morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-07-20
From: Stony Brook Campsite

To: US7/CT112
Miles today: 15.2

"I don't like you outside my hammock when it's too early in the morning." This is what Mudbug says when I, for some reason, get uyp early and wake him up too. Actually, today I was on a specific mission - do my first big day in a long time - about 26 miles, and catch NED/Ginken. I know all my entries are about catching them, but they're very consistent, we tend not to be, so we fall behind a lot. So I got Mudbug up and was trying to psych him up by saying this would be his biggest day ever. And we were well on our way to doing it, but after 16 miles, at a road crossing, Mudbug ran to a car and asked him to give us a ride to town right then. I wanted to keep hiking but he could not be swayed. So we went into town and called NED/Ginken only to find that they weren't even coming to town that night. So we hitched to a movie theatre, in a neighboring village and a girl named Laura gave us a ride, as well as a place to stay for the night. Yep - we mentioned not being ableb to meet our friends and she said "I've got a big house and my parents are on vacations, you want to stay there?" I love when I stumble across trail magic like that. So we saw the movie and went back to Laura's house and showered and did laundry and slept in real beds. A good night.
Date: 2008-07-21
From: US7/CT112

To: Limestone Springs Lean-To
Miles today: 6.9

Got up decently early to discover that Laura had made us french toast and coffee - she's a true trail angel - what do you say about people this nice? She also gave me a book to read - 2012, The Return of Quetzalcoatl - I had finished my other book.Mudbug is a bad thru-hiker, let me just say that. Instead of going back with me to where we got off (which was his decision), he just had Laura drop him off at the nearest trail head, where Ginken/NED were (glad Laura got to meet them.) So he cut off 10 miles from the trail. On another occasion he cut off 1.5 miles. So friends and family of Mudbug - be disappointed and don't let him get away with this. Shame.There was a problem getting me back to where I got off the trail - Laura's car ran out of gas (or at least broke down in some way) so we spent most of the day running around, getting a container to put the gas in, then getting the gas, then getting back to her car. I tend to run out of energy quickly in these situations. The whole day I was worried she thought I was boring and socially detached, but really I was just tired. Then she surprised me by thanking me for my "calm demeanor" about the whole situation when she dropped me off. Anyway, I didn't end up getting back on the trail until 2:30pm or so. By then I pretty much just decided to go to the first shelter, and on the trail I met up with Circ, a fortuitous occurence. We went swimming in this cool waterfall area, then headed to the shelter which was (horrors) half a mile off the trail. By the way, shelters are called "Lean-to's" in much of New England.
Date: 2008-07-22
From: Limestone Springs Lean-To

To: US7/Great Barrington
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: broken clouds

OK - so today would be my big mile day to catch the crew. Circ didn't want anything to do with 26 miles so I set out alone, a bit later than I wanted, like 8:45am. All was well through the day, saw Mr. Bones (who is 28 and has been asked if he's my father) and Stubbs (his wife) slackpacking south - hit the CT/MA border (woo-hoo!), met some fine folks dayhiking Bear Mountain - and then the storms hit. For 2 hours I hiked through 2 waves of intense storms - thunder and pouring rain as I slipped over the slick, steep, rocky terrain. Sometimes I had to just crabwalk down to ensure I didn't go head-over-heels down the mountain. When I got off the mountain and hit a flat field (the trail was more of less flat for the last 4 miles, a godsend) - it was beautiful. It had stopped raining, a rainbow appeared, the sun came out and started to dry me, I was out of the trees and in an exposed green field. It was so nice - until the bugs hit. I had heard about bugs in MA but I didn't understand. I got absolutely swarmed and attacked by mosquitoes and deer flies until I was flat-out running and battign my head with my hands, trying to fend them off. I got to my destination at 8:00pm, before dark like I wanted, and started to hitch but it took about 20 minutes before anyone stopped.I got to the Holiday Inn Express where Ginken/NED/Mudbug said they were staying. This was to be my reward for slogging through the rain and bugs - imagine my dismay when I discovered they weren't there - nor at the Travelodge or the Comfort Inn. So disappointing. Where could they be? I met some other hikers and slept on the floor of their room at the Travelodge. What happened?
Date: 2008-07-23
From: US7/Great Barrington

