morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-10-10
From: Carlo Col Lean-to

To: Speck Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: broken clouds

Mahoosuc Notch [MOOSE-SUCK NOTCH] (noun): 1. A place where people with backpacks are forced to crawl, scramble, teeter-over, slide, slip, trip, tumble, drop, climb, or otherwise travel without walking, through a narrow ravine filled will very sized(house/car/desk/etc) boulders covered with mud, moss, water, blood?, and other slippery substances for the distance of 1 mile.2. A fun day hike, filled with interesting and uniquely challenging rock obstacles.
Date: 2006-10-14
From: Hall Mountain Shelter

To: Bemis Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: clear sky

The down from Hall mountain was decent. We saw some snow on the northside of the mountain which was a bit scary since it is only mid October. Before Old Blue we were subjected to the largest PUD of the trail though. The PUD known as Moody Mountain. We stopped at South Arm Rd for lunch then proceded up Old Blue, which was not all the bad given all of the horror stories we heard from hikers along the way. We even saw some people today; four section hikers heading to their car on south arm rd. I there are other crazy people on the trail like us; very reassuring. We got to the shelter around dark again and decided against the night hike to the car, so we're out here for one more night.
Date: 2006-10-15
From: Bemis Mountain Shelter

To: Bemis Stream
Miles today: 3.8
Weather: broken clouds

Took the AT back down to the spot we stealth camped at when I had poison ivy and then hiked the old RR bed back to where we dropped the car off a few days ago. On the way back we stopped in at Walmart in Mexico, ME, for the longest most un-user-friendly photo kiosk to burn photos from SD card to CD. It was a painful experience, and we knew we were doing. The customers before us, and the ones next to us, had an even worse time of it.
Date: 2006-10-16
From: Kinsman Notch

To: Beaver Brook Shelter
Miles today: 1.6
Weather: clear sky

Dealt with resuppling, packing, internet, PO, and lunch in North Conway at the Thai Restaurant across the street from EMS. All that and surprise construction on the highway to the Notch yields....you guess'd it, another late start. HA. It was dusk when we started up Moosilauke and arrived at the shelter in darkness. The hike up was steep but not that bad. The cascades of Beaver Brook were really nice and the shelter had one of the best sunset views of the trail; complete with dazzling icicles hanging from the front gutter. Yeah, it was cold up there.
Date: 2006-10-17
From: Beaver Brook Shelter

To: Ore Hill Shelter
Miles today: 15.3

Finished Moosilauke early this morning. Man was it cold. There were patches of snow on top of the mountain and the winds were gusting. We definitely didn't stay long on top of the mountain. Cold weather traverse kind of goes like this: Hike to top, snap a quick picture, sprint to tree-line for wind protection. We were also blessed today. By some miracle, we experienced something so wonderful that words can hardly describe the joy and happiness involved with such a novel thing: we hiked on, ..., a hiking TRAIL!!!! I mean real actual honest to god hiking trail. No hands required, no iron rungs or wooden blocks, a decently graded and maintained surface that you can WALK on. I almost broke down and cried with joy. Ok, I may be exagerating a little. But after Moosilauke the trail really is nice, and the feeling that you're done with the hardest most demanding section of trail is simply wonderful.Tonight at the shelter we had some added protein: some really good sized bugs(larva) in the water I fetched from the nearby spring. I really should stop peering into water bottle, sometimes ignorance is truely bliss.
Date: 2006-10-25
From: US 4; Medon Mtn View Resort

To: Governor Clement Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light rain

