morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-23
From: Rocky Mountain Shelter, PA

To: Birch Run Shelter, PA
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: broken clouds

A few miles after leaving last night¢s shelter we come to the intersection with US Route 30. A hitch into Fayetteville is necessary to retrieve a package sent by Trainman. As often occurs along the northern part of the trail, no one stops to pick us up. Maybe we¢d be more presentable if Montreal shaved his beard. Anyway, finally two guys stop for us. The fact that they speak no English doesn¢t matter; it¢s still better than walking. We have better luck getting out of town. A friendly woman gives us a lift to the trail and offers some cookies to keep us smiling.We pass through Caledonia State Park, lingering there for a few hours to check out the historical displays. For the remainder of the day we travel at 1500-2000 feet elevation, eventually stopping at the Birch Run Shelter for the night.
Date: 2007-06-24
From: Birch Run Shelter, PA

To: PA Route 34
Miles today: 19.5

Today is a signature mark on my hiking calendar ¢ I achieve the half-way point in my journey from Georgia to Maine! Along the A.T. there are many official and unofficial half-way points (HWPs). You may recall that back in Harpers Ferry I passed the ¢psychological¢ HWP. Now in a few hours I will pass the physical HWP here in the woods of southern Pennsylvania. But first there is a small formality to take care of.After hiking ten miles this morning we arrive at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. This is a nice place with Civil War artifacts, swimming and camping. We head over to the campground store to see what¢s happening. All thru-hikers are challenged to see if they can single-handedly (tonguedly?) eat an entire half-gallon of ice cream. If successful they get their names put into the ¢Half-Gallon Club¢ registry. Having failed in my previous attempt in 2004, I knew it was futile to try again. I convinced Montreal that nothing would be proven by his taking the challenge, so instead we simply share a tub of calories without making ourselves sick.About a mile north of the Park we see the pole marking the (semi-) Official HWP. I say semi-official because this sign was planted here in 1985. The super-exact HWP moves every time the trail gets rerouted. As is explained in the handbook, to be absolutely accurate the sign would have to be put on wheels and moved several times every year. OK, already, we get the point. This is close enough for us! Let¢s get some photos and get outta here!Personal note to everyone: I am so happy to have made it this far. It is a great hike.
Date: 2007-06-25
From: PA Route 34

To: US Route 11, PA
Miles today: 17.8

With the festivities over, I return to concentrating on the work ahead. The hot and humid weather returns today with full force. We continue to lose altitude, traversing only a single hilltop at 1200 feet. The trail continues to be rocks and more rocks.A short distance south of Boiling Springs I pass the Backpackers Campsite, an area specifically set aside for thru-hikers and maintained by a local hiking club. The handbook cautions that it is a noisy place with much railroad activity nearby. Trainman would love it, but for normal people¢¦?Boiling Springs is a quaint town on the National register of Historic Places. Its spring produces 22 million gallons a day, but it is not boiling; it just appears to be. After all, this is Pennsylvania, not Wyoming. The local school team is known as the ¢Bubblers.¢ I think that¢s cute.Over twenty years ago the A.T. was rerouted right through the center of town. Apparently the locals didn¢t much care for that, but they now accept the couple thousand hikers that pass through every summer. Incredibly, property values have not plummeted.Leaving Boiling Springs I enter into a long stretch through fields of corn and wheat. It is really hot out here and there is little water anywhere. Good thing the guidebook tells us exactly where water can be found.At the intersection with US 11 I bail off the trail and grab a room at the Super 8. It¢s been eight days since I last did laundry and I am desperate.
Date: 2007-06-26
From: US Route 11, PA

