morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-07-11
From: RPH Shelter

To: Telephone Pioneers Shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: light rain

~Rain drops keep falling on my head~, well this time on my tent so I pack up as fast as I can, hoping my tent doesn't get too wet before I take it down. Then the handful of raindrops stop ¢ good. I get it all packed up and I go tell everyone goodbye. ¢Whistler¢ and ¢B Line¢ have already left. Just as I pass the Taconic State Parkway, it starts to rain. So as I'm hiking along enjoying the rain, swatting bugs, slipping on mud and rocks, every rain song I could think of is going through my mind. I can't stop singing in the rain, (see that's one of them). The rain comes and goes and so does my singing. I meet ¢Hiker Boy¢ going south. He said he's doing this section and is going to do the whole trail next year. Then trail magic happens - he offers me my favorite beverage, a Coke, and it was still cool. He's on his way to meet some hikers who are going north, so we both continue on. Later on I come to Nuclear Lake and take a little break. I was thinking about jumping in when it started to drizzle and the sky started to turn dark so this won't be the day I jump in a lake. I made it to Telephone Pioneers Shelter and there is no one here. There¢s a chance of storms, so I set up in the shelter. Then I hear this dog barking. Come to find out, there¢s a guy and his dog tenting past the shelter. I had to put my tent up in the shelter - I know, I know, you¢re not supposed to, but no one else was here and the mosquitoes were killing me! At 11 pm this south bounder comes in and looks around but then leaves. Ten minutes later he's back, so I ask him, ¢What you looking for?¢ He says, ¢A place to set my tent.¢ I said, ¢Tenting is passed the shelter or you can put it up in here.¢ I think he's behind the shelter up on a hill and I fall back to sleep.
Date: 2013-07-13
From: Ten Mile River Shelter

To: CT 341, Kent, CT
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I stayed in the shelter last night and since I was the only one here, like at the Telephone Pioneers Shelter, I ended up putting my tent inside because of the mosquitoes and it started raining not too long after that, so I stayed dry and bug free. For some reason I was up throughout the night and by morning, once again I didn't want to get up. But I did and was gone by seven. It a gray morning, a little cool but good hiking weather. I just wasn't feeling it today. My legs felt like play dough. I could hear someone coming up behind me, so I pull over (like I'm in a car) and it¢s two guys running. They stop and talk, ask where I'm from and about that time a bee stings me on the back side of my knee, damn that stings! One of the guys says, ¢Welcome to Connecticut!¢ They take off and I get out the After Bite to put on it. I make it to a viewing area but the clouds are hiding everything so I take my pack off and eat some peanut butter. It¢s chilly this morning so I move on. I do this four times in eight miles and it takes me six and half hours to get that far. I'm drained by the time I hit a road. Lucky for me, two weekend hikers come off the north side trail (the direction I am headed in). They said they started here and hiked for two hours but turned around - they had had enough for the day. So they gave me a ride into Kent. I'm here at Backcountry Outfitters with their Annie Bananie ice cream shop and three hours later my old friends ¢Dano¢, ¢Old and Busted (OB) and later ¢Big Red¢, ¢Youper¢, ¢Pace Setter¢, ¢Runner Up¢, ¢Cash¢, ¢Slip¢ and ¢Humen¢ show up. Cash and I end up tenting behind a clothing store. I go food shopping, trying to find some high protein items to help me out. I have about forty million miles of CT to go. But I like the sound of Massachusetts on Wednesday - I can do this!NOTE: Bruce is having issues with his iPhone battery not holding a charge so if there are no new posts, you can assume he¢s okay, just not able to send his posts to me for posting. Thanks! Kathy ¢ ¢Boo Boo¢s Wife¢
Date: 2013-07-14
From: CT 341, Kent, CT

To: Caesar Brook Campsite
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: scattered clouds

