morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-07-11
From: Hanover, NH

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

start: Hanover, NHfinish: Hanover, NHmiles: 0.0day: 126The other day Goldilocks and I were trying to figure out how many days we have been on this hike and NOT hit some town or other, no matter how minor.  Even buying sodas from a vending machine counts as a "town" for this purpose.  Goldilocks can only think of a single day between somewhere in NY and here.  I can also only count one recently, but does it count that Stumpknocker met me with all kinds of town food that day?  Aside from that day in Vermont, the most recent may be May 28 hiking with Underpants south of 501 in Pennsylvania.  Not a bad way to hike...Goldilocks probably would have liked to zero today with me if he had the time.  But he dutifully headed out today to keep on schedule, and I'll meet him at Glencliff tomorrow night.  Before he left we called Mrs. Moosie to chat and finalize some maildrop details for Gorham.  We've burdened her a lot more with this stuff than we did early on.  It sure makes things easier for us, but it's a lot of work for her.  She does everything but walk the miles for me I ate the motel's free breakfast, and finished last night's pizza, then decided it was time to go to town and eat.  I stopped by the Dartmouth Outing Club and used the internet for a bit, and saw several southbounders, but no northbounders.  I browsed the bookstore, but didn't find any interesting light reading.  It seems that out here reading always falls to the bottom of the list, and there's little time left for it.  I'll read more when I get back home.I grabbed a burger at Lou's and headed back to the motel.  It was a difficult hitch back and finally the regional bus stopped for me and took me most of the way.Back in the room I proceeded to do ... nothing.  Except put my feet up and watch TV.  A perfect day off.  Unfortunately I have this hiker appetite, and before too long, around dinner time, I hitched back into town for another meal.Three college girls picked me up, and one in particular was interested in my hike as she had done the JMT.  They dropped me off in the center of town where I ran into English Bob, a northbounder I hadn't seen since Miss Janet's in Erwin, TN.I opted for a nice steak dinner at The Canoe Club restaurant, a fairly posh place.  Luckily I was wearing my nicest shorts (I only have the one pair).I was able to hitch back to the motel just at dusk.  Any later and I probably would have had to walk the 2 miles.Back in the room now watching a little TV before falling asleep.  What a tough day.
Date: 2005-07-12
From: Hanover, NH

To: NH 25
Miles today: 0.0

start: Hanover, NHfinish: NH 25 (Glencliff) miles: 0.0day: 127My feet are pretty swollen this morning, so instead of hiking 10 miles into Glencliff, I've decided to take the day off. I'll hitch to Glencliff and get my stuff from the post office, and take another zero. This makes the second section I've temporarily skipped, 43.4 miles between Hanover and Glencliff. I'll hike this in the fall.[later, in the evening...]It took 3 rides and a bit of patience to get to Glencliff. But I arrived shortly after 1:00 pm, so it only took about 2 hours. The kindness of strangers is reassuring.Fat Chapp and Fegg are running the place this year, and Packrat is in residence as well. It was good to see all of them. I got 8 boxes from the post office across the street for Goldilocks and me - I had so many that a nice lady offered to drive me across the street with them. I also signed for our new socks which arrived by UPS after I got here.I briefly met Nemo and Spud, 2 SOBOs who live in Asheville, NC. Staying here tonight are "Number Eleven", August, and Spitfire, all NOBOs I hadn't met yet. Also a SOBO named Midnight, a section hiker named Walmart Joe, and former thru-hiker Mala and his dog.Speaking of Walmart, Fat Chapp took some of us to a Super Walmart in Plymouth. It had a really nice grocery section from which I resupplied for the next 2 days. We also hit Burger King for a meal.I've been immensely hungry lately, and easily ate lots of other stuff today, including fresh fruit and a pint of ice cream.I sorted through my bounce box, food drop, and cold weather gear, making my base weight heavier. I really like my synthetic quilt and can't wait to get it back in Gorham. And I'm carrying the wool sweater through The Whites that I had in winter, but it seems ridiculous now. Next trip I may sew up a Primaloft top - like an insulated wind smock.I watched several movies here - they have an awesome selection of tapes and DVDs. I concentrated on Sergio Leone: Fistful of Dollars and the like. Can't go wrong with those!Goldilocks rolled in around 8:30 after a long day of hiking. Tea Break and Snail are somewhere behind - they may have spent another day in Hanover...?At the last minute I decided it was too hot in the barn loft, plus some hikers were planning on a 5:00 am start (this is inhuman - they must be aliens). I'm sleeping outside in a permanently pitched hostel tent. Wow, a real tent. I haven't slept in a tent in a very long time. Perhaps last year on a boy scout outing...? I've used only a tarp for hiking for perhaps 4 years now.Well, it's pretty late. I'll just read for a bit by the light of my new headlamp batteries and fall asleep to the sound of a brook in the distance, and the wind in the treetops. Tomorrow Moosilauke! I can't wait to get above treeline.
Date: 2005-07-13
From: NH 25

