morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-08-01
From: Sages Ravine Brook Campsite

To: The Hemlocks Lean-to
Miles today: 6.6

No, it did not take me a few days to walk 6 miles - I went home for a couple of days! Woke up at Sages Ravine Campsite and had an incredible walk through the Ravine with it's lovely waterfalls and natural pools which would be a great place to come back and visit! The walk up Race Mountain gave us some beautiful views and the climb up Mt. Everett was challenging, but invigorating. After the summit, my mom was at the Guilder Pond Picnic Area to pick us up. She treated me, Serenitina, Deets and PowerPack to some of her famous brownies and joined us for our 1,500 picture! Since she hiked a bit of the trail, we gave her the trail name Red Hot Momma (Gotta keep it in the red family).So being home was great (well not home exactly, we go to a campground each summer) and had a ball catching up with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, my family and our friends! (Only I would leave the trail to go to a campground - haha!). Serenitina came along with me so was great to have her along and we got to explore some of Plymouth, MA with it's history. The couple days went by too quickly as always and before I knew it we were back on the trial for an epic 1/2 mile day! Haha. Was great Serenitina and I got back on the trail together as it really helped with the transition from home back to trail.
Date: 2010-08-02
From: The Hemlocks Lean-to

To: Tom Leonard Lean-to
Miles today: 14.4

Was a misty morning but turned out to be a beautiful day. Had an amazing walk through a pine forest this morning that was magical. Someone had mentioned that there were 100 acres of virgin forest that we would be walking through and I assume this must be it. The trees were enormous and the forest had a real well developed canopy layer with very little shrubs/herbs.Unfortunately,I also discovered this morning that my camera is dead as a doornail so won't have any pictures until I can get that sorted out. Many of the streams were dried out today so we stopped off at an antique store for a nice coke under a tree and to fill up on water. Shelter was nice tonight but busy! MAny trail maintainers, a couple nice section hikers and then Serenitina, myself and Tabasco tenting.
Date: 2010-08-03
From: Tom Leonard Lean-to

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: broken clouds

Well apparently during the night we were visited by a porqupine at the shelter. he (or she) was eating up the wood on the picnic table during the night and one of the section hikers had to chase it off with his trekking pole.Walk today was good - nothing too major that I can remember. Walked by a beautiful pond - Benedict Pond - and saw a garden snake along the trail. Serenitina and I have decided to do some short days this week in order to let some of the guys who got off in NYC ti catch up. Staying tonight at the Shaker Campsite (which is a mosquito pit!) with Serenitina, Wallflower, Nina and Shannon (two section hikers from Albany). Had a good fire (to attempt to deter bugs) and good conversation.
Date: 2010-08-04
From: Shaker Campsite

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: light rain

Was an interesting night's sleep last night. About 11 o'clock I woke to some noises. I wasn't sure if it was lots of thunder, gun shots or fireworks. Serenitina heard it as well so I wasn't dreaming it. We decided it was a fireworks display. Bid odd for it to be at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday night though... hmmm... We were also visited by the resident raccoon last night as well. I didn't wake up from my sleep but a couple people saw him and Serenitina's cook set got dragged across the campsite.Walk was nice today - some rain in the morning but turned out to be a lovely day (and lovely enough for the gnats to once again be dive bombing my eyes!). Had my first experience flushing grouse today - didn't realize it could happen this far north. Rounded a corner and all of a sudden a very loud flapping started in the bushes next to me - sure got the heart going! Crossed a stream today where I could see all the fish swimming around and a ton of whitish salamanders sitting under the water as well.Staying tonight at Upper Goose Pond Cabin which is an incredible spot! It's a lovely cabin with a bunk room that is situated on a gorgeous lake. Me an Serenitina went for a swim about 1/3 mile out to an island. Some section hikers had left a canoe there and one of the caretakers asked if we would mind taking it back across (as her daughter wanted to swim back)- so we got a little canoe ride as well. The sun was sure hot paddling back and Serenitina decided to hop back in. Unfortunately I didn't do such a good job with the counterbalance and over I went with the canoe! Oops! Was no problem though, just towed it back to shore and dumped it out. Had a good time cooking dinner and hanging out at the shelter tonight with Powder, Wallflower, Transcontinental, Biscuits & Gravy. And a OBO named 'Little ear' stopped by who happens to be from my hometown in Walpole! It's a small world!P.S. Got great trail magic today from Jan - an ultra-marathoner who was out for a jog and packed out some treats in case she ran into thru-hikers. She gave us some dried figs and homemade cookies - so Serenitina and I had a lovely tea-time when we arrived at the cabin with these treats!
Date: 2010-08-05
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Beckett, MA
Miles today: 11.0

