morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-08-01
From: October Mt. Lean-To

To: Dalton, MASS.
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: light rain

Late start. Still raining and I don't get going until 11:00 a.m. It's a really yucky day, and the rain makes everything worse. I do a 12 mi. day into Dalton, Mass. and get the last available room at the Inn at Village Square. The Fizzes (father and son) are already there. So are Truck and Overload. It's only been 10 days and Overload has them both headed home. Truck has been hiking the Trail for more than 2 months, but 10 days of hiking with Overload and he's ready to go home. I wanted to tell her what she had done, but it was none of my business, and they were both going home so maybe it was for the best. They were still married and maybe the A.T. wasn't as important as the marriage? (Wish I could go home.) But Dalton marks the "less than 500 mi. to go" mark. 499 miles to go and counting down.
Date: 2003-08-02
From: Dalton, MASS.

To: Church Hostel, Cheshire, MASS.
Miles today: 9.3

Really good breakfast at Duff and Dell's Variety Cafe. That's where I saw Truck and Overload. Lots of southbound section hikers, too. Can't remember even most of them. Meet Ryan, a Ridgerunner, who is on his way up to Mt. Greylock. Loaded up on cheese, lunchmeat, and rye bread, but can't find stove alcohol. Seems that most gas stations are stocking only isopropyl alcohol for auto gas tanks and that won't work for alcohol stoves. You need methyl alcohol to burn right. Will look for it elsewhere.Can't think of a particular thing to differentiate this day's hike from any other, except that the percentage of really slick rocks to the non-slick variety increases the closer I get to Crystal Mountain, so I spend more time looking for safe foot placements. Fun! Fun!I'm hiking through Cheshire, Mass. on Mass-8 and I'm just about pooped! Pappy Yoacum is waiting for a bus to take him to an outfitter and asks me if I'm going to stay at the Church Hostel. "Church Hostel, I don't know anything about it. Tell me more." Well, it seems that the Catholic Church in Cheshire, Mass. allows hikers to stay in the church basement, and to use the basement kitchen facilities and bathrooms. All right! I didn't want to hike another 5 miles to the next shelter anyway! Thank you, Father David (the new priest who lets the hikers stay). There's only myself and two southbound hikers. Plenty of room!We all walk down to the ice cream stand later to get some 'cream. Nice day, nice place, nice ending. It rains again this nite and I'm glad to be inside.
Date: 2003-08-03
From: Church Hostel, Cheshire, MASS.

To: Mt. Greylock Lodge
Miles today: 7.7

Four-cheese potatoes for breakfast. Not bad, and filling. Two cups of hot water and a package of instant potatoes makes up into about a half a bushel of smashed 'taters. Yum! (and THEN some). Only about eight miles to the Lodge at Mt. Greylock, but it's a tough eight. Was pretty well tuckered out when I arrived at Mark Noepel Lean-to and THAT was still 3 miles to go to the Lodge. Even though there had been occasional scattered sunshine through the trees all day, ominous thunder rolled ever more often as I neared the Lodge. If I hadn't already planned to spend the nite there, the thunderstorm followed by blowing fog (lowered cloud cover) made up my mind for sure. Was glad to have hot coffee and cheeseburger for dinner and a bunk for the nite. The Fizzes were there, so was Ryan the Ridgerunner. The A.T. work crew, too, was resting up before they moved on out. My gentle barbs got me only angry glances from the crew supervisor. (No sense of humor). Geeze Lady! Lighten up!More rain. We got a fire in the Lodge fireplace. We talked until almost 10:00 p.m., then bunk house for everybody.
Date: 2003-08-04
From: Mt. Greylock Lodge

To: Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: light rain

Good breakfast from the Lodge kitchen. Hot coffee, pancakes, bacon, home fries, fresh pineapple and juice. The couple across from me, with a boy about 8, seem to like my story. Trail Journals.com is my mantra. That, and how many bears I had seen. All too soon I am headed out into the fog, but first a pic of the Mt. Greylock Lighthouse Memorial to the fallen soldiers of World War II. It's impressive, but I can't think why a lighthouse would land this far from the coast? Makes a nice memorial, tho.It's wet, drizzly hiking today. Watch your step, watch your step. The sun teases then runs to hide again, followed by more drizzle. I hike straight thru North Adams, Mass. and don't even think of getting alcohol for the stove, or doing laundry (am out of sox...THAT'S critical). I'm so intent on getting some miles in that I hike straight thru to Sherman Brook Campsite. It's only 2.3 miles from the VT.-Mass. state line. No shelter, only tent sites and a privy.It's sprinkling again by the time I get the tent up. (It's already wet, it was put up wet a couple of days ago.) Needs to dry out. Doesn't everything? Supper is rushed, and then the rain again...don't like the wet!
Date: 2003-08-05
From: Sherman Brook Campsite

