morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-07-16
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Kay Wood Lean To 
Miles today: 18.3

Day 114, 18.3 miles, 7:30 am - 5:30 pm   Percolated, hot coffee is a delicacy out here but it's sure hard on my stomach. After a good sleep last night I had 3 cups of piping hot strong coffee this morning. Then I was wired, jittery, and had a stomach ache all day long. Oh well I still think it's worth it.    We set off into cloudy and threatening skies this morning. The trail today traveled through bogs, wetlands, and woods devastated by ice storms. Blowdowns, trees snapped in half, all for miles.    Kind of a boring day on the trail, actually. At 4:45 we started hearing thunder. We booked to this shelter and had some luck. We got here and I was able to filter water before the downpours started. It's 7 o'clock now and the storm is still going strong, with thunder and lightening every few seconds. I am so staying in this shelter tonight! Especially since I can spread out on my own bunk, and it's only myself, Matt, Braid, and Amanda here. Everybody else went into town.    I guess that's it. Another day on the trail.
Date: 2009-07-17
From: Kay Wood Lean To 

To: Mark Noepel Lean To
Miles today: 16.7

Day 115, 16.7 miles, 6:45 am - 4:15 pm   A good night to be in the shelter, again, it's thundering on top of us and the shit's coming in! It's Friday so there are some really really loud people here but I'll put up with it to duck the storms. I've done it before...   Anyway, last night I had a nice time chatting with Braid and Amanda. It rained until midnight or so and then stopped. We walked through Daldon and Chesire today, which is making me soft! First we had trail magic before town, ginger ales someone left--I love ginger ale. Then we had hot coffee and raspberry danish in town at the Cumby's, and then in the afternoon we had vanilla ice cream in Cheshire. What a spoiled day! We must have passed 20 or more people slackpacking south back to town. That's okay, I was happy staying in the shelter last night. Actually we are kind of in the midst of a huge crowd. So much for our vacumn. At least we're avoiding it a bit by not staying in town.    Now it's pouring again! Rain is forecasted through next Wednesday. When will it end? It's not going to stop us from hiking but I hate it.    So the trail today. Perfectly maintained as usual in spite of all the blowdowns. Gore pond was pretty and covered in lily pads, a reminder that we are moving north. * * *Oh, coffee on the AT. I became a coffee fanatic on the trail. Normally I am a tea drinker, but I would do anything for a cup of coffee out there. It was such a yummy treat and such good hiker fuel. That night at the shelter was when we started running into southbounders. Sometimes things would get a bit heated for some reason between Nobos and Sobos which is so ridiculous. Nobo's had done 1600 miles at that point but they'd been through the Whites and Maine, which people obsess over, so pissing matches would develop. It's sad really and very stupid. Oh people. Everything turns into high school if given enough time.
Date: 2009-07-18
From: Mark Noepel Lean To

