morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-06-22
From: Hudson River, Bear Mtn. Bridge

To: Dennytown Road
Miles today: 14.5

We had been hearing booming noises in the distance for days. We found out when we got to Bear Mtn. Monument yesterday that it was artillary from West Point Military Academy.We slept in today, decided to get our money's worth and leave at check-out time, 11am. We then walked across the street to the Bagel Cafe and hitched a ride back to the Bear Mtn. Bridge. The lady who gave us a ride was really nice, but her car was filled with computer stuff, a large bin, a case of cat food, and various other items. We squeezed in.As we started across the Bear Mtn. Bridge, a car honked and the people waved. Boston recognized the people as the section hikers that fixed us dinner when we stayed at Woods Hole. What are the chances of seeing them again? Amazing coincidence. They stopped on the bridge and talked to us for a few minutes.   It turns out that they live about 20 minutes from here.After crossing the Hudson River, we climbed up to Anthony's Nose, but we did not actually go the 0.6m to the nose. After climbing up to start the day, the terrain was not so up & down as yesterday's hellatious terrain changes.It sprinkled two times today, we put our pack covers on, but not our rain gear. We never really got wet.At Dennytown road, there is a water spigot on the side of a stone building. We like "commercial" water, no filtering, easy access, and lots of volume. There also was an information bulletin board, it had about a 3 foot overhang and a nice ledge to use as a countertop. So, we decided to cook and eat our dinner there. We sat on the concrete step of the stone building and ate dinner. We could even lean back against the door to the building, it was nice to do that. The faucet/spigot was handy for washing up our pot. We had macaroni and cheese with chocolate chip cookies for dessert.We took some water with us and walked back across the road and up to the Dennytown Group Tenting area. You can see the road to it from the water spigot, and then it is just about 100yds off the road. Wingfoot's book is incorrect in saying that it is 0.5m up the Dennytown Road, it is the first dirt road across from the stone building. The camp area has several fire rings with metal grates, and a not so nice privy. We hung up our food in a large tree in a camping clearing and in the tent at 6:30pm.Although one part of us wants to push the daily mileage in order to get to Katahdin sooner, the other part of us enjoys the shorter days. Shorter days are not so much work and relaxing.
Date: 2005-06-23
From: Dennytown Road

To: Stealth camping 0.4m before Penny Road
Miles today: 26.1

Last night we had a little visitor. Boston heard our front tent string being "plucked". Boston also heard fast, short, little breaths. She looked out and there was a skunk three feet from our screen door. It had rubbed against the tent string. Cubby woke up when she heard it hit the string a second time. We stayed very quiet and still, so as not to frighten it. We also held our breath and crossed our fingers. It finally ambled away.It was chilly this morning. We slept in until 5:30am. We had to put on socks that were still wet and cold from yesterday's hike.The terrain today had a lot of ups and downs, but only a few major climbs. We had a nice break on top of Shenandoah Mtn. We then hiked to NY 52, then another .3m on NY 52 to Danny's Pizza and Mountain Top Market Deli. We each had two slices of great pizza and a soda at Danny's. We followed that up with ice-cream from the Deli. We refilled our water at the Deli's outside spigot. Cubby then hitched us a ride with an older couple back to the trail.As we got back to the trail, we saw Tomcat heading to the Deli.We hiked to Morgan Stewart Shelter where we met Bamboo-Bob. He is south-bound section hiker, however he has completed a North-Bound Thru-hike. We checked the register and then headed on. We ended up camping about 0.4m before Penny Road. We also took a lunch break at RPH Shelter. The water at RPH was from a pump and it had too much iron in it for us to drink. We ended up getting water later from the Deli.
Date: 2005-06-24
From: Stealth camping 0.4m before Penny Road

