morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-06-05
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: broken clouds

There¢s something about PA and its shelters. Your average shelter along the trail is a quaint 3-sided think that can sleep 6 to 8 shoulder to shoulder, but not so with PA. First there were the double shelters (the king of which was at Quarry Gap), then the super-privy at Tagg Run (which is a large shelter as well), then the timber frame at Cave Mountain, then 2-stories at Peter¢s Mountain, next the all around nice spot at Rausch Gap (with the spring right in front), and another 2-story at William Penn. Now here. This isn¢t so much a shelter as it is a mini hostel. It¢s four-sided, has a large sun roof, is large, supplied with enough National Geographics to last a full day, and best of all, is next to a road where you can have pizza delivered. Lucky for me there was a guy here when I arrived that had a cell phone I could borrow, so pizza it was. He¢s now gone, though, and I have the whole place to myself.After last weekend, when all the shelters were packed, I have hardly seen anybody on the trail. Today I only saw one Southbound section hiker in addition to the two guys who were here at the ¢shelter.¢ I¢m actually starting to crave some company.
Date: 2003-06-07
From: Port Clinton 

To: Windsor Furnace Shelter
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: moderate rain

After a gorgeous day, yesterday, and having everything go my way, today has been miserable. Yesterday was great weather, and I pulled about a 24-miler into Port Clinton. There I was able to get a shower, laundry, a huge burger and fries, cheap beer, and a free place to stay. While hanging out at the Port Clinton Hotel bar I saw the local news telecast out of Philly, and the top news story was how they finally had a good weather day. You know there has been nasty weather when good weather makes the 11:00 news¢ top story. Today, on the other hand, has been terrible weather again. Cold and wet all day. I never should have left town, because I was just miserable hiking today. I was aiming for the next shelter 9 miles away, but pulled up here instead. When I got here there were some Amish folks that I talked to awhile before they left. Then a herd of Boy Scouts showed up and tracked their muddy boots all over the shelter floor. Later the leaders had a very concerned discussion about how to keep their trucks clean when they got to them. They eventually left, leaving me with a filthy shelter, so I decided to pitch my hammock. Everything else is hanging in the shelter to dry. I¢m the only one here, so nobody will mind. There are some people on a not very far away road blaring music with heavy base, and I desperately hope they don¢t get any nearer. Tomorrow¢s supposed to be better weather. I don¢t think I could take another today any time soon.
Date: 2003-06-08
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter

To: donÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt know yet 
Miles today: 21.6

Boy, talk about mood swings. About 12 hour ago I was having another crappy day, but things are suddenly looking up big time.For starters, the day never cleared up like I heard it was supposed to. It¢s been cloudy and foggy all day, misty at times, but at least no rain¢¦.Okay, I¢m back. Food came. Had to eat it. Anyway, so I started to hit the notorious PA rocks, and they¢re all slippery from the rain. Bored from no views (because of clouds), frustrated from rocks, and nobody around to cheer me up (¢cept for a few day hikers); yeah, it wasn¢t a great day.But then I happened on the Blue Mountain Summit Bed and Breakfast¢¦
Date: 2003-06-09
From: donÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt know yet 

To: Palmerton Burough Hall 
Miles today: 11.8

Never got around to finishing last night¢s entry. I was on the back deck of the Blue Mountain Summit B&B (which seemed more like a restaurant than a B&B) eating a meal and listening to live music. Everybody there was friendly, both patrons and staff (including a few cute waitresses). I seemed to be the center of attention for a while with people asking me about my hike. Two people bought me a beer, which or course I can¢t turn down. By the time I was ready to go, about 8:00, I had a good buzz going. Despite an invitation to camp in the backyard, and despite fog and mist rolling in, I decided to hike a few more miles. It was a bad decision, I realized quite quickly. The fog was quite dense; it was dark, and very hard to see. I¢m actually quite amazed that I was able to find my way down the trail as I did, and on top of that not hurt myself in the process. My original intention was to go six miles to a shelter, but went two miles to a campsite and decided that was more than enough considering the conditions. So I pitched my hammock and called it a night.This morning I found that I was right about stopping. Almost immediately after I got going the rocks got very bad. I can¢t imagine trying to negotiate them blind in the dark. It was hard enough during the day, especially as they were wet and slippery. Once again, even though the weather was actually quite decent, it made for miserable hiking. The main problem was that I wanted to make it to Delaware Water Gap by tomorrow night to meet my brother, and pushing myself hard over the rocks was killing my feet. About halfway through the day I decided to screw it. I was going to Palmerton and try to contact my brother to tell him where I am. I stopped pushing myself, and immediately my mood improved. I got into town, and after a bit of a fiasco, managed to talk to my brother. Now he¢s here.
Date: 2003-06-10
From: Palmerton Burough Hall 

