morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-06-15
From: Pass Mountain Hut

To: Hogwallow Flats
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: clear sky

A few miles into our hike we noticed a female bear close to the path and two cubs in a tree. They were only feet from us and had nowhere to escape, because to the left was Skyline Drive and to the right were we and the trail. Those cubs were so adorable. They kept climbing higher and higher into that tree, looking down at us. I pulled out my camera and it would have been such a special picture, but at that moment my battery was empty. Unbelievable!!Today was the last day on which we could enjoy eating at one of Shenandoah ¢s wayside. Around lunch time we reached it and , surprise surprise, Parks was there. He should have been at least a week in front of us, but here he was. After lunch we hiked on for another few miles and ended up stealth camping at Hogwallow Flats. Funny enough, just as we were setting up our tent, Uncle D came by, looking for a space to camp for the night as well. So we had an enjoyable evening together.
Date: 2015-06-16
From: Hogwallow Flats

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

Uncle D came to our tent at 6 am and reported that dark clouds were moving in and it might start to rain. Since we didn¢t want to pack up a wet tent, we got up. Our breakfast was mini wheats and protein powder which held us over for maybe ten minutes. We really needed a shower and were torn between a shelter about 15 miles away with a solar shower or going into Front Royal to a motel. We were both tired because we couldn¢t sleep the last few nights, plus my mattress is still leaking air and I need to get to a place where I can find the hole and fix it, again. So Front Royal it was. I just didn¢t want to get to that solar shower and then find out it didn¢t work. It didn¢t rain after all but it was terribly muggy all day and being in AC was great.
Date: 2015-06-17
From: Signal Knob Shelter

To: A campsite somewhere on AT
Miles today: 17.1

I wrote this day in word, I clearly remember doing so but for some reason I can't find it. A few things that I remember happening though are that we had a good breakfast at the motel, caught up to Ahab, and started hiking at ten. The solar shower at the first shelter left much to be desired so Wistful was very glad we went into town instead of here yesterday. O think we hiked seventeen miles and camped in a nice grassy area. We met some new people and also had some trail magic.
Date: 2015-06-18
From: A campsite somewhere on AT

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, we started hiking at 7.15am because breakfast was really quick, nutty bars and protein shake! The trail wasn¢t hard for the first few miles but today we hit ¢the roller coaster¢, which is a 13.5 mile stretch of steep ups and downs, lots of rocks and boulders to climb over. It feels like an obstacle course. To add to the difficulty, it started raining and now we were dealing with very slippery rocks and there were lots of streams to cross. We wanted to stop at the Bear¢s Den and eat something and have a soda, so at 3pm we arrives there. Unfortunately they wouldn¢t open until 5pm. We debated if we should keep walking without food or stay for the night. Then the rain increased and the decision was made, we are staying. So we did the hiker special: bunk, laundry, pizza, soda and Ben & Jerry¢s ice cream for $30. It was good ! And we are even in an all girls bunkroom! The co-ed bunkroom downstairs smells so awful!!I have so many bug bites, it is a real pain! Last night I took my shoes and socks off awaited for our meal to be ready, what a mistake! Today my feet are covered in bites and they itch like crazy with my shoes on. I can¢t wait to get out of Virginia, it really is a green tunnel. You walk through this green tunnel for about 400 miles. There are lush green leaves all around you, yes even above, everything is so grown in and all shades of green with a tacky path under your feet. Views and meadows are far and few between, so no surprise a lot of hikers get the ¢Virginia blues¢ and ditch the trail. I don¢t blame them. But after Virginia the landscape is supposed to change, I hope that is true. It gets very claustrophobic. Some days I feel I can¢t even think of sleeping in these woods.
Date: 2015-06-19
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 20.1

