morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-07-14
From: Wildcat Shelter

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

Little Wing here, freshly squeezed. The trail in NY has been beautiful but rugged, with a rollercoaster profile today over many steep piles of boulders. It would be great fun to hike in about 40-50 degree temperatures. Today reached into the 90's and, if it weren't for a couple of well placed springs in which I dunked my whole head, I'd be laying face down on the trail somewhere. I need to give a shout out to a couple of trail angles (Susan and John from the Bramerton Hiking Club and another anonymous angel) who left jugs of water and insect repellant at strategic locations. I'm not sure which is the more precious liquid these days - water or Deet. Thank you, angels!I am "freshly squeezed" because a highlight of today's hike was an interesting rock formation called the "Lemon Squeezer." Apart from the usual near vertical scramble up boulders the size of refridgerators, this stretch included a long narrow crevasse that hikers have to walk through. I made it through nearly the whole way with my pack on by walking sideways, then unloaded by pack on a boulder shelf near the end. People with larger packs than mine usually have to push them ahead.Over the past couple of days, I've noticed a red rash developing all over the front of my thighs, which seems to disappear overnight. It's not itchy (thank God)...just looks weird. Probably some combination of heat rash and Deet poisoning. For the record, I'll still take getting soaked by the rain over torched by the sun. Looking forward to the low mileage hike into town tomorrow to meet my friend Tom from NYC. He's driving over to pick us up somewhere in the vicinity of Fort Montgomery. Can't wait to give him a big ol' smelly, sweaty thru-hiker hug P.S., I thought of you today, Oly, as I clung to that steep wall and thought "How I am supposed to get up this?" Oh yeah, Oly said "turn left at the Lemon Squeezer just when you don't think you can go on." How right you were!
Date: 2006-07-15
From: Fingerboard shelter

To: Palisades Parkway
Miles today: 7.1

We figured out this morning why our shelter last night was curiously free of mosquitoes when dozens of bats flew back in to the rafters from their overnight forage. Waking up to bats circling my head would have bothered me once. Now I just wish I could convince these wonderful creatures to follow me all day and eat mosquitoes. It's 11AM and we are at a visitor's center along the busy Palisades Parkway waiting for my friend Tom to pick us up. We were more than happy to let Tom's visit give us an excuse to escape some of the day's heat with a shorter hike. Will spend today eating, washing ourselves and our clothes, doing a food resupply, and figuring out a way to break it to Tom that we want him to wake up at some unholy hour in the morning and put us back on the trail.Our short hike today took us over more steep piles of rocks and revealed another stunning scarlet tanger sitting on a rock right besides a brilliantly blue bluebird. Have also been seeing deer running through the woods...occassionally they stop to stare at us before bolting again.
Date: 2006-07-16
From: Palisades Parkway

