morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-06-11
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: moderate rain

I stay in bed until everyone is already gone. They are all headed to the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon. Guess I am, too. The tread-way winds thru and over the spine of the ridge and thru patches of rocks, rocks and more rocks. It's really not all that bad, but I am glad to see the little town of Duncannon below me as I come to a scenic vista off the trail. It's a fairly steep grade down with yet more rocks and when I get down to the roadway, I am relieved that it's over. Now on to the Doyle.I walk into the Doyle's bar and announce to all that "It's taken me 3 years to get here, and Texas Jack has come to get his fair share of whatever 'The Doyle' has to offer." This gets me a laugh and a 22oz. draw beer. Soon the Doyle Burger and fries follow. Another 22oz. beer and I know that I found home. A room is only $15.00, but I have to hike up four flights of stairs. "Good exercise" is what the owner describes it as. I don't care. I've done 1,300 miles, I guess I can do a few flights of stairs in order to get to a clean bed and a shower. Everyone else is in the same boat. The place doesn't have an elevator, and if it did have one, it probably wouldn't work. Sweet dreams, fellow hikers.
Date: 2003-06-12
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Peters Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

What a nite. No air conditioning. So what do you expect for only $15.00 a nite. Breakfast is good, and plenty of it, but leaving town is on my mind. I resupply at the convenience store around the corner and am soon on my way out of town. As I cross the bridges between Duncannon and the ridge I have to climb up, an old car slows down and Sun Pig rolls down the window. "Trail Angel Mary" hands me a goodie bag of snacks for my trip. God bless her. I will wind up eating all of the care package before I reach the next shelter.It was a lot steeper and tougher climb than I had thought. Rocks and more rocks. I'm out of water and stop for a rest and a trip to the spring at Clark's Ferry shelter. A few others drift in for water, too. It seems that everyone is heading for the new Peters Mountain shelter. It's supposed to be a "Hilton" amongst trail shelters, with plenty of room for at least 20 hikers, according to Wingfoot's book. Guess I'll go there, too, and meet the folks I don't already know. When I arrive at the shelter, there are 27 people there already. The Doyle must have emptied out in order to get that many people in one place. Five Alive (all six of them), Pack 31 (what was left) and I don't know who-all was there, but there were a couple of folks tenting. Tn. Man and I had the old Earl Shaffer shelter all to ourselves. Earl had asked that his name not be used for the small original shelter when they put in a board floor to replace the earthen floor the shelter had originally. It rained that nite, and by the way Earl, wherever you are, the wood floor is an improvement over earthen. I have spoken to folks who knew Earl and I don't believe he cared a fig about improving anything about the Trail experience.No matter. With 26 people watching, I make my entrance to the fire circle to the rousing tune on my harp of "When the Saints Come Marching In". I follow that with "Down in the Valley" and "Tennessee Waltz". Before I know it, I'm being interviewed by some reporter doing a story on "Appalachian Trail Music". He has a tape recorder and gleefully records several of my funny Trail stories, told in my best "Hayseed" mode. I knew the reporter was eating it up when I described a couple of hiker sisters as being "cute as a pair of speckled pups". I believe he would have talked to me for a while longer, but about then Five Alive brought out their accomplished guitarist, who just blew me off the stage. That's OK, I'm not that good (and I know it), but he was. I didn't mind being the opening act for this guy. Shoot, I was glad to just be on the same bill with him. He was tearing the house down with Simon and Garfunkle stuff that 5 Alive harmonized over, under, and around, and then they started to rock with Christian music. Well, I can't touch that! So I kept my mouth shut and applauded with everyone else while the reporter interviewed them. Thank you Lord for letting us all be here! I listened until it started to rain, and the Earl Shaffer shelter and I had a hot date. Sorry Earl, wooden floor is better.
Date: 2003-06-13
From: Peters Mountain Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: mist

