morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-06-28
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon, Pa
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: clear sky

Day 106: We hiked 11 miles by noon and got to Duncannon, Pa! We were told to eat at the Doyle Hotel so that's just what we did. The Doyle was pretty rubbed down on the inside and out. It had a neat antique look to the outside. We met the owners of the Hotel and they seem to love hikers. They shook everyone's hand as we told them our trailname. They cooked everything themselves and each item seemed to have its own special sauce. Everything I tried was wonderful. We ate lunch and had a few beers. It took us forever to figure out if we were hiking on or not. It had not rained all day and we had been there for six hours, our chance seemed good. We left for the next shelter and no more then four blocks later it began to pour. We took cover under a church then a couple, who were sitting on their front porch invited us over to sit on their chairs. We took there offer. It didn't rain for too long but we decided to go back to the Doyle and stay the night. The owner Vicki was very sweet. We asked if we could all stay in one room. She advised us the rooms were very small but gave us several keys to decide which room we wanted. We chose the room on level four because it looked like it was haunted. I bring my gear up first alone with Bella neither her or I wanted to sleep on the bed so I blew up my air pad, pulled out my sleeping pad and Bella and I laid down together. The other three came up and nobody wanted to sleep on the bed. It just wasn't our style. I would guess the mattress was originally from the 40's so you can image the condition and stains of the mattress. Twix
Date: 2013-06-29
From: Duncannon, Pa

To: Spring
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: light rain

Day 107: We've been trying to wake up early so we can get in most of our miles by noon. We did just that. We began retracing our steps after yesterday's storm. We were able to get back to that church with no rain. "Alright, we're officially starting our day". About 2-3 miles were on concrete. We walked through the town under a bridge and over followed a highway. The day was fairly easy. We got to the first shelter in no time. There was a spring about 500ft downhill. I went down there to fill up everyone's water and Bluegrass showed up right behind me. The spring was flowing! We filled up the water and we both decided to take a "little drink" before I tasted the water I look at Bluegrass and his Nalgee bottle has 3/4 gone. I laughed and said "well I guess I was just planning on drinking a little". I took a sip and that sip turned into several gulps. That was the best spring water we have tasted! We both drank a whole bottle, refilled then went back up to the shelter. My feet held up until mile 15 then between my ankles and feet I had to shuffle the rest of the way to the campsite. There we found another delicious spring. We had also met two parents of a SoBO hiker who gave us some trail magic...beer. We each packed out a beer for dinner. We left it at the spring so it would be cold. Tonight we made stuffed bell peppers, probably my healthiest meal on the trail.Mom went to bed early because she is having a hamstring/calve issue. We're hoping it'll be better by tomorrow or the next day. Twix
Date: 2013-06-30
From: Spring

To: PA 72
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: broken clouds

Day 108: we quickly put in our mileage for the day. We had planned to go spend the day with Coach's friend, Jess. We got to the Pa 72 road and sat there for a bit. It begins to downpour, luckily there was an underpass that we were able to cram us and 3 bicyclist under. Once Jess picked us up we went back to her house for showers and laundry. We decided to hang out at her place and go to bed early.Twix
Date: 2013-07-02
From: PA 72

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: light rain

Day 110: moms hamstring is bothering her. We got to the 501 shelter and met a guy there by the name Rock Ocean. He wasn't a hiker but he shuttles people around. He gave us his number. I met a guy that is a thru hiker and started in May! He hikes between 25-30 miles and has not had a single zero! We could learn something from him. Speaking of zeros, we're about to take several this weekend because I have my friend, Cody meeting us in Philly! Twix
Date: 2013-07-09
From: Philly

