morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-23
From: Cow Camp Shelter

To: Crab Tree Falls Trail
Miles today: 16.2

Poppie knows how to spoil a hiker. I showed up at around 5:00pm and had Salmon, Steak, and Chicken for dinner. There was no way I was doing the next mile to the shelter so I set up camp right there. Skunk, Aloha, Trench Foot are all staying for breakfast then left. I stayed through lunch with Grey Fox and Tortois. Therefore I had Dinner, breakfast and lunch and almost took a Zero day at Trail Magic which I missed by about 3 hours. Way to go Poppie and Trench Foot.Get a shirt at helptractonhike.com
Date: 2006-05-29
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Pioneer Motel, Front Royal, VA
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: few clouds

I had planned on not taking any full zero days until I was caught up to Ajax and Night Rider. Now, a change of plans. The plan this morning was to go into the Skyland Wayside for breakfast, which I did. I did not plan on catching the flu bug which I know OF 2 other hikers getting it the past day. How did I get sick? BY SIGNING THE FREAKIN SHELTER REGISTERS! I stopped at the Pinnacles Picnic Grounds and watched families enjoying Memorial Day while my body slowly started rejecting the breakfast.I was at the picnic grounds for about 5-6 hours until people started to recognize me as a familiar face at the bathroom. Since my condition was not improving, I decided to get a motel room. However it is Memorial Day and the park is booked solid. I hitched to Front Royal.I know I am not being fair to the shelter registers (spreading diseases). It could have easily been food poisoning. Everytime I thought of the breakfast I had had, I magically saw it AGAIN. Therefore getting a hitch on Skyline Drive is much harder when you can barely stand. Fortunately, the one guy that could possibly understand my sistuation, Manatu was driving by shortly after I revisited my breakfast on the side of the road. His hiking buddy got off the trail that morning for the same reason. Damn shelter registers! Manatu was great about pulling over when I needed it and letting me spit out the pancakes and eggs that drifted into my nasal cavity. Just thinking about that breakfast is a good reason to quit writing NOW!
Date: 2006-05-31
From: Scottish Inns

To: Jim and Molly Denter Shelter
Miles today: 5.2

Hunting deer in the Shenendoah park should be permitted using a knife. The deer really do not move out of your way and using a rifle or even a bow would not be sporting.Therefore, a knife and maybe a headlamp would be good enough for a hunter to fill his limit.
Date: 2006-06-02
From: Rob Hellar Shelter

To: Blackburn trail Center Hostel
Miles today: 17.8

HIKING (THROUGH A STATE) IS LIKE DATING!You meet Georgia and yes you may not be the most experienced hiker at this point but she definately breaks you in or dare I say pops your cherry. But Alas. If she does not break your heart you will move on and meet a girl named Carolina. So you use what you learned in Georgia and begin to hone your hiking skills on Carolina. Then you meet Ms. Tennessee. The problem is you have not quite broke it off with N. Carolina so you begin to "walk the line". After jumping from one state to another so often you wake up in the middle of the night and you don't know which state your in and heaven forbid you call one State by the other's name! You have got to call it off with one or both of them eventually. Then you meet Virginia. Oh! Virginia welcomes you with open arms and takes you places you have never been and you begin to think that this is a state you can stay with. The first weeks are incredible and the views are great? Eventually though, as good things tend to do. They become a little dull and flat. The terrain is not as exciting to "traverse" and you begin to notice a hell of a lot more "tourists" doing their "site seeing"! You notice that your really not jealous your just a little tired of the game. Toward the end the hike/relationship is a "roller coaster" and it ends.But one ending is another beginning so you do what any self respecting guy would do after a long term relationship/hike like Virginia. Move on to Virginia's sister West Virginia!!! Not only that but you do what we hikers call the 4 State Challenge!Heres how the 4 State Challange relates to dating. You always get a last little moment from the state that your breaking up with (Virginia), then you go see West Virginia before lunch. The trick is to have lunch with Maryland so you can spend the rest of the day with her and into the night. As things wind down in the evening and you become exhausted from your daily hike, your goal is to sneak away and spend the night in Pennsylvania, which I hear is HOT!! and a bit psycho at times. But I will not know until I get there.I hope you enjoyed or were completely offended by my demented analogy of "How Hiking is Like Dating".DIRT
Date: 2006-06-08
From: Ed Garvey Shelter

