morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-07-14
From: Peters Mtn. Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: clear sky

David (trail name Fartacus), Jess, Nick, and I got up early this morning, around 6:15 or so. Started hiking at about an hour later because we had 17.5 miles to go to the next shelter. In PA, the water sources are pretty sparse, so as far as picking places to stay, the shelters are the best bet. It was unfortunate for David and Jess and Nick, since they hadn't been hiking on a regular basis, but that's just the way things worked out. Anyway, we hiked for about 2 or 3 miles and kept crossing paths with some local section hikers, Tom and Josh, and met up with them again at a short exposed rock section. They were standing there as we approached them, and when we got close they turned to us and started pointing at the rocks: 4 rattlesnakes were sitting there in the sun, their rattles going pretty good. We were real careful going around them, I tried getting a picture of them but my camera had run out of film. The rest of the day went alright; long day with a 3 mile uphill, we were all pretty beat up by the end of the day. Nick did really well, he's been trail-running for a while, but David and Jess couldn't really move all that much. Not to talk bad about them -- I didn't do near as many miles as when I started and I was still beat up pretty good after the first couple days of hiking. We camped out right outside of the trail to the shelter next to a creek.
Date: 2007-07-15
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

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

Daily miles for today is a bit skewed -- we didn't do 17.4, I think we were on the trail for about 12.5 or so, but we came up to some trail magic from the two section hikers I talked about a few entries ago, Tom and Josh. They stayed at the campsite with us last night and told us they'd give us a ride into town so we could resupply on food and anything else. We went about 2 miles or so and took a road to their car, had to walk on the road for about 2 or 3 miles so the total for today wound up being around 15 or so. Anyway, we got to Tom's car and he drove to town where we got some food/snacks, and they drove us back to the trail about 5 miles up. We started hiking, had a steep uphill soon after we got back on, and the rest of the day was ridgewalking but seemed to take forever to get to the first shelter. The 501 shelter was supposed to be real nice, and that was only 4 miles down the trail, and we were meeting with my friend Farr later this night and it was only 0.1 from a major road. We got there right as it was getting dark, and met up with Farr soon after. Good night -- met up with a few other hikers and hung out for an hour or two. David and Jess were exhausted and decided they weren't going to hike any more, so we set up a plan where they'd be able to borrow Farr's car and slackpack Farr, Nick, and I the next day.
Date: 2007-07-16
From: 501 Shelter

To: PA183 / Some hotel in VA
Miles today: 9.5

Farr, Nick, and I slackpacked 9.5 miles today to PA183. The original plan was to hike all the way to Eagles Nest Shelter, which would've been another 6 miles, but instead we decided to meet up with David and Jess and go into Pottsville, PA and see the Yuengling brewery, which is America's oldest brewery. The hiking was good, we saw some really good views and a huge boulder field, and the weather was really nice. After we finished and met up with David and Jess, we drove to Pottsville, about 12 miles away. The brewery tour was free but when we got there we were late for it; no matter, though, we just met up with the tour in the middle of it. Everybody was supposed to have closed-toed shoes on, and all of us were wearing sandals/crocs, so we got some questionable looks from other people. The tour was pretty boring, so when it finished we left and went looking for a place to eat. There was a place not far from the brewery called "The Famous Beer -N- Burger." It was mid-afternoon, we weren't really looking for a beer but we thought a burger sounded pretty good. We walked in and all it was was a beer store that also sold chips. I said to the guy behind the counter, "You don't have any burgers?" He said "NO." I said, "Anywhere around here where we might get one?" and he said "Roma's." Roma's was a restaurant with a sign out front that said "Roma's Pizza." We figured it was just a pizza place, so tried a diner a block away. The diner wound up closing at 3, and we got there a few minutes after 3, so we wound up going to Roma's, where we wound up getting burgers. Pottsville was a pretty confusing place, lot of weird stuff, the place just seemed kind of backwards. We got out of Pottsville and stayed at a hotel down Interstate 81 in Virginia. Real cheap place, very small but it served its purpose.
Date: 2007-07-17
From: PA183 / Some hotel in VA

