morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-06-28
From: North Mt Wilcox Shelter

To: Home
Miles today: 15.6

Tried to get an early start. Didn't really happen. It seems like there isn't much to do to break down a campsite but somehow it just takes a while. Maybe it's the fact that for the first 30-40 steps my feet are stiff and trying to warm up. Or maybe we really just want to lay around for 15 more minutes. There really isn't any deadline besides a maildrop you need to get into town for or a friend you need to catch up with. So we start around 7:30. Thinking about trying to hit 20 miles today. Finish 5 in no time and sit down to have breakfast. Well, after two hours or more and two hikers stopping by to talk, we set off again. Also trying to plan getting out of the woods. Renting a car from the trail- not easy. 45 minutes or so and two rental companies and four dropped calls later, I text my brother and ask for a favor, when I finally find service. Within 15 minutes and another half mile of trying to find service again, he lets us know he can get us. This is all because around noon today we found out the funeral is Friday. It's Wednesday now, so we just want to be off trail tonight. With this all in mind, we start moving with purpose. As we near the last couple of miles, we start to slow down. We're tired and when your body knows it's about to take a break, it longs for one. Everything feels exhausting, your pack gets uncomfortable and you start counting minutes. At just about this point, Billy Goat swings through. We had bumped into him the day before so we strike a convo for a second. Realizing he's cool peeps, he sets off at a raging pace and we follow right along. It's pretty funny, jogging down a trail and having convo at the same time. It all really starts to feel like Lord of the Rings. Somehow it gets even more epic. It's also starting to occur to me what this all really is. It's a backpacking trip, yeah, but it's really a very long endurance race. Putting in 15 miles a day is not leasiurely walking through the woods. It's moving 2-3 miles and hour which still sounds slow. But...it's not. This is an extreme activity as one hiker we met once said. Well, we're off trail in no time. Say farewell to Billy Goat. He hiked all of CT in a day and a half so we may never see him again. Off to town with a hitch and we're at a nice restaurant eating a pretty great meal. A few drinks and about 5 hours later, it's 11:30 and we can't sit at the restaurant anymore. My brother is on his way but couldn't leave till pretty late so looking like 1 am or so. What do we do? What any hiker would do. We walk across the street to the park in the center of town, find a couple benches, pull out our rain gear and sleep there like homeless people. Two hours later, my brother has arrived and we're in a car on the way home.
Date: 2017-06-30
To: Home still
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Very sad day. Woke up early and headed to Mark's funeral. So sad to see someone pass so young. Wasn't even 40 and leaving a daughter behind. Coming off the trail for this, it really was quite a shock. Living in this fairytale world and then getting hit with reality. Heavy stuff. Afterwards, I headed home to finish trail prep and Ishmael stayed with her aunt to have some time together. Even though there's so much sadness, being home has been good. A real chance to throughly go through our gear and assess everything. Leaving for the trail again quite a bit lighter. Every ounce counts.
Date: 2017-07-01
From: US Route 20

To: October Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: broken clouds

Humus came over around 10 am today. With the last few days behind us, it was time to once again hit the trail. He had arrived while I had been out getting breakfast. Up the stairs I go and we fist pound. It's amazing to spend time with friends in the woods and this starts the beginning of a 5 day trek together. Nothing was going as planned and we had a million last minute tasks to accomplish. Get this bag for the phone, wait which bag do the toiletries go in now, we need a new bag for the tent trash system. A million goofy tasks that all lead up to us vanishing in the woods again. We wrap it all up anyway and Cat had swung by to pick us up. Today she is our trail angel. She's driving us 3 hours west across mass and saving us a boatload of money in the process. Plus we will end up at the trail and not some car rental place. We stop at a pizza joint for an early dinner after eating snacks in the car for nearly 2 straight hours. Eggplant parm sub and sodas. Man, it's like being an adult and a kid at the same time. Finish our meals and back to the trail. Once we are in the woods, we all exchange smiles. Brother Humus has been looking forward to this as much as us. 7 miles to do and we start at 5:30. By the time we arrive we are using headlamps and setting up in the dark. It was a solid push and now we look forward to tomorrow. Rock n' roll.
Date: 2017-07-02
From: October Mountain Shelter

