morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-06-03
From: Bears Den Hostel

To: Harpers Ferry West Va
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: clear sky

Hiked to Harpers Ferry ...I am out of Virginia, I am happy , I love this job.Did a slack pack hike from "The best Hostel on the trail" Bears Den and was picked up in Harpers Ferry by one of the Bears Den staff. First I had to finish a couple more ups and downs of the ROLLERCOASTER but since this was in the morning I was in a better frame of mind, rested and full of pizza and Ben and Jerry's.After the roller coaster, the terrain was mostly level with a slow decline but still very rocky. Harpers Ferry is a great HISTORIC town with the old town on the Potomac River and is definately on my list for a visit after the hike. In the old part of town you feel like you are sitting in the 1860's during the civil war. I stopped at the ATC center and had my picture taken and was registered as "official 2009 thru hiker number 199" . I figure no more than 25 people left before me so about 175 people have passed me while I have enjoyed some of my 35 zero days.Back to the Hostel and another night of PIZZA and BEN & Jerrys for supper.Last night I was the only Thru hiker at the hostel and tonight I return to find about 15 hikers staying here. It is so 60'S and communal; the night is spent sitting around talking about the trail and where everyone is from.One hiker "Prairie Dog" has a birthday and there is a celebration for him and then the details of that mornings excitement are discussed over and over.Prairie Dog and several other hikers were tenting at the shelter when a distressed skunk started attacking their tent. It sprayed the tent and everyone in the area jumped up and got out of the tents. The skunk started chasing them down the trail. OG (old gear) another hiker, heard the commotion and jumped up to help. He heard a blood curdeling deep male scream as the skunk bit EARLY BEAR on the leg. OG rushed over and sprayed the SKUNK with pepper spray. Kind of ironic for the skunk to get sprayed but it disorientated him enough to give EARLY BEAR time to get a stick and beat the skunk to death. They called the Bears Den Hostel and were picked up and brought to the hospital. Early Bear received a rabies shot and the dead skunks brain is being checked for rabies to determine if Early Bear needs more shots.With this many hikers in the hostel the laundry was backed up so everyone sat around in one room watching dvd's until late (11 pm late for hikers. We watched and older DVD aboout the AT that was produced in the 80's so seeing everyones clothes and gear brought a lot of laughs. It is amazing how things have changed in the last 20 years. A woman hiker on the DVD talked about how she was treated on the trail and how she was one of very few female hikers. Today it is not unusual to see female hikers and of the 15 or so people in the hostel today there were 5 female hikers.The comradarie and trail tails have reinvigorated me but I am taking another break to go back to Arlington for a week or so. I will return to the trail on the 17th starting at Harpers Ferry. Only 5 or 6 miles to go to be in Maryland and less than 50 miles to be in Pennsylvania. O.M. River
Date: 2009-06-17
From: Harpers Ferry West Va

To: Rocky Run Shelter MD
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: moderate rain

