morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-07-03
From: Dennytown Road

To: Telephone Pioneers Shelter 
Miles today: 27.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Today I celebrated America Day! A former thru-hiker (Gaseous GA-ME '99) and this wife hosted a little get together for AT hikers. Stewie and I got there mid-afternoon on the third, I think most of the other hikers got there the day before and either slept in a garage or tented out on the lawn. Among the hikers that were ther was Teach, a fast moving marathoner from New Jersey that has to start work (as a teacher) on the 15thof August. Stewie has been trying to catch him for the last few hundred miles. It is hard to catch someone when they are doing 20+ days everyday. Teach's girlfriend Too Short was also there, out hiking with him for the weekend.Bill and Laura serves hambergers, hot dogs, veggie dogs, chips, chili, donuts and beer. The two varieties of beerthe had were Labatt Blue and Guiness. I had a Blue and as I was drinking it I thought about how it was funny that a Canadian was celebrating American Independance Day drinking Canadian beer. And it tasted good. Way better than I remember Canadian beer tasting - it actually had flavour. Sort of funy me signing the praises of Labatt Blue, to Canadians it is just the Bud or Miller default beer that ison tap at every bar.Too Short had parked her car at Kent CT and had to be back at work Tuesday morning, so the four of us headed off to get in a few more miles before dark.A bit south of there we ran into a guy running the trail southbound trying to break the time record. I didn't get his name, but he was on his 19th day and was aiming to do it in 45 days. He was actually very polite considering the speed that he was travelling. At the next shetler we meet Happy W and GG who were seting up camp. Getting to Telephone Pionners Shelter involved some night hiking but the shelter was empty when we got there so we didn't have to worry about waking anyone up.
Date: 2005-07-04
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter 

To: Caleb's Peak
Miles today: 25.2

This morning Teach, Too Short, Stewie and I all slept in a bit. We didn't get in too terribly early the day before and were feeling a bit tired. We passed by the Appalachian Trail railroad stop outside of Pawling New York. The train into New York stops there and hikers frequently go into the city from the stop.Today we crossed another state line; entering Conneticut and New England. The trail in Conneticut is maintained by the Conneticut chapter of the AMC. The chapter has something like 10000 members. It could explain why the trails are so well maintained here. Another diference I noticed on the trail is the number of signs all over the place. Signs that say "no bikes", "no fires" and "no camping at non-established sites". I stopped in at the 10-mile creek shelter and met a part-time ridge runner there. He offered me a cold beer, an orange and some popcorn. It was pretty hot this afternoon so it was very much appreciated. He gave us advice on the rest of the trail in CT and MA, saying that we should definatly stop into Upper Goose Pond.The four of us got down to the road into Kent about five o'clock. Right before we got down there we met a ridgerunner named Abe. Too Short had her car parked down by the street, so we didn't have to hitch into town. Dinner was fantastic, we split a pizza and I had a huge bowl of pasta. The town looked very busy and full of tourists. We didn't get the whole town experience because we didn't have to walk around at all.After dinner Too Short drove us back to the trail and we headed off up into the mountains. She had to head back to work the next day. As I understand it she is going to hike the 100 mile wilderness and Katadin with Teach. We meant to climb up the ridge in time to get to Calebs peak in time for the town's fireworks, but we miss-calculated on time and got there just to late. I didn't think that they would be quite so early. I guess that is because where I live further north it gets dark a bit latter at this time of year. In North Bay Canada Day fireworks don't start until tent. It seems like a lot of Americans have their own fireworks as well as the ones that the city or town have. I don't think that I have ever observed that in Canada. Maybe they just like blowing stuff up.We set up a stealth site on the mountain since we didn't want to break our necks climbing down St. John's Ledges in the dark to get to the shelter.
Date: 2005-07-05
From: Calebs

