morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-06-11
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Well the plan was to take the Amtrak to DC today so we could see the WWII memorial. We'll the train was late, and then later, and then reallllllllly late. We finally gave up when it was 3 hours late!! No wonder Amtrak is losing $$. We ended up driving the car to a nearby (45minutes away) Metro station and took the rail into DC. Jim and Ike stayed behind at the hotel so it was Bonnie, MAw MAw , Bootz and I. We loved the memorial. Bootz's grandfather Harold was in WWII and it was so nice for us to be with Maw Maw as she saw the memorial honoring him and his fellow service men. It was an emotional experience. Maw Maw did great! It was a hot long walk from the Metro station to the memorial but we took our time and rested along the way.That took most of the day. I did go to the store later in the evening so that we could get our groceries and not have to take the whole crew. We were all pretty tired from the day into DC> Ike and Bootz played lots of computer.
Date: 2005-06-12
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We'll we took them to the ATC HQ to look around and then a quick trip to the outfitter before the family headed back to NC. Such a quick trip but awesome trip! It was so hard to see them go but we'll be finished before we know it and then we'll be together anytime we want. After the family left Bootz and I took another trip to the ATC HQ so we could update the journal. Today we plan on laying low and resting. We are staying the night tonight and we'll hike out sometime tomorrow. For awhile we're going to take things easy and decide every day how far we want to hike. I bet we'll eventually be hiking some long days again so that we can get the hike done. Soon we'll have less to hike then we have come! We hope to make some phone calls to family and friends before we leave. We miss you all! HOpefully my dad will update the pictures on line soon.
Date: 2005-06-13
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Crampton Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: broken clouds

 We got out of town later in the afternoon. It is really hot today and hiking is hard with full packs. The trail though is awesome, very smooth with only a few mild hills. We luckily missed a bad thunder storm. We got to the Ed Garvey Shelter just as the skies broke open. We are happy to have made it to Harpers Ferry and plan to decide each day how many miles to hike. That feels good to us both.
Date: 2005-07-01
From: Sunrise Mtn.

To: Murray Property (Secret Shelter)
Miles today: 15.8

Now the secret is out! Ooops...actually it seems like most hiker's know about this shelter. It is an idealic place. A large tract of land that a former thru hiker has erected a few simple buildings on. He has wired them for electricity too. So the hikers have a 4 sided shelter with running water, a sink, even a shower with hot water! We really wanted to get to this place so as you can see we did another sub-20 day. Feels good on our feet but we will pick up the pace again soon.The only downside (if that is the right word) of this place was the swarm of bugs that ate the daylights out of us as soon as we headed to bed. We wanted to sleep inside to make it easier (and quicker) to leave the next morning. Well, that was a mistake. Luckily we went to bed just as it was getting dark because we made a quick retreat and set the tent up in order to prevent us from being eaten alive. There were so many bugs that the place buzzed.Also there was a pair of donkeys on this property. They are in what I'll call a 'frisky' mood right now and one constantly is trying to ride the other! Well the noise that I assume she lets out every time this occurs is awful. A Hee Haw from hell. Even during the night. At least it gave us some comic relief. We spent the night with RAJ, and a mother and daughter team who are out for 10 weeks. We got up at the usual 5:30 and booked it into Vernon, NJ. Got to the Heaven Hill Farm at 11:45am. Had ice cream and headed to town.
Date: 2005-07-02
From: Murray Property (Secret Shelter)

To: Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 13.6

We got a tip from a trail angel named Desparado to get off in Vernon because they have a great church hostel that has a washer/dryer, hot shower, a/c, and free internet! Score in our book. It is a great place and a nice town.We have really enjoyed hiking through NJ and recommend this state to anyone who wants mild terrane and diversity of things to see. We are doing great. Set our finish date for the trail. Aug 28, our 1 year wedding anniversary! Should not be a problem to meet this date. Can't believe we are in the last 2 months of the hike. Next we are heading to meet my aunt Mary in Pawling NY! She and her family are on a trip up north to visit family and will be quite near us so she is picking us up there and we will go home with her for the night. We can't wait! We hope to get to see fireworks near Bear Mt, NY. Bootz' birthday is July 10 so we are planning on celebrating by getting a hotel room with a/c and a tv to veg out and relax! We want to make the CT border by then and will probably stop on Monday. We also plan to have some visits with my grandparents in Cheshire, MA and my Dad somewhere in VT. I'm excited because that will make the time to VT go faster. Well I hope to update the missing entries but I do not have time right now. We wish you all a great 4th of July. Have some BBQ for us!!
Date: 2005-07-03
From: Vernon, NJ