The iPhone I'm using won't hold a charge very long anymore and this morning it¢s dead. So I thought I'd go charge it while I eat. An hour later it¢s still showing red and it won't turn on. So I called Kathy using Cash¢s phone and explained to her what's going on. I hooked up my portable charger and left it alone and I hiked on. After two hours I checked on it and it was charging so I must have drained it good! So for now the journaling continues.Today's hike is hot, hilly and buggy. I hiked on top of a mountain then along the Housatonic River, where the Search and Rescue teams were looking for a man carrying a bucket and rope. They thought he might be a suicide risk I think. About that time this hiker comes up from behind me. I had passed her on the way out of town and she was going into town and she had already caught up to me. Her name is Green Bean and get this folks, she started her hike on May 6th! She was kind to have slowed to a snail¢s pace for a while just so I could talk with her. After about three miles she had to go, said she was taking a couple of days off and she was being picked up at the next road and within minutes she was gone. I continued on a few more miles and am tenting near a stream where I was finally able to wash off and rinse out my clothes. It's now bedtime¢¦goodnight.
Date: 2013-07-15
From: Caesar Brook Campsite

To: About 1494
Miles today: 17.4

I hiked solo for most of the day and stopped around 2:30pm for lunch. When ¢B Line¢ and OB (a girl ¢ not ¢Old and Busted¢) came by, they said they were going to Falls Village to eat and have a beer at the Inn and asked if I'd like to join them. I said sure, but by the time I packed everything up they were gone, so I started out solo once again. About halfway there I meet up with ¢Monk¢ and ¢Red Knees¢ and we hike into town together. Once we arrived, we were informed that the Inn doesn't open till 5pm so we went across the street to the package store, aka liquor store, where the owner let us sit in the air conditioning and charge our phones, watch some TV and drink (sodas and Gatorade). We later ordered pizza and sat outside and ate, so from 3-7pm we were chillin! Then we started night hiking. The heat and bugs were still out, but the sun wasn't beating down on me. We stopped about one mile from US 44 and put our tents up. We were laying in them when branches started to fall (it was just their time to fall) and one grazed ¢Cash's¢ tent, so until we fell asleep, all around us we kept hearing them fall and hoped that none of them would land on us.
Date: 2013-07-17
From: Sages Ravine Campsite

To: Great Barrington, MA
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning both Cash and I slept in. By 8:30am, we were on the trail which runs along a stream for a good while then it¢s up about nine hundred feet. Once on top, six tenths of the hike is next to a drop off. Out in the open, I noticed blueberries and lots of them, so I helped myself to some and soon after I left, I came across Big Red and Youper sitting in the shade taking a break. I moved on because I knew Cash was waiting on me and when I reached the very top, there he was sitting in the shade. Now it¢s downhill, then up six hundred feet or so up Mt. Everett in like a half mile, then nine miles down to the road that¢s going to take me into Great Barrington Ma. But first I have to get down this mountain and go through a swamp and then into town. We made it to the road and then we walked about a mile and a half towards town and stopped at Bruno's Dog House. After I finished eating, I told Cash I was going up to the road and get us a ride. The second car that comes by pulls over and Johnny gives us a ride to the Mountain View Motel. There is supposed to be a coin laundry here so I asked at the desk where it¢s at. The guy tells me behind the hotel at the Comfort Inn across the street. Really? So I'm doing my laundry and journaling at the same time. Today's hike was hot and hard on my feet. The ups weren't too bad but the downs really put a hurting on them. Two hours later and they still hurt. I think I¢ll go put some ice on them.
Date: 2013-07-18
From: Great Barrington, MA

To: Mt. Wilcox South Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: light rain

