morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-05-27
From: Peru Peak Shelter, VT

To: Little Rock Pond Shelter
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: clear sky

Around midnight last night the anticipated storm hit, deluge of rain, lightning and wind for over two hours. We heard branches crashing to the ground around in the surrounding forest. The stream in front of the shelter raged with the torrential rains swelling it. Glad we're not tenting in this storm! Headed out under sunny skies, forest like a cool sauna. Saw one orange newt this a.m.. Eventually temp reached 85 degrees--ughhh. Clothes, hair, bodies drenched in sweat all day again. No wind . Climbed up steep rock-slabbed peak, had a pleasant conversation with 3Stoves, a thru hiker who started from Spring Mtn, GA in early March. 3Stoves doesn't have a mosquito net, but he's hiking so fast dawn to dusk that the mosquitoes can hardly settle on him. He says when he finishes Vermont, he's heading back to do a section he missed in VA--Damascus to Pearisburg, then he'll return to hike NH-Mt. Katahdin, ME. Today we passed pretty "calendar picture perfect" ponds, millions of bloodthirsty insects buzzing around/on us, sweated buckets. The shelter here where we'll stay for the night is next to an absolutely beautiful pond, nestled by the surrounding sweet-smelling forested hills. Only drawback to this gorgeous, newly constructed in 2010 shelter are the ever-present black flies, in full force given the close proximity to water. Most interesting event of the day was encountering an older couple heading in the opposite direction out for a dayhike with their unleashed 10 month old, energetic chocolate lab. Ten minutes after passing them, up bounded their dog, Kaylie, who followed us for an hour, quite happily prancing around between me and Take It Easy, most likely because we were closing in on the road where the family car was parked. Kaylie had the good sense to head for the car, leaving her owners to the mosquitoes! Just as I was pulling out some paper to leave a note on the car parked at the road to tell the folks their dog was with us, we heard Kaylie's master hollering from afar. Kaylie turned and went toward her master's call. Thank goodness--we didn't want to worry with taking care of a dog who adopted us! Negative/worrisome event of the day was just before sundown a man without a backpack walked up the sidetrail to our shelter, up to the fire ring next to us without responding to our hellos and waving greeting. He just walked over to the fire ring, looked around expressionessly, then turned and walked back down the path. Unfriendly behavior on the trail is disturbing. Not proper hiker etiquette at all. Now we'll be watchful for his return. Think he may be tenting at the tenting area .1 mile from here and walked over to scope out the shelter. At dinner time we sat by the pond hoping to catch some wind to relieve the heat and insect onslaught. Watched the tadpoles frolic in the shallows. Just us and the black flies here tonight as darkness descends. Usual thunder in the distance.
Date: 2011-05-28
From: Little Rock Pond Shelter

