usual so far...steep and rocky. Very few white blazes to follow...as usual in New Hampshire. Almost all of the trail intersections have signs but the AT is rarely mentioned. AWOL's trail guide has been an absolute necessity. The top of Mt. Moriah was rough and ridgey and at times hard to follow. There were rock cairns set up to follow. Most of the time there was nowhere to go but the worn trail but the cairns help find the direction to find the trail. There were a fair number of places where I was on hands & knees or hands & feet getting up or down a ledge or boulder. I am having knee, ankle and hip pains. This was another rough day but not as rough as the last two days. Eventually the trail "smoothed out" (sort of) about a mile before the Rattle River Shelter. Had to ford theRattle River twice. It was only (mostly) 6-8 inches deep but the bottom was fairly round smooth rocks. I took the crossings slow. A pair of hikers blew by me during one ford like I was napping. I am being very, very careful. I am finding that my balance, comfort level, and reaction times is not a good as it used to be. Truthfully I am a bit worried. I feel beat up and do not want to permantly damage myself. I work hard at home gardening, cutting firewood, clamming, kayaking and so on. Also my wife & I are out dancing 2-3 evening a week. I want to be able to continue all that. I had also promised my wife that I would not return home on a stretcher or in a body bag. So far, so good! Several people were at Rattle River. Stopped & chatted for a while. I got there so early that I decided it was foolish not to go on to Rt 2 and hitch to Gorham. I got lucky at Rt 2. I had talked to a couple heading south for a walk on the trail. I had barely started hitching a ride & they came out of the woods and gave me a ride to Gorham. I stayed at the Royalty Inn again. Ate at MR Pizza again. They have a really good Blue Moon Margarita that is cheap by Connecticut standards. I have decided to take a zero day (already) here because of the beating on my knees & hips & ankles. I already have a resupply box here and will decide Wednesday whether I continue or go home. We shall see how well my body recovers from the last 3 days.
Date: 2014-07-15
From: Gorham

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Zero day. Collect resupply box, Eat, Rest, Ibuprofen. I am worried about how much my ankles, knees & hips hurt. Other than that I feel pretty good. I have to think about this. The last thing I want is to end up with permanant damage. I still have goals for Australia, New Zealand, dancing and so on. I just feel beat up. Hmmmmm.
Date: 2014-07-16
From: Gorham

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

My body just hurts. I am worried that I am just getting too old for hiking this difficult section. It was probably a mistake to come alone. I have decided that I am not physically up to this section of New Hamphire and Maine. I know that Mahoosic Notch & Arm are coming up and are also very difficult. I already feel beat up. I am done. I am going to the Irving gas station for the bus to South Station in Boston and from there Amtrak to New London, Ct. My wife can pick me up after work today. I am sure she will be delighted. I am not.
Date: 2014-09-19
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

