morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2021-05-22
From: Stealth campsite 

To: Piney Knob Shelter 
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: overcast clouds

We left our stealth campsite about 7:30am. Boy, was the trail busy! Every Boy and Girl Scout troop in the area was hiking and camping out. Lots of day hikers too. Part of today¢s journey took us through a meadow full of flowering berry bushes. Come back in July and there will be a ton of wild berries to pick! The only downside was the static hum emitted by the power lines overhead. That was unnerving to listen to. In the afternoon we began the climb up Stone Mountain where the first Washington monument was built in 1827.  Before we climbed up to the monument, we took a rest at the campground below. While sitting at a picnic table talking there was a BOOM so loud and close that it reverberated through us! When we climbed up towards the monument, there was another BOOM. We got to the top and saw that they were indeed shooting off a Civil War cannon. There were several re-enactors there and they were showing people about the cannon and artillery of the time. We hiked up and saw the original Washington Monument, built by the folks in Boonsboro, MD in 1827. We were able to climb up inside and the view at the top was really something. I don¢t know that I had heard of there being another Washington Monument other than the one in DC. Love all this history!!Hiked 13.7 miles ending at Piney Knob Shelter, a shelter built in 1939 by the CCC.
Date: 2021-05-25
From: Waynesboro, PA - Cobblestone Hotel

To: Rocky Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke today and finished prepping our food to carry. Instant Breakfast had to be mixed with powdered milk and put into bags. Cold cereal had to be divided up into bags and powdered milk added. Then everything was put into a waterproof bag depending upon what meal it was for. Samurai Blue picked up Lighthouse and us. We were dropped off at Penmar Road. Picture-taking, goodbyes, and thanks all around. Samurai Blue¢s only acceptable payment was that you sign his logbook. Lighthouse was a couple miles ahead of us so he was dropped off on Rt 30. We started out 9-ish and had several wicked uphills to climb. We didn¢t stop to rest while going up so we feel like we must finally be getting stronger. We met a PATC Trail Runner fixing water runoff ditches on the trail. His name was Phase Two and he had been maintaining that section of trail for 15 years. He said that he got that section when the man before him retired from doing it after 40 years. The man was 90 years old when he retired from trail work! Phase Two said he loves it and they will have to take his section from him when he dies. He said that he had worked on the trail for a number of years but couldn¢t relate to the hikers because he hadn¢t hiked it so he began section hiking it until he had done the whole thing. Interesting man to talk to. Something I don¢t think I¢ve mentioned is our signal. Sometimes one of us has to stop, so the other will just keep hiking. If, after a bit, the other person hasn¢t caught up, one of us will yell ¢Ca caw!¢. The other person responds with a ¢Ca caw!¢ and we can gauge how far apart we are. If you need help, you ¢Ca caw¢ 3 times. So far we haven¢t had to use that. Thank goodness. We passed through a beautiful shelter named Tumbling Run. It¢s a newer shelter with 2 shelters and a pavilion between. them. The privy! It had 2 rows of toilet paper rolls and hand sanitizer and an air freshener! Primo privy! First privy I¢ve seen with TP!We ended the day at the Rocky Mountain Shelter. It was .3 miles straight down. It was actually 2 small shelters and we were the only ones in the 2nd shelter so we had it all to ourselves. I volunteered to get water. Dummy! .4 miles all the way down to the road at the bottom of the hill! And then you needed a scoop to get water. I ended up filling our platys by scooping the water into my hands and pouring it into the platy. It took a while. And then I had to hike back up.It was a good day though because we hiked 15 miles!
Date: 2021-05-27
From: Stealth campsite near PATC cabin

To: Stealth campsite past Pine Furnace State Park 
Miles today: 13.89
Weather: light rain

