morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-07-06
From: Smith Gap Road

To: Mile 1285.8
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: light rain

Rocks, rocks and more rocks. Endless ankle twisting, toe stubbing, arch stabbing rocks. Rocks. Sharp, jagged edges always facing up. Rocks. Spaced so close together that it is impossible to step anywhere but right on top of them. Rocks among the grass. Rocks among the leaves. Rocks among the pine cones. Rocks among the rocks. Rocks. Mark and Evan dropped us off at the gap where we had ended with Evan two days ago.After lots of hugs and kisses and prayers for safety we were off on our own once again. The forecast was calling for thunderstorms from 10 until one. We were hoping to make it to the first shelter before the rain began. I was so slow moving along the rocks. Other days we have had breaks in between the long stretches of rock, but not today. On and on they went.We reached the shelter just as the rain began. It was very light rain, not nearly as heavy as had been called for. It didn¢t last long either, but we stayed in the shelter for a long time none the less. I laid down with my head on my pack and dozed off a few times, waking abruptly whenever Cole would speak to me. We ate lunch there and finally moved back out onto the rocks.I was tired. When I am tired I tend to not lift my feet up high enough or pay enough attention to the ground so I stub my foot. It is like kicking a rock. Pain shoots up my toes and they all complain bitterly, especially the big toe on my right foot which has not yet forgiven me for falling last week.Soon I was limping and whimpering like an injured puppy. Cole wanted to push on further to the next shelter. I did not. There was a rock scramble ahead. I had no clue how difficult it was, but I was pretty certain that I shouldn¢t be trying to attempt it when I was so tired and sore and already hurting myself more because of it. We came upon a campsite that was unbelievably rock free and set up the tent. In the distance we heard a noise. It sounded like a dog whimpering. We heard it again. Then again.I think it is just the trees, Cole suggested.Ya, probably.There it was again. It was unnerving.¢Do you want me to go check it out?¢ I asked.¢Yes please.¢I was certain that it was the trees, otherwise we would have just moved on. But, to give Cole peace of mind (and maybe me too) I headed off into the trees. I was more nervous about what might be under the leaves as I bushwhacked my way towards the noise. Nothing jumped, slithered, hissed, rattled or bit me. Soon enough I was under the moaning tree. When I returned Cole said, ¢Since you are not dead, I assume it was the trees.¢I slept well, but Cole tossed and turned all night.
Date: 2018-07-09
From: Brink Shelter 

To: High Point Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: clear sky

My bug net came back to me briefly today. This morning a hiker named Moses caught up to me and said my name. When I turned around he passed me the bug net.¢What? How?¢ He said that he was walking down the trail being pestered by bugs thinking how he really needed a bug net. Then, low and behold, there was one laying in the middle of the trail. Cole had seen him with it on and had told him that I had lost it.I handed the bug net back to him. ¢It¢s yours now. You needed it. It¢s yours.¢ What a great outcome to the story of the lost bug net. lolWe had motivation to move quickly today. In High Point state park there is a concession stand. It closes at 6pm and it was almost 19 miles away. I don¢t like rushing and my feet hurt. I was totally lacking motivation to hike. I was tired after last nights excitement. I decided that in order to get myself moving, I was going to have to have something to drive me. I decided that something would be a burger. So I hiked with purpose, barely pausing for breaks. I drank lots of water with electrolytes and ¢energy¢ additives, and I hiked my heart out. My feet and toes complained a LOT and I downed more Advil than I should have just to be able to keep moving. And I hiked. Stubbed my toes and cried in pain. Nibbled on snacks, and skipped lunch. And I hiked. Paused briefly for a banana and cranberry juice trail magic, and I hiked. We made it to the concession stand by 5:20. I ordered two cheeseburgers, cheese sticks and cokes. The burgers were measly and overpriced, but boy did I ever work hard for that meal. Two other hikers arrived not long after we received our food and they tried to place an order. They were told it was too close to closing time to get hot food. Oh the disappointment! One settled for ice cream and we decided that we needed that too. High Point Shelter was only .8 away from the park so that is where we headed for the night.As I lay here typing this, my last dose of Advil has begun to wear off. The cost of that burger is being exacted. It wasn¢t really about the burger though. I¢m getting bored with the scenery and anxious for something new. I have had more than enough of the rocks. New Jersey is no better than Pensilvania. I know that there are better things ahead and I am excited for them. I just need to get there. Somehow. No, making my feet worse won¢t get me there. I need to take care of my body better. I have a mental battle to fight too though, and today the only way to win it was to aim for that burger. What will it take to win it tomorrow? I don¢t know, but I do know this, it won¢t involve getting anywhere fast.!!
Date: 2018-07-14
From: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center

To: Shenandoah Tenting Area
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: light rain

