morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-05-26
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Mohican Center
Miles today: 10.5

Today, in honor of getting out of PA and into my 4th state, I changed my trail name from Ringer to Tink. Snow White has been calling me Tink for the past several days anyway. Tink evolved from Tinker from Tinker Bell from Ringer. Tink sounds good to me, much better then the 2 earlier versions. The Mohican Center is run by the AMC but do not charge thru hikers to tent. The hikers can use the center and I was happy to be able to play the piano there.I was up early but needed to wait for the Post Office to open so I went to breakfast at the diner before I could bounce my food drop to Ft. Montgomery. As I was about to leave, Snow White came in from the trail to get a shower. I later learned that she did stay over and would be following me until I left the trail at Kent. I¢ve been hiking in this bubble of about a dozen hikers, sometimes seeing them at night or learning that they are only just behind me when another comes in to the shelter. Tonight at the Center are Gandalf and Shadowfax, Beans, Actuary, Quixote and his dogs, Santas Helper, Lovely Day and Ladybug and Rambler.
Date: 2010-05-27
From: Mohican Center

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: clear sky

Today the weather cleared in the morning but clouded up and thunder storms with heavy down pours in the late afternoon. Temps were in the 80's then 70's in the rain and very humid.I met Lovely Day on the trail around noon and during the course of our conversation learned that he would end his hike in a couple of days and he would need to make his way back to Walpole via NYC. He decided then and there to try to get a shuttle back to DWG and then get the bus into NYC. I convinced him to just hike back to DWG since he had the time so he turned around then and there to head home. Then he was telling me about his bounce box at the High Point ranger station and revealed his true name. Turns out he is the neighbor to the rental property that my neighbor owns and had in fact talked to him about his AT hike. My neighbor had given me his blog site and I had read about his sectioning the AT before I came on the trail. We made arrangements to meet for breakfast after I get back to Norwood in July.I got caught on Rattlesnake Mountain during the thunderstorm with lightning strikes all around me. After it let up a bit, I was able to slowly work myself down and to the shelter arriving in near darkness even though it was on hour before sunset due to the dark cloud cover. Santas Helper arrived, with the help of GoState!, at dusk having walked the last 3 hours in the rain. He just stripped out of his wet clothes and went right into his sleeping bag.
Date: 2010-05-29
From: High Point Shelter

To: Unionville, NY
Miles today: 7.1

This is one of my shorter days and I am staying at "The Mayor's House" here in Unionville. The hike into Unionville was very enjoyable, seeing deer, walking over marshy areas on boardwalks, and meeting a trail maintainer weed-whacking the trail. I even visited the secret shelter just before Unionville. I learned about the secret shelter from a group of hikers out for a short section who hike the NJ-NY sections often. It is just south of Unionville on private property owned by Jim Murray who happened to be there moving grass when I arrived. It is reached via a dirt road with a small sign indicating water 800 feet and the water is fresh, cool, and sweet. There are a couple of small buildings of which one is open for hikers to use as well as an outdoor shower. I visited with Jim for a while before moving on to the Town of Unionville where I bumped into him again at the general store.It seems that all the good trail towns have great general stores and Unionville is no exception. With a lunch counter and most selections for short-term resupply that can get the thru hiker up the trail another couple of days, I was able to purchase food that will last me until I get to Ft. Montgomery.I met Quixote there at the store and then he and the dogs and I walked up to the Mayor¢s House. We met Butch and Bill, got cleaned up and just relaxed for the rest of the day. After dinner, Butch called it a day and went home. But only a few minutes later he was back with Wazi, a thru hiker he had seen down at the Town Park. Wazi was doing big miles but I would see him again down the trail.Tonight is Snow White¢s 30th birthday and I thought she might be here today, as I knew she was not far behind me. (I would not see her again until my last full day on the trail a week away.)
Date: 2010-05-30
From: Unionville, NY