To: Mombasha High Point
Miles today: 21.7

We left Vernon around 8:30am, a bit later than usual for the start of our day. We have a big mile day planned though so it was interesting to see how the hike would go. We want to spend the 4th on Bear Mountain with a few other thru-hiker friends and that means that we need to hike over 20 miles each day. We entered NY today. It was a beautiful hike. Up in the mountains we hiked over very large boulder like rocks. Some are even flat and almost look like pavement on the trail. The border is just the initials painted on a rock, bascially NJ/NY. Not too fancy but nice to have one more state down.We encourage anyone who is interested in the trail to hike in NJ. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. You get a nice mix of mountains and low lands. Some difficult terrane but nothing too hard. It is a bit more populated so you can get to a town or store every few days for a treat (maybe a soda, meal, etc.).We watched people enjoying their day at Greenwood Lake NY as we ate lunch. I would have much rather been on a boat at the lake then hot in the woods but it was pretty to relax and watch others. We were also able to see the skyline of New York City! That was really cool. We couldn't make out all the buildings but it was definately the city.Just a few miles from where we had lunch we crossed a road that had a homemade ice cream stand that was about .2 miles from the trail! Yummy! Bootz and I shared a quart of cookie dough. What a nice way to take a break. We camped with our friend RAJ and hiked most of the day with our other friend Bluey. Great guys and very nice hiking partners. We'll all be together on the 4th.
Date: 2005-07-04
From: Mombasha High Point

To: Bear Mountain
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: clear sky

The trail turned very hard today. Yesterday we could see that NY was going to bring us more hills and rocks to climb but today it really hit us. This was one of the harder days we've had in a long time. It's interesting how even after we've hiked almost 1400 miles we can still get worn out by the terrane. We have to admit that at times this is discouraging too. We spent a lot of time today talking about why we felt so tired. We agree that the terrane was really what made the day hard but you can't help but get frustrated. The trail is also very poorly marked in this area of NY. By that I mean that the white blazes are missing or so randomly placed that you can't tell where the trail goes. We got lost or off trail so many times today. IT makes for an interesting hike but also gets frustrating.I guess those reading this will be able to tell that our emotions change frequently as we contine. We are dedicated to finishing and will not by any means quit hiking. Most of our fellow thru hiking friends are also experiencing the same emotions right now. We've hiked 2/3 of the way yet still have a very challenging 1/3 to go. We've been out on the trail for nearly 4 months. Those factors and things such as poorly marked trails, heat, humidity, bugs, etc all mix together and make it very challenging to continue. I truly believe that some will quit as they reach this point because they are just too sick of it to continue. So to cope, we've bonded together and we're sharing our thoughts as a group. IT has really helped because we find that we're not alone. At least Bootz and I have eachother to lean on, but now we need to help and get help from our friends. Back to the 4th. We ended up getting to Bear Mt. around 7:30pm. There was supposed to be a water source on top of the mountain at the observation tower. We'll it was out of order...so we had almost no water. Ughhh. We were dirty, hungry and both require water. Luckily there was a couple of vending machines up there that we could get soda. YOu could buy water but it cost $1.50 per bottle! No way. We made due with the 1/2 liter I had and wet wipes to clean off with. We did see a few fireworks over NYC. Unfortunately we missed most of them. We are technically not allowed to camp on Bear MT. So we had to be sneaky. By the time we got our tents set up and headed to the rocks where we could view the fireworks, the local cops showed up to announce that the park was closed and all patrons had to leave immediately. They of course were referring to those who drove up there in their cars. So we couldn't just ignore them and walk out on the rocks as they had the headlights shining. We headed back to the car to wait it out until they left but some folks were stubborn and didn't go so the cop remained. Anyway, Bootz and I heard the fireworks from the tent but didn't get to see much.All in all it was quite a unique 4th of July for us and one we will cherish but it wasn't what we had hoped for yet we made due. Next year we'll be relaxing somewhere on a deck with a beer.
Date: 2005-07-05
From: Bear Mountain

