morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-07-24
From: Dyken Pond, NY

To: Dyken Pond, NY
Miles today: 0.0

My zero day at the lake was great! I swam and ate a ton. This is the first time I've been unable to do the mile swim; I didn't even attempt it. When I swam perhaps 0.2 miles to the dam, I was using most of my strength to propel myself upward rather than forward. It is extremely hard to stay above water now that I have no buoyant, lighter-than-water fat on my body. I sink like a brick even with my lungs completely filled with air. The Krug's scale says that I have lost an additional 5 lbs. I'm inclined to believe that. They also say that I'm noticably skinnier since last time they saw me (500 miles ago in PA). It was really good to take an entire day for laying around and not using my legs so much, I'll be recouperated in the morning! Bob had just returned from the White Mountains. He has started hiking the New Hampshire 4000' mountains with earnest, so maybe we can do some together when I'm finished with this trip.
Date: 2010-07-25
From: Stony Brook Rd

To: Lookout Cabin
Miles today: 6.9

I resupplied (chocolate iced honeybuns), purchased a new cell phone (my old one stopped recharging mysteriously), and was dropped off at Stony Brook Rd at about 5:30. Hiking up so late wasn't a big deal, the low temperatures helped me a lot. I passed two tents; early-to-bed is a common hiking method. As it got dark, I reached "The Overlook" and took the 0.1 mile side trail to a cabin which wasn't in my book. It was enclosed, had windows, a fireplace and a loft. Also a ladder which went to an observation deck on the roof. I made a huge fire and made dinner. It was pretty spooky. Trees were all around the windows and kept blowing into the sides of the cabin. The wind was nonstop since it was on an overlook. I slept in the back just in case a clown kicked the door in at 3AM and attacked me with a butcher knife. Being by myself isn't normally creepy, but since it was such a big empty cabin, it was weird!
Date: 2010-07-26
From: Lookout Cabin

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 22.8
Weather: broken clouds

Today was nothing but a big series of ups and downs. Even where the book indicated flat terrain, there were huge climbs and descents. Every single road crossing (12 today), town, river, powerline, tree, etc had its own several hundred-foot drop to reach it, and then a several hundred foot ascent to climb away from it. Thistle Hill had a descent view, though it would be more aptly named "Poison Ivy, Grasshopper, milkweed, and the occasional blackberry Hill". Someone needs to do trail maintenance up there and a few other places that I encountered today. I was up to my ears in bushy plants (many thorny), and could hardly make out the trail through them. If I'd been the first person to come through this year, it'd be curtains for me. Later on, I crossed under I-89 and walked through the town of West Hartford, VT. Beyond that was the crossing of Podunk Road (hahaha), and the ascent up Griggs Mountain. I'm not sure what qualifies as a mountain around these parts, but Thistle Hill is taller and more prominent than Griggs. Oh well. Then I tented out and got a good nights sleep! During the course of the day I didn't see one Northbound thruhiker.
Date: 2010-07-27
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Moose Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

   I started this morning with three chocolate-iced honeybuns. Finally, an easy way to get 150% of my daily recommended allowance of saturated fat. How are these things sold to nonhikers in regular stores? Who is the target audience of Little Debbie snacks? They should have a surgeon general's warning on those things: "Do not eat unless you want to be morbidly obese." Or, there could just be a symbol. Instead of the skull and crossbones, how about an elephant giving you the thumbs up?   After a quick, saturated fat-powered jaunt (3 miles) down to the powerlines, I entered Norwich, VT and finally learned where all the poor people have been living. Tremendous mansions were visible to my left and right as I meandered down Elm St and made a right onto Main. From this point the trail pointed straight into NH. I made a beeline for the Connecticut River (the Vt/NH border). In Hanover, NH I passed by the Dartmouth campus green and saw a lot of random tourists and locals. My good friend Erin Sullivan lives in the area, she took me out for lunch at a great pizza place! It's good to finally be back in NH where I have the homefield advantage.   After resupplying and buying new emergency deodorant (the original lasted over 1700 miles), I hit the trail and did another 11 miles over Moose Mountain (South Peak) to Moose Mountain shelter. The water source was the worst I've seen on this entire trip. It was a stagnant, disgusting muddy puddle with frogs and waterbugs living in it. It also smelled of sulfur and various miscellaneous stenches. I got water from this source but couldn't bring myself to drink any. Then I tented up nearby and had a late dinner. Weather has been getting chilly so I'll be getting cold weather gear back soon.
Date: 2010-07-28
From: Moose Mountain Shelter