I was tired today and my right foot was complaining a lot too. Sometimes it feels like cracked glass and I am certain that if I kick another rock it is just going to shatter. We had talked about taking a zero today on the monastery¢s property, but in the end I decided that I was ok to keep walking. The heat drained the energy right out of me, but I still enjoyed the trail. We saw a lot of old stone walls which really intrigued me. Were they built for defensive purposes? Were they merely property markers? Why were they out in the woods? Why did some look like haphazard piles while others looked thoughtfully crafted? I will have to delve into this mystery and find out.Not far off the trail today was Clarence Fahnestock State Park. It had a concession stand so we decided to stop in. Cole went on ahead to make sure we got our food ordered before they closed. When I arrived at the concession stand, Cole wasn¢t there. A couple of other hikers who we knew ( Pumpkin Spice and lord Snow) were hanging out at the picnic tables and I asked them if they had seen him. No. Um, now what? Worry was building, but not for long as I saw Cole quickly approaching with his long hurried strides. He had taken the wrong blue blaze. Some day hikers had eventually sent him back to the right path.After our meal it was time to get moving again. The state park offered a free night of camping to thru hikers, but staying would have left our mileage short for the day.We had been seeing signs along the trail about a weekend event involving trail work and a hiker feed at the RPH shelter, but I wasn¢t certain I could make it that far with my aching foot. As we climbed up and across Shenandoah mountain with the painted US flag on it, it began to drizzle. A bit further up was a tenting area and that is where we called it a day. The tenting area was actually a well groomed lawn in front of a boarded up building. The grass was lush green and felt wonderful under my feet. It was level and cushiony, a tenter¢s dream. Beside the boarded up building was a covered patio with two aged picnic tables. A well maintained privy was not far off. We had all of this all to ourselves. The drizzle stopped long enough for us to get the tent set up. Cole hung the food bags and was back inside the tent just before a thunderstorm began. We slept well.
Date: 2018-07-15
From: Shenandoah Tenting Area

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: light rain

I didn¢t wake up until 7am this morning. Usually I am awake around 5. The floor inside the tent was wet from the storm. I had gone to sleep without putting all of my things away properly and so now all of my dry pairs of sox were damp. What should I wear? The damp blue sox, the damp purple sox, or the damp black sox? Oh the decisions.The air mattresses were wet on the bottom. I hate packing them up that way. That was the worst of it so I guess we made it through the night ok.I thought that I was feeling pretty well when I set out two hours later than normal. About a mile and a half up the trail I came to RPH Shelter. There was a lot going on there. A dozen or more volunteers were working around the property and they had trail magic for hikers. I had fruit and gatoraid, chocolate and a wrap. Cole arrived and ate too.Not long after I set back out, I started to feel poorly. My legs were heavy and my pack felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. My head started to ache and I felt a bit dizzy and nauseous at times. To add insult to injury, a wasp decided to take offence to my presence and stung me as I passed by. I sat down on a rock to treat the sting.Cole caught up again and I told him how I was feeling. We had only hiked 4.4 miles and I had drank almost two litres of water so I wasn¢t sure that dehydration was the cause. We had been out of electrolyte additives for a few days.We walked a few more miles and I begrudgingly decided that I needed to stop. My foot was so sore. It was all just too much.Cole said that he was tired too and didn¢t mind taking a short day.There was a shelter a few miles ahead. We decided to stop there. Why do I feel so bad about only hiking 10 miles? I¢m worried that I won¢t feel better by tomorrow. When we had the tent set up I crawled inside for a nap. We were set up near the shelter and I was awakened by an unpleasant discussion between a husband and wife. He was whining....¢I don¢t want just peanut butter! ¢ Oh my, it sounded like a teenager!And then a few moments later...¢Could you make me one please?¢A soft voice replied ¢The honey is all crystallized.¢I decided that was the end of my nap. I did feel a little better. I picked up my phone to check Facebook and discovered that our friend Old Mountain Goat had quit the trail. I felt terrible. He was a strong and determined hiker, always seemingly able to overcome injury and press on. If someone like that can¢t finish, how can I? I laid back down, still tired and sore.
Date: 2018-07-16
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter

To: Ten Mile River Shelter 
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: moderate rain