Big milestone for me today - about a mile into the walk today we crossed over the Mass Pike (I-90)! Seems silly, but for years I've seen that crossing that says 'Appalachian Trail' and thought to myself 'someday...'. Well here I am and even managed to get a few beeps from passing cars - woohoo!We had gotten a late start today but it was another short day, so we stopped about 4 miles in with Unicas (sp?) and had a bite. Then it began to rain... and rain. Was the kind of rain you thought would thunderstorm but it just came down in buckets for a couple f hours. (Did hear a slight rumble of thunder just before we got to a spot called 'Bald Top'... awesome... luckily was false advertising though and we didn't go over an exposed ridge). So it was just one of those days where you are so drenched your clothes are stuck to your body and there is nothing you can do but laugh about it ( and pray your pack cover is doing a good job!). Luckily for us, we were headed to a friend's home in Richmond for the night so knew we'd be able to get dry and comfortable.Stopped in at the cookie lady's house to fill up on water and meet my friend Jerry. And the cookie lady brought us out a few fresh baked cookies - what a treat! Then Serenitina and I were off to Richmond for the night where we had a great time with Jerry and his family. We are laundered, showered, resupplied and fed (mmm... with fresh veggies from the garden!) - life s good! And to top it all off - got to watch the end of the Red Sox game and drink a Sam Adam's Summer Ale - doesn't get much more New England that that!
Date: 2010-08-06
From: Beckett, MA

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: broken clouds

Well, was back on the trial in the morning clean and freshly laundered. Me and Serenitina had a nice short walk today into Dalton. The weather was nice and the terrain wasn't too bad. Just before town we got some trail magic sodas set out by Snow Fox's parents.Dalton was a very hiker friendly town - my home state is making me proud! We were staying at Tom Levardi's and Beaver Chief was also there so was great to see him. He was a bit under the weather which was too bad but at least he had a nice place to rest. Did a few errands around town - got a new camera (from my parents as an early birthday present - old one bit the dust a week or so ago), went to the library, made a few phone calls, etc, etc. Was heading back to Tom's house (Tom Levardi is a trail angel who lets hikers camp in his yard) to cook one of my backpacking meals for dinner, when who do I see setting up their tent... LJ! So in lieu of a camp dinner, we went to the tavern across the street, got a bit of food and beer (blueberry - yum!) and got to watch a Red Sox - Yankees game! I attempted to explain the game and why it's much more interesting than cricket and I think he agreed. Ha... well maybe not but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Date: 2010-08-07
From: Dalton, MA

To: Cheshire, MA
Miles today: 8.9

Well the slower days continue to help Red Stick catch up and we sure are enjoying it! Had a lovely lazy morning this morning with some coffee from Cumberland Farms and a nice picnic breakfast at Tom Levardi's place. It was a short day for us anyways so we were in no hurry to get out.Weather was spectacular - probably the nicest hiking weather I've had on this entire trip! 70 degrees, sunny and breezy... lovely! Had a late lunch with Serenitina and LJ on the Cobbles overlooking Cheshire. Then we strolled into town past an ice cream shop (had to take a detour there obviously!) and headed to t. Mary's for the night ( a church that let's hikers stay overnight). The priest there was lovely and everyone was very welcoming to the hikers. It turned out to be just the 3 of us in for the night. So we cooked ourselves a nice potluck dinner there and then spent the evening helping a couple set up the church hall for a 90th birthday happening the next day. Really enjoying these shorter days and really being able to enjoy the places I'm seeing and people that I'm meeting in my home state!
Date: 2010-08-08
From: Cheshire, MA

