morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-06-19
From: Rutherford Shelter

To: Unionville, New York
Miles today: 11.4

Because of the high humidity, everything was pretty much as wet as it was the night before when we crashed. I had one pair of dry socks and my clothes were damp so the General and I spent breakfast figuring out how we could get dried out. We figured if we headed to Unionville, New York we could camp early and hang our stuff to dry. We were also out of food and Unionville has a general store. For years Unionville has let hikers camp in their park and have even provided a privy and water spigot. We hit the trail hoping to get to town just after lunch. We were about 2 miles from town when we came across another hiker heading south. I was about 20 yards behind the General and the other hiker had yielded the trail as the General passed. I could see the General shaking his head and laughing as he passed the guy. As I approached the hiker, I thought to myself "is he...he can't be...my god, he is buck ass naked." There he was, hiking poles in one hand, package in the other just out for a stroll. I couldn't help myself so I asked him as I passed "did you lose a bet?" "No" he replied, "just trying to stay cool." "Well keep trying" I said, "'cause you ain't there yet." The General and I had quite a few chuckles at "Joe Cool's" expense the rest of the day. There is a strange hiker tradition to hike naked on June 21, the summer solstice. Evidently this guy was just getting into the mood earlier. We got to Unionville about 2:00 pm and we were walking into town when we came across two guys filling in a pot hole. The one guy asked us if we were staying in town and when we said we were he told us that his name was Butch and that his father was the Mayor of the town and that we were invited to stay with them. He gave us directions and phoned ahead and we were met at the Mayor's house by Bill who showed us around. We were able to shower and do laundry and just relax a bit chatting with Bill. A little later Butch and Dick Ludwick, the Mayor, came home and fixed dinner for the General and I. We sat around on the porch and had a few beers and chatted until way past my bedtime. It was just like being at an old friend's house. I had a great time and I really can't thank Dick, Butch and Bill enough for their hospitality. They are exactly the type of good people I was hoping to meet on my hike and I feel fortunate to have made their acquaintance.------------------------------Tell your friend about PocketMail and let the savings start rolling in!
Date: 2008-06-20
From: Unionville, New York

To: Vernon, New Jersey
Miles today: 11.8

It just kept getting better as Butch, Bill and Dick made sausage, eggs and muffins for breakfast this morning. It was tough hitting the road again; I could easily spend a couple of days just relaxing in this town. We had a pretty productive day and made it to NJ Route 94 and a cool farmers market that also sold ice cream and pies. The General and I ate a berry pie and had a real milkshake plus a few sodas. This resulted in immediate napping and a lack of enthusiasm for further hiking. This combined with impending showers drove us into Vernon, NJ and the local Episcopal hostel. It was a long road walk (about 2.5 miles) but a very pretty town. We had just dropped our gear and were about to head to the local pub when this young gal dressed in hiker gear approached (crocs and such, we recognize one another) saying that she wants to hike with us. Forest Gimp had jumped ahead 150 miles in order to summit Kathadin by mid August. She will go to grad school in the fall and will finish her hike then. We were dubious of picking up a new member to our team but after we told her of intention of "brew thru-ing" and hitting as many pubs and towns as possible and finishing by late August; she declared herself part of our team and there we were. While sitting at the bar, a gentleman approached me and invited us to join him and his wife for drinks and such. Jan Wright, or Ranger, is a section hiker whose father is a local ridge runner. His wife Corrine has absolutely no interest in hiking because she has no interest in spending overnight hours in the woods. As this sounds exactly like my wife, I had an instant rapport with Jan and Corrine. We were joined later by their daughter Tasha and her boyfriend John and we had such a good time that we decided to move on to the local Country Club where Tasha works. The club was very posh and we had a great time hanging out watching the people. It was very late when we got back to the hostel and hiking will be difficult tomorrow. JUKEBOX------------------------------Allow us to help those in need, sell back your spare PocketMail and make some extra pocket money.
Date: 2008-06-21
From: Vernon, New Jersey

