morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-07-04
From: Vernon NJ Rt94 Church Hostel

To: NY Rt 91 West Mombasha Rd (Mombasha Lake)
Miles today: 18.0

Today was a very hot day. It was one of the hottest days yet and the humidity was unberable. I got a cool hitch out of town the morning with a fella in a jacked up 1997 Jeep Cherokee. It was white with a large Cammo Box on the roof. I did not ask the guy his name and I forget it already and I also did not snap a photo of his Jeep.I walked all the way to the road that went down the Greenwood Lake. I then got a ride down to the town at Greenwood Lake with The Healers friend Al and his wife. I decided to take a nap there on the lawn of the bank under a large shade tree where I was able to beat the very hot heat of the middle of the day.I then hit the local diner for a burger and plenty of glasses of water and while walking out of the diner an off duty park ranger stopped by to see if I needed a ride back to the trail. That was very nice of him.When I got back to the trail head I found Spiderman there on the side of the road. He looked very bad. He was diagnosed with Limes Disease yesterday and in taking antibiotics. His muscles were twitching and he looked rather ill. The park ranger gave him a ride back to town and I hope eventually to a Hospital. Right before they drove away he told me that he was probably calling his hike over at this point. I feel so bad for him because a tic bite could have ended any one of our hikes.I was about 2 miles from the road walking north and my phone rang. It was my internet Jeep aquantence from Pawling NY named Art. I was tring to get a hold of him all day to see if he would come get me and help me get to the Pawling PO to pick up my re-soled boots on Saturday AM. Needless to say it is like 8 miles to the next road...After talking to Art I decided to run down to the road crossing and wait for him to come and get me. So tonight I am in Pawling NY. I am taking a zero day tomorrow and hope to get my boots and my other mail situated here. Whem what a day...Thanks to all the JEEPERS who have helped me out.
Date: 2003-07-05
From: Pawling NY (Art's House)

To: Pawling NY (Art's House)
Miles today: 0.0

Today has been a very productive zero day. It is my fourth day off is two weeks. It was hot as hell again today so I am glad that I was here and not walking in the woods.I got my re-soled boots in the mail today from Resole American in Chantilly VA. They put VASQUE soles on my ASOLO boots. The boots fit great. I am so so so happy with the fact that I came here not knowing if I would find my boots at the PO already and whalla they are here. Art's wife and his family cooked this huge dinner tonight and I got to meet a few other Jeeping fellas today at Art's friends house. It was a great day and I have decided that I miss my JEEPS.Tomorrow I am walking out of here south bound to go back towards where I left off. This will be my largest consecutive sobo flip flop section on this thru hike. I hope to pass many other thru hikers that I have not seen in a long time.In a few days I will hitch back here to Pawling and start north again.In the mean time here is a Jeeping photo from today.
Date: 2003-07-06
From: Rt 55 Pawling NY (Art's House)

To: Fahnstock State Park Camp Ground
Miles today: 19.0

When I first left the raod crossing at Rt 55 this morning and started to head south I was thinking to my self that maby this was not a good idea to be hiking a large southbound flip flop section. I had done south bound day hike sections but this was like 50 miles and it was going to take me four days. Well after two hours of walking I decided to sit and take a break and have a Powerbar and I have completly changed my mind. In the first two hours I passed Just Dan, Mighty Mouse, Bishop, Dirty Bird, Fidodido, and a few others that I have not seen in forever.Later in the day today I passed Iron Toothpic, Snack Attack and his friends and others. I was going to push on to a camp site that is about four miles farther but rumors of bad water and bad skeeters have kept me here. I am sleeping on a picnic table tonight with skeeters buzzing just on the other side of my bug netting. They would be having me for late night snack no doubt if it were not for the netting.Tomorrow I am going to goto the Friary for lunch/dinner and then hopefull hike on to Bear Mountain
Date: 2003-07-07
From: Fahnstock State Park Camp Ground

To: Greymore Friary
Miles today: 12.0

Twelve miles today was not what I had in mind but it is six pm right now and my belly is full. Also it is pouring down rain right now. It has been thunderstorming for at least an hour and there is like three inches of water in the field out side of the place where we are at.This Friary here is pretty cool. The Catholic Father comes down at 4:30 pm and counts how many hikers are here and then asks that you show up at 5:30 pm for dinner. Tonight is was like eating at the Olive Garden. All you could possibly want to eat pasta and salad and chicken soup.I decided to leave the main hiker pavillion here and goto the secondary pavillion where we are supposed to go as overflow because a fella was talking about how loud that he snores. I did not sleep well last night because I was close to the road so I want to be able to get a good night sleep tonight for tomorrow.The skeeters bit me today even when I was completly covered with 100% deet. That is a first. They were insaine.
Date: 2003-07-08
From: Greymore Friary

