morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-05-14
From: 501 Shelter

To: Eagles Nest Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: broken clouds

I wake up, make breakfast, and meet Tom, a Fed-Ex worker out for a few day's hike with his brother-in-law Butch, who will join him tonight. As we pack to leave, another hiker appears at the door: Mother Nature, a retired teacher from Boston, who is about my age, and who is doing a 2-week hike.Hiking together, the three of us head north. I have a hard time keeping up. Mother Nature is in the lead, keeping a quick pace -- she actually does a slow jog on the trail at times, since she comes from a background of marathon running and orienteering (where participants jog from checkpoint to checkpoint). I am abashed to be the weak link in this threesome -- but, to be fair, my ankle still hurts and is slowing me down.It's another partly-cloudy day with intermittant sun. Tom displays an amazing knowledge of natural science lore, but I only catch bits and pieces of the conversation since I lag behind. We reach Eagles Nest Shelter at around 4 pm. Tom has been having phone conversations with Butch, who is to hike up a side trail to meet us here, but time passes and there is no sign of him. Hours pass as darkness approaches, and Tom repeatedly jogs north and south on the AT, visiting trail junctions to try and find Butch. It becomes obvious that Butch is not where he is supposed to be. More phone calls ensue, including calls to wives at home wondering where the boys are. Finally it is dark, and Tom tells Butch to just camp alongside the trail whereever he is, and we will try to find him in the morning. Butch has no tent, so fortunately it does not rain this night, but no worries, Butch is an ex-Marine anyway.
Date: 2010-05-15
From: Eagles Nest Shelter

To: Windsor Furnace Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: few clouds

Mother Nature and I head out early since we both need to re-supply in the next town (Port Clinton). About 3 miles up the trail, we find a smiling Butch, who is no worse for the wear of spending a night in the open next to the trail. He hands us a stash of candy bars, and we tell him Tom will be by shortly. We will all re-unite at the next shelter tonight. We reach Port Clinton mid-morning where Mother Nature picks up a resupply box at the post office. Mother Nature is a devotee of healthy living, so all her stuff is organic and bought from health food stores. It includes some interesting items like freeze-dried sardines. I need to get to a store to reprovision (candy bars, etc), but the nearest town is Hamburg, about 5 miles away. Also my pack webbing has torn, so I need to fix it -- my old Kelty bag is slowly giving up the ghost. Mother Nature strikes up a conversation with Frank the barber in his shop across the street, and he says we can leave our packs in his shop while we try to get to Hamburg. Then Frank's father shows up, who says he will drive us since he needs to do an errand in town. So off we go on this sunny morning, free as the breeze and light-hearted at the generosity of people and fate.We get back to the barber shop and re-pack while Frank tells us about his philosophy of life called eudemonia. Then Mother Nature and I head off to the Port Clinton Hotel restaurant where the beers are cold and the french-fry baskets are rumoured to be huge. Back at the barber shop, Frank is playing tunes on his guitar. I fix my pack, and off we go.After a pleasant hike we end up at Windsor Furnace Shelter, which is full, so we camp nearby with Tom and Butch.
Date: 2010-05-16
From: Blue Mt Summit -- Blue Mt. B&B

To: Blue Mt Summit -- Blue Mt. B&B
Miles today: 20.6

Mother Nature and I plan to put in a long day, so we say goodbye to Tom and Butch, and step out briskly. But the PA rocks are rearing their ugly heads, and the going is slow. PA rocks come in two forms: 1) The nasty pointed ones that carpet the trail everywhere so that there is nowhere to step but on top of them, and 2) the large blocks along narrow ridges that you must climb over and around. After 20 miles of this, we reach a road crossing where we find the Blue Mountain B&B and Restaurant and we decide to graze at the restaurant while we talk things over.After two beers and a burger lethargy is setting in, and we ask Kenny the proprieter if he has any rooms available. "We are just friends," I say, "so we need a room with two beds." For some reason, everyone but me thinks this is funny. Kenny says he has one room available, and the rate is $90, and Mother Nature says we'll pay $50. To my suprise Kenny agrees. We head up to the room, and first things first, take showers. I head back to the bar, and talk some more with Kenny and the cook Sal, who has given up the fast life in L.A. to live in back-woods PA. Kenny laments that he bought this place as a fixer-upper project 10 years ago, but never did sell it, and now it is a bit of an albatross, especially now with the bad economy. This all begins to sound familiar as the east-coast angst I dimly remember (I grew up in Albany, New York), where people stay put with the life they know and the friends they love, but continually bitch about it.Back in the room I make a thinly-veiled pass at Mother Nature (I use the terribly romantic back-woods ploy of offering to do a tick-check on her), but it doesn't take, and even her seperate bed is not far enough away from me as I begin snoring, so she retreats to an adjacent empty room for the night.
Date: 2010-05-17
From: Blue Mt Summit -- Blue Mt. B&B

