morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-16
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Right after leaving the shelter at 7.45 this AM I spooked a large animal that was near the trail. It went downhill thru the undergrowth like a bulldozer but I could never see it thru the thick brush. I presumed it was a bear but cannot say for sure because I didn't see it.I spent most of the AM walking with Tony Tiger and Handyman. We had decided to eat lunch at the Loft Mtn grill and stuck together until we got there, after a short detour to the Loft Mt campstore for drinks and ice cream. We got to the grill about 11.30 and had burgers, fries and their special blackberry shakes. Very Good!Just as we were leaving Worm showed up carrying the 5-week old puppy he had recently adopted. It is a very small and very cute black and white pit bull-hound mix that is quite sociable and seems to love people. Worm carries it most of the day in a fanny pack slung in front of him. It sleeps most of the time and seems content to ride around all day in the little Kangaroo pouch.We were headed for Pinefield Hut by 1.30 and had some nice but hazy views from Ivy Creek Overlook. We arrived at the shelter about 2.30 PM and I decided to refill my water supply and continue on. Just before I left Kokopelli showed up. I hadn't seen her since Damascus, VA. She had to take several weeks off to deal with some online banking fraud problems.After leaving the shelter there were 3 stiffer climbs that gained and lost 500 to 700 feet each time. I arrived at Hightop Hut by 6.45 PM after 8.5 miles from the last shelter. There were 4 other thru-hikers at the shelter, 3 I haven't met before who started a week or so ahead of me in March, plus Megan, a woman I had met in Damascus who was working at Mocha Joe's coffee house where I had breakfast one day and used their computer one morning. You never know who you will meet along the trail, or where.
Date: 2007-06-21
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Manassas Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: broken clouds

Mello and I had a nice breakfast at a cafe near the hotel then went back to the hotel to finish packing up and check out. I spent a while writing up daily entries and uploading them to my web site. Before I knew it was nearly noon so I walked to a nearby cafe for lunch then went back to the hotel to wait for a shuttle back to the trailhead on US 522. I parted with Mello as he was going to spend another day in town then continue southbound thru the Park.Back on the trail it was another warm and humid afternoon but it did not look like rain was imminent. The trail was mostly uphill from the trailhead to the shoulder of High Knob, then rolling up and down for the rest of the day. I found some nice patches of Tiger Lilly along the way. As I was sitting for a quick rest I spotted a huge centipede with bright green legs that was hiding underneath some dead leaves near the trail. These guys seem to be pretty common in some places along the trail. Having been bitten by one earlier in the trip, I am glad that my tent has screening that keeps them out at night.I arrived at Manassas Gap Shelter relatively early in evening but not want to rush another 5 miles to the next shelter so decided to stay.
Date: 2007-06-23
From: Sam Moore Shelter

To: Snicker's Gap
Miles today: 3.6

I woke up to a nice blue sky day, all traces of last night¢s storm gone. After a leisurely breakfast I covered the 3 miles to Bears Den Hostel in fairly short order. When I arrived at the hostel about 10 AM it was pretty quiet with last nights¢ guests already gone. Fortunately, I was able to find the caretaker who was kind enough to sell me a pint of Ben and Jerry¢s cookie dough ice cream which I promptly devoured outside on the porch. This is one of the most famous hostels on the Trail and is an impressive stone building that looks much like a manor in the English countryside. Next time through here, I¢ll have to be sure to stop and stay!After an hour or so I moved on and quickly arrived at Snickers Gap where I set my pack down and waited for Dave to arrive, which he did about 15 minutes later. In no time, we were down out of the mountains and back at his house in Leesburg, VA.A package was waiting for me from Brenda. She had found several more substantial ankle braces online and had them delivered here for me to try out. They have metal and plastic stays that provide much more lateral support than the soft pullover one I have been wearing the past 2 weeks. They will be more restrictive than the one I have been wearing, but without better lateral support there seems to be a real possibility I will have a more serious injury at some point along the trail. The remainder of the day was spent enjoying visiting with Dave, Molly, Kevin and Olivia. It was so nice to see family again and relax in the comfort of home!
Date: 2007-06-24
From: Snicker's Gap

