morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-06-28
From: Mt Greylock-Bascom Lodge Hostel

To: Streamside Campsite
Miles today: 19.5

This morning I awoke to hard rain on the windows so I didn't have any trouble rolling over and waiting for the 8:00 breakfast. My roomate, Meg was already up and we went down to eat our breakfast of French toast and sausage. She is day hiking the area after watching her daughter in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Boston. I'd say she is very good since her team is from Houston. I left the lodge in a steady drizzle and the clouds and fog pretty much obscured and views from the lodge. Still it gave the trail a quiet, blanketed look as I walked along the ridge over to Williams Mtn. After that though it was straight down into N. Adams, Ma. I pity the people who have to come up that trail. Why do they do that? What would be so wrong with a bunch of switchbacks that would encourage the hikers to like it. It is like designing a golf course for Tiger Woods and then wondering why everyone is grousing about it the other 360 days of the year. I just don't think our national trail should be so difficult. I hit N. Adams for lunch at the grocery deli and then climbed up and out of town. That is the good news/bad news about towns. You get a town meal; but you always climb out afterwards.But...to my surprise.. the trail out was a gentle slope that accomplished the climb to Vt over several miles. Wow! That is what I'm talking about!The rest of the day was deep woods and boggy,muddy trails; but the rises and falls were very reasonable. This in now Vt and I'm on the section where the Long Trail and the AT coincide for 97 miles. I feel so much better than yesterday. I can move faster and things don't hurt like they did yesterday. Maybe that was jet lag. I tried to make it to Congdon Shelter; but my late start left me still trying to reach it with darkness settling in so I found a nice spot by a stream and I washed up and cooked and settled in. For some reason; dinner was a struggle. I should be hungry; but I just don't really want it.    I woke up around midnight and had an epiphany. I enjoyed the trail more yesterday than I had over the past couple of weeks and I think maybe I would enjoy VT more than I have the 3 previous states; but the thought of doing this for 6 more weeks has suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. All of a sudden; I don't want to be in any more green tunnels with gnats, mosquitoes, and biting flies. I don't want any more trail food and I don't want to hurt going up and down any more mountains. Maybe I only have 6 weeks of trail in me for any given year; but I realize now that I have made it through this last few weeks on determination and not because I am loving it. I think about what is to come and instead of the beauty of the White mountains, I think of being away for another 6 weeks and I just don't want to do it. SIGH. Reality comes home.
Date: 2005-06-29
From: Streamside Campsite

To: Bennington, Vt
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: heavy intensity rain

I packed up my campsite and headed towards Bennington. It was lush green ferns and mushy trail, but well done until the descent into Bennington and it was very steep with some big stepdowns for much of it. My knee is talking to me again so maybe this is all for the best. I hit town and found the bus stop.They had a bus going to the ALbany NY airport in 20 minutes and I took it. My hike is over and I don't know if I'll complete it now. I'm pretty sure that it won't be in a 6 week block again and I'm pretty sure it won't be very soon.Maybe I'll do a weekend or a week near home to see if the thrill is still there before I launch into the home stretch. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement. I wouldn't have gone this far without it.                                                      Lead Dog
Date: 2008-08-28
From: Bennington, Vt

To: Peru Peak
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

As always, the first part of getting onto the trailfrom a road is pretty much straight up: but the foliage is great. The woods are much older here with much more interesting shapes of trees. They are all gnarly with big burls on them. I saw lots of big mushrooms on the sides of the trees and some ground plants with hosta like leaves ad stems and what look like blueberries on the ends. I also saw lots of good warblers The black- throated blues and greens actually cme over to check me out.    I had lunch at the top of a firetower- great views but those things are always so cold. The trees at that level were all conifers. Pretty soon I dropped back down into the hardwoods again. The trail is pretty well maintained; but you can see how muddy it has been. They had rain for nearly four weeks; but now the weather has been good for a week.   I've met almost exclusively southbounders. Tonight I'm with Griz. Superman, 2X4, Bootstrap. They seem like really good guys; but it sounds like Maine is going to be tougher than I realized. They're giving me the blow by blowfi every big climb and they make it sound pretty hard But Hey! They made it and so will I. Tomorrow I'll go over Stratton Mtn and aim for Spruce Peak Shelter.
Date: 2008-08-29
From: Peru Peak