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: broken clouds

When hikers talk about trail towns, they don¢t seem to mention Palmerton all that much. I don¢t know why not. It was a fantastic place to stop. Free hostel provided by the town and everything a hiker needs within a short walking distance. This morning Jason (my brother) and I woke up and got breakfast across the street where we found Gizmo. He was the ridgerunner that I knew from last summer whom I saw down in Springer when I started, and have since seen him at Trail Days. He¢s now up here doing the ridgerunner thing for the second year. We all talked for a while, had a good, cheap breakfast, and then he gave Jason and me a ride to the trail. The climb to start off the day was through the EPA Superfund site. The soil in this area was heavily polluted by a zinc mining operation, and very little plant life grows in the area. So on one hand it was depressing to see how humans can destroy a mountainside, but on the other hand it made for a great view all the way up the mountain. Between having Jason with me and having a great weather day (finally!), I was in a good mood pretty much all day. Jason was able to do almost 16 miles on his first day out hiking, which is pretty astounding. I could tell the last mile to two miles he was pretty tired, but he made it with little problem. Still haven¢t seen any thru-hikers in the area. It¢s been a few days now without seeing anyone.
Date: 2003-06-11
From: Leroy A. Smith Shelter

To: Kirkridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: light rain

Lot of rocks today. That¢s pretty much solely what defined the hike, today. Hurting feet from walking on rocks constantly. I¢m glad Jason is here, because if he weren¢t, I probably would have tried to push on to Delaware Water Gap and hurt my feet more. I don¢t know why, I just would have to fulfill the need to make miles. It¢s also good to have someone with you sharing your pain. I¢ll definitely be glad to have finished PA tomorrow, through I don¢t know that the New Jersey trails will be any better.
Date: 2003-06-13
From: Church of the Mountain Hostel, DWG

To: Mohican Center
Miles today: 10.5

Take a college entry level economics course, and one of the professor¢s favorite lines will be ¢there is no such thing as a free lunch.¢ How about a free dinner? One of the things that has continually shocked me during the hike is that people will do grand things for me and refuse to accept anything in return. Last night Jason and I stayed at the Church of the Mountain Hostel in Delaware Water Gap, and the congregation came together to give the hikers who were there a huge potluck dinner. I¢ve never met any of these people before and will probably never see them again, and yet they are feeding me a huge meal. At times like that I almost feel uncomfortable because common experience tells us that people don¢t do something for nothing. But what do I have to give them in return? My only answer is that I intend to return the favor to other people that I can help. When Jason and I walked into town yesterday there was an older couple that approached us asking for help fixing a flat tire. It turned out that their spare had no air pressure, and we were ready to take it down to the gas station (a ways off) to find an air pump when someone else showed up with a car and drove it down. In the end this other guy did all the work for the couple, and Jason and I did nothing. Yet the woman still wanted to pay us for our trouble. Obviously she was uncomfortable receiving something for nothing, too. We refused the money, but now I kind of wish we accepted it and gave it to the Church. These sorts of things seem to happen almost daily on the trail. Karma really does exist. If you don¢t believe it, hike on the AT for a while.After dinner last night a huge thunderstorm rolled in and just dumped on us. (We were, of course, inside). There was a steady downpour for at least 2 hours straight. This morning Pastor Karen told us that she heard 5 inches of rain had fallen, and that some areas of the county had received 7 inches. Needless to say, it was a very good night to be inside.The hike today was still rocky, but not as bad as 2 days ago. Once again, no views due to clouds though it was rather beautiful passing by Sunfish Pond. You couldn¢t see the other shore, and couldn¢t even tell where water ended and sky began. When there was a breeze the ripples in the pond just faded into gray in the distance. Really cool spot.
Date: 2003-06-14
From: Mohican Center

