morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-07-22
From: Shaker Campsite

To: Upper Goose Pond
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

We woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain yet again. We tossed on our rainflies and waited out the rain. Thankfully, it stopped raining about 8 am, so we were able to pack up and have breakfast while it was still dry. My phone battery is half-dead this morning since my phone won¢t shut off, but I turned down the screen pretty low so it wouldn¢t completely kill it. The plan this morning is now to head to Upper Goose Pond, a short 11 miles away, to avoid and impeding hail storm at 3 pm. Manboy was cowboy camping last night, so he got up and hiked out since he didn¢t want to sleep in the rain. It was just me, Nokey, and Testament today. We had a short section of flat terrain and field walking before we climbed up and over Cobble Hill. From here, we walked through more private farm land before coming to the road to Tyringham. Now we had a steep climb up and over Baldy Mountain to Knee Deep Pond. Nokey and I met a guy here who did a thru hike in 1993 and wished us luck on ours. We met up again with Testament at Goose Pond Road and the three of us walked together to the trail junction to UGP cabin. We stopped for a minute at a swimming hole near the site of some old chimney ruins, but moved on quickly after hearing the rumble of thunder. We made it to the cabin at around 2:30 and were greeted by a large group of people we knew. We picked out our bunks (with mattresses!) and settled in for the night. I was pretty tired, so I ended up napping through the afternoon storm which thankfully never produced any hail. The caretaker of the cabin went to Big Y, a grocery store, and picked up pizza and beer for those who wanted it. I skipped out since my pack was still heavy from my resupply and napped some more! After getting up and eating dinner, we all hung out on the porch of the cabin until we could take the mosquitos no longer. We got to sleep on comfy bunks tonight and, in the morning, we¢ll get hot coffee and blueberry pancakes! No photos today either due to my phone issues
Date: 2012-07-24
From: Upper Goose Pond

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: light rain

Once again it rained all night, but we were indoors tonight! No wet gear! We got to eat blueberry buckwheat pancakes that were so filling even thru hikers felt full! All the hot coffee we wanted was also a plus! Our goal for the day was to head to the cookie lady¢s house and go from there. I packed up and headed out at 8 am alone since Nokey and Testament were a little slower this morning. I walked with Shaggy for a little while this morning before meeting up with Cheddah and walking with him for a while. We crossed over I-90 and them climbed Beckett Mountain. We were making great time when the sky suddenly turned dark and there once again appeared to be a threat of rain. Shaggy, Cheddah, and I flip-flopped all morning before finally going our separate ways at October Mountain Shelter. I headed on to the cookie lady¢s house and got there around 12:15 to wait on the boys. I had lunch and free homemade cookies while chatting with all the hikers coming through. By 2 pm Nokey and Testament still had not shown up and all the other hikers were going in to Dalton 9 miles away. Since I¢d had a 2-hour lunch, I was ready to head on. A SOBO hiker told me he saw the boys on his way in, so I took off. I found them coming north and told them I wanted to go to Dalton. They agreed to go if they could have a good lunch break, so I took another hour waiting before we all headed out. The forecast called for 0% chance of rain the rest of the day. At 3:15 we had a torrential downpour of cold rain with cold wind. It lasted about half an hour while we climbed up Warner Hill. We met up with Skinny Rambo and Float, Yoko, Chunder, and Grundlehammer who were all heading to a ¢secret hostel¢ called The Birdcage. Rumor had it you got a free ride to Old Country Buffet too! We all booked it to town and got there at 6:30. Rob, the owner, picked us up in his van and took us to his house where we got showers, laundry (with clothes to wear so we could wash all of our clothes!) mattresses to sleep on, and the ride to the buffet! He didn¢t want any money from us and gave us free pop to drink too! We all ate entirely too much and got a great nights¢ sleep on a full stomach, which we haven¢t had in a long time!We woke up in the morning and I got a ride in to town to the Verizon store since my phone was shorted out. Verizon told me to go to the Apple store, a 40-minute car ride away, in Springfield. Lucky for us, Nokey¢s uncle Mike lives less than 10 minutes from the store and was willing to take us in for the night making for an unexpected zero! I got to the store and replaced my phone (200 dollars and a 2-hour backup later!) and we got to stay in a house with showers, real beds, pizza, and rotisserie chicken! We were very lucky to have the hospitality from him! Tomorrow, we get back on the trail and need to start making big miles again to get further north. No photos again since I lost them all in my backup
Date: 2012-07-26
From: Dalton, MA

