morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-07-28
From: Bemis Mountain

To: Hall Mountain
Miles today: 12.8

stayed at hall mtn lean to, tented. very tough 13 mile day. extremely nasty landslide on moody mtn, trail needs to be rerouted (can someone tell matc? thanks!) played leapfrog with vermont mafia. took 12 hours. southern maine is TOUGH! almost done, in andover tommorow.
Date: 2008-07-30
From: Frye Notch Lean To

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: broken clouds

Got up and left the lean to around 7am this morning. Had a nice climb up Baldplate mountain, but the clouds rolled in and there was no view. East peak was all above treeline and would have had awesone views, but the clouds and lack of vegetation gave everything a real eerie feeling that was kind of cool. Climbed West Peak and the weather was clear, but too many tree's. Stopped in at Baldplate lean to and had lunch with the Vermont Mafia, they are continuing on to the Mahoosucs. Hopefully we'll meet up with them in Gorham.I met up with Mousetrap and Bookworm (the Mikes) and hitched a ride into Andover to resupply. We ended up getting off at the wrong road (26), so it was a long ride in. A big group of us are staying at the Andover guest house, really nice place and nice to see everyone again. Got my laundry done, took a shower, resupplied and ate dinner. I was hanging out on the front porch and some guy drove past on his lawn mower around 9:30pm, pretty weird (well past sunset). Guess he just runs around town on his mower, beats walking though.Tomorrow we are tackling the Mahoosuc mountains, with the "toughest mile of the AT". This part of the trail is really tough, but there's only about 14.5 miles left of Maine! I should be in Gorham, NH on August 3rd for a zero. I can't wait!
Date: 2008-07-31
From: Grafton Notch

To: Speck Pond Shelter
Miles today: 4.6
Weather: light rain

Left the Andover guest house and took a shuttle to the AT. Finally got on the trail around 12:30. Very tough climb up the mountian, didn't help that there was a big storm brewing. I made it to Speck Pond Shelter before any heavy rain though. This is our first day into AMC territory and we actually had to pay to use the campsite / shelter. I stayed in the shelter with everyone else because of the impending rain. Later it poured like crazy, and Limonaide and friend pulled in off the trail soaking wet. Looks like they had fun on the wet trail, so we made room for them in the shelter. Later, 2 more southbounders (grizz and inchworm?) showed up, but there was no room left in the shelter and they had to tent. Sorry guys. Didn't sleep well that night, someday I'll learn just to stay out of the sheleters...
Date: 2008-08-01
From: Speck Pond Shelter

To: Full Goose Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: light rain

Today was the Mahoosac notch, supposedly the hardest mile of the AT. First we had to traverse the Mahoosac Arm, which is and extremely difficult descent. It wasn't too bad, except for everything was very wet and slipped often. Godzilla, Macgyver and I did the notch together, not too bad but it took us close to 2 hours to do 1 mile. We werent in too much of a hurry. Got to see a moose skeleton at the end, it fell in a year a ago and couldnt get out. It still smells.We made our way up to Full Goose shelter and I decided to spend the night there. It was only a 5 mile day, but it was very tough and I didn't think it worth it to go on. I thought I would be there by myself and looked forward to the solitude. Unfortunetly, there was a flood of northbounders and kids groups and I ended up sharing the place with about 35 people. I wisely tented this night. Around 9pm some of the kids were still talking loudly (hiker bedtime is around 8!), some older guy didn't like this and started screaming and cussing at the top of his lungs for everyone to shut up. I thought that just made himself look like an idiot, but it did quiet down. I wear earplugs and don't have to yell and scare the kiddies.
Date: 2008-08-02
From: Full Goose Shelter

To: Gentian Pond Shelter
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: light rain

Got up and looked for the yelling idiot from the night before, I had my suspicions on who it was but didn't care to investigate further. I took off around 7:30 and was followed by Jonathon, the only other southbounder there. We climbed Mahoosac mountain and had a great view, glad I decided to stay behind. We could see forever, the only clouds were in the valleys so only the limitless mountians around us were in view. Very beautiful. It made the rest of the very wet day worthwhile.Finally got out of Maine around noon (Woo-hoo!!!) and had lunch. I told Jonathon he couldn't pay me $100 to go back to Maine. He said he wouldn't pay $1, but even so I was being silly because we where only 10 feet over the border. New Hampshire welcomed us with a tough boulder climb and more wet weather. I made it to Gentian Pond shelter around 4:30. it was a really nice shelter with a great view, nicest place I have stayed yet. It was a double decker shelter and only had 2 northbounders in it, so Jonathon and I decided to stay there. Later, 4 dayhikers showed up but we were already sleeping. I slept really good that night, no idea why. Probably because I hadn't slept much the past two nights?
Date: 2008-08-03
From: Gentian Pond Shelter

