morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-06-02
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Ridge over the Delaware River, NJ
Miles today: 8.5

This morning I bade yet another farewell to my wife and caught a flight back into the US. (When I told the rather dour INS officer that I'd be hiking the AT, she asked me how much money I was taking with me. I probably looked fairly indigent in my t-shirt, hiking pants and boots, with my backpack and a plastic shopping bag for carry-on stuff.) From JFK I took the AirTrain to Jamaica and then the subway to the Port Authority bus station, and from there it was a couple of hours' ride back to Delaware Water Gap. I got a lift into the town and walked back up the road to where I'd cached my gas canisters. After retrieving them, I was on the trail by 3:41. It was a beautiful day for hiking - sunny, breezy, low humidity. I crossed the state line from Pennsylvania to New Jersey after only 0.6 miles of hiking. It was painted in the middle of a long bridge over the Delaware. While I was taking a selfie, a truck roared by and blew my hat off. It could easily have ended up on the interstate or over the parapet into the river, but it didn't. Shortly after this, I passed the 1,300-mile point. The terrain promised to be an improvement over Pennsylvania but was a let-down, as the rocks re-emerged and slowed me down. I'm monitoring my feet very carefully as I'm worried about plantar fasciitis in both. But maybe it's something else. While I was home, my erstwhile tennis buddy Rob gave me a foot support designed to alleviate plantar fasciitis and I am hoping that using that and going carefully through the rocky stretches will save me from a foot meltdown. (Rob, since you said you're too busy to read my journal, I don't even need to thank you for your gift. So there.) It being a Friday afternoon, there were lots of day- and section-hikers on the trail. I ran into an ATC ridge runner, Matt, who is in his second week of work. He thru-hiked last year. He knows Nick, the ridge runner I met in both Georgia and PA. For a mile or so, the trail ran along the edge of a mountain lake, Sunfish Pond. It was so tranquil and I felt like I had it all to myself. Then a big old beaver came paddling along. He came right in beside me, and stayed with me as I hiked the next hundred yards or so. Another friendly critter, like Snakey or that bunny outside Atkins. I aimed to finish today at a campsite on top of a ridge but the spot was taken when I got there. I continued on for just a couple of hundred yards and found a lovely spot on the ridge, among the trees. The sunset was worthy of a Turner painting. It feels like I'm back in NC or Tennessee! I like this camping alone business!And just a note to any of my PHAT Tuesday teammates who may be following my journals: I went out for a one-hour ride while I was home. I found the bike felt bigger. I felt tired even on the flats and slight uphills. But oddly enough, when I tried Knapton Hill, a pretty fierce climb by local standards, I did it 21 seconds faster than my standard time (3 minutes). All the pounds I've shed no doubt helped. So go figure. I still have no idea how I'll do on the PMC, but I'll be lining up with you. Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-04
From: Stealth site 0.8 below Culver Fire Tower, NJ

To: Murray property, NJ
Miles today: 20.3

After about four hours' sleep, I was up and at 'em by 6 AM and on the trail by 7:24. I felt really strong for the first two hours, but reverted to the new norm of two mph for most of the rest of the day. I dropped in at the first shelter after my campsite to use the privy, and met the father-daughter team of Grits and Treeline. I had run into them yesterday as they were leaving the tavern along with Friendly Ghost and Beetle. I last saw them somewhere in Virginia. They were still packing up when I left the shelter, but they passed me later in the day. So did several others. I think I have partially lost my "trail legs" while I was off the trail.It started to rain around midday and continued to do so up to around 4 PM. By then, I was about 3 miles from my destination ¢ the Murray shelter at around mile 1,343. It's not really a shelter; it is more like a large room with a door. There is a privy and shower facilities on the 85-acre property. The door was locked when I arrived but another hiker emerged from the woods as I was setting up my tent on the porch. He turned out to be the owner, Jim Murray, and mentioned that he had closed the facility, but was happy for me to use it for the night. We went out to dinner at a local restaurant, where I did my usual thing of having two main courses. Jim is 80, through hiked the AT in I think 1989, and looks much younger than he is. He bears more than a passing resemblance in looks and voice to Al Pacino. He hikes a lot, partly to help him in his ongoing rehabilitation from a horrific car accident in which he was a passenger, and in which his right hand was severed and had to be surgically reattached. But he is a very good-humored individual, and we enjoyed each other's company. He dropped me back to the shelter, with instructions that I should keep all food inside and the door closed because of the 600 pound bear that frequents the area. I thought about it, and decided to comply.It has started to rain again. And as I was writing this, I discovered a tick on my right arm. I'm a real AT hiker. Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-05
From: Murray property, NJ

