morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-06-18
From: Stealth camp

To: Port Clinton
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Justin came up and hiked a few miles with me. We are in Port Clinton for the night. I skipped the steep rocky downhill climb into PC. I had enough of that with yesterday's boulder scramble. I'll confess to making two stupid decisions after leaving Pine Grove. After hiking about 5 or 6 miles, I came to a boulder field. It was like a rock field, only the rocks are much larger and hardwr to negotiate. I didn't see a clear trail of white blazes, but I did see a blaze on the other side of the field. I spent a half hour scrambling across only to find that the blaze was only a white rectangular rock, not a blaze. Instead of retracing my steps back to the trail, I made a second mistake and tried to trailblaze to where I thought the trail was going. I ended up in a worse rock field, overgrown withbeush and leaves hiding the holes between the rocks. I finaly made the smart choice and retraced my steps. When I got back, I found the trail curved gently downhill to a pleasant picnic area and avoided the boulder field. Fortunately, the only price I paid was two hours and a day's worth of energy. I heard that another hiker fell in a rock field and injured his knee so badly he'll have to take several days off, if he can continue his hike. I'll definitely be more careful in the future about paying attention to the blazes.Tomorrow, I'll start up the hill from Port Clinton and not worry about the downhill that I skipped.In other news, Pippi left the trail. After a series of unfortunate incidents, she decided enough was enough and headed home.I should be in Palmerton by about Thursday and Delaware Water Gap (on the Pa - NJ border) the following week.
Date: 2011-06-19
From: Port Clinton

To: Windsor Furnace Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This is Rusty, picking up the narrative from All In again after duct taping (literally!) my Jeep together and driving it back to WV from my Wilderness EMT class in NC. All In texted to me that he spent the morning with his son, Justin, topped off with a Father's Day lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Port Clinton. Afterward, Justin took him back to the trail, where he hiked six miles to the Windsor Furnace Shelter. He had a fairly uneventful day on the trail this afternoon, which end up nicely with him getting fed dinner by a boy scout troop. Tomorrow, he plans to cover 14 miles.Rusty
Date: 2011-06-21
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter

To: Campsite outside Palmerton, PA
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday, All In hiked 11 miles to the top of Hawk Mountain. His goal was 14 miles for the day; but, he came upon a good campsite with some good people at 11 miles and decided to stop for the night. There was a tempting shelter nine miles into the hike that boasted showers and pizza delivery, but, with determination in his heart, he turned away from the shelter and pressed on up to the top of Hawk Mountain. Yesterday was apparently the Day of the Chipmunk on the trail. All In swears he must have seen over 100 of the little rascals. Mating season, maybe?If yesterday was the Day of the Chipmunks, today was the Day of the ROCKS. He covered 11.4 miles total; however, it took 5 1/2 hours to cover the first six miles! If he had pushed, he could have made Palmerton today; however, another beautiful campsite overlooking a valley providing a lovely pastoral scene and the threat of two more rock fields (one of them named Knife Edge!)intervened. He expects to make Palmerton tomorrow and then New Jersey next week.The weight continues to fall off of both All In's frame and his pack's frame. His pack is down to approximately 28 pounds, with 3 liters of water and four day's worth of food! Apparently, a bunch of stuff went home with Justin. When he weighed himself a couple of days ago, All In was down 34 pounds. He estimates that he has lost 40 pounds by now!All In continues to enjoy his time on the trail and is enthusiastically looking forward to the end of the rough trail in Rocksylvania and meeting furry new friends in New Bearsy!Rusty
Date: 2011-06-22
From: Campsite outside Palmerton, PA

To: Palmerton, PA
Miles today: 14.0

All In reports that he hiked twelve miles on the trail today and then two more to get in to town. He crossed over the hardest rocks to date on his trip. The Knife's Edge was insane! If he had tried to push through it yesterday, as he had contemplated, he thinks he would have ended up sitting in the middle of the rocks crying for his mommy (not a pretty mental image!). The afternoon hiking was much smoother.He reports that he is eating a lot of ramen noodles and tuna and filling in with Snickers bars and no-bake fudgies that kind friends and family have sent him. As far as wild-life, other than a couple of rattlesnakes and a bunch of chipmunks, the only unusual animals he's seen are a camel and a few llamas in a farmer's field.Rusty
Date: 2011-06-24
From: Palmerton, PA

