morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-08-01
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter

To: Schaghticoke Mountain
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: broken clouds

Sarted @ Telephone Pioneers ShelterDestination: Schaghticoke MountainMiles today: 16.3Total Miles: 1445.0Stayed in tentDay 143Wow! We did it again! Over 16 miles. But it was not easytoward the end. We were only going to do 13 miles but Totowanted to do 15. We did not find a place to set up the tentuntil we had climbed a high climb and by then it was almostdark.We had started out from the shelter early and was at a roadwhere there is a deli only 0.6 mile away. I stayed at the roadwith our packs while he went to get breakfast sandwichs and somefor our lunch. After eating the breakfast we hiked on up thetrail which went through high weeds and boggy areas where theboards were not in very good shape. Some were rotting and therewas one place where I steped and my shoes were deep in muddywater. My shoes were already starting to get wet from the wetweeds--now they were very squishy. Soon Snowman caught up with us. After he had gone into Pawlinghe found out that the grocery store where he was planning toresupply was closed down and had been moved out of town. Butanother hiker that was getting off the trail for a few days gavehim her food so he has enough for several more days.We started out our day by getting 10 miles behind us by noon. But in the afternoon we just could not seem to do the miles veryfast. Snowman was giving Toto suggestions about how to raise hisenergy level to help him through the tough tims of the day. Getting enough food and water was one suggestion. I think hewas drinking enough but he was not so sure he was eating enough.It is hard to eat enough to replace all the calories burned in aday's time.By the time we stopped this evening it was all we could do toset up the tent and get our sleeping bags and pads out, changeout of hiking clothes into our night clothes, and crawl into thetent. We did not even eat anything. The mosquitoes were badand we did not want to be out of the tent any longer thannecessary. We plan to go to Cornwall Bridge tomorrow--another 16 miles--and stay in a motel. We need showers and need to wash oursweaty clothes.
Date: 2005-08-08
From: US 7

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Started @ US 7 Destination: Shaker CampsiteMiles today: 17.6Total Miles: 1522.8Stayed in tentDay 150We were up early and out on the road to hitch a ride back to thetrail by 7:20am. It was not long before a man in a truckstopped and we climbed into the back. He is an outdoor educatorand takes groups from the school where he teaches on hikes onthe trail. We had some of our left-over pizza for our breakfast thismorning and took the rest for our lunch at the first shelter wecame to. Blotter, a hiker I had met back in Pennsylvania atEckville Shelter, was there. We had 3 pieces of pizza left andoffered him one. He said he was starving and took it. Later, Poet and Feelin Free came to the shelter for lunch andPoet handed us the envelope that was at the trail magic a fewdays ago. It was from Mac and Cheese and they were inviting usto their home when we got to a certain point. Unfortunately, itis too late now to take them up on the offer since we are out ofCt. They have been following our journals and wanted to providesome more trail magic. They are the ones that had left thetrail magic by the road for hikers to enjoy that day we cameupon it. At the time they left the note, the Honeymooners,Muskrat and Birdie were there and staying another night andbeing slack-packed by Mac and Cheese. We stopped by Benedict Pond that the trail passes today and Totowent for a swim. He said the water was not very deep and thebottom was very mucky. He had his Crocs on and got one stuck inthe muck until he was able to pull it out. The Crocs float,otherwise. Feelin Free and Poet also stopped by and Fellin Freewent into the water, also.We did a big day today because we want to do a shorter one intoUpper Goose Pond Cabin tomorrow. We have heard so much about itand there is a place to swim.The campsite where we stayed was very buggy! We set up our tentas quickly as we could and did not even cook. It was about 8pmwhen we got here and were to tired to cook, anyway. We lookforward to a shorter day tomorrow.
Date: 2005-08-09
From: Shaker Campsite

