morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-08-26
From: Tenting near Duck Brook Shelter

To: US 2, Jonesville, VT
Miles today: 0.0

Long Trail 4.9 milesToday started off with coffee and some Frosted Mini Wheats.Yolanda Vega and I only had a few miles to walk to get to Jonesville, VT where Kenny B was planning on picking us up.I met Kenny B and his wife Golden Red near Kent Pond a few weeks ago and through an email a couple days ago, they invited us to stay at their home when we walked near where they live in Jericho.We walked out of the woods and got to the PO where I bought a stamped envelope and paid a bill. I checked my cell and had service, so I called Kenny B and told him we were going to walk the 3.2 mile road walk, so when he dropped us off tomorrow, we could start right in with the longest climb on the Long Trail....3,700 feet to the summit of Camel's Hump.We had about a mile left when Kenny B showed up and took our packs. It felt great to walk that last mile without those heavy things on our backs. :-)We went to Kenny B's home and got cleaned up. Golden Red showed up with blueberries she said were for our breakfast in the morning. :-)We went out for lunch to New England Culinary Institute at Butler's Tavern. They even do a great job with hamburgers! I know because that's what I had. :-)I took a short nap when we got back. I could hear Golden Red working in the kitchen. I offered to help, but she said she was fine and I should just relax.She made some delicious baked chicken breasts, squash cassarole and a garden salad...fresh picked out of her garden! It was all delicious....even the chocolate cake she made for dessert. :-)We sat around on the deck and in the house talking mostly about hiking till about 9pm. That's one of my favorite subjects. Kenny B and Golden Red have been hiking for years. They both did the Long Trail in '93 and Kenny B just finished the Appalachian Trail in '05 after a multi year section hike of it. Golden Red has done about a third of that Trail too.There were a few pictures in their home that I really liked... my favorite was one of both of them hiking in Harriman State Park on the Appalachian Trail over a quarter century ago. There were others of them on Katahdin too.It's the kindness of the walking people like Kenny B and Golden Red that keeps me walking. They opened their home up to Yolanda Vega/Mrs Gorp and me right when we needed a hot shower and a little rest...and we got great companionship too!Thank You, Thank You Kenny B and Golden Red! :-)
Date: 2008-08-27
From: US 2, Jonesville, VT

To: Tenting near Cowles Cove Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Long Trail 13.1 milesYolanda Vega and I woke up to a great breakfast that Golden Red had put together....pancakes with fresh picked blueberries, scrambled eggs, bacon and lots of good, strong coffee. :-)We got packed up and Kenny B took us back to the trailhead near Jonesville, VT.Yolanda Vega and I had the biggest climb on the Long Trail facing us...3,700 feet up Bamforth Ridge to the summit of Camel's Hump.We thanked Kenney B for all his help and we started climbing...and climbing. :-)We started climbing about 9:30am and it took us all the way till about 2pm before we got up to Camel's Hump. Camel's Hump.We did stop a few times on the way up. One was at a memorial bench for someone Yolanda Vega knew....John "Nutsy" Notte, once for lunch and to dry out my tent and then once when we came to Gorham Spring for some good cold refreshing water.We stayed on the summit for about 45 minutes, then came down to Wind Gap and stopped at Montclair Glen Shelter and ate dinner.We climbed 1,000 feet up to the summit of Mt Ethan Allen and it started getting late in the day. It started cooling off even more, although the high today was about 70 degrees and it was mostly sunny out...a great day!We descended about 800 feet, then climbed to Burnt Rock where we saw the sunset. I got a few pictures of that as we kept walking. It's not easy walking either, but that's what makes it so much fun.We started looking for flat spots to camp, but this is really rough terrain and we never found what we were looking for, so we got out our headlamps and just kept on walking and having a great walk.I saw the sky turn bright red through the thick evergreens, but never got into the open enough to get any pictures of it.We slowly made our way down the mountain...and it wasn't all down...there was lots of uphill climbs and steep sidehill ups and downs. We finally got to Cowles Cove Shelter at 9pm.It had been dark out for over an hour and there was a group of college kids that filled up the shelter. I didn't shine my light in there because they were all sleeping, but I saw packs and food laying all around outside when I passed by looking for a flat spot of ground.I didn't find anything at first and Yolanda Vega and I ended up down by the water source. She filled up with water while I tramped through the woods till I found a good spot to camp.I yawned and went to bed feeling tired...not a bad tired, but a really good tired like I lived and moved all I could today and now it's time to sleep and let those muscles rebuild overnight. :-)I took lots and lots of pictures today, so I'll just let them do the talking for me. Click on the "photo" tab on the left tool bar and go to 8-30-08 to see all of today's pictures.Thanks again...a GREAT BIG THANKS to Kenny B and Golden Red for all your hospitality and friendship! :-)Another great day spent walking south on the Long Trail. :-) Kenny B, Stumpknocker and Golden Red
Date: 2008-08-28
From: Tenting near Cowles Cove Shelter

