morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-05-14
From: Stewart Hollow Brook

To: Sharon Mountain Campsite
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: moderate rain

Rain is in the forecast today and you sure can tell by the humidity in the air. The air is hot and thick; it feels like I¢m breathing thru a wet dishrag! The morning is easy going, I finish the remaining miles of the 5-mile flat river walk. I pass two more groups from Yale.I¢m having some mental issues with hiking today, as in I don¢t want to! Lately I¢ve had a love/hate relationship with this trail. Most of the time there is no other place I¢d rather be, nothing else I¢d rather be doing, but the hiking is rough each day. When I start to feel burnt out, I stop hiking instead of pushing on. I¢ve chosen a new approach for my AT hike. I have started doing whatever I need to do on a given day to enjoy every day I have out here. Today, this means no more hiking! I stop by 2:00 at Sharon Mountain Campsite. I nap and read the afternoon away, letting my negative attitude pass.
Date: 2005-05-16
From: Riga Lean-To

To: Hubbard Brook
Miles today: 15.6

It rained throughout the night, a marching band affect on the metal shelter roof. I am told there was thunder and lightening, but I slept right thru. It is still raining as I slowly pack up, but magically it stops when I start hiking. There is one more peak to climb before I leave Connecticut: Bear Mountain. It is a gradual climb to a massive stone formation/monument at the peak (the state¢s highest point). Contrasting the assent, the descent is steep and nerve-racking. Scrambling down wet rocks, I put away the trekking poles and use all four limbs to get down this mountain. The Connecticut-Massachusetts border is not officially marked, so I celebrate a handful of times throughout the morning. I am making progress! Sages Ravine is a highlight of today. A special place with cascading waterfalls and countless swimming holes. Chalked full of hemlocks, mosses, and ferns, the ravine is covered in green. I wish I had camped here!Two more mountains to climb today. Race Mountain has about six false summits, but also has views the whole time. A large backpacking group is at the summit. Another beginners backpacking training trip. They are cooking Ramen noodles for lunch. How cruel to feed a first-time backpacker the worse trail food there is!Race Mountain is immediately followed by Everett Peak. Might as well be Everest for how steep the climb is! Straight up a rock face, the trail gains 700 feet in 34 of a mile. I enjoy more great views, but I can¢t see Greylock today, the horizon is too cloudy. I pass two shelters, Hemlock and Glen Brook (1/10 of a mile apart), but continue hiking¢¦because I feel like it!I walk for a few more hours. Descending Mt. Bushnell is very steep and time consuming. Many careful steps made over rocky terrain made slippery with pine needles. There is a descent pair of hiking boots thrown up in a tree at the next road crossing, as if someone gave up on the trail and got rid of their boots after that descent! Tonight I am camped in a field near Hubbard Brook. The brook is my water source, and is far from appealing. I make do, rather than walk three more miles to the next water source. I don¢t feel good about drinking the stagnant water, even after filtering it through my bandana and treating it with chemicals.
Date: 2005-05-17
From: Hubbard Brook

To: Mt. Wilcox South Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: scattered clouds

