morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-07-11
From: Manchester Center, VT 1946.1

To: Peru Peak shelter 1656.2
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: few clouds

When we got up, I worked on the blog until it was time to leave. We said goodbye to Mr Sutton and the Birds, and walked to Up for Breakfast, which Mr. Sutton had recommended. I had an omelet with apples, brie and maple bacon. Yum. While we were there we saw the Mayakka Mules, who had just come into town, and were headed to the hostel to enjoy a zero day. After breakfast, we walked to the main street near Ben and Jerry's and started to hitch. After two minutes we got a ride with a man who'd moved to Vermont from Puerto Rico, and had stayed at Suttons place until he got settled. He took us to the trailhead, where we saw Achey Breaky and the Birds. They started off ahead, but we caught up with them while they got water. Then we saw a chocolate lab and her person, Bob, who were hiking up to the first shelter to clean the privy. Thanks! We hiked the two miles to the shelter turnoff, took their picture, and continued ascending Bromley Mountain. At the top of the mountain was a ski lift and a map of the ski area. We followed the white blazes off the top, then went up again to Peru Peak, then back down eight hundred feet to the Peru Peak shelter. On the way down we caught up with Duffer, who we hadn't seen since Virginia. We chatted until we reached the shelter, then Duffer continued on. We would have liked to continue with him, but we were tired from the late night last night. The Squirrel Patrol from the Green Mountain club was cutting up the old shelter into firewood. They were led by Flying Squirrel, who had thru hiked in 2010, and included future thru hikers Mowgli, Ray Ray, Scrogen, and Elisabeth. After they left the shelter, Grok, Achey Breaky, Bobcat, and Indiana came in, and later, the Birds. They were all were continuing another six miles. I got water from the large stream right in front of the shelter and treated it, then took a two hour nap. When I got up, Whitless and Wandering, and her mom Laura, came in, then Jester, then the Lionkillers, Shannon and Whip-poor-will. Eventually I realized that I remembered Whitless from the Seth Warner Shelter, the first shelter in Vermont! It was a congenial group at the shelter. Shannon had a lovely voice, and even played the ukulele. Life is great on the Appalachian Trail, especially when there's time for an afternoon nap, then congenial company in the shelter.
Date: 2012-07-12
From: Peru Peak shelter 1656.2

To: Minerva Hinchley shelter 1675.8
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: clear sky

This was a nice day, but longer than we had anticipated. We started hiking about 7:45 and reached the first shelter in two hours. The Birds were just leaving the area and said the people in the shelter were noisy last night, so we were glad we had not hiked the extra six miles yesterday. Achey Breaky was just getting up as we stopped for a snack, then continued on to a lake, where the Birds had stopped for lunch. We joined them for lunch, then filled our water bladders for the next few miles. We had planned to stop at the next shelter, after some interesting rock sculptures five miles up the trail, but when the Birds caught up, they said they had seen a post-it saying there was no water there, so we decided to hike the extra five miles to the Minerva Hinchley shelter without stopping, since the shelter was a third of a mile off the trail. We caught up with the Birds, who had stopped to make a phone call, and then all continued down the trail to the road. The Birds decided to hitch into town and offered to get me a Coke, which I accepted. While they went into town, we continued, ascending a big hill for a couple of miles, then descending to the Minerva Hinchley shelter. A family was already at the shelter, but there was room for us, so we set up our sleeping pads and bags. Soon Achey Breaky arrived, then the Birds, with a Coke for me, and some carrots they'd been given. Later on, Jihad, Easy Turtle, and Hot Sauce, three friends from the same town who had hiked the whole trail together so far, and whom we had met in Glasgow, Virginia, came in and set up their tents. (Random note: They came in with the sad news that a fellow thru hiker had drowned in a lake in Maine. They didn't know his name, or where he had drowned, but we figured we would learn that later.) Water was close, easy to find, and easy to gather, since it came out of a pipe. Nice. We made dinner...late since we'd arrived late, then visited with the Birds and Achey Breaky for awhile, since everyone was a bit shaken up by the bad news. Still, life is great on the Appalachian Trail.
Date: 2012-07-13
From: Minerva Hinchley shelter 1675.8