To: Minerva Hinchey Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

Cool, foggy morning after big pour-down storm during night. Lots of orange newts on trail. Saw a momma Canada goose with four babies waddling on a hemmed-in portion of the trail. Momma squawked vigorously urging her brood forward. They peeped excitedly and waddled as fast as they could up the the path. At last there was enough of an opening that momma flew off 50 yrds or so into the woods, leaving the babies to trot on, momma and babies peeping and squawking continuously. After a few moments the lead baby noticed the underbrush wasn't a thicket, and dashed into the tangle, siblings rushing to follow. What a panic they were in! That mother goose wasn't too sharp to choose to lead her family into such a tight spot in the forest. Had some steep ups to plod, and saw several groups out for dayhikes. Met Dutch hiking NOBO(northbound)who started at Springer Mountain, GA March 1. He just missed seeing 3Stoves, whom he's yet to meet, but reads his shelter entries, so knows 3Stoves is just ahead of him on the trail. Dutch is a civil engineer from the Netherlands, and plans to return to get his masters degree. Dutch guesses his pack weighs about 30 lbs., is outgoing and friendly. He's wearing some new hike shoes which feel pretty good, he says. Dutch asked us if the mosquito headnets really work-they do, although I have 3 whopper-sized bites on my neck and approx. 10 on my right arm while Take It Easy has dozens all over, making him look like a connect-the dots game! Dutch says his strategy is to hike til the evening cools enough to reduce the insect count. For no good reason, I slipped and fell during one rocky descent, but wasn't hurt, just surprised. We saw many pretty streams, some with roaring cascading waters. The trail was mostly under the canopy cover of the forest which provided that powerful, refreshing evergreen scent. Midday we heard thunder as a storm started to brew, but gradually it faded as it chose some other peaks and valleys to follow as we climbed to the top of Bear Mountain. So glad we didn't get caught in a storm on a high peak. Arrived at this shelter around 3:30 or so and considered hiking on 3.7 miles to the next til we noticed it's getting cooler, thundering again. We know there's a big climb down and out of Clarendon Gorge. So we'll stay put for the night. This shelter was originally built in 1969, but you wouldn't know it by it's appearance. It's very dark inside with windows on each sidewall, metal-lined sleep platform where, according to the shelter register,porcupines have gnawed the edges and even the floorboards. During the night we hear loud gnawing and scurrying, but when we turn on our headlamps we don't see the varmit that's responsible. Most surprising and delightful sights of the day was the cairn rock garden along to top of peaks. Hundred of cairns created by hikers from delicately balanced stones. Some even suspended on ropes hanging from tree branches--very artsy! Also saw several beaver lodges in still ponds during the past few days.
Date: 2011-05-31
From: Rutland, VT

To: cabin the the Vermont woods
Miles today: 17.5

(the mileage now reflects all of the miles we've covered: from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Hanover, New Hampshire = 1742.0 miles)Both of us awoke early and indulged in the complimentary hotel breakfast. We caught the 8:30 a.m. bus to Manchester Center to fetch our car from Green Mountain Hiker Hostel. The bus dropped us off at the post office. We walked over to the shaded bench on the library lawn where Take It Easy dropped his pack and gear for me to watch over while he hiked the 1.5 miles to our car. Who do you think drove up just as Take It Easy walked over from the car, but Frank Sutton, the owner of the home where we spent the night when we got off the trail last May! Frank offered to give us any help we might need while we're in Manchester Center. Thank you, Frank! Plan A is to do our chores, then head up to Hanover, NH, park our car, and hike north to Berlin, Maine. Now we're spicing it up, thanks to Scat, by pausing for a few days at the cabin, and seeing more of Vermont and the area than the trail would show us. We loaded our gear into the car, headed right to the laundromat, followed by lunch, then drove out to see the cabin. The comfy log cabin was in a pretty patch of woods, at the end of a dirt lane. We opened some windows and sat around amazed at our charmed life. Before we knew it, it was time to head back into Manchester Center for dinner at Gringo Jack's, formerly known as Candeleros, where we ate a scrumptious meal last May. We decided to make the rounds of tourist sites in the north: drive up Mt. Washington's auto road, tour the Cabot Cheese Creamery, tour Sugarbush Maple and Cheese Farm, and visit Long Trail Brewery. Every Vermonter we run into is friendly and helpful. If it weren't for the accents, we'd think we were back down South!What an adventure we are having!   With both of us having sufffered from heat sickness and knowing that we need to be at our best to be safe on the trail, we're going to head home after touring. We've hiked 1736 miles, and never been sick from heat. It's disappointing. Sure, the temps will fluctuate. The hot spell will break, but we know it'll be back as June goes on. Thinking positive thoughts, we've now hiked from GA to Hanover, NH...woo hoo! Good for us! The Appalachian Trail has enriched our lives with many unique sights, experiences, and new friends. Our spirits go home happy. Adventures continue to flow. We'll be back on the AT sometime, doing sections, and dayhiking here and there. Hope to see you out there, hiking in good health!One step at a time...happy trails!
Date: 2012-05-17
From: home in Newport News, VA

