morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-21
From: Delaware Gap

To: brink road gap
Miles today: 24.8

I am back to reality again stomping the trail.I spent easter with family in Stamford CT , I had a relaxing weekend eating loads of good food but I had trouble all weekend digesting it because I am not used to the good food.I was yawning all weekend , I am totally knackered.I got up 0500hrs this morning and got the train to NYC and then the bus to Delaware water gap , I was looking at all the commuters heading to thier office in NY all dressed in suits and thought to myself what a different daily routine we were living and I sure if most of them had the chance to trade places with me on the train they would jump at the chance to escape the rat race they are living, to enjoy the stress free and easy lifestlye on the trail.I went to the church to say hello to Pastor Karen but she was having a day off , I called the doctor and he said I was negitive for Giardia and that it must have been a virus I picked up.I never got hiking until after 1100hrs and felt crap all day , I am still far from feeling 100% and all I could think about was getting to the shelter. I never seen many hikers today , only a couple of day hikers at the start of the trail.So Pennslyvenia was completed today after my first mile !!!!! at last.I know I was sick but I felt although I had been in P.A forever in the end up.So I crossed the Delaware river and now I am in New Jersey , the trail was a little rocky but not nearly as bad as before.I got to the shelter just- after dark and nearly got lost after I got there , I went to fetch water after dumping my backpack in the shelter and then I had to bushwack to get the water.So once I got the water I could not find my way back , so there I was standing in the woods wearing shorts ! and t-shirt with 2 litres of water and no idea how to get back to the shelter !!! Well in the end I got there but only after going crazy at myself for getting lost.I could have strangled a tree or something.I wore a brand new pair of boots today and my feet are looking like some aliens feet out of star-trek.....I have burst all the blisters and I am hoping for the best tommorow.Well I suppose thats what I get for breaking in a new pair of boots by walking nearly 25 miles...........the weatherman is calling for sleet/snow over the next few nights , nothing suprises me.
Date: 2003-04-23
From: mashipacong shelter

To: Wayayanda shelter
Miles today: 32.3
Weather: broken clouds

I would like to start with the quote of the day.........Time flies like the wind.Fruit flies like bananas.Today went something like this , got up walked 30 miles and never really seen or talked to anyone !!!!! how boring eh??? but the day ended up to be one of my most exciting to date.There I was on mile number 31 listening to a scottish cd track #15 named "Donald wheres yer trooosers" to try and numb the pain I was getting from my feet when something caught the side of my eye , I casualy glanced to the left and engaged in eye contact with a "big" BEAR !!!! .......I kept on walking and we stared at each other for what seemed like 10 mins but what in actual fact was probably only about 5 seconds.I was buzzing all over the bear was only 15 ft away from me !!! I must admit that I S**t my pants and started to walk faster but something inside me wanted to look again but something else was telling me just to ignore the bear and dont catch its attention and walk as fast as I can without letting it know I am running for my life.But I could not resist a 2nd look so as I looked over my shoulder a 2nd time (probably only 5 seconds since the first time , it just seemed like 30 mins ago) the bear was just looking straight at me with one of those "have you got a problem!" kind of looks , but I could not take my eyes of it and this time looked for a lot longer (maybe 7 seconds) and I even thought about halting to take a photo but then I really gave myself a shake and had second thoughts.So I just continued on with a near running pace , what an amazing experiance.This is my best ever experiance with wildlife!!!!I reached the shelter to find a couple of hikers and probably bored them to death with my bear story , we played a card game called "uno" and then I lay awake for hours thinking about my Near Death Experiance !!!!!
Date: 2003-04-24
From: Wayayanda shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 26.7
Weather: clear sky

