morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-04-23
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: the Doyle in Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 4.0

Despite very low temperatures, Shakedown Cruise espied no frozen water. After biding adeau to departing ten-day section hikers Paul and Joni in the chill early morning air, we hiked down the 4 miles into Duncannon. Mee beloved WeeFee dictated that we WILL spend this night in a hotel because she will not tolerate being SO VERY cold two mornings in a row. Thank God that the temperatures should be improving soon. Cynthia was terrified (her word of choice is "apprehensive") much of the final mile by the fear of falling in the jumble of rock and the thought of bodily damage from such a fall, especially where the descent was precipitous. (This is what is meant by the term "exposure.") Once we were off the rock, her feet quickly became very painful as we walked on asphalt half a mile into town. The surprising part is that once she was seated at the Doyle, the foot pain subsided instantly. Once again, I am so proud of RevC that she was willing and able to endure such stress in order to "enjoy" the hike. The Doyle is an icon on the trail, and the food and beer are excellent and cheap. We enjoyed a hamburger and chicken respectively, and Vickey did a marvelous job of cooking fat free for Ron. Vickey brought out the hiker photos from 2008, and Shakedown Cruise thoroughly enjoyed seeing his own photo from June 6 and photos of friends Popeye and Lil Mak, Tupperwear, Hearts, Meltdown, Bill & Hammerdown & ChiefDaddy, Kat & Indy, the General, Spock & Twiggy, Snake and Whitefish, Thumper & ??, etc. Cynthia took several pictures of the photos. (Three are posted on the WhereIsRonNow blog.) However, hiker accommodations at the Doyle are not quite up to Hilton Garden Inn standards, so Cynthia opted to hire a taxi to take us to a HGI in Harrisburg. Ron's reply, "Yes dear."Shakedown Cruise has an observation to make about the Trail into Duncannon. The original trail was well built with great effort sometime long ago and was probably a smooth and steep "civilized" trail. (Marvel at all the stone steps still remaining.) Since then a huge rock slide has wiped out nearly a mile of the original trail, and under the direction of the ATC, white blazing is the ONLY trail improvement that is condoned; consequently the trail is now hazardous and dangerous, even life-threatening. Until this pact with the devil (the Federal government) is dissolved, the trail will continue to revert towards the bureaucratic-inspired "wilderness experience" that threatens life and limb of those foolish enough to aspire to follow the white blazes. My suggestion to hikers is to purchase USGS topo maps and bushwack around rediculously dangerous portings of the trail. If I could, I'd establish a bushwack route, perhaps a florescent green "B" blaze.
Date: 2015-04-24
From: the Doyle in Duncannon, PA

To: Harrisburg, PA; Hilton Garden Inn
Miles today: 0.0

With great anticipation and much joy RevC laundered. She decided to wear her old Vasque hiking boots (of the four choices in hand) to better cope with the notorious Pennsylvania rocks. After joyous anticipation, we were extremely disappointed that the Bass Pro Shop here does NOT have a restaurant; Ruby Tuesday was second best. Target furnished food for re-supply. (It would have been closer if Ron hadn't gotten lost.) Our bounce boxes are determined, one short, one long. After the freezing temperatures the last three nights, we are not quite ready to jettison winter gear.
Date: 2015-04-25
From: Harrisburg, PA; Hilton Garden Inn

