morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-07-11
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Dalton, MA - Tom Levardi's House
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: few clouds

I woke up, packed, and headed over to the cabin at 6:45am thinking I'd be one of he first ones up and ready to go. Wrong! I was actually probably one of the last ones ready, as most folks had already finished their pancakes and were already starting to head out. There definitely wasn't a shortage of blueberry pancakes and I had my fill, helped clean up, and was hiking out by 7:45.I told myself that I'd never do another 20 mile day for the rest of the trip. It seems like I'm not the only one who is planning on slowing down a bit - everyone has been talking about how the 20-mile days have become so painful, perhaps because of our tired feet. Unfortunately I ended up having to do one today because I'm meeting Dom in Bennington, VT in just a couple days.The terrain was mostly flat and my pack was feeling pretty light since I was almost out of food, but the long miles were tough on my feet. I took some long breaks today, one for lunch at a shelter and another at the famous "Cookie Lady"'s house for cookies and a coke. Her house is just 0.1-mile off the trail and she and her husband have been baking cookies for hikers for years. Today was the first time my feet have been this sore in at least a month and I had the hiker hobble for the last mile or two into Dalton, MA. I was planning on staying at The Birdcage in Dalton which is trail angel Rob Bird's house and is open to hikers, similar to The Outhouse in Unionville, NY. The Birdcage isn't mentioned in my guidebook but I've heard that you need to walk to the Shell station and ask for directions. I was walking towards the center of town to the Shell station as the sky was darkening as a storm approached and my feet felt like they were about to fall off. I walked past a house before I got into the town center and saw Plunger and Mr. Right sprawled out on lounge chairs in the front yard and looking squeaky clean. They are staying the night at Tom Levardi's house, another trail angel in Dalton who opens his house up to hikers. Wags, Gangsta, Cricket, Snake Eyes, 357 Magnum, and Kevin are all staying here also. I decided not to go any farther to find The Bidcage and instead stay at Tom's tonight.Everyone was about to sit down for dinner when I arrived (Tom cooks dinner for hikers every night), but my friend Angela was going to meet me here later and take me out to dinner somewhere, so I showered while everyone ate dinner out in the front yard. Angela came around 7:15 and took me and Wags to an Indian restaurant in Pittsfield, MA. It was so good and I really went all out, spending $30 on my meal alone! I decided I should treat myself to a hearty meal since I haven't been out to a restaurant in ages. I can't even remember the last time...maybe Port Clinton, PA?It was great to see Angela and she dropped Wags and I back off at the house around 9:30pm. Gangsta, Cricket, Wags, and I are all sleeping in the basement and I have a feeling I'm going to sleep great. I'm definitely looking forward to a shorter day tomorrow! My feet love the pine needles
Date: 2009-07-12
From: Dalton, MA - Tom Levardi's House

