morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-06-26
From: Tent site

To: Tent site
Miles today: 16.5

We were stepping up our mileage again today and started out by climbing up a hill to an old firetower site. We left camp around 8 am with Otto and Testament was a short distance behind us. We were walking on an old railroad bed up the hill, so the rocks werent too hard on us. When we got to the top of the hill, we saw the terminus of the Horseshoe Trail, a 121-mile trail running from here to Valley Forge. We took a break up top before heading downhill a ways to a creek. Otto went on a few minutes ahead and we shortly caught up to him, stopped dead in his tracks. There was a very large rattlesnake in the trail, unwilling to move and angry as can be! We finally gave up on him leaving and gave a wide berth to get around, walking off trail by about 20 feet and looking around for more snakes. Most importantly, we left a sign warning the next hikers of the snake. For the rest of the day, we walked through defunct coal communities, first Yellow Springs and then Rausch Gap. Unlike the Smokies, there are no visible remnants of buildings. The only real signs of former habitation are the roads we walk on. When we took a break in Rausch Gap, Clifty and Pelican showed up and we ran into DK and Big E, who Nokey knew but I hadn¢t met yet. They¢re done for the day, but we still need to climb Second Mountain and head into camp. Clifty and Pelican were going to our campsite as well, so we said goodbye and that we¢d see them soon. We climbed Second Mountain and were feeling tired, but pushed on through a field and down past a creek to the campsite. We were close to the road into Lickdale, so we decided to hitch in and get dinner, as well as clean water as there is a serious lack of that on the trails here. Testament, Nokey, and I got into Lickdale and got burgers and fries and headed back to camp to take some to Otto. Testament had some friends come up to visit as well, so we all hung out around the fire with Clifty before crashing and calling it a night. The photo is of the giant snake!
Date: 2012-06-27
From: Tent site

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

We woke up this morning to awesome trail magic from Testament¢s friends- Dunkin¢ Donuts coffee and a dozen donuts! We were eating when several hikers came by - Bonk, All Balls (who I knew as Ryan and hadn¢t seen since day 10!), and FatherMan! We gave them all coffee and got a late start, about 9 am. We walked to the historic iron bridge and then started a climb up under I-81 and then up a steep hill to our PA staple - green ridgeline. It was a little rockier today, but it still wasn¢t too bad. Nokey was about 0.1 miles in front of me on the climb and he saw a bear on the way up! I was pretty jealous that he was gone by the time I caught up. We headed on the ridge to the William Penn shelter and had lunch at a picnic table, which is a luxury out here as we usually have to eat lunch on a rock! From the shelter, we had a nice level walk on an old roadbed and our hike was quick. We walked through a gap and then crossed a road, but the trail quickly turned rocky and we got a little slower. We passed a few lookouts and a hang gliding meadow before coming to PA-501. We planned to go to the 501 shelter for showers. The 501 shelter is on private land and has a caretaker and showers! We got there right around 3 pm as a car was pulling up. Turns out, it was trail magic from a 2011 hiker named Amish! We helped her carry in all the food, got showers, and then ate so much! Burritos, donuts, fruit, homemade cheesecake! There was a huge group there by the time Amish headed out. We weren¢t planning on staying as we only did 13 miles, but it was a no-brainier since so many awesome people showed up! We set up tents and slept great under the stars for a cool night. The photo is from the 501 shelter- Amish had a pet bunny named Buttercup we all got to hold.
Date: 2012-06-28
From: 501 Shelter

To: Eagle's Nest Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: few clouds

Today we had a 15.1-mile day planned, but we were going to leave early and take our time due to the heat and lack of water. We left the shelter early and Nokey went down to fill up a water bottle. Turns out the spring he walked to was dry, so he had to wait a few miles for extra water. Thankfully, he had enough to get there! We had a bit of undulation at first, then a big down hill to a campsite with picnic tables and a swimming hole! It was still early, so we stocked up on water and headed uphill to the Fort Dietrich Snyder Monument for lunch. DK and Big E were there and we had lunch with them and Otto. Just before we left, Medicine Man showed up as well. We headed on as it was really getting hot and we wanted to take some more breaks to avoid the heat. We got to Eagle¢s Nest Shelter trail at about 4:30 and it was hot and we were out of water. There was a 0.3-mile walk to get water from a slow-moving creek filled with Mosquitos. By that point, we were beat and dehydrated, so we decided to stay at the campsite at Eagle¢s Nest. Otto, Turtle, Bubblefoot, MedicineMan, FatherMan, Pelican, and Clify were all showing up as well. We all took an hour nap in our tents due to the heat before starting a smoke fire (to keep mosquitos down) and cook dinner. We all hung out before calling it a night around 9 pm. The photo is of me sitting on a pine tree that was growing in a crazy shape.
Date: 2012-06-29
From: Eagle's Nest Shelter