To: Cooper Lodge 1689.6
Miles today: 13.8

We started out at 7:45, hiking up a low ridge. Soon we came upon some Vermont Youth Conservation Corps workers. We thanked them for their work, then continued ascending a ridge a little longer, then hiked down the other side. When we got to the road, we saw Duffer, who was waiting for his wife to pick him up for a zero day, and to get a replacement pack, since the pack he wore had broken. When we arrived at the road, we walked the half mile to the Whistle Stop Cafe for a delicious second breakfast of scrambled eggs with apples, onions, ham, and Vermont cheddar. Since I had cell coverage, I checked my email, Voicemail, and Facebook, and made a few phone calls. After an hour or so, I posted our location on Facebook. Lastly, we checked the hikers' log, before walking back to the trail. We continued over another ridge, and just when we were about to check our water, we came upon some trail magic! Water! Thanks! We continued another half mile to a road where there was information about a trail bypass, and just as I was about to photo the sign, trail angel Santa's Helper shouted to us to come to his car. He had come to Vermont all the way from Tennessee to hike the and to do trail magic. The sodas, fruit, and snacks were delicious. Santa's Helper had heard from southbounders that it was best to ignore the bypass, and follow the white blazes. We took his advice and were glad we did. The white blazes were easy to follow, and someone had made a usable log bridge across the stream, to replace the one which had been washed away last fall by Hurricane Irene. They had even made a handrail. We soon arrived at the next shelter, where we read in the log that hikers who had taken the bypass had hated the road walk. After the shelter, we immediately started ascending Killington Mountain, and stopped only to get water halfway upper. What a climb! By the time we reached Cooper Lodge, a four sided shelter, 4.4 miles up, we were tired! There were fourteen people there already, including Kevin, the local ridgerunner, who told us about the history of Cooper Lodge. It was built in 1939 by the Vermont Forest Service. Were we ever happy to score the last two spaces in this shelter, even though these two spaces were on the top platform, which had a big hole in it. Fifteen minutes after we arrived, the Lionkillers came in, but they had to set up their tent. We felt bad for them, but there was absolutely NO room left in the shelter. Once our bags were laid out, I went to get water, from a tiny stream. It took several minutes to fill all the water bladders, but at least was only a tenth of a mile or so from the shelter, we made dinner, watched a lovely sunset and zzzzz. Life is great on the Appalachian Trail, especially when you get the last two spots in the shelter, get to watch a colorful sunset, and when you get TWO acts of trail magic in one day.
Date: 2012-07-14
From: Cooper Lodge 1689.6

To: The Inn at Long Trail 1697.8
Miles today: 8.2

We took a nero today, since we were hoping to get a room at the Inn at Long Trail, so we got out early. After hiking 7.3 miles, we arrived at the Maine Junction, the point at which the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail go their separate ways. Another 1.7 miles brought us to the Sherburne Trail, which we took to the Inn at the Long Trail. We were fortunate to get one of the very last rooms, if not the very last one. We brought up our packs, then went down for lunch. Pickles, who was starting dental school in the fall, and who was hiking the Long Trail, and her dad, Buttondown, were in the lunch room, so we joined them. They were enjoying nachos, then splitting a sandwich. We had our usual cheeeseburgers, and since I was still hungry, I added a rootbeer float! Yum. We checked our provisions, then Gary took the bus to Rutland while I made some calls and worked on the blog. By the time he returned from shopping, it was time for dinner, this time in the pub at the inn. There was even live entertainment, in the form of a singer/comedian singing Irish songs, interspersed with Irish jokes. It was hard to tear ourselves away at 9:00 pm, but since we had an eighteen mile day planned for the next day, we thought it would be wise. Life is great on the Appalachian Trail, especially when you get to eat lunch with trail friends, and spend the afternoon and evening at a beautiful, hiker friendly inn very close to the Appalachian Trail!
Date: 2012-07-20
From: Wheelock, VT 1742.0

To: Trapper John Shelter 1758.7
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: scattered clouds

We got up at 5:00 am, so we could have a substantial breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast before leaving Pete and Barb's house at 6:00. Barb was kind enough to take us back to Hanover to the Subway where she'd picked us up three days ago. We weighed our packs: 24 pounds for mine and 32 pounds for Gary's. They were heavy always heavy after resupplying, plus we added camp shoes so our feet could dry after fording streams in Maine. (Random note: I brought Nike water sandals, and Gary brought Crocs.) It was a little hard to put on our heavy packs and say goodbyes after the relaxing visit, but we were eager to start the last leg of our hike. Once we got out of the car, we started looking for the white blazes. We hiked on the road past a playing field, then followed the trail into the woods and up the first hill. Trog, a seventy something thru hiker, caught up with us in town, then we went ahead once we started up the hill. Soon we came to a rope assist up the hill ...fun, but not necessary. We hiked past the first shelter, only a mile up the trail. Gary saw two grey mice...cute little guys. I was sorry I didn't see them. We caught up with Duffer on the way to the second shelter, where we had lunch. Unfortunately there was no water at this shelter, and my Platypus was empty, but Gary shared his water with me until we reached a stream, where I filled up before continuing. We then ascended the last big climb, then went past some ledges before arriving at the shelter. Duffer was already there, setting up his tent. There were also two southbounders, Gotta Go from Atlanta, and Shipwreck from Illinois, who started June 15. Soon two young women came in, followed by two more northbounders, Flint and Philly Steve, who came in bearing firewood. Then Trog; the young couple from Germany, 2 Tall and Good Grip arrived, then Achey Breaky and the Birds, and, finally, Dos and Magpie. Life is great on the Appalachian Trail when water is close and decent, and the company is great.
Date: 2012-07-21
From: Trapper John Shelter 1758