To: New York Route 17A
Miles today: 15.2

Jan and Corrine offered to slack pack us today and pick us up later for a cook out at their house on the lake; how could we refuse?! Forest Gimp and the General were much foggier than I was so they struggled a bit during the early part of the day. When it is really humid and warm, you really feel the effects of a few beers the day before. It will suck the energy right out of you. Jan picked us up at the end of the hike and the finishing of the New Jersey section of the trail. We had an awesome time hanging out with his kids Tom and Kayley; Tasha joined us later in the evening. Jan put out an impressive spread and their neighbors are tremendous people that we had great fun chatting with. It will be hard leaving such great hospitality; it is exactly what I had hoped the trail would be. New Jersey has been the biggest surprise on the trail; great people, great food and great trail. JUKEBOX------------------------------Tell your friend about PocketMail and let the savings start rolling in!
Date: 2008-06-22
From: New York Route 17A

To: Island Pond
Miles today: 13.7

After a great evening with Jan and Corrine, Jan made a big breakfast in the morning. Everyone was a bit lethargic and it was after 9:00 am before we hit the trail. It was our first day of real hiking with Forest Gimp and it was great because she hikes about the same pace we do. This is a pretty big deal on the trail; it is tough hiking with people that hike significantly faster or slower than you do. It can just screw up your rhythm. Water has been scarce in this section of New York and today was particularly bad because it was warm and humid. Thankfully some very kind people have taken it upon themselves to put jugs of water at some road crossings; it really makes a big difference. About 4:00 pm just after crossing the NY State Thruway, we ran into Paddy-O and his paddy wagon. Paddy-O has been doing mobile trail magic since his thru hike in 2000 and he tries to meet most thru hikers face to face each year. His spread in the back of his truck is one of the best I have seen; Gatorade, sodas, beer, chips, dip, ice cream, sandwiches, etc. He is like a mobile deli. We cooled off and chatted with him for a while and traded some trail gossip. We were looking for a campsite and he told us of a great one near Big Island Pond near the top of the mountain. We headed there and it is a great campsite. Forest Gimp got herself all set up and then left the mouthpiece off of her water bladder which of course she put in the tent. She was using some creative colorful language while she was cleaning up her gear (3 liters of water can get a lot of things wet) and that kept us mostly entertained until we went to sleep. I also had my first mishap in a while today as I tripped and fell and snapped my hiking pole in half. Good times. Well, better my hiking pole then my ankle! JUKEBOX------------------------------Have a spare PocketMail laying around, sell it back to us and help those in need.
Date: 2008-06-23
From: Island Pond

To: Fort Montgomery, New York
Miles today: 16.9

A young section hiker named Ryan camped with us last. He was on his second day and is doing a piece from NY to Katahdin and he was full of questions about his gear and such. We had a fun time answering his questions and helping with things we have learned (which sometimes doesn't seem like much!). We were taking a morning break after dawdling around through out the morning and Ryan caught up with us. When we were off again, he asked if he could hike with us and we said no problem. He lasted about 20 minutes and two climbs before he had to quit us. You completely forget how fast your pace and how strong your stamina has gotten until you hike with someone just starting out. The General and I really needed to do laundry so we decided to go into town. It was a bit of a hike into town and we were pretty beat. We could barely get beer and food before we did laundry and crashed. We need to re-supply in the morning and still try to get out early. The weather is supposed to clear up and we are looking forward to getting some good weather. JUKEBOX------------------------------Allow us to help those in need, sell back your spare PocketMail and make some extra pocket money.
Date: 2008-06-24
From: Fort Montgomery, New York

