morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-08-15
From: The Inn at Long Trail

To: Winturri Shelter
Miles today: 17.9

Today was a good day, but it felt like there was something in the air today affecting hikers¢ brains. 1) As we (Toaster, Moose Jaw, and I) were heading to trail, there were three other hikers hiking the Long Trail (totals 270 miles, and they were 100 miles in). It was raining, so we all wanted to get to trail to get a little bit of tree coverage. But it felt like an awkward race. They cut off Moose Jaw and Toaster just to hike slowly. Thankfully, eventually they let them pass. It was weird, since they knew we were thru-hikers and we had nearly 18 miles to hike compared to their 7. 2) At a water break we met two NOBOs. We asked when they started trail. They said, ¢I don¢t know¢¦ mid to late March.¢ Toaster looked at them weird. We have NEVER met a hiker who did not know their exact start date. So then, we were all like¢¦ why are you being sus about your start date¢¦ it was awkward. So, we just walked away. 3) We ran into a SOBO hiker today and he asked us for water¢¦ in Vermont¢¦ that literally has water everywhere due to the flooding. Moose gave him our water, but like who hikes 500 miles and does not make sure they have enough water for camp. He even told Stogie he passed up the previous water source because he didn¢t want to hike an additional 0.2 miles to get some. It was weird. We call those hikers, entitled hikers. I hope he doesn¢t pull that again. You have to be smart about your water. Always know where your next water source is, and if camp has water. Bandit took another zero today. He rolled his ankle again yesterday, which makes two times in the past three days! We hope it heals and he feels better! Bob Ross is slackpacking a lot of miles today and tomorrow so he can take another zero in Hanover, NH on Thursday! Stogie started earlier than all of us. Moose Jaw and I slept in a little bit and then went downstairs to have breakfast. Bandit arrived not much longer so he joined us! His company was lovely, and breakfast was wonderful!! I got a hot chocolate with breakfast, and they added a mound of whipped cream and chocolate syrup with sprinkles on top! It was magical!! I was so excited!! Then begrudgingly we packed the rest of our gear after breakfast and headed into the rain (around 10 in the morning) to start our hike. Today wasn¢t bad. The terrain wasn¢t awful, but it felt challenging. Well, come to find out, we hiked nearly 5,000 ft in elevation today. So, I guess that makes sense as to why I was tired when I arrived at camp!! Today was a quiet hiking day. We all listened to music and audiobooks. It was a nice change of pace.It has been getting colder and darker earlier. Unfortunately, we will have to put on our wet clothes in the morning. When it¢s cold, our clothes never actually dry. But, that¢s what happens on trail. All in all, today was a good day.
Date: 2023-08-16
From: Winturri Shelter

To: ScooterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs & Captain StashÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs House
Miles today: 17.3

Well¢¦ we woke up to rain, in true AT fashion. While waiting for the rain to slow so we could tear down our tents, we hung out with Stogie, Firewalker, Toaster, and Captain Fantastic in the shelter. Captain Fantastic is so kind and cheerful and generous! He gave me a bag of peanut m&ms to eat! I don¢t know how he got his trail name, but he should have gotten it because he¢s always in a fantastic mood!!When the rain slowed to a drizzle, we packed up our soaking wet tent and started hiking. Lots of incline again today! But at least the trail was nice! We ran into Patio again doing trail magic. We got some soda and then kept walking on. For lunch we ate at a really nice shelter and met some SOBO hikers! They gave us some good tips for places to stay up in NH and ME. Finally we made it to West Hartford, VT. The trail follows the road for a short while. We stopped at a place called the Blue Barn for sodas and Domino¢s pizza. However, down the road was a lovely couple whom let¢s hikers camp in their yard. The blue barn was pretty full, so we walked over to Captain Stash¢s and Scooter¢s house. I¢m sure glad we did, because it was gorgeous! And the owners were so kind!! They had a comfy gazebo and a beautiful Brook in their backyard. There were steps down to the Brook so we could wash of our legs. It¢s so peaceful listening to the running water! I¢m so glad we made it here to tent!Today has been a good day! We are still hurting and pushing through the miles and bad weather, but we¢ve been in good spirits! Hooray! Side Note: We saw 27 newts today!!!
Date: 2023-08-17
From: ScooterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs & Captain StashÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs House

