morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-14
From: Denton Shelter

To: Ashby Gap
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: broken clouds

It is about time. Man what a rush it was to know that I was hiking to see my parents this morning. It really made the 15.3 miles go by fast today even though we were sloshing through some hip height wet grassy fields for a good part of it. Boy that field could have used some mowing. Aside from that today seemed to be the day for big snakes. We saw 2 black snacks that were both were around 4 or 5 feet long. They seemed to know their roll because they stayed on the trail until we took their picture and then they moved on. We got to Ashby Gap at 1:15, a little ahead of our expected 2:00 meeting time with Mom and Dad so we had to wait for a bit. Yeah for some reason we were hiking at bit fast today. When Mom and Dad picked us up we headed to a hotel in Manassas where we washed up and ate most of the snacks they Mom and Dad brought for the weekend. In the evening we went to Matt¢s house for diner before we traveled to Vienna to go to Cold Stone for dessert. That was kind of cool because it was the first time that my parents got to meet Matt who of course I lived with all last summer. Then I even got to see Connor, an OLGC youth group member at Cold Stone. After almost two months in the woods it was nice to see some familiar faces.
Date: 2004-05-15
From: Ashby Gap

To: Manassas, VA
Miles today: 0.0

There is no way that I could have my parents drive all the way done here from New York and then not take a 0 day. We haven't taken a 0 since Pearisburg so I guess that we deserved one as well. For the most part it was just a day to relax and spend time with Mom and Dad. We went to Uno's for lunch, then we tested the pool and hot tub at the hotel, and then we went to Walmart and Giant to resupply before we hit up the Olive Garden for diner. Back at the hotel room Dad set up his barber shop to give me a hair cut. Man nobody is going to believe that we are thru hikers now that we are clean shaven and have short hair. Oh well, we know that we started at Springer a long time ago. It was really great to spend time with my family again and I am sure that it will be hard to walk away again tomorrow.
Date: 2004-05-16
From: Manassas, VA

To: Sam Moore Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: broken clouds

Boy do I have great parents or what? I mean who else would drop their kid off and tell them to go walk in the thunder and the pouring rain? They must really love me! Actually they are great parents or else they wouldn¢t have given me such a great break. I loved being able to go to church with them this morning. After church we packed up and checked out of the hotel before heading to Boarders and the Golden Corral for an AYCE lunch before we hit the trail. Mom got me ¢The Book of Lost Tales 1¢ by J.R.R Tolken. I¢m not a big fan of reading but maybe this will give me something to do at night. Not 15 minutes after they dropped us off we started to hear thunder. After that of course came a downpour that lasted about half an hour before it slowed down. So I guess that they didn¢t drop us off in the rain but it was close enough. I am pretty excited to go to sleep tonight because Sam¢s mom made us some fleece sleeping bags which will save us a lot of weight and hopefully I won¢t be sweating all night like I was in my 20 degree bag.
Date: 2004-05-17
From: Sam Moore Shelter

To: Potomac River
Miles today: 23.8

Well the four state challenge wasn¢t for us today but the three state challenge was. That¢s right we hit three states in one day. We said goodbye to Virginia after 535 miles, said hello to West Virginia then said goodbye to it 17.5 miles later, and now we are spending our first night in Maryland. For those of you who are keeping track at home (because I am keeping track of it here) that¢s 5 states down and 9 to go. I addition to that we also passed the 1000 mile mark today. Man, that¢s hard to think about, walking 1000 miles in less then 2 months! As far as the trail goes I think that the rocks of Penn have stated to migrate south a bit, which I¢m not too thrilled about. But hey maybe this will get us use to them by the time will hit real rocks in Penn. We also finished up the roller coaster ride that we started yesterday. At least that is what people call it because it is a series of rolling elevation gains/losses of about 500-800¢ or so in a row so the elevation map looks like a roller coaster. I couldn¢t resist going tic, tic, tic, tic as we neared the top of each hill. We also got our first exposure to the cicada bug. We could actually hear the swarm about 5 miles before we caught up to them. Tonight we are camping just outside of Harpers Ferry on the C&O Canal trail. It should be interesting because we are near 2 roads, 2 railroad tracks and a fast flowing river. There is nothing like some nice wilderness noise to put me to sleep.
Date: 2004-05-18
From: Potomac River

