morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-06-23
From: Gifford Woods State Park

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: broken clouds

Neither of us got much sleep last night.  Guess it will take a few nights to get used to the tent.  We got on the trail at 9:00. It was cool and cloudy, in fact, we got several sprinkles just before we took the tent down.We had a nice hike the first hour and a half to Thundering Falls, then a 1,000' climb up Quimby Mtn.  It was over 1.3 miles and it seemed like it would never end. Took us an hour and a half to get to the top.  Then when we got to the top it started to rain and it rained all the way to the shelter. We got here at 2:30 but we were wet and tired and the next shelter is 10 miles further so we ate some Ramen and decided to stay in the shelter and not pitch our tent in the rain.  Rainbow is the only other hiker here and the shelter has several small leaks so we put our tent up in the shelter. We'll be dry, warm and mosquito-free, we hope. This is the first time we've ever set our tent up in a shelter. We had a brief lull in the rain for about an hour, but it has started again.  Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. What a drag!
Date: 2018-06-24
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: The Lookout Cabin
Miles today: 7.4

We stayed warm and dry last night. Wedidn't get a very early start...had to stop and filter water 0.1 mi. after we got on the trail so we actually started hiking at 9:30. Wegot a big surprise within the first mile...a 24 foot metal ladderthat we had to climb down. It was straight down...no angle. Thereal trail had washed out so this was the detour. We decided tolower our packs down so we wouldn't have 30 pounds on our backs whenwe went down. I climbed down first then Rosie Red lowered the packsto me then she climbed down. Worked out great!Most of the rest of the day was steepuphill or downhill hiking. We got to the blue blazed trail to theLookout just before 4:00. We had planned to camp there but to oursurprise there was a cabin that is open for hikers to use. It is asimple cabin with no furniture or electricity. It's supposed to raintonite so we're happy to be warm and dry again. Only disappointmentis that we can't see the view from the Lookout Tower. It's foggy andsprinkling right now.
Date: 2018-06-25
From: The Lookout Cabin

To: Stealth Camp @ 1727.4
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: clear sky

It was still misting and chilly when we woke up.  By the time we left at 8:30, the sun was out and the fog had lifted.  The trail was easier (not easy) than yesterday. I heard rustling in the brush and turned around to look for a deer but I saw the rear end of a black bear running away.  Rosie Red must have scared it.We stopped at Winturri Shelter for water and met a couple day hiking.  He will be hiking in the Shenandoahs in Aug. so I might see him again. We got to VT12 at 1:00 and had planned to go to the On The Edge Market for lunch but there was a sign at the road crossing that said they were closed on Mon. and Tues.  We were extremely disappointed. We had been there a couple years ago and they had lots of fruit, veggies, and homemade baked goods.We had to regroup and decided to contunue hiking for a few miles.  It was a tough climb and when we got to the next road we took a break in a field and saw a deer.  We tried to hitch into South Promfret for a cold drink but after 20 minutes with no ride prospects, we gave up. While we were standing there a black bear meandered across the road about 50 yards from us.  I was going to try to get a picture but decided to just watch him instead. We think he was headed to the creek for a drink of water. Very cool!!We headed back into the woods to continue hiking.  Water is still scarce so we filled up for the night.  Found a stealth site just after the stream and settled in for the evening.  Hope the bear doesn't pay us a visit tonight.
Date: 2018-06-26
From: Stealth Camp @ 1727.4

To: Stealth Camp @ Bunker Hill Road @ 1734.9
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: light rain

Started hiking at 9:00.  Was a sunny, beautiful day.  The first 2 ascents were killers, straight up.  We saw a deer just leaping up the mountain and wished we could leap like her.  We met several flip-flop hikers who had started at Harper's Ferry and are hiking to Katahdin then hiking from Harper's Ferry south to Springer (Postcard, Sniffles and Hoagie).  The trail was busy today....11 hikers passed us. We saw several maple syrup tubes next to the trail and crossing the trail.We had planned to go to Cloudland's Market for a cold drink or lunch but when we got to the road crossing there was a sign saying the store was closed on Mon. and Tues.  We missed another chance.After we crossed the road a couple of flip-floppers asked us if we enjoyed the trail magic a mile back.  We missed it by 3 feet...we saw the tackle box and thought it belonged to a fisherman, but it had cold Sprite in it and we totally missed it.  Maybe tomorrow we'll finally get a cold drink.On the last ascent of the day we were climbing a rock and Rosie Red dropped her hiking pole and it rolled down a steep incline.  She had to take off her pack and climb down to retrieve it. Thank goodness it didn't roll any further. She was very dirty after that incident.We found a stealth site and pitched our tent and later found out townspeople used this area for walking and running.  Oh well, we weren't bothering them.
Date: 2018-06-27
From: Stealth @ Bunker Hill Road

