morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-07-25
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Melville Naheim Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Cold. That's what I was last night. Around four in the morning I found myself shivering, so I put on my wind jacket and the long pants that I haven't used since April - yes I'm still carrying them. RT, who is like two inches from my tent, heard me moving around and asked if I was packing up. Hell no! It's four o'clock, I'm cold and I'm putting on more clothes - go back to sleep! This morning after breakfast, we headed out. Rumor has it that this state is not called Vermont but is called Vermud or Verroot. The weather is the best we've had for some time. RT picked a great time to come up.This morning Slim Jim, Sky Pilot, Papa Bear and Cash started out first. RT and myself followed but were by ourselves. Once we reached the power lines, they were all sitting around soaking up the sun. I told them they looked like a bunch of buzzards roosting in the sun! Getting back on the trail, RT started out first and I decided to go last, mainly because I noticed two ponds listed on today's hike and I know if you want a chance to see a moose you have to be quiet. So the first pond I came to I scanned it, but no moose. So I moved on to the next pond. This time I'm on wooden boards that have been built high off the swampy area and I'm about two feet below the beaver dam, I'm looking around and, and, no moose. But once on land, I noticed a large print the size of a horse print in the mud. At first I thought I had found a Sasquatch footprint, but the great white hunter, RT, confirmed it to be a bear! We hiked down to VT-9. It was a very steep decent and a long way down. I stayed in front of RT, far enough ahead that if he fell, he wouldn¢t fall on me! Brotherly love. We all made it down with no falls, walked across the road and trail magic of ice cold drinks were there waiting on us. RT, I and about ten other hikers are laid out in the parking lot and thirty minutes later M 80, Trooper and Willow show up. Every time I see these guys, I'm glad to see them. I think it¢s because they¢re the first ones I met when I got back on the trail and I hope this continues all the way to Katahdin. We are all here at Melville Nauheim Shelter. I'm tenting and RT wanted to experience the shelter life tonight.
Date: 2013-07-26
From: Melville Naheim Shelter

To: Kid Gore Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: broken clouds

Once again I woke up in the middle of the night, teeth chattering. I had to put my pants on and my jacket to try and warm up. It went from being in the 90's down to the 60's in the daytime and my guess is 50's at night. Am I ready for my winter gear already? Today's hike took us through a spruce forest that reminds me of Christmas time and also hiking the Great Smokey Mountains. The wind was blowing then a light rain and we ended up putting our jackets on. We couldn't hike fast enough to stay warm. We are staying here at Kid Gore Shelter tonight. One of the places I had wanted to stay at in Vermont was the Green Mountain House. Most every hiker I started out with stayed here and had nothing but good things to say about it. So I called and was told they are booked for Sunday night - what a big letdown. I was really looking forward to it. Oh well, I have three more places I want to visit before my journey ends. RT will be leaving Sunday so I'll be staying somewhere and resupplying in Manchester Center, VT.
Date: 2013-07-27
From: Kid Gore Shelter

