morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-07-02
From: Kent CT 

To: Sharon Mtn Campsite 
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: broken clouds

In a lot of ways, today was a really rough day. We got started a little late with getting dropped off near Kent. Then, when we got there, we discovered that we had forgotten one of Hindsfeets poles at the McConaghy house. Kate brought the pole our while we spent some time with Rob at the trailhead. We finally got rolling around 8:15. This sounds pretty good, but on days where we start after 7, we have trouble with our schedule all day long. Today was no exception. All day long we felt like we were moving slow and were behind schedule. the day was filled with short, very steep climbs and descents. We had to ford a river and we got lost once. By the time we reached the campite, we were dead. It was almost dark as well. We ate a quick dinner and it was off to bed. More tomorrow... Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-03
From: Sharon Mtn Campsite 

To: Laurel Ridge Campsite 
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: few clouds

This is the kind of day you wish all days on the AT could be like: Tough and challenging, but successful and not too hard on the body. This was our biggest mileage day for this section, and we covered it relatively easily. We were up at 5am and on the trail by 6. Our eyes were set on the Mountainside Cafe 3 miles north on the trail. After a little confusion at a road intersection, we got there quickly. The breakfast was awesome. Great food and friendly people. While we were there, Bonesaw and Tricycle came in and sat with us. We had not seen these guys since Hot Springs, so it was fun to catch up. With them was BP - a guy that's hiking a flip flop. This means that he started in the middle of the trail and is hiking to Kahtadin, then will fly back to the middle and hike south to Springer. An interesting thing we found out later about the Mountainside cafe is that it is part of a rehab program and everyone working there is in phase 4 of the program. We bought a sandwich for lunch and headed out again. The AT started easy then started climbing towards the highest elevations we've seen in a while. We passed the Devils thumb, an interesting sandstone thumb and kept climbing to the Lions Head which had great views. After a break at the Riga Lean To (they call them lean to's instead of shelters in CT), we topped out on bear mountain. Thunder was rolling in the distance, so we didn't stay long. Not far after Bear, we crossed the border into Massachusetts. This put us in the area of Sages Ravine. We were a couple of miles from camp - and the weather seemed like it was holding, so Coyotebec and I decided to take a swim in the brook. The water was so cold! After our break, we rushed to camp through a light drizzle - hoping we would make it before getting soaked. We got to camp and got the tarp up just before it let loose. While we cooked supper under the tarp, it was a great feeling of a job well done and a day well lived. More tomorrow... Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-04
From: Laurel Ridge Campsite 

To: US Highway 7 
Miles today: 12.7

Back in Georgia, we had met a guy with the trail name Tarpinator. He had to leave the trail for personal reasons a while back, but we had seen him again at Trail Days and Hindsfeet had gotten a ride back to the trail from him. He gave her his number and said to call him when we got close to his house. Over the last couple of days, Tink has been talking to Tarp and they had set up a meeting at US 7 for us to go to his house and spend the 4th of july. All we had was an easy 12 mile nearo, then fun for the rest of the day. Well - that turned out to be half right. The "easy" nearo turned out to be quite difficult. The trail climbed right out of the gate steeply to Race mtn. The views were spectacular. There was thick clouds below us in the valley and the sun was still coming up as we hit the top. We were hiking on the solid rock backbone of the mountain, and the whole thing had a feel of "classic AT". After Race mtn, we dropped down on a sort of tecnical descent, then climbed again even higher to Mt. Everett. This is where it got a little crazy. The north side of Everett is a damp area. We were descending on pine needle covered rocks that were damp. Even being extremely careful, we all (except hindsfeet) took falls. Don't worry - nothing serious, but it can scare you when you go down with your pack on. It took a long time to reach normal trails where we could start making time again. Once we began to have more sane trail, the mosquitos kicked in. We looked like we were in an Off commercial - with swarms of mosquitos surrounding us as we moved down the trail. Then it started to rain. I am wondering how we would have handled it if we didn't know we were getting picked up at the road. Glad I didn't have to find out. Tarpinator met us at US 7 and took us to his house. By then the rains had quit and we laid some of our things out to dry. Then we jumped into Tarps pool and swam for a while. The rest of the afternoon was a lot of fun. Just hanging out and enjoying the 4th like normal folks. Food, fun and trail family. More tomorrow... Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-05
From: US Highway 7 

