morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-06-30
From: NY301 - Clarence Fahnstock State Park

To: NY52 - Stormville, NY
Miles today: 12.1

Even though I was sooo tired from the late night before, I didn't sleep too well last night. These women were partying at a campsite near ours until midnight or so and my earplugs seem to have gone missing.We walked the 1 mile from the campsite back to the trail around 8:30am. I was antsy all day because I was psyched to see my parents and Dom and to spend some time at home. My mom met Hot Sauce, Plunger, Mr. Right, and I at the NY52 road crossing with piping hot veggie pizza and a cooler full of cold water, beer, and soda. What more could a tired, hungry hiker want?! It was great to see my mom, it had been almost 4 months since I last saw her when she, my dad, and sister came down to Georgia the day I started the trail.My mom drove the 4 of us back to our house on Candlewood Lake which was only about a 45 minute drive. It felt so good to be home! We all took showers and shortly after that Dom arrived - I hadn't seen him since Damascus, about 2.5 months ago.The 5 of us took a quick trip to the MALL which has an EMS - I wanted to look at their shoe selection, fix my trekking poles, and buy some more bug spray since I had recently run out. The mall was totally overwhelming and I was glad that we weren't there too long. I bought the right parts to fix my trekking poles but I wasn't too crazy about the shoe selection so I'll just buy another pair of Montrails and have them sent to me up the trail.We had an amazing dinner back at the house that my mom had whipped up - taco salad with lettuce, beans, soy crumbles, avocado, and cilantro. OH and for dessert my mom had found the Friendly's watermelon roll that Hot Sauce and I have been talking about for the past month!It's been a great day and I'm looking forward to hanging out with my parents and Dom, slackpacking, and RELAXING!   Loon and momRefreshing lake swim
Date: 2009-07-01
From: NY52 - Stormville, NY

To: NY22 - Pawling, NY
Miles today: 14.8

After a great night of sleep, we all woke up early to gear up for a day of slackpacking. We had a wonderful breakfast - eggs with veggies, hashbrowns, toast, and lots of fruit, then made wraps to bring for lunch. After I had made my wrap I began to crave it for the next few hours. My mom had also made brownies for us to take with us - this would definitely be one of my favorite trail lunches!My mom helped us with working out the car shuttle for slackpacking, and the 5 of us were hiking by 10:45. A bit on the later side but we would definitely be able to hike 3 mph today with such small day packs. And we did fly! We made it back to the car in record time and fortunately seconds before a huge thunderstorm rolled in. I was glad to be in a dry car heading back home instead of out on the trail in this bad weather. A big highlight of the day was a huge black bear we saw about 20 feet off the trail. It was fairly preoccupied in it's hunt for berries that it barely noticed us all standing there watching its every move. This was Dom's first bear sighting EVER so of course he was pretty psyched.My aunt, uncle, cousins, and good family friends joined us all for dinner - amazing lasagnas that my mom made and had transported from Florida to Connecticut. We all wanted to stay up and play games and watch movies but were having a hard time keeping our eyes open. Hopefully tomorrow!
Date: 2009-07-02
From: NY22 - Pawling, NY

