morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-06-01
From: Blackburn Center Hostel

To: Harpers Ferry WV
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: clear sky

Today marked a series of milestones. A day like this gives us an idea of what reaching Kahtadin will be like. I had a lot of different feelings during the day. Pride, relief, fear and happiness. The first accomplishment was crossing the 1,000 mile barrier. The second was moving into our 4th state: West Virginia (after hiking 529 miles in Virginia). The third was reaching Harpers Ferry, which many AT folks consider the psychlogical halfway point. Coyotebec was feeling a little better than yesterday. The diahrhea had gotten better, but her stomach was still cramping. We were walking with Moss and Tink. Moss told us a lot of stories about her work in Emergency relief, including Katrina and 9-11 in New York. In early afternoon, we came out above the Shenendoah river. While walking across the bridge, I began to think back to Springer, the Smokies and many other places we've been over the last few months. Walking across the bridge, I felt exhilaration looking at the water and Harpers Ferry approaching. After the bridge, we climbed into the town of Harpers Ferry and went to the Appalachian Trail Conference headquarters. One of the big things thru hikers do here is to get their picture taken to go inthe ATC scrapbook. This sounds small, but it's something all thru hikers think about in the first half of their hike. It's kind of like becoming a "real" thru hiker. We then went over to the Hilltop hotel. After checking in, a group of us went out to eat at the Secret Six Inn. This is a restaurant in a historical building that dates back to the Civil War.We left the restaurant in the rain, and headed up to the hotel for a good nights sleep.
Date: 2006-06-02
From: Harpers Ferry WV

To: Harpers Ferry WV
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: haze

Zero days are wonderful. Harpers ferry was no different. We worked on gear, ate lots of food, hung out with fellow hikers and rested. Moss, Yahtzee, Snapper, Coyotebec, Tink and I lingered over a great breakfast at the Hilltop House restaurant.Harpers Ferry is a unique and beautiful town. It is loaded with history ranging from early railroads to Civil war to a range of presidents that have visited here. There is beautiful rustic stonework everywhere. Harpers Ferry is a worthwhile visit if you are ever in the Washington DC area.I am going to keep this entry short as I am a couple of days behind. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-03
From: Harpers Ferry WV

To: Dahlgren Backpack Campground
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We left Harpers Ferry by retracing our route past the ATC headquarters and back down to the AT. The trail then headed along a ridge and through the older historical section of town. We saw old churches, beautiful rock walls, old buildings constructed of natural rock and the firehouse that John Brown and his raiders holed up in prior to the civil war. We then crossed the Potomac river out of West Virginia and into our 6th state: Maryland.The route was extremely easy all day long. The ups were gradual. There were a lot of civil war historical markers to look at as we walked. We stopped for lunch at Gathland state park. Someone had left some apple juice and bananas in the picnic area, which we treated as trail magic and quickly consumed. I was having some problems with the balls of my feet because I was now in new shoes for the first time in 1000 miles. I am hoping that this subsides with some more break in. We walked to the Rocky Run shelter, which we had planned to camp at. I set up the tarp and sat down to read at the shelter. Coyotebec was scheming, and soon she told us that if we pressed on for an extra 1.8 miles that restaurant food could be ours. We caved quickly. Within minutes the tarp was packed and we were rolling dowwn the trail.The Dahlgren camprground is a real scene. Tons of tents and people are everywhere. We met a guy named Bug Man that leads a 4H club focused on insects. He invited us to join them later for hot cocoa. After supper we lay down to journal and read. Bug Man had invited us for 9pm. By the time that rolled around, none of us felt like going. we sucked it up and went over there anyway. The Hot Chocolate was delicious, and it was fun to hear their stories. By the time we got back to our tent, it was getting late. More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-06-04
From: Dahlgren Backpack Campground

