morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2021-06-20
From: Warwick Drive-in

To: Stealth site by Cascades Brook
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: fog

Because of the rain last evening we didn¢t get to resupply before the movie, so we had to go this morning. We are so sick of tuna/chicken packets and flour tortillas at lunch! We wandered the aisles trying to find something else for lunch. We¢re going to try cheese and crackers and hotdogs.We went back to the drive-in and packed up and texted Someday. We got back on trail about 10:45am.It was rough going. There were big boulders to climb and jump over. I really liked that but David was having a terrible time because of his knee. He couldn¢t bend it more than 45 degrees so it was hard to climb. We came to one section with metal rungs to climb. That was hard for him too. We did cross the NY/NJ border! It was painted on a flat rock that we walked across. Someone had also erected an American flag on a pole made from a tree at the top of one of the views. It was a beautiful sight. We hiked until about 4pm and David just couldn¢t go on anymore. Dark clouds were rolling in and we could hear thunder. We finally found a flat spot by Cascades Brook to set up camp. Stealth spots so far have been extremely rare in NY. We set up camp. It was dark and really humid. The mosquitoes were really bad too. At 5pm the rain came.We hiked 5-1/4 hours but had only gone 6.6 miles. NY is going to be tougher than we thought.
Date: 2021-06-21
From: Stealth site by Cascades Brook

To: Warwick Drive-in
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke at 5:14am. It was a little bit cooler but extremely humid. The tent was dry for the most part after yesterday¢s rain. We had set up the tent at 4pm and hung the food bags at 5pm and then I went to sleep. I slept solid until 5:14am! Twelve hours! David, on the other hand, did not. His knee hurt and was still swollen and he was worried about further injury hiking 10-12 hours a day with 35 pounds on his back. We had cold cereal with powdered milk (just add water!) for breakfast. Today is Naked Hiking Day and, boy, would the mosquitoes love that! I¢d be nothing but a giant welt if I hiked naked today! I guess that will be another year. :)It took several hours to hike the 3 miles to the Route 17A trailhead. We walked up the road to a parking area and got there just as a trail angel was dropping off a hiker. She asked if we needed a ride into town. Her name was Laurie. She drove us to Warwick and to the only hotel they have but it was closed. We had her drop us at the library. We sat outside the library and had a heart-to-heart talk. We have just started retirement and are having serious feet and knee problems on this hike. Do we push on and possibly cause more damage or do we stop? The next day is 80% chance of rain. That means wet trails and rocks. We have so many other plans of things we want to do and I don¢t want an injury now to ruin them. Maybe we are just 500-600 mile at-a-time hikers? We still love hiking and want to one day finish our AT thru-hike. As our daughter, Mackenzie, said ¢Right now, family is your Mt Katahdin.¢ Just like Mt Katahdin is the goal of thru-hikers, right now being with family is our goal. We really want to hike the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine. We will section hike until we finish the AT. We called Megan and Mackenzie and told them our plans. They support us and will come on Tuesday to pick us up. We stayed at the library for several hours and then took the little town shuttle over to the Shop Rite, walked up to the drive-in and set up our tent. There were 21 tents here tonight!We had a calzone for dinner at Luca¢s and a cider at Penning¢s before heading back for the movie. Rain is due again tonight (of course!) so I don¢t know how much of the movie we will get to see. We want to watch ¢Quiet Place 2¢. This has not been an easy decision and we thank everyone who has followed and supported us on this journey. Your messages and texts kept us going and we love you all. To my SDMS family, your retirement gift of the carabiner with the compass always made me a smile and pointed me true north. You are the best. To our girls, thank you for being there, for supporting us and loving us through all our crazy adventures. We couldn¢t have done this without you.(We hiked 509.4 miles this trip, duplicating 80 miles that we had already hiked in 2019 from Carlisle to Hamburg,PA.)
Date: 2021-09-12
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

So here¢s the plan: Tomorrow, Sept 13, we are going to start where we left off in 2019. Brushy Mountain Outpost in Bland, VA. We plan to hike to Hwy 250 at Rockfish Gap. That will be about 250 miles, give or take. We figure 25-30 days, at the most.Coffeebean¢s knee is better. He ended up getting a cortisone injection to clear up the swelling for good and help with the bursitis. I still have the heel spur or calcium deposit or whatever the heck it is on my right heel, but oh well. I feel better hiking on the trail than walking around on concrete. My boots have great arch support, per the physical therapist that I worked with for a bit. So we shall see! Lord willing and the creek don¢t rise, we will be sleeping on the AT this time tomorrow night!
Date: 2021-09-14
From: Brushy Mountain Outpost, Bland VA

To: South of Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 8.96
Weather: clear sky