To: NH 25
Miles today: 0.0

start: NH 25 (Glencliff)finish: NH 25 (Glencliff) miles: 0.0day: 128Oh yeah, a triple zero. Kind of unexpected. I was rested and ready to hike, but Goldilocks was tired and needed a break. He's trading one day of his proposed double zero in Gorham for today at Hikers Welcome. No problem here, I can always adjust my mileage downward.This hostel is a pretty good place to chill. There are more videos and DVDs than you can imagine. I've already watched several movies, maybe I can talk folks into Braveheart tonight. Right now we're watching the Grateful Dead Ticket to New Year's 1987 show. Couldn't think of a better way to spend the day. Besides watching movies and eating I also made a few soda can stoves - there are lots of soda cans here...Goldilocks and I hitched into Warren earlier for lunch and bought some cube steaks and zucchini to cook at the hostel for dinner.Handlebars hiked in today and said that Tea Break may also be in later.Tea Break came in and we all watched Braveheart before falling asleep.
Date: 2005-07-14
From: NH 25

To: Stealth camp near NH 112
Miles today: 9.5

start: NH 25 (Glencliff)finish: Stealth camp near NH 112 miles: 9.5day: 129I woke up early and was ready to hike, but Goldilocks and Tea Break took a while to get ready so we didn't get hiking until 11:00 am.  The day's hike began with a 3700 ft. climb up Moosilauke.I had to go slower than usual on the climb.  It was long, fairly steep, and I'd just taken 3 zeroes.  It was also our first really big climb since Virginia.  I didn't stop on the way up, but had to slow enough so that my heart didn't pound out of my chest.It started raining shortly before I reached the top.  I found Goldilocks and Tea Break huddled behind some rocks out of the wind.  Tea Break was pretty cold, as he doesn't have any cold weather gear at all for the Whites.  He may try to remedy that soon...  I started to eat some lunch, but we heard thunder so we moved on and down into the treeline.Eventually we stopped again and I finished my lunch.  It had stopped raining.  Chairman, Colonel, and Captain Crunch caught up with us and we all started hiking down together.  It was very steep and there were lots of big slippery, wet rocks.  I slipped on a rock and sort of screamed as I fell.  My poor bad hip really took a beating.  I absolutely hate hiking with pain in each step.  Damn it.  I told the others to go on and I continued slowly.  Goldilocks and Tea Break slowed up and walked with me.This was a low moment.  I had just taken 3 zeroes - I mean, I can't hike much slower than this.  And my hip hurts as bad as ever due to this slip.  There's no way I can do the miles today.  I told Goldilocks to go on, as he has miles to do and I don't want to hold him up.  After a bit I took some Tylenol.  I'm on a steady diet of painkillers, but they're naproxen, and Tylenol works differently and can be used to double dose if there's a lot of pain.  I've been saving this trick, and today it helped.  Within an hour I was walking more freely, but still being very careful as the north side of Moosilauke is brutally steep.We all got to Rt. 112 (except for Chairman, who had gotten a ride into town ahead of us), and attempted to hitch in for some dinner.  We weren't planning on hitting North Woodstock until tomorrow, but you know us...  A guy named Chris walked over from the parking area and said "You're Moosie, right?"  He knew Goldilocks and I from reading our journals.  We finally got a ride in a pickup truck, and went to a restaurant.  It was a good meal.Goldilocks and I decided to pick up a little more food and skip this town tomorrow in the interest of making some miles.  We hitched back at dusk and I'm now listening to the brook and some occasional rain on the leaves from my tarp.Tomorrow we climb both peaks of Mt. Wolf, and both South and North Kinsman.  I bet we go into town again tomorrow, as we'll be at the road right at dinner time, and camping near the road gives us enough miles for the day.
Date: 2005-07-15
From: Stealth camp near NH 112

