morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-06-09
From: mile 1713.4

To: Hanover
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: light rain

Woke up earlier this time at 10:30pm. Started hiking by 11:30. Within 10 minutes, we seen a porkie pine followed with hiking in the mud which Norm ended up loosing his tip + basket to his Leki poles. He was pissed. I couldn't help but laugh. He is having the worst time with those expensive poles. Poor guy. Seen many stars through out the night which was nice. Also, came across more maple syrup pipe lines. I felt more tired today than yesterday. We had 8 hours of sleep within 2 days. We got to the shelter before town which is only 5 miles away. We decided to just go ahead and get into town and stay somewhere out of the heat. Came across "the Brain's" trail magic. We met him while we were at the Mayor's house. There was a cooler full of snacks. We ended up going inside their house and talked with his family. Thanks for the oranges and shower! WE ARE NOW IN NH!!! Finishing hiking into town and ate at EBA's. Called Tiggers Tree House to see if we could stay there. Karen came and picked us up and handed us a bottle water as soon as we got in. She drove us around to resupply and get Norm's pole fixed. The manager at the EMS store was a butt head towards us, but at least we got his pole fixed. Karen and Ralph had a RV all set up for us to stay in. It was nice. Had a great time.
Date: 2008-06-10
From: Hanover

To: Hanover
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

ZERO DAY!! Since we didn't get much sleep and our bodies were worn out, we decided to have a day of nothing. We had a movie marathon. If we wasn't doing that, we were grilling hot dogs for lunch and dinner. Couldn't ask for anything better. We showered and done laundry here too. Thank you, Karen and Ralph for EVERYTHING. We appreciate you taking us in at a short notice and just working us in your busy schedule. We really enjoyed our selves.
Date: 2008-06-11
From: Hanover

To: Trapper John Shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: overcast clouds

It was funny watching people doing their everyday thing--going to school, work, etc. During the hike, we passed a creepy guy. Not sure if he is troubled or what. He just seemed spaced out. Here at the shelter with a maintainer. Enjoyed talking with her and what she does. I really like the privy. The only thing I like about it is that it has a back rest and arm rest. They used a old chair for the seat. Norm found a tick on his leg and I found one on my shoe. We both killed it before it done anything.
Date: 2008-06-12
From: Trapper John Shelter

To: Ore Hill Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

Family & Friends: we're back from our amazing journey. We climbed up Katahdin on July 10th. I am still planning on finishing my journal. I've already up loaded more pictures (not all) for those who want to see. Began the hike walking through tall wet grass. Then got into some difficult climbs. It didn't make it any easier with the trail being wet and muddy. The bugs were bad, but I still had a good day considering it was warm/sunny day...that is until I scraped my leg when squeezing inbetween two trees...then my mood turned. It's funny how the littlest thing can get to ya. Right before our shelter, a partridge jumped out of the bushes and charged me. There must be babies around. Scared me to death, but didn't do anything to me. Here at the shelter with Mockingbird. Great to have some female company. The privy's toilet seat is "midevil". Love midevil things, but the seat looked like a bolt.
Date: 2008-06-13
From: Ore Hill Shelter

To: Welcome Hikers Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Mosquittos woke us up @ 5:30. We just went ahead and got ready. Couldn't take it anymore. Planned on going to the p.o. and head back on the trail. We ended up changing our mind and decided to stay at the hostel. Glad we did because Stride ended up coming in...and then we got to meet Hurricane, Don Juan, and One Flop. Hi Don Juan's mom! Had a great time. We had a cook out and watched the movie Big Labouski. Most of us ended up tenting in the back yard because it was cheaper to stay. Norm and I slept in the hostels hammmocks.
Date: 2008-06-14
From: Welcome Hikers Hostel

To: Eliza Brook Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today kicked our butts! It was nothing but ups and downs. Mt. Mooselocke was one big climb, but going down the other side made the climb up a piece of cake. There were some rebar and wood steps in some of the dangerous areas. The view for lunch made up for the workout that we had. Barely made it to the shelter. Our bodies were worn out. Here with Stride, Don Juan, Stormennorm, and some weekend hikers. Don Juan scared me by juggling coals from the fire.wb 59   vs   mtns 57
Date: 2008-06-15
From: Eliza Brook Shelter

