morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-08-07
From: Silver Hill Campsite

To: Falls Village, CT
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: moderate rain

Krispin and another young hiker I've met before named Rambles (named so because he rambles on and on??) and I hiked much of the day together. Krispin told me about his girlfriend and the job he's considering. It was a nice day and the trail was alright but there were a lot of PUDs (Pointless Ups and Downs)--I counted 14--so the miles didn't go by as fast they normally do.After 6.5 miles we stopped at a shelter for a quick lunch and in the log book we read a great review by my friend Acorn about the Bearded Woods One-of-a-Kind Bunk-n-Dine Hostel. I had seen it listed in the guide but didn't consider staying because I hadn't heard anything about it from other hikers. Bearded Woods would pick people up anytime until 5:30pm from a few towns in the area, such as Falls Village, which is where we were headed. Even though it was a bit of a long-shot to make it to Falls Village by 5:30, Krispin and I decided to try. But in the afternoon my knees were really hurting so I didn't push myself too hard, plus I had to stop for water. By the time I got to town it was already 5:30 and Krispin was gone. Oh well. I had already made up my mind that if I didn't arrive on time I would just stay at Bearded Woods the next night since the hostel would also pick up from Salisbury, 8 miles north. There's not much in Falls Village. It's a tiny town with a library, Post Office, and a restaurant. That's about it. But that's okay because that's exactly what I needed. I went to the library and worked on my journal and then went to this place called the Toymaker's Cafe, which lets hikers camp in the backyard. Rambles, Six, Dunt, and Icharus--and a few others--were there. They gave me a cider and told me they had ordered a pizza. Lovely! Then a local guy, whom the guys had met somewhere in town, came by to bring us a bottle of Chardonnay because he just wanted to do something nice for us. We shared that and I set up my tent while the guys bonded and bantered. (I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to the "real" world again and find myself surrounded by women!) I cooked some dinner, ate some pizza, and went to bed.
Date: 2013-08-08
From: Falls Village, CT

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

I woke up at 4:30. It took me a while but I did fall asleep again. All of the guys and I had breakfast, and it was great. Bacon Sweet Potato waffle for me! Annie and her husband, the owners, live in the upstairs of an old house and the cafe is on the first floor. I saw Annie hanging laundry out on the line to dry at 5:00am. I asked her why it's called the Toymaker's Cafe. She said they used to sell motorcycle parts, and later entire motorcycles, and that motorcyclists in Britain used to tease and mock them, saying the motorcycles here in the States are just toys. So then when they opened the cafe they decided to call it the Toymaker's Cafe. It's a pretty popular gathering spot for the community. On the trail it's said that towns can suck you in. Even that small cafe sucks you in. It was hard to leave. I took my time hiking the 8 miles to Salisbury, taking photos and stopping to talk to a couple of section hikers. It was a guy and a gal who I thought were a married couple at first. In fact they ARE married, but not to each other! They are both married to non-hikers and so they leave their spouses at home with their kids and go on backpacking trips together. They were so funny. I think they loved to throw people off about that. Just goes to show there are many ways to make marriage work!In town I went to the Post Office to get a package containing a book and a new SD card for my camera. They didn't have it and couldn't tell me where it was. It was a mess. It would take a lot of calling to figure out what happened, and it was too late to do at that time, so I went to the library and then one of the owners of Bearded Woods picked me up. Hudson and Big Lu run the hostel. They're genuine, kind, thoughtful, generous folks and this is their second season. This place is amazing. It's clean, new, and it's clear they've thought of everything a hiker could need. And--bonus--I was the only hiker there. I took a nice shower and then ate dinner with Hudson and Big Lu, having a great time talking until after 10pm. Hudson has hiked the entire AT and had a lot of great ideas of how to hike the Massachusetts section. Hudson said it was supposed to rain pretty hard the next day, which is the day I was planning on hiking the Taconic Mountains, the most beautiful section of CT and MA. He said I might want to consider waiting to do that until Saturday, which was supposed to be nice. I decided to wait and see, happy to know I had the option of taking a zero there the next day if I wanted.
Date: 2013-08-09
From: Salisbury, CT

