morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-07-14
From: Stealth Site

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 8.9

Mood: °Today was a good day!! We woke up in the middle of the night to Toaster and Bandit freaking out because a bear was walking through camp. I was so exhausted that I ignored them and feel back to sleep with my earplugs in and eye mask on! When we woke up it was a torrential downpour with lightening, so I slept until it was over and we had to pack up our things! Then we were on the move to town and our desired Zero Day! Every time we see someone in the group texting while hiking (which we call texting and driving) we put our trekking poles up to our mouth like a walkie talkie and tell said hiker to pull over for texting and driving. Then we make siren noises until they stop walking or put their phones away. We always laugh when we do that, but we have seen too many hikers trip, roll their ankles, and fall for ¢texting and driving.¢ We had to do this today for bandit and toaster!We finally made it to town and we can¢t be happier!!! We checked into our rooms since they were ready early and then walked across the street to an ice cream joint. We ordered root beer floats and they were absolutely delicious!! We then walked to lunch. Since we are adults, we¢re allowed to have ice cream before our lunch. But typical me couldn¢t finish my lunch! HA! Afterwards I FaceTimed my mom and then went to Walmart for our resupply. It¢s absolutely ridiculous how much food we eat in three days,¢¦ and how trashy our food is. We typically purchase:Oreos, Chili Fritos, Ramen, Instant Potatoes, Chicken and Tuna Packets, Peanut M&Ms, Gummy Bears, Sour Gummy Worms, Drink Packets, Oatmeal, Breakfast Carnations, Cocoa, Bacon Bits, Cheese, Naan, Pepperoni or Sausage, Poptarts, Cliff Bars, Protein Bars, Slim Jim¢s or Beef Jerky, and a bunch of other trash food. Yes, our diet is horrible, but we need the calories!!We usually look at our food by the calorie to weight ratio. We want high calorie and low weight. We take the calories and divide by the weight. If that ratio is above a 4, that¢s awesome! If it¢s above a 3, we will still purchase. Below a 3, and it¢s likely we are only buying that food for morale. When we got a ride back from Walmart, it was a torrential downpour!! I took a shower and then all six of us (our usual group) headed to the first floor of the Inn for Jazz night. It¢s the longest running Jazz lounge. We ate dinner and listened to a Jazz quartet for the evening. It was so relaxing, and we felt normal for once!!! It was a lovely night together and the quartet was amazing!! The singer had a wonderful voice!! Unlike Moose Jaw and I. Our singing is terrible, but we shamelessly sing often!!Then before I went to bed I talked to my younger brother and my aunt!! I miss them dearly along with everyone else! Can¢t wait until we are done, but also excited for everything else we get to experience coming up on trail!
Date: 2023-07-16
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Backpacker Campsite
Miles today: 4.7

Mood: °It was hard to leave town. We all kind of wanted another zero day, but due to the upcoming things we want to do, we decided to Nero (nearly zero) out. Plus, Toaster flipped a coin and it did hit tails which meant we had to hit the trail. Before Moose Jaw and I left, I took an hour nap on the covered patio to the Deer Head Inn. I was just exhausted. The others hiked out while I was sleeping. As we started our hike out it began to sprinkle. It has been raining so much. The trail is flooded in so many areas, and there is running water flowing down the trail. Our shoes got soaked!!Although, the good news is¢¦We have officially completed 1300 miles!!! That¢s huge for us!!Right after we hit 1300 miles, I was stung on the calf by a yellow jacket. It hurt so bad. Moose Jaw said that when I yelled it sounded like a battle cry. I¢ll take it. I¢ll sound like a Valkyrie. Our camp spot for the evening was beautiful. There was a gorgeous sunset. And we saw many deer up close. Apparently there is a huge deer problem in New Jersey. All in all, today was a good day!! Can¢t wait to get more miles under my belt!
Date: 2023-07-17
From: Backpacker Campsite

