morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-07-04
From: Congdon Shelter

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: light rain

We were up and moving at 6:00. I wanted to make sure I was on time to meet my uncle since they waited for two hours the other day. The mudfest continued. Vermont must have received a terrible thunderstorm that never reached us in Massachusetts.    I reached the road by 9:10. A stream crossed on the other side of the road, so Jake, Nicole, and I went over to rinse some sweat off of us. When they returned the car was waiting. We packed our gear inside the trunk and pulled away. Uncle Keith informed me that the ride to Hinsdale was fifty minutes long, instead of thirty. I was very thankful that they came and picked us up. I told him that we could spend the afternoon at their house, so they called Grandma and Papa to tell them to come. The parade had just started in Brattleboro so we stopped in to see Aunt Mary at work.    Our dirty and smelly bodies aren't made for a clothing store. We were careful not to touch anything and tried not to annoy customers. We left and she said she'd be home around noon.    Ryan, Josh, and Nathan were at the house, Stephanie had come in the car to pick us up. I'm sure they thought I looked strange with my beard. I still think I look wierd with it. Grandma and Papa arrived shortly after we did. it's amazing to think I've come far enough to visit with family. My afternoon with them was definitely on of the best since I've been gone. The familiarity was difficult to part with.   Uncle Keith grilled lunch for us and Aunt Mary came home. She collected our laundry and put it through two cycles, with two loads. Our clothes haven't been so clean since we started! My socks even show their natural color!   I spent time playing with my cousins, Josh beat me at ping pong, and Nathan beat be twice at FIFA soccer. My self esteem was given a blow, but it was a fun time. Soon after we went outside to play volleyball. What an awesome afternoon!   It turned out that the party moved from Brattleboro to Bennington, because hikers could easily reach it there. The news upset me. It meant we had to drive back to where we started, and I wouldn't be able to take a zero day at their house. I told them that I'd try to get back to Brattleboro if I could find another ride to the trail. I had high hopes, but I knew I couldn't ask for another ride to and from Bennington.      There were a lot of people at the party. It was held in the backyard of a guy named Chris, who we met on the trail the previous day. Soon after arriving my stomache got very upset. I thought I needed food, but I couldn't touch the meal I ordered at Friendly's. I tried to go to bed at 11:00, but my stomache was in such knots that I knew I needed to vomit. The rest of the story is sick and involved two different trips to the woods. By late night I felt I need to again, but there wasn't anything left in my stomache. It was a long and painful night of sleep.
Date: 2006-07-05
From: Bennington, VT

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I didn't feel any better by morning. We walked across the street to Friendly's for breakfast, but I couldn't bare thinking of anything more than a bagel. I went to the bathroom and dry heaved. Nothing was left inside of me.    We went to the post office. I got a new camera battery and memory card and Nicole got a package from her grandparents. the food drop never made it. I didn't bother attempt to track it down.    Back at Chris and Arla's house I went to Jake's hammock up on the hill. I need to get more sleep. Nicole woke me up at 12:30 to say they were going to the store. She said she'd buy my food so I could sleep. At 2:00 I woke up and roade a bike to subway for lunch. I could barely eat that. I rode my bike back and slept until 4:30. Good thing today was a zero day.    The only productive thing I did all day was ride a bike with Shane to see the Battle of Bennington Monument. Each bump made my head hurt, but it was worth getting away for a few minutes.
Date: 2006-07-06
From: Bennington, VT

To: Story Spring Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: broken clouds

