morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-07-05
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Crampton Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: few clouds

7/5 crampton gap shelter. 10.5 miles. It's hot. Africa hot. Melt the clothes off your back hot. But it isn't as hot as they said it would be so we hiked late ans hit the second shelter out of town to get a jump on things. Our feet are tired and legs are sore because of all the time off we had on the last two weeks. We haven't actually hiked since the day we rolled onto Front Royal. Maybe two weeks ago? We did really well in despite the heat and had a good stop at gathland State park where we filled up on water, used FLUSH toilets and found twenty dollars! We made camp at 8:30 tonight and hope to be up at 5 am. Ruth, Elaine & Laurel from back home walked us out the first 1.7 miles and it was bittersweet to leave them behind after having a really nice visit with them over the weekend. Pennsylvania in a few days! The weekend went too fast with our Pink Angel friends. They were so concerned about my weight loss and loose clothes that they bought me some convertable pants and a pair of new shorts. The pants were a bit too small ( may have lost 35 lbs but I am not a medium yet) but the shorts are great and I am wearing them from now on. We spent the forth at Mt. Vernon in Virginia and it was the place to be. The National Military Band played all the patriotic songs you can imagine for over an hour. 100 people were sworn in as American citizens. We walked a lot of the 8000 acres that George owned when he was President. Heritage farm animals, plants and vegitables were being worked as they were on the 1790's. Colonial clothes were worn by all the employees. There were Martha and George Washington reinactors who had an informal meet and greet and question period that were incredibly well versed in thier caracters and never from thier rolls. Fantastic job and no question was unanswered. Militia reinactors from 1700's to present day military were on hand. Day time fireworks were displayed over the front lawn and the Potomac river. There is a new museum that recently opened displaying many Washington artifacts that was really fantastic and there has been a major effort to obtain   many of these artifacts and the hard work shows. Note- it has been over 45 years since DT was last there and it still is an incredible experience. The foundation has made a major effort to restore the colors and buildings.
Date: 2010-07-06
From: Crampton Gap Shelter

To: Stealth camp near Washington Monument, MD
Miles today: 9.3

7/6 stealth camp near Washington monument in MD. 9.3 miles. Hot hot hot.  Up at 5 and hiking by 6:25 to beat the heat but the sweat came down anyway. We went til noon and came to the Dahlgren Backpack campground where we treated ourselves to a nice cold and free shower. We wore our clothes in the shower to clean the salt out and cool our bodies afterward. Out on the benches we lounged around a few hours  with many other overheated hikers suffering the same fate. We headed up the trail at 3 to find a cooler full of beer a hundred yards from the showers. CB & DT don't partake but luck was on our side as the trail angel resposible for it was there checking the supply and he offered us a ride to town and icecream! We returned to the trail at 4 and hit the Washington monument before deciding to stop for the night at 6:30 pm. A short hot day. Ugh. On another note, today we learned that the Bluebird carries the sky on it's back!DT-We stopped later in the day at the Dahlgren Backpack campground just passed the Rocky Run Shelter and we walked into the free showers with our filthy sweathy clothes on and washed our bodys and clothes together. Both were dry thirty minutes later thanks to the ridiculous heat. Thank you Dr. Bronners soap for a great job cleaning us up. Many of us thrus had lunch and napped for a few hours to beat the heat. The lady's bath looked like the southern breading ground for the may fly! The walks were covered with them. CB reports no such problem in the mens shower. Speaking of breeding grounds- early am hikers come across large congretations of Daddy long legs (harvesters) on the trail. Is this mating season? Coffee Clatch? Or maybe an attempt to capture a wayward hiker who is a little less spunky with the heat? Noone yet knows. This is a new anomaly oir us and we aren't sure how long it will last.
Date: 2010-07-07
From: Stealth camp near Washington Monument, MD

To: Ensign Cowell Shalter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: haze