To: Wawayanda Shelter, NJ
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: light rain

I woke up warm and cozy in the cabin. Light poured in through the big picture window that gave out on a view of the rolling lawn and woods beyond. It was hard to leave. I put off the moment by calling my friend Rich to work out a pickup place and time tomorrow. But eventually I had to pack and go. It was warm but overcast. I felt so at peace in the tranquil setting and wildly alone. I did a couple of 360 turns with my arms extended, poles in hands, just in a kind of rapture, a minor whirling dervish. When, at the unusually late time of 8:46, I stepped on the trail again, I had an upbeat track from the Bond album 'Born' playing on my iPod. It all fit.I charged along the trail. There was a very long section of boardwalk through a swampy area that was easily the longest such that I've encountered to date on the AT. There were to be several of them during the day. I ran into Friendly Ghost and Beetle (henceforth, "the Danes") and we hiked together for the whole day. We caught up with Grits and Treeline (father/daughter) and today I found I was able to keep up with all of them, except for Friendly Ghost when he was powering up the very steep 750 feet of the 'Stairway to Heaven'.The trail was delightful - flat and few rocks, although there were several very muddy stretches thanks to the rain on Sunday. I saw several Eastern red-spotted newts, including one that was barely 2" long, a turtle, and a gorgeous yellow and black garter snake on the Stairway. There were several trail magic stations today where people had left coolers of goodies for hikers.When we came to the path for Wawayanda Shelter, I went in while the others carried on for the nearby Warwick Motel where five of them were going to share a room. I got one of the best spots in ages at a shelter - flat, on my own, far enough away from the shelter itself but close enough to the bear box and the privy. For water I had to hike 0.3 miles to a spigot at the Wawayanda State Park. Whistler and Stretch were there. They've been taking it easy, which is why I've caught them. I filled my containers including my shower bag, and lugged them back to the shelter. I had my evening meal outside the shelter with Nople and Frodo, two young men from Cincinnati who are taking breaks from school, washed my socks and shirt and hung them out with no real hope that they would dry in the heavy humidity. I took a shower and that was a challenge in the cool of the evening. It's now pouring rain, but at least it held off all day. Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-08
From: Stealth, by Seven Lakes Drive, NY

To: Stealth by stream, NY
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: broken clouds

Exactly as arranged, Rich showed up at 7:30 with my groundsheet and also with a bottle of Dr Pepper and two Snickers bars. He knows his man.By 7:56, I was on the trail, climbing Bear Mountain to the Perkins Memorial Tower. It was a pleasant, sunny day. There were crowds of kids from various schools and tourists generally on the mountain; Nick, a kid from a school called Franklin, was carrying a bag of trail magic and gave me a granola bar.At the summit, things got a little disconcerting for me. I began meeting a lot of my NOBO friends coming towards me. Somehow, I was going south. I had missed a crucial fork in the trail, and had kept going up and around the mountain until I'd picked up the blazes from the trail as it now descended the mountain, but thought it was... oh, never mind. Look, I messed up, hiked back down and back up to claim the missing miles, and set myself back over two hours.In the course of this yo-yoing, I met a slew of trailmates - Butterfeet, Rock Spider, Thoreau, Shivers and Shivers' Dad, Nople and Frodo, Tough Broad and Bear Sweats (don't ask). I caught up with Shivers and her dad and we hiked together for a couple of miles to the Trailside Museum and zoo, where the official trail actually goes through the zoo. The lowest point on the AT (120 feet) is in front of the bear cage. One of the bears was relaxing in a hammock. I had a couple of ice cream bars from a vending machine, and left the zoo to cross the Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson. The guide book says it's a half mile across. I got talking to a bird-watcher on the walkway, who pointed out a peregrine falcon flying overhead.There was a fairly stiff climb out of the river gorge. About five miles on, I came to a road crossing with a deli nearby. At the picnic table out front there was the inevitable bunch of hikers guzzling food. I stopped for a burger and fries with a giant bottle of Dr Pepper. (It's got the word 'Doctor' in it so it must be healthy, right?) I was determined to stick to my original goal of doing 17.8 miles to reach a site by a stream. When I got there at dusk (8:15), I found Tough Broad and Bear Sweats camped there. (TB got her name because of an incident on a hike where she fell and started complaining of pain from a pulled leg muscle. Dozens of miles later, she was  X-rayed and was found to have a broken femur. She has an impressive 8-inch scar from the subsequent operation.) It was pitch dark long before I set up my tent, filled my water containers, etc. I didn't feel like eating anything, other than Rich's Snickers bars, but that was more from a sense of obligation, as you can imagine. My phone, which had been sulking ever since it got wet two days ago, finally allowed me to start updating my journal, and I managed two days' worth before I called it quits at 1:30. What a day. Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-09
From: Stealth by stream, NY

