morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-06-02
From: Raush Shelter 

To: Pine Grove 
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: moderate rain

AT - 6/2 Day 32 Poison Ivy Mountain The name of today¢s mountain was not really Poison Ivy Mountain; but it should be. I hope neither one of us break out from it. We finished today with 15.5 miles. We did make it to a hotel in Pine Grove. The hotel used to be an Econo Lodge but they have chosen to go independent . Now they are Seasons Inn. There are only 3 hotels here. One was sold out and the other was twice the price. It has what we need and it is a big step above staying at a shelter. Even after hiking 15 miles we managed to get laundry done and light resupply at Dollar General, next door. The hiking today was a mixed bag. Elevation change was a bit brutal; 2,300 up and 2,000 down. Add to that there wasn¢t water for 13 miles. We crossed several roads and highways today. Also had to cross a large section of rocks. Just when you don¢t think you have the energy to do it, they throw rocks at you. Anyhow we made the miles and now need sleep Ascent 2,300 ftDescent 2,000 ft~ Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-03
From: Pine Grove 

To: Tent site mile marker 1202
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: overcast clouds

AT - 6/3 Day 33. ¢Fun Facts¢For several days now we have been hiking along and seeing a small group of people at the shelter. One of the girls in this group has a trail name of Fun Facts. One day I asked her if she had a fun fact for the day. She came back with, ¢The wintergreen is beginning to put on new growth and becoming visible.¢ I asked if it looks like other mints and she said no. She couldn¢t find any where we were to show us what it looked like; but she said it usually grows under the mountain laurel. We would know the smell if we found it. Today David discovered the wintergreen. While we were in town he looked it up on the internet and found out it is a ground cover that doesn¢t die back in the winter. The leaves are thicker and waxy so it can make it through the winter; hence wintergreen. The leaves look a lot like the mountain laurel but a little smaller. David spent a little time picking some leaves to make tea with tonight. We didn¢t end up making the tea. Instead we had hot chocolate with bean and cheese burritos. We actually had dinner at lunch time. While we were cleaning up it started to sprinkle rain. We wanted to just set up camp early if it was going to rain. However we couldn¢t find trees suitable for hammocks, so we hiked on a couple more miles. Besides, the rain stopped. We did get set up just in time for the real rain. Here is a first...since we already had dinner and it was raining, David came over to my hammock and we laid there together for awhile listening to the rain. I was surprised we both fit. It was pretty comfortable, too. We decided we wanted to take the chill off from the rain so we heated water for the hot chocolate and beans. What did you have for dinner? By the way, it continues to rain and will probably rain all night again. We will have to try the tea another time. I hope we run into Fun Facts again soon. I want to tell her we discovered the wintergreen. Maybe she will have another fun fact for us. Ascent 1,513 ftDescent 1,209 ft~Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-04
From: Tent site mile marker 1202

To: Stealth 1213 mile marker 
Miles today: 10.7

AT - 6/4 Day 34. Go With The FlowYesterday when we were about to leave the hotel it was drizzling rain. If I was at home contemplating a hike, I would have called it off. But we didn¢t want to stay another night at the Econo Lodge. So we packed up and headed out. By the time we were packed, the rain had stopped. And it ended up being one of the best days for hiking. The temperature was in the high 60s with a light breeze to keep the bugs away. It did rain last night up until midnight, so the tarps were wet to pack up. Today¢s weather was just as nice. Cool temperatures. Sometimes so cool that when we stopped for a break we wanted to put a jacket on. I think David said it got down in the 40s last night. It felt good to pull the sleeping bag up. That¢s the thing about long distance hiking. You don¢t get to pick and choose the best days for hiking. You just go with the flow and hope it all works out. Taking another break Tom. We have about 5 miles to hike to get to Port Clinton. We have a box waiting for us at the post office. We will take a zero day with it to get our grocery resupply done. David chipped a tooth and wants to see if he can get into a dentist. We need a little extra rest for our feet. We think the hard PA rocks are coming up as soon as we get back on the trail. We did have our wintergreen tea tonight. Pretty good stuff. Ascent 577 ftDescent 977 ft~Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-05
From: Stealth 1213 mile marker 