Dear Jack Frost,   I enjoy the weather you bring. Skiing is one of my favorite lesuire activities during your reign in winter. Many local businesses and individuals depend on you for several monthes of the year.    It pains me to suggest this, knowing that you provide your services free of charge and out of the kindest of your cold heart. But, as a resprentative of Auntie Autumn I address you with this letter. The message is not meant to be personal or derisive in any way. It is however authoritative and hopefully respected as we do not want to involve any unpleasant legalities. SNOW BELONGS IN WINTER! NOT AUTUMN! TAKE YOUR DAMN SNOW AND SAVE IT FOR THE CORRECT MONTHES AND DO NOT INFRINGE ON AUNTIE AUTUMNS GIVEN MONTHES AGAIN.   Respectfully yours,    Mt Dew   Advocate for the Fair Respresentation of Seasonal Weather -----------------------------------The above letter was inspired by the 3-6" of snow on the ground and falling on us as we traversed Killington Mountain, VT, in October. OI! We woke up in the hotel and looked out the window to see the snow capped hillside. It was very hard to get going seeing that. But we pressed on. We saw that there were 2 long trail hikers ahead of us; they had left the shelter this morning and heading southbound like us. We planned on eating a hot lunch in the "enclosed" shelter at the top of Killington. It was definitely not "enclosed". Yes, there were four walls, but the 12 window frames which lacked the essential "window" component really let the weather do it's will to the interior of the shelter; and the weather's will was wind and snow. We ended up catching up with the two LT hikers just after lunch and spending the night with them at Governor Clement Shelter. Silver Heel(Christine) and Gauntlet(Laura) are sisters and are hiking the LT with there two dogs Annie and Buzz.
Date: 2006-11-10
From: North Wilcox Shelter

To: Great Barrington, MA
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

Pretty easy trail today. Coming down into the Housatonic river valley was the only "steep" part of the hike. We got a really quick hitch into town from a totally cool girl, Susanne. She was headed to the bar and dropped us off at the Comfort Inn in Great Barrington, MA. I was flattered when she said that she had to stop and give us a ride because my beard and for Rainbow Brite's pigtails. We ended up staying at the Mountain Monument motel and feasted on McD's for dinner, well, and some snack foods from the grocery store near by.
Date: 2006-11-14
From: Rockfish Gap

To: Paul C Wolfe Shelter
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: clear sky

This is just a holding post. We're done with New England(you know: ME,VT,NH,MA,CT,RI,......and my favorite, NY!; sorry inside joke.) Any how, we're heading down to VA today to finish up the segment we skipped over. 269.? miles till completion! Since we didn't have a lot of time to do posts I tried to upload more pictures. I figure at a thousand words a picture I get more for my money(time) posting the pictures. Hope you enjoy them!
Date: 2006-11-15
From: Paul C Wolfe Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: overcast clouds

The first couple of miles today were really good. Thankfully, VA:ODTC believes in switchbacks. Watching the clouds race over the ridge line in front of us as we walked was spectacular sight. I could also catch glimpses of what looked to be a condo complex adjacent to a ski resort on the side of the far ridge. I'm not sure what resort it could have been though. Around midday we practically tramped a Doe. It's amazing how tame the deer are. Rainbow Brite hiked within 15 feet of it before I noticed it and told her to stop and look left. It just stood there looking at us then resumed grazing. While taking a few pictures and video clips of it we hear a bah-like noise and looked over to see her yearling; it looked much like a fawn but didn't have any spots. Aside from some light drizzle the weather was decent today. Hopefully the bulk of the rain will be north of us tomorrow.
Date: 2006-11-16
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Harpers Creek Shelter
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: moderate rain

YUCK. Rain, heavy rain, and more rain, in addition to high winds, made this mornings hike miserable. After hiking the 6 some miles through it and over the three ridges area(which apparently is a brief taste of PA rocks for nobos), we decided to stay at the Harpers Creek Shelter. When we arrived there was actually a deer hunter already there doing exactly what we had in mind: drying out. [A few days later we found out that the area received about 5" of rain that day.]
Date: 2006-11-17
From: Harpers Creek Shelter

