morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-29
From: George W. Outerbridge Shelter

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I slept in this morning until about 7:15 and was all packed up and ready to roll at about 7:45. It was a cool night compared to the last couple nights and I slept great. I don't think I woke up more than a few times just to adjust my position a few times. It was really nice to have the temperature drop down a bit. Then Gimpy and I crossed Lehigh Gap and began our climb out. This climb is notorius for being a good climb. It is exposed and it is fairly steep. I really didn't have that much problem with it but it offered some really good views. Then there was a long walk across this ridge that is a Superfund site I believe. I really don't know the history of the area, but Gimpy said he thought there was some iron smelting done in this area in the past and it either drifted up the mountain or came down in the form of rain. Anyway, it was like there was a nuclear blast up there. Everything was virtually dead. There was some trees and vegetation growing and even some blueberries but there was an enormous amount of barren land with dead debris everywhere. It was really odd walkin right through this stuff. I have never seen anything quite like it. I kind of wonder what effect this had on the people living around the area. It lasted for a good 4 miles. Then I came to Little Gap and waited for Gimpy. We decided to try and hitch to town to a little convenience store to get a sandwich and some snack food. Unfortunately we had to wait a very long time. Everyboy who passed us looked at us like we had 2 heads. I even think one car gave us the finger. Hikers are not always looked upon very fondly. Eventually this woman going in the opposite direction stopped and gave us a ride there and back. It was quite an act of kindness on her part to do that. After lunch it was 10.8 miles to the shelter and I only stopped once for a brief moment because my feet were a bit water logged. The temperature was fairly mild so it was nice hiking and it wasn't all that rocky either. I arrived here really early and was able to relax, gather some wood for a fire, and go get water that was a half mile away downhill. It was an awesome gushing spring but it was quite a distance. Tonight it is just I in the shelter with Buttercup and Gimpy camping nearby. I have chosen to stay in the shelter so I can get up early and do a 20 into the Delawarewater Gap. That will put me right at the end of Pennsylvania and right by the border of Jersey. I will really start blowing through states after that because a lot of them are kind of short as far as the trail is concerned. It won't be too long before I am in New England, Yeah. Well need to get up early so it's bedtime for this hiker.
Date: 2007-06-30
From: Leroy A. Smith Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up early as I have been lately and got on the trail at 7:15. There was a bit of an excitement in my strides this morning because I was essentially going to be putting Pennsylvania behind me. The weather was near perfect as well. It was sunny and fairly cool out. I walked only a little bit and came to a huge powerline which gave a good view of the valley which was filled in with fog. It was really cool. Then I started moving until I came to Wind Gap and got a soda from a motel nearby. Then it was just a lot of rambling over ankle busting rocks for along time. I went for about 7 miles and stopped for a bit at Wolf Rocks which had some good views. I hiked on to the Kirkridge Shelter and stopped to get water. Then I went and stopped at Lunch Rocks which had a nice view of the countryside. There was a couple there who lived nearby and they gave me some grapes and asked me some questions about the thru hike. It was really nice to chat with them a while. From there it was a straight shot to the Delaware Water Gap. I saw a bear along the way which brings my total up to 16 for the trip. I also saw so many day hikers today. They were everywhere. It is Saturday but this is the busiest I have seen any section of the trail. Upon my arrival in the Water Gap I met to new faces, Blue yonder and Boo Boo, who are 2 older ladys thru hiking as well. They seem very nice. Then I went to the churh hostel to get a hot shower which was just what I needed. I set up my stuff in the bunkroom and then went to see about getting a shuttle to a nearby town to a supermarket because there isn't one in the Gap. Unfortunately they only offer a ride once a day and they had already gone. So I ended up geting some things from the outfiter and a convenience store which should do just fine. Then I grabbed a nice meal a bit later at this bar and grill. I do believe they had the best wings I have had in a while. They were hot and honey and they were actually really big. Not those skimpy things you get sometimes, and they were nice and juicy. I have to stop writing about them. I'm making myself hungry again. Tommorrow I will being crossing the muddy Delaware River into New Jersey which is exciting. I'm sure I'll see some bears since they seem to be everywhere from what I here. We shall see I guess.
Date: 2007-07-01
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 24.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up around 6:45 and went down to the convenience store to get some coffee and some batteries for my pocketmail. Then I farted around for a while and then had Buttercup shave my head with a old pair of clippers. They did the job for the most part though. I'm not too concerned about my hair style out here anyways. By the time I was walking over the river into Jersey it was 9:00. Not that great of a start but I've done worse. It was a rocky but gentle climb back into the mountains or hills if you will. Then I came to Sunfish Pond which is the first glacial pond we have come by and in fact we haven't really seen many lakes or ponds before this point at all. After that it was a nice walk on the ridge with great views of the countryside and I could swear that I saw the White Mountains in the far distance. I stopped by an AMC outdoor center to get a coke and then it was more ridge walking again. The weather was just great today as well. Fairly cool with some nice breezes. The ridges were kind of grassy which was cool but it was a haven for ticks and I picked at least six off me. I was beginning to think I wouldn't see any bears today when I spotted one after seeing some scat by a blueberry bush. It scampered away then I saw another one not to far away. Then a little while later I saw another one. It was kind of wild to see three just like that! So that brings the bear toatal up to 19 for the trip. After the last bear sighting I climbed up Rattlesnake mountain which had excellent views. Then it was a short hike from there to the shelter where there were six other hikers already there. I made it there by 6:15 so I made some good time today. Bobo and Blue Yonder were there and Bo Cephus who I haven't met and then three section hikers from PA. I did the usual routine and got water, ate, and called Jenn. Then I saw a baby skunk wandering around. Meanwhile to locals out for a stroll stopped by for a chat. They ended up getting into this debate about religion with two of the other hikers for like 2 hours! It was grueling to listen to after a while but entertaining. So it was an eventful first day in a new state. Tommorrow I'll do about 25 more miles to keep the pace going. We'll have to see how many bears I can spot. Well, Goony want sleepy.
Date: 2007-07-02
From: Brink Road Shelter

