morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-06-11
From: PA 183

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 14.8

Day 114, 15.8 miles PA 183 to Port Clinton , Pennsylvania.When God made Q he certainly broke the mold, who would hike a rocky section of the AT again just to hang out and catch up?? Yeupp, Q joined Chipper &Rosy, Nash and myself for the final 15.8 miles to officially catch me up with the crew in Port Clinton .What a contrast in weather between today and yesterday, sunny yet cool.We had a superb day hiking and laughing all along the way the day ended quickly and we were soon descending into the town of Clinton where Jimmy, I Believe And Rhonda were offering trail magic to the incoming hikers. We would all later gather for dinner and continue the celebration. It¢s so awesome to be back with my crew and friends but especially my wife!
Date: 2019-06-12
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Eckville Shelter field
Miles today: 13.8

Day 115, 14.8 Port Clinton to Eckville shelter area.RG: Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.Stingray: What about breakfast?RG: You¢ve already had it.Stingray: We¢ve had one, yes. What about second breakfast?Q: I don¢t think he knows about second breakfast, Sting.Stingray : What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn¢t he?Q: I wouldn¢t count on it.RG, Stingray and Q : Halo what took you so long ? You should have made it back yesterday .Halo: Halo is never late nor is he early, but arrives precisely when he means to.....Sound familiar?Another wonderful day with the Free Range Crew, our pace today was set by Bluegrass, my has he developed in strength and stamina since our early days. Our merry band has expanded today with Ironman, Rosy, Chipper, Nash we have become a ¢micro bubble¢.At the end of our day, We all camped out in a field that Jimmy had scouted out for us, and Rhonda and I-believe joined us as well.Tonight we  are camped under the stars but rain is surely coming, I am happily tenting with Rhonda she¢s a thru hiker at heart to put up with my smell. All is perfect!
Date: 2019-06-13
From: Eckville Shelter field

To: Blue Mountain Summit PA
Miles today: 11.5

Day 116 Eckville Shelter area to Blue Mountain Summit 11.5 miles. The rain was steadily pelting our tent when we awoke. It was so relaxing laying there in the tent with Rhonda but I had to get ready for our rocky climbs that lay ahead today. Millie  a very sweet local trail angel had cooked a breakfast casserole and had brought it to us in the rain.The food was amazing complete with a fluffy chocolate pie that was to die for. This week has been over the top with the trail magic we have received from friends, family and strangers alike.Thank you Millie for such an outstanding gesture of kindness!Soon we were climbing over super slick rocks in the rain. Each step was incredibly perilous and unfortunately several of our group slipped and fell ,thankfully only minor tumbles today. I personally went super slow and was fortunate enough to stay upright all day. The rain continued to fall and the weather stayed cool , it¢s easy to understand how one can become hypothermic even in the summer.I definitely plan to have Rhonda send me my cold weather items when I get closer to New Hampshire.The rain finally quit and we hiked a relatively short distance day, I personally was happy to get off the trail in one piece .Tonight we are all once again celebrating with our friends in town and I have Rhonda by my side, life couldn¢t be better!
Date: 2019-06-14
From: Blue Mountain Summit PA

To: PA 873
Miles today: 13.2

Day 117 Blue Mountain Summit to PA 873, 13.2 miles. We purposely started a little later this morning, Chipper, Rosy, Nash and of course my Free Range Crew took off for a leisurely stroll on a near perfect day. I say near perfect because some of the rocks were still a little wet and today we were traversing the Knife Edge a challenging walk across the peaks of rocks. Picture walking across the roofline of your home... ok that¢s a bit of an exaggeration but it is kinda like that but not as steep or narrow. We all made it across unscathed. Unfortunately we found out later that Iron Man was climbing out of Lehigh Gap and fell backwards and broke his wrist and will have to have surgery at the first of the week. That is such terrible news to share but we are grateful he did not fall all the way down and got hurt even worse. The Free Range Crew decided to stop a little early so that we could check on Ironman and spend some more time with Rhonda. Chipper, Rosy and Nash stayed on the trail and pressed on . That evening we all went to an Italian restaurant, I sat next to Ironman and he was in good spirits very optimistic about his surgery and hopefully quick return to the trail. Tomorrow the rest of us will attempt the same steep climb out of Lehigh Gap that got Ironman hopefully without further incident.
Date: 2019-06-15
From: PA 873

