morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-10-24
From: wawayanda shelter

To: High point shelter
Miles today: 23.9
Weather: light rain

Today has been different. Different kinds of trails, different kinds of animals and many other just different things. The rain remains the same however. I got on the New Jersey board walk. Its¢ a milish long bridge3 over a marsh. There was long walk around another marsh and there were at least two dozen swans swimming. I¢ve seen at least 10 deer and a thousand other birds. I felt like going along way today but I had planned to go back into town and stay at a place with a shower. I actually went into two different towns. One to get this huge blue berry Danish which was actually two meals for me. And another time to get more food. I got to the place I had planned on before 4 and there was no shower. So I decided to push another 6 miles and get to a shelter. Its put me on a hard schedule of 24 today, 20 tomorrow, and 25 the day after. But I¢ve been slacking. The guy last night, goat, he caught up to me! I didn¢t catch him, he caught me. I¢ve been slacking. Can¢t have that. i almost need a rain coast sitting in the shelter for all the mist coming in. I hope tomorrow clears up. I couldn¢t stand to live here. It rains al the time. And when it¢s not raining it¢s misting. Everything is damp. I miss dry. I¢ll be in Pennsylvania in two more days now. I¢m getting close to half way. And really close to a thousand miles. What a thought. One thousand miles of walking. And then I¢ll start on the second thousand.
Date: 2012-10-25
From: High point shelter

To: Brink road shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: mist

My feet hurt. The poor things look like shrivel up old man feet. Today is the worst I¢ve seen them. I wear toe sock liners and I ripped the big toe today and it slipped around my toe without me realizing. It made a huge blister on the inside of my toe. I¢m so ready for the sun. it was supposed to come out today, but it was nothing but clouds and mist. It never actually rained today, but I¢m just as wet from all the mist. Today has not been good. No views, bad weather, and no one to talk to. A lady did give me a coke at the high point state park. Only ray of light in this dreary day. Reading the shelter log everyone is of the same opinion. I may zero the day after tomorrow. Give my feet a chance to dry. I was looking at my book and if I do the miles right I think I can get a free shower and bed for the next 3 or 4 days after town. After going so long without a shower I feel I deserve it. I¢ve had one shower in the past two hundred miles. To long. But that doesn¢t bother me. I just want clean socks. I think that¢s why my feet are so bad today. They¢ll be crying by the end of tomorrow but they can rest for a bit after that.
Date: 2012-10-26
From: Brink road shelter

To: Delware water gap
Miles today: 24.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up and was out by 8. That¢s what I should be doing. Pretty early on I caught another SOBO named Rollo and his dog Chava. I walked with him for a bit. He told me about some massive storm coming. Said it was a storm of epic proportion according to the news. I turned on my phone for the first time in a few days, 8 messages from people telling me about this storm coming. It hits in two days and I¢m just now finding out!!! It¢s like I¢ve been in the woods for weeks with little to no contact with the world. Apparently it¢s a nor¢easter is going to hit a hurricane and then get triple tapped by an arctic blast. And then it¢s going to hit right on top of where I am. News people say this is a storm of movie epic proportions. And I get to go hike in it. Woo!!! I pushed on and about five miles to go I tweaked my ankle. I hurt but I pushed on to town. I got to the hostel (that has no laundry) and met elvis. We went and got dinner and the walk to the diner had me worried. My ankle was hurting really bad and I had a bad limp. It hurts. I need to push on to Palmerton before this storm hits full force. It has another free hostel and everything is much closer together. It would be a better place to weather the storm than here. Mom is all worried about me. I called a few people, but so far nothing solid for an escape route unless I can make it 360 miles to pillow talk in western PA. but it¢s all mute if my ankle is messed up. I¢m going to sleep on it and find out what it¢s like in the morning.
Date: 2012-10-27
From: Delware water gap

To: leroy a smith shelter
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: overcast clouds