To: Port Clinton Pavillion
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up at 3:30 this morning to a hellacious storm! I heard lots of zippers flying and hikers telling trying to get their rain flies on their tents before their gear got too wet. The thunderstorms were insane and hit twice before chilling out around 7 am. We all dried out our gear best we could and got a little later start. We had a short 9 miles into Port Clinton. We walked and walked and noticed a lot of mistakes in our guidebooks. A lot of the milestones and elevation profiles were incorrect, making the humid and hot morning seem a lot longer than usual. We climbed a steep hill and were sweating pretty heavy. We took several breaks before finally coming to the 1100-foot straight down hill walk into Port Clinton. Nokey was moving fast and kept on going straight down. I tried to bypass a few rock steps due to knee pain and ended up falling down all of them! We got to the gravel road that was about 9/10 the way down the hill and we hear yelling from the other side of the river ¢NOKEY!¢ it was so weird to hear, so we ran down rest of the hill to find Dances with Flies, Feathers, Wild Turky, Q-tip, and Rainman! Flies was shocked he yelled to us and we were up the hill. He was just yelling because he had heard we were close by! We all walked into Port Clinton together and went to eat lunch at the Port Clinton Hotel. Nokey and I had planned on taking a long break and hiking out, but the heat warning hit and the day got hotter and hotter. It was a heat index of 105 degrees and the sun was relentless. We decided to just stay in town at the hiker pavilion with everyone, as well as Otto, DK and Big E. it was Q-tip¢s last night on the trail, so we all had a bit of a hiker party and called it a later night. We are hoping for some rain and a cooler day tomorrow.
Date: 2012-06-30
From: Port Clinton Pavillion

To: Tent site
Miles today: 15.3

We had a little bit of rain last night, but just a sprinkle. We woke up to trail magic from Q-tip¢s parents who had come to pick him up and take him back to NC. We sat around and snacked and said goodbye. Bag of Tricks and Jester showed up to slackpack us all 16 miles out to Eckville Shelter. We were pretty excited considering the hill out of Port Clinton was pretty steep. We emptied out our gear except for water and food and headed on up the hill. Testament was with us and we moved up the hill quick. We found some great springs flowing pretty well. We took a lot of breaks as it was hot and humid. We had a lot of undulation, but then a big downhill to Windsor Furnace and the shelter for lunch. We met Tripping Yeti there and hung out for a bit before heading up to The Pulpit and an astronomical park. We met a few ladies up there and talked to them about the trail. We then headed to The Pinnacle and had another break. Thankfully, there was finally some cloud cover. From here, we had nice easy walking on an old roadbed. We found Wild Turky, Flies, Feathers, and Rainman on the way down to the shelter and the eight of us walked together for a while before Testament and Nokey took off on a run for the first spot in the shower. When I arrived at the shelter, everyone asked where Nokey was. He ran right past the shelter with Tripping Yeti and was a half mile away! He finally came back to pick up all his gear from the slackpack and then the two of us headed on to a campsite half a mile down the hill. We camped next to a creek and started a fire to keep the bugs away. We got into the tent and got ready to go to sleep. At 9:30, Risky Business showed up for the night. We talked to him for a bit before getting some sleep. The photo is Testament, me, and Nokey on Pulpit Rock.
Date: 2012-07-01
From: Tent site