To: Congdon Shelter
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: light rain

The tent platform does it's job. I am high and (mostly) dry thru the nite, but don't have any "get up and go" to get started this morning. Don't get hiking until almost 11:00 a.m. Pass a Trail maintainence crew doing water runoff diversion work. We are all hot and sweaty when I remind the young men that their summer venture "builds character". One young man volunteered that he only heard THAT when no one else wanted to do it! It tickled me that he "got it" and we grin at each other as I hike on into Vermont.Now the first thing that Vermont wants you to know is "where you are going to owe them money". The signage at the Mass.-Vermont state line tells everyone up front about the "pay for stay" shelters. The Trail was a river of loosely connected bogs, but Vermont wanted us to know that we would have to pay to stay there. (Glad that everyone has their priorities straight.) I am still shaking my head at the abysmal condition of the Trail when I break for a rest at Seth Warner Shelter. There is a kid about 11 yrs. old waiting there for the rest of his scout troop, and he doesn't know diddly, except he's with a scout troop and is so far out in front of everyone else that there's nothing to do except wait for the others to catch up. He doesn't know if he's hiking north or south, or what state he's from, or ANYTHING except he's with some other scouts.In 15 minutes or so another 3 or 4 young scouts dribble into the shelter and they are animated in asking me about gear, drying their boots, my pack, their packs, etc. Once again I sing the praises of Trail Journals.com. Well, no one in the group is old enough to have a computer, but I plant the seed. Later, much later, I hike past the adults in this bedraggled scout group and mention that the kid who was out in front of everyone by at least a mile and a half was WAY too young to be out in the woods on his own. I mean, there ARE bears and falling trees, and cliffs and slipppery rocks to fall on, and such, and this group was spread out for about 4 miles from end to end. The scout leaders looked a bit sheepish as I delivered the message about the ones so far out in front, but it's a good point, and I'll bet they at least talked about staying closer together after that. Good!It's raining again by the time that I reach Congdon Shelter and 12.3 miles will have to be enough for today. Not too bad for an 11:00 a.m. start! There are only 3 others in the shelter, so there's plenty of room for all our wet stuff. I play a little harp to perk everyone's spirits up and then it's time for another rainy nite. It's a frog strangler.
Date: 2003-08-06
From: Congdon Shelter

To: Bennington, VT.
Miles today: 4.3
Weather: light rain

When the morning comes, there's water running in all directions. Nary a dry place to stand. Everyone hikes out thru the muck. It's a swamp and I'm almost out of alcohol for the stove. How could I have been so short-sighted? It's as good an excuse as any to only do a 4.3 day to a motel in Bennington, Vt. But first I have to get down Harmon Hill which is about 2 miles of killer drop. It's an absolute knee breaker of a beast! (But with a hot dog trailer at the bottom). I am working on my second Pepsi, when a neophyte group of four women show up to start the climb up the monster I just came down. They look and act like college chums and one of the group has never hiked before. They ask "how long will we be climbing up this mountain?" and the answer "about 2 & 1/2 hrs." doesn't make them feel much better. This is a real killer, and dangerous and slippery, too. Oh, well.I hitch a ride into Bennington with Wildflower, a solo hiker chick who likes it that way. She's doing 20's or better and on her way to the Post Office, then back out on the Trail. Not me. I have to do laundry, get stove alcohol, need groceries. It's raining like crazy again before I'm finished checking into Autumn Inn, so I don't feel too bad about only doing 4.3 today.There's another hiker next door. Lion King and I cook dinner out of my pack in front of an open door while we talk over the horrible state of the Trail. In between showers, the sun comes out for a few minutes. There's a swimming pool at the motel, but only kids are in it. The laundry is done, the groceries are bought and it's time for bed. A few calls back to Texas to let everyone know that Texas Jack is ok, and I'm down for the nite.
Date: 2003-08-07
From: Bennington, VT.

