morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-07-12
From: Pine Swamp Brook shelter 

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: mist

Day 110It was still humid in the morning. But  it was on the cool side. So the going was easy, as well as the trail. In less than 4 hours, I had finished more than 6 miles and came to the Mountainside Cafe. I ordered 4 different things: 2 pastries, 1 fruit cup, and a milk tea, still felt empty after I finished them. I requested a roasted cauliflower salad with tofu. Only after eating that, I felt full. It kept me from feeling hungry for the full afternoon.For the next two hours of hike, the trail was almost flat along the Housatonic River. It was well maintained trail in the form of a boulevard lined with benches. It let me to the hiker friendly Hydroelectric plant. A cold outdoor shower head and a portable water faucet sticking out of the thick vines of a brick building. A few hikers were sitting there for their lunch break. An iron bridge was near by, marked for A.T. crossing the river. I followed it to Amesville, a small helmet of Falls Village. A man made water fall is nearby on the river, partly utilizing the natural rock formation in the river itself. Electricity is generated from there. It was a quite impressive water fall. Up to the Prospect mountain, I can see a race car track down below. And the noises from race cars constantly disturbed the beautiful bird songs, sometimes unbearably loud. Half mile from road 44, I reached 1500 miles marker! Another milestone for my trek!I had a nice sit down dinner in Salisbury before my friends picked me up to their home about one hour away. Salisbury is a lovely little town. Well kept buildings were decorated nicely with plants and crafts. I will take a break this weekend and next week from the trail.
Date: 2019-07-21
From: Salisbury, CT

To: Brassie Brook shelter 
Miles today: 4.9

Day 111In the past week, I space warped to Beijing to visit my hospitalized father. Leaving him in there and knowing that he will be released from hospital lifted a heavy stone from my heart. My friend in Albany, NY helped me a lot to make this trip possible. I cannot thank her and her husband enough!Today I came back on trail to continue my A.T. journey. Being confined in the airplane for more than 15 hours made me sick. My throat was hurt, l lost my voice, and I think I had a fever for the most of the day. It was like walking on soft cotton mattress with sour joints. So I only did less than 5 miles today, pulled into Brassie Brook shelter around 2pm. The trail was very easy today. I am glad that it stayed that way. My friends day hiked with me to Lions Head before turned back to home. It was still in the heat wave that had been lasted for the whole week before. By chance I had escaped from the heat wave except this very last day. Tomorrow the rain will bring much needed cool temperatures.I met ¢So Far So Good¢ at the shelter. She¢s also just back on trail from a two weeks break recovering from an illness. It¢s nice to meet a lady with many things in common between us. Later a young ¢Pegasus¢ walked into the shelter. I had seen him in Woods Hole hostel over a month ago. Being off trail gave me opportunity to meet hikers whom I had passed long time ago. He planned to continue hike, even after dark!An early good night today!
Date: 2019-07-23
From: MA 41

To: Tom Leonard shelter 
Miles today: 10.0

Day 113My experience in last night hotel ¢Latern House motel in Great Barrington, MA¢ was awful. The people who run the hotel were either cold blooded or they have hatred towards hikers. I wrote my review on TripAdvisor and sent an email to ATC requesting them to remove this hotel from future hiker¢s guide book. To be brief, they said my backpack was ugly and cannot stay in their front porch for even less than 5 minutes. Their breakfast was so lean, only half bagels and some cereals. Anything you ask for a little bit help from them, they kept repeating that it is not their job to help you. Anyway I will never stay there again.Talking about something positive, Karen¢s partner David came this morning to help me get back to the trail head. He told me Karen is a triple crowner, and an author of many award winning books on hiking and music. I was honored to meet Karen and David. I also have read one of her books about PCT a few years ago. What a great person she is. There have been chances of rain for most part of the day. But all the chances had been just a little drops here and there. Not even worth of putting on my rain gear. But the trail was still pretty wet and slippery. In the first hour of my hike, I have also collected more than 20 mosquito bites in the damp forest. But the forest was so beautiful. Lichen and moss covered to rocks and trees made the forest very colorful and interesting to look at. It was dark and quiet. Wet leaves, shining super green, made my clothes wet, too. In the afternoon, I traveled in east mountain. It was a monotonous trail with low bushes lined both sides, and many small ups and downs for a long time. By 4pm, I reached Tom Leonard shelter for the night. I only saw 3 hikers in early morning today until more hikers showed up at the shelter after 5:30pm. For most of the hike today, I had the solitude on trail.
Date: 2019-07-24
From: Tom Leonard shelter 