To: Winhall River
Miles today: 17.0

Last night I stayed warm with the help of shorts, socks, pants, shirt, jacket, buff, sleeping bag and liner. We left at 7:30 and, like always, Cash was gone. This guy is amazing. I noticed he's got this bounce when he hikes that I've tried to duplicate and it wears me out. He has yet to complain about anything. He's got this blister on his ankle that makes me hurt! He'll eat with a swarm of mosquitoes all around him, sleep without a pad and sit in the hot sun. I tell ya, they broke the mold after he was born! My brother, RT, went second and I followed and it¢s a good thing I was last. I¢ve picked up his sunglasses four times wear he has dropped them while hiking. We made it down to the parking lot for Stratton Mountain where Cash was tending to his blister and I mentioned that two guys coming out of the woods had passed me earlier carrying two large containers and they don't have them now, so we are thinking there is trail magic in the woods ahead. When they drive off, Cash and I got up and started to go find it, but first a young couple in the parking lot offered us some extra food. We took it and thanked them and then headed off into the woods to look for those containers, but no luck. So we walked back with our heads hanging low, grabbed our packs and headed up Stratton Mountain. It¢s a nice climb up and at the top there's a caretaker that stays there, I guess to keep people from camping on top. There is also an old fire tower which we all climbed. The views were great and you could see New Hampshire some 104 miles away. It was a little cool up top and once we climbed down off the tower we thought about taking the gondola down to Stratton for BBQ but the ride back up was not until tomorrow at ten o'clock. (Stratton Mountain has a ski resort.) We thought we might stay at the Stratton Pond Shelter but it¢s five dollars to shelter or tent there so we kept going to the Winhall River where we set up our tents. We went down and sat in the middle of the river on rocks and ate supper and I soaked my feet in the cold water. Today's hike has my feet stinging and my knees aching. Seventeen miles today and eight tomorrow into Manchester Center, VT.
Date: 2013-07-28
From: Winhall River

To: Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: light rain

This morning as we were packing up, I looked up at the footbridge and ¢K Fox¢ was standing there looking down at the water. She came on over and we talked awhile and we hiked for a bit together. We don't have much left to eat so that's our motivation to hike to the road a bit faster. On the way there we met Tom, a section hiker, and he offers us a ride into town. Cash, RT and I come to the road first, then K Fox shows up and calls the inn where she's staying for a free shuttle. They pick her up within ten minutes. About twenty minutes later, Tom comes out of the woods and takes us right to where we are staying, Sutton¢s Place. After we check in, we walk around the block and, believe or not, RT buys our lunch. Then we split up and I go shoe shopping. My old boots are killing my feet so it¢s time for new ones. I'll ship them up the trail like last time, just in case! I head back to the house and RT is asleep in the room - poor baby is all tuckered out. I don't understand why. He's only done 82 miles and by the way guys, back at the power plant, you can have him back now - he's all yours! I'm gonna miss all those moans and groans at night that he makes. The owner gave me a ride to the laundry mat, and now I'm at McDonalds drinking SWEET ICED TEA!
Date: 2013-07-29
From: Manchester Center, VT

To: Bromley Mountain Ski Patrol Shelter
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: few clouds

After a great night¢s sleep, we were up at 6am. My brother has to catch the 7:30am short bus into Bennington, then the Peter Pan bus to Pittsfield, MA to get his car. I told him he could just hike south back to it, but I don't think he liked my suggestion. I gathered all the stuff I was shipping forward and headed off to the post office, way down the street. When I got there, ¢Baltimore¢ was there going through his supply box. After I was done at the post office, I went to Price Chopper and resupplied my empty food bag. I¢m sorry but I can¢t find the email for someone who posted in my Guest Book and wanted to know what kind of resupply do I get in towns. Well it¢s mostly honey buns, candy bars, mac and cheese, a quart of Gatorade, freeze dried meals if available, crackers, chips, candy, some type of pasta with noodles and tuna (lunch kits if available) - that about sums it up. I went back to the house and repacked my pack and Cash and I walked down to McDonalds and had lunch. Both of us were starting to nod off, we just didn¢t have the urge to get going. A couple of hours later, we start walking back to the trail. Thanks to Cash¢s thumb up in the air, a mile and a half down the road we get a ride. Peter picked us up and dropped us off at the trail. We get to the first shelter and started talking about maybe night hiking. Then Cash sees in the shelter log that the Bromley Ski Patrol Shelter is open to hikers so we went just a little bit further and now here we are on top of Bromley Mountain with a 360 degree view. The shelter is enclosed and there are six hikers and one dog here tonight. We got in a whopping 3 miles today but that's better than zero miles!
Date: 2013-07-30
From: Bromley Mountain Ski Patrol Shelter

