morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-06-25
From: Waynesboro

To: Front royal
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Well folks,I headed out of waynesboro with freebird continuing operation hotfoot. We averaged over 20 miles a day through the Shenadoah national park. We had beautiful weather the whole way. Black bear sitings were common. I seen a total of four males and two females with cubs. I was hesitant to approach them as they were on the trail but the paid me no mind. A couple bears ran down the trail and startled me. No problems with the bears. Deer were also common as i would wake up and they would be eating right next to my tent. The trail was well graded and not to difficult. I was sick one day and stayed at Skyland hotel resting. For those who don't know skyland was President Hoovers summer home. I am currently in Front royal VA at the parks entrance. We lucked out and got a hitch from a nice day hiker from Leigh gap PA three miles into town.What a town, nothing is close by. Humped two miles to eat wendys ( i really did not want to walk anymore). I caught up with my group before i left for Pittsburgh and it has been motivating. They keep me upbeat and racking up the miles. Lion king, What, Gnatty, Yard sale and Jim dandy are a few of them. Well i will be resting today in Front royal and out tomorrow. The next section is called the roller coaster! What fun! Will update when i roll into Harpers ferry.
Date: 2009-06-28
From: Front royal

To: Bears den hostel
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: light rain

Aloha,Left Front royal with free bird continuing operation hotfoot. Am currently Bears den hostel run by the ATC. Beautiful place and very clean. Me and Amero are headed to Horshoe curve to have lunch today. We have lunch yesterday at ashby gap at a place called the blue skillet. After we ate they gave us a ride back to the trail. Very friendly folks and huge cheesburgers. Hit the virgina roller coaster yesterday which is a brutal 13 miles of straight up and downs. I guess they want you to work for Harpers ferry. No black bear sitings after the Shenadoahs. Amero comes from Florida and met him a couple days ago. He keeps me motivated up these brutal hills. Jim dandy, one of the older guys keeps me laughing at the shelters. He is 65 years young and is a retired firefighter from Michigan. Very mellow and nice guy. He snores like a freight train though. I am currently at 993 miles and will hit the 1000 mark today (Alright!!!!). More from Harpers ferry. Plan on taking a day off there if not to expensive. Found out the hilltop hotel is closed for renovation until next year so wont be there. Till harpers, aloha.
Date: 2009-06-29
From: Bears den hostel

To: Harpers ferry
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: clear sky

Made it to Harpers ferry and the ATC headquarters. It is a very awesome feeling to have come this far. I made it over the 1000 mile mark and will go on. It is so expensive here so will not take a day off, i will only spend one night. Had my picture taken at the ATC headquarters and i am thru hiker number 526. I really thought the number would be less. Me, amero, gnatty and freebird came in together. Last night i stayed at Blackburn shelter run by the ATC. Beautiful spot with a bunk room, solar shower and free dinner. I was in good company and the caretaker came out with huge bowls of spaghetti. There was also homemade bread and bownies for desert. I was delighted and full of food. I could see the washingtion monument from there. Very tired as i huffed 11 miles in the morning to arrive here. Everything so spaced out here and will see the outfitter for new boots. The virginia roller coaster is over and i am glad. Ten peaks in all, straight up and down. Well more from the PA side and hope all of you are well. Aloha
Date: 2009-07-02
From: Dahlgren campground

To: Free state hostel Smithsburg Maryland
Miles today: 967.0

Well folks, i am out of Harpers ferry after a zero day and drinking to celebrate. Harpers was a beautiful town but expensive. I toured the free museums and learned a lot about John brown. Felt like a million bucks coming out. Hiked 18 miles to Dahlgren campground in Maryland yesterday. They had free showers which was nice. Stayed the night and ran into a couple i started with in Georgia. Fancypants and Dozer. I quite did not recognize them as the weight loss rendered them unrecognizable haha. I update my miles to reflect the total miles gone since Georgia so thats why the big jump. Maryland is nice and has rolling hills. Ran into a lot of rocks towards the end of my day today. My pet peeves are rocks and i am glad to miss them when i arrive in PA. Not so motivated today and felt fatigued. I am staying at the free state hostel run by a previous thru hiker in 2006. Nice place and glad to be out of the rain. I will be spending the Fourth at Pine grove PA at the official half way point stuffing my face with Ice Cream. Free bird remained in Harpers and got a late start. He shaved his beard off and looked fourteen again so i did not recognize him. Maybe he will catch up, last time i heard he was behind ten miles. Operation hotfoot is no longer in effect. Now it will be dubbed Operation beatfeet due to the rocks and slow mileage today. More to come stay tuned and Aloha.
Date: 2009-07-11
From: Duncannon PA