To: East Mtn
Miles today: 4.3

Woke up and hit the trail, thinking the guys were ahead - then a storm started to hit at 3:00pm. I didn't want a repeat of yesterday so I stepped off the trail, pitched my tent, got in, and didn't get out until 21 hours later. In that time I got hit with wave after wave of intense thunderstorms - earth-shaking thunder, blinding lightning, and pounding rain. My tent had so much condensation in was literally raining on me inside my tent. I couldn't keep the water out, so I just pulled my sleeping bad over my head, closed my eyes and tried not to think about the fact that I was getting soaked. I was warm but wet.
Date: 2008-07-24
From: East Mtn

To: MA23/East Mtn Retreat Center
Miles today: 4.1

It stormed all night, a sleepless night, then rained all morning - I didn't crawl out until noon and realized I was out of food. I was in a sorry state of arrairs. But I looked in my guidebook and saw that there was a hostel just 4 miles away. Fine - I needed food, I needed to rest mentally and physically, I needed to dry myself and my gear. I didn't care whether Ginken/NED were ahead or behind, I just needed to get out of there. So I walked 1.5 miles off the trail to the hostel (couldn't get a hitch) - turns out to be a beautiful interfaith spiritual retreat center with sculpted gardens and a view of the mountains. I got in touch with Ginken/NED - they're behind me! Yay - tomorrow only 3 miles to let them catch me for once.
Date: 2008-07-25
From: MA23/East Mtn Retreat Center

To: Mt. Wilcox North Lean-to
Miles today: 5.1

Today was so relaxing - after finding out that the crew was actually behind me, I just hiked a few miles to a beautiful lake - "Benedict Pond" - and had a great day waiting for them to catch up. It's funny, if I had known they were actually in Great Barrington when I did the big day, I could have stayed with them two nights there (they zeroed), instead of hiking and tenting alone in some of the most intense thunderstorms I've encountered this trip. The people I stayed with at the Travelodge actually turned back and went to town (unbeknownst to me).Anyway, at the pond I laid on a rock, I swam, I read my book, I did things I've been meaning to do like making these hitchhiking banners out of strips of cotton fabric and a sharpie marker Mudbug and I bought at a Walmart a while back. They say "Hiker to Trail" and "Hiker to Town." I played some songs, took a nap, just had fun. As Lady Cluck (the Appalachian Trail's "it" girl) would say, I had stopped hiking and gone camping. After everyone showed up we just went a few more miles to the shelter and tented for the night.
Date: 2008-07-26
From: Mt. Wilcox North Lean-to

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Today Mudbug and I narrowly beat an approaching storm to Upper Goose Pond Cabin - a great place with bunks and a caretaker where they make you blueberry pancakes in the morning. A lot of people, who we call "The Party Bus," stayed up way too late, drinking and shouting - Ginken had to be the Dad and go out and say "Hey guys, if you don't quiet down I'm gonna have to just get up and party with you, because I can't sleep."
Date: 2008-07-27
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Pittsfield Rd
Miles today: 11.0

Today was crazy - we just barely beat this huge storm (yeah, it's stormy lately) and took refuse in October Mtn Shelter after only 9 m,iles - the storm not only darkened the skies enough to necessitate headlamps in the shelter at 1:00pm, as well as bringing pouring rain and deafening thunder, but it pelted us with hail the size of golf balls. Thank god we were able to make it to the shelter. We talked about what we wanted to do and figured out we could just hike 2 more miles, go to "The Cookie Lady" (famous on the trail for decades on account of her free homemade cookies and crop of blueberries which you are welcome to hand pick), and get her to shuttle us to The Birdcage, a hostel in nearby Dalton, MA. Hiking out of the shelter after the storm was surreal - the trail was already wet and muddy, but now, in some places, we had water up to our knees. I have a funny video of Mudbug looking confused, walking through part of the trail that had become a knee-deep flowing river. The Cookie Lady is great - good cookies and free access to her blueberry orchard. next to their farm home. Her husband drove us to the Birdcage hostel, simply the home of owner Rob Bird. we haven't encountered anything like this since the mayor of Unionville. He won't accept money or donations, you get your own bed, free coffee, beer and food - a great place. Tomorrow we slackpack so we get to stay another night. We are happy.
Date: 2008-07-28
From: Pittsfield Rd

