morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-29
From: Carl A. Newhall Lean-to (near)

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 35.9
Weather: broken clouds

It was rough trying to get sleep last night. I don¢t have any cold medicine with me, so I¢m determined to put myself in auto-pilot and make Monson today. I¢m confident I¢ll be able to locate some cold medicine somewhere in town.I was on trail for a couple of hours, crossing a small foot bridge when i felt like i was being watched. I looked up and there was a bull moose 40 feet down the trail staring at me. I was a little awestruck at first, then recovered and tried to slowly get my camera without spooking him. He quickly turned and slowly trotted down the trail. I tried to creep up behind him to get a photo but he just seemed to disappear into the woods. It¢s amazing how an animal that large can move so easily and quietly through the woods.I eventually made it to Maine 15 and headed into Monson.I had originally planned to stay at Shaw's but have heard a some negative experiences since the new owners took over. I chose instead to stay at the Lakeshore House and what a good decision it was. The owners are great people and it is a nice place to relax. It sits directly on Lake Hebron, has a pub/grill, patio, kayak and paddle boats for the guests, cable tv and an awesome ambience. There are 4 NOBO's hanging out on the patio, though they are staying at Shaw's. They said only 12 NOBO's are ahead of them and the girl in their group will be the first female to finish this year.My mail drop has not shown up yet, so i am staying here until it arrives. I hope it arrives tomorrow, I'd hate to be stuck here until monday. I think the zero day will do wonders for my cold and hopefully I¢ll be ready to hit the trail again soon.I plan on hitting the little shops in town tomorrow. I¢m planning on walking around and get some pics of some of the older buildings and churches.I want to take a moment and thank my wonderful wife for giving me the opportunity to attempt my thru hike. I couldn't do it without her love and support. And most of all, thank you Munkins for believing in me more than I do myself.
Date: 2007-07-01
To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Even though I had decided to end my trip, there was a small part of me hoping I'd wake up today and feel like continuing on my trip. But I woke feeling the same as yesterday, so I'll stick with plan of getting a shuttle from Monson to Bangor. Take a bus to Portland and fly to Atlanta.It was a long day of traveling to Portland. I arrived at the bus station and found out they have no local bus service on Sundays. I was out of cash and couldn't afford a taxi. So I'd have to walk there. The terminal employee gave me directions and said it'd probably take around 45 minutes. This was going to cut it close. I grabbed my pack and set off for the airport. It took just under 45 minutes and luckily there was hardly anyone at the airport. I was quickly routed to the line where they do additional security measures. They had me unpack every single item from backpack, swabbed them all and ran 'em through their detection device. I stood there for almost 40 minutes while they did their work. Normally, I woulnd't have minded this but this was pushing it close to me not making my flight. By the time they finished and I repacked everything, I had less than 10 minutes to get to my gate and board the plane. I do have to say they were extremely nice about the whole situation and I was thankful.My decision to leave the trail was all the more clear tonight. I had a case of the 'runs' hit while waiting at Washington/Dulles Airport for my connecting flight to Atlanta. If I'd been out on the trail, this could have quickly led to a serious situation for me. The last time I had a stomach bug like this one, I wound up in the ER less than 12 hours from the onset of the symptoms. I had to get 4 units of fluids to rehydrate me. This bug wasn't as bad but it was enough to make me feel somewhat better about bailing on my trip.
Date: 2007-07-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Finally got in to see a doctor and it was a good decision to leave the trail. I have viral bronchitis, which normally takes about 6 weeks for it to run its course. My doctor says it was likely I would have developed pneumonia had I continued to hike on the trail with the bronchitis.It's been very tough accepting that I'm off the trail but I know it was the right decision.
Date: 2007-03-20
To: A year ago today
Miles today: 0.0