To: Graymoor Friary
Miles today: 13.2

What an eventful 24 hours! After a yummy lunch with Tom in a loudly painted Mexican restaurant, we checked into our Fort Montgomery hotel, showered, and were patiently transported to all of our town chores. Then Tom wisked us away to New York City for the afternoon! I can't fully explain how surreal it was to go from the woods to the concrete jungle and then back to the woods again today. My brain is doing a double take..."Did I really see all that?" Tom works in a building right beside where the World Trade Center used to stand. From the 46th floor of his building, we were treated to an awe inspiring view of Ground Zero, the Manhattan skyline, and the Statue of Liberty. We topped off the day with a great meal at a Chinese restaurant. Tom, we can't thank you enough. Yesterday gave us just the lift that our sagging, overheated, mosquito-ridden spirits needed by giving us something other than trees and rocks to look at. Within our first few minutes on the trail this morning we ran into Old Drum and our first rattlesnake. The snake was about three feet long and not very pleased to see us. Every time one of us tried to walk by, it rattled angrily at us. After a 10-minute staring contest, we gave him wide berth and bushwacked around the trail. Enjoyed a relaxing lunch beside a lake in Bear Mountain - hundreds of families were also out picniking and enjoying the day. Not a cloud in the sky, it was very hot (90's), but a decent breeze saved the day. After following the trail as it wound through a small zoo, we walked across the Hudson River on Bear Mountain Bridge. Beautiful! This was sort of a special moment for me as the last time I passed by this bridge was beneath it as a kid on a sailboat with my parents. I'm sure my thrird grade self could not have conceived of a 40-year-old version of me walking across that bridge after nearly 1400 miles of hiking.Tonight I am tenting on the property of Greymoor Monastary. Took an ice-cold shower, which at first was shocking but soon felt refreshing. Before coming to the tenting area, Bama and I took a wrong turn which ended up more right than we ever could have imagined. We walked into a pavillion where an Italian family (whose English was quite broken) was having a picnic and they couldn't feed us enough once they discovered our AT "pilgrimage." Macaroni pie, fresh cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, cookies, coke. No need to cook my own dinner tonight. I was fed amply from the kindness of strangers on the grounds of a friary and will fall asleep to one of the other hikers playing a wooden Indian flute and the chapel bell tower chiming softly in the background. The AT brings one to amazing places.
Date: 2006-07-17
From: Graymoor Friary

To: RPH shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: few clouds

Today I learned that I can will myself not to throw up while hiking with heat exhaustion, a skill that might come in handy in the days and weeks ahead. The state of New York apparently issued a heat advisory from 1-7PM. Does this mean we shouldn't be climbing mountains with 30+ lbs on our backs? Three head soaks in streams and some phenomenal trail magic got me throgh the day. About 12 miles into our hike, we came across a highway and a lady sitting in the open back of her SUV with coolers full of lemonade, Gatorade, water, and brownies. "Are you Bama and Little Wing?" she asked as we approached. Her name is "Socks." She completed a thru-hike last year and she's been following our journals online, so she knew we'd be crossing that highway today. Personalized trail magic! The cold drinks and brownies helped get me through the next six or so searingly hot miles. Plus it was great to talk to her about the sections of the trail north of us, what to expect, etc. Thank you so much for your generosity, Socks! It was great to meet you.So with the oppressive heat beating on us all day, today's hike was nearly a 12-hour day, three hours longer than it would've taken under more tolerable conditions. The last two or three miles was like an out-of-body experience...I barely remember them. Since my body was so uncomfortable, I guess I decided to leave it mentally and watch my hike from above. About a mile from the shelter, I ran into Bama talking to a lady named "Ollie" who helps maintain this section of the trail. Get this: she had come to look for us to make sure we'd make it to the shelter because her local trail maintaining club was holding their annual hiker picnic tonight. That's annual. They do this ONE time per year and we just happened to be crawling into their shelter on that day. Crazy! So I was forced to re-enter my body and feast on grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta salad, fresh fruit, all kinds of veggies, chocolate cake, and cold soda.I'll tell you what...if I make it to that mountain in Maine, it will be in a large part due to the kindness of trail angels like those we met today. Time and time again, perfect strangers have revived my mind and my spirit. This thru-hike has given me a glimpse of humanity that will last the rest of my life. On a completely unrelated and less grand-scale note, we saw a family (flock? gaggle? murder?) of wild turkeys this morning... mom, dad, and about half a dozen kids. Mom and dad were HUGE!
Date: 2006-07-18
From: RPH shelter

