morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-06-21
From: Countryside Motel, Cold Spring, NY

To: Mountaintop Deli, NY Route 52
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 7 - Yes today, the longest day of the year, is known as 'Hike Naked Day' on all the long trails like the PCT and the AT. However when Spider asks ET each year if we were going to participate, all he gets a 'No way'!! We got up at 5:30 am and took showers (the last ones for a while!!), we finished packing our packs and went out to meet our taxi at 6:30am...and guess what, it was raining. Rain was forecast for overnight, but it was supposed to be done by now!! Oh well, on with pack rain covers.20 minutes later we hit the trail at 6:50am. Fortunately the rain was so light most of it was being trapped by the tree so very little was getting to the trail. We started out on a rocky trail with short ups and downs. It worked it's way around Canopus Lake then climbed to a view point where we took the attached picture. By this time the rain had stopped. Most of the time we are in a 'green tunnel¢ of trees, so it's nice to come to a view point periodically.After some rockier climbing we began following a dirt trail with very few rocks...it was nice to stride out for a change!! In fact today was the first time that the majority of the day we were on dirt trails vs rocky trails.Interestingly we only saw 2 hikers today, one northbound (the direction we are going) and one starting going southbound...and they were both clothed!! Before we got off the trail for our Zero Day, we were hiking with about a half dozen other hikers and see others at our camp spot each evening. Such is the idiosyncrasies of the AT.After starting out rainy, everything cleared out leaving us with blue sky. Consequently, the temperature ros to 85 degrees but the wind was blowing fairly hard so it felt cooler.We arrived at our destination, NY 52 at 4:30pm...not bad, over 12 miles in a little more than 9.5 hours. That's what a good trail will do for us!! We actually considered continuing on for about 4 miles to the next shelter but decided to stick to our schedule of a slow buildup of miles...to slowly strengthen muscles and toughen feet.So we walked 0.4 miles down to the Mountain Top Deli. They offer water and a tent spot for hikers.We bought a couple of cold drinks and sat outside the Deli and quickly downed them. Then we headed to a grassy field where we set up our tent. We actually had time to relax after a day's hike...a first for this trip so far!!At 6:30pm Spider walked back to the Deli for some sandwiches and drinks. When he returned, we sat next to our tent and ate dinner...including the brownie that somehow found its way into our dinner bag. As I write this, we are still the only ones here!
Date: 2016-06-22
From: Mountaintop Deli, NY Route 52

To: Telephone Pioneer Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: light rain

Day 8 - We awoke at 5:45am. It turned out that we were the only hikers who stayed in the grassy field. We packed up and, at 6:45am, headed to the deli. There we met another hiker who had slept behind the deli building. His Trail-name was Shrink because in "real" life he is a therapist.? We bought some breakfast at the deli and while we ate it, talked to Shrink. We finally pulled ourselves away and hit the trail at 7:30am.We hiked back up the road to the AT and began our first climb for the day. It was a nice trail for a while but eventually turned rocky. In fact it was very similar to yesterday's mix of ups vs downs and smooth vs rocky trail.One of the interesting things we walked by was a body of water called "Nuclear Lake". The story is that in the 1960s there was a nuclear fuels research center at the lake. They had an "accident" and were closed down in 1972. The area was remediated and declared safe, so the AT was routed by the lake. As we hiked by we were looking for any strange glow in the water or any abnormal birds or fish, but saw none...Whew!!We arrived at our destination at 4:45pm. To our surprise the water source, a small stream, was dry...Uh Oh!! While ET looked to see if there were places to set up our tent, Spider went down to the stream to see how bad it really was. When we got back together, the news wasn't good: no flat spots for tents and only small pools of standing water. Our dilemma was that there was a chance of rain so staying in the shelter had its advantages...but with no water, we had a problem. On top of that ET felt she didn't have the energy to make it 3 more miles to the next place to camp with water. So we decided to stay in the shelter and ration what water we had left. Our first time staying in a shelter for this trip! Spider decided to head further upstream to see if there was water there. After about 20 minutes of exploring he found a small pool of cold, clear water that had water flowing in and out...Whew!!We had the shelter to ourselves. Most hikers probably bypassed it because of no water. The attached shows us setting up in it.This shelter gets its name? from the local chapter of the Association of Telephone Pioneers who built it in 1988. They had the material flown in by a Sikosky Skycrane.Once again we saw few hikers today¢¦ only 4. We have found that, over time, thru-hikers (those hiking the entire AT in one season) get spread out but end up in groups or bubbles on the trail. I think we are between bubbles right nowAnimal sighting: small racer snake, frogs and Canadian Geese
Date: 2016-06-23
From: Telephone Pioneer Shelter

