morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-08-05
From: Dalton Mass

To: Chesire
Miles today: 8.6

Today is my 31st birthday. I spent my 29th birthday on the AT in New York, my 30th on the AT in Connecticut, and now my 31st in Massachusetts. If this trend of northward birthday celebration continues, I'll be doing my 32nd in Vermont!Sleeping Beauty has decided to leave the trail to be with her husband in Texas. Her husband (then fiance) joined her on the trail for a month. He was injured, and she joined him when he got off the trail to heal, and they decided to tie the knot while on the trail. She recently found out that he got a promotion and would be going away mid-September, so she opted to return early to Texas, so that they could set up their home together before he leaves. As a result of her decision, today was her last day on the trail.We decided to slackpack ourselves, so we hitch hiked up to Cheshire then walked back. It was a beautiful day -- lots of sun, low humidity, and a gently breeze. We walked and chatted, moving about 1 mile per hour. Halfway through our walk, we found a perfect log to sit on and spent about 2 or 3 hours relaxing and taking nips of Cinnamon flavored whiskey. We saw Ice Man, who was hiking north, then hitch hiking back to Dalton for the night. Being sirens, we "forced" him to sit and visit with us and help drink the whiskey. Then, along came Pearls and Starvin Marvin, and we gave Marvin a snort of the whiskey while trying to convince he and his wife to hitch back to Dalton to help celebrate my birthday. We also saw Peter who sat and chatted with us for a while. It was a nice little social event in the forest...We got up (finally) and walked into Dalton. The AT runs right through town, and we did a mile long walk through a paved suburban part of town, when we spotted an ice cream truck mere blocks away from the AT. What ensued was a sad sight consisting of two grown women (Sleeping Beauty and I, that is) running through a rural neighborhood in hot pursuit of an ice cream truck. We tried to head the truck off, but I swear he spotted us and turned down side streets to avoid us. Finally, we ended up bolting through a series of backyards before heading him off in a cul-de-sac. We zipped through the lawn of an older woman who saw what we were trying to do. She pumped her fist in the air yelling, "we all scream for ice cream" and applauded us when we stopped the truck.A bunch of hikers, both south and north bound, turned up at Shamrock's to celebrate my birthday. It's funny how 15 thru hikers drink as much beer and make as much noise as 100 "normal" people -- we took over, absorbing the few non-hikers into our party. It was a great party -- one I'll remember for a long, long time.... thanks to everyone for making it such a fun day! And, special thanks to Dalton's "town terrorist" who sang Happy Birthday to me at the general store.
Date: 2007-08-06
From: Chesire

To: Mark Noepel Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: light rain

Today was full of sad good-byes. We bade farewell to Sleeping Beauty and to Blu Dog who was called up for military service in the reserves. We also said good bye and a big thank you to Rob Bird who was such a generous host to us the past two days.Rob dropped Ice Man, Buffalo Bobby, and I off at Rt. 8 in Chesire, so that we could continue our northward trek. Initially, we'd planned on going over Mount Greylock and staying at a site half a dozen miles away from the Vermont border. But, fatigue from last night's festivities, along with gloomy wet weather, convinced us to stop short at the Mark Noepel Shelter, a few miles shy of the summit of Greylock. I was more than glad to throw my pack down, since I got less than 3 hours of sleep last night.Ice Man and Buffalo Bobby built a fire, and we puttered around, updating our journals, reading, and eating. I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep and some sunny weather for Greylock tomorrow. And, of course, I'm excited to enter Vermont and set foot on the infamous Long Trail, which parallels the AT until Rutland, Vermont.I feel a little "blah" right now because of lack of sleep, the grim weather, and because I had to part with trail friends. I met Sleeping Beauty back in Virginia, and I love her company. She's equal parts thoughtful and wild. We had an amazing time hiking together the past week. You get to know people quickly on the trail and attachments are formed in the matter of days. It's also disconcerting to see how easily plans change and how peoples' hikes are postponed or ended.I almost forgot to mention one of the highlights of stayinig at the Birdcage. Rob's dog, Tinker, is a 130 plus pound behemoth who loves to lick hikers' feet. After we got home from the bar, Blu Dog convinced Sleeping Beauty and I to try a Tinker-style foot rub. I admit, there was something slightly creepy about it, but man, it sure felt great! And, I have yet to wash the dried dog saliva off of my feet....
Date: 2007-08-07
From: Mark Noepel Shelter