Once again, I lay in my bag until everyone else has gone. Each morning it is the same. At first light, the big milers start to load up. By 6 a.m. most of the others have started their pre-hike rituals. Sleeping bags are stuffed into their "stuff sacks". Air mattresses hiss sleepily as they are compressed to fit in hiker packs. No one says a word, though everyone is awake by now. Breakfast (or whatever passess for it) too, is eaten in silence. In ones and twos they complete the packing up process and then about 6:30-6:45 you hear the first murmured words of the new day "see ya" or "good hiking" as they don their packs & leave the shelter. By 7:15 only the "lay-abouts" like me are still to be seen. By 8:00 or so even I am hiking again. This is a good thing, as I will try to do 17 1/2 miles to Rausch Gap shelter today. My legs tell me that several rest breaks are needed. Thank goodness for 5 Alive. They are strung out tenting alongside the river and point out that I've missed the turn-off to the shelter. God bless 'em. If it wasn't for folks like them, folks like me would be out in the woods bumpin' into trees we're so lost.I get pointed in the right direction again and by 6:15 p.m., Not the Kennedys are welcoming me into the shelter. I'm beat! The water source is only steps away from the shelter. There's a full house, but a slot is made for me alongside the "weeping" wall (it's wet) and later that nite I turn on the light to find the entire wall covered with dozens of "cave crickets". These are pale, long-antennae, night foragers that eat the mosses that grow on the dripping walls. YUCK! I don't wanna know anymore. I turn over and go back to sleep.
Date: 2003-06-14
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: William Penn Shelter
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Morning again, and once more I'm the last one. Gotta take a zero one of these days. But not today. Rausch Gap had been a community of miners and railroad workers during the 1800's. At it's height, perhaps 1,000 people worked, lived, went to school and died here. There is still a cemetery, and the Trail follows old road-beds thru the hills. I take pics of "points of interest" including butterflys. Later the next day, I will be sorry that I ran out of film at this old mining town. At this moment though, I'm happily hiking again. Am heading for William Penn shelter, but when I blue-blaze around a flooded creek crossing, I lose the trail again and it takes me the better part of an hour to get back on the right path.All the hikers have been talking about the "Free Food Fest" hosted in Port Clinton by PA Dutchman. None of us will be able to get there in time though, as it is today. There are rumors that The Dutchman may have shuttles picking up hikers to bring them to the party, but no such luck.Not the Kennedys and 6 or 7 others are at the William Penn shelter when I finally arrive. Almost everyone has seen rattlesnakes that day, but not me. Doesn't hurt my feelings at all. I have plenty of room to sleep at the shelter and no one bothers to hang a bear bag. Nite, nite all!
Date: 2003-06-15
From: William Penn Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Am up and hiking again, only to come upon 2 large piles of bear scat in the middle of the Trail. I wouldn't have been so comfortable if I had known THAT the nite before! No one is overly concerned tho because it's gonna be a short day. Myself and several others are headed to the 501 shelter. We may not have made it to the free food fest, but the 501 shelter is one of the 3 or 4 shelters where you can order up a pizza and they will deliver to the parking lot. Four miles goes by fast, and I order 2 large plain pizzas all for me! I have pizza for lunch, supper, breakfast, and lunch tomorrow. (I love this part. I can eat everything in sight & still lose weight.) Plus which, there's a solar shower and bunks in this enclosed (doors & four walls) shelter. The only downside is that there are carpenter bees drilling into the rough sawed lumber in the walls. When the sun goes down, they sound like tiny beavers gnawing away, deep into the nite. Finally, about 10:30 p.m. it cools down to the point where the lil' chompers go to sleep. So do I...finally!
Date: 2003-06-16
From: 501 Shelter

To: Eagles Nest Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm so stuffed with pizza! I have more for breakfast. YUM! I'm happily hiking along about 4 or 5 miles past 501 when I meet my lst rattlesnakes! Darn! I'm out of film. Rats! There are 2 small (about 18 in.) rattlers and one good size one (about 3 1/2 ft.). There's a copperhead about 24 in. long laying there with them. Darn! And me with no film. So I just "Howdy" them politely and move away slowly, leaving them to their early a.m. sunbath. The action isn't over yet. About 4 miles later I meet a groundhog coming down the trail in broad daylight. About 100 yds. away, I see a father and two kids watching the groundhog, too. When it sees me, it turns around and runs back toward the other folks. Daddy & the kids stop and watch as I move up the trail. We've got the groundhog running between both of us, first to them and then to me. Then to them again. I am wondering if it's a sick groundhog when it comes up to within one foot of my shoes. Then I see that it appears to be a male who has had his ass kicked by another male groundhog. This one has obviously been sent packing. I'm getting a little nervous as he and I stand face to face about 12 in. apart. I had been told by a lady that they are fearless, (or stupid) if cornered, so I finaly make a movement and the little guy yields the Trail to the bigger opponent. What a moment! Once again, I bemoan the lack of film in the camera. I will get some more soon, but for right now I watch him amble into a bunch of rocks. The father tells me "I thought he was gonna run right thru your legs". Well, sir, I thought so too...that's why I moved when I did.It's another 15 mile day for me. I'm glad to see Eagles Nest shelter, even if it is all full up already. No matter, there are plenty of nice, soft, level tentsites beneath the pine trees. My Lipton Rice and Beans tastes pretty good after all that pizza. Thank you Lord for another nice, dry day. Me and that tent are getting along some better, but I haven't been thru a real rain in it yet. It handles nice weather well enough tho. I'm plenty tired, will see you in the a.m.
Date: 2003-06-17
From: Eagles Nest Shelter