To: Bake Oven Knob Shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Today we were going to have a long day, not just with distance but because of the heat and water situation. From our campsite, we had a climb up to Hawk Mountain. We met Tree Hugger and Tripping Yeti up at Dans Pulpit and hung out. Risky Business came up behind us and said he saw a huge rattlesnake in the trail. We didn¢t see it, but he was right behind us! The ridgeline was rocky this morning and it took us longer than usual to go the miles. We got to Allentown Shelter and Duck Soup was there. He was overheated and decided to not go any further. Nokey and I took an hour and a half for lunch. I drank some Gatorade and I was exhausted. My sweat smelled like ammonia so I was worried about going on for the night. We felt better after the break, so headed on. We were planning to stop at Blue Mountain Summit Restaurant for a cold drink and some AC action. Turns out they were closed today according to the sign. We pouted for a bit, but headed onward toward Bake Oven Knob, the place in PA rumored to be the worst for rocks. We climbed up over the Knife Edge and Bear Rocks and our feet were killing us because of the rocks. We had a short walk on an old road before coming to the climb at Bake Oven Knob. We climbed and sweat and bled a little from our bug bites. We finally came to Bake Oven Knob shelter and it was a total dump - an original CCC shelter covered in graffiti and filled with trash. We laughed at our bad luck and then had to walk over a mile for water for the night. I found us a good campsite up the hill from the shelter/dump and Turtle was there as well. It had been a long, hot day. We decided to go straight to bed and get up very early to avoid the hot sun in the morning. The photo is Nokey climbing the Knife Edge.
Date: 2012-07-02
From: Bake Oven Knob Shelter

To: Leroy Smith Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: few clouds

We got up at 5 am this morning to have an early start without the heat and bugs. We were still sore from the walk yesterday and our feet were torn up from the rocks, but we wanted to get a long break in for the hot part of the day. We were off and hiking before 6:30. The rocks this morning were brutal on our already sore feet and the trail was poorly blazed. It took us only until 9:45 to get to Lehigh Gap and the river. We were planning to hitch into Palmerton to get a snack and stay in some AC. We got a hitch immediately from a nice woman who was from Maine. We got to Palmerton and it was like stepping back in time! It was a cute little town straight out of the 1950s. People stopped on the street to ask us how we were. We had a man pull over his car and get out to talk to us. He told me I reminded him of his daughter and gave me 20 dollars to get something to eat. MedicineMan and FatherMan were in town and we went to the Diner with them for breakfast. While we were there, we met a local names Tyler who offered us a ride back to the trail. We did a mini resupply and the four of us got in his truck to go back up to the trail. We had only 11 miles to the shelter and were ready to go. The first 5 miles went quickly, but the next six were rocky and slow-going. Our feet were killing us. I was starving and out of energy. Nokey and I pushed on and made it to the camping area at Leroy Smith shelter at around 8 pm. Since we¢d gotten up at 5, it was a long day and we were beat. We cooked a quick dinner of couscous and took care of my big toe, which is now infected and sore. We met the ridgerunner and ran into Spirit and Y¢s Guy, who we haven¢t seen since Damascus and my third day, respectively. We got into the tent just before dark and decided to sleep in late tomorrow! The photo is of the Lehigh River.
Date: 2012-07-03
From: Leroy Smith Shelter

To: Kirkridge Overlook
Miles today: 14.1

We slept in until 7:30 this morning with the intention of getting the short 4 miles to Wind Gap for a long lunch. We wanted to get out of the heat and get water in town. We got down to Wind Gap where Boots was doing trail magic while he was off for the holiday. MM, FM, Nokey, and I all got a ride down to town to find everything was closed. We got lunch and cold drinks at the gas station before heading back up to Wind Gap for a hike to the shelter. The hill up Wind Gap was steep and rocky with no switchbacks. We climbed to the top and took a break as our feet were killing us and we were super overheated. We had slow hiking from here and we saw The Honeymoon Hikers a few times, leapfrogging them during our breaks. We climbed up Wolf Rocks and then steeply down them to a roadbed. We were able to make up some time with this level waking and it was so hot! We got to PA-131 and then only had 0.6 miles to the shelter for water. Our guidebook showed it as a downhill walk, but it was all uphill and our feet were sore. I¢d run out of water and just wanted to get to the shelter. We got there and got our water, which tasted metallic and warm, and sat for a while before heading to our campsite at the Kirkland Overlook. From our site. We could see in to New Jersey from here and even got to see some fireworks! We took a lot of goofy photos and had a great hiker party before calling it a night. Tomorrow - Delaware Water Gap! The photo is FM, MM, Bubblefoot, and Nokey on the overlook.
Date: 2012-07-04
From: Kirkland Overlook