To: Devils Racecourse Shelter
Miles today: 19.2

We were up early today. Bug Man came down to say goodbye. We thanked him for the fire and hot chocolate last night. You really meet some interesting people out here.The hiking was unremarkable. For lunch we stopped at a shelter 14 miles into the walk. I gave Jerry a call on the cell phone asking him to send up another pair of shoes for Coyotebec as hers are wearing out. I am now on my second pair of shoes as well. We moved on to Devils Racecourse and arrived around 5. There was a trail maintainer there doing work on the shelter. His name was Brian. He asked if he could bring us into town and get pizza or something. We jumped at the chance. I went with Brian while Coyotebec stayed back with our gear. His car was .25 away from the shelter. We drove about 10 minutes into a very small town. I ordered 2 pizzas (one vegetarian for tink). When we got back, we all had a huge pizza feast at the shelter. Neffa, Old Goat, Tink, Brian, Coyotebec and I all ate till we were full - and still had some left for breakfast! After supper, we thanked Brian again and headed up the hill to set up our tarp. We were finally in bed early for the first time in a while and enjoyed reading and journaling with daylight still up. One thing I have forgotten to mention is that we are in Tick season. Up here, the ticks are tiny and they can carry Lymes disease. We've found a number of ticks on both of us. We now have some spray for our clothes and DEET for our legs.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-06-05
From: Devils Racecourse Shelter

To: Rocky Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: clear sky

This morning we headed out after a beautiful leftover pizza breakfast. We left Freebird in his tent. The night before, we were laughing about how small it was. Tink said that it must be like laying in a coffin. He deadpanned that a coffin actually had more room than his tent. Mid morining, an excitable japanese man came towards us heading south. He said "thru hikas?". We said yes. He said "I long distance section hika". He was going from southern Maine to Harpers Ferry. We called him "The Little Man From Tokyo".At lunch, we took a long break and soaked our feet in Antietam Creek. The cold water felt so good. Tink and Old Goat took a nap in the shelter. The afternoon left us about 8 miles which Coyotebec and I walked alone so we could visit and have some privacy. I don't think there's a problem that can't be solved with a long enough walk in the woods.We arrived at the shelter around 5. We were the only ones there. This is a shelter that actually has 2 shelters in the same area. We ate fortified noodles with a marinade sauce packet plus potatoes and pudding for dessert. We were ready for bed, and I quickly set our stuff up in the shelter. Right after I was done, the rain opened up. Tonight I finished To Kill a Mockingbird - the book I've been reading. Tomorrow, we are considering pulling 23 and getting to Pine Grove Furnace. This is around the true geographic halfway point. The store there has a "half gallon challenge" to go along with the halfway point of the trail. Basically the challenge is to down a half gallon of Ice Cream in one sitting. Hmmm... Will wait and see on that one tomorrow...More Tomorrow...
Date: 2006-06-06
From: Rocky Mountain Shelter

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 22.9
Weather: scattered clouds

As usual, the promise of town food was calling us this morning. We were out and walking by 6:30am. The morning went amazingly fast. Around 9:30 we arrived at a shelter to find Squirrel, Rat Puke and Twig still sleeping. These guys are party central of the trail. This kind of cuts into hiking time though. They ended up skipping the ENTIRE state of virginia (529 miles). Oh well. Hike Your Own Hike.We continued on, taking small breaks every 2 hours. We were flying. The trail was very easy and smooth. We had lunch after around 16 miles. We then ground out the last 7 miles and got to the store around 4:30. First off, the half gallon challenge is just a plain dumb thing to do. But, Tink, Old Goat and I all went for it. I chose the cookies n cream. Things went well until I was halfway through. Then it got rough. I persevered and finished it and got my souvenir spoon (it is one of those lame little flat wood spoons).Later, Lady Green, Wounded Knee, Squirel, Twig and Rat Puke showed up. Rat Puke couldn't finish, but Squirell finished his. Tink finished as well, but paid the price. Afterwards, we all went to the state park campground, set up and worked on some journaling. More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-06-07
From: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

