morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-19
From: Ensign Cowell Shelter

To: Tumbling Run Shelter
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: haze

(Erin) We woke up at our usual time of 6:33am. Most of the people at the shelter had left but there were still a few younger people left, plus Mountain Mike and his cute dog Pumpkin. We had 9 miles to get to Pen-Mar Park and then just past the park was the Mason-Dixon Line. We took a break about 5 miles from the park and it was already showing to be a very hot day, at least it felt like it was in the upper 90¢s. Before we reached the park I think that Maryland wanted to kick our butts just one last time so we zigzagged through piles and piles of boulders. Will says that these rocks are just practice for what¢s to come in PA. So we made it to Pen-Mar Park and were able to place an order for some food to be delivered to the park. I had a hamburger and Will had a turkey sub. We met the parks care-taker and he told us about the nasty weather that was coming our way. He said that we were suppose to get 60 mph winds and hail, so we ate quickly and then started to hike to the next shelter, the first one in PA. We made the 5 miles in 2 hours along with 15 other people including 6 southbound section hikers. The thunder had rolled in so we watched as it rained a little, not nearly what we had anticipated. After the rain passed we geared up and hiked the 2.4 to the next shelter. We made it in an hour and since it still had not started to rain we decided to push it a little more and get to the next shelter only 1.2 away. The sky stayed dark but the storm never came.      The Tumble Run shelters were very nice. It was funny to think that there were 14 or more people only 3 miles back squeezing into 2 tiny shelter and we had 2 all to ourselves.  They were actually twin shelters one named ¢Non-snoring¢ the other ¢Snoring¢. We set our tent up in the Non-snoring shelter, and then we ate some snack food and went to bed. The rain has still not come, and I wonder if it will tonight??
Date: 2007-06-20
From: Tumbling Run Shelter

To: Quarry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: scattered clouds

(Willie)Well we never really got that big storm last night, but there was still a big difference in the weather today. Instead of the hot sticky stuff we¢ve been dealing with, we had a nice breezy day with temps in the low 80's. If you ask me, that sounds like a perfect day to be by the pool. That wasn¢t really the plan, but that¢s pretty much what ended up happening. We started the day with nice gentle climb that was just enough to get the blood pumping before the rocks started. It wasn¢t much compared to what I know is still to come, but it was still enough to make it hard to follow the trail. Just as Radar and his bloody knee who took a little detour and had a rough time getting back to the trail. Thankfully, between the sets of rocks we had some nice stretches of trail so our over all pace was still pretty good. We got to the Caledonia State Park around 1:30 and hit up the concession stand for lunch. By the time we ate and were ready to start walking again it was about 3:30 and neither one of us felt like pushing 10 more miles to the second shelter past the park. Instead we took out our guide book and came up with a plan for the rest of PA. In the grand scheme of things it didn¢t seem to make a difference whether we went 10 miles or 2.4 to the next one. It seemed like a no brainer to us so we spent the rest of the day around the pool and taking advantage of the showers before moving on.After a quick 2.4 miles we stumbled upon one of the best maintained shelters on the trail. It had a gravel entrance, hanging plants, a skylight, a wind/rain screen for the covered picnic table area, a checkers board, and 54 pegs to hang stuff up on. I guess this will have to do.Life Lesson: Be careful of your foot, pack, or tent placement when you¢re peeing uphill on to non-absorbent ground. Gravity sure does act fast!
Date: 2007-06-21
From: Quarry Gap Shelter

To: Pine Grove Furnace
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: scattered clouds

