morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-07-25
From: Tent, CT341 Kent CT

To: Tent, Caeser Brook Campsite
Miles today: 13.6

First things first. Mr. Skywalker spent an uneventful night in the kind woman's backyard. He did not have to be bailed out of jail. It was a relief to see him walking about freely this morning.   Connecticut has not been kind to our hiking average. Today was hard. We had a horrific climb followed by what seemed like miles of steep steps down. If the steps had not been of completely random heights varying from 1/2 inch high to 3 foot high in completely random arrangements, I'm sure that the distance would have seemed less. In reality we only descended about 500 feet in 1/2 a mile. As I am trying to figure out how to maneuver me and my pack down a step that is as mid thigh high on me I start to think really evil thoughts about trail designers. In one of the recent shelter registers someone wrote, "Confucius say trail that follows contour lines makes happy hikers, but trail that crosses many contour lines makes trail designer sadistic bastard." I have to agree. I hate elevation changes for the sake of elevation changes.    Connecticut looks like it will continue to be hard. We go up and over one mountain range then repeat with the next and the next. The state looks to be filled with painful Pointless ups and downs (puds).    I was very disappointed with the river walk along the Housatonic River. We had heard great things about it from several people. It was ehh... The trail was flat for 5 miles and we did get to see the river at least twice. But it was nothing to rave about. We did see a doe and her fawn drinking water on the far side of the river. That was cool. But we have seen much more pretty water walks. The quarter mile that the trail was next to hatch brook today was some of the prettiest trail we have seen in weeks.   Troll is trying out the one fall per New England state program. I'm not too pleased about this program. When he fell today, he twisted his left knee as he raked his right side down a rock. The resultant sore right hip, right knee, right ankle and tailbone are not going to really help with the entire hiking program. Especially not when you throw in the ridiculous puds we have seen recently.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-07-26
From: Tent, Caeser Brook Campsite

To: Tent, Great Falls Stealth Site
Miles today: 12.2

Today was Troll's 37th birthday. I think it was a good one. We slept in late, Oblivious and I packed up camp. Troll hiked behind me "encouraging" me to go faster. My birthday gift to him was an attempted hiking speed increase. It went ok. Gordon and Sue got Troll a cherry cheesecake which he graciously shared. We ate McDonalds because the pizza joint in falls village is closed on Mon & Tues.    We just got back from a nighttime hike to the falls. Troll bathed in the river. The water was the temp of a pool. Oblivious and I lay on rocks and watched stars and listened to the rushing water. Troll and Oblivious chased and caught crawdads. It was really nice. One of those moments in time that you can look back on and remember and smile. I think it was a good birthday.   Today was awfully hot and humid. Near record setting the radio said. But tomorrow should be slightly cooler and then a cool front with temps in the 70's will set in for the next 3 days after that.   We were pretty lazy today (birthdays and all). We took several long breaks and Troll spoke to his different family members. Lots of little puds (pointless ups and downs) today.    I'm hot and it's still pretty yucky out. The tent has a lot in common with the Kincora Hostel sweat lodge. But I'm next to the sweetest sleeping child in the world and next to the man I love. I guess in spite of yuckiness, things are pretty ok in my world.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-07-27
From: Tent, Great Falls Stealth Site

To: Tent, Sages Ravine Brook Campsite
Miles today: 14.4

Today was amazingly hot and humid again. When we were down low (680 ft) in and near Salisbury it felt like an oven. A recent register entry talked about knowing how steamed vegetables feel like. It felt like we were hiking through thick hot wet air. But praise the Lord a cold front is blowing in.   We saw great falls by daylight this morning. They were pretty cool. Probably one of the biggest falls we've seen on the trail. There is a hydroelectric dam that they were doing construction on. Construction didn¢t exactly add to the charm or beauty, but the falls were still impressive. We ate our breakfast at the falls overlook area.   We passed the Giant Thumb today. That was a unique rock formation just sticking out all by itself. It looked like the end of a big thumb. We also passed Billy's view - Troll said it was named for him. We also went down a small sheer rock face with a rope to help lower and raise yourself. The sad part was that as far as sheer rock faces go, this one was small and inconsequential. We have gone down much worse with no rope for assistance.   The best part of today was lunch. We went into Salisbury and got fried chicken, pot roast and scalloped potatoes from the grocery store. This was all consumed in the parking lot and washed down with 2 liters of coke. Another good part of the day was the afternoon chat with Wilderness Bob and the evening chat with Gozar.   The worst part of the day was coming down from the highest point in Connecticut (Bear Mt.) into Massachusetts in the rain. We lost close to a 1000 ft in elevation in half a mile. This was made possible by the prolonged rock scramble that we had to navigate down. Of course the fact that we were trying to outrun a thunderstorm and that there were intermittent rain showers made it all the more "fun". I'm not sure exactly how hand over hand rock scrabbles actually count as hiking but apparently any terrain can work for an AT trail designer. Preferably the more ridiculous and dangerous the better.   We are now in our 11th state. Connecticut is done and over with.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-07-28
From: Tent, Sages Ravine Brook Campsite