To: CT 341 / Kent, CT
Miles today: 22.9

We had lots of wildlife today, including a huge rattlesnake coiled up and sleeping at Indian Rocks and a spotted owl flew over our heads and landed in a tree just ahead of us near Mt. Algo Lean-to. Our most exciting wildlife was our nighttime visitors. We had two black bears visit our tent site. One BIG one was on the right of our tent and a smaller one was on the left. They kept walking and snapping sticks and branches as they thrashed their way through the brush. Cubby was awake for it all. Boston slept through the whole thing despite Cubby's numerous attempts to quietly wake her up. The bears got closer as they walked and their was fear that they would meet at our tent. Cubby was very happy that 100% of our food was hanging in a tree and not in the tent with us. They never got the food, or bothered us, but Cubby was shaking in her sleeping bag while Boston was slumbered on. The bears were never actually seen by Cubby, but the noise was loud and one of the bears had to be BIG.We entered CT just after 12pm and had a hot dog lunch at Bulls Bridge Rd at the Country Market. There was a covered bridge which we walked through to get to the market. It was quite hot out, 84 degrees by lunch and humid, it was nice to sit in the Country Market and eat in the air-conditioning. Of course we had ice-cream for dessert.After lunch we climbed up to Indian Rocks were we saw Raz and Foxy. They were enjoying the overlook at Indian Rocks. We were warned when we started this trip to beware of rattlesnakes at Indian Rocks. Sure enough, when we got there we started to get up on the overlook where Raz and Foxy were and there was a huge rattlesnake coiled up taking a nap right by Foxy (dog). We told Raz and he immediately got himself and Foxy off the rock overlook. We all took pictures of the rattler.We hiked onto Mt Algo Lean-to, which is .3m from CT 341. Raz and Foxy went to the shelter, while Boston and Cubby headed for the road which leads to Kent, CT. We got to town and got a drink and ice-cream at the Kent Market. We then made a reservation at a B&B in town, Gibbs House.Once at the B&B, we took showers right away, had some dinner and then went to bed.Tomorrow we will be zero-ing.
Date: 2005-06-25
From: CT 341 / Kent, CT

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Up at 8am to get our bounce box from the Post Office. We have decided as of today to bounce the bounce box home and not deal with it anymore. In the beginning the bounce box was working well, but now it seems we have spent too much time to "catch up" with the bounce box during post office hours or getting it mailed back out during post office hours. Enough of all that silliness.We planned the next 100+ miles to Massachusetts. We will try to cut back our daily mileage. We keep trying to do this but we always end up doing 20+ mile days anyway. Cubby's feet are paying the price for all the 20+ days.The heat is also getting bad, 94 degrees today with high humidity. The bugs are ferocious, the gnats are constantly trying to get into your ears and eyes, and the mosquitos are trying to suck out our last drops of blood. The terrain continues to get more difficult.We went to the outfitter in town. It can hardly be called an outfitter. We would probably describe it more accurately as a "boutique" with an outdoor theme. We bought Cubby new Superfeet there, but they had no "real" backpacking/hiking supplies.Back at the B&B we went through our gear and food and prepared for starting out tomorrow. Cubby threw away her hiking shoes, she had walked through the insides of them and Supply-Guy had sent a new pair to Kent, CT for her. She is not looking forward to breaking in a new pair of shoes.
Date: 2005-06-26
From: CT 341 / Kent, CT

