morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-05-26
To: Katadin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

A little bit about our gear... We are getting a few last minute items in the mail, but here is a brief outline of our main items:Sleeping - 2 EXPED inflatables pillows. In the stuff sack, 1 is about the size of a small baked potato and weighs about an ounce. Inflated, it is quite confortable. To go with these pillows, we have REI-sub kilo bags and Therma Rest self inflating mats. We are sharing a Mont-bell tent (Thunder Dome 2) that weighs just a fraction more than the solo tent Gerry carried on his first trip (about 3.5lbs.).Hiking - My bag is a Granite Gear Vapor Ki and his is an Osprey 50. We both use LEKI telescoping poles and wear Merrell light-weight boots. Food & water - We will use a Steri Pen for water purification and each carry 3 liter Camelback insulated bladders.Our cook system is a PRIMUS Classictrail stove with iso propane fuel. We cook in a Mont-bell 1 quart pot and have a 2 cup MSR titanium for eating out of and drinking hot stuff. Not counting water we weigh in at about 54 lbs. combined. I'll post the exact weight for each pack once we get everything packed and ready to leave. Hike your own hike!
Date: 2010-06-14
From: Harleton, Texas

To: Lee, MA
Miles today: 0.0

Rain delayed our final preparations so we were really rushed trying to be ready for our ride to pick us up at 3pm to go to the bus. Pat S. was our first trail angel providing us that ride along with a small bottle of Aleve to get us started. Thanks a bunch Pat!The bus from Marshall, TX to Shreveport, LA was packed and stinky. We got a new driver but stayed on the same bus for our trip through LA. The new driver was a riot. He would always end his introductions with, "thanks for riding with Greyhound and providing me with a job." The only interesting thing we saw in LA was a woman instructing her son where to place duct tape on a tire to stop a leak. That is one thing that I don't duct tape will fix :>)The rest of the 48 hour trip was just about as miserable and made us wish we were sleeping in our tent on the ground. We did manage brief naps between stops where the driver would get on the intercom and announce the stop, waking everyone up in the process. There were 2 positive points on the trip. One was a very entertaining 2 year old named Mario. We played through the seats with him and visited with his aunt most of the trip. They were from Georgia and traveling to see family in NY. The second was opening my eyes just in time to see Washington DC at night. The bus terminal in New York City was absolutely CRAZY! There were THOUSANDS of people all going in different directions to hundreds of terminal gates. We finally found someone who get get us to the one we needed before our bus left. Our bus from New York to Lee, Ma was full of high school/college students from England. That was fun listening entertainment.We got a good nights sleep (about 14 hours!) in the hotel last night and are getting lunch in Lee, MA before heading out to the trail. We met our 2nd & 3rd trail angels here in town. Fred F. was in the laundry mat and has offered to take us to the trail head. The other angel was Debbie, also in the laundry. She gave us the name of an angel up the trail along with a Traveling prayer before we left. Until next time,Hobo & Variable
Date: 2010-06-15
From: Lee, MA

To: October Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: clear sky

We got a late start since we had to take care of laundry and groceries before hitting the trail. It was about 3:00pm when "Angel Fred" dropped us at the trail- head on highway 20, 5 miles outside of Lee. The first thing we had to do was go UP Beckett Mountain! It wasn't a big climb or anything so I took off quickly; excited to finally be hitting the trail. By the time we reached the top I was tired and winded. So much for pre-hike training. Carrying the extra 25+ pounds made a big difference in my strength. I was pulling out my knee brace after the first mile or so.The terrain was pretty mild (one reason we started in MA) but incredibly muddy. We sloshed through what felt like a rain forest for most of the 7 miles.The excitement for today was our first night hike. We rolled into the shelter about 10pm to find a group of trail maintainers laughing around a campfire. This group of 8 high school volunteers and an adult sponsor had been working on the trail for 5 days and still had 5 more to go. They helped us find a good spot for our tent. We gave new meaning to "hiker's midnight" today. Normally that is about dark for hikers. For us it was true midnight before we were settled into our sleeping bags for the 50 degree night. A long first day for this school teacher and I went to bed quit sore and ready to sleep.Happy Trails!
Date: 2010-06-16
From: October Mountain Shelter

