morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-07-14
From: Bennington, VT

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 0.0

We decided to take a zero day in Bennington. Now, we feel guilty. Why is it when we are on the trail, we want to be off the trail. Yet, when we are off the trail, we feel guily? We had really only one task to acomplish today and that was to rest our bodies. But, we feel restless.   We had a jacuzzi tub in our hotel room. We took advantage of it and used it with lavender Epsom salts. Funny, when we are on the trail, we complain about being wet with sweat. Yet, in our hotel, we take baths to relax with Epsom salts. Go figure. Something even funnier happened today. We were at Price Chopper doing resupply. Two ladies walked passed Lavender and said "Wow, you smell really good. What kind of perfume are you wearing?" Of course, Lavender chuckled and told them that it was lavender Epsom salts. She should have told them it was new and very expensive, 100 days sweat and grime. But, she didn't. She went on to explain that normally she doesn't smell so good because of thru-hiking the AT. They asked questions about the thru-hike and as always were intrigued with hiking. It is strange to talk about hiking the AT with non-hikers. So many words and phrases we use in our "normal" hiking life others don't know or understand. We certainly have been changed by this experience. What will our life be like after the AT?
Date: 2015-07-19
From: Camp site 1697.1

To: Rutland, VT
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We heard strange noises during the night again. These noises were some sort of birds. Either they were birds or some strange aliens going to take AT thru-hikers away. Thankfully, they weren't aliens as we survived the night. We survived the night, but we were damp, damp, damp. Everything was damp unless it was in a dry bag.    Ugh, we put on wet clothes, wet socks and wet boots. Not a nice way to start the day. But, that is life on the AT. It was very foggy and wet this morning. We hiked downhill for two hours crossing over route 4. One area of the forest we hiked through had lots and lots and lots of downed trees. The trees had been ripped out of the ground with their roots intact. It must have been some wind storm that came over the mountain to cause such devastation. As you know, once we hike down, what comes next? Yep, hiking up. We climbed 500 feet up. The trail was a nice trail and not real steep, more at a gradual climb. We made it almost to the top when the AT and Long Trail parted. Not to be negative, but, having two trails on one 105 mile trail makes for a busy trail. We took a break at the separation of the trails. Castaway came upon us as we were finished with our break. So, we hiked with him for a while. We were talking careers and personal stuff. It is strange as most of the hikers remaining on the trail are professionals. To hear the different hikers "normal" lives makes us realize, there is life after the AT.   We passed two day hikers. They asked how far we were hiking. We told them to Maine. Of course, we received a strange look. Then, they start asking a sorts of questions. Castaway continued on but we continued to chat for a bit. Then, we said goodbye. They wished us well and we were on our way.   We started a downhill descent into Killington, VT. We hiked through Gifford Woods State Park. As we were on the road in the park, a vehicle passed us. Then, it stopped. Another thru-hiker was in the vehicle. He had taken a few days off for an injury and was heading back to the trail today. A trail angel was taking him back. The trail angel asked if we needed a ride. We were planning on going to Rutland, VT for a zero day tomorrow. We were going to take a bus. But, the trail angel said the bus didn't run on Sundays. So, she offered to take us to Rutland. Again, the Lord provided us transport when we needed it. We see this so often. We are in need and out of nowhere, our need is answered. We have contemplated this the last few days. Does this happen so often in "normal" life, but, because we are so busy running here and there were don't see it? Or, does it only happen on the trail? We will certainly be looking for this in our "non-trail" life when we finish.   We spent the time at the hotel drying everything that was wet. We received our winter gear. Not sure why, as it is very, very hot here. Just more to carry on our backs! We also received our last pair of boots. Pair number four for both of us should help us make it to Katahdin!
Date: 2015-07-20
From: Rutland, VT