To: Port Clinton/Hamburg PA
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: few clouds

AT - 6/5 Day 35. Fair Warning - Snakes AheadToday we head to Port Clinton, where we will stay in Hamburg, PA for a couple of nights. We have a box to pick up at the Port Clinton post office. The PO is only open from 12:30 - 4:30 so there is no hurry to get there. We only have about 5.5 miles to go to get there. We slept in a bit but hit the trail by 9:00. So nice to sleep in. David and I had a conversation this morning about how he says he does not need to look down at the trail as he hikes so he sees more wildlife and camping spots than I do. He says he acquired that skill from riding motorcycles. Whatever! Well yesterday he did get to see some wildlife before me; but that was because he was in front of me. We were in an area of some pretty tall ferns...so pretty to look at. Up leaps a fawn, whose name has to be Bambi. He leaped up to hill to the protection of his mother. The color was that deep reddish-brown with those beautiful white spots and the whitest tail. It all happened so fast, he didn¢t have time to pull out the camera. If you want to see this, you will just have to join us on the trail. Today, I had my opportunity to see wildlife before David and I wasn¢t ahead of him. He just plain missed it. David was walking ahead and busy gathering wintergreen. He was about 30 yards ahead of me when I let out a scream and did the Mexican Hat Dance on the trail. I heard something that was not natural; but I couldn¢t put my finger on it. As I looked down at the trail, it was like the trail was moving. It hit me, the sound I heard was the rattle of a timber rattlesnake. The moving ground was the snake slithering by my hiking pole. My scream startled David who turned as quickly as he could, with a 30 pound backpack on, expecting to see a bear. I said it was a snake and it was right where he was picking wintergreen. Thankfully no one was bitten. The snake really just wanted to let me know he was down there, as I put my hiking pole down pretty close to him. We made it to the PO right at 12:30 to get our package. Hamburg is just a few miles from Port Clinton, but has many many services. We were able to get a ride to Hamburg by calling Cabela¢s. They off pick up service at the trail and take you to their store. They gave us discounts at their restaurant and we were able to get some shopping done there. The store was right across the street from our hotel, so it all worked out. There is a restaurant and pub attached to the hotel, so we went there for some birthday celebration and who do we see? Nic 22 and Tuck had been in touch with David and took time off the trail with us to celebrate my birthday. Pretty special day. Taking a zero day tomorrow Ascent 546 ftDescent 1,394~ Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-06
From: Port Clinton/Hamburg PA

To: Hamburg 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

AT - 6/6 Day 36 Zero in Hamburg Time to get busy with getting our grocery resupply and other shopping. It was so nice to be able to walk around without a backpack on. You feel light as a feather. Back to Cabala¢s for more items, Walmart, Dollar Tree, and a hike to downtown Hamburg post office to send a box home. We decided to send back some items we weren¢t using on the trail. I hope that lightens the load over the next trail section. The little downtown section of Hamburg was charming. A mixture of row houses, businesses, and churches. The pharmacy even had an old time soda fountain.  Tomorrow we will begin the Pennsylvania rocks that spans over the next 60 - 70 miles.
Date: 2018-06-07
From: Port Clinton/Hamburg PA

To: Windsor Furnace Shelter 
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: broken clouds

AT - 6/7 Day 37. HYOH (Hike Your Own Hike)Back on the trail again after a few days off. We got a ride from Cabela¢s back to the Port Clinton post office. We probably were on the trail by 9:45, which made for a short hiking day. We didn¢t stop for lunch until 2:30. By the time we ate, cleaned up and had an appropriate rest period, we decided to just stay put at the shelter we stopped at. Total miles were only 6 for the day, far short of the 12 - 13 I thought we would get. We just had a hard time getting back in the groove. But that is okay, sometimes you just have to go along with what your body is telling you. It is early to bed and we have everything set aside for breakfast. Our water bottles are filled, so maybe we can get an early start Ascent 1,401 ftDescent 1,155 ft~Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-08
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter 

