morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-08-29
From: Hanover, New Hampshire

To: Bill Ackerly's Home
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: few clouds

I woke up at the hotel at 6:30. The plan was to eat breakfast there at 8:00 and still catch the 8:25 bus back into Hanover. We had a little bit of the trail left in town and then back in the woods. We saw quite a few hikers in Hanover and we were running into more of them on the trail this morning. Schweppes, The Mayor, Ax-Man, Goblin, Poncho, Road Runner, Chiclet, Turtle, Alpine, and Babs Bunny. Schweppes pointed the way out of town for us because there was double white blazes on three different corners, I have had more trouble finding my way in town then in the woods. I met Goblin a SOBO who was from Indiana. He graduated from Butler and I found out that we were both in Indianapolis at the Final Four when they almost beat Duke for the championship. My daughter Meghan and I met Babs in Tennessee and it was good to see her still on the trail. We had Alpine take a picture of us together because her mom Kim has been following my journal and I wanted to put the picture in my journal. I skipped the first shelter in New Hampshire because it was .4 miles off of the trail and uphill. I usually take a picture of the first and last shelter in each state. We had Trail Magic right on the trail, Sooner or Later was handing out bottles of water to hikers. We caught up with him again at the road and he gave No Rush and I a bottle of Moxie. It is a local brand from Bedford, New Hampshire, it tasted a little like homemade root beer. We talked with him for awhile as we took our lunch break. You could tell he loved the mountains and comes up here whenever possible from his home in Grafton. We stopped for a view from Moose Mountain peak and I met three day hikers from Champaign, Illinois. They were fans of the University of Illinois and liked my Illini duct tape wrapped around my hiking poles. We came upon a hiker late in the day having some problems walking down the mountain. His name was One Step and he attempted a through hike in 2012 before he hurt his achilles. He finally stopped in New Hampshire and now he was trying to finish the trail. It was obvious that things weren't going too well for him. When I got to Holt's Ledge No Rush and I were enjoying the nice view and I decided that I would leave my pack there and go back and see how he was doing. We told him that we could either help him get to the next shelter or hike with him down to the road where we were staying. It took us a little while longer but was an interesting 1.5 miles. One Step is an expert on mushrooms and he was educating us on the types of mushrooms that are all over the trail. When we got to the road we stopped at Bill Ackerly's house to set up our tents. He was not home but some SOBO's told us it was OK to camp there. He has ice cream and sodas for hikers and also lets you charge your electronics. Usually when he is home he likes to visit with hikers and sometimes give them croquet lessons. Several hikers were in for the night, most of them we had seen somewhere on the trail today. My feet felt fine but I had a knot in my right calf for some reason all day.
Date: 2014-08-30
From: Bill Ackerly's Home

To: Mile Marker 1776.5
Miles today: 15.8

I was up before 6:00 this morning, No Rush has taken Puzzles place and was up by 5:30. We had a heavy dew last night and it seemed like it had rained. We left around our usual time at 7:00. We met Snickers from New York City up on Lambert's Ridge. It was an excellent view and we took turns taking pictures of each other. He was doing a section hike but would like to hike the whole trail someday. We met 2 SOBO's Pork Chop and T-Bone that started July 15th and were from South Carolina. Ironically I found out later that they were vegetarians. We had a long climb up Smart's Mountain where I heard my first loon on the trip. At the top we stopped to check out the fire wardens cabin to take a lunch break. We met Fievel and Little Foot also taking a break and 2 young ladies from the area had also hiked up for the day. Fievel and Little Foot had seen a mountain lion a couple days ago and were telling us about some highlights of their trip. We stopped at Eastman Ledges for some pictures on our way up Mt. Cube. We were having beautiful weather with low humidity. My right calf was still a little sore but better than yesterday. Maybe the 3000 feet of elevation gain up Smarts Mountain and Mt. Cube actually stretched it out a little. There were boulders on the uphills but also places to put your feet to climb up. Some of the low places had bogs that sunk down in the water when you stepped on them. We leap frogged hikers all day and stopped short of our planned destination at 6:00. We did have a nice campsite and even built a campfire to chase away the mosquitoes.
Date: 2014-08-31
From: Mile Marker 1776.5

