morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-06-22
From: Eckville Shelter

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up early this morning to use the bathroom. As I was in the privy itstarted to rain. Even so,I packed up all my stuff, but decided to lay down againfor a minute. (I hadn't slept good because of the enormous amount of no-see-umsin the shelter.)When I opened my eyes again I saw Tortoise sitting in a chair with her headdown. She said she felt sick and was gonnna throw up, which she promtly did.So I stayed here all day taking dare of her- went to get food at a gas station10 miles away. We both mostly just sat around reading all day. Thank God for the30 copies of Readers Digest here. It's funny to read about people freaking outabout gas...when it went over $1 a gallon. Gonna play some go-fish with Bill Nyethe science guy playing cards now. Hope Tortoise is better in the morning.
Date: 2006-06-24
To: Jailhouse Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

A huge thunderstorm with heavy rains came during the night. I was a littleworried because I had never tested my tarptent out in a downpour before. So atsome point my feverish mind decided to sleep under the pavilion. I rolled outone side of the tent- still in my bag- and promtly fell asleep again. So I laidthere for who knows how long getting drenched untill I rolled back in thetent...which had remained perfectly dry.In the morning I wanted nothing more than to rest. My sickness had gotten muchworse (sleeping in the rain makes it worse? go figure.) So I packed up all mysoaking wet gear and hiked. All I remember about the hike was thinking "damn there ar a lot of rocks." Attimes it felt like I had been hiking all day- at others just a few minutes. Ididn't stop for water or food, I just wanted to get to town.When I reached the road crossing to go into Palmerton I got a ride with anAsplundh worker...who promtly took me 45 minutes in the wrong direction.Thankfully, when I got dropped off at a Subway in a town not listed in any trailguides, there was a nice woman there who wanted to help. Her husband had sectionhiked the trail up into Virginia so they knew about thruhikers and what we'redoing. I'm sorry, but I was too sick to remember you names! Sign my guestbook!Once I got to Palmerton I went to the jailhouse hostel- named because its inthe old police station. I've just been resting and eating ever since- trying toget better. Not sure if I can hike tommorow- I wanna be 100% before I go outagain.
Date: 2006-06-27
From: Wind Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It rained all day long on us- hard. We met a guy named the Colonel (not a hiker,just a crazy person.) He talked to us for 10 minutes about donuts and pink hats.Tortoise, Dirt, Leprachaun, Rad McBadass and I stayed together most of the day,and we got into Delaware Water Gap fairly early. Because of the flooding, we maynot be able to hikeout tommorow, the Trail might be flooded.
Date: 2006-06-28
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It seems like everytime the A15 Team starts picking up speed something happens.One or both of us will get sick, I hurt my foot, or even it decides to rain somuch that we get trapped in a town. Deleware Water Gap is completlyflooded. Although the rain stopped last night the water keeps rising from therunoff. So we just hung around all day. I read an awesome book called Oryx andCrake cover to cover...and that was about all we did.
Date: 2006-06-29
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It's only the morning right now, but I figured I'd write some anyways. At aboutthree in the morning last night Leprechaun woke Tortoise and I up because he washaving trouble breathing. He had started getting the same sickness as us but histhroat had swollen to the diameter if a dime. So we called Pastor Karen, whosechurch we are staying in, and she came and got him to go to the hospital. Thankyou so much Pastor! It means a lot to get help like that, since we are basicallytrapped since we have no vehicle.It's the morning now, and reports are coming in that the flooding is a lotworse than they expected- we may not get to leave today. (We did have anotherrainstorm last night.) I guess I'll write more later. (Later) We stayed- Tortoise has a friend that can bring us to New York, which wehad planned on visiting.
Date: 2006-07-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I has been one heck of a whirlwind week. First, Leprachaun, and I went into NewYork City with Tortoise. Thanks to her friend Tina for giving us the ride. Westayed with her friend Cakepan- thank you too! We did a bunch of tourist things-but also got an insiders tour of cool- NYC stuff. Right now I'm staying wth my brother Farrell in a house he's been rebuilding- wewent to go see Suerman yesterday- it was awesome! I'm too lazy to write outeverything the happened during the last week- but rest assured it was fun. Leprachaun and I have gotten rid of our sleeping bags and tents for the timebeing- we are just using an emergency blanket and bag liners- till it startsgetting cold again. Lets hope that its not a stupid idea!
Date: 2006-07-05
From: Farrell's House

