morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-06-01
From: PA 183

To: Port Clinton
Miles today: 15.0

Phil and his wife Angie dropped me off at trail. I had a great dinner with them and their daughter Katherine the night before. I also realized that I had left my hiking poles somewhere. More dumb. It is an interesting world we live in. I left the trail for four days, including flying to Albuquerque and back. What a contrast. It was a hot day but pretty nice trail and got to Port Clinton about five. I hitched hiked to the Cabelas a couple miles away to look for some hiking poles. They only had their brand of heavy poles so I bought those. I also had to get a replacement buckle for my pack. It was nearly 8:00 by the time I got a ride back to the hotel for a huge hamburger, fries and a couple of local brews. This is a very old hotel, but they had window AC's so it was great. It was old enough that you shared a bathroom at the end of the hallway. Interesting contrast with today's world.
Date: 2013-06-02
From: Port Clinton

To: Eckwill Shelter
Miles today: 14.8

Pretty rocky section and I did not get in until about 5:30. Nice but small shelter with on onsite caretaker who has a nice small two story house. This is a site owned by the National Park Service. It has a cold shower and a flush toilet. You really appreciate modern conveniences on the trail. There were several thru hikes in, most of whom are doing 20+ miles a day. There was one guy my age (70) who I had heard about a couple of days ago. He is Snow Frog and is a thru hiker.
Date: 2013-06-03
From: Eckwill Shelter

To: New Tripoli Campsite
Miles today: 14.4

The first 7 miles were very rocky and slow. The last 7 where much better. At PA 309 there was a B&B and restaurant about 200 yards from the trail. I took a break and decided that would be a nice break and walked down and found it was closed that night. Met a lady section hike whose boot had fallen apart and she was getting off the rail. I kept going and camped near a power line that provided a great view but was petty windy. I enjoyed a nice sunset. There are not many nice views in this area. The woods are petty dense. It is actually pretty boring hiking.
Date: 2013-06-05
From: Outerbridge Shelter

To: Leroy Smith Shelter
Miles today: 16.7

Overall a good day with cool weather. This is the site of a very large EPA superfund site from a century of zinc mining. There is a long tough climb at Lehigh Gap. You have to put the hiking poles away and use both hands. It was pretty scary with a long way to fall. You do not want to look down and you need to lean into the mountain. The white blazes indicating the direction are painted on the rock, but there were not a lot of them and I got off the trail for awhile. Then there was a long hike on an ridge with great views of Palmerton, more superfund sites, and some old factories. As a result of the mining all of the vegetation on this mountain was gone in the 1980's. They have been replanting the area with the result that they have some really nice view and meadows. Sadly they are replanting more trees which will eventually destroy the only nice view on the AT in PA. Then the trail changed with lots of big rocks to scramble over, then more rocks followed by bigger rocks. I am starting to hate PA. Snow Frog was at the camp. I also caught up with a couple from NM that I had heard were on the trail. Panther and Olympia are from Edgewood, NM and are doing a flip flop. There was also a young couple of thru hikers, BB and Lugi.
Date: 2013-06-06
From: Leroy Smith Shelter

To: Kirkridge Shelter 
Miles today: 13.8

The day started out nice and then more big rocks. I got passed by a lot of thru hikers going into the town of Delaware Water Gap. It started raining in the afternoon and I decided to stay at the shelter. After I set up my tent it started pouring. There is a tropical storm, Andrea, hitting the area. It got cold, wet and windy. I was able to stay dry in the tent.
Date: 2013-06-07
From: Kirkridge Shelter 

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 6.4

It rained hard all night and all of the way into town. My old jacket is no longer water proof and I got soaked. I got a room at the Pocono Inn to wait out the storm and resupply. I bought a new jack and some good hiking poles at Edge of the Woods Outfitters. They were very helpful and had my mail drop that I had sent ahead. I had a great steak dinner and it rained hard that night.
Date: 2013-06-08
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: RD CR 602 
Miles today: 13.0

The first few miles into New Jersey were great. There is a big change in ecology after you cross the Delaware river. Sunfish Pond was really neat. It is the southernmost pond created by the last ice age. There were a lot of ponds as you hiked north, while there had been none in PA. I also saw on Blue Spruce tree. Met Snow Frog on the trail and we went 0.3 miles off of the trail to the Mohican Outdoor Center to get some ice cream before doing the last 3 miles to a campsite. I was passed by BB & Lugi, Splinter and Heavy Weight whose family was on the trail to met him.
Date: 2013-06-09
From: RD CR 602 