7/7 Ensign Cowall Shelter. CB bumped into a man who was looking for a woman and small boy. CB asked if it was his wife and son and then asked where he started from. It turns out the family had started from I-70 toward Annapolis rocks, a short 4 mile round trip. He was now 6-7 miles north of his car and had managed to head north instead of south on the return trip. How had he gotton seperated was the question we all asked ourselves later. CB informed him of his mistake and asked him if he had a phone - no, but she did. A quick phone call to a worried wife to let her know he was turning around with the car keys in his pocket and then fill him up with water and send him on his way with a bottle. Lucky we picked up a few extra bottles last night because of the 100 degree temps! CB called his wife again to let her know he was a few hours away and was heading in the right direction. Cabana boy to the rescue! We reached the road before tonights shelter and CB volunteered to buy pizza for the four other hikers with us using the $20 we found yesterday. A quick hitch to town 2 miles away and CB enjoyed airconditioning and a clean bathroom to clean up in while the food was cooking. Now to get a hitch back...... Well it turns out  no one wants to pick up a burly Cabana Boy bearing pizzas, soda and salads. CB decided to walk to the last turn up the hill a half mile away and try from there. On the way I passed the bank thermometer- 102 degrees! Good grief! At least the pizza will stay hot but the cold soda? Well I ended up having to walk all but the last half a mile up hill when I finally caught a break from a nice carpenter with a zz top beard and fridgid airconditioning. All were happy to see me turn up soaked in sweat with lukewarm pizza and lukewarm soda. We all sat at the side of the road stuffing our faces and watching the cars roll by at 60 mph. The real trick was in keeping the debris from landing in the za as the cars wizzed by. At the shelter there were less than ample flat camp sites witch made for tough sleeping. Also in camp, a first day out hiker showed up with heat exaustion and was vomiting profusly  we did our best to cool him down and get electrolytes into him but he was not good at following direction and ultimately self treated with a little Maryjane. At least he stopped piling after the joint. His hiking partner was better at following our advise and recovered more quickly.
Date: 2010-07-10
From: Rocky Run Shelters

To: Toms run shelter
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: light rain

7/10 Tom's Run shelter. 19.2 milesUp and out early after a rainy night. We were up twenty minutes after going to sleep pulling the rainfly over the tent and covering all of our gear as the rain started in. It showers all night and was dripping at 6 am when we got up. We did 3 miles to route 30 and hitched a ride from a section hiker towards Gettysburg and breakfast. We found a place about 7 miles at and had a great breakfast which inured some blueberry pie for CB. We chatted with two women, Marion and Cassidy, who were wearing race for the cure shirts. After breakfast they offered to return us tonthe trail snd dropped us by 10 at Caledonia State park. Turns out that a craft show was on and it included a bake sale! We bumped into half a dozen other hikers perusing the confections and we all ate our fill of goodies. As at Walmart, we were attracting all kinds of attention because of our packs and general hiker condition and chatted with many people. One couple, Barry and Paula Flicker stopped and asked us about our hike. Barry is a section hiker who will be joining some friend sobo later this summer in NH and wanted to know what he could do to help us. We chatted about a yellow blaze up to the top of the Jill and he loaded us and several others into his jeep for the ride. On the way we stopped for four others who were road walking and made arrangements to pick them up on the way back. We were dropped off at Shippensburg Road along with a fresh bag of kettle corn (trail magic galour) and hiked our way into the Tom's Run shelters. We picked loads of blueberries on the way in because the trail was loaded with them and they just happen to be CB's favorite food ever! We camped with Wounded Knee, Buck, Coinvolta and Jolly Roger. A really nice group that we shared more of our trail magic with.
Date: 2010-07-11
From: Toms run shelter

To: Mt. Holly Springs, PA
Miles today: 14.3

7/11 Mt Holly Springs, PA 14.3 milesUp at six and passed the AT mid point this morning! Only three  more months of our journey left to go..... We hiked on to Iron Furnace to find the hostel is closed this year for renovations. We were looking forward to staying here but had to rethink that now. Bummer! It is a beautiful place and we would have loved it there. We hit the store and CB tried the half gallon challenge. After 3/4 of the way, he decided it was enough icecream for one day. No wooden spoon for him but a hamburger and fries were quickly added to the menu! We got our resupply down at camp headquarters and then moved on to the museum for a quick look see. Then down the road we went to Mt Holly Springs and the Holly Inn for a shower and laundry. Feels so good to be clean again. We are here with Wounded Knee enjoying some town food and some down time. We would like to zero soon but this doesn't seem like the right town so we will joke out to boiling springs in morning.
Date: 2010-07-12
From: Mt. Holly Springs, PA