Left Harpers Ferry This morning in a drizzle which turned to real rain and continued all day. It felt good, being back on the trail, being cool (just canme back from Texas) and walking on some really nice trails. You leave Harpers Ferry by crossing the Potomac on the train bridge. The hiker section is next to the tracks but caged off separately. Once across I entered Maryland. The trail goes along the C&O canal for almost 3 miles. the canal is full of green crusted water as each section of the canal is covered with algae. I didn't think about it until I saw it but canals by their nature don't flow. they set the water level between the locks and keep the level constant so their is no flowing water to stop the algae from growing. With the rain it looked like mud pots erupting as each drop made a hole in the algae. After the canal it was a mild climb (Maryland doesn't have much elevation gain) and a nice hike to the first shelter where I had lunch. This 10 days I have decided to leave my cooking equipment home and just eat cold food. I have tortillas and canned meats (ham, chicken, potted beef) and a jar of peanut butter and jelly (in one jar). I have found that mixing swiss miss chocolate with water works just fine and you end up with a drink like Yohoo.I made it to the shelter for the night by 4 pm and found a brand new shelter. the old one is still there but a brand new one is just up the hill. It is made of logs that would be used to build a manufactured log home. Round on the outside, nice flat wood planks on the inside. the floor was varnished!!! the porch covered with a picnic table and a couple of lawn chairs .It is double deck inside so it can handle 8-12 hikers easily. The roof is metal and that night I found out about metal roofs in big rainstorms..The rain was really hard at times and the shelter was like being inside a snare drum. Somehow I managed to sleep ok...but I did wake up a lot with the waves of rain.I met August Rush a college student who has the same birthday as me. I asked him if his trail name was because he was rushing to Maine by August and he said "yea, and for the movie too" so apparently there is a movie called August Rush that an OLD TIMER like me must have missed. Also at the shelter was Wishy Washy a young college girl who slept in her tent through the torential rain as well as SON-Dance a retired DOD worker hiking to raise money for Alzeimers research and another couple of college kids that I forget the names of.O.M. River
Date: 2009-06-18
From: Rocky Run Shelter MD

To: Free State Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 15.5

the rain stopped at 6 am and I was up and on the trail by 7. I didn't see too many people today but I did pass a couple of campgrounds. At one campground I decided to try my YOGIing skills when I smelled breakfast cooking. I walked into camp and about halfway to a picnic table I realized it was an all kids, all girls camp...I was gently moved along by the Matrons who kindly told me I could use the bathroom but that was about it.(No free food from these folks unless I was of another gender).I passed the first George Washington Monument ever built at the top of one of the mountains and then proceeded over a couple of rock encrusted and hard to walk over peaks.the trail in Maryland gets a lot of use and as such is wide and well maintained, but ROCKS IS ROCKS and the last part of the day was still hard going.Tonight I am staying at the FREE STATE Hostel owned and operated by a couple who thru hiked in 2006. The hostel(attached to their house) is beautiful with a nice bunk room, a game room, shower, washer dryer and refrigerator stocked with soda and Gatorade. (Pay on the honor system ---this is sooo 60's!!)I have showered and am in the process of washing my clothes....Tommorrow I will enter Pennsylvania and cross the Mason Dixon line ...WOWO.M. River
Date: 2009-06-19
From: Free State Hiker Hostel

To: Tumbling Run Shelters Pennsylvania
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: clear sky

A perfect day for hiking ..Well there is no such thing but today at different times it was all of the following: Cloudy but not cold, Sunny but not hot, Rocky but not without flat spots to step, Muddy but not without dry areas to walk on, Inclines but not for too long, and even some pine needle covered trail.All in all a very pleasant hiking day. It was 10 miles to the Pennsylvania border and once over that I was NORTH of the Mason-Dixon line. As it was written in one of the shelter journals>>> "Goodbye to Grits and Jesus Preachers and no alcohol" and "HELLO to Dunkin Donuts, Whoopie Pies and great alcohol selections"Yes the South has been more than hospitable, the people have been great and helpful and ready to go out of their way for us hikers but like the syrup on an ice cream sundae sometimes it is too sweet, BLESS THEIR HEARTS. Being a YANKEE I like my conversations to get to the point right away, my religion to be my own , and my NY style pizza to be made by someone who actually knows where NEW YORK is. Did you know that when General Lee invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania he left the South by crossing the Potomac River but by the time he retreated back across the Potomac that area had become West Virginia and was part of the North. West Virginia is the only state that seceded from another state and then came into the Union. I wonder how Lee must have felt finding that the people he was fighting for from his own state of Virginia had changed sides. Anyway , now that I am in PA I feel like a slave who made it through the woods on the underground railroad and has made it to the promised land. Except the promise is that I still have over 1100 miles to go. I tented at the shelters. I say shelters because in this part of the trail instead of building a new shelter they have added a second shelter next to the older one so there are two small shelters together. Someone had a sense of humor and put up signs on the two shelters. One said "SNORING" and the other said "NO SNORING".I passed a couple of other shelters on the way today and the club that maintains them is doing a great job. One set of shelters even had baskets of flowers hanging from the beams.I met a Dad ( fathers day weekend) who was out with his 16 year old son and two of his friends. they have been doing this every fathers day for 5 years, what a great tradition. I also met two thru hikers, Soundtrack and K-Bar.Soundtrack played the tin whistle or recorder and said he had spent several years playing it in civil war reenactments. He played a few tunes before sunset and it sounded great echoing through the woods with its sharp notes and lively tunes. K-Bar is a female hiker and said she got her trail name because someone early on thought she had a SHARP tongue. I told her since she was a redhead that an ATTITUDE does come with the redhair and she could be expected to be outspoken. O.M. River
Date: 2009-06-20
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Milesburg Rd N39 59.834 W77 24.301
Miles today: 17.6

