morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-07-11
From: Whiskey Hollow Shelter (VA)

To: Rod Hollow Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 8.3

I didn¢t sleep well last night. The section hiker had trouble getting his dinner to cook and didn¢t get to bed until after 10. This morning he woke up to find that a flying squirrel had gotten into his food bag that was hanging on the bear pole. One the thru-hikers found that a mouse had tried to make a nest in his backpack. Fortunately, SC and I didn¢t have anything bothered. The plan for today was to pass the next shelter and then tent a mile or two into the ¢roller coaster.¢ The roller coaster is 13+ miles of closely spaced ascents and descents which is notoriously difficult. One of the owners of the hostel where we just stayed was telling us to be sure we respected the difficulty of this part of the trail.Anyway, we were going to try and complete a mile or two of the roller coaster today, but we ended up just staying at this shelter. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I¢m pretty beat up after our long day yesterday. Also, it was really hot most of the day. Then, it stormed. While the forecast said that it was supposed to clear up again, we decided to just call it a day. Last night there were 5 of us in the shelter. Tonight it looks like it is going to be 7 with another 8 or so in tents or hammocks. Where did all these people come from? And while a few are section hiking, most are thrus. They are also people we haven¢t met previously.
Date: 2019-07-12
From: Rod Hollow Shelter (VA)

To: Bears Den Hostel (VA)
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

Today we began the roller coaster. So far it has been very difficult. It doesn¢t help that we had another hot day today. I have learned that the roller coaster isn¢t difficult necessarily because of the ups and downs, but rather the rocks. Ugh, rocks, my least favorite type of trail.We had heard about this hostel about 9 miles into the roller coaster called Bears Den. They¢re famous for their hikers special: a bunk, shower, laundry, pizza, soda, and pint of ice cream for $30. I dismissed the possibility of staying here because it was only 10 miles away. We would be there about 2pm, hours before they opened their doors at 5pm. I did not get here at 2pm. It was more like 5:30. SC and I went in to see about bunks and we were the first ones to arrive.I showered first and then started laundry while SC showered. I then got a ride ¢across the street¢ (it really was across the street, but it gets quotes because the driveway was a half mile long) to a brewery, while SC stayed and ate pizza and finished up the laundry. By the time I got back, the hostel was full of people, only a few of whom we had met last night.
Date: 2019-07-15
From: Ed Garvey Shelter (MD!)

To: Dahlgren Backpacking Campground (MD)
Miles today: 10.9

Last night the thru-hiker decided to stay in the shelter. SC and I were in the main part, and he decided to set up in the loft (or the ¢penthouse¢ as it was referred to in the shelter register). No sooner than he is settled in when ¢Bang, bang, bang!¢ Three hickory nuts hit the roof in rapid succession. The three of us just laughed. I didn¢t sleep very well. It seemed like whenever I would drift off, another hickory nut would hit the roof. The guy upstairs didn¢t sleep well either. I could hear him trying to get comfortable on his sleeping pad all night. SC and I had trouble getting motivated to leave camp this morning. Our goal was Pine Knob Shelter in 16.6 miles. However, early in the day, I noticed on Guthook that there was a *free* campground for backpackers in 11.9 miles. My feet were protesting after yesterday¢s towpath walk, so plans were quickly changed. Today I decided that I like Maryland. It has a lot of rules: you have to camp/stay in designated areas, no alcohol, etc. But they seem to want to make it easy on you, so they have lots of designated areas for campers set up. The whole AT in Maryland is basically a state park. And so far the terrain has been good. This morning we didn¢t make breakfast because the water source was so far downhill from the shelter and cooking requires water. We ate some snacks and then headed to Gathland State Park. There they had restrooms with flushing toilets(!) and water from pipes that didn¢t need to be filtered. SC and I stopped there and made brunch. I went through one of the museums there, got a postcard, and talked to the woman working there. She said she also works at the Washington Monument Park, so I said I would see her tomorrow.We then walked through a Civil War battlefield. I got a little lost/turned around in this area. I think it would be fun to come back and check out the history stuff more thoroughly. Then we arrived at the campground. There were picnic tables, electrical outlets, and running water. Even showers! I took a shower and did a little sink laundry. We set up our tent without the rain fly because it has been so hot lately. Hopefully it doesn¢t rain.
Date: 2019-07-16
From: Dahlgren Backpacking Campground (MD)

