morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-08-02
From: Cooper Lodge Shelter

To: VT Route 4
Miles today: 6.3

Vacation Baby!But first we spent the night at Cooper Lodge shelter, where it was pretty cold at 4000 ft. I slept well though, unlike Sasquatch who fears that hammocking might not be for him after all. Needless to say, we had an early start after his sleepless night, and left camp at 6:15. After hiking a mile or so, we stopped at a sort-of overlook and made tea. I have never had a tea break during the hike before, but it was really nice! I might do that more often. Very civilized... I thought for sure the hike would be downhill the whole way, as it usually is when you go to a road, but there actually seemed to be some uphill involved. Still, we got to the road by 9:30 and stuck out our thumbs for a ride. It didn't take 2 minutes before somebody stopped for us! It was Chewy, who is also thru-hiking, with the Warrior Hikers. He had the day off because of an appointment and he took us all the way back to our car at Qu's Whistle Stop Cafe. He even drove back there when he found my bandanna in his car after dropping us off. Thanks so much Chewy (and I hope I didn't misspell your name!).Of course we couldn't just leave the Whistle Stop Cafe without eating first, that would be silly! So I had my fourth meal in three days there. After that, vacation time!It was a pretty drive from Rutland to Lake Placid. Sasquatch took a little power nap (see: sleepless night) while I drove and we killed some time at a local brew pub before checking in, since we were too early.The resort is very nice, our room is amazing and I plan to spend my time eating and relaxing. I will probably not update the journal every day, or even at all (I haven't decided which), but I should be back by Saturday. Sasquatch is visiting a friend on the other side of the state, so I do have to figure out how to get back to Rutland, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. If he doesn't have a signal there, it might be Sunday before entries are posted again.But now it is time to get some more ice cream...Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-08-13
From: Woods Road

To: NH 25
Miles today: 10.4

I had a really nice camp site last night, off of the Woods Road and near a stream. So since I knew I didn't have far to go today, I decided to have a leisurely morning. I even made tea! Even with the tea and sit down breakfast (hazelnut-chocolate paste and crackers instead of a bar of some sort, so civilized!) I left camp at 7:08. I passed the camp site I had hoped to reach yesterday that was just a few miles too far. The trail was much easier today though, even when climbing, so I made good time today. It was also very quiet, I didn't see anybody for the first five miles. Then Tor Tis passed me and a bit later I passed a couple of self-described 'lashes '. LASH apparently stands for Long Ass Section Hiker. . We chatted for a while which made the climb up Mt Mist go really fast. Mt Mist is only 2000 feet, so it wasn't like yesterday anyway. I took a break at a view before covering the last two plus miles to the road. I'm at the Welcome Hikers Hostel, because I had packages here. I wasn't sure if I was going to stay or not, especially since there is a shelter a mile further. But then I saw the store they make runs to in the early evening has lobster rolls and, well...I did get a shower at the outdoor shower, and I first didn't think the hot water was working so the shower was a little on the invigorating side. It turned out that it just took a while to warm up. So once the water was warm, I did wash my hair too. Such luxury!Even though I did laundry three days ago in Hanover, all my stuff smelled terrible after the rain, so I did laundry again. Clean clothes every three days, I could get used to this!I also got all charged up (well, my phone and backup battery did) and once it was time for the store run, I was ready for some lobster roll. Except they didn't have any. Don't worry, I did not go hungry and I'll save myself for Maine. Lobster roll-wise, that is.The hostel is pretty full and I saw Good Enough, Quahog, Uncle D. (whose name is not Uncle Dean), and a bunch of other people I hadn't met before, some of them southbounders.I am hoping to get up early and get up and over Mt Moosilauke. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be pretty good, so fingers crossed for a good hike and great views!Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-08-24
From: Route 2 Mile 1890.x

