morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-07-25
From: Rt 2, North Adams

To: Congdon Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: clear sky

Sorry to have taken so long to get online. NY was too busy and then I hardly ever had a signal at night. I have been mostly hiking with the Dung Beetle Gang lately. They are Evil Eye (although he took 5 days off so he is behind now), Pootz (who will soon take 5 days off), the male M&M, Grasshopper, Too Many Birthdays (TomB) and Kiwi. I was still feeling a little sick this morning but wanted to get on the trail. The weather was looking good and we had a short day planned. I dropped off everyone except Pootz who offered to hike with me since I didn't feel well. Then I took my car to FMa's house and he took us back to the trail. Thanks FMax! Today was a nice day and I really took my time. We had a 1500' climb to start but it wasn't too bad. There was a rock slide that had a bad weather trail we didn't need to take. After about 4 miles, we entered Vermont! Only 3 states left now. We started getting the famous VT mud (Vermud or Mudmont). There were a few nice ponds today. One of them we actually walked by below the level of the water...by the beaver dam. It was strange. We are starting to meet SOBO hikers...pretty cool! It was nice to take our time. The shelter is nice with the stream nearby. I set up my tent since there are some bugs. I will try to be better at doing my homework! I'm still having a blast out here. I should be in Manchester Center around noon or 1 on Saturday. I will be taking 3 days off the first weekend in August at which point I should be getting near the end of VT and looking forward to some homemade Irish Cream!! I have 582.2 miles left to go.
Date: 2007-07-26
From: Congdon Shelter

To: Caughnawaga tentsites
Miles today: 18.7

Happy Birthday John!!My stomach was still not great after breakfast this morning. I headed out about 7:40. There was a lot of climbing today. We all decided to go extra miles today since it was a nice day, and we had heard it might rain on Friday. I did the short climb up to Harmon Hill and then the steep, rocky descent to Rt. 9 (another Rt 9!). TomB had tried for about 45 min. to get a ride to town with no luck. There is a nice clean privy with tp by the parking area. I walked back to the stream where others were taking a break. Okay, now to really start climbing. After about 1000 feet which didn't seem as bad as I expected, we got to Hell Hollow Brook and took a break. It's a good water source and a nice spot to break. We trudged on and it got harder and harder. Once we got to Goddard Shelter, we all stopped and decided to cook dinner. It's a beautiful new (2 years old) shelter. We took a nice long dinner break with our shoes off. The worst of the climbing for the day was over. There is a great spring at this shelter - nice cold water. We finally headed up to Glastenbury Mtn and took some time to climb the fire tower. The view was a little hazy, but still nice. It was really humid. We pushed on the last 4 miles to Kid Gore Shelter. There was almost no tent space, and it was very brushy and buggy so the idea of staying in the shelter was not appealing. A little further is a shelter which is closed since it is in such poor shape, but we were able to find enough space for out tents. The sites have a lot of rocks and roots, but we made do.
Date: 2007-07-27
From: Caughnawaga tentsites

To: Winhall River
Miles today: 17.1

We all got going fairly early today. I still wasn't feeling 100%, but I was better. It had rained some off and on in the night but my tent was dry when I went to take it down. However, the day was still very humid. The mud hasn't been as bad as it could be. Sometimes it is nice to walk through the soft mud and feel the cushion on your feet. We stopped for a break at the Story Spring Shelter and got some water. There wasn't going to be as much elevation to do today. I was looking forward to climbing Stratton Mountain. I was there last year in early June in the pouring rain. It was a nice climb, I really enjoyed it. About a half mile before the summit was a spring so I stopped for some water. It was nice to go up in the fire tower and get some breeze!. The view was quite hazy but certainly better than when I was there last year. We hung out up there for quite awhile. Now to hike the 3 miles to Stratton Pond. What a welcome sight that was! A bunch of us went swimming. It was so refreshing. It was a pretty relaxing day. We hung out for quite awhile and then decided to hike on a couple of miles. The goal was to have a short hike out in the morning since it was suppose to rain. We went on to Winhall River and found so-so tent sites. It was still only about 5:30 so we had lots of time to cook dinner and relax. Once again, it was nice to sleep near a stream to hear it through the night.
Date: 2007-07-28
From: Winhall River

