morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-07-18
From: Rutherford Shelter

To: Secret Shelter
Miles today: 9.6

Having spent the night on the ridge, we had a clear view of the town/city? below us and the mountains in the distance. The stars were brilliant last night and the sunrise was bright and beautiful first thing this morning. Unfortunately it didn't last. We felt a few sprinkles as we ate breakfast and packed up. It's okay though, we really need the rain to perk up those water sources.   Speaking of water, we headed straight for High Point State Park to fill our bottles. As the name implies, it's the highest elevation in New Jersey. There's a monument that looks just like the Washington Monument in D.C. to mark the location. The trail takes you near enough to get some excellent views, but not right up to it. There is a side trail you can take, but somehow, we missed it. That's okay, 'cause it was still raining some.   We hiked on, planning to check out the "secret shelter", a place built for thru-hikers by Jim Murray, an alumni thru-hiker. We thought we might have lunch there and maybe hike on a little closer to town. It started pouring buckets on the way, lightning included at no extra fee! We arrived wet and hungry and decided to stay and enjoy a HOT shower and dry our clothes in the REAL dryer! What a treat. The shelter is a very small building with a utility sink, a big shelf (not really a table) under the window and the dryer on the ground level. The second level is a loft where 3-4 people can sleep. The shower is around the side and is a real shower with hot water, not just a solar shower. And there is a covered porch on the front. That's it. There is a privy and a water pump outside. What more do we need?   Well, actually, what we needed was a couple of section hikers tenting nearby with a car to offer to bring back pizza and ice cream when they went into town! Mickey and Walter and dog, Sandy, did just that. Yee-haw! So here we are inside a snug, warm little "house", showered, clothes dried, and bellies full of pizza, soda and Ben & Gerry's. It's still raining and a group of 5 hikers arrived as we were stuffing ourselves. We gave them the scoop on the shower and drier (not the B&G) and tucked ourselves in for the night. Sometimes it just pays to be the first ones here!
Date: 2003-07-19
From: Secret Shelter

To: Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 13.6

It's a "town day" today! We always look forward to stops in town--they make the trail miles seem almost easy. The trail today, however, had every type of condition you could imagine. We climbed rocks; we walked through mud. We went through bogs with swarms of mosquitos; we walked on a brand new boardwalk over a marsh. We climbed up a mountain; we walked along a road. We crossed streams, bridges, railroad tracks and cow pastures. You name it; we walked it today. But here we are, in town!   We also had the opportunity to see some wildlife along the way. We walked a loop trail around the Walkill National Wildlife Preserve and spotted some type of cranes or herons, deer and turtles. We saw a family of wild turkeys strolling down the edge of the woods and a bunny sitting right in the middle of the trail. It was definately an interesting day.   Tonight we are staying a hostel run by St. Thomas Episcopal Church. They have generously opened their basement and kitchen for us. We have a shower, laundry facilities, microwave and even fuel available. It's very nice. There's a Dunkin Donuts right around the corner, so Bump and I are in 7th heaven!    Tomorrow we'll head back out and cross the New Jersey/New York border. Cross off another one--we're comin' home!
Date: 2003-07-20
From: Vernon, NJ

