morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-05-11
From: Big Meadows Lodge

To: Tent site at mile 942.3
Miles today: 15.7

Hiking day 61 Ending Elevation 3432 feetI didn¢t sleep well on a full stomach¢¦Kerry had some trouble too, but we¢re not complaining¢¦it was good to have two good meals yesterday and this morning we had another before setting out for yet another walk in the woods, with occasional views through the haze. Later in the day, Kerry described the haze effect as comparable to the views we get in the Sierra Nevada when forest fires proliferate: very close in and dense white/grey out beyond. I wonder if it¢s just humidity, but I think there must be pollution mixed in judging by its slight pinkish color.More fine sunshine today to buoy us along. About 8 miles on, we came to the Skyland lodge with diner. Miraculously, still full from breakfast, we indulged ourselves with frozen drinks from Starbucks, followed by ice cream for me and blackberry cobbler with ice cream for Kerry. I also found a book for Helio (we felt bad that we had missed our grandson¢s birthday) about Grandma Gatewood¢s trek on the Appalachian Trail. I hope he likes it, at least it might explain what we¢re doing. The lady in the Gift Shop will mail it to him tomorrow.This is how we managed to use up a good chunk of our walking time, but Kerry said this is our 50th Wedding Anniversary walk and if we want to stop for ice cream we should! We enjoyed it too.From Skyland Lodge on through the next five or so miles North, the air was scented, with what to me smelled almost chemical, but Kerry thought it was just some shrub. Eventually, the smell dissipated, replaced by the wild azaleas that I love.We stopped high on a ridge about a mile beyond the last shelter we passed (Byrd¢s Nest #3 Hut) in an unofficial but gently used tent site so we are, thankfully alone tonight. It¢s supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon and we hope to make good progress in the morning. There is another Wayside in 10.7 miles and we will have to stop to see if we can get more dog food. If not, it¢ll be hot dogs for Felix.He is quite a character, with an uncanny ability to hone in on rabbits¢¦we¢ve seen quite a few but only because he points them out to us. On the subject of animals, I almost fell on my face today trying to follow a hawk as it flew gracefully through the trees. I also had to pull a tick off my leg, I¢m pretty sure I picked up whilst taking a potty break. Kerry on the other hand only had to remove 5 ticks from Felix during his ¢getting ready for bed¢ tick removal session. Felix does a pretty good job of removing some of them himself and the tick medicine seems to be helping too.Almost 8 o¢clock and still quite light¢¦another beautiful sunset coming up. Still, hiker midnight and we will have no trouble going to sleep!People we saw:Indiana City Dog
Date: 2023-05-13
From: Tent Site at mile 963.7

To: Front Royal, Stumble Inn, mile 972.1
Miles today: 8.4

Hiking day 63 Ending Elevation 1837 feetWe planned a short walk into Front Royal. David from the Stumble Inn explained that the name Front Royal came from passwords used posted sentries during the American Revolution. The sentries would say, ¢front¢ and the correct answer was, ¢Royal¢. I looked it up, there are other theories too, but I like this one.We hadn¢t planned to go to Front Royal, but with a forecast for heavy rain we decided it was a good alternative to walking in it. David picked us up at the trailhead and brought us to the Inn. We spent hours on laundry, showers and catching up on personal items¢¦a partial rest day. Tomorrow we head on to Bears Den, where we meet up with my CDTC friend, Don in two days.We got up at 5, to avoid the rain that didn¢t come until we arrived at the road to Front Royal. I began to think the rain wouldn¢t come at all, but it did as promised this afternoon and we were happy to have a rest day.I spend a lot of time on the trail just being in the moment and I think about a lot of things I¢d like to remember later, but I rarely do. Yesterday, I was looking at the understory and I was thinking about fairies (little) in their world where the understory is their forest and their world goes on in the diminutive. It makes me think of Christina Rossetti¢s Goblin Market:¢Down the glen tramp little men.One hauls a basket, One bears a plate, One lugs a golden dish Of many pounds weight. How fair the vine must grow Whose grapes are so luscious; How warm the wind must blow Through those fruit bushes.¢ ¢No,¢ said Lizzie, ¢No, no, no; Their offers should not charm us, Their evil gifts would harm us.¢ ¢Anyone who knows this poem will wonder why I would include a quote from it. I always loved it even though it was rather sad, and what can I say but it¢s a poem about two sisters and it reminds me of my mother and my aunt and all the stories they told me as a child. These are the things my mind wanders to when left to roam the woods for a while.The wild roses were abundant today and so fragrant!We¢re sitting in the hostel and I am drinking tea. Wedge, a single man is here, as well as Ripley and Red Beard whom we first met at Angels Rest. Just the five of us. It¢s very pleasant and unlike some of the chaos we¢ve encountered in other places.Time to put the fairies and the rest of us to bed. Tomorrow is another day!
Date: 2023-05-14
From: Front Royal, Stumble Inn, mile 972.1