To: Zero Day in Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Zero day, baby!I haven't had an on-trail, in-town zero day since I think Daleville. Of course I have had plenty of zeros and only last week Sunday had a 2.9 mile nero, but those are different from a zeroing in town.I woke up at the usual time of 5:30-ish and was quite awake but I refused to actually get up. I did snooze on and of until 7:30 and waited for the hikers who were leaving on the 7:30 shuttle to be done packing up before I got up. Cruise Control was awake by then too, so we made our way over to the breakfast place.Yoda was scheduled to arrive around 9:30 and I told her I was at Dunkin Donuts (mmm, Boston cream donuts). She managed to get dropped off nearby and we spent a good hour or so catching up. Yoda had felt very frustrated being slower than the people she was hiking with and welcomed her to my world. We got her settled in at the hostel and I did laundry. Cruise Control and Yoda were going over the rest of the trail for planning, but I felt unmotivated to do that and just hung out. By then it was lunch time, so we had to make the difficult choice of Mr. Pizza for lunch (also has non-pizza) and Woodfire Pizza for dinner or vice versa. Sadly the pub is closed Mondays. We ended up at Mr. Pizza where none of us had pizza (fried shrimp roll because again, despite rumors to the contrary, they did not have lobster rolls) and made our way over to the local coffee shop. Just as we got there, a pickup truck pulled over and the driver asked if we needed a ride. It was Moosehead, who summited three days ago and who I had not seen since way back in Virginia. After introductions, he joined us in the coffee shop and we got the scoop on the last 300 miles and his new job at Carter Notch hut. It was great to see him. Gorham has been an excellent 'run into other hikers' town.After he left, I finally managed to work on my plan for the rest of the hike (it's a secret ) so I could give Gary a tentative date to come to Monson. Of course this plan will probably be abandoned within a few days, but it's a starting point anyway.We did a Walmart resupply and pizza for dinner and now I'm getting ready to hike out tomorrow. After maybe some fluffy apple pancakes for breakfast, maybe...Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-08-29
From: Frye Notch Lean-to

To: East B Hill Road, Andover
Miles today: 4.5

Today's low mileage is due to some extraordinary trail magic, rather than crazy-ass trail conditions. A much better reason, in my book!Last night, just as Yoda was getting ready to text her dad about making a reservation at a place in Andover for us, Cruise Control walked into camp. She had had a text from Pace Car, whose parents were renting a place in Rangeley for the weekend and did we want to come up for some R&R? All five of us! And no, transporting 5 people and their packs would be no issue. This was obviously an offer too good to refuse. So, we arranged with them to pick us up at the post office in Andover, where Cruise Control had a package waiting. Then we arranged to be shuttled from the road to town (8 miles). It was only a 4.5 mile hike from our camp site to the road and moreover, they were easy miles. Our definition of easy miles has changed these last few days, but this really was easy. The people from Pine Ellis hostel came and collected us and took us to their place where we made reservations for tomorrow. Andover, like Gorham, is a town that can be reached from the trail more than once from different directions.We had a nice brunch in town and then got picked up by Pace Car, and her parents John and Cindy. They whisked us away to a lovely place in Rangeley and proceeded to spoil us for the rest of the day. First we had a lovely lunch that everyone munched on while there was also a rotating shower line going. We did laundry, plugged in all electronics, I cleaned my cup, spork, and water filter and put some more cuben tape on my pack. It's gotten a bit beaten up with all the butt sliding. Cruise Control took a nap and we all relaxed (well, except Two Bad Dogs who were dealing with phone problems) and figured out how to adjust for tomorrow's shorter than originally planned day. It was so nice to be in a house with all modern conveniences! We made a trip to resupply for the next few days and now dinner is almost ready, and it looks scrumptious. I know this, and the picture, will make y'all think I'm still not roughing it, but believe me, I earned it this time!Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-08-30
From: East B Hill Road, Andover