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 0.0

It rained most of the night and was coming down hard all morning. Hudson, Big Lu (who, by the way, is 4' 10" tall :-) and I had breakfast and when I mentioned my plan of hanging out in town all day, Hudson invited me to stay there, relax and watch movies if I wanted. After a bit of research, we figured out that somehow the package was mistakenly shipped to a tiny Post Office in Taconic, CT, which Hudson didn't even know was there. He drove me there as the rain poured down, and then we pickup up two very wet hikers, Saga and DeLorean. They said the trail conditions were horrible. After they got cleaned up, the three of us decided to watch a DVD documentary on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) made by someone named Squatch. It was not well done but it did feature Yogi, a hiker who has done the Triple Crown (AT/PCT/CDT) twice. Then we watched Into the Wild--the first movie I've seen since I started hiking the AT. Big Lu brought us some chicken soup, which was perfect. Twice during the day we got National Weather Service texts warning of flash flooding in the area. And it kept raining. Around 3pm I decided to stay put. I knew that even if the rain stopped--which it did for maybe two hours in the afternoon--the trail would still be a flood. I wasn't thrilled about spending another $50 there but considering the circumstances, it seemed worth it.Tonight at the hostel there were 10 hikers, both SOBO's and NOBO's (a few I knew), a very full house. Dinner was great. Tons of meatballs, italian sausage, pasta, and bread. I'm glad I decided to stay the night.
Date: 2013-08-10
From: Salisbury, CT

To: Mt. Race, MA
Miles today: 10.8

I'm so glad I didn't hike yesterday. It was so much nicer to hike over the Taconic Range in the sunshine--and it was a gorgeous day, one of the nicest days on the trail.After breakfast, when I gave Hudson $100 for the two nights I stayed there, he handed me $40 back. Confused, I asked him what he was doing. He said he had told me they'd take care of me, since five hikers were going to stay there because of me, but I handed the $40 back. Then he decided to split it and give me $20 back, which I accepted. That was really thoughtful of him. Big Lu dropped me off in Salisbury where I did some grocery shopping and mailed a few cards out. It was late morning by the time I got back on the trail and I knew Snakebite was waiting for me at the top of Bear Mountain. But I still took my time, taking photos, talking with the Ridgerunner and a few of the many day-hikers who were out. And it was a day of Trail Magic! I was given 2 Clif bars, 2 granola bars, a cookie, an apple and a plum! WOW! I passed the 1500 mile marker which got me really excited. It's amazing to me that I have hiked 1000 miles since Grayson Highlands in southern VA!Snakebite was hanging out on the Bear Mountain rock observation tower, with about 10 other day-hikers, when I arrived. He had been waiting for me there since 9am! I hadn't seen him since the Blue Ridge Parkway, when Jaybird, Chopper and I bailed to the B&B in Lexington because it was raining, and I had mixed feelings about seeing him again. Usually I have fun when I hike with him as he makes me laugh, but I've found that some of his comments/flirtations have made me uncomfortable in the past. I could only hope he wouldn't do that this time around. We sat there on the mountain enjoying the view and catching up while I ate my lunch. He told me about his efforts to catch up to me. Yesterday he hiked 38 miles yesterday in the rain, crossing streams that were so high they almost came up to his waist. I told him he was insane. He admitted he doesn't always make the best decisions. Especially around me. No kidding!We hiked along the beautiful Sages Ravine, through which a stream runs. Then we hiked up Mt Race and stealth-camped on the ridge there because we wanted to see the perseid meteor shower that night. The view from the ridge itself was spectacular...We could see Mt Greylock way off in the distance.
Date: 2013-08-11
From: Mt. Race, MA

