morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-10
From: New Rochelle, NY-my sister's house

To: my sisters house, New Rochelle, NY
Miles today: 0.0

A wonderful day of leisure, hanging about doing nothing at all, well, almost. I¢ve ordered a new pair of shoes, Hopefully they are the same as the ones I¢ve got. So is this pair of shoes number 8?? I think I¢ve lost count. The ones I¢ve been this trip have been great, I¢m very klutzy and stub my toes all the time, these shoes have really protected my toes. After 500 miles, these shoes are wearing out, I¢m feeling every little rock I step on now, I think PA did them in.I seam sealed my packa, it did leak a little through the seams and it has a large grommet at the back of the neck where you cinch the elastic tighter around the pack, water got in there too, so I put a cover over the grommet.Last night we all went to see the ¢Pirates of the Caribbean III¢. I love Johnny Depp, he has such a cute twinkle in his eye. Tomorrow I¢ll get a hair cut and continue the life of leisure for another day.
Date: 2007-06-12
From: My sisters house

To: my sisters house
Miles today: 0.0

My shoes should come sometime today, but I just got word that my Aunt Helen passed away this morning. It¢s a good thing I¢m at my sisters house because there is no way I would have gotten word or been able to get off the trail to get to the funeral tomorrow. Helen would have been 99 years old on July 1st. She was a very wirey little woman that was so full of life, she would dance everyone else off the floor at all family weddings well into her 90th decade.
Date: 2007-06-13
From: my sisters house

To: my sisters house
Miles today: 0.0

While we were at the funeral today, my niece Wendy gave birth to an 8lb 10 oz baby boy! Congratulations Wendy, also, about the same time of day but half way across the world, my Nephew Reuven got married. A wedding, a funeral and a baby, all in the same day. The cycle of life goes on.
Date: 2007-06-14
From: my sisters house

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I got back on the trail at 3 pm today. Only 7 miles to the shelter, pretty easy. The new shoes, well, they¢re new and need to be broken in a bit. I¢ve developed some very weird pain in my right knee when walking down a steep incline. I¢m worried about it, I¢ve never had knee pain like this before.   Then, when I started cooking dinner I ran out of fuel. Four days at my sisters and I never thought about getting more fuel for my stove.Well, friends are wonderful people. I called Bonny and she picked up a canister of fuel for me and drove it up to me. The RPH shelter is one with a care taker, so its located on a road. I walked up to the road crossing to meet her. Thank you again for saving me Bonny. Now, if all goes well, I will be in Connecticut the day after tomorrow.I have to tell you something that I found very funny, I have a lot of music on my i-pod that I have no idea what it is. Several people have loaded their I-tunes onto my ipod.The night after I crossed Bear Mountain, which is a nice conical shaped mountain that you climb all the way up, and then all the way back down, I stayed at the Graymoor Friary. I found some meditation music on the i-pod and after dome deep breathing and relaxation steps it goes into this ¢visualization¢ thing. ¢Visualize a serene mountain top¢ ¢you are walking along the path and the twigs are crunching under your feet¢ ¢ You see a grassy glade that you enter, it has a babbling brook and you cup your hands to take a drink of the cold clear water¢. I cracked up laughing, definitely NOT relaxation, not when you¢re schlepping 30 pounds of gear up this mountain, sweating to death in 90* weather, stubbing your toes on the rocks and deadfall and getting giardia from not filtering or treating the water!Why couldn¢t they have a visualization of a nice beach in the Bahamas with clear blue water lapping at my ankles as I walk barefoot along the edge of the beach. I don¢t think I will ever be able to listen to that tape again!There are a bunch of short section hikers here at the shelter and 2 Thrus.
Date: 2007-06-15
From: RPH Shelter

To: Telephone Pioneer SHelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: overcast clouds

