morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-05-27
From: campsite near Bearfence Mtn. Hut

To: campsite south of Skyland Road
Miles today: 15.3

As I expected, the shelter and adjoining campsites were pretty much full. This morning I hiked straight to the Big Meadows, about 8 miles away. I passed Habitual Hiker and the Umbrella Lady on the way. Big Meadows is the biggest complex in the park, with campsites, showers, laundry facilities, restaurants and a camp store. I went to the campstore for a small resupply, then got a hamburger and milkshake for lunch.   As I moved on, the skies began to look threatening. Just before the Skyland area, it started to sprinkle. I started to look for a place to camp, but all I saw was a rock scramble. Luckily, just past the rocks, there was an informal campsite, including a fire ring. I no sooner got the tent up before the skies opened up. It poured buckets for almost an hour, but I was dry inside my tent cooking dinner. This tent really works if it's put up correctly. I got my first Mountain House meal at the camp store, since they didn't have the Lipton Sides I usually ge! t. They are sort of pricy, but the one I got, pasta primavera, was quite tasty. On the hike today, it occured to me that SNP is an excellent place for anyone to try their first extended AT hike. SNP is just about 100 miles long. It's a representative example of the whole AT, neither the hardest nor the easiest section. There are several camp stores and a couple restaurants, meaning you don't have to carry too much food. Most hikers can do it in 6 to 7 days. It's fairly scenic, and has the best signs I've seen on the AT so far. The huts are nice and well maintained, though they fill up during holidays. All in all, a great place for a hiker to see if distance hiking is for him or her.
Date: 2007-05-28
From: campsite south of Skyland Road

To: campsite near Jeremys Run Trail
Miles today: 18.3

There was another thunderstorm at about 9:30 last night. I stayed dry in the tent. This was a busy Memorial Day in SNP. There were lots of dayhikers on the trails and cars and motorcycles on the roads. I saw very few thruhikers, however. I ate lunch at the Panorama visitors center at Thornton Gap, which is closed for renovations. After the gap, the footpath got much smoother and the going easier. I'm camping just before the Elkwallow Gap Wayside. This will be my last full day in the park. I'll leave SNP late in the day tomorrow. There were several rumbles, but no rain so far.
Date: 2007-05-29
From: campsite near Jeremys Run Trail

To: Tom Floyd Wayside
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: few clouds

Today was family day on the AT. Not human families - they all cleared out yesterday at the end of the holiday weekend. First I scared a hen grouse and her chicks. She started running circles around me to distract me while the chicks ran away. Within a half hour there was a mother deer trying to get her fawn to move away from the hikers. Late this afternoon I saw another doe and her beautiful little fawn no more than 18 inches tall. This seems to be millipede day on the trail also. I must have seen 500 of them running around everywhere. Most were the gun metal grey-black colored ones. Every once in a while I see the one I've started to call the Steelers millipede. These are mostly black with gold on their legs, the colors of the Pittsburgh Steelers (Pirates and Penguins too, for that matter). The gypsy moth caterpillers are coming out in full force as well.I was thinking about tenting here tonight, but the tentsites aren't very flat. It was a long hike down to the spring to get water, and just a trickle was coming out. I'm staying here tonight with Gopher and Judo. Judo and I started from Springer on the same day. She initially got ahead of me, then had some hip problems and had to slow down. She's fully recovered now, and has been hammering out the miles, doing sever 20 plus days recently. She is a heck of a hiker for a woman of "a certain age". Chances are she has passed me for good.I left SNP just before arriving at this shelter. I've really enjoyed the 6 days I spent in the park. Now, I'm looking forward to getting into town tomorrow for resupply, rest, and, most importantly, to clean up and gorge on town food.
Date: 2007-05-30
From: Tom Floyd Wayside

To: Chester Gap
Miles today: 2.9

A nero day today to resupply and get ready for the push to Harpers Ferry and then home. Many plants are in bloom now and the trail down to the gap was very fragrant. It wasn't as easy to get a hitch into town as it had been into other recent trail towns. Finally a cab came by and took me into town for $8. I got an inexpensive and surprisingly nice room at the Center City Motel. I'm washing clothes at the laundromat near the grocery store. The cost is more what I am used to rather than the incredibly cheap one in Waynesboro. After this I will try to get online at the library and maybe rest up a bit.
Date: 2007-05-31
From: Chester Gap

To: camping near Dick's Dome shelter
Miles today: 15.1

I had a good day of rest in Front Royal yesterday. I did serious damage to the food in town, eating a total of five meals. This morning I ate breakfast at McDonalds and a very nice fellow there agreed to drive me to the trailhead. The abundance of millipedes I have seen recently were mostly gone today. I think the birds got a lot of them. Tonight's shelter is a unique structure. It's a geodesic dome. It doesn't seem very well suited for a shelter. It is about 12 feet high but only has room to sleep 4 or 5.   Walking Cowboy is sleeping in the dome along with a few others. Tonight I am camping with several hikers I hiked with earlier, but haven't seen in a while, including Castenet, Rock Man and the Georgia twins. Another is Truffles, who I last saw in Waynesboro. He is from Beaver, PA and goes to Duquesne University, one of my alma maters.
Date: 2007-06-01
From: camping near Dick's Dome shelter

To: Bears Den hostel
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: few clouds

I was planning to do 15 miles and stay at or near the Sam Moore shelter. However, I heard so many good things about this hostel that I decided to push on for 3 more miles. The second half of the day was the (in)famous roller coaster. That is a 9 mile stretch of continual ups and downs. None of them were all that tough but the accumulation really started to get me down. I started to run out of gas with about a mile to go. I made it by focusing on the pizza I was going to have when I made it. After I got here and set up my tent, I had two sodas, a whole Tombstone pizza and a pint of Ben & Jerrys ice cream, maybe 4,000 calories. This is a nice hotel. I hadn't heard about it before. It is owned by ATC and managed by PATC. It is mostly run by local volunteers. It's a very nice building somewhat reminiscent of the Ironmasters Hostel in Pine Grove Furnace State Park in PA. There are lots of thrus here tonight, including Castenet, Rock Man, Truffles, Ross, and Chill Out.I'm fascinated by the different hiking styles of various hikers. Older hikers like Castenets, Rock Man and me are up with the dawn and hike until 4 or 5 in the afternoon most days. Some of the younger ones don't get up until 10 or 11 and hike until 9 at night. Still others do a lot of night hiking. I just talked to a young fellow, Caveman, who is starting out this evening and is going to hike all night into Harpers Ferry, which is about 20 miles. Different strokes....
Date: 2007-06-02
From: Bears Den hostel

To: Keys Gap
Miles today: 14.1

Late last night we got a thunderstorm. Some of the boomers were pretty close. Reports of the end of the roller coaster proved to be exaggerated. The roller coaster continued for about four miles more until the trail met the border of Virginia and West Virginia. This was another day of changes. After 43 days and about 550 miles in VA, finally a new state, WVA. The new states will start to come thick and fast for the next few days. After about 13 miles of the roller coaster, finally a return to smoother trails and gentler climbs and descents. Lastly, a big milestone, the 1000 mile mark. The millipedes are long gone. They've been replaced by caterpillers, mostly gypsy moth. They are everywhere, eating the leaves off the trees, falling down and climbing on everything, including my gear, my pack and me. I had lunch at the Blackburn AT Center, a beautiful hostel run by the PATC. The caretakers are a thruhiker couple and their 6 month old baby. They asked me to stay for the dinner they cook for hikers, but I elected to do a few more miles to get closer to Harpers Ferry. I'm camping tonight on the VA-WVA line, near route 9. A trail angel left sodas in the nearby stream, which were much appreciated. The skies are threatening. We may get some more rain tonight. This area is parched and could really use it.
Date: 2007-06-03
From: Keys Gap

To: Ed Garvey Shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: moderate rain