To: Vt. 17, Appalachian Gap, Waitsfield, VT
Miles today: 0.0

Long Trail 5.5 milesI didn't wake up until 6:30am after walking so late last night. The nice part was that I made 24.0 ounces of Stumpknocker's Blend Coffee and enjoyed that and an Entenmanns¢s Raspberry and Cheese Danish...16 ounces! I did share it with Yolanda Vega though. :-)She got packed up first and went down to the shelter while I finished packing.We headed on for a short day because we were heading into Waitsfield for resupply and apple pie. Clyde, the REAL hiker on the '02 Clyde and Jan Liteshoe walk of the Long Trail said he had great apple pie at Hyde Away Inn, so naturally, Yolanda Vega had to see. ;-)We were slowly making our way when I saw a familiar face coming north on the Trail. It was Muleskinner and his wife, Woodrose.We stopped and talked about 30 minutes. They are from Florida and know my nephew who's a fishing guide in south Florida.We walked on and pretty soon saw a girl walking fast towards us. Her name was Herta.She was from Belgium and was walking with her husband, Jos, till Jos got lost.Yolanda Vega gave her some food and we told her we would tell Jos where she was going when we saw him.We saw Jos 10 minutes later and told him Herta was 20 minutes in front of him. He thought she was behind him. He took off in a hurry to catch her.We walked on and climbed Molly Stark Mtn and then Baby Stark Mtn. Even Baby Stark Mtn wasn't easy. :-)I started hearing cars and we eventually got to Appalachian Gap and started hitching a ride into Waitsfield. There's not many cars passing that area and it took about 20 minutes to get a ride.The people that picked us up were from Germany and traveling around the States for two weeks by car.We got to the Inn, got cleaned up and went to town for rotisserie chicken and to resupply.I should have eaten the chicken first before grocery shopping because I bought 12 ounce can of white clam sauce and 12 ounces of angel hair pasta for tomorrow night's dinner...and from what Yolanda Vega says, I've got some steep stuff to climb before dinner. 8-)We went to have that apple pie that Clyde told us about. They have a new chef and he made apple/strawberry pie. I didn't want that, so I had blackberry pie a la mode and it was very good! :-)We are resupplied and well fed. Looks like we have about 5 more days left to finish the Long Trail, then I'll be getting back to Hanover, NH and continue my normal journaling and walking north on the Appalachian Trail. I'm thinking I've timed it perfectly for the autumn colors and a mid October summit of Katahdin.I'm really looking forward to the rest of my walk. My legs are in good shape for the mountains in NH and Maine after these hills on the northern part of the Long Trail. :-)Another great day on the Long Trail. :-)
Date: 2008-08-29
From: Vt. 17, Appalachian Gap, Waitsfield, VT

