morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-19
From: NY 17A, Bellvale, NY (1371.7)

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter (1393.4)
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: broken clouds

Day 94 - Tuesday, May 19, 2015I felt a little bummed out when my wife took me back to the trailhead this morning to resume my hike.Oh, no. I'm not considering quitting ¢ not in a million years. I'll finish if I have to bow my neck every step of the way. But that's not the way I want to do it. I want to hike with a happy heart. And I wasn't happy.I didn't like leaving my wife.I was concerned about my hernia. I was alone again. Three short days in a row had put miles between me and my friends.And I just had to slow down. Which meant catching up would be that much more difficult.Not surprisingly, it wasn't a good day.I didn't reach Fingerboard Shelter until 6:00 PM ¢ 16.6 miles in the woods. Not good at all but, at least I had slowed down. Partly on purpose and partly because of the terrain. It was A tough day and, it turned out, it wasn't over.I hadn't seen any NoBos all day. I passed no one. No one passed me. But as I arrived at the blue blaze trail to Fingerboard, there was Stretch. There was no water there, he said. The shelter was nasty. He was going on to the next shelter, another 5.3 miles. In a moment, I decided to go with him.We got there at 8:25 PM, almost full dark ¢ we were using our headlamps.It was a difficult day.
Date: 2015-05-20
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter (1393.4)

To: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center (1410)
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 95 - Wednesday, May 20, 2015I hiked most of the day today with a section hiker named Sheepshead.He has an unusual plan and you could read about it yourself, on his blog on Trail Journal.Sheepshead hiked 700 and some miles last year, another 700 and some miles this year, and he plans to finish next year.What's so different about his hike is that he is staying in a motel almost every night, with his wife. She takes him to the trailhead in the morning and picks him up at night. And he's not slack packing, or doesn't appear to be.Anyway, he came through the William Brien Memorial Shelter early this morning, just as I was getting ready to leave. We hiked a little ten miles together to the Trailside Museum near Fort Montgomery, New York, where his wife picked him up. He planned to hike on to Connecticut and go back home to Texas.We climbed Bear Mountain today (no, I didn't see one) but I did see the skyline of New York City. Or thought I did ¢ I'm nearsighted and I'm not wearing glasses. Anyway, other people said they saw it.(I guess I'm never going to see a bear. I walked right past two at the Trailside Museum in a cage. So what was I looking at? The trail, naturally.)It was a pretty easy 16.6 miles to Greymoor Spiritual Life Center. I caught up with a lot of old friends there ¢ Elmer and Bridges, Mother Nature and Between, Ironman, Stretch, and a new friend, Lunchbox. Counting me, that's eight NoBos camping in one spot. Mighty unusual for NoBos this far north.Got a cold shower, well, not all the way under the nozzle, but I splashed around a little, ate supper, and went to bed.What was for supper?Hiker steak! Spam. Made all the better buy salt from J. Q. Dickinson saltworks, Charleston, West Virginia.**Full disclosure: Dickinson salt works is owned by relatives. Even so, it's darn good salt.
Date: 2015-05-21
From: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center (1410)

To: RPH Shelter (1428.8)
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: light rain

Day 96 - Thursday, May 21, 2015I was up at 5 and away at 7 today. It was beautiful, a perfect day to go hiking. I hiked alone, the norm not only for me but for everyone not partnered up. And some of the partners, like Tweet and YoYo and Elmer and Bridges, don¢t actually hike together. They hike at different speeds so they might eat lunch together and they stay at the same shelter at night.When I arrived at the RPH Shelter, Elmer and Bridges, who had passed me during the day, were there. And the Hiking Vikings, too. We visited a while and then the four of them left. I¢d hike 18.8 miles, enough for me.Two more NoBos arrived later in the evening ¢ Stretch first and the Ironman. How did I get there before they did? Stretch slept in and Ironman had gone into a nearby town to get a doctor to treat an ingrown toenail. Before Ironman arrived Stretch and I ordered medium pizzas and large cokes. They brought us large pizzas and medium cokes. And, for once, I was unable to eat all the food in front of me.BTW, this is the first shelter I¢ve seen with a well, and it was contaminated, according to New York authorities. It also had a privy built right next to the trail, another first for me.
Date: 2015-05-22
From: RPH Shelter (1428.8)