For some reason I stayed up really late last night. No reason. No book just stayed up. I couldn¢t sleep well even after a long day. But when I woke up my ankle was only hurting a little. I had a great breakfast and then tried the outfitter. They were closed until 10 so I packed up my bag and went back. They didn¢t have the water purifying tables that I like so I¢m going to wait till Palmerton to find some. I got a bad late start. 1140 and had 20 miles to do. I didn¢t stop unless someone wanted to talk. Pennsylvania stared out eh rocks hard and fast. The whole trail is covered with them. I eventually found a walking pattern that got me around most of them. It was totally flat and totally straight. These people can make an arrow straight path. New York could learn some stuff. I did end up hiking in the dark for the last 20 mins. I finally caught up to merry the hobbit who I met back in Lincoln a long time ago. I really wanted to catch him. He had to get off trail for two weeks otherwise I don¢t know if I would of caught him. There is a pretty rude section hiker with a very nice family. The two ladies are friendly and the kids are watching tv on a phone in the shelter. Not really the point of being out here. The guy said there wasn¢t really room for me. 4 people in an 8 person shelter. I made some space for myself. I heard the storm had slowed down so I think I¢m going to push on to eckvile shelter. Another enclosed shelter a day and a half away. Still going to stop and do laundry tomorrow thought.
Date: 2012-10-28
From: leroy a smith shelter

To: Palmerton 
Miles today: 15.8

I didn¢t get water last night and I was so thirsty when I woke up. As soon as I got up I drank a ton after I treated it. I hiked with merry all day. It was fun to talk. We met some crazy local who hiked with us a bit. He was a character. The rocks weren¢t to bad until the end. It was intense coming down into the gap. It was a superfund site and has warning all over the place about hazards areas, authorized personnel only and stuff like that. We could see the town for a few miles from the ridge, so of course the trail turned and went down the other side of the mountain. And we had to walk back around the base of the mountain to the town. Some times I think the people who make this trail just screw with us. We got to the town and only gotten a few sprinkles so far. But the cold was coming in. we wen to the police station and got theme to let us into the hostel in the basement of the building. There are 7 SOBOS here. The most I¢ve seen in one place. All of us are waiting out tomorrow and maybe Tuesday. We joke about playing Frisbee in the hurricane tomorrow. But I do think the pizza ice cream party will turn into reality tomorrow night.
Date: 2012-10-29
From: Palmerton 

To: Palmerton
Miles today: 0.0

Today was hide from the hurricane day. it was was so boring. the weather didn't really get bad till well after dark so all day just looked like normal rain. it killed us to be trapped. the library did help but the closed early. i managed to finish my trail journals thought before then. I've got to call hard charge soon. he offered me a place to stay in northern Virginia and i'm getting fairly close. the wind didn't really pick up tell after dinner. we went for a walk in it to see what it was like. crazy wind but little rain. we played Frisbee in the hurricane till it flew off and hit a wall and shattered. really intense. i read alot today, finished one book and started another. got resupply and batteries. my head lamp wont last much longer i think.
Date: 2012-10-30
From: Palmerton

To: Allen town hiking club shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: light rain

I slept really well last night. way better than i have for a week. i think by 1 last night i was finally tired out and didn't have any trouble falling asleep. woke up and went to breakfast. got an awesome omelet. me and merry hitched around lunch time and got on trail. at first it wasn't to ad. just branches down and we cleared all the small stuff off the trail as we went. we made pretty good time to the shelter even with having to go though some blow downs. after the shelter we hit some major rocks, it started to rain and got significantly colder. i actually put on my rain jacket to hike and wasn't hot. last time that happened was coming up Washington. our pace dropped but we kept at it. it got dark and we still had a ways to go. massive fog rain and below 40 degrees. perfect hypothermia weather. i'm glad i had merry with me. we were joking about how dumb we were for night hiking in a rain storm just after a hurricane. at one point i walked straight into a creek. couldn't see 5 feet in front of you at a time. i just barely saw the sign for the shelter. we walked past it and i saw a glint of light and looked up. i'm in my dry clothes and warm in my bag. it's gonna be cold tonight. thermometer says 38 and its only 8 aclock right now. can't wait. also i'm no longer packing my gloves in the bottom of my pack. i need them today.
Date: 2012-10-31
From: Allen town hiking club shelter