To: Vt 11 & 30
Miles today: 8.6

A few days ago I got a call from Jen, a friend who lives in VT. She offered to meet me and help me out in Manchester Center. So, the plan was for her to pick me up at the road this morning. I ended up starting about around 6:20 so I knew I was going to be early. We had some rain and a little lightening and thunder the night before so I wanted to get out before any more rain hit if I could. I was able to get a signal on the way out and let her know I would be early. The walk out was pretty easy going with the uphill at the end of course. Jen walked back in to meet me. It was great to see her! Pootz came out at the same time so she took both of us back to her place. Poor Jen, a long car ride with 2 smelly hikers! It was great to get a shower, do laundry and relax for the day. Jen cooked us a steak dinner...mmmm. Thank you to Jen and Chip for taking us in!
Date: 2007-07-29
From: Vt 11 & 30

To: Big Branch stream
Miles today: 16.4

Wow, so nice to get up and have breakfast cooked for you! Thank you Jen! Jen and Chip decided to hike over Bromley Mtn with us. We spotted Chip's car with our full packs and then drove back around to start the hike. It was a nice day and a nice hike up to Bromley. When we got to the Bromley shelter we ran into Bird and Head from VFTT. It's a nice shelter...quite new. We had some nice views from the summit so I took a 360 video and a picture of me on the chairlift. Going down the other side was fairly steep. It was a nice leisurely walk to Chip's car. We said our good-byes and took a lunch break before moving on. We took another break at Peru Peak Shelter and met a few hikers there. V8 is doing a section and planning on doing the full trail next year...good luck..you'll love it!! There was no breeze and rather humid but not too hot. Griffith lake area was very pretty. When we got to Big Branch stream we saw a few tent sites that looked inviting, but decided to check the shelter before deciding where to stay. After crossing the bridge we saw some nice tent sites to the right but followed the trail to the shelter. There were no tent sites at the shelter and no picnic table so we went back to the tent sites by the bridge (maybe 0.1m). What a nice spot. We cooled off in the water and made dinner. After dinner we hung out on a huge rock in the stream until dark. It was one of those spots that make you want to never go home.
Date: 2007-07-30
From: Big Branch stream

To: Gould Brook
Miles today: 20.7

Camping near a stream often keeps things fairly damp. My clothes hadn't dried out, but I'm used to putting on damp clothes. We agreed to shoot for Clarendon Shelter and then see if we were up to a few more miles. That way we would have less miles for tomorrow to go over Killington. The Little Rock Pond area is beautiful. It would be a nice place to tent. There were a couple of places today where people have piled up the white rocks to make a bunch of little cairns and designs. At White Rocks Cliff area, there were a lot of them. Someone had made a peace sign. We hung out there and had some lunch. The air was not moving at all today and it was very humid again. We just kept pushing on. There were quite a few people swimming and hanging out at Clarendon Gorge. It's a pretty spot and quite the suspension bridge. We got to the junction for the Clarendon Shelter and met Fire Marshall (I mentioned your name and trail magic Aaron). We were tired but both decided we wanted to get in some more miles. We got some water at the nice stream near the shelter and headed out. We thought even a couple of miles would make tomorrow easier. However, we didn't find any good places to camp. We thought maybe near Cold River, but it was by a road and houses so we kept going. We finally got to Gould River where there still weren't really any tent sites, but it was getting late and I was really tired. We made do setting up our tents and cooked our dinner. Now tomorrow would be a fairly short day.
Date: 2007-07-31
From: Gould Brook

