morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-06-03
From: Harpers Ferry: ATC

To: Gapland Road area
Miles today: 10.6

6/3The zero day was overdue. My feet enjoyed the break. Love and Peace drove us back to the ATC where we took some time to look through the pictures of those that arrived ahead of us. Met a lot of friends that I was sure were ahead of me. It was hard to break away from Harpers Ferry; chatting with friends, the cheeseburger and the ice cream were all eating up daylight. Fortunately there is a lot of daylight in June. Even with the late start we easily got in the 10+ miles to our intended campsite, just north of a park. The shelter in front of us has a questionable water source while we can easily hike back to the park in the morning. Finished another state early in today's hike. GA, NC, TN, VA, and WV are now behind me as I entered Maryland. 5:33 duration 1417 ascent 1043 descent
Date: 2013-06-04
From: Gapland Road area

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: clear sky

6/4Delusions of grandeur grasp the early part of the day. The profile map looked as easy as it could possibly be. Pennsylvania was 31 miles away. If I ever was gonna knock out a 30, today, with perfect weather, seemed to be the day. We cruised through the first ten miles. I was slowed a bit wanting to take in some history at the Reno Monument and the Washington Monument (the original one). The history under my feet has been thick in recent days. It's hard to imagine the horror that once occurred on these hallowed grounds. It is so tranquil now. Took a little nap at Pine Knob Shelter which meant some serious night-hiking if 31 was still in the cards. Fifteen miles and all is well. Now we have the easiest section of the day coming up. We should fly through this. Snap back to reality. This is where the guidebook fails us. It is real good at telling you what things are coming. It is real good at telling you the rough elevation charges coming up. It stinks at telling you what the tread of the trail is and that is often the key variable in determining speed. Once I got passed Pogo Memorial Campsite, what looked like 3/3.5mph cruising turned into sub 1mph of picking my way through a rock maze. My outside shot at a 30 turned into an am-I-gonna-make-it-before-dark 20. Delusions of grandeur indeed. I did find a decent tent site just before the turn to the shelter. I can hear all the noise that comes with a crowded shelter. It can't be more than 100 yards away. It is after 9:30 and the boisterousness continues unabated. I prefer the quiet of being by myself here. I really do like a bit of social time at the end of the day, but when it becomes a crowd, count me out. 12:31 duration 3389 ascent 3009 descent
Date: 2013-06-05
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Tumbling Run Shelters
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: clear sky

6/5Today was the last day in Maryland. It was a gorgeous day for hiking. I wish we could bottle this weather. I hear that rain is coming soon. On the way down from the last high ridge in Maryland, we saw a group of section hikers heading up. We were taking a break and chatting with them as they slowly hiked by. They were about to hit the worst of the rocks for this section. It slowed them down to a crawl. After about 10 minutes I yelled, "We can still see you". They laughed and I said, "You're suppose to say, 'Well, we can still smell you'".Just before leaving Maryland there is a park called Pen Mar. I knew of a pizza place that would deliver to the park and ordered pizzas, wings, and Diet Coke. What a treat to take an hour off on such a beautiful day and have a picnic. While having the picnic Techie saw a squirrel fall from a tree. It was hurt. It must have broken its back as it only had function of its front legs. The back legs were lifeless and were just dragged along. It was a sitting duck for any predator. There were calls from folks to put it put of its misery. I agreed. I found a suitable rock and prepared myself for the unpleasant task. As I approached the squirrel she "pathetically" and slowly crawled away from me. I moved in. She got to a tree and started to climb with just her front legs. It stopped and I looked it in the eye. I saw no misery. If it could talk I imagined it saying, "Dude, put down that rock. You're freaking me out. I'm doing just fine. It's a minor setback".I watched it climb that tree only to fall again. I noticed that it had what appeared to be normal weight. Either this injury just happened or it has found a way to eek out an existence. I placed a handful of nuts at the base of the tree and bid it farewell. I would love to read in a journal, a month from now, about someone seeing a paralyzed squirrel at Pen Mar. If any of my readers see such a reference, please let me know. Shortly after leaving Pen Mar I crossed the Mason-Dixon Line. I'm officially in the north and have finished my sixth state. Our final destination for the day was Tumbling Run Shelters. At first I misread it to be Tumbling Runs and had flashbacks of the norovirus in Erwin. We caught up with Fables on the way. She had just started her flip flop thruhike in Harpers Ferry just a few days ago. Her left foot was blistered up and now she had rolled her right ankle. She was toughing it out but reached her end about a mile from the shelter. I offered to carry her pack the rest of the way. Dang her pack was heavy. This 130-pounder had a 40# pack. I put her pack on my back and my smaller pack on my front, basically so I could see. I then realized that with those extra 40 pounds my feet were now feeling the same weight that they were in Georgia. It was an eye-opener. 11:33 duration 3028 ascent 3255 descent
Date: 2013-06-06
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Birch Run Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: moderate rain

