morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-07-04
From: Pinnacles Lodge near Manchester Center mile 1659.1

To: Lost Pond Shelter 1673.9
Miles today: 14.8

Hiking Day 105, Elevation 2181 feetIt took us longer to get ready this morning because we were spread out all over the room. Also, we made coffee and had a good breakfast. It was half a mile to the trail so by the time we got to the AT it was already 8 a,m, The weather was supposed to improve today but naturally it didn¢t, in fact, it got worse. We had several rain showers; some quite intense. needless to say, we didn¢t keep our feet dry for long, and our clean pants quickly became covered in mud. Aside from getting soaked, it is quite peaceful walking in the rain¢¦.especially when it¢s a gentle shower; it patters on the leaves of the trees on its way to the ground and creates a soothing rhythm to walk to. It¢s quite warm too so it¢s not uncomfortable to walk in. The problem for us is with the high humidity, it¢s hard to dry anything out.I thought about all those family picnics and barbecues that would have been moved under cover¢¦it¢s not supposed to rain on July 4!I fell 3 times today, slipping on mud that got away from me. I don¢t know what I minded more, the indignity of falling or being wet and muddy¢¦yes I do¢¦being muddy and wet does not make me happy.We walked up Bromley Mountain to a magnificent view of¢¦fog. I don¢t think we¢ve seen much of anything in the last two weeks. Then this afternoon, still wet from previous showers, we got to the top of Baker Peak, where briefly we had sunshine with a glimpse of blue sky and a view out over valleys bordered by more tree covered mountains. It was nice to confirm that the landscape doesn¢t change much! And then in a few minutes it all disappeared behind clouds rising from the valley below.On the way here we met a man with his dog; Charley Brown and Snoopy. He told me he had been following our journey and was hoping to meet us. He started January 31st but decided to do a bit of a flip flop so now he is hiking southbound. His dog, real name Wilson, looked happy and healthy, which was very nice to see as many trail dogs don¢t seem to do that well. We had a pleasant chat before we each walked our own ways.We decided to stay in a shelter if we could get a space, due to the rain. The ground is sodden and we really don¢t like the wet! As it turned out we arrived at this shelter to find it empty after 6 p.m.! Since then, others have arrived, young people. But we will be dry tonight so the weather can misbehave all it wants. I just want a little sunshine tomorrow.
Date: 2023-07-05
From: Lost Pond Shelter 1673.9

To: Tent site near Airport Lookout 1690.6
Miles today: 16.7

Hiking Day 106, Elevation 1532 feetToday we awoke to a sort of blue sky, at least what we could see through the trees and this was encouraging. We decided to wear our neoprene socks, thinking they would be more comfortable in our still sopping shoes. The neoprene socks don¢t keep the water out but like a wet suit they make the wet more comfortable, if that¢s possible. It turned out to be a wise decision because the trail was just as muddy and almost as puddled as yesterday¢¦.impossible to stay dry or even mud-less. We hiked along on the obstacle course to the white rocks area where the muck and water started to diminish and by the time we arrived at our current location the trail looked almost normal. I¢m not holding my breath for this to continue but I feel cautiously optimistic about it,It was near the white rocks where we stopped for lunch that we came across, ¢the Rock Garden¢ where people have created towers and sculptures on the white rocks. It was quite a sight to see this ad hoc ever changing/growing artwork to which anyone can contribute.Aside from the young people we spent the night with (Swamp Foot, Cue, Shoelace, Perfect Timing and one other), we ran into Mike again, whom we met yesterday when we were being shuttled by John (the owner of Pinnacles Lodge), and we also re-met Hiram. Hiram we haven¢t seen since that awful night in the Smokies that we had to cowboy camp on the dirt floor in front of the shelter to stay out of the rain. He kept telling us we couldn¢t sleep there because he was an old man and had to get out in the night to pee. We were in his way¢¦I don¢t think he intended to be a jerk but at the time that¢s how he came across. He remembered us from all those months ago!Where the AT crosses VT Route 140, we met trail magic lady, Sarah. She was serving strawberry shortcake and Kerry was ecstatic. That¢s his go to food for July 4th, and naturally he missed it yesterday! Sarah is 4th generation in Rutland County and she¢s been serving up trail magic on Wednesdays for years. She was very sweet.The forest is lush and green and today we saw more evergreens. We walked by lovely lakes and ponds and had it not been for the mud, we couldn¢t have asked for a prettier scene.After we left Sarah, we climbed another mountain and near the top I had a dizzy spell. I¢ve had a couple lately, but I think this may have been due to heat. In any event, I didn¢t recover and after walking another 5 miles, we stopped and to stealth camp, 2 miles shy of our goal when it became clear that I was getting worse. Kerry put up the tent and we ate dinner, before I feel better. Hopefully, nothing a good night¢s sleep won¢t fix.
Date: 2023-07-06
From: Tent site near Airport Lookout 1690.6