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: haze

Well, there really isn't much happening at the Autumn Inn Motel except Lion King is next door and we miss out on a few rain showers yesterday afternoon. There's a little market down the road and I resupply this morning. A cup of fresh coffee and I feel like a million bucks. The lady who runs the motel is ready to get a divorce, but gets a laugh out of it when I re-sex her sister's kid's pet rabbit. We change it's name (the rabbit) from George to Georgenia. She buys Lion King and myself a quart of stove alcohol and won't take any money for it. Stove alcohol is getting hard to find, so I say "Thanks, and by the way, can I get a ride back to the A.T. in a bit?" All I have to do is to listen to her complain about her ex for awhile. I suggest a dose of hiking for what ails her and then I'm off up the other side of that killer down I had to do ahead of the rain yesterday.It's easy hiking, with only a few boggy spots. Finally, I camp at Goddard Shelter. It's a nice, big place, but it fills up fast. At least 7 people in the shelter and about 5 tenting outside. There's Patches, an '01 section hiker who recognizes me from '01. (He's doing another section this year, and did one last year, too.) He remembers several of the hikers from '01 including Max and Happy Feet. Nice to see him again. There's a couple of brothers, one of whom I name Silverfoot, 'cause he's got so much duct tape on his blisters. He's tickled by the name and signs it in all the future registers. There's a couple of guys who look strange, but really aren't. There's E-Dog and her friend. Also, some guy who would love to be E-Dog's frend, but isn't. They both play the harmonica and the first time I belt out "Oh, Suzanna" and I hear a reply, I got to go see who it is. We trade tunes until dark. There's a few flys, but not too bad. We read in the register that the blackflys (biting flys that bring blood) have been bad, but not tonight.
Date: 2003-08-08
From: Goddard Shelter

To: Story Spring Shelter
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: moderate rain

Am hiking by 8:30 a.m.   E-Dog's wannabe friend leaves before that. Silverfoot and his brother limp out about then, too. Patches was first to go. Most of us are headed for Story Spring, but the trail gets worse and worse. Everyone stops for lunch at Kid Gore Shelter. We can see Stratton Pond in the distance. We wind up having to dance around boggy spots and rock-hop to stay out of the mud almost all the way. At Caughnawaga Shelter, myself and the Silverfoot brothers get turned around and hike out of the campground in four different directions before we find the Trail. Finally, we all wind up at Story Spring Shelter. I tent out in back to avoid the flys and mosquitos. People continue to come in until after dark. I'm already in my tent, so don't know who they are, but I take a pic or two in the morning. The spring at this shelter is the Best! 20 or 30 gallons a second and cold! (I like cold!)It's been hot and sweaty, humid as can be. It seems to cloud up and rain every afternoon. Everyone complains of the humidity. I don't notice it, but it's killing these Yankees! Also, the rain makes everyone want to quit. Shawn-O blames everyone's malaise on the humidity when I tell him I'm thinking of going back to Texas. Well, I'm THINKING about it, but Grampie will be here in a week or two to hike for awhile and that keeps me going...but I still think about going home!
Date: 2003-08-09
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Another wet, rock-hopping day! It's the worst yet. Finally, I get to Stratton Pond Shelter, but it's almost full of section hikers. It's the first "Pay-for-stay" shelter and the caretaker shows up to collect the money. Several hikers leave to camp somewhere that there is no charge, but no one can say they weren't warned ahead of time. The very first thing hikers see as they cross over the Vermont-Mass. state line is a forest of signs telling us all that we will be charged money to stay at (or even to tent camp) at a list of shelters. I don't care, but Tipperary refuses to pay. Everyone waits to see if he will be told to leave, but no. The caretaker let him stay. Shawn-O, Tipperary's Irish friend, hides out up in the loft and doesn't pay either. Go figure. Guess it takes all kinds. That nite it rains hard, but I am warm and dry and congratulate myself on my decision to stay.
Date: 2003-08-10
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: Manchester Center, VT.
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light rain

