morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-07-17
From: Winturri Shelter

To: US 4, Killington, VT
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: broken clouds

I cruised out early this morning, before John the Baptist even got out of his sleeping bag, and made good progress. My guidebook transposed a couple of mileages, so I thought I was walking ~11 miles to the next shelter south, but I kept passing signs saying that it was getting closer and closer. Finally, when I passed one that said I was within 3 miles (and I thought I shouldn't be closer than 5), I stopped and did the math. What a nice surprise - I got there a lot sooner than expected!In no time, I was over Quimby Mountain (the only big climb/descent of the day) and down in the lowlands near Killington. As I walked into Gifford Woods State Park I was overwhelmed by the smell of grilling hamburgers. My first thought was, how can these people do this to us??? We're so hungry! My second was, I wonder if I look really really hungry, and maybe limp a little bit, if they'll give me one. Turns out, it was a hiker feed! A NOBO hiker, AZ, had his whole family out to feed hikers - burgers, salad, chips, fruit, etc. - the whole picnic spread. Amazing. And, lo and behold, AZ's mother is best friends with the grandmother of a couple of my friends from Norway! Small world!!I got to Route 4 by 5:00, walked up to the Inn at Long Trail, and parked myself in McGrath's Pub for a few hours. After a bacon cheeseburger, plate of nachos, 3 beers, and a root beer float, I decided I should stop spending money and wait outside for my parents to arrive.They got here around 9:00pm, we drove down the road a piece to the hotel, and went to sleep. Today I've got the normal town errands (laundry, resupply, etc), then I'm taking a vacation from the AT. I'm heading up to North Troy, VT, to get on the Long Trail at the Canadian Border; I will walk back about 168 miles to Killington, where the Long Trail and the AT merge, then continue south to the MA border (where the Long Trail ends), and on to Georgia! I am planning on it taking me 8-10 days to get back here to Killington, but I really have no idea how I'll handle the terrain and so forth. We'll find out in a while!!
Date: 2014-07-18
From: US 4, Killington, VT

To: Shooting Star Shelter (LT)
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: light rain

Despite the dark hotel room, I was up by 7am, so I finished my computer updates and had some breakfast. We hit the road around 9:30 and headed up to Montpelier to find an AT&T store; they put a new SIM card in my phone and it worked just fine ¢ quite a relief. I found a Laundromat and washed my hiking clothes, ate some pizza then a burger, bought the food I need for the first stretch of trail, and then headed back North.   Montpelier was hopping ¢ usually I would have liked that, but being in hiker-mode it just stressed me out.We took the scenic route up Rt. 14, 15, 100, and 101/105 to North Troy, then bounced down some increasingly narrow and more rutted dirt roads to Journey¢s End; a strange name for a place to start an adventure! After a quick final re-pack, I said my good-bye¢s and headed the rest of the way down the road (the Prius couldn¢t make it past the logging landing to the actual trailhead) and into the woods. The ¢approach¢ trail was nice and easy, and in no time I was out in the border swath, looking at a line marker post and gazing into Canada. It was actually pretty cool! Then into the woods I went, following white blazes south!I only passed one other hiker, and have the Shooting Star Shelter all to myself. It¢s a gorgeous clear, windless evening ¢ now that the sun¢s set (I didn't get here until almost 7:00pm) there¢s hardly a sound.Everything was a little achy from riding in the car, and my feet were a little sore in the new shoes for about 2 miles, but then I was back in my groove. Tomorrow will be the big test to see if these shoes eat my feet while I break them in ¢ I¢m torn as to whether I should slather my feet in Bag Balm to reduce the friction or preemptively tape and moleskin everything¢¦I¢ll decide in the morning.Super psyched to be up here ¢ I can¢t wait to see how the next ~170 miles go before I¢m back in familiar territory on the AT!! ONE MONTH ON TRAIL!!
Date: 2014-07-19
From: Shooting Star Shelter (LT)

To: Tillotson Camp (LT)
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: light rain