I wake up in the field late this morning¢7:30! I am destined for eternal slacking! Or maybe destiny just wanted to give me pancakes for breakfast. If I had started any earlier, I never would have met Virginia.I hike just a few miles, mostly thru fields and along the Housatonnic River where I meet Virginia Howden, a retired woman out walking her dog. ¢Are you a thru-hiker?¢ she asks. After I confirm that I am, she offers to take me to town for breakfast. Yes! We are just a few minutes from her car, and Sheffield, MA is three miles down the road. Am I still dreaming?Virginia reads a lot of adventure books, particularly on the AT. She tells me she always had wanted to be a trail angel like she has read about. Virginia is an angel! Thanks to her, this hiker was able to polish off three chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, and coffee, in addition to loading my backpack with fresh fruit and vegetables!Virginia drops me off at the trail where we exchange contact info.   At the bottom she writes, ¢remember the Howden Pumpkin,¢ as her husband breed and holds the patent for the Howden Pumpkin, the common jack-o-lantern.I now have lots of energy for climbing June and East Mountain. I stop in the Tom Leonard Lean-To for water. It looks real nice at first glance with it¢s spacious loft, but as I look closer it is disguising! An animal has been eating the wood and there are feces all over the top bunks. Anyway¢¦moving on!Five more miles to the next set of shelters: Mt Wilcox South and Mt Wilcox North, just two miles apart. One would assume that Mt. Wilcox is in the middle, but the AT doesn¢t even go over a Mt. Wilcox.I stay at the Southern Lean-To, empty when I arrive. Minutes later two section-hikers arrive, one by the name of ¢Pole-Climber.¢ Pole Climber informs me of some interesting AT news. There is word out that Bill Bryson¢s AT book is being made into a movie. Bad news in my opinion, the AT doesn¢t need any more publicity. More publicity means higher use.Pole-Climber also informs me there is still six feet of snow in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the ponds are still frozen in Maine. I am just weeks away. Now I wouldn¢t mind a small taste of winter, but six feet of snow is impassible! We¢ll see what three weeks does for trail conditions.
Date: 2005-05-18
From: Mt. Wilcox South Shelter

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: broken clouds

Two days ago, on top of Race Mountain, I met the former caretaker of Upper goose Pond Cabin. I was surprised to hear the cabin would be open already, delighted to hear someone would be there to cook a pancake breakfast! My guidebook indicated otherwise. Another closure I¢ve learned to expect due to my early start. The hike today is nice, another clear day with temperatures in the 60s. This dry weather has been great, but soon it is going to effect the water resources if this dry spell continues. I am sure reaping the benefits now! Terrain-wise today is alright: lots of short ups and downs, a few patches of rocky and root-filled trail, a few boggy areas with raised walkways. Physically, most of my aches and pains have gone away as my body has finally adapted to this routine. That is, everything except my feet. My feet are throbbing by early afternoon every day, regardless of terrain.So I just stop earlier in the day when it works out with shelter and campsite spacing. I get to Upper Goose Pond Cabin by 3:00, and I stop for the day. The cabin and camp area is 12 mile off the trail and well worth the extra walking. The pond is actually a large lake. The cabin is beautiful but locked. There is a porch screened with a tarp and equipped with a picnic table. Five-star thru-hiker accommodations! The porch it is!I pass hours sitting down on the pier over the lake¢this is so peaceful! This is why I am out here! When I finally return to the porch, I discover five others have moved in, using the tent platforms to set up camp. There is a group of section hikers: three friends from college meet up every year for two weeks and hike north. They started in 1988 and are this far! They should finish the trail in 4-5 years. What a great way to hike the AT.Tonight I am thinking miles and playing with numbers, more for amusement than anything. If I hike 12-15 miles per day, I should finish by early July.
Date: 2005-05-19
From: Upper Goose Pond

To: Kay Wood Lean-To
Miles today: 17.6

Lately I have been running a lucky streak with trail magic: the random acts of kindness from strangers. People have invited me into their homes, given me a warm meal, offered me a ride into town... Today certainly doesn¢t break the streak. As I pack up in the morning, I start a ¢town list.¢ A list of things I need to pick up the next time I¢m in civilization. I need three items: a book, Ziploc bags, and AAA batteries. It is the end of the day, and I have attained all three without going to town! I am now convinced that this trail is magical.My first road crossing beyond the Massachusetts Turnpike, there is a shopping bag with two items thrown on the side of the road: AAA batteries and Ziploc bags! What are the chances? I also find a decent book in one of the privys¢score!Today was another easy day of walking with rolling terrain and many bogs with raised walkways. The black flies and mosquitoes are out, but don¢t bother me as long as I stay moving. With exception to the father that brought his daughters up from town to the shelter for dinner, I don¢t see a single person on the trail all day. This hasn¢t happened since the winter months. I am just over two miles away from the town of Dalton, MA. Close enough for breakfast in town. This is no coincidence! Another trail town, Cheshire, is just ten miles beyond Dalton, both towns right on the trail. Two towns in one day!I am in the ¢Kay Wood¢ Lean-To tonight, named after a local woman who attempted a thru-hike at the age of 70.It is currently the middle of the night as I write this. I have just relocated from the bottom bunk to the upper loft. Apparently it is still possible to get spooked out in the woods, even after 108 days out here! Something big is romping around near the stream, and it doesn¢t sound like a deer. Whatever it is will have to climb a ladder before it gets to me!
Date: 2005-05-20
From: Kay Wood Lean-To

