morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-09-14
From: Greenwall Shelter 

To: Governor Clement Shelter 
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: scattered clouds

It¢s day seven of my Vermont hike, a long day with some steep sections, mostly up. In particular there was a challenging rock climb out of Clarendon Gorge. I can imagine it would have been worse in the other direction picking my way down. I fell twice mid-morning on a downhill with smooth slippery rocks. I hit pretty hard on the second fall and threw one of my poles off the trail and had to remove my pack to go fetch it. The fall also tore one of my water bottle holders off so had to perform a quick field repair. Later, when I stopped at a shelter for lunch, I found some discarded cord to bolster the repair. I hope it holds. While stopped for lunch, Penguin showed up. I was almost out of food so I asked her if she had any extra she could spare. She said she did and now I have enough to get me to the hostel tomorrow. At the shelter tonight I met Snowy, an interesting gentleman, probably in his 70s, from Hanover, NH. He¢s a very active backpacker and six years ago bicycled from San Francisco back to Hanover with his daughter and her friend. Took two months and ten days. He¢s no couch potato. I met a deer today almost on the trail. She didn¢t run away and actually approached closer to me and allowed me to walk closer to her. Definitely a highlight of the day. Tomorrow I¢ll be hiking up and over Mount Killington. It¢s higher than Stratton and Bromley and hosts New England¢s largest ski resort. I¢ll be glad to be at The Yellow Deli Hiker Hostel for the night. I¢ve heard good things about it. It¢s donation based and located in the town of Rutland.
Date: 2018-09-15
From: Governor Clement Shelter 

To: The Hiker Hostel at Yellow Deli 
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

At 2000 feet, the climb up and over Killington was the biggest yet on my Vermont section. It was beautiful up there with balsam trees in abundance giving off their Christmas tree fragrance. Though I chose not to climb the extra 0.2 up to the peak (I heard it was a rocky climb), I did get a nice clear view from a half mile or so back. The climb was long but gradual enough for comfort. The second half of my hike consisted of mostly downhill, probably the longest sustained downhill since my ill-fated descent into the NOC in North Carolina that resulted in the shin splints that took me off the trail. This time I don¢t feel any shin pain. I¢m now wearing calf compression sleeves, but I think the real difference is that with my right foot seemingly healed, I¢m no longer favoring it which means I¢m not pounding on my left leg. I arrived at the Rt 4 road crossing at 2:00 and walked east up the hill to the Pico Ski Resort where a free bus took me into the town of Rutland and the Hiker Hostel at Yellow Deli. It¢s a popular spot run by members of the Seventh Tribe cult and is donation based. Right in the center of town, there¢s a nice brewpub a few doors down where Sugar Pants, a hiker from Australia, and I had good beer, pizza and conversation. Yesterday I mentioned an older hiker, Snowy, I met at last night¢s shelter. Well early this morning as he was returning from the privy, he mistakenly made a left turn instead of a right turn back to his tent. That brought him to me while I was brushing my teeth. We got to chatting and I learned that his wife Jean is a Juilliard trained pianist who accompanies the Dartmouth Choral Society in Hanover. I told him that my old friend who I¢m meeting for dinner in Hanover after this hike conducts a choral group in the area. He asked who, I told him, and it turns out he knows her and Jean is often her accompanist. As I¢ve said before, the AT is a small world. Tomorrow the AT splits with the Long Trail and I¢ll say goodbye to Sunshine who showed up here late this evening after a very long day.
Date: 2018-09-16
From: The Hiker Hostel at Yellow Deli 