To: Leroy South Shelter
Miles today: 16.4

All In faced down a nightmare today that had been plaguing him since he began his hike - the Lehigh Gap ascent. It is a boulder-strewn 1000 ft climb up a steep, treeless mountain denuded by a century of zinc smelting. Portions of this climb are so steep that the hiker has to hold on to the trail in front of himself and literally pull himself up and over the rocks. All In had read many accounts from various hikers as he prepared to start his hike and he had been brooding on this ascent for many of the previous days and had considered more than once either slackpacking this section or hitching a ride and skipping it altogether. However, in the end, he cinched up his pack this morning and faced down his fears. It turned out to be about as bad as he expected. At one point, he almost surrendered and turned back down the trail, knowing that, if he hit a point on the trail that was too tough, he would not be able to go either up or down and would have to call for someone to rescue him. Fortunately, this turned out to be the toughest spot and he was able to overcome it and finish the climb. I have attached a file photo from the internet site Purebound.com just so you have an idea what he climbed.The rest of the day's hike was a reward for conquering the Lehigh Gap climbout. The ridgeline had an abundance of ripe blueberries and a riot of red, blue and yellow flowers, punctuated with the light purple and green of Scottish thistles. Even a soaking from an afternoon thunderstorm couldn't dampen his spirits after finally facing down one of his trail demons. In all, All In put in 16.4 miles and ended the day at the Leroy South Shelter.Rusty
Date: 2011-06-25
From: Leroy South Shelter

To: Kirkridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

All In had a fairly uneventful day on the trail today. After yesterday's climb, it was time for an uneventful day. He covered 13.4 miles to the Kirkridge Shelter, with a stop in Wind Gap to eat a doughnut and wait for the rain to pass through. In all, he had one climb and one rock field that came fairly late in the day and seem particularly cruel. He also heard a bear crashing around in the woods, but didn't see it. He sent me a "representative photo" of the what he imagined the bear looked like based on how it sounded (see the picture under the photo button on the left). I am a little skeptical about the "representative photo", personally.Rusty
Date: 2011-06-26
From: Kirkridge Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 6.5
Weather: broken clouds

Tomorrow, I leave PA and enter NJ. Today was about trail magic. I woke up to two guys offering burgers, oranges, brownies, soft drinks and beer for breakfast. They thru hiked last year and were spending the day feeding hikers. I also met a guy who gave me gatorade and beef jerky. He offered me a "magical cookie" but I declined. Other thoughts on the trail: The concept of bears in the woods is not nearly as unsettling as the reality of a bear in the woods. Palmer is a great trail town. No Walmart, so all the normal businesses like hardware stores, sporting goods, produce market, small diners, barber shops, etc. still line the main street. The street is a couple of miles long with really wide sidewalks. The residents walk along the street in the evenings and gather around the park. Everyone seemed friendly, from the people that gave me directions to the hostel, to the lovely Ronda that served my dinner in Bert's and the grocery store people that give a free apple to through hikers. Interesting people I've met include Mike, Tony, Too Long and Click, Stretch, Mothership, Price and Delaware Dave. Finally, in addition to the comments from friends and family, thanks to Dave in PA, Loretta in New England and Alpine for the supportive entries. Peggy from E. Stroudsburg, I enjoyed talking with you on the trail. If anyone wants to send a direct email, feel free to email me at Daveosaur1956@gmail.com and I'll answer any questions or respond when I can.
Date: 2011-06-27
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

All In covered 10.4 miles today, crossing into NJ, which is his fourth state since starting the hike. About two miles into New Bearsy, he saw his first bear. I asked him if it was 9 feet tall and white and he assured me that it was black and maybe 200 lbs. The bear was fairly small and very nonchalant, so it was a good way to meet his first bear on the trail. Rusty
Date: 2011-06-28
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Trail Shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: light rain

