morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-06-20
From: Tent site near trail

To: Tent site off trail near Pine Grove
Miles today: 15.1

Someone attached boards to the root ball of the fallen tree over this creek. I thought that was a fun way to get across.I had a little critter experience last night. In the middle of the night I heard what sounded like a high pitched oinking sound coming my way. Then there were a series of guttural clicks. So I got my flashlight and poked my head out of my tent. I had suspected that it may be a porcupine, and sure enough, that's what it was. He did an about face when I shined the light on him. Someone had told me that clapping and noise had no effect on porcupines, but shining a light on them made them leave. The flashlight thing totally worked! Tomorrow is June 21st, the first day of Summer, and Nude Hiking Day! Personally, I have enough bug bites on my exposed arms, so no. But I do have a story on that. When I went to see Jennifer Pharr Davis speak at a church, afterwards a man came up and told me he was a boy scout leader. He took his boy scouts out on a hike on June 21st a couple of years ago. Around a bend in the trail, here came two women and a man totally nude other than their shoes and a pack. As they walked right past all of the boys, their eyes shot out several inches from their faces. He said that's all the boys could talk about the whole rest of the weekend. They all decided that their story would be that they saw three "bares." This scout leader said that after a while the true story got out, and the next year about 14 dads volunteered to hike with the boys on June 21st.I got my tent set up just in time this evening to avoid quite a heavy downpour. It's the remnants of Hurricane Bob passing through tonight and some of tomorrow. The rain on the tent sounds like popcorn popping and I think it's going to be a pretty hard rain and thunderstorm tonight. I'm about halfway up a ridge so I don't have any lightning concerns (like on the top of the ridge) nor flooding concerns (at the bottom near a stream). I'm dry and secure in this tent and have no real worries. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-06-21
From: Tent site off trail near Pine Grove

To: Tent site off trail nearing Port Clinton
Miles today: 15.7

I had a nice Father's Day by talking to my daughter (left), my son (middle), and his wife (right). They were on speakerphone along with my wife and sister in law for a fun conversation. I felt a little lonely and homesick afterwards, but was soon distracted and delighted by unexpected and trail magic that I really needed. I'll explain below about that, but first, in honor of Father's Day, here's an observation about daddy long leg spiders.Before I got going this morning I was in my tent looking up in the new morning light staring at several daddy long leg spiders seeking refuge from the rain. Two of them seemed to be lovers. They had established their wide stance positions right next to each other and occasionally their legs touched. If another daddy long legs came by and touched one of their legs, those two recoiled and the new one hurriedly walked away but the pair remained together. One of them occasionally bent its long legs and put its elbow (elbow?) in its mouth and cleaned its leg starting at the elbow pulling down to the tip, taking a little special time on the very tiny tip to clean it thoroughly. It was a fascinating bit of nature that I'd never witnessed before. Oh, Daddy and Mommy long legs, I suppose. Can't all be Daddies. This morning, after a long night of strong storms, I packed up my wet tent and set off. (There's nothing like carrying the extra water weight of last night's storm.) A generous couple of trail angels, Steve and Ann, had offered via email to drive me a few miles into a town for food and cell phone recharging. They were a really nice couple and immediately asked me how my shoulder was doing. I had never met them before and it took me by surprise that they knew my shoulder had been injured. Of course, I only met them because they had read my blog and they knew all about my travels because of the blog. But it just caught me by surprise every time they brought up something that we had not previously talked about. It's such a funny feeling to experience that with strangers, but coming from such nice people, it was fun and flattering. They drove me to a pizza place and dropped me off and I figured I would walk back or try to hitchhike. I've tried to hitchhike a couple of times before with no success and I find it kind of embarrassing, so I wasn't looking to forward to either of those scenarios. Well, after eating I talked with my family on the phone and then a nice couple, Nolan and Melinda, stopped by and asked if I was a thru-hiker. They offered to drive me to the trail that they knew was a good distance away. Just like that, another set of trail angels appeared when I needed some magic. How great is that?I've settled down in another ideal site after a fairly tough day of rocky trail hiking. ANOTHER trail angel texted to check in with me, and he'll give me a hand tomorrow. I'm loving Pennsylvania!Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-06-22
From: Tent site off trail nearing Port Clinton

To: Port Clinton
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: overcast clouds

When I was in REI recently, another customer asked me how I grip my trekking poles. So here's an example. In the pic, my left hand is positioned for flat or up hill climbs. I loop the strap under the underside of my hand which takes most of the pressure. That way I do not have to grip the handle very tightly. When I put the tip in the ground, it never extends beyond my foot so most of the push is behind me. My right hand is an example of what I do when I go down hill. I flip my hand around so that I am palming the top of the pole extending my reach considerably. On a different note, GNATS! I think the same gnats have been circling in front of my eyes for this entire state. There must be a tiny clipboard where Zuzu Gnat signed up to circle my left eye and Limpit Gnat signed up to circle in front of my right eye. They never fly into my eye, although others do, but they just fly in crazy little circles in front of and near my eyes to torment me for no apparent reason. Little silent "g" demons. I had another magnificent Trail Angel experience today. People who sign my guest book often leave an email address. A guy named Rick is one of those folks. He follows four or five thru-hiker blogs and when those hikers get to his area, he invites them over. Rick and I have emailed a little back and forth, and he offered to pick me up from the trail at the end of my hike today. I am staying in a spare room of a house he is fixing up. He even bought and grilled a steak for me. Tomorrow, Rick will help me slack pack (carrying only my food and a few other items I need just for the day), and I'll stay here at his place one more night. He'll then take me back to where I had progressed on the trail. There's such generosity out here on the trail. Today I began to understand why this is called Rocksylvania. There seem to be millions of rocks ranging from stones to the size of sofas and situated at all crazy angles. Miles and miles of rocks. While it's pretty tough on the feet, it is kind of a fun challenge to hop from rock to rock and keep making headway. I think the rocks are going to get even more plentiful as I continue north for the next several days. But it's all part of this amazing adventure that I signed up for.
Date: 2015-06-23
From: Port Clinton

To: Hawk Mountain Road
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: scattered clouds

How about this splash of color on a leaf here in the summer? I just had to stop and snap a picture.A couple of questions have recurred in my guestbook and I'll take a shot at addressing them now. The first question is how did I come to have this trail name "3D"? Here is what I wrote about that in 2014:For me, it's about one of my recurring favