morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-07-25
From: Home

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Getting ready to catch the train to Delaware Water Gap to get on the trail on Monday. It was nice being home, but it will be better on the trail. I am planning on hiking from the PA/NJ border to Katahdin,ME, about 900 miles. The sections in Virginia I missed I am not planning on hiking as I have already hike those sections. I will someday hike PA/MD to finish my AT hike. While at home, I was able to repair/replace gear, switch out gear to reduce my weight and I prepared some meals that I will be mailing to meself. Hopefully, these meals will be more balanced which I am hoping will prevent me from getting sick again. See you from the trail
Date: 2010-07-26
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: few clouds

I restarted my trip and in true "Goonie" fashion I got an early start. It was 11:15 am. It was great being on the trail again, I didnt realize how much I missed it. While having lunch at Sunfish Pond, a glider zipped across the pond about 10 feet above the water, very cool. He did this several times. It was an eaxy day to get back into the hike, nice terrain, but very rocky.They seem to have very strict regulations about camping on the trail. You can only legally camp at designated campsites. Hopefully, this is not a pattern. I had my first "run-in" with The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC). The caretaker at the campground said that thru-hikers can camp for free. I told him I was a thru-hiker then he tried to charge me $8 to camp. When I reminded him that he said that thru-hikers could camp for free, he quickly changed his mind and said I could camp for free. Then he tried to get me to buy dinner for $15. The stories I heard about AMC seems to be correct.
Date: 2010-07-27
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Rattlesnake Mountain Campsite
Miles today: 12.0

FIrst of all I wasn't to thrill with the name of mountain, but saw no rattlesnakes about the only thing to go right today. My original plan was to camp at the AT Shelters at a Y-Camp (Ken-Ewita-Pec). However, it appears that the camp hasn't been used in several years, but from what I could tell we were still allowed to use the shelter. While I was checking out the shelters to see what kind of "vermits" were living in them a large bear decide to check me out. I was able to scare the bear away. Because the bear showed up, I decided not to stay at the Y-Camp shelters and try to make it to the Rattlesnake Mountain Campsites. As soon as I got back on the AT, I had to scare away another bear. I think it was the same bear as earlier. If it was the same bear, I am sure the bear is totally confused. And the night was just starting. Besides seeing 4-5 piles of fresh, and I do mean fresh, bear scat, I heard 5-6 large animals crashing through the woods as I hike down the trail. Because of the noise they made, they had to be bears. To top that off, as soon as it got dark enough to need to hike with my headlamp, I watch a mother bear and cub climb down a tree and eyeball me for a good minute before running away. At that point in time, I decide I was going to hike until I find someone else to camp with even if it took all night. I was not camping alone this night. Luckily, Halftime was camping at Rattlesnake Mountain and he was extremely glad to have company. A couple of nights later at Pochuck Moutain Shelter, I was saw the local ridgerunner (person who keeps an eye on a particular section of trail), he was putting up a notice about an aggresive bear in this same area and that the area was closed to camping except at the shelter. It seems like this bear had already been relocated from another area because he got to good at getting down the hikers food hanging from bear bags. When we camp, we hang out food from trees so the bears do not the food. Now he tells me.Saw my first southbounder (SOBO) today.
Date: 2010-07-28
From: Rattlesnake Mountain Campsite

To: Gren Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Another intersting day. Even through I saw no bears, bears were still on my mind and will be for the rest of the trip. As I was reading the shelter register, there were entries from other hikers about a big old bear, wearing an ear tag and walking with a limp, that like to hang out at this shelter. Just what I needed after last night. And to make matter worse, I ended up camping alone. The only animals I had to deal with was a chipmunk and a deer. It did rain during the night, but stop before I started hiking.
Date: 2010-07-29
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: High Point Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: few clouds

