morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-06-16
From: Mountain Home Cabin

To: Dicks Dome Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Today I had to start hiking in the pouring rain. By 10:00 the rain stopped and a soupy fog rolled in; a fog so thick it felt like I was walking through a rain forest. It was also awfully humid and the effect this had, combined with the effort of climbing mountains, was to make the sweat roll off my forehead and drip, like a leaky faucet, off the end of my nose (very annoying). The hike out of Mountain Home Cabin was a climb of 800 feet to the top of some unnamed (at least in my guidebook) mountain. From there the train descended for three miles to VA 638. After crossing the road (I am always hoping there will be trail magic at the next road but, as with today, I am usually disappointed) the trail climbed 500 feet to a large clearing with a nice bench plunked under a tree where I had lunch. Soon after that I spotted a sign, high up on a tree, informing me that the next 27 miles was, from 1863 to 1865 the western edge of Mosby's Confederacy (something you history buffs can research). From there I hiked, mostly downhill, to Dicks Dome Shelter, an older shelter with an odd shape. It was full but the occupants told me another, replacement shelter was half finished and just a couple hundred yards up a side trail. I hurried there and found a shelter with a floor, columns and tarp covered roof and just one other hiker in it. He told me a severe thunder storm with the potential of large hail was only a hour or two away. Soon three other hikers showed up and we spread out on the floor as far away from the roof overhangs as possible. We ate and hung our food bags just before the storm hit. It was bad, with lots of thunder and lightning, strong winds and heavy rain, but there was no hail. We stayed up watching the storm and the strange yellow orange glow in the sky until past 10:00 before falling asleep for the night.
Date: 2016-06-17
From: Dicks Dome Shelter

To: Bear's Den Rocks
Miles today: 18.3

Today, again, I started hiking in the rain but by 9:00 the sun was out and there was a light breeze. It was also humid but not the brutal humidity of yesterday. The trail was relatively easy, at least at first, with fairly gentle rises and falls and footing that was more sandy than rocky. I was amazed that the trail was as dry as it was after last nights downpours; I guess it had been dry there for quite some time and the ground soaked up the water. That relative ease ended abruptly at about eight and a half miles when I reached what is called The Roller Coaster. This is a 14 mile section of trail with very steep and rocky climbs and steep and even rockier descents. In all I think there are 12 peaks all between 400 and 600 feet high and none have any special views; they are simply there to make this section of trail as demanding (a polite term for it) as possible. There is a warning sign at the beginning but there is no option available; if you want to do the AT you must do the Roller Coaster. It lived up to it's name and I was huffing and puffing on the first climb. After 5 or 6 climbs I was resting every 100 steps and cursing the damned thing every 200 steps. One bright spot happened on my last climb of the day, about 8 miles into the 8 1/2 I would complete today, in that I passed the 1,000 mile mark on the trail. It is noted by a smallish sign nailed to a tree that simply says "1000" on it. After reaching the top of the last peak of the day I had to rest for 15 minutes before walking the half mile up a very gentle slope to the Bear's Den Hostel where I planned to spend the night. Once there I signed up for the hiker's special; a bunk for the night, a shower, laundry, a 12 inch pizza, a soft drink and a pint of Ben & Jerry's for $30. And then, knowing I would need longer than overnight to recover and because I was so far behind on my journaling, I paid for another night with just the bunk and a shower for $20. I showered, did laundry, ate pizza and ice cream (all of it) and downloaded some pictures to Trail Journals before hitting the bed and falling almost immediately asleep (despite a TV blasting Boondock Saints in the same room.
Date: 2016-06-18
From: Bear's Den Rocks

To: Bear's Den Rocks
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a zero day for me. I spent much of the day journaling and the remainder visiting with other thru hikers. After talking it through with Kathy I decided that I will do the flip flop; going to Katahdin and hiking south to complete my thru hike. I will hike until Thursday, 6/30, when I will meet Kathy wherever I am and head north. I will spend some time at home in Maine and probably climb Katahdin on July 6th.
Date: 2016-06-19
From: Bear's Den Rocks

To: David Lesser Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: broken clouds

It was a nice day today; warm, not hot, sunny, absolutely no breeze and a bit humid. Right off the bat I had to complete the last four ascents and five descents of The Roller Coaster and I was very glad to be done with it . Half way up the last ascent I crossed into West Virginia. It had taken me 43 days to hike the 540 miles through Virginia. After entering WV it was seven miles of Rocky ups and downs to the David Lesser Memorial Shelter. It was a good place to spend the night; tenting spots each had a bench and each 4 spots shared a picnic table. A past thru hiker showed up with trail magic so all of us camping there had griped hot dogs, chips and soda pop for supper. After eating I went to bed and slept soundly.
Date: 2016-06-20
From: David Lesser Memorial Shelter