To: Levardi's
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: light rain

Leisurely wake up. Make breakfast and chill with the weekenders. Sharing stories about thru hiking. They seem very intriguied just as I once was. Now it just seems like life and a good one at that. A magical place even, perhaps. Today we would hike a few more miles. We set a goal of some where around 11 miles and set off on our way. It's so cool having a travel partner. Good day of travel. Surprisingly the campsite we had planned on ended up being someone's house in Dalton, MA. This guy has been putting up hikers for 37 years. Let us stay on his lawn and even let us borrow bikes to ride into town. It's our one year anniversary tomorrow, so time for a night on the town. Well, the sub shop was open. So we had some subs. Bought a couple nips from the packy and back to Tom's to celebrate. Glad we stayed here with Humus. This is truly an AT experience.
Date: 2017-07-03
From: Levardi's

To: Mark Noepel Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: clear sky

Time to summit Mass' biggest peak. Wake up at a reasonable time and get moving. Head downtown and grab breakfast at a nice little coffee shop. Morning coffee and hang with Mafia. She's having shoulder issues and may have to get off trail. Really hope we see her again. She's a good egg. So we set off and it's a while before we are in the woods. But once we are there, up we go. We aren't going to summit today but we are about to do 1600 feet of elevation. It's funny. Climbing a mountain is like going up stairs for a really long time. Hey! Walk up 60 flights of stairs today for fun. And then let's do it tomorrow. Thank god there's stuff to look at and also, sometimes, obstacle courses.
Date: 2017-07-04
From: Mark Noepel Shelter

To: MA Route 2
Miles today: 9.6

So we decide that tonight the Northern Mass Woods Team must return to being a duo as this will be our last day together. If we venture onward, we would end up in Vermont and that'd be too complicated for Humus to get back and to his plane. So this is it. We pack up and have breakfast. We exchange smiles. It's been a good run and like I said before, it's been great having a new companion. Humus is a genuine badass. Hiked with us and kept pace. We knew he would. We finish the push to the summit. Last year, Ishmael and I did this hike with Baby Wipes as a prep run for the AT. Certainly some real elevation and a good climb. The view from the top is unreal. We couldn't see it last time because it was locked in cloud. Hang with our buddy Nomad drinking soda and having hot dogs (there's a snack bar up top). Great times. There's another hiker there with his dog. His name is Rock and his dog's name is Roll. Priceless. Finally time to venture off. We finish the descent and catch a hitch to the hotel for the night. Drink some beers and eat some food. Now- sleep.
Date: 2017-07-05
From: MA Route 2

To: Congdon Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: broken clouds

Ate breakfast at the motel and packed up the room with Humus. It was incredible having him along for the past four days. He brought a freshness to the team. We did some decent trekking and he held his own. Really gave me hope for myself after this thing. Exercise has become an addiction. The idea of losing this new part of me seems toxic. We go our own ways as the motel owner drives us to the trail. We left Humus in the car and started our journey again, just the two of us. Within an hour of arriving in the woods again (we were trekking through a neighborhood for a while) we found the most chill stone on the middle of a stream. Ishmael laid down for a bit while I took some photos. Then I joined her and sat with my uke. I had images before I started this journey. One of my deepest longing was to create music that has the essence of water. Water is soothing and constant. Where it flows it erodes. It is powerful. Sitting on that rock today thinking about some music I am writing, it came together in a new way. Realized what needed to happen with the melodies and how they interchange. Eventually we hiked on. We hike much faster now, sometimes in bursts, but always at a decent pace. We're even pushing up hills better. Made it to camp with ample time to just enjoy the evening. Have some lighter gear on the way and thinking about even lighter gear. Swapped out the cockpot and mug for ultralight stuff. Our cook system now weighs in total what my old pot used to weigh by itself. Magic.
Date: 2017-07-06
To: Kid Gore Shelter
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: clear sky