To: Campsite at Cascade Brook
Miles today: 10.7

We only did 10 miles today? Seemed a whole lot longer than that! I woke up feeling just awful. I didn't sleep well and my feet and knees were very sore. I couldn't hide how I was feeling--I just wanted to go home. Everyone was very sweet and tried to be encouraging. We went to breakfast at the little restaurant behind the church and tried to decide if a day or 2 off might help. When we got back to the hostel at the church, we found out we had to vacate the premises in time for the 10:00 service. It would have been helpful to know that in advance! We hustled around to get everything packed up and outside. Fortuntely a kind lady offered us a ride back to the trailhead. Our decision was made--back on the trail, sore bones and all.   We started with a good climb up Wawayanda Mtn. Then most of the day was spent ridge-walking with some ups and downs. Our big problem came when we needed to get water. There wasn't any. We had passed up water at an .8 mile side trip to park headquarters after the shelter where we had lunch and at the first stream crossing. A sobo hiker told us there were 2 good brooks running and the spring at the next shelter was good. Well, we knew we weren't going as far as the shelter (that would make a 17+ mile day and we started too late); so we figured we'd just camp near one of the brooks. Both were listed in our guide book. We crossed the New Jersey/New York state line and had only about .6 mile to the first stream. It was running a funky yellow color with foam floating in it and the area smelled bad. We passed in favor of continuing to Cascade Brook and campsite.    Well, we finally got there after 6:00 only to find Cascade had cascaded away somewhere. The stream bed was dry except for one small puddle with bear scat near it. We decided to camp anyway and just make do with the dribbles of water we had left. Sean-O and Bump scouted down the trail aways and Butterfly and I followed the dry streambed. We found a couple more puddles and then a tiny flow of water coming out from under some rocks. We decided it was better than nothing and went back to camp for our bottles. She managed to scoop each of us a quart of light yellow water. We treated it and made Gatorade. As long as we don't think about, it's not so bad :)   Tomorrow we'll head out early once again in search of water. Hopefully we've learned this time that we just cannot trust the water sources listed in the book to be running. We'll just have to carry more and tolerate the extra weight.
Date: 2003-07-21
From: Campsite at Cascade Brook

To: Little Dam Lake Bridge
Miles today: 14.0

If I said yesterday was hard, today was harder. Nobody ever mentioned the rocks of New Jersey and nobody ever mentioned the rock climbing of New York! "Nothing Decent" wrote in a trail register in PA that the only tools a PA trail maintainer needed were a paint brush and a sense of humor. Ditto that for New York, only make it sick sense of humor! And perhaps instead of a brush, I think they use a paintball gun. Some of today's blazes were up on vertical cliffs and rocks faces. Being the lemmings that we are, we climbed up to them. New York has consisted of a constant barage of rock ledges, rock summits, rock trails, and rock cliffs. Enough already! And all the streams listed in our guide book are dry.    On a positive note, the spring at the shelter this morning was excellent, even cold! DEE-licious! We also got water at the last road crossing left by the local trail angel group. Thanks so much to them :) We were able to cook a nice dinner instead of eating our last lunch supplies.   I also have to admit that New York is pretty. The woods are more like home here. There are pines and hemlocks and it just reminds me more of Maine. The views from the rock pinnacles have been spectacular, overlooking lakes and maybe a river. I haven't spotted the NYC skyline yet, it was foggy this morning.    Tonight it's pouring buckets with lots of thunder and lightning. Our tent is slowly getting wet from it all. Not much you can do about it when it rains this hard. But, the streams may benefit from it. We are considering a town stop somewhere tomorrow. Everyone is exhausted and will now also be wet. As long as there's ice cream, I'm in. :)
Date: 2003-07-22
From: Little Dam Lake Bridge

To: W. Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: moderate rain

Have I mentioned that New York is hard? Today was more of the same rock climbing as yesterday and the day before. We did a steep climb down called "Agony Grind" that took us down to Harriman State Park. We also walked over the NY turnpike. That was kind of cool. Our next challenge was called the Lemon Squeezer. It started as a pass under a huge rock formation that got tighter and tighter. Sean-O got through by swinging his pack on one shoulder. Bump is tall enough that he managed to kind of hoist his pack up on his back. Butterfly carries a nice neat pack and she's very tiny, so she also squeezed through. My pack, on the other hand, looks like something a bag lady lives out of (well, I guess if the shoe fits...). I have stuff hanging off it everywhere. I carried it as far as I could, then Bump climbed up on the rock side and lifted it up for me.    Speaking of Bump, he went bump today coming down a rock face. He only bruised his pride :)   Late in the afternoon we got to Lake Tiorati. It's a popular beach area with restrooms, water, swimming and SNACK MACHINES!! We didn't get to swim, thunder was rolling in and they closed the beach. But we enjoyed sodas, chips and even ice cream from the vending machines. "Martha Graham" hiked in with us and we ran into "Siesta" there. He had spent the night in the pavillion there and even scored some great trail magic from a guy doing a BMW commercial.   The shelter here is kind of cool. It's built out of rocks and looks almost like it's part of the rock ledge behind it. There's no water, but what else is new. We carried plenty from the lake. Tomorrow, it's on to Bear Mountain/ Fort Montgomery for a zero day :)
Date: 2003-07-23
From: W. Brien Memorial Shelter