To: Ten Mile Lean-to Tent Area
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 9 - We slept OK in the shelter, though the wood floor was much harder than lawn we slept on the previous night. And the mosquitos were annoying. Fortunately, we neither saw nor heard any mice that are often "residents".We heard many trains during the night and ET twice heard what she thought was a pack of coyotes yipping, not howling, but yipping.It was nice having the place to ourselves. We awoke at 5:00 and were out at 6:07, without having to worry about keeping quiet for late sleepers.When we got down the hill from the shelter we came upon a huge oak tree, which you see ET standing next to in the photo. The AT guidebook says it's the largest oak tree (Dover Oak) on the AT, 20.4 feet in girth and estimated to be over 300 years old.Then for a complete change, we walked several miles along the edges of fields, climbing 3 stiles (imagine 2 wooden ladders propped against each other) over electric fences. This reminded us of our hiking in Pennsylvania two years ago. In between one set of fields, we walked on a raised boardwalk over a huge swampy area. We also stopped at a Native Plant Landscape business to get water and were invited inside to use a kitchen sink. Ah...true luxury.Back to the forest of trees and, fortunately, minimal rocks, we made good progress, averaging 1.5 miles per hour while hiking. We came upon another shelter just in time for second lunch. The shelter featured improvements such as tenting platforms made out of wood (great for rain), hand pump over a spring (for consistent water availability) and a lending library box!And next came the Connecticut state line. We are now hiking in our 10th state! It looks the same, except...trail angels have returned. We stopped at 2 ice chest stashes, one with water and apples and the second with soft drinks, chips and packaged pastries. Yummmm! We had just been talking about how, except for a couple water caches, we had not seen much in the way of Trail Magic in New York. Now Connecticut is looking good!!We decided to tent instead of shelter at the next shelter, because there was a specifically designated tenting area. Turns out it was right on the river, flat and beautiful. We arrived at 4:30pm. ET set up the tent (her usual chore) and Spider got water (his usual chore). He chose to walk back to the shelter and get water from the spring using the hand pump provided, rather than take water from the river. Then we took turns soaking our feet in the river. It was revitalizing!!We only saw 1 hiker heading our way today and it was someone we had met in our first shelter, Wildcat Shelter, his trail name is Manatee. He had taken a couple days off to visit family and this was his first day back on the trail.Major milestone: Finished hiking 9th state out of 14
Date: 2016-06-24
From: Ten Mile Lean-to Tent Area

To: Stewart Hallow Brook Shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 10 - We attempted our biggest miles so far on this trip and made it...but it took us 13.5 hours. We started at a campsite next to the Housatonic River and ended at a campsite on the Housatonic, but in between we climbed up over 1000 feet.We got up at 5am and hit the trail at 6am?. At first it was a fairly easy forest and road walk, but then we started to climb Schaghicoke Mountain and things got ugly, steep and lots of granite steps and boulder hopping. We climbed 1000 feet then contoured the side of a ridge for several miles. But this was not an easy contour because it included many little ups and downs over boulders. The last major climb was to Caleb's Peak. That is where today's photo was taken. From a view point on Caleb's Peak we could see Schaghicoke Mountain and the route we had come.?Soon after Caleb's Peak Came St. John's Ledges. This was a nearly vertical drop from the mountain to the Housatonic River...and we get down it! The AT engineer found a rock fall and added a few steps in places and that became the AT! One of the most vertical descents we have made so far. ET slide down rocks on her butt many times. Once down, we breathed a sigh of relief and had a nice flat walk along the Housatonic to our campsite. We arrived at 7:30pm...Maybe we should have picked a different terrain to do 15+ miles!! Ironically we thought we had arrived late. Over the next hour 4 thru-hikers wandered into camp. A hardy group, these thru-hikers!Major Milestone: We passed 100 miles today¢¦ only 400 to go!!
Date: 2016-06-25
From: Stewart Hallow Brook Shelter

