morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-06-29
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

To: Palmerton via Lehigh Gap
Miles today: 18.0

I took to heart the conversation I had with Lint in Port Clinton about minimizing pack weight by carrying only enough water to get to the next source, which is what he does. When I was having trouble with my filter a few weeks back, I developed the habit of starting each morning with three liters, regardless of the availability of water along the trail during the day. Since yesterday, I've started paying more attention to the springs and streams shown on my map and have left the last two mornings with a single liter. Since a liter of water weighs over two pounds, that means I started four pounds lighter. In getting my filter problem resolved at REI last weekend, I'm now confident in being able to quickly replenish my water supply during the day as needed.Today we had some unusual trail magic from Bag of Tricks, a friend of Lint dating back to 2004, when they met during their respective AT thru hikes. Thor the Red and I emerged from the woods to find the two of them in a parking lot, and Bag of Tricks enthusiastically asked the three of us whether we needed any asswipe. It just so happened I'd made a mental note in the privy this morning to pick up another roll during my next resupply, so I just as enthusiastically accepted his offer, as did Lint and Thor the Red. I've come close to running out of TP twice: once early on, when I was a relative AT novice in the Smokies, and again when Granders came down with Noro and was making frequent trips to the privy while we were holed up at a shelter north of the Shenandoahs for an extra day. Am I stating the obvious in saying that running out of TP on the AT is a bummer?Today we got the best lesson yet on why the nickname among thru-hikers for this state is Rocksylvania. In the morning we crossed the Knife Edge, a serrated ridge consisting of massive boulders lying at an angle so there's no flat surface to step on. I found myself using both hands, because a fall would most likely have resulted in a serious injury, if not death. The rest of the day had continuous transitions between rock-free and rocky sections. During the latter, extreme concentration was required to plan and execute each foot placement, which is exhausting both physically and mentally. In addition, with your eyes are focused downward, it's easy to lose the trail, because the white blazes are typically on trees at eye level. This happened to me once today, but Thor was able to backtrack and find where I'd gone astray.The shelters ahead today were inconveniently located for us. We had to decide between a short, 17-mile day and a very long 33-miler. When I made it out by 6:30, thanks in part to eating pop tarts rather than oatmeal, and the first few miles were flat and smooth, I was considering the longer option. Then we hit the rocks, and it became instantly clear that 33 miles was out of the question. So instead Thor the Red and I bailed out into Palmerton and are staying in the completely free Jail House Hostel, located in the the basement of the town's municipal building.
Date: 2014-07-01
From: Wind Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 15.6

Thor the Red, Lotus, Zero, and I woke up in the field behind the Beer Stein restaurant in Wind Gap with completely soaking tents. It hadn't rained during the night, but the combination of heat and humidity left dew on everything. Since I really dislike packing up a wet tent, I went to the convenience store across the street, and after sponging myself off in their bathroom, grabbed some paper towels to wipe down my tent. My fairly damp tent then weighed only a pound or two more than usual.After dining on pop tarts and coffee on the Beer Stein's outdoor patio, Lotus and I went across the street to the convenience store to find a ride back to the trail. Thor needed to wait for the post office to open, and Zero was moving slowly this morning, so it was just the two of us. I asked three guys in a small SUV if they'd mind giving us a lift, and they obliged. The fact that one of them, dressed in camo, had hiked the AT in '94 likely helped our cause. Lotus and I were on the trail by 7:30, intending to cover the last 15 miles in Pennsylvania and find a place to watch the USA/Belgium soccer match in Delaware Water Gap.For once, food has not been the dominant topic of conversation among thru-hikers recently. The Pennsylvania rocks have. Thor came up with a rather ingenious solution, which I suspect would be well received by the hiking community. Yesterday at dinner, after a few beers, he suggested they ought to run a stump grinder over the entire 232-mile length of the AT in Pennsylvania. Aside from the minor issue of feasibility and the question of who "they" refers to, I'm completely on board with this idea. But until it happens, today's picture shows you what a typical rock field along the AT in Pennsylvania looks like.Speaking of rocks, on the way to the Delaware Water Gap I had a scary thought: what happens if the geology of the area ignores political boundaries, and the rocks continue in New Jersey? When I did my only 30-miler two weeks ago to get across the Mason-Dixon Line and into Pennsylvania, the skin on my right heel got rubbed raw, and I've been dealing with a gruesome wound ever since. Now that I'm across Pennsylvania, I'm just a couple of days from not having to place a band aide and tape on my heel each morning.Just before arriving in Delaware Water Gap, Lotus and I encountered a women sitting in a beach chair beside two coolers, the tell tale sign of trail magic. When I got closer, I realized an entire trailer was required to hold the trail magic Sug, short for Sugar Mama, was handing out, which included cooked-to-order hamburgers, hot dogs, and pork rolls, cookies, chips, and a large variety of resupply items. Sug plans to be at the same spot for the next two weeks or until the food runs out. Her daughter, Dimples, is a 2012 thru-hiker and member of a three-hiker group called the Goonies. Sug is giving back for all the trail magic her daughter received on her hike two years ago. Sug, your trail magic was very much appreciated today.
Date: 2014-07-02
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 24.8
Weather: scattered clouds

