morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-06-21
From: Clarks Creek

To: Stream near PA443
Miles today: 13.4

Wading Little Rausch        It rained all night last night. We were surrounded by puddles, but we picked a good spot. The new piece of Tyvek is much, much better. Thanks, Dan!! Unfortunately, we didn¢t wash it first, so it is very crinkly and loud, but a bit more waterproof. Trail Angel Al came back knocking on our tarp before we were up. He said he was stocking the creek, and then he¢d come check on us one more time. We ate and packed up in the tarp. Kinda cramped, but dry.        We met thru-hikers SueMac, Undetermined, and Drew and a bunch of boy scouts, too. The climb up Stony Mt. was a breeze in the sprinkles. The rocks weren¢t even as bad as they¢ve been. The sun poked out a couple of times, but somehow always managed to find a spot behind the clouds.        By the time we made it to Rausch Gap Shelter, we were starving. We ate bagels, tuna, and ouir new favorite Ranch dressing ¢ Yummmm! It rained. We took our time. Met more boy scouts. I played guitar and Lydia sang since I can¢t seem to get the hang of doing both at the same time. We also found some goodies somebody left at the shelter ¢ a Kitkat bar, Payday, and popcorn. Thanks, somebody!        It stopped raining so we went about 4 more miles where we found an awesome field full of strawberries. It was definitely where we were camping. So we found a nearby stream and campsite. The sun came out just long enough to dry the tarp. Meanwhile, we picked a Pasta Roni box full of strawberries. Can¢t wait to eat them on granola tomorrow.        We should catch up with Euchre and Bree tomorrow. Hopefully, 2 of the 3 Wisemen will catch us tonight. I wonder how close Fremont is?                                                                        Flanders
Date: 2003-06-22
From: Stream near PA443

To: William Penn Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light rain

Drink Your Tea!        We woke up early and said good-bye to the Wisemen who arrived last night, pretty late. We ate the granola with strawberries ¢ delicious! Then we walked back through the strawberry field, but we didn¢t eat much for it was raining. Soon we approached a roaring creed. ¢There had better be a bridge up there!¢ I said. We got closer and saw that there was indeed a bridge, a washed out one! The water was flowing deep and fast, but we were able to cross by lengthening our poles and balancing on a dead log, 3 inches in diameter, that was stretched across the water. Whew!        We passed a cave entrance, went over a neat bridge, and clilmbed a steep slope after crossing I-81. When we got up to the ridge, about noon, we found Librarian packing up to leave. He complained that he¢d been having headaches and soon we were hiking together. Librarian got his name because he carries books on birds and plants. He was very fun to hike with. We spent some time trying out what we thought was ginseng root, but it didn¢t taste very good.        We ate a late lunch at William Penn Shelter and we traded Librarian Ranch dressing for cheese. Then the Wisemen showed up and it stopped raining. We decided to camp near the shelter, dry out all our wet things, and enjoy the nice weather. We made sassafras tea and listened to the tohees singing ¢Drink your teeeeea.¢ Librarian found a plant whose root tasted like cucumber, and we sat by the spring for awhile and then we made a fire. Thankfully, the bugs weren¢t bad at all. The only place they seemed to gather was in the tarps!                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-06-23
From: William Penn Shelter

To: Black Swatara Shelter
Miles today: 14.7

A late night equals a late start, around 10 o¢clock. And so it was slow going to the 501 Shelter. It was nice. I wish we hadn¢t missed the pizza which they delivered to the shelter. We finally got some good views of PA valleys. We ate lunch at a lookout. I played some guitar. Danny passed us and we let him know we hadn¢t seen Lorax or Librarian yet. WE stopped earlier. We found a spot at Black Swatara Spring, which was more like a creek than a spring. Librarian showed up, still feeling pretty bad. We ate Lipton and went to bed early.                                                                Flanders
Date: 2003-06-24
From: Black Swatara Shelter

To: Windsor Furnace Shelter
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: clear sky

