morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-05-14
From: Robbinsville, NC

To: Cable Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 8.5

Shuttle driver Gene was there to pick me up at 7:30 after my third free hotel breakfast. I probably didn¢t need that waffle. I took it slow on the downhills and managed to stay relatively pain free. It¢s become apparent that my right foot with the plantar fasciitis tends to do better with regular hiking. When I take more than a day off it seems to hurt more when I resume. It would be nice if that were the case with my shin. There¢s an Air Force guy at the shelter tonight who knew a good shin splint stretch but it takes a partner. He generously offered to do the stretch with me. He was a bit surprised at how stiff my legs are. I¢ve become convinced that when training for a long distance hike it may be more important to become flexible through stretching and yoga than to work on strength. You get strong on trail by hiking. You don¢t get flexible. I probably could have avoided both the PF and the shin splints had I taken that more seriously. There¢s just 5.5 into Fontana tomorrow where I¢ll get a ride into the village and post office. Their hours are 11:45 to 2:45. I need to pick up my box from home with food and my hat and a package from Amazon with my calf compression sleeves. I¢ll mail Grasshopper¢s sleeves back to her. Thanks, Grasshopper.Speaking of hats, when the driver dropped me off at Stecoah Gap this morning there was some trail magic there in the form of apples and bananas as well as a hat from Mountain Crossings. I swapped out my fishing hat for that one.Because I arrived at the shelter at 12:40, I had plenty of time to myself this afternoon. It was a hot day and I hopped into my hammock under the shade of my tarp for an afternoon read and nap. For the first time I felt way overheated with my underquilt in place. I had to unclip it. Now that it¢s after 8:00, I¢m feeling a bit of a chill. CBS they call it in hammock circles. Cold Butt Syndrome. Time to clip it back into place.If tomorrow¢s hike into Fontana is like today¢s, I really don¢t know what I¢ll decide to do. The suspense is killing me.
Date: 2018-05-15
From: Cable Gap Shelter 

To: Fontana Village, NC
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: overcast clouds

After hiking the descent into Fontana I decided that I need to take a break to rest and stretch my left leg. Again I had to hike slowly downhill to avoid the shin splint pain. I split the cost of a shuttle to Franklin and the car rental there. I started driving home to New Jersey at 4:00 PM fully intending to take a hotel room along the way. But after filling the tank at around 10:00, I decided to drive through the night with a couple of brief rest area stops. I arrived home at 6:45 AM Wednesday. The cats are happy to see me. How do I feel about getting off the trail for a long two week break? Mixed. Should I have pushed through? Am I not the tough thru hiker I need to be? I have those thoughts. But on the other hand it¢s nice to be home after more than two months and I¢ll get to see Joan when she returns from her dive trip on Sunday. I think when I get back on it will be at Delaware Water Gap and I¢ll do all of NJ NY CT MA VT NH and ME. That way I¢ll be done with northern New England before it gets too cold. Then I¢ll have from Daleville, VA through PA and the Smokies. Must stretch before catching some z¢s.
Date: 2018-05-16
From: Fontana Village, NC

To: Home in New Jersey
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: fog

As I said in yesterday¢s post, I arrived home in the rental car at 6:45 this morning. Not much to report other than showering, laundry, putting away gear, and stretching, I was able to see my dentist today who installed my permanent bridge (see root canal pre-hike entry). And I had dinner with Dotty and Steve at a burger joint in Bergefield. I made an appointment with the podiatrist who helped me with my plantar fasciitis. Hopefully he¢ll be able to help with the shin splints. Odd that after a day of diligent stretching and icing my left ankle is swollen. I¢ll not post journal entries while I¢m home, but will pick back up when I¢m ready to hit the trail again.
Date: 2018-05-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I visited the podiatrist I last saw prior to my start.  I felt he had the best advice for my plantar fasciitis so I saw him this morning about the shin splints.  He gave a really clear explanation of what they are and how to treat them.  He thinks it wasn't the downhill pounding I gave my left leg hiking down into the NOC but more the long duration of the downhill and the fact that the flexion distance from heel strike to front of foot landing is greater going downhill.  He recommends pausing every hour for rest and stretching, particularly on a long descent.  My leg feels fine now from the rest and stretching I've given it thus far and he feels I could resume the hike at any time.I'm pretty sure that Joan and I have come up with a plan.  She will drive me to the Delaware Water Gap on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28 and I'll hike north to Katahdin.  Meanwhile I'll have some more time here at home and at our little house in the Catskills where we're heading tomorrow morning.  My original hike plan had me getting off trail to see Joan and visit the Catskills house as I passed nearby up in Southfields, NY.  But now I think I'll just hike through, having just had this break.It's been really nice being home, spending time with Joan, playing with our dear friends Dotty and Steve, and singing in the church choir.  But now it's time to get back to the hike.  I hope I haven't lost too much of my strength, and if I have, that it will come back quickly.  Maybe I'll run into some hikers I had met on the first leg of my hike.  That would be nice indeed.
Date: 2018-05-28
From: Home in New Jersey

