morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-07-14
From: Peter's Mountain Shelter

To: Rausch Creek
Miles today: 17.4

The big thrill of the day was seeing 2 rattlesnakes laying out in a rock pile area. I later found out that some people saw as many as 5 snakes in this area. I'm glad I got there early. I started the day alone, but everyone from camp caught up to me, so had lots of hiking company. One of them was a UGA graduate, Nick, and I hate to admit he is a good guy and a heck of a hiker. Even as a section hiker he kept up with Tuna Bag and me for a long time. It turns out he is in training for a 50K trail race. I asked him to keep me posted on how he does, and am thinking that perhaps my hike provides a training base for me to participate in such an event. We'll see. Water has become a big deal. So many of the springs/streams are completely dry, or very low flow, or degraded in quality. Plus with the heat our consumption has gone way up. There are times when, given the choice between a pound of gold and a pound of water, I'd take the water.   At camp were Tom and Josh, 2 section hikers I met that day, plus last nights crowd (boognish, fartacus, nick, jess, bean), plus Yonder and Janet. Tuna Bag ended up sleeping in a nearby shelter.
Date: 2007-07-15
From: Rausch Creek

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Started the day with some excellent and ironic trail magic. PA Jeff, a triple crown hiker (He has thru hiked the big 3 trails - AT, PCT, Continental Divide Trail) provided hamburgers, chips and sodas. While we enjoyed his hospitality, I asked him what his favorite part of his AT hike was. He said it was the continuous good feeling. Actually, I am getting excited about the trip again, and Jeff's thought definitely motivates me. Thanks again, Jeff!   As if Jeff's hospitality were not enough, just 100 yards down the trail we found a cooler left by Engineman, a previous AT thru hiker as well. Of all things, it had FREEZE POPS in it. Those who know me well know how happy I was at that point. And on a stinking hot day too. This whole thing was ironic because Tom and Josh, section hikers with us for the past 2 days, offered to take us into town so we could have a nice lunch. Tuna Bag and I turned the offer down, figuring it would take up a lot of time. Spent almost the whole day hiking with Tuna Bag. Again, great pace and great conversation. Tuna Bag is 23, just graduated with a degree in secondary education and history, so he is using the trip as a great adventure and to figure out what he wants to do next. Teaching is an option I am also considering for my next career, so it has been interesting listening to him about that. Most interesting to me is that he has received several offers while on the trail - obviously demand is high, and he is well thought of. At this point I am in regular contact with Rex and Bruce about hooking up. Rex is taking some time off in Port Clinton, so I hope to make a run to catch up with him before he gets going again. Bruce is behind me but averaging 20 mile days while I hike shorter miles. We are thinking we may all be together by Delaware Wather Gap. Rex said that Peach might also be there. That would be a real treat - I haven't seen her at all since Damascus, and have not hiked with her since probably the 3rd week of the trip.   Today I experienced 2 "It's only gross the first time" moments. First, I took a cold shower at the shelter. It wasn't too bad though. Second, after taking the shower I put my skanky clothes back on over my clean body. I was much more aware of their skankiness than usual. Still, it felt pretty darned good. At the shelter - Boognish and company, EZDUZIT, Thumper, Tuna Bag, and White Crow. White Crow is a funny guy, a party animal, who tried a thru hike last year but the weather turned very bad in Maine and he wasn't able to finish. So he is trying again this year, having a great party time along the way but watching to make sure he is ahead of last year's schedule. He is 16 days ahead, so he is in good shape. Which of course means that I am in good shape. One unique thing about the 501 shelter is that you can order delivery food, just like at Partnership Shelter in VA. We split some pizzas, and I got a salad to boot.
Date: 2007-07-16
From: 501 Shelter