To: Mark Noepel Lean-tp
Miles today: 13.7

Cricket and I both slept in until almost 8...I probably could have slept in until noon because the basement doesn't have any windows and stays pitch black all day long. Everyone except the two of us is slackpacking 23 miles southbound today and spending another night at Tom's. The thought of hiking over 20 miles made me shudder (even with a day pack)...13 miles with a full pack sounds much more desirable right now!Tom doesn't accept any donations from hikers which is both incredible and a little frustrating because I wanted to give back somehow before leaving. Wags and I decided to restock the bar soap and shampoo for the communal shower. Other ideas included restocking the toilet paper or laundry detergent supply, or perhaps loading up the fridge with soda.Cricket and I left Tom's around 11:45. The trail goes through some Dalton neighborhoods and then enters the woods a mile or so later. Both today and yesterday I have noticed the destruction from the ice storm this past winter with trees either bent or completely knocked over. The trail went through the town of Cheshire and we stopped for icecream at Diane's Twist which is right on the trail. We ran into the slackpacking crew just before ascending Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. We are staying the night at a shelter 3 miles south of the Mt. Greylock summit and will hike to the top first thing tomorrow. The weather today was PERFECT, I don't think it gets much nicer than this! Definitely hoping for similar weather for tomorrow.Tonight at the shelter is just me, Cricket, the Three Amigas (No Nails, Skittles, and Moonwalker), and a SOBO whose trail name is Long Gun. He is the first SOBO I've shared a shelter with so far. He started from Katahdin on May 28 and has recently been passing between 20 and 30 NOBOs each day! I did pass a SOBO yesterday just before Dalton who was about my age and as we passed each other he didn't even acknowledge me as I said hello and instead stared straight ahead while belting out lyrics to "Big Rock Candy Mountain". Creeeeeepy!!The temp is dropping and I have a feeling tonight might be the chilliest night we've had in a long time. Just for kicks, I started counting all the bug bites on my legs before going to sleep. I lost count after 27 Tomorrow - VERMONT!Tom Levardi's
Date: 2009-07-14
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Melville Nauheim Shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Luckily there was no bear activity last night, unless I slept through it which is definitely a possibility. I ate a quick breakfast and was hiking by 7:45 in order to meet Dom and his mom, Linda, at the trailhead in Bennington around 2.The hiking was quick and I was making great time so I stopped for some long breaks at Congdon Shelter and on Harmon Hill. The clouds rolled in and it looked like it was about to downpour but it never did. It hasn't rained during the day probably since New York!I met Dom and Linda and we went into Bennington for a late lunch at the South Street Cafe (thanks to Tom Geffe for the recommendation). The food was great - I had a huge bowl of Spicy African Stew and a slice of tomato/basil quiche. After lunch, Dom and I spent 45 minutes sorting through food for the next 3 days on the sidewalk next to the car. It was quite the sight, with all our food spread out all over the place. Since we only had 1.6 miles to hike out of Bennington, we packed out some prepared food Linda had brought for us - sesame soba noodles, curry tempeh salad, tabouli, and lots of brownies and other treats. I was already looking forward to dinner with all this good food we were packing out.Many thanks to Linda who helped us arrange the car shuttle for Dom, for treating us to a great lunch, and for all the goodies we packed out. Linda dropped us back off at the trailhead and a quick 1.6-mile jaunt up a hill brought us to the shelter where we found a campsite nearby. We ate dinner after setting up the tent and it was nice not having to cook. Back in the tent, we worked on a crossword puzzle that Dom brought and quickly fell asleep to the sound of distant coyote howls soon after that.Beaver pondDom and Loon
Date: 2009-07-15
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

To: Kid Gore Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: few clouds

There was an unidentifiable creature hopping around the tent off and on all night but I was glad to see in the morning that it didn't mess with my shoes or pack in the vestibule. Dom and I slept in really late and had a nice relaxing morning. We had oatmeal with fresh fruit from Linda, poptarts, and brownies for breakfast. We didn't leave camp until 9:45 but we made good time once we hit the trail. We met up with Cricket at Porcupine Lookout for a late morning snack and enjoyed the fall-like weather which Dom described as a "shpedoinkel" day. You'll have to ask him what that means. The terrain was gradual as we climbed Glastenbury Mountain and just before the summit we stopped in at Goddard Shelter which Dom said he'd like to live in when he's old. It was a nice shelter but apparently has a resident raccoon that steals people's food. The summit of Glastenbury Mountain was wooded but there is a firetower that we climbed which offered great 360 degree views. Mt. Greylock looked hundreds of miles away, I couldn't believe I was just there a couple days ago. We had a late lunch on top of the mountain but the blackflies were so bad that we didn't stick around for too long. It seems that in just one day all the mosquitos have been replaced with blackflies. I'm not sure which I find to be the bigger nuisance. We are sleeping in the shelter tonight because tent sites are limited here. There are a bunch of other hikers here tonight - Cricket, Ryan and his dad, Motor, David, Freeze, Rolling Stone and his dog Coal, and a few others out for a few days. After dinner, Ryan brought out his fire juggling wands for a show.I found a porcupine quill on the bunk I'm sleeping on...I hope it doesn't chew on me while I sleep. If it does, I will chew on its cute little face.1,600 miles!
Date: 2009-07-16
From: Kid Gore Shelter

