morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-08-16
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Spruce Peak Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up at 6:00, the shelter was so full it was slow get things packed up and ready to go. I put my wet clothes back on and headed north about 7:00. I met Puddin early on the trail, a SOBO that started July 1st from New York. We had a good hike up Stratton Mountain about 1700 feet.At the top we met Jean, A caretaker that takes turns staying in the cabin up there. I told her about the moose droppings I saw yesterday and she says there are moose in the area. Usually there are moose sightings on top. The tower at the top gave you beautiful 4-sided views from about 4000 feet. It reminded me of standing on the balds in North Carolina. We are definately back in the mountains again. The summit is where Benton MacKaye was inspired to propose the creation of the AT. Without his vision I might not of been up here today admiring the view. Coming down the mountain I met the second group of hikers from Cornell University. One group hikes south and the other group hikes north. When they meet they exchange van keys and then each group hikes to the others vehicle. Met another SOBO that started July !st, it must be a popular start date.   The weather has been much better today, a big improvement from yesterdays rain. The rain yesterday was like walking through a lawn sprinkler at times. It would come thru for a few seconds and stop and then come thru again in another wave. I felt like I was being tested a little to see how badly I wanted to hike. Like everything in life you have to be able to take the good days with the bad ones. Today was a good one. Took another break at Stratton Pond and also talked to the caretaker there. The pond has gotten deeper the last couple of years because of some beavers and is threatening to permantly flood the trail that goes around the pond. The next view was Prospect Rock, it looked over a valley and was one of the few places in Vermont that you could look down below from the trail. I'm guessing that the town below was Manchester Center, our destination for tomorrow. The hike wasn't too difficult today and we were soon at the last shelter by 5:30. It is a nice 10 person shelter with a sliding door and a wood burning stove inside. It would have been nice to have a fire in the shelter but everything was too wet to get it to burn. Ben and Hunter, the two high school seniors were already there. I joked with them that it would be easier to remember their names if it was Ben and Jerry since we were in Vermont. The ice cream company of the same name is based in Vermont. Roadrunner a SOBO came in about 7:00, he had resupplied in town and hiked out to the first shelter. He had a huge bag of bagels hanging off of his pack that some lady in town had given him. He is learning fast that hikers don't turn down food when it is offered to them. A group of hikers from NYC are also there staying in tents. Like the college students a couple of nights ago they seem very unorganized but very polite. Caleb is in charge of the group. Once again about dark it starts raining but not for too long. It does feel a little warmer tonight.
Date: 2014-08-17
From: Spruce Peak Shelter

To: Green Mountain Hostel
Miles today: 2.8

Puzzle was moving around by 5:30 so I knew it was time to get up. The mice had been chewing on trash left by hikers in the shelter and they kept waking me up all night. The trash had been thrown down in the cracks of the walls, not exactly a Leave no Trace principle. We were ready to go about 7:00 when it started to rain. We waited a little while for it to let up and then started out. The hike didn't take very long before we were out at the road looking for a ride into town. Two SOBO;s had also came out of the woods so the four of us were standing by the road with our thumbs in the air. I think most drivers thought that we were together and didn't have room for all of us so they didn't stop. Finally a van slowed down and turned into the parking lot. Things didn't look good when they all started to get out of the van. The 4 young ladies were stretching and getting ready to go for a run. The driver probably seen the dissapointment on our faces and offered to take us into town. We really appreciated his kindness. We found out on our ride into town that the 4 young ladies were part of the U.S X-Country ski team and were world class skiers. They were going on a 2 1/2 hour training run when he dropped them off. Two of the ladies were Jessie Diggins and Sophie Caldwell and Peter was their trainer. He told us about their training and made for an interesting ride into town. The 2 SOBO's were Sardine and Redbeard, friends hiking together and from Georgia. We ate breakfast together at McDonald's and the we exchanged information that will hopefully help all of us later in our hikes. Puzzle and I resupplied from the store and ate again before we were picked up by Jeff Taussig in town. He just happened to be in town and thought that we might be staying at his hostel. We must have looked like two worn down hikers looking for a break from the trail. The Green Mountain Hostel is another amazing place to stay on the AT. The hikers have the whole two story house with 3 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, and more. Jeff is interested in the hikers and is also the person that came up with the idea of the Passport Stamp for AT hikers. He has lots of interesting things on the walls related to hiking. You even get a free pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, it made up for the one that I didn't get at Bears Den Hostel. No Rush even made it into town and the Deli Blazers are back together again. Turtle, Bud Cheekie Chee, Garnet Turtle, Triple P, John, and Mollie are also here. Jeff, you have a great place and you can be sure we will be tell all of the south bound hikers about your beautiful place to take a day off of the trail. It was almost midnight when I finished my journals so it will be a quick but restfull nights sleep.
Date: 2014-08-18
From: Green Mountain Hostel

