morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-07-10
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Campsite
Miles today: 15.0

I slept surprisingly well last night, it got quiet fast. When we got up all the others were still asleep. We packed in the half dark room and just hope we got all our stuff, then we went for breakfast at the diner. We hiked out directly from there. Leaving town we passed the bridge over the Delaware river, this is the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Yes, we are done with Pennsylvania! What a great feeling! This state tried to break my will, but it couldn't! The trail was okay most of the time, some rocky sections, some nice ones. We also passed the 1300 mile mark and have to go less than 900 miles now.We had a good lunch at the Mohican outdoor center and then wanted to go 6 more miles. We got rained on but we got barely wet. We saw two snakes today which we haven't seen before, I described them to toad and he said they aren't poisonous, I hope he's right! They have black and yellow stripes that went on the whole length, they were thin but about 50 cm long, quite pretty. We stopped and put up our tents when Marco told us we were at the tent site we had planned to go to. We just found out later that this isn't the right spot. We should have gone further. Oh well we will have to hike more tomorrow. For dinner we had a chicken dinner and toad an asian dinner both from backpackers pantry. Both weren't really good. Freeze dried food isn't great anyway but we had better than this. The brand Mountain House is usually better but even those you have to try yourself to find out which one you like. Just don't expect too much, it never tastes like it does at home. Like the freeze dried lasagna, it's actually just pasta with a Bolognese sauce and lots of cheese, at home I wouldn't even think of calling this dish lasagna, or eat it out of free will. But out in the wild it's one of the best meals you get. Enjoy!
Date: 2014-07-11
From: Campsite

To: Gren Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: clear sky

We slept great last night, no more rain but nice cool air, just perfect! This also meant that it was really nice to stay in the sleeping bag and we could hardly get up, by the time we finally did it was already 7am, a lot later than planned. We hit the trail again, which was sometimes rocky and sometimes nice. I still think that the maintainer from the south should come up here to show the trail clubs here how maintaining a trail is properly done. It can't be that I'm afraid I lost the trail because I think I'm hiking in a dried out creek, until I see a white blaze and have to realize it is actually the trail. Well we heard that the trail should get better tomorrow, we'll see if this is correct. I will hope so. And all of you nice and encouraging people are right, we should just enjoy the time we have on the trail and take every day as it comes. I'll try, I promise!
Date: 2014-07-12
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Unionville
Miles today: 20.1

Yes mom, complaining is psycho hygiene! But today was a good day! We tried to get up early and finally made it out of bed at 6:30am, not too bad. The first 10 miles were rocky after the trail got better and better. Thanks to the friends of high point new jersey, the free cold soda was exactly what we needed to be able to keep going. We realized at noon when we looked at the trail book that between the Murray property which provides free tent sites and the town of Unionville it was less than a mile. So far we had planned to go to this tent site and go to town tomorrow, now we changed the plan. Unionville today! We got lucky, the last few miles were the first swamps of New Jersey, long wooden paths, an easy hike. My feet couldn't handle more rocks. And at the trail head where the road turned to town a couple which section hikes, had their cars and offered us rides to town. At the town we can camp for free at the village center/park. Unfortunately they have no running water so we didn't have enough water to cook. We had to go to the Italian restaurant across the street :D good food. We recharged all our electronic devices at the restaurant, but had to find out that our phone is broken, we can't recharge it. Hope to find a cheap replacement soon. All together we got often lucky today!
Date: 2014-07-13
From: Unionville

To: Wawayanda Shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: light rain

We didn't have a great night, there was a flood light on in the park all night probably for security. Unfortunately it shone directly into our tent and kept me awake. But getting up in the morning was even harder, I really need a good nights sleep!Anyway we got up, had breakfast at horlers grocery store, bought some food. Unfortunately they didn't have everything we need and a lot less than expected since the book says its a good resupply place. Anyway we hope we have enough food to get us to Fort Montgomery, New York.We had a few hills to climb but we also had a lot of miles through swamps. Some we crossed on rocks and boards, one actually had a really nice, almost one mile long, boarwalk high above the swamp. It was windy all day which kept most bugs away. We've met sherpa mom again today and got lucky, her husband had twice a cold soda for us. She tries the 4th time to thru hike the AT, the 3 last times she had to give up (I think due to injuries). She lives in Pennsylvania and her husband, trail name waldo, decided to follow her with the mobile home. If you would like to know more about her hike, she writes a trail journal too.Finally being at the shelter we don't only have to fight the mosquitoes. This is bear country and toasted toad ran into one on the way to the privy. We stay in the shelter tonight due to severe thunderstorm warnings, I just hope the bear doesn't come to visit us tonight!
Date: 2014-07-14
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: wildcat shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: light rain