6/6Tumbling Run Shelters is a great site. They even had separate shelters for snorers and non-snorers. They have a group tenting site which was perfect for the scout troop that was there. I was very impressed with the conduct of this troop. I wish I had gotten their location and number so I could give them props. We had light rain in the morning as it was forecast. We got to the halfway point for the day at a good time. There was an Italian restaurant .4 miles down the road and it was lunchtime. 0.4 miles is about right at the limit for a side trip when I have a 20-mile day planned. La Mattina's Italian Restaurant was well worth it, WELL worth it. My Stromboli was to die for. I don't know if its hiker hunger talking but that was amazing. For you thrus behind me, you gotta go to this place. Got an updated weather report while at the restaurant. The first tropical storm of the year is headed our way. And why not? The Class of 2013 just has to have a tropical storm to add to its resume. It might as well be the first. I'm sure a hurricane will follow at some point. I just hope we avoid a volcano. The TS will pass to our east but we are going to get dumped on here in PA tomorrow. Since we were in town already I voted to stay and wait it out. I was summarily voted down. Off we went, into the woods, in the rain, with much worse rain coming. This goes against my better judgement but I'm a team player, to a point. The 10ish miles to the shelter were fairly easy ones. It rained most of the time but stopped just as I got to the shelter. I was able to set up my tent with only the occasional tree-rain to deal with. Tree-rain is when the wind blows water off the leaves of the tree. It can be briefly heavy. The shelter is packed with section hikers, some out for just a few days. Some are going north and we caught up to them. One gal had been to Pen Mar four days ago. You guessed it. She remembered seeing this squirrel with only the use of its front legs. I was thrilled with this news. That means the injury was at least four-days old and probably much longer. That squirrel has indeed found a way to eek out a living. 11:08 duration 3205 ascent 2329 descent
Date: 2013-06-07
From: Birch Run Shelter

To: Ironmasters Mansion Hostel
Miles today: 9.5

6/7Slept in til 9 and even broke camp before it rained. The rain was much less than predicted. It seems the bulk stayed east of here. We should be in the clear by tomorrow morning. It was a short hike today very similar in scope to the trail I am used to near Clinton, IL. Today might have been the easiest day yet I've had on the trail. We planned a short day today for two reasons. One being the forecast for biblical rains, that didn't happen. The other being the Half-Gallon Challenge, that did happen. We passed the geographic halfway point on the trail. From now on the hiked miles will be larger than the need-to-hike miles. The monument for the midpoint is for the 2011 class. Our 2013 midpoint came a bit before this at a gravel road with nothing to honor it. I got into Pine Grove Furnace a bit after 1pm. It was kinda nice to be done so early and just get to kick back. The first duty was to tackle the famous Half-Gallon Challenge. For years this has been an AT tradition. Oddly enough the ice cream comes in 48oz containers now and not the true half gallon with 64oz. I am sure past thrus will claim foul. Oh well, I still got my spoon. I got to visit the AT Museum which was nice. The hostel we are staying at was built as a mansion. It was probably used during the Underground Railroad years to protect escaped slaves. Below is B-Rocket entering the secret passage. 3:50 duration 1568 ascent 2408 descent
Date: 2013-06-08
From: Ironmasters Mansion Hostel