To: Philly
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 117: I was sad to say goodbye to Cody but we had to get back to the trail. Before Rock Ocean picked us up we went to CVS so Mom could get a knee brace and to pick up some other supplies. Coach stayed outside with Bella while the three of us went in. I guess the manager came out to make sure she was staying with the dog because she could not be left alone. She told him that she was staying while her friends were in the store. When we came out we went to Rita's for some ice cream and came back to the CVS to wait for our ride and situate our purchased items. No more than 15 minutes go by and the store manage comes out yelling at us, "I told you you can't stay here, you have to leave!" Not knowing what was going on or where this guy was coming from, both Coach, Bluegrass and Mom jumped up yelling at the guy. He was very rude and disrespectful. I had never seen this guy before. Coach told us what happened after the situation but the guy never told us to leave. I still don't understand why he was being so hostile towards us.Mom ended up going back inside and telling another manager. That guy was crazy! Anyways the rest of the day went FANTASTIC! We went to REI and bought a few new things. I bought a new backpack but it wasn't in the store so they are sending it to me! It's a Granite Gear 46.Twix
Date: 2013-07-10
From: Port Clinton

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 118: We woke up early to get a start on the day. We made a new goal to average 15 miles a day. Moms Hamstring is still hurting her but she doesn't want to miss the trail so she was going to take on the miles. We first stopped at the post office to send home some items. The post office guy was the sweetest man. He was telling us about the trail and the views we'll come across. As we were sitting outside the owner of the Barber shop waved us over, "free coffee and cookies for hikers". I went over there to use the restroom and get a cookie. The Barber was extremely nice as well. He was giving us an optional route incase my mom couldn't handle this next uphill. Every local was telling us it was extremely challenging. When we went to the trail we missed the other route but the hill ended up being very easy. I'm sure it would have been harder for us if it was day one. Moms leg did pretty good the rest of the day. There were several rocks and boulders we had to go up and down from, I mostly thought in my head, " is this really the trail, are they trying to kill hikers?" Twix
Date: 2013-07-11
From: Eckville Shelter

To: Bake Oven knob
Miles today: 17.4

Day 119: I wake up every morning with my feet swollen. i would think after several days of rest they would stop hurting and stop swelling. The first several steps in the morning are very painful but once i get going my feet feel better until the 7-8th mile in. i think they need a month off but they cant rest until we reach Katahdin. Today, We are still hopping and crawling over large rocks. My shoes are getting torn up. From what I hear, it will be several days before the rocks are gone. Moms leg is still hurting. Every time we ask she says it's "okay" which is the word for painful but doesn't want to complain. She still kicked butt today. We went over 17 miles, Go Mom! It would help the both of us if we could ice our wounds every night but that will have to wait until the end as well.Twix
Date: 2013-07-12
From: Bake Oven knob

To: Tower Access Rd
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 120: we went into Palmerton to resupply. This was the friendliest town we've been to. It was very easy to hitch a ride and everyone was extremely friendly. We first went to the grocery store and got a free fruit each since we were hikers! Then we had around 10 people, 10 different times telling us about the free hostel in town, with showers. I turned to Coach and said, "I feel like we're getting signs to stay here". She says back, jokingly, " I don't know what you mean". We met the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Peter, he was a very sweet man, he recommended Bern's steakhouse for us to eat and he walked in with us telling the waitress to take good care of his new friends and that they did. Once we were done we stood outside the store contemplating what to do next. A man walks out of the store and asked how we liked the food. His name was Jim and he was the owner of the restaurant. He offered us a ride back to the trail.Along the trail we ate handfuls of wild blueberries. Later I found a tick on me. It wasn't attached. I asked Coach to get it off and her and Mom tried getting a camera before getting off. I look at Bluegrass and he just says, " Let me take it off". So I run over to have him remove it and burn it.Twix
Date: 2013-07-13
From: Tower Access Rd

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 121: we made it to the next town. .7 off the trail was a bar that let you camp in the back. There were some of our old friends there Hombrew and Aquaman! We also have been hiking with Teo Sticks, Hoggrear, and Beer Goddess. Hombrew and Hoggrear had packed out there bags and were going to go two more miles. Well the rest of us wouldn't have it. They went inside to pay there tab and when they came back it looked like there backpacks had thrown up all over the patio. It was a scavenger hunt for them. We were laughing so hard and some other locals were getting a kick out of our foolishness. To say the least, they ended up staying and had a great time. I think all bars should allow people to camp in the back. It would save many lives and earn the bar more money. Twix
Date: 2013-07-15
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Rattle Snake Spring
Miles today: 13.5