To: Kay Wood Shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I forgot to mention in the last entry that our "Through Hiker's Companion book" either fell out of Hobo's pack or was left on a rock when we stopped for a break sometime yesterday. We do have our hiker-hanky which shows mileage for the trail, the shelters and major towns. What we are missing is the details about stores,lodging and such that can be found in towns. We hope to order a new one when we hit Dalton, MA tomorrow.Today's hike was a dreary one. It was a light rain most of the afternoon & cool. The trail was still pretty dense with vegetation and mud. As we were walking through a particularly muddy section, we started to look at tracks of hikers in front of us, a dog and some southbound prints too. While 'studying' the prints along the way we noticed one that didn't look like boot or dog paw. Could it be a bear lurking near by? We took a picture of it and unlocked the triggers on our bear spray cans. A little further up the trail we saw some bear scat (poop). Needless to say, we didn't stop and cook a meal in that area :>)We have been walking through fern-forests and wild berry patches. We have seen blackberries in blossom, raspberries that where 5 ft tall and blue berry bushes at the top of Werner Mountain that were not quite ready to pick. Shortly before we reached the shelter, we were blessed with a few small, ripe raspberries that were delicious! We made it to the shelter around 5:30pm, had dinner and were cleaning up when another hiker (G-2) strolled in. He is doing a short soutbound section hike. We swapped information about things we had each seen on the previous sections, got water for the night and were all snug in our sleeping bags shortly after dark.We had read in the shelter log that a mouse (nick-named Jose'-Mickey's cousin)was stealing hiker's cheese so we were careful to leave the pcokets of our packs open so he could roam freely without chewing into our packs. Of course, all our food and trash was secured on a bear cable away from the shelter. As soon as Hobo turned off his headlight I hear a light thud and the scurrying of little feet. We giggled and fell asleep. Shortly after falling asleep we heard the sound of rain on the roof. We were very thankful to be in a shelter and not our tent. Happy Trails,The ATeam
Date: 2010-06-17
From: Kay Wood Shelter

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: light rain

Today wasn't a true "0" since we had to hike 3 miles into town. My knees are both giving me trouble so we decided to just hang out at the hotel, do laundry and just take it easy.We were surrounded by beautiful scenery on today's short hike. We followed a beautiful stream that had merged from 2 waterfalls for a good while before starting the toughest assent we've had yet. Without the book, I don't know the names or elevations as we go. We did make it up and then down and enjoyed the changing vegetation. We got to Dalton around 1pm. The hotel office was closed for lunch so we went next door to Angelina's for a tasty roast beef sub. After lunch it was back to the hotel for a shower, laundry, updating this journal and then to a store for a few supplies.Tomorrow (knees permitting) we will make the 10 mile trek to Cheshire. We have a mail drop with some more freeze-dried dinners waiting for us there. Our timing is off so we probably won't get to the post office before closing. Cheshire is another small town that the trail goes right through and they have a place we can camp (shower, laundry, kitchen) for $15 a night so we will probably just hang out there until Monday. After that, we face Greylock mountain...For my friends who don't know much about hiking or the trail, here is a little vocabulary/information lesson: A zero is a day that you hike zero miles; a day off. Shelters are 3 sided wooden structures that have plywood 'bunks' where you can stay if there is room. Most have a "privy" which is usually a composting toilet and a water source (creek/stream) nearby. Some of the shelters along the trail were built back in the 1930's by the CCC. They also built the trail at that time. In MA, you can only sleep at the shelters and not along the trail so we have to plan our days according to the miles between shelters & towns.To my students: do a little research and find out how long the entire trail is. Figure out what percent we are trying to do from Lee, MA to Baxter State Park. Will upload pictures ASAPHappy Trails,ATeam
Date: 2010-06-18
From: Dalton, MA

