morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-06-01
From: Peters Mtn Shelter

To: Rausch Gap
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: haze

Grizzly convinced me last night not to set up my tent because he said it was supposed to rain. I hardly slept at all because I was really hot and being eaten alive so imagine my surprise when I got up at 4:00 to go to the bathroom and saw his tent in back of the shelter. I decided I could sleep better out on the edge of the deck where there was a breeze, so that¢s where I moved to. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard a weird noise that made me sit up. This was when I found myself face to face with a humongous bear, literally. He cocked his head to one side in confusion as I jumped up and yelled, ¢OH MY GOD, A BEAR! RUN AWAY BEAR!¢ It started moving slowly, and only sped up when all the occupants of the shelter ran out to see what caused the commotion. Yeti was the only one to arm himself with a trekking pole.Shaking, I haphazardly threw my gear in my bag and left. It was 6:00 am, my earliest start time yet. I was driven to keep moving, so that¢s what I did, all the way to Clarks Creek where the heat, fatigue, and bugs got the best of me. I set up my tent, dipped my feet in the creek, and then laid down in my little sanctuary for a nap.An hour later the other hikers started coming down the mountain. When they say my excellent little stopping place, they couldn¢t resist stopping for a break. I was there for 4 hours and I saw everyone pass me by except Jebus et al. So much for my early start. I got heckled a bit for sitting inside my tent, so I packed it up before eating lunch and headed out.The rest of the day remained hot but uneventful. Pebbles, Thumper, Yeti, Grizzly, and I all decided to camp just before the shelter. We ate and then settled into our tarps/tents just before the skies opened up and down poured on us.
Date: 2006-06-02
From: Rausch Gap

To: PA501
Miles today: 17.4

Late, damp start. Walking and talking with Pebbles. Another hot and humid day. Yeti¢s parents drove down from Michigan to visit him and they kindly got us a room at a hotel for the night. Then they went even further out of their way and got Pebbles and I a ¢Girls only¢ room. I¢ve met so many truly nice people out here it totally reinforces my humanitarian nature.
Date: 2006-06-03
From: PA501

To: Eagles Nest Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning I decided to go to the outfitter with Pebble sin order to replace my current set of clothing I have grown to loathe and hope to burn. They never dry properly, and this was punctuated this morning when I awoke to find them still wet from last night¢s sink washing.On the way to the outfitter I realized I had left my hat in my room, and even though I was a little sad about it after all we had been through together, I was confident I could find an acceptable replacement in the store. Unfortunately the outfitter in Port Clinton was permanently closed, so we had to go to Cabellas instead, which didn¢t have any of the items I was looking for.Yeti¢s parents dropped me off on the trail very sad and hatless and wishing I hadn¢t wasted my time on the outfitter excursion. I gave Yeti a hug goodbye and then plodded into the woods to put on my still-wet and nasty clothes. PA through rocks at us full force today, and Snake, Pebbles, and I barely made it to the shelter before dark. We played a game of swap-the-sleeping-bag before settling in, and everyone ended up with someone else¢s bag. It was an exciting end to a disappointing day.
Date: 2006-06-04
From: Eagles Nest Shelter