To: US 52, deli nearby, NY
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: broken clouds

Mr Consistency, I was on the trail by 7:56. The day was fairly uneventful. It was coolish to begin with, but warmed up and was sunny for long spells. I met very few people all day, but I enjoyed a chat with a trail maintainer, Peter, who handles a three-mile stretch near his home. I relished the rolling and often very foot-friendly trail. I saw a couple of snakes. I felt fatigued from early on, possibly because I've had two late hiking days in a row and inadequate sleep. At around 5:15 I hit US 52, and a few hundred yards up that road was a deli and a pizzeria. I had intended to live off the food in my pack, but I couldn't resist a block of horseradish-flavored cheese, which I ate with a box of wheat thins and a liter of milk. And later I succumbed and had me two of them thar slices of pizza. I chatted with other hikers who were camping nearby and charging their phones at an outlet behind the deli, but I set up on the lawn right behind the deli and was asleep by 11 after getting another day's journal done. Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-13
From: Belters Campsite, CT

To: Glen Brook campsite, MA
Miles today: 23.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Last night, around about midnight, there was a loud noise, almost like a heavy weapon firing, followed by a big crashing noise. A tree had fallen in the woods. There was no wind. As I was preparing to leave this morning, Stealth came by and we hiked together for the rest of the day. The weather was really warm for most of the morning, and we were careful to stop at every stream for water. Just 2/10ths of a mile from our campsite, we passed the 700 miles to go mark. Not too long after that, we passed the 1500 miles done mark. The trail became quite rocky as the day wore on, and by the time we had scrambled up to the top of Bear Mountain, we were beginning to feel tired. At the summit of the mountain, we were enjoying the view when a thunderstorm started. We headed down the difficult descent from the peak, while being deluged by rain. It was a pity because a river beside us was so pretty and contained a number of pools that we would have been delighted to swim in if the sun has been shining rather than rain pouring down. My new boots were soon squelching with every step. Both Stealth and I had our share of slips, slides, and falls. But no damage was done. So preoccupied were we that we did not realize that we had left Connecticut and were now in Massachusetts. After Bear Mountain we climbed Mt Race, another really tough ascent. We dropped down and climbed up Mount Everett. We were glad to finally be on the descent to two adjacent shelters. Stealth stopped at the first one and I continued on to the second, because it had tenting sites. It was 9:30 before I could set my pack down. Today marks the end of my 12th week on the trail. Recent milestones include: I reached and passed mile 1500; I completed three more states, New York,New Jersey and Massachusetts; I climbed my 11th Everest; I have completed 69 percent of the trail. Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-14
From: Glen Brook campsite, MA