To: Mohican Outdoor Center 
Miles today: 11.0

Joan and I drove an hour and a quarter to the town of Delaware Water Gap, PA this morning to get me back on the trail. I¢ll be hiking north through eight states to the AT¢s northern terminus atop Mt Katahdin in north central Maine, around 900 miles. After fond farewells I headed off across the Delaware River into New Jersey. It was 40 minutes of road walking before I left roads and felt trail once again, including walking Rt 80 across the river with 18-wheelers speeding past me a scant six feet away. Altogether I spent 12 days at home resting which seemed to have cured the shin splints. It was so nice being home. Joan returned from her dive trip and took the next week off from work to be with me. I¢m looking forward to finishing the hike when we can both be retired and do the things we¢ve dreamed of. I met my first thru hikers this morning at Sunfish Pond, Shake & Bake and Froggy, who are flip-floppers. They said they¢ve not seen very many traditional Northbounders, one or two each night. I would have thought there¢d be more, including some with whom I hiked during my first section. I¢ll look at the shelter logs for names I might recognize. They also said that the rocks of northern PA were as bad as they say. I¢ll be experiencing them near the end of my hike.No problem today with shin splints. The trail featured no major ups and downs, but it was very rocky. So much so that my progress was often quite slow and me feet began to hurt, particularly the right foot with the plantar fasciitis. I¢m not much worried though because my foot usually hurts more at the start of a hike but then after a few days it calms down. Tonight I¢m camping at the Mohican Outdoor Center. It¢s run be the Appalachian Mountain Club. For $8.50 I have a camp site of my own with a bench and picnic table, bear boxes and a privy nearby. I¢m hoping to make it to Southfields, NY by Sunday, six more days. It¢s only 35 minutes from our house. Joan will meet me there and whisk me home for an overnight.
Date: 2018-05-29
From: Mohican Outdoor Center 

To: Brink Shelter 
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Up at 5:00. On the AT at 6:40. Giving credit where credit is due, there were about four miles of nice flat comfortable trail today. But that leaves ten miles of nasty rocks to deal with. Joan asked me last night about the rocks. Are they like gravel? No, they are not. These rocks range in size from softball to microwave. Sure, there are bigger and smaller, but these are the ones that are miserable to hike over. ¢Rock hopping¢ is not a good term as it sounds like fun. Makes me think of the children¢s game of ¢lava¢ where you must hop from rock to rock as the ground is molten rock that would burn your feet to stumps. The rocks on the trail are often pointy and sharp and set firmly in the earth at random angles. Your brain needs to quickly process a lot of visual input to decide where each foot and pole should go next. On dirt or rock? The angles your poor ankles must accommodate would challenge the most articulated of action figures. Progress is slow and your feet hurt after a while of this. It took me nine hours, including stops, to go 14 miles. Just four of us at the shelter tonight. Inspecting the shelter log I saw no names I recognized. A nice shelter but it¢s set in a depression and the big rains of Sunday have left much of the grounds muddy and squishy. It was hot and humid today, in the upper 80s. My hiking attire is sweaty and soggy. Let¢s see if they dry overnight. Tomorrow it¢s supposed to be cooler for my 15 miler. I shared the picnic table with a flip flop thru hiker from Houston, recently retired. He started in Waynesboro, VA, is hiking to Maine, then will hike south to Springer from Waynesboro. I don¢t even think there¢s a term for my wacky five-part hike.
Date: 2018-05-30
From: Brink Shelter 