A noisy night with a lot of mosquitoes and snoring hikers. At least it made us get up early. Waldo waited just half mile down the trail at the road crossing. He took our packs 10 miles further with his camper so we could slack pack those miles. This was great! We had to climb so many big boulders, constantly up and down. This was so much easier without a pack, I'm so thankful. We crossed the New Jersey/New York boarder today. No girls, not New York City, just the state of New York, no shopping for me! Even without a pack it took us really long to do those miles. Finally we got to the road where we met Waldo. There should have been a hot dog stand too but it wasn't open today. This would have been our lunch. So we went to the creamery instead. I had a big milk shake and Marco had a big ice cream for lunch. Then it started to rain, just a little and we decided to leave for those last two miles to the shelter as soon as possible. We had thought about staying in town at a hotel but then decided against it. We will go to a nice hotel in 2 days instead. We made it to the shelter just before the heavy rain started. Since we are only 4 hikers at the shelter we all put up our inner tents. Like that we can't be bug food like last night and hopefully we get a better rest.Toasted toad complaint that I talk all day long, I don't agree but oh well. So we made a bet, I will try not to talk for 24 hours. If I make it he can't have any alcohol for 5 days, starting after our next stop in town (3days from today). I still have 22 hours to go and believe me it's tough. Especially since toad tries to make me talk and asks questions. It's also difficult because I'm not allowed to talk at all, so no talking to Marco or other hikers either. Marco thinks this is a really stupid bet!
Date: 2014-07-15
From: wildcat shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: moderate rain

Ok I gave the bet up this morning, Marco and me had the first misunderstandings and not talking is not possible on the trail. It rained last night but this wasn't the reason why all our stuff is wet. We got 98% of humidity! Everything is wet and sticky. I feel so gross, I stink, I sweated all day, my shirt is wet from rain and sweat, my pants could probably stand up by the dirt that's on them. So all day long I told myself that every mile I hike brings me closer to town/hotel/shower. This thought was the only thing that kept me going. We hiked up and down almost a dozen hills, not high but steep rocky boulders up and steep slopes of rocks down. It would already be difficult to hike them when they are dry but thanks to the humidity and rain the rocks were also slippery. So the 14 miles took us a lot longer than expected. We thank for the clean water that we got at two places, the streams today looked and smelled so nasty I was glad we didn't have to get water from them. I also really happy to get trail magic at the last parking lot, a cold mountain dew and a banana, perfect! Thank you so much! We made it to the shelter with the first rain drops of the evening, hearing the thunder in the distance made us move faster up the last mountain. We got lucky, we all got space at the shelter.One more night outside than a hotel room for one night, I can't wait to get there!
Date: 2014-07-16
From: Fingerboard Shelter

To: fort Montgomery
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: few clouds

Sleeping in is impossible in a shelter, so we got up and hiked to town. Rocky, up and down, the usual. There was a viewpoint from which one can see the skyline of New York but I guess the weather needs to be perfect for that. The hotel was great, really clean, nice people, coin laundry, great bathroom, a sauna and a really comfy bed! Watching tv, laying on the bed, drinking a beer and eating chips - perfect evening!
Date: 2014-07-17
From: fort Montgomery

To: dennytown campground
Miles today: 14.5

I could have stayed in bed a lot longer, it was so comfortable, no smelly snoring hikers, no mosquitoes, perfect room temperature! We both slept great last night. Unfortunately the night ended for us at 7am, got up, another shower (we have to enjoy it when we have it), and a great breakfast. Then finish packing and leaving town, the worst part of staying in town! We walked on the bear mountain bridge across the Hudson River and up to the mountain ridge. We had some really nice views but just never enough time to just sit and watch. We had lunch at a diner/gas station. This was the only place we saw other hikers today. The trail was again many ups and downs, thanks to the rain the trail didn't look like dry creeks but actually was sometimes a creek, walking in water is just great! I mean I loved to hike in creeks when I was a child, but then I wore rain boots and went home in the evening, got a hot shower and dry clothes. Here its a bit different and having wet shoes isn't our favorite. We hiked slow and took many breaks. Toad had hurt his shoulder muscles on one of his falls the other day so we try to give him as much rest as possible. I hope he gets better soon. Finally we got to the planned tent site and had our after town dinner: hot dogs! Now we are in our sleeping bags, we have checked us for ticks, put some creme on against the itchy bug bites, took painkillers and put some icy hot creme on our stiff muscles. Less than 800 miles to go! Good night!
Date: 2014-07-18
From: dennytown campground

To: ny 52
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

I don't feel like writing about uphills and downhills, it's not important compared to what happens in the world, the news are so bad they even reach us in the wilderness of the US. My deepest condolences to the relatives and friends of the people who died in the bombed down airplane!I can't believe this happens in Europe, I can't believe this happens at all. Politicians are going crazy, not just in Russia... how much longer will the people accept that? When will someone react?
Date: 2014-07-19
From: ny 52