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 6.5
Weather: scattered clouds

With a Camelbak full of metallic water, we headed down the mountain to Delaware Water Gap! It rained a bit last night, so we got a later start of 8 am. We left camp to a downhill, but thankfully the rocks aren¢t as brutal this morning! We had quicker walking and got to Totts Gap and an abandoned road in less than 1.5 hours. We made the easy climb to Mt Minsi and Nokey and I took a break at an abandoned firetower site. From here, we had a rocky downhill stumble into DWG! There were lots of dayhikers out for the holiday and we passed nearly 20 people. Halfway down, the landscape changed from dry and rocky to wet and rhododendron! It was a beautiful last mile into town, passing a pond with lots of lillypads! We walked down in to town and straight to the Village Market to get something to eat and drink. We then went to pick up our resupply boxes and to the hostel for a shower. It was blistering hot. We couldn¢t take the heat any longer and no place we went had AC. We say in a pizza shop for a while and met Pocahantas, Leggs, and Houdini. We found out the Pocono Inn had AC, so we broke down our tent and headed there for some relaxation! Tomorrow we head in to New Jersey, state #8!
Date: 2012-07-05
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Campsite
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: thunderstorm with light rain

We slept in a bit since we had a comfy hotel room and planned to hike out the short 11 miles to the Mohican Outdoor Center in the afternoon. We checked out of the hotel at around 1 pm and headed up the street a little to the Village Bakery. Cheesy Turtle told us Testament had come in to town this morning, so we went up to the hostel to see him. We sat inside for a while and cameled up on water before we decided we wanted to stay and hike out with Testament in the morning. My only condition for that was that we hiked into New Jersey today so I could say I crossed the state line. The boys agreed so we went and got milk shakes and walked across the bridge on I-80 over the Delaware River into NJ. I was bummed there wasn¢t a sign or anything, but it was okay I guess. THe church hostel did a hiker feed where the members brought potluck dishes and they cooked us hotdogs. It was a great time and really hospitable of them.The next morning, I woke up at 6:30 to Testament bringing me a giant 24-oz coffee to get me out of bed. We drank out coffee and got out of town by 7:30. We did a quick walk uphill on an old roadbed and got up to Sunfish Pond in about 2 hours. It¢s the first glacial pond formation we¢ll see on our hike and it was absolutely beautiful! We took tons of photos and then climbed up to the summit of Kittatiny Mountain. We also saw five deer on our way up too, which I didn¢t expect. It was a gorgeous summit on a bald that reminded me of the places we hiked in the south. We got down the hill to the MOC by noon and bought cold drinks before going swimming for the afternoon in Catfish Pond, another glacial pond. It was nice and cool, but not cold, and we spent the afternoon here before hiking back up the Rattlesnake Swamp trail (where we saw no snakes or swamps) back up to the AT. On the way up, we got to eat wild blueberries! We got up to the ridgeline in less than 20 minutes and came to an old firetower. We also ran into Sunkist and Roller up there too. The five of us walked together to Rattlesnake Spring and camped about 1/4 mile away at a nice campsite. We had to hang a bear bag for the first time since Shenandoah that night as well! Jersey has the highest concentration of black bears in the country and we don¢t want to lose all our food here!
Date: 2012-07-06
From: Campsite

To: Gren Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

We woke up this morning ready for a longer day, nearly 19 miles. We hadn¢t done a day that long in a while! We immediately crossed a road and climbed up shortly to a ridgeline where we¢d be walking for pretty much the entire morning. Testament was with Nokey and me and the three of us hung pretty close together most of the day. We climbed over three humps that were balds - it reminded me a lot of the hiking down south. When we got to the junction with Brink Road Shelter, the skies turned dark and it got windy. It started sprinkling, so I put on my pack cover. If you aren¢t aware, putting on your pack cover is a sure way to get it to stop raining. Sure enough, it stopped! Nokey was hiking with Trekking Pole now and the two of them had taken off, so Testament and I were hiking together down into Branchville. Nokey and Trekking Pole got there first and went into Joe to Go. When we got there, the guy turned off the lights and locked the door. We headed to Gyp¢s Tavern down the street for some greasy food and a cold drink. We followed all the ¢hiker rules¢ on the numerous signs. We were treated very poorly and the bartender kept yelling how it wasn¢t a campground and we can¢t just drink water there. We were about to order food and Nokey, Testament, Cheeba, and Trekking Pole were about to get another round of beers. We decided they didn¢t deserve any of our money, so we left. We went and sat in the woods at the base of Sunrise Mountain when some section hikers came by who were also at the Tavern. They said the bartender came over to their table and poured out their drinks. Never stop in Branchville, NJ! Anyway, after sitting for an hour and taking the break we wanted at the bar, we headed up the hill to the Culver Firetower and then on to the Gren Anderson shelter. We were happy to find a good spring there as water has been hard to come by lately. Hoping NJ can redeem itself tomorrow! We¢ve seen so much wildlife (so many deer and rabbits!) and I¢m looking forward to friendlier people tomorrow!
Date: 2012-07-07
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: The Murray Property (Secret Shelter)
Miles today: 18.4