To: Snicker's Gap
Miles today: 0.0

This was a wonderful day at Dave and Molly¢s house visiting with them, Kevin and Olivia. I was able to do laundry, pick up a few food items I needed for the next 2 days to Harpers Ferry, and try out both of the ankle braces Brenda had sent to me. Later in the afternoon, Laurie and Peter and the boys came over for a barbeque; all in all a wonderful day of fung, great food, and relaxing with family!
Date: 2007-06-25
From: Snicker's Gap

To: Blackburn Trail Center
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I got up at 4:30 this morning and drove to Manassas Battlefield to meet Peter, Claudia, Bonnie, Devin and Nancy for their Audubon Bird Count. We did a series of bird point counts (5-minute points, 250 m point spacing, no distance estimation) thru out the battlefield, woods, and fields. The deer ticks were thick! I pulled nearly a dozen off my pant legs after taping the cuffs closed and spraying them with bug dope. I had a great time catching up with Peter and Claudia. It was a fine VA summer morning and we saw many typical mid-Atlantic species. After a late big breakfast with Peter and Claudia at a local restaurant, I got Dave¢s car back to him by 10:45 and he left for work. After a visit with Ann O¢Connor, Molly dropped me off at the AT crossing at Snicker¢s Gap at about 2:30.It was a hot and humid afternoon to finish ¢The Roller Coaster¢. There was a nice view from Crescent Rock down over Bluemont, VA. I stopped at Sand Spring to fill up my water but it was very weak and I was only able to get about 1 liter of the 2 I wanted. The trail was mostly walking along the ridgeline, not rocky but enough to keep my attention focused on my feet.I arrived at the Blackburn Trail Center about 5:15 and heard that dinner would be a barbeque served by a local church youth group out on the porch. It was great, all the fine food a starving hiker could eat, and many interesting people to share it with. I had intended to eat then hike out for a few more miles to camp somewhere along the ridge. However, we were still eating by 8 PM and the caretakers, former AT Thru-hikers themselves, assured me I could make Harpers Ferry by noon so I decided to stay on the large outdoor screened-in porch of this famous hiker hostel. It appeared to be an ideal thru-hiker campsite, but the no-see-ums kept me awake most of the night. Bug dope didn¢t slow them down. General Tso gave up in the middle of the night and left to sleep in the bunkhouse. Oh well, a small price to pay for the pleasure of staying at this wonderful hostel.
Date: 2007-06-26
From: Blackburn Trail Center

To: Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: clear sky

I passed the 1,000 mile mark today! It happened somewhere a few miles out of Blackburn Trail Center. It seemed like quite a milestone, but passed with little notice and no fanfare. I ate breakfast quickly, packed up and got a quick cup of coffee from the kitchen. By 7:15 I was on the trail; it looked to be another hot and humid day on the trail. The trail to Harpers Ferry was uneventful, gentle grades, no steep climbs, and generally a smooth tread through a few short rocky sections. There was an extended stretch of trail through a gypsy moth area. There were gypsy moth adults clinging to the trunks of trees by the thousands. Every tree in the forest canopy and every shrub and flower on the forest floor had been stripped clean of every green leaf. It was as though I was back in Georgia in April before spring leaf out. Strange after so many weeks of walking thru the ¢long green tunnel¢ to suddenly be on a long ridgeline forest walk with no leaves at all.When I reached the bridge over the Shenandoah River I called Laurie and she was running about 2 hours late so I headed for the ATC Headquarters building to check on the mail drop box I had mailed there. I got there a few minutes before noon, signed in on the thru-hiker register (I am #421 this year), and got my picture taken. I picked up my drop box and bounce box, and found a box from Kathy at Dolores! What a treat ¢ thanks Kathy!I decided to walk to the outfitter and ask about my water filter cartridge. They suggested it was probably mold and gave me some Clorox and a pan to soak it in for a while. I bough a few cliff bars, a carabiner, and tried to find a better fanny pack though nothing seemed to fit right. Outside, I ran into Mama Hen, she had been staying at a friends house in Front Royal then hitched in to Harpers Ferry. It was good to see her again. Laurie picked me up at the outfitters and drove me back to the ATC to pick up my pack and boxes. I went through the boxes, put together a grocery list of the items I would need for my next section, and we headed for the Charles Town Food Lion. Once I got my shopping done, Laurie and Nick helped my repack my bounce box, then we drove back to the post office. Unfortunately we were 5 minutes too late.Nick had made homemade donuts and we munched on them all afternoon as we were driving around. What a great treat, and such a thoughtful nephew! Back in Harpers Ferry I checked into a hiker room at the Hilltop House Hotel and we all went to dinner at the Secret 6. After dinner, Laurie needed to head for home. It was a great afternoon with her and Nick! Back at my room I did some repacking, cleaned some gear, and read a few pages of a book Laurie had given me ¢ One Man¢s Wilderness, about homesteading in the Alaska bush. I finally got to bed about 11:30 after a very busy day.
Date: 2007-06-28
From: Crampton Gap Shelter