To: Tom Leonard Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: clear sky

Snakebite and I set our alarms so we would wake up at 1am to see the meteor shower. It was not quite as great as some meteor showers I had seen in the past, but it was still fun. I managed to stay awake until 2:30 and then slept until 8am when the heat of the sun shining on my tent woke me up.The climb up Mt Everett was pretty steep but I managed okay. Sadly, there was no view from the top. When we came down to the picnic area at the bottom of the mountain we saw that a nice lady (named Dottie) had left a ton of cold water for thru-hikers, so we filled up our water bottles and kept hiking.This area is very popular, so there are a number of shelters close together. Snakebite and I checked them all out, reading the guidebooks at each one. But we also covered a lot of miles. The trail was unusually diverse today, we thought. We traveled through groves of hemlocks, across swampy areas, across fields, alongside rivers, and through forests of pine trees. It kept changing.Near one road crossing we met Seven and Limpin' Eagle, a really nice trail angel who helped my friend SIS when she fell on the rocks in PA. He's from Missouri (and sounds like it) but he's been driving up the trail ever since PA, slack-packing and doing trail magic for hikers along the way. It was nice to put a face to a name. They were trying to find a place to set up to grill some hot dogs and camp for the night. Limpin' made me a chili dog and gave me some Pepsi. Awesome. It was 5pm when we left, and we still had 8 miles to go to get to the shelter. The trail had some steep points but was also flat at times, so we made pretty good timing. Up on East Mountain we looked out across the valley that we just hiked through and saw the sun approaching the mountains to the west, so we sat there watching the sunset and taking photos with our cameras. Then we night-hiked to the shelter and camped in a grove of hemlocks.
Date: 2013-08-12
From: Tom Leonard Shelter

To: Shaker Campsite, MA
Miles today: 11.2

It was a beautiful morning. We got up a bit late and ate breakfast on the tent platform overlooking the ravine. Then we hiked two miles through a beautiful woods, the kind so magical that I wouldn't have been surprised if I saw a fairy or a gnome, and came to a road where we hitched into Great Barrington. The lady who picked us up just moved back to MA from MN! She dropped us off right at the Berkshire Co-op. Oh, I was so excited--I am a member of a co-op back home but haven't had the opportunity to stop at one until now. I found some Borage Oil (which is supposed to help my knees), Kombucha, bread, almond butter, sunscreen, snacks, and refilled my little bottle of Dr Bronners from the bulk section (cost: $.16). I was very happy :-). As we were packing up our food out front, we met a lady named Margaret whose niece and nephew just finished hiking the trail. She offered to take us back to the trail an hour and a half later. In the meantime we went to Subway and then the library. Then we went back to the co-op and Margaret took us back to the trail. The afternoon section of the trail was tough, full of lots of steep, short hills. We got into the campsite that was at the site of an old Shaker community--quite interesting--set up camp, ate our subs and went to sleep.
Date: 2013-08-13
From: Shaker Campsite, MA

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: moderate rain

It rained all morning. We played a game as we hiked--counting the little orange salamanders, called Ents. Despite not wearing my glasses, which were useless in the rain, I won with a total of 26 :-).When we got to the cabin, which is a nice 2-story structure with a kitchen and living room downstairs and bunkroom upstairs, I hung out on the front porch talking with other hikers. I saw Bill38/Ahvoh again and sat on the dock at the pond catching up with him for a while. He and some others ordered pizza and canoed over to a road to pick it up. Cool thing is, as I was hiking in the morning, I told God that if there was anyway to get some pizza that day, I would really love some. How awesome is that? It was so nice to relax on the porch all afternoon and evening, sitting in a rocking chair with my quilt keeping me cozy as the rain came down. Then, late in the evening, Adam/Zeus showed up! I gave him a hug. Reunited again at last.
Date: 2013-08-14
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: broken clouds