To: West Hartford, VT
Miles today: 2.9

Rain is coming...2-4 inches in the next 2 days. We decided to take a zero in Hanover. So the plan is to hike to W. Hartford and get a ride somehow to Norwich where we can take a free area bus to Hanover. We were walking across the bridge into W. Hartford and a car pulled into the drive at the library at the end of the bridge. A woman got out and a guy that looked like a hiker also got out. She walked toward us and said "I'm a trail angel...my name is Darlene...I'm dropping this hiker off...I'm from Norwich...do u need anything? I immediately said we want to ride home with you to Norwich. Couldn't believe she was going exactly where we wanted to go. So she took us to Norwich and showed us the town and offered to take us to Hanover, which we gladly accepted. She gave us a short tour,  lots of info. and an offer to take us back to the trail on Friday. This is unbelievable!Then we went to the library to pick up the info. that The Friends of the AT in this area put together. The librarian told us that the pizza place next door gave hikers a free slice of pizza so we went and got our free slices and thoroughly enjoyed them. We booked a room at Days Inn for 2 nights. Then we went back to the library to take care of stuff we needed to do on the computer.We went to Lou's Bakery to get our free donuts and went to the bus stop to go to the hotel. The bus is free in this area and it got us within .5 mile of the Day's Inn. We checked in and found out they don't have a laundry so we found one .5 mile away in a truck stop. We didn't have any detergent so one of the drivers was nice enough to give us a capful. It had started raining so we had to walk back in our rain gear.Had cheese and crackers that we had bought at the convenience store for dinner. We were exhausted but thankful that people had helped us all day long.
Date: 2018-06-28
From: Hanover, NH

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 0.0

Started out the day with a great hot breakfast...waffles, eggs, sausage and milk. Planned our route for the day. Took the bus to Walmart, Eastern Mountain Sport and LL Bean. Ate a late  lunch at Applebee's and took the bus back to Days Inn. We had to transfer busses so we went to the Lebanon Farmer's Market. It was raining but nobody seemed to care.We ate the extra food we didn't want to carry out of town for dinner. We didn't get much rest today, as usual, for a zero town day.
Date: 2018-06-29
From: Elm Street Stealth Site

To: West Hartford
Miles today: 7.4

Had another hot breakfast and we're ready for the trail. Darlene, trail angel extrodinare, picked us up and we were back in W. Hartford by 10:00. We put Rosie Red's full pack on Darlene and took pictures. She was curious how a pack would feel so we strapped her in. She said maybe she should start with a slackpack instead. Ha ha.It was a scorcher of a day. We had full packs and had to start the day off with a road walk. Rosie Red got her hat out for the first time this year.  Once we got into the woods it was a tad bit cooler. Had lunch at 1:00 at Happy Hill Shelter. We met Wandering Dad from upstate  NY who is thru hiking. He started in Feb.Had a hot, sweaty afternoon of hiking. Had originally planned to camp at the shelter but decided to push on. We finally found a place to stealth camp just before Elm St. It's rather slanted, so we hope to be in the same spot in the morning and not slide down the hill.
Date: 2018-06-30
From: Elm Street Stealth Site