I had a long sleep last night and I feel so much better today. I didn¢t think my mood or energy level would turn around so quickly. It just goes to show how important a good night sleep is.As I was packing up to head out, the husband and wife came over to the shelter. He was still whining. And whining. I was standing right there in plain sight, but I guess that he didn¢t mind an audience. He whined, he cussed, he whined some more while she sat quietly. Finally he said that he was going to file for divorce when their hike was over. I was rather uncomfortable as I busied myself packing my things. Thankfully Cole was off getting water and didn¢t have to hear it. I gave him a great big hug before I set out and told him that I love him. We might not always be the best hiking partners, but there could be much worse!I had a really good morning of hiking. My foot appreciated every flat and smooth stretch we came across. Boardwalks through swamps are now a lovely thing to me. A trail around a lake was peaceful and pretty. When we reached a giant (oak?) tree there was trail magic. We sat for a nice long rest, cold drinks, a banana, a muffin and a bit of chocolate. Then we carried on. The trail was still very dry. When we reached highway 22 there was a garden centre that the AWOL guide said was hiker friendly. A lengthy list of rules for hikers was posted at the entrance, and in the washroom, and on the gazebo and in half a dozen other places. I was grateful to be able to fill our water bottles there, but the long list of rules and the watchful eye of the owner didn¢t make me very inclined to stay long. If I am welcome, shouldn¢t I feel it?Just down the road across from the trail head was a food truck. Cole and I both ordered something. The food was delicious.Wiley Shelter was our original destination. Another shelter was only four miles further up the trail. Our plan for tomorrow is to head into Kent to have a shower, do laundry and Resupply. Rain is in the forecast. Cole and I were both feeling well enough to continue on to the second shelter, deciding that we would be grateful tomorrow to have a shorter distance into Kent in the rain. Going the extra distance also meant crossing into Connecticut today. Marking another state off the list always feels like a small accomplishment and a reason to pat ourselves on the back. A nice shoulder massage would have been preferred, but a pat would suffice.Let¢s go to Connecticut dude!And we did.
Date: 2018-07-18
From: Kent CT

To: Pine Swamp Shelter
Miles today: 17.0

I slept well last night and even slept in a little this morning.In preparation for hiking the AT Susan and her family had freeze dried a lot of food. Initially there were supposed to be six or seven people in the family hiking the trail, but now there were only three. They had a lot of excess freeze dried food. She gave Cole and I some to take with us.We had an hour and a half drive back to the trail head. On the way we stoped at a pharmacy so that I could get some more Advil for my foot.Susan dropped off her husband Tom and her two boys at their trail head first. On the way to our drop off point she asked us if we would like to slackpack for the day to give my foot a break. She would be hanging around the area all day anyway waiting for her crew. Cole emptied most of his pack into the back of Susan¢s Jeep, keeping only what we needed for the day; snacks, water, bug spray, bug nets, seat pad. I stuck a water bottle in one pocket and my phone in the other. I took two Advil, threw the container into Cole¢s backpack and then we were off. All I had on me was a water bottle and a phone, but I quickly became tired and sluggish. We¢d had a late night, but I still I felt I¢d had enough sleep. I could barely keep my eyes open. I drank water and ate up all of my snacks trying to wake myself up. What was wrong with me?There was some climbing, but also a lot of flat ground. One long flat stretch led us along side a gently flowing river. It was a beautiful day.When I felt the pain in my foot increasing I retrieved the Advil from Cole¢s backpack to take a second dose. Why are they a different shape than normal, I wondered as I poured two out of the container. Then I noticed what it said on the bottle. Advil nighttime sleep aid. I had taken a sleep aid before I had begun hiking this morning. What a twit!! No wonder I had been so tired and sluggish. I put the Advil away and embraced the pain for the rest of the day.We were a bit late meeting up with Susan. One of her boys was with her. He had hurt his leg while hiking so his mom had picked him up early. We sat with them and talked for a while. I told Susan about my Advil misshap and she gave me a container of Aleve. Finally we gathered up our gear and set back out on the trail with our full packs. The next shelter was only one mile away, but it seemed to be a very long mile. At one point I couldn¢t see where the trail was, but then discovered it squeezing through two halves of a seemingly broken boulder.Pine Swamp Brook Shelter was a mosquito infested nightmare. We hurriedly put on our bug nets, but when Cole went digging for the bug spray he came up empty handed. He had left it on the trail some time during the day. I was a bit irritated. Could we not get through at least one week without him losing something? A better question might be why was it so easy to get irritated after I¢d spent two days being blessed with kindness from a perfect stranger?I took the night time sleep aid before crawling into my bed for the night.
Date: 2018-07-21
From: Under a pine tree at Mile 1520.4

To: Mt Wilcox North Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: scattered clouds