To: Chesire
Miles today: 9.3

It was a long, tough hike, but we made it all the way to Chesire today. We had a beautiful view of the town from "The Cobbles". This is an outcropping of rocks at the top of a mountain that overlooks Chesire. It was around 5pm when we strolled into town. We were very excited to find out that the post office would be open on Saturday morning so we wouldn't have to spend the entire weekend waiting to get our mail drop.Enjoyed a Alfredo pizza together at Cobble View pizzaria about a half mile from the trail. Just around the corner was Mason Hill Hike Hostel where we pitched our tent for the night. We spent the evening chatting with "Gaget", a through hiker from Seattle. He had passed us on the trail just outside of Dalton earlier in the day. This particular hostel was a converted barn with bunkbeds scattered throughout the rooms, a shower, full kitchen and laundry if needed. We chose to camp under the stars by a beautiful stream that lulled us to sleep quickly. Best night sleep since we left home!
Date: 2010-06-19
From: Chesire

To: Mark Noepel Lean-to
Miles today: 4.4

As Dr. Suess says, "it's a great day for up!" and that is all we did today. We were at the Chesire post office by 9:30am and then hit the trail. Chesire's elevation is 1000 ft, we hiked up for the next 4+ hours to get to the shelter. I'm NOT exagerating, it was ALL uphill! Some climbs were gentle while others were rather steep. It was a short hike but by the time we reached the shelter, we were exhausted.The shelter was pretty full when we got there with short-term hikers so we pitched the tent on one of the provided tent platforms. We prefer the ground, it is softer than boards. With our bellies full and all the water we needed for the next day treated, we were ready for bed by 6pm. We crawled in the tent and were probably asleep by 7.Happy Trails!
Date: 2010-06-20
From: Mark Noepel Lean-to

To: Williamstown
Miles today: 9.6

The sun was peekeing over the horizon around 5am and we were starting to stir. A loud clap of thunder got us moving a little quicker. We managed to get the tent and all our gear packed before the bottom fell out of the clouds. We got soaked running to the shelter for cover. We enjoyed our freeze-dried, blueberry cheese cake that we had prepared the night before for breakfast as we waited out the storm.We hit the trail by 6:30am and once again started hiking up. I thought yesterday was tough! We were finishing the 2500 ft ascent to the summit of Mt. Greylock and this was the steepest part; about 3 miles. We made it by 10:30 and were ready for a break. We rested at the summit waiting for a trail run to pass and the clouds too. We finally got a pretty good look at the Green Mountains and the next town below before we left.A few pack adjustments after airing out the wet gear and we were on our way DOWN. North Adams/Williamstown would be a 2800 ft decent over about 3 miles. We had planned to stop at a shelter part way down, but it was early and I(Variable) am a fool. By the time we reached town, Hobo was carrying my pack as I limped behind him. Both my feet, knees and hips were ready to give up on me. I asked 2 ladies that were walking if we were going the right way to a hotel and they offered to take us there. What a blessing!!!We cleaned up and Hobo walked to the grocery store (another 1.5 miles each way) to get something for dinner. He's such a trooper :>) I crawled in bed and iced down my knees.We pigged out on the food that Hobo brought back, watched a little TV and called it a night around 10:30. A king size bed was a nice change of pace from our little pack-tent which is about 4ft x 7ft.Tomorrow we are going to find the outfitter in town to look for some more pads since we have to sleep in shelters or on tent pads in this area. Our self-inflating mats are good on the groud, but not on wood. We are trading out the weight of our fleece jackets and pants which we will mail up the trail to Hanover, NH. This is shortly before we have to climb Mt. Washington which is probably the first place that we will need cold-weather gear anyway. Temperatures are hanging around the 80's during the day and 50's at night.I'm sure a good nights sleep will make us both feel better and we will be back on the trail tomorrow; crossing our first state line!Happy Trails
Date: 2010-06-21
From: Williamstown

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today was offically our first "zero" for trail hiking. After walking a couple of miles into downtown to the post office and then back out to the laundry, we decided it was a little to late to head out for a 7+ mile hike to the next shelter. So it was back to the hotel (which is still 2 miles off the trail).I am feeling better today after a day without mountain climbing and will probably be even stronger tomorrow so perhaps staying in town another night will be a good thing.We probably won't have computer access again we get to Manchester Center, VT which we are estimating to be about 8 days from now. Until then...Happy Trails,The ATeam
Date: 2010-06-22
From: Williamstown