To: Secret Shelter
Miles today: 25.0

Well another day is in the books and boy I am beat. I feel real good physically but I just feel like konking out any second and it's only 8:30 P.M. It was borderline cold this morning which was really odd since it is July 2nd but I didn't mind. I always love sleeping in the cold but sometimes it is hard to get out of the sleeping bag and get moving. I got up and got the engines started at 7:15. I cruised up and over a small hill and hit a Joe's Cafe at Culver's Gap for some coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I would strongly reccommend going there to anyone. Then I sent some pocketmail and was flooded with emails and comments. My pocketmail batteries were dying so I guess it couldn't receive anything the last time I did it, but I got them all and it made me happy to see so many messages. So I thank everyone and I will try to right you back as soon as possible.   The weather was pretty cool today but really perfect for hiking. After the break it was back to the trail. I climbed back up onto a ridge and was rewarded with many views. That is how a lot of today went I would do a climb and get a cool view and then I would go down to a road or a shelter and then back up again to a pavilion or a observation deck as was the case at Highpoint State Park. The trail actually skirted into New York state today and I will be going back into Jersey tommorrow. Eventually I went down the ridge into farm land which is always kind of nice. Then I came to the trail that leads to the "secret shelter". Now the shelter isn't very secret if you have a guide book because it tells you about it. Basically there is a sign on a road that the AT crosses that says well water 100 yards. You go down the road and there is a small cabin that you can stay in that was built by Jim Murray who has hiked the trail before. It is on his farmland and includes 2 showers with hot water, electricity, a sink, and two donkeys. Yes two donkeys that are constantly trying to make donkey love and have a hee-haw so loud it can probably be heard in the next county,but hey I'm not complaining. The best part about it is that I am by myself and it is like I rented a cabin for the night only it is free. Man this is great. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't mind company but it is nice to be alone sometimes and there were about 12 thruhikers who were barely ahead of me that I caught up to that decided to hike a little further to go to town. Tommorrow will be a short day. I think I'm only going to do about 13 miles because my Uncle Jeff is going to pick me up when he gets out of work and I'll take the day off on the 4th. I'm really excited that it worked out this way and it will be nice to rest after the furious pace I have been going at for the past 2 weeks. Well I must sign off before I just konk right out. Until tommorrow.
Date: 2007-07-03
From: Secret Shelter