To: mile marker 1803.5
Miles today: 0.0

Rained throughout the night into the morning and just woke up with no modivation to start our day. Once we got our day started, we had more wet bolders to climb with little placement to put your hands and feet anywhere for support. I'm glad that it was foggy enough to were I can't see how far down we were. I believe that if I could see the view out that it would probably made it more difficult for me to continue climbing. I wouldv'e been a nervous wreck. Climbing up these bolders wasn't too bad, but it wore my whole body out. Between climbing and "that time of the month" my body just wanted a day of laziness, but I had to press on. I was so emotional and tired that I started having slight panic attacks. Norm and Stride was there to comfort me with a BIG hug to help calm me down. Day got better as time went on. As we reached one of the huts, we stopped in to sign the book and just check things out. They were so nice and gave us left overs from the night before. Not a good combination, but hey!...it was food. We ate oat meal, mash potatos, corn bread, corn chowder soup, and some type of peanut butter dessert. We enjoyed that! Thanks! Now that we are fat and happy, there is still more hiking left to do. Got to the road and put our thumbs out. A nice guy name ken stopped and took us into town. We wasn't for sure where One Step ATime Hostel is (Chester's place) so we had him drop us off near the movie theater. Once we figured out where his place was at, we started walking that direction. (aprox. 1 mile) As we were on the road of Chester's place, a guy poaked his head out his door and asked "Your'e thru-hikers, right? ...want some watermellon?!" Stride, Norm, and I looked at each other big eyes and big grins and yelled back "SURE!" We sat on their picnic table and ended up having not only watermellon but also cake, ice cream, and ginger ale. Turned out that a few of them hiked the entire trail years and years ago. I REALLY enjoyed their company. They had me laughing so hard from their trail stories that I about fell out of my seat. Thanks again for treating us like family!Here at Chet's place with Byson and Little Dipper (long section hikers), Stride, Hurricane, and One-Flop. Later on that night, we finally got to meet Strides (with an s for plural). Had a great time just goofing off...and fell asleep to Hurricane bed time stories about him and his family. He is a hoot! He reminds me of my dads side of the family...redneck....and I love that.6/16/08We woke up and just decided to have a ZERO DAY!! Little Dipper & Byson (aka: Shannon & Tree) went on. We just chilled at the house. Got to know Chet alot better. He is truely a great guy. We all decided to grill out for dinner so we walked to the grocery store and picked up some chicken and steak and just had a good ol' time. We had to make the most of it considering this will probably be our last zero day.
Date: 2008-06-17
From: mile marker 1803.5

To: Garfield Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: light rain

I woke everyone up during the middle of the night with another BAD leg cramps. Called the shuttle service to pick us up and take us back to the trail head. I think it was like $7 a piece to get back. It took a bit to figure out where the AT trail went because he dropped us off at a different spot. Went through more rocky climbs, but it wasn't really bolders. Great views! Another one of my favorites...the Presidentials throughout the Whites. Tough climbs, but well worth it for the type of views we got. We ate lunch on top and watched the storm roll in. Had to quickly put on our jackets and started climbing down. The rain, lightning, and thunder beat us to it. I don't like climbing down nor up wet rocks, but hearing and seeing the lightning and thunder made it worse. I was more afraid of that than the wet rocks because we were above tree line at the time. My knees are becoming more and more sore. The rain died off, but it sprinkled off and on. As we reached the shelter, Norm and I decided to stay instead of pushing on to the hut. We were afraid with having a big group that some of us wouldn't be able to get work for stay or even just to get to stay there..on top of being tired. So the gang went on and stayed back. Had to pay $6 just to stay in a 3 sided shelter.
Date: 2008-06-18
From: Garfield Ridge Shelter

To: Crawford Notch Campsite
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: fog

Another day with hurt knees going up and down on the slippery trail. It's not ups and downs...it's one LONG up and one LONG down...and I was ready for the downs to be over with. We hiked with Stride and Strides off and on, but they kept going as we decided to hitch in to the campsite to shower and do laundry. Here with Little Dipper and Byson + another 2 ladies. We grilled hotdogs over the fire.
Date: 2008-06-19
From: Crawford Notch Campsite