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: broken clouds

Caught up with Rex! I was very happy to see him, and look forward to hiking many weeks with him, and Bruce when he catches up.   I learned lessons about humans not being the boss all the time. Early in the morning, I saw my first skunk on the trail. As soon as he saw me, up went the tail, a message that I needed to mind my own business. I decided to watch him work. He went back to eating his breakfast, and crossed the trail about 40' in front of me. I started to move, and up went the tail again. I stopped. Eventually he left the trail, and when I moved along the trail he allowed me to proceed. The second situation was rattlesnakes. I was rattled at twice - a warning from them that "I don't want to waste venom on you, but I will if I have to." The first one lunged at me the same time as he started rattling. I was walking along the outer edge of a curve in the trail. The snake was in the brush alongside the outer edge. I must have surprised him, and was probably heading straight at him. When I heard/saw the snake I couldn't believe how fast I went from forward to backwards. 3 steps and I fell on my backpack. Hoping the snake was not pursuing, I got up quick as I could. The snake was now in the trail, rattling and coiled. There was no retreat in it. I ended up walking off the trail about 10' to get around him, hoping none of his friends were in my path. Absolutely terrifying, I ended up hiking very slowly for a while because I began scanning the trail 10 yards at a time - first the left side, then the trail, then the right side. If it was clear, I moved forward 10 yards and repeated. Of course after a while this got tiresome, so I stopped. Naturally, late in the day I went by another snake. This one never saw me until I was right next to him. I actually ran forward because I was already past him when the rattle started. Besides the critters, the hiking was tough because even though it was level, the rocks are very difficult to negotiate. They inflict pain as well, since you are hiking on a point of the sole of your foot rather than on the whole sole. I CAN'T GET OUT OF PA FAST ENOUGH!!!!!!In spite of everything, this has been my longest hiking day of the trip so far. Interesting. 2 side notes: I tried Breathe-Right strips last night to alleviate snoring, it did not work. Also, Rex and I calculated that we need to hike 15 miles a day 6 days a week to make October 1. That is our target for now. At the hostel: Chaco, Slick, Snakecharmer, Candyman, Vegas, Bean, Rex, Tuna Bag. Also found out Are We There Yet has Lyme disease. Sounds like he WILL be coming back though.
Date: 2007-07-17
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Eckville Shelter 
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

Hiking with a large group today. In the morning, I was hiking with Snakecharmer, Chaco, and Slick, all in their 20s. I asked them my usual question - who would you choose for president. All said the usual for their age group - no candidate attracted them. They critiqued some of the candidates, and it was very interesting. I wanted to emphasize the importance of voting since they are going to inherit this country one day, and it takes time to get the government you want. Interestingly, though primarily I asked questions, they indicated they were impressed with my knowledge of politics. Uh-huh. We ran into Safari 26 at lunch. Rex and he had an interesting discussion because Rex had tested his 26 theory (Safari never had). The results were exactly what Safari had predicted. It sounded, though, as if, even if they thought you were bs-ing them, they found it funny. It reminded me of an old saying I've tested and found to be true - Flattery is seldom believed but never wasted. Maybe that is the key. Anyway I decided that Safari is the theoreticist and Rex is the empiricist in this scientific endeavor.In the afternoon I hiked with Rex. We encountered 2 fascinating vistas - the Pinnacle and Pulpit Rock (see picture). When we got to camp I was pleasantly surprised to see Sweetwater again. Turns out he has Lyme disease too, and is treating it while continuing to hike. Because he is a doctor, he was able to write his own prescription. Probably saved a load of hassle and time.For the 3rd day in a row I have taken a shower. Very nice - we need it in the heat, too, for relief as well as cleaning salt and sweat off of our bodies.Found out that there is a new team on the trail - Bloodstorm, created by Snake Charmer but co-founded with Chaco and Just James. All NOBO thru hikers are welcomed to join. As part of my initiation, I decided my shower was actually a blood bath. Eckville shelter has a caretaker, with fresh water, showers, and electricity. I was there with Rex, Sweetwater, Snake Charmer, Chaco, Just James, and I met He-Man & She-Ra. The shelter was full, so I tented in a field across the road from the shelter.
Date: 2007-07-18
From: Eckville Shelter 