To: Wawayanda Shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: clear sky

Today it was sunny and humid. Just before dinner last night The Mayor, Dick, came by with his fianc©e before going out for the evening. Dick, a former mayor of Unionville, started hosting thru hikers several years ago after his wife passed away and his hospitality is known up and down the trail community. He is now getting remarried and intends to move to another town and sell his place here. For a $10 donation, he provides a bunk, shower, laundry, dinner and breakfast, free soft drinks and beer (50 cents a can after the first). There has been some talk about somehow keeping the house open to hikers after this year but nothing is set now.A mostly flat walk today with a notable section across the Pochunk Swamp and Boardwalk that was hot and humid. Quixote and the dogs stayed another day at The Mayor¢s House but I met up again with Freedumb and Redtail here at the shelter. I had to go down to the ranger station for water but I was able to rinse out my shirt there.
Date: 2010-05-31
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: few clouds

Still humid, sun in the morning, then afternoon clouds. I plan on walking only 12 miles today so I lingered at the shelter and left in the late morning. The trail was mostly on ridges with some ups and downs and other hikers that I met said that New York will be hilly with lots of rock hopping. Great more rocks!I met a thru-hiker, Big Sky from Montana, at the Bellvale Creamery at NY Rte 17A where besides the great ice cream the vista to the west was outstanding. This allowed for great viewing of several thunderstorms as they were marching their way across the valley in front of us.   From there it was only 2 miles up to the shelter where a couple were camping down by the bear box. Freedumb and Redtail also come in to camp about an hour after I had gotten to the shelter.
Date: 2010-06-01
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: broken clouds

Still humid with afternoon showers and the trail is getting more difficult. Got juiced in the Lemon Squeezer by a bad thunderstorm with torrential rain. Today has been a day of thunderstorms and trail magic.I left the shelter (Wildcat) at 7:30 and hiked the route all day to get to the oldest shelter (1928) on the AT. It is on a ridge in an open forested area with lots of rocky spaces. The water source is a fair distance down a side trail so I knew to load up before arriving. There is a SOBO named Ryan here in the shelter with about 6 or 7 others in tents.Mosquitoes were bad in places but I made good time until the thundershowers came, the first of several at a place called Agony Grind right before NY Rte 17. At East Mombasha Road (I love that name) someone had left a case of 1-gallon jugs of water and there was a case of oranges left at Rte 17. It being hot and muggy by the time I reached Island Pond, I stopped there for water and also to rinse out my shirt and cool off. Jimmy, an older gentleman was whiling away the time there and we had a pleasant casual conversation. As I was taking my leave he insisted he give me a five-dollar bill, the only time I had someone give me money to help my hike. I guess he felt he needed to give me some trail magic but didn¢t have anything except money. Just up the trail at the Lemon Squeezer, the second of the day¢s big thunderstorm over took me. I decided to wait this one out under a rock outcropping there, which offered some protection from the rain and the lightning. FreeDumb and Redtail arrived during the height of the storm and shared some of their trail magic with me (they have be the beneficiaries of a pocket full of Heathbars). Redtail took a short video of the torrent, which can be seen on my Facebook page. After the storm let up, we started up the trail again and immediately encountered two large blow-downs smelling of fresh cracked wood that reminded me of the Pacific Northwest.
Date: 2010-06-02
From: Fingerboard Shelter