Not a very eventful day. We did go beside NJ highest point in the state, which is only 1,803 feet in elevation. All of the thru-hikers at the shelter decided to camp in the field below the shelter due to the mice living in the shelter. The shelters in NJ are equiped with Bear Boxes so we don't have to hang our food from trees, which I like much better. We don't have to find the perfect tree and then throw our rope up into the tree (which can be quite entertaining) and if it rains at night our food is in a nice dry box instead of hanging in a tree in dry bag which sometimes leak. Since it has been so dry in this area, the local trail maintainer had been leaving water caches for the hikers. Without these caches we would be carry a gallon or two of water as most of the water sources are dry.
Date: 2010-07-30
From: High Point Shelter

To: Pochuck Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: scattered clouds

The trail in much improved in terms of rocks. This is the kind of trail that makes hiking 20 miles days very easy. However, since I just got back on the trail a few days again I cannot manage much more the 12-13 miles days. My pace is good at 2+ miles per hour, I just have to work back up to the distance I want to travel in a day (15-20 miles). Went into Unionville, NY for lunch. A very nice friendly little town. The trail was all in NJ except for the trip into trail. The ex-Mayor of the town allows hikers to stay at his house. From what I have heard it is a great place to stay for a small fee of $10. It includes a place to sleep, dinner, breakfast, laundry and a cold drink. Because I had a deadline to get to Vernon, NJ for my maildrop, I couldnt stay and had to continue hiking. The house used to be called the Mayor's House, but since he is no longer the Mayor, the house is now referred to as "The Outhouse". Due to personal reasons, this is the last year he will allow hikers to spend the night. However, the town still allows hikers to camp in the City Park. While in town, I ran into Dancing Wind and Indiana. I haven't seen them since Trail Day in Damascus, Va.A half a mile from the shelter, we had to get water for the night and part of the next day from an abandoned house. The water is turned and the bill paid by the local trail club. I ended up carrying 9 pounds of water up the hill to the shelter. That was tough.
Date: 2010-07-31
From: Pochuck Mountain Shelter

To: St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Miles today: 6.5

A new record for me, I was up and on the trail by 6:45 am. Thanks Mrs. Joy. I could get kicked out of the "Goonies" if I keep they believe in leaving camp at 10 - 11 am. I had to leave that early so I could make it to town before the Post Office closed at noon. I made it. No problem. The terrain today was more like what I expected. It was flat and open. In fact, we walk over about a mile of boardwalk over swamps. I heard that it took over seven years to build the boardwalks. It was actually a very interesting area.   I am staying at the hostel in the basement of St. Thomas Episcopal Church. It still amazes me how many places freely open their doors up to help the thru-hikers. In addition to sleeping here, they have showers, washer and dryer, TV, internet access and a small camp store. Father Bob came by and made sure that there was nothing I needed. It is after 9 and time for bed. I am the only hiker here. UPS and Sideways still have not caught up with me. The last I heard they are still about a day behind me. It is amazing how fast information goes up and down the trail. When infomration goes up and down the trail is called The Pony Expess. I guess they are taking it easy until Sideways gets his legs back under him as he was off the trail for about 3 weeks. Tomorrow I finsh another state (NJ) and start hiking NY.
Date: 2010-08-01
From: St. Thomas Episcopal Church

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: broken clouds

Got an early start from town for once. However, I had to walk the entire 2.5 miles back to the trailhead. There wasn't much traffic this morning since it was Sunday. In total, I hiked 20 miles today. The day started out with probably NJ's hardest climb. The 900 foot Wawayanda Mountain. It was another hot and humid day. About halfway up the mountain I was told by a southbound section hiker that a couple that thinks were UPS and Sideways were just ahead of me. A little bit later at Wawayanda Shelter I ran into Sideways taking a break and started hiking with him. A few minutes later we ran into UPS taking a break. After we crossed into NY, the three of us ran into Herro and Yum Yum taking a break. It was good to see old friends and hiking partners. When I was home sick, I slacked packed the four of them through Shenadoah National Park. We did stop for some real homemade ice cream that was just a short distance from the trail. We did get a nice rain shower in the afternoon, which was greatly needed in this area. We we made it to camp and the spring was completely dry. Made for a long night as I could not cook dinner, just had to eat snacks for dinner. We also crossed into NY today and climbed the AT highest point in NY.
Date: 2010-08-02
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: few clouds