To: Rutland, VT
Miles today: 0.0

Zero day. Oh, how we wish it really meant a zero day. We had lots to do. After breakfast, we went through our packs throughly. We know we now have gear we haven't had for a bit. We are back to two sleeping quilts instead of one sleeping bag. We have our rain pants, long sleeve shirts, thermals and our longer socks. This doesn't sound like much. But, adding extra weight to our packs, even a pound, makes the pack heavier and the hiking harder. We didn't shed much from our packs. So, the additional weight will be felt tomorrow. We sprayed our clothes again with permethrin, to help keep the bugs away. More importantly, we tried on our new boots and insole inserts. We are trying Superfeet that are for high impact. Just walking around town, we can tell the boots feel better. It is really strange to think we actually wear out boots by hiking. This is a concept we never understood before starting the trail. Check out today's photo, can you tell which boots are new and which are old?!?! We will see tomorrow how we do with new boots, a heavier pack and a zero day rest on our body. We don't have any idea when our next zero day will be as this is our last planned zero day. If the weather is good, we may just try to finish the dreaded Whites before zeroing. We are praying for a long stretch of nice weather. But, with our track record and the weather, it isn't in our favor!
Date: 2015-07-24
From: 3 Mile road

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We wanted to take a zero day. But, yesterday when we checked in, there was no room for today. When we asked this morning, a room was available. We were so thankful and relieved.    We went to urgent care this morning. Count has deep tissue blisters. The doctor said to keep his feet dry - and how do we do that hiking in all the rain we seem to receive? Put petroleum jelly on them. Then, just put socks over the jelly. Uck. We aren't washing our clothes with those socks. The doctor said to also rest. So, we are taking another zero day tomorrow. We feel like we are getting behind, but, how can we tackle the Whites if Count can't hike? So, we just have to get over these feelings. We did go into Hanover and had our free thru-hiker pizza. It was yummy. We also ventured over the Connecticut River bridge. We saw the VT/NH crossing. That made our day. We also meet with friends for dinner. We met these friends 31 years ago. We haven't seen them in forever. It was great to see them and enjoy the evening with them. Things do work out. If Count didn't have feet issues, we may not have seen them.
Date: 2015-07-25
From: Hanover, NH

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

We are taking another zero day. We haven't taken two zero days in a row since Southern PA when we were with family. We feel bad not hiking but know it is the best thing to do for Count's healing. Plus, the weather doesn't look very nice today. Of course, the weather doesn't look promising for tomorrow either. But that is our story on the AT. We did provide some trail magic to a SoBo. He needed a ride to the trail head and the bus doesn't operate on Saturday. Felt sort of funny, in a very good way, giving trail magic instead of receiving it. Next year, we will provide trail magic on the AT for certain.
Date: 2015-07-27
From: Campsite 1774.3

To: Trail angel's house
Miles today: 16.2

We woke to the sound of rain at 1:15am. Of course, rain! One would think the sound of rain on the tent would lull us to sleep. But, it doesn't. In fact, it does the opposite; it keeps us awake. We finally went back to sleep when the rain stopped. We woke around 6:00. Count immediately dried the tent off. This was to give it more time to dry. But, being in a rain forest, which is what it feels like, everything else is wet. So, it really doesn't dry. We were on the trail by 7:15. Up we climbed. It was a big, big climb. The trail was very rocky. We walked along the ledges. This was all granite rock. It was very slippery and very steep and very scary. We climbed 1600 feet to the top of Mount Cube which was solid rock. There were several viewpoints. But, we saw nothing as it was foggy. At the top, we took a short break as we were tired from the climb. Several southbounders passed while we were taking our break. We talked with them and commented on their small packs. Turns out they are slack packing a 68 mile section of the trail. We sometimes wish we weren't purists and then we could do some slack packing. We are sure the hiking must be considerably easier with just 5 to 10 pounds on your back. Oh well, we will just do the best we can with full packs.    The descent off of Cube Mountain was about as steep and rocky as the ascent. We slowly made our way to the bottom and we took our morning break sitting on the shoulder of route NH25A. You get lots of strange looks from cars going by when you sit by the side of the road. Lots of people must think we are bums by our appearance.   We had a small climb but this was made much harder because of the trail. We had 5 miles of mud. Mud that was unforgiving! Mud everywhere. We could hardly make our way through the mud. Lavender slipped and mud splashed all over her leg. She was not happy, not at all happy! On we trudged through the mud to the next road crossing.    We had lunch at the road crossing NH25C. There was an open area. So, what did we do? Set our tent up to dry. It was very hot and very sunny. It didn't take but 10 minutes for our tent to dry. But, we took a longer lunch break than that. Soon, it was time to don our boots and start hiking again. We climbed Mist Mountain this afternoon. It was an "easy" climb compared to the others we have done in the last few days. Soon, we were at the summit and heading back down. A husband and wife trail angels were waiting for us at NH25. They had been following our blog and offered us to stay in their home tonight. They are going to thru-hiker next year. We had much needed showers from hiking through the mud. Then, we enjoyed the evening with our trail angels Cheryl and Kelly.
Date: 2015-07-30
From: Franconia Notch 

