morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-30
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Tumbling Run Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

last night i didn't realize that the two sleeping with me in the shelter were exact opposites. one was ultra-light the other had all old-school gear including a metal canteen. this morning i realized they were both reflections of myself but i did not know why i was showing myself these opposites. maybe to show me it's ok and stop worrying about my pack weight and enjoy the journey? symbols... symbols... ah, i get it... it's masculine/feminine principles...he's wearing big clunky boots, she's wearing trail runners.his pack weighs 7 pounds and is bombproof, her pack weighs 2 pounds and might only be good for this one trip.he has canned food (for breakfast too), she doesn't even pack a stove.they both do the journey, she with a lot less weight. he is ready for anything and is carrying the gear to meet those needs. she isn't ready for anything. she hardly has the gear to survive a sudden change in temperature, treat a bad fall, or eat an extra meal.so why am i showing myself this in reflection? i'm showing myself there's more than one way to do this journey. my gear right now is in the middle of the two extremes. using the masculine principle (which is structure, the mind) i have to forecast the many situations i could be in and fill my pack with items for those events. i may end up carrying a whole lot of extra items i'll never use. (many thru hikers start out this way because we're used to living our "normal" lives this way) here, support is seen only coming from myself... i.e. being self-reliant.using the feminine principal (unstructured, flowing) i'd just pack what i'd typically need day to day and no more. (actually, this is a slight m/f mix, pure feminine would be: pack nothing and start walking) here, i must have the attitude that - it's all support. everything is support. the "trail magic", as it were, makes up for the lack of preparation in gear. it requires a giant leap in faith.- - - - -today i crossed the mason-dixon line into my seventh state: PA. i don't think i mentioned going into maryland after west virginia. it was real quick, like a blur. i'll be in PA for a bit but it will go by faster then you'd think because of the terrain. i'm hoping my shoes will last through the state. i might actually buy some new ones soon and send them ahead since i don't see many outfitters in the book for northern PA.my current shoes, get this, have over 800 miles on them. the soles are just starting to fall apart. they're Garmonts, but i forget what the name of the style is.enough for today. sleep calls.
Date: 2004-06-03
From: Alec Kennedy Shelter

To: darlington shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: scattered clouds

today i visited the ATC mid-atlantc regional office in boiling springs, PA. there i downloaded my email and got the message that my deer ticks did not have the lyme disease bacteria. that's good news!burning boots, j-bird, and hershey showed up soon after and we went to the cafe for 2nd breakfast.onward now for 10 more miles. my lunch spot was reached at about 1:30 in the afternoon. it was pretty much a water spigot, a picnic table, and a patch of sunshine at the scott farm trail center (think abandoned barn).i wanted to do 25 miles today but i was behind on email and journals so i stopped hiking around 5pm. darlington shelter is all of what amy described to me: the AT's very own crack shanty. this shelter is being demolished in less than a month and replaced with a new one. burning boots and j-bird are staying here tonight too, but they're gonna tent it. probably a smart move. there's nothing in the register about getting attacked by mice or cecadas so i'm going to be in the shelter tonight.the water here sucks though. it's a spring that's pretty much dead. it just drips real slowly. i got about a quart out of it with my cup and said "forget it", and climbed the hill back to the shelter. it's 7 miles to the next water tomorrow. i won't die or anything.then this day-hiker named greg shows up. he's very talkative and knowledgeable about hiking and the outdoors. he reaches into his bag and pulls out a 2 liter canteen. "anyone need water? i'm going to dump this." (now how quickly did my need for water manifest?) i believe this is trail magic #4 for the month of june. he also pulls out a bag of pretzels. "anyone hungry?" (trail magic #5.)the group cooked dinner and talk for a while. we bid greg good-bye as the sun was going down. he had just enough light to check out a vista and get back to his car.
Date: 2004-06-04
From: darlington shelter

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm in duncannon, PA today at the infamous Doyle Hotel - a "must see" for the thru hiking experience. the doyle was built around 1904 by anheuser-busch. there's a bar on the main level and rooms on the two floors above. yes, the place is run down (some shelters look better), but the shower works great and it will keep me out of the rain tonight.'boots, j-bird, ghost (sobo) and i resupplied at the local market. the market sent a shuttle to the doyle to pick us up. sweet! i got four days of food but i have no clue how many i'll use going to port clinton. the terrain is rocky tomorrow and the shelter spacing is really odd. plus, the rain is a wildcard tomorrow. i could go farther and camp, but i don't like packing up a wet tent. so tomorrow will be interesting for me schedule-wise.slumming at the doyle: indy (who left today, but did not reach escape velocity and was pulled back at the city limits), duke of earl, nj, burning boots, j-bird, and ghost.p.s. "hi" to brian, jodi, and marco!
Date: 2004-06-05
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

this morning's weather radio report: "rain will be falling at the rate of 1/10 to 1/4 inch per hour for most of the morning and afternoon. temperature, 55 degrees. winds, 5-10 mph."yeah, let's go hiking today. bah ha ha ha! today is an unplanned zero day. no problem. i just have to reach port clinton when the p.o. is open and taking a day off won't upset that. a trail angel named mary, but not "trail angel mary", gave us a ride to the outfitters this morning, 18 miles away. i tried to find another pair of shoes to mail ahead, since PA is where shoes go to die. nothing in my size, but i did find out my garmonts are the "nagevi"(nah-jev-ee), which is "i vegan" spelled backwards. my shoes have no animal parts in them. it also means if i'm starving, i can't eat them. ;-)ahh, an afternoon of napping, leftover pizza, meditation, and stretching will hopefully put some spring in my step tomorrow morning. the forecast is for cloudy conditions and a warming trend to begin this week.
Date: 2004-06-06
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Peters Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: overcast clouds

i left the doyle around 6:45, stopped to check the pocketmail one last time, and proceeded to the Susquehanna River, which is the longest river crossed by the AT (444 miles).the morning was cool (55*), foggy, and wet. there were hopes that it would clear up and warm up by mid-day, but that never materialized. so much for the accuracy of the computer-generated voice of the national weather service. at the first shelter i met NJpacker, who left duncannon this morning also, and the duke of earl. the duke hiked up yesterday in the rain. he got wet, especially when he reached the ridgeline. i'm glad i chickened out yesterday and slept in warmth and comfort at the doyle. (this trip isn't about hardship, my friends)NJ and i moved on, gently stepping over the rocky trail. we met many trail maintainers this morning. they were cutting back the poison ivy that lines the trail on this section. too bad they didn't do that yesterday, there was a lot of it we had to watch out for. after four miles we came upon a new-looking pedestrian bridge built over PA225. the plaque on it said it was built in 2003. NJ thinks someone was killed crossing the road here recently (not a hiker) and that's why the bridge was built. it is a difficult crossing since there's a curve on one side where you cannot see well.we took a break at the vista called table rock. there was nothing to see there since the valley was fogged in. NJ and i talked and ate some snacks, thinking that the duke, or 'boots and j-bird would catch up to us. no dice, so we moved on the next mile to the peters mtn shelter - a large two-level shelter with a side trail leading to the shelter built by earl shaffer. earl "crazy one" shaffer was the first person to thru hike the AT in 1948.at the shelter, the duke of earl, NJ, 'boots, j-bird, and wild horse had lunch. a bright addition to our day was a few cases of soda (pepsi, wild cherry pepsi, and mountain dew) left here by a church camp waaaay down the hill.i stayed here because i didn't want to take the chance on there being no decent campsites between here and the next shelter (17 miles). a south bound section hiker named pace car showed up about 5pm and told me, yes there were many places to camp. oh, well. one benefit of staying here is the days will all be under 20 miles until i reach Port Clinton, PA. if i had kept hiking for, say 7 miles today, i'd have a 25 and a 20 the following days.ok, many have been asking when i'll be in CT. my best guess is around 6/26 i'll hit kent, CT. the trail in CT is short so i'll cruise through in 3-4 days. i'll be in mass somewhere between july 1 and 5. these dates will change depending on how many miles i hike and zero days taken. i'll try to update as i get closer to CT.i'll end with a question to past thru's: are there good camping spots between west mtn shelter and peekskill, NY? i'll probably resupply in peekskill. thanks.
Date: 2004-06-07
From: Peters Mtn Shelter