To: Hotel, Great Barrington MA
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: overcast clouds

I don't know what happened to this original entry. So I will try to re-create it. Fortunately this was a very memorable day.   I don't remember much about the trail but I do remember that when we got to town we were really ready to bathe our bodies and launder our clothes. It had been so hot and humid at this point that our clothes were never dry and were actually mildewing/rotting while on our bodies. Kind of gross.    So Gordon and Sue met us and took us into town. We checked out the hotel that Wingnut had in the book of lies and deceptions. It was way on the other side of town, seedy and way more expensive than Wingnut said. So we wound up at the Quality Inn in town. We took quick showers and changed into long johns, then it was time for laundry. Sue and Gordon took us over to the Laundromat and I started our clothes. Troll went and did re-supply at the grocery store in the strip mall. Oblivious and I visited with White Water and Nurse Ratchett who were also doing laundry.    Just as I was standing in front of the washing machine watching the timer count down from 1 minute remaining, the power went off. It came back on and went back off. This was around 6 pm when this happened.    The power did not come back on until after 9 pm. Apparently someone drove into a transformer one town over and most of Great Barrington lost power. Troll went with Gordon and Sue to find a place with power to buy supper. Oblivious and I sat outside of the Laundromat on the sidewalk just waiting. People would drive by and stare at us huddled there in our long johns. Oblivious said that it must be something like this to be homeless. Hungry, no clothes, people staring at you.    Around 9 we decided that we would pack up our wet things at take them back to the hotel with no power so we could sleep and try the entire laundry thing over in the morning. As we started to pack up, the power came on. We then finished our laundry and went back to the hotel to crash. The next day we ate tomatoes and ice cream at the garden nursery next to the trail. We also found out that the garden nursery let hikers shower there and the truck delivery place next to the trail would let hikers camp there. You just had to ask at both places. Pretty hiker friendly, but an exhausting quick town visit.   As always, take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-07-29
From: Hotel, Great Barrington Ma

To: Tent, Mt. Wilcox N. Lean-to
Miles today: 13.5

Tonight I think I am at one of the worst shelters to date. It is .3 miles off of the trail. There is no usable water. What they call a water source is a mosquito-breeding pit that appears to be killing off the frogs. The shelter register has entries from deer hunters in the fall, from ridge runners, and from very few hikers. The mosquito population comes in big swarms and drinks Deet like it was iced tea. It is pretty awful.    Luckily we have started carrying cold food for lunch (1st and 2nd). Cold food is not really cold, it just doesn't get cooked. Our cold food is tortillas, cheese, sausage, mustard, and Pringles. We ate cold food for supper and will cook breakfast down the trail after we find water.   How did we get into this situation? We didn't get out of town until noon. We are planning on getting to Upper Goose pond cabin tomorrow where we will take a zero. That means we have 27+ miles to cover in 2 days. We planned to do around 13.5 today leaving 14 tomorrow. Somehow we assumed that this shelter would have water, since it said it would in both the books and the map. Well, we assumed wrongly. Hopefully we will have better luck tomorrow.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-07-30
From: Tent, Mt. Wilcox N. Lean-to

To: Tent, Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

It is often amazing how much things can change in one day. Last night we were thirsty and stuck with flying thirsty bloodsuckers at one of the worst shelters on the trail. Tonight we are one of the best and most beautiful.    Upper Goose Pond cabin is awesome. There is a gorgeous big beautiful pond. The cabin is cozy and filled with hikers. We saw people whom we haven't seen since Georgia. Wow. Oblivious and Troll have already been in the pond swimming. This week's caretaker invited Oblivious down for S'mores.   We had good trail today and ate McDonalds double quarter pounders with cheese and milkshakes for lunch. Extra calories are always welcome. I also bought some extra snacks for our zero tomorrow.    You can tell that all of the hikers are starting to see completion in their future. It is very heady stuff to be knocking down state after state like we have been. I have really liked MA but can't wait to be done with it. I can't wait for Vermont and New Hampshire and Maine.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-07-31
From: Tent, Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Tent, Upper Goose Pond Cabin 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Zero!!! Zero!!! We don't have any real chores to do. Just some journaling, email, picture labeling. Also on the agenda, sleeping, eating, reading and lounging.   Troll helped with the pancake breakfast. I think he cooked well over a hundred pancakes. There were 22 people including the caretaker and his son. Oblivious and I ate and then helped clean up. Then we cuddled. It was nice sitting on the couch with my little boy curled up next to me. He's so sweet.   The boys swam and canoed. I read and did pocket mail stuff. I started labeling pictures. Apple Pie and Ug caught up with us again. I'm always happy to see them. I went into town with the new caretaker and bought popper fixings. They did not have jalapenos, so I had to use poblanos. I wound up making 5 chili relleno type poppers. Once you fill a pepper with cream cheese and garlic and wrap it in bacon good things happen regardless of pepper size.   The gypsy sisters (Gypsy Lulu and Touk) rolled in. It was good to see them again. Everyone is talking about their mileage plans and getting to the Big K. We are all wary of the Whites and just waiting to see how they treat us. It was wonderful to take such a relaxing zero and to see good friends again. All zeros should be so good.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-01
From: Tent, Upper Goose Pond Cabin 

