morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-08-10
From: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm

To: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a pretty lazy workday. Fish and I did some minor chores in the morning and then got some instruction from Dom on how to felt wool. That was really cool. He had made bootie-slippers and a bag, but because we were beginners Fish and I learned to make little felted wool balls, made from the wool from the lambs on the farm! Dom knows how to spin wool too, but we didn¢t have time to try that because Best called and said that she was in town. Yippee! So we picked her up and met some knew southbounders and saw Harold again yeah! (New southbounders are Riddler, Right-on, and Goldielocks.) We lunched at the Organic Co-op and then went back to the darm for some weeding chores. That night Emma¢s dad drove us all out to pizza. I¢m glad we got to hang out with Emma, she works on the farm and showed us how to milk the cow. In my book she¢s cool, as are Dom and Shawn! I just loved that farm. Thanks y¢all!
Date: 2003-08-11
From: Moon in the Pond Organic Farm

To: Brassy Brook
Miles today: 17.0

We left around 10:30am after taking the dog (Rex) to the vet to get his stitches out. (He¢s a pup and was just ¢fixed¢) He was fine and probably didn¢t know the difference anyway. Then we said our goodbyes to Dom and were on our way. The miles didn¢t feel like 17, but they were still felt by my 3-zero-day body. Now we¢re all in the shelter¢¦ oh, in Connecticut! (Woo Hoo!) and talking about being in NYC in 4 days. Wow! Guess I gotta call Britta and see what she¢s up to for Saturday and Friday. Fun Fun!
Date: 2003-08-12
From: Brassy Brook

To: Better Campsite
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: light rain

Last night after I journaled, Best called her folks (see¢¦ I¢m not the only one with a cell phone out here!) and got some bad news. Her grampa had heart failure and wasn¢t doing well. The wonderful folks that stayed in the shelter with us that night offered to take her home in the morning (they had a car about a mile off the trail) so that she could see her grampa. In the morning she decided to take them up on their offer and left the trail again. We were sad for her and sad to see her go, but we figured she¢ll catch up with us after NYC. I got a mini blessed Tibetan prayer wheel, which I hang around my neck and I¢ve been spinning it all day today for Best and he grampa. I¢d hate to be in her shoes right now :(. They need lots of love and good wishes right now. So we bid goodbye to Best and hauled it to Salisbury, CT where both Fish and I had a maildrop. Huge surprise, mom made us her super-duper, awesome zucchini bread! We ¢daintily¢ ate it on the street in front of the P.O. for lunch. Talk about immediate gratification! Thanks mom, it was great! We spent about 2 hours in town and then were off again. Oh, but while in town I called Britta and got the word that we could definitely stay at her place in the city, only she and Jason wouldn¢t be there. Wow! Cousins rock! We¢ll take good care of your place, B¢s, promise! So, now we¢re all excited about our trip to the cirty and can¢t wait to tell Riddler and Right-On about the news¢¦ they hiked a 21 mile day today to the shelter, but we¢ll catch them tomorrow.Oh, yea, other super duper cool aspect of the day¢¦ Fish and I took outdoor showers and we¢re talking ¢ice cold, super refreshing, makes your scream and laugh at the same time, type of showers¢, today. That was great and a total surprise to me, although Fish apparently had heard about the ¢hidden shower spicket near the Hoosatonic river dam¢ from a northbounder a few days ago. It put smiles on our faces.
Date: 2003-08-13
From: Better Campsite

To: Algo Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Wow¢¦ today was quite the long day. Out of camp at 7:30 and in 12 hours later. The best part was I was Ruth when my day was done (Ruth is Mat¢s mom and she¢s hiked the AT before and is now just doing a 7 day section with her friend. She rocks!) at the shelter. We gave each other big hugs and talked about how neither of us really knew how Mat was doing at camp at the moment, but assumed that no news meant good news. I told her about Dominic¢s organic animal farm that I was just recently at¢¦ well, I¢ve been telling lots of folks about that place, I loved it¢¦ and then we talked about Kent, CT. the town I unexpectedly stopped at. Small story, I had the option of ¢blue blazing¢ (hiking off the trail) into town today, (an option I hadn¢t recognized until a Nobo told me), and I took it. My only dilemma was that at the point in the day where the road into town met the trail, I was hiking alone, with 3 other guys in front and presumably on the trail. I had a small argument with my Jiminy Cricket as to what to do and decided to go into town anyway and catch up with the guys at the shelter at night. When I hit town Right-On was already there and waved me over to where he and Riddler were eating ice cream. It turns out they also Blue-blazed that section¢¦ at least I know I¢m not the only one that can¢t always subdue their temptation. I had an ice-cream with those 2 and then bought a burger and coke for Fisher, who had stayed on the trail and was probably at the shelter (I imagined). I actually met him at the trailhead, he was waiting for me and debating going into town himself until he realized I had brought him delivery dinner. He ate at the road and we walked the last .3 miles to the shelter together. That¢s when I saw Ruth. What a great day!
Date: 2003-08-15
From: Wiley Shelter, NY!

To: BrittaÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Apt. Manhattan
Miles today: 5.9

This morning I woke up and kicked life into hard hear. It was a quick 6 miles to route 22 where ¢Right On¢ and I hitched a ride into Pawling, NY. Once there we found out the train schedule but also learned that few if any trains were running due to the ¢blackout¢. However, we were in luck because Fisherking, Fisherman, and Dax had hitched a ride into town from a bus, and the desire of that drive was to pick up people at trin stations (who where trying to get into NYC) and take them to the city. So we all ended up going into Grand Central Station after all for the slight upped fee of $25. Once in the city we walked to Britta¢s apartment and soon learned that her section of Manhattan still hadn¢t gotten its electricity back, so we walked the eleven flights of stairs to her place with our headlamps on. What a trip! Walking around the city most of the day without street lights and most stores closed, really made me recognize how much I take for granted. We all visited Time Square and that night a few of us went to a comedy club while the others went to an Irish bar that had a Celtic Irish band playing. Some of the sounds that night were incredible and made me feel like I was listening to my own celtic CD¢s at home, it was a nice reminder. The power had returned at Britta¢s and Jason¢s that night and Jason came home and helped us settle in. I fell asleep listening to Jason play his piano. Thank you, Jason!
Date: 2003-08-16
From: BrittaÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Apt. Manhattan

To: Pawling, NY Edward R. Moroe State Park
Miles today: 0.0

Yea! Today my morning was spent talking on the phone to loved ones. I love it when I actually get their voice and not the answering machine. So after all the updates as to what was happening here and there, I returned to being an excited tourist in NYC. Right-On and I went out for a quick breakfast and then all 6 of us walked a few blocks to the Union Square Farmers Market. That was really cool, lost of flowers, fresh veggies and fruits, maple sugar products, cheeses and breads¢¦ and a really neat Brazilian Martial Arts show that was incredible to watch. I stood awestruck for a while!From there we all split up. Fish and my plan for the day involved finding the EMS store (a hard thing to find we learned!) and then the MOMA, (Museum of Modern Art). It turns out that the museum was under renovations, and all of the pieces had been moved to Queens. We weren¢t going to Queens, so we went to the gift shop for the MOMA, (which was still in Manhattan and open) instead.Then everyone met up at the apartment around 6 pm for delivery Thai food and a movie before we left. I really enjoyed the city after my initial shock and ¢woodland-life anxiety¢ had passed.We took the train (ahem¢¦ metro) back to Pawling, NY that night and camped out in the town park. Tomorrow it¢s the trails again for us!
Date: 2003-08-17
From: Pawling, NY Edward R. Moroe State Park

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: light rain

We were able to be really lazy today for 2 reasons, first off it¢s Fishers birthday today¢¦ woo hoo! And secondly the guy who took Best home to CT also told us that he¢d open up a pizza tab for us in Pawling when we got there, so we had to wait for the pizza joint to open before we left. That was awesome, big Mike you rock! Thanks :) So it was a pizza and salad brunch for 4 of us before hitting the trail for some miles again. It thunder often today while we ere hiking past the shooting range and ¢Nuclear Lake¢. I wanted to get past that area as quickly as possible¢¦ too many creepy names / things happening at the same time. Tonight at the shelter there are 8 southbounders¢¦ that¢s a first!We¢ve got myself, Fisher, Dax, Fisherman, Right-On, Riddler, Junkie (I just met him today), and Little Moose (who I last saw in Monson, ME, he was way ahead but he got off the trail for 2 weeks). Harold and Squirrelmeat are 10 miles ahead of us at the next shelter and I¢m thinking we may see them at Greymore (a really cool monastery we should be at in 2 nights).I¢m tired, I don¢t think I¢ve been getting enough sleep lately so I¢m going to bed. Night!
Date: 2003-08-18
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter

To: Fahnestock State Park
Miles today: 17.0

Yea! Today we met up with Harold at lunch. She was still sleeping, poor gal wasn¢t feeling well¢¦ but she got up and trucked the next 8 miles with us to a state park about a mile off the trail. We got some trail magic in a cooler at the road and we landed ourselves free showers at the park, so it was a great day! Plus it felt like we did about 7 miles today rather than the 17¢¦ and that¢s always great when you¢ve still got sun time and relazation time and energy to spare. Really cool painting on the summit in memory of the 9-11 tragedy. We all just stood there for a moment and I spun my prayer wheel a bit.
Date: 2003-08-19
From: Fahnestock State Park

To: Greymore Monastery
Miles today: 11.0

These past 2 days have been nothing but riddles¢¦ and fun they are! Riddler has had a constant supply of brainteasers for us that we¢ve worked on while hiking and they¢ve made the time just fly by. It¢s great, and so enjoyable to figure out the riddle first!I¢ve been hiking in a group of 10 recently, although the number may go back down to 8 soon (as Dax and Fisherman don¢t need to make high miles ¢cause they¢re getting off in PA.) The company has been great¢¦ such fun and wonderful people. For the update, I;ve now traveling with Fisherking, Fisherman, Dax, Right-on, Riddler, Harold, Little Moose, Junkie, and Grambler. Squirrel Meat is just a day ahead of us and Birdsong may be a day and a half. It sounds like the Sobo¢s in front of us are sparse and un-grouped, and the same may be true of those behind us. But we¢re all just loving each others company right here. Our stay tonight at the Monastery is pretty cool. We all got a huge dinner (my first real ¢meat¢ meal) and then a tour from brother Fred around the area. It¢s a beautiful place, but now it¢s buggy and getting dark outside and I¢m moving into me bug net to catch some z¢s. Night!
Date: 2003-08-20
From: Greymore Monastery

To: William Brian Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was a strange but good day. The riddles continued all the way to the bridge over the Hudson River. Riddler and I were hiking together through to Fort Montgomery where I picked up a maildrop and was happily surprised to find another package from Nana and Ted. Thanks guys! We ate the corn the first night!After that we walked through the Bear Mountain Zoo and state park before ascending the mountain. I¢ve got to say that New York has some amazing state parks. That¢s probably the best aspect about this state that I¢ve picked up. Oh, and if I hadn¢t mentioned this before, I didn¢t see enough of Connecticut to make an opinion about the state and my take upon western Massachusetts has changed since that stay at the organic farm. I really liked MA after that. But anyway¢¦ back to today¢¦ The zoo was a bit disheartening. We passed our lowest (elevation wise) point at the bear cage and it was kind of a psychological low point for me too because that was the first bear I¢ve seen on the trip, a caged bear that was raised in captivity. So, you know disheartening. Hiking through a zoo was strange and then past the pool and touristy ¢Bear Mountain¢ area was a bit strange too. Once we were on the Mountain we felt more at home. The Fish and I and Little Moose befriended this kid from Israel and managed to get him to hike with us for the next 8 miles to our shelter. We had a lot of discussion ranging from politics to music to cultural differences to age and gender issues. Very interesting! The hiking was slow for this reason¢¦ but enjoyable. Just not the typical day at all today, but a good one just the same.
Date: 2003-08-21
From: William Brian Memorial Shelter

To: Tentsite???
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: broken clouds

We started our day hiking 4.2 miles into Tortan¢ Circle State Park where we found a soda machine, water, and a real bathroom. Water has been harder to find recently, so the .3-mile off trail that we hiked to the park was well worth it. Around lunchtime we met ¢Patio¢ a past thru-hiker who brought us fresh fruit and juice. We filled our bellies and thanked him for his generosity and then were on our way again. I think we all over extended our bellies at lunch, which made climbing over ¢Agony Grind¢ really hard. Guess we should have anticipated some hardship just from the name of the place. We all (Fisher King, Riddler, Junkie and I ) stopped short of our planned destination tonight ( by a mile ) because we met up with some really nice tent-ers in the woods who were more than willing to share their food and campsite with us. It¢s great. Again, I¢m tired though and my writing is ending now. G¢night!
Date: 2003-08-22
From: Tentsite???