To: Big Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up at 5:15 at the hostel, after maybe 5 hours sleep. Puzzle is already downstairs making pancakes. I started the coffee and went back upstairs to lay down for a few minutes. I couldn;t go back to sleep so I decided that I might as well get my bathroom time in before anybody else wakes up. I went back down at 6:00 and No Rush was already eating. It had rained a little during the night and was a little cloudy now. The Vermont mud is not going to go away anytime soon. Puzzle did all of the cooking and I cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes. I heard Garnet Turtle is not feeling well and was going to go to the hospital to get checked out. She said that she was low on energy while hiking, I had about three days like that in Virginia and it finally went away. A lot of hikers seem to be getting Lyme disease recently, ain't nobody got time for Lyme. Jeff had us back on the trail before 8:00. He does a great job running the Green Mountain Hostel, I noticed that he even left some Trail Magic at the trail before he went home, he really cares about hikers. Our first climb of the day was up Bromley Mountain, about 1400 feet. We are not going as low now at the roads so the climbs are not as crazy. There was a nice view almost at the top and then we came out to a clearing and realized that we were walking up a ski trail. We ended up at the top where the ski lifts were and had amazing views of the Bromley Ski Area. There are lots of shelters in Vermont, probably because of all the people hiking the Long Trail as well as the AT hikers. No Rush and I took our lunch break at Mad Tom's Notch, someone said he was a moonshiner. At Styles Peak we met a bunch of college kids from Yale out for a few days. I had to hustle into the next shelter because my spincter muscles were fighting a losing battle with all of yesterdays town food plus Puzzles pancakes and sausage this morning. After the Peru Peak Shelter I hiked around Griffith Lake and then we had a pretty good rock climb up Baker Peak. Later I crossed a nice suspension bridge that had a nice stream filled with huge rocks, some as big as cars. The Big Branch Shelter is right along the stream and that is where we stopped for the night. There were two guys in the shelter that section hike together every year since 1982. There names wer Halfpast and Pathfinder from Pennsylvania. A father and son from Brattleboro, Vermont were also in the shelter with their dog Pepper. Double Dog and Double Dare were tenting nearby. It was cooling off pretty fast, it is going to get cold tonight.
Date: 2014-08-19
From: Big Branch Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: clear sky

