morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-07-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Ok...today was not a zero, it was a nero. After staying with our wonderful trail angels, they dropped us off at the co-op and we walked to the Hanover inn...where we are staying tonight! Buck wanted to treat me and Franky, so the three of us stayed in the swanky hotel. It was strange to stay in such a nice place. We all napped throughout the day, resupplied, and ate. I sent home some base layers and rain pants. I'm a bit nervous about that, but love my lighter pack. We all keep getting our packs lighter and lighter. I think I'm going to go stoveless soon. Hanover is a rally cute town. The trail goes straight through the thick of it. We ate and drank well today. I'm still holding strong to my no spending money on alcohol rule, but  tonight Buck and Franky were having fun buying me drinks. I may have gotten a little drunk and I be blogging the next day. It was great fun though! Theres a bar where thru-hikers can sign their names on the wall! We've been playing quite a bit with all these days off, I think it's time to put our feet on the trail a little longer these days. Days off are so nice though! I took a bath in the hotel and my body felt so spoiled. Been loving life and the people I'm around.Oh also! I may have said this already, but I have put on a few pounds since I started! Not complaining, my body is healthy and strong.
Date: 2017-07-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

We didn't wake up today until 8am in the Swanky hotel! We slowly packed up, ate some grub, and headed out to the trail. For a good while, the trail followed roads through Hanover. Then we crossed the Vermont border and followed more roads until eventually we entered back  into the woods, my comfort zone. Along the roads, people had coolers of trail magic set out for hikers. It was easy hiking today. I came across the soda man today. I was going to cross a bridge and he rang a bell from his house to get my attention and asked if I wanted a soda. I never used to drink soda, but I love it on the trail. I went over and relaxed on his porch with his grandkids and his dog.The trail has been funny today; Going along roads, open fields, and back into the woods. I like Vermont.I've been passing a lot of NOBO's today! We are begging to enter the bubble today I think. They are often times excited to encounter us SOBOs as we are towards the beginning of the pack.Tonight, Franky, Buck, And I are stealth camping in the woods. It's a nice little spot.P.S. Anne, Buck has made many a monuments since you fed him that special nighty drink at your place.
Date: 2017-07-12
To: View Entry
Miles today: 20.0

I just finished eating a big thing of beans with rice, potatoes, and some fritos. I topped it off with a snickers. Right before I reached the shelter, 0.6 below, I went for a swim and then hiked the rest in my underwear because I didn't want to get my shorts wet. I passed a group of like 6 NOBO guys too. Yolo.Today was a lot of gradual up and it kind of kicked my butt! 20's are long and also my shoes are dea. I've noticed the bottom of my feet being more sore than usual. This morning we went to a market that was 0.2 miles off trail. We ate our brains out, sat around a while, and then I was in a food coma for a good few hours afterwards.I've been passing more and more NOBOs everyday. I enjoy talking to them, but most walk right past.Well I'm about ready for bed. I'm pooped. Shout out to Chelsea for helping me out with this blog.
Date: 2017-07-13
To: View Entry
Miles today: 10.0

