morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-08-02
From: Campsite

To: Culver's Gap (US 206), NJ
Miles today: 5.5

Today WAS NOT a good day for me. Although it did get somewhat better as the day went on, it still wasn¢t all that great. It rained all night long and was still raining when I woke up. The minute I stepped out of my tent I was swarmed by mosquitoes so I packed up as fast as I could. I didn¢t even have time to put on the bug repellant since it was in my food bag, which was still hanging in the tree. Didn¢t even take the time to eat breakfast at camp. Decided to eat as I walked. Made it down to Culver¢s Gap where Worthington¢s Bakery is located and who was there? Molasses! We all ordered some lunch and then decided she would slack pack us today so we drove down the road to get a hotel room but when we got there we never left. We laid around most of the day except for when we went to Dairy Queen. As we lounged around watching TV Chloe licked the radiator from one end of the wall to the other. Not sure what she liked about it so much but we couldn¢t get her to stop. It turned her tongue rust colored.
Date: 2003-08-03
From: Culver's Gap (US 206), NJ

To: Unionville, NY / Lott Road
Miles today: 23.1

It was 68 degrees this morning but it certainly didn¢t feel like it because it was really humid. Molasses said she would take out packs around to High Point State Park so we could do a little slack packing. The only thing was that we had to be there to pick them up by 4 pm because that¢s when the office closed. Because Daisies was worried about getting there by 4 she had Molasses drive her up to the trail then came back to get me. I found this rather funny after I caught up to her at the second shelter. We walked together from there and got to the High Point State Park between 3:30 and 4. Hung out there for a little bit with Burger, Sage and Pop O while it stormed. This storm came through pretty quick and the 5 of us waited it out under a tiny little overhang with our packs. As the rain let up I was able to see a double rainbow. I believe this is the first or maybe the second rainbow I¢ve seen on this trip. From there we pushed on intending to go to the secret shelter but by the time we reached the turn off for it we had decided to push on to town. We were soaked and it was less than 2 miles so why not? I¢m now warm, dry, and ready for bed.
Date: 2003-08-04
From: Unionville, NY / Lott Road

To: Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 11.8

Up early and headed to Vernon as fast as I could, trying to beat the rain. Got to the road that goes into Vernon and hitched a ride with this guy who ended up inviting me to Woodstock. He was a bit of an old hippy and apparently every year there is somewhat of a small scale Woodstock at the original site. Daisy and I found him a little amusing. You could definitely tell he¢d done one too many drugs in his time. He wanted to hear some stories so we would tell him but then there was a delay in time before he would start laughing. He dropped us off outside the hostel; I thanked him for the ride, and wasted no time departing from the car. The hostel is run by the St. Thomas Episcopal Church and is located underneath the church. It¢s a very large room with a kitchen, a couple of TV¢s, and a bunch of tables and chairs. They also have a shower and laundry facility. Luckily we got in early and were able to be one of the first few to sign in. There is a 12-person limit so everyone else who comes in after the 12th has to go over to the town pavilion. It¢s not that there isn¢t enough room here because there¢s tons but its because their septic system can¢t handle more than 12 people a night. I don¢t know why some people have such a hard time comprehending this. At one point tonight there were more than 20 people here. One of the guys from the church came by to make sure things were good and took all the extra people to the pavilion. I went to dinner at Burger King with Daisies and Burger then came back to the hostel. Burger is a great kid. He¢s 22 and received his trail name because he¢s addicted to McDonald¢s. He has a pack that weighs nothing because he carries very little and he has no tent or tarp and his sleeping bag is a silk liner and an airplane blanket. However he does manage to carry a variety of little toys that he has picked up along the way.
Date: 2003-08-06
From: Greenwood Lake, NY / NY 17A

To: Bear Mountain, NY
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: haze

Breakfast was great! Cereal, bagels with cream cheese, yogurt, and OJ. This hotel is right on a lake so I enjoyed my yogurt sitting out by the water. It was a long day, still wore out from yesterday. I have quite a few bruises and some scrapes and a sore muscle in my shoulder but other than that I¢m okay. Daisies has a friend (Coyote) that lives outside of Bear Mountain who said we could stay with him while we are in the area. We ended up having to hitch a few miles to get to the Bear Mountain Inn where he could pick us up. We got a ride with this great guy, he was actually the guy who found the cross at ground zero. He was great to talk to and was pretty interested in what we were doing. We got to the Inn and ran into Lost Dog and Vast Horizons so we sat and talked with them while we waited for Coyote to get there. Once Coyote got there he invited Lost Dog and Vast Horizons to stay at his place for the night. This is their last night as they are headed back to Montana but will be back next year to finish. Once we got to the house we all sat around and relaxed. Talked with Vast Horizons about Montana for a while and about trail life. Made some dinner and ready to sleep.
Date: 2003-08-07
From: Bear Mountain, NY