To: Graymoor Friary
Miles today: 8.9

Garbage!!!! I can't believe how messy and dirty some people can be. It was disgusting to see the mess that was left behind at Bear Mt State park from those who celebrated the 4th there the night before. It was awful, bags of junk everywhere. And then the animals got into it and spread the stuff everywhere. It was hard to see, especially when there was an empty trash can sitting right next to a pile of trash. Okay, enough of that. We got to the Trailside Zoo/Museum at Bear Mt. before it opened and really wanted to go through it because the trail goes through the zoo and the lowest point on the trail is in front of the bear exhibit. We didn't want to miss that. So we took a walk into Fort Montgomery which is .8 mile from there. We had some breakfast and made a few calls. Then by the time we got back the zoo was open. It was really neat to be able to go through the zoo. It was another hot day and we got a later start then usual. We struggled today with our physical energy. Not sure why but every hill was a challenge. WE needed to hike about 18 miles so that we could be on schedule to meet my Aunt in Pawling on Thursday. We'll that was proving to be very difficult. We eventually decided to stop at the Graymoor Friary for lunch and to get water. The Friary makes available space for camping at their baseball field and provided a water and a shower for use by hikers. They also provide dinner if you want to stay. I really wanted to stay but knew it didn't fit our schedule. So after lunch I headed to get water and eventually found the water and ran into a hiking friend that we had not see since Harpers Ferry, Tri-Guy. A great person who we have talked fondly about many times and unfortunately had not gotten his contact information. I was so happy to see him. Well Tri-guy and I walked back to see bootz and after not too much convincing, we decided that our bodies and emotions needed to stay at Graymoor with our friends versus pushing forward just to meet our schedule. That was a great decision. We enjoyed dinner with about 12 other hikers, a tour of the Friary from Brother Leo, and a shower!The only downside is that we were going to have to figure out a way to make up for the lost mileage if we were to meet my Aunt at the same location.
Date: 2005-07-06
From: Graymoor Friary

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: light rain

With the best of intentions we got up at 4:45 so that we could hike 28 miles today. As I said in the last entry, since we decided to stop at Graymoor we had to make up miles to meet my Aunt by 8:30am on Thursday. The trail was a bit better today but still the huge amount of miles just stuck in my brain like a lead weight. I was feeling down about having to go so far and was stuggling. Bootz's new boots that he got in Vernon NJ gave him tendonitis in his right shin and it was progressively getting worse. By lunch time, I broke down and said I couldn't do the 28. That we needed to stop at a closer location that had a pay phone where we could call my Aunt and change the pick up location. Bootz agreed and we headed towards there. When we got to the RPH shelter that was about 5 miles from where we planned on stopping to use the phone we found that there was a man named Tim that was at the shelter with a car setting up for a weekend trail maintenance event. My wheels started turning and I began thinking that maybe he could help us get to a phone. By that point Bootz leg was giving him quite a bit of pain and if we could find a way to get my Aunt to us at the shelter that would be great. I borrowed a map from Tim and looked at routes she could take. Come to find out that the shelter was about 1 mile from the Taconic Pkwy which intersects with a major interstate that she could take to get to us. Without much convincing, we decided it was best to stay where we were, I would call my Aunt Mary and we would get her to pick us up at the shelter the next morning. Tim took me to a deli/pizza place where there was a phone. As we were getting ready to leave the shelter, Tri-guy and Bluey showed up so we quickly made the plan of getting pizzas for dinner. Everything worked out great. I ordered the pizza, called Mary and gave her directions, got some other munchies and drinks and we headed back to the shelter. We had a fun night with our buddies talking a lot about how hard it has been lately and helping talk through the struggles and encourage eachother to continue. I guess you could call it a night of bonding. By the way, I was the only female too. There aren't many females hiking right around where we are. Tim was great and we bought him ice cream. He even agreed to take our garbage. Bootz and I had the chance to sleep in a bit and headed out to meet my Aunt at 8am the next morning.
Date: 2005-07-07
From: RPH Shelter