I just came back from a reggae concert, but lets go back to the beginning of my day. I woke up to rain pouring on the shelter. Last night I wanted to set up my tent and Franky convinced me to stay in the shelter. I silently cursed him for being right and thankful that I didn't have a wet tent to deal with. Rainy mornings are golden tickets to sleeping in. No one even moved until 6:30 am, which is late for hikers. Buck, Franky, and I got packed and moving by 7 and we rocketed the 10 miles into town. I didn't take my pack off the whole way. After about 30 minutes I was completely soaked and loving it. I was stomping through puddles and hiking hard, I felt really strong. I didn't even fall behind the boys hiking. Eventually we reached Rutland VT around 11 and we made our way to the Yellow Deli. If you haven't heard of this place, Google it! Don't worry I didn't drink the Kool-aid. So its a restaurant and a hostel is upstairs. The food is awesome! All locally grown, there is so much I could stay. The boys have been at the bar for a while and they came back and dragged me across the street. We walked right into a venue with a reggae concert going on, hiker trash crashing a concert! That's what we were doing. It's so late for me. This place is cracking me up. The common room only has single chairs to prevent... fornication temptation I guess? Girls also sleep in different rooms than boys. I don't mind that, girls smell better!
Date: 2017-07-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up at 6:30 and eventually made my way down into the restaurant. They serve a hikers breakfast at 7:30 for free and you can help them cook it if you want, so I did. All of their food is so good. As I was helping the boys peaked around the corner with guilty looks on their faces while sipping the Kool-aid. "Not" said Buck with his voice going up.Franky finished his sentence "We want to stay another night."I gave them a scolding look and shooed them away, secretly laughing. Eventually over breakfast, the 3 of us compromised on a 16 slackpack and return for another night. We had been invited to the "Celebration" on Friday nights, which we politely declined, but they were also offering food. So all of the hikers went, trying not to laugh or joke. They started the celebration by dancing in a circle and singing, some playing instruments.It was fun to watch. Eventually they offered tamborines which i excitedly took and started playing. After the dancing and the speech trying to suck us into the cult, we ate! I sat with a family that had two young girls. They were all over me all night talking, asking me questions, sitting on my lap, and doing my hair. It was kinda fun but I was excited to scoot out. I told them that I was tired and I walked out and went up the street where a Friday night town event was going on. I found the boys at an outdoor bar by the live music. "Wow I needed this after that dinner." I said to them. They laughed, such a weird day.
Date: 2017-07-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: light rain

Instead of helping with breakfast this morning at the Yellow Deli, I sat at a table of hikers and there were girls! Not just girls, but cool girls around my age! We all had "guys". "Yeah," I said, "those two over there are mine". Another girl, " these are my three". And the 3rd, "mine are still upstairs". Buck overheard and started laughing at our conversation, but understood the joke. The girlto guy ratio on the trail is not even close to equal. I didn't realize how much I missed girls until I was around a few. When it was time to leave, the boys and I were having trouble getting a ride to the trail. I have a friend in the area who was working a booth  at the farmers market that morning for the Vermont 350 project. I went to the booth, right down from the Yellow Deli, but she wasn't there. I  told the people our situation and a really nice lady offered right away to take us! She was our saving grace. I tweaked a muscle in the right calf yesterday so I took hiking slow today.  Other than being a bit tired, it was a nice hike.  We are at a stealth camping spot by a river. It's quite lovely and I may have gone skinny dipping before dinner, gotta love the AT!
Date: 2017-07-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Getting out of my tent this morning was challenging. The back of my right calf felt like there was a goose egg inside. I started out really slow making sure to stretch it out, and eventually the pain numbed as I walked. Luckily the trail hasn't been too challenging these days, so an easy walk is possible.Around 3 I made my way up the last climb for the day to find the boys waiting up top, a mysterious look in their eyes. At this point we had 3 miles downhill left and 3 hours before  we were supposed  to be in town to meet Scout for dinner. Atop of the mountain was a running ski lift. They wanted to ride on it. I shrugged and said sure. This is where I do something I have not yet done on the trail. We go down the 10 minute chair lift and we do not go back up. We yellow blazed 3 miles! I feel weird about that, but I sure didn't want to go back up the chair lift and hike more because getting off at the bottom, my calf had already cramped up. So after the boys got drinks at the restaurant below, we hitched into town.  Man, there's so many details I leave out because I would be writing  forever if I said everything. Long story short, we made our way to where we are staying then went out to dinner with Scout. He had big news for the three of us! But I'm not going to tell you just yet what it was. My new shoes should be at the post office today!
Date: 2017-07-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up this morning  feeling well rested, I got up to take a bath and I was surprised by how good my legs felt. I didn't have the hiker hobble as bad as usual and my right calf was barely hurting. The bath was amazing. Eventually we made our way into town for resupplies. I got new shoes today! They are doing pretty well, but not quite broken in. They are Sawtooth Oboz. We had a great hike out of Manchester Center today. Other than my oversized food resupply. I even talked to my friend, Jessi, on the phone while hiking. More exciting, it was muddy today and I found a basket that had fallen off of someone's pole in the mud, and it fit on my trekking pole that was missing a basket. I'm so excited about that! We are staying at Stratton Pond Shelter tonight though. Franky and I went for a little swimmy swim in the pond. I love swimming on the trail. I packed out an avocado today and it was a really nice treat in my Santa Fe bean dinner. Shout out to Dotty for giving us a ride to the trail head and even bigger shout out to Paul for the surprise gift package. That was very kind of you. The trail is challenging but I am loving my time out here and the people I am with. Time to stretch.
Date: 2017-07-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: light rain