To: Telephone Pioneers Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Another stinking hot day, but a swim in Nuclear Lake mid-afternoon helped bring me back from the dead. And now I have a healthy glow from the former nuclear fuels processing facility that once lined its banks.The highlight of the day was the personal tour of the AT given by "Elvis Trailsley" to show us the mile he's responsible for maintaining. He was at last night's picnic at the shelter and heard that we were early morning hikers. Since his home is located "400 steps" from the trail, he hiked out around 7:30 to greet us. He maintains his section of the trail impeccably! This man moves all those annoying rocks from the center of the trail and builds walls beside it with them. We need to send him to Pennsylvania! When we neared his home, he invited us to walk the 400 steps to sit by his pool and enjoy a cold drink. Needless to say, we were in heaven! Elvis has logged many thousands of AT miles and was great to talk to about his experiences on and off the trail. I was already practically hallucinating from the heat when we ran into Elvis, but left him with more of a spring in our step. Thanks Elvis!I looked at the trail we hiked over today in a different way since we met so many folks last night who maintain sections of it in this area. "Tomorrow you'll be walking over steps I built!" "You'll be on my switchbacks in two days!" It was obvious that these people take much pride and ownership over the portion of the trail they maintain. I whine and cuss about the heat, the rocks, the hard climbs, but I'm not putting in one tenth of the sweat labor that these folks are to maintain the trail we walk over. Humbling. (However, I reserve the right to continue whining and cussing as needed.) )
Date: 2006-07-19
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter

To: Wingdale NY
Miles today: 10.2

Easy miles and a bit cooler temps into Wingdale today. Just before our destination, the trail magic of all times greeted us. First we came across a couple of coolers full of cold drinks and yummy snacks. But the best part was the four LAWN CHAIRS surrounding the coolers. You can't imagine how special a chair has become...anything with a back to it is a very big deal out here. We weren't hungry, but we couldn't resist sitting in chairs in the middle of the woods (we are apparently very easily entertained these days). The trail magic was from Mac and Cheese, but it didn't stop there. Once we hit the road a few hundred feet away, "Mrs. Mac" drove up, picked us up, and took us to pick up our mail drops at the post office and then to their stunningly beautiful home in the country. She prepared us a fabulous lunch of grilled burgers, salad, and sauteed veggies and then ran Bama around on some errands while I stayed back to do our laundry and play on my trail journals site. When husband "Mac" came home we enjoyed an equally wonderful dinner of grilled chicken, fresh broccoli, and corn on the cob. We're spending the night here. I want to move in! Mr. and Mrs. Mac, I can't begin to thank you for all the hospitality you have shown us. Meeting you will certainly be remembered as one of the highlights of my journey.So I was sitting on their porch opening my maildrop box from Lauren when suddenly I'm tearing up and unable to speak. "What's wrong with you?" Bama asks. I show her the t-shirt that Lauren has made for me. She took a picture of me from my trail journals site and put it on a shirt along with all kinds of quotes from my journals over the past 3-4 months. I was SO moved. Kept mumbling "Oh my god, I wrote that." Besides the enormously sweet gesture of this gift, it really distilled four months of my journey for me. Every quote was connected to a memory, which was attached to a place and time somewhere in these past 1400 or so miles. Lauren, you completely rocked my world! All the food was awesome, too - just the kind of stuff I like, but frankly I can't get past this shirt! I sent it home (it would be shredded in a week out here) and asked Scott to take a picture of the front and back for the web site so everyone can see it. And in your honor, even though I do not consider myself a numbers person, I will hike with the soduko puzzles and do my best to figure them out in the shelters at night. I am not too optimistic about this, but maybe this old dog and learn a new trick. It's the least I can do for the woman who gave me the coolest shirt in the universe!
Date: 2006-07-20
From: Wingdale NY