To: Wilbur Clearing Lean-to
Miles today: 11.4

Ended up heading to mass this morning with Serenitina. Father Raymond was so excited to see hikers at mass that he made an announcement to the church and everyone clapped - slightly embarrassing. Then he was looking around for that 'nice young man from England' (who had decided not to go) which was pretty hilarious. Was the first time I'd been to mass since starting the trail and I really enjoyed it - plus everyone at the church was so welcoming!Well it was a long, uphill climb out of Cheshire up Mt. Greylock - the highest peak in MA. Stopped in a shelter part-way up and who was there... Veggie Scraps and Zeb! (who is now going by the name Fungi). Was great to see them as hadn't since Harper's Ferry. Thought they'd be miles ahead but I guess they were off for a few weeks due to illness.Along the trail today saw moose poop and red squirrels - indicators of a borreal forest I believe. Still tracking tat moose! Climb up Mt. Greylock was great - and I believe it's my first time climbing somewhere I'd previously been been, but it was a completely different experience due to weather (which was fab) and crowds (due to the fact the road had re-opened). Of course crowded peaks are not ideal but it did have the advantage that the lodge was open so treated myself to a frozen yogurt bar and some banana bread - yum! After hanging around the summit for a while headed a few miles to the next shelter where I had a lovely dinner with LJ, Spoons, and Earthling. A section hiker gave us some crackers and cheese that they were going to throw away so we had ourselves a nice little treat!
Date: 2010-08-09
From: Wilbur Clearing Lean-to

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: few clouds

Hello Vermont! How's this for nerdy - we crossed from our 11th to 12th state today on 8/9/10 and attempted to celebrate with a picture! Haha. Am excited to be moving further north.Slept okay last night - the humidity has definitely crept back in. Had a short walk into North Adams today where we ran into hikers being dropped off by Tom Levardi and Rob (from the Birdcage). Rob generously shuttled us to the grocery store for resupply and a hardware store to get some fuel. Me, Serenitina, and LJ then headed over to the YMCA where the nice people there gave us a free shower! It was cool and lovely. Then we had a delicious lunch at Friendly's (which I was quite excited about - ah the nostalgia!) before heading back to the trail.Walk was nice up to the shelter - slightly steep, rocky section that we weren't expecting but it was fun and rewarding (after the fact - ha.) I actually was feeling a bit under the weather after leaving town, but luckily the walk went by quick and when we got to camp I was slightly antisocial so just set up my tent and went straight to bed (without dinner!). For me, when I'm not feeling well, sleep is the cure, so it was just what the doctor ordered!
Date: 2010-08-10
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Melville Nauheim Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Felt much better this morning which was a relief! Turned out to be a good night cozy in my tent early as it rained a lot during the night! Ver-mud indeed! It's not really too bad, but my shoes have certainly taken on a different color since entering the state.Walk was lovely today! Still looking for that moose but no luck yet! There were some really nice beaver dams that we passed by today. At one point, the path went right next to a beaver-made pond and the water level was above where we were standing which seemed odd. Had a good lunch where I attempted to dry out my tent from last night. Walk in afternoon was nice but there was a fairly steep decent and then climb out of VT9 near Bennington. Before the decent, came across a sweet campsite with LJ - it overlooked a ridge across the way and someone had left 2 lawn chairs there! Hey - when a seat is offered to you it would be rude not to take it, so took a nice break there and soaked in the views before our climbs. Tenting tonight at the shelter in a mosquito pit basically with Serenitina, LJ, Earthling and Alkaline. As we were eating dinner, heard a noise in the woods that sounded like a baby crying - baby coyote apparently!
Date: 2010-08-11
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

To: Stony Spring Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: broken clouds