To: Spruce Peak Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I started the day in a bit of a fog. It's one thing to withdraw from Irish Whiskey: but I forgot my coffee so I'm in an altered state of mind this morning. The walk towards Stratton Mt is fairly steep with lots of ocks and roots so I had to spend a lot of time watching my step. I must have jumped a dozen ruffed grouse along the way this a.m. I didn't see may warblers today; but quite a few thrushes.    Once on top of Stratton Mtn; I left my pack on top ad rode the gondola down to the ski resort(free for thru-hiker) and had a great lunch and COFFEE!!!! She even sold me enough to get me by on the trail. Once I started coming dow the mountain; the trail widened and wa virtually clear of rocks and roots. Then I made much better time; but I still don't have my hiker's legs yet. They're pretty sore today. Hopefully they'll smooth out over the next couple of days.   I'm seeing just a trace of red and yellow in the trees today and a lot of brow in the mountain ferns and wildflowers. I've met Bradley here at the shelter and he is quite an interesting character.   He is headed home to Mass. He's hike a lot in NH so he is a good resource. OH MY   A boy scout group just appeared. We built a fire for them to cook over and now they're playing cards in the shelter over my head. This could be a long night.
Date: 2008-08-30
From: Spruce Peak Shelter

To: Big Branch
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I slept well after the card game ended. This shelter actually had a large sliding door so it was pretty dark inside. I awoke around 6:00 and Bradley and I started breaking camp while the scouts slept in The morning hike was rather ethereal because it rained last night and the woods were filled with fog. It actually wouldn't burn off until nearly 5 pm. I met several groups of college kids from Williams. They apparently all go hiking in teams as part of freshmen orientation      The big climb of the day was Bake Mtn and the approach was .1 mile of long rock slabs. Very impressive: but I am glad that it was dry and that I was going uphill. I could see a little of the view thru the fog. It would be awesome on a clear day. While the morning was good; the afternoon was tougher. More vertical trail with a lot of big step ups and down. It got my left knee talking again. It has hurt since day 1; but mostly in the afternoon. I felt a hot spot on my right foot and stopped to work on it and left my medical kit. ARGH! I hd to walk 30 min back to find it. Thank goodness I stopped for water and noticed that it was missing. I dropped down to 1460' at Big Branch River and found a great campsite by the rive. I bathed, then walked across a swinging bridge to check out the shelter; but it was filled with Williams kids. They fed my dinner and we chatted a while and now I'm back at my tent site. It' almost hiker midnight. The river sounds so nice. This should be a very good night.
Date: 2008-08-31
From: Big Branch

To: Clarendon
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: few clouds

I awoke to the sounds of the brook and the pitch black of the night began to gradually recede into gray. 5:30 too early to go so I just listened to the stream and drifted back and forth in and out of sleep. By 7:00 I was packed and rolling and I met my first northbounder Lollygagger.   She has been hiking since May 4th.   She was with her brother; but he left her and went ahead in Harper's Ferry and I think that she has essentially been hiking alone ever since. She is from upstate NY and was doing guided nature tours until the grant ran out. She is a pretty good hker; but I think that she is chronically fatigued and malnourished and so she is a bit depressed. Her thoughts are more about negative than positive. As we passed the shelter with the Williams kids; I introduced her and they fed us a breakfast of oatmeal, hot chocolate and bagels. What a great start!   The walk was not too bad atfirst and we talked a lot and she seemed to cheer up some. We lunched on top of the first mtn and found dozens of little rock cairns that hikers had built and added to. We dup up some rocks and added to them as well. You'll have to see the photos. We walked together until Bear Mtn when I lost her again; but I stopped to call Evelyn and we picked up again. Our plan was to walk to the Whistlestop Dine; but it was closed so we hitched a mile further and had sandwiches, ice cream ( a whole pint of Ben and Jerrys) bananas and chocolate milk. That was a real treat. The mile back was another easy hitch. But the next 1.5 miles to the campsite was unbelievably straight up and steep.   She planned to walk until dark so she went on and missed a really nice campsite with a brook and nice pine needles to sleep on.
Date: 2008-09-01
From: Clarendon