So we had originally planned to get back on trail yesterday, but things came up. Today Kenz will pick us up at 10AM and we will head to Bland, VA and the Brushy Mountain Outpost (mile marker 591.8). The weather looks good for the next few days (Yay!). I will add more tonight. Wish us luck and stay tuned. :)Well, the first few days on the trail are killer and today was no different. We got to Bland about 12:45 and ate a quick sandwich for lunch. We started towards the trail about 1:05. We had to road walk about 15-20 minutes before hitting dirt. Of course, the way out was straight up Brushy Mountain. Within a few hours my heel was killing me and I felt exhausted. It was frustrating to feel so tired.We were short getting to the shelter. I was just too tired and in too much pain to make it the 11 miles. We hiked 8.9 and found a stealth site and set up camp. Water is very scarce! Luckily someone left some jugs of water by the trail at a parking area we crossed. There was a little left in one jug. We will have to hike 4 miles tomorrow to find water. Dinner will be protein bars. No steak and lobster tonight!The leaves are just starting to turn and there were some pretty yellow and red leaves on the trail. A couple more weeks and it will he beautiful.
Date: 2021-09-15
From: Stealth campsite north of VA 611 parking area 

To: Stealth campsite 
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: overcast clouds

So as I hike the next day I remember lots of things I forgot to mention in my blog the night before. So here are a few. We came upon a large pile of animal scat. Not sure what the animal was that left it but it had definitely been partying in a farmer¢s cornfield. Almost all the scat was corn hulls. Just before setting up camp yesterday we met a couple of flip-floppers. They were southbound. We forgot to ask their names. Today we woke 6-ish and were on the trail by 7:37. Breakfast was a power bar split between us. We were hoping to have a good breakfast once we found water. We were told that the shelter had no water but there was a small stream about half a mile after. We also met a couple of southbound (SOBO) thru-hikers. They had started at Mt. Katahdin on June 4th and were heading to GA. span class="Apple-converted-space"> The webs are so obnoxious! Every other step I¢m wiping webs off my face. I wondered if they had stayed at the shelter.  The answer was ¢yes¢ because one step past the shelter sign and I had web face!Finally found water! It was a stream with a few shallow pools. We has to use a cup to scoop the water but we didn¢t care. Coffeebean had cereal and powdered milk. I had chocolate Instant Breakfast with powdered milk. I also had a Nature Valley Coconut Biscuit. That was really good! After cameling up and filling our bottles we started off again. We met SOBO ¢Delicate Flower¢ and his beautiful black German Shepherd. I wish I had asked how he got that name! He mentioned a stream coming up to get water. Don¢t know what his idea of a stream is because it was a river to us! Started filtering water and the water cut down to a trickle coming out if the filter!! We are 1-1/2 days out of Parrisbug where we can buy a new filter. I do have some water purifying tablets as a backup. The water doesn¢t taste the greatest but it will have to do. We had alot of walking, in the afternoon, through trees/shrubs of rhododendrons. It went on for miles. It¢s very pretty and you definitely feel like you are walking in a green tunnel, but campsites are few and far between. The rhoddies have such big roots that it¢s hard to find a flat place that isn¢t lumpy. We were lucky to find one today though! We got camp set up just before the rain started. We have no service here so I will have to post this tomorrow. Also we can¢t check the weather. Last time Coffeebean checked it, it was 60% chance of rain on Thursday. :(We hiked 13.2 miles today. Working up to at least 15 a day.
Date: 2021-09-16
From: Stealth campsite 

To: Doc Knob Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

Coffeebean did not sleep well so we slept in and did not get on trail until 9am. We finally had hot chocolate to drink for breakfast instead of just power bars. We stopped in a stealth site and set up camp just before the rain started so it was another night of protein bars for dinner. Had a killer uphill that had us both panting and taking lots of 5 minute breaks on the way up. Finding water is still really hard and once we do it takes forever to filter because our filter is down to a trickle. After getting up the hill, the ridge hiking was terrible. I don¢t think trail maintenance has been done here in many months. The undergrowth covers the trail alot and we felt like we were bushwacking alot of the time. There were also alot of rocks. At least they were flat, large but flat, so it made it easier to walk on. We were now out of water and getting desperate. Guthook said that the next shelter had water. We stopped for a snack and heard thunder. We got rain gear on and the rain started. Luckily it wasn¢t a hard rain and only lasted a short time. We finally got to Doc Knob Shelter about 7:15pm. It was a nice with a big porch and picnic table. There was a small white pipe under the porch with water trickling out. It was small but steady. We had no water and could have drunk a gallon each. I was able to fill 2 platys in about 20 minutes. We had our first hot meal on trail. Mashed potatoes and freeze dried lasagna. Steak and lobster couldn¢t have tasted better! I put the last of the Aquaphor pills in one of the platys. Later when Coffeebean asked me which platy, I wasn¢t sure. (head slap!)It got to be about 8pm and no one else showed up so I pitched the tent inside the shelter. I saw too many giant daddy long legs spiders to know that I wouldn¢t sleep unless I was in the tent. Coffeebean hung his stuff over the porch railings to try and dry it overnight. He is always totally soaked at the end of the day. We were able to put in 13.8 miles today, so silver lining.
Date: 2021-09-17
From: Doc Knob Shelter