To: CT341 - Kent, CT
Miles today: 18.3

I had another great night of sleep and we all woke up early again for a second day of slackpacking. Did I mention how much I love slackpacking? We ate breakfast, made lunches (wraps with spinach, peppers, and guac...so good), and dealt with the car shuttles for slackpacking. When we dropped off the car where we'd be ending for the day, we left a loaded cooler full of beer, sodas, brownies, and cookies at the trailhead that my parents had put together. Thought we'd leave out some goodies for our friends hiking through that weren't as lucky as us to be slackpacking!I had mentally prepared myself to get drenched today since the forecast didn't look too good and the sky looked pretty gloomy. However, it didn't rain at all! The hiking was pleasant today with a few steep climbs staggered throughout the day. We crossed the border into Connecticut about 7 miles into the day - whoop! It's crazy how quickly these mid-Atlantic states are going by. The trail had some super muddy spots and it was almost impossible for our shoes not to be completely submerged in the mud at times. It's ok though, you don't have to worry about things like this when you are slackpacking! We got down to the car around 7:15 and saw that the contents of the cooler were mostly gone - successful trail magic! A bunch of people had left notes in the cooler thanking us for the goodies, including Paulman and CuppaJoe, Cricket, and Wags and Gangsta. Dinner was ready when we got back to the house which was a welcomed sight since we were all pretty hungry. And of course we stuffed ourselves with desserts. My parents have been wonderful hosts over the past couple days, it's been awesome!I'm definitely looking forward to a day off tomorrow - I'd like to sleep in as late as I can, my to-do list is fairly long, and I'd also like to lounge down by the lake at some point before we head back to the trail.Another action-packed day, I can barely keep my eyes open!
Date: 2009-07-03
From: CT341 - Kent, CT

To: Brookfield, CT
Miles today: 0.0

My goal was to try to sleep in until 10am, and I got pretty close. I woke up at 9:30 which is probably the latest I have slept in the last 4 months. We had another huge scrambled egg and homefry breakfast and then went to Stew Leonard's and Shop Rite to resupply. With it being the day before July 4th, the stores were jammed packed and it was a bit overwhelming but we were glad to get the resupply out of the way so we could just hang out for the rest of the day.My good friend Sarah from college came to the lake to visit and my mom took all 6 of us out on the boat for some tubing and rock jumping. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I had a good fall off the tube and knew my arms would be a little sore from trying to hold on for so long.Another good friend from home, Kelli, came up to the lake for dinner. We all (12 of us!) played some Catch Phrase (my first time playing) which was a blast. Before I knew it, it was 11:30pm and I was having a hard time staying awake. I looked at my to-do list before going to bed and realized I had only gotten a small fraction done of everything I needed to do. Oops! But that just gave me an excuse to stay at home for another day Plunger and Mr. Right loved that idea but unfortunately Hot Sauce has to hike out tomorrow because she is meeting up with friends in a couple days.Gotta love double zeros! TUBING!!LoonLoon againDom and Hot SaucePlunger and Mr. Right
Date: 2009-07-04
From: Brookfield, CT

To: Brookfield, CT
Miles today: 0.0

Happy Fourth of July!I tried to sleep in but knew I had a lot to do today. I woke up and made a couple quiches for breakfast which came out really well. Dom left around noon and dropped Hot Sauce off at the trailhead in Kent. This is the first time I haven't hiked out of town with Hot Sauce in a long time - I hope I can catch up to her in the next few days! Dom is meeting me soon in Bennington, VT for 5 days of hiking which I'm already excited about. The rest of the day was all business. I washed the shoulder straps of my backpack to try to get the stink out, washed my thermarest because that had also acquired quite the stench, downloaded some audiobooks for my ipod because I decided to get rid of my book in an attempt to cut pack weight, dealt with my food bag, did laundry, tried to catch up on my journal, got a pedicure, etc etc etc. I did manage to get everything done (except find a new pair of shoes) and felt much better about hiking out tomorrow. Another great dinner tonight (it's going to be hard to go back to trail food!) and Plunger, Mr. Right, my parents, and I played cards and ate dessert while watching Mrs. Doubtfire. Tonight is my 5th night sleeping at home and I think that if I don't leave tomorrow, I may never leave! It will definitely be hard to get hiking again tomorrow after such a nice visit at home!
Date: 2009-07-05
From: CT341 - Kent, CT

To: Silver Hill Campsite
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: clear sky