To: Bake Oven Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: broken clouds

I say again - I cannot get out of this state fast enough. Heat, rocky terrain, snakes, water shortages, people catching Lyme disease right and left.I was sleepy all morning. Not sure why - I had a good night's sleep. The drowsiness may have contributed to the 2 significant falls I had in the morning while stepping over boulders. In fact I took a nap at the 7.5 mile mark and felt better in the afternoon. In fact, I was able to keep up with Snakecharmer - for a while - because we were having an interesting conversation. It couldn't last, though. Actually I hiked with a pretty good sized group early in the afternoon, and we touched on various topics, primarily Bloodstorm. Then Safari 26 posed the question, if you were a car, what would you be? We dwelt on that for a long time. I was a 4 cylinder econobox with a lot of miles on it. But still quite reliable. Some oil leaks, and perhaps fuel leaks, since I seem to guzzle fuel even compared to some of the higher performance units I hike with.An interesting moment in the pm was when we climbed Knife Edge - a narrow set of rocks, high in the air, requiring clambering on. It wasn't even a level surface - it tilted to one side. I was totally psyched out by it. I was impressed that Safari 26 and Gnarly waited for me because they could see how ill at ease I was. It is rare for hikers to do this - a little embarrassing for me, but actually appropriate since I was not sure of my ability on this. Everything turned out fine.2 interesting observations:a. There's a lot of Lyme disease out here. I check constantly for ticksb. Hikers seem to have a new attitude at this point - confidence they can do it, and noone is in a hurry anymore. Even the folks who have done the mega-mile days say all they want to do is 15-20 miles per day, not a hard thing on the flat PA terrain.The shelter sucked - no water, no privy, tiny shelter, hardly any camping, but plenty of flies. Rex, Vegas and I invented a camping area in some tall grass. At camp were Vegas, Tuna Bag, Rex, Gnarly (formerly Slick), and Sweetwater. He-Man, She-Ra, Candyman, Snakecharmer and Just James kept going due to lack of water.
Date: 2007-07-19
From: Bake Oven Knob Shelter

To: Palmerton
Miles today: 7.7

Rex and I cut the hike short for the day to let Loose Bruce catch up. Bruce must really be busting some hump to suddenly be so close. Water is still an issue. Great water early, but had to make a liter last 7 miles. But we had a breakfast from the trail - more wild blueberries. Gnarly, Safari 26 and I lost a lot of time munching on them. Thought we probably looked like bears except I was wearing an orange shirt. In fact, I'm surprised bears have picked up on this trick to avoid hunters. Palmerton is a very pleasant, hiker friendly place. In fact, the town seems uniformly fascinated with hikers. We hitched a ride in from a former Deadhead who is now a father. When we told him we wanted a ride to the police station where the hostel was, he pled ignorance and dropped us off as soon as he could. We actually stayed in the basement of the jailhouse. Girl Scouts provided gift packs with all kinds of things that hikers like - food, toilet paper, toothbrushes. Cool place for law abiding hikers.
Date: 2007-07-20
From: Palmerton, PA

To: Vicinity of Little Gap
Miles today: 9.0

Started our hike by hitchhiking out of Palmerton - Sadly the person pulling over to pick us up got in an accident in the process. His words out of the car were, "You caused this." We hoped he was kidding. After the police left, he still offered us a ride - Which way are you going? We said Lehigh Gap, he said I'm going the other way....... Get in! Loose Bruce caught up! OK, we waited for him to catch us.But he did massive miles to catch us-230 miles in 11days. So sitting and waiting was the easy part. Afteran enthusiastic greeting we headed up for an exciting ascent up a trail called Dantes Inferno. It is a Superfund site recovering from heavy metals exposure during zinc smelting operations years ago. It includedone of the most exciting boulder climbs yet which wasa lot of fun once I overcame my fear of heights. Luckybreak of the day: it was very windy during the hike,so the heat wasnt bad at all.
Date: 2007-07-21
From: Vicinity of LittleGap

