morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-06
From: Near Stony Mtn Horse trail 

To: 501 Shelter 
Miles today: 27.3
Weather: overcast clouds

This was my longest hiking day so far. I was up and hiking early, the weather was cool and best of all the terrain was mostly level. I have one more 20 mile day to do 6-7-07 and then I will be renting a car and driving home to Cleveland, Ohio. I think my legs are up to it. The temperature is supposed to be a bit warmer and the terrain a lot rockier but I think with a lower pack weight it will even out. I am going to leave my left over oatmeal here aat the 501 Shelter hiker box. I am almost out of fuel and only have one dinner left. I only have enough peanut butter and bread for one lunch and I only have 3 trail bars. There is good water the whole 20 miles so I will only be carrying a minimal amount.john-knee-mud
Date: 2007-06-10
From: Cleveland Ohio

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I am enjoying my weekend off from the trail. I received the new shoes I ordered, on-line, and they seem to be a very good fit. (15 EEEE)I received the replacement trekking pole my wife sent me and I'm feeling ready to get back to the AT and finish out this walk in the woods. I'm assuming I can finish by mid August if I stay healthy and don't take any more extended vacations.I stayed with my brother who I haven't seen in two years. It was good to have dinner with him and to see his new grand daughter. We also ate with my best friend Karl and his new wife. I'm glad I took the time to see my friends and family.Thanks Bro!Today I am at the beach on Lake Erie in Mentor. This is is my favorite place in Ohio. I think it is my love of water and my many memories here, which make this a special place for me. When I swam here as a teenager the water was always green and murky. Since the steel mills have mostly shut down and other industries have closed, the water has cleared up considerably. Today is a perfect day. The water is calm and clear. Unfortunately it is easy to see many little globules of oil or something else floating just below the surface. I am choosing not to swim since the Lake still gives up chemicals and sewage that settled to the bottom during the extended era of polution and carelessness. A park employee comes down the beach in a four wheel drive Kawasaki utility vhehicle. He is driving slowly and scooping up cups and other litter yesterday's crowd has discarded. He stops and emptys the trash cans too. When he stops close to me I ask him about the floaters. He says that they call it bio-mass. Living organisms that float up off the bottom. (encapsulated bacteria) I ask him if it is safe to swim. He tells me that the posted bacteria levels are safe and it is ok to swim. Then he tells me that he swims at home in his pool and has seen too many things wash up on shore to ever go in the lake. I think about swimming here as a child and regularly seeing dead fish. The dead fish are gone. Still, I think today I will just enjoy the sand and sun. It is early Sunday and the crowds that will arrive in a few hours are allowing me the tranquillity I always find here in the early morning. This is as close to being at a secluded Canadian Lake as I can get, without driving 24 hours to get there. My drive back to Port Clinton will take me six hours or so. Then I merely have to hike for a couple of months and I will arrive in Maine. I am told the lakes in Maine have the loons and the quiet clean beauty of Canada. You can bet I am going to slow down when I get up there.john-knee-mud
Date: 2007-06-11
From: PortClinton

To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.2

Morning entry.I'm back on the trail and it sure feels good. even though... I couldn't find the trail coming out of Port Clinton and ended up wasting an hour going around in circles. It will surely always shock me when my preconceived notions are wrong. I was sure I knew where the trail was going to be, the only problem was this thinking prevented me from following the blazes. I supppose I should congratulate myself for finaly going back to the last blaze I saw. The important thing is I'm on track again and hiked 6 miles this morning in spite of the slow start. I came close to stepping on a big old fat rattle snake about an hour ago. I heard something just ahead which sounded like a cross between the chattering of a squirrel and the flapping wings of a grouse. As I continued to walk ahead to see which it was, it suddenly registered that the sound was a rattle. The snake crossed from beneath a bush, across the trail and then stopped right in front of me. I stopped and retreated. Took his picture and made a wide path around. About fifteen minutes after that I fell in the stream I was trying to get water from. I'm afraid to think what will happen next. I found out what would happen next. I was hiking along when I clearly heard the flapping of wings next to the trail. I looked over and saw a Grouse start to prance about, flapping and showing me everyone of it feathers. But then the darn bird attacked me! I stood in an arrested state of surprise as the bird marched in a stately yet quick display of plumage right toward me. I was too amazed to run or I would have. Do birds ever get rabies,I thought? The bird mercifully passed by me and walked back into the woods. I was sure it was drunk. Later someone told me that Gross do crazy things to lead preditors away from their nests. I am ashamed to say I was so afraid of a grouse but I'd rather be attacked by a grouse than a rattle snake. I am glad the ratle snake was not as snitty as the grouse. john-knee-mud
Date: 2007-06-12
To: Bake Oven Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: clear sky