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Only 8+ miles into Port Clinton today. Someone told me that Port Clinton was a port on one of the old barge canals that they used to move heavy barges of corn, wheat, apples, and frontier goods by mule power. Also, it is a switchyard for the famous Reading Railroad of Monopoly fame. Will try to get some film in this town. I head straight for the Port Clinton Hotel. Showers, A/C, and clean sheets, not to mention a bar that serves up the famous "Hiker Burger" with a large order of fries. Several people urge me to only order a "small" fries, as the "large" will be enough for four people, or 2 hikers, or (in my case) one hungry Texas hiker. I polish off the massive plate of fries and ask to see the menu, but it is only an act of bravado. I'm full!I settle for a room and a TV so I can find out what's been going on in the world and the stock market. Good news! The Dow is 9,300. My big dog, GE, is holding it's own at $31 and change, tho down somewhat. Good to hear. Think I will take that zero I've been promising myself. Need another camera, some food, some cooking alcohol, make some phone calls and mail the notes. More later...bye for now.
Date: 2003-06-18
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, it's my 2nd day at the Port Clinton Hotel. Carol calls "Chunky" the bar maid to chat...Hmmm? Breakfast is a leisurely 1 1/2 mi. walk down the Hwy. to the 3 C's Restaurant. Good food, but this is the North. They don't know nothing 'bout cream gravy. (My favorite food group.) The hiker next to me is explaining why he isn't loosing any weight since Carolina, as I watch him eat TWO complete large breakfasts. Oh! I get it. You eat three times as much of everything and THAT way you don't lose weight. Well, duuuhhh!On my way back to town, I stop at the Town Pavillion to see who signed the register. Same old bunch, but they are in front of me now...Itchy Foot, Just Do It, Jan LiteShoe, Commander-In-Chief, even Not the Kennedys, Wench and Hotdog, all are ahead. I don't care. I stop by the outfitters for light resupply, then on to the post office, where I mail off my last journals and disposable camera. The "Post Office Lady" isn't amused about being reminded that "she works at the Post Office and doesn't have to know anything".   Guess she's heard it before. Sorry. She isn't the least bit helpful after that barb, either. I wonder why?? I ponder the mystery as I get back to the hotel pub/restaurant. Another few beers and one of their Killer Hiker Sandwiches and I meet a northbounder named Mud. He too, has a harmonica and I pull mine out for a little jamfest. It couldn't have sounded too bad, as Chunky kept her mouth shut, and other patrons drifted thru to the tunes of "Oh Suzanna" and "Dixie". And "Tennessee Waltz" was appreciated, too. (Seems that I'm getting a lot of mileage out of those 3 tunes.)At 9:00 p.m. that nite, Discovery Channel had a "Walking with Cavemen" 2 hr. special that I'd been wanting to see, so I said "Goodnite all" and retired to watch the tube. Pretty good day, if I do say so myself. Thank You Lord!
Date: 2003-06-20
From: Eckville Shelter

