morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-06-06
From:  RPH Shelter

To: Wiley Shelter
Miles today: 25.6
Weather: clear sky

Just before bedtime last night, the caretaker for the RPH Shelter came in and invited all thru-hikers to his house for breakfast. So of course, we were all up and out extra early this morning, and we arrived at his house very quickly, covering three uphill miles in roughly 45 minutes. Great things can be accomplished when food is the reward. We were treated to an endless supply of waffles and coffee, and were given a power strip on which we could charge our phones. It was a great way to start the day, and though the caretaker had to work this morning, we were delighted to spend the morning with his wife and precocious young daughter.With the sun finally rejoining us, the day went by relatively quickly. Mumbles sped ahead for some reason (and missed out on breakfast, the weirdo), so Birdman and I spent the day by ourselves. After the hellish first two days in NY, today¢s terrain seemed downright pleasant. We had a few steep climbs, but much of the day was filled with boardwalks, ridge walks and pleasant strolls. In truth, the day was relatively uneventful aside from crossing over the Appalachian Trail Railroad Station, where we could catch a train to New York City on the weekends. There we met two former thru-hikers, ¢Moo Milk¢ and ¢Beagle¢, who were just revisiting a few of the nearby trail hotspots. They wished us a great hike and a ¢Happy Katahdin¢, a phrase I can definitely get used to.We rolled into camp at around 7:30 PM, where we met up with Mumbles, Good Company, and another thru-hiker named ¢Sky¢. We chatted briefly and inhaled our dinners before setting up our tents ¢ the mosquitoes are a constant presence now. Tomorrow we head into Kent, Connecticut ¢ (state 10 achieved!), where we will resupply and hopefully find a shower. I haven¢t had a real bath since Delaware Water Gap, and I can definitely tell whenever I trap the stench inside of my tent.
Date: 2014-06-07
From: Wiley Shelter

To: Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: clear sky

Today was an early start due to the sheer amount of stuff we needed to do. After the terrain proved to be extremely difficult in southern New York, we¢ve decided to not trust our topographic maps too much. Fortunately the trail was very well-graded, even on the uphills, meaning we could fly down the AT.Within 20 minutes of starting today, we officially crossed the Connecticut state line, entering New England and the tenth state on the AT. Unlike when I crossed into NY, this crossing feels very different for some reason, probably because I¢m entering new territory. The northern woods have been beautiful thus far, full of dark evergreens and clear streams. I expect it to only get more wild and beautiful as we get closer to Maine.Around midday we came to CT 34, the highway leading to Kent. We had heard that this town was not particularly hiker friendly ¢ the Laundromat even goes as far as to post a sign saying ¢Hikers not welcome¢. Kent is definitely a well-to-do town, with roads filled with Jaguars, Porsches, and Land Rovers, so I¢m sure some residents dislike having dirty, smelly hikers roaming the streets. Yet this was never a problem for me, with no less than three people wishing me luck on my hike. Everyone just seemed happy to be enjoying a beautiful spring day, not glaring at us admittedly filthy hikers.After a quick resupply, lunch, and browse at an outdoor book sale, we successfully hitched back to the trail for the remainder of our hike. There were some hills at first, but eventually we followed a level path beside the Housatonic River. Our shelter for the night is within hearing distance of the river as well, meaning I will definitely sleep well tonight. Good Company is once again with us tonight, and he seems just as eager for a shower as we are. We plan to finally remedy that situation tomorrow.
Date: 2014-06-08
From: Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter

To: Bearded Woods One-of-a-Kind Bunk and Dine Hostel 
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Even when waking up just after sunrise, you can always tell when the day will be a scorcher. Though the humidity is typically quite low up here (unlike in my home state of Georgia), hiking up a mountain in 80+ degree weather can sap your energy quickly. Thus, we decided to start extra early in order to get in as many miles as possible before the real heat began.Yet even once the heat set in, the entire day was beautiful. We started with a 3 mile walk beside the Housatonic River, an extremely flat section that allowed me to really zone out and enjoy the scenery. I actually stopped at one point to admire a particularly eye-catching bend in the river while Birdman, Mumbles, and Good Company carried on. After that, I actually spent the majority of the day hiking by myself. It was a nice change of pace, for even though it¢s nice to have a conversation while hiking, having a day to contemplate can be extremely rewarding.After leaving Housatonic¢s banks for the first time, I entered a long stretch of wavy hills that gave great views of the countryside and at one point, a very large racetrack, though there were no races today. I also passed through my least favorite terrain ¢ high grass fields ¢multiple times, followed by intensive tick checks. Eventually I dropped back down to the Housatonic River and followed it through a small town, Falls Village. At a roadside high school I reunited with Good Company, and together we located an outdoor water spigot where we could top off our bottles.Good Company and I hiked together for the remainder of the day, reentering the hills briefly before dropping down into Salisbury, CT. Here we reunited with Birdman, who was in distress after finding a deer tick attached to his thigh. Luckily, I had my tweezers handy and quickly dispatched the vermin.Then, after a quick phone call, one of my most relaxing evenings began. We were picked up by Hudson, a two-time thru-hiker and poster man for the hiking life, and taken to his hostel just outside of town: ¢Bearded Woods One-of-a-Kind Bunk and Dine¢. Located in a hillside cabin just outside of town, Hudson and his wife, Lu, have crafted a hostel with everything a hiker needs. Every bunk has clean linens and blankets, meaning we don¢t have to spend yet another night in our sleeping bags. There are two overstuffed sofas, a flat screen TV, and DVD¢s galore to enjoy. Most important, however; are Hudson and Lu themselves, who not only prepared a huge pot roast and pasta dinner for us, but were extremely welcoming and helpful with our every need.Oh, and I forgot to mention the wonderful, steamy, soul-cleansing showers. You¢ll never know how great a shower can be until you¢ve lived in your filth for over a week. While I¢m still exhausted after a long day¢s hike, my stay at Bearded Wood has repaired my psyche. I can only imagine how much better I¢ll feel after a good night¢s sleep.
Date: 2014-06-09
From: Bearded Woods One-of-a-Kind Bunk and Dine Hostel 

To: The Hemlocks Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: light rain

Today was a late start, low mileage day for one primary reason: Bearded Woods is a magical place. After the best sleep I¢ve had in a while, we were treated to a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, sausage, eggs, and English muffins. I took another shower just to revel in cleanliness a bit longer. When we finally asked Hudson to take us back into Salisbury for resupply, it was already after 10:30 AM. Even so, it was definitely worth it just to have a lazy morning.It took us another short while to resupply, and of course there was an outfitter for us to browse as well, so it was after 12:00 PM when we actually started hiking. By that time it had started to rain. This was a blessing as far as the heat, but we were soaked to the bone before long. We had to keep moving constantly; otherwise, we would quickly chill.We descended into a deep river valley in midafternoon and shortly found ourselves in our eleventh state: Massachusetts. So far New England has met my expectation of being cool and wet. It looks like Massachusetts will continue that trend.I¢ll end this entry with a tale of true trail magic. Shortly after setting out, I realized that I only purchased two dinners for a three night section. I had resolved myself to having a granola bar dinner one night when, just before the shelter we came across the answer to my problem. A trail angel named Dot had laid out a picnic table full of deli meats, fresh bread, condiments, and a variety of potato chips, tea, lemonade, and coolers full of water. We proceeded to stuff ourselves full of sandwiches, allowing me to save my dinners for another day. I often hear people¢s stories about the trail providing what they truly needed; now I am definitely able to say it¢s true.
Date: 2014-06-10
From: The Hemlocks Shelter