To: Big Branch Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

I've finally gotten to do two things I've been wanting to do since I started. 1. I watched the sunset from a high vantage point. 2. I saw the stars with no white lights around and let me tell ya, I¢ve never seen so many stars. 3. This one is a bonus. I had to answer the call of nature this morning at 5:15am, so I got up and looked out the window and the sky was getting light, so I grabbed my camera, phone and coat and out the door I went. The first thing I noticed was the wind and then the cold. I walked down the hill behind a mountain of rocks to keep out of the wind and watched the sun come up. I ended up staying out there till 5:50am and then went back inside, covered up with my sleeping bag and slept till 7:45am. Then, one by one, everyone started waking up. Violet, who we've hiked with before, stopped by and Cash and I soon followed her down Bromley Mountain. The weather today has to be the best to date. There were some peaks with views. I can tell we¢re not in Massachusetts anymore. We¢re more in the woods now and there is less noise. Today we hiked on and off with Violet, K Fox, Code Walker, Lentil and Pfeiffer. I'm passing more south bounders now and most of them say, ¢You¢re going to love the Whites!¢ All I can say is, ¢You¢re going to hate the swamps and mosquitoes!¢ I'm tenting behind the Big Branch Shelter and the big branch in front of the shelter is loud. Still no moose, but I'm looking hard to spot one.
Date: 2013-07-31
From: Big Branch Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Today is the last day of hiking for the month of July. I figure I have roughly forty days to go, but I know the Whites are going to slow me down! I packed up, ate some high calorie junk food then walked down to the shelter. Cash was the only one left and he was about ready to leave so I went first and told him that he'll catch me before I reach the top, and he did. It takes me about an hour for my feet to loosen up and if I stop for a few minutes they get stiff, so I try to keep them moving. Today's hike has us going - you guessed it - up and down, but yesterday and today's hike are more enjoyable as there are more trees and some nice quiet ponds and the views are different and also the temperatures are cooler. At about two o'clock my feet were hurting and every now and then bolts of sharp pain run through them, so I stopped at a footbridge and soaked my feet in the stream. The cold water numbed them pretty quick and after thirty minutes I was back on the trail. I made it to one of the shelters and Cash was there so I cooked some mac and cheese and had a pack of tuna and then we left for Clarendon Shelter, 3.7 miles away. I have enough hiker vitamins in me that a car could hit me and I wouldn't feel it. Later on I crossed a suspension bridge, went through weeds taller than I am and then had to climb a very steep hill made up of big boulders of all sizes. I thought that was going to be my roughest part, but then I came upon a small tree across the trail on a downhill - too high to go over, so I went under and the momentum of me going downhill and trying to bend low enough, along with my pack shifting had to be a hell of a site. I just hope no one saw me. I made it to the shelter, put up my tent, changed into dry clothes and ate some chicken pasta and crackers for dinner at the shelter. Tomorrow I'll see the 500 miles to go mark!
Date: 2013-08-03
From: US 4, Rutland VT (10 miles W)

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Cash and I have decided to ZERO, my first since June 10th when I was in Harpers Ferry, WV with my wife. We could have stayed at the hostel again but I¢ve earned a free night¢s stay at the Comfort Inn so that's where we'll be, and they have a hot tub. Check-in¢s at three so we asked the owners of the hostel if we could leave our packs there for awhile and they said we could. The farmer¢s market and the street vendors are set up in the street and in the Walmart parking lot. I make my rounds and I come to a vendor giving free half ounce shots of Whistle Pig 100 proof Vermont rye whiskey ¢ aw, that hit the spot! I kept hearing this humming sound coming from the Walmart garden shop, so I walked over to it and it¢s an Amtrak train sitting there at the train depot. Then I walked around town looking at all the old building, houses and churches - time is flying by. At three I have a massage lined up, so I make my way over there and it was a relaxing massage. Then I go and grab my pack and head to the hotel. Cash was at the Hibachi Buffet and will join me later.I check in and go pick up a few things at the grocery store and repack my pack. Now I'm going to the hot tub! Rutland turned out to be a great place to zero and I highly recommend the hiker hostel at the Yellow Deli.
Date: 2013-08-05
From: Mountain Meadows Lodge, Killington, VT