In the morning, several of the section hikers give us thru-hikers food that they brought in but don't want to carry out. They bring too much by half. I get a small salami and block of cheese. Also, cashews and peanuts. God bless 'em!The walk out is even worse than the walk in. In places, there is NO way to avoid wading thru the mud. I fall down 3 times...gently, thank goodness, but I have to re-bend my hiking sticks several times. (They are really taking a beating.) Finally, I come out on VT-10. There is a parking lot there with several section hikers getting ready to drive off. The "weird friends" offer me a lift into Manchester and I gladly accept. Salami and cheese are ok, but I need stove alcohol and bread. Also, need coffee and most important...toilet paper. (Now THAT will chase me out of the woods everytime!) Everything is fine as I sit in the bed of their pick-up truck...until the thunderstorm. There is two inches of water sloshing around in the truck bed when I finally knock on the back window and tell 'em to let me out in front of the laundromat. I couldn't be any more soaked if I had been scuba diving.There is a coffee shop next door and I "yogi" a free cup of Joe because they see how soaked I am. It's a nice town, but too yuppie for the likes of me. No motels at all. They do have a grocery store and I buy too much (naturally) and walk out into the sunshine after the rainstorm. I remember passing motels on the way into town, so I set out to walk or hitch the 4 miles or so back towards the A.T. It turns out I walk. Uphill. All the way. I finally negotiate a price I can live with at the Chalet Motel outside of Manchester Center, VT. It does have a heated swimming pool, (which I do not use), but the only thing "Highclass" about it is the attitude of the desk clerk. Who Cares!! The Moose Crossing restaurant is just across the road, and the cheeseburgers are "to die for". The owner is a sometimes hiker and has the cook put extra fries on the platter. All right!! Life is good! I'm dry and get a good nite's sleep. The world situation (on TV) doesn't seem to be any different, so I'm glad I'm still hiking. That nite it rains again.
Date: 2003-08-11
From: Manchester Center, VT.

To: Bromley Mt.
Miles today: 2.8

In the morning, I eat some of the food I bought the day before. Soon, I'm standing on the road trying to get a ride back to the Trail, but after 45 minutes, still no luck. Well, Moose Poop! Ok, if I can't get a ride going one way, I walk over to the other side of the road and immediately catch a hitch BACK into Manchester Center. It sort of surprises me, but I stop at the Post Office to mail some journals back to Carol and the sun is shining. Several more coffees at the McDonalds and I'm hitching back towards the Trail again. This timeI catch a ride with a local who remembers giving a ride to Right On and Brown Dog. Also, Grey Jay and Healer. Bless her! We talk hiker for a bit and I'm back in the parking lot I started from yesterday.It's a short miles day of hiking for sure, but I wind up at the warming ski hut on Bromley Mt. There's no water, but, of course, it starts to rain. I've had the fore-sight to bring 2 liters of water with me, but Billie-Boy just catches rain running off the roof and he's fine. People keep trickling in thru the showers. Eventually, there are about 10-12 people in the hut. There's Lion King, Billie-Boy, Skidmark and her husband, Balloo, and their black poodle, Frodo. There's Play and his friend (don't remember her name), but they dart around and whisper like children. There's a few others. The last ones arrive thru the mist and fog at 9:30 and everyone catches up on where everyone else is and when they saw so-and-so last. It's a good place to spend the nite.
Date: 2003-08-14
From: Wallingford, VT.

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

It's time to go and I'm standing outside the manager's office waiting for him to give me a ride, when he finaly tells me that he has no car. Great! No driver's lic., no car, no ride. Get me out of here! I finally catch a ride with some college guy who's done some hiking. Guess it's the pack and the hiking poles. Whatever! by 10:00 a.m., I'm struggling back up the Trail again. Whatta hoot! I love this stuff...mostly, 'cept for all the walking parts.I come across the suspension bridge at Clarendon Gorge. There are some hikers and some swimmers, but no skinny-dippers. Well, you can't be lucky EVERY day, and by afternoon, I'm safely into Clarendon Shelter. By the time the sun goes down, Kodiak has a fire going and is roasting hot dogs and giving them away to everyone who wants one, or two, or six. Lion King is there for awhile, but hikes off into the dusk. Constant Motion is trying to take up another dart in her pants. She's lost so much weight they keep sliding down. Mello Yello, Take 'er Easy, Kodiak, and about 6 others are all sharing hot dogs when Poor Boy, a local character, rides up on a four-wheeler ATV. He's nice enough, but has nothing to do and he pretty much just moves in for the next 4 hours. It's dark when this colorful local finally leaves and the rest of us can get some sleep.
Date: 2003-08-15
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Killington, VT.
Miles today: 16.5