To: Outlook Ave
Miles today: 19.7

Today my friend Aliza joined us for hiking, although she's not sure how long she'll be stay - she has a month free and might stay the whole time. We went to high school together but really didn't hang out until after when my best friend Jordan started hanging out with her when they both went to Penn State University. The big concern with new hikers is that jumping right in with conditioned thru-hikers will overwhelm them physically, but she couldn't have had a better introduction. Not only were we slackpacking but she had the opportunity to get off after 10 miles because we did 10 miles north of the Birdcage and 10 miles south of it. So her first day was just 10 miles on easy terrain with a daypack. The other cool thing is that we're slacking again tomorrow, getting to stay here 3 nights, and only doing 13 miles but going over the highest point in MA, Mt. Greylock.
Date: 2008-07-29
From: Outlook Ave

To: MA2
Miles today: 13.2

Today we all slacked over Mt. greylock - a pretty big climb but gradual and pretty easy, especially with daypacks. Aliza is still doing fine, even with the increased mileage and harder terrain. Tonight Rob Bird and I played some songs together, he's quite good on the guitar - a really animated performer who plays a lot of older songs I wish I knew.
Date: 2008-07-30
From: MA2

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: few clouds

Today we left the BirdCage with heavy hearts and heavier packs - not only did Aliza bring back my winter gear, adding a good 4 or 5 pounds to my pack, but we had to resupply for a full 4 days for food, which I haven't done since the south. My pack was *heavy*. And speaking of heavy packs, I told Aliza not to bring anything - I gave her a list of the essentials before she came out. But, just as we were leaving I picked up her pack and knew it wasn't right. So NED and I picked through it and found a full 10 pounds of stuff that we put in a box and sent home - it was a funny process. We didn't get on the trail until 1:00pm and with our heavy packs only got 7 miles, though it was enough to carry us over the border into Vermont. I really wanted to stop because I only got 3 hrs of sleep last night and was tired. Oh, I also bought a funny, entirely too heavy tablecloth, marketed for camping at a store. It was so ridiculous I couldn't resist buying it - everyone was laughing at the shelter when I took it out and spread it on the table. It is heavy though, I guess we'll have to part with it soon.
Date: 2008-07-31
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Melville Nauheim Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

Today I felt a little better than yesterday, but still off somehow, just more tired than usual. Could still be the effects of almost staying up all night 2 nights ago. Took a nap midday, after everyone had gone on ahead, and fortunately missed the rain in the process. Got up feeling better and hiked 6 more miles to get to camp. Rabbits bothered us all night, hopping around outside.
Date: 2008-08-01
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

To: Story Spring Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: broken clouds

Pretty standard day, except that I hiked to keep pace with Aliza instead of hiking separately from her all day. Vermont is starting to look really nice. It's too bad that the trail really doesn't change dramatically until New Hampshire, but the trail here is nice. Higher elevations, cooler air, amazing views, and maybe best of all, a genuine sense of solitude and detachment I haven't felt since the Smokies. At night, porcupines bothered us, stepping all around our tents.
Date: 2008-08-02
From: Story Spring Shelter

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

Hiked over Stratton Mtn today, the highest point on the trail in Vermont I believe, at 3796', possibly off the trail as well. It's cool that we're getting back to the elevations we reached in the south - inbetween we seldom exceeded 2000'. Aliza is still with us, doing surprisingly well, luckily she had a gentle introduction with the first couple days being slackpacking. We found a trail name for her - "20 Bucks" - on account of the fact that when she tells a bad story (which is often), she throws in "...and then I found 20 bucks" to try and make it more interesting. On top of Stratton Mtn a storm rolled in but the friendly caretakers let us sit it out in their cabin on the top of the mountain. We did lower mileage on account of the rain.
Date: 2008-08-03
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: VT11/30 Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: moderate rain