To: Cooper Lodge on Killington Peak
Miles today: 12.9

Hiking Day 107, Elevation 3898 feetIt was an ice cream day! First, we took a little detour at Kieffer Road to Stone¢s Throw Farmstead where we had a small (tiny really) tub of ice cream, followed by a pint each of chocolate milk (whole pasteurized milk with cream on top). Kerry also had a lemon poppyseed muffin with lemon icing. It was wonderful but not enough! Fortunately, at the road over Sargent Brook, we met Mike with trail magic including ice cream! He asked if we would like some and he got a resounding yes from both of us. Kerry had vanilla with homemade strawberry jam and I had maple walnut with homemade maple syrup (the best I¢ve ever tasted!). I know I keep on about ice cream, but it¢s the one thing we can eat that¢s high calorie and takes a lot to fill us up. Not to mention the fact, that it tastes incredible to hungry hikers.. So even though we didn¢t walk that far due to our ice cream lolly-gagging, we had a great day.The other thing that slowed us down was at least 2 mountains that we climbed in humid heat (temperature in the low to mid eighties with humidity in the 70¢s likely)This wasn¢t easy but today we kept drinking water. I think that yesterday I was definitely suffering from heat exhaustion and the scary thing is that I didn¢t feel it coming on. One minute I was fine and the next I was not. It was a good warning to both of us. Speaking of mountains, they¢re back. We had a semi-hiatus since North Carolina, at least in steepness and they¢ve been creeping up on us again. But in Vermont, there is no doubt that they are definitely back, only now we have rocks to climb as well! The sun was shining today and we had less mud to contend with, I kept my feet dry but Kerry walked through a couple of creeks instead of worrying about slipping on wet rocks. I had one good fall today but it was due to tripping on a tree root. I also managed to bang my head hard a couple of times on tree trunks that didn¢t see me coming. My other name is the Queen of Klutz.Several days with no ticks on Felix¢¦dare I hope we are through the worst of them? Now it¢s black flies in our eyes¢¦.Kerry wears glasses but I, and probably Felix too, are suffering.Another milestone: we walked over the 1700 mile mark! Tomorrow we will have a shorter day, hopefully, a little over 6 miles to the road that will take us to Rutland. I/we can¢t wait to clean the mud out of our clothes and put delve into our next milkshake!
Date: 2023-07-07
From: Cooper Lodge on Killington Peak