This was easily the scariest day on the trail for me. After a sweltering day of hiking in 90-degree heat, Space Blanket and I spent two hours late this afternoon traversing a New Jersey ridge as a series of thunderstorms passed overhead, enduring dozens of lightning strikes that were way too close for comfort. Unlike the ridges in Pennsylvania, which are completely wooded and provide a green tunnel for the AT to run through, those so far in New Jersey are exposed, with rock slabs, sparse vegetation, and extended views to the valleys on both sides. During normal conditions, the vast majority of hikers would prefer those in New Jersey. But with the weather we had this afternoon, the level of exposure was nothing short of terrifying. At around 3:00 pm, the sky got so dark so quickly I had trouble seeing because my eyes couldn't adjust fast enough. At about that time, a short rock scramble brought us out on the ridge. Shortly thereafter, the rain started, and the thunder that had been off in the distance suddenly was upon us. When the first wave hit, I noticed Space Blanket up ahead dragging his poles by the leather straps, not wanting to grip the handles of the metal poles as lighting crashed all around. The trail dipped and rose, and at the high points it frequently crossed large rock slabs, where I found myself ducking, trying to minimize the height of my body, which in my mind was doubling as a lightning rod. In many places, the trail was also a river, as we slogged through several inches of water flowing along it. Needless to say, we were both drenched upon arriving at the Brink Road Shelter after an exhausting 25-mile day.It was quite a contrast from last night, when a bunch of us were hanging around bullshitting in the basement of the Mountain Hikers Center Hostel, located in the basement of a Presbyterian Church in Delaware Water Gap. The group consisted of Belch, Lotus, Space Blanket, Dreamer, Snickers, Thor the Red, and Kentucky, most of whom made the terrifying ridge walk today.At midday I stopped at the AMC's Mohican Outdoor Center for ice cream, soda, and candy (the AT thru-hiker diet truly is something to marvel at). There I met Spot, a 62-year-old thru-hiker from Pottstown, PA, who is making his 7th attempt at the trail. Twice he's had to abandon, when he ran out of money in Vermont one year and severely sprained an ankle on a southbound hike another. This year he's hooked up with Bluejay, a similarly aged woman who was replacing her backpack at the center when I arrived. Spot plans to give the PCT a go for the first time next year.
Date: 2014-07-03
From: Brink Road Shelter

To: High Point Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: few clouds

Happy 60th anniversary, Mom and Dad! It's safe to say your children and grandchildren are inspired by the wonderful example you've set with your enduring marriage.Today's forecast called for a 60% chance of thunderstorms by 2:00 pm and a 90% chance by 4:00. Yet somehow I arrived at the High Point Shelter at 5:30, 10 minutes before the first rain and 20 before a full-scale thunderstorm rolled through. As I'm writing this, it's now 6:30, and I'm lying on my sleeping bag in the shelter looking out its open front into nearly complete darkness.Knowing the forecast this morning, we scaled back our expectations for the day, aiming for a shelter just under 20 miles away to give ourselves a reasonable chance of arriving before the predicted bad weather hit. With yesterday's rain and the humid air mass sitting over the Mid-Atlantic Region, the early ridge walk was through pea soup with no hope of a view. Although it wasn't raining, the wet grass completely soaked our shoes.I was feeling drained, no doubt due to yesterday's adrenaline-fueled march across the ridge through the raging storm. So when after an hour we came to a road with a store on the corner called Joe to Go that sold breakfast sandwiches and coffee, I was more than happy to stop with Thor the Red and Space Blanket for a second breakfast. I continued to feel sluggish most of the morning and was having trouble keeping up with the others in the second straight day of extreme heat and humidity. Around noon we arrived at the pavilion atop Sunrise Mountain and found two women, Corinna and Michele, providing trail magic, including cold drinks, fresh cherries and blueberries, carrots and cucumbers, and several flavors of energy bars. By this time, the sun had come out, so we took off our shoes and socks and placed them on the rocks to dry while we talked to our trail angels, who are involved with art and poetry, respectively. Thanks so much for the trail magic today, Corinna and Michele. And Michele, it was particularly nice of you to be giving to others on your birthday. We still had over 10 miles to go from the trail magic to our intended destination, and I was starting to worry that we'd have a repeat performance of yesterday. So when Space Blanket took off at a blistering pace with Belch hot on his heels, I jumped behind them as though I were drafting in a bicycle race. I managed to stay with the two twenty-somethings to within three miles of the shelter, which was just enough to get me there before the rain and thunder hit.My daughter, Sonja, just texted me to say a hurricane is making its way up the coast, and the map she sent shows our location to be in the storm's outer rain bands. This explains why the forecast for tomorrow, which several days ago had called for cool and sunny weather, now says rain. That's fine by me, as long as there's no thunder and lightning to go along with it.
Date: 2014-07-05
From: Pochuck Mountain Shelter

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 23.6
Weather: clear sky

Last night was perfect sleeping weather at the Pochuck Mountain Shelter. With temperatures in the 50s, I wore a long-sleeve shirt and didn't have to feel my clammy skin sticking to the inside of the sleeping bag. Belch arrived just before dark and set up his hammock in the woods, and Space Blanket did the same sometime during the night.If I'd been debating Lloyd Bensten last night and the subject of Jersey boardwalks along the AT came up, he would have lectured me, "Slim, I've walked on Jersey boardwalks. I know Jersey boardwalks. Slim, those were no Jersey boardwalks you walked on today!" And he would have been right, because yesterday's boardwalks weren't even in the same ballpark as the one I crossed this morning. Today's boardwalk wound through a mile of exquisite marshland, and its construction was a Mercedes in comparison to yesterday's Yugos. Thus, I've updated yesterday's journal entry with a picture of today's boardwalk.The AT through New Jersey and New York is known as the deli walk, because it's possible to get food with just a short stroll from the trail at almost every road crossing, as I found out first-hand today. After hiking six miles from the shelter this morning, I was famished by the time I arrived at NJ 94 at 9:00 am. Fortunately, the Heaven Hill Farm is right there and has homemade ice cream. By the time my peach milkshake was ready, I'd gathered up another $10 of food at the checkout, including a coke, three donuts, a bag of chips, and a few pieces of fruit. That feast got me through to lunch. Late in the afternoon, Belch and I made a side trip to the Bellvale Farms Creamery for a second round of ice cream. I'm wondering how I'll cope farther north when food isn't so close at hand. Carry a heavier food bag, I suppose.In the early afternoon, the trail crested a ridge from which I was just able to make out the Manhattan skyline. Shortly thereafter, it came to the border, where the letters NJ/NY were painted on the rock slab I'd been walking on. Apparently the views of the city will improve as the trail gets farther North in New York. It's unfortunate to be leaving New Jersey so soon, as walking the AT through this state has been a real pleasure. There were several exceptional ridge walks, a variety of scenery, including farms and marshes, and the rocks were kinder and gentler than those in Pennsylvania.
Date: 2014-07-06
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: William Brien Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: broken clouds

Last night when I arrived at the Wildcat Shelter I didn't consider sleeping in it, because the mosquitos were fierce in the hollow where the shelter is located. The three people who did end up in the shelter actually slept in their tents inside of it. One of those was Thor the Red, who two nights ago tented behind the tavern in Unionville after his day of celebrating the 4th, instead of moving on as the rest of us had. He did his first 30-miler yesterday to catch up with Belch, Space Blanket, and me and arrived at the shelter well after dark. For him, the shelter was the easiest place at that hour to pitch his tent.Today's 19.6 miles might well have been the hardest earned of the trip. Although the map showed the terrain to be generally level, it didn't convey the rockiness and the constant short but steep climbs and descents we dealt with all day. At one point I was following Space Blanket up yet another hill when he turned around to me and said in exasperation that even his North Carolina drawl couldn't mask, "New York is kickin' my ass." I was happy to hear this, because I was feeling exactly the same way and was beginning to wonder whether I hadn't come down with some strange disease that had sapped all my energy.The trail wound through a rock formation today called the Lemon Squeezer, which forces hikers to remove their packs or risk getting stuck as the passage gradually narrows. This is exactly what happened to a young girl in front of Space Blanket. Once stuck, she tried in vain to remove her pack. She was finally able to free herself by backing up and then removing her pack, but not before a traffic jam occurred with all the weekend day-hikers on the trail.I used as motivation today the thought of the snack bar I'd heard about at the Lake Tiorati Circle, which we'd be reaching mid-aftenoon. I imagined myself wolfing down a hamburger or two as a reward for the effort I was putting forth in conquering today's unexpectedly difficult trail. So when I broke out onto the road and caught the aroma of cooking meat wafting up from the lake, I practically sprinted down the hill and asked the first park ranger I saw to point me in the direction of the snack bar. I could tell from the expression on his face that he disliked being the bearer of bad news. There was no snack bar. What I'd smelled was the barbecues the park visitors were using to cook their own food. For thru-hikers there was soda and ice cream from vending machines, which thankfully took credit cards, because I had just a single one dollar bill in my wallet.
Date: 2014-07-07
From: William Brien Shelter