To: Clarks Ferry Shelter
Miles today: 4.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Cynthia exchanged her Solomon trail shoes for her older Vasque hiking boots, which turned out to be a good decision. Despite previous assurances, the staff at the Hilton Garden Inn was unable to mail our boxes, so their driver took us to the Post Office to mail our bounce boxes forward, one to the Lickdale Comfort Inn and the other to Port Clinton. We were all disappointed that Avon Lady Trail Angel Mary couldn't shuttle us to the Trail until 4 PM. Since we needed to get an earlier start (because our next re-supply is 7 days = 35 miles at Swatara Gap), we called upon the same cabby to drive us back to the Doyle for a beer and a meal and another gander at 2008 pictures (Six-Iron & Twelve-Iron, Loafy, Railroad King, Meltdown, Tupperware, Jukebox). After that we started hiking through town close to 2 PM. Crossing the Clark's Ferry Bridge over the Susquehenna provided an interesting, bird's-eye view of the river's turbulence. After crossing the RR tracks, the uphill was unrelenting and RevC kept plugging along without rest until we leveled out a half mile later. The difficulty ratched up several notches on the rocky ascent that soon followed. It was a nasty, ugly, rocky mess for a LONG mile to reach the ridgetop and procede along it. Once we passed the Susquehenna Trail blue blaze, we started seeing multitudes of day hikers out for a pleasant stroll, so we checked and discovered that the Susquehenna Trail bypasses the rocks, ascending via another route to the ridgetop. Again we were outraged that the powers dictating the official Appalachian Trail route subject their hikers to so much unnecessary danger. Just today I learned of a hiker who recently fell on the rocks in New Jersey and broke her wrist. (On the other hand, Orange Crush is already in Dalton, Massachusetts on May 2nd.) The rest of the walk for an hour along the ridge was pure pleasure, with views of the Susquehenna upstream to the left and downstream to the right. The river makes a wide horseshoe turn through a gap in the mountains at Duncannon. After the river views were behind us, the farmlands right and left were still very pleasing, even after we descended from the ridge. The multitude of day hikers seemed bound for a power line cut with excellent views or perhaps Table Rock. (Someone tipped it off its pedestal.) We enjoyed brief conversation with a local couple who agreed that the official ATC routing over unnecessary rocks is DEFINITELY inappropriate. (Maybe they could date the landslide that buried the old, improved trail south of Duncannon. The rocky path improved a bit towards the shelter, and we arrived there at a reasonable time but really quite tired. The new old boots worked marvelously; no blisters, no pain - what a joy !!
Date: 2015-04-26
From: Clarks Ferry Shelter

To: Peters Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: scattered clouds

We had been told that this would be an easy walk along the ridge without undue ups, downs, or rocks. That was NOT as true as we'd prefer. We were quite tired by the time we arrived and did not relish the thought of the 300 stone steps down to the spring. There was only one other hiker tenting there, so we decided to sleep inside the shelter for a change. It was a very pleasant night although a chill wind blew all night long. Cynthia had developed a tiny blister on her left toe, but her feet were otherwise without pain. Thank God.
Date: 2015-04-27
From: Peters Mountain Shelter

To: Clark's Valley, PA 325
Miles today: 5.0

Cynthia duct taped her blister. Shakedown Cruise wanted Cynthia to get an early start to see if we could hike farther in a day, but she waited for him a couple of times and was not very far down the trail when he caught up to her after packing camp for an hour. The explanation is that she feels much more secure if he is hiking ahead of her. Again we experienced several difficult rocky patches that slowed us down, and Cynthia's blister grew large during the day after the duct tape moved.
Date: 2015-04-28
From: Clark's Valley, PA 325

To: any tent site
Miles today: 6.0

Again we slept long and hard. Our sleep has been phenomenal on this trip. We awoke early in our secluded, off-trail tent site. Lovely that water was only 30 yards away, running from a spring onto and down the trail. Coffee and peanut butter breakfast were soon over, and Shakedown tried to pack quickly by stuffing the tent instead of folding it. By some miracle it stuffs into a smaller volume. Our hike started good, although we missed a landmark and passed the ?? trail unexpectedly. Immediately after that, we ran out of energy. For RevC, the problem was her blister; it had grown again. The Band-aid was inadequate protection, and she was unwilling to lance it without a sterile needle or knife. Our hunt for a tent site dragged on and on, seemingly for miles, until we encountered an area thick with mountain laurel and covered by large rocks everywhere. We were surprised and relieved to come to ??, a greenish stream with one good tent site, although there was ample evidence that our chosen spot would fill with water in a heavy rain. It was only mid-afternoon, but we opted for the water and concluded hiking for the day. Soon after we had selected our pine-duff bed, another hiker appeared and recognized us. This was Sweet from a week ago, out to clear his head again. He hung his hammock nearby and commenced to read and snooze. Two more hikers passed and camped across the stream. Two more hikers arrived later yet before dark. This evening we discussed our hike. The rocks in Pennsylvania had been NO FUN and the worst was yet to come; once we admitted that it was easy and sensible to quit before the lousy condition of the trail caused broken bones or disaster.
Date: 2015-04-29
From: stream beyond Stone Mtn Horseshoe Trail