What a long day. Not having water last night didnt help. I was sluggish all day with no energy. Stopped at Fitzgerald Waterfall and there were only a trickle of water, but did manage to fill our bottles. The goal for the day was Lake Tiorati. Because of the heat and lack of energy, I didn't make it. The rest of the group decided to hitch hike into town for a late lunch. Of course, when hikers go to town it is very hard to leave. And today was no exception. The rest of the group ended up staying on the outside of town at a lake house of a trail angel. When I made it to the road crossing, I decided to skip going to town and keep hiking as I was moving very slowly. I almost called the local hotel and see if they would pick me up at the road crossing. If I knew the rest of the gang wasn't going to make the lake, I think I would have gone to the hotel. After crossing the road, I had an 800 foot climb up Island Pond Mountain. Part way up the mountain, I went through Lemon Squeeze. A tight little narrow passage through a rock formation. It was all I could do to make it through this passage. Just past the Lemon Squeezer, there was another passage that was even tighter. This passage had an alternate easy route and since it was late, I took the easy path. The easy route was anything but easy. I still had to take my pack off and throw it ahead as I climbed up the rocks. I stopped a few miles short of the lake. I thought the rest of the group was way ahead of me. Come to find out, I was ahead of them. Now for my soapbox.To the trail designers in NY.Congradulations!!! I know you had to have spent the last 20 years to find the most inhospital place to locate the trail. I think you have succeeded. The trail design was terrible and that is being nice. I understand that you want to locate the trail on durable surfaces to help prevent erosin and make trail maintenance easiler. But, you went way overboard. Up and down sheer cliff faces is stupid. There were places at 6'2" I could not make the step, I really wonder how someone 5'2" did it. Use a little common sense. Now if the trail was properly blazed it might have helped. Your had change in direction blazes in the wrong direction. Many places there were no blazes. A can of paint is not the much money. In other places, the blaze was 20 feet from the trail. Finally, do some trail maintenance. I lost count of the blow downs. And the weeds, in places, were 7 feet tall.
Date: 2010-08-03
From: Fingerboard Shelter

To: Ft. Montgomery
Miles today: 14.0

What a day, another very hot and humid day. Fingerboard Shelter didn't have a water source, so I hike the AT about a mile to the road that goes down to the lake. When I was at the lake filling up my water bottles and cooking breakfast, the rest of the gang got dropped off by their trail angel from their luxury stay the night before. We all started off down the trail. Herro's uncle was meeting him and Yum Yum in Fort Montgomery for a much needed zero day. UPS and Sideways were invited to join them. We had a very tough climb up West Mountain. Of course this is NY and the trail was extemely poorly marked. At one point, I lost the trail and spent a couple of hours trying to find it again. What a pain-in-the-ass. There was no need for this waste of time. Is it really that hard to properly mark the trail. After finding the trail again, I was then facing Bear Mountain. Just what I needed. I ended up getting a ride with a section hiker into Fort Montgomery and by-passed Bear Mountain. I had hiked enough today in this heat.
Date: 2010-08-04
From: Ft. Montgomery

To: Graymoore Spiritual Center
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

A very hot and humid day. I left town alone as the rest of the gang was taking a zero at Herro's Uncles. The trail goes through Bear Mountain Zoo, which is the lowest place on the AT at 124 ft above sea level. From what I have heard from the other hikers, the zoo is really sad with very small cages for the animals. Since the zoo was closed, I took the by-pass around it to the Hudson River Bridge. The trail goes through the parking lot of a conveniece store, which is always great. It means cold drinks. Even through I only hiked 7 miles today, I stopped at the Graymoore Spiritual Life Center as this was one place I wanted to stay. Since, I missed many interesting places to stay, I wasn't missing this one. In 1972, a thru-hiker stumbled upon the center looking for a place to camp. The monks allowed him to stay and since then the center allows hikers to camp on their ballfield. The place has running water, a cold water shower, a shelter and a port-a-potty. You also can order pizza here. We ran into a person staying at the center and she took us up to the coke machine in the business office for a cold drink. It was a good day to see wildlife. I saw a baby snake moving quickly to get off the trail before someone step on him, 3 deer and a turkey.
Date: 2010-08-05
From: Graymoore Spitual Center