Fall seems to be in the air. I brought down my quilt to cover up with while we ate our pancake breakfast out on the porch. After breakfast the caretaker took a big group photo. We were all looking forward to visiting the "Cookie Lady" mid-way through the day and then most of us were planning staying at Tom Lavardi's place in Dalton. He's been hosting hikers for 2 or 3 decades now.It was cold and breezy as we hiked out and stayed that way almost the whole day. So strange. Where I'm from it's usually HOT (highs in the 90s or higher) this time of year. It has me a bit worried that it might be snowing in September in Maine! When we got to the Cookie Lady's house, her husband gave us some chocolate chip cookies and then a lot of us bought hard-boiled eggs (I made egg salad), Klondike Bars and soda. The place is also a blueberry farm, so I picked about two pints of blueberries which cost me about 70 cents and I ate them all on the spot! They were amazing. I wish I lived nearby--I would've bought 10 lbs to freeze. In the afternoon Zeus, Ahvoh, and Snakebite took off at a very fast clip. Ahvoh and I hiked together for a while as we had a lot to catch up on but eventually I slowed down and hiked alone the rest of the way to Dalton, which is another town that the AT goes through. Tom Lavardi was not there when we arrived, but we set up our tents in his backyard and then went to a bar for dinner and afterwards stopped for an ice cream cone. When we got back to the house, a bunch of us hung out on the porch with Tom, who is a really nice guy (of course) and stayed up talking and, except for me, smoking til 11pm.
Date: 2013-08-15
From: Dalton, MA

To: Mark Noepel Shelter, MA
Miles today: 13.9

It was quite cold at night and I woke up to a lot of condensation inside my tent. I went into the house to use the bathroom and Tom invited me to have some coffee and pastries. Tom had the TV on so we watched all the horrible news going on in the world: 500 people killed in Egypt, two plane crashes, an abduction, etc. I wish I could stay in the woods and never leave!I packed up and went with a few others to the diner for second breakfast, stopping at Fat Man Walking's and Zeus's motel room (they were going to let me take a shower after breakfast) to drop off my pack and to invite them to join us for breakfast. At the diner we all tried to guess each other's real names which was fun. Then I went to the post office to pick up another care package from Weatherman, which I had been looking forward to because he promised to send me a meat sampler, which is what I have been craving. I also got a postcard and two letters!! When I got to the motel room I opened the package and was blown away...Weatherman sent me two kinds of bacon, two kinds of salmon, 3 kinds of tuna, chicken, prosciutto and summer sausage in addition to some other food! (Thank you!!!!!!) Midway and Zeus were there to witness the extravagance, and so I decided to spread the love and give them some food. After making a phone call to Princeton Tech to tell them that my headlamp wasn't working properly (they offered to send me a new one), Snakebite and I headed out of town....I'm a purist meaning I want to walk every single part of the trail. So I wanted to walk one block back from the motel to the trail and then walk another block back, but Snakebite convinced me that that was ridiculous and that I should just go the shorter route (to help explain it without showing you a map, it's like walking one side of a triangle rather than the other two sides), and I acquiesced. Unfortunately, that was a mistake, for Snakebite led me up a different way, and after walking something like 5 blocks I realized we were going in the wrong direction! I was not happy with Snakebite, and I was not happy with myself! That is just what I get for not doing the exact trail! Finally we found the right road and headed out of town.When we got to the town of Cheshire, I walked to the general store to get something to eat for breakfast in the morning and fill up our water bottles. The lady at the counter said that her dad bought the store in 1938 and that it had been open for many years already at that point. It looked like how I always imagined General Stores, ala Laura Ingalls Wilder, to be--except instead of bolts of calico the walls there were canned goods. I looked around but the only thing I could find was some packages of cookies. I got two, 580 calories for $1...not bad!Snakebite and I hiked up to the shelter, arriving to find a bunch of teenage trail maintainers eating dinner. Soon Memphis and Polly showed up and the crew gave us all minestrone. Then the four of us hung out around the fire listening to music and talking before we went to bed.
Date: 2013-08-18
From: Congdon Shelter, VT