To: Smarts Mountain
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: overcast clouds

3800' of vertical today. I climbed the northern peak of Moose Mountain, then Holt's Ledge, and finally up Smarts Mountain. It was a very tough day and much hotter than it's been in a long time. Oh and thanks to whoever scratched out the double blaze immediately following Holt's Ledge. Due to this vandalism, I was provided with an all-expenses-paid extra 0.6 mile trip to the top of Dartmouth's ski mountain (and back). Fortunately it went past endangered falcon nesting sites, so at least I got to see that. I also saw about 10 baby turkeys (goblets?) and a couple adults. I caught up with Belch today as well, along with a bunch of other people that I'd not expected to see again, including but not limited to: Barnabas et al, Sherlock, Saguaro, The Animal et al, and a bunch of southbounders. I am getting very excited to reach the White Mountains. Tonight Belch and I are sleeping in the fire tower.
Date: 2010-07-29
From: Smarts Mountain

To: Stealth Site at NH25
Miles today: 20.1

   I crossed into the White Mountains today! Also went past the "400 miles left" point. Last night a thunderstorm bombed our firetower and we got soaked. It is an enclosed tower and shouldn't have been bad except that there were 5 panes of glass missing (spread out onto 3 of the sides. Luckily, the wind was very reasonable and didn't freeze me out when I got up and dried off at 2 in the morning. Also luckily Belch didn't wake up until after that, otherwise she'd have seen me standing up naked about 3 feet away.   It was quite a night. The lightning and thunder weren't even the worst part. At some point shortly after the storm let up, I ended up risking it all and peeing through the shards of glass from a not-completely-broken window pane. Belch got mad when she found out later, but I told her it was either that one or the one right over her head (those were the only 2 I could reach).    I certainly wasn't going to wake her up (we were sleeping on the door), move all our crap, and then risk my life to climb down the wet stairs in the middle of the night. The proper solution was clear.   We had to dry our stuff in the morning and didn't leave the area until 10:30. Climbed up Mt Cube, and Mt Mist. Met several more southbounders. The water situation hasn't improved much, it's still in serious deficit. Many of the sources are dried up.      As it became dark, we found a great secret campsite about 0.2 miles past NH 25 in Glencliff. Too late to start a fire, but the site was right on a river, so I was entertained listening to that all night.
Date: 2010-07-30
From: Stealth Site at NH25

To: NH 112 Kinsman Notch
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: broken clouds

I got up wicked early this morning and booked it to the top of Moosilaukee (a 3800' elevation gain). Finally, a taste of the White Mountains! The trail was very steep and tough, but nothing compared to going down the other side of it. The Beaver Brook Trail (North face) contains the steepest mile of the AT. A bunch of people were loafing around at the peak (4802'), mostly huddling and freezing to death. All of Vermont was visible and waaaay down below (to the West). I met a couple of older ladies from NH and they gave me 2 hardboiled eggs. There were a few people on the way down that were very excited to meet a real AT hiker, one of them had even been following me on this site. That was hilarious; I couldn't believe anyone knew about this besides people with family members/friends hiking right now. Belch and I reached the bottom at the arranged meeting time for my sister to come pick me up. We dropped Belch off at a hostel and then headed for home. My mom was having a surprise goodbye party and we'd made arrangements for me to attend. My sister Kristen did a great job of driving 125 miles and picking me up in the middle of nowhere (bringing a lot of trail magic as well!). We distributed some of it and hid the rest in the woods for the next set of AT Hikers.
Date: 2010-07-31
From: NH 112 Kinsman Notch

