morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-09-20
From: past cheshire

To: past October mountain shelter
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: mist

The "who cooks for you" barred owls are at again and I'm laying in my hammock exhausted. We're trying to make up for some lost time and get to falls village, ct by friday to stop in and see Charles and steph. That'd be pretty sweet if it works out. Charles' place is in that town and the AT basically walks through it. Kate was finally mostly ok today, pobrecita. We braved the humid mosquitoy morning and made good time into dalton. There were some cool marble cliffs overlooking cheshire on the way. We spent a solid 3 hours in dalton. Picked up some goods from our bounce box. Yay Gatorade powder! That shit is hard to find. Walmart carries it but usually only in 10 pound quantities. My dad sent us an anniversary and me a birthday box combined which got to the PO right as we were leaving, so pretty clutch timing. Thanks dad! There were some tasty cakes and candles for me to celebrate, and enough fancy hiker meals I didn't need to resupply hardly anything. We got a great lunch at Jacob's place and dried out all of our gear on the side of the building. They were a friendly bunch and the place was full of retirees shooting the breeze. On the way back to trail kate went in a food mart to resupply and this guy Tom lavardi approached us to say hi. He's got a place right on the trail and has been welcoming hikers for 30 years. We'd heard about him from the lady at the pub when we were looking for a hiker box to leave some stuff in, so that was convenient to just hand it to him. He insisted we stopped by for a Klondike bar on the way out though, so we did and chatted for a bit. Nice guy. He gave us the lodown on all our trail friends ahead of us, and the current state of trail affairs in general. We still had 12 to go on the day though and it was getting close to 3 so we headed out soon. There was one climb before super flat and I wanted to speed over it. I was moving pretty quick and about an hour and a half in thought I'd be really close at 4 miles to this view. The elevation just didn't match up though and I convinced myself I was in bad shape and delirious because that meant I was going under 2 miles an hour. My feet were sore and my back started hurting when I finally got to a great view. The sign was for the hill 1.6 past what I thought I was headed towards which made me feel a lot better. The first view was just nonexistent. I enjoyed a snickers to celebrate my sanity and could see mt greylock in the distance. It was a really pretty fall view. The field of ferns was all red and orange. Kate caught up a few minutes later and we had a nice break. We ended up having to twilight and night hike the last 4 miles or so but we made it to our goal for the day. Ps that's mt grey lock in the photo, you can see the obstacles tower phallus if you look closely
Date: 2016-09-21
From: past October mountain shelter

To: East brook
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: clear sky

That was a rough end to today's hike. My feet have been frickin killing me for miles, and it was pitch black by the time we started the steepest and longest climb of the day. We made it to some good water though and are hanging near the brook. I just screwed up bigtime. There was a dead tree near our hammock spot that was already wobbly. I thought I might as well knock it down now so it doesn't kill us in our sleep. I knocked it down, but it grazed Kates hammock and tore a hole in her bug netting. It proved my point I guess, but I probably should've taken her hammock down first. I patched it up with gorilla tape which has done a good job holding my dry bags together so she should be good, but I still feel terrible and stupid. Earlier we crossed the magnificent Massachusetts turnpike after ordering Chinese takeout! There's this bershire lakeside lodge about .1 off trail that you can get food delivered too. The lady there was so nice. I never met her but caller her from beckett mtn and she said you can just walk in and buy soda and eat there if you want. There are picnic tables right on the lake and I downed about 4 lbs of lo mein and 3 coca cola classics.
Date: 2016-09-22
From: East brook

To: Glen brook shelter
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Man, felt much better today doing those miles. I did use drugs though along with the frequent foot massages, which helped. About 6 miles ago my feet and body had basically checked out for the day. About the same time I ran out of water. But along came kate with extra water and alleve. I popped two of those, a caffeine pill, ate like 5 candy bars and applied some of my bikini anti chafing cream and bam! I was ready to go and feeling great. Water was a real issue today and thankfully some trail angels left two caches of water at key spots. We filled up at the Housatonic River to be safe, but then passed a sign saying don't eat the fish because of pcbs. Then I realized after some research that water filters don't do anything for pcbs. Or viruses or chemicals in general. We're gonna start carrying some purifier pills or something too in case were in a bind some time. The pcb is prob not a big deal since it's much higher concentrations in fish meat, but we also were passing through a lot of farmland and it's likely also full if pesticides. It's really a shame that's it's pretty much a given that any larger river near civilization is a complete chemical cocktail. The use of pcbs was banned in the 70s even, along with lead in paint and the creation of the EPA. It just sits there in the sediment forever along with countless other unregulated chemicals. Still boggles my mind that so many people would love to get rid of the EPA. Our air would be like china's and our rivers would be like they were in the 60s: flammable. Anyways.... Luckily there was still water at the cache and we could dump our pesticide pcb water. Just like yesterday we saved the biggest and longest climb for the final twilight hours and night hiking. This one was a steep rocky one too, which my feet actually prefer when they're sore to flatter ground. I guess because of more variable weight distribution. We caught some cool night views from jug end and mt bushnell. And this shelter area is sweet! I can't emphasize enough how much difference a picnic table makes. And a bear box. Not having to hang my food in the night is also great. I haven't actually seen the shelter though, and the bear box says no one else is here. I thought it'd be packed. We ran into Marty mcfly today after not seeing him since rangeley and he's been camping with a few other sobos in the area. I figured they'd all be here but don't mind not worry about waking people up. We didn't roll in until 830. Massachusetts has cool trail. A lot more hilly, rocky, ledgey, gulleyey etc than I thought. It does seem to pointlessly meander a bit, but it's well blazed which has been great for our night hiking. We swear were gonna turn the tables and get started before dawn tomorrow but we'll see.
Date: 2016-09-23
From: Glen brook shelter