To: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter 
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

AT - 6/8 Day 38 To Fry¢s and back 8 Times Most of you know Jessie works at Fry¢s Marketplace just a mile from our house. David and I walk up there to get groceries, which is a 2 mile round trip. While we are hiking, sometimes we refer to distance to the next place in terms of how many trips to Fry¢s and back we have to go. We started out early, as we got a good nights sleep. We managed to put out 16.5 miles today. Lots of rocks to contend with. I think this is a warm up for the final 60 miles of Pennsylvania. One rocky section had reports of snakes in the area. When we got there we found one timber rattler. There was a woman hiking ahead of us and she was having trouble getting around the snake but David came to her aid and got the snake to move away. I¢m pretty sure you will find the picture in the picture gallery Ascent 2,712 ftDescent 2,227 ft~ Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-09
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter 

To: Baked Knob Lean To
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: scattered clouds

AT - 6/9 Day 39 ¢The Knifes Edge¢ almost did me inPennsylvania is getting harder. There are more sections of the trail that has extended piles of big, edgy rocks - that is the trail. You have to hop from one to the other to cross the complete field of them. You know when a pile of rocks has a name, it must be something. We had two of those piles today. The first one was ¢The Knifes Edge¢, the second was ¢Bake Oven Knob¢. It is Saturday and nice weather so day hikers were out in number. So are section hikers. We are also starting to run into a new kind of section hiker, one that can hike for a couple of months at a time. They seem to complete the AT in a few years, rather than the section hikers we had been seeing that take about 10 years to complete because they only have a couple of weeks a year. We are staying at the Baked Oven Knob Shelter area. Such a mix of people in here. We even have a scout troop camping a little down the trail from us. We just met a couple tonight, Double Tap and Seven. They just met 22 this afternoon and already had heard of us from her. It is weird when you meet someone that knows of you. While I am on the subject of people on the trail, let me introduce you to Ninja and his dog Bones. We have been seeing and crossing paths with Ninja for a couple of days. He is a young black man from New York. He is traveling with his pit bull dog of 1 years old. The two of them are very quiet, you hardly know they are around. I¢m pretty sure David posted a picture of them when we crossed paths with them on the trail today. The good thing about today is we didn¢t see any snakes. I kind of have a theory about those snakes. When they are around, you don¢t see any chipmunks or hear birds. More fun and games tomorrow. It will be a shorter day; about 7 miles. We want to stay in a hostel in Palmerton tomorrow night. Ascent 885 ftDescent 938 ft~Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-10
From: Baked Knob Lean To

To: Palmerton PA BertÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Restaurant and Hostel 
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: overcast clouds

AT - 6/10 Day 40. Rain and more Rain Last night the rain started and it has not stopped for very long. The plan today was to hike 7 miles to Palmerton PA and stay at a hostel. That was the plan even before we knew of the rain. The rain is just the icing on the cake. Rocks are hard enough without being slippery.  The next day will be a bugger. We have a 1000 ft elevation gain right away that I have heard has some rock scrambling. I¢m not a fan of rock scrambling with a 30 pound pack on my back. After that, there is a 4 mile section of trail through a superfund site that does not have much vegetation growing on it. As much as I don¢t want rain tomorrow, I don¢t want sunshine either. The next water is 14 miles away. The superfund site is a zinc smelter owned by the New Jersey Zinc Company. It was declared a superfund site in the 1980s. All vegetation was killed off and they have been trying to replant the area. That is what we have to look forward to tomorrow. But for tonight at the hostel, it is a full house. The hostel holds 5 and that was full with people who had reservations. There is an overflow area out back, a cement block building with 7 more people (including us). Ascent 786 ftDescent 1,742~Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-12
From: Stealth mile 1,271

