morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-05-22
From: Alex Kennedy shelter

To: Boiling Springs
Miles today: 3.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Today I got to go home for a long weekend with my wife! Yay! I am sitting at home, freshly cleaned and fully fed.Today was a good hike. We got an early start because everyone else in the shelter got moving around 6:30, in anticipation of big miles. Those of us not in a hurry would be doing the 18.4 across the valley to the next shelter. Those of us in a hurry would push on to the shelter beyond that, and do almost 26 miles.Also, the other thru hikers were pumped up about the possibility of eating at a cafe in Boiling Springs, and so they were on a mission. We got moving about 7:45, and we were the last ones to leave the shelter by at least 15 minutes. We're slackers, what can i say?The terrain was easy. One semi-large climb up to a view that was blocked by foliage. Bummer. The green tunnel has formed all around us. It's pretty, but it confines the views. The last mile or two was zigging and zagging around farm fields just before we entered town.Boiling springs is a cute little town, but not much in the way of re-supply, unless you want to walk a mile out to the grocery store and then a mile back. But it has a pretty lake and apparently, some kickin' fishing opportunities.We got to the ATC HQ around 9:00am, and we talked to some of the guys from the shelter, who were still in town. The cafe didn't have the breakfast they were dreaming of, so they resupplied at the gas station and were moving on. After a brief rest, Gobbles and Olive Oil took off, and I stayed behind to meet my wife.She showed up right around 9:30, and I was on my way home.We stopped off at REI, and I got ANOTHER pair of boots. I wanted to go lightweight, but the most comfortable ones they had in a wide size turns out to be some heavy-duty backpacking ones. So I got those, figuring that comfort was the most important factor. I guess if the extra weight doesn't kill me, it will only make me stronger. Right.....So now it's time to kick back and enjoy my 3 zeroes before i head back out to meet Gobbles and Olive Oil in PA. I should be uploading my photos while I'm home, so take a look at those when you can....
Date: 2008-05-26
From: PA 325

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

I lost my trailjournals for the last week, due to an equipment malfunction with my pocketmail. It says it sent the info to my wife, but it disappeared into the internet somewhere. I wonder if someone received it, and is thinking "what IS this stuff?"I will try to reconstruct the journal as best I can.I met up with Gobbles at PA325 as planned, but Olive Oil was missing. Turns out that she wasn't having fun and decided to get off the trail that same day. Hope everything works out for her.Gobbles and I got going around 11, and had a good hike up to the shelter. It was a long gradual uphill from the road crossing, but after we got to the top, it was flat or rolling. The trail followed what was once an old stage coach route from the 1800's, but I feel bad for anyone who had to ride in said stagecoach. Based on the observations I had of the "road", passengers would either have the most sore rear end on the planet, or they would be sick, and throwing up over the side. The road was a jumble of rocks.... which is actually how I would describe PA...I had not given my new boots a good enough breaking in period, so i have massive blisters on my heels. Moleskin didn't help, as it slipped off my sweaty feet. bummer....the shelter is really cool. The water source is 10 feet from the shelter, so that made it awesome. The drawback is that it is a long way from the trail, and takes a while to get there.Saw a bobcat on the trail today. That was pretty awesome. Biggest cat I have seen that wasn't restrained behind some sort of barrier, at the zoo.It was a good day of hiking.
Date: 2008-05-27
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: broken clouds

(lost the original journal for this too...)Very cool shelter...an old potters shed with an octagonal skylight in it. Bunks for 12 people. Best part - local pizza place delivers here. mmmmm..... got a veggie stromboli. Good stuff. It thunderstormed tonight, but we were inside, watching it through the skylight, eating our italian bounty. Good times... good times...Hike was good. Not too many elevation changes and lots of flat. The rocks are getting worse. My blisters are worse. Moleskin slipped off again, and it looks pretty ugly. I ended up taping my ankle with sports tape as if it were an ace bandage. That kept the padding in place, and kept the blisters from getting worse. I have them exposed now to let them air out and heal. Hopefully they will heal soon.
Date: 2008-05-28
From: 501 Shelter

To: Port Clinton
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: clear sky