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: clear sky

Towns always seem to be nestled in the valleys between large mountains! We started our day with a 2 mile hike from the hotel to the local grocery to get some breakfast & lunch stuff to go with the freeze-dried dinners we have mailed to ourselves along the trail. Another half mile or so and we were at the trail head. This section started with us crossing the Green River; it was gorgeous. Once on the trail, we faced what has become the usual - UP & out of town, roller coaster through the woods & mud. The biggest excitemetn today was our first boulder scramble; large boulders going almost straight up (at least it seems that way). We felt like a couple of billy-goats trying to drag ourselves up this one. Beautiful views from the top of the mountain made it well worth the effort. Shortly after the bolder field we crossed our first state line. We are now in Vermont!At the shelter we became the trail angels for the day as a couple of grad-student had a broken water filter. We zapped some extra water for them with our steri-pen so they could make it to the next town. We also gave some extra fuel to a dad & his kids because he had accidentally bought the wrong kind. We had extra from our mail drop so it worked out well for all of us.It started raining shortly after we crawled into our tent. Falling alseep to the sound of rain on the tent is really peaceful!Happy trails!The ATeam
Date: 2010-06-23
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Cogdon Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: light rain

We are unlike most of the hikers on the trail right now. Through-hikers have a goal of getting from Georgia to Maine as quickly as possible. They fly past us and are out of sight in the blink of an eye. We, on the other hand have decided that this IS a vacation. We are enjoying each day and are not worried about how many miles we hike. Today was a pretty easy hike rolling through the Green Mountains. Part of the day we followed a roaring river. The weather was cool and cloudy. We walked past a beaver dam on a board walk and were actually eye level with the water line. The bugs were pretty bad today with all the swamps and ponds we tromped through but the head nets are still keeping them out of our eyes & ears. We arrived at the Cogdon shelter in the early evening to find a work crew building a new 'privy'. We crossed the little creek from the shelter and set up our tent on a private 'island'. We built our first campfire for the trip,hung up wet stuff from the rain last night, set up the tent and ate. Food is good after a long day hiking in the mountains!After dinner, we hang the food bag in a tree away from the tent so the bears won't bother it. A few minutes around the campfire and then it is off to bed.Happy trails!The ATeam
Date: 2010-06-24
From: Cogdon Shelter

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 4.3
Weather: scattered clouds

*A note about mileage* The mileage that I record at the top of each jouranl are actual "trail" miles. This doesn't count any miles that we have to walk from the trailhead to a town or walking in town to take care of errands.Gorgeous views today from some lookouts. I didn't write down the names of each peak but we crossed several today. It was a tough hike. To make it even tougher was a VERY steep, down hill, boulder scramble to the highway to Bennington. Hobo slipped on one and his hiking pole got hung between two boulders. Just a couple of scrapes on his shin & knee(If it had been me, I probably would have broken something). It was a 5 mile walk from the trailhead to Bennington but we were fortunate enough to get a ride from a local young man named Carson (I hope I remembered that correctly!). We had already walked a couple of miles on a busy highway so it was a real blessing to get a ride. Carson dropped us at the post office and our adventure in Bennigton was beginning. Our replacement book didn't make it to Bennington yet so we'll have to check back tomorrow before we hit the trail again. We walked about a mile to do laundry and then back that mile plus an additional mile the opposite direction to a hotel. The town of Bennington is really cute so we didn't mind the walking. They have an 'arts' district in the downtown area and painted mooses everywhere.(What is the plural of moose?)It started raining as we were checking in. We have been lucky enough to be in our tent or a hotel for most of the rain so far.Hobo got some spaghetti sauce & noodles at the Family Dollar next door. We cooked on our littel stove in our room. With all these hotel stops we have to save a few bucks somewhere.Happy trails!ATeam
Date: 2010-06-25
From: Bennington, VT