To: Camp near Wolf Rocks
Miles today: 14.0

A brutal rock day, as we had been warned, but wehad excellent mileage considering the long andfrequent breaks - a 12 hour hiking day. As we were leaving a shelter to get water, another rattler rattled at me and made me jumpsideways. Interestingly, I was the 3rd person to walk by it. Why me? Anyway, I have achieved a trifecta, having jumpedforward, backward and sideways. We also saw adiamondback rattlesnake on the trail, and it refusedto get out of our way even with our patient attemptsat persuasion(we threw small stones at it. Eventuallywe hiked into the grass to get around it. OK, I was a little tough on PA the other day, talkingonly about the negatives. I still want to get out, buthere are some good points: - cool towns, including Boiling Springs, Duncannon,and Palmerton. The town people are friendly andinteresting. Vicki who owns the Doyle Hotel, Kevin inPalmerton who gives rides each morning, Palmerton girlscouts who provide care packages to hikersTrail Magic- discussed before - varied but flat terrains - in general accursed geology but neat people.
Date: 2007-07-22
From: Camp near Wolf Rocks

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: broken clouds

I've mentioned Rex as a hiking partner a lot lately. A great guy, and incredibly people oriented. I only realized HOW people oriented when we ran into a day hiker named Shark. Rex recognized him instantly as a section hiker he had met in passing in the Shenandoahs - about 700 miles ago! He was able to recall the place, and much of the conversation that took place. Hiked into the church hostel in DWG with Loose Bruce and Rex. Later, Peach showed up. It turns out she will be hiking with us for a while - she enjoys Loose Bruce, Rex and Radar as much as I do. It was a treat to see her again - I met Peach the first day of my hike, in fact I had been reading her prep journals even before the hike. I haven't hiked with her since April, or seen her since Trail Days in May, but she had been 3-5 days ahead of me according to the shelter registers,so this was pretty cool.   In the evening, we all listened to a local concert - a quartet consisting of a bassoon, 2 flutes and a marimba. I wondered how they found music written for such a quartet, but one of the musicians explained there is a whole set of classical music written for 2 treble voices and one bass voice.Rex pulled another Rex... one of the reasons I wanted to hike with this group was that they seemed to have excellent side adventures. He arranged for us to have breakfast with Pastor Karen, the pastor of the church that does the hostel. She is a "trail legend", in that everyone in the AT community knows her well.
Date: 2007-07-23
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Zeroed because it was raining pretty hard. I decided to hange out with this group in part because they seemed to have some neat adventures. It is already paying off - Rex arranged for us to take Pastor Karen who runs the church hostel out for breakfast. She is a trail celebrity, and she has some interesting life experiences that she shared with us. Peach decided to move on a few miles later in the day, but Bruce, Rex and I stayed. More familiar people showed up during the day, all quite chilled due to the cold weather - Grizzle, Boognish, He-Man and She-Ra, Dirty. In addition to some folks who showed up late yesterday (Snake Charmer, Veg, Keymaster, Figgy and Stitch, Coffee Bean, Candy Man), it was a good party all day. My nap was great too.
Date: 2007-07-24
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Camp near Blue Mtn Lakes Road
Miles today: 19.0

Out of PA! Nuff said. I made a joke about the fact (true) that New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the US. The photograph raises some questions.I have a morning routine that takes an hour and a half. Others jump out of their tents and go. I keep wondering why I take so long, so I am going to walk through that routine as much to explain it to myself as to record it for posterity. It begins with a trip into the woods. Then I find my bear bag, eat pop tarts and a few handfuls of cheerios, and then return to my tent to begin packing. The bottom layer of my pack gets the air mattress, sleeping bag, rope, and clothing stuff sack. Then I take care of water, fetching some, filling my water bladder, adding flavoring to it, and putting it in the pack. At this point I may visit the privy if there is one(BTW, you are not supposed to pee in the privy because it adversely affects decomposition of the fecal matter). Next I pull lunch food out of the main food bag and put the main food bag in the pack. Then I brush my teeth and clean my tooth-grinding preventer, and pack the toothbrush, toothpaste and device, and put the sacks for them in the pack. Now the tent comes down (if I didn't stay in a shelter), and that gets stowed. Then odds and ends go into the pack. Now it is time to stretch - a 20 minute routine. Finally I put my hiking boots on, stow my camp shoes, and I am ready to go. Now, my big question is, which steps is everyone else skipping?
Date: 2007-07-25
From: Camp near Blue Mtn Lakes Road

