morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-07-18
From: Schaghticoke Mt. Campsite

To: Mt. Algo Lean-To
Miles today: 2.9

Well, I don't have as much water as I thought. As I leave the tenting area, I stop by the spring to pump more water for the day's hike. What a mess! The kids have been washing their dishes in the stream and I pump water from what looks like clear vegetable soup. All kinds of food particles and uneaten leftovers in the water. It sort of irritates me, so when another column of Girlscouts shows up to wash more dishes, I give 'em a lecture on "Trail Protocol" regarding putting their garbage in MY water supply. I get a sheepish "we're sorry mister" from a couple of 'em. I feel like scum.I hike on down the mountain towards Kent. CT. I know they've got some delis there. It's an easy four miles, but it's raining hard by the time I find an overhang in front of a little market. Something else I find is Ruby and Sally. I am soaking wet when I hear this dirty-faced little hippie girl say "Grampie says I should say hello to you, Texas Jack." My teeth liked to have fallen out! She had blue eyes, a mongrel dog (Sally) and a smile that would tear your heart out. We sat there drinking coffee and she told me that she had been at Upper Goose Pond where Grampie was caretaking that very week. It seemed like we was old friends and didn't even know it yet. The rest of the story was that she had been living in the woods at one shelter or another for over a year now. Her and that dog, Sally. So, before the afternoon was over, we had gone to the Post Office and grocery store and we headed back into the woods to the Mt. Algo Lean-To (in CT. a "lean-to" is a shelter). We've got dogfood and sandwich stuff and we're going back to meet her friend, Jester, who also lives in the woods and makes Hacky-sacks (little round, sewn, bean-bags that you see young people kicking around with their feet).Well, Jester was as nice as Ruby and they had a BIG jug of Jim Beam out there at the shelter, and I heard all the Trail scuttlebutt, and then some. We sat out in the woods watching lightening bugs put on a show in the gathering dusk, and hitting that jug of "Beam". I finally crawled into my tent under a pine tree and went nite-nite!
Date: 2003-07-19
From: Mt. Algo Lean-To

To: Stony Brook Campsite
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: broken clouds

Sally wakes me up wanting another can of dogfood. She's a good dog and quiet, but too protective of Ruby to be on the A.T. (Dogs on the Trail need to be not so aggressive). Well, Ruby is hiking south, I'm hiking north, and Jester doesn't know which way he's going. I don't think it matters to him. He sews up Hacky-sacks no matter where he is. I see his signature in shelter logs for days to come, places he's already been, where he's lived, sewing and drinking.Gotta get out of here, so I wave bye and head into Kent again. More coffee, more deli sandwiches, then on down the river road to Stony Brook Campsite. It's an easy day and mostly flat walking along the river. I run into Truck again and this time, his wife, Overload, is hiking with him. Overload has only recently retired, and it's her second day on the Trail. What a show. She's sore, everything hurts. A bug bit her ("Do I think it's a spider?") How much farther do we have to go? Is it time for a break yet? Oooohh! Look! Ripe berries! Truck is at his wit's end and it's only the second day of hiking with her. (I can tell that this relationship is about to get frayed!) They're both nice folks, but I thank my stars that I don't have to hike with Overload 'cause she is a load and a half. If she was mine, I think I'd leave her in the woods and HOPE a bear would eat her! (chuckle & grin).I completely miss the shelter (so did Truck and Overload), but there are so many campsites along the river that it doesn't matter. I wind up at Stony Brook Campsite and I am the only one there. Good! I have a nice bath in the Housatonic River ('au natural, of course) and spend a nice nite by myself in the tent.
Date: 2003-07-20
From: Stony Brook Campsite

To: Caesar Brook Campsite
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: few clouds

Nice morning! More easy hiking down by the river. It's mostly flat. That is, until it starts to climb up to Silver Hill Campsite where I have lunch. It's up on a ridge and once upon a time, there was a scenic vista. Unfortunately, back in '91 the cabin that was a shelter burned down, and trees have grown up to obscure the vista. It's still a nice place for lunch. The register tells me that Jester has spent several days at this place. Nice spot, but I have to go. After a few more ups and downs, I spy Truck and Overload setting up their tent in a nice shady, flat spot called Caesar Brook Campsite. I had been headed a bit further out, but what the heck! When Overload starts handing out peanut butter and honey sandwiches from the supplies they are carrying, I figure this spot will do for me, too.I play a bit of harp before dark and a couple of girls show up to tent there, too. They are "Lost" and "Found" and they have taken a few zero days to go to a wedding. It's curious how you keep bumping into familiar faces out here. Overload keeps up a running line of banter until it's dark, and we all go to sleep among the pines.
Date: 2003-07-21
From: Caesar Brook Campsite

