morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-13
From: Ed Garvey shelter

To: Ensign Cowall shelter
Miles today: 24.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Very cold and windy this morning. Subman was out early as usual but everyon else slept in. Woke up at 8 and out by 9. Made great time all day. Lots of easy walking. No climbs but lots of rocks in the last 5 miles. Guess its a sampling of what's to come. Had an orange juice at the Cuthland State Park in morning and a Mountain Dew in he afternoon from Washington State Park. ALso took a good break at Dalgren campground. Sky looked threatening all day but it never rained. Stayed cold and windy. Ran into a school groupo by the Washington Monument. Their teacher explained to the kids what we were doing and we talked a little about the trip. Many of the kids were interested and inquisitive. It was a nice bunch of kids and a very diverse class which was nice to see. Think they were from Silver Springs, Maryland. Two section hikers came in later last night. They're attempting HF to Katahdin. One of them is from the Bronx, which was cool. Thy are college buddies but I mention them because one of them was black. It's strange and unfortunate but I've become used to a world with little diversity out here. He is only the second black backpacker I've met out here an one of the few non-whites. It's a shame that backpacking and through hiking mainly attracts only whites but hopefully that'll change over time. Pennsylvania tomorrow.
Date: 2003-05-14
From: Ensign Cowall shelter

To: Tumbling Run shelters
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was an extremely lazy yet fun day. HAd our first sunny day in over a week. Took a long lunch break at Per-Mar Park. We played on the swings, jungle gym and merry go round. Felt like a little kid again. We all yelled and rejoiced when we hit the Mason-Dixon line and officially entered the North and Pennsylvania. We got to PA 16 and tried to hitch two miles to get some ice cream. We figured no harm in trying. I ttied and tried and tried some more. 90 minutes later and still no ride. Back into the woods for a nice afternoon walk. We stopped at Old Forge Park which was really pretty and cooked dinner since there was a water spigot. Walked an easy mile up to this double shelter. In southern Pennsylvania there are two shelters at each spot. they each sleep 4 or 5. We have one of them to ourselves. Johnny Gritz and Lokit and Poki ar in the otehr one. We certaihly did not get too far considering the terrain but it was one of the most fun days I've had out here.
Date: 2013-06-09
From: tumbling run shelter

To: quarry gap shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: broken clouds

Had an awesome cheeseburger from a pool snack bar in caledonia state park. Spent 2 hours in a public restroom trying to dry things out with a hand dryer while charging the phone. Met banzai, an aerospace engineer with a mba, 3 years younger than me, who already decided to give up on the business world, enroll in seminary for a second masters in divinity, and become a monk. Spent hours chatting with him, he seemed very happy to have someone who could converse on his level. The next shelter, while very pretty with landscaped flowers and statuettes, was full of bums, drunk locals, a family with a human aggressive collie, and a very loud and obnoxious autistic kid I had to rescue from a large black rat snake. so we wandered out and set up tent camps to continue discussions without interruption because banzai was getting fed up with that kind of situation. Both our tents leaked in the ensuing downpour that night so all my hand dryer work was lost.
Date: 2013-06-10
From: quarry gap shelter

To: toms run shelter
Miles today: 13.6

Soaked tent and gear now weigh an extra 5lbs. Pack up and bail out into the rain anyway to escape quarry gap.   Sun comes out after a few hours and I pass the official AT midpoint which is irrelevant to my trip but cool to read the log to see how happy all the people who started in georgia in march are. Tough day but got good miles in. Started to rain again as soon as I hit the evening shelter which was full of strange thru hikers. One had a 75lb pack that included an atomic alarm clock...and was convinced the government was after him, apparently hiding out in paranoia. Two were twitchy old guys in their 60s, hard to understand them or what they were about. Last was a younger guy named sherlock smoking a long glass tobacco pipe, had 6 kids, worked as a cell tower and wind turbine foreman, and was ex army ranger. He is the first person I've met who is doing the same flipflop hike as me. He was pretty animated so banzai and I just kicked back and listened to the oddball conversations all evening. Everyone seemed interested in bitcoin for some reason so I contributed a little. I could see what was getting on banzais nerves though.
Date: 2003-05-16
From: Toms Run shelters