To: St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Miles today: 19.0

Today we motored into Vernon, NJ because Riddler had to get there before the P.O. closed. My clothes hadn¢t dried the past night, so the hiking was a bit uncomfortable, but as usual, the company was great and that kept the day enjoyable. ¢Right-On¢ saw a black bear today and ¢Right-On¢ saw a rattlesnake. I haven¢t seen either of the 2 so far; although I¢ve been told that I probably will by the time I leave this state. There was lightning and afternoon thunder over our heads during lunch, but it didn¢t rain much, luckily. Actually, we¢re hoping that a storm will come down hard while were at the hostel tonight and clear out all of this humidity. The church tonight has been awesome and we ended up staying awake until 1am watching movies and drinking ice-cream floats. What a great day!
Date: 2003-08-23
From: St. Thomas Episcopal Church

To: Secret Shelter
Miles today: 14.0

Well, we went to bed late, but we still woke up early at 6am and couldn¢t get back to sleep. I made some phone calls to friends and family and went to the 24 hour grocery to fill up on Deet. It has become a really close friend of mine recently, and since we¢ve heard from the remaining passing Nobo¢s that the section today is the worst (mosquito-wise) I thought it wise to stock up. Luckily the storm last night seemed to improve the weather for us today and the mosquitos turned out to be not as bad as the rumors. There was a lot of board walking and road walking today as well, which did hurt the feet some from the relentless pounding. The guys and I (Fisher King, Riddler, and Junkie) decided to stop into the ¢secret shelter¢ today at 5pm for some water, but as soon as we laid our packs down we realized that this spot would mark the end of our day. It¢s a very cool spot with a lawn, shower, water spigots, and 2 donkeys! We played ¢Home Run Derby¢ with a stick and a plastic football for a while, and then fed the donkeys with apples and pears from the nearby trees. I guess this cabin and surrounding area is like a summer home for someone who lets hikers stay when they¢re not here. It¢s not something to pass up¢¦ but it¢s not in the guidebooks, so if we hadn¢t heard of it, it could have been easy to miss. Tomorrow and the following day we¢re thinking 2 25-mile days! Let¢s see if we can do it!
Date: 2003-08-24
From: Secret Shelter

To: Brink Read Shelter
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: few clouds

WooHoo! Yea us for making a 25 mile day, eating dinner at a town, and setting up camp all before dark! No one is hurting too badly tonight from the walk, although the lack of privy and the complete occupancy of the shelter by the Yale Freshman Orientation group was a bit of a downer to come ¢home¢ to. Oh well, the day was great, sunny, windy and again, lots of laughs, so I¢m not gonna let the night get me down. I¢m having an absolute blast with this group of fella¢s (Fisherking, Junkie, Riddler and Little Moose) ¢ too fun!Tonight we read a couple of our journal entries out loud and I realized that my journal may be a tad boring, so I may branch out from the daily description and do some creative stuff. Today the guys thought it amusing to call me ¢Scar¢ due to the scratch on my face that I got from a thorny branch. Hope they forget the name as soon as my face heals. For the past few days we¢ve also been working on training Junkie to stop saying ¢one second¢ so often. We¢ve been doing this by saying ¢Hoochie-Mama¢ each time he unthinkingly says ¢one second¢. So far our tactic isn¢t working that well, but it keeps us in giggles quite often. Lastly I wanted to mention that we have theme days out here mainly consisting of ¢it¢s pick on (insert name) day today!¢ I¢ve already had my day and so has Junkie and possibly Riddler. I think either Fisherking, or Little Moose is up tomorrow. Yeah for another 25 miles. We can do it! Oh year¢¦ and we saw an air show from a lookout today too. That was cool!
Date: 2003-08-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I wanted to write an entry today since I'm in town, and near a computer, (and because I don't know when exactly my trail-journal will be updated next). I'm in Delaware Water Gap, PA!!! Woo Hoo! This means that I've officially hiked through 7 states, and that I have 7 more states to hike through. It's an exciting moment. I've been hiking with some absolutely wonderful people, and have been having a ball on the trail. We sing songs, do riddles, question games, anything really, and it's been changing my perception of hiking with people continuously throughout the day. Now I'm loving it (before I liked that time to myself to take in the beauty of it all and think, etc.)! My goal as of now is to complete the trail by November 18th. This allows me to average 16 mile days from here on out (excluding 'zero days'). Riddler, Junkie, and perhaps Fisherking are also corresponding their completion date with mine, so I'm thinking the fun will be continuing from here on out. I'm excited to be soon hitting the half-way point (mileage wise), and to see one of my close friends from those "University of Delaware days". Andrea, Becca, & Laura...if I'm not able to see you gals around this time, know that I'm still thinking about you and sending warm wishes from the trail!Life has been amazing along the trail. Each day is different, the scenery always changes, the events of the day are never expected, and it's an adventure I'm just truly enjoying. I've never had such an experience before.The trail has been doing more road walking and town walking lately, and while the hiking doesn't take place in the woods as much, I'm finding that I'm still enjoying what the 'trail' has to offer. I'm seeing the life surrounding the woods, and that's just as interesting to me. That's about it from here. I've only got 13 minutes left on the computer, and a few more things I'd like to check on the internet before my time is up. I hope everyone is having a great summer, and for those of you returning to school, I hope the return feels good too! in peace, love, cheer, and health             ~snail (tidi)
Date: 2003-08-25
From: Brink Read Shelter