(lost this original journal from that day too...)My longest day yet. We pushed to get into Port Clinton.Staying at the Port Clinton Hotel. They seem hiker-weary here... the staff came across as rude to all of us who stayed there. Unfortunate. Perhaps we got them on a bad day. Also, a bit pricey for what you get. Each room has a single double bed, and there is a shared bathroom for the hall. I dunno. Perhaps i was hoping for more after my long hiking dayThe food is good. Huge portions and tasty at the Port Clinton hotel restaurant. We also ate at the 3C's for breakfast, and that was good. Both are cheap!The 3C's is a bit far from the trail though, you have to walk almost .75 miles off the trail to get there. If you want to go, head to the pavilion, and then keep going. The road dead ends at the restaurant. The Peanut Shop, a candy store, was neat too. Blisters still bad, but not like they were. Finally starting to heal, now that I have figured out how to keep the moleskin in place.The hiking was good. Again, mostly flat, but these rocks are getting to be a huge hassle. Are they trying to make us break our ankles?? Feet were killing me after the long miles... but just the general, everything below my knees hurts kind of a pain. Nothing like what got me off the trail. Can't wait to finish breaking in these boots.... owwwwww....
Date: 2008-05-29
From: Port Clinton

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: scattered clouds

(lost the original here too..)Holy Cow... a short mileage day, but whooooooo! I am pooped.We originally wanted to push to allentown shelter, another 7.6 miles up the trail, but by the time we got here, we were too tired to go any further. A good choice on our part to call it a day.We got a late start out of port clinton, so we got to the shelter about 6pm. We were the second group to get there, so we were inside. That was nice.This is a good shelter. Only bunks for 6, but there are tent pads nearby. It has a flush toilet and a solar shower and tap water and garbage cans. Luxury!!!!Saw my first rattlesnake. Got a picture. That was fun. The snake just sat there though and didn't move, so i was disappointed, but better than having it trying to bite me....Some great views today, and great weather. Blisters still there, but less painful today.Rocks still suck
Date: 2008-05-31
From: Palmerton

To: Slatington
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a zero day. We slept in, showered, and did laundry in the morning. Then we did our drop boxes and spent some time on the internet at the local library.We couldn't find a place to stay in Palmerton for the night, so we called up Ira here at the Fine Lodging hotel in Slatington, and he came and got us and brought us over. We spent the afternoon eating and watching TV. Not a bad afternoon.Knuckles decided to zero too, so the three of us have been hanging out. I abbreviated my journal entries due to the fact that i lost them, so i mentioned knuckles only at the eckville entry. She started in mid-March and just caught up to us there, and we stayed at the borough hall together, and figured we'd keep hanging out on the zero.She has a trailjournal too. This hotel is pretty cool. It has all the conveniences nearby - library, food, mini-mart. It's a mixed bag of hotel and boarding house kind a a place. Good for a short stay. Ira is really cool and super hiker-friendly. Tomorrow we head back out. Will be good to be back on the trail.
Date: 2008-06-01
From: Slatington

To: Leroy Smith shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Fine LodgingToday was a pretty good day for hiking - clear weather, level terrain, and a fun start to the hike.Our day started at 5:30, getting up and moving. We wandered down the block to a restaurant for breakfast, and that must have been the slowest service ever. We got there at 6:30 and didn't get our food till 7:50.. we ordered eggs and pancakes. And there were only 10 people in the restaurant.... and we were supposed to get a shuttle from Ira at 8. We inhaled our food, got back to the hotel, and caught ira's shuttle back to the trail. As we got dropped off, we found grasshopper... a thru hiker that knuckles knew. He is fast. As we started, we went uphill, way uphill. It was a tough climb up, and when we got close to the top, it turned into a rock scramble. We were using our hands too to help ourselves climb. The poles at this point were a hindrance.... that was a fun climb! Scary at some points, but it made the climb so much easier. When we got to the top, it was like a being up on a bald... but a dead bald. Stunted trees, lots of rocks, and scraggly bushes. We got ahead of knuckles, so as we waited for her, we built a rock cairn, to aid other hikers. Not there wasn't a white blaze 10 feet away, but gobbles was feeling charitable, and wanted to help others, and was in a building mood. It is a mighty fine looking cairn, or as gobbles likes to say..."it was on time!".We were on the ridge, so we just followed that the rest of the day. Good views from the climb, and also along the ridge walk. We eventually worked our way back into the woods, and it was just like all the other parts of PA. We stopped at delp spring for lunch... and talked to dirty harry, footloose and grasshoppper for a few. The spring is a long, STEEP 0.3 miles off the trail... It must have taken us 30 min to go down and back up... whew... tiring. After lunch, it was an uneventful 6 miles to here.The shelter is okay. The spring is a long way off.. but a good flow.We met back up with chris and andrew and champ... that has been fun talking to them, and catching up on what's been happening with each other for the past week.There are tons of the gypsy moth caterpillars out here. They keep dropping out of the trees onto us as we hike, and if we put our packs down, we end up picking 20 or so off of them before we can put the packs back on. There must be hundreds of them around the shelter alone. They seem to like to cluster together on the tops of rocks and logs. I suppose they have an instinct to climb up whatever they find. It is a little weird to see piles of caterpillars on rocks.Tomorrow might be another 20 miler, if we push into delaware water gap. Depends on how gobbles' leg feels. The big miles in combo with these evil rocks have taken a toll on his left knee. It's been bugging him. Maybe we take another light day... maybe not. Stay tuned.
Date: 2008-06-03
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: 0.5 mile past Blue Mountain Lakes Road
Miles today: 18.0

