morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-09-23
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 10.9

It just dawned on my that yesterday was the first day of Autumn and I started this southbound (SOBO) hike the day before. I started my northbound (NOBO) hike the day before the first day of Spring.  WOW!Both Kuhn Dog and I slept well last night and we woke up to the smell of coffee and blueberry pancakes. I took my time preparing for the days hike while Dog checked with the caretakers as to how he and his wife could volunteer to do the same for a week sometime...the wheels are in motion!Before leaving this morning I ventured back down to the beach to see the sun break it¢s way through the overcast while a low steady mist crept along the surface of a still, grey sheet of glass. Absolutely beautiful!We were on the trail pretty late, 930, because we were doing a short 7 miles to get Kuhn Dog back to where he parked his car. The terrain was pretty much consistent with what we¢ve experienced so far in MA, rocky, rooty (maybe more so today), muddy and leaf/needle covered hardened dirt. Lots of water sources due partially to all the rain MA has received lately. I did have an incident stepping off of a fallen tree. As I pushed off with my left foot, the tree rolled and I fortunately planted my right foot before planting my face. Unfortunately, I planted it in such a way that I over extended my Achilles, which I¢ve been babying for most of the summer.Once Kuhn Dog and I split up, the trail changed drastically for the first mile or so, it was virtually all boardwalk over water and bog/swamp. The water was so deep that a good portion of the walk way was 3-4¢ under water...so much for dry shoes. I ended up at the Shaker Campsite, named after the early settlers in the area. A post on the Privy door described the life of Shakers as farmers and worshipers who incorporated dancing in their worship. The same post announced heavy bear activity in the area, in fact this particular site was just recently reopened due to such. The site consists of two elevated wooden tent platforms, fire pit, picnic table, bear box and privy. And an out of place stone wall 50¢ long by 6¢ high separated the forested hill from the campsite, which is mostly cleared with the exception of several mature trees. I did not camp alone.We crossed paths with only four other hikers today, one was Pueblo, formerly known as Pio, heading south with a young lady named Red; they started at Katahdin in mid-July. Pueblo and I met last spring at a campsite in the Smokies, though for only one night. Pueblo is a young, strong hiker so I doubt that I¢ll run into him again.Other than the Achilles incident, it was another good day of hiking the AT. It was great to see Kuhn Dog again and catching up after so many years. Thanks Tommy for joining, I hope you enjoyed yourself, I certainly enjoyed your company.
Date: 2018-09-24
From: Shaker Campsite