To: Stony Brook Shelter 
Miles today: 10.0

The bus depot was two doors up from Yellow Deli Hostel and I caught the 8:15 back up to the trail head, hiking by 8:40. I¢d heard great things about the hostel from numerous hikers and write ups but I don¢t think I got to experience that greatness because the cult members who normally run the place were observing the ten days leading up to Yom Kipper and were nowhere to be seen. I think the guy on duty was a work for stay person or else a hired hand. He lacked the friendliness and hospitality I¢d been looking forward to. Breakfast at 7:30 turned out to be a pot of coffee, cereal and milk. Sugar Pants had decided to zero there having concluded that he wouldn¢t be able to complete his thru before his flight back to Australia and the expiration of his visa. Sunshine was doing her laundry when I left, determined to complete her end-to-end of the Long Trail. I suggested she consider sticking to the AT through Vermont as I¢d heard that the LT gets very difficult up north. Just one mile into today¢s hike I came to Maine Junction where the Long Trail continues north to Canada and the Appalachian Trail heads east towards New Hampshire. No longer will the first question upon meeting another hiker be, ¢Are you hiking the Long Trail or the AT?¢  It looks like I may be the only one here at the shelter tonight. I hope I don¢t get eaten by a bear. I like having my homemade dehydrated dinners. They connect me to home. The trail took me up and over Quimbly Mountain which turned out to be long and steep both up and down. I was glad for a short ten mile day, given my late start. Just three more days for this section. Then Vermont is in the bag. PS. I ran out of fuel just as my dinner was done cooking. Unless I get off trail to buy more or I¢m able to Yogi another hiker¢s canister, I¢ll be eating cold. Mostly snacks and breakfast food. And this means cold coffee. And I¢m not the only one here tonight. Three other NOBO section hikers arrived.
Date: 2018-09-17
From: Stony Brook Shelter 

To: Wintturi Shelter 
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

Despite waking up at 6:00 rather than my customary 5:00 and thus hiking at 7:30, I arrived here at Wenttiri Shelter at 2:00. That made me even madder at myself for not taking the time to stop at The Lookout, a cabin just 0.2 miles off trail up an incline. The hikers from Boston had stopped there and said the view was terrific. They had passed me earlier and stopped there for lunch. With only ten miles to make today I had no good excuse. This morning at breakfast at the shelter these same three hikers gave me their half spent canister of fuel after hearing I¢d run out the night before. I had casually remarked that I was quite enjoying my coffee even though cold because I was using Mini Moos, those little containers of half & half rather than the powdered milk I had been using. ¢Why cold?¢, they asked. I told them about running out of fuel after making dinner last night. A classic Yogi maneuver. Sounds manipulative I know, but look at it this way: they were getting off the trail today and didn¢t need the fuel. See? I saved them from carrying the extra weight. A win-win. The weather wasn¢t as hot today and by afternoon had dried out a bit. I hung my wet clothes up just after hanging my hammock and fetching water and now, early evening, they¢re already showing signs of drying. This in sharp contrast to last night when the humidity was so high that this morning, when I shook out my shirt to rid it of any potential bugs, I got splashed in the face with my own sweat. A coup of lady section hikers showed up this afternoon and said they¢d heard we might start getting rain tonight. This being the tail end of Hurricane Florence. My tarp is up, but I¢ll need to pull my gear under it should I hear the pitter patter.
Date: 2018-09-18
From: Wintturi Shelter 

To: Thistle Hill Shelter 
Miles today: 12.3

The pitter patter of rain on my tarp started at 2:45 this morning. The remnants of Hurricane Florence. I jumped out of my hammock and gathered my belongings including my hiking clothes hanging out to ¢dry¢. It was raining pretty hard and I figured because it was from a hurricane it could last a couple of days. I busied myself thinking up an exit strategy. I had two more days and I didn¢t want to spend them hiking in the rain and dealing with wet gear. I decided I¢d hike six miles to the Stage Rd crossing where there was a hiker friendly deli a mile to the east. I¢d call Vic, my shuttle driver, and ask if he could pick me up there a day early. I could easily drive back up here later a finish Vermont with a single overnight. At around 5.45 I started taking down camp, scurrying back and forth to the shelter to get things out of the rain, though I managed to get the hammock wet in the process. I didn¢t much care given that I¢d be going home that day. Once I and my gear were in the shelter, one of the ladies from Wisconsin told me she had been able to get a weak signal last night and had checked the forecast. The rain was supposed to stop later in the morning and it was to be sunny for the next couple of days. Back to Plan A. This was good news indeed. I really didn¢t want to miss seeing my friend in Hanover on Wednesday and didn¢t want to change plans with Vic. Sure enough, after an hour on the trail, off came my rain coat. Soon beautiful blue sky started peeking through. 12.3 miles may not seem like a lot, but today was another one of those days where the trail always wanted to be going up or down, often steeply. I was beat by 3:45 when I arrived here at Thistle Hill Shelter. I cooked the last of my homemade dinners and polished off my beloved Cheese-its. I¢m looking forward to being done with Vermont and getting back home.
Date: 2018-09-19
From: Thistle Hill Shelter 

