morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-06-23
From: Bake Oven Knob Shelter

To: Leroy A,. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I wish that I could describe everything that has been going on since Swansons and I have gotten back on the trail. All day I think of great things to tell about, but by the time I'm ready to write about it, it is gone.For one thing, Swansons and I definitely miss our old friends out here on the trail. We seem to be in a lull. Everyone among us has already formed little groups. and we just float around. It is nice, however, because we don't have to worry about anything but each other. We can go as far or as short as we want and not worry about waiting or catching up to anyone. But we do miss everyone.Today was a crazy long day. It was humid and water was scarce so when we did find water we had to make sure we drank more than our fill. The rocks today...crazy..The climb out of Leigh Gap was incredible and so much fun. But all the boulders and climbing hand over hand up a wall of rock following the white blaze. At times I didn't know what to do with my trekking poles. But the view was breathtaking!!Tomorrow we are heading to the Delaware Water Gap and can't wait to put PA behind us for now. We are looking forward to a day off at the Gap, then on and over NJ. We can't wait to finally be in New York.
Date: 2006-06-24
From: Leroy A,. Smith Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: light rain

Today, we say goodbye to hiking in Pennsylvania and not a moment too soon. We woke up to pouring rain. Wet rocks. Hundreds of wet, slippery rocks awaited us. 20 miles of them to be exact.For most of the day, the hiking went smoothly. We had 14 miles to hike before we stopped for lunch at the shelter, and I only fell once on those crazy slabs of rock. The only reason I did not fall a second time was for my genius tactics of butt crawling or sliding down the boulders. I had black butt marks on my green shorts the rest of the day. I didn't have to wonder why people were looking at me a little strangely. But, here we were, all extremely filthy. I mean, I hadn't washed my clothes in over a week. And it had been some of the hottest days we've had so far. I couldn't even stand myself!As we were nearing the shelter, I rounded a corner to see Bison, another hiker, standing in the middle of the trail tapping his poles together. I couldn't see what he was trying to scare off through the bushes but my first thought was a bear. I couldn't think of anything else you would need to frighten away with your poles. But, I was wrong. As I got closer I saw the stubborn offender, who didn't seem the least bit perturbed by Bison's attempts to frighten him. There, in the middle of the trail was a big butted porcupine. My first one. He waddled off the trial like he hadn't a care in the world, and even looked back at us curiously from time to time. A creature like that probably doesn't have a thing to worry about. I just don't see how he can sleep comfortably on all those needles!So, we had a cool animal sighting, then some rain and more slippery rocks. But we were happy to be winding down into the Water Gap. Happy to see the church hostel that had a wonderful warm shower within it.
Date: 2006-06-25
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

A zero day with the parents. My Mom and Dad, Matt's Dad, his sister Amy and Brother, Mark came to visit. Helped us resupply, do laundry and took us to a great dinner. Thanks, Mr. Mc Carthy! It was just what the doctor ordered!!
Date: 2006-06-27
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

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

Today, we experienced rain in every summer form. We had thunder and lightning, rain, torrential down pour rain, slight drizzle, and misty fog rain. We even had sunny rain. It was a great welcome into our home state, and once we were up on the ridge it even became pretty rain. So many possibilities and I think we covered them all.It was hard to leave our cozy but thru-hiker messy hotel room when we saw how rediculous it was outside. But the trail was calling and I don't think I could have spent another day staring at the TV. Well, I probably could have, but we can't get to Maine in that manner. Although, when I get home from Maine, I plan on being a TV junkie for at least two days. Then detox from all the crap I ate.So, we begun New Jersey, and the rocks were no better and a river of water ran down the trail. My feet were soggy and it felt great. IT always feels great to get back out there after a town stop.We had a fast climb to the ridgeline which we didn't notice go by because of our in depth conversation.   We were discussing what we would do if a mountain lion attacked one of us. Even though there are no mountain lions...we were very determined to hash out a plan.We lost the trail once, and hiked a half mile down the wrong one. This, during one of the torrential down pours. Slippery rocks and rain plus backtracking a half a mile....that is liable to drive a hiker insane....basically bonkers..Oh, another very cool thing I neglected to talk about....about 6 yards into the trail in New Jersey, I almost stepped on a feisty little baby Diamond back rattle snake. And he let me know he did not appreciate it. He was in striking position in seconds...I could almost say it was cute. Actually, it WAS cute.That was just a little side note. After 10 miles in the rain, Swansons and I decided to stop short at a campground that had bunks and showers and soda for 12 bucks. That is money well spent. We cooked our dinners on an actual stove and sat at a kitchen table. The rain has stopped for the moment but tomorrow the forecast is for 6 inches. Sounds like a snow forcast instead of rain...should be an interesting day...
Date: 2006-06-28
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