Well it was a year ago today that Pi and I ( K'ache) set out at Springer Mountain for a very wild , wonderful, fun, painful and, yes, sometimes even sad trek along the AT. As I look out my office window ( yuck!) I'm pining to be in GA now that spring has sprung. I can't believe I used the word "pine" but need, want and yearn just don't seem to paint the right picture.But its not all sad. I am going back up this summer for 6 weeks to finish where I left off in Darby VT. Pi has decided to come along. I'm so looking forward, but I know it's gonna be hard (no grueling) as I won't have 5 months of hiking behind me like all the other thru hikers. But I'm hopng I will have the stamina and strength to finish it.I spent this past weekend drying more food and packaging dinners for mail drops. This weekend coming up we'll be going to Austin to meet up with all the 2006 thru hikers from various TX areas for a little reunion. Even Brainfreeze from NC will be joining us!I don't know whether I should start a new journal or just attach this to where Pi left off...but since this is a continuous journey for us I think I'll keep it all together. oops tried to do that but then these entries are sectioned off with 2006 so I started a new journalK'ache
Date: 2007-03-21
To: 1st day of spring
Miles today: 0.0

Gosh its a dreary day here in MD....spring just doesn't seem to want to come. The peepers are peeping at night but that's about all. Oh yeah bluebirds have been flocking through. I got alittle taste of reality today...I keep forgetting that I'm 44. You know if you don't have kids you don't really grow up, you think you're still in your 20's. But after 40 the body starts to break down and tell you so. My feet are really bothering me so I broke down and went to the doctor (lots of Rx creams and a referral to a specialist). I really need to clear this up so I can get some hiking in on the weekends. I can't just get on the trail in August in Vermont and expect to churn out 15 miles or so a day. I just heard a song from the new RUSH CD I hope they don't tour when I'm on the trail...I don't have time to get off briefly for a concert and get back on and continue to Kathdin. But I just might do that. Other thru hikers last year got off and on for more insignificant things.
Date: 2007-03-28
To: Austin!
Miles today: 0.0

Went down to Austin Texas last weekend to meet up with some of the 2006 thru hikers. Wow were we surprised! Not only were there hikers from Austin but a few wanderers like us. She-bear took us out to the local bar where the music was totally country as were the customers. Ladies hung out near the dance floor where men came up and individualy and asked each if they wanted to dance. Pi and I tried dancing, but I'm not too good two steppin or any other choreographed dance. But we had lots of fun, good music, good drink and good friends. Over the weekend we saw She-bear, Erock, Carbomb and Lichen, 42,Kilgore, Brainfreeze, Jody Foster, IC, Bruiser and Pinata. I think I'm leaving out a few folks but I'll remember. We spent the night at Carbomb and Lichen's who took us to a great little diner for delicious Tex Mex breakfast. We sat around with them and Brainfreeze and talked "gear" til 2 in the afternoon. Then it was off to a homestead outside of town where friends of Erock invited the whole thru-hiker crowd to a barbeque with lots of cold beer, a bonfire and fun stuff like hula hooping, pinanta bashing and a "Set up the tent relay" race.We all stayed up late talking the night away! I am so ready to get back on the trail this summer. We're hoping just to get out and backpack a little this weekend. The warblers and wrens are calling to me from the woods!
Date: 2007-07-30
From: Danby 

To: Greenwell shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: light rain

7-30After finally getting to Danby we found we needed just a little cash and of course by time my card wasn't working and there was no other ATM in town to try gtting cash with other cards. We met a local,Carolyn, who sells antiques in Danby who offered to drive us to the trailhead, which we accepted. When it was all said and done also she drove Pi a couple miles to the closest ATM and let me use her phone to get some of our finances in order and then drove us to the trailhead. Hiked a rolling up and down from Danby to Greenwall shelter. Stopped along a pond and took a refreshing skinny dip. Very nice!Dinner was rice, chicken and veggies.We hiked 7 miles to the closest shelter where the hikers there at first kind of ignored us but by the end of the evening we had already made friends.
Date: 2007-07-31
From: Greenwell Shelter

