morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-06-27
From: Wind Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap 
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: light rain

Day 84- Even with Broken Seal feeling uncomfortable about where we camped, we all had a pretty good quality of sleep. I was impressed by Rocket and Blink- when I peeked out of the tent at 6:20 AM and found them already gone. Our alarm had not even gone off yet. We followed their lead though and immediately put our things together to start hiking out of town.We started with a climb but it was nice getting it done so early in the day before the rain started coming. The forecast called for scattered showers yet we stayed dry all the way to the Delaware Water Gap. I think partly due to what time we started hiking and also partly due to our eagerness to reach town, we had our 15.5 miles done at around 1 o¢clock. Along the way we called Broken Seal¢s family to inquire on the status of his very pregnant sister. He¢s going to get another nephew very soon and we are incredibly excited. We got a really nice first impression of Delaware Water Gap. The first few people we met were super kind. The Deer Head Inn with it¢s jazz concerts seem cool. We also popped in free church hostel and was impressed by their arrangement. We headed to a hotel for a shower before Big Mac and Willie arrived. Along the way, we had to grab the hotdog and slice of pie $3 special at the drool-worthy delicious bakery. We got into the hotel room just in time before they arrived with big smiles on their faces. It¢s been 600 miles since I¢ve seen Big Mac and Broken Seal sure was excited to get one of his best friends with him on trail. Broken Seal gave him a shakedown; Willie definitely seems ready.Big Mac took us to Walmart to do our first resupply with Willy. Broken Seal¢s mom had already told Willie the things we¢ve been eating and he had been integrating them into his diet already. But doing a food buy was kind of a systematic process that we clued him in on. He was very receptive watching the method to our madness. Before driving back into town and then back to New York City, we went to an authentic Dominican restaurant for an awesome meal. The weather is looking absolutely terrible tomorrow which is kind of a shame for his first hiking day but he¢s excited for the rain. Bring it on!
Date: 2018-06-28
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Ridge Campsite
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: thunderstorm with light rain

Day 85- Holy Shmolies! What a day!There was some loud thunder claps and neighbors in the night; the coast was clear by morning. We pounded scrumptious breakfast sandwiches at the bakery and hit the trail with Willy! In addition to crossing into NJ, we crossed our 1300 mile marker! There was some nice trail along the shore of small ponds today. We also had some exposed grassy patches at the top of the ridges to watch the scattered storms move around us. Willy was moving well but we still don¢t want to throw him into 20 mile days immediately. So we decided to hike the 0.3 off trail to have lunch at the Mohican Outdoor Center. As we approached, there were big black furry things on the ground with some people standing around them. Big black furry things? Oh my goodness! They were black bears!!A NJ Fish & Wildlife official had sedated these two black bears and was tagging and measuring them. The first was a female yearling, 130 lbs, who had been a nuisance at their dumpster and got into their bear trap that morning. The second was a 3yo male, 300 lbs, who had been circling the female caught in the trap. While we weren¢t allowed to take photos, we were allowed to pet the sleeping black bears, touch their pads and claws. I even helped carry the female bear back into the trap so that the official could do a staggered release. In the process of moving her, some liquid, which was probably bear pee, fell onto my foot (honored!).When it was time to give the bears the reversal injection, we all backed up onto the steps of the lodge. The official had a rubber pellet gun she would use to try and ¢condition¢ the bears when it woke up to not like this place. We did the male first; a couple emotions came up when we watched it struggle to take its first steps and then eventually run off. For the female, she roused her entirely within the trap, then she opened the door and scared her off too. Overall, it was a once in a lifetime experience.We got the final six miles done in and off sprinkles making the rocks slick. We had a nice view from the top of a lockout tower before choosing a place to camp in the trees ridge. My friend Rocket camped with us too and we both had close calls with frozen baby bunnies. Willie kicked butt today- I think he¢s going to be really successful out here if he takes a liking to it. It¢s also nice to see Broken Seal so happy again since the sad goodbye with Wings.
Date: 2018-06-29
From: Ridge Campsite

