morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-08-07
From: Churchill Scott Shelter

To: VT Hwy 100, Rutland VT
Miles today: 5.2

--Note - more added to 8/6 entry--Decided to cut today short to avoid this afternoon's predicted thunderstorms and high winds. Caught a bus into the town of Rutland, where we now sit at a laundromat looking at perfectly blue skies. Oh well. We're grateful for the shower, clean clothes, and of course REAL FOOD regardless of the weather. Gotta put those pounds back on! (That's going to be my excuse from now on for all future lame behavior.)We're staying at a very interesting hostel tonight in Rutland somehow associated with a group called "Twelve Tribes"...check out twelvetribes.org. They run a fabulous restaurant on the main street of town - everything is very fresh, organic, and sort of neo-Vermont-hippy. Upstairs from the restaurant are a couple of bunk rooms and bathrooms for hikers (or I guess anyone else in need of a room for the night). Looks like they're still renovating the place, but what's there is spotless and the people running it are super friendly. And get this: the lady who appeared to be managing the restaurant earned her degree from UF back in the early 60's! Small world. Felt like I was in one of those "Gator Nation" ads when she told me that.So the plan is to eat as much food in this town as possible, catch the first bus (7:15) back to the trail in the morning, and resume our march toward Hanover NH, which is about 43 miles away. We should get there by Thursday and plan a zero day there. Hanover is home to Dartmouth College and (at least at one time) Bill Bryson, author of "A Walk in the Woods." I haven't met a hiker out here who hasn't read his book. Bill, in case you're reading my journal, I've read ALL your books. So if I run into you in a local bookstore or restaurant, maybe you could autograph my trail map or something?
Date: 2006-08-08
From: VT Hwy 100, Rutland VT

To: Somewhere on Quimby Mtn
Miles today: 3.0

Today would not qualify as one of my better days on the trail. Woke up a little sluggish but basically fine and caught the bus back to the trailhead. Once on the trail, I started to feel nauseated and weak. With every step, I seemed to be going in slower and slower motion...until I just stopped and threw up. Put the pack back on and managed to get about another half mile and the climb up Quimby Mountain nailed me. Threw up twice more and then sat down to consider my options. There's four miles of rugged looking terrain (per my map profile) between me and the next shelter. I didn't think I could make it. My water supply was okay, so I decided to pitch my tent beside the trail and lay down. That was at about 10:30AM. It's now 1:15PM and I just woke up. Bama is ahead of me and I left messages on her cell phone to keep going as planned and hopefully we can hook up again in Hanover in three days.So I am sitting here in my tent on a beautiful sunny day, listening to the occassional footsteps of hikers walking up, pausing as they curiously eye my tent, and then moving on. "What kind of idiot would be in their tent at this hour?" they're probably thinking. A sick one. I am hoping that I have food poisoning and not a flu bug, as the former is usually out of your system in 24 hours. Last night's calamari may have been a bad decision. What REALLY sucks is that this is the opposite of gaining weight, and I can't afford this now with the toughest section of the AT right around the corner. So far, I've only been able to keep one granola bar down and I had an interesting round of sweats and chills about an hour ago. I can hear distant sounds of traffic on a highway at the base of this mountain. Normally, the sound would annoy me, but today I find it a little comforting to know that civilization is nearby in case things go from bad to worse.
Date: 2006-08-10
From: VT Hwy 12 / Woodstock

