morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-05-26
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Bailey Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: light rain

The rain has returned. The forecast called for scattered showers, but it basically rained all day. But as we've seen previously, the rain does seem to motivate us and we made pretty good time all day.I've had the oddest food craving all day today: canned peaches. No idea why. And not fresh peaches either, just the canned wedges in the sugary syrup. I'll have to remind myself to buy a can at the next town stop.
Date: 2009-05-27
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: overcast clouds

More rain. Not as constant as yesterday, but often enough to be irritating. These new shoes don't give my toes as much room to wiggle around as the old ones did and I'm discovering that hiking all day with wet socks is rubbing raw spots on the tops of the toes. Not good. It's been a while since I've mentioned the shoes. Thankfully after a hundred miles or so they broke in and the arch pain subsided. I do still have some numbness in the middle three toes on the right foot, but it's hard to tell whether to blame that on the shoes or just normal thru-hiking abuse.
Date: 2009-05-28
From: Laurel Creek Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

After making it all night without doing so, it started to rain on us just as we began hiking this morning. But after a not terribly long time it stopped, and then the fog lifted, and over the course of the next couple hours the skies brightened. Then the sun even came out for a bit...until the thunderstorms rolled in. The first one hit Pickle and I as we were making our way across an exposed ridgeline. We scooted across the rocks as fast as we could, and thankfully the storm blew through quickly. Currently it's 7:00pm, and I'm trapped in my tent listening to another one blow through.Hopefully this weather breaks overnight. I'm really tired of hiking in wet socks.
Date: 2009-05-29
From: Niday Shelter

To: Campsite near VA 624
Miles today: 16.8

We are camped on a culvert, over a drainage ditch /stream right next to a road. Definitely the sketchiest campsite of the trip, but we ran out if daylight and couldn't find any better options on a scouting trip up the trail. We got rained on, again. All three of us are having foot troubles caused by the continual wetness. I've got raw spots on the tops of a few toes, on the bottoms of a few others, and the callus on my left heel has developed fissure-like cracks that are a good eighth of an inch deep. Not pleasant. And my feet are in the best shape of the three of us. Poor Pickles' look like they're made from ground beef molded into a roughly footlike shape.But we did make good time, and good miles, today. We stopped at the Audie Murphy monument around lunch time, and then proceeded over the Dragon's Tooth rock monolith. The climb to the Tooth is via an exposed rocky ridgeline and per our usual arrangement with Mother Nature, we got to traverse it with wind, fog, and driving rain. Had dinner tonight at the gas station 0.4 miles down the road. It has a little kitchen where they cook food for carry-out. We ate in true hiker-trash style: sitting on the curb in the parking lot, while watching it rain. That little gas station does have a bit of significance for me though. It's the spot where my '06 second try at a thru-hike ended. I hobbled into there three years ago, ate the same cheeseburger dinner, and hitched a ride to Daleville and then home.Tonight I may have hobbled in there, but I'm not going home just yet. The feet hurt, but they'll be good as new after a couple of dry days.
Date: 2009-05-31
From: Campsite near VA 624

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: broken clouds

Whew. Big ol' day today. Fantastic views today though: McAfee Knob, Tinker Cliffs, and lots of ridgeline hiking into town. We're staying at the Howard Johnson, in fact in the same exact room that I stayed in in '06.Tomorrow we'll do some shopping at the Kroger, and probably wander through the outfitters.
Date: 2009-06-02
From: Campsite near VA 624

To: Bobblets Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: few clouds

We passed a naked guy today. A very naked guy. Hiking. Hiking along the AT within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and between two scenic view overlook turnoffs. Naked, as in, "without clothing". Completely. Except for a baseball cap and a messenger bag. I have no way of knowing what he did for a living, but I'm pretty sure that he wasn't a Calvin Klein underwear model. In fact, looking at him, he may have eaten a Calvin Klein underwear model for breakfast.Oh, and it was hot today, and we walked 13.5 miles, and I get my hammock tomorrow, but none of those facts seems terribly important.
Date: 2009-06-03
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Middle Creek Campground
Miles today: 29.0