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I slept so good that I didn't want to get up. After getting ready, Richard (the owner of the campground) gave us a ride back to the trail. After hearing some stories about this section and other hikers, I was afraid of how the trail is going to be...beginning of the climb was tiring and rough. Had more people cheer for us once they realized we were thru-hiking. It's always nice to have "little" things like this happen to help give you that push to keep going. We tried to slow down to keep from arriving at the hut too early. We heard that if you get there too early that they may make you keep hiking; however, if you get there too late then you might not be able to have the chance to get work for stay. We were early, but luckly they let us do work for stay there. A group of paid guest (Emo-"skywalker" '06), Jan, and Ann) were very kind to us. Thanks. I understand the reasoning for how things run, but I felt as if we were looked down upon (mainly from the workers). Sitting in a corner by your self waiting and watching the other guests eat. What ever is left (if any) we were able to eat. However, it was unfriendly like...we ate standing up in the kitchen and none of the workers really talk with us. Once we finished eating, we cleaned the parts to the stove. And while the paid guests slept in beds, we slept on the dining room floor (whether there were bunks left or not). I'm not complaining with what we got...it just bothered me with how we were treated.Around 2:00 am, we got woken up by aloud racket. Turned out to be two workers from another hut who were in there trying to still signs off the wall (or something in the hut). The hut workers like to play games with one another by doing things like this. I'm up for people having a good time and all, but they were HORRIBLE at it. They were just being too loud...I'm surprised none of the workers woke up to it. So much for a good night sleep. (lol)wb 61   vs   mtns   59
Date: 2008-06-20
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: Camp Dodge 
Miles today: 0.0

Had to be up and out of the dining room by 6:00am so the workers can get everything ready. After the guests ate, we ate. I ate 6 pancakes. And then we folded all the heavy wool blankets (2 per bed) and swept the floors. Headed up Mt. Washington hoping that we will still have a good view with good weather. The forecast was 38 degrees on top of Washington, wind of 17 mph, wind chill of 29 degrees, humidity 87%, and visibilty of 70 miles. Climbed up Washington in 30 minutes and had great view + weather! SO GLAD that we had good weather. Mt. Washington is known for "the worst weather in the world". It can snow on any given day. Hundreds of people have died on this mtn. over the years. However, alot of it was cardiac arrest or from skiing/avalanches.On top of Washington, there is a post office (which was closed when we were there), museum, and sold some food there. Never heard of them but decided to try this snack called Whoopie Pie. The best way for me to describe it was it being like a moon pie...so I asked the cashier if it waslike a moon pie...not thinking that she may not even know what a Moon Pie is. She never heard of a moon pie, but she was SURPRISED that I never had a Whoopie Pie. After hearing her shocking reaction, I decided to give it a shot, but I asked her between the two kinds they had which one is better. She replied "Oh,I don't know...I haven't had that kind".We didn't have any bolders to climb throughout the day, but it was just medium size rocks piled on top of more medium size rocks. Had no solid ground throughout the entire day. After leaving Washington, it looked like it was going to rain. We tried to hurry to the next hut to stay dry. Part of the trail we got to walk over a pile of snow that hasn't been melted yet. We beat the rain just in time. Byson and Little Dipper wasn't so lucky though. We ate lunch with them at the hut and decided to keep going once the rain stop. Byson and Little Dipper is planning on staying at the hut. As we pressed on, the wind got alittle stronger and the rain started to come back. Again, we are above tree line...luckly, Norm found a huge rock overhang to get under while the rain came through. After it stopped, we pressed on. Norm moves AWHOLE LOT faster on rocks than I do. After along tiring down hill off and on in the rain, we were ready to eat and go to bed. However, we got to Pinkam Notch too late of the day that we was unsure where to stay. Places were booked and we had no cash on us. One of the volunteers at the office was kind enough to give us a ride (4 miles) to this campsite area. The lady in charge was also kind to give us work for stay. We ate a late dinner, showered, and done laundry. THANKS for EVERYTHING! You all REALLY took aload off our shoulders. We ended up sleeping in a bunkroom area which had no electricity.
Date: 2008-06-21
From: Camp Dodge 