To: Telephone Pioneers Shelter (1445.6) 
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 97 - Friday, May 22, 2015I¢ll confess.I got turned around this morning and hike backwards for 55 minutes. That¢s almost two hours of work down the tubes. How could I have done something ¢ go on and say it ¢ that dumb?I have no idea.   I must have taken a wrong turn, realized it, turned around, and then hiked right back where I came from.Why didn¢t I realize my mistake right away?Ever spent time in the woods? On the trail?The trail goes up, the trail goes down. It contains rocks [usually, lots of them], roots, and leaves. It all looks pretty much the same. And on either side of the trail. Well, there are trees on either side and they look pretty much the same too.[Look, just forget about it. It could have happened to anyone.]So what made me finally realize that I was hiking south?Well, I¢m walking along and I see this privy, right by the trail. And I¢m thinking, Well, what do you know. Another trail side privy. That¢s only the second one I¢ve seen since I left Georgia ¢ I used one this morning just like that one.[Oh, NO!]Oh, yes. It was the same one.Stretch was the first one out this morning ¢ he knew some place where he could get a real breakfast and food was very much on his mind. Ironman slept in. Both of us had given Ironman some of our pizza left over from supper and, during the night Stretch got up and ate his last three slices. I had the rest of my pizza for breakfast.I stopped at the Morgan Stewart Shelter for lunch and saw something pretty unusual ¢ nine NoBos had signed the shelter register that morning: Elmer and Bridges; Stretch; Mother Nature and her son, Between; the Hiking Vikings; Lunchbox; a new hiker I met at the shelter, a Frenchman named Selfie; and me. And the day before Yoyo and Tweet and Crocman had checked in. This shelter also had a well and it, too, was contaminated, according to New York authorities. If the ground water in New York is contaminated it makes you wonder just how dirty the creeks are. Springs, too.It¢s hardly worth mentioning, but I left lost my filter here. They one I just bought to replace the last one I lost. Left it right beside the contaminated well.I sheltered tonight with Grrrr, a section hiker trying out his new knee. He had busted it attempting a through hike in 2013.
Date: 2015-05-23
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter (1445.6) 

To: CT 341, Kent, CT (1467.1)
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: clear sky

Day 98 - Saturday, May 23, 2015Goodbye New York, hello Connecticut. The end is not in sight, not by a long shot, but I¢m making progress. Little by little and bit by bit.Confession time:I hiked backwards again today. And, no, I¢m not getting senile. [At least, I think I hiked backwards. That¢s a joke.] Anyway, I only hiked the wrong way for about 15 minutes.So what saved me this time?Well, I¢m hiking along and who do I run into but Mother Nature and Between. And I say to Between, ¢Why are you hiking south?¢And he replied, ¢I¢m not hiking south.¢I¢m not going into the details but I¢m going to chalk this one up to poor trail blazing.I passed by the Appalachian Trail Rail Road Station, near Pawling, N.Y., where I could have caught a train to Grand Central Station. Would have too [we have friends in New York] but I¢m on a mission of sorts.Caught up with Crocman at a shelter at noon, where I stopped for lunch. He was taking a zero to let an injury heal some and give Temper time to catch up. She has left the trail for a few days to see a friend in New York. They¢re fast, and I hope I see them again. But if she¢s out for long, it¢s not going to happen.Hiked into Kent, CT, this evening. Went by an outfitter, bought another filter, a second long sleeve shirt to help ward off ticks, and batteries for my headlamp. I had given my spares to Ironman a few days ago.Then I ate a salad, a steak and potato, and an ice cream and cookie dessert that, believe it or not, I couldn¢t quite finish. So I took it with me and finished the cookie ¢it was as big as a saucer ¢ in the middle of the night.Caught a break on a place to stay.Grrrr had told me that a ridge runner told him that a church across the street from the outfitter allowed hikers to pitch their tents in their pack yard. But it wasn¢t the church, it was a clothing store a couple of doors further down Main Street, called Country Clothes. It was dark ¢and chilly¢by the time I got back to Country Clothes.   So I didn¢t pitch my tent. I slept alone in David and Carol Jalbert¢s ¢Hiker Shed¢ behind the store. Bless ¢em.
Date: 2015-05-24
From: CT 341, Kent, CT (1467.1)