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

It's that time of year again. Golly, this year flew by. And then it crawled. For a month now Take It Easy and I have watched the weather reports and forecasts for various huts and town in NH, eager to head north and get back on the trail. But up until this week, there were just too many bitter cold nights and mentions of ice and freezing rain. Brrr...not something we want to deal with right off the bat! Looks like this Sunday it's a go for starting our drive up to the long term parking lot at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, the northernmost point on the trail we've reached. The AT goes right smack dab through the town of Hanover. We'll set out on the trail Monday, the 21st, which happens to be my daughter's birthday--a happy occasion--a good day to begin new experiences. We'll fuel up at a pub in town for lunch. Then we'll have just a few miles hike north to a shelter on the trail and get settled down for the night. I wonder if Take It Easy and I will order burgers at the pub or something lighter? Hmmm...it's so tempting to overeat when we know it'll be about a week before we get to the next town north for resupply and hot meals.For those of you just tuning in, thus far over a few years, we've hiked from Springer Mountain, GA, northward, going out for anywhere from 6 wks. to just a week, gradually hiking the miles. By current account, we've accomplished 1742.0 miles!! Woohoo!! All of those miles were glorious, either because we rejoiced, grateful we survived them thru extreme scary weather, freezing rain, bear encounters, and rugged terrain or because the overwhelming majority of miles, and I do mean overwhelming, were miles of absolutely beautiful territory hiked with happy songs in our hearts. That's what we're hoping for this outing.The miles north of Hanover are supposed to be some of the most challenging and simultaneously rewarding miles. Views should be amazing---fog and rain clouds scoot away!! as we spend considerable days hiking above treeline.Well, I better sign off and go check " make new trailjournal entry" off my to-do-list. I'll post again before we hop in the car on Sunday. After I cross that off my list, I'm packing up some meals of delicious dried fruits and nuts AND nuun water enhancer tablets, replete with electrolytes, for evening happy hour enjoyment. Thank you, Loving Wise One!
Date: 2012-05-21
From: Hanover, NH

To: Velvet Rocks Shelter
Miles today: 1.5
Weather: clear sky

Yesterday we drove under sunny skies to Johnson City, NY to spend the night. Had a good meal and good sleep, even though Take It Easy realized he forgot to pack the cellphone charger. Oops! Which means this morning was a dillydally one, going to the mall across the street where we waited for the employees of the Verizon store there to arrive. One employee said he could charge up Take It Easy's dead phone, so we passed it through the metal fencing to him, and went over to Friendly's restaurant for breakfast and waiting. We also got a charger so we'll be set for recharging after calls made in trail towns. Whew! Onward to Hanover, NH. Got to Hanover at 4:58p.m.. Stuffed ourselves full of delicious burgers(mine was veggie) and a beer at Murphy's smack along where the trail goes through town. A server there said we were the first section hikers he's seen this season. A waitress warned us that the mosquitoes were terrible. Ugh. Drove to Lot A for long term parking, geared up, and off we hustled to Velvet Rocks Shelter. Fairly easy, but rocky and rooty hot hike up the hill to the shelter. We had to immediately spray on mosquito spray as soon as we entered the shadowy forest and don our headnets. No breeze to disturb the mosquito feeding frenzy; hot around 76 degrees or so. Dripping and stinking of bug spray, we greeted people descending to town from their early evening hikes. Got to shelter where we found a full bag of sweet potatoes---the strangest trail magic we've ever run across! And an empty bag from a Subway sub trash. No treats :-(. Changed into dry sleeping clothes, wear headnets over our hats to bed, lullabies provided by constant mosquito whines ALL night long.Today's sites and highlights: Happy birthday to my daughter!, saw a turkey pecking along the side of a Vermont road, zillions of mosquitoes greeted us.
Date: 2012-05-26
From: NH 25A roadcrossing