To: Boiling Springs
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We were up early at the campground ready to head out at around 7:15. Lately, it seems that we have built our plans around food and eating. Today was no exception. We walked around 8 miles to a road crossing and headed down to a little diner. The food was awesome. We had hamburger steak while Tink had French Toast and eggs. The waitress was great and the place nice and clean. After filling up, we pretty much hiked straight through the rest of the day. Around 5:30 we arrived in Boiling Springs. This is where things got interesting. We walked up to the first B&B and asked for a room. The man literally looked us up and down and said "we're full - totally full". hmm... the place looked empty. Our feeling was that they didn't like hikers. On to the next B&B. The owner told us: "We're full, but you can camp in the back yard for $1". That sounded great, so we went around back and set up the tarp. We headed out to eat afterwards and met up with Wounded Knee and Lady Green. They actually are staying in the B&B where we are camped out in the backyard. We all sat out in the yard talking till past dark. Good times...More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-06-08
From: Boiling Springs

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: broken clouds

Today began our payoff for a week of hard hiking since Harpers Ferry. We had planned a shorter day today followed by a near-o into and out of Duncannon instead of taking a zero this week. This will allow hindsfeet to catch up a little (she's been hiking with her boyfriend) and let us try out not taking a zero. We started off by going to JC's - a local coffee house and restaurant in Boiling Springs. The owner was awesome at handling multiple orders. Old Goat said "he was moving faster than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest". Unfortunately - he didn't notice that the guy had a prostetic leg. Ha. Well. We'll leave it at that.We mailed home some shoes that were not working out for Coyotebec. She is still having some foot problems. We had most of the problem under control with her using some Keen Hiking Sandals. Unfortunately, the seemed to get soft in the soles after about 350 miles. So we tried some Montrail Hard Rock shoes, butthey hurt her feet. So - our plan is to just get 3 more pairs of the Keen's and see if she can get through the end of the trail with them.We ran into some nice trail magic today put out by the mom of some 05 thru hikers. While enjoying it, she came to refill everything. We had fun talking to her. People like this that go out of their way to help encourage thru hikers add a lot to the trail experience.We continued our eating tour by getting off the trail at US 11 and walking to the Middlesex Diner. Their slogan is "Good food and lots of it". Very true. We have gotten so much town food lately, it's not as fun as it used to be. We know that lean times are coming though, so we're enjoying it while we can.After lunch we hiked to Darlington shelter and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon. Lady Green, Wounded Knee, Dancing Bear, Spook, conductore, Tink and Twiglet are here with us.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-06-09
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon PA
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was our near-o into Duncannon. Duncannon is a wonderful old feeling town. The main street is lined with boxy 2 story houses and businesses that give that northeastern feeling. We walked over to the Doyle hotel. This is an AT fixture that's been popular with thru hikers for years. The Doyle is a very old wood building. The bottom floor is an old style bar. Above the bar is a staircase that climbs 3 more floors up with hotel rooms. These rooms are not your modern day marvels. No AC, TV or phones are in any of the rooms. Our room didn't even have a power outlet to charge up our phone. What the rooms do have is charm. We had a corner room with some curved windows. It was in rough shape, but it was wonderful to us.Later in the day we took care of groceries, repacking and even went to the ice cream stand for a treat. A cool business title I saw was a haircutting shop called "Hairway to Heaven". Supper was an Italian feed at Sorrento's with Old Goat, Just Gene, Tink, Conductor and Coyotebec.Back to the Doyle for sleep and More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-10
From: Duncannon PA

To: Duncannon PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Our original plan was to walk out to the shelter that is 11 miles north of Duncannon. Hindsfeet and her boyfriend Andrew showed up in town around noon. We decided to go ahead and Zero for the day rather than try to head out right away. This would give us some time to meet Andrew and for Hinds to get food, repack and leave with us in the morning.We very much enjoyed our day. We spent most of it with our feet up. Lately, our biggest problems have been from sore feet. The continuous pounding of 20 mile days seems to be taking its toll. So a day of rest really can help a lot.We enjoyed meeting Andrew very much. This has been a great zero.More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-12
From: Clarks Creek