To: Mohawk Trail
Miles today: 9.7

Well, this is the day I will call my old buddy Grampie, but I have to hike to somewhere that I can find a phone. I check the Data Book and it seems that Mountainside Restaurant and cabins for rent will do the job nicely. It's a short by-pass trail off the A.T. called Mohawk Trail. To get there I have to hike past the skeeters at Pine Swamp (glad I didn't stay there last nite), hike a few ups, a few downs, thru a cornfield, cross a river and I'm there...and it's CLOSED! Rats!There's a pay phone in the parking lot and a sign on the restaurant door "Call this # to rent cabin when restaurant is closed". So I do. The clouds are threatening a storm and a few scattered drops begin to fall when one and a half hours later someone shows up to let me into the cabin. We'll settle up in the morning and the man who opens the cabin also brings (at my request) a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew. I've called Grampie, and he will be there to pick me up for a couple of zero days at his and Donna's place in Meriden, CT., but not 'til in the morning at 10:00 a.m. Tonite I'm happy to have clean sheets, a shower, Mountain Dew and a TV (until the storm knocks out the electricity). No matter! I'm down for the nite and Grampie will be there soon enough!
Date: 2003-07-22
From: Mohawk Trail

To: Meriden, CT.
Miles today: 0.0

In the morning, the storm has made everything smell clean and piney. Breakfast at the Mountainside Restaurant, with several wet hikers who had spent the nite's storm in their tents, made me feel smarter to have been in the cabin last nite. That bunch ate everything is sight and hiked north, but I'm waiting outside for Grampie to show up and here he is! A sight for sore eyes! I haven't seen him since he hiked with me for a couple of days at the end of June. Donna is feeding him pretty good! He notices that I'm down another few pounds. Also, I'm not wearing my leg brace anymore, perhaps I don't need it so much now that I'm not so heavy? We can think about that stuff later.As we head back to Meriden, we catch up on the latest Trail gossip. He's just back from his week's stint as caretaker for the cabin at Upper Goose Pond. Yes, he remembers Ruby and Sally, also Don Quixote, who had signed the register at Silver Hill Campsite. We hiked with him in '01 and he stopped by Goose Pond to say "howdy" to Grampie. Lots of other hikers stopped by there too, and a bunch of 'em knew me 'cause they had passed me by earlier. We had a great time catching up on who was where and who had quit.Donna was glad to see me, too, and I felt so much better that I couldn't believe it. (I had been depressed and thinking of quitting and going back to Texas again.) Not any more! Donna had me feeling sunny-side-up in no time at all. (I figure she didn't want me coming back through for a 3rd year to finish this "Trail Odyssey"). She had already nursed Grampie to the "finish line" in '01 and was gonna do the same for Texas Jack in '03 or bury him in the back yard trying. She was GREAT!I get a load of laundry done so I don't smell so bad. (I was clean, but my hiking clothes and sox reeded!) Bob and Donna have a dinner commitment this nite, so I get comfortable at the kitchen table and catch up on these journals. Daughter Amy shows up and is surprised to see Texas Jack, but she knows me from '01. She's just stopping by, looking for Mom & Dad. Then I'm back to the journals again. Later, Bob & Donna get home, daughter Jane, too. Texas Jack gets the fold out couch in the family room, while the TV news people talk about how much storm damage has been caused, and how much rain was dumped in CT. Nite all!
Date: 2003-07-23
From: Meriden, CT.

To: Meriden, CT.
Miles today: 0.0

Up at a reasonable hour and Grampie and I are driving around doing errands. We stop by Doug's place (a Meriden firefighter whom I met in '01). He's got a GREAT house with some commercial frontage attached. He has his finger in several money-making ventures and he plans to retire from the fire dept. in another 6 months or so. I don't feel too bad for him though, as many of his previous investments have paid off nicely for he and his lovely wife. We take a slow spin around the lake his house is adjacent to. Nice place, really nice place, and the condos going in next door make his location worth a small fortune. Another successful investment! Grampie says that Doug comes out smelling like a rose no matter what!Later, Donna and Grampie put some steaks on the grill and a few other friends drop in to say "hi". I sure do like this CT. lifestyle! Finally, I'm back on the couch for the nite. Thank You for a fine day, Lord!
Date: 2003-07-24
From: Meriden, CT.

