morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-07-29
From: Kid Gore

To: Stratton Pond
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

In which I spent the night at my first for pay shelter.It rained hard last night all night. It was a steady down pour of rain. All I know it that some time during the wee hours of the morning it stopped and I woke up at 0400 to the brightening sky and a view of the mountains across the field. That quickly turned back to a white sheet of clouds as I dozed back to sleep.The shelter began stirring around 0730. I reluctantly climbed out from underneath my warm, dry, cozy quilt. It had to be in the low 40s and the wind was blowing briskly into the shelter. I could see my breath this morning. It was chilly! That makes putting on cold, wet shorts difficult and not very fun. It was do or die time. The only choice was to get moving or shiver. So I got moving, quickly by 0820.The rain drops were still falling off of the trees, the sky was still grey and dreary and the mud was abundant. There was no escaping it. My feet were not dry at all today. My shoes were soaking wet, my toes rubbed even more raw and my socks drenched. I could even ring the water out of my socks which I did on more than one occasion. I rock hopped and puddle jumped all morning long. At one point the mud would suck my shoe right in swallowing it as my foot pulled away from my sunk shoe unwilling to release it. Eventually I did find a lovely stream in which to soak my dirty feet which were never quite dry today and stayed pruney.The climb up Stratton mountain was lovely but long. It was a constant, gentle uphill walk for two hours through a beautiful forest that changed from hardwoods, to a mix of hardwood and conifers then to just a pine forest with an incredible aroma of Christmas again. I must admit that at one point I thought the climb would never end. But it did end with a spectacular view from the top of the tower. Two fire towers in two days. Not bad and I climbed both! The view was beyond words and any attempt at a picture just doesn't do the scenery any justice. But I tried to capture it on film.The walk down the mountain passed by relatively quickly. My feet were screaming at me. My toes are raw, feet swollen and generally not very happy with me at all. All I wanted to do was to get to camp and take off my shoes. I was willing to pay the fee to camp for that because I was that desperate to rid my feet of these shoes.I made it to the shelter where my surprise came in the form of no caretaker and no fee required for a stay. Yay! I'm cool with that. It's a nice bunch of people here too. 2 people are hiking the Long Trail, another couple is from the Bronx camping for a few nights, one SOBO and me. I did enjoy the evening sitting around the picnic table sharing food and stories. We all were neatly tucked away in our bunks by 2230 off to Neverland.
Date: 2014-08-03
From: The Inn at Long Trail

To: NY
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

In which I'm sensing a pattern I do NOT like.Eight days off and eight days on. Now here we go again....The best part of my stay here was breakfast this morning. It was fantastic and I would have missed this had I never stayed. I'm once again very glad my plan yesterday did not work out. Breakfast was a sit down affair in the dining room beginning with a view out the picture window of towering boulders and orange day lilies. The dining room itself was built around a huge boulder in the corner of the room.My meal began with a mug of coffee, followed by grapefruit juice. There were about eight entrees from which to choose and I chose the blueberry pancakes served with none other than Vermont maple syrup and bacon. The three pancakes were huge and delicious. The maple syrup to die for! I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't even eat all of the pancakes. There also was a creative garnish of fruit forming a sunshine on the plate. Yay. I'm a foodie and impressed with the meal. I was so stuffed I had to waddle out of the dining room and briefly crash on my bed in a food coma.That was short lived however as it was decision time. I've been trying to ignore my toe and hope it miraculously got better. Well it has not. My question now was do I stay or do I go? The swelling has not gone away, my toe is bright red and the thought alone of putting a shoe back on is painful enough. My gut knows that this will not heal by simply resting it. I need antibiotics again. My Plan A has now been trumped by Plan B.So I sit outside enjoying the beautiful sun and blue sky and watch the world go by. My parents are coming to pick me up so I can get to a doctor and eventually get back on the trail. I've got to finish this thing! So first things first. Healing.P.S.-So on the bright side. My parents picked me up and another adventure began. They like to explore. So we drove up to the base of Killington peak. Here we discovered the gondola that runs up to the peak during the summer hours. So we hop on and away we went. Now I got to see the view from the summit of Killington that I blew by when hiking. How cool is that? And the view was spectacular. Storm clouds were rolling in over the mountain but we escaped them by riding back down the mountain in the gondola. I really like Vermont, rain, mud and all. It's just so pretty!And...to top it all off we stopped at Ben and Jerry's in Rutland for lunch, which consisted of a big bowl of New York super fudge chunk. I've died and gone to heaven!
Date: 2014-08-15
From: VT 4