To: NJ 94
Miles today: 13.5

I woke up today around 7:00 and felt great. I must have went to bed around 9:00 P.M. and didn't really wake up much at all during the night. It was a good nights rest. I kind of lounged around a bit because I didn't have to do much mileage today and I just had to get to NJ94 by 2:30ish to meet my Uncle Jeff. It was a nice day to take my time that is for sure. It was a little hotter than it has been but not all that bad.   The first thing I did after getting motivated to move was hike a couple miles then I walked into Unionville, NY to get some coffee at this little market. It was a nice little town. After some coffee I was back on the trail and off to the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge. The trail basically skirted around some wetlands for a while then went into the woods and up to Pochuck Mountain for a couple nice views. Then it was back down to some more boglike land with really awesome boardwalk bridges to walk across. It was a really cool section from County Road 565 to NJ94 if any one is interested. That section was only about 3.5 miles long with probably a mile or more of boardwalk and a small suspension bridge. After getting to my final destination point at almost exactly the right time. There was this flower nursey with a small store with ice cream and soft drinks so I went there to wait for Jeff and my cousin Jake to come and get me. It is nice to see them. It has been a while! . My aunt Kris cooked up a huge feast and I didn't stop eating until it was all gone. It was a fantastic smorgasbord of Filet Mignon, shrimp, french fries, sauteed mushroms and onions, and salad. It was great. Then we just hung out and rented a movie off the cable. I haven't seen one in a while so that was cool. So it was a great day of minimal hiking and hanging out with my Aunt and Uncle and my 2 cousins Ben and Jake. I really couldn't ask for more. Tommorrow will be a complete day of rest before I hop back on the trail.
Date: 2007-07-06
From: Hiatus

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well the one day off I planned on taking turned into three. I was hoping to get back on the trail sooner at first, but then I realized that it isn't everyday that I get to see Jeff and everybody. So I hung out for a couple more days. It was a good few days of rest and they really fed me well. I basically hung out and ate, read, watched TV, played with the dogs, and did absolutely nothing at times. The weather was really bad on the 4th and it rained more the next 2 days so I didn't feel all that bad about chilling out. The problem is that I tend to get antsy when I'm just sitting around and not moving and hiking 20 miles a day. This could be a problem when I get home. Hopefully I can channel all this energy into something useful when I get home. Another problem is that I am starting to get homesick. I just miss my friends, family, and Jenn a lot. I am still having fun out here but the urge to get home is starting to take control of me. Anyway, it was real nice to see friends and family I haven't seen in years. Unfortunately I didn't get to se everyone, but I hope to make a point to come back down sometime soon. I really enjoyed the break from the action because I'm really not sure how many more I am going to take. I plan on motoring once I get on the trail again although the weather and the terrain will play a big role in how much I can do per day. So we shall see.
Date: 2007-07-07
From: NJ 94