Today we are planning to do another big day so we can not only hang out at the beach, but camp at ¢the secret¢ shelter on Jim Murray¢s farm! We started the day a little bit early, but with a climb up to Sunrise Mountain to the pavilion. There was an awesome breeze up top, but we had to keep moving to get our miles in. We took an early morning ( read - second breakfast) break at the Rutherford Shelter) and ran in to Sunkist, Roller, and Cheeba. We were all headed to the ranger station at High Point State Park to get free cold pop! We had quite a bit of undulation up to the station, but we got there about 12:30. After getting our free cold drinks, the five of us all headed to the beach at Lake Maria to hang out and eat greasy and overpriced concession stand food We found out there were showers there too. We rinsed out our sweaty and salty clothes and showered before leaving the beach around 5 pm. Trekking Pole was also at the beach, so he headed out with Nokey, Testament, and me. We headed up to the High Point Monument, the highest point in NJ, on a side trip before heading back the AT. The next five miles reminded me so much of VA I almost couldn¢t believe we were still in NJ! We walked through many old farms and homesteads with tons of old stone walls, fence stiles for livestock, and fields. We pulled a ton of ticks off ourselves as well. By the time there was less than a mile to go, we walked across some old boardwalks and then through a field where a doe had two small fawns with her. We made it to the road to the Murray property around 7:05 and I waited for Cheeba and Testament at the junction. We walked together up to the cabin and met Nokey and Trekking Pole there. Sunkist, Roller, Rocket, and two section hikers i call ¢The A Team¢ showed up as well. I took another shower to try and get rid of a terrible heat rash I have from my pack and then we all hung out on the beautiful farm. We technically were in NY now on his farm. Tomorrow, on to the church hostel in Veron, NJ! The photo is of the crew hanging out at ¢the secret shelter.¢
Date: 2012-07-08
From: The 

To: Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 13.5

We were so ready to stay at the Murray Property forever, but we had a destination today - Vernon, NJ for a hostel with laundry and showers included in your donation! We left the Murray property just before 8 and walked the easy 0.8 miles to Unionville, NY. We found a grocery store that was open with real coffee and decently-priced snack food, so we stopped there for a bit. Ran into Leggs and Trekking Pole there also. The three of us then headed down to the Wallkill Game Preserve for a hot walk around it in the blazing sun (see video from my last post). After that, we began our climb up Pochunk Mountain (which is an Indian word for ¢out of the way place¢) and then took a lunch break before descending down onto the 0.8-mile long boardwalk, again in the blazing afternoon sun! We then crossed through a large field/swamp and then made it to NJ-94, our road into Vernon. If we went 0.1 miles west, we would be at Heaven Hill Farms, a magical place to say the least! We went in and saw a selection of ice cream, italian ice, fresh fruits, and juice drinks. We paid for our stuff an sat outside with Rocket, Skinny Rambo, and their friend. Sunkist and Roller also showed up and we all hung out under some umbrellas at picnic tables. We decided to try and hitch the 2.5 miles into Vernon and got picked up immediately by Anita. She tools us to the hostel and dropped us off. We got hot showers and started laundry before heading to A&P to resupply. On the way back to the hostel I must have forgotten how to walk in civilization because I tripped on the sidewalk and skinned up my hands and tore up my watch. Thankfully, I didn¢t break anything and we headed back to the hostel for a good nights¢ rest. The photo is of the long boardwalk just before Vernon, NJ. Tomorrow - New York!