The only problem with last night's campsite was that it was overrun with caterpillers. I had to work for a while to get them off my tent before I could roll it up. I got up and did the 6 easy miles into Harpers Ferry. Garlic Man, a 2002 thruhiker, was on duty at the ATC headquarters. He took my picture for their register and I completed the information. I talked to him for a while about trail matters and asked him to say hello to Laurie Potteiger for me. Thrus there at the same time included The Dude, Sandwitch, Walking Cowboy and Chill Out. Getting to HF is a big milestone for all thruhikers. The Dude did serious damage to his feet by doing a long day with new boots. He will have to take a few days off.Most of the other thrus are either staying in HF or going to the hostel just across the river in MD. I was thinking about staying at the hostel, but by the time I got near there it wasn't raining yet, so I decided to go to the first shelter in Maryland, Ed Garvey. About 2 miles out, it started raining pretty heavily. It is forecast to last the rest of the day and through the night. It was still pretty early, but I didn't feel like getting any wetter. This is a really nice shelter, with a large loft. The downside is that the water is almost a half mile away, all downhill. I'm staying here with a young fellow who is going southbound for a month. Salaam came in the late afternoon, but decided to move on. The Georgia twins came in late and took the loft. Ho hum, another day another state. At this rate, I'll be in Maine in a week...NOT!!
Date: 2007-06-04
From: Ed Garvey Shelter

To: Pine Knob shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: few clouds

It did rain most of the night, as forecast. When I got up, it was hard to tell if it was still drizzling or just falling from the trees. In the morning, I walked by the South Mountain battlefield at Crampton Gap. I ate lunch at the site of the Rocky Run shelter. I say site because there is no shelter there right now. PATC is in the process of replacing it. It is interesting how one's perspective changes things. Last fall I hiked from Harpers Ferry to Caldonia, about 60 miles in 4 days, as a final test before committing to a thruhike. At the time, I thought the section was moderately difficult, though certainly not among the hardest on the whole AT. I feel differently after doing some of the tougher sections like Roan Mountain, Dragons Tooth and the Roller Coaster. I now think MD is pretty easy, though there are some moderate climbs and a couple of rock scrambles.In the afternoon I went by the original Washington monument, near Boonsboro, MD. It was built in 1827, long before the needle-like one in DC. This campsite is within a half mile of Interstate 70, so the traffic can be heard clearly.
Date: 2007-06-05
From: Pine Knob shelter

To: Pen-Mar
Miles today: 18.0

The trail started out in the morning as an easy walk along the ridge. I met Mary Mary, a fellow Whiteblazer from MD on a dayhike. I had lunch at the Ensign Cowall shelter with a thruhiker couple from Pittsburgh, Monkey and Cocoa. We talked about the Pirates, Steelers, and other 'burgh matters.   The afternoon was tougher, with rock scrambles and a couple of tough climbs and descents. I got water at Pen-Mar park and stopped at an informal campsite just north of the railroad tracks. I'm so close to the Mason-Dixon line that I'm not sure which state I am in. My best guess is that I'm about 15 feet into MD. I found some trail magic left by Lucky and Packrat, two thruhiking brothers I met in VA. They told me they were going to try to slack pack all of MD in one day. I guess they made it.
Date: 2007-06-06
From: Pen-Mar

To: Quarry Gap shelter
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained lightly during the night. I'm finally back home in PA. To celebrate, the Mountain Laurel (PA state flower) are in bloom. I hiked fairly quickly to the crossing for South Mountain, then went to the convenience store about a mile off the trail for lunch. I got a huge sub and a quart of chocolate milk. Yum! I ate about 3\4 of the sub and saved the rest for later. I called Judy in the afternoon. We decided that it was best for both of us for me to come home a day earlier. I decided to do 20 today, then 17 tomorrow, so I will get to Pine Grove Furnace tomorrow afternoon. I will take zeros Friday and Saturday, then a slackpack Sunday, another zero Monday, and I'll go back on the trail Tuesday. I have some errends to do at home, plus I could use a little time off.This is one of the nicest shelters I've seen on the whole AT. There are two separate shelter connected by a breezeway, two elevated wooden tentsites, and a concrete and stone fireplace. I think PATC does a nice job of trail maintenance generally, but especially so with the shelters they have in PA. I'm staying here tonight with a big group, including Triple A, Wing Heart, Monkey & Cocoa, Castenets, Backyard Boogie, Beach Bum & Papa Beach Bum, Noworries, & Blazer. This is the first time all hike that I've tented on an elevated platform. My tent isn't really meant to go on a platform, but it will be fine since it isn't supposed to rain.
Date: 2007-06-07
From: Quarry Gap shelter