I woke up pretty early since I still had to pack my backpack and we were aiming to leave at 8:30. We ate breakfast, made wraps for lunch (I probably won't have lunch wraps this good again until after the trip is over!), and were ready to go around 9am.My parents drove the 3 of us to the trailhead in Kent. It was sad to say goodbye to them but my stay at home was so nice and I'll see my parents again up near Katahdin in 2 months. Our good family friends Elaine, Peter, and their dog Owen walked with Plunger, Mr. Right, and I for a couple miles and then turned around and walked back to their car. It was nice hiking with them for an hour or so, and they wished they could keep walking with us to Maine. Lots of goodbyes today!The hiking was really nice today...saw a bunch of rock climbers on St. John's Ledges, and there was a great 5 mile flat walk along the river. I chatted for a while with a man named Steve who recognized me from trailjournals. My pack felt pretty good all day - I was only carrying 2 days of food and I had given Dom a bunch of things to take home, including my trekker chair, book, rain jacket, sunglasses, random first aid stuff, and camp pants. We had originally planned on hiking 17 miles today to Pine Swamp Shelter but we stopped for a break at Silver Hill Campsite and it was just too nice to pass up. It is higher up with not too many mosquitos (pine swamp shelter just sounds like it's swarming with them), and there is a wooden swing, privy, water pump (but rusty tasting and colored), and a couple picnic tables. Mr. Right, Plunger, and I were the first to arrive and we thought we'd have the place to ourselves since no one else was here even at 6:30. However soon after that lots of people started to show up - a couple thru-hikers I hadn't met before, Bunyan, Gangsta and Wags, a group of 3 guys just out for a couple days, and a ridgerunner. It looks like tonight will be a really nice night and the temperature is dropping which will make for pleasant sleeping. Also, I think tonight is a full moon (or maybe that's tomorrow night). Tomorrow - onwards and northwards! Loon, mom, and dad
Date: 2009-07-06
From: Silver Hill Campsite

To: Limestone Springs Lean-to
Miles today: 19.1

The temps got pretty low last night and I was actually a bit chilly at times. That was a nice change from usually sweating bullets every night.I woke up around 7 and was hiking by 8:45...I still don't know why it takes me so long to get out of camp in the morning! There were lots of tough, steep ups and downs today, but I'm still grateful for the nice prep for what's to come in the next 2 months. I met Big Turtle at a road crossing for the first time, and he was complaining about all the climbs...I find it hard to complain on such nice days as today!The hiking went by super fast today even though I took several breaks. There is construction on one of the bridges over the Housatonic so there is a trail detour which consists of a 3 mile roadwalk. At first I liked walking along the road but my feet didn't like it after the first 2 miles. I tried to walk on the grass as much as I could to alleviate some of the impact. The houses along the road in Lime Kiln and Salisbury were old and quaint and I admired all of them as I walked by. A nice man let me, Plunger, and Mr. Right come in his house to fill up our water bottles which was a nice treat.It was 5:30pm when the roadwalk finally ended and we still had just over 4 more miles to hike to the shelter. I was too hungry to go any further so I cooked dinner at a nice picnic area while everyone else just snacked. The mosquitos were SO BAD during those last 4 miles that I was basically running and got to the shelter in 1 hour, around 7pm. Must have been record time for me!Lots of hikers here tonight - Wags, Gangsta, Plunger, Mr. Right, Wind Up, Saint, Rusticus, and Sky Pilot. I set up my tent immediately and was so glad I ate dinner earlier. The bugs were so horrible that I got in my tent right after I set it up and didn't come out all night! We've been hearing from people that the mosquitos are the worst in Massachusetts...I really can't believe they can get any worse than they were today.Speaking of Massachusetts, we'll be crossing into it tomorrow! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cousin Craig!!!! Rusticus and Wags
Date: 2009-07-07
From: Limestone Springs Lean-to

To: Laurel Ridge Campsite
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: light rain

