morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2022-08-23
From: Norwich, VT

To: Podunk Road
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: broken clouds

¢The best feeling is walking into a resupply and the worst is walking out¢ Nick, Lightyear2022 thru hiker6:30 on the dotI roll over and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. the super eight has beds, showers, and food, anything that a hiker could want. I take my time to wake up , grab breakfast, and jump in the rental car. We drive to the McDonald¢s to wait on the bus as dad returns the rental car. 7:16 Lawn of beverage kingThe bus pulls up and we jump on. About thirty minutes later we get dropped of close to Dan and whits and start a 1.2 mile road walk uphill. I¢m close to the back as I slip into the woods, mom and Baxter are talking with someone that looks vaguely familiar but we wouldn¢t have seen him before on the flip. After a while we figure out that it¢s a hiker that we dropped of to Amicalola falls back in march! We meet squid bait again after two months. Last we saw her was on Saddleback Mt. back in Maine. We stop for lunch at Happy Hill Shelter as it starts to rain and two more hikers come in. A few miles after the shelter we see our first eastern newt! They¢re so cute! We find a stealth spot after a gravel road and eat Ramen for dinner.
Date: 2022-08-25
From: Stream Before Bernard Brook

To: Stoney Brook
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

I soaked my feet in Stoney Brook tonight after dinner and camp chores. They were remarkably dirty for having been in shoes for the past several days. Vermont¢s deciduous trees drop their leaves into the trail where innumerably many hikers passing by quickly work them into a soft, dusty duff. That dust works it¢s way into shoe and sock and, given a day a two left alone, binds fast to the toes and heel. New Hampshire and Maine don¢t give these problems (what with all the ROCKS EVERYWHERE). Joni and I had a ¢numbers¢ talk in the tent last night and decided to have a family conclave around the fire ring tonight (sans fire) to discuss our findings. Today is day 87 since May 31. There are also 87 hiking days until Thanksgiving (we left out tomorrow and Saturday for easier calculations). We have spent half of our time already. Unfortunately, we are still a ways off from the mileage halfway point. We have, so far, walked 843 miles in our 87 days. That¢s an average pace of 9.7 miles per day. To cover the 1350 miles on the southern leg of our journey we¢ll need to average 15.5 miles per day.That seems a little daunting to us. So we made a plan.1. Cut Weight. I found 2 pounds of ¢extra¢ gear in my pack that I displayed for the boys. We¢ve all got to examine our kit and try to decide what can go. Light Packs equal More Miles. 2. Seventeen. That¢s how many miles we need to average per day if there are to be zeros or neros. (It should actually be more like 18). 3. 12 before 12. This hiker philosophy, which I first heard about from my mom, is about getting 12 miles in before noon. The boys seem to have bought in. Early wake up and no stops are the key. Walking at 6:00 leaves plenty of time to hit the goal. 4. Neros not Zeros. Keep the streak going! Can we do 9 days before a Zero? 15? 24? Let¢s try! The body does need a zero occasionally to get stronger and repair but a zero on the trail is one more December day that we¢ll be in the woods. We¢d like to keep moving and try the occasional 5 miles day instead of a 0 mile day. The boys seemed excited about all this. They bought in. Joni is relieved that we have a plan. Baxter and Joni will love that we¢re ALL getting up early. Grayson suggested trying five 20-mile days right out of the gates at High Point. Maybe we will!We¢re going to make some gear changes to cut more weight. We¢re going to trade Grayson¢s sleeping bag for a quilt. This will save him almost a pound of pack weight. We¢re also going to trade the Copper Spur tent for a 2-person trekking pole tent like the Triplex. That will save 2.5 pounds. We may take on equal amounts of weight in winter gear soon (sleeves, pants, fleece, hat, gloves) but at least we¢ll be adding it to packs we¢ve made lighter!Today was pleasant but unremarkable. The 15 miles we did rolled off easily. We¢re camped next to Stoney Brook with a hill or two between us and Killington VT. We¢d like to take showers at the state park tomorrow so we¢re not too smelly for the shuttle ride to NJ on Saturday. We¢re loving this Vermont trail!
Date: 2022-08-29
From: Woods at SOBO Mile 875.2

