morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-06-30
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Front Royal, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Weather: Rain later in the day We spent most of the day at Weasel Creek looking for gear for Wendy. Since Brandon doesn't have the store open on Monday we had the place all to ourselves. That is until so many people kept pulling on the doors. I said that he might as well let people in since he was there. It was good thing he did, as he had a lot of business today. After we outfitted Wendy, Brandon decided that he wanted to go Canoeing and try out a new canoe. Wendy didn't want to go, so Brandon decided that it would be easier for us to kayak. I got a kayak lesson as I had never really kayaked before. I had more fun then I thought I would. We we got back, I started cooking dinner. I told them that I would because they had been so nice to me over the last few days. I have never had so much fun on the trail before. I am quickly learning that it is the journey not the destination that counts. If I had not gone into Front Royal after being told that most people don't go into that town, I would not have met Wendy and Brandon. I hope to keep in touch with after the trail. They are great people. Tomorrow I hike out for sure.
Date: 2003-07-19
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Peter's Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: few clouds

Sunny and dry temp: 80's My day started out a bit early then I wanted - 7:30am. Knock, knock. I didn't get up to answer it. I was pretending that I had not been woken up by it. Knock, knock. It must be important if someone was knocking a second time. I thought it might be Molasses, so I got up. It wasn't. It was Viking. He asked something, and as I was not quite awake yet, I don't quite remember what was said. I think I remember him saying that he just wanted to say Hello to Flatlander. I think I told him that she was sleeping. What was he thinking?!? I must have looked very tired because I do remember him looking kind of guilty. When I was finally awake, I started packing up. I needed to get to the post office before it closed at noon. Ah, Saturday hours. I didn't bother looking at the profile maps, as I had heard rumors of a nasty uphill just out of town. I was trying to go by the if-I-ignored- it-it-wouldn't-happen idea. (It didn't work, we still had a big climb.) As we walked through town, I saw a payphone and called home to see how my Great Grandma was doing. I also made some plans to meet up with my Dad near Philly in about a week. Wow, I sure have been going to Philly a lot on this hike. I was very zoned out while hiking today. I just couldn't wait to be at the shelter. With our late start (1:30ish), I knew we wouldn't be there until just before sunset. About two miles from the shelter, I saw a large bird in the trail up ahead, but couldn't get a good look at it. When I finally did figure out what it was, I was kind of shocked. A peacock! WAIT! A peacock? What was a peacock doing walking the trail? Well I was determined to ge a picture of the thing. I followed that bird for a mile, holding my camera out in front of me and walking very fast. It must have been quite a site because Flatlander and Molasses teased me for quite a while as we sat at an overlook. ("We're not laughing at you, Daisy, we're laughing with you! No Really!" said both Molasses and Flatlander.) I guess it must have been cause they said that they didn't know who wanted to get to more - me or the dog.
Date: 2003-07-20
From: : Peter's Mountain Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: broken clouds

weather: sunny (not humid)temp: low 80'sAfter I had hiked six miles today, I took a break with Foxie at a spring. We didn't intend to stay very long, it just happened that way. It was a good thing we did, because an hour later, Molasses and Flatlander came walking down the trail and M. told us that she was bored with the trail and was going to get off for awhile. She didn't know if she was coming back.This shocked me a bit because we had been hiking together for the last two weeks, and I had been hoping that we would finish together. I had felt excited about the hike today until she informed Foxie, Flatlander and I that she was done. I then lost all motivation for hiking. It's funny how that can happen so suddenly on the trail. One minute you want to hike, the next you don't.Molasses didn't know how she was going to get home. She had tried hitching early in the week with no success. It's hard to find a ride when you have a dog with you. She ended up getting a ride from Sidewinder's friends who were parked at the road.I almost got in the car and left with her. I really considered it. I knew I needed to start hiking before she got back to the car after chasing Chloe who had gotten loose and ran from her. I think I would have gone with her then. Flatlander really helped me out by insisting that I was to hike up that next climb. She stayed with me for the next few miles while we talked about how difficult it was to continue when friends got off the trail. She was talking me into continuing. She mentioned that it was part of the reason that we had formed The All Girl Gang - to support each other when we were feeling down. I really was feeling the loss of our trail buddy leaving and Flatlander helped me out big time.I also hiked with Foxie today, who summed it up when she said that I had come out here by myself and that my main motivation for hiking the trail wasn't because Molasses or her or Flatlander were out here. I was out here because I had a goal to hike the trail and that I needed to continue hiking if I was to finish that goal whether there were no Foxies, Molasses, or Flatlanders to hike with. I have a lot to think about tonight as I lay in my tent. I will miss the company of my hiking buddy, but I am here for myself so I need to continue.On a unrealted side note, we have been hearing bombs and machine gun fire off and on all day. I asked a guy who was day hiking what it was from, and he told us that it was a near by National Guard base. I hope that it won't be going on all night. I am very tired after today's events.
Date: 2003-07-22
From: 501 Shelter