To: Home for a few days / Roofers
Miles today: 0.0

Went home for a few days for Roofers, a big Camp Mikell reunion that I had been planning on attending for weeks. Drove to Mauldin with Nick, Jess, and David, took 10 hours or so but it was fun. Stayed at Jess's house (really nice place) Tuesday night, went to Athens Wednesday, Braves game Thursday night (Braves beat the Cardinals, I had a foul ball hit to me and it hit my glove and then bounced out) with David and Dad, Friday went back to Athens and up to Mikell on Saturday for Roofers, a Camp Mikell staff reunion/volleyball tournament. Awesome time, too many highlights to list here, but it was really awesome to see everybody. Back to Alpharetta on Sunday, then Monday flew up to Philadelphia. Monday was a nightmare: woke up around 4:30 to try to make my flight at 7:00, and Monday morning at the country's busiest airport is pretty much the worst time to be there. I got there at 6:00, checked in my pack and had to take out my pot/fuel/stove because they wouldn't allow it in the plane, even if it was inside my pack. The luggage guy said I could mail it up the trail from the post office inside the airport. I got to the post office and they didn't open until 6:30, so I just threw the pot/fuel/stove combo away to try to make my flight. I wound up missing my flight (security checkpoint had a line of a few thousand people) and being put onto another flight 2 hours later. I eventually got to Philadelphia, where I had to take 4 bus rides from there to Delaware Water Gap to meet up with the group of people I've been hiking with. Extremely long, frustrating day; felt like I was in the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles mixed in with Requiem For A Dream (except for the drugs). Lot of bums and real low-income areas of town.
Date: 2007-07-24
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Mike Dalton's House / Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: broken clouds

Back on the trail after 6 days off, hiking today was really great. Good to be back out there, I felt fresh and the weather was nice. A little hot, but nothing too bad. Passed Sunfish Pond, which is on top of a mountain, and the southernmost glacial pond on the A.T. Good swimming spot, but we didn't go swimming. Wound up meeting with a local named Mike whose daughter works with my mom in Atlanta. He took us (Grizzle, Dirty, Keymaster, Treework, and I) in for the night, made us an awesome meatloaf dinner, let us do some laundry, etc.
Date: 2007-07-25
From: Mike Dalton's House / Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Culver's Gap, US206
Miles today: 18.0

Mike slackpacked us 18 miles, dropping us off at Culver's Gap where we started hiking south. Good hiking, though it was incredibly hot and humid. Pretty much all ridgewalking all day long, lots of good views. Got back to the Mohican Outdoor Center and Mike picked us up and took us straight to town for dinner. We ate at a Chinese buffet place, it was pretty good but nothing too special. Went back to Mike's house and got ready to get back on the trail the next day. Bad news -- after we got back to Mike's house, Treework decided to get off the trail. Not exactly sure if he'll get back on or not, some of us are expecting him to get back on when we're in Vermont or New Hampshire but that could just be wishful thinking.
Date: 2007-07-26
From: Culver's Gap, US206

To: Rutherford Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

Got out of Mike's around 10, dropped Treework off at the Mohican Center where he was hiking south back to Delaware Water Gap to get a bus ticket back home. Mike dropped us off up at Culver's Gap where we started hiking north again. Really, really hot and humid, typical late-July weather I guess. Stopped at the first shetler and took a long lunch break; left and hiked up and over Sunrise Mountain, which had a big pavillion on top with tremendous views over New Jersey/New York. Stopped at the next shelter, Mashipacong Shelter, and would've stayed there but there was no water. Only 3 miles to Rutherford Shelter where we wound up staying for the night. Rutherford was a real hassle to get to -- half a mile off the trail through a poorly-maintained trail and lots of bugs. Met up with a couple of carnies at the shelter: two guys who said they walked 250 road miles up to the trail from Philadelphia to get to up to New York to work at a carnival. They were pretty weird, to say the least. I was glad to have them behind us. I set up my new hammock (actually Ballard's hammock, he's letting me use it for the rest of the hike) close to the shelter, slept really great in it. Actually one of the best night's sleep I've had on the trail. It's going to take some getting used to climbing in and out of it, but I'm sure it'll feel normal after a few nights in it.
Date: 2007-07-27
From: Rutherford Shelter