To: Wm Brien Shelter 
Miles today: 15.3

I am sitting at the Library right now that is right next to West Point Academy. I got a ride in here with a fella from the band Banana Fish Zero www.bananafishzero.com. He brought me down fromthe visitors center at the Palisades Parkway. So far my experiences in New York and New Jersey have been well for lack of a better description contaminted or broken. That is most of the water supplys that are listed in the books are dry, not worth drinking, or they are marked as polluted. Come on guys, fix the plumbing at the visitors center at Palisades Parkway, Fix the plumbing to the summit of Bear Mountain, and clean up the wells and springs at the contaminated campsites and shelters. It is bad enough that there are not many springs but to goto a building that has a spigot and find out that the water there is not potable too is very bad. They have the CocaCola Machine stocked full of Dasani Water for $1.50/20oz though.The idea that water costs more than gasoline is crazy.Today it was hot hot hot. I took a mid afternoon siesta on a vista that was on the mountain just south of Bear Mountain looking over at the tower. It was cool, literally the rock was cool and the breeze that was blowing up there was great.I only have 15 more miles of this SOBO flip flow to complete before I head back to Pawling and start north in CT.Hiking south has been fun.OK The stuff above was typed from the Library at West Point.I wrote more in my Journal after I got to the shelter...I have to kick my self right now. I am simply going to blame the heat and the fact that I am so very exhausted right now for a very bone head manuver that I pulled today. I was walking down the last down hill to the shelter and I passed a vista with a small camping pad right above a large overhung rock. At that camp pad was a beautiful young woman pitching her tent. I said hello. In my heat exhausted state I asked if the skeeters were bad at the shelter. She said that she did not know because she was coming from the same direction that I was. I never even broke stride. About 2/10ths later I realized that the sunset tonight was going to be beautiful. Then I realized that I just walked past a beautiful young woman who appeared to be able. Then I realized that I just walked past a beautiful breezy camp site that would have been perfect for say conversation with a beautiful young woman while the sun was setting. I looked back once and there she was. Sitting on that large rock out cropping in her red shirt watching the sun set. I was 1/2 a mile away by this time. I kept thinking as I was laying in the shelter sweating my but off under my bug net how much better I would have felt if I would have camped out and been a little more outgoing towards that young lady.Oh well.I still think that the heat must have been affecting my mind!
Date: 2003-07-09
From: Wm Brien Shelter

To: West Mobasha Road (NYrt91) 
Miles today: 14.4

I hiked from William Brien Shelter back to Mobasha Lake wher I quit the other day and then hitched a ride from there to the Harriman NJ Rail Station. I decided to take the Commuter train to the city and then take the other cummuter train back out of the city to Pawling to go back to Art's house and get my mail drop supplies and then head off to the trail.Walking through NYC with my backpack was cool. I forgot to take any photos but the experience was interesting.On the ride home the train was packed. However no one would sit near me on the train because I was ripe. I actually got a kick out of the fact that I smelled so bad. It did not bother me one bit. This is America and if the people on the train knew my actual story they would have realized the smell was tolerable. I cant tell you how many sububanites sat down near me only to get up and move to the next train car. All is well though.I will take off from here in the morning after a brief stop at the PO.
Date: 2003-07-10
From: Pawling NY (Art's House)

To: Ten Mile River Lean-To
Miles today: 15.0

Today was a very interesting day.I decided to stay in Pawling this morning to goto the post office and mail my packages and take care of the rest of my business before hitting the trail. I did not get a hitch ride out to the trail for nearly an hour of sitting on the side of the road. It was only two or three miles but the thought of walking on hot asphalt that distance was not cool.The walk this morning took me past the Nuclear Lake. The sign says no swimming so I guess that the water is contaminated. This rivals the PA Superfund Project at Palmerton PA. I got to Telephone Pioneer Shelter and decided to listen to my radio for a while and I was listening to Y105.5. An all request lunch hour show came on and I called to request a tune on my cell phone. About 15 min later they ran a contest where the radio station was giving away a four foot sandwich from some sandwich shop. I called back to try and win. The contest was to be the 10th caller. I was caller #1. I called back again and I was caller number 5. I called back a third time and whalla I was caller number 10 and I had one the sandwich. COOL HUH?? I had one a CD once from a radio contest when I was in like 7th grade or something. So this was the second time for me winning such a contest.To actually think that I could win a radio contest while hiking along the trail is kind of unusual. Bree, another hiker ( I wont call her a THRU HIKER since she yellow blazed and aqua blazed big sections of the trail ) actually heard me on the radio and she was like ten miles away. When I caught up with her she was like I cant believe what I heard on the radio today.So tonight I am at Ten Mile River Lean-to. I crossed over into CT today and I am moving right along. I hope to be in Mass in a just a few days.
Date: 2003-07-11
From: Ten Mile River Lean-to

