morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.1

what a difference a good night's sleep can make! i slept until 7am too so i must have needed to catch up on some.since we did so many miles yesterday, we had less to walk today and there was no rush. after 4 miles there was a side trail to bear's den hostel where orb and i got some yummy breakfast ice cream. LT, who was not being a very good model-hiker, passed up the ice cream and kept on hiking. orb and i had some great conversations and got to the shelter around 3pm. this makes for a nice 15.1 mile day.later, stringbean, lucky, wizard, and jersey come up which is great cause i was worried we temporarily lost them yesterday. wizard is reading the silmarillion and jersey is in the middle of Two towers so guess what we talked about all night: Tolkien! woo hoo! it's really put me in the mood to read some of it out here so i might pick up a cheap paperback Hobbit next chance i get.on a totally different note: lots of people have asked me if they can mail me things while i'm out on the trail.no one should feel obligated to send anything, but it'd be great to hear from friends and family back home, and from stangers who are following my journey. Please don't send food (well, maybe a packet of fruit gushers :-)but, i will definitely be picking up mail from the Post Office in Delaware Water Gap around the middle/end of June. don't send anything later than 6/10 to be safe. if you do send anything, mail it like this:"Clair Von Handorfc/o General DeliveryDelaware Water Gap, PA 18327hold for AT hiker   ETA 6-16"i'm probably only going to do this once or twice. I wasn't planning on doing this so i'm not expecting anything. No worries.
Date: 2003-05-28
To: ed garvey shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

this was an odd day. it started out with lucky, LT, orb, and I walking in the early morning towards Harper's Ferry. after only a little while it got REALLY dark, so dark that i can't describe it well enough to do it justice. it was around 8am and felt like 9pm. it wasn't dark enough for headlamps but dark enough to make walking difficult. very spooky atmosphere. from the shelter we stayed at, we had 1.6 miles to walk to hit the official 1000 mile marker for the AT, so that's kinda special. nothing spectacular happened when we got there: we didn't start levitating or glowing or anything, dang-it.after hiking for half an hour, it started raining, then started raining harder. after 2 HOURS of this, we were all drenched from head to toe and COLD. Down with the month of May! i really can't believe june is just around the corner, but it's nothing i can't live through and it's got to get warmer sometime...right? right?so about one month ago i walked into virginia in a rain storm and today i walked out of it...in a rain storm. Thanks VA! Hello west virginia! well, the AT is only in WV for 2 miles but i swear that as soon as we crossed the boarder river, it stopped raining. we stopped into the AT Center in town (headquarters for the whole trail) and got our pictures taken--orb, LT, and i were numbers 149, 150, and 151 for how many thru-hikers have already gotten this far this year. i was originally planning on buying a new sleeping pad at the outfitters in town but found a great surprise in the hiker box at the ATC, a ridgerest sleeping pad in great condition. score! and then the sun comes out for a while! boo ya! goooo west virginia!LT, orb, and I get back on the trail later that afternoon, walk the rest of WV (that state treated me well) and stepped into Maryland for the next 6 miles. this makes for a total 15.8 miles. i'm currently at 1014.4 miles on the whole AT. I'm a thousand-miler! it doesn't feel like that much though. And the AT is 2,172 miles long so we're not quite at the half way marker anyway but it's something to celebrate.lucky came into the ed garvey shelter (really nice shelter) where we were and surprised us with 2, yes TWO, bottles of champagne to share with us! gooooo lucky! stringbean and wicked wizard hike up later and SB is celebrating with some Jack Daniels too. yep, it was a fun night for thru-hikers.tomorrow, lucky, orb, LT, and I are going into a nearby town where LT's parents live and are willing to put us up for the night. Good times had by all and good times to come.
Date: 2003-05-29
From: ed garvey shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.0