To: Shenadoah Campsite
Miles today: 17.0

What a shock another very hot and humid day. Water is very scarce. It did rain, at times quite hard, during the morning. It didn't really help the drought. All it really did was to make the trail wet and drive up the humidity. On top of Shenadoah Mountain, someone painted the American Flag as a tribute to 9-11. I didn't make it as far as I wanted but 17 miles was a good day in this heat and humidity. I was hoping to get a couple more miles down the trail to the RPH Shelter (another shelter where you can order a pizza), but the humidity just zapped my energy. I ended camping at a campsite that looked like it was an old church. There was a youth group camping there also and those groups are always for a laugh or two in camp. Right before I got to camp a racoon crossed the trail in front of me.
Date: 2010-08-06
From: Shenadoah Campsite

To: Telephone Pioneer Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It was much cooler today and the humidity is also much lower. Which was a great relieve. Actually able to get hike some easy miles. Everything is still very dry and I have to carry more water then I want, but what can I do. I went by Nuclear Lake. A very pretty lake. I have no idea how the lake got its name, but with a name like Nuclear it does make you wonder. I was going to camp by the lake but everything was marked as "No Camping" and the section hikers that were going to illegally camp there weren't to friendly. There was enough daylight so I just hiked to the shelter, arriving shortly before dark.
Date: 2010-08-07
From: Telephone Pioneer Shelter

To: Pawling, NY
Miles today: 3.0

It was an easy three mile hike into town. I ended up sharing a room with a section hiker. A fire fighter from Greensboro, NC. This is the third year of section hiking the trail. He is hiking 1/3 of the trail each year and he should finish his hike of the AT this year. At the road crossing is Dover Oak, the largest Oak tree on the AT. It is 20'4" and estimated to be over 300 years old. I went to the Post Office to pick up my mail drop. They didnt have it, which really made me nervous as there was not really a grocery store around. Come to find out, I was at the wrong Post Office. Being a small town Post Office, they call the right Post Office to make sure my package was there before I got a ride to it. It was there. When I went to pick up my package from the right Post Office, the clerk teased me a bit about going to the wrong Post Office. I guess I desired it. Was able to do my laundry at the hotel, which was great. Actually got to really relax this afternoon something strange for a town day. Went to a very good BBQ resturant for dinner. We ordered the combo platter, which included chicken, ribs, pork and sides. It was more then we good eat and had to get a doggy bag. And being on the trail, that is saying something with our appetites.
Date: 2010-08-08
From: Pawling, NY

To: Mt Algo Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: light rain

Another long day, but if the heat and humidity stay low, it is not bad. Actually, saw a river with water in it. That might sound strange but lately all of the water sources has been dried up, which makes finding water very important. Yesterday going into Pawling, NY the water source is a water spigot on the side of a fence beside the trail. Thanks trail angels. While having lunch at Ten Mile River lean-to it actually rained for a couple of minutes. Ten Mile River is a major river in this part of the country. There is actually a swimming beach complete with parking lot. Since there was so many people here swimming, I somehow knew that there was a convience store nearby. I talk to one of the locals out walking her dog, I was right there was a store right on the other side of the covered bridge. Nothing like a cold drink. I crossed the NY/CT border, but after a few miles in CT we had to climb Mt. Schaghticoke Mountain, which is in NY. At the end of the day, I was completely finished with NY and sleeping in CT.
Date: 2010-08-09
From: Mt Algo Shelter