To: C&O Canal Towpath North End
Miles today: 12.2

Today was sunny, breezy and VERY humid. After hiking only an hour I had sweat dripping off the end of my nose (gross!). The day started with a 7 mile ridge walk that was mostly small ups and downs and then a steep 1000 foot descent into Harper's Ferry, the psychological halfway point the AT. I crossed the Shenandoah River then climbed to the AT Conservancy Visitor Center (why are less must go to places always at the top of a high hill?) where I had my official picture taken and placed in the official log book. After climbing back down to the trail I hiked the mile or two to lower Harper's Ferry where I had lunch and bought a bag of bagels before continuing on. I crossed the Potomac River and entered Maryland. I then followed the C&O Canal Towpath for 3 miles before climbing off the trail to the Harper's Ferry Hostel in Knoxville Maryland where I tented for the night.
Date: 2016-06-21
From: C&O Canal Towpath North End

To: Dahlgren Backpack Campground
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was overcast and already humid when I got up and only got hotter and more humid as the day progressed. After a long walk from the hostel and an even long climb back up to the ridge line I came to Gathland State Park with its memorial to war correspondents and some remnants of very old buildings. After hiking the ridge for a couple hours the skies started to darken and I could hear thunder in the distance. Soon after a couple of young thru hikers raced by and told me a severe thunderstorm was less than ten minutes away and they were hurrying to take cover in a shelter a mile down the trail. I picked up my pace and within a few minutes it started to sprinkle and, as I hurried even faster, it started raining hard. I could see the shelter a hundred feet away when the rain turned to a downpour soaking me and my backpack. It rained for an hour often even harder and, when it finally ended and I started out again, the trail was muddy as hell. By late afternoon I got to a campground, set up my tent and took a shower, when the caretaker came by and told me and the other thru hikers that a pizza joint would deliver to a gate a half mile up a dirt road several of us placed an order ( a $120 order ) and three of us walked to the gate to pick it up. As we waited the skies darkened quickly and within minutes another thunder storm started dumping buckets of water on us. The delivery finally came and we carried pizza and liters of Coke, in the rain, back to the campground. It rained for two more hours forcing us to (yuk) eat in the men's bathroom since eating in our tents was not an option in bear country and nobody wanted to eat in the pouring rain. When the rain finally quit we all went to our tents. After I was asleep, about 11:00, another wicked storm hit; this time with high winds and quarter sized hail. It was almost scary worrying if my tent would shred from the hail but I must have been very tired because I fell asleep before the storm was over. At 2:00 I awoke to water on the floor of my tent. The water in the tent site (the kind with timbers around the perimeter) had filled to 3 inches of water and my tent, including my air mattress with me on it was floating in the pooled water. I found a small half inch long tear in my tent bottom that was gushing water into my tent so in the middle of the night I got to put a patch over the tear and mop up a half inch of water using my camp towel and extra shirt, underpants and socks. Luckily my sleeping bag had stayed mostly dry and by 3:30 I was back asleep.
Date: 2016-06-22
From: Dahlgren Backpack Campground

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

I woke pretty early this morning, got dressed and put out a drying line between a couple of trees. It wasn't raining and there was a breeze so I wanted to let some of my wettest things, the ones that would weigh down my pack the most, dry out while I ate and took down my tent. At 8:00 I took the stuff off the line and put it in a separate "wet stuff" stuff sack and put it with everything else in my backpack. The weather was warm and humid as I started hiking but there was just enough of a breeze to make it almost pleasant. After a couple of hours I came to the Washington Memorial State Park where the original Washington Memorial sits atop a hill with a nice view of the surrounding countryside. The monument is made of stone and was built in 1827. I was there for probably 20 minutes and did not see anyone else the whole time I was there. That seemed pretty strange to me. When I left I hiked over some very rocky terrain until I came to a side trail to a spring which I took to fill my water bottle. Just before the spring I came to an open area with a few trees and lots of sunshine where I could hang my wet stuff while I got water and ate lunch. In just an hour the sun, with the help of a nice breeze, nearly completely dried everything out. I packed up again and continued hiking (with a noticeably lighter backpack) until, after five or six miles of rock strewn ups and downs, the skies started getting dark and the wind picked up. I hurried to the Ensign Cowall Shelter and claimed a spot by laying out my bivy sack. By 5:00 it was pouring rain and the place was crowded. After eating I squeezed into my sleeping spot and slept fitfully between two world class snorers.
Date: 2016-06-23
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: PA-16 to Waynesboro PA
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: scattered clouds

