morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-05-25
From: Campsite at mile 1114.2

To: Carlisle
Miles today: 18.0

Hiking Day 72, Ending Elevation 475 FeetIt rained a little bit last night, not so much that we really noticed it. I am happy that we don¢t have to walk in the rain but the local people we have talked to are increasingly concerned about the lack rain. It¢s been an uncharacteristically dry May.Our plan for today was similar to yesterday¢¦walk to Boiling Springs for lunch, then on to Carlisle for dinner (and shower, clean clothes and bed). And that is what we did. We each had grilled vegetable salads for lunch, then walked into Carlisle for a room at the Quality Inn and dinner at the local diner. We¢re too far away from any stores for resupply so we plan to do that when we walk into Duncannon tomorrow.As we approached Boiling Springs, we got what I think was to be our first views of Cumberland Valley. For the rest of the day, we seemed to walk sometimes in the woods and sometimes beside/across farmland¢¦it was quite different from anything (including the farms in Virginia) we have seen so far.The trail continued on a mostly gentle grade and after Boiling Springs, the trail was basically level, in fact, it reminded me of walking in the woods behind my cousin Wendy¢s house in England. Very easy and relaxing, a walk in the woods! The Mountain Laurel continues to break into bloom and the smell of wild roses was with us most of the day. Toward the end of the day, we came across our first honeysuckle, it also smelled wonderful.I¢m enjoying the easy hiking days. We both must have rested better than we thought while staying with Linda and Mark even though it didn¢t feel so at the time. This part of Pennsylvania seems more rural than Virginia. I don¢t think it is but it feels that way. The woods seem more open and Felix thinks so too. All day, he is on high alert for birds and critters, which I have no doubt he would happily chase if he could. The new leash is working well, giving Felix a little more freedom and time for ¢sniffage.¢Kerry and Felix are already asleep! Time to go¢¦.
Date: 2023-05-26
From: Carlisle

To: Duncannon 
Miles today: 17.8

Hiking Day 73, Ending Elevation 367 feetWhile I¢m walking, so many things go through my head that I want to remember and then by the end of the day, they fly out of it and I can¢t remember anything!I was trying to understand what feels so different about Pennsylvania so far and what it comes down to is that it feels a little like the hike Kerry and made across the North of England: we were never far from a town where we could get food and the farm fields were all growing something or full of grazing animals. Everything is so civilized: we¢ve walked through some farmlands and some grasslands and they all have about a 6 foot corridor mowed through them with the grass on each side sometimes as high as 3 feet. I¢m sure that grass is full of ticks so I am grateful to whomever is responsible for ensuring this is done.I¢ve learned not to make assumptions about the path ahead without checking¢¦.today, against my expectation of another flat day, we climbed 2 pretty steep mountains! Aside from that the woods were lovely, and after we crossed the Conodoguinet Creek, they were filled intermittently with clouds of Phlox in the understory. They scented the air, and when they disappeared for awhile it was all wild roses again. When we came out of the woods, even the grasslands were full of purple vetch, so much of it that the fields looked purple. It was all very intense to look at.We noticed that the ground is getting rockier, but not impossible to walk on, we just need to watch our feet! We had a steep descent into Duncannon which I had not expected. We arrived here about 4:30 and decided to stay at the Assembly of God Hostel. We met the minister, Dennis Campbell, who seems very nice. Then we shuttled with Wheezy Pee to the Dollar General Store to purchase our resupply. I had already bought Felix some kibble because he was completely out and I was afraid we wouldn¢t find a store open to buy some. After that Kerry, Felix and I went for pizza¢¦can you believe, no beer? I must sound like a lush, but really, pizza without beer? I¢ve never heard of such thing. Fortunately, after the pizza, we repaired to the hotel with bar across the street, to rectify the situation¢¦Kerry finally got his beer.This is a quaint little town, like all the the small Pennsylvania towns we¢ve passed through so far, with pretty houses and old buildings and we can¢t help but notice the large number of churches which seems disproportionately high compared to the number of people. I probably have a lot more to say, but Kerry is snoring beside me and I have an early day tomorrow, so time to join him!
Date: 2023-05-27
From: Duncannon 