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Two interesting things happened this morning before we left the shelter. First, Snake apparently didn¢t understand what I meant by full when I told him, ¢Don¢t use the privy because it¢s full.¢ And so went to see the disgusting result anyway. Second, the mystery man in the shelter who was dirtier than even the dirtiest thru-hiker I¢ve seen, asked me for food, leading me to believe he was truly homeless. I knew Snake and I were going to a restaurant today, so I gave him the two packets of Pop Tarts I was going to have for breakfast.More rocks! Bleh! But we made it down into Port Clinton anyway where we found our way to the hotel for lunch. The food was enormous and delicious although it was kind of expensive and the waitstaff was downright mean. Snake ordered a huge thing of fries and then packed about 2 lbs out.At the next shelter we ran into Cookie, who was already set up for the night. He told us he was heading home in a couple of days to celebrate his anniversary. He seemed so happy about seeing his wife it was infectious, and I started thinking about my upcoming reunion with Robert. I really like Cookie, and I hope to see him on the trail again sometime.It was about 6:00 when Snake and I left the shelter and with 9 miles left to go we knew we would be night hiking. We climbed up the Pulpit and the Pinnacle as fast as we could, which wasn¢t very fast. It was at this point that the trail angels smiled down on us and gave us a smooth, nearly rock-free driveway for the last 5 miles of the hike. We flew! We only ended up night hiking for about fifteen minutes before arriving at the luxurious Eckville shelter. There we found Grizzly and a frozen Pebbles, who we made eat some fries before giving her my sleeping bag.
Date: 2006-06-05
From: Eckville Shelter

To: George W. Outerbridge Shelter
Miles today: 24.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was physically the most difficult day I¢ve had on the trail, and it¢s all because of the rocks. We woke up to find that Pebbles, although warm, was having what I call a low day and it was clear she needed some alone time. Since it was very likely I wouldn¢t see her for a while, Snake suggested we swap bags so she wouldn¢t be cold. Mission accomplished, we set out a little worried.Like I said, the terrain was rocky and my feet were so, so sore it was very slow moving. I fell on my knees on a big rock at one point, dropping my phone and knocking the battery out of it. In the afternoon, I stopped for a pee break, and then I hurried to catch up to Snake. The problem was that no matter how fast I tried to go, I couldn¢t find him.Puzzled, I climbed over the treacherous terrain they call knee¢s edge where I ran into one of those hoods in the woods groups. They told me there was one hiker just in front of me, so I continued at my quick pace. One of the boys hiked with me for a while, and we talked about gear and backpacking. I named him Rock Jumper and he really seemed to like it. Shortly after I left him with the rest of his group I ran into Grizzly. Oddly, Grizzly hadn¢t seen Snake. Slightly worried he was lost somewhere, I decided to take a break at the next shelter and wait for him.He was only about 15 min. behind us, and it turned out that we had missed a .3 mile section of the trail. When Snake realized it, he went back to catch it, but because I didn¢t realize it I had gotten ahead of him. So, I was running after him, and he was running after me. We rested a little bit longer before all three of us continued over the rocks to the destination shelter.
Date: 2006-06-06
From: George W. Outerbridge Shelter

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Today started with a climb into and out of Lehigh Gap. The climb out required a lot of concentration as I scrambled over the enormous mountain of boulders. I was grateful that the air was cool, dry and foggy because the sun or rain would have increased the difficulty.I had a brief moment of worry at lunch when Snake went to get waster and didn¢t return for and hour and a half. Thumper showed up right about this time and he, Grizzly, and I waited to see if snake would return. He did eventually after walking 2.5 miles for his water.Yeti caught back up with us today, minutes after we guessed he would catch up with us tomorrow. The five of us finished out our walk from the last shelter to Wind Gap somewhat together, where we got a room in town.
Date: 2006-06-07
From: Wind Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

Early morning laundry and Dunkin¢ Donuts; Free lunch and McDonalds with the purchase of a $25 gift card; Not being able to see in the rain due to my glasses and the loss of my hat; Snake saving me from my own personal hell, walking with me and giving me a double cheeseburger; Not peeing in my pants; Falling and twisting my ankle on a rock; Hobbling into DWG cold and miserable to find the hostel full; Getting a hotel room and eating pizza, feeling much better.
Date: 2006-06-08
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