To: Mark Noepal Shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: few clouds

I am on the trail at a record-breaking time¢before 6:00, motivated by breakfast in town. Dalton is less than three miles away, so I¢m sitting before three gigantic pancakes at ¢Dell and Duff¢s Variety¢ before 8:00.Today I am on a quest to find a library to update trail journals. Since the library in Dalton doesn¢t open until noon, I walk on to Cheshire, a few hours away by trail. Unfortunately the Cheshire library is closed on Fridays, as it is a very small town. So begins my odyssey on the public transportations system of the Berkshire towns. Cheshire, Dalton, Adams, North Adams, and Williamsburg are connected with a bus system. The Cheshire Post Office has a detailed pamphlet on how to ride the buses¢a must read before you get on the bus as the bus drivers were not what you call ¢trail friendly!¢ North Adams is just minutes away, and the bus driver promises to stop as close to the library as he can. We drive through the whole city when he exclaim, ¢Oh, I was distracted, I forgot about you.¢No big deal, drop me off at the library in the next town I tell him. He forgets again, but drops me off within a mile. I get to the library and it is closed for renovation. There is a temporary library a mile away. I walk the mile and it is closed as well. Forget the library, my quest has failed and I have given up. I take the next bus back into Cheshire. There is still enough daylight to get to the next shelter tonight. I wanted to make it to the hostel on the top of Mt. Greylock, but since I rode the bus all afternoon, I don¢t have enough time. I am pushing daylight just to get to the Mark Noepal Shelter, and the dark clouds are telling me I really want a shelter tonight. It is now light out until 8:30 and I roll into camp at 8:00. ¢Ron and Dave,¢ two brothers, are out for the weekend. It is a brisk night¢in the lower 40s, and I climb right into my sleeping bag. Ron and Dave entertain me with their ¢extreme weather¢ stories of their treks in the White Mountains. That is how the trail works. People give you previews and sometimes try to work up a little anxiety about your upcoming trail segments. Just like the Smokies, everyone I meet seems to have their extreme weather story for New Hampshire. No need to cook dinner tonight. My quest for a library involved snack breaks and grocery store visits. There was also much time spend on the telephone. I was long overdue for a call home, and I am getting pressure from the homefront to estimate a finish date. People from the civilized world trying to force a schedule on me! Tonight I spend a good hour making a realistic day-to-day itinerary (the first time I¢ve ever done this). Without any major set backs, I should finish the trail the first week of July.
Date: 2005-05-22
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Nauhime(?) Shelter
Miles today: 13.1

There is something gloriously peaceful about sitting in a warm dry sleeping bag in a dry shelter as the rain pours down outside. It goes against all survival instincts to put the wet closes back on and step out into the cold rain! But as they say, No Rain, No Maine.It is 10 AM and I am still packing up when a Long Trail hiker and his dog come in out of the rain. This guy is hiking the LT in 16 days without a resupply. Sixteen days of food, I can¢t imagine!   I am carrying six days of food and it feels like a ton. Sixteen days of food probably won¢t fit in my pack even if that¢s all I carried.Sometimes I think the company of a dog would be nice on this hike, but as this wet muddy dog is running all over the picnic table, the shelter floor, and then on top of my thermarest¢I change my mind. I cannot believe my thermasrest is a wet muddy mess. The owner of the dog did not even acknowledge what his dog did. Walking in the rain isn¢t so bad; you stay warm as long as you keep moving. Stopping for a lunch break almost turned into the whole night break for this reason. Chilled to the bone, it is hard to step out in the rain from the shelter. Then I think of the wet, muddy dog that will camp here tonight. Six more miles it is!I hike on, but still end the day pretty early. Again, straight in the sleeping bag and I'm cooking dinner in the shelter. Just like winter.
Date: 2005-05-23
From: Nauhim Shelter