To: Garfield Ridge shelter 
Miles today: 10.3

We woke again to the sound of Roger cooking. He made us blueberry pancakes. And, of course we had New Hampshire maple syrup. Lavender didn't have much of an appetite this morning. She was very anxious about today's trail after yesterday trail. Too bad, there was bacon, cantaloupe and pineapple. All was very yummy!   We weren't in any hurry to leave Roger's home. But, we knew we had to. Roger took us back to I93. He dropped us off at the side of the highway. Silent Force was taking two zero days, lucky guy. We said goodbye and started our hike. We were on the trail at 8:10.   We hiked a little bit of the trail, .3 mile, we had hiked yesterday. This was the lesser of hiking .9 mile from a car park. The hike started with a 2800 feet climb in 2.7 miles. The trail was a bit rocky and steep but not to bad. However, Lavender was having a very difficult time mentally making the climb. She was very concerned about the trails in the Whites after yesterday's trail. She took lots of breaks to try to compose herself. None worked. It was a long hike.   We went down a bit and then had a semi-flat trail before starting the climb to Little Haystack. We climbed 800 feet to Little Haystack. We had a nice 360 degree view. And, the sun was shining. No break there as we climbed Mount Lincoln.    Mount Lincoln was a 300 feet climb. Another beautiful view. We took our lunch break here. We cut our lunch break short as clouds were approaching. We set out to climb Mount Lafayette. This was .9 miles away with an elevation climb of 300 feet. The clouds were rolling in. No break at Mount Lafayette.   Of course next was downhill, 1500 feet of climbing down rocks. Down, down, down we went and the rain came as we were going down the rocks. Nice, slippery, wet rocks we had.   We had to climb what we just descended to climb Mount Garfield. This was an 800 feet climb over rocks, some hand over hand rocks again. Not as long as yesterday's but today's rocks were wet. It was a slow and tedious climb. We reached Mount Garfield. We didn't go to the view point as we were in the rain cloud. We descended part way down Mount Garfield to camp at Garfield Ridge Shelter. We collected our first water for the day as we passed no other water sources today. We then hiked up .1 miles, up rocks, to the tenting area. In the Whites, stealth camping is frowned upon. Fees are charged for staying in the camping area. The shelter was built builtin 2011. Since it was raining, we decided to stay in the shelter. 1826 miles on the AT and this is our first shelter stay. We were also the first people in the shelter. So, we had first choice for real estate. We staked out the loft area by the wall away from the ladder. We socialized a bit with the other hikers, had dinner and called it a night.
Date: 2015-08-01
From: Crawford Notch

