morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-06-29
From: Carlos Col Shelter

To: Gorham NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: fog

17+ miles on the day, not bad. Out of Maine and in to New Hampshire! ME was 281.4 miles of hiking. The AT passed over 48 mountains, Katahdin being the tallest @ 5267ft. I love Maine and always have but I am happy to get out. The bugs and rain and bogs, ups, downs, roots and slippery slate mountain sides... 281.4 miles was enough.We hiked the 17 miles in to the town of Gorham NH. Gorham is the biggest town we have hit since the beginning. They have a Shaw's supermarket, two outfitters and many places to eat. Gorham is the first town since the beginning of the hike that has any fast food available. Since this point there have been no McDonalds, Burger Kings, Wendys etc. I don't eat fast food but some of the south bound hikers that I have met were ravinous for it and were sure to get some in Gorham.The place that we are staying at is called Hikers Paradise. It is a Motel and hostel. The cost was $19 per bunk. This bought acess to the common room and laundry room.As we waited on the side of the road attempting to call Hikers Paradise we were picked up by a young kid in an old 70's GMC truck. He gave Grettle permission to be in the front because she was less likely to stab and rob him... he was kidding. He nodded for Mango and I to hop in the back with the packs. The ride was awesome. We were moving pretty good through the backroads and it felt good to be blasted in the face with the cool air.We arrived at Hiker Paradise at 6:30ish. Upon entering the front room we were greeted by an older man in his late 60's. He was speaking with an accent. He handed each of us a glass and filled them with wine. He pulled out some chairs and told us to relax. Mango began to speak 3 or 4 different languages with the guy. For 10 minutes or so everyone in the room accept for Grettle and I were speaking Spanish, Brazilian, Portugese, French and minimal English. I was hungry and tired from the 17 mile hike. I also do not drink, nor have I had any alcohol for over 6 months. The combination of hunger, exaustion and low alchohol tolerance got me tipsy after the glass. We got a room for the bunk house and quarters for laundry. He asked that we not use the washer/dryer after 8pm. None of us knew what the hell was going on. Mango said that the guy was kind of rude while speaking to him in other languages. We ate pizza and subs and stayed in the hostel in order to get 1 load of laundry done before 8pm. This is the dirtiest hostel we have stayed in. The people have been rude. The bathrooms are highly questionable for doing more harm than good and the permanent residence here wander in to the common room and bunk house telling awkward stories and asking weird questions.My bunk bed has a plastic cover over the matress that is ripped and uncomfortable. Everyone in the building is smoking cigaretts indoors and it smells everywhere. It feels like 110 degrees in here and the tiny window down below is wide open. ~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-06-30
From: Gorham NH

To: Gorham NH (2nd day)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

So, the plan was to finish up the laundry first thing this morning, hit Shaw's supermarket for a quick resupply and drop off some packages at the post office at 8:30 when they open.When Grettle went to purchase a travel size box of detergent from the hostel owner, he gave her a hard time. He told her that hikers can not use his washer and dryer before noon. Additionally he told her that he already told us that the night before. The three of us agreed that he never mentioned the laundry afternoon thing... otherwise we wouldn't have planned to leave so early.I bought detergent from up the street and put our stuff in his washing machine. I figured... as far as I was concerned I would pretend that I didn't know. When I came back 10 minutes later to check the laundry there were 3 woman in the laundry room. They started yelling at me for using the washer. They said that they also used them for Motel linens and hikers could not use them until after noon. I argued with the woman... check out time was at 11am... if we can't do the laundry after 8pm or before 12pm and check out was at 11am... when the hell could hikers use the laundry? The response from the woman who was in charge of the crew snapped at me and said "looks like you can't do it". I insisted that I would finish the load and waited in front of the machine. Eventually they figured out how to work around me. Laundry is one of the key chores in town. You would think that a place called Hikers Paradise would accommodate a typical hikers schedule... we come in late and leave early.We left Hikers Paradise shortly after 11. We went to the library to look at maps and organize our gear. We were not welcome to do so at the hostel.We ended up taking a "0" day in Gorham. "0" day is just hiker talk for a day with zero miles accomplished on the trail. Grettle and I walked over 2 miles to Shaw's supermarket. I finally got to resupply some quality foods. Shaws has an organic section. I picked up organic dehydrated bananas, mango's, blueberries, cranberries and strawberries. I stocked up pretty good on Cliff bars and Luna bars. I also got small travel cups of salmon and tuna. Grettle and I hitched a ride back in to town with a guy in a red Ford Ranger. We sat in the back. Once again it was fun and refreshing to have the cool wind blasting in my face.We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Crabby Jack's... it was ok. ~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-01
From: Gorham NH (2nd day)