To: ClarkÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Valley Road (325)
Miles today: 17.6

Hiking Day 74, Ending Elevation 670 feetWheezy Pee suggested that we slack pack today and Kerry, especially, thought it was a great idea. As it turned out, it was a great idea. There was some rock climbing yesterday and more today toward the end of the hike: rock clambering, I¢d call it. It was good to do it without a pack. We hiked from Clark¢s Valley Road back (south) to Duncannon: this started with a fairly steep climb to a ridge, where we hiked most of the day before descending back down to the Susquehanna River, which we crossed just before re-entering Duncannon.We had some trail magic at Peter¢s Mountain Road. Twister and Hobbly Girl (Pat) we¢re handing out homemade banana bread, snacks, fruit and drinks. They were very sweet. They volunteeer with the Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club. Robert, the German and his friend, Max were there, as well as Dob, who we ran into slack packing with Chowder yesterday. Chowder is taking a couple of days off to reconnect with his wife.This is my last entry for a few days as we will be off in the wilds of Pennsylvania tomorrow. I think I¢m going through a bit of a mid-hike retrospective. This is the furthest we¢ve hiked in one go and together, Kerry and I. We¢re enjoying ourselves but it¢s hard physically on both of us. Eating enough is a very real problem¢¦the amount of food we need to maintain our weight is just more than we can take in and we¢re beginning to look like a couple of refugees. Felix, on the other hand, young enough at 5 years old, is thriving¢¦he just seems to have more energy and strength with each day.And then there is the mental thing. To be honest, I¢m not sure where I am with that. We get up every day and walk enthusiastically all day long, taking in the sights, meeting new people. Then we go to bed and do it again. I feel privileged and lucky to have the health and energy to do this and sometimes I worry about a time when I cannot. Some random thoughts after almost 3 months on the trail. I wonder how I will feel 3 months from now
Date: 2023-05-28
From: ClarkÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Valley Road (325)

To: Campsite at 1186.2
Miles today: 18.6

Hiking Day 75, Ending Elevation 1009 feetJacob, Wheezy Pee¢s husband, picked us up at 7, but it was close to 8 when we got on the trail. I was surprised that we came this far with the late start. We had a couple of climbs, but for the most part we walked along a ridge most of the day. We had our left over pizza for lunch and that got us going for the rest of the day.Kerry reminded me that whilst we were doing our laundry yesterday, we walked into a new microbrewery and had a beer. It¢s a father and son operation, Cliff and Michael Lindgren, with son, Michael as the beer maker. They bought an old bank building and by this October they expect to be serving food. We had a beer called, ¢Handy Little Fellow¢, it was really good. Cliff gave Kerry a quarter and told him to put some music on the jukebox. The first song he chose was Blue Bayou, one of my favorites, which I thought was very sweet (that he would think of me). It was followed by The Rolling Stones oldie, I Can¢t Get No Satisfaction, one of his favorites. We had a good time talking to pere et fils, and they even gave us a tour of the new brewery.I also neglected to mention that the whole town was decorated with photos of their veterans from all the wars, living and dead for Memorial Day. I thought that was a great way to remember those who have died and honor the living.Duncannon is almost 40 miles behind us now and tomorrow we will roll over the 1200 mile marker as we move north through Pennsylvania. It was warm again today and we walked through the densest rhododendron tunnel that we have seen. No blooms on the Rhodies and I¢m not sure if it¢s because they¢ve come and gone or it¢s too early yet for this year. I hope the latter because I¢m not quite ready for spring to be gone. I¢ve also noticed in the last few days some of the first green plants to come up in Georgia, I call them umbrella plants because that¢s what they look like, are getting yellow spots and wilting at the edges, so they will be a memory before too long. Time passes quickly.Tonight as we were settling in at our tent site, Slipper, who was at the hostel with us last night came walking up the path. She had planned to take a zero day but decided to leave because one of the men at the hostel was giving her bad feeling. She was dropped off at the last road we crossed, so she didn¢t come far. It was nice to see her again. She¢s a retired paramedic now living in Northern Virginia.The light is failing, so I will get to sleep at a reasonable time tonight after two late nights in Duncannon.
Date: 2023-05-30
From: Black Swatera Creek Campsite