Yay!!! Today we will finally be in Harpers Ferry, the unofficial AT midpoint and we are quite looking forward to it. But we still have twenty miles to go before that happens.We finished up the last three miles of the roller coaster and welcomed the easy stretch of miles that followed. No rain, though it was pretty humid. We crossed the Shenandoah River, a couple miles before Harpers Ferry. The bridge was completely in the sun and way warmer than any part of the rest of the trail. Below us, we saw countless people swimming in the river and yearned to do the same. But we opted against jumping off the bridge into the beautiful rushing water and continued to hike. We were so happy when we finally saw the trail to the ATC headquarters. We drank cold sodas and frappes as we waited for our picture to be taken and tried to figure out where stay for the night. We had originally planned to stay in Washington DC, but the last train had already left. We settled on an expensive but clean hostel here and decided to DC in the morning.
Date: 2015-06-20
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We took the early commuter train to Union Station. From there everything was on foot. We went to the Capitol, which was under construction, so no great pictures from the outside. We spent some time in the Library of Congress, there was the Gutenberg Bible and the Great Bible of Meinz. Beautiful art work on the ceiling and walls. We never actually went into the Capitol because you have to take a tour to get in and one hour of walking around, up and down steps seemed temporarily unachievable. So we settled for doing our own this taking advantage of every bench and seating area we laid eyes on. We had lunch at the Capital Visitors Center where we had Tiramisu for dessert. Next were the Washington Monument, the war memorials, the Lincoln Monument and the White House. It was a lot of walking and we were tired for almost the whole day. There was a coffee shop and caf© at one of the Smithsonian but the espresso machine was out of order so we couldn¢t even get coffee. Also, there seems to be law against having straws in the National Mall? I don¢t know for sure, because it seems so odd, but in the restaurant and the gift shops, we were never given straws and the cashier said that they were aren¢t allowed to give people straws. Not sure what all of that is about¢¦. By the time we had seen all of these memorials we were more than ready to get back to the hostel. But we still had 4 miles to go to Union Station, made it just in time to catch the train. Now we still need to find dinner and walk back to the hostel. Not a zero day at all.
Date: 2015-06-21
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, we were supposed to hike out today but everything just seemed to take forever so we didn't get back to the trail today. My new shoes came today, so we had to send the old ones back to REI, we needed to buy more snack foods from Food Lion, Wistful also had to mail some other stuff home, and by then we were hungry again. Also yesterday's none zero had left us pretty tired. It was a good day in town and we actually had time to eat ice cream, something we have been wanting to do this entire time. We will keep walking to Maine tomorrow.
Date: 2015-06-23
From: Dahlgren backpackers campsite

To: GreenbrierStatevPark
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Wistful: I really wasn't motivated today and just wanted to go home! So we hung out at the lake,which wasn't that much fun since we aren't prepared to spend a day at the lake(no bathing suit no beach towel)Later when we where about to make dinner some other campers invited us to eat dinner with them at their campsite. We had a very nice evening with them.Relentless: We woke up to the sounds of Pacer and Pompom packing up. We have been running into them several times a week since we got back on the trail even though they tend to leave at least an hour before us in the mornings. It was a nice treat to be out on the trail and still have access to a bathroom. Our large oatmeal breakfast tasted as bland as ever and then we were on our way. Not three miles into our hike Wistful started talking about going into Boonsboro and just staying there for a bit since she found the trail a bit boring at the moment. I pretty much said no way, so we kept walking until we reached a small state park with a monument called Washington Monument. Its this little stone tower built by villagers in 18-something in honor of president Washington. We laid on its stone walls for about an hour where Wistful frantically searched for some kind of civilization we could stay at instead of hiking into Pennsylvania. She found a state park called greenbrier which had a lake and concession stand. There was inside trail from the AT to the park. We took it and soon realized how long and steep the trail was. We did finally reach the park and got a campsite for the night. We got there around noon and spent the rest of the day laying around and sleeping. It was quite nice. In the evening some semi locals walked past our campsite and asked if we were hiking the AT. When we said yes they promptly invited us to a delicious dinner of spaghetti, garlic bread and salad with cherries for dessert. What lovely trail magic! It was good to have a relaxing day but I am definitely ready to keep going and be in Pennsylvania tomorrow evening.
Date: 2015-06-24
From: GreenbrierStatevPark

To: Pen Mar County Par
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: few clouds

We arrived at Pen Mar Park soaken wet!!I am tiered of this! We had to pay a shuttle guy $20 to get to the days inn. I really didn't want to get back on the trail, so I reserved a rental car for a week to be picked up the next day.In the early afternoon finally they picked us up(enterprise that is)to get the car.We drove to Gettysburg to the battlefield of 1812 then had to find a plae to stay. I have come to hate being homeless it is really hard at times. Guess I am not cut out to be a hobo after all.Anyways, tbe next dayvwe drive to the beach, Assateague Island,MD.Stayed thete for a few days and enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean. This water is not even half as salty as the Texas Coast and the waves are so much higher. We had gotten a minivan since they didn't have anything smaller available, which was good, because we could just live in the car(free upgrade).But eventually we had to go back to the trail.
Date: 2015-06-29
From: Pen Mar County Par