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: light rain

It was back to work after our 4th of July nearo today. We had decided to take our time in the morning, knowing that we only had 17 miles to cover. Tarpinator was the perfect host, making us scrambled eggs, Bagels with cream cheese and juice. I have to say that friends like Tarpinator make the AT the experience it is. Thanks Tarp - you and JC and Austin were awesome!We arrived at the AT around 9:30. We headed into the woods and were immediately greeted by swarms of Mosquitos. We've not been in MA very long, but we have made up a new name for it: Massaquito. Without DEET, we would be toast. There's enough bugs here to make you mentally insane.We hiked through the remainder of the morning and took our lunch break at a pretty lake. After lunch, we still had 7 miles left. We arrived at our campsite in good spirits. Tonight was the first time in months that Coyotebec has told me that her feet are feeling good. She's trying some new shoes, and this is really good news. For those of you wondering, my toe seems to be doing much better. I am on an antibiotic that did a job on that infection.More tomorrow....Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-06
From: Shaker Campsite

To: October Mtn Lean To
Miles today: 18.7

On the trail, your thoughts can drift in a million different directions. This morning things felt a little different than most mornings. A little more settled and assured. It was cloudy and a little on the cool side. We walked over a ridge, then down into a marshy area. This marshy area was filled with the summer wildflowers that have begun to show up lately. This is when the thought occurred to me. A truth about the AT experience is that the beauty lies not in grandiose views of faraway peaks, but in the details of texture and color in the landscape. The way mountains and creeks, trees and flowers, mud and rock, fence lines and ridges combine into a tapestry that is stunning. It seems to me that this is how life is as well. The beauty is in the moments of your life that seem common and mundane. The magnificent vistas in life may be years apart: births, weddings, graduations. Living well between the vistas is what I want to improve on.On to todays news: We pushed hard to Upper Goose Pond Cabin which was 10 miles out from camp. We walked through wetlands full of wildflowers. Posey Picker told us that the summer wildflowers were coming - and this was the first sign of them. From this area, we walked straight into a cathedral of tall pines. Absolutely beautiful! Around 11, we made it to Upper Goose Pond and took a break. It was there that we decided to try to go into Lee, MA for lunch. One of our guidebooks showed a restaurant .3 off the trail. We walked there, and it was closed. So we decided to try our luck hitching. Within 5 minutes, we had a ride with a friendly older woman. We had lunch at a cool pizza place, and then walked to a convenience store for dessert. Another 5 minutes and we had a ride back up to the trail. The perfect lunch stop! These side trips really add to the fun of the AT. You have the stress of hitching and the fun of discovering a new town. Great filling food is another bonus. We were back on the trail by 3:30. Coyotebec somehow lost the tip of her trekking pole 3 or 4 miles in. We looked, but could not find it. We got on the phone and called Dave to overnight one to the town we'll be in tomorrow. It's nice to own an outfitters store! That pretty much rounds out the day. We are glad we have the bug screen for our tarp now. The mosquitos are getting insane right now.More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-07
From: October Mtn Lean To