To: Port Clinton United Church of Christ Pavillion
Miles today: 13.3

Hiking Day 76, Ending Elevation 407 feetKerry got his hair cut and his beard trimmed and that¢s how we got short stopped at Port Clinton. As soon as he heard there was a barber shop and how good they were to hikers, I knew it would be hard to walk on and we didn¢t. Frank, the barber is very nice to hikers, but he also seemed to be a genuinely nice man. When I asked about re-supply, he had one of his customers take us to Walmart and then another customer come and bring us back! Kerry hit off with him right away because he had Led Zeppelin and other classic rock playing over the sound system. Apparently, on Friday nights, he has small live bands play in the shop. He and Kerry talked music for quite awhile and Kerry was pleased with his hair/beard cut.The first part of the day hiking in from the mountain ridge was eventful too. We walked through a large burn area¢¦.the tall trees seemed relatively undamaged but the young trees of the understory were destroyed¢¦from a distance it looked like a low forest of red sticks. We saw some burn areas yesterday also, and I¢m guessing the fires were fairly recent, the last three years or so.. In the open forest, we saw lots of creatures including two deer, which drove Felix to distraction¢¦he actually screams like a coyote, he gets so exited.The rocks were intermittent again today; we¢d walk for a half mile or so in them, followed by good tread. We got fairly good at walking through, developing a rhythm of sorts. I could tell this was so because if we stopped to rest and started to go again, it would take a while to recover the rhythm.Mid morning we caught up to two men our age: Konza from Kansas and Burge in food management at Virginia Tech who lives near McAfee Knob. They were finishing a 193 section hike at Port Clinton today.Kerry and I ate lunch at the Auburn Overlook¢¦the view being similar to all the other views we get from the ridges, but we never get tired of them¢¦our brief glimpse of the expanse beyond the unending woods.The climb down to Port Clinton was breathtakingly scarey¢¦about as steep as anywhere we¢ve been so far, but we made it in one piece, I, having fallen once!We¢re sitting in a grassy area in our tent near the Pavilion, where a lot of other hikers are too, very spread out so not overwhelmed by them. Some are chatting. Dob, whom we saw a couple of days ago, had caught up with his friends, came over and we chatted with him for a while. He says we have 70 to 80 more miles before the Delaware Gap (yes, I should look it up myself). We probably have enough food to get there with what we bought today... it¢s a bit heavy!The road into town runs near by and threatens to keep us awake tonight but aside from that it¢s been another good day. Tomorrow, we plan to leave early as we have a mountain or two to climb and it will be more comfortable in the cool of early morning.
Date: 2023-05-31
From: Port Clinton United Church of Christ Pavillion

To: Tentsite at mile 
Miles today: 17.4

Hiking Day 77, Ending Elevation 1394 feetIt turns out the traffic noise kept up all night, with the occasional train rolling by for good measure, but the background noise just awakened us from time to time but on the whole we slept just fine. Then we got up to a slightly different breakfast: Kerry had left over French fries, banana and Gatorade¢¦I had the same but without the French fries. Felix of course, as usual when we are fully loaded with food and don¢t want to carry extra, decided to eat half his usual portion (he finished it for lunch), causing us to carry it for him.We had a half mile to walk back to the AT, where we followed the trail beside the Skuykill River until we reached the freeway, which we walked under and up the mountain on the other side. It was very steep but not as murderous as coming down into Port Clinton had been. But the sound of traffic followed us for miles up the mountain before dissipating into silence. The smell of wild roses was everywhere today, off and on, sometimes filling the air before we even saw them. At lunch time we sat in the shade at the Pinnacle and another retiree walked up to us to chat. He was carrying some impressive looking camera equipment. He said he had been a bankruptcy attorney and he had just been up to photograph birds, Turkey vultures, it so happens. I thought the juxtaposition of these two facts was funny but I held my tongue and smiled. Later, we were passed by 2 young men from Massachusetts, Mack and Stick Shift. They work on Stick Shift¢s uncle¢s farm. Normally I wouldn¢t remark on this as we will probably not see them again but we had a brief conversation and they seemed nice.I have been trying to think how to describe the peacefulness we feel everyday, it¢s not just a feeling, it¢s with us now most of the time. Then I remembered Wendell Berry¢s wonderful poem, ¢the Peace of Wild Things,¢ and realized he captures the experience exactly¢¦this is us, now:¢When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound  in fear of what my life and my children¢s lives may be,I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethoughtof grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind starswaiting with their light. For a timeI rest in the grace of the world, and am free.¢
Date: 2023-06-01
From: Tentsite at mile 1237.5