To: Wildcat Shelter, NY
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up this morning and packed up and said my goodbyes to Aunt Christina and the dogs, Buck and Sampson. Then Uncle Jeff took me back to the trail, but not before he stopped and treated me to some breakfast. He dropped me off at the tailhead a litle afte nine and I was back in the woods. I was immediatey greeted with a pretty good climb. It was a good test to see where I'm at after a few days off. I felt good except for the load on my back from my freshly resupplied backpack. After the climb I was also greeted by a nice size bear in the trail. I made some noise and he grunted and meandered off the trail. I'm not sure but that might be number 20 if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully, if I see anymore they will at least be off the trail and not coming at me. Somehow I don't think I am that lucky. After about six miles I left NJ and crossed into NY. The terrain today was really different and involved some scrambling up and over rock outcrops for the better part of the day. It was nice but kind of tiresome and I kept on thinking how all that rock baking in the sun would be a nice place for snakes, but I was lucky and only saw two huge snakeskins today and one rat snake. I have a feling the rest of NY will kind of be like today so I will have to keep my eyes peeled for slithering creatures. On the bright side it wasn't to unbearably hot and I think that was a good thing because the only good water source I found today was when I stopped today at the shelter after 17 miles, and some people might call the water here a mud puddle. I'm hoping that there is at least a few streams tommorrow that look a lot better than the few I saw today. Right now I have the shelter to myself. There are a few weekenders here but, oh, wait I think that Gimpy just walked here, cool. Well the plan is to wake up tommorrow and go as far as I can. It all deends on how hot it is and how rough the terrain is. Right now it is a beautiful evening.
Date: 2007-07-08
From: Wildcat Shelter, NY

To: Bear Mountain
Miles today: 25.9
Weather: clear sky

Today was one of the tougher days I have had on the trail. The combinations of heat, rough terrain, and lack of water really made it a long haul today. I had flirted with the idea of doing big miles today last night, but I knew it was going to be a stategic mess because there were three shelters within 22 miles and water wasn't even at 2 of them and the water was a half a mile off trail for the other one. On top of that the streams were either nonexistent or not even there. So I said the heck with it and ended up passing all three shelters up and now I am on Bear Mountain with a bunch of tourists who drove up. I plan on rogue cowboy camping on the rocks here somewhere. I don't know if this is the wisest decision, but I am not hiking any further andI'm certainly not going back anywhere. So I'm here for the night. Going back to todays hiking it was a marathon of ascents and descents. Some of them were steep and rocky. Well, I guess almost all were kind of steep and rocky, but the good thing is they were all relatively short. There were no climbs that were too tough to handle but after a while they started to add up. There were definately some cool spots like the Lemon Squeezer which was a narrow slot between to rocks and there were a few spots that needed to be climbed with some hand work to. I really haven't encountered anything like that on the trail so far, I didn't think that I would until the Whites. The water situation was a bummer. We were lucky to find some water that a trail angel left for hikers early on but other than that it was really slim pickings. I suppose I could have gotten some out of a Pond but I wasn't that desperate at the time. I finally decided to get some water by beech bottom creek but even that didn't lok all that great. You take what you are given sometimes even if it looks a little sketchy. The heat today was a scorching, humid type of heat that was unrelenting. The only few breaks from it that I had was a few nice breezes and a nice cool down at Pond Island. I recommend going there if any hikers go by there on a hot day like today. It's a nice little spot. I am happy to say that the heat has disapated for now. There is an awesome breeze up here. I'm hoping this last group of people leave soon so I can get some quiet time but hey it's my fault for choosing a mountain with a road going up it. I imagine that tommorrow will be another scorching hot day so I hope to get up early and really pound out the mileage again. Hopefully it will be slightly easier than today. Tommorrow I cross the Hudson and move a few miles closer to Katahdin. Less than 800 miles go. Just got to keep on moving along.
Date: 2007-07-11
From: Wiley (Webatuk) Shelter