To: Delp's Spring
Miles today: 20.1

We again plan a long day, but this is the day that the rocks really defeat us. This is the day that I begin swearing at the rocks. We make 20 miles, but at the expense of bone-weariness, and we are forced to stop short of our intended destination, and set up a dry camp on the ridge (but fortunately we are carrying enough water). Today we traversed Lehigh Gap, which includes a fairly technical hike up the rocks on the north side of the Gap, where, according to Wikipedia: "From 1898 to 1980, the Palmerton Zinc plant emitted sulfur dioxide at rates of up to 3,600 pounds per hour, killing plant life and animal habitats." And "In fact, metals levels stopped all microbial activity, creating a biological desert where trees that had been dead for 20 or more years could not decompose." The landscape is so rocky that it reminded me of climbs above treeline on Colorado 14ers.
Date: 2010-05-18
From: Delp's Spring

To: Kirkridge Shelter
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: light rain

We slept well, but today hammered us again with rocks, and the discomfort was compounded by a cold rain that fell all day. We had to make almost 24 miles to reach the shelter. By noon we were soaking wet, and would begin to shiver if we stopped hiking. We were in an endless wet green tunnel carpeted with rocks, and I began to feel like I was on a treadmill going nowhere. Occassionally it would briefly stop raining which would temporarily improve our comfort level: I think the temperature of the rain was alot colder than the ambient air temperature, so while it fell we were extra cold. By the time we reached highway 191 just short of the shelter, we were getting a little desperate. We decided to try to hitch to town -- we wanted a warm place so bad! But no one would pick us up in the rain (we didn't even know where this hiway lead, and it turned out we were hitching in the wrong direction). I remembered from last year's hike the coldest I got was while attempting to hitch into Gatlinburg from Newfound Gap, so after 15 minutes of standing in the rain, I told Mother Nature we had to push on the remaining mile to the shelter.We reached the shelter. There was a young couple there who already were drying out -- they had a line strung out with all their wet clothes, and were inside their tent inside the shelter (a common tactic in bad weather). We stripped naked and got into warm dry clothes. Mother Nature said she felt cold in her core, so I got her into my cold-weather sleeping bag and made her some warm apple cider. After about an hour she began to revive, and my backup Smartwool long sleeve shirt and some hot coffee did the trick for me.After we were stabilized we had a nice conversation with the young couple in the shelter who were just finishing their hike through the length of Pennsylvania.This day was a good lesson in knowing your gear and your limits.
Date: 2010-05-19
From: Kirkridge Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap -- Church of the Mt hostel
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Today's weather was yet another contest between the sun and the rain, but we didn't mind, we had only a few short miles down to the Delaware Water Gap and civilization. In town (Town of Delaware Water Gap) we headed immediately to the hiker hostel in the basement of the Church of the Mountain. There was no one there, but the door was open. We stashed our gear and headed out to find breakfast. We found the Apple Pie Bakery, where the sign advertized a hot dog and pie for $2.50, but we wanted breakfast, so we got excellent pastries and egg sandwiches. Then off to Wal-Mart where I picked up food and Mother Nature got some city clothes -- her hike is over and she is taking the bus to New York City to visit friends before she heads home to Boston.So at noon, we said our goodbyes, and I am alone again. Briefly I thought about hiking today, but instead feel I should get a good night's sleep to get fully recovered from our 'ordeal-in-the-rain'.
Date: 2010-05-20
From: Delaware Water Gap -- Church of the Mt hostel

