morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-09-02
From: hanover

To: montreal
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Montreal vacation time. We got a great breakfast at lous with zappy tendrils, got the wonderful box from dad with passport and goodies, and then I had the nicest car rental experience of my life. They didn't have any of the crappy cars I ordered, and the one with the best gas mileage of my options was a giant van! It was a pretty 3 hr drive to montreal and our neighborhood and apt was cool. Really diverse with awesome murals everywhere. I love pretending I'm better at french than I am. Even after the people realize I'm Anglo and switch to english, I just power through with the French anyway. For a second I thought my french was actually pretty stellar, but then I realized I was listening in on a Spanish conversation. Lot of Portuguese and Asian folk around too. And when you look up what montreal specific food their is, most sites level with you that there really isn't any, but there's great bagels, italian, Portuguese etc. Our first stop was a cat cafe, le chat l'hereux. You basically pay to have coffee and get ignored by cats. And ypure not allowed to pick them up, wake thrm up, or pet them when thrure drinking or eating. I made grand plans to see all the music Friday night, but we basically ate ourselves to sleep. Hikers curse. We started at an awesome cocktail bar where we learned that Caesars are Canadian bloody Mary's that are ok to drink anytime, and come with fried food on a stick, sometimes a LOT of fried food. The bar tenders were super nice and humored me way longer than was necessary with my terrible french. It was all vegetarian place too. We then got some fantastic veggie sushi, but first a Spanish tapas place while we waited. I love actually getting nothing but a plate Jamon iberico and manchego. They "play" spoke to us in spanish but I jumped at the chance to not suck at a language and the owner came out to get in on the fun. I do a goid spanish spanish accent I guess. I could write a book. But it'd be a short book. Just hold your breath, speak through your nose and act flustered. Big cities are great. I'm gonna miss small cities, but it's been a while since I knew what a city felt like.
Date: 2016-09-03
From: montreal

To: montreal
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We started off the day by following the Internet's recommendations of baguettes and bagels. We went up to mile end for a great boulangerie and fairmount bagels. We chilled in a park in front of a church. I love my catholics. Good statues and platitudes. I learned the quebecois licence plate saying, "je me souviens" is kind of like dc's "taxation without representation" in its snarkiness. It's the first line in a poem that goes je me souviens, que je suis ne sur l'ile, et je me crce sur la rose. That's my franglaispa±ol mmomory of "I remember I was born under the lily, and now grow under the rose. So I used to be french, but now english. The rest of the day was mostly napping. We got their bike share pass, which is actually one of the best I've tried, and rode downtown.  We went to the musee de beaux arts and Kate remembered she hates arts museums ad loves naps so left the cultural appreciation to me. I remembered I love naps too and rode back to eat some Indian food and nap again. After sleeping, we decided we were gonna check out all the fancy rooftop bars we could. One was actually right by our place on duluth and was really cool. Its its own brewery called reservoir and us all vegetarian. God iove how vegetarienne this place is. We then rode down to the old city and tried out their terrasses. It wad trop fancy but at least I did pretty good faking my french with the super chic hostesses for a while. The first 30 seconds of a conversation I'm golden, and very interactive. Then fir the next 1.5 minutes I'm all facial expressions and grunts hoping they don't notice I have no idea what I just agreed to. You can skip hotel nelligan for place d'armes terrasse. Better everything at the latter. We were actually drunk for the first time this whole trip, and so opted for a cab instead of our pre paid bike back to a cool jazz club near us called diese a onze. The band was real good and I love watching g bassists. Seeing bassists that good I always think mine must be different somehow, and harder to play.  They just make it look so easy.
Date: 2016-09-04
To: montreal
Miles today: 0.0

Got up and drank a tiny coffee at a tiny table and read a small french newspaper.  It was great. When kate got up I convinced we should climb the mountain, aka mont royal. There's drum circles and pot smoking on the reg at this park, and the hike up was actually legit. It wss real steep and slippery, with loads of broken glass to make it interesting. There were some great views of the city at the top, with some anticlimactic cell phone towers and ugly crosses.  We tried to go down a different less steep path of but literally ended up the esame one. The scene was a bit much for me to bear and I couldn't stop laughi the whole way down. Kate, a veteran AT hiker was struggling, other groups of fancy clothed city folk were falling all over the place. I look up and see a cat on a leash barreling down along with a human couple who think that they're running get to the bottom and start screaming and hooting like they just cheated death. The highlight was I look up a bit to see a lady sitting down and crying, repeating to herself "I cant" while her two kidst skip down. It was like some circle of Dantes inferno. We had a good laugh of it then nade it to a cool bar with good people watching playing Neil Young, and neo soul.  Canada and philly! Together in song. Drove back to hanover and slept I the back if the van outside the coop. Private hotel room basically, but we realized that the po was closed on labor day and we were stuck with our bounce box abd montreal clothes mv. Ups and fedex were closed too so it w as another zero for us. :/
Date: 2016-09-05
To: hanover
Miles today: 0.0