To: Tent Site at mile 988.4
Miles today: 16.3

Hiking Day 64  Elevation 1841 feetWe got off to a later start, as we had to be shuttled back to the trailhead by Stumble. David had the day off and left to go to a baseball game (Nationals vs Mets). But the trail was very kind today with mostly good tread and gradient changes that were not too onerous. And we had two encounters with trail magic! The first near the beginning of our walk, when we ran into a trail runner named Laurie who told us that she and her husband, an AT hiker called Wye Not, had a cabin close to the trail and kept a cooler stocked with sodas and snacks. We had cold Cokes there. After lunch, we ran into an AT hiker named Trudge, together with her mother, Michelle and friend, Lyric who runs a hostel nearby. They were serving hot dogs and hamburgers and all kinds of goodies. So The three of us gratefully accepted a hot dog, a mandarin orange, and Kerry and I had another coke. A great day for trail magic!We ran into all kinds of interesting people including ¢co-ed¢ Scout Troop 1 out of Washington DC on their first overnight backpacking trip. Their Scoutmaster, Rob Schafer, let me take their photo to post on Facebook for the BSA retiree group. Later, we met a couple with a large German Shepherd out on a day hike for a picnic. Their names were Pamela and Panos and seemed very nice. We saw lots of couples and even some bird watchers from whom I would love to learn a thing or two!The trees were very tall here at these lower elevations and Kerry found a tulip flower that had fallen from a Tulip Poplar tree. It was perfect and he gave it to me for Mother¢s Day. It was a lovely gift! You cannot see these flowers from the ground; the trees are too tall and the light green petals are camouflaged in the trees¢ leaves. He took a photo of me holding my ¢gift¢ and then we returned it to the forest perhaps for someone else to find.I feel a little silly about my ramblings on fairies yesterday, but in these lovely woods it¢s very easy to imagine them all around us. The sunlight filters through the tree canopy and puddles on the ground in a magical way, transporting us to other realms. Maybe I¢ve been out here too long but I¢m enjoying myself. :-)On that note, I think I¢ll sign off!
Date: 2023-05-15
From: Tent Site at mile 988.4

To: Bears Den Trailhead
Miles today: 17.6

Hiking Day 65 Ending Elevation 1082 feet We awoke to gray skies and a beautiful rosy dawn. We planned to meet my friend Don at Bears Den Rocks so we were excited to see him and meet his family. The walking was much the same as it has been except when we got to the ¢roller coaster¢ about 8 miles in. The roller coaster is a series of climbs and descents between 4 and 5 hundred feet, about seven of them over the next 8 miles. It made for some intense walking.Along the way, we saw Rat God again. We first met him at Saw Mill Run Overlook in the rain. We met a father and son, section hiking to Harpers Ferry. The dad, Q, is a computer science teacher and the son¢s name was Joe, as in Joseph. We had a fun chat with them over lunch by a stream.We smelled lapsang souchong in the air today and the green lettuce smell (or maybe ¢salad¢ is a better descriptor?) that seems so ubiquitous.Our friend, Don has a very full house right now: his daughter, son in law and grandson are staying with them while their house is being built, But he picked us up at the trailhead and took us to the local brewery for beer, followed by ice cream at the Bluemont General Store. After that he took us home with him to join his family for dinner. Tomorrow, he will slack pack us to Harpers Ferry.I spent so much time enjoying a home cooked meal with Don and his family and now it¢s lateAnd time to sleep!We went over 1000 miles today.
Date: 2023-05-17
From: Towns Inn Hostel at Harpers Ferry