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 22.1
Weather: clear sky

We met the sunrise on our feet bombing down a fast trail, wide and soft to quieter our footsteps. Baxter and I were in front with eyes peeled for bear, deer, turkey, and the like. We did manage to spy 2 groups of deer as they bounded away from our approach. Crater Lake was our first stop, about 3 miles in, for water. It was six-tenths of a mile off trail. That distance is usually an easy one to ¢pass¢ on for a Thru hiker but the water was the last for ten more miles. We filled all our bottles and continued southbound. Mohican Outdoor Center was our lunch goal. They have a deli and a gear store that we planned on stopping at. MOC was to be our first night¢s stop on our hike before ¢aggressive¢ bear reports prompted us to change our start point to a more northerly locale. Granddaddy & Gigi had sent money for lunch so a stop at MIC was a sure bet. We got in our 12 miles before 12:00 and enjoyed sandwiches and drinks in the air conditioned great room at the center. We drank our fill and topped off our water bottles. The afternoon was very hot and humid. We were walking a long ridge (and will continue to die the next 100 miles). The crest alternated between sun and shade and left us all hot and sweaty. We were walking south with the Delaware River on our right flowing south with us, searching for a way through the ridge we were in to continue its run to the ocean. The Water Gap is where the river finds its way through. The ridge, unbroken for more than 90 miles to the north, drops here into the gap to allow the river to pass. Man has co-opted this pass for his rail line and interstate right-of-way. It was the interstate bridge that was to be our river crossing. The road walk to the bridge and across it proved hotter than the ridge had been. Interstate traffic beside us (separated by a concrete wall) and river boaters below us kept our attention for the two miles on pavement. We left New Jersey on the bridge and stepped into Pennsylvania. State number 8!Our first stop in PA was Zoe¢s Ice Cream Emporium. Then on to Marty¢s yard, a local that allows free tenting in his yard. We dropped packs and the boys and I went to explore the Village Bakery. Baxter developed a bad heat rash that his pack cages today. Marty graciously let him shower to cool the rash off. Figuring out the solution will be a necessity these next few days - the heat shows no signs of abating. Baxter can¢t carry his pack if the chafing continues. We all have our minor aches: swollen toe, small blisters, sore muscles. Two 20 mile days have taken their toll. We¢ll hopefully be able to adapt and keep cranking out some miles! We¢re all in tents in the grass in Marty¢s backyard. The grass is comfortable. The cricket chorus has begun.
Date: 2022-08-30
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: few clouds

The night was hot and humid. We woke to the sounds of the ¢heat insects¢ singing their morning songs. We ate bagels and cream cheese on Marty¢s front step while the twilight broke around us. Then we set out to climb out of the water gap. We hit the 900 mile mark just after gaining the ridge again. Our ¢hundred mile¢ checkpoints have all been in odd places because we started at an odd mileage post (1349). We realized, after we flipped back to NJ, that mileages we¢re so much easier now - our mileage from Katahdin and mileage to Springer are both in all our guidebooks and apps. We did not anticipate the hundred-mile checkpoints also lining up. Joni and Jasper walked up on a pre-made ¢900¢ on the r side of the trail - 900 miles from Katahdin. We¢ve made the other 8 markers for the 800 miles behind us. As we stood at the 900 mile marker we met some SOBOs coming up the hill behind us. Apparently we¢ve stepped into the middle of a little southbound ¢bubble¢ of hikers. They told us that there were about a dozen hikers at the church hostel last night. It¢s fun to know we may be meeting some new folks. Both Baxter and Grayson began chasing again today. Baxter¢s back is bad and Grayson¢s is threatening the same. I took everything out of Baxter¢s pack and moved it into mine. We pit snacks and water into a daypack and he slung it over his shoulder. I rolled his pack up and stowed it atop my own pack. We walked that way for 15 miles today to give his back time to heal. I took some weight out of Grayson¢s pack, too and divided it between Joni and Jasper to help minimize his chafing. We¢ll see if that works. It¢s not a permanent solution but it will get us to Wind Gap where we can look into different shirts or some other remedy. Hopefully the heat will back off a bit. We walked through lunch to get in 15 miles by 2:30. Cindy met us at the trailhead at 3:00 and we all loaded up into her F150. Cindy is a school nurse at the local high school so she got to hear about all our maladies on the ride to her house. When we got there she took a look. Baxter and Grayson¢s chafing looked minor to her. She made some suggestions and then went on to Jasper¢s toe.¢A doctor needs to look at this,¢ she said right away. I¢m surprised he can walk on it. It has been bothering Jasper just a bit but has not been painful. Jasper and I loaded up in Cindy¢s truck (she offered it to us for the whole evening). We drove to the urgent care where they prescribed antibiotics and told us to keep a close eye on it. We drove to the grocery store to resupply, got a haircut, and filled the prescription. When we got back to Cindy¢s place we enjoyed taco salads and ice cream for dinner. Cindy, Mike, and Quay had gone to a gender reveal party all evening so the house was all ours. Baxter had been reading while Jasper and I were gone. Grayson watched Rogue One. Joni supervised laundry and edited video. We laid down in real beds with air conditioning! Quay will take us to the trail in her way to school in the morning. We¢ll be up early at 5:30am. What great hiker hospitality! Thanks Cindy, Mike, & Quay!
Date: 2022-09-02
From: PA 309