Well the storm came back AGAIN last night! Three times we had to put up with thunder, lightning, and pouring rain. We had forgotten to stake out the ends of the canopy so during the lull, David ran out and did it and also put leaves along the edges of the tent to help block the rain from going under the tent. I think we came out better this morning for it. >span class="s1">We had a cold breakfast of Instant Breakfast and cereal. We had to pack up a wet canopy. The tent wasn¢t bad. A little damp on the bottom. David had put his perspiration-soaked clothes out on trees so they were wet too. He attached his shirt, pants, and underwear to the back of his pack with carabiners. I felt like I was walking behind a moving clothesline. I told him I was going to change his trail name to Laundromat. We started out from camp about 7:45am. We came to a road crossing with a parking area and the sun was out with a nice breeze. We unpacked everything and laid it out in the sun to dry. There was a picket fence along the road. We laid wet clothes and bags on it. We looked like we were having a yard sale!Once we were dry again, off we went. After a bit we were approaching Tom¢s Run Shelter and you had to cross a pretty little bridge before it. There were a couple of big rocks and I slipped on one. I tried to catch myself with my poles but at the angle I was falling and the weight on my back, it just dragged me down. I had to remove my pack to get up. I couldn¢t move. I was more shaken up than hurt.The morning was damp and our clothes felt damp and clammy. Such a fun feeling to put against your skin.Our goal for the day was the ATC regional office in Pine Furnace. It has a museum and a hiker¢s lounge where you can relax and recharge your electronics. There is also a store near it where you can get grilled food and some resupply. We made it into Pine Furnace after passing the sign that tells you that you are at the halfway point of the AT. 1090.5 miles! The store was expensive. $12.00 for a hamburger and fries. We just got some chocolate milk and a snack. Then we looked around to find the museum. A woman sitting at the table behind us said that she had volunteered at the museum for 10 years but they were having trouble getting volunteers now so it was closed. We were really disappointed! The whole day seemed like a wash. :(We hiked out of Pine Furnace State Park and started the uphill climb. About 4:30 we decided to call it a day and found a nice stealth site. A dinner of rice with cheese and broccoli (Knorr¢s Sides only $1.00) capped the day. David hung our food bags and we were chilling out by 6pm. I did notice that I had a lovely bruise on my knee from where I face planted. It calls for rain all day tomorrow starting at 11am so we hope to be at the James Fry Shelter by then to ride it out. We hiked 13.89 miles today.
Date: 2021-05-28
From: Stealth campsite past Pine Furnace State Park 

To: Stealth campsite before Alec Kennedy Shelter 
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: scattered clouds

We left our stealth campsite north of Pine Furnace State Park about 7:05am. For the second night in a row we had both had a really good night¢s sleep. Rain was due today by noon so we got up and ate quickly so we could get some miles in before the rain. We watched the weather online when we could and the rain kept getting pushed out farther. Yay! Now it was due by 4pm. We were hoping to get to the Alec Kennedy Shelter before the rain. Then we started up and at the top were the most humongous rocks! We had to climb up, over, around, and even through giant rocks! I have to give it to the Cumberland Valley AT Club. They mark their trails well. In addition to numerous white blazes, especially on rock scrambles, they include big arrows too. Thanks CVATC!Well, we had two of those to go over. There were times we probably should have taken off our packs to get through the rocks but we were lazy. There was also a point where David threw his poles up on the top rock and then I had to push him from below for him to get up. He then reached down and pulled me up. We were glad to be doing this before the rain. We finally got down and started up the next one toward the shelter. It was 3pm by now and the rain was due at 4pm so we started looking for a stealth site because it was still a couple miles to the shelter. A couple of the tentsites listed on Guthook were not where it said they were but we found one and got the tent set up. Just as we finished, it started to sprinkle. We threw everything in the tent and it began pouring. It poured the rest of the day, but we were able to hike 12.5 miles by 3pm. Yay for us!
Date: 2021-05-29
From: Stealth campsite before Alec Kennedy Shelter 

To: Carlisle, PA
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: light snow

It rained all night. The canopy held up well even being soaked. Inside the tent was hot and humid so our clothes were damp. We are close to Carlisle, PA so we will get a hotel there and dry out... again. Quality Inn offers hikers. $60 room for 2 and a laundry room. Sweet!We decided to eat breakfast later at the next shelter and get going as soon as we could to outhike the additional rain coming. We got to the Alec Kennedy Shelter but it was .2 down and there was a nice flat tent site across the trail, so we ate breakfast there. We hiked into Boiling Springs and it is a quaint little town. It has a big pond in the center of town. It is so clear and clean. There were a lot of older guys fishing around it. There were some beautiful big homes around it too. We stopped at this diner called Caffe 101. David was hoping for a late big breakfast but they had just stopped serving breakfast. He was bummed. He is a breakfast guy. We had lunch instead. I had a chicken bacon wrap and he had a Reuben sandwich. The portions were huge. We could have split a plate! We saw 3 hikers we have been leap frogging with for the last few days: Spirit, Whippoorwill, and Defcon. They are headed to Carlisle to dry out too and staying at the same hotel. The temps were cool and there was a breeze so we suited up with warm clothes under our rain gear. (Later we found out that there is an actual boiling spring in town that you can see. Darn it! We missed it!)The trail was flat but most was under the Green Tunnel so we were really warm in all our clothes, but the idea of a warm DRY bed kept us pushing on. The rain had abated for a bit but we knew more was due. At one point in our hike we came upon an old cemetery just next to the trail. The markers showed graves from the 1800¢s. It had a small fence around it. The old stones were so fascinating. The way they worded things back then, giving the exact age of a person right down to the month. We got to the hotel just as it started to sprinkle. Now the work begins to dry everything out.It took well over an hour to blow dry the tent and canopy with a hair dryer again. We pulled everything out from our packs too to try and get the dampness out of it. Good day, though. 13 miles hiked.
Date: 2021-05-30
From: Carlisle, PA Quality Inn