To: Stewart Hollow Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 15.7

A town a day keeps the blues away.That might be my motto for CT and MA. I have gotten used to hitting the trail towns everyday for at least one good cooked meal because it keeps my pack wt down. Today the town was Kent CT. The town it self was very cool. There was supposed to be a church hostel but it is closed some days and open others? There was a very full service outfitter there in town also. It was probably the best equiped outfitter store since Harpers Ferry, or possibly even Rockfish Gap VA. However they wanted $0.30 an ounce for fuel. RIP OFF. We went to the True Value and got a whole gallon. We split it between four or five hikers and sent the rest of it up to the shetler that was .3 south with Iron Toothpick.I moved on to the shelter here and had just finished hiking down off of a very very steep ridge when the skys let go with a major cloud burst. This was the biggest hardes rain storm that I had walked though yet. My re-soled boots proved to not be very water proof any more. I believe that the gortex bladder might not be in one piece any more. Oh well. Tomorrow I will walk in wet boots no doubt. I had wanted to do a 24 miler tomorrow. I suppose that I will have to see how my boots go.Big E and Big Paw are here at the shelter tonight. Rumor is that many people walk past this shelter because it is not labled "shelter" along the AT. It is labled "camp site". I cant believe that the ATC and the local trail clubs can't all be on the same page with what they call a building to sleep in. We have HUTS, SHELTERS, LEAN-TO's, WHY?? Why cant all of theese organazations just agree on calling them one thing and labeling them one thing?
Date: 2003-07-12
From: Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter

To: Limestone Spring Lean-to
Miles today: 22.3

I have not hiked 22 miles in one day in a while. The crazy thing is that I hiked the last four miles tonight after many beers and dinner at the Pizza joint in Falls Village CT. What a great place that served great food and $1.25 Bud Drafts that were ice cold. There was also a free shower today on an out building that was located at a Hydro Electric Power Plant that is just below some large water falls here on the Houstatonic River. That was great because it allowed me to clean up before going to the bar. The walk today went up and over some big mountains, and then back down the the same river that I have been hiking along for the past two days. It would be great if they just left the trail along the river instead. It would allow us to make bigger miles on flat terrain.Anyhow the four miles up the hill to the shelter was pretty east. The half mile side trail down here was not. It was like straight down. I mean so straight down that I was actually freaked out of my mind trying to night hike with my nearly dead headlight battery. It was like an 8th sense was guiding me down the trail path. I really could not see where I was going but I knew by the combination of the feel and sound of the un trampled leaves under my feet if I had walked off the trail. I finally saw headlights and figured that had to be the shelter. Instead I found some very paranoid people who thought that I was coming to start trouble at 11:00pm. I asked where the shelter was, explained that I had been at the bar and decided to hike here, and then they pointed me in the right direction.I also found a FUJI CAMERA tonight that has Duct Tape on it. It has a new roll of film in it and I found it at the spring that was just leaving the water falls and hydro-dam at Falls Village CT. If anyone knows who's camera it is?? let me know.
Date: 2003-07-13
From: Limestone Spring Lean-to

To: Brassie Brook Lean To
Miles today: 8.7

I have a policy that I broke last night.I dont goto shelters, or anything else for that matter that is more than .2 off the trail. The shelter was .5 off the trail last night and it was also .5 below the ridge elevation wise too.The climb back up that hill this morning was killer. I mean I was beat 15 min into my hike. I literally had not a single calorie other than some salt packets in my food bag and I was in desperate need of some kind of pick me up to get me the 4.4 miles to town. I ran across some section hikers that were eating fresh fruit and they offered me an orange. It was great and just the pick me up that I needed to get to town. I shopped the market in Salisbury and then deicided that I would go ahead and leave even thought my bounce boxes are at the post office. It is Sunday and I did not want to wait till tomorrow to get the stuff, as it was going to be a big deal to try and find a place to camp and then come back into town. The stuff in those boxes is really not needed at this point either. Puff Puff and Snappy are here tonight and are sleeping in hammocks just a short distance away from the shelter. It was great to finally catch up with them. I have not seen them since Damascus.Tomorrow I would like to possibly stay in a motel in Great Barrington.
Date: 2003-07-14
From: Ten Mile River Lean-To