To: SOBO Mile 969.5
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: mist

I was up at 5:30 feeling much better than to is time yesterday. Baxter is always first to get packed for the day. Everyone else seems to be waiting on everyone else. Despite leaving at 6:30 (later than ideal) we blazed though the morning miles. The day was cool and the trail was still flat. The rocks come and go. Eckville Shelter was our lunch destination. We wouldn¢t be able to get in 12 miles before then but 11.5 is good enough. Eckville is a property owned by the local hiking club. A caretaker lives on site. There is running water, charging, flush toilet and solar showers. We made it to the shelter about 11:30. Just before we got there we came across a hornets nest hanging in a tree directly over the trail about 6 feet high. It was the size of a football. As I stood I could look directly into the entrance hole. It had been flagged with orange tape and had a trail skirting around to the west side of the trail. Baxter warned Jasper about it and went on ahead. Jasper stayed to warm me, then, he too headed south. I waited on Joni and Grayson. It was a longer-than-normal wait. I found out at lunch that Grayson had taken the butt end of a sawn off tree trunk to the face as he walked down the trail. He¢s got some cuts to show for it. After Grayson and Joni passed I set to work on the hornets nest. It bothered me that it had men in this tree on the trail for so long. I found a 12 foot long tree trunk about as big around as my arm and swung at the hornets nest as one would a baseball. It did the trick, knocking the nest onto the ground east of the trail. I waited for 20 minutes to warn other hikers about the nest but mon came by. As I left the swarm had chilled out and moved on. We enjoyed a long snack lunch break at Eckville before hitting the trail again. The 5 - mile walk to The Pinnacle was all on woods road. It was easy walking. Pennsylvania has had it¢s sections of rock but much of the walking is pleasant and flat. ¢Rocksylvania¢ seems like an overdone nickname to me. ¢The State That ShallNot Be Named¢ is over-the-top. Pennsylvania has been kinder than New Hampshire on the body. It does get monotonous on the eyes. We filled water from a flowing stream before heading up into the woods to find a site for the night. We had come down off the ridge after The Pinnacle view and now had to do the work to regain the ridge line. After topping out we came to a great campsite on the trail about 6:00. We threw down for the night and got to it. Ramen with chicken and saltines for dinner. We had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the evening. We¢ll sleep in tomorrow morning since we¢re headed to Port Clinton for a shuttle at 10:00. The walk is a short one so we won¢t need to wake up at 5:30. No 12 before 12 tomorrow. We¢re looking forward to Cracker Barrel and resupplys!
Date: 2022-09-03
From: SOBO Mile 969.5