To: Pine Swamp Brook Shelter (1484.1)
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 99 - Sunday, May 24, 2015I had a lovely morning, and then I paid for it.I slept in until 7 or so. Then I bandaged my feet, packed my gear, walked a block or so down Kent¢s Main Street to a restaurant and had breakfast ¢ two eggs over medium, patty sausage, hash browns, toast, jelly and lots of coffee.And The New York Times.I haven¢t read a newspaper since I was home on medical leave back in March and it was wonderful having a paper, especially The Times, in my hands again. [I was a newspaperman for 42 years.] It¢s an understatement to say I lingered over breakfast.Then I walked to a grocery store and resupplied. Walked back to the outfitter and bought two spoons [I thought I had lost my spoon, and would probably lose another. So I bought two. Turns out I only misplaced it, so now I have three.] And then I walked 0.8 of a mile back to the trailhead. It was ten minutes ¢till noon.I had planned to hike to Pine Swamp Brook Shelter ¢ a 17-mile day. And I did. I arrived after dark, at 8:45 p.m., by the light of my headlamp. All the while I was thinking, It¢s OK, Lucky, hiking into the night.The breakfast was worth it.
Date: 2015-05-25
From: Pine Swamp Brook Shelter (1484.1)

To: Riga Shelter (1503)
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: light rain

Day 100 - Monday, May 25, 2015I didn¢t tell you but I slipped on dry leaves yesterday and fell hard on a log, bruising my right thigh. The pain was so sharp that, at first, I thought I might have broken something. But it¢s just a bruise.Today¢s hike was uneventful, just grinding it out.Met two section hikers, who passed me during the day ¢ Bo and Dude, engineering students at the University of Virginia.As you may know by now, everyone in this neck of the woods is faster than I am. That doesn¢t mean they get ahead and stay ahead because many of them ¢most of them¢take a day off now and then, a zero. And then I pass them. I don¢t take days off to rest, or haven¢t so far. Tell you a funny story.So far I have passed only ONE NoBo on the trail, an old guy, in his 60s. And what was his name?SlowMan.This is a red letter day for me ¢ I¢ve finally gotten my average miles per day up to 15, my plan from Day One. This is Day 100 and I¢ve hiked 1,503 miles. The 10 zeros I took, four weather-related and six more to get a medical examination, plus four weather or medical neros, threw me for a loop. But that¢s behind me now. All I have to do from here to Maine is average 15 a day.BTW, there is a BIG difference between hiking 15 miles and averaging 15 miles. Almost anyone is reasonably good health, on a reasonably good trail, can hike 15 miles. Averaging 15 is another matter altogether.Bo, Duke and I all hiked to Riga Shelter today. They stayed in a tent; I stayed alone in the shelter. It has the best view of any shelter on the AT that I¢ve seen, the kind of view for which hotels can, and do, charge big money. But the shelter is free to anyone willing to arrive on foot, carrying their luggage on their back.Definitions:NoBo: North bound thru-hiker who started in Georgia and is headed to Maine.SoBo: South bound thru-hiker who is going to start in Maine, probably around June 15 or later, and hike to Georgia.Flip-flopper: Hiker who starts in the middle somewhere, usually Harper¢s Ferry, and hikes either way, to Georgia or Maine. Then they go back to Harper¢s Ferry and hike the other way. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is pushing this kind of hike to lesson the impact on the trail.Zero: A day in which a hiker doesn¢t hike. They get zero miles. They might say to someone, I went to town and took a zero.Nero: Near zero. For some hikers, like me, that¢s a day when they hike 5 miles or less. Some big mile hikers, like Bruin, consider 10 miles or less a Nero.White blaze: The blaze color that AT hikers follow.Blue blaze: They mark trails attached to the AT that go to a shelter, water, a privy or a trail that allows a hiker to bypass a difficult or, in winter, dangerous section of the AT. These trails are always easier and sometimes shorter that the AT. A hiker might say, I blue-blazed that mountain.Yellow blaze: The yellow stripe down the middle of a highway. Some hikers bypass sections of the AT by hiring or thumbing a ride. One hiker might ask another, How did he catch up with us so fast? And the other might reply, He must have yellow blazed.
Date: 2015-05-26
From: Riga Shelter (1503)

To: US 7 - Sheffield, MA (1521 - Jess Treat Home)
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: light rain