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 20.2

Today was interesting to say the least. It was a long day, and at the end of it my feet were absolutely killing me. Our pace was slow,¢¦ Georgia slow. Less than 2mph slow. But after lunch we picked it up. This morning as we were walking, a bug flew into my mouth and made me choke. So I came up with a poem for it. My oh my, Chili swallowed a flyIt choked her out and made her cryThen not long later, Moose got stung by a yellow jacket. These darn things keep coming out of nowhere and attacking our legs!! It¢s miserable. My stings from yesterday were so absolutely swollen today. The large are surrounding it was too tender to touch and it was throbbing. And the area where it stung me kept hurting. Almost like a phantom sting. It¢s not good. Everything is super wet from the rains. When we walk through an area with heavy foliage on both sides that protrude into the trail and it gets us wet, we call it a Car Wash. Then of course I have to sing, ¢working at the car wash¢ from Shark Tales. We had lunch at the fire tower. Moose Jaw went up for a look, but he said the views weren¢t great. Then as he sat down for lunch, he found a tick on his leg. We had to remove it using a tick key. Then we circled the area with a sharpie so we could keep an eye on it. It was an adult American Dog Tick. Apparently those carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I will have to keep on eye on him, and make sure he doesn¢t get any symptoms. Not long after lunch we spotted a Timber Rattle snake crossing the trail. It looked like it just ate lunch, as well! We received trail magic right after lunch. I got a soda, and Moose Jaw received a burger and a couple of sodas as well. It was nice that they were doing trail magic for the hikers. We didn¢t stay long since we still had 11 miles to hike. We made our way to Crater Lake. Moose Jaw and Bandit hopped in for a swim. There were other hikers there as well. We talked about chaffing. A lot of people don¢t tell you that when you hike in the rain or in the humidity in your sweat that your booty cheeks start to chafe. That has happened to everyone in our group except Bob Ross and Stogie. I have also gotten thigh chaffing so I switched to 9¢ inseam shorts. We now carry Desitin, and it works wonders! That stuff is amazing!!Unfortunately, about 1 mile from camp, Moose Jaw was stung again!! It said it wasn¢t as bad as the first one, but that section was still slightly swollen. As I took my socks off at camp, I realized that I had an allergic reaction to something, because I had hives on my legs just above and below my sock line. I have no idea what caused it, but it was itchy!!We are all excited to go to bed tonight. It was a long day, and everyone was so tired. I hope everyone is in much better spirits tomorrow. I didn¢t think it was a bad day, it was just a tough day. And that¢s okay!! :)
Date: 2023-07-18
From: Brink Road Shelter

To: High Point Shelter
Miles today: 19.6

Mood: °Today was rough. Our feet were absolutely killing us. The rocks were relentless. Worse than Pennsylvania. Absolutely no breaks in trail where they eased up. It was extremely challenging. And then there was the issue of where I was stung on my leg¢¦ the area surrounding it started to turn reddish purple, and then as the day went on the red area started to expand. My reaction also was not completely gone and the bug bites surrounding the reaction were turning into blisters. I¢m not sure what happened, but all of us are worried. If it isn¢t better tomorrow, then we will take a trip to urgent care. We received awesome trail magic about four miles into our hike. There was everything you could imagine there! Including ice cream! Yum!! It was a nice start to the day even though it seemed like everything after that went to crap. Stogie got stung today along with Bob Ross. The humidity and high temperatures have us all beat. The shelter area was nice with awesome water, but it was beyond packed. I think we are in a bubble right now, and it gets irritating. Especially when you have to share tent areas. I can¢t wait to get out of the bubble, but I¢m not sure that¢s going to happen. New Jersey stinks. Quite literally smells bad. So many times on trail it smells like rotten mushrooms. It¢s horrible. But it could be because there are so many mushrooms on trail. Extremely tiny ones, and extremely large ones (bigger than my hand). I can¢t wait to get out of New Jersey. And I¢m also hoping that everything is okay with my leg.
Date: 2023-07-19
From: High Point Shelter