To: Gorham
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: light rain

All I will say is that this was a very very wet day. The only thing keeping me going was that I would be in town tonight! My shoes stayed wet all day long, and the rest of me was soaked by the off and on rain showers. I spilled canned chicken juice all over me when my wrap self destructed and was prime bear bate, but the promise of hamburgers kept my pace up and I outran all the critters.In town I stayed at White Birches campground, had a hot shower, went to walmart (!), and had a whopper at BK. Nice change from a couple hours before.
Date: 2008-08-04
From: Gorham

To: Gorham
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Zero day today. Got my packages from town (thanks for the cards everyone, and thanks to Kevin for the cookies and MP3 sermons!), got some new pants, did laundry and took a couple more hot showers. Zero days are nice, but hectic with all the chores. Like they say in "Flight of the Conchords", theres no vacation when you're unemployed. Best part of the day was meeting up with Grizzly Bear and Doc, it was so great to see them again. We retired to White Birches and shared stories late into the night about sharting in jorts. long story...Tommorow is more chores in town followed by our forray into the White Mountains.
Date: 2008-08-05
From: Gorham

To: Gorham
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

plan was to hike out of gorham, but we decided to wait another day so we could meet up with twix at imp shelter. spent a lazy day around town with doc, grizzly, jonathon, and superman. went to welshs restaurant for breakfast, but they apparently dont like hikers there. so i stormed out and went to mcdonalds, where they were happy to serve me a steak egg and cheese bagel. God bless you, ray croc! spent the rest of the day at library, shopping, and walking around. had a happy reunion with browntoe and mmuffin man. later twix rolled into town and took us out to dinner. good times!
Date: 2008-08-06
From: Gorham

To: Imp Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: fog

started out today a7am. bruce 'golden waldo' gave us a ride to the trailhead. it started to rain immediately. theme of the day is perseverance. endless uphills, endless rain, endless wind, and hopelessly cold. i persevered to imp shelter, so cold i couldnt feel my hands or feet. maybe perseverance is just stupidity sometimes? now i am safe and warm, hanging out with grizzly bear, doc, jonathon, calamity jane, pilgrim, and superman just showed up. if tommorow is like today, im hitching back to gorham to dry off. white mountains have brutal weather, dont want to mess around.
Date: 2008-08-07
From: Imp Shelter

To: Carter Hut
Miles today: 7.2

woke up real early to go contra dancing in pinkham notch, 13 hard miles away. first helped twix build a stone staircase, then wwe where on our way. plan was to get to wildcat ski hill by 4.45pm. that way we could take the chairlift down. im not a AT purist anymore, but im having fun. stopped at carter hut for lunch. i dared grizzly bear to ask for work for stay. he did and they said yes! we washed dishes and other kitchen chores, got dinner and warm place to stay in return. good move, vey wet and rainy the rest of the day. we even got a bonus desert when the croo burnt the rice pudding. not fit for humans, but delicious for trhriu hikers! superman and calamity jane joined us in the feast. missed the dance, but this way we have a good chance of decent weather for our summit of mt washington on sunday (home of the worst weather in the world!)
Date: 2008-08-09
From: pinkham notch 

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 7.3

left pinkham notch to start the presidentials. started raining assoon as we started. nice trail for awhile, then we had a steep ascent upmadison . when we got above treeline a funny thing happened...the sun cameout! we had absolutely beutiful views. made it to madison hut, got a spaceon the flooor to sleep, had a nice sunset and saw stars at night for thefirst time since i left michigan.
Date: 2008-08-10
From: Madison Hut

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: broken clouds

got a late start out of the hut, hiked out with earthworm, griz, andcalamity jane(cj). not too bad a hike, rocky but not too streneous.wonderful views all day and we could see mt washington cleary all day.unfortunetly when we got close, it started to hail. no view, and we had towait out some lighning, but we made it to lake of the clouds hut. beenlistening to just josh, grizz, and earthworm singing and playing guitarall night. it was a good day.
Date: 2008-08-11
From: Lake of the Clouds Hut