Started my second month on trail today, and passed the over-all 500 mile mark! WooHoo!!!Last night was so comfortable ¢ the temperature, the quiet, etc ¢ that I had to drag myself out of bed when the sun came up. Once I was packed I walked ~1 mile to get water (I never got the pump to prime yesterday) then got underway. The trail up here is like a combination of Maine rocks, roots, and steep scrambles and Smoky Mountain rutted , washed-out paths ¢ definitely not the easy, soft miles of western New Hampshire and eastern Vermont I was enjoying on the AT. Jay Peak wasn¢t as bad a climb as I expected, and before long I was at the summit gondola shed watching the cars come up and down. Kind of cool to watch, actually! By the time I got down to Rt. 242 the day hikers were coming out, including a whole busload of folks from Quebec. Once across the road, though, I think I only ran into two day hikers.The climb up Haystack Mountain was a bear, as was the climb up Tillotson. There were steep rock scrambles and in places the trail was so washed out that I had to step up 3¢ at a time. Pretty tiring when you¢re climbing some serious vertical feet¢¦ Furthermore, the corridor is clear to about 5¢, then there are all sorts of branches and brush and blow downs that never got cleared. Since I was focusing on my feet so much to avoid falling, I kept bumping my head on stuff ¢ it doesn¢t sound like a big deal, but after a couple hours it started driving me crazy.My feet, and the new shoes, were no problem though. I went ahead and slathered my heels in Bag Balm and that cut ALL the friction ¢ amazing!! I will go that route for a couple more days and then all should be well.Tillotson camp was pretty well packed with weekenders when I got here, so I grabbed a halfway decent tentsite and set up. I had Hiker Pad Thai for dinner ¢ ramen with peanut butter mixed in. Now I¢m enjoying sitting on a nice big rock away from the hubbub.Big day tomorrow ¢ it will be an early night tonight so I¢m good and rested for it!
Date: 2014-07-20
From: Tillotson Camp

To: Bear Hollow Shelter (LT)
Miles today: 30.4
Weather: light rain

HUGE day today. Here¢s the gist of it. The morning miles went really easily, and about 10 miles in a couple of guys from NYC/Azerbaijan who were getting off the trail that day gave me a bunch of dried mashed potatoes.   At 15 miles I stopped for lunch and ate two packets of said potatoes ¢ 880 calories, 160 grams of carbs ¢ then spent about two miles in a heavy food coma before the beast was released.I don¢t know what time I left this morning, but I finished lunch at 1:00pm, and got to Bear Hollow, another 15 miles away, before 7:00pm. Pretty good time! I only meant to go 23 miles to Roundtop Shelter today, but when I got there I had too much energy to stop; I planned to get across the Lamoille River and camp, but ended up on a 2.5-3 mile road walk through an active woodlot, so I kept on going.Despite the crowds yesterday, I have the place all to myself tonight. The shelters and camps up here are really cool ¢ Corliss Camp (where I had lunch) was a proper cabin with bunks and a loft; Roundtop was a log shelter with a sort of half-closed-in porch and a table inside, and Bear Hollow has four big bunks and a nice table to sit at along with a picnic table out front.As easy as the miles were today, it looks like I¢m in for some tough stuff tomorrow. I start by climbing the Whiteface Ridge, then drop into Smuggler¢s Notch, then go up and over Mt. Mansfield. I have some options, though, for stopping if I need/want to without getting behind schedule for my resupply thanks to the big day today.Everything feels pretty good, considering. Some leg fatigue and my feet are tired from the road walking, but a good night¢s rest should cure all of that!
Date: 2014-07-21
From: Bear Hollow Shelter

To: Buchanan Shelter (LT)
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: light rain

Oy gevalt ¢ a long, exhausting day; this will be a short entry.Whiteface ¢ meh. Lots of climbing, not much reward. It was cool to walk over so many ski resorts, though!Mt. Mansfield ¢ another ass-kicker of a climb, but TOTALLY worth it!! Seriously, one of the nicest ridges in New England. Lovely views from New Hampshire to New York, great weather, low wind, etc. Don¢t know what¢s up with the ugly visitor center on top, or the towers emitting more radiofrequency radiation than is allowable under federal exposure standards for the general public (even the Canadian government has a warning up there¢¦).It¢s super dry up here ¢ very little water anywhere. Puffer Shelter was so dry that I decided to push on to Buchanan Shelter which is a lot lower in the valley. The big stream only had a small pool of water, but it was the cleanest looking I¢ve seen all day (not stagnant and festering and filled with mosquito larvae like a lot of what I've seen). There are also lots of mice or some other rodents living in the shelter...it could benefit from a cat for a few days.
Date: 2014-07-22
From: Buchanan Shelter

To: Cowles Cove Shelter (LT)
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: overcast clouds

