morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-06-27
From: North Woodstock, Nh

To: Guyot Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

Woke up feeling refreshed. Hit Peg's diner up for breakfast. We got the Hungry Man Special because we are hungry men. I called The Doctor to see if she was on her way to work. She wasn't, the power went out and she had slept in. So it was a short conversation because she had to hurry to get ready. We got a hitch in about 6 minutes and we were on the trail by 9am. We had a climb right off the bat. We were sweating within 15 minutes. We stopped at Liberty Spring for water. We saw POZ there. He did a work for stay last night and said all he did was sweep the walkway. That sound super easy. I know when I do a work for stay they'll make me wash dishes or do public speaking. So we pushed on to Mt. Lafayette and it was beautiful. It was clear enough to get a good view and great pictures. This part of the trail makes it worth hiking all those crappy parts. I dont even remember the climb up, I just remember how big everything looked. It felt like I was in the middle of nowhere and it was fun. It was really foggy on top of Lafayette but we took lunch there anyway. We meet a guy and his kid. They were out for the day just enjoying the Mtn just like us. We pushed out of there pretty quick to get to Galehead hut. We should get a work for stay there. We stopped at Garfield Ridge to get water then made our way to Galehead hut. When we got there we saw Dynamite, Bigfoot, Spruce, Yep, and Vortex. We were surprised to say the least. They were supposed to be a day ahead of us but they took a zero day In Lincoln. So now there is a thru hiker bottleneck and we cant get a work for stay because they only take the first two hikers. I was a little upset because we slowed down at the beginning so the other hikers could get ahead and we all could get work for stays pretty easily. Well you win some you lose some. Now we have to hike 4 mile to a shelter you have to pay 8 dollars to stay at. Its very hard to pay for something you have been getting for free the whole trail. We packed in the shelter and got the last two spots. Lot of Weekenders out. I felt out numbered and a bit scared. They had the strangest thing like, glass bottles of liquor, 32 oz of gas fuel, bacon, which actually sounds good by he had a 6 piece steel cook set. I feel I need to get out of here in case its contagious. Its going to be hard to sleep because they take up so much room. They think they should have a king size bed space to their self. Alright thats enough Weekender bashing. I'm just mad I didn't get a work for stay. Spruce and the crew ended up coming to the shelter about an hour later. They did a work for stay and just got a crowded shelter. T Bear and I are planning to get out early tomorrow so we can make it to Mizpah hut.
Date: 2008-06-28
From: Guyot Shelter

To: Mizpah Spring Hut
Miles today: 18.3

I got up at 5am and everyone was still asleep. I grabbed my food and cooked breakfast outside of the shelter. After breakfast we packed up and left at 6am for zealand hut for some leftover breakfast. We got there at about 8am and asked if they had leftover for sale. They said that they had just put it away but we could have all you can eat pastries and bread for two dollars. So we ate as much as we could for a half hour because we needed to hit the trail to make it Mizpah on the early side. We had a nice 8 mile stretch of trail that was relatively flat. We were able to keep a 3 mile an hour pace. When we got to Saco river they were doing a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new foot bridge for the trail. After they cut the ribbon they cheered us and two other hikers across the bridge. We were the first thru hiker across the bridge after the ceremony. Our pictures might be in the local paper or in some AMC newsletter. The climb up to Mt. Webster was tough. We are use to these climbs by now. We blazed through the last 6 miles and got to the hut just before 3pm. We dropped the packs and went inside to ask about work for stay. Erin said sure. we can find some things for you to do. We were stoked! I got cleaned up and put on my name tag I brought with me and started doing dishes. Oh and Toddy Bear helped. It brought me back to the days when I worked for Jennifer's Kitchen. It was the easiest 30 minutes for a work for stay but we got roped into a presentation on being a thru hiker on the Appalachian trail. So tonight after dinner I have to do public speaking on a full stomach. Not Good. We have to wait for every one to get done eating before we are allowed to eat. so we just hung out in the Library/Game room playing solitaire and chess. Em Tater. We really didn't play chess we just got a picture that looked like we are. At 730pm we ate the leftover dinner. It was great food and we had 3 plates and a piece of chocolate cake. After dinner we had a semi presentation with Q/A at the end. A lot of people were truly interested in what we were doing. We answer all there questions and talked with them for over an hour. I was nervous but I had fun telling everyone about my experiences on the trail. At the end everyone thanked us and we got ready for bed. We set up camp in the Library so we could have a little more privacy. I had fun today and I had yet another experience I won't forget. I can wait until my next adventure. Stovie out.
Date: 2008-06-29
From: Mizpah Spring Hut

