morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-07-05
From: home in NH

To: home in NH
Miles today: 0.0

Tomorrow, July 6th, we will drive to PA from our NH home. We will be spending tomorrow night with Librarian (AT 2006) and her husband. Then on July 7th, Librarian will shuttle us to the 501 Shelter on the Trail. We will start the 24 mile section to Port Clinton from there. We may take three days, depending on how early we start on the 7th. This is Swamp Fox¢s last section in PA. All that he has left to be a 2000 Miler, like Rocky, is 361 miles from Great Barrington MA to Gorham NH. Rocky completed this 361 mile section in 2005, while Swamp Fox was nursing a knee problem that lead to a knee replacement. We expect to start to bite into this last section in August this year. We appreciate our Friends of the Trail who have kept in touch during our ¢vacation¢ from the Trail. We have kept busy during this time earning a little money and working on our NH home. The weather forecast for PA looks good. That is good news after the three weeks of almost steady rain we have had in NH.See you down the Trail.
Date: 2009-07-07
From: 501 Shelter

To: 0.7 miles east of PA Route 183
Miles today: 10.0

We had a nice dinner last night at Librarian¢s home. We drove this morning to Port Clinton where we left our car. Librarian and her beautiful little boy, Owen, delivered us to the Appalachian Trail at PA Route 501. This is where we ended our last section hike back in May. We started our hike at 11:21 am on a clear day, with temperatures about 68 degrees. Our packs are fairly light as we will be out a maximum of 2 12 days. Rocky¢s pack is 18 pounds with food and water. Swamp Fox¢s pack is 22 pounds. It was a buggy day. Rocky, out in front as usual, had gnats fly into her eyes multiple times. We had to stop a number of times to get the little buggers out of the corners of her eyes. The Trail here is mostly a ridge walk. The Trail is typical Pennsylvania rocks in some places, but quite clean in others. There was very little in the way of climbs. We had good views looking to the south of the ridge at several points, including Round Head at the Shower Steps. We paused there briefly at 1:20 pm. Soon afterwards we met about ten Girl Scouts hiking west toward the 501 Shelter. They all had identical blue-green external frame packs. They were almost marching, with just a few feet between each of the girls, but they looked happy. We reached the Hertlein Campsite at Shubert Gap at 3 pm. As we descended toward the campsite we saw a picnic table. This was a perfect place to cook dinner, as a good water source was just a few feet away from the table. We had decided to cook dinner here, rather than at our night stop, so that we could continue with our full compliment of 72 ounces of water. Water is not easy to come by on this ridge walk. We would have our lunch snack when we made camp for the night. After leaving our dinner stop we crossed the main stream at Shubert Gap. On the east side of the stream we saw another picnic table and tent platforms. Anyone planning to camp at Hertlein should continue to the east of the stream for a better campsite, than on the west side. As we continued our hike, temperatures climbed into the 70¢s and seemed more humid. We were getting fatigued. A nine week layoff from the Trail was taking its toll. We reached PA Route 183 at 5:40 pm, and were pleasantly surprised to see that some Trail Angels had left jugs of water there. We drank about 20 ounces each and were able to continue with all 72 ounces of our water for tonight and tomorrow¢s breakfast. There was also a clever sign at the road, apologizing for the Pennsylvania rocks (see photo). We decided to camp at the first campsite we saw after we crossed PA Route 183. At 6:20 pm, we saw a campsite just off to the right and decided to call it a day. We set up our tent quickly and got in to avoid the bugs which were quite abundant. We have had our lunch snack and are relaxing in our tent. Ten miles in barely half a day isn¢t too shabby. We may make Port Clinton tomorrow, and end our hike half a day early.
Date: 2009-07-08
From: 0.7 miles east of PA Route 183

To: Port Clinton PA
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: broken clouds