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: broken clouds

I could grow accustomed to life in an inn. Slept in 'til 7AM, read a little in bed, took a long hot shower, then went downstairs to eat the best breakfast I've had since Trail's End Cafe in Delaware Water Gap. Scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, fresh fruit, toast with homemade preserves, grapefruit juice, excellent coffee. Just what my scrawny body needed. All the other guests at the inn were German tourists who spoke a little broken English. It was amusing to try to make them understand what I was doing and why. The men in the group were blown away when they lifted my pack. I don't think they could wrap their minds around how someone of my size could carry something that heavy...over mountains...for six months. Sometimes I share their point of view!Well, I finally caught back up with Bama today, but it took all day to do it and the final hour was a rain-soaked hike straight up "Happy Hill" (which didn't strike me as so happy at the time.)Today's hike was challenging - just about all ups and downs with very little level terrain, and I got a late start (9:45) since breakfast wasn't until 8:30 at the inn. So, while I was stuffing my face with fabulous breakfast fare, Bama hiked ahead of me again by a couple hours. I'm glad we both made it to the same shelter tonight so we can coordinate our final push into Hanover HN (just six miles from here) and all the errands we'll need to run there - including picking up mail drops at the PO, mailing some gear home and some ahead to my next mail drop town. Scott will be driving in to find us on Sunday and he's bringing our two-man tent, so I'll be sending my one-man tent up to Gorham HN (the end of the White Mtns). We'd planned on zeroing in Hanover, but with my recent "sick day" slowing us down, we might instead set up some slack-packing arrangements (if possible) until Scott arrives. We'll see. All I know about Hanover right now is that if you ask for a "White Blaze Shake" at Ben & Jerry's and explain you're an AT thru-hiker, they will give you a white chocolate shake for free. I like the sound of that!A HUGE thank you goes out to Charlotte and Cary Hollingsworth for rescuing me from the trail yesterday and permitting me to stay in their beautiful inn. After the previous 24 hours I'd experienced, your timing couldn't have been better. You nourished my mind, body, and spirit and gave me a much needed energy boost to keep hiking north. Every mile I walk has been influenced by kind-hearted trail angels like you.
Date: 2006-08-11
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Hanover NH
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: broken clouds

State #13! WooHoo! I've been looking forward to reaching Hanover since I began this trek in GA nearly five months ago. Home to Dartmouth College, Hanover is a wonderful little college town, making me miss my own wonderful college town back home. We reached town around 8:30AM and walked straight into Lou's Deli & Bakery for a five star (and pound) breakfast. Got my second haircut of the trip at 10AM, picked up my maildrop boxes at the PO by 10:30, and we were on the bus and checked into our hotel by 11AM. Now it's showering, laundry, and food/gear-sorting time, so that we can get back on the bus to return to the PO. to mail some things home. Town days can be exhausting!Kari (et al), thank you so much for all the yummy snacks and meals you sent. You UPO folks have sent the most interesting arrangement of energy bars (where do you find this stuff???) It all looks very yummy and lightweight. And Brian, what can I say? I've never received a letter quite like that before. Am trying to think of a snappy retort involving a Police or Sting tune, but I think you covered them all. "Da doo doo doo, da da da da, is all I got to say to you." Amy and Kim, thank you so much for your letters and words of encouragement. And Lindsey G., I look forward to meeting you when I return and will happily turn over all my AT maps to you! And finally, Flat Rocks...LOVED the book and read it immediately. I'm sending it home so that you can autograph it for me when I return. I'm going to need to keep the picture of that train in my head over the next couple weeks as the elevation profile of the White Mountains resembles the pattern on a heart monitor. Right now, I'm in more of a "I HOPE I can" frame of mind.
Date: 2006-08-13
From: Moose Mountain Shelter

To: Lyme NH
Miles today: 6.6

Nice short walk today, though it included an attention-getting 1200-foot climb over Holts Ledge. I reached the road to Lyme around 10:45AM and began the three-mile walk to town. Decided not to hitch since I was alone and probably way ahead of Scott's arrival time anyway. About a mile down the road, a car coming in the oppostie direction stopped and a guy rolled down the window and asked, "Do you need a ride to town?" Now, I've left my glasses at home and I'm a bit nearsighted. I'm puzzled for a few seconds as to why someone heading in the wrong direction would offer me a ride that I didn't ask for. Then it clicked. It's Scott! Turns out it took him less time to drive over from Rochester than planned. After checking into an adoraable B&B in Lyme, we took a quick tour of Hanover and Scott got to eat at Lou's (my third meal there in as many days). Spent the rest of the day gathering and organizing food and gear. And we found a fabulous little restaurant in the middle of nowhere (Orford NH?) for dinner...roasted quail and homemade blueberry pie and ice cream for dessert. Unbelievably good. We justified this extravagance by thinking of this as our 'last supper' before tackling the Whites. P.S. After noticing my somewhat diminishing size, Scott has renamed me "Littler Wing."
Date: 2006-08-14
From: Lyme NH

