morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-07-14
To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 27.2
Weather: clear sky

Today was nice and relaxing. It was nice to take it easy and chat to the NOBO's as we passed. I was looking forward to getting up Stratton Mountain, so I could start reading register entries from the Flying Scotsman. Once up on Stratton I kicked back and chatted to two ladies who were out on a section hike and took advantage of the nice sunshine. The views were great from on top of the fire tower. The two ladies would not let me leave until I climbed up to check out the views. Down at the bottom of Stratton Mountain I came across some great 'trail magic'-- ice cold coke, chips and fresh fruit!!!! wow it really makes your day to find magic like this. The rest of the day was quite easy and I made it to Goddard Shelter around 7.30pm. Now there is one thing on the trail that is pissing me off, Everyone seems to think I am from Australia.... WHY?!!! I sound nothing like an Aussie. One guy at the shelter said " I hate to ask an obvious question, but are you form Australia?...... It is really starting to wear thin. I asked the guys if anyone snoared, one guy said he did.. a bit, F*** me dead a bit...!!! I could hear him form 30 yards away in the tent. He snoared that loud it vibrated along the boards of the lean too. I am not sure what I hate the most, snoaring or Mosquitos!!!!
Date: 2003-07-15
To: Sherman Brook Campsite
Miles today: 26.7
Weather: clear sky

Another great day of sunshine, relaxed hiking and meeting some more great people. The 8 or so miles down to Route 9 were easy enough, but I had still worked up an appetite. So I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a 'Hot Dog Van'!!!! Oh my God this was more than trail magic. It had a desert oasis scene painted on the side, burgers on the trail , it truly was an oasis. The lady who ran the van was very friendly and nice to chat too. So I hung out in the shade drinking ice cold soda and filling my face with burgers and some great home made french fries and all was going great until some idiot showed up and said.... "so your from Austrailia", AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!! The rest of the day was fantastic sunshine and the Massachusetts State Line was getting closer and closer. I don't understand why everyone raved about Vermont and how beautiful it is, its all trees and hardly any views from the summits apart from the fire towers. The meadows were a nice change to all the trees though and were the only chance to get nice views. Just before the border I met a couple of guys and chatted away to them. One of them was out for a 10day trip and it turned out he was from Shepperton, No S***, that is about 2 miles away from where I live. The day was getting late so by the time I crossed the State Line it was already 7.30ish , so by the time I got down to the Campsite it was getting dark. So after dinner it was nice to lay back in the tent and relax.
Date: 2003-07-16
To: Datton
Miles today: 25.1

Just as I was getting ready to get up the heavens opened and gave my tent a real good soaking just before it was getting taken down. I was off on the trail by 7am and holy s*** was my left foot in bad shape or what? The little toe had a blister, the big toe was painful to put weight on and my heel had a combination of both. It was sore on the downhill, the flat and the uphill. The rain came back on hard and really helped me out as it soaked my feet and the trail which cushioned my feet alot enabled me to walk a bit faster. I got up to the lodge on the summit of Greylock for around 10.30. The views must be great from up there, but not today as the rain was still well set in. The lodge was a nice place to relax and get some more junk food. The trail is awesome, I have never ate so much junk and fatty foods and got in such good shape, forget all these fancy diets, try the AT diet. All the junk you can possibly eat and the pounds just fall off (providing you hike.) It was hard to peel away from the log fire on those very comfortable chairs but I had already spent 1 and a half hours there and it was time to get going. The foot had started to play up again and was really slowing me down, so I tried an extra sock and an ankle strap. That little extra support and cushioning worked wonders and I was back up to speed in no time. I bumped into 'Smokey and Ceafus' again in Cheshire. They are also hiking South. They decided to hang out in Cheshire but Datton was leaving me with the though of more beer and pizza. Not long after getting off the road section of the trail the rain started back up with a vengance. The trail was flooded and water was streaming everywhere, but it was great to hike in. The harder the rain got the faster it made me walk. It was lot of fun stomping through all the puddles and mud, not caring as it was impossible to get my feet any wetter. My 99 cents poncho from K-Mart was keeping my bag and upper body dry as a bone. For all it weighs and costs it is an awesome but simple piece of kit. It does the job of water-proofs, pack cover and ground sheet . Just before reaching Datton I heard the bushes rustling, I looked up to see what at first I thought was a Fox, no that doesn't look right..... Oh S*** its a Bobcat!!! and only about 50 feet away from me. It really made my day, I was so over the moom to see a wild cat so close up. Once in Datton I was told to head for the shell station and ask for Rob and he would fix me up with somewhere to stay. Rob lets hikers use his house, free of charge, shower, bed, internet, phone, relaxing on the sofa, it really is very generous of him. I got straight to work on ordering a pizza and spend the night relaxing with a few beers.
Date: 2003-07-17
To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: overcast clouds