To: Back Track Inn Hostel, NY
Miles today: 11.4

11 miles in to Unionville, NY. Nice town, really small with very friendly people. Hiking today was good, some up and down but nothing too difficult. Stopped at High Point State Park and met up with Grizzle and we ordered a pizza for lunch. Waited for Keymaster to meet up with us because she had been sick for a couple of days with what we thought was Lyme Disease. She and Grizzle wound up getting a ride to Vernon, NJ where she'd be able to stay at a church hostel and rest up. I hiked to Unionville on my own and stayed at the Back Track Inn Hostel, which is very basic. The "hostel" is an old storage room converted to a bunkhouse, if you can call it that. The "bunks" are old storage shelves and there is no air conditioning or bathroom (except for the one in the bar right next door). I had dinner at the bar and talked with some of the local people, who were very nice and eager to hear about the trail. I went to bed around 9 or 9:30 and woke up a few hours later to loud music and people yelling and screaming at the bar. Pretty frustrating but at the same time I expected that to happen. Kept me up for most of the night but I was able to get a few hours of sleep in. A thru-hiker, Dances With Sloths, started a register there and said anybody who slept in the hostel would thereby become a member of the Royal Order of the Shelf, and could add "Sir" or "Madam" to their trail name. I think I was the 2nd person who actually slept in the hostel since Dances With Sloths started the register, and I've been signing registers as Sir Boognish since then.
Date: 2007-07-28
From: Back Track Inn Hostel, NY

To: Vernon, NJ / St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel
Miles today: 11.8

The first half of hiking today was pretty miserable -- way too hot and humid and a lot of roadwalking. Hiking around and after the Walkill River was nice; grassy trail around big ponds and then lots of boardwalk hiking through the woods. After a few miles of that, though, the trail went uphill pretty steep to the next shelter, where I stopped for a few hours. While I was there, I met up with Dirty and Mattlanta, who actually went to the same REI thru-hiking clinic back in January that I went to in Atlanta. Dirty and I set out to finish the hike into Vernon, where we would meet up with Grizzle and Keymaster at the church hostel in town. Good hiking towards the end, nice boardwalk through marshy area that is very picturesque. We got to the road that goes into Vernon and hung out at Heaven Hills Farms where we got some ice cream and Gatorades and fresh fruit. Went out to the road to try to get a ride into town and got picked up within 5 minutes. Stayed at the hostel for the night.
Date: 2007-07-29
From: Vernon, NJ / St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel

To: NY17A / 15-mile slackpack
Miles today: 15.2

Dave, the caretaker of the church hostel, mentioned that he slackpacks hikers quite a bit early on in the day and once he said that I figured I'd take him up on it instead of sitting around at the hostel all day. He drove me up the trail to where NY17A crosses over and I hiked south back to Vernon. The hiking today was pretty challenging, early on in the hike there were a lot of exposed rocks, and it started raining so the rocks got pretty slick. I had to be real careful, especially since there were a lot of steep sections; at the same time, though, it was a lot of fun. A real welcome change from the normal rocky trail that's been common for the past few hundred miles. I did the 15 miles in about 5 and a half hours and felt great after I finished. Great views along the way, nothing like how I imagined New Jersey to be. Got back to the road crossing and got a hitch into town within 2 minutes from a couple of ex-hikers, one who finished the trail last year. Some hikers who have been behind me since I got back on the trail at Delaware Water Gap are finally catching up with us: Blackfoot and C-Shot, and then the rest of the group are expected to get in this afternoon.
Date: 2007-07-30
From: NY17A / 15-mile slackpack