To: Pochuck Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.5

Today was much better than yesterday. First of all, my leg looked much better. We decided to determine if we were going to go to Urgent Care when we got to town. The miles to town were much less rocky and a million times more muddy. It felt like we were taking all of the mud with us. We walked into town and had NY pizza, ice cream, and wings. We hung out at the tavern for awhile while our things were charging. We decided not to go to urgent care. Plus, we couldn¢t get a shuttle anyways. Dave, the owner of the tavern, was so kind to all of us hikers. We didn¢t leave town until 4:30, and then we hiked this horrible incline to the shelter. It was a really good day. We were all happy to take it easy today!
Date: 2023-07-20
From: Pochuck Mountain Shelter

To: Warwick Turnpike
Miles today: 12.0

Today has had its highs and lows. As seems to be typical the past week or so. Mostly highs today. My sleeping pad has a slow leak in it. I was in denial at first, but then knew for sure waking up this morning. We didn¢t have far to hike today until our first break, which we took at Heaven Hill creamery (right before Stairway to Heaven). For about two miles prior to reaching the creamery we got to walk on a flat boardwalk. It was magical!! I loved every bit of it! We did have to wear our big head nets today and yesterday. Due to all of the standing water and wet ground, the mosquitos are absolutely out of control. As I walk, I see just swarms of them everywhere. If it¢s not ticks, it¢s mosquitos. As we finished walking on the boardwalk to the creamery, cattle were walking along the trail. It was funny. Moose moo¢ed at them. The Heaven Hill Creamery had amazing ice cream!! I got the blueberry cream ice cream in a waffle cone. Moose Jaw got raspberry chocolate chunk and another flavor in a bowl. It was delicious!! Then we walked across the street to a hotdog stand to get some chili cheese dogs. They had a soda there called White Birch Beer. I had never had it before, so I decided to try it. It was delicious!! It almost tasted like old fashioned root beer candies that I would get from my music teacher in elementary school. It was awesome. Then we climbed the Stairway to Heaven. It wasn¢t as bad as I thought it would be. I did sweat a lot, though! We were hiking to the Warwick turnpike so we could get picked up and taken to the Warwick Drive-In Theater! Waiting for our ride was irritating though, because group dynamic was off today. We don¢t usually hike together, but for the past 6 miles we did. Not sure that¢s a great idea. We set up our tent at the Drive-In once we arrived. It was pretty neat! There were three screens, and Indiana Jones was going to play on the middle screen. After walking to get food, we all hung out at the Cidery with a bunch of other hikers such as Flower, Steve, Hello, etc. The cidery was really neat! Plus everything tasted great! I really enjoyed myself. Then I walked back to the Drive-In and saw Jess and Ripper!! I was so happy to see them! Moose and I watched part of Indiana Jones, but then fell asleep. We were exhausted. I was happy to go to bed. It was a good day, but I got extremely irritated towards the end of the day. It¢s hard listening to people who complain about everything, especially things they choose to do. So, there¢s that. Stogie suggested a zero day tomorrow. We will see what happens. Funny story: There were these citrus smelling, fuzzy, balls that fall from the trees. Moose gave one to Bandit it and told him to toss it at Toaster. So he did. Then Toaster threw one back and put a hole in Bandits tent!!! Plus, since his tent is single wall, he was so sad! We were crying and couldn¢t breathe from laughing so hard!! It was hilarious! He had to patch it!
Date: 2023-07-21
From: Warwick Turnpike