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Started @ Shaker CampsiteDestination: Upper Goose Pond CabinMiles today: 9.9Total Miles: 1532.7Stayed in shelterDay 151Last night before we went to sleep we heard a bunch of coyoteshowling and they kept it up for 5 minutes, it seemed. We didsleep fairly well. I awakened during the night to hear a fewrain drops on the tent but it did not continue. We got to the cabin about 2pm and were the first to arrive. Thecaretaker, Pete, introduced himself and gave us the rules--nosmoking in the cabin, no soap in the pond, and no cooking on theporch or inside with our stoves. However, we can take a bath bygoing into the lake and getting wet, filling a bucket with pondwater and taking it 50 feet from the shore, soaping up, rinsingoff with the pond water and then going back into the pond torinse off the residual soap. There are lots of places along theshore to do this privately. And this we did. It was a good wayto get our clothes rinsed out, too. We also can cook on the gasstove in the cabin, which we also did. Washing dishes is doneby boiling pond water and putting clorox in it, as well as dishsoap, and rinsing in cloroxed pond water--outside on a long"table" set up for dishwashing. Pete is taking his turn for a week as caretaker of this cabin. He says there are so many people that want to do it that somepeople do not even get a whole week. He has to park his carsomewhere and hike in to the cabin, so he cannot bring much inor take much out at a time. There is no drinking wateravailable at the cabin so he rows a canoe across the lake to aspring and fills as many jugs as possible and takes them back tothe dock. He then asks hikers to carry one or two up to thecabin when then go down to swim or use the canoe. He usesbuckets to bring up pond water for washing dishes. The caretakers room is a small room in the back of the bunkroomwhich is on the second floor of the cabin. Pete is a retiredradiologist and works a lot with the ATC. He loves what hedoes.Other hikers came in later and we ended up with a good group. They are Serenity, Poet, Feelin Free, Sandy, Sundance Kid,Limbo, Sensei, and Blotter. In the mornings the caretaker fixes pancakes for all the hikersuntil they have had their fill. Tomorrow will be blueberrypancakes because a south-bounder brought in blueberries he hadpicked at a blueberry farm further up the trail. YUM!We picked 2 upper bunks by the screened window to sleep on. Itis so nice and peaceful here. We are invited to spend anothernight here but we must move on. It is certainly tempting,though.
Date: 2005-08-10
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Kay Wood Lean-To
Miles today: 17.6

Started @ Upper Goose Pond CabinDestination: Kay Wood Lean-ToMiles today: 17.6Total Miles: 1550.3Stayed in tentDay 152This morning we were up at 6am and had blueberry pancakes soonafter. Pete kept fixing them until everyone had had their fill. Toto and I each had 6. Pete also had made coffee. We were thefirst ones to hit the trail by 7:30am. The morning was coolstarting out so hiking was pretty good. We had hiked about 9 miles before we stopped for lunch at thefirst shelter we came to--October Mountain Shelter. We spent anhour there with our shoes off and ate a hot meal. Our next stopwas the blueberry farm 2 miles up the trail. The woman thatlives there has home-made cookies for the hikers and they allowhikers to tent in their yard if they ask. We got water from aspigot in the front of the house and we picked a little over apound of blueberries for $1.50. We met one southbound hikertoday before we got to the blueberry farm that had stayed therein his tent last night and was carying 4 pounds of berries. Hewas taking them to Upper Goose Pond Cabin for Pete to put in thepancakes he fixes every morning. It was great place to stop andthe people were very friendly. Blotter was at the blueberryfarm and had been met by a friend of his that is slackpackinghim and had brought him pizza. There was one piece of pizzaleft and Blotter offered it to Toto since Toto had shared a piece of pizza the other day with him when we carried a few pieces out to the shelter for lunch. After leaving the blueberry farm we headed back to the trail tofinish up the last 6.6 miles to this shelter.We got here at about 6:15 and were glad to be here. Weimmediately set up the tent and Toto cooked dinner. The onlyother 2 hikers here are 2 section hikers--a woman going northand a young man going south. Serenity, Poet, and Feelin Free are being slack-packed byBlotter's friend, also. They are all hiking on in to Daltontonight. There is a person that lives there that lets up to 12hikers stay in his home. We will hike about 3 miles into Daltontomorrow morning and have a late breakfast or any earlylunch--whichever we can find. We need to pick up more insectrepellent as we have used up almost all we have. The mosquitoeshave been horrible. I have several new bites on me every day.We plan on hiking about 13 miles to Cheshire tomorrow. Hope wecan find a place to stay.Oh, by the way--Toto is getting his trail legs again. I havenot been able to keep up with him most of the time today.
Date: 2005-08-11
From: Kay Wood Lean-To