(Erin) We've made it half way today!! 1,087 miles done and 1,087 to go!! We made it to Pine Grove Furnace and were greeted by all of the hikers that had been chilling outside of the camp store. A few people had already attempted and either succeeded or failed at eating the half gallon of ice cream. Will ate a half gallon of ice cream in 2004 when he hiked the trail, so he did not feel inclined to do it again. I thought about it but then decided that I did not want to get sick and that I didn¢t want to hate ice cream after eating too much while trying to do the challenge. So I did not attempt the challenge, but I was able to watch a hiker from Maine eat a half gallon of peanut butter ice cream and finish in 38 minutes. He had over 3,300 calories in ice cream and then later was able to eat a hamburger for dinner. We stayed in a very interesting hostel in Pine Grove. It was called the Iron Masters Mansion and was built in 1830. It was huge and had a huge wrap around porch. It also had a ¢secret room¢ that had been used during the under ground railroad. We asked the owner if we could see the secret room and she led us to a small closet where there was a hole in the floor. We opened it and with our head lamps on we crawled in the small hole and down a ladder into a dark room. There were 3 rooms where many years ago run away slaves were kept as they fled to Canada. We also learned that George Washington did not stay at the mansion, as our book had said. He died in 1799 and the house was built in 1830 so he wasn¢t even alive anymore to have stayed at the mansion. That night we stayed up way too late with a few other hikers watching a movie and then going to bed. I picked up a few brochures of information on other hostels around the US that are within the International Hostel program, maybe Will and I will go somewhere and stay in another hostel.
Date: 2007-06-22
From: Pine Grove Furnace

To: Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 19.4

(Willie)The first day of the second half of the trail actually got off to a pretty chilly start. Unfortunately, that meant no swimming in Fuller lake, but it was still a nice change to the weather we¢ve been having. After a short cruise through the rest of the park we found a group of hikers huddled around a bag in the middle of the woods. That could only mean one thing, trail magic! It was kind of unusual magic (fruit and boxes of milk) but it was still good. From there the whole group moved a couple tenths of a mile down the trail to the half way marker. It would have been nice if it was actually at the half way point but we settled for 2 miles off and took our pictures anyway. We had a snack at the James Frye shelter before heading through some crazy rock formations to get to the Whisky Spring for lunch. Wow, now that was some good water. It¢s always neat to find water flowing right out from under a tree! After that it was a short 6 miles into Boiling Springs, PA, only after picking up 3 more ticks (all at one time) going trough some farm fields. We got to town around 7:00 and headed to the JC Caf© for dinner. The food was great and the people were really friendly so I guess it was a good choice. They pointed us in the direction of the supermarket which was unfortunately a mile down the road. That really isn¢t the first thing you want to do after walking 19 miles already, but I guess we need to eat so we made the walk. Luckily, Erin was able to turn on the charm and convinced the guy behind us in line that he wanted to give us a ride back to town. At about 9:30 we started to wander around town to try to find someplace to sleep and we found a bunch of tents setup behind a B&B. Home for the night.Tick Count: Willie 36 Erin 14
Date: 2007-06-23
From: Boiling Springs, PA

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 21.6
Weather: few clouds

(Erin) We have woken up in so many places sometimes I forget where we are until I open the tent. Today we were still in the back yard of a B&B in Boiling Springs, PA. We packed up and walked over to the regional ATC building to fill up with water and then start hiking. We had a 15 mile hike through lots and lots of farm land ahead of us. I think Will thought it was a little bit boring to be walking through so many farms but I thought it gave us different scenery then we were used too. We saw lots of cows and crossed over a few stiles and I think we counted 16 paved road crossings. The last 2 miles up to the first shelter were very up hill and rocky. Just before the shelter there was a rock bench made on the side of the trail in front of a great view of the farm lands that we had crossed all day. Finally we made it to the shelter and Will wanted to check it out. It was a brand new one since the last time he was here and it was a much nicer and bigger shelter. The privy was upgraded as well and was bigger then some shelters that we have come across. We ate lunch and then still had 7.2 miles to the next and last shelter for the day. The last few miles were very rocky and I start to think in my head that we are never going to make it to the shelter. I start to think that way every time we have had a long day and then get hit with some hard terrain at the end of the day. We did make it to the shelter before 9:00 and shared the shelter with Bonifid and the Maniac¢s from Maine. I actually was able to call my brother Ryan on someone¢s cell phone for his birthday. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!Tomorrow we have only 4 miles to get to Duncannon, PA to do our laundry and get some lunch at the Doyle Hotel.Tick Count: Willie 37 Erin 14Life Lesson: If you're looking for a good tent site try the B&B. With a flat backyard and perfectly kept grass that had to have been the best site we've found in a long time.
Date: 2007-06-24
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: Peters Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