To: Dalton MA
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: clear sky

Our plan for this section has been to take our nearo at Tarpinators (a few days back) then to finish the section to Dalton and take another nearo. We were pretty excited to hit town. We have a bounce box to pick up, along with new shoes to replace Tinkerbells worn out ones. The hike was pretty routine and we were in to Dalton by noon. As we walked into town on the main street, we found a man named Tom Lavardi who allows hikers to stay in his yard and porch. We spent a few minutes talking to him before walking the rest of the way into town. Coyotebec and I were thinking of staying in the local hotel. When we got there, we found out the rate was $90. This convinced us we were staying with Tom at his house. Great decision! We took care of nearo day stuff like library (to check our trail journal), post office and (of course) eating town food. Later we all met back up at Toms house. He has a beautiful older home on a quiet street. The feeling of hanging out on the lawn under the trees in the late afternoon was really relaxing. Tom then took us all into town for Tink to get a fuel cartridge and for all of us to eat. After the town run, we all watched "The Big Lebowski" and had a lot of fun. Tom let us all sleep on the living room floor instead of out on the porch. We want to say thanks to Tom for one of our most relaxing and enjoyable town stays ever!More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-08
From: Dalton MA

To: Mt Greylock
Miles today: 17.5

We were up early to head over to Duff and Dell's - a local breakfast place. Tom came with us to have a coffee while we ate breakfast. Good times.The first half of the day included 10 miles over a moderate size ridge. Around noon, we pulled into Cheshire - a small community on the trail. We found a little place that served po-boys and ice cream and had lunch. After lunch, we tackled the 7 miles to the top of Mt. Greylock. This was our first big climb in a few states. We climbed 2500 feet to the top. It felt comfortable and easy. Around 4, we reached the top. There is a lodge and an observatory. This is a very popular spot for folks to come up for the day or the weekend. Nothing like climbing a big mountain only to find a parking lot full of cars! We arranged to stay in their bunkhouse and to eat dinner in the lodge. The bunkhouse is nothing to brag about, but the dinner was awesome. It was served family style - good food and lots of it. We enjoyed the company of a family near the Boston area. One of the women owns Gallery 263 in Boston. She swims the cold mountain lakes for recreation. Wow. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-09
From: Mt Greylock

To: Congdon Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: clear sky

Today should have had a celebratory mood for me. We went over 20 miles and crossed another state line. But as I lie here right now, I am probably about as tired, worn out and beat as I have ever been on this trip. Mentally I am kind of at a low as well. I spent most of my walking day today thinking about how many miles we have left to camp, left to the time we go to the Outdoor Retailer show and left until the end. It was like I was trying to see the mileage in a positive, exciting way so that it would seem a little better and lift me out of this mood. Coyotebec, Tink and Hindsfeet all had a great day. It was a little weird to be in my own miserable little world while they carried on. This is probably the best thing about having a family around you. They can carry you along when you don't have it in you to do it yourself. Well - enough of my stuff. Here's what happenedtoday: Last night Coyotebec and I decided to sleep under the stars outside the bunkhouse at Greylock. They are very strict about their bunkhouse, so we knew we were taking a chance. We just didn't want to hear all the snoring all night long. Long story short, the security guard was down on us within an hour and we had to go back into the bunkhouse.In the morning we walked 6 miles to Williamstown. We decided to walk the .5 in to a restaurant for breakfast. During breakfast,Coyotebec began to look at our schedule for the next couple ofdays. We were going to pass a town named Bennington. But Coyotebec hadread about this town in a magazine, so she proceeded to figure out a wayfor us to visit this town. I started to get aggravated - as Ididn't want the plan changed. To me, we didn't need groceries or townfood so why were we going to hitch in? The answer of course was thatthis was something Coyotebec wanted to experience and that should begood enough. So I spent the afternoon trying to balance beingobsessed with "my plan" and sticking to it and trying to learn to live inthe moment and experience what's out here for us. I mostly gotfrustrated and tired. We reached the Connecticut / Vermont borderlater in the afternoon. After pictures and a quick break, we were on the tral again. We got to camp around 7pm. Dinner, clean up, tarp pitching and now we are ready tosleep. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-10
From: Congdon Shelter