To: Stony Brook
Miles today: 10.0

In which I resume my hike alone again.I began my day with a fabulous breakfast at my home away from home in NY with my family. Eventually I got back to VT route 4 around 1230. My parents walked across the street with me and saw me back off into the woods. We parted ways until Hanover, NH where we would rendezvous again for a food drop. Their camping adventures begin on Sunday!It was around 1245 when I tearfully got walking. It's so hard to shift gears back to trail life from the "civilized" world. I really have missed my trail world and life. There is no where I would rather be and I am not going home until I finish this thing! I'm tearful because I find myself alone, and even though I thoroughly enjoy my alone time, I find that hiking with other people makes the adventure more enjoyable and an adventure at that. So I snap out of it and I'm off to find my new peeps.The walk was nice and rolling from the beginning until I parted ways with the Long Trail. Then nothing like a 1300 foot mountain in 1.3 miles to whip me back into shape! I passed a lot of SOBOs today, 7 I believe. The first couple I passed said that I was NOBO number 35 that they had seen today which is crazy because I have yet to see any one else besides this couple!I really didn't take any breaks either, just walked, got water at one point and walked some more never seeing any other NOBOs. On my descent to the shelter for the night I rounded a corner and evidently scared something really BIG. I didn't see it but definitely heard it's big foot steps run off through the woods. It got my attention and I quickly was stalking it to see what it was but to no avail. If I had to guess I would say it was a moose. At least that's what it sounded like to me from prior experience. It didn't sound like a bear because it moved to quickly and it wasn't a deer because it sounded too heavy.I got to the shelter sooner than I expected, 10 miles in 4.5 hours. Sure enough no one else was here. Seems to be my luck yet again and I have to say that it sucks! At least tonight it does. I scoped out areas to set up my tent and was about to when that decision was made for me. It began to sprinkle then outright pour! The ground was now soaking and the wind was picking up so I set up shop in the shelter which is reasonably clean, after a good sweep and definitely dry.Next up was dinner as I was suddenly hungry. I enjoyed my usual noodles with tuna and a Little Debbie brownie. Yum. I've got my water filtered for the next round, did my journaling, changed into dry clothes and am done for the night. Nothing left to do but sleep. It is only 1840 and still no one else has arrived. The rain is still coming down, the wind is howling and it's going to be a long, cold night, feels like the 40s already.
Date: 2014-08-16
From: Stony Brook

To: VT 12 The Barn
Miles today: 13.3

In which I finally see people call it a day after 14 miles.My options for shelters today were 9.9 or 20+ miles. I'm definitely not trying to do 20 miles today yet I want to do more than 10 while not killing my foot. So I was in a quandary. What to do? Well, just start to walk and see what happens. So I did after having a rather enjoyable evening at camp. Lo and behold other hikers actually showed up. All together 5 more NOBOs none of whom I had met came in to the shelter and I enjoyed their company.This morning's walk was pleasant, some rolling ups and downs. I got to a lookout tower by 1200 and paused for a brief break. AWOL's description said it was 0.2 mile off the trail but it sure felt like more. There was a cool cabin with stairs up to the roof providing a cool view.My body is still talking to me today. My toe is still a little tender, my knees are protesting the down hills and my right heel is likewise making it's presence known. Don't fail me now body! I'm hoping it's just getting used to the abuse from walking everyday again after a break. I'm not stopping again until I'm finished so onward!I got to Wintarri shelter and sat down for a snack break and checked my book. The mosquitos were feasting on me so I left quickly. A SOBO at the lookout told me about a barn at VT 12 where hikers can crash compliments of a former thru hiker. Awesome as this just might work because I wasn't feeling a 20 mile day.I got to the road crossing by 1430 and saw the country store up the road. So I hiked on to there in the constant pursuit of food. I chugged a mountain dew and considered my options for the day. I was prepared to hike another 8 miles against my wishes. Fortunately I didn't have to. As I walked down the road back to the trail the owner of the barn said to stop by all the people talking down the road. I did and as luck would have it the barn became my home for the night. A bunch were going into town for a town dance. I decided to chill there and rest my feet and watch the world go by from the window in the barn. Tomorrow will be a longer day then a short one in to Hanover.Bliss wandered in this afternoon shortly after myself. Was good to see her again. Now everyone has gone out for the evening and I find myself here alone again. I'm fed, watered, dry and ready for some sleep.
Date: 2014-08-17
From: VT 12 The Barn