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: light rain

AT - 6/12 Day 42 Anniversary in Wind GapNot that it was planned this way, but since we had a mail drop to get in Wind Gap we stayed overnight there. We didn¢t get to the Post Office until about 2:30 and had not had lunch yet. We walked down to the Cafe on Broadway and got some lunch and root beer floats. The food was good and the owner offered to have someone drive us back up to the trail. We said we were staying at the Gateway Motel near the trailhead. She gave us a card that got us a discount there. So for a delicious lunch, a ride to the motel and a $15 discount on the room, I would say we made out pretty good. The motel was listed in the app we are using on the trail. It said it was renovated recently. When David called to see if they had room for us, the owner said, ¢Sure, you can have room 4. It will be unlocked for you. Just go right in.¢ Yep, room 4 was unlocked, but no one seemed to be in the office. We called to say we were there, but no towels for the shower. Someone brought them but didn¢t want our money. Several more calls about various things before anyone wanted our money. We never did get a room key. The doors had regular keyed locks, not the kind you open with a card. Not that we wanted to go anywhere and needed a key. It was just odd. The motel room was completely renovated, clean and comfortable. Just another odd experience in our travels. Tomorrow a climb out of Wind Gap and if we are lucky, we can make it all the way to Delaware Water Gap; end of the line for PA. Ascent 613 ftDescent 1,197 ft~ Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-13
From: Wind Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap 
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: broken clouds

AT - 6/13 Day 43 Delaware Water GapWe did it; we pushed all the way to DWG 16.5 miles. So often we miss out on neat places because we get there too early and everything is closed. I wanted to be sure that didn¢t happen here. There is a church hostel that operates on donations. We heard back on the trail it was full up but they have a shelter out back, limited space for tents and a ramada. We took our chances and if need be there are a couple of Inns we could try. The drop into DWG was so dramatic. Normally, coming down off a mountain into a ¢gap¢ is just a 1 mile hike either straight down or sometimes with switchbacks. This was 2.5 miles and brought us along the Delaware River. It is a very popular hiking area. The geology looks like it was carved out by glaciers. There was massive slate rocks, interesting plants, tunnels through rhododendrons, and creek crossing. It sort of reminded me of the Jurassic period. I expect to see dinosaurs. Well no dinosaurs but there were mosquitoes. We found the church and quickly learned if we wanted to stay there we should claim that Ramada our front to hang our hammocks from. So we got set up. There were some bushes around it so it wasn¢t real obvious we were camping out front of the church. We headed down the street to the Sycamore Grill for dinner. Wow, great food and atmosphere. This was the anniversary dinner we didn¢t get the night before. Back at the church hostel we are trying to finish setting up for the night when we see lightning in the distance. David checks the weather and says there is a storm front heading our way with 40 mph winds. The Ramada was covered but blowing rain could be a problem, so we get our tarps our to put up a shield from the rain. We couldn¢t use the tarps like normal because we couldn¢t stake them out. My phone goes off on a weather alert. It was a tornado watch. Advised to take cover indoors from flying debris. I tell David I¢m not staying out there, packed everything up haphazardly and go into the church hostel. Soon the power goes out. About 15 minutes goes by and the tornado warning sirens go off. About 10 later, here comes David with all his stuff packed up. We waited until the storm completely passed before going back out and setting up in the Ramada again. It was well after midnight before we got to bed. How is that for fun and excitement in DWG?Ascent 1,659 ftDescent 2,241 ft~ Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-14
From: Delaware Water Gap 

To: Mohican Outdoor Center 
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: fog