we had planned on getting up REALLY early to start hiking to get to town, but the celebrations from last night kept us sleeping a little longer. however, we were still on the trail by 6:30 to hike 16 miles to where a car was waiting for us.the weather this morning was, by far, the best we've had in weeks and was very pleasant. it didn't even rain on us once! we walked through a lot of civil war historical sites which made me regret how little i know about it all. i feel like i'm walking through areas where so many intense/violent/passionate things happened that I don't know. maybe I'll pick up a book about the area and its history...anyway, we get to the car around 12:30. we're muddy, disgusting, smelly, and just plain dirty. so where do we go first? Pizza Hut's Buffet of course. priorities!after that, we went to LT's parents house, Ann and Tom, and take over their yard by throwing all our gear around to dry out in the sun (before it rains). they are so nice and generous and they opened up their house to us!! i can't tell them enough how much I appreciate everything they did. it feels so different to stay in a house instead of a hotel room. i was able to clean things that haven't been cleaned since March (2 months ago!) which is wonderful timing to help my poison ivy get under control (it is getting better too). it's so exciting to be clean!and yes, it did rain today (i don't know what i'll think when it doesn't rain at least once each day) but our stuff was dry by then anyway so we were safe. we had a wonderful homecooked meal by ann and tom and stuffed ourselves silly. tomorrow, the four of us are going to go to ann's school, where she works, to talk to some classes about hiking the AT. Should be interesting--i hope i can remember how to talk in front of groups of people! after that, LT is going to a college graduation for the weekend and orb, lucky, and i are going back to the trail. but orb and i have decided to hike SUPER ABSURDLY slow for 3 days so that LT can catch us quick. but this gives us an excuse to pack in some crazy kinds of food to eat during the day (cookies, shrimp, pineapple-again). it's going to be great. wait until tomorrow's journal when you find out how far we have to walk! goldberry-x is in charge again!
Date: 2003-05-31
From: Slacker Land

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

i got up at an early hour but since we were either going to just do 8 miles or take a zero here, there was no reason to pack up my stuff. in fact, some clouds rolled in and it started raining-- since the guys weren't up yet i retreated to my tent and ended up sleeping in until 11am. needless to say, i'm feeling well rested now.the sun was up for a while so we decided to stay at this site for the entire day and do a couple more miles on sunday. this is the first time i've taken a zero day out in the woods and i have to say it is MUCH more relaxing than staying in town. it started raining hard towards the middle of the afternoon while the guys were trowing the frisbee. someone mentioned that we've gotten 29 days of straight rain. yesterday was the first day it didn't rain at all. and it's still COLD too. i'm slightly annoyed by all of this and slightly proud that i'm still out here. I'M HARD CORE! but i'm ready for some dry days...tomorrow is the first of june so it really should start getting warm sometime. (didn't i say that a month ago?) [Editor: Actually, you said it was warm yesterday and I don't remember you ever specifying a desired length of warmth. Just let that be a lesson to you and be more specific next time]later in the evening, tang shows up. she's been behind us since waynesboro, trying to catch up with stringbean and the rest of us. LT should be back on the trail sometime tomorrow or monday.
Date: 2003-06-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 12.7

it's the first of june! ah june, traditionally a warm, summer month. but not this year! it rained through the night, only drizzled in the morning, but for the whole day the wind was fierce and bitter cool. i'm convinced that it MUST get warm sometime though so i can live with this for a while longer. we were only to hike 12.7 miles today. i took my time with lots of breaks at vistas but the wind made me keep those breaks short. i ran into a section hiker named Windy who has hiked all of the AT north of here and is 71 years old! i hope i can do the same--what a model to live by.we're camping out again tonight. it's so much easier to sleep in a tent instead of those shelters with the old guys snoring the night away. cosmo (met him yesterday, friend of lucky's), tang, stringbean, orb, lucky, and 2X4 are here tonight. LT didn't show up so we should be running into her tomorrow i hope. at one point, i heard, but did not see, a really big tree (or branch) fall in the forest and it made a very loud sound. i'm wondering if that counts?the sky stayed overcast the whole day but didn't rain expect for the morning showers. what i wouldn't give for a crystal clear blue sky for a day...
Date: 2003-06-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 12.1