To: Leroy Smith Shelter Area
Miles today: 16.2

Day 118, 16.2 Miles PA 873 to Leroy Smith Shelter area.We started the day with the challenging climb out of Lehigh Gap. It was only RG, Stingray and Myself. Q is going to be off trail for some fun personal R and R. He has gone home for a quick trip to see his family and will catch up with us the same way that I did. It¢s like herding chickens trying to keep the Free Range Crew together. The climb out of the gap was challenging but a lot of fun, hand over hand climbing, with the river and the town below us in the backdrop. I stuffed my trekking poles in the outside pouch of my pack as I would not be using them on this section. I want to offer some gear advice;periodically breakdown your telescoping poles and lubricate the joints. I have not been doing this and my poles will no longer collapse I¢m sure a little WD 40 and some elbow grease will resolve this issue. Today was super hard for me as you  know Rhonda came to visit this week and has helped many hikers distributing trail magic and helping us all with her uplifting spirit and generosity. She had to go back home today and it just rips out my heart to see her go. The rocks in Painsylvania have gotten worse , each step is brutal on our feet. It¢s not the big boulders but the smaller rocks that won¢t allow your feet to touch the ground. Also it¢s amazing how many are on edge so you easily feel the impact though your shoes.  I was .2 miles from my camping spot when I let my guard down and took a hard spill on those lovely rocks. Fortunately no harm no foul, but I scared Stingray and RG who watched me crash onto the jagged rocks.Well we finally got our tents set up, meals cooked and bear bags hung.I¢m tucked into my bag a little sore but nothing broken. All is good!
Date: 2019-06-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Happy Lords Day and Happy Father¢s Day to all who are fathers!I want to take a moment to thank Jimmy and Sherry Spillman for being the ultimate ambassadors of the AT to many. ¢I Believe¢ completed her thru hike in 2014 which was a remarkable personal achievement. Her journey instilled a deep rooted passion for the AT in her husband  Jimmy that will last a lifetime.It matters not that Jimmy is close to the age of our retired AT hiking group. He is a father figure to so many on the trail. We all grew up asking our fathers for directions and nobody knows the AT back roads like Jimmy Spillman. His helpful spirit to hikers shows his servant¢s heart and a helpful father figure to many with summit dreams via his youtube channel and AT trips. The Free Range Crew, Rhonda & I are grateful that you took a special interest in our journey and connected with us in a special way. How blessed beyond measure we are for this friendship.Thank you for all you do and if you ever accept a trail name ¢Father of AT hikers¢ would be fitting.
Date: 2019-06-16
From: Leroy Smith Shelter Area

To: Stealth Campsite overlooking valley
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: clear sky

Day 119, 13.9 miles Leroy Smith Shelter area to Stealth Campsite.Stingray says that owls will be the pests of the future.... I¢m not exactly sure how he knows that but I can tell you if that¢s the case we are going to be in trouble. We saw a magnificent owl this morning and his wingspan was amazing, I did not know they got so big. The trail was brutal on our feet today, I would recommend nice thick soles to traverse these rocks , sometimes it¢s impossible to place your foot on a flat surface for miles and the toll gets to you. I¢m attaching a picture, I know it doesn¢t look as technical as some of our climbs but I promise it¢s hard to keep a steady pace and concentrating on every step is tough. Mr. Rattlesnake paid us another visit, we have seen many species of snakes in Pennsylvania. I actually like snakes.Recently I asked for some help in identifying a flower I posted. Thank you for all of you that posted . I believe the Milk Thistle looks very close. However it may be a magical flower from Whoville.I hope everyone had a great Father¢s Day.  Tonight we are camping on a mountaintop overlooking a beautiful valley.All is well!
Date: 2019-06-17
From: Stealth Campsite overlooking valley