Day 101 - Tuesday, May 26, 2015Stayed at Jess Treat, a hostel is Sheffield, MA, tonight. Tough day, 18 miles and a lot of it was difficult.Jess picked me up at the trail head on US 7 and when I arrived at her home I was surprised, and delighted, to find Mother Nature and Between were staying there too. It¢s Between¢s birthday ¢ he¢s 18 now ¢ and they were going to supper in a nearby town. Jess Treat is a five-star hostel. I have a private room with a double bed. Jess will shuttle me to a Caf© a few blocks tonight to get supper and will shuttle me back to the trail head tomorrow. I¢ve had a hot shower [my first in eight days]; my clothes were washed and dried and Jess said she would fix us a good breakfast in the morning.Had a good supper tonight, and then bought four candy bars to eat on the hike tomorrow. But I couldn¢t wait ¢ I¢m always hungry. I ate all four tonight.BTW, this morning I cross the state line into Massachusetts from Connecticut. And after Massachusetts there will only be three states left ¢ Vermont, New Hampshire and, ta-da, Maine!
Date: 2015-05-27
From: US 7 - Sheffield, MA (1521 - Jess Treat Home)

To: MA 23/East Mountain Retreat Center (1529.4)
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: light rain

Day 102 - Wednesday, May 27, 2015Breakfast at Jess Treat was as good as promised: scrambled eggs; bacon; toast and jelly; coffee and plenty of it. Jelly shuttled Mother Nature and Between back to Salisbury, CT, to do the 20-some miles they had skipped to get to her hostel and celebrate Between¢s birthday. They planned on being back here by night.I stayed here, working on the blog until 11 or so. Then Jess took me back to my trailhead, at US 7. [On the way we stopped so I could buy more candy.] I only hiked 8.4 miles, not much but a lot better than zero. On the way I saw no one.Once I reached MA 23 I had to walk another mile and a half to get to the East Mountain Retreat Center. I would have skipped it, gone on to the next shelter, or camped, but I was committed. At my request my wife had sent a resupply box to the Retreat Center and whether I stayed there or not, I had to have those supplies.This meant, of course, that I¢d have to walk a mile and a half in the morning back to the trailhead before I my hike even begun.It has threatened to rain off and on all day. A little while after I arrived at the center it stopped threatening and started raining, hard.   I was glad to be inside.For two days in a row now I¢ve had a shower, a record of some sort.The woman in charge was not very welcoming, but the facility itself was nice and since I was the only guest, I had it all to myself ¢ bedroom, living room with hot plate, shower. No washer but it did have a dryer.Fixed myself a mess of rice, corn and summer sausage, ate every spoonful, and went to bed at 7:30. It was still raining.
Date: 2015-05-28
From: MA 23/East Mountain Retreat Center (1529.4)

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin (1548.5)
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: broken clouds

Day 103 - Thursday, May 29, 2015I was up at 4 a.m. because I had a long day in front of me, a 1.5 mile walk back to the trailhead and then a 19.1 mile walk to Upper Goose Pond Cabin, where I planned to spend the night.I knew how far it was to Goose Pond, and I knew how much I had to climb. What I didn¢t know ¢never know¢is what the trail is going to be like. Lots of rock hopping? Rock scrambling? Or a lot of more or less smooth trail? Hiking reminds me of that line in the movie, ¢Forrest Gump:¢ The trail is like a box of chocolates, too. You never know what you¢re gong to get.Goose Pond turned out to be a great place to stay. Lots of good water and good company. Duke and Bo were there. And Good Knight. And four new guys, flip floppers: Krumb, Hulk, Styles and Apollo. I think that was his name.The cabin had an upstairs, a porch on the front, a pond nearby where you could go swimming if you could stand ice cold water. It was manned by a group of volunteers who took turns looking after the place AND COOKING BREAKFAST in the mornings. All for a donation which I will be happy to make.Like California was find of saying, It¢s all good.
Date: 2015-05-29
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin (1548.5)