Sux to be a Mouse        We got up before 6 and left before 7. I left Librarian 2 Aleve for his poor head. WE had 5 granola bars to get us to town for food in Port Clinton. I was itching for a hot turkey sandwich. Would Port Clinton have one?        Before 8 we came upon a snake. I squealed with fright, but at least I saw this one before I stepped on him. It was a blacksnake and he wasn¢t moving at all. His head was up, looking straight at us, and his mouth looked funny. We began to wonder if he was fake, so Ned poked him. He was not fake. Not fake at all. He was just gorging on a mouse. He swallowed it and as we watched, stuck his head down a hole. He stayed down there for a while and Ned was ready to leave him, but I wasn¢t, so I poked him one more time and he came out of the hole with a mouse butt hanging out of his mouth. We watched him swallow down the mouse, in awe, and then left.        We passed another blacksnake, a father and small son hiking from New Jersey. They gave us the low down on Port Clinton and we continued. We finished the 13 miles to town by 1 o¢clock and ate lunch at the hotel. The service was less than friendly and they didn¢t have Coke, but the hot turkey sandwich was awesome. There we met Red and Gabby and took warnings from the locals of zinc contaminated water coming up. We got fuel and Coke at the outfitter where we got to see Twofiddy again. Then to the post office to get our maildrop. We ended up with a lot of extra food, so we took it back to the outfitter¢s hiker box. I got another Coke and Ned got 2 ice cream sandwiches which we ate on the porch, watching high school girls having a pool party. While we were there we met Spiderman and Rocky.         We hiked 6 more miles to Windsor Furnace Shelter where we cooked and talked with Red and Twofiddy. Then sleep.                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-06-25
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter

To: Allentown Shelter
Miles today: 16.5

Hot Buggy Rocks        We said good-bye to Twofiddy this morning, as he is blue blazing and getting ahead of us. We ate instant cream of wheat for breakfast. Strawberries and cream is YUCK ¢ O. We passed two amazing viewpoints: Pulpit Rock and Pinnacle. We had siesta after 11 miles. We ate, hung out with Red for a while, and then Ned played guitar while I took a nap. On the way to the shelter we stopped at a spring. It was a tough day: heat, bugs, and rocks. We can¢t wait to escape these PA rocks!                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-06-25
From: Allentown Shelter

To: Palmerton
Miles today: 17.7

We hiked the first 4 miles today fast. We were hoping for a soda at the B&B, but it was all closed up. We had a lot of rocks today, and it was supposedly the hottest day yet this year so our fast pace of the morning died soon. We were going to eat lunch at Bake Oven Shelter, but when we got there we found out that the name had real significance so we found a campsite to eat at instead (with Spiderman). During lunch we decided to go to town for the night to the free jailhouse hostel so we didn¢t nap as we originally intended.        My pace was slowed significantly by the appearance of ripe blueberries. Ned was not happy about the blueberries. He said they were too hot. I thought they were delicious though, so we eventually had to part paths. We met at the shelter 1 mile before town, and then walked the rest of the way together.        We got a hitch into town almost immediately. We checked into the hostel at the Police Station and then walked down to the old jailhouse where we would stay in the basement. Euchre and Bree were there ¢ we finally caught them. We ate dinner at Tony¢t Pizza with Red and Euchre and then went for ice cream. We took showers and did shower laundry, Ned played guitar, and we went to bed with our ear plugs jammed to our brains to protect us from Red and Euchre. I dreamt about a miniature pony who was really a kitten named Pony.        Also, we were worried about Justdoit because of register entries implying he¢s off the trail, AND we were delighted to see a note from TJ and Josh (they never sign registers!) telling us that Caddy says ¢hi¢ and is huge and healthy.                                                        Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-06-27
From: Allentown Shelter