Twenty miles is always a long day. We started our day climbing Stratton Mountain. It was a nice climb. I heard that the AT was inspired by that mountain...or something like that. It really wasn't much of a climb. Most of today was gradual uphill and it was muddy. I usually start to poop out around 10-15 miles, but when I push past that hard enough, eventually a second wind kicks in, that happened  to me on the last mile. I passed a lot of people hiking the long(?) trail today. This section of the AT is actually the same trail as the long trail. It's kind of funny to be around people who aren't thru-hikers. Buck, Franky, and I were saying how they remind us of what we were like in the 100 mile wilderness.My new shoes are breaking in pretty well, but 20 miles on new shoes was kind of rough today.The shelter I'm at tonight is pretty cute. There's too many dudes, though, not enough women! We're getting close to Massachusetts, about 25 miles. Getting into a new state is always fun! I hope all of you are having a great day and thank you Chelsea for your help. Give the pup a kiss for me [haha! he'll give plenty back].
Date: 2017-07-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: scattered clouds

So I have a major problem...my new shoes are too small and it's super painful. I need new shoes ASAP. So the game plan is to call the Oboz company as soon as I have service and hopefully if I pull my cards right, they will send me a new pair free of charge. Also happening in my world of gear, I'm upgrading my sleeping pad to a neoair z-lite size small, sending my stove home, and I'm going to do some work on my pack to lighten it up. I'm really looking forward to all of these changes happening.Other than my crying feet, today's hike was nice. I hit some awesome awesome trail magic around noon. Also, I've caught up to Scout and I hiked with him for a bit today. I think I'm going to be hiking around him a lot more in the next little bit.Man, my feet are still hurting and they've been out of my shoes for a while now. Ill fitting shoes is like the worst thing that could happen and it's happening. Wish me luck.
Date: 2017-07-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: few clouds

Man, it's been a full dy. I'm at a cool shelter with 4 other SOBOs. We line danced in the shelter and videoed it, so check that out on my youtube channel! We can be a bunch of goofballs sometimes.So Franky, Buck, and I went into Williamstown today and right across from the post office was a north face store! The lady who owned it was such an angel. I switched to a pair of 8.5 Salomon Mission 3. I love them so much! I'm so happy. While hiking, the boys were noticing that I was hiking stronger than usual. I felt amazing hiking in them today. It took us 3 hitches to get in and out of town. It was a fun side trip to our day's hike and afterward we hiked Mt. Greylock. We also passed "half pint" a lady who was doing some trail magic.The climb was nice and it will be our last big climb for a while. I've been having so much fun hiking with this group and getting new shoes has made today really amazing. I've been running into more NOBOs everyday!Tomorrow night Scout, Bucky, Franky, and I are staying with a friend of mine from college. A big shout out to Holly for taking us in! We are so stinky and ready for a shower and laundry.Man, I am feeling so good today!
Date: 2017-07-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.0