To: Pine Knob Shelter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: scattered clouds

We got a much later start today then usual and it actually wasn¢t my fault. We walked back into Harpers Ferry this morning to check the PO and to go to the ATC headquarters to check in. I think that I am going to recommend to Wingfoot that puts topo lines on the maps that he has in the book because the PO was at the top of a long steep hill. But it was worth it because I got a letter for Tricia and it is always a nice thing to hear what is going on back home. Then we went to the ATC where we got our pictures taken and found out that we were numbers 86 and 87 to make it to this point! By the time we had finished everything and started to walk again it was about 10:00. We were able to make up some time because the trail was nice, flat, and smooth. With the exception of a few hills it was flatter than anything that we found in VA (which was suppose to be the flat state). We entertained the idea of going further today but I am glad that we didn¢t because a stormed rolled in just after we got to the shelter and it has been raining for about 2 hours now.
Date: 2004-05-19
From: Pine Knob Shelter

To: Rocky Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 32.5
Weather: light rain

Today was a pretty nasty day. Not only did we push our longest day yet, which now we find out that it might have had no purpose, but it also rained on us most of the morning and part of the afternoon. Ok, it didn¢t rain on us all morning, it stopped around 10:00 but then it started up again a little before 11:00. The big saving grace is the fact that with the weather getting warmer the rain is also warm. I basically don¢t even use my rain jacket while hiking any more. I just get wet and hike through it so it isn¢t that miserable. Boy am I glad we didn¢t tent last night because it poured all night long. Hiking wise we pushed 17.5 miles from breakfast until 1:00 with out stopping for a break. We did eat some snakes while we walked but it just didn¢t make since to stop and eat in the rain. In that first 17.5 miles we had the best footing of the trail and the last footing on the trail. We went from a smooth dirt road to a steep wet and rocky downhill section. We made it to the Pen-Mar park for lunch which was good because they had pavilions to eat under and we were able to fill up with some ¢free water¢. This is where Sam read that that they ¢Half Gallon Challenge¢ store doesn¢t open until Memorial Day! That is why we pushed it so far today so that we could get there at the end of the day tomorrow. As with all long days the afternoon just sort of dragged on. We did cross into Penn just after lunch. That¢s 6 states down and 8 to go.
Date: 2004-05-20
From: Rocky Mountain Shelter

To: Pine Grove Furnace
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Oh, I can¢t wait. I have to start with the big news first. We are now officially half way done! We actually stopped a bit before the midpoint marker so we won¢t get a picture of that until tomorrow but the midpoint for the class of 2004 is 1.2 miles south of the marker. So we just picked a spot in the middle of the woods that we said was the midpoint and we took pictures there. It worked out well because Sam¢s Aunt Cindy met us on the trail so she was able to take a picture of us and a guy named Rambler. I¢d say that making it to the midpoint was worth pushing it another day in the rain. I almost took a spill today but thanks to Skylar and Aleks I¢ve been able to learn a good Tigger impression because I when I slipped on a wet rock my pack ht the rock and I just bounced back up with out my butt ever hitting the ground. So technically it wasn¢t a real fall. Like I said we met Sam¢s aunt to take us to her house for the night. On the way we stopped at a store that sold half gallons of ice cream so that we could do a little ¢half gallon challenge¢ of our own. I can now proudly say that I am part of the half gallon club because on the drive I finished a half gallon of ¢Cookies and Cream¢ ice cream. It only took me an hour and three broken plastic spoons to finish it! I don¢t know how I still had room for diner and dessert after that but I did. After diner we were treated to ¢Shrek 2¢ by Sam¢s Uncle Doug who came up from Baltimore. Then it was time to go to sleep in a real bed. I may just like have more relatives around now that we are further north.
Date: 2004-05-21
From: Pine Grove Furnace