To: Mt. Wilcox North Shelter, MA
Miles today: 21.4

Taking down my tent was a little easier than normal since I was on a wooden platform for the first time and had no stakes to pull up. I still don't know how to tether one's tent to the boards. But last night was not a night to figure it out in the dark and under mosquito attack. I lay in a little longer than usual. Not too long after I'd set out, I was caught by Butterfeet and we hiked together for the rest of the day. Hiking alone is often boring, and I can usually rely on the person I'm with being slightly or a lot faster than me, so l can draft off them. It was another warm day, but with none of the drama of thunderstorms and waterfalls of rain I experienced yesterday. We did a very respectable pace for the first couple of hours. We seemed to cross umpteen roads. We also came upon a remarkable ravine. The photo doesn't do it, or my nervousness as I posed on a rock over the gorge, justice. Around midday we stopped on the bank of a river for lunch, and I heard a voice call my name from the path above us. It was Half-Pint from Boston. We had last met when staying at the Greasy Creek Hostel in North Carolina, on April 6th. She left the trail at Harpers Ferry and is now back on as a SOBO. I promised to look her up when I'm in Boston. Towards the end of the day's hike, I told Butterfeet that he should make his own way to the shelter and not wait for me, as I would just slow him down and there were no signs that the trail would turn treacherous (as it did when I waited for Stealth towards the end of our day yesterday). He duly motored on. About three miles from the finish I met a day hiker who said he had come face to face with a bear on the trail close to the shelter, but I saw nothing. I finished the day feeling fairly strong. The mosquitoes at the shelter were out in force and for the first time I used my headnet, which I have carried from the beginning. It was very effective. I also wore my light rain jacket as they were biting me through my sun shirt. I cooked my food in my tent. I rinsed out my day's hiking clothes and took a shower. My phone was back in non-cooperative mode so I had to abandon attempts to update my journal. Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-15
From: Mt. Wilcox North Shelter, MA

To: US 20, near Lee, MA
Miles today: 15.6

I got up early and hit the trail by 6:45. I was anxious to ensure that I made it on time to the pickup point I'd arranged with Jim, a teacher from a nearby boarding school, who had been my son's dorm advisor there six or seven years ago. I made really good time, getting up to 2.5 mph for the first couple of hours, which is Formula 1 level for me. Near the end of the day's hike, the trail skirted Upper Goose Pond. The shelter there is famous for its amenities, such as real beds. It even has a caretaker who cooks pancakes for the hikers. I began to get signals from my Ferrari's shock absorbers (Achilles tendons) that the day had taken a toll, and about two miles from the end, in a scenic conifer glade beside the lake that came equipped with chair-height rocks, I stopped to give myself a rest and have some trail mix. Butterfeet came by and joined me. Then came a familiar face atop a long, lean body, and a startled "Tipperary?!". It was Scooby. I don't know when we last saw each other, but it was probably back in North Carolina. He told me that many of our group back then are in the area. He thinks that Sweet Spot, Lucky Cub, Lioness and others have passed me. I went with him the half mile or so to the turn off for the Upper Goose Pond shelter. I asked him if next year he would be back to do the AT again as a SOBO. His response - "Whaaat? Do you think I'm nuts? No way! This is it!" - so exactly matched my own when somebody posed that question to me a while back that I burst out laughing and said that I needed his photograph so that I can say "Here standeth an honest man". Like me he has simmering foot and leg issues that he hopes will stay low-level so that he can complete the trail. A short distance after we parted, I stepped aside to allow a young man and his daughter to pass me, and didn't realize it was Jim and his 5-year-old daughter, Maddy, who were hiking south to intercept me. We turned around and headed back to their car, crossing the Mass Turnpike on the way. (I have driven that highway so many times that it feels like home.) On my advice, Jim had brought a big black garbage bag to put my backpack in for odor management. We drove the 5 miles into the town of Lee, where I secured a room in the first motel we came to, a Super 8. I had a quick shower and change of clothes, and we headed out for resupply, lunch, and ice cream. Jim paid for lunch, which was generous and a bit naughty of him considering how much of the food consumed was mine. I got to bed early since I had no working phone for journal purposes. It's quite interesting how lonely  and disconnected that makes me feel. Writing the journal always gives me a boost. I try to be upbeat and good-humored in my writing, and undoubtedly that helps my psyche, as does the feeling that I'm in contact with others.Tipperary
Date: 2017-06-16
From: US 20, near Lee, MA