It rained hard all night but stopped at sunrise. I got up and started hiking early, at 6:30, to try to get to Waynesboro before 2:00 when Accuweather predicted a band of severe thunderstorms would arrive. The trail was a mess from all the rain; it was slippery and the small streams were now over the rocks used to cross them. After climbing up and down a series of what appeared to be big piles of rocks (that the trail could have just as easily gone around) I arrived at Pen Mar County Park; a large grassy park with pavilions, picnic areas and playgrounds and a surprisingly large number of people seemingly oblivious to the high temperatures and humidity. I had an early lunch on a nice bench and was quickly surrounded by people asking me all kinds of questions about thru hiking the AT. When I could finally get away I continued hiking and came to a sign declaring I was crossing the Mason-Dixon Line and going from MD to PA. Then, after climbing up then down a totally unexpected and unappreciated 600 foot hill, I came to PA 16; a busy road leading to Waynesboro. I stuck out my thumb and soon a guy in an old, beat up pickup drove me right to my hotel. After showering, eating and resupplying at Walmart I spent a couple hours updating my journal then went to bed.
Date: 2016-06-24
From: PA-16 to Waynesboro PA

To: Caledonia State Park
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

Today started out nice and sunny and cool then turned hot and humid by mid morning. The trail was rocky, very rocky with many triangular rocks that you'd swear someone had planted into the ground pointy side up. They were wicked hard on my feet so that, even though the slope started out with a very gentle up slope, the going was particularly slow. Late morning the grade turned difficult with an 1100 foot climb up to Chimney Rock; a nice slab of rock with a great view. By late afternoon I arrived at Caledonia State Park and the first building I came to was the swimming pool concession stand where I immediately ordered a hot dog and a root beer. While drinking a refill of the root beer (the first refill of soft drinks was free for thru hikers) a couple other thru hikers I knew came along and we decided to share a campsite. The camping office was a half mile up a hill (of course) from the pool and the campsite another half mile up hill from the office. We were the only hikers there and everyone else were car campers with huge (by comparison) tents and folding chairs and loud stereos. We set up our tents, showered, ate then chatted, while listening to other campers music, for an hour or two before turning in for the night.
Date: 2016-06-25
From: Caledonia State Park

To: Toms Run Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: few clouds

Nice day today; not too hot or humid with a pretty good breeze. The climb out of Caledonia State Park was a two parter, the first a steep 500 footer over half a mile and the second, after following a ridge for a mile and a half, a gradual 700 footer over just under two miles. Both climbs were extremely rocky and difficult on the feet (and on my trail runners which, at 550 miles, are nearing the end of their useful lives). Once up the second climb I walked a ridge line with lots of smallish ups and downs before descending to Toms Run Shelter. At the shelter I was surprised to see a jeep and a pickup truck parked beside the shelter and a gang of boy scouts working in front of it. Turns out they were a troop of scouts working on an Eagle Scout project of rebuilding the shelter fire pit. They had taken all the designated tenting spots so I found a nice, flat area a hundred feet away and set up my tent. Before long I was joined by several other thru hikers, many whom I knew, and we ate, chatted about the trail and went to bed. The scouts partied, quietly at least, until late but that didn't keep me from a good nights sleep.
Date: 2016-06-26
From: Toms Run Shelter

To: Sheet Iron Roof Road
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: light rain

Today was a great day for hiking; not too hot, low humidity and a steady breeze. After three and a half miles of easy hiking I came I came to Pine Grove Furnace State Park and the Pine Grove General Store. The general store is the home of the half gallon ice cream challenge which I passed on since it was only 9:00 in the morning and I had a long way still to go. I did have an egg breakfast sandwich and two cartons of chocolate milk before moving on. Right down the trail from the store was the AT Museum; an old grist (what the heck I grist?) mill housing the first museum dedicated to the AT. I walked through the museum and moved on. Next I came to the Ironmasters Mansion, a famous (at least to thru hikers) hiker hostel. It was closed for the day for a private party so I didn't get to take a close look. The trail from Pine Grove Furnace was an easy hike for the next eight miles before it turned rocky and difficult all the way to Sheet Iron Roof Road (odd name for a road). This road led to Deer Run Campground; a private campground with a small general store, showers, pool, fishing lake (more like a small pond) and $5 tent sites. I bought a half gallon of Turkey Hill sweet tea which I drank with supper before setting up my tent, showering and going to bed.
Date: 2016-06-27
From: Sheet Iron Roof Road