To: James Frye Shelter
Miles today: 7.2

Today was pretty much a nearo (near zero) day for us with doing just about 7 miles and not starting to hike until 6:00 in the evening. With the late start it was like having a nice day off. We started the day with an excellent pancake breakfast compliments of Aunt Cindy. Then we spent most of the day with Uncle Doug and Ann. First in the morning they took us to Walmart to re supply and then around 2:00 we left on the 2 hour drive back to the trail. On the way we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays for a big lunch before we hit the trail. Thanks again to Aunt Cindy, Uncle John, Uncle Doug, J.J., and Ann for all of their help and support.
Date: 2004-05-22
From: James Frye Shelter

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 26.5
Weather: light rain

¢If you build it, they will come.¢ Well ok, so we didn¢t go past any baseball fields but we did go through a lot of fields. About 15 miles of fields to be exact, but we¢ll start at the beginning. We got out early today because the plan was to meet Sam¢s Uncle John at Boiling Springs at 12:00, which was about 12 miles away. Things got off to a smooth start until a thunderstorm rolled through. We were beginning to think that the rumors about the rocks in Penn were false until we hit some nice and rocky sections. The thing is that it was flat and smooth on both sides of us but the trial went up and over all of these rock sections. We got to Boiling Springs just a little later then planed after a few wrong turns and after we started our afternoon hike with Sam¢s Uncle John. The afternoon hike was 15 miles of hiking through farms and fields. Until the climb up to the shelter we didn¢t gain or lose more then 50¢ at a time. This type of terrain made it possible to even bust into a slight jog. Of course it was only the sound of an ice cream truck that got us to run. Unfortunately we got to the road about 5 minutes after the ice cream man left. The down side was that with the rain that we have been having the flat sections were nice and muddy. But thanks to the poles I made it past the mud slides with out falling. And what was all of this slipping for you may ask. Well to get to one of the worst shelters that I have ever seen of course. This thing is incredibly small, short, and it¢s falling apart. On top of that there are bugs are just nasty, the water source is just a puddle all the way down the mountain, and the outhouse is just plain stank. Some how we are going to squeeze 7 people in to this 5-person shelter.
Date: 2004-05-23
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Peters Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: few clouds

Ok, now this is just getting silly! I have lived in VA for the past 2 summers so I know that May this far south is not suppose to be this hot. I talked to someone working at a convenience store in Duncannon and she said that it was 89 degrees at 11:00 in the morning! I¢m sure that the temps were well into the 90¢s today. Just plain silly if you ask me. It was a pretty good hike this morning before it got really hot. After saying goodbye to Sam¢s uncle it was a quick 4 miles down to the nearest water source which was much needed because we didn¢t want to hall down to the crappy water source last night. Then it was about 7 miles into town. This is where we started to see those nice Penn rocks we have been hearing about. They weren¢t too too bad but they were enough to be annoying. If anything they provided some nice views of Duncannon about 800¢ bellow. Once in town we hit the Italian restaurant for a large pizza and town refill on water in the bathroom. Next it was off to the convenience store for a pint of Ben and Jerry¢s before we started off again in to the heat. Of course outside of town we had a butt-kicking climb, which we hit at the hottest part of the day. Then we got to a ridgeline that we stayed on for the rest of the day. I think that that is going to be pretty typical for Penn, just jumping from one ridge to the next. We found a much better shelter at the end of the day then we had yesterday. This one has two levels and can sleep about 20 or so I would guess. It was still a long downhill hike to the water source but it was a nice piped spring so it was worth it to get some water and to wash up a bit. Now it is time to try to sweat my self to sleep.
Date: 2004-05-24
From: Peters Mountain Shelter