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 11.8

Got to bed at 10pm. A little late for me. Woke up a few time in the night. Kept hearing noises so I put my earplugs in. I got up at 6am. I heard people moving around down stairs. We hung out in the Library until they were finished with breakfast. We ate the leftovers, eggs, oatmeal, cornbread, and pineapple. It was so good. After breakfast it was raining but we heard it was going to clear up so we headed out in hopes that it would be clear by the time we got to the top of the mountain. When we go to the ridge for the most part it was. We had a couple of views then right back in fog. All the way to Mt. Washington we were in the fog. It was foggy when we first got up there then it cleared up after we ate in the cafeteria. We were able to get some good pictures and do some tourist watching.The section between Mt. Washington and Mt. Madison was like an abusive boyfriend. The views say I love you but the rocks say I want to bash you knees with a baseball bat. Thats a bad joke. Abuse isn't funny kids. Just say no. We made it to the hut with minor aches and pains. We went inside to see if we could get a work for stay. We were in luck. The only problem was I opened my mouth about doing a presentation and they thought that was a great idea. So were doing a presentation tonight. I went back outside and laid out my clothes to dry and wait for dinner. As we were sitting outside we saw a fog roll in overtaking the Mt. and the hut.We ate dinner at 730pm and had, stuffed shell, green beans, chicken noodle soup, and salad. We ate until we could eat no more. After dinner we gave our presentation. It was a little different from last time. We had to stand up in the front of the whole room and talk about our experiences. There must have been 40 people there. It went well and they asked a lot of questions. It was amazing how interested they were in hiking the A.T. After the presentation I talked to a family from Great River Long Island. They are PA's in Patchogue. So another great day on the A.T. We ended the day by sleeping on the tables in the dining room.
Date: 2008-06-30
From: Madison Hut

To: Carter Hut
Miles today: 13.7

Up at 515am. I didn't fall off the table so it was a good night. One of the croo was up preparing breakfast so I packed up my stuff to be out of the way. I made some hot chocolate and wait for the guest to wake up. At 630am one of the croo into the bunk room and sang them a song. I think it was Billie Joel. After everyone was done eat we swooped in and ate all the leftovers. We left at 830am and climbed over Mt. Madison. It was very hard to do on a full stomach. We had fog for the most part but it did break long enough for us to see where we were going for lunch. The trail was rough and rocky. It slowed us down to a 1.5 mph pace. If it wasn't for the last 2 miles being extremely easy we would had never got there at our expected time. We had lunch at Pinkham Notch. There was a deli there that was overpriced and slow. We lefted at 1pm in hopes we would make it to carter hut in time to do a work for stay. The climb out of Pinkham and up Wildcat Mtn. was super hard. I would say it rivals some of the hardest climbs on the A.T. This section is steep, wet, muddy, poorly maintained and very few white blazes. When I got to the hut I was beat. Even if we didnt get work for stay, which we did, I wouldn't be moving very far. Since there were only 5 people staying at the hut, they let us stay in one of the bunkrooms. That was pretty sweet. I got washed up, towel bath, and waited for the guest to finish eating so we could do our work for stay. We ate turkey, chicken, salad, tomato basil soup, bread and rice pudding for dessert. After dinner we just sat around with the croo and talked about dumb questions people ask. One of the girls had the best one. "At what elevation do deer turn into moose?" She wasn't kidding. she has heard that question more than once. At 830pm we asked them if there was anything the wanted us to do. They said "If you didn't say anything we would have forgot you needed to do anything". We would have felt bad if we didnt do some kind of work since we did have such nice accommodations. So they had us wipe down the pantry shelves. It took us less than 30 minutes and it was easier than a presentation. While I was in the kitchen I was reading some of the funny stuff they had on the frig. One example was a list of thru hiker chores and one of them said eat the leftovers. Thats the best chore a thru hiker could have.   I'll try to take a picture of the other stuff tomorrow but for now I'm off to bed in my cozy bunk room.
Date: 2008-07-01
From: Carter Hut