To: Rausch Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 17.5

my experience really got soured today. hiking 17 easy miles gives lots of time to:a) get some sunb) take breaksc) get to camp earlyoption c was what happened today, though i attempted a and b. what happened? flying, blood-sucking little f**kers everywhere. i'll just call them "fittle luckers" for now.nj and i stopped at yellow springs village for lunch. it's not a village, but a clearing on the trail that has no buildings. within two minutes of sitting down the fittle luckers started swarming and buzzing in my ears and landing on my legs and arms. the non-deet bug stuff had marginal results and the fittle luckers continues to buzz in my ears.gone was my dream of laying in the sun for an hour eating bagels and peanut butter. i told nj i'd had enough and packed up my stuff. i put pb on two bagels and put them in my backpack's side pockets. off i went, eating my bagels and feeling victimized by the whole experience. "what's going on?", i thought. ok, now, if i create all my experience, this one was coming from the unconscious, 'cause there's no way i'd consciously include those fittle luckers in my experience. not possible. i hate them."what else do i know?" well, i'm receiving the experience, but i'm also pushing it away at the same time. i know this because the present (nasty evil bugs) does not match my expectation of what it should be (lying in the sun, relaxing, eating)."what's my story?" i'm trying to relax here and these stupid bugs are preventing me from doing it.so, what does all this tell me? buy a long sleeve mountain hardware shirt and some deet. no, just kidding. it tells me i'm still into my performance thing and not into relaxation. i consciously wanted the relaxation but the presence of the bugs, and my reaction to them, tells me i'm unconsciously pushing that experience away. i am still hooked into my 'performance' thing even though i have unstructured some of my planning. tomorrow i will look at how i hike. am i still in "busting out miles" mode? am i not relaxed when i walk?right now i'm in the shelter, relaxing on my thermarest pad. there are no bugs to be seen even though we have a spring right in front.
Date: 2004-06-08
From: Rausch Mtn Shelter

To: 4 miles after 501 shelter 
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: clear sky

i had a nice lunch today. no bugs. i got to put my feet up and relax for about an hour. while eating today i discovered i made an error at my last resupply. i'm short one breakfast and one lunch. that's the first time i've done that, but i think it will all work out ok.i did a 17 today, arriving at the 501 shelter at 4:30. the 501 is more like a hostel since it is fully enclosed and has bunk beds. the shelter was very hot and smelled like hikers. the air outside was cooler and more refreshing. i left my pack outside and went to see what everyone was doing. some were ordering pizza and another wanted to hitch to town to watch his team play on tv. it looked like it was going to be a night in pseudo-suburbia. a night that would probably end late.i decided to eat dinner and push on for a few hours. this i have never done before. usually when i'm in, i'm in for the night. the trail was rocky but i had a ton of energy at my disposal. was it the tasty pot of ramen i just ate or the thrill and adventure of doing something new? i also had no idea where i was going to camp. there was nothing in the guidebook for this section. i was just trusting someone had carved a few campsites along the trail. i found three and decided to stop at the third one since it was 8PM.i got camp set up and made sure to get all my food and wrappers out of my backpack and hung them from my bear line. just yesterday, about a mile from here, lucky star was dragged ~30 feet in her bivy by a bear. the caretaker at the 501 gave me this info. she was not hurt and we don't know if she had food in her bivy or not. so, since i'm tenting, i'm not taking any chances with food. i do have my stinky clothes in here with me, drying on my line. (yes, my arapaho tent is awesome... i can run a clothesline in it.) i'm banking on the bears knowing funk from food.
Date: 2004-06-09
From: 4 miles after 501 shelter 