Got up early. 6 am. Birds woke me up. Light on the tent rainfly. We started to move. Broke down camp in an orderly fashion, had a light breakfast snack. And we were off. By 1 pm, we had crushed 10 miles. We were feeling a good day coming on. We're hiking faster and faster now. We were putting down 2 miles an hour with elevation. Lots of newcomers to the trail as folks were just starting the Long Trail. Most of them we blew by now. Not that it's so much about dusting people on the trail but more that it feels good to know that the last two months are really paying off and we are getting in shape. For a few minutes this morning, I contemplated why I was doing this. My feet hurt and my hands are sore from smashing the trekking poles into the ground. But when we crested the highest mountain we've been on so far and went up the observation tower, the view and the moment reminded me. And there is no way to explain that. It took two months of me pushing through the woods to see that today. We went through our first wilderness. And we walked here. And we hit 600 miles.
Date: 2017-07-07
From: Kid Gore Shelter

To: Stealth Site near William Douglas Shelter
Miles today: 19.9

Today is going to be a long day. Early start and planning on crushing 20 miles. Also the biggest mountain so far ahead of us. We set off and pace ourselves all day. Upon reaching the peak, there is another fire tower with another incredible view. Those moments make all the hours worth it. And thinking about this task. We push so hard, doing something we sometimes wonder why and the payoff is health and perspective. I'm sure at the end of all this that lesson will spill over into a million things. We make all the miles we wanted to. It's about 7:30. We find an amazing stealth site near the shelter trail. Just the two of us by a river for the night. It's perfect except for when it starts to rain while finishing up dinner. Mad dash to finish all our evening chores and then in the tent we go and off to sleep.
Date: 2017-07-08
From: Stealth Site near William Douglas Shelter

To: Green Mountain House 
Miles today: 5.8

Well, we hit it hard for three days. Walked 53 miles in that time. Now, we need food and maybe a little rest. So, Nero into town and town chores. Planning on staying at the Green Mountain Hostel. Get to town after running from a thunderstorm for about a half hour. Lightning somewhere behind us on the ridge. Left it in our tracks. Or rather, the storm passed on to somewhere else. Catch a hitch into town. Back of a pickup truck. First time that's happened. Fun times. Eat an amazing breakfast No.2 and then head to the local outfitter. No lightweight tents but they specialize in footbeds. Ishmael sits down with the doc there and he hooks her up with something new. Trying to figure out foot pain is pretty much your number one goal on the trail. Ishmael has tried about four or five different insoles and nothing has really worked for her. She's ecstatic about these. Even talking about coming back again. We call the Hostel dude and he comes to get us. Very cool Hostel. Tons of trail stuff all over the walls. Even gives us a beer before calling it a night. We go through our things and get our food settled. We decide to get a ride into town tomorrow and head back to the outfitter. After I shower, I look at my feet and they're kind of bruised on the edges like my shoes are too small. So, time to try to figure that out.
Date: 2017-07-09
From: Green Mountain House

To: Griffith Lake Tentsites
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Wake up. Eat breakfast. Say good bye to the other hikers. Jeff (the Hostel owner) is cool with bringing us to town instead of the trail head. Hang out. Order a new tent. It uses trekking rods for support and weighs less than a pound and a half. It's unreal. So pumped. Head of to town and the Mountain Goat Outfitter. We arrive and immediately one of the women there helps me out. We talk about the pains I'm experiencing and she asks what I have for an insole. I show her and she is not into it. Calls it flimsy, which they have been. My heel has felt all over the place. She tried a harder insole and it feels awful. Then we try a different one and something starts to blow me away. My foot is being propped up in a way that is helping a part of it that has actually started to cave in. I'm flabbergasted. She shows me how my muscles were working and shows me now how they will be working. My toes don't feel crammed. We buy the insoles and possibly make plans to come back and see the doc for custom fits. It's a long trail and every little bit helps. We're committed to making this happen now. Whatever it takes. Leave the store and grab a sandwich. Now we need a hitch. Thumbs up. Cars passing. Nothing. A dude walks up to me and asks if we need a ride. Turns out he's a the hiker who just summited Katahdin. He's excited to help us out and it's inspiring to meet him. Said he'd been out since Feb. They drop us off and we start climbing. Our shoes feel much better but it's all kinds of different and different muscles are working differently. It feels great but it's all change. We take the day really slowly. Stopping often and snacking whenever we can. We finally roll in and set up for the night. Quaint little spot. More walking tomorrow.
Date: 2017-07-10
From: Griffith Lake Tentsites