To: M 23 - Great Barrington, MA
Miles today: 10.4

It got cold last night, long johns and my 15 degree down sleeping bag weren¢t quite making it. I pulled out my down jacket, wool socks, wool hat and gloves to get through the night. The sky was clear for a change so I actually saw the sun this morning, though it lent no warmth at all and disappeared within the hour. My campsite mate, Grant, was gone by 730 so I was left to enjoy a nice hot breakfast of protein mix and granola on my own. But as I was sitting at the table with my back to the forest, I heard branches break and some pretty loud snorting from behind. I immediately started paying attention and kept my eyes pealed in all directions while I broke camp.I spent a good amount of time stretching this morning as my Achilles was pretty stiff and though it did loosen up some, I was aware of it all day and each step was even more calculated.Right out of the gate I had a 500 foot climb which was slow, the whole day was slow. The AWOL guide identified a water source within .25 miles southbound on the trail but that proved to be false and I was dry. So I ended up going 3 miles before I found a stream that produced, even though the water was heavily tannined. Fortunately a good water filter can really do a nice job of improving the taste. Once I found water, there was plenty of water the rest of the way.I ran into several local day hikers but only two thru hikers, Cannon Ball and Zuzu, both heading north. I met Zuzu sometime in the spring when I was heading north myself. Zuzu got her name from ¢Its a Wonderful Life¢, her favorite movie.I had an occasion to talk with Kuhn Dog again today and he really saved my bacon. I spoke with two of the local day hikers I ran into, told them I was heading into Great Barrington for the night and BOTH (!) said to hang a right at the first paved road that I crossed when I exited the trail. So I did. I started walking and hitched along the way, but only 4 cars passed in two miles. The road I was on turned out to be closed due to flooding. The next road into town was another 1.5 miles down the trail. The trail was 2 miles back. It was getting dark. It was getting cold. My phone was under 15% and I was afraid. The trail guide that I have, AWOL, has only one shuttle service listed and that number was disconnected. To make a short story long, Kuhn Dog came through and hooked me up with a service that got me to town. Way to go Tommy, thank you so much!I found a penny.
Date: 2018-09-25
To: Great Barrington, MA
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a zero to nurse my Achilles. I iced it last night and this morning after some extended stretching, it started to feel ¢pretty¢ good. Still a bit stiff, but the swelling is way down. I headed out into the rain and walked on pavement for about a mile and it held up pretty well. Of course that¢s not the trail but it¢s encouraging. Plus I didn¢t have to hike in the cold, wet of the mountain trails. In fact coming back to the motel I ran into Pueblo and Red again, they¢re staying here too. They were on the trail today and got off for fear of hypothermia, I imagine it was brutal out there. They were kind enough to invite me to dinner tonight and I had, as I hope they did, an enjoyable evening in good company.I will be going back on the trail tomorrow for an eight mile slack pack adventure. Hopefully my heel will stand up to the test. Cool weather with showers in the morning, thunder storms in the afternoon is expected. It¢s the AT, what else?
Date: 2018-09-26
From: M 23 - Great Barrington, MA

To: US 7 - Great Barrington, MA
Miles today: 8.75

After icing my Achilles for the last two nights, it felt pretty good. So the plan was to slack pack 8.5 miles just to see how it would hold up under the stress of the trail, even though I was carrying only a portion of my packs weight. As I hoped, it went well. The Achilles feels good in spite of a few slips and slides.It rained all day yesterday until 7pm and reached only 51 degrees. When I hit the trail this morning it was 73, cloudy, no breeze and incredibly humid. As expected the trail was moist, in some cases very moist to the point of water flowing 2¢ deep. Every surface was slippery, leaves, roots and rocks. Which meant that every singe step had to be studied before taken. That¢s not to say that I stopped between steps, I moved at a decent pace considering my goal; 1.8 mph, a little slower than usual, but speed wasn¢t my goal. I loved the terrain today, the MA mix. There were finally some views and I took advantage, spending a good 1/2 hour looking out over the country side as the sun fought to break through but only managed to burn off some of the fog. I did see some sun, but being beneath the canopy, only the occasional beam broke through, certainly not enough to dry things up.There were plenty of sheered rock formations with impressive vertical drops and sheets of rock surface on the trail that you would think were poured by a contractor. These in particular were very slick. I slipped five times, fell twice and if I¢d had my full pack, would have fallen all five times and probably be off the trail due to injury. Tomorrow I¢ll be back out there with the full pack on a more challenging section, so keep your fingers crossed.One mile of the last 1.5 ran parallel to a corn field and the trail was saturated. The last 3/4 of a mile was between a river and corn field and the trail ran parallel to the planted corn rows. So what? At two places, there was an opening into the corn field where the stalks were flattened 2¢ wide going into the field. That opening crossed the trail and emptied right down the river bank and into the river. I examined the ground for animal tracks of some sort and found none. So I can only assume this distraction was caused my the elusive Eastern Massachusetts Anaconda. The corn field was interrupted for about 300 yards of open field where the farmer had spread manure all over the place. The sun had come out in the low land and it was ripe! A real olfactory treat.Plus I found penny.
Date: 2018-09-28
From: The Hemlock Shelter