To: Home in New Jersey
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: light rain

Why had I fretted about making it to Hanover in time to meet my friend for dinner and get my shuttle ride back to Williamstown in time? I arrived at the Connecticut River bridge into Hanover, NH at 3:00, too early for any sort of civilized dinner. And this even after having set my alarm for 5:00 PM instead of AM. The hiking was comparatively easy, the weather cool with no rain, so I was able to move fast, especially in the morning. I logged 4.6 miles in the first two hours. The AT hits Elm Street in Norwich beginning a 1.8 mile road walk into the quaint, upscale town and then on to the river. Once at the New Hampshire side of the river I changed into my ¢evening attire¢ (sleeping shirt and shorts) and waited for my friend to pick me up. We had a lovely meal at Molly¢s. It was fun catching up after so many years.I also called Vic, my shuttle driver who began his drive up from Williamstown, MA to pick me up and take me back to his home where he had kindly allowed me to leave my car.Because I was back to my car by 7:00 PM, I decided to drive home in the evening rather than take a hotel stay in Williamstown. I arrived home at around 10:30 to a warm welcome from Joan. It¢s good to be back.So what¢s my assessment of Vermont? I¢d say it¢s a beautiful state to hike through, particularly the northern half, after leaving the Long Trail. Lots of pine and hemlock forests with soft pine needle-covered trail. There were plenty of spectacular views and more ups and downs than expected. I saw very few hikers once I parted company with the Long Trail as NOBO hikers had long-since passed through as had the SOBOs. Due to the rain early on and again towards the end, I failed at avoiding the ¢Vermud¢ syndrome. By far the worst mud was in southern Vermont.That¢s it for now. I hope to make it back down to Virginia to knock off the two sections remaining there: Daleville to Rockfish Gap-134 miles and the northern Shenandoah-48 miles.
Date: 2018-04-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I've been wanting to hike the Appalachian trail for 15 years. After I met my girlfriend, Allegra (or "Legs" as she's known on the AT--class of 2016), I was inspired to finally set a date for my hike. Originally I chose March of 2018, but it didn't look like it would work financially, so I chose March of 2019 instead. As March of this year rolled around, I felt stuck at my job. I felt like I wanted to bash my face into the computer screen. "Just do it now!" my friends and family encouraged. So, the next opportunity I had, I put in my two weeks. Two weeks was all I had to get my shit together. Now, here I am with only four days until I fly down to Georgia from Massachusetts and start my journey. Am I really doing this?!
Date: 2018-04-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So, I¢m sitting on the train to North Springs, GA, and I¢m still, for the most part, a bundle of nerves. It¢s hard for me to write this out, hard for me to focus on anything really. I¢ve always had a problem with anxiety, I¢ve never really embraced adventures at their beginning. The fun I¢ll have, the experiences I¢ll have...they¢re all theoretical at this point. What¢s difficult is that my fears are theoretical as well, and yet they are what most often find purchase in my mind. This probably isn¢t the reaction many of the people rooting for me were hoping for, but I know for a fact that it¢s the reaction that those who know me knew I would be having. However, things are not hopeless, and I am not discouraged. What makes me who I am is not embracing the unknown with excitement. I¢ve probably never done that. What does make me who I am is not backing down. I want to do this, I want to hike the trail, and I want to finish it. Why? Because nervous, anxious, slow-to-trust introverts like me need, NEED to hurl ourselves into the unknown sometimes. It¢s healthy, it¢s inspiring and above all...it¢s fucking brave. To me, courage and bravery are all about fear and anxiety. You need the fear first, only then can one be brave. So today, this first post of mine, is about me being honest with myself and everyone else. I¢m excited, but I¢m also terrified. A bone deep fear that only people like me will get, and adventure junkies will laugh off as just silliness. "Embrace it!" they cry, "It¢ll be awesome!" And you know what, it will be, but for people like me, that isn¢t enough, not in the beginning. So let me just say, for the people that are also like me, if you find something that you really know you want to do, fucking throw yourself at it. Don¢t feel like you need to live up to any sort of emotional standard. Be afraid, it¢s okay, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I¢m sure I¢ll embrace all of this, in time, but right now I¢m terrified, and it¢s only the determination to do what I know I want to do that¢s keeping me going, and I¢m just trying to be okay with that.
Date: 2018-04-07
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