To: Devils Race Course Shelter
Miles today: 30.0

Dusk till dawn hike I was seeing shit all night it was freaking me out. I never want to hike all night again by myself. I kept imagining a zombie attack and no where to go but north or south. I would have been the chick in a horror flick that falls down and gets eaten. Delirious night hikig ALL NIGHT is not recommended.
Date: 2006-06-11
From: US 30 Caldonia Park

To: Shippensburg Rd.
Miles today: 11.3

Cowboy camped again with the JB's. HEre is a funny story for the day:Texas walks up while we are sitting out side the fence of the pool near the snack bar and asks, "Has anyone tried the pool out?" and Rad responds with,"EVERYTIME! Its' my preferred method."
Date: 2006-06-23
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter

To: Blue Mountain B & B
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: few clouds

Hammocked out behind the B&B because I got smashed with the Leprechaun, Greyfox, the Tortoise, and the Sexy Monk (Matt Parker). I took me a nd Tortiose 5 min to set up my hammock. I enlisted her help because I couldn't even tie my shoes.
Date: 2006-06-24
From: Blue Mountain B & B

To: Palmerton Jail Hostel
Miles today: 13.4

Last night it stormed pretty bad but yet I stayed very dry. In fact I was able to relieve myself in my drunken stooper without getting out of the hammock, and as a bonus I did not pee on myself. On the other hand Greyfox and the Leprechaun did not fair so well. I was the first one up in the morning and saw the funniest of drunken tenting happenings. Leprechaun, who has a tarp (keep in mind it had been raining as we left the bar), decided to sleep under a canopy that was open on all four sides, about 8 feet square, and about 10 feet off the ground. He said he woke up, realized he was getting wet, decided he was already wet, and went back to sleep. Everything was so wet, he had to wring out his Wingfoot which did not dry for another week. He was all smiles in the morning like always and I have a picture to prove it.Greyfox on the other hand was laying beside his tarptent. Yes, beside it. Not under it where everything he had managed to stay dry. Evidently, in his drunken stooper he decided that the canopy would have been a better place to sleep to stay dry. So he decided to roll out from under his dry tarptent in the middle of the rain, but only make it half way to the canopy before passing out again. Yet in the morning he still was the first one to leave and get to Palmerton. He managed, WHile hung over, fighting a cold virus, to hike the most rocky, wet, and slippery, all in all the most treacherous terrain we have seen so far and still get to the hostel to read his book and update his journal. Incredible!The Tortoise did well like always even though she has now caught the cold virus.
Date: 2006-06-25
From: Palmerton Jail Hostel

To: Gateway Motel
Miles today: 0.0

Now I have the Cold. I went to Rite Aid to buy a Monopoly set to pass the time becouse I was planning on zeroing tomorrow. Tortoise's parents came to town and treated all of us to dinner which was great. The big downer for the day was when the Sexy Monk had his pack stolen. It could have just as easily been my pack because it was sitting right beside his. Greyfox and I are trying reoutfit him with some of the spare gear we have at home. In the mean time, we have to press on ahead to Wind Gap because we cn only stay on night at the hostel even though we are sick.
Date: 2006-09-15
To: Katahdin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