To: Mashipacong Shelter 
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 86- The day started out normal enough. After eating our scrumptious honey buns and flicking slugs off of our tent, Willie led us in some stretching and then we started hiking. While I don¢t put much weight towards political state boundaries, entering New Jersey has been a nice change of pace. It¢s still kind of rocky but not to the same degree that Pennsylvania was. We also suddenly have been having multiple views per day. Some of our more recent views were populated and developed valleys below us. But since entering the Delaware Water Gap, the views have been much more forested. We¢ve also had some great, picturesque lakes. The most recent thing is that it¢s gotten really hot. Supposedly the high today is only supposed to be in the 80s; starting tomorrow and through the Fourth of July sounds like it¢ll be in the 90s. I know I feel like I¢m cooking. I can only imagine how hot Willie is with this heat and humidity coming from Arizona/Colorado. He still kicking butt on his second day. We thought we lost him when we peeled off to go use the privy at the shelter and refill our water but it didn¢t take long to be reunited and it felt so good :-). He¢s a fast hiker; it makes me wonder if he may end up reaching Katahdin before us which is definitely sounding like a possibility.We hiked together for the rest of the day and nothing too noteworthy happened. The toughest part was water. We missed one or two sources somehow and had to push farther than we have would¢ve liked to without much liquids for our sweaty systems. We pushed and helped each other get to the Mashipacong shelter where a ridge runner had told us there was potable water stashed this afternoon. The first thing we did was drink before Willie set up his hammock and we got comfy in the shelter. We got to cook a fancy freeze dried meal that someone had put in a hiker box. It was delicious and helped return smiles to our faces.There¢s a soccer game the guys would like to get up extra early to go see so I think I will choose to do my own thing tomorrow and meet them in the afternoon.
Date: 2018-07-02
From: Barrett Rd

To: NY 17A/ Bellvale Creamery 
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

Day 89- Sleeping in- So good! Paying our credit card bill- not so good. That¢s actually kind of untrue. We budgeted $1000 a person per month. So far, we have not hit that amount any month. Woo hoo! I think I¢ll treat myself to a massage one of these days ha ha.Today had another heat advisory warning and there was a 10 AM World Cup soccer game. We chose the 10 AM soccer game over going out in the heat. Eric and Nachesca lent us a vehicle for a grocery store and post office run in the morning. We also made sure to get some extra goodies to celebrate Fourth of July with.The game between Brazil and Mexico was fun to watch even with their star player, Neymar, acting like a baby when fouled. Unfortunately, Mexico lost but it was fun to hang out with my cousin and in the air-conditioning for a while. We met them at the library later on once we were ready to venture outside so they could drop us off at the trail where they had picked us up yesterday.Thank goodness we were slackpacking today. The heat was overwhelming when we started walking again and I was sending cool fuzzies out to all the other hikers that I knew were out doing their best to stay safe. After passing some cool ponds, we did a little leapfrogging of each other before getting up onto this really beautiful ridge. I think we were able to enjoy it a little more, especially with the scorching heat, because we didn¢t have our packs. First we crossed the official New Jersey/New York border and then scurried from rock to rock along the extended ridge. It was these nice slab mounds that required a bit of climbing and scrambling to get up and over but it was kind of fun to run down them without a pack on. It also tested our navigation little bit without an abundant amount of trees to put blazes on up there. We would walk along these rock beds and be caught off guard to realize the trail had turned earlier; there¢s no leaf litter to see where the trail turned on or off the rocks.Eric met us at the Baleville Creamery where we ended our day hike with rich ice cream and a nice view. It was 6 PM and I was still melty but ice cream helped along with knowing we would be in an air-conditioned, lovely home that night. We got some Tex-Mex food to go and returned to his home to spend some time with Nachesca and Grace before she went up for bedtime. We stayed late watching a movie and I got to look at some old family photos before retiring to my aunt and uncle¢s home.
Date: 2018-07-05
From: West Mountain Shelter

To: Dennytown Rd
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: light rain

We were in a cloud when we woke up and started hiking. Even though we had packed up our maximum water capacity, we were each left with only a quarter of a liter to get up and over the next peak, Bear Mountain, to our next water source. We were saved by the clouds, which kept it cool and misty, and by munching on a few blueberries along way. There was no one on the summit of Bear Mountain even with a road to the top except thruhikers and a credit card compatible vending machine. It didn¢t take much to guzzle down an ice tea before it was time to take the nicely groomed, stairway like trail down to Hessean Lake and the infamous Trailside Zoo.Since it was the day after Fourth of July, the place was absolutely trashed! At times, the smell was obscene and the lawns had garbage strewn across them. It¢s sad that this is how we celebrate this beautiful country. I can only imagine what we would have felt coming through here yesterday when it was packed to the brim.The zoo itself was nicer than I had anticipated. I¢ve been told it was pretty sad and I assumed it was because it was a poorly funded or something. Really, it¢s more of a sanctuary for injured wildlife that would not make it in the wild but the facilities were cool. The bear den was the lowest point on the entire AT so that means it¢s going to be all uphill from here.Then came time to cross the mighty Hudson with a nice long bridge walk. Very scenic. I was happy to see a telephone receiver up there for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. It was starting to get really hot again when we stepped back into the trees so we pushed on separately to make it to a deli/convenient store for lunch and a quick resupply. There were a couple picnic tables with umbrellas outside filled with hot, sweaty hikers trying to wait out the heat of the day before hiking on. It was there that we found out one of our buddies had contracted Lyme¢s disease and also where someone decided to end their thruhike because they felt they had not recovered fully from succumbing to heat exhaustion two days before. We drink one final cold beverage before tackling the final 8 or 9 miles of the day to where we had hoped to camp. In the later afternoon, it was still hot but the air was more tolerable. We all put our headphones in and busted out the miles only to stop to guzzle ice cold Powerades someone had left in a cooler on the side of the trail (thank you so much!). We called our day at a nicely mowed lawn with a water spigot. We were all mellow and winding down but I think secretly really happy with how the day went.
Date: 2018-07-06
From: Dennytown Rd