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Everyone in jailhouse hostel woke up at 5:30. We bustled around packing up and then went to breakfast at Bert¢s Steak House across the street. It was a big crowd of clean smelling hikers: Cobra and Splash, Red, Big E, Euchre, Bree, Spiderman, and us. Only Twofiddy didn¢t join us for breakfast. After breakfast we all piled into the back of a local¢s truck and he drove us back to the trail. We had a big climb so we were glad to be starting early, especially since zinc contamination had cleared the mountain of all shade. Ned and I brought up the rear since I was not ready to hike quite yet ¢ had to braid hair, take care of blisters, etc. When I was ready it was 8:00 and we started up.        ¢Zinc Mountain¢ was very rocky. Many sections were hand over hand climbing, but the views were great! Overall, it was a really FUN climb for the morning. Once we got to the top we took the wrong trail for about a tenth of a mile, but that wasn¢t so bad considering Euchre and Bree did a complete circle and ended up hiking backwards (we found out later). Zinc Mountain was very striking ¢ most everything was dead ¢ for miles and miles. We had been warned not to drink the water because of zinc dumping and the effects of the dumping were apparent for the 6 miles.        We passed Cobra and Splash and they told us about Euchre and Bree¢s mishap and then we finally made it back into normal live woodland. We ran into Euchre and Bree at a viewpoint and then ate lunch with them and Red at Delp¢s spring. We stayed a long while talking and playing euchre. We all ended up at the next shelter where we ate, played more euchre, and listened to Big E fart.                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-06-28
From: Leroy A. Smith Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: broken clouds

We were up early, out by 6:30! We went to a motel in Wind Gap to get sodas and water. We met Cobra and Splash at Wolf Rock. Spiderman, Euchre, and Bree all showed up. Cobra and Splash told about seeing a coiled up rattler. Lunched at Kirkridge Shelter. The skeeters were terrible, so we didn¢t spend long. At Mt. Minse, Red was hiking in front of us and thought we¢d missed the trail. 15 minutes later we decided we were still okay. With hurt feet, we pulled into Delaware Water Gap 20 miles later. We saw Bill again, but we couldn¢t talk because when we stopped, the skeeters attacked terrible. The Presbyterian Church of the Mountain had a hostel in the basement. It was full, but we got a shower and decided we¢d sleep outside. We ate at the local diner; the food was good, but everything else wasn¢t. We whooped up playing euchre with Euchre and Bree until about midnight.                                                                Flanders
Date: 2003-06-29
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

We enjoyed a great zero day in Delaware Water Gap. I got to play on a full size guitar. We went to the church service. It was a very fulfilling service. Thank you Pastor Karen! We got another Coke from the local bakery. Big Paw¢s mom and her boyfriend were doing trail magic; so we went and hung out with them. They gave us beers, hotdogs, and Little Debbies. At one point we heard police sirens. The next thing we knew, an ATV came flying around and threw gravel all over us. The park ranger came flying next. We saw the ATV go up over the hill and escape. The church had live music at 6. We watched the Blue Ridge Mt. boys, a great bluegrass band. Then we hung out with the mandolin player¢s 8 year old son. Afterwards, Big E, Hmmm, Euchre, and others talked a bunch of politics. We went to bed pretty early.                                                                     Flanders
Date: 2003-06-30
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Catfish Fire Tower
Miles today: 12.9

We had to get our mail in the morning. It took us a while to organize the food from my dad and deal with the bounce box. We ate breakfast at the diner, visited the bakery, made some phone calls, and finally left by 1:00.        We crossed into New Jersey, but did not escape the rocks. We climbed up to Sunfish Pond, a beautiful glacial pond. We had a snack there and watched some day hikers swim with their baby. I wanted to swim but I only soaked my feet because ned was in a hurry to get to a phone (his shoes are falling apart and he needs to get a new pair sent). Then we kept walking through some blueberries. At this point we decided that Ned would hurry to the phone and I would pick blueberries and take my time.        When I got to the Mohican Center, I found Euchre, Bree, BamBam, Flasher, and Nedward hanging out inside, safe from the HORRIBLE mosquitoes. The caretaker said the mosquitoes are the worst he¢s ever seen. We cooked dinner and then kept hiking up to the fire tower where we hoped to catch a sunrise. There was a big group of young girls camping there already so our camping spots were rocky. We said good nite to Euchre and Bree, agreeing to get up for the sunrise and settled down for a night of poor, lumpy sleep.                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-07-01
From: Catfish Fire Tower