I had my worst night last night, there were some very nosiy people in the shelter getting up several times in the middle of the night. They made so much noise I was ready to yell at them. There were also several men snoring.I got up at 5 am and was on the trail by 6. Just a slow plodding along. I saw a lot of rock walls, I guess this is where the original colonies settled and had to clear their land, there was nothing else to do with the rocks. I crossed Interstate 84 today and went by Nuclear Lake. I was at the shelter by 3:45 pm.There are 2 guys from NYC out for the weekend, as well as several from the shelter last night. I hope I sleep better tonight. My right knee really hurts when going down hill, the shoes are OK, but need to be broken in more. I¢m seriously thinking of calling it quits for the year. I just have no energy, I don¢t know where it ran off to, but I just can¢t seem to find it. If tomorrow is no better, I¢ll call Marc to find me a ticket home on Tuesday.
Date: 2007-06-17
From: 10 Mile Lean To

To: Kent, Ct
Miles today: 8.7

I started out at 6:30 this morning with Diane, a wonderful woman with whom I¢ve shared the shelter for the last few nights. We decided to share a room in Kent tonight. This means instead of a 16 mile day today and 4 miles tomorrow, I have 9 today and 11 into Cornwall Bridge tomorrow.We followed the 10 Mile River for a short while to its junction with the Housatonic River, we crossed a bridge and back up into the woods. We had a 1000 foot climb, which was long, the highest I¢ve had to climb in the past few weeks was only 500 feet.The trails in Connecticut are fabulous, the woods are very pretty. It seems that all I did today was climb and climb, the downs were so mild I didn¢t even notice them (except for 2 very long steep ones). Diane and I saw a beautiful rattlesnake sunning itself (I got great pictures). We got to the road to Kent at noon and quickly got a ride to the Inn. Our room at the Fife and Drum was not ready so we sat in the restaurant and had lunch and a very nice glass of wine. This is a nice little town, but after showers and laundry I took a nap, by the time I woke up (5pm), the sidewalks had been rolled up and put to bed.
Date: 2007-06-18
From: Kent, Ct

To: CT 4 - Cornwall Bridge
Miles today: 11.1

Funny that spending last night in a comfy bed with lots of pillows I didn¢t sleep well at all. I had a really bad headache that woke me up several times, and night sweats (probably because I was under a down comforter).Diane was getting a rental car this morning since she was getting off the trail, and we were hoping that the guy who picked us up at the hotel would just drop me off at the trail head first. Well, this guy was in a really crabby mood and started backing out of the parking lot of the hotel before I even got into the car!! Then, at 8:30 am there was a major traffic jam in little bitty Kent, CT. because they were filming some movie there, and the guy had to take a huge detour around the town. Needless to say he refused to go the 0.8 miles out of his way to drop me off. But, alls well that ends well, I went with Diane to the rental car place, and there was a Starbucks next door. I was on the trail by 10am anyway and with my Starbucks, I was ready to hike.I said my goodbyes to Diane, she and I had a very similar pace and can do about the same distance, I wish she was staying on the trail, but we exchanged emails and numbers and perhaps will do some hiking together next year.The trail today was decent, I met 2 day hikers and 2 SOBO hikers, no one else. I tried to hitch into Cornwall Bridge, but had no takers. I walked the mile down the road and then took a wrong turn. I walked another half mile wondering where the motel was when I saw a guy getting into his car. I asked directions and almost lost it when he told me I was going the wrong way, but I did talk him into driving me to the motel ¢ Thank you who ever you were.Cornwall Bridge is a tiny little corner in the world, they have a ¢general store/deli¢ where I got a veggie sandwich and a few other items (Gatorade, chips, bananas and toothpaste). The motel is small, there were ants all over my room, but the lady that runs the motel was very very nice. She called to check on me and to see if I needed anything, and did I want her to run me into Kent ¢ after all, its only 7 miles away!! (so why did it take me 11 miles by trail?) She also said she would give me a ride back to the trail head in the morning.I finally got my new ankle brace, Yeah,   my old one is in tatters. I¢ve figured out my schedule, I¢ll be in Dalton Mass in 7 days (7 easy days). I have enough food for it, so next stop ¢ Dalton, MA. Also, the decision has been made, I¢ll go home after the wedding I ¢m going to on July 8th. July 4th will be my last hiking day, the rest of the trail will have to wait for another year.
Date: 2007-06-19
From: CT 4 - Cornwall Bridge