Unplanned and unwanted zero day. Both ups and fedex were closed too so there was nothing for it but to return the car and go set up the hammocks in the woods on the edge of town. We got breakfast at lous again, got our free slice of pizza at ramuntos with some beers, had another beer on the Dartmouth green. It's a lovely but small green. Dartmouth only has like 6000 students all in. Much smaller than I'd thought. We went and saw a pretty terrible movie called the light between oceans, but I had fun regardless. Went back to the canoe club for dinner and got to hear some live espn show on Dartmouth football with their headcoach. I wish I knew more about Penn football so I could've heckled them on air.
Date: 2016-09-06
From: hanover

To: dimmick brook
Miles today: 15.0

Mileage is a bit tricky on this one. AWOL sobo book is basically a sloppy flip of the "real" awol nobo, so landmarks that last a while usually get the nobo mileage mark. So we went 14.3 by one count, but had .7 into town which we've quadruple blazed by now, so whatever. I like 15. I was struggling toward the end today and Kate had to nanny me the last few miles. I just kinda felt like I was dreaming most of the day, then my feet were barking loud. I probably w as nt drinking enough water combined with inertia of almost 5 straight zeros. We got a late start too. So late it was tempting to have lunch before leaving on top of the breakfast and resupply. We finally got out of hanover! This after chatting with this guy again who was so nice. He comes up to hikers and asks if you need anything at all. We managed to escape the vortex and officially crossed into vermont. Our second state! There isn't much fanfare at the border, so we kinds had to guess that it was halfway across the bridge over the Connecticut river. You then go right through Norwich vt, which is its own little cute town, and we did hit up dan and whit's general store for some Gatorade. It's a cool spot with a reasonably in tune painted piano out front that I had some fun with. We had one last stretch of road/trail out of town, lined with great trail magic and chatty joggers. By the time we were back in the actual woods we'd logged maybe 2 or 3 miles. There really is a difference between VT and NH trail too. VT just seems nicer. Less roots and rocks and more flat dirt paths. Most of the forest I'd pretty open so you could stealth anywhere. Then just about 10 miles in we were back in a tiny town and passed this store/restaurant called nazy's which had a rhyming motto to make sure you didn't pronounce it like nazi, as I'd been doing. They make a mean pizza. It was so good but I was starting to regret not having eaten any of the food on my back. I definitely feel lighter overall than the last town we came out of though, having just bounced some weight: my extra shorts, my camp shorts, the book and journal pages I wasn't using, my larger knife, extra socks, and baby powder. The baby powder had come in handy recently, but it just doesn't do as good a job as body glide, which CVS didn't have unfortunately. I had to settle for some monostat creme marketed to help with my bikini line and breast chafing, but is the same chemical as body glide. Fingers crossed!
Date: 2016-09-07
From: dimmick brook

To: lookout cabin
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: clear sky

I put the mileage and destination in this entry and that's it. I have no recollection of what happened this day, other than the lookout cabin was awesome. It's like a fire tower with 360 views up a steep ladder to the roof perch. We caught a great sunset and ate dinner up there. Papi and pepper were there too. They're a cincinnati older couple we hadnt seen in a few weeks.
Date: 2016-09-08
From: lookout cabin

To: inn at long trail
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Today felt much better for me due to an early start and taking some pain med for my feet. It was over 16 miles with the side trails, and even with the slow burn elevation gain close to 5000 ft I felt like I could've done more. It's nice to have the trail legs back after the string of zeros because the last couple days were similar miles and elevation but I was not a happy camper. And I don't think the alleve was the biggest help either. I think just getting up with the sun and taking a few feet massage breaks and I feel so much better. We got up to try and catch the sunrise from the lookout but unfortunately it was all foggy. It was still nice to have breakfast up there though. Not a whole lot of good views today, but there was a pretty boardwalk up to thundering falls.  I had a good swim in kent pond too. Hadnt done that in a while. The inn at long trail is a cool spot too and has a goid Irish pub. Ran into marmalade again with a couple nobos and he bought us a beer. Long trail ale on the long trail at the inn at long trail. I was 3 beers in and it was dark and drizzley out so we pansied out and got a room instead of setting up camp across the street. Wasn't too bad. 70 bucks for the two of us for a private room and bath, breakfast included. We were def gonna stop in for breakfast anyway which would've been 25 bucks on its own, and the whole inn is full of cool hiking, skiing and historical stuff.
Date: 2016-09-09
From: inn at long trail