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 10.5

Finally, NEW HAMPSHIRE!!! Two states left!!!! Yahoo!!! We are almost to Maine!!We woke up and hiked into Norwich that was just outside of Hanover to resupply at a small little gas station store. They had really good food there, too! So we ate an early lunch/late breakfast consisting of prepackaged sushi, chicken salad sandwich, donuts, melon, sodas, and Powerade. We met a local named Mike as we were sitting outside the store eating our food. He was really kind and social. He nearly tore the tendon of his quad off! It was only 20% attached so he had surgery and it rehabilitating. He¢s taking it slow, which is good! He doesn¢t want to injure it again. I don¢t blame him! He was super fun to talk to!From the resupply store we crossed into New Hampshire into Hanover. We actually walked right through Dartmouth University. School hasn¢t quite started yet. First we went to the post office for our winter gear that my mom mailed to us! Yay!! We wanted our winter gear before we hit the whites, which will be soon! Next we walked and got a free slice of pizza from Ramunto¢s Pizza and a free donut from Lou¢s Bakery! They were delicious!! We ate an early dinner at Molly¢s. They had $3 margaritas there. That had us sold. After that, ice cream! Because of course we need all of the food we can get our hands on while in town!! We will have to watch ourselves when we are off trail and not hiking 20 miles per day!!It hit five and we decided to finally walk to camp. Just into the woods we found some really nice tent spots for us to set up. It¢s nice going to bed early!! Tomorrow is supposed to rain all day. It¢s been raining a lot recently. So, we will have to mentally prepare for the rain and cold. But it¢ll be okay!!Today was fun!!
Date: 2023-08-18
From: Stealth Site

To: Grafton Turnpike
Miles today: 16.6

We woke up and tore down camp before it rained. The forecast said it was supposed to rain all day long. As we neared the shelter 0.7 miles out from camp to use the privy, it started to rain. And then it poured. We sat in the shelter for about an hour, before we decided to head out. About 30 minutes into our hike, the rain let up. We were shocked and happy!! To our surprise, the rain held off for the rest of the day!! It was awesome!!We received some trail magic sodas in a cooler today!! They were delicious!The terrain was muddy, as usual. That seems to be the norm now. At lunchtime, we had a great view of the mountains as we sat in the shelter making our food. We were all wet with a mixture of sweat and rain. When we sit for too long, we have to put our rain jackets on to block the wind from making us too cold since we are constantly wet!At five, we were done hiking for the day and we got picked up by the Inn. We were scared for our lives when our driver decided to roll down her window and yell out to say hi at someone and the car started crossing the middle line. Toaster swears our driver was high because she smelled weed. The driver dropped us off at the country store next door so we could get food. We got some sandwiches and pizza for dinner. Then we checked into our rooms and showered and ate our food. Moose Jaw and I FaceTimed my mom and brother. It was fun talking to them!It was a good day today!
Date: 2023-08-19
From: Grafton Turnpike