I heard about a great restaurant right on the trail but I should have read the trail guide. It is not open until Thursday. Still, I made it there just as it started to rain. The owner said I could hang out until the rain quit. I'm waiting.Later:I did sit for a couple of hours and then hiked another 7 miles to Bake Oven Knob Shelter. The experience of hiking the last 5 miles of the day seems to be repeating; the people who lay out the AT want to run the trail over the sharpest and most difficult to climb rocks and outcroppings. I want desperately not to injure myself. The wet boulders and rock faces were slippery and treacherous. I slipped again and again inspite of having brand new hiking shoes with excellent tread. Still, I was lucky and managed to arrive unscathed. The thru hiker I met at the shelter wasn't so lucky, he had wrenched his back during his passing along the trail as he inched along the knife's edge. Yesterday, I met another hiker who had fallen and now was gobbling ibuprophen so he could still hike. If I sound a bit fed up with the fact that I continue to mindlessly follow the white blazes even though it puts me in perril you are correct. I hiked in the Smokies when there were sheets of ice on the trail, but I could walk just off the trail where it was safer to walk. This is just as dangerous, just as slippery, but there is no "marked" safe path. I believe there should be. I believe there should be a wet weather trail and/or a trail for people who are not interested in proving they can ascend and descend rock faces like goats. johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-13
From: Bake Oven Knob Shelter 1235.8

To: Palmerton 1243.5
Miles today: 7.7

I have decided to make today a short day and respect Pennsylvania's tough terrain. I have about 35 miles to go to get to the Deleware Water Gap but it is supposed to be rocky, without good water and the weather is calling for rain. A store clerk told me they had hail here in Palmerton, yesterday. The bottom of the Burrough Hall, where the bunks are, is spacious and clean. The girl scouts give every hiker a goodie bag. The bag included: toilet paper, tooth brush, tooth paste, a granola bar, a phone card with $1.50 on it and some advil. The town also supplied us with a clean towel and a good hot shower. All for free. Palmerton is a nice town. Quite clean and nicely laid out, with a big wide main avenue and a big open park in the center of town. There are two good size grocerie stores and a large modern drug store. They give all hikers a free apple at the IGA. In return I spent about 40 dollars, between resupply of food, a meal at a restaurant and assorted cards and photo developing.Palmerton's Zinc mine put it on the Superfund List ten or more years ago. Many of the surrounding mountains are devoid of vegetation. They have started to reseed but it seems as though it is going to take a long time before the red bare mountains are not what people remember about Palmerton.   johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-14
From: Palmerton 1243.5