To: Gren Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: clear sky

We got up at 5:20, climbed the tower by 5:30, but we missed the sunrise. So, we ate our granola on the tower and were hiking by 6:30.        We hiked with Euchre and Bree most of the day. During the late morning we took a nice long blueberry break. Ned played guitar while we gorged. I fed Ned handfuls at a time as he played.        By about 3:30 we got to Culver¢s Gap, but the bakery was closed. So we went to a pub instead for hamburgers. BamBam, Flasher, Big E, and Pez joined us. We watched the Caprioti V. Serena Williams match and Pez brought word that Librarian was diagnosed with both Lyme Disease and Bacterial Meningitis. POOR Librarian!!! We assume this means he¢ll off the trail. Oh how we will miss him!!! We are so very sad to lose him as a hiking companion ¢ so sad.        Anyway, after about 2 hours of mosquito free bliss (Ned and Bree both inhaled mosquitoes earlier at the Brink Rd. Spring) we ventured back out and hiked to the next shelter. It was full with YMCA kids, so we camped with everyone else. I saw a chipmunk eating a blueberry.                                                        Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-07-02
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Murray 
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: light rain

We got to the pavilion on Sunrise Mt. long after the sunrise. We hung out there until an art class showed up. About 6 miles later, a trail angel had left a bunch of water. We passed a group of young girls out with YMCA. They were in bad shape, with some packs twice the size of the wearer. We ate lunch at High Point State Park. We cooked potatoes, our first cooked lunch in a while. They told us about a building with a soda machine. We took a long break at lake Marcia. Euchre and Bree napped while we swam. I played a bit of guitar too. From there it was less than 6 miles to the ¢Secret Shelter.¢ We went through a few fields, pretty easy miles even though our feet hurt. Here at the ¢secret shelter¢, built by a very nice guy, they have hot running water. We are tarping in a nice yard. Plato, Red, Euchre, Bree, Big Paw, Spiderman, and Iron Toothpick are here. We are expecting rain tonight, the first in a long while.                                                                        Flanders
Date: 2003-07-03
From: Murray 

To: Wawayanda Shelter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: overcast clouds

The mosquitoes are still terrible. They make the morning routine miserable. When hiking, if you stop for a second, they attack by the dozens. Ocassionally, we find a good spot without any, and that is where we take our breaks. It was only 2 miles to Unionville, NY, where we needed to resupply. We bought food and breakfast. Then I called my parents to find out more about bacterial meningitis, because we recently found out that Librarian, who we¢d been hiking with, had that and Lyme disease. Unfortunately, he¢s off the trail. The information wasn¢t positive, but we were pretty sure we didn¢t have it. So, after much debate, we pushed on. We passed Walkill National Wildlife Preserve, possibly a preserve for mosquitoes. We are finally starting to hit some good climbs again, steep, but short. We crossed through swamps with raised boardwalks. At the hitch to Vernon, NJ we had lunch and ice cream at the farmer¢s market. We finally caught the crowd for the day. Then it was a brutally steep climb up Wawayanda Mt. It was actually fun to really climb again. Just before the climb we bumped into Cobra, Splash, Nightwalker, Rest Stop, and Healer, coming back from town. Then it was over some nasty, black streams to Wawayanda Shelter. Euchre, Bree, Iron Toothpick, Plato, and Red were there. Oh yeah, good luck to Spiderman who went to the doc for spots on his leg. Surprisingly, the skeeters weren¢t bad, but the black flies were. It was an empty shelter because everybody was tenting. I had to hang a bear bag after dark because the bear box filled up with everybody else¢s food.                                                                Flanders
Date: 2003-07-04
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: Viewpoint over Greenwood Lake
Miles today: 7.0