i woke up to sunshine! woo hoo! sure, it was cold, but i won't complain. i hiked the first 5 miles alone, to Pen-Mar state park and waited there for orb to hike in. a little after he shows up, LT walks in! she caught up from taking the weekend off to visit friends in the area. so we're back together and all's well. although we weren't planning this, all of us (including tang and stringbean) took a 6 HOUR break at the park, lazying around in the much-needed sun. we even got some ice cream trail magic!tang, bean, and orb decided to stick around for the sunset and night hike the last couple miles to a camp. LT and i left the park around 5pm. around 7, we crossed a road and decided to hitchhike to a restaurant for dinner. we got back onto the trail around 9pm and night hiked the last bit. Good Times. we decide to camp in another smaller park and set up our tents in the Middle of a baseball field! Luckily it was dark so we couldn't be seen. around midnight, stringbean hikes up, sees our tents and decides to set up his own. so the joke of the day is that stringbean got to first base with 2 girls in one night. it was a short day of 12.1, but sunny days aren't always good for hiking!
Date: 2003-06-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 20.7

it started out as a cloudy, overcast day...and stayed that way all day. and then it started raining around 9am...and kept it up all day. and it was cold to boot.it was a 20.7 mile day. these are the days to do high miles because if you stop moving, you get cold FAST. the last 9 miles would have been miserable if not for having hiking companions. orb, LT, and i told stories to each other to pass the time and to distract ourselves from the weather. by the time we got to the shelter (we were lucky there wad room) we were drenched and cold. it took a while to get warmed up but I slept comfortably after crawling into the sleeping bag. having no sun and all rain for an entire day really drains me. i need some light!June is now being called Junuary.this the same kind of weather we had in March!
Date: 2003-06-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.2

what a cold night! it definitely dropped into the 30's last night, with the rain coming down on the shelter roof the whole time. someone has started calling this month Junuary and i think it fits. today was a milestone on the AT--since the trail is 2172 miles long this year, today we were going to hike over the official half way point, which we did in the morning. also, we hike to Pine Grove Furnace, home of the 1/2 gallon challenge, where thru-hikers try to eat a 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one sitting. sounds digusting, doesn't it? if you do that, you get this stupid cheat little wooden spoon. well whoopy-do! i MIGHT be tempted to at least try to do this except that it was cold and i was still wet from the night before--the last thing i want to do is eat a lot of something that will just make me colder. orb and stringbean were "up to the challenge" though (is it a guy thing?) and skipped breakfast for it. LT and i hiked together for the first 10 miles. when we get there, lucky, cosmo, and lady are sitting around looking stuffed because they just ate their 1/2 gallon. LT and i decide to split one but (it's embarrassing to say) we couldn't even finish that. we were sitting on the porch of the store, eating ice cream, and shivering from the cold. so much for june. today, orb, LT, and i are going to loose a lot of the "group" cause we're going to hike on about 7 more miles while the others want to get to a town sooner and are planning to walk 15 more. i'm quite content with my 17.2 mile day though, especially with this weather. lately, the rocks along the trail have increased and i don't enjoy hiking over them when they and my shoes are wet.so we had 7.2 more miles to walk and it didn't rain the whole time! we get to the shelter and have it all to ourselves so it should be a quite night. everything but my shoes are dry too so things are much better than they were 24 hours ago. to really make this day rock, i got a real treat... i have recently picked up a copy of The Hobbit to read again to myself. but orb and LT asked me to read it aloud to them. i don't know if we'll get through the whole book out here, but it was fun reading the first chapter to them tonight.someone athe general store mentioned it's suppose to get warmer tomorrow, maybe in the 70's. how nice that would be!
Date: 2003-06-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 20.2

