morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-05-18
From: Bake Oven Knob Shelter

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: light rain

Some very impressive sights in today¢s hike (and some depressing ones, too). A cloud was covering the ridge when I got up this morning and stuck around until I descended into Lehigh Gap; the mist, along with all the rocks and blueberry bushes, gave me the sense of being back in Southwest Virginia. Unfortunately, rather than ponies there was just a lot of highway noise.I was expecting a very steep climb out of Lehigh Gap, so Blue Mt. wasn¢t a total shock. Still, it¢s the first time I¢ve encountered much hand-over-hand climbing since Mt. Albert, and this was extremely exposed, with the potential for a fatal fall at quite a few points. After hauling myself up the cliffs, I found myself in a total wasteland ¢ what I¢m assuming was the Superfund site. Here and there a little scrub tree was leafing out, but mostly it was rocks and pits and dead chunks of wood as far as the eye could see. With the mist and the bizarre industrial sounds rising from below, there was something eerie abut the scene that kept me moving at a fast pace. I couldn¢t wait to get back into the forest, even if the path stayed just as rocky. Between the physical exhaustion of the hiking and the mental exhaustion of dealing with the heights and then the desolation, I was very much ready to call it a day when I got to the shelter.
Date: 2007-05-19
From: Leroy A. Smith Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I arrived this afternoon in what everyone calls just ¢the Water Gap¢ after a fairly uneventful hike. Scott met me at Wind Gap at 9:00 and drove me to the Water Gap. P.O. and back so I could get my mail drop before the place closed. At Wolf Rocks I encountered a couple of climbers and at Kirkridge Shelter I met two NOBOs I hadn¢t seen before, Stash and Remix. We hiked into town together; they¢re planning to zero tomorrow there before putting in big miles through NJ and NY. The church hostel is fairly full, with Blue Skies, Remix, Stash, Joe from Iowa, Conqui, Red Dog(?), and me all staying overnight. Blue Skies and I have designated the lounge-like area the women¢s room and are going to sleep on the couches. The pizza place in town is cheap and delicious, as is the bakery nearby. The outfitter, of course, is not cheap, but I bought fuel, a red bandanna (better than blue with hunters around), and a new shirt that will hopefully work better with the pack straps. No laundromat around here, so it¢s back into the nasty clothes in the morning. I saw my first bear of the trip today, a juvenile hiding in some blueberry bushes near Mt. Minsi.
Date: 2007-05-20
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Campsite vic. MP 1294.0
Miles today: 14.8

I was woken at 5:30 this morning by Joe and Conqui heading out and figured I¢d might as well start packing up myself (but not before finishing off the baked goods I bought yesterday!). Up until Sunfish Pond, Blue Skies and I hiked together; we stopped for a snack break at the edge of the water and to take pictures. the Trail in New Jersey has been exceptionally beautiful so far and Sunfish Pond gave me a good first impression of the state: it was crystal clear and untroubled by the motorboats and such that make so much noise at Fontana and Watauga. People had built cairns along the shore, some which were taller than I am, and the footpath was seldom anywhere but right next to the water. The ridges after the pond were grassy and clothed with white flowers; there were views of the Delaware River and PA to one side and of NJ to the other. Some local hikers pointed in the direction of NYC and said that there¢s a glow visible all the way from here at night. They were a few of the many day hikers and weekenders I saw on the AT today, many of whom stopped to talk and ask me questions. I also saw a large blacksnake (it ignored me totally) but no more bears. My bear bag rope is gone, so I¢m hoping for a bruin-free night ¢ my bag is only about four feet off the ground. LOTS of ticks around here. NEW SHOES!!!
Date: 2007-05-21
From: Campsite vic. MP 1294.0