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It's morning again and the rain continues. I'm just not up to it today. The low-hanging, lead-colored clouds dump inch after inch of water on the sturdy hikers who leave in the rain to continue the journey. Not me, not today. I stay rolled up in my sleeping bag until this day's hikers come drifting thru. Everyone knows Just Do It and isn't it too bad about his wrist? By this time I know where everything is and the caretaker pops in from time to time to tell us how much rain is in the rain gauge and to take pictures of each of the hikers for the photo albums that date back to at least the yr. 2000. Many of the hikers that I met in 2001 have stopped in here and I see pics of Packasandra, Tumbleweed and Happy Feet, Dartman, Quiote, Tuna, Porkchop and many others. A smile crosses my face as I see how skinny everyone is. We all gained back all the weight we lost while hiking, but in the pictures, we are forever young and thin.By the time todays bunch orders pizza, there's more than 4 inches in the rain gauge. This bunch is a younger, rowdier group than yesterday. We don't take directions as well, and it's wetter outside, so the caretaker isn't there to make sure all his rules are followed.   It's not my job to make sure they do what he wants them to, and my bunk and sleeping bag are all that concern me tonight.
Date: 2003-06-21
From: Eckville Shelter

To: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: light rain

Have been at Eckville shelter for 2 days. The morning rain isn't so hard now, and my rain gear fits me better than it did at Harpers Ferry. I hike out anyway, come "Hell or High Water". It's not so bad at all. Just take your time, try not to step directly into the small river eating it's way down what had been a foot path, and try to enjoy the sound of rain on your rainhood. (I gots to develop a better attitude toward this wet stuff!)It would be easier if my Vasque Sundowner boots didn't leak so much. The soles are completely coming apart. By noon, the rain has stopped but run-off keeps the "Appalachian Canal" full. After only a 7+ mile day, Allentown Hiking Club Shelter looks wonderful. The spring is a long way down from the shelter, but it's running bank to bank. The water is clear, cold and delicious. I bring back four liters.Before long, 2 more northbound thru-hikers stop in. Puff-Puff and Snappy are both using hammocks. They string the hammocks up between trees, and a group of section hikers shows up. Looks like the shelter is full already. The section hikers are all plumpish Yuppie types and they talk of past glory days of mountain-biking, rock climbing and the marathons they used to run. They are up until late that night, drinking and "remembering when".
Date: 2003-06-22
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

To: Bake Oven Knob Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

It's Sunday morning and NO ONE gets up until after 9:00 a.m. The Yuppies have worn themselves out reminiscing and planning their upcoming weekend trip to one of the huts in the White Mountains. I hear them comment on how many months it took to get the reservation to stay there. They are amazed that we thru hikers are planning to just walk up and knock on the door at the huts whenever we get that far. Can't help it, that's the plan! I hope it works.Before I leave the shelter, I practice my Yogi-ing (just to keep polished up) and walk away with an additional 2 days worth of food that the section hikers carried in but don't want to carry out. They seem amazed that I have walked some 1,300 odd miles and will hike another 800 or so before I'm done. I thank everyone for the free food and am hiking again in the scattered showers. It looks like it's about to clear up.In only a couple of hours, PA 309 and the Blue Mountain Restaurant is in front of me. Oh, what the heck! Lunch of cheeseburger and coffee gets me ready for the SERIOUS "Bear Rocks". Folks, I have climbed Katahdin Mt., and it is 15 times bigger, but no harder than that 2 mile stretch of Pennsylvania! Plus which, they were wet. EVERY step had to be "for sure". Not one step was taken for granted, and the technique of making positive that your boot doesn't slip takes all of your concentration. This is the "Rocks" that we all hear about. We do it "one step at a time" as trite as that sounds. It's absolutely true. By the time Bake Oven Knob Shelter showed up, I was more than ready to stop. It's been a tough 10 mile day. Later, a hiker girl, Trail Frog, comes limping in, and she is wearing the exact same pair of New Balance model 2000 that I bought for myself at Harpers Ferry.   I loved the shoes in the dry Maryland countryside, but I left 'em in the truck when Grampie dropped me off after Trail Days. It turns out that it was a good call. Trail Frog's feet look like poison ivy all over them, below the ankle. She says that she has been hiking in wet shoes for 3 weeks now, and her feet are covered with bleeding cracks, blisters like big raisins, and a red rash from the salt sweat in the socks. I'm amazed that she can still walk. She doesn't complain, but is in obvious pain...still...she hikes on. Hiker Trash Can Take It!!!Later, a brand new section hiker comes in. It is his very first day to hike anywhere and his pack weighs 75 some odd pounds. He has a sense of humor about what he has brought along, and seems sincerely interested in finding out what kind of gear REAL hikers carry. Well!!! It seems that I can't shut up, and I discuss pros and cons of gear well into the nite. God bless him for listening to "Mr. Know It All" here, but he did seem to want to know...I'm not at all sure that he wanted to know THAT much!
Date: 2003-06-24
From: Jailhouse Hostel