To: Ft. Montgomery
Miles today: 14.2

Today was very hot and sunny with no rain and I made good time arriving in town before the Post Office closed.I had to walk into town to pick up my food drop at the P.O. and found a nice little B & B called the Garrison House and I¢m the only one here. Only trouble was the first restaurant I went to at 7:50 closed their kitchen at 8 and would not let me order food so I had to walk down to the rib place where they had Guinness on tap.Today was a day to observe wildlife, both in the wild and at The Trailside Zoo, which the AT passes though at Bear Mountain. Near the William Brien Memorial Shelter, an old and trashy and leaky stone structure, I was able to get a couple of close-up photos of a white tail deer. Then later just before heading up Bear Mountain I saw a bear for the first time on this trip. It wasn¢t that large, probably a juvenile and we saw each other at the same time. He was making his way up a gully that I was at the top of. We both stopped about 150 feet from each other. My camera was in my pants pocket but he had turned and run back down the gully and them over a side ridge before I could get a photo. Fortunate for me he was not used to being around humans. That was at 11:45 and since I had been on the trail since 5:45, I sat down right there on the trail and had some lunch.On my walk into Ft. Montgomery, I met Wazi in a roadside park waiting for the heat of the day to break before hiking on up to the Graymoor Center for the night. He had spent last night at the Holiday Inn Express on the other side of town, which is close to the rib place that I had dinner. He told me about getting new boots because of the split sole. This interested me because I have the same boots and one of them is splitting like his did.The last bit of wildlife today was the discovery in the bathtub of a tick at the top of my leg where my underpants start. I don¢t think it had been there long but I will have to monitor it to see if it turns into Lyme Disease. Today was also a day that was not good for my feet. Lots of ups and downs and rocky sections and the feet are somewhat swollen.
Date: 2010-06-03
From: Ft. Montgomery

To: Dennytown Road Camp Site
Miles today: 14.5

Today I discovered Molson XXX with the boys at the Appalachian Deli store at US Rte 9. Also, had roasted marshmallows on a great campfire.Today I slept late and got up at 6:40 to take another shower, then went down to have breakfast. It's funny that hikers on a thru-hike think of getting up late anytime after the sun has risen but back at home getting up anytime before 8 counts as getting up early. Well, this is the way it was back when people who lived off (and on) the land was driven by the sidereal cycle of the sun. After breakfast, I packed up and left without seeing anyone at the B & B.I tried to Yogi a ride back to the Bear Mountain Bridge from the bagel shop across from the B & B but having no luck decided to walk back up to the convenience store next to the P. O. It was there that the ice deliveryman gave me a complimentary 0.5 L bottle of water so now I am carrying a full 2.0 liters of water. After a short time I did manage to Yogi a ride to the bridge where I left off yesterday afternoon. Walking across the bridge in the morning offered cool temperatures and a refreshing smell of salt laden sea air blowing up from the ocean just 40 miles to the south.Going on up the trail, I met up with the boys (Freedumb and Redtail) at Hemlock Springs Campsite and we loosely hike together the rest of the day. When I arrived at the deli at Rte 9, they had discovered they had XXX and invited me in to join them. This being just before noon and the day warmed up quite a bit and there being just one can left and that one can being marked down to $1.99 how could I refuse. We got a good buzz on and I was planning on only going up to the Graymoor Center a half mile up the trail. Well by the time we figured that we should be close to the side trail to the Center we were well past it. My notes say that I found a great beach where I ate lunch but as I write this journal I don¢t recall it. It is interesting that in 2009 on my one month of hiking the AT in Georgia and North Carolina I consciously decided to be alcohol free and still remember everyday I was on the trail. This year I welcomed the chance to taste the local brews and didn¢t turn down any offer of FREE beer. I can honestly say that I enjoyed both experiences.At the evening campsite it is just the boys and me camped in an open grassy area with tables and a great fire ring. Someone had even left a pile a hardwood, which makes the best fire for roasting marshmallows. A fine ending to a good day on the trail.
Date: 2010-06-04
From: Dennytown Road Camp Site

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: clear sky

It¢s another Hot and Muggy day on the trail and the feet are barking a lot. I was up and after my oatmeal was on the trail by 8, leaving before the boys. I am really enjoying the time I spend with the boys and even though we walk at different rates, we seem to be hiking the same distances each day. I had not wrapped my ankle today but by the time I reached Canopus Lake I needed to put the Ace Bandage back on and it was there that Freedumb and Redtail caught up and passed me. I caught up to them again at RPH Shelter where we had lunch. Much of the trail in this section of the AT parallels I-84 on a ridge several hundred feet above the highway. This made for a somewhat noisy walk with cars and trucks motoring their way across New York farmland. I caught up to the boys again at a deli at NY Rte 52 where I met Lil¢ Budda for the first time. He is on the IAT having started in the Florida Keys in January and will continue on past Mt. Katahdin into Canada. After a late afternoon second lunch and loading up on water, I went on to the shelter where it was tenting again tonight.There were several other hikers already here tenting and Klipspring and Farmah are in the shelter. Farmah is a hiker from Massachusetts that I had been following on Trail Journals since he started out at Springer in the late winter. Klip is from South Africa and has been hiking with him this year as well as several years prior to this.Darkness came too quickly and I had to finish up dinner and my nightly chores in the dark. This shelter area is right on a ridge and all night there was rumblings of thunder and what sounded like light rain.
Date: 2010-06-05
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter

To: Wiley Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: light rain

Still muggy and rain tonight. Also, some unexpected magic courtesy of the boys. The morning came with a threat of rain but when I got up and out of the tent the ground was dry. The day turned out to be relatively flat but hard on my foot and I¢m concerned over the kind of pain that I¢m having that I¢ve sustained another stress fracture. I had hoped to go as far as Ten Mile River Lean-to in Connecticut but called it a day when I rolled in here at 5:30.I was up and on the trail fairly early but not before a visit with Farmah and Klip. Lil¢ Budda, who came in late last night, passed me on the way to NY Rte 55 where I hoped to find a mobile hotdog stand but it was out of business so I continued on up the trail. At Nuclear Lake I stopped to soak by aching feet and to wash out my shirt and this is when the boys caught and passed me.I continued on to Telephone Pioneers Shelter for an early lunch where I met a group of day hikers, 3 high school girls and their leader, who had come up from NYC on the train. After my snack I continued down to NY Rte 22 and the AT Rail Station where I found The Boys at the hot dog stand there next to the Appalachian Gardener Store. They told me that they had met a trail maintainer who offered to meet them at the next shelter with some cold brews. They then went back to the gardening store where the proprietor offered showers to thru hikers.I made good time to the shelter, getting here shortly before the boys came in. While I was down at the water source cleaning up and filtering water for the night, the fellow they met on the trail came in and met up with the boys. They all left together but said that there was a surprise left for me at the shelter. That was the last time I saw The Boys.When I returned to prepare my dinner I found a cold bottle of Troegenator (8.3% abv) and also a half pint of Capt¢n Morgan. By the time my meal was ready I had a good buzz going and feeling no pain when I finished my dinner. But my dinner was interrupted by rain.I had to move into the shelter to finish eating as the rains came. I¢m here by myself in this old shelter with a low roof and a space between the front of the sleeping deck and the 2 log high wall across the front. It is almost as if the deck was added as an afterthought to this 70 year old shelter. With the rain darkness came quickly but I tried to stay up as long as I could.I was awakened later just as it was totally dark by a late arriving thru hiker named Mouse. He had walked in from the garden store in the rain but discovered he had misplaced his charge cards back at the store. So after I gave him whatever water he needed, he went back to retrieve them. He was planning on returning later and I vaguely remember him coming back in the middle of the night. He ended up walking 10 miles in the night just to get his cards.
Date: 2010-06-06
From: Wiley Shelter

To: Mt. Algo Shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: broken clouds

Some really tough trail these past couple of days and my left foot is not getting better so I'm headed to Kent to get off the trail tomorrow.This morning I awoke to find Mouse sleeping soundly but took my time to get back on the trail by 8:30. The day was cloudy and warm and muggy with an afternoon thunderstorm up on Schaghticoke Mountain.At Ten Mile River, first Cool Tool and then Rooster and Snow White caught up to me and went on into Kent. I had heard that they were within a few miles of me from Mouse so I was excited to see them again after so many days. By this time I had been having so much pain in my foot that I had decided to end my hike the next day in Kent. It is only less than a mile from the trail into Kent and because of the pain my pace had slowed to about one mile an hour and I wasn¢t have much fun so leaving the trail at this time made sense to me.My plan was to walk into town tomorrow and get word to Linda that I was coming home. I didn¢t know my options for getting home but by arriving in town early in the day I would have all day to get back.In the shelter, I found a pack and then another hiker named Olaf came in. Later Cool Tool came in having left the pack to go into Kent. He had recently returned to the trail after having to take time off because he had contracted Lyme Disease.   Olaf was kind of gruff and unruly towards me for no apparent reason but seemed to warm up to Cool Tool.
Date: 2010-06-07
From: Mt. Algo Shelter