To: Pine Swamp Brook Lean-To and Campsite
Miles today: 17.0

We got up this morning early, 4:15am, in order to try to beat the heat. We took showers, ate in our room and we were out of the door of the B&B by 5:30am. We walked through town and were back on the trail by 6am. We made it up the first major climb while still in the shade and 72 degrees. There was trail magic about 1m after starting our hike today. It was a big green cooler full of soda. Thank you to whoever, you nice soul.We hiked on a flat section along the Housatonic River for about 4 miles. It is a beautiful river and it would be nice to fly-fish.We climbed 5 more peaks/mountains. Then we met the "Lost Girls".We met a couple of girls that were day hiking. They had just got onto the A.T. from the Pine Knob Loop Trail. They met up with us where the two trails merge for a while. They passed us during our lunch break. We then passed them about 10 minutes later. As we hiked on, we saw the sign for the turn off to go back onto the Pine Knob Loop Trail. We hiked on. Imagine our surprise when we stopped to get water from a stream about 3 miles later. The girls were coming down the hill towards us. Boston knew instantly that they were "lost". Sure enough, as they approached us they said, "We are lost."They were also out of water. One of them had a 1 liter bottle to start the hike with and the other started with about a pint of water. They were both out of water so Boston offered them some filtered water out of the stream and refilled their bottles twice.We showed them the map and told them where they had gone wrong. They had atleast one and a half hours of hiking back up the trail to get back to their turn off for Pine Knob Loop Trail. They had to make a choice. One and half hours back up and over Mt. Surdam, or 20 minutes ahead to the next road where they could try to hitch hike back to their car. They opted for hiking back over Mt. Surdam. Wrong choice. We tried to convince them they would easily get a ride on the road. They were both good looking and one had on a spaghetti-strap shirt and white painted-on pants. Like they wouldn't have gotten a ride! They probably would have caused a 10-car pile up. Sure enough, when we got to the road, there was a really nice guy there just getting into his parked car. We think he just got done filling the wooden boxes with trail guides. (The girls could have used one of those!) He looked at us and gave us every opportunity to ask him for whatever we needed. We smiled, waved and hiked on. We knew that at that point we would be in camp before those girls ever got to their car. If only they had hiked to the road.We got to Pine Swamp at 3:30pm. Frenchie, El Jefe, and Flip were there taking an afternoon nap and cooling off in the shelter before heading on to the next camping area. We went down to the stream and filtered water for dinner and tomorrow's hike. We then cooked dinner and hung our food. In the tent by 6pm to get away from mosquitos and flies. It was 82 degrees inside the tent. Better to be hot than to have the blood sucked from your body.Today's hike was hot and humid, 90 degrees in the shade.
Date: 2005-06-27
From: Pine Swamp Brook Lean-To and Campsite

To: US 44 / Lower Cobble Road / Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: light rain

We started this morning early to beat the heat again. Up at 5am and on the trail by 6am. The mosquitos were out first and trying to eat us alive. We had to put rain gear on (it wasn't raining) to pack up camp.We got to the Mountain Side Cafe at 9am for breakfast. It is only .2m off the trail. We enjoyed a HUGE breakfast. Cubby had eggs, NY sirloin, and homefries. Boston had the Lumbermack Breakfast: 2 blueberry pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 sausage, 2 bacon, english muffin, and homefries. We then both shared a black rasberry milkshake. We then waddled out the door to head back to the trail.We hiked to Salisbury, CT. We wanted to get there in time to go to the public library to update our journal. We got to the town at 1:40pm and checked in at the White Hart Inn and cleaned up. We called the library and wouldn't you know it, it is closed on Mondays! So we resupplied at the grocery store (of course we got some ice-cream too) and went back to our room to stay cool.The heat and humidity was sweltering again today, 90 degrees. We met up with Tomcat, El Jefe, Frenchie and Flip in town. We invited Tomcat to use the shower in our room and/or stay the night. He accepted the shower and the longer he stayed, the more he waivered on staying the night. He ended up leaving the next morning. It had to have beaten the nights he has been staying in the shelters where he had been eaten alive by mosquitos every night.We hope that the rain they are forecasting blows through over night and is gone by the morning. There is no laundry in town, so Cubby washed our clothes in the sink using shampoo. She hung them outside the room to dry. Probably not the most desirable sight for this up-scale establishment.Today as we hiked, we walked by a train derailment with three cars off the track. New lumber was spilled all over the place. We walked by a river in Canaan, CT just after the Mountain Side Cafe. It had swimming and waterfalls. It is called Great Falls, near Falls Village, CT. They were beautiful.
Date: 2005-06-28
From: US 44 / Lower Cobble Road / Salisbury, CT