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: light rain

Day 93- Hooray! It was not hot and sticky when we woke up! In the early morning hours, there was a light drizzle and now everything was a lot cooler while still being humid.I started out solo again using the morning time for some reflection. I feel like the trail has gone back to our idea of normal. In the morning, there were some steep climbs but most of the terrain was still smooth sailing and allowed us to keep our momentum. The guys caught me quickly; Broken Seal walked with me for a little bit before hiking ahead too. By the time I caught our hiker friend, Blink, he told me that Rattler had passed him miles back. I didn¢t know we had such a talented speed demon on our hands! With Rattler¢s arrival, I have not been as great about journaling and so I tried to use the solo opportunity to dictate some journal entries rather than write them. It proved to challenging; the rain droplets falling from the tree canopy made pushing buttons on my cell phone frustrating and impossible. From sweat and rain, all of my clothes were too damp to dry the screen off.This section of trail was well-maintained even with a lot of blow downs. The local trail maintenance club also had a roadside shelter with bunks, a covered porch, a nice privy, and well. Broken Seal and another guy we¢ve been seeing on and off, Prick, were there. I read a little bit in the register and some of the other paper materials they had before throwing the backpack back on. There was a pizza place in 5 miles where we were hoping to watch the Brazil ¢ Belgium quarterfinals game. Again, I took my own time getting there so they had just gotten a huge pizza cooked and brought to their table. It wasn¢t as unwelcoming as we had heard so we spent a couple hours there watching soccer and making our game plan before hiking our final miles for the day. Systematic racism was our topic of conversation but we didn¢t finish it before reaching the shelter (who could? It should be a lifelong convo). The three of us with Prick, Blink, and Rocket all camped together in the cool evening air and we played a couple of rounds of Mafia before calling it a day.
Date: 2018-07-07
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter

To: Bulls Bridge
Miles today: 21.9

Day 94- I know that we¢ve been in a heat wave recently but it wasn¢t until today that I fully realized how much of an effect it had on our hiking abilities. We were up at 7 AM and had our 22 miles done by 4:30 PM rather easily. Just a couple days ago, it felt like it was a real fight to hit 15 miles.The day was pleasant! We walked around the scenic Nuclear Lake and then crossed into my old stomping grounds, the New York/Connecticut area. First, we took a break at where my family used to maintain a trail magic spot. Then lingered at Wiley Shelter and noticed some of the additions since I used to come up here in camp. After taking photos with the ¢Welcome to New England¢ sign, we hit my favorite favorite local spot called Bulls Bridge! It is the only two or 3 miles of trail that Broken Seal had ever been on before attempting our thruhike. Not only is it it well-maintained section of trail along the river, it¢s also a place where my dad, Big Mac, has kayaked and I think that¢s pretty cool.The best part about today was that we had family friends, the Ehrenreich¢s, awaiting us at Bulls Bridge to whisk us to their home where we got absolutely pampered. After not-so-quick run to the local grocery store (where I recognized more people than I had expected considering it¢s been about 10 years since I¢ve lived here), we came home to wash the heat wave sweat and salt off of our tired bodies. They nourished our souls with good conversation and our bodies with amazing food. Indian curry chicken, corn on the cob, salad, brownies. I hit my sleepy wall during dinner and had to call it a night before sinking into the deepest sleep possible in their luxuriously soft bed.
Date: 2018-07-08
From: Bulls Bridge

