morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-06-29
From: Dalton, MA

To: Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 25.6
Weather: broken clouds

I could not have picked more perfect weather for a day of hiking. Today was the climb of the dreaded Mt. Greylock, the "hardest climb since Virginia". I won't argue with that, because it was a pretty good climb, going up 2,500 ft. The easy part about it was that it was over a span of 7 miles, so it was kind of stair-stepped with flat spots. Beefstick's plan was to hike 25 miles up and over Greylock so he could get to Bennington, VT earlier the next day to meet a friend, so I figured I would give the 25 mile day a shot too. When we woke up in Dalton, Mr. Levardi took us all out to get breakfast in town, which was excellent, then we all just kind of sat around his porch for a couple hours afterwards. That might have not been the best idea, since the long day ahead of us. We started hiking around 9:15 am, and somehow I was full of energy. The first 10 miles into Cheshire was a cake walk, and we ate lunch there at the Shell station before beginning the climb. There was a little 4-5 year old boy there with what I think was his sister, and he said "why do those men look like mountain climbers?". I thought that was funny. She responded with "Well that's because they ARE mountain climbers." Darn right... mountain climbers. My goal was to make it to the campsite before sundown, so I didn't even stop the entire climb up Greylock. I love a good climb. No matter what is on your mind, whether it be your frustrations, your doubts about the hike, your questions on why you are out here, your bad days, bad moods, or just idle thoughts; you climb and you tire and it seems you just sweat all those things right out your pores. You get to the top, witness the amazing view with a cool breeze blowing on a sunny day, and all those thoughts just vanish with the breeze. Everything returns to zero, and you start back over from that point. Mt. Greylock is a pretty popular mountain, so of course they had to pave a road to the top and put a lodge on it's summit, which I am against, but whatever. The National Parks and popular touristy areas are where I get the most questions. "You going all the way?", "How many pairs of shoes have you worn through?", "How long have you been out?", "How did you get the time off to to this?", "Are you hiking alone?" With most of the people I talk to I would say the #1 response I get it "Well good for you, God bless." You get used to the inquirers after a while. But I could not stay there forever, so I said my goodbyes and went back down to make it to the campsite around 8 pm, just in time to make dinner and set up before the sun set. Good for me.
Date: 2010-06-30
From: Sherman Brook Campsite

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: broken clouds

Last night was perfect sleeping weather. I think it got down to about 50 degrees, which is the recipe for a perfect night's sleep in my comfortable hammock. We weren't alone at the campsite last night, there was Jim the section hiker we've been with the last few days, Speaker, a flip-flopper, and a family of 3 out for a week or so. A healthy bunch. Everyone seemed to get up fairly early, and so I did the same, and left camp about 7 am. A couple miles in I crossed into the state of Vermont! This is officially the farthest North I have ever traveled (I think..). As I reflect on the hike through MA, all I can say is that is started well, and ended well, and everything in between was forgetable. Everything in between Mt Everett and Mt Greylock I was indifferent to. Hopefully Vermont has a better time in store for me. A pretty short day today to get into Bennington, where I am hopefully staying with a couple who takes in hikers for free. The hike to get here was basically rocky with a chance of mud. It was though another beautiful sunny cool day, so no complaints there. As I get farther north, sometimes I feel that I am ready for this adventure to be over, because I have some things on my mind that I want to do. But I don't think I do want this to be over. I still have another month and a half-ish, so I will try to enjoy it to the fullest, and think about those other things as they come.
Date: 2010-07-08
From: Bennington, VT