To: Fall's Village
Miles today: 21.7

start: Caleb's Peak 15.0 milesend: Falls Village CT 36.7 milessleep: houseThis moring we got up and had an ok start, not early bit not late either. I think that Stewie would have caled it a late start and Teach definatly considered it a very early start. Teach said that he usualy gets up between 8 and 9 and gets hiking sometime before ten. Stewie was off first, I caught up to him at Stewart Hollow shelter where he was refilling his water. Teach caught up tous partway up the climb up from the river. He walks quite a bit faster than Stewi or I do. It is kind of funy al the different ways that people hike. What time they get up, what time they quite for the day, how fast they walk, how many breaks they take and how long they stop for when they do take a break.We stopped for the night at Falls Village. Stewie had friends from university who hiked the trail last year (Hans Sobo and Weber) who were from the area. They aren't around right now but Webers parents had us over at their house. We had a fantastic dinner with fresh salad, steamed greens, mac and cheese and veggie chili. I was so ful by the end. After dinner we had showers, cleaned up from dinner, caught up on the internet and chatted. It was super nice to sleep in a bed with sheets.
Date: 2005-07-06
From: Fall's Villiage

To: Laurel Ridge Campsite
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: light rain

This morning we all slept-in. About eight o'clock we had breakfast of veggie sausages, toast, cereal and milk and juice. After cleaning up Bob drove Stewie and I over to Salisbury. Stewie to pick-up a mail drop at the PO and me to the grocery store. My favorite purchase was American flag pop-tarts. The icing is blue and has white stars spread all-over, the filling is red and white stripes.After lunch we headed out of town back to the trail. The weather today was mixed. It rained a bit, then stopped then rained a bit more. We stopped on the summet of Bear Mountain to eat dinner. While we were there a rain cloud moved over from the east to engulf the summet.At Sages Ravine we crossed over from CT to MA. We set up camp about 3 miles from the boarder a bit before dark.
Date: 2005-07-07
From: Laurel Ridge Campsite

To: Mt. Wilcox North Lean-to 
Miles today: 26.2

Today was the worst day for bugs on the trail. I have a personal bug intensity scale out of ten and today was the first day over 5. I would say that it was a 6, at one point approching a 7. I would have to point out that it is impossible to score any higher than an 8 in the absence of black flies. I even broke out the bug repellant. I have this Aussie walk-about non-deet stuff that i hope will work. I mean, Aussies know their mozzies right? It probably isn't from Australian though, they just stick the kangaroo on so you think that it is better than Avon Skin-so-Soft or other non-functioning bug repellants. Rubbing poison all over me kind of disturbs me, especially since I can't wash my hands.Every day Stewie and I have one of the following conversations.OnStar: It is so hot out.Stewie: It's not hot out.OnStar: Isn't it hot out yet?Stewie: No, it is going to get a lot worse.Stewie: The bugs are so bad. (twitch)OnStar: No their not, there are hardly any.Stewie: Is that a blackfly?OnStar: No, the bugs are going to get way worse, especially when we get to theblack flies.
Date: 2005-07-08
From: Mt. Wilson North Lean-to

To: Pittsfield Road
Miles today: 25.0

This morning we headed out in the rain. It rained pretty much all day, so I spent the day cold and wet.Oddly enough, as a swimmer I hate being wet; so I spent the day miserably trudging through the forrest. I think that when it is raining everypart of my body starts to hurt and complain. My hand feels like it hurts when I hold my pole, my ankle hurts from rolling it yesterday, my knee started to hurt and all my bug bites itched. I don't think that I am in bad shape physically or anything but my brain is pretty easily downtrodden.We ended up staying in the Cookie Ladies old yellow house. It dosen't seem like she or her husband have been around for a couple of days. Carp and Fletch told us yesterday that they stayed in the old house here so we did too.
Date: 2005-07-09
From: Pittsfield Road