To: Gren Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 17.6

The morning was great. I walked by a large beaver pond and saw several deer. There were some nice views, but lots of large rocks on the trail.There was a steak house at HW 206 and I stopped there for a chicken sandwich and fries for an early dinner. Then I had three more miles to shelter. BB and Lugi passed by. Snow Frog was at the shelter.
Date: 2013-06-10
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Murray Property
Miles today: 18.0

It rained all day. My core stay pretty dry with the new jacket. My rain pants are old and no longer water proof, but that is not as important. There were a lot of slippery rocks. I missed the turn to the Murray Property which is not marked as such. As a result I walked about a mile passed it before turning back. The Jim Murray property is really nice. It is a farm owned by a former thru hiker. He has well, privy and lots of open are for tenting. He also has one small but nice shelter. It rained hard all night so it was great. Snow Frog was there along with a young couple from Crested Butte, CO. They are Sonic and Andrea. They have a five year old son, Buddy Backpacker. They are doing a flip flop and trying to have their son be the youngest thru hiker ever. They seem like a nice couple and seem pretty organized. They had a car which they were using to do some slack packing.
Date: 2013-06-11
From: Murray Property

To: Vernon NJ
Miles today: 17.0

Nice day with light rain. NJ has turned out to be interesting with a variety of terrain. Today I went by a large wildlife refuge with huge ponds and some Canadian Geese. I saw several deer in the forest areas. Went through a lot of swamp areas. Volunteer trail maintainers have put a lot of the trail on boards so the walking is pretty easy in those sections. I stopped at a Farmers Market 0.1 off of trail near Vernon and got some ice cream, plus some pastries for the morning and some plums and a coke for the next day's lunch. I stopped at 4;30 to set up camp and hang out stuff to dry out.
Date: 2013-06-13
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

I was up early and out by 6:15, trying to avoid the rain that was predicted. No such luck. It started raining by 7:30 and rained until noon. There was lot of crawling up rocks, which were slippery. It was a really tough day and it took me until five to get to the shelter. The last four miles were in Harriman State Park. The trail was a lot easier here and the this is a really beautiful park. Reilly, a student at the University of Vermont was the only person there. He had passed me early in the morning. It started raining hard shortly after getting to the shelter and got pretty cold. It was good to be in the shelter.
Date: 2013-06-14
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: Fort Montgomery
Miles today: 14.4

The trails were muddy and slippery. Many of the trails were like creeks. Not many people on the trail. Pushup passed by and said the he, Snow Frog and others had bailed into motels in Southfield because of the weather. The view from Bear Mountain was great. You could barely see NYC and had a great view of the Hudson. The walk to the Holiday Inn was a lot more that the 0.7 miles indicated and I was really tired by the time I got there. The hot shower and a steak dinner made up for that. I am doing a zero day to rest up and resupply.
Date: 2013-06-16
From: Ft Montgomery

To: South Highland Road
Miles today: 12.0

The walk from the Holiday Inn back to the trail is about 1.6 miles not the 0.7 miles advertised. Ugh! The miles that I show on this log only include actual trail miles and not any distances to go into towns. On the way to the trail I met up with Navigator who I had met a couple of days ago. He is a young fellow from Washington state. We walked across the Hudson river on the Bear Mountain bridge. He was excited to be north of the Hudson. We talked about the fact that we are now 2/3 of the way done with the AT. Navigator plans on doing 25 to the next shelter and he left me when the trail got steep. There is a deli right on the trail after about five miles and I had a great chicken sandwich and ice cream. The trail was pretty good, but with lots of shore ups and downs. It took me 9 hours to go only 12 miles. My feet are hurting from 300 miles of rocks.
Date: 2013-06-17
From: South Highland Road

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 13.4

It was a nice weather day, with lots of short ups and downs. The mosquitoes were out in full force. This is a really nice shelter with lots of chairs and table. The well water looked a bit rusty. Met Lady Gray, Clark Kent and Walker. Crazy Legs and Shadow Wolf who I had meet previously. They are two young people from AZ who started in January which is unusual. Normally you can order pizza to be delivered here, except on Mondays. We were all disappointed.
Date: 2013-06-18
From: RPH Shelter