To: US RT 4 to Rutland 1709.2
Miles today: 6.3

Hiking Day 108, Elevation 646 feetOur 4th lunaversary today! It hardly seems possible.We planned to head in to Rutland today because our son¢s good friend, Francesca had put us in touch with her freshman year college roommate, Rebecca and her husband, Gian who live in Rutland. We also needed to resupply our food. The six mile descent from Killington Peak went by quickly and we found ourselves at US Route 4 at 9:25 a.m. Rebecca came to pick us up and took us to a Sensible Shoes store in Rutland to replace our shoes. Kerry still wasn¢t happy with his shoes (Merrill¢s) and my Altras were starting to come apart from prolonged wet and mud. Unfortunately, the only shoes they had in my size were pink! After that the three of us went to Johnny¢s Pancake House because Kerry has been going on about blueberry pancakes for at least a week. All I wanted was a hamburger and fortunately we all got what we wanted including Rebecca.After that, she took us to Days Inn where we had a reservation, with a promise to come and get us later and go for a Maple Creamy in her opinion a ¢must have¢ for anyone visiting Vermont. Meanwhile, at the Days Inn, we did not get early check-in as promised, and more disastrously, the laundry was not functioning so we had no way to wash our muddy clothes. Since we were unable to check in, we walked across the street to a grocery store to resupply our food. Upon returning, we showered and then Rebecca came to collect us for the Maple Creamies (a concoction of soft maple ice cream in a cone). They were delicious! She then took us home with her to wash our clothes, feed us dinner and meet Gian, her husband. We explained that all this made her a true ¢trail angel.¢ What could have been a difficult day turned into very good one.The weather was another matter altogether; some very dark and ominous clouds gathered all around us and eventually a few squalls dumped some water. Our big worry now is that the rain will continue into tomorrow and beyond. We really don¢t like the wet and Kerry¢s feet need to stay dry if they are going to continue to heal. Rebecca told us the weather changes all the time. She will come to pick us up a little later tomorrow at 8 as it will be late when we go to sleep. We have almost 50 miles to go to Hanover, NH. Fingers crossed we don¢t drown before we get there!
Date: 2023-07-08
From: US RT 4 to Rutland 1709.2

To: Stony Brook Shelter 1719.2
Miles today: 10.0

Hiking Day 109, Elevation 1774 feetWe were up late last night and I slept well, but I couldn¢t sleep past 5 a.m. This worked out just fine as we arranged with Rebecca to pick us up at 8 a.m. and we had just enough time to get ourselves organized, eat breakfast and be ready to go. We were on the trail at 8:30, a bit later than usual so we didn¢t think we would go too far today. We were also concerned about the rain. It was in the weather forecast so we were certain it would come and the pattern for the last few days has been late afternoon thunder and lightening, showers and heavy rain. We arrived at this shelter about 3 p.m. and the downpour came less than an hour later. We were quite happy with our decision to stay dry even though it meant we didn¢t go very far. It looks like this pattern will continue for some time. Our biggest challenge is figuring out where and when to stop for the day to stay out of the rain.We had the shelter to ourselves for a couple of hours while the rain was bucketing down. Kerry read to me from a book someone had left in the shelter called, ¢Aristotle Made Easy.¢ It was very quiet and peaceful with only the gentle patter of the rain. One might imagine that it was a romantic interlude and I suppose it was.Then Yolo arrived, wet and with a hurt hand from a fall; followed by Cookie Monster, Machine, Lawsuit and another young man from that group. A lively conversation ensued, which for once, included everyone¢¦it was fun!We climbed a couple of mountains today and will have more tomorrow. I¢ve been focusing on the rain and the mud but the countryside is very lovely. The sun dappled leaves on the trees and the many different smells of the forest all around us. There is lots of water everywhere. And I should mention the quartz we see laying around all over. Our friend Douglas tells me that in the 1850s, Rutland was one of the world¢s leading marble producers. I wonder if it is still produced here, we certainly see lots of it on the trail.Felix is already asleep¢¦. I found a new high protein food for him which he seems to like, as he¢s been eating it enthusiastically. I think I will sleep well tonight.
Date: 2023-07-09
From: Stony Brook Shelter 1719.2