To: Seth Werner Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

In the early evening, I stepped into Vermont with a joyful whoop and a holler. We're in real mountains again! Mount Greylock was pretty socked in with fog and clouds, but it felt good to be high above the valley and was a great end to Massachusetts.Last night at Mark Noepel Shelter, two hikers rolled in. We recognized them --they were Princess Brat and Alpine from the Neels Gap outfitter in Georgia. When we last saw them, they were stressed out from all of the insane thru hiker traffic. It was good to hang out with them in their natural happy state as south bound thru hikers.There's an ad on the radio for a new medicine that treats restless leg syndrome. When I heard that having restless legs was a disease, I had to laugh because it sounds like a hiker affliction. When the advertisment warned listeners that the medicine may be responsible for compulsive sexual behavior and gambling, I laughed even harder. Days after hearing the ad, I saw a television version of it. I had just returned from my birthday party at Shamrocks, where I played electronic keno, when I saw the ad's gambling side effect warning again on Rob Bird's T.V. I guess I'll have to look for alternative therapy for my restless legs, since I don't want my passion for keno to bloom into a full-fledged affliction.Here with me at Seth Werner Shelter are Ice Man, Buffalo Bobby, Pop-Eye, Light Weight, and a handful of AT section hikers and Long Trail thru hikers. It's a good crew. The northbounders got a fire going, and I just heard a coyote howl off in the distance. Welcome to Vermont.
Date: 2007-08-08
From: Seth Werner Shelter

To: Melville Nauheim Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

The wind very nearly blew me off of Harmon Hill today. I opened the register box, and all of the junk in it blew away. Very exciting.The weather was acting fickle all day -- sunny one minute and cloudy the next. We were stormed on last night. Those who tented woke up in puddles, and the tree that my hammock was tied to blew around in lazy circles during the high wind. On account of the rain, we slept in and didn't get out of camp until after 10 this morning. I dig sleeping in, though, and the weather was pretty comfortable all day despite the idle threats of the sky. I ate the most amazing dinner of all times on the trail: buttery mashed potatos, cubed hamsteak with fresh garlic in olive oil, and a little melted cheese on top. I've never been big on experimentation in the kitchen, but necessity is the mother of invention out here.
Date: 2007-08-09
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

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

We are in the land of the soft lipped swamp donkey (i.e. moose). I saw three sets of moose tracks and two piles of scat. And, Splendora reported that she saw a young mosse right by the Vermont border. I sat down near a beaver pond for a bit this afternoon, hoping to see one wading around, but no luck. I'm sure I'll see one soon enough. Vermont is beautiful beyond belief. It's very green -- the name Green Mountain State isn't a misnomer. And, there are real mountains, nice climbing, and tons of good smelling stands of pine. I announced my intention to move here at dinner tonight. On top of Glastenbury Mountain is a firetower that gave us views of a bunch of mountains including Stratton, which we'll be climbing tomorrow. It was breathtaking. As we climbed, a couple of the locals were playing Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" on their radio. Fitting.We've come up with a new product for Mattel called the Backwoods Barbie. Backwoods Barbie would have greasy hair and dirty toenails and itty-bitty silnylon outfits. The zero day Backwoods Barbie would be freshly showered and holding a beer, clad in improperly fitting borrowed cotton clothes. Another version would have leg hair that would grow when you pulled a string. Yet another would fart when you pressed her stomach. Maybe she should be called hiker trash Barbie. Then, of course, she'd need a Mountain Man Ken, and a tiny log shelter to sleep in. And on and on.....Can't you tell we're easily entertained out here?
Date: 2007-08-10
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Story Spring Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