To: Sharon Mountain Campsite
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 11 - We awoke at 5:10 am and were on the trail by 6:20am. We continued our level walk along the Housatonic River and made very good time...then we started our first climb of the day. We had lots of ups and downs today...700 feet up, 300 feet down, then 400 feet up and so on. Most of the climbs we rocky, but the climb up some no-name became a scramble and soon we were going through a slot akin to the Lemon Squeezer we went through on Day 3..as you can see in the attached picture. After that, more ups and downs!!As you might imagine, even though we were the first out of camp this morning, we were quickly passed by the 4 thru-hikers that had tented with us... Ah youth!! However a young couple out for a weekend backpacking trip, started yo-yo-ing with us, i.e. passing us when we took a break, then we would pass them when they took a break. So there is somebody our speed. At one of our passings we struck up a conversation and found out they were going to the same campsite we were. However they said that, even though all maps and books say there is water at the site, it has dried up. Apparently they are having an unusually dry year and many of the streams have dried up, which we have noticed in New York and now in Connecticut. So now what? Do we 1) stop at an earlier shelter that has water and make tomorrow a 15+mile day...or 2) do we water up at the previous shelter and haul it about 2.5 miles to our planned destination ...or 3) do we make this a 15+ mile day and hike on to the next shelter and hope it's water source is not dried up. We decided on option #2.We arrived at Sharon Mountain Campsite at 5pm, with the young couple arriving a few minutes later. Spider explored further up the dry creek bed with hopes of finding running water like at Telephone Pioneers Shelter, but no luck. By the time he returned, the campsite area was mostly full. Hikers had been pouring in. You can always tell when it's a weekend.
Date: 2016-06-27
From: Home of Vanessa Breton, Salisbury, CT

To: Home of Vanessa Breton, Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 13 - ET took advantage of the Zero Day and slept in until 7:45am... Spider was up earlier enjoying a change to read. Once up and dressed, the first order of business was to find a place for breakfast!! It turns out there was Bistro across the street that served a great breakfast, in our wandering to the Bistro we found the nearby Post Office, grocery store and General Store. Unlike our last Zero Day where we had to walk a mile or 2 for anything, everything we need is a block or 2 away!!After breakfast, we went to the Post Office and our box of food for the next week was there, Wahoo!! Also there was a package with a second battery for Spider\\'s phone. This will allow him to have enough power for the upcoming 8 days of hiking to continue to Journal.Then back to our room to make phone calls to friends and family and to relax. ET went and bought a shirt to be her 'clean' town shirt. By then it was time to eat again... so off to the Bistro we went!!After lunch we hit the grocery store and bought a few items to supplement our meals. For this next section...then back to our room. Pretty exciting day, Huh? But that is what we like to do after being on our feet over 10 hours each day for the last week.We relaxed some more, catching up on email and a few more phone calls. Then it was dinner time so we walked to White Hart hotel for another wonderful meal. On our walk there we spotted a couple hikers that are also staying at Vanessa's. Today they did the hike we plan on doing tomorrow. We quizzed them on quality of the trail and availability of water...this? is what the hiker community is all about.After dinner, we returned to our room and began to prepare for 8 days of hiking¢¦ Ugh!!Health and Wellness evaluation: Our original blisters seem to be healing, but Spider has a new on on his right foot. Our knees were complaining more coming into this Zero Day ?than the last and ET has a thigh bruise courtesy of a boulder.
Date: 2016-06-29
From: Home of Vanessa Breton, Salisbury, CT