To: Eckvlle shelter
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: light rain

COLD!!! man it is cold. mind numbing, energy sapping cold. and its wet and rainy. woke up pretty good and wet and got water and planned for a big day. was out before 9. but between the cold, wet, and just foggy blah conditions it was fairly miserable. it sucked every bit of energy i had and i could not get warm today. the rocks were extremely slick and progress was slow. me and merry got to the road and came to the shelter. we just planned to eat lunch. its an enclosed shelter and it was still 45 degrees inside. at least it was better than being outside. my feet were soaked and i just had no energy. merry was close to the same. we decided to just take a short day and try to let ourselves get used to the cold. also we could order pizza to the shelter. we hung out and talked and just relaxed. i got wings and a pizza. we talked a while with the caretaker. its insanely cold still. i can see my breath inside. tomorrow is supposed to be clouds and cold but Friday is supposed to clear out and the weekend be nicer. i haven't seen the sun since a few days before i left new york. i will say that the short day and just hanging out made this fringed day kinda fun. its supposed to be 35 tonight. we were talking. i don't mind cold and i don't mind wet. but cold and wet just sucks. it was raining and below 40 this morning. just not fun hiking. so this shelter is a life saver.
Date: 2012-11-01
From: Eckvlle shelter

To: shartlesville cross mtn road
Miles today: 21.9

Slept pretty good last night. woke up and it was cold but not wet. the sky was trying its hardest to be blue. it never made it. hiking in th cold wasn't bad unless you stopped. other than that it was quite enjoyable. but it made me hungry. i need to start carrying more food. the cold takes so much more calories to stay warm. we didn't make the shelter tonight but luckily for me again merry has a two person tent. we are set up in a field off of the road. i actually had a view today. first one in a while. great outlook of farms spread out over the land and a bunch of hawks fling around. who ever made the trail in PA must of taken a day off on this section. there was a few miles with no rocks. it was nice to be on dirt again. it was cold today. i don't think it got above 50 but my feet were dry for most the day. i love dry feet.
Date: 2012-11-02
From: shartlesville cross mtn road

To: 501 shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: light rain

Cold! but not as bad as yesterday. instead of rain we got sleet today. nice to switch it up ya know. there was a speck of blue this morning. i went to the shelter we were aiming for last night. it was way more than two miles but i made breakfast there. lots of oatmeal. there were 3 people on the trail going north today. big numbers compared to lately. i've had some realizations today. one its cold. two because its cold i need to eat way more than normal. 3 because it cold larger mile days are way more difficult. 4 if i want to keep going its going to take some adjustments. im deciding to back off the 20s for a day two and carry more food and try to adjust and get used to the cold. i'm still planning big days and keep coming up short. at this rate i'll e burned out by harpers ferry and want off. i'm going to slow down and see if i can adjust because trying to fight it is killing me. today is the second day on the entrie trip i have voiced a thought about getting off. that scares me. i'm still having fun but the cold has hit me way harder than i e3xpected. hopefully a change up will keep me out here. it would help a ton if the sun would come out. on a side note everyone talks about how bad the rocks in PA are. not that just bad, just annoying and hard to keep a normal pace.
Date: 2012-11-03
From: 501 shelter