AT - 6/14 Day 44. Goodbye PA; Hello NJWe rocked PA 223 miles and over 31,000 ft of ascent and descent. Even though we completed MD, it is PA that feels like the real accomplishment. Leaving DWG we cross the bridge over the Delaware River. About 1/2 way across is the official delineation. We heard NJ has rocks of their own. But I think they are more along the line of the rocky trail kind of rocks. Because of the late night we had we got a late start out of DWG. We went to breakfast and then took showers at the church hostel before leaving town. We managed to get 10.5 miles in before ending the day at the Mohican Outdoor Center. It is a place run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. They have cabins there, as well as walk in renting. On the weekends you might find scouts or outdoor survival type classes being held. There is a short-order grill and dining room/lounge and showers available. For $10 each we camped and got showers and then ordered some food. We have been told NJ has more bears than anywhere else. In fact, there is a juvenile male bear that frequents the campground every night. We were told to be sure to put everything in the bear locker, which we did. For the first time, we saw a bear tonight. Our friend ¢22¢ took a video of him crawling into the trash dumpster and taking a bag out of it. We didn¢t hear anything else that night. You can be sure we will be very careful while we are in NJ. I¢m sure there have been bears around us before but we are usually in bed before dark and have hung our food every night.Ascent 1,949 ftDescent 987 ft~ Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-15
From: Mohican Outdoor Center 

To: Stealth site Crater Lake 
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: clear sky

AT - 6/15 Day 45 NJ Rocks Yep, NJ has rocks too. They just slow you down. The forest in NJ is different, too. So far in VA, MD and PA the forest was mostly covered with heavy tree foliage. NJ has long stretches where the vegetation is shrubs with no trees or the trees just aren¢t that big or close to the trail. Sun exposure is now more of a concern than it has been.Oh, and NJ has rattlesnakes, too. I saw one on the trail today. I don¢t know how David missed him. He had to have passed him before me. The snake alerted me with a rattle and I alerted him with a shriek. We both have a pretty sophisticated alert system. We are stealth camping right across from Crater Lake. A man passing on the trail tonight said we could swim in the lake. You know, take a bath if we wanted. I think I will wait for a real shower, thank you. Tomorrow we will go off trail into a town to get grocery resupply for the box we picked up in Wind Gap. I have to say the boxes we packed are working out pretty good. A nice variety of food. We feel the meals are packed with enough nutrition because we feel very satisfied. Some people on the trail say they wake up very hungry in the morning, like they didn¢t eat enough the day before. We weighed ourselves at the Mohican Outdoor Center and we feel we have only lost about 10 pounds each. Believe me, we both needed to lose that 10 pounds.Ascent 1,303 ftDescent 1,072 ft~ Desert Rose
Date: 2018-06-16
From: Stealth site Crater Lake 

To: Gren Anderson Shelter 
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: clear sky

AT - 6/16 Day 46. The Pocono¢sWe finally went to a grocery store to resupply the box we picked up days ago in Wind Gap. Sometimes it is hard to find time to travel to a town that has a Walmart or grocery store big enough. Now that we are in NJ the shopping landscape has changed. We passed through a little community just outside of Branchville today. We took the opportunity to also get lunch since the restaurant was just 1/10 of a mile from the trail. Great burgers and fries, and the backside of the restaurant opened out onto Culver Lake. There isn¢t much to this town. It is mainly a vacation home town. The 2010 Branchville census had the population at about 680 people. The grocery was called Dale¢s Market. It was the smallest IGA type grocery I¢ve ever seen. We got most of what we were looking for but will have to be creative to compensate for the items we couldn¢t get.  You aren¢t supposed to hitchhike in NJ. But David did in the parking lot of the restaurant. He was hoping a patron would offer a ride to the grocery that was a couple of miles away, on a road you wouldn¢t want to be walking on. Quickly a car pulled in and offered us a ride. David checked Uber but none were available. Coincidentally, the girl that picked us up lives in PA and is an Uber driver. Her passenger was also an Uber driver in New York. But since they were in NJ they aren¢t allowed to pick up fares here. I guess we Ubered ourselves some good luck. At the grocery we were offered a ride back to the trailhead by someone else. Talking about trail magic, we were offered some twice on the trail today. One was a cold Coke and a king size Snickers bar. The second time was just fun size Snickers. The crazy thing about the first offer is the guy who offered is now staying at the shelter we are at tonight.Most of the time we take a hotel or hostel stay when we resupply; but today we had time to get back on the trail and hike another 3 miles. I¢m glad it worked out this way. Tomorrow is going to be hot so we want to get an early start.Ascent 1,743 ftDescent 1,872 ft~Desert Rose