To: Hikers Welcome Hostel
Miles today: 10.1

I was up before 6:00 this morning, rain was on the way and we wanted to get into town before it arrived. We left at 7:00, Glencliff was 10.1 miles away. We were following moose tracks right on the trail and I had my camera ready but none were spotted. We also heard something growl behind us on a ridge and it sounded like a bear clacking his jaws but we didn't see anything. We were making good time and then it started raining about 10:00, the rain was not going to wait. When we got to the road we went the wrong way from town and hiked about a quarter of a mile before we turned around. I thought that the AT went right through Glencliff looking at my map so I should have double checked it. We finally got to the hostel a little after 11:00. The inside bunks were taken so we had to grab beds set up in a big tent. The place was pretty dirty but we were able to get a shower, do laundry, and get out of the rain. It sprinkled off and on during the afternoon and hikers were coming in all day to get out of the weather. My package from Kenny West wasn't there and I wouldn't be able to locate it until Tuesday when the Post Office is open in Hanover. I got a shuttle into town to resupply. I was able to make calls there and had a text message from Paige to get hold of the urgent care place in Rutland, Vermont. The culture from my foot had come back positive for MRSA and they needed to change my antibiotics. I told them that I would be able to get some Bactrim in Lincoln in a few days and that I felt fine. My feet hadn't felt this good in two months. There was probably 30 hikers at the hostel, I met Canyonman and Soul Amigo for the first time. They had flipped at Harpers Ferry and were finishing their hike going south. They shared a lot of information about Maine and New Hampshire with No Rush and I. I met Figure 8 from Hungary and Smokey. Other hikers there that I already knew included Schweppes, Mama Bear, Three Piece, Ax-Man, Roadrunner, Chiclet, Firefox, Dos Equis, Babs, Alpine, Poncho, Hustle, Flo, Bama, Wi-Fi, Iron Cheeks, Grub Nugget,Spiff, and Solitude.
Date: 2014-09-01
From: Hikers Welcome Hostel

To: NH 112 Kinsman's Notch
Miles today: 9.3

I woke up at 6:15, after tossing and turning all night. I don't know if it was caused by the message from Urgent Care about my feet, the White Mountains coming up, or the bed at the hostel. Maybe it was a combination of all three. We were going to get breakfast at 7:00, if you sign up the night before you can get pancakes, eggs, and bacon for $7. We had to make our own coffee and do our own dishes. For $20 you get a bunk and a shower, laundry and shuttles are extra. We left about 8:30, our first task was getting to the top of Mt Moosilauke. It would be a 5.5 mile hike going up about 3800 feet. We met a local guy at the first road getting ready to go fishing. The stream has some nice Brook Trout and he comes up here every chance he gets. We turned the wrong way at the next road, the blazes were not in the right place. Close to the top we hiked up to South Peak. The fog was constantly changing our view but it was still nice. At the summit of Moosilauke we met plenty of NOBO's. we had some hikers take a picture of our group of 16 hikers. The summit is at 4802 feet and is above tree line. The scenery was amazing and made the climb totally worth it. I stepped on a big rock going back down from the summit. It moved and made me over stretch my achilles. It hurt the rest of the day. We took the wrong trail going down and hiked about 2 miles before another hiker going south got us turned around. We were cussing ourselves the whole 2 mile hike back up the mountain. Maybe if my foot hadn't been hurting so much I would have realized my error sooner. When we finally got going in the right direction we stopped at Beaver Brook Shelter for a late lunch. It would have been a nice shelter to spend the night, it had a great view right in front of the shelter. Since we had a difficult 1.5 mile downhill coming up we wanted to get it over with tonight. It was some of the toughest trail so far. The rocks were slick, it was steep and No Rush and I both fell 4-5 times going down. It did follow a nice stream all the way down but it was hard to enjoy it because you had to pay close attention to the trail. We camped by the road and Schweppes joined us for the night. Scweppes said that his dad had met me on the approach trail the first day that Meghan and I hiked. I remembered talking to him about the hikers up on Springer Mountain the night before in the bad weather. He and a friend had hiked up with his son and spent the night and they were going back down. I have met Schweppes several times during my hike and never knew until now that I had also met his father.
Date: 2014-09-02
From: NH 112 Kinsman's Notch