We intended on waking up and getting an early start. It didn't quite happen. I think it was 7:30 before we actually moved. We slowly packed, Des and Jake went to the post office, and I played a game of pool. chris and Arla offered us a ride to the trail head. they were a couple of extraordinarily kind and giving people.   We reached the trail at 10:00. A woman was putting clothes on ten feet from the parking lot. At first I thought it was a man, and when the underwear was on, I thought the coast was clear. As I grew closer the woman growled, "excuse us," and I was n't sure if it was genuine or if it was a snarl at me for continuing down the path.    The morning went by slowly. I didn't feel energetic and wasn't enthusiastic about leaving. I guess I felt cheated out of another day with family. Nicole and I had a long discussion and I felt better afterward. I really don't think I could do this trip without her.    We seemed to enter the land of the black fly. We stopped at a shelter and they completely swarmed us. We hung around and chatted with a group from Chewonkee, an outdoor camp from Wiscasset. It was just another reminder of how close we are to home. We also met two folks from Bath who used to work at BIW.   We rolled into the shelter at 7:30. At first we were the only ones here until three girls hiking the Long Trail showed up. It's been chilly the last couple of night and it makes the sleeping more comfortable.
Date: 2006-07-07
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Old Rootville Road
Miles today: 15.5

Evergreen trees truly make me feel close to home. Ever time we enter a thick area of them, I take a slow look around and enjoy the change of scenery. the terrain is more rocky than it used to be. the short climbs and descents give a change of pace and prevents monotony.   We found trail magic at the bottom of Stratton Mountain. A cooler was full of sodas and Coors Lites, and there were several banannas as well. We met the man as as he checked its contents, and he afterwards hiked up the mountain.   Stratton was an easy climb. There was an ice cold spring near the top that we filled our water with. There was also a firetower at the summit. From the top we could see Mt. Snow, Okemo Mountain, and even Mt. Greylock. A gondola line ran down to Stratton Village, but we didn't inquire to see if it was running. During lunch Des was brought to tears after she asked a couple of hikers about the vegetables in their sandwich. I think it was mostly due to how funny and pathetic she sounded when she asked. The hiker actually offered his sandwich to her and a bag of carrots! We rejected them and explained we'd be in town this afternoon. It was quite a scene.   The volunteers at the summit explained where we would meet Nicole's parents. We needed to walk 3/4 of a mile down the road before we reached Prospect Rock. the parking area was supposed to be 1/2 mile further down the road. The roaded turned out to be straight down hill and when we passed the 1/2 mile we worried about where the road was going. Within the mile from the AT crossing we descended 1,000 feet. It would be an incredible climb before even starting a 24 mile day tomorrow. We waited at the baswe for a few minutes and I decided to run to the main road in case her parents couldn't find the road. One hundred yards later I saw Jane pulling up the road.   We drove to EMS while we waited for Granite to catch up behind us. The salesman offered to call Granite Gear for me to ask about fixing my pack. The side pockets are tearing at the bottom and I'm affraid I might lose something through the bottom at some point. They were closed all week long, so he will be the middle man for me. He said he'd email me with their response.   Once we had all of the troops we drove to the campground. Jeff had set up camp and we built monster sandwiches for dinner. I showere and changed into some clean clothes.
Date: 2006-07-08
From: Old Rootville Road