To: Salisbury, CT.
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: few clouds

Grampie and Donna have a big evening planned, so he drops me off along the Mohawk Trail sort of early. I am hiking again by 9:00 a.m. I feel refreshed, but the weather report is for storms this afternoon. I do almost 10 miles in good time, and get a room at The White Hart Inn in Salisbury, CT. They have a restaurant and a bar, and I'm snug and dry when the next downpour hits. A few other hikers are there, too, so we talk about the weather and the trail. Been looking at the Data Book and I only have 573 miles to go...YEAH!!! I'll post this bunch of journals entries as quick as I can find a Post Office. Later...
Date: 2003-07-25
From: Salisbury, CT.

To: Brassie Brook Lean-To
Miles today: 5.3

No sooner than I hit the hwy. back to the Trail, Jester shows up alongside. He's going back to the Trail with a fresh supply of fried chicken...mmmhmmmh! Good 'n greasy! We hike on down the road and at the Trailhead parking lot another lost soul shows up! Here's Hawaiian and Moose still hiking along even after that little assult and battery fiasco with Fubar at Four Pines Hostel (which, by the way, is currently closed due to some difficulties). Seems that she (Hawaiian) changed her Trail name (can't tell you what to) and just kept hiking, but isn't signing registers anymore. Was super glad to see her, even tho at first I didn't recognize her or Moose. She looked kinda like a guy (on purpose I guess). Also, Right On, Brown Dog, and Gray Jay were all staging in the parking lot.I felt like a 4th thumb, so I went on up the mountain, leaving everyone else confabing at the Trailhead. I figured I was the slowest and so needed the most time. After about an hour's climb, I'm taking a rest at a pretty little stream, and Jester ('member him?) shows up and tells me that the reason I have stopped at this little place was because he has sent me a psychic message to do so, and this proves that we are psychically linked!Then he goes off on giving me his version of the universe. The thrust of it all was...that the REAL way to look at the world was UPSIDE-DOWN and he needed ME to hold onto his ankles so he could actually see a sunset the way God meant for it to be seen. Also, he could hear insects speak to him at a higher frequency range than other humans could hear the insects. Mostly 'skeeters, he said, pretty much just told him that they wanted to drink his blood! And the rest of the equasion was that WE needed to do a 14 mile hike before dark so that I could help him stand on his head on Bear Mtn. this evening. (This little freak-a-zoid turns out to be really kookie and persistent.) It takes several hours to convince Jester that I'm NOT going to hike to Bear Mtn. with him to hold his ankles no matter what he thought God wanted me to do! By this point my tent is up and Jester realizes that he has no pack, tent, or food with him, so he hikes down the mountain to where Gray Jay and Right On are camping, and announces to Gray Jay that the spirit of his mother has told him (Jester) that Gray Jay has been sent to protect him and does she have a tarp cover that he can use to sleep in? Well, danged if she doesn't, so Jester sleeps in Gray Jay's tarp cover to escape mosquitos that nite and I catch up on "what's new" with Hawaiian and Moose. We're camping at the Brassie Brook Lean-To tonite. I get the whole low-down on the "4 Pines incident" and I know I won't see them again 'cause they are doing 15's and I'm only doing 8-10's. One other little thing. I find the neatest little compass that I ever did see lying in the Trail. It's about the size of six quarters stacked together and cute as a button! The only thing I can figure is the good Lord got tired of watching Texas Jack hike in the wrong direction! Ha! Ha!
Date: 2003-07-26
From: Brassie Brook Lean-To

