morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-06-29
From: Blue Mtn Lakes Rd/Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Mashipacong Shelter
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: broken clouds

We made arrangements with Lynn to meet out front of the hostel at 7:00am. We woke up at 6:45am. This created a minor state of panic since we didn't want to keep Lynn waiting. Glide went out to chat with her and she was offering to slack us again today! Ace! This made our preparation time increase since we had to remove the unnecessary slack gear. While we were making our final preparations Powerstrip was hassling Lynn for a ride back to New York. That request gave us the closure we needed to confirm him a drifter and fraud hiker. We warned everyone else about his antics. Lynn was nice enough to take us to the diner for breakfast so we bought her food; it was the least we could do. The breakfast was much better than the dinner last night. We got to the trail after 9:00am, but we had the huge advantage of slack packing. The five of us bumped into Kermit and Caro again and we filled them in on Powerstrip's bogus claims of being a hiker. Flowers was leading the group when we happened upon a small black bear. All of us got a good long view of him. We watched him eat and sniff about for around three minutes before caught our scent and blasted off through the woods. This makes ten bear sightings for me on the trail. We crossed a major highway at lunch which had a nice sandwich deli that we stopped at briefly. Upon one of the next peaks there was a fire tower that gave amazing views of the surrounding areas. It had also been left unlocked at the top, so we climbed into the observatory deck. There were several binoculars we enjoyed. We left a thank you note and didn't disturb much else. The water sources have again been a bit scarce or putrid but we filled up at the next clean spring and carried a lot more than usual since we may stay the night at a shelter without a source. The road gap where we met Lynn with our gear was just 0.2 miles past a nice shelter area with good tenting areas. Lynn was nice enough to bring a couple gallons of water to help the cause. We carried all of the water back to the shelter and shared the extra with others. At lunch I had purchased an extra sandwich for dinner. Brilliant idea. Much better than crap noodles etc. The mosquitos were fierce and flying around about the size of small labradors... Tomorrow has some interesing possibilities in store. Young Goldylocks and Havoc were being visited by their dad. He is to fly in tomorrow and stay through July 7th. He will be renting a car and wants to hike wth the kids. We all came up with the amazing idea of dropping some of us off to hike south and the northern hikers will park the car. We would then pass each other halfway and hand the keys over. The southbounders would then pick us up and we would do it all over again. Tomorrow's plan is to meet up with their dad once he gets into town. this will be ace.
Date: 2011-06-30
From: Mashipacong Shelter

To: Unionville, NY/Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 15.4

We all got organized and out of our tents at a good time and were on the trail by 7:00am. The plan was to meet the kids' dad in Unionville and sort out the future slack packing details tonight. We crossed a lot of swampy areas which housed millions of mosquitos. No breaks could be taken under such circumstances. The five of us stopped at high point state park for lunch. There was a nice beach which had entirely too many life guards and a concession stand. We each grabbed some hot food and I bartered wih the lady to get half price drinks. $3.00 for a small gatorade a bit over the top. She was a little upset with me over this and tried to say that I ripped her off. She could have refused my half price suggestion. Oh well, we came out on top. They also had a board that A.T. hikers could sign that went up on the wall, so we left our marks on that. I was surprised to see a massive phallic monument that closely resembled the washington monument in D.C. When we got to the road in Unionville we decided to call it a day as far as hiking went. Goldylocks organized our accomodation at the church hostel. The hostel was nice. It had full bathrooms and showers, full use of kitchen, washer, dryer, TV, computer with internet, WiFi. The sleeping arrangements were a bit strange though. There was a large dining room area that we just laid our sleeping bags down in. We just slept between all of the tables and chairs about. we went out to a local steakhouse for dinner because it happened to be Flowers' birthday. He was turning 30 on the 30th. I ordered him a double three wise men (Jack, Jim and Jose) and then the four adults did Irish car bombs. It was a good dinner. The kids planned a big 26 miler for tomorrow which was agreed upon at the table. When we got back to the hostel I had a marvelous idea to make cookies. I had purchased the powdered mix to simply eat with water on the trail because of the high calories. This was a much better application though since i had an oven to actually bake them. This made me fairly popular with the hostel residents just before bed.
Date: 2011-07-03
From: Lake Tiorati/Garrison House

