morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-08-27
From: Velvet Rocks shelter

To: Trapper John shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: few clouds

Loser and Roamin' Around came to the shelter around 9PM. I slept well and got back on the trail at 7:45 while they were still sleeping. It was a pleasant morning with breezes from the northwest. I finished climbing up the Velvet Rocks, took a detour to the spring, and then down to a cattail marsh and up Moose Mtn. I met a woman with two dogs on the south summit, where I took a much-needed rest. Had lunch on the north summit, where a SoBo named Roadkill complained about fatigue; he had done Maine and the Whites so there was good reason to be tired. There were great views of Smarts Mtn and Mt Cube to the north and the surrounding little hills and valleys. Saw two garter snakes on the trail. I replenished my water near the road, and then did the steep 1200¢ climb to Holt¢s ledge, which kicked my butt. It was quite similar to the climb from Galehead to S. Twin in the Whites but without the glory of a summit above 4000 feet. The view was nice, though. I made it to Trapper John shelter where NoBos Jason and Sarah, and her father, an econometrician from Albany, had stopped for the day. Nice folks. They¢re both grads of the NYU photography program who had lived in Portland OR for a while. I put up my tarp and net bivy against the mosquitoes, where I sit writing this. I was bitten and stung by an unseen critter this morning, probably a yellow jacket which had been riled up by a passing trail runner. NoBo Brown Bess arrived around 6.
Date: 2003-08-28
From: Trapper John shelter

To: Hexacuba shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: overcast clouds

It was a clear, cold night. I could see stars flashing though the tree crowns, but I slept warm in my 3-season bag, which I brought back to the trail with me when I returned to Hanover. I got up at 7:30 and left at 9. Much of the day was spent climbing Smarts Mtn, 2400¢ of elevation gain, most of it steep. I hiked a while with T-Bird and Loser and saw Jason, Sarah and her father on the summit. There were good views from the fire tower, though Mooselauke eclipses most of the Whites from this angle. There were neat swirl patterns in the exposed quartzite ledges. The walk down to the South Branch of Jacobs Brook was uneventful; the brook crossing is a pretty spot. It was a short climb from there to Hexacuba shelter, which is spacious and comfortable (and hexagonal); there is also a 5-sided privy known as ¢Pentacuba¢, which I suppose is a refuge from demons owing to its geometry. On the trail today, I ran into AT Addict, who I had shared a shelter with in southern VA; he¢s finishing up his 7th end-to-end hike of the AT with this section. Tim, a Brit section hiker was at the shelter this evening, along with Hot Dog, and T-Bird, who later left with her friend Cody.
Date: 2003-08-29
From: Hexacuba shelter

To: Glencliff
Miles today: 14.7

Another clear, cold night. I slept near the edge of the shelter and could see stars through the trees. Coyotes sang in the middle of the night, an eerie but beautiful sound. I got up at 7 and was out at 8:15 on a partly cloudy morning that was not too cold. I climbed the hard quartzite ledges of Mt Cube and visited the north summit via a side trail. High clouds gathered, creating an overcast white sky. There was good visibility below the clouds, which thickened and lowered to the top of Mooselauke by mid-afternoon. Lots of mosquitoes, but I applied DEET only at the afternoon rest stop; my fatalist attitude got me a dozen bites, but I don¢t really mind them unless the mosquitoes are swarming around me. I got a closer view of Mooselauke from the top of Mt Mist, then hiked down to Oliverian Notch and into the hostel at Glencliff a short distance down the road. I made it to the hostel at 4 PM and got one of their tents for the night. I took a shower standing in a puddle of water on the gravel floor of the bath house and ate some leftover slices of pizza given to me by one of the other hikers along with a couple cans of Dr Pepper from the hostel fridge. They don¢t have a vehicle to shuttle hikers this weekend, so I¢ll hitch to Kinsman Notch tomorrow, having already hiked Mooselauke during the ATC meeting in July. Loser, T-Bird, Brown Bess, Roamin¢, and a half dozen others are at the hostel tonight.
Date: 2003-08-30
From: Glencliff