(I fell asleep last night before writing anything. Sorry.)The basics: easy cruising in the morning, then a nice town stop to resupply in Richmond. They had a good grocery store, and some good restaurant choices. Seems like the folks there don¢t see many hikers, though¢¦it was sort of hard to get a ride back out to the trail (even though it was only a couple miles back to the big road walk).The big road walk over/around the Winooski River: basically, it will be a good day when that new suspension bridge is finished and that thing gets shortened. Road walks hurt.Camels Hump: Butt-kicking climb, especially with the heat, but another fantastic, don¢t-miss-it summit. Wasn¢t too happy while climbing it, just after a resupply, but it was totally worth it when I got to the top.
Date: 2014-07-23
From: Cowles Cove Shelter

To: Cooley Glen Shelter (LT)
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: light rain

Today was mostly a strange mix of nice walking and periodic insanely steep climbs. I knew it was supposed to storm in the afternoon so I got right to it. At Appalachian Gap I had some trouble finding the Long Trail on the south side of the road, and then had a crazy climb up to General Stark Mountain. On the way I was greeted by two long-haired Dachshunds (no idea how they got as far as they did, or where they came from), then I spent some time on the summit in the Mad River Glen Ski Patrol warming hut by their legendary single chairlift.I¢ve decided that the LT is really just a tour of Vermont¢s ski resorts ¢ it crosses so many of them! The cool thing ¢ it seems like most of the summit buildings are left unlocked and available for respectful use. I like that!From General Stark the Lincoln Ridge was a nice walk, albeit in the clouds, all the way to Mt. Abe. I had lunch in the lift shack on Mount Ellen (the Sugarbush Ski Resort, and maybe the highest elevation lift shack in VT??), and got over Abe dry and in one piece. At Lincoln Gap I was hit with a 5 minute burst of rain, but it cleared up for a couple miles and was actually nice than it had been all day. I thought it was free and clear, but no¢¦About two miles from Mount Grant: Climbing, climbing. By degrees the sky slowly darkens to twilight. Climbing, climbing. The birds go quiet, the wind dies suddenly, even the biting flies find somewhere better to be. Climbing, climbing. Distant rumbles of thunder creep closer and grow sharper. Count the time between lightning and thunder: three miles. Two miles. Rain starts to fall.   Lightly at first then without warning heavily, in sheets. Climbing, climbing. The wind is back. Curtains of rain sweep across me. Water pools in the trail. Climbing, climbing. A leaf dam breaks; the pools are now running, churning milky and brown with sediment.   No time between flash and bang now. Each flash of lightning bathes the world in purple-white heat. Climbing, climbing. The wind the rain the thunder ¢ pandemonium. I hurl threats and epithets, words, non-words, whoops, and hollers skyward until I¢m hoarse. Climbing, climbing. Then: the top. Ten-foot fir trees are all that shelter me from the onslaught. Bare rock. Crouching, running. Hands low to brace me should I fall. One hundred fifty feet ¢ back in the woods. Descending. The trail becomes more earth than rock again. The water pools, then is absorbed by the strata. Descending. Then: a shelter, empty, dry, perched above a lake of recent runoff. Down. Wet clothes off. Dry clothes on. Sitting. Reflecting. Breathing.Passed the 600 mile mark today!! One more night and I¢m back on the AT! Can¢t wait!!
Date: 2014-07-24
From: Cooley Glen Shelter (LT)

To: Sunrise Shelter (LT)
Miles today: 23.4
Weather: light rain

Fog and soaked trails this morning gave way to sun and a really beautiful day for the afternoon. I did a massive faceplant along the way, tripping over nothing at all, and landing, for the first time ever, completely on my head. Classy stuff. Nothing broken, nothing bleeding, no horrible prison-fight bruises. Otherwise, the trails were nice and the walking was fair. I was hoping that Sunrise Shelter would have a great view of the sunrise, but it does not¢¦there are other people here, though (only the second time I¢ve shared a shelter in a week!).Inn at Long Trail for dinner tomorrow ¢ can¢t wait for fooooood!
Date: 2014-07-25
From: Sunrise Shelter (LT)

To: Churchill Scott Shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: clear sky