To: Webster road
Miles today: 16.0

Day 114It was that perfect day for hiking! It¢s been long time since I had a perfect hiking day. Temperatures were between mid 50s to mid 70s. Sunny and low humidity, a little breeze throughout the day. I left the campsite before 7:00am. The first mile was filled with fragrant of an unknown wildflower. The sunlights filtered through leaves leaving patches of gold, making mosses so green that when you look at them you have to half close your eyes. A couple of hours later, I came to Benedict Pond. A few large rocks half submerged in clear water, making a great spot to rest and catch a little breeze. Mosquitoes didn¢t like the wind, which gave me a nice relief. Blueberries were abundant here. Very soon my hands were busy picking them. Near the Wilcox South shelter, I met a group teenagers. They call themselves ¢Greenagers¢ - a volunteer organization to fix the trails. These are the hope of the great American.When I reached Jerusalem road, I found a trail stand from Running Spring farm. It had soda, snacks and FRESH EGGs! I bought one can of Mountain Dew and two eggs, hard boiled them on the spot. They tasted so delicious! As I am writing about the eggs, I wish I got 4 instead of 2. The extra food and drink gave me more power. I continued for 3 additional miles with 1000ft elevation gain before called it the night.Bye for now, sweet dreams.
Date: 2019-07-25
From: Webster road

To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.1

Day 115The trail went around so many lakes/ponds today. They reminded me of a movie ¢On Golden Pond¢ in the early 80s. It was one of the a few American movies played in China when the country just opened its door to foreign culture. The beautiful scenery was very memorable to me even though I did not fully understand that movie. For all the ponds I have passed today, if I need to pick a favorite one, it would be the Finerty pond. Near the shore, pink flowers grow in the water, a plant with spiky fruits and water lilies also call it home. Blue dragonflies darted from one plant to another, many flat rocks littered on shore, so I could walk on them effortlessly.The trails has many muddy sections. Some of them reminded me of the sections in Pennsylvania. But people in MA has done a better job. They lined the trails with either wooden planks or steppingstones. So my boots are dry and not muddy.My favorite activity happened near evening. I came to a hiker friendly blueberry farm near the trail. I picked a bucket of blueberries- much larger than the wild ones found on trail. I ate half in dinner and will have the rest for tomorrow ¢s breakfast. The farm also have fresh eggs. I had them in my dinner too. The farm lawn is breezy, it kept mosquitoes to minimum!
Date: 2019-07-26
From: Webster road

To: Cheshire, MA
Miles today: 18.6

Day 116A hiker wrote in a shelter registry book that he saw a moose with its baby yesterday. I didn¢t know moose is down so far south in MA. I did see something looked like moose droppings in the past couple of days. May be they are around here. You never know what is hiding behind the dense forest.Today evening the trail passed a cobble hill. The whole hill was made of white marble. The size of it was very impressive. I visited a marble museum in Vermont many years ago. The texture and the patterns on those marvelous stones gave my great memory. Now think about this whole mountain contains the half transparent rocks, made me smile to walk on it, even though it is not as well polished as the ones in palaces. Some part of the path were covered with marble sand, pure white, sparkling in late afternoon sunlight. Today I also crossed Dalton, MA at noontime. It¢s community recreation center allows hikers to take a shower with $5 donation. I took the advantage of it. Once cleaned, I ate a nice lunch in Dalton Restaurant across the street. This made me not feeling hungry for the whole afternoon, much longer than the energy bars and trail mixes can last. Also, it prompted me to hike 4.4 miles to reach the little town of Cheshire. As I walked into the town, I heard music blast. Two seniors stopped their car to chat with me about my hike on A.T., they told me the town was doing a block party tonight. After I set up my tent in the lawn of the Saint Mary¢s church, I went to join the party. A band was playing music, kids with painted faces and hands running and dancing while holding their balloons. There was also a food truck sailing burgers, hot dogs and sodas. An ice cream stand was next to the truck. Here comes my dinner with another cheeseburger and ice cream! I got a lot more calories today. Oh, there was also a day hiker did trail magic in the morning. I took one blueberry donut from his stock. In the evening at the church, a 12 year old boy also did trail magic. He gave me an apple and filled my water bag. So my intake of calories should definitely close to the 5000 recommended amount!
Date: 2019-07-27
From: Cheshire, MA