A while back I received a note and a cd from Joe. The cd had a bunch of pictures on it and I posted most of them so please check them out.I found the note today that Joe sent me a while ago and it said he planned on being on Katahdin on 9/15/06. When I was driving home from work, I called his cell phone, hoping to catch him on the summit. He didn't answer and I left a message."Dirt" called me back around 8pm. He made it up Katahdin and he finished his thru hike. He was in Millinocket Maine and was planning on going home in a few days. He was very excited and we talked for about a half hour.Dirt plans on updating his journals with pictures when he gets home.I had a great time transcribing Dirts journals. It was the best way to experience the AT without being on it. Hopefully down the road I'll be thru hiking the AT.Thanks Joe Dirt, Farmer Bob
Date: 2006-09-16
To: Friends
Miles today: 0.0

The day of the final summit felt like another day with anticipation of what was waiting at home. And so I looked beyond what I did not want to do but knew was at hand at the bottom of the Knife's Edge Trail down Katahdin; bidding farwell to friends. The word "friends" is such a cheap word for what these people were and the word "family" is only accurate to the degree of what they meant to me. I apologize for not saying 'it', because as some of you know about me I just do not say "goodbye." It's a character flaw that developed from my many moves as a military boy. I always say, "take care", "have a good one", or "see yall later" or if I do say the word "goodbye" it is done casually, because in truth; to me it is just another day and I will see you down the trail, even though it is not as simple as that. I really do believe that the next time I see you, will make the last day we met seem like yesterday to me.
Date: 2006-10-04
To: I can't be done!
Miles today: 0.0

I finished walking over 2000 miles but what I have learned is only beginning of my adventure. I have learned so many daily valuable life lessons that I only hope to apply to, what for the past many months, I have jokingly called the "real world", my life.One lesson is the old clichet, "Wherever you go, there you are." So you better like yourself to get along. I use this mentality everyday and it was very valuable while hiking because the challenges that I faced on the AT were not of physical merit. There was always an anticipation hanging over head about the terrain, or the trail conditions, or the weather that was upcoming in the immediate days. It was boardom that sometimes showed its face when there was nothing to see that you had not seen and done already. But rather than just being in a pissy mood (it was usually the weather that got to me) I found something that altered that frame of mind souring the day. A book, a story you heard, a trail rumor, a $1.25 wooden flute to play when one has no musical ability at all; whatever it takes but you don't break the rule, the personal rule that you make someone else have a pissy day also. Then you think through what is bringing you down; and you ask why should this bring you down? And there is no good reason because all you have to say is "This is life on the AT." Like I have seen many times in the shelter registers, though I do not know who the author was; "A bad day on the AT is better than a good day at work." Mentally you adapt and you do not even know you have adapted.I often have said that everyone should hike. My perspecitive is inverted to to the points of view for those who cannot fathom the reasons one desires to thru-hike. They do not understand me and I do not understand them anymore. As I adapt back into the working world with budgets and time crunches and social pressures, I admit I do have a fear of that point of view dilluting to just a memory. My ace-in-the-hole is the knowledge that all I have to do is hike. Afterall, there is the PCT. This is how I understand what a priviledge it was to leave my home, work, and family for 6 months. I did the trail in 6 months because anything more for me would have been selfish.
Date: 2006-01-22
To: Welcome to my journal
Miles today: 0.0

Hey all!Here goes with my first entry up here. I look forward to keeping everyone up to date with my new peripatetic lifestyle. The plan is to hike from Georgia (starting March 6/7ish) to Maine in one go with Super Hero Casey Metz (he's got a journal too, you oughta check it out). Hey, maybe we should wear capes! With big letters on the back! And underwear over our pants! That would be sweet. We've got everything planned out pretty much, so all I've got left to do is wait around antsily for March!
Date: 2006-02-01
To: my poor mom!
Miles today: 0.0