To: Bear Mountain, NY
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: haze

Coyote, his girlfriend, and their house are not what I expected at all. I knew they were hippies and lived on a farm but he¢s 20 and she¢s 24 and their house is actually a trailer (a run down one at that) that has no phone except for their cell phone which only works if you¢re outside, no air conditioning, no hot water, and most of the time no water at all. It is in a nice setting, though, I just don¢t know how they can live like that. Tonight I¢m staying in a motel and Daisies is staying at the farm. If I¢m going to stay somewhere other than the woods, I want to be able to flush the toilet and take a warm shower.
Date: 2003-08-08
From: Bear Mountain, NY

To: Graymoor Friary
Miles today: 7.1

I was up at 6:45 this morning and ready to go by 7:30. Coyote had told me when he dropped me off that he¢d most likely be the one taking us back to the trail in the morning so I should be ready by 7:30. Well, I was. Then about 8 am Daisies called to tell me that Ala (Coyote¢s girlfriend) would be taking us and they¢d be by to get me between 10 and 11. After hearing that I climbed back into bed and dozed off a little more. It was after 11:00 when they finally came to get me because they got lost on their way to the motel. As we were walking up to the trail we tan into Emily, Slack, Double A, Free Radical, and Jimbo Trek. All of them except for Free Radical were also headed to Graymoor for the night. It was a race to be there by 4:30 because whoever is there at that time gets invited to dinner. Dinner was served at 5:30 to me, Emily, Slack, Double A, Daisies, Jimbo Trek, Starburst, Magic Rat, Turtle, and 2 south bounders. We were fed salad, spinach, oriental noodles, one half of a ham and cheese sandwich, and sweet tea. After dinner, Friar Leo gave those of us that wanted to go a tour of the grounds. I found it to be rather interesting, it made me want to start going to church. Graymoor is home of the Franciscan Friars and formerly a monastery. It wasn¢t quite what I was expecting, I thought there would be monks wandering all over the place but that¢s not how it was. Friar Leo explained to us the difference between Friars and Monks. Monks stay in one place whereas Friars move about the world. Graymoor used to be crawling with Friars but they have all been sent off to Washington, DC and now Graymoor is used for offices. After dinner and the tour we all went back over to the pavilion and are starting to settle down for the night. I hope the bugs die down for the night.
Date: 2003-08-09
From: Graymoor Friary

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: haze

Didn¢t sleep very well the first half of the night because of all these stupid mosquitoes. I¢m so glad I have a free standing tent because I ended up having to set it up during the night. I put it up right at the end of the table I was sleeping on. By morning all but three people had put up their tents. Once I did that I slept great. I was up and out by 8:30 am. The day went by much faster than I thought it would. I ended up listening to my radio for most of the day and I also ended up stopping for a small break every three to four miles. Every time I stopped I would catch up to Jimbo Trek and this went on all day. I had taken one of my breaks at a small road crossing where there was a water faucet and a few other hikers. This man pulled up and offered everyone a beer. The guys accepted and I declined. I just can¢t drink a beer then try to hike 10 more miles, besides, I hadn¢t had enough water to drink today. Then he offered to slack us or drop us off at another road crossing. Being taken to another road crossing sounded nice but I opted not to do it. Today¢s miles will be done with my own two feet. I made it into the shelter a little before 7:00. Starburst and Daisies are tenting on the lawn. Jimbo Trek, Turtle, Magic Rat, Squeeze and I are in the shelter. This shelter used to be a house that was converted into a cabin and is now a shelter. We were able to use Turtle¢s cell phone to call and order pizza. Three large pizzas and a bottle of coke between us, yummm. We managed to finish off all but a few slices of pizza which will be eaten by someone before morning I¢m sure. I¢m taking a chance by staying in the shelter, hoping the bugs won¢t bother me.
Date: 2003-08-10
From: RPH Shelter

To: Pawling, NY / County Route 20
Miles today: 17.3

Amazing, the bugs didn¢t bother me at all last night. I ended up waking up a little after 7:00 but didn¢t feel very motivated. Daisies was up eating a little breakfast and when she was done she came over to my bunk to let me know that she was going back to bed. OH NO! I thought, this isn¢t a good sign. Her morale was very, very low today and she almost got off the trail. I tried my hardest to help motivate her and talk about the good stuff to come which ended up helping us both some. The morale didn¢t change until we ran into a southbounder named Coop. He started telling us all about what was to come for us in these last two months, telling us how beautiful it is going to be. We were both psyched after that. Although it didn¢t rain on us, the sky was looking really bad so we opted to come into town and stay at the town pavilion. It¢s located in Murrow Park and has a small lake with a beach. We got up to the pavilion and set up our tents under the roof. It hasn¢t rained yet but there¢s a nice lightning show going on in the distance.
Date: 2003-08-11
From: Pawling, NY / County Route 20

