morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-06-19
From: 501 shelter

To: eagles nest shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: few clouds

Sadly, no eagles at eagles nest. Just a long day of hiking, several rocky areas that required taping and retaping and trying several sock combos trying to find something that wouldn't cause as many blisters. My Asolo boots are hanging in there, they work much better when dry. Super beautiful day, low 60s with breeze and shade. Others are talking about replacing their boots due to rock destruction of either the shoe or their foot. Keeping pace with the older responsible section hikers now, supposedly only 1 more week or so untl I "get my legs" seems to be the consensus. Made a fire and someone brought a homemade lightweight scrabble game to play until dark.
Date: 2013-06-22
From: eckville shelter

To: new tripoli campground
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: clear sky

Woke up late still tired, covered in condensation and slugs from the lawn, and dragged out onto the trail. Long climb right into lots of rocks. Hard day. Didn't make it to shelter so ducked out with my now familiar group of bb, flow, nails, and dirtdog. We arrive at the campsite and some guys are having a bachelor party complete with big knives and a whole pig roasting on a spit. They excitedly beg us to help eat the huge pig to help avert the bear bait disaster they realized they had on their hands. My jaw just dropped. Roast pig trail magic? Check. Made our own campfire downstream where we figured the bears wouldn't find us, or at least safely away from the pig.   Had a good conversation with nails who I'm just realizing is an extremely accomplished female hiker in her mid 50s? But she's done the AT several times, the jmt, cdt, and several other really interesting spots. Definitely a lifetime traveler. Very good to get her perspective on things. Still super sleep deprived but couldn't tear myself away from the campfire. I'm in really good company, if completely not the type of people I thought id be hanging out with. Apparently mid30s hikers are just uncommon, too busy with careers or families I guess. Thus far it seems to be primarily retirees and 20somethings.
Date: 2013-06-24
From: palmerton jail

To: leroy a smith shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: broken clouds

Waited 2 hours to resupply at grocery store that didn't open until 9. very hot. Decided to walk the road instead of backtracking 2 miles and then walking the treeless zinc smelter superfund site. Started a conversation with a man digging in a bin of aluminum cans. He turned out to be a retired firefighter that had been disabled by a power line on a fire call and now just looks after the firehouse to keep himself occupied. He invited me in for a cold beverage and a tour of the firehouse. They restore and show/exhibit their fire engines so the place was a huge workshop with beautiful equipment and workbenches everywhere. He offered me a ride up to the trail, since he was headed to a ski resort nearby so I helped him load up dozens of new fire extinguishers and we headed out in the ridge running / firebreak offroad pickup. Riding in serious style now. Unloaded the extinguishers, rolled up some firehoses, and we said goodbyes, super nice man. Lots of very hot hiking.
Date: 2013-06-27
From: delaware water gap

To: kittatinny mountain summit
Miles today: 8.3

Met the Sarah Daniels crew at the hostel, get along really well with them. they're definitely the type of hikers I was expecting to be hanging out with, funny how the trail keeps turning up awesome people right when other awesome people leave. Also finally met Fables, a very gifted storyteller doing the same flipflop hike as me. She spent the last 6 months in a buddist monastery learning stories. Stayed up all night talking and a small group of us decide at 1am to go out for a group night hike. In the rain. Finished the night watching a cloudy sunrise at the peak of a high mountain with a 360* view with Fig and Tallulah.
Date: 2013-06-30
From: mashipacong shelter

To: high point shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Headed down to the state park to meet back up with all the guys, Fig was excited about taking some time off trail. We arrived at the park and it has this huge lakeside sandy beach with showers, a grill with funnel cakes and icecream, and about 10 of us are now hanging out swimming or relaxing on the beach. Fig's sister and niece showed up with a huge loaf of chocolate banana bread they baked for us that we devoured despite gorging on snack bar food for an hour before. Food obscession is definitely becoming a thing. Hard to leave this beautiful beach knowing the clouds and rain are coming.
Date: 2013-07-05
From: greenwood lake

To: island pond stealth camp
Miles today: 13.7

Really rough day, hill climbs and descents all day. Hit fitzgerald falls exactly as the sun cut through the trees illuminating it perfectly and got probably the best picture of the trip so far. Unfortunately fell in "little dam lake" that had its footbridge wiped out by hurricane sandy, drowning my phone and camera. Got both mostly dried out but the phone may be done for. Tons of hurricane damage here, giant trees ripped out roots and boulders still attached. No maintenance done so lots of crawling through broken branches and trunks. No shelters and no camping allowed in NY so we were forced to camp by a beautiful lake after dark fell. Loooong day, very wet and muddy now.
Date: 2013-07-06
From: island pond stealth camp