I woke up before 6:00 after a long, cold night. Puzzle is almost ready to go and No Rush and I pack up and leave before 6:30. He said he was cold last night also. As usual the other hikers are still asleep when we hike out. It was pretty easy hiking in the morning, a gradual climb. We met two different couples hiking the Long Trail from Canada to Masachusetts. SOBO's Splash(Florida), Chewie(Georgia), and The Truth(Ohio). I made a quick stop at Little Rock Pond and took some pictures of the shelter and the pond. We actually found Trail Magic hanging from a bear bag right over the trail,it had crackers and raisins. Bear Mountain was a 1000 foot climb in the afternoon and had some interesting rock objects at the top. In two places hikers have spent countless hours making rock creations and I could have took pictures of all of them but it would have taken forever. I met a group of day hikers and one of them was a letter carrier from Philadelphia. We talked for a while and then moved on to White Rocks Cliffs. Ran into a group of hikers from Harvard, these college kids are everywhere. We met an older group of trail workers with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. The were making improvements for future hikers to enjoy. In the fall they go down south and do trail work. Talking to them they seemed real nice. At one peak there was a nice view of the Rutland area and someone had left two chairs on top to relax in. We got to one road and realized that there was a deli one mile down the road. We got a quick ride and the sandwiches were great at Loretta's. Plans Too Much was there and gave us a ride back to the trail. We found out that he was the person that put the chairs up on top and also does trail maintence. He is always giving hikers rides into town. We had a nasty rock scramble going up at the road and got to the shelter about 5:00. There was a different group of college kids from Harvard but they stayed away from the shelter and kept to themselves. The Clarendon Shelter is really nice with a table inside and benches by the fire pit. The water source has steps going down and is close to the shelter. The sign to the bathroom says toilet not privy, I'm not sure of the distinction between the two. They had about 2 cords of firewood piled by the shelter so we made a nice fire and the other hikers came and sat around for awhile. We had all NOBO's tonight. James(New Hampshire), Bullseye, Ladybug, Shea, Delaware, Atlas, No Rush, Puzzle, Double Dog, Double Dare, and some others. It was the best campfire that we have had in quite awhile.
Date: 2014-08-20
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: light rain

I woke up At 5:30 and once again Puzzle is getting ready to head out. No Rush and I left just before 6:30 giving Puzzle about an hour head start. I had one small climb early, we found Trail Magic at the first stream, Barqs Root Beer, nice and cold. Shortly after that we found Trail Magic again hanging over the trail. We stopped and talked to a couple of hikers hiking the Long Trail. We had a reroute taking us on the road for a couple of miles. They were replacing a bridge damaged from Hurricane Irene years ago. Once back on the trail it was a short walk to the Governor Clement Shelter. It was an old stone shelter and had an interesting bench made out of tree limbs. We met Emma hiking the Long Trail before she moves from Vermont to Seattle. The climb after lunch was a killer up Killington Mountain, no pun intended. At the top was the Cooper Shelter and the privy is called the Cooper Pooper. LOL We left our packs and climbed the .2 miles to the summit. At the top you drop over the other side and there is the Killington Lodge and ski lift. We got a free ride in the gondola because we are through hiking the AT. We met another group of hikers from Yale on the way down, they started yesterday and had only hiked 6 miles so far. I remember those early days in Georgia. The 6.3 miles down to the road did seem to take forever, I think the climbs early today wore us out. We met 4 Sobos Big Gulp, Pretty Bird, Pine Cone , and one hiker that I forgot his name, it had something to do with his hair. There was Trail Magic again, this time it was a cooler full of Capri Suns from the Yellow Belly Deli and then a cooler full of chips but they were all gone. We hiked .8 miles down the road to the Inn at Long Trail and got a room for the night. It is a lot better than going to the hostel in Rutland and just a little more money. We had an excellent dinner in the Irish pub on the property. We also got showers, did laundry, and I was able to catch up on journals. The Inn has a lot of history connected to the popularity of skiing in Vermont and is well decorated. I made phone calls to Paige andd all of the kids but reception was not very good. My left foot hurts all day and it hurts at night when I am trying to sleep. I don't know what to do about it except finish this hike, we have about 488 miles left. At least it won't be cold in here tonight.
Date: 2014-08-21
From: Inn at Long Trail