To: The Lookout cabin
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: broken clouds

We left the lodge around 9:40am and walked down to the lake where the trail starts. I took some pictures of the lake with the wind blowing so hard it was making some white caps and waves like it was the ocean. But once we started in the woods, the wind wasn't so bad. I've got to much food. I need to stop grocery shopping when I'm hungry. Mine and Cash¢s packs weigh a ton and today's hike has like a 1200 foot climb in 1.4 miles. The temps are in the upper fifties with strong winds and I'm still sweating like a pig. While I'm taking a break, this older guy comes up and asked me my name and I asked him his. He is Kokopelli and I tell him, ¢I¢ve heard of you. You¢re like a legend out here.¢ He laughed and said he¢s a legend in his own mind. This guy broke his knee cap sixty miles from the finish last year and started all over again this year. He¢s also had two hip replacements - and I complain about my feet!We're 2.4 miles from the Lookout Cabin. It¢s privately owned and they let hikers use it for free. We came to the last watering hole, a nice stream, and fill up as there's no water at the cabin. I've got a gallon of water so that's eight more pounds to my already heavy pack. It is uphill all the way and it doesn't take long before my knees and feet feel the extra weight. When we get to the cabin we find lots of other hikers here including Sky Pilot and Cash. I'm eating two meals in an attempt to eat my pack weight down when this girl comes in and asked, ¢Is Cash here?¢ (way to go Cash!) Turns out its ¢Rise¢ and her sister ¢Shine¢ whose mom we had met at the hotel. There's probably twelve hikers here altogether with someone out on the porch singing and one guy is playing a guitar. Everyone is enjoying themselves. By 9:30pm, everybody is in their sleeping bags including me.
Date: 2013-08-06
From: The Lookout cabin