We woke to steady rain and temperatures in the 40's. It was cold and wet and very uninviting outside the shelter. So, we slept in, then sat for a good while debating on what to do with the day. There were a few options for us to choose from: We could hike out in the rain, except for the fact that Splendora didn't have any of her rain gear with her, and Iceman needed to keep off of his blistered foot. Or, we could get a ride into Manchester Center with the father and daughter section hikers who shared the shelter with us. That option was a no-go, because hitching a ride back would've been impossible on the dirt forest service roads. We settled on a third option -- Buffalo Bobby, Splendora, and Pop-Eye would ride into town with the section hikers and carry provisions back with them, and we could hang out in the shelter all day, napping and reading.So, we had a fun-filled zero day in the middle of the woods in Vermont. It was amazing. We covered the picnic table with all sorts of magic from Manchester: chips, subs, cookies, beer, the fixings for smores.... you name it, we had it. A lot of hikers rolled through during the day, and we started greeting people (some of whom we didn't even know) with huge whoops and screams and hollers. A hiker's dog ran up to the shelter in front of us. We saw the hiker, and all of us started yelling and whooping (Pop-Eye was standing on the shelter roof at the time), and the poor dog tucked his tail between his legs and ran off into the woods. Ooops!We ended up having a full blown party at the shelter with 16 northbound AT and LT thru hikers, a fire, beers passed around, and lots of noise. We knighted a Long Trail hiker, The Black Stallion, with a swiss army knife and beer poured over his head. By this morning, word was up and down the trail about our good times.Highlights of the evening: I reunited with Cheeks and Steps Small, who I haven't seen since the south. We set off a fistful of firecrackers and a smoke bomb, which came in as a close second to seeing old friends.
Date: 2007-08-11
From: Story Spring Shelter

To: Spruce Peak Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: few clouds

We have a joke that we like to play on southbound thru hikers. We tell them that we're just out for the weekend. Having established our weekender status, we proceed to bombard the poor thru hikers with some of the questions we've had to field such as:- Do you have to hunt for your food?- Have you seen a bear? ("Bear" can be replaced with rattle snake, coyote, etc)- How do you carry six months of water?- Does the AT start in Florida? End in Cananda?And so on. All of the hikers we've interviewed have been very gracious (and, believe me, the questions get pretty insane). And, they look totally befuddled and full of disbelief when we tell them that we're actually thru hikers trying to play a joke. We've been doing this skit for days, and it isn't getting old.The weather was perfect today, and the view from the firetower on Stratton blew my mind. While trying to get off of Stratton, I took a wrong turn and blundered into the gondola area where a chair lift was belching day hikers all over the mountain side. I tried to ask people where the Appalachian and Long Trail were, but no one had a clue what I was talking about. After running into a ten foot tall bear carved out of a tree (with a chainsaw, no doubt), I managed to make my way down to Stratton Pond where Ice Man, Splendora, Pop-Eye, Lightweight, and some other folks were hanging out. I hopped into the pond with some camp soap and tried to improve my hiker stink (I accidentally spilled sardine oil all over myself yesterday, and I smell like bear bait).Our energy is gathering the further north we walk. Our eyes look crazier, and we've become loud. And very happy. I was talking with Ice man about how we've changed physically since Springer Mountain. Lots of people have grown scruffy or lost weight, but the main thing I've noticed is how our expressions have changed. We look charged, feral, chronically hungry. We no longer know how to keep our eyes focused on a thing for too long, since we're used to scanning the woods or spacing out all day. It's realy amazing, and I hope I can look like this off of the the trail. Someone told me that once you've thru hiked, you'll have a certain look about you the rest of your life. Just call me "crazy eyes".....
Date: 2007-08-12
From: Spruce Peak Shelter