To: Stealth camp near Kinsman Pond campsite
Miles today: 11.7

start: Stealth camp near NH 112finish: Stealth camp near Kinsman Pond campsite miles: 11.7day: 130It poured rain last night.  It seemed to rain for a long time.  At one point I heard rustling near my food bag.  Only half waking up, I gave a fierce sounding growl.  Well the little brown mouse that had snuck in under my netting went crazy trying to find a way out.  Once I saw who it was I tried to help by opening the netting on one side, but he got scared and ran to the other side of the tarp.  Finally after a few minutes of running all over me he squeezed through a corner seam and got away with a story to tell his friends.We did go back into town today, but for breakfast.  And so Tea Break could buy a fleece and rain jacket.  He got a pretty good deal at an outdoor clothing store in Lincoln.  We didn't get hiking today until 12:25.  We've really got to work on this.The miles came slowly today, as the trail was very rocky and muddy.  The kind of rocks where your knee touches your chin as you step up and over.  There was no moving fast through this, so I settled in at a 2 mph pace.  Near Eliza Brook I saw English Bob and Biscuit, who I hadn't met before.  Shortly after this Goldilocks, Tea Break and I started climbing South Kinsman, our biggest climb of the day.  We paused to swim in a very cold pool below a waterfall next to the trail.  Boy, it almost reminded me of "holy shit falls", where Goldilocks and I, and some friends of ours went swimming in snowmelt water.  This wasn't quite that cold, though.  I felt clean and refreshed afterwards, and scrambled up the amazingly steep, rocky, slabby trail to the summit.We were running out of daylight, so we hurried a bit over North Kinsman and down to Kinsman Pond for water.  Yecch, I hate pond water.  We had just enough daylight left to look for stealth spots.  I found one right next to the trail.  Everywhere else was very steep, rocky, and full of spruce and fir trees.  Goldilocks and Tea Break pushed on to find their own spots.  I hope they found good ones without having to night hike.  At least it doesn't look like rain tonight.As I lay here in my tarp at about 3700 ft., the temperature is dropping.  It'll be great sleeping weather tonight.I realize as I think about how tired I've felt the last two days that it's not just the Whites' harder terrain.  On this trip I've gone from out of shape, to wonderfully in shape with no ailments, running down the trail, then later feeling pain in various parts of my body, and now it seems I just feel old and tired.  In a way I'm ready for this hike to be over.  I'm enjoying it, but even when my body cooperates, it's very hard work and I'm just getting worn out.
Date: 2005-07-18
From: NH 302

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: fog

start: NH 302finish: Lakes of the Clouds Hut miles: 11.2day: 133I slept well in the motel's cot last night, and Goldilocks was feeling well this morning. We hitched back to the trail amazingly easily and started climbing Webster Cliff. It was cloudy and raining lightly off and on. We had some views from the cliffs, but never got to see Mts. Willey or Field across the notch.We got to Mizpah Hut and went in and had some soup. It started pouring rain while we were inside, so we stayed a little longer. The highlight of the afternoon was my first blue-blaze! I purposely skipped some white blazes! I prefer the trail over Mt. Eisenhower rather than the AT around it. I've done both before and I was resigning myself to the fact that since I was on a thru-hike had to either miss the peak or do double work. All of a sudden I realized that for me, right now, on this particular piece of trail I just didn't care. Guess I'm not much of a purist. Miss Janet would be proud of me Tonight Goldilocks and I, and Chairman, Biscuit, and English Bob are all doing work-for-stay at Lakes. Washington has been in cloud all day - still waiting for a peek.Now it's after dinner (I ate lots!) and us thrus are waiting for everyone to go to bed so we can sleep on the floor in the common area. These folks, many of them teenage girls from a camp, have way too much energy. Finally, we just lay our stuff out anyway. In the middle of the night I can hear the wind generator buzzing as the winds increase in force.
Date: 2005-07-19
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: NH 16 (Gorham)
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: mist