To: US Rt 7 (Great Barrington MA)
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I had planned on hiking farther today but there were three very steep climbs today that have my legs feeling very weary. We are approaching the Green and White Mountains now. I can tell because the slopes are getting steeper. I got a late start today. I did not start walking till near 9:00am. I had lunch on top of MT Everett and I decided to take a small break at The Hemlocks Shelter. The skeeters there were very bad so I did not stay long. Puff Puff and Snappy passed me while I was at the shelter and I was very surprised to run into them farther up the trail. I thought that they were hours behind me because I hiked really fast during the mroning. We all stopped on the ridge at Jug End and enjoyed some of the view before descending into the valley. There was a very cool piped gushing spring at the foot of the mountain where we filled out water bottles and drank a ton of very cold very fresh water. I wish that there were more springs like this one in the past two weeks. Water has been hard to come by. Hopefully that will be a thing of the past now.When we got down to RT 7 we decided to goto the MOTEL that is advertised in the books that has the $45 hiker room special. When we got there we found that was actually not the case and that a room for three of us would cost $80. We called around and found another motel that was like a few miles away and they said that they would even come and pick us up. In the mean time while waiting for a ride we met the mother of a 2001 thru hiker who was willing to take us to her house and let us stay in a pop up camper. The thought crossed my mind about ditching the guy that came to pick us up but I thought that it was best not to in case another hiker would call them for a ride in the future. I would not want them to decline to pick some one else up because we ditched them.We ordered Pizza, watched Monster Garage, American Chopper, and Monster House and then went to bed.Damn did it feel good to get a shower!
Date: 2003-07-15
From: Great Barrington MA

To: Great Barrington MA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I got tied up using the internet today communicating with some people and trying to look for a job or two. I ended up in a situation where I used the computer till nearly 6pm and I have decided not to leave town today.So a very nice trail Angel is coming to get me to take me to her house to let me sleep in her pop up camper in her yard!
Date: 2003-07-16
From: Great Barrington MA

To: South Wilcox Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.9

I dont know why I did not hike very far today but it took me all of 8 hours to hike 11 miles. I am very tired and I do not really feel like going any farther. I get very down on my progress at times like this because I was really wanting to be another 50 or 60 miles up the trail Dalton by now as I had planned a week ago. So I guess that tomorrow will be a 15.8 day to Upper Goose Pond shelter. I walked all day today and did not pass a single person except the very interesting sobo section hiker named Ruby.I am in the shelter all by my self tonight. There is a large rodent here, larger than a mouse, so I suspect that this RAT will make several attempts tonight to steal the few calories that are left in my food bag. That and the skeeters are making every attempt to get under my darn bug netting to bite me. Ahhh the joys of hiking!!
Date: 2003-07-17
From: South Wilcox Mountain Shelter

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I hiked 15.9 easy miles today and arrived here at the shelter around 5pm. When I got here I was greated by the caretaker and only the care taker. He told me that last night that there was 21 people here. Then he told me that I was the only person he had seen all day.Down at the boat dock on the pond I met the Walden Boat rep who was here with some not so professional models and a photo guy taking pictures for there latest catalog brochure that they are going to publish. The fella was very nice and he knows Dakota from IR and Steve Ford who used to be the Dagger rep for a while.It was cool to meet the guy from Walden, maker of the famous hiking shoe that all through hikers are wearing around in camp called the "Waldie"There is a cute section hiker here tonight named Emily. It is just the two of us and the care taker here tonight. Tomorrow Emily's mom is going to give me a ride into LEE to use the computer and to get groceries. That is just great that some one will be at the road because I hear that it is very hard to get a hitch into town.
Date: 2003-07-18
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: The Bird Cage at Dalton MA
Miles today: 20.2

I met this wonderful young woman last night at Upper Goose Pond Shelter and this morning when we got up we walked down to the road about one mile away and met her mom. Her mom gave me a ride into town and tha twas just great because I was completly out of food. I had some interesting conversations with Emily. Last night when we were talking at the Cabin with Grampie the care taker the conversation kinda turned into this attack of her education. She is an environmental student and she does some missionary type work. In a few weeks she is going to central America to deliver some books for a libraray that a group of people are starting down there to increase world literacy. We talked about lots of things this morning.I went to the Price Chopper to shop and they had Gatorade 1litre bottles buy one get two free for $1.29. I bought 15 of them for like six bucks. I drank two or three and took the rest back to the trail and dumped them in the creek. I made a sign speaking of hidden trail magic and then off I went.I stopped off at October Mountain Shelter for a few minuits to pick up Emily's Tevas that she left here two days ago. They were still here so I am happy that I am able to rescue them for her. I dont know if she will ever read this journal or if I will ever see or talk to her again but she has an official trail name now. From now on she will be know as LosTeva Girl. She named her self... she gave me her number on a little scrap of paper and it said Lost Teva Girl on it... she wrote it, she named her self.At about 2:00pm I finally started to hike south. It was nearly 19 miles from the road crossing at Rt20 here to Dalton. I made it the 19 miles in just under seven hours. I was here just after 9:00pm. The white blazes go right past a little bar that had a neon Bud sign out front so obviously I went in and had a few cold ones. Then I walked over here to the Bird Cage to stay the night.What a day...