To: Trail angel Cathy's house
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was an emotional day. Lavender has decided to take a bit of time off from the trail. She needs her body and mind to heal. The last six hiking days have been gruelling physical and mentally. Maybe it has been building over the past month.    She no longer enjoys the hiking. The views at the top of the mountain didn't excite her. They are only a means to the end of her agony. She only wants to reach the top so she can take a break before the long clamber down.      Her body aches. When she straps on her pack, her legs feel like toothpicks , as if they are going to break at any moment from the weight. Her back is bruised as well as her hips. She fantasized about having an injury so we would have a reason to quit the trail. She hasn't slept for 5 nights. She lays awake worrying about the next climb. Here is what she says. I an so thankful for all the wonderful people I have met on the trail. Each one was put exactly where i needed you to help me at that time. I'm sorry if I have disappointed anyone. I did not mean to. I hope no one feels like I used them. I did not do that.   When/If I return, I will have hiked my own hike. I made it further than I thought I ever could have a year ago. I have sorted through many things while on the trail.   Now, I start a new journey as I will be Count's support. Well, that really isn't a new journey as we have been each other's support for over 30 years. I will be his "car" support as he continues the hike to Katahdin. Please continue to follow the blog. And keep us both in your thought and prayers.   I will decide over the next few days if the trail is still for me.   We spent most of the day sorting out the details for Lavender. We were so thankful for Cathy's support. She made things so easy for this transition. Thank you Cathy.   We spent a lovely evening with our trail angels Cathy and Sophie. We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner which was fabulous! This is the first Indian food we have had since moving back from England and we really enjoyed it.     It was a nice day all in all.
Date: 2015-08-02
From: Trail angel Cathy's house

To: Mt. Washington 
Miles today: 12.5

We woke early this morning and had a quick cup of coffee and then it was time to head back to the trail.   It was a 30 minute drive to the trail head and I hit the trail at 0700. Lavander decided to take a break from hiking for a few days. So Count is on his own today.    Starting off from Crawford Notch, of course the trail climbed up and up. It was a 2700 foot climb up to Mt Webster with lots of rock scrambles and steep trail. About half way up there was a rock ledge with fantastic views that were made all the better by running into Fozzie and Trix. I hadn't seen them for weeks now and it was great catching up on how their hike was going. Fozzie has his hand in a cast due to a fall on the rocks in Massachusetts. He broke his hand but is continuing to hike. We had a nice break and then it was time to hit the trail again.    The weather was fantastic today. Blue sky with cool temps and low humidity. If only all days could be like today. The views were beautiful from each viewpoint. I continued hiking up to Mizpah hut and stopped for a break. After eating a cliff bar I was back on the trail. It was another 1000 foot climb up to Mt Pierce, again with lots of rock scrambles.    Even though I had climbed over 3000 feet already, I still had to climb another 2000 feet to reach the top of Mt Washington.   It was lonely hiking today without Lavender. I am really blessed that I had her company for over 1800 miles. It is quite different hiking by yourself. I continued the climb up and reached the Lake of the Clouds hut around 12:30. Now it was just another 1000 foot climb over 1.3 miles and I would be at the top. I was going to stop for lunch at the hut but I knew Lavender would be waiting for me at the top of Mt Washington. So, I pushed on.    I passed lots of day hikers on the last part of the climb. I guess 1800 miles of hiking has definitely gotten me in shape. Before I knew it I was at the top of Mt Washington.   Now I just had to find Lavander. I couldn't believe how many people were at the top. I had just hiked over 12 miles and up over 5000 feet and here were all these people who took the cog railway or drove up to the top. It just didn't seem right that I had to work so hard to get to the top but that is just the AT way. I did get to enjoy lots of fantastic views on my hike up.   I eventually found Lavander amongst the crowd of people. (It was a beautiful sunny Sunday. That made it very busy.) We had a nice lunch together and toured the Mt Washington center. Then it was off to find somewhere to camp for the night.
Date: 2015-08-05
From: Gorham, NH

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0

I slept good last night. I needed it after yesterday's hike. We had a lazy morning and a late breakfast. We did some resupply. As we were driving to resupply, we saw Bud and Bud Light. We gave them a ride to a hotel and to resupply. On the way back from resupply, we saw Papa Lou. We gave him a ride to a hotel. Having a car allows us to help other hikers. It is nice to play forward all the kindness we have received on the trail.   I took it easy the rest of the day.
Date: 2015-08-06
From: Gorham, NH