Saturday, and I am going to pass through Caladonia State Park where there is a snack bar. This means cheeseburger for lunch. If you read a lot of the entries in this journal you can see a theme developing. FOOD, FOOD, FOOD , dry bed and shower, FOOD, FOOD ...When on the trail the objective is always to get to the next source of food and the next place to take a shower. You see the natural beauty of the trail is now taken for granted while the simple pleasures of food and shelter, that you the reader are enjoying right now, take on a whole new meaning. In fact I think that the allure of the trail or camping in general is that it makes you appreciate the simple pleasures of life in a new way. Remember being a kid when candy and ice cream were a treat and not something you could have anytime. Thats how hiking is, the cheeseburger always tastes better when you haven't had one for a few days or you have to walk 10 miles to get one.OH NO !! the snackbar is closed because of thunderstorms, Yes it is raining again, my feet are wet again, the trails is a big mud puddle again, all of which I could put up with if there was a cheeseburger in my future. On the other end of the park the trail passes a covered picnic area where there is a family reunion going on. I walk by very slowly... I stop and put my pack and tarp on the ground in a sunny spot to dry, I sit at a picnic table close by eating a bag of Fritos, I hang my rain jacket on a tree limb, I try to look pathetic. The guy calls out "There are 3 more burgers..who wants another" but no one takes pity on me. I leave the park and continue down the trail in a totally depreesed state. No cheeseburgers, and not a very good YOGI THE BEAR acting performance so I get nothing today. Later I find out that K-Bar and Soundtrack and another hiker were invited to partake of burgers and potato salad and cassaroles. The luck of the draw, life truly is random sometimes but it does help to hike with a girl. I set my tent up in the woods after I cross Milesburg road. It is 2.5 miles to the next shelter but I am too depressed to move on after doing 17.6 miles without a hot meal. A couple sets up a tent next to mine at dusk. He is Blue??? and she is GreenPants. He sets up their tent and she plays the Banjo, some bluegrass for the evening entertainment. We discuss the next days events. It is the summer soltice and that means "HIKE NAKED DAY" This is a trail tradition but something tells me it wasn't meant for 59 year olds. Blue??? says he is going to do it for an hour. Also the next day we will get to the General Store at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. This is where the trail tradition says you have crosed the half way mark of the trail and as such you should attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting. The half gallon challenge. We talk about what flavor is best for this endeavor and then call it a night.O.M. River
Date: 2009-06-23
From: MAINE