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: broken clouds

There was a mouse incident last night which made for a disrupted night of sleep. One of the guys left his toiletries out on the table in the shelter and a very persistent mouse chewed through the bag and tried dragging his sunscreen across the table and into the shelter wall. Freeze even saw the acrobatic mouse catapult itself 2 feet in the air from the wall to the table. There was no food hanging in the shelter but I was worried that mice were crawling through our packs so I would check every so often with my headlamp to make sure everything was intact. I was expecting to see holes in all our packs when we woke up in the morning but luckily they seemed to all be untouched. We got out of camp a bit earlier this morning because we had about 15 miles to hike, 4 miles of which were up and down Stratton Mountain. Dom's knee has been hurting ever since slackpacking in CT and I had a full body ache, so the hiking today was more on the slower side. I'm not sure if it's the Lyme or the fact that I've hiked over 1,600 miles, but all my joints have been hurting, even my finger and toe joints. I may just have myself tested for Lyme in the Norwich/Hanover area just to be on the safe side, but I've heard that results are usually inconclusive. The climb up Stratton was more gradual than I thought it would be which was a nice surprise. I grew up skiing at Stratton so I was excited to hike up it. From the firetower on the summit you can see the chair lifts and gondola on Stratton, and also Bromley and Magic Mountains which are both other mountains I've skiied at. The views were super hazy which made the mountains look blue and it looked like a thunder storm could roll on through at any time.The descent down Stratton was just as gradual as it was going up and we got to Stratton Pond Shelter around 6:30. Dom went swimming in the pond but I stayed back at the shelter because I don't like cold water (Dom said it was warm but Cricket said it was freezing) or leeches. The shelter is huge and we ended up setting our tent up in the loft because the mosquitos were horrible. There is a 5$ fee per person to stay here, but we decided it was worth it. Hazy view from Stratton
Date: 2009-07-17
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: VT11 - Manchester, VT
Miles today: 10.6

I slept like a rock last night and even though it was a full shelter there were surprisingly no snorers. I woke up a couple times during the night and it was completely silent - a rare occurence!We woke up around 6:15 in order to get into Manchester around lunchtime so we would have enough time to eat, resupply, look for new shoes, replace my thermarest, and possibly do laundry before heading back out to the trail. The terrain was gradual again and we were down to the road around 12:45. Cricket's sister Meredith was meeting her at the road so we grabbed a ride with her into town and she drove us to the post office to pick up my package, to the Mountain Goat where I got a $59 pair of Montrail Hardrocks (!), then to Manchester Pizza House for lunch. There we ran into Plunger and Mr. Right who I hadn't seen since Dalton. Then, after a lot of back and forth, EMS finally replaced my thermarest with a brand new one. I'm really looking forward to not having to reinflate it in the middle of the night.Dom and I were hanging out in front of EMS with Plunger, Mr. Right, Wags, and Gangsta, and the trail angel (Rosalie) they had been staying with pulled up and invited us to come back to their house in Danby for the night. Rosalie's son (Rain Man) is also hiking the trail with his best friend from home (Ahab) and will be going back to their house tonight as well. Dom and I debated a bit because we were looking forward to sleeping on top of Bromley, but it had started to rain and hanging out with everyone in Danby sounded like fun. We chose to go to Danby and we were glad we did. Rosalie and her husband Lee are so generous and cooked up a huge meal for all 9 of us hikers. We were also able to do laundry and take showers which was a big treat since I wasn't expecting to do that until Killington.Heading back to the trail tomorrow. Thanks so much to the Fox family for their hospitality! Stratton Pond
Date: 2009-07-18
From: VT11 - Manchester, VT