What a cracker of a day !!! I got my lobster sun-tan today and I am paying for it tonight.I walked the first few miles and then bushwacked my way into town , when I started to bushwack I was in New Jersey and by the time I finished I was in New York.Another state bite's the dust , I only have 6 more to go !!!!! the thought is making me dizzy , for some reason I feel further away from the end than I ever have.Maybe its because I was off sick for a week or maybe I am just thinking about it too much.On my way into town I met a very famous mans great great great grandson , his name was Emmery Poletski and he claimed to be a decendant of Rabbie Burns the Scottish poet.Every time I thought of his name for the rest of the day I had a good chuckle , so would Rabbie if he knew people with a name like that were part of his clan !!!!   When I got into town I eat some yummy food , spent some time in the library and then went in search for a phone card (which is mission impossible most of the time) I was enquiring in a local store when another shopper started to ask me about the trail and what kind of weather I have been having , I told her the weather has been worse than what we get in Scotland and thats saying something , in fact I told her the previous week the temperture was in the 80s in the Motherland while it was in the 40s a few days here.The lady went on to say that she had a phone card in the house that she could sell me which had a good rate.I went back to her(Mary) house and by the time I left I had phoned Scotland ,drank a cup of tea ,eaten some fresh cooked pasta , had a shower and got given a doggy bag for my dinner tonight.What an Amazing lady Mary was , she really made my day with her kindness and trusting ways to take a stranger into her house and treat me like she had known me for years.After I left Marys I had to make my way back to the trail , I tried to hitch but had no luck so I walked the road and eventually got picked up by the park ranger who dropped me off in the wrong spot which made me miss a couple of miles , but I won't tell anyone if you don't !!!!!!.I walked through the Lemmon squeezer which is a narrow crevice of rock which was a very tight squeeze for me to get through , my guide book says Marilyn Monroe once squeezed through ......but I don't see how !!!!!!!!The scenery was really nice after the town today , there is lots of lakes around the mountains and not as many trees.I think this is called the Harriman state park , its probably the best scenery since Virginia.I am sharing the Shelter tonight with a section hiker who is out for a week....lucky him !!!!!..I wish I was just out for another week.
Date: 2003-04-25
From: Fingerboard Shelter

To: A Monestrey
Miles today: 20.7

Today was another day for turning red , so I took advantage of it and am paying for it again tonight.Apart from getting lost today and riding about on the back of a golf buggy to try and find the trail nothing much else exciting happened today.I got lost and asked 2 girls "do you know where I am on this map" they told me "we don't have a clue" so I told them "I know you don't have a clue but where am I"(I don't think they understod my sense of humour)...5 mins later they appeared in thier chosen mode of transport which was an electric golfers buggy.To me this was very strange since I don't think theres a golf course in a 25 mile radius but it made for a good change of getting myself back on the trail.I crossed over the Hudson river this afternoon and if I didn't have my pack on I am sure I would have swept away with a gust of wind.....I must eat more!!I am bedding down in religous grounds once again tonight , one of the Brothers came out to visit me and check I have everything I need.I have arrived 2 months to early because in the summer you eat dinner with the monks if you arrive before 1730 , I must make a mental note for next time.
Date: 2003-04-26
From: A Monestrey

To: A Monestery
Miles today: 0.0

It rained all night long so by the time it reached noon and it was still coming down my mind was made up to take a zero day.......as I have still not fully recovered from being sick and I am sure a full day of walking in the rain is not going to do me any favours.The weatherman has predicted for blues skys tommorow so we'll see !!!!One of the Monks came down and said hello this morning and arranged a few sandwiches and some soda for me and then invited me to eat with him and the other brothers in the Monastery.Its quite funny because when I think of brothers, puff-daddy & dr dray spring to mind but these guys would never invite me for dinner , unless I could dish up some dirt on Eminem.So I joined brother Leo and the rest of the Monks & Priests for dinner and they were really funny cracking jokes about drunken Glaswiegens and how one of the monks nearly drove into the clyde after a few whiskeys one time.One Monk even started to chant "I belong to Glasgow" .....now these were the last people on earth who I thought might have known this song!!!I had a 3 course meal and I got given a frozen cake for tommorow by brother Leo for my lunch , I think I might change my profession because they certainly know how to eat in here we eat Spaggetti bolongenase and had some great soup & a massive salad bar With cake to finish off.So now I am back under the shelter listening to the rain and hoping for sunshine tommorow !!!!!!A good day again ......
Date: 2003-04-27
From: A Monestery