To: Boiling Springs
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

6/8While leaving Pine Grove Furnace I got to meet Red Wolf at the AT Museum. It was nice to see him again and I appreciated the doughnut. The sign to the upper left reminded me of the Wizard of Oz. The hiking today was pretty easy in the beginning and got tougher near the end. There was a mini-Roller Coaster a few miles before Boiling Springs that got my attention. But all in all it was a pretty easy hiking day. As has been the pattern in recent days, there was a restaurant just a bit off the trail at about lunchtime. Being able to order a hoagie, chips, and Diet Coke for lunch just sets up the rest on the day. About 8 of the usual suspects showed up at Boiling Springs at the same time. We all stayed at the Allenberry it what appeared to be the "hiker wing". I guess they want to keep us away from the other guests, prob not a bad idea. Our shoes alone are enough to scare people away. Upon arriving at Boiling Springs I see Iceman. And wouldn't you know it, he had Diet Cokes on ice. We hiked on until the trail took a hard left, and he drove us the .4 non-AT miles to the hotel. The most difficult part of the day was trying to get pizza delivered to the hotel. Some businesses didn't deliver while one said their range only went to the post office, which was .7 miles away. Seriously? .7 miles was a deal-breaker? Did it ever occur to them to just say there would be a surcharge for the extra distance? What pizza business model would remove a large hotel complex for .7 miles? Oh well. We ended up ordering from the hotel itself. It was almost edible. 10:06 duration 2766 ascent 3173 descent
Date: 2013-06-09
From: Boiling Springs

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 21.2
Weather: overcast clouds

6/9Received some needed clothes from to replace items I have worn out. Got a couple bags of Jelly Bellies as a bonus. The Allenberry charges $5 for mail drops, no matter how small. The convenience was worth it for me, just be aware. We all had the breakfast buffet, which had been recommended by others. It was filling and priced about right at $6. It wasn't worth more.As we were talking about the plans for the day, Iceman shows up. He had a plan we could not refuse. He would slackpack no-pack us as far as we wanted to hike. There were multiple road crossings along the way where he would meet up with us. He had a cooler full of water and sodas so we didn't even have to carry water. To top it off, this had to be the easiest section of the trail so far. Here we were, walking through flat farmland, in perfect weather, without a care in the world. It got to be early afternoon and we were hungry? No problem. Iceman drives us to McDonalds. Something tells me the hiking gods will punish us for this....We started with four but picked up two more thrus along the way. They knew a good thing when they saw it. There was talk about doing a 26 all the way into Duncannon and staying at the Doyle. We called the Doyle and they said they don't take anyone after 8pm. Hmmm. This could be our album cover: The Slackers (l-r Medic, Iceman, Moxie, B-Rocket, and Techie) We got our packs at the last road crossing before the shelter we needed to stay at. This just happened to be the same point the trail turned back to normal. Oddly it felt good to struggle a bit. Made it to the shelter before dark and am tenting away from the shelter. Should be a short, rocky hike into Duncannon in the morning. Weather reports call for rain. At that last road crossing we met up with "Bernie the Whittler ". Bernie makes these quant whistles and likes handing them out to thruhikers. I actually needed a whistle and will proudly take this with me. Here is a pic of me and Bernie. No, I haven't taken up smoking. That is the whistle in my mouth. 10:11 duration 2526 ascent 1818 descent
Date: 2013-06-10
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: Duncannon: The Doyle
Miles today: 4.0

6/10Woke up to rain, rain, and more rain. After this long I should have my technique down for breaking camp in the rain, but I don't. At least I keep my critical items dry and that's the important part. AWOL's guide had the ridge going north of the shelter as "very rocky". In fact he had nearly the whole ridge line listed that way. I am not a fan of rocks and even I felt the ridge was pretty tame. It wasn't until the descent off the ridge did the rocks get nasty. In the rain those rocks were pretty slippery. I fell twice while advancing very slowly. I was expecting the 4 miles to take longer than it did given the rain, but it went pretty quickly. We planned a nero for the day based on weather and the desire to stay at The Doyle. It has rained and rained hard almost all day. As I type I'm watching it pour with a view of the mountains out our 4th-floor window. Techie has been showing me some rope tricks. He is so smooth at the description. Teller has nothing to fear from me but I think, with practice, I can made the trick work. We are hearing from SOBOs that the rocks won't get bad for at least a few days. I'm hoping they are correct. I do know that we won't have the road crossings like resent days. No more delis for lunch. Sigh. The highlight of the day was meeting Matthewski and the infamous room 23 at The Doyle. Matty is the poet laureate of White Blaze and a guy I have been looking forward to talking to. 1:45 duration614 ascent 1365 descent
Date: 2013-06-11
From: Duncannon: The Doyle