To: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: broken clouds

The trail eased up a bit today, even though there were three significant climbs, including Bear Mountain, which overlooks the Hudson River. Frequently there's a good view of the New York skyline from the tower on its summit, but today's haze limited the visibility to far less than the 35 miles required to see it. The saving grace was that there were vending machines with Gatorade, which Thor the Red, Space Blanket, Belch, and I took full advantage of.We stopped at the bottom of the mountain for an expensive lunch at a snack bar at the Bear Mountain Recreation Area. Space Blanket voiced his displeasure with the prices, and Thor and I had to explain to him that paying $10 for a burger and fries is to be expected so close to New York City. At 22, Space Blanket is on a tight budget, and he's been frustrated with the high prices up north on the trail. Running out of money is a common cause of people quitting the trail at this late stage.Adding to Space Blanket's woes was what appeared to be an infected ingrown nail on his big toe. He'd been walking with pain for several days and today decided he should see a doctor about it. At the time Thor, Belch, and I left the park, Space Blanket was making calls to find a nearby urgent care center.Shortly after leaving the park, the AT passes through a zoo and hits the lowest elevation on the trail at 163 feet. It then crosses the Hudson River on the Bear Mountain Bridge and climbs steeply out of the river valley. With the temperature in the 90s and the afternoon sun at our backs, this was easily the hardest stretch of the day. Fortunately, the ridge walk that followed was relatively gentle and ended at the Appalachian Market, a deli where Thor and I ate an early dinner. A final mile brought us to the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center, which is run by the Friars and has been hosting AT thru-hikers since 1972. I'm tenting in a ball field, while Thor, to avoid a possible thunderstorm during the night, set up his tent under a pavilion.Today we passed the 1400-mile mark, which means we have less than 800 miles to go and are almost two-thirds of the way to Katahdin.
Date: 2014-07-08
From: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center

To: Mark and Pat's house via RPH Shelter
Miles today: 18.8

Just before dark yesterday at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center a thunderstorm rolled through, so I quickly took down my tent and brought it inside the pavilion. I was thinking I might cowboy camp inside the pavilion, but the mosquitos were so horrendous I decided, once the storm passed, to set up my tent in the field again. This is one of the few times not having a freestanding tent has worked against me; ideally, I would have slept in the tent under the pavilion, but the stakes required to hold up the tent don't go into concrete very well. In the middle of the night, a second thunderstorm rolled through, so this morning I was forced to pack up a wet, heavy tent and carry it most of the day.It was sad to part ways with Thor the Red this morning. He made plans to visit a friend in New York City for a few days, so when we left Graymoor, I went north and he went south on the AT back to the Appalachian Market, from which he was going to get a ride to the train station. Thor and I had been hiking off and on together since Erwin, TN, and it's hard to imagine a better hiking companion. His positive spirit in the face of the hardships of the trail epitomizes the AT thru-hiker. Since I'm not Thor, I feel I have the right to complain about this morning's conditions, which may have been the least pleasant of the trip so far. The combination of heat, humidify, bugs, and dead calm, and the fact that the trail continually ran through low-lying swampy areas made for a miserable walk. Looking on the bright side, the bugs were so bad I made great time, as I simply couldn't stop walking for fear of being eaten alive. As a result, I arrived at the Clarence Fahnestock State Park by 1:00 and treated myself to a burger and fries at the snack bar knowing I had just six more miles to go for the day.A few weeks ago when I had a particularly rough day in Pennsylvania and my resulting journal entry caused people to think I was quitting the trail, a section hiking trail angel in New York offered to put me up for the night when I passed through his state. I played that card today, and Mark (trail name "Plantman") picked me up at the RPH Shelter at 4:00 after a more pleasant last six miles. He drove me to the supermarket for a much-needed resupply and dropped me at his house before heading back out to pick up two other thru-hikers, Dallas and Left Turn, whom he'd been slack packing today. I'd first heard of Left Turn from Vicki, a trail angel in the DC area, and had even read some of her highly-popular trail journal, so it was nice to meet her in person tonight.Mark and his wife, Pat, have been hosting thru-hikers on a daily basis for several years, and he knows all the AT road crossings in New York east of the Hudson. They're vegans, so I feasted on several different vegetable dishes, including two bowls of excellent black bean chili, until I thought I was going to pop. Mark and Pat, your hospitality turned a challenging morning into a wonderful day.