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

We trudged through rivers more than once today. Rivers shin deep made by the crazy amount of rain we've had over the past few days. Bridges were taking us over creeks and streams only to end in the water again. Our socks and shoes remained sopping wet all day. It was very cool. Especially since the rain held off completely and the sun actually came out.The bad part was the aches and pains that hung around all day. Maybe because of the rain?   We were moving slowly and cursing the hot sun and humidity that we were hoping for just yesterday. My feet were screaming for some reason. Making me want to pick up and throw every rock.But relief came when we hit Culvers Gap, NJ.   Relief in the form of beer and cheeseburgers along with a very friendly bartender. We hung out there for a while with Mystic knowing we only had three more miles to the shelter and our soaked feet and muddy legs needed a rest.The little tavern was right on Kittatiny Lake and it was great to sit and drink a few staring out at the lake. I'm pretty sure this was the lake I've been on a few times with my family. So it was very nice to be in a nice familiar place on top of being in my home state.Also, tonight we are at our very first shelter in NJ and it a shelter we have been to on one of our section hikes. It's great to be knowing we've walked here from Georgia and we are still going. But, I appreciate being in a familiar place for now. And,I'm excited about unfamiliar territory, like up North. Totally new experience and from what I hear, some of the best and beautiful on the trail.
Date: 2006-06-29
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Unionville, New York
Miles today: 20.1

We had good old familiar Jersey today. For the first time this hike, I was hiking in a place I knew. We hiked passed High Point State Park and got some great views of our home state. Only problem was we were half under water while we walked. Trudged, should I say. Tiring for the old legs, especially with soaking wet shoes and socks. Made some uphills feel like Georgia again. I was panting.But, we were well rewarded when we finally got into Unionville, NY. There is a hostel there at the Back Track Inn. Well, not really a hostel, as much as a storage room with shelves as bunks. But, it was a roof over our heads. And a bar with beer and great food. And really fun locals. We stayed in there for most of the night and took in the atomosphere and $1.50 beers. Short day tomorrow to pick up our friend who is going to hike with us for a week. So we can relax and have a good ole time tonight. I'm going to start taste testing for the bartender.
Date: 2006-06-30
From: Unionville, New York

To: Vernon, New Jersey
Miles today: 11.8

Free egg sandwiches, biting ground hogs and fording rivers...That sums up our day in a nut shell. Who knew you could find so much adventure in an 11 mile hike.We started out great. Swansons, Sidewinder and I went to breakfast down at the soda shop. Sidewinder was just going to have chocolate milk because they didn't take credit cards. The owner did not like the fact that Swansons and I were sitting there eating grand pork roll, egg and cheese and our buddy was munching on generic poptarts. So, she brought him a sandwich as well. Such an awesome woman. She really made our morning. No better way to start the hike but with a big breakfast.The hike was mostly through the swamps, and wetlands, here in New Jersey. For alot of the hike we were walking along planks and boards through the swamps.   Nice change of scenery. Ver neat.The best part was the literal boardwalk we got to walk on over a swamp for over a mile at least. It was a wooden sidewalk over the water. It was such a great change of pace. This is where our biting ground hog comes in.Along the side of the boardwalk we spotted a baby ground hog half in the water. He was not moving or running away from us, but when Tucker, the dog spotted him and put his nose to him, our ground hog friend went into attack mode. Then, sidewinder, put his pole near him to test his reaction and that little shakey ground hog bit his pole and would not let go. Would not!But, we were worried about him, even though there was nothing we could do for him. On the cooler side of the situation, we got to ford a knee deep river today because the bridge was out, due to the rain, rain, rain, rain. That is always an adventure.Tonight we are hanging at the church hostel with Chill. He is another thru-hiker we met just tonight and we love him. Very cool guy who is mystified by the way drivers in Jersey beep at you when you're walking down the road. I tried to explain how crazy Jersey is. But words cannot describe.....
Date: 2006-07-01
From: Vernon, New Jersey