To: VT Route 4 Wise Pines Hostel 
Miles today: 13.7

Hiking Day 110, Elevation 852 feetWe are very discouraged by the relentless rain. Every day the forecast is for rain although it really doesn¢t get going until mid to late afternoon. This pattern persisted today. By 3 p.m. when we got to On the Edge Farm Stand on Route 4, the rain again began to fall. Dana, the nice lady who owns the farm stand, read us the weather report for tomorrow: more rain and alerts for flash flooding with dire warnings for people to stay inside if they can. We had already made a reservation at Wise Pines Hostel, Woodstock, VT, for tonight, not wanting to deal with the rain and mud and Kerry thought we should take another zero day and reserve for tomorrow night too. I wasn¢t convinced, mostly because there is no projection for a real improvement in the weather in the foreseeable future. However, upon reflection, I think he may be right. There is no way to really know when this pattern will break but we do know that tomorrow is going to be worse than today. I saw this meme on Facebook and it felt appropriate, ¢Procrastination is totally a good thing. You always have something to do tomorrow, plus you have nothing to do today.¢ I plan to enjoy my procrastination day!Meanwhile, the three of us are staying in an hexagonal tree house. It¢s very cozy. We can hear the rain gently pattering on the roof and we are tucked inside, dry and clean. Felix even has a real dog bed to sleep on so we are all happy and tired.The walk today was pretty through the woods. We walked by Thundering Falls, and they were definitely thundering white down the mountain! We passed several lookouts but all we could see were trees and fog. At Ascutney View, there was an open field of fragrant milkweed in front of the view-blocking trees. I know they are a favorite of some butterflies and a sign nearby declared, ¢a way station for Monarchs.¢ I didn¢t know that milkweed is so rich to look at, nor so fragrant. Now, I want to plant some when I return home¢¦we are on the Monarch flight path, I think.Now that tick season has subsided, I am contending with little black flies that seem to know they can commit suicide by flying straight into my eyeballs. They must be attracted to the moisture in my eyes, and it is painful when they make a direct ¢hit¢ there. Maybe 10 of them flew into my eyes today in spite of my best efforts to wave them off. I think they must get Felix too, but I take the brunt of it being first in line. Kerry¢s glasses seem to protect him.We¢re also suffering from the high humidity, more than 90% most days and quite uncomfortably warm whilst walking uphill with a backpack ¢¦hopefully, this will improve when/if rain diminishes.We start tomorrow with homemade breakfast¢¦.Kerry can¢t wait!
Date: 2023-07-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

It rained all night, and hard from about 2 a.m. Then it rained all day, sometimes gently and sometimes hard. The news is full of dire warnings about flooding and road closures and recommending people stay home if they don¢t have to go out. It was all very discouraging for hikers but in some cases devastating for locals.Robert and Jessica came today from their home in New Hampshire; they brought us the 30 denier Packas to replace the 15 denier Packas that didn¢t work, took us to see the very swollen Quechee River and then out to lunch. They have been so kind, brought a little extra dog food and some treats for Felix to get us to Hanover, 2 days away. They came a long way to help us and they made our day.The river was raging over a dam that we couldn¢t see. Jessica showed us a photo of the Quechee Gorge under blue skies and normal conditions, wow what a difference! She told us that below the gorge where the water was churning is a favorite swimming hole¢¦not today, I can¢t even begin to imagine taking a dip there. This was all indicative of the 1000 year rain event in which we find ourselves and at least one woman was swept away and drowned.There are two days of less rain coming up and our debate is whether to push on to Hanover during this brief respite to keep us moving forward, even slowly. Waiting another day will put us in the middle of the next storm. I have to admit that having come this far, I¢m feeling very discouraged. Not only do we have the rain to deal with but some of the most difficult parts of the trail lay ahead.
Date: 2023-07-11
From: VT Route 4 Wise Pines Hostel 