To: Kent. CT
Miles today: 1.0

What can I say, a short day into town, a very short day. It was actually only 0.3 miles on the trail to the road and then 0.8 mile road walk to town. The plan was supposed to be a quick in and out to resupply and pick-up a package at the outfitters. The package was not there and I had to straighten out a couple of problems. So I was in town much longer then expected. By the time, I got ready to leave UPS, Sideways came arrived and told me that Low Rider, who was on vacation this week, was hiking with them. So I ended up hanging around to see Low Rider again. Since I had already wasted most of the day in town I nded up staying the night. Because there were no hostels or cheap hotels in town we ended up sleeping in the yard at the local church between the cemetary and playground. Of course, the weather guesser said it was not going to rain and it did. I did find out that my tent has a couple of small leaks that I will need to fix.
Date: 2010-08-10
From: Kent. CT

To: Housatonic Meadow State Park
Miles today: 15.0

Left Kent with the rest of the gang and followed the river all day. It was a very nice hike but not all of it was on the AT. Some of it was on a forest road and fire road. Oh well, they say to hike your own hike and we are. Because the trail was old road I got to catch up with Low Rider since he left the trail in Pearisburg, VA. The day wasnt all bad I found a $10 bill on the side of the road. Cold drinks are on me. We ended up camping at the local state park. We chatted about a couple of different options to break up the routine hiking. Physically we are all doing as great as can be expected. Mentally we need to break the dulldrums of hiking every day.
Date: 2010-08-11
From: Housatonic Meadow State Park

To: Low Riders' House
Miles today: 0.0

What an interesting day. First, we waded crossed the Housatonic River. The river wasn't real deep, but the current was swift in places. Then we hike the railroad tracks on the otherside of the river thinking we could make better that way. Luckily we only had to jump out of the way of one train that passed us. We dubbed walking the railroad tracks "rail blazing". The thought was good, but hiking the railroad tracks was actually slow. So we crossed over to a road and walked into Cornwall Bridge. Low Rider decided that he was holding up back by hiking with us and decided to go home and get his Jeep and slack pack us the rest of the week. While we were waiting for his girlfriend to come get us, we went kayaking. It was an easy 6 mile paddle. I think we all needed the break from hiking and UPS had never been kayaking. After kayaking, we went to Low Riders house and cleaned up and did laundry. We also figured out the our plans for the next couple of days.
Date: 2010-08-12
From: Low Riders' House

To: Sages Ravine
Miles today: 15.0

What a day!!!!   First, Low Rider dropped us off to slack pack. The hiking was nothing out of the normal. Part way through the day we ran into Herro and Yum Yum. The hiked into Kent with UPS and Sideways but they ended up staying in a Bed & Breakfast and the group got seperated leaving town. Then the day got interesting.  Low Rider ended up not being able to park in the original spot as planned. When he got to the trail to meet us, UPS and Sideways were no place to be found. We looked for them but couldn't find them. Of course, we could not get any cell phone reception. The big concern was that UPS and Sideways had no gear with them but a couple of headlamps and a water filter. Come to find out that they took the wrong trail to the parking lot and hike about 5 miles out of the way. They ended up staying at a house that boards hikes. So they were safe. Yum Yum and Herro went to the campground and was never heard from again. They stopped by the Jeep and picked up their gear to go to the campground we were planning on staying. If they ran into the our missing duo they were going to tell them were the Jeep was park. Low Rider and myself ended up sleeping in the Jeep in the parking lot. It did rain a bit on use doing the night, which was of some concern to me as I knew UPS and Sideways had no gear. The mext morning I hiked down to the campground and was told by the ridgerunner that Yum Yum and Herro left very early that morning, which is very strange for them. We have not seen them since. We also went over CT highest point in Bear Mountain elevation 2,316. There was a monument on top made out of rocks. I guess that is one way to get the rocks off the trail.
Date: 2010-08-13
From: Sages Ravine

To: Homes Road
Miles today: 17.0

We finally got UPS and Sideways back and I met up with them at Mt. Everette. They are safe. They were able to call the lady that runs the Bed & Breakfast and she came and picked them up at the trailhead at 11 pm last night. UPS was very grateful that I told them that they should carry a headlamp when slackpacking. It really saved them. Without the headlamp all they could do is sit beside the trail, with no gear, and wait for daybreak. Low Rider slack pack the three of us again and this time with no hitches. We also left CT and are now in MA. Another state bites the dust.