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: light rain

Man, am I glad Farrell came and got me. We ate good food, got lots of sleep andwent to see Superman! I woke up feeling like a million bucks, and we were ableto leave early. The ride down was fun- I guess us brothers can always have funlike that. After he dropped me off I ran into a guy out for a day hike. He toldme to call him Eagle Eye and we hiked together all day. Man, did he love himsome Jesus. I already like New Jersey more than Penn. Sunfish Pond was beautiful- quite anice surprise since I thought it was going to be a tiny thing. (It's actually afew acres of water.) The views from the top of the ridgeline were amazing as well- haven't seen thatmany views in one day since Virginia.I'm sitting at the Mohican Outdoor Center- a little known waystation for hikers-but has great facilities. The Tortoise showed up after a few hours- thank God- I was getting lonely. Goingfrom the big city to all alone can be quite and experience when you're not usedto it. With all these zeros, I hope we can make some good time now- I wouldstill like to finish by end of August.
Date: 2006-07-06
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Glen Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: light rain

Man, I haven't taken that many zeros since Boone, and boy did I forget how slowone is to recover from it. After being in New York and getting the GREAT trailmagic from Odie Green and Farrell, my brain does not function while hiking. Ormaybe I should say it refuses to not function. Usually while hiking I canfunction on autopilot-my feet and body moving while my mind is someplace else.After being entertained constantly for days, that ability has shrunken and died.I spent the whole day not in "the zone" It's OK though, New Jersey is about 1010101973 times cooler than Penn (nooffense Miss Parkay and Rad McBadass) We've seen twice as many views in the lasttwo days as we did in the last two weeks in Penn. Not to mention the awesomeponds at high elevations. (High being relative, since its New Jersey) Sitting at the shelter now, a group of at risk kids from a camp are here- so Iguess we won't sleep tonight. May write more later.
Date: 2006-07-09
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Man, brothers are awesome. I just randomly called Farrell up and left a messagethat I wanted to get my tent and sleeping bag back, and the next time I was ableto talk to him, he said "I can come tommorow, where do you want me to meet you?"Awesome- he met me early in the morning, bought me breakfast and drove me backto the Trail. Thanks Farrell! I hope you can come camping soon!I made it into New York today! It's awesome! Lots of fun rock scrambling,beautiful sun. The only bad part was the fact that all the water sources are adeep dark red color- didn't want to drink it- so I got really dehydrated.At the shelter now- food time!
Date: 2006-07-10
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: light rain

Wow, way to surprise the crap outta us New York. Today was full of rockscrambles and steep climbs the likes of which we haven't seen in 900 miles. Iguess its good practice for the Whites.New York is by far the state with the most trash- Sanford has his work cut outfor him.I had a strange moment today- where I noticed an essential difference betweenhow I (and other thrus) act in the real world and out here on the Trail. I wasgetting ready to leave Fingerboard Shelter (where I had lunch) and I looked at my watch. 2:17- good all I had to do was put on my shoes and I could probably be at the next shelter by 4:30. So I put my shoes on, then my pack, and double check the time. 2:28?!?! What happened? Then I thought about it for a minute.Thru-hikers don't put on their shoes like normal people or even regular hikers.Think about when you get up for work or school and put your shoes on. You put ona pair of socks- slide you shoes or boots on, and most likely only tighten oneor two laces before tying the shoe. This is much different than the way thrusdo it. For us, it's almost a ritual.(I think I may of read some of this in anAT book.)First, we check the inside of the shoe to make sure no mice have left uspresents in the night. Then, we loosen every lace on the shoe/boot. Setting itto the side, we make sure our feet are ready to be confined in the boot-cleaning any debris off, including in between the toes. We rotate the ankle-most likely hearing popping joints- but just making sure there is no undue pain.Then, the sock comes on. Some people carry two (one liner, one regular) but itdoesn't matter. You put the socks on with great care- no wrinkles orobstructions in the sock. We may rotate our ankle again or stretch our toes,just to be sure the foot is ready. Then, we carefully slip our foot into theboot. Before we begin to tighten any laces, the foot goes on the ground to makesure egverything feels right. Is the insole out of place? Does the sock need tobe adjusted? When that's done we start tightening the laces from the bottom up.Not too tight, not too loose. We rotate our foot every now and then to make sure there is enough freedom of movement. Then- the knot is tied. I just us a regular shoe knot for my lightweight boots. For my winter boots I used a series of crisscrosses at the grommets for help with braking on downhills. Finally, we put weight on the foot again to make sure everything is perfect. If it checks out, we repeat the process with the other foot.Sounds like fun huh? I'm not sure if I'll every look at shoe tying the same wayagain after this trip.Long days and pleasant nights.
Date: 2006-07-11
From: William Brien Shelter