To: USFS 10
Miles today: 18.0

At 6:00 we started moving. We planned a lot of miles so getting on the trail early would allow us to visit more with NIocle's parents in the afternoon. Jeff, a.k.a. "Big House", cooked omelets and we were treated to bagels and fruit. It sure beat the usual oatmeal.    We started up Bromley Mountain and were surprised how easy the 1,400 climb felt. Perhaps it was because had no packs! At the top we had a great panoramic view. Two ski lifts were at teh top and we could see trail signs in every direction.   At the bottom of the mountain a Long Trail hiker said we couldn't be thru-hikers because we were fooling aroudn too much. "Thru-hikers take a break and contemplate how tired they are before pushing on." When I corrected him another former shelter caretaker replied, "you guys are having more fun thru-hiking than any people I've ever seen." It was a great compliment.   We moved a lot faster than expected. A few areas were littered with moose droppings. I was glad Shane wasn't around, because it could have meant another round of Moose Poop Tag. I didn't carry enough water with me so I grew very thirsty at the end of the hike. When Jane picked us up we stopped at a gas station. I brought two 32 Powerades and drank them on the spot.    In town the manager at the outfitters opened up the store so we could buy a few things. Jake bought a new Zipka headlamp, since his hadn't shown up yet. Des bought a headlamp as well.    We rolled into camp and ate a giant meal of chicken, potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad. My stomache was full from all the Powerade I just drank, but it still tasted great! Afterwards we drove to the grocery store for supplies. I called Chris to ask him about our meeting arrangement. We may either meet him in Hanover, or hike through to a town further north, if we arrive too early. I'm excited to see him again.   Oh yeah, my parents sent Jane money to give to me. At the time I didn't have any pockets so I put it intisde a pouch in my camera bag. A Long Trail hiker approarched us and asked if a note belonged to anyone. It was a note my mom sent, which had nothing but reminders on it. When I owned up to it, the girl also gave me the money that was wrapped inside! Good thing she sent along the note! That hiker received a year's worth of good karma for that deed!
Date: 2006-07-09
From: USFS 10

To: North Clarendon Elementary School
Miles today: 15.0

We slept in a little later today. 6:30 felt much better. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to urinate so badly that my whole body hurt. I timed h ow long it took: 100 seconds. That has to be close to a world record. I guess 64 ounces of Powerade are to thank.      Breakfast this morning included waffles, pork, and watermellon. We took our time before we left. We packed our bags and strapped them to the hood of the car dso Jeff didn't need to later on. Jane brought the clown car to the trail head and we slacked northward.   At Little Rock Pond Shane, Jake, and I jumped in off a cliff. The girls moved on because they didn't want to be late meeting Jane and Jeff. A mile later we came to a side trail to White Rocks Cliff. The view was not worth the calories burned hiking down to it. However, there were a hundred mini rock towers scattered in front of the sign. The collection was really quite impressive.   Nicole's parents met us at the road crossing for lunch. Left over dinner for lunch is a great meal on the trail. Crumbs and 4 Today showed up and they too enjoyed the extended trail magic. They even slack packed with us to Calrendon Gorge. For the next stretch I took the Brennan's dog Ben. He has become a monster since we last left him. He pulled me along for a lot of the miles.    After we met Jane and Jeff at the road we went swimming in the gorge. It was definitely the best swimming hole we've seen thus far. The water was even warm. There were a few small pools to sit in, a cliff to jump from, and you could let the river carry you down stream. Ben almost got swept over the rapids and Shane had to save him. We got a laugh out of it.    We planned to camp at the gorge, but decided to get a ride with Jeff while it was readily available. He dropped us off at the elementary school next to the post office. For the rest of the afternoon we played frisbee and got more swing dance lessons from Jake.
Date: 2006-07-10
From: North Clarendon Elementary School

