morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-06-12
From: wawayanda shelter

To: wild cat shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night we all got along so well. Raisins came in kinda late and we talked for a long while. He hikes 30 miles days like all the time. He told me people get offended and are rude to him. I asked him if he met V8, he said he didn't and hopes he does. He mentioned that I'd be cool since he's Asian too. Raisins is only the second Asian I've seen on the trail. It's kinda sad the trail is so uniform in race. I haven't seen any blacks on the trailnature boy and he did, raisins got to hike a bit with him before he decided his headache was too much. The other guy in the shelter we named denim, you can guess why. He even had denim shorts, course they were soaked. He was just out of college and had really bad poison Ivy on his feet. He is hiking south, he said he might not go all the way to the end and stop in Tennessee where his uncle lives, I was like you know once you get to Tennessee your practically at the end. I got the notion he thought Tennessee was placed where mid Virginia is. I gave him the half of my guide book I was done with. He showed me his MRE shake and drink and I said I wanted it and he gave it to me. We renamed wild lights to come again. Since he is back on the trail after 33 years. I went to the road and hitch hiked to a grocery store. It's hard to only get one item in a store with gobs and gobs of stuff. I did pretty well other then peanut butter which I planned on getting I only got pancake mix. Well and a coconut pie at from these girls selling baked goods. I then walked to the road to hitchhike, but was picked up before I even got there. Finally I got to the library. The place looked great. Only thing I had to wait until noon until it opened. Which wasn't so bad since I had a jill pie to eat and a book to read. I got cold and got my sleeping bag out. Yes I looked like a hobo. Some lady asked what I was wearing, she was talking about the sleeping bag. Guess she though it was a new trend in pants. I got my catching up finished right before my computer would not keep adding another Five minutes and I used it up until it got to the seconds. Now hitchhiking back wasn't so easy. I walked to the main road, already more then I walked to get to the library. Then no oneStopped. So I walked a bit and tried again and again ugh. I guess it's the way the guys feel when trying to hitch hike. So I walked and stuck out my thumb. That did the trick. I got a ride from a darling lady named Lisa. She was so intrigued by my journey and drove me the entire way back. I had like 11 miles to do starting at 2 somesthing. There were a bunch of cliff out cropping which the trail would follow up. I lost the trail a lot. Perhaps New York just isn't as good with marking blazes. Yes I'm in New York. On one cliff I brushed my teeth and watched my spit fall far. Was a blast. At the shelter I made yummy pancakes and shared them. Come again is here.
Date: 2011-06-13
From: wild cat shelter

To:  mark and pats house. 
Miles today: 1.5

I woke up ate and left by seven. Walked a bit. Then got picked up. Was real nice. Perfect time for a break. I was bombarded with food, not a bad thing at all. Pat got me some wonderful dark chocolate. I had a fun time learning the health benefits of being vegan. I persuaded them to let me watch a video on why milk is not so healthy for people or even children. Mark and Pat have several cats. One is named seven, they used to have more. One cat they recently found inside a car engine. They took it to the vet since it's tail broke. Pat took the kitten to the vet to be adopted. She says they don't need more cats, and she's trying not to be attached to it. I can tell it was hard to say goodbye.
Date: 2011-06-14
From:  mark and pats house. 

To: Fingerboard shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: moderate rain