To: Sunset Ledges, One mile south of Lincoln Gap
Miles today: 0.0

Long Trail 13.3 milesYolanda Vega and I had an excellent breakfast at Hyde Away Inn...thick French toast, eggs over easy, bacon, homefries, wheat toast and a bunch of coffee. :-)Margaret Hyde remembered Clyde from '02, but she never heard of Liteshoe...even though Jan told me she was HER friend. ;-)Margaret took Yolanda Vega and me up to Appalachian Gap and dropped us off. We started walking south on the Long Trail at 9:50am.We had a 1,500 foot climb and Yolanda Vega told me it was steep. It was steep, but not nearly as bad as what we've been walking.We stopped at Theron Dean Shelter and I signed the register and found me a new book to read...Tom Sawyer. I know it's an old book, but it's one I've never read before.We finished climbing to the summit of General Stark Mtn. I finally got data service and sent in a journal entry to Hammock Hanger. It went though slowly, so I only sent the one day.Yolanda Vega walked on to Stark's Nest and waited on me. I sat in a single chair lift there,...one of the last few single chairs lifts remaining.We climbed another 600 feet in elevation on the way up to the summit of Mt Ellen. We sat on the chair lift platform there and ate lunch out of the wind. It was a cool 61 degrees and it felt great! :-)Mt Ellen is the same exact elevation as Camel's Hump at 4,083 feet high, but there are trees on Mt Ellen and nothing but rocks on Camel's Hump.We walked by another ski lift called Castlerock, then up to the summit of Lincoln Peak and on to Mt Abraham. That's an easy climb from the north, but it was a ledgy and steep descent of about 1,500 feet down the other side.We stopped at Battell Shelter and I made my favorite trail meal...angel hair pasta and white clam sauce. It's heavy because I use half a pound of pasta and a 12 ounce can of white clam sauce, but it's a great first night on the Trail meal after resupplying.Yolanda Vega was jealous! :-)Yolanda Vega ate a bunch though. :-)We finished our descent to Lincoln Gap where we found a note on a post about a dead moose in the Trail near Mt Grant. That's about 3 miles away and we only planned on walking another mile today to Sunset Ledge, so I'll write about the moose in tomorrow's journal.We climbed about 400 feet up to Sunset Ridge and found a good spot for camping.I sat out on the overlook and had a little data service again, so I sent in another journal entry, but couldn't get many pictures sent in...maybe tomorrow.Another great day on the Long Trail. :-)
Date: 2008-08-30
From: Sunset Ledge, One mile south of Lincoln Gap

To: Lake Pleiad, Middlebury Gap
Miles today: 0.0

Long Trail 16.1 miles We had a good night on Sunset Ledge and had good coffee there this morning. :-)We had an 800 foot climb to Grant Mtn where we had heard there was a dead moose laying in the Trail.There WAS a dead moose laying in the Trail.Yolanda Vega was there waiting on me when I got there. I had stopped when I got data service and sent in a bunch of pictures.We headed on and stopped at Cooley Glen Shelter and had a 10am snack. We left there with us both listening to Car Talk on PBS for an hour. :-)We climbed Mt Cleveland, then walked up to Little Hans Peak. The trail was in bad shape...not the trail itself, but it hasn't been maintained in years.The fir trees were grown in and you had to push through them...and they were soaking wet from all the fog we were in. There were lots and lots of blowdowns too.I can see why Frogcaller had a rough time here. It was all in this section that we walked today. The trail has been in great shape in all the other areas. Yolanda Vega, who is a maintainer herself, said that this section was a disgrace.We kept walking and climbed Mt Wilson, then stopped at Emily Proctor Shelter for lunch.Breadloaf Mtn was our next climb, then we stopped at the side trail to Skyline Lodge. I walked down there to see that and the pond while Yolanda Vega waited with our packs.The pond had lots of water lilies. It was very quiet with no one else around.We climbed Mt Boyce, then went on to Boyce Shelter. We descended to Middlebury Gap and sat down in the parking lot and ate dinner...and got ate by a bunch of mosquitoes. Not sure where they all came from because we really haven't been bothered by those buggers much.We headed on to Lake Pleiad and got water, then found a campsite and set up.It rained lightly as I was setting up. We had been in fog most of the day. The rocks never did dry out and were pretty slippery all day long.It was another great day on the Long Trail. (just wish they would maintain the Breadloaf section better because it's a nice walk) :-)
Date: 2008-09-01
From: 1.5 miles south of Sunrise Shelter