To: Rutherford Shelter 
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

You¢ll be disappointed if you were hoping for more whining from me today. The weather was perfect. Though there were patches of rocky trail, it was mostly easy hiking. I clocked 2.5 in my first hour which is fast for me. My legs and feet felt pretty good and I¢m getting my hiking legs back after my twelve days of rest and sloth. Early on I crossed Rt 206 near Branchville during rush hour. Good thing Mr Policeman was there to usher me across. There¢s a deli right there but it was closed. At around 11:00 I consulted the guide and saw that coming up in a mile was the Sunrise Mountain Pavilion. Great views both east and west, a roof to provide shade, and a bench sit on. I remember six years ago when I hiked the New Jersey section, stopping at the deli on 206 and buying a huge sandwich which I carried up to that pavilion. The hiker I had dinner with last night showed up and we had lunch together there. I shouldn¢t have had the can of sardines because now my garbage baggie will stink till I get to a garbage can, which for me won¢t be till I get home on Sunday. I called Greg, one of my old work chums and asked him to let my former work colleagues know about my journal. It was nice catching up with him. I¢m hoping to see some Guest Book entries from old friends from the office. Durwood, a hiking companion from the first part of my hike, wrote to say he¢ll be leaving Delaware Water Gap on Friday. Because he moves a lot faster and farther than I, we¢ll be meeting again soon. I¢m looking forward to that. I was planning to camp in the town of Unionville, NY tomorrow. But I think I¢ll leave extra early tomorrow morning and stop there for lunch and resupply and then move on to the next shelter. That will make for a 17 mile day plus the walk in and out of town. This way the following three days will be easy peasy leading into Sunday when Joan picks me up and I go home for shower, laundry and bed. It will have been an entire week without a shower. I¢m sure she¢ll keep the car windows open.Today¢s photo is of Rutherford Shelter, where I¢m camping tonight. It¢s unique in that it¢s the only shelter on the AT with a satellite dish. Of course without electricity it¢s just a conversation piece.
Date: 2018-05-31
From: Rutherford Shelter 

To: Pochuck Shelter 
Miles today: 17.0

I knew I had a long day so I set my watch alarm for 4:20. I didn¢t hear it but woke anyway at 4:26. I wanted to be on the AT at 6:00 and the shelter was 0.4 miles off the trail. Not only was it a 17 mile day but I was planning a stop in Unionville, 0.4 off the trail, for lunch and resupply. When I woke it was wet and foggy. My hiking clothes, wet from sweat, were still just as wet after hanging under my tarp overnight. I just love putting on wet cold clothes in the morning. After an hour of hiking it began to rain and continued till just before getting to Unionville at 1:00. Cheeseburger and a dog with kraut for lunch and a few snack items for the food bag. The walk from there to the shelter was unusual: a long road walk followed by an even longer walk around a very large marsh. I was glad to get back into the woods. Today also featured some very pretty pasture land with grass so tall it was clear that the grazing animals had yet to be invited to the feast. Today also brought another milestone: 700 miles. In another 30 I¢ll have completed one third of the trail. Tonight¢s shelter is hosting a large group of hikers including a man, Daymaker, who knows Sanskrit well and can chant the Bhagavad Gita. You meet interesting people on the trail. On the other hand I was the only person at last night¢s shelter. I believe that¢s a first for this hike. It was kind of nice. I¢m glad that my next three days aren¢t so long. All are twelve or under. I¢m looking forward to the Pochuck Boardwalk tomorrow. It¢s a long elevated walkway over marshland. Then it¢s ¢Stairway to Heaven¢, a long very steep climb up Wawayanda Mountain.By the way, the New Jersey section of the AT is gorgeous.
Date: 2018-06-01
From: Pochuck Shelter 