To: Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 18.0

Last night was a rough one for sleep; but I don't really know why. I was tired of lying there so I got up and out before 7:00. I found Lollygagger 3-4 miles later at a vista and we pretty much walked together the rest of the day. For a while we were seeing moose scat and fresh tracks; but we never saw the moose. Today was a big climb up Killington Mtn that I had worried about; but it was gradual and I did OK. We hitched a ride into Rutland with Swinging Jane- a thru hiker who had injured her ankle and she took us to the outfitter's for me to buy boots, then we treated her to ice cream and it was Lollygagger's first banana split ever. LIfe's milestones! GOSH that was good ice cream. We got it at Sewards in Rutland and it is a creamery that makes their own. Then she took us to the Inn at Long Trail where she and we were staying. What a trail angel. The Inn's claim to fame is an Irish Pub that serves Guiness on tap at the proper temperature. Mine even came with an indentation of a shamrock in the foam. We had a good time cutting up with some marines doing the LT so now it is 10:00.. my latest night yet.
Date: 2008-09-03
From: Lookout Cabin

To: West Hartford
Miles today: 14.0

I awoke early to see the sunrise and all of those mountains were surrounded by white fog and mist so that they looked like islands with the sun slowly rising over the big mountains in NH. It was just stunning. I finally packed up and walked the 2.5 miles to the next shelter where I shaved and picked up fresh water. These streams and springs are so cold and clear and the water is so refreshing. I was headed 4 miles away to the On The Edge Farm where they have homemade pies and ice cream. I bought a small blueberry pie and some moosetracks ice cream and an orange juice to go with it. What a breakfast. Lollygagger was there too so we hiked again. We got our first open field views in days as we strode through pastures and balds and the pastoral mountain valley scenes were just what you would picture as VT. We stopped next at Cloudland Farm and , of course, had ice cream and heard about the owners numerous canoe trips to the East Maine River area of Canada before it was all destroyed to make hydro electric power for the US. I'm sure it is not all bad; but change like that is hard. After that I led the climb up the mtn and saw my first coyote 50 ft away. He slunk away as soon as he saw me. The Lollygagger put on her iPod and took the lead and WOW She was flying along at 3.5-4 mph. I could barely keep her in sight for over an hour. As we broke out onto a ridge above W. Hartfork, there was a beautiful view of the town with the White River in the foreground and an Adirondack chair just for the asking. We would have camped there but there was no water and we were dry as a bone. So we soldiered on into town only to find that we missed the store ( and pizza) by 30 min. As we sat there on the steps contemplating our next move, Shirley walked over with a whole box of Power Bars she wanted to give us. Her son had walked the AT and her daughter was in Cambodia in the Peace Corp.. She was going to send them to her daughter; but she declined so she was giving them to thru hikers. She even let us camp behind her garage right on the river. So we set up camp, ate our dinners and went for a swim. Nice! Tomorrow we'll go into Hanover, NH. TWO STATES TO GO!
Date: 2008-09-05
From: West Hartford