All in covered about 12 miles yesterday after leaving the Mohican Outdoor Center. He met up with another hiker named Walk On. When he came upon Walk On, the man appeared to be fairly spent. He had had to leave the trail earlier due to an injury sustained in a fall climbing out of Lehigh Gap and was just getting started again. He just didn't seem to be getting back into the groove of long distance hiking. All In spent the rest of the day encouraging Walk On and getting him to the shelter. At the shelter he even had to go find Walk On at one point when he went to the spring for water and turned the wrong way to return to the shelter. At this point, All In was feeling fairly frustrated with Walk On. This feeling was only intensified by the fact that the shelter was so full of mosquitoes that he had to set up his tent in the shelter to escape the blood suckers. He and Walk On shared the shelter area with a group of YMCA campers who were staying in tents outside the shelter; however, the mosquitoes were so bad that everyone quickly retired to their tents and there wasn't much visiting.All In then had a lesson in humility this morning when he woke up feeling puny and just plain washed out. This was the first morning that he wasn't excited to be starting the day's hike and even began to have that niggling feeling in the back of his mind that maybe trail was finally beginning to get the better of him. So, today the tables were turned and it was Walk On who was dragging and cajoling All In to walk the 3.2 miles to the next town, where Walk On insisted that they have a hearty breakfast and coffee. This immediately perked All In up and led him to realize that he had been totally out of fuel! It appears that he had gotten into the habit over the last couple of days of just sort of snacking his way through the day and not taking time to fix proper meals in the evening - opting for something quick like pop-tarts, instead of breaking out the stove and fixing dinner. He learned his lesson, regained his sense of adventure, and ended up putting in 12.4 miles for the day. In fact, he has now covered 308.2 miles on the trail.RustyRusty
Date: 2011-06-29
From: Trail Shelter

To: Secret Shelter
Miles today: 12.5

All In covered 12.5 miles today, including crossing over High Point, which is, oddly enough, the highest point in NJ at 1850 ft. Tonight he is staying at a "secret shelter". It is so secret that he didn't even tell me it's name. Actually, I think it is more of an exclusive shelter than a secret shelter. It is located on a private farm and is not listed in any of the guidebooks. It caters exclusively to long distance hikers. It allows them to set up tents, use water and electricity and even has cold showers available. He's living the High Life now!Rusty
Date: 2011-06-30
From: Secret Shelter

To: St Thomas Hostel, Vernon NJ
Miles today: 13.7

Today was probably my best day on the trail yet. Last night I stayed on a farm that has a shelter for long distance hikers. I cowboy camped (slept under the stars until about midnight, when the sleeping bag got too warm and the bugs attacked if I didn't remain covered. I finally retreated to the enclosed shelter when the mosquitos started coming after me with little flashlights. I found out later that they were actually lightning bugs. So it goes. This morning I was sitting on the porch at six am, meditating and waiting for sunrise. (my former coworkers would be shocked to know that the latest I've slept in is 7:30 and I'm usually on the trail before eight. Not only that, I only have coffee every other day or so.Today I started out about eight, went to Unionville, NY and got breakfast at "The End of the Line" grocery. Great ham and egg sandwich, followed by an egg salad sandwich, choco milk, coffee and an ice cream bar. I don't think I've lost any more weight! After, I hiked several miles through a wetland area full of swans, ducks, geese, herons and various amphibians. The day ended with a climb and a hike into Vernon. Total miles were 13.7. When I got to St. Thomas Church hostel, I got a shower, did laundry and the church fed us fish and chips left from their church dinner.Trail thoughts: I have about three or four standard speeds. Going up hills or over rock fields, I'm lucky to manage one mile an hour. Downhill is only slightly faster, surprisingly. Another pace is my strolling through the woods letting my mind take its own course pace (about two miles per) Finally, when I need to get somewhere, I shift into my cadence pace where the terrain allows. I consciously count my paces to focus on keeping a three mile an hour pace. I've discovered that a mile is about 1,250 paces (two steps per pace). The longest cadence I can recall counting is 4,853 paces. (I had 3.8 miles to go and estimated 4800 paces. I was off by 53. How that for an accountant mindset?Delaware Dave starts each day with the thought that "Today just may be the best day ever!" I think I'll adopt that philosophy.
Date: 2011-07-01
From: St Thomas Hostel, Vernon NJ