To: Day Off
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up at 6:00 to the sound of rain outside my window. It was coming down pretty steady. We talked about taking the day off and letting our bodies rest. My foot is causing me a lot of pain, so it sounds like a good idea to me. I am afraid that if I keep abusing my feet that it will cause an injury that might take me off of the trail for awhile. They start serving breakfast at 7:30 and we have been told that its pretty good. I stopped at the front desk and was able to keep our rooms for one more night. I felt bad for the people in the four tents across the road. I have worked outside in all kinds of weather my whole life so I don't feel that I have to hike in the rain if it is avoidable. Puzzle, No Rush, and I had a delicious breakfast and talked to a hiker from Vermont hiking part of the trail. We also chatted with Mike and Melissa, they are also section hiking. After our filling breakfast we went back upstairs and planned out the New Hampshire portion of our hike. We should be in Maine by early September. We caught the 11:15 bus into Rutland, Vermont so we could resupply and get some more town food. We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then walked to WalMart. We stopped by the Yellow Deli, it is a nice place to eat as well as having a hiker hostel upstairs. Lots of hikers do work for stay and can work in the deli or go out to the farm and do chores. We got a tour of the hostel and I got my passport stamped. I had a strawberry smoothy at the counter and ordered a sandwich to take home. We even get a 15% hiker discount. We forked over another $2 to get a bus ride back to the Inn. It has rained hard at times today, the forecast was just calling for about a half an inch but we have gotten a lot more than that. Everyone snuck in a nap this afternoon and just relaxed. It is hard to do that when you are used to hiking all day. We went downstairs to the bar and No Rush and Puzzle ate again. I was full from my deli sandwich so I just had a couple of Pepsis. Engineer, Triple P, Cheekie Chee, Mike, and Melissa were there also but they weren't very busy tonight. I hear they are packed on weekends because theyy have live entertainment. I limped back upstairs and got my pack ready for tomorrow, I wished there was something that I could do to get my feet ready for walking. I would go to a doctor but they will want me to take some time off. I just need to keep moving for a few more weeks and I can rest up all winter.
Date: 2014-08-25
From: Yellow Deli Hostel

To: Nowhere 
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up at 7:00 this morning. The first thing that I noticed was that the swelling in my foot had gone down quite a bit. It wasn't hurting either. I took a shower and put on a fresh bandage. Maybe I will do some hiking this week after all. I needed some coffee so No Rush and I walked down to the corner for breakfast. I was trying not to overdo it but I wanted to walk around some and test out my foot. I can't seem to stop limping even though nothing hurts. I have been limping for so long I forgot how to walk normal. I walked to WalMart and got a few items and then took some pictures of a few of the old buildings downtown. Later No Rush and I walked to Burger King for lunch and I took some pictures in the park, there was a neat old bandstand. We went to the library later, I wanted to do some journals on a computer for a change of pace. They gave me a temporary card and I started typing. I got about halfway through and the computer said I had 5 minutes left on my alloted 30 minutes of computer time. I saved the entry and went into another room and finished it with my portable keyboard. I did one more journal before the air conditioned library chased me from the building. There art lots of hikers coming in today. Some will stay and some just take a free shower and leave. Grizzzelle and Dancing Feather showed up. Their Trail Angel was Plans too Much, the same guy that gave us a ride from the deli the other day. I met Walkman today and he went to dinner with No Rush and I this evening. If I don't get out of town soon I will weigh more than I did when I started in March. One more journaltthan off to bed.
Date: 2014-08-26
From: Yellow Deli Hostel

To: The Lookout Cabin
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: broken clouds