To: Delaware Gap
Miles today: 6.2

Day 120, Stealth Campsite to Delaware Water Gap 6.2 miles.We slept on a mountaintop with a magnificent view of the valley, it rained a little in the middle of the night but that just made for a deep relaxing sleep. Today we planned a Nero of less than 7 miles and will enjoy the small town of Delaware Gap  https://www.poconomountains.co...Pretty cool history , I like the idea of the families coming and staying for the summer.The bridge across the Delaware River is the official border crossing from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, another state down and we are just about to hit 1300 miles Ooh Rah!June 17, 2017.... Two years ago to the day, I remember I was following Beaker on his trail journal enjoying every post. That man can hike and his journaling superb, he was and is a great inspiration to me.  I digress.. On June 17, 2017 my life almost ended. I had a massive heart attack with 99% blockage in the LAD artery what is commonly known as the widow maker because of the high death risk.I mention this for three main reasons.Please make sure you are getting yearly checkups and familiarize yourself with pre-heart attack symptoms. My symptoms were simply feeling tired , I mistook it for altitude fatigue as I was visiting Asheville NC at the time. We are not promised any length of time on this earth. Don¢t put off your dreams. Put God and your family first. Work is great but don¢t let it consume you.If you do have a life threatening event such as I did, follow your prescribed medical plan, especially the physical rehab. With some time and effort you can hopefully come back as good as new.I thank the Lord I survived and I¢m grateful to many for helping me chase this dream of hiking the AT.I¢m especially thankful to my wife who believes in me and supports me in ways I cannot begin to explain.There is still a lot of trail remaining and I¢m not claiming victory yet, but I am very thankful for every breath and step that I take.
Date: 2019-06-19
From: Delaware Gap

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 12.0

Day 121 Zero Day in Delaware GapDay 122 Delaware Gap to the Mohican Outdoors Center 12.0 miles.It was very cool to step into another state this morning , I¢ve heard a lot of good things about the trail through New Jersey , also it¢s touted as the state most likely for a bear sighting! We¢ve seen 6 or 7 bears total so far all in the Shenandoah Park in Virginia. The rain today made the rocks very slippery. RG fell for the very first time on the entire trail today. We heard from Q who is behind us trying to catch up and he fell as well. Both are fine and were being careful but those slick rocks are impossible.Tonight RG, Stingray and I made it to the Mohican Outdoors Center. This is a pretty cool bunkhouse to get us out of the rain for the night.https://www.outdoors.org/lodgi...We plan on keeping our miles low to allow Q to catch up soon. But really when it rains it¢s hard to make miles and be safe. I did buy another brand of shoes in Delaware Gap and I felt like I had better traction. I¢m trying the OBOZ Sawtooth low brand this time. Sorry Altra but I¢m looking for a bit more durability. Only one day on the trail but so far so good. Well tonight we are all safe and sound and very dry in the bunkhouse. We anxiously await Q¢s arrival. Be safe my friend!
Date: 2019-06-20
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Branchville NJ
Miles today: 5.8

Day 123 Mohican Outdoor Center to Blue Mountain Lake Rd 7.2 miles.Another short rainy day, we continue to shorten our miles to give our missing Free Ranger an opportunity to catch us. The terrain, rocks and all the rain makes it so much tougher for Q to catch up than when I was putting in big miles to do the same.Q is a very strong, fast hiker but he needs to take it as slow as he can to avoid injury.We were surprised today with some fabulous trail magic that my wife and dear friend and neighbor Elizabeth had arranged with Sunshine to surprise us with. Thank you for the wonderful snacks, drinks and pictures. Many of my friends were able to enjoy it as well!!After our short hike, Sunshine drove us to the famous Jumboland Diner.Funny thing, back in April we had met a young lady ¢Kayla ¢who is now a recent college graduate hiking at Dragons Tooth in Virginia. She works at Jumboland in the summers and told us we needed to come see her at the restaurant and try the famous Taylor Ham they serve. Several hundred miles latershe was surprised to see us come straggling in and indeed the food was fantastic as promised. The Free Range Crew need to start a reality show about the best diners and restaurants off the Appalachian trail,this one would certainly be ranked near the top. With the ominous forecast and down pouring rain we once again decided to take refuge in town.I believe I¢m getting soft.
Date: 2019-06-21
From: Mountain River rd