To: Graymoor Monastery
Miles today: 15.6

This entire trip has turned weird. I have dreamed of doing this hike ever since Iwas a kid. I have had a map of the AT on my wall for 15 years. I have spenthours looking at that map and imagining what it would be like to reach each ofthe mountains and towns listed. Now I am here, living the dream. This life is amazing, and I find it fun to seethe differences between what I imagined everything to be like and what itactually is.Sometimes, when I reach a place, I'll think about my imagined version and findthat the world becomes ephemeral- like something you could look through. Myimagination and real life coming together to make this trip more than I everthought I could be.This entry makes no sense.
Date: 2006-07-12
From: Graymoor Monastery

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: heavy intensity rain

I didn't get a wink of sleep last night. We were in the baseball pavilion atGraymoor, (Tortoise, Kats Pa, Cash, And I) and all night there were coyotesrunning around the area. I was awake for the bells at 11, 2, 3, and 4. We got upfairly early and left just as the rain started. If there is one thing that thru hiking teaches you, it's to make the best out ofany situation. So Toroise and I talked most the day of anything we could thinkof. i learned that Tortoise once had a chance to talk to Elijah Wood 1 on 1 anddidn't take it! She also had the chance to play ON STAGE at a Smashing Pumpkinsconcert (was invited on stage by the lead singer) and turned it down! Wow, Ialmost couldn't talk to her anymore.Even with all this fun we were pretty down, it was raining really hard and wesmelled AWFUL. We had decided that if we could get a ride to a hotel, we wouldtake it. The chance never came up though, and we ended up walking deciding tojust stay at the shelter. When we got within 2.5 miles of the shelter, I spied a truck at the road withThe Chocolate Bandito's pack beside it. Trail Magic! Yay! Trail Magic at anypoint is AWESOME, on a day like today, it was AMAZINGLY AWESOME, and the factthat it was given by an old friend of mine made it SCRUMTRULESCENT! A fellowhiker I met in 04, Dharma, was with Bandito doing magic. Cookies, cola, beer,mmmmmmm. Funny thing, as soon as we sat down with Dharma- the sun came out!We sat and talked for awhile, then Dharma offered to slackpack us the rest ofthe way to the shelter! We did the last 2.5 in record time, finding ourselves atan awesome dry shelter. a big group of people were there, including: Sexy Monk,Compost, Low Gear, Rematch, The Newlyweds, and several others. This shelter isso near a road, you can order pizza and have it delivered! (Aren't I living thehard life?)After eating, I crashed, needed sleep.
Date: 2006-07-13
From: RPH Shelter

To: Pawling Shelter
Miles today: 18.3

We were not planning on hiking this far, but Dharma offered to slackpack us fora whole day! This is awesome. Make sure I get your address at some point Dharma-you're getting a summit photo. I walk fast normally, without a pack on, Isimply fly. Quick easy hike in just a few hours- right now I'm sitting andeating a steak- heaven. The others will be in later- mayhap I'll write more.
Date: 2006-07-14
From: Pawling, NY

To: Wiley Shelter
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: few clouds

At some point last night I lost my shirt. I'm extra happy now that Poles sent methe awesome shirt that she did. (Has the picture of the tatoo that I'm gettingafter the trail, and trail name on the back.) I guess I'll have to buy a newhiking shirt tommorow in Kent.We hung around town most the day- it was stupid hot- up to 96 degrees. It was sohot and we spent such a long time in town that we only made it 8 miles. To bed I said!
Date: 2006-07-15
From: Wiley (Webatuck) Shelter