Am hiking by 8:30 a.m. Poor Boy has let us know that an unknown Trail Angel, named Mountain Gnome, leaves soda pop in a stream which we will pass, and I'm on the lookout for this cache of Trail Magic. Thanks, Mountain Gnome, for the soda...whoever you are.What happens next is hard to explain. What I was TRYING to do was to blue-blaze around Killington Peak on what used to be the old A.T. (before they re-routed it over the top and added 4 miles). What I DID do, was to take the wrong blue-blaze trail to God knows where. By 6:30 p.m. that afternoon, I am climbing down a sheer rock face, hand over hand, and I have no idea where I am. Plus which, I'm at least 10 miles from where I'm supposed to be.It is late when I finally come out on a forest service gravel road and turn east (which is my best guess of the way I need to go). Along comes Joe Wood (his real name). I wave him down and tell him that I'm hiking the A.T., that I'm lost, and that I'm about give-out. God bless him! Turns out he's an employee of the Killington Peak Ski Resort and he hauls my almost dead rearend to a nice motel, draws me a map of how to get back to the Trail, and waves bye-bye. Now THAT'S a real Trail Angel!It turns out that I was 17 miles south of where I should have been, and I had hiked for 11 1/2 hours that day. (It's another 20 mile day that I can't take credit for!) But, I get a nite in a very nice motel in Killington, VT.
Date: 2003-08-16
From: Killington, VT.

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: light rain

Morning again. I hike about a mile and a half down US-4 to a little Mom and Pop Pancake House that serves great food to a packed house. Everyone has to wait to get seated, wait to get served, wait to pay. It's a small place, and they like it that way. I resupply at the gas station, beg a ride back to the Trail with someone leaving the motel, and I'm climbing another mountain soon. Thank goodness, it hasn't rained for a few days, but run-off is everywhere. Water to drink is no problem. I'm supposed to meet Grampie and Donna in Woodstock, VT, in a few days. Grampie is coming out to hike with me for 12 days. I hope we get decent weather, but I have to do a couple of 10 mile days.   (I hate it when I need to hike to a deadline.) Spend the nite at Stony Brook Shelter. Can't remember a thing about it, so nothing interesting must have happened. Nite, nite all!
Date: 2003-08-17
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: Wintturi Shelter
Miles today: 9.8

Up and at 'em! Cranked out another 10 mile day. Thank goodness! No moose, no bears, no snakes, no rain. Just hike on to Wintturi Shelter. Here is Patches, Right On and Brown Dog, Billie-Boy and Lion King. It seems like old home week! It's been a good day and a good nite. No rain. Excellent! Bugs aren't bad, either. Still hot and humid. Everyone except me complains bitterly. Not me. I know what 114 degrees feels like. This 93 degree stuff feels like springtime.
Date: 2003-08-18
From: Wintturi Shelter

To: Cloudland Road Shelter
Miles today: 11.7

Up and hiking by 7:30 a.m. Need to do four miles to meet grampie at 10:00-11:00 a.m. I'm there by 9:30 a.m. Folks keep stopping along VT-12 to ask me if I need help. I tell them "No, thank you. I'm waiting for my friend from CT." I just LOVE these folks. It seems to me that you could bleed to death along the side of the road back in Texas, and no one would care. That's probably not true, but there was a time not so long ago that I thought it was.Grampie and Donna show up at 11:00 a.m. He's a lot fluffier than when I saw him last. We laugh about it and catch up on hiker gossip at a cafe in Woodstock. Good coffee! Soon enough, Texas Jack and Grampie are back on the Trail again!Straight away, it rains, Oh well. it's not too bad. Raspberries are getting ripe, and picking raspberries in the rain beats getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick! (Someone told me that one time, and I just liked the way it sounded.) We hike 9 miles this day, and camp at Cloudland Road. There's a shelter there, and the funniest thing happens. Grampie has been telling me for 2 years that he hiked past this place and there was a sack of fresh garden-grown cucumbers with a sign alongside the road for hikers to take as many as they wanted. In 2001, Grampie took several and sat on the top of a hill eating fresh cucumbers with salt and pepper and a vista.Well, dog-gone it, we're hiking past the exact same spot, and there's a sack of fresh cucumbers and yellow squash with a sign "Hikers take some and enjoy". "Grampie," I say, "those veggies are in REALLY good shape to have been there for the past 2 yrs." We load up on fresh veggies and I have squash and Ramen Noodles this nite at Cloudland. Thank you, whoever you are, Trail Angel. Thank you very much!