To: Pearisburg 
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Coffeebean did not sleep well again. He is always very tired at the end of day but he¢s overly tired and can¢t fall asleep.We had a cold breakfast. While I packed ip he filtered water. It took over an hour to filter 2-1/2 liters of water. (This normally takes 5 mins.) That would have to hold is until we got down the mountain and hit Pearisburg. Everything that had been hung out was soaked. The dew was really heavy and it was also very foggy. We got on trail about 10 minutes to 9. More ridge walking but not as overgrown. We found a sign of spring water .02 miles down a side trail. We both started down the trail but then we dropped our packs and CoffeeBean went the rest of the way with 2 platys. He came back and said there was a nice campsite by the stream. The water was clear and coming out of the ground. We decided it was probably clean and we were so thirsty, so we drank it unfiltered and ate a snack. If we start growing horns or something, you know why. Finally got down the mountain. There were  switchbacks but also alot of loose gravel. We walked into Pearisburg and got a room at the Holiday Lodge. The TV wouldn¢t work so I picked up the phone to call the front desk, but there was no phone cord! So I had to walk down to the front desk to ask for help. We also had to move lamps around in the room so there was light. The ceiling light didn¢t work. What a gem of a hotel. We went over to eat dinner at El Barranca. It was good and very filling. We also got a text from a fellow hiker that we had met on the trail up north. Her name is Spirit. She came over and we talked for over an hour! It was so great to see her! Back at the room Coffeebean calculated that we hiked 8.4 miles today walking the trail and 9.6 walking into town.
Date: 2021-09-18
From: Pearisburg 

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

My feet are a wreck. My boots are still wet, inside and out. I had hoped to get these last 250 miles out of them but that is not going to happen. I have walked over 1300 miles in this pair of boots. They have earned their retirement. I¢m thinking of trying trail runners. You can get them in high top (to protect your ankles) and they definitely dry faster. Also, Coffeebean says he is ¢just not feeling it.¢ He walks all day in wet clothes, hangs them up ¢to dry¢ (which, of course, they don¢t because of the heavy morning dew), and then puts on wet clothes in the morning chill. It is not fun. We are here to have fun and enjoy this experience. We will come back in the spring and resume where we left off. Until then I will look at new boots. We will definitely get a new water filter. And maybe we can find, at least, a shirt that will dry better when Coffeebean perspires. Thank you for following us and supporting us. We can feel the love. We WILL be back!Love, Happy Feet and CoffeeBean
Date: 2021-09-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I have been looking forward to this hike for several years. It starts where I left off last Fall on the Appalachian Trail (AT) in Caratunk, Maine, a mere 145 miles from the northern terminus. It ends just 9 miles short of the norther terminus, at the entrance of Baxter State Park. It¢s a 135-mile section that I hope to complete in 9 days. I hope to summit Mt. Kathadin on day 10. It will be the longs continuous days hiked on the trail. Upon completion I will have hiked the northern half of the 2,200-mile-long trail over five years of hiking 1¢2-week sections at a time.Preparation for this trip started later than I hoped because of health reasons and laziness. I gained approximately 25 lbs. since the end of my hike last Sept, due to over-eating during sinus infections and lack of exercise and diet. I started dieting 7 weeks before this hike and was happy to have lost 20 lbs! I hope to lose 5 more lbs. over the next 3 weeks.I picked up some new equipment this spring to help with the hike. I bought a 60-liter ultra-light backpack, a bear proof cannister and a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). This new pack is nearly half the weight of my old pack. The bear cannister adds that weight back. However, it saves me time from having to hang bear bags at campsites. It will also come in handy next year if I hike out west because they are required out there. My PLB will signal an immediate rescue effort if needed over reliable GPS. Twice last year during foul weather I felt like my life would have been in danger if I got off the trail along exposed ridges. This device will ensure a safe return if that happens. It also claims to work in any weather condition. The reviews back that claim up.I¢m really looking forward to driving up to central Maine 10-11 days of arguably the most scenic hiking in the Northeast, good exercise, being one with nature, doing yoga daily, and sharing stories with fellow hikers. I hope to avoid injury, have good weather, test out my new pack, and most importantly: my family stays safe while I¢m away. I'm driving up tomorrow, the day before I start hiking, and will not include those details in my journal. In summary, I'm driving from central CT to Caratunk, ME, approximately 350 miles over 6 hours. I'm staying at the Sterling Inn, a Hiker hotspot in Caratunk, about a mile south of the trail.
Date: 2021-09-12
From: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to