To:  East Mountain Retreat Center
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Our night and morning at the Hemlocks Shelter was very entertaining, as we had the company of German hiker ¢Silent Knight¢. Over the course of the evening, he taught us three phrases we would need to know should we visit Berlin:¢May I have a beer, please?¢¢This is good beer!¢¢Thank you!¢As we recited these phrases flawlessly this morning, I felt very cultured and worldly. Thank you Silent Knight for enlightening us Americans in the German way of life.After a rainy night, the trail was soggy for roughly half the day until 80+ degree temperatures started to dry everything out. Thankfully, the terrain today was relatively peaceful and uneventful, a stark change from the trail conditions over the past week or so. Today was a relatively low mileage day, as we are aiming to stay at the much talked about Upper Gooses Pond Shelter tomorrow night ¢ more on that tomorrow.When leaving early this morning, Good Company left his puffy jacket in the shelter. The ever courageous Mumbles grabbed his jacket and hurried after him, meaning Birdman and I spent the day hiking alone. We intended to stop for the day at Tom Leonard Shelter, but we decided to move on for two key reasons: first, we were swarmed by mosquitoes the second we sat down; and second, the shelter had been completely chewed up by porcupines, who love the taste of salt. Fearing for our blood and our sweaty hiking equipment, we decided to take a chance and stay at the East Mountain Retreat Center, where religious groups will stay for periods of time while practicing vows of silence. Intrigued, we found ourselves at the compound within an hour or so, and were essentially given our own cabin for $10 apiece. We had a small library, hot plate for cooking, and two beds (though the couch in the library was way more comfortable than my bed, so I slept there instead). We were also happy to have a roof over our heads, as it started pouring rain about an hour ago. Our only regret is that there aren¢t any groups here practicing vows of silence. I was hoping to find out if I can effectively communicate by giving high fives. This experiment will have to wait until another day, unfortunately.
Date: 2014-06-11
From:  East Mountain Retreat Center

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: light rain

Birdman and I headed out relatively early to find that a tree had fallen over the retreat¢s driveway. A man who definitely didn¢t know how to use a chainsaw ¢ he had cut up more ground than he had tree ¢ was attempting to remove the debris. Being the good Samaritans that we are, we helped him move everything into the woods, and he rewarded us by driving us back to the trail. Karma was on our side this morning.The first half of the day was relatively uneventful, with up and down climbs through damp pine forests (it rained through the night, it seems). Roughly twelve miles in, however; our day became a lot more interesting.First we crossed paths with a southbound section hiker practically screaming curse words at a barbed wire fence she had to cross. We investigated and found that there was at least two feet of clearance ¢ the barbed wire was little more than six inches off of the ground. Some people get upset over some very strange things.About half a mile later, Birdman and I heard some scratching above our heads in a nearby tree. We looked up to see two bear cubs ¢ no more than a foot tall at the shoulder ¢ scuttling as fast as they could up the tree. Our first reaction: ¢Bear cubs, how cute!¢. Our second reaction: ¢Oh crap, where¢s mom?¢. After a quick scan I spotted her, half-hidden behind a fallen tree and silently watching us. We walked loudly but quickly back down the trail, putting as much distance between mom and ourselves as possible while still being able to keep an eye on the situation. Unfortunately, we couldn¢t keep going, as the trail would put us directly between mom and her cubs, which we all know is a bad idea. So we waited, and waited, then waited some more as mom looked at her cubs, then us, then back at her cubs for almost forty minutes. Finally, as rain began to fall, mom gave in and climbed 30 feet up the tree to check on her cubs. We took the opportunity and ran through before the family decided to come back down again.The rest of our hike was beautiful but uneventful ¢ the rain seems to make firs and hemlocks even more vibrant and beautiful. Eventually we reached our destination of Upper Goose Pond Cabin, one of the most talked about shelters on the trail. Situated directly on its namesake pond, the cabin has two floors: one with a complete kitchen, dining room, fireplace, bookshelf, and other amenities; and the top floor filled with bunks with actual mattresses. Best of all, the cabin has a caretaker who not only placed beer cans in our hands as we walked through the door, but will also make us an endless supply of pancakes in the morning. It¢s a thru-hiker¢s mansion if I ever saw one.At the cabin, we were reunited with Good Company and Mumbles, with GC¢s coat finally returned to its proper owner. We spent the evening warming up by the fire, swapping stories with each other and the caretaker (former thru-hiker ¢Glover¢), and unwinding after our walk in the rain. Even though it was too cold to take a dip in the pond, it has been one of my favorite nights on the trail so far.
Date: 2014-06-12
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: The house of BirdmanÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs great aunt, Dottie
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: moderate rain