To: Route 2 near North Adams
Miles today: 14.5

D117Even though Cheshire is small, one resident had a great influence in American history. Elder John Leland played an important role in the creation of the first amendment of the constitution: the freedom of speech! In the lovely morning sun, the star spangled banners lined up on the street near it¢s elementary school. Walking on A.T. sometimes felt like reading an American history book alive.Massachusetts section of A.T. is well graded and maintained. Walking in its forest is an enjoyment minus the bugs. It has enough ups and downs to keep one¢s heart pumping and exciting, but without too much worrying of a twisted ankle or a broken leg. Since I left Shenandoah National Park, it was the first time that I went to a peak higher than 3000ft. And by noon time, I was standing on Greylock Summit, the highest point in MA. The war memorial tower was the most artistically designed and best constructed monument on A.T. that I have seen. Comparing to this, the Clingmans Dome in the Smokies felt too raw! In the nice comparably grand building Bascom Lodge next to the tower, I had a sit down lunch with grilled cheese sandwich and cool orange juice. One guy, who was day hiking in the state park, kept asking me questions about my A.T. thru-hike. Recently I have gotten a lot more compliments from people when they learned that I have been walked to ¢here¢ from Springer Mountain in Georgia. Because it was too far to walk from, and not doable for most of them. Most of the people wished me the best on my journey. Thanks for all the wonderful comments and wishes from all the strangers.There were also many SOBOs now. One day I saw about 10 of them. In the campsites where hikers aggregated, we swapped information and stories.Before 5pm, I reached route 2 near North Adams and Williamstown. My college classmates picked me up. They drove more than 3 hours from Boston to meet me. With them having a car, we checked into a motel near the border of Vermont, showered, did laundry and had a good dinner. In the evening, we learned there was a fireworks show in Pownal, VT. We went to join the party. The show was great. Party food, cotton candy, nighttime illuminated toys made the kids and kids-at-hearts so happy. The band played very nice country music songs. We danced to the music along with local folks. When the darkness fell, fireworks began. All the Ahs-and-Awes came in rhythm with the lights in the sky. The kids went wild! It was such a wonderful night in the cool summer breeze on the expansive lawn in a heart of a small town.
Date: 2019-07-28
From: Route 2 near North Adams

To: Sherman Brook Campsite 
Miles today: 1.8

Day 118In this Nero day, my classmates and me visited Natural Bridge State Park and Mass MoCA in North Adams after I did shopping for resupplies. Natural Bridge is next an old marble query. The query had stop production and converted to a nice looking U shaped marble cliff over a green lawn edged with bushes and flowers. The Natural Bridge is over a water pathway following down a marble dam - yes, the only dam made of marble blocks! The power of the water was for a historical mill that had been destroyed in a fire more than 70 years ago. The power of the current created deep chasms with circular pools and cut under a piece of marble to made it a bridge. Colors of green from lichen, moss, small plants , yellow and cinnamon from minerals depositions combined with white and gray from the stones made the deep and curvy chasm in nice contrast patterns. A short flat trail in the woods near by added more relaxed atmosphere in the park. We had a snack break before noontime under a big shaded tree in cool breeze.In the afternoon, we spent about 4 hours in Mass MoCA - a very large contemporary art museum in multiple brownstone buildings converted from an old electronic factory. There were many exhibitions with different media. Modern and expressive. It was also a popular place in here, with restaurants and coffee shops close by. We had our late lunch in there, too.Back on the trail after 4:30pm, my friends offered to carry my backpack for a while to ¢experience the A.T.¢ as they said. Then we said goodbye and went to our separated ways. I hiked alone again. The sound of thunderstorm started to roll in closer. By 5:50pm, I reached the campsite of the night. Set up my tent just before the shower poured water from the sky. With great timing, I was lucky to keep dry for today!
Date: 2019-07-29
From: Sherman Brook Campsite 