To: falls village ct
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: clear sky

Water is becoming a bit of an issue. Luckily the stream in front of the shelter had some pools from a recent run, but was no longer flowing. We filled up at least but should've cameled up all the way because our lunch time spot at Riga shelter was dry, despite a full drop on awol.  We didn't have to think about in the morning though and climbed 3 mountains, all with good views and some even with steep, scramble sections. Mt everett, mt race and bear mountain. Bear mountain had some steeps and was actually the highest point in connecticut. Oh yeah, we're in CT! The sages ravine is a really cool cascading creek and ledges area right before that. Deep swimming holes that we're great for feet soaks and would've been stellar for dips had it been warmer. At the top of a stone tower on bear mountain was a geocache. Apparently they're supposed to have something in them but this one just had a book of random acts of kindness people pledged. The book was full but I'll throw one out there anyway. Lunch at Riga shelter was pleasant and featured a picnic table and a view. But then we went dry for a few miles and only passed I think one other flowing stream before getting back to the Housatonic in falls village. It was great to meet up with steph and Charles and their family. Charles was a crazy good cook in college and has only gotten better. He made us a paella like rice dish with peppers, shrimp and other goodies from the garden. Crazy good, thanks charles! Hanging with him, his mom, girlfriend Bethany and steph was a lot of fun. It's so nice to see old friends out here.
Date: 2016-09-24
From: falls village ct

To: falls village ct
Miles today: 2.1
Weather: clear sky

Charles made a gourmet breakfast, lunch and dinner. (We owe you a solid man). After breakfast we chilled a bit and then....went on a hike!Our first slack packing of the trail! This was a planned zero day but the city folk wanted to hike. We were afraid they might say that  but found a compromise since we could pick up a few extra miles around town. The trail part we did was basically handicap accessible flats. The 0.5 side trail we did however, the Mohawk trail, was STEEP. Maybe as steep as CT has got. I laughed a few times after the turn off while we scrambled over boulders. The surprise was fun though and the whole novelty of hiking without a pack made us giddy. I looked up the side trail we did and it actually extends another 20 miles or so to cornwall bridge, ct and used to be the AT until it was rerouted across the Housatonic in the 70s. After a great lunch steph had to get back to the city unfortunately. ( But maybe see you again soon steph! ) I think after hiking our couple AT miles she's blaze addicted already and will likely quit her job and walk to GA with us. After the dinner charles made I had stuffed myself silly and hit a wall. I crapped out before touching the delicious plum pie tart that Bethany made, so it was serious wall. All if the food they made centered around stuff from their garden too, and fruit trees. So so good.
Date: 2016-09-25
From: falls village ct

To: past falls village
Miles today: 1.7

Happy birthday to me!I woke up still stuffed. I could barely finish the salmon masala cheese egg delight that charles made. I did however eat half of that plum tart. We all kind of lounged about all morning then started watching some football. Charles' mom is into the Giants and we flipped between the games. I forgot how nice it is to have the recording feature. They took off back to the city around 2 and were nice enough to let us stay and finish watching the Bengals game. We headed out around 5 and bushwhacked our way through their backyard toward the river, then down through some corn and hay fields towards where we left off yesterday. The byshwhacking was a bit thorny but made a 1.5ish road walk into .4 or so. The stream we had to cross looked like a giant river on satellite, but was just a little creek we rock hopped over today. Water is still gonna be an issue for a while it looks like. I brought 4L out tonight for camp and breakfast tomorrow. Kind of a bummer.  I'm about to close my eyes just now when a dog came barking over the ridge sounding pissed. It wasn't approaching us thank god but I just got up to get our hiking poles at the ready. That's a new one. It finally went away and we're back to just the usual woodland critters and geese flying south through the night. It might frost tonight and those geese know it.
Date: 2016-09-26
From: past falls village