To: Velvet Rocks Shelter
Miles today: 3.9
Weather: clear sky

Not a restful night's sleep for either of us...it was warm and the tent slid about 3 inches, so we didn't get on the trail until 8:45. We were headed into Norwich and Hanover taking the trail this time instead of a shuttle ride. We walked on the road for 2.5 miles and it had already started to heat up. But we were glad we were doing it first thing this morning. We stopped at Dan and Whit's market. It's billed as "if we don't have it you don't need it" and that is probably true. They had a wide variety of food as well as lots of miscellaneous items. We got a free day-old turkey sandwich and split it for breakfast. It tasted very good!Then we walked to Hanover, up a huge hill after the bridge over the Connecticut River. We're now officially in NH. We headed to the hardware store for Tyvek but they didn't have any. Then we made a stop at Howe Library to charge phones and use the computer. It was nice to sit in the air-conditioning for awhile. We then went to Ramunto's for pizza, salad and cold drinks. It was definitely worth visiting a second time.Back to the trail after filling our stomachs. The trail goes by the Food Co-op so we stopped to pick up a couple of items and I got a serving of mint chocolate ice cream. We crossed the street and the trail went into the woods and uphill to Velvet Rocks Shelter. The temp was in the 90's so it is hot and humid. We got here at 3:30 and pitched our tent on level ground. No one else is here so don't know if we'll have company tonight or not. This area has had bear issues lately so hope we don't have any bear company either.We hung a bear bag just in case.
Date: 2018-07-01
From: Velvet Rocks Shelter

To: Moose Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: few clouds

It was a hot night last night...we didn't attach the fly to the tent until around 2am. We needed any breeze we could get to be cool enough to get to sleep. Only one other person slept in the shelter. He is a researcher from southern Spain who just wanted to sleep outside in the forest. He said they don't have forests in southern Spain.We left the shelter at 8:15 and got turned around leaving. The trail to the shelter isn't marked well and we missed the northbound trail and had to turn around. It was hot and humid even at 8:00 this morning. The theme of the day was hot, humid and scarce water. The temps were in the 90's and I'm sure the humidity was very high. The forecast is for 4-5 days of this heat. We had a 1,000 ft. climb up Moose Mountain at the end of the day and had to carry water for tonight and half of tomorrow because there are no water sources until the shelter in the middle of the day. So we made that climb with extra water in an hour and 25 minutes. We were overheated and worn out when we reached Moose Mtn. shelter. There are probably 12 or so hikers here tonight. I think only 3 are in the shelter and the rest of us are tenting. It's 8:30pm and I don't hear noise from anyone. Early bedtime tonight. We have our tent fly open again tonight.
Date: 2018-07-02
From: Moose Mountain Shelter

To: Trapper John Shelter
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: few clouds

Got a late start at 9:30. It was still cool and felt great. We had to hike over 3 miles to the creek. It was cold and refreshing. Then we stopped for lunch a few minutes later before we started the big climb of the day. Today's 1,000 ft. climb was a little easier because we had plenty of water and a cool breeze most of the way.Got to the shelter at 4:15. We immediately found a spot to pitch our tent and got set up. Then we got water at the creek. It had a spigot-like flow that made getting water easy. Then we cooked chicken and dressing for dinner. The sun has finally set and it's cooling off. Ready to get some sleep. Happy Birthday Kevin!
Date: 2018-07-03
From: Trapper John Shelter

To: Smart's Mtn. Fire Wardens Cabin
Miles today: 6.7

Neither of us got much sleep last night. We pitched the tent on a slight slant and it caused us trouble all night. The shelter and camping areas were overflowing so there was lots of movement all night.We got on the trail at 8:15 for a very long, hard hiking day. New Hampshire is starting to show it's true colors. We walked up Smarts Mountain all day. It was in the 90's and very humid. We had to take lots of breaks and water sources were scarce again. Had to ration our water because there is no water at the cabin tonight. So, we carried extra water all day.We have the cabin to ourselves so far tonight. It's another small, basic cabin...no electricity and no furniture. We had tuna sandwuches for dinner and we're ready for bed at 8:45.
Date: 2018-07-04
From: Smart's Mtn. Fire Wardens Cabin

To: Hexicuba Shelter
Miles today: 5.3

We had 2 hikers (Coyote and can't remember the other's name) come in around 8:45.  We chatted for a while. This morning Coyote gave us a reminder how thankful we should be that we can celebrate the 4th of July.  He was from another country.We started hiking before 8:00. Good to get an early start because we didn't have to take down the tent, etc. It was another hot, humid day with very little breeze. We hiked the first 4 miles quickly because we were thirsty. It wasn't as difficult as yesterday and we were motivated to get to the water.  We got water and hiked on a mile or so and stopped for lunch at a second stream when a couple of hikers told us the shelter did have a spring that was flowing .3 mile before you got there. We were so glad they told us because we only had to carry extra water for .3 mile and we can fill up before we leave in the morning.We got to the shelter around 2:00 and set up and relaxed, still no phone reception. We also tried to plan out our zero day and a couple of slackpacking days. Made chicken hash for dinner and got ready for bed. We got to clean up since we have plenty of water. You take it for granted until you don't have it.
Date: 2018-07-05
From: Hexicuba Shelter