To: Alec Kennedy shelter
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: light rain

Woke up to rain and cold, never a good combination. I got up early but lay in my bag and read for a while. Gurnt and Squirts had left early to get their maildrops picked up. I prepared to be soaked and hit the Trail at 8:15. The Trail was a river and my feet were soaked in minutes. It was momentarily frustrating but I soon tried to make light of it and stay positive. After 3.5 miles of sloshing I hit the official 2003 halfway point of the Trail. I was alone but let out a big yell.Now I get to do it all over again. Got to Ironmasters Hostel and dried out for an h our or so. Saw Sean the caretaker who i had met at the Rock back in January. He's a real nice guy and let us use the kitchen to make soup and hang out. Back into the rain for 9 miles until we hit Green Mountain General Store just .2 off the Trail. Was able to warm up and polished off a turkey sub, orange juice, big big party mix, pint of Moosetracks ice cream and a Snickers ice cream bar. Called home and back to the Trail by 4:15. On our walk back to the Trail, we met Jerry, the local crazy. He rode around on a little pink bikes with no brakes in the rain and called us crazy for hiking in this weather. Jerry had a good point and started seeming less crazy the more I thought about it. Boiling Springs for breakfast tomorrow.
Date: 2013-06-11
From: toms run shelter

To: james fry shelter
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: mist

Morning rain, banzai long gone.Afternoon hit the park store with the half gallon ice cream challenge. I chickened out and did my own 1 pint 1 pepsi challenge. Scored a free hot shower. Sherlock broke his pipe. Nice day after that, did a huge hill climb at army ranger pace.
Date: 2003-05-17
From: Alec Kennedy shelter

To: Darlington shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Another cold morning. So tough to put on wet clothes when you are dry and warm in the shelter. Didn't leave till about 9:30. Made great timing down the hill and into Boiling Springs by 10:30. We crossed over Yellow Britches Creek and tons of guys were out fly fishing. Supposedly it's got tons of trout. We also passed lots of bikers in turn on a race for diabetes. We hung out at the very friendly ATC office. We left our packs there while we ate at the cafe. Had a nice meal and ice cream of course. Picked up my maildrop. We had a 16 mile flat section through the Cumberland Valley. All farm walking through extremely wet grass. I thought it would be a nice change of pace from the woods but it was pretty boring. I guess it woulda been pretty if the sun was out and but it was another gloomy white sky day. Our feet were pretty wet from the grass until we hit the river. We had been walking next to Connecticut Creek for a mile or so and finally hit a spot where the creek spilled over where the Trail was. The Trail was flooded up to our shins and we had no choice but to walk through it. Once I got over the initial sting of coldness it was kinda fun. After Grunt and I walked through it we realized we needed pictures to go with it so we actually walked back and went through it again. Feet were totally soaked but I've been kinda used to it the last couple of weeks. Felt like I hadn't seen the sun in ages. Arrived at the shelter at 5:15, fairly early and saw tons of tents set up. Figured the shelter ws full ut only Southern was there. A big church youth group was here as well as ridgerunners in training. Scored some s'mores and other goodies. Suirts showed up at 8:15 after spending the day with his buddy. Into Duncannon tomorrow and the famous Doyle Hotel
Date: 2013-06-12
From: james fry shelter

To: boiling springs, pa
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

quick update for now, been too rainy or had no reception for several days now. battery running low, hope to be in boiling springs for some r&r either tonight if i make a huge run for it or tomorrow before the big thunderstorm comes in.Eta- charged down to boiling springs with sherlock, checked myself into old hotel with playhouse. Weather channel streaming alerts about how bad the rain, thunderstorms, and tornadoes will be by morning. Almost certainly taking my first zero day tomorrow and enjoying the pool. Sherlock resupplied and backtracked 3 miles to the shelter up the hill. I went to the post office and mailed home about 4lbs of gear I can do without to lighten my pack, including my still damp tent. Might regret it by the northern states but just have to take that chance. Weight is killing me.Anything liquid, hazardous, fragile, or perishable? Ummmm, nope.
Date: 2003-05-18
From: Darlington shelter