My stomach was in knots getting shuttled up to the top of Springer Mountain on a cold, 50 degree, misty morning. Hiking backwards the 0.1 miles on the trail to get to the trail head was a little disheartening because it definitely felt like longer than a tenth of a mile, but once I was finally headed in the right direction, I was on my way. I quickly ran into trail magic with warm soup and a cold refreshing coke. I hiked the 8 miles to Hawk Mountain shelter where there were many others, and I got my trail name! The other hikers were trying to light a fire and failing, so I took over and started doing my normal "sticking my face like right in the fire blowing these huge flames," so they called me "Dragon Breath," and said I didn¢t earn the name unless I got the fire going, which I did! I then set my tent up, but I ended up sleeping in the shelter because of the rain and the cold. It was so cold that I barely slept at all. My body is more accustomed to a room heated by a toasty wood stove than outside in 30 degrees. There was a point in the night where I had to pee so badly, but it was so cold that I didn't want to leave my sleeping bag. Four hours later, I finally got up the courage to get up to go. It was pretty miserable.
Date: 2018-04-08
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up this morning very cold. My gloves really came in handy when taking down my tent, which was a little damp as well from the rain. I hiked down Hawk Mountain and got to a gap where I was able to call my girlfriend. I know it's cheesy, but I miss her more than anything. So far, that has been one of the hardest things. Today, as I hiked on, I met more people and told them about myself. I started being honest about the fact that I've been fighting through tears a lot of the time on my journey so far. After opening up and letting it out, I really started to feel so much better. I got to Gooch Shelter and set up my things, but it was barely 1:30pm and the sun came out. George, Player One, Papi, Pal, and I all decided to hike on to Woody gap where there were rumors of pizza! Pushing up Ramrock mountain, some people were calling this guy Kaden and me "Roadrunners." Though it's tempting to switch trail names, I still really like Dragon Breath. It reminds me of one of my favorite shows, "Avatar: the last airbender." It makes me think of firebenders and how they're passionate and emotional (but also of earthbenders who are enduring and patient). After we arrived at Woody Gap, a man offered us a ride to a nearby hostel! Player One double-checked about the pizza, and we were sold. The two of us got a ride to the hostel where I got a nice warm shower and a pack shakedown. Off to Neels Gap tomorrow.
Date: 2018-04-16
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Franklin
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: heavy intensity rain

Dangerous evening last night! Trail family member Player One almost got hypothermia. It was very scary, but luckily I had an emergency bivy and was able to help him out. Everything was frozen in the morning, more bad weather and below-freezing temperatures to come, so we hiked to a gap and got shuttled to Franklin a day or two early to thaw!
Date: 2018-04-23
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 6.6

Morning 16, Cable Gap Shelter, mile 158.8.  This morning marks my first morning in a steady rain.  It rained all night, and due to how small the shelter is, I spent the night in my tent.  I had some concerns that my little one man tent was little too small, but the presence of rain has made me grateful of the little shelter it provides.  This little tent, the Mountain Hardware Ghost UL1 stood up quite well against the rain.  I had to wrap the bottom of my sleeping bag in my rain coat to provide my toe box with some more wetness protection, and it seemed to do the job.  Despite only having enough room to sit cross legged in the front of the tent, I seemed to do just fine packing everything that needs to go inside my bag without much issue.  Sure, it¢s cramped, but it¢s better than packing up in the rain.  I began packing my things before sunrise, made the walk to my food bag in the rainy darkness, had a cold breakfast, and drank as much water as I could get down.  I¢m thankful that I¢m the kind of person that prepares the night before, so I had already filtered 3 liters of water before bed.  The rain can be demoralizing, but at the same time, it brings out my inner cadet.  As difficult as it may sound, I¢ve done this before.  Both on training exercises at school as a cadet, and with one of my best friends, Kris, during our backpacking adventures in the White Mountains.  As my dad likes to say, ¢what¢s so bad about the rain? It¢s not like there¢s any soap in it!¢  The wild, indomitable positivity of my wonderful girlfriend Allegra also seems to radiate through me right now.  It¢s all about mindset.  Sure, it¢s wet and cold and miserable, but it¢s also another day that I¢m alive and on the trail.  The forest isn¢t my house, it¢s not my decision as to whether it rains, all I can do is push on.  It¢s like my friend Kris always tells me, ¢Problems without solutions are call truths.¢  All in all, with the combination of the wise words and attitudes of my friends and family, and my own resolve, I make for Fontana Dam.
Date: 2017-09-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