To: Brassie Brook Shelter 
Miles today: 8.9

It got down to the mid-40¢s and of course it rained last night, not too terribly hard, but it rained all night. In fact I¢m not quite sure when it stopped because the shelter and campsite is in a deeply wooded area and water kept falling until 10 o¢clock this morning. Not sure if it was rain, or water just falling off of the trees, but it was steady.Swampfox was up early this morning and he headed out by 730. I stayed in bed where it was nice and warm waiting until it stopped raining. He decided to head north 3 miles, take a side trail 1.5 miles to a highway and hitch a ride back to his car. He¢s had enough of the rain.1030 and I was finally on the trail, it really didn¢t stop raining until after 1 or so and then it was still really damp which limited the views from the THREE mountains I climbed today. For the sake of writing it would be easy to say that one was harder than the last, but the last was the hardest, the first was basically a continuation of the one I started yesterday and the second the ¢easiest¢. It wasn¢t so much the altitude but the altitude combined with the distance up and down, the incredibly rocky terrain and the torrential water flow over those incredible rocks. Both up and down proved to be the hardest and probably the most dangerous I¢ve come across... and I¢ve not even been to upper New England! With the exception of the .5 mile mountain top ridge line after the second mountain (that I hear has some great views), the flat part of the trail was covered in pine needles and leaves (with smaller rocks), but under a few inches of standing water. The forest was primarily pine with not many lower branches and not much ground growth, the contour of the ground was covered with brown needles with the occasional fallen tree glowing green with moss and the rock formations, sometimes huge and sometimes small. The thing about a pine forest is that the needle don¢t rustle in the wind but I could almost always hear the sound of rushing water coming from one direction or another. In two particular places during the last 4 miles, a footbridge was washed out and the water was so high that the large rocks used as stepping stones was under water and I was required to ford both spots. In both instances the water was 12-24¢ deep, one was 15¢ across and the other 25¢. The water was cold and fast and I had to move slowly in order feel what was on the river beds. I wish I could have had somebody video me crossing, this was actually kind of cool.So you can assume my feet were soaked and cold all day and I¢m sure my shoes will be just as wet in the morning, as nothing dries out over night. There is nothing more unpleasant than getting out of warm dry camp clothes and into yesterday¢s wet cold socks, shirt, underwear and shoes...I need a good period of warm sunshine and no activity to dry my stuff...or a Maytag.I crossed in CT today though the posted picture is not of the actual border, I understand it's about 50' down river and I was heading up river.  But you get the point.I found another penny!
Date: 2018-09-29
To: Undermountain Rd., Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 0.0

9/29 - part 2How small is the trail world? I mentioned this hiker in my 4/6 entry but no details, I listed those in my personal notes and ¢cast of characters¢ from the trail...4/6, Long Branch Shelter, NC- Raskolinkov (Matt)- Young, 25-29?- Hammock set up diagonally in shelter due to weather- fast hiker, probably never see again- Very personable- Mechanical engineer- Met his wife in Germany while studying there- Lives with folks in RI- Wife coming to hike north of the smokies in two weeks, will be jumping forward4/6, Fontana Dam Marina- With The Punisher, slacking 3 miles- Trail Magic from RI - NOBO son turns out to be Matt. They brought his wife and dog south to hike. I mentioned his name, Matt. Big smiles! He mentioned me to them- Pizza, soda, home made cookies & apple pie.  - Small world!9/29 -Coming down from Lionshead Mnt. outside is Salisbury, CT, is a parking lot used by people day/section hiking that part of the trail. A young woman was reading posts on an  AT bulletin board as I approached. As we began to converse, Vanessa, told me that her husband had finished the trail in August after beginning in March. After a few minor details she finally she told me his name, Raskolnikov.  "MATT?!  From Rhode Island?! I replied enthusiastically. Then you must be his bride from Germany?"  Both of us really surprised, we exchanged a few stories about the trail, me meeting his parents and what I knew about their recent hike together. He had mentioned me to her at one time and he immediately recognized me from the picture (above) that she sent him. Vanessa and her friend Sable, were off to enjoy a weekend section hike to the North. It was a pleasure to meet you Vanessa and congratulations to you Raskolinkov on your thru hike!The world gets even smaller out here.
Date: 2018-09-30
From: Limestone Spring Shelter