To: Killington peak
Miles today: 8.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We've got a sweet little campsite at the peak all to ourselves. I can hear the wind whipping fast below but we're somehow protected from it. We went up a steep little side trail just past the cooper lodge shelter and made it up just in time to see a great sunset. The hiking was pretty uneventful except that we're now coincident with vt's long trail, which I think is even older than and an inspiration for the AT. It's all LT/AT signs until Massachusetts now. Another bit of history I would've liked to have known sooner, and was of course made plain to nobos in signage and in AWOL , is that the AT and LT were rerouted semi recently and the old trail is now called Sherburne pass. That was the .5 blue blaze we took downhill to get to the inn at long trail. I think I might've just taken that historic route all the way, instead of down then back up again to the current trail, then taking a few miles to circle back around to VT 4 and ending up about a half mile from where we started the side trail. Apparently there's better views on the Sherburne too. Oh well, we're still purists! Another awesome part of today was disc golf. We got a free ride in the town bus the 2 miles down to base camp outfitters course, after breakfast and dilly dallying around the inn (they had great guitars, piano, and signs saying please ask for the banjo, but when I asked the lady pretended to not know where it was, which I suppose is reasonable since it was 7am) the bus charges 2 bucks a person so we tried hitching over for like 20 minutes before it got there. Close to a hundred cars passed and all we got was one honk. I thought this was a hippie liberal state?! Makes me nervous about hitching to rutland tomorrow. The driver ended up not charging us anyway, and the one on the way back just a buck each. Anyway the course was great and they rent discs too, which I'd never heard of but was very grateful for as I had none and the course was basically empty. It did cost 10 bucks to play including the discs but I didn't mind. Met two other sobos from raleigh out there and played a few holes with them before they had to bail to meet a friend. I was pretty pleased I wasn't much worse than I've always been too. No birdies, but I wasted a bunch of birdie opportunities which is my usual style, and I'd like to think a sign that I'm on the verge of greatness. We finally got to hiking around 2, so we'll have two short days since it's only about 12 in to rutland tomorrow.
Date: 2016-09-11
From: rutland

To: Clarendon gorge
Miles today: 0.1
Weather: broken clouds

Not a zero! I woke up kind of half asleep from my terrible nights rest around sunrise and tried to get some more rest before breakfast. The yellow deli folk made us a great breakfast and I met some nice sobos at our table. Not that I care of course , but it happened to be Sunday and the Bengals were playing their first game of the season. So we'd planned on doing the chores in the morning, watching the game, then getting back on trail. Luckily it was on broadcast TV so we could watch it back at the moose brewery with the delicious pizza. Talked to a lot of really nice folks at the bar and working there and watched the Bengals squeak out a win. We managed to escape the friendly yellow deli people and actually ship out afterwards. I was pretty exhausted and full on delicious beer, pizza and nachos so was looking to just plop down anywhere on trail. Pinky and the brain, a nobo couple, picked us up pretty quickly and gave us a ride back to the 103 trailhead. They had to go home for a funeral a while back and then to save time and money are doing this really cool way of shuttling/slackpacking with one car to try and get to katahdin before October 15th. They'd driven back to where they got off, then they pick a section and one person drives the other to one end, then goes to the other end and they hike in opposite directions and exchange the key. So they can either camp together in the middle for one night or slack pack a day. And we'll probably see at least one of them tomorrow too since the section we're on is up next. Just outside the parking lot is a really cool suspension bridge over Clarendon gorge, with rapids underneath. I was ready to call it so we just hiked along the river, off trail unfortunately, until we stopped seeing no camping signs and strung up the hammocks. It's a gorgeous spot right on the river and I'm very thankful it's chilly instead of sweltering in that bunk. A little rock hop out to the middle there's a great sitting log where we ate snacks and watched ducks and hawks navegate.
Date: 2016-09-12
From: Clarendon gorge

To: lost pond shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: clear sky

Today was a great hike in great weather and Kate and I both felt good upping the miles a bit. We're gonna pop our 20 miler cherry soon and would've today if we hadnt have hit the trail so late at 1030. I needed my beauty rest though. There's a great chill in the air and it's starting to feel like fall. Didn't get much of a view today, but we had lunch and took a couple breaks at some cool cascading brooks. The trail was a lot rockier and reminded us of Maine with the squat little xmas trees making up the underbrush. We passed by a really pretty lake at little rock pond shelter that had a caretaker with the green mountain club. Also very maine like. We're in green mountain national forest now officially, although I'm not sure where that started. The GMC maintains most of the AT in vermont and all of the LT. Another marker of note today was the white Rock junction. It's a 50 ft square space just chock full of little cairns and rock piles. Even in the trees, and some hanging from the trees. It's a funny thing to walk up on.
Date: 2016-09-13
From: lost pond shelter

To: before William b Douglas shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: clear sky