Last night I noticed a McDonald¢s on the map and it¢s only like half a mile away, so this morning I'm heading there first. I order my usual and I can't finish it. I think my stomach has shrunk but it does feel good to sit in a restaurant that I'm used to - I can't remember the last McDonald¢s I was in. I walked over to Kmart but it¢s closed. I have to wait ten minutes as it doesn't open till eight. So I walk over to the Dollar Tree and it doesn't open till ten. I go back to Kmart and it opens and I buy a couple of things. Then I go over to Price Chopper (grocery store) then head back to the motel and pack up. Check out is at eleven and Cash and I wait till then to leave. We start walking and we end up getting a ride from who else, two people from my home state, NC. Harvey and Hanna take us into downtown Great Barrington and we do a little shopping and stop off at a Subway for lunch. Then we start walking 3 miles to the trail head, thinking we'll get a ride ¢ NOT! We stop off at the SoCo Creamery, an ice cream factory and they gave us each a free pint of Dark Chocolate ice cream! It was freshly made and tasted great. One mile to go and then we¢re on the trail again and its 3:30pm and it¢s hot. We finally reach the first shelter and we hear thunder so we wait it out for about two hours and it never rains, so at 9 pm we take off again. The temps were way down but the humidity was still there. We only have 5.3 miles to Mt. Wilcox South Shelter but there¢s a lot of ups and downs and over swamps and a section they call the Ledges to get through. We finally get here and the mosquitoes are waiting and I am sweating my you know what off. I'm covered up with my sleeping bag and I have to put my head net on - there's no place to set my tent up. There are clothes and socks hanging up in the shelter and it smells to high heavens - I'm gonna barf!
Date: 2013-07-19
From: Mt. Wilcox South Shelter

To: 1541.7
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: broken clouds

This morning I was soaking wet, having been covered up all night because of the mosquitoes. Now I¢m having to force myself to eat and by the time we get water, it's ten o'clock before we¢re on the trail. Cash and I set our goal for the day to get to Upper Goose Pond, 15.8 miles away. The hike out this morning was good and as usual Cash is ahead. This guy can hike and his pack weighs more than mine and he smokes - I feel like I'm holding him back. Cash usually waits for me at top of a hill and the first hill I climbed, there he was. We hiked together until the next hill where I said, "I'll see you at the top." But this hill will become different. It¢s kicking my butt and it shouldn't. I think something's going on with me. At the bottom of the hill I get really hot like I'm going to burst into flames. I'm sweating and I've been drinking lots of water and Gatorade, so what gives? I can't go any further so I lay out my ground cloth and fall asleep. About thirty minutes later, ¢Stretch¢ comes by. I'm lying on my back and I asked her, ¢Does the trail go up there?¢ And she says ye..ah. Folks I'm losing it ¢ my pack was lying right there beside the trail. I have no clue what Stretch thought about my question. I drank a quart of Gatorade and ate a pack of tuna and crackers and a candy bar. An hour passed, so I got ready to leave and this section hiker by the name of Eric comes by and we hike towards the next road where he's getting off. To make a very long story shorter, I finally meet up with Cash. He had gotten off the trail at a tent site. He had laid his poles on the ground pointing up the side trail but I didn't see them. I explained that something is going on with me and I don't know what it is. I keep telling him to leave me if he thinks I'm holding him back, but he insists I'm not holding him back and he enjoys my company and I'm the only one he knows that started in February that's left out here.We have roughly eight miles to go and a nine hundred foot climb in two miles, not bad but I start getting the chills and ever since I took my nap I'm having the urge to pee every thirty minutes but only an ounce comes out. I'm thinking my hip strap is too tight so I loosen it and we start our climb. Halfway up, I stop and tell Cash something is going on again and we were ready to continue and I say, "Let me pee first." This time I noticed what I thought was a red tint to it and just assumed it was the Gatorade. We reached the top and I go again and it¢s still dark. We stop at a stream to get water so I grab my empty bottle and the urge hits me again, so this time I pee about an ounce into the bottle and its red, like fruit punch red - oh crap, this ain't good. So we try and make Upper Goose Pond Cabin so I can get a ride into town and have this checked out but I can't go any further. We ended up tenting about three miles short of our destination and we'll go on to the cabin in the morning.
Date: 2013-07-20
From: 1541.7

To: Upper Goose Pond cabin
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: light rain

