morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-07-17
From: Clement Shelter

To: Gifford Woods
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: scattered clouds

July 17I noticed the total mileage is off, this afternoon I stopped at mile 1,701.0. ONLY 484.3 miles to go.Last night's trail magic meant everyone came into the shelter late. There were people arriving at 10pm. I had given Wing It my headlamp to borrow. He very quietly returned it at some point in the night. It was a cold night. I actually got up in the night and put my jacket on as well as being in my sleeping bag. I was up and hiking about 6:15 since I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get to Gifford Woods to see my mom and sisters. The day started with a long climb up Killington Peak. There was a youth group at the spur trail to the summit. They gave me a cup of hot chocolate, thank you. I uploaded yesterday's journal since I had cell coverage, then headed to the summit. It was a beautiful clear sunny morning. Buzz was camped on top, but just getting ready to hike. We ended up hiking the next 10 miles together. I enjoyed the conversation and company. Buzz is also a geocacher. When we arrived at Gifford Woods he headed off to find a cache.My Momm, two sister, niece and her daughter arived a short time later with lots of great food. Buzz, his daughter Tandem, Mio, Jukebox, Key Lime and her dog Ozzie, Brave and Lightning Bolt all stopped by as did a sobo through hiker and two section hikers. My childhood friend Ben also came with his 25 year old son. Great afternoon, thanks mom and everyone who helped. My sister brought me new socks, some food and a few essentials. After the cookout we all hiked toward my home for the night, Mountain Meadows Lodge. My niece's daughter was ready to go to Maine with me. She is not yet 3. She had fun looking for the white blazes on the trees.There was a nice article on my hike in my local paper, The Ahwatukee Foothills News. Wish I knew how to put a link here to make it easier for you to find. We received a few donations today, so thanks for the support to our charities. I am only about 40 miles from New Hampshire. With any luck I will be there Saturday evening.
Date: 2014-07-18
From: Gifford Woods

To: random campsite
Miles today: 22.5

July 18It was great seeing family yesterday. Today was back to the task of getting closer to Katahdin. The lodge was very nice. Had a great breakfast and headed out about 8 with no real destination in mind. I planned to do 20 and tent since there were no shelters that worked. The options were 16 or 26 miles.I saw at least 5 sobo thru hikers today. They are really around now. Two of them started less than a month ago. Gives me hope that I can finish in less than a month. Elizabeth is in the process of booking her flights to Maine and I have told her I think I will finish between August 18 and 20.Today was probably the last day of seeing the Warren Doyle day hiking section hikers. They are doing a short day tomorrow and I am a few miles ahead. It has been fun seeing them every day for the past couple weeks. They are a good group.I passed Lightning Bolt early in the day. He is meeting his daughter tomorrow for lunch, so probably won't see him again. Skittles is in Hanover tonight, so he is now only one day ahead. Go Far is less than 20 miles behind me. Be interesting to see how New Hampshire works out. I am feeling good and thinking of just keeping the momentum going, especially since the weather is great right now. I think it is supposed to stay nice for several more days. Cell coverage has been tough to find lately, so feeling a little out of touch. I have found coverage on top of the mountains, so try and catch up on things then.Bacon Dog was up and moving early. He had passed me last night after the cookout. I try and finish my day by 6, whilebhe hikes till dark. I caught him about lunch time and we hikes a few hours together to a deli. We got there at 4 and planned to stay an hour. They closed at 5:30, so that's when we finally headed out. As we are walking down the road back to the trail a local guy comes out and offers to let us stay in his barn. We appreciated the offer, but wanted to keep going. I hiked about 3 more miles and stopped at 7. I set my tent up on the side of the trail on a nice spot. Bacon Dog came strolling by at 7:30. I figured he would stay here as well, but he did not want to waste an hour of daylight. If I don't catch him on the trail I will probably see him at the deli in Norwich.I ended up hiking 22.5 miles today, which leaves me with 19.8 to get to Hanover. The last 6 are pretty easy and I hope to start early in the morning, so hopefully will get there at a reasonable time.
Date: 2014-07-19
From: random campsite