To: Story Spring Shelter
Miles today: 17.4

It is still raining in the morning when I wake up, but just a drizzle and the sky is suggesting a better future with it¢s brightness. It ends up misting on and off all day today. There is lots of climbing today, mountain peaks I cannot name due to my missing guidebook pages. Goddard Peak (labeled with a sign), is one of these great climbs. There is a firetower at the top, but I skip it as there are no views today. Goddard Shelter itself is beautiful. It has an enclosed porch and it is high enough on the mountain that there would be a view on a clear day. Well, I joked about it, even wished for it, and now it has actually happened. I have walked back into winter! Yesterday it was snowing up on these higher ridges!The trail is a wet muddy mess. Any attempts at having dry feet were abandoned yesterday. The mass of rocks and roots and surprise sink holes make for careful hiking. The dense conifer forests are beautiful and they smell great in the rain.   I am in moose country now! There is moose scat everywhere, but no sightings yet. The trail has been quiet people-wise¢again just like the solitude of winter. However, there is company waiting, warm and dry in Story Spring Shelter: two Long Trail hikers. One is Karen, the first female solo-hiker I have met along the AT! We talk about the aches and pains of hiking. Laura compares it to childbirth, in the sense that you forget the pain. I can¢t really relate to that! ¢E¢ another NOBO that has caught up to me, walks in mid-conversation and recommends walking around camp still using the hiking poles. I can¢t believe I haven¢t thought of this! All those slow-motion long hobbles to the privy in the morning will be a little more bearable.Walking at a rate of 3 miles per hour, E is another speedy NOBO that will surely pass me up! Sitting on the edge of the shelter E shouts out ¢I just want to be done!¢The timing of my thru-hike has brought an interesting mix of thru-hiker encounters. In the beginning of my hike I met the last of the SOBO¢s, the crowd that was taking their time and enjoying the trail. Now I am starting to meet NOBOs who are pushing for the finish, very Katahdin and mileage oriented. I¢m not sure where I fit in, but I still am sticking to my motto, ¢Just Say No to Twenties!¢
Date: 2005-05-24
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Spruce Peak Shelter
Miles today: 18.3

I wake up to someone firing up a stove. I can hear the rain bouncing off the shelter roof and I don¢t want to come out of my warm cocoon of a sleeping bag.But I do.Somehow the weather seems more bearable with the company! What I am doing can¢t be that crazy if three others are hiking in this rain too. E reported seeing snow at 5 AM. I believe it, it is cold! Just cold enough to rain and not be snowing as I start hiking at 8 AM. Even a short bathroom break leaves me chilled to the bone. I wish I didn¢t have to take my pack off everytime. The iodine I have been using to treat my water prompts an overactive bladder¢not fun! Stratton Mountain is a long but gradual climb in the morning. Not Virginia-style gradual, but still has some nice switchbacks. That is when I started seeing snow, not rain.With how hot the temperatures were when I was in northern Virginia and Pennsylvania, I never imagined walking in snow again! Just 12 inch has accumulated near the top of the peak. I am up and over, no time taken at the peak¢it¢s too cold to stop! At 3936 feet, Stratton is the highest peak in southern Vermont. The descent is a bit more steep than the climb, and I am actually jogging when the terrain lets me. I have long ago sent home my gloves, so I am constantly moving my fingers just to generate body heat. I am having trouble getting warm, and then the snow switches to an ice-cold rain. Miserable!The trail is like yesterday, wet and muddy. For miles it is like walking down a stream. I rock-hop when I can, but just plod on through most of the time. The drop in elevation brings warmer temperatures and a few uphill stretches warm me up. I would have stopped at Stratton Pond Shelter and got into my sleeping bag if I hadn¢t warmed up.By the end of the day the rain finally lets up. I am at Spruce Peak Shelter by 4:00, where Karen is again relaxing warm and dry. This confuses me, as I left the shelter before her and never saw her pass. She bypassed Stratton Mountain on an alternate, much shorter trail. Smart woman! Well not that smart, for she has gone into the backcountry without any chocolate. I spot her some M&Ms because I am still excited to see another female soloist out on the trail!The shelter is a great one with four walls, windows, a table, and a wood stove. I can¢t ask for a better shelter on a rainy day. Except the rain has stopped, the clouds have lifted and there might even be a hint of sun.This day is bearable, because at the end of the day my sleeping bag is always warm and dry!
Date: 2005-05-25
From: Spruce Peak Shelter