After the miserableness of yesterday I didn¢t really didn't want to walk anywhere today, but I knew I should because I needed to get closer to NY so Cindy and Robert could pick me up. At 1:00 I had everything packed and ready to go. Snake convinced me to buy this large and flowery straw hat at the outfitter and I did, since that was about the only choice. I walked with him up to the hostel where I planned on saying Goodbye to my friends possibly for good, but where instead they convinced me to jump in a cab and go to the movies.I felt really guilty about not hiking today, but I was finally able to get a new wardrobe after weeks of searching and I got to sit in a dark theater for two hours and do absolutely nothing. It was a great afternoon outing. When we got back to the hostel, we found a note from Pebbles that we were invited to stay in two hotel rooms that Jebus¢ mom had rented for the night. It was a good end to a good day.
Date: 2006-06-09
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 24.8
Weather: light rain

I couldn¢t afford not to make it to the shelter today, or I wouldn¢t make it to my meeting place, so I left my bag packed overnight and left by 7 am this morning. My room was only just starting to wake up, so I gave Snake a hug goodbye and asked him to thank Jebus for me. I left town with heavy legs and an even heavier heart.It was odd to be hiking by myself again. I¢ve been hiking so much with Snake and chilling out on breaks with the group that not having people around was lonely. I ate lunch near the Mohican Outdoor Center after walking 14 mile op there for a soda to find that it was closed for lunch. I got to the shelter tonight just in time to miss the rain storm I could see coming form on top of the ridge. There already were thru-hikers Applesauce and Crue, and section hikers Kilo and Marc. To my surprise, about 10 minutes after I ran in, so did Grizzly. I¢m tenting tonight so as not to wake anyone up with my early start tomorrow.
Date: 2006-06-10
From: Brink Road Shelter

To: High Point St Park - Hwy 23
Miles today: 17.8

The hike today was a blur since I was in such a hurry to see Robert. I do distinctly remember seeing 2 bears just a couple miles past the shelter. It was a nice, normal bear sighting and they ran off into the woods. At lunch time, I ran into a section hiker named Cantaloupe, whom I had met at trail days, and as we ate, Bugs (another hiker) came up and joined us.I flew through the last section constantly on the lookout for Robert who I thought might hike backward to meet me. I ended up beating him and Cindy to the park, but ran to gove out hugs when we found each other. They had bought me a pie, and we also stopped at McDonalds for a snack before being whisked away to Poughkeepsie. After washing and resting up in our hotel room for a while, we went out for new pants for me, since all of my old clothes were too big, and dinner for everyone. After dinner, we indulged my new found liking of beer at a bar ¢ tres exciting and new! I think Robert likes the new beer drinking, sociable, skinny me. Did I mention I¢ve lost two pants sizes?
Date: 2006-06-11
From: High Point St Park - Hwy 23

To:  NYC
Miles today: 0.0

Cindy got us a really good rate on a room at a resort/ranch that she worked at during college. It included a huge breakfast buffet with every type of breakfast food you could want, i.e. a hiker¢s paradise. After engorging ourselves with food and packing our bags, Robert and I lounged about on the grounds watching families play ball and ride horses. It was beautiful out and very relaxing.We stopped at EMS (sporting goods, not Emergency Medical Service) and Dick¢s sporting goods for a few items that I needed. I was a little disappointed with the EMS selection. We went to Outback Steakhouse before heading into the city, where I ate everything I¢ve always wanted to eat including a huge piece of chocolate cake.Our first stop in the city was on the upper east side at Cindy¢s apartment. It was in a really cool old brick building and the apartment itself reminded me of my condo in Huntington Beach ¢ very cozy. I especially like how it was in the center of everything. For example, today was Puerto Rican Pride day and even though we missed the parade, we got swept up into the traffic havoc on the city streets. Flags were waving and cars were honking and it took us about a half an hour to go twenty blocks. It was very exciting compared to my normal low key days.Our last stop of the day was at the Crowne Plaza, in Jersey. We were only a little bit out of the city, and it was worth it for the luxury hotel. We said our goodbyes to the Cinys before collapsing into our huge, comfy bed for a nap. An uneventful end to my first recuperation day, and I loved it!
Date: 2006-06-12
From:  NYC