To: Velvet Rocks shelter
Miles today: 21.2

July 19Last night was another chilly nihht. I again put on my jacket to warm up. Hard to believe in mid July. I got going by 6:15 because I wnated to get to Hanover at a reasonable time. It was a 20 mile walk and even with 2 stops I got to town by 2:30. I had emailed a family friend a couple nights ago and have been out of wireless range till this morning. I called him and he is meeting me in Hanover for a late lunch. Should be lots of fun. This journal entry wil be done in 2 parts. It is 3pm as I am writing this. I will finish tonight once I get settled wherever I end up. The plan is to walk about a mile nirth a pitch my tent.There is still no rain in the 3 day forecast. I am loving this cool dry weather. There are lots of sobos about. I have seen at least 7 today. I am surprised there are so many. I only saw 2 nobos today, beside Bacon Dog. DFI and I forgot the other guy's name. Wouldn't surprise me if there are several of us at the first shelter north tonight. BD and I got some trail magic at a road crossing early this morning. It was lots of miscellaneous items. While we are sitting there tons of people start walking/running up this sleepy dirt road. Turns out it is the start of the Vermont 100. I'm not sure what the rules are, but there sure were a lot of people. The hike today was fairly uneventful. There some pretty stretches, but that's been true every day. I still do not have a plan for tomorrow. Ideally I want to do 22 then 20 followed by18. Trouble is this terrain is quite a bit harder and my feet are tired from the past few weeks. The nice thing is with good weather I don't mind pitching my tent wherever I happen to be. Last night was just the second time this trip that I was totally alone at night. I do plan to try and stay by shelters, but I really enjoy random camping when I am with someone. OK, I'm back. Got my groceries for a few days and hiked the mile to the shelter. Total of 21.2 miles today. The guide was not clear where the water source was, but did say spring. Since I like spring water decided not to carry water from town. Mistake, the spring is .6 miles away, so 1.2 round trip. It is now 7pm and I was alone , but 3 guys just showed up. Solo, Zasquach and Pyro. Seem like good guys. Nice to have the company. Had a great meal with my friend Dave. Always fun seeing friends you don't get to see often. He lives in VT and I live in AZ. Thanks Dave for driving all the way to Hanover.
Date: 2014-07-20
From: Velvet Rocks shelter

To: Smart Mountain
Miles today: 21.9
Weather: scattered clouds

July 20Last night was fun meeting a bunch of new guys. Hopefully I will see them for a while. Their target summit date is also August 18. Nemo and Bacon Dog both showed up to the shelter last night.This morning I took off at 6:45. I was the first one out and didn't see any of them all day. I did say hello to 7 or 8 sobos. They say they are seeing at least 10 nobos every day. Hard to believe as I am wondering where everyone is. It is 6pm as I am writing this at the Fire Wardens Cabin on top of Smart Mountain. There is a youth group tenting nearby, but no thru hikers to be found. My guess is a few will show up late. Today's hike was just under 22 miles but with over 6,000 feet of climbing. That is the biggest climbing day I have done. No wonder I am tired. I also ended the day on top of a mountain. It's been since Virginia that I have spent the night above 3,000 feet.This afternoon I stopped at Bill Ackerly's house. He is the ice cream man. He gives a free ice cream to every hiker. There were 6 of us there when he had to go into town. He just took off with his house wide open. Great guy. He says he typically has 4 to 5 hikers a night pitch their tent in his back yard. I have been trying to figure out my approach for the White Mountains. I am in great shape as far as schedule. I think I will take a few easy days after tomorrow. There are a few road crossings and the town of Lincoln with lots of stuff there. I don't want to zero, but will do at least one short day. My feet are tired. I feel great though. I joke about being tired, but 22 miles and 6,000 feet of climbing is a tough day. This may be my biggest day of the whole trip. I have done bigger miles, but not with the vertical.Well, going to go cook dinner. Need to eat so I don't get too skinny. I haven't weighed myself in over 700 miles, but I certainly am not gaining any weight. Just tightened my shorts belt again.Our charities have gotten a few donations recently, thank you. I was asked the other day what I get for a kick back from the charities. All money donated goes directly to your chosen charity, I get nothing. I am paying all my own expenses, I have no sponsored equipment. At the end of the hike my wife and I will contribute $10,000 of our own money as well. If you haven't already done so, please go to my website to learn more. The link is below.Thank you all for reading along this summer. I am finally thinking the end is in site. Pretty amazing journey and we have about 4 more weeks.Solo, Zasquach and Pyro came to the cabin. There is a fire tower here si they went up to watch the sunset. It is almost 9, so time for bed. It has been surprisingly cold lately and tonight is no exception, plus it is windy out. They forecast high for Wednesday is 69 and that is in town. It will be colder in the mountains. I don't have much warm clothing.
Date: 2014-07-21
From: Smart Mountain

To: Glencliff, NH
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: light rain