After a great night¢s sleep, nothing beats a great breakfast to start the day off right. In our case, breakfast was an all-you-can-eat pancake smorgasbord with fresh ground coffee. While that may sound like a normal breakfast to most, it¢s a delicacy when the usual breakfast is either oatmeal or Pop Tarts.We set off shortly after breakfast into yet another cold, rainy day. While the rain does keep us cool, it also saps some of the energy you desperately need to pull big miles. Thankfully, Birdman had some news that lifted my spirits back up: his great aunt Dottie invited him, Mumbles, and me to stay at her house for the evening. An opportunity to stay in a real house with real beds is even rarer than a full breakfast, so we gladly took Birdman up on his offer.Perhaps it was because of this upcoming stay or because of the rain, or because the terrain was flat, but for some reason this day slogged on forever. The scenery was always the same, and there were never any views to spice up the monotony. We even stopped by one of the trail highlights, ¢The Cookie Lady¢s House¢, only to be further demoralized. The Cookie Lady cooks large batches of homemade cookies for thru-hikers, and of course we arrived on one of the few days she wasn¢t around. Cold, wet, and cookieless, we marched on.Thankfully, Dalton, MA, came up relatively quickly. This town was where we were supposed to meet Dottie and was also where my mother had sent me a resupply drop (thanks mom!). After collecting our packages from the post office, we grabbed some coffee and snacks from a nearby caf© while we waited for Dottie to arrive. I can only imagine how much we stunk up the place.We walked back to the post office for our rendezvous with Dottie, who soon barreled into the parking lot and whisked us away to a grocery store for resupply. As I already had the majority of my food from my maildrop I spent the majority of my time eating bear claw donuts at the bakery.Afterwards we were brought to Dottie¢s home, where we bathed, did laundry, and discussed trail life with her and her visiting son, Todd. For dinner we dined on pot roast, potatoes, carrots, oven-baked bread, and other stomach filling goodness. I¢m now laying in what must be the comfiest bed I¢ve experienced so far on the trail. Though the hiking today wasn¢t great, the day itself turned out to be a great one.
Date: 2014-06-13
From: The house of BirdmanÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs great aunt, Dottie