After I got home in July I tried to get back to my normal routine. I expected that I would be back to normal in a couple of days. That did not happen. I actually got worse. We had a Mexican Bean Leaf Beetle infestation in our garden and since I do a pesticide free garden, I went out almost daily and squished bugs (100's) with my fingers. I tried bending over to do it but ended up on my knees as that was easier on my back. I started having trouble getting back up to my feet. Several times I had to scootch over to the fence and pull myself up. I literally could not get up. This was not like me. I had stabbing pains behind my left eye. I do not get headaches. I have not had as many as 6 in my whole life.The first Friday after I got home my wife & I went out dancing. My knees (and hips and ankles) not only hurt but my knees started popping enough that I could hear them as well as feel the popping. My energy level was way down and I was tired within an hour of starting to dance. I also started napping for an hour or two in the afternoon and an hour or so after dinner. I was falling apart. I thought that I might have permantly damaged myself on my hike. I felt really lousy. I thought that I was in trouble. I was worried about my future. Walkers, wheelchairs and canes have no appeal to me. Ten days after I got home my wife noticed that I had a fading large circular rash on my left shoulder. Having had this type of rash before I knew that I had a tick bite rash. I knew that since it was fading that the actual bite occured either right before, during or right after my 3 day hike. Off to the doctors. I ended up on a month of doxycycline. Two weeks after the medication start, I started feeling better (late July). It is now Sept 19th and I feel pretty good. My energy level is still not quite up to normal but it is very close. I am happy and no longer worried.
Date: 2015-07-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 2 Thursday 7-9-15Last night we had 1-3 inches of essentially continuous rain. I slept OK but not great. Rain drummed on my tent most of the night but we were dry in our tents.   Luckily it stopped about 5 AM. Our Light Heart (sil-nylon) tents just shed the water when you shake them for packing away. Nice. I looked around the tenting area before we left and noticed 10-12 standing dead trees close by. I am glad that the wind was not bad last night. Waking up to a fallen tree on your chest is not a good way to start (or finish) the day. Perhaps I should look around before setting up. Those trees really need to be removed. We left Stewart Hollow shortly after 7 AM. Awol¢s elevation guide shows that the first couple of miles has little elevation changes. The first couple of miles were fairly easy but that was it! After that, the trail was back to up-down-up-down & lots of rocks. Now we are slow again. Actually we were not all that fast on the 2 mile ¢easy¢ section.   We had considered going on to Pine Swamp Brook Shelter but Acorn has developed a hot spot on her foot so a short day is a safer day. Blisters can ruin your day and hike. There were warnings posted about fording Jenny Brook. We figured that it had been dry enough to not be a problem and wanted to avoid the 1 mile bypass road walk.   So we hiked past the road alternative to Jenny Brook. It was a no-issue. Acorn switched to her version of Crocs. I just went across in my light weight trail runners as it was only a little over ankle deep. I expected them to dry fairly quickly. Ultimately that was another DUH moment. I should have taken my socks & running shoes off & kept them dry and put on my Crocs. Humidity was running about 90% and it took over 2 days for my shoes to dry. Another DUH for me. I got lucky & did not develop any blisters.WE arrived at Caesar Brook Campsite about 1 PM. We had done about 6.7 miles in 5:45. There were a group of young men from Great Barrington already camped there. They were being paid to work on the AT and were installing stone steps on the trail ahead of us. They were nice personable young men. I had a bit more appetite tonight. I had 1 single serving on mac & cheese plus a cinnamon bun (630 cal.) & other snacks. I have always had issues developing a hiker appetite. Maybe this hike will be better. It was a hot, humid, rough day. I am tired but don¢t feel too bad. Called my wife Alma as I try to each night. She always gives a current weather report. The next week should see only an occasional shower but hot and still humid. I requested my other Platypus bag connector and a black Sharpie marker when she meets us near Great Barrington. The Sharpie is to mark my 2 Platypus bags so they do not get mixed up for clean/unclean water. They are different sizes but¢¦ Another DUH for me. Acorn told me that I snored so loud last night that even though our tents were about 15-20 feet apart and it was raining that she had to use ear plugs to sleep. The lion sleeps tonight I guess.
Date: 2015-07-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