Day 123: We got started on the trail around noon. We stopped by the diner, mini mart and the outfitters. Ok - everyone that knows me...you may need to sit down. I bought a skirt to hike in...yes a skirt. There are quite a few guys on the trail that wear skirts because it provides good air ventilation. The skirts are typically from goodwill but some are the hiking quilts. They typically go commando underneath but they say they love it, so I am going to try it. The nice thing is that I fit now into a size 4 from a size 12. Today, we are now in New Jersey and say good bye to PA. Actually we all really like the rocks in PA. For me and up to this point, rocks have always been my big challenge so I was looking for this challenge and hoping to improve my hikes on rocks. Today really wasn't much different than PA...more rocks!Alex got her new Granite Gear 40 backpack yesterday so she is getting used to that. We got a box from Cody back in Phoenix. Thanks for the food, gel soles and salsa! We got to a fire tower tonight and was able to climb on it and see the sunset. It was awesome. Then we had to hike another couple of miles to our campsite where there were about 10 other hikers.Salsa
Date: 2013-07-16
From: Rattle Snake Spring

To: Culver Fire Tower
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: few clouds

Day 124: Today was another day of rocks. The trail led into Branchville, NJ where just .2 miles was Gyps Tavern. I mostly walked by myself today ahead of everyone because I didn't want to get behind and keep them waiting. I ran into quite a few youth groups. I got a couple of compliments from these groups. The first one were mostly grade school youth group. They were crossing a stream when they all moved to my left to let me through. I heard one of the boys say "look how well she bounds across the rocks over the stream." I thought that was nice and then the next compliment was from a boy that said, "I can't wait for us to get that musty smell like her." Oh well, I guess that is a compliment too. The second group I met on a rock wall view. One boy comes up to me and says, "I like your crocs." Then after he left, two others come up to me and say, "do you know what he says to all the hikers? He likes their crocs too." So these kids today made me laugh. Oh I ran into another group about three miles before Branchville, NJ and I was talking to them about the trail. I told them my name, etc. Anyway, after we resupplied in Branchville and stopped at the local tavern, I saw them later that night across the street and they all yelled, "Salsa." I thought that was really neat and waved to them as I went back into the woods. I hope they are all enjoying the time on the trail. Oh I want to thank Snores for helping us resupply. I was at Gyps Tavern waiting for Twix, Bluegrass and Coach to come in. Snores was going around to the hikers to see if they need any help like resupplying. He is a trail angel that lives 45 minutes away and comes up periodically near the trail to help out. Thanks Snores for taking us to the grocery store that was two miles away. Tonight we are heading up the trail to another fire tower where we all are camping. Another wonderful day and night on the trail. Leg is holding up but is still pretty sore. I am sure it is getting better. Twix's bug bites are starting to dry up too.Oh, one more thing. We were able to go off trail .3 miles to go to a State Park beach. Also you could see the New Jersey highest peak which is this monument. Salsa
Date: 2013-07-17
From: Culver Fire Tower

To: High Point Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

Day 125: Woke up to a beautiful sunrise at the Culver Fire Tower. Some were getting out of their tents to climb up the tower to see the sunrise. Twix and I stayed in our tents. It is going to be another beautiful day of sun, heat and humidity. The heat really hasn't bothered us and really the humidity is not that bad. You do just sweat alot...ALOT. Today we see on our map an opportunity to stop at a beach .3 miles off the trail...an that we did in the afternoon. It was awesome and most of the hikers we have been with for the past week were there; Olive Oil, Wetback, Jackalope, Two Sticks, and Hog Rear. From the beach, you can see the NJ Monument which is the highest peak in the state. After the beach, we only have to go just over a mile to High Point Shelter.We got into camp around 6pm to set up our tents. We ate some beef stew (thanks Cody) and went to bed around 9:30pm. However around 9pm, we kept hearing a bunch of kids yelling Marco Polo. Homebrew kept calling out to them thinking that they were playing in the woods. Well around 9:45pm, a group of grade school boys came into camp and were so loud. They were setting up their tents just a few feet in front of our tents. I was just about to pick up camp and do some night hiking but was too tired. We didn't have our fly on our tent so I saw one of the counselors walking around our tent to get water. I told her where to get water from and then they found the empty shelter in which they promptly moved everyone over there. It turned out to be a much more enjoyable night.Salsa
Date: 2013-07-18
From: High Point Shelter