To: Random Campsite (1158.9)
Miles today: 16.4

6/11As per usual, slept in late while in town. Hit Goodies for breakfast, across the street from The Doyle. They are known for their breakfasts and ginormous pancakes. Here is a pic of Boon and Doc about to tackle theirs. I could only eat one of those pancakes. I thruhiker before me polished off FOUR. I bet I could give that guy a run for his money with pizza. I never could put away many pancakes. The day's hiking started off with an odd romp through town. It had to be over two miles of walking on sidewalks and crossing bridges. Just before crossing one bridge I spotted the Duncannon Lions Club Campground. I gave out a Lions Roar that Yuhas would be proud of. You guys still reading this? Once we got into the woods it quickly became rocky, and I mean horrifically rocky. The zero percent chance of rain once again failed. It rained just enough to get the trail wet. I started to wonder if I could do this without getting hurt. I know the rocks will soon become real bad but I really don't know how bad. I began to wonder if I would be able to walk through this state. Just the couple miles of bad rocks today just beat me up. After only five miles I felt like I had done 20. Friends have told me that the PA rocks are overblown. I can only hope. So far the rocks seem to be winning. After taking a break at the first shelter the rocks became less of a problem. Instead of advancing at less than 1mph I could pretty much walk normally. My strength and mood improved as the day went on. I was able to comfortably finish the planned miles. The cicadas are active in this area. In many places the sides of the trail were covered with them. I can hear the swarms around us but so far the trail has not taken us through their deafening centers. I know from experience in Illinois that they can be so loud you have to scream at someone relatively close to you. 8:55 duration 2497 ascent 1535 descent
Date: 2013-06-12
From: Random Campsite (1158.9)

To: Swatara Gap: Lickdale
Miles today: 19.0

6/12The cicadas were much louder today. For much of the day we were inundated with the sounds of a never-ending, B-movie, Martian Death Ray1. For those of you that have heard it, you know exactly what I mean. At the first road crossing we were on for a treat. Bob Fromme, Jr had the Clark's Creek Junction trail magic set up. We were give a chair and a menu, yes a menu. We would order a main course, snacks, dessert, and a drink. Bob would then serve us our selections. This quaint set up had a purpose. By not having hikers touch the serving tables there would be no cross-contamination between hikers. The rocks were not that much of a bother today. The hiking went pretty smoothly. The concerns were the bad weather forecast for this evening and especially tomorrow. B-Rocket's mother would be arriving from Maine tomorrow to support us. With that in mind I started to explore options to tie in with that. Out of the blue I get this message on White Blaze from a poster named Malto, saying he'd like to meet up when I get to Swatara Gap. Dang, that is the exact point I wanted to get to today and I was only three miles from there. This was perfect. I sold the gang on the idea of heading into Lickdale for a hotel for two nights. We would avoid the severe weather for the night and be able to slackpack the short distance to 501 during the bad weather tomorrow. I called Malto and he met us on the trail as we approached Swatara Gap. We all piled in Malto's car and we were off to Lickdale. Malto took us to a restaurant and offered to take us back to the trail in the morning. This was too good to be true. 10:14 duration 2093 ascent 2871 descent 1. Techie
Date: 2013-06-13
From: Swatara Gap: Lickdale