Sleeping indoors tonight in a little cabin here at the campground to avoid the thunderstorms that are expected tonight. Had some very warm hiking today, and the 1.2 mile roadwalk at the end was miserable. But life sometimes gives you lemonade after the lemons: I picked up my hammock package at the camp store and bought a cold soda, and then we went for a swim in the pool. Finished with the swim just as the clouds started moving in.Note milage is an adjustment for skipped journal days.
Date: 2009-06-04
From: Middle Creek Campground

To: Cornelius Creek Shelter
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: moderate rain

Rainy, foggy, cool. We took a long leisurely lunch break at the Bryant Ridge shelter to try to wait out the rain. Eventually we gave up and climbed Floyd Mountain in the rain to get here. It's just the three in the shelter tonight, which is a first I think.We need to do a bigish day tomorrow to make up for being lazy today.
Date: 2009-06-07
From: Cornelius Creek Shelter

To: Cow Camp Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a good day. The weather was nice: sunny, warm, but with enough of a breeze to not be miserable. Saw very few other hikers, no other thru-hikers in fact, but we did see plenty of wildlife, including 5' blacksnake and a dozen or more deer.It's just the three of us here at the shelter tonight. (if you don't count the mice. I've been watching two of them chase each other through the rafters while typing) This shelter is more than half a mile off the trail, and we would have skipped it too if we hadn't needed water.Into Montebello, VA for resupply tomorrow. Only 215 miles to Harper's Ferry. Woohoo!Editor's note - Russ has uploaded more pictures to the link below.
Date: 2009-06-12
From: Cow Camp Gap Shelter

To: Black Rock Hut
Miles today: 85.4
Weather: light rain

I've been a huge slacker on this whole journaling thing for the last few days, so this entry will be a jumbo-combo one to get everything back up to date. There's been no terribly big news during the break: we're still the traveling threesome, we've passed through a couple more towns, namely Montebello and Waynesboro, and we've entered into the Shenandoah National Park. Other than that, all is well. The feet are good, back to as close to normal as they ever get out here.A recap of the missed days:On 6/8 we hiked 12.5 miles into Montebello and stayed at the very nice Dutch Ha14s B&B. Montebello's "downtown" appears to consist of exactly two buildings: the general store, and the post office. The Dutch Ha14s is fabulous. Pickle, Skunk and I had the "bunk ha14s" all to ourselves. We ate dinner at the dining room table wearing fluffy bathrobes while our laundry dried.The next day, on 6/9 we slackpacked 20.0 miles from Reed's Gap back south to where we left the trail the day before. For the benefit of anyone unfamiliar with that term, a "slackpack" is a hike where, through use of a car, you hike a portion of the trail carrying only what you need for that day, basically lunch and water. Hence the slack pack. It was an interesting change of pace, but not something that I'd want to do too often. We had nice weather for most of the day but with about 5 miles to go it started to thunder off in the distance. With 4 to go it got windy and colder. With 3 it began to rain. And with 2 miles to go it hailed on us. Not huge, somewhere between pea and grape sized, but big enough to leave welts on your shoulders. But by the time we got those last two miles to the car the storm had passed and the sun was out.On 6/10 we had one last breakfast at the Dutch Ha14s, and hikes 14.1 miles to Paul C Wolfe Shelter. Oh, and it rained on us.6/11: Short hop into Waynesboro. 5 miles. Did a little shopping, made pigs of ourselves at the Chinese buffet, and stayed at the Lutheran Church Hostel.Today, exactly 20 miles to Blackrock Hut. Long day, and the feet are sore.Editor's note - Milage is to make up for lack of daily entries.
Date: 2009-06-13
From: Black Rock Hut

To: Pine Field Hut
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: scattered clouds