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: haze

I had hoped to get started very early today to avoid a repeat of yesterday¢s midday heat, but the 7:30 start time was later than I wanted. The morning was a gentle run up to Lambs knoll, then a quick down to Rocky Run Shelter where I stopped for a quick second breakfast. It was just nice forested ridge walking that was pleasant and comfortable. Along the way I spotted a real trophy toad! He was huge but I wouldn¢t have seen him if he hadn¢t moved, and probably would have stepped on him in the middle of the trail. He was perfectly camouflaged in the leaf litter and my cameral had a hard time focusing on him. I didn¢t bother to stop at the Dahlgren Backpack Campground because I didn¢t need supplies and wanted to keep going while the day was still reasonably pleasant. Not long after, I got to the Washington Monument. The FIRST Washington Monument. It was built in the early 1800¢s as the first monument to George Washington. It was a hazy day and the view was pretty limited from the top of this unusual 2-story bottle-shaped monument. Tennessee Jed walked up not long after I got there. He is a lanky and soft spoken guy from, of course, Tennessee, who started on Springer Mt. the day after I did but we haven¢t met more than a few times over the past thousand miles. After a short stay at the monument, I continued on. It continued to be gentle rolling ridge walking down to the crossing of Interstate 70.I enjoyed crossing I70 on the elevated foot bridge because I have spent so much time driving I70 back and forth to Denver from home. It is such an important highway to western Colorado, that for me it seemed like another fun milestone to cross. After a quick climb over Pine Knob, I arrived at the side trail to Annapolis Rocks and decided to go see this famous view. It is supposedly the most heavily impacted site on the AT, and all the bright orange plastic fencing keeping people out of areas indicates there are big efforts to rehab the area and control compaction in this popular place. I took advantage of the spring and stopped in to see if the caretaker was around, but couldn¢t find them. I had heard there is a peregrine falcon eyrie here on the cliffs and wanted to see if there was a place I could sit and watch without disturbing them. It was midday, so after about an hour of sitting on the cliff rim I decided to head out. Quickly, I came to Black Rocks viewpoint, but the rocks looked white to me. The view was nice, but the hazy day limited visibility to only a short distance. The remainder of the afternoon was spent on a gentle ridge walk to the Ensign Cowall shelter. Another humid day, but it has turned out to be not nearly as hot as yesterday.
Date: 2007-06-29
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Buena Vista Road
Miles today: 10.9

