morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-07-24
From: Thistle Hill Shelter

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: light rain

Woo hoo for our first ¢over 20 miles¢ day! I was groovin¢ and enjoying it all the way up to the last quarter of a mile. By that point we were supposed to have been at the shelter (if you went by the contour map, which I do¢¦. although that conflicts (oddly enough) with the topo map about it, which I don¢t look at quite as often). Regardless we all found Stony Brook Shelter by 8pm and I slept well under my tarp again, as the shelter was too full for my desire. We got quite drenched today, but by the morning we were dry and happy again. Bad black flies at the shelter though!
Date: 2003-07-25
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: Heidenreich Condo in Killington
Miles today: 10.0

Yeah! A super duperly easy 10 miles into town. Stringer (and his dog daisy) are moving on today, but Best, Fisher, and I are calling it a day at my second counsin¢s (once removed) condo in Killington. Again I couldn¢t say enough about family. Thank yo, thank you! Mom came and met us at the Heidenreich¢s condo, prepared with wholesome sandwiches and clean towels and sleeping bags. How did she know? Thank mom, I love you! We spent the day doing laundry and errands, as well as ensuring that we get dinner at the long Trail Inn and icecream and a movie (Footlose!) for later that night. We all slept well and I even got to see aunt Liz and Heather while we were there, how cool!
Date: 2003-07-26
From: Heidenreich Condo in Killington

To: Minerva Hinshy Shelter
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: few clouds

Wow. Today felt surprisingly good. We left Killington after a fun breakfast with mom at ¢Blanches Restaurant.¢ I don¢t know if I mention this earlier, but I¢ve strayed quite far from the title of vegetarian. Maybe I¢ll regain it later, maybe not, but bacon this morning tasted great! Then we bid goodbye to mom (it looks like I¢ll be seeing her, dad, uncle Scott, and aunt Kelly later next week though [for some hiking time!], so I wasn¢t too teary when I said goodbye) and started hiking. We passed 2 shelters before we decided to stop for the night, again I felt great despite coming out of a town. Maybe I¢m getting better at this? Yea for 20+ mile day number 2!!
Date: 2003-07-27
From: Minerva Hinshy Shelter

To: Lost pond shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

Today was a windy and slightly chilly day, luckily very little rain. Fisher, 3oz and I left the shelter in the AM and waited for Best to catch up once we reached white rocks. It was this really cool place with rock artwork spread out around about a 15 foot section of the trail. There were rock arches that reminded me of the kind of ¢Nature art¢ that David Goldworthy does. I love his artwork and naturally I thought this stuff was pretty great.We had lunch at mile eleven today and that¢s where Fisher, Best and 3oz stopped fro the night. I was expecting to do 15 miles today, but Fisher had a food drop in Danby and because it is Sunday today he had to stop at the shelter before Danby so that by tomorrow he¢d be able to get his food drop. Best and 3oz didn¢t get a good rest last night so they decided to stay put too. I debated pushing on until about 3pm and decided that I¢d rather kick out 5 more miles today than have a 20 mile day into town tomorrow. So I¢ve pushed on and am now sheltering with a Girl Scout group, a section hiker and a long trail hiker (that¢s a 300 mile long trail from VT to Canada). Its been a good night and I wish 3oz, Best and Fisher could have pushed on with me, but I understand. Maybe I¢ll see them tomorrow before Manchester. And maybe I¢ll get lucky finding a cheap place to stay in Manchester¢¦ I¢ve heard that its pretty hard since there¢s no hostel there.
Date: 2003-07-28
From: Lost pond shelter

To: Bromley View Inn
Miles today: 15.0

Today I was on a mission to get into town. 5 miles to my snack break, 5 more to lunch atop Bromley, 5 more to lunch atop Bromley Mtn., and the final 5 to rt. 11 where I got a hitch into Manchester. The highlight of my day was calling granddad Ted from the ski patrol hut at Mt. Bromley. (A close second highlight of my day was getting free laundry detergent and directions and advise on where I could sleep tonight from the local country store owners.) I don¢t think I¢m going to spend a zero in town tomorrow, no real need, but I will probably get a late start, and enjoy my bed and breakfast a bit first. But I must say, its lonely to stay at an inn alone, next time I¢ll bring my teddy bear!
Date: 2003-07-29
From: Bromley View Inn