We didn¢t sleep too well last night. Swamp Fox was cold, even though temperatures only dropped to about 58 degrees. He slept in two liners, to save the weight of a sleeping bag. The two liner combination probably has a comfort rating of about 75 degrees. He put on all the spare clothes he had which wasn¢t much. He still felt cold. Traveling light has its drawbacks. Rocky was comfortable in her 35 degree bag, with her woolies on.We were up at 6:20 am and on the Appalachian Trail, headed north, at 7:20 am, after a skimpy breakfast.   Soon we came to the campsite at Black Swatara Spring. There were three thru hikers there in the process of breaking camp (Miles, Strider, and Tarzan). Rocky chatted with them while Swamp Fox went to fill up on water. We were on our way, and soon were passed by the three thru hikers. We chatted at some length with Miles, an interesting young man from Seattle, who is a glass blower. We had never met a glass blower before. It was a pleasant morning, clear, a little breezy, with temperatures in the mid 60¢s.We reached the side trail to the Eagles Nest Shelter at 10:45 am, but didn¢t want to walk the 0.2 mile to the shelter. We sat down on a log and had a leisurely lunch snack, even though it was quite early. As the day wore on, the temperatures climbed into the mid 70¢s. Rocky started to hurt and got a bit cranky. The rocky trail conditions made it worse. However, she had reluctantly agreed that we would make it into Port Clinton, rather than camp on the trail for another night. Perhaps burgers at the Port Clinton Hotel was her incentiveThe steep descent into Port Clinton was quite uncomfortable for her. We arrived in Port Clinton at 5:20 pm. We went to the Ye Olde Backpacker outfitter for a look around. We then had burgers at the Port Clinton Hotel. Rocky had looked forward to a burger at the Port Clinton Hotel for four years. She arrived here on July 1, 2005, but the Hotel was closed. In fact every time we have been in Port Clinton, the Hotel has been closed. This time she got her burger, along with a big bowl of french fries. Afterwards we went back to the Port Clinton pavilion to see if any hikers needed a ride somewhere. We had no takers, so we hopped in our car and drove to Philadelphia, and spent the night in the air conditioned home of Swamp Fox¢s Dad. This wraps up the Pennsylvania AT for Swamp Fox. All that remains for Swamp Fox to complete the entire Trail is 361 miles between MA Route 23 and Gorham, NH. We will start to bite into this mileage in August when we start up again at MA Route 23 and head north as far as we can.Stay tuned, as we will periodically update our journal as our planning progress.
Date: 2009-08-09
From: home in NH

To: home in NH
Miles today: 0.0

Tomorrow we will be back on the Trail again. We are going to do a 5 day, 40 mile section from MA Route 23 to Dalton MA. Pilot (see his 2009 AT Journal) will meet us at Dalton and shuttle us to the start of our hike. Rocky hiked this section in 2005, but this will be a new experience for Swamp Fox. It will be great to be back on the Trail again. The weather forecast doesn¢t seem great: hot and humid for a few days. But we will take what the Trail gives us.
Date: 2009-08-10
From: MA Route 23

To: Mt. Wilcox North Leanto
Miles today: 5.1

As planned, we met Pilot and his wife, Mary, (aka ¢Puddles¢) at the Gulf Road parking area at the NW end of Dalton MA, at 12 noon. They graciously drove us to the Appalachian Trail crossing of MA Route 23. Thanks, so much, Pilot and Mary. We hope our paths will cross on some future trail and that we can reciprocate. At 12:53, we started the climb out of Route 23. It was over 80 degrees, sunny, and humid. Almost immediately we were drenched in sweat. It took us just over one hour to do the 1.1 miles to Blue Hill Road. We are obviously not in hiking condition after the long layoff since our last hike. We stopped for a snack and a rest break at beautiful Benedict Pond. We continued and struggled with feelings of dehydration, heat, and biting mosquitoes. We reached Mt. Wilcox South Leanto at 3:54 pm. We rested and briefly considered staying at this shelter, but we decided to push on to Mt. Wilcox North Leanto. Swamp Fox was feeling light headed and unusually fatigued. We thought he might be suffering from heat exhaustion. (Swamp Fox had once previously passed out from dehydration after a 10K race, back when he had two real knees.) We reached Mt. Wilcox North Leanto at 5:54 pm. The 5.4 mile hike, including the side trail to the shelter, had wiped us out. The bugs were awful, so Swamp Fox quickly and rather clumsily, set up out tent in the very large shelter, minus the rain fly. It looked as if we would have the shelter to ourselves After we had cooked our dinner, we were safely in our tent, hiding from the blood thirsty bugs Eventually, two Nobo thru hikers showed up: a man, trail name ¢Pussy¢ and a woman, trail name ¢Rocky¢. Would you believe it: two female Rocky¢s in the same campsite. We enjoyed talking with them about their trail experiences. But they soon went off to set up their tents to get away from the bugs. Their tents were not free standing and could not be set up in the shelter.This has been a tough first day back out on the Trail. But tomorrow will be a better day and we will finally get to meet Mother Hen.           .
Date: 2009-08-11
From: Mt. Wilcox North Leanto