To: Campsite Falls Creek
Miles today: 0.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Last day of our short vacation at the beach. It was nice to be away from the trail for a bit and enjoy the ocean, sand and ponies. We also took what would be our last shower for a couple days at the bathhouses. It was a truly awful experience. For some reason, the shower was full of mosquitoes. I turned on the water to drown as many as possible but there were still plenty left. They kept biting us even as we showered. Afterwards, Wistful even put on her underwear inside out as she hurried to get to the safety of the outdoors. We started the four hour drive back to Greencastle around noon but had to stop at Starbucks before going on our way.We returned the car and the rental people drove us back to the trail at Penn Mar park. We were about .2 miles south of Pennsylvania and the Mason Dixon line. We got there around five and only planned on walking the 1.5 miles to the campsite. To our delight, when we got out of the car we saw Clean Shave sitting at a picnic table. We always seem to run into him and Doppelganger for some reason though we rarely hike together. Down to the campsite there was a disappointing sign on the bridge over the stream. Something about wastewater contamination and not to swim in the water. We stood there wondering what to do and decided to walk back up to the park where there was drinking water. We weren¢t sure what the bear situation was around here so we took our packs with us.So what was supposed to be less than two miles of walking turned out to be 4.5 miles (which of course still a nero). Clean Shave and Doppelganger joined us at the campsite along with some other people we had never met before. I¢m glad we weren¢t completely alone out here on a first night back.
Date: 2015-06-30
From: Campsite Falls Creek

To: Caledonia State Park
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: broken clouds

Another average day on the trail. Our plan had been to make it to Quarry Gap Shelter but the Weather had different plans. Sometime after noon, we experienced one of the trail¢s typical rainstorms. In these down pours, a wall of water is released from the heavens, and you are soaked through within a few minutes only to have it stop raining a half hour later. As soon as we felt the first few drops of rain, Wistful spotted a nice campsite next to the trail. Without hesitation we got out the tent, set it up in record time, and crawled in before the worst of the rain hit. There we stayed, reading/sleeping until the rain ended. It felt so odd sitting here, in the heart of the forest in a rainstorm, without getting soaked. Needless to say, we were beside ourselves with the joy of our genius and man¢s creation of the tent.We hiked on after the rain, but easily lost an hour to the storm so we had to stop hiking two miles short of the shelter. It was early evening and the clouds were thickening again when we reached Caledonia State Park, where we found clean Shave waiting at a picnic table with way some ice cream he had been given. We gladly took some of the sugary frozen treats off his hands and tented in the park campground with him and Doppelganger. After setting up our tent for the second time today, we took advantage of the free showers nearby. Not soon after it started to pour and we were quite relieved that we had decided not to walk the extra two miles to the shelter.Tomorrow we will be at the REAL halfway point. I can¢t wait. It will be a memorable day!!!
Date: 2015-07-01
From: Caledonia State Park

To: Pine Grove Furnace SP 
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: scattered clouds

July 1Today, our motivation on the trail was that we would reach the 2015 AT halfway point and that we could have real food at the Pine Grove Furnace Park. Not two minutes into our hike we had to walk up a steep hill. I¢m so glad we didn¢t walk there yesterday, don¢t think we would have made it. The shelter was extremely nice though and packed with weekenders. The shelter had two rooms and potted plants hanging from hooks at a nearby pavilion. A shame we couldn¢t have slept here. There were also tent platforms. Just before the next shelter, we saw this tiny turtle. It can¢t have. Been more than a couple of inches in diameter and was barely strong enough to make it across the dry leaves. At 1:45 p.m., we reached the official 2015 midpoint of 2094.6 miles at Dead Woman Hollow Road. Wistful was ahead of me and powered right past the sign without seeing it. I obviously told her to come back. Crazy that we are half way done and from now on will have less miles ahead of us than behind. At the bottom of our journal entries, we have always written that if you are limping, you are still walking. Well, we are definitely limping, physically and mentally. It¢s not a great feat to pick out which people are thru hikers when we are in town. These people are the ones with the dreaded ¢Hiker Hobble¢. They are the ones who grunt with the effort of standing up, hold onto railings as if they were life preservers; take advantage of any surface capable of sitting, lying, or sleeping on; eat a 16 oz hamburger, large fries, and a salad for dinner then ask for the desert menu and a milkshake as they ponder which pie (ala mode and with whipped cream of course) to go buy. In other words, thru hikers seem to be all the people who seem completely incapable of walking more than a couple yards without collapsing due to fatigue and debilitating pain. But somehow, all these people, including the two of us manage to get up off our inch thick mattresses at 6 in the morning, shake the spiders and bugs out of our hiking shoes, crawl out of our tents, and start hiking at least 15 miles a day. It seems a strange thing to do but somehow every day is I feel satisfied. I have accomplished something, have achieved something. Every morning I meet the day and conquer it and this halfway point, for me, just reinforces this. But as Wistful said in a previous, I think, there are times when it is hard out here. Like when it rains. I don¢t mind the walking in the rain, but afterwards, when everything is soaked and cold, the only reasonable thing to do seems to be going home and curling up in my bed with hot chocolate and Fyedka. But I will be able to do this soon enough, after walking through a few more states and summoning Katahdin. Happy Halfway Day! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnFMQ2NAgyk click the link and watch this video!!
Date: 2015-07-02
From: Pine Grove Furnace SP 