To: Palmyra PA Andy and Lindas house
Miles today: 140.0

Well folks it has been awhile since i upated this journal. Not to much Happening except more rocks through Maryland. Am now in Southern PA and it was really nice until i hit more rocks!! I stayed in Boiling springs for the night and visited the ATC. Spoke with a staff member name Jim and he gave me updates on the conditions. Left out and slowed down doing eight to ten miles into Duncannon. Ran into my group at the doyle Jim dandy,Amero, Gnatty and Bluegrass. Bluegrass stayed another night and we partied at the doyle. For those who don't know the doyle is a old Anheiser Busch hotel thats a 100 years old. 25 bucks a night and super cheap beer. Had a good time but felt it in the morning. This morning Andy one of my Dads old college roommates picked me and Bluegrass up. Super nice guy and i told him of all my adventures on the way back to his home. He showed us downtown Harrisburg and Hershey park. Side note: I will never eat hershey vanilla ice cream again after eating half a gallon in 35 minutes. It was a tradtion at Pine grove furnace for making it halfway. We met Linda his wife and she cooked this awesome dinner of tbone steaks. Many, many thanks to these kind people and they have def. achieved trail angel status in my eyes. I will be headed out to Delaware water gap tomorrow to start the New Jersey section. Just enjoying regular life at Andys and Lindas house. I am over halfway and feel energized for New Jersey. Also will pick up a new phone thanks to my mom so there will be pictures with these posts in two weeks. It will also be updated regularly. Aloha all till next time.
Date: 2009-07-14
From: Palmyra PA Andy and Lindas house

To: Honolulu
Miles today: 0.0

Aloha all,With much trepidation i am returning back to Honolulu. Andy dropped me and bluegrass off at the church hostel. We stayed the night and moved on to New Jersy. I hiked 11 miles into New Jersy and turned around. Decieded to take a bus to Pittsbugh and then on to Oahu. I have met some fascinating people and had great experiences. Thanks to all Aloha
Date: 2008-12-20
To: a bit of background
Miles today: 0.0

If you understand the allure of the trail, you get it. If you don't, then . . . well, there's not much I can do to explain it. For me, it started in third grade. We had a health book, and inside that book there was a picture of two or three backpackers on a ridge in the beautiful mountains. I read the caption, which informed me that there was a 2,000-mile hiking trail from Georgia to Maine and that it takes half a year to hike it. I was impressed and so drawn to that picture that all I could do was stare at it. I went home that night and told my mom and dad that we should hike the Appalachian Trail. Riiight. That went over well. Fast-forward to eighth grade, when I was flipping through a book catalogue and saw a book cover that, for whatever reason, grabbed me: Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Regardless of your opinion of Bryson (or his choice in a hiking partner) you cannot deny that he's got a knack for weaving his experiences into stories. Once I was done reading that book for the first time I was a confirmed AT freak. I scoured the library for books, my friends for hiking partners, and started planning.That was ten years ago. I figured I'd have thru-hiked the trail by age 20. I didn't realize I was a "college person" though I turned out to be very much so, thus postponing my thru-hike until now. Degree received, trail dreaming. It comes at the perfect time, too. I feel like everything in the universe shifted to make a southbound hike perfect this year. The money I inherited from my grandfather is soon maturing, which is my AT nest egg, I am completing my job at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in June . . . with the knowledge now to better understand the environments I will be hiking through. . . and I live in one of the most geographically interesting locations in Minnesota. Translation: hills! The Stairs of Death. Mystical Mountain. The perfect training location.Age 24 will be my year.
Date: 2009-02-21
To: a late night at Wolf Ridge
Miles today: 0.0