To: Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 8.8

7/12 Boiling Springs PA. 8.8 miles. Very pleasant day of hiking after we left Mt. Holly Springs. It was 11 am by the time we reached trail today after a two hitch ride. Our first hitch ended up putting us back three miles before town so we managed another ride back to the trailhead on route 94 from a very nice farmer who is just starting up an organic Csa farm by the name of Mike Nolan. His website is at www.earthspringcsa.com. Check him out if you get a chance. We hiked along over some PUDs that reminded us a little too much of Dragon's tooth for our comfort and came onto Whiskey Spring rd where we stopped for lunch. Wounded knee showed up as we were finishing our meal and we chatted with him a while about the tricky terrain before deciding to white line blaze (road walk) into town and miss the next rocky section. We were picking berries and enjoying the open views along the way but eventually the thunder started to rumble and we put our walk in high gear. We saw lots of corn, soy, and cows before we hit the outskirts of Boiling Springs. Just at the edge of town we saw a sign in a yard for Paul Glass' lock and key and also alterations by Gay Glass and DT's boots needed a little repair so she knocked on the door and asked the lady of the house if she could help. Well seeing as we all shared the same last name, it quickly turned into a little fiesta as we all worked to fix the boots together. Ultimately, Gay wouldn't charge us for the repairs so we suggested they join us at the local eatery of thier choice for dinner. You can guess what the four of us looked like as we strolled down the trail into town with our rain gear, backpacks and umbrellas and found our way in the pouring rain to the diner. We had a grand time with our little "family reunion" and the meals were excellent. Dad, we never knew as kids about our extended family down here in PA. I think maybe you might have some explaining to do when we return... :-) After dinner we hit the trail (also the road at this point) and walked up to the Allenberry Resort. Check out www.allenberry.com. It is a very fancy hotel, restaurant and dinner theater with many lodging buildings and cabins and for some reason, they offer a hiker rate of $40! When I called I was told thier rates were $140- per night until I inquired about the hiker rate. Who would gave guessed a place like this would give us a $100- discount? Thunderstorms predicted for tonight so we are happy to be inside and it is nice to have a little airconditioning with all of the humidity in the air. Apparently, the blue bird couldn't keep the blue up in the sky today. Bad bird!PS: thanks to DT's kids and also Ruth & Elaine for sending along photos from home. It is always mice to see what we are missing.
Date: 2010-07-13
From: Boiling Springs, PA

To: Stealth camping south of Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: light rain

7/13 We are camping 1 mile south of Darlington shelter for the night. 13.3 miles.  Hot and humid day with some sun.  Walked along corn fields that were stunted due to lack of rain.  Red raspberries, poison ivy and a pile of bluefeathers on the ground made up our hiking scene today.  Ground hog holes were everywhere and Cabana Boy had a stare down with one! CB won as I scared him onto his hole. This area from Boiling Springs to Darlington shelter has many bog bridges and regular bridges .  What surprised us was there were hardly any bugs.  For breakfast we had a grand continental buffet with the first Pa. Sticky Buns.  My cousin Lee Ann makes better ones than the Allenberry Resort. CB thinks we stole the buffet which others pay $6 for.  I understood when we checked into this resort that it was part of our rate.  oh well.  We also had our lunch compliments of the Allenberry.  Thanks Allenberry!  We were at the Scott Farm Trail Work Center which is right on the trail.  It's an old farm that needs renovating and the ATC isn't dropping any money Into it.  It would make an excellent hostel/b and b.......but do not think the ATC wants to get into this type of business.  We talked to a friend of ours who lives just outside Duncannon and he said the 'regular' party people were at the weekend by Baltimore Jack.Gotta get some sleep.  Nite all. DT and CB
Date: 2010-07-14
From: Stealth camping south of Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: moderate rain