To: wiley shelter
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Happy Birthday Mami, Herbert and Stinky Socks, we hope you had a wonderful day! Our hikes yesterday and today weren't bad at all. The trail is pretty good, not too many rocks, just few little boulder climbs, nice rolling hills, swamps. We've seen many snakes but little hikers. I guess we get less every day. Yesterday we were allowed to tent behind a little store. This store is almost half a mile off trail but has a bit resupply and a pizzeria next door. So we went there for dinner and were naughty enough to ask if we could camp. So we got breakfast there in the morning and it was hard to leave. Tonight we didn't get as lucky. We wanted to stay at the garden Center which offers a tent site for hikers. Marco and toad weren't happy with what they found. Knee high grass, on one side the railroad on the other a busy road. So after 15 miles we went on and hoped to find a place in the woods. There was none and finally we decided to go all the way to the shelter. We got the last tent spots, many day hikers are here and a few thru hikers which we haven't met before. Now we are really tired and hope we can sleep in tomorrow!
Date: 2014-07-20
From: wiley shelter

To: mt algo shelter
Miles today: 12.4

We slept in till 7am, I know it doesn't sound like sleeping in but by then we had slept about 10 hours and the tent site was a slope. By this time I was too annoyed with sliding around and didn't mind to get up. We decided to go only 12 miles to the shelter which is just outside of Kent, so we could go into town in the morning, do grocery shopping, head out and do some miles. We crossed the New York/Connecticut boarder, one more done! Unfortunately my stomach is really troubling me since this morning. This drained out all my energy and I could only go slow. We had lunch at a gas station and got trail magic from the local AT group, thank you! It took me forever to do the last few miles, by the time I got to the shelter Marco had already blown up the air mattress. We put up the tent and I lay down till he had dinner ready. Just bouillon with noodles for me. I go to bed now, he will have a couple of beers, which an other hiker brought from town, with the other hikers. I'm glad he feels more comfortable now with speaking English and that the other guys keep helping him to get better. I think both of us are pretty good accepted and liked by the other hikers. We hear often that they appreciate how we try to fit in and not like many Germans, or the other swiss couple, separate us and stay to ourselves. It's actually a phenomenon that we realized too, the most Germans hike with Germans and rarely make contact with the Americans. Where we enjoy talking and hiking with Americans and just fit in and make new friends.
Date: 2014-07-21
From: mt algo shelter

To: silver hill campsite
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We hiked the mile to Kent and had breakfast at the diner. It was really good, big portions and tasty! Then we went to the outfitter which disappointed us greatly, it didn't really have anything and the mountain house dinners were sold out. To the grocery store next, repacking all the food. We don't carry the food in the containers we buy it in because it usually has too much packaging/too much weight. So we pack everything in ziplocs, like that its not only less weight but also packed water proof and a lot smaller. We wanted to leave town right after this but then went by a caf© and the boys couldn't resist to get coffee, while I went to the pharmacy to get insect repellent. There I finally also found nice Birthday Cards so if you get lucky you get one :D The boys had already gotten their second coffee by the time I was finished with shopping and were chatting with locals. All the people in this town were really friendly with us, only the laundromat owner, he doesn't want hikers in his laundromat, so no fresh clothes for us!Anyway a lot later than planned we finally made it out of town. We made a "short" hike after the resupply. I don't know why Marcos pack got so heavy even so we just resupplied for 3 days. The silver hill campsite where we stay tonight is really pretty! It has a pavilion, picnic tables, benches, a view and many good tent spots. We got two thirds of the trail done! By now we actually believe that we can make it!
Date: 2014-07-22
From: silver hill campsite

To: falls village
Miles today: 14.8

We had many many hills to climb today, about every mile one peak. And it was hot! I coped better with the heat than I expected it but Marco didn't. In the afternoon I hiked ahead while toad and Marco had difficulty keeping up. I think Marco had a heat rush and was dehydrated. He needed more breaks than usual and felt awful. I was really glad when we finally got to the road to falls village. This is a really small cute peaceful town, it has one restaurant/Inn/Tavern and one cafe. The cafe lets hiker tent in the back yard for free. Really nice, this was the perfect mileage for today! The next shelter wouldn't only be too far to hike but also half mile off the trail, I don't think any thru hiker does this extra mile! Unfortunately the town has no grocery store so we will have to do resupply in the next town. We had dinner at the tavern since Marco didn't feel like cooking. They had wifi but I didn't have time to update the Blog. Besides eating our dinner as long as it's hot I needed to get a few emails out to get my accident insurance to pay for my emergency room visit. Besides Marco and me, toasted toad, bluebird, simba, cozy and opus stayed at the cafe.Less than 700 miles to go!
Date: 2014-07-23
From: falls village