To: Fred's Place
Miles today: 0.0

We slept until 7:00 this morning, I seem to sleep better in the woods then I do at hostels. We had a very short walk to the road where No Rush's friend Fred was picking us up. He was going to take us back to his place to spend the night. I would be able to get my antibiotics and we could resupply at a real store. Fred has a very nice place that he shares with Scooter his Yellow Lab. He made us feel right at home and even treated us to breakfast. We ate at the Woodstock Inn and even took a tour of the brewery in the back. We drove around and he showed us the area. We later walked down to McDonald's for lunch and took a walk along the Pemi River. I stopped at the store and picked up some extra food. Fred is going to bring it to us in a few days and save us a trip into town. You can tell from talking to Fred that he loves the mountains and wishes he was hiking with us . He will do a through hike in 2016 after his daughter graduates from college. We ran into Fievel and Little Foot in town and Fred also invited them to stay the night. We went out to eat later, it was Taco Tuesday. The food was great! When we came back I got caught up on my journals. I can catch up on my sleep tomorrow night in the woods when it gets dark at 8:00. Fred thanks a million for your hospitality, maybe we will meet up again on the trail.
Date: 2014-09-03
From: Fred's Place

To: Fred's Place Again
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: light rain

Woke up at 6:00 at Fred's place, I slept really well in spite of staying up till midnight doing journals. Little Foot went over to Dunkin Doughnuts and brought back doughnuts. Fred made coffee and we visited for awhile before heading out to hike. Fred dropped Little Foot and Fifol at Franconia Notch and then took us to Kinsman Notch. One Step was there so Fred gave him a ride into town after dropping us off. Our hike began at 8:40 and we had some tough hiking to do today. We hadn't planned any set amount of miles because we knew it was going to be some strenous climbs. We took a short break after 4 miles of climbing, we were at the 1800 mile mark on the AT. We met three SOBO's today, the first was Suncatcher who started on August 9th. We also met Sawbones from Pennsylvania who started on August 7th. Later we met The Inventor, she was from Massachusetts and was drying out some of her gear up on top of the mountain. I heard it rained pretty hard up on top last night. Lately was slackpacking north with her dog Early. I don't think I have seen her since Virginia. The sun finally burned through the fog before noon so we will get a nicer view on top. When we stopped at Eliza Brook Shelter for a lunch break Giggles was already there. The shelter was built last year and still looked brand new. There have been many nice streams along the trail in New Hampshire and today was no different. We were above treeline on top of South Kinsman Mtn. at 4358 feet. We ran into a large group of young men from Proctor Academy from Andover, Maine and we joked with them that they had some rock climbing to do today. Later we stopped at Lonesome Lake Hut, all the huts are operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club. They have bunks that hold up to 30-90 people and charge non-members $125 a night. They do get dinner and breakfast but the huts have no heat, showers, or road access. Two through hikers a day are usually given work for stay opportunities. They get to sleep on the floor, get leftovers, and have to stay for 2 hours after breakfast the next morning. No Rush bought us some pumpkin soup and we had a short break. We left the hut at 6:40, we have 3 miles left to get to the road. It is going to be dark before we finish today. Fred was driving along the highway looking to pick us up and saw our headlights in the woods. After bringing us back to his house Fred fixed us steak,chicken, and asparagus on the grill and we also had salad and baked potatoes. He has really gone out of his way to make us feel at home in New Hampshire. I got another shower today and finished another journal after dinner. Another midnight finish.
Date: 2014-09-05
From: Garfield Ridge Shelter

To: Crawford Notch
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: light rain