To: Imp Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: fog

TODAY IS HIKE NAKED DAY!! Didn't see anyone naked, but that could be a good thing...depends on how you look at it. (LOL)Norm and I done some work for stay this morning. We moved wooden bunk beds around from one cabin to another, took out trash, and organized each of the cabins. They were very friendly there. Scott and Barabra were volunteers at Camp Dodge and were very generous enough to take time out of their day to drop us back off on the trail. Started climbing up Wild Cat mtn. and was it tough! Climbing up these bolders and such really wore me out. Had no energy throughout any part of the day..yet I still had to do it. My knees are still bothering me going up and down the trail. I was sweating like a pig. It felt like it took forever just to get a mile done. Stopped in at the last hut to take a break. We were just resting while watching the care taker prepare for dinner for her guests. It smelled so good! She had some chocolate chip cookies that she just pulled out of the oven and offered us one of the burnt cookies that she had. Burnt or not, it was still delicious!The last 2 miles of the hike were steep down hill going down big bolders. I was scooting my self down trying to find some where to grip, feet and/or hands, but there was nothing. I was so pissed off at who ever "made the trail this way". I could see many people falling and hurting them selves and I felt that nobody cared. That maybe they were doing it on purpose. Having the bolders wet and slippery didn't help either. Finally reached our shelter for the night and had good company with "Jack the Preacher", Art, and two young people around our age. We watched the sunset and shared stories. The caretaker for this shelter (which normally there isn't one) is a past thru hiker (SOBO) in '07. She was really sweet.
Date: 2008-06-22
From: Imp Shelter

To: Camp ground
Miles today: 0.0

During the middle of the night, my knees were acky. "Easy" day today. Got to the road to where we can hitch into town and stuck our thumbs out. We heard that it was an "easy" hitch in this area, but car after car drove by. So we decided to just go ahead and start walking to town, but put our thumbs out when cars came. Then we saw this nice Lexus explorer type of car. Surprisingly, she stopped. She wasn't even from the area...she was on vacation. She told us that she saw the Appalachian Trail sign and saw us hiking and decided to pick us up. The funny thing was that she has NEVER picked up hitch hikers in her entire life. So that was real sweet of her and her cute dog Treasure. She dropped us off at Burger King. Pizza hut was next door, and we decided that if they don't have the buffet that we'll just eat at BK instead. No buffet. Walking back to BK, I fell just stepping up over the curb. We laughed. As I was getting up, we noticed Byson and Little Dipper. Said a quick hello. They were suppose to be behind us, but they for got that they had a package that they had to pick up before the weekend and that is why they are were we are. It was good running into them again.Our plan was to eat lunch, resupply, and then head out. But then it started raining and thundering. Found out that Stride, Hurricane, and One Flop is in town so we decided to stay with them at the camp ground. Got a text message that Vagus & Dozer finished. We were very excited for them yet we couldn't believe that they are there...it seemed like yesterday when we met them for the first time in February! Congrats to you both!At the campground that we stayed at...the showers were a quarter for 3 minutes....but we had tv, all you care to play pool, frig., and a macrowave. So we pigged out on alot of food that we bought from Walmart and challenged each other in pool. They couldn't handle it when ever I beat them.wb 62 vs   mtns 61
Date: 2008-06-23
From: Camp ground

To: Carloclo shelter
Miles today: 0.0

The owner (?) gave us a ride back on the trail. The trail was real wet and muddy. Whenever we stepped on planks (boards that cover real muddy parts of the trail...not always available) and it would sink in too. So that didn't help us any. We quickly jumped on the planks and jumped off onto the other side. Sat on a huge wet bolder eating lunch. Hurricane goofed off by calling out like a crow which brought one that happened to be near by towards us. He sounded so much like a crow that it was confusing the actual crow itself. It was hilarious. While Hurricane and One Flop hiked on, it was only Stride, Norm, and myself hiking together. Within 5 minutes of each other, we all tripped and fell...just one after another. Caught back up with Hurricane and One Flop and continued hiking with them. As we were jumping from one plank to another, One Flop's feet slid off the plank and landed right in the mudd. The mudd went half way up his legs. Everyone cracked up laughing and started pulling out our cameras for proof of this hilarious moment.Finally out of NH and into Maine! Had a few bolder climbs up and down which was a bit nerve racking, but managed. It is hard to place my footing in an area that really didn't have one and the distance from where I was to where I needed to be (in one "step down" shot) was to far down. I had to trust my friends where to put my feet/hands as I was lowering my self down.Great day over all.
Date: 2008-06-24
From: Carloclo shelter