To: West Hartford, VT 1746.3
Miles today: 13.4

Hiking Day 111, Elevation 377 feetChelsea, one of the hostel owners, had texted me a photo of a flooded farmhouse 500 feet from the trailhead last night. It was beginning to feel foolhardy to press on under these conditions so Kerry booked another night at the hostel.Meanwhile, I had contacted Bob M. about asking for help on the BSA retiree FB page for which he is an administrator. Although he readily agreed to this, his best advice was for me to contact the local Green Mountain Council, which I did. The Scout Executive, Mark Saxon very quickly put me in touch with one of his volunteers, Bob C. who lives nearby. He turned out to be a godsend.Bob told us about the flood conditions locally and volunteered to pick us up in West Hartford so we could continue our journey during this break in the weather (without our backpacks). When he picked us up at the end of the day, he took us to a store to buy food. Tomorrow, he return us to West Hartford so we can continue to Hanover, where he works. Since he will be there he will keep our packs for us until we get there. He helped two other hikers also: Yolo and Strawberry. He was so kind and delightful! And all of this on his 25th wedding anniversary!When we returned to the trailhead on RT 4, this morning, we found that the bridge we had crossed two days before was now severely damaged where it joined the river bank. Logs and other detritus had been swept up against the bridge indicating that the water had flooded over it. But the water had receded, proving that conditions were changing rapidly and what is true today may not be so tomorrow. For example, the sun was shining once again and is projected to do so again tomorrow before the rain returns the day after, on Thursday.Bob C. had told us that the stream before Pomfret Rd could possibly be a difficult crossing. It has a cable across it to help hikers but the water after the storm is deep and rushing with tremendous volume. He told us about an easy work around by road that had the added benefit of taking us by Teago¢s General Store where we could purchase lunch. It turned out he was right, we saw one person cross by the cable and the wild muddy water rose almost to his crotch. We on the other hand had a nice lunch at Teago¢s and kept our feet dry!We did have to walk through some watery patches but on the whole the walk today continued in Vermont¢s scenic way and it was fun walking with Yolo and strawberry. We were delighted by a large patch of ripe wild raspberries from which we ate liberally, and we saw a maple syrup, ¢farm¢; maple trees enveloped in plastic tubing ready for the next harvest.We walked up and down the mountains and several times on top had views across open spaces and across the tops of trees to other mountains. Lots of wildflowers and mushrooms today and we saw Staghorn Sumac. The sun sprinkled through the new tree leaves and we were reminded that conditions in the mountains are unpredictable.But today we moved forward and tomorrow, we will do so again!
Date: 2023-07-12
From: West Hartford, VT 1746.3

To: Hanover, NH Co-op 1756.6
Miles today: 10.3

Hiking Day 112, Elevation 507 feetBob C. Picked us up a little after 9 a.m. and delivered us back to W. Hartford this morning for another easy hiking day into Hanover. We met up with him in Hanover to collect our packs. Then with the weather still iffy and because we could, he delivered us to a hotel in Norwich, an old but quaint hotel called ¢the Coolidge¢ (yes, named after Calvin like many things around here). Yolo and Strawberry are both married to other people and the only rooms available had one bed each. The best solution that Kerry and I came up with was for the men to share the queen bed (being bigger) and Strawberry and I to share the full bed (being smaller), which is what we are doing. Another adventure.We had sunny skies for most of the day but then the clouds began to gather again as predicted¢¦tomorrow the rain is supposed to start winding up again. We had a couple of mountains to climb and swollen streams to cross but mostly our feet stayed dry. At one point we met a man carrying a plastic grocery bag brimming with Black Trumpet mushrooms otherwise known as black chanterelles. They looked wonderful. He told us he sells them locally for $25 per lb. His name was John Wiggin, just adding to the feeling that we had stepped out of time and into a Dickensian novel. He told us he cooks them in butter and oil with salt pepper and Parmesan and spreads them on French bread. It sounded exquisite. After that, we started seeing them, black chanterelles that is, all over the place and I was sorely tempted to gather some myself. In the end, I put that thought out of my mind: no stove and no ingredients, but I will keep it in mind for future reference.When we arrived in Hanover, we went to Bob¢s office at the Rockefeller Center, collected our packs and took him out for ice cream while we decided what to do tonight. This is when we learned that the Coolidge had rooms. Bob offered to bring us here in spite of his other obligations (he was chairing an Eagle Board of Review tonight) and he did. When he dropped us off he volunteered to return us to the trail tomorrow morning. We didn¢t expect this. He has been so generous, I am again in awe of the kindness of strangers; it really lifted my spirits.We were able to eat a quick meal and purchase a few food items to keep us going for the next few days, especially dog food¢¦we don¢t want to run out of that!Most importantly, we crossed the Connecticut River into New Hampshire at Hanover, leaving Vermud behind. We¢re now in our thirteenth state, with one more to go!At the hotel, we were all happy to shower, wash our clothes and go to a local bar for one drink, a margarita (blue to celebrate pride month?) for Strawberry and I and a beer for Kerry, Yolo didn¢t come. We¢re not making a lot of progress down the trail right now, but that¢s OK. We¢re enjoying ourselves again and that is the most important thing.