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: few clouds

Gosh, how quickly the memory vanishes. We again awoke early, and it was again a pleasure that water was so near. RevC agreed to start hiking early rather than be chilled waiting for Shakedown Cruise to finish packing; he had to dig out his morning pills and FrictionBlock his feet besides packing and breakfasting and dish"washing." Shakedown started at 10:46 according to Sweet. Today the trail was much more pleasant and comfortable than on previous days; hiking was actually pleasurable. Ron set out at a very rapid clip to catch Cynthia and enjoyed the athletic exertion; his trail legs are developing nicely, painlessly. Along the trail today he met first Bear, taking a break for lunch of StoveTop dressing and tuna, and then Pack, resting beneath the sign for the "General," a derelict 1920s gasoline-powered coal shovel abandoned in the woods. Bear is a BIG guy, and Pack is named for his old JanSport external frame pack with huge zippered side-pockets; both are very nice guys. Cynthia had been talking with Pack just minutes before Ron arrived, and Ron caught up to invite her to lunch before long (after hiking rapidly for nearly two hours). We continued on a nice, mostly-level trail through obvious coal mined country to the Rausch Gap Shelter. As we followed the blue blaze to the shelter, that very wide, very level, coal-covered pathway suddenly seemed VERY familiar to Shakedown Cruise. We chose to camp in a small tenting area just 50 yards before the shelter. The shelter itself, with it's rock wall and steps and the stainless steel spring-water trough, was memorable, one of the few remembered from 2008. Bear and Pack were already there with a new couple, Rain and Sprinkle, who began their flip-flop at Harper's Ferry on April 12th. Two Thru-hiker couples came into the shelter later in the afternoon, BootsAndBackpacks on Wordpress and IanandHannahsHike on blogspot. While we got an early start and had a good day, Cynthia's feet are again very sore, and she is very tired, mostly due to the blister growing larger on her toe.
Date: 2015-04-30
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: Swatara Gap - Comfort Inn
Miles today: 6.0

We were out of the tent early today, 7:15, and RevC hiked out of camp by 8:30, new records for us. The four Thru-hikers and Pack left before Cynthia; Bear and Rain & Sprinkles later. Shakedown Cruise was the last one out. He hiked along at full tilt boogie, passed Rain & Sprinkle after a mile, and caught up to Cynthia at the top of that first long, long uphill grind on an old road with good waterbars that needed to be cleaned; he commenced cleaning waterbars after touching base with Cynthia. Sad to see excellent early construction left untended and eroding during every storm. Strange that the hike today was again very pleasant with very few unbearably rocky segments. We were surprised that our hike dragged on long after we expected to be finished. The final uphill and downhill on raw, new, unimproved trail (an obvious re-route that is eroding rapidly) was an insult to sensible hikers.We arrived at the Comfort Inn and are quite happy to consider our hike complete; we have concluded that the Appalachian Trail is no longer a real trail; the ATC in partnership with the federal government has turned it from trail back into a "wilderness experience"; bushwacking is a preferable alternative to following the white blazes a good 15% of the time. Strange that today's trail maintainers can go out with nothing more than a knife and a can of paint to reroute the trail; it looks like they scrape off a few old blazes, paint a couple of dozen new white blazes, and voila, the reroute is done. Trail maintenance is often limited to painting blazes and removing the occasional downfall that completely blocks the trail. (Yes, those are worthy and much appreciated activities.) In 2008 I thought that poor trail maintenance started north of Pennsylvania; this year I must finally agree with Pirate that the Appalachian Trail ends at Harper's Ferry. North of Harper's Ferry it can no longer be considered an improved trail. One is often surprised by Yankee ingenuity but more often experiences Yankee elitism, Yankee provinciality, Yankee superiority, and Yankee laziness. I am reminded of one unencumbered day hiker who voiced this opinion about trail maintenance: "We pay people to do that." I.e. no money, no maintenance.Our hats are off to those of you who persevere to complete the trail or any significant portion of it and to those of you who actually maintain your sections. Congratulations and Thank You.
Date: 2015-05-01
To: Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 0.0