To: Mashipacong Shelter
Miles today: 22.4
Weather: light rain

Slept very poorly last night. It was a cold morning, with a wonderful chilly wind that lasted until well past noon and has begun to pick up again now, at 6:00 p.m. The afternoon heat has already vanished, and I made my usual hot drink with a little more enthusiasm than I had for quite a while. This shelter has a bear box, so hopefully I¢ll sleep better knowing that my food is safe. Too bad this place is so close to a road and doesn¢t have a water source. The Trail was absolutely packed with people (including the entire freshman class of some school in Newark); I must have passed a good hundred. Besides a lot of students, I did meet a new thru-hiker, one whose hat has been the talk of the Trail the last few days. His name is Leader of the Pack, and he¢s a flip-flopper starting out from Harper¢s Ferry. He wears this crazy hat that looks like a wolf head, complete with eyes and a pink tongue. I¢m hoping he¢ll make it here tonight ¢ he stayed at G. Anderson Shelter last night ¢ so I¢ll have some company if any creepy locals walk in from the road. (Incidentally, there¢s a prison about 14 mi. from here. Should this make me feel more safe or less so?). Lots of pretty views today, especially from Rattlesnake Mt. and the Sunrise Mt. Pavilion. Lots of rocks, too. So far NJ is in second place for great scenery, right behind the Smokies. But another nosebleed made a lousy end to the day. Only about 12 day behind Salamander now, I think. Hard to tell exactly. Where¢s Blue Skies?
Date: 2007-05-22
From: Mashipacong Shelter

To: Pochuck Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 19.4

I slept extremely well last night, and just being rested helped the first 10 miles or so go by fairly quickly. The scenery wasn¢t much, although there was a good view of the High Point monument, and the rocks were awful most of the way. I stopped at the ¢secret shelter¢ to get water and rinse out some clothes; the friendly owner dropped by ¢ he had been mowing the grass ¢ and we chatted for a while. I weighed my pack there: 32 pounds with 4 liters of water and wet laundry (and 3-4 days of food). The shelter looked like a great place to stay, but it was still early in the day and I move on. After Goldsmith Road, the Trail spent a lot of time in swamps, making for an interesting change after so much ridge walking. Most of the time, there was what the Guidebook calls ¢puncheons¢ to walk on, though these were sometimes a bit unstable ¢ step hard on one end and the other comes flying up out of the mud. The biggest swamp of all was the Walkill River National Wildlife Refuge, a group of shallow lakes the AT crosses on low levees; a swan followed me for a long time there, gliding along on the water as I struggled through lumpy grass under the hot sun. It didn¢t seem alarmed or eager for a handout, just watched me with the same mild curiosity with which I was watching it. Pochuck Mt. Shelter is dry but otherwise okay. Sharing it with Salamander and Frosty. A watched pot never boils, but the rice burns to the bottom anyway.
Date: 2007-05-23
From: Pochuck Mt. Shelter

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: few clouds

I got a fairly early start ¢ 5:45 ¢ but knew it was going to be hot by the time I finished. It was. The most interesting part of the hike came early on, when the Trail followed a boardwalk through a wetland for a mile. There was a suspension bridge in the middle, but I enjoyed just walking through the cattails and listening to the frogs. I was, unfortunately, an hour too early to get food at Heavenly Hill; on the other hand, that meant I wasn¢t trying to climb up Wawayanda Mt. with a full stomach. It was a pretty tough climb (Pochuck hadn¢t been particularly enjoyable either). There¢s a spray-painted marker at the NJ/NY line, but the change in the Trail itself was enough to tell me that I¢d crossed the border. It narrowed abruptly, sometimes looking like little more than a deer track, then proceeded to climb directly over every possible boulder. These are HUGE boulders, not pointy PA rocks, and are almost all in direct sun. It was difficult going (once I had to throw my pack down about 10 feet because I couldn¢t find a way to descend with it on) and frustrating because I had plenty of energy and still couldn¢t make good time. Arrived at Wildcat Shelter at 3:00. Met a section hiker and a grad student in Medieval Arabic Lit. named Jeannie. No sign of Sal or Frosty yet (it¢s 7:45). Water source not the greatest.
Date: 2007-05-24
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: clear sky