To: Crawford Notch campground
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: fog

left lake of the clouds hut and hiked with grizz, earthworm, and cj. again it rained and was very cold. very foggy too, not a whole lot of views. stopped by mitzvah hut for bottomless soup, i never really appreciated a nice hot bowl of soup until now. continued hiking down webster cliffs, very slippery and steep. finally got to the bottom only to find we where still 2 miles away from the road. we stopped for a break to rest and eat, then started running since it was so late. didnt take long to figure out we were only 0.2 miles from the road! for our next trick, we hitched a ride in the wrong direction, but the ranger giving us lift kneww better and took us to a campground. too bad the bunkroom was full though, but we did get to spend the night in the tractor barn. i was also able to sneak in a gloriously hot shower.         (Marceen's note: don't know where Derek stayed so mileage will be calculated in next entry.)
Date: 2008-08-12
From: Crawford Notch Campground

To: Zeeland Falls Hut
Miles today: 7.7

got up late and did some laundry at crawford notch campground. only 8 easy miles, so we didnt leave until noon. tough climb at first, but then it was the easiest trail so far. i felt a cold coming on, kind of sucks. made it to zeeland falls hut and got a work for stay. waited outside in the rain, but didnt get any good leftovers. met some really cool northbounders (hey peanut!) and washes dishes. 9:30 lights went out, but the guests wouldnt leave the dining room (where thru hikers sleep). i grabbed an empty table though and slept on top of it, very comfy and against the window for a nice view in the morning.
Date: 2008-08-13
From: Zeeland Falls Hut

To: Garfield Campground
Miles today: 8.7

got up at and left by 5:30 am; grizz, earthworm, and cj wanted to do a 20 mile day and i figured i would try too. my cold got the better of me though and i quickly fell behind. stopped at galehead hut for lunch and told others to go on without me. eventually i made it too garfield campground around 3pm. i set up my tent and took a nap. later, i hung out and talked with clare, the caretaker. very cool former thru hiker, she even lent me a book for the night. took some medicine and had a good nights rest. oh yeah, no rain today! finally!
Date: 2008-08-14
From: Garfield Campground

To: Flume Visitor Center
Miles today: 10.2

got up, said goodbye to clare, and left around 8am. tough climb up and down garfield mountain, but awesome views. made it to top of franconia ridge by 11, it was spectacular. it was like the sound of music, just no singing nuns. i was worried about approaching storms, so i cruised over the ridge. rain never came, but i got to flume visitor center by 3. at that point i realized i left my cell phone battery on top of the mountain, i wouldnt go back. got a ride to chets house, a local hiker who opened his house to hikers, very cool! met up with superman, grizz, earthworm, and cj. we went and saw batman at the theater and grabbed some dinner. got back to chets to take a shower, at this point i realized my cell phone battery dropped into my flip flops and somehow stayed there for 4 rough miles. not such a bad day afterall! my cold is feeling better too, i think i might do a 8 mile day tommorow. only 26 miles (3 days) left of the tough stuff, then i can put in bigger mile days.         (Marceen's note: again, not sure of daily miles, will update when I can)
Date: 2008-08-15
From: Flume Visitor Center

To: Kinsman Pond Shelter
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: scattered clouds

didnt get much sleep at chet due to some rambunctious hikers, oh well. got up early and did laundry then had some breakfast at the local pancake house. finally got going around 11, loaded up an f150 with about 10 people and headed down the freeway. walked about 1 mile with some cool northbounders, then grizz, earthworm and i took the at south. i was on my own soon though, still going slow with my cold. had lunch at lonesome lake hut, but i dont have much of an appetite. got going again and the trail got real rough. i only made it 5 miles to kinsman pond shelter, but i was so tired i decided to call it a day. met up qith thermoloaf, cool section hiker. later ryan (hp, docs froend) showed up and turns out he is the caretaaker here. he made tea for me and we talked for a while he showed me some cool views from the site too, its beautiful here. eventually i took some nyquil and had a great nights sleep. oh yeah, the shelter here is brand new, pretty cool.
Date: 2008-08-16
From: Kinsman Pond Shelter