To: Eagle's Nest Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: light rain

Weather: Thunderstorms, lots of rain >Temp: 70's until rain then 60's Quote of the day:"I was crazy when I decided to do this." Flatlander on her decision to hike the trail The 501 Shelter is one of the coolest shelter so far on the trail. It is more like a hostel with bunks for twelve and a huge table. It had a huge skylight that lets in a lot of light, that is if it isn't raining. I ate leftovers from last night's feeding frenzy - garlic bread and pizza. We had ordered pizza and spaghetti on Sidewinder's cell phone because the new caretaker doesn't allow hikers to use his phone. He doesn't sell snacks or ice cream like the guide books say, either. Oh well. I think we are still recovering from the half gallon challenge.Flatlander, Viking and I hiked most of the day in the rain. A monsoon really. It was bad. I was glad to have the company. We had not expected to have Viking with us, but he had arrived at the shelter late last night and had decided to hike this section over again. We did have fun even though it was raining. I started it off by yelling out the lyrics to "Here Comes the Sun." We were trying to find the humor in these almost endless days of rain. For having such horrible weather to hike in, we sure did laugh a lot today. When I got to camp, I realized that the pack cover I have is not a very good one. The water ran in on the sides and pooled in the bottom. Slosh, slosh! I had to turn it inside out to get all the water out. My pack was wet on the inside, but my extra clothes and sleeping bag stayed dry thanks to a heavy duty plastic bag that Werewold had given me during Trail Days. I decided to eat my lunch for tomorrow because I didn't have to cook it and some snacks for dinner. It's just a hassle to try to cook when there are so many people and so much stuff in the shelter. It was so much easier. I'll end up eatin my snacks on the way to town if it is still raining tomorrow. Tonight, I am in the shelter because I know my tent would leak in this weather. I usually try to stay in my tent for several reasons. I tend to sleep better in my tent, so I hope I get some sleep tonight. I can't wait to get my new tent seam sealed so I don't have to worry about trying to bail the water out of my tent at 3am.Tongiht at the shelter is Flatlander, Viking, Foxie, and four others whos names I will have to get tomorrow.
Date: 2003-07-30
From: Smith Gap Road

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 24.0
Weather: broken clouds

Weather: Sunny and HumidTemp: 80'sI did 24 miles today through the worst of the rocks of PA. My feet hurt. I am tired. I have caught up to Flatlander. I am tenting behind the church hostel. I don't have any energy to write more.
Date: 2003-07-31
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: broken clouds

weather: light showers temp: 70's I had to resupply, so I took the shuttle from the Pack Shack. By the time I got back, it was almost lunch time, so I convinced Flatlander and Double A to go to the cafe across the street from the Church hostel. What a mistake. We got attitude from the waitresses from the moment we sat down. We got our water, but then had to wait to order. When we were finally able order, we were told that there would be a 20% gratuity added to our bill for splitting the checks. 20% is rather high, I said. Well, that's what we do here, was my reply. We decided to stay and ordered food. During our meal, never once did she ask us how our food was or refill our water glasses. We had to ask for more water and had to ask for our check. This was the service that we were getting charged for in advance? No way. I had to say something, and tried the polite approach by saying they needed to inform their customers before they came in. I think I said that I would have liked to seen a sign about it on the door.From our waitress, we got a very snotty response. I tried to let the other waitress know this, and got another snotty response. I decided to drop the subject and leave. I planned on putting a note up at the hostel about what had happened and a warning about their business practices. As I was putting my pack on, the waitress comes running out and starts yelling at me about hikers and how the waitresses are treated and how they get stiffed on tips from hikers. She specificlly told me that Flatlander had stiffed them the day before. She said that she had told the girl who waited on us today not to bother giving us good service because we were hikers. WHAT!?! They had charged us 20% for HORRIBLE service just because we were hikers! At that point, I wanted to get out of the town as soon as I could. I told a few people what had happened. The word spread quickly. Good. Double A kept saying that if they were going to treat people that way that they wouldn't be in business for long. We left town together, trying to get the bad experience out of our mind. It was so good to be hiking with Flatlander and Double A again! I enjoyed the back and forth banter between the All Girl Gang Memebers. All we needed was Foxie to be there to complete the day. I hope she is able catch up soon. We took a break at Sunfish Pond with Woods Dragon, Randy and Tumbling Grace, slapping at mosquitos the whole time. It started to sprinkle a little. We packed up our impromptu picnic and continued on to the MOC.I was surprised to find Burger there when we arrived. He is all about the big mile days but seems to be slowing down big time now. It's been fun to tease him about it. A lot of people tenting tonight, with Flatlander, Little Dirty Barn Monkey, Burger and I in the bunk house. (some of the tenters are Double A, Littlest Hobo, Viking, JimboTrek)
Date: 2003-08-01
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Campsite near Stream
Miles today: 12.4

