morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-10-10
From: AT on Arden Valley Road Mile 805.0

To: Lakes Road mile 813.8
Miles today: 8.8

I awoke after a long, hard sleep with no pain in my knee and feeling ready to make up some of the miles I had wanted to complete yesterday. I planned for a relatively short 12 mile day to ease my knee back into normal operation. I assumed that 7 1/2 hours of daylight would be plenty of time to complete 12 miles an took time to eat breakfast and to catch up and post my journal before starting to hike at 11:00 am.   Again I underestimated the trail. Today's path was rocky with alternating steep climbs and descents. Leaves covered the rocks requiring me to test my downhill footfalls to make sure there was something under the leaves to step on. For much of the day I could only cover a mile in an hour instead of the two miles I had expected. As a result I had to call May Louise to meet me at a closer rendezvous place to avoid having to walk the last couple of miles in the dark.Although I was disappointed in the short distance I covered the day was beautiful. Not any vistas even though I walked along some cliff edges, but lots of fascinating rock formations and beautiful, leaf-strewn forest floors. The trail was well marked with frequent blazes and needed to be. Normally there is an easy to follow trace of the trail created by the footsteps of the many hikers who have passed before me, but when newly fallen leaves cover the trace or when sections of rocks and boulders leave no trace the white blazes are the only indication of the trail's location. Several times through the day I had to spend time searching for the next blaze. It is surprising how hard they can be to see. Only met a couple of other hikers all day. Deep in the woods a couple of older oriental ladies out for a day hike passed me going north. I have been surprised by the number of older oriental women I have seen day hiking in New York. I topped a rise and found Grumpy sitting on a bolder having lunch and enjoying one of the day's few vistas. He is a retired banker from Cooperstown, New York. He explained that his trail name was the result of working at a bank too long. He had started a through hike when he retired, but a series of medical problems took him off the trail including an appendicitis attack that almost killed him. It hit during the night and he had to abandon his gear and hike 8 miles in pain to get to civilization and medical attention. He is now section hiking to finish the trail. His goal is to get to the Maine border before winter sets in and then finish next year. He shared some cheese and sausage which made a much better than normal lunch.
Date: 2014-10-11
From: Lakes Road mile 813.8

To: Warwick Turnpike mile 826.9
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Started the day walking in a cold drizzel. May Louise got a good picture of me as I started off in the bright orange "I am not a deer" vest we purchased after hearing gunshots in the distance. Although the day was rather miserable, my gear worked well and kept me relatively comfortable as I hiked.I really appreciated May Louise's support allowing me to slackpack today. The route included a long ridge of rock scrambles. The rain made the boulders slick and I had one fall. At one point the route down a boulder was so steep the trail maintenance volunteers had installed an aluminum ladder. The whole day's route would have been much more difficult to navigate with a full pack.Another benchmark, I passed from New York into New Jersey. The boundary was marked with a simple NY/NJ painted on a boulder.Although I spent most of the day walking along a ridgeline, the trail was socked in so I did not get to see the impressive views that I am sure were out there through the clouds. At the end of the day the clouds lifted and I got a few misty views of the long lake in the valley below me.
Date: 2014-10-12
From: Warwick Turnpike mile 826.9

To: Goodrich Road mile 846.4
Miles today: 19.5

The day was cool but beautifu. Since it was a holiday weekend I passed lots of day hikers including family groups with young children. It was delightful to see large numbers of folks outdoors taking advantage of the beauty of the trail and the day.The day started with a long but easy climb up Wawayanda Mountain followed by a long very steep and difficult descent down the other side. Since I was pushing to make as many miles as possible, I did not take time to follow the side traile to the vista at the top. As I worked my way down the descent I passed a surprising number of folks making the long, difficult climb to the vista. When I saw the effort the day hikers were making to see it, I regretted I passed it by.Included in the groups climbing the mountain were a young couple carrying a small dog. When I reached the trailhead there was a large number of folks of all ages gathered, a couple holding bouquets of flowers, who asked me about the couple. I assumed the couple were climbing either for the fellow to propose or to spread cremation ashes and the friends at the bottom were wating to either congratulate them or to commiserate with them. I should have asked which was the casse. My guess was a proposal.The mountain was followed by a beautiful and easy walk across the floor of a wide valley between mountain ridges. The trail included long stretches of well built, expensive bog bridges, puncheon, and bridges over attractive streams.There was a long easy walk around a rectangular wetland bird sanctuary that dippped me back into New York. I kept moving and did not seen any of the wetland fowl. I almost made the 20 mile target I had set for myself, but I ran out of daylight one mile short of the goal and called May Louise to pick me up at an earlier road crossing.
Date: 2014-10-13
From: Goodrich Road mile 846.4