To: Hemlocks Lean-to
Miles today: 5.3

Danged if Jester isn't back at the crack of dawn! I'd run him off if he weren't so darned interesting. Everytime I turn around he's doing something outrageous. When he got into the bare knuckles brawl with the wasp nest, I only wish I'd had a video camera. "America's Funniest Home Videos" would have paid money to watch "Jester vs. Yellowjackets" one on one. He took it to them...it was personal! Whatta hoot!So it's me 'n Jester for awhile I guess, at least until I get tired of his lunacy. We've got a couple of pretty good mountains today and Jester is at least 5 times faster than I am. It takes about 6 hours and he's looking for new victims. My favorite memory of that day was when the ridgerunner and I were talking after we had just crossed over a little stone footbridge and we looked back and Jester was rock climbing the underneath side of the bridge just like Gollum in "Lord of the Rings" would have. He was doing 360 degree climbs around and around that footbridge! Amazing! Someone else we meet up on Race Mt. is Enzyme and Axel Rose. Rose has the hots bigtime for Enzyme, but he's playing coy. Rose practically seduces him and he goodnaturedly fends off her advances! They're having a wonderful "cat and mouse" game only with the roles reversed! I hike on off and later, when Enzyme comes past, I ask him "What's the holdup" He tells me that neither one of 'em has a 2 man tent. I volunteer him some advice, "borrow the money for a motel, man, or take her out into the woods, she'll think of something, Dude!" He just grins and hikes on out of my life. Later, Axel Rose comes by looking for Enzyme. She only grins when I suggest to her that her coy approach may not be working, and that she might have to be more direct. (An impossibility, I think?) I see it in her eyes, "that man (Enzyme) is going down! It's only a matter of time!" She stalks out like a lioness in search of prey. Whew!! Hot!! I love hikers, the intrigue, the chaos! I just love it. Meanwhile, I'm down for the nite at the Hemlocks Lean-To when Jester hikes up in the dark and starts asking about Tex. Seems he has someone new he wants to show me off to. I'm getting tired of this. He meets total strangers and within minutes infiltrates their lives! And all based on Cosmic Psychic BS. Jester swears that there are "wood nymphs cooking smores" waiting to meet me only one campfire away! Wood nymphs, huh? Well, ok! But just this once. Well, it was some weekenders that wanted to go skinny-dipping in the nearby mountain pond, but the girlfriends didn't want to get naked with all these new faces around, (that would be mine and Jester's) and Jester had told them that Texas Jack was a one-man traveling show and played harmonica, too! So we were all looking at one another expecting SOMETHING to happen, and Jester just oblivious to everything! That's it for me folks! I'm going back over to my side and Jester, don't bother to get up. See ya!
Date: 2003-07-27
From: Hemlocks Lean-to

To: Great Barrington, MASS.
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: overcast clouds

In the morning, Jester is nowhere to be seen. Good! I hike off into the morning thinking that a motel in Sheffield, Mass. off US-7 might be just what the Dr. ordered. Got a couple of minor peaks inbetween, and a perfectly beautiful little spring at Jug End road provide diversion and new opportunities to burn calories. Finally, I'm standing alongside US-7 trying to thumb a ride. After 10-15 minutes, a hiker local picks me up 'cause he recognizes the packs, the poles, and the knee-britches as the trademarks of a non-threatening thru hiker. Bless him!He drops me off in downtown Great Barrington, Mass. The motel has hiker rates, and is within walking distance of supermarkets, cafes and the Post Office. That's good enough for the likes of me! I get a shower and a trip to the grocery store. Then a nearby restaurant fills the "Hungry Hole." Am down for the nite!
Date: 2003-07-28
From: Great Barrington, MASS.

To: East Mt. Retreat Center
Miles today: 8.4

I walk almost 1/2 way back to the Trail before someone stops to give me a ride. I thank her for the short hop (barely 3 miles) and then I'm hiking again, but full of everything! I see some fish as I hike across the bridge on the Housatonic River, but nothing big and there are warnings tacked to every tree advising people to "not eat the fish".East Mountain is sort of healthy and there I meet Eric. He's a young man still in high school, out for his first taste of Appalachian Trail hiking. He's forgotten to bring a stove, bug netting, or a fork or spoon, but he's full of questions and we hike together until we reach Ice Gulch and the Tom Leonard Lean-to. I spot a baby porcupine hiding in the branches of a little bush. It's cute as a kitten and about the size of a football. It's a football with attitude, though. While I'm trying to get a pic of this freshly-weaned little rascal, he's busy letting me know (with vigorous head-bobs and raised back-quills and bushy tail) that he's a thoroughly dangerous type of guy! He looks like a baby kitten covered in toothpicks. But I don't try to pet him (I'm not plumb-dumb!)Get some water out of Ice Gulch, hard to find, hard climb out. I wave good-bye to Eric, and he, too, it seems is out of my life. I'm heading for Mass-23 and the East Mountain Retreat Center.   They ask for a donation of $10.00 per nite for a bunk and a shower, and you can order pizza delivered to the door. There's a group of A.T. Trail Maintainers spending the nite also, but I am down for the nite before they even arrive.
Date: 2003-07-29
From: East Mt. Retreat Center