The past couple of months have been a journey through northern Minnesota's harsh winter and my own harsh indecision. The implications of hiking southbound this June are huge. I am walking away from other opportunities that perhaps will only come once. But I can't keep putting this off; if I died tomorrow, not hiking the AT would be my biggest regret. I need to do this now.I've been preparing mentally and physically. Skiing and snowshoeing have kept me active this winter. I've got Maine maps in the mail, a Granite Gear pack on order, hopes and dreams as always.I'm tentatively planning on summiting Katahdin this June. I've been in touch with a couple other thru-hikers planning on starting around the same time, mainly Nuts. She seems awesome and I hope our trail crosses at some point. My hike is solo; I am not looking for company. That being said, I wouldn't turn it down if the vibe was right.I am excited about the 100 Mile Wilderness, if a little nervous about pack weight. I will only be able to carry 30 pounds in my new pack without overloading it, and while I am sure I can manage that weight for the average week on the AT, I will be going slowly through the 100 Mile Wilderness, meaning I'll need a full ten days' of food. I'll figure it out.Looking at Greyhound tickets from Minneapolis-St.Paul to Medway. It's only $74, which is great news - my budget is going to be tight.Here's to nights under the open skies, duct-taped feet, and misty mornings!
Date: 2009-06-02
To: Wolf Ridge Graduation
Miles today: 0.0

It's funny how things can change when you don't expect then to. I went, as always, to the Superior Hiking Trail trailbuilding last month. The usualy crowd was there: Leon and Kymn and Frank and Steve, not to mention the fabulous ladies who run the show. Last month, however, I had invited my pen-pal Phillip to join us. We'd been writing for a month or two and it was then or never. I brought both my tents down to Two Harbors and set them both up for us. The first night was awfully windy; I got slapped in the face with both sides of my tent. His fared a little better. The winds were changing. That was May 15. By May 19 Phil had decided to quit his job to come hike the Appalachian Trail with me.It's not something I expected at all. But it's trail magic, in a way. I always wanted to hike the AT with someone. I looked for ten years for a suitable companion. Then I gave up and decided to just GO. Then, a month before I leave, Phil came into my life and dropped everything in order to come with. I don't have words for that; I don't know where this adventure will lead us. We're used to communicating in written form. What will it be like to talk to each other every day for six months? Can we stand sharing a tent for that long? Will he seriously carry his travel guitar all the way from Maine to Georgia?I don't have any answers right now. But I am so excited to begin this adventure and share it.
Date: 2009-06-03
To: About the Hikers - Part 1
Miles today: 0.0

My name is Jo, and I'll likely be doing most of the updating along the way. I am 24 years old and a native of Minnesota, though I've spent most of the past five years cavorting around the world. I spent a semester in Chile, traveled through much of South America, lived in rural Alaska, worked in Portland, Oregon, and lived on a boat and out of trains. I graduated with a degree in cultural anthropology and languages and have earned a post-grad certificate in environmental education during my time at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. I have been blessed with wonderful parents who may not understand the whole allure of the AT, but who have heard about it since I was in 3rd grade and so have pretty much accepted that yes, their daughter is going to be sleeping in a tent for six months. My wonderful sister completely doesn't get it, but is very amused.I am addicted to pomegranates, the color yellow, long hippie skirts, and solitude, but mostly pomegranates. Once pomegranate season starts, I will be packing in a couple whenever I can find them in towns. Oaks are the best trees ever, though I have been persuaded that cedars' dedication to life makes them a close second. Watching the shadows of clouds and inspecting animal scat are two hobbies I look forward to pursuing while on the AT.We leave in a week!
Date: 2009-06-04
To: About the Hikers - Part 2
Miles today: 0.0