To: Near Phillips Canyon Spring
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I was sitting on a bench just inside the door of the largest Cabelas store in the world. The people-watching was world-class. A big black guy in a bright orange shirt with his dreds wrapped on top of his head stepped to me. ¢Mind if I sit?¢¢Not at all.¢We people-watched silently for awhile before starting a conversation. Calvin is a long-distance truck driver. We discovered that truckers and long-distance hikers have a lot in common: small storage space for personal gear, limited wardrobe options, lots of time to think, and the privilege to see the country in a way that few experience. ¢How are you guys doing school with the kids,¢ he asked. ¢It¢s a lot of P.E. this semester, Calvin.¢ We laughed. ¢But there¢s a lot to learn from the world.¢Calvin lit up. ¢I tell people all the time, ¢Look at the world around you! Look at the signs. The world is trying to have a conversation with you!¢The world is trying to have a conversation with you. We had arrived at the Cabelas in Hamburg from Port Clinton via a shuttle that they run at 10am each day. We hiked about 5 miles into town by 9:00. Port Clinton is a small hamlet with limited everything. Hamburg is a regular commercial metropolis. We checked out the 7 acres of floor space at the store. We found a JetBoil Sumo that we¢d been considering buying for weeks (they¢ve been out of stock everywhere). We left Cabelas with the JetBoil, fuel, a spoon, and a new hat for Grayson.  Next stop: Cracker Barrel. We walked about a mile across town to get there. The guy at Cabelas said we could leave our packs in the lobby area there but we didn¢t feel comfortable leaving our gear unattended with the Labor Day weekend crowd walking through. We found a bench on the porch at Cracker Barrel and requested a table in view of our cache. Then we began to order. We all ate until we felt uncomfortable and then ate a little more. The next hour passed on the front porch rockers trying to recover some sense of normalcy. From CB we walked to Walmart and did our grocery shopping. We filled our packs with food for 3 days to Duncannon. Then headed back to the Cabelas. The shuttle brought us back to Port Clinton at 5:30 and we got back on the trail again. The climb out of Port Clinton is no joke. Steep and steep, it¢s mainly steep with sections of steep. The ridge line was about a mile in. Camp was a 3 mile walk ahead. We cheated a little and traded the rocky trail for the parallel gravel road. A short bushwhack at a well chosen spot got us to the campsite we were searching for just as the sun was setting.
Date: 2022-09-04
From: Near Phillips Canyon Spring

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I was leading the way down the trail after lunch when I heard a hiker coming towards me on the trail. She was talking loudly and we hadn¢t yet seen each other. ¢My crotch is sweatyI¢m covered in bug bitesI smell absolutely terribleBut I¢m having a damn good time. ¢She and her partner behind her were out for a holiday weekend overnighter. Her words pretty much sum up how we¢re all feeling about our trip, too. Pennsylvania has been warm and humid with sparse water and few swimming opportunities. It¢s left us feeling ¢sticky¢ for the first time on the trail. We came upon what will, perhaps, go down as the best swimming hole in the trail. Hertline Campsite is at the side of an old, dammed pond. It was difficult to tell what the original purpose of the dam was but it¢s created a wide, deep pool full of cool, fresh water. Two or three rope swings ringed the edge of the water. We each took hold of the biggest of the three and put it to the test. What great fun! A hot day cooled off in the best way possible. After the swim we were drying out and eating lunch next to the water¢s edge. I was trying to diagnose the problem with the new JetBoil stove we bought yesterday in Hamburg. The fuel would not flow to the burner. As I was tinkering a group of dads and their teenaged sons walked into the campsite. The dads were brothers who had brought the cousins out for a weekend overnighter. They were very interested in our trip and I was interested in their advice on JetBoil stoves after they pulled out 3 or 4 to do lunch with. They didn¢t have any insight on a quick fix but they did have a multitool that I used to disassemble the burner and regulator in hopes of finding the problem. No luck. ¢Let me take it back to Cabelas for you,¢ one of the dads offered. ¢I¢ll see if they can exchange or return it and bring you back a working one. Worst case, Ill just being back your old one.¢So I handed over my new purchase to Tim - a total stranger - exchanged phone numbers, and hoped for the best. He¢s going to take it to Cabelas tomorrow after they get off the trail and then come and meet us somewhere on the trail south of here. What a great help!We made it to the 501 shelter about 5:00. Rerun was already at the table inside. The 501 is a bunk room with 12 beds and a giant skylight. We ordered three large pizzas, two 2-liter sodas, and 10 pints of cold water. Rerun split the bill with us and got in on the food party. Delivery was quick and dinner was over soon after it arrived. We were able to pack out 4 pieces for tomorrow. Homework showed up about 6:30 and ordered again. The pizza guy comes out here often, I suppose. It may rain tonight but will almost certainly do so starting tomorrow.
Date: 2022-09-05
From: 501 Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: moderate rain