To: Pawling, NY / County Route 20
Miles today: 0.0

Packed up at the pavilion and headed into town. Stopped in at the library to get in some time on the computer while I had the chance. From there we went to Gaudino¢s Pizzeria for lunch. Oh, was that good! I had a meatball parm sub and I think, well actually I know, it¢s the best sandwich I¢ve ever had. Got up this morning with the intention of leaving town but the day has just gotten away from us. So we decided to go wash our stinky clothes. While our stuff was drying, Daisies got into this conversation with one of the other ladies that was also doing her laundry. The lady (Hope) asked us if we wanted to come back to her house for the night. Who could turn down an invitation like that? Hope and her daughter Mika, age 10, are two awesome people. Mika is such a little adult, it¢s great. Thank you both for inviting us into your home. Just to give you an idea of what the rain is doing, not only to my morale but also to my gear, things are rusting. My stove, the buckles on my gaiters and boots, pretty much anything with metal on it has begun to rust.
Date: 2003-08-12
From: Pawling, NY / County Route 20

To: Kent, CT / St. Josephs Episcopal Church
Miles today: 18.6

Oh, how I didn¢t want to get up this morning. I was sleeping so well. We had some breakfast, packed up, and then headed back to the trail. Somehow we got turned around and got back on in the wrong spot. This actually caused us to skip three miles of trail but I believe we ended up walking more than that on the road. At one point we crossed a dirt road where there was a house for sale. We wandered over to check it out and Daisies hasn¢t stopped talking about it since. She wants to buy it and turn it into a hostel. It¢s a good idea but the place needs a lot of work. Crossed into Connecticut today. So very glad to be out of New York With the schedule we have planned we¢ll be in Vermont in 8 days and I¢m really psyched about that. I know I keep mentioning the bugs but it¢s just because they really get to me. They get so bad sometimes that I feel like I want to jump off the mountain to get away from them. I think there needs to be a giant bug bomb to wipe our all of the mosquito population. That would definitely make me happy.   As of today I have 722.2 miles to go. On one hand that doesn¢t sound like much at all but on the other hand it sounds like a long time. Came into town and went straight to the hostel. Then over to the Chinese restaurant for some food. My morale has been a little low lately but I¢m beginning to feel much better. I think it¢s because of being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel now.
Date: 2003-08-13
From: Kent, CT / St. Josephs Episcopal Church

To: Skiff Mountain Rd. / Kent, CT
Miles today: 2.8

Had another night of restless sleep. The hostel was in the basement of the church. We were only allowed the use of the hallway and it was really warm in there. Plus there was a couple people snoring. Got up, had breakfast, and made my way over to the Post Office. Sat outside the PO and worked on my resupply then went over to the ice cream shop for a little snack before heading to the trail. Had a later start than we wanted but that¢s what seems to happen when we stay in town. The climb out was pretty tough as it always is when coming out of town. We got about half way up the mountain when Daisies remembered she had a package at the Post Office. For some reason it didn¢t dawn on her when we were there earlier. We won¢t be to a phone until late Saturday so she wouldn¢t be able to call and forward it and we thought maybe Molasses could call for her but she¢ll be in the 100 mile wilderness so that wouldn¢t work either. We decided we would head back into town at the next road (it goes into Kent). We figure it was meant to be because when we reached the road there was a lady sitting in her car waiting for her husband and sons to come off the trail and she said she¢d run us down the road. So we hopped in. Made the PO before it closed but then it was too late to go back to the trail. Ended up getting a room at the Fife n¢ Drum. There are a lot of hikers in town tonight. I think I¢m going to read some of my book then get some sleep.
Date: 2003-08-14
From: Skiff Mountain Rd. / Kent, CT