Long day today but a great one! Weather was fantastic and my body was cooperating, feeling good and actually enjoying the climbing. We climbed Glastenbury Mountain today which is the largest we've climbed in a while at over 3,700 ft. elevation. The climb itself was great and views from the fire tower were pretty sweet. So far I'm loving Vermont - it feels so good to be back in proper mountains again!Passed by a nice pond at the end of the day so tried to be nice and quiet in case a moose was popping over for a drink - no luck though. Evergreen and Promethius saw one on their way into the shelter shortly after us. The shelter is PACKED tonight... more than I've probably seen it since the beginning of the trip. The NOBOs (north-bounders - like me) are running into SOBOs (south-bounders), plus those thru-hiking the Long Trail (which the AT runs along with for the first 100 miles or so in Vermont) combined with weekend and section hikers makes for a very crowded trail these days!Confession time - I am behind o my journal yet again (this is my first time keeping a journal so never said I was any good at it!) - oops. As anyone who might read this can tell, I'm not necessarily concise, so just taking little notes each day and chipping away at it. I thought LJ said to me tonight that if I didn't catch up on my journal when we take a NERO in Manchester, he wouldn't speak to me. So I said "you won't speak to me?" but apparently, I'd misheard him and he said that I'd get no ice cream "NO ICE CREAM?!?" Haha - think he might have been slightly offended that I thought that was the worst option!
Date: 2010-08-12
From: Stony Spring Shelter

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

Was a nice morning walk. Terrain wasn't too bad until the climb up Stratton. That wasn't a tough climb either, just a bit of incline. Got to the top and there were some spectacular views from the fire tower! And who did I see there but... Pyro! He had decided to do a flip-flop after Harper's Ferry so it was fun to cross paths with him going the other direction.Stopped in at Stratton Pond shelter for a bit of lunch and chatted with a family of section hikers. They decided to go for a swim in the pond which was quite brave as it was freezing! Me and LJ went to go have a look at the pond on the way out (which was gorgeous) and almost immediately it started raining... and raining. We still had 8 miles to go until the shelter we planned to stay in, so just kicked it into gear and walked in the wet, cold rain. I think it might be the first time I've actually hiked in my rain coat (due to cold) since probably April. Ver-Mud, indeed! Your shoes and clothes reach a certain saturation point until it ceases to matter. We kind of made a little game of it - What Would Bear (Gryllis) Do (WWBD). Every time we'd slip on a root and nearly slide off or tumble over and get covered in mud, it wasn't an accident - we were going for style points! None of this boring walking business - extreme hiking! Plus, as Serenitina said, 'A lot of people pay big bucks for this mud and aren't we lucky to get it for free?'Well somehow we made amazing time and arrived at the the shelter by 5 (after being the last ones out of camp practically a 8:30 and taking an hour for lunch - guess rain is a good motivator). Shelter tonight is incredible 0 a cabin basically with nice front porch and wood burning stove. Felt like a million bucks peeling off the wet clothes, putting on the dry ones and watching the rain continue to come down. We were joined tonight by 2 local section hiker women Veggie Scraps (who was a bit under the weather - poor thing!) and Zeb (now going by Fungi).
Date: 2010-08-13
From: Spruce Peak Shelter

To: Manchester Center, Vermont
Miles today: 2.8
Weather: broken clouds

Short day today - yippee! We headed into town and are staying at the Green Mountain House Hostel - which we have heard great things about and have been looking forward to for days! Got to the road and was able to hitch a ride into town (using Klarity's 'hiker to town' bandana - worked a treat once LJ got out of the way - haha!) from Ward - a nice guy who lived locally and does quite a bit of hiking himself.Manchester was a lovely town and spent a few hours hanging around and checking the place out - went for a bite to eat with LJ at 'Up for Breakfast', spent quite a bit of time at the Mountain Goat Outfitter where Serenitina was shifting around a few things for cold weather gear and then by Price Chopper - once again overwhelmed by all the choice for resupply! We had got chatting to a couple of nice men in town for a while (the 'Weather Wiz') and as we were leaving they gave us some money (which was a complete surprise!) so we used it to buy some groceries to make a community dinner.Hostel tonight was all we had hoped for and more! The place had bunks, shower, laundry, a working kitchen, TV room, was super clean and the owner Jeff was real friendly. Plus there was a free pint of Ben & Jerry's for each person in the freezer. So cooked a nice community dinner, ate a pint of B & J and watched 'the 40 Year Old Virgin.' Was real fun to sit in and watch a movie. Good time at the hostel with the usual suspects (Serenitina, LJ), One Life, Earthling, Skink and his wife Leigh, Double A (who is from Mansfield - a town right near me!) and Pneumonia.
Date: 2010-08-14
From: Manchester Center, Vermont