To: Mt. Wilcox South Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

Day 15 - We awoke to our last and extra morning at Vanessa's home. It had rained overnight and we were happy to not be packing a wet tent. We'd arranged with Vanessa for a 6:00 AM shuttle back to Mass. 41 (road where we completed the hike from the day before). She dropped us off to begin our day's hike at 6:30.With our newly restocked and thus heavy packs, we enjoyed several miles of walking along fields and up and down small sections of forest lands. We also walked through many boggy sections on wooden planks, batting away mosquitos. Eventually we reached the Housatonic River again. (Its origin is Massachusetts.)After two hours, we began looking for a good breakfast stop. The corridors along the edges of the fields were too buggy, so we trudged along until we got to our bridge over the Housatonic. At its base was a perfect picnic spot, free of bugs. (No mosquitos in a flowing river.) It was sad to see a sign warning people/fisherman not to eat the fish, as they were loaded with PCB's.After almost 5 miles of near-flat striding, we finally had to begin our first climb for the day. We had left the Taconic Range yesterday when we descended Jug End (we had been in them through all of Connecticut) we are in the Berkshires now and generally higher in elevation. We've noticed more pine trees in the mix, plus more ferns and birches.The trail continued to include some rocky and rock-face challenges, but less often. We enjoyed the abundance of forest tread. The photo for the day shows a huge rock wall that we passed. Like some of the others we noticed in the last couple of days, it seemed incredibly fractured. We passed another set of ledges and very fractured rocks marked on the map, presumably for climbers.Our goal for the day was a shelter with a tenting area and spring. We arrived at 6:45PM and found most of the tenting area filled with a group of dads and young boys, maybe 10-12 years old. They made a lot of noise, but did quiet down at hiker's midnight - 9PM. On our zero day, Spider had put out a query on "WhiteBlaze" (online hiker forum to which he belongs). He asked about water at this shelter and was assured that it was still running. It was...a spring, hidden in some rocks. He used a scooper to get the water and his handkerchief to filter the water into our water bag. We treated it with iodine as usual.We set up camp and cooked dinner while more and more hikers came in. The shelter (which was actually two shelters with a privy between), also had a bear box, which was completely filled with everyone's food bags by the end of the evening. To bed at hiker's midnight on the dot.Milestone: 150 miles achieved today; 350 to go.Animal sightings: little red salamanders like we saw in states south, on rainy days
Date: 2016-06-30
From: Mt. Wilcox South Shelter

To: Stealth camp at Merry Brook
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: clear sky

Day 16 - We allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in, with a planned 12 mile day. (Two weeks ago, that seemed tough. But after 18 then 15 mile days, it seemed short!).Up at 6:30 and out at 7:45, which included breakfast in camp. We were the last thru/section hikers out, but ahead of the boys and dads taking up most of the camp.The trail started out steeply, continuing the climb from the day before. After that, we enjoyed an easy walk with the extra pleasure of walking along a beaver-dammed pond shown in the attached photo.Eventually, we descended on long, sweeping switchbacks, on forest duff tread. What a treat! A thru-hiker-type jogged right on by.Interestingly, we came to a special area called the Tyringham Cobble Reserve. It had special rules posted that included no camping and no entering after dark. We wondered how many thru-hikers obey the rules. Who stops to read such long lists of rules anyway, besides ET?As we hiked along a valley, we encountered endless boggy areas with thick, wooden, raised planks for navigating. When we had to cross the valley, the planks turned into a long boardwalk, winding, rising, lowering, all quite high above the swamp. Mosquitos were a constant nuisance. Out came the Deet at our next break. We have been surprised by the amount of boggy areas we have encountered since entering Massachusetts.At end the day, we climbed a steep trail up to the top of the next ridge. (The trail so far in MA has undulated mostly between 1500-2000 feet in elevation.) We had planned to continue for another mile or so, seeking a spring that Spider had read about in his research. But after a half mile, we came across a running stream with a beautiful campsite nearby. We couldn't resist, even if it meant adding a mile to the next day's hike. We were going to stealth camp anyway.
Date: 2016-07-01
From: Stealth camp at Merry Brook