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Mood: °Today was a relaxing day. We woke up in our tents and the outside was soaked due to the crazy thunderstorm last night. We knew we were going to hike out today, so we decided to walk to get breakfast from the bagel joint around the corner. As we walked in, Toaster declared that we were going to take a zero. That rubbed me the wrong way at first, because we were all going to chat about it and Toaster, Bandit, Moose Jaw and I had planned on sharing a room that night after hiking. I didn¢t like how we weren¢t included in the conversation. So, I took a walk to the grocery store to brush off my irritability. It was totally fine that we take a zero! I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed  The further north we go, it is much more challenging to find a place to resupply, wash our laundry, and shower in one single town. Plus, everything gets much more expensive. It¢s definitely annoying when trying to plan out mileage. When I got back from the grocery, a shuttle picked us up to drop us off at the Hamlet Inn. Thankfully they had extra rooms, so everyone got their own. Moose Jaw and I showered and then the lady who owns the inn let us borrow her car to do our laundry. So, Toaster drove us to the laundromat to do our laundry. Everyone there was so kind!! They even had a bin of loaner clothes for us to wear while we washed our clothes. Everything from our bags smelled horrific. Moose Jaw wore these cute pajama shorts that were light blue with care bear looking bears on them. I¢m pretty sure they were lady shorts, but he made them look good!! We picked up Mediterranean food on our way back to the Inn and ate our food while watching a movie. Then we took a two hour nap. We have been exhausted. I took out our wet tent to dry. As I laid it over the banister to the Inn, I gagged. It smelled just as bad as our dirty clothes. Luckily the owner had some Febreze for us to spray our tent with. I hope it smells better. For dinner, Moose and I walked across the street. We weren¢t super hungry, but we knew we needed to fuel our bodies. Then we went back to the inn, patched the leak in my sleeping pad, and went to bed. It was the most relaxing zero we have had in awhile. Now it¢s time for us to push a lot more miles.
Date: 2023-07-22
From: Warwick Turnpike

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 16.9

Today was a good day. Moose Jaw and I had a wonderful breakfast together across the street while Toaster, Bandit, Stogie, and Bob Ross was shuttled back to trail. I had a great breakfast sandwich while Moose Jaw had French toast and eggs. It was such a peaceful breakfast sitting together. We did purchase him new shoes during breakfast, though. Yesterday, he happened to look at the bottom of his shoe and he could out his finger through the bottom of both his shoes!! They say shoes die in Pennsylvania, and I think his shoes did. We were shuttled back by the gracious owners of the Hamlet Inn. They were so kind to us! Not long getting back onto trail and we pass into New York!¢In New YorkConcrete jungle where dreams are made ofThere's nothing you can't doNow you're in New YorkThese streets will make you feel brand newBig lights will inspire youNow you're in New York¢- Alicia Keys °°¶¢°»New York already smells better than dirty Jersey. And the views were great today! You could actually see the skyline way off in the distance from one of the boulders we scrambled up today. For lunch we hopped off trail to a hot dog stand! We drank all of the sodas, and then right around the corner was the best dang creamery I have ever been to!! Bellvale Farms Creamery! I got cherry vanilla in a waffle cone and Moose Jaw got half chocolate with brownie bits and vanilla with peanut butter and peanut butter cups in a bowl. It was delicious!! And the view was just, ahhhh!! ° Absolutely breathtaking. I could have stayed there all day. We met this family from New York and talked to them for awhile. They actually had a friend visiting from Barbados!! She gave us some tips on what to do when we visit in October. It was just meant to be to go to this creamery!!After soaking up the views, we headed back to trail and hiked to camp. A stealth spot near some water. It seems as if that¢s the way to go now, since there aren¢t many designated camping spots on our app that we use as a guide while on trail (FarOut). We weren¢t hungry for dinner because as we laid in our tent we smashed an entire bag of salt and vinegar chips that we packed out from our last resupply. Tomorrow will be a long day, but I know we can do it!
Date: 2023-07-23
From: Stealth Site