We got out of the 501 shelter quietly this morning. Rerun was already awake and Homework was sleeping late as he said he would. Joni and Jasper walked back to Pilger Ruh spring for water and the other boys and I finished up breakfast and packed up. Rain was in the forecast today. We would have liked to have done 20+ miles today but the Rausch Gap Shelter is 17.5 away and a good place to stop after getting rained on all day and maybe getting it all night tonight. We passed the 1000 mile mark just uphill from the shelter this morning. ¢One thousand miles¢ sounds like it would be a long way to walk. I was proud of the boys and Joni and was pumped up to be there. ¢Only 1200 more to go¢, Jasper said. We were all thinking it. But 1000 is still cool. The rain did start about 10:00. When you¢re about to get rained on all day rain gear doesn¢t matter too much. Rain gear can only do so much for so long. After 10 hours of walking in the rain you¢re just going to be wet. Staying warm is what becomes important. We stopped underneath Interstate 81 for lunch. It was a good shelter from the deluge. Bagels and beef jerky with leftover pizza made a great meal. We crossed Swatara Creek on a much older bridge than the ones I-81are using. I wonder what the Berlin Iron Bridge Company would think if they could see the two modern interstate bridges towering over their own structure. Will future bridges, yet larger than those, tower higher here for generations of traffic yet unimagined?The rain really set in on our walk out of the gap. We were all in wet-hiker mode, resigned to our fate, spirits undampened, but dreaming of drier days behind and ahead. Tim texted with news that Cabelas wouldn¢t help with the JetBoil. I¢m thankful that he tried but am generally frustrated about the situation. I sat down to fix Grayson¢s toe hot-spot and, after I got the toe taped up, emailed JetBoil to see if they could help. We¢ll see. Tim wants to meet to get the JetBoil back to me. Probably not until tomorrow. We detoured around a messy beaver dam crossing and rejoined the AT at Rausch Gap. Cool history here. We had followed and old railroad grade as part of the reroute. We arrived ate the shelter about 4:00. Homework was about an hour behind us. Mashed potatoes for dinner. I used the alcohol stoves for fun. We¢re all six in the shelter behind a sagging clothesline. I¢ve got dry everything on. The sun hoodie I¢m wearing smells strongly of clean laundry.
Date: 2022-09-08
From: Duncannon

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: broken clouds

I awoke from a dead sleep, having no idea what time it was. I checked my watch: seven AM. What a great night¢s sleep! Hostel rooms are the best. We spent the next two hours packing and getting trail-ready. Today is day 101. We have completed 100 days on the trail, living mostly outdoors, carrying what we need, traveling by the light of day, sleeping when the sun goes down. We¢ve figured out they-hiking. That¢s not to say that we have nothing else to learn, but we certainly have a lot we could teach. We crossed Main Street at 9:00 and walked into Goodie¢s restaurant for breakfast provender. After pancakes, omelets, and biscuits we returned to the hostel. Joni and I took the gear to be mailed home and headed to the Post Office. We mailed 15 pounds of gear home. We¢ve taken on a bit more than 5 pounds of new gear - a savings of almost 10 pounds!We all thanked Betsy as we walked out of the hostel. Another three-quarters of a mile of road walking got us back into the woods. We climbed to Hawk Rock. As we checked out the view and studied the town of Duncannon below, we struck up a conversation with a dayhiker, J.Z. He is a triple crowner who¢s hiked the AT twice, the PCT 4 times, and the CDT once-and-a-half. He seemed as interested in our story as we were of his. He lives near the trail about 20 miles further north and was out for a morning stroll. We swapped trail stories and went on our ways. We pulled into Darlington Shelter about 4:30 and found some good tenting sites. We pitched tents and started dinner. The shelter has bear boxes so we didn¢t need to hang a bag. About the time we had started eating our Mountain House meals, J.Z. rolls into camp from the south carrying pizzas! ¢Am I too late for dinner?¢, he asked. We all freaked out! He had slyly found out what our evening destination was, run some errands while we hiked, grabbed 2 large pizzas, and hiked them in a mile and a half to our tents. We put down the Mountain House and laid into the pizzas! The next 45 minutes were spent swapping pictures and more stories. J.Z. thru hiked the AT in 1986 and has done several long distance trail thru hikes since then. He¢s seen a lot of changes in gear and methods. He had a perspective on the evolution of backpacking that few have. J.Z. will go down as some of the best trail magic, just 2 days after Tim¢s Wendy¢s tailgate. Pennsylvania¢s people score high on the trail magic scale. The trail has afforded some great challenges and adventures but the people we meet continue to be the real gold.