July 21Last night was fine in the cabin. It was less than I expected but with a litle cleaning it was fine. It was cold outside, so it was nice being inside. With 4 of us it stayed quite warm inside. Last night Pyro said he wanted to get up and see the sunrise from the fire tower. At 5 this morning Solo is sayint to Pyro, "lets go". Pyro is too comfortable in his sleeping bag, but Zasquach goes with Solo. I was thinking it would be cool to see the sun rise, so I said to Pyro we should go join them, so we did. We actualy got there about 15 minutes before the sun came above the horizon. Definitely worth getting up for. I took lots of pictures so hopefully some will be good.We had 20 miles to get to the hiker hostel. Tomorrow is the start of the hardest section of trail. I have done 86 miles the past 4 days and averaged over 20 a day since Elizabeth left. Not really rested for this next stretch. Tomorrow we climb almost 4,000 feet in the first 5 miles. After the summit it is a very steep down. I plan to do just the 9.5 to a road and go into Lincoln.The hostel is certainly a collection point for hikers. All kinds of sobos here as well as nobos who slack packed back to here. All new faces for me, except those I have met the past 2 days. The one exception is Neckbone. He slack packed back 26 miles today. That is my plan for the next two days. Go Far texted me this morning. He was in Hanover. I was hoping he was a little closer.Solo and the boys took off to go 1 mile to the next shelter. There are still close to 20 people here. Inside was full so I am in a big tent outside, but on a nice mattress. Unfortunately there are mosquitoes here. I am looking forward to getting back to the land of low humidity and no bugs.
Date: 2014-07-22
From: Glencliff, NH

To: Lincoln via NH 112
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: broken clouds

July 22I ended up pitching my tent last night. The mosquitoes were too annoying in the bunk house. We were right next to a road, so did not sleep very well. I got up and going a bit after 6. I had about a half mile road walk to get back to the trail. The first challenge came in the first 50 yards. The trail goes to a river bed with a 5 foot vertical drop to water. I bush wacked up stream to a place to get to the rivers edge and took off my shoes. I very carefully walked barefoot across the river and put my shoes back on. This is the second river we have had to ford. There are several more to come in Maine.Today was only my second day of walking less than 10 miles, not counting the 4 off days I have taken. About a mile in I passed a shelter where Solo, Zacksquash, Pyro, Big Spoon, Toast and Rewind were staying. We all met up on the summit of Mt. Moosilauke. It was a steady climb of almost 4,000 feet. It was fairly steep at one point, but not bad at all. The top was chilly with a gentle breeze. We all hung out for about an hour and a half before tackling the decent. The second half of the decent is very steep and requires great caution. There is a sign at the bottom warning hikers to use great caution to avoid tragic results. Fortunately the trail builders have done an amazing job carving out rock, placing rebar hand holds and anchoring steps in the right places so the trail is even passable.When we got to the bottom there were a few cold Gatorades there, what a treat. A day hiker brought us into town, Solo, Pyro, Zachsquash and I. We all went out to lunch together. All good young men. I hope to continue seeing them over the last few weeks. They were asking me a bunch of finance questions. I now have 5 hikers that want me to send them information once we are done.I used the afternoon to catch up on a few things and most importantly rest my feet. I am about to go for a walk to get some dinner. I planned out the next 3 nights. I am spoiling myself and staying in a nice hotel tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow I will do a 16 mile section and come right back here so I won't have to carry everything. It will still be a tough day. The forecast is for afternoon storms tomorrow then a few more nice days. I would love to get through the Whites with good weather.
Date: 2014-07-23
From: Lincoln via NH 112

To: Lincoln via US 3
Miles today: 16.3

July 23I slept very well last night. I have a room at a Comfort Inn in Lincoln, NH. It has been a while since I have had my own nice space. I am staying here tonight as well. This morning had a great breakfast and headed out toward the trail. I planned to hitch hike but not much traffic here at 6:30 in the morning so called the shuttle and paid the $10 for a ride. I have been pretty frugal this trip and decided to spoil myself a bit through this stretch.I was walking by 7 heading north from Kinsman Notch where I stopped yesterday. It is 16.3 miles to route 3. This is a very tough stretch as it includes the Kinsmans. The first 8 miles are no big deal but then it gets steep and rocky. At the top I caught Brave. I have seen her since mid Pennsylvania. She is the only thru hiker I saw all day. I've been seeing 8 sobos a day and none today. I thought Big Spoon or Solo would have caught me, but no one did. After the Kinsmans, which are two peaks about a mile apart, it was a steep rocky decent to Lonesome Lake hut. I stopped there for about an hour. This is the first of the NH huts. They are nice enclosed structures with bunks and a staff that cooks breakfast and dinner. They are very popular with people because they can hike without carrying much. I enjoy stopping at them because they are very social. I had fun conversations with a few people who will spend the night there. I am actually staying at Galehead Hut tomorrow night.It is 3 more miles down to the trailhead from Lonesome Lake. The last portion parallels I93 so I had cell reception. I called my older son and had a great chat as I was walking. It made the time fly.I have been getting a lot of positive feedback from you the readers about this trip and the daily journal. I hope it will inspire you to do some fun adventure. It certainly does not need to be taking 4+ months and heading to the woods, but anything new you enjoy. America is a wonderful place and there are adventures to be had no matter where you live. I encourage you to start thinking about what you can do. I personally am an experience guy, not a things person. I live a simple life but love traveling to new places and meeting the people there. This trip has been fun to see the differences as we have progressed north. It amazed me the difference between Boiling Spring, PA and Duncannon 20 miles away. Today's milestone was I am now over 1,800 miles from Springer Mountain. Just 373 more to get to Katahdin. The numbers are sounding better every day. Under 400 was big for me. Not sure why, but it seems reasonable. I thought under 500 would be cool, but it was still a big number. In about a week I will cross over into Maine. As my son said today it is fun looking at a map to grasp the distance.
Date: 2014-07-24
From: Lincoln via US 3

