morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-09-03
From: Palmerton

To: Allentown Shelter
Miles today: 17.7

Last night Flounder was able to call her mom as the storm was battering their Island. But their lines went down and noone has heard anything since. We're hoping the worst of the storm has passed. Calls to Nassau revealed there was heavy wind there and they couldn't imagine the pounding Flounder's mom was taking on Eleuthera, where the eye is now. We can only pray. We went for breakfast and asked to watch their TV weather channel while the food was being prepared. The server let us, but was very cranky. We called my dad and went to the library and found the storm was nearly stalled over Eleuthera. Bad news. We decided to hike on with our cell phone and will call again tomorrow when we arrive in Ft. Clinton. We thanked the folks for a wonderful stay at the hostel, and they offered to take us back to the trail. Super nice people. Palmerton is a little different. Definitely small town. Lots of children with babies, and nearly everyone smokes. We just can't get used to people smoking in the restaurants. How primitive. Florida has just spoiled us I guess. But Palmerton as a whole has the most friendly people of any town thus far. Hiking is uneventful today, and having only a few rocky sections speeds things along. We had great views from Bear Rock and Knife Edge. Only 1 deer today. At Route 309, we got some grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and got to meet Creamy and Crunchy. Nice guys, we had fun chatting with them. They are taking a zero tomorrow in Philly. After dinner, we hiked 4.1 miles to the shelter. Big Perm, Grandma Spaghetti, and company are there. We talked and had fun trying to hang our bear bags. Still no word from the Bahamas. :-(
Date: 2004-09-04
From: Allentown Shelter

To: Port Clinton Pavilion
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: light rain

Several miles of forest service road today that melt away the miles quickly. Several areas of larger rocks that are fun for rock hopping. It is funny to watch others who are not as adept at this activity. They watch in amazement as we practically run across them. We have only about 10 miles today of what we call "PA rocks...the small ankle busters". We stop in Pt. Clinton at the Port Clinton Hotel and pay $5 each for a shower. We met Bad Foot Festis and Slow Barbara (both NOBO who have no intentions of finishing this year). Slow Barbara is writing for the Sanford Chronicle in NC. Both are special people and sneek us a key so we can do our laundry. Thank you! We spent the night at the pavilion in town. It is huge.
Date: 2004-09-05
From: Port Clinton Pavilion

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: scattered clouds

 Out to 3Cs for breakfast first thing. Great place - definitely the best in PA. Non-smoking and they played Christian music. We checked in with our FL and Bahama families. Frances is still moving through and going oh so slowly. It is much more dangerous. [It is September 12th as I type this entry and want everyone to know that LB and F's family in the Bahamas is safe and so is family in Florida. Everyone has electricity and water now and property damage is minimal. Pretty amazing since so many in FL and the Bahamas had major damage. LB and Flounder should be able to stay on the trail this time around. And it seems Ivan keeps moving west! Yipee for Florida.] We were on the trail at 9:45 today. Rocks from the start. The forest is prettier today being thicker and with more color. [This is the first fall in Florida that I have noticed a big color change in our trees... they are either green because they are alive or brown because they are dead!] Sprinkles and mist the entire day clouded the couple of view spots we had. More rocks today than the rest of PA combined! We met DaddyO (NOBOr who will flip flop to Katahdin when he gets to Port Clinton to give himself a longer hiking season and better chance of completion this year. Have I mentioned the rocks. [yes, you have...but at least you are not talking about mud this time!] I expected my feet to be black and blue when I pulled off my shoes at the next shelter. They actually looked OK but felt like someone beat on them all day with a 16 oz. ball peen hammer (rounded end of course!) [That really cleared that up for me...what is a ball peen hammer?!] After running cold water on them they felt much better. Maybe it was just the cummulative effect of the last 3 days and the heavy mileage (60+). And of course Flounder is still rubbing in the fact that she has her new cushy shoes! At the 501 Shelter we order pizza and some salads with Spitin Weasel (Don) a section hiker. He treated us since it is his last day on the trail. Thanks. Also we saw a nice group of section hikers from the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club.
Date: 2004-09-06
From: 501 Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: scattered clouds