To: bear mountain recreation area
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up muddy and hot, bug in the tent of the day is "no-see-um" gnats. Broke camp before dawn and headed out to the lemon squeezer. This is a narrow rock wedge you have to climb thru, not quite wide enough for a pack. Made it thru with a few others, took pictures, lots of fun and a few more scrapes. Got to the next shelter which was had no water or privy and was a bit disappointed since I was hoping to find somewhere to take a break. But stapled to the front was a sign saying trail magic in the form of a 3 day hiker party and picnic was taking place a mile up the trail at a beautiful lake with beaches and swim area called lake Tiorati. We push on and sure enough a group of friends who thruhiked in '98; nighteyes, little mac, redbeard, and their families had the biggest icechest I've ever seen and promptly filled a plate with like 5lbs of eggs, bacon, canadian bacon, avocados, home recipe rice, and as much soda and juice as we could drink. People were saying "welcome to heaven" as we arrived to "fat fest".They offered to slackpack us (leave all gear and just walk with water and small amount of food) to bear mountain which was only 15 miles which I thought I could do and would totally solve my sunburned shoulders problem. Headed out into the heat, made it about 5 miles until realizing the shin problems I was having didn't really improve without a pack. The route was really rugged too, tons of ups to huge sweeping ridgelines overlooking new york, down into little rivers and back up again. Made it to the Perkins memorial tower by 5pm when I was supposed to be finished and still needed to go another 2 miles. Powered up the drowned glitchy phone, got in touch and arranged a ride back. Went down the 2 miles on a new section of trail which has just been completed, thousands of perfectly carved steps, on what is supposed to be the most trafficked part of the AT. Passed a hundred indians and middle easterners, coming up the hill but I was the onlyone going down. Arrived at bear mountain which was absolute chaos on the Saturday after 4th of july. There were easily a thousand people in the park. Found my ride, got lost for 4 hours because a special needs family member was navigating, and finally made it back to fatfest in the dark. Scarfed down some campfire-reheated salmon, burgers, smores, and salad. Crashed in my tent very tired.
Date: 2013-07-07
From: bear mountain recreation area

To: fort montgomery
Miles today: 0.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Took a day off, got no sleep last night due to the lost kid and the parents that decided honking and driving around the lake was a good way to find them. Got a ride back to bear mountain and went to the trailside zoo. Heat was 96* and 107* with humidity heat index so just couldn't deal with it. Grabbed an over budget motel room, took a shower, and went to sleep at 3pm.
Date: 2013-07-15
From: toymaker cafe falls village

To: sages ravine campsite
Miles today: 15.1

Got an early dawn start out of town, passed the hydroelectric plant with free showers and power outlets, and found an amazing network of natural waterfalls. One waterfall was big and epic enough it just demanded a swim, despite the sun not being up yet. Dropped pack and jumped in, wasting all the deet I had just applied, and fooled around in the currents, trying to get close to the falls but it was too strong. Got some good pictures anyway, then lazed around drying off as the sun came up, just a really spectacular treat. Was really hard to leave and get going but headed out finally around 10. Did decent miles, saw a weird boulder stickingout of the ground called giants thumb, passed two pairs of shelters that were only a tiny bit apart, really annoying since there had just been several 20+ mile sections without shelters in NY, but I guess CT likes making shelters and large group sites. Finally got dark so ducked into a big empty group campsite with wooden tent platforms which was new to me but much appreciated. Really liking all the rivers in this area.
Date: 2013-07-16
From: sages ravine campsite

To: great barrington, MA
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: broken clouds

slept really well on the wooden tent platform, got up & went down to the river and took a bath so it was a good start to the day. The trail followed a nice river ravine along the Connecticut and Massachusetts border. Met up with Tis again who I hadn't seen in several weeks but remembered me and said hi. (Tis is the very liberal grad student designing and testing secure tents for FEMA or domestic abuse victims.) I knew there was a large hillclimb followed by an extremely steep hill so went light on water to reduce weight. It was in the upper 90s though so I ran out halfway up the second mountain. Had weird chest pains around the same time that forced me to stop and cool off for a while, so water misering finally bit me. Walked right thru the summit without stopping to enjoy the view so I could finish the mile to the next water source quickly. Came down to a "picnic grounds".where I figured I could ask around for water, but when I arrived the first picnic table was completely covered in ice water coolers and gallons of water left for hikers. The second table was setup with a huge spread of hiker food trail magic and was being done by a 2013 nobo hiker named Hotdog who had quit the trail but come back to feed friends she'd met. Awesome high calorie selection of junk food we all crave like candybars, pudding, fruit snacks, potato chips, pretzels, and cold drinks. Everyone that came by stayed for several hours, napping to avoid the afternoon sun. Really food afternoon and solution to my water mistake.Decided to push into great barrington a big town with restaurants, with a handful of other hikers for dinner, but it was a little late in the day to try. Most restaurants were closed, but got some good thai. Some local kids gave us a ride to a cornfield behind town where we tried to tent but the mosquitos were absolutely insane. After hours of trying to seal up the tent which just made it hotter and more humid, killing them by the dozens, leaving bloody streaks all over the tent, with condensation already dripping off the walls, decided to just go walk back to town after midnight and got a motel room. Got showers, tried to do sink laundry, hung everything all over the room to dry and crashed out.
Date: 2013-08-07
From: eliza brook shelter