Weather: Rain in the morning >Temp: 70's It was very difficult to leave the MOC this morning. So I sat down and ate a deli sandwich made by the caretaker. Yeah, that made it easier to leave. :) I am so ready for a zero or a nero day. I have done some bigger mileage days lately to catch up to Flatlander and my feet were hurting. I told Flatlander that I was going to need a day from hiking soon. She asked if the two short days to Bear Mountian and to Graymoor next week would be enough for a while. I said I could wait until after those days. When it started raining lightly, I knew that I didn't want to wait until the shelter. We knew we were going to have to tent due to the large number of people that were going to be there anyway, so I was eyeing the camping options. We passed up several good campsites until we found one near a stream. I looked at Flatlander and asked if she would mind. We ended up staying. We were able to set up, cook and eat before it started raining. If we had continued on to the shelter, we would have been doing all our camp chores in the rain. I was happy that it worked out. I had not yet had a sucessful night of staying dry in my new tarp tent in a heavy rain. I hoped tonight would be my lucky night. I had a fairly flat spot, so I think I have a good chance. P.S.- I was able to stay dry with only a little splash coming through the no-see-um mesh around the bottom of my tarp. I declare sucess!
Date: 2003-08-02
From: Campsite at Stream

To: Culver's Gap
Miles today: 5.5

Weather: Rain in the morning Temp: 80's We packed up in a light shower and a swarm of mosquitos. I couldn't wait for Flatlander as the bugs were driving me nuts. I needed to get water, so I told her I would meet her at the stream. We hiked to a veiw where we took a break. That was where Tumbling Grace informed us that we were only a mile from Worthington Bakery. It didn't take us very long to pack up and get moving down the trail. Another surprise was waiting for us when we arrived. I noticed a familiar vehicle with a familiar dog tied to it, and someone with a familiar face was sitting at the wheel. Molasses! Just who we needed to see! We had joked about calling her to come and rescue us from the rain. Little did we know that our wish was going to come true! Our plans did a 180 as we decideded to make the rest of the day a do nothing day to spend time with Molasses. What a glorious day! It was great to do absolutly nothing but sit in the hotel room and talk. We didn't do ANYTHING!
Date: 2003-08-04
From: Unionville, NY

To: Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 11.8

weather: Humid, off and on thunder showerstemp: 80'sI'm so sick of the rain! It seems to be back with a vengence, with the whole week forcasted as rain. Flatlander and I decided to do a shorter day into Vernon, NJ to get a spot at the hostel to escape some of the rain.We got a ride back to the trail from a guy who invited us to go to Woodstock sometime next week. Seems there is some kind of annual gathering of Hippies to celebrate the original Woodstock gathering. He seemed as if he had been to this gathering one too many times, as his reaction time to some of our jokes was way off. He would laugh full minutes afterwards. We found it very amusing.When we got into town, we went straight to the hostel and made sure our names were on the list, cause we knew that there was a huge group coming in behind us and the hostel only has 12 spots.I have been very tired lately, so after my chores were done, I laid down on my sleeping pad on the floor in the basement of the church hostel. I didn't want to move when Burger asked Flatlander and I if we were going to go eat soon. Flatlander said that she wasn't ready to move, so I told Burger that we would meet him there in 15 minutes. I didn't want to move but my stomach was going to prevail over my sleepiness and foot pain.With the predicted rain, I am not too sure of my desire to hike over the next few days. I am feeling a very strong pull to take a few zeros, but I can not afford the time off or to spend the money. I am always talking about stopping my hike for the year, but I know I won't do it - yet. I'm not done with what I feel I need to acomplish, and I hope I continue to feel that way until I get to Katahdin. I want to finish this year.We'll all have to wait and see what happens. Tonight at the Hostel are: Flatlander, Burger, Viking, Starburst, Squeeze, Namowolf (a SoBo), Mt. Dancer, Roadie, The Dude, Espy, and several others.
Date: 2003-08-05
From: Vernon, NJ