To: Arden Valley Rd / Newburgh, NY
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We all got into gear around 6:00am. I had already sorted most of my stuff out the night before so my preparation time was minimal. I was looking through my guidebook when Goldylocks came down and confessed her reservations about hiking in the rain. I hadn't even looked outside to understand what she was talking about. The thought of rain hadn't crossed my mind at all. after studying the outdoor conditions I decided to reasearch the matter furthur by locating the weather channel. The outcome was upsetting. It was predicted to rain for the entire day. I had to admit that the concept of hiking a long and soggy day was unappealing. We made an executive decision to wait out the rain and take a zero. I had to catch up on a few journal entries anyway. we had a nice breakfast at the b&b. the reduced hiker rates don't usually include breakfast, but the lady was nice enough to make us all a nice table. The group of us (Flowers, Tom, Goldylocks, Havoc and i) packed our gear up into the car and checked out of the b&b. We popped into a wee coffee shop to discuss where we were to stay next and what our plans were. Goldylocks found a cheap hotel in Newburgh, NY that we would all split. We spun into Barnes and Nobel for a little browse and I managed to pick up a birthday card for Goldylocks (her b-day is tomorrow). We couldn't check into our hotel for quite some time so we went to a local outfitter. I had worn the tips of my trekking poles down to a ridiculous point so I brought them in for a consultation. After a while of faffing around the bloke behind the counter helped me pull of my old and damged tips to replace them with new ace ones. I didn't realize that it was that simple but was so excited to try out my new tips on the trail. The kids wanted to see a movie at the cinema so I took advantage of this time by journaling. The room had two double beds in it. The kids took the floor, tom took a bed and Flowers and i relunctently shared the other bed. I've slept a lot closer to blokes on the trail, so this was not as uncomfortable as it would have been for me before i started the trail.
Date: 2011-07-05
From: Manitou Road / Newburgh, NY

To: Canopus Lake / Newburgh, NY
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

We got started around 7:00am. Goldylocks hung back a little bit in the morning since she had a bit of discomfort from poison ivy on her legs. Havoc and I took off and enjoyed the nice morning weather we had. The trail popped out of the woods at a small convenient store well equipped with a deli. This place had the best cheesesteak sandwich I've ever had! Havoc appeared shortly after my sandwich, and sheepishly admitted to taking a wrong turn a mile or two back. Tom and Goldylocks appeared in the car which was rather surprising. As it turned out, they thought it best to swing into a pharmacy to get some hydrocortisone cream for the uncomfortable poison ivy Goldylocks was dealing with. Freight Train, Plan B and Smooth showed up at the store just as we were leaving. Havoc and I got ahead again and started jogging down a few of the hills. Unfortunately young Havoc took a wee spill behind me as we were descending at a rapid pace. He grazed his knee a little, and cringed for a minute or two, but nothing serious. The last little bit was not very demanding. when Tom picked us up we ran Goldylocks to the local health clinic for an injection of cortizone for her poison ivy. The kids were up for seeing another movie after we got back and I did a bit journaling. Tom and i went to TGIF for dinner and a beer. chill and relax evening.
Date: 2011-07-06
From: Canopus Lake / Newburgh, NY

To: Depot Hill Rd / Newburgh, NY
Miles today: 16.9

On the trail at 7:20am today. Flowers is planning on trying to catch up to us today on the trail since he took some shorter days while hanging with the fam. Tom was going to play chauffeur today again. Tom was planning on making an appearance at the RPH shelter to bring the kids some drinks etc. He, however was nice enough to give Smooth a lift to the health clinic to get an infection looked at. Tom did manage to stash a couple of soft drinks under some wooden boards for the kids near the RPH shelter. Havoc was fed up with the amount of time we were wasting on break, so he stormed off ahead of us on the trail. We had two steep climbs to sort out in the afternoon. I finally managed to catch up to Havoc during these climbs. We stopped for a short spell to allow Goldylocks to catch up since Havoc was carrying all of their water and the hummidity was excessive. Flowers still hadn't managed to catch up to us; this was probably due to the fact that Havoc took off solo and we picked up the pace to catch up to him.   Tom picked us up and drove us to where we might end up tomorrow. Since he has to fly out tomorrow he won't be able to pick us up in the afternoon. We swung into subway and stopped at wal-mart for a food resupply. Young Havoc had a bit of a miscommunication with the people at Domino's pizza. He was trying to arrange a delivery of one of his staple foods - chicken strips. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but after about four different phone calls to the pizza shop Havoc requested to be driven to McDonald's. I was in communication with Flowers during this time and suggested that he and his wife also take advantage of the hotel room we were all already splitting. A crowded, but hiker friendly room...
Date: 2011-07-07
From: Depot Hill Rd / Newburgh, NY