To: Fisher Hatchery Rd, Montebello VA
Miles today: 12.0

Nice hiking weather today temperature wise. We did some trail maintenance early in the day. Two medium sized trees fell directly on the path where the hill was fairly steep which made the walk-around a royal pain for hikers. So we moved it for all the subsequent hikers. My reward for this: two nice hand "rips" (picture callouses being torn off vs a pleasant blister forming and breaking open). All of this fun stuff before "The Priest". Since flip-flopping we're heard that VA is easy accept for a few spots; the Priest was one of the spots. According to the maps it was ~3093 ft elevation gain in 4.3 miles. Sounds really bad huh? Sounds a little like the White Mountains in New Hampshire right? Well, numbers really mislead you here. It's important to remember that VA trail club BELIEVE in SWITCHBACKS! It's a truly amazing invention and makes for a steady pleasant uphill. I felt like I could have jogged up the mountain. Part way up we met a day hiker with her dog. She very generously gave us a Nelson County Fuji apple; mmmmmmmmmm very delicious. We ate lunch at the Priest shelter which was nice and had a really good spring. ** TIP FOR NOBOs: If you like camping on top of mountains, stop in at the shelter to get water then continue to the top of the Priest. There are some really awesome campsite up there. ***Hiked down/up/down/up/down/up/.../down to the Fish Hatchery Hill. Sadly, Montebello, VA was waiting 2.5 miles down the hill in the valley and unbeknownst to us, the Dutch House was closed down till Jan 1(I REALLY WISHED THE BOOK MENTIONED THAT FACT). After blue blazing downhill 2.5 miles to discover this, and that the campground was also closed made us very very happy as you can imagine. Luckily, the campground still rented its cabins and there was one available.
Date: 2006-11-23
From: Bluffton, Ohio

To: Bluffton, Ohio
Miles today: 0.0

We ate Thanksgiving with the relatives at my grandparents' farm (mother's side). A whole bunch of us were there: Mom & Dad, Erica & Larry with Wade and Peyton; Elvina; Marlene & Marv; Louise; David; Bonita & Greg with Joel, Grant, Kayrsa, and Janae; and John & Sheri with Morgan, Sydney, and Jenna. It was good to see everyone and to share the holiday with them.
Date: 2006-11-25
From: Lexington, VA; Petites Gap (Again!)

To: Thunderhill Shelter
Miles today: 1.4
Weather: clear sky

We got sucked in by town again this morning. We ended up watching "Harry Potter; The Goblet of Fire" in the motel room instead of hitting the trail bright and early. We checked out around 11am and hit Burger King for lunch. To our surprise the Blue Ridge Parkway was CLOSED at Petities Gap due to an ice storm over Thanksgiving. This meant not resuming on the trail at the Thunder Ridge overlook parking lot where we left off. Translation? EXTRA MILES that we ALREADY DID! DOH!Two day hikers were at the shelter when we arrived. After talking with them a while they returned to their car. While setting up in the shelter another hiker(sectioner) rolled in; his name was Swaggs. He made a fire and chatted sparsely with us about the trail.
Date: 2006-12-01
From: US 220; Daleville

To: Campbell
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

Really beautiful hiking today. Weather-wise, we lucked out. It was supposed to be cold, rainy, and very winds. Instead, we received about 5 minutes of light mist, mild temperatures, and wind (sometimes the weatherman extragerates things). Hiking along the ledges at the top of Tinker Cliffs was one of the better cliff-walks on the trail. Also, some of the gaps were very nice inspite of the hip-deep leaves you had to wade through. We had to night-hike to our shelter again today. Upon arriving a small bat flew the coup -- no bugs at least, go batty!
Date: 2006-12-03
From: Pickle Branch

To: Sarver Hollow 
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

Almost had to night hike down to the shelter today. The sunset through the trees was really nice; thin ribbon (stratus?) clouds offered brillant shades of color. Tales from the register told us that the shelter is the devil's own handywork. Appearantly it was built by hellspawn specifically at this sacrifical site which happens to be exactly 666.0 miles from springer. The shelter was really nice even though it is .3 off the ridgeline to get to it.
Date: 2006-12-07
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Wapiti
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

The uphill out of Pearisburg wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Angel's rest was an ok view, but I thought some of the overlooks along the trail were better. The rocks near Angel's rest were neat though. The ridgeline walk was easy going. We made really good time over to Wapiti inspite of the snow flurries which started to accumulate on the ground and on us. We thought we had passed the shelter but eventually spotted the sign for it. The previous registered had an enter that said the shelter didn't have a sign and it could easily be missed; snow and that entry caused a lot of anxiety and doubt. We set up the tent in the shelter since it was supposed to be in the low teens for the overnight low. Brrrrrrrr.
Date: 2006-12-08
From: Wapiti