To: Deckertown Turnpike Mile 858.3
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Another pleasant day for hiking. Went over the highest point on the trail in New Jersey. I did not take the side trail to the Veteran's Memorial obilisk at the summit, but I got good views of it from the wooden observation platform atop the next summit and from viewpoints along the following ridgeline. After May Louise picked me up and we were heading to our motel along a country road, a black bear ran across the road right in front of our car. The bear was surprisingly fast. I definitely would not have been able to outrun one.While I have been hiking May Louise has gone sight seeing in the surrounding area and has continued her practice of memorializing trips by collecting rocks. I have always accused her of believing that the better the trip the bigger her rock needs to be. If my accusation is accurate, then this must be a great trip because we have a collection of bolders in the back of the van that puts us over ther weight limit for some rural bridges.I have long told the story of when I was a young and much more foolish husband and we were at the stage in our lives where moving meant stuffing everything we owned in a U Haul trailer that was too small to hold all our junk but too large to be pulled easily by our car. As we struggled to get everything packed and get on the road before a deadline I lovingly but firmly told my bride that I was not loading any damn box of rocks into that trailer. To my relief May Louise did not object to my mandate, but I lateer discovered that every subsequent box I put in the trailer had a rock packed in the bottom.On the way to our motel across the Delaware river in Pennsylvania the GPS took us along back roads on the North side of the ridge I had been walking and across a bridge over the Delaware that lies north of Delaware Water Gap I-80 bridge. The Dingman's Ferry Bridge is something I did not realize still existed, a privately owned toll bridge. A privately owned ferry or, when it has not been taken out by floods, bridge has operated at the site for over a century. The bridge is a narrow, wood planked affair with the $1 toll collector standing in the middle of the road between the lanes of traffic.
Date: 2014-10-14
From: Deckertown Turnpike Mile 858.3

To: Blue Mountain Lakes Road, mile 877.9
Miles today: 19.6

Beautiful day with great vistas from a long ridgewalk. I only met two other people on the trail: A fellow waiting for the haze to lift so he could take pictures from the observation area atop the first mountain and a bowhunter. My bright orange "I am not a deer" vest looks ugly but makes me feel more secure that I will not become another NRA victim.I was surprised to discover that New Jersey still uses fire wardens to man traditional fire towers that triangulate fire locations. I wonder if there is any relation between their preservation of that historic practice and their regulation prohibiting self servie and requiring attendants at filling stations to pump gas.Late in the afternoon I came across something I had never seen before, the carcass of a porcupine in the middle of the trail. I wonder how whatever animal that killed it fared.Shortly after the porcupine carcass two deer posed beside the trail for me to take their pictures.A pleasant long hiking day almost became a disaster. I reached the trailhead just as dusk was falling, but May Louise was not able to find the takeout point. She had been looking for it through much of the afternoon and was throughly frustrated with the GPS and the rural New Jersey road markings. Luckily, while I was talking with her on the phone trying to figure out where she was, Carole Burk, a local resident who was walking her dogs on the trail stepped out of the woods and asked if I needed help. Carole tried to give May Louise directions to where we were, but she missed a turn in the dark and ended up on the other side of the ridge. Carole had May Louise identify her location and then stay there. She walked with me a half mile down the mountain to her car and then delayed her supper and took me to May Louise. Without Carole's kind help I would have had either a miserable night in the wood without equipment or a long roadwalk in the dark and a very upset wife. Carole is a home health nurse who spends much of her spare time hiking the woods aorund her home and who knows the area well. Trail angels are a great blessing.
Date: 2014-10-15
From: Blue Mountain Lakes Road, mile 877.9

To: Camp Road, Mohican Outdoor Center mile 884.9
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: light rain

I was tired after yesterday's 20 mile hike and thunderstorm were predicted; so instead of trying to complete 17 miles to get me out of New Jersey, I settled for a short hike today.To make sure we did not repeat last night's fiasco, we drove to todays takeout point and showed it to May Louise before she put me back on the trail. In the daylight the trailhead that eluded her last night was easy to find.The day was overcast, but the fall leaves are at their peak.
Date: 2014-10-16
From: Camp Road, Mohican Outdoor Center mile 884.9

To: Fox Gap, PA 191 mile 902.7
Miles today: 17.8

Left New Jersey and entered Pennsylvania today when I crossed the Delaware River at Delaware Water Gap. The day started with a beautiful ridge walk with impressive views occurring on both the north and south sides of the ridge. Lakes in the valley down the south side included the storage lake for a New Jersey pump-storage facility. At one point to the north I could see upriver to the Dingman's Ferry toll bridge.I walked along the edge of Sunfish Pond, a glacial pond with a natural acidic composition that limits the species that can survive in its waters. One of the hearty survivors is the pmpkinseed sunfish.Coming down the end of the ridge to Delaware Water Gap the trail followed a beautiful cascading stream.   I stopped at the Delaware Water Gap Park visitor's center to get Gatoraid to drink with my lunch.The Delaware River looks like a good stream to come back and canoe. Concessionaires provide canoes, kayaks, and inflatables for tubing the river.The road walk coming up from the river passes a couple of interesting old hotel/tourist facilites before a steep climb up Mount Minsi which has great views back over the Delaware and the I-80 Bridge.I have been hearing hikers complain about the horrible rocks on the Pennsylvania trail ever since I started the hike in Georgia. So far the Pennsylvania rocks do not seem any more bothersome than the New Jersey rocks.
Date: 2014-10-17
From: Fox Gap, PA 191 mile 902.7