To: St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: light rain

Day 126: Today we want to go about 18 miles to a place called Heaven Hill. Basically, it is a short resupply place that has awesome ice cream. It was a great days of trail. There were much less rocks and the terrain was really pretty...lots of rolling hills that go through beautiful woods and pastures. A few days ago, Bluegrass saw a bear and it seems that everyone else has been seeing New Jersey bears except for Twix and me. We so much would like to see a bear. Oh well, in a few days, we walks through a New York Zoo and it is free to thru-hikers. I am sure we may see one there... that is if we take the trail into the zoo. I am not particularily fond of zoos so I may bypass it but probably not...we will see. We have sent our stoves home about a week ago along with our REI Quarter Dome 2-Plus tent. We now have a 2.2lb Big Agnes Fly Creek tent which took over 3 1/2 lbs from our pack. Our stove and stuff took another couple of pounds off our backs too. With Twix's new pack, that also took another couple of pounds off too. So right now, my pack is around 22 lbs and Twix's pack is around 24. We made these changes prior to the PA rocks and it has really made a difference. Our food is a lot of snacks i.e. protein bars, Snyders mustard & onion pretzel chips, dried fruit, bars, etc. Our lunches and dinner are now awesome wraps with cream cheese, jalepenos, onions, avocados, pepperoni, red pepper, salsa (thanks Cody), Cholulu sauce and anything else we can find to put in the tortilla. So we went over 16 miles and we were sitting by the side of the road just before the big .8 miles of board walk when a man in stopped by in his pick up. His name is Friar and he asked us if we were interested in going to a church hostel into town. He said that there are showers, kitchen, laundry and common area for a donation. Twix and Bluegrass were so excited about going so we all loaded into the pick up. The church really had great facilities and were very clean. They gave us all chores to do which didn't take very long to do. There were a total of seven hikers; Beer Goddess and Semi were there along with Trenchfoot a section hiker. The section hiker stayed on a bed while we all slept on the floor with fans....it was sooooo nice.Tomorrow we will be in New York! Salsa
Date: 2013-07-19
From: St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel

To: Wayanda State Park Stealth Camp
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 127: Well we got another late start today. We were at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel till 12:30pm. We were waiting for a ride when Dave came in with some bagels from a local business. He offered to take us to the trail. It was pretty hot and humid and we were mostly walking along the boardwalks which was built over swamp land or swamp preserve. We had a very large 900 foot climb on rocks after the boardwalk. We made it past the shelter and decided to continue on to the Wayanda State Park to get water. The water has not been as plentiful and clear. Our filters are purifying the water but it doesn't get out all the dirt so you end up drinking brownish water. You get used to the color but the taste is pretty good however we are starting to go from spicket to spicket. So today, we headed towards the state park. There was Wet Bag, Olive Oyl, Breezy and Jackalope. We didn't quite make it to New York like we planned but was about 2 miles south of it. We found an old jeep trail and decided to stealth camp. It was pretty buggy so we were in our tents by 7pm. It has been in the high 90's today so we spent some time just laying around the state park office for a couple of hours. Not only still nursing my left leg hamstring and knee but now my right little toe has a infection and is currently all purple and fat. My big toe has at least three blisters layered over each other inbetween the toes so now my right foot is really tender to walk on. Good thing we only did just over 8 miles today.Salsa
Date: 2013-07-20
From: Wayanda State Park Stealth Camp