To: Happy Hill
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

In which, you guessed it.....I am alone again.I have not seen a single NOBO today! I left the barn early this morning. I was up and could not sleep so I left in the rain to climb up some more mountains. I passed BYpass and Song Bird who were flip flopping and have 752 miles left to hike. I passed another couple who were being picked up in W. Hartford. The store where I was planning on getting some food was out of business and up for sale and I just am not enjoying my day. I made it to Happy Hill Shelter which was not a very happy place. Once again no other hikers are here. There are signs however that the wildlife have been here. A tree stump base in front of the shelter has freshly been dug up by foraging critters and also off to the side where I was going to hang my food. Scat has littered the trail today. The mosquitos are voraciously eating me up, DEET and all. They continue to buzz my ears too. I really would love to sleep in my tent but I am too creeped out. Another critter is up in the trees over the shelter munching on something and dropping the remains on the shelter roof. I am so over being alone to the point where I have seriously considered calling it quits. I'm just over it! Hiking is so much more enjoyable when with friends. I know I can hike alone, stealth camp alone and spend the nights at the shelters alone. I've been there done that a lot!!! The point is that I don't want to do that any more. It's only 6 miles to town. I have tried calling places to stay for the night there. No answer and it's getting dark now. My window of opportunity to flee has gone. I keep staring at the walkway from the trail to the shelter hoping to see another human. It's not happening tonight. My totally insane fears have surrounded me and taken over my thoughts. I just want to fast forward to the morning. NOW!
Date: 2014-08-19
From: Velvet rocks

To: Trapper John
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: light rain

In which I see a porcupine, a bear and get trail magic.I was up and hiking by 0800 this morning. I was met by a nice little climb up and over more rocks, moss and through pine needles. There also were many bogs and very hungry mosquitos who found their way to my flesh. I've also taken up photographing more mushrooms and some red maple leaves freshly fallen. I enjoyed the mostly "flat" walk this morning prior to this afternoon's not so "flat". I took a lunch break by the shelter turn off. I've seen 2 SOBOs, many day hikers and many NOBOs. In fact it's a tent city here at the shelter tonight, must be over 20 hikers here. I haven't seen this many hikers in one location since Springer Mtn! Amazing. Good times were had by all around a great camp fire.Moose mountain was conquered today and that was a good climb. On the way down through a pine forest I spotted a porcupine scaling up a tree. So I stopped to get a picture of it. Mission accomplished. As I rounded the corner of the trail and entered a harwood forest I heard a rustling in the leaves to my left. I look over in that direction and see a bear cub climbing down a tree and scamper away. Then I hear a larger rustling. You know what that means...Mama! So I did not even attempt to get a picture of them and I hustled my way down the trail and down the mountain. Before the road crossing I met Steamer at a water source and we walked on. Score! At the road was trail magic of hot dogs and soda. I had one of each and they were delicious and just right to power me up the last climb for the day. I met Penguin and Mr. Toad, Cat, Bad dinner and Liz. What a nice break before climbing up Holts Ledge, which was a little mountain of 1000' in 2 miles and on into tent city. I'm loving the company tonight! What a great day.
Date: 2014-08-20
From: Trapper John

To: Hexacuba
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

In which today was a "short" day with a lot of climbs.The shelter and surrounding camping area was a flurry of activity this morning. I was rudely awakened by someone's alarm sounding off at 0600. I must admit I wasn't exactly ready to rise and shine yet. I tried unsuccessfully to doze back off so I just laid there for a bit listening to the snapping of wood for a fire, the unplugging and deflating of air mattresses, people rustling around in their sleeping bags in their tents and chatter beginning to fill the air. I eventually got up around 0645 and began packing up. I collected my food bag and was pleasantly surprised to see that it had not been attacked by New Hampshire mice over night. I ate breakfast in the doorway of my tent, filtered water and left camp with RW and Hey Everybody around 0745. It was early when we passed Bill Ackerly's house so no ice cream or a game of croquet was had. The steam rising off the pond through the field was a beautiful site as we walked on through and began our day of climbing.The first climb was up Lambert's Ridge to a lovely view for a snack break, photo op and visit with Penguin, Mr. Toad and a couple with their dog out for their yearly day hike up to Smart's Mountain. The next climb was up to Smart's fire tower which was now closed for safety issues; however, that didn't stop many people from climbing up to check out the view. The sun was out and felt great on this cool, crisp day. I could have spent hours up here enjoying this place but onward.Down the mountain we went to the brook for water and on to the final climb up Eastman Ledges. I seriously thought about hiking on a few more miles but that would involve climbing up and over Mt. Cube so I called it quits for the day. I'll rest up tonight and conquer that climb tomorrow.In camp tonight is RW, Hey Everybody, Shoes and Flatlander. Camping spots are few and far between here. I managed to wedge my tent along a ledge on the side of the mountain. One wrong toss in my sleep tonight could land me down the hill, ugh. But it's still a cool little spot. Or it was until a group of 10 students showed up and starting cooking outside my tent around 2100. They don't know how to whisper and be quiet after dark.Now I lie here trying to formulate a strategy for hiking tomorrow. I'm aiming for the hostel in Glencliff but time will tell. Today was an enjoyable day with no wildlife besides the human kind. I'm very happy to be nestled comfortably in my tent. Good night world.
Date: 2014-08-22
From: Hiker's Welcome Hostel

To: Beaver Brook
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: overcast clouds