To: Imp Campsite
Miles today: 0.0

I want to write a journal entry that starts with something like... Everything went as planned today, the weather was perfect and my body is in good health. Not today though, not today.As soon as we got back on the trail this morning we were bombarded by mosquitos and black flies. I have never seen them this bad. I began to wonder if the NH breeds were more advanced than the ME breeds. The mosquitos would catch you no matter what you were doing. In ME as long as you kept moving they didn't seem to bother you as much. However in NH these things would size you up, land on a moving target and do their exchange where they steal your blood and leave their itchy signature behind all while you were walking inconspicuously.I felt so cool and revived when I hopped on the trail. I had my new ultra light / quick dry Patagonia t-shirt on and I felt strong and recovered. 5 minutes on the trail and I had my pack off. I was putting on long sleeves, my zip on pant bottoms, gloves and my head net. Throughout the whole procedure I was having conversations with the mosquitos, telling them that they are pathetic and blah blah blah. I was also whimpering because I was getting bit while trying to dress myself in the woods. The bugs were defeating me.The hike wasn't too bad. We've made it to Imp campsite. We volunteered to work for our stay. Otherwise there was an $8 fee to sleep here. We agreed to do our work in the morning and are in bed for the night.~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-02
From: Imp Campsite

To: Carter Hut
Miles today: 0.0

Mango was actually the one who volunteered us to work for our stay. I have no objections to saving $8 by putting in some labor. The cost of staying at pay sites and huts will add up fast. "Twix" the caretaker showed up at 7:30am to get us... Mango could not help. He was very sick and could not move more than he had to.Twix took Grettle and I about .5 miles down the trail. We were to help build one of the giant stone staircases that we had passed over so many of. I was excited because I have been curious as to how the stairs are built. I found out how they were built. By digging the stones out from the woods with large heavy poles. The poles are used for leverage to pry the stones out from the ground. Then the rock is rolled manually to the trail and is continued to be rolled down to the staircase site. I moved 3 rocks. Two were probably 75-100lbs. I carried them close to my chest and dropped them near the staircase. The other rock was more of a boulder. It was 200+ lbs. I flipped the rock one side at a time down the path (about 50yds.). Moving the rocks was an excellent morning upper body exercise. I didn't mind at all. Twix thanked us and we were on our way.We hiked about 8 miles to Carter Hut. The AMC huts in the White Mountains NH are like nothing else on the trail. The huts are scattered along the AT throughout the presidential range and over Mt. Washington. AMC huts have a crew (called a "croo" in the huts). The croo's prepare food and accommodate hikers and tourists. There is a ton of public traffic in the huts.If a thru hiker shows up early enough we can ask to work for stay. Generally the croo will have you wash dishes or clean something in exchange for a spot to sleep on the floor and leftovers from dinner.Once again I volunteered to work for stay. I ended up scrubbing walls in the kitchen. I got a bed in the bunk room and leftover lasagna, bread, ham and corn. Generally the bunk rooms with meals are up toward $80/night for regular guests. The AMC huts are good to hikers. I am having a great time.~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-06
From: Mizpah Hut