To: Brackett Brook 1774.0
Miles today: 15.3

We slept in, thinking it would be a short hike today. We had heard that a trail angel was giving ice cream bars to hikers at his home, a mile into our hike today, at Dorchester Road. Once we reached Dorchester Road we looked, and on the other side of the it we saw a sign directing us to a house. There was, in fact trail magic in the form of coffee, lemonade and ice cream bars ...great at 8:00 am! We signed in the log...over two hundred fifty hikers had received ice cream bars from this kind family this season so far! Soon we started climbing up Smarts mountain, up about twenty four hundred feet to a fire tower, where we had lunch. The last half mile was especially steep. Duffer, the Birds and Pony Love were there. Pony love was particularly fast. He had started six weeks after we had at Springer Mountaina and was planning planning to be done by the tenth or so of August. He had graduated a year ago from Lafayette College and was planning to apply to law school once he completed the trail. We checked out the old firewarden's cabin, where Trog was eating lunch, before started down the other side. On the far side of Smarts Mountain, as we headed towards Hexacuba Shelter, we passed several thru hikers heading south, including Shadow, Q, and Slowride. We had planned to stop at this shelter, but had decided to continue north since we had heard there was no water there. We hiked the rest of the way up Mt Cube, then descended to Brackett Brook, where we set up our tent, along with Duffer. Achey Breaky came through, but didn't stop since he couldn't find a flat spot for his tent. Later on Trog came in and did find a place to set up his tent. After dinner Gary hung the bear bag. We had hiked four miles farther today than we had originally planned, but it would help us tomorrow, so it was all good! Life is great on the Appalachian Trail when you find a nice place to tent, near great water.
Date: 2012-07-22
From: Brackett Brook 1774.0

To: Beaver Brook shelter 1793.3
Miles today: 19.3

Again we thought today was going to be a short day, so we started late, just before 8:00. Soon we reached a road, crossed it, and hiked up another ridge, back down, and up another one. The trail was a bit tough to follow, thanks to damage by Hurricane Irene in 2011. When we got to a lookout point, we couldn't see any white blazes. We hiked down what we thought was the Appalachian Trail, but then had second thoughts. Big Dog and Minutia, who had met each other last year on the trail in NC, but were stopped by Irene just north of Bennington, Vermont, and were back this season to finish. Between the four of us, we finally found blazes on the trail Gary and been on, just past the point where we had turned around. We continued hiking, and soon met Chitty Chitty and Bang Bang, a young couple, and friends of Dude Man Bro and BearManPig. Then we came upon Shambo, another SOBO, taking a break along the trail. He had started his hike in jeans and a cotton sweater, carrying more than seventy pounds on his back. He had changed out a lot of his gear, needless to say. Over the course of his hike his trail, name had changed from Shamen, to Rambo, to Shambo! He read us a poem he's written about his hike. It was beautiful. Then he gave us some almonds. Thanks! Soon we passed another southbounder, Long Oats. By the time we reached the third paved road we were out of water, but could see a river on the far side of the road. The trail was a bit hard to find due to more damage by Irene, but we could see Duffer getting water. When we got to him, we filled our Platys and discussed our options. Duffer said he had decided to push up Mt. Moosilauke today and to stay in the shelter just on the far side of the summit to beat tomorrow's predicted rain. We decided to do the same. So...we left the river at 2:30 and hiked north, passing our planned shelter at 3:10, and started ascending the mountain. We figured if we pushed hard we could reach the summit by seven, and the shelter by dark. We met two day hikers, and two more southbounders on the way Mt. Moosilauke, Appalachian Ed, from Denver and Smokey. There were many big rocks on the way up but at least no climbing with hands. We reached the krumholz (stunted evergreen trees) by 5:30, and the summit just before six, an hour before we had predicted. What a view we had! We took a few pictures, and enjoyed the view for fifteen minutes, before we continued hiking along the above timberline trail, following the cairns. Soon we were back into krumholz again, then were soon back to where the trail descended steeply down rocks leading to the shelter. When we arrived at the shelter, just before 7:30, Johannes was already there, along with Flint and Philly Steve. Were surprised to see us! Also there were two young woman section hikers, Bill Murphy and Funch. We got water for the evening, and relaxed a few minutes before Duffer arrived. We made dinner and were asleep by nine. Life is great on the Appalachian Trail, especially when, after 1790+ miles we can still hike a 19+ mile TOUGH day!
Date: 2012-07-23
From: Beaver Brook shelter 1793.3