To: Unplanned Zero Day in Andover
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The best laid plans have to be adjusted sometimes. After a great night sleep in a bed at least three times as wide as my tent, we had a wonderful breakfast of blueberry pancakes cooked for us by John. As Cruise Control put it 'the blueberry to pancake ratio was much appreciated '! There was a fair amount to do before we could leave the condo and it became apparent that our planned ten mile day might not be realistic. While John and Cindy took Pace Car to the trail, at a different spot and in a different direction than where they'd drop us off, the five of us had a little planning pow wow.In the end and after much discussion, we decided to zero and stay in Andover as planned.John and Cindy drove us back to Andover and dropped us off right in front of the bakery. They really know how to spoil a bunch of hikers and the 24 hours we spent with them may have been the most relaxing of the trail. Thank you so much John, Cindy and Pace Car for inviting us and treating us to such a lovely time!We decided to have lunch at the bakery. There was a funny moment when I heard the Wilhelmus (Dutch national anthem) and it took me a few seconds to realize that that was definitely odd. It turns out the TT Assen was starting on TV. By the time we walked to the hostel so they could shuttle us to the cabin we had rented, it was close to 3 pm. Two Bad Dogs had some food repacking to do, Cruise Control needed wifi to upload photos and I talked to Gary on the phone so by the time we got to the cabin it was past 4 pm. I found a mystery novel to read that I sadly won't be able to finish (I think the husband did it...) and we ate dinner outside at the picnic table. Dinner was leftovers from yesterday, so you know we ate well! Bratwurst, burgers we re-heated over the fire Yoda and Cruise Control had started, chips and guacamole. And we have other leftovers for breakfast!Tomorrow we definitely hike. But it sure was a nice relaxing couple of days.Ps today marked 5 months on the trail!Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-09-04
From: Woods Road at Oberton Stream

To: Crocker Cirque Campsite
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: scattered clouds

It was chilly this morning, but the clear sky just meant that it would be a beautiful weather day. I took the time to make tea because of the chill and left camp just before 7 am.As per usual, the day started with a climb, like most days out here do. Part of the reason for this is that there is no shortage of climbs, large and small. The other part is that I prefer to do climbs in the morning when my legs (and brain) are still fresh.Except today that didn't work. I don't know about my brain but my legs felt every climb today as if it was the last one in a long day of climbing. I guess they were still tired from yesterday.The first climb today was not steep and it had a level section in the middle. I made pretty good time despite the tired legs and even contemplated going all the way to Stratton instead of just to this camp site. Now that I think about it, there is your answer about the state of my brain! I got to the shelter in short order and took a short break. The shelter, Spaulding Mountain Lean-to, is right at the bottom of Spaulding Mountain, and this was the steeper climb of the day. When I was nearly at the top, there was a summit side trail which I took, hoping for a view. The change in humidity since yesterday would make for excellent views but sadly there wasn't one at Spaulding. And I didn't even have a good phone signal as consolation either. The next stretch was pretty easy but for some reason I was really draggy. I decided to have lunch at a camp spot to see if that would help. I saw a bunch of hikers pass me but I was about 30 feet off the trail and nobody saw me. Just as I was getting ready to leave, Cruise Control rolled by, so we hiked together the rest of the day. The downhill we were on was not very nice, all big rocks and big steps, but the reward was the Carabasset River, which was lovely. It was mid-afternoon and we decided not to try for Stratton. The next 7 miles had no camping listed and given that it involved climbing two 4000 foot mountains, there probably wouldn't be any stealth options. I thought about cowboy camping on a rock on top, until I remembered you're not allowed to camp at or above tree line. So we decided we would stick to the original plan of staying at this camp site, and took a nice long break at the river. I soaked my feet and rinsed the mud of my legs, and relaxed on a big rock in the sun. It was glorious!After this break, we only had another mile to the camp site. It's a large area but we are all the way at the far end, next to what I assume is the actual Cirque. It's a meadow area surrounded by mountains, so it looks more or less like a bowl. It's a great and unusual view because you are looking up instead of down.Tomorrow we will hike over two mountains and then go down a very long descent to get into Stratton. We'll do the usual town chores (shower, laundry, lunch, resupply) and hike back out. That's the plan, and I won't be sucked in to staying this time! Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-09-13
From: Logan Brook Lean-to