I woke up at dawn about 6:00. We visited with the other hikers while we packed up. A couple of school groups were tenting and the leaders were cooking breakfast by the shelter. We finally left around 7:00 we had 17.4 miles to get to Crawford Notch. I met China from Maine and Father Goose both hiking south. Father Goose had hiked before and introduced me to two new hiking terms. LASH (Long Ass Section Hiker) and AT Widow (refering to his wife). He hiked 500 miles to Mt Rogers one year before his water line froze and now he was going to hike 500 miles in New England. We stopped at Galehead Hut for water and a snack. There are 8 huts in the Whites and they say that they are about a days hike apart. We will be hitting two of them each day while we hike through. We had some coffee, bread, and coffee cake before moving on. I met a family on the trail and introduced myself as the Mailman. The mother said that she knew the Mailman from reading my journal. Her son was Spoonfoot, a hiker I had hiked with down in Virginia. He had some health problems earlier and was resuming his journey in the White's where he fell on Mt. Madison. Now his through hike was in jeopardy for this year. It made me think about Lumberjack, a person I hiked with earlier that also had some bad luck on the trail. He had broken his foot and was trying to finish his hike but his foot was still bothering him. I shouldn't complain about my little aches and pains, at least I am still able to keep going north. Spoonfoot's family, Ira, Karen, Jeremy, and cousin Jamie were only out for a few days and it was good to meet them. I hope Spoonfoot can get back on the trail. I met True South another SOBO from Arkansas. We got to Zealand Falls Hut before 4:00, filled up with water and had some soup and coffee cake before leaving. We hiked the last 8 miles to the road in three hours, it was some of the easiest bit of trail we had seen in a while. We couldn't get any phone service so we walked a mile down the road to the Crawford Notch State Park. The Willey House was closed for the day, we sat on a picnic table and fixed dinner in the dark. We finally decide to go across the road and sleep on the covered porch of the store. We did have one car pull around about 10:00 and we though we would be run off but it was someone just turning around. Dos Equis, No Rush, and I did some stealth camping tonight.
Date: 2014-09-06
From: Crawford Notch

To: Kevin's Place
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I woke up before daylight, we were stealth camping on the porch of the Willey House. I wanted to be packed and across the road before any park employees showed up. I ate a few snacks for breakfast and hung out around the pond. Kevin would be here to pick us up later but we had a few hours to kill. A park employee unlocked the bathrooms around 8:00 so I went over and plugged in my phone.I walked around in the Visitors Center and learned about the area. The Willey House is an historical landmark because of a family tragedy in the mid 1800's. There had been a summer long drought and then they got some monsoon like rains. The Saco River below rose 20 feet and one theory is that the family had left the house because of the rising water. They were buried by a landslide but the house was untouched because a huge rock diverted the rubble to each side. The family of 6 and two hired hands were killed, two children were never found. The store finally opened at 9:30 and we had coffee, egg sandwich, and later some ice cream. Kevin picked us up at the store and took us to his camp for the night. The place is nice and quiet out in the country, he has been coming up here for 30 years. No Rush's friend Dean came up to visit and Kevin made a huge platter of nachos for lunch. For dinner he cooked us steak, mashed potatos, and macaroni salad. The guy can really cook. We should be powered up for hiking tomorrow. The rains finally came about mid afternoon, it was nice to be inside. The weather is supposed to be nice the next couple of days while we finish the White Mountains. We will climb 20 peaks of 4000 feet or more in New Hampshire and there are some big ones waiting tomorrow. Kevin will pick us up in Pinkham Notch in two days for another evening break. The skies cleared this evening and Kevin built a huge bonfire out back. We sat by the stream next to the fire and visited. Kevin's friend Darrin came over to spend the night. I went inside to work on my journal about 11:30, definitely not getting too much sleep this week. The plan right now is to be in Monson,Maine sometime around the 22nd of September. Hopefully, if the weather isn't too bad we will summit Katahdin the first of October.
Date: 2014-09-07
From: Kevin's Place