To: Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: broken clouds

Day 116, 11.4 miles, 7 am - 5:15 pm   Another long night of rain brought flashbacks of storms past. Another loud annoying know it all local hiker brought flashbacks of local boys past. Another foggy morning on the trail with flooded footpath to match. Back into the spruce woods and elevations over 3,000'. We're back in this again? 2009 whiteout views and steady rain abounded from Greylock.    Some luck, though. Bascom Lodge is on intermittant service as the new owners piecemeal renovations. They were open today, though, and they gave us leftover toast with butter, muffins, and we bought a few cups of hot coffee. I think I've had coffee every morning that I've been in Massachusetts. I am so spoiled in this state. I had a ton of fun talking with Braid, Ironman, Roots, Double Zip, and Skeeter in the lodge this morning. It was windy and raining outside so it was nice to be inside with good company.    Down the mountain we hiked after that into North Adams. We thought about getting a room but being a busy weekend everything is booked. No matter, though, we resupplied at the IGA and had an excellent fish and chips dinner at Friendly's. I looove Friendly's. They don't have them in the midwest, they are a New England and New York thing so I was so looking forward to eating at one when I saw that North Adams had one in town. It was hokily decorated but they had comfy wooden booths and giant soda glasses and of course ice cream. Sometimes familiar places are nice. I love Friendly's. Actually everyone we met in town (and every other town in Mass. for that matter) was super nice and it strikes me as insane that people say that New England is so unfriendly and expensive. Well, Dalton has a free hostel and even the hotel in Great Barrington only cost us 50 bucks for a good room. There is also a hotel in Williamstown that does 50 dollar hiker rooms. Personally I think that's pretty reasonable.    We had a short hike out of town to these campsites, which are secluded and pretty. Skeeter and Double Zip are here too but I don't know where. I took a cold bath in the creek and there is an awesome spring here, too, so I feel great about how the day worked out.    One thing that strikes me though is how exhausted and bone tired I am. I am just. so. tired. That's mostly why sometimes I wish we were done. It really hits me whenever we are in town, for some reason my brain starts to shut off and I get so horribly sleepy I would kill to find a soft place to sleep for about two weeks straight. But at this point town time doesn't replenish me the way it used to so I always just feel exhausted no matter what I do. I guess I can't dwell on that too much because we still have 600 miles to go.
Date: 2009-07-19
From: Sherman Brook Campsite

To: Brook mp 1602.1
Miles today: 18.2

Day 117, 7 am - 5:45 pm   I loved our campsite last night. I'm so glad we got to stay there. Other than that I was mentally in a funk all day, trudging through the endless Vermud and twice falling into a stream. The woods are showing more birch and spruce but for the most part they are kind of boring and overgrown. We did see 2 extensive beaver bogs, that was cool.    Hmm. Now we're tented near the blue blaze that goes to the shelter. We just ate dinner and I am looking forward to settling down in my bag and reading for awhile before going to sleep. Lately that has been my favorite part of the day for better or for worse.    I wonder where we will end up when we are finished with the trail. I hope everything falls into place for us. I think we are due that, considering.    The sun is setting on our first day in Vermont. I guess the day didn't end so bad, really. * * *A little explication: I was really, really excited for Vermont. I thought that it was going to be really beautiful and really fun and I was excited to get back into some elevation again. I also made a deal with myself that, starting with Vermont, I would make a conscious effort to be more mentally present and in tune with my surroundings, as we were on the downside of our hike. Well, unfortunatly, it wasn't going to happen that way. Personally I found much of Vermont to be disappointingly boring and not so great. It had it's good parts, especially after Manchester Center, and especially after Rutland, but for the most part it just wasn't what I expected. I guess I should have learned by then NOT to have expectations. Also, the rain started up again in earnest around that time and my mood spiraled downward. Lastly, we inadvertantly became entangled in this massive group (like 30-40 people) that were trying to get to Manchester Center around the same time that we were because of some massive party that was going on. That stressed me out a bit. So Vermont wasn't so great for me, and it shows in my entries because I become kind of pessimistic and depressed. I'm sure that many have a wonderful experience in Vermont, but for awhile I just didn't and that was just the way my experience there turned out.
Date: 2009-07-20
From: Brook mp 1602.1

To: Story Spring Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 118, 17.4 miles, 7:15 am - 5:15 pm   Another day, another mile, further down the trail. The woods are starting to show their Northern personality and they smell good. Moose scat on the trail, too. We walked steadily all day, Matt in front for the most part. Not too much to say. The trail is crowded with Nobo, Sobos, Long Trail hikers, section hikers of both trails. Lots of people camped around here tonight. More rain is coming.
Date: 2009-07-21
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Spruce Peak Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: light rain