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 15.6

Trail always seems like it¢s trying to take you down and knock you out. You walk and a limb is trying to impale you, roots are trying to trip you, mud is trying to make you fall, rocks are trying to make make you slip, trees are trying to push you over and knock you out,¢¦ the trail has it out for us!! Moose and I have concluded that it¢s scheming against us. Especially today!!We though NH would be less muddy than Vermont. We were sorely mistaken. Everything is WET! But man, the views are gorgeous so far!!! I can¢t wait for the views in the Whites!! We enter the Whites in two days. This morning we woke up and had breakfast. I wasn¢t super hungry so I gave the rest of my food to Moose. We didn¢t get to trail until some time last 10, since the B&B was busy with a family reunion. We were dropped off and less than five minutes into hiking, I slipped on the mud and my foot sank deeply into mud water. I cried. I was at my wits end with the mud, and I was tired of having wet feet. It¢s a dumb thing to cry over, but when you finally have clean clothes to wear, you try to keep them clean for as long as possible. This includes socks and gaiters. So, I sad walked for awhile until I got over it. Later I did the same thing. This time instead of crying, I was just happy it was the same foot. I¢d rather have one wet and dirty foot than two!!We eventually made it up to a fire tower at the top of one of the many mountains we have hiked. We climbed up the tower, and the view was breathtaking! We could actually see mountains we have climbed along with ones we will be climbing in the next couple of days! It was awesome!!!From there we hiked to the next shelter. We made and ate dinner there, because Moose and I planned to hike further. Toaster and Stogie decided to stay because they were pretty tired. Also, Bob Ross and Bandit were going to camp there. Stogie missed Bob Ross and Toaster missed Bandit. Since the shelter was on the side of the mountain, tenting was extremely limited. Plus a group of Boy Scouts arrived, and they grabbed a bunch of tent sites. I get bad for them, because the sites looked like garbage. I hope they sleep well! As Moose and I were heading out, the boys brought over some candy for us to have. It was so kind of them!! And it was a nice surprise!! Trail magic from other hikers mean a lot, because they never have a lot to give, and what they give you you know that they have carried it. So, trail magic from other hikers is the most special kind of trail magic. Moose and I hiked in the dark for a little bit and found a stealth spot near where we wanted to be for the night. It was perfect!! Extremely flat, on pine needles, dry, and out of the wind. We set up camp quickly and climbed in our tent, just to sit down and eat food!! HA! Then we set up our mats and climbed in. Today was a good day. An emotional day. But a good one!Quote of the Day:¢I¢m always good at exercising discipline in the moment, but then I regret it later.¢ - Moose Jaw in Reference to Taking a Single Mini Snickers at Trail Magic Rather than 3 or More
Date: 2023-08-20
From: Stealth Site

To: Hikers Welcome Hostel
Miles today: 10.2

Crazy Story Time. So, yesterday at the fire tower, I shared a snickers bar with Moose Jaw. Then at dinner time I told Moose, ¢I wish I would have packed out another snickers.¢ Then 30 minutes later, the boys in the boys scouts walked over and said they had some candy for us. What do you know,¢¦ they had snickers!!! I was like, ¢God heard me today, and blessed me with this small gift.¢ Moose went and said, ¢Well, in that case, I want a cold Red Bull. Maybe we can get one in a creek or something.¢Fast forward to today. We were halfway through our hike and we had to cross the road. On the other side of the street was a sign leading us to the trail (so a trailhead sign). Sitting on top of this sign was an unopened semi-cold Red Bull!! Moose and I were in absolute disbelief!! We looked around for an owner, but there was absolutely no one there!!! So I told moose that God was probably like, ¢watch this!¢ HAHAHA! Anyways, it was wild! And we enjoyed sharing this Red Bull!Our hike today was nice. It felt pretty relaxed compared to the past week. We made it to the hostel early in the afternoon. So we got first dibs on the outdoor shower. The shower was great and had plenty of steaming hot water!! The hostel shuttled us to a Market/Gas Station where we got a ton of food to eat for dinner and breakfast. Since we were so hungry, we basically got everything. As soon as we got into the car, we started eating. We ate the rest of our food at the picnic table outside. After a little while I went to the bunkhouse and laid down. I stayed there until bed time. My feet were hurting and tired. When Moose got into the bunkhouse, we laid together watching a tv show on his phone. It¢s cozier when we are together rather than apart. Today was a good day, and I¢m happy to slackpack tomorrow!
Date: 2023-08-21
From: Hikers Welcome Hostel