To: Main Road, Tyringham, MA
Miles today: 7.0

It was a humid night for sleeping and the temperature only dropped to 68 degrees. We also had thunderstorms during the night, but the rain stopped by daybreak.We had our usual breakfast of cold cereal and some dried fruit. We left the shelter at 7:40 am, and were at the junction of the side trail and AT ten minutes later. Pussy and the other Rocky hadn¢t yet stirred in their tents. However, we were sure they would pass us before the morning was out. At first it seemed cooler and less buggy than yesterday. That soon changed and we were soon swatting mosquitoes again.   During the course of the morning we were passed by a number of Nobo thru hikers: Rocky, Aqua Fresh, Lone Wolf and Scarecrow. We also crossed paths with two SoBos. We passed over Cobble Hill, with a good view to the north, and descended to Jerusalem Road. A small crowd of thru hikers were resting at the AT crossing of Jerusalem Road. They were contemplating hitch hiking to get a restaurant meal. Thru hikers get desperate for real food sometimes.We chatted with them for awhile and then continued the 1.1 miles to Main Road into Tyringham. This was an interesting 1.1 miles walk, as we crossed woods, meadows, marshes, with foot bridges. When we reached Main Road at 1 pm, we called Mother Hen. Mother Hen¢s husband, trail name KemoSabe, had done a SoBo thru hike in 1995. They continue to participate in the Trail Community. They also have a granddaughter who is an aspiring hiker, with a trail name of (would you believe it again) ¢Rocky¢. Amazing: three female Rocky¢s crossed paths on the same day. Mother Hen had cold lemonade for us, which really hit the spot on a hot afternoon. Before we left Main Road, a section hiker, David from New York City, came by and also enjoyed some lemonade before he pushed on northward. We had been corresponding with Mother Hen, who is an avid follower of Trail Journals, since prior to our January 1st start at Springer Mountain. We had been looking forward to meeting her, and her family, and today we finally got the chance. We spent the evening with them. We enjoyed a great dinner and had a chance to cleanup and spend the night in a real bed. Thanks, Mother Hen, KemoSabo, and little Rocky. You have made this a memorable hike.
Date: 2009-08-12
From: Main Road, Tyringham, MA

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: broken clouds

Mother Hen made us a great breakfast before we departed. Kemo Sabe drove us back to yesterday¢s end point at Main Road, in Tyringham. We resumed our northbound hike from that point at 9:30 am. The temperature was 72 degrees on a cloudy morning. It seemed cooler than yesterday morning and we were not bothered by bugs for awhile. We climbed steadily for 1.9 miles and crossed Webster Road about 1 12 hours later. Soon, we came to a little footbridge over Mary¢s Brook. Even though it was only 11:15 am, we stopped for lunch. Rocky always gets hungry for lunch early, even though she had a great breakfast at Mother Hen¢s. After we resumed our hike we were passed by a woman thru hiker, George, and her dog, Gracie. (As in ¢George Burns and Gracie Allen¢. Trail names can be very clever.) We are crossing paths with many thru hikes on this section. We were also passed by another woman Nobo, Journey, and a Sobo, Cargo Pocket. We heard thunder in the distance, and felt a few drops of rain. We put on pack covers, but no rain jackets. Some cooling rain would have been welcome. However, we got about a dozen drops of rain, and that was it. We crossed the feeder stream to Upper Goose Pond, and walked along the west side of the Pond toward the side trail to the cabin. We reached the junction of the AT with the side trail at 2:30 pm. It is a half mile to the cabin from the AT and we reached the Upper Goose Pond Cabin before 3 pm.Upper Goose Pond Cabin is one of the Trail institutions that Swamp Fox had wanted to see. The Cabin overlooks the Pond and has canoes and a swimming area. It is manned by volunteers from the Berkshire Chapter of the AMC, each spending a week at the Cabin.   There is no charge except donations, which is surprising considering the methods AMC uses to extort money from hikers. There were a fairly large number of hikers at the cabin already. The cabin has 15 bunks, with mattresses. About half hour after we arrived, the rains came in earnest. Then hikers started to show up in droves. We estimate that 25 hikers spent the night here; many sprawled all over the floors.   The caretaker, John, deserves a lot of credit for the courteous and caring way in which he handled the overflow. John is originally from England, but has been in the US for 15 years. Swamp Fox took a swim in the Pond in the rain, and was quite refreshed by it. Rocky thought it was too cold. Actually, the water was warmer than the air temperature. We enjoyed talking to the various thru hikers. We met a Polish couple that lives in California (trail names, logically enough ¢The Polish Couple¢); a pair of French-Canadians, and an Australian by the name of Phatmandu; and others we couldn¢t keep track of.This was a great day and a great evening at a great Appalachian Trail institution. Thanks, John, for everything you did for hikers today.
Date: 2009-08-13
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: October Mountain Leanto
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: moderate rain