To: Stratton Pond
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: scattered clouds

A nice start today out of town at 10am after an even nicer breakfast with a view and hummingbirds at the Bromley View Inn. Around mile 6 I caught up with Best and we recited a series of ¢Dude!¢¢¦ ¢Dude!¢ ¢¦ ¢Dude!¢ greeting calls before we were able to speak complete sentences again. About 5 minutes later Fisher came up behind us (he ran the past few miles trying to catch up to us when the hikers that he passed told him that I was only 5 minutes ahead of him.) 3oz¢s new shoes (from Killington) blew out before he reached Manchester, so he stopped in town at the EMS to buy new ones. It makes me really love my thrifted hiking boots that have taken me over 500 miles so far with little damage, especially since I have no idea how many miles were put on them by their previous owner. Boots (or shoes) are very important out here. As long as you treat them well with love, respect, shoe goo (at times), and Nikwax¢¦ they¢ll be good to you too. At least that¢s my take on it. Shins however are a different story and I¢m not as confident on how to pamper, as I got some uncomfortable shin splints in my right shin earlier today. Maybe the pond-side sunbathing at 3pm when we dropped our packs helped out. We¢ll find out tomorrow I suppose. The shelter here is awesome and well worth the 6 dollars I paid to stay. Bunks, a loft, porch and picnic table. Practically a house!! Woo hoo :)
Date: 2003-07-30
From: Stratton Pond

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: clear sky

That was the quickest 19 miles I¢ve hiked yet! From 7:30 -> 4pm we got it done inclusive of lunch, snacks, and filling up water. Yea!The shin didn¢t hurt at all today, in fact I can¢t think of anthing that did. I love days like that.Going up Mt. Stratton today felt great, plus I got in views from 2 different fire towers today¢¦ how cool is that?Fisher, 3oz, Best and I have been nothing but giggles since we got to the shelter tonight. Something about a ¢Chinese Buffet¢ and ¢Spilting over cried milk¢. All of us are excited for our next town. Best¢s boyfriend is coming in, my parents and aunt and uncle will be hiking with me¢¦ and the boys are thinking of food, food, food. I¢m having a great time in the woods :) I am a bit early (1 day ahead of schedule) for meeting my parents and uncle, so it looks like I¢ll spend tomorrow night in town and just hike 5 miles with them the next afternoon when we meet. It¢s nice to now be looking at 100 miles and saying, yeah, we can do that in 5-6 days, no problem. Oh, we¢re 25% done with the trail!
Date: 2003-07-31
From: Goddard Shelter

To: Bennington, VT - The Autumn Inn
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

Today was an easy hike down from Goddard into Bennington. A later rise at the shelter, but it felt great to sleep in. We all got down to route 9 and got and easy hitch into town for lunch from the manager of the Autumn Inn. I told her I planned on staying at the INN that night, and by the time the 4 of us finished lunch, Fisher decided he wanted to spend the night in town too!Best and 3oz hiked 5 miles to the next shelter while Fisher and I swam in an outdoor pool, did out laundry, showered, and watched Friends and Real World on TV. I¢d have to say that we got the better end of the stick that day.
Date: 2003-08-01
From: Bennington, VT - The Autumn Inn

To: SilviaÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs B&B in Adams
Miles today: 18.5

At 6:30am this morning Fisher and I flipped the channels to the weather to find out that we had heavy rains and occasional thunderstorms from now until next Thursday. Not exactly fun family hiking weather, what a bummer. Upon calling my folks to tell them the bad news we came up with an even better plan that would allow for fun family time and hiking time. It¢s called ¢slack-packing¢. Mom and Dad decided to be our chauffeurs for the weekend as we (Fisher, me, Best and (Maybe 3oz too)) hiked with day packs on during the day and slept in hotels with my parents during the nights. When you discard 30-40 lbs from your back you move along the trail a lot faster and hence have more time to hang out with family at the end of the day. So ¢ everyone was happy and today Fish and I hauled it up from route 9 and over the VT./MA. Border and into North Adams for the night. Tomorrow 3oz, Best, Fisher and I plan to do the same deal for either a 14 mile or 23 mile day along with my uncle Scott, (who¢s siked about the change in plans and thinks that slacking in the pouring rain will be fun.) who knows, it could be, but today we ended up drenched and grumpy with wet feet, although with tons of energy left to spare. (We spent the leftover energy eating at a Chinese buffet¢¦ yummy!)Thanks mom and dad for slacking us around today. You¢re the best, plus this hotel room rocks! Silvia¢s B & B in Adams has given me so many interior decorating design ideas!
Date: 2003-08-02
From: SilviaÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs B&B in Adams