We got to take advantage of one the benefits of being in the SNP today: the roadside "Wayside" restaurants that are scattered through the park. Took a little detour off the trail for a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake.Saw my first bear of the trip today. Actually, we saw two. The first was this morning, before I even got my shoes on. He wandered through the brush at the edge of the hut and tenting area at Blackrock, and then climbed a tree to shake berries down. Later this afternoon we came upon one right in the middle of the trail. After some noisemaking he begrudgingly moved about 30' off into the woods and watched us walk past. The wildlife here definitely know that they're in a national park. We've had deer wander through camp, or they'll stand just off the trail and stare at us. Rabbits and squirrels get almost close enough to touch. Yesterday we passed within 6' of a pair of hen turkeys with a dozen little chicks with them.From the sounds of it tonight might be the first test of the hammock's storm-worthiness.
Date: 2009-06-14
From: Pine Field Hut

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

Liesurely day today compared to yesterday. We took a two hour lunch break at the Big Meadow Wayside, and stocked up on a bit more food.Otherwise, not much to report. We had a bit of rain overnight, and it sprinkled during lunch, but it was generally a decent day for hiking.A group of about 8 of us might all go together for breakfast at yet another wayside tomorrow morning, so I'm off to the hammock early.
Date: 2009-06-24
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Harpers Ferry, WV
Miles today: 115.6
Weather: clear sky

Sorry folks, I really didn't mean to let the journal slide for this long. Apparently I lost of couple of emails along the way, but even with that fact I've been slacking.The update:-We're in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, taking a couple of days off. We crossed over the 1,000 mile mark this week, and in few more days will hit the actual midway point of the entire trail.-We finished off the Shenandoah's, seeing a couple more bears and dozens more deer in the process.-My dying backpack was returned to REI yesterday and replaced with a shiny new Osprey pack. The shoulder harness on the REI pack had worn a series of holes through the main packbag. The new backpack is half a pound lighter, and 25% smaller in volume. -Um, um, um...I'm sure other things have happened, but I can't seem to recall anything else important at the moment.I'll get myself back in the habit of writing something everyday. I promise.
Date: 2009-06-25
From: Harpers Ferry, WV

To: Crampton Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: overcast clouds

The "plan" was for 18 miles today, but we cut it short due to the upset tummy of yours truly. Hopefully it's just the lunch we had in Harpers Ferry and I'm not coming down with anything. I skipped dinner tonight, for the most part, eating just some trailmix and drinking lots of Gatorade.On the positive side: We're in Maryland! 5 states down!
Date: 2009-06-26
From: Crampton Gap Shelter

To: Ensign Cowell Shelter
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: moderate rain

We got hailed on again today. Twice, by two separate thunderstorms this afternoon. Other than that it was a fairly uneventful day's hiking.I'm feeling better today. Not 100%, but I think some of it today may be from skipping dinner last night. We have a pretty big day planned for tomorrow, so I hope I'm over this. Whatever it was.
Date: 2009-06-27
From: Ensign Cowell Shelter

To: Rocky Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: few clouds

I think this may be the ninth or tenth "Rocky Mountain" we've been up and over. That count may be second only to the number of "Deep Gap"'s or "Low Gap"'s we've have to climb down into.Momentous event of the day: We are no longer in the South. Shortly after lunch at Penmar County Park we crossed the Mason-Dixon Line and entered Pennsylvania. In apparent celebration of this milestone the toenail of my left pinky toe decided to detach itself from the rest of my foot. Perhaps it was a symbolic act of secession. It hadn't been causing any trouble at all up to today. I have no idea. Other than that, I'm sore, but have no other injuries from the long hike today. Tomorrow will be another 20+ mile day, but I'll get to shower and sleep indoors at the end of it. That's powerful motivation.
Date: 2009-06-28
From: Rocky Mountain Shelter