To: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: clear sky

I woke up to nearly perfec weather conditions The temperature was in the mid-50s with a light breeze which kept the mildew off my tent. I made some coffee and joined the other hikers fireside. We told a few more stories shared some experiences and laughed. I packed up and got on the trail at about 8:00 a.m. By 9:30 I had climbed up over a thousand feet elevation to the summit of Moxie Bald Mountain. It was partly cloudy. Nevertheless the views were present. I found a resting spot just on the northern side of the summit where I could rest and enjoy the view and a snack. The hike down from the summit was pleasant and easing going. I met a southbound hiker with a trail name of no-name, who was really enjoying his hike. I hiked thru a beautifully wooded trail to a stream. I stopped for a snack, a brief rest and watch some ducks swim on by through this beautiful wooded stream. After a brief rest I hiked 4 more miles to the West Branch of the Piscataquis River this is the first river that I would have to forward. I opted to take my pants off, put my flip flops on and walk about 30 yards across knee deep water. After drying off on the other bank I continued northbound toward the east branch of this river which I knew I would have to also afford. Other than the hiker that I met this morning I haven't seen anyone else on the trail today. I can conclude that these two and a half days would be the most peaceful parts of my entire trip. I'm really enjoying the peace and quiet. The next two miles were eight somewhat pleasant riverwalk along the same river that I'd crossed earlier. Unfortunately it was riddled with pointless ups and downs which reminded which were often over 100 ft up and down a half dozen times. If I had hiked that section in the morning I would have considered to be a lot of fun and actually thanked the trail designers but it was late in the day my legs. I was very,btired thirsty and I just wanted to get the campsite. I arrived at the the lean to at 3:45 p.m. It took me about 20 minutes to go down to the river get my water and come back. Time to set up a tent next to the lean to. After setting up my 10 and sleeping pad Quinn had a fire going. I Cooked dinner by the fire pit and talked. We then did some stretching and some yoga. He's into Thai art form where you rotate two bags around you with some rope. It looks similar to Tai chi that's his form of therapy on the trail. I got ready for bed and got to sleep shortly after 8:00 after night fall. It was the end of another near perfect day. I can't wait to find out what surprise is tomorrow has for for me. Good night.
Date: 2021-09-13
From: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to

To: ME Route 15
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: clear sky

I awoke at the break of dawn to a calm and peaceful morning. It took an hour to make breakfast and break camp. I got on the trail at 7:00 a.m. Shortly after getting on the trail I met a through hiker heading northbound named Boo Boo. He was hiking faster than me so he was able to clear all the spider webs from the trail in front of me which was a pleasant surprise. I arrived at the East Branch of the Pesquatecut River and once again had to take my pants off to cross it. The water was cold but very refreshing. I look forward to taking some time off in 100 mile wilderness to swim in the cold water sources along the way. It's really peaceful sitting on the other bank of the river, feeling safe, dry and enjoying the sounds of the birds as a sun rises from the east. The next several miles were relatively flat and peaceful. I had the trail to myself and could hear no man-made sounds. I knew that in a few miles I would be approaching the road to Monson heading back to civilization. Fortunately I'll be starting the 100 mile wilderness tomorrow. I really look forward to that. I took a 10:00 a.m. break about 3 mi from the highway that leads to Monson. When I get there I'll hitchhike back to Cratunk. I've been told by numerous sources including residents of Maine it's known as the hitchhiker state. Hence if you have a backpack the chances are very good a car will stop and give you a ride. I confirm that last fall when it did some hitchhiking up here. I should get back to Monson by late afternoon in time to unwind and relax at the Shaw's Hiker Hostel. The last three miles this morning we're also very calm and peaceful. The terrain was relatively flat with the one hill which led to an awesome view looking east out toward the first 100 mile wilderness. I made it to the highway before noon and started hitching a ride south back to Caratunk. It took about 2 hours to hitch back and an hour to drive to Monson. I quickly grabbed my bed in the bunk room and took a hot shower. I posted my first 2 days on Trail journals. The general store clerk made me a nice turkey sandwich for dinner. I ate it at the Hostel and met a dozen hikers that we're also hiking the same route as me. In hiker lingo hikers that stay together are called a Tramily. I hope some of them hike at my place so I have someone to talk to. One man had just completed his hike and returned back to the Hostel. His group made it to the summit minutes before the clouds rolled in. On the way down they got caught in a thunderstorm and we're pelted by hale. Quite the epic ending IMO. We told stories by the fire while drinking beer. I got to bed by 10:00 and slept well dreaming of the 100 MIle Wilderness.