To: william penn shelter
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up and it was 35 degrees inside the hut we were staying in. we started trying to hitch and a nice fella flipped us off. 20 minutes later we started walking down the road. i knew then the supposedly short trip to town wasn't going to be short. we finally got a ride and wound up at an American legion where ross, who we later found out ran the place, invited us to their table. we sat down and had a great breakfast with the vets. he got our meals half priced for us and then took us to the grocery store. much better than i was expecting based on the hitch. we got food and were charging phones and multiple people asked if we needed rides back to the trail. we said thanks but we still had some chore to do. After lunch and a fruitless trip to find a book we easily got a ride back to the trail. where we hung out and laughed about the enormous amount of food we had. there was a pack scale. my weight 21 pounds before food and water. with 36. 15 pounds of food and water. but i've been so hungry lately i know i'll eat it. we got on trail at 4 and had an easy hike to the next shelter. some kids with their dads gave us a ton of food and we met two other SOBOs. this shelter is the 1000 mile mark for SOBOs WOOO!!!! i had a great meaningful talk with merry that i think helped us both with some life things. we talked about how all things seem to have reason. even if it takes a while to see how it works. thats one major thing the trail has taught me.
Date: 2012-11-04
From: william penn shelter

To: Rausch gap shelter
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up to what i guess is now 630. but we just hung out. the shelter had a nice view. it was either do 13 miles or 31 miles today and with the cold. big miles have just not been priority. me and merry hiked out close to ten and had lunch on the ridge line. swatar gap is my favorite section of PA so far. we actually walked in the valley in the fields instead of the horribly boring ridge line full of rocks. we met some over night hikers who said there was a big up hil. i think their up hill is my flat. it took ten minutes to climb to the ridge. i met a guy named JZ who is a triple crowner. he offered me an merry a place to stay tomorrow. sweet trail magic. i got his number and told him id call him tomorrow when i was a few miles from the road. i got to an awesome shelter. we made a fire since it was so early. Patrick and butters showed up. they got soem silly in them and are going north for a bit due to the storm. some times you gotta go north to make it south. we found a saw in the shelter and took care of a blow down on the trail and used it as fire wood. we remade the fire pit an made some benches out of logs. amazing what 4 thrus who get in early can do when we want. we've got a roaring fire and a beautiful shelter. as i think i'm getting used to the cold. it was 35 today and i was kinda warm. thank god i'm adjusting. if i hadn't taken that short day yesterday i wouldn't of gotten a place tomorrow and we would of been in this shelter with a bunch of boy scouts. everything just works out, out here.
Date: 2012-11-05
From: Rausch gap shelter

To: PA 225
Miles today: 20.8

The fire was so big last night. there was a huge bank of coals still hot, so with a little stir and we had a morning fire. we got out early the morning was typical. but early in the afternoon the SUN CAME OUT!!! for the first time in weeks, DIRECT SUNLIGHT. i was just walking along and all of the sudden my eyes started hurting. i looked up and could think what it was. but it dawned on me and my jaw dropped. it was sunlight. i just happened to be at a side trail to kinter view and i got on a rock and just basked in the sun. it was awesome there was a bone chilling wind but there was still sunlight. we got tot the extremely nice peters mountain shelter and called JZ the triple crowner who offered me an merry a place to stay. he picked us up and grilled hamburgers. i had told him i was from georgia so he also made some biscuits. i had a tear in my eye. its been so long since i've had a real biscuit. i got a shower and looked his picture albums from his thru hikes. cool guy. built his long cabin and has thru hiked 5 times. 3 on the PCT and once on the AT and CDT. Cool guy and nice as can be. Shower and sunlight. good day
Date: 2012-11-06
From: PA 225