To: Kent Pond (Mountain Meadows Lodge)
Miles today: 94.7

Whoa calm down people... I didn't really do 95 miles in one day. I haven't updated my journal since Bennington, since I wasn't able to, and I also haven't really kept one, since I haven't been in much of a good mood. Now let's see... what has happened in the last 95 miles? After Bennington, I hiked a couple cold days in Vermont with Tumbleweed, Skyrocket, and Beefstick until I got off trail. My friends Joel and Natalie came to pick me up on their way to his parent's house in the Aidirondacks of New York, where they live on a lake. I spent two and a half days there, just relaxing, and it was a blessing. My plan was to meet back up with Beefstick one day after I got back to the trail, because he was taking 2 days off the same weekend, and to meet back up with Tumbleweed and Skyrocket in Hanover, NH where they live. However, when I got back to the trail my first two days were miserable. Apparently I got sick or something, and was only physically able to hike 10 miles the first day, and an aweful 6 miles on Tuesday. I'm not sure what I got sick with, but I had huge head aches, complete lack of energy, and of course the runs on top of that. Not good hiking conditions. Luckily I was able to mostly overcome that, and have done regular days yesterday and today. The heat in the past 4 days has just been unbearable, and from the rumors going around, it isn't getting any better. In the midst of a day, it takes everything in me to do what I need to do, and the heat is just exhausting. Thankfully yesterday I encountered Clarendon Gorge, where I took a nice 2 hour long swimming siesta in the gorge, in the hottest part of the day. Because of the heat, and my sickness, and the late days, I haven't kept a written journal, so now I apologize to you for this all inclusive clump of a week's worth of hiking. To be honest i got to probably my lowest morale point a couple days ago, just seemed to be burnt out on the trail. I don't know what it is, but recently my thoughts have been "I really want to enjoy this whole trail as much as I can, but I can't wait for it to be over". I am, however, only 2 days away from being in the state of New Hampshire (aka New Hamstring). Today the trail took a strong right hand turn where it branched off of the Long Trail, and is headed East to the heralded states of NH and ME. The toughest hiking is yet to come, and even though there have been some ass-kickers in Vermont combined with the heat, I am looking forward still now to the hardest hiking I have ever done. Less than 500 miles to go on the platter, and I won't quit now! Mountain Meadows Lodge is an awesome place by the way. I splurged and got a room all to myself, because i desperately needed a shower, and a little R&R. Oh, to be free..
Date: 2010-07-09
From: Kent Pond (Mountain Meadows Lodge)

To: random campsite
Miles today: 22.0

After an actual breakfast of fruit, cereal, coffee, orange juice, toast, and bagels from Mountain Meadows lodge, I was in full swing to hike. I had a semi long day planned, on a hot sunny day in difficult terrain. It's funny looking back now, on how a great day can be virtually ruined by one tiny creature: the deer fly. Everything about today was good, but could have been better if not for the deer flies. I cannot explain to you the amount of frustrations associated with these insects, and I would rather not. Basically a combination of the flies, the heat, and the difficulty of today, the day took a turn for the worse. I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day trying to find a place to camp near a water source, but could find none, so I pitched the hammock in some random spot, without eating dinner, ready for sleep. Goodnight.
Date: 2010-07-10
From: random campsite

To: Plainfield, NH
Miles today: 10.3

So today was a strange day. Yesterday, after hearing it was going to rain very hard overnight, I set up camp in the woods without setting up my tarp over my hammock, forgetting about the forecast. In the middle of the night it started raining on me, so i got up to quickly throw my tarp over my hammock without staking it down, and went back to sleep. Later on in the night, I woke up with a different problem... I was soaking wet inside my hammock. My tarp moved letting rain get into my hammock, and everything inside was wet, including myself. It was early morning when I realized this, as it was still pouring rain, so I woke up and packed up and started hiking. What a miserable start to a day. My plan today was to make it all the way to Hanover, NH (near where Tumbleweed and Skyrocket live) so I could stay at their house, since they are already there. I wasn't feeling very good today, so I stopped about halfway at a road crossing, and asked her to pick me up. Thankfully she did, so tonight I was staying at their house in Plainfield. Beefstick is also here, taking a zero day and waiting for me. Hopefully the 4 of us will all hike out together, at least that is the plan.
Date: 2010-07-11
From: Plainfield, NH