To: Stewart Hollow Brook
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: 0

Slept late today- almost 6:30! Within 1.2 miles I entered another state! Welcometo Connecticut! I caught up with Tortoise at the first shelter and we hiked therest of day together.The word of the day is: SWEAT Besides the several listed climbs- there wereseveral unlisted ones. Even so, we made good time. I had to go into Kent so I could by a new shirt- same one, just blue. It'sreally weird to be wearing a different shirt after having the same one for solong.We ate lunch and hiked out, another seven miles. Gotta do 22 tommorow, so goingto bed now!
Date: 2006-07-17
From: Limestone Spring Shelter

To: Hemlock Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 17.5

HAPPY B-DAY TORTOISE! Yes, today is the birthday of that slow moving animal with cold blood. As a birthday present, I decided to slackpack her for the day. This entails a bit more work than when a trail angel does some slackpacking. I took all the unneeded gear of Tortoises and carried it in my pack. Wow, was my pack heavy! It was probably the best day (for her) to do a slackpack. We had four climbstoday that were harder than any we've seen in weeks, including 3 2000 footers.(We haven't gone over 2000 since early Penn.) To say the least, she was really,really excited.The actually wasn't so bad. I've hiked with a heavy pack before (04' hike) andwork at a Scout Camp every summer so am pretty used to the heat. (It got up intothe mid 90's and made me miss camp a lot.) By the time I was climbing up Race Mountain I was fairly tuckered out, Iprobably would of stopped for a while but the views were just so beautiful Iwanted to keep going. I had missed the last source of water and was fairlydehydrated by the time I climbed Mt. Everett- I think maybe that was a goodthing- being out of it made the climb faster. Now I'm at the shelter, tuckered out. I've got an interesting entry mulling overin my head (I was told it was interesting and pretty deep) so stay tuned!
Date: 2006-07-19
From: Tom Leonard Lean-to

To: Great Barrington, Mass
Miles today: 2.0
Weather: light rain

After two weeks of non-stop hiking we decided to get away from the hellaciousbugs and go into town for a night. Since most town experiences are(Editor's Note: Great Barrington, Massachusetts must be an AWESOME place, he couldn't even finish the email...)
Date: 2006-07-20
From: Great Barrington, Mass

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: light rain

I know I said most town experiences are the same, but Great Barrington was thebest we've had since Duncannon, PA. Everything went right. We got a hitch intotown from a former thru hiker before we even stuck out our thumbs. Rockhopperhiked in 85' and brought us staight to the Friendlys in town. The meal there wasamazing, complimented by the fact that it was right across the street from thehotel we were staying at. All the rooms in the hotel were full, but the womenrunning the place was super nice, letting us leave our stuff with her as wewent on some errands. She even put food we bought in her refridgerator while wewent to the post office. Definatly stay at the Monument Mountain Motel if you goto GB. We were able to get all of our errands done around town with several easyhitches- so we were in the room relaxing by 3 o'clock or so. What a good day!The next morning sleeping in a real bed was fantastic- no bloodsucking bugs tokeep us awake.We didn't leave till the 11 oclock check out time, but we decided to only do the12 into Tyringham so it didn't matter. After getting a ride from an awesome ladywho wants to start doing trail magic in the area (contact me if you havequestions!) we started hiking.For the love of all that is holy, it cooled down! It was maybe 85 degrees, butit felt wonderful! I probably only sweat 1/10 of what I did the last few days.It was so nice, we decided to hike further than we planned- the 19 to UpperGoose Pond Cabin was only 7 more miles. We busted them out in less than 2.5hours- and it was worth it! Four sided building, bunkroom, caretaker, this placeis amazing.
Date: 2006-07-21
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: broken clouds

I am writing this 4 days after we atually did it, and to be honest, Tortoise andI don't remember much about what happened. It was easy terrain, and we took ourtime. Had a good break at the cookie lady, and giagantic burgers at The Depot.The best part of the day was getting to "The Bird Cage" A hostel in Dalton atRob Birds house. It is amazing! The best place I've stayed at in a very longtime. Movies, hot showers, laundry, but the very best part is just the companyof Rob- he's an awesome guy just to hang around with. Compost and Tex werethere- both with hurt ankles- they're gonna be off for awhile. Poor fellows.
Date: 2006-07-22
From: Dalton