This is where Phil is going to share details about how awesome he is. If he doesn't then Jo will do it for him, and it will look something like this:Phil is really good at eating graham crackers while jumping around on rocks. He's very nice about letting Jo stick flowers onto his boots. Phil once won a pie-eating contest and can drink whole milk without shuddering. Phil can make a good fire before Jo wakes up, but has learned that floss should not be used for hanging bear bags. Phil has the immune system of an Amazonian god and thus may be found nursing sick people back to health as he frolicks along the trail. Recently, Phil learned how to snap his fingers. Now he can boss Jo around.
Date: 2009-06-05
To: Rambler Road
Miles today: 0.0

Making a list and checking it twice . . . Phil and I have had quite the few days. We went to camp with his college buddies near Alexandria, Minnesota. It was nice to test out the new gear and make sure that the waterproof gear is, indeed, waterproof. During this time, Phil decided it would be a good idea to act like the visiting dog and retrieve Freud's tennis ball. Using his mouth. Then he decided to eat food out of a garbage can. Then he has the guts to worry out loud and often about the quality of the food we have packed for the 100-Mile Wilderness. Uh huh.We have discovered these past few days that Jo is a planner and was ready to leave a week ago, and it is unlikely that Phil will be ready to go when our ride pulls in at 7AM tomorrow. These are things that ought to have been discussed before we decided to go hiking together. Good thing they weren't. So while Phil has been running around like a chicken with his head cut off, I have been stressed out about his last-minute to-do list. Productive? No. Am I doing it anyway? Oh, yeah.Oh, and my Camelback sort of erupted all over my bed. Great. . . .Anyway, the Vapor Ki is loaded to the brim with food for the 100 Miles, and Phil's pack (I forgot the kind. It's orange.) is surrounded by 30 pounds of gear and food that need to go inside. We have 13.5 hours before leaving, before driving straight through to Maine.Thirteen and a half hours. How could this go wrong?
Date: 2009-06-17
From: Rambler Road

To: Appalachian Trail Lodge
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

And so it begins. At 7AM on Tuesday our ride Isaac, a wonderfully quirky man neither Phil nor I had ever met, pulled up in front of Phil's parents' house and we began our way-too-long drive to Maine. We did make some bad choices (driving through downtown Chicago and NOT stopping at an A&W for chili cheese fries) but overall the trip was pleasant if never-ending.Isaac gave us the scenic tour of Maine where I managed the find THE WORLD'S LARGEST LOBSTER (photo to come shortly when I am not clogging up public library internet access). We also proved to Isaac that Paul Bunyan is Minnesotan and not from Maine, as he erroneously believed.Eventually we made our way to Bangor and found the bus station and got our tickets to Medway. The hour-long ride was pleasant but tiring, and Paul from the AT Lodge picked us up and brought us to Millinocket. In the bus station I met my first trail hikers: Flaxseed and Country Runner. Phil bought a Frosty.So tomorrow we begin our next leg of a journey. A nice relaxing day at Katahdin Stream Campground, then the big day we hike the mountain. The last night in a bed for a long, long time!
Date: 2009-06-19
From: Appalachian Trail Lodge