I woke up to a pretty heavy rain this morning and took my time getting ready to go. Finally headed out about 9:30 in a rain that showed no signs of letting up any time soon. Temps were warm so I just put my pack cover over my pack and walked through it. There were no views all morning and with rain, heavy at times, I just kept going in spite of a few places where there were supposed to be good views in good weather.When I got to PenMar State Park there was a gang of hikers hanging out under the large covered pavilion looking over menus from a local pizza place that would deliver to the park. Eventually, everyone ended up ordering lunch and waited for the massive order to arrive. It had quit raining by noon so everyone began hanging stuff up to dry. Someone put a bunch of clothes on the merry-go-round and kept giving it a good push to keep it going round; a sort of hiker open air clothes dryer.After a couple of hours of eating and waiting from stuff to dry, most of us packed up and began to head out. The blackberries along the trail were now ripe so I made very slow progress in a few sections of trail under powerlines where they were thick. When I got to the Mason-Dixon line I was disappointed to find the famous sign wasn¢t there. Of well.A short distance later I arrived at the Buena Vista Road crossing to find trail magic, a cooler with plenty of drinks. I learned that the owners of the cooler were coming back in an hour or so and would take anyone back to their house who wanted to stay over night. Although it was early afternoon, everyone was going so I did too.Bill and Amy, former thru¢hikers but now with a growing family, regularly open their house to hikers. What great folks and great hospitality! There was a big overnight crowd with Chuck Norris and Tigger, Popeye and Lightweight, Tennessee Jed, Chef, Lunar, Birdman, General Tso, Sleeping Beauty, and me. Eventually, someone decided it would be a good idea to get an Iroquois hair cut and Bill supplied the electric razor. Soon, Tennessee Jed started in on Popeye and did an excellent job. Chef manned up and received an Iroquois cut too. It was a great evening hanging out in the garage and driveway with lots of people and lots of beer. Bill and Amy¢s hospitality towards odd-ball hikers, especially with small children to care for, is impressive.
Date: 2007-06-30
From: Buena Vista Road

To: Quarry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: light rain

This was my first full day in PA, and what a great day it was! Great company, great trail magic, great food, smooth trails, and ice cream!The day started with pancakes, real maple syrup and fresh fruit for breakfast at Bill and Amy¢s house. I left in the first trip back to the trail, after taking a group photo on the front lawn. My camera battery died right then so my camera was the only one that didn¢t get a photo.Bill dropped Chuck and Tigger, and Lunar at PA 16, Birdman at the post office, then me, Tennessee Jed, and Sleeping Beauty at Buena Vista Road. It didn¢t take long to hike the 1.6 mi to PA 16, where we met MoSu¢s Dad, who parked there and followed us north. We caught up to Chuck and Tigger at Deer Lick Shelters. A sign on one of these 2 shelters says ¢snoring¢ and the sign on the other shelter says ¢non-snoring¢. Chuck got a good laugh at the snoring signs. After a quick stop we all continued on to Antietam Shelter for lunch break.After lunch I took the short side trip to Chimney Rock and had a nice view over the nearby ridges. Gypsy moths were thick in the trees around the rocks and had pretty much denuded the forest in the area. We all bypassed the Rocky Mt. Shelters because it was too far off the trail and water was an additional 0.5 mi further away. Besides, we were all looking forward to ice cream at the State Park. At the road crossing just before the park we got trail magic, a big box from some park campers that had cookies, smore makings and other stuff. Wonderful!At the Park, we all got ice cream (I got a strawberry shake too), then reluctantly headed northward because it was getting late (5:30). While passing one of the shelters in the Park, the Wolfgang family reunion was just finishing dinner and they stopped our gang to ask questions as we walked by. They were very interested in our hike and soon invited us to join them for dinner. We had been joined by Birdman and General Tso so now there were 7 of us. The Wolfgang family were a large group (about 50) of very friendly and generous folks. They fed us watermelon, burgers, cold drinks, salad and a wide variety of pot luck dishes. This was a day of true trail magic from start to finish! The day ended a few miles later near dark at Quarry Gap Shelters with no camp sites nearby and a number of hikers already there, including Sprocket, Julie, and Concord.
Date: 2007-07-01
From: Quarry Gap Shelter

