morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-11
From: VA 601 parking on Blueridge Mtn Rd.

To: Bears Den Hostel
Miles today: 13.3

We checked out of Terrapin Station Hostel early this morning and Mike shuttled us to the same point as yesterday, except this time we headed NoBo. Mike has been great to us and we've enjoyed the shuttle rides with him. He has thru-hiked both the AT and the PCT. Princess is interested in the PCT next year and asked a lot of questions. He also shuttled us to dinner at Lucky's on Sat and Griffin's Tavern on Sun and stayed and had drinks with us. So we had an all around good time. Two days ago I mentioned the two ladies from Oregon who were also staying at Terrapin, Nancy and Ginny. They joined us at Griffins for dinner on Sunday. We enjoyed talking with them and I wish I had taken a picture, but didn't. They have experience with the West Coast trails and Princess learned from them too. Today's hike was only a little longer than we did yesterday, but it was decidedly more difficult. Most of it was in a section called "The Rollercoaster." The name is appropriate, it's basically a series of steep ascents and descents. The hills aren't really high, but the trail tends to go straight up with not so many switchbacks and plenty of rocks. The temp reached into the 80's with clear skies. I sweat a lot when I'm climbing, so hydration was critical to me. We cameled up with a quart of Gatorade each on the drive to the trailhead, and we each had a couple of large bottles in our backpacks filled with Gatorade. But that wasn't enough and we stopped twice at streams to refill our bottles with filtered water. We still have a couple more of the Rollercoaster hills to finish tomorrow morning before we can completely say goodbye to that section. We also passed the 1,000 mile point on the NoBo trail today. Last year we missed the marker, so this year we paid special attention. It wasn't an official trail sign, but someone had taken time to identify it with a rock marker and I took a picture. The mileage is right where we expected it to be based on the AT Guide. Unfortunately, I missed six days here in Virginia with my bum leg so I'm a little shy of the actual distance. But I live in Virginia and I plan to finish those six sections at the end of the summer.The end of our hike today was the Bears Den Hostel which is virtually on the trail. It's owned by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and managed by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. I believe I described it in this journal last year when we stayed here. It's one of the cleanest and best-run hostels on the AT. Plus they also provide transportation services for slack-packing and we like that. We're going to take advantage of it tomorrow. Silverback, Ironman Bill (not Jack) and Just Pete are staying here tonight and we had a chance to catch up on news with them. Tomorrow night we hope to be in Harpers Ferry at the Towns Inn.
Date: 2015-05-13
From: WV 9, Keys Gap

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: clear sky

We've never seen an official definition of "Nero". We know it means "nearly a zero" day, but everyone seems to have their own idea of how short a nero day is. From our perspective, today was a nero. Our shuttle driver dropped us at the trailhead at 6:20 and 6.3 miles later we arrived back at our Towns Inn room at 8:30, with plenty of time to get cleaned up and have breakfast. The trail was really nice, except for a few rocky stretches. It's interesting to me that no matter how hard I try, I just can't capture a photo that conveys the difficulty of hiking over a rock bound trail. What I mean by rock bound is that there is not enough space between the rocks for a footstep, so you have to walk over the top of the rocks. Of course it's not a big issue if the rocks are flat on top, but usually they're random sizes and shapes. So anyway, we can really motor over a flat dirt trail, but a rock bound trail is a different story. As I suggested yesterday, we passed another state border sign today - again between VA and WV. I checked the map and it shows that the AT tracks along the state border for quite a while. Eventually the trail makes a turn into West Virginia and leaves Virginia - that is what we did today. So now we have left Virginia and moved into WV, our 5th state.The approach into Harpers Ferry was very scenic. Not long after we crossed Chestnut Hill Road, we started the descent toward the Shenandoah River and we had intermittent views of the river through the trees. The descent was quick and eventually turned downstream. We noticed a small reroute that eliminated a tricky turn around a tree just above the river (we've been on this section before). The descent ended at the bridge over the river and we crossed over to Harpers Ferry on Rt. 340. Then we climbed the ridge on the other side of the river and followed that down to the historic section of the town. Along the way we passed side trails to the AT Conservancy, Jeffersons Rock, and the remains of St. John's Episcopal Church, and we took some photos. (We had our traditional AT photos taken yesterday when we stopped at the AT HQ.) When we finally reached High St. downtown, we were only a few steps from our lodging. We're going to stay in Harpers Ferry tonight and tomorrow we're renting a car and driving home to Norfolk. We both have appointments this week and we'll stay until Sunday AM. Then we'll drive back here to Harpers Ferry, drop the car and stay here another 2 nights (Sun & Mon) while we start hiking north of town. After making arrangements for our next week of hiking, we plan to relax for the afternoon and check out the sights here in town. Princess needs a break, she's been hiking every day since April 24. We're also hoping that a couple of our friends may come out and hike a bit with us. Our last task for the day is finding a place here in Harpers Ferry to watch game 7 of the Stanley Cup semi-final series between the Capitals and the Rangers. Go Caps.
Date: 2015-05-14
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0