To: Glastenbury Wilderness
Miles today: 9.0

We try to get the most for our hotel dollars so we slept in, showered (again) and were out by check out time (11 am). Hobo had noticed a Dominoes pizza yesterday so lunch was predetermined. We grabbed a large pizza to go and headed to the bus stop. We ate the pizza while we waited for a shuttle to take us back out to the trail. I'm just not crazy about walking on busy highways.The mountains were tough today and we took it slowly. We stopped by a stream mid-day, soaked our feet, drank our fill of water and rested on a perfectly inclined rock.We knew we couldn't make it to the next shelter so around 7pm we started looking for a good place to pitch the tent. A perfect spot was found right off the trail. It was a little creepy because we found some gear that looked like it had been torn up by a bear. It was probably just abandoned by a hiker that carried in more than he/she could handle and had deteriorated with time. It WAS a tough stretch!Tent pitch, food fixed, now sleep...Happy trails!ATeam
Date: 2010-06-26
From: Glastenbury Wilderness

To: Kid Gore Shelter
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was low mileage but it was a tough climb up Glasenbury Mountain (elev. 3748'). This was part of the reason we stopped last night. Mountain days are always short on mileage but long on effort.We left our camp site about 9:30am and got to Goddard Shelter around 11am. This shelter is just shy of the peak of the mountain. We ate lunch and drank from an absolutely pristine spring (we still treated the water). The bugs kept us on the move and we summitted by around noon. An old fire tower is at the top and although we had been climbing a bunch the past few days, we still climbed to the top of the tower for a cloudy view of what we had to climb next. Got to shelter around 4pm after walking in a cold rain most of the afternoon. G-foot & Otis (father & son) were already there and had a campfire going.We were joined by Walky-talky and his wife Outside a couple of hours later. We all shared stories & swapped ideas while eating dinner. The rain finally yielded to a chilly evening so we pitched our tent in a nice looking, grassy spot just below the shelter. Looks can be deceiving however and I spent the night on a boulder. It was smooth so it wasn't too bad; just a little firmer than I like.Another day in paradise!Happy Trails,ATeam
Date: 2010-06-27
From: Kid Gore Shelter

To: Black Brook
Miles today: 7.0

The birds & the sun started to wake us up around 4am. We stayed in the tent listening to the morning shelter conversations for another hour or so before joining in. We were all moving a little slowly, trying to dry out wet gear from the rain yesterday. Whistler, a through-hiker stopped by for breakfast as did a couple of other north-bounders (NOBO's).After a morning of trampling through the mud, stumbling over rocks and tripping on roots, we got to Story Spring shelter where we stopped for lunch. Several other hikers, including Whistler, were doing the same thing. It was a short break because we still had at least 3 miles to go before we stopped for the day and we were primarily going up (is this sounding familiar?). Stratton mountain is our current climb at just under 4000'. Each mountain is getting progressively taller and steeper as we go. We have planned to tackle this one in 2 days; 7 miles today and 7 miles tomorrow to summit and get down to the next shelter.Around 4om we crossed Black Brook to find a great spot to rest. Tarp down, boots off, water from the brook, eyes closed...we pitched the tent after about 30 minutes.We heated water on the campfire to take a 3 liter shower. Hobo strung rope around 3 small trees to create a 'room' and we took turns holding the water bag for each other. It was nice to clean up after 2 days of hard hiking. Walky-Talky & Outside caught up to us a little later and we heated water for their dinner and a camp bath too. Their stove had broken shortly after they left their last town stop so they were stuck with cold food and were very greatful whenever they could get someone to heat water for them.I must have made a dozen or more trips in & out of that cold brook to get water 1 liter at a time. It felt good on my tired feet.Hobo hung the food and we crawled in bed. As has become the norm, as soon as we were snug in our sleeping bags it started to rain. I couldn't help but think about the campers that got caught in the floods in Arkansas since we were right on the edge of a brook that was similar in size to the Little Missouri. As we were laying there listening to the rain, we heard the sound of the water change. Hobo hopped out of bed and grabbed his headlight. He looked out in the water but didn't see a thing. We were concerned about a bear getting our food since we are still 2-3 days from town and have JUST enough food (if we share dinners). As best as we can guess, it sounded like a moose getting a drink.Another night in paradise...Happy trails,ATeam