To: Limestone Spring Lean To
Miles today: 19.2

Its actually 19.7 miles because this shelter is a half mile off the trail. I was only planning on a 12 mile hike to a campsite, but it¢s supposed to storm tonight, and I¢d rather be in a shelter than my tent during a storm. All I can say is it was a LONG day. I saw a baby garter snake, a mouse, and yesterday I had a great view of a Scarlet Tanager of which I got a picture. I sure hope it rains after having done this really long hike.
Date: 2007-06-20
From: Limestone Spring Lean To

To: Brassie Brook Lean To
Miles today: 8.7

Well, I was pretty tired yesterday so I didn¢t write much. It did start to rain around midnight and continued off an on all night. It was still wet and overcast this morning, but the sun finally came out around 2 pm. I wish I could do another 8.8 miles today, it would put me a day ahead of my schedule, but alas, my poor tootsies don¢t want to do it.   There were 3 other people at the shelter last night (this after seeing only the ridge runner in the 19 miles I hiked). One was a SOBO section hiker and the other a father ¢son duo out for a week. They are here at this shelter too tonight.Yesterday, I had a nice treat, I came across a mulberry bush that was full of ripe mulberries. I got my hands quite purple as I scarffed down the berries (yum).There has been a number of long road walks in CT, and they don¢t blaze them well at all. Today, there was just one white blaze at the beginning of the street that I had to walk up. I didn¢t see another blaze anywhere up ahead, so I thought perhaps I missed the turn. I turned around to back track, but was confident that I hadn¢t missed anything. Fortunately there was a local woman out for a morning walk (through a cemetery), I asked her if she knew where the trail went and she pointed out a tiny little wood sign with just a simple little arrow pointing into a field. No blaze, no AT sign, just a little arrow!Well, the Massachusetts border is just about 2 miles from here, and the trail goes above 2500 feet. I don¢t¢ think I¢ve been that high since the SNP. Tomorrow will be another short 9 mile day since the next shelter is 14 miles beyond that.
Date: 2007-06-21
From: Brassie Brook Lean To

To: Home
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: broken clouds

The Father & Son (Kris and Kris) were getting off the trail today, I decided I¢d had enough for this year, We hiked to the Race Brook Falls Trail and took that down to the road, they gave me a ride into Pawling NY were I caught a metro trail into NYC, and got a shuttle out to LaGuardia. That¢s when trail magic ends. My flight was delayed due to weather, I would not be able to make my connecting flight out of Atlanta and they couldn¢t get me on another flight till the next evening. I asked for my pack back (I had checked it), canceled my ticket and called my son Josh (Sniper). He came and picked me up at the airport, took me back to his girlfriends house for the night and then to Newark Airport the next morning where I got a flight home.And, so, my trial on the trail ends on the same day of the year as last year (Summer Solstice). I have 4 more states to complete. Its not likely I will get to hike next year as I will be moving to Asheville, North Carolina. But the trail will be waiting for me to conquer it, and I fully intend to do so.
Date: 2005-12-08
To: Welcome to Trail Journals
Miles today: 0.0

Well it's official now...I started my journal entries. I am not starting my NoBo Thru hike until March 19, 2007 so there is going to be a lot of preparation entries before I am able to get out there. As of now I have hiked about 220 miles of the AT. I have done all of NJ and almost all of NY. My longest hike thus far was about 95 miles down in VA. I had the privilege to hike with the one and only Heald and Dog Wonder. My friend Brett and I drove down and met them in Montebello. We then headed south and seven days later finished in Daleville. That trip (my longest to date) really reinforced my love for the AT and made me SUPER excited about the decision I made to do this Thru hike. Heald gave me the trail name (Hungus) that I am currently using. It comes from Karl Hungus in The BIG Lebowski. I am open to being given a new trail name when I start my Thru, but for now I am keeping the name Heald gave me. Even though I have about 15 months to prep I feel like I could start tomorrow. Man, it's going to be a long year.
Date: 2005-12-28
To: Two Night Trip
Miles today: 0.0