To: Congdon shelter 
Miles today: 12.5

Day 119In the morning at 10am, I said goodbye to Massachusetts and stepped on to Vermont. 11 states done, 3 remained. The place looked damp and muddy. Not long after that state line, a sticks marked the 1600 miles of A.T.. less than 600 miles to go! In this section the AT follows another famous trail: long trail. It was actually the inspiration of AT.To summarize today¢s trail I can use just one word: soggy. Many places had mud 2-6 inches deep. Even though the terrain was not difficult, I walked very slowly picking my way through the mud. A 12 miles day lasted so long. I spent almost 9 tiresome hours excluding 2 hours of phone and lunch time. Every dry stretch was a blessing. Here toads, big or small, call it home. Some as small as my thumbnail. They hopped around on the trail. I was afraid to step on them accidentally. Finally I pulled into Congdon shelter just before 6pm. There was no energy left in me. Sweet dreams!
Date: 2019-07-30
From: Congdon shelter 

To: Goddard shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 120I knew I was in Vermont when every direction I looked I could see marbles. Even some of the gravel road is made of crushed marbles. So for lots of steppingstones in the muddy part of the trail. When I step on them, I was extra careful since they were well polished and looked slippery.Today there were less mud on trail. So my traveling speed was improved. For 14.4 miles, I spent 1.5 hours less than yesterday, even though the elevation gain was slightly higher today. I hope this condition holds for tomorrow because I need to hike more than 17 miles to get a good camping place.Still see lots of jumping toads and maybe some frogs, too. Some art of the trail passed by water bodies. Wooden boards were placed over watery swamp. There was no good view of any pond today, overgrown forest and bushes blocked all the views. In morning it was humid and warm. In the afternoon, however, breeze came over the ridges and made climbing so much enjoyable. I am expecting rain tonight. The sound of rain drops will make me sleep better.
Date: 2019-07-31
From: Goddard shelter

To: Stratton Mountain 
Miles today: 16.6

Day 121An enchanted forest has these characters: lots of trees, carpet of mosses and ground cover with flowers, creeks and springs, large interesting rocks. And the forest has to be so dense that sunlights can only sparsely penetrate through the canopy. Green Mountain in Vermont has all of the above. Its canopy forever keeps the sunlight away, leaving ground moist all the time. The dropped leaves made the ground so spongy, walking on it felt bouncy. Its green mosses grow very long, with their spurs sticking out on hair thin stems that made them look like floating in the air. Its springs are so cold that when I used it in a bucket to wash my feet yesterday, my feet can only stay in water for a few seconds before they felt hurt. Walking through an enchanted forest, especially after last night rain, or even better in the rain at noontime today, not only I felt joy to watch the shining clean leaves, nodding wet flowers, orange spotted salamanders, but also I needed concentration on my footing. It¢s mud, mud and mud everywhere. It¢s passing through mud maze all the time. The only good thing was less bugs due to cool temperature. One less thing to distract me from my focus on the muddy trails.Stratton Mountain has a special place in the heart of all A.T. thru-hikers. It was here more than 80 years ago, Benton MacKaye¢s idea of a very long trail to link all Appalachian peaks was formed. It is a sacred mountain to behold. The trail to the peak was well maintained and easy to walk. The 1700ft elevation gain from the trail head parking lot didn¢t feel difficult at all. It was late afternoon. When I reached the fire tower at the peak close to 6:20pm, thunder could be heard roaring nearby. The trees were all in the fogs. It was too late to go down the mountain to the shelter 3 miles away. I decided to stay overnight near the spring 3/10 mile from the peak. After I set up the tent, late afternoon sun peeked through clouds for a short hour before sunset. The enchanted forest around my tenting place felt magical once more. I felt lucky to be right here in the very mountain where A.T. was born.
Date: 2019-08-01
From: Stratton Mountain 