Believe it or not I slept good last night and this morning my pee was dark but this time it didn't burn coming out. We have 3.5 miles to the Upper Goose Pond Cabin and Cash stayed within eye sight of me the whole way there. The caretaker at the cabin gave me directions to a short cut to a main road that would take me into Lee, MA. Cash wanted to go with me but I insisted he stay and enjoy himself on the lake canoeing. This is a really nice place on a lake with a pier. So off I go into the woods. Once I reach Hwy 20, I start walking the five miles into town. About a mile into it, when at least 100 other cars have passed me by, this car pulls over and the driver asks me if I need a ride. I said yes, into Lee please. My road angel's name is Nichole - this is where I plug her mom¢s taxi company, Taxico of Great Barrington. Nichole's on her way to Great Barrington but she goes out of her way and takes me to Pittsfield (because there¢s no medical service in Lee) to the Berkshire Medical Center. I thank her and walk inside and the place is packed. While I¢m still in the waiting room they take four tubes of my mosquito food from my arm and they¢re not liking the color of my pee. The good news is - I asked if it was ok to eat something and to my surprise, the nurse brought me a turkey sandwich, tomato soup, tea, ice cream and cookies. So I¢m sitting here eating in the waiting room and people are looking at me like I¢m a homeless man - I may just stay here! So here I sit waiting my turn and six hours later they examined me and come up with my problem being Prostatitis (infection of the prostate). They gave me some meds and a prescription. By the time I leave and get to the drug store, the pharmacy is closed. So I'll have to stay in town and pick it up in the morning. Then I plan to go back to Upper Goose Pond cabin and meet up with Cash and continue on. There are so many things that can take you off the trail and I¢m sure that if I hadn't acted as quickly as I did, I could have been off the trail longer than just today. And this was going to be my zero day, oh well, maybe in Vermont.
Date: 2013-07-21
From: Upper Goose Pond cabin

To: The Cookie Lady's house
Miles today: 11.1

I decided to bypass the so called free breakfast at my hotel and walked down the road to McDonalds instead, which reminds me, I have a breakfast burrito from this morning somewhere in my pack - I best toss it in the trash. After Mickey D's, I went to the drug store and filled my prescription and picked up a few things for Cash. I went back to the hotel and packed up, called Lee taxi and went downstairs to check out. And if one more person asked where I'm from, I'm gonna learn sign language - just kidding! I get a kick out of northerners thinking I talk funny! The cabby shows up and drops me off where I got off the trail yesterday and I start my trek up the side trail to the cabin, hoping Cash is still there. He was still there and I handed him the goodies I had bought earlier. I'm sitting there telling him about what went down at the hospital when two hikers walk up. Cash tells them the caretaker¢s not here and one of the hikers says, ¢We know, we heard he had to take a hiker to the urgent care center,¢ and that's when Cash points to me. The hikers had come to find out about me. They are two of my stalkers¢¦I mean followers and they drove from Albany, NY, over an hour away, to come find me and take me to their house to recover. They had skipped church to come to my aid. I later found out that he reads my journal and this morning he told his wife, ¢We have to go find this guy I've been following on Trail Journals.¢ I'm shocked, or am I scared? Just kidding - I'm actually touched by it. The two hikers, who go by the names Mudpuppy and Woodcutter, did the trail in 1999 and like a lot of you, they have signed my journal. They can see now that I'm not stuck in some hotel, so they offer to do the next best thing - they offer to slack pack us to the Cookie Lady's house, 11.1 miles away. I just couldn't say no to that as they did drive a long way after all. We jumped on that deal like white on rice! So at 2:30pm we take off and at 6pm we met them near the Cookie Lady's house. They even bought us some beer, cookies and grapes, then drove us a tenth of a mile to her house. I really hated to see them go. I told them today was not a good day - it was a Great Day! We exchanged phone numbers and we wished each other well and as they drove out the driveway I was thinking I'd like to meet them again someday. So the man in black, Cash that is, and I went and introduced ourselves to Mr. and Mrs. Cookie Lady and asked permission to tent in their yard. She said yes and even gave us some cookies.I'd really like to thank all of you for your concerns, well wishes and prayers. In ten days I should be good as new or at least back to the condition I was in before my latest medical adventure. Thank ya'll! (get it - I'm from the South.)
Date: 2013-07-22
From: The Cookie Lady's house

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: light rain

After a long sleepless night I thanked the Cookie Lady the next morning and asked her if she had seen any moose around here, and to my surprise, she said yes ¢ what, moose this far south? She said one was killed by a car in front of the house two years ago and they¢ve been around for fifty years, so now I'm on Moose Patrol! I did see my first moose .........tracks! But no moose yet.Near the start of our hike we came across two bottles of beer - thanks Woodcutter! But we left them for someone else. We have ten miles to Dalton today and it¢s mostly downhill. We're starting to see more south bounders heading to Georgia and we just met Marketman - he's on Trail Journals too, so I'll look him up later and wish him well.We just stopped off at Kay Wood Shelter to get water and we saw two guys hike by with those bottles of beer! We're here in Dalton at the Shamrock Inn waiting on my brother to come and take us out to eat.
Date: 2013-07-23
From: Dalton, MA