To: Mass. 8
Miles today: 12.3

Started @ Kay Wood ShelterDestination: Mass. 8Miles today: 12.3Total Miles: 1562.6Stayed in motelDay 152Today we are grandparents again for the 4th time--this time toour youngest daughter and her husband's first child--EthanAndrew. We had just climbed about amile up out of Dalton whenToto said he was going to call Emily because he had beenthinking about her all day. This was about 12:45pm. We had 2voice mails--the fist one from Andy, our son-in-law at 1amsaying they were at the hospital because Emily's water broke. Then the second one was from our oldest daughter saying thatEmily was going for a c-section. We called Andy's cell phone andSarah, our oldest daughter answered. Emily was still in theoperating room but the nurse had come out and said everythingwas ok but could not give out any further info. While we werestill talking they let the family go back to see her. The babywas 6 lb,8 1/2 oz and was delivered at 12:15pm. Toto and I satthere on a rock crying tears of joy and sadness. Joy for Em andAndy and sadness that we could not be there. Andy's parents drove during the night to get there from New York. So afterwe started on up the trail again we had more spring in our stepbecause now we have to get this trail finished so we can go hometo see all our grandchildren.As for the trail today we left the shelter at about 7:30 and gotinto Dalton, Massachusetts, at 8:45am. As we walked into townwe saw most of the hikers we saw at Upper Goose Pond Cabin at ahouse that allows hikers to tent in his yard. After we gotthere he brought out a plate of sliced cantalope and we had apiece of it. The diner was down the street so we left our packsat the house and went to eat. A wonderful, friendly littleplace. Then we walked to the other end of town to the pharmacyto get bug spray and vitamin I. We then stopped by theconvenience store for some snacks as we were low on them. When we got back to the house where we left our packs andrefilled with water we were ready to hit the trail and start forCheshire where we planned to spend the night.The church hostel was closed for a week so we called a Bed andBreakfast. They picked us up at a restaurant where we had eatenand they will take us back to town to the P.O. to pick up mailtomorrow. I am hoping my new shoes will be here.Tomorrow we will be staying at Bascom Lodge on top of Mt.Greylock at 3500 feet. The mountains are getting bigger andbigger. We should be in Vermont in 2 days. The views as we getfurther north are supposed to be spectacular!! Great rewardsfor all the work to get to the top of the mountains. I seeleaves already falling off some trees. Summer will be turninginto fall soon and we will be finished with the trail. A greataccomplishment!! And then we will be able to go see grandkids!
Date: 2005-08-12
From: Mass. 8

To: Mt. Greylock,Bascom Lodge
Miles today: 7.7

Started at Mass. 8Destination: Mt. Greylock,Bascom LodgeMiles today: 7.7Total Miles: 1570.3Stayed in LodgeDay 154We have spent a lovely night in this bed and breakfast. Theoriginal house was built in 1793 and more was added in the1800's. It is large and beautiful. The owners have had it for4 years and they have done wonderful things with it. I cannoteven imagine the work that has gone into it. We were the onlyones here except for 1 other couple and they were in anotherpart of the house. Our room was right out next to the road--abusy one--and the windows were open, so it was a bit noisy.Breakfast was wonderful--homemade granola, homemade muffins,waffles, a spinach and ricotta pie, fruit juice, fruit cup,yogurt, coffee and bread if we wanted toast. We certainly ateenough calories to get us on our way today.Eva drove us to the post office and left us. The trail goesright by the post office so we were where we needed to be. Mynew shoes did not come so we called the outfitter in HarpersFerry and they have not arrived there yet from the company. Wewill have to let her know where to send them when she gets them. We sent a box to ourselves from down the trail and if we do notneed anything out of it we can send it on ahead--which is whatwe did today. It is a "bounce box" and we do not have to payany more postage on it until we open it, get what we need out ofit, and send the rest ahead to another post office. We got on the trail about 10:30 and got here at 3:30pm. Thetrail was up all day with 2 pretty steep sections to it, butotherwise not bad. The day was nice with blue skies all day butonce we got here it got cloudy and it did rain for a littlewhile, but not hard. We were glad to be here. We are stayingin a bunk room here in the lodge with sheets, a pillow and ablanket on our bunk. We are the only ones in this room. Thehostel is a bunk room in the garage down the hill a shortdistance. But there are no sheets, etc. on them--sleeping bagsand possibly sleeping pads are needed. It costs us a bit morebut it is worth it. We have had a shower, bought a scrumptiousdinner, and will have breakfast in the morning before we had onup the trail. The wind is blowing hard out there and it is whistling aroundthe building. There is a lighthouse up here that can be seenfrom 5 different states. We climbed to the top of it and gotsome good, although hazy, pictures. We have talked to our daughter and she is doing fine, as is Andyand the baby. They've taken lots of pictures. Well, it is after 9 but with electricity it does not seem solate. I am tired and am ready to go to sleep. Am anxious to do12-13 miles tomorrow so we can get this done.
Date: 2005-08-13
From: Mt. Greylock,Bascom Lodge