To: Ironmasters Mansion Hostel, Pine Grove FurnacePark
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We've hiked 68.0 miles in the last three days, and oh boy are my feet feeling it. No blisters, thankfully, just deep-down soreness on the soles. I figured it out once, while hiking along, that each of my feet hits the ground approximately 1750 times per mile. So over the last three days that works out to 119,000 foot-to-ground impacts, per foot. No wonder they're angry with me. Thankfully we're only planning a 15 mile day for tomorrow, so the feet will be able to rest some.Hmm. Who would have thought three months ago that we'd now consider 15 miles to be a "rest" day? All a matter of perspective I suppose.Tonight we are staying at the Ironmasters Mansion Hostel here in the park. It reminds me a little of places I lived in Savannah: a huge old house cut up and rearranged to serve a new function, but with little glimpses of it's former grandiour peeking through. It's a beautiful house. I'll post some pictures next time I have Internet access.Tomorrow: the "Half Gallon Challenge", for breakfast, and then 15.8 miles of hiking with temperatures in the high 80's. I hope I don't live to regret that. For those unfamiliar, the General Store here in the state park is home to the Half Gallon Challenge, where to celebrate completing half the trail hikers attempt to each eat half a gallon of ice cream in a single sitting. That works out to be about 3 pounds of ice cream, and something like 6,000 to 10,000 calories, depending upon the flavor you pick. And the prize for completing? Nothing. Well, you do get a little commemorative wooden spoon, but mostly it's bragging rights only.And I nearly forgot! We crossed the halfway point today! It is now closer to just walk the rest of the way to Maine than it is to turn around and go back to Georgia.
Date: 2009-06-29
From: Ironmasters Mansion Hostel, Pine Grove FurnacePark

To: Alex Kennedy Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: few clouds

Somehow today seemed like a very "thru-hikerish" kind of day. Let meexplain:Got up this morning at the hostel around 8. Packed up, cleaned up after ourselves, and walked next door to the General Store when they opened at 9. The three of us, Pickle, Skunk Ape, and myself, were the first customers of the day. Our purchases were three half gallons of ice cream, and a couple of drinks. Yes, we were going to do the Half Gallon Challenge, for breakfast. Skunk choose Butter Pecan, Pickle selected Chocolate, and I went with Mint Chocolate Chip. Sadly, only Skunk was victorious, consuming his 64 ounces of ice cream in 42 minutes.   Pickle made it less than halfway through. I admitted defeat at about the 2/3rd's mark, maybe a little less. It wasn't even that I was full. It was just flavor and texture overload. The thought of shoveling another spoonful into my mouth just made me want to wretch. But after my "walk of shame" to the trashcan to dump the melting leftovers I went right inside and ordered myself a cheeseburger and chips. And it was an excellent burger too.We didn't get actually hiking until nearly noon. Considerable time was required for digestion and rumination after the ice cream. Progress was slow in the early afternoon, but we picked up speed as the day wore on.Around 5:00 we neared the Deer Run campground and decided to detour the 0.3 miles into their campstore and snack shack for dinner. We arrived there at 5:15, to discover that they closed at 5:00. Grrr.   We sat down at a table nearby to discuss alternate options when a huge dumptruck drove by and stopped. The driver climbed down and asked us if we needed any help. Turns out he was the owner of the campground, and after an explanation of our plight he opened the store back up just for us to do our shopping. Options were more limited than we had hoped, but we settled on hot dogs, a big can of baked beans, and some chips, which we ate right there in front of the store. Pickle even ate right out of the can, blurring dangerously the line between hiker and hobo.After that it was another 4.7 miles here to the shelter. We arrived around 9, but   I was too lazy to set up the hammock so I'm just using it as a bug bivy right in the shelter. It's just Pickle and I in here, so there's plenty of space.
Date: 2009-06-30
From: Alex Kennedy Shelter

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: broken clouds

Geographically, the main event of our hike today was the crossing of the Cumberland Valley. For us it's a 17 mile "flat spot" in the trail where we get to walk through corn fields and pastures instead of rocky forest. It was beautiful, and I was almost sad to start climbing at the end of the day.We also passed through the cute little town of Boiling Springs. We stopped for lunch - Pickle and I split a large steak pizza - and hung around at the ATC Midatlantic office.And then we got hailed on. While crossing a cow pasture.
Date: 2009-07-01
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: broken clouds