To: TomÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs House in Dalton
Miles today: 14.0

Crazy day today. Best found out that her car got stolen and she¢s now going home to Connecticut for a few days to sort things out. I was sad to see her go, and I hope she catches up soon. Uncle Scott and I drove her to the bus station that morning. Then mom and dad drove Fisher, 3oz Uncle Scott and I to the intersection in North Adams where we had walked to yesterday and we all began day 2 of slackpacking (although for 3oz and Uncle Scott it was day 1). Greylock was quite a steep climb up ,and I was soo glad to be slacking it. The guys and I spent about an hour and a half at the top where there was a restaurant, snack and gift shop, observation tower (really cool construction on that one!) and flush toilets. Then we hiked down 7 miles and my parents hiked up about 3 miles and met us on the trail. That was cool. When we got to the car I hugged Uncle Scott goodbye and the rest of us went out for a pre-dinner ice-cream. I ate my cone while swinging on a swing set and watching the animals at the nearby petting zoo while listening to country music. I don¢t think that I could have been happier. It was just great!After that we drove to Tom¢s house in Dalton, MA and sorted out food and brought our packs onto the porch before we took off for a hard to find Mexican dinner. The food was great, but caused me to lie on my back and rub my belly by the time we returned to Tom¢s. I was stuffed!Saying goodbye to my parents was hard to do¢¦ I love them soo much. They were simply wonderful to us all and I knew that this would probably be the last time that I¢d see either of them until the halfway mark along the trail. So of course I got teary and emotional. They¢re just the best ever. I love you!At Tom¢s I saw Squirrel Meat again (yea!) and met Cain and Lion King, two great Northbounders that Fisher and I later played pool with at the bar, (we won by the way¢¦ woo hoo!). That night was fun, a bunch of smelly hikers in the local bar with a bunch of camp counselors on their night off. It made me think of the OMNI staff cruises to the pool hall on our nights off. I knew my limits though, as I¢m planning for a 20 mile day tomorrow (8 of them slacking).
Date: 2003-08-03
From: TomÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs House in Dalton

To: TomÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs House
Miles today: 9.0

So, opposed to my plans, I did not pull a 20 miler today. We slacked 9 and called it quits when the thunder, rain and lightning showed up. The rest of the day the guys and I wnet to the movies and saw ¢Pirates of the Caribbean¢ and I fixed my Visa billing problems online. Its been a very low key day, and I¢m okay with that as I¢m kind of recoupoing from the night before still. Live and learn right?I called Best today and it looks like she¢ll catch up with us by the end of this week if we pull slower miles. That¢s my plan assuming the food that I¢m carrying will support that choice. I really miss that gal and can¢t wait to see her again. Tonight Coop and Stringer are staying at Tom¢s with Fisher, 3oz and I and some Northbounders as well. So nice to see more of the gang again!And Tom is again just an awesome, awesome fellow. Between slacking us today, and taking us to the movies, and offering to slack us tomorrow, and stay at his house for free these past 2 days, I can¢t think of a nicer person. A true trail angel. Thanks Tom!
Date: 2003-08-04
From: TomÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs House