To: Cheshire, MA
Miles today: 9.4

We woke up to coffee and Dunkin Donuts courtesy of Uncle Mike today! It was also nice to get a second shower and clean up before driving back to the trail in Dalton. We also stopped and visited with Nokey¢s cousin Peter who recently broke his kneecap. I commiserated with him and reassured him that I broke my knee in 2010 and now I¢m thru hiking!We got back to town and ate leftovers of last night¢s dinner before heading out back on the trail. We had a one-mile road walk through town before climbing up and out of Dalton. The hiking today was super easy after our initial 800-foot climb out and we walked past Gore Pond before coming to The Cobbles, which had beautiful views of the Hoosic River and the town of Cheshire below. We also had been walking on lots of marble today, which made for slick descents down the hills! After 9 miles, we came down into Cheshire and did some more road walking. All the locals on their porches warned of big storms headed our way. We checked the radar when we got to main street and saw that yet again there was a storm with large hail and tornado threats headed our way. We headed to St. Mary¢s church to get a place to stay indoors and waited out the storm. It never materialized and we just got some heavy rains, but we were glad to be inside with dry gear. Well, almost. My Camelbak leaked today and soaked my down sleeping bag! At least it will have time to dry out before hiking tomorrow! Tomorrow we hit Vermont! The photo is from The Cobbles of the Hoosic River.
Date: 2012-07-27
From: Cheshire, MA

To: Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: light rain

Today I celebrated being on trail for four months! We woke up at St. Mary¢s ready to hike. It was looking dark and dreary and we were hoping the rain would hold off, but as soon as we stepped off the road (which we walked for about a mile) and back into the woods, the rain began. It was a light drizzle, which was nice since we had to walk over some farmland at first. From here, we had a surprisingly steep climb at first. After the steepness subsided, we had a fairly easy hike up to the summit of Mt. Greylock. About 1.5 miles from the top I ran into Oracle! He¢s a friend of mine from home and is a SOBO this year. We stood in the drizzling rain and talked for about 20 minutes before Nokey and I headed up to Greylock. The hiking was easy and criss-crossed the road a few times before we got up top. We ran into several of our friends up top, had lunch, and talked to a ranger. By the time we got our packs on, it started raining again, this time much harder! We walked down the hill in the pouring rain and started to get cold. When we reached Mt Williams we ran into Testament who was trying to get ahead of us a bit so he could get into Williamstown to get his food drop. We hiked with him until we got to the road crossing just before MA-2 and he ran off to get his goodies. Nokey and I headed into North Adams, where just 0.7 miles away was a Chinese buffet! We ran into Chiba there and had mini reunion since we hadn¢t seen him since NY. Float, Rose, and Skinny Rambo also joined us as we ate and waited for Testament. We all filled up did a mini resupply before heading back up the trail 1.8 miles to the Sherman Brook campsite. The water there was the best we have had in MA, coming from a clear spring right out of the sandy bottom. We are only 2 miles from the VT border now and I can¢t wait to get there tomorrow. The photo is the monument on Mt. Greylock.
Date: 2012-07-28
From: Sherman Brook Campsite