To: Tent, Tom's backyard Dalton MA
Miles today: 20.1

Well we learned a good lesson today. Pay attention to those bear activity in this area signs. Troll got up early to help with the pancake breakfast again. I packed up our backpacks about 90% of the way. I left the packs inside the tent. I left the water bottles outside the tent along with the trash to be divided between Troll and I for packing out. I left and went to eat. Later Troll went out to finish the last little bit of packing.    As he was walking to the tent, he saw something and thought "those are 2 odd looking dogs. They can't be coyotes because they are black". About the time he realized that they were bears, mamma bear stood up and looked around. Troll started making some noise and the babies ran up the tree above our tent. Mamma dropped back to all fours. Troll whistled and mamma took off for the woods. The baby that was not all the way up the tree dropped and took off after her. Troll took a couple more steps towards the tent. The remaining baby then dropped down out of the tree from about 10 ft up, stood up staggered a bit and shot off into the woods. At that point Troll came and got me and we packed up. We were lucky, only a little bit of trash got strewn about. The tent and the backpacks with food bags inside them all survived intact.   Tonight we are sleeping in someone's backyard. We did not start knocking on random doors like sky walker did in Kent. Tom has been letting hikers stay in his yard for years. I must admit it is a little bizarre to walk into a stranger¢s house in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Definitely an AT kind of experience.   I have heat rash on my rear end like you would not believe. It's mixed with chaffage. Every big heat rash bump has had the top of the bump worn off by chaffing. It feels even worse than it sounds. Hopefully a dry cool night's sleep will help.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-02
From: Tent, Tom's backyard Dalton MA

To: Shelter, Mark Noepal Lean-to
Miles today: 14.2

Today was a good day. We hiked and talked with good people. We ate good food. What more can you ask?   The day started with a visit to the variety store diner. Breakfast special - 2 eggs, 2 slices toast, 3 sausages, & home fries. Yum. We then walked through Dalton with Gordon and Sue. It's always nice when Sue gets out and about in her chair.   We hiked a bit with Dandylion and talked with him. We stopped for 1st lunch by Gore Pond. Oblivious caught 2 largish salamanders. They had yellow-orange bellies with black spots and dark grayish backs with red spots. Double spotted. They were of course declared cute (as are all reptiles and amphibians found on the trail).   Live Strong joined us as we were eating. We chatted with him a while and then continued on. We then met Mouth and hiked and talked with him as we went into Cheshire. In Cheshire we met Gordon and Sue and pushed Sue through town.    Cheshire mass has a monument to the man behind the 1275 pound cheese that the town of Cheshire presented to Thomas Jefferson at the white house. We did not eat any cheese while in Cheshire. We did however have a dairy product - milkshakes. Yum. We also picked up our mail drop with more food included.   We went up what seemed like miles (4) and hundreds of feet (1700) of elevation. The shelter seemed decent but we couldn't find any water. Peanut Butter, a southbounder, came in and said that Gozar had told him where to find water. Follow the dry stream up to the spring. Worked like a champ.   The best score of the day was shortly to follow. Two section hikers had just started at Mt. Greylock and had discovered that their packs were way tooo heavy. They offloaded some prepackaged food. It was awesome. The Troll family and Peanut Butter all chowed to lighten their load. Trail stories were shared and tips were given. It was a good day.   Take care ad we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-03
From: Shelter, Mark Noepal Lean-to

To: Tent, Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: clear sky

It was a hot one today. The radio said it was 95 today. The humidity was through the roof. Those things combined equal massive quantities of sweat and low energy levels. Today we summited Mt Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts. They have this really wonderful war memorial tower at the top. It was originally designed as a lighthouse for Boston. To me it looked like a giant overgrown chess piece. We had a really nice time up there. We had hoped to make it into Vermont today. Weather conditions just didn't help us make that goal. Tomorrow is another day. And we will get out of Massachusetts tomorrow. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-04
From: Tent, Sherman Brook Campsite