To: Rt. 11
Miles today: 2.6

I heard a hiker refer to Manchester Center as the "Gatlinburg of the North". It's loud and kitschy like G-burg but exists in a different tax bracket. It's a place full of Volvo station wagons, girls in riding boots, and upscale boutiques. On the upside, the town has really great outfitters -- Mountain Goat and EMS -- and other fun cash-draining services for hikers.Ice Man and I were the last thru hikers out of camp, and we headed down to Rt. 11 to hitch a ride into town, when we saw a sign for trail magic just across the road. It was an invitation to join Soco and Mojo for "a drink or 10". Even though it was before 9 a.m., we couldn't resist stopping by to say hi and have a drink (or 10) with them.We ended up hanging out for a long time at Soco and Mojo's trail magic spot. Pearls and Starvin' Marvin came by part way through the morning. I swear, every time these two see me, I'm relaxing or getting into some sort of mischief. I've been running into them since New Jersey, and they've managed to never see me while I'm actually hiking (which I do 8 to 10 hours every day, honest!). It's turned into a joke, and I sort of hope that I'm lounging trail side the next time they see me.Ice Man and I coaxed Soco and Mojo into hanging around Manchester Center for the day with us, and we all got a hitch in. We did the usual town business -- hit the grocers, the outfitters, the drugstore, then watched Bourne Identity at the cinema.Then, someone had the bright idea of staging a hiker party in the woods by Rt. 11. Soco, Mojo, Lightweight, Pop-Eye, Splendora, Philmont, and I threw up our camp at a not-so-stealth site and proceeded to rage like the world was coming to an end. It was a beautiful and frightening thing full of spinning bottles and 40's strapped to hands with duct tape. We were singing at the top of our lungs. And then, the singing turned into animal-like yelling. With the campfire burning and the forest as a backdrop, it looked like a scene from Lord of the Flies.And then, I crawled into my hammock to sleep. As I was settling in for the night, I heard someone's tent unzip. Then, that person shuffled over to the vicinity of my hammock. I heard peeing on the ground close-by, then the steam of pee passed OVER MY TARP, soaking its corner. I'm glad I had my tarp on. Otherwise, my hammock would've been peed in. But, it's not a real party until someone pees on someone elses shelter, right? Right.....
Date: 2007-08-13
From: Rt. 11

To: Big Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: light rain

We woke up amidst ruins from the previous evening's debauchery. One by one, we struggled out of our tents and hammocks and cleaned until the campsite looked like new. JR, who had been off of the trail for a wedding, drove in and offered to cart our garbage back to town with him so that Pop-Eye wouldn't have to hitch in with a dirty box full of trash. We did a funny rehash of the previous evening's antics, I downed a cup of mad strong coffee, then I hit the trail.After the first couple of miles, I felt really good. I hiked alone all day (which is what I normally do, reserving the evening for socializing) and went over Bromley Mountain, Styles Peak, Peru Peak, and Baker Peak. It's fun to do these climbs and see an idle chair lift station at the peak, as I saw on top of Bromley.There was a brief thunderstorm today. I call these small, unintimidating storms "therapy storms", because their briefness and far-away lightning strikes help me to relax and get over my thunder phobia. I climbed up to the fairly exposed Styles Peak in the midst of the rainstorm and didn't even flinch. Perhaps I am getting braver?The highlight of the day was Baker Peak, which provided a view of the surrounding mountains. I could see where a storm was passing through, and the shadow that the storm clouds cast sliced an entire mountain in half. It was beautiful, and I let out a gasp when I turned from my climbing to look at the vista. I held my hand over my mouth, and I noticed that it was trembling. Such a good moment to have my soul laid bare in front of a gorgeous display. That something I see with my eyes can make my heart beat so fast is a mystery of being in the mountians.Speaking of mysterious occurences in the mountains, I keep running into soap in the woods. Is someone trying to tell me something? I found a bottle of soap at Big Branch, and realizing that I haven't taken a "real" shower in 7 days, I stripped down, jumped in the river, and lathered up. It felt so good to be "clean". I even perched on a boulder and shaved my legs.... Mike, a Long Trail hiker, walked past where I was standing naked, and I gave him a hearty wave hello and a warning that the water was chilly. It's funny how comfortable in our own skins we've all become out here. Since there's no real privacy, we find ourselves doing private things (such as bathing) in public without any sense of shame.
Date: 2007-08-14
From: Big Branch Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