I woke up to Scout asking me if I knew any wake-up songs. I grumbled "yes" and then tiredly begun with " I'm alive awake alert enthusiastic". Franky and Buck had left a few hours ago while it was still dark to get to town early and do ...guy stuff I guess? Any who, I spent the day with Scout and Sheriff. The day felt like it was in slow motion because these two take their time. It's refreshing but my speed  is in between Scout and Sheriff's speed and the boy's speed. The three of us have a "southbound salute" we get on the side of the trail and cross our trekking poles in the air. It's sort of a sign of respect I suppose and the NOBOs really love it. We stopped in Cheshire at Dunkin' Donuts and also at the post office where I sent home my stove, hat, and the brain of my pack. Eventually we made it to Dalton where we met the up with the boys. Holly, a friend of mine from college, took the boys and me in for the night/ It was so wonderful and I really enjoyed spending time with an old friend. I broke my no alcohol rule and brought some wine to her house because it felt wrong to show up without wine. We all have really been enjoying her and her family.Going back to this morning, when I went to grab my food, a NOBO was standing by his hammock combing out his long white beard. It was just such a funny image. Speaking of which, I lost my comb and haven't brushed my hair in a week, but Holly hooked me up.
Date: 2017-07-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: few clouds

Everyone in the house was awake by 6:30 this morning and the boys and I got excited about eating cereal for breakfast. Holly and I both like to eat vegan, so I happily poured a bowl of cereal with coconut milk. I'm so happy that the stay with Holly worked out so well.We got to hiking around 8am. I thought that we had 17 miles to hike today and...to show how little I sometimes look at my map, when I got to upper goose pond, the boys told me that we had done 21 miles.Upper goose pond is an amazing place! The shelter is more like a cabin and the bunks actually have mattresses. I went swimming in the lake with everyone right after I gave the blueberries to the caretaker. South-bounders are supposed to stop at the cookie lady's house and pick blueberries, which we did! We had all sorts of berries by the time we got to upper goose pond. We passed and have seen so many NOBOs today! Anyway, I'm getting so distracted blogging, everyone is jabbering away. Today I hiked a lot with  Scout and he told me more stories. I enjoy hiking with Scout time. A guy came North and asked if he was Scout. He had a bag of trail magic just for Scout and his friends! And I'm his friend! Everyone loves Scout. I love Scout! The guy is awesome and I'm so happy to hike around him. Franky is waiting for me to finish blogging so we can watch a movie...in the woods. All is going well for me!
Date: 2017-07-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.0

Lazy morning at Upper Goose pond! Our blueberries that we picked went to good use and were put in the pancakes that the caretaker made for all of the hikers for breakfast. I ate 5. I love lazy mornings I have time to eat, take a shit [of course...only you Briana, granted I just spent 5 minutes laughing at a fart laugh track about an hour ago], fill my water, and relax. It also allows my body time to warm up and get loose. We eventually headed out  around 10, but Buck decided to stay and take a zero. It took Franky a while to part from the 3 golden retrievers that were at the cabin.Today was a beautiful day to hike. My only complaints are the bugs. I was " itchy and bitchy" as Franky would say. I have a lot of  bites all over, even on my butt cheeks. I've even had an itchy bum hole today [I believe that's called swamp ass].  There's some things that are always funny in the woods; bum holes and poop related topics fall under that category [Briana... poop is always funny to you]. We can really get laughing about dumb things out here.Halfway through the day there was a little snack shack along the way. Franky, Scout, Sheriff, and I stopped for a nice break. We are now ar a shelter with reports of bear activity. I think I may have heard it moving far away. Our plan is to just get all of our food in bear boxes and be smart. Well I'm getting hungry so I'm going to eat some chow!
Date: 2017-07-24
To: View Entry
Miles today: 11.0