BEST 4th OF JULY EVER! We crossed from NJ into NY after 4 miles and celebrated because NJ¢s state bird is the skeeter and we are crossing our fingers that NY will be better. And, indeed, although there are still skeeters, NY has treated us beautifully today.        It started when we encountered 2 couples on Prospect Rock. Whe one of the women, Barbara, found out we were thru hiking she gave Ned and me an apple to share and Euchre and Bree an apple to share. The apple was deliciously magical, but there was more magic in store! They invited us to follow them back to their house on the lake for a swim. Soon, they had a line of six hikers following them down the mountain: me, Flanders, Euchre, Bree, Plato, and Iron Toothpick. Barbara and Clive, originally from Germany, and their tow American born children, Jeanine and Phil, gave us a wonderful 4th of July party. We had watermelon, beer, lemonade, hamburgers, hot dogs, pea salad, and swimming, followed by a nap in a hammock. Phil showed off his dune buggy and Jeanine invited friends over to see the hiker exhibit in her yard. We were ecstatic. Christina, the other woman we met on top, shared our excitement and photographed the whole event with all our cameras! She also gave me gum and tissues as she left. Barbara did a load of laundry for us and invited some other neighbors over and we sat and talked and ate and swam and slept. Then she told us how to get to a good spot for fireworks up on the mountain before she and Clive drove us back up to the woods.        We bushwhacked back up to the AT and then hiked about a mile to the lookout over the lake. We had been planning on going about 8 miles further to a lookout where we hoped to see NYC fireworks, but since they were launching them from the lake, we decided that would be a show. So, we got up to the lookout, drank our Amstel Light (Barbara gave us each 1 can to carry up), set up camp, cooked dinner and waited. Ned and Plato played guitar and all 6 of us talked about movies.        We waited and waited for the fireworks over the lake to begin. We saw shows begin and end way off behind other ridges, and there were some smaller ones obscured by a tree between us and the lake, but finally at 9:55, when we were about to give up, they began, and it was awesome. We were pretty much level with them and they were really close. Sometimes it felt like they were coming right at us. The show lasted forever. We all agreed this was the first time we had ever become tired of fireworks. Plato felt sick and went to bed early and then finally, the finale. Ned and I fought our way back to our tarp in the dar, through swarms of mosquitoes and we went to sleep.                                                        Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-07-05
From: Viewpoint over Greenwood Lake

To: Mombasha Highpoint
Miles today: 7.8

We got up late. There was an arsenal of mosquitoes waiting for us outside the tent. They were all clinging to our bug netting saying, ¢We smell you. You have to come out sometime.¢ So we put Deet on, met up with Euchre and Bree out on the ridge and walked to NY17A ¢ we hitched to Warwick, NY. After much thumbing and waiting we finally got a hitch. I had another headache and was thinking of seeing a doctor. Euchre wanted to call Wisemen for a pick up.        We sat and drank water for a long while, hoping my headache would go away, but when it didn¢t Ned and I walked to the hospital. They sent us to the ER and made us wear masks because I mentioned Librarian¢s meningitis. They were really rather rude with us and completely disavowed all knowledge of what fees we would be charged, yet demanded I sign consent to be billed. I told them I wouldn¢t sign unless I knew how much we¢d be charged and we left. If we keep feeling bad we¢ll go to a clinic. After that ordeal we met Euchre and Bree at the library. Euchre stayed to get picked up and Bree hiked another 6 miles with us to camp. We got trail magic water from a Quaker family at the first shelter we passed and then camped. Near Mombasha Highpoint I picked almost a quart of blueberries to eat for breakfast and then we went to bed.                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-07-06
From: Mombasha Highpoint

To: William Brian Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Got a late start- Lydia was tired and slow to start. Bree picked blueberries while waiting for us. We started hitting some Georgia-esque mountains early on. They were steep up and steep down, but not too long. It was a bad day for water. We started with a bunch, and luckily, kind trail angels left many gallon jugs at two road crossings. Have I told you how much we love trail angels? Speaking of¢¦ when we got to NY17 I was planning to run to Arden for more water, but instead, trail angel Gene was sitting in his car. He offered to take us to a nearby cafeteria. We couldn¢t pass it up. We got food and water and he dropped us back at the trail. Five minutes later, trail angel Johnson asked if we were thirsty. He gave us sodas and candy. We finally got away around 2, still over 9 miles to go. We struggled to get thru the lemon squeezer. Over more steep mountains, we finally reached Lake Tiorati. We took a quick dip in the lake. It was crowded with lots and lots of New Yorkers. We lugged tons of water to the shelter because we heard the water wasn¢t good at the shelter. There was a campsite full of identical tents, 7 or so, that belonged to an outward-bound group. Bree made us cheesecake pudding to which we added a quart of blueberries- delicious dessert!                                                                Flanders