To: Backpackers Camp Boiling Springs
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: moderate rain

The things you do to keep yourself entertained while hiking. I started taking pictures of mushrooms. They come in all kinds of shapes and colors, and I had fun doing this for a while. It just gets to take a lot of time, getting out the camera and then you have to bend down with backpack and then try to get back up again. So that didn't last long. Relentless, I noticed has resorted to talking to herself. The other day I thought she was speaking with someone, but as I came closer realized there was nobody else there. She likes to recite poems, too.Should I be concerned? Today's hike finally took us out of the woods for a few miles,through corn and wheat fields. The trail here has warning signs, not to get into the fields because of the chemicals they use. Funny, that was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw how green and tall the corn was. How much round up and chemical fertilizer did it take? Unfortunately,bordering the fields where mulberries and black raspberries which we couldn't eat. But it was a nice change of scenery.
Date: 2015-07-03
From: Backpackers Camp Boiling Springs

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

About four trains passed by our campsite during the night. We were so well fed and tired, that we quickly fell asleep again. We got to sleep in today because we needed more fuel and the ATC doesn¢t open until 9. We later found out that today is Friday so it didn¢t actually open until ten. That was fine. We collected our mail drop from the post office instead (which had apparently only arrived an hour ago) and had a leisurely breakfast at a Starbucks like place called Caff  101. When the ATC opened we got our fuel and started the daunting task of unpacking our mail drop. To our surprise and delight, Helenna had included two small birthday presents! Danke Helna??! We hit the trail at noon and cruised through the cornfields at 4.5 miles an hour. The trail was incredibly easy all day with only a short climb up to the shelter. The guide book refers to this privy as the ¢Taj Maha¢ but that is quite misleading. It is larger than most privies but very dark so you have to keep the door open if you intend to find the toilet seat. The door doesn¢t lock either. The toilet seat is also a couple inches too far away from the edge. You can imagine the kind of mess this made. Wistful used the privy but I couldn¢t do it. Large trees seemed much more welcoming. Tomorrow we¢ll be passing through Duncannon and hopefully take a shower.
Date: 2015-07-04
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 11.6

It has been raining all night and at 6 in the morning it was still raining. We packed up all our stuff before getting out of the tent at 8. It rained almost the whole way to Duncannon. It wasn¢t enjoyable but for some reason I didn¢t mind the rain so much today. The water does make things more slippery but the rain also removes all the spider webs that I usually run into. The rain also made it much cooler. When we got to town we decided to stay at the Doyle Hotel, a 110 year old mansion. It¢s a cool place and must have been quite glorious a century ago. While I was taking a shower, every few seconds there was a distinct cold drop of water mixed in with the otherwise very hot shower. After some time, I realized that the bathroom above me must be leaking. As I looked up I four that part of the ceiling was missing and pipes were exposed. I really hope there wasn¢t toilet above me. After we showered, we had to do laundry again. Now we are debating what to do tomorrow since Wistful needs new shoes and there isn¢t an outfitter for another 70 miles. (Wistful wrote the next part of this post)Sometimes I wish I was 6 feet tall, or at least that I had considerably longer legs. There are these people on the trail, young men, 6 feet plus tall and packs that look like they weigh 60 pounds, and here I am walking with, what I think is a pretty good pace and suddenly one of these young guys is right behind me and passing me up on a rocky slope like there is nothing to it. So I watch them disappear into the distance, realizing that for every one step they take, I have to take 2 or 2 1\2 steps, which means as I am half way, I actually hiked the whole trail already compared to guys like Aquafresh or Little Giant or SamWise. They are all about 6 plus feet and have a much easier time than I have. We are now, as everyone knows, in Pennsylvania, notorious for rocks and boulders. Now boulders I have to climb over, these guys just take without breaking their stride. I ask you, is it fair that we all have to hike 2000 miles before getting recognized as a 2000miler even though we short people clearly do more hiking in 2000 miles then tall people do. Well that¢s just the stuff I occupy my mind with when hiking boring stretches of never ending forest since I have no modern electronic device with which I can distract myself from aching feet and empty stomach.
Date: 2015-07-05
From: Duncannon, PA

To: waterless Campsite
Miles today: 15.9

Relentless' birthday today! So we are hiking another 15 miles, what else is there to do?? There isn't a town close enough to get some special food to celebrate, we'll have to wait for the bakery in Pine Grove,which is about another 40 miles away. About halfway in our hike there was a lookout rock and I sat down on the ledge with my feet dangling to enjoy the view, when by chance I looked down on the rock under my ledge and there was a copperhead , inches from my dangling foot!!I moved quickly to get my feet out of her reach. These snakes just about give me a heart attack , every time!