it rained and thundered all night. there are few sounds better than rain pounding on the roof of a shelter while you're dry and cozy and a sleeping bag.i woke up to sunshine though! we each hiked alone for the first half of the day, getting my daily dose of solitude. the 3 of us met up before we walking into the town of boiling springs around 12n (~12 miles). there, lucky, tang, stringbean, cosmo, lady, and tapeworm (just met him) were still hanging out. we were in town for a couple hours, soaking up the sun and drying out some gear.after buying some food and walking out of town, we had ~8 miles to walk to a hotel which was at an AT road crossing. this adds up to a 20.2 mile day with a 3 hour break inbetween. we got cleaned up and happy, did laundry, ordered pizza and promptly stuffed ourselves silly. and then LT found "harry potter" on the TV which she just HAD to watch. Shesh... and she's never even seen either of the LOTR movies!a good, sunny day. Happy Times.
Date: 2003-06-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 13.6

we took our time leaving the hotel room this morning--partially because there was no need to rush, we were only hiking 13.6 today. and what a day it was! sunshine and a light breeze makes for incredible hiking days (especially when you can take your time and enjoy them). the bugs were making up for more lost time today. but don't get me wrong, i'll take the bugs over the cold and rain anyday. we got to the shelter around 5pmish, found another thru-hiker (who will remain nameless) there already who we know snores, and decided to set up our tents a ways away, even though it's suppose to rain tomorrow--it's worth a good night's sleep. i read LT and orb the 2nd chapter in the Hobbit. they're not throwing tomatoes at me yet so i guess they're diggin it (although i wouldn't mind a tomato really). tomorrow, the trail goes right into duncannon where i'll get food and hike right back out.something i've been meaning to mention in my journals: a lot of the trail recently (since yesterday) has been through fields or right along roads. this has really detracted from the feeling of being "in the woods." instead, it feels like i'm hiking through people's backyards (which i am sometimes). orb, who is from new hampshire, has promised me that by vermont, it will feel more like we're hiking in the mountains again. I'll be glad for that.also, the last few miles that we hiked to the shelter were Rocky! they (past AT hikers) say that Pennsylvania is where boots go to die...maybe it wasn't such a good idea to try streching out the life of my shoes until the end of this state. they were already on their last "leg" and now i think they've come back as zombie shoes. i hope they don't eat my brain, (that's what zombies do, of course) that i keep in my... feet... yea...i'm going to bed now and hope to make more sense in the next journal.
Date: 2003-06-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.3

i woke up to light rain falling on my tent around 4am. 2 hours later i wake up again and pack up my stuff. LT and orb are up a little later. i got on the trail around 6:45, it's a ~4 mile hike into Duncannon where we were going to resupply and hike out. it started raining hard after i started hiking and continued until about 2pm. i got into town around 8am and met up with LT and orb shortly after. we found out that some of the gang is eating breakfast in a diner so this gives us an excuse to get a 2nd, and better, meal. tang, her friend joanna, wicked wizard, lucky, and lady are all there.turns out, there was quite a party at The Doyle (this is the hostel hikers stay at in town) last night. some people were still...recovering, none too gracefully either. i'm happy i was camping last night! stringbean, skeemer, hotfoot, suebear, and barely bald were also at the Doyle.after resupplying (courtesy of joanna), we hang out in the Doyle for a while. this place has "character". it's a really old building, and boy does it show. this place is a dump! AND they say that it's been renovated for this year. this means one of two things: 1-they're lying and it's as much of a dump as it's been in the past OR 2-it has been renovated but is still a dump. so now i'm VERY content that i was camping instead of staying here last night.the 3 of us left town around 1pm in the rain and the cold. the rest of the day was relatively uneventful, but the rocks of PA have gotten worse since yesterday. i had a serious case of tunnel vision since all i can do while i'm walking is watch the rocks and where i'm stepping for miles.we caught up with "trail name pending" (aka Pending) and Magnolia (met her way back in Franklin NC). they were headed to the same shelter we were going to. cosmo, tapeworm, and lady were also headed to the shelter.the mileage of the day is 15.3. good enough for a wet, cold day. tomorrow is rumored to be a nice one. i really hope so. the weather is starting to tell on lots of hikers. I've heard of several hikers leave the trail permanently because of the constant rain and cold. we all need some long-term sunshine. heck, i had a better hiker tan back in March!
Date: 2003-06-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

well, the town vortex wouldn't let me leave today so this will probably be my last zero day before the end when all days become Zeros...sorta.not a whole lot happened so i'll keep this brief. snail, sally, and pile-up left in the morning :-(. after that I went to the post office, went to the library, watched some "ducktales" (owoo-woo), and ate. LT and orb walked into town around 4pm which made me a happy-berry. the three headed monster is reunited for the final stretch. 187 more miles to go. looks like we're shooting for the 20th to finish, which should give us plenty of time.Quote I got from a friend: Remember...Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, butby the moments that take our breath away.hey, does that include when the wind is blowing so furiously that you can't breathe?
Date: 2003-06-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.9

some hiker in the shelter decided to get up at 5am and make a lot of noise doing it, so i was up at 5am too. and that guy snores too. sigh...the weather started out with potential--i even had a hazy shadow for a minute or two. but it went down hill from there. it was, i'll readily admit, better than yesterday. it didn't rain at all. I'll take it!remember the rocks of PA? well, rocks get slippery when wet. remember how much it's been raining recently? well, ironically, we were hiking in rain yesterday but i didn't fall once. today, no rain but rocks are still wet and my body decided to reintroduce itself to the ground FOUR separate times throughout the day. the first one was the worse since i broke the fall with my forehead. when i pulled myself up, i noticed how close i had been to hitting a rock instead of dirt...whew! luckily there was no blood or broken skin, but i've got an attractive bump to display for a couple days. the other falls were because of wet rocks, worn out shoes, and just careless hiking. LT and orb fell once today too so i am clearly winning the Falling Game! gooooo me! by my fourth fall, i was starting to get annoyed. this day has led to a new rule: if any of us fall 6 times in one day, we camp within a mile of the last fall and don't move until the next day. [Editor: Hmm... Goldberry's ninja reflexes appear to be waning... Perhaps once she returns from the trail will be my chance to take revenge for the years of beatings... I must improve my archery skills before then!]all said, we hiked 17.9 miles today to a campsite just beyond a shelter. with the weather as it's been lately and the hiking a little less enjoyable than normal, i think my favorite part of the day is getting to camp, eating dinner, and relaxing with LT and orb. and this evening was perfect for just that. orb got a great fire going, despite the wet wood, and they let me read another chapter of the Hobbit. as we were chatting about trail life, orb put it best: "i can't think of anyplace i'd rather be right now than here". the feeling is mutual!bad weather can't keep me down!'course, a little sun would be most welcome... it's been two days since we had some direct sunlight.
Date: 2003-06-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.6

i woke up around midnight to rain beating down on my tent. i woke up again around 4am to rain beating down, and again around 6am. it was a wet process to take my tent down this morning. LT was breaking down camp too but orb was sleeping in a little today. after hiking for only half an hour, it stops raining, and the sun comes out from behind the clouds. i should have slept in! but it was great hiking in the sunshine again. these rainy, dark days we've been having really make me appreciate the dry, sunny ones. it really makes a difference in my and other hikers' moods. i met up with LT after a couple hours of hiking alone and we take a long break in a sunny patch on the top of a ridge. first thing's first: the tent comes out and is sunning itself on a log to dry out. soon after, orb walks up to join us for our lunch. after that, the 3 of us hike on for the rest of this most pleasant of days. we stop at a shelter for a dinner break which is really close to a road and can't resist the temptation to order some pizza subs and salads from a nearby restaurant that delivers. there was a section hiker there whose name is Better Day and he's been reading my trail journal on this webpage. it's odd and neat running into people out here who have been keeping track of my trip.we hiked on a little bit more to set up our tents. Magnolia is also camping with us tonight and might be hiking with us off and on for the next couple of days. our mileage for the day was 17.6. it was a great and much needed day of sunshine and warmer temperatures. we also hiked over another mileage marker today--there are less than 1000 miles left to go on the AT. i'm not going to count down though, i don't want to be reminded of how close to the end i'm going to be in a couple weeks...