To: Firetower
Miles today: 12.6

Day 124, Blue Mnt Lake Rd to Culver Fire Tower. 12.6 miles.We woke up to a steady strong rain falling outside. The weather forecast kept changing and finally it started letting up around eleven a.m. Sunshine took us back to the trailhead exactly where we left off at yesterday. The day turned into a beautiful first day of SummerToday is the summer solstice . June 21 is also known as ¢Hike Naked Day¢ I¢m not exactly sure of the origin of this ¢tradition¢, but I assure you the Free Range Crew are not that ¢Free¢ (thank goodness ugg). We ran into many hikers today however everyone was fully clothed!Ten miles into our hike the trail ran into the town of Branchville and we took a quick detour to Mountain House Tavern and Grill and had a wonderful hamburger.We ate our dinner and hiked on another couple of miles. We planned to go to the shelter but ran up on a cool fire tower with an amazing view so we camped there. As other hikers came thru they did the same and soon we had close to ten tents up on the mountain top.Eagle Eye ,Milky Way and their dog Baxter showed up as well . You may remember them from earlier.All is well tonight , what a beautiful sunset, NewJersey is Beautiful !!Ps: So far I love my OBOZ shoes, only negative they are a bit heavier and they stay wet longer. After all they are true hiking shoes not trail runners.
Date: 2019-06-22
From: Firetower

To: Highpoint Park
Miles today: 14.0

Day 125, Fire Tower to Highpoint Park shelter area 14.1 miles.Another AT Chamber of Commerce Day! We enjoyed breakfast on the fire tower overlooking the valley. Breakfast today was pop tarts, 1 pack of oatmeal and coffee, good ole trail food. Wild life update: No New Jersey bears yet, I forgot to mention yesterday we saw three turkeys with baby chicks. It¢s interesting how the birth cycle is so much later in the year up north, it does totally make sense with the cold winters. The rocks are getting gentler but they are still challenging. I mentioned yesterday my stiffer shoes certainly are better for the rocks, my feet are happier!So today we headed to the beautiful Highpoint Park, they welcome thru hikers with a free coke and they have a concession stand where we bought ice cream and hotdogs in that order. We hung out by the lake for a while ,a jazz band started to play Beatles cover songs very cool.Check out the Monument, I¢ll have to research it and get the back story . Tonight we are all camped out in our tents , the weather is nice and cool and should be a great night to horizontalize as Rhonda¢s dad likes to say.
Date: 2019-06-23
From: Highpoint Park

To: Pochuck Mnt Shelter Area
Miles today: 12.4

Day 126 12.4 miles from  High Point Shelter area to Pochuck Mnt Shelter Area. Highpoint State Park is the highest point in New Jersey hence the name. I should have guessed that. The picture from yesterday; The Monument on High Point was built to honor war veterans. Master mason Michael Maddaluna began construction of the 220 foot (67 m) tower ¢ which has a base which is 34 feet square ¢ in 1928 and completed it in 1930. When it¢s open you can climb up and have some great views. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there.This morning we got on the trail around 7:30 am not too early. The trail has definitely gotten less rocky in this section.We hiked seven miles into Unionville New York ( yes New York) and had a fantastic meal at the General Store , we had a Taylor Ham and egg and cheese sandwich. For those that don¢t know Taylor Ham is a cross between ham and bacon and it is exceptionally tasty. I can¢t believe we don¢t have this delicacy in the south! We followed up by going down the street and enjoying some authentic NY Pizza  that was extremely good , much better than the famous Bleeker St Pizza in NYC in my opinion. Unionville is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. Very small town, according to Wikipediah The population was 612 at the 2010 census, making it by far the smallest village in Orange County and one of the smallest in New York State. The cool thing is that it¢s right off the AT. We are back in NJ and will officially crossover into NY in a day or two. The hiking was great today , I saw a black squirrel today the first one ever . I believe all the squirrels back home are gray but we do also have the rare fox squirrel. The black squirrel is beautiful, plenty of gray squirrels out here as well. The trail took us through some low wet lands and we saw several people out bird watching and hiking. Our day ended with a sharp climb up Pochuck Mountain. We heard from Q and he is hiking strong and closing the gap. We will do less than ten miles tomorrow and head into the town of Vernon NJ for a resupply and possibly overnight stay. I believe he will catch us in a couple of days.Oh in case you noticed I found another discrepancy between Guthook my electronic gps  mapping system and the AWOL book.I adjusted the miles to match the AWOL guidebook even though I believe the GH  is more accurate.Tonight we are all tucked away in our tents.
Date: 2019-06-24
From: Pochuck Mnt Shelter Area