To: Mt. Greylock Bascom Lodge 
Miles today: 26.6

Today we got up and headed out towards Dalton. I left first, since I had to meet my mail drop, Stewie and Teach headed out some time later. Stewie caught up to me a bit before i got to Dalton, but Teach never did. Stewie stopped in Dalton at the Deli on the trail and I continued on to the post office.At the post office I forwarded some of my equipment on and picked up my food. I stopped at the sub place on my way back to the trail. I ordered the chicken terryaki sub and it was delecious. There was a ton of chicken on it, so much that I was starting to feel sick by the end. I walked back to Cumberland Farms (which by the way is a crappy place to actually buy anything) to meet Stewie and Teach. I waited around for a while before walking back along the trail to look for them. When I got back to the deli I asked the lady inside if shehad seen them. She told me that they had left about an hour before. Crap! I thought, they left town without me. I walked along the road out of town in a bit of a pissy mood, thinking about Stewie and Teach an hour ahead of me. When I pased by a garage sale a man there told me that the two guys I was hiking with passed by ten minutes before. That made me feel a lot better because I could make up that amount of time.When I got to where the trail started Stewie and Teach were there writting a note to tell me where to meet them in Chershire.We were going to eat at Diane's Twist but it was closed when we got there. We ended up eating at the Shell station. Stewie and Teach did a one day resupply out of the gas station as well.The climb up Mt. Greylock wasn't as bad as other people had been making it out to be. Apparently this is the first real climb in a while. There weren't ny views because it had been cloudy all day. Every once and a while we would get a little shower. We got to the Bascon Lodge just as it was getting dark. Red Rover, Knife, and Pacesetter were here as well. We sat around in the lobby on the comfy chairs in front of the fire.A guest of the hotel took pity on me eating a Snickers for dinner and offered us some Brie and crackers. It was sooo good. We also took showers up stairs and dried outour shoes in front of the fire. We had a chance to play a board game and chat as the night came to a close.
Date: 2005-07-10
To: Bennington VT
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: clear sky

Today we got a bit of a late start after having breakfast at the Bascom Lodge on the top of Mt. Greylock. Luckly this morning the clouds had cleared away and we could see all the mountains off in the distance.Walking seemed kind of slow today, probably due to efforts made to doge the mud. It seems like Vermont is a mud puddle (the trail anyways). As soon as we hit the long trail sign it seemed like every other foot of trail is squishy black mud. I didn't think that it rained that much, but maybe extra traffic due to the AT and Long Trail sharing the path contributes.We made it down to the road into Bennington just at dusk. The road is heading downhill there so it is a bit harder to get a hitch. After some unsucssesful attempts I walked up the hill a bit in an attempt to give potential hitchees more time to stop to pick us up. After another period of unsucessful hitching I took my shirt off, not four vehicles drove by before we got a hitch. It is about 5 miles into Bennington. On the way to the post office we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts. The man who was giving us a hitch was stopping for coffee. We got ourselves a dozen donuts and split it three ways.Stewie knows a Bennington College student but he isn't in town right now since there are no summer classes. We ended up sleeping beside the post office. It started to rain at 3 in the morining so we wrapped up burito style in our traps. Over all the night was pretty sketchy but we survived.
Date: 2005-07-11
From: Bennington VT

To: Stratton-Arlington Rd
Miles today: 22.6

This morning we woke up soaking wet and tired. I got up about 5:30 and walked arond town. Friendly's restaurant opened at 7am and we went there for breakfast. After we ate we went to the outfitter "Natures closet". Teach got a pair of Superfeet and Stewie tried to locate a Hennasey Hammock that he could buy. It turned out there that there aren't any in the area to buy so we headed out of town mid-day.We walked slowly all day and ended up night hiking. We stopped at a road just short of Stratton Mountain. Tonight Stewie slept in Teach's hammock. It turns out that he didn't like sleeping in it and he said that it hurt his hip. I guess that it was a good thing that he didn't buy one.
Date: 2005-07-12
From: Stratton-Arlington Rd