To: Clarence Fahnestock State Park
Miles today: 18.2

By stopping in Fort Montgomery, we missed one of the great trail stops on the trail in the Franciscan friary at Graymoor. The friary has been hosting thru hikers for decades and providing shelter and water for weary travelers. We were approaching the pavilion early this morning (the General, Forest Gimp and I) and I saw a familiar face across the field at the shelter. It was Chiefdaddy! I hadn't seen Chiefdaddy since Hot Springs, NC over 1100 miles ago but we have many mutual friends on the trail. We all hiked out together and basically spent the day's hike chatting and catching up. Chiefdaddy is a funny guy and the afternoon kind of flew by. We ended up at a great campground at Fahnestock State Park. The sites were clean and the bathrooms had hot showers. It is tough drying off with a tiny pack towel but I managed. We hit the food bags pretty hard as we were all famished and went to bed to the first cool, dry evening in quite a while. Good sleeping weather.------------------------------Allow us to help those in need, sell back your spare PocketMail and make some extra pocket money.
Date: 2008-06-25
From: Clarence Fahnestock State Park

To: Morgan Stewart Shleter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: few clouds

The General, Forest Gimp, Chiefdaddy and I left the park after a pretty leisurely breakfast by our standards. We knew it was going to be a shorter day as we all four plan on being in Kent, CT on Friday and the mileage and spacing of the shelters works out to about 16 miles a day. About 12 miles into the day, we reached a road crossing where we were able to hike 0.4 miles down the road to both a pizzeria and a deli. The pizza was awesome. One of the great things about getting up north is the quality of the pizza has improved dramatically. After resting on the lawn, we re-supplied and bought some sandwiches at the deli and headed to the shelter. The shelter area is one of the nicer ones we have seen in NY. The place looks like an old homestead and it has lots of flat spots for tenting and a great water pump. Cast Iron and 6 Iron caught up to us after a 20 mile day so they are sharing the shelter space along with Quick Toast, a section hiker. ------------------------------Allow us to help those in need, sell back your spare PocketMail and make some extra pocket money.
Date: 2008-06-26
From: Morgan Stewart Shleter

To: Wiley (Webatuck) Shelter
Miles today: 16.3

It was another good day of hiking with another good deli stop for lunch. This is my kind of hiking! We left Cast Iron and 6 Iron behind at the shelter because 6 Iron was ill this morning. It appeared that she just had a bad headache and some nausea; I hope it is not the bug I got a few weeks ago. The weather has been humid and hot with thunderstorms most every day and today was no exception. We got to the shelter area about 4:00 pm and everyone spent some time washing up and getting into our dry clothes. We go to Kent tomorrow and I am going to take a day off on Saturday. The thing I am most looking forward to is spending a day in dry clothes. We generally change out of our sweaty clothes in the evening but when it is really humid your clothes won't dry overnight. Since you only carry basically two sets of clothes, one of the real mental challenges of the trail is getting out of your clean, dry clothes and putting on your wet, smelly clothes every morning. It can get old fast. The shelter area tonight is pretty rundown and trashed. This is compounded by the fact that the shelter dwellers (not me, I am an avowed tenter) got pretty chewed up by the bugs at our shelter last night has led all of us to tent. Chiefdaddy is a hammock hanger and the weight of the hammock versus a tent and his apparent comfort has me intrigued. This may be my next experiment.------------------------------Tell your friend about PocketMail and let the savings start rolling in!
Date: 2008-06-27
From: Wiley (Webatuck) Shelter