John, the caretaker, made pancakes for everyone in the cabin this morning, except Rocky. With her gluten allergy, she had to settle for her usual cold cereal breakfast. The overnight rain stopped before dawn, and the temperature had dropped to about 65 degrees. On a cloudy and damp morning we left Upper Goose Pond Cabin at about 8:15 am. At 8:33 am, we were back at the side trail junction with the AT, headed north. The cooler weather limited the bug activity, at least for awhile. Rocky was in a mood to photograph mushrooms we saw as we hikeD. Rocky is quite interested in wild mushrooms. In fact in 2005, some hikers referred to her as ¢The Mushroom Lady¢. We eat four varieties we find in the woods (chanterelles, chicken of the woods, oysters, and black trumpets). After a while, the constant stopping and starting drove Swamp Fox nuts, and she put the camera away. (We will try not to bore our readers with too many mushroom photos).We crossed the Massachusetts Turnpike at 9:30 am, and then Route 2.   We began the climb up Beckett Mountain and continued along the ridge to Walling Mountain. Other hikers who had stayed with us at Upper Goose Pond Cabin started to pass us: George and her dog, Gracie, and then Journey. As we approached Finerty Pond, we were overtaken by Phatmandu. Rocky enjoyed talking to him about Australia and stayed with him for quite some time. Swamp Fox was not about to walk faster than normal on the rocky and muddy trail and lagged behind.   Rocky started to tire as we left Finerty Pond behind, so we stopped for a lunch break. It drizzled on and off, but it was not bothersome. We crossed County Road at 1:15 pm and reached the October Mountain Lean to at 2:40 pm. We thought about cooking dinner here and then proceeding further to a tent site further north. That way we could cut down tomorrow¢s 13 mile hike to our car in Dalton. But the company was good; the shelter was nice and roomy, with a picnic table, and a privy, so we decided to stay and let tomorrow take care of itself. David, who we met at Main Road in Tyringham, soon arrived and we enjoyed talking with him. Since it seemed like no one else would be in the shelter tonight, we set up our free standing tent in the shelter, without the rain fly. Zach and Ted, two young and speedy section hikers, arrived later. David, Zach and Ted are all residents of New York City. It appeared that all the thru hikers who spent the previous night with us at Upper Goose Pond Cabin were doing the 20 miles into Dalton. That shows you what young, trail legs developed over 1500 miles of the AT, can do for you. We were pretty spent after only about nine miles.
Date: 2009-09-22
From: Franklin, NC