To: Franconia Notch (Rt 93)
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning my mom send me off with a huge breakfast. My friend TJ was dropping me off at the trailhead. After a lot of text messages and miscellaneous begging the night before, we had devised a plan to pick up all of our buddies and send our stuff forward to the next road crossing. This let us hike with only the minimal food and snacks for today's section. With our weight cut way down, it was much easier to do the difficult terrain. Plus it helped cancel out our noon start time (oops.) That's how TJ ended up driving a van with 7 thru hikers (JayBird, Fish, Thin Mint, Belch, Kricket, GreenDog, ME) and all their gear. We peeled out of the Lincoln, NH McDonalds parking lot and were on our way. He dropped us off at NH 112 and then drove off with all our extra gear, bringing it to our destination for the night. We hiked quickly with the low weight, running up Mt Wolf (East Peak), then through the gigantic mud bogs followed by a 2000' climb up steep boulders to reach the bald peak of South Kinsman. We had a teriffic windless view of Franconia Ridge (tomorrow's hike). The tradition of taking a shot of whiskey on each 4000' mountain was born on this day. Of course, we used the premium "Canadian Mist". Anything less would just be embarassing. After South Kinsman came North Kinsman, presenting a less open but closer view of tomorrow's ridge. I called our lodgings for the night, Jim Forrest. Jim is a 71 year old resident of Franconia NH, and a member of the Pemigewasset Rescue Squad. I've hiked with Jim, his wife Kathy, and their 2 standard poodles (Reggie and Charlie) in the past. Jim said he'd meet us at Rt 93 at 8PM. We had just enough time to make it. Coming down the Fishin Jimmy Trail, Belch slipped and landed hard on her shoulder. Dislocated! We walked a mile or so further, and sought help at the Lonesome Lake Hut. One of the caretakers "Seth" came out and massaged the shoulder back into place. I didn't know you could do that; I thought the solution was popping it back into place. That event left us at least 30 minutes behind schedule. We hurried down as it became dark, meeting Jim halfway down (he'd started up the mountain to meet us). Finally, we reached the SUV, piled in, and arrived at the Forrest household by about 9:30. Jim and Kathy had made a huge amount of meatloaf for us, a great way to end the day!
Date: 2010-08-01
From: Franconia Notch (Rt 93)

To: Garfield Pond
Miles today: 9.1

This morning Jim and Kathy got us up early for a big breakfast. Then they dropped us off at the trailhead with thick sandwiches. After a gigantic 3500' elevation gain, I reached the peak Little Haystack (4800'). Immediately prior to this destination, Kricket and I took a quick detour over to the top of Mt Liberty to take in the South/West view. Everyone met up on Little Haystack and did the customary shot of whisky. This was repeated on Mt Lincoln (5089'), then Mt Lafayette (5260'). The Franconia Ridge is the most beautiful part of the hike so far. I can't imagine it getting much better than this. Everyone lingered forever on each peak. We called Jim to update him on our progress and plan the next day's meeting. He thinks we're a lot slower than we are. We actually do the difficult parts very quickly, and then stay at the peaks for at least 40 minutes each. We stayed on Lafayette for well over an hour and caught the sunset. Then continued down to the saddle between Lafayette and Garfield where a pond (and huge stealth sites) exist.
Date: 2010-08-02
From: Garfield Pond