We got over the hump! Definitely feeling it tonight so we'll see how the morning treats us. The Douglas shelter is actually a half mile off trail and listed as the only water source nearby, so we'd planned on going another mile or so past it to stealth by a stream. Luckily when we got to the side trailhead, it was just past a babbling brook. Once we checked we'd done our 20 we were both pretty relieved to just stealth by that brook instead and call it a night. By that time it was close to 7 already and I was pretty hungry. The trail leading up to our campsite tonight is along a logging road or something, so it was a nice soft landing even it was a bit uphill. We climbed a few named mountains today: Peru peak (after which part of the wilderness is named), styles peak and Bromley mountain. Styles peak had a nice little view and we ate lunch with two nice southern grandmas hiking the shit out of the Golden years. Bromley mountain is a ski resort too and had a sweet ski patrol cabin open for hiking use. There were great views up there so it was kind of a shame we weren't staying. The trail goes literally down a green run from the peak for a half mile before turning back into the woods.
Date: 2016-09-16
From: bennington

To: past Congdon shelter
Miles today: 4.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Today we were a bit influenced by the fun had last night and got a late start. Kates real rough and slept right up 11. We checked out right at 11 and got lunch at ramuntos, the sister store of the one in hanover that gave free slices to hikers. I did some thinking and figured I'd regret not stopping for some bluegrass in North adams. It's only 60 bucks for up to 10 hours of music including old crow medicine show. The festival itself is a pretty good deal, just 100 for all 3 days and 60 ain't bad. The stars are just aligned. Unfortunately I lost the number of the dude from the brewery that said we could crash at his place. Maybe we'll run into him. We got back on the trail at 2 and a little ways in saw some cool bear prints in the mud. Looked like a momma and cub and reminded me I need to buy new rope for food hanging and start actually hanging bear proof. I've heard the bears in Massachusetts can be a nuissance, not just the critters.  Kate wasn't doing so hot after a few hours so we got a good stealth site near a brook. She went straight to bed and will probably feel better tomorrow. It was nice to make camp early. I played guitar for a while and wrote a little music, which felt good to get back into. I'm hoping tomorrow I get to play someone's banjo. I've been missing that. The music starts at 12 or 1 tomorrow and we've still got 13 miles or so before town. so we're gonna try and get up early. And we left the Massachusetts border crossing for tomorrow too. Vermont seemed to go by fast, and these next few states go by quick too. I forgot how quick. Well be in PA in just a couple weeks probably. Mt greylock after north adams is the only real big climb left before the smokies I think.
Date: 2016-09-17
From: past Congdon shelter

To: north adams
Miles today: 13.5

Woke up at 5 to try and get an early start but Kate was still feeling terrible. She tried to sleep it off a bit more and woke up ready to walk but still not tip top. We hit the Massachusetts border a few miles out of town and got to the road around 5.  Got a hitch almost immediately (I don't know what vermint's problem was) from a nuce guy and his two small kids headed over to fresh grass.  There was still time to check out some music at the festival and Kate was feeling better, so to expedite things we shelled out for the holiday Inn, the only game in town, and we got the last room for an obscene 200 bucks. Oh well, it's our anniversary after all.   It did have a hot tub at least. We showered, hottubbed, and grubbed up then went over to mass moca to catch the last few acts. They've got a cool spot and the industrial grounds, background hills and harvest moon were all really pretty. It was hours past hiker midnight though so a couple hours in we bailed and hit the hay.
Date: 2016-09-18
From: north adams

To: past north adams
Miles today: 1.6
Weather: light rain

I got up early to do laundry and there were no robes or loaner clothes. The laundry is right by the hot tub and sauna room though, so I went jay bird and grabbed a towel to soak while I waited. I was closely monitored by some maintenance and housekeeping staff coming in to clean random shit in the pool room at 8am. I think they were on to me. We got breakfast then called around forever trying to find a place with cannister fuel. Walmart was the only option and we had to get a cab there. Luckily as I was strolling the aisles with my pack on and hiking poles a guy came up to me and asked if I was hiking and what I was doing out this far. He offered to give us a ride back. Really nice. We were actually on our way back to watch the Bengals steelers game at a sports bar about .8 off the trail but he dropped us there anyway. Not that I care about football of course. I forget who won anyways. We did a few miles to get back in the woods and set up for tomorrow
Date: 2016-09-19
From: past north adams

To: past cheshire
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: mist

Forgot to write an entry and forget details and threw away the guide book page . We did have dinner on a 0.8 side trail/bike path at a place called bass water. The on trail site was closed. We stayed just out of town once the trail went back to the woods.Ooh! Just remembered while looking for a photo. We climbed mt. greylock today, massachusset's highest peak. We were mostly fogged out of a view but had a lovely lunch at the lovely, cute bascom lodge at the peak with a fellow sobo, robi dobi.