To: Campsite
Miles today: 19.0

We got up early to be able to hike the first big hill before it got too hot. We had a really good pace in the morning and the trail was nice. We met two southbounders who had started at kathadin and are trying to go all the way to springer mountain in Georgia. Believe me, even so this is mean, I'm really happy that they are the ones who have more miles ahead of them than us.Several small snakes greeted us on the second big hill which we climbed in the afternoon. And there were hundreds of tiny little frogs/toads today on the trail, it was really difficult not to step on them, they had about the size of my smallest fingernail.We climbed Bear Mountain the tallest hill along the trail in Connecticut. It was a special uphill over many rocky slopes, slow and steady and we thought many times we were on top but we weren't. Finally sitting on top, enjoying the view we heard thunder in the distance. Then toad checked the weather forecast and it predicted 60% chance of rain in 30 minutes and even more after. So we left hoping not to get wet before we would be in camp. We didn't expect this downhill, it was extremely steep, boulders, wet rocks, steep slopes, just awful. It took me forever to get down this hill. Marco waited for me to check that I would get down in one piece. Somewhere on this downhill we crossed the boarder Connecticut/Massachusetts. By the time we got to the tent site toad had already put his tent up. We got about 10 drops of rain, not more. But we could still hear thunder and expected it to hit later. The whole day we had to fight the bugs which tried to eat us alive, many of them trying in a suicidal attempt to fly into our eyes, ears, noses and mouths. We all often wore our head nets, it looks stupid and our sight is blurry but it definitely helps against the bugs! During dinner we checked each other constantly so we wouldn't get any more bug bites, already now we have each probably about 50, 20 of them which we treat against itching. We stayed outside of the tent just until we were finished with dinner, then we escaped from the bugs into our tent. Then the thunderstorm struck, it rains heavy and I just hope we stay dry!We passed the 1500 miles mark today!
Date: 2014-07-24
From: Campsite

To: east mountain retreat center
Miles today: 18.2

We had a heavy thunderstorm and rain last night. Toad enjoyed another wet night in his tent. He will get a replacement in Dalton and we hope he will stay dry from then on. We found out this morning that our bottom of the tent had a little bit of water pressed in where our mattresses were. This was because we had a puddle between our ground sheet and the tent floor. We packed everything wet, hoping we could dry it out later. The sun came out and a few miles later we came to a windy and sunny cliff. We took a break and layed all our things out to dry, it didn't take long. Perfect! I'm so glad to know our gear is dry.We hiked mount Everett today, not high but very steep. We tried to hike fast to get to town not too late to be able to resupply, do laundry and go to the hostel and get a shower. Unfortunately the trail downhill was steep and rocky besides being wet. It took me forever to get down, so no laundry today. We had still several miles to go after this mountain. Finally we made it to the road. A few weekend hiker were there which we had met before on the trail and they offered us to take us to town. We did resupply and then went to a thai restaurant which was great! I loved it! We had just started hiking out of town towards the hostel which is almost 3 miles out, when a taxi past us and signed that he would be right back. He made a very fair price so we decided to ask him to take us back to the trail tomorrow morning too.At the hostel we stay in a shared room, doesn't matter, it only costs 10 $ per person donation. I really enjoyed the hot shower and fortunately I had a clean change of clothes. Feeling all fresh now!
Date: 2014-07-26
From: tent site

To: Dalton
Miles today: 14.3

After a short night we wanted to hike on to Dalton. Unfortunately toasted toads knee hurt really bad after the downhills of the last couple of days. Weekend hikers gave us a ride to town. In Dalton we had great coffee! Toasted toad got picked up by his friend with whom he will stay the next few days, enjoy his zeros and hopefully is able to get rid of all his aches and pains. We had 5 packages waiting for us at the post office, all bounce boxes which we had sent from different places during our hike. And we got our international drivers licenses! Thank you Mathias we are really glad you help us so much! The hiker Jeff "paul banyan" had sent us an email several weeks ago inviting us to his house for a zero. Now we took on that offer. He picked us up at the post office, we went to get some lunch and drive about 2 hours to where he lives in the greater Boston area (eastern Massachusetts). On the way we went to an outfitter and to Walmart to do resupply. Then to a grocery store to get lobster for dinner. Deb and Jeff have a beautiful house, bordering a forest, in a stretched out village. Really nice and quiet. We stay in the guest room with en suite bathroom, what a luxury! Shower, laundry, our dishes in the dishwasher, now we are all cleaned up. Dinner was great, lots of veggies and good meat, plus a lobster each for Jeff and Marco. Marco was in food heaven and couldn't stop smiling!