I woke up rather early but slept so well, when I woke up I was shrouded it was morning already. I ate all morning. Cereal, finished the second half of Ben and jerrys. Pat made some home made bread. Mark decided he wanted to hike with me. Must have gotten the hiker bug. So he packed up all his gear, he broke out his box of dehydrated vegan meals. He let me choose one. So we went out to the trail, but had many stops on the way. Pat got coffee, we went passed a pastry shop. I was told I could have whatever I wanted. I refrained mostly because I was already so full, plus there was all sorts goodies in the car. We stopped and got shorts, finally mine had seen better days. I guess I could have sewn them up. I am so happy to have functioning shorts. I have cut off the bottoms of my pants to make shirts. They just slide down, so I used my hip belt to keep them from sliding. No more of that. At the road where we got dropped off the craziest thing happened, out strolled skippy from the woods. I was ecstatic. We lost him early on, and apparently he got lost himself. The hike was an adventure. It rained on and off. There were plenty rock scrambles. One part was called lemon squeeze. It got tighter and tighter. Then there was a steep jump, I hugged a tree and got around it. There was a sign for the 'easy' trail. That only went around the jump. Mark had a bit of knee problems and his toes hurt. The shelter looks like a rock pile. I made pancakes and my stove spilled burning fuel. It scared me, mark says he's going to help me out in that department. Skippy is here and him and mark are chatting away. Looks like skippy is interested in staying a night at mark and pats place. Skippy also said he was kicking himself for passing on staying at my place, which makes me feel better. Skippy says count is off the trail.
Date: 2011-06-15
From: Fingerboard shelter

To: Monastery pavilion
Miles today: 20.0

Mark was up and ready, I was tired and ready for a second round of sleeping. I was to tired to concentrate. At ever stop I wanted to nap. It was a difficult morning as one may imagine. The climbs were a bit brutal. On bear mountain, its so touristy that there are steps on both sides of the mountain. All day we ran into people asking us if we were thru hikers. Then mark would motion my way and let them know I was thru hiking. Then would come a big smile followed by praises and volleys of questions and spews of information about the trail. One of these people asked me if I'd.like some apples. She handed both the apples to me ignoring Mark. I felt a bit like a celebrity. We got lost plenty of times or rather went the wrong way. See mark would say the trail goes such and such a way and I wouldn't think twice about. Up until it was the wrong way a couple times. Today was the day got to go through the zoo. Wasn't quite as exciting as I thought I'd be. We went over a massive bridge. There were a bunch of suicide hotline signs. Then there was the climb when I got a random bloody nose. I stuck toilet paper up my nose and kept walking; was one of the most uncomfortable things I've done. Skippy made it to the pavilion just around an hour after we arrived. The bugs are a bit bad. I hung my hammock inside.
Date: 2011-06-16
From: Mt algo shelter

To: Mark and Pats
Miles today: 0.0

We were going to hike but the weather was looking bad. I was more then glad to stay. I slept some more. We ate some amazing home made cinnamon raisin  bread and some yummy scrambled tofu. We played a game, all four of us. It was fun, I got real competitive. Won once lost once. We made and ate some lovely vegan pizza piled with veggies, and some fake pepperoni. Then we had a music jam, where everyone picked out a couple songs. Mark and pat shared blue grass, skippy shard brazilian music and some music he played himself. I shared some rap, some Keith green, and the wife song.
Date: 2011-06-17
From: Monastery pavilion

To: RPH
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

Mark cooked up some oatmeal for breakfast. I put a cat in skippy's room to wake him up. It took us a while to leave. It didn't help that I would have rather stayed. I took a shower to use this particular soap that keeps off ticks. Mark helped me get all prepared to hit the trail. Got me toilet paper, a stand for my stove, and food. What was exciting was getting garlic to keep the skeeters away. I'll probably end up keeping hikers away too. The drive to the trail was hard. I wasn't feeling well. I was getting home sick. Mark gave me a hug, I put my head phones on and Was off. Some drunk guy joined us a bit. He asked if I wanted a soda, I said no. And that was all I said to him. The dude talked and talked. He told skippy he though I didn't like him. I wasn't in the mood. The miles went fast. Skippy and I got to RPH. Skippy played his guitar. We sang a bit. Some random town ladies came by, once they realized we liked food, they brought in some nice food, which I shared. I met some new hikers. They are fun and friendly. Crop duster who apparently is quite gassy. And German Shepard another German.
Date: 2011-06-18
From: RPH

To: Telephone pioneer
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: light rain

I made some smashing pancakes, complete with m&ms. I walked with chainsaw most the day. He told me some crazy things he's seen working as a firefighter. He's seen kids dead from an overdose and he's delivered twins. We went swimming in a lake and sun dried, was very refreshing. Chainsaw was hoping someone would give him a soda. Never happened. Crop duster joined us we chatted a bunch. And him and skippy played cards with me that made me real glad. Crop duster being the more enthusiastic player.
Date: 2011-06-19
From: Telephone pioneer