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: haze

Started @ Mt. Greylock, Bascom LodgeDestination: Seth Warner ShelterMiles today: 13.2Total Miles: 1583.5Stayed in tentDay 155After a wonderful breakfast this morning we were ready to hikeagain at 8:30. It rained last night with lightening andthunder. We were in the clouds this morning up on the summitwhere we started and it was breezy and cool. It did not takelong as we descended to leave the clouds and the breeze. The day was hot and humid in the end and we were so tired whenwe got to the shelter that all we could do was set up the tentand crawl in. The skies had been threatening rain and therewere rumblings of thunder for about 3-4 miles before we reachedthe shelter.This afternoon we crossed the state line from Massachusetts intoVermont. Just before we left Mass. we climbed up a bunch ofrocks. There was a bad weather trail we could have taken but wedid not. The weather was not bad but we were not happy to climbrocks. Once into Vermont the AT and the Long Trail are the samefor 104 miles. There were a lot of wet boggy areas. For somereason there were boards over some areas and not overothers--which seemed to be the muddiest. I don't know if it was the heat and humidity or just plaintiredness but this has not been a good day. We probably justneed a good break away from the trail for a while.
Date: 2005-08-14
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Vt. 9, Bennington, Vt.
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

Started @ Seth Warner ShelterDestination: Vt. 9, Bennington, Vt.Miles today: 11.5Total Miles: 1594.0Stayed in motelDay 156There was just a sprinkle of rain for a few minutes during thenight on our tent. This morning it was very humid, but on thecool side. The mosquitoes last night when we got to the shelterand during the night were not bad at all.Toto was studying the data book and The Thru-hiker's CompanionBook this morning on one of our breaks and said it would be goodto get off here at Vt.9 and go into Bennington for a zero day. I know that we need a day off--our attitude is getting bad. Wehad a few good days but a lot of that had to do with the lowerheat and humidity. We are both pretty miserable when thehumidity is high, but Toto is especially affected. We met a couple section hiking south and when they saw usresting along the trail the woman asked Toto if he was Santa.She said Santa's family picked them up yesterday and drove theminto Bennington to a motel--this one, The Knotty Pine Motel. Santa's family, she said, was going back to Pa. so we missed ourchance to see them. Anyway, they suggested this place to stay. They had gone to another one but they were going to charge over$100 for a night--here is much cheaper and the owners arewonderful people. About 4 miles before we came off the mountain there wererumblings of thunder in the distance and we began to feel a fewrain drops on us. We stopped to put on our pack covers but itdid not rain anymore, although we continued to here the thunderin the distance. We were afraid we would not get down off themountain before it rained. The descent was a steep one and arocky one--and when rocks are wet they are very slippery. Butit did not rain.When we got to the road where there is a parking lot Toto wentinto the woods to change into dry clothes so that when we try tohitch a ride he would not get someone's car seat soaked. A fewminutes later a couple came off the mountain from the north andwere getting ready to leave. Toto asked them if they were by anychance going into Bennington. The woman said they were andwould we like a ride. They were from NC and doing some dayhikes of the AT. They dropped us off here and even waited tomake sure we were going to be able to get a room. Greatpeople!!We did not waste any time getting a shower and going to PizzaHut up the road. We are definitely in need of a day off forsome R&R.
Date: 2005-08-15
From: Vt. 9, Bennington, Vt.