To: PA-16, Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: clear sky

This morning was cool and nice for hiking. The forecast was for thunderstorms starting at 1:00 so I got an early start in an effort to get to a shelter or hostel before they hit. Coming off of route 174 I climbed a 600 foot hill topped by a jumble of huge rocks that my guide book listed simply as "the maze". Someone with a pretty sick sense of humor had routed the trail through these rocks in the most difficult way possible. This forced me to squeeze through tight gaps, scramble over sheer slabs of rock, and slide down steep rock faces. Once over and through the maze I could see just how easy it would have been to route the trail around it but then, I suppose, they couldn't call it "the maze". The rest of the hike to Boiling Springs was a series of four steep ups and downs, none over 400 feet but all steep and rocky. I arrived in Boiling Springs at just before noon and stopped at the ATC Regional Office. There were several thru hikers sitting out front and, in unison, they told me that the tavern across the street (where I had planned to have lunch) was closed on Mondays. This was bad news as the tavern was the only good place in town to eat and have a beer. A hiker I know pretty well and I decided to head to Allenberry Resort which had low hiker rates and a good cafe. This was a mile up the trail and when we arrived we saw the place was about to be sold at auction and the cafe closed. We checked in anyway and ordered lunch and supper from a pizza joint that delivered. We ate lunch then I worked on my journals and rested until supper. We ate together then went to our rooms for the night. The place might have been up for auction but the the place was clean and the mattresses decent. I was in bed by 7:30 and slept like a baby.
Date: 2016-06-28
From: PA-16, Boiling Springs, PA

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 21.6
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning I started early, at 6:00, in another effort to beat the afternoon thunderstorms. At first the trail was pretty easy with lots of walking across gently rolling fields of corn and wheat. The only difficulty was sun beating down on me. Mid morning, in quick succession I crossed the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-76, and I-81; both times people waved to me as they drove under me. By 10:00 I was soaked with sweat and wishing I could get back into the shade of the woods. At 11:00 my wish came true and I entered the woods but at the price of a climb up 750 feet to the summit of some hill or unnamed mountain. At about 1:30 I heard the booming of distant thunder and wondered if I could make it the final 6 miles to the shelter before the rain hit. I picked up my pace and was making pretty good time when I came to a very steep and very rocky 500 foot climb. After having already hiked nearly 18 miles my legs simply couldn't continue the fast pace up this hill. It seemed like it took me forever to make this climb and, all the while, the thunder got closer and the sky darker. Just as I reached the summit the rain started. I put on my pack cover and tried to hurry down the very rocky path. At first the rain felt good; it was nice and cool (I think my skin was protected by a layer of sweat) and I was actually able to pick up my pace. Then the rain turned to a downpour, the trail turned to a stream and the rocks got slippery. I had to slow down and accept the fact that I was going to get soaked. It is no fun walking a ridge line in a thunderstorm especially when the trail is terribly rocky. I nearly fell several times. The downpour lasted nearly two hours and ended only as I came to the shelter. When I got to the shelter, which was intended to sleep 8, there were 7 boys outs, a scout leader and another thru hiker already there. One of the scouts graciously gave up his bunk (really just a section of platform a little bigger than an air mattress) and moved to the floor with a couple other scouts. I was drenched and cold and starting to shiver so I stripped and dried off (as much as I could with a 12" by 15" camp towel) and put on dry tee shirt, underpants and socks. It was still pretty hot so I warmed quickly. With the rain stopped everyone cooked supper and ate. The other Thru hiker and I spent a couple hours answering questions and telling stories to the scouts about thru hiking then went to bed for the night.
Date: 2016-06-29
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: The Doyle Hotel, Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was,intentionally, a short day. The weather was nice, cool and clear, but the trail was pretty sloppy from yesterday's rain. After a steep and sometimes treacherous downhill I reached the outskirts of Duncannon and got to walk on roads and sidewalks. At 9:30 I arrived at Goodies Restaurant; home of the eight pancake challenge. I didn't take the challenge and, after finishing only two and a half of the three I ordered, was glad I didn't. After breakfast I sat at Goodies journaling until it closed at eleven. I then went across the street to the Doyle Hotel; a famous (at least to thru hikers) hotel now hostel and bar that must have been magnificent in it's hay day 30 years ago. I nursed a good IPA and journaled until 1:30 when Kathy arrived and we headed north to Maine. I will be off the trail until Wednesday, July 6th when I plan to climb Katahdin and continue my journey.