To: Campsite near Culver's Gap
Miles today: 16.8

Really late right now (~10:15), and I¢m getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, so this will be short. Today was both beautiful and ugly and times. It started out (after sleeping late) very hazy and humid. Towards midday the haze was starting to clear and Jason and I got some okay views. Then the storms came. Three of them. The 1st barely missed us to the north; the 2nd hit us but didn¢t last long. Just long enough to soak us. The 3rd hit us and lasted a while, though for a good part of it we made it to a shelter. We actually intended to stay the night there, but it was a pretty ugly spot. When it cleared again we decided to go on. The sunset with the lingering high clouds made for a beautiful sight. We¢re both glad we continued on because we¢re both in better spirits for it.
Date: 2003-06-15
From: Campsite near Culver's Gap

To: High Point Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: light rain

Again, it¢s really late (~9:40), so I¢m going to try to keep this short. Today was the kind of weather that you hope for in the summer. Not too hot, no rain, partly cloudy skies to block the hot sun from time to time, still humid, but not unbearably humid. What¢s more is that I hear there may be a stretch of good days coming up. Dare I get my hopes up? It could be the 1st time in a while.Jason got off the trail this morning at the bakery at Culvers Gap. He had a ride arranged to meet him there at noon. So after several sticky buns and a donut, we said goodbye and I went on. Almost immediately I started feeling lonely again. I really enjoyed his company for the past week. I think that I need to catch a group of thru-hikers and stay with them for a while. There was a good-sized group and Delaware Water Gap when we stayed there, so they can¢t be more that a day ahead.Today I added another state high point that I¢ve climbed. North Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, New Hampshire and now New Jersey. Yeah!
Date: 2003-06-16
From: High Point Shelter

To: Episcopal Church Shelter, Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 18.9

Finally, it seems we have a stretch of good weather. Today was almost more that I could hope for. It was sunny in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon, never really got hot, a bit humid, but not bad, few bugs up until the last couple of miles and mostly very easy terrain. This morning I started out in a brilliant mood. I was making good time, and it seemed like nothing could get me down, until¢¦On one particularly muddy stretch through some fields I was jumping from stone to stone trying to keep my shoes dry. Then, suddenly, my right foot slipped on a rock and I fell on my left side into two-inch deep mud. The whole side of me was caked. I was cursing and pissed off. Why did this have to happen and ruin my perfect morning? Can¢t anything go my way? Nothing I could do but hike on. After a few more miles I came to the _______ shelter. (Thru-hikers from the past several years know what I¢m talking about. It¢s a secret.) There I was able to rinse myself and my clothes off and dry out. Trail magic to me is when unexpected things happened when you really need them. That place was trail magic. And what a beautiful spot, too.So my mood was good once again, and the rest of the hike was uneventful. My legs tired out a little quicker today that I thought they should. I think maybe it¢s a sign that they need rest. I haven¢t had a true zero day since Trail Days (though I¢ve had a few short days), so it may be time for one, soon.
Date: 2003-06-17
From: Episcopal Church Shelter, Vernon, NJ

