morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-08-17
From: Shambrock Village Inn #10

To: Mark Noepal Lean-to
Miles today: 13.7

Hiking in my heavy boots again after months of Trail Runners is very strange. My feet feel like they weigh tons, but also feel like they¢re coated in armor. I barely notice rocks and roots underfoot in my boots.Didn¢t get as many miles in today as I would have liked. I got a latish start, as usual, and the lodge on top of Mt. Greylock has closed its hiker hostel. That put the next shelter at 19+ miles, which I could not have done before dark. So I pulled up short here on the side of Greylock.Camped here with me tonight are ¢Possum¢, ¢Cowboy¢, and ¢Fireman¢, as well as a bevy of section hikers. I saw ¢Garden Gnome¢ and ¢Mouse Hat¢ slackpacking south as well. Other than that, I think most people I know are behind me again. It¢s ok; such are the rhythms of the hike.The climb up Greylock has been pretty nice so far. Some steep sections, sure, but all ¢hiking¢ rather than ¢climbing¢. I¢m about 500¢ from the summit height-wise, though still a few miles travelwise. I can almost taste the end!
Date: 2006-08-18
From: Mark Noepal Lean-to

To: Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: clear sky

I¢m not sure exactly what happened today. I hiked a full day, but somehow ended up doing small miles.        I think it must have been the rest of Greylock that did it. The remaining ascent wasn¢t terrible, but it was slow going. Then going down the other side was extremely slow due to it being steep. Also, my feet are not yet used to my boots again, and are hurting pretty bad on the downhills. I just need to be patient while my old boot calluses return.        I also lingered for a bit on the summit of Greylock. The lodge there is really comfortable, and the views were some of the best I have seen in a long time.        The fact that another 1,500 foot climb came immediately after Greylock probably didn¢t help either. After so long in the low mountains, I¢m not used to repeated large climbs one after another. It shouldn¢t take long to get re-used to them again though.
Date: 2006-08-19
From: Sherman Brook Campsite

To: Autumn Inn #119
Miles today: 16.6

Hotel + books: short journal entries. Sorry about this, but it¢s true. I¢m in a hotel tonight because it¢s supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. I know you have to hike in the rain to get to Maine, but I¢ve had enough rain for one year.        Bennington is a beautiful little town, and I¢m glad I came down to see it. They have a nice bookstore that had the book I was looking for. They also have a bunch of nice restaurants, including one that brews their own beer on-premises. I sampled many of their brews and found them to be excellent.
Date: 2006-08-21
From: Autumn Inn

To: Kid Gore Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Good hiking today with challenging but not annoying terrain, great views, and no rain.        I got my typical late start this morning, hitting the Bennington office of the American Red Cross around 10. The Red Cross shuttles hikers back to the trail, and they drove me and ¢Fireman¢ to the trailhead.        After that the day was mostly climbing. About 2,500 feet of total elevation gained, but it kept going down for every up, so I probably climbed nearly 4 ¢ 5,000 feet today. I was quite pleased to find that my trail legs are still going strong and that I required no mid-climb breaks. It helps that the terrain was pretty good as well. There were a few steep bits, but on the whole the climb was fairly steady.        The summit of the big climb today had a fire tower on top, one of the first I¢ve seen since the south. I climbed up and got some great views of the Green Mountains.        I find myself listening to a lot of NPR these days. It really helps the time and miles pass more quickly during the day. It¢s also the one station I can always find. When one affiliate fades, I can always switch around until I find the next one.        The local programming on NPR is fascinating to me. I love listening to the local news, interviews and promotions. It makes me feel more connected to the area I¢m walking through.
Date: 2006-08-22
From: Kid Gore Shelter

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: clear sky

Longer day than I thought. It wasn¢t until I sat down to write this that I realized I had hiked 15 miles. For some reason I thought it was only 13 miles.        The trail today was fifteen different types of muddy, though. I¢m not sure why it was any worse than any other section of the trail, but it just seemed like every little creek that came down the mountain turned and came down the trail. My feet were wet most of the day, which didn¢t help the hurting any, since they¢re not used to the boots again yet.        The terrain is pretty consistently difficult these days. The days of doing multiple near-20 days in a row is definitely past. I may be able to sneak in a few big mile days here and there, but not many, I fear. The Whites get steadily closer. I hope I¢m ready for them.
Date: 2006-08-23
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: Sutton's Place
Miles today: 10.6