To: Turners Gap, US40A
Miles today: 17.4

Hiking Day 67 Ending Elevation 1068 feet We woke up early but didn¢t begin walking until 7:30 a.m. We were holding out for coffee at the local coffee shop, but it showed no signs of opening, probably because in a tourist town everyone sleeps late! In spite of our disappointment, we started our walk under sunny skies on a 4 mile walk along the Potomac River to our right with the old C&O canals and their complex lock system to our left. The ¢path¢ was wide enough for the two of us to walk side by side and for bicycle traffic to pass easily. This was an unexpected gift. We had anticipated climbing a mountain immediately, but instead, we had a pleasant leisurely morning walk. In fact, even the hike up South Mountain was not as steep as I thought it would be and most of the tread, a bit rocky in places, was good.It¢s interesting the different smells that catch ones attention. More of the forest lettuce/salad smells today but also a very strong smell like a sewer. I know it was just something growing in the area but it was disconcerting never-the-less. At Gathland State Park, Generic Hiker was trail magicking sodas and chips. Kerry and I both indulged in a coke and chips and gave Felix a long drink of water. There is a large monument to war correspondents here. Kerry took photos of the descriptive panels, but a prominent feature is a list of 157 journalists who saw and described in words or art the events of the tour years of the civil war.At this point we were only 7.4 miles out from our rendezvous with Jason, son of one of my high school friends, Linda. He would be at Turners Gap near Boonsboro to take us off the trail for a few days for a much needed rest.We walked uphill, I hesitate to say up-mountain because it just didn¢t seem that far, one more time and then it was very easy going all the way to Turners Gap. We saw a lot of civil war info-panels on the way¢¦.there is so much history here of which I am woefully ignorant having grown up mostly in England.We arrived at Turners Gap a little after 4 p.m. and Jason took us to his parents home in Oakland, Maryland. Sometime this morning we left West Virginia, which we had entered just before Harpers Ferry, and started our short walk through Maryland.Kerry and I were very tired and ready for a break. We plan to enjoy a few days rest and then continue on.
Date: 2023-05-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

2nd zero day of our 3 day break. We are almost half way to Maine and decided now would be a good time to rest up before continuing on. It¢s supposed to rain tomorrow so we won¢t move on until Sunday. I¢m a bit anxious about going onto Pennsylvania, which everyone not-so-affectionately calls Rocksylvania. We are told that the Northern end of the trail is more difficult. Whether or not that¢s the case, it will certainly be different!We are trying to better gauge our food situation because it is the heaviest thing we carry and it seems there are plenty of opportunities in the next few days to get more food. We¢ll probably end up carrying 4 days worth because that seems to be how the packages we buy work out. I just weighed Felix and he weighs 37.4 lbs. I think that¢s what he weighed when we started, though no doubt he has more muscle strength now. That¢s amazing because even though I¢ve almost tripled what I offer him to eat daily, sometimes he just doesn¢t eat it. This just confirms my belief that he knows what he needs and to trust him to eat what he needs.Kerry and I have still not figured out what we need but I feel like we¢re getting better at it. We¢re fortunate to be able to eat full meals when we go into towns every few days. That helps, but it eating out all the time gets a bit tiresome and adds up on the expense side.For now, we¢re trying to relax and stay off our feet. We even took a nap today. Jason took us to see Swallowtail Falls on the Youghiogheny River where he likes to kayak. It was a short walk to a lovely stretch of fast moving water.We spent the afternoon making some repairs and cleaning up the tent. There are no outfitters nearby¢¦at least ones that work with long distance hikers so we¢re having to make do with what we have. Hey Ho!
Date: 2023-05-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

3rd and final zero day I didn¢t sleep so well last night, probably some anxiety about resuming our journey.We took care of some final food shopping, repairs and cleaning the bottom of the tent. This afternoon, as predicted, it poured rain and we were quite happy to be on the inside looking out at it.My high school friend, Linda, with whom we are staying, had a recent serious illness that she is still recovering from and I¢m sorry we didn¢t have more time to visit, but I am happy for the time we¢ve had. Hopefully, we can reconnect again before too much more time goes by. Linda and her family played an important part in my graduation from high school. I had a very difficult family situation and they took me in for 6 weeks so I could finish high school and go on to college. Had it not been for their kindness my life might have taken a very different turn.Thinking about it, it seems appropriate that she would be responsible for giving us a chance to catch our breath before returning to the trail.The sun is supposed to shine tomorrow, in fact the weather is supposed to get warmer through the week. No doubt, I will soon be complaining about the heat!
Date: 2023-05-21
From: Turners Gap, US40A