To: Pine Swamp Brook Shelter
Miles today: 12.25
Weather: clear sky

I was right, climbing out of that campsite was tough and even more memorable than going down as I got to see the falls face on rather than looking down, back and up; this time I looked down, up and back. But once out, my heart rate was up and I was ready to go and after a big swig of the nearly ice cold water from a spring behind the lean to, off I went.  Almost immediately I was able to walk across pasture in the bright morning sun.  But as it most often does, the trail and the weather changed.  Still rocky, the trail was downhill for 2.5 miles then pretty flat for another 2.5 before entering into 7 miles of those useless PUDS. Remember PUDS? Pointless Ups & Downs? Well they¢re still out here and they¢re everywhere, everyday.  The weather was cloudy and damp in the mountains and that pretty much saturated every thing, as it always does. While going down, I slipped on the face of a rock and landed flat on my backside. It¢s a good thing I was wearing the backpack as it really protected me from landing on a sharp rock and probably a serious injury. And that got me to thinking that every time I¢ve fallen, I've got up and collected my dignity and looked around to see just how close I¢ve come to really injuring myself. And while that would suck, what makes it suck more is that I've gone three days at a time during the last two weeks and not seen anybody else on the trail, so how is one to get help if no one passes by?I settled into the the Pine Swamp Brook Lean to. Two new characters enter into my story. SuSu, a 67 year old breast cancer survivor from Austin, has been section hiking for a few years with her recently deceased dog; she describes herself as the ¢slowest hiker on the trail¢. SuSu camps in a tent as most of us do, however she has always wrapped her food in a large compactor bag (big 3 mil plastic garbage bag) and uses it as a pillow rather than hanging it or securing it in a bear box. For that reason I stayed clear of the campsites tonight, who needs a bear walking past my tent to get to hers?  At the shelter I met an 18 year old from SC who got his name in NC when he unknowing stepped within 2¢ of a coiled copperhead on the edge of the trail.  His hiking partners called it to his attention and aptly named him Blind Man.Nine o¢clock in the evening and it¢s pitch black out. Everything¢s absolutely quiet as it so often is this time night and this is another time when it all comes together like it¢s supposed to.  Of course the tranquillity of the night ended when the whispering breeze began to raise its voice as if needing to be heard over the rumbling thunder and pounding rain on the time roof of the shelter.  As the rain continued through the night the water rolled off the roof splashed loudly into the ground puddles as though a spicket was left open.  Still, these sounds can be rather relaxing. The only picture I could take today was coming out of the woods first thing this morning. Otherwise, any views were obstructed by clouds and fog.
Date: 2018-10-01
From: Pine Swamp Brook Shelter