In March 2017, I started at the approach trail on the 20th.  I was at Fontanna Village on April 3rd ready to head into the Smokies, when I learned that my 94 year old mom was in the hospital and needed emergency surgery.  Hike over.  I went home and tended to business this summer but the yearn is still there.  I've tried to stay busy; hiked the last 80 miles of The Long Trail, spent 3 days in the Whites doing the Carters and Wildcats, built a conservation trail near my house, watched a bunch of You Tube of Early Riser 71 and stayed up with a few "classmates" on Trailjournals.  Even ran into a couple of fellow hikers from Georgia on Wildcat (!).  Trying to maintain my fitness with gym work and staying active getting chores done around the house. Tweaking my gear here and there and avoiding a countdown mentality but still focused on trying again. See my 2017 journal for detail on March.
Date: 2017-09-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Just booked my plane for March 2nd to Atlanta and hotel at Sandy Springs north of Atlanta, and talked to and booked Survivor Dave shuttle for 6:00 AM on March 3rd to Springer parking lot.  Hotel takes shipments.  REI is right around the corner should I need any last minute stuff (like fuel).  Logistics are progressing. Obsessing.
Date: 2017-11-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

My wife and I were scheduled to visit the west coast the 3rd week of October for a weekend with her brother and then a visit to Sonoma county, Healdsburg to be specific, to take in wine country. Due to the catastrophic fires, we cancelled our visit. We didn¢t want to risk the fires, the air quality was poor and we frankly didn¢t want to go have a good time with all that tragedy around us. We¢ll go some other time. Instead, we spent time at home working on cutting and splitting wood from some recent tree work and enjoying absolutely spectacular weather. We¢ve been interested in the Hanover, NH area for a while and decided we¢d take a couple of days and go there, since we didn¢t get to California. We drove up Tuesday mid-day and checked in to the Norwich Inn, which is right on Main St. We crossed the bridge from Hanover that everyone takes pictures of, showing the VT/NH border. After we got our room and settled in, we went next door to Dan and Whits general store (¢If we don¢t have it, you don¢t need it¢) and they had more stuff than I could imagine. I expect it is a great resupply place for literally anything a hiker could need or want.  After that we took a stroll down Main Street before we went out for Indian food in Hanover (not bad!)On Wednesday, we got rolling and drove around the countryside up to Lyme, over to Canaan and back to Hanover. We spied 3 or 4 AT road crossings, which was exciting.  We parked on the green across from Dartmouth and walked down Main Street and found Lou¢s diner for lunch (they give a free pastry to thru hikers).  After lunch, we strolled a little more and found the trail on the street again.  We went over to the COOP grocery store and looked at what they had, and then back to the Inn for a break. About 3 PM, before the rain was scheduled to start, we walked down Main St to Elm St and walked about 34 of a mile southbound and then northbound on Elm St, so my wife has now started section hiking the AT!  We had a beer on the front porch and then some food at the bar before going up to watch Survivor and baseball.On Thursday, on our way out of town, we drove to the top of Elm Street again to where the trail comes out of the woods (more excitement!). Elm Street has been described as ¢Trail Magic Alley¢ as a number of people apparently leave coolers out for hikers (Thank you in advance!). I saw one even in October.  I'm hopeful that I will make it back to Norwich/Hanover next summer by foot. It is certainly a nice place to visit.