morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-08-22
From: Cooper Lodge, Killington Pk

To: Minerva Hinchey Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

I had a lousy nights sleep last night. Between that gigantic Mt. Dew and Roo stealing my sleeping pad I didn't rest well. So the morning started a little later than it should have. We were on the trail by 8:15, which we didn't think was too bad until the late afternoon heat beat us down. Tomorrow morning will have to be earlier.Coming down Killington was mostly easier than going up. There was one section that the roots could have rivaled Maine, but it didn't last too long. After the first shelter the trail smoothed out into a beautiful path.At the 500 mile mark on the trail (500 miles to Katahdin) we stopped for the Mad Hatter's tea party. The trail angel Mad Hatter had set up two chairs with a cooler full of cokes and a box with chips and crackers on the trail. A lot of times when we have found a cooler of sodas they will have been there a couple days and will be warm. But these still had a big chunk of ice on them and were icey cold. We joined several NOBOs and a couple SOBOs for a nice break time. While we sat enjoying the magic along comes a day hiker who turns out to be Mad Hatter. It was very nice to say thank you in person to a trail angel.From there we had our last ford over a brook that is listed in my book. I've gotten to the point when I see or hear the word 'ford' my heart starts racing. No more fords! Turns out this was just a rock hop. We weren't even sure it was the right brook. (big sigh of relief)At the end of the day we crossed a swinging bridge that seemed a little shakey to me. Then ended our day with a big uphill. I hate ending on an uphill. When I'm tired and hot and ready to be done the last thing I want to do is climb a hill. I was very glad to finally arrive.There are a couple other thru hikers in camp tonight. More interestingly tho there are three young people from Long Island on their first backpacking trip. Right now one of the young thru hikers is entertaining them with tails of his adventures. It's fun to listen to, but hopefully will end soon. I heard a gasp when he told them that 8:00 was hiker's midnight. :0)It's past 8:00 now so I think it is my bedtime.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-08-23
From: Minerva Hinchey Shelter

To: Lost Pond Tent Site
Miles today: 15.0

I have a dehydration headache. Yes I know better, but I let my water run low. I planned to refill at lunchtime at a brook but the water turned out to be a real nasty looking color. I just couldn't bring myself to drink it. It was dinner time before we found better looking water. So now I pay the price.We started very early this morning to beat the heat. We had to climb White Rocks and I wanted to be at least up it before noon. We made it, barely. Still there was more than enough sweating before noon. On the top there is an area where people have been building cairns. There were so many it was a little overwhelming, something between artsy and creepy. I really wish we had had time to hang around awhile. I would have enjoyed looking closer at them. We also didn't take the side trail which I had heard was worth the walk. Just needed to get too many miles in today to take a side trail.As we walked past Little Rock Pond we passed a lot of day hikers and other backpackers. It appears to be a very popular spot...another place it would have been nice to spend time, but today we were just doing the miles.I don't like feeling so set to a schedule but we have a plan. We're trying to stay on track in order to be to Bennington in time to do a zero for Owl's birthday. So there's no goofing off time until then. Besides that we're both starting to feel a little homesick and are ready to start moving faster. We feel like we've been stuck in slow motion lately.After Little Rock Pond we stopped at Old Branch Shelter. From there we had a mile and a half uphill to where we planned to camp for the night. I've learned that those uphills at the end of the day really knock it out of me. We decided to stop at the shelter, rest and have our dinner. We refilled our water and brushed our teeth. So when we did arrive at Lost Pond Tentsite we were all ready to pitch our tent and and go to bed...or at least hide from the mosquitoes.I had a real down moment today. I was just ready to call it quits. I'm just tired of walking. I've developed some sore spots on my feet that I just can't seem to get to heal. And I'm homesick. I was trying to think back to those things I read before the hike about what to do when you feel this way. Take a zero day... wait a week before you do anything. But I realize I can't quit, this is Owl's dream. So we've started brainstorming possible ways we could slackpack a few days. Maybe that would help. It's not unusual to grow weary, we just need to figure out how to get over the hump.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-08-25
From: Manchester Center, VT