To: Hanover,NH
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

We had to get up early so that LG could meet her beau for lunch in Hanover so we were up and out by 6:30. I hated to miss the diner breakfast; but duty calls and I have a lot to do in Hanover too. We hiked up and over a couple of ridgelined.and then out into a nice pine forest where I saw a bear cub no bigger than a puppy go darting up the trail as fast as a dog and its feet didn' make a sound. I never saw mom or another cub. After that climb; it was pretty easy trail through mixed hardwoods. I came out into Norwich,VT alone because LG had fallen back. It waa fun to see the houses; but it was 2 miles of pavement walking into Hanover.I picked my packages from the post office and then settled into a computer to work on my trail log. I had.a great piza at C and A and then I set up my battery chargers and heade off to explore. The Dartmouth Outing Club was booming musocAcross th quad and kids were dancing with multi-colored outfits and nulti-colored hair for the occasion. So much fun to be in college! How do we get smarter and then lose that ability to just let go? - had a double Americano at the bookstore and headed out of town about 5:00. WOW justpast the soccer fields; th AT goes into the woods and goes as vertically as I've seen in a long time. After two hours, I had made the 4 miles to Trescott Rd. I hitched from there to etna where I called up the local hiker hostel but to no avail. The owner of the country store suggested that I stay in the church so I did. I had a good night and tomorrow I'll get up and nip off a little more of NH as I head for Maine.
Date: 2008-09-06
From: Hanover,NH

To: firewarden's cabin
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I awoke around 5:30 and by 6:00 I was packed and ready when the workers came to lay concrete for the new church steps. I hiked up the road; hit the trail and by mid-morning I had caught LG again. We hiked along and told riddles to pass the time; but we both knew most of them so I had to use my best one.. Success! It took her hours to get it. That took us across Moose Mtn; but still. No moose sightings. We had a nice lunch at a vista with a group of kids from Dartmouth and that was nice; but they were not as happy as the Williams kids ha e been. Our goal for the day was the firetower on Smrts Mt at the base; we passed a little sign that said free water and ice cream so we cut up the path to a house where Bill met us on the front porch. He was in his late 70's and had been keeping records for 2 years on hiker's ages and where they were from. The median age was 26 for his survey.   We climbed 1/3 of the way up Smarts Mt to a vista and rested with a snack. Our goal is the firetower on top and I'd like to get there in time for the sunset. The next 2/3 was the toughest climb to date. So many boulders and steep rock slabs and th step-ups were huge. Twice my pack almost pulled me backwards. That was really going to hurt! At last I could see the tower...and it was still a mile away straight up! How can it keep getting higher and farther away? The day was coming to an end and I really wanted to see the sunset so I powered up with all I had; but I wa having to stop every 100yds for breath. At last I made and climbed the tower. It was trembling in the gusty winds; but I told myself that it had bee through worse and so I had to trust it. The sunset wasn't a great one so I clambered back down and went to thes shelter where I met Razor from TN and Cloud. Razor is SOBO and Cloud is doing a section. Lg arrived as we were cooking and afterward we went back up the tower to see the stars ; but I was shaking too hard tto stay long. Lg decided to tent ; but I'm in the shelter and I think she'll have a wet tent. To carry in the am. We'll see.
Date: 2008-09-07
From: firewarden's cabin

To: Glencliff Hiker's Hostel
Miles today: 20.0

I got up at 6:00 with Razor and LG and we climbed the tower to take photos of the sunrise. It was just a bit too cloudy so I left after I felt that it wasn't going to improve. The hike down the northern slope was a dramatic improvement from the rocky patches of the day before. The top was nice alpine firs and rabbit ferns then back into the hardwoods and lots of roots. We are still seeing some moose tracks; but no moose. The mountains for today are Mt. Cube and Mt. Misty... a small one. The Cube was long and had a lot of rock; but none of the pitch from the day before. There were some nice vistas; but rain was beginning to move through in fits and starts. We ae lunch by a stream on the downside and I tried making cowboy coffee. Not the same as a nice pot of coffee after lunch with Evelyn; but the setting was nice. I jammed my left foot pretty hard on the way down so I soaked it in the icy water and it felt great after that. I got ahead of LG again between Cube and Misty and the rain really started coming sown hard. The trail was becoming more and more a matter of mud and slick rocks. As it got darker and darker around 5:00 I still had 5 miles to go and Mt. Misty to negotiate. Doable; but then I began to have stabbing pains in my left knee that seemed to happen for no reason on even gentle downhills. NOw I was down to 1-1.5 mph and it didn't look like I was going to make it out of the woods before dark and my headlight battery had already begun to fail the night before. Finally I dropped into what seemed like a bottom and I just sat down on a log and waited for LG. I just hoped that she hadn't decided to camp. 10 min latr she arrived and we did another 20 min of night walking then 1/2 mile up the road to the Hosel. Pilot and Pips were there; but they were slack packing south afain. The place was an absolute sty. The laundry, shower, and bathroom were outdoors under an awning so I paid Fat Jack the caretaker to take us into N. Woodstock. I was so cold and wet that I shook the whole way there. Still Fat Jack gave us good advice so tomorrow we are going to wait out the tail end of Hurricane Hanna and then catch a shuttle to the north slope of Mt Moosilauke. It's the first of the big 5000 footers and the north slope is extremely steep and treacherous going down when wet so we'll shuttle there and go up...much safer and then stah in Woodstock another night and then just go back to regular hiker mode on Tues.
Date: 2008-09-08
From: Glencliff Hiker's Hostel