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: broken clouds

I hit the trail about 7:45 and found an immediate climb up to the ridge. Once on top of the ridge the trail leveled off and became quite smooth. I heard movement off the trail to my right and a nice-sized black bear came onto the trail about 30 yards ahead of me and stopped to look at me. When I pulled the Velcro on my camera bag it hurried off into the thick undergrowth and out of sight.The trail was pretty smooth and nearly flat for most of the way to Birch Run Shelter. I spent part of the walk talking with Julie, a Middlebury College grad and double language major who thru-hiked the AT in 2002. The going to Tom¢s Run Shelter was equally smooth and well groomed. I walked much of this stretch with Chuck Norris and Tigger. They are thru-hiking the AT as a prep hike and shakedown for a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike next year. I really enjoy this husband and wife team. They are caring and generous folks who are quietly but deeply religious and always willing to offer an encouraging word to anyone in need. I walked the rest of the way to Pine Grove Furnace State Park with Birdman, a tall and thin guy who walks fast and goes light. He, as his name implies, is a good birder and loves leaving bird quizzes in the registers that seem to be quite popular with hikers. He and General Tso are both from Maine and are walking homeward.At the Pine Grove Furnace State Park store we found Lunar and Chef busy polishing off their 12 gallon challenge. Tennessee Jed had already completed his 12 gallon and won the challenge. Lunar and Chef both chose Neapolitan, and both looked pretty green as they struggled to finish. Lunar struggled for about 45 minutes then finally called uncle and gave up with about 14 left. Although I had come here intending to take the challenge, I finally decided that I liked ice cream too much to wind up in Lunar¢s position, and went for the burger and pint of ice cream instead.After looking at mileage to Boiling Springs I decided to stay here at the Pine Grove Mansion Hostel. It will be easy to meet Sam at the Boiling Springs ATC office tomorrow around 6 PM. Julie, Concord and I were the only guests at this large and very nice hostel.
Date: 2007-07-02
From: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

To: Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 19.4

I left the hostel about 8 AM and stopped at the furnace to read the history of the building and take a few photos. A wood duck in the borrow ditch along the road to the State Park lake was my first for the trip! Julie caught me as I was watching the wood duck and we ended up hiking together off and on for much of the day.The terrain for most of the day was thick forest with no real views, but generally level trail with smooth footing so miles flowed by fairly quickly. Today was great hiking weather; cool, clear, low humidity, blue sky all day and a high of 63 with cool breezes in the forest. At one point the trail turned and went up to the crest of the ridgeline where it wound in and out among rock formations as though the trail designers got bored and decided they couldn¢t resist routing us up and into the rocks, just for something different. It was interesting terrain and was fun to do.We passed thru a number of gypsy moth infestation areas and some tree stands were nearly stripped clean of leaves. There were lots of moths in the air flying around and bumping into us as we walked. These areas looked like early spring hiking again. Then, abruptly, we would pass out of them and back into forest with full foliage again. The transition was usually immediate and dramatic from moth area to untouched forest.It turns out that I have a strange connection with Julie. She is a Middlebury Language School graduate and knew of my grandfather for whom one of the language school¢s buildings is named. She also has a connection with Laurie and Jim Jeffords, and they may have met at a congressional function. Julie completed a SOBO thru-hike in 2002. She patiently answered my many questions about her hike.I arrived at the ATC Mid-Atlantic Office in Boiling Springs at about 4:30 PM and my cousin Sam arrived about 15 minutes later. We had agreed to meet at about 6 but he had correctly assumed the terrain was easy and I¢d be early. Sam gave me a nice tour of the back country roads and town of Carlisle, PA. At home, I met his 2 cats and Welsh Corgy dog, a very friendly, well behaved and sociable little dog. We went to dinner at a Carlisle brew pub then shopping for groceries on the way home. Laurie called while I was talking to Mark, and Lisa and Jason called not long afterward. Laurie and Peter would like to meet me on the trail next Thursday so were busy figuring out logistics of where I¢d be and how to meet them. I never did get my food repacked before collapsing into bed.