(Willie)Another first on tap for today. Today was the first time we¢ve managed to roll through a town without spending the night. We only had a short 4 mile rocky descent to get into Duncannon, PA this morning, which left us with plenty of time to visit the laundromat and to pick up some food. Doing laundry isn¢t much fun, but today we ran into something kind of interesting. The place we did wash in had a quarter machine that would only give you 95 cents back for a dollar. How big of a rip off is that? It wouldn¢t be too bad if you could use dimes, but seeing how the machines only took quarters that would have left us with a lot of heavy useless change. Luckily, someone else there was willing to sell us 4 quarters for a dollar so we were able to do our wash. Once we had clean cloths to put back on our dirty bodies (we really need to get the laundry/showers back on the same cycle), it was on to the legendary 102 year old Doyle Hotel for lunch. The building sure had a lot of character and thankfully they had really good food to go along with all of that character. We thought that the burger, chicken wrap, fries, chips, and cheese sticks would have been enough to get us 11.5 miles further but when we walked past the convenient store we couldn¢t help but stop for some ice cream bars, a couple bags for chips, and a couple bottles of Propel. I could have done without the miles of road walking to get out of town, but once that was done and we dragged our butts up a 1000' rocky climb, it was pretty smooth sailing to the shelter. Boy am I glad we carried extra fluids out of town. I won¢t complain at all about not having to go down and back up the 290 rock steps to the trickling spring bellow the shelter. We should have plenty to get us 6 miles to next spring tomorrow.Life Lesson: The top of your pack might not be the best place to put an air tight bag of popcorn. That big popping noise might be a good indicator that you cinched your pack straps down too far.
Date: 2007-06-25
From: Peters Mountain Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: mist

(Erin) So funny story, we didn¢t put the rain fly on last night which we have done many times. We knew that one of these times the rain was going to start in the middle of the night without us knowing it was going to rain. Well it happen tonight. At 4:00am I awakened by very light drizzle on my face. At first I didn¢t know why my face was getting wet and then it clicked. We needed to get up and put the rain fly on right now! It took a few tries to wake up Will and it took a few seconds for him to register what I was saying ¢Will, its raining¢. Once he realized he was struggling to get out of his sleeping bag in seconds and then jumped out of the tent in his socks. I jumped out and slid on my crocs and we threw on the rain fly just as the drops were getting bigger. Once back in the tent the rain really picked up and started to rain for a few minutes and then off and on through out the night. I¢m sure it won¢t be the last time we have to do that. So anyway, on with the day. We had our first rattle snake spotting today. We were warned a few times in town and then again when we reached Shikellimy Rocks. There were some notes left by other hikers about the snake den on the trail. We also saw some snake skin on some rocks so we were careful, and then as I was passing some rocks we hear the rattle. Its scary when you hear that sound and at first you don¢t know how close the snake really is. It was off the trail to the left just a little bit and watching us pass by. We made it safely and took a few pictures before continuing onward. We went a few more miles and passed over a road and then had the joy of a few miles up hill on loose rocks. I guess the rocks in PA have begun and I¢m sure they will get worse. Most of the day we were struggling to walk on rocks and keep a good pace. We had lunch at the top of Stony Mountain and then a few more miles to the shelter. We made it to the shelter earlier then usual, 6:45, what do we do with all of this extra time at camp?? Waste time and still get in the tent at 9:50pm. Still earlier then normal. Well the rocks continue tomorrow and just get bigger and bigger as we move through the state. We also met a firefighter name Low Branch who had taken a week off the trail to go to the funerals in South Carolina. He is a firefighter in SC and so we talked about fire stuff most of the night before going to bed. So good day, but I¢m ready for a zero!
Date: 2007-06-26
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: few clouds