To: random campsite
Miles today: 14.3

Since I had Tumbleweed pick me up before I actually got to Hanover, today I slack-packed the 10 or so miles that I didn't do yesterday, plus a few more miles later with the rest of the gang. For those of you who are reading that don't know, slackpacking is basically when you hike without most of your pack weight on your back. Since I was staying at their house, and would return there later, I left my stuff at their house, they drove me back to the trail, and I hiked back to their house. This was my first instance of slack-packing on my trip. (I was determined not to let this happen, but the stars aligned so that it was too convenient to say no) Slack-packing was great. I hiked the 10 miles in about 2 and a half hours, which is so fast compared to normal. I had next to nothing on my back, so I could hike fast and basically run down hills. The plan worked out well because the World Cup Final was on today, so I got in some miles before the game, watched the game, and then we hiked out afterwards. We didn't actually start hiking until about 7:30 at night, so we ended up night hiking for about 5 miles. Tumbleweed and Skyrocket had just taken 4 days off, so they just wanted to get into the woods after we ate dinner at their house. Unfortunately, Skyrocket got a stomach infection and Lyme's disease, so he has to take even more time off. The gang is down to me, Beefstick, and Tumbleweed. Still a good time.
Date: 2010-07-12
From: random campsite

To: Hexacuba Shelter
Miles today: 24.2
Weather: clear sky

For the first time in a long time, my muscles and joints are actually sore and tired from a very hard day's hiking. We did a long day today so we could pull a short day into the hostel tomorrow, and although I am glad we did, it was pretty tough. I guess you would say we climbed 3 mountains today, which were all significant climbs. Moose Mountain, Holts Ledge, and Smarts Mountain. The weather wasn't too hot, but still it was muggy and involved walking uphill. Sometimes there are people who live near the trail who offer things for hikers to consume. I call these instances "free stuff from nice people who live in houses". Today we went to the "Ice Cream Man's" house, who usually give hikers ice cream, and water if needed. He wasn't home on this day, but he still had sodas out for sale in a cooler, and water, so we took a nice long break there on his porch. Sometimes, it just feels really nice to sit down in an actual chair. Not a rock, not the ground, not the shelter floor, but a chair. After that break we climbed Smarts Mountain, which in my opinion is the hardest mountain we have gone up since who knows when. It was harder than Greylock, harder than Killington, and all those other ones in between. It was just plain steep, and went on for about 2,200 feet. At the top, we all plopped on the ground, and laid there for what felt like an hour. There was a fire tower on top, but i was too tired to walk up. I looked at the view from the pictures Tumbleweed took, which wasn't the same, but it was close. when we finally got to the shelter just before dark, we had been hiking for about 13 hours. That's a pretty long time to walk. We haven't seen any other Northbound thru-hikers in a few days, and the shelter tonight has an older couple out just for a few days. The conversation is light, and fun, and I enjoy hiking with the people I know.
Date: 2010-07-13
From: Hexacuba Shelter

To: Hikers Welcome Hostel
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Mt. Cube was in our sights first thing this morning (I guess it looks like a cube?) and the top was beautiful. There was a large boulder filled peak where we took a break after the climb to let the breeze ease our troubled minds. The overcast skies and the cool breeze really felt wonderful. Not alot more to say about today, it was pretty easy after Mt. Cube and pretty short so that we could get to the hostel and just relax, which I am doing right now. Hikers Welcome Hostel is a great place to stay. It has that true hiker hostel feel to it: Standard house that has been converted to hostel for dirty people, therefore the place is dirty, but has everything we need. Fridge filled with sodas, internet, couches, bunk beds, TV with largest dvd collection i have seen in a while, laundry, outdoor shower and bathroom, and of course a gigantic hiker box. So far tonight it is just me, Beefstick, Tumbleweed, and a new face named Rooster staying here tonight. Tomorrow we embark on the White Mountains, with Mt. Moosilauke being the first mountain to conquer. It is a beast, and shoots up about 3,500 feet in no time at all. Some people dread this, I look forward to it. Some people don't want it to get harder, I am ready for the change. Less than 400 miles to go until Katahdin, so lets get this show on the road!
Date: 2010-07-14
From: Hikers Welcome Hostel