To: Wildcat Shelter 
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning I got up late after going to bed last night around midnight. I went to eat breakfast at a restaurant right next door to the hostel with Hutch and Sparrow, a couple who are hiking from PA to Maine this year. After breakfast we all packed up and got a hitch (after waiting for a while) to the trail. Once again it was gorgeous weather. Sunny, but nice and cool. It¢s wonderful not to have to worry about getting an early start to beat the summer midday heat. Between the road and the next shelter (about 5 miles) I saw four other long distance hikers, which is the most in a long time. They were Hutch, Sparrow, Spot and Longshot. It¢s nice to have company on the trail once again. Except for an initial climb right off the bat, today, the trail up ¢til the NJ/NY border was pretty easy, but then it suddenly got hard. The ridge the trail followed was very rocky, with lots of up and down, sometimes requiring hands to get up some of the rock faces. I wasn¢t expecting trail like that at all, and when I got to this shelter my feet were pretty hammered. There were lots of great views, though, and I enjoyed the challenge.Today was a big day for wildlife sightings. I saw deer, a vulture up really close (like 5 feet close), and a bear. The bear was about a 12 mile south of the state line, and it wasn¢t very concerned with my presence. He just kind of wandered around, which gave me enough time to snap a picture
Date: 2003-06-18
From: Wildcat Shelter 

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: overcast clouds

The rain came back last night, and this morning I decided to sleep in to give it a chance to stop. Lucky for me, it did. It was overcast all day, but I never got wet. If I had, I would have been miserable. For whatever reason I just had little energy all day. The terrain was quite difficult and rocky, but I don¢t think that was it. Usually I really enjoy rock scrambles. I think I need a rest day soon to get some energy back, though I¢m not sure where a good place would be.For lunch today I walked 12 mile to a deli at a road crossing. There I heard the thick New York accent for the first time. Now I feel like I¢m in the North. And the turkey sub the guy made me was huge!
Date: 2003-06-19
From: Fingerboard Shelter

To: Hemlock Springs Campsite 
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: light rain

I felt a lot better today. I don¢t know what I did differently, but I had a lot more energy. Maybe part of it was having good company last night and this morning. I was at the shelter with two southbound section hikers, and we talked well into the night. I felt I could have easily pulled 20 miles today if I didn¢t have to re-supply and therefore run out of daylight.I think today makes the 5th day in a row that I haven¢t gotten wet. I wonder when the last time I had 5 days was. I think the spirits of everyone have lifted a bit in the past few days because of it.
Date: 2003-06-20
From: Hemlock Springs Campsite 

To: Graymoor
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Last night, only minutes after writing in my journal about staying dry, it started to rain. I got in my hammock and still stayed dry, but this morning it was still raining. I figured what worked once could work again, so I tried to out-sleep the rain. It worked to some extent. I was able to get up late and go through my long morning routine without being rained on. I didn¢t hit the trail until 11:00, probably my latest start yet. Shortly after, the rain started again. It was never so hard that I got soaked, but enough to discourage me. I got to the Graymoor pavilion after 4 mils and decided to stop. Today would be my rest day. So I just sat here all afternoon and read, and I already feel refreshed. As an added bonus, Sticky-fingers caught up to me here. She skipped New Jersey and will skip again in order to reach Katahdin by the end of July, so if we get to hike together it probably won¢t be for long. Still, it will be nice having someone around that I know instead of seeing new faces every night.
Date: 2003-06-21
From: Graymoor

To: RPH shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Hiking today was horrible. Really bad. It all started last night when I couldn¢t sleep because there were so many mosquitoes buzzing my eardrums. So this morning I got up early, since I was awake anyway, and was on the trail by 6:45. I was sleepy, buy physically well rested from my short day yesterday.   After raining all night it looked like the clouds might break, and we¢d have a nice day. I got one good view early in the morning buy after that the clouds darkened. It basically drizzled or threatened rain all day, with one downpour around lunchtime. Sometimes the constant threat of rain can be just as bad for your mood as rain itself. On top of that, the trail was in terrible shape. Lots of blow downs, places where the trail was overgrown, and the usual muddy spots. I hate to criticize a volunteer trail organization, but it really looked like nobody had been out to maintain most of the stretch of trail today for quite some time (until the very end, where the brush had been recently cut back). As Kool-Aid said, it felt like we were going through a car wash with all the wet brush. The last 4 miles into the shelter were in a downpour (which is still going on 2 hours after I got in), so my clothes and shoes are soaked again. Everything ¢ the moody weather, the poor night¢s sleep, the nasty trail, the being wet ¢ combined to put me in a foul mood. I had thoughts of quitting and coming back some other time to finish it up. Luckily though this shelter is a nice one, and I had Sticky-Fingers and Kool-Aid here to share my misery with this evening. Now I feel better and am looking forward to a good night¢s rest.
Date: 2003-06-22
From: RPH shelter