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Well, we spent a pleasant week touring around Cape Cod following advice given by locals for places to eat and places to see. We visited Cape Cod Winery, Cape Cod Chip plant(potato chips and popcorn), and Cape Cod Brewery, as well as an herb farm and a lavender farm. Daily we walked trails for at least 2-3 hours to keep our bodies in motion. Our week on the Cape was simple and relaxed. It was the first trip we didn't have a laptop or books to distract us. Nor did we have any "stuff" to deal with. With few clothes, going to the laundromat at the resort was quick, making walking, looking, talking with the locals, and dining highlights of the week. As for our hiking plans, right now we think that in a few years, on our next trip way up to NH we'll hike up to a hut from one of the notches, pay the full price to stay overnight, and live like royalty while there, & rise and hike some above treeline,then hike back down to our car. That'll satisfy my craving to hike above treeline. At least last year we drove our car to the top of Mt. Washington and went out on the AT a few steps. We have a basic idea of what it's like, the view and trail right there. And when I looked at the website for Mt. Washington yesterday, it was experiencing 32 degree temp, 58 mph winds, with snow flurries in the forecast!! We are SO glad we didn't keep on and have to cope with that! And when, if, we do that, we'll incorporate it into a trip back to the shores of Maine, along with swinging by some wineries of NY Finger Lake region, dayhiking here and there, too. We foresee being quite content section hiking on some of our favorite southern miles of the Appalachian Trail. Maybe revisit parts of VA, New Jersey, and the Smokies--which has areas that are much like Vermont and NH). Who knows were our journey will lead us. May we all be healthy and happy. Thank you all for your generous support. Happy trails!
Date: 2012-04-04
To: Welcome to my AT blog (will be in danish)
Miles today: 0.0

Better late than never. Had other plans for a journal but this is that I went with Perhaps a little different that most other journals on here as I will keep it in my native language, so family, friends and so on will understand. If any administrator have any questions regarding the content written in the foreign language (The viking language raahhh - danish) please contact me and I will translate or explane whatever is at question. I have read and understood the terms regarding the use of this site and I will make sure to comply with them.Heading for Atlanta in a few hours and will start hiking on monday - can't wait. Happy hiking to anyone out there! Let's have a wonderful time.Bloggen:Under turen vil jeg l bende skrive indl¦g, alt efter hvorn¥r jeg kommer til en by/hostel og kan f¥ internet adgang. Dette bliver nok med en 5-7 dages mellemrum. Indl¦gende bliver noget r¥ i kanten s¥ stavefejl, grammatik fejl og alment sludder kan nok ikke helt undg¥s. Hvis det bliver aldelse ul¦seligt s¥ giv mig lige en heads up ¢ s¥ skal jeg nok stramme mig an.
Date: 2013-03-05
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: light rain

Today is the beginning of a life adventure for my husband, Dirtdog, and I. We are hiking the AT to fulfill the first item on his post-retirement list. And I get to walk with him as coordinator and organizer- and as forest lover extraordinaire! We have spent weeks preparing resupply boxes, testing gear and doing conditioning hikes. We traveled to George and Carroll's house in Blairesville, GA to enjoy their hospitality and today George walked up to the top of Springer Mountain with us. We celebrated with photos and returned to the parking lot to don our packs and start toward Hawk Mountain. It was hard to say good-by as we knew the forcast was for rain, thunder and snow flurries with winds to 18mph, but Rich was ready to hike. The walk was easy and I found myself making up rhymes to describe the difference in how I met this trail from my first venture here. I remember the sense of terror as I tried to remember why I found this idea to be so compelling and completely missed the beauty of the walk. As we approached the highest point of today's trek the skies opened and the thunder and lightening encouraged us to get moving faster. Forty minutes later we arrived at the full-up shelter and set about putting up our tents. We managed to finish just as the rain quit and that cheered us up, but, by the time chores were done, we were well-chilled and so we changed and snuggled into our bags. It was hard to fall asleep because the wind roaring through the mountains was akin to the sound of sleeping under the tracks of an express train. I'm not kidding! We were dry and warm and slept reasonably well in spite of the intermittent showers.
Date: 2013-03-06
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Hightower Gap
Miles today: 0.5