To: Mt algo shelter
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: broken clouds

I hiked with chainsaw. I was a zombie, too tired to care. We didn't talk much. He stopped at a campsite I went on to the shelter. It surprised me that skippy hadn't made it yet. There were a bunch of section hikers. One guy looking a bit hobo was carving a stick, he had hearing aids and liked to talk. Another guy whom I named 3 bananas started near the border of ct and is hiking to katahdin. oh yeah I crossed the border yesterday. Three bananas is way over packed he has a months supply of food, and a four pound tent and a machete in which to clear the trail and kill bears with. He took a zero day today and yesterday did 8.5 in nine hours, coming into the shelter at 10. He was exceedingly excited to talk to me, he would practically jump up and down while talking. Perhaps he hasnt got to opportunity to converse in a while. But he was fun and gave me some food. He's named three bananas cuz he hiked mt Lafayette with only three bananas and a water bottle. Another group of guys took forever long to set up their tent. I informed these guys that they dont have to bear bag and can just hang their food in the shelter. That probably saved them a least 20 minutes finding a tree and actually getting a rope thrown. I invited the three guys to play cards. We played scum which they enjoyed. And played multiple rounds. I was dead tired, but since I like cards so much I tried not to sleep. Skippy came in with his headlamp finally near ten o clock.
Date: 2011-06-20
From: Mt algo shelter

To: Mark and Pats
Miles today: 0.4

We had a very short day, mark picked us up at the road. I picked up my package in Kent, its quite heavy. Mark took us out for breakfast, we got these wonderfully massive omelets. Mark had the windows down, he said he smelled something funky. Once we got to the house I ran to the shower. Ahh life is good. I miss having a soft bed away from mosquitoes. So just to fill in. Motivation is kinda low, I have what 700 more miles to go. I will finish, that's not a question. The hike is starting to wear me down. I hike not because its fun, but to get to Maine. Most the time I'm half asleep, kinda zombie like. I try eating a bunch of food, to perk up, but you know how it feels after thanksgiving. They say there are three kinds of people that finish, 1 people that just love every minute of being in the outdoors. 2 people that find the woods a better alternative the life back home. and 3 those who just won't give up. I think I want to cut my mileage, therefore having more energy to enjoy the experience. Plus more enthusiasm about the journey. It just blows my mind how excited newbies can be about "going on a hike" i suppose that's because hiking has turned into my life. But I would really like to enjoy it more then I have in the past couple weeks. I heard it said the last part, is just pushing through, bite the bullet type of mentality, to just fight the exhaustion and hike. I've met a bunch of hikers that say they are ready to be done, and are doing big miles to get done faster. One guy is running out of money, and has no other choice. Last thought, I can't wait for the blueberries to be ripe for eatting.
Date: 2011-06-21
From: Mark and Pats

To: Mark and Pats
Miles today: 0.0

So it rained, and Skippy let it up to me to make the decisions. There was the option to zero and you know I took it. mark and Pat are vegans, which is cool they make great food. I learned a bunch. I am considering being vegan myself, for health reasons. I got to stick my nose in a book called "prevent and reverse heart disease." I'm pretty much sold on how dairy, and meat being detrimental for peoples health. Course practically non of my food is vegan, so I'll have to post pone, I have a whole lot of cheese, some pepperoni, which I'd probably give away anyway, tuna, turkey jerky....So if I'm still sold in the future, I'll be resupplying with cereal for breakfast, perhaps cook up beans, and good old quinoa for supper. It'll be a challenge, yippee. I wrote down a bunch of tasty vegan meals. I'm not so sure about tofu, it's new. I always knew one has to eat fruits and veggies for a balanced diet, but I feel like I've been lied to about having to get calcium from milk, and how protein is so vital, and its not, and how you have to eat healthy fats, another lie. Now a days fish has more chemicals then good anyway. i know this is a touchy subject, and I have lots to learn, but man I can't believe I consumed so much butter, and olive oil, and coconut butter, and thought it was healthy. When Mark picked up supply's for his homemade beer, Skippy got ice cream, and I pick up 90% cocoa chocolate. We all got a sweet tooth one way or another.
Date: 2011-06-22
From: Mark and Pats