To: Fitzergerald Falls
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

Day 128: Woke up to a light rain this morning and after we packed up the rain stopped. Today there were lots of rocks, ridges, ups and downs. We have been really sweaty over the last couple of days. The heat has been fine though. The streams continue to be like black water. In one section, we had a rock scramble to climb which included a ladder. We saw several times where dogs would just walk up the ladder. When it was Bella's turn, she decided to forgo the ladder and just climb up the face of a rock wall. With minimal help, she got herself over. Twix was in front of me and was hiking with Olive Oyl and Breezy. She got her feet all twisted up on some rocks and took a tumble and landed on her side between two pointed rocks. She was wedged in between and all she could do was to unbuckle her pack and lift herself up. Unfortunately, she heard her right ankle pop and she could hardly put any weight on it. Another couple of miles was a creamery, so we headed there in hopes of getting an ice bag. Unfortunately, they didn't have any ice but sure did have some good ice cream. Twix ended up hobbling the next couple of miles to Fitzgerald Falls where about 10 of us set up camp. We also heard from Homebrew that Hiker Boy (from Long Island) may be on the trail to say hi to us. We hiked with him several months ago before he had to leave the trail to make some more money.Salsa
Date: 2013-07-21
From: Fitzergerald Falls

To: Stealth Campsite
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: moderate rain

Day 129: It was a nice night last night because we didn't have to put on our fly which means we were in our tents looking up into the sky. However, around 4am, it started to rain, so I jumped out and slipped the rest of our fly on our tent. Around 8am, Hiker Boy walked into our campsite. It sure was great to see him again. He offered to slack pack all of us today. We were so excited and also due to Twix's hurt ankle, she decided to stay with him for the day and do some trail magic on the trail. There was a lot of ups and downs with lots of more rocks. We went through Harriman State Park which I think is one of the coolest state park. The trees were so big and you could see a long way into the woods as there were not too much brush. We went through what is called the "Lemon Squeeze" which are huge boulders that have a very small opening and is almost impossible to get through with your pack on...oh I forgot, we didn't have our packs so we managed very well. After the Lemon Squeeze there wer some rocks that you had to pull yourself up on some large rocks. It was quite a challenge for us shorter people. There was lots of trail magic today. There was Tentman who provided pop, beer, candy bars and clean hiker socks. There was Patio who we met on one road and he provided us with more pop. Then we met him again at the State Park where he provided basically a five course meal. There were probably 15 of us there. Of course there was Hiker Boy who gave us our packs at the state park...we love slack packing. We found out that Hiker Boy is planning a thru-hike next year. Good luck Hiker Boy!Salsa
Date: 2013-07-22
From: Stealth Campsite

To: Bear Mountain
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: light rain

Day 130: We stealth camped on some random hill above the AT. We had our first fire since the beginning of Pennsylvania. There were Homebrew, Preadator, Red Velvet, Beacon and our group. We had to load up on water as there was not going to be a good water source for another 12 miles. Of course the water was a light brown...yuck. This is sounding like a broken record, but we had more rocks, ups and downs. We are 34 miles from NYC and could barely see the skyline. It is much cooler today as there a storm front coming while we were on Bear Mountain. The trails were really nice going and coming there. Just as we were heading down the mountain, it started to pour, so Twix and I ran up the hill and got into a big monument. For some reason, I might have contracted some sort of kidney infection and I finally decided to see if I could get into a doctor in the town below. After getting a 9am appointment the next day, we decided to get a room at the Bear Mountain Inn. A bunch of us decided to stay so ended up getting six in a motel room. Oh my, did that motel room smell awful after we checked in. I ended up not going to the doctor because strangely enough, it seemed to have cleared up that evening. I will just have to watch it just to make sure I don't get it back. Oh I forgot that we met another trail angel today...her name is Bridget. We were hiking down a mountain and she was hiking up. She gave us some Snickers and two Powerade. Twix's ankle held up well today. Tomorrow, we go through the zoo and over the Hudson River. Overall, the New York state parks and trails are really beautiful. Salsa