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: light rain

After sleeping and staying dry all night (what, no rain?!) we woke up and headed for the border! I left earlier than everyone in camp and headed north. The only thin between me and VT was a steep hill with a rock scramble, which has definitely gotten easier for me. When I got to the border, the AT is now concurrent with The Long Trail, which runs the Green Mountains to Canada. From here, I had a lot of undulation with some pretty views of both mountains and ponds. I also found out why Vermont is nicknamed ¢Ver-mud!¢ At some points the mud was so thick your trekking pole would get stuck. The mosquitoes were out in full force with the swampy terrain as well. After stopping for lunch on Consultation Peak, Nokey caught up with me as the rain started falling. By the time Testament caught us, it was pouring again so we took a long break in the Congdon Shelter, which had actual working windows and a table inside. We met several other hikers here seeking shelter from the rain. We were soaked and cold, so I decided I wanted to walk to warm up. The rain had turned into a drizzle now, so we walked along the ridge until the steep downhill. The downhill portion was nearly 1100 feet straight down with rock steps. About halfway down Nokey fell and nearly slid off the side of the hill, only staying up because he was holding a wet root. We hiked silently down the hill and when we got to the bottom we took a mental health break. We saw some hikers across the highway getting out of a van and walked over to see who it was. It turned out to be Secrets and Shenanigans doing trail magic! They also had a hiker we met before: Sparrow! He is Testament¢s friend who gave us trail magic on day 90! He was out hiking the Long Trail with some buddies. Secrets and Shenanigans gave us a ride to town where we got a hotel room to tend to Nokey¢s wounds. He was pretty bloody and battered from his fall. He was pretty sore also. It sucked to spend the money, but he needed to recuperate. Tomorrow, we¢ll head out rested and feeling better (and full!) The picture is of me at the border.
Date: 2012-07-30
From: Big Branch Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 73.5
Weather: light rain

((It looks like a few days got lost on my blog))We got ready for an easy morning of fairly level walking and were just about to leave the shelter when Secrets, Shenanigans, Huff, and Puff all walked by! We chatted for a while as we packed up our gear and then we hiked out toward Little Rock Pond. It was fairly easy and we got there quickly, chatting and leap frogging with a few hikers. We came to two cairn gardens along the way and added to them before heading to our third Bear Mountain of the trip. The climb was easy and went quickly. We saw a trail maintenance group building up the trail after all the hurricane damage and doing incredible stone work across the seepage and mud pits. We took a short break at Minerva Hinchey shelter and ran into Roller and Sunkist again. We now had a small uphill and a giant downhill before The Whistle Stop Cafe. The downhill into town was strange. We¢d come off beautifully maintained trail to a trail that wasn¢t blazed and I got lost several times before making it down. When we finally got down there, I realized I had lost my bite valve on my Camelbak and it was running all over me! We went down to the restaurant and got meatball sandwiches and split 2 liters of rootbeer before we did our final climb, a 500-foot, 0.5 mile rock scramble! The sun was hot and my stomach was killing me, but up and over we went to the Clarendon shelter. It was a beautiful old farm site with fresh flowers, good water, and soft grass. CandyBar, Trekking Pole, Secrets and Shenanigans, and a ton of section hikers were at this place- good thing it¢s big! We got a fire going and hung out until 10 pm. It was so great to see Secrets and Shenanigans on trail again. The photo is of just a few hikers hanging out at the shelter.
Date: 2012-08-01
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 19.7