To: MAINE
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I arrived in Maine to find my grass to be about 3 feet high..Took all day to cut it as it has been raining on and off and the grass is wet.I decided to play Trail Angel and also drive and see where the roads cross the AT here in Maine so I can plan some hikes.I brought a cooler full of GATORADE, COKE, DR PEPPER AND Mt DEW ALONG WITH A BOX OF POWER BARS AND LEFT IT IN THE WOODS JUST OFF THE TRAIL where the AT crosses the road near Monson. This is at the southern end of the 100 mile woods ( no services, or stores for 100 miles) so I hope some SOUTHBOUNDERS (SOBO) find it to be welcome Trail Magic.I gave CASTLE a young lady (who smelt like she had been in the woods for a week) a ride to Monson. She is doing a Flip Flop , hiking North from the middle of the trail and then going to Georgia to hike the rest of the way. I guess that means I am now officially flip floppong although I think I am zig zagging more than anything. I will be using my cottage in Maine as a base for the next few months so I will be concentrating on the northern part of the trail and then will finish the middle states that I have missed in the fall. By the way JOE, I am over 1,000 miles so your downpayment on that pledge is officially used up, start saving for the rest of the bill to come this fall.O.M. River
Date: 2009-06-24
From: Caratunk Maine

To: Pleasant Pond Lean to
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Today, I do what I have told several people not to do and that is hike in Maine during June which is a wet and muddy month and also blackfly season.I hooked up with Buddy the shuttler in Monson and we arranged to meet at 3 pm. I left my car at Hwy 15 Parking lot in Monson and when Buddy showed up he told me that 2 other hikers would be sharing the shuttle to Caratunk. That was great because now the price was only $20 rather than the $60 if I had gone alone. Buddy took us the short way which included about 20 miles of dirt road where we passed a beaver in a pond right next to the road. Buddy entertained us with Maine tales of bear hunting and how he baits buckets with dounts to attract bears during hunting season. Apparently up here in Maine there is not a big concern with keeping bears from getting used to human food.I hit the trail at 3:45 and it took about 10 minutes for me to remember hiking in Maine in June. The trail is wet, muddy, and buggy, all the things I hate about hiking rolled up into one experience. I arrived at the shelter at 7:30 and just get situated in my tent by dark. At the shelter there is one other hiker set up in a mosquito tent in the shelter who is a Southbounder just starting his hike. He has seen very few people in the last 120 miles since starting and was glad to have some conversation.O.M. River
Date: 2009-06-25
From: Pleasant Pond Lean to

To: Moxie Bald Lean To
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

This part of the trail is a warm up for Mt Katahdin. The hike over Pleasnt Mountain is steep and rocky like Katahdin, going up 1150 feet in just over a mile. Katahdin goes up 4400 feet in just over 4 miles so this a good taste of what is to come. The trail goes straight up and I think "what do you call it when the trail goes around a tree?" Answer " A Maine switchback" because in every other state the trail would switch back and forth several times for this type of incline but here in Maine it is just up. The trail is wet and the Maine rocks are wet and slippery making climbing difficult but after an hours climb I am at the top getting a beautiful view as the clouds clear up and the mountain tops are covered in sunshine. The trail takes you down through long sections of "BOG RUNNING" and back up Bald Mountain on a not so steep incline but one that is still formidable. The views again are spectacular with a good sighting of Katahdin to the North East. I have seen only 2 hikers all day and neither stopped to have a long conversation, just a cursury "How you doing" as we pass each other. The trail down from Bald Mountain is a steep one and the slippery rocks make for unsure footing and I slip and fall twice. The second fall leaves me with what feels like a fractured arm or at the least a really bad bruise.Every time I push on my pole a sharp pain radiates from my arm. The trail passes across several streams and leads to a river that I have to ford. I have crossed several streams and rivers during this hike but this is my first official ford with fast running water pushing me as I step on the algae covered rocks and the water goes up to my knees. I make my way to the shelter and set my tent up on the shore of a lake. The lake is very large but since it is in the middle of "Paper company lands" there are not any houses on the lake, nor roads to the lake ,no boats, nothing but pure nature, too include mosquitos and blackflys. After I set up my tent 2 hikers show up, Smoky a SOBO hiker and John a section hiker. Smoky a 20 something is a fire expert and builds a great fire that helps reduce the bug problem. After a while a NOBO hiker shows up, PONY EXPRESS, and after introductions we realize that we met back in Virginia. He was doing big days and had stayed at the shelter with RedHat and me but was gone early in the morning. He was FASTTRACK back then but now has a new trailname. Pony Express is from Toronto and started on 1 April. He is on a tight schedule and has plans to meet his parents at Baxter state Park on 28 June. To meet this goal he has been doing between 20 and 30 miles every day for 86 days without a day off. He confides that after all this hiking he doesn't have enough time to complete the 100 mile woods and get to Katahdin in time to meet his parents and his plan is to skip this last section. I offer to let him stay a night at the cottage and then drive him to Katahdin saving him the cost of a shuttle and the stress of trying to find a shuttler. We make plans to leave the next morning before 6am to hike to my car.O.M. River
Date: 2009-06-26
From: Moxie Bald Leanto