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

It was hard to leave The Green Mountain House. We had time this morning to sleep in, wash up and have a good breakfast. At 9:30 we were heading to the trail. The morning skies threatened rain but the weather radar gave us some hope that we would miss the showers.The trail today was a gentle roll and a real trail, just a nice walk in the woods. No rock climbs, no steep steps. The weather stayed good throughout the day. We were only doing ten miles to get to Stratton Pond Shelter so we made it into camp by 3:00. We were the first ones in the shelter for the night which gave us the opportunity to get settled in before the crowds showed up. Now the 18 person shelter is almost full.We passed several hikers today, again some LT hikers and some AT hikers, some section and day hikers. We passed Cheeseburger who we had camped with north of Damascus and a couple hikers we remembered from Erwin. There were two men who are doing the AT in small one and two day sections at a time. They did Mass. by slackpacking themselves with bicycles. Tonight there is a freshman orientation class from Yale here in the shelter. There is a lot of variety out in these woods. Sure not a place to go if you want to be alone. :o)This is a very nice shelter and the only one we have stayed in that we had to pay to stay. It's $5 per person, but I have to say that it is much better taken care of than any shelter we've seen. I'd say it was worth it, tho I wouldn't want to pay very often.There is a hint of autumn in the air. The temps are dropping just enough to make it chilly and we are beginning to see colorful leaves on the trail. The trees remain bright green though. Seems strange to see this in August, but I guess that's not unusual for Vermont.It's also strange to think that in just a few days we'll be out of Vermont. Our next four states, Mass, Conn, NY and NJ, should pass pretty quickly since we only pass through the edges of them.Then it's just PA and Maryland... but I'm getting ahead of myself. First, to finish Vermont.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-08-29
From: HAPPY B-DAY OWL!!

To: Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

This was a very quiet day on the trail. For the first several hours we saw no one. It was odd and a little uncomfortable. We saw our first section hiker around noon, then a couple LT hikers and ended the day with one last AT section hiker, but that was it.Plan A was to hike to the shelter 11 miles in and spend the night. Our replacement pole did not make it to the PO in time, meaning we didn't have a working tent. This was the last shelter of the day. When we arrived at the shelter at 2PM we came up with Plan B and Plan C. Plan C was to continue on into North Adams. Since that meant going through the hassle of finding another place to stay we decided only to go for that as a last resort. Plan B was to try to fix the pole so that we could hike another seven miles and camp at campsite without a shelter. We would need our tent.We decided on B and pulled out the broken pole to see if we could figure out how to patch it until the new piece catches up to us. Unfortunately a few weeks ago I went through my pack and got rid of everything I had been carrying that I hadn't had a use for. That would include that little metal sleeve that came with the tent for repairing the poles. The best I could do was to change the location of the broken pole to a spot where hopefully it would not have as much pressure on it. We played around with it and thought we had come up with a pretty good patch job. We hiked on seven miles.It didn't work. When we arrived at camp and tried to set up the tent my patch job didn't hold. I thought for awhile there we were going to have to give in and go for Plan C after all. Owl however came to the rescue with some creative thinking...and more duct tape. It's not great but hopefully will last until we either get the replacement part or a repair sleeve. We just have to make sure Roo doesn't roll up against that pole in her sleep. Now that will be hard.No special views today, no amazing plants or interesting animals. There is a very persistent owl in the woods tonight. The most amazing thing about the day was our mileage. We hiked 17 miles and could easily have done the remaining one and a half into North Adams. Finally getting our hiking legs back! Oh and we did enter Massachusetts. We are now through eight states with six to go. The next four are short, hopefully we will fly through them.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-08-31
From: Outlook Ave

To: North Adams, MA
Miles today: 13.0

Turns out this campground has no quiet hour rules and we were parked between two party tents. I think the party died down around 2AM. Either that or I was so exhausted I finally slept through it. It's the first time Owl has said she wanted to sit out of hiking for the day because she was so tired. I encouraged her to buck up and do the miles. I've missed miles in several places but so far she is on track and I didn't want her to regret the missed miles later.After dropping them off I went out in search of some of her favorite snacks to surprise her with at the end. I stopped at Target and stocked up on foods for the coming week, then back to the campground to do laundry. My day was really pretty boring. I'll have Owl write in the trail details, which had to be more exciting.They finished in good time again. Roo and I met them at the trailhead. Roo really needed to work out some energy. As soon as we hit the trail she found an old tennis ball and started playing with it. We came to a wooden bridge over a small creek. She dropped the ball from the bridge into the creek, then ran down to the creek to get it. Then back up on the bridge to drop the ball again, back down to the creek, back up the bridge, down to the creek...over and over. She entertained herself for some time doing that. We walked a little farther up the trail and she found a huge stick to run up and down the trail. I just stayed out of the way. :o) After awhile we walked back to the bridge where she picked up the ball again. This time I think she lost it under the roots of a tree stump in the muddy water. She kept digging and digging at it and looking at me as if I should help her out. As if I was going to stick my hand into that muddy water under those roots. I don't think so. Despite the loss of her treasure, Roo had a great time and wore off a little energy. Just a little.After we picked up Soaring and Owl we drove back to camp. While doing laundry and showers we looked at our plan for the week. The toughest two days looked to be our last two days down in Connecticut. We decided we would rather do them early in the week while we're fresh. It would just mean an early morning wake up tomorrow to get down there in time to do a long mile day. We're going to give it a shot.Right now it sounds like it's going to be another rough night. It's just 9:00 and the party is going strong. Looked for earplugs at Target today but couldn't find any. Maybe we're tired enough after last night to sleep anyway.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-09-01
From: Pine Knob Trail, CT