To: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: light rain

Yesterday was a great weather day but this morning I woke up around 4 am to the sound of rain on my tent. I listened for a while hoping it wouldn't really get going, but no such luck.We had a short day planned today, because the shelter that was our destination had a swimming hole and I wanted to have enough time to enjoy it. Of course we needed the weather to cooperate but at least knowing it was a short day made it possible to stay in my tent, waiting for the rain to stop. It seemed to peter off around 6:30 plus I was getting bored, so I got up. Sasquatch was just appearing from the hammock as well, declaring his hammock had been like a waterbed in the woods that night. So we're still on an upswing with that! I was the last one packed up and Stretch, Sasquatch and I left around 7:30 or so, I think. Stretch had mentioned yesterday that today's trail was supposed to be very easy and lo and behold, it was! Unfortunately Sasquatch's feet had some hot spots, which is not too surprising given that they spent the last two days being wet, so we tried to address that with tape. The jury is still out on whether that was effective.Since we had lots of time, we decided to cook a hot lunch, which we did on the sandy beach of Crawford pond. It was a nice spot, but would have been much improved by nicer weather. As it was, it was a bit chilly but at least it didn't rain. And I really enjoyed the hot lunch! I made some tea as well, though a tea bag crisis is imminent, but oh well.From the pond it was only three more miles to the shelter and despite the fact that we had to cross a lot very sketchy bog boards, it went super quickly. We got there before three, having covered those three miles in just over an hour.Stretch went on a few more miles so he can visit someone he met earlier in the hike, who has a camp about 23 miles down the trail, tomorrow. Sasquatch and I stayed here and had a leisurely afternoon that involved rinsing everything that was wet (a lot) in the brook right in front of the shelter and hanging it on the convenient clothes line that was already there. Of course none of it will dry, but at least it's ever so slightly less stinky than before.Around 5, the twins Grant and Scott showed up and decided to stay in the shelter. We were cooking dinner there so we chatted with them some. They haven't carried stoves since New Jersey but when I saw mashed potato mix, I had to boil water for them. Trail food is generally nasty enough hot, I couldn't take the idea of eating it cold!It was a good recuperating day for Sasquatch, who is a bit beat up from the falls in the last few days. But we're happy to report today was a zero-fall day, despite the old and rickety bog boards! As I mentioned yesterday, we get a food resupply tomorrow morning about 3.7 miles from here , so we have to make sure to cover those miles before 9 am. Given the easy trail right here, that should be no problem but let's hope it doesn't rain!Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-09-16
From: Rainbow Stream Lean-to