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter (MD)
Miles today: 13.9

I slept well last night, and fortunately it didn¢t rain. The clothes I ¢washed¢ last night were mostly dry. Anyway, we get on the trail and almost immediately cross a road with a restaurant. If I had known we were that close, I might have eaten here last night.Early in the day, we get to Washington Monument State Park. I wanted to go to the museum/visitors center and get a postcard for my brother-in-law and talk with the woman I met yesterday at Gathland State Park. It wasn¢t clear from my guides or the Washington Monument website where it was. There¢s even a map on the website but it doesn¢t include the museum. There¢s a museum page on the website. It has a picture of a building, but that building is not the museum. Anyway, eventually I find the museum, say hi to the woman I met yesterday, and buy a postcard.I then meet up with SC at the monument itself. There¢s a good view from the top. Behind the monument are piles of rocks: a preview of what is to come. There are also more butterflies than I¢ve ever seen in one place. Next up, I-70 and US 40: two roads I grew up next to only further east. We cross over 70 on a foot bridge and then almost immediately pass below 40. I take pictures for my family. After the highways, we stop for a break at the turn off for a shelter. We are trying to get to the road for Smithsburg before the post office closes at 4:30. That would mean hiking 8 miles in 4.25 hours, not impossible but pretty unlikely. The trail here is wide and fairly rocky. I find myself seeking out the part of the trail with the fewest rocks. I¢m making good time but adding distance each time I switch sides. Then the thunder starts. I stop and put on my packcover. It rains but not too hard. It then gets really rocky. My pace slows way down as I get closer to the road. I make it there a full hour after the post office closes, so just keep moving on to the next shelter. Fortunately we¢ll cross another road early tomorrow that also goes into Smithsburg.When I get to the shelter, SC is there with some thru-hikers we first met almost 4 weeks ago!
Date: 2019-07-18
From: Falls Creek Campsite (PA!)

To: Swamp Road, South Mountain, PA
Miles today: 12.3

We leave camp before the other hiker is up and moving. It rained last night and it¢s very humid. The rocks are covered with these tiny worms in the morning. Early in the day we pass 600 miles!We stop for lunch and to dry out our tent at Old Forge Picnic Area. They have pit toilets and a water spigot in addition to picnic tables. A guy rides in on a mountain bike and starts talking to a maintenance guy. He sounds like he¢s in the midst of a manic episode. He gets back on his bike and starts heading our direction. SC and I look at each other thinking, ¢What are we going to do?¢ However, he simply waves at us and tells us to have a nice day.There¢s a summer camp nearby. I recognize the sound and the buildings look cute.I go to the bathroom, and as I¢m walking back to the picnic table, it sounds as though SC is talking to someone she¢s really excited to see. Then I notice she¢s on the phone. I quickly figure out she is talking to her sister who has just told her she¢s pregnant. I go ahead and pack up my stuff as my shoes (which were still wet from their time in the creek yesterday) are now mostly dry. I let SC know where we¢ll meet up next and hike on. We end up visiting 2 shelters during the day, and then meeting up where the trail crosses Swamp Road just outside of South Mountain, PA. There¢s a place to eat and get a shower called the South Mountain Hotel. Between Guthook comments and Google Maps, we figure out how to get there. As we are walking up to the building, it looks closed. There¢s only one car in the lot and no sign to indicate it¢s open. We place our packs on a picnic table and I go in to check things out. I walk into what is clearly a bar complete with cigarette smoke. I tell the bartender I¢m a hiker and asks her how things work here. She tells me where I can sit with SC and hands me a menu after having me sign their hiker guest book. I see the name of the guy we tented with last night. Apparently he¢s still here!I go out and SC is talking with the tenter. He¢s already had a burger and is getting ready to take a shower. He¢s camping in their lawn, so we decide to join him. We put up our tent and then go inside for food. The food was great, and the shower was hot (not quite as refreshing as one would hope, but at least I¢m clean). SC and I were both craving ice cream after dinner, but their dessert choices are limited to movie theater candy. I go on Google Maps and the closest ice cream place, grocery store, or convenience store is 4.5 miles away. This town has this bar, a couple of churches, some auto repair places, and a sprawling psychiatric hospital. That¢s it.Anyway, Spike, SC, the other tenter, and I all stay up a little later than usual. Finally we head to bed, and the lawn where we set up our tents is already covered in dew. There are bright security lights on the building, so it looks like dusk in our tent even though it is well past sunset. There¢s also a road nearby with some traffic. I don¢t know how I¢ll sleep tonight.
Date: 2019-07-22
From: Alec Kennedy Shelter (PA)