To: Rt 4 (Inn at the Long Trail)
Miles today: 12.7

It was a nice steady (but long) climb up Killington today. Pootz wanted to take the gondola and I wanted to go to the summit so we left our packs near Cooper Lodge. Before we headed up, I was talking to Pooch and realized that Tom Dooley (real name is Ben, who had just headed up to the summit) is the son of someone from Poughkeepsie. So we headed up and I talked to him about it. We had each known the other was on the trail, but this was the first we had met. It was fun to finally meet. Pootz and I headed to the restaurant and had some lunch. Then we rode the gondola down to the bottom. We checked out the shops there, but there wasn't much open and what was open didn't have much variety...mostly mountain biking stuff. So we took the gondola back up to the summit. It was nice to do something different. It was another humid day with no breeze, but we got some views. We headed back down to our packs and started the long walk down the mountain. Of course, the downhill always has uphills...always. We got to the road and thought maybe we could hitch a ride to the Inn. It is 0.9 uphill on the road. It is short to hitch, but we would have taken a ride. It wasn't a bad walk (no, we didn't get a ride). We got the last "hiker" room available. I love the Inn. It's a great place to stay (although no air conditioning). They pour a Guinness the way it should be served...right down to the shamrock on top! Their Guinness beef stew and soda bread is soooooooo good!!!! It was a nice relaxing evening hanging out with several hikers and playing some dice games.
Date: 2007-08-01
From: Rt 4 (Inn at the Long Trail)

To: River Rd
Miles today: 5.7

I knew Jack was coming today so my plan was to keep the room at the Inn for another night. Pootz was planning to head home for a few days so he was getting a rental car this morning. I thought I would do about a 10 mile hike having Pootz drop me off at Stony Brook Rd and walk back to Rt 4. We tried, but couldn't make it to the trail on the road. I changed to plan to start at River Rd and do a short day back to Rt 4. I could tell I was getting weary and my muscles were tight and I needed some time off. I just didn't want to take any zero days when I knew I was going to have 3 days off this weekend. The only problem with doing such a short day today was that I really needed to get to a good stopping point which meant an 18 mile day for tomorrow. Oh well, that was just what I was going to have to do. Poor Pootz ended up helping lots of hikers and didn't get a very early start back home. I had asked Jack to park at Rt 4 and walk back in to meet me when he got there. Since it was such a short hike, I really took my time. When I got to the lake at Gifford State Park, there was a lodge on the hill with some Adirondack Chairs which look out over a lake. Ping was up there so I joined her and hung out for a long time. It was very relaxing with such a nice view of the lake. There was a pig named Alice wandering around and looking for handouts (I got a picture of her). It was another day with no breeze and high humidity. I finally moved on but still took my time. Jack met me near the top of the climb and we headed on out to the car. TomB called and said he was in Rutland so we agreed to go pick him up when we got back to the car. We got some ice cream and ran some errands in Rutland and then back to the Inn. TomB shared a room with us. After showers we headed back down to the tap room for some more Guinness and stew. I loved the stew so much I had it both nights. Since I planned to leave before breakfast was served the next morning, they gave me some soda bread to have for breakfast tomorrow morning. Hyde, Gorilla, and Sandwitch were also there and stopped in to say hello.
Date: 2007-08-02
From: River Rd

To: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT
Miles today: 18.0

I had a lot of miles to get done today and then some driving to do so I had Jack drop me off at River Rd at 6:30 AM. He would then go back to the Inn, have breakfast with TomB, help TomB run errands and then eventually go to Woodstock to park and hike in to meet me. Today I think there were 2 times when I had a breeze but the rest of the day was again with no air and high humidity. It was also hotter. It was one of those days that seemed like a lot of work and no rewards. There was about 4000' of elevation gain through the day and not much in the way of views. I first stopped at the Stony Brook Shelter where Toodles, Jolly and Ping had stayed last night. They were just packing up and getting ready to head out. I took a short break there. When I got to Stony Brook Rd it looked like it should have been passable by car, but looks are deceiving. I did take the side trail to "the lookout". I figured it would be a good spot for lunch. It turned out to have a limited view. There was a building with a ladder up to an observation deck, but the building looked a bit run down so I didn't go up. It was probably okay, but I didn't feel like testing it. I ate my lunch and then headed back out. This was one of those days I really looked forward to just getting done. Jack met me part way in and we ended up at the car around 3:00 PM. There was a farm stand nearby so I stopped and got an ear of corn. Little Red and Wolf were there taking a break but planning to keep going and not stop in town. Jack then took me to my car which was in North Adams. We stopped and had some dinner and then each went on our way. Thank you for your help, Jack! It was good to see you. I knew I didn't want to drive all the way tonight since I was tired so I called Bonnie and stayed with her for the night. She was quite surprised. Thank you Bonnie and Ava for having me!
Date: 2007-08-03
From: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT

To: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT
Miles today: 0.0

I got an early start from Bonnie's and had hoped to stop and see Barb on my way, but she wasn't home. I decided to drive through the Adirondacks on my way north. I stopped at the Mountaineer but didn't get anything. It was nice to drive through the mountains. I also wanted to see how long it would take to get to the mountains from my sister's. I will be living at my sister's this winter and want to work on my winter 46 list. I stopped at EMS in Lake Placid too. It was a relaxing drive to Massena. I went into Jill's office and got her. We went to the mall so I could get something to wear for the weekend since I didn't have any "real" clothes to wear. We then headed to Waddington where I grew up. We walked along the river (St. Lawrence River) and saw the wonderful sunset as I remembered growing up there. One of the places in town had a band and I ended up dancing quite a bit...so much for resting! It was a good time. Tomorrow is the actual class reunion.
Date: 2007-08-04
From: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT

To: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT
Miles today: 0.0

An exciting morning...I got the oil changed in my car and caught up on my journal. My sister and I did some planning for a future trip and then we headed to Waddington where homecoming and my class reunion were. It was so nice seeing the St Lawrence River. My class reunion (actually it was a "let's all turn 50 together" party) was fun. We had a small class and about 20 percent turnout. It was topped off with some great fireworks.
Date: 2007-08-05
From: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT

To: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT
Miles today: 0.0

There isn't much to tell about today. Again I went through the Adirondacks on my way back to the trail. I picked up Evileye and Buttercup as they got to Rt 4 and gave them a ride to the Inn at the Long Trail. I helped the Inn come up with a fake menu to give to thru hikers just for fun. It has all the wonderful foods we tend to eat when we're in the woods. I'm not sure if they will actually hand them out. I ended up having dinner there. I couldn't resist having their Guinness beef stew again because it is just soooo good. Pootz came back from his 5 days off and they all stayed at the Inn. I headed on over to Woodstock, VT where I had left off and slept in my car. My plan is to meet Pamola (VFTT) tomorrow at West Hartford.
Date: 2007-08-06
From: Rt 12; Woodstock, VT

To: Rt 14; West Hartford, VT
Miles today: 12.6

Kyle (Pamola on VFTT) had offered to help me out and have a beer with me when I got nearby so I sent him an email while I was off for the reunion. We agreed to meet at Rt 14 and I would come back and stay with him and Melissa. It sounded like a great plan to me! I woke up to rain and slept in hoping it would go away. Of course, that was not to be so I finally headed out. This section of trail has very little to offer. It is just a lot of ups and downs with no views. Some of it is quite grown in so it was very wet. It rained off and on all day. I got to Rt. 14 at 4:00 and Kyle was waiting for me. There is a great deli/store right there on the trail so I had a snack to hold me over until dinner since I hadn't had any lunch. Kyle had a coffee waiting for me...a nice treat since it was cool, wet, and I was still tired from the weekend. While there, Comet showed up and Kyle offered him a place to stay also but he wanted to hike the rest of the way there. So we took some of his gear to lighten his load and he showed up around 8:00 PM. Melissa and Kyle fixed us a wonderful meal with lots of fresh produce from the co-op. It was topped off with some great home brew! Thank you Kyle and Melissa!!
Date: 2007-08-07
From: Rt 14; West Hartford, VT

To: Norwich, VT
Miles today: 8.3

Comet and I both had a hard time getting up and getting going this morning. We were both pretty tired. We finally got packed up and the 4 of us went out to breakfast. Nothing like a good breakfast to help you make it through the day. Melissa dropped off Kyle and me and then took Comet back to the bridge for him to continue on. Kyle hiked with me from Rt. 14 in to Norwich. This section was a little better than it has been since I left the Long Trail. There is some open woods and fairly gentle grades. The day went by fairly quickly chatting with Kyle. Things were still pretty wet, and it was still humid, but at least it wasn't raining. As the day went by the sun started shining through. Buttercup, Evileye and Pootz hiked to my car in Woodstock and brought it around to Hanover. My goal is to get it up to my condo in the Whites and leave it there when I leave NH. The 5 of us went to the Norwich Inn for lunch and a brew (a VT viewsandbrews hike!). We dropped Kyle off and I took the other 3 to resupply and back to the Woodstock trail head so they could continue on. Then I did my resupply, got some stuff for dinner and went back to Kyle's. I'm making this update from Kyle's PC and they are getting dinner started so I'm going to go help them.I should be in Glencliff Saturday for those who are interested. Anyone going to be around? Maybe I'll post on VFTT.
Date: 2007-08-08
From: Norwich, VT