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 13.0

July 24Last night the storms came through less than an hour after I finished. Good timing for me. I had planned to walk somewhere for dinner but decided to wait out the storm. About 7 the worst was over but it was still raining so I went to McDonald's because it is by far the closest place. This morning I took my time getting ready. I planned to do just 13 miles to Galehead Hut. I forgot that there is no such thing as "just" in New Hampshire. I got to the trailhead about 9 and it took me till almost 5 to cover those 13 miles. The rains had stopped but everything was still very wet. The parking lot is 1 mile from the AT, so the first thing I did was walk a mile that didn't count. From there it was up, up, up. This was the first true stretch above tree line. I love the open feel, the winds and watching the clouds blow by. It was quite cold. Even walking I was wearing my jacket to stay warm. Initially I was going to stop for lunch on the ridge, but it was too cold, so I waited till I dropped back into the trees.There was almost no good walking today, it was pretty much up and down rocky terrain the whole way. I am very impressed with the traction of my shoes. All day they gripped very well.This stretch of trail is tough for thru hikers. There are no traditional shelters that we are used to. The AMC has the pay for huts that are expensive and sell out. We are also not supposed to pitch a tent except in designated spots, which there aren't many. It makes the logistics very difficult. There is a full house here tonight. I am typing this before dinner. There is no data here so hopefully in the morning I'll have coverage on one of the peaks.There are tons of hikers around. Different from what we are used to. It's now after dinner. Great meal and fun socializing with others. It is cold but clear out. Brave showed up at 8:30. She is the only thru hiker here for work for stay. The huts typically take up to 2 hikers and feed them and let them sleep on the floor in exchange for doing some work. She is helping clean the kitchen after dinner. I did not want to worry about competing for a spot, so I paid. I get a bunk and ate with everyone else. A couple from Europe, living in Montreal, who came to our family gathering in Gifford Woods is here tonight. Always love when connections like that happen. We had a great chat. They are running short on time so they took a bus to here, they did not walk the whole way. Heard from Go Far tonight, he is 30 miles back. I plan to take a day off in Gorham, not sure if he will catch me. I have been solo now for a while.
Date: 2014-07-25
From: Galehead Hut

To: US Route 302
Miles today: 13.5

July 25Scary night last night I was at Galehead Hut in a bunk room. The bunks go 4 high. At midnight an 18 year old kid fell 12 feet to the floor. He was totally motionless for almost five minutes and bleeding from the head. His dad was with him talking to him and gently rubbing his back. He eventually came to and was able to sit and stand on his own. He st¬ll wasn't talking though. The staff was woken up and turns out a nurse was staying there as well. His shoulder was dislocated so they got it back in place. They decided to wait till morning to get him out. We were over 4 miles from a road. He did walk out this morning with lots of help. I offered to assist but his Dad said they were all set. The staff helped and emts were on there way up. Hopefully he will be ok long term. He was remembering things like where he left his toothbrush, but was still confused on other matters. He is now getting all the medical help he needs.Today was a fairly easy hike. There was a 1,200 foot gain in the first .8 miles, but then we had some reasonable terrain. For some reason I do not enjoy this stretch of trail. There are no traditional shelters, so no place to get out of the weather. I have decided not to worry about things and have paid for a bunk again tonight. I am looking forward to getting back in to the traditional quiet trail with my smelly hiker buddies. I was seeing 8 sobos a day. I haven't seen 1 the past 2 days and only 2 nobos. Not sure where all the thru hikers go.I am in a bunkhouse on a main road for tonight. I was chatting with a guy who just a few months ago had both knees replaced. He did a test hike last week, tomorrow will be the big test. He is excited. He is probably late 50s. His two buddies showed up and offered to buy me a beer. We went and sat on the patio. An AMC volunteer also joined us. These are the really fun parts of this journey. I then had dinner at the caferteria here. I was by myself and a family of 5 joined me. Again fun meeting new people. They are very interested in bringing the kids to the Grand Canyon and maybe even rafting down the Colorado. Elizabeth and I rafted through the Canyon last summer. I plan to take a rest day in Gorham. It has been almost 400 miles since I took a day off. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice in the morning, then storms coming back tomorrow night. I plan to be having lunch on top of Mt Washington tomorrow.