To: NYC
Miles today: 0.0

After our complimentary breakfast at the hotel early this morning, we had to get ourselves back to Manhattan to do some exploring. Due to our frugality this entailed a cab ride to the train station, a train ride to the subway station, and a subway ride to our destination. Two and a half hours later, we emerged, blinking, from the underbelly of the public transit system, into the fast-paced city streets. I was utter overwhelmed, given that the fastest things I¢ve seen in the past 3 months have been chipmunks and I usually only see about 10 people all day. We found our way to what¢s supposed to be the largest cathedral in the world when it¢s done being build, St. John¢s Cathedral, where we admired the peace fountain out front. The cathedral has been a work in process for over a hundred years and Robert and I talked about the many generations that had worked on it while we ate pastries at the Hungarian pastry shop out front. After our mid-morning snack, we strolled through Central Park where every playground was filled with scores of toddlers. It was a wonderfully relaxing way to spend the morning.Our next stop was the airport, where we were supposed to pick up our rental car. It took another couple of hours navigating public transportation to get there. Robert made the mistake of letting me drive the car, where I marveled at the speed I could travel with such little effort from my feet. It would have been a really speedy trip back to Vernon NJ to pick up Pebbles and Grizzly if we hadn¢t got stuck in some crazy traffic through the George Washington bridge. Instead, it took three hours, the first hour and a half of which we moved 10 miles. Ah, civilization.We returned to the city with my excited trailmates and we just happened to find an excellent parking spot in front of Pebbles¢ friend¢s apartment. I showed off my less than stellar parallel parking skills before escorting Pebbles to her stoop. Robert and I then escorted Grizzly and his pack across the island and through Central Park to his sister¢s apartment. Robert and I once again jumped on the subway in search of Greenwich Village. We thought it would be a cool place to eat and people watch. We might have been correct, but we never found out because we walked around for 2 hours and never found the Village. We finally gave up, grabbed a pizza and headed back to our car and hotel where we crashed for the night.
Date: 2006-06-13
From: NYC

To: NYC
Miles today: 0.0

Delicious breakfast with Pebbles and Grizzly at Annie¢s where I had French toast and cake. Drove to Palmerton Pennsylvania so that Robert could climb and experience Lehigh Gap, Waited at the trail head for a while to try to give non-existent hikers a ride into Palmerton. Did laundry and food sort at our hotel near High Point Park. Shared a pitcher of beer over our last dinner together. It was a long day of driving, but it ended happily.
Date: 2006-06-14
From: NYC

To: Secret Shelter
Miles today: 7.0

Robert wanted to walk with me a little ways today before saying goodbye. Unfortunately, we slept longer than planned and then I tried my hand at making waffles at the continental breakfast, so that he only had a half hour to hike. At least he got a small taste of the rocky terrain I¢ve had to walk on, and he got to witness the disgusting caterpillar infestation I¢ve been going through first hand.The goodbye was really, really hard, and I sat on the deck of the observation tower crying as I watched him walk away.I calmed myself down after a half an hour of laying on the sunny deck and hiked out. The only memorable event of the hike was an excited rustling of leaves that I first thought was caused by squirrels, but ended up being caused by tow almost black furry animals that looked like ferrets. Thinking that the middle of the New Jersey woods was an odd place for ferrets and wishing that Yeti was around, I called ¢here ferret¢ and clicked my tongue and one of the little rascals turned around and hissed at me like a vampire. I quickly moved on.No other thru hikers came by me today and I was surprised to see only two register entries between mine and my friends. I was definitely in the hiker void again, or ¢black hole.¢ The secret shelter is really nice and has running water. I¢ve spent most of my time here napping and journaling. The man that owns the place, Jim, came to chat and told me that the 2 mystery animals were most likely minks. Mystery solved. I was joined by section hiker/former thru hiker tonight named Excitable Boy.
Date: 2006-06-15
From: Secret Shelter