To: Katahdin
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: light rain

Yesterday our thru-hike surprisingly began. We hadn't planned to hike today, but over breakfast at the AT Cafe we overheard forecasts of rain. I can't even tell you how much I wanted to climb Katahdin in the rain. So we decided to head up Katahdin yesterday. Paul dropped us off, we got daypacks, and headed up the mountain. Everything I'd ever heard about Katahdin was only a portion of the truth. The first mile was great. I felt great, the day was warm, and even with a late start I felt good. Dun dun dun.Soon after the bridge near the waterfall we began to seriously climb. I always knew I was a slow climber, and Katahdin proved it. Phil waited for me from time to time, especially after a fellow hiker gave him a hard time for not protecting his woman or something like that (cue the eyerolls here). I was super slow.But then I saw the top . . . or so I thought. But the rocks of hell stood in the way, and they were terrifying. Soon after treeline we came to the spots where metal handles had been placed in the rock to make it borderline humanly possible to climb. And so we went up. And up. Oh, and up. And just when I thought there couldn't possibly be more up, I met a hiker who heartbreakingly informed me that he had been descending for two and a half hours. Great! Great.Eventually, after hours of climbing, we inevitably ran out of water. So we're sitting between rocks to get away from the wind, wondering if we dare to continue up to the supposed spring on top, or if we should cut our losses and descend. At different points in the ascent we wanted to turn back but thankfully we kept heading up. And up.At last we hit the Tableland and found Thoreau Spring ("eau" being the appropriate name for the spot). We rested and could at last see the spot which we'd been climbing to all day. It still took us an hour to climb to the top, but we dragged ourselves up and reached the summit around 4:45: seven hours after we started to climb. We had to hurry on the way the way down to make it past the rocks of hell before dark. Soon our muscles were so sore that we were waddling down the trail. The sun set around 9 and we got out our headlamps and began singing songs loudly to ward off any unwanted nighttime visitors. Herman the Worm, might I add, is a very good song to sing when you are at your wit's end. And so we made it back to camp, after 10PM and sore and moaning and starving, but when our tent was set up and the rain started to come down, it was well worth the late start.And that is the story of the first mountain Jo ever climbed. And they all lived soggily ever after.
Date: 2009-06-20
From: Katahdin

To: Hurd Brook Lean-To
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: light rain

It was a beautiful, rainy, romantic day . . . til my blister got unspeakably painful. I packed my boots away and opted for the Croc knock-offs for the remaining 10 miles. It was such blissfully flat terrain, which was a Godsend because I still was having problems squatting and basically doing anything involving angry thighs.Today we saw a lichen forest, rafters on the river, and the first moose scat of the trip. Oh, and ladyslippers! I felt almost at home. But truly, the highlight of the day was eating at Abol Bridge, where they serve not just any kind of hot dogs but magical PINK, bright PINK hotdogs. They werek, er, fantastic. Half an hour later we entered the 100-Mile Wilderness. Five minutes into the Wilderness we met a couple that was heading out because the woman had fallen and fractured her wrist and split her lip. In retrospect, that might have been an omen.
Date: 2009-06-21
From: Hurd Brook Lean-To

To: Rainbow Lake Campsite
Miles today: 7.7

Rain, rain, rain. Pain, pain, pain. We didn't get on the trail til somewhat late today and within a minute we came upon the FORD OF DOOM across Hurd Brook. Brook! Brook! Brooks are supposed to BABBLE, not roar and threaten to take your life. Seriously. . . Phil thought it was a great time. I was not amused, but made it across without falling in or losing my pack, so I can't really complain.I would, however, like the take a moment to thank the Superior Hiking Trail Association for BRIDGING things like roaring brooks. Well done, SHTA.You know the trail is in bad shape when your hiking buddy starts referring to it as "upstream" or "downstream." ugh.And then my Steripen decided to quit working. Oh, and then I got Deet in my mouth. That's a culinary delight, always.So we only made it 7.7. Oh well. "And then we heard loons and everything was okay." - Phil
Date: 2009-06-22
From: Rainbow Lake Campsite

To: Wadleigh Stream Lean-To
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: light rain

Today we started hiking earlier in the day than before, which was good. We were in camp by 5:00, which felt really nice. Other than the fact that my blisters on my heels have been biting into me all day, oh, and the fact that our Steripen is officially, no denying it, dead, it was a pretty good day on the trail. We ate lunch by a waterfall, and there is still plenty of food, so all is well.Phil found a special spot on top of Nesuntabunt Mountain where he sat and ate a lot.Today we experienced our first TRAIL MAGIC. For those who don't know the term, Trail Magic is when something happens on the trail that just doesn't seem like it could be a coincidence. For us, it was the find of PotableAqua tablets at the shelter. I couldn't believe it. On the day when the Steripen has radiated its last bottle of water, we happen to find someone's discarded bottle of iodine tablets! Life is good, really really good. Sore and tired. In my mind, Wadleigh Stream is more like Waddley Stream. That's about all I can do.