To: Kinsman Notch
Miles today: 9.5

Mood: °Today was a good day! Although I didn¢t sleep well, I got up early and got my bag packed. The Hikers Welcome Hostel was taking our packs to the Old Country Ski Lodge (Which is where we were staying the following night. I have a package arriving there.) so we could slackpack Moosilauke today. Not even a mile into our hike, we hit¢¦1,800 MILES!!!!I honestly cannot believe that we are at 1800 miles. That¢s so far to walk! It feels unreal. So much life has happened in the past five months. Moose and I are beyond blessed to have this time together. Before we knew it, we were up and over Moosilauke. The top was cold, wet, misty, and had zero views even though we hiked 3500 ft in elevation. We were up in the clouds!!! The waterfall down the side of this mountain was beautiful! We were picked up by the ski lodge and given a tour of the town and hostel. This place slaps! There are two bunks in our room, so we were placed in there with Toaster and Bandit. Around 2:20, Mindy arrived to visit us!! We haven¢t seen her in forever (our friend from Indiana and also my aunt¢s best friend)! She happened to be in Vermont, so she drove two hours to eat dinner and ice cream with us and shuttle us to the outfitter (Moose needed new shoes). She looked great, and all of us couldn¢t help but smile the entire time! Dinner was fabulous, and it was such a joy to catch up on life, and tell her funny trail stories and how we live outside and what thru-hike life is like. It¢s was a blast hanging out with her! We are so happy she came to visit. Mindy is a wonderful woman, with a big heart, that has a contagious smile and laugh! She¢s just GREAT! P.S. Mindy gave toaster a purple duck to put inside of her Jeep. It¢s a Jeep thing! After she headed out to head back to Vermont, Moose and I finally got to take showers and get into our sleep clothes. Then we chatted for awhile with Bandit and Toasted before crawling into bed. Today was a really good day! The hike today was a lot of fun, and I just felt free!! I hope we have more days like this!
Date: 2023-08-22
From: Kinsman Notch

To: Cascade Brook
Miles today: 16.4

When we woke up this morning, we got a ride back to trail to slackpack kinsman mountain. I was impressed with how quickly we hiked 3000 ft in elevation! Looks like 1800 miles is paying off. As we neared the top, there was a lot of rock scrambling to the top. However, once we got to the top, the view was breathtaking! We sat ip there and ate our snacks. From where we were sitting, we could see Moosilauke on our right (the mountain we hiked yesterday) and on our left we could see the Franconia Ridge (the mountain range we would be hiking tomorrow). The Franconia ridge includes 4K peaks Mt. Liberty, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Lafayette. We got a picture of both sides. We stopped at the Eliza Brook shelter for lunch. There were a ton of other hikers there including Shit Water, Love Child, Loaf, and Oil Change. We are our lunch and continued hiking. When we made it back to the ski club, there was a former hiker at the picnic table with her husband providing trail magic for the hikers! We got some delicious sodas and zebra cakes. Moose Jaw got a sour IPA that was yummy! We were so happy. She also dropped a lot of knowledge about sumitting Katahdin and obtaining permits. This made me feel much better about what we have to do!Then we showered and headed to dinner. Service was slow and I was exhausted, so as soon as we paid our bill, I headed back for a good night¢s rest. I knew we had a tough couple of days coming up!So far, the Whites have been beautiful! I¢m happy to be here on trail!
Date: 2023-08-23
From: Cascade Brook