To: Camp near Mashipacong Shelter
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: clear sky

Water continues to dominate our thoughts. It is hot enough that we sweat profusely, so we go through at least a gallon and a half a day, and we are in a portion of the trail where water is at a premium. There are some trail magic water drops, but not as much as PA. In fact, we stopped at a deli right off the trail at a road crossing, and after spending $10 on a sub, chips, a drink and an ice cream sandwich the proprietor refused me a liter of tap water. Interestingly, my guide book warned about this guy, so I should have known better. I did something at the trail head to alert other hikers to the problem, but it will remain unsaid for now.   Hiked with Rex and Loose Bruce. We ran into 2 groups of "Trailblazers", groups of inner city girls from NYC, on a trip designed to show them another life style. You could see that some of them really liked it while others didn't, but they were all interested in hearing about our thru hike.Loose Bruce, Rex and I camped in the woods beyond the shelter, because the young girls were a little too energetic for us. In the picture, Rex and Loose Bruce are preparing dinner.
Date: 2007-07-26
From: Camp near Mashipacong Shelter

To: Murray Property
Miles today: 12.3

The first highlight of the day was that we sat at a beach at High Point State Park for 4 hours, yet still got a decent hike in. It included a side trip to the highest point in New Jersey. The beach was refreshing, and what a great change of pace - relaxing, eating chili dogs & ice cream, people watching, cooling off in the water. A local retiree talked about his career as a financial analyst. Much like Candybar was about to make pickle quality control sound interesting, so did this gentleman, talking about approving loans for new business ventures. As far as hiking, the rocks suddenly ended at the park, as had been promised by a number of people, but the resumed just as suddenly a few miles later. That's the part of the story no one mentioned. The second highlight of the day was that, out of nowhere, Radar showed up at the Murray Property after we settled in. Turns out he had just returned from his conservation project that day - what incredible timing. He hurt his back, but is hanging in there. The lowlight of the day was that I slept in the shelter. The only other person staying was Aristotle, a notoriously hard of hearing person, so I figured my snoring wouldn't be an issue. However, it was a miserable night because the air was thick with mosquitoes. In fact they buzzed so much it was like ringing in my ears. Plus they were biting. I tried to hide inside my sleeping bag but it was too hot. I eventually put on some DEET, which reduced both the noise and the biting. I will camp in my tent until the bugs subside, which should happen in Vermont.
Date: 2007-07-27
From: Murray Property

To: NJ 94 Crossing
Miles today: 13.6

A big hiker THANK YOU to Donna Fry and Rennie Bradner, friends of my sister Kristin, for their incredible hospitality to Rex, Loose Bruce, Radar, Peach and myself. They picked us up, opened their home to us and provided an excellent meal. I was glad to finally meet them, since Kristin had spoken quite highly of them. Their flexibility was also appreciated, since we had to rearrange both the pickup location and the number of participants several times before it all happened. The hiking that day was fascinating, allowing us to experience some swamp habitats not seen earlier in the trail. Some beautiful scenes, pictures forthcoming.   By the way, you may want to visit the Trail Journals of Rex and Peach. They have not only more pictures, they also update their journals at different times. For the time being, by tracking them you are also tracking me. They also have their unique perspectives on our shared experiences.      We realized today that if we hike 15 miles per day 6 days per week, we will complete the trail by October 1. Sounds like a worthwhile goal.