To: Bear Mountain, NY
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: mist

A lovely, but sad day of hiking. My spirit is broken. I need a break. We finally got to Bear Mtn. Park with Mountain Butterfly. Sean-O was waiting for us with a very kind and generous trail angel named Gene. Gene waited as we retrieved our boxes at the post office then drove to Ft. Montgomery to find a hotel. We ended up at the Old Oak Inn, a rather rat-trappy kind of place, but right across the street from a little restaurant, convenience store and local PO. Gene agreed to pick us up in the morning so we could hit the laundramat, get breakfast and whatever else we needed, like a ride back to the trail.    Bump took Sean-O downstairs to the pub while Butterfly and I grabbed showers. He broke the news that I wanted to go home.
Date: 2003-08-06
From: Bear Mountain, NY

To: Tennessee and Maine
Miles today: 0.0

Okay, okay. I've been hiding out. I couldn't quite bring myself to have Bump take me home, so we rented a car and drove to Tennessee to stay at our daughter's house while I made up my mind. NO EASY TASK!!! I changed my mind daily, no hourly! Home/trail/home/trail.....   When I say I want to go home, I cry all day. When I say I want to hike, I don't cry, but am filled with anguish over the task. I miss my hiking companions. I miss my family. I miss the adventure. I long for normal life. I definately needed a break.    We finally left TN to drive north to where? We stopped in PA (the rock state) for the night, intending to go home in the morning. I woke up in the middle of the night determined to get back on the trail when we got to Bear Mtn. In the morning, I just wasn't sure again. We started driving. We crossed into New York. My stomach was in knots. We got to the airport exit where we rented the car. My heart was pounding. He drove right by!!! Wait...we need to stop and give the car back! NO, no, we reserved it to Maine. We drove by the exit to Bear Mtn. STOP!!! I want to go back!   Bump finally pulled off so we could get coffee and talk. We bought maps so we could figure out where to go and turn in the car close enough to the trail to catch a ride. Again...no, I want to go home. I can't walk for 2 more months! Back on the highway, I start sobbing hysterically. Again we pull over and he listens patiently while I embark on a crazy tirade. It ends with me finally submitting to the desire to go home. For awhile. For now. We tell no one but Sara and Mike (daughter and her husband).   We pull into the driveway at home. Our son, Zac is walking down the sidewalk. He is stunned. My Mom is looking out the window and starts to holler, "I just knew you were coming home! Are you okay? I just had this feeling!" I am kind of numb. I tell them I'm just tired of walking right now and that I need a little break. Yes, we'll probably go back. No, I don't know when. Yes, I'm fine. No, I'm just a loser who couldn't do it.   Now, after a week, I'm ready. I cleaned my gardens out, planted some flowers, cut the grass, sorted the boxes of stuff I've been shipping home and kidnapped my grandson, Marcus for 5 days. Oh yeah, I applied for my seasonal job at LL Bean this afternoon, too. I start on Oct. 14, so I better get back on the trail asap. Time's awastin'.    The big issue now is where do we get back on? It's late and now I have a deadline. I really want to find Sean-O so we can finish with him. It looks like we will have to skip up to New Hampshire. So, my thru-hike is now compromised. Instead of being an AT thru-hiker, I will be a BIG section hiker. I know some of my journal fans will be disappointed. I can live with it though, and that's what counts. I didn't want to end up hating it. I don't and I'm looking forward to the 100-mile wilderness.    Thanks for reading my journal and believing in me even when I didn't believe in myself. Next entry will be from the trail. :)
Date: 2003-08-13
From: US 4 near Sherburne Pass, VT

To: Stony Brook Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: moderate rain