To: US 7 / Great Barrington, MA
Miles today: 22.1
Weather: light rain

We woke up and packed up our stuff. Tomcat left at 5am. We had cereal, milk and OJ in our room and was on the trail by 6:20am. Within the first 10 minutes it started raining. We had a long climb to start the day, Lions Head. Then we hiked up to Bear Mountain. Bear Mountain in the rain is not safe. It probably is not safe even when it is not raining. There were hellatious climbs on shear rock faces. We then had to descend into Sages Ravine. The descent was worse than the climb. Unbelievable, the amount of rock surface was had to negotiate.While descending Sages Ravine, we left CT and entered our 11th state, Massachusetts. Bear Mtn, CT had a monument on top of it. It was square and made of boulders, it had a plaque on it saying it was the highest ground in CT.We then climbed up to Mt. Everett, again not safe on a sunny day, never mind a rainy day. The climb was crazy, but the descent was not too bad. We saw a south-bounder and wished him well, as we knew that his descent of the Mtn. was going to be rough.We made it to The Hemlocks Lean-To and took a break. It was around 1pm, and we were soaked to the bone. The rain was not letting up. We decided to push on to US 7 and hope for a dry hotel room. We got to the road at 5pm and hitched a ride for the 3.1m to the Monument Mountain Motel. So much for shorter days, we just did 22 miles.We did get to clean up, put our feet up, do laundry, and dry out.We met Flying-Turtle, he is staying at the motel with stick.We are both tired, need sleep and need to be off our feet. Got to bed way past hiker midnight.
Date: 2005-06-29
From: US 7 / Great Barrington, MA

To: Main Road / Tyringham, MA
Miles today: 20.5

The motel owner was willing to drive us to the trail head, but they couldn't until 8:30am. We knew we had a long day, so we wanted to leave earlier. We got up early and hitched a ride at 7:15am. We were picked up within a minute by a nice lady who knows about the trail and has hiked some of it in this area. We were on the trail by 7:30am.We doused ourselves with bug spray just before heading into the weeds. We climbed June Mtn. and East Mtn. We took a break on a big rock overlooking Sheffield Plains. It was overcast but no rain yet. We stopped in Tom Leonard Lean-to to sign the register. Just before we got to MA Rte 23 it started to rain but we pushed on. We climbed up to Blue Hill Road and during that climb it began to thunder. The center of the storm was right over us. At the road, we realized the storm was going right over the ridge we were heading up. We felt it was safer to wait for the storm to clear the ridge before heading up the ridge. We waited about 20 minutes and the storm passed. We got completely drenched. It was quite a storm, very intense.We climbed up to Benedict Pond, The Ledges, and then to Mt Wilcox South Lean-To. We were walking through rivers. The trail had become a river, about 1-6 inches deep due to the storm. Thankfully, the temperature never dropped below 68 degrees.The mosquitos at Mt Wilcox South Lean-to were horrible. We gave ourselves another dousing of bug spray, and had a snack break. We then climbed Mt Wilcox before another storm could come in before we got off the ridge. Rains were heavy and lasted until 4pm, when we were climbing Cobble Hill. The mosquitos were once again feasting on us so we doused down with Deet again!We finished our hike to Main Road and hitched a ride the .9 miles to Tyringham, MA. We stayed at the Cobble View B&B. The Inn-keeper made us put our packs and our shoes out in the barn. Therefore, our packs and our shoes will never dry by morning.We cleaned up, ate dinner and had some ice-cream bars the inn-keeper had for sale. We were in bed by 8:30pm.On our hike today we saw trillions of newts, of all sizes, but only one color - orange. It was like a big orange newt convention today.
Date: 2005-06-30
From: Main Road / Tyringham, MA