To: NJ 94, Vernon 
Miles today: 13.5

The terrain was nice and flat today, but filled with mosquitoes. This ultimately drove me into Vernon for a bug spray hunt. I met, and walked with a thru hiker named Freeze Out, so at least I wasn¢t totally alone today. I¢m staying at a church hostel tonight.
Date: 2006-06-16
From: NJ 94, Vernon 

To: Wildcat Shelter 
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: broken clouds

Last night I met a thru hiker named Novocaine and a section hiker completing her hike named Gator Goat at the hostel. I spent the morning walking with the two of them. I saw three bears this morning, but I didn¢t have enough sense to be quiet so that Novocaine could whip out his 50 lbs of camera equipment. I saw one bear very clearly, but Novocaine never got a shot.Ice Cream is what pulled me through today, and I flew over the boulders this afternoon with Freeze Out to make it to the dairy in order to pig out. We crossed the NY state line on the way. WooHoo! NY and ice cream! Gator came in just after us, and Novocaine came in an hour later. Bellvace Farms had the most awesome homemade root beer I¢ve ever had, and I was wishing I¢d gotten another bottle within an hour after leaving.
Date: 2006-06-18
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter

To: Graymoor Friary
Miles today: 15.2

I¢ve gotten so far behind in my journal that I¢ve decided to skip the rest of the month of June, but don¢t worry, you can read up on July. I¢ll fill in the June details once I get home. Today was the day I walked into a tourist trap, was refused entrance to the zoo, got hit in the face with a stick, and slept at a friary
Date: 2006-06-21
From: Wiley Shelter 

To: CT341, Kent
Miles today: 12.7

Yeah! Connecticut! A wrong turn led me downhill and uphill, the fife and drum had luxurious accommodations for Moat and I but no laundry, Shickers and Pond H2O have ¢sweet¢ beards, and no shoes lead me into a fit of depression.
Date: 2006-06-24
From: Brassie Brook

To: Tom Leonard
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: light rain

A horrible, wet, slippery, and steep day. I fell 4 times and got attacked by millions of mosquitoes. All was forgotten when I caught back up to my posse at the shelter: Snake, Yeti, Thumper, and Jebus. And now I¢m happy and not alone.
Date: 2006-07-01
From: Melville Naucheim Shelter

To: Stratton Pond Shelter
Miles today: 27.9
Weather: light rain

Today we had a big day planned, so Snake and I decided we needed to wake up at 4:00 am. I tried, but I couldn¢t muster the strength to climb out of my bag until closer to 4:30. This early morning start meant I was tired the whole day but the good news was that for the first time in weeks, it didn¢t rain on us. In fact, the weather was downright beautiful. It should have been a good day, but the huge mud puddles slowed me down and I started to have problems with my feet again. On top of that I had my first run in with a nasty little insect called THE BLACK FLY. These tiny little gnat-like flies swarm you and attack you, viciously biting any skin they can find. They don¢t leave little itchy bumps like mosquitoes either. Instead, they leave huge welts with a drop of blood in the center that hurt like a bruise the first day and itch the second. So, instead of a good day, it was a hard day. By the time I caught up to Snake at lunch, I was ready to call it quits for the day. He was able to cheer me up, and taking some Advil helped my feet a little, so I hobbled on the last 10.5 miles. The view from the observation tower on Stratton Mountain was incredible although it was slightly daunting to see how tall the surrounding mountains had become. I know they¢ll only be getting bigger over the next few weeks and that my sore feet have to get me over them.
Date: 2006-07-02
From: Straton Pond Shelter

To: Manchester Center
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We were so exhausted from yesterday¢s long walk that we got a later start than we wanted. It didn¢t help that it was raining when we woke up and neither of us wanted to get our finally dry feet wet. We finally got up and out around 9:00 and walked an uneventful 5 hours out to the road. A couple of very nice ladies picked us up and drove us into town right to the front door of the ¢guest house¢ we were going to stay at for the night. We got showered, ate, and did some town chores before settling in for the night.