To: Caughnawga Shelter
Miles today: 18.7

Today was a roller coaster of a day. It all began at 5am when my alarm went off. My mood from yesterday was carrying over to this morning. Since Tink and Hindsfeet were being (what I considered) loud by the shelter before 6am, I headed down the trail on my own. I walked for about an hour by myself, then waited for the group to catch up. An hour later, we were at the road that leads to Bennington.Coyotebec and Hindsfeet put our hitchiking sign and their skills into action and we had a ride in less than 5 minutes. Once in town we headed down to the Blue Benn diner for breakfast. The Blue Benn is a true diner. The kind built of steel in a tubular shape in the 40's and 50's. The food was amazing - we voted it best breakfast on the trail. They also had those juke box at the table machines. We played a lot of music. Here's the songs i can remember: Knockin on Heavens Door, Brown Eyed Girl, Free Falling, American Pie, Ramblin Man, and lots more. It was a good time.We walked back up to the outfitter store and then around 11, started to try to hitch back to the trail. Again, it didn't take long and we were back at the trail head. I grabbed the packs and all the poles and we put them on the parking lot. After our ride left, we realized that one of my trekking poles was missing.The guy that gave us the ride had driven off with one of my poles. Now - greater disasters can occur. But at that moment, I was about to go postal. After all my anxiety about going into town - this had to happen now. I was aggravated at the thought of having to hike 40 miles to the next town with one pole. I was aggravated about losing a pole I have brought on many trips. It just wasn't a happy moment. Tink and Hinds went up the trail ahead of us after we left a note on the trail bulletin board (they were frightened of me - haha). It took me an hour or so to cool off. I had picked up a stick to substitute for the pole till the next town. There was a lot of silent walking this afternoon. And we had a lot of distance to cover. We had 14 miles to hike after 11:30. We arrived at camp around 7. We had just enough time to cook, clean up and get to bed. This day has been an emotional wringer. Hoping for better days coming.More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-11
From: Caughnawga Shelter

To: William Douglas Shelter
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: moderate rain

My alarm went off at 5am. When I got out of the tarp I told Coyotebec "it looks like rain". 30 seconds later the rain started coming down. Not very hard at first, but hard enough to keep us from packing up and heading out. Then came the thunder. Far off at first and coming slowly closer. After an hour, it was a rock show of a storm. Lightning was flashing and the thunder was a continuous roar like I have never heard before. The rain was so hard, there was spray and splatter coming 2 feet up our bug net inside the tarp. We took the opportunity to rest and sleep until it began to pass.Around 8:30 the storm subsided and we began to pack up. By the time we left, the rain had stopped altogether. It's tough to start a 20 mile day at 9am - but we had an option to stop at a shelter around the 15 mile point. Vermont has a nickname just like Rocksylvania. Hikers know it as "Vermud" and today was a pretty good example of that nickname. The hiking was mountainous, but not too bad. We pushed to try to reach the Stratton Mtn summit for lunch around 2:30. I hung the tarp out on the fire tower and got it somewhat dry. After a quick lunch, we headed down to Stratton pond. Here Tink, Hinds, Coyotebec and I voted on whether to continue on 5 more miles to the Douglas shelter. The advantage was that it would leave us only 6 miles in for our town day. The vote was ton continue and we reached camp around 7:15. Here's an example of our nightly routine: We set up the tarp and secure our gear. Then we go to the creek and wash the mud off our legs and take a towel bath kind of clean up. We gather 4 liters of water in our Platypus bags and head back for the tarp. After that, we cook (we did this while lying in the tarp today because of the bugs). After eating and cleaning up, we try to journal and go to sleep. Sometimes theres time for reading - but not usually. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-12
From: William Douglas Shelter

To: Manchester Center VT
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: light rain