To: Lookout Hostel, mile 1246.7
Miles today: 9.2

Hiking Day 78, Ending Elevation 1355 feetWhat a day, and it isn¢t even over yet! We got up early and hiked with enthusiasm, we believed to the Wanamaker General Store, which we thought was 7 miles away and close to the trail. It was a warm morning, temperatures projected to be in the low 90s and the thought of a cold coke, ice cream etc had us positively excited. However, when we got to the road junction, we discovered it was actually about 2.5 miles away, off the AT. Very discouraged, we hiked on.We met Skippy from Australia and Plunger from Utah (a reformed Mormon) and talked with them for awhile. I¢m beginning to sound like a broken record, but they were interesting and nice¢¦have been hiking together for a couple of weeks now, and much faster than us.To probably misquote Mick Jagger, ¢you don¢t always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you sometimes get what you need.¢ This is something that happens to me regularly, I should make it my theme song. Anyway, it happened today.We walked 2 miles on to the Thunderhead Lodge at Rte 309 and sat at a picnic table, to rest and get water. Skippy and Plunger were there doing the same. They eventually moved on and we decided to have lunch. I removed Felix¢s backpack to give him a rest and stupidly, neglected to reattach his lead. You can probably guess what happened next! That¢s right, along came a deer and Felix took off after it. He returned about 1.75 hours later completely winded¢¦I think he spent the entire time trying to catch that thing. We just sat and waited for him in the 90 degree heat. He was so hot, he couldn¢t even take in a drink of water. In spite of his bad behavior (my fault again¢¦a dog¢s got to do, what a dog¢s got to do!), we decided that it would be cruel to make him hike on his condition. Fortunately, the Lookout Hostel .1 mile down Route 309 had a private room available (their only one!), so we repaired there out of the heat.We were feeling hot and sticky since we hadn¢t had a shower since Duncannon so maybe it was good to take a break, get washed up, clean our clothes and eat real food. Felix, nonetheless, is still in the doghouse. Oblivious, all he knows is that he had a good run and now he gets to sleep. But he¢s been looking at me with the whites of his eyes showing, a sure sign he¢s looking for sympathy, so he knows!Kerry and I both thought today was Wednesday, but other hikers assured us it was Thursday, which meant the Thunderhead Lodge would be open for dinner (it¢s closed Wednesday)¢¦written up by other hikers for good food and the only place within walking distance. We had written it off but now we were able to have a good meal as well. Thus, we didn¢t make much mileage today, but we¢re retired and really, it all turned out for the best.And before I forget, we had a lot more rocks today!
Date: 2023-06-03
From: Tent site at 1265.4