Day 119, 18.3 miles, 6:15 am - 3:45 pm   We got up early and hiked fast up and over Stratton Mountain to try to beat some of the rain. The hike was surprisingly easy, the mountain had a pretty summit with healthy spruces and clumps of wildflowers everywhere--clover, red and yellow Indian paintbrush, and buttercups. We took a break up there and then continued on.    The rain started at 11 am and became steadily stronger and more soaking. The trail turned into a river of goopy mud and I just put my head down and hiked. Hiking in the rain still sucks. I hate it but surprisingly Vermont hasn't been so great so I don't feel like I'm missing that much. We decided to push onto this shelter after much deliberation, and we are lucky because it is an old enclosed cabin with a wood burning stove inside. I was wet and really cold but now I am warm and dry next to the stove. Dear dear Matt walked around for awhile in the downpour trying to find wood that he could cut to fit into the stove, then he got everything going which was so nice of him.    I am happy we stopped here, warmth is never taken for granted when you are a muddy drenched hiker. Tons of people came through here and stood next to the stove to warm up, maybe 20 have passed through. All are headed into town for the party. I have spent the afternoon playing cards, drinking tea, writing, and laying as close to the stove as possible. Now it is late and only Stretch, Tinman, and Hotsauce are here for the night with us.    Town tomorrow, we have been out for 9 days in a row again and we've many errands to do. I tried to talk myself out of taking a zero in town but I think we're going to have to do it. I am really tired, and Matt has lost so much weight that he is starting to look starved, so perhaps we need a day off. I can't believe we've been in Vermont only 3 days. It feels longer. * * *Spruce Peak Shelter was great for me but it's one of those things. It actually had a bit of trash in it and it was the first shelter I stayed in that I heard mice. They didn't bother me, though. I was just happy to get warm and have a way to pass the afternoon out of the weather. I'm glad everyone went into town because if they didn't probably I'd have been sleeping on top of 25 other people.
Date: 2009-07-22
From: Spruce Peak Shelter

To: VT 11 & 30/Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 2.9
Weather: light rain

Day 120, 2.9 miles, 7 - 8:30 am    Mousey last night but dry and warm so I'll take it. We hiked in more rain over extremely muddy and slippery trail flooded with overflowing streams, seeps, and springs out to the trailhead. In 10 minutes we were in the back of a pickup truck and on our way to town. We ate breakfast and drank a ton of coffee, then we visited both outfitters, bought Matt a rain jacket and a pair of trailrunners (he's abandoning the sandals he's been hiking in since Georgia)and looked around the bookstore for a hour. After that it was time to eat again so we went to Friendly's and finally did our resupply. We met up at the grocery with Will and Way who are also staying at the hostel we are going to. By then it was after 2 pm!    The place we're staying is pretty nice. We are bunking with Sobo's Steven (Freegle) and Jessica (Jellybean) who are extremely intelligent and sweet and I really like them.    I made a mistake and watched the Weather Channel, rain is forecasted indefinetely which depresses the crap out of me but now I just expect every day to be miserable, since it's AT 2009.
Date: 2009-07-23
From: VT 11 & 30/Manchester Center, VT

To: VT 11 & 30/Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 121, Zero Day   Eating, drinking juice, lying around, tired but unable to sleep, more hikers coming in today, more rain coming tomorrow. I think I ate a gallon of ice cream today. I love strawberry ice cream.
Date: 2009-07-24
From: VT 11 & 30/Manchester Center, VT