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 13.0

I fell today. I almost cried, but I held it in! Today was hard. I¢m exhausted. I guess that¢s the Whites for ya! But man, the views were °°¤©!! 11 out of 10!! We woke up this morning and got some breakfast sandwiches from the mini mart caddy corner from the ski lodge. They were cheap and delicious! When we got our things packed and around, Toaster, Bandit, Moose Jaw and I got a ride back to trail. We were going to hike the Franconia Ridge today! As Jeff was shuttling us to trail, we past the Indian Head Lodge. There was a sign here about an Alien abduction, where a couple lost two hours of their lives. As we were reading the sign, we heard bandit start laughing. We turned around, and Jeff had put a green alien mask on and told us we were vortexes into the lodge. Which, was going to be true, since we would be back in two days since we planned on taking a zero there. We were all laughing at his mask and taking pictures. Franconia Ridge was breath taking! We spent quite a few miles above tree line, and we could even see Mt. Washington in the distance (which we will be hiking up in a few days). All you could see were mountain ranges after mountain ranges. It¢s crazy how they seem so far away when it¢s really only a few miles. Or a couple of days hike away when it feels like eternity when you¢re at the top. Everything was so green, and the sky was so blue. We had the perfect weather! When we were hiking, a former thru-hiker from Germany came up to us and gave us trail magic! Some Reese¢s cups! I was so surprised! His name was Brake-less since he was a speedy hiker. He only took 12 zeroes! Moose Jaw wanted a funny photo of us, so we used our arms to spell out YOLO (you only live once). This is such a cliche saying, but we thought the picture would be too funny to deny a photo. To our surprised, it turned out pretty dang good! It¢s one of our favorite photos now. HA!At the last peak on the ridge, we ate lunch. I laid down on a rock and rested my eyes until Stogie and Bob Ross caught up to us. From there, the hike was pretty exhausting. I kept tripping over rocks, because I was so tired. A part of trail actually was a steep rocky decline down a waterfall! We honestly thought we were lost at first, because we thought there was no way the trail was a waterfall. But alas, it definitely was the trail! When we got to camp, which was a crazy stealth spot back in no man¢s land, we set up three of our tents in the tiniest area! We were all on giant roots and rocks. And we basically all slept at an incline. That¢s what happens when you try to find a free camping spot in the Whites. It was a tough squeeze, but we all had a great time. We were definitely making memories. It¢s feels good to be done for the day. I can¢t wait for our zero coming up! Today was fun! Super challenging. But fun!
Date: 2023-08-24
From: Stealth Site

To: Route 302
Miles today: 14.6

Mood: °We woke up and it was pretty chilly this morning. I didn¢t want to get out of my sleeping bag, but I knew we had to, because we were going to be picked up by the ski lodge again and take a zero tomorrow. It will be raining all day tomorrow, and we shouldn¢t be hiking above tree line in that kind of weather. We started off with a rough 0.7 mile incline that took us almost an hour. Our legs are exhausted. From there, the rest of the day was much better! We had some more incredible views. The Whites are truly beautiful! Right off trail, halfway through our day we stopped at a hut for some water and a break. There was a couple there that gave me some trail magic, beef jerky! It was delicious! Their daughter wants to thru-hike next year! We finished hiking around 3, and waited for our shuttle. A lot more hikers showed up, so when our shuttle arrived, moose, stogie and I decided to wait. Shit water and love child hopped into the shuttle with Stogie, Toaster, and Bandit. Apparently, it was Shit Waters Birthday! An hour later, Legs and Scissorhands showed up. They were going back to the same place as us. We were already sitting with Loaf and Oil Change. They are actually from New Hampshire! And they offered to take Moose and I along with Legs and Scissorhands back to the ski club. So we got a free ride!! Stogie and three other hikers got picked up not much later! When we got to the ski club, we dropped our bags off and went straight to get food! Mozzarella sticks all around!! Dinner was a lot of fun! The six of us laughed a lot, and enjoyed sitting down. After dinner, Moose Jaw and I FaceTimed our nephew, Char Char. It was so much fun talking to him!! He is growing up so fast! After a fun dinner, we went back to the ski club, showered, and crawled into bed. Toaster found out her dog isn¢t doing well, so she¢s getting off trail for a few days to take care of her dog. It¢s been pretty emotional for her. And the trail has been emotional enough for everyone. We all want to get done, but then at the same time, we don¢t want to get off trail and finish! We love sleeping outside and meeting everyone! It¢s been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least.