To: Little Rock Pond
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: light rain

Second day on new insoles. Woke up this morning and my feet didn't hurt like they usually do. I walked around for about a half hour before I realized it. I was rather perplexed actually. Not sure if it was because we only did 10 miles or if it's because of the insoles. Time will tell. Not planning on having a very rough day at all today. Fix oatmeal before we leave and then head down to the pond to relax a minute. That's when we officially meet Dave from New York. We're both sitting there a while taking in the pond and conversation just starts. Conversation is very natural amongst hikers. Even if it's just a few words, almost everyone talks a little when crossing paths. Anyway, we hang for a while talking about the trail and the last few days. Turns out he's section hiked almost as much as we've done so far. It's funny how instantly that lets us bond. We hang for like an hour maybe an hour and a half. Finally we say see ya later and head over to pack up. We get our gear together and eventually the packs go on. We're both a little nervous about our feet and are still trying to figure out the new shoes. They have a crazy lace system. But tweak after tweak is helping me get a handle on it. You secure the top of the shoe, then grab the tension at the place above that and then grab the tie right next to the tongue. Pulling back at an angle similar to the shoe, you finally tighten up the area above the lace which holds your heel. A few more days and it will really make sense. We take break after break to snack today. We're really hungry and taking our time with our feet seems to really help. If we correct this, then the rest of the trip is based on our better technique. Crazy to repeat one motion you know so well, so many times and then find out you're actually just hurting yourself. My foot had caved in slightly and this was helping to get the shape back together. It will take time the doc said. Hopefully not too long. One break is by a river. There's a shelter there, so we put our packs down. We scurry along some rocks to the river and find our own personal little spot. This place is amazing. There are so many areas for people to hang out and even feel secluded along the same river. We sit down, take of our shoes and socks and let our feet soak for a while. It feels unreal. A faster section even feels like a whirlpool. We hang for a while just enjoying ourselves. Today was one of those days were we felt no pressure, we went with the flow, we put down the miles we had in us and we just went along for the ride. Good day.
Date: 2017-07-11
From: Little Rock Pond

To: Clarendon Gorge Stealth
Miles today: 12.4

Woke up to the pitter patter of rain on the roof of the tent this morning. Is that called a roof? Anyway, didn't feel like getting up in the rain and walking. It's easier when you're already walking and it's starts to rain to be like, well, whatever. It's raining. But in my cozy tent...dry. Uh-uh. Slept a while longer. Leisurely wake up and pack our bags. Still drizzling and we keep everything dry. Finally the tent comes down and we are in the shelter making breakfast. Dine on a nice cream of wheat while Dave from New York chats all about his AT section hiking experiences. And we just talk about whatever. Really great guy. We get ready to go and walk to the trail. The view of the lake is spectacular. The mountain behind it is immersed in clouds. We all three sit there just stunned. Finally we're off. By 12 o'clock we have done a mile. And we're snacking again. But eventually we come across a waterfall. We pull over and hang out. Letting our feet soak in the cold water is unbelievably rejuvenating. After a while, we're on the trail again. Eventually we're down to a mile left to go, we pull over at the most amazing view and eat dinner. It's these kinds of moments where we go with an impulse because something is vibrant and alive and calling us to it. Taking time to soak your feet. Take in a view. These are important things that are as important as putting in the miles. This laid back approach the last few days has been entirely needed. Fresh breath for tired legs.
Date: 2017-07-12
From: Clarendon Gorge Stealth