To: Stewart hollow shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

Stewart hollow. Jun 23 7.3 mI ate a bunch of cereal and read a bit more about being vegan before we rode down to the trail. Once we got dropped off, It didnt take long for me to notice i had lost my bug spray. Mark said he would bring it, but i felt bad. The rain  started up and I could hear thunder. There was a downhill section which was absurdly dangerous.  It was bad being how it was, the rain didn't help.  The last part wasn't so bad it was flat alongside the husitonic river. I followed skippy's fast pace. We got in around 12 played  a bunch of drinking games and fell asleep early.
Date: 2011-06-23
From: Mark and Pats

To: Limestone shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: moderate rain

Limestone shelter .5 off the trail 22 milesI left skippy snoozing at the shelter. I hiked the first half of the day with a Swedish guy named Bombadil, like in the lord of the rings. He is a speedy fellow so following him was a bit of a challenge. He doesn't take zeros and averages around 25s. The only times he took zeros is when he was sick. I tried out some of my Danish on him since Swedish and Danish are very similar that was fun. He said that the reason why he is thru hiking is very complex. He chose Gambia to go to college for a semester. He met another exchange student there and the guy was from Pennsylvania, who was going to hike the AT the following year, and persuaded Bombadil. They started out together but that didn't last long. Bombadil has only four months to finish the trail, and he is determined to finish. After lunch at the shelter, I hiked with Roger, hes a nice kid same age as me. He told me how he used to be way over weight and biked a bunch to lose it. And how his dad loves to hike and Roger never like going out on hikes but his father would make him, so his dad was quite surprised when Roger told him he wanted to hike the entire summer. We ran into three bananas, who was exhausted. I figured it was because of his massive pack which used to be sixty pounds but now is 45 pounds.  Later I found out he was only eating peanut butter packets, since he couldn't used his wood burning stove since all the wood is wet. I gave him a couple pounds of nuts. Once he got something in him it made all the difference. Cuz first he'd need a break every five minutes. We swapped packs so he wouldn't have to carry as much, that was fun. I realized I really should get a real pack since the weight is dispersed weird in my pack. It was .5 down to the shelter, it was a pretty crazy walk too. I really wanted to stealth camp, but glad I didn't because soon after we arrived a ridge-runner showed up. The ridge-runner bear bagged my food. Roger realized he lost his wallet, and called his dad. Skippy showed up, that made me happy.
Date: 2011-06-28
From: Skippy's place

To: Riga Shelter
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: overcast clouds

So the original group stayed at Skippy's place, all but Kelsey, but she was also in town and visited. We relaxed went shopping, watched movies, and ate a lot. As for myself I consummed a lot of beans. (High in fiber, and highest food in antioxidents) Skippy invited a bunch of friends over, many of which spoke portugese. So i felt a little out of it. When we told them about the trail, and our daily lives. They were trying to come up with something to equal it, but couldn't. We'd be disscussing the sizes of the bears that we've seen, and they had nothing to add in, but tried. Skippys mom was a fun lady, I joined her swimming in the pool, that is part of the apartment complex. We stayed in the fourth floor. I was having trouble getting connected to the internet, so I tried walking down the hall and using other people wifi. I foud wifi, mostly locked, but even so, no connection. Finally it told me i had plugged in the wronge password, a bit delayed if you ask me.We slowly got ready to leave today. Skippy was a dear and is lending me one of his backpacks. I though about sending mine home, but realized how much I didn't want to come home to a smelly, lousey, good for nothing, backpack, that was definatly not worth the postage. So I junked it.We left a couple hours later then planned. It took a couple hours to drive back, got hiking around 7. There was a small bus at the trail head, which could mean only two things, there's gonna be a bunch of people at the shelter, or someone just randomly parked it there. The 1st was true. We had a tizzy tryng to find the place. then set up camp. The misquitos where aweful. So I loosened my tarp so that it rested on my hammock. So I smushed all the ones inside, but the ones outside wqere hindering my sleep. I decided earplugs would do the trick. As I reached for my backpack, swarms came in. It didn't take long until I had enough. I grabbed my sleeping bag, and sleeping pad and walked to the shelter. Lucky for me there was a space. Then it started to pour, and I could only hope, my stuff wasn't being drenched.
Date: 2011-06-29
From: Riga Shelter