We said goodbye and thanks to Spittin Weasel then on to the trail by 8:45. Weather looks iffy so we had to make a decision... either 17.4 miles or chance tenting somewhere past that point. The shelter won! However getting to the shelter wasn't easy. From the Wm Penn Shelter south the trail was awful! Rocky, overgrown, poorly blazed...zero maintenance. I got stung by a hornet wasing through waist high wet grass with concealed rocks beneath. The agony of de-feet is wearing us down! A couple of nice views today from Dick Kimmel Lookout. Remnants of an old coal village (Rausch Gap Village) are near our shelter. It was abandoned in 1910 and not much is left. The coal never panned out. Great shelter! There is a spring right in front with a trough. We are all by ourselves tonight.
Date: 2004-09-07
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: Duncannon (Doyle)
Miles today: 28.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I guess yesterday just wasn¢t a great day¢¦ someone call the waambulance! We¢re just not feelin¢ the LOVE from PA. Maybe it will change today. If not we¢ll deal with it. Still pitch dark @ 6AM so we¢ll wait another 12 hour or so. PA you have redeemed yourself! What beautiful trail and forest. Really all the way from Swatara Gap to Duncannon. Interesting too in that a large section of the trail today followed an old stagecoach route and passed through the ruins of 2 coal mining villages. Rocks and more rocks but not unbearable. Views from Shikellimy Rocks and the descent to the Susquehanna River. Once in Duncannon we go directly to the Doyle Hotel where we get the traditional cheeseburger and fries. It¢s an old building(1905) with a lot of character. Vicky, the owner, gives us a brief history on it over the past 100 years (nearly). It is quiet there and besides some residents we are the only ones there (no other hikers). Flounder finally got word from her mother. She was fine with only minor damages to her home. We will remain on the trail then visit and help her when we finish. She was very fortunate and our prayers were answered. Thank you everyone for praying for her and us! Laundry and to bed. Smokey, buggy rooms¢¦but nice showers and clean sheets!Shrek (¢02 and ¢03) cooked for us @Doyle.
Date: 2004-09-08
From: Duncannon (Doyle)

To: Rt. 944 Boiling Springs (B&B)
Miles today: 13.3

Normal town chores today except laundry was done last night. Remnants of hurricane Frances loom in the skies. But, wanting to get to that 12 gallon of ice cream [I assume they are referring to the halfway mark on the trail and the celebration that goes comes with hiking that far.] we leave town in the rain and plan to go 11 miles out. The worst of the weather is not supposed to arrive until midnight and by then we figure we will be snug in the shelter. Nice hiking with little mud¢¦even with the rain. We blue blaze back to the shelter only to find it is gone¢¦torn down! With the wind getting worse we abandoned the idea of trying to tent and decided to get off the mountain. AT PA944 we got a ride to Boiling Springs and spoiled ourselves at Gelinas B&B. Warm/safe and dry as the weather blows through. At the B&B we call Bonespur (NOBO ¢04) who completed his hike on 8/23. We met him in Glencliff along with Wildcat, Easy Duzit, and Tank. Bonespur and Wildcat told us to give them a call as we passed near their homes. Bonespur invites us to come to his house and agrees to pick us up tomorrow afternoon at PA 944. We couldn¢t refuse and looked forward to seeing him again and meeting his wife, Bev. The B&B is wonderful..too good for hikers, really. But our hosts, the Gelina¢s, make us feel welcome. Their home was built in 1869 (Victorian style) and is beautifully furnished and detailed. A good nights rest awaits. At the Doyle (last night) a resident returned to the room next door when the bar closed and for the next 3 hours we listened to him doing the ¢smokers hack¢ through paper thin walls.
Date: 2004-09-09
From: Rt. 944 Boiling Springs (B&B)