I was awake at the hostel by 6:00, I had to get ready to hike once again. I changed the bandage on my foot, no swelling or pain. I got dressed and looked for a place to eat breakfast before the buses started running. Nobody opens before 7:00 so we decided to take the 7:15 bus and stop for breakfast at Mountain Meadows Lodge. We were hiking by 7:35 and had a little climb at the start. We quickly came to the Maine Junction, it is where the AT and Long Trail part ways after 105 miles. We hiked through Gifford Woods State Park, they had lots of nice tenting areas. It was also the 1700 mile mark meaning that I had 485 miles left to hike. Right after the park we hiked around Kent Pond, a beautiful spot to spend some time on the water. The Mountain Meadows Lodge is right on Kent Pond and I had to stop there and get a maildrop. Paige had mailed my sleeping bag there and I was tired of being cold at night. My sleeping bag was waiting for me and I even got some things out of the hiker box. I got a large Osprey pack cover and threw my smaller one in the box for some other hiker. I also got a pair of gloves and threw them in my clothing bag to get ready for colder weather. I also got a nice pair of ankle gators from a hiker box in Rutland at the Yellow Deli. They fit over your shoes and keep trash out of your shoes and socks. We had hoped to get breakfast there but they didn't serve breakfast today, no overnight guest. They were full just a few days ago. We did get a couple of sodas and sat out on the picnic table and ate lunch from our food bags. The lodge looks like it would be a nice, relaxing place to spend a few days but we needed to move on. We had one nice view before our climb up Quimby Mountain. Thundering Falls was a nice sized waterfall and I took pictures to remember the view. Our biggest uphill of the day would be a steep 1200 foot climb. There would be a couple more steep up and downs today. We were planning on stopping at The Lookout for the evening. It is a privately owned cabin but the owners let hikers stay there overnight. They have steps going up to the roof and a place to see some amazing mountain vistas. Lots of people are hoping to catch the sunset and sunrise from the lookout. I met Hard Head from Virginia, he got a stress fracture and had to go off the trail for 8 weeks. Today was his first day back and he was tired from todays hike. My legs were tired and I only took 5 days off, how quickly we lose our hiker legs. The Fat Kids, Turtle, Bama, WiFi, and Iron Cheeks were also in for the night. It is a nice cabin, even sleeping on the floor was still an upgrade from the shelters. They had a fireplace but didn't want you to have fires because it was privately owned. It was getting dark inside by 8:30, the days are getting shorter. I should get a good nights sleep.
Date: 2014-08-27
From: The Lookout Cabin

To: Randy Hart's Place
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: few clouds

Up by 6:00 at the cabin, lots of people moving around early trying to get pictures of the sunrise from the roof. I slept really well, I was by a window that had a nice breeze blowing in. A couple of times I woke up and saw lots of stars from the window. We started hiking at 7:00, we had a 6.5 mile walk to the store that opens at 10:00. On the Edge Farm is right by the trail and has home made pies that people have been talking about. On the way to the road I saw Trail Magic in a tree. It was a marijuana cigarette with a couple of matches in a ziplock bag. I left it for some hiker that would put it to good use. We met 6-Slash on the trail, I hadn't seen him since Damascus. He went up to Maine and was hiking back to Pennsylvania. At the store I had a mixed berry pie, Gatorade, Mt. Dew, and a banana. The pie was delicious, I also made a sandwich from my food stash. Walking back to the trail we met Dan Quinn, he said that he lets hikers stay overnight in his barn and will even let you swim for free. The last 2 days have had plenty of short steep ups and downs, they have caused a little bit of pain in my right knee. I am concerned just a little because I have only had pain in my feet on this hike and now something else has popped up. We thought we were getting Trail Magic at Cloudland Road but there was nothing left but water. We still took a nice break in the grassy area, resting up for one more push to finish the day. No Rush and I stopped on top of one mountain and ate lots of plump blackberries. Later we found an apple tree and we each had a small, but juicy apple. We met a young group doing trail maintenance for the Green Mountain Club. They were from different parts of the country and were painting boundaries on the trail. Todays hike took us over hills that seemed like mountains to me, lots of open pasture areas, and some nice pine forest. We saw sugar maples that had taps and hoses on the trunks and some were connected to a black tube ruuning down the mountains. Maple syrup is a big money maker in Vermont. We finally got to Randy Hart's place after crossing the White River Bridge. His daughter Bobbee met us at the road and told us to make ourselves at home. Some other hikers were already there. I met Birdie again, she was taking a break up on Rhoan Mountain when Carson and Kurt dropped me off there on Memorial Day. She eventually flipped up to Maine and was hiking south. Giggles, Max, Don, and some section hikers were on the porch. The Harts let you sleep upstairs in the garage or tent out back. They had hot dogs on the porch and a cooler full of sodas. The hike through Vermont is almost over and there has been plenty of Trail Magic and Trail Angels making our hike even more enjoyable. A friend of the Harts, Thomas took Giggles into town to pick up pizzas for everyone. We all chipped in some money for pizzas and drinks. We had all of the pizza we could eat and had some leftover for breakfast. We sat on the porch, ate pizza and talked until after 9:30. Finally everyone realized how tired they were and things quieted down.