To: Lost Pond Campsite
Miles today: 14.8

The theme of the day today has to have been trail magic, which seems to be coming in all sorts of forms. The day began at the Fox residence with a warm breakfast before their daughter Hilary drove us all back to the trailhead. Thanks again to the entire Fox family for their generosity. Bromley Mountain was a relatively easy start to the day, and after a few miles we reached the summit, where we had planned to sleep in the warming hut the night before if we had gone back to the trail. It was extremely hazy, so the views weren't much, but we did get to sit on the chairlift!Just as we were getting hungry for lunch, we came to a road crossing and found a supply of tail magic left by Fire, a thru-hiker in 2006. We were enjoying the beer, soda, fruit, and candy when Fire arrived at the road from her own dayhike. She offered even more food - sandwich makings, chips, and Oreos. We had lunch and traded stories with Fire before heading on our way.The afternoon passed with a steep climb up Styles Peak and some nice views from Baker Mountain before Dom and I decided to call it a day at the Lost Pond campsite. This site had had a shelter, but someone had unfortunately burned it down last year. A new shelter is currently being built by a group from the Green Mountain Club including two families who are camped here with us tonight. They just laid the floor of the shelter today and so we get to be the first to sleep on it, with our tent set up on the open floor. After dinner, they invited us up to their campfire for toasted marshmallows and brownies, definitely an improvement over traditional s'mores.The Danby Crew - Rainman, Ahab, Mr. Right, Pusher, Gangsta, Plunger, Wags, and LoonMy new kicks!Bromley chairliftBaker Mountain
Date: 2009-07-19
From: Lost Pond Campsite

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we hiked, and hiked, and then hiked some more. We were only planning on going 14.9 miles but then decided to hike a little farther to make tomorrow a shorter and relaxing day. Our feet have been hurting so they will appreciate the break tomorrow. We ran into 3 SOBOs (Little Dipper, Bacon, and someone else) who gave us the scoop on the upcoming shelters and terrain. We are looking forward to taking the gondola down to the base of Killington tomorrow and are hoping to get some beer and fries. Tonight we are at Clarendon Shelter with Wags, Gangsta, Plunger, Mr. Right, and someone else in a tent who we haven't seen yet. This is a nice spot for a shelter, right along a river with lots of flat tenting spots. Part of the White Rocks rock garden
Date: 2009-07-20
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Pico Camp
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: few clouds

We lounged around this morning because we only had less than 13 miles to hike today. However, we realized that if we wanted to get icecream and fries from the Killington lodge at the summit and take the gondola down to the base of the mountain, we had to quickly hike 10 miles to get there before everything closed for the day.Killington proved to be a nice, gradual climb with rewards at the top as soon as we dropped our packs at Cooper Lodge and wandered up a narrow ski trail to the summit where Plunger and Mr. Right were already waiting beers in hand. Wags, Gangsta, and Long Trail hiker Josh showed up shortly after us and we all enjoyed snacks and drinks on the summit deck with great views (the best so far in VT). We took the gondola down to the base lodge and then back up to the summit - a roundtrip ride that is free for thru-hikers. Two plus miles brought us to Pico Camp, which is just off the AT on the Sherburne Pass Trail. Pico Camp is an old, fully enclosed cabin with no level tentsites around it, but is still in decent shape so the 6 of us slept on the bunks, joined by 2 women out for a short trip. We are all hoping the resident porcupine doesn't bother us tonight.Less than 500 miles to go!Gondola ridePico Camp sky
Date: 2009-07-21
From: Pico Camp

To: US4 - Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 3.7

Thankfully there were no wildlife visitors last night and I slept surprisingly well for being in a shelter. Today was the cloudiest day we've had in a long time and luckily we made it the 4 miles down to Route 4 (where Dom's car has been parked for the past week) before the rain came. Dom, Plunger, Mr. Right, and I all checked in to the Inn At Long Trail for the night.After showering, the 4 of us headed into Rutland for food at the deceptively named Tapas (standard but wel portioned pub fare) and entertainment (Bruno). We hung out at the inn this evening, eating pints of Ben & Jerry's and watching Cocktail as it POURED outside. What perfect timing. I love everything about this place except the night bartender. Mr. Right, Plunger, and I are headed back into the woods tomorrow and Dom will drive back to Maine. Despite his knee and shin pain, I think he wishes he was continuing on to Katahdin!Thanks so much to Aunt Pat for the awesome package...the magic bars were deelish.
Date: 2009-07-22
From: US4 - Inn at Long Trail