To: Kinsman Pond shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

[Note: I had slacked the piece of trail over Mt Mooselauke at the end of July when I drove up to New Hampshire to lead two day hikes for the ATC meeting, so I jumped from Glencliff to Kinsman Notch.]There was rain during the evening and into the night, which was warm. I awoke to clearing skies. I left the hostel before 8 and hitched to the village of Warren to buy food for the Whites ¢ now my food bag hardly fits into my pack. I then walked to the Garlic Clove restaurant for French toast and some very good ¢red flannel hash¢. I was walking back toward Rte 118 when a woman driving the opposite way stopped to see if I needed directions and ended up driving me all the way to Kinsman Notch, for which I was very grateful. She¢s a hiker, naturally. I got started on the trail at 9:40. It is very steep going from the trailhead to Mt Wolf, with many steep sections and rocky climbs over several knobs. I made it down to Eliza Brook shelter around 2. Trace and 1/3 were there, looking cold. The weather had turned mostly cloudy and breezy by 11, and it was definitely cold if you stopped for long. I ate lunch quickly and headed up South Kinsman, an even rockier 2000-foot climb with many little technical problems and scrambles requiring you to stop and figure out the best route to take. The trail up the mountain is very nice initially, following a brook and then crossing a wetland with S. Kinsman¢s cliffs looming overhead. Despite the gray light, the trail is very beautiful in an austere way. It looks completely different than all the sections of trail that have come before, even since Hanover. I¢ve been up South Kinsman a number of times but never from this side, and it is definitely one of the most rugged trails in the Whites. I didn¢t stop at the summit because of the cold but enjoyed the view of Cannon, North Kinsman, and Franconia Ridge with their tops cut off by the cloud layer before descending into the spruce/fir corridor that leads to the north peak. I could also see Mt Carrigain, the Hancocks, and Osceola. I raced on to North Kinsman and down a somewhat easier trail to Kinsman Pond shelter. A guy with a little boy and a teenage nephew, and a weekend hiker from Exeter were in the shelter. It was colder by dinnertime.
Date: 2003-08-31
From: Kinsman Pond shelter

To: Liberty Spring campsite
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: overcast clouds

After a foggy night, the sky was clear when I got up. I guess the temperature was in the low to mid 40s. I was on the trail at 8. There¢s a great view of the Kinsmans over the pond. I traipsed down to Lonesome Lake hut, where I got water, rinsed out my shirt, and sat in the sun for a while. I proceeded down Cascade Brook Trail to Franconia Notch. Walking along the West Branch of the Pemi under the highway bridges, I felt the quintessence of the last weekend of summer- something about the sunlight, the river water a clear jelly green in the pools, and small ferns and milkweed along the banks. I continued into the woods and up the never-ending staircase that must have taken many person-years to put in place. (The hiker from Exeter at the shelter last night is an apprentice mason, and he explained the slow process of setting stone steps to me.) I rested at intervals going up and finally came to the Liberty Spring campsite, where I rigged my tarp to provide a windbreak on the tent platform. The caretaker suggested I take advantage of the unusually good viewing conditions, so I hiked up another 650¢ to the summit of Mt Liberty. It was great advice ¢ on the summit it was a sunny and warm with not much wind, and the view, said to be 120 miles this morning, was spectacular. I got a sip of water from a boy hiking with his dad from Garfield to Lincoln Woods (an ambitious hike), took photos of a German couple, and soaked up the view: Mt Washington was crystal clear and Mt Mansfield and the northern peaks of Vermont were easily visible. It was like nirvana up there. It was also like the beach, with lots of kids, sleeping dogs, etc., but I didn¢t mind the crowd, it made it more festive. I¢m writing this back at the campsite where the sun is getting lower, and with it, the temperature.
Date: 2003-09-01
From: Liberty Spring campsite