To: Stony Brook Campsite 
Miles today: 15.0

Day 95- It was hard leaving the comfortable home of the Ehrenreich¢s. The day started out right with a nice breakfast and plenty of treats to take with us including leftovers from the night before. With a couple friends recently getting Lymes disease, we tossed around the idea of taking Broken Seal to a doctor since he¢s been feeling pretty fatigued recently. But after some back-and-forth, we decided to hike ahead today as they are the medical services in the near future.There is a good climb out of Bulls Bridge but the air felt comfortable once we were up on the ridge. Today was the height of my moon so I lagged behind a little bit; Rattler and Broken Seal always waited up for me. I was a little sad to not head into Kent, Connecticut, a town I know well, but we had just taken care of everything in Sherman and there was no need to go into Kent too.By pushing ahead, we got to go through St. John¢s ledges, a place I had forgotten about from my childhood. At the bottom there were two guys with a neat trail magic set up at the road. I got a hotdog and a hamburger plus lemonade, fruit, and chocolate before the flat hiking to where we set our shelters up.We had been stopped at the magic with some other hikers so in addition to the three of us, we were joined by Prickly Buttand Ghost. Right before we set up camp, we saw to beavers floating in the river and that put a smile on my face before jumping in the tent as quick as possible to avoid as many mosquito bites as possible even (at least a couple are inevitable at this point.
Date: 2018-07-11
From: Jug End

To: Mt Wilcox South Shelter 
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

Day 98- Today was a bit of a whirlwind. Terrific, but ever-changing. The sun was pretty and shiny when we arose from the blueberry bushes. Rattler, Broken Seal, and I hiked together down towards the first road to hitch into Great Barrington, MA. The New England regional office was closed when we passed so we kept moving along. That¢s when I brought up a previous idea of ours which was to hike an additional 8.5 miles to a second road crossing; that way we got to go up and over a small ridge with lighter packs.We all agreed to push on yet we hiked separately until the Tom Floyd shelter where we lunched. Before reaching there, Rattler got turned around in an S ¢ curve and ended up walking southbound for a little bit until running into Broken Seal and realizing his mistake.I took up the rear (as always) to pick some of the sweetest blueberries and also make some important phone calls.We got picked up pretty quickly from a cool woman named Bonsai; she gave us candies before dropping us off at a shopping complex. My phone battery was very low so I hadn¢t noticed that our previous hiking buddy, Midlife, was on his way to Great Barrington with with his family to meet us! When we reunited, they took us to a late lunch at the nearby brewery where we got to connect with his wonderful family who we had heard so much about while keeping our eyes on the England-Croatia scoreboard in the background. It was fun and funny at the same time seeing Midlife with no facial hair and in real life clothes but it was the same man and it was a good time. They ferried us around town to pick up last minute items. We have decided that the three of us will hike separately for the next couple of days, Broken Seal and Rattler racing ahead to catch the final game while I take my time to enjoy some sweet spots between here and Dalton. It meant I needed my own toilet paper, bug spray, bear line and a few other things.Midlife and his family dropped us off at the trailhead when I realized I left my trekking pole in front of the Dollar Tree. The two guys went ahead and after a final favor from Midlife to retrieve the pole, I started hiking too. Once I met up with them at the Mount Wilcox South Shelter, we began the prep to hike separately for a couple days. The first task I started was to take photos of the maps for them; I noticed a glaring mistake immediately. We thought that Dalton, Massachusetts was 70 miles away hence the desire for the guys to hike some 30 mile days. Really, Dalton was only 40 miles. Secondly, the final match was going to be held on Sunday, not Saturday like we believed. Suddenly all bets are off! We would be hiking together tomorrow! We stopped our busywork after realizing our mistakes and instead focused on getting to bed.
Date: 2018-07-12
From: Mt Wilcox South Shelter 

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

Instead of an early wake up for the guys to start a 30 mile day, we slept in.They had to slow down now if they wanted to be watching the final game in a town instead of on an iPhone. I was glad that we hiked together the entire day. The hiking was pleasant with a gentle sun overhead and we were moving pretty well I think partly due to the excitement of reaching the Upper Goose Pond Cabin. We had recently heard amazing things about this place including how they provide a free pancake breakfast to thruhikers.We picked up Blink along the way at a little trail-side shed that used on the honor system to have treats out for us. There were cold sodas and cookies but also local, hard-boiled eggs and alpaca fur for sale. Fast hiking with good conversation continued with a nice lunch stop on a small, wooden bridge with a little crawdads and fish below.As we neared the pond, we could see a bearded man in a canoe and we knew we were almost there. The cabin is a spectacular little thing painted red with bunks upstairs and a small living room and kitchen below. The first thing we did was go hang out on a short dock lakeside where we swam and splashed around. It was a little slice of heaven. Now hikers were coming in at all hours and it was fun sitting on the porch. I stayed up late with the caretakers, Rob and Bonnie, and a thruhiker named Sublime chatting about trail culture and highlights ahead. It was a late night for me but I was one happy girl. I feel genuinely excited about life and this thruhike!