In which today was not as hard as I expected.It's 1630 and I'm sitting wrapped up in my quilt writing this.I happily left the hostel around 0745 after feasting on the other half of my dinner sub. Delish it was! Wish I had more but onward.I immediately got wet at a river crossing when I stepped on a rock that moved and landed my foot in the water. I deliberated as to the best course of action for crossing the river. I walked downstream, saw a private property sign, turned back around and eventually crossed in the same place where I first tried. This time however I got my other foot wet. At least I have 2 clean boots!It poured all night long and I was grateful to be under cover so I didn't have to pack up a wet, heavy tent this morning. It was still misting a little but I quickly warmed up after the initial climb. Time to shed the rain coat.Hiking up Mousilauke was slow going. It was a steady ascent up the rocks which were sometimes made into steps. We took a few snack breaks resting on the narrow path. Once we made it to the summit there still was a good mile walk before the official summit sign. The summit was socked in clouds. The clouds were blowing through like sheets in the wind. It got so chilly I had to put on a long sleeve shirt and my rain gear. It's the perfect storm for hypothermia! The winds were gusting up to 70 mph. We had to hang on to the sign will posing for photos or be blown away. The wind knocked me off balance quite a few times.Ideally I was hoping for a beautiful, sunny day in which to bask in the sun's rays and enjoy the views. Today was not the day and this location was not this site for that. Instead we scurried quickly to get below tree line where we found a sheltered spot for lunch. We were protected from the wind under some pine trees which provided a very soft floor upon which to sit. It felt great to take a break but it also got cold quickly. So time to move on.We descended down many wet rocks and mud. We got to the empty shelter just in time as the rain began to pour down. So Hey Everybody, RW, Shoes and myself set up for the night in the shelter. It's been a very busy afternoon here. Many hikers have stopped in for a break, Sonic is tenting out back and I briefly thought about that too. I love my tent and would rather stay in it than the shelter but once again the benefit of not having to pack up a wet tent won out. It's a little chilly tonight. My chores are almost all done and it's time to cook dinner although I'm not too hungry because I polished off my fritos when I got here. Oh well, tanking up for tomorrow's very steep and scary descent.I was expecting the climb to be much worse today, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Serves me right for listening to all the people at the hostel talking smack about it! It was much ado about nothing, just a really slow and steady kind of day.Now another college orientation group has rolled in. The shelter is way past suggested occupancy, 14 people in an 8 person shelter....this is gonna be a fun night.
Date: 2014-08-31
From: NH 16 Pinkham Notch

To: Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 5.9

In which I climbed up, up and away over the Wildcats.This morning I packed up in the rain, loaded my pack into the car and drove back to Pinkham Notch. This place was packed! There was no parking anywhere! Well, yes there was but it was over at Wildcat ski area. I walked through the Visitor's Center and found out afternoon thunder showers where on the menu. Ugh! Nothing like climbing straight up the mountains in bad weather. Not feeling that today. I hate it when I feel rushed like I'm outrunning a storm, which I never can do.I said my "'til laters" to my folks who have become quite the trail angels! I hiked across the road, along a pond then up, up and away to Wildcat E and D, to the gondola then over peaks C and A. What a climb they were! They were very steep hand over hand climbing and steps. One section was literally a crevasse to shimmy up and more rocks. Some day hikers were coming down exhausted, dirty, sweaty and bloody! Not a good sign. At one point there were wood steps along sheer rock up about 30 feet. I just kept telling myself "don't look down, put one foot in front of the other and keep walking". So that's what I did. I have to say the view was spectacular from the top. I could see down to the Visitor's Center and to the road through the Notch. I've come up quite a good ways and I wasn't done climbing yet. I walked along an undulating ridge for a bit to one more steep climb before the descent to the hut.Today I met Catfish from Maryland and Walk About from Florida. Walk About, Blue and me are doing work for stays here tonight. I am very grateful for that as stealth camping sites are really hard to find. It's already begun to rain a bit which made for a slippery walk down to the hut requiring even more concentration. But all in all it's been another great day hiking, not easy but good. And I get real food tonight and a roof over my head and a beautiful pond to walk around and some jagged mountains at which to gaze. It's a very beautiful place here even in the rain, such a rugged beauty about this place. I really like it. It's a very peaceful place and the rain pitter pattering is music to my ears. I'm sitting in the outside storage shed writing as I wait for dinner. The clouds and fog are rolling through and over the mountains. Some young boys are fishing by the pond and the red squirrels are chattering per there usual trying to act all big and bad. So funny!It's just so peaceful (and chilly) sitting here. I'm so grateful to be able to do this. I cherish every moment and take none of it for granted. I feel so alive and happy. This is what life is about. I really enjoyed hiking by myself today, tough climbs and all. I'm getting good at them and I've climbed mountains I never thought I would be able to. That is rather empowering.