To: NH25A
Miles today: 5.0

We got started at 8:15 and hiked the .3 miles down to the AT. It was another hot, hot day. We had one 700 ft. ascent then after that it was all downhill. There was no breeze most of the day. When we were on Mt. Cube we called Welcome Hiker Hostel in Glencliff to let them know we would be spending Fri., Sat. and Sun. nights with them and to arrange a shuttle ride from the trail to the hostel at noon tomorrow. We planned to stealth camp tonight. We ate lunch at the brook and started hiking again. We both were just wiped out and by the time we got to the road where we planned to stealth camp we hadn't found any place to camp. We walked a little ways on the road and still didn't find a spot. I asked Rosie Red if she wanted to go to the hostel a day early and she immediately said YES. So we started to hitch because we didn't have a cell signal. The first few cars just whizzed by but then we saw a kid's camp across the street and a car was pulling out so we flagged him down and asked him if we were heading toward Glencliff. He didn't know anything so he drove off. The next car passed us and turned around and  came back. She worked at another camp down the road and offered to take us to the market/convenience store where we could probably get a ride to the hostel. We walked in the store and ran into Kevin and Grace who were at the shelter a couple of nights ago. They told us they had a car and they were staying at the hostel so they'd be glad to give us a ride. Trail magic for sure. Amazing how that happens!! We bought food for dinner at the store.  We got to the hostel around 3:00 after a wonderful air conditioned ride. This is a great place with all the amenities a hiker could want. We took outdoor showers which felt great and got our laundry done. After dinner Justus took us to Moose Scoops for ice cream. Yummy!  What started out as a miserable day turned out to be a great one. We will zero tomorrow...we need a rest. We will probably slackpack Sat. and Sun. but who knows what might happen.
Date: 2018-07-06
From: Welcome Hiker Hostel

To: Welcome Hiker Hosel
Miles today: 0.0

Had a relaxing day after 7 days of hiking in the heat. It cooled off to the low 80's after rain last night and this morning.Spent the day reworking our schedule and resupplying.  Met lots of hikers, more long section hikers than I've ever met in one place. Many of them are getting close to finishing the whole trail in sections. It gives me hope and motivation to finish next year.We met Durwood from Texas, B & G from Germany, Koolaid, Spin and Pacer, and Chipmunk and her hiking partner. It was a very supportive and congenial group. Lots of fun talking to each one and learning how they're doing their section hike.
Date: 2018-07-07
From: NH25A

To: NH 25 Welcome Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 10.2

We are slackpacking today. Brooklyn from the hostel gave us a ride to NH25A where we got off the trail on Thursday afternoon. We started hiking at 9:00 and made it to the Omelet Man's place in 1.8 miles at 10:00.  OmeletMan is a trail angel extraordinaire. He has a tarp set up just off the trail where he makes omelets for all the thru and section hikers. When you walk in he asks you how many eggs you want in your omelet and which fillings you want -- ham, cheese, onions or green peppers. Then while you wait he has water, tropical punch, orange juice, coffee, donuts and bananas for you to enjoy. Rosie Red and I shared a 4 egg omelet with all the fillings...yummm. We both enjoyed an apple fritter, tropical punch and water. We took a banana to go. We spent 1 1/2 hour eating and visiting with Jelly (a thru hiker) and Omelet Man. Omelet Man does this just to help out the hikers. During the bubble season of NOBOs he sometimes goes through 15 dozen eggs a day. Last year he made over 1,500 omelets. He is there every day, 7 days a week. What dedication!!! He says he does it because he enjoys it and refuses to take any donations for it.We left there full and satisfied. Now we just had to hike 8 more miles to finish our day. The terrain was less challenging than what we'd done earlier in the week and we were back at the hostel before 5:30. It was a great day!We went to the 7-11 to get pizza and had dinner at the picnic tables at the hostel with B & G from Germany. What a way to end the day!
Date: 2018-07-08
From: NH 112 (Kinsman Notch)

To: NH 25 (hostel)
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: clear sky