To: Gorham, Nh
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: fog

Up by 6am. Sleep really good in the bunk room. We decided to eat our own breakfast today so we could get out on the trail by 7am. I took picture of the croo and the funny things on the frig. The climb out of carter Notch was hard to say the least. It wasn't as hard as Wildcat Mtn but it was hard enough. After the carter mtns we hit some buggy areas. We dropped down to one of the shelters but we didn't walk the side trail to it because we wanted to get to town. The climb up Mt. Moriah was long and unwanted. We planned to eat lunch on top of Moriah but there wasn't any place to sit so we just went down the Mt. About 10 minutes down the was a bench on the side of the trail. We figured that was a sign to eat lunch. As we sat and ate lunch the bugs descended on us with a vengeance. We cut our lunch short and hiked on. We stopped at the last shelter before town and did a privy bomb. I signed the registry and pressed on. As we hiking the last 2 miles I wished I put on the deet spray because the mosquitos were eating me up. Instead of stopping I just toughed it out. At the road we got a hitch in 6 minutes by an AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) trunk. He dropped us off at The edge of town. We walked to the post office and I picked up my two packages. We stopped at Mcdonalds for a second lunch then hit the hostel. Washed clothes, took a shower, ate Burger King for dinner and watched some TV. I'm ready for Maine. Less that 300 miles to go!
Date: 2008-07-02
From: Gorham, Nh

To: carlo col shelter
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: light rain

Yeti came in at 10pm last night. We stayed up and talked for a little while. I slept good through the night. We got up at 7am and slowly got our stuff together. We left the hotel at 830am and hit dunkin donuts for breakfast. I got 4 donuts and a cup of coffee. I miss coffee almost as much as I miss my wife. We stopped at the outfitter for supplies and hitched out of town. The hitch was fast and we were on the trail by 10am. We had a hard climb at the beginning of the day. It didn't help that it was a dead heat. In the afternoon we heard the thunder coming in and we knew we were in for a wet one. At 130pm it started raining. We put on our pack cover but not our rain gear because it was too hot. We hiked for 2 hour in a poorly maintained and dangerous and wet trail. Toddy Bear had a fall but he's ok, just mad at the trail and the weather. A few times we had to stop below tree line to wait for the lightening to pass. As soon as we got to the shelter it stopped raining. we rung out our clothes had a snack and keep hiking to the next shelter. Not soon after we left the shelter the rain came in again and we were back to being soaking wet. It was getting cold now and stopping to put on rain wouldn't help so we just kept on hiking. About a mile before the shelter the rain let up. We crossed into Maine and took some pictures at the sign. "Maine the way life should be." The shelter was .3 mile off the trail and it was the longest .3 mile, that didn't count, I had to hike. We were the only people at the shelter. We hung all our wet clothes, got some water, and washed up. It was 730pm by the time we started dinner. Its going to be a late night. It was 830pm by the time we got in bed and I did my journal until 9pm.
Date: 2008-07-03
From: carlo col shelter

To: Speck pond shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: broken clouds