To: garfield pond
Miles today: 18.0

Hit my first AMC hut which are these big cabins in the highlands of the White mountains that sleep 80-120 and have a fulltime crew that cookand entertain but cost $100+/nite because everything has to be packed in or airdropped by helicopter. The nice thing is they often have food scraps or leftovers they will give to hikers, and if you're lucky you can work (dishes, compost, scrub things) and they'll let you sleep on the floor of the dining room. Scored lemonade and chocolate cake and charged out for the big franconia range and mt lafayette.
Date: 2013-08-15
From: gorham, NH

To: gentian pond shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Said goodbye to my friends and headed out late. Loved my new music, Parlor Mob had me singing along, shouting into the woods and near tears at times, and Andrew Jackson Jihad had me rolling around laughing. Very emotional day anyway. Must be close to a weekend cause I ran into a lot of inexperienced folks, one older couple was having real problems and even came up to the shelter after I finished for the day and asked for someone to go rescue the man who had chronic lyme disease and heart problems. They argued with the other shelter folks all evening about quitting so I just curled up and went to sleep on a down note.
Date: 2013-08-17
From: full goose shelter 

To: grafton notch road
Miles today: 9.7

Got up late, morning fog, knee hurting, headed out last from the shelter and hit Mahoosuc notch, the most difficult mile of the whole trail. Its a canyon with sheer walls that 30-50ft boulders have fallen into and created a huge maze with tunnels and steep drops with a river running through the bottom you can never see but can hear so you know if you drop anything its gone. First guy I encounter is covered in his own blood splatters from little cuts and scrapes from going through in the opposite direction. He's on the phone calling 911 for another hiker who broke his ankle and is stuck inside. Picked my way through carefully, had a couple spots too tight for both me and the pack so had to belay or throw it through holes and then slide on my knees or stomach through muddy holes between the rocks. Very tough going but finished in about 1.5 hours, found the injured hiker who was a weekender with about 4x more water and weight than he should have been carrying, including the telltale sign of a problem hiker- a hatchet. Took a gps reading for rescue, and headed up the Mahoosuc arm. Easily the steepest most sheer climb I've done yet, realized there's no way to get any rescue to this kid. Not even helicopters could get in there. Got to the top, called maine rescue and gave them coordinates (they called back and left a vm later asking for directions????) with the remaining 5% of emergency battery life I had. Ate lunch on a nice vista then heard the crew of guys I was hanging out with in Gorham a couple yards back so wandered over packless and barefoot which got a laugh since we were waaaay out in the wilderness. "Footloose and fancy free" was appropriately used to describe it. Had fun on the way down talking with everyone but was going a little too fast which hurt my knee more. Ended up at a parking lot where the guys were getting picked up for a little off trail vacation in the morning, and set up 10 tents alongside the parking spaces. I setup in an actual parking spot just for the fun of it. Someone had a fm radio on and passed out leaving it on all night so we had to listen to britney spears "hit me one more time" at least 3 times along with all the other great commercial music. Not a good night for sleeping.
Date: 2013-08-25
From: carrabassett river

To: stratton, maine
Miles today: 8.4

Climbed the Crocker mountains, then long easy downhill into town. Got a hitch from a local dayhiker going the opposite direction but who turned around and took me the 5 miles into town. Met Chainsaw, got a buffalo burger ("the real thing!") and retired to the hostel and watched Southbounders again. Really enjoyed seeing all the landmarks and places I'd visited. Caught up on the vms and texts that have been burning my phone battery down every time I try to turn it on. Started raining after midnight which was a really good feeling with a roof over my head.
Date: 2013-09-13
From: harpers ferry, wv

To: david lesser shelter
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Headed out on my first southbound day!   Already met 2 sobos and one section hiker starting the same section as I'm doing and all look like good company. Harpers is a ghost town compared to 3 months ago. Friday the 13th luck! Yeehaw let's do this.So I got touristy and checked out the harpers historical part of town, really awesome 1800s armory machine shop that manufactured rifles like the springfield during the civil war. Got out of town around 3pm and barely made it 9 miles to the first shelter.
Date: 2013-09-14
From: david lesser shelter