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: scattered clouds

I find the most incredible moth along the trail. Somehow I manage to get a photo before it flies off. (Trainman¢s Informational Addition: this is a Polyphemus Moth with 6¢ wingspan. It is supposedly ¢common¢ but this is the first time I¢ve ever seen one. When threatened, the wings unfold to present a pair of eyes. These apparently scare off birds, their primary predators. I think the eyes are sort of spooky looking.)The continuation of today¢s hike is uneventful. We cross over Conodoguinet Creek and are cautioned not to drink the water. A few miles further we see the northern end of the Tuscarora Trail coming in from the west. If you recall, this is the trail that runs south from here to Front Royal, VA, providing an alternate parallel route for hikers.Two miles south of Duncannon we surmount Hawk Rock, elevation 1200 feet, and get a nice panorama of the town. Once in town we make the obligatory stop at the Doyle Hotel, built around 1900 as one of the original Anheuser-Busch hotels. This place has needed a renovation for at least 70 of its last 100 years. It also has NO AIR CONDITIONING which makes it rough in this oppressive weather, but the window fans do help. It¢s still cooler here than being in the tent.There is a lot of trail history at the Doyle. All of the early-day hiking pioneers stayed here, so it¢s likely that many a tall tale has been told around the bar. Due to proximity to the tracks, there¢s also a lot of railroad history here. And a lot of trains. All evening they rattle by, sometimes as many as five an hour.
Date: 2007-06-27
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Peters Mountain Shelter, PA
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: scattered clouds

The scenery bar is set pretty low today. Today¢s highlight is crossing over the Susquehanna River shortly after we depart Duncannon. The handbook tells us that at 444 miles in length this is the longest river that is crossed by the trail. Runner up is the Connecticut River at 411 miles (the trail crosses it at the VT-NH border). Many easterners think the Hudson River is long, but it rates only a fifth place at 315 miles.After that, it¢s not a real great day in the woods. Hot and humid, powerlines and pipelines everywhere, antennas, microwave towers, railroad tracks. Oh well, can¢t every day be perfect!Near to Peters Mountain we find one of Earl Shaffer's original shelters. It is on display for present day hikers as a reminder of what the trail accommodations looked like 50 years ago. To tell the truth, not much has changed. A half-century later we still can't keep the mice and mosquitoes out of the shelters.TRAINMAN¢S SIDEBAR COMMENT: Earl ShafferEarl is recognized as the first official thru-hiker, completing a northbound journey in 1948. He did a southbound thru-hike in 1965 becoming the first one to walk the trail in both directions. In 1998 he did a final northbound hike to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his first hike. He was then 79 years old.I read Earl¢s book about his last hike and two things struck me. First was that he had an awful lot of assistance along the way. I doubt he carried anything more than the lightest-weight day pack, and he probably didn¢t spend too many nights in a tent. Second, he had an interesting comment about the routing of the trail. Apparently in the early days the trail often went AROUND mountaintops so that the hiking would be easier. Now after numerous re-routings the trail nearly always goes directly OVER THE TOP of every peak along the way. Earl¢s comment in 1998 was ¢They surely have wrecked this trail. They¢ve made it way too hard!¢Earl lived in York, PA and died in 2002.
Date: 2007-06-28
From: Peters Mountain Shelter, PA

To: Rausch Gap Shelter, PA
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: haze

More of the Pennsylvania sameness today: lots of ridge walking, occasional mountain tops, rarely any worthwhile views, numerous rocks. We pass the oddly named Shikellimy Trail, but we cannot figure out where it goes. We reach the Rausch Gap Shelter just before it starts to rain. At almost 18 miles it is another long day.
Date: 2007-06-29
From: Rausch Gap Shelter, PA

To: William Penn Shelter, PA
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: broken clouds

It¢s a little cooler today but still very humid. We visit the ruins of Rausch Gap Village where mining operations occurred in the 1800s. I photograph a huge pile of cut rocks but it¢s hard to say what these ruins are. They appear to be some kind of waterworks, maybe a canal lock or a waterwheel site.At Swatara Creek the trail utilizes the restored Waterville Iron Bridge. A close inspection of the Builder¢s Plate reveals that it was fabricated in 1890 by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, CT, only about 25 miles from where I live. (Trainman Interjection: common practice in olden days was to order bridges such as this from a catalog. The fabricating shop would build all the individual pieces, send them to the bridge location, and a local erector would put it all together with rivets. A gigantic kit! Let's hope they didn't lose the instructions.)About a mile south of today¢s destination we find a family having a picnic in the shade under the I-81 overpass. They have spread out the picnic cloth right in our pathway, not knowing this is the Appalachian Trail. By necessity we stop and talk with them a while. The family lives only a few miles away, but claims to have no knowledge that this is THE TRAIL. We give them our well-rehearsed explanation about who we are and what we are doing. We truly appreciate that they share some of their food (sandwiches, snacks, apples, watermelon) with us as we are running quite low. We are having difficulty through this area keeping stocked up with food. The only stores we can easily get to are the minute-market types. Candy bars and sodas just aren¢t doing it any more.I started the day with low spirits and tired legs. But after our conversion of the picnic family into genuine Trail Magicians, my spirits are greatly lifted.
Date: 2007-06-30
From: William Penn Shelter, PA