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: scattered clouds

i would gladly trade Pennsylvania's rocks, ticks, and poison ivy for some 5000 footers.rocks: i haven't even gotten to the hard rocks yet but i am truly amazed that ankles can move helter skelter all day and still love me in the morning.ticks: yeah, got 10 of 'em today. only one got his little jaws in me and i found him right under my waistband. good thing i checked all over. these didn't look like deer ticks so i didn't save them. something did bite me right over the sock line... i don't have a clue what. could have been a tick, spider, or other beast. my leg is red in a few spots. maybe i need flea and tick collars for my boots? deet is the other alternative and i lathered in that today. anyone who's had to sleep with deet on their skin knows that deet is not the magic bullet if there isn't shower nearby. plus, deet will eat all my clothes. june 21 may come early. poison ivy: wow, miles of it lining the trail. on sunday the trail maintainers were out cutting it back. we had to walk through a lot of it though. i can be thankful i don't react to the stuff. (so far so good)i knew today was going to be a hot one when the thermometer read 70 degrees at 5:30 this morning. the mercury climbed to 90 and the tree cover dwindled as i got closer to town. at every spring i splashed my face, wet my hair, and refilled my water bottle. at one of those springs is where i picked up all the ticks.i seem to be the only one to go for the hotel tonight. the ticks freaked me out and i wanted to wash all my clothes and get the deet off my body. port clinton is not a place with lots of facilities for hikers. the port clinton hotel has basically what i need, plus great, hiker-sized food.i have to admit, about mid-day i didn't feel like hiking anymore. like, i'm "through" hiking... no more... fini. i feel a little lost right now... err.. why am i doing this? ticks, pointy rocks pressing into my tender feet, five days of sweat and grime, chafing, hunger... none of this will make me quit, but it brings me back to ponder why i'm out here. which is where my head should be.the trail is self-correcting and self-healing. i cannot get into a funk for more than a day because i will always meet some non-hiker who thinks what i'm doing is the greatest thing on earth. i'll feel their excitement and see the wonder in their eyes. there before me is a reflection of me... it's the spark i'm not seeing in myself since i'm focusing on ticks or sharp rocks.on a totally different subject, we got the word today that the p.o. will be closed friday for ronald reagan's funeral. i'm not affected since i'm getting my drop tomorrow morning, but other thru's are probably going, "holy crap!"iodine, "just john", doug, and main sail are at the pavilion tonight. the duke of earl and nj are back at eagle's nest shelter.
Date: 2004-06-10
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Windsor Furnace Shelter
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: overcast clouds

i spent the morning at the p.o. my box of food had too much in it so i forwarded the leftovers to my next stop at lehigh gap. i also ran into nj there - he had just got into town and was getting his maildrop.from the p.o. we made our way to the hotel i stayed at last night. the hotel also offers hikers laundry and showers without staying the night. on our way there we stopped by the peanut shop, which is a candy store. nj got a few treats and i got a 1/4 pound of butter-toffee pecans to munch on. at the hotel, i checked out while nj inquired about his shower and laundry. near 11am the duke of earl got into town and the three of us went to the outfitter. i was looking for shoes and (denatured) alcohol. it was a small store and did not have a wide shoe selection, so i passed on that and got the alcohol. i don't think the duke or nj bought anything while we were there.on to our favorite past time, eating. the port clinton hotel serves up huge meals. i got a turkey club in a sun dried tomato wrap. there had to be a half-pound of bacon on that thing. and it was the good thick kind too. nj got the same as me and the duke ordered the hottest wings on he menu. time tick, tick, ticked away letting this baby digest. at the late hour of 2:30 i started up trail out of port clinton. it was a hot mercilless climb, my body still digesting the big-foot sized sandwich, sweat pouring out. the forecast called for rain and thankfully it started. down the temperature went, at least 10 degrees. then something glorious happened... the rain stopped. sweet! i finished most of my hike in the cool, moist air - my clothing just catching the drops that fell from the leaves above.at the shelter i met jim, chuck, and chuck's son, kevin - all section hikers. we talked about hiking the whites, mountaineering, and trips to nepal and new zealand. today must be a theme day... in town the duke of earl and i were talking about hiking the far east and going to monasteries there.time for advil and bed.
Date: 2004-06-11
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter

To: Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: broken clouds

i woke up at the usual time and heard it raining. good, i thought. i want to sleep longer anyway. another hour passed and i got my morning underway with a cherry & cheese danish. i packed my things and waited for the rain to stop. the three section hikers left wearing their raingear. i followed after he rain stopped at 8:45.early in the day i stopped at two vistas. these were the first in many many days. usually the ridges are tree covered. at the second vista i began a conversation with a couple who were visiting the area. they told me about the hawk center up he hill which they visited yesterday and also told me a little about their son who lives in ashville, nc. ashville has come up in many conversations with people on the trail. it is a town i should check out when i finish my thru.the rest of the day was rocky and i made the decision to go slow and avoid injuring myself or putting my arches in too much pain. i wanted to go to a campsite 5 miles past the allentown shelter, but decided to slow down, enjoy the rocks, and the slower pace.at allentown shelter i met burrito. she just started the trail as something to do while visiting the east. she is originally from washington state and hiked the PCT last year. we had a nice conversation over dinner talking about the different hiking trails, when suddenly we heard something in the woods. it was big and made a lot of noise when it moved. it came into view. "a bear", burrito said lightly. it was walking toward camp - directly toward us. it kept coming... closer and closer. burrito and i realized the same thing - it didn't know we were here. i didn't know what to do. it wasn't attacking us or being a threat - 'cuz then i would know what to do. we stayed silent with our pots full of lipton rice before us. at 20 feet, no kidding, the bear finally got a whiff of us and threw on the brakes. time seemed to slow down as we gazed at each other. it was an adult bear... and just beautiful. my inner senses told me i had nothing to fear, so i really soaked in the beauty of this (probably) once-in-a-lifetime experience. moments went by... the bear turned, made a snorting noise, and walked around our camp and down the hill. i raced for my camera and snapped a picture as he was moving away.at the shelter tonight: burrito, the duke of earl, and njPacker
Date: 2004-06-12
From: Shelter

To: Palmerton, PA
Miles today: 17.4

i walked with burrito most of the day.we talked about jobs, careers, different ways of living, and i shared the ideas i have for two books i might write.is it possible to live without money?are people living for their houses instead of for themselves?can we give up the idea of having a career?all this was fuel for great conversation and realizations.and, for the second day in a row, the PCT, nepal, india came up in conversation. burrito did the PCT last year and has also been to india and nepal. i think these will be in my future.tonight at the "jailhouse hostel" (it's an old police station): the duke of earl, nj, burrito, pets on wheels, bama, and nick.
Date: 2004-06-13
From: Palmerton, PA

To: Wind Gap, PA
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: broken clouds

as i traveled quickly over the rocks today, i found i wasn't enjoying myself. i was not enjoying hiking. i though maybe i was trying to go too fast, so i slowed my pace down. a few minutes later i still was not enjoying it. there were so many rocks i could not take my eyes of the space three feet in front of me. i could not pick my head up and look around for fear of tripping or slamming into a "toe-breaker". this has been my experience of PA and it was wearing on me. i could not walk and see the trees, animals, or sunshine through the leaves -- i was marching along with tunnel vision. what is the lesson of these rocks? is there one? are the rocks the problems we see in our lives or the many things we feel we need to do? we get so busy that we develop tunnel vision and forget that we are surrounded by beautiful things, people, and experiences? what to do?i stopped for a while and sat on a log, putting my aching feet out in front of me. the forest was right there, even though i didn't see it before. sometimes you gotta stop to smell the roses.