To: Rye, NY
Miles today: 0.0

Mary successfully found us. It was so good to see her. She is my mom's youngest sister and she and her family live near Bootz and I in NC. We are very close and it made me cry when I saw her. We decided to go to Pawling so we could get our mail drop. We were afraid that we may not reach there before the post office closed on Saturday since we got picked up earlier. We also stopped for a great breakfast and to get groceries before heading back to Rye, NY. We are staying with Mary's husband Tony's brother and sister. They have opened their home to us and we are very greatful.We spent the day doing laundry and hanging out. So nice to be clean after a long shower and to chat with family. We had an awesome steak dinner on the deck and shared a few beers and stories about the trail. We were also able to view our pictures on the laptop and share them with everyone. The weather forcaste isn't too good for tomorrow. The remnants of tropical storm claire or cindy, are bringing rain. They are calling for lots of it tomorrow afternoon when we plan to get back on the trail. After talking with Bootz we've decided that if it is raining, we'll stay here another day. He can use the rest for his leg and the thought of getting all our newly clean and dry clothing wet and dirty just isn't appealing.The one thing we have learned it is it is hard to keep to a schedule on the trail. Especially now that we are meeting up with family and our bodies are tired. Although we hope to finish on our anniversary, it may not be possible. We are taking a 1/2 day off in a couple of days to spend Bootz birthday relaxing at a hotel. Then my grandparents want to meet us for a visit in Cheshire, MA and we will also meet my Dad in VT soon after that. We realize how important those plans are and will adjust our schedule accordingly. I think the hardest thing about stopping for these visits is that we get seperated from our hiking buddies. But that's the way it goes and I'm sure they will stop and who knows, we may all meet again. I do want to make sure though that all who read our journal know that we are both in good spirits. We will finish the trail if it takes the rest of the year to do so!! (But it won't of course The challenges I share in the entries are a natural part of hiking long distance and we cherish these days as much as those that are easy and fun.
Date: 2005-07-08
From: Rye, NY

To: Rye, NY
Miles today: 0.0

Let it rain! We're staying here again today. It was raining when we woke up and it is forecasted to remain all day. We are spending the day updating the website, relaxing, going to a movie, and resting! All our favorite things.This will put us behind on our schedule but what's new with that. We'll adjust and make things work. As Bootz said a few days again, all he wants is for us to be happy, be together, and to finish. So we'll make it work however we need to. Mary will bring us back at some point tomorrow morning. We'll stop in Cornwall Bridge CT for Bootz's birthday on Monday instead of the acutal day, Sunday 7/10. Then we'll head toward Cheshire, MA to see my grandparents and resupply. WE'll probably get there on Next Sunday. We may also visit Tri-guy who is a few days ahead but will be getting off for a few days in VT because the trail is near his home. He has invited us to his home. Maybe we'll be able to get a ride there on Sunday and spend the night. Time will tell but for right now we're happy as clams are dry and warm in a house drinking coffee. Life couldn't be better!I don't think that I'll be updating the many missing journal entries from several weeks ago. I may put a couple of notes in to help we when we get back to remember what happened but I'm going to focus on keeping things updated from this point forward.
Date: 2005-07-10
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter

To: Mt. Algo Lean-to
Miles today: 21.4

Today is Bootz birthday. WE hiked a long day today and his leg is getting worse. But to our pleasant surprise we encountered 2 different trail magic's. The first was in the morning as we crossed a road we found some coolers with soda and some other munchies. Quite nice! We want to make it to the shelter just before Kent so that we can get to the hotel in Cornwall bridge early in the day tomorrow. As we got in to Mt Algo, it had been a long hike and we were ready to be done. On the approach trail to the shelter we cross a creek and as we crossed we looked down into to creek to find 4 beers and a bottle of sparkling wine chilling. No one was at the shelter so that was our indication that this was trail magic!! What a cool surprise for his birthday. It really helped to lift our spirits and put a nice end to the day. We relaxed in the creek, cleaned up while we drank a beer. Then with dinner we split the wine. Bootz also got a good asian lipton dinner with groundbeef for his bday dinner courtesy of my mom. Nice way to celebrate his birthday. Tomorrow we will rest in Cornwall and hopefully get his leg healing.
Date: 2005-07-11
From: Mt. Algo Lean-to

To: Cornwall Bridge, CT
Miles today: 9.7

Even though it was a short day, it was very painful for Bootz. His leg is hurting very bad and we had hoped to climb the mountain just before town but ended up taking a flat road that took us around the mountain. We did get to town though by 11am so we have all day to rest. I bought a big bag of ice and Bootz will be laid up in bed for as long as possible. The motel is nice and well needed. There is also a good place to get subs right down the street. We'll be vegging in front of the boob tube for the day.
Date: 2005-07-12
From: Cornwall Bridge, CT

To: Cornwall Bridge, CT
Miles today: 0.0

I convinced Bootz (without much trouble) that we needed to zero today. His leg is getting a little bit better but if we don't get it healed our hike could really be impacted in a negative way. So we bit the bullet and stayed another night. It is hard for him to stay (not for me!) but this will be a good thing. Ice, Ice, Ice and Aleve.
Date: 2005-07-13
From: Cornwall Bridge, CT

To: Sharon Mtn Campsite
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Bootz leg is feeling better. The swelling has not completely gone away but it is much better. We plan to take it slow for a few days to not over stress his leg. I hope to finish my updates this weekend. But my time is up as the librarian just informed be! Bye for now
Date: 2005-07-15
From: Riga Lean-to

To: Great Barrington, MA
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We made a decision today that isn't in line with our regular plan. As we hiked today we discussed going into Great Barrington, MA. We saw that there was a motel there with good rates and with the weather as it is, A/C and a shower would feel so good. We also hear GB is kinda like Chapel Hill so we thought that would be neat to see. But we discussed the need for a budget to get us through to the end of the trail. Better to put some parameters around our spending then to just wing it. We have set a budget for lodging and we've decided that GB just wouldn't work. We'll then the rain came. And in a flash our thinking began to change. The rain started just as we were heading to our planned finish for the day which we ended up finding out was in a lowland area. Talk about bugs! Millions!!! And our expected water source ended up being a glorified swamp. We were slugging through fields that were over grown and swamps. That is when we parted from our plan and decided that we've been on the trail too long to put up with a tent tonight. On to GB it was. The only hitch, it was a Friday. Our guide book said motel prices rise considerably on weekends. GB is a tourist town. Lots of folks from NY and NJ come up to relax in the mountains. We found a ride from a guy who lives in GB and he brought us to what we hoped would be the motel we heard about. No Vacancy...and the same with the other 3 motels right around it. It was now 7pm we were gross and wet and needed a place to stay. We saw a Days Inn on the other side of town. Our last hope...they had rooms! For an arm and a leg! We paid less for rooms on our honeymoon. But we broke down and decided that this was part of our AT experience. We enjoyed our stay and camped the next morning at the free breakfast bar to get our monies worth. So much for a budget. Great BArrington is a great town though. I would enjoy returning there in the future.
Date: 2005-07-16
From: Great Barrington, MA

To: Mt. Wilcox South Lean-to
Miles today: 11.7

A short day out of Great Barrington since we wanted to make sure to get every penny out of our stay at the Days Inn. To our surprise as we got to the trail we ran into our long lost thru-hiker friend Cyclehiker! We have missed him since we darted ahead in VA during our 20/400 challenge. We had heard that he was getting close and we just couldn't wait to see him again. We should stay in closer distance to him from this point forward as we are hiking similar miles each day.The bugs are killing us! I can't even explain how dense the bug population is. I heard this area had a wet spring so that may contribute to the problem. Right now the weather is yucky. Very Humid.