To: Telephone Pioneer Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

I got a nice early start. Both Walker and Lady Gray passed me pretty early. At NY 52 we all went 0.3 miles off of the trail to a deli for an egg and sausage sandwich, coffee and orange juice. Crazy Legs and Shadow Wolf got there as I was leaving. Nice trail. It started raining pretty hard about 4:00 and I got to the shelter about 5:30. It was jammed packed with hikers, so I set my tent up on a sloop.
Date: 2013-06-19
From: Telephone Pioneer Shelter

To: Ten Mile Shelter
Miles today: 12.0

It was a beautiful day with no clouds. Lots of bugs. I started using the mesh bug pants that I had been carrying. That work really well and other hikers commented that they wish that they had them. Crazy Legs has bites all over his legs. Buffalo and Clark Kent passed me. This camping area is in a really pretty setting, next to a river. It seemed odd that I was the only one here.I got here about 4:00 and hung everything out to dry. I am glad to be out of NY and into CT. The trail in NY was tough. The CT trail is much better marked and maintained. I lost the broken hiking trail that I had planned on returning to Leki. I actually prefer hiking with one pole. My tent requires two, so I used a stick and it worked fine.
Date: 2013-06-20
From: Ten Mile Shelter

To: Kent CT. 
Miles today: 8.2

I got into Kent about noon and started off by having two huge hot dogs, coke and ice cream from the same store that is the local outfitter. They were holding my mail drop and I picked up a few more things. I got to the Starbuck Inn at 2:00. This is a really nice B&B. What a big change from camping. I started with a long shower, then took my stuff to the laundromat, stopped by the IGA for a couple of food items and then made it to 4:00 tea at the B&B.
Date: 2013-06-21
From: Kent CT. 

To: Caesar Brook Campsite
Miles today: 13.6

I had a great breakfast at the Starbuck Inn and then Peter Starbuck was nice enough to drive me back to the trail head and I got started at 8:00. It was mainly good trail and well marked. The trail people in CT do a nice job. Much better than New York. I got passed by Buffalo and two other thru hikers. Harrison, a Texas A&M grad who I had met earlier on the river walk along the Housatonic River was the only other person at the campsite.
Date: 2013-06-22
From: Caesar Brook Campsite

To: Falls Village 
Miles today: 11.8

Lots of ups and downs and the mosquitoes are out in force. When I got to Falls Village I decided to call the Bearded Den Hostel. This was a really good decision.For $50 Hudson came and picked me up and took me to the hostel,where I had a nice clean bunk, shower, and laundry. They served an excellent pasta dinner with salad, bread, wine and ice cream for dessert. Also at the hostel were a young couple, Whiskers & Rocket, a section hike, Maugraw (sp) and Flip who I had met back in Maryland. Flip is a farmer from Iowa and he had gone home for a few days. Except for Flip, we were all teachers.
Date: 2013-06-23
From: Falls Village 

To: Brassie Brook Shelter
Miles today: 13.5

"Big Lu", Hudson's wife who had cooked the great meal the night before dropped me off at the trail head. They had serve a great breakfast of pancakes with real maple syrup. It is in the 90's, very humid and tons of mosquitoes. I had purchased a pair of very dorky mesh bug pants which work great. However, I still get bites on my arms and neck. It was a nice trail into Salisbury, CT a neat little New England town. I did the 8 miles in about 3.5 hours which is fast for me. I had lunch at a very nice bistro and met up with Crazy Legs and Shadow Wolf. I gave them some of my insect repellent. I had just bought the last bottle of Deet at the outfitters. I also got a new bag for my sleeping bag. The old one was no longer waterproof. It was a pretty steep climb up to the shelter area. Clark Kent came in shortly after I set up camp. Slap came in about 7:00 carrying a 12 pack. He had expected to have more people there. I helped out.
Date: 2013-06-24
From: Brassie Brook Shelter