Today we woke up early and did 10.6 miles into town - Manchester Center, VT. We all met at Friendly's restaurant for a good meal. Our plan was to stay at the Green Mountain House hostel, a new hostel not in the guidebook (just opened a few weeks ago), but we were disappointed to learn that they didn't do slackpacks. Amazingly, we met a guy named Foster (real name) at EMS who offerred to drive us around all day and slack us tomorrow. True trail magic. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the hostel, the home of Jeff and Regina Taussig, we learned they were booked for the next night so we couldn't stay after the slack. I've never heardf of a hostel accepting reservations, but there it is. We will still slack, I believe, and make other plans for tomorrow night. My thoughts on this hostel: this is the nicest hostel house I've ever been in.
Date: 2008-08-04
From: VT11/30 Manchester Center, VT

To: Danby-Landgrove Rd
Miles today: 17.8

Today Foster drove us to the trailhead for the slackpack and we walked south. Not much happened during the day. we saw some amazing vistas, maybe better than any on the trail so far. Mudbug and I tried our new "Hiker to Town" banner, which got us a ride with the very first car. Met up with everyone later at a guest house called Sutton's Place - we're all sleeping there tonight. Mudbug and I bought a chess set so we can play on the trail. I think we're both pretty bad at it but we're hoping to get better just by playing.
Date: 2008-08-05
From: Danby-Landgrove Rd

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

Today we got back on the trail with full packs and should be on for 3 days to Killington, VT. I felt like hiking alone, as I often do, so I shot ahead of the group - but here's the problem - unbeknownst to me (and the others as well, I guess) - our old friend Slowstepper met everyone at the last road crossing and took them to a campsite 20 miles away. I guess he's gonna slack them tomorrow. I was ahead so I didn't see Slowsteppa but people here relayed the message. I'll see them tomorrow going south.
Date: 2008-08-06
From: Claredon Shelter

To: Governor Clement Shelter
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: moderate rain

This morning I just wanted to lay in my tent and not get up because it was raining. But then just as the rain stopped and I got out, Bound showed up. We wanted to hike 10 miles but just ended up staying at a shelter 6 miles away because another thunderstorm came rolling in. The weather is so bad lately, thunderstorms every day...
Date: 2008-08-07
From: Governor Clement Shelter

To: Gifford Woods State Park
Miles today: 13.8

Hiked with Low (who met up with us last night) and Bound to Gifford State Park, where Slowsteppa had his campsite with the rest of the guys. We saw everyone midday going south, but when we got to the campsite noone was there - turns out they took off for Chinese Food without us - that's ok because there was a boyscout troop across from us who invited us to dinner as well as breakfast the next morning. They also let us sleep under their giant pavilion tent.
Date: 2008-08-08
From: Gifford Woods State Park

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: light rain

Didn't get very far - hiked out and took cover in a shelter from a very severe storm - hail and dark skies and all. Still, had a pretty good time in the shelter with a big group (The Breeze, Bound, Low, and of course our own group) and lots of visitors. The shelter had a nice, welcoming atmosphere for people coming in out the storm. We lit candles and incense, broke out the chess board, played music, laughed a lot, that sort of thing.
Date: 2008-08-09
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: Woodstock Stage Rd
Miles today: 15.2

Amazingly, it didn't rain on us today. Hiked and met Fred, NED's dad who will be helping us out and supporting us for a bit, which is awesome. He picked us up at a road crossing and took us to town. We're staying at a campground at a state park.
Date: 2008-08-10
From: Woodstock Stage Rd