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

The day's climb up and out of Lehigh Gap and into the toxic heavy metal area of an old zinc smelter is on everyone's mind. There is no water that is fit to drink for at least 8-10 miles. I decide to carry my full complement of four liters of water. I'm glad I did.The heavy metal zinc has toxified all the greenery for the first 6 or 8 miles. It's like a moonscape. The locals say that the greenery is beginning to come back, but I'm glad that I am carrying pure water and don't have to drink the stuff with the EPA warning. Delp Springs is a good 5 miles out of the toxic area, so it is pure, we hope. While I am getting ready to go to the spring, a lady hiker comes up and she's carrying a 4 yr. old boy in a backpack/carseat. It's something I haven't seen before. This Mommy is carrying a total pack/baby weight of 57 lbs. she said. Her name before she became Mommy was Elizabeth, and I sensed the truly beautiful nature of this Mother/son bond. Here she was, trudging about with this too-large child strapped to her back, talking to him about butterflys, mushrooms, millepedes and chipmunks.He was 20 lbs. too heavy for her to carry, but every step she took was full of love and shared wonderment as this absolutely beautiful boy-child discovered the world his mother had taken so much time and labor to expose him to! I thought it was a labor of love and beautiful besides, and I told her so. I had a Snickers bar and I cut it in thirds, one for me, one for her, and one for the baby. We talked for a moment and I left to get water. When I got back, everyone was gone, but there was a single chocolate chip cookie on my pack. Thank you, Elizabeth!It's a good thing I've gotten another 2 liters of pure water. The heat and the moonscape have kicked me harder than I thought. Sixteen mile days are just too much. It's 7:00 p.m. by the time I roll into Leroy A. Smith Shelter and it's full. I don't care. Hiking Viking, Truckin' and myself all tent in a nice flat open campsite. There's even a resident deer who seems oblivious to our presence.I set up my Nomad tent, hang the bear bag, and I'm down for the nite. That is, after I check myself all over for ticks again, and find 3 more that I had missed. In case I haven't mentioned it, ticks were everywhere for the past 2 days. I must have gotten 15 in 2 days. Late that nite, we all hear a fourwheeler come down the Trail, no doubt looking for deer to shoot. We listened as the motor sounds got farther and farther away. No deer tonite, I guess.
Date: 2003-06-26
From: Wind Gap

To: Kirkridge Shelter
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: clear sky

I walk out of the motel with 3/4 of a cheese pizza in a plastic bag. Pizza is good hiker food! Just outside, Trail Frog has caught up from her zero day at the Jailhouse Hostel. Her feet seem better, and we talk a bit while doing what Baltimore Jack has described as "a particularly heinous section of rocks". Well, I was wondering what "heinous" meant to Baltimore Jack. It means "rocks wall to wall, with no place to put your feet so you have to walk on 'em everywhere" rocks. Where you have to measure every single step exactly or you fall and break a wrist like Just Do It did. Pizza helped. So did a gaggle of Israeli Trail Maintainers we passed along the way. They wanted to know where I got my money to be gone hiking so long. They just shook their heads when I told them that I was a retired firefighter. "Too young to be retired" one said.In a couple of hours hiking with Trail Frog, I am bushed. Can't keep up. I wave bye and settle back into a slower pace. Frog was heading for the Church Hostel at Delaware Water Gap, but I was going to spend the nite at Kirkridge Shelter. In the morning I would hike into Delaware Water Gap to meet Grampie. There were two guys already hanging out at the shelter and they weren't hikers. They were just 2 guys who worked together who had come up to hang out around the shelter for a couple of days in between jobs. Hmmmm!!! Am not sure about them.In a bit, another couple comes in and due to the mosquitos (and the 2 guys) I decide to tent out back of the shelter. At this shelter, the water source was a hydrant out back of a retreat house right next to the Police Officers Firing Range. Those guys were blasting until 10:00 p.m. What a funny deal, a prayer and solitude refuge right next to a gun range. Go figure!