To: Stealth Camp before Kid Gore Shelter, VT
Miles today: 16.7

It's nice being part of a group yet still having freedom and independence. Everyone pretty much left the shelter by 9:30 but I still hiked alone and then we all met up at the road going into Bennington. Someone suggested we go into town for donuts and said the town was--get this--celebrating their 4th of July with a parade, which made no sense at all, but we thought maybe there would be some free food involved. In any case, we could get some donuts, motive enough! So we got a hitch, riding in the back of a pickup truck and the driver took us to Dunkin. Mmmm, coffee and donuts, yum. There was a Subway next door and Midway and I split off from the group to get a sub to eat later in the day. As we were hiking toward the parade we met the same guy who gave us a ride into town. We asked if he was going back out and he was, but he had to run a quick errand first. Turns out his wife just gave birth to a baby girl early that morning! He showed us a photo of his daughter. So cute. Soon we were back on the trail, hiking up out of the gap. That had to have been my quickest town stop ever! After a couple of hours we stopped for a break and we both ended up eating our entire subs, although I meant to eat mine for dinner. Oops. Hiker hunger strikes again! We kept hiking and I must have been pretty tired because I fell twice, tripping on roots in the trail. We stopped to get some nice, cold spring water at the shelter and then hiked on, hoping to make it to Kid Gore Shelter, which I heard has a nice view, before dark. Midway had been talking about how liberating it is to stealth camp, so we were talking about that as an option. I had never really done it before on the AT, though I had camped in semi-established campsites a few times, and had stealthed all the time when I used to lead wilderness trips. So when it started getting dark, she found a spot in the woods for us to camp. I set up my tent and since it was late, decided to just make a bagel sandwich for dinner. I went to bed on my extra-cushiony bed of pine needles. It felt liberating!
Date: 2013-08-19
From: Stealth Camp before Kid Gore Shelter, VT

To: Stratton Pond Shelter, VT
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: moderate rain

Midway and I had a goal of waking up at 7 and hiking 20 miles to Douglas Shelter so we would only be 5 miles from Manchester Center the next day. But I didn't wake up til 8:15, which actually was great. I was cooking breakfast when the guys (Ahvoh, Zeus, Ripper, Papa Smurf and Rambles) hiked by and I think were a bit surprised to see me off in the woods! I packed up and caught up to Midway who left a bit earlier and eventually the group was back together. Midway is great--I met her in Port Clinton and have enjoyed getting to know her. She's an entrepreneur from California who decided to hike the trail for her 50th birthday. She's got a great attitude and is a strong hiker, often hiking faster than me. And she's planning a bunch of start ups when she leaves the trail. The guys are fun to hike with too, though they're often inappropriate and incessantly goofy (and flirt...a lot). I don't mind. I know they're just having fun...and I have fun when I'm around them too. It was another nice day and thankfully the trail wasn't so muddy. It was a long hike up to the top of Stratton Mountain and I could not keep up with Midway. I must have been pretty tired because I tripped a few times, almost falling, in a very short period. I decided if I didn't stop and rest I would probably hurt myself. I think it must be fatigue. Soon the guys caught up and took a break too--that's another thing about them, they take lots of breaks--and then we hiked on together up to the top of the mountain. We met the caretaker at the top (who,I later learned from a Ridgerunner, has been the caretaker there for 45 years) and went up the lookout tower. It was so cold up there but the views were awesome. I love looking down on the trees, a nice change of perspective! Everywhere I looked I could see mountains--and a few lakes too! It was a quick 3 miles down to Stratton Pond Shelter. Midway had gone ahead but the rest of us stayed at the shelter, where I opted to tent. The pond (when does a pond become a lake?) was nice. Lots of SOBOs here tonight.