To: William Penn Shelter
Miles today: 30.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Third longest day yet, the difference is that this time wasn¢t motivated by food! We actually sort of had to do this much if we wanted to stay in a shelter. The first shelter was 17.5 miles from the Peters Mountain Shelter and the next shelter was 13.3 miles past that. I guess that there were a few places to camp but they were all close enough to just push it to here. As a whole the day was pretty quite. Besides the people at the shelter in the morning we didn¢t see any other hikers all day long, we even have the shelter to ourselves this evening. Except for a few climbs most of the day was walking along ridgelines. We hit 3 different ridges today. The bad part is that we had to go all the way down 1000¢ and then back up 1000¢ at least twice. The good part was that it wasn¢t as hot as it was yesterday. It was still toasty but there was a little breeze, which was very much welcomed. One new thing with the trail today was that we hit our first detour. And to no surprise it was due to road construction on I-81. That road is always under construction! You just have to love being in nature and getting affected by roadwork. At least we weren¢t waiting in a car. In the last 5 miles or so we actually got to some of those rock fields that everyone has been talking about. They were just long fields of big rocks all jutting out in different directions. What made it hard was that they all moved when you stepped on them. The good part is that we hit them late in the day so we didn¢t have to worry about sunning snakes. It adds a whole new level of risk to being the leader when you have to keep an eye out for rattle snakes all of the time. Oh yeah, good news, we are almost done! We officially have less then 1000 miles to go, 999.2 miles to be exact.
Date: 2004-05-25
From: William Penn Shelter

To: Eagles Nest Shelter
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: broken clouds

If you would like a mental image of what we were walking through today find a picture of the cover of the book ¢A Walk in the Woods¢ by Bill Bryson, take away the bear and there you go. We were walking through a large fern forest with a lot of green trees. It might have gotten boring looking at this all day but it was a good thing that my eyes were glued to the ground for most of it. We had one good sized rock field but for the most part it was just logs of little rocks on the trail all pointing in the wrong direction. How come no one ever told us that this state had rocks in it? The rocks that we hit over the last couple of days were actually enough to convince us not to push it today. It would have been tough but we could have gotten to Port Clinton today but we decided to hit the shelter about 8 miles out of town and then head in tomorrow. The rocks just sort of get to your feet after a while. I don¢t remember the last time that we did less then 20 miles on a non-town day but our feet are thanking us for it now. The only hard part is figuring out what to do at camp for so long. Maybe I can really get into that book that I have been carrying since Ashby Gap.
Date: 2004-05-26
From: Eagles Nest Shelter

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Another short day of hiking today, we were just trying to get into Port Clinton. Of course our day had to start out in the rain. A nice little thunderstorm decided to roll in just as we were getting up. For the most part the hike was uneventful. It was just wet, rocky, and foggy most of the morning. All of the fun started when we hit town where our plans were to stay at the Port Clinton Hotel and resupply at the outfitter in town. Well first when we walked past the outfitter on the way to the hotel we found that it just happened to be closed on Wednesdays and they don¢t open until 11:00 on Thursdays which is later then we planned on staying in town. So basically we had nowhere to get food of the next 3 days, off to a good start on to the hotel. Unfortunately we get to hotel we find that they didn¢t have any rooms open. So no place to get food and no place to get food man we were really striking out. But things did turn around. While we were trying to figure out what to do someone came out and told us that a room had just opened up and that it would be cleaned and ready in about 30 minutes. Then we found a store called the Peanut Shop, which was just like a big candy store that you would find in the mall. Luckily they had a bunch of different types of GORP so we decided to go for it. I ended up getting a pound of trail mix stuff, honey roasted peanuts, dried fruit stuff, and gummy fruit. Hopefully that will be enough to last a couple of days. So eventually we found everything we needed it just took a little bit of work. But the good thing was that the hotel had some really good food. I had large turkey and bacon wrap for lunch and a huge cheese stake sandwich and chicken wings for diner. Oh yeah by the way, we completed our 12th century today, just over 9 to go.
Date: 2004-05-27
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: few clouds