To: Mad Tom Notch
Miles today: 23.0

Today we went into Manchester Center. For Ontarians, I would describe it as Cookstown crossed with Huntsville. It is basically a town that you go to shop in and that is all. Getting a hitch out of town was hard because most ofthe traffic was cottagers with shopping bag filled SUVs.The views in Vermont are fantastic though. It feels like we are really back in the mountains. From vistas you can see mountains in all directions. We passed over Stratton and Bromley Mountains today. Both had fantastic 360 views. Just another good day at the office.
Date: 2005-07-13
From: Mad Tom Notch

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 27.9
Weather: few clouds

start: Mad Tom Notch 59.9 milesend: Clarendon Shelter 87.8 milessleep: tentThe hiking today was beutiful. The forests remind me of the forests at home. I noticed that there are a lot of birch trees now, as well as hemlock, spruce, balsam fir, maple and oak. The ponds that we passed today are beutiful as well.We stopped at Big Branch creek fr lunch. We all sat out on rocks in the middle of the creek in the sun and relaxed as we ate.All afternoon we were thinking about mango milkshakes that we were going to get at the Whistle Stop restaurant juts a little bit off the trail. We got out to the trail and hitched to the restaurant, arriving about 20 after seven. It turns out that the restaurant and ice cream shop closed at 7. We sat there and ate our own food and made some cell phone calls. As it was getting dark we headed back to the trail and did the one mile into the Clarendon shelter. Unfortunatly some kids camp had taken over the shelter so we had to set up our tents. There were loud late and early.
Date: 2005-07-14
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 26.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we said god-bye to the Long Trail and Long Trail hikers. We have been meeting more and more SOBOs every day. I think that we passed 8 today.We stoped in Killington to pick up my mail drop at the post office. The hitch in was a bit tough but was rewarded with the Kilington Deli. They had all sorts of sandwiches thereas well as a good selection of groceries for hiker resupply. After lunch we headed back to the trail and continued on.Soon after we got to Maine Junction. That is the point on the trail where the AT leave the Long Trail and heads east toward New Hampshire and Maine. Almost immediatly the trail seemed to be less used and definatly less muddy.We got to the shelter just as it was getting dark. There were a fair a few tents set up but space in the shelter for Stewie and I. Teach set up his hammock to escape from the bugs.
Date: 2005-07-15
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: West Hartford, VT
Miles today: 26.3

Today almost turned out to the the worst day on the trail, but it was saved by ythe friendliest town on the trail.It seemed that the trail was an endless series od PUDS today. Just up 1000' and then back down. Neither the thoughtful editor of the data book nor Wingfoot mentions this in their books. All that is mentioned is a series of roads, each one a bit lower than the other. In the morning we looked at the entries and figures that we had an easy down hill day until the end when we went over Thistle Hill. PUDS are real energy zappers, but in addition to that we were constantly short of water.The first act of kindness we experiences was at VT 12. There was a sign on thenotice board there telling thru hiker that they coud get free water, hot shower and sleep in a barn 50 feet down the road from the trail. We had been out of water for over an hour during the hottest part of the day. We walked down to the house and filled up ourwater botles, drank them and then filed them up again. The man that was living there was fixing up an old house. We sat on the lawn for a while to rest in the shade. It was so comfortable and lush on the grass it was hard to leave.At the end of the day we got into West Hartford tired, sore and thirsty. We firt stopped at the library. Normally it would be closed at that time of night but they had a Harry Poter movie screening. Apparentlythe new book comes out tonight at midnight. The librarian lets us use the internet and the restroom. While Stewie and Teach were outside they had two offers from people to stay at their house. One to sleep in te back yard and one to sleep in a little cabin. I walked over to the little store to check it out, only to find out that it is out of business. While I was walking back a couple who lived in the area and hiked a good chunk of the AT last year saw me and came overto see if they could help me out with a place to stay or a ride anywhere.We ended up staying in a cabin in Two-Steps backyard. She is the sweetest little girl in the whole world. Ot ony that she invited us inside for dinner. He parents made us hot dogs, hambergers, salad and chips. There was so much food we couldn't eat it all. After that we watched the "Fugitive" with them. We were falling asleep so we went out to bed.
Date: 2005-07-16
From: West Hartford, VT