To: Orlando, FL
Miles today: 0.0

FINAL ENTRY FOR 2009Just got to Orlando after working our way south over the past five days. We will be here for about two weeks; working on getting our house livable and doing some dog sitting. On Wednesday, October 7th, we'll start north toward the ALDHA Gathering in Gettysburg, PA. After the Gathering we will go back home to NH for a few weeks before coming back to Florida for the winter. We are hoping to renew acquaintances with many of our hiker friends in Gettysburg. We have found that there are quite a few hikers in the Orlando area and we hope to make some friends here.Our Long Distance hiking is over for this year. Our AT thru hike attempt didn't work out as planned due to various problems that came up during the winter months. But it was still quite an adventure. We did 379 miles on the Trail in GA, NC, PA, and MA. We were privileged to meet many great people during our hikes and we treasure the friendships we made this year. We appreciate so much the emails and TJ guest book signings that we received. So what about next year? We will be taking a cruise ship to Italy in April. We will do some hiking, for a week or so, in the mountains of Abruzzi in Italy. In August we will return to Europe for about two months. We haven't 100 percent decided on what we will do on this second European adventure. Rocky wants to do a repeat of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, with some different twists this time. (See our 2008 TJ for the Camino de Santiago.)We both loved the Camino and will do it again some year,if not in 2010. However, Swamp Fox is leaning toward a walk down the Danube River. We would start at its source in the Black Forest of Germany and make our way, eventually, to the Black Sea. (Sort of a Black to Black hike). The Danube River passes through or abuts 10 European countries during its 1771 mile journey to the Black Sea. Well, if not in 2010, then the following year. We will have Trail Journals no matter what we do next year. Hope you will follow along. Bye for now.
Date: 2009-04-05
To: The time is nearing
Miles today: 0.0

So after getting things together for who knows how long. The time is quickly approaching! I finally found someone that I'm going to try and start the trail with! His name is Will Strader and we met in quite the interesting way! I was out on the trail over Christmas Break with another friend of mine and there we were hiking up Mt. Sterling and it began to snow! It just so happend that the first day on the trail after not seeing anyone for hours we stumbled upon a group of college aged guys that were taking a break at a trail crossing. We got to talking to them and it came up that Will was doing the AT at the same time, and in the same direction that I'd planned to do it! What a twist of luck! I had been looking for someone to hike the trail with and it just so happend to meet someone randomly on the trail that was doing the same thing that I was doing! CRAZY! Well after a few facebook messages and a phone call I bought my train ticket to Portland ME leaveing from Greenville, SC on the 26th of May. After Talking with Will and finding out that he was coming up a day or two later I decided that it would be really cool to just hang out in Portland and see what the town is all about! We both ended up buying Greyhound tickets from Portland to Medway and we're going to just try and figure out how to get from there to Baxter. It's going to be quite an adventure and I'm super excited! I'll try and keep you more up to date as things go on!
Date: 2009-04-16
To: It all began when...
Miles today: 0.0

I guess to qualify my journey on the Appalachian trail I should start with how I got into backpacking in the first place. When I was younger I was in Boy Scouts which really cemented my love for camping. However it wasn't until I was older when I took a short 7.5 mile backpacking trip with my step dad and Paw Paw White on the Foothills trail that I really found out how hard backpacking was but found out how much I loved it. I remember one night going to see when Bert Garrison was planning on doing his hike with a few friends of his and having all of his stuff at church that was when the idea was first put in my mind that the AT might actually be something that I wanted to do at some point in my life. It wasn't until a CLP at Furman during my spring HES backpacking class that the idea came up again. I'd given some thought to trying to cycle across the US but realized that it was super expensive and that it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do anyway. So I looked into the possibility of doing the AT and it seemed like the perfect thing to do! So I started planning and thinking this past summer as to how I wanted to do it and what things I wanted to do and over the course of time really begin to refine what sort of things I wanted to take and what really was important to make my trip enjoyable. So in close to six weeks I'll finally be on the trail. I'm ready to be out on the trail. There is much for me to do from now until then though. May 26th is soon to be here. So Although the inspiration was long ago the dream still is very new and very real. I have much knowledge with me but I can't wait to continue to add to my knowledge and have a great adventure!Peace,Rojo
Date: 2009-04-26
To: Exam Week
Miles today: 0.0

So this weekend was the final weekend of being at Furman where I don't have to worry about things like exams and such. The year is winding down very quickly which is sad in some ways but glorious in others. Spring at Furman is like going to school in a botanical garden (ridiculous but beautiful) Exams are coming up quickly and my anticipation for the trail is overwhelming. I just want to get out to the trail. Will called me last week to let me know that he broke his collar bone so that poses and interesting gear situation. He also informed me that another friend of his was going to come along for the first month or so and cruise the trail with us until the New Jersey section. I feel like I'm pushing my prep time because of graduation and a short trip to the beach but I guess that I'll have plenty of time because that'll pretty much be my only focus other than a little studying for the GRE that I'm doing! Wish me luck on that one. Anxious and ready to start the walk,Rojo