To: Galehead hut
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up at 6:30 next to the half-tarp wind screen feeling raindrops on my face, but it was either a very brief passing shower or condensation dripping from the trees. I got up and was back on the trail at 8:30. The sky was mostly covered with high clouds that filtered the sun and allowed a sunny break once in a while. I climbed up to the Franconia Ridge, where the trail goes through spruce woods and ferns, and then up a steep trail and a couple of rocky scrambles to Little haystack, where I ran into Hot Rod. We headed toward Mt Lafayette, over the most beautiful ridge walk on the AT, climbing over several knobs and Mt Lincoln before we got to Lafayette. I was wearing a windshirt and shorts and the wind was cold but bearable if you kept moving or stood behind something. The light actually brought out the subtle colors of fall alpine plants, lichens, and granite. We met Leaf and walked down from Lafayette, occasionally going down a slightly difficult ledge drop. I walked up Mt Garfield, where I had lunch in the lee of some boulders while I took in the view. I continued down Garfield and behind Galehead Mtn and up to the hut, which was visible from several places along the trail. I had a great time in the hut this afternoon talking to Kismet, Spock, Widget, and Leaf. I had dinner with a couple of docs (one a former croo member at Lakes hut), a helicopter pilot and his son, and a retired gent from near Atlanta who is working to combat sprawl in his town. It was a great dinner, something you expect at the White Mtn huts, but I felt funny being a paying guest while my hiker friends waited outside for their turn to eat. I had made hut reservations before I left and hadn¢t anticipated this- it¢s sort of like being a first class passenger on a cruise ship while your friends are in steerage.
Date: 2003-09-02
From: Galehead hut

To: Dry River campground
Miles today: 14.7

The second day of September was a cool, gray one. Visibility was good beneath the cloud deck, which was at approximately 4800¢; it was breezy in the high 40s when I left Galehead hut at 9:15. I had an interesting conversation with Spock about boats ¢ he designs and builds very fast and light fiberglass-over-cedar-strip canoes and describes the process very well and in detail. He and Kismet are NoBos doing a flop from Katahdin. The climb up South Twin was easier than I remembered it from past years. I led a day hike up this trail in July but was going very slowly to keep the group together. Unlike July, though, I didn¢t hang out on the summit, which was cold and windy today. I went on at a brisk pace toward the alpine area on the Bondcliff Trail where the Twinway turns to the east. At Mt. Guyot¢s rocky ¢beach¢ I talked to four SoBos, including Bean Pie, Land Squid, and the incredibly named Deuce Bigelow the Trail Gigolo. Bean Pie recognized my trail name and remembered seeing a note for me and others from Mtn Momma, who was staying at Pinkham Lodge for a few days. (I don¢t think I can get there in time to see her, however.)I went on and tagged Mt Zealand and had a long rest break with Widget and the guys from Georgia who were at the hut last night ¢ we talked about combating sprawl and encouraging transit-oriented development, something they had worked on with the famous neo-urbanist planner Andres Duany in their town, Covington GA, which was the location for the movie ¢My Cousin Vinny¢. It was getting warmer, and I shed my rain pants and windshirt. I had lunch at Zeacliff, which is an astounding panorama every time I see it. I pushed on to Zealand Hut where I chatted with a couple of SB section hikers before going on around 2:15. The Ethan Pond Trail is easy after the Twinway, and the views back to Zeacliff are kind of cool if you remember looking down on it from up there a little while before. After it turns the corner at Whitewall Mtn, the trail becomes a bit of a slog, but the sun came out around 4 and I made it to Crawford Notch at 5:15. I was headed to Dry River campground, a couple of miles from the trail, so I stuck out my thumb. I¢ve always found it difficult to hitchhike in Crawford Notch because most of the cars are driven by tourists and they rarely stop for hikers, but I should bite my tongue: I was picked up by a couple of Italian tourists in a rented sedan with their baby in a child seat in the back. They had to rearrange the usual backseat vacation baggage to fit me in and were very friendly and interested in my hike and the Ray Jardine gear I was carrying. At the campground a friendly ranger let me camp for free and gave me detergent and shampoo as well as change for the laundry and shower. These facilities were brand new and very nice. There are mosquitoes out as I write this, so I¢m in the net bivy. The temperature at 8PM is probably about 68 degrees. I decided to bypass Ethan Pond campsite so I can get to Lakes of the Clouds hut tomorrow before the arrival of the bad weather that has been forecasted.
Date: 2003-09-03
From: Dry River campground