Rainy day on the trail. Just a repeat fromast night. We managed to get preview of the PA rocks on the way to Hawk Rock just outside of Duncannon. We travelled throught wheat, hay and corn fields and saw a Manarch butterfly chrysallis on a milkweed pod and lots of red rasberries, anold cement watering trough filled with frogs, loads more poison ivy and a turtle. The official animal count now stands at: 19 snakes, 4 turtles, 3 bears and 13 Golden Eagles. We lunched at the porcupine infested Cove Mountain Shelter. It is new and prettybut far off the trail on a downhill climb. On the way across the loose rocks into Duncannon, CB slipped twice and DT worked on her truckdriver vocabulary. gees... The rocks are only supposed to get bigger as we head north through PA. Pap and Silverfoot wee waiting for us at the Doyle Hotel along with Ann & T Brown, Wounded Knee, Buck and Yule the Mule. The food was reallygood and it was nice to sit around and catch up on the other hiker's diatribes as they crossed the rocks. It really is nice to see people in a setting other than the trail. Vikki at the Doyle is the perfect host and makes us each feel good about ourselves upon entering the hotel. We later hit the riverside campground with Yule and settled in for the night. Little did we know (at least for the first ten minutes) it was on the busiest rail line in the east. A train went by almost every fifteen minutes all night long. We were only 100 yards from the tracks and we also battled with the sound of the highway across the river. So tired! the bathrooms were infested with moths that rose fromthe shower floor mats under our feet. Never again but at least we can say " been there, done that".
Date: 2010-07-15
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Harrisburg -zero day!
Miles today: 0.0

7/15Four month trail aniversary!It's hard to believe that we are four months to the day today and in celebration we have decided to take a day off in Harrisburg, PA. Got a ride into Duncannon this am from a local farmer and had breakfast at Goodies. Good food but no one waiting the tables was friendly. Laundry was next and we got to dry out a lot if our wet gear from yesterdays rain. CB was packing his gear back up and as he serapes his hiking shoes on, he saw a quarter sized hole in the sole of one shoe! Only 120 miles on them and they exploded! The other shoe was also starting to delaminate so a call to Merrell put the fast track on a replacement pair. The new shoes are heading to NJ to CB's brothers and we gave decided to head there for a little family gathering this weekend. Let's hope we get them in time because the flipflops are not good hiking shoes. We also can not wait to see Eric, Sharin and Aiden. We were offered a ride from Lynne at the Pennsylvania institute of Poultry Producers in Duncannon. She is our newest trail angel who dropped us in the heart of Harrisburg near the train station and hotel. We are at the Quality Inn and got the special "Dutch Tape" discount. The "Dutch Tape" discount Is only available after someone has gotton a chance to meat DT and starts to warm up to her. Suddeu you find the hotel clerk giving you an extra $10 off because she likes you! Tomorrow we are taking the train to NJ. Too bad the ATC doesn't approve of this mode of transportation... To date we have only met 7 purist who are seriously hitting every white blaze. The badge isn't that important to us. Lots of time for a tour of Harrisburg since the train doesn't leave until 3pm so maybe a museum in the am. We found out there is a Shriners convention when we tried to check in to several very full hotels and we were lucky to find our room. Still looking for a good sticky bun in PA.
Date: 2010-07-19
From: Harrisburg -zero day!

To: Boonton, NJ
Miles today: 0.0

July 19 Boonton, NJOn Friday we hopped a train to NJ to spend some time with my brother and his family and my parents came down from MA as well. We have eaten a lot of food since we hot here and on Sunday we went cruising on his boat down on the Jersey shore. It's time to get back to our hike so in the AM my parents are going to drop us at Delware Water Gap so we can move on. It's true what they say about going up town and getting caught up there. It is very difficult to get your butts in gear to move again so we are really glad not to stay too long. We are hoping to catch up to a few folks we left back at Duncanan, PA. They should be near DWG when we get on. Loads of hot weather predicted for the week so we can sweat out all the toxins of town life...CB & DT
Date: 2010-07-20
From: Boonton, NJ

To: Camp Ken- Etiwa-Pec
Miles today: 7.3

7/21 Camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec. 7.3 milesAfter a weekend with CB's family in NJ we were dropped off at the Mohican Outdoor Center. Were on trail by 11:30 and we made it to mile 1301.4 and have gone to camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec. It is a deserted YMCA camp with dilapidated old buildings and supposedly has an AT shelter that we couldn't find. We are camped next to the deserted lake and hope the piles of bear scat aren't a bad sign... If we don't call or post tomorrow call out the National Guard :-)Time for dinner!CB & DT
Date: 2010-07-21
From: Camp Ken- Etiwa-Pec