To: Near Rolston's Rest Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

Long Trail 12.7 milesHappy September!! It's getting closer to one of my favorite times of the year to be out walking. :-) Yolanda Vega and I were a little slower getting packed and walking this morning. It was more humid out and I just took longer drinking my coffee. It didn't take long before I started sweating! :-) when we did start walking. We got down to Bloodroot Gap, then started climbing to Bloodroot Mtn...our highest elevation for the day. One thing I can say is that the walking has gotten lots easier on this part of the Long Trail than it is north of Appalachian Gap. My legs will be ready for the White Mountains when I walk into them next week. :-) We hit Wetmore Gap and the side trail to Mt Carmel where then it seemed like a really long 12 mile to the side trail to David Logan Shelter where we stopped for lunch...not at the shelter, but at the trail junction. We walked on to Telephone Gap and then had some nice views of Chittenden Reservoir in a few spots after that. We could have pushed it and made it out today, but it would have been late. We decided to take it a little easier and finish our walk of the Long Trail in the morning with breakfast at The Inn at Long Trail, then catch a bus to Yolanda Vega's home in Wallingford. We set up camp just before we got to Rolston's Rest and ate dinner. Our food bags were getting low...especially Yolanda's. We sat around talking about what a great walk we have had....some of the really good things like the ruggedness of the northern part of the Trail, the mostly good weather we've had and how if my ol' buddy Chief would have just given it another day or two, he and Xmas would have been enjoying this weather too. We talked about how much the Breadloaf region needed some maintenance. It was so bad in parts of that area that you couldn't even see where your foot was or what you were going to step on. We talked about how easy this section of the Trail seemed. We talked about all the moose we saw, about the dead moose we saw, about a moose we heard today, but didn't get to lay eyes on. We talked about how September and October would be the best time of year to do this Trail. And lastly, about how soon Yolanda Vega was going to kick me out of her house when we got back so I can continue the last 440 miles left to Katahdin. I decided that I may just come back next year and walk it again. :-) Another great day on the Long Trail ?
Date: 2008-09-02
From: Near Rolston's Rest Shelter

To: Willard Gap, Maine Junction of AT and LT
Miles today: 0.0

Long Trail 5.4 milesTotal 2008 Long Trail 273.0 milesI had my coffee early and we got an early start for town...our last few miles left of the Long Trail, then breakfast!! :-) We got to Rolston Rest Shelter after just a short walk. It's been rebuilt and was in great shape as far as shelters go. I signed the register and used up another smiley face sticker, then we walked on. It wasn't more than four miles to Tucker Johnson Shelter, but for some reason, it seemed to take a long time...maybe because I knew I had breakfast waiting on me....a real breakfast that someone else was going to cook and serve! :-) We did get to Tucker Johnson and even though I stopped by there on my walk in '02, I didn't remember it at all. That was the last shelter on this walk and I couldn't even sign the register...it was full. :-( Stumpknocker at Tucker Johnson ShelterWe walked on and I saw the Maine Junction coming into view....the official end of the Long Trail for us. It was kind of exciting, but not enough to linger long...after all, breakfast was getting cold. ;-) We got a couple pictures, congratulated each other and gave each other a hug, then walked on to The Inn at Long Trail and ordered a very good breakfast. We were talking to Tin Lizzy and she joined us at our table. She is out doing the Long Trail now. There was another lady we started talking to that was walking the Long Trail. I asked her name and she said "Swingin' Jane". She asked my name and I told her "Stumpknocker". She said we had met on the AT in '05....small world!! :-) We walked out to catch the bus and saw Calamity Jane...a sobo heading off for today's walk. Sobo ¢08 AT hiker Calamity JaneThe bus came and we got on, then rode it to Wallingford where it dropped us off in the small village. We walked the last mile to Yolanda Vega's home and another part of this year's adventure came to a close. We got showered and I was finally sitting at a computer when I started feeling hunger pains. I was on the third floor...and got a call from the first floor. It was Mrs Gorp telling me that hamburgers and hotdogs had been grilled and were just waiting to be eaten. :-) Special CONGRATULATIONS to Mrs Yolanda Vega-Gorp because this was her THIRD hike of the entire Long Trail. She is one heck of a hiker and bicyclist and usually looks half way presentable to the world in the mornings. :-) Oh she occasionally likes to weed a garden or two and she makes a good spaghetti sauce.I spent the whole month of August hiking in the state of Vermont. I have finally hiked the Long Trail!!!I¢ll be back to do it again!! :-)
Date: 2008-09-03
From: Willard Gap, Maine Junction of AT and LT