To: Secret Shetlter
Miles today: 13.2

.7-31Traveled about 14 miles from Grenwell Shelter to Secret Shelter. Lots of tough little climbs.It was wonderful hiking thru the pines, listening to the 9 sec. warbler (winter wren), soaked our feet and heads in cold mountain stream. Hit some trail magic of sodas in a stream and sodas and beer at the Secret Shelter. Pretty much kept pace back and forth all day with Grasshopper, Steve, Life Adventurer and (V8?)I walked hard today and got my first blister. It's not too bad but tomorrow we climb our first real mountain here, Mt. Killington. I'm not looking forward to it but it's a good tester for the rest of the trail. Dinner was an incredible hikers stew of beef, green beans, carrots, beans, cream sauce and cheese.
Date: 2007-08-01
From: Secret Shetlter

To: Gifford Woods State park
Miles today: 15.2

8 1Woke up very sore in my quadranceps, probably from all the down climbing. Spent the morning climbing up 2,100 feet to Killington Mountain 3870 . It was a tough litle climb mostly due to the how sore I was, plus my lovely little blister. We spent the day hopping back and forth between Life Traveler, Steve Rizzo, Grasshopper and Denali. Once we topped out on Killington, we all meant up and decided to head another 7 miles to Gifford Woods State Park to split a campsite.Since Pi has already done this hike, he decided to take a short cut down the mountain, Sherburne Pass, to pick up our maildrop at the Inn, hitch into town for some beer and goodies and a campsite. The rest of us kept hiking but due to our different paces, spread out quickly. We met back up at the park around the same time. I already have gotten into a pretty good hiking pace, about 2 miles an hour, alittle faster downhill.Camped at the park typical park setting, but had a nice evening with a fire and chili for dinner
Date: 2007-08-02
From: Gifford woods state park

To: Overlook Cabin
Miles today: 15.3

8-2Got up and took a wonderful 75 cent shower. I feel two pounds ligher. Hiking about 12 miles today to Overlook shelter where, hopefully, we will have a bright sky tonight. Well the 12 miles turned out to be 15 and the first mountain was a kicker, 1,000 feet elevation gain in about .3 of a mile. Everyone from Young Steve to Grasshopper thought it was pretty tough. We all perservered and went up and down all day until 7 pm when we reached the cabin with a roof top deck. Pretty cool, 360 degree view! Saw lots of moose poop and tracks but no live ones yet.My feet are just soooo tender. My legs are not having a hard time getting used to the routine but the feet are. I ve got lots of blisters that at night seem to callouse over so I m not too concerned. It's at the end of the day when stepping on a root or rock just the worng way ....It is very cool lush and green. I hear its very hot and dry in MD. I ve seen lots of salamanders, chipmunks and red squirrels heard lots of wrens, veerys, thrushes and owls. Those at shelter included us, Life Traveler, Grasshopper, and a few new aquaintances, Gorilla, Sandwich and Denali made it up. It's cool and breezy tonight and I think I'll be comfortable sleeping. Pi and I have both been sleeping really well. Sorry to be jumping around so much I'm just trying to think of all the things that stick in my mind today. One thing I kept thinking as I approached another false summit, where you think you have reached the top and the trail turns alittle to reveal that it goes on and up, is that this is really hard and we are not even in the really hard stuff in NH.Well we passed a sign today in the morning that said Kathdin is 487 miles away. Cool I broke the 500 mile mark.<
Date: 2007-08-03
From: Overlook Cabin

To: Thistle Hill Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: scattered clouds