To: Beaver Brook Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up kind of late this morning. Ryan (HP) walked by the shelter and said he made some extra coffee for me, it was absolutely delicious. We sat around and talked for an hour or so, made for a late start but Ryan was really cool and it was worth it.Hard climb up Kinsman mountain, my lingering cold didn't help at all. I finally made it up and was rewarded with another amazing view. I wanted to stick around and soak it in, but I had a long day ahead of me. I met Icarus, a northbounder I met previously met at Chets, and we had a nice talk for awhile. The climb down the mountain was pretty brutal, but I finally made it to Eliza brook shelter around noon. It started raining, so I took an hour break there. I picked up a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" that someone left in the shelter (common to find books in shelters, when I'm done I'll leave it in another shelter). I've read it a couple times, but can't help but read it again.The rest of the day was a lot of up and downs, running into lots of NOBO's. Apparently there was a big hiker feed going on at the road coming up, but I missed it by 15 minutes or so. Oh well, all that was left was for me to climb up Mt Misaluke. It was a 2000 ft climb up over 1 mile, lots of wooden steps and re bar to aide in the steepness. The trail followed a waterfall/river for 3/4 a mile (I took pics for you, Marceen!). I finally got to the shelter around 7 and set up my tent. Lots of nice people there including Tanager, another SOBO I met previously in Gorham. The shelter had a great view of Frankonien Ridge too, it was pretty cool.Its hard for me to imagine life off the trail now. It's tough, but the scenery is beautiful and the hike is so rewarding. Life afterwards will be tough, but its the farthest thing from my mind right now.
Date: 2008-08-17
To: Glencliff, NH
Miles today: 7.6

Got up around 7am and got out of camp around 8. I made it to the top of Mt. Misalauke at 9:30, more beautiful views. It was bittersweet though, this will be my last 4000+ foot mountain until southern Virginia. I am looking forward to easier terrain and longer miler days, but I'm sad I won't have these great views all the time.I made pretty good time down the mountain, the trail was so nice I even was running at some points. Stupid but fun. When the trail leveled out it went through an actual field!!! I haven't see a field since I was on the airplane, its kind of big deal. It felt great to be in the open with all the sunshine and warm weather. Very different than what I'm used to.Got into Glencliff, NH around 12:30 and checked into Hikers Welcome hostel. Kind of weird here, the showers and bathroom and everything are under a bunch of tents in some guys backyard. Even the laundry is under a tent. The shower still felt great though. I opted to stay in a tent bunkroom thing since I could have it to myself and it still had real beds.Today is kind of a big day, I'm finally out of the whites. Katahdin, Southern Maine, and the Whites are supposed to be the toughest part of the trail...and I made it through!!! I'm excited, but also a little sad that I'm kind of on my own now. All of my SOBO friends are ahead or behind by a couple days, hopefully we will bunch up again soon.Oh yeah, turns out I missed Red Hat by a few hours. She was up here for a hiker festival, and stopped by the hostel earlier to see if I made it here yet. Sorry our paths didn't cross once again!
Date: 2008-08-18
From: Glencliff, NH

To: Hexacube Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

got up at 7am and retrieved some packages at the post office. thanks for the treats, katrina! i bouunced some gear forward, trying to lighten my load but dont want to commit yet. finally got on the trail around 9. wow, what a difference! its hot sunny and flat now. i cant believe how much the trail has changed. i absolutely flew down the trail. 5 miles came and went like nothing. met a nobo girl (sun beam) who said i looked skinny and gave me a candy bar. that was a pleasent suprise (i have lost about 23 lbs so far). another 5 miles flew by. stopped for lunch with tannager ( now crazy horse). flew throgh a couple more miles, then started climbing mt. cube. it kicked my butt. now im sitting on top with crazy horse enjoying the view, it was worth it. a short 1.6 miles to hexacuba shelter and it will make 15 miles for the day. i plan on 15 mile days for a while, a few neros, and no zeros if i can help it.
Date: 2008-08-19
From: Hexacube Shelter