To: Kent CT
Miles today: 11.5

Mr. and Mrs. Mac slack-packed us today so we could spend another wonderful evening with them. Temps were noticably cooler today, a breeze was blowing, and the lighter pack made the hike over Schaghticoke Mountain (the first mountain of substance in a couple weeks) a relative cake walk. We finished around 3PM and capped off the day with a dip in their swimming pool and a yummy fried chicken dinner. Life is very, very good.I am celebrating two milestones today: 1. We entered our 11th state: Connecticut2. A new fraction has been achieved: 2/3's done!Once again, through zero planning on my part, I have reached a geographical milestone that is completely in line (to the day) with my chronological 2/3 anniversary out here. Today marks the begining of month four of a six month journey. To actually walk by the two-thirds mile marker on the same day astounds me. How is this happening? We had a 2-mile day last week, for crying out loud! Think I will just keep following Bama since it seems to be working.I want to finish tonight's entry with a special farewell to a very special person. Tonya, I was thrilled to hear that you and Ben are on your way to Orlando. I know you both must have been on pins and needles this summer waiting for plans to get finalized. You have become much more than a colleague. I consider you a true friend. Our students, faculty, and test site liaisons will miss you so much, and what will UPO do without your sausage bread?I know my fall travels OFF the trail will take me to the Orlando area, so please email me the details on how to find you. Thank you for being such a wonderful person to work with and especially for hanging in there this summer. I know this is a crazy time of year for our program when we are all there, so this summer had to be extra "special." Remember when the hurricanes come, "T'aint nothin but pears!" Best of luck to you and Ben as you begin a new chapter in your lives!
Date: 2006-07-21
From: Kent CT

To: Pine Swamp Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 17.0

Has anyone but me noticed that this mountain climbing thing is a whole lot easier without full packs on?The transition from yesterday's day pack to my regular one laden with Lauren's goodies was an attention getter today. We've also entered New England now and the mountains are becoming more significant in size.Still, today five miles of our 17 were completly flat as we followed a path beside the Housatonic River. This should have been cause for celebration (Afterall, Flat Rocks!), but instead it nearly put me to sleep. Once we had to start climbing again, I was completely drained of energy for no reason other than boredom.Thankfully, a beautiful mountain stream saved me a few miles later. I soaked my feet and just breathed in the energy of the river while collecting and treating some water. I have developed an attachment to babbling brooks out here. They've rescued me dozens of times, especially during the past few weeks of scorching heat.A challenging roller-coastery five miles or so lay between that river and our shelter for the night. The terrain included an interesting walk between two huge boulders which could have been called "Son of Lemon Squeezer." Climbing up to that area, I experienced stupid fall #4. Don't know how a person manages to fall UP a mountain, but I did. The rocks were slick after a 20-minute rainstorm and my poles just went out from under me, causing my (heavier) pack to shift to one side and then the rest of me with it. I didn't hurt myself since I landed mostly on my pack. Put me in a fine mood, as did the deer flies that have now joined the mosquitoes and gnats in feasting on my body. When I reached the shelter, I decided to pitch my tent to get away from the bugs. Not ten minutes later, the skies opened up with a deluge.Y'know, sometimes the best thing you can say about a day is that it's nearly over.
Date: 2006-07-22
From: Pine Swamp Brook Lean-To

To: Salisbury CT
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: moderate rain

Today started out clammy, progressed to wet, then sopping wet, but now I sit in a dry laundromat in Salisbury CT with a belly full of linguini and clam sauce from the Italian restaurant next door. All's well that ends well.Bama and I walked through about an hour and a half of very heavy rain this afternoon. Boots squished with every step, rain drops dripped off my nose, and small frogs jumped ahead of me in the pools of rainwater forming on the trail. I was soaked to the bone, BUT for an hour or so I was not hot or chewed on by bugs. I decided to pretend I was scuba diving since that's an activity that also requires heavy stuff on my back and being wet. If hikers could just figure out how to achieve that weightless thing out here...We'd planned on hitting a shelter tonight but reconsidered after Bama checked out the trail to it and found a wet slippery, rocky, practically vertically steep slope the size of a three-story apartment building. Time for Plan B, which was the home of Maria McCabe (in Salisbury) who boards hikers. Hot showers, warm dry beds, a ride to dinner and laundry and the delightful company of Maria. Bama and I agreed that our decision to come here may have been the best thing we did all day.It's almost 8PM and still raining. The trail was begining to flood just from this afternoon's rain. We'll have to see what tomorrow morning brings us before deciding our next move. A southbound section hiker informed us today our entrance into Massachusetts tomorrow involves fording a stream that can be kind of perilous when the water is high from flooding. But of course! I haven't experienced the ford-a-stream-with-deer-flies-buzzing-in-my-ears-and-gnats-kamikazing-my-eyeballs-and-mosquitoes-chowing-down-on-the-rest-of-me challenge on Fear Factor yet. I guess the higher the water, the less of me will be exposed to bugs.
Date: 2006-07-23
From: Salisbury CT