Had I known it was going to rain last night, I would have 1) set up splash guards around my tent and 2) not set my tent up in a low-lying dirt area that quickly turned into a mud puddle. Luckily it didn't rain for too long, but needless to say my tent was splattered with mud when I packed it up this morning. Good thing it was a sunny day so it could dry out a bit.The walk into Salisbury, CT this morning was quick and I was at the coffee shop ordering freshly squeezed orange juice (way overpriced!) and a bagel by 11am. Salisbury is a small, quaint (but expensive) town. I was glad to only be buying 3-4 days of food at the market in town because groceries seemed to be 20% more expensive than at larger grocery stores. The market was well-stocked though, it even had sushi and freshly made tofu and vegan Asian noodle dishes. It took me about 30 minutes for me to decide which noodles to get for lunch - sesame, spinach, pad thai, soba, lo mein, etc etc.What Salisbury lacked was a public phone! I walked all over town trying to find a phone in order to update my journal with no luck. The library and market workers said no, I couldn't find the phone at the church that the librarian told me about, and finally the woman at the coffee shop let me use the phone there.Anyways, we waited out a passing storm and didn't leave town until 2:45. The climb up Bear Mountain (the highest point in CT) was a cinch and the summit greeted us with awesome views and an abundance of wild blueberries. And not too long after that we entered Massachusetts! Ten states down, FOUR TO GO!!!I popped my head into one of the shelters just to see if I knew anyone there and met Safety Pins, a really nice, older woman from Portland, Maine! Turns out we live only a few blocks away from each other. So crazy! She is out on a section hike and was so grateful for the trail magic we had left out just before Kent while we were slackpacking. I wish I could have chatted with her for longer but I still had 4 more miles to hike.The next 4 miles went by quickly, a highlight being the walk through part of Sages Ravine which parallels a raging stream. The way the light came through the trees in the ravine was really nice and I easily could have stayed at the campsite there but we pushed on another mile or so to Laurel Springs Campsite.Once at the campsite, I quickly set up my tent and made dinner. The mosquitos, once again, were atrocious! There aren't many tent spots at the campsite but Mr. Right, Plunger, and I managed to find two sites right next to each other, not too far from a noisy camp group. It looks like it will rain tonight so I'm definitely taking some precautions, unlike last night.I can't believe I'm already in Massachusetts...NJ, NY, and CT really flew by!! My tentsite at Limestone SpringCute red Eft
Date: 2009-07-08
From: Laurel Ridge Campsite

To: US7
Miles today: 12.7

It rained again last night but the splash guards I set up before going to bed helped keep me dry all night. I'm glad the rain has been holding off until late in the night for the past couple nights. I'd much rather it rain during the night when I'm in my tent than during the day.Plunger, Mr. Right, and I were planning on leaving camp by 7am in order to get to MA23, 21.1 miles away, before dinner time. Relatives of mine who live close to the trail were going to pick us up at MA23 and bring us back to their house for the night.I ended up not leaving camp until 7:30am and then spent 30 minutes on top of Race Mountain. The views were AMAZING and resembled those that you might see out of an airplane window - we were basically walking on cliffs above the low-lying clouds and looking down into the steep valleys below. This was definitely one of the coolest views on the trail so far. Freeze came up behind me and we snacked on wild blueberries as we admired the view. Shortly after descending Race Mountain was the 1,500 mile mark! For me, this was the biggest distance milestone since 1,000 in PA. I made a 1,500 out of small rocks and had a quick celebratory snack.The trail after Race Mountain remained steep and rocky up to Mt. Everett and then over to The Jug End, a rock outcrop with vistas of the valleys and mountains in the distance. I had lunch on The Jug End with Plunger, Mr. Right, Double Vision, and Jukebox Hero. And the weather was perfect! It was already 1pm and we still had 14 hard miles to hike...we came to the conclusion that it would be nearly impossible (with the steep, rocky terrain) to hike 14 miles to MA23 and still have time to hang out with my relatives. We didn't want to get picked up and go right to bed!So, instead, we decided to only hike a little over 5 miles to US7 where we'd now get picked up. I'm glad we made that decision...instead of getting in at 8pm, we would get in around 3pm and have plenty of time to visit and relax back at the house. The last mile of the day was wet and swampy...I lost my balance walking over one of the bog logs and totally submerged my foot and ankle in the swamp. Believe it or not, this actually happened twice today! My dad's cousin Charlie picked Cricket, Plunger, Mr. Right, and I up at US7 and drove us back to the house in Hillsdale, NY. It was a huge treat! Over the next several hours I got to visit with relatives I hadn't seen in years, do laundry, and shower. We snacked and drank wine on the patio, then we were served an amazing dinner followed by dessert.It was nice that we had just resupplied in Salisbury so we didn't need to worry about that and could just relax all evening. We all hit the hay around 10pm - what a great day!Race Mountain
Date: 2009-07-09
From: US7