To: Speck Pond Campsite
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Norm and I knew that we...well, I...will be really slow going through the Mahusic (?)notch (the longest mile), so we pressed on before everyone else. Trail still wet and slippery. What is known to be "the longest mile" was terrible! We had to climb up and over bolders and crawl inbetween tight spaces which meant taking off/on our packs over and over again. I took my pack off at least 5 times. I was crying so much that I wanted to quite and go home. Even if I wanted to go home, I was stuck in the "middle" of it. Told my self that I had to keep pressing forward. It makes no sense turning around and going back through what I've already went through. Norm didn't stand hearing me boohooing that he'll get ahead of me and wait til I catch up and then get ahead of me some more. I wouldn't want to hear my self either, but I told Norm that I needed a hug as soon as we get out of this mess. Never cried so much in my life. Last year, a moose fell inbetween the cracks of the bolders and died slowly. Nobody could rescue it because it was too difficult. And they didn't want anyone help kill it "faster"...they (who ever "they" are) wanted nature take its course. And in between the bolders felt like a freezer...some places still had ice down in there! At times, you could hear water drippen. Kind of what you might hear if you are in a cave. Today, all that is left of the moose is just bones, but I kept thinking that could be me. Fallen down in between with a broken leg or what not...and no one to rescue me. I hated this section and couldn't wait to be done with it. I didn't imagine it being that horrible, but it was. It drained me mentally, physically, and emotionally. FINALLY! After 2 long hours of torture, the notch was over. We stopped and ate lunch and pressed on some more...only to find out that there is more hard terrain left. Not sure how long it was, but it was a steep vertical climb using all parts of your body to get your self up there. I was ticked off and couldn't handle it any more. Got to the shelter where Strides was waiting for us. We were still waiting for Stride, Hurricane, and One Flop to show up. Decided that if they don't show up within 30-45 minutes, that we'll just stay put. We ended up staying instead of going to the next shelter like we originally planned. I decided to do work for stay at this shelter. I got to dug up some small pine trees and moved it to a "better" location. I had alot of fun doing that. Saved me $8 for staying in a shelter.My day got better as time went on. Surprisingly, having One Flop and Hurricane light up their farts helped me get into a better mood. Thanks, guys.
Date: 2008-06-25
From: Speck Pond Campsite

To: Bear & Honey's Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

Much better day today. The trail was much "better". My mood was in better spirits. We sang songs, cracked jokes, and pranced around on top of one of the mountains. Stride got tired of "leading" the group that day, that everyone wanted me to lead the last .5 miles. I really liked being in the back, but decided to lead. Out of the bunch, I'm usually the slowest. I ended up getting pissed off because I thought that it was "all down hill" to the road that leads to the hostel, but we started climbing up a couple of hills. I had enough of going up and was very frustrated that I ran up the hill. How?-- I don't know. It felt good getting the frustration off of my chest. Everyone looked and laughed at me yelling "run, waterbear, run!"Bear picked us up in his van having all of the windows rolled down because we stunk! He took us to a gas station to resupply. Didn't have too much to choose from, but it was enough to get us by. Then he took us back to his and his wife's house for a nice cooked dinner. This is the place is known for "dressing up". And I had NO IDEA that this was the place. I was looking forward to doing this since day one because it sounded like fun. What it is is you can choose to dress up in clothes & wigs if you please and wear that to dinner. Hurricane and I were the only ones who joined in on the fun. For dinner we had hamburgers, salad, beans, strawberry shortcake...AND EVEN SWEET TEA!! They are really nice people. Thanks for everything!Met another SOBO hiker Kuby.