DAY 4 Saturday 7-11-15Slept late & dawdled. We still got out of camp about 9AM. We only had about a .4 mile hike to our pickup point. I guess this is a NEARO day. My wife says that Limestone Springs Shelter is supposed to reopen next week and has only been closed a short time. We find a shady area by the AT parking area to wait. Hudson from Bearded Woods picked us up near the intersection of US 7 & CT 112 about noon. When you arrive at BW, you take off your hiking boots, place them on a rack & pick Crocs from a box to wear while you are there. We also hung up our hiking poles on pegs outside. Then inside to the basement. Laundry is done for you. Just put your dirty stuff in a furnished laundry bag. Take a shower and put on clothes that they have available so you can get everything washed. They have both free and pay for drinks available. Snacks, including ice cream for sale. The place is clean. It¢s organized. It is easily the best hostel that I have ever stayed in. It is fabulous actually! There are 8 of us tonight. One SB (Ranger Rick) thru hiker, Acorn & myself and 5 NB thru hikers.   The owners (Hudson and Big Lu) are great people!   Hudson is an AT thru hiker & plans a SB and a flip-flop also. He is very experienced and knowledgeable. Big Lu (a joke: she is even shorter than me) fixes dinner. A great salad with homemade dressing, herbed grilled chicken, vegetable pasta, bread, sort of a banana spit for dessert. All really good. The SBr & Hudson talked about how hard the AT is to follow in the Whites. The SBr had gotten off the AT by error and climbed Madison, realized that he had missed Mt. Washington, hiked back north, then hiked Washington and then Madison for a second time. One of the NBr plays 1860 rules baseball. Sounds quite interesting and seemed to have more activity than modern baseball.   One young NBr (Icarus) was quite interesting. On his first day on the AT, he hiked from Springer to Niels Gap. He did about 38 miles on his FIRST DAY. After he recovered, he slowed down¢¦.some! He says that there is a Liberian National on trail who is hiking long fast days. Evidently Icarus passed the Liberian one day & the Liberian was very upset. NOBODY HAS PASSED ME BEFORE!!...And NOBODY WILL! Since then, the Liberian has maintained about a half day lead on Icarus. Great entertaining dinner stories and conversation.I have noticed that the NBrs have sort of a focused but dazed (crazed maybe) look in their eyes.   Almost all of their effort & thinking is dedicated to one goal. Interesting. I wonder if the great loss of body fat is a factor. On my first try at a through hike, I lost almost 40 lbs. in 2 & 12 months and had zero energy left.
Date: 2015-07-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Day 8 Wednesday 7-15-15We left Glen Brook about 7:05 AM and arrived at the Rt. 41 trail crossing about 11:15. About 4.3 miles in about 4 hours. Glen Brook to about Jug End was ledgey & rocky. Foggy with no views. Hot and humid AGAIN. There was another difficult descent. The last mile or so was very mellow trail. Acorn was still slow. Alma had not yet arrived so we found a shady spot to wait. We saw a dead (road kill) copperhead near where we waited. While we were waiting Acorn told me that she could not continue hiking after today. She was having sore feet, swollen ankles & feet and that the heat and humidity had gotten to her and the trail was just rougher and rockier that she expected. Starting at Great Barrington, we had to start doing about 10 mile days and that she could not do that. I already knew that she was struggling & was not enjoying our hike. I was disappointed and felt that I could continue. I am a kayaker as well as a hiker. I have only 2 rules for any group. Number one is that everyone has fun. Number 2 is that nobody gets hurt. Rule number one is first because as soon as someone is not having fun, rule 2 will soon be violated. Acorn was already violating rule 1, so violating rule 2 was soon to follow. I NEVER push someone to go beyond their limits. It would be a mistake. So we have a part day in Great Barrington followed be a trip home tomorrow. Our adventure is done.
Date: 2014-03-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Yahoo! All my work is done, well mostly. A couple days to do my final prep and I will be on my way! Crazy. I have already had a small change to my hiking plan, my aunty Janet is in Atlanta and wants to meet up and have dinner so it looks like I won't be hiking the approach trail on the day I get there. I'm ok with that, will be nice to see my aunty.
Date: 2014-03-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Flew in to atlanta today with no trouble. Was worried that someone would take my mobile home so when i saw my packback come around the conveyor i was very relieved. From there i figured out where the closest rei store was and took a taxi cab ride. The relationship between the cab driver and i got off to a rocky start when we just couldnt communicate. So i pulled up the map on my tablet and pointed to the destination. We were making great strides. Wandered around rei for a while, bought gas for my stove and batteries, and went outside to eat a snack. Contacted my aunty, she said they were a couple hours from getting back to where they were stayinh so i again pulled up my map and found a route that looked like i could safely walk. @8 miles later met up with the family. So nice to see aunt janet, john and dini, and their daughters annie and maggie. Especially nice to see dini. They treated me to a wonderful dinner out on the town that i will savor till the first trail town. Staying with them tonight and getting a ride up toward the trailhead in the morning. Overall ot was a good day and am excited about getting started tomorrow. Thanks to all the support staff back home!
Date: 2014-04-01
From: amicolola falls state park

To: horse gap
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

Started today at amicolola falls state park thanks to the griebert shuttle. Got my hiker number (843), weoghed my pack (42# thanks to eggplant parm). The nice lady at the welcome center told me the (8.8 mile) approach trail would take all day, that concerned me. Luckily i made it to the top of springer by 1 o clock, sat for a too long break and was off by 2. So with my hike officially underway i made it 10.5 miles to horse gap tent site where i camped with a few others. Nice quiet place and slept great. On the trail there were little purple butterflies that refused to let me photograph them. Yes they are real. I also learned a good bit of knowledge at the expense of someone else, just because you are behind a tree from one person doesnt mean you are behind a tree to everybody! Overall great first day. Talked to a lot of nice people, what a broad spectrum of people.
Date: 2014-04-02
From: horse gap

To: neels gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Today started off nice and cool, got a good jump on the day but it warmed up quick. Still no trail name and havent been hiking along with anyone yet but have passed and chatted with a bunch of good folks. I did walk for a short bit with a nice couple from maine that are walking home then moving to colorado. They are truly homeless. Most of the people today were stopping at lance creek tent site because there is a short section that you are required to have a bear canister (that nobody has). I thought the site would be too stuffed so i went on through to neels gap. A good resupply spot but didnt get here in time so im tenting again outside. I like my little tent so im not bummed out, mostly because they have a SODA MACHINE. I drank lemon ade and it was really really good. Havent gotten into my dehydrated food yet so all i should need to stock up is snack type food. Can wait to lessen my food bag weight, my pack is heavier than i would like. Still dont know who has it better than me.
Date: 2014-04-03
From: neels gap