To: PA Route 501
Miles today: 4.0

We don¢t put in many miles today. We arrive at the PA Money Pit Hostel and can¢t quite believe what we see. The place looks like it belongs in the South, what with it being up on stilts. There is junk everywhere we look, but it is just junk, not trash (there is a difference). We find the hosts to be very cordial, but they do more partying than we prefer. For dinner we cook pork and veggies on the grill and eat it on the veranda. For after-dinner entertainment we get a snake show. Snakes are creepy, but I¢m starting to get used to them. I¢ve seen quite a few in my years on the trail.This hostel advertises that they are pet friendly and there is a kennel on the premises. They forget to mention that for hikers traveling with snakes, their scaly companions can be accommodated overnight, too.
Date: 2007-07-01
From: PA Route 501

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: overcast clouds

The Money Pit people take our heavy packs ahead to Port Clinton so we are able to do a slack today. We knock off a solid 24 miles. The weather is great and some of the rocks are actually laid flat so we can walk on them without being lopsided.Hikers needing supplies are fortunate to have Caleba¢s Superstore just a short distance down the highway. If you call them they will pick you up! I don¢t visit the store this time, having seen it in 2004. It really is quite amazing, a gigantic store offering EVERYTHING that hunters and fishermen could ever want, but less so for the hikers¢ needs. Inside the store is a museum or two, a restaurant or two, and an aquarium. Overall well worth the visit, and for your driving convenience it has its very own Interstate exit.The town of Port Clinton, population 500 and falling, provides a large covered pavilion that hikers use for sleeping or partying. On my journey through here in 2004 we had a super cookout under the pavilion sponsored by Trail Magician Extraordinaire Baltimore Jack. Although he claimed to have previously thru-hiked 12 times, in 2004 he mostly traveled in his van with the main body of hikers as they slowly moved northward. Legend said it was nearly impossible to thru-hike the trail without running into a least one party organized by Baltimore. At 2004¢s party there must have been 75 hikers gathered for burgers, beer, and all the fixins¢. Baltimore did most of the cooking (his specialty) and provided some of the food; everyone else just hung out and relaxed for half a day. Being here now it¢s great to bring back that memory.Which reminds me, where is Baltimore Jack this year? Back in 2004 he was a permanent fixture on the trail. I ran into him 3 separate times. He always seemed to just show up out of nowhere. But in 2007 we have yet to cross paths.The Schuylkill River runs close by the pavilion but it¢s so shallow that I doubt any real boats have been through here in a century. Forgoing the pavilion and the dampness, I choose to stay at Ye Olde Outfitters Hostel for the night.
Date: 2007-07-02
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Hawk Mountain Road
Miles today: 15.2

Early in the day we come to the odd Blue Rocks Formation. We¢ve seen plenty of rocks like this in Pennsylvania, but never this type of monument. Our guidebook offers no explanation except to say that it is a natural occurrence. Our theory is this: the forest elves use these rocks as a storage pile. Every night, under cover of darkness, they remove a few rocks and place them right on the trail, just to trip up the hikers who come by the next day. Could be true!We stop at The Pinnacle to have lunch and enjoy the view. Many say this is the best view from the A.T. in Pennsylvania. It would be hard to argue against that. Later in the day we come across two rattlesnakes. We steer clear of them, just to be safe.
Date: 2007-07-03
From: Hawk Mountain Road