I¢m now thoroughly fed up with New York and ready to move on to the next state, where hopefully the trail maintenance will be better and decent water sources more plentiful. (I hate having to ration water in scorching hot weather!). There are no switchbacks in NY, so the Trail is an ugly eroded mess when it isn¢t climbing pointlessly over piles of boulders; no one has bothered to trim back the vegetation around the blazes, which means it¢s very easy to wander off the trail (it looks like any other rocky drainage) even when there are plenty of blazes around. If there were ever registers in the shelters, someone has stolen them. But water is the biggest problem, because many of the streams seem to be little more than leaks from beaver ponds (Giardia risk) or polluted (clumps of nasty yellow foam). They¢re also the color of strong black tea, maybe due to tannin, which freaks Salamander out. Today was incredibly hot; I was actually dripping sweat by 9:30 this morning and it only got worse, sapping my energy until I was taking multiple breaks on even small uphills. The only cool place was the Lemon Squeezer, heavily shaded by huge rocks. I managed to fit through it, but I emerged scraped and bleeding (and lucky not to have torn my pack). A lovely surprise awaited me at Fingerboard Shelter: someone had left a HALF-POUND Hershey bar dangling from the ceiling in a ziplock bag. Devouring that gave me the energy I needed to make the last 5.3 miles to this shelter. Yum. When I arrived here, Stash and Remix were sprawled out in the shade, recovering from a morning of hot hiking. They¢ve left, heading to Graymoor for the night ¢ where I¢m planning to stay tomorrow. Hopefully the shorter day will help my climbing muscles recover a little. I memorized a James Wright poem and a Rilke poem this morning; by the time I reach Fort Montgomery I should have them firmly in mind. Still working on the Eighth Duino Elegy (I skipped to that one from the First). Slow going for some reason. Once burned, twice as fond of Tabasco.
Date: 2007-05-25
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter

To: Graymoor Friary
Miles today: 15.2

[A quick explanation: due to the difficulty of finding internet in NJ/NY, I mailed home a bunch of entries from Fort Montgomery to be typed up. I got here before they got there. Hence the gap in entries.]Salamander never showed up last night and Joel the section hiker also wanted to get up early, so I got to make as much noise as I wanted packing up this morning. Left at 5:30. The early wind died out soon and the temperature shot up. Three big climbs--Black Mt., West Mt., Bear Mt.--made for a difficult start, since they lacked switchbacks and were badly eroded in places. To get to West Mt., I had to try to cross the Palisades Parkway at 6:30, when it seemed like everyone in the state was trying to commute to NYC. It was like playing Frogger, but I managed to cross after quite a wait.Nobody offered me a ride into Fort Montgomery (there wasn't anywhere for someone to pull off, anyway), so I made the hike in on my own. Urban walking is its own sort of adventure: at one point, a chicken truck roared by and it rained white feathers for a good quarter-mile. When I reached the P.O., I found out that my maildrop hadn't arrived; this meant spending a ridiculous amount of money--things are so expensive up here!--at the "grocery" across the street, which was really more like a convenience store. I sat in a shady spot by the P.O. to eat my sandwich and ice cream, while everyone who passed regaled me with such helpful comments as "Sure is hot out here!", "You picked a bad day to hike", and "It's supposed to get up into the nineties today".After the ascent from South Mt.Pass, the AT finally leveled out for a while. I just about made up a happy hiker dance on the spot. I reached Graymoor's entrance road not too long afterward. The pavilion here is a basic picnic shelter with a water pump and a shed with very cold showers nearby. Right now, the only people at the pavilion are Joel, two female section hikers, and I. We ordered pizza and for once I'm full, since the pizza place accidently made me an 18" rather than a 16" pie.The bridge over the Hudson was amazing, absolutely gigantic and longer than it looked. I'm not much for development and things that some people call "progress", but this bridge made me stop and marvel at what the human species has managed to create. Probably it was just the heat getting to me; the bridge seemed to be jerking and swaying under my feet, and I felt dizzy and oddly seasick. A red helicopter with sirens wailing swooped down and cleared the cables only by a small margin, I suppose on its way to rescue somebody or attend to other urgent business.
Date: 2007-05-26
From: Graymoor Friary