To: Silver Hill Campsite
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Can you believe I slept for 11 hours last night!? And I still could have slept for many more. Packed up and went down to the gift shop where I ended up buying a potholder. Why a potholder you ask? Well, you see this particular one is of Rosie the Riveter and across the bottom it says, ¢We can do it¢ in big letters. Which is shy I bought it. Just a little motivational piece. After that we stopped for some breakfast/lunch. I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a chocolate malt shake. Yumm. It was a short hike today going over St. Johns Ledges, well, I should say going down, and was a killer on the knees. Both of my knees have been bothering me lately. It doesn¢t seem to matter if I¢m walking up mountains or walking down the street they seem to hurt the same. I¢m camped tonight with Daisies, Magic Rat, Turtle, Viking, a group of young boys with hoods in the woods, and a couple of other ladies. There is some kind of animal, maybe a coyote, who¢s making some noise around camp. Today was a great day! I felt very motivated once I was on the trail (town was trying to suck me in again) and best of all, it didn¢t rain. According to the Weather Channel we¢re not going to get rain until Saturday (just one day) then it¢s going to start cooling down. Smile. Now if I can just stay as motivated as I was today I¢ll be doing great.
Date: 2003-08-15
From: Silver Hill Campsite

To: Falls Village, Ct
Miles today: 15.0

Today seemed to drag on for quite a while. There were a lot of steep ups and downs and it seemed to be a little hard. I guess I got used to the more level terrain we¢ve had lately. It was a beautiful day, what I like to call a great beach day. Although it was still hot, the humidity didn¢t seem to be as high as it has been. I¢m feeling good, not as good as yesterday, but pretty close. Today I officially passed the 700 mark so now I have 697 miles to go. NO PROBLEM! Even though I¢d much rather be home I do have faith that I¢ll make it to the end. We came into town with Magic Rat, Turtle, and Viking because one of our books listed that there was camping here. We are tenting on a little patch of grass behind the Toymaker Caf© (for free). Magic Rat, Turtle, and Viking went down to the Pizza place (the only restaurant) while Daisies laid in her tent and read and I stayed behind to make my own dinner (trying to save some money). Daisies and I did end up going up there so she could get some food. Came back and read a little, now its time for bed. I¢m going without the rainfly tonight. It¢s a beautiful night and the sky is filled with stars.
Date: 2003-08-16
From: Falls Village, Ct

To: Limestone Spring Lean-to
Miles today: 4.1

Was awakened this morning at about 6:45 by rain. Oh No, not rain! I quickly jumped put of my tent (as did everyone else), threw my rainfly over top of it and pulled my pack and boots under it as well. Climbed back in and laid down for another 15 minutes or so while I listened to it rain. The rain didn¢t last but a few minutes so I got up and started packing. We all went into the Caf© for some breakfast and at 10:00 we were still there. Magic Rat and Turtle managed to get out not long after that, then in walked Hiker Biker Babe and Rumbler. It was good to see them both. The last I was Rumbler was in Harpers Ferry and HBB was way before that. Next thing I knew it was lunchtime so we had to stay and eat again. This place was great and the owners are awesome people. Finally made it out and on the trail by 2:00 pm. I know, I know. I¢ve already had the discussion with myself about staying out of towns as much as possible from here on out. We¢ll see how that goes. Stopped and checked out the Great Falls, wishing I had known about them earlier because I would have spent the time playing in the water instead of sitting in the caf©. Oh well. Made really good time today and had planned on going a lot farther but about 5 minutes after we got here it started raining. We said if it stopped we¢d move on but it has yet to stop and we¢re going on three hours of continuous rain so it looks like we¢re in for the night. The temperature has dropped quite a bit, it¢s in the upper 60¢s. Daisies and I are sharing the shelter tonight with Mountain Momma (who¢s son Leif runs this web site) and Pam. Free Radical, Moose and Pop O all rolled in so now we are cramming 7 of us in here.
Date: 2003-08-17
From: Limestone Spring Lean-to

To: Riga Lean-to
Miles today: 7.5

A much shorter day than the 17.5 I had planned. Had a beautiful view from Rands View early this morning. The temps were nice and cool and the humidity was pretty low. Looking forward to the cooler weather getting here. I have already seen some trees beginning to change colors. There was a tree just the other day where the leaves were bright red. A lot of them seem to be getting a little yellow. Made it to the top of Lion¢s Head and took a little break to enjoy the magnificent view while we had it. While sitting up there we could see the sky behind us turning very ugly. It started to rain just before we reached the shelter. We had planned to stop here to get water and about 3 minutes after we walked in the rain really came down. Mountain Momma, Pam, Daisies, Free Radical, Moose, Viking and I all sat around waiting for it to let up. Two hours later we were all still sitting here. When Daisies checked the thermometer it was 65 degrees but it had gotten much colder than that because we could see our breath. The guys all ended up moving on but it was too late in the afternoon for me so I decided to stay. It¢s still raining at 8:30 pm, hoping it stops by morning. This shelter is supposed to have a great view of the sunrise; hopefully I¢ll be able to see it. There is a little mouse running around the shelter and it is driving Daisies crazy. The rest of us don¢t seem to be bothered by it but she¢s a little paranoid about it.