To: No-Name-Campsite, PA
Miles today: 6.0

I make a quick trip into town this morning so my start on the trail is delayed until noon. The rocks are as bad as ever, as you can see in the photos. I keep pushing on knowing that literally the instant I cross to the east side of the Delaware River (into New Jersey) the rocks will disappear.
Date: 2007-07-04
From: No-Name-Campsite, PA

To: George Outerbridge Shelter, PA
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We continue along the ridge of Blue Mountain, slowly moving toward the northeast. We stay around 1500 feet elevation all day so the views are decent. A few miles short of the shelter we see that the Pennsylvania Turnpike passes under us in a tunnel. We don¢t feel any vibrations from the trucks because the tunnel is 800 feet below the ridge where we are.
Date: 2007-07-05
From: George Outerbridge Shelter, PA

To: Wind Gap, PA
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: light rain

Today offers proof of how quickly plans change on the trail. After hiking less than one mile from the shelter, in which distance we drop down 700 feet, we come to the Lehigh River. Our first plan is to hitch 2 miles into Palmerton to get some supplies and water, but after thinking about it, we decide that won¢t be necessary. The handbook says water is available up the trail at the top of the mountain. Second plan is to hike up to ¢Metallica¢ Spring, but somehow we miss the blue-blazed trail turnoff. We are now fairly desperate for water, but not wanting to backtrack, we choose to continue north, planning to get off the trail in another mile and hitching into Danielsville. Just as we are ready to implement plan 3 we find, instead, that Trail Magic water is waiting for us at the road crossing. So, now that we are refreshed, our next plan is to stop at the Smith Shelter about ten miles further north. Plan 4 doesn¢t work either: we get to the shelter too early in the afternoon. Plan 5 then says that we will go as far as we can because rain appears to be imminent. But it does not rain, so we formulate plan 6. This plan has us stopping ¢ finally ¢ at Wind Gap, where we find a motel and a shower.Now you may have a better idea of why advance planning on the trail is difficult. Very often FLEXIBILITY is more critical to success than PLANNING.Let¢s now backtrack to around plan number 2. The climb out of Lehigh Gap is rated as one of the most difficult south of New Hampshire. As you see in the photos it is one continuous rock scramble that results in an eleven hundred foot increase in elevation. At the top there is a view down into the once-industrial wasteland of Palmerton, PA. Fumes from zinc smelters (now all closed) operating in this area for 100 continuous years have killed all the vegetation. That¢s why there¢s rocks and not much else. The area is slowly recovering. I think I see a few more green sprigs than when I came through in 2004. ¢Metallica¢ Spring, named for both the musical group and the environmental conditions, apparently has water safe to drink. I just wish we had found the turnoff.TRAINMAN¢S SIDEBAR COMMENT: EPA Superfund SiteWhen April first hiked through here in 2004 I did some research on what caused this to be declared a Superfund Site. It seems that toxic smokestack emissions from zinc smelting over a one hundred year time span poisoned waterways and stripped vegetation from 2000 acres of mountainside. Seems odd now, but the Appalachian Trail goes right through the middle of the Superfund cleanup site. Remedial action has been underway for at least fifteen years. I assume someone has determined that the area is safe to walk through. On her 2004 journey April commented that blueberries, some of the largest and best tasting she had ever seen, grew along the trail. I surmised that they were mineral-fortified with liberal injections of lead, arsenic and cadmium. I also added that, next time, it might be safer NOT to eat the trail-side berries. I think in 2007 she remembered my warning.
Date: 2007-07-06
From: Wind Gap, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: few clouds

Except for the rocks, which never seem to go away, the trail is fairly easy with only a few ups and downs. The high point is Mt. Minsi at elevation 1500 feet, but there is not much of a view. The last two and a half miles drop us down 1000 feet into Delaware Water Gap. Here we find a town by that name, but not many services are available. Most everything happens in Stroudsburg, a few miles to the north.Like nearly every long distance hiker passing through, we stay at the church hostel. We don¢t know if the Pastor is a hiker herself, but she provides this service exclusively for thru-hikers. The accommodations are nice. The basement has limited capacity, but overflow hikers are welcome to stay in the shelter on the church grounds.
Date: 2007-07-07
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: broken clouds