.8 3This mornning I woke around 6 am and went out to pee. The mountains, that we sticking up last evening, were now surrounded in mist and barely sticking up. The sun was a red orb looking more like an eyeless Jupiter than the sun. It was gonna be a hot hot day.And it turned out to be hot and humid which made our 15 miles that much tougher. We were planning on hiking past the shelter Thistle Hill but just as we stopped in for water a rumble of thunder decided it for us. Although it was hot we did have some breezy stops that kept us going.We just heard that there is a new store about 4 miles down the trail that serves breakfast so we are going to jet out of here early tomorrow go get some breakfast and then hike another 11 miles into Hanover. Sweet.It's only been 4 days and I already into the swing of things, my legs feel good. Hiking feels good. My feet are still a bit tender. Actually I've got quite a few BIG blisters, but once I get going and the endorphins kick in I don't feel them. I guess it's the same as any other athletic sport.Went through everything from swampy, buggy forests to pine forests to wildflower meadows and cow pastures. As soon as you got alittle tired of the scenery it changed. Tonite our shelter mates are a young couple with a german shepard. Seem nice enough, but maybe just alittle too cool. We ll see.
Date: 2007-08-04
From: Thistle Hill Shelter

To: Hanover
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: clear sky

8 4Nice night with no rain but something, maybe a squirrel, was messing around on the metal roof and occasionally something big would drop down on it and BANG!!Woke up to cooler, breezier temperatures. Everyone, Pooch, Tom Dooley, Radar, he came in late, and the two of us all decided to get up early to try to get to West Hartford in time for the breakfast in the only food place in town. Food has already become one of the main things on our minds these days.Hiked through some great mountain meadows with wildflowers almost as tall as us. Also ran into some great blackberry patches. It was a rolling hike but as we got into town we had just missed breakfast and had to settle for yummy sandwiches. Ran into Pooch, Tom Dooley, their dog Roxie and Radar. Took a long break before getting back on the trail. Pi and I were lagging behind everyone else as we were taking our time and my feet were starting to complain.Got into Hanover only to find that the Motor Inn where our maildrop was sent had no rooms available, the other hotel in town was a rip off...$250 night, another Inn outside of town was full and the Hostel was closed. We met up with Radar and another hiker Tom B and found another place, a private home that took in hikers for whatever you can donate. The woman, Karen, picked us up, drove us to the store for beer, drove us to the inn to pick up the mail drop and then to her house where she had a pop up camper shaped like a teepee and another RV that would be our homes for the night.We ordered pizza and dined outside in the yard looking out over the mountains. Karen had her first beer ever! The popup camper was absolutley groovy. Pop you would love it!
Date: 2007-08-05
From: Hanover

To: Moose Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 11.0

8 5Karen drove us back to town for a giant breakfast at Lou s. Once we get into our maildrop we ll stop at the food coop for any other needed items then it's off onto another 12 or 15 miles north of Hanover. 8/5/07Hanover to Moose Mountain Shelter 11.0 milesForget to mention yesterday that as we crossed the Conn. River into Hanover we also crossed into NH!Hung around Hanover or as Pi would say "Hand Over Your Wallet" longer than we intended but got emails sent, files uploaded, banking phone calls, etc. all done.Ran into Denali just coming in around noon. She tried to get us to take a zero or at least have lunch and a beer, but we knew if we stayed any longer we d shoot the day.As it was, we didn t get back on the trail until 2 pm. It was a rollar coaster kind of hike so we made use of the conditions and tried to move along. We did however stop at a road side where we had stashed a couple beers on our way to town this morning.Cool and comfortable most of the day through mostly coniferous forests which meant hiking on more roots and rock than actual ground. Still it was much more comfortable on our feet than asphalt. That s really tough and the short time we were in town put a hurtin on my feet.Late in the afternoon, as we were breaking for a snack, we heard something moving through the woods, definitely bigger than a squirrel and on four legs. And first I thought deer but at the same time we thought bear, I saw a relativley small black bear heading in our direction. We saw him before he saw us so all it took was alittle loud talking and noise making and he went the other way. Still we decided to move on.We got to the shelter and found that the spring was dried up but luckily trail angels had left containers of water. We saw Tom B, Radar and even ran into Steve Rizzo! Couple other campers are here but it's buggy so everyone is in their tents except those few in the shelter. We re having our first cocktail in our new tent on the trail. Nice.
Date: 2007-08-06
From: Moose Mt. Shelter