To: Tent site near Ensign Cowall Shelter
Miles today: 13.7

Hiking Day 68 Ending Elevation 1371 feetWe said our rather wistful goodbyes to Linda with promises to reconnect sooner than later, then her husband, Mark drove us for 2 1/2 hours back to Turners Gap. Mark told Kerry to call him if we ran into any problems¢¦it was very kind of him to offer this. Felix was so excited he almost jumped into my arms when Kerry asked him if he wanted to go for a hike. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank people who have commented or made suggestions in my guestbook (or by email). It makes us feel like we have an extended family out there looking out or us!It was 10 a.m. before we set off and we had a lot to see today. The sun was shining through the tree canopy and puddling on the ground unpredictably. There was a nice cool breeze in the morning so it was an easy start to our hiking day.A couple of miles in we came to the first monument to George Washington erected by the people of Boonsboro in 1827. I didn¢t know it existed but obviously the locals do, there were quite a few people out for a Sunday walk, including Troop 466 out of Hanover, Maryland and Troop & Pack 457 sponsored by St. Patrick¢s Church out of Rockland, Maryland.Leading to the monument were snippets of Washington¢s biography and history of the time. It was very interesting. After visiting the monument, we stopped at Annapolis Rock(s) about 4 miles further on¢¦there were lovely views of the immense valley in front of it. From there we continued on mostly rocky but gentle hill terrain to this campsite. We didn¢t get far today, but we got to see quite a lot. Not a lot of campsites so we thought it best to stop when we found one. We are fairly close to a road here and I am hoping the infrequent traffic will die down with the end of the weekend so we can sleep.It¢s our daughter in law, Katie¢s birthday today and I¢m thinking of her and hoping she has a special day. It¢s so warm this evening, It feels like spring is in full swing (at least until the next rainstorm!}. I¢m debating whether to wear my long johns, but it will cool off in the night as it always does, so on they go!
Date: 2023-05-22
From: Tent site near Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Tumbling Run Shelters (tent site)
Miles today: 18.4

Hiking Day 69, Ending Elevation 1088 feetToday I realized I haven¢t seen any violets since Virginia¢¦before Harpers Ferry. We saw them daily since a few days or so after we started, a constant in the passing miles and now they¢re gone. I¢ve felt the spring following us north until now. While we took our 3 day break, it hurried past us and now it¢s somewhere ahead. I could be wrong and I know the weather can change but I¢m pretty confident that we are well into spring. The rhododendrons are gone too and the azaleas are fast losing their blooms. We¢ve been seeing Laurel bushes in bloom: they don¢t smell but they put on a show stopping spread of full white flowers.We¢re seeing different wildflowers¢¦.mostly phlox in many different shades from white to purple¢¦tall and lovely and each with a unique scent. And the understory in the forest is replete with young ferns.This morning the sun was a bright orange orb shining through the haze at the horizon and the light came through the trees like a Maxfield Parrish painting, making us feel like we were in another world. We get up early and when we walk through the magical forest, me in front, little strings of webs catch on my face¢¦.I imagine fairies, little people trying to tie me down like Gulliver, but I¢m too fast for them!About midday, we crossed the Mason Dixon line, taking us out of Maryland and into Pennsylvania, our seventh state! The ground has been turning rockier for some time but I really can¢t say it¢s more so now that we¢re in Pennsylvania¢¦.I think we haven¢t come to the infamous part yet! More to come on this subject. Speaking of rocks, we walked through about a mile of large rocks in the trail that had extensive graffiti on them. One said, ¢let it be!¢¢¦ I couldn¢t help but wonder if the writer of this epithet understood how ironic it was for him/her to deface the environment in this way. It made me angry.Good news! We haven¢t found any more ticks on Felix, so the medicine must be working. We continue to check him over nightly, just in case. He seems quite happy to be back on the trail, his whole being engaged in looking, smelling and discovering anything interesting to him (in other words, anything that moves!). I did however find one on me a bit later!The birds are singing a lot now, all day long. No doubt they will sing us all to sleep!PeopleAugie, with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, very knowledgeable and helpfulWe saw Wedge from Stumble Inn at Pen Mar ParkRobert who camped near us last night, showed up tonight and camped near us again.
Date: 2023-05-23
From: Tumbling Run Shelters (tent site)