A' whole of people end up staying at Robs for a few days, I may well have done the same but I want to thru-hike without a zero day. I thanked Rob so much for his generosity and the welcome he shows all hikers. I landed back to the town to pick up the trail and bumped into 'Smokey and Lephus ' they had just arrived in town. They invited me to join them for breakfast, so off I went and made a pig of myself eating pancakes drenched in butter and maple syrup. mmmmmmm.... After telling the guys about my near death experience with the 'Bobcat' and a quick resupply of chocolate I was on my way back to the trail. I stopped off at Tom Lavardy's house to say hello but unfortunately he was out. The 'Flying Scotsman' stayed there when he injured his foot, so I was invited to stop by when in Datton. My feet were really hurting today and it was hard to get any sort of a rythm going, so it turned out to be a slog the whole day. I had got to the trail about 11am so I decided to head for 'Upper Goose Pond where I heard it was $3 for a bunk and a pancake breakfast..... Count me in on that!!!!! Also you could canoe or fish at the lake if you fancied. I really wanted to get to the lake early in the afternoon and do some fishing, but by the time I dragged myself up the trail it was after 7.30pm by the time I got to the Cabin. There was only two other people there a girl out for the weekend and 'Two Fiddy' a NOBO. I fixed up some dinner and got an early night, hoping that if the feet were good I could push out some miles.
Date: 2003-07-18
To: Great Barrington
Miles today: 27.5
Weather: overcast clouds

No better way to start the day than with 'all you can eat pancakes' soaked in butter and maple syrup. Well it was almost all you could eat as the caretaker stopped making them after me and 'Two Fiddy' had polished off at least 10 each. The day was going good until I got stung by a bee, which at the time hurt but I thought nothing more about it. At around mid-afternoon I started to come out in lumps where the straps of my ruck-sack where and then they spread all over my body and fast. I thought it might have been poison ivy but it didn't make sense the way it broke out. I wasn't feeling sick with it so I headed on to Great Barrington and straight to the pharmacy. They said it could be poison ivy or a reaction to the bee sting and advised me to go to the Emergency Room to be sure. Yeah right... it would have cost about $80 and that a whole lot of Pizza !!!! So I got some beredryl and went on my way. It was late by the time I got my resupplies the cheapest place to stay in town was around $60, thats a whole lot more Pizza so I pitched my tent behind a gas station and called it a night.
Date: 2003-07-19
To: Limestone Spring Lean Too
Miles today: 25.5

After my breakfast of 'strawberry and cream 'flavoured oats and 'peanut butter wafers'......(oh they taste good together) I was on my way. I got a hitch straight away but I was talking to much and missed the trail head, so I had to hitch back again. I finally got hiking again around 9am. After a few miles or so I got chatting to some 'trail maintanance volunteers' one of which happened to be an E.R. Nurse, I explained to her about my rash and she told me it was definately hives, a reaction to the bee sting and she also gave me good advice other medicines that would help. The sun was shining the views where awesome and the morning was going great until I got trapped on top of 'Jug End 'by the most' boaring old so and so who ever set foot on this earth'. After 10 minutes or so I had to make a break for it but no he wanted a picture before I left. Finally after the ordeal was over I sped off down the trail. After a short while I stopped and chatted to a NOBO. Then I could hear someone coming,''Oh no''' it was the 'Old guy again', so I made a very quick get away... The morning was filled with trail magic. One couple who I met on top of 'Mount Everett' gave me Granolla Bars and half an Italian Sub!!! It tasted great and stopped the stomach from rumbling for quite a while. (Thanks alot).   I passed into Connecticut, my 5th State and set about climbing 'Bear Mountain'. The views were great up there and I ended up chatting and having a real good laugh with some NOBO's. I had spent most of the day talking and not doing enough walking, so I was leaving it late to get to the lean too . I didn't end up getting there until 8.30pm, No messing around and straight to bed.
Date: 2003-07-20
To: Mt. Algo Lean Too
Miles today: 29.6

Same old story again, Alarm goes off at 4.30am , I get up at 7.30am I was sure I was going to make great time as I had this vision of Connecticut being flat.... Wrong !!!! Or maybe it was because I had imagined it to be flat that it made all the hills seem twice as steep and long. Well anyway it is all up and down apart from 2 flat sections that run alongside the 'Housatonic River' , which are a pleasant walk, but that doesn't last long and it is a 700 foot climb over about half amile up to 'St. Johns Ledges'. I had dragged the day out to long again by talking with all the NOBO's and didn't arrive in to the shelter until after 8pm.
Date: 2003-07-21
To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 29.0
Weather: light rain

Its always nice to cross 'State Lines' as it really makes you feel that you are getting closer to the final goal and today I would be crossing into 'New York' and putting the huge mountains of Connecticut behind me, well the ones in my head!!!! Todays plan was the same as the rest of the trip, get up late, look at the data book and pick a shelter miles away, spend all day talking and get there around 8pm. I was quite tired today and found it really hard to find any energy. I arrived at 'Wiley Hill Shelter ' and decided to eat about 6 or 7, 'Little Debbie Bars' now if that didn't give me energy then nothing would. I also met a guy called 'Buffalo Bobby' who gave me half of his sandwich he had just bought from a deli and 2 cereal bars, which was well appreciated and best of all I was told about a hot dog stand on N.Y. 22, Its amazing what that sort of news can do to a weary hiker. I covered the 6 miles in about 1 and a half hours and was filling my face with hot dogs and soda's. Oooooh they where good!!! I spent about an hour or so there and decided I really should get a move on. I passed the 'Appalachian Trail' railroad station, that has to be the worlds smallest station, the sign was about as long as the platform!!!! I had to get a picture I still had over 10 miles to go and it was after 4pm, so I tried not to talk and just walk. I had a quick stop at the 'Telephone Pioneers 'shelter for water. I found no water but I did find a beer. The 'Beer Can' even had writing on it inviting me to taste it !!!! How could I refuse. About an hour or so before I arrived at the shelter I got caught in a brief but heavy storm, so it was a real nice way to end the day by getting soaked. Oh well, look on the bright side, I did have a beer with my dinner and got to enjoy a lightening show from the shelter.
Date: 2003-07-22
To: Molly's House
Miles today: 28.4