To: Beaver Brook Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

Takin' it easy, that's what we do. We decided that instead of doing a normal day out of the hostel, we would do a short day up and over Moosilauke so that tomorrow we can go to Lonesome Lake Hut, where Tumbleweed knows a guy who works there. Hopefully that will guarantee us a spot in the work-for-stay deal. So since we only did 8 miles today, we slept in, hung around the hostel until about 1:00 pm, and finally took off. Just getting our money's worth I guess. A guy named Fusion showed up, so he is joining our little squad. Out of the 8 miles, almost 6 of them were climbing up Moosilauke... it's just a big mountain, the first one in the Whites. The climb up was definitely hard, and it just seemed to go on forever. But like I have said before, these are my favorite types of climbs. You feel the progression in your body and in the air, you feel the temperature drop, and you get high enough to see everything else and more. UNfortunately today the weather today was a little overcast, so the views from the top were blocked. but it still felt nice to be above treeline taking it all in. We got done hiking around 5, so it was kinda boring bummin' around the shelter for hours, but this crew is fun, and it seems like I'm never really "bored".
Date: 2010-07-15
From: Beaver Brook Shelter

To: Chet's Hostel, Lincoln NH
Miles today: 17.8

The descent down Moosilauke this morning was way steep, slick, and time consuming. The whole way down the trail paralleled a cascading stream, so as you can imagine it was pretty gorgeous. My knees felt like jello afterwards, and as soon as we got down, we shot right back up a thousand feet or so, then up and over a ridgeline. The seven miles or so between Moosilauke and Kinsman wasn't anything special, oh well. After taking lunch at the shelter right before Mt. Kinsman, we went straight up it. And I mean straight up. It began gradual and then turned into hand over hand climbing for the last thousand feet or so. It was honestly so hard and technical and dangerous that it surprised me. The top was double peaked, and the views, and the views at the summits were great. The plan was to do work-for-stay t Lonesome Lake Hut, but Tumbleweed's friend that worked there was leaving, and there was Chet's Hostel 3 miles away that he gave us a ride to. Chet's Hostel is a great place to stay, and he is a super nice dude with an unfortunate story. He used to be the outdoorsy type but then his cooking stove exploded and burned alot of his body, disabling him for the most part. Now he opens his house to hikers, and it on the endless list of people you meet out here that overwhelm you with generosity.
Date: 2010-07-16
From: Chet's Hostel, Lincoln NH

To: Galehead Hut
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: broken clouds

Franconia Ridge is one of those stretches on the AT that you really hope the weather is perfect for. Some refer to it as the most beautiful 3 miles on the trail, if the skies are clear. We got kind of a late start out of Chet's, (after hearing that the weather was not going to be good), got some breakfast, got a hitch back to the trail, and begun the near 4,000 ft. climb up to Lafayette Mtn. on the top of Franconia Ridge. It was one of those climbs that completely exhausts you, and leaves sweat dripping from everywhere on your body. So far after 3 days in the Whites, that's a pretty normal thing. Once we got up to Little Haystack Mountain, we were above tree line, and it was mind blowingly beautiful! Luckily the weather was descent for the first part of our day. In the 3-ish miles above tree line it went over three peaks (Haystack, Lincoln, and finally Lafayette). Unfortunately for us, as soon as we summited Lafayette the clouds rolled in, and the skies started to look nasty. We figured it would be a good idea to get off the exposed ridgeline, and it's a good thing we did. On our way down it started to rain, for almost the rest of the day. The three of us made it to Galehead Hut cold and exhausted, and luckily there were spots available for work-for-stay. Today was tough, and my body agrees, but it was great, Franconia Ridge is one of those places where I would like to visit again for sure, on a clear sunny day. The last 3 days have felt like I have started this hike over again... I am sore everyday, but excited about what's around the corner, because I have a feeling it's going to be awesome.
Date: 2010-07-17
From: Galehead Hut