Last night I thought I'd test out some sleeping gear in the backyard. This is what happened:"'Night mom!" says me."Where are you going?...Don't be ridiculous! Wait until Casey comes, or ask Jeremy (my brother) to pitch his tent next to yours, or (in desperation) ask the Jallads if you can borrow Nemo (their puppy)!"Grumpily and teenager-like I stomped back to my room. Figuring that I'd go out once she was asleep, she left a note on my bag that read: "Milooif you decide to sleep outside, please take your cell phone your knife and the house keys (lock the front door)Beaux Reves xoxo Maman(and if you can, wait for Jeremy tomorrow!)"Sure, bring your knife and have sweet dreams! Forunately the night went smoothly and no frothing deer or neighbors came to the attack.The AT might to be harder on her than on me. Ne t'inquiete pas Maman, ca ira!
Date: 2006-02-01
To: geargeargear and a cold front
Miles today: 0.0

I've started making a comprehensive list of all my gear in the gear section to the left over there. I used other people's journals extensively while researching my own gear purchases, so I'm trying to be as thorough as possible for the reference of future thru-hikers. For the stuff that's really new I'll add reviews at the end. And even for stuff that's not so new but has never been outside for 6 months in a row.By the way have you ever felt a cold front coming in? I was thinking about this while I was writing the last entry. When Casey and I set up the tarptent in Oberlin a couple weeks ago the night was so warm we were laughing that it would be useless as a test run for our gear, but we hadn't heard that there was supposed to be a cold front coming in post-midnight. I've never really felt it like that, usually it seems like it's warm and then I go inside and by the time I'm out again it's cold. We were sleeping just fine until about 1am and were woken up by really loud winds coming from far away. Couldn't feel it yet, just heard it getting louder as it approached us in the arb. It sounded like an ocean. Eventually when it smacked into us it was strange how solid it felt. We hadn't paid attention to the winds the night before and had set up the tent facing the wrong way so that when they came they opened the beak and barged in the front door and squeezed past our shoulders to the bottom of the sleeping bag. Surprisingly (and thankfully) my Apache and our expander-invention kept us reasonably comfortable. When we woke up in the morning everything was covered in ice and snow. One of the stakes came up, but fortunately it had held fast through the night. Unfortunately our shoes were also covered and filled with ice and snow! Casey had no gloves so he had to stop every 30 seconds to warm up his hands, and half an inch of ice was compacted to the inside of my shoe so that it turned to ice water when I put it on. But as soon as we got up and started moving we warmed right up. It was pretty exciting. We'll see how long it stays exciting when it's every day...but at least for now I'm happy that I thought it was fun rather than misery. A good sign I hope!
Date: 2006-02-05
To: a Harriman hike
Miles today: 0.0

This morning I loaded up my pack and my dad and I went hiking in Harriman Park. It was wonderful hiking weather, mid-40s most of the time and a grey sky with some wind. There were mostly hemlocks (tsuga canadensis), white oaks (quercus alba), mountain laurel ( kalmia latifolia), and plenty of my favorites, beech (fagus grandifolia) trees. Beech trees in the winter look like ghost trees to me--their bark is that pale pale grey that wraps wrinkle-free around the trunk. And the leaves that still cling to the younger trees are the faded color of yellowed parchment rather than the customary fallen-leaf brown. For any of you that might frequent Harriman--we took the White Bar trail, which goes through a narrow valley with steep walls (where you get an eerie feeling that you could easily be ambushed), turned around where the White Bar intersects with the Long Trail and the Arden-Surebridge (less than a quarter mile from the AT's Lemon Squeezer), and followed the short, pretty, and ill-marked Lichen trail. The lichen trail had some lovely blustery panoramic views from the scorched and rock-encrusted hilltop. Unfortunately, because of a recent fire, at least 5 marked trees had face-planted on the rocks, so staying on the trail takes some guesswork.And now it's funny to be writing from the warmth of the kitchen in my house, with plenty of easily nabbed leftovers. At one point I had a crazy impluse to make a break for the AT. Soon enough, I suppose. T-27 days!
Date: 2006-02-08
To: a little local AT history
Miles today: 0.0