start: Lakes of the Clouds Hutfinish: NH 16 (Gorham) miles: 14.8day: 134I'm sitting in the common area at Lakes after breakfast watching the clouds roll through at ground level outside. Goldilocks is sweeping the floor as his work-for-stay chore. Last night I scrubbed some pots, so I'm all set.Mt. Washington was visible early this morning, but it didn't last. Now visibility is only 20 feet or so on the trail to the top. The temps are in the 50s, and winds are light (and moist). We're heading up soon. I'm going to have a chili dog![in the evening...]We had a great day on the ridge traverse! Chairman hiked with Goldilocks and I all day. We ate and people watched at the top, took some pictures at the exact summit, and headed out across the ridge to Clay, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. Yesterday was a lovely ridge walk above treeline. Very beautiful and quite impressive. Today is a different story. These mountains are massive! The many times I've hiked this route, including today, I always feel just a bit afraid, knowing that a bad combination of weather and these peaks could kill me. I feel so small and frail in the presence of these goliaths. I love this route.Well, today we had good weather - clouds blowing through, replaced by clear sky, then more wispy clouds. When I speak of clouds I mean fog - it's on the ground and all around us. But it's not fog - seen from below it's clouds on the mountain tops. We stopped at Madison hut for some soup and to talk with the hut croo person. We didn't stay long though, because we had been hearing rumbling thunder in the distance for a while. I think it was raining on Washington when we were approaching Adams.Our route from Madison hut was up and over Mt. Madison, and then down the long exposed ridge down to treeline a mile or more away. Not a good place to be in a lightning storm. We got over the peak and were on the way down when it hit us. High winds and driving rain, and lots of lightning and booming thunder. We became very conscious that were the highest things on the ridge. When we hike we grip metal hiking poles, and Chairman has a metal frame pack. We raced for cover, but the terrain is made up solely of rough granite boulders in a jumbled pile with lots of gaps to catch a foot in and no flat surfaces on which to step. And now the rocks were wet and slippery. Pretty soon we got to a small sheltered spot out of the wind and in a slight depression. We hunkered down there for 20 minutes or so watching huge sizzling bolts of lightning strike nearby on our ridge. Kinda scary. We waited it out, and finally were able to proceed down to treeline. It felt so good to be back under cover again.Now in town, Goldilocks is staying at the hostel and I opted for a motel room at my favorite little place. Goldilocks will probably hike the 21 mile Carter range tomorrow, returning to town. I'll maybe do the same, maybe zero. Not sure yet.
Date: 2005-07-20
From: NH 16