To: North Woodstock NH 1794.8
Miles today: 1.5

We got up at 6:00 this morning, ate breakfast and packed up to start hiking at 7:15 with Duffer. While we were chatting at breakfast, one of the people at the shelter, who had been with us two days earlier, asked us if we had hiked all the way to the shelter yesterday...thinking, I suppose, that we had yellow blazed (taken a ride) part way. We were rather taken aback by the implication that a couple of sixty somethings couldn't pull off a nineteen mile day with a big mountain after four and a half months on the trail. Of COURSE we had hiked How else do you see every blaze? (Random note: We older hikers tended to start earlier in the morning, and tended to take fewer, shorter breaks during the day than the younger hikers, but we still put in the miles.) We started early even with a very short day of hiking ahead, since rain was predicted, and we didn't want to hike the steep downhill trail on wet rocks. The hike today alternated between steep, downhill rock hopping and rock faces with wood block steps. This would not have been difficult when dry, but would be treacherous when wet. Fortunately it was dry the entire way down for us. Along the way down we met southbounders Buzz, then Solo, then Driver and Pitstop, a couple from Mississippi, who planned to be home by Thanksgiving dinner. When we reached the bottom, we met two more southbounders CC and Wiggles, who are hiking to raise awareness and funds for the Wounded Warrior Project. Their website was www.warriormarch2012.org. We also met a car full of women, who offered to bring us to the Wilderness Inn B&B, where we were spending the night, and which Duffer had arranged. Thanks! We took pictures with our trail angels when we arrived at the inn, then checked in and set our packs down, since our rooms wouldn't be ready for awhile. That done, our hosts offered to make us a second breakfast of fruit, omelets, toast, and coffee or tea, for a modest price. After a leisurely meal, we started chores: Duffer went to the post office to get his package, and to mail a map home for us, while I started working on my blog, and Gary started planning our next resupply. Once Duffer got back, we started on our other chores: Duffer did all of our laundry, while Gary and I walked the mile to Lincoln to resupply. While at the grocery store we met another northbound thru hiker, Quicksilver. We didn't guess we'd be seeing him again, since he was headed back to the trail, after we gave him the "shuttle connection" phone number. The rest of the day was be spent relaxing and eating. Dinner was at a local tavern, with ice cream sundaes from the ice cream stand next door for dessert...Life is great on the Appalachian Trail when you can do your hike early and get into to a very civilized B&B, in time for second breakfast!
Date: 2012-07-24
From: North Woodstock, NH 1794.8

To: Kinsman Pond shelter 1806.3
Miles today: 11.5

We awoke at 6:00 am, to arrange for a shuttle back to the trail, then packed up and brought our packs down with us to breakfast at 7:30. The inn owner brought us coffee and tea and took our orders for omelets and fruit. Delicious! The shuttle driver was right on time, so we were back on the trail by 8:40. At the trail head were Grok and the three wounded Warrior hikers. Once on the trail, we immediately came to trail magic: Cokes. I put one in my pack for lunch as we started ascending the steep trail to Mt. Wolf, then descended to the shelter at seven and a half miles. Magpie was there already, reading. Gorp, who we hadn't seen in awhile, since he'd been off trail visiting family and healing his ankle, came in shortly. It was great to see him. Duffer got water and we ate lunch. Soon Achey Breaky arrived. We left at 3:00, with four miles more to hike to Kinsman Pond shelter. We met southbounders Peanut and Lumber Joel, and Squirmy Turtle, and section hikers Seamstress and Mama Llama as well. We knew the trail would be steep, but didn't realize it would be so technical. We used the trees along the trail to hang onto as we climbed up and down the rocks and rock faces. Gorp passed us, then Hambone, who was trying to get to the Lonesome Lake Hut to work for stay. (Random note: "Work for stay" means working several hours in exchange for getting a meal and a place to lay your sleeping bag inside. If you are lucky, you can work for stay at the Appalachian Mountain Club huts in the White Mountains.) Just before we got to the shelter, Nitrous Oxide passed us. It started raining but fortunately it wasn't a downpour until we reached the shelter. Nitrous been off trail for a wedding last weekend, and had caught up with us...again. As we came in the caretaker's tent was visible. Duffer and I got water, then I went back to the caretaker's tent to register. (Random note: In the White Mountains you have to pay to use the shelters.) We ate with Duffer and Nitrous Oxide then zzzz. It was a tough day, but kind of fun in spite of the rain and tough terrain. Life is great on the Appalachian Trail, even on tough days because of the great people. It really is the Appalachian SOCIAL Trail.