We woke up early this morning at the shelter due to it being packed and people packing up as early as 5:30. I had a hard time waking up and felt a little queasy from all the sugar I¢d had yesterday. We left out around 8 and had an uphill to start our day. We climbed up slowly and walked through a few farms before coming to a long detour due to the damage caused by Hurricane Irene last year. Despite warnings the trail was closed, we¢d heard it was easily walkable still. I¢m glad we trusted our instincts as the trail was the most beautiful we¢d seen yet in Vermont. The damage to the valley was evident and amazing. You could see where entire hillsides had washed away and rivers had flowed over. We also reached an important milestone- the 500 miles left mark! We took photos with the sign and moved on to cross another steam, this one where a bridge had washed away along with the road! It was a little harder to cross, but not too bad. We walked up to the Governor Clement shelter and had lunch before beginning our long, steady uphill of Shrewsbury/Killigton Peak. Up and up and up we went for two hours before reaching the Cooper Lodge shelter, which looked more like a cabin. We met up with Secrets and Shenanigans and found out that the steep 0.2 mile side trail behind the shelter lead up to a gondola! We climbed it (seriously, I was on my hands and knees it was so steep) and were treated to the most amazing view I¢d seen yet in Vermont! We followed the hiking trail down to the gondola and then rode down to the bike store. We caught a ride down to Killington to get out drop boxes. Nokey¢s box didn¢t show so we decided to go stay at Inn at Long Trail to wait it out. Secrets, Shenanigans, Dirty Girl, and Shaggy were all there as well. We had a lot of fun catching up with Dirty Girl since we hadn¢t seen him in nearly 700 miles! We all had dinner at the pub and took hot showers before calling it a night way too late (after 10 pm!) The photo is the view from Killington Peak.
Date: 2012-08-02
From: Inn at Long Trail

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: few clouds

It was tough to leave the Inn at Long Trail, but alas, we must hike! We had a huge breakfast, which was included in the price of our hotel room, consisting of blueberry pancakes with Vermont maple syrup. We were so full and happy! We got an easy hitch back down to the Rutland trail junction and set off up a gentle hill to Maine Junction, which is where The Long Trail and AT go their separate ways. We passed Huff and Puff and headed on to the trail junction with Killington. After misreading our book, taking the wrong side trail, and wasting 40 minutes of our day, we finally got to Kent Pond and the CORRECT side trail junction to the outfitters. We ran up and did a short resupply, got lunch, and I mailed some stuff home. We hung out with Mad Hat for a few hours to beat the afternoon heat before heading back out to conquer Quimby Mountain. We ran into some great trail magic (oranges and bananas!) at the trail reroute at River Road. While we were filling our water, Secrets and Shenanigans showed up. They had taken the old trail and said it was in bad shape from the hurricane. We all headed up the mountain and man was it a tough climb. Over 1100 feet in a mile, our biggest climb in a while! We had three other small, but no less steep, climbs from the top of this hill too before we got some downhill. The downhill was well-graded and had beautiful step work! We reached the Stony Brook shelter in 2 hours and met a SOBO there, a female going solo named Owl. We hung out for a while and Secrets, Shenanigans, and Shaggy all showed up soon after. It was an awesome night for all of us with a great fire. Today¢s photo is the sign at Maine Junction.
Date: 2012-08-03
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: Campsite
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

We woke up this morning ready to face all the hills. Secrets and Shenanigans left out first and we told them we¢d see them later. After a short downhill out of the shelter, we began the 8 miles of uphill and they were relentless! I hiked alone most of the morning as I had a pretty bad stomachache and Nokey pulled ahead. Around lunchtime i ran into hil waiting at a side trail to a lookout tower. We decided to walk the 2.6 to the shelter together from here, which was supposed to be relatively flat, but was mainly uphill. We got to the shelter and it was a steep downhill on a side trail to it. We got down and went for water, catching up with Great Lakes, Tall Grass, Shaggy, and a SOBO whose name escapes me. We had lunch and then we both ended up falling asleep on the shelter floor for nearly 2 hours! I guess we were tired! After waking up and refilling our water, we decided to hike on a few more miles to stealth camp. We had another ¢uphill¢ downhill into Woodstock before we had to steeply climb Dana Hill. This climb took a lot of energy from us, but we did get up and over quickly before coming to the next stream crossing. Since there was water here and we were tired, we decided to set up camp in the field nearby. We crashed early tonight and are hoping to rest well enough to face the hills tomorrow. The photo today is the view coming in to Woodstock.
Date: 2012-08-04
From: Campsite