A good nights sleep in the empty shelter. I didn't hear my alarm this morning so I got up at 630am. We had breakfast in bed. The registry said that a bear comes around at 6am looking for food but we didn't see him. So we got a late start, hitting the trail at 8am. We hiked up, we hiked down, up, down. We had a little flat terrain then hit the first shelter. There was a group of ten young girls at the shelter. They planned on taking a zero there. When we were leaving I heard them talking about the movie Matilda. Just before we hit Mahoosac Notch, Toddy Bear slipped and stepped in a knee deep bog. He wasn't happy but I took a picture anyways. Now I want to give some background on Mahoosac Notch. Its roughly a mile long and the trail is riddled with gigantic rocks. It is very difficult to keep a 1 mph pace and its said that two hours is the normal pace. When we first entered, we dropped 30 feet down and the temperature dropped 30 degrees. It was like being in a walk in cooler. The Notch was really awesome and I took a lot of pictures. We saw a moose carcass on the trail. I enjoyed hiking the Notch but I'm not sure I would do it again because there were a couple of times I thought I was going to slip, fall and break my neck. I didn't so hoorah for me. We pass a few groups of people going through there. At the end we finished it in just over an hour. If we didn't stop for picture and wait for each other to catch up we could have done it in much less time. We sat near the water source at the end and had lunch. We were suppose to go to Frye Notch but we are moving a lot slower than we anticipated. We got to Speck pond shelter and made the choice to stay. We were tired and had no desire to push on to the next shelter. This shelter is a pay shelter so we asked the caretaker if we could do a work for stay. He said he can only take two of us so we all did the work and split the pay spot. All we did was stack rock along the trails to the tent sites to keep people on the trail. When people walk off the path it not only kills plant life but can cause erosion. It was a easy work for stay. I ate a bunch of food for dinner. I brought way to much food but now I'm not hungry. Lots of hikers at this campsite. I hope it doesnt stay like this for 4th of July weekend. Going into town tomorrow for a small resupply then back out to the next shelter. I'm still enjoying the hike even though we only hiked 9 miles and I'm tired as hell.
Date: 2008-07-04
From: Speck pond shelter

To: 1 mi. North of East B. Hill Rd.
Miles today: 16.0

I slept all the way through the night because yesterday was so exhausting. I got up at a few minutes after 5am with a little effort. We were able to eat, pack up and be out of camp by 6am. There were two section hikers in the shelter with us last night. We'll call them team been there done that. They were talking to some SOBO's, answering question with opinion and passing it off as fact. This morning they showed no trail etiquette by being extremely noisy at 5am as they got up and made breakfast. There were hikers still sleeping but Team been there done that didn't seem to care. I was happy to leave there this morning knowing I will never stay in the same shelter as them. It was chilly this morning but the first climb warmed us up. The first mile we did in 40 minutes and we feared we would never see our 3 mph pace again. As the day went on we were able to bring our pace up and over 2 mph. This boosted our morale. We ate lunch at Baldpate Mtn (East Peak) and what a beautiful view. It was sunny, clear and I totally forgot how tired and sore I was. It nice to have lunch with a view and no one around for miles. We hit the next shelter in good time and met a SOBO named Spanky, we didn't ask. We swapped info on what was ahead then grabbed some water and headed for the road. When we got to the road we realized that it was a small unused road. It took 15 minutes for the first car to drive by. This was going to be a hard hitch. We really needed a food resupply because we miss calculated how many miles we were capable of doing. So we ended up calling a shuttle to come pick us us. It cost 8 dollars roundtrip. The resupply in Andover was poor. We got what we could and ate dinner at the diner. I got 2 bacon cheeseburgers and waffle fries. They were good. Just writing about it makes me hungry. We got back on the trail at 6pm. It is to late to make it to the shelter so we looked for a place to camp. We found a decent spot that was near a stream this way we would have water. We found some flat spots, setup the tents, got water and hung our food. Yeti was able to check the weather on his phone and he said it going to get down in the 30's. I hope the weather man is wrong because thats too cold for me. Tomorrow is a big day. We have to keep a 18 mile a day pace to stay on time. Our finish date is July 17. That is when The Doctor is picking me up and I don't want to disappoint the Doc. Sorry I couldn't be there for the 4th of july Mom. I got your voicemail and I'll definitely be there next year.
Date: 2008-07-05
From: 1 mi. North of East B. Hill Rd.