To: Hawayanda Shelter
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: clear sky

All I have to say is today was a great day. Friends from home can be very refreshing and wonderful. Well, two bacon, egg, cheese on bagels are also wonderful especially after Dunkin Donuts Coffee and green tea. Very refreshing and wonderful but so are friends.So today was a nero for Swansons and I. We hiked the 53 miles then walked to Hawayanda State Park and went swimming in the lake. Very leisurely day for us.But I have to say, the absolute coolest part of today...and maybe the coolest part of this thru-hike. We say the biggest, I mean the biggist black bear ever. He walked right in front of us on the trail. Alloof us were too much in shock and awe to pull out a camera though so we missed a great photo op. But, he was gorgous, giant and shiny black and he looked at us as if to say, "Oh, sorry guys, I'll come back later". He turned around and walked back into the woods. No pictures, but it was crazy, awesome and it hyped us up a lot. We were worried that we weren't going to see a bear in our home state. But we did. It was awesome!Abel, our one friend from home brought us hot dogs! Hot dogs! And I fried them up in my pot with butter and garlic and they were awesome! It was a feast tonight! We are looking forward to Patrice having her first big day of back packing tomorrow. She already got to see real wildlift today! But, we aren't allowed to tell her mom!Now, I am finally caught up on my journals so I can go to bed and relax.
Date: 2006-07-02
From: Hawayanda Shelter

To: Warwick, New York
Miles today: 9.9

Patrice's first day of real backpacking. And she was off to a pretty good start. I can't say the same for Swansons however. He had to make many pit stops this morning due to a certain sausage and pepper pizza late last night. But the NY/NJ border was not far away so we were siked. We have been looking forward to New York since Pennsylvania sucked us dry of all excitement as we know it.We met up with Chill before we hit the border and he fell in line with us as we let Patrice set the pace for the hike.When we finally hit the border it proved to be good and bad. Good because Swansons and I love climbing all those big NY rocks, bad because Patrice hated it. It is tough, and I don't think anybody realizes just how tough backpacking is. Patrice even admitted that she thought it was easier. But, we still had fun and just made sure to take lots of breaks.When we were 6 miles from the shelter we realized that the 12 miles we had planned for the day may have been a little too ambitious of Swansons and I. We should have remembered how difficult your first time backpacking could be. So we did some rearranging and gave Patrice the option of stopping at the next road and hitching in to town, getting a cheap hotel room. We could have grabbed a campsite but they were few and far between and Patrice had already been a trooper for pushing through the 10 miles. She looked beat as any of us would have and she totally opted for the motel and a shower.When we got to the road, there was a little ice cream shop down the way and Chill came with us to enjoy a cold treat, before we tried our luck at hitching a ride into town. I was excited because is was going to be Patrice's first hitchhiking experience. But, as luck would have it, a Greyhound bus pulled on over and picked us up instead. So much for her hitching experience. But what luck! An air conditioned bus and a ride right to town!The motel was a good deal. Patrice got a nice long shower and really appreciated it after a really long hot dirty day. We even cooked our dinners out on the steps to save money. Although, we did buy beer of course!The best part of the day....Jaws was on TV! My all time favorite! And we each got our own bed thanks to the cot in the room. Cha Ching! We will make it to Main one day!   But, we have to treat our guests right when they're with us.
Date: 2006-07-05
From: William Brien Shelter, NY