To: Plateau Campsite, CT
Miles today: 20.0

We got up earlier this morning, packed up and drove down to Connecticut with one stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way. Rabbit decided to run support for today and let her feet rest some more, so Soaring and I (this is Owl, by the way) started hiking. The trail was pretty gradual today, a little rocky, but not much. I don't remember seeing any animals, but I saw some flowers I hadn't seen before and a few I had, including goldenrod, bindweed, jewelweed and butter and eggs.Mom met us at the 11 mile mark and gave us some cold lemonade. It was wonderful!I took Roo and she walked with us for 2 miles, she was very excited, but disappointed when we left her with mom again. We got to the end around 5:30 and ate dinner. After much contemplation (not really), we decided to sleep in the car. I'm not sure that we're supposed to, but I'm too lazy to set up the tent right now.And now I must get back to reading, Treasure Island is waiting...OwlNever give up! Never surrender!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-09-02
From: Plateau Campsite, CT

To: Jug Road
Miles today: 17.0

Soaring and I headed up the trail at 7:30 with Roo so Rabbit could go to the hospital to have her feet checked out.No matter which way I looked at the map today it was uphill, but our timing was still pretty good in the end. We walked across some very pretty ridgelines today and crossed into Massachusetts, but the trail didn't change, it had some rocks and roots, but overall not very hard.There was a pond about two miles from the end, we decided to stop there and let Roo cool off a bit. However, she felt more like trying to pick a fight with some seaweed instead of drinking. I wouldn't have drank water from that pond either, but I also wouldn't be playing with the underwater plants...So we met Rabbit at the road, she gave us some lemonade and we all drove into Great Barrington to find a hotel for the night. I took a shower and then went across the street to Friendly's and brought dinner back to the hotel.OwlRabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-09-03
From: Jug Road

To: Great Barrington
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Happy Birthday Caleb! Sorry I'm not there to say it in person.While Owl hiked yesterday I went in search of a doctor. I think I talked about this before but just in case not... Back in Vermont my shoes began to break down and I started getting blisters. My new shoes were waiting for me in Dalton so I worked very hard at protecting my feet with moleskin, Band-Aids and duct tape. By the time I got my shoes the blisters seemed healed but I had developed a rash where the adhesives had been, especially the moleskin. When I put on my shoes the rash was in the perfect spot to rub. After a day hiking, the rash was very irritated. So I took off from hiking and supported Owl and Soaring. I used hydrocortisone cream on the rash, which relieved the itching but did not help heal it.Two days ago we were talking with a section hiker. She looked at my ankle, which by now is very red and swollen and suggested it might be infected. Since not hiking didn't seem to be helping it improve I decided to go in search of a doctor. Turns out I was right, an allergic reaction to adhesive. The doctor was 'fascinated', it looked just like poison ivy, but it was clearly where the adhesive had been. I didn't think it was that fascinating. They gave me a different cream, which actually does seem to be healing the rash. He also suggested that I cover the rash with Second Skin and showed me a way to bandage it with the tape adhesive not touching my skin. I spent today searching Great Barrington for some second skin. I have enough in my first aid kit for one bandage, but I couldn't find anymore. That will give me one day of hiking. Hopefully I can find some more tomorrow. Hopefully it will work and I'll be okay hiking tomorrow since we have planned a twenty mile day.Tonight we are at Benedict Pond campsite. This is a very nice camping area. Being the middle of the week after Labor Day, we have the place to ourselves. A huge improvement over our last campground experience.Two more days and we are done with Massachusetts. We've got a ride arranged to take us down to the New York line on Sunday. Then we'll be back to our full packs going south. But for now, it's time to sleep.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-09-04
From: Benedict Pond Campsite

To: Mass Rt 20
Miles today: 20.0

I did okay today. The doctors fancy bandage idea didn't hold up to my hiker-sweaty feet. By five miles the bandages were falling apart, by ten miles the second skin was breaking down into the nasty crystal-like goo. It was gross. So I took off the whole thing, lathered up the rash real well with the cream the doctor gave me and put on the liner socks I had bought just in case. That worked well. The rash didn't bother me all day. And it was a long tiring day.The first half went pretty well, nothing difficult. The second half held our big uphill, lots of shadless pasture land, steep downhills and real hot temperatures. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the nineties. We are going to try to get an extra early start.We ran into Mustang Sally on the trail today. We haven't seen her since Stratton, ME. She's still hiking well. Also heard from Tigger today. She texted that she is in Manchester Center. Don't know if she'll be able to catch back up with us or not. We'll see how the hiking goes.Roo did well today, though the heat was just about at her limit. At least there were plenty of streams to cool off in along the way. Tomorrow we'll have to be very careful with her.That's about it for today. I guess I'll get to bed early since we plan to get up before the sun. For some reason tonight Roo decided to fall asleep on my sleeping bag instead of her usual spot at my feet. Not sure what I'll do about this, when she falls asleep she's pretty much dead weight. It's always an adventure.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-09-05
From: Mass Rt 20