To: Boiling Springs, PA/Red Cardinal B&B
Miles today: 3.9

It stormed off and on last night. One of my last thoughts before falling asleep was that the rain was blowing in and getting my face wet. However, I woke up dry. It was supposed to storm again this morning, so most of us got packed up and going to get into town before it hit.Hiking was much easier today in the cool air. We began by hiking up Center Point Knob which was an early midpoint of the trail. There was a nice AT plaque at the top. Coming down from the knob, the woods reminded me of Indiana in terms of the flora. There were also sink holes¢I could have been in McCormick¢s Creek State Park!Then we came out of the woods and the trail went through corn and soybean fields. Now I definitely felt like I was in Indiana. I was particularly glad it was cool and overcast today. That would have been brutal in the heat. We reached Boiling Springs, and walked through a park with a pond full of clear water. Next thing we knew, we were at the Mid Atlantic ATC Visitors Center. It was across the street from the post office, which had a resupply package for us. We left our packs at the ATC and walked first to a cafe to get an early lunch and then a mile to the grocery store. We supplemented our resupply box with mostly snacks from the store. However, I was disappointed in their lack of the usual snacks I get. We also picked up a roasted chicken and a couple of bagged salads for dinner. It looked like it could rain at any minute during our walk back, but it held off.We got back to the ATC about an hour before the bed and breakfast I had reservations for would pick us up. There were other hikers to visit with though. I texted the B&B, and they came to pick us up. We are in the Bluebird Room.The first thing we did was send everything to be laundered, then SC and I took showers. Then I took a nap! I don¢t remember the last time that happened. We ate our chicken and salads for dinner. SC went outside to call family, while I called Spike¢s Dad from the room. It finally poured down raining just as the sun was setting. It¢s so nice to enjoy the rain from inside something other than a shelter or tent. It¢s also nice to really wash clothes. We hadn¢t done laundry since Bears Den, 10 days ago! That¢s the longest we¢ve gone without laundry. I¢m looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight.
Date: 2019-07-23
From: Boiling Springs, PA/Red Cardinal B&B

To: Darlington Shelter (PA)
Miles today: 14.3

This morning it was hard to get up and get going. I wanted to stay in bed. Breakfast was at 8, though, so got up and had a great breakfast. We then got a ride back to the ATC, and were hiking by 9:30.Today we had to go at least 14.3 miles because that was the next place any camping was allowed. Today was more corn and soybean fields. At one point I was eating wineberries growing along the trail and then realized that I probably shouldn¢t be eating fruit growing so close to a conventional farm field. Fortunately, it was even cooler today than it had been yesterday.The trail was mostly flat, although very muddy after yesterday¢s rain. I will take mud over rocks any day. There were also many road crossings. We saw two trail maintainers out working on the trail. Despite the mud, there was little water on the trail. About a mile before the shelter, the trail left the fields and started heading uphill. We stopped at a spring to fill up with water as the spring at the shelter would sometimes run dry.There¢s a guy here we stayed with at the last shelter and two young women from Montreal who are carrying a lot of different kinds of tape. It¢s the Montreal girls, Spike, SC, and I in the shelter tonight.
Date: 2019-07-24
From: Darlington Shelter (PA)