To: Fort Montgomery, NY
Miles today: 8.9

The rain came back. We woke up in to it, got dressed and ate in it.. then hiked over those crazy New York rocks in it. I don't know how I didn't fall all over the place. But, we were soaked and actually cold for the first time in a long time. From the start today, it was up, down, up down...and after Penn we really aren't used to lots of ups and downs again. So NY is whooping us back into shape.We climbed up and over Bear Mountain today. Which felt really great because it was the first real mountain I ever climbed on my first real backpacking trip. So, it was good to be back and be in 10 times the shape. We also walked through the trailside zoo and got to watch the new bear cubs wrestle with each other.We also decided that today would be our hotel day since Kent, Connecticut is ultra expensive and we were badly in need of laundry machine. Horribly, in fact. And Fort Montgomery has a Holiday Inn Express!   Nothing better than that!
Date: 2006-07-07
From: Fort Montgomery, NY

To: Graymore Road
Miles today: 6.3

When are we going to start hiking? Where is Maine? The Holiday Inn Express is the most wonderful place on the trail. TV, candy, free breakfast and coffee, internet, arcades and movies. Who needs the woods? Hot showers, MAN!Today was more like a vacation than ever. We woke up late and were treated to a wonderful breakfast by Swanson's Mom. Then we all went and meandered about the Bear Mountain Trailside Zoo. Matt's mom bought us ice cream and then sent us on our way back to the mountains.As usual it felt good getting back into the woods but we really only spent about 3 hours there before coming back out into somewhat civilization. We planned to stay the night at a baseball field near a monastery. The friars allowed us to use the picnic shelter and even drove around to see if we were okay.Not 10 minutes after arriving there to find other thru-hikers here playing baseball, we went off and walking towards the road to hitch in to a store. We were with Slugger and had a list of junk food to retrieve for everyone els.It was an easy hitch both ways, besides the jerk who pulled over and as we started to walk over he pulled off beeping. I had some choice words for this cool guy but I will leave them to the imagination.Despite that, it was a great night. People kept rolling in and Uber Dude's friends even showed up and brought pizza and beer. We still slept outside so technically we were out in the woods. Just with a few town luxuries added to the fun and dirt.
Date: 2006-07-12
From: RPH Shelter

To: Poughquag, NY
Miles today: 12.6

Rain today. Down pours..We got to stop at a wonderful deli then decided we were only gonna hike 9 miles and stay at that shelter, because it was raining..really raining.. But, then we got ansy and after unpacking all or stuff we repacked it all and headed on, thanks to Mo and Ponch who motivated us without knowing.But we got 3 1/2 miles and were warned about tornados and thunderstorms on our heels. Severe, I think the word was. So on a whim, Swansons and I stuck out our thumbs and a wonderful little big red pickup picked us up and saved us from the storm. We got a motel, washed ourselves and our clothes in the shower...and the water turned brown....very, very brown. But it was nice. How nice to shower and do laundry at the same time!
Date: 2006-07-13
From: Poughquag, NY

To: Ten Mile River Lean to
Miles today: 17.3

Welcome to Connecticut. Finally out of New York. Finally... we got a late start today. Took us 45 minutes to hitch a ride out from the motel. But a nice old guy finally picked us up and drove us home to our trailIt was a nice hike today, nothing really difficult. And we got trail magic twice today. Little Debbie Cupcakes and cokes..nothing better! Got us the last 4 miles of the night.Now we are here resting ready for a nice short hike into Kent, Connecticut, tomorrow. No laundry, but food and an outfitters.
Date: 2006-07-14
From: Ten Mile River Lean to