This is the end of our hike. The rocks in Pennsylvania have been NO FUN, and we don't need to risk our bodies and health to the whims of the elitist trail maintainers who think that Thru-hikers should be subjected to every stretch of NASTY rocks that they can find. Equally galling was the obvious disregard for basic trail maintenance (clearing water bars for instance, trimming overhanging trees for another, clearing smaller logs across the trail, preventing erosion by constructing water bars ... the list is endless). We are quite pleased with our hike; we enjoyed hiking every day; we got much stronger (and Younger Next Year). Camping was not Cynthia's favorite activity, but she adapted marvelously well to camping on this, her first camping trip. (Do you know anyone else who hiked 160 miles on her first camping trip?) So we are jumping north to a favorite spot, the Inn at Long Trail, which opens 22 May. There we can walk out the door and hike in any of five directions, see how our trail maintenance has held up over the winter, and encourage hikers to use the OLD AT, now known as the Sherbourne Pass Trail, which we maintain whenever we stay there. Unless Ron gets a knee replacement, our future Appalachian Trail section hikes will be limited to five days between resupply and might involve zero-mile days for trail maintenance. Who knows, we might even consider freeze dried meals.
Date: 2015-05-22
From: Inn at Long Trail

To: Inn at Long Trail
Miles today: 0.0

We arrived at the Inn at Long Trail today and hiked a short hike up the Sherbourne Pass Trail (blue blaze) to the sinkholes, not bad since we started hiking at 4 PM after collecting three boxes from the Post Office. Okie found hiking poles for Cynthia and found my hiking pole (a badly-worn, very small rake). Strange that the trail is somewhat unfamiliar even though we were here only eight months ago. Many of the water-bars were clogged and ineffective already; it was a severe winter here. 2 miles round trip.
Date: 2015-03-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Just a few more days till we start on the trail. Currently the forecast for Amicalola State Park (where we will be starting) is in the 50s and clear this weekend so thats great.I figured the first few entries would answer the FAQs I get from people. Once I'm on the trail, I'll keep a paper journal and update this site whenever I'm near a computer. The trail, being on the east coast and all, isn't incredibly remote. You cross roads and occasionally even venture through towns with some regularity. There should be libraries, outfitters, hostels, and hotels where I can access the internet. Barring that, I'll have my trusty flip-phone and will be trying to call Keegan each day. I can always have her act as secretary and write these from home.Since the AT is near civilization so often we will be resupplying every couple days. You can take a look at this hiking plan:http://theatguide.com/PlanNobo2010-18.htmlto get an idea as to how often and where we will be stopping. In the past maildrops, or having a basecamp person back home mailing you food every couple days which you would pick up at a PO or outfitter/hostel, were popular for thruhiking. That has fallen out of fashion, as mailing items has gotten more expensive, POs have shorter hours or have closed, and resupply in trail towns has become easier. There will still be a handful of mail drops that I'll have Keegan send to a few of the more difficult towns.
Date: 2015-03-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: snow

Steven and I both have camping hammocks. These are essentially tents hanging from trees, not simple open hammocks like one would have at home. They're covered with bug netting and have a tarp that goes over top. One issue with hammocking is that with cold air circulating beneath you, and your weight squishing your sleeping bag, your back can become very cold. This is known as Cold Butt Syndrome. Its all very technical. I've got an underquilt which is literally a quilt that straps to the bottom of my hammock. Steven has nothing, in usual fashion, and will freeze to death. I may shed tears.There are also shelters along the trail. They generally consist of 3 walls and a roof, with bunked wood flats. Here (http://tnlandforms.us/at/) is an excellent site with all the shelters, their mileage, altitude, and the shelter pages even have links for weather, maps, all kinds of stuff. Some places, like the smokies, you are required to use the shelter if there is space in order to minimize impact on the wilderness. If there isn't space you have to tent (or tree tent!) nearby. We'll see if my mind changes once I'm on the trail but I would vastly prefer to use my hammock over the shelter. Shelters can be crowded, are generally infested with varmints (having mice running over your body while you sleep is somewhat common), hikers can snore like crazy, and anybody going to sleep late or getting up early disturbs everyone else.
Date: 2015-03-08
From: Amicalola Falls State Park