To: Stealth campsite south of Cove Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

We packed up and left the Quality Inn in Carlisle. For you Hilton and Hyatt snobs, and you know who you are ;) the Quality Inn was very, very nice. :)We got on the trail about 10am. There were a couple of young guys getting on trail at the same time. We saw them for a second and whoosh! they were gone. Man, can those kids hike fast!The trail continued like yesterday, very level and easy walking. It was muddy and very slippery at points though. You wouldn¢t think a tree root would be slippery but, oh boy, are they. There were a lot of wooden bridges and boardwalks. It was a nice walk.Now yesterday when we were leaving Boiling Springs, the weather was cool and there was a breeze so we put on warmer clothes under our rain gear. Then we sweat like crazy because we ended up walking in the Green Tunnel for 98% of the time. We had been told of beautiful pastures. Now today, we don¢t dress as warmly (the temp was 48 degrees!) since we think we¢ll be in the Tunnel again and instead are walking out in pastures. Oh well.The pastures were beautiful. The sky was cloudy so we didn¢t have to worry about sunburn. There were beautiful purple wild flowers and small daisies. Some of the field grass was up to my shoulders.When we hiked in 2019, we spent a week hiking 80 miles in PA with 2 of our hiker friends, Braveheart and Cowboy. Today we came to the exact place where we had gotten on trail then. So the next 80 miles will be a repeat for us but thats ok. Like I said we have seen some really pretty scenery today. We had planned to hike to the Cove Mountain Shelter. The hike up was straight up, no switchbacks. It was exhausting. Made us think we were back in GA. We were about 2.6 miles out from the shelter when we came to a view overlooking the Susquehanna River and Duncannon and it just beautiful. It¢s cold as crap and still cloudy but we couldn¢t resist the idea of waking up to that view. So we set up camp. We had several hikers come by to see the view and chat. Stubbs chatted for a while and we thoroughly enjoyed his company. The forecast is nice weather for the next 3 days. We will hit Duncannon tomorrow and planned a while ago to stay at the Doyle Hotel there. Old hotel with a lot of history.Hiked 11 miles today.
Date: 2021-06-01
From: Duncannon, PA - The Doyle Hotel 

To: Stealth campsite past PeterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke to a toasty room and were dressed and over to Goodies for breakfast right when she opened at 7am. David ordered pancakes and eggs and the serving was huge! Fortunately I let my stomach overrule my eyes and just had 2 pieces of French toast and a piece of bacon with 2 cups of hot tea. I¢ll be paying for all that tea later with numerous potty stops.The AT literally runs right through Duncannon via High Street. There are some pretty homes on that street. Finally made it to the bridge to cross the Susquehanna River. Then the hike put was up, up, up. There were lots of switchbacks though so that made it easier. The humidity was bad down near the river but as we got higher it wasn¢t as bad. And once we reached the ridge, the walk wasn¢t bad. Just all those damn rocks!We hiked this section in 2019 so we looked for familiar sights. We found the spot that we had camped at with Ladypoles. It had a beautiful view of the river so we took our break there and relaxed for a bit. The rest of the day was just hiking, hiking , hiking. We wanted to get to a tent site that was just before you started down Peter¢s Mountain but it was just too far. We stopped and stealth camped that night after 15.1 miles. That was a good day.
Date: 2021-06-02
From: Stealth campsite 