To: Kent, Connecticut
Miles today: 8.7

Longest 8.7 miles I've ever hiked, but we hiked it to the best night we've had in a long time. We had a jerk of a time hiking up the mountain and up and down over the ridgeline cursing the rocks and the heat. We are not used to ups and downs so Connecticut is reintroducing us to them. Which explains our lack of serious miles being done lately.We made it to the shelter that is .3 miles away from the road that leads into Kent. We dropped our gear and hiked down to town. We later found out (which we kind of already knew) was not a good idea. Lots of thefts up there. Oops.But Kent was an awesome little town. We ran into Mo and Ponche who showed us that thru-hikers can get free beer at the Wine and Spirits. What a wonderful thing to hear. So we went and got free bottles of beer and sat at the park bench brown baggin' it like two homeless old guys. It was beautiful.As we went wondering round town we ran into Dead Bear and Charlie Foxtrot and relaxed at the gas station talking to the locals. We had dinner then again returned to our bench where we found our trail angel Paddy O' and Ponche and Mo. So we hung with them drinking a few beers and trying to resist the temptation to go to a party with Patty O' in Vermont. We resisted but he did give us a ride back to the trail head.Groceries and beer in hand we hopped out of his truck (Thanks Paddy O'!) and there we met the best ridgerunner out there on our way back up to the shelter. Marlisa was the best thing we could have asked for! We returned to the shelter to find Chef and Energizer Bunny hanging out. We had a great crowd. Plus, fresh veggies from Dead Bear's Mom. So good!It was a great night that lsted until 1:00 AM, which is highly unusual for us. But it was worth it!
Date: 2006-07-15
From: Kent, Connecticut

To: Silver Hill Campsite
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, our planned schedule has changed once again. It's getting harder and harder to keep to any set schedule. But no pressure is great. We woke up semi-early and Marlisa "The sexy ridgerunner" as Dead Bear and Charlie Foxtrot call her, drove us back into Kent for some breakfast.We spend the morning shaking down Foxtrot's Pack, which means we tried to get him to get rid of unnecessary items in his pack, which was harder than we thought. It took about an hour and some haggling but we enventually got him to let go of a few needless things.Swansons and I had originaly planned a bit of a hectic week so that we could meet up with my parents in Williamstown on Saturday. But the predicted heat and promise of a hiker picnic on Monday left us reworking into a much lighter schedule for a few days. Much thanks to the black hole of fun, Dead Bear...it is very easy to get caught up on his schedule and easy going personality.It was 1 o'clock before Foxtrot, Swansons and I finally hiked out and headed for the campsite to meet Marlisa and Dead Bear. The first 5 miles sucked, with lots of ups and downs as Connecticut has proven she will do. But the last 5 were amazing. A nice path following the river, very, very flat. Which strangely enough kind of hurt our feet. But it was awesome right up until the point where they shot ya straight back up the mountain towards the campsite.The campsite was gorgous. It had a great view of the river and a patio out over the rocks. Plus a picnic shelter and a chair swing that I'm sorry to say didn't actually swing. The five of us had the place to ourselves and we greatly enjoyed it.We had dinner with fresh veggies from Dead Bear's mom. I got to have pasta with big hunks of squash and onion in it. Nothing better out here on the trail! We again sat up half the night talking and even got to sit out and look up at the stars when the clouds blew off.Swansons and Foxtrot got into it on whether the very far off quickly moving light was a plane or a satillite and we all enjoyed Dead Bear's talk of wanting to buy a sailboat and sail to Peru after Katahdin, despite his lack of knowledge of sailing or Peru for that matter. We all have big dreams when we finish.The only bad part about today was the horrible pain my feet were in by the end of the day.   They felt as if they were bleeding from every possible place. I think my shoes have had it. The woman at Harper's Ferry told me I'd get 600 miles out of them....and it has been 432.9, and my parents are bringing me new ones by 500 miles. So they almost made it to 600. I'm sure if the rocks hadn't been so crazy there for awhile they may have made it that extra 100.We have made our home for the night on the patio over the rocks...we are cowboying if for the first time on our thru-hike. It is really incredible to be able to look up at the night sky as you fall asleep. Nothing like it.