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: broken clouds

Last night was the chilliest on the trail in several weeks. I had a long sleeve shirt and pants on in my sleeping bag. By late morning it was quite warm. I hiked the 17 miles about as fast as I ever have. Perhaps I was motivated by going home after 2 1/2 months. When I got to PGF, I did the half gallon challenge with Triple A as my eating partner. If you aren't familiar, the tradition is for hikers at the halfway mark to attempt to down a half gallon of ice cream at one sitting. The reward is a little wooden spoon with "member of half gallon club" stamped on it. They were running low, and the only flavors available were vanilla, peanut butter swirl and chocolate. They said they will get another delivery tomorrow. I wasn't enamored of any of the available flavors, but I chose peanut butter swirl. Triple A completed his with ease in about 24 minutes. It wasn't pretty, but I managed to get mine down in just under an hour. When I was done, I was sure I would never eat ice cream again and perhaps never eat again period. However, within an hour I was feeling much better. Judy, my grandson Max and my Dad arrived at 5 p.m. My Dad turned 99 in April and he's in excellent shape. He is the person who gave me my love of the outdoors as well as whatever strength and endurance I possess. I was very glad to see them, and, surprisingly, glad also to see the pizza they brought. We all ate pizza and soda on the way home. I'll be off the trail for three of the next four days, and doing a slackpack with some trail friends on Sunday.
Date: 2007-06-10
From: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

To: Boiling Springs
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: broken clouds

This day started out in a frustrating and humbling manner, but ultimately turned out alright. I met my friend Craig at PGF to do a slackpack to Boiling Springs. Craig wanted to join me for at least a portion. We hiked through the park and past the halfway marker. While we hiked, Craig and I talked about my thru-hike. We got to gabbing, and a realized there were no blazes. We attempted to retrace our steps, but this was hard to do, since the trail was pretty dry. It was frustrating because I know the area well and I was sure we were within a hundred yards of the trail. After looking around for a half hour or so, we decided the best thing was to follow the trail road we were on until we reached a paved road. We did so, and discovered we were in the Michaux Forest above PGF. We walked down the road past the PGF camping area and back to the place we had started from. It was about 10:45 a.m. and I estimated that we had traveled about 8 miles. At this point Craig decided he had hiked enough and went home. So I started down the trail again about 3 hours later than I had intended. It was pretty humbling because the only place so far on the whole trail that I have gotten seriously lost is in an area I am quite familiar with and have hiked 2 or 3 times. The moral is that you have to pay attention everywhere on the trail. It doesn't pay to get too cocky in areas with which you are familiar.The rest of the day was an uneventful walk over trail I know and like. There are two reasonably tough climbs in this section just before and after Whiskey Springs Rd. The rest is just a pleasant walk along the South Mountain ridgeline followed by a downhill into the Cumberland Valley. My feet were a lot wearier than I had expected, since I had gone about 28 miles rather than the 20 I had expected. This was the first day of the hike that I hiked with my second pair of boots. I broke them in last fall. My original pair are ready for boot heaven after something like 1,300 miles on them.
Date: 2007-06-12
From: Boiling Springs