Forgot to mention, we stayed at Church of the Mountain hostel..Today was a long day even though we only did 18 miles. We got a late start, about 9:45, and we finished hiking about 7:30 tonight. We've done 18 much faster in the past....We got moving around 6:30 this morning - no rush, since the post office didn't open until 8:30... we got everything packed up and wandered down to the mini mart again, and gobbles and knuckles got some stuff while i emailed my journals to my wife. Then we went back to the diner and got breakfast and did our errands at the post office. The hostel was really nice, and i'm glad we stayed there. The hike was pretty uneventful - we stopped and gave PA the one finger salute as we left... then it was a long uphill climb out of the gap. Not steep, just long. When we got to the top, we traveled down the ridge for a while, then hit sunfish pond. Really pretty. It's a glacial lake and highly prized in the state. Can't swim in it though. Lots of snakes swimming around in it...we walked around the lake, and bypassed the outflow water source because the books said there was a spring just past the lake. That spring turned out to be stagnant, so we had to walk the 0.5 miles back to the outflow. d'oh!! Tack on an extra mile for me today... an unnecessary mile...After lunch, it was just rolling terrain, up and down little hills. The rocks are still here, but not as bad as PA. My feet were/are tired! We ended up missing rattlesnake spring, so we got water at the pump at Blue Mountain Road. It tastes like metal. yumm-o!Saw 3 bears today. The first was just after we ran into warren doyle again.. a solo bear, hanging in the bushes. The next two were together... on the trail, exactly where we needed to go... to the water pump. We clacked our poles together, and they ran off. That was cool.We are stealth camped tonight. 28 miles to the first shelter was too far. Also lots of outward bound kids out today. Saw at least 3 groups of them. Hope the bears follow them, so they don't bother us...I'm tired, so i'm calling it a night.
Date: 2008-06-04
From: 0.5 mile past Blue Mountain Lakes Road

To: Mashipicong shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I am exhausted today, so i will keep this short tonight. It rained last night, a lot. I stayed dry, but everything is damp. Today it was sprinkling/overcast/foggy with temps in the low 60's all day. Yucky hiking weather. I spent a lot of time clock-watching today. I couldn't get into a rhythm. It was a long 19. The views were mostly clouded in, and the woods were just woods. Pretty normally, but i wasn't impressed today. That was just my mood. Saw lots of salamanders today and some squirrels. No bears....So i'm almost ready for bed, and i can't wait to go to sleep. We were hiking for 11 hours total, with stops for water at all the shelters, and a long lunch at a bar at a road crossing.Time for sleep.
Date: 2008-06-05
From: Mashipicong shelter

To: Unionville, NY
Miles today: 14.3

Today was a nice short day. Gave my weary feet a chance to rest. Tonight we are staying in the basement of the mayor's house here in Unionville. What a great place. He opens up his house for hikers, lets us shower and do laundry, feeds us, and asks for only photos of us in return. This place is awesome.I slept pretty well last night. Some strange dreams about bears, but nothing i couldn't sleep through. It rained more last night, but that didn't bother me because i was in the shelter sleeping. Got started about 7:30. Ran into garlic and pickle again, they passed us again. Last time they passed us was back in GA, at cold spring shelter. Still friendly guys. I am expecting to see bones show up in about a week. It'll be fun to mess with him, and ask how he got behind us...The hiking went much faster today, and the miles clicked off quick. I was especially happy we cleared high point because the rocks finally stopped. Maybe now my rock-tired feet can rest up and recover. There were lots of good views, but it was an overcast day, so visibility wasn't good. Bummer. Lots of field walking, punctuated by mini, but steep, ups and downs between them.We got to Unionville about 3, and butch, the mayor's assistant drove past and picked us up within 10 min of getting into town. We have spent the rest of the day here, cleaning up and going through our boxes, and just lounging around and eating.Tomorrow we have to leave this haven and continue on. But i will have fond memories of this place.Time for sleep...
Date: 2008-06-06
From: Unionville, NY