To: Crawford Notch Campground
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: light rain

I'm sure that along the White Mountains, the hike today was about as easy as it gets here. The work for stay at Galehead was a piece of cake, and all I did was swept the floors and folded a few blankets, and we got dinner, breakfast, and an enclosed place to sleep in exchange. Not a bad deal right? We finished out chores in the morning and headed up South Twin Mountain. Another steep one, going up 1,100 ft. in 0.8 miles. The view at the top was spectacular, but cold and windy, so we kept on moving. After that climb, it was basically downhill for the next 14 miles. Kinda boring, but I appreciated it. Every time we stop at one of the Huts for a break or something, we get bombarded with questions, since there are so many people around. It's pretty cool talking to all sorts of people who encourage us and stuff, but it gets tiring. Tonight we are camping at a public campground a few miles down the road from where the trail crosses. It's a pretty nice place and the crew tonight it still me, Beefstick, Tumbleweed, Fusion, and an annoying south-bounder named Pneumonia. Looking forward to going over the Presidential Range over the next 2 days. That's all for now...
Date: 2010-07-18
From: Crawford Notch Campground

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: fog

The single most beautiful day of hiking I have ever experienced. I pretty bold statement, but I wouldn't lie to ya. This morning we also got probably the coolest hitch ever. We had to get back to the trailhead and we got picked up by a younger couple in a small pickup truck. It's amazing how such a small encounter with 2 genuine people can make an impression. They were so friendly, and as we were all stuffed in the truck bed, we each had a beer that they gave us. A quick ride, a short conversation, and we were off to the races. To begin with, the weather today was cool, sunny, and cloudy, perfect conditions. The climb out of Crawford Notch was another toughy, but soon enough we were on Mt. Webster and the Webster Cliffs, which had spectacular views. We hiked a little further to Mizpah Hut to take a nice leisurely lunch break, and scored some baked goods and hot cocoa for free. After Mizpah was where it got really good. We climbed up all of the sudden we were above tree line, where we would remain the rest of the day. I can't even begin to describe how picturesque the endless mountains were. It seemed that they were as numberless as the stars in the sky. With the cascading blue mountains everywhere you looked and the spots of sunshine cast all over them, it was a shame that sometimes you just have to keep moving. But the beauty of being above tree line is that your eyes can just follow the ridge and you can plot exactly where you are going to go. We knocked out half of the Presidential Range today going over Mt. Webster, Mt. Jackson, Mt. Pierce, and Mt. Franklin (which apparently is not a president). At one point the AT skirted around Mt. Eisenhower, which pissed me off, so Beefstick and I just hiked up it anyway, and it was well worth it. Lake of the Clouds Hut is right before Mt. Washington, which had some nasty clouds rolling over it, it looked almost apocolyptic.   We are doing another work for stay; Fusion and Tumbleweed did dishes, and Beefstick and I had to build a stone scree wall, and later tonight we are giving a "talk" to all of the 100+ hut guests about thru-hiking. There's a first time for everything!
Date: 2010-07-19
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: fog

This morning we went up Mt. Washington. It's the second highest peak on the AT, and like most other popular peaks, it is ruined by a road leading up to it and a restaurant and more buildings on top. The weather was great this morning, but the mountain was up in the clouds, so no views there. The best part of the day was coming down off of Washington. There was a beautiful deep valley view, and we took tons of pictures. We were still above tree line, and about 2 hours into the day we were involved in a pretty nasty rain/wind storm. Not exactly fun above tree line. From what we hear the winds were more than 40 miles an hour when it gusted. So today wasn't the best day, but there were still beautiful points. After Washington we just went down over 4,000 ft. down to Pinkham Notch, so once again my knees are just killing me. I was over this day. But after a tough day like today we all had something to look forward to. A fellow hiker named Caribou is currently off the trail, and happens to live near the White Mountains, so he picked us up at the Notch and now we are at his house, totally relaxing (hot tub and all). Life on the edge.