To: Camp in the woods
Miles today: 14.0

I got out early at 6:00 which was a good thing. It is in the 90's again and there were two really hard climbs over Bear mountain and Mt. Everett. There were some pretty nice views. Clark Kent and Slap passed me pretty early. They plan on going into town to cool off.Met Soway at the Mass/CT line. He had just down the entire state of CT, 52 miles in under 24 hours. Sages Ravine just after the state line was really neat. Lots of conifers and a nice stream. Rocket and Whiskers passed me in the afternoon. They are also going into town. Flip and Mawgraw also passed me. They are slack packing and spending the night at the Bearded Woods again. It looked like rain so I set up camp in a really dark forest with lots of very tall pine trees, a quite different environment. Some other young thru hikers passed me by just before I got set up. It started raining right after I got the tent set up.
Date: 2013-06-25
From: Camp in the woods

To: Camp in the woods to S. Wilcox Shelter
Miles today: 14.0

Another really hot day with lots of elevation change. There are lots of bugs as well. Everyone is talking about the heat and bugs. We usually talk about food. Slap and Clark Kent passed me by. They never made it into the town liked they planned. They were too beat up by the heat and Mt Everett. I had planned on going to the next shelter, but I was too tired and quit at 4:00 and used my camel back to take a cold shower and cool off. There was one other hiker there, a young man who was doing a short section hike south bound. He was pretty tired as well. Whiskers, Rocket, and her dad and brother went on to the next shelter which is only another couple of miles. This is nice pretty country, but too hot to be enjoyable.
Date: 2013-06-26
From: South Mt Wilcox Shelter

To: Upper Goose Pond
Miles today: 16.0

It cooled down to the upper 70's today with not as much elevation gain. Still I was pretty tired by the time I got to Upper Goose Pond. UPG is really awesome. This is a nice size lake with a hostel run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. I took a swim in the pond and it was great to cool off. They also have canoes you can borrow, but I was too tired. Whiskers, Rocket and her family were here and several other hikers. The caretakers are very friendly.
Date: 2013-06-27
From: Upper Goose Pond

To: Beckett MA
Miles today: 11.0

The caretaker at Upper Goose Pond made a nice pancake breakfast for everyone. Then a fairly normal trail to Beckett MA to the cookie lady, Marilyn Wiley. Their house is about 100 yards off of the trail and she makes fresh cookies for all of the hikers who come by. They also sell ice cream and coke. They have 12 acres of a blueberry farm and allow hikers to camp at their place. Here husband served in the Army Air Corp at White Sands in the early 1950's and we talked about that and the changes in the Las Cruces area. It is supposed to rain and I have a room reservation in Dalton MA so I camped out in one of their old buildings. It is only 9 miles to Dalton but I did not see any point in camping or hiking in the rain.
Date: 2013-06-28
From: Beckett MA

To: Dalton MA
Miles today: 9.0

I made it in time for lunch at Angelina's a sub sandwich place. The people at the Shamrock Inn where very hiker friendly. Got my laundry done, showered, and went to the pharmacy where I got some reading glasses to replace a pair that I had left on the trail. I picked up a small mail drop at the post office and spent an hour at the library catching up on email and posting. Tin Man and his son Crawfish were also at the Shamrock Inn. He teaches English at Georgia Tech. I had a nice filet dinner with salad, baked potato, and a couple of glasses of wine with Tommy Hawk and his brother Goat. I had met the the day before at Beckett.
Date: 2013-06-29
From: Dalton MA

To: Mark Noepel Shelter
Miles today: 14.1

It was a wonderful weather day, 70's with a nice cool breeze. There was a 1,760 foot elevation gain, but fairly gentle.I got in at 3:00 and set up camp. There is a lodge 3 miles further up on the top of Mt. Greylock, but it is full. Tim Man and Crawfish came in and then Mr. Coffee and Protestor. There was also a group of boy scouts who were typically noisy.
Date: 2013-06-30
From: Mark Noepel Shelter

To: North Adams MA
Miles today: 9.4

The morning started with a 3 mile climb to the top of Mt. Greylock, which is the highest peak in MA at 3,491 feet. It is topped by a stone tower with a globe that is lit up at night to honor the state's war dead. There are great views of the surrounding mountains. This mountain has been an inspiration to American literary greats such as Thoreau and Hawthorne. I got into North Adams about 2:00 and checked into a Howard Johnson's just before it started to rain. I am going to take a zero day here and get caught up on email etc.
Date: 2013-07-01
From: North Adams MA