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up at 6:00,the light of dawn wakes me up. I didn't sleep that well even though I had a nice, warm bed to sleep in. The second part of the White's are coming up and I am a little intimidated by them. We left the cabin at 7:00 and stopped in for coffee and a sandwich. No Rush's friend Dean is going to hike with us for awhile and then take a side trail down. It was 8:00 before we started hiking after taking some pictures at the parking lot. I saw a beaver in the stream by the road, another mammal spotted to cross off my list. Webster Cliffs gave us some nice views on top. I might wear out my camera the next two days, the guidebook has 15 camera icons coming up on the trail. Mt Webster 3910 feet and Mt Jackson 4052 feet were our challenge this morning. We arrived at Mizpah Hut at 1:15 it is one of 8 huts in the White's. The name means watchtower in Hebrew and can handle 60 guests. It was built in 1964 and has steel beams that can wuthstand 200 mph winds. I had a hot turkey and cheese sandwich on homemade wheat bread. It was made by the Hutmaster, Beowulf and I told him it was as good as any sandwich I have had on the trail. We left Mizpah about 2:00 and climbed Mt.Pierce 43121 feet, Mt. Eisenhower 4506 feet, Mt. Franklin 5004, and Mt. Monroe 5163 feet. Another beautiful weather day to be in the mountains. We hiked 4.8 miles and got to the Lake of the Clouds hut before 5:00. It is at 5012 feet and it is getting colder. I asked Ian if there was room in the "Dungeon" a room down below where hikers can stay for $10. He talked us into doing Work For Stay, you get to sleep upstairs and get dinner for free. You just have to do a little work in the hut. Everyone hiking through can get water, use toilets, buy snacks, and get weather reports. Lake of the Clouds was built in 1915 and can handle 90 guests in 8 coed bunkrooms. Guests can stay for a measly $125. There was about 40 people paying tonight. It was cold inside because they are not heated, guests were walking around in coats. The huts don't use a lot of electricity, this one uses on average about 2 KWH/day while the average home uses 28 KWH/day. After the guests ate we got fed stuffed macaroni shells, salad, soup, and home made bread. The food is good, I missed out on the cake though. I washed dishes for about an hour later while No Rush rinsed. Other hikers here are Dos Equis, Tinder, Birch, Lately, and Ronin. About 9:30 we took benches and put them together to sleep on. There was a beautiful sunset, I went outside to take a picture and it was cold! We also had a full moon to look at out of the window.
Date: 2014-09-08
From: Lake of the Clouds Hut

To: Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: light rain

Woke up at 6:00 in the hut,I was toasty warm in my sleeping bag but you could see your breath even though you were inside. Ian brought us some oatmeal to eat because he knew we were wanting to leave early. I just can't eat oatmeal any more I managed only a few bites before giving up. We left the hut at 7:45 and walked out in the cold. It took about one hour to climb 1.3 miles. Mt Washington sits at 6288 feet and has some of the most dangerous weather in the US. It is surrounded by three different weather areas and the altitude makes it even worse. Lots of people have died hiking up here unprepared for sudden weather changes. We spent about 1 1/2 hours on this amazing mountain peak. The skies couldn't have been any better for this landmark of our AT hike. Not everyone that hikes the trail is this lucky.There is a museum, snacks, and even a Post Office. The postmaster comes up on the cog railway each morning with the mail. Workers on top stay up there at night and work like 11 days on and 3 days off. We finally headed down the mountain and got to see the cog railway climbing up the mountain. We were right by the tracks but skipped hiker tradition and didn't moon the passengers on the train. We hiked up Mt Clay 5402 feet and Mt Jefferson at 5315 feet. We made our usual hut stop at Madison Spring Hut for a break and water. We use the excuse that we have to stop for water so we can get goodies. It was remodeled in 2011 and one of the ladies working there grew up close to Champaign, Illinois. I had turkey-potato soup and two delicious pieces of apple spice cake with cream cheese frosting. I had to make up for the piece of cake that I didn't get last night. We had a steep 1/2 mile boulder climb up Mt. Madison 5366 feet and then more rocks going down. There have been lots of side trails and you have to be careful not to get off of the AT. We got a break on the last couple of miles out to the Visitors Center at Pinkham Notch. They have a nice lodge and dining area. Kevin picked us up and took us into Gorham for dinner and laundry. Kevin bought our dinner and then we went back to the cabin for another hot shower. We packed up for another two day hike and then I worked on journals. Hiker midnight got pushed back to 10:30 tonight.