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

We started before sunrise this morning. The weather prediction was to be in the 90s by afternoon and we were racing to do the miles before it got too hot. Thankfully it was an easy trail and we were finished by 1:00. That was good timing for Roo. She found a cool spot in the shade and curled up for a nap. I would have joined her if I could.This was probably the easiest trail we have walked. I suspect it was also very pretty, but we were just hauling through it too quickly to stop and look around much. There weren't any views in this section, just quiet forests. Thankfully it was a shady forest rather than lots of pastureland. Yesterday there were several pastures. Walking through an open field full of cow dung on a 90 degree day is just no fun.In the last couple of days we've started seeing the Orange Spotted Newts again. I believe it was down around Roan Mountain where we saw so many of those before. The ones we saw today though were much smaller. We also passed a garter snake, lots of frogs and juniper berries covering the forest floor.After we finished we made our way to the PO to pick up our bounce boxes. We had planned to camp one night and stay in a hotel the second night. After hearing weather forecasts that this area was expecting heavy rains from the tropical storm on Saturday we decided to stay both nights in a hotel. Now that we are all settled in the room it looks like the storm may come a little later. Oh well, at least we had the room for sorting out our stuff.Owl and I have been bouncing forward a box with things that we use on our zero days. lWe decided it's time to send some of the stuff home. It's time to simplify. We also made the trip to the outfitter and picked up a few new things. I got a bright orange vest for Roo now that hunting season approaches. She hates it. She just doesn't understand why I keep putting things on her.I think we are all set to head out to New York. Tomorrow morning we will return the rental car, then we'll be back on foot again...like hikers. It will make for a nice quiet zero day. Sounds very nice.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-09-06
From: Dalton, MA

To: Williamstown, MA Zero
Miles today: 0.0

My friends down south tell me that they have sunhine after the passing of Hanna, but right now in Massachusetts it's rain, rain, rain. And it's a muggy rain. I'm afraid it's not going to do much to relieve the 90 degree weather.Our day has gone well. This morning Soaring and I went out and did the last of the resupply shopping and returned our rental car. Back at the hotel we had the day for cleaning up and prepping for the trail.The rest of the day was spent napping, eating, watching TV, answering emails, studying maps and reading. Just chilling out...and watching it rain. And rain. It's great to be inside. Our ride is all set for tomorrow. On to New York!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-09-07
From: Hoyt Road

To: Telephone Pioneers Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

The Villagers Inn in Williamstown, MA gets a very low rating from us. Inconveniently located, moldy bathrooms and most importantly very unfriendly. We don't recommend it. But on to happier things.At 11:00 Bagel arrived to drive us down to our starting point on the trail at the NY/CT line. We had a great conversation with her on the trip. I just wish we had more time to get to know her, what an awesome lady!After stopping for a quick deli sandwich in Cornwall Bridge, she dropped us off on Hoyt Road at the state line. I can't believe how heavy my pack felt after a week of slackpacking! It felt like gravity was sucking me into the ground. Thankfully the terrain was gentle.We had hiked one mile when we came out onto a road. There was a truck parked there with hikers sitting around it. My first thought was a school group. We've seen a lot of that lately, freshmen out for a bonding weekend of backpacking. We often see them at road crossings with their supply trucks. But then I realized this didn't look right. These weren't fresh, clean looking college students, they were thru hikers. This was trail magic! The guy at the truck asked us if we would like to stop in for a soda. He had his truck set up with a grill and coolers. But we had just started hiking, after a zero and we had just finished eating. We thanked him but said we needed to move on. For the rest of the day Walt's words kept going through my mind 'Never turn down trail magic, or it will disappear.' I can't believe we turned down trail magic! I felt so bad. We probably should have stopped anyway. Oh well.We hiked on. Most of the trail was a nice gentle forest path. We did pass through a really long pasture, then through a swampy area that was thankfully lined with a board walk. We crossed a railroad track at the Appalachian Trail station. And we passed the Dover Oak reported to be the largest oak tree on the AT, estimated to be 300 yers old. It was enormous!We made it to the shelter just before dark with enough time to set up our tents and eat a quick dinner before the lights were out. Good timing. The weather was excellent today also. It was a bit humid but the sun was shining beautifully all day. Now the night is cooling off nicely, crickets and night bugs are making a racket. There are a couple hikers talking in the shelter, but other than that it's a quiet night. Hope the rest of the week will be as nice.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9