To: October Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: few clouds

Day 17 - We awoke at 5am but didn't get out until 6:30am because it was laundry morning. Since we are out for 7 days, we don't carry enough? things like socks and underwear for that many days¢¦ it would be too heavy. So we carry several pair and rinse them out along the way. You can always tell a long distant hiker by the laundry hanging from their packs to dry. That was Spider today!We started on a fairly rocky trail with short ups and downs. Spider felt something wasn't right with his pack, but toughed out for 2 hours until our first break. When he had a chance to closely examine his pack, he found the aluminum stays of the internal frame were coming loose allowing the pack to sag on Spider's shoulders. Now what?Being a former Boy Scout leader, Spider was prepared! He pulled out the small repair kit and used some wire to repair his pack. So what else is in the repair kit besides wire: Superglue, duct tape (of course) and large safety pins. Unfortunately, the repair lost us an hour, so now we needed to hustle. One of the interesting things we did today was cross over I-90 on a bridge specially built for the AT to cross the Interstate. The attached picture is of ET on the bridge.This freeway is like an old friend, much like I-80 was when last year when we crossed it at Delaware Water Gap, because both have a connection to the West Coast. We remember crossing I-90 at Snoqualamie Pass in Washington when we were hiking the PCT.Today's trail was a lot of small ups and downs, rocky or boggy. The more important thing was the skies, they were clouding up. The weather report 3 days ago was for rain tomorrow, but as the skies continued to darken, we suspected the forecast had changed. We made it to our destination shelter at 5:30pm. According to the other hikers already in the shelter, big rains were due overnight, so we opted to sleep in the shelter. At 6pm it started to rain. Good decision!!
Date: 2016-07-02
From: October Mountain Shelter

To: Crystal Mountain Campsite
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 18 - We were awakened in the middle of the night by the pounding of rain on the metal we of the shelter. Since we were sleeping in the loft, the noise was very close to us!! The rain was accompanied with rolls of thunder. Boy am I glad we decided to stay in the shelter!!?We awoke at 5:30am to a partly cloudy sky and temperatures in the high 50's, the coldest morning we have experienced so far. We tried to quietly move our gear to an area away from the shelter to not disturb the other occupants. We hit the trail at 6:30am.As with our previous outing after a rain, the rocks and roots were slippery. Fortunately we weren't going up or down mountains this time, but stayed fairly flat. However we still had to watch our step to keep from falling. In addition, a lot of the first part of the day was spent negotiating wooden planks over muddy, boggy area.After about 10 miles of bogs, we finally descended into the town of Dalton, MA. The plan was to eat a "real" lunch in town and pick up a few supplies and then continue on to our planned destination campsite. 1 hour and 45 minutes later we finally left Dalton! It was so nice to sit in an air conditioned pub and enjoy our eats and drinks! Spider has always called towns vortexes. They suck you in and it's hard to leave all that they offer.Once finally out of town, we started a 1000 foot climb to our campsite, on full stomachs!! Along the way we spotted the garter snake you see in the attached picture. Spider had seen several of these before. This one posed for his picture.We finally arrived at our campsite at 6:15pm...less than 12 hours to hike over 16 miles. We're getting better!!One of the people in camp was a Ridge Runner. These are people, hired by the state to travel in the back country, to monitor the trails and shelters. Massachusetts has 2 ridge runners. They are great information providers, so Spider was quizzing him on the water situation at the upcoming shelters we will be staying at.It stayed cool and blustery all day, so tonight may be our first cold night.Major Milestone: We passed 200 miles today, only 300 miles to go to finish this section