To: Lincoln NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I haven't had the opportunity to write in my journal much lately. The days are packed with long hikes, working for stay at huts and enjoying the company of my friends Jeff and Brad.On July 5 we hiked from Mizpah Hut to a wilderness site some time after Zealand Falls Hut. We hiked a little over 15 miles to an amazing (pre established) camping area that overlooked the entire Franconia ridge region.On the 6th we pressed on from our wilderness site to Mt. Lafayette. Lafayette is where we took a blue blaze (side trail) down to the main road where Brad and Jeff were getting off.I haven't mentioned that my girlfriend was picking me / us up in Lincoln NH. Generally I don't get worked up about things ahead of time. It has nothing to do with lack of anticipation to see my girlfriend but it's more of a trait that I have developed to keep my attention on one thing at a time. When I did think about Sarah meeting me at the bottom of Lafayette I would get so excited that I wanted to get off the trail right away (again... the reason why I try not to get worked up about future events).The side trail down to the car was seemingly never ending. I couldn't wait to see Sarah. I went as fast as I could down the 3 mile decent. My knees were killing me and the trail was relentless. I was whining (under my breath) like a baby with each step that I took. Our decent was the 17+ miles of the day. We hiked almost 50 miles in 3 days.Once I saw Sarah coming at me all tanned with her clean hair blowing and a sun dress I forgot about my knees and the 17 miles. It was a special moment to connect with her. I have not seen Sarah for months, she looked radiant and beautiful.Sarah drove Brad and Jeff back to their car. Us guys said our goodbyes and acknowledged the good times we had. Brad and Jeff expressed their desire to return to the trail as soon as possible. I will keep in close contact with them to arrange that.Sarah and I made our way back to the Motel that She had previously arranged. She brought her entire bathroom worth of body scrubs, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, oils, soaps and cleaning supply. She also brought movies, her laptop (could not use because of faulty motel Internet service) and extra, comfortable clothes for me to wear while I did my laundry. At first I did not know how to relax... there is never a moment on the trail where you can let that guard down... I always find myself trying to remain tough. Sarah helped me break that barrier and gave me much needed TLC. ~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-08
From: Lincoln NH

To: Zero Days - Lincoln NH
Miles today: 0.0

Two zero days in Lincoln NH with Sarah! A test of true love is to expose your wet, sweaty, blistered, gnarled feet to a woman and still have her care for them and take pitty on you. Sarah put me back together physically and mentally. We ate good food, we slept in a soft bed, we had running water and Sarah thought of so many little things to bring for me that gave me simple comforts of regular life...... my days off were spctacular. As far as trail life... Mango and Grettle left a message on my phone that they were back on the trail. Mango was feeling well and they were close behind me. My days off and their stop at the doctor worked out perfect. We sent some text messages back and forth and arranged for Sarah and I to pick them up at a local trail head. After Mango and Grettle cleaned up at the Motel we all went out for Mexican food. The food was OK but the company was great. Us four had a good time and had many laughs... mostly at mine and Mango's expense.For the most part Sarah and I stayed in our room and stayed close before parting again (for 4 months). We agreed to meet Mango and Grettle at 7:30am for breakfast.
Date: 2008-07-09
From: Zero Days - Lincoln NH

To: Lonesome Lake Hut
Miles today: 94.7

This morning was a bit crazy. Sarah dropped us off at the Old Bridal Path trail at aproximatly 9:45am. I said my painful goodbyes to her and walked in to the woods. Mango and Grettle were a few hundred yards ahead of me.The three of us had to summit Mt. Lafayette for the second time. Once was to get to the side trail that brought us to town... again to return to the same spot so that we did not miss any of the trail. Lafayette is a 3000+ ft. ascent from the road, the second greatest ascent since Katahdin.We hiked about 15 miles on the day. About 3 to the summit of Lafayette and another 12 to Lonesome Lake hut. Once again we were able to work for stay. This time I was brought in to the underground portion of the hut. Katlyn, one of the croo members opened a freezer full of meat and veggies and asked that I would pull out everything from the freezer, scrape the extra ice from the cooling grid and replace all of the food in an organized way. It took me about 1hr. I didn't mind, I enjoy organizing things and didn't mind beng in the cool air of the freezer.The croo fed us tomato soup with leftover lasagna mixed in, ham, home made bread, salad with raisins and nuts, apple turnover and mashed potatoes. We also got a warm bed on top of the kitchen tables... cleaning the freezer... bargain!I miss Sarah a lot. I try not to think about her because I know I will not see her for so long. As tough as Id'e like to be, it is very difficult being pampered and loved for 2 solid days and then find yourself sleeping on a kitchen counter wrapped in a mummy sack alone. Tomorrow is a big day, we are looking to push on to Beaver Brook Lean-to. It is a 15+ mile hike. I am over filled with food but feel good and strong. I have done 4 sets of crunches in my sleeping bag. It helps keep you warm throughout the night if you get your blood pumping right before you zip up.
Date: 2008-07-10
From: Lonesome Lake Hut