When deciding where we are going to stop each day I usually just use my AWOL guide to see what is ahead to make a rough plan. For today I had marked in my book that we should head for Shaker Campsite. However, this morning when I took a closer look at our route on Guthooks I discovered that there have been multiple incidents at that campsite with a sow and her three baby cubs. It was strongly recommended that hikers avoid that campsite. This meant a shorter day for us as we ended our hike at Mt Wilcox North Shelter. Cole and I stayed together for most of the day, although there was little in the way of rock climbing. We had a nice long lunch break at Tom Leonard Shelter and a short rest stop at the first South Wilcox shelter. All of these shelters had signs posted warning about active bears in the area. If we¢d had any inclination to go a bit further and stealth camp again, these warnings quickly squashed it. We were content to just go the 14.8 miles and have a rest at the end of the day. My feet were happy for the break. The Aleve  that Susan gave me has actually been working better than the Advil I normally take, but I¢m still hiking in pain. Rain was in the forecast and Cole wanted to sleep inside the shelter. The mosquitoes were very active and I wanted to be in the tent. There were a lot of other tents already set up. Nobody was in the shelter. We waited until later in the evening and then put the tent without the fly into the shelter. Admittedly, in consideration of other hikers, this is not a good practice, but there was still a lot of room in the ten man shelter and we were prepared to move out if need be. Three more people did end up arriving and there was lots of extra space. It was a cold night and as I have been doing on many nights since sending my quilt home with Mark, I found myself scrounging around for something to give me a little extra warmth. This time it was the rain fly. It worked great.
Date: 2018-07-22
To: Lee MA
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

We woke up to a wet morning. Sometimes when you sleep in the shelters the sound of the rain is very loud inside. I didn¢t hear it at all last night.Our destination today was highway20 in Lee MA where we would be meeting Mark and Evan. They would be there by 4pm but I had my doubts that we would be. I have been moving even slower than normal and haven¢t even been able to muster up two miles in an hour. Cole was either really tired or just anxious to see our family because after only nine miles he asked if we could just get dad to pick us up now. Sorry hon, but dad isn¢t even in Massachusetts yet.Our food bags were pretty empty when we dug inside them for lunch. We scraped enough peanut butter out of the jar for a sandwich with jam. Still hungry Cole turned to the Nutella jar and scraped it clean spreading the contents onto a slice of bread. He added jam to that. ¢Mmmm! That¢s good!¢ He declared.I pulled out two packages of spam and we ate them straight from the packaging. We crunched on a few crackers. I still had some powdered milk and carnation instant breakfasts that Susan had given me. I mixed those up too and we drank it down. And that was lunch. What a weird combination of foods.With two miles left to go, Cole ran ahead to the road. To get to the parking area he crossed a road and took a blue blazed trail about .2 miles. Then he crossed the road back again to the parking lot. Mark, wanting to meet me on the trail, headed up the road to the trail head, but by the time he got there I had reached the blue blaze. He went about half a mile southbound before I texted him to come back.Food was first on the agenda. All day breakfast at McDonald¢s sounded really good, so McGriddle it was. Then we checked into the Travel Lodge. Cole had a shower, then I made a beeline for the tub and didn¢t emerge for a very very long time!
Date: 2018-07-24
From: Lee MA

To: Lee MA
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday I stayed in the hotel room all day with my feet up. Mark took the boys to run a few errands and I napped. He returned with Epson salts and I soaked in the tub again. This morning we checked out of the hotel and relocated to the same Campground that Susan and her family have their RV at. It is not far from the trail and when we slack pack tomorrow and Thursday we will be hiking closer and closer to the campground. Mark set up our big tent ( which he calls ¢The Cabin¢) and I napped. In the evening Susan invited us to the RV for dinner. We had a wonderful meal with her, her husband and two sons. It was another enjoyable restful day. I am not sure that my foot is feeling much better though. I will know once I start hiking.
Date: 2018-07-25
From: Lee MA

To: Dalton MA
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It poured down rain last night, but we were warm and dry in ¢the cabin¢ and I had no worries about packing up a wet tent. It really is a completely different world out on the trail. Even slackpacking while car camping can¢t compare. In the middle of the night as the rain pounded on our sturdy shelter, my bladder let out it¢s nightly wake up call. I certainly wasn¢t going outside in that rain, so I did something I have never done before. Our family tent has an enclosed front room. We use it like a mud/storage room. I got up, went in there, closed the flap and peed into a Gatorade bottle. Yup, I did. See what living in the woods has done to me. Doing that in the little tent I share with Cole would be impossible though, so my nightly trek into the trees even when it is raining will have to resume when Mark leaves. Mark drove us back to the trail crossing at highway 20 and we resumed our hike. In the rain. Hiking in the rain is a completely different experience when you know that there is a hot shower and dry clothes waiting for you at the end of the day. The trail was very quiet all day long. We crossed paths with two south bounders, and only came upon one northbounder at the end of the day. My foot was still bothering me. We had intended to hike through to the other side of Dalton, but bailed as soon as the trail met up with the sidewalk. On the way back to the campground we stopped at Walmart to shop for our Resupply. Cole never likes this part of the journey and he didn¢t want to come inside to pick out what he wanted. So, I told him that his snacks would be on the slim side and he would have to eat what I bought without complaint. He agreed, never lifting his eyes from the electronic device he was starting at. I know right now that this won¢t turn out so well. It will end in both of us being grumpy and a .....¢well then you should have come inside to shop with me.¢ The day ended with pizza, a shower and a dry warm bed, but my thoughts were with those hunkered down on the trail.