To: Birch Run Shelter (tent site)
Miles today: 19.6

Hiking Day 70, Ending Elevation 1788 FeetWe climbed a mile straight up to Chimney Rock, which had been an option to camp at last night, and there were good sites there. Instead, we detoured there this morning for the view across the valley. Gone is the deep wide Shenandoah Valley¢¦we¢re back to mountains (now completely green) folded against each other as far as we can see, which isn¢t very far due to the humidity in the air creating a fairly thick haze. Or at least that¢s what I think. A great view nonetheless.The trail was comparatively level with intermittent ups and downs and intermittent rocks, but for the most part not difficult. And that is exactly how it has been described to me. One interesting incident, this morning we ran into an old guy, dressed in camo and carrying a shotgun, he said he was hunting wild turkeys. I was mildly concerned to be in the same general space, but we moved on and he didn¢t shoot us by accident or otherwise.We were disappointed that the barbecue place near Caledonia State Park was not open until the day after tomorrow and walked on. In the park, we met 3 men about our age section hiking. Their names were: RUOK, Opa and Rick, the Wingman. We had fun talking to them. RUOK was hiking and shuttling them and we ran into RUOK at the shelter tonight. Also at the shelter were Raven, who we met at the hostel in Daleville; Sandman, the Englishman we met at Stanimals in Glasgow and Dakota who started in Harpers Ferry and plans to flip back from Katahdin.The mountain Laurel is full of buds everywhere: Kerry says they look like fireworks ready to explode into light, and they do. Sometimes we come across a bush already ¢exploded¢¢¦they are amazing, but it¢s too bad they don¢t smell.Tomorrow, we¢re hoping to find one of these little stores open that we keep reading about, so we can get some ice cream. No beer apparently, in this part of Pennsylvania¢¦ we can live with that, I¢m sure they have other treats. Speaking of which, someone did leave some snacks at Swamp Road, that was very nice.According to the latest information I have, the Appalachian Trail is now 2,198 Miles long, so tomorrow at about mile 1099, we should reach the halfway point of our journey. I don¢t think it will be marked. At least we¢ll go over mile 1100!We¢re not sure where our next shower will be and that is why we will need to get more food tomorrow¢¦we can¢t have Felix going hungry!
Date: 2023-05-24
From: Birch Run Shelter (tent site)

To: Campsite at mile 1114.2
Miles today: 19.0

Hiking Day 71, Ending Elevation 915 Feettent site at Birch Run Shelter 1095.2 to campsite at 1114.2=19We awoke at 5 a.m. as we have been while on the trail for the last couple of weeks. It¢s the time when light starts becoming noticeable though still dark¢¦the gloaming. No sooner had we opened our eyes than a bird started a grand clatter. Kerry calls it, ¢the alarm bird.¢ Last night, after I had already gone to sleep, he did the same thing just before the light faded into night. Woke me up and it took me a good hour to return to sleep!Today, we walked ten easy miles to the Pine Grove Furnace General Store, and to our delight it was open, we understood it only opened on weekends but there must be enough hikers coming through now to make it worth their while. We certainly spent a lot on lunch, ice cream and assorted drinks. Sated, we walked another eight miles to the Green MountIn Grocery Store and spent some more, as planned!The eating, drinking (no beer!), and hanging out bracketed our day, but the hiking was fun and easy in between. The mountain laurels were a day closer to busting out and phlox were everywhere in places. A local lady told me the violets disappear when it gets warm¢¦that may be so but I don¢t even see their leaves anymore.We are here on a hillside out of Dickinson Township (i don¢t think 915 feet qualifies as a mountain), alone again the way we like it. It was 80 degrees today and uncomfortably humid. It¢s supposed to be cooler tomorrow, which would be good since we will be moving closer to the lowest part of the trail in the Cumberland Valley.I hope that dang bird stayed at the Birch Run Shelter, I plan to sleep tonight!