To: Moose Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: light rain

This morning Two-Step came out to the cabin to wake Stewie up and tell him that the post office closed in half an hour. It turns out that we had slept in until 9:30. Getting that much sleep felt fantastic, especially after a day when we got really run down and dehydrated.The Harts made us a super breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon. Since Stewie is a vegetarian it was on Teach and I to eat all the meat. Teach ended up eating all the sausages that they prepared. After packing up our bags, getting a photo and saying thank-you again we were on our way.Today Stewie was meeting a friend in Hanover. We walked across the VT/NH state border without stopping for too lng as not to be late. Hanover is a very nice little town, there is lots of little stores and restaurants in a bussuling downtown.We stopped for pizza, ice cream and the coop grocery store for resupply. We left town a bit late and got into the shelter after dark. Both tent sites at shelter were filled with Dartmouth College orientation leaders, there were people sleeping in the shelter all spread out so I squeezed in along their feet
Date: 2005-07-17
From: Moose Mountain Shelter

To: Mt Cube North Summit Side Trail 
Miles today: 19.3

This morning the large group that had been occuping all the tent space left before 6am. None of the other thru-hikers, NOBO or SOBO were up yet. It turns out they were a bunch of soon-to-be sophmores from Dartmouth College who were training to be orientation leaders for the Freshmen orientation in the fall. They were doing their "hiking" training. I don't think that any of them knew anything about hiking or even camping. Turns out they couldn't sleep due to the bugs so they decided to leave. Stewie's friend Eric headed out a bit later.Teach, Stewie and I cntnued on northward. Stewie wasn't feeling good today so he decided that he didn't want to push much more than 20 miles today. I'm in no hurry to get to Katadin or back to VA so I decided to do two easier days into Glencliff as well. Teach is pretty set on finishng his hike in 100 days so as fast as we met him, he was gone. It was kind of strange, saying good-bye to on of your hiking partners. He shook both of our hands and then was gone.At the base of Moose Mountain we saw a sign saying that you culd get water from a house. Stewie and I headed over there to fill up. An older man named Bill offered us an ice cream bar in exchange for a little conversation and our names. It was a fantastic little break. The climb up Smarts mountain was tough. I was pretty tired when I got to the top. Stewie was lying on the ground below the fire tower, sleeping/passed out.He realy didn't feel well. He said that he felt really nauseated and tired. I gave him three Tylenol Cold and Flu to try and help with the headache and muscle aches. He felt so bad he had me walk behind him down the mountain. As we were walking down I wondered what I would do ifhe got worse. I owed him at least 20 minutes of carrying his pack from when I felt bad after trying to chug Table syrup. I though about whether I could carry him fire(wo)man style, but desided that he might be smaller, but he isn't that small or light.We made it down the mountain ok, and stopped for a break down by the creek between Smarts Mountain and Mt. Cube. We met Mechanical Man, hiking ME-GA as well as Turtle hiking northward. We both took the climb up Mt. Cube slowly and made it up to the summit without mishap.Our plan was to camp at the stream a mile or two down from the summit, but taking to Mechanical Man made us doubt that there would be any camping sports there. Alternatly we were going to camp on the summit. When we got to the summit it became obvious that it was totally rock covered and exposed to the wind. We continued downward, the junction of the trail with the blue-blaze to thenorthern summet of the mountain was flat and sheltered. We decided to quit early and set up camp. Stewie went through some of Virginia to give me some inside advice on places to eat and good campsites. We didn't have time to go through the whole thing, but some hints are better than none. We got to sleep before dark for the first time in a while.