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: haze

We slept in a little this morning because we were just so darned tired. They say that Pennsylvania is where boots go to die. I have 1000 miles on my boots now and they are just starting to show wear on top. The tread on the bottom still looks good. But besides your boots, PA really does a number on your feet. Last night my feet were aching so bad I was just about limping as we set up camp.Even sleeping in a little we were still on the trail by 7:45am. Rain is due by 1pm so we are hoping to be near a shelter or camped by then. As we hiked we kept leap-frogging a hiker named Cairnkicker. She is a 9th & 10th grade Earth Science and Biology teacher in PA. She has hiked all over and was so fun to talk to. We stopped for lunch and sat on a log. There was a military training area nearby and we spent our lunch listening to the sounds of artillery fire. Automatic weapons and some bigger, deeper sounding ones too. Ah, the lovely sounds of nature! When we were hiking out of Carlisle a few days back, some yahoo was shooting off rounds right near the trail. All I could think was ¢I hope AT hiker isn¢t on the menu.¢One thing we passed that was sad was a large stream coming down from the mountain. The water and all the rocks and ground around it were orange. Cairnkicker was with us and said it was AMD - Acid Mining Drainage. She said the color was basically rust (iron) mixed with arsenic and other poisonous items. It was horrible and sad.Today was hard. We were just not feeling it and had to really push ourselves. We did get a little sprinkle of rain but nothing much. But the humidity was bad. At times I felt like a hamster on a wheel. We hiked and hiked and it just felt like we were going nowhere. We did get a boost from a trail angel named Billy. He had drinks and snacks and we chatted with him for a bit. That lifted our spirits and helped us end up at Rausch Gap Shelter - 14.2 miles! So yay for us. Now we¢re going to bed (at 6:30pm).
Date: 2021-06-03
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: Lickdale/Jonestown
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up in Rausch Gap Shelter. It really was a beautiful shelter with grassy sites for tenters. There were hills on either side with trees and grasses - it almost looked landscaped. The walk in was smooth and level with gravel. The only downfall was the helicopters that flew back and forth in the distance all night (from the military training facility near by).  At least that is what David said. I was dead to the world as soon as my head hit the sleeping bag. David said that he ended up taking a sleeping pill when it became 9:30pm and he couldn¢t sleep for the noise. We were able to check the weather (phone service was very spotty) and it showed rain coming at noon and possibly all day Friday. We ate breakfast and packed up quickly and got on the trail. It was about 6 miles into the town of Lickdale/Jonestown and a Days Inn. We were tired of hiking in the rain! There have been more days of rain than days of sunshine here. What is the deal with the weather, PA??One of the really interesting parts of today¢s hike was the beaver dam we had to cross. Back in 2018 a group of beavers built these huge dams in a part of the Swatara Creek in the Swatara State Park. The ATC offers a 1.6 mile dry alternate route but Guthook comments said that it wasn¢t that hard to cross. As we got to the dam, 2 hikers were coming across southbound and said that it wasn¢t bad, just take your time. So that¢s what we did! At one point I put my pole in the water and started to lean on it when it suddenly sank another 6 inches. Fortunately I didn¢t sink with it. There were tricky spots walking on wet logs. If your foot slipped off, you¢d end up in the water and mud. We made it across though with dry boots. So we got to route 72 and crossed under the bridge of Swatara Creek, though it looked more like a river to me. Then we had to take the rail-to-trail path 2.3 miles into town. Miles that, unfortunately, don¢t count in our daily AT mileage. :(We got to the Days Inn just as it began to sprinkle. My aching feet were so happy Another couple hikers that camped with us the night before were there too.Today¢s mileage: 6.1 miles not including 2.3 into town
Date: 2021-06-05
From: William Penn Shelter 

To: Black Swatara Creek campsite 
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

We woke early today mainly because we had a full campsite and when one person gets up early everybody kind of gets up too. We were on the trail by 7:15am so that was good. We want to get into Port Clinton/Hamburg tomorrow so we want to get as many miles in today so we have less the next day.The trail was pretty level and nice starting out and we made good time. Of course, then it got rocky again. Rocks in the trail, rock scrambles, rocks everywhere.We came to a section of the trail and there were a number of tents set up and we could hear voices and yelling in the distance. Spirit was there and said she heard there was a zip line down at the reservoir. We all went down to check it out. There was, indeed, a zip line and folks were swinging down it and dropping into the water or going straight across to the other side. We talked to the guy manning the zip line (Kevin or trail name ¢Mr. Wood¢ (he has a tree service)). He said they come down here whenever they can and they set up and take down the zip line each time. They had tents and grills and looked like they were there for the weekend. Mr. Wood said that way back this had been a hydro-electric plant and then they just stopped using it and left it and it became a really nice swimming hole.Back to the zip line: Spirit said ¢I¢m doing it!¢ She emptied her pockets and put on her sandals and zipped down and dropped into the water. She said the water was freezing, but she did it again. Then David said he would do it but just wanted to zip to the other side. I filmed it. I was anxious about doing it but knew I would regret it if I didn¢t. So I did!! David filmed it. I spun around while going down. Don¢t know how I did that! That was so much fun!!We finally left and got back on trail (It was hard to leave!). Back to the rocks!We passed a monument that told of a fort back in 1755 that had been there as a lookout to warn of the approach of enemies during the French and Indian war.  What a cool thing to find kind of in the middle of nowhere. We were going down one trail that was grasses on either side when David jumped back a foot when he heard the rattle! There on the right side of the trail, hidden by grass, was a giant black rattlesnake! It had to have been 5-6 inches around! We threw a few rocks toward it to get it to move on. It rattled at us again and we walked past VERY quickly. A little ways down we were looking for a water source and ... Trail Magic! Someone had left jugs and bottles of water! We filled up and just a ways after we found our stealth camp for the night. We¢re trying something new and only have the canopy over half of the top of the tent. It was so hot with it completely covered. Well see how it works. (Pickles and Fire Daddy had said they always left their canopy off because it was cooler and they could see the trees or stars, depending on where they were.)Whipperpoorwill, Defcon, and Spirit joined us about an hour later. Town and resupply tomorrow.We did 14.7 miles today!