To: Telephone Pioneer shelter
Miles today: 35.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was my biggest day yet and I am going to pay for it tonight.I started hiking just as the sun was rising and I still had 3 miles to go when sunset came around.I met a few hikers today and I was told by a German couple that I must be a certain kind of breed to be doing the trail on my own and the mileage I am clocking up ,I thought to myself that I must be some kind of "daft" breed !!!to be doing this , I could be sitting in the house with my feet up drinking a cup of tea and watching the highlights of the Celtic game.But no I have chosen the path to Katahdin ; the mighty mountain at the the end of my Quest.I will be leaving New York State tommorow for Connecticut , I have enjoyed my hike here and I have seen more wildlife here than in any other state.Today I seen a snake for the first time since I started , I poked it with my stick because as it looked dead but it wasn't long in slithering off after a gentle touch from my "ski poles" which have been my 2 best friends since I started.I have names for my ski poles , Ying & Yang.....Yang is the troublesome one which always falls over when I stab it into the ground and Yang is the steadfast one which always stands proud.....It sure gets lonely out here when I am resorting to talking to a couple of bits of metal , but hey it sure beats shouting at the bugs which are starting to come out in force !!!! they tell me the further north I go the the worse they get ....Oh well it gives my poles something to look forward to ....more of my crap patter !!!!!
Date: 2003-04-29
From: Who knows???

To: Pine Swamp shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It took me all day long to do these 13 miles !! I was in agony by the 4th mile and the painkillers did'nt seem to be working as well as yesterday.The problem seems to be the ligiments on the top left handside of my foot (thats if I have any there) I was putting all the pressure on my heel and big toe to ease the pain but by the end of the day I have strained my calf muscle with the extra strain , I have no time for this because I must return to Scotland at the begining of june and this is just one more HEADACHE for me.Well apart from all my moans and groans today went well and the weather was really good except for a short while when a quick shower passed over (I probably needed it anyway) The walk along the Housatonic river was good easy hiking , the amount of trees which have been downed by the icy winter is unbelievable !!! in some sections it is like a pine graveyard...all thats missing is the Headboards...ha haI came of the trail and stopped in at the gas station for 4 hours to rest my weary foot on the chairs provided outside the store.I made a few phone calls and drank coffee to give me some GO power.I crossed over the road and took a blue blazed trail back on to the A.T and followed the ups & downs towards the shelter thinking to myself about all the people who said Connecticut was all flat !!!!!.The 7 miles I walked seemed like 15 but I suppose its always like that when you know you are injured and are constantly thinking about how much its slowing you down.I walked the first few miles with Mineral Mark until he split to go to the post office but I have met back up with him tonight at the shelter , its good to have some company for a change.MM is doing a thru-hike starting from Maryland-Maine and then he will do Maryland-Georgia afterwards.He has hiked over 400 miles and yesterday is the 3rd time I ran into him because of my on going physical problems.Its funny because when I first met up with MM in Pennsylvania I thought I would never see him again because I was hiking at a faster speed than he was but it just goes to show once again you can never predict whats going to happen from day to day on the trail.The shelter is another good one tonight but there was many a bug trying to eat me alive as soon as I got here and started to cook my dinner......I have one of these headnets which do help you from going mad because you know there's absoulutly nothing you can do about them swarming round & round you head and landing everywhere all over you.As I am writing this darkness has just fallen around me and it looks although I am going to listen too a few wild turkeys who seem to have a problem with each other as they won't shut up....Oh well I suppose things like this are mean't to happen out here in the Wilderness of the Appalachians , but they could have picked another night when I wasn't visiting!!!!!!!!!..
Date: 2003-05-01
From: US7