To: US 206, Culvers Gap
Miles today: 10.6

We survived the night with no bears! Will update later.It's later and...7/22 US 206, Culvers Gap. 10.6 milesIt is disgustingly hot today. That combined with some recently burned out sections of forest made for a blistering day of hiking and left the too of us feeling like over-cooked lasagna noodles.  We stumbled through the last three hours of hiking to get to the road and had decided to go to town and get some food and stealth camp near the road. That changed pretty quickly as we got closer to the road and CB decided he had to have some AC to recover from the day. We are now at a terrible motel next door to the Mexican restaurant cooling off and trying to figure out how to battle the cooties that surely reside in this place. CB's idea is to use the hiking poles to fend them off but DT would like to use the camp stove as a flame thrower and cook their little behinds if the dare to show themselves. Worst motel yet but the AC is very cold. Will try again in the AM when the weather forecast is for the upper eighties. CB's feet are killing him from the boot exchange when his Merrell's broke down and had to be replaced. New shoes are due in NJ later this week but maybe these boots will break in by then.... On a positive note: blueberries abound right now so healthy snaking is always at our fingertips. CB & DT
Date: 2010-07-22
From: US 206, Culvers Gap

To: Unionville, NY The Outhouse-formally the mayors
Miles today: 0.0

7/22 Once upon a time there were two thru hikers who went by the names of Dutch Tape and Cabana Boy. Now these two hikers set out on the adventure of their lives way back in March of 2010. Little did they know just where their adventure would take them. This one particular day our lucky hikers were strolling along the streets of Branchville NJ when along came the good trail angel, Jersey Dan. Jersey Dan asked if they were thru hikers. "Of course we are, you can tell be our hiker trash attire!" they said. "Well, is there anywhere I can take you today?" and our two hikers were off on another wondrous adventure. Jersey Dan took them on a tour of Sunrise Mountain and then he showed them the alligator tree with the glass eye. Afterward he took them to the magical world of the New Jersey Highpoint visitors center. Our story doesn't end here though for you see, they hit the trail to adventure and found themselves walking through the wonderful land of the NJ boardwalks and wound up at the Mayors House on Unionville NY. What good luck they thought as Bill and Butch welcomed them in. Butch asked if there was anything either of them needed. CB responded that his feet were giving him trouble and he was hoping he could find dome inserts for his shoes. "You are in luck Cabana Boy" said Butch "I can take you down to the Rite Aid pharmacy six miles away to get some" CB said "thank you so much for helping, Butch, now all we need is to slack-pack back here tomorrow and all will be right in our world" "Done" said Butch and our intrepid hikers lived happily ever after. So tonight their tent is set up under a bright moonlit sky.  Crickets the size of small children are serenading the hikers while visions of trail angels visit their dreams. Sweet dreams.
Date: 2010-07-27
From: Unionville, NY The Outhouse-formally the mayors

To: Some where back in PA
Miles today: 0.0

7/27 somewhere back in PA ........You have to give us some credit for this little adventure we are on. We do manage to cover some ground even though we are not walking all the miles. If you get your maps out and check our location, you will see that we are a little off on our intended northern direction. We crossed the NY border and eventually made it to The Bellvale Creamery in Bellvale, NY. CB was a little stressed out after a hard fall in the first few miles of NY. No permanent physical damage but a very sore feeling towards the trail in these parts. Later that night we realized we hadn't called our friend, Beth, in Wilkes-Barre, PA and thought we should apologize for missing her. We rang her up and chatted for a few minutes and she managed to convince us to come for a visit. So we went to town and spent the day relaxing and waited for Beth to come and get us. That was yesterday. Today we slept in and washed clothes, showered and went to the post office and had lunch downtown. We also took in a movie and did a little equipment repair. Tomorrow we are planning to help her out by doing some home repairs as a thank you and who knows just when we will get back to the trail :-). Our lives as hobos!