To: VT-NH Border
Miles today: 20.4

Woo-hoo! Crossed into NH today - Bound and Low were there as well as the usual group. Also, Aliza aka 20 Bucks ended her hike, meaning she walked from northern MA into southern NH, hiking all of the AT in Vermont in the process. Got rained on quite a bit, but that is no surprise - for some reason we get thunderstorms every day now. The hike was surprisingly easy and incredibly beautiful - I would recommend the last 10 or 15 miles of VT as a dayhike.
Date: 2008-08-11
From: Claredon Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Sorry about the gap in entries, I'm behind on my paper journal as well. We're here in Hanover, NH (crossed the border from VT yesterday). The weather was supposed to be terrible today (well, it's been terrible everyday for about 10 days), but it's really not bad so it's a bit unfortunate that we decided to zero today, but basically Mudbug and I have just been having fun hanging around, this is a college town (Dartmouth Univ) and we've been to the outfitter, the bookstore, a music store, some cafes, etc. Now we're trying to find someone to stay with like we did in Salisbury, CT and NYC but it's not happening here...people are kinda preppy and not really apt to invite strange hikers to sleep on their floor. We're in a cool little TV/computer room in Dartmouth, Mudbug is watching a soccer game on one of the big screen TVs.Still truckin', still going to Maine (next and last state!)...don't want to scare anyone but Mudbug and I are talking about doing the Pacific Crest Trail in 2010, a 2,650 walk from Mexico to Canada through the wilderness. Hikas 4 life. Not sure when the next update will be - worst case scenario it's just a huge one after I finish the trail but hopefully I get to a computer before then.Peace out,Bones
Date: 2008-08-12
From: Hanover, NH

To: Firewarden's Cabin
Miles today: 23.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, I've been thinking about it for a while and today I made the decision to go off on my own for a while. Nothing against the group, I love them and will miss them, but 2 things - I want to slack less and go into town less, I want a bit of solitude through the upcoming tough and beautiful section, and I'm beginning to worry that NED's schedule isn't aggressive enough to get her on Katahdin by her projected end date (Sept 15). I must be done by September 20 or 21, as I have a plane ticket to CA on the 25th. I ran into Bogey and Slim today, flip-floppers I knew at the beginning of the trail, and they said 5 or 6 weeks to get to Katahdin. They are going south so they know, though they said I can probably do it a bit faster. But I know I can only do that on my own. So I decided to do a bigger day today, which had me hiking a bit in the dark because I had to wait for NED's dad at a road crossing b/c he had my gear (I slacked the first 17 miles), as well as a brand new ukulele, which he GAVE me, without paying him for it. I still feel bad about that. So cozy in my winter bag right now, so glad I have it. It's getting cold again up here. New Hampshire is beautiful (but a bit harder so far).
Date: 2008-08-13
From: Firewarden's Cabin

To: Glencliff, NH
Miles today: 20.0

Today I hiked to the "Hiker's Welcome" hostel in Glencliff, which I think is awesome. I think the place is great because it is rustic and dirty and perfect for hikers. I saw a lot of people I knew there - Orangedust, Moccasin, Icarus, Wookie, The Breeze, Wildflower, Bearpaw (last seen in TN), and some others. We all watched "Office Space," whch was hilarious. I think it had special significance, watching a movie about offices on the trail. It reminded me of where I used to work. Honestly, I feel it would be impossible for me to go back to that kind of life. It is absurd. There's a lot of truth in comedy, which is why people who work in offices love that movie.
Date: 2008-08-14
From: Glencliff, NH

To: Kinsman Notch
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: scattered clouds

I think today was the most beautiful and scenic yet, and that's saying a lot. Mt. Moosilauke is really amazing - our first time above treeline. It would be a great dayhike. It's an almost overwhelming feeling - to emerge from the "green tunnel" we've grown so accustomed to into the vast and open skies of New Hampshire, watching the ridgeline wander into the distance, and seeing panoramically the beauty of the New England backcountry. I really wanted to stay at "Chet's Place" tonight, which is apparently a mayor-of-Unionville, Rob Bird-type place, so I can't pass it up. So it was either 10 miles today or 10 tomorrow to get there (two road options), so I just did 10 and figured I'd stay 2 nights. Got a hitch from a woman who actually knew Chet and took me right there. It's all true, everything they say about Chet, he is very cool and on the level of Rob and the mayor.P.S. coming down Moosilauke was possible the hardest section yet. Here's a funny story though - I cautiously descended the entire mountain, a huge, almost unending descent, slick and rocky and unbelievably steep. Then, at the bottom where it was completely flat, I stood reading a sign that said "Warning, do not attempt to go up this mountain unless you are confident in your hiking skills, a fall here could be fatal, etc." I then took a step back, my heel hit a root, and I stood for a moment in airy inertia, arms flailing wildly in futile attempt to keep me upright, then fell flat on my ass, and sat there for a moment laughing at myself, that I had fallen *here*, on flat ground, after the most treacherous section yet.