Took the 7:30 shuttle from the hostel to Kinsman Notch NH112. We are slackpacking southbound today. It's a very hard climb up to the summit of Mount Moosilake and then a long, gradual descent down the other side of the mountain to NH25 where the hostel is located.   We climbed suitcase size boulders all morning. The trail, if you want to call it that, runs parellel to a gorgeous waterfall for over a mile. We stopped at Beaver Brook shelter for a snack around 11:30.  This shelter has a beautiful view of the mountains.After our snack we climbed another 2.5 miles to the summit of Mount Moosilake. It has a 360 view of mountains. We ate lunch here and enjoyed the sunshine. Then we spent the next 4 hours descending...not as steeply. We arrived back at the hostel at 7:00pm. Exhausted! We had to do laundry, shower and eat dinner...it was a long evening.
Date: 2018-07-09
From: NH112 Kinsman Notch

To: Eliza Brook Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: clear sky

Bisquick (hostel caretaker) gave us a ride to Kinsman Notch at 8:45 then started hiking at 9:30. It was a late start.It was a very difficult day of climbing, not hiking.  Took us until 2pm to get to the summit of Mt. Wolf. Then the descent wasn't any easier. Got to the shelter at 7:15 and had to do all our chores and ate dinner in the dark. There was a bear box but it was full with food from the group campsites. Every bone and muscle in our bodies ached.
Date: 2018-07-10
From: Eliza Brook Shelter

To: Kinsman Pond Shelter
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: few clouds

We didn't want to get up this morning...we were so tired. But we were on the trail by 8:45. We did South and North Kinsman today. Going up So. Kinsman was brutal...we felt like we were back in southern Maine. Not quite as bad but almost. Miles of steep rocks and false summits. The views were beautiful. One hiker passed us and said "This is rock climbing, not hiking. I didn't sign up for this." That's what I've been saying since Maine last year.We're at a shelter/campsite run by AMC where we pay $10 per person. The rest of the AMC  campsites in NH will be half price for us. Each one has a caretaker. We got here at 4:00 so have done all our chores and are ready for bed at hiker midnight (9:00).
Date: 2018-07-11
From: Kinsman Pond Shelter

To: Franconia Notch
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: few clouds

It rained last night at 1:30am. Didn't rain too long but long enough to get the tent fly and our backpacks wet. We started hiking at 8:45 with a long downhill with a lot of steps (wooden 4x4s rebared into the stone slabs and footholds blasted into the rocks). This made the trail easier but still a lot of knee grinding and we were glad we have long legs because some of the steps are far apart.We stopped at Lonesome Lake Hut where we had a bowl of hearty lentil soup for lunch. We took the trail away from the hut and came to a junction of 3-4 trails. We took what we thought was the AT, but when we got to the bottom of the mountain we realized we'd taken the wrong trail and we ended up at Mt. Lafayette Campground. We had to walk another 3 miles on the Pemi Trail and the bike trail to get to the Flume Visitor's Center in Franconia Notch. We called Mt. Liberty Motel to get a room for the night. Mike and Susan run a great motel and go out of their way to help their hiker guests.Our hiker friends from Germany (B & G) are here so we went into town for dinner at the Common Man restaurant. We finally got the salads we've been craving. We are so tired and our feet and sides are sore and we're ready for a good night's sleep in a real bed.
Date: 2018-07-12
From: Mt. Liberty Motel - Lincoln

To: Mt. Liberty Motel - Lincoln
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Took a zero day today. The plan for the day was to get lots of rest...so much for plans. This morning we reworked our plans to hike the rest of NH. We've decided to go stoveless for at least the next 7 days and adjusted the weight in our packs. We'll see if that makes a difference.Mike and Susan loaned us bikes and we rode into town to pick up our drop boxes at the post office. It was a fun ride. Then around 5:00 Susie took us to the grocery and drug stores. We came back and ate dinner in the screened-in gazebo with B & G. It was a busy but productve day.
Date: 2018-07-13
From: Mt. Liberty Motel - Lincoln

To: Mt. Liberty Motel - Lincoln
Miles today: 0.0

Taking another zero day. We got a box ready to ship ahead to Crawford Notch. We hope this lightens our pack weight. We walked to the post office to mail it and to pick up a couple of items we still needed. We also stopped for ice cream!! Then we walked back to the motel and ate lunch and took a short nap.It had been hot walking back from town so we took showers and started repacking our packs. When B & G got back from town we ate dinner together in the screened-in gazebo. It is so relaxing to have good conversation and also not need to worry about bugs. B & G are leaving for VT and we head back to the trail tomorrow. It has been so nice hanging out with them and we're sad to see them go.