I woke up realising I wa in a whole lot of trouble..... I was getting very low on 'Little Debbies' granola bars!!! I asked one of the guys at the shelter what was the next big town for resupplies... answer 'Peekshill, they also have a 'Mac Donalds'., say no more. Mission Peekshill, MacDonalds for dinner, Pizza for desert. I was one focused hiker setting out this morning and wasted no time in getting a good pace going. About 7 or so miles into the morning I met a girl called Molly on the trail, we chatted briefly and I headd on past. No time for chatting with all that thought of food in Peekshill. A couple of miles later I stopped in to the R.P.H shelter just to be nosey and see what was going on. Holy S***, there was trail magic everywhere, soda's, cookies, chips and some nasty granola bars that got eaten anyway, oh and banana bread. Molly showed up aswell and we spent about 20 minutes chatting away and laughing about how lucky one NOBO was who came around the corner just as the rain started to find this once annual meeting with a full buffet !!! Oh Well I was making full use of the left overs. I told Molly I was going to Peekshill, she said that she lives there and it would be no problem for me to stay at her place and that her parents are really enthusiastic about meeting hikers. How could I refuse, so I spent the nexst hour or so hiking and chatting away with Molly. I stopped to get water out of a stream and told Molly if she wanted to go on I would catch her up in a couple of minutes. It took me 3 hours to catch back up, I wa starting to forget what she looked like !!!!! We hiked a bit together again and Molly decideed to stop at South Highland road as she had a headache4 so we arranged to meet at N.Y. 403 around 6pm and head onto her house form there. I met Molly and 2 other hikers who where figuring out how to get down to a town about 10 miles or so away. Molly being the nasty so and so that she is told them to get lost .... only joking, she was kind enough to go out of her way and take them into town. On the way back Molly took me to the grocery store. Oh my God it was 'Little Debbie ' heaven. All sorts of new 'Little Debbie' foods I hadn't even heard of.
Date: 2003-07-23
To: Back to Molly's House
Miles today: 24.4

When I woke up I found that Joanne had prepared fresh fruit and told me to help myself to cereals. WoW!!! these people are so generous. I sat down and chatted to Molly over breakfast. She was fast talking me around into coming back again for the night and got her maps and books out to arrange a place to be picked up at. I couldn't refuse and we agreed on N.Y. 17 as the pickup point at 6pm. I only took what food and water I needed and we set off for the trail head. I got dropped off at 11.30am and set about the 25 miles to the pick up point. I had my head down running and got lost very quick. Ah S***, thats all I need today. I turned around and found the 'White Blazes' soon enough and got back on my way. I got down to the Bear Mountain Bridge quite fast and followed the 'White Blazes' through the Zoo where I got told off for running as it was upsetting the animals, and keeping them in a cage doesn't?!!!! I saw a Bobcat at the Zoo and realised whatever I saw a few days ago was defenately not a Bobcat?!!!! Could it have been a Lynx? I don't know why and I am sure nobody else does either, but why does the trail to by the changing rooms for the pool. There is people everywhere in shorts and bathing costumes, then there is me walking by with hiking poles and a rucksack. That is one part of the trail I will never understand. I was making good time and apart from brief chats and stopping for water and food, I was moving and trying to run at every opportunity. The last five miles or so I had to try really hard not to think about guzzling down ice cold diet cokes. The last mile was down hill and finished with a road section so I covered it quite fast and sure enough there was Molly waiting as planned and then the most amazing thing happened. Molly rolled down the window and handed me 2 cans of diet coke in a zipper bag full of ice, enough said!!!! Molly drove me back to her house where Joanne had cooked up an amazing dinner. We had Chicken Breast with melted Peco Romano cheese and spinach, pasta and home grown and freshly made pesto. It tasted unbelievably bad but I felt obliged to eat it ..... only messing again the food was so fresh and very tasty, I felt like being sick to make room for more!!!! I felt really rude as Molly and I had to leave right after dinner to make it to the movies in time.
Date: 2003-07-24
To:  Molly's House
Miles today: 12.0