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: light rain

Today the full packs went back on and we left Toms around 8am. There ¢may¢ have been some slight pain initially, but it wore off around mile 3 and my body once again accepted the extra weight that it carried. Fisher and I had lunch around mile 10 (we were making excellent time on the flat terrain) at the ¢Cookie lady¢s¢ house. Unfortunately the place was vacant and the famous cookies that she makes for hikers weren¢t digested by us. However, we did enjoy eating some of the blueberries that she farms on her land, it made me think of that summer when my sister and I failed miserably at trying to make a bit of money by picking (and not eating ) blueberries for the man up the road. Not a good job for hungry kids I guess. Anyway the remaining 10 miles were just as flat as the first and we would have made great time to the cabin had we not run into amazing trail magic around the Mass Pike overpass. A parked car containing a trail groupie (self described) gal named 40 ounce (previously Tee Hee) who gave us bananas, strawberries and sodas. How cool. Apparently she loves going to Trail Days in the spring and the Trail Gathering in the Fall and knew many of the hikers from previous years. We really enjoyed her generosity and stories. Rain and oncoming thunder pulled us away from her car and back onto the trail. The Goose Pond Shelter was a half mile blue blaze off the trail and well worth it from what I can see. I¢m sleeping on a mattress and for 3 bucks will get a pancake breakfast. Plus there¢s good swimming, a hammock and a canoe open to whomever wishes to use them. How nice!Today I also met PaKettle... a southbounder who (over Trailjournals) named me Blistex¢¦ you can look back in the guestbook entries to see if you like. He like the ¢new¢ name Snail though too.
Date: 2003-08-05
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: East Mtn. Retreat
Miles today: 19.0

Today didn't have me in the greatest mood by the end of the day, as my boots and body were soaked thru from the earlier thunderstorm. Still I kept a somewhat positive outlook since I knew I ws headed for a shower, bed and laundry for the night. I sang silly songs to myself very loudly in country tuang for the remaining 2 miles when my spirits really got low. It seemed to hold me together. The day wasn¢t all wet however and actually some of it was just dandy. Fisher, 3oz, PaKettle, Duff (A Nobo from Missoula, MT! Nice Guy!), and I lunched on a stone wall near some cute cows in a field. Quaint is how I would describe the life in Western Massachusetts. Very old buildings and some pastureland. Not a state I would have wanted to live in when compared to VT, NH, and ME¢¦ but cute and quaint all the same. Tonight at the retreat I met Jen, Ace, and Foz, (all Northbounders who had zeroed here and highly recommended it because of the high prices in southern MA and CT.) Foz and Fish compared afros that night which was really quite hysterical. If it were the 70¢s¢¦ they¢d be the hippest dudes in town!
Date: 2003-08-06
From: East Mtn. Retreat

To: East Mtn. Retreat
Miles today: 0.0

So, Fish and I followed Foz¢s advice and decided to zero in Great Barrington. Coop and 3oz decided to get ahead today instead. We biked into town, where I picked up a new pair of boots and socks, and bounced ahead my sopping wet leather ones to Fort Montgomery, NY. Maybe they¢ll dry in the mail? It was just too much for my feet to take after wet boots and socks since Dalton. Coolest thing happened today! I called Rori, my best friend from highschool, and she switched around her plans for the day to drive an hour and see me in town! That was awesome! We had lunch together, talked for hours, got my haircut, (I¢ve been thinking about it for a while and finally decided it was time) and drove back to the hostel. It meant so much to me to see her. Thank you, Rori, you rock! Can¢t wait to see you in November! Spa time then!
Date: 2003-08-07
From: East Mtn. Retreat

To: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm
Miles today: 7.0

Some very well said quotes to start off my journaling today:¢We¢re all out here because we¢re not all there!¢¢I¢ve got hiker terets-syndrome¢¦ one root and misplaced foot will set me off, while not 5 seconds before I was in complete and silenced bliss.¢¢Instead of playing connect the dots, I¢m playing connect the blazes.¢Woo Hoo¢¦ not 7 miles after we stated hiking for the day and we¢ve decided to stop. I hope its not a trend! The story went like this¢¦We came to a road (rt. 7) and there was a farmstand nearby. We walked over to it, intent upon eating something fresh and met some nice folks who innocently enough helped us find an organic farm that offered work for stay options. After calling the farm and confirming with Dominic (the farmer) that he did indeed have work to be done, Fisher and I decided that it would be to our advantage to ¢see more of the surrounding area¢ and go work for Dominic. Plus another night in town would stall our hiking and allow Best a change to catch up with us. The only blip in our plan was that another zero (necessary for work for stay) would put us into the Post office in Salisbury, CT on a weekend (when it is closed)¢¦ so, to avoid that, we have now planned on 2 zero¢s with Dominic. How¢s that for a slacker rationality? Haha!When we got here, our job was to clean up the 1 room cabin out back, which was to be our quarters. Easy enough¢¦ I¢ve got plenty of mom¢s genes in me for this job! ;) That actually took about 4 hours to do¢¦ and afterwards we got to meet the cows and the pigs and the chickens and the lambs and some of Dominic¢s friends who had stopped over. I was initially thinking that we¢d be staying and working at an organic produce farm¢¦ but an organic animal farm in far more interesting to me¢¦ and besides I miss being with animals, so its refreshing as well!
Date: 2003-08-08
From: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm

To: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm
Miles today: 0.0

At 9am this morning I met Emma, a really sweet gal that works on the farm, and began to get down to business. First off I liked Daphne the calmer of the 2 cows. How cool! Then I fed Bobo (the calf) with a bottle and let her suckle on my fingers for a while. So cute! Then I took some milk to the momma pig who has 6 little piglets just over a week old. After that Fish and I were put to work making a potting soil / compost mix for plant bedding¢¦ and later on pulling out huge weeds from the chicken coop. At times I fell over from yanking so hard on the darn things! Dom gave us all a hearty lunch of his whole organic milk, organic eggs from his chickens, organic salad from his friends farm, and organic hot dogs made from the beef he raised. It was so rewarding. He and I had a really good talk about the ¢slow food¢ movement and the importance of locally grown food in society. I love this guy! My time here at the farm is reminding me of the great Ag. Classes I took in Montana and the wonderful folks I met through my farm experience out there. After lunch we picked currants (berries) to sell at the farmers market, and later that afternoon that¢s exactly where we were. We all munched on some carrots, talked with the locals and watched Dom work his magic with the customers. Again, I found myself reminiscing of the farmers market in Missoula. Something about the feeling of community and small-scale farmers just really gets me. It was great to feel like I was part of this whole atmosphere again. At night we came back from town and I fed Bobo and brought some water (20 gallons!) out to the momma pig again. Fish and I have called Best and plan on returning to the trail tomorrow if she doesn¢t call back. However, if we find out that she¢s still pretty far behind I¢m hoping to join Dominic and Shawn (another local farmer) on their journey to the NOFA (Northeastern organic farmers association) Conference in Amherst, MA tomorrow where there¢ll be lots of different speakers on all sorts of topics related to sustainability and organic farming. Dom is actually presenting a speech, for tomorrow too!So we¢ll see what pans out. If I can¢t make it this time, there¢s always next year¢¦ as well as the possibility of working for and learning from either Dom or Shawn in the future¢¦ a topic I plan to pursue with them tomorrow morning! In peace, love and cheer. This is what it¢s all about!(The symbol of the slow foods movement is a snail¢¦ which was what initially spurred my interest in the animal and later name. Cool how it ties into my adventure here!)
Date: 2003-08-09
From: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm

To: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm
Miles today: 0.0

Whoppee! I left Fisher and My cabin to go wash up in Dominic¢s house and found out that Best did indeed call and she was still 27 miles behind. This meant that I could go to the NOFA conference with Shawn and Dom. Happy, happy me! I called my parents and was on the road to Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. Fish stayed behind to do farm chores, his choice. At the conference, Shawn and I who hadn¢t been registered for the event, nearly faced paying a $51 ticket fee to enter. Luckily we instead were sponsored by the event coordinators in return for a few hours of volunteer work. Fine with me!I saw some environmental films to start the day off since the presentation that I wanted to see on canning and naturally preserving your foods wasn¢t until 1pm. The presentation was interesting, but I think I¢ll have to purchase an instruction book before I start any of that on my own, never mind that I¢ll need to begin growing my own food first! So¢¦ interesting but not yet applicable.Volunteering at the conference was really fun for me, as I met some of the adults there and got to play with their kids while I helped run the kids events like the 3 legged race, bobbing for tomatoes, ¢the butter dance¢, and the egg toss. The dinner that night came from an assortment of local arganic farmers and included locally made maple Ice Cream as well! Yummy! There were so many vegetable dishes too, which I just loaded up on. Hope I don¢t get sick! After dinner a debate was scheduled upon whether NOFA should jump ship and giuve up certifying farmers to be organic under the federal organic act, since the act minimally satisfies any ones ideas about what organic actually means. Both sides had good arguments for continuing to certify or not, despite the setbacks of what the FDA considers to be organic. For me, it just felt good to be around such stimulating and interesting discussion after the talks we normally have on the trail about our aches and pains and such. A really great day off the trail!(Plus I got a few more ideas for jobs and opportunities once I finish hiking. Always a bonus!)