My feet hurt. I think I'm beginning to dislike rocks in an unhealthy way. As I was hiking today I found myself wondering about the weight of jackhammers, and whether anyone makes an ultralight backpacking model.But on the positive side: we passed through Duncannon today and had a two hour lunch at the famous Doyle Hotel.Also positive: the thunderstorm we got caught in today while hiking on the rocky ridge out of town only had heavy rain, lightning and wind. No hail! Woohoo!
Date: 2009-07-03
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: Hertlein Campsite
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Big day today to get us into position for our days off in Port Clinton. We made an evening stop for pizza at the 501 Shelter and then pressed on a few more miles to the campsite. We lounged a bit too long while eating and had to set up camp by headlamp light.Tomorrow we should have just a few miles of backpacking, and then a 15 mile slackpack. And then two days off! Woohoo!
Date: 2009-07-06
From: Hertlein Campsite

To: Leesport, PA
Miles today: 18.8

This is a recap entry for the days that we spent at Pickle's house, on the 4th through today, the 6th. On the Fourth we hiked the few miles from our campsite the night before down to the road crossing, where we got to meet Pickle's mom and dad, brother Ryan, and boyfriend Shane. And they brought us food! And drinks! Woohoo! From the roadcrossing Ryan and Shane slackpacked with us the remaining 15 miles into Port Clinton. It was fun, and we made excellent time.We zeroed the next two days, and I'm not even going to try to give the play-by-play for what we did when. It's all just too much of a blur, really. Somewhere in there we went shoe shopping for Pickle, we hung out at a mall, resupplied at walmart and the grocery store, watched movies at Shane's house, and went to Cold Stone for ice cream. And during that time we consumed huge quantities of excellent food. We also got to go to an Amish (menonite?) AYCE place that was probably the biggest buffet I've ever seen outside of Vegas.I really enjoyed the days off, and the chance to meet all the people that we've been hearing about from Pickle this whole time. The hospitality from Mr. And Mrs. Dillman was incredible. Thank you very much!!!!
Date: 2009-07-07
From: Leesport, PA

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: broken clouds

A nice relaxing day out of town today. We made a pitstop at the post office, but got to the trail by 11. This shelter is a 4-sided little building behind a caretakers house. Basically a converted garden shed with bunk beds and a dining table in it. But, it has a flush toilet, and a shower! Woohoo!The muscles felt good today, and the toes are mostly healed.
Date: 2009-07-08
From: Eckville Shelter

To: campsite just past Bake Oven Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Our little run of good weather continues. Today was fabulous in that department. Too bad the trail sucked so badly. I'm really getting frustrated with the rocks, and my slow speed in hiking over them. Even Pickle is outrunning me now. We're camped up on the ridge beyond the shelter. The plan had been to stay there, but there was too much thorny underbrush to find a suitable spot to hang the hammock. Up here we get the benefit of the nice breeze as well.We saw another bear this evening. This one was in a serious hurry to get away from us, unlike the Shanendoah bears that would just sort of saunter away. That didn't hurt my feelings at all.Into town tomorrow.
Date: 2009-07-09
From: campsite just past Bake Oven Knob Shelter

To: Palmerton, PA
Miles today: 7.7

Back in civilization. We're staying at the "jail" hostel, in the basement of the Palmerton city hall. Hikers call it "the jail", but it's really not very jaillike at all.Tomorrow is supposed to be one of the roughest days for rocky trail. To say I'm not looking forward to it would be a huge understatement.
Date: 2009-07-13
From: Palmerton, PA

To: Glen Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 67.5
Weather: broken clouds

It's been a productive, if not super eventful few days. Which isn't a bad thing, as "eventful" out here usually equals, "bad". We hiked out of Palmerton on the 10th, and made it 15.9 miles. The big dreaded climb out of town turned out to be not nearly as bad as expected. The rock scramble portions were sort of a neat change of pace, actually.Pickle's boyfriend Shane and his friend Mattie joined us on the 11th for the hike into Delaware Water Gap. We managed to time the weather perfectly: it started to rain just minutes after we arrived at the church hostel, and continued to pour most of the night. We picked a good night to be in town.The next morning Shane and Mattie left to return to civilization, and the three of marched north, across the Delaware river and into New Jersey. The good news? No more PA rocks! The bad news? The rocks in New Jersey are nearly as bad. Can't win 'em all.Today finds us smack in the middle of New Jersey. Another day or two and we'll be on to New York.