To: St Johns ledges
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: clear sky

Connecticut doesn't have big mountains, but it's sure got some steep rocky climbs. It was a fun little scramble getting up to these ledges. My stomach was an issue all day, just not quite right, but we wanted to get this climb out of the way before it rains tonight and everything's covered in wet leaves. The preceding 5 or 6 miles was an upset stomach's dream: flat, riverside, luxury trail along the housatonic. When I first got to that stretch by the river, it was beautiful. I scared off a pair of great blue herons and there was a mama dear and two adolescent dear drinking in the middle of the river. I got a photo that was grainy enough it looks like loch Ness monster. When kate caught up we saw a pair of golden eagles and a fisherman. Everyone fishing in their own way. The only break in this nature bonanza was a pack of high school crosscountry boys that were a bit of a menace but mostly friendly. Even in just their short shorts they all smelled like fresh laundry and shampoo. The morning part if the hike was a lot of ups and downs with water still an issue. We've been getting 3L at a time when we need it, which is really annoying. Pretty much only named brooks have a chance at flowing and even some of them are dry. All other streams and springs we have to assume are dry. There's a front moving in tonight that might help, but I think at best it'll get some more running for a day or two before they're dry again. I hope that state affairs improves soon. I don't mind walking in the rain for a week. I'm hoping my stomach gets better tomorrow because I'm definitely in a calorie hole for the day. At least it wasn't so bad that it kept me from walking though. I think it's recovering from the chicken feast charles made us on saturday. It was so good, but I haven't had straight up meat off the bone in so long I think that might've done it.
Date: 2016-09-28
From: bulls bridge road

To: ny 55ish
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: clear sky

I hate camping close to roads but it was getting dark and we found a good spot near some power lines, which offered a bit more crepuscular light. It's windy and threatening to rain and I kind of half assed my tarp set up. I'm too lazy to fix it and am really hoping that pays off.  We just passed nuclear lake, full of no camping signs. With a name like that we of course obliged and wondered if maybe the soil was radioactive. We've got cell service and so I looked it up. It was! United nuclear Corp had a lab there, and named the lake, doing nuclear research for the govt after wwii until a plutonium explosion in 1972. They did a bunch of remediation and carted away the radioactive soil. Apparently it's safe now, but why risk it. I got off to another slow start. Still had stomach issues, although it's better. We crossed into new york officially now. No more CT. There was no NY sign unfortunately. The water was a little better this morning but still pretty dry overall. We crossed the road into Pawling and were planning on walking .6 to a deli for lunch but luckily there was a food truck right there. Next to that was a hiker friendly gardening store too that sells fuel, snacks and showers. It's right on the metro north train line and I had no idea there was an actual appalachian trail stop, literally right on trail. Those two spots saved us 1.2 miles of blue blazing today so I'm very grateful.
Date: 2016-09-29
From: ny 55ish

To: before Canopus lake
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

New york is not the most wild. The highways seem to be always within earshot, but it is cool terrain. Lots of rocks and boulders and you walk along ledges and get some good views. Thr Hudson Valley has some high spots too.  The plus side of always being close to roads is there are a lot of surrounding food options. we took a break at one shelter today where you can have pizza and Chinese delivered. The downside is more trash and broken glass than other sections. And another bonus is we're still really close to nyc by train, so Jeff and Isaac are going to come up to have dinner with us tomorrow in peekskill. And steph might come hike with us a spell as well. I need to hit up the philly folk too. If you're reading this, hike?  My appetite is just about normal hiker level again, which is fantastic. I think I would've recovered so much sooner had I not been hiking all day. Today I had 4 big slices of pizza, a big coke, and a Gatorade for lunch. Finally started snacking on the go again too. Here we are about to head into town and I've got snacks for days.
Date: 2016-09-30
From: before Canopus lake

To: peekskill ny
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: light rain

With a light to medium rain all day and still dealing with a bit of a rut, we were more than happy to call it a shorter day and shell out for the whirlpool suite at the holiday Inn express. Fancy. So worth it too. We've got a sweet view of the Hudson River and surrounding yellow hills. It's great to watch the rain from the inside. And jeff came up from nyc to meet us for dinner! It was great to see him and wish we had more time to hang or go to the city ourselves. I was exhausted and STILL dealing with something stomachy, but got some good food, beer and catching up in. The hike itself was wet, autumn weather. A big thanks to whoever lives on the corner of the old Albany post rd. I had been looking for some rocky outhang, thick leaf cover, or anything dry enough to have a lunch break for a while. I'd just about decided to just barrel through to the end, and  I almost missed it, but when I crossed that road I spotted a covered bench! It was pretty great. We had to trespass a tad to get there but we passed a sasquatch crossing sign so figured they knew it was used by hikers. It wasn't long from there to the appalachian market right on trail. I got some pizza and Gatorade while I waited for kate. We left our packs outside and while we waited for a cab someone put a couple kind bars and a water under them. I was a bit more on guard since we're basically in big city territory, and was even a bit nervous with our packs outside. So that was a nice refreshing bit of random kindness.
Date: 2016-10-02
From: Fort montgomery