Trail wisdom says "don't take even a couple of days off to go back home" because a lot of people get captured there and never come back to the trail. We survived that temptation. We had a great time for nearly 3 days in Norfolk, VA, but today we piled our gear in the rental car and drove back here to Harpers Ferry. We're settled into the Towns Inn and ready to hit the trail at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I don't have any trail stuff to write about, but I have attached a couple of pictures from our weekend in Norfolk. Thursday evening we had dinner at "The 219 Restaurant" and did some bar crawling with our best friends. We ended up at "Bodega" and took a group pic there. Friday we had dinner at a German restaurant - "The Bier Garden", great food and great beer. For some reason, I can't find the shot I took there. Saturday afternoon we hit the annual BeerFest at Town Point Park on the Elizabeth River and I took a shot of my comrades there. Hours later I took a shot of our group at the "Barrel Room". It all went by so fast. I did have time to sandwich in a visit to my doctor and my leg looks good to go. He did run another test to be sure it wasn't a different problem than we suspected. And now I have some meds in case it recurs. So it was a great visit home and we're ready to move on.
Date: 2015-05-21
From: Wolfsville Rd., MD 16

To: Menser Gap Road
Miles today: 12.8

".... a little rain must fall." Today was one of those little rain days - seldom a heavy rain, but always a mist with tree drips. At the start (about 6:30), the trail was mostly dry, even though it was drizzling a bit. As the morning advanced the rocks became more slippery and we had to slow down. Even so, long stretches of the trail were flat, hard-packed and dry. All-in-all, we've been very pleased with the MD trails. For the most part they have been well-marked, cleared of debris, not a lot of brush intruding from the sides, and plenty of shelters and other facilities. We were also pleased that trail maintainers had mowed a strip of grass on each side of the trail as it passed through several grassy meadows. Wading through tall grass is a great way to pick up ticks or really get wet when it's raining. MD also has a number of public parks along the trail. And many of the road crossings have gravel parking areas so local day hikers have easy access to the trail. Today we passed through the Pen-Mar Park area, which we understand has a history as a get-away resort area for the eastern seaboard cities. This area is also rich in civil war history. South Mountain was the site of a number of battles as Lee pushed north leading to the engagements with Union forces at Sharpsburg (Antietam) and Gettysburg. Today was a fill-in hike for us. Previously we hiked the section just to the south, and yesterday we hiked the section just to the north. So after today's hike, we've finished the trail up to US 30 in PA. We did hit a major milestone today: the Mason-Dixon Line, which is also the state border between MD and PA. So now we've finished 6 states and we're moving into the 7th. The hike today was mercifully short and we finished before noon. So we had plenty of time to get cleaned up, have lunch and take a nap. The rain quit and we walked the half-mile to the Dawg House. I mentioned the Dawg House before. We had a good time there on our first night and decided to go back. When we told the bartender that our names are Princess & Rocketman, she smiled and said we could call her Ninja. She was a lot of fun. We went back tonight because she was working again. It's a friendly local bar with a good beer selection, occasional local music and we really enjoyed it. We learned tonight that it will be moving to a new, larger location next Monday - but still mostly the same. Thanks to those of you who have sent along suggestions on how to deal with the poison ivy. We both still have a few new spots showing up, but overall it seems to be getting better. At this point, the washes with Dawn to scrub off the oil, and the scrubs with the bleach solution seem to be working best. It's a little harsh, but poison ivy is nasty. We're trying to figure out why it's so much worse this year than last, and we think it may be how we're handling our poles, boots and gaitors. So we're trying to handle those very carefully. We can wash the gaitors and poles, but the boots are more difficult.
Date: 2015-05-22
From: US 30