We're back! And as promised, here is our next journal entry from the trail. We decided to jump up to Vermont as our "re-entry" point. I know there will be some journal readers who think we should have picked up where we left off, but we didn't. I will have a 298.5 mile gap in my hike and I will hopefully pick those miles up next summer with my sisters. Meanwhile, Bump and I will walk to Katahdin :) I'm happy with that and so is he.   Our son, Zac drove us to the trailhead this morning. We got on the AT at around 1:00 with a plan to go 10 miles to the shelter. What a difference we saw in the forest! It is beautiful here. Everything is lush and green and there's water! Lots of it! We followed a stream to a waterfall that then flowed into a lake. The trail is a little muddy, but mostly covered with soft pine needles and leaves. There are mushrooms and fungi of every color, size and shape. The trillium and other flowers have gone to seed, so there are bright blue and red berries along the way. It felt good to be back.
Date: 2003-08-14
From: Stony Brook Shelter

To: The Barn, VT 12
Miles today: 13.7

Well, old habits come right back quickly--we woke up bright and early at 9:00 and got on the trail by 10:30. So much for being focused and energetic! We enjoyed the hike today though. We stopped for a little break and heard voices up ahead. I had set my pack right on the trail, so I decided to move it out of the way of approaching hikers. I set it down on the side opposite where we were sitting. Bump says, "Grab that!" just as my pack rolled over backward and down the steep slope. We were, after all, on top of a mountain. Thump, bump, thump, bump down it went! It finally landed against a tree and stopped, thank heavens! Bump was kind enough to climb down and get it for me.   Later we passed another sobo hiker who told us about a place called the Barn. He said the magic words "there is a hot shower." We had planned on stopping at the next shelter and if it wasn't too late, push on a couple more miles closer to the road and stealth camp. We decided to go for it even though we had a late start and it would be almost 14 miles.   We were trudging along up another mountain and suddenly we heard from behind us, "Is that Bump and Sassafras?" We turned around to see Face and Blaze right behind us! It was such a treat to run into thru-hikers and some we knew at that! We told them we were going to try to make the Barn and they were too. Cool!   So, here we are, only the 4 of us, settled down for the night in Dan's barn--literally. It's a working barn, no animals--a wood shop and storage--with mattresses and the shower is across the street under the porch at his house. Interesting! He's a very nice guy who just likes hikers. No fees or even donations asked, he welcomes a hand in the garden or yard or whatever anyone might like to do, but asks nothing in return for his kindness.    Tomorrow we'll try to get to West Hartford, which will put us a day ahead of our itinerary already. With luck, we'll be able to continue to make up time over the next few days.
Date: 2003-08-15
From: The Barn, VT 12

To: West Hartford, VT
Miles today: 12.6

After a great night's sleep in the Barn, we hit the trail just before 10:00. We've got to get better at geting up and out! We were determined to get to W. Hartford and be a day ahead of our itinerary. The trail was beautiful today; again, lush and green. We saw hundreds of fascinating mushrooms. When I say they are every color, today we saw it all. Snow white to jet black and every color in between, including purple, light green and even a small cluster of tiny pine green or forest green (depending on your box of Crayola crayons) that could almost pass for blue-ish green. Even Bump got interested in looking for really cool ones.    Speaking of Bump, he had the "bump" scared out of him today. He was walking along ahead of me, deep in thought. Suddenly a pair of grouse flew up out of the bushes right next to him! I thought I might finally need that CPR I've been teaching for years!    Anyway, the day got hotter and hotter and we kept walking and walking. Every time we stopped to figure out where we were, it was never nearly as far as we thought we should be. We started to get worried that we would only get as far as Thistle Hill Shelter, a mere 7.9 miles! When we finally got there at 4:15, Bump actually offered to stop for the day. I decided we should press on, after all, it was only another 4.7 miles "all downhill". You should know that there is no downhill on the AT, only up. And in Vermont, there's so much up, that if the state was any bigger, I'm sure we'd end up on the moon! Somehow, we managed to pick up the pace and got into town at 6:45, just in time to make it to the store for sandwiches, soda and Ben & Gerry's. We are camped in Steve and Kathy's backyard. They are kind enough to offer tenting to hikers since there is NOWHERE to stay here. Their property is lovely, with a spring-fed brook and their own 2-hole par 3 golf course. Bump is in Heaven and may never want to leave. I tried to call our bud, Sean-O to let him know where we are, but the cellphone was on "roam". I think he heard me say "West Hartford". Hope so; we can't wait to see him again.   Tomorrow we promise to get up early and go for breakfast at the little store. Then, we plan to go to Hanover, New Hampshire! Yee-haw!!!
Date: 2003-08-16
From: West Hartford, VT