To: Hexacuba Shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: overcast clouds

After a big country breakfast at the B&B, we stopped at the New England Regional Office of the ATC to seek their advice on where the best spot was to leave our rental car for ten days. Then we were off. Today's big climb was over Smarts Mountain at about 3250 feet. A firetower at the summit gave us beautiful views of all surrounding peaks - including the Whites. Scott did great on his first day out and the day's weather couldn't have been more perfect. High 60's/low 70's, blue skies, and a cool breeze. The shelter we reached tonight has a unique hexagonal design and we opted for it over tenting because it's supposed to rain tonight. One bonus of our taking a half day off in Lyme is that it's allowed us to reconnect with some of our favorite hikers. Windtalker and Mom are with us in the shelter tonight, as is Baldylocks, and Brainfreeze - whom we haven't hiked with since PA. One thought was nagging me all day. As challenging as today's climbs were, they're almost exactly HALF of what we'll experience with Mt. Washington. Sigh.
Date: 2006-08-15
From: Hexacuba Shelter

To: Hikers Welcome Hostel, Glenncliff NH
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

For some reason, today was a looooong day. The terrain wasn't nearly as challenging as yesterday's, but we were dragging all day. Got on the trail around 7:30AM and didn't finish until after 6PM...that's well off the usual two-miles-per-hour pace. Scott was expecially sluggish. I think he may still be finding his "trail legs," but he also may have been fighting off some kind of bug - which isn't much fun out here as hiking up and down mountains with 30+ lbs on your back requires 100% of your energy.Anyhow, despite not breaking any land speed records, we made it to a hostel just 0.2 mile off the trail and revived ourselves with a hot (outdoor) shower and probably the best pepperoni pizza I've eaten out here yet. This hostel is essentially a somewhat transformed home of a couple of former thru-hikers. An upstairs room has bunks and downstairs is a common area for hikers to sit, eat, watch TV, and use a computer. Then there's these various nearly circus-sized tents scattered about the yard...one contained a fully functioning loo and hot shower, another contained beds. It was in this tent that we found our accommodationas for the night since the indoor bunkroom had filled before our late arrival. It's a measure of the transformative powers of the AT that sleeping on an old matress in a circus tent out in someone's backyard didn't seem the least bit odd or disturbing to me. And Scott was too tired to care.P.S. After today, I have less than 400 miles to go!
Date: 2006-08-16
From: Hikers Welcome Hostel, Glenncliff NH

To: Kinsman Notch, NH Hwy 112
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: light rain