To: Peru Peak Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 122, 10.1 miles, 10 am - 3:45 pm   Well I did like my stay at the hostel, mostly because it's more like a house. I took a shower every day I was there, cooked a hot breakfast drenched in lots of butter, ate ice cream, watched movies and generally hung out. I didn't sleep well, I think I'm in a permanently hyped up state where I can't relax. Although, it's 5:30 here at camp and I feel pretty sleepy. Here are Will, Way, Double Zip, Skeeter, and Intents. And a caretaker that I think is a little off her rocker. I wonder how many more will show up in the aftermath of the party in town.    Anyway, after showering, packing, and eating breakfast twice, we got a ride to the trailhead around 10 o'clock. No rain but a low ceiling of dark slate colored clouds. We're back in the land of permanent 6 o'clock. I spent all of today's hike picking over/trudging through deep expanses of mud and standing water. I can't help it but I really haven't liked Vermont so far and I can't wait to be done with this section. Some of this is due to the weather, but also I find hiking here boring and tedious which I wasn't expecting. I was excited to get here but mostly it's been a letdown. I liked NY, CT, and MA a thousand times better. The higher alpine areas smell good and at times remind me of Alaska but mostly I am slopping through trashed trail, trying not to get sucked into the mud, and not having fun.    Okay, one nice thing admittedly is that we are back in national forest land and away from roads and population, so things are really, really quiet again which I do like. It's good to be away from traffic echos and flight patterns. Several times I stopped, and listened to the sounds: no wind, still conifers, and hardly any birds chirping at higher elevations.    Now it's getting dark. It's drizzling, 65 degrees, and damp. I'm chilled in July. In a way it's good. I'm getting my 'winter gear' back in Hanover, so I won't mind carrying/wearing the extra weight.    It's odd to think that we have only 6-7 weeks left on the trail. Today is our 4 month anniversary, we have been walking for 4 months now!! At times I do feel like I'm playing hooky from something. Whatever. I still want to find out what's coming up on the trail, and finally climb Katahdin, no matter how scary it may be. It's the first time I've written that word in this journal, but finally I am really starting to think about Maine. I've been fine all this time about not getting ahead of myself, and now my mind is starting to do just that. I'll let it. It's been 4 solid months out here. We are truly on the last big section of this hike, and in a few days we will have under 500 miles left to walk. I'm just hoping that I like the trail better in the next coming days.
Date: 2009-07-25
From: Peru Peak Shelter

To: Minerva Hinchey Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: broken clouds

Day 123, 19.6 miles, 6:30 am - 6:15 pm   So I started out today in a bad mood. It rained for most of the night, so it was really foggy and drippy all morning, and for the most part downright dark outside. I contemplated hiking with my headlamp. Wet, trashed slop for trail, and when we took a break on Baker Peak, it was socked in with wet, dark fog.    Anyway, the day got better by the time we took a break at Little Rock Pond. It was very pretty, with a good view of the ridge on the other side. I was happy to watch a ton of salamanders swim around on the shallow shoreline. The sky finally cleared up and it turned into a nice day. I was much happier after our break. The woods were a fir forest, very pretty. Since the rain cleared out, we decided to hike a bit further than we had originally planned. The last leg felt a little long but at last we had a dry evening to hike in. I miss our evening hikes.    Almost 20 miles has tired me out. More rain is coming tonight, and I'm too tired to mess with the tent. We are in here with the infamous --, who I'm not engaging with, and a nice Sobo. More rain and slop tomorrow. My sneakers smell like cultured death.* * *Okay, so on a generally non rainy hike, or non rainy year, I, like most others, subscribe to the 'hike farther when it rains' mentality. I mean, what are you going to do, sit in the rain when you get to camp at 3 o'clock? Well, that's great when less than half of your days are rainy. But quickly it started bothering me that I missed out on so much because of rainy days. So generally, when it was nice out, I would hike longer into the day on nice days, because it's nice to see the trail out of rain, fog, and darkness once in awhile.   Anyway, that night we caught up with a hiker I'll call Alabama Jones, since I don't want to be TOO gossipy. But he was both horrifying and hilarious. He said that people who died and lost their homes and possessions in the Katrina Hurricane deserved it. He bemoned women on the trail for being too small breasted. Oh my gosh I find that hilarious!! He was looking for a girl to marry and he required that she be a busty girl. He also spent about 2 hours triple filtering and treating his water through 10 sets of coffee filters and aqua mira, and made about 12 dinners. Oh man. At least I got to experience it.
Date: 2009-07-26
From: Minerva Hinchey Shelter

To: Pico Camp
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: broken clouds