To: Just past 3 Forks
Miles today: 5.0

We started at Amicalola Falls State Park visitor center. Right away we realized this was a terrible idea, as we could have driven to the bottom of the falls, and we could have even driven to the top of the falls and bypassed the ~600 steps to the top. The falls were beautiful though. 7 and a quarter miles of approach trail followed, moving over some rough terrain. We passed a group of kids, with adults in tow a couple hundred feet behind, and I correctly guessed they were scouts. This was a shakedown hike for Philmont. 2 miles in I grew frustrated that we weren't even on the AT yet and blew past steven, eventually waiting 40 minutes on the top of Springer for him to catch up. But at least we were finally setting foot on white-blazed trail.A couple minutes in we met a ridge runner for springer that informed us that 60 people had started Saturday and 40 people today, and that the shelters would have no room. This didn't bother us as we planned to use our hammocks anyway. We passed one shelter and received some trail magic at 3 forks in the form of water and little debbies. I grabbed some oatmeal creme pies, which are one of man's greatest achievements in engineering.There was a woman there, ramblin' rose (or ramble on rose, we weren't quite sure) who told us about a waterfall a mile or so up the trail. Hawk Mtn Shelter was a few miles past that, but we didn't think we could climb another mtn after a 13 mile first day. We hung our hammocks and made dinner. I had to use Steven's stove as I never bothered to get any alcohol to fuel my cat food can stove, and it worked well enough.Beautiful weather all day - clear and in the 60s.
Date: 2015-03-09
From: Just past 3 Forks

To: Just before Woody Gap
Miles today: 15.4

Woke up at quarter after 7, left camp at 8:30. Gotta speed that up, too late of a start.Begun by hiking up Hawk Mtn and stopped at the shelter to use the privy and get some water. The Georgia Appalachian Trail Club was there, fixing some stuff around the shelter and cleaning the privy. What a shitty job. While getting water, we began to realize just how horrible Steven's Katadyn pump filter was. I ended up not filtering water from springs, just from streams if I had no other choice. I had meant to bring water purification tablets, but couldn't find them while packing at home.Continued over some other mtns, helped a girl with a blister on her toe, and blew by gooch mtn shelter where some folks were hunkering down for the night at 3pm. Soon after this Steven hurt his knee on a descent, said he felt something snap or click in the knee itself. It got so bad that by the time we were about a mile and a half from the campsite I ended up jogging there, dropping my pack off, running back, and then carrying his pack the rest of the way as I though there was an impending rainstorm. That didn't materialize until later, giving us time to make dinner, etc.Decent weather today, a little rain but average temps.
Date: 2015-03-10
From: Just before Woody Gap

To: Neel's Gap
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up early at quarter to six and was on the trail by 7:15. Still too long to get ready, but at least we were on the trail early. Hiked along as the sunrose - even though it was cloudy, it was beautiful being on the trail as the day began. Will do this more often.Steven's knee was no better today, and we had a huge mtn to summit - Blood Mtn, largest on the AT in georgia. We were initially excited as the guide book indicated restrooms in Woody Gap, and we had expectations of sink bathing. Alas, they were nothing but hard-shell privies - only a toilet.Continued onward (trying to dampen our disappointment) and lunched at Woods Hole Shelter. I don't know who built it, but they are sadists for locating it a quarter mile off the trail. Met some kids doing a section hike over spring break. We'd met quite a few people doing spring break hikes around Springer. Good to see people still enjoying the outdoors.Blood Mtn was a disappointment as fog obscured all views. The hike down the other side ruined Steve though, and we called it a day at Mountain Crossings. This hostel/outfitter is owned and staffed all by thru-hikers, and it sits directly on the trail. In fact, the trail passes under the arch between the hostel and outfitter, and is the only part of the AT that has a roof. We resupplied, pick up some gear - including denatured alcohol, a sawyer pump (which is a beautiful thing), and a AT baseball cap to keep my hair out of my face, a common issue with mtn winds.I bought and ate a frozen pizza, but I needn't have bothered as a group of baptists showed up with lasagna, salad, cupcakes and brownies. Apparently local church groups do this often at the hostel. Enormous amounts of hot food did much to brighten our spirits, as did the showers.Decent weather today, no rain, good temps, but so much fog everywhere. Fog is cool for a little bit on the AT as it can make for some interesting views when it sits in valleys beneath you, but it sucks walking through it as it encloses you like a cocoon.