To: Swatara Creek
Miles today: 18.2

Coyotebec and I left early today. Tink and Hinds were finishing up. We were at our Tensies break when they caught up. When we reached Swatara creek, we were not sure exactly where we were. Tink and Hinds hiked on and confirmed we were there. We decided to stay, even though it was early (3:30). An hour later, Hinds mysteriously disappeared again only to reappear with 2 friends from the camp she used to work at. This is where the fun began. While Sara and Hinds had fun catching up, Tink was sitting ga-ga (deer in the headlights) over Lauren. He managed to pull himself together enough to have a conversation with her. I think he's in love. Oh well - 1,000 miles to think about it. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-13
From: Swatara Creek

To: Hertlein Campsite
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was what the AT experience is all about. We began our day hitting the trail at 6:45. Tink defied all expectations and was ready 15 minutes early. We had walked about a mile when we figured out we were not where we thought we were last night. This meant a mile longer day today. We worked up a 1,000 foot climb onto the top of the ridge. Today we got our first little taste of why they call this state "Rocksylvania". There are stretches of small sharp rocks that are embedded in the trail as well as rolling loose. These rocks are from baseball size up to volleyball size. The other type of rocks we are walking on are fields of volleyball to bed pillow size rocks. These rocks require focus and care because some of them rock and move when you put weight on them. To add to the fun, this is the state that we hear the most about rattlesnake sightings.We worked through several rock sections on the way to the first shelter for our tensies break. I was tired and my back muscles were sore when we got there. Not sure if its the way my pack was loaded or what, but I was ready to take a break. We then had 4 miles left to reach the 501 shelter, where we had heard you can have pizza delivered. By the time we reached the 501, we were so ready for pizza. You can imagine our faces when the phone message told us they were on vacation for the week. As resourceful (and desperately hungry) thru hikers we hatched a plan to hitch in to Pine Grove to get our own pizza. As you can imagine, I wasn't too excited about hitching when we still had over 6 miles to hike. I didn't let my feelings show to the others and soon we were on the road hitching. After 20 minutes, a guy in a pickup that had seen us came back and picked us up. We were on our way! In Pine Grove, we went to Do's Pizza. The place was really small and run by a Vietnamese guy. Soon we were eating some of the best pizza we've had on the trail.Of course the biggest problem is always hitching back. We were relaxed about it though. We walked to a gas station and bought some extra food for the trail. Before I knew it, Tink had already gotten us a ride! It really is true that the looser you hold things, the better they can work out.When we got back to the trail, we gave our extra pizza to Dancing Bear - a section hiker we've been with for a few days. We hammered out the last 6 miles and got to camp. There was a small lake nearby and Coyotebec and Hindsfeet went swimming to clean up. Quick supper and night fell. A day well lived. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-14
From: Hertlein Campsite

To: Port Clinton PA
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We started the day hiking with Dancing Bear. He is fun to hike with, but since he's a section hiker he is still getting his legs under him. He needed to go slower, so we parted, agreeing that we would meet to eat together at the Port Clinton Hotel restaurant.The hike was fairly routine, and we took a 1.5 hour lunch. Dancing Bear was just catching up as we were leaving and he hiked with us again. We got a big rainstorm late in the day as we were descending towards Port Clinton. Port Clinton is just the kind of town you think of when you think of the "tough Pennsylvania town". The plain northeastern buildings placed close to the roads. There's a fast moving highway a few feet off the front porch of the hotel. We checked in, took showers and went down to meet Dancing Bear and Spook for supper. This place gives you big portions of plain tasting food. By the time we were finished, I was so tired it was straight to bed.More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-15
From: Port Clinton PA