To: Thistle Hill Shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I was up at five am and at five thirty I went up to the crow¢s nest and watched another beautiful sunrise. Then I went back inside and got back in my sleeping bag to warm up. I finally got up for good and left at 7:45am. The three of us, Cash, Sky Pilot and I, have a place to stay at tomorrow night but first we have a lot of ups and downs today. My left calf is a little sore. I've been stretching it out so we'll see how it goes today. At around 11:00am I came up to VT 12 and Cash is walking towards me. He said there's a store over there, so off I go. Why you ask? I know I have enough food to last for DAYS, but there is something about a store that draws hikers to them. Maybe it¢s cold drinks or they have what's not in your pack. At the On the Edge Farm store I ended up getting two Cokes, a Gatorade, a pack of ham lunch meat, two buns, Cheetos and an apple. And after I ate my sandwiches, I went back for ice cream! After all that, I told Cash, ¢I need a nap!¢ But the nap will have to wait. On our way back to the trail, we passed the Red Barn. This is another place where hikers are welcome to stay. There's a nice long uphill climb after that and I'm not looking forward to it on a full stomach. I try like hell to hang with Cash but that boy is too strong for me. He's up ahead by 300 yards and then¢¦he stops! What, the super hiker is having to stop? Is he out of breath? I know I am. As I get closer, I see that he's taking pictures, of what I don't know. Then he's says, ¢Bear, big bear.¢ I missed it! That would have been twelve for me, I think? He takes off and I'm once again alone in the woods (sounds like a title to a book). I won't see him till I reach the Thistle Hill Shelter for the night. I had told him not to wait on me today.Later on, as I came up on a gravel road, there's a cooler - trail magic, but my luck ¢ it¢s empty. That's alright, 2 tenths of a mile up the road is another store so off I go, just to find out its closed. I go back down to the trail and my calf is starting to knot up and it hurts so I stretch it out and pop some more ibuprofen. I have 2.3 miles to go. As I enter the woods, the mosquitoes start to feast on my legs. I must not be hiking fast enough. Then to my surprise, I'm here. It took an hour and a half - not bad for uphill. I'm tenting and after supper I'm in my sleeping bag and it¢s still light out. But I'm tired, sore...and very close to New Hampshire!
Date: 2013-08-07
From: Thistle Hill Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Sky Pilot and I tented last night while Cash stayed in the shelter. This morning we left around 7:30 with breakfast on our minds. The only thing in our way is miles of hills. Sky Pilot and I hiked most of the way together and Cash, of course, was gone. We crossed the bridge and we were in West Hartford. We walked up to the Full Belly Deli and Cash was outside waiting on us. After pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, toast and a liter of Pepsi, I was full. We followed the trail down though the small town and into the woods. It didn't take long for the sweat to start dripping off the brim of my hat, a few mosquitoes to start buzzing around and now we have some left over black flies, which have somehow managed to bite me on my lower back, in a spot that¢s hard to reach while hiking, but I somehow can slide my hiking pole under my pack while hiking and scratch - oh that feels good!Sky pilot and I keep up a good pace and we finally reach Elm Street where Cash is already enjoying a nice cold Mountain Dew and a candy bar so we join him, even though our home for the night is just a tenth of a mile downhill. It's trail magic; what would you do? After our magic, we walked down to Short ¢n Sweet¢s house where we will stay tonight. She had posted the invitation on my guest book page and it was too good of an offer to pass up. We dropped our packs off in the garage and walked into the town of Norwich, VT. Then we continued on. The trail then crosses the Connecticut River into Hanover, New Hampshire and onto the Dartmouth College Campus. One of my customers, Mr. Sutton, always spoke so highly of Dartmouth College. He had gone to school here and every time I'd see him he'd talk about how the AT goes though here. Well Mr. Sutton, I made it and I can see why you loved it here! I will miss our talks that we had about your Dartmouth, RIP!The first thing we do is go get a free slice of pizza at Ramunto¢s Brick Oven Pizza. Then we go to the post office. We all have two packages each to pick up but one of mine won't get here until tomorrow, but that's okay as we¢re zeroing anyway. This place has free bus service - well someone's paying for it! So we take the brown bus back to Norwich and I call Short ¢n Sweet and she said, ¢I'll be right there to pick you up.¢ When she arrived she told us to go into Dan & Whit¢s General Store and get a free sandwich - hikers get free food all over these two towns! They were out of sandwiches so they gave us each two big grilled chicken legs. When we got back to her house she took the chicken and started making supper with them. We took showers, and then spent an hour going through our packs. Short ¢n Sweet also washed our clothes. We enjoyed a nice dinner of spaghetti and chicken out on the screened-in porch. After supper we went to the basement where we laid on big blown-up air mattresses. With our bellies full, our clothes washed and the dirt washed off of us, we fell asleep.I think I see a flicker of light at the end of my green tunnel!
Date: 2013-08-08
From: Hanover, NH

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today is a zero for us. We caught a ride from our host on his way to work and the first stop was breakfast at Lou's. Next, I went to the CVS drug store to burn the pictures from my camera onto six cd's, then off to the post office to mail them home. My box from home that didn't show up at the post office yesterday arrived this morning so I'll be switching back to some of my winter gear. We took two buses into West Lebanon to go shopping at L.L. Bean and then E.M.S. Outfitters. I was looking to replace my Exped pillow pump, which is leaking, but they did not sale those at either store. I told Cash and Sky Pilot that somebody better buy something before we leave, so Sky Pilot bought a water bottle. Afterwards we ate lunch at Lui Lui¢s Brick Oven Pizza, then caught two buses back to Hanover. From there we split up and I, of course, being smarter than the average bear, went to Webster Hall Library on campus and well I..auh..well I¢¦ okay, I used the wifi to do my journaling. Then I went to the DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) and picked up my box I had put in the secretary¢s office this morning and then we all caught another bus back to Norwich VT and walked back to the house. I'm antsy to get back in the woods. The miles around town don't count but believe me, they add up.