To: Mrs Gorp's Excellent Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up late this morning after staying up till about midnight last night. I walked down the stairs to the first floor expecting to grind up some coffee and make a 12 cup pot to slowly come to life for the day...BUT, Mrs Gorp had already ground the beans and I had a whole pot of good, strong Stumpknocker's Blend Coffee waiting on me!!! :-)I liked that so much that it's almost midnight right now while I'm writing this entry. I wonder if I didn't wake up till 7am again.....if I walked down the stairs tomorrow morning...if maybe, just maybe....there just might be another whole pot of that same good, strong coffee waiting on me. I'll let you know when I find out. ;-) Today was a good zero. Mrs Gorp and I walked every day we were on the northern part of the Long Trail, so it felt extra good to just vegetate and let those muscles rebuild for a day. I did go with Mrs Gorp grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping!! :-) I had even found the courage to put in a request for dinner....no, not fried chicken. It was her special, excellent, fantastic, homemade spaghetti sauce with angel hair pasta. She bought everything she needed to make it! :-) I went ahead and resupplied for my walk from Hanover, NH to Glencliff, NH. That should be three days and two nights. I bought everything I needed except for breakfast. I looked at Poptarts and my hand just would reach out for the box, so I figured that I would wait and buy some fresh pastries just before I walk out of Hanover. Looking towards White Rocks Mtn from Mrs Gorp's front yardI still haven't made up my mind if I'm leaving tomorrow or Friday. I see there is rain coming in for the weekend, so I may just wait and walk in the rain....it got pretty warm up here the last two days and the rain would cool it off again. I wanted to take a nap today. I planned on taking a nap today, but I got started answering emails and the day got away from me. I did get all my emails answered, so that's a great feeling! I had some that were way back to the middle of August that I hadn't answered yet. It always feels so good when my inbox is empty. :-) I haven't gone through my gear yet to get out my cooler weather stuff, but that's on the agenda for tomorrow morning while I'm enjoying my coffee. I did fix my hiking pole today and I stopped at Verizon and bought an extra battery for my cell phone. I had been wanting an extra battery all year long and only now was I able to find one. Mrs Gorp even had a $10.00 off coupon for Verizon. :-) I guess that's all the rambling I'll do for today. I will either send tomorrow's entry in from the Trail, or from here...depends on how well I can hide up here on the third floor. ;-) Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)
Date: 2008-09-04
From: Mrs Gorp's Excellent Hiker Hostel

To: Mrs Gorp's Excellent Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

Guess what....I took a second zero!! :-)There is a 12 cup coffee pot here and I just couldn't bring myself to walk away from it already. I also had to change out from my summer gear to my cool weather gear....even though it's in the middle 80's up here today. I know that won't last long and I've got a few mountains between me and Katahdin to climb.I made good use of the morning. I went through a few boxes of stuff I have stored here at Mrs Gorp's home and found the stuff I wanted to switch to...a long sleeve lightweight shirt, a long sleeved mid-weight shirt, my windshirt, a different sleeping pad, a pullover cap, gloves and a three season sleeping bag. I charged my cell phone batteries and since I'm going to be walking in such a beautiful area for the next five weeks, I decided to take my good camera also. I'll still use my cell camera to send in daily pictures, but I wanted my good Pentax for the changing colors of the season and any wildlife I might run into...hopefully lots of moose. I got out the maps and ALDHA Thru Hikers' Companion for NH and set aside the ones for Maine. I'm hoping to get Mrs Gorp to send the Maine maps to me in Gorham, NH.My plan is to wake up on Friday morning and make another 12 cup pot of coffee to last me for we drive over to Hanover, NH. I want to eat at Lou's, then get something for my breakfasts on the Trail and start walking north heading towards Katahdin sometime in the morning....or at least by noon. ;-)I have one more warm day in the 80's forecast, then it should get wetter and cooler again. I'll be looking forward to that.I checked Trail Journals and see that most of the people I've been walking around this year are all well into Maine now, so I'm looking forward to meeting a whole new bunch of '08 nobos that are pullin' up the rear of the pack. I just keep wondering HOW I got sooooooooo far back in the pack of '08 nobos when I was the first hiker to leave Springer this year. I'm REALLY getting slow!!! :-)I have to thank Mrs Gorp for realizing that I wasn't quite ready to walk today....and not kicking me out of her beautiful post and beam home. Miss Lily Cat doesn't want me to leave :-) I had a few ideas how Mrs Gorp could improve this place to accommodate me better in the future. The main one was to set me up with an automatic timer on a good coffee pot for up on the third floor. It would be much more civilized to be able to wake up to an already brewed pot of coffee and not have to walk down all those stairs to get it like I have to do now. Doesn't she know these are supposed to be zero days for me?? ;-) Oh yeah, Mrs Gorp sewed a few items for me. I could see the threads giving way in the crotch of my hiking shorts and I needed a loop sewed on my cell phone case. She gave me THE LOOK when I asked for a monogram, so I decided that sewing up the crotch of my hiking shorts and sewing that loop on my cell phone case would be plenty at this time.I guess all that's left to do now is walk about 440 miles. Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)