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Early this morning, I am up and so is the leader of the Trail Maintainers work crew. She's about mid-20s and out for an early morning jog! My goodness! For some reason this strikes me as humorous. I mean, as hard as I am having to sweat to just HIKE the A.T., here she is in the bloom of youth and she's out jogging 5 miles or some such 'cause she's not getting enough exercise on the work crew! Go figure! She is a lovely young woman, but I think I may have hurt her pride with my good-natured banter. Sorry Miss! But, it seems I always lead with my mouth. You and your work crew are to be commended for your hard work. I'm sorry if anything I said sounded belittling. (My fat mouth again.) I think she may have been a tad sensitive, but maybe I was merely oafish.Benedict Pond was spectacular and appeared pristine, but I know that to be unlikely. It was awfully pretty, tho. Easy hiking, too, except for the one good hump up Mount Wilcox. I stopped for a rest at the Mt. Wilcox North Lean-to and there in the register were Jester and Ruby's entries from 3 weeks earlier when they had met at Upper Goose Pond Cabin. Jester had hiked off to the south and Ruby and dog Sally had pursued him into Kent, CT. Go figure. This was not the story she had told me when I met her in the rain that day in Kent! Ruby and Sally, Jester and Texas Jack, Axel Rose and Enzyme...oh what a tangled web we weave...am just glad to be rid of Jester, Thank Goodness! Will stop to tent at Shaker Campsite tonite. Am all set up when in walks Wannaredleaf just before dark. Hooray! I have an audience for my harp playing! And someone to talk to in the dark. She's section hiking the Mass. and Ct. portion of the A.T. and looking for peace...forgiveness...composure same as me. We talk for a long time that nite.
Date: 2003-07-30
From: Shaker Campsite

To: Upper Goose Pond
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: few clouds

In the morning, Wannaredleaf hikes off south and I hike north to Upper Goose Pond. It doesn't seem the same without Grampie around. All the people who passed me by are already gone. I look it up in the register. Grampie and I were there 6/1-6/3 and then he dropped me off at Caledonia State Park on 6/4 about 15 miles from the Penn. south state line. It's taken me 2 whole months to walk back this far!!! Arghhh! (It's about an 8 hour drive.)The two current caretakers are wonderful, but won't shut up. Doesn't matter tho. He knows more stuff than I do, and I'm happy to listen to him for awhile. (Can't seem to remember his name tho.) His lovely wife too, seemed just as chatty as he was.
Date: 2003-07-31
From: Upper Goose Pond

To: October Mt. Lean-To
Miles today: 8.8

Soy Nut and Toadsaver pick blueberries for the breakfast pancakes. Old Fizz and Young Fizz, who had his 14th birthday, were there, too. Yes, Jester had been there only one day earlier and was looking for me. He had gone on off to the Phish Concert in Maine, as did about 70 thousand others. Later, I saw where Burn, Wildflower and a bunch of others had all gone up there, too. (What's a Phish?) Not me. I'm still stuck out in the woods doing 8's and 10's. Am losing my want-to. Also, the weather is changing. Getting wet. Hate wet! Have to admit that I'm sort of proud of my bulging calf muscles that carry me up and over every hill and mountain. I mean, they're not award-winners, but these bad-boys are doing me a great job. Even when I'm gasping for air, and sweating too, I look down and my flexing calves are carrying me up and over, again, and again! It's not the legs that want to quit. It's a mental game. My four month anniversary will be coming up in a few days, 8/4 to be exact. My mind wants to blow this all off and go back to civilization and AYCE Chinese buffets, and air conditioning! It seems like this hiking odyssey will never end and yet...I tent at October Mountain Lean-to and it rains like Hell tonite. At least it keeps away the porcupines (which will chew anything salty) who like to eat hiker boots, packs, shoes and shelter floors.