Today marked the official beginning of the Whites with mighty Mt. Moosilauke at 4800 feet and requiring a climb of over 3500 feet. We had considered a slack pack south over this monster, but the $30 shuttle fee charged by the hostel seemed steeper than the mountain. Our energy was restored today, so while the hike was certainly challenging, it was also pretty fun. The climb up seemed to go on forever...in reality, it took us about four hours to reach the summit. There, all of our hard work paid off with stunning 360-degree views of the surrounding White Mountains - including the Presidentials.Many hikers went from shorts and tank tops to bundling up in long fleeces and windbreakers as the temperatures dropped by at least 20 degrees and winds gusted to 30-40 mph. We ate lunch at the summit, sheltered from the wind beside the stone remains of a structure called the Prospect House which was a popular tourist spot built in 1860. It burned to the ground in 1942.Then we began a descent which was unlike any I have encountered in nearly five months on the trail. As Scott said, "In any other state, there would be police tape blocking the path and trail builders would be jailed for public endangerment." The steepest part was a mile and a half near-vertical boulder hop that ran beside Oliverian Brook with its beautiful waterfalls. It was rather difficult to appreciate the beauty of the falls for long, distracted as we were by our sustained efforts not to die and all. That mile and a half down took TOTAL focus and not a little jarring to the knees. Thankfully, we were fortunate enough to scramble over dry rocks. This is not a mountain to hike down from in rain, even with the assistance of wood block steps and rebar hand rails that have been drilled into granite in places. A couple of the steps have broken away from the cliff face...we wondered what happened to the poor hiker who stepped on them as they came away.Once off Moosilauke and back on flat land, we decided to reward ourselves with a shuttle into nearby North Woodstock, dinner, and a hotel for the night. We enjoyed a meal with Windtalker and Mom and then enjoyed hanging out with the gang...including Cool Hand, Tecumseh, Lebowski, Bofus, and Fixes Flats - a cyclist we met who is riding from Seattle WA to Bar Harbor ME (kinda takes the wind out of our AT sails!).Today was tough but fun, with unspeakably gorgeous scenery that kept things interesting. The cooler temps definitely offer a much needed energy boost in this rugged terrain. Moosilauke was only mountain #1 of the Whites, but I think we've gained some confidence from having survived (and even enjoyed) it. It now seems not impossible that we might make it over some more peaks of the monsters that await us in coming days.
Date: 2006-08-17
From: Kinsman Notch, NH Hwy 112

To: Kinsman Notch, NH Hwy 112
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Decided to give in to sloth and gluttony by taking a zero in North Woodstock - first zero since July 4th weekend, I think. (I honestly can't remember.) Perhaps one more day of town food will "fatten me up" enough for the coming terrain and lord knows my legs could probably use a rest after yesterday's jarring descent from Moosilauke. We completed our town chores of laundry and food resupply before noon and can now bask in the luxury of doing nothing productive for the rest of the day. This makes me very happy.
Date: 2006-08-18
From: Kinsman Notch, NH Hwy 112

To: Eliza Brook Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, no one can accuse us of sprinting through the Whites and not taking time to appreciate our beautiful surroundings. I'd like to be able to say that this has been a conscious decision on our part, but really the terrain is just kicking our butts. Or, to be more anatomically correct, my hips. The burning sensation in my right hip that I started to feel upon entering NH progressed to full on pain radiating down from my right hip throughout most of that thigh today. Every time I stumble just a little over a rock or root (which happens dozens of time each day - I am not a graceful hiker), that small jolt in my hip is making it scream. Three Aleves got me through the day, and I may see if I can find some glucosomine in our next town stop. Some version of that stuff has worked wonders for several of our older arthritic basset hounds, so I thought it might work for me.It took us six hours to hike 7.5 miles today. A couple days ago, we took eight hours to go 9.5 miles. I have read and have been told by dozens of folks to expect to slow down in the Whites. Guess I'm just surprised by how much I've had to slow down. Today's terrain did not include any huge peaks...Mt. Wolf was our highest climb at 3500 feet, compared to mountains on the 4000-5000 foot range coming up. But even the "flat" parts of the trail involved boulder scrambles requiring me to toss my poles ahead and use all fours to pull myself up or the elegant "butt slide" to maneuver my way down a rock face. The scenery can be breath-taking, but so far nothing about the Whites has been easy. I don't think we've taken two steps in a row on flat, level ground unobscured by rocks or roots since we entered this section. So, I've decided just to chill out, enjoy my surroundings for what they are and just take things one mountain at a time. It's going to take me longer to get through NH than I'd predicted, but that's okay. If I manage to complete the entire AT, I can't imagine I'll care that it may have taken me a couple extra days to do so. I may never see this area of the country again, so I'm trying to devote every ounce of energy I have to really taking it all in and enjoying myself. And somehwere in there I'll also try not to break a hip.
Date: 2006-08-19
From: Eliza Brook Shelter