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 24.4
Weather: clear sky

The sun is shining today as I say goodbye to the PA rocks, and hello to New Jersey. As I start into the hills, it feels like the terrain is completely different on this side of the Delaware; and there is some basis for this, because during the last Ice Age, the great continental glaciers reached into New Jersey but not into this part of Pennsylvania. The first sign of this change was Sunfish Pond -- the farthest south glacial lake in this area. So the rocks are diminished, and my ankle feels healed! My plan is to average 20 miles per day, and reach my goal at the Hudson River before the end of May.Saw quite a few day hikers on the trail today, and a few southbounders. Reached the Brink Road Shelter feeling quite good. A second hiker pulled in, a short-distance guy who manages the arboretum at Rutgers. It was a warm night, and the mosquitos were bad, which is a first for me on the AT. I slept in my clothes and rain jacket so no bare skin was exposed to the mosquitos, and didn't use my sleeping bag because it was so hot.
Date: 2010-05-21
From: Brink Road Shelter

To: High Point -- The Outhouse
Miles today: 22.8

My plan today was to reach the High Point Shelter about 21 miles away. Met quite a few other hikers, and several of them told me about a great hiker hostel in Unionville, NY. But this would be 27 miles to reach, and it was fresh in my mind what trying to do too much can do. So when I reached the High Point Shelter at about 3 pm, I called the hostel for advise. They suggested I hike for one more mile to the next road, and said they would pick me up there! One-half hour later, I was in Butch's pick-up and we were on our way toward Unionville. He said he would bring me back to this point in the morning. The shelter in Unionville used to be known as "The Mayor's House", because it's owner Dick was the mayor of Unionville. But he decided not to run a few year's back, and now the place is known as "The Outhouse". The hostel is Dick's house, and he has made a bunk room in the basement. Amenities include a computer with the internet, showers, TV, washing machines, and dinner and breakfast cooked for you, and free run of the house. This all used to be free, but the hiker volume got so high that Dick had to start asking for a $10 donation to make ends meet. When I arrive, I meet Bill, who is the cook and caretaker of the place. Bill is an interesting older guy who used to be the maitre d'hotel at Grossinger's Catskill Resort. Bill explains two rules of the house: 1) the first beer is free, and beers 2 through 4 are twenty-five cents each, and 2) there is a twenty-five cent penalty for any word spoken that is longer than three syllables. He then asks me where I went to school -- the State Un-i-ver-si-ty --oops, that costs me twenty-five cents. After awhile Dick and his girlfriend show up as do two additional hikers named Al and Gael. Also not to forget the dog Shadow. We all sit around and talk and drink, and eventually eat a great dinner prepared by Bill. Dick tells the story of how he asked hikers to bring along for him a rock that they had picked up on the AT. Once Dick had a rock from each State that the AT crosses, he built a small concrete and stone map representation of the trail. Well, word gets out that hikers are bringing him rocks, and one day four people show up at his door unannounced, three Appalachian Trail Conference employees, and a ranger from the National Park Service complete with service revolver. So they say, you are encouraging persons to steal property (the rocks) from a National Park? Dick explains the whole thing and shows them his rock map, and finally he invites them all to dinner and they end up laughing about the whole incident. Anyway Anyway, Dick, Bill, and Butch were great hosts and I enjoyed my stay at the Outhouse, and was sorry to hear later that the place will be closing later this year because Dick is planning to sell the house.
Date: 2010-05-22
From: High Point -- The Outhouse

To: Waywayanda Shelter
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: clear sky

At seven am, Butch brings me back to where he picked my up, and I continue my hike north. The weather is beautiful, and the New Jersey scenery changes with each mile: now a wetland, next a pasture, then a ridge or a stream valley. About noon I cross highway 94 where Heaven Hill Farm is located, and I stop for an ice-cream sundae. After eating I call my son Jake and walk him through the United Airlines website, where he finds me a plane reservation for home from Newark airport on May 28, so now my exit plan is in place. I keep hiking and end up at the Waywayanda Shelter, where Gael also is staying. I'm not sure about this, but I bet the shelter name derives from an old northeast tradition of naming camps by morphing english words so they sound like Indian words, ie Way Way Yonder --> Waywayanda.
Date: 2010-05-23
From: Waywayanda Shelter