We opened our eyes to see that snow was blowing up under our tents. My first reaction was elation at the sight of a forest of white, but the reality of this frigid morning soon dampened my joy. The snow was already a couple of inches deep and visibility was nil. The tents were hard to dismantle due to the wind and the fact that our tentpole sections were welded together with ice. Mud had frozen the tent grommets so that they had to be whacked to release them from the poles. The water bottles were frozen solid and the gatorade had become a slushie. It took us way too long to get on the trail where yesterday's rain had become an icy base for the snow. Footing was treacherous and it was apparent that those who had gone before were slipping and sliding all over. As we reached Hightower Gap we saw 5 guys who had also tented last night and they were waiting for a shuttler who was going to arrive to pick them up in 15 minutes. Fortunately,we had cell reception and called George to come rescue us (this is the place where the Army Rangers do all sorts of maneuvers and maybe they had improved reception in the area), but the shuttler had enough room for us to pile in and drive down to Dahlonaga. The Florida hikers couldn't wait to pile their gear into their truck- they were done! Back at George and Carroll's we were treated to hot cups of coffee and bowls of homemade chicken soup. It's hard to describe the powerful effect this can have on your morale, but George and Carroll made this a wonderful event. It turns out that our morning temp was 0 degrees with winds to 60mph. Local schools were closed and the news channels had a hey-day describing all the damage. We were so glad to be pampered and warm. Now our bags are packed for an early morning departure.
Date: 2013-03-07
From: Hightower Gap

To: Gooch Gap
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: few clouds

George returned us to Hightower Gap around 10 this morning on a clear, cold and beautiful day. There was plenty of ice and snow, but the temps kept improving. We detoured off the trail for lunch under some overhanging rocks on Justus Mountain where it was apparent that we weren't the first to stop there and ran into a local guy who was spending his day climbing on the rocks above us. He was carrying a brand new rake and two huge gym mats strapped to his back and was delighted to be spending his birthday on the rocks. He told us to look "2 hands to the left of a stand-alone mountain in the south to see the high rises of Atlanta" Sure enough, we saw irregularities on the skyline. It was strange to see a world so foreign to what we are doing not really that far away. We met some nice thru hikers during the day and expected them to walk to Gooch Gap where there is a grassy field for camping and very good water. The field was empty, but there was a hammock hanging just under the trees. It turned out to be "Little," a 7 foot tall man Rich had spoken to yesterday when asking for directions. He was quite a site in his floor length black and white sequined skirt, hiking boots and cotton t-shirt with shotgun shells in the breast pocket. Rich was apprehensive, but Little turned out to be very interesting and harmless. We enjoyed a small fire until the temps dropped so we layered up and disappeared into our tents. I awoke during the night to a sky so bright with stars that I almost called out to Rich. What an awesome sight! Unfortunately, I had one of my screaming dreams a few hours later and Rich was afraid I was being murdered (I was sure a big frog was in my tent and after my food- guess hanging would have given more peace of mind!) We were proud of the miles we made today and happy that the weather made for such a nice day.
Date: 2013-03-08
From: Gooch Gap

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: clear sky

Neels Gap wasn't supposed to be our destination tonight, but we heard that bear canisters are required for overnighting between Jarred Gap and Neels Gap due to Charlie, a large bear who has discovered that it's really not too hard to steal food from hikers. Since we weren't carrying the can we added another 3.5 to our planned trek. The morning we really cold with lots of frost so we didn't hang around for long. Woody Gap was just 3 miles down the trail and we had our first Trail Magic experience. Fresh Brewed had a mini kitchen set up in the parking area with hot cocoa, coffee, chicken noodle soup, fruit, and snacks. What a kind heart and boy, did the hot food hit the spot!!! He said that he was an electrician who had worked through the winter and that God had put it into his heart to do this service for the hikers. We proceeded on our way with warm bellies and happy hearts. BoBabba was also there and promised to play his mandolin for us later. We also met a father-son team and we all lunched together later. Snow Frog showed up and shared some stories. These are the people who make this trail so much fun and we hope we run into them again. We were definitely dragging on the climb up Blood Mountain, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as I remembered it from '04. The view was great and photos were necessary. We charged down the mountain because George was waiting for us and so was a steak dinner with all the trimmings. Our knees were begging for mercy, but we were amazed that we had been able to complete the miles without too much pain.