To: RPH Cabin
Miles today: 18.9

I left Graymoor a little before 5:00 am, unable to stand lying there and being devoured my mosquitoes for another minute. It had gone on all night--the temperature was way too high for hiding in the sleeping bag or putting on long sleeves and pants--and I got no sleep whatsoever. Hiking didn't improve the insect situation very much, since I wasn't carrying any repellent, but at least I presented a moving target.Hot again (it was 82 in the shade at about 10:45). The Trail was better-maintained most of the way today, although there were a few brushy areas. I actually enjoyed these, since the brush had the effect of scraping off any mosquitoes sucking blood from my legs. I consistently guessed my location wrong, which made what was really a fairly easy hike seem interminable. I arrived at RPH in the early afternoon and lounged around reading a bad thriller someone had left behind. RPH is really more like a one-room house that happens to be missing a wall than a shelter; it's like one of the dollhouses with the front cut away so things can be moved around inside. Reminds me of a hostel in some ways, with carpet, fairly clean bunks, and even some beer that a trail angel dropped off. The well is unfortunately contaminated, so we have to treat the water here. Joel and a weekender are also spending the night.
Date: 2007-05-27
From: RPH Cabin

To: Wiley Shelter
Miles today: 25.3
Weather: broken clouds

I slept fairly well last night and woke to an overcast morning. My original plan was to go only to the Telephone Pioneers Shelter, but I decided it would make sense to put in extra miles if the cloud cover held. It did, at least until I reached the Dover Oak (of course the sun would come out as soon as I had to walk through open fields). So here I am at the Wiley Shelter, which is dark but fairly clean and supplied with a variety of oddments, including badminton racquets, a book of sudoku, and a full-size can of Chock Full O' Nuts coffee. As there are filters, sugar, creamer, and a coffee pot to go along with the beans, Tecumseh, Moxie, and I are going to make ourselves some in the morning. Micro is also here for the night, and two section hikers are tenting nearby.Nuclear Lake--believe it or not--was a beautiful spot, peaceful and undeveloped. Certainly no power plants in sight of the Trail. I met a hiker named Whimsey just north of the lake and we chatted for a while about things we'd seen along the AT, especially military exercises and the like. An entertaining break. Overall, the hiking today wasn't bad and the trail maintenance good (and sometimes recent). Wonderful trail magic at the last road before this shelter: water cooler, bagels with peanut butter and honey, PopTarts, Gatorade mix, bugspray, animal crackers, and even chairs to sit in while dining. I hadn't had a bagel in so long!A long-distance hello to Cheese of Mac & Cheese! Moxie and Tecumseh said you were reading my journal...wish I'd had a chance to meet both of you. You sound like wonderful people.
Date: 2007-05-28
From: Wiley Shelter

To: Stewart Brook Hollow Lean-To
Miles today: 19.7

Goodbye, New York! And hello Connecticut. Just as hot here as there, but knowing I'm in New England gives me hope of encountering cooler temps in the future (how long until the Whites???). The forest itself looks the same as usual, but from the viewpoints I can see that the terrain is changing. Rather than long, low ridges in the distance, I saw big hills rising up all around, as if the ridges had suddenly spread out. I'm all alone at this shelter and feeling oddly nervous about it. I think the reason is that I don't know how easily this place can be accessed by the public from other directions (road noises are fairly loud) and whether it's connected to a large enough piece of backcountry to support a bear population. The shelter itself is small and ark, but I've stayed in much worse, including the one last night. At least the bugs aren't bad here. Went into Kent for some groceries and items at the outfitter. It looks like a very prosperous town, and I wished some of the money there could be diverted to places like Duncannon, where the people are very nice and the economy seems to be very rotten. There was a used-book sale going on and I bought a tiny edition of Eliot's more famous poems for 50 cents. Walking back to the AT, I ran into Moxie and Tecumseh; we took each other's pictures, I using the disposable camera I had just picked up at the gas station. Can't wait to get the digital working again.
Date: 2007-05-29
From: Stewart Brook Hollow Lean-To