To: Kay Wood Shelter (1566.1)
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 104 - Friday, May 29, 2015Styles, Apollo, Krumb and Hulk, and the two UVA students, Bo and Dude, wound up at the Cookie Lady¢s house, where we ate lunch. I waited there for Dan Woods, an old newspaper friend who lives in New York. He was going to hike with me this afternoon, Saturday and Sunday morning.[Hikers can¢t resist food, especially free food. Plus, the Cookie Lady¢s house was only 100 yards off the trail. Unfortunately, she wasn¢t home.]Dan was late because he missed the first turn he encountered, and took a nice, easy path rather than the AT. Here¢s the rule he didn¢t know: When you come to juncture that¢s not well marked and you don¢t know whether to go straight or left or right, just look at the three trails. The good ones, the ones that look like the paths through the park in your hometown, will not be the AT. The AT will be the one with slick rocks, and exposed roots, headed uphill. Never seen it to fail.By the way, if Dan can get lost on the AT ¢he¢s about twice as smart as the normal person¢well, anyone can get lost. I don¢t feel so bad.Everyone else had eaten lunch and left by the time Dan and I finished repacking his pack, leaving stuff he wouldn¢t need in his rental car. And by that time Roy Wiley, Mr. Cookie Lady, had come home. So we got cookies.Dan arranged for Mr. Wiley to pick him up late Sunday morning and shuttle him back to his car and we were off.
Date: 2015-05-30
From: Kay Wood Shelter (1566.1)

To: Mark Noepel Shelter (1583)
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 105 - Saturday, May 30, 2015Dan, who has taken the trail name ¢Cork,¢ hiked all morning just as he had on Saturday afternoon, like he had been hiking every day for weeks.But he became ill that afternoon on a long, steep climb. Just couldn¢t get enough oxygen. Even so, we still did almost 17 miles and reached the Mark Noepel Shelter where we both tent camped.
Date: 2015-05-31
From: Mark Noepel Shelter (1583)

To: Seth Warner Shelter (1599.5)
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

Day 106 - Sunday, May 31, 2015589.7 miles to Katahdin.Dan was still not feeling well this morning, and decided to get off the trail earlier than he had planned, at Rockwell Road, near the summit of Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts.I fell again today, on a rain slick rock, and hurt my right knee. I fall most days, sometime several times a day, but I rarely get hurt. Not this time. My knee is OK as long as I don¢t bend it very much, walk sort of straight legged. It reminds me of the bruise I got sliding on the ice down Blood Mountain, on Day Two of the hike. I had to walk a little straight legged for a while then too, and it was just a bruise. I¢ve got to be more careful. A fall like that could delay -- or end -- my hike.   I crossed into Vermont [Yea! Eleven states done, three to go.] and hiked on in the rain to North Adams, MA, where I ate lunch at the Oriental Buffet and then resupplied at a grocery store close by. Good Knight was there but no other through hikers ¢ and it¢s a good thing for the Oriental Buffet, too.I ate three heaping plates of food, and three smaller plates of desserts. [I didn¢t want to embarrass myself.] And I¢m pretty sure Good Knight held his own. Half a dozen through hikers eating there at the same time would have been a sight to behold.
Date: 2015-06-01
From: Seth Warner Shelter (1599.5)

To: Melville Nauheim Shelter (1612.6)
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

Day 107 - Monday, June 1, 2015588.1 miles to Katahdin.Didn¢t Vermont get the memo?It¢s June!But it was cold here last night, high 30s, low 40s. I sent my winter bag and bag liner home several weeks ago, to lighten my pack. And I paid for that decision last night. I don¢t have any winter clothing either, and no rain gear.When my alarm went off at 5 a.m., it was raining hard and the wind was blowing. Reminded me on Georgia and North Carolina back in February and March. Except for a spare pair of underwear and two pair of wet socks, I was wearing all the clothes I had. With nothing dry to put on later, I couldn¢t go hiking in a storm, into that rain and that wind and cold. Was I going to have to take a zero, in this dark, dank, shelter?There were four of us there, two through hikers, Good Knight and me, and two Long Trail Hikers who were starting their third day on the trail.By 8 a.m. the rain had slacked off a lot, to a drizzle, mostly, and the wind wasn¢t blowing so hard. It was still cold, but the new guys were getting ready to go. I was still wrapped up tight in my down quilt.And one of them said to me, ¢It was nice meeting you. See you at the next shelter if you make it.¢And before I could catch myself I replied, ¢If you make it to the next shelter, I'll see you.¢And then I got up and began packing.All three of us made it. I got there first.