To: Woodstock
Miles today: 10.0

We met around 6:30 and headed to Pegs for an early breakfast then went looking for batteries for our headlamps so there wouldn't be a repeat of last nights adventure. Neither of us had any luck so we bought subs and drinks and headed to the highway to hitch to our start point.   We found a couple in a parking lot and they took us right to the trailhead. The next 2 hours were just unbelievable. The climb was up and up beside a waterfall. It took us 2 hours because we kept stopping for pictures and because it was so steep that you could only inch your way up the steps and rocks. Many places had wooden steps bolted into the rock with re-bar and the toughest spots had re-bar hand holds to let you pull yourself up. Thankfully it was a dry day; but the rocks were still slick and wet from yesterday. Thank goodness Fat Jack told us to take it from the North to the South. The summit was our first above tree line. We never got a panoramic view because the clouds...Well we were in the clouds. The winds were 35 or so and every now and again, we thought the sun might break through; but it never did. As we descended; we thought the sun had finally broken through; but when we looked up; we realized tht we had just dropped below the clouds. Still the view down to the valley below was breathtaking. We were so high! A few ponds and fields were laid out below; but they were so far away. We never did see a moose so we'll have to wait on that. Once we got back to the road, we shed our warm clothes and began our 25 mile hitch. We got a ride on our first car. What incredible luck.   Dinner was a Greco Italian place and the eggplant parmesan really hit the spot though the brownie sundae afterwards still brings me happy thoughts. Now I'm going to hit the sack. And be thankful that my knee seemed perfectly normal today. Whew!
Date: 2008-09-09
From: Woodstock

To: Kinsman Mtn
Miles today: 10.0

We went to Peg's again for breakfast and then walked to the Rite Aid in Lincoln a mile away for batteries and LG's resupply It was 10:30 by the time we got a hitch from a couple from the Czech Republic and started again at Kinsman's Notch... this time e headed north away from Mt Moosilauke. We climbed up Mt Wolf first and though it wasn't the steepest climbing, we have done; it was the most technical because it was one boulder after another. There were times we had to stand there and study the rocks to see how to get up and over them without slipping or falling. Our hiking speed after the first 7 miles to the summit was 1.2 mph. It is going t be a long way to Maine if this is representative. We never had a level walk all day. But that wasn't the worst of it. We were trying t make it to North Kinsman for the night; but South Kinsman was not only massive; but steeper and with more severe rock scrambles than Wolf Mtn. The sun at least stayed up until we mde the summit at 7:00 pm. But there was no way we could get down the other side in the dark so we picked 2 small patches of ground that weren't granite and tried to set up our tents; but the winds were so hard that I didn't think it was going to be possible for a while. There was almost nowhere to put a stake in the rocky ground and the trees are only knee high up there and every time I would get part of it set; the wind would blow the whole thing away. Finally I put all my gear in to hold it down and LG helped me stake it out. I would say that the winds were sustained at 30 - 35 mph and gust were well above that. After setting up; we hunched down behind some rocks and cooked a not meal. That felt good. I wish I had packed some hot chocolate. It's going to be a long noisy night with the tent flapping in the wind and I can already see my breath. This is going to be an interesting night. NEW PHOTOS UPLOADED. CHECK THEM OUT.