To: Beaver Brooke
Miles today: 0.0

Because we intended to leave Lonesome Hut early, the croo cooked us some pancakes before the guests arrived for breakfast. Katlyn(croo member) also uncovered a deep baking pan full of oatmeal, pumpkin, honey, peanut, chocolate chunk trail mix blocks. I'm not sure what they were really, but they weighed about 1 pound each and I ate 2.5 of them... with 4/5 pancakes.I have definitely noticed that the trail has flattened out and is easier to walk on over the past 2 or so miles. It is tough for me to accept that I am done with most of the difficult parts of the entire trail. All of the north bounders that I pass tell me that the trail gets much easier up ahead. I tell them that the Whites, NH and ME are tough but the views are worth it.Mango, Grettle and I put in over 15 miles today. We climbed half of Mt. Mouselake and are staying at Beaver Brooke Lean-to. There are more people than I have ever seen at one of these shelters. There are over 20 people camped around or in the shelter. Some people are day hikers for the weekend and there are also allot of north bounders here. I have pretty much kept to myself. I made pasta premevera freeze dried meal. Brad and Jeff gave me some luxurious Mountain House foods AS they left (none of the hikers actually eat them, they cost $6-9 each!).Great view of Franconia Ridge from the shelter. I cant believe I was all of the way over there just 2 days ago.~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-12
From: Hikers Welcome Hostel

To: Hexcuba Lean-to
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a 15+ mile day. We are at the Hexcuba Lean-to. The name of the mountain is Cube Mt. and the shelter is built in the shape of a hexagon. A little bit south of here is the town of Hanover. Dartmouth college is in the town of Hanover NH. We are told that the shelter was the project of an architecture undergrad and that is why it is in the unique shape of a hexagon.While I was cooking my dinner (freeze dried spaghetti given to me by Brad & Jeff) I got in to a long conversation with a group of day hikers from Hanover. They asked all kinds of questions about thru hiking and fed me all kinds of support. They also donated some cheese, pepperoni and one cooked sausage to us thru hikers staying in the shelter. Tonight I did one round of intense stretching with Mango and Grettle. Grettle leads the stretches and Mango and I follow. We also all worked our abs. We did 1000 ab exercises. It is a 30 minute workout and strengthens your back, abs and inner core. I like that Grettle and Mango have similar goals and interests as me. One of mine is to maintain the absolute best physical condition that I can while on the trail.~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-13
From: Hexcuba Lean-to

To: Trapper John Lean-to
Miles today: 0.0

We hiked a little over 12 miles to Trapper John Lean-to. About 3.5 miles toward the end of the day we came across a small wooden sign in one of the long grass fields. The sign pointed down a small side trail and said "FREE WATER", there was also a cut out from an ice cream box. We assumed it meant that there was ice cream available. We followed the side trail to a beautiful Victorian house with a huge back yard, a garden and bird feeders all over the place. An older man came out to introduce himself as Bill. Bill was probably in his 70's. He was very excited to see us. He added us to his list of visitors and invited us to look at his list to see if we recognized any of the recent names. He offered for us to fill up on fresh water from his hose and told us to wait on his porch until he came back. When he returned he gave us all ice cream bars. He told us the story of his son hiking the trail over 30 years ago. He said that his son came up with the idea of Bill giving out ice cream and clean water to thru hikers. His son said that so many people were nice to him during his hike that it was only right to give something back as the house was only 5 minutes off of the AT.There is a huge outdoor fire place at this site. It is built out of wide flat stones stacked upon each other. The chimney reaches at least 15ft. vertically. It looks to be in tough shape but is still an amazing structure. We had a fire going in the regular fire pit about 10 feet in front of the fireplace.~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-15
From: Trapper John Lean-to