I have to start by saying ..... how the hell do cinema's get away with charging all that money for soda and popcorn $4.25 for a medium coke and $5 for a small bag of popcorn!!!! But it was a good night out spent with good company and the movie was quite funny aswell.   Joanne was driving Molly and I out to the trail. I said goodbye to Joanne and couldn't thank her enough for all the hospitality she and Kirby had shown me. Molly and I were hiking in opposite directions so we had planned to meet up somewhere for lunch.   We didn't get to bed until after 1am so I was really dragging ass up the trail, It took me 7 hours to hike 12 miles to N.Y. 17A. There was a phone at the trail head so I decided to phone home while waiting for Molly. Soon enough Molly appeared and we headed down to the Dairy Farm for some icecream and ever sooner Molly had talked me into staying another night at her place which to be honest was not very hard to do as I was really enoying the time I was spending with her as she was a lot of fun to be around. The ice-cream was great and due to its location, 100 yards of the trail, it is going to be very busy with hikers. On the way back in the car I some-how managed to get the toggle of my hat caught in my Moustache (Hikers Growth!!) Molly and Joanne couldn't help but laugh at me, it was funny even though it brought a tear to my eye. We had chinese for dinner. I had the Chicken Surprise.... It was a surprise if you could find any Chicken amongst the onions, there must have been at least 2 full onions in my dinner alone, but it tasted good.   Molly and I bought a case of beer to take up to the hikers at the nearby shelter. Now by this time it was dark, and I didn't have a clue where to go , but not to worry I was with Molly... Wrong!!!!, she did know roughly where it was and we found the Blue Blazes but it was way too late to turn up to a shelter with beer by this point, so we decided to head back. We spent the rest of the night relaxing in a hammock in the garden watching the 'glow bugs' and gazing up at the stars. Molly decided to give me a lesson in Astronomy and pointed out a few of the Constellations and the North Star. It made me laugh as she would say 'You see that bright star there ...? Yeah and about 6 million others!!!! There was also a debate over which one was the North Star. The bugs found us soon enough though and we decided to call it a night.
Date: 2003-07-25
To: Wayawanda Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up quite late and by the time I was up Joanne and Kirby had already left for work, which made me feel quite bad as I didn't get to say good-bye and thank them again. It was late in the morning by the time we left the house. We decided to have some lunch on the way back to the trail and stopped in at a fancy Bar and Grill. The food was great and Molly continued to be great company and fun to be with..... until she tried to pull one over me with the dessert.... We were both quite full and decided to share a chocolate brownie, Molly polished off all the good stuff on her side of the bowl and turned the bowl around to get all the good things on my side.... like the oreo biscuit..... I made a big joke out of it and Molly couldn' help but laugh.... I couldn't understand how she thought she would get away with it though!!!! We went around to Wall-Mart to get bug spray and on the way back out there was a guy collecting money for charity. He had a mini karaoke set up and tried to get me to sing a song. I had some nasty flash backs to my solo effort of 'Dancing Queen' in Australia and thought it was best not to take him up on his offer!!!! All to soon I was back at the trail head and it was time to say good-bye to Molly. I am pretty used to saying good-byes and parting company with people due to travelling around the world, a bit, but it was hard saying good-bye this time as I had enjoyed the last 3 days with Molly so much, but such is life. I was just glad to have had the chance of meeting Molly and hoped that we could meet up again sometime.   So I was 'back on the trail again', the sun was shinning, the views were great and my belly was still bursting from lunch, but I made it to the mosquito infested shelter at around 6.30 ish. Sleeping in the shelter was not an option with all the bugs, so I pitched my tent and got an early night.
Date: 2003-07-26
To: Secret Shelter
Miles today: 18.5

Same old story with the alarm and I wasn't on the trail until late. The trail was very easy down to N.J. 94 where I was told about a Farm Shop that had plenty of fresh fruit, ice-cream and a bakery. I defenately had to check it out. 2 Milkshakes, some baked goods, fruit and 3 hours later I was back on the trail. The weather was great again and I was taking the day really easy deciding to head to the secret shelter. It is really a badly kept secret as everyone knows about!!!! It is set in a field about 200 yards of the trail. The cabin has hot showers, a sink and a dryer and seems to be a popular spot as there was about 10 other hikers in for the night. Jim who owns the land has himself thru-hiked and built the cabin especially for thru-hikers. He also keeps 2 donkeys in a neighbouring field. F*** me they really know how to make noise . It sounded like Jurassic Park when they got started. There was thousands of glow bugs everywhere which made my mine cast back to Molly's house 2 nights ago.