To: Leroy Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm up early, cooking oatmeal and coffee behind the Burrough Hall where I slept. The bunks were made for shorter people and I hit my head all night long. I spent so much money yesterday that I am foregoing the traditional eggs and bacon breakfast. I don't want to tote extra oatmeal around either. I had a choice: I could put the oatmeal in the hiker box or in my belly. I'm thinking I can hike to Deleware Water Gap by tomorrow night and I can resupply there again. The climb out of the Lehigh Valley, where I am now, is supposed to be a challenge. The rocks also will get worse before they get better. I have enough food for three days, just in case.I'm also carrying as much water as I can carry, so I don't have to drink the water for the next 18 miles. My pack weighs too much. It feels like I have it packed with bricks...Today's hike was surprisingly easy. We hiked the 16 miles by 3:30 and then wondered what to do with ourselves. I took a nice long nap and then got up and talked about families and hiking with Ice Man. The temperature is cool enough to make the sleeping bag very appealing, but I can't type laying down. John-knee, John-knee, John-knee MUDlived on rice and a daily spudsometimes bagels, sometimes loxoften oatmeal from a hiker boxjohn-knee-mud
Date: 2007-06-15
From: Leroy Smith Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Ice Man and I got up at 5:30 and were on the trail by 7. Pennsylvania's rocks had one more hellish day for us before we would get to Deleware Water Gap and cross into New Jersey. The hiking was hard and yet we pushed on. By the time we reached the shelter I was limping and sore. We showered and washed our clothes in the sink and then roamed around the small town seeking out opportunities to eat. I started with a hamburger and went on to a Chef's Salad. After that I had a couple of pieces of pizza and some soda. Ice Man had a London Broil plate with salad and potato and later had a veggie burger and several bottles of ale. We were the only two hikers at the Hostel and enjoyed a good night's sleep.johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-16
From: Delaware Water Gap Church Hostel

To: Spring Campsite 
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We were up by six and went back to the Water Gap diner. I had eggs, hash browns and pancakes with numerous cups of coffee. Ice Man had an omelette and another couple of eggs. We both sent things home at the post office and Ice Man picked up a mail drop. he was kind enough to share some of his extra rations with me so I wouldn't have to wait around for a shuttle to the nearby town where groceries could be bought. We left town just before noon, crossed under I-80 and entered the Delaware Water Gap National Park. The rocks looked a lot like Pennsylvania's rocks but we kept reminding each other we were now in the Garden State and the trail would soon take on a more groomed appearance. The weather was clear and then cloudy and then rainy. We hiked through the first rain and then put up our tents just before the second rain soaked things down. We had only hiked 8 miles but we were satisfied since we both were still sore from the 20 miles we had hiked over rough terrain yesterday.johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-17
From: Camp Site

To: Gren Anderson Shelter 
Miles today: 24.6
Weather: clear sky

I almost lost my food bag to a raccoon last night. He had it ten feet away from the tent when something woke me up. I had been using the food bag as a back-stop for my pillow/clothes bag so it wouldn't slip out from beneath my head, I think the pillow slipped and I woke up to ascertain why. The raccoon was not about to leave without a fight. I had to shoo him away again and again. Every time I turned off my headlamp and closed my eyes he would be back under my tarp ready to grab the food bag and run. I eventually got him to leave by uttering the magic words:"shoo, shoo". I slept with one eye open after that. I think I will hang my food bag tonight. Ice Man and I are hoping to hike 18 miles to the first New Jersey shelter. I am low on food and have to find some resupply. johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-18
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Unionville, NY 
Miles today: 19.1

It was only yesterday when I walked the 20 miles to Unionville but it seems to be just a blur in my memory. I left camp in the morning figuring I would get water along the way. Once again I forgot to read the fine print in my trail companion. The shelter where I was expecting to get water was .6 miles off the trail. This would have added over a mile to my day's hike and none of the 1.2 miles toward Maine.I learned of my mistake about a mile after leaving camp. There was no turning back and no going the extra 1.2 miles unless I absolutely had to. I saw a few people in a parking lot and asked them for water but they couldn't help me out. I passed the shelter with the water with less than a quart in my pack and 4 miles to go. Thankfully, I came across a couple of thru hikers who were slackpacking in the other direction. They were almost back to their pickup point and gave me a good long drink of the Gatoraide they were carrying. I would have made it without, but the kindness they showed and the extra boost of the gatoraide helped. When I got to another parking lot they had left another bottle of gatoraide with a note to me. Thankyou: Rodeo Clown, Trash Bag and Ben and Amanda. I stopped and cooked the last of my food at lunch and then started the last 7 miles to Unionville where I planned to resupply. Two miles outside of town there is a place a ridgerunner told me about and is in the fine print in the hikers companion. It is a secret shelter with a hot water shower. The man who owns the property is a former thru hiker and provides the shower and bunkhouse for free. It was a short .2 miles off the trail and quite worth the additional distance to get clean prior to going into town. The general store had a good selection of everything I needed. They were a bit overpriced but it was worth it to have a pack full of food for a change. I slept, for free, in the park in town after filling out a registration form. I'm not sure I will ever do that again. There is always road noise and lights. A person gets used to sleeping in the quiet black of the forest. john-knee-mud
Date: 2007-06-19
From: Unionville, NY 