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 19.8

The major event today was crossing the midpoint of the AT. So tonight we're more than halfway through the trek. The midpoint is such a big deal that the ATC puts up 2 signs: a big, impressive sign that is the "commemorative" sign, and another smaller sign that identifies the "actual location" of the midpoint for 2015. The reason there are 2 signs is that the length of the AT changes from year to year as the trail clubs modify or even reroute portions of the AT. The picture on the left is the commemorative sign. I'll include the actual location sign in the photo gallery. Once again we rose with the roosters. It was chilly this morning, and we were anxious to get to the first hill to get warmed up. We started by walking through Caledonia Park, a beautiful outdoor recreational facility for local folks. Then we passed Quarry Gap shelters, in our opinion, one of the prettiest shelters on the trail. The custodian really goes the extra mile to make it appealing. Flower baskets, a sundial and a stone frog for example. Just beyond the shelter, the trail turns up via a long, long series of log steps. Last year they seemed endless, this year just very long. Eventually the climb tapers off and the trail follows a ridge for several hours. This involves long stretches of flat, easy trail. In fact, most of the remainder of today's section of the trail is pretty easy.The temperature stayed cool with plenty of sunshine, great hiking weather and we made pretty good time (for us). We cruised into Pine Grove State Park before noon and headed for the General Store and the Half Gallon Challenge. We did this last year and it's hard to resist. The "challenge" consists of consuming a half-gallon of ice cream within a short period of time. The "half-gallon" is a reference to the "half of the AT" that hikers just completed. Princess had salted caramel and I had mint chocolate chip. After consuming the ice cream and a sandwich to boot, we had time on our hands since the IronMasters Mansion, an iconic hostel on this section of the AT, doesn't open its doors until 5:00. I spent some time in the AT Museum, another attraction in the park, then rested and chatted until we checked in at the IronMasters. It was a relaxing afternoon and a chance to rest up for another long hike tomorrow. More good news - the poison ivy outbreak is getting a little better each day. Tomorrow is scheduled to be one more chilly day (40 to 65 deg range), before the temps climb toward the 90's next week.
Date: 2015-05-23
From: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

To: Boiling Springs
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: scattered clouds

This will be short. We're staying at the Allenberry in Boiling Springs and we have a TV that carries the Stanley Cup game tonight. Today's hike went pretty well, good distance, nice cool weather, early start, etc. We're both tired, but feeling ok. No major leg or blister issues. Poison ivy seems to be in check. I want to say more about the IronMasters Mansion in Pine Grove State Park. We stayed there last year and thought about changing this year, but decided to go back and stayed there last night. I'm glad we did. Mary and Mike have just recently taken over the managerial responsibilities at the Mansion for at least 2 years and we had time to talk with them about how the facility operates and what they want to do in the future. They're very open to suggestions and we tried to provide some observations about what we like at other facilities on the trail. We were very happy with our accommodations and they were very flexible in meeting our desires. We like a clean facility with laundry, shuttle service and some food, and they scored on all points. The highlight today was a couple of rock mazes in outcroppings at the crest of a steep climb. The mazes are really fun to go through, and Princess is better than I am at looking ahead and figuring out which way to go. Otherwise, there were some rocky spots and long marches through hay fields and corn fields. The trail goes through the center of downtown Boiling Springs and we couldn't resist stopping at the Boiling Springs Tavern for a couple of pints before heading to the Allenberry. A final note: we passed the 1100 mile point just before the end of yesterday's hike. We made a sign that I've included in the pics. Only ten more signs to go.
Date: 2015-05-24
From: Boiling Springs