Last night was so cold, that I used up two days' worth of energy trying to stay warm in my summer sleeping bag. Glad I'm switching over to my cold weather things in a few short days.We stumbled across Bear Mountain #3 of the AT (#1 is in New York and #2 is by the Connecticut/Massachusetts border). Though repetitive, the name Bear Mountain isn't as over-used as the million Brushy Mountains in the south.I'm getting some serious dirt on. I developed a new game called "skirt shapes". My hiking skirt is so stiff with dirt and salt, that I can bend and mold it as if it were filled with wire supports. Making skirts shapes is the AT equivalent to making animals out of balloons. Fun for all ages. In keeping with the dirt theme, I've discovered the joy of dust bathing. A good roll in dry dirt seems to absorb oils and keeps the bugs down to minimum. I kid you not!I reunited with Snack Break and Rebel who had been taking a few zeros with friends in the Manchester area. Everyone seemed to come out of the woodwork today, and we even got to see Splendora at the shelter at the end of night. So good to have the original posse of Backwoods Babes back together.Our group hit up the Whistle Stop Cafe on VT. 103. It is a must-see for thru hikers. The food is good and cheap, and they even stayed open late for us. I was nearly insane with hunger, and I ordered a cheese burger, bacon cheese burger, and a plate of fries with gravy. After I ate everything, my belly was full, but I still had twinges of hunger. My appetite has become an untamable beast!
Date: 2007-08-15
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Rt. 4
Miles today: 16.4

I've been looking forward to today for a long time. Bad Influence is treating us to some excellent trail magic by picking us up at Rt. 4, housing us and slack packing us for a few days. I haven't seen him since our tearful good bye at the mid-point marker when he finished his hike, so I'm really excited to catch up and fill him in on all of the good times that have been going on out here.We climbed up and over Killington Mountain today, and boy, was it chilly! I'm still amazed at what a difference a couple thousand feet of elevation make in terms of temperature and general weather conditions. I started the day in a tank top, but by the time I climbed to Cooper Lodge near the summit of Killington, I was shivering, and I could see my breath. So, this is the Dog Days Vermont style! Brrr..... I wonder what it's like in January?I am so in love with Vermont that, as a joke (but also wishful thinking), I've begun concocting tales of how I'm a native Vermonter who's "walking home". Hey, the state of Vermont can be a mental place too, right? At Cooper Lodge, I saw grafitti created by locals warning out-of-staters to go home. Wanting to become part of the inclusive tribe of Vermontiacs, I held the shelter broom like a rifle and pointed it out the window, warning non-Vermonters to keep off of the property. All in good fun... and all in a day's work for an aspring Vermonter.
Date: 2007-08-16
From: Rt. 4

To: Bad Influence's Home, Strafford VT
Miles today: 0.0

The home of Bad Influence and Katie is a hikers' paradise. They have generously allowed us to stay in their home and are providing us with slack packing and entertainment. It's situated on a large, remote plot of land tucked into the mountains. They have the steepest driveway in the town of Strafford, earning them respect with the locals. There are happy, healthy, and friendly animals all over the property. The cast of critters consists of 3 horses, 2 goats, 2 dogs, and a cat. Life here is productive but relaxed and Katie and B.I. have really gone above and beyond in accommodating us.The highlight of the day was going on a trail ride with Katie. I hadn't been on a horse in a long time so I started off on the back of Chocolate, a super sedate Quarter Horse. Halfway through the ride I got to hop on Valor, B.I.'s Thoroughbred. He's a gorgeous horse with a lot of personality and I've developed a liking for him. I even threatened B.I. with the possibility of me taking off with Valor in the dead of night, riding him all the way to Maine. Why walk when you can ride, right?