To: Big Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

Oh dear... what a difference a few hours can make. Good morning hanging out - ended up taking the last shuttle from the hostel to the trail about 10. Had some coffee at breakfast which gave me super-hiking energy at the start of the day. Climbed to the top of Bromley Mountain where the weather was nice and we could see (supposedly) 5 states from the summit, so attempted to guess the states and mountains that we were looking at.Afternoon had a couple of decent climbs - Styles Peak and Peru Peak and then we arrived at Peru Peak Shelter around '3' for lunch. One Life turned up so we all hung around and chatted for awhile. It was chilly though so we decided to get moving at least to the next shelter before deciding if we'd push on to Big Branch. So LJ and I pushed on to the shelter and were surprised by the good times we made. Figured we'd wait on Serenitina and move to the next shelter. So we waited... and waited... and finally One Life showed up (who had left after Serenitina and not seen her along the way). So we were quite worried, waited about an hour going over possibilities that might have happened (there was a trail detour she might have taken was the most likely) and in the end decided that the best thing to do would be to push on (even though it was getting dark) to the next shelter which had been the original plan.
Date: 2010-08-15
From: Big Branch Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Well no sign of Serenitina last night or this morning... and no phone signal to get ahold of her. So me and LJ figured the best thing to do would be to go to the next shelter and wait. So we did and sure enough around 10 Serenitina came singing up the trail. She had indeed taken the detour (which inconveniently passed by all 3 shelters without really warning hikers) and had ended up camping on a random spot when it got dark. Anyhoo, she was found so all was god.Was rainy and overcast all day and had a bit of a down day mentally. No particular reason really, that just happens sometimes. Did have a nice lunch at the shelter though with One Life, Serenitina and LJ. Aside from that just plodded along. Made the push at the end of the day for Clarendon SHelter despite fairly steady rain. Clarendon Gorge was beautiful and then the 'short' walk form the road was straight up a rock face basically for about a mile (which was apparently - we later found out - a freshly opened trail - lucky us! Haha!) And in typical fashion figured 'surely we must have missed it! So stopped , took off our packs, had a look at the map and decided we must be close. Only to put back on our packs, walk about 4 steps (literally!) and see the sign for the shelter! Was pretty entertaining. Decided to shelter it tonight due to lots of rain - and it was fairly packed. Cool shelter though that actually had a front lawn and flower pots (always a nice touch!). Ran into Chef there as well who I hadn't seen in months
Date: 2010-08-16
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Rutland, VT
Miles today: 16.6

Red sky in the morning (round 2)... was a real nice morning actually. Had lots of energy walking around and we actually saw 4 deer this morning (It occured to me that wildlife sightings have been pretty rare recently). A few miles into the day, the skies darkened, thunder started, poured rain and inevitably lightning began. So we got pretty soaked and rolled into the Govenor Clement shelter just as it stopped raining. Serenitina got a fire going in the fireplace (rare but this shelter had one!) and we attempted to dry out some of our clothes and warm up.The weather looked to clear, so we decided to begin the climb up mt killington. Well, as you can guess, about a mile up the storm moved in and thunder began again. So it was slightly nerve wrecking climbing up a steep mountain as the storm was getting stronger. We made it up and then took shelter in the lodge up top to have some food and put on dry clothes for a short while as we attempted to warm up. Boy, you sure get cold quick after stopping- especially if you're wet (and that can be pretty dangerous as well if you don't have dry clothes to change into)!After a nice break, me, Lj, One Life and Serenitina began our decent down to the road. The rain had pretty much quit but as with all mountain weather it looked like it could change any minute. Well we got down to the road and decided to head to the Inn at the Long Trail for the evening to dry out and do a bit of laundry. Attempted to hitch at the road and who ended up picking us up but.... Skink's wife Leigh (who we had stayed with at Green Mtn House). So we got to the Inn and got the family hiker room to share for the 4 of us! We showered, laundered and got some food and drinks at the pub. Had a good, quiet night hanging out at the pub chattin- convenient it was located inside the Inn!