To: Buchanan Mt
Miles today: 18.2

Today the elevation profile in the Thru-Hiker's Handbook makes my hike look like a piece of cake -- it's all flat! But in reality it becomes one of the hardest days of this trip. First, the New Jersey rocks show up -- similar to PA rocks, except New Jersey rocks are ground smooth by the glaciers. But the trail keeps going up and down every quarter mile, up and over all these rocky ridges, which include alot of rock scrambling. About half-way through I cross the New Jersey/New York state line, but the hiking only gets harder! New York is as bumpy as a witch's nose! In addition to ups and downs, New York has lots of wetlands, mosquitos, frogs, squirrels, birch trees, lakes, and rock cliffs. Also motorcycles -- I keep seeing motorcycle tracks on the trail, and constantly hear them and 4-wheelers in the near or far distance. Once again, I camp earlier than planned; no sense hurting myself, especially since I have more than enough days before I fly out to get to the Hudson River. I end up tent camping at a nice site next to a small stream. I smoke half a joint that a hiker had given me a week or so ago, and meditate on my circumstances. I realize that I am running out of food (only food left is four candy bars) and will need to go into town tomorrow -- but hitchhiking is illegal in New York.
Date: 2010-05-24
From: Buchanan Mt

To: Near Bear Mt
Miles today: 18.0

I eat one candybar for breakfast (three left), and then I get an early start. Soon the road will cross highway 17 and I will have a chance to hitchhike 4 miles into Harriman, New York. I resolve to try this, but toss out my remaining half-a-joint in case the cops hassle me for hitching. I get to the road and stick out my thumb. Lots of fancy cars zoom by. Lots of shiny black pickups with black tinted windows -- hey, these aren't the friendly work pick-ups that always pick you up further south. What do we have in our New York genes that makes us so suspicious of people? After 20 minutes I give up. The trail crosses the New York State Thruway -- now I'm really starting to feel at home -- and enters Harriman State Park. What a beautiful place! There are tall trees and no understory (except for green grass and ferns), so there are long views into the woods, and the lumpy topography is very evident. Did someone haul out all the down and rotting trees to make this place so park like? All around are old roads and beautiful old structures built by the CCC in the 1930's. I eat a candy bar for lunch -- two left. I cross Beechy Bottom Creek and stop for water, where I see a familiar-looking woman also getting water. Do I know you? Turns out it's Pokeyhontas, a friend of MoFo whom I hiked with last year. Is MoFo nearby? Yes, he's just a few miles up the trail!! This is great and totally unexpected; I knew MoFo was on the trail, but last I knew he was days ahead of me. A few miles further on, and I pull into MoFo's camp where he and Dave the Man and Pokey are camped for the night. I join the group. We talk over old times. I eat my third candybar for dinner -- one left.
Date: 2010-05-25
From: Near Bear Mt

To: Bear Mt Bridge -- Hudson River
Miles today: 4.3

MoFo and Dave the Man are on their way to Maine, and I will very briefly join them on this, the last day of my trip (Pokey is hiking just for a few more days). I eat my last candybar for breakfast -- my food bag is now completely empty. We all hike up to the top of Bear Mountain. Everything is closed, but wait, in the distance are some vending machines...holding ice-cold soda and Pringles! Score! Hiker bliss! We now start down on the last mile of my hike. Immediately we see a divergence in the trail. As we had heard on the hiker grapevine, there is a section of new trail that has just been finished that officially doesn't open for a week, but there it is enticing us with it's polished rock steps, so off we go. The next mile contains 800 stone steps, some arranged in sinuous S-curves with amazing rough-hewn precision. We walk on air and laugh and ooh-and-ah all the way down. At the bottom we meet a group of four people: the trail architect, the local ATC executive, and a New York Times reporter and photographer. We get interviewed (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/nyregion/31towns.html). An amazing end to an amazing hike!
Date: 2010-05-26
From: Bear Mt Bridge -- Hudson River

To: New York City
Miles today: 0.0

I rent a car, and for the next few days, visit NYC and the lower Hudson valley, slack-pack MoFo and company, and finally drive to the Newark Airport. I've lost 25 pounds, walked 700 miles; my body aches and it's time to go home. Thank you, God, for giving me this great time. Life is good.
Date: 2014-08-20
From: New York City