To: Smith Gap Road mile 919.4
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

More rock ridge walking in beautiful weather with great vistas, but succession of long days left me too pushed for miles and too tired to take many pictures or make notes for substantive journal entries.Along the trail I met Songbird and Bypass, (Melody and John Bock). They are flip flop through hikers who started just before me and who flipped from Harper's Ferry. I have been following them my whole hike, but this was the first time I met them. I finally caught up with them because they had been off the trail for a family event and becuase May Louise's slackpacking support allows me to increase my average mileage.
Date: 2014-10-18
From: Smith Gap Road mile 919.4

To: Superfund Trailhead, Palmerton, PA mile 931.4
Miles today: 12.0

The trail included a long ridgeview down to the industrial complexes along the Lehigh River Vally through Palmerton. Part of the complex is the zinc processing plant that made the ridge the trail follows a superfund site. The descent from the top of the ridge to the river was a steep, dangerous rock climbing exercise remiiscent of Maine and New Hampshire. I made it without mishap, but was very happy that I was slackpacking and that the weather and rocks were dry. I was extremely happy to get to the bottom and find May Louise waiting.Just as we were pulling out of the parking lot, Songbird & Bypass appeared and asked for ride to Palmerton. They were slackpacking and their gear was at the old jail in town that serves as a municiaplly run hostel. We took them to the police station check in and then had a delightful supper with them. Both of them are retired Navy Officers. John had a second career as an IT manager for Navy Credit Union. Melody went to seminary and serves as a Christian counsellor. John's trail name refers to the heart attack and bypass surgery he underwent a few months before starting on the trail. Before they started their hike, they put their belongings in storage and sold their home. They joke about being homeless and living in the tent in John's pack. The are using the trail adventure as a trial first event in a series of trips they want to take including the Spanish pilgrimage trail. We offered to give them continuing slackpacking support after their current arrangement ends. I hope they take us up on the offer. I would enjoy their company between here and Harper's Ferry where they will finish.
Date: 2014-10-19
From: Superfund Trailhead, Palmerton, PA mile 931.4

To: PA 309, Blue Mountain Summit Mile 945.3
Miles today: 13.9

Day did not start well. I walked across the bridge over the LeHigh River and then had trouble finding where the Appalachian Trail left the road and went into the woods. While I was wandering around under a powerline ROW looking I saw Songbird and Bypass who were on the trail. I caught up and hiked with them all day. They may have slowed their pace to let me stay with them, but it was great having company. Songbird took the lead and set a demanding pace. She has great balance and moved like mountain goat across the boulder scrambles.Just below a side trail climbing to a lookout we came across two nice, padded folding chairs sitting in the woods tempting us to stop and rest for a while. We resisted temptation, pushed on, and finished early in the afternoon. Through the days we shared stories. They have a delightful collection of military stories from their navy days. Melody did not work for Admiral Rickover, but she worked with a group of officers who had been through his screening interviews. In one story Rickover challenged an interviewee to make him angry. The Admiral had an intricate model of the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, on his desk. The officer picked it up, smashed it on the floor, and got the job.Melody also had family stories. She likes cats. One of their sons does not. She warned the son not to let the cat know his feelings or the animal would take revenge. The son considered the warning silly until the night the cat crapped in his shoe.We just avoided a crisis. May Louise had used Expedia to make reservations for us at a motel in Pine Grove, PA. Double checking the location to advise John and Melody of our plans we discovered that the automated service had given us reservations in Pine Grove, Ohio. May Louise visited Jim Thorp, PA while we were hiking and learned the story of the town's name. After the Native American athlete and movie star died his wife wanted to secure his memory by having a town named for him. This was not likely to happen in his native Oklahoma, but Thorp had gotten his education in Pennsylvania and two towns suffering from the depression voted to join each other and change their name in exchange for the wife's promise to raise funds for the town. The town was once rich and has some beautiful architecture and an impressive mausoleum was built for Thorp's remains, but his kids are now petitioning to have the body moved back to Oklahoma and the disgruntled town resdients are threatening to change the town's name.
Date: 2014-10-20
From: PA 309, Blue Mountain Summit Mile 945.3