To: 944 Northbound
Miles today: 12.3

After devouring a delicious breakfast prepared by Mrs. Gelinas, we readied our gear, said our thanks/goodbyes and headed our northbound. We would hike back to 944 to cover missed trail from yesterday and to meet up with Bonespur. It was still raining but not nearly as hard and from the weather forecast we learned that clearer skies were to come! The trail was nice, fast and flat. We met Bojangos and Eco heading south. We stopped and spoke with them again. Maybe we will see them at Harper¢s Ferry. Bonespur was waiting for us when we arrived at PA 944. It was super seeing him again. We thanked and congratulated him for his completion of his thru-hike a little less than a month ago. He drove us 45 minutes back to his home in Dover. He had stopped along the way and picked up all kinds of goodies for us to eat on the way back (the stuff hiker¢s crave). It was really nice. Thanks! His wife, Beverly, is also kind and generous. She made us feel so welcome in their beautiful home. We had a wonderful home-cooked meal while enjoying ¢trail talk¢. Then we all enjoyed a relaxing stroll around a small pond near their house. Tame ducks followed us everywhere. Back at the house we exchanged stories once again and monitored Hurricane Ivan, another possible threat for Florida. We also checked email and discovered that King David may be in Harper¢s Ferry when we get there. He is taking some time off for his infected toe and will be skipping Maryland since he did it while training earlier this year. Flounder keeps saying that we were all supposed to finish together! With very little effort, Bonespur talks us into taking tomorrow off to relax. He would like to take us on a tour of the Harley Davidson plant and take us to the York County Fair. It should be great fun.
Date: 2004-09-10
From: Dover

To: Dover
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Breakfast with homemade, fresh bread and danishes. Bev is truly spoiling us! It all just melts in our mouths. We then headed out to an outfitter and grocery store to get a few items. The Harley tour was next and it was fascinating to see all the huge machines stamping, cutting and machining parts. We also saw the assembly line where more than 800 bikes are built each day! We had never seen anything like it. When we returned ¢home¢ we did some chores and got ready for the fair. We also had a few hours to rest up. We really enjoyed the fair as we took in nearly every free show. We viewed most of the exhibits and avoided the rides and games of luck to save money. We ended up spending the money on eating lots of stuff we should not have! It was a great day. We will never be able to thank them for it all. This was our 1st real break from the trail where we got to do something fun.
Date: 2004-09-11
From: Boiling Springs

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park (IronMasters Hostel)
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: overcast clouds

What a breakfast again... warm fresh bread and pastries. We all head out to Boiling Springs. Bonespur '04, Beverly and their dog, Hershey will hike with us a bit. Bonespur (Dave) has restored several mopar muscle cars to immaculate condition and has won several awards and shows and has had some featured in magazines. No doubt for his attention to detail. It is definitely a labor of love. On the trail a couple of miles and we say goodbye. Although we are anxious to get moving again we find it hard to say goodbye. More special people to remember and remain friends with for a lifetime! Thank you both sooo much! Although the trail is more hilly today the rocks are not too bad. One fun rock hopping/bouldering section. Even though not "technically" the halfway point, we take pictures at a sign noting such just inside Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The 1/2 gallon challenge awaits! In the park, we go directly to the camp store where I bought the last 1/2 gallon they had...chocolate. A song from "My Fair Lady" comes to mind... "lots of chocolate for me to eat". [How my brother can refer to a song from a musical amazes me! I never knew you had a cultural side, LB!] Flounder opts for 1/8 of a gallon, not wanting to make herself sick. 48 minutes later I am done. A little time off from the record of 4 min. 20 seconds, but still I ain't no panty waist! Another song from "My Fair Lady" seems appropriate..."I did it, I did it. I said I could and indeed I did! [OK, I am beginning to get a little worried now. How is it my brother has the songs to My Fair Lady memorized?! ] I followed the 1/2 gallon with 2 hot dogs and a pepsi. I'll treasure my wooden spoon commemorating the event! I'm not even feeling green! We then hobbled over to the hostel which is located in an old iron master's residence. This is our first real hostel (AYH). It is super nice and we are the only ones here except for Donna, the caretaker. The mansion was built around 1805 and we get much of its history from Donna. The hostel has nearly everything... tons of room, kitchen privileges with food, showers, laundry, tv, movies, books, etc...We enjoy a relaxing evening watching a movie [hopefully, not My Fair Lady!] in our lazy chairs. Life is good. By the way, the official 1/2 way point is at 1087.1.Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones in 9/11.
Date: 2004-09-12
From: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