Wicked easy miles today. There was nothing spectacular about the walking ¢ low ridges, moderate grades, fast pace. I was at Rt. 4 by 2:00pm, 19 miles in 7 hours!I road walked up to the Inn at Long Trail, gorged myself on Guinness, burgers, potato skins, and bread pudding. They let me know that if I wanted to say, I could camp out across the street for free, but I decided to save my money and moved on to Churchill Scott. I¢m sharing the shelter with a guy and his dog, and a whole group of at-risk youth are causing a ruckus outside (and are apparently unable to read¢¦there are no fire signs everywhere, and they¢ve got one roaring away anyway).
Date: 2014-07-26
From: Churchill Scott Shelter

To: Greenwall Shelter
Miles today: 23.3
Weather: clear sky

I didn¢t sleep great last night because the hiker guy¢s dog went off every time a porcupine walked by (and they came by a few times). I ¢slept in¢ until 7:30, then started up The Beast, Killington. It really wasn¢t bad ¢ about 4 gradual miles of climbing, then about 4 miles back down and it was over! Lots of new trail work has been done on the downhill side, and then there was some easy walking.I had a callous split open on my left foot yesterday, so that¢s making the walking a little painful, and I¢m wicked hungry (damn botched resupply) and have low energy, so it was nice to have the easy miles.At Clarendon Gap I almost went down to the Whistle Stop for a second lunch, but some trail magic convinced me to save my money for another day and move on. I am tenting now at Greenwall Shelter with 4 other people ¢ 2 section hikers (a dad and his 9 year old son, hiking from Mass. to Killington) and 2 LT northbounders are in the shelter, and a whole bunch of other LT NOBOs just rolled in and are tenting. Busy place!!
Date: 2014-07-27
From: Greenwall Shelter

To: Bromley Shelter
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: moderate rain

Passed the 700 mile mark overall, and 200 miles on the Long Trail! Good Stuff!It rained a bit overnight but stopped as the sun came up. I was first up and out, and managed to get packed without getting rained on further. I actually got beyond Little Rock Pond and the Danby-Langrove Road before it started, which was nice because I got beyond White Rocks Mountain and all the cool rock cairns before the rain started. Same pattern as last time ¢ it got wicked dark, rained torrentially, then gradually let up.I was soaked and it wasn¢t all that warm, so I just kept walking without a break until Peru Peak Shelter, where I stopped for lunch. On the way I came up on a group of camp girls; the campers were soaked, one leader was trying to decipher a map, and I walked right up on the other leader taking a pee on the side of the trail. Oops! Sorry! At Peru Peak a whole crew of trail workers came parading through with a bunch of buckets of food¢¦I was tempted to grab one and run!Halfway to Bromley Shelter, at Mad Tom Notch, some Boy Scouts had done a hiker feed yesterday and left behind about 2 dozen ears of cooked corn. I almost ate it, but it was sitting out on the ground all night, so I left it be.Fortunately the rain and thunder held off as I crossed Bromley, and I made it to the shelter mostly dry. Two young LT NOBOs were here, but they decided to go on up to the summit for the night, so for a while I had the place to myself.So excited for town tomorrow!! Going to do LOTS of eating, shopping, eating, eating, and laundry. It¢s supposed to rain all day, but hopefully it will wear itself out by the time I get back out; wet shoes don¢t make my banged up feet feel any better¢¦
Date: 2014-07-28
From: Bromley Shelter

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: scattered clouds

I slept horribly last night ¢ it was too quiet, I was too hungry, and I couldn¢t wait to go to town. When it started raining at 3 or 4 am I finally fell asleep, then the Boy Scouts who rolled in late last night invaded the shelter and made a big racket at 5:30am. At 8:30am I hit the trail, got to the road at 9:06, and dad drove me to town. We started with breakfast at Up for Breakfast, then went to the Mountain Goat for a Leki repair (the guy was horrible¢¦I love Leki and their repair/warranty services [THANKS LEKI!!!] but I will not go to the Mountain Goat again to have work done), then to Price Chopper to resupply, Northshire Books for a new book to read, the Laundromat, Subway to steal their WIFI, the House of Pizza for lunch, then back out to the trail.Of course it was beautiful the whole time I was in town, and then it started raining again 3 miles out¢¦but oh well. My new shirt is great, and the 10 miles to Stratton Pond were quick and easy. Here now with Human Torch, another SOBO, a couple from Shirley, MA hiking from Kent, CT to Hanover, NH, and Lovely Day, a NOBO section hiker.Torch asked me, for the 3rd time in 2 days, why hike the trail more than once. Here are some thoughts: the people ¢ hikers and folks in town ¢ they restore my faith in humanity. Sense of place ¢ the more the know a place, even 2200 miles of places, the more you can appreciate it/them. The freedom ¢ it¢s ¢easy¢ to just get out here without much planning. The eating ¢ to be able to eat 6,000 calories of ice cream, beer, pizza, burgers, etc. and STILL lose weight :-) There are lots more, too, but that¢s a start!
Date: 2014-07-29
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: Melville Nauheim Shelter
Miles today: 27.8
Weather: broken clouds