To: Hexicube shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: moderate rain

8/6 Moose Mtn. Shelter to Hexicube ShelterWoke up ot brief clear skies that quickly turned to rain. It looked pretty cloudy everywhere so we decided to just stick it out and hike.Hike a few miles to John Trapper shelter and met up with Radar and made some coffee and tried to dry off and warm up. But it was evident that the rain was going to be with us all day so we headed back out to hike over Smarts Mountain to a ranger cabin at the top. It was a hard but fun hike as we actually did some climbing and clamboring over huge slabs of quartzite and marble. What normally would have taken us 2 hours to hike took 4 just because of how steep it was. We should have seen some of the best views so far but by the time we got up on the mountain the fogg was thick and rolling.We stopped at the Ranger cabin for a snack. It was close to 4 and we considered staying since the next shelter area was another 3 hours away, but the cabin was very smelly and funky. So Pi, Radar and I decided to go onward to Hexicube Shelter even though it was still wet and foggy.We made good time getting to Hexicube but it was pretty full when we got there so we set up our tent, had a cocktail, made dinner then off to bed.Although it was an incredibly tough day coming up Smarts it was kinda fun having a change in topography, it was challenging.
Date: 2007-08-07
From: Hexicube shelter

To: Glencliff
Miles today: 14.7

.8/7 Hexicube Shelter to Glencliff 14.7 milesWe decided to sleep in alittle this morning and were the last peopple out of the shelter. No biggie today should be relatively easy....relatively.We hike up Hexicube Mountain which had it's share of steep slabs of rocks to climb. When we got to the top we have views of Smart Mountain. It looked huge and very far away. It s hard to believe that we actually hiked that. And this is just the beginning. We took (accidently) the North Peak Trail of Hexicube instead of the AT and added another hour of hiking to our day. But ended up with beautiful views before we realized the mistake and had to turn around. No biggie. It s all downhill (relatively) to Glencliff .Along the trail we ran into day hikers coming the other way. The woman looked at us and recognized us saying  Pi and K ache you made it back on the trail!  It was the woman who we met last year in Danby section hiking. We had told her about how I was hurt and was going to Rutland to try and heal up. She was waiting for her husband to pick her up and offered to take me to Rutland. It was awesome seeing her and her husband again. What are the odds of that happening.....trail magic.We got into Glencliff early and hit the Hikers Welcome Hostel. Great place with showers, laundry, food, reading material, and movies. Lots of hikers are here and I couldn t find any bunks so we tented out. Spent the evening around a fire drinking some mead that a hiker, Home brew, had made.
Date: 2007-08-08
From: Glencliff

To: Glencliff
Miles today: 0.0

.8/8 Glencliff 0 milesWoke up to pouring rain. We spent most of the morning trying to decide whether we should slackpack south over Mt. Moosilauke because its easier going southbound and we would only have to carrywater and snacks for the day. The closer we got to getting ready, the worse the rain seem to get. I was worried that even though we were going to do the mountain by the easier side, it would be very slippery and muddy.....treacherous. So basically we bailed on that idea and decided to stay at the hostel and go early tomorrow to do the big mountain. Well its noon and no one here at the hostel, about 20 hikers, has decided to hike. The rain has stopped yet the montains are still wrapped in a cottonly clouds. The sun peaks out shyly now and again and you can see in everyone s mind a glimmer of "I should be out there. It s not so bad" But we know. Looks easy, ok from here. But the trail will be soft and mushy with twisted slippery roots at times being your only recourse from slogging through the mud. And where the trail is hard, rocky hard, you ll need to keep as much of your wet and muddy boots on the steep inclines in order to go forward without sliding. Sometimes it's so steep I m tempted to hike on my toes but this increases the chances of slipping.There is something different this time on this hike. I feel better about myself, I m more confident as I hop from rock to rock, walk across a log bridge or climb a slab of marble. Crossing rocks on creeks still slows me down. I still hesitate there and will have to work on that in order to keep my feet dry.