To: Vernon New Jersey 
Miles today: 6.5

Day 127,  6.5 miles, Pochuck Shelter area to Vernon NJ .Who new New Jersey would be so much fun? Today we walked miles of wooden board walks across low wetlands. Being from Florida it was hard to believe alligators did not live in this beautiful habitat, oh I forget the winters get pretty cold up here. Hard to believe as the day was approaching 80 degrees and tropically humid. We crossed over a large wooden bridge over a fast flowing brown creek, I¢m assuming the brown water was caused by the rains, hopefully the water is normally clear. We saw several day hikers/trail runners enjoying the day and everyone was extremely friendly just like the good ole south.New Jersey has been a very pleasant surprise with the challenging mountain climbs, beautiful views and wonderful low country, just heavenly! In fact we headed to Heaven Hill Farm today for their famous apple cider donuts and ice cream. But first we stopped at Mitch¢s Roadside Grill for the two hotdog special. Mitch is retired Navy and is hilarious , his deadpan humor had us rolling with laughter.His hotdogs were amazingly good and we had a local soft drink Birch Beer similar to Root Beer but sweeter almost like a cherry coke maybe sarsaparilla ??The Heaven Hill donuts were very tasty and we hung out with other hikers on their front porch enjoying all kinds of fruit and pastries.Hiking the AT is super easy and fattening.....well maybe today!We decided to call and get a ride to the Appalachian Motel. The rooms were super clean and very reasonable. The owner took us and Pink Socks who had decided to get a room to a local Italian restaurant and grocery store to resupply .We only got enough food for three days it¢s hard to gauge how much food to carry as we keep running into trail towns with cool places to eat, no complaints on my end!Back at the motel I decided to conduct a water intrusion test with my Hyperlite Windrider 3400 backpack, many miles ago in Damascus I had also invested in two water resistant dyneema pods but I had not felt comfortable getting rid of my trash compactor bag for fear of getting all of my stuff wet in a rainstorm. Well as some of you know my pack is white or was white and it seriously needed a bath so I put some tissue in one of the pods and brought my pack into the shower for some extensive testing and scrubbing. Success, the tissue stayed perfectly dry, unfortunately the pack is still ¢off white¢ but much cleaner.Tonight ,RG Stingray and I are all three in one small room ¢trail brothers¢ anxiously awaiting our missing ranger brother Q to return. All is well!
Date: 2019-06-25
From: Vernon New Jersey 

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 10.5

Vernon to Stealth Site in New York 10.5This morning we returned to The farmers market and I got an apple, orange and a banana, I ate them one right after the other and downed a red Gatorade. Super fuel for the steep climb up Stairway to Heaven. The only problem was that it was raining and the rocks would be slick and dangerous. We decided we would climb extra slow and again do shorter miles. As we were hiking the approach trail I noticed what looked to be a blackberry flat dab in the middle of the trail. I looked up and saw a tree loaded with what was actually mulberries. I used my trekking pole to grab a limb and commenced to eating my fourth fruit of the day. RG and Stingray just watched me as they were full from the cider donuts they just ate. The rain started to slack but the damage was done everything was soaked and the humidity extreme. The Stairway was actually a very steep rock scramble up the mountain but I actually enjoyed climbing it very much. The trail the entire day today was very rocky but the good news is it cleared up and the sun came out later in the day and we were rewarded with some spectacular views. Today we officially crossed over into our 9th state New York, my birth state Ooh Rah! We could actually see The NYC skyline from Prospect Rock the highest point on the AT in NY. It was so cool even though the city was so far away. So did you know that bears can fly? Yesterday as we were hiking we heard crashing in the woods coming towards us at a high speed, branches were cracking and leaves flying but when I caught a glimpse I could tell this creature was airborne. It wasn¢t a flying bear after all but a huge Tom Turkey barreling through the trees , tough yes graceful not so much. Often when I¢m laying in my tent at night I try to guess what animal I may be hearing outside in the dark . I would have guessed a herd of elephants the amount of noise this turkey generated.Today we saw a little spike deer and later a baby fawn. I hope the little one finds his mother. We finally found a place to set up camp near a stream. We had started to fix our meals when Pink Socks showed up and we invited her to set up and join us. We are all now tucked into our tents , it¢s not raining still a bit humid but all is good.