To: Lost Pond Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

The thermometer read 40 degrees this cold, rainy morning. Karen phones the civilized world for a weather report. It is all rain and clouds as far as the weatherman predicts. There is lots of elevation gain in my hike today. The first climb is Bromly Mountain, a ski hill with a gondola and a warming hut. The ski hill and lift are closed, but the warming hut remains open for the hikers. The trail seems to follow a ski run, a very step one.   The summit is cold, windy, and without view. Up and over and immediately down I go. Bromly is followed by Styles and Peru Peak. More climbing thru the spruce-fir forest, again in the mud. The trail is ankle high in water at times. Many sections have boardwalks: two 6-inch side-by-side wooden planks, very slick from the rain and algae. My feet slip out from me twice today. I am without injury, but covered in mud!Despite the wet weather, I really am enjoying the Green Mountain National Forest. There is a remote feeling to the trail that was lost in the middle section of the AT.
Date: 2005-05-26
From: Rutland

To: Lost Pond Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: light rain

The Green Mountain National Forest has a remote feel to it, but it is certainly not unused. I pass six shelters today in 18 miles, in addition to several designated camping areas, all maintained by the GMC. Many of these shelters have fees, caretakers come around each night and collect $6, but not this early in the season.It is another overcast day in Vermont with sporadic showers, perpetually wet feet, and more slipping down the trail. Falling becomes a common occurrence. The wooden bog bridges are the slickest, and the rocks run a close second. The best falls are when you fall backward on top of your backpack. The backpack absorbs all the impact!I end the day with a short walk to dinner. The Whistle Stop Restaurant is just 1/2 mile down the road, nearly impossible to pass up. Dinner that isn¢t trail food--calories you don¢t have to carry--this has been on my mind all afternoon! The Whistle Stop is a great family-style diner. I ate light, just a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake. Can¢t over do it when you have to cinch the waist strap and walk back to the AT, then walk a mile up hillto the next shelter.I am walking back to the AT as the rain is pouring down, as it seems to perpetually do in Vermont. George, a local, stops and asks me if I need a place to stay out of the rain. Assuming he is inviting me into his home, I say yes, hoping for the best: a warm shower and maybe a chance to do laundry. Such is not the case. George is about to drop me off at his primitive cabin--no electricity, no water, and in a very remote location, miles away from his home and anyone¢s home for that matter. To be honest, we had made so manyturns I wasn¢t even sure how to get back to the trail. I don¢t feel right about the situation, and I was kicking myself for not just staying on the trail and walking the one mile to the shelter.I turn down George¢s offer, as cordially as I can, and ask for a ride into Rutland, 8 miles away. I know there is a hostel in town, and I explain that I really need a shower and a washing machine--and it¢s the truth! It¢s late by the time I get to the cafe, and no one there is real sure what to do with me. The Back At Home Cafe/Hostel has separate bunks for males and females, and the female bunkhouse is under renovation. I suggest staying in the men¢s, there is only a few other guests and plenty of room.   This turned out to be a highly inappropriate thing to suggest! This is strict religious commune, part of the ¢12 Tribes Community.¢ I hang out in the back of the cafe, drinking warm ¢matte,¢ while they work out a place to put me. They end up making room for me in one of the three community¢s private homes. This isgreat, I can¢t say I understand the religion that ties this community together, but they are all happy, outgoing, and very hospitable. I end up staying up until 10:30 (very late), meeting many of the community members. Everyone has a Hebrew name and it is hard to remember these foreign names.