To: Happy Hill Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: clear sky

We woke up early from our stealth camp due to the sunrise over the hill. It was a beautiful morning, but my stomach was still killing me. We hiked up a hill this morning to a field, which was soaking wet with dew and filled with mud. I took a wrong step and went up halfway to my knees in mud. I was so glad to not have lost a shoe! We climbed two steep hills, both with balds and views, before coming down to Cloudland Road. We walked up to Cloudland Farms Market to see they were closed. We sat on the porch for several minutes when the owner came and opened up. We bought homemade ice cream and homemade sodas (!) and happily consumed them on the porch. We then made the decision to walk the roads by the farms to see if it looked any better than the trail this morning. Google maps showed us the way and would add mileage to our trip, but our time would be cut down. We started out up the road to a road called Old King¢s Hwy. It turns out, this road had been there since 1763 and was historic! We walked past tons of beautiful old farms and cemeteries, saw a few newts, and then talked to a few locals before coming back on trail at Joe Ranger Road. We continued onward toward West Hartford and walked the trail (a paved road) down into town ad to Full Belly Deli. Dirty Girl, Bird Kicker, and Bottlecap were all there. We had lunch and then, since bad weather was coming, decided to wait out the storm under the bridge at the White River. There are two blue blazes on the bridge where it¢s deep enough to jump off, so we watched people jump off the bridge all day. The bad weather never came, just lots of lightening and a 15-minute sprinkle of rain, so we decided to head up the hill to Happy Hill Shelter. We had four hills between us and the shelter and we felt them all! The trail was nice and soft pine needles though, so it wasn¢t too bad. We got to the shelter fairly quickly and met Lone Duck, two section hikers, and then Golden, Trekking Pole, and two SOBOs showed up as well. We had a wonderful evening with great conversation. The photo today is the dew in the grass at our stealth site.
Date: 2012-08-05
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: few clouds

We woke up at Happy Hill Shelter to an overcast sky, but we were thankfully dry. We think it may have sprinkled a bit overnight, but were glad to see dry gear! We headed out early and ready to cross into state 13! We had fairly easy walking with a nice cool breeze the first 3.5 miles. The trail was nice and soft, covered in pine needles. After only an hour and 15 minutes, we came to Elm Street in Norwich to begin our road walk. We were dreading this, as paved roads are murder on our legs, but it wasn¢t too bad! We had three trail magics on our way in to town and got to the bridge over the Connecticut River fairly quickly. Here, we passed into New Hampshire and up the hill to downtown Hanover and Dartmouth. We walked around downtown for a bit and headed straight for the Indian buffet where we ran into Golden, Trekking Pole, Lone Duck, and Dirty Girl all ready to eat! We filled up on food for over an hour before going to pick up our drop boxes at the outfitter. I was psyched to get new shoes, my last pair for the trip! We then called a trail angel who picked us up for showers and laundry. Her neighbor offered us his basement to sleep in for the night and we had a wonderful time with them and two other hikers - Great Lakes and her son Tall Grass. Warren and Toni stayed out on the porch and chatted with us for several hours, even giving us ice cream and beer. Warren mentioned we could zero if we¢d like and Nokey is starting to feel under the weather, so we decided to make the call in the morning. The photo today is the state line on the bridge.
Date: 2012-08-06
From: Hanover, NH

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

We took a zero day today after getting up late. Nokey wasn¢t feeling well - headache and backache with sinus pressure and a fever - so we decided it would be best if we stayed in Hanover. After talking to Warren, he said it would be fine if we stayed and even offered to take us to EMS in West Lebanon. We went to EMS and Hannaford for a resupply. We then became masters of the public transportation system and rode the bus all over town all day long, accomplishing many chores and getting Nokey¢s backpack replaced at EMS. We got a ton of free stuff too - free Snickers at the outfitter, free bagel and cream cheese at the Bagel Basement, free giant pizza slice at Ramuntos, and free sandwiches at Dan and Whitts. We got all out stuff washed a second time and stayed well-fed all day. Definitely ready for the tough New Hampshire mountains tomorrow! The photo is of a painted piano at the general store. There are 50 of these all throughout the neighboring towns for the summer.