To: Mt. Greylock, MA
Miles today: 17.2

My brother Frank showed up around four and we all went out to eat at an all you can eat buffet. I finally got some good food in me - a lot of veggies, meat and a big salad. Then with our bellies full, it was off to Walmart for the bear necessities, (get it - bear). That evening, we decided to slack pack the next day for several reasons. First, they¢re calling for a 70% chance of rain. Second, my brother, now known at RT has a pack that needs some going through. It weighs 51 pounds ¢ Ugh! Plus we can get in 16 miles and there are some big hills. So at 8:15am this morning we walked out of our room and down the road one block and we were on the AT. No rain yet, but the humidity was there. We, I mean Cash really, let RT lead the way for awhile, then Cash took over and I, of course, brought up the rear - you know, just in case someone dropped something I could pick it up and I could watch RT slip and slide going up and going down the trail. I told him, ¢Not ¢if¢ you fall, but ¢when¢ you fall, just stay down there so I can take your picture.¢ About thirty minutes later ¢snap, snap, snap.¢ I had my pictures! ¢Okay,¢ I said, ¢You can get up now - step over the roots not on them grasshopper!¢ I laughed so hard I think I wet myself! It seems like we're making good time. RT is like a kid at the zoo, looking at everything - plants, ponds, beaver dams, etc. That 70% chance of rain finally arrived and it felt good. It rained for about two hours and then stopped. We made it to Cheshire, MA and the skies turned blue with gray and white clouds. We passed this little store and someone yelled out, ¢Hey Boo Boo!¢ It was ¢B Line¢ so we stopped and talked awhile. He said he had taken two days off and went camping in VT with some friends - huh? We said goodbye and started going through town and then back into the woods. Our goal is to go up Mt. Greylock to within one mile of the top and then get a ride into town. Well, when we got there we decided to go on up to the top. It¢s the highest peak in MA, so in eight hours we have slacked packed 17.3 miles, mostly uphill and it's the longest RT has ever hiked. When we reached the top, I called the shuttle guy and he said he was too busy to pick us up, so we called a taxi and they wanted eighty dollars, so we waited and started asking around for a ride back to Dalton. An hour and forty-five minutes later we got a bite. The Horringtons live in Pittsfield (back where I spent a day at the hospital) and were nice enough to take us back to the hotel. Tomorrow we have to somehow find a ride back to Mt. Greylock to start our hike with heavy packs.
Date: 2013-07-24
From: Mt. Greylock, MA

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: broken clouds

It¢s Hump Day for the working folks out there and that's what we're doing today, hump after hump after hump. We called the Horringtons this morning and took them up on their offer to leave my brother's car at their house and they were more than willing to help out, so we picked up Mr. Horrington and drove up to Mt. Greylock and then he drove RT's car home.The temperature on top of Mt. Greylock was sixty degrees and very windy. I pulled out my wind jacket that I haven't had to use since April. I almost sent it home, but I'm glad the missus talked me out of it. RT took off while Cash and I stayed and talked to some other hikers. This gave RT a chance to taste the AT alone for awhile. He hopes to hike it himself sometime in the future. By the time we caught up to him, he was almost down to North Adams, MA. The three of us hiked together on and off the rest of the way to the Seth Warner Shelter where RT and I are tenting and Cash is in the shelter. I can hear someone snoring in the shelter from my tent - poor Cash! Today's hike has taken me to my eleventh state, Vermont! I now only have this state and two others, New Hampshire and Maine. The cooler temps today had me thinking back to the first couple of weeks when I started my thru-hike and how everyone is in different places now. Some have gone home, some are just a few days ahead and some are very close to finishing. It would have been nice to have been able to have stayed together, but with injuries, deadlines, family events and just a faster or slower pace, it just is what it is.