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 2.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Spent most of the day at the hostel in Vernon, eventually got a ride to where I had started slackpacking the day before. Only did a few miles to the shelter with C-Shot and hung up my new hammock in the shelter. It was extremely comfortable, but I got eaten up by bugs somehow.
Date: 2007-07-31
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: West Mombasha Road 
Miles today: 5.0

Got a late start to the day, woke up at the normal time but I was so comfortable in the hammock that it took me a long time to get going. Finally got packed and out of the shelter, stopped at the spring at the shelter and was about to fill up but the water had frogs jumping in and out of it so I figured I'd go to the source a mile and a half up the trail. After about 20 minutes or so of hiking, I was going down a hill, and I saw a bear about 30 yards or so in front of me just off the trail. It didn't see or hear me, so I watched it for a few seconds. It was probably around 200 pounds, not too big but at the same time not a cub. It was just looking for stuff to eat, kind of bouncing around on a log. Because it was right next to the trail, I decided to make it move away, so I banged my poles together a couple times. It looked up at me -- the reaction was priceless, it had this expression on its face like "Now what in the hell is making that noise?!" -- and the second it saw me it bolted in the opposite direction. I kept an eye out for it but didn't see it again. Eventually I got to the water source I mentioned earlier and set my pack down. I reached into my pack belt pocket where I keep my Polar Pure (iodine solution used to purify water) and it was wide open; I had left it at the spring at the shelter. So, I had to make the trek back up to the shelter, it added an hour and a half to the day. After I got it and went back to my pack, I hiked on and the hiking from that point wasn't real friendly. Several (about 4 or 5) sections of nothing but rocks, straight uphill for about 100 feet or so. Then the trail would go back downhill, so that 100 feet was really all for nothing. I got to a road crossing where there was a cooler with gallons of water and a few other hikers there: Nobody, Breeze, and C-shot. On top of the cooler was a piece of paper with a phone number for some people who would take you in for the night if you wanted. At this point, it was 5:00 and I had about 10 miles to go to the next shelter where I was planning on staying, but I didn't have anything left and decided I'd call those people, and C-shot decided he'd do the same. We went to a deli half a mile down the street and got a couple of drinks and waited for the guy to meet us. His name was John, and he and his wife Susan have a veterinary practice in the area (this is around Southfields, NY). They took us in, MADE us take showers and do laundry, and gave us a few beers along with their company. Extremely nice people, we talked a lot about the trail and baseball (John was watching the Yankees game, the one where they hit 8 home runs) and life in general. It was well worth doing the short mileage for the day.
Date: 2007-08-01
From: West Mombasha Road 

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: few clouds

Got on the trail at 6:30 (John and Susan had to be out of the house by then). The hiking today was more of the same up and down from yesterday, except only today it was much hotter and the terrain was steeper. It was pretty frustrating, actually. It seemed like whoever blazed the trail in NY around Bear Mountain/Harriman State Park did it to make it as hard as possible. Wherever there was a hill, the trail went over it, and there weren't any switchbacks on it. Just straight up to the top and straight down to the bottom, and once you got to the bottom, the trail found another one to go up and over. It wasn't enjoyable in any sense. Sometimes when there is a big uphill climb I'll think at least I'm getting a good workout but this section was just dumb. Eventually I got to Lake Tiorati, which has an awesome swimming spot on the lake along with vending machines. I stopped there for a few hours, swam with some other hikers, then hiked on to the next shelter, which was another 4 miles. Took much longer than I thought it would because I was so tired from the heat. The shelter was in terrible shape, trash all over the place, mice running around, no good place to sleep. Also no water at the shelter, so I had to ration what I had very carefully. Hung up the hammock and went to bed, though it was too hot to sleep so I was up for a few hours just laying there in my sweat with bugs biting me through the hammock and somehow getting inside of it.
Date: 2007-08-02
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter

To: Graymoor Friary
Miles today: 15.2

Got up around 7, met up with Dirty who had camped back behind us, and started hiking with him and C-shot and another hiker, Stonewall. It was hot early in the morning, and we started going around 9 or so. Got to Bear Mountain park, which is ok. I had heard before I started the A.T. that this was a good spot to "yogi" some food off of picnickers, but there really wasn't anyone around because it was a Thursday. The trail goes through the zoo (actually the lowest point on the entire trail is at the black bear exhibit) and we got to see the animals. It was one of the most depressing things I've ever seen. The animals were cowering in their cages, not moving, just laying there looking depressed. I'm not a FEMA supporter or anything, not saying that we should open all the doors and let the animals run free, but these animals looked extremely sad. Except for when we got to the beaver exhibit. There was a rock wall with a small pond for the beaver to swim in, and a hole in the wall for the beaver to go back and hide, fall asleep, whatever. When we got there, though, the beaver was in the hole but with his back sticking out for us to see. His whole body was shaking, and his midsection was, well, moving back and forth. If you picture it, you'll know what I'm talking about. It was really funny. A little boy came over with his parents and said "Oooh momma dat beavah's booty shakin'!" and the mother was like "Oh, yeah, uhh, let's go over here, sweety." It was funny, you had to be there. We left the zoo, crossed over the Bear Mountain bridge, then had a brutal uphill climb that took us 600 feet up over half a mile. More uphill hiking after that, then finally got to the Graymoor entrance road. Graymoor is a friary, and they have a big soccer field and a pavillion on the far side where they let hikers stay. They also have a shower house with one of the coldest showers I've ever had. Lots of people stayed there -- about 15 or so.
Date: 2007-08-03
From: Graymoor Friary

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: clear sky

Hot day, got to RPH shelter and met up with a few sounthbounders. That's been pretty cool, crossing paths with people going the opposite direction. The RPH shelter is pretty nice, used to be an old house, and you can order pizza from it, so we did. C-shot had his guitar so he and I passed it back and forth, did a few songs while everybody else hung out.
Date: 2007-08-04
From: RPH Shelter

To: Pawling, NY
Miles today: 17.3

5 miles to a deli to start out the morning from RPH shelter, stopped at the deli for a bite to eat and Gatorades. After I got back on the trail, I took one of those 5-hour energy drinks, you've seen the commercials on TV I'm sure. That really helped -- I did the next 13 miles in about 4 hours or so and felt great the entire time. Got to the road crossing that takes you into Pawling, tried setting up a shuttle into town, but no luck. So we started walking and then an old, white Honda with some teenagers passed us by. There was a girl in the front seat who yelled something at us, and we weren't quite sure what she yelled, but a few minutes later they were driving up to us, so they wanted to give us a ride. The problem was, it was an old Honda Civic, and it already had 4 people in it, so there really wasn't any room for us and our packs. But, a ride's a ride, and the kids in the car seemed pretty determined on getting us wherever we needed to go. We packed 4 of us in the backseat with one of the kids sitting out the window, the driver, Dirty riding shotgun, and the girl who had yelled at us was sitting out the window in the front seat. And the driver was driving pretty fast.* But eventually we got to a pavillion at the park where hikers could stay and we unloaded. The town was only about a mile away so we walked into town a got dinner and I did laundry. Unfortunately there wasn't a place to get a shower but it kinda cooled down a bit so it wasn't too bad. I tried setting up my hammock but the poles at the pavillion were too close together so I just slept out in the open on the concrete. Worst night of sleep I've had yet; the bugs were awful, I was uncomfortable, didn't get much sleep. *Author's note: Just because I took part in this does not mean that I condone this sort of driving. To be honest, I had the s*** scared out of me.