To: Gifford Woods State Park
Miles today: 20.6

We awoke and made it to the post office before the summer school children arrived. Two food drops awaited us. This has happened a lot lately, because of problems we've run into. We'll forward it ahead to a later destination, not knowing if we have food there or not. This post office was the second that wouldn't allow me to forward a parcel post package for free. After adding supplies for four days our packs were extremely heavy. I knew the day would be tiring.   On the walk back to route 7 a school bus pulled over and offered us a lift. They were on their way to day hike where we were yesterday. At first they offered to bring us to the 103 intersection, but decided the extra three miles wouldn't take long. It was the best hitch I've caught yet.   My groin felt better than it did the last night. I must have pulled a muscle yesterday. In the middle of last night I needed to get up for Ibuprofin and I stretched it for forty-five minutes. I fell back asleep with my left leg in the butterfly position. However, I seemed to be alright walking. I feared the worse during the night, so I was ecstatic.    After snack break I did something to my back when I tried to put my pack back on. I felt a pop in my lower back. It didn't feel too bad at first, but I could feel the effect for the rest of the day.   Killington was our giant mountain for the day. After climbing 1,400 feet we came to a viewpoint overlooking a giant mountain. "I hope we don't have to hike up that," Nicole replied. It turned out to be Killington. At the shelter we caught up with Shane and Christina, who were getting ready to leave. We ate lunch and climbed the steep 2/10 of a mile to the summit. The view was hazy due to the smoke blown south from a Canadian forest fire. My groin and back were getting stiff after our lunch break.    My groin injury reduced me to a limp. When we reached the gondola, mountain bikers were getting off and starting down hill. They allowed us to take a ride down and back up for free. The mountain looked more beautiful on the skiing side. The trails zig zagged across its face and were covered with plush green grass.    It was getting late. We left the shelter at 5:00. The terrain was very easy, but we knew we wouldn't finish the last seven miles until 8:00. When we reached the Maine Junction, splitting the Long Trail from the AT, we saw a sign from Shane and Christina pointing us further north. It was another 2.2 miles to the state park. It saved us a .4 side trek to the shelter, but the additional miles after 8:00 seemed daunting.    Christina found us as we walked down the road in the camping area. Nicole cooked me dinner while I went for a shower. My back was covered with pack chafe. It was 10:30 before we got to sleep; we were exhausted.
Date: 2006-07-11
From: Gifford Woods State Park

To: Wintturi Shelter
Miles today: 17.6

This time it wasn't my groin pain that woke me up. It was my knee. I was awake from 3:30-4:30 stretching and trying to alleviate the soreness. I eventually got back to sleep until 6:00, rain made me jump out of the tent and attach the rainfly. There wasn't a point trying to sleep in any longer. We packed and ate breakfast under the office pavillion. I called Chris to ask about our new plan, which includes reaching Hanover Thursday morning and slack packing Friday. He seemed cool with whatever we wanted to do.   My body ached as we set off hiking. At this point my back was giving me the most trouble. Soon that pain went away and my groin flared up. the pain was tolerable, but shifting from up hill to down hill wasn't easy. At times I could walk with no pain at all, but it would suddenly come back. It made for a long day.    At the shelter I stretched while Jake traced Nicole's outline on the wall. They suspended a forgotten bra from a post, so it looked like the outline was wearing the bra. It was pretty amusing.   When we left my groin was on fire. It seemed as though stretching was not the best thing for it. It felt like I needed to pick my leg up with my hand to assist it. For some reason climbing hills seemed to help. We came to a long climb and by the top it was much more comfortable. I didn't want to stop and rest because we planned on twenty miles tomorrow. The earlier we finished, the earlier I could get to bed and rest, and the earlier we could leave the next morning.    We found a great view on top of "The Lookout". It was a privately owned shelter with a ladder heading to the top. Storm clouds appeared to be converging on us.    We made it to the shelter by 6:00. We rinsed off in an ice cold spring and enjoyed dinner. It's the first time in a while that I've been ready for bed by dark.
Date: 2006-07-12
From: Wintturi Shelter