To: Wawayanda Shelter 
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Good hike today. Though I¢d hiked this section twice before, I had forgotten just how amazing the Pochuck Boardwalk is and how crazy challenging the Stairway to Heaven. It was a 25 minute walk across the boardwalk, an elevated four foot wide walkway through beautiful marshland. I was treated to orioles and cardinals. They started building the boardwalk maybe ten years ago and they¢re still expanding it. Much of the wood looked and smelled fresh. If you live in north Jersey and have not already done so, you must ¢Take a walk on Boardwalk¢. The boardwalk is followed by a couple of miles of wide easy trail leading to the road crossing of Rt 94 near Vernon where a short walk takes you to Heaven Hill Farm where ice cream and baked goods can be had. I had a large cup of Graham Central ice cream and two homemade apple cider donuts warm from the oven. I could actually taste the cider. On the other side of the road the trail looked ominous with Wawayanda Mountain looking high and steep. It was about an hour of steady rock climbing to the top. I took it slow but kept moving the whole ride up the Stairway to Heaven. I didn¢t remember it being so long and difficult. Must be like mothers having a second baby forgetting the pain of the first. I had my second fall today. This time I was not hurt at all. I slipped on some mud and landed face first in a large mud puddle. After the initial disgust at having mud all over me, including in my ear, I got up, resumed hiking and laughed at myself. I must have looked pretty funny. There were no streams prior to the shelter so I hiked a little beyond to the Wawayanda Park office, stripped down to my undies, and rinsed poles, bottles and clothing under the outside spigot. Good company at the shelter tonight. Kats, Leila, and Glider so far. Also lots of mosquitoes. So far I¢ve been able to keep them at bay with Picaridin lotion. Here¢s some breaking news. You¢ll never guess who just walked into camp. Fresh Ground has arrived! Bringing the best trail magic of the AT. You might recall that way back towards the beginning of my hike I ran into his food tent at Lemon Gap. He served both dinner and breakfast on one of the coldest days of my hike. What a guy.And now Nate, Pepper Pot and Lucky 59 have arrived. It¢s reunion time for Farfar.
Date: 2018-06-02
From: Wawayanda Shelter 

To: Wildcat Shelter 
Miles today: 12.1

I felt a close sense of trail community today, much due to Fresh Ground¢s Leapfrog Cafe. He was set up for breakfast at the Wawayanda parking lot just a short distance up the trail. Then again for lunch at the 17A crossing in Bellvale, NY. His trail magic brings hikers together. He made me a huge omelette, three apple pancakes with real maple syrup and of course fresh ground coffee made in a French press. Then for lunch two cheeseburgers, pasta salad and two cupcakes washed down with red Kool-ade. After lunch a group of us hiked a short distance to Bellvale Farm and had their homemade ice cream. This time s¢mores and mint chocolate chip.I hiked most of the morning with Lucky 59 and her husband Pepper Pot who, if he completes his hike, will be the first person from Guyana to do so. This is only the second time in my hike when I¢ve actually hiked with someone. I enjoyed our conversation. Then, after lunch I hiked with Kats, a most interesting retired man from Quebec. He¢s two years older than I and a better hiker. I had my third fall today. As in yesterday¢s fall it did no damage. I slipped on a steep rock face and went down on my butt, my pack taking the brunt of it. Large portions of today¢s hike was ridge walking with Greenwood Lake to our east. This involved many difficult climes up and down where I sometimes had to abandon my poles and use all fours. I have a fear of slipping and crashing down. At one point I noticed a blue blazed alternate route around a particularly difficult spot. They¢re there for stormy days when it¢s too dangerous to attempt the official route. Or for old people like me who are afraid of dying. I availed myself of one of these walk-arounds and am not sad that I did. Purists would scoff, but I need to do what I¢m comfortable with. Speaking of slipping on rocks, I¢m beginning to think that maybe the trail runners I¢m using don¢t have the best grip. I¢m watching other hikers with more traditional hiking shoes that seem to grip better. I will look into new shoes on Monday while I¢m home for a zero. Tomorrow Joan picks me up after a ten mile day where the trail crosses Rt 17 in Southfields. The last 0.4 miles is a nearly straight down 500 foot rock pile descent called Agony Grind. Five years ago when I hiked this, Joan, Dotty and Steve met me at Rt 17 and were aghast at how awful I looked. I was probably hungry and dehydrated. But I¢m a better hiker now and hopefully won¢t cause the same reaction. One more thing. I finished New Jersey today and crossed into New York. One more state completed, the third so far: GA, TN, and NJ. Eleven more to complete, though NC is nearly complete and VA, by far the biggest state, is half done.
Date: 2018-06-03
From: Wildcat Shelter 