A short day today brings me into Manchester Center for a maildrop. The terrain today was flatter than it¢s been since Pennsylvania, with very little climbing or descending. I made excellent time on my way in, and found a ride down into town almost immediately.        Manchester Center is really less of a town and more like an enormous outdoor mall. There are hundreds of little shops all over the place. It¢s outlet-shop heaven.        It also has one of the finest bookstores I have ever come across. It has the selection of one of the major chain stores, but the atmosphere of some small shop tucked away and forgotten. It¢s a great place, and I lost myself in there for hours today.        I¢m staying at Sutton¢s Place tonight. It¢s kinda hard to describe. It¢s halfway between a Bed and Breakfast and a hostel. It¢s a nice place and full of hikers, though none that I knew.        There are a ton of hikers that I don¢t know lately. It¢s because the AT shares a path with the Vermont Long Trail for 100 miles. Since the Vermont border, I¢ve been seeing tons of ¢LT¢ hikers. The LT goes from Vermont¢s southern border to its northern border, and is the oldest trail in the country.
Date: 2006-08-24
From: Sutton's Place

To: Otter Creek Campground
Miles today: 17.8

What a great night it¢s been! I managed to get a decently early start out of Manchester this morning; early enough to push descent miles despite the hills. Even so it was getting on towards dark when I arrived at the Danby-landgrove road. A few dayhikers were there and offered me a ride down into the local campground. I¢d just come out of a town, so I felt a little odd going down into another so soon, but I did anyway, because I¢m me.        One of the best decisions I¢ve made on the trail so far. Thursday nights at the Otter Creek Campground are a get-together night of sorts where friends and neighbors from the area come together to play music, sing, and just generally have fun.        So I¢ve spent most of the evening listening to excellent live ¢old-style¢ country music while talking with the locals about just about anything under the sun. Plus, free cake and cookies. A good time was had by all.        This is the sort of thing that makes the whole trip worth it for me. I¢ve seen enough trees and rocks to fill several lifetimes, but these little slices of life that I never would have seen had I not embarked on this hike are things I¢ll never tire of.
Date: 2006-08-25
From: Otter Creek Campground

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

An unexpectedly difficult day today, but man do I feel good. The trail has been relocated in this area, and while my maps and guidebooks all show the new route, the trail profile still showed the old one. Given that the profile map is what I usually plan my day from, this is a pain. Where I was expecting mild ups and downs, I found a sudden thousand-foot climb.        Not that a mere thousand feet really bothers me anymore, I knocked it out with relative ease. It¢s just that had I known it was there, I would have rested at the bottom of it. I make it a point to never rest in mid-climb if I can help it, so once I realized that the profile was wrong, I didn¢t really want to stop.        It wasn¢t a big deal at all; just unexpected, and something to write about on an otherwise uneventful day.        In other news the new insoles I bought in Manchester have solved the pains I was having with my boots. Things seem back to normal footwear wise.        I am also increasingly glad that I never sent home my winter sleeping bag. The nightly temperatures here have been down in the 40¢s, well above my bag¢s 30° range, but a lot of other hikers still have their summer bags and are having to wear all their clothes at night to stay warm.
Date: 2006-08-26
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Churchill Scott shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: overcast clouds

More happened today than it seems should have, as if I somehow managed to cram additional time out of the day and filled it full of events. And yet I still only managed 14 miles. With big old¢ Killington Mountain in there, though, 14 miles isn¢t half bad.        Today I crossed the ¢500¢-mile mark, where only 500 miles remain of the trail¢s 2,175-mile length. I celebrated with Trail Magic, a clutch of sodas someone had placed in a creek for hikers. Two miles later there was more of the same. The first time in weeks I¢ve run across the ¢soda stash¢ style of Trail Magic, and there were two of them in two miles placed by two separate people. Nice.        The 2,500-foot ascent up Killington was pretty pleasant, all things considered. After spending so much time in the lowlands my trail conditioning was at low ebb. The past few weeks of rougher terrain have been rebuilding it; however, and Killington was the payoff. Rather than being tired and ready to move on when I reached the apex of the trail on Killington, I gladly turned up the super-steep side trail blue-blaze to the true summit. A euphoric sense of accomplishment was my reward for the unnecessary effort.        In all fairness the fact that there was a snack bar up there certainly provided motivation. Half of Killington is a ski resort, you see, and there¢s a gondola that goes from the base all the way to the summit. Sadly for my stomach the snackbar closed mere minutes before I arrived. In a fit of pique I rode the gondola (free for thru-hikers) down to the basecamp. Finding nothing down there of interest, I rode back up and continued on my way.        That side-trip ate a fair bit of hiking time, and dusk was approaching when I got back to the trail proper. There was a shelter right below the summit, but I, a: didn¢t want that short of a day, and b: listened to NPR and thus knew it¢s going to rain tomorrow.        There¢s an inn in Sherbourne Pass that¢s a popular hiker destination. The rain is supposed to start at around noon. Figuring to put the inn within easy striking distance, I strapped on my headlamp and night-hiked it to the shelter.        Two trail magics, a big mountain climb, a blue-blaze side trip, a gondola ride, and a night-hike. That¢s a pretty full day right there.
Date: 2006-08-27
From: Churchill Scott shelter