To: Tom leonard shelter
Miles today: 24.4
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a blissfully wonderful day which made up for the awful night I had. So I hung my hammock, and the vampire bugs were nonstop dreadful, so I restrung my hammock in a way that the tarp rested on the hammock therefor giving the vampire bugs less room to squeeze in, also constricting the air flow making me hot. So after I killed all the buzzers inside, the ones on the outside were annoying, after a time I reach for my earplugs and let in a whole new crowd, they were everywhere it was awful. So as the lightning flashed I grabbed my sleeping bag and pad and headed over to the shelter, which actually had room for one more. Then it started pouring. I was worried my electronic might be ruined, with the tarp loosened as it was. Then I got thirsty in the night, and tried collecting rain off the roof, it was harder then it sounds.I woke up at around five. My tarp had a puddle of water on it. My things were a bit damp, but nothing was harmed. I packed up so fast, because the bugs were that bad. I didn't want to get eaten alive while cooking so I ate my banana. The hiking was quite lovely, there was an exquisite waterfall near the border. I pick blueberries and put them in my cereal. I found a sweet view in the sun and dried out my things. That was extraordinary, the breeze was magnificent. Around lunch I I ran into some trail mantenece people and chatted with them. There was a flat section, where I ate berries, but the bugs were bad. It was beautiful but the bugs were bad. I saw deer and five snakes the last two where large black snakes both of them scared me. The other three were like baby snake. There were a whole bunch of mushrooms I'll have to learn which ones are edible. I got to the shelter at nine, everyone already in bed. Skippy and scavenger showed up an hour latest
Date: 2011-06-30
From: Tom leonard shelter

To: jeans house
Miles today: 21.0

The guys came in late last night. Apparently they hadn't seen the shelter until I came out to greet them. They said if I hadn't had my headlamp on they wouldn't have found the shelter. I decided I wanted to hike with my friends, that means waiting on them to get started in the morning, which wasn't to hard since I groggy myself. We hiked all together, which is a novelty, for the first quarter. Then scavenger fell behind, then skippy and I took a lunch break, skippy fell asleep, quiet quickly. I left, ran back into scavenger. Felt sick and fell behind a bit for the last climb of the day.After I caught back up, we had intellectual conversations, or could we say he made me think and taught me a lot. He taught me the cheapest most efficient way to travel in Germany, that is by train or weekends with a group ticket, apparently if you know what you're doing you can make money. We discussed government, which of course is complicated. And taxes, and how scavenger slams the door on the people who collect taxes for movement TV. All they have to do is get inside someone's house see their tv and say, "well you have a tv, therefore you have the ability to watch government tv.". Apparently government tv in germany doesn't have commercials, so they got to get their money some way. Scavenger said how he finds it hypocritical that prostitution is illegal, but on tv hot girls are using sex to sell products. We were nearing upper goose cabin, and walking along the pond when, I saw a boat. I said to scavenger we should get a ride to the cabin from the people. He's like I can but you can't, I told him I'm not a purist anymore. He was about to go on but I got him to wait on me as I flagged the boat down. We got a ride, they handed us drinks, and life was good. They took us to the cabin. But we didn't stay, since we got invited to stay with the one lady. Scavenger was on the verge about going. I felt bad for leaving skippy behind, so in wrote a letter and was giving two drinks to the cabins caretaker when, skippy walked down the steps. So we all got a boat ride and partied the rest of the night.