To: VA 606
Miles today: 7.7

The weather has been unseasonable cold; the night's are especially bad. We decided to walk over to Trent's grocery for lunch today. After experiencing the warmth of the store it was decided to return to Pearisburg for the night and to do the 18+ miles the next day. We ended up getting a shuttle from the Rendevous motel owner. While waiting at the store I got us some scratch tickets to pass the time. Well, the first round was no $ for R.B but I won. I reinvested in 5 more tickets, which all won! Then pocketed the break even money and reinvested the remainder, which all won! Then reinvested the money again, which all lost! Over all I think we were 13|5 win|loss which was pretty amazing. The ride to the motel was very ... colorful... conversation-wise, I'll refrain for the youngin's who might be reading this.
Date: 2006-01-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, it looks like another sleepless night as the planning continues. Just a while ago I was talking to an old friend Jill back home and as soon as I got off the phone I was going to jump into bed for a good nights rest but decided to check my e-mail real quick. ¢Real Quick, yea right¢ One thing lead to another and here I sit with thoughts of the trail going through my mind. A little of this is due to some trail talk earlier this evening between myself, Ray and Dave back home, by the way guys thanks for signing my guest book, and the rest is due to today¢s visit to Whole Earth Provisions here is San Antonio and a few other local gear shops. That always helps.So, today I bought a few items that I needed for the trek and a few others that will just add weight to the pack.   However if not needed those extra items will stay at home, but I just had to have them. One thing I bought that was much needed is a set of ¢Cold Gear¢ Under Armour. Although a bit pricy this stuff is great out on the trail if you have never tried it. It has a quick dry time, it is lightweight, and it stuffs nicely into your pack. Hopefully it will come in use early on into the trail as the temperatures could still be below freezing. I also bough a GSI lexan resin cup and set of Nalgene travel bottles. I probably won¢t use all the bottles at one time but they could be helpful in last minute packing or for mail dropping supplies. The lightest thing that I bought is a Nalgene Easy Sipper. Never used one but just had to get it. It was only $2. This afternoon is spent a little while putting together a journal for the trail. I bought a packet of blank postcards with a border at Office Depot and formatted them with the entry number, date, weather conditions, starting and ending locations for the day, miles hiked, points of interest and so on....... I am going to have them bound 30 or so at a time so I won¢t have to carry the complete journal thus saving a little weight. I think this format will be a good idea and the size (4-1/4¢ x 5-1/2¢) will be perfect for the pack. Since I was on the isle with the do it yourself business cards I picked up a pack and have formatted them with trail name, real name, e-mail address, and a website link for everyone I encounter that want to keep up with my postings along the way. This evening I stopped at Borders to pick up this months edition of Backpacker Magazine. It is the ¢Gear Guide Edition¢ and has a great review of current gear on the market. It also helped me picked up one or two more companies to write for possible sponsorships. So we will see how that goes. And last for the day, I talked to Mom and Dad back home and she is experimenting with the dehydrator. With just 42 or 49 days until my departure we are going to team up and start preparing and sealing my meals. She is going to start dehydrating there and I am going to start dehydrating here in hopes together we can put out something worth eating.   Hope everyone is as excited about this as I am. Before you know it we will be on our way North.
Date: 2006-04-01
To: Final Prep
Miles today: 0.0

Well this is it. Final packing is done and I sit ready for my journey to begin. After a late night last night finalizing my pack and going through my first couple of mail drops Mom, Dad, and myself came up to Helen, GA before the big start tomorrow morning. We thought a few good meals and a little relax time would be good before the start. Thanks guys the ribs were great¢¦ I also want to say thanks once again for everyone¢s support in getting me this far and don¢t worry it¢s up to me now and I will be fine. From the bears to the rain to the discomforts of living out of a pack that¢s why it is called an adventure. I am ready. So sit back and keep the emails and phone calls coming. I will post updates and responses as often as possible for your enjoyment while wishing you were here.
Date: 2006-04-03
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Gooch Mtn Shelter 
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: light rain