This past weekend I got out on the trail again despite the crusty snow cover. I was quite eager to try out some new gear I got from the fam for Christmas, namely, my new hammock. I have never slept in a hammock before (well at least a backpacking hammock)and was a little nervous to be trying this out in the dead of winter. Hammock campers have a whole new set of warmth issues that ground campers don't have to worry about. This is due to the greater compression of the insulation in the sleeping bag. To be sure I would be warm enough I brought not only my Z-lite, but a thermarest air mat. I figured with the two of these combined I would be warm enough. What I didn't take into account was heat loss from touching the side of the hammock. If I curled up on my side my knees and feet would touch the hammock and I would get cold spots. This resulted in me having to lay perfectly straight either on my back or side. Regardless of this I still had an amazing nights sleep. I actually slept until 11am the next morning. I will prob never sleep on the ground or in a tent again. OK, now back to the hike...I night hiked 1.3 miles from rt. 519 to the High Point shelter on thurs night. The next day, (Friday)since I got off to such a late start, I only made it 7.2 miles from the High Point Shelter to the Mashipacong Shelter when it got dark. I didn't see anyone the entire day and had to make fresh tracks for a good portion of the day. The next morning I woke up a little earlier (9am) and walked the 8 miles to rt. 206 where my car was waiting. I ran into a hiker heading north from Port Clinton, PA to Vernon, NJ. Of course stupid me forgot to ask his name. All in all a worthwhile trip covering about 18 miles and I made it home just in time for a Christmas Eve dinner.
Date: 2007-01-30
To: JStains
Miles today: 0.0

Howdy all my names JStains. My brother Hungus has asked me to be his transcriber for his trail journals throughout his upcoming the thru hike. I am excited to be a part of Hungus' journey since i cannot go myself, this being a way i can kind of hike along with him.Let me introduce myself. My name is Joe aka JoeyStains, and im from a little town called New Prov in Jersey. Im 22 years old and I currently reside in the great city of Chicago while i attend DePaul University. In school im studying Geotechnolgy and should be finished by March of 08.    I have not had much experience on the trail, and wish i had more time to. I feel as though i have been on numerous hikes from the stories my brother has told me. I love to travel. I have been to only a few places on the globe, but my highlight was during the summer of 06 when I "backpacked" through Europe for 3 months. http://community.webshots.com/user/joeystains is where you can find some of my pictures if you feel so inclined.    I did spend a good amount of time in Interlaken Switzerland....one of the many American capitals of Europe. I spent a good amount of time in the mountains in Interlaken, there was nothing better than the feeling you get climbing a mountain and looking down on the world. I did a 2 nighter up to a lake at about 3000m with two of my friends. The first night the brutal rains and winds forced us to seek shelter and stay dry. We left early in the morning and hiked to the top where Lake Balchepsee was. At the lake there was a shelter we decided to stay there because of the weather. (Note: Because we were backpacking in the summer, and did not realize we were going to be spending time in the mountains. We had no sleeping bags, let alone many clothes to wear.) That night the temperatures dropped so low with the clear skys. We thought the fire in the shelter would keep us warm but we were wrong. Long story short, we were silly to be at such atlitudes so unprepared and turned down the mountain the next morning.   The point of that story? Im not too sure. Its really my only hiking story, well at least one worth telling.    Anyway, i am excited for Hungus' upcoming journey, and im sure he is only a little excited himself. I am going to do my best with keeping up with the entries while he is on the trail. Talk to you all soonHappy Trails,JStains
Date: 2007-03-17
To: Gear
Miles today: 0.0