To: Bemis Mtn lean to
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: clear sky

Last night as I was falling a sleep, I heard twigs cracking like someone was walking through the woods. Then I hear Toddy Bear say its a moose. So I get my camera but by the time I was able to look out, it was already gone. I will see a moose before the end.I got up at 5am, pack up my stuff and gave a wake up call to the guys. Ate pop tarts and hit the trail by 6am. It wasn't to bad of a hike to the shelter. We got there at 8am. I took a snack break there. I seem to be more and more hungry each day. I just can't eat enough food to be full. We left there and headed for the next shelter 13 miles away. Shortly after leaving the shelter, Toddy Bear fell while walking down the hill. We started laughing and I took a step forward and I fell too. We started laughing again but I quickly realized that I rolled by ankle. I've done it before but usually I catch myself with the trekking pole and its not that bad. This time the ankle took the weight and I just collapsed to the ground. It took a minute to get up and I was able to put weight on it with minimal pain. When we stopped to look at the view on the top of the Mtn then started to go again, that when the pain set in. My ankle was swollen and it was making it hard to move my ankle. When we stopped for lunch near a stream, I soaked my foot in the cold water to reduce the swelling. I also took Ibuprofen to help with the swelling and pain. Near the end of the day my ankle was feeling better, we got to see some good views and we did 7200 feet of climbing. Needless to say I was tired. Yeti gave me his ace bandage to use for compression. R.I.C.E. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. The only thing I can't do is rest, well maybe a little tonight. I ate a whole box of mac n cheese with some potatoes. I still hungry but thats all the food I can eat for tonight. Tomorrows a new day, a better day. 237 miles to Katahdin.
Date: 2008-07-06
From: Bemis Mtn lean to

To: Piazza Lean to
Miles today: 19.5

The SOBO that stayed with us last night was up at 4am and out by 5am. I got up after he left. He sure did make a lot of noise. Had some pop tarts in bed and left the shelter by 630am. The swelling on my ankle hasn't gone down and it was stiff for awhile this morning. I hiked by myself most of the day because I was unable to keep the same pace at the other guys. I caught up with them at the next shelter and again 1.7 miles later at the power lines. Thats were we had lunch. I didn't stay long because I ran out of water and needed to hike 3 mile to the next water source. When I got there I was happy to see the water was clean and flowing. The guys showed up a few minutes later. We had a few miles to the road then we were going to hitch to Rangely. Just before the trail exits into the parking lot the was a cooler with "Trail Magic". It had a bunch ogre stuff, fresh fruit, soda, beer, candy, juice, everything a thru hiker wants. After raiding the cooler we went out to the parking lot to see about a ride. I saw a couple getting into a van and asked them for a ride. A little hesitate at first but they said yes. while engaging in small talk I found out they were from Freeport, Ny. Thats the same place The Doctor works. I could tell they were from NY because while they were driving I heard them say "Whats this guy doing in front of us. Why's he keep tapping on his brakes." It really sounded like one of the Doctor and I's conversations we have in the car. They dropped us off in town and wished us luck. We ate at a place called the Red Onion. The service was slow but the food was excellent. I was able to charge up my phone while we waited so it worked out. I got a reuben with onion rings and it was good. I stopped by the general store and picked up my own ace bandages so I could give Yeti's back. We did a snack resupply at the IGA and I got a sandwich from the deli to eat at the shelter tonight. As we were trying to get a hitch out of town a guy came walking over from IGA's parking lot and said he would give us a ride. His name was Superman and he hiked in '06. He works for a local place called Riff Raft Freindly's. They have been doing "Trail Magic" for the last couple of days. when he dropped us off we said thank you and then hit the 'Trail Magic" cooler one more time before we went to the next shelter. At Piazza shelter we had to build a fire because the bugs were bad. I ate my sandwich and a skors bar for dessert. The registry says this shelter has mice. We'll see how bad. I would have to say I have the itch to be done but I still want to enjoy the last 220 miles. I hope I can do both. Here's to another day down.Special thanks to:Riff Raft Friendly'sJukebox and BrianSupermanKeep doing what your doing. Us hikers love ya.