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: overcast clouds

And it is still raining. It has been like this all day, raining off and on, sometimes coming down hard. This morning I woke up, ate breakfast, then climbed back into the sleeping bag, refusing to go through another day like yesterday. I have lost the willpower needed to hike in the rain. It has worn me down. About midday the rain slackened and I decided to pack up and get out. The first 5 miles I made exceptionally good time to the deli about 12 mile off the trail. After eating there I again made good time to this shelter. Originally, I wanted to make the next shelter tonight, but it was already getting late when I got here, I didn¢t really enjoy hiking today, getting rained on at times, but I didn¢t hate it, either. I just wanted to make some miles. I really hope it clears tomorrow. I need it to so it can brighten my mood and help me enjoy myself again. Right now I feel totally indifferent about completing a thru-hike of the AT. I¢m just doing it because it was a goal I set for myself a long time ago, and really for no other reason.
Date: 2003-06-23
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter

To: 10-Mile River lean to
Miles today: 20.6

Sunny weather. It makes me happy. I was feeling so good today that I was thinking I would go on to the next shelter, making this my longest day yet. When I hot here, though, I was hearing thunder and seeing dark clouds. No way was I going to get wet again today after drying off, so I stayed. It never rained here (it did somewhere off to the South), but I¢m glad I stayed. A club ridgerunner came up to the shelter and gave us (Mutton, Cliffdweller and I) a cold beer. So I had a beer with dinner, and I was very happy.
Date: 2003-06-25
From: 10-Mile River lean to

To: Campsite near Old Sharon Rd.
Miles today: 11.3

The past two days have been hot. Very hot. Temperatures in the 90¢s with high humidity. It hasn¢t rained, though, so I guess I shouldn¢t complain. I feel like we¢ve had a long early Spring, skipped the temperatures and weather of late Spring, and jumped straight into summer.Yesterday I did a little over 8 miles into Kent, Conn. There was a pretty big crowd of hikers in town lounging around, including Timber, Sticky Fingers, Kool-Aid Luke, Chameleon, Lucky, Cliffdweller and myself. Sticky and Luke were packed up and headed up to Vermont to hike. They want to finish by the end of July and therefore have to skip a bit. Chameleon, Cliff and I stayed in an Episcopal church in town for the night. It was a good afternoon, sitting around with everyone, looking like bums on the street corner of this ritzy New England town.Today the hike took us along a river for a while. I was quite tempted to jump in and cool off, but I was trying to make it to the next town by 4:00 to meet Jason and his girlfriend. I made it, a little late, and we all drove back to Kent to eat dinner. After dinner we borrowed some scissors; and Jason¢s girlfriend, ¢B¢, was kind enough to cut my hair. Now I have short hair for the hot weather, and I look totally different. They dropped me back off on the trail, and I went 14 mile up and set up camp.
Date: 2003-06-26
From: Campsite near Old Sharon Rd.

To: Approaching Falls Village, Ct.
Miles today: 11.4

I¢m sure today was a lovely hike terrain and view wise, but there are only two things I¢ll remember about it: the heat/humidity and mosquitoes. It had to have been triple digit heat index for the day. I didn¢t expect I¢d have to deal with this all the way up in New England. It can really sap the energy out of me¢¦ making the kind of mileage I¢d like to do impossible. There was a large crowd of hikers at the last shelter this afternoon trying to get out of the heat. The mosquitoes didn¢t really get terrible until I started cooking dinner this evening. Then it suddenly became a race to get into my hammock. Right now I can look out onto the tarp covering my hammock and see that it is absolutely covered with them. It¢s quite astonishing, really!