To: NY 17A/Greenwood Lake, NY
Miles today: 15.2

Weather: Thunder and Lightening storms Temp:70's After a breakfast of bagels with Burger, Roadie, Crusier and Reason it was time to leave town. I knew that if I didn't leave soon, I wouldn't leave once the rain started. It's so difficult to get myself moving when it's raining. Flatlander and I had 5 rain-free miles to the first shelter out of town. We stopped for our lunch break. I knew that when it started raining, we wouldn't be stopping for breaks, we would have to keep moving to stay warm. I forced myself to leave the shelter, as I knew the rain would soon start. After so much rain this year, I am to the point that I can almost acurately determine the time the rain will start. Flatlander and I were walking in the rain soon after we left the shelter. Viking soon caught up to us, which was unexpected because we thought he was in front of us. Although I am glad that none of us had to walk alone through this storm, as there were some very tough terraine to hike in the rain, I am getting the immpression that Flatlander will never be able to shake Viking. He's a great guy but he's showing up everywhere and it feels as though she is being followed up the trail. No matter how far ahead (days or hours) he is, he always ends up hanging back to wait for her and it's starting to annoy both of us. Flatlander is much nicer and has more patience than I, as I would have told him that his attentions were unwanted a long time ago, and it would not have been said in a polite way after all the hints that have been given by her and several other people. She has tried to tell him in a nice way, but he is always back a few days later. Flatlander doesn't mind him being around (and either do I) as a friend but he needs to stop following her and do his own thing. I usually try not to put things like this in my journal, because it could potenially hurt someone's feelings, but this was all I could think about today when I should have been consentrating on the difficult terraine. It is making me a little angery that my trail sister and fellow memeber of the All Girl Gang is feeling uncomfortable. We decided to go into town because of the rain. I couldn't walk anymore. I was so tired from all the rock wall climbing and sliding down wet rocks. I must have fallen 10 times. We first went to get something to eat as we hadn't eaten since our lunch break. It was the best pizza that I have ever had. We then used the phone at the pizza place to call around for a place to stay. We were having a difficult time finding a place to stay. We walked down to the gas station, where we were spotted by a Park Ranger. He said that he would drive to a few hotels to see if anything was available and then he would be back to bring us to one that had a room. He found us a room! So Flatlander, Viking and I are sharing a room. We were very excited to find out that they had a VCR in the room and they had tons of movies. So we have choosen a few and are now going to watch them. Ahh! Movies!
Date: 2003-08-11
From: Pawling, NY

To: Pawling, NY
Miles today: 0.0

Start:Finish: Miles: 0 Weather: Rain and very humid Temp: high 70's Flatlander and I packed up with the intentions of leaving town early to get a god start on a 17 mile day. As we sat outside of the CVS store looking at each other we realized that we were probably going to stay. We set a time limit - if we were not trying to hitch a ride out of town by 1:30, we were staying. We sat in the nice air conditioned library until 1:15 checking email and reading up on our friends that are ahead of us. We knew we were not going to leave. We both still wanted lunch. When I was on the computer, I also looked at Trail Forums, where I saw a post that I'm sure I meant to see. It was about leaving the trail and the things that made people want to do so. It helped me out to know that most people have had thoughts to leave the trail, but were glad they stuck it out in the end. The number one reason people stated was rain. I want to thank Grampie for his post as it summed it up for me. It made me realize that even with all my talk of leaving the trail, I really don't want to leave yet. I wish I had printed out his response so that I would have it to bring back on the trail with me. I also talked to my Mom, and she said that she wanted me to finish the trail this year. She said I should continue. It was good to talk to her, as I am starting to really miss being away from my family for so long. After lunch, we did our laundry. While we were there, I noticed that Flatlander had changed her shirt without taking off the one she had on. Once she got the second one on, she then wiggled out of the first one. I had her explain how to do it, so I didn't have to go next door to the pizza place to use the bathroom. A lady saw what we were doing and came over, asked us if we were hiking and if we needed a place to change. She said that we could go to her house to change clothes. She then found out that we were staying at the pavillion in the park and invited us to stay at her house for the night! Hope told us that when she grew up, her house was very close to the trail, and she meet a lot of hikers as they came to her house and filled their water bottles and sat down to chat for a while. She was used to hikers being around. She had her daughter, Mika, walk us back to their house, while she took our packs in her car so that we didn't have to carry them. Mika wore her backpack with her farret riding in the big pouch. It kept trying to escape out of the pack until it finally curled up at the bottom and fell asleep. Thank you to Hope and Mika for the wonderful hospitality shown to two tired hikers. You knew just what we needed to make our stay in your town special.