To: Franconia Notch, US Hwy 3
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Another tough day in which it took us all day to go nearly nowhere. Good weather though and we got to see our first AMC hut. We ate lunch at Lonesome Lake Hut, which were actually leftovers from last night's dinner there but it worked...beef stew, peanut chicken, chocolate chip brownies, and lemonade. And all of this two steps from the trail. Priceless. Many of the other hikers we saw there ended up staying at the hut by doing work-for-stay to avoid the $80-$90 charge (huts are defintiely not shelters!). We decided to continue to gimp our way down Kinsman Mountain to Franconia Notch, get a shuttle to the town of Lincoln, and find a hotel at which to wait out oncoming thunderstorms. The descent after the hut was kinder than the terrain from Kinsman's Summit to the hut and offered beautiful views of the Pemigewasset River during the last mile or so.Our first stop in Lincoln was a pharmacy where I picked up glucosamine tablets, some kind of sports cream for aching muscles, and those "icy/hot" pads for a similar purpose. My hips and upper thighs are still screaming at me. I don't know if it's the cranked up difficulty of NH's terrain or just the cumulative effect of 1800 miles of hiking. My legs have been pretty well behaved for much of this journey. During the past couple days, they seem to be whispering "Enough of this already...what are you trying to do to us???"
Date: 2006-08-20
From: Franconia Notch, US Hwy 3

To: Franconia Notch, US Hwy 3
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I'm celebrating my five month AT anniversary with a rain delay. It's a socked-in rainy day and I have no interest in crawling over Mt. Lincoln or Lafayette in these conditions. So we're zeroing yet again. Our hotel has laundry facilities, a hot tub (indoors), and is within walking distance of pizza. Scott and I have gotten sucked into a "Band of Brothers" marathon on the History Channel (we're such nerds). I've decided that the next time I'm having a bad day on the trail, I'll try to be grateful that I'm not being shot at.
Date: 2006-08-21
From: Franconia Notch, US Hwy 3

To: Somewhere near Mt. Garfield
Miles today: 8.5

Today REALLY sucked, and I forgot to be grateful about not being shot at until I pulled out my journal and saw yesterday's last sentence. I guess I'm also grateful for not being struck by lightning and for Scott hiking with me today, as misery does indeed love company out here.The Weather Channel led us astray today. They claimed we'd have a drizzly start to the day (we did), but skies would clear by noon and we'd end up with a beautiful afternoon (we did not). Their error would normally be nothing more than aggravating, but today it turned terrifying. We were just beginning to climb above the treeline to the summits of Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Lafayette around noon. The first gusts of wind didn't surprise me as it's always windy above the treeline and we were climbing to over 5000 feet. I kept waiting for the Weather Channel's promise to come to fruition. And waiting. And climbing. And waiting. But skies weren't clearing. In fact, it started to rain and the occasional gusts turned into a steady, penetrating 60-70 mph wind. Since we were walking an exposed ridge line in essentially a cloud, visibility dropped to just a few feet. There were portions of the trail that looked like they just dropped off into white space until you were literally standing on a cliff edge and could see where to take the next step. A couple strong gusts nearly blew me over and in the middle of all this joy I had to stop and put warmer clothes and rain gear on. We hobbled along in this insanity for well over an hour. It was exhausting, but there was nowhere to go but forward which would eventually drop us down below treeline again and into calmer conditions.I know intellectually from all my readings that today's "mountain hurricane" was classic weather for the Whites. This is what happens here all the time. Let me tell you though, it was quite another thing to experience the phenomenon first hand. After 1800 miles of hiking and five months outdoors, I don't consider myself to be too easily rattled. Today freaked me out. It was definitely the most frightened I've been out here and, if someone had handed me a plane ticket home on top of Mt. Lafayette, I would have snatched it up immediately. (But I would have still had to find a way off that damn mountain first.) This experience has left me very nervous about Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the Whites at 6288 feet and most sustained and exposed climb above treeline. Forget all the intense effort of climbing these peaks for absolutely no views. I just want to survive my hike!Anyhow, a few hours after all that drama, Scott and I decided to forgo all AMC huts, shelters, and tentsites and found a spot to stealth camp enroute to Mt. Garfield. We're not sure where we are right now. Just being horizontal in a sleeping bag is enough for me.