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

No change in my problem with my foot and the minutes ,hours and days are begining to pass by !!!!! it is now looking 50/50 if I can finish in time.Hopefully the good food and rest will make the difference here in stamford but I NEED to get hiking again but its not worth rushing out and doing the same injury again !!!
Date: 2003-05-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Much the same as yesterday but a wee bit better!!! I spoke to someone in the Medical field today and he told me my foot is imflamed and just needs a little time to get back to normal.The new boots are the most probable cause which is my own stupid fault for trying to rush without breaking them in properly , but hey... the good point is that I hold a new record for breaking in a new pair of boots with a 35 mile day !!!!!
Date: 2003-05-07
From: US7

To: Hemlocks lean-to
Miles today: 0.0

I got up at 0600hrs this morning with a hangover because Heather dragged me screeming and kicking to the local bar last night for a "few".I had a quick cup of coffee and got out of Elmas as quick as I could before I had another 50lbs of food stuffed into my backpack !!! Heather very kindly drove me back to where I came of the trail and I was on my merry way once again.My foot was giving me trouble right from the start and I stopped few times and stuck it into the many streams I was passing(p.s don't drink any tap water for a week if you live anywhere in New England) this method seemed to help with the inflamation.I stopped at the giga lean-to and was amazed by the great view over the valley , I felt like unpacking my gear and staying for the day but since the bugs were annoying the life out of me I quickly moved on.I eat lunch with a group of local students and there teachers at the brassie brook lean-to.They were all out for a 3 day trip and they were all asking questions about my winter hike and listened to some of my storys from the last 4 months , at first they all seemed intrested but after a while they all started to dissapear one by one(probably walking off saying to themselves what language was he speaking) until there was only a few hardcore listeners left.They were a real friendly crowd and I sat talking with them for an hour or so.I walked through sages ravine and felt anxious when I crossed over the Connecticut/Massachussets state line because I thought to myself I hope its not going to be the last state line I cross because of this foot problem.I met 3 other different groups on my way up race mountain , they were all younger kids with thier teachers.They all were asking me a million questions as I passed by and when one girl asked me"are you from Scotland ??"and I replied "I" all 10 or 12 of them let out a loud cry "COOOOOOOOL" and started to laugh and poke fun of every word that was coming from my mouth until the teacher shouted at them to start moving and then stood talking to me for 10mins herself........The views from race mountain were better than the view from mt. Everet.There was 2 shelters to choose from tonight 0.2 miles apart , so after I looked at the first one I went on to find the other one which turned out to be closed because there is a big hemlock tree hanging over it just waiting for me to stay the night in the shelter so I can have another injury to take me off the trail.So rather than live dangerously I opted to take the safe option and head back to the first shelter.I sat again tonight with my foot in the stream hoping tommorow it will be better than today !!! time is running out and I still have some big miles to do..........Its starting to rain !!!! why does it always rain on me (Travis)
Date: 2003-05-10
From: Upper Goose cabin

To: kay wood shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: clear sky

Got up EARLY this morning due to spixtca boy farting in his sleep and waking up the camp !!! even the fish swimming around in goose pond could hear him !!ArrrrI stood around for a few hours after I got up talking with the river rangers and managed to mooch a cup of tea which was not quite Scottish blend but it was tasty all the same.We took lots of photos last night and G.Q is going to scan some and put them on this site for me so you can all see the flag flying high and the crazy crowd of people I spent the night with..My foot was really giving me crap all day today and by the end of the day it was getting to the severe limping stage again , I arrived at the shelter tonight to find steve who is section hiking and has travelled all the way from california to hike some of the AT.We made a fire and spent the night talking about his trips in Europe with a band he plays in called Steel prophet whom I have never heard of but I am not much into heavy metal anyway.It was good to arrive here and find someone else to talk with because I was feeling som down with my foot bothering me , it took my thoughts away from what I am going to do to solve the problem which is holding up my hike.
Date: 2003-05-12
From: Toms house