Day 124, 16.8 miles, 7:15 am - 6:45 pmTired. Cliff's notes:-Clarendon Gorge and Clarendon Shelter were really nice-We took a long break at Clarendon Shelter where we talked with LT section hikers Mark and Cory. They are from Montreal and are very nice. -Awesome trail magic from Mad Hatter, '500 mile' trail magic, cold soda and a chair to drink it in-Quiet alpine woods on Killington-Rocky but fun climb to the top of K. -Cooper Shelter was a dump and had only tent platform which we can't set up on, so we went on-Camped on a blue blaze shelter tonight, old place, I'm pinned in a bottom bunk with Matt-Rain mostly held off today! Only a few short squalls-Gould Brook was beautiful, good riverwalk-Not a bad day overall
Date: 2009-07-27
From: Pico Camp

To: US 4/Rutland, VT
Miles today: 2.5

Day 125, 2.5 miles, 7 - 8:15 am   100% blue blazed trail today. Yukon ho! We could see beautiful layers of mountains from camp this morning. We hiked down the old AT and stumbled out onto the highway, and minutes later we caught the bus headed into Rutland. Rutland is a neat town, it's old and historic, but a bit spread out and a pain in the ass when you have to carry everything. We ate breakfast, resupplied, found a laundromat, and while I was doing laundry Matt went to the PO for our maildrop. It was a 20 minute walk to this hotel that is covered in 60's decor but had a really great rate ($45.) Matt convinced me to go for a swim in their pool, and it was the most refreshing thing I've done in awile. I barely know how to swim but I loved it and I was in the cool water for over an hour. I want to swim, bike, canoe, anything but trudge around with 25# on my back. We went to Pizza Hut and had veggie pizza and now it's almost 9:30 and I'm sleepy so it's time for bed. Goodnight.
Date: 2009-07-28
From: US 4/Rutland, VT

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: few clouds

Day 126, 8.6 miles, 11 am - 4:30 pm   I originally had a lot to write about, but suddenly I can't concentrate. Bulletpoints for today:-Hot, humid, sunny day-We wandered around on Route 4, looking lost and confused, and a woman pulled over, parked, walked over to us, and offered us a ride to the TH. On the way she tried to convince us to move to Rutland-Started, again, on more blue trail-Hot climb up the ridge, I got pretty nauseated-Took a 1+ hour break at Thundering Falls, which fortunately were released so we could see them-Good boardwalk over a large swamp-Nobo's and Sobo's here are fighting, mostly being instigated by a Sobo who is telling us that there is no way we will be able to handle New Hampshire-Trail today was pretty good, pretty woods and ponds in Gifford Woods SP-I took the most wonderful bath in the stream here, the water is crystaline and pristine and the floor of the stream is covered in flat clean stones, and I found the most perfect pool of water to go in(**just an aside, whenever I say 'bath' I just mean rinse off or swim, I never ever use soap of any kind when going into streams, rivers, etc.)-I need to finish this trail so I can move on with my life-Not too hot on the trail right now, once crowds and rain disperse a bit I think I'll be happier-I'm starting 'Outer Dark' by Cormac McCarthy today
Date: 2009-07-29
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: Winturri Shelter
Miles today: 10.0

Day 127, 10 miles, 6:30 am - 12:45 pm   Yeah, just 10 today. Oddly enough, this is the hottest and most humid it's been at any point on our hike. The sudden rise in temps is wiping me out. I was sweating my balls of and I had a pounding headache all day. So when we got here, ostensibly for a break, I felt totally drained and not too motivated to go on. I took a nap for about an hour and then went down to get some water, and by that time it was after 3 o'clock, and the sky had darkened considerably and we could hear thunder in the distance. It's now thundering and lightening and pouring buckets so I can't say I'm too sorry that we stopped and hung out all afternoon anyway.    We met Nest today who I really like. He is from NC and has a sense of humor similar to mine. He too is tired of talking about gear, miles, and what's ahead of us, just like me.    So in 3 days we will finally be heading out of Vermont. Oh man! Less than 500 miles to go and the regular world is starting to weigh on my mind. It will be different, because 98% of America hasn't led the stripped down existance that we do. I know I won't be talking to others about the AT. Maybe it is lucky that I have Matt to talk to about this stuff. I guess that's why so many former thrus and section hikers we meet want to talk about their hikes so much. It's hard to find people that understand.