To: Kent, Connecticut
Miles today: 12.7

NOTE--4 days of updates (June 24-27.) It was a very eventful day for what ostensibly only ended up being a half day hike. Other than breakfast, we were all pretty much out of food after breakfast so we had extra motivation to get into town. What I didn't realize, mostly because my maps and such ended at the NY State Line (I was picking up my current set in Kent) was how much climbing and terrain we had in order to get to Kent. The hills, combined with the humidity and lack of calories, had all of us dragging ass by 10:00 am. It was about that time that we got a big adrenaline rush. The General and Chiefdaddy were walking about 30 yards ahead of me and the Gimp. They nearly stepped on a huge timber rattlesnake. We heard the rattling from 100 feet away and rushed up to check it out. This monster had not missed any meals and was over 5 feet long and as thick as my forearm. I looked at a picture on my camera later and counted 11 rattles on it's tail. He was spectacular, but he was pissed! After gawking at a safe distance for a bit, we gave a wide berth and managed to get around him and move on. Sweaty and exhausted, we arrived in Kent. We all needed to get something to eat and run errands. My old friend Sean picked me up and I am spending Saturday with he and his wife Tish and their 2 kids in Fairfield, CT. Gimp is hooking up with her friends for the weekend and Chiefdaddy and the General are running errands around town. I will hook back up with the General on Sunday and we will most likely catch back up with the Gimp and Chiefdaddy by early next week.------------------------------Have a spare PocketMail laying around, sell it back to us and help those in need.
Date: 2008-06-28
From: Kent, Connecticut

To: Kent, Connecticut
Miles today: 0.0

Sean and Tish, having just moved back to the states and still in the process of house hunting, are temporarily shacked up with his folks in Fairfield, CT. Mr. and Mrs. Keller were kind enough to take in this smelly hiker for 2 nights and give me an opportunity to do laundry and get cleaned up. I also took the opportunity today to reevaluate my food resupply protocol. I had decided before my hike to take advantage of town resupply as much as possible and avoid some of the logistic headaches associated with multiple food drops. Unfortunately, I am having a very difficult time getting "good" calories such as complex carbs and healthful protein sources and I am relying increasingly on nutritionless empty calories such as pastry, pasta and candy bars. This is really impacting my energy levels particularly in the afternoon when I am just crashing. So I spent the better part of the day buying better food and putting together food drops for the General and I for the next several weeks.I basically purchased many of the things I have been having difficulty getting; salmon and tuna, dried fruits, nuts, dry whole milk, protein bars, some prepared and packaged Indian food from Trader Joes, etc. We will use these drops to supplement the food we buy until we hook up with the trail support coordinator in Maine. This evening, I had a chance to get together with another of my friends in the area, Brad, and jammed on some really good sushi. We then met his wife Lisa and Sean and Tish for drinks and a second dinner (for me, not for Brad). Overall, a very relaxing and productive zero day. JUKEBOX
Date: 2008-06-29
From: Kent, Connecticut

To: Stewart Hollow Brook Lean To
Miles today: 7.0

After saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Keller this morning (thanks again for your hospitality!), I had breakfast with the gang before Brad drove me back to Kent and the trail. I had arranged to meet the General at the shelter outside of town this afternoon and I got here just as it started to rumble and rain. The General showed up a bit later with Chiefdaddy in tow and we decided to go ahead and camp instead of setting out in the rain. Both the General and Chiefdaddy were extremely disappointed with Kent. Not only is it terribly expensive (to be expected) but overall from the services to the local inns and restaurants, they found the town extremely unfriendly to hikers. It is too bad because Kent is only 0.8 of a mile from the AT and is a beautiful little community. One gets the distinct impression, however, that the good people of Kent could give a flip about the AT or the smelly people who hike it. It looks like Chiefdaddy is going to hook up with us for a bit which is cool because he cracks me up. Forest Gimp is a bit ahead of us but will probably lose a day hiking with friends and family. I imagine we will likely catch her in the next few days. JUKEBOX------------------------------Tell your friend about PocketMail and let the savings start rolling in!
Date: 2008-06-30
From: Stewart Hollow Brook Lean To