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: light rain

That's right, we're in freaking Hanover, home of Dartmouth College and the Dartmouth Outing Club, and we're freaking stealth camping in our tent instead of in a motel! This town has one hotel at $250 a night--no hostel, no B&B's, no normal priced hotels. So, we're camped right on the trail just behind the soccer field so we can get back into town tomorrow and try to figure out where to meet Sean-O.    We were fortunate enough to meet 2 Sobo hikers who spent yesterday here who let us know there was nowhere to stay at the college, but that they took showers at the gymnasium. We walked down and asked the receptionist there if we could use the pool locker rooms and she let us. So, at least we got showers. Unfortunately, there's no place to do laundry. We did get groceries at the Co-op store so we can eat, and we're hoping Sean-O's friend, Liz, who is also supposed to be in town tomorrow will be able to give us a ride to the laundramat in the next town. We'll keep our fingers crossed.   Meanwhile, we did make to New Hampshire and are looking forward to the Whites. It starts to get serious now!
Date: 2003-08-17
From: Hanover, NH

To: Moose Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: light rain

I woke up in a much better mood. Even though we slept in the woods, we were still very close to the Co-op grocery store which had nice clean restrooms, fruit and coffee for breakfast, and a payphone from which to send Pocketmail and call Mom. We were also meeting Sean-O today. :)   We packed up camp and stashed our bags in Skidmark and boyfriend's tarp. We grabbed our dirty laundry in case we should somehow be able to score a ride or even a cab to the nearest laundromat in the next little town and headed back into town to find our bud, Sean Obi Wan, Sage of Segwick. He was waiting for us in the park across from the lovely, but very pricey Hanover Inn. It was a joyful reunion!   After hugs, tales and updates, we headed off to find directions and a ride to wash our smelly duds. We got very lucky and had a young lady allow us into one of the dorms to use the laundry room in the basement. Life is good!   Off to the trail we headed in our nice clean clothes. We had a great day of hiking--including the last climb up Moose Mountain. We saw several huge moose tracks in the mud on the way up! Hopefully, they sleep downhill! When we got to the shelter, it was full and so were the few possible tent spaces. Everything else was muddy, rocky or just too overgrown. We decided to get water and camp back at the top of the trail to the shelter. As we were setting up our tents, who should come hiking up but Oopala! Another fun reunion with hugs! So, we are all camped right along the side of the trail and it feels wonderful to have good friends on either side of us.
Date: 2003-08-18
From: Moose Mountain Shelter

To: Fire Warden's Cabin
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: light rain

Today we had a trial run for the Whites. It was a gorgeous day--blue sky, sunshine and forest that smelled of balsam fir. The path was mostly soft and cushioned with pine and fir needles. All but the muddy spots! It's amazing how much mud there can be on top of a mountain!   We took a short break at an overlook and could see our destination, the fire tower on top of a mountain in the distance. I still can't believe how far you can walk in an afternoon. That mountain looked miles and miles away, like it would take days to get there, not hours.   We walked on and stopped for lunch at the Trapper John Shelter. Sean-O suggested we cook our big meal so we wouldn't have to eat after dark if got to camp late. We did and enjoyed a nice break in the middle of the day. It was an interesting shelter. Someone had started an Aboriginal friendship circle and asked in the register if people would add to it using only natural materials. I placed a rock and a stick on it for us. There was also a beautifully built stone fireplace with chimney, complete with stone mantlepiece. We can only guess that there must have been a house there at sometime.   When we finally got back to hiking, we had a tremendous climb up to the fire tower. It was almost vertical in most spots and scaled granite rock faces. It was challenging to say the least, but was exciting and rewarding when we actually made it to the top. It was cold on top of the mountain and I was so tired, I was very happy that we didn't need to cook dinner. Bump and I climbed into the tent and ate lunch instead. Sean-O chowed on munchies and climbed into bed early.   All in all, it was great day.