Boy am I glad I was in a hotel last night because we had some nasty storms last night. I guess that being in a tent wouldn¢t have been that bad, I just wouldn¢t want to put up or take down a tent in the rain. But by the time we got out there the weather was all clear; we just had to go through some we grass. Actually come to think of it the weather was great of hiking today. We even stayed dry for the most part; there were only a few sprinkles this evening after we got to the shelter. As far as the walk went, I am starting to believe the hype about rocks in northern Penn. We had a good 4.5 mile stretch to end the day that was pretty much all rock hopping, not to mention the other rock fields that we came across today. But we also had some good fortune today as well. We met a Ridge Runner on top of Pulpit Rock and he have us some apples. Of course fruit always hits the spot. Then after lunch we took a break at the Eckville Shelter that was next to a caretakers house and he had a fridge/freezer filled with snacks for donation. I really enjoyed the ice cream sandwich that I had and I took a bag of Fig Bars for later. Man it would be nice to have snacks like that at every shelter.
Date: 2004-05-28
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

To: Above Lehigh Gap
Miles today: 21.6

Man did today end up being a great day or what? Well actually it started out like nothing special. Those little sprinkles I mentioned last night ended up being some pretty big storms. We started in a slight drizzle, which cleared up after a couple of miles but it stayed foggy until late morning. Yeah, I would say that the rain made the rocks a little tricky to negotiate and we did have some rough rocks to tackle today. I even drew my first real blood of the trip. I went to jump on to a large flat rock that was a little more slippery then I thought it would be. So I ended up doing a baseball type slide across the rock. I don¢t mind the rocks that much but the wet rocks going downhill start to get to me after awhile. The day really started getting good in the late afternoon as we dropped into Lehigh Gap. First we see the huge rock mountain that we know is coming up shortly, then we met Rainbow Slick who was hiking up from the gap. He is a past thru-hiker who was looking for some thru-hikers to help out. He ended up driving us into town to a MacDonald¢s, he gave us the fires and drink from his meal, and then he drove us back to the gap. Let me tell you those two double cheeseburgers and the parfait sure did give me a boost for the last couple of miles. After he dropped us off we started what a couple of people have called the hardest climb in Penn. Maybe it was the extra food but I just had a blast climbing up the huge rock scramble. There was a nice wind to keep us cool, which really helped as well. On top of that the weather was perfect to provide great views of the gap bellow. We even found a rock with the U.S.A. flag painted on it so we took the photo op. The top of the mountain was one of the coolest things that I have seen on the trip. Rainbow Slick told us that on old zinc factory had killed all of the vegetation on top of the mountain, which just caused a bizarre feeling. It was sort of like walking on the moon. We ended up finding a spot to pitch the tent on the top of the ridge so now I am writing in my journal and watching the sun set behind the ridge that we
Date: 2004-05-29
From: Above Lehigh Gap

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

Today was a sort and fast day because we were both on a mission. Well I guess the mission started once we got out of our sleeping bags because that was darn hard this morning. It ended up being a rough night last night. The spot we were staying at was on an exposed ridge it was really really windy all night. Add the high winds to temps in the 40¢s and it was a loud an cold night. Even in the morning I just ran out and brought our food bags back to the tent for some breakfast in bed. Then it was time to face the cold and start our mission. For Sam it was to see his girlfriend and for me it was to see Steve and Amanda. So we got up, struggled to fold the tent in the wind, and then we started our fast walk to Wind Gap. Shortly after we started my goal changed from Wind Gap to just getting to next shelter so that could loose a few pounds. So we charged a good 12 miles to the shelter before our first break. I believe that that is the furthest that we have gone before our first break. After that both of our sights were set on Wind Gap, which we got to at around 2:00. At the gap we met a ridge runner who let us borrow his cell phone and he drove us to the MacDonald¢s in Wind Gap to wait for our rides to start our mini vacation with family and friends!
Date: 2004-05-30
From: Wind Gap

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

It has been awhile but it is time for another 0 day. A day off of my feet felt pretty good after walking for 14 days straight. I spent the day running around a relaxing with Steve and Amanda. The big news is that I actually replaced some of my gear. This is the first major change since we started. I replaced both my sandals and pole tips. I'm sure that the sandals a bit more left in them but one of the straps was starting to rip so I decided that since I was near an REI it was better to get a new pair then to have a strap rip in the middle of now where. Other then that we just relaxed and got ready to hike on Monday.