To: bears den hostel
Miles today: 11.6

Finished west virginia today and started on the long state of virginia that's supposed to be challenging mentally but easy miles. Insane amounts of weekend day hikers, most I've seen besidesmt washington and college preorientation week. Mostly shellshocked city dwellers with theirsocial walls up, hard to start up conversations with so mostly rolled on but found a few pairs of section hikers that made the day pleasant. My favorites were bluetail and plucky, carrying a mini guitar and mini banjo, we rolled into bears den together and they sat down and played a while. Bears den is this nice stone mansion in the woods, atc owned so there's a well furnished hostel in the basement. Wasn't going to stay but the pizza and ice cream lured me in. Jem the sobo section hiker showed up and we hung out watching the sun go down and talking about her time as an army MP in iraq and afghanistan. helped her cut her pack down from 60lbs to 45 lbs, best discarded item was a humidore full of cigars shed gotten as a good luck gift. The molle army medic kit with traich tube, tourniquet, and catheter was fun too.
Date: 2013-09-19
From: byrds nest #3 hut

To: bearfence mountain hut
Miles today: 22.4
Weather: scattered clouds

First reception in several days very spotty doing minimal updates for now. Seen dozens of deer very close up and probably 6 bears in last 2 days. Shenandoahs are very pretty but the wildlife is making it pretty memorable. Just spent an hour trying to get reception on a rock outcropping while eating lunch and had a bear come check me out. Pretty wild place. Love the waysides with food every couple days too, makes all the slow dayhikers worth it. Waynesboro sundayish probably, making good miles but rains coming.
Date: 2013-09-21
From: pinefield hut

To: waynesboro, va
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Dense fog and rain all day. So dense couldn't find trail a couple times. Made it to the wayside just barely for some amazing hamburger action.   Spent about 3 hours trying to find a hitch but cars were driving 45mph in the fog and couldn't even see me. Always hard to hitch in rain anyway. Ended up calling for a shuttle and chatting up a park concession girl from LA. Got into town and hit the chinese buffet which was fantastic, full all you can eat sushi bar, bland but good selection. Not sure what I'm gonna do tomorrow, pretty worn down. My camera charger that was taken from bears den hostel by a fruitbat tourist won't be available at the post office until at least Monday, doubtful if the lady can even manage that. Uploaded new pics, and finally got video uploads working on tumblr.
Date: 2013-09-22
From: waynesboro, va

To: calf mountain shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up feeling sorta out of it. Sat around looking at the trail guide for an hour and finally decided to just go hit the trail as soon as possible which is kinda becoming my general fix for everything when I'm not sure what to do. Got a hitch out from a nice girl my age (rare) and she knew right where the trailhead was so I was standing at the southern entrance to shenandoah NP within minutes. Decided to avoid trying to get a difficult second hitch up to the wayside where I got off and instead hike northbound to meet all the sobos in front of me and get some motivation to hike faster. The daywas absolutely beautiful, lots of wildflowers and meadows and some huge communication towers. Ran out of water since all the reliable springs were dry but got a liter from a nice day hiker out with his family who'd attempted the AT a decade ago. Then came across a college age couple, girl was hopelessly beautiful and gave me two huge homemade cookies, and the guy knew Hammer and a bunch of the nobos id been hiking with because he hiked with them a while earlier in the season so we shared stories. By this time was feeling pretty good about the day. Rolled into the first shelter around 5pm. Darryl (id met and camped with twice before) and an older section hiker named Chap were there. Chap was vietnam era army and darryl is a retired navy intelligence "lifer" . We talked geopolitics and about the reasons so many servicemembers choose to do the AT. Consensus was it is pretty much the american dream for many and a good way to transition from one chapter in life to another. I'm really happy I chose this year in particular because there are so many people whoare just getting back from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan and getting their perspective makes me feel really lucky. Once again the trail provides on a day I started out feeling down.
Date: 2013-09-23
From: calf mountain shelter

To: blackrock hut
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

Another beautiful day. Darryl woke up in a good mood and wanted to know more about my security background. He is going to try and network me with a friend in CA that just sold his company to Google so this is an interesting potential job lead. It was nice to be recognized for what I know rather than just be judged by the scruffy hair and beard. Got going northbound again and ran into dave the pirate and smiles who seem to be a trail-made couple that remind me a lot of my nobo friends who I miss more each day. Smiles in particular was very outgoing and rowdy which was awesome, totally has the thruhiker spirit that makes you want to have fun no matter how hard the day is. Hope to run into them again. Also met freakymike and a couple others. Got to blackrock hut which had special significance to me from blackrock city and blackrock depths fame. Met some cool section hikers including a lifer airforce inter-agency training guy with an EOD jacket who was very unhappy about Syria, and some local party kids who came up to drink and shared hotdogs with us. At one point the section hiker from Kentucky noticed a huge wood rat in someones sleeping bag so me and him cornered it and he killed it in one strike. Turns out from the shelter log this rat had been terrorizing the shelter for some time. Since he had no trailname I called him OneHit the rest of the night and he laughed every time.