To: Limestone Springs Lean-To
Miles today: 22.3

An animal encounter added a little unwelcome excitement to last night's stay. At about 11 pm, I was awakened by a peculiar grunting sound and leaves rustling just in front of the shelter. After sneaking a quick peek at the creature with my headlamp, I huddled in the corner and hoped it would just go away. It didn't, and I took another, longer look. What a relief! What I had perceived as the white stripe of a skunk was nothing but the white light of my Petzl (I had just changed the batteries). The porcupine--it was obvious now that it was one--hung around for quite a while, evidently hoping I'd throw something salty at it.Me: Hello there! I'm awfully glad you're not a skunk!Porky:Me: This shelter is my castle and I'm prepared to do battle to the death to defend my stinky, sweaty shoes from your predations.Porky: [grunting]Me: Have you ever seen a trekking pole used as a javelin? I bet your quills are no match for a high-tech carbide-pointed spear.Porky:Eventually, it wandered off and never came back. But I was exhausted from the very beginning of today's hike and really had doubts about whether I'd make it all the way here. The idea of climbing Prospect Mt. at the very end was rather alarming and I figured I might just keel over halfway up. The weather was cooler, though, and the AT was level and smooth along the Housatonic. Prospect Mt. wasn't nearly as much of an ordeal as the descent down to this shelter. Which is a whole half-mile off the Trail (the register is 2 years old, since most thru-hikers and distance section hikers don't go to shelters that far off the AT).I heard from Tecumseh and Moxie yesterday that Jean and Comer are off the Trail. Conqui has gone home too, although that was expected. I'm by myself again tonight, as Tecumseh, Moxie, and Micro slackpacked today back to Kent.
Date: 2007-05-30
From: Limestone Springs Lean-To

To: The Hemlocks Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: clear sky

Don't be deceived by the mileage--this wasn't an easy day at all. The climbs were LONG and often steep with tricky footing, beginning with the one back to the AT from the shelter. On the other hand, I'm back in real mountains and out of the swamps, at least for now. And another state is completed! I'm in Massachusetts.I stopped in Salisbury, CT to file yet another change of address at the P.O., resupply at the grocery store ("LaBonne's Epicure Market"), and update my journal at the library. The library, which isn't mentioned in Wingfoot at all, was the very first public library in the U.S., which for someone as bookish as me means that it's picture-worthy. It looks rather castle-like from the outside and I initially thought it was some kind of church (it has bells, after all). Besides the three places I visited, the town seemed to consist primarily of antique stores and shops selling baked goods. And there were flyers for yoga lessons everywhere.At the start of the long climb up from US41, I had a close encounter of the ursine kind. The bear was jumbo-sized--it could have eaten one of those zoo bears for breakfast--amd standing about 20 feet away down a side trail. It wasn't disturbed in the slightest by my sudden appearance, just swung its head around real slow and gave me a hard look. I backed away slowly, careful not to make any eye contact, and once I was behind some bushes got the hell up the mountain as fast as I could. It was quite a climb, over 1000 feet, to the Lion's Head, but I definitely wanted to leave that bear far behind.I crossed into MA after ascending Bear Mt., the first peak above 2000' for quite a while. That climb was followed by Rand Mt., which at least came with very impressive vistas, and then Mt. Everett, which was so steep going up that I had to stop every ten steps for a breather. It wasn't far from there to the shelters; I went to Glen Brook first, found it occupied by a snotty girl and her boyfriend who had set up their tent inside (SO RUDE), then backtracked to The Hemlocks, which is big, new, and occupied by much more interesting folks. I'm sleeping in the loft.Pine nut couscous is GOOD!