To: Gigantic Legendary Stealth Site
Miles today: 11.3

This morning I woke up very early and hurried up Mt Lincoln (4500') to catch the sunrise. There is an old building foundation up there and it makes an excellent windbreak. From there our party more or less hiked together. After Lincoln, the trail descends a waterfall (yes this really happened) and flattens out before ascending to nearly the peak of Galehead. We met Jim, Charlie, and Reggie (standard poodles). He had powerbars for all of us. We lingered a bit at the Galehead Hut and then bid our farewells and continued. The next set of landmarks were South Twin(4902'), Guyot(4580'), Zeacliff (4084'), and Zealand Falls Hut. The weather threatened to get nasty after South Twin, but held off. It was a bit satisfying to visit the Zealand Falls Hut and talk to all the "normals" who were being pandered to as if they'd been through unspeakable hardships. Being treated to special buffalo pizza ("you guys are so lucky, the chef hardly EVER makes this") while being entertained BEFORE DINNER. It must be tough hiking the 2.8 miles and 650 feet of elevation it takes to reach the hut from Zealand Road. Everyone was interested in hearing about our adventures, so that took a lot of the animosity away. The 7 of us continued and started looking around for a stealth site over near Zealand Pond. I stumbled across a huge one a bit further down the AT. It was gigantic, had a fire pit, a water source, even a supply of firewood! Everyone settled in and started making their dinners. Suddenly a downpour equal to the awesomeness of the site happened. Thunder and lightning and rain pummeled us in our tents. It was still better than paying at least 75 bucks to stay in that mansion up on Zealand.
Date: 2010-08-03
From: Gigantic Legendary Stealth Site

To: Crawford Notch (US 302)
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: fog

This morning I packed quickly without bothering to dry off everything completely. Why? Because we were scheduled to stay at Jim and Kathy's place again! That means washing machines, driers, and showers. So all of us packed up and went with very little complaining! The Ethan Pond trail goes past a great bouldery landscape of rocky cliffs and rivers. This trail in the Whites was new to me, and I was surprised to realize how wet everything was (even beyond the fact that it'd poured the last night). Miles of trail were under inches of water, it was impossible to keep dry, so after a while I gave up. It was basically a race to the road. Jim was picking us up at noon, and in the two previous meetings, we had been so late that he had started hiking up to meet us. Not just a short distance either, we had not encountered him less than 1.5 miles from his vehicle. So this time it was going to be different. As we rolled down to the parking lot and waited, it was approaching 11:45. By noon I started to get suspicious, though I could understand not wanting wet disgusting people in my vehicle. I hoped he'd at least throw some food out the window as he sped by. But Jim promptly showed up and brought us home to a great dinner. We resupplied and helped clean. Later that night I was part of a My Cousin Vinny viewing.
Date: 2009-08-13
To: Getting Started
Miles today: 0.0

After sore feet in 2005, sore knees in 2007 and personal business in 2008, this will be Limestone's fourth attempt to thru hike the AT. Mrs Limestone's will complete the hike she started in 2008 by joining Limestone at Harpers Ferry. Limestone plans to start at Springer and go north. Limestone hopes he has learned something from the past, besides all the great memories of fun and good times along the trail. At age 63, he is not getting any younger--but then no one else is either so no whining. We do notice that we go slower up and down the mountains, but still enjoy every minute of it. Looking forward to meeting the class of 2010. May we all have a safe and fun trip.
Date: 2009-08-16
To: Lake Valhalla
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday we took a short hike to Lake Valhalla. About 3 miles in and same amount out. Elevation climb a bit over 1,000 feet. It was a nice hike as the air was a bit crisp which is great change from the hot weather we have been having. The trail head parking lot was full so we had to park along the road and we counted 23 people on the trail. We did not count the number of people at the lake, but there were a bunch. It was fun getting out. On the way home, we stopped at a campground to visit Mom and Dad and mooch a hot dog. The gear list has been entered and edited. I will be thinking about gear for the next several months as I fine tune my equipment. However, the list will not change until I start putting things in the pack and then I will make one last update. A couple items are still up in the air. Boots being the biggest. I have entered my summer shoes, and will either get a high top version of Hardrocks with a gore tex liner or maybe try over boots--something I read about over the past year. I like being able to let my feet breath while hiking and there are lots of spring days when water proof boots are not needed. However, when you need to hike thru snow and mud, summer trail runners leave a lot to be desired. Decisions, decisions.Another big gear item is the sleeping pad. I would like to have a longer one with more cushion, but do not want to add any more weight. I have an air mattress that comes in at 17 oz with each tube independent of the others (several to blow up, but it does not go flat all over if you get a leak) and it packs smaller than the Therma rest. So, I will keep pondering this too. And a small gear item is the back pack cover. I may drop it and add a poncho instead. My pack was so wet numerous times that water would just drip out of the thing when it was hanging in a shelter. Rain basically lands on the unprotected shoulder straps and belt then migrates through out the pack until it is dripping wet. This seems like a lot of extra weight. Also, when it stops raining and I put on the pack without rain gear, its a bit wet where ever the pack meets my body.Been thinking about starting my thru hike for a long time...ever since we came off the trail last summer. It is so frustrating to do all the prep work, hike hundreds of miles and then be forced for what ever reason to pull off. This has got to change--maybe four is the lucky number. The positive side is I am getting pretty familar with the south half.
Date: 2009-08-25
To: Deck construction
Miles today: 0.0