To: Abol Bridge campground
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We are back in civilization! Sasquatch (and I) survived the 100 mile wilderness and today we made it to the northern end. I have to say that when I came to the road, it pretty much still looked like the middle of nowhere, but a half mile down the road was a convenience store with restaurant attached, so civilization it is!The hiking was again mostly level today, with one 500 ft climb up Rainbow Ledges. There was another great view of Katahdin and it looks bigger and more intimidating the closer you get! I hiked the first hour or so with Wye Knot and after a while Pace Car (who is not an early riser but she is a fast hiker when she wants to) caught up to us. And that was the last I saw of either of them until we got here. Sasquatch and Stretch (who I keep calling Stitch for some reason) had been ahead but waited for me periodically. We saw (and heard) a water plane take off and come back and land. I think someone must have ordered a latte or something because he was back really quickly. The last few days I have been running out of steam by early afternoon and today was no different. Sasquatch theorized that I don't eat enough and I think he might be right. Normally I work on curbing my calorie deficit in town every three or four days but this time we've been between towns for a full week. I need to gain some weight, but I'm sure I won't have any trouble doing that after the hike. In fact, I made a pretty good effort today!When I got to the restaurant, Wye Knot, Pace Car and Goatsbeard were there, but Sasquatch and Stretch were not. They walked another half mile to the sign up board for The Birches, the camp site in Baxter SP that is reserved for long distance hikers. But you can only sign up for the same day, so they walked the extra mile for nothing. I think we should be ok though.When they got back, we all ordered burgers and such, to be washed down with beer, cider or soda. It was really, really nice! Even though we left the restaurant after three o'clock, we planned to come back at six for dinner, since they close at seven. In between we set up camp, took a dip in the river and, most exciting of all, took a shower. Of course we don't have any clean clothes but some of our camp clothes are not completely revolting smelling, so that's what we wore. It was nice to be at least semi-clean!We can see Katahdin from the campsite. Have I mentioned it's big and intimidating? Mudder, Kansas and Advil are here and Mudder has hiked it before because he tried to flip-flop. He says it's not that bad, so we'll see. Today's weather was absolutely perfect, I hope we'll have the same on Friday!By the way, Sasquatch is planning another guest entry with his perspective on the hike, but since he lost his glasses, he won't be able to do that until he gets a new pair and can read what he's typing! Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?
Date: 2015-04-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Added and changed a few things so far to my 2014 Gear List (see 2014 Journal) including Patagonia hooded jacket, rain pants, light hat and combo glove/mittens. Picked up one merino wool tshirt and quarter zip and so far they are living up to the claim of not trapping odors like synthetics. Switched to the AWOL Guide based on last year's experience. Switched from Merrell Moab Ventilators to Oboz Sawtooths to get a firmer sole (rocks from Pennsylvania were really tough on my feet last year). Also got a higher capacity Mophie cell phone charger since my running out of battery was an issue in my previous hike.
Date: 2015-04-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Planning on taking the overnight Amtrak train to Harpers Ferry and staying at the Teahorse Hostel before continuing my section hike. I have emails into a couple shuttle drivers on prices to take me to the trailhead where I left off. For those of you have hiked from Harpers Ferry south thru Virginia I'm wondering about recommendations on- best places to resupply (are there gaps where I need to carry more food)?- recommendations on hostels or places to eat that I shouldn't miss- water was scarce last fall from NY thru PA, how is the water supply on this section?- I mostly stayed in shelters and it looks like the shelters are at a pretty reasonable distance - any shelters to avoid or try to stay at?Thank you in advance for posting suggestions to my Guest Book!
Date: 2015-04-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Made it to Harpers Ferry,WV! Overnight trip on Amtrak was an experience (I learned that smokers really need their "smoke stops" and there were only three of them on this 17 hour trip and the seats are much nicer than airline seats). Had great gyro lunch at the Cannonball Deli and then to the ATC (Appalachian Trail Conservancy) Headquarters http://www.appalachiantrail.org . The office staff was very helpful and showed me their huge relief map (the size of 2 pool tables) of the trail so you have a visual of the elevations in each state. The total elevation gain and loss on the entire AT is equivalent to hiking Mt. Everest from sea level and back 16 times! Virginia will have the highest elevations I will have hiked so far.At the Teahorse Hostel I met a pastor and a member of his church from Memphis who were considering a multiple day hike for a church trip. I joined them for a tasty dinner at a "farm to table" restaurant (Canal House) where I had a unique beef taco with ginger cookie (one of my moms specialties) for dessert. Also joining us was "Timber" from Michigan who had hiked 1,000 miles from Georgia since late January, I think he was the 2nd thru hiker to make it to Harpers Ferry. He made his overall trip sound like it was no big deal then he would bring up a minor detail like being stranded in a 3 sided shelter in a snowstorm for 3 days! We stayed at the restaurant till almost ten which is a couple hours past typical hiker bedtime