We had a couple AT NOBOs roll in late last night, in the pouring rain, and it rained pretty heavily throughout the night. I got a fairly early start, not long after Lovely Day left, and made fast progress up Stratton. The cold temperatures were fantastic for hiking ¢ but a lot of the AT folks from the south didn¢t agree! I ran into more than a few of them who looked miserably cold.On the summit it was too cloudy to be worth climbing the tower, so I chatted with the caretaker for a minute (apparently we missed the worst of the bad weather; there were tornados near Boston??), then moved on. I was at Story Spring Shelter before a lot of the people even left for the day; looks like there were lots of wet people there last night. Lunch at Kid Gore was entertained by a very sociable mouse ¢ not only was it out and about at noon time, but it climbed up on my leg at one point and seemed to be considering going for my food.I spent a while at the Glastonbury Mtn. lookout tower, breezed by the Goddard Shelter, and made pretty good time to Melville Nauheim. Took (AT SOBO) was there, along with 2 LT SOBOs, a NOBO just starting out, and an older guy who ¢lives¢ on the trail; Princess and 3 AT NOBOs showed up later. Pretty full house, so I tented it up outside. What a great bunch of folks to hang out with though ¢ we had a great time chatting and carousing all the way to Hiker Midnight before heading to bed to read, write, and soon sleep.
Date: 2014-07-30
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

To: Wilbur Clearing Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Last day of the Long Trail, so I was up early and ready to go. Took was the only one up when I got moving, so I said goodbye, then made tracks for the border. The anticipation made the miles sort of crawl by, but I made good progress. The climb to and from the road to Bennington wasn¢t quite as bad as I remembered it, and, until the border, nothing else particularly dramatic happened.When I got near the border signs, I saw two women standing there ¢ one saw me, and the other was digging around in her pack. I said hello as I passed by, and the other one stood up; it was instantly one of those ¢Holy crap I know you¢ moments. Turns out it was Lauren Olsen, a schoolmate of a friend who I hung out with for a while over the winter. I remember her mentioning hitting the Long Trail this summer, but what are the chances of us running into each other right there, at the MA/VT border, as she¢s starting her trip and I¢m finishing mine?? Great stuff, and nice to see a familiar face out here!!I ate lunch at the border, on the MA side, of course, and then headed on down to Williamstown. It was a quick halfmile walk to the grocery store for a resupply, then I slogged back out of town and up the beginning of Mt. Greylock. The north side is definitely the ¢hard¢ way to climb that mountain¢¦especially with a pack full of food, fresh food, and beer. Damn town stops! But it was all worth it when I got to the shelter and had great stuff to eat! There¢s a great high school kid here from Leominster who did almost 24 miles today ¢ that¢s pretty damn good! The actual SOBOs near me didn¢t even do that many miles today. He¢s planning on the same shelter I¢m going for tomorrow, too, so maybe he¢ll be one of the first people to camp two nights in a row with me on this trip.It feels awesome to have finished the Long Trail, and to have hit another state on the AT! Can¢t wait to blast through a few of these short states now, and then get on to Pennsylvania!
Date: 2014-07-31
From: Wilbur Clearing Shelter

To: North of Washington Mountain Road
Miles today: 28.0

Cruised over Greylock in the rain, and didn't linger long because the observation tower is shut for renovations. Made a Dunkin Donuts stop on the way through Cheshire, and then a stop at Cumberland Farms and Tom Levardi's in Dalton (woohoo road-walking through towns!!), and decided to pass up on the shelter full of trail workers. Met Many Homes and Dead Legs (both SOBO), and might have passed Rough Bananas again at some point. I didn't want to show up at the Cookie Lady's house after dark, so I camped near a stream a couple miles before her road. It's a nice enough spot, under a big hemlock tree that will hopefully keep some of the rain off if it rains tonight.