To: Duncannon, PA/Duncannon Assembly of God
Miles today: 11.4

I was up early this morning to use the Taj Mahal privy. Honestly, I was expecting a little more from something called the Taj Mahal.The original plan was to walk straight through Duncannon. After all we were just in a town yesterday. However, the women from Montreal were sobo section hikers who had great reviews of a church hostel in town. According to both the AWOL and Guthook guides, there is also a church there that has a hiker dinner on Wednesdays. Well, it¢s Wednesday! Plus, I still didn¢t have enough snacks to last me to the next resupply. So we decided to stay in Duncannon.There were a few more fields this morning, and then there were trees and rocks. It was mostly downhill into town. There were some local teen girls at Hawk Rocks. I ended up taking a short cut straight down this steep slope because I couldn¢t figure out where the trail was in that section.When we got to the road, there was a trail to the grocery store blazed by Trail Angel Mary. It went on side streets so that hikers don¢t take a busier road. When we got to the store, we saw familiar faces. They were getting a shuttle provided by the store back ¢downtown.¢ We picked up a few things and then took the shuttle. Again, I couldn¢t find my usual snacks. I¢m striking out with PA grocery stores.The shuttle dropped us off at the Doyle, an AT institution. I would have liked to have gotten dinner there (the burger is supposed to be great), but dinner at the church is free.So we found the church offering dinner. They were serving spaghetti and meatballs, so I just had salad, but then they offered me some cold cuts and cheese, so everything ended up great. They also had some non-food resupply items we needed like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and ziplock bags. After eating, SC and I left our packs at the church, took Spike, and walked back to pick up the part of the trail we missed by taking the shuttle back from the grocery store. It was only a few blocks, but Spike insists we walk the whole trail. We then got our packs and proceeded to move to a different church to stay the night. They had this great basement with air conditioning and a really nice shower with real towels. We¢re just sleeping on our sleeping pads on the floor, but hey it¢s free!
Date: 2019-07-25
From: Duncannon, PA/Duncannon Assembly of God

To: Peter Mountain Shelter (PA)
Miles today: 10.9

I was the first one up at the church basement this morning. I went over to a diner that serves breakfast and had an omelet and talked with the guy who was waiting tables. He said he was retired and just helping out his friend who runs the diner. It sounds like he travels a lot, and he warned me about the mosquitoes in Maine.I¢m still short on snacks, so I walked over to a convenience store but things were nearly twice as expensive as they are at a grocery store. I was about to go to another convenience store when I saw that the post office was about to open. I heard they had free food for hikers. I went and they had a great selection of protein bars including ones that didn¢t have soy! I picked up 5 bars, enough to get me through to my next resupply.I went back to the hostel. Packed up and managed to get out before SC (she had stayed to make mac and cheese at the hostel). The walk was flat and along roads for several miles, and then I crossed 2 large rivers on walkways on the sides of highway bridges. Then I came to a railroad crossing where I waited for SC.Now was the fun part: climbing uphill out of the river valley. There were some nice views on the way up at least. It was also rocky in places, but still not bad. We stopped by the first shelter out of town to sign the shelter register. A little later we passed through a parking lot. Someone had left water there as trail magic. It was appreciated because there were not a lot of places to get water.Our goal for the day was Peter Mountain Shelter. By the time I got there, SC had already been down to get water and returned. There was a sign that said it was 300 steps down. I¢m glad she got extra water so that I don¢t have to go down or come back up so many steps. A couple of the guys we stayed with at the hostel came by and had dinner before pushing on. It¢s just SC, Spike, and me at this huge shelter tonight.
Date: 2019-07-26
From: Peter Mountain Shelter (PA)