(Willie)PA is really turning out to be a hot, humid, and sticky state. Another day where we were sweating first thing in the morning. Boy am I glad we haven¢t had a shower in 5 days, and the next one is no where in sight! But hey, we have had our fair share of raspberries in PA, and today was no exception. It¢s a good thing we only had 17 miles to go today, because we stopped twice for a half an hour or more to go berry picking. I hope all of those berries don¢t come back to haunt us, or that could end up being a really messy life lesson.By 11:00 we had had enough of the heat. Conveniently enough we happened to be right next to the Swatara Creek. Boy did that hour and a half soak under I-81 overpass feel great. Unfortunately, it was quickly followed by a nice 1000' climb. At least this time I knew about the typo in the book. That 1000' error really got me cursing in ¢04! It was a very sweaty hike up, but eventually we got to the top and to the Blue Mountain Spring where we stopped in for a cold drink and a bite to eat. From there it was only 4 miles to the 501 shelter with a quick stop for some trail magic.The 501 is actually one of the nicer shelters on the trail. For starters it has 4 walls and a door. On top of that there is a care taker, and a nice cold garden hose shower that just kind of pushed the funk around. And hey, any shelter that you can get a pizza or 4 delivered to is fine by me.Life Lesson: Never point a raspberry patch out to Erin if you have any plans on being anywhere any time soon.
Date: 2007-06-27
From: 501 Shelter

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 23.7

(Erin) We got up earlier today to pull a big day in the rocks in to Port Clinton. We had had to keep a schedule so that we are in time to meet Will¢s parents at Lehigh Gap on Saturday. Today the rocks were crazy and they were everywhere. We had loose ones that coverd the whole trail and then we had big rocks that were all over the trail so you had to choose to either step on the ground or on a rock. Then there were the boulder fields that really slow me down. I think I¢m better off now then if the rocks had started in Georgia but they are still hard and sometimes complicated to get up and down. Sometimes I even have to sit down and scoot my way off the rock to the one below. Not very fun and not fun for Will to have to wait for me¢¦.but oh well. We thought at one point that a big storm was going to start pouring down on us and then it left. A few miles from town another storm came through that was going to get us if we didn¢t hurry up. I went as fast as I could down a very steep hill down to some rail road tracks and then over a bridge into Port Clinton. We had planned on going to the pavilion to camp for free but with the rain we decided to find the hotel in town. After walking around and not finding it we saw a fire station and went to ask for directions to the hotel. When we rang the door bell we expected it to be a fire house but instead it was a bar. Instead of bingo they have a members only bar to fund the fire department. We looked like lost hikers and so they let us stay and have a few sodas and pizza. We were informed that the hotel was closed because the owners had gone on vacation so a guy at the bar offered to drive us the few blocks to the pavilion for the night. Arriving at the pavilion was a little strange. It was huge and I think there were at least 15 or so hikers already there for the night. The town has let hikers take over the pavilion and there was even a hiker box, books, a privy, couches and mattresses. So we made it to our home for the night¢¦
Date: 2007-06-28
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: broken clouds

(Willie)This morning we took the rare opportunity to sleep in a little since we didn¢t have to be anywhere until the candy shop opened at 9:00 to resupply for the next couple of days. We were in no hurry to get ready after a long day yesterday so we mossied the .4 mile into town from the pavilion admiring all of the houses that had soda machines in the front yard. We got to the candy store at about 8:50 only to find out that it opened at 10:00 instead of at 9:00 like we were told last night. We were still trying to figure out what to do when the owners of the Ye Old Backpacker, an outfitter about 7 miles down the road pulled up and asked if we needed to go anywhere. They told us they had some food there so we decided to go check it out. They had Tasty Cakes and some other snack, so we had hit the jackpot. They even replaced our stove when I asked him how to fix the wobbly legs.After chatting with the people at the outfitters for a bit they brought us back to the trail so that we could start the dreaded post Port Clinton rocks. Thesse were suppose to be worse then what we¢ve been walking on the last couple of days. Things got pretty rough with some interesting boulder fields, but we got through it pretty well. The rocks were even nice enough to open up for some good views at Pulpit Rock and The Pinnacle. I could have done without the rattle snake at our break spot, but at least the views were nice.Luckily when it started to rain the rocks magically disappeared and the trail turned into a nice jeep road so we could try to book it to the shelter. Yeah, we didn¢t even come close to making it and it rained on us for about 45 minutes before we got the there. Since the weather forecast said we were under a thunder storm warning we decided to stay in the shelter for the first time since the beginning of the month. I hope the bugs aren¢t too bad.Life Lesson: When taking a break on the rocks be sure to look around for snakes. It was a little scary to see a rattle snake right next to where I¢d been sitting.
Date: 2007-06-29
From: Eckville Shelter