To: Mt. Wilcox North Lean-to
Miles today: 13.5

We all awoke early and were treated to a homecooked breakfast of eggs, homefries, toast, yogurt, and fruit. By the time we were all packed up and ready to go it was around 9:45am. Thanks so much to Charlie, Joanne, Amy, Karl, and the kiddies for such a great stay!Charlie drove us back to the trail and we were hiking by 10:30. Instantly upon entering the woods we all got slaughtered by mosquitos...people weren't kidding when they said mosquitos were the worst in Massachusetts. Even with my 98% deet I found mosquitos still landing on my skin, especially around my face, neck, and scalp where I don't put the deet. They've also been biting me through my clothing which is the most frusterating thing of all. Killing mosquitos has recently become a hobby of mine and I take great pleasure in smooshing them between my hands. I think mosquitos may be my least favorite things in the world!Nothing really to note about the hiking today...there were mostly gentle ups and downs with some super steep, rocky climbs mixed in. And the weather was perfect...warm but with a cool breeze that reminded me of hiking in the fall. I am at the shelter tonight with Plunger, Mr. Right, and Cricket. The mosquitos have subsided and I was actually able to eat and cook my dinner in peace. Mr. Right got a nice fire going which will probably burn through the night. We are all sleeping in the shelter tonight, although I'm the only one with my tent set up inside the shelter. Hopefully no one else will show up tonight!My legs are SO itchy, I don't think I've ever had this many bug bites! Also, I've been noticing that my thermarest may have a little leak in it since it hasn't been able to stay inflated throughout the night lately. Humph! It's 8:45 and I'm going to bed Loon, Cricket, and the fam
Date: 2009-07-10
From: Mt. Wilcox North Lean-to

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: few clouds

The temps dropped to the mid-40s last night and I slept great although I had to reinflate my thermarest in the middle of the night. Cricket, Plunger, and I slept in until 7:30 but Mr. Right woke up just after 6am and built another fire. I ate 4 poptarts for breakfast (gross, I know!) and headed out around 9am, shortly after the others.The weather was perfect all day and the terrain was pleasant. The trail went through a bunch of pine groves and the pine needles on the ground made a nice, cushiony surface that my feet appreciated. I made it to Upper Goose Pond Cabin around 4pm to find LOTS of thru and section hikers here: Jukebox, Whisp, David, Freeze, Motor, Rolling Stone and his dog Coal, Not So Crazy, Doiko, Safety Pins, Plunger, Mr. Right, Cricket, Model T, Dragon Fly, Lost and Found, T Bird, 357 Magnum, and maybe some others. I wonder if we are part of the so-called "hiker bubble" that we've been hearing so much about!This cabin is super nice...it's fully enclosed with a big porch, kitchen, living room, and bunkroom on the 2nd floor. There are even some canoes to take out on the pond. The caretaker, Deborah, is nice and rumor has it she'll be whipping up some blueberry pancakes in the morning. Most people are staying in the bunkroom but Cricket and I are tenting out behind the cabin. I would have liked to hang out on the porch for a while after dinner but the mosquitos were so AWFUL that I had to retreat to my tent around 8pm. Sweet dreams! Upper Goose Pond