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 20.1

We woke up today and was slow out of camp. We didn¢t leave until 8:45. We honestly were just too cozy. I can¢t wait for a day where I can sleep for however long that I want. Now, that will be a good day!Today was beyond challenging. It took us until noon to go only five miles. We were dying. We had to climb so many rocks. And the amount of PUDS (pointless ups and downs) were absolutely ridiculous!! There was a section that was so steep going down, that we had to put our poles and and carefully lower ourselves. We were absolutely wiped. I couldn¢t believe how slow and tired we were. Then of course, a couple of miles late Moose and I came up to the lemon squeeze. A section of trail that was so skinny (a cut section out of a large boulder) you had to hold your pack over your head to set up on the ledge so you could squeeze through and then come back for your pack. Just to take your pack off again to climb up the rocks right afterwards. It was fun to do this! But also exhausting. I¢m not sure how we got energy to complete the rest of the day. We just new we had to put in miles, because we have to make it to a certain mile marker by Tuesday evening. As we were hiking past a lake, we saw a sign on the ground. It said, ¢Trail Magic for Thru-hikers. Tan Camry. Back left door.¢ So what did we do¢¦ we walked down the road and opened the back left door to the parked Toyota Camry. Inside were fresh baked cookies and a limeade. So what did we do,¢¦ we ate some cookies and drank some limeade. Crazy how trustworthy you get as a thru-hiker!! So we signed the trail log with our trail names and went back to work. I mean hiking. When we ran into the rest of the group later that day, everyone was GRUMPY!!! I think it¢s the heat. Moose and I decided to hike on while everyone went a different route. Long story short, there was a small 5 miles section of trail that has beautiful views of NY that has been a part of the AT until 2 years ago. At the road crossing, a 60 year-old woman was hit and killed by a vehicle back in 2021. So, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy rerouted the trail further down the road so you miss these awesome views! We said, screw that! We want to see the views and get an awesome camp spot today! So, Moose Jaw and I went ahead, easily crossed the road, and hiked this section of trail. And my oh my, we saw a breathtaking sunset! Not an Arizona sunset, but one of the best I have seen in a long time on trail. I loved it!! Moose and I ran to the ledge after setting up our tent to watch the sun go down! It was superb!! I was so happy we took this route. Then we crawled into the tent, made dinner, and went to sleep. This day ended on a good note, despite how horrible the trail was and how horrible we felt. It was nice to have alone time with Moose today.
Date: 2023-07-25
From: Dennytown Road Campsite

To: NY Route 52 - Curry Estate
Miles today: 15.8

Today sucked. It was hot. And humid. And buggy. And I was so exhausted that I kept tripping over my own feet because it took too much energy to actually lift my legs up when I walked. The five miles to the lake the trail goes around was a tough five miles. We got to the lake and went to the concessions to buy bug spray and food. We didn¢t each much and we¢re absolutely stuffed. With think it was the heat. While eating, we laid out our tent to dry. It became soaking wet from the dew. When we finally mustered up the energy to leave, we hiked out with a big nets on over our heads. We have been wearing those nets 24/7 (well when we are out of our tent) since entering New Jersey and especially New York. We passed a cooler on trail that was trail magic! We got a nice cold snickers from the cooler to share. As we hiked up this horrible incline (all inclines seem horrible at this point) things started to significantly cool down. We knew a storm was brewing. And of course, 2 miles out from our destination, the heavens opened and the rain came down. Poured down is more like it. The trail turned into a river. Moose and I were hauling tail. Toaster caught up with us and hiked with us to the the Pizza joint off of trail. There, the Curry Estate was going to pick Moose and I up since we booked a room for the evening. They also had Moose Jaw¢s new shoes there. Which was a good thing, since his old ones had a hole that you could see through. As we waited for our ride, we ordered a large pizza. Well,¢¦ are large pizza in NY is VERY different than a large pizza from your local pizza shop elsewhere. We saw a worker pick up a circular table and set it down next to our table. Then they brought our pizza out. OUR PIZZA GOT IT¢S OWN TABLE IT WAS SO BIG!!! IT WAS AWESOME!! We obviously had to share the pizza because there was no way we¢d finish the entire thing!! The owners were extremely kind to us and very welcoming to all of the thru-hikers!! We loved it!Jill, from the Curry Estate picked us up! And the place was absolutely stunning. I felt bad that they let dirty, wet hikers (ahem¢¦ meaning moose jaw and i) into the place!!  I was taken back by how gorgeous the grounds were along with the buildings! Moose and I were so excited!! We got an extremely hot shower and they did our laundry, so we got clean dry clothes! We were so thankful!!! It was the best place ever! And the owners were so kind! They offered the keys to their vehicle if we needed it to go somewhere! It was crazy!! Moose Jaw and I were so happy we booked this room days in advance!! We had a great time here!