To: Duncannon, PA 
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning the rain was coming down and we got an early start intending to get dry in Duncannon, a bit of a hiker milestone. A town one would never know about unless hiking the Trail. That's what makes the Trail such a special place.Squirt's friend Kevin was attempting to meet up with us to walk the last 9 or so miles into town. We got to a little used road which sat next to miles and miles of farmland. Luckily Kevin and his dad pulled up as soon as we approached the parking lot. It was tough standing in the cold rain while him and his dad went over their logistics for pickup. Squirts and Kevin are friends from college so they had a good time catching up on things. The walk, once up to the ridge, was rocky and a tad mundane. I was really suprised at how well Kevin kept up. He is in good shape and planning on joining the military. He got an accurate depiction of the Trail, walking thru rocks and rain, something us veterans have grown accustomed to the past month. After a quick stop at Hawk Rock to spy the graffiti and view of the valley, we approached town. The last mile was a serious drop and the trail was a rock field. This is the PA rocks we've heard so much about. It was about a mile walk thru town until we approached the Doyle, the infamous 100-yr old Annheiser Busch Hotel. The bar was closed today (since it's sunday) and we couldn't find any trace of an employee. We even followed the direction to knock on a neighbors door to ask and no one seemed to be able to help. After going over to pig out at the Italian joint, we finally found Wanda, a wonderful homely woman who set us up with a room for the night. I called home today and my mom informed me that my brother was driving home from Pittsburgh with Kim, his finance. I gave them a call and they were enroute to NY and said they would stop by. Well Wanda gave a couple hikers a lift to the grocery store and we did our thing, zoning out at times, alert at others, comparing prices, packability and weight (it's disgusting really). When I was checking out I see my brother and sister-in-law waiting for me! It was great to see them, even in such a random setting as the Duncannon supermarket. We drove back to the Doyle and talked for a couple minutes. They had to get back home and still had quite a drive, but it was great to have some contact with the real world, even briefly. Squirts and Kevin and Grunt went to see the Matrix. I stayed in favor of relaxing and getting some errands done. Of course I stuffed my face. Afterall it's what I do best
Date: 2003-05-19
From: Duncannon, PA 

To: Peters Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: clear sky

Was woken up at 7:30 by Subman who brought Brian, my best friend, and his mom and grandfather into my room. What a surprise! I happened to call Brian last night and left a message on his cell phone telling him I was in Duncannon. He told his mom of my whereabouts and turns out they were only 30 minutes away at his gradnparents'. It was great to see them and catch up on news from friends at home. Ate a big brunch at Jodi's Cafe. After that I polished off thre donuts. Grunt and I went to the local church to get on the internet. Hadn't been on for a while but was able to update journal and email a bit. The bar at the Doyle opened at 11 a.m. and it was soon time for luch. I ate a huge greasy burger with Grunt, Squirts, Subman and Flick. I watched as all of them drank beer after beer. We only had to go 11 miles so no rush at all. Finally we walked the Trail over to 3 B's Ice Cream. I had a coffee milkshake and polished that off with a huge banana split. I think that was the first time I 've spent 8 bucks on ice cream alone. We were all pretty sick but had to hit that good old AT finally at 3:15. Had a great walk alone all afternoon. A hot walk thru town and across the Susquehanna river bridge. Not really the wilderness scenary one romantizes about when thinking about the AT. Climb out of town was tough with all the food I consumed. Great ridge walk during my favorite time of day. Pulled in at 7:05 to this large very nice shelter. Here is Firewood, Southern Yankee, Subman, Two Dogs, Jail Break, Squirts and Grunt. Had an absolutely wonderful stay in Duncannon. Small town with all hikers need. This was one of the first town stops where I was really abel tot rest and relax a bit. The Doyle was awesome. Every bad thing I heard was not true. Clean place and friendly people. thanks so much to Wanda, who does everything at this place. She bent over backwards for us hikers. One of my best town stays by far. Life is good.
Date: 2013-06-14
From: boiling springs, pa

To: cove mountain shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: light rain

Long day, sunup to sundown, to get close enough to duncannon to make a run to the post office before it closes at noon for the weekend. Really beautiful weather, tons of ripe mulberries to munch on and good smelling honeysuckle covering everything. Finally saw a few deer, found I can sneak up on them if I don't use my poles. 22 miles was a little much with the rocks and elevation changes, but i realized ill be doing marathon (26.2) distances every day like its no big deal. And I swore id never do another marathon. Weird.
Date: 2003-05-21
From: PA 443/Kevins house