To: Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 11.8

I made it into Vernon, NJ without much effort despite the heat. I did manage to squander the day by leaving Unionville a little late, stopping at a moving sale and then talking to the southbound Godfather for much too long. I had asked the man at themoving sale if he had a light weight fry pan for sale. Since he didn't he decided to make me one from aluminum for free. In about 15 minutes he cut out the metal and crimped the edges. He also gave me 4 eggs so I could try it out. As I walked from his driveway he admonished me not to get lost. Thirty minutes later I was a quarter mile up someones driveway before a boy appeared and told me I had strayed from the AT. I had expected to continue going North and East but the AT committee (or whatever they are called) decided the trail should suddenly go West and South around a wildlife refuge. Expectations can be terrible things. When I finaly arrived at the road into Vernon I put out my thumb and immediately got a ride. I didn't expect that! It is illegal to hitch-hike in NJ and NY most people know it and ignore the law breakers they pass. I couldn't wait to try out my new fry pan. I went to the local A&P and bought some oil and some small steaks. When I started to cook the eggs slid right over the too short side of the homemade pan and on to the ground. The steaks would not cook no matter how high I turned up the flame. I dumped it all in the trash, except for the steaks, and went to the hostel kitchen to cook. It was a fun experiment but not productive. The weather today is quite gray. There is a 70% chance of rain and it is drizzling now. Consequently, I am sitting inside a Dunkin Donuts and enjoying a muffin and a cup(s) of coffee. I still want to hike 20 miles today so I'd better get a move on. I should be out of NJ for good in about six hours. My wife comes to hike with me this Saturday. I am sure looking forward to that. I plan to hike a 30 mile day tomorrow to: 1. Show her what a man I am, 2. Take advantage of the longest days of the year, and 3. Prove to myself that I can. It might be my only chance to ever hike a 30 mile day. I think I am ready! johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-20
From: Vernon, NJ

To: campsite 1354.6
Miles today: 0.0

If I'm going to hike 30 miles tomorrow I'd better carb up today. So, to that end or because I have been craving pizza and spaghetti, I took a blue blazed path from the trail that led me down from the ridgeline to the town of Greenwod, NY. I have started reading the descriptions of towns in my Thru Hikers Companion. It is causing me to make more side trips from the trail and consequently to put on weight. Food is good for thru hikers. Being constantly hungry without being able to do anything about it is frustrating. So here I sit, in Ashley's Pizza Parlor, waiting for my spaghetti dinner. The town of Greenwood suprises me for being a run down blue collar affair. I know there must be another close-by town where the well-to-do cottage owners who live on the lake must live. I finnish my meal and walk around town looking for a candy bar and ice cream. The town is alive with activity. Locals stand around cars in parking lots talking and teens stand on street corners. There are only two people in the local bar. johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-21
From: campsite 1354.6

To: William Brean Shelter 1379.9 
Miles today: 25.3

4:30 get up5:30 leave campsite 1354.67:20 arrive Wildcat Shelter 1360.17:40 depart Wildcat12:45 arrive 1368.2 Orange Turnpike2:10 arrive 1370 NY 179:15 arrive 1379.9 William Brean ShelterTotal mileage 25.3 This is the day I want to hike 30 miles. It is 4:30 and I am up making oatmeal and coffee. On the plus side: I am up, there is going to be 15 plus hours during which I can hike and I am well nourished and strong in the legs. On the negative side: I'm not sure what the terrain will be like, there are two shelters ahead with no water, it feels like it is going to rain, and I fell again yesterday, on some loose stones and sprained my right wrist making it hard to grip my rekking pole, Both trekking poles are without tips. I'm sitting beside NY 17 (1370.0) It is hot and the terrain is a grooling mix of steep ups and even steeper downs. I don't think I can do 30 miles today. I'm not quitting yet.I stopped to eat supper just as enormous black clouds pushed in from the west. The water was just boiling when a group of 14 teens and their leader arrived. I ate and put on my trashbag/raincoat for an evening walk in the rain. With all the ups and downs the trail threw at me all day long combined with the threat of running out of water and having to carry 4 to six pounds of water, I failed to keep a two mile per hour speed. When it became too dark to hike I had only hiked 25 miles. Not a bad day by anyone's standards but the 30 mile day is still something I am going to try to do. john-knee-mud
Date: 2007-06-22
From: William Brean Shelter 1379.9 