Well today is St. Patrick's day so that means I start this adventure tomorrow. I am so excited to get down to Georgia, especially after getting 8 in of snow last night. Poor JStains got stuck in CHI town so I am not going to get to see him before I leave. These last couple of weeks have been a little nuts!! I have been getting my gear and logistics organized. Saying goodbye to all my friends, well not goodbye, but "see you in October". I figure my last prep entry should be about my gear, which has been a work in progress for the last two years. The Boy Scouts always tell you to be prepared, but there is definitely such a thing as being over prepared. Therein lies the art of backpacking. How many clothes do you really need? How much TP do you really need to pack? Remember that the AT crosses a lot of roads so you really only need to carry enough to get you to the next town. I'm not going to get so detailed as to telling you exactly how may safety pins are in my repair kit, but I'll try to give you a good overview.Most AT hikers sleep in tents, but I have been shown the wonders of a hammock. I carry the Clark Ultralight which is equip with bug netting that can be removed. You know that sign "bridge freezes before roadway"? Well "hammock freezes before tent". So to keep me from freezing from below I pack a Jacks R Better No Sniviller underquilt. This rectangular quilt attaches UNDER the hammock to form a cocoon around me. I then use the Western Mountaineering Alpinlite sleeping bag as a top quilt. To keep rain and snow off the hammock, I hang a sil nylon 8x10 tarp over the hammock.I use a Jetboil stove which is super efficient and convenient. For water purification I use a Steripen Adventurer. I got tired waiting for Iodine to work and pumps are too heavy. For water management, I carry a 1l nalgene, two 20oz Gatorade bottles, and a 4l platypus bladder for camp. I know the nalgene is heavy, but I think its functionality justifies carrying it. I can boil water and bring it in my sleeping bag, which you can't do with a Gatorade bottle. My pack is an Osprey Aether 60, the 05 model. I cut the hood off to save 8oz since I didn't need the space.When I pack my pack I put the sleeping bag in first, then my camp clothes, then my underquilt. Those three stuff sacks go inside a dry sack to ensure that the items are dry no matter what. Then my hammock goes next to the underquilt, then my food bag, then my ditty sacks. My tarp, rain gear, stakes, water bottles, crocs, zlite pad and jetboil all ride outside my pack.That is as much detail as I have time to get into now. The clock is ticking and I leave in 17 hours. My next entry will be from the hiker hostel.
Date: 2007-03-18
To: Hiker hostal
Miles today: 0.0

After a long goodbye to my family, including the dogs and cats, I made it to the airport on time only to find that my flight was delayed about 2 hrs. I didn't let that bother me, I knew I would get to GA at some point today. So I did what I always do in flight delay situations...went to the bar. Unfortunately the bar hadn't opened yet since it was before noon so I just sat at a table and wrote emails on my nifty pocketmail until noon. Time went by quickly after that and before I knew it I was in the air. It was quite surreal watching the mountains roll by through the airplane window, thinking that I will be walking this entire flight distance and then some!! Time went by quickly and I found myself at the luggage carousel in Atlanta praying that my gear made it safely. I got a kick out of seeing peoples luggage twice the size of mine, which would only get them through a week or so. Mine has gotta last me 6 or more months.Luggage made it without a problem and we got on the Marta train to North Springs where Josh from the Hiker Hostel picked us up. We drove straight to a Mexican food restaurant where about 15 other hikers were already eating. I had a killer enchilada dinner and two beers for only $12. If that was jerz it would have been like $25. I really enjoyed the hiker camaraderie, there is such an awesome culture surrounding this trail. So I am sitting in the hiker hostel now hanging out with some cool people. Scholar is staying here which is pretty cool since her journal is one of the first that I ever read. She thru hiked in 05. There is also some dude that is like 84 who has already been out a couple of days. I will get his name later. Alrighty, off to bed I go to dream of endless hills and valleys. Tomorrows entry will be from the APPALACHIAN TRAIL BABY!!!! WOOHOO!!! Lets get this party started.