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: clear sky

Woke up and JZ had made a huge breakfast for us. eggs, some weird yankee meat stick, hashbrowns, and more biscuits and tons of it. its great when a fellow hiker takes us in. they understand the hunger and how much we eat. he took us back to the trail and the sun was shinning. cold still, but sunny. today wasn't to rocky. i got to duncannon and ate lunch at the doyle. super nice owners who were so friendly they took my picture for their book. i also got a cannister of fuel. mine is starting to feel pretty low. i lost merry some where. said he had to go to the library and would probably night hike in. so far no sign of him. some one had a huge pile of fire wood and since i got here pretty early i made a fire. its a big roaring thing now and i have it all to myself. i called mom and made some arrangements. just going to cook and read for a bit now. the sun was ou full all day with now clouds. hard to believe a norreaster is supposed to hit tomorrow. i wonder if its like this every fall. i couldn't live in a place that is covered in clouds and rain for a month and a half. i need sunlight. it makes hiking so much more enjoyable
Date: 2012-11-07
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Alec kennedy shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up and the fire was still going. i put some more sticks and had another nice morning fire. i went water and the spring was dried up. but under on of the fallen trees from the storm ther was a large clear puddle. thank you storm. my water bottle was starting to ice tis morning. i thought i swallowed a leaf at first but it was just a sheet of ice. i was on trail by 740 (curse daylight savings time for making me a morning person) there was the cumberland valley today. some one told the AT makers it was ok to go in a valley for once. rolling hills, big fields, and farms. it was beautiful. i got into town right at 12. i was just walking to the grocery store and a guy pulled over. he took me and i met magpie and scarecrow there. the guy who brought me in offered to take us where ever. scarecrow need a superscription fill so we went there. then h e took us ack o the trail. i left my sticks in the grocery and the guy took me back to get them. awesome guy. i'd of walked back for my sticks. i'm more attached to them than i was to my poles for sure. they are like a part of me and i've done some carving on my favorite one. after that i hung out at the ATC building. they gave us a ton food and i charged my phones. i hiked out with magpie an we got to the shelter early and set out making a fire. this will become common place for me i think. after so much food in town i think i'll just make a peanut butter sandwich and call it a night its supposed to snow two inches tonight. we will see my phone just said cloudy. looks like the northeaster decided to skip us. yay.
Date: 2012-11-08
From: Alec kennedy shelter

To: birch run shelter
Miles today: 25.1
Weather: clear sky

WOO!!! i hit the half way mark. i am now closer to my goal than i'm to the start. i woke up early and got the morning fire going. i drank to much water last night and had to get up multiple times. at 6 i just stayed up. i was on trail before 730. the trail today was rather boring. the morning had some large boulders that kinda reminded me of the notch but other than that not much. i got to furnace state park where there is the AT museum and the half gallon challenge. bot h were closed. not cool as i was looking forward to both. i called hard charge and turns out he recently had surgery and couldn't take me in. thats alright. i still think it was an awesome gesture. besides to many beds and showers and i'll get spoiled. gotta harden up for the winter. i passed the half way sign which was way more than i was expecting. apparently some guy made new one and placed it last year. very nice. i got to the shelter i planned for at 230 it was only 6 miles further to the next so i went for that. got her and its much nicer. big creek right in front and lots of fire wood. so far i'm the only one here. magpie and scarecrow may show up. i'm just hate night hiking but no one else seems to. you cant see anything and given i'm by myself most the time i'm screwed if i get hurt. i'll just stick to hiking in the daylight. or if there is a full moon. thats fun.
Date: 2012-11-09
From: birch run shelter

To: Deer lick shelter
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: clear sky

Merry came in late last night. he was just stopping for dinner and going to push on tot te next shelter for a 35 mile day. then he's doing 45 the next day. don't know why. woke up later than normal. it was cold and i didn't really want to get out of my bag. i ate lunch on top of a mountain in the sun. this is the longest stretch of sunlight in over a month. its wonderful. PA is a very boring state. nothing to see so i just kept on going for most the day. there are 3 shelters within 5 miles of each other.i stopped at the fist and ate a snack. this shelters have been really nice lately. usually two, snoring and non. they have covered picnic tables to. i go t he on i'm staying at and there are two other guys here on a section hike. they gave me a bunch of extra food. i've been starving today so it was especially great. yesterday i wasn't really hungry and today i want to eat everything in my pack. i guess it just comes and goes. on a side note my hand writing gets much smaller when its cold.