To: North Adams MA
Miles today: 0.0

Spent the night at a Howard Johnson's and decided to take a zero day. It looks like pretty heavy rain today. It rained off and on all day. Foxy, who had meet the night before with Tommy Hawk and Goat, needed a place to stay so I let her stay with me. We went to a small outfitter store and I got a new canister. We went out to dinner at a good Chinese place.
Date: 2013-07-02
From: North Adams MA

To: Congdon Shelter
Miles today: 14.0

I was not able to hitch a ride so I had to walk a mile to the trail head. The trails were muddy as usual and there was light rain in the morning. Foxy and Roadrunner passed me in the morning and were at the shelter. Roadrunner is also from Germany. They both saw the same German documentary about the AT and how easy it was. They both said "lies, lies"
Date: 2013-07-03
From: Congdon Shelter

To: Kidd Gore 
Miles today: 18.7

I was on the trail at 6 along with Foxy and Roadrunner. The trail was very muddy with a lot of elevation gain. I walked past the shelter and found a place to pitch a tent. There are a lot of hikers on the trail. The AT at this point is also part of the Vermont Long Trail, which runs from Canada to the MA border. It is a very popular trail.
Date: 2013-07-04
From: Kidd Gore 

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 15.0

It was a very nice weather day, but the trails are still muddy. Lots of hikers passed me all day. There was a long climb up to the top of Mt. Stratton, where there some nice views of the ski areas in Vermont. I stayed at a very nice shelter at Stratton Pond, which is actually a nice size lake. I went for a dip in the pond which was really nice. The shelter holds 16 and it was full. This is one of the few shelters where there is a fee. ($5).
Date: 2013-07-05
From: Stratton Pond Shelter

To: Manchester Cener 
Miles today: 10.7

Another nice weather day, but the trails were still muddy. I made it to the road by noon. I called for a taxi into Manchester Center and took ZZ and Clammy along. I had met Clammy back in NY. We all agreed on the first stop, McDonald's. We all ordered big meals. We all had rooms at the Carriage House Inn, a small, low cost motel. After a shower I went into town to the laundromat. I stopped at Ben and Jerry's for a sundae while the clothes where in the wash. Picked up my mail supply at the Mountain Goat where I bought some new Black Diamond poles and water bottles.Manchester Center is an interesting cultural experience for hikers. It is a fairly large town, full of high end shops, like Armani. It is obviously a high income area, similar to Vail. Then there are all of us grubby hikers. I had a great dinner at Gringo Jack's a southwestern style restaurant along with a couple of margaritas. It rained at night.
Date: 2013-07-11
To: Trapper John Shelter
Miles today: 15.0

I met a lot of folks on the trail and at the shelter, including Whiskers & Rocket,Foxy, Roadrunner,Samson, Hoosier, ans some others. Also talked to Snow Frog when I passed by Moose Mountain Shelter earlier in the day. Tommy Hawk and Goat passed me earlier in the day and went on ahead. It finally stopped raining. It had rained 12 our to the past 14 days. Everyone was in much better spirits.Someone had left some fireworks in shelter which we fired off.
Date: 2013-07-12
From: Trapper John Shelter

To: Hexacuba Shelter
Miles today: 14.0

I saw two bear cubs shortly after starting this morning. They walked across the trail about 100 feet ahead of me. I fumbled with my camera and did not get a good picture. I did not see mama bear, which concerned be a bit. Bean, Snow Frog, were at the shelter. We are now meeting a lot of south bounders and it is fun to exchange information about the trail. One new bit of information is about Navigator who I had crossed the Hudson River with back in New York. He has "Wanted" posters in stores near the trail. Police have visited places along the trail and the Forest Service has been passing the word to be on the lookout. We are not sure what he is wanted for, but apparently it was violent.
Date: 2013-07-13
From: Hexacuba Shelter

To: Glencliff
Miles today: 14.8

Another nice day with some great views. The vegetation at the higher elevations is now different, mainly spruce trees, which we had not seen since North Carolina. The ones at the higher elevations are stunted. There was a large crowd at the hikers hostel,including a lot of people that I had met hiking over the last few weeks. It was like a big reunion. We also enjoyed having better food. I ate a couple of small pizzas and three ice cream bars. I traded a couple of extra freeze dried dinner with Samson for a couple of beers. I set up a tent hoping that I would get a better night sleep. That did not happen because there was a lot of traffic on the road.