The storm this morning passed though just before 8:00 am and I was able to have a little breakfast and head out on the trail around 8:45. Beth and Michele left with me and hiked along for about 2 miles before stopping for a break while I continued on hiking. The two most difficult parts of the trail ahead was Sassafras Mountain and Hightower Gap where I started to endure a couple of blisters. Never to fret though I stopped and slapped on some moleskin then returned to hiking. On my way up Sassafras Mountain I met 'Muddy Shoes' from Orlando as he was taking a break and playing a cedar flute then just a bit further I met 'Snail¢ as I crested the top of the mountain. She was from West Virginia and giving the trail an attempt. I stopped for lunch on the top of Sassafras Mountain before bridged over to Cooper Gap where I met up with 'Taco and Sara'. As you can already tell the trail is a very busy place early in the season. I hiked a little further to Justus Mountain when another storm hit but this time with hail about the size of blue berries and not near as much lightning as last night¢s storm. Although I got a little wet the rain felt good and the hail never was large enough to hurt. I reached Gooch Mountain Shelter around 3:15pm and decided to call it a day. I selected a tent pad out behind the shelter and started setting up camp. The shelter is a very nice three-sided structure but once again I had rather stay in my new condo of roughly 20 square feet. Just behind the shelter was a good water source and a little further on a side trail a nice open aired privy. People continued to drift in the rest of the afternoon and settled in for the night. As tenting areas began to fill up I offered to share half my tenting pad with a guy named Ben. He is from the Northeast and is using the same Sierra Designs Light Year tent that I am. It¢s good to see that others are using my same exact equipment that I am using. After I had everything set up for the night and dinner cooked I decided to walk over to the shelter to introduce myself and met a few other hikers that I did not meet on the trail today. The two friendliest were 'Mac¢ and ¢Sleep Walker' as the others mostly stayed to themselves. By this time the shelter was pretty full but everyone kept shifting around attempting to make room for fellow hikers that were late getting to the shelter for the night. As it starting to get dark the wind picked up and with the howling winds the temperature started to drop. This was a good signal for me to head to my tent and settle in for the night. So I did just that. After hanging my food bag and brushing my teeth, I went on to bed and journaled a little before turning off my headlamp. Tonight at Gooch Mountain Shelter: Mac, Ben, Sleep Walker, Muddy Shoes, Taco, Sara, myself, and several others.
Date: 2006-04-04
From: Gooch Mtn Shelter 

To: Blood Mountain
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

This morning was quite cold down to around 35 degrees and the wind was still blowing pretty hard. I broke camp in a hurry ready to eat breakfast and get moving to warm up. I headed out of Gooch Mountain Shelter around 8:15 and had nice 5-mile hike over to Woody Gap. There I met up with Mac, Map-Man, and Robin and took a couple pictures with the Georgia Mountains in the background. The area at Woody Gap is really nice and has picnic tables and good views for visitors traveling along GA-60 to stop and take a break. We pushed on and stopped just the other side of Big Cedar Mountain for a lunch break before hiking a little more toward Granny Top Mountain. Mac ended up stopped for the night at Woods Hole Shelter while the rest of us continued on toward Blood Mountain. We stopped just before our ascend up Blood Mountain at Slaughter Creek to fill up our water bottles as there is not a water supply on top of the mountain per ¢Wingfoot¢. The ascent up the mountain was quite nice as it had steps carved into the trail periodically to cut down on trail erosion and to help with traction. Once on top the views from Blood Mountain were great. The shelter here is also pretty nice on the out side but the inside is in bad need of repair. It is a four-sided stone shelter with a wooden shake roof nestled in the middle of a large rock outcropping. Since there was a rumor that a skunk lived inside we decided to stay in our tents just past the shelter on a grassy point. At sunset we took a few pictures toward the west because the sun set directly over Springer Mountain in the distance. It is hard to believe that we just left Springer a few days earlier and have already come this far. While watching the sunset we were introduced to Baltimore, Jordan, and Power Stroke. The three of them were pushing the light of day and still hiking in hopes to reach Neel¢s Gap tonight. Old Power Stroke is a true character as he is carrying an external frame pack and is wearing an old camouflage hat. The hat has a Ford logo on front advertising the Power Stroke Truck. He left the tip of Florida in January of this year and has hiked from the Florida Keys to here in just over 4 months. He said that he was going to hike until ¢these here mountains run into the sea in Canada¢. Just by my first impression I believe him. After dark I checked my phone, which had a weak signal, so I was able to make a quick call home to check in and arranged my mail drop coming up in Hiawassee, GA this Friday. After talking to Mom and Dad for a couple of minutes I crawled inside my tent for a windy nights rest out on the point at Blood Mountain.Tonight on Blood Mountain: Map Man, Robin, Salt, Pepper, and I