To: Stewart Hollow Brook Lean-to, CT
Miles today: 19.7

It is a complete downpour at the moment. Luckily I am in a lean-to that seems to have a roof good enough to withstand the sheets of driving rain. The rain is so loud off the tin roof that I can't even hear the people talking right next to me. Well at least this rain should cool things off a bit.   I woke up almost at 7:00 which was a little later than I wanted but I rolled everything up and was on the move a half hour later. I was anxious to get the 12 plus miles to Kent, CT to get my maildrop from Jenn. I wanted to get there around 12:00 so I could go into town do my stuff and then do another 7 to this lean-to. It was an overcast and muggy morning. The humidity was a drag as it has been for the past few days but I have learned to deal with it. I entered Conneticut early this morning and was greeted with a sign on a kiosk that said this is a tick infested area. Now the first thing they say to do in order to prevent ticks is to avoid areas where ticks are. Hmmm...Since Conneticut is known for being a haven for ticks does that mean people should avoid it all together? Anywho, the hiking was very easy at the beginning of the morning. It wasn't that steep, the trail was very nice, but Schaghitoke Mtn was a little tougher and the trail seemed to go up and down up and down. It really didn't seem to make any sense, but hey I don't make the trails. I got to Kent right around 12:00 and did all my stuff and grabbed a reuben to recharge my batteries and was back out on the trail by 3:00. I met some new hikers along the way and wanted to see how fast they were and if I was still on top of my game after hiking by myself for so long. It wasn't a race or anything but I flew up and over Caleb's peak and was at the lean-to by 5:15. The next couple hikers rolled in about a 30 to 45 minutes later. I think it was the reuben and the nice terrain that allowed me to move so fast. Everybody that I met today was really nice. I met Sublime, Six String, Sandwich, Lucky, and Pack Rat who are hiking a few days with their mother and one other hiker who's name I can't recall right now. I chose to stay stay in the shelter tonight as a few of the others went to a campsite not far away. I'm glad that I did now even though it is a little buggy here. I had a nice dinner tonight: mash potatoes with sausage gravy and some home made cookies from Auntie Diane that really kicked some butt. She truly is an artist when it comes to baking. Well I am hoping for an early start tommorrow. I really like getting some mileage done before 12:00 so I don't have to push myself too hard in the afternoon. That way I also have some down time when I stop and I can relax and hang out at some places. I think it's going to be cooler tommorrow so it should be a little more enjoyable than it has been weather wise. I guess I shall see.
Date: 2007-07-12
From: Stewart Hollow Brook Lean-to, CT

To: Brassie Brook Lean-To
Miles today: 31.0

Boy does it feel good to be in New England! Today was a big day. The biggest mileage day so far. The weather was nearly perfect for hiking today. It was reasonably cool and the humidity was low so I really couldn't ask for much more. The terrain was not easy by any means but I just kept plugging away all day long. There were many climbs today including Silver Hill, Mt. Easter, Propect Mtn, and Lions Head. They were all significant climbs but they weren't too bad. It was just nice to be walking in cooler weather and the forests seemed to change a bit from what I have been use too. There were many hemlock and pine stands. There were even some white birch too. It was kind of rocky and rooty. Which all reminded me of Maine at times. Maine still seems like a great distance away, but really it is only 400 miles or so until I hit the state line. I really can't wait until I am there.   Today was a day for running into new people and seeing one I haven't seen since North Carolina. I met High Life, Blue skies, Crazy Bear, Paloma, Ghetto Blaster, Deth March and his dog Cole. Oh yeah, and Carpenter who I haven't seen in months. All the others that I met yesterday are behind. I guess that happens when you are doing big miles like I have been. The rain really replenished the streams around everywhere. They are running well. I heard that we got over 2 inches of rain down here from someone. It is nice to see the water level go up. It really flushes the crap down stream and makes the water run cleaner. Since we're on the topic of water I was also able to check out great falls on the Houstonic River. It was probably a good 25 to 30 foot water fall. There was a nice swimming hole at the bottom. The water looked kind of yellow and brownish but I soaked my feet for a while. The highlights of the day had to have been the views from Lions head and "Billys view" which was a clearing in a field. The haze had been pushed out from the rain so the visibility was just awesome. Hopefully it stays this way for a while. Well I'm gassed so it's time for bed. I don't think I'll be going 30 miles tommorrow but you never know I guess.