To: Vt.9
Miles today: 0.0

Started @ Vt. 9Destination: Vt.9Miles today: 0Total Miles: 1594.0Stayed in MotelDay 157An hour or so after going to bed last night we heard waterhitting the outside of the room air conditioner. I lookedoutside and it was pouring down the rain so hard that I wasthankful we were not on the mountain in our tent. This morningit was not raining but the clouds were dark and thick over themountains. By day's end it had not rained except for a littlemist now and then and the clouds were whiter and there was moreblue sky showing, letting the sun shine to really heat up theair around the concrete and road. We tried to sleep in this morning but it was difficult to stayin bed past 6. We finally got up about 7 and went to McD's toeat. When we got back we went to the motel office to ask aboutwhere the laundromat is and we got into a conversation with Tom,the owner. He was telling us about a boat trip he and his wifetook in 2003 that lasted a whole year. It was a loop startingin New England and went west through at least a couple of theGreat Lakes and then down through Chicago, the Mississipi, Ohio,Gulf of Mexico, and back up the east coast. It was quiteimpressive. Before we were out of the office he had handed overhis truck keys to us and showed us on the street map where thelaundromat was. After doing laundry we went downtown to thelittle outfitter and bought a new cartridge for our water filterand then to the florist to pick out some flowers to be wired toour daughter and her husband--the new parents. We were soastounded that a motel owner would just give complete strangers keys to his truck!! They even let us use their computer to look up pictures of our new grandson that were e-mailed to us. Such wonderful people!! There have been so many of them.One thing we noticed right away when we entered this townyesterday was the many moose statues (fiberglass) around townthat are painted with all different kinds of scenes, etc. Tomtold us that this year people and businesses in the area weregiven opportunity to "purchase" one for $1500. There are 57 ofthem around town that were purchased and an artist paintedsomething on each one. One of the artists' last name is Mosesand is a descendent of Grandma Moses. At the end of the summereach moose is sold to the highest bidder and the Moses moosealready has a bid of $20,000 on it. It is in the town's museumat this time, but the rest of them are placed about town next tothe busineses that initially purchased them. My understandingis that the artist gets a percentage of the selling price andthe town gets the rest.Also, there are painted moose tracks about town and we realizedafter seeing them that we saw moose tracks on the trailyesterday in one muddy area. We hope to see some moose and geta picture of one while up in this area.
Date: 2005-08-16
From: Vt.9

To: Vt.9
Miles today: 0.0

Started @ Vt.9Destination: Vt.9Miles today: 0Total Miles: 1594.0Stayed in motelDay 158Today has turned out to be a good day. It is good we decided tostay another night. We both feel more ready to go back out onthe trail.We have been trying to find out about my trailrunners I amsupposed to be getting from the Outfitter of Harpers Ferry. Wehave left the PO address in Hanover, NH as the place to havethem mailed to. Also, a stay on my pack broke sometime thispast week and we let the Outfitter know about that, also. Shecalled Mountainsmith about it and they called us this evening. Now they are sending me a new pack and we will pick it up nextweek in North Clarendon, Vt. I hope my old one will hold upthat long. Toto duct-taped it together but I do not trust it tohold. The pack has been rubbing the back of my upper arms andmaking them pretty red and sore. I will be glad to get a newpack, though, because this one has not been fitting just the wayit did in the beginning. The straps have been coming loose andfrequent adjustments have had to be made.Today is our 36th anniversay and Tom gave us some suggestions ofplaces to eat. We chose one and it was great. Tom and Barbaraeven gave us keys to their car to get there. We are being driven back to the trail by Tom in the morning. Weare anxious to get back out there and maybe we can enjoy it abit more this time. After we got back from dinner and got into the room it was notlong before it was pouring down the rain that lasted for halfhour or so. We were happy again to be inside. Our luck is sureto run out soon.