To: PA 501: Lickdale
Miles today: 11.4

6/13Malto picked us up at 7am and off we went to the trail head. It was obvious that we were going to get hit, and hit hard, by storms. By 7:45 it came, along with the telltale flash/boom of cloud-to-ground lightning. Fortunately the ridge we were climbing to was not exposed. The storms gave us no special risk other than making the trail slippery. The hiking was pretty easy today, except for the substantially overgrown trail. Thorny plants dominated many miles of the trail completely obliterating the trail in some areas. I used my trekking poles as Ginsu weedwackers. Shortly after passing the first shelter we hit another milestone. We became Three-Digit Midgets. We passed the 1000 miles to go mark and our destination was now measured in three digits. The pic above and to the left shows the landmark. I was the only one to see it. After getting to the 501 a bit after noon, we called a local shuttler and were back at the hotel by 2. The forecast and the radar made it look like we were going to get smoked. It didn't happen. The storms broke up and went around us. Having the afternoon off was worth it anyway. I took a long nap and watched the US Open, which had a weather delay from the storms that just missed us. The US Open is being played less than 100 miles from here. Malto asked us if we would like a tour of the Hersey company. We accepted and became tourists. Being surrounded by so much candy is a dangerous place to put a thruhiker. We controlled ourselves. After having another meal with Malto we bid farewell. I look forward to reading about his dreams of a single-year triple crown. This guy can do it. 5:31 duration 2073 ascent 991 descent
Date: 2013-06-14
From: PA 501: Lickdale

To: Port Clinton
Miles today: 24.1

6/14Happy Flag DayHit the lobby early and was ready for the 8:15 tee time. Even had time to take a few practice swings. Our foursome wasn't ready til almost 9:30 and we didn't tee off til almost 10am. With the 24 miles planned this was not good for me. I had some decisions to make. B-Rocket's mother (Jamey) was slackpacking us with a pit stop at mid day. With the late start I was concerned about having to do the steep descent into Port Clinton under headlamp. I had heard that descent is a tough one. In the beginning of the thru all folks talked about were the climbs. We don't seem to worry much about climbs anymore with more of a focus on descents. I'm not sure when that transition happened. I think most of us now would rather climb something steep than go down it. I couldn't imagine thinking like that in March. Back to the golf analogy since this is Friday on the US Open. On the first nasty rocky section I sliced my drive off to the right. I found myself in rock jail with no signs of the fairway (blazes). After about ten minutes of wondering aimlessly I was back on the fairway. I was probably never more than twenty feet from the trail since I was on a ridge, but that is enough to be temporarily lost. The rocks in general were not as bad as I feared and I made pretty good time getting to the road crossing that Iceman Jamey was at. Jamey is a pro at this support thing. We had sandwiches, fruit, cookies, and, of course, a Diet Coke. Now came decision time. Do I continue slacking and commit myself to that descent into Port Clinton, probably under headlamp, or do I go full pack? Full pack allows me to stop for the night anywhere I want but it will slow me down just a tad. Stopping before Port Clinton may create a gap with the group that I cannot close. I flipped a coin and continued slacking. Every time I ran into a nasty patch of rocks I was cursing the decision to slack. "It might take me til midnight if the rocks stay like this." They didn't. I got to the descent just before dark and it wasn't as bad as the hype. Don't get me wrong, it was a steep downhill. The knees were screaming "Uncle" after hiking 24 miles already. I was very happy to get to street level. 10:53 duration 1795 ascent 2818 descent
Date: 2013-06-15
From: Port Clinton

To: Reservoir Rd
Miles today: 5.4
Weather: broken clouds

6/15Today is one of those days I can't figure out. Yesterday we bust a hump, well for me anyway, and do 24 to get into Port Clinton. OK, I get it; some have a need to finish in mid August. Gotta make hay while the sun shines, all good. No one put a gun to my head. I went along. Today was prime for good miles too but we "just had to be at this Hiker Feed here at noon". That just blows a day up. We got in five miles with prime weather. Hey, I like food, always have. Free food is even better. The group putting on the feed did a wonderful job. The food was good, but that burger/chips/Whoopie Pie cost 3/4 of a days worth of miles.   I didn't mind the 5-mile day. I'm not in a hurry. I wouldn't have minded a zero. But now there is a call for 26 tomorrow apparently to make up for it. I'll do it if I can. If my body says "Uncle", I'm stopping. I love hiking with these guys, great friends, lots of fun to be around. I am just not as fast as them and I am cool with that. I actually think I might be the slowest thru this far north. I wear that self-anointed badge with honor. I'm here. I've just come too far to risk going home with an injury because I was trying to go too fast/far. I hope it's not the case but tomorrow may find me a solo hiker, a role I have always been very comfortable with in the past. 2:27 duration 820 ascent 1260 descent