To: 501 shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Didn't get up until 9:30 very late sleeping in. Squirts discovered a cavity and started calling dentists to get an appointment. It took us forever to get going and finally got out and ate a big lunch. Didn't hit the Trail until 1;30! Crummy, cold, overcast day that we have gotten used to. Supposed to rain for the next 10 days. Locals are saying this has been a record with rain. My shins and knees have been bothering me of late. I may have pushed it too hard the last month or so. We've cut down on the mileage, but it is still rough. Today was tough. I was walking by myself and I started thinking about how hard this has become. I think I've just been in a little funk. the weather has sucked and I've been out for a long time. I was just reading Liteshoe's journal and she talks about the unspoken desire to quit among through hikers. Many successful hikers say there was never a day that went by where they didn't consider quitting. I haven't thought about it much since I started and never seriously considered it, although it's turning into a bit of a mental challenge. The views and scenery have been replaced by cars and roads and the mountain climbs have been replaced by the daunting task of stepping up, around and over sharp jagged rocks. Tomorrow another day. Trying 24 miles into Port Clinton. The rocks are supposed to be bad, but we'll see.
Date: 2013-06-16
From: peters mountain shelter

To: yellow springs campsite
Miles today: 13.4

Didn't get much sleep because a bat managed to fly in around 2am and couldn't figure how to get itself out. Then about 4am this noise like a large hospital or campus fire alarm buzzer going off woke me up in a panic. Somewhat nervously woke up Banzai to ask what was going on and he sleepily explained it to be a zombie horde of ten bajillion cicadas that all decided to arise at that moment. This helped me sleep some. I had noticed one or two strange bee-like insects on the ground in the twilight the night before but just assumed that was what bees did out here. By morning the full scope of the cicada invasion was apparent. There were little burrow holes everywhere, sometimes 10 in a square foot. all the trees and bushes were covered with brown husks or bright green cicadas. It was one of the more spectacular natural phenomena I've witnessed. Within under 8 hours this massive army of noisemakers woke up as if on a single robotic command.Tried to make it 18 miles to the next shelter and my body finally gave out on me. At 13 miles I could barely walk anymore so limped to a little trailside campground clearing and set up eric-the-half-a-tent. (I sent home the actual tent a day or two ago due to weight, and just have the rain-fly and poles now. I hadn't anticipated a bajillion crawling insects being present so figured I could live without bug protection.) Started a little campfire and rigged a cooking mechanism with a stick and my titanium spork for my spam dinner. At this point a deer comes walking up and checks me out from about 15 feet away. I explain to her she's not getting any of my spam and its awful anyway so she casually wanders over to my tent to see what else I had to offer. This goes on for half an hour while I alternately burn my spam and shoo this deer off. Eventually it gets dark and I realize how silly this situation is. I'm out at least 50 miles from the nearest road, no cell service, closest human is at least 5 miles away, and I'm bickering with a deer in the moonlight. I get my knife out, stab it into the dirt next to me in my half tent, and go to sleep. The deer and I think most of her friends came by at random hours all night to stand 3 feet from me and sniff at my tent.
Date: 2003-05-22
From: 501 shelter

To: Port Clinton
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: few clouds

Subman's light was on at 4:15 a.m. or some ridculous hour close to that. I had a hard time falling back to sleep and was up real early and on the Trail by 6:30. Figured rain would come but it held up all day. Flat easy walk all day.Did hit some rocky sections but nothing too bad. Saw a woodpecker pecking into a hollow log lying on the ground not 20 feet away. Pretty cool. About 10 a.m. I caught Subman. It was relieving to know that he actually hikes since I only see him at shelters. Another very cool day temperature wise but ideal for hiking. Hit a real steep descent into Port Clinton. Short and not sweet. Got into town at 2:30, grabbed my maildrop and hit the Outfitter. Bought new shoes. Unique Trail runners but different ones than I have. Donated them to the hiker box. When we got to town everyone was waiting where Flick was. Apparently he is a celebrity. The guys at the fire department wre waiting for his arrival. They are big NASCAR fans and he works on Kyle Petty's cars. They read about him on the internet since he is raising money for charity. They all invited us to their club which was basically an underground bar. We first had a delicious dinner at the Port Clinton Hotel. subman, Grunt, Squirts, Grunt, Southern Yankee and I. The three of us are staying at the free Pavilion in town. It's kinda loud, but hey its free.
Date: 2013-06-17
From: yellow springs campsite