To: Rocky Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: light rain

Up early and make our own breakfast with the food left there by a large group that stayed the day before we arrived. We talked with Donna and then moved on. Thank you, Donna. Beautiful hiking today. We pass by 2 great shelters today (Birch Run and Quarry Gap). Unfortunately we never end up staying at the nice ones. No, we pick one this evening that is .3 miles steep down a rocky slope with a spring another .3 miles steep down. Happy Birthday to my Dad. Sorry to miss your party. We crossed the official 1/2 way mark today! We are now closer to Springer than we are to Katahdin!
Date: 2004-09-13
From: Rocky Mtn Shelter

To: Pine Knob Shelter
Miles today: 32.5
Weather: few clouds

Acorns are really falling today¢¦like rain, but we only take a few hits. We both nearly slip on them (like marbles). We cross into Maryland but of course there is NO ¢Welcome to¢ sign for SOBOrs. There is a Mason Dixon Sign! Y¢all spoken here! We pass DeerLick Shelters. Cute¢¦ a snoring and a non-snoring shelter. Again, we were not due to stop yet. We really enjoy hiking between 5-7PM. The forest is quieter, the temperature more pleasant, and viewing wildlife is better. We pass through PennMar State Park where we eat lunch, wash up and have a little fun on the swings and slide. No 3-4 state challenge for us but we did manage to pull off a record day of 32.5 miles. We pushed so we could treat ourselves to a zero day in Harper¢s Ferry. We share the shelter with a friendly section hiker, Wayne. Sorry for arriving so late (at dark).
Date: 2004-09-14
From: Pine Knob Shelter

To: Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: haze

Pushing on toward Harper¢s Ferry, we hike by the Revolutionary War Washington Monument. We also get a free shower at Dahlgren State Park Backpackers Campground. Maryland has proven to be quite rocky and we¢ll welcome a day off the trail. We also hike through Gathland State Park where there are war ruins and the War correspondents Memorial (Civil War). At the memorial we get some greatly appreciated trail magic from a bus tour group¢¦treats and cold drinks. The section of trail along the C&O passed slowly. We felt as though we would be in Harper¢s Ferry when we came off the mountain but the 3+ miles of flat trail along the Potomac River seemed to never end. People were kayaking and tubing the river. Walking into HF was like stepping back into the 1800s. A historian¢s paradise. We stayed at the Hilltop House over looking the Potomac. It will be nice to look around tomorrow and get to the ATC office. Nearly 100 miles of hiking in 4 days.
Date: 2004-09-15
From: Harper's Ferry

To: Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Planned a zero today so we could see some sites and visit the ATC office and rest the ole dogs. They¢re howling! We are #s 49 and 50 to register as SOBOrs this year. 52 SOBOrs finished their hikes in ¢03 at Springer (sectional and thru). Drizzling on and off all day and it looks like more rain is heading our way from Hurricane Ivan. Tonight we splurge on a room with a TV so we can see what is coming. We see Bojangles walking from the P.O. He is staying at the same hotel as us along with Eco. Great seeing them again. Harper¢s Ferry is a fascinating town that all would enjoy.
Date: 2004-09-16
From: Harper's Ferry