To: rocky mountain
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Another long day. Pushed on a little extra because the threat of rain tomorrow. Hiked most of the day with 2 very nice guys. One a teacher from michigan named finnish lumberjack and the other retired army fella from england that was on piracy patrol in somalia so i named him captian phillips. Two great guys that go along about the same pace so it was nice. Camping with with them on top of a mountain. Lots of long uphills and long downhills in the heat of the day, near 80. Crossed 2 roads today and got awesome trail magic. The first was from maximus and his friend that i cant remember his name, sorry. They had water and lots of fruit, i had one of the best oranges ever! The next was from a past thru hiker (bowtie) and his parents. They had tons of food and had been out there all day. We got there just in time for coolies amd soda. Makes me want to give them a hug but i wpuld assume they would refuse. I did fail to mention that yesterday i got magic from a church group handing out bags of goodies. People are sooo nice. Im tired and dirty but still dont know who could have it better than me. Very fortunate. Still waiting for my trail name....
Date: 2014-04-04
From: rocky mountain

To: dicks creek gap
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

Great campsite on rocky mountain, glad we decided to push up the hill when there were no good spots at the tent area half way up. We were treated to a great sunset and a perfectly flat tent site. Oddly nobody slept well, maybe we got too much sun the day before. I have been covering my whiteness in spf 70 but doesnt seem to be doing the job. So after a delicious dehydrated breakfast we were off to dicks creek gap. Unfortunately between us and that point was tray mtn and kelly knob, 2 looong ascents that seemed to have no end, sweating like crazy. It was one of the more difficult days even though the shorter miles. Planning to stay at the Top of Georgia hostle we took the half mile road walk to get a place to stay. First of all let me say that this place has only been open a few weeks, it is run by 'sir packsalot' and i would highly highly recommend staying there to anybody. They really care, they are accomodating, the place is nice, food is good, and sir packsalot is a wonderfully knowledgable guy that really wants you to suceed in your journey. Way way way better that neals gap outfitter. Did i get my point across? Ok. So they took a few of us to town for a two hour window to eat all we could at daniels and resupply at the grocery. Daniels was fantastic, real food! I even ate 2 plates of salad because the veges tasted so good. We had to tent because there were no open bunks so when we got back to the hostle we took our food bags into the main room because of the local bear. Well what do you think they were doing in there? Yup giving foot baths with epsom salt and marbles. Great way to end the day. Nobody has it better than me!
Date: 2014-04-05
From: dicks creek gap

To: beech gap
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: broken clouds

After a great breakfast of pancakes and sausage from the Top of Georgia we got shuttled back to the trail and we set off. Unfortunately today would be the last for our section hiking responsible employed friend the Finnish lumberjack. He guided us safely to the GA-NC border where we were rewarded with a large size snickers from the group that takes care of that portion of the trail. I get the feeling the lumberjack wouldve like to continue the adventure but im sure he will follow along and not feel bad for us while we get rained on at some point. Through the afternoon we enjoyed wonderful weather, eating lunch on a gorgeous lookout point. Around 4 that afternoon we came to a camping area that you can drive down a dirt road to get to and there nailed to a tree a paper plate that read, twelth annual red truck green truck feed the hikers weekend, arrow left. True amazing, words can not describe, trail magic!! Never could i have imagined this. Home made chicken chili, pulled pork and all the fixins. Snacks, veggies, fruit, drinks, everything and a lot of it. They stuffed us full and thanked us for coming. Great people. Waddled up and over the next hill to beech gap where we would set camp for the night. Good night, good sleep. Only the captain and i so it was early to bed like it should be. Nobody will ever have it as good as me.
Date: 2014-04-06
From: beech gap

To: winding stair gap
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Up and out early this morning, we walked a mile to a nearby stream to get cooking water to make breakfast. Lounged a bit to eat oatmeal, hot chocolate, and to filter drinking water to move us along the trail. We had a great climb up albert mt to a fire tower. Great views and the climb reminded me of the adk which got me a little excited. It was the steepest we had come across so far. Got my pic taken with a fella up there dressed in red with a big white beard. Everybody actually took turns getting photographed with santa. It was great, i asked of him only that i make it to maine. He said it would be no problem. Now to get on to franklin we spent the rest of the day goimg over hills and through some nice big open hardwood forests where usually rhododendron had dominated to landscape. Called for a shuttle when we got to winding stair gap for a ride into town. She had to pick up 5 others too so it was tight with 8 people and 7 large packbacks in a van but we got to the enchanting saphire motel in time to order a pizza delivered straight up to room 17 ASP. Showered, clean, feet elevated we fueled up on high calorie food. No where near the nicest place i have ever stayed but right now i dont need much, first bed since starting the trail feels so good. Other than a few random blisters here and there and some rubbing in places, things are really good. Wish for good weather tomorrow as there is a chance of rain. Will deal with it if it comes. Its good to be me.