I am in Sheffield MA. It has been raining since we all woke up. Plot twist, Scrunchy showed up last night at the shelter. I hiked a bit with her in the white mountains, but she has been ahead of me since she took some time off from the trail. It was a real treat to see her again. I've also been having a lot of fun with Sheriff lately. I can really get to laughing around her. Today we hiked eleven miles into town. Scout and Sheriff and Scrunchy left before me. I started with just my tank top and shorts on, so I was hiking fast to stay warm. I zoomed past everyone and stayed warm through the uphills, but had to stop halfway through to layer up. I was chilly. We passed some Nobo's who were really dip wads today. They were playing music through a speaker really loud and they didn't say anything to me, but I heard that they yelled at Scout and Scrunchy and Sheriff that southbounders aren't really thru-hikers. Like....really guys, grow up and take off, what a bunch of losers. Most people on the trail are not like that. We are staying in Sheffield tonight and have a dry place to stay. There was a scale in the bathroom, I weigh 120...which is what I weighed before the trail so I'm doing well and feeling strong!
Date: 2017-07-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I slept so good last night The lady we stayed with made us breakfast and soon after took us to the trail head. We heard from north bounders that the trail was going to be hard today. It had it's difficult moments, but it was overall really nice. I felt really good most of the day. It drizzled a bit in the morning. We made it to Connecticut today. Five states down for me. That's including Georgia. My body is feeling pretty strong. I'm maintaining weight and gaining muscle. The shelter we are at tonight is beautiful. I bet tomorrow will be a great sunrise. The view is amazing. I've been loving hiking with Scout Buck Franky and Sheriff., it's such a great group of people. Sometimes I miss things about hiking alone, but overall I much prefer hiking with these people. I wish I could share this view tonight with all of you, there's a piece of property that looks like a horse stable below and it's beautiful. I would love to own place like that, but for now I'm on the trail and loving it. I've been sipping on Franky's bourbon while blogging and I'm getting sleepy. I hope that all of you are having a great day.
Date: 2017-07-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: few clouds

This morning was one of my most memorable mornings on the trail. We had a beautiful sunrise and we didn't even have to get out of bed to see it. We all were in and out of sleep as it went up. Eventually we all started moving around and coming out of out slumber. I slept so well last night.The easiest was to describe today's hike is lollygagging. We were just moseying along taking our time. We stopped in Salsbury, CT for a second breakfast. We stopped at the hydrodamn for a swim. and we were moving pretty slow. It has been a really great day. When I came into camp, I was very surprised and happy to find Cuckoo here. The main challenge used to be the physical difficulty of the trail in this area. The trail is pretty flat and easy and the new challenge is not getting bored. Cuckoo and I were talking about this.I've been having so much fun  hiking with  these wonderful people that I have met on the trail. Everyday is completely different than the day before and I am sleeping in a different place every night but in the same set of clothes.Time to stretch.
Date: 2017-07-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.0

I'm all clean and blogging on a porch that is enclosed with bug screens with the boys. We are staying with some friends of Scout and they are lovely. They made us Dinner! Frodo, Scout's wife is flying in tonight and Scout is so excited. Today was a nice day of hiking for me. Some NOBOs told us that  we had a hard climb coming up but...I climbed it while talking to my mom on the phone, and I didn't even run out of breath [Honestly, I read this and think of the one hike we did with the OP last year and how bad my calves hurt...then my calves hurt again just reading your journals as I type them]. I barely even felt like I'd been climbing and then it was over. I really enjoyed talking to my mommy while hiking. There was a flat 5 mile section of trail next to a river today.  It was a bit Sandy. Halfway through, scratched in the sand was a note that said " Hi Dot". It made me pretty happy. I figured Franky did it because he was feeling guilty about hiking ahead of me and getting into town before me. When I got into town, I told him about the note and he smiled and was sort of acting guilty. I later ran into Miss Cuckoo and she said, "Oh hey guys. Dot, did you guys get my note?""That was from you!" I exclaimed. Franky died, he tried to take credit for Cuckoo's  not to me! Well anyway, it made me even more happy to know that Cuckoo did it because I love that girl!Big news to come, Stay tuned, I have an exciting few days ahead of me.