To: New York City
Miles today: 0.0

Well. It's been awhile, much longer than I anticipated. Four years later, and I am planning a hike to Vermont. During those four years, fate caught up to me in the form of a detatched retina and a severed knee tendon. But now I am patched up and ready to take up where I left off.I'm out of shape, but my pack is lighter, with a beautiful new sleeping bag, air mattress and tent. But I still have my faithful 40-year old Kelty pack, lovingly restored by the Kelty repair shop in Longmont, CO.
Date: 2010-02-13
To: GAME 2010
Miles today: 0.0

In 19 days I will be standing on Springer mountain. It's been a long time coming. Hannah and Cole will be there too. The three of us are going to make our way to Maine, hell or high water, before my sister's wedding in early September, giving us plenty of time and hopefully we have plenty of money already. I felt like a jerk quitting my job. sorry. Anyways, I'll update this a couple times before we leave. Stay tuned. Have fun.
Date: 2010-02-23
To: Almost there...
Miles today: 0.0

This is Hannah, getting ready for the big adventure. With our bedroom sprawled with camping gear and our minds racing with details, I'm taking a few minutes to reflect.Alright... we leave Thursday morning from Vermont, and then we'll spend a few days in Massachusetts and a few on the road to Georgia. And soon our address will be: JOHN AND HANNAH, THE WOODS, USA. So thanks to all those who've helped us get ready for this trip-- to my parents for letting us live with them and putting up with us and buying us a dehydrator and helping to get my truck inspectable, to our bosses for understanding that sometimes you just have to quit your job and live your passion, to Boss for outliving most Chevrolets in pursuit of adventure, to our four collective siblings for being awesome friends, and to our friends for being awesome family.We'll try to update whenever possible so you all can follow along, but please forgive us if we forgo technology for real life.
Date: 2010-03-06
From: GAME 2010

To: neels gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Just a quick stop @ neels gap. Jack & Janet took good care of us even though we passed up the bunk. We are making good progress and having a blast despite some cold nights. the trail is a little snowy, but the past three days have been beautiful! Thanks to everyone for everything. See you all down the trail.
Date: 2010-03-13
From: franklin, NC

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

(This is Hannah/Sugarbush...)Well, we made it into North Carolina and past the 100-mile mark, and it's been raining/sleeting/snowing for the last three days, so we took a cheap motel room in Franklin to dry out and warm up. Can't complain, though, because the first week of our hike was gorgeous and sunny. Everyone we've met has been friendly and helpful and fun to be around, and the three of us are having a blast (even Cole-the-wonder-dog, whose legs stiffen up just like ours at the end of the day).Pictures will follow, hopefully, but the cable is in our bounce box so it won't be until Hot Springs at least. Enjoy the journey.
Date: 2010-04-19
From: Bland, VA

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

In Bland (as in not-very-spicy) Virginia right now, over a quarter of the way done and loving life on the trail. We got through Damascus with a slight delay because the town and the people in it were so wonderful and hospitable, and we decided to take our time a bit more and enjoy the last week of hiking and camping. Virginia has so many nice campsites so far that we were ending our days early, thinking, "Well, we could hike more but we wouldn't want to pass that beautiful site up!" Anyway, the weather has been amazing and although we're a few days behind our once-tight posse of friends, we are having a blast and enjoying the sights.Made it up and over Mt. Rogers, highest spot in VA, and saw 19 wild (feral) ponies in and near Grayson Highlands. Also, Cole had an exciting face-off with a coyote one morning when we were cowboy-camped right past Beech Mtn. Rd., and Cole showed some huevos and chased it off. We've been incredibly lucky on this trail and have met amazing people. This morning we stuffed our faces courtesy of the Appalachian Trail Outreach Ministry, which feeds hungry hikers every Monday morning and then takes them to town. Amazing people.Still haven't figured out how to put up a picture with the entry, especially when you're at a public library and there's a wonderful woman waiting to give you a ride back to the trail AND watching your dog for you. But someday we'll get the hang of it, or I'll dump a bunch of photos on again. Because we have taken a lot. Imagine great sunsets, amazing views from ridgelines overlooking hilly Virginia, and wild ponies who are not afraid to eat dried apples out of your hand. Then imagine us smiling.Bobby Toms was right. Virginia's pretty cool so far.