To: Bear Mountain Bridge
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I'm sitting outside Enterprise Car Rental. They don't open for an hour. I don't know whether I want to strangle someone or shake their hand. I just walked by a huge sign that read Bear Mt. Park 6 miles. Bear Mountain is a place the manager here said was too far (45 minutes) or was too hard to get to. I walked here in about three hours so the sign is right and the distance well within the ten mile radius Enterprise says they use to determine whether they can pick you up. I'm really at a loss: Did he not have a car to rent me? Did I not know how to deal with New Yorkers? Maybe we just had an old fashioned failure to comminicate because he couldn't comprehend the Appalachian Trail and a person who travels by foot while I couldn't comprehend the topography of the city and ended up giving him poor directions to where I was? He swears he sent someone out to get me but that they couldn't find me. Maybe I will never know the truth. Maybe I will never know if the whole thing became yet another absurd chapter in my book of absurdities because God wanted it so or because I was too darn thick headed to figure things out. But, I sure am curious. I am trying to face this as a Mennonite, the religion of my choice, and I am trying to face this as Walt Whitman would, so in love with the road that there is nothing about it I don't love.Forcing me to walk here, instead of picking me up like they advertise, caused me to face a few of my regular demons: anger, self-doubt and plain old fear.On the plus side there are these tangibles: I ended up sleeping in the woods behind a convenient store/gas station that had a good selection of prepared foods and also had a Dunkin Donuts. So, I ate well last night and had a large coffee, bagel-egg and cheese, and a bran muffin for breakfast. I walked through a largely hispanic section of Peekskill NY, enjoying the expressions as I walked past groups of day laborers with my backpack and large hat and my hiking poles clack, clack, clacking as I marched by feeling much like Don Quiote in search of The Enterprise Windmill. I had a shampoo and sponge bath at a Burger King which is always fun. And to top it all off, when I renewed my reservation it ended up costing me thirty dollars less than before. I suppose when I am actually in the car and driving toward Albany it will all come together; the anger and frustration will be gone and the promise of a wonderful day with my sweetheart will stand before me more illuminated and a thousand times more enticing than a Dunkin Donut sign to a starving hiker.johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-24
From: Bear Mountain 1389.8

To: Graymoor 1394.9
Miles today: 5.1

I rented the car and drove to Albany, arriving just as Ingrid's plane arrived. We had a wonderful day together enjoying:the whirlpool at the YMCA, computers at the library, a dinner at a nice restaurant, lunch at a health food grocery and just driving around. On Sunday we drove back to Peekskill and hiked 5.1 miles just to get some miles under our belts.johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-25
From: Graymoor 1394.9

To: Campsite 1408.9
Miles today: 14.0

I have given Ingrid the trail name "Comarado" in honor of Walt Whitman's poem. We have called each other companion for many years. I like the Spanish version. It was a very hot day and we were carrying all we could manage. We returnred the rental car and were hiking by 9. We made it 14 miles after taking time out to go for a swim in Canopus Lake.johnnymud
Date: 2007-06-26
From: Campsite 1408.9

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter 1422.8
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: clear sky

Our first full day with packs. We were up and hiking by 7:30 but the heat in the 90s took its toll mile by mile. We stopped at a deli and ate outside at a small picnic table while relaxing on 2 lawn chairs for a couple of hours. When 5 O'clock rolled into view we ate a final ice cream bar and started out over the last 3 miles. We love sleeping in our tent with the tarp pulled away so we can gaze up at the tree tops and stars. johnnymud