To: Wawayanda shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Pocketmail made me lose my journal entry from this day, so i will try to reconstruct it....The day started out great... the mayor fed us an awesome breakfast, then took us back to the post office, and the general store (so-so resupply) and then took us back to the trailhead.The walk was mostly fields, and the fun boardwalk through the swamp... the heat and humidity started to climb, and the afternoon was hot!We stopped for a break at heavenly hill farm, mmmmm strawberry milkshake.That was great, until i had to climb waywayanda mountain....bluuuurrrrp.that was a tough climb.... i thought i had trail legs.... nope! No trail legs. That climb kicked my butt!We wandered to the shelter and were the only 3 there. There were some section hikers, but they tented....A long day... i was tired.Some bad news... the balls of my feet are starting to hurt again. Hope it's just because they are tired. The bandages on my heels have started falling off.... eeeeewwwwww!!!! That is some gross stuff....Okay, i can't think of what else happened that day, so i will end my reconstruction now....
Date: 2008-06-07
From: Wawayanda shelter

To: Mombasha Road area
Miles today: 17.5

A long tough day. We said goodbye to new jersey today, and entered new york. New Jersey gave us a hard day yesterday, but a nice goodbye with smooth trail, and no major ups or downs. New York, on the other hand, decided to hassle us. Lots of little ups and downs that were really steep and rocky. Not just rocky, but rock-scramble rocky. I fell twice, gobbles fell once, and i think knuckles ate it once too. Wet rocks are slippery!! And it didn't even rain! They were wet from sweating. Not my sweating, well, okay, after i fell and rubbed my sweat on them that way, but it was so humid that the water was condensing out of the air onto the cooler rocks. My note to those following this in prep for your own hike... if it is raining when you want to hike here, forget it. Stay in the shelter, or go to a hotel and wait for it to dry out. It is not worth risking your legs in falls to try to walk on these scrambles and exposed rocks.So, that being said, new york is really pretty. It is very scenic here, and the a.t. would be awesome for day hikes. Lots of fun hiking. Just not with large cumbersome packs on.We got started about 7:30, hoping to beat the worst of the heat. Uh, that didn't work. We still got slammed. We got about 10 miles through the day by 2pm, when we stopped at the bellvale creamery for milkshakes and to rest. Good ice cream! We talked to a bunch of people who think we are insane... then, about 4, we left to go to wildcat shelter, 2 miles up the trail, where we took naps and then continued on. We took a dinner break at west mombasha road... we hiked into monroe to a deli and got dinner. Then we got back on the trail, and went off to camp.We stealth camped off the trail, not too far in. Thank you to the trail angel who left water at the road crossing... you saved us....time for sleep...
Date: 2008-06-09
From: William Brien shelter

To: Graymoor Spiritual Center pavillion
Miles today: 15.3

Hot. It is hot. We woke up at 4:30am, and it was breezy and comfortable, but then it got hot. We stopped about every hour for at least 15 min due to the heat and the fact that we needed to refill on water because we were sweating so much. It is hot.... and humid. It's really humid too. and hot....We were on the trail by 6am. We had the fun of crossing the palisades parkway about 8am... and when i say crossing, i mean RUNNING across. Always fun during MONDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR...that was exciting... I didn't know i was capable of running that fast with 40lbs on my back at 10lb shoes on my feet. There was a trail register in between the south lanes and north lanes. They asked for comments and suggestions. I suggested they install a bridge.We climbed up Bear Mountain next. I think new york's hiking motto should be the same as georgia's - "switchbacks are for losers". But we got to the top and rested for a while. I got in touch with a co-worker from NYC, and we made plans to meet up for dinner. Fun!So we went down the mountain and saw the inn (under renovation) and the lake (no swimming), and the huge olympic-size pool (closed), and the zoo (sad... small cages, and animals were just lying around). We then wandered to fort montgomery to get lunch at a deli - m&r was where we ended up... yum! And to resupply till pawling. Got 2 32oz gatorades and drank those and a soda. We went back to bear mtn circle and hung out in the shade, waiting for it to cool down some.We got moving about 4, so we could meet up with Georgia (the NYC co-worker) for dinner, but it took us a bit longer than we thought to hike to Graymoor. The climb out of the hudson valley is killer! owwwwww... so we had to rest or pass out. We rested and drank all our water. So we had to stop at the next campsite and find the spring, and then filter water, and so we didn't get to graymoor till 7. We took quick showers, and then Georgia came at 8:30, and we went out to eat. Got burgers at a place in cold spring. It was gooood....So we got back to the shelter about 10 and tried to go to sleep... but it was hot.. and there were lots of mosquitoes.... made for a long night.A good day though. Saw bear mountain and crossed the lowest point on the a.t. so now i've been to the lowest and highest points. cool.Feet still hurting. Worried about them. Usually okay in the mornings, but start to feel them after about 10 miles. Hope to take a day off later this week to let them rest. Let's hope that helps. Looks like my feet are not designed for this long distance hiking thing. Oh well, i will keep hiking, and hope for the best.