To: Manchester Center 
Miles today: 13.0

Day 122In the morning, I found 3 large crickets and about a dozen slugs on my tent and backpack. That was a rich environment I spent the night within. Today was a super easy day with a perfect weather. I hiked into town of Manchester Center in about 13 miles. It was mostly down hill on gentle grade, not much uphill. I still picked my way through mud. And there was a lot of mud. The Green Mountain Club that maintains the trail has such a difficult problem to deal with. At noon time, I reached the Prospect Rock that had wonderful views of the town below. It looked so far away from there. But within 2 hours, I have reached the beautiful town. The town is not big, but have everything people need to live comfortably. Abby from California, who¢s doing summer work in a farm here, saw me walking on the busy road and offered me a ride for the last mile into the town center. She used to work in Hidden Villa, one of the local farm in San Mateo county where I had hiked into many times. What a small world. In the afternoon, I did laundry, resupplies shopping, visited their farmer¢s market, and had dinner in a taco restaurant which only gets ingredients from local suppliers. All set to go back to the trail tomorrow.
Date: 2019-08-02
From: Manchester Center 

To: Lost Pond Shelter 
Miles today: 14.5

Day 123In the early morning, ¢Wheels¢ shuttered me back to the trail head. Her husband ¢Daddy long legs¢ is doing thru-hike flip-flop style. They are from Georgia Tech. He retired earlier this year and planned to do this hike. But in the Spring, he found out that he had cancer. A surgery was scheduled 2 months later. Instead of waiting at home for his surgery, he did over 600 miles of A.T. going north from Harpers Ferry. Then he went back home for the surgery. After recovery from surgery 6 weeks later, he¢s back on trail, trying to finish the rest of the northern section, then flip over to Harpers Ferry and walk south back home. ¢Wheels¢ meets his every week to give him support and make sure he¢s taking a rest day. I happened to stay in the same rental house with them last night. They were so kind to give me a lift to the trail head. 5.5 miles into the hike, when I approach an unpaved forest road, a trail magic sign was there. ¢Spineless Cougar¢ from Albany,NY was there giving out watermelon, oranges, bananas, donuts, cookies and cold drinks. He has been doing this for 5 years after retirement. When I was hot, sweaty just came down from a mountain peak, the cool watermelon tasted as the best food in the whole world. Thanks for the magic!In early afternoon, I reached Peru shelter. This shelter was first built in 1935 and rebuilt twice with the last one in 2000. A well constructed sturdy shelter. A happy singing stream is right in front of it. Half mile later, I was a lake. Like most lakes in the Northeast, it was already super crowded with water plants.After a few hours of ups and downs, the last climb was Baker Peak before the trail decent to my planned campsite Lost Pond. It was a big surprise near the top of Baker Peak. Out of blue there were slanted rocks. Big slanted rocks made up the pathway of the trail, like they were dropped out of the sky. I haven¢t seen this type of rocks  since PA. And it was so different from the soft muddy peaks in Vermont so far. After climbed the rocks and took in all the nice views around the peak, I saw a sign a little bit down hill pointing out a ¢bad weather route¢. I have not seen such a sign before climbed on the rocks on the other side of the peak. Was the sign only there because going down through these rocks would be a lot more dangerous than going up?There were more than 10 people in Lost Pond shelter area. I have got to know many of them on trail. It was nice to chat with them, exchange knowledge and information.