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: clear sky

Just a quick note for everyone. We are currently at the Bear's Den Hostel (20 miles south of Harpers Ferry. We are #'s 49 and 50 SOBOs. Had a great time in HF and met up with Eco, Bojangos, Creamy, and Crunchy. King David and Jack Straw are real close and we may see them today. Loot was here at the hostel when we arrived. So.....we're back in a pack again and they are all super nice people! If the weather looks good tomorrow, we should do the roller coaster! For those of you who don't know....the roller coaster is a series of something like 10 - 1000 foot mountains back to back (within a 15 mile span?) oh, in northern Virgina. Less than a thousand to go now! Just sent some entries to my sister to enter and tons of photos to Rosebud so keep checking back.At the continental breakfast at the hotel we met up with Creamy, Crunchy, Eco and Bojangles, along with Eco¢s mom. Always fun trail talking. Here is a humorous story involving Creamy, Crunchy, Big Perm, G-ma Spaghetti and Big Perm¢s parents¢¦It seems all were snug in a shelter sleeping when one person woke up screaming bloody murder (no one will admit to being the one). Anyway, then everyone began screaming thinking something terrible was happening. After a few moments of this they all suddenly stopped and turned to each other to find out why they were screaming. No one knew! Creamy said he had heart palpitations for the next 3 days! After breakfast we went to the PO and back to the ATC office to hang out for a bit. King David was supposed to have been there. No sign of him so we hit the trail after grabbing a burger. The trail goes by a few ruins and Jefferson Rock then heads into the green tunnel. The forest was beautiful at times. From up on the ridge we could hear the Shenandoah River roaring below for much of the day. Only a couple of nice views, but several deer. Nice to see them again. They have increased in number since we have left PA. [Isn¢t PA the state you have to wear orange in so you aren¢t mistaken for a deer?!] We decided to push for Bears Den Hostel since the weather was approaching from Ivan. When we arrived it was nearly dark. We opened the door and Loot was standing there. What a surprise! He was waiting there for King David and Jack Straw. We caught up on the latest. Brooke, the assistant at the hostel, was very helpful and interesting to speak with. We checked the weather and it looks like what is left of Ivan will pass to the west of us. We will reevaluate in the morning.
Date: 2004-09-17
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: Dick's Dome Shelter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: light rain

Up at daybreak. We checked out the weather on the computer. Looks like the bulk of Ivan will pass west of us. We cooked ourselves breakfast and said goodbye to our host, Brooke and Loot, who was still waiting on King David and Jack Straw to arrive. We headed out in the rain. We had made arrangements to meet Tinkerbell¢s (Tasha Marie) mom, Robin Sue, on Saturday morning near Front Royal (about 25 miles south). Before we left the caretaker (ranger) of the hostel Idd a fruity looking pod we had been seeing on the trail over the past few days. It¢s green and about the size of a sugar banana. He said they are called Papa and that they were edible (not to be mistaken with papaya). We¢ll give them a try when we see them again. The hiking was slow going with the rain and slick rocks. In addition we each got stung multiple times by wasps. They appear to be coming out from under rocks on the trail? Go figure? We finally come across those fruity pods (Papas) and they are delicious! I stopped eating them only when my mouth started getting raw. Moving on down the trail I developed a ¢problem¢. [Could this be a Papa-size problem?!] The ranger forgot to tell us that even though the fruit is edible it is also a laxative! Flounder said that I was a fool and shouldn¢t have eaten a half dozen of them. (Actually, I ate 10 or 11 of them but didn¢t want to tell her for fear of being an even bigger fool!) The rain did stop briefly a few times but by late afternoon Ivan was upon us with heavy winds and rain. We were getting somewhat concerned when it got nearly dark enough to use our lights at 5PM. As we hiked down to the shelter we found ourselves looking at a huge span of fast flowing water between us and the shelter (40 yds.). The trail disappeared into the water. Our only indication of where the trail may be was a bridge standing in the middle of all the water. The trail disappeared into the water. The small creek had swollen several times its normal size. We finally got to the shelter only to find a sign saying that ¢to our knowledge water has come up to but never entered the shelter and that it had never washed away¢. We just prayed that we would make it back across in the morning. The water was like mud so we cooked nothing and ate a Slim Jim and went to bed.