To: TOMS HOUSE
Miles today: 0.0

I had an easy day to rest my foot up , I got up early and joined Tom at the local cafe for breakfast and then spent most of the day catching up on stuff on the internet and all the boring things that I am normally miles away from while I am on the trail.Tom has been an Excellent Host and I am so lucky that he is here for hikers and that he has made me feel so welcome here in Dalton.People like Tom are few and far between.I got an Email from my old hiking buddy today !!! Rocket emailed me to say he was in NY and was on his way to start work on the trail with the Maine trail crew so he said he was going to stop by on Wedensday and hike up Mt greylock with me , so Tom and I are going to pick him up in Pittsfield on wedensday and he will spend the day here catching up on all the trail news.It is looking more and more unlikely that I will hike at all this week because my foot does not seem to be getting any better and I think a long rest is in order for me to get back on my feet so to speak.I have finalised the arrangements with Bluebearee for getting picked up on wedensday to go to trail days and I am really looking forward to this weekend.Let The Wind Blow High Let The Wind Blow Low Of To Trail Days The Scotsman Goes.
Date: 2003-05-14
From: TOMS HOUSE

To: Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0

Spent today relaxing and resting my foot again and talking Politics and Religion with Tom (which are my favourite things to talk about so if you don't like talking about them you had better steer clear of me)......Then I was picked up this evening by Fletch and joined him and his wife(Pat) for dinner at there house.Fletch took this Pic when I was leaving Toms.Pat is going to drop me off tonight to meet up with Bluebearee to make the journey down to TRAIL DAYS for the weekend.....I am really looking forward to seeing what its all about.
Date: 2003-05-21
From: Kincora, Bob Peoples

To: Albany NY
Miles today: 0.0

T-bird and I drove into the wee hours of the morning and eventually stopped somewhere in P.A and put the back seats down and we slept in the trunk.We arrived in Albany in the early afternoon and ended going out with her friends for some sushi at the local japanesse place.I am spending the night here with T-bird and her friends and she will be dropping me back at Dalton tommorow to carry on with my hike , my foot is still sore but I am going to give it one last go !!!! Its all or nothing.....
Date: 2003-05-22
From: Dalton

To: St. Mary's , Cheshire
Miles today: 9.6

It sure is good to be back doing the miles again even if it is only short miles.That was 10 full days of rest from hiking so it was time to give it another shot.I am going to do just 10 milers over the next few days and see if my foot can handle the stress.I felt although what I did today was enough for my foot and I think anymore would have made it worse again.I got dropped of this morning by T-bird as she drove me to the A.T from Albany to save me jumping on a bus , she is driving back to Virginia tommorow to continue with her hike.We had some good fun in the last few days and she was really pleased I could help her with the drive up to NY , in fact I drove most of the way while she sat in the passeger seat playing her guitar and singing songs......she was an amazing singer.So I set of from Dalton and within the first mile I got myself lost !!!!! welcome back Flying Scotsman......I got talking with a couple of guys from Westfield MA called little john & wild bill who were out for a day hike and they turned out to be the only other hikers I would see on the trail all day.The amount of trees that have buds and leaves on them from the last time I hiked is amazing !!! it feels like I am in a different state from the one which I hiked last week ,I stopped at the Cobbles overlook and spent more time than ever before at a vista.The view over towards Mt Greylock was good and I enjoyed just sitting there on a rock staring into the thin air.I arrived here in town in the early afternoon and I spent some time talking with a local cafe owner who had just opened his doors for the first time this year , I was explaining to him all the kind of food hikers like and told him about how he would gain good business being on the trail.I was going to leave town and walk up to the shelter 4.5 miles on but I found out that one of the local churches lets hikers stay , so I went along to St Marys church and spoke to Father David and he showed me around the place and got me a place to rest my head for the night.They had a meeting and I was treated to some home made cookies and spent some time talking with the parish.Rain is forcast for tommorow !!! when are things going to start looking up ?.