To: The Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: broken clouds

Long hike to the inn today. Most miles we'd done in a while or so it feels anyway. These new insoles are taking some time to adjust to. But it feels better. So much better. Actually, we're heading back to Manchester to get customs tomorrow. Will have to take a day off but we both feel we need to do this. Best part of today was the cop staring at us as we came out of the woods. We were going to try and hitch hike the mile and a half to the inn where we are staying tonight but this cop had pulled over someone right at the trail exit. Gave us a dirty look as we walked by. No ride happening there. So, after almost 18 miles, we walked almost 2 more. Perfect.
Date: 2017-07-13
From: The Inn at Long Trail

To: Yellow Deli
Miles today: 0.0

Breakfast at 7:30. A mother daughter team we had met on the trail offers to give us a ride from the Inn to Manchester. They are finished with their hike so they are looking to be magicians and hand out some trail magic. We gladly accept and enjoy the hour ride back to town. So thankful for the help, we say goodbye and make our way into the Mountain Goat once again. We meet Ron and he walks us through the whole process. The things I didn't know about something I've done every day. Our feet were not made to walk on flat surfaces. These orthotics will be giving us support we have needed since we started walking. He measures our feet with this wild machine and off we go. Three hours and they'll be done. So...we go eat some more food. Buy some hand sanitizer at Rite-aid. Finally three o'clock. Back to the store and Ron has finished our footbeds. We put them on and they feel weird. I've never had support like this in my shoes. It feels strange to say the least but after the experience of the last few days, I know this will be good for us. It feels like someone is sticking their knuckles in the bottom of my foot. Oh well. Hopefully in about two weeks I'll be stronger than ever. Catch a bus over to Rutland and we decide to stay at the Yellow Deli for the night. Separate bunk rooms for men and women. Pretty funny but overall it's an amazing place and there are so many hikers here. Like 30 or even more. Uh and the Wailers are playing across the street. Catch a few songs over there and then a little bit of chatter before hitting the pillow. Tomorrow we will find out what kind of journey these insoles will take us on.
Date: 2017-07-14
From: Yellow Deli

To: The Lookout
Miles today: 17.3

Woke up pretty early. Free breakfast at the Hostel. Family style in one of their private rooms. While hanging around, I start talking to Grey Wolf. Really nice gentlemen. NOBO. Talking about slippery rocks and the body being ready to be done in the last mile. As soon as the mile counter counts down to 1, everything hurts more and you just start lagging. We laugh about it. It's nice to share some quiet small talk like this every once in a while. It's refreshing. At the table, I also meet Famous Amos. He's actually heard of sounds of the trail. And recognizes my name from the episode. Pretty funny. Finish breakfast and get the gear ready. Downstairs to the bus. Back on trail. Our new insoles are finally out to the test and we are both rather ecstatic. We start off moving at a fair clip and then suddenly we're just blazing. Flying through the miles. 17 go down before we even know it. Catch up with Amos on trail. He's hiking with Yessireebob. We are all planning on staying at the same shelter. It's a win-win. We're there finally and we all enjoy some conversation while making our dinners. Sun goes down. Time for bed.
Date: 2017-07-15
From: The Lookout

To: Thistle Hill Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: light rain

Started the morning off with breakfast with our new friends. Thinking about doing bigger miles but after a slow morning, let's just see where the day takes us. Up and down we go. Faster and faster. Miles fly by. 1 mile means so much less now that we've hiked 700. Great little stop midday for pie and ice cream at a farm stand just off the AT. Hang out there for quite a while just relaxing and hanging more with our buds. Back to the up and down game. Meet a cool couple on our trek today. Spend like 45 minutes talking trail with them. Love these little random moments with people. Pull into the shelter around 8pm. So many SOBO's now. So wild to see how the trail can be done so many ways and each way has its own group. What's really funny is that in a couple months all these Southbounders are going to be our companions as the NOBO's will all be finished.