To: Windy Gap
Miles today: 16.0

Hiking Day 80, Ending Elevation 973 feet We had a fairly comfortable sleep on our bed of pine needles and Felix, still wet from the rain didn't object to sleeping in the tent vestibule although he did eventually manage to cuddle up to me. We had a little more rain but we stayed dry and all the wet things hanging outside were more or less dry this morning. Water is in short supply on the next section of the trail, most of the springs are iffy because it's been a dry season and they are a distance (half a mile or so) from the trail. However, in a couple of miles from our camp spot we passed near Blue Mountain Resort where we understood we could get water. The instructions on how to find it were confusing but find it we did...all closed up. Just as we arrived a truck drove up and a lady got out. It turned out she was there to do flowers for a wedding. She was very kind and filled all our water bottles. This was a big relief and got us all the way to Windy Gap.Today, we met two couples: Half Pint (she carries a half pint of bourbon) and Dundee from Chicago, and Recon (who we called Postmaster because his ball cap makes him look like one) and Popeye who we met in Wainsboro, VA. We also saw Stick Shift and Mac, joined by Mac's sisters Mountain Man and Trail Mix. We kept passing them all day. I think they're all staying in Wind Gap too, as we are tonight.We had more rocks today and this was both tiring and slowed us down. We have been told by a number of people that tomorrow maybe the most difficult section because it goes on for many miles. We had cloud cover all day today and a few spatters of rain a couple of times. This threw Kerry into a scramble to don his rain gear. I didn¢t bother because I knew I¢d be too hot and I didn¢t think it would last gray long. As it turned out, I was right. After a couple of hours, we stopped so Kerry could remove his gear. I had a feeling the people from Chicago were laughing at the Californians dressing up for rain!When we arrived at Windy Gap, Kerry convinced me to walk another (off-trail) mile to Detzi¢s Tavern. As it turned out in this case, it was probably a good thing, since we had a tasty meal and we¢re now camped under a giant evergreen tree and lying on a bed of pine needles again. I¢m becoming quite a connoisseur of sleeping on the ground and I put pine needles up there at the top of the list!
Date: 2023-06-05
From: MartyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Hostel at Delaware Water Gap

To: Tentsite at 1311.9
Miles today: 15.0

Hiking Day 82, Ending Elevation 1470 feet We slept pretty well, no cats or wild animals to worry about except our own (Felix), who also slept like a baby without the distractions. We talked with Marty, the hostel owner whilst we drank our coffee and ate the pastries I purchased yesterday from the bakery. He told us that he bought this house out of foreclosure and is working hard to restore it. He¢s in construction and what he has done so far is amazing.We finally got going about 8 a.m. walking down the street toward the bridge that would take us over the Delaware River and into New Jersey, our eighth state. The bridge itself was very long and had four lanes of traffic, two coming and two going. Lots of cars and trucks going very fast and very loud, it was terrifying with not much between us and passing traffic! After that we headed back into the mountains, the (still) rocky trail and the never-ending trees.A little later, Stealth, Sparks and George passed us by, then Trash Panda, Super Chill and Seeker. I¢m not sure if I¢ve mentioned the latter three before, but we¢ve crossed paths with them several times. Later in the day we caught up to Recon and Panda as well.Kerry kept remarking on the scenery, which I didn¢t understand, because it¢s just like all the other scenery we¢ve walked through. He was expecting bridges, railways and industrialization because that¢s the stereotypical image of the state he has in his head. I think he was quite pleased to learn he was wrong.We had quite a few wonderful ridgeline views when the trees thinned out or we crossed clearcuts for power lines. Popeye said she could even make out the Manhattan skyline. As the day wore on, we had some haze and increasing smoke in the air. There are fires somewhere, Kerry thought he¢d heard in Canada on the news.A number of people reported seeing bears and snakes today, but we only saw one very beautiful bunny. It was very healthy looking with dun colored fur speckled with brown spots. We also saw a bright red smallish bird, Kerry thought maybe a tanager. Toward the end of the day, we passed the most amazing beaver pond that I have ever seen. It was huge and we kept passing huge trees that had been gnawed through for dam and beaver home construction.We were dragging a bit today, tired from staying up later last night and also because we thought we might take a zero day and didn¢t because the weather has been so fine. The breezes were wonderful today, neither warm nor cold, but just right. We didn¢t go quite as far as we had planned, but in the end it was far enough. Kerry just hung ¢his second best¢ bear bag; let¢s hope so since the bears are active. We put more tick medicine on Felix, a little early to try to keep him from suffering too much from them. Kerry just brushed him and pulled a bunch off¢¦we hope he got them all, if not I¢m sure we¢ll be wearing them by morning.