At first I thought there¢s not much to this town of Delaware Water Gap, PA, but on second inspection, it just may be the perfect trail town. Within a very compact area, probably less than 1000 feet along two streets, there is the church, the post office, a caf©, a bakery, a diner, a pizza shop, a motel, and a bona fide outfitter. What more could a hiker wish for?I take my time this morning to have a real breakfast at the diner, then I visit the outfitter and pick up some supplies. All of a sudden it¢s lunch time and I¢m eating strawberry rhubarb pie. Finally at 2 PM we depart for the trail. The first half mile leaving town requires us to cross the Delaware River on the Interstate 80 bridge. Although there is a semi-protected pedestrian walkway, it¢s still scary with monster trucks zooming close by. Immediately on the east side of the bridge I am in New Jersey. Farewell Pennsylvania! You stink! Hello decent hiking with no more rocks!We enter into the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, a scenic and protected area that parallels the river and will take us 20 miles to the north before we leave its boundary tomorrow. Around 4 PM we stop at Sunfish Pond for a rest. The book notes this is the first (southernmost) glacial pond along the trail. It¢s quite beautiful and has some strange rock formations along the shore. For the evening we stay at the AMC-sponsored Mohican Outdoor Center, another four miles up the trail from the pond. Showers are available!
Date: 2007-07-08
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Culver Mt. Fire Tower, NJ
Miles today: 19.8

It¢s a wonderful day to be in New Jersey, even if the humidity and temperature are high. We travel at a nearly uniform 1400 foot elevation all day. We don¢t miss the hills one bit. For lunch we stop at Camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec which is run by the YMCA. As we are eating our sandwiches the camp director pulls up in his van and offers us more food and a swim in the lake. We can¢t refuse this offer so we enjoy the next 2 hours getting wet and relaxing.An hour after returning to the A.T. we pass the side trail to Buttermilk Falls. We¢d like to see the falls but taking a side route will cost us an extra three miles. We decide to buy the postcard instead.At milepost 18 on today¢s hike we cross US Route 206 at Culver¢s Gap. Conveniently we find the Sunset Grill right at the crossing. Naturally we stop for a burger-and-beer supper. It¢s a lot more tasty than the freeze-dried goop we were expecting to eat.Two more miles brings us to the Culver Fire Tower. Beneath the tower appears to be an impromptu (but legal) campsite, so we pitch our tents with the others that are already scattered around. We greatly appreciate the convenience of using the tower to hang our food bags. Sometimes it is quite a challenge to get the bags hoisted up into tree limbs. This is an absolutely necessary nightly function. We are cautioned that New Jersey has the highest bear density of any state on the trail. Could be true; we saw two earlier today. And they just love freeze-dried goop.Near bed time we are disturbed by more in the never-ending series of trail-side cell phone discourtesies. A hiker is calling his buddy with the instructions, ¢Dude, look up on the internet and tell me what time is sunrise tomorrow! I wanna be there to see it!¢ Seems to me this call is not really necessary as most thru-hikers, having lived in the woods for 4 months, have a pretty good idea when the sun comes up. Anyway, after a few minutes the buddy provides the answer: 5:30. Just in case this is the SUNRISE TO BEAT ALL SUNRISES, we decide to join him in the tower tomorrow morning.
Date: 2007-07-09
From: Culver Mt. Fire Tower, NJ

To: High Point Shelter, NJ
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: clear sky

Along with half the other hikers at the campsite, we are up at dawn to see the sunrise. It is cloudy but dramatic nevertheless. We get some nice photos looking north and south along the ridge of the mountain.There are a lot of shelters along this stretch of trail. One mile after leaving the fire tower we pass Anderson Shelter, six miles further it¢s Mashipacong Shelter, three miles after that it¢s Rutherford Shelter, and finally we stop at High Point Shelter, five miles from the last one.The reports say that today we are breaking the old record for high temperature. Aren¢t we lucky! Normal people stay inside and crank up the AC, but hikers don¢t have that option. We do have, however, cool Lake Marcia at High Point State Park. Lots of hikers are here, all taking a dip. We eagerly join them.High Point Monument, at elevation 1800 feet the highest in the state, is nearby, but we don¢t have the energy to climb the stairs to the observation platform.