To: Lakes of the Clouds hut
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up to partly cloudy skies. I ate, packed up, and got to the road at 8 and soon got a ride from two guys on their way to an AMC meeting at the new Crawford hut. I was back on the trail at 8:25. It¢s a steady climb up to Webster Cliffs and to Mt Webster, where I took a break and chatted with two guys from Long Island who were day hiking. They gave me half an orange and some cookies too! (You really appreciate small delicacies when you¢re hiking.) I should mention the fantastic views to the notch and the Willey Range on the opposite side. The climb up Mt Jackson was easy compared to Webster. At one point I could see Mitzpah Hut on the side of Mt Pierce as I started on that leg of the day¢s hike. I got to the hut around lunchtime and had a great lunch of soup, leftover bread and pancakes and chocolate chip cookies. (Based on my interest in the food details, I must be burning a lot of calories today.) The croo told me I could depend on getting a bed at Lakes even though I would arrive a day earlier than my reservation. Before I left, a helicopter arrived and lowered a cargo net full of supplies ¢ I stuck my head out the door and almost got squashed. The cutoff trail took me up to Mt Pierce where it joins Crawford path, said to be the oldest continuously used hiking path in the United States. There were fantastic views ahead to Mt Eisenhower and the connecting ridge, Mt Monroe¢s double peak, and Mt Washington with its head in the clouds. Just below the summit I watched a peregrine falcon circle the summit several times with swooping motions almost like a giant swallow. I pointed it out to two women who were hiking south and it reappeared as if on cue.The walk up the Eisenhower ridge and past Monroe was one of the best, maybe the most beautiful of the hike to date. It was windy, perhaps 35-40 mph with stronger gusts, and the weather was clearly deteriorating, so the element of danger added some spice. The light was wonderful as clouds billowed by, often almost close enough to touch. I needed my hiking sticks to maintain balance in the gusts, but found that the wind also could help boost me up big steps in the rocks. Two older hikers who looked very competent told me that the wind was gusting up to 60-70mph in the notch on Mt Monroe. They wished me a good hike and were obviously digging the conditions as much as I was. I stayed on the AT rather than go over Monroe and reached Lakes hut around 3.I had a good afternoon and evening at Lakes. Other guests included Kate (an editor from NJ), Hasty and John (retired MA couple who were into sailing), Peter (a carpenter from Philadelphia) and his teenage son. Thru-hikers included Jimmy and Elf, Regan and Soultrain.
Date: 2003-09-04
From: Lakes of the Clouds hut

To: Lakes of the Clouds hut
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

The day started rainy and then foggy, in the 50s. I decided to stay at the hut and wait for the weather to improve as forecasted, so the day was spent hanging around the hut, reading, writing a birthday letter to my son Greg, and talking to folks. I chatted with croo member Andy, who had lived a mile from me in Newton MA and currently in Somerville. Jimmy, Elf, Regan and Soultrain carried backboard loads of trash up to the summit of Washington to give the croo a break. T-Bird and Hot Rod arrived. Around 4PM someone yelled that the clouds were lifting, so everyone ran out and watched the summit of Mt Washington appear. I kept warm most of the day sitting half in my sleeping bag on a bench and drinking tea. I went to sleep listening to T-Bird and Soultrain singing. Lakes hut had a much different feel and different policies toward work-for-stay hikers than Galehead. The work for stay hikers ate dinner at a second seating, but in this case it was at a big table in the kitchen with the croo, and it had more of the feel of a party. Also, there were plenty of bunks and they put the thru-hikers in a bunkroom, where I was sleeping, so I felt less estranged from my trail friends.
Date: 2003-09-05
From: Lakes of the Clouds hut