To: Hanover / Dartmouth College
Miles today: 0.0

We decided to take a zero day in Hanover. We are spending most of our time on the Dartmouth campus. We arrived here last night. Vermont is less than 1.5 miles south of here!Mango insisted that we celebrate my birthday somehow (July 15). At midnight last night he and Grettle put a candle in my pint of waffle cone, caramel, chocolate chunk ice cream and sang me happy birthday, it was nice.Mango had made some friends at the Dartmouth DOC. He first asked them if they knew where we could crash for the evening... they did not know... then he asked where we could find a DVD player. The group of students invited us to use the tv in their recreation/resource room. Mango rented the Count of Monte Cristo and was excited to present to me where my trail name "Santana" came from. The movie was awesome. After seeing about the character that Mango named me after I was honored to carry such a name.After watching the movie we stumbled upon a huge campus BBQ. It was $7 for a giant plate of food. We all got 1/2 of a full chicken, corn on the cobb with butter, potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw and a soda float with vanilla ice cream. The money was being raised for a charity or campus event.After the BBQ Mango and I seeked out a ping pong table on campus. We discovered earlier in the day that we were both competitive ping pong players and had begun a match of trash talking. After locating the paddles hidden in the fire place logs in the recreation center, we played 5 games... I won 3 of them!My birthday was not over yet. after ping pong we went to the small movie theater in town. There was only one movie left for the night and it started at 8:45pm. The movie was Mongol... none of us knew what it was but we went to see it anyway... I go to the movies less than once per year. Mongol was in subtitles. it was the story of the rise of Ghangus Kahn, a great ruler in the 1100's in what is now known as Mongolia. I actually liked the movie a lot. It got out at 10:30pm. We grabbed our packs that were safe in the student DOC and hiked in to the woods with our head lamps. We are camping on the outskirts of the soccer field. We are asked (in several places) not to stay on campus as there have been problematic thru hikers in the past.I had an awesome time in Hanover. It is a clean, upscale, very college oriented town. I managed to do laundry, resupply food from an organic market and am good to go for tomorrow. I have no tent and am therefore wrapped up in my sleeping bag and a small tarp on the forest floor. I hope the dew does not get my sleeping bag wet overnight.~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"
Date: 2008-07-16
From: Hanover / Dartmouth College

To: Happy Hill
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

IN VERMONT!!!Vermont is 100% different from NH and ME. The hiking paths are more smooth and beaten down and the mountains are considerably smaller. I still find myself going up and down throughout the day but the amount of effort to get up or down has... changed... not necessarily easier but it has certainly changed. The stress has shifted from my knees and ankles to my ability to walk fast and for longer periods of time. I can't complain about the weather. It is scorching hot and has been for 10+ days. We got rained on for one day but it was needed. Today is 89 degrees. I am wearing a long sleeve spandex style shirt with long pants and wool socks. I have some how adapted to walking in the extreme heat while clothed from head to toe. We now will be passing through fields of waist high grass and weeds. I have heard many stories of hikers who got Lime disease on the trail. I also hear that this year is especially bad with ticks. I would rather hike with the extra clothing than take the chance of getting ticks on me when I sweep through the fields.The trail passed through West Hartford VT. Grettle and Mango had a package that they needed to pick up at the West Hartford P.O. I waited in the town store while they walked up the road. I drank a Rock Star and lounged out on the front porch watching cars go by.They returned 30-40 minutes later and we got back on the road... literally. We hiked on pavement for the first time for over 2 miles. We walked through the town of Norwich and then back in to the woods. Because we were so close to town we hiked in subs from the town store. I got a large steak and cheese with mushrooms and onions and extra cheese. I haven't eaten a steak and cheese for probably 5 years, it was amazing! We are at Happy Hill Lean-to, elevation is 1,420 ft.~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"