To: Hawk Mountain Road mile 956.8
Miles today: 11.5

I hiked again with John & Melody and swapped more stories. Melody explained that she had worked hard to overcome arachnophobia, a serious fear of spiders. She did not want to pass her irrational fear on to her sons. Therefore one day while mowing the lawn when she saw a hermit spider carrying it young on its back, she called the kids, showed them the spider, and explained how it was being a good daddy helping its children. A few days later her youngest was in the yard with her and out of the corner of her eye saw her youngest pick up something and put it on his head. When she inquired he explained that he had found a spider and was helping it just like the daddy spider she had shown him. We came across lots of dayhikers on the trail including a large group from the Chezch Republic.While we were hiking May Louse visited the Hawk Mountain preserve. After she picked me up she took me to see their Visitor's Center. The mountain is on a major migration flyway where hunters used to gather to slaughter passing birds. The preserve now has a active education program to protect the beautiful flyers.May Louise has to leave the end of the week for a VA Quilt Museum meeting. John and Melody agreed to help me shuttle the van so we can all slackpack while she is gone.
Date: 2014-10-21
From: Hawk Mountain Road mile 956.8

To: Port Clinton, PA, Broad St. + Penn St mile 971.6
Miles today: 14.8

Continuing to hike with John and Melody today¢s trail was easier than I had expected. Rain was predicted, but we lucked out and none fell.We reached the Pulpit, an impressive rock overlook and found around 30 middle school age kids from the Philadelphia School. An upscale private school that includes action learning field trips in their curriculum. We talked with their teachers and shared Nathan¢s dog math innovation with them. I was impressed how calm the teachers remained as their kids sat and played on the edge of a sheer drop off.We passed the site of Windsor Furnace, an old iron furnace and Melody collected colorful chips of glass from the slag that had been raked off the top of the molten iron. We also passed a nice sign commemorating the 75 year history of the Appalachian Trail 1937 to 2012.Hunters are out. We heard shots through the day and came across one on the trail. A note in the guidebook explains that Pennsylvania state laws requires the wearing of orange in state game areas where hunting is allowed. Our bright ¢I am not a deer¢ vests look gaudy but provide comfort that we will not become another NRA victim.May Louise has to leave the trail and her support role for a few days to attend a Virginia Quilt Museum committee meeting and provide some grandchildren sitting assistance. John and Melody agreed that they would like to continue slack packing; so I will take May Louise home and bring the van back so the three of us can use it to shuttle ourselves. One of us will drop off the other two at one end of the day¢s hike. He will then take the van to their end point and hike the opposite direction. At mid day we will pass each other and have lunch. At the end of the day the two will reach the van, use it to pick up the morning¢s driver, and then take everyone to a motel for the night.
Date: 2014-10-22
From: Port Clinton, PA, Broad St. + Penn St mile 971.6

To: PA 183 mile 986.4
Miles today: 14.8

May Louise dropped us off in downtown Port Clinton where she picked us up yesterday afternoon. Leaving Port Clinton John, Melody and I walked through the Reading Railroad yard with large blocks of anthracite coal on display along with a sign explaining the source of the lumps of coal Santa brings bad little boys and girls. The yard had impressive old passenger cars including a window topped observation car on sidings which appeared to be in operating order. The climb out of the river valley from Port Clinton was challenging, but not nearly as bad as the descent into Palmerton.
Date: 2014-10-23
From: PA 183 mile 986.4

To: PA 501mile 995.7
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: clear sky

We finished a short day quickly walking through fall colors and over attractive leaves beneath our feet to give me time to drive May Louise back to Fayetteville. Reluctantly I left her at our house and returned to our motel on the trail to begin hiking again the next day with John and Melody.Although we are getting miles covered and I enjoy both the company and the luxury of a good meal and motel bed each night, the focus on covering miles leaves little time for visiting with the few folks we meet on the trial, taking pictures, or keeping my journal up to date.
Date: 2014-10-24
From: PA 501mile 995.7

To: Swatara Gap, PA 72, Lickdale, PA mile 1007.1
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: scattered clouds

John, Melody and I started our car shuttle routine with Melody hiking south and John and me hiking north after dropping off the van at the southern trailhead for her. I initially misread my map and missed the trailhead taking John on a tour of a huge military base until, after some confusion I identified my wrong turn and got us to the trailhead. We had beautiful weather and started our hike crossing an attractive old iron bridge. The trail continued to be rocky but fairly easy to hike with our light daypacks.We crossed another benchmark today, we are now 1000 miles from Mount Katahdin.I got a nice closeup photo of a large mushroom with a pinecone scale pattern on its top.Toward the end of the day we had an unusual experience. We crossed an open area where we were swarmed by Lady Bugs. If you have to be attacked by a swarm of something, lady bugs are a pretty good choice. Once we left the swarm area the ones that rode on our clothes were fairly easy to brush off.