To: Wawayanda Shelter
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: scattered clouds

All In had a short day today. He covered only 6 miles, as planned, to reach the Wawayanda Shelter. This section contained some of the toughest climbing he's had to do in awhile; however, he is really getting used to the climbs. When he first started the trip back at Memorial Day, he envisioned working up to some 12 to 15 mile days. Now, those days are standard hiking days and anything shorter seems like a stroll. However, today was a day for hanging out with trail friends like Calculator and Brazil Nut and just enjoying being where he is in his life right now. There are precious few enough of those, so it is good to grab ahold of them when they come along.All In had mentioned earlier that packages could be sent to Antonio's; however, it turns out that Antonio's is booked for the holiday weekend. It turns out that Antonio is a really nice guy, though, and told All In to call as he passes through and he will run any packages that arrive out to him on the trail.Rusty
Date: 2011-07-02
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: Warwick, NY
Miles today: 10.0

What a difference a day makes! After All In had such a nice and relaxing day on the trail yesterday, he awoke to thunderstorms today and spent the entire day in rain. He covered 10 miles in seven hours, with this day proving to be probably the hardest on the trail to date - even more so than his climb out at Lehigh Gap or the day spent fighting his way across two rock fields. The problem today was rocks again. Only this time they were big, wet, lichen covered rocks. He once again found himself pulling himself hand over hand up and over big, slippery rocks. Even carefully placing his feet, he managed to fall six times. The worst was a face plant which resulted in a scraped up shoulder and face. On top of that, he went down so hard on his knee that it brought tears to his eyes. Pulling himself back up, he found that his knee was numb and wouldn't bear his weight. Having watched other hiking friends leave the trail due to similar injuries, he began to get worried; however, after a few minutes, he found he could once again put weight on his knee and that it was only scraped and bruised. All In seriously considered bailing after four miles and calling his hiking buddy, Special K (whom he met last year during his exploratory AT hike), to pick him up. In the end, All In stuck it out and made it in to Warwick, NY, where he met up with Special K, as previously planned. They plan to slack pack (ie. hike without packs) 12 to 15 miles tomorrow since Special K is rehabbing a bum shoulder and can not carry a pack right now. In the end, they got a hotel room and took in Quest Seeker, another bruised and battered survivor of today's rainy, rocky stretch of trail. She had injured her knee in much the same manner as All In. After sharing pizza and Vitamin I (ie. Ibuprofen), they planned to get a much needed night of sleep and assess the damage in the morning light tomorrow.
Date: 2011-07-04
From: Warwick, NY

To: Warwick, NY
Miles today: 10.0

I'm not sure how we got off on the date; but, yesterday's post was dated 7/2/11 instead of 7/3/11 - sorry for the confusion; however, we are now back onto the correct date.All In and Special K caught a shuttle to a point north of Warwick and slack packed back south to town - almost. It appears that our intrepid traveler is so used to going north that he and Special K got 'a might bit bewildered' and headed north instead of south. It took them 3 or 4 miles to realize their mistake and get turned around and headed the correct direction. It was another day of scrambling over big rocks; however, dry trail conditions and no packs made the going much easier than yesterday. Nonetheless, the extreme hiking conditions and multiple falls yesterday left All In pretty tuckered today. So, after about 10 miles of hiking, they decided to call the shuttle to pick them up and take them back to town. He will have to decide tomorrow what to do about the few miles he missed between where the shuttle picked them up and Warwick.In related news, Quest Seeker's knee was much better this morning and she was able to continue on the trail.Rusty
Date: 2011-07-05
From: Warwick, NY