To: Bascom Lodge on Mt. Greylock
Miles today: 17.2

Leaving Dottie¢s house this morning was one of the hardest things I¢ve had to do so far on this trip. First, it was a truly wonderful stay; I slept soundly and had a superb breakfast of English muffins, eggs, bacon, cereal, coffee, and honey fresh from my father¢s bee farm. Extra special thanks go out to Dottie and Todd for their hospitality!Second, the weather outside started off bad, and we knew it was only going to get worse. Staring at the weather radar did not make the dark mass of incoming rain get any smaller. Nonetheless, we eventually had Dottie take us back into Dalton where we donned our packs and jumped back into the fray.The first mile of our day was through suburban Dalton. No matter how many times the AT follows a sidewalk, it is always disorienting after being in the woods for so long. When we finally reentered the woods outside of town and began our climb, the skies opened up and welcomed us with a deluge of cold rain. We passed through another town, Cheshire, and briefly hid in an ice cream shop until the rain lessened a bit. Also, a cup of warm chili definitely helped pick up my spirits before heading back out.After leaving Cheshire, we started our biggest climb since Virginia: Mt. Greylock (3,491 ft.), the tallest mountain in Massachusetts. Yet while it was a relatively large climb, the AT leading to the summit was smooth and well-graded. When we reached the summit, a large group of college students were at the top cheering us on. Apparently they were on a training trip, as they would lead groups of inner city kids on hiking trips.As we rounded the top of Greylock, we truly realized how bad the weather had gotten: high winds were bending almost every tree to a scary angle, and the clouds were so low and thick that we were immediately saturated with icy mist. Visibility was also extremely poor, with a maximum of 30 ft. viewing distance. Greylock is known for a beautiful memorial tower on its peak; we could barely see the top of it even when standing at its base. We knew that we would potentially be in trouble should we stay out in such conditions.Fortunately, we had an option. Atop Greylock is Bascom Lodge, an old ski resort that caters to outdoor adventurers. We went inside and, hoping to avoid the $36 a piece fee, asked if there was a chance we could work for our stay. As luck would have it, the manager needed help getting ready for a party the following day, so for about 45 minutes of moving picnic tables and arranging chairs, we were given a bunk and breakfast for just $10. I¢m now showered (two days in a row!) and warm in my bunk, watching the winds claw at the mountain. While our mileage was relatively short, I can¢t complain when I trade in a night in chilly mist for an actual bed and linens.
Date: 2014-06-14
From: Bascom Lodge on Mt. Greylock

To: Congdon Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: broken clouds

The winds were still howling when I awoke this morning, so I took my time while munching on some of the best muffins I¢ve ever had for breakfast. We were also given a treat by section hiker ¢Lucky¢, who we bunked with last night: a delicious omelet and home fries. Lucky is hiking the trail while studying for the BAR exam, and she wanted to reward us for giving her inspiration. With my hiker hunger only getting stronger, I gladly accepted and inhaled her offer.When it finally seemed like we wouldn¢t get blown off of Mt. Greylock, we packed up and finally got a good look at the war memorial tower atop the summit. Afterward we headed down the steep trail toward Maine. The chilly temperatures warmed quickly as we descended reminding me of a difference elevation can make in regards to temperature. As we finally reenter mountain territory, this is a factor we will actually have to worry about again.After descending Greylock, we found ourselves at a road leading to North Adams, MA. We knew we needed to keep going, but we also knew about a restaurant there that gave a free meal to hikers. In other words, there really was no option: we had to go there. But of course, after hitching over and finding the restaurant, we found that it didn¢t open until 4:00 PM. As much as we wanted free food, we simply couldn¢t justify cutting our miles again, so we begrudgingly walked to a nearby pizzeria and¢¦sigh¢¦PAID for our lunch. It was delicious, yet we all agreed that we would have stayed on the trail if we had known our wallets would be lighter afterward. After lunch, we hitched back to the trail and climbed to our next milestone: the Vermont state line! For the first 100 miles of state number 12, we will be following the Long Trail, the oldest long distance hiking trail in the world. For 100 miles it combines with the AT, and then diverges northwest to end at the Canadian border. We will turn east at that point, following the AT into New Hampshire.After briefly following the trail, we quickly found something else Vermont is famous for: mud, and lots of it. These mud pits can sometimes last for hundreds of feet at a time and are so wide that they are impossible to avoid. The previous days of rain have not helped at all, turning the trail into a thick soup. There are often ¢bog boards¢ in these sections, planks of wood nailed to logs meant to provide an elevated path above the mud. The problem is that these boards are extremely slippery when wet and half of them have been so poorly maintained that they are more booby trap than walkway. I was following Birdman over a series of bog boards near a beaver pond, and when he stepped on the far end of the board it see-sawed up and nearly dumped me into the beaver water.When we finally reached the shelter just before dark, I was exhausted from the constant slog through the mud. While I¢m sure tomorrow will be just as muddy, at least I now know what I will be getting into.