To: Yellow Springs Campsite (PA)
Miles today: 13.4

I didn¢t sleep well last night. I could hear some animal shuffling around, and even though I put earplugs in, I couldn¢t get back to sleep.Today the terrain was pretty flat but there were a decent amount of rocks. My feet seem more mad about the rocks than I think they should be. It¢s probably time for a new pair of shoes.It was a quiet day. We saw one nobo and one sobo. We also passed a tent in the middle of the day, which was weird. You tend to see tents early and late in the day. This is the first one I¢ve seen with someone clearly in it at 2pm.The tent site where we are staying tonight is supposed to be haunted. Fortunately we won¢t be alone. A guy we haven¢t seen before hiking nobo has joined us. He expressed disappointment in the site because it didn¢t have open sky so he could see sunset or sunrise. We¢ve only seen one sunset and that was back at the beginning of June! I want to know where he¢s been camping. Also at this campsite? A mailbox with a trail register. That¢s a first.
Date: 2019-07-28
From: Unofficial Campsite MM1185.3 (PA)

To: PA Route 501/Allentown, PA
Miles today: 10.2

I don¢t know why, but we had trouble getting going this morning. It was probably because we camped on a hillside and we knew we would be starting with a rocky uphill. Apparently ¢Rocksylvania¢ started just before Duncannon. I¢ve just been telling myself lately that the trail is just going to be a big mess of rocks so that I¢m pleasantly surprised when it¢s not. Today we started off with a big mess of rocks and there were a few smaller messes as we went on, but nothing like I was telling myself it would be.We stopped by a shelter to sign in. Our last PA shelter for a couple of months! There was a note there about a missing guy. When we got to the next road (PA 645), there were a lot of people in the parking lot, and a van that said ¢Coroner.¢ There was a tent set up across the road that could have been trail magic or could have been for the search party for the missing guy. We were headed to PA 501, 2 miles away, and didn¢t really need to check out possible trail magic.Just before 501, my dad is at an overlook with SC. The 3 of us walk to the car where mom is waiting with slushies. We drive to Allentown, PA to stay in a hotel and get ready to drive to Maine tomorrow. You see, back during the torture that was the roller coaster, I was thinking about PA and its rocks. I didn¢t really want to be here in the heart of summer, and yet, here I am. Anyway, I thought maybe there was a way we could flip to Maine and start going south. Then I remembered my parents are retired, maybe they could drive us up! I called them and they said they would be happy to, especially because they had never been to Maine. So, here we are, leaving PA and heading to ME where we hope it is cooler and there are more water sources.
Date: 2019-07-29
From: PA Route 501/Allentown, PA

To: Millinocket, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up at 4:30 after having a dream that I went to a laundromat and came back with 5 Kula Cloths, but none of them were mine or SC¢s.  (If you don¢t know about Kula Cloths, check them out at kulacloth.com¢ SC and I each have one and they have been great.) Anyway, I relayed the dream to everyone and SC was like, ¢I haven¢t seen mine since we did laundry.¢ I went down to the hotel laundry room and hers was sitting on top of a washer.  Maybe it was good that I had that dream.Anyway, we had breakfast at the hotel and then got on the road.  We started off my driving through an area where I used to live, so I drove.  Even though I haven¢t driven for over 2 months, it pretty much felt natural.On our way up to Maine, we stopped by REI for a gear resupply including my 3rd pair of shoes.  I am hoping this new setup works and I can just order shoes next time.  I will need to buy at least 2 more pairs to complete the whole trail.It was a long drive to Millinocket.  We didn¢t get to hotel until about 9:30 and are just now settling down for bed at 10:30.  We have to get up early tomorrow to be at Baxter State Park by 7:00am.