To: lickdale, pa
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: light rain

Woke up to find my food bag happily still hanging where I left it. Sleeping bag covered with cicadas, unsure how they managed to stay off my face but thankful for that. There were notes of an 1850s coal mining settlement a mile off trail and my body was telling me it didn't want to hike, so I worked out an arrangement where id leave my pack at camp, go see the mining ruins, and then only do the five remaining miles to last night's original goal. This seemed reasonable to all involved.The coal ruins turned out to be an ore cart railway, and a huge 80ft coal furnace or tower of some sort, along with various old bricks and rock walls. Took some pictures and grabbed some of the glittering chunks of coal still lying around everywhere as souvenirs and to see if it burns or what (never seen actual coal before.) Grabbed my pack, kicked the cicadas out, put on some moleskin in an attempt to keep my feet put together and did a painful 5 miles to the shelter. The shelter was a really pretty rebuild of an old 1971 one that had fallen into disrepair. They used the original rockwork but the top half looked like what you'd get if you had an architecture student design a "modern" log cabin. It was pretty slick, and even had a spring that surfaced right in the front patio area with a gold mining trough for washing up and then fell off into a little waterfall for effect. After a while a hiker named Heavy Panter id met back in duncannon came by, also looking pretty tired. He'd hiked from duncannon that day, so 30 miles. He'd already done some of the pacific crest trail, some continental divide trail, and most of the appalachian trail except had to leave last winter due to injury and snow. This was his first day back trying to complete the AT.   We discussed crashing there but eventually decided on going another 6 miles to the town (truckstop) of Lickdale, PA for various reasons. For me it was shower, laundry, jacuzzi, and getting reliable sleep. Got a wendys baconator and some icecream in my stomach, and now I really desperately need to get some sleep. Kinda losing feeling in some of the toes and bones in my right foot, and the pad of my left. Tomorrow looks like an 11 mile day, with option to copout and do only 7. Not sure why I feel so guilty about doing less than 10 miles, and the drive to beat my 13ish mile average is unbearably strong. Makes no sense but its there and won't go away. Just trying to plan better so I don't get stuck doing 20s again for a while until my feet are back in working order.
Date: 2003-05-25
From: Lehigh Gap

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: light rain

What a surprise. Another overcast day. Started with a fun climb out of Lehigh Gap. It was hand and hand climbing over rocks and boulders up 1000 feet. IT was really fun. What was at the top wasn't. The mountain is an EPA Superfund site that's badly scarred from zinc smelting. Looked like a scene from Jurassic Park. The fog made it really eerie. The ridge was pretty rocky all day long. Stopped at Leroy Smith shelter and left more goodies for my buddies. Chatted with Subman for a while. Also there was Hutch and Sparrow and Just an Echo. The next five miles were all rocks. not what you want at the end of the day. Got down to the Wind Gap at exactly 6:00 to meet my folks.
Date: 2013-06-20
From: eagles nest shelter

To: port clinton, pa
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: light rain

Really sharp rocky uphill, an epic picture of a raven flying off a cliff, then a 1000ft steep rocky downhill into town. Wanted to go the remaining 6ish miles to the next shelter but just couldn't. Grabbed lunch, looks like this town has a candy shop, a run down hotel, a motorcycle shop, and a barber. That's it. Got my hair done and hung out with some hikers from 501 shelter, then Bag of Tricks rolls up (of duncannon lore) in his car and tells us dirty hikers to get off the sidewalk. followed by stories of all the ways we could shortcut tomorrow. Offers to take our packs up the road and drop them at the next shelter so we can hike light tomorrow. We'll see if that pans out. Then he tells us about a rock to go cliff diving so panter and I went down there and did some swimming with the locals. Gonna try to uploadpics but there just hasn't been a solid data connection anywhere in over a week.