It has been a pretty busy summer for the Limestones. Recently we have been working on constructing a deck. After the formal process of getting permits and insuring everything was ok with the County, we started construction. But then, Limestone pulled a muscle in his back and has been laid up. We hired this Dude to help. He shows up and wants to check the levelness of the retaining wall along the patio rather than help.When Limestone asked the Dude to hold the end of a board for measuring, he was off checking out the berries in the flower bed. (See first photo)Dude then walked off the job and went fishing in front of the house. (See third photo) You just can not hire good help these days. I guess we¢ll wait until Limestone¢s back is better and then go back to deck construction on our own.
Date: 2009-10-07
To: Back home
Miles today: 0.0

Time flies when you are busy...We have been away from home for several weeks traveling around this summer. We finally made it to the Oregon Cascades for a day hike and a canoe trip on the Deschutes River while we were visiting my sister. The weather was a bit rainy and windy during the day hike, but clear and sunny on the canoe trip. While we did do a bit of fishing, the catching was slow.We attended the Puyallup State Fair for a very brief visit and were overwhelmed by all the people. Guess that is part of the fair experience.We took a few days and made a loop hike in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. About 35 miles in 4 days and never met another hiker/camper. It is great getting out in the fall and having so much solitude. The colors are still not out so the larch are still green, but it was a great hike. Limestone managed to find a yellow jacket nest in the trail and it took a few stings before he removed his body from trespassing in the jellow jacket's protected space. Yello jackets still do nut understand the concept of public lands..... We spent too little time fishing and only managed a few bites. We did hear some elk bugling one night while we were camped along a large meadow. Never did see the elk, but they were pretty close to camp. We are generally happy with our gear, but like always have a few more tweaks to make (always looking for less weight). The food was the usual fair as we were cleaning out the hike cabinet of summer left overs. We gotta find some new stuff as the selection is getting old--both dated and repetition. Only one morning of oat meal, yea! Recently we have been looking over menu ideas for AT hike. Lots of ideas, and it will probably add way too many pounds around the middle as we taste test all the ideas. The good news, stored fat will allow for less back pack food weight at the start of the hike, ie live off the stored excesses.......Like last trip, we will do a mixture of food boxes and trail store resupply. The food boxes are strategically planned for longer resupply sections and locations where the local supply is limited. It also saves a lot of town time if you are not shopping so it makes more of a zero day of rest rather than running all about town.We keep getting all the fall sale catalogues from out door gear vendors. I guess we have spent so much money on gear the last couple years, we meet the criteria for every sort of mailing. While it is fun looking at the new generation of stuff, vendors seems to have much focus on heavier rather than lighter. Guess the vendors are going back wards on the need for better, lighter gear--or just trying to unload heavy gear. Either way, looking is free........
Date: 2009-10-12
To: Time's flying
Miles today: 0.0

Busy week last week. Trying to get all the yard work wrapped up for the winter and next summer. Weather report calling for snow and rain next several days......only 24 degrees as sun up (but no sun) today. Keep thinking about gear, and hiking, and food, and, and....time is flying.I look at the tarp tent and try to figure out how to cut a few oz because it now weights more than when I purchased it. What gives with that? Only change made was to add some seam sealer and put a few sealer lines across the floor to cut down on the slide around factor. The whole tube of sealer weights less than the weight addition and I didn't use that much. Maybe I'll give it a bath and see if I have collected too much dirt. Maybe tarp tent stays in closet and I go back to just tarp...decisions, decisions.Still having fun with the planning...so much to do, so little time.