To: Church of the Mountain (Presbyterian)
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: clear sky

My feet are sore from the rocks and I was tired by the end of the day. We pulled another 25 miles, but this time it hurt by the end. We made a friend at the AMC building around lunch who promised to take us out to the ¢cool¢ place to eat in Delaware Water Gap. True to her word, by the time we were at the church and showered, she picked us up and took us out. It was great! Last thoughts of the day: thanks Little Moose for swing dancing with me today and Riddler for snagging the Frisbee so that we can all play together. You guys are great!
Date: 2003-08-26
From: Church of the Mountain (Presbyterian)

To: Church of the Mountain (Presbyterian)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we all looked at our mileage again and decided around noon, after we had done our errands, that we could pull a zero and still be on schedule. Therefore for me, the rest of my day consisted of writing letters to folks, planning out how and where to get off the trail to meet Andrea on the 6th, and playing an intense game of scrabble with the boys. By late afternoon Harold and Maude and Synapse showed up at the church too and gave us the update on who was behind us. It appears that there¢s a large gap of about 6 days between ourselves and Vent, Mode, D-bone, and Squirrel Master¢¦ although Squirrel Meat and Best should be somewhere in the middle of that gap, but no one¢s really sure where. They¢ll catch up soon though, I have faith!We all went out for dinner together and had a good time of it. The end.
Date: 2003-08-27
From: Church of the Mountain (Presbyterian)

To: Leroy Smith Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

No picture today¢¦ it was a long and rocky hike and quite frankly, I just forgot about the camera in my quest to not sprain an ankle on the Pennsylvania rocks. So far, the quest accomplished. We passed Next Step today, haven¢t seen him since New Hampshire. He was with some friends from Philly and heading north for a wee bit of time. It was good to see him again and it looks like we¢ll meet up with him in Palmerton tomorrow and probably hike with him for a bit from there. At lunch today, Riddler broke out the Frisbee and we passed it around for a while before playing a short game of ¢monkey in the middle.¢ With 14 miles to go from that point, we didn¢t want to wear ourselves out by running around too much! Good fun though!By the time we reached Wind Gap today, Riddler realized that he didn¢t have his wallet with him and was pretty sure that he had left it back at the church. We stopped at a motel .2 mile off the trail to make phone calls to the church and AMC cabin north of there and are crossing our fingers that the wallet is found and somehow gotten back to him by town tomorrow. This lil¢ haphazard made the last 5 miles for us somewhat of a night hike, but it was pretty enjoyable, especially since it¢s keeping us awake tonight so that we can see Mars at it¢s brightest and closest to the earth!Lastly I just wanted to write down the little ditty that I sang to Riddler soon after he realized that he lost his wallet¢¢Riddler you¢re our friend¢¦ and that¢s why there¢s no end¢¦to the things that we would do...to make you not so blue¢¦¢¢Soon you¢ll get your wallet back¢¦and life will then be back on track¢¦it will be the brightest day¢¦ and we all will shout HORRAY!¢¢