To: Allentown Shelter
Miles today: 22.6

I woke up all night long last night. We were staying in the Port Clinton Motel and there were a couple of problems. First of all, someone left a radio on downstairs in the kitchen, so I got to hear country music all night. Secondly, there's no A/C and it was pretty hot in the room. To finish it off, the hotel is on a busy highway and since the windows were open, it was 18 wheelers all night long. Enough complaining though... We had a pretty good stay in Port Clinton overall. This morning we made the long walk to the 3C's restaurant for breakfast. Good food and fun people made this a great stop. Lots of people are interested in talking to us these days. We are so far from our starting point, that I guess our story is sounding more impressive. This morning it was a group of motorcyclists at the restaurant and another guy at the post office. By the time we got out of town, it was after 9am. Not good for a 22 mile day. A couple of miles before our planned lunch, we ran into a group from Springhill Special School. This is a school for handicapped kids. We met Nick and Ben - two really special Downs kids. They had fun finding out about our trip while we walked with them. They also enjoyed using our Leki poles for some of their hike. We decided to eat lunch with them. These kids were truly a blessing to us and we enjoyed the time we spent with them.I think we are starting to see some of the benefits of 3 months on the trail. Even though we started late, we were able to complete our mileage by 8pm without much of a problem. And this is with more rocks than we've seen and more hills than we've had in a week or two. We were pretty proud of ourselves pulling into the shelter still feeling good.We cooked a quick meal and made some popcorn a section hiker gave us. We also ate a piece of pie that we had packed out from the 3C's restaurant this morning.Great dinner - time for bed.More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-16
From: Allentown Shelter

To: Palmerton PA
Miles today: 17.7

Well - tonight we are going to spend the night in jail. Don't worry! We're not out of control and in trouble. The town of Palmerton allows the use of the basement of their old jailhouse for a hostel. Before getting to the hostel, we had to cover 17 miles of trail that is getting increasingly rocky. Rocksylvania is living up to its name. I think the long day yesterday added to the tired feeling we all had. We made it through to Lehigh gap around 5pm. As we were walking across the bridge over the Lehigh river, wondering how we would hitch the 2 miles into town, a guy rolled up beside us and before you knew it - we had a ride. His name was Kevin, and he is a trail angel in the area. Before we were done, we would find out what a great trail angel this guy is. Kevin brought us to town and dropped us at the jailhouse hostel. He also recommended a great restaurant and offered to bring us back to the trail in the morning. We gratefully accepted. Wow! Getting a ride into town is great, but not having to worry about getting one back out is even better! After supper, we bought groceries at the nearby IGA. They gave us a free apple since we were thru hikers. Our shopping trip included ice cream for dessert of course. After all the food, it was straight to bed for me. More tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec
Date: 2006-06-17
From: Palmerton PA

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: overcast clouds

We met Kevin (our trail angel) at 6am. We loaded packs in his trunk and went to the breakfast spot. Kevin is an avid hiker and canoeist. He and his wife have done many trips on the AT. He told us some stories about Maine. We can't wait to get there!After breakfast Kevin dropped us at the gap and we headed up the hill. The first part of the hike was a cross between backpacking and climbing. It was pretty exciting climbing the boulder strewn hillside. The mountain had been completely stripped of all vegetation and trees as a result of air pollution from a neighboring zinc mine. In the processing of zinc ore from native rock, zinc laden dust was released into the atmosphere and carried up the mountainside by wind, coating all trees and vegetation within 4 miles with poisonous zinc dust. The result is a treeless plantless section of mountain aptly named "superfund mountain." The rest of the hike was pretty routine. I feel like we're getting used to all the rocks. They did take their toll however and we were extremely glad to arrive at Wind Gap. We had a dilemma in that Conductor had offered to share his hotel room; the problem was that it was a 2 mile hitch. Also, since we begin a zero tomorrow night, I didnt want t! o do too many hotel nights (afraid of getting soft!). So we walked .2 to a little motel and asked to camp in the yard. The owner agreed, and we headed down to cook a well-deserved meal. Our mood seems a little down tonight. Hindsfeet is hurting (feet & knees) and Tink has blisters and is hurting as well. Coyotebec and I are sore, but doing pretty well. Tomorrow we face the severest of the rocks. Good news is that it's only 16 miles and we have a zero. Then on to New Jersey!more tomorrow...Gumby & Coyotebec