To: Madison Springs hut
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: light rain

The promised clearing didn¢t occur, but the wind freshened without getting too strong. I set off for Mt Washington at 8:10. It was an easy climb and gaps in the clouds provided neat views of the valleys and back to Lakes hut. The wind picked up on the backside of the mountain ¢ I was wearing a windshirt and rain pants and got warm in the more sheltered spots. I talked about thru-hiking with three women hiking into Edmands Col. (For some reason, Edmands Col is one of my favorite places in the Whites.) More views opened up as I made my way up to the wonderfully (and I guess accurately) named Thunderstorm Junction. The trail skirts the north side of Mt Adams, where Rayner Edmands had set huge slabs of talus in sections of a sort of level Roman road that still exist and provide a nice break from hopping from one jagged rock to another. I got to Madison Springs hut around 12:30, where I am writing and eating an excellent bowl of barley soup. The weather worsened after I arrived, and hikers arrived all afternoon wet and cold from the light steady rain and wind. The hut had a full house for the weekend plus a bumper crop of thru-hikers, including Loser, Roamin¢ Around, Elf, Jimmy, Hot Rod, Blink Blink, Kung Fu, Scubaman and others. There was a very good nature program after dinner, and Jimmy, Elf, and I talked for a long while with the croo naturalist. It turns out they are very experienced birders.
Date: 2003-09-06
From: Madison Springs hut

To: Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: mist

I woke up to a beautiful pink sunrise out the window. Madison Spring has a high-energy cool-hand croo, which, incredibly, included thru-hiker Karma, whom I had met in PA. He signed me in and just smiled when I told him he looked familiar¢it took me a couple of hours to realize who he was. (It seems Karma does home remodeling in his civilian life and helped the croo fix a plugged toilet and was adopted by them a week or so before.) After breakfast, Loser helped the croo naturalist deliver the weather forecast by singing ¢It Ain¢t Going to Rain No More¢ while pretending to be a beginner on the guitar, which he certainly isn¢t. It was a beautiful clear morning as I got on the trail. Before leaving, I removed a Powerbar wrapper from the urinal, presumably left by a disgruntled guest, who I hope was not a thru-hiker.The top of Mt Madison was beautiful and not too cold.Sun warms summit rocksRaises clouds from below meGlints on spider silk.Down, down to Jackson Road and Pinkham. Sat on the porch of the visitors¢ center with Blink Blink, Scubaman, and Kung Fu. I hitched into Gorham to buy supplies, and met Morph and Moonshadow on the street. I waited quite a while for a ride back and finally got a lift from two young Poles who are working at Pinkham for the summer; he¢s a civil engineer, she¢s a fashion designer, neither are hikers.   I read the Boston Globe ¢ Red Sox 2 1/2 games behind. Sat with Loser, Roamin¢, and Cheesecake in the hiker room on the lower level and waited for dinner. I had dinner with two families. A father and his teenage son were planning a hike up Huntington Ravine while wife and daughter decided to stay behind; I told them what they were in for, but they seemed confident and I¢m sure they did all right.After dinner, a nature photographer showed pretty slides of the mountains and the Acadia seacoast. Staying in Pinkham Lodge tonight.
Date: 2003-09-07
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Newton MA
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up in the wee hours with a toothache. I¢d been feeling this occasionally for three or four days, but it is definitely getting worse. I decided to go home and see my own dentist in Boston- there¢s a bus that stops at Pinkham, so access is easy, which won¢t be the case in a few days.
Date: 2003-09-11
From: Newton MA

To: Newton MA
Miles today: 0.0

Home. The good side of this dental emergency is that I'm home for greg's 16th birthday. (For me, September 11 still has a good side.) The dentist said I'm free to hike, so I'm driving up tomorrow to do the Carters. I need to return home Monday to get the root canal closed up.