To: Trapper John Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: overcast clouds

made it hexacuba shelter last night, interesting place. shaped like a hexagon with two sides open. had a nice suprise when muffin man and brown toe showed up, they decided to hike NH north to get better weather. it was great to see them again. had 4 section hikers from michigan show up, they actually new about cadieux cafe and feather bowling. cool! it started raining late last night and continued through this morning. i sat around and talked with browntoe and muffin for awhile, but left at 9am in the rain. its cold again too, so much for the nice weather! made it up smart mountian around noon and the rain finally let up. stopped in an old rangers cabin and had lunch with black snake and moses, father and son nobos from israel. had a nice hike down and stopped by the ice cream mans house. he lives near the trail and gives anyone who stops by a free ice cream, i was number 240 or so for this year. made it to trapper john shelter around 4.30. crazy horse was here, but crawled into his sleeping bag because its so cold. he was soon asleep, but not before telling me i missed superman by 10 minutes. hope to catch him tommorow in hanover. 2 nobos showed up, so just 4 of us in the shelter tonight.
Date: 2008-08-20
From: Trapper John Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: broken clouds

got up around 6am and it was absolutely freezing, i guess it got down to the high 30s last night. couldnt get out of my bag until 8am, didnt leave till 8.30. it stayed pretty cold until noon, but there was no rain at least. stopped at moose mountain shelte for lunch. somweone left a huge poster of big mac in the shelter, it made me very hungry. continued on with my hike at a rapid pace. met up with shark at a road (he was at hikerswelcome), he offered me a beer but i was too sick and rushed to take him up on it. dont know wht i was thinking. finally made it into hanover around 5. nice big town, home of dartmouth. i called superman and we met up at ben and jerrrys ice cream store. we kind of bummed around town for awhile, stopped by dartmouth outing club then had a lot of dinner at everthing but anchovies. stopped by left bank books and picked up some trail books (travels with charlie and sidhartha). talked with zamora who works there, she was a nobo for a while this year. she was helpful and gave us a lift to a hotel, superman and i split a room since there is no where else to stay. have a 7 mile day tommorow, have to get new shoes already since all the rain destroyed my first set. cool town here, not in a rush to get out.
Date: 2008-08-21
From: Hanover, NH

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: clear sky

hanover is a wonderful city. we had a nice warm sunshiney day to spend there. lots of nice people and cute college girls. started out the day by doing laundry and eating breakfast at the hotel, then caught a bus into town. stopped at an outfitter and got my treekking pole tips replaced, one was worn down comlpletly and didnt reaaly grip anymore. glad i could keep the same poles, theyre one thing id like to use the whole trip. went to a sporting goods store and got new shoes, my new for katahdin shoes where now mostly destroyed by all the water. got identical pair, only now in gortex! next i hung out at dirt cowboy cafe for great coffee and coversatione with nobos. then superman and i hit up thai restaurant for an all you can eat buffet, it was the best thai ive ever had! finally got out of town around 3.30 and made the steep 6 mile hike to happy hill shelter. met some nobos (southpaw, bulldog, and? ). had a great fire and good conversation. nice shelter too.
Date: 2008-08-22
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Cloudland Farm
Miles today: 13.4

i love vermont, its been just so awesome so far. got up in the morning, easy 4 mile hike to hanford where superman, crazy horse and i had the big breakfast. it was delicious and overfilled 2 plates. met some cool nobos too. had trouble hiking because we ate too much. stopped on top of a hill with a great view and a comfy chair, hard to leave. the trail in vermont is great, no roots rocks mud or water, i love it! views are great too, we walk by lots of old farmhouses and really old stone walls. around 3.30 we stopped at cloudland farm for some super creamy ice cream, beef jereky, and soda. it was really good. did i mention i love vermomt? the place was so nice and we were so full we asked to stay, they let us camp out! the guy told us joe perry from aerosmith lived next door, but we never saw him. i really love veermont.
Date: 2008-08-23
From: Cloudland Farm

To: Lookout Cabin
Miles today: 11.5

as i write this im sitting atop the roof of lookout cabin, watching a beautiful sunset. i cans see for 100 miles in any direction, it is just an amazing view. i cant express how much i love vermont. not much else to say about today. we arent putting in huge miles, but i am really enjoying the moment. stopped by for lunch at the pie place with superman. i got smoked chicken breast and garlic herb cheese, washed it down with 2 bottles of coffee caramel soda then took a nap on the front porch. woke up and had fresh blueberry pie with ice cream. we managed to hike too. then i thanked God for creating vermont, that was awfully nice of Him!