Since my last hike in Harriman that approached the AT at such a perilously close range (too bad about the lack of pictures, by the way--we discovered at the trailhead that the camera batteries were dead), I decided to do some research concerning local AT history via my dad's 'Harriman Trails: A Guide and History'. This way I can sound knowledgable when we swing through my neck of the woods (gods willing!).The first section of the AT in Harriman/Bear Mountain parks was marked in 1922, between Green Pond Mountain and what's now Route 17. 'Twas officially opened on Sunday, October 7th, 1923. Surely much ribbon-snipping and cake was involved. News to me, there used to be about 60 elk wandering around the Arden/Southfields area, then called the 'Elk Pen' or 'Elk Range.' These western beasts had been imported from Yellowstone in 1919. They clearly weren't thrilled with their new location, however, and in 1942 the last of the dwindling herd was sold to a dealer in Hoosick Falls. I've never heard of an elk dealer. Must be another sadly dying breed.The William Brien Memorial Shelter just before the PIP was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, was ruined by unexplained forces, then rebuilt with generous funding from William Brien. William Brien was the first president of the NY Ramblers, who are either a NYC hiking club that was founded in 1923 (suspiciously enough, the very same year the NY leg of the AT was opened), or NYC's 25 year old gay soccer club. Here are their respective websites, so you can decide for yourself which of them you think William Brien was the first president of:http://www.nyramblers.org/index.htmlhttp://www.newyorkramblers.org/Deeper into Bear Mountain SP, hikers approach Doodletown, an abandoned village which has spawned legends that have held Rockland County Girl Scouts captive for many a summer. As a counselor at the GS camp, it was my responsibility to fuel midnight talk about prospective terrifying trips to Doodletown. It was first inhabited around 1917 by a fellow named Ithiel June, and continued to be inhabited almost solely by the Junes until 1965. The Park bought it and banished the very last Doodletown inhabitant, Clarence June, Jr., to reside in greater NY on January 16, 1965. The GS story about the town's name went that British soldiers who happened through the town would derisively whistle 'Yankee Doodle.' The townsfolk proudly and subversively named their their beloved hamlet after the tune. Some say that if you stand on old Doodletown road on the 16th of every January, you can still hear poor Ithiel and Clarence whistling 'Yankee Doodle keep it up...Yankee Doodle dandy...' ...swishhhhhh...
Date: 2006-02-13
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

After a disappointingly warm winter, yesterday we got hit with the nor'easter and were snowed in for the day. Out came the sadly dusty snow-shovels and neighbor's kids looking to earn a couple bucks or get in some community service hours. It's a great change to see everything covered in white. I definately could never live in a place without seasons. I've heard some extoll the virtues of constant summer or spring, but for me part of the joy of spring is seeing the crocuses peek out of the snow, the nascent maple leaves glow a translucent yellow-green, spotting the first harbingers of spring, spring beauties, and some of the less glamorously named flowers like bloodroot and trout lily. Without a few months of bare branches covered in white, there wouldn't be the same excitement. Not to mention how much I love autumn and winter anyway. Being in TX last fall, away from the autumnal fireworks for the first time in my life, was incredibly emotionally taxing for some reason. Has anybody else from the north ever experienced that, is that wierd? I didn't expect the lack of seasons to be nearly as stressful as it was. It was like something had gone apocalyptically wrong somewhere within the Elizabethan chain of being. Anyway. Point being I was happy with the snow. Also, I wanted to share this poem I found in my dad's pile of Harriman Park/AT maps, from page 2 of the New York Walk Book. I enjoyed it. Probably Lewis Carol would have too.:"Blessed of the Lorde is this land, for the sweetnesse of heven, and of the scee vnderliende; for the sprynges; for the precious thinges off the Sonne; for the sweetnesse of the toppes of the oold mounteynes, and for the daynties of the hillis that last forever." Englysche Bybels (antedate King James)