To: North Moose Mtn
Miles today: 13.5

It was raining when I woke up and I considered taking a zero. The rain let up though so I decided it was better to just get going. Melissa took me back to where I left off just before 10 (thanks Melissa and Kyle!). I had a bunch of road walking to do. It was exciting to enter NH! I can't believe I only have 2 states left! I walked through Hanover and stopped at Lou's which seemed like a popular place. I got a chai tea which I hadn't had in a long time. I finally started walking out of Hanover about 11:30. I got about half mile and realized I left my phone and had to go back. Oh well..at least it was still there. I finally got into the woods. Things were pretty wet, but it felt good to be out there. I didn't stop at Velvet Rocks Shelter. I just headed on to Moose Mtn Shelter. A man and his son were there and I hung out and cooked dinner. We shared some food and they gave me some of my favorite tea! I decided to hike on another mile and set up my tent on North Moose Mtn. It was a nice spot with a bit of a view. It was a windy spot, but it was nice.
Date: 2007-08-26
From: East B Hill Rd

To: South Arm Rd
Miles today: 10.1

Okay, I know, I have been terrible about updating my journal. There has just been so much going on all the time it is hard to get to it. The most exciting thing is that I am in Maine!!! Woohoo!! I can't believe it...the last state. It was strange to cross that state line. I have 246.4 miles left to go. I am still having lots of fun. My body is somewhat weary, but fine. I am planning to do mostly 10-12 mile days or less for the next 100 miles or so and then maybe a few more each day through the 100 mile wilderness. I think I will get done by at least 9/23 and maybe by the 17th to make it 6 months exactly. Of course, the weather will play a big part in that. I'm staying tonight at a wonderful place called "The Cabin" in Andover, ME. Honey and Bear are great hosts! As a matter of fact, they are calling to say dinner is ready so I need to go.
Date: 2007-08-28
From: Route 17

To: Rt 4, Rangeley
Miles today: 13.1

We got on the trail about 8:30 or so. It was another nice day. It was a fairly easy day today. We got to the sandy beach on Long Pond about 10:00. It was a beautiful spot for swimming, but it was a little early and not quite warm enough to swim today. We stopped for a break at Sabbath Day lean-to. The tent platforms had a bit of a view of the pond but the shelter didn't. We headed out and met a father and son out hiking for the day - Toma dn Alex. They are very nice people and offered to give us a ride into town when we got to the road. It made for a nice relaxing day not having to worry about getting to the road in time to hitch into town. Thanks Tom and Alex!! Alex ended up stepping in the mud (which seems to be quite common in Maine) up over his shoe and then Pootz did the same a little while later. We stopped for lunch at Little Swift River Pond Campsite. Pootz went to the pond to get water and started doing charades with us - giving us Moose signs. Sure enough there was a moose at the pond and we were all able to get some pictures of a cow moose at the pond. We had a nice leisurely walk out to the road and got the ride into town with Tom and Alex. We decided to splurge and stay at the Rangeley Inn so we could be in town for our day off. Tom and Alex waited to make sure we could get rooms. It's a nice old Inn. We had a great burger at the pub across the street. It was so nice knowing we were taking the next day off!
Date: 2007-08-29
From: Rt 4, Rangeley

To: Rt 4, Rangeley
Miles today: 0.0

It was nice to have a planned day off. We took it easy and went to a late breakfast. We just hung out and relaxed until Nancy and Meri arrived. They needed us to give them a ride to Grafton Notch and then spot their car at Rt 4 so they could do a section hike. This worked out for us since we needed to get back to the trail in the morning to head out. It was a long drive so we spent our afternoon driving, but it was still relaxing. We were able to give Boo Boo and Leader of the Pack a ride back to the trail too. These days the body needs breaks whenever possible since the terrain has been more difficult and I am getting tired quicker. It is so beautiful in Maine though so it is worth it.