To: Bulls Bridge Rd
Miles today: 20.9

We got a late start today since we had to sort out the logistics of Tom leaving and Tera (Flowers' wife) taking our things to a campsite we had in mind. It was very generous of Tera to transport our gear for us which allowed us to slack pack. Tom dropped us off and steamed off to the airport in Newark. We heard later that the interstate was closed due to an accident and Tom had to sort out his way back by taking lots of backroads. It was evident that today would be another scorcher. We came up on a nice lake named nuclear lake. I wasn't sure about why it was named nuclear lake, but chose not to take a swim just in case. We crossed another rail line with a specific Appalachian Trail station. It was a functional train stop that was on a line that ran into NYC. we dropped our packs at the garden center for a little bit and decided to walk a quick half mile down the road to a deli just off of the trail. We tried our luck at hitch hiking but quickly remembered that hitching in New York is illegal. No harm done, we'll just walk. I went for he cheesesteak option again hoping that I would get a similar awesomeness to the other day. Alas, the sandwich was okay at best. I'm not complaining, as my good friend Alien says "I'm happy with bread along with something more watery than bread". We got back to the trail to discover we had just missed some trail magic with a hot dog vendor. Oh well, there will be others. We stopped into Wiley shelter for an afternoon snack and drink. The next bit had our first major climb since ... not sure sure when-long time ago. 10 mile hill was not actually 10 miles long, it merely felt like one was climbing 10 miles. Tera picked us up and we all made our way to a local camp ground where we planned on staying for a few nights while Tera shuttled us to and from the trail. The cost for the campsite was considerably more than was detailed in my 2011 guidebook. I felt that a bit of bartering was in order to make up for his sudden surprise of rate increase. The lady was nice and suggested that we come back after 9:00pm today so that no one will be there to check us in - thus gaining a free night in the camp grounds. Since we now had some extra time on our hands we asked some locals about any good places for a bite to eat. We were directed to little restaurant down the road named "Moose ....something". It was crap. Complete garbage. The food was okay, but the prices were foolish and the staff were very snoody towards us. Granted, we were smelly hikers, but the manner in which we were treated was ridicoulous. We killed lots of time here and made tentative plans for the next few days of hiking and tenting. We found a sweet campsite and setup rather efficiently and crashed rather quickly.
Date: 2011-08-25
From: Maine

To: Maine
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I just wanted to apologize for my extended absence from my entries. I also wanted to confirm that I'm still on the trail and still on track. The reason for my lack of entries is probably due to the nature of the terrain we have been subjected to. I haven't had as much time or energy to sit a write every day. I do however, each day written on paper so I will update asap. I also broke my kindle - knee, right to the face of the poor fella. This added to the complication. I'm alive and well, and smokin' through Maine at the moment. I'll fill everyone in shortly. Thanks for reading and sorry for the delay. Cheers,
Date: 2011-04-01
From: Springer Mountain

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 2.8
Weather: clear sky

Start of the our section hike (Skins and Bearman).Arrived in Atlanta, GA around 8 am and I somehow ran into Bearman at the escalator at the exact same time towards the baggage claim. (weird). While gathering our luggage we made our first AT trail friend, John! John came up to us asking if we were planning to hike the Appalachian Trail. (Easy to determine based on our clothes and hiking packs). John politely asked if he could catch a ride with us on our shuttle since his ride failed to show up. However, he also told us that he didn't have a phone or the shuttle driver's number so his ride could very well think he had been left out to dry - too late now!John is one of the many people we will meet attempting to hike the entire AT. The three of us took our adventure to the Georgia subway system (MARTA) and rode up to the final station, North Springs. We met our shuttle driver, Rex, at the MARTA station. In a large shuttle van for an outdoor adventure outfitter, we made our 2 hour drive to the top of Springer Mountain, the start of the AT. Rex drove us up to Springer Mountain through the twists and turns of the dry dirt road. On the way up the road, we ran into army rangers training along the road. It was crazy to see (or barely see) about 20 army rangers clad in cameo gear carrying around 60 lbs on their backs. We found out later that the Ranger Training facility is located somewhere in that area of the mountain.We arrived at the Springer Mountain parking lot, which is turns out is actually a mile (0.9 miles to be exact) AFTER the start of the AT. Undoubtedly, we had to go to the beginning of the trail and take pictures before officially starting. We left our packs with Mountain Squid, a volunteer from Tennessee, who logs the names of all those hikers starting their way from Springer Mountain a few days out of every year.We went to the top of Springer Mountain to take a few pictures and then make our short hike to Stover Creek Shelter only 2.8 miles from the AT start. Therefore, we actually hiked 3.7 miles today, but we will only count the miles hiked from Springer Mountain.After the short hike, we were the third and fourth people to set up camp at the shelter. There was a very diverse crowd of hikers at the shelter. 7 slept in the shelter and 8 campers in tents with 2 dogs. The weather was extremely dry and cold. We ate beef stroganoff, tea, and crackers for dinner. We hung our food from bear cables* set up at the shelter.It was a train, plane, and automobile trip to Springer Mountain. We are planning to hike 10-12 miles tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will hold out for us.VocabularyBear Cables - A cable line about 12 feet off the ground with a pulley system for hikers to hang their food and all items with an odor (toothpaste, etc) to avoid bears coming into their tent or shelter and eating all of their food.
Date: 2011-04-02
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Justus Creek
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We woke up early today to try and be the first group to leave camp. Unfortunately, we were the second.The ground was muddier than expected, but the terrain was relatively easy in the beginning. After the first few miles, we ran into our first experience of "trail magic." I only heard of the terma table "trail magic" last night. Definition - Basically, it is where people set up or walk the trail and hand out free food, water, or supplies (e.g. hand sanitizer). We grabbed a few pieces of fruit from the trail magic station and we were on our way. The next several miles were extremely difficult. We went up and down three mountains through what seemed like endless switchbacks. Set up camp at the beautiful Justus Creek. I had to supplement our meal of chicken and mashed potatoes since I was extremely hungry from the first real day of hiking.After dinner, we went to bed at 8:00 pm. Glorious!
Date: 2011-04-03
From: Justus Creek