To: CT 4 - Cornwall Bridge, CT
Miles today: 7.5

The forecast for rain has been moved up to today and tomorrow. Though that doesn¢t really matter, that just means that the sky is going to open up, it¢s always wet out here!I was the last one out this morning at 9am, SuSu being the first at 7:15. By 9:30 I passed the ¢slowest hiker on the trail¢. How could that be?! Seems she headed out going north and went about a mile before realizing she¢d gone the wrong way...maybe that¢s why she¢s the ¢slowest hiker on the trail¢. Anyway, I moved on and never saw her again. The trail was again PUDS. They were long and they were wet and I¢m getting so tired of the wet. In fact, I¢ve been tired of the wet for days. I¢ve only been back out here for 11 days and 3 have been without high humidity and/or precipitation.Two things happened today that changed my feelings about this lovely Autumn trek. First, I planned on 10 miles today and the hike was the normal challenge. After 6 miles the trail crossed a dirt road and dropped 200 feet fast to a stream. Once at the streams edge I found a sign stating the stream crossing was closed due to recent heavy rains and a 2 mile detour around the closure was suggested. After walking in both directions along the rivers shoreline looking for an alternate detour, I was forced back up the hill for the suggested detour. Unfortunately I was pissed off that the sign was not posted at the top of the hill and I was grumbling back up the hill in the pouring rain totally unfocused. So much so that I took another tumble, this time off to the side of the trail and I bounced a good 15¢ back down the hill until stopped by a tree.  That was definitely the last nail in my 2018 hike! Bottom line, I¢m not enjoying myself out here right now, so I¢m hanging it up. I¢m coming home after two weeks. I miss Cathy and our grandson Max. There are things I want to do at home and I want all of that more than I want this right now. The people out here that I really like are gone and I¢ll likely not see them again, especially since I don¢t know who they really are. Train Wreck, Orion, MoonPie, Mudbug, Spoon, Blue Raccoon, Forgiven and a whole cast of others that have made this adventure one that comes along only once in a lifetime. I¢ll never forget this, good times and bad.I walked down the first mile of the suggested detour which emptied into the intersection of Rt. 4 and US 7 occupied by a hiker non-friendly Citco station. I had the number of one shuttle service and couldn¢t complete a call because there was very spotty cell service. No pay phone on the premises and the proprietor wouldn¢t let me use his landline. I asked if he knew of another shuttle near by and blew me off saying he doesn¢t care about this sort of thing. I finally reached a service and was waiting outside when this "gentleman" told me to leave his property.  Makes me wish I hadn't purchased the mildly chilled soft drink from him...a cherry on top of a great day and epic journey.See you next spring, stay tuned!
Date: 2019-03-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Who remembers the other guy in this photo? That¢s my brother-in-law, the Mayor. It was one year ago today that we kissed our wives goodbye and launched our attempted thru hike of the AT. As you read in my trail journal from back then, the Mayor suffered a most unfortunate knee injury cutting his quest drastically short. As I continued on, he returned home to a summer of MRI¢s, PT and a series of appointments with Drs. and varied specialist. Though his plans were cut short, he never gave up on trail or me. He would venture out on day hikes in to the Ocala National Forest, the southern regions of the AT and even drove to up to Tennessee for a week to join me for several slack packing excursions. It wasn¢t the summer he expected nor did he log anywhere near the miles he wanted, but he was able to support me via frequent texts concerning weather and comments of the pending trail thanks to the good folks a Guthook. When he joined me for that week, I could tell it was killing him not to not be able to go over these mountains with me and the other hikers he met; it was like he was a 5 year old on a time-out, being told sit on the porch and watch all of his friends ride their bikes past his house!And of course you know I, myself left the trail in mid-June due to a tweaked Achilles¢ tendon and a couple of other issues at home. Well, I am excited to announce that the Mayor and I will be returning to the AT for a limited engagement beginning April 16. We will put foot to trail at the Narrows near Pearisburg, VA after what we hope will be an inspiring evening of trail talk and comradery with members of the AT thru hiking class of 2019, at the Woods Hole Hostel.  Though this won¢t be a thru hike for us, we do hope to log some significant miles through the summer and hope that you will join us from the comfort of your own couch by reading my daily trail journal and offering your thoughts and words of encouragement in my guest book.See ya¢ll in a couple of weeks!
Date: 2019-04-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

On the first night of our 2018 AT hike, the Mayor and I pitched our tents at Black Gap, just shy of Springer Mountain¢s summit. That night we met several people, most of whom we would never see again after lunch the next day. Two of those people are a young couple whom I believe were engaged at the time and had yet to acquire trail names. KT, the young lady, eventually became ¢Amazonian¢ and Francis, was dubbed ¢Chumbawamba¢.The above drawing is from a collection of sketches by Chumbawamba that was presented on public domain via Instagram under the name of ¢effelar¢, I hope he doesn¢t mind that I¢m sharing this on my page. Though the Mayor and I shared only 3 meals, dinner, breakfast and lunch over two days with this couple, Chumbawamba included us in his ¢comic strip¢ journal. I am impressed with his talent and the time he must have spent each night drawing the events of his day, and how cool is it to be included? Thank you Chumbawamba.If interested, visit effelar on Instagram where he chronicled much of their 2018 hike. I would be surprised if he didn¢t welcome you to his site.  I believe they made it all the way to Maine.