To: NH 16 (Gorham)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

start: NH 16finish: NH 16 (Gorham) miles: 0.0day: 135Aah, a zero day in one of my favorite trail towns. I slept real well in a bed last night - mooses (meece?) love to sleep in real beds, ya know. I headed down to The Barn this morning to see what Goldilocks was up to. He was out hiking the 21 miles over the Wildcats and Carters with Chairman and Biscuit. It's a great day to be hiking, but I've decided to wait a day and let my feets rest a little bit.I walked over to Welsh's for breakfast ... and they're closed with a For Sale sign on the door! Aaugh. I've eaten breakfast there for years. Now where does a hungry hiker eat? I found a new place, and they served a good pot of tea, and the food is OK, but it's trying to be fancy, which isn't something I want good ol' breakfast to be. The price was fancy too. Oh well.I brought my loaded pack with me on my tour of town so I can stop by the post office and do my mailing chores this morning, including switching my gear back to summer weight, mailing home most of the cold weather gear I had picked up for the Whites. Then it's back to the motel, browse the internet on their computer for a bit, and prepare for lunch There are a bunch of hikers in town, including sobos Puck, Piper, Horns, and Buddha, and nobo Dad's Grin who started 2 days before me and I haven't met until now. Also a nobo finishing up last year's hike named Dave Mueller. Puck is someone I think I've met before - he's got a lot of miles on the AT in the past several years... He's walking around town on crutches. He broke a bone in his foot while standing around camp. The doc told him 6 to 8 weeks to recover. He's giving it 2 days, and then he'll try to hike. I sure wish him luck!I had lunch at the Chinese buffet. While I was eating English Bob came in and sat with me. We had some good conversation while we ate.In the evening I went to The Barn to see if Goldilocks had returned yet, and to see what else was happening. Pierrette was there! With a car! She had come from Quebec to see her old friends and generally be a trail angel for a few days. It was really good to see her. Goldilocks, Biscuit and Chairman finally returned, just in time too, as I was starving. A whole bunch of us went to Mr. Pizza for dinner, and Colonel Forbin and Captain Crunch showed up a bit later. It was lots of fun.Full, fat and content, I wandered back to my motel room, not sure when I'd see Goldilocks again. I'm doing the 21 over the Wildcats and Carters tomorrow, and Goldilocks may hike out of Gorham. It sure was fun hiking the Whites with him.
Date: 2005-07-21
From: NH 16

To: NH 2 (Gorham)
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: broken clouds

start: NH 16finish: NH 2 (Gorham) miles: 21.1day: 136Pierrette picked me up at the motel at 6:30 and we drove to Pinkham Notch, where I had breakfast and she had coffee. I had originally planned to hike at 7:00, but we were having fun talking and didn't finish breakfast until almost 8:00. Thanks Pierrette, and don't forget to stop by Moosie's hostel when you get to Connecticut.It was perfect hiking weather. Clear blue skies, white puffy clouds, low humidity. The climb up Wildcat was strenuous - very steep, and seemingly endless. But I felt strong and just relaxed into it. The views from the ledges were fantastic, just the first of many throughout the day.Eventually I reached the last Wildcat summit and looked down, down onto the roofs of Carter Notch Hut far below, and across and up at huge Carter Dome. That's where I was headed. Chairman calculated that today's route has 10000 feet of elevation gain. Ouch. Halfway up the Dome there was a wonderful spring where I drank and refilled my bottles.I saw some wildlife today - 2 spruce grouse and several fat toads. The grouse are the ones that are salt-and-pepper colored with a red spot near the eye. They are very brave or dumb, just walking quietly in the woods near the trail as I walked by.The views of the Presidentials were spectacular, the viewpoint changing as I worked my way along the ridge. I especially liked how, when looking from Wildcat Madison looks like an unimpressive, formless lump, and when viewed from further north on North Carter it looks like a symmetrical, pointy pyramid, backdropped by the more massive Adams, whose southern flank has the same slope as Madison's.I saw Puck and friends at Rattle River shelter. They tried to convince me to go swimming in the 12 foot deep pool nearby, but I was headed for town to get something to eat. I bought a big Subway sandwich last night for today's hike and had left in the motel room's refrigerator by mistake. So all I had to eat during the hike was a few candy bars. Puck mentioned meeting Goldilocks at the PO this morning. He said he recognized him because he has his father's legs. What I can't understand is if other hiker guys are checking out my legs, why aren't I having to fight off the hiker chicks? (no nasty guestbook comments please) When I got into town, I stopped at The Barn and learned that Chairman, Dad's Grin, English Bob, and Goldilocks had all zeroed. I found Goldilocks around town and we went to The Birches for dinner. It's not as good as it used to be - new ownership and the portions are smaller. But it sure was fun having dinner with my son!I plan to zero again tomorrow. I would hike out with Goldilocks, but I don't think I can keep up with the miles he has to make. I'll meet up with him when he gets to Monson and hike the 100 mile wilderness and Katahdin with him, then go back and fill in. So I gave him a huge hug and we wished each other a good hike. Then I headed to the motel and he to The Barn.