To: Dalton
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: haze

How did we do seventeen miles and still stay in Dalton? Rob Bird's awesomenessthats how. He drove us to the top of Mt. Greylock and wee slackpacked back. (Imisspelled we, but weeeeee! is more appropriate because it was so awesome.)It rained most of the day on us- but since we knew we had a dry bed coming itwas much more fun. There was great trail magic just past a road- a cooler filledwith all sorts of food we don't usually carry- no name or anything on it- sothank you secret angel! We ate lunch at an ice cream shop in Cheshire- got aberating from Energizer Bunny about slackpacking- and then Bam! were done. We had pizza for supper (surprise) and went right to bed!
Date: 2006-07-23
From: Dalton

To: Dalton
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Our first true zero since DWG! My Aunt and family were coming up to visit, sincethey live just a few hours away in Mass. Tortoise was suppose to hike out and Iwas going to play catch up- but instead we sat around and watched movies.(Including Episode 3 for the umpteenth time.) Well, I guess the truth would bethat Tortoise asked me to give her a pep talk into hiking- and I told her weshould zero. Tortoise LOVED Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- good thing- sinceI recommended it. Having my Aunt Mary, husband Michael, and children Liam, Bridgette, and Aidan(Hope I spell right) come out was a great experience. It was a lot of fundescribing the Trail to family members who weren't tired of my stories. I feelkinda bad- my mind went blank on so many good stories- stage fright I guess.They bought us lunch at Friendly's- love me some sundaes. On the drive back wesaw Dirt! We picked him up and brought him to the hostel- he said Leprachaun,Miss Parkay, and the Jersey Boys were coming in as well! I showed Liam some of my gear- he's in the cub scouts now- (maybe a future Thruhiker?) If you have any questions Liam, just ask!That night we went to watch movies in a theater Tortoise and I saw Superman,while Dirt, Compost, Tex , and Coach K saw Pirates. (Oh yeah, Coack K is back onnow.)Tortoise LOVED Superman, so I'm 2 for 2 on movie recommendations. Happy Feetgave us a ride back- he knows his way around town pretty well- he's been there12 days waiting on The Bandito. Went to bed asap when we got back.
Date: 2006-07-24
From: Dalton

To: Seth Warner Shelter
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: few clouds

Man, what a difference a day makes. The top of Greylock was so beautiful- whoknew about the globe on top of the tower?! It was completely obscured by cloudswhen we slackpacked. Zero days are addictive- we definately didn't want to behiking today, and half way through we almost had decided to call the bird cageand go back. Luckily we kept our spirits up with some silliness- such as a group of 16 yearold female weekenders that were, to say the least, precocious. Then, whileTortoise is making fun of me for it, she gets caught by two SOBO's while shes inthe middle of a graphic sentance. We ate lunch in North Adams, Friendly's is expensive! We almost decided to gosee a movie and sleep in town, but ended up going up that last hill 7 miles tothe shelter- good thing too, because it would have been just as hard to leavefrom town tommorow morning as it was today. Guess who was at the shelter tonight? Jay! The Jay who I did trail magic for in05' It was great to see him again, he's doing the Long Trail- so hopefully we'llbe seeing more of each other for a few days.
Date: 2006-07-25
From: Seth Warner Shelter

To: Melville Nauheim Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Our plan for the day went like this: get up early- hike to Bennington toresupply- watch a movie while in town- hike to shelter just out of town.What actually happened:Left kinda early- 8 oclock- guilt trip ourselves into saying we'll do the 21because we need the miles- hike slow because...well, because it's more fun tohike slow and enjoy yourself- go into town and do resupply and eat but skip themovie because we want to do the 21- end up at 13 mile shelter anyways. Nicerecap huh? Some people would feel guily for not doing the miles, but I don't It about thesmiles and not the miles as they say. We wouldn't of been happy hiking into thenight, and it would of made tommorow worse. Going to bed early tonight so can doa good day tommorow. Here's hoping we can keep to some sort of shedule.