To: Tent, VT9 Bennington Parking Area
Miles today: 16.6

When I was little my mother used to sing us the hippo song. I have long since forgotten the verses but I remember the chorus. It went something like this "mud, mud, and glorious mud. Now let us wallow, down in the hollow in glorious mud". I thought about that song as I trudged through some of the infamous "vermud". Yes we are in the Green Mountain (Verd Mont) state. And yes it is muddy. I can't really say that it is any muddier than early Georgia, North Carolina or Tennessee. But it is definitely the most mud that we have seen in a log time. There was even a big mud hole right at the border.    Leaving Mass was certainly no fun. We had some killer climb up rocks to get out of the state. Note to self - bad weather alternate trail signs are the same thing as warning signs.    Today did seem to be quite a bad day for steep rock climbs. We climbed out of Mass into Vermont and then we climbed down into Bennington. Bennington was interesting. They have moose sculptures all over town. The moose are painted in different themes and are really quite entertaining.    Today we had great hopes for a shower. But no such luck. After climbing down into Bennington, we were met by Gordon and Sue. They drove us into town for some Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yum. We then tried to go to a campground listed in Wingnut's book. As usual not what we expected. We found the big gravel parking lot with maybe a turn off to the campground but we could not find the campground in the dark. Oh, well. Tonight we are tenting on a green swatch between the road and the parking lot with Gordon¢s van blocking us from inquiring eyes. I guess you could call this a blatant stealth camp.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-05
From: Tent, VT9 Bennington Parking Area

To: Shelter, Kid Gore Shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: broken clouds

Today we climbed our highest mountain since Greylock. Greylock was our highest since southern Virginia. Tomorrow we go over Stratton, which is even higher. At the top of Glastonbury Mountain (3748 ft) there was a huge fire tower. It swayed in the wind as you climbed it. That was more than a little scary. The view from the top was awesome. We ate one of our lunches on the 3rd platform up.    We are staying at a shelter with a gorgeous view of a valley in front of us. We also saw another shelter earlier that had a beautiful view. Hopefully this will be a trend. Unfortunately shelters with views have not been very common to date.    I am strangely glad of the climbs that we are starting see. I feel like they are slowly getting my body used to sustained climbing while hiking. Hopefully this will have us ready to do the whites in New Hampshire.    It will be at least 2 days before we pass a substantial paved road. Gordon and Sue only like to drive on paved roads. It will be a few days before we see them. We always worry about them when we are gone on our longer stretches.   Today we saw moose poop for the first time. They have pellet poop like deers, rabbits, and goats. Their pellets are much larger, somewhere around the size of a walnut. It was really neat to know that there are pooping moose in this area.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-08-06
From: Shelter, Kid Gore Shelter

To: Shelter, Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a good day. We had trail magic twice in 2 miles. The first cooler had sodas. I never knew just how good cold sugary caffeine goodness was until the trail. Believe me your body loves the sugar it can almost instantaneously use. The 2nd cooler had something for everyone - beer, soda, Twizzlers and Pringles. Fully fueled with a beer and a soda, I was able to power up Stratton Mountain (3936 ft high 1596 elevation change in 3.77 miles) in 1 hour and 48 minutes. That was faster than 2 miles per hour.    The view from the top of the Stratton Mountain fire tower was awesome. You could see forever. This fire tower was a bit more stable than the one from yesterday. This one didn't seem to sway as much and was fully enclosed at the top. I was fine until Oblivious came up to the top after me. Everything seemed fine when I took a picture of him. He took the camera from me, brought it up to his face and then took a step to his right without looking. I felt my heart sink. About 3 steps to his right was the open trap door to the stairs. He could have plummeted to his death, as he was obliviously moving over to his right for a better picture. I had to make him leave before I could attempt to go back down.   This morning I saw my first sunrise of the trip. I am not an early riser. It just never seems to work. This morning when my watch alarm (process that starts my wake cycle) went off, Troll also stirred. He told me to look out the front of the shelter. It was beautiful. I rolled over and went back to sleep for about 20 more minutes.    Last night was the 1st night in forever that the temperatures were low enough that I zipped my sleeping bag. The lower temps also meant no bugs. How wonderful not to be bathed in Deet as a futile attempt to stay bite free. Tonight looks like it will be cool again. But this shelter looks to be very buggy.    This is our 2nd fee pay shelter thus far. Our first was upper goose pond and we got pancakes. This one costs $5 each and we get mosquitoes and a garter snake infested stump. Hmmm... I'm pretty sure that these fee pay shelters are going to really piss me off very soon. I think that the Troll family is going to become very skilled at stealth camping.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.