To: Bake Oven Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: overcast clouds

(ERIN) After actually a good night sleep in the shelter we woke up a little bit later then expected. Then the hiking started, and let me tell you it was not fun. First we had another climb uphill in loose rocks and then some rock hopping through boulder fields. The 7.4 to the first shelter felt like forever and I was starting to hope that we had accidentally missed it. Then we got there, and had a quick bathroom break before heading to the Blue Mountain Summit B&B and restaurant for lunch. With the lack of lunches for me I was happy to get a real meal. I had a philly cheese steak sandwich and Will had a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. Then we shared a big bowl of ice cream and used the bathroom before leaving. We left he restaurant with 6 more miles to get to the shelter and of course we had more boulder fields. We went up some rock cliffs which was a crazy rock hop on a ridge line. Not my favorite kind of hiking. I sure hope I get better at these rocks! We then got to a parking lot before an up hill scramble to Bake Oven Knob and then even more boulders to get to the shelter. We were able to get a picture taken of us together on top of Bake Oven Knob by a guy we met named Hungus. So the high light of the day was getting a real lunch and getting to the shelter before 9:00. We met a few more hikers at the shelter that have been ahead of us name ¢Dogs Life¢ and ¢Couch¢. We set our tent up in the shelter again and I think this shelter is the crappiest one that we have stayed in so far on the trail. It was small and run down and the ground around the shelter was very over grown. With all of the rocks around the shelter I¢m guessing that maintenance people don¢t come up here too often. Tomorrow we will meet up with Will¢s parents and his brother and sister-in-law for a zero day on Sunday!!
Date: 2007-06-30
From: Bake Oven Knob Shelter

To: Leigh Gap, PA
Miles today: 7.4

(Willie)After a night of dreaming about the rocks we crawled over yesterday we both got up hoping that the PA rocks were behind us. Well I guess that some of the rocks are behind us, but they¢re definitely not all done. Things were going alright until we got to a trail relocation. We were walking down a woods road when we got to a sign that said ¢AT trail relocation¢ with an arrow pointing into the woods. I told Erin that the trail was probably moved to take us over more rocks. Sure enough about a minute later we were in the middle of a huge boulder field. So we weren¢t lucky enough to be done with the rocks, but hey today we only had a 7.5 miles to meet my parents so I guess we could deal with a few rocks. Heading towards our first visit with my parents since they dropped us off in Georgia it seemed like we were walking fast but the miles were going by slower then ever. After walking 800' above the PA turnpike and picking blueberries it was nice to see my parents had decided to cut the time to the reunion by hiking up to the first shelter south of Leigh High Gap. Shortly behind them my brother Steve and my sister-in-law Amanda strolled up. It was really nice to see all of them on the trail, but Erin and I were looking forward to spending the rest of the day and tomorrow with them off the trail even more!
Date: 2007-07-01
From: Leigh Gap, PA

To: Alentown, PA
Miles today: 0.0

(Willie)I love hiking, but days off are nice too. Especially when they are with family. We spent time catching up with them, catching up with our journal (sorry it took so long), and eating. Erin even put some videos that Taylor made of our trail magic day in the Shenandoahs up in our video section. Check them out by clicking the ¢Video¢ link on the left side of the page. Thanks a lot for making them Taylor, they really look great. Time to get back to relaxing so that we can hit the trail again tomorrow.