To: U.S. 7--Mountainside Cafe
Miles today: 16.2

The first part of the hike was really nice today as it was mostly on flat trail paralleling the river. We left the river after a few miles and hit a stretch of Connecticut that was exactly like the roller coaster in northern Virginia. It was uncanny really. Made up of 7 or 8 peaks stretched over 12 miles it normally wouldn't seem that daunting as most of the climbs were in the 500-800ft range. But the rocky, steep trails combined with the high temps and humidity made it tough to put in a big day. The General, Chief¢s Daddy and I were pretty wiped when we got to U.S. Route 7 at about 5:30pm. The local cafe has little cabins for rent and they have a special rate for hikers so we were able to get one for $25 a piece. Someone has to sleep on the floor (this time it was Chiefdaddy, last time it was me) but we get a hot shower and can kind of clean up our clothes. The good news is my energy felt really good this morning and my feet feel better than anytime since Pennsylvania. Maybe they are just getting numb! JUKEBOX
Date: 2008-07-01
From: U.S. 7--Mountainside Cafe

To: Sages Ravinee Brook Campsite
Miles today: 17.0

After a great breakfast at the Mountainside Cafe, the General, Chiefdaddy and I hauled ourselves up the trail to Salisbury, CT. Chiefdaddy has a food drop to pick up and I am picking up a replacement piece for my broken treking pole at the post office. We were also supposed to meet a friend of Chiefdaddy named Hyde. Hyde thru hiked in 2007 and he wanted to meet us with lunch and such. Salisbury turned out to be a nice little town and we got our packages and some food and hung out on a bench in front of the post office. It soon became a bit of a thru hiker gathering as Noah John, Bad Idea and Snake all trickled into town within the hour. We have been seeing more thru hikers recently, a welcome change from the past few weeks when we saw almost no one. Hyde pulled up about 2:00 pm and he and his friend Mary gathered us into his car and drove us to a very cool place called Bash Bish Falls State Park in SW Massachusetts. After a short walk to the falls, we all hung out and ate lunch and had a few cold ones. It was a great afternoon. All good things come to an end, so we headed back to Salisbury and said goodbye to Hyde and Mary and hit the trail in the early evening. We made it to Sages Ravine Campsite shortly before dark and made camp. The campsite is in a gulch cut through by a cold stream so the air temp is about 10 degrees colder than the surrounding mountains. It should be excellent sleeping weather. JUKEBOX------------------------------Tell your friend about PocketMail and let the savings start rolling in!
Date: 2008-07-02
From: Sages Ravinee Brook Campsite

To: MA Rte 23--Mountain Spiritual Center
Miles today: 23.0

It was a comfortably chilly morning when we hit the trail. The first part of the day was awesome as we broke out of the tree line for the first time in along while and hiked along the ridgelines of Race and Everett Mountains. Not only were they great climbs, but we got a bonus when we got to the top of Race Mountain; ripe blueberries! We have been monitoring blueberries for a couple of weeks but we hadn't seen any ripe ones until today. The whole ridgeline of Race Mountain was chocked full of them and we spent a good deal of the morning grazing our way down the trail. It was a hot afternoon and we reached a road crossing at about 3:00 pm that had one of my favorite things on the trail; a farm stand. The three of us grabbed a bunch of peaches and oranges and sodas and had a great snack. The General and I then decided to get a pint of ice cream as a second snack, much to the chagrin of the lactose-intolerant Chiefdaddy. The C-Daddy turned out to be of a weaker constitution than I thought as he went back to the store and emerged shortly thereafter with a pint of vanilla. I should mention that the ice cream, Berkshire Farms, is richer than Ben and Jerrys and has 19g of fat per serving. After leaving the stand, Chiefdaddy lasted about 0.6 of a mile before he bolted of into the woods to pay the price for his butterfat indulgence. We arrived at the hostel about 8:00 pm after a 1.6 mile road walk(not the funnest thing at the end of a long day) and got ourselves cleaned up and did some much needed laundry. Chief¢s Daddy rolled in about 9:15 pm looking like he was hit by a truck but he is adamant that the ice cream was completely worth it.------------------------------Have a spare PocketMail laying around, sell it back to us and help those in need.