To: Home in New Jersey
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: moderate rain

It seems the trail builders sought out the most massive rock faces and steepest grades to lay out the AT through these first 20 miles of the AT in New York. Perhaps to ensure that the AT be not just the People¢s Trail, but the Badass People¢s Trail. These past two days have left me wondering whether my own level of badassness is up to the challenge. There were moments when I thought one little slip could leave me with broken bones or worse. It takes not only strength but agility, flexibility and good balance to navigate these challenging sections. Youth helps too, but honestly I see plenty of older hikers moving faster and with more confidence than I.Lying in my hammock after posting yesterday¢s journal entry I realized that as of yesterday, at 732.7 miles, I¢ve hiked one third of the trail. Applying my keen math skills I have only 2/3 of the trail to go.The past two nights have brought a lot of rain and I¢ve been impressed at how well my Z-packs Dyneema tarp has kept me and my hammock dry. Fortunately the rain has stopped before I had to pack up camp. On such mornings I take down the tarp last so I can breakfast and de-camp under its protection. I¢m relieved that it hasn¢t been raining during the day because as difficult as these rocks have been, they¢d be downright treacherous if wet and slick.It¢s been a solid week of hiking, Monday through Sunday, without a town or hostel stop for a shower and laundry. This made it especially sweet when Joan met me in Southfields to take me home for a zero on Monday. We were going to give Glider and New Girl a ride into Tuxedo, but they opted to hire a taxi rather than wait for my arrival. I had let them know that I¢d be arriving well after them due to the return of my shin pain.I¢d been warning my fellow hikers about Agony Grind, the steep rocky 500 foot descent to Rt 17 in Southfields, having experiencing it five years ago. But what I found was that it was not as difficult as I had remembered and not nearly as scary as the other challenges of the past two days. Next up is the famous Lemon Squeezer where hikers must remove their packs to slither through a crack in a giant rock. Also coming up is the more pleasant section of New York through Harriman Park and up and over Bear Mountain. Maybe I¢ll be singing the ¢I love New York¢ theme after all.
Date: 2018-06-04
From: Home in New Jersey

To: Home in New Jersey
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I spent a good part of the day cleaning and drying my gear. After my recent face plant into a mud puddle and with the rain and humidity of recent days, my pack and all of its contents needed some good airing out. Joan welcomed me home yesterday with a feast. All I had to do was grill the burgers and hot dogs and enjoy a couple of Long Trail Brewery¢s Thru Hiker Ale. I crashed shortly after dinner after yesterday¢s 10 hour/10 mile day. My left shin needs another rest so I don¢t know how long I¢ll be home.They say never decide to quit on a bad day. I don¢t want to quit but, at the same time I¢m beginning to think that I may need another approach to tackling the Appalachian Trail. My shins have slowed me down now a few times to a speed that would make it impossible to complete the entire trail in one year. I¢ve always imagined myself doing the AT as a thru hike and was never much interested in being a section hiker, taking multiple years to hike the entire trail. But the past two days of hiking in New York have been a wake-up call. Could I get enthused about being a section hiker? How would I feel were I to give up on my dream of being a successful thru hiker? If New York has put me in danger beyond my threshold for risk taking, how will I handle New Hampshire and Maine?I needed to reach out to a hiker friend so I called Second Chance, one of the two women I ended up hiking with during the first leg of my hike down south. I knew she had attempted a thru hike last year and needed to stop and later decided to try and complete the trail as a section hiker. I wanted to hear about how that transition worked for her. She¢s become quite comfortable with being a section hiker. It turns out we share a common fear about the dangerous sections of trail and both would prefer not to hike New Hampshire and Maine alone. We talked about the possibility of hiking together this year, both needing to do the northern two states. And it turns out we both need to hike the Smokies.So here I am at home with lots to think about. There¢s a former thru hikers who helped me out with a virtual pack shake-down prior to my hike who told me to call him should I start contemplating quitting. I will do that.I¢ll let you know what I decide to do.