To: Duncannon
Miles today: 25.4
Weather: broken clouds

We left the Allenberry Inn in Boiling Springs very early this morning. They don't staff the reception area overnight, so we made some ad hoc arrangements with the staff to leave our backpacks in the lobby area. Trail Angel Mary came by later to pick them up and reunite them with us later in the day at Duncannon. We did over 25 miles today, and it was a tale of 2 hikes. The first half was really flat across and around farmland in the valley between a couple of ridges. We waded through tall grass in hayfields, along cornfields, and through narrow strips of trees between farms. No grousing about rocks or hills and we made pretty good time. Then came the second half - forest hills and rocky ridges. It really wasn't that tough, but the contrast with the first half made it seem worse than it was. And we were warned, the AT Guide said the last six miles are "very rocky" ....yup. The last stretch was a steep (rocky) downhill from an photo-op on Hawk Rock down to the edge of the city. There were lots of day hikers in tee-shirts, shorts and tennis shoes struggling up the hill to the rock and back. Some were doing well, some weren't. I managed to slip once in the gravel. The trail passes directly through Duncannon and almost to the front door of the Doyle Hotel. We stopped in the bar at the Doyle for a medicinal beer and some nourishing hush puppies. Last year we stayed one night at the Doyle (it's iconic on the trail) and afterward vowed never to do that again (BTDT). This time we called Angel Mary and she drove us, and our backpacks that she picked up earlier, down along the Susquehanna to the Comfort Inn in Harrisburg. We stayed there 1 night last year and liked it.Today's hike was longer than we prefer to do. We could have split it into two short hikes on 2 days. But we decided instead to do the whole thing in 1 day and then take a zero in Harrisburg. The Comfort Inn has the amenities we like and plenty of restaurants, etc. nearby. So now we're settled in, cleaned up and headed out to dinner.
Date: 2015-05-25
From: Harrisburg, PA

To: Harrisburg, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

No hiking today, took a zero in Harrisburg, so not much to say. We slept in late, walked across the bridge over the Susquehanna for lunch, and rested this afternoon. Tomorrow Angel Mary will shuttle us north on the trail and we'll hike SoBo into Duncannon for one more beer at the Doyle. Vicky and Pat should be back behind the bar tomorrow.
Date: 2015-05-26
From: PA 325

To: Duncannon
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Our zero was great, but now it's trail time again. We asked Trail Angel Mary to pick us up early and she did. Then she hauled us up to the AT trailhead at PA 325 and we headed SoBo with slack-packs, aiming for Duncannon. It was a great morning for hiking and we knew it would be heating up around midday, so we did our best to pick up the pace. The elevation profile for today was pretty simple, climb to the top of the ridge, hike the length of the ridge, descend from the ridge, cross the Susquehanna, then walk all the way through Duncannon. All-in-all the hike went pretty well. We met quite a few hikers since we were SoBo. We knew or remembered a few like Fireball, Roadside and Silverback, but there were a lot of new faces. Certainly some were section or day hikers out to enjoy the weather. We passed 2 shelters along the trail, but we didn't stop. We haven't seen Silverback in a while, he's been nursing a bad foot. But he says it's better and he's happy to be hiking again. He also brought the news that Ironman Bill is off the trail, tending to a sore knee. We hope he's back soon. In addition to the pleasant temps, we're also getting some of the other features of late spring. Like gnats and flies. For several days I've been periodically attracting the orbiting flies. So far I haven't been bitten, they just buzz around my head - for 5 or even 10 minutes. Sometimes they fly into my face or occasionally land. It's very annoying, especially when I'm trying to focus on walking over rocks. If they get to be a serious nuisance we have bug nets, but those can get hot. The last part of the hike was a long walk across the bridge and through town. We ended up at the Doyle and had a beer before Trail Angel Mary picked us up for the drive back to our room in Harrisburg. We had a good conversation at the Doyle with several section hikers who were very interested in how we're making slacking arrangements. This is the end of our stay in Harrisburg and tomorrow we move on. A final note: Trail Angel Mary told us about a hiker she recently took to the hospital where he was diagnosed with stage 3 Lyme disease. He said he was bitten in Virginia and got a rash, but didn't do anything about it. She said he ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks with meningitis. So take heed, the ticks are out and potentially very dangerous.
Date: 2015-05-27
From: PA 325