To: Pittsfield Road, MA
Miles today: 18.0

Well, we found out that the BIG storm yesterday had a tornado with it. The tornado hit in Great Barrington, MA. It was small by tornado standards, but big by hiker standards.We actually got a warm breakfast at the B&B. You never know what you are going to get for breakfast at these northern B&B's. It was a fritada, english muffin and a slice of cantelope with a small glass of OJ.We left at 8am and hitched a ride to the trail head by a nice lady.As usual, we started the day with a climb up from the road. We started the day by running from the mosquitos and that pretty much continued throughout the day. We took no break for the first 4 hours, if you stop, they eat you alive. We did finally take a break at 12pm on US 20 road.At Upper Goose Pond we passed a day hiker and his dog going south. He said he parked his pickup truck on US 20, and we teased him that we were going to use his tailgate to take a break on. He said that would be fine. Upper Goose Pond was a mosquito haven, swampy and wet. Very pretty though, we think. We could only catch glimpses through our mosquito-swatting arms and hands as we tore through the country-side running for our lives.At US 20 we sat on the tailgate of the truck and took a long break. A girl-scout troop leader came walking down the road. Her group was just off the road on the trail. She was arranging for their ride to pick them up. She talked with us for about 20 minutes and gave us water they had left over and took our trash. While talking to her, another lady pulled up and parked her car behind the pickup. The lady, Deenie (sp?), talked with us for a good 40 minutes and offerred us some ICE water, very good. Eddie, the truck owner, came back from his hike to find us sitting on his truck. We talked with the both of them for a little longer and then headed out. All in all, it was a 1 hour and 20 minute break. It was nice to get off our feet in the middle of the day without swatting mosquitos. When we left, Eddie gave us a big, new can of bug spray, our's was all but gone. Bug spray is like gold right now. We don't know how we would hike without it, even though it doesn't seem to work all that well.We had another climb and right as we started the mosquitos were instantly upon us and once again the race was on! There was no stopping until we reached County Road were we took a snack break. We now only take breaks ON roads we come to and we mean ON the road. It is the only place we have a fighting chance to get away from the mosquitos.We then hiked on to the "Cookie Lady's" house. We had 4 miles to go and made it in 1 hour and 15 minutes. The mosquitos were chasing us and we were giving them a run for their money. Who knew that Massachusetts was nothing but a mosquito infested SWAMP?We got to Pittfield Road and the Cookie Lady's house and met her husband Roy, the Cookie Man, he said we could tent in their yard.We talked with him while cooking dinner and then he brought us some cookies and soda. Oh how nice. We quickly cleaned up and scurried into the tent before the mosquitos ate us alive.
Date: 2005-07-01
From: Pittfield Road, MA

To: Cheshire, MA / MA 8
Miles today: 18.9

We got up at 5am and hit the trail by 6am. It rained some last night, but we stayed dry in our tent. It was not raining this morning, but it was overcast. We got to Blotz Road in 1 hour and met up with a guy from Virginia, he is supporting Trail-Dog. Trail-Dog is a hiker going for the A.T. record. He is attempting to thru-hike the entire trail in 44 days. The current record is 48 days. He has attempted 2 other times, both north-bound, but this time he is trying south-bound. He is on day 17, meaning he left Mt Katahdin and is now in the lower 1/3 of Mass. already. That equates to about 45 miles per day! He has a website: INOV-8.com.We made it to the Railroad tracks just on the edge of Dalton, MA. At the tracks there were some flowers and words spelled out with rocks. Cubby saw it first and asked Boston to read what it said. It was Boston's name spelled out in rocks. That could only mean one thing, and we were right about that one thing - Crampy was there to hike with us. Sure enough when we came out of the woods, there he was with his hiking buddy Chipper.We walked to Angelina's for lunch and exchanged our heavy packs for day packs. We all headed out for Cheshire, MA after Crampy had his car shuttled to the trail head in Cheshire.It was 9 miles to Cheshire and Crampy and Chipper did extremely well. We completed the 9 miles in 4 hours. The mosquitos were not as bad as they had been, and this section was not as swampy. Crampy had some trouble coming down the hills, his knee was bothering him a little.We made it into Cheshire and headed right into the ice-cream shop, Diane's Twist. We all enjoyed large servings of ice-cream.Near the ice-cream store we saw the "Big Cheese" monument. It is a concrete replica of the huge cheese press used to make a huge block of cheese in Cheshire, MA and given to President Thomas Jefferson. President Jefferson displayed and served the cheese in the East Room of the new White House. The East Room became known as the "Mammoth" room due to the size of the cheese. The cheese was served for 6 months and there was still some left.Cubby and Boston continued on and walked through the town of Cheshire to MA 8. Crampy and Chipper picked us up at MA 8 and drove us to the Harbour House Inn B&B. The Harbour House Inn got its name from its history of being part of the underground railroad and would harbour slaves. The Inn was built in 1793 and was well run and kept. This was Crampy's first stay at a B&B.After we showered, we all went to dinner at Harringtons. Then, since it was WAY past hiker midnight, we headed back to the Inn for a good night's rest. Crampy had another first today. He hiked over the Housatonic River, several times in fact.