To: Lance Creek
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: clear sky

We left Justus Creek around 9 this morning. Great terrain today!We met up with Bo Bo Kitty and Fracine (no trail name yet). Bo Bo Kitty (male if not clear yet) and I went ahead while Francine & Bearman hiked together. Today was filled with beautiful views. Unfortunately, my camera battery decided to die today.Luckily, Francine is a great photographer! We hiked with them to Woody Gap where they went into town for the night. Francine promised to send all of their pictures on their way to Fontana Dam (same end point as us). Woody gap was a great place to take a short break. Although short for us was about an hour. There was amazing trail magic with sausage biscuits, oatmeal creme pies, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. With only 3 miles left, we headed out and arrived at Lance Creek campsite. We met up with Axel Rose, her dog Bennie, her cousin Strawberry, and his dog Kiwi. We dried out our tent (wet from the dew the night before), made dinner, and went to bed early.
Date: 2011-04-04
From: Lance Creek

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

We left Lance Creek up Blood Mountain through Neels Gap on our way to Baggs Creek Gap. We made good time to slaughter creek (right before the ascent to blood mountain) where we took a short break. We met Cool Breeze who had hiked the entire AT 3 times, the Continental Divide once, and the Pacific Crest once. He had done the AT in 78, 88, & 98.Blood mountain wasn't as bad of a hike as one might think from the name. But, the views were amazing. In one spot you could see 50+ mountains, ridges, and rolling hills from a 180 degree view.We were eager to get the excess weight off our backs so we headed to the outfitters at Neels Gap as quickly as possible. We stocked our food, shipped some extra food to ourselves further up the trail, and got rid of whatever we didn't need. We ended up shipping 22 lbs home!!Without water, my pack now weighed 39 lbs and my dad's pack now weighed 28 lbs. The folks at the outfitters helped me pack my bag correctly and now it feels so much better! At the outfitters, we checked the weather report - 80% chance of thunderstorms with hail and rain. We decided that we should stay at the hostel. Amazingly, a church group came and provided free dinner - lasagna, salad, and peaches. The salad was was amazing since it had been a few days without fresh vegetables. Hopefully tomorrow we can make up the 4 miles we didn't get to do today.
Date: 2011-04-05
From: Neels Gap

To: Campsite before Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

There was still snow coming down when we woke at Neels Gap hostel. We ate our breakfast and packed up so we could get a jump on our 12 mile day (8 miles plus the 4 miles missed from yesterday). It was cold out and within minutes we were happy that we did not sleep outside the night before. There was still snow snow on the ground when we began, but it was comfortable and easy to hike several miles. Only one girl passed us as we reached Tesnatee Gap (5.5 miles from where we started). When we reached Tesnatee Gap, we met and received trail magic from Tidewalker's father (Tidewalker was the girl that passed us). We had hot chocolate and hotdogs at the gap. After the "refueling," we kept rolling towards poplar stamp gap (our intended destination).We walked until we thought we would find the gap, but somehow we missed the gap or the gap wasn't as noticeable as the folks that wrote the hiker's thru guide made it seem.We made the decision to head to the next shelter or a good campsite.We walked and walked until we decided to set up camp with Ed (Trail name, not actual name). He found a beautiful campsite about .5 mile before the shelter. We made dinner and got in our sleeping bags as quickly as possible since it was extremely cold. We were excited that we did an "accidental" 18 miles today, but understandably tired.
Date: 2011-04-06
From: Blue Mountain Shelter

To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: clear sky

We slept in a bit after yesterday's "accidental" 18 miles. We got started and had a beautiful hike.We met a bunch of good folks and ran into more trail magic today (not really make this hike difficult on us). Today's trail magic was amazing - hot dogs, veggie chips, fruit, cookies, candy, and homemade peppermint patties. The peppermint patties were amazing and infinitely better than york. After the trail magic, we pressed on and hiked 7.8 miles to Tray Mountain Shelter. The views from the shelter were amazing. We are hoping to wake up tomorrow and see the sunrise from our tent. We were in our sleeping bags by 7:50 pm and had freeze dried beef stroganoff (after trading our buffalo chicken to Lord of the Wings).