To: The Lookout
Miles today: 17.5

*Photos have been added to journal entries from the past few weeks*It poured all night long and I was so happy to be dry and cozy at the inn. It was still rainy in the morning and the visibility was about 20 feet but looked like it could potentially clear. Breakfast at the inn is included in the cost to stay the night which is a great deal considering that the portions were very generous and the food was delicious. I got the cheddar cheese and broccoli omlet, homefries, toast, OJ, and hot chocolate. Dom drove Plunger, Mr. Right, and I to the route 4 trailhead and we said our goodbyes then headed back towards the trail in the rain. I was sporting my new tech t that I bought in Rutland (it looked orange in the store but actually is a day glow salmon color) with my florescent green Patagonia windbreaker. Those layers combined with the glow-in-the-dark treads and logos on my new Montrails made me feel like a walking glow stick. At least the hunters will be able to see me a mile away!The trail was tough today with constant ups and downs for the entire 17+ miles. Luckily the rain didn't last long and the day actually turned out to be quite nice. We were debating between hiking 10 or 17.5 miles today, and ended up going for the latter, to a privately-owned cabin called The Lookout. The owners open the cabin up to thru-hikers, which is great considering that it's an awesome place. It is a fully enclosed shelter with a porch and an observation deck on the roof that has a 360 degree view of the mountains. The only drawback is that there is no water here, so we had to carry a little extra from the stream 2 miles south.   We are here tonight with 2 SOBO identical twins - Red Ruby and Burger King. I've set my tent up in the cabin to escape the mosquitos which never seem to leave me alone!All in all a great day.
Date: 2009-07-23
From: The Lookout

To: Thistle Hill Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light rain

I heard Plunger and Mr. Right get up before 5am to see the sunrise on the observation deck. I did not want to get up but could see from inside the cabin that the sky was bright red and figured the sunrise would be quite spectacular. And it was. It reminded me of the sunrise from Marys Rock back in the Shenandoahs, with low clouds in the valleys with the mountain peaks poking through. I watched the sun rise until about 5:15 and then went back to sleep for another 2 hours.The hiking today was really nice - I enjoyed walking through fields with wildflowers lining the trail and the abundance of raspberries that I couldn't resist eating. On The Edge Farm is located just 0.2-mile off the trail and the 3 of us took a 1.5-hour break there, eating lunch, icecream, and fresh fruit. It's always such a treat to find places like these so close to the trail.The sky was overcast all day but luckily the rain held off. The 3 of us are tenting at Thistle Hill Shelter even though we've heard it's supposed to rain over 2 inches tonight and into tomorrow. I've already set up my splash guards around my tent in preparation for the rain, and I set my tent up in a very leafy area which will hopefully also help with the splashage issue.Mr. Right got a great fire started and we all ate dinner around it. There is just one other person here tonight who is sleeping in the shelter - a SOBO from Germany named Icarus. I'm definitely looking forward to a short day into Norwich, VT tomorrow where we'll be staying with Betsy and Bill, who are good friends with Dom's parents and whose son, The Brain, thru-hiked in 2007.
Date: 2009-07-24
From: Thistle Hill Shelter

To: Elm Street - Norwich, VT
Miles today: 12.3

I heard the first few raindrops hit my tent around 1am and it rained consistently for the next 12 hours. I was hiking by 7:30am and the trail was a wet, muddy mess and my shoes were caked in mud and completely saturated with water within just a few minutes of hiking. And I smelled horrible - it's amazing how bad I smelled considering I was wearing a brand new shirt and it was just 3 days since my last shower. No big deal though - I knew a shower was just 6 hours away.During the day I met a section hiker named Wrenchman who has been reading my journal. I only saw one SOBO all day - I have a feeling most had stayed the day in Hanover because of the weather. The hiking wasn't too hard and I made it to the road quicker than I had expected.Betsy and Bill's house is located on the trail - they leave a cooler filled with banana bread and watermelon outside every day for hiker's walking by so I had no problem finding their house. They are actually in Massachusetts until Saturday but have kindly opened their house up to me, Plunger and Mr. Right, Wags, and Gangsta. We are all zeroing tomorrow so we'll meet Betsy and Bill when they get back from their trip tomorrow afternoon.The afternoon was spent showering, doing laundry, playing Rumikub, and relaxing. Dom's parents, Linda and Bernie, drove down from Montpelier and brought lots of local veggies for dinner, along with treats and beer. We made a big spaghetti dinner with all the veggies and Linda's friend Pam made a delicious quiche. Bernie drove back to Montpelier for the night and Linda stayed and gave us all MASSAGES until midnight. It was my first massage of the trip and it was amazing. Thanks to everyone who made this night so special!