To: Kent CT
Miles today: 0.4

I'm off trail now and headed home via Lee, MA where Linda and Tom will fetch me tonight. After waking up, I took my time packing having breakfast and walking the 0.3-mile out to the road. I wasn¢t sure if I would be back very soon and I wanted to enjoy the best I could this last section. I could not get a hitch so I ended up walking into town even though Cool Tool had no trouble hitching both ways yesterday.In town, I met up with Mouse and was able to use his cell phone to call Linda, as my phone had no service. It wouldn¢t be until I get up nearer the Mass Pike before I had service. Mouse and I walked up to the library were I planned my way home. After checking e-mail and doing some research on travel options, I decided to hitch up to Lee where Tom and Linda could pick me up in the evening.From the library I went next door to a restaurant for second breakfast were Lil' Budda and then Mouse came by and we chatted while hoping to see Roaring Lion. They knew he was in town and then heard he was up at the Laundromat so they left to find him. I was able to get a couple of hitches up to Sheffield and then up to Great Barrington. A last hitch got me to Lee about 2:30 where I spent some time in the library and on a bench in front of the restaurant that I was to meet Tom and Linda. After a nice dinner, we hit the road and was back home in Norwood by 9:30.
Date: 2010-10-10
To: Post Hike Comments #1
Miles today: 0.0

Let me say that I had great intentions of hiking the entire AT this year as a flip-flop. Starting in Harpers Ferry and hiking to Mt. Katahdin, then returning to Harpers Ferry and walking to Springer Mountain in the fall. After several weeks of trying to rehabilitate my left foot that turned into months where the stress fractures very slowly are still healing, I realized that I would not be able to return at all this year to the trail. It¢s very frustrating.After several months of the foot feeling better but not completely heeled, an X-ray confirmed the stress fracture in the 4th metatarsal bone and a recent MRI found another stress fracture in the cuboid so, I have written this season off for any further hiking. I have scheduled day surgery to repair the split tear in a tendon of the same ankle that is likely contributing to some of the other fractures. As opposed to last season when I did a couple of short 2 day hikes in the late summer as my foot got better, I never felt as though the foot ever recovered well enough to test it with a full pack. So, it is been very frustrating, this AT business. My hope is that I can recover to attempt another thru hike in either 2011 or 2012.
Date: 2010-10-26
To: Summary Journal
Miles today: 0.0

My impressions on hiking the AT in 2010 follow.A month of hiking 440 miles with no zero days was very challenging for me. I think I achieved the minimum of what I set out to do this year. It was too bad I could not continue after Kent but the body was not able. There is no doubt that even in the relatively easy states, the AT is still rugged and challenging in its own way.Hiking in spring and early summer was fantastic. Not too cold or wet and still tolerable in the heat and humidity and the insects were not too voracious in the Mid-Atlantic. Services were easy to get to and I never felt out of touch with civilization, ever.   And meeting new friends on the trail and striking up conversations with the locals was never so easy. In all the people I met, I only had one bad meeting.I am still enamored by thru hiking and look ahead to when I can return to the trail next year.Thru hikers met:Marine OneDoc Holiday and Duke, his dogWhistlerRoaring LionBlue MoonAlmost ThereSweeperRoosterFortySnow WhiteRockerD-QuestGandalf and his labradoodle, ShadowfaxQuixote and his dogs, Lizzie and SandyBeansGo State!Cool ToolWaziBig SkyLil¢ BuddaMouseOlafSection hikers met:O ghost who walksRambler and LadybugPack MuleRusty and her crew of Aries, Wolfie, Red RoosterDutchFoxtrotActuaryJabaGaucha and her dog SweetieFreeDumbRedtailA Dream and a DollarBlue BirdEarl GrayMuddy SocksSiron and his Iguana, MoeSanta¢s HelperLovely DayBlue Sky and Sweaty BackFarmahKlipspringMegan and her dog, Lex