To: lemon squeezer
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Forgot to write this one. I remember rain and darkness and upset stomach. oh and the trail side zoo and bear mountain! It felt like we were part of the display. We saw our first bears at the zoo which is incidentally the lowest point on the AT at 124 feet. Then bear mountain was kind of like a museum of the trail with demonstrations of "rock stairs" and "switchbacks" etc. Still a good climb.
Date: 2016-10-03
From: lemon squeezer

To: near Glenwood lake
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was just all around tough. We had a bear friend trying to rip open Kates Kevlar food bag at various times in the night that cost us some good sleep. She's decided to hang hers with mine now. True to its name the bear couldn't get to any of the food. It just left some bite and scratch marks on her bread goods. I had my tarp up in porch mode so could see the little devil and we scared it up the tree and away a couple times, but he gave it another shot later. Once up from the patchy slumber I thought the terrain was tough. I could've easily called it a day after the first 8 miles. It started with the lemon squeezer then just kept it going with the drop offs, scrambles and climbs.  Lots of wet rocks and roots. The sun did shine on us for i think the first time in new york, but then it was back to rain towards the end of the day on these open rock hilltops called the catwalk and eastern precipices. On another day I think I would've enjoyed them, I was just all grump and gloom today. Water is still an issue and I had to fill up every time I came across it. AWOL was all sorts of wrong today too. Mislabeled waypoints along with the usual not making the sobo book for sobos. He actually had a warning about the tough part today, but at the end not the beginning. Well I can feel the pessimism build up the more I whine so I'm just going to call it a night and reset for tomorrow.
Date: 2016-10-04
From: near Glenwood lake

To: pochuck mountain shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Im glad I stopped bit ching when I did last night because there was a lot more I could have expanded on and today was a brand new day. For starters, it was kind of sunny! We also crossed into new jersey! Which has been beautiful so far with some much appreciated boardwalks and suspension bridges. I'm finally starting to get my stomach back which coupled with the lack of sunshine accounts for most of my blues the last week or more. I just finished my whole dinner. Even with a bit more miles we only had to night hike for less than an hour. And it was really nice to come into a shelter with a picnic table and a bear box. Last night's spot smelled of something nasty with mosquitos everywhere. Tonight I've got my tarp off and there are fantastic stars. We caught a great tail end of a sunset from a view off pochuck mountain on the way in too. For the dusk and night hiking I was listening to radiohead's kid a and amnesiac. That was pretty fun. And a bit earlier when I was still catching up to kate I saw another bear. Scared off a little yearling which was just cute enough I hustled out of there too in case mama was around. That's 4 bears in 3 days! Counting thd two at the trail side zoo of course. As you can probably tell, today was a good day. It just got off to a great start and I enjoyed the hiking again. The morning was more granite ridge lines and I got enough service to listen to world cafe. Right as a beautiful new song called st Annes parade by shovels and rope came on, I reached the top of a ridge with great views of a lake with an island. It's the little things like that.
Date: 2016-10-06
From: high point park hq

To: buttermilk falls trailhead
Miles today: 21.9
Weather: mist

Got a decently early start and was almost on trail at 730. A couple miles in we ran into cricket, who we'd met recently, and Lenny and Clara who we hadnt seen since the yellow deli. Lenny's a big tall dude covered in tattoos who wears super short shorts for hiking and the last thing I remember was the yellow deli people telling him he had to wear different shorts if he was to keep hanging around. Hilarious. Their version of trail magic recently was apparently an all expenses week long trip to atlantic city. God bless em. I'm happy if someone leaves jugs of water out for us. I wanted to hang with them some more but we had to make miles today if we were going to get to DWG tomorrow. It was great weather and we got a few good views throughout the day, including from a fire tower and a sunset from rattlesnake mountain. About 14 miles in we hit Culver's gap and got a real lunch at gyps tavern. Cool place. Kind of a dive on kittatinny lake full of military and police knick knacks. Everyone in there was wearing a gyps shirt it seemed and an older fella was feeding the juke box with some great country.   I got a free second beer which almost ended my day because j had a little buzz on while sitting in a lounge chair in the sun on the water. I made it out awake though.  We just had dinner on thd trail away from our camp thinking we were the only ones around. We heard some weird animal noises so I started half jokingly screaming at them to stay out of our stuff. We were not exactly quiet eating either. Then as we were going to hang the bear bag we noticed somebody camped out like 50 feet on the other side.