To: Camp site 1908.9
Miles today: 18.0

Not a great night sleep. It seems the night before heading out from a zero day causes some stress. After breakfast, I was back on the trail at 0732. Lavender hiked the first 1.3 miles with me. She had to return to town as she was shuttling another hiker for resupply and to the trail head. It was hard saying goodbye to Lavender as I knew I wouldn't see her for two days.  I climbed almost 1800 feet in under 3 miles. Considering the last days of climbing, this wasn't very steep. I arrived at the top of my first climb, Mt. Hayes, of the day by 0910. The last 4 miles of trail have been some of the most pleasant to hike for some time now. The trail was through a mature forest and it wasn't that rocky. I thoroughly enjoyed hiking this part of the trail.    I next descended down about 500 feet before starting the next climb up to Cascade Mountain.   It started to rain a bit on the way up so I put my pack cover on . It didn't rain that much, just enough to make everything wet. Once up at the top, I spent 10 minutes or more picking fresh blueberries.   They were everywhere at the top of the mountain.   I had to pull myself away or I would have been picking and eating blueberries all day. They were quite delicious.    The trail was now getting back to the trail I have known for the past two weeks, steep and rocky. There was a long rocky descent and then I came to some alpine ponds. One of the ponds was named Dream Lake. It was quite beautiful. I stopped and rested a bit by the pond and enjoyed the view of the still pond and the mountains in the background. Then it was time to move on.    I passed another pond and several streams and then stopped for my lunch break. Today I had a Subway sub for lunch instead of my normal tortilla with peanut butter and trail mix.   It is always nice taking town food with you on the trail. After lunch, I started the long climb up to Mt Success. The trail was definitely getting much harder now. Many sections were all rocks and very steep.   It was very slow going the next few miles. Coming down off Mt Success I came to a section of trail that was nothing but a jumble of huge rocks with nothing that looked like a trail. I went back uphill a bit to see if I missed a turnoff but no, the trail went down through the rocks. That is of course if you could even call it a trail. It took me over 30 minutes to get through that section along with a few choice words for whoever thought this was a trail. But eventually I made it through and then started the climb up Mt Carlo. Once over the top and down to the next notch, I found a nice stealth campsite to call home for the night. I quickly had the tent set up and then had dinner. Now it's time to spend my first night alone on the trail. Today I passed two big milestones, the first was going over the 1900 mile mark and the other was entering Maine, the last state of the trail. The end is now in sight!
Date: 2015-08-08
From: Grafton Notch

To: East B Hill Road
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: overcast clouds

It was a clear night and the temperature dropped down to the mid 40's. We slept snug in our quilts and were thankful we got our winter quilts back. It was hard getting out of the quilt since it was so cold but the trail was calling. We saw Not Swedish, Fozzie and Trix this morning since they tented nearby. We talked over our hiking plans for the day and how much longer it would be until we finished. Hard to think about actually being finished with the hike.   I started hiking this morning in a long sleeve shirt. That was the first I've worn long sleeves for probably 3 months. The trail started off with a 2100 foot climb up to Baldpate West peak. The trail was really steep but the trail maintainers must have spent a lot of time on this section. I would like to meet the folks who did all this work and thank them for all their hard work. There were stone steps most of the way up the climb making it much easier than scrambling up through the rocks. We dub such trails as tourist trails since the nicenicely maintained trails usually appear around tourist areas.    I finally made it to the top and was rewarded with some of the most beautiful views yet on the trail. The top of the peak was above treeline and was solid granite. I could see the next peak I would have to climb, Baldpate East Peak. The trail went down steeply off the west peak and across an alpine bog area. I stopped several places along the bog to pick some blueberries. Then it was a 500 foot climb to the East peak.   This climb was all up and over exposed granite. The views were fantastic the whole way up. I took my morning break on top and enjoyed the views. It was a beautiful sunny day. Then it was time to hit the trail and start the 1500 foot descent to Frye Notch. I stopped at the shelter for a short break and met Burning Moose and Shepard.   Burning Moose is a south bounder and Shepard is section hiking.    I had just one more 500 foot climb that went by rather quickly and then it was a 1500 foot descent to the road where Lavander would be waiting. The trail on the descent was heavenly, not very steep and mostly dirt and not rocks. I have missed this type of trail. I was soon at the road crossing and met Lavender.   It was a short 10 mile day but that was enough for today. We drove to The Cabin hostel where we will be spending the night. A nice warm bed to sleep in!