To: The Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 3.8

Shorty day today. One of the benefits of listening to NPR a lot is that I¢m always aware of what the weather report is. This time they were calling for rain starting at around noon or so, so I figured I¢d stop at the Inn at the Long Trail, a traditional hiker hangout. There¢s live music in the Irish pub, and great food too. Plus, breakfast is included. A hiker can¢t ask for much else.
Date: 2006-08-30
From: The Inn at Long Trail

To: Winturri Shelter
Miles today: 18.0

Man, I feel like such a lazy bum! I can¢t believe I double-zeroed at the Inn. The place was just so comfortable and it just kept raining. I couldn¢t bring myself to go out into the rain. I have no problem hiking in the rain when it starts while I¢m already on the trail. But when it starts when I¢m somewhere warm and dry, I just have the hardest time going out into it.        Anyway, it finally stopped raining overnight, and I pushed big miles over rather rough terrain today to try and make up for being afraid of the rain. There were a lot of steep climbs today, though I mind them less than I used to. With my trail legs in full gear, steep trails just don¢t bug me like they did back in Tennessee. Right now I kinda look at them as training for the White Mountains, which I¢ll be hiking later this week. The trails in the Whites are infamously steep and difficult.        I saw a ton of moose tracks and droppings today, but no actual moose. Apparently moose like to walk down the AT. The cleared path makes it easier for them to get through the woods considering their large size. Here¢s hoping any moose I meet on the trail are friendly.
Date: 2006-08-31
From: Winturri Shelter

To: Near West Hartford
Miles today: 14.1

Didn¢t get nearly as far as I wanted today. I was trying to get to Happy Hill shelter at 21 miles, but time just slipped away from me.        It probably had something to do with the presence of two local farm stores right next to the trail. The first was four miles form where I camped last night. I hit it right as it was opening and had me a breakfast of bumbleberry pie fresh out of the oven. It was excellent.        The second, Cloudland Farms, is specifically aimed at thru-hikers. They sell fully organic trail foods, as well as 100% organic ice cream. I had a pint of ¢Fresh Mint¢ that was actually flavored with mint leaves. It was amazing, easily the best ice cream I¢ve ever had. While I was there I helped the owner load an old stove into his pickup to take to the dump.        In addition to these distractions, the terrain was actually a good deal more difficult than the maps led me to believe. A lot of ¢level¢ places were actually steep ups and downs spaced so closed together that they show up as no more than a gentle incline on an elevation profile.        So it got dark, and rather than pull a night hike, I just set up my tent in a near-perfect camping spot next to the trail. I¢m on a thick bed of pine needles, and there¢s water nearby. The only problem is that, for only the third time on this trip, I¢m camped out in the middle of nowhere completely alone. So far, though, things seem fine. I¢m picking up a great rock station out of Hanover and am laying here listening while I write.        The mileage up above is a very conservative guess, by the way. I really don¢t know how far from the next road I am. I could be as far as two miles further than that.
Date: 2006-09-01
From: Near West Hartford

To: Sunset Inn #3
Miles today: 11.6

Hanover at last! Though not without a few bumps along the way. I got an unusually early start this morning, getting on the trail by 7 a.m. Unfortunately this was before the morning fog had burned off, and I lost the trail in a roadwalk through West Hartford. The trail went one way, and I went the other. Whoops! Out here we call that ¢bonus miles¢, but man is it annoying to have to back track like that.        Still, I rolled into Hanover just a little after noon. Hanover is a college town with the campus of Dartmouth College located there. The trail runs right through the center of town, and right past the headquarters of the Dartmouth Outing Club, the college organization that maintains the trail up to the whites.        The DOC HQ is open to thru-hikers with free Internet, and also a place to leave our packs while we¢re in town. They were having freshman orientation today, so the whole building was covered in wacky posters, and the DOC members were garishly garbed and blasting loud music. It¢s the first time that we thru-hikers looked more normal than the people around us.        So I¢m walking through town, and suddenly the whole crew starts to pour in. Every member of Team Cool Breeze, plus ¢Tin Man¢, ¢Iroc¢, ¢Gas Tank¢, ¢Blue¢, ¢Miyagi¢, and others. It¢s uncanny how hikers you have no idea are around can suddenly show up. ¢Baltimore Jack¢ was sitting at a corner caf© as well, but apparently he lives here.        The only bad things is that the local hostel is closed, so I had to resort to another hotel. It was nice to talk to friends and family, though, which is more than worth the expense.
Date: 2006-09-02
From: Sunset Inn #3