To: Monson, Maine
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: light rain

This is called "The WET DAY"We leave at 5:45 am and start hiking what the map shows as a continuous decline but what turns out to be a series of small ups and downs as we skirt the shores of the Pisquataquois river. We ford this river twice. The rivers in Maine don't have nice bridges across them because the ice flows in the spring would just come along and take the bridge down river with the ice. This means we have to ford the fast running water that is over knee deep. At the first ford there is a rope we can hold on to which helps a lot as our feet are pushed down stream each time we lift them up. At the second ford we have to cross about 50 yards of fast running water picking amongst the rapids where it is shallow and the deep water where it is calm. I am glad I have Pony Express to lead the way, without him I would still be sitting on the shore trying to decide how and where to cross this river. Once past the river we hit the muddiest section of the trail I have seen so far. In Pennsylvania where there was a lot of mud you could always move to the left or right of the trail and find dry ground but here in Maine the mud would be 100 feet in all directions and after a while trying to step on rocks or roots is given up for just slogging on. Every once in a while the mud would come up to the top of my boots and it would be a struggle to pull my foot out while the mud made a long sucking noise. The bugs were intense and we walked through some sections where they just swarmed all over us. I felt like "PIGPEN" in the Charlie Brown cartoons as I traveled with a swarm buzzing around my head. My flypaper covered hat has caught 17 large blackflys and over 50 smaller gnats, mosquitos and blackflys before it becomes ineffective. I end the day with my legs covered with blackfly bites that itch and add to my misery. We pass 4 hikers just starting out from Monson and they smell good and clean as they head into the muddy bogs they have ahead of them. I can only imagine what they think about how we smell as we pass them. Finally the sound of traffic, that welcome sound that means road,town, food, civilization as we know it, are all ahead. A couple of quick 500 foot ups and we are back to my car. I pick up my "Trail Angel" cooler and see that about 12 hikers have enjoyed a drink and a power bar.We drive to the cottage and grab a quick shower. I have about 20 bug bites on my legs; Pony Express, who has been in the north woods longer, is covered on his neck and back with bites. I decide any future hikes in Maine will be done in August or later when the trail has had time to dry out.O.M. River
Date: 2009-07-09
From: Great Barrington,Massachusetts

To: East Mountain Massachusetts
Miles today: 4.3

Back on the trail , this time I have drivern down to Massachusetts and parked my car in North Adams at the community center. After a series of bus rides (4 different buses) I make my way from North Adams to Great Barrington a total of about 50-60 miles by bus for a flat fee of $5.00. The bus service in the Berkshires connects several small towns and goes through rural western Massachusetts. This is a throwback to earlier days where the bus still stops at your house to let you get on or off. We go through comunities that are quaint and also upscale since this is close to Tanglewood the summer home of the Boston Pops and the summer vacation area for New York City. Although some of the communities are touristy they maintain their New England character. The Norman Rockwall museum is one of the stops on the bus line as this is where Norman lived and painted most of his life. The series of bus rides takes some time so I don't get to the trail until 6 PM. I only get 4 miles done before I set my tent up in the woods off the trail on top of East Mountain. The trail is great, not too muddy or too rocky and goes next to some farmland before it ascends up into the Berkshires. O.M. River