To: Bear Mountain, NY
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

"Towns are seductive" - that is how All In started his text tonight. He went on to say that once you've spent a night or two in the comfort of a town, you get a little lazy and it can be hard to get back out on the trail in a timely fashion. That was the case today, with All In not getting started on the trail until about 10 AM, picking up the trail at the furthest point of yesterday's wrong-way hike. He ended up putting in twelve miles to a camping spot just over the summit of Bear Mountain, NY. He had lots of climbing, but not too much in the way of rocks today. At one point, he passed within 34 miles of New York City (and you thought the AT was deep in the woods!); however, it was too hazy for the sometimes available view of the New York City skyline. He saw a lot of deer; but, otherwise, no significant wildlife. That shouldn't be the case tomorrow, though, because the trail passes through the middle of a zoo!Rusty
Date: 2011-07-06
From: Bear Mountain, NY

To: Graymoor Spiritual Center
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: scattered clouds

All In covered 9 miles to the Graymoor Spiritual Center. They let hikers camp beside the picnic shelter and the ballfield. They also provide water, restrooms, and cold showers. Today was a hot day, so he was pretty drained, both physically and mentally. He crossed the Hudson River and had a steep climb out of the valley. No word on the zoo that the trail passed through that he mentioned yesterday.Rusty
Date: 2011-07-08
From: Graymoor Spiritual Center

To: Fahnstock State Park
Miles today: 12.0

All hiked twelve miles on the trail and then another 1.5 miles to the campground yesterday. He went to sleep almost immediately, even before he could send an update. He's discovered that, although NY doesn't have the big mountains that other states do, it does have a lot of small ups and downs, which can wear you out pretty quickly!Rusty
Date: 2011-07-08
From: Fahnstock State Park

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: light rain

All In hiked 7 miles today and reached the RPH Shelter around 2pm. He has been hiking the past couple of days with Quest Seeker. They arrived to find a group a trail workers having lunch at the shelter and were invited to join them for lunch. After lunch, they decided that, even though it had been an easy day on the trail with lots of open, flat patches, with rain setting in, this may be a good place to stop for the day. After lunch, the trail crew returned to their work. All In decided to give back a little and joined them for 4 hours of step building in the rain. He and Quest Seeker then joined the trail crew again for dinner. With hikers filtering in all day, All In ended the day in a virtual shelter party, with 15 trail workers and 10 hikers sharing the shelter area. The past few days have been a little hard on All In, with him questioning a time or two why he was out there. But today reminded him again that the hike is still an adventure and there was no better place to be than spending the evening in the shelter surrounded by such friends as Quest Seeker, Delaware Dave, Brazil Nut, and Walk On (see the photos section for pictures!). To make it even better, there is a sandwich shop only four miles down the trail tomorrow!All In related a humorous story involving Brazil Nut. He had met her on the trail the day before he met up with Special K to do their southbound slack pack. She was a friendly and outgoing person, so All In asked her to help him play a small joke on Special K. As they came south the next day and met up with a northbound Brazil Nut, she ran up and gave him a big hug and made over him like he was a long lost friend. Apparently, Special K's jaw hit the ground and he was pretty amazed at All In's reception. After awhile, All In did let him in on the joke.All In has hiked over 420 miles since Memorial Day and has traveled through five states. He expects to cross into Connecticut and reach Kent, CT, by Monday. He is expecting three packages to be waiting for him there and had planned to spend a zero day there, but word on the trail is the Kent is expensive and not particularly hiker-friendly. So, the zero day may have to wait for a friendlier town up the trail.Rusty
Date: 2011-07-09
From: RPH Shelter

To: Dinges household, Salt Point, NY
Miles today: 10.1

Behold, the power of the Internet! Mark Dinges read yesterday's journal entry about All In trying to figure out where to take a zero day and posted that he could stay with him and take a zero day at his house. After talking to the trail crew he determined that Mark wasn't some sort of a mass murderer with the bones of several through hikers buried under his back porch. In fact, he found out that the Dinges are trail angels who like to give hikers rides and put them up for the night in their spare room. So, All In contacted Mark. In the end, after hiking 10.1 miles, Mark picked up All In and took him to his house in Salt Point, NY, where he will take a zero day tomorrow. Mark will then return All In to the trail on Monday. He expects to enter CT and pass through Kent, where he expects to pick up three (count 'em!) care packages. Rusty