To: Moose Mountain shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

Holy crap, it¢s cold!        The hike out of Hanover was pretty nice, but I pulled up short. The remnants of Hurricane Ernesto are supposed to pass over sometime soon, and I wanted to be sure that I was under cover when that happened. Right now it¢s very windy and cold. I¢m hoping that the rain will pass to the west, but at least I¢m in a nice place to ride it out. My tent is tied down tight, and also in a slight nook that keeps the winds off of it.        Ordinarily I¢d be in a shelter when expecting rain, but the shelter is facing the wind, and I was afraid that the rain would just blow in.        It¢s really cod tonight, colder than it¢s been since sometime in May. I wasn¢t expecting to be using my cold weather gear the day after I got it back, but I guess that¢s just really good timing.        So, my fingers are freezing, so I¢m going to huddle down into my nice warm sleeping bag.        I love the cold!
Date: 2006-09-03
From: Moose Mountain shelter

To: Jacobs Brook
Miles today: 16.3

But I hate the rain!        The rain held off until almost dawn. For a while I thought that maybe we would be spared the rain. But no, it started drizzling at around 5 a.m., and kept at it all day. Hiking in the rain and mud made for a terrible day, particularly with the steep and tall mountains I¢ve had to go over. Add in the fact that there are no views when it¢s raining, and you have a pretty miserable experience.        The only thing that goes well when it rains is miles. When I don¢t have a warm lace to stay, I seem to make great time when I hike in the rain. Something about it being better to keep moving than it is to stop and rest in the rain.        Fortunately the rain stopped enough for me to dry off my tent with my towel before I packed it up, so I¢m not sleeping in a wet tent tonight.        It¢s stopped raining for now, and is supposed to be just cloudy tomorrow. Then it¢s supposed to rain again the next day. Just in time to head up Mt. Moosilauke. Great.
Date: 2006-09-04
From: Jacobs Brook

To: "Hikers Welcome" hostel
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: overcast clouds

So, overcast, drizzly, muddy and the very hardest part of the trail is front of me. Slipping and sliding down the trail over wet rocks and deep mud is not really my idea of a good time.        At least it¢s not actively raining so much as all that. It¢s just wet from the past few days. Too bad it¢s supposed to rain off and on over the next week. Not looking forward to hiking the most beautifully section of the trail when it¢s completely socked in with clouds.        Tonight, at least, there¢s a hostel here right next to the trail, so I don¢t have to worry about stuff getting wet in the rain tonight. There¢s a tone of hikers here. The usual crew and a bunch of others. Thusly, there¢s not much to write about. It¢s hard to work on a journal when there¢s a bunch of noisy people running around.
Date: 2006-09-05
To: "Hikers Welcome" hostel
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Hit the whites today. Decided to take the hostel owner up on his slackpacking offer. He drove me up to the other side of Mt. Moosilauke so I can hike back to the hostel.        Moosilauke is one of the hardest hikes in the Whites, and slackpacking over it was definitely a treat. The hike was a long, steep, slipper grind. The top of the mountain is above tree line, but the fact that it¢s overcast and rainy means that the views up there were pretty limited. I seriously hope that it stops raining soon, but every weather report has it raining for the rest of the week.        Why now? Why couldn¢t it rain during the easy boring parts? Why does it have to rain when there are views I am missing? And why the hell is the old southbounder next to me clipping his fingernails and then eating them? That¢s really kinda gross.        Most of the usual crowd has moved on tonight. They either hiked out without slacking, or took a zero to visit the local home of another hiker. The hikers here tonight are mostly kinda aggravating in the sense of asking blatantly obvious stupid questions.
Date: 2006-09-06
To: Eliza Brook Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: light rain

Today was awful. Easily the worst day I¢ve had on the trail since the Smokies. Everything has just been so frustrating lately, what with it being rainy for the better part of a week now.        The Whites are the hardest part of the entire AT. The payoff for this is supposed to be astounding views of breathtaking scenery. I¢ve seen jack and shit. Every time I come to one of the viewpoints, I can only look and say ¢Yep, that¢s the inside of a cloud alright.¢ Add in the fact that wet rocks and ankle-deep mud are making the already hard Whites even harder, and you¢ve got a recipe for very unhappy hiking.        Today I slogged over pointless ups and downs for six hours to go a measly seven and one half miles. I fell on wet rocks and roots three times, more than doubling my number of falls for the entire trip (now5). I was in a foul mood when I got here and rather than hike on like I planned to, I decided to call it a day.        It was a good call, I think. I feel much better now. It¢s supposed to rain again tonight, but tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be relatively clear. Maybe I¢ll get in some decent views for once.