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: light rain

It was another sleepless night. My aching back wwoke me up and kept me awake for an hour. Seeing the pain I was in, Nicole gave me a back rub. It felt good enough to fall back asleep afterward. Later on I woke up because my quadracepts were on fire.   I tried to massage them, but it wouldn't stop. that kept me awake for another hour. I finally stretched them out enough to get comfortable. My body is just broken.   By morning I couldn't move enough to pack my sleeping gear. My back was so tight that rolling over was difficult. Nicole had to do it for me while I got breakfast. No movement was easy. Tying my shoes hurt. Nicole put Biofreeze on my back before I left. It worked. After twenty minutes of hiking AI could move quickly again. It didn't make the pain go away, but I was able to hike.   The mountains in Vermont give us a taste of what New Hampshire will be like. The trail continually runs up and down. You can't count on a pace faster than two miles an hour. That means a twenty mile day will be a long one.    A day hiker passed us and gave us fruit. The orange was a tasty treat for snack. Every once in a while I'd sniff my fingers to get the citrus scent. We also saw a Southbounder who was hiking barefoot. He was doing it for some cause, but I can't imagine any cause worth hiking two thousand miles without shoes on.    When we stoped for lunch a group of summer campers rolled in for the night. They set up their sleeping gear even though it was raining, which means hikers will come in to seek refuge. It amazed me that on a three day trip they didn't carry tents, counting on open shelters which are supposed to be reserved for long distance hikers.    Grizzly, Buttercup, and Doogie rolled in out of the rain as we were leaving. They told us there would be a lot of people at the shelter tonight. With the rain pouring down I bolted out, hoping to complete the final 8.7 miles as fast as possible. I had a difficult time getting through West Hartford. The trail follows the roads for 1.5 miles and it is poorly marked. I receifved instructions twice and still could barely find white blazes.    I pulled into an empty shelter. It gave me complete freedom to prepare for the night before anyone else arrived. Tomorrow is a nero into Hanover. I'm excited for the low mileage because my body needs recovery time. More importantly, I get to see Chris!!!
Date: 2006-07-13
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Who would have guessed it? That's right, no sleep again last night. My back didn't hurt quite as bad as previous nights, but I still couldn't rest. I was up from 3-5:30 and finally slept until 8:00. Once again I could barely move. I can't bend over to put my socks on, or really do much else. My back needs to heal soon; I can't deal with this.    I gingerly hiked away from the shelter. Nicole carried the tent for me, which helped to take weight off. I still needed to move slowly. Even when my muscles warmed up, my back felt the pressure with each step.    We crossed the river into New Hampshire. Downtown Hanover was only 1/2 mile further. We ate breakfast (a second) at Lou's Bakery and went to Ben and Jerry's. We needed to burn time until Chris could get us at 3:00, so we hung out at the library. Shortly after 3:00 Chris came in. He brought me to his house and let me take the truck back to Hannover to get everyone else. At his house we pulled out his unicycle and took turns taking it for a spin. I was surprised I could still ride it well. Later we went to the grocery store so we could get goods for dinner. While we were out I also stopped into EMS and got my pack exchanged. Luckily they had one pack in stock that matched my own. I also picked up a new pair of socks; my old ones lasted 900 miles. Nicole and I cooked monster steaks for dinner and we shared pasta salad. I went directly to bed afterwards, because I needed to catch up on some sleep.
Date: 2006-07-14
From: Hanover, NH

To: Enfield, NH
Miles today: 16.7

Chris woke me up at 5:45 this morning so we could get to Hanover early. He had to get to work at 7:00. I could move better in the morning, after sleeping in a bed. We finally planned a slack pack day where we didn't need to hurry to finish. During lunch we took a full hour and a half. When we reached the road Chris showed up a couple of minutes later. We rode in the back of the truck to his house. We did our laundry and threw in a movie. While everyone finished the ending I went with his girlfriend to go for a swim. Megan Waterman came over to hang out for the rest of the day and joined us for dinner at Margarita's. Afterward we hung out, played pac man, and watched the beginning of Office Space.
Date: 2006-07-15
From: Enfield, NH

To: Enfield, NH
Miles today: 0.0

Zero day!   I couldn't sleep in because it was too hot. I started typing some of my journals online, so Chris wouldn't have to do them later. I spent a lot of my day typing them. In the afternoon we went to Jess's parents' house and went tubing. I didn't partake in the fun because I didn't want to further injure my back. Back at home we put together our food for the next two days and went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. For the rest of the night I finished typing my journals.    My back is still hurting and I'm wondering if it's going to get better before I'm done. Constantly hiking long miles with a heavy pack isn't the best for the healing process. In a time where I need to be enthused about the final miles of my trip, I worry that my back will prevent me from enjoying it. I thought about going to the hospital, but I didn't want to pay the fee, and they're just going to tell me to rest. Time for rest is one thing I don't have the luxury of.