To: Race Brook Trail Campsite
Miles today: 12.3

I hiked into state #11 today - Massachusetts - original home of my favorite city commissioner! We slept in some and took our time eating breakfast at Maria's this morning to give the trail some time to dry out. It rained much of last night. Got on the trail around 10AM, when it hit me. I wasn't sweating, insects weren't buzzing my head. I don't know if last night's rain ushered in a cold front, but today's temps were 65-70 degrees tops and it was relatively bug free! This made me exceedingly happy. We had some tough climbs today and even trickier descents, but the cool breeze that blew in at higher elevations was a slice of heaven. Because some of the descents were so steep and slippery (down a sheer rock face covered in wet slippery moss), I had to take my pack off twice and drop it down ahead of me. One climb involved a rope!The area around the CT/MA state line is called Sages Ravine and it's beautiful. The trail winds beside a gorgeous fast moving stream that features 8-foot waterfalls in places. What a pretty welcome to MA! We've choosen a campsite tonight off the beaten path mainly because the next two miles take us over Mt. Everett (not Everest), which is the second highest peak in MA on the AT (Mt. Greylock is first). With our later start this morning, it was past 5PM when we reached the base of Mt. Everett and we'd run out of steam after so much steap rock scrambling. Everett looked more like a first-thing-in-the-morning kinda mountain.Connecticut was a very pretty state with quaint towns and it was all just very... Connecticutty... towns featuring large homes with tea rooms and white picket fences. The AT shelters were nothing special, but we did notice that EVERY sign on the AT in CT matched...drab beigy green background with white lettering. Everything was just rather tidy and in its place.   Even the AT itself barely cuts through the upper left corner of the state, probably to keep the smelly unwashed hiker masses form infiltrating the rest of the the Truman Show set that is Connecticut.
Date: 2006-07-24
From: Race Brook Trail Campsite

To: Tom Leonard Lean-to
Miles today: 16.2

1500 miles! We started running into lots of southbounders today. They leave Maine much later than we start in Georgia to allow time for the black flies to pass. Today's hike was a study of contrasts. This morning's hike up Mt. Everett was beautiful. I'm so glad we saved it for the morning when we had the energy to enjoy it. First of all, it was nearly chilly this morning--60 degrees and breezy and not a cloud in the sky. I actually started wearing a jacket for warmth. A jacket! When we reached the top of Mt. Everett, the most stunning view greeted us. All the surrounding valleys were enveloped in a low hanging white fog and here and there mountain peaks poked through, like islands in a foamy white ocean. With the bright sun shining down on the fog, the scene was breathtaking. Between the cooler temps and stunning landscape stretched out before me, I thought "Now, THIS is the AT I signed up for!"Bizarrely though, minutes later we found ourselves boulder-scrambling down the mountain, then walking by open cornfields and then dark dense, lush woods with pine needle trails (in between rocks). We stopped at a fruit stand for lunch, where I elected to skip the vitamins and inhale an ice cream sandwich, a Dove bar, and a half gallon of milk. Dairy craving satisfied, we resumed our hike to tonight's shelter...and that's when someone flipped a switch to turn the heat and mosquitoes back on. (...though not at NJ levels yet). Massachusetts, she's a fickle state.I learned that "Why" is not a particularly productive question to ask out here...as in "Why am I still climbing UP at 5PM?" "Why does the trail lead over this steep cliff face when there is a kinder gentler route around it?" "Why won't Nature quit being so uncooperative and meet MY NEEDS?" The only answer I ever get is "Suck it up or go home." Nature can be a real bitch sometimes.