To: PA 443, Swatara Gap (Lickdale)
Miles today: 16.0

I'm here with my iPhone in hand trying to think of the highlights from today and I'm not getting a lot of inspiration. We did a medium distance today and kept a pace close to 3 mph, which means the terrain wasn't especially tough. Most of the first half of the distance was over old roadbeds, so the grades were relatively gradual. And the landmarks were primarily intersections with other trails. There was more variety in the second half, a shelter, a scenic downhill along a stream, a cemetery, etc. And the ruins of an old coal mining settlement, but it was 0.7 off the trail so we passed it by. Just after we started, we saw four hikers breaking camp - and we didn't see anyone else after that. I did see a garter snake along the trail, but it was moving too fast to get a pic. (I saw a much bigger black snake yesterday.)So I don't have anything to complain about today. It was warm and humid, and we knew thunderstorms were likely after noon, so we kept moving. It turned out to be a good thing. Originally we had planned to hike to PA 72, just a couple of miles from Lickdale. But Trail Angel Mary, our shuttle driver, suggested PA 443 since it has a parking area and is safer than a pickup along a road. That shortened our hike by 1.4 miles (that we'll add on tomorrow). We texted Mary that we would be early, and we were. We had been hearing thunder for half an hour and the sky was threatening. The radar on our phones said the storm band was virtually on top of us and it started to rain just as Mary pulled up. I guess that was really the highlight of the day. And then the first rain came down in buckets. So it's good to ask your shuttle driver for advice and to heed it. We bid Mary farewell today. She's been hauling us around for 3 days and she's done a great job. But now it's time to move on. Tonight we're in the Days Inn in Lickdale. It has everything we need, including a Dairy Queen, Subway and convenience store across the street. I got my caramel sundae.
Date: 2015-05-28
From: PA 443, Swatara Gap (Lickdale)

To: PA 501
Miles today: 12.8

The sky was clear this morning after the rains, but the forest was wet and stayed that way throughout most of our hike. I got soaking wet from the growth along the trail and never dried out. We thought we heard distant thunder several times, but nothing came of it. We did a couple extra miles yesterday and that left us with a shorter day today. We were finished by 11:30 and our next shuttle driver, Joyce, picked us up about 12:15. Tonight we're in a Comfort Inn at an I-81 interchange near Pine Grove. The Comfort Inn is nice, but we had to walk a half mile to a Pilot Travelcenter for laundry. We had a good lunch at a classic Diner nearby and enjoyed that. Otherwise we have the customary franchises nearby. We got our first good taste of the PA rock piles today in a few relatively short stretches. The rocks were still wet and that makes them more difficult. The rest of the trail was pretty flat with only a few rocks. However, it was narrow with poison ivy, ferns or brush encroaching on the sides. We're starting to see some massive patches of poison ivy & oak. We were on a ridge line most of the time, but there were very few view opportunities. Just like yesterday, we saw several hikers breaking camp a few minutes after we started, and we never saw anyone else on the trail. We got a couple of nice notes in our guest book from folks in the local area here in PA, Vicki and Iceman. We actually met Iceman on the trail twice before. The first time was last year on the trail just outside Duncannon where he was doing trail magic. The second time was this year not far from Shady Valley, TN where he was doing a section of the AT. A really nice man. Tomorrow night we're at the Union House B&B in Port Clinton and Sat at the Blue Mountain Summit Tavern & B&B. But we have 2 really long days (for us) tomorrow & Sat (with rain) so we will be pretty tired.