To: Dalton, MA
Miles today: 19.0

A significant drawback to the motel I was staying in was that it had no guest laundry facility, which is quite unusual. I had handwashed virtually all my clothes, but they were still damp when I put them on for my hike. That in itself is no big deal, as I've done the same dozens of times out on the trail. But it did set the stage.It was overcast when I walked out. Before I could even extend a thumb, a car pulled off the road and stopped beside me. A grinning Coyote (looking much cleaner than when we met near Cornwall Bridge a few days ago, and featherless) was in the passenger seat, being given a lift to the bus stop by Nancy, the caretaker at Upper Goose Pond Shelter. She had three big propane gas tanks in the trunk - think of all those pancakes she cooks. It took us a while to locate the bus stop. Coyote is heading off trail for a while to see his girlfriend. Nancy and I chatted about grammar as she drove me back to the AT. She's a teacher. I told her about the two Game of Thrones episodes that have featured Stanis being the Grammar Nazi (look them up on YouTube) and she anticipated the punch line. Smart lady.It was 10:14 before I got on the trail. I had an hour or so of dry weather, and then the anticipated rain began. Around lunch-time I stopped at October Mountain Shelter. I had followed directions from Jim Murray that morning in pouring a big heap of bow tie pasta into a Ziploc bag, emptying a bottle of Paul Newman's dressing on it and sealing it. Sure enough, just like Jim said, the pasta was 'cooked' al dente and I left the shelter quite full. Another thru-hiker, Forest, had arrived just as I was leaving. He was wearing very short running shorts and his legs are covered in tattoos. He started in Georgia in April and has been doing 30-40 miles each day. He stormed past me about two hours after I left the shelter.The rain was making me miserable. When I reached the turn-off for the Kay Wood Shelter where I had planned to stop, the thought of putting my tent up in the rain was depressing. Then I saw, right under the sign saying "Shelter ---> 0.17 miles", "Dalton - 2.5 miles", and my weak self said "You can go 2.5 miles more", and I swerved around and headed back on the trail. The AT goes through the historic town of Dalton (lots of houses with dates on them, like "1803"). But the motel was on the far side of the town, and it was full. I called the EconoLodge a couple of miles away and secured a room. I tried to get a taxi but no luck. So I started hitchhiking and got lucky within five minutes. The room was standard motel, but had a communicating door to the next room, and I could hear every word the couple in there were (loudly) saying. I got my room changed to further down the block. My phone, oddly enough considering the rain today, was working much better but I was too tired to do much more than shower and crawl into bed. At 1am I was woken by the couple, who had moved their loud conversation outside onto the walkway while they smoked. I got up, went outside, and asked them to quieter down. They complied. The joys of trail life.
Date: 2017-06-17
To: Zero day
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I slept well and woke to overcast skies that threatened rain but never delivered much of it. In fact, by midday there was sunshine. I went out to a nearby diner where I had my usual double breakfast. Back in my motel room, I concentrated on catching up on the three days of trail journals that were outstanding, on repairing tears in my backpack cover (Mark's duct tape), sewing up a ripped seam in my shorts, doing laundry, glueing Velcro strips to the backs of my new boots for attaching my Dirty Girl gaiters to, shortening my belt length (no, I don't think I've lost any more weight, but my belt has been very slightly too long for weeks and I hate when it slips down and gets caught between my pack belt and my hips. I'm trying to avoid the 'pack burn' which afflicted me in the first half of my hike and which has mercifully disappeared thanks to the Osprey Atmos pack that I started using May 8th), and reading up about the White Mountains and other beasts that lie ahead. Fin, one of my readers and an avid hiker and Irishman, called me, concerned at my apparent emotional trough. We talked for a long time. I also had a call from Rooster, who is going to be off trail and so expects that I will catch up to him; he too was concerned. Their support is important and buoys me up. I also exchanged emails with my friend Tom, who has offered to take me to his house in New Hampshire for a break when I am in his neighborhood. After a double dinner at a Friendly's across the street, I FaceTimed my wife Gayle. She is enjoying a girls' weekend at home with two good friends, Katie and Janice, who flew in on Friday. There was a lot of laughter on that call. Now it's time to tidy and pack, ready for an early return to the AT tomorrow.