We were up at 5 and on the trail by 6. We quickly killed off the 5.8 miles to the road and arriver around 8:30. The girls got going with the hitchiking and (as usual) we had a ride in less than 5 minutes. A house painter in a small Ford Bronco type of truck pulled over and we somehow wedged all 4 of us in. 10 minutes later we were in Manchester Center. We headed directly over to a place called "Up for Breakfast". It is a small breakfast restaurant with amazing food. I had Buckwheat pancakes with nuts and Coyotebec had Blueberry pancakes that were amazing. Tink had the "Hungry Hiker" which was two huge plates of food. He ate it all. Tink has lost 40 pounds on this trip, so he eats as much as possible in town. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but eating a good amount in town is very important when you are thru hiking. Several people we know are off the trail becaus they didn't get enough calories and got too weak to continue. After breakfast we headed to an outfitter store called The Mountain Goat to get our mail packages. We ended up staying all morning trying on shoes and insoles. The owner is an expert in boot fitting and helped Coyotebec with some new insoles. Then we went over to a hostel and got our room and (don't laugh) went to eat again. The remainder of the day included washing clothes, grocery shopping and we even went to see a movie (Pirates of the Carribean). It has been raining all day pretty hard. By the time we left the movie, the creeks through town were swollen, raging torrents. I am not sure what this means for tomorrow. Maybe a zero. We have been crossing a lot of creeks and I would hate to get stuck somewhere not being able to cross a creek because of flooding. Oh well, we'll see about that tomorrow.More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-14
From: Lost Pond Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: clear sky

Today is our 4 month anniversary on the trail! Wow - time flies!Early on today we saw that the day was going to be a struggle. The trail was a mess with standing and running water, mud, slippery rocks and roots. This made the going slow and frustrating. A couple of low points were walking through deep water near Little Rock Pond (Sputnik even saw fish swimming down the trail!) and having to ford Bully Brook because the water was too high to rock hop it. At tensies, you could feel the frustration from most of us. We were starting to feel a little like New York when we all got sores on our feet from the continuous wetness. Around noon, we crossed VT 140 and walked up onto a sunny parking lot. We decided to stop early for lunch and lay our shoes and socks out in the sun to see if we could start them drying. We ended up staying there a couple of hours. The awesome thing was that our shoes did dry out quite a bit. The afternoon mileage was a lot better with dry shoes. The stop was huge for restoring our feet and stopping the downward slide to blister land.At the end of the day, we hit a road crossing and headed down to the Whistle Stop Cafe - .5 west. Great burgers, fries and ice cream. Hindsfeet is having a friend up to hike with us for a couple of days and she is meeting at this road crossing. Unfortunately, her shuttle got messed up and she is still not at the shelter as of 9:15pm. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-07-15
From: Clarendon Shelter

To: Sherburne Pass
Miles today: 19.3

We met an interesting hiker today. He's a southbounder named Tyvek. Tyvek is a Viet Nam veteran working on a project called "The Long Walk Home". To raise awareness he is hiking the AT barefoot. Yes - barefoot. Ouch. He has not worn shoes since 1972, so he's somewhat conditioned for it, but this is still an incredible undertaking. His website is www.thelongwalkhome.org if you are interested in what he has going on.Our route today took us up over Killington Peak. This is a major ski area in the northeast. The climb to the summit was long, but not all that tough. Before the climb began, we were walking on a short piece of dirt road. I heard a fly buzzing around my ear. This is not unusual. We spend a lot of days walking with gnats and flies constantly buzzing around our heads. This one however got into my ear. I reached up and thought I had gotten him out. No such luck. The fly crawled down my ear canal and got down near my ear drum. Then he would flutter and it would sound like a helicopter taking off in my head. We tried flushing it out with water, getting it with a q-tip and tweezers - but nothing could get to the bug. I walked this way till lunch. Then we thought of putting alcohol in my ear. Sputnik and Coyotebec thought of getting an antiseptic towelette from a first aid kit and wringing it out into my ear. Believe it or not - this worked. I don't think we got the! bug out, but we did succeed in killing it. When I get to the next town, I'll probably go to the doctor and get it checked.After lunch (thankfully without a bug buzzing inside my head), we covered 9.9 miles to the sherburne pass side trail. We walked .5 to an Irish Pub and inn. We camped across the street and went to the pub for dinner. Turned out they had an Irish duo playing in the pub. This was a lot of fun. Sputnik, Tinkerbell, Bonesaw and Tricycle were with us.Great timesMore tomorrrow...Gumby & Coyotebec