To: Duncannon
Miles today: 25.6
Weather: few clouds

I did my last slack pack today. When Judy & Max dropped me off at Boiling Springs, I was pleased to see a trail friend, Don, waiting for me. We have done a few club hikes together. He wanted to talk to me about gear, because he is planning a trip in Maine through the hundred mile wilderness and up Katahdin. He wants to change to lighter weight gear. Don hiked with me for about four miles as we had a nice discussion on gear matters. After he turned around, I met Gorilla and Sandwitch. They were also doing a slack pack. They stayed at the Doyle in Duncannon last night and got a ride down to Boiling Springs. I had hiked with each of them separately earlier on the trip. It was a nice day through very familiar territory. It was a bit odd to hike through my section as a thru-hiker after going through it as a maintainer so many times. It looks like Jane is doing a great job keeping it up for me. I had told the thru-hikers I have hiked with that the Cumberland Valley is the easiest section of the whole trail. After going through it, Gorilla and Sandwitch agreed. In the afternoon, I got ahead of them when they stopped for lunch while I ate my peanut butter and jelly while hiking. The skies grew threatening and it rained briefly while I climbed Second Mountain. Later, Gorilla and Sandwitch caught me just after I passed the Cove Mtn. shelter. It started to rain again as we did the long downhill into Duncannon. We got thoroughly soaked before we got down to the road. Judy gave them a ride back to the Doyle and we went home. This should be my last night at home until September.
Date: 2007-06-13
From: Duncannon

To: North of Rte. 325
Miles today: 17.0

Judy dropped me off in Duncannon about 8:20 a.m. I climbed up Peters Mtn. and over the rocks on top in the fog after last night's rain. Several trees around here have had all of their leaves stripped off by gypsy moth caterpillers. I passed Walking Cowboy while climbing over the rocks. There were some slippery spots due to the rain. I saw him again at the Peters Mtn. Shelter. I pointed out the little shelter nearby built many years ago by Earl Shaffer. About 3:30 the thunder started and it soon rained heavily for about an hour. I got down the mountain and found a spot to stealth camp not far from Clarks Creek. I made dinner with the little water I had left. Just as I started, it began to rain heavily again. I was glad I had already pitched my tent and was inside. After dinner I was planning to do some chores, but I quickly crashed and went to sleep.
Date: 2007-06-14
From: North of Rte. 325

To: South of Route 443
Miles today: 16.2

Today's hike took me through St. Anthony's Wilderness. It is perhaps my favorite section of the trail in PA. After several days of frequent road crossings, there were almost none all day long. Once again the only thru-hiker I saw was Walking Cowboy. We are both wondering where the others have gone. I think many of them are still back in Duncannon. It is one of the notoriously "sticky" trail towns that some thru-hikers find difficult to leave. We took a break at Yellow Springs, which I explained is a ghost town. While there, we were seredaded by the planes of the PA Air National Guard doing practice bombing runs near us. Their home base is close by at Ft. Indiantown Gap. In the early afternoon, we were at Rausch Gap, another ghost town. I saw the trail work that the SATC maintainers did last year to fix the storm damage around here. Very well done. I think the standard of work done by the local trail clubs, CVATC, SATC and York Hiking Club, compares very favorabl! y to the work of the other trail maintaining clubs. I decided to camp at a stealth site near where route 443 meets 72, near Swatara State Park. I hung my clothes and sleeping bag to dry while I cooked dinner. I've enjoyed hiking through the parts of WV, MD and PA that I've been through before. But I'm sort of looking forward to getting back to "uncharted territory". That will start late tomorrow, since the 501 shelter is as far north as I have gone previously on the AT. I'm not looking forward as much to the infamous PA rocks. The really rocky section starts tomorrow as well.
Date: 2007-06-15
From: South of Route 443

To: Hertlein campsite
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night was a cool one for mid-June. I slept with my pants and a long sleeve shirt on. The hike was easy going until Swatara Gap. Then there was a long uphill under I-81 and on to the top of Blue Mountain. The trail crossed over Blue Mtn. on the west side of the Susquehanna at the Darlington shelter. Now on the east side it will follow the summit of this mountain for the next few days. There were intermittent rocks for the first part of the day. Just before the 501 shelter they began in earnest. I hiked a portion of this section last fall with trail runners. The rocks are much easier to cross with my Asolo boots. At times on the smoother sections I have wondered if the boots were worth the extra weight. I was extremely glad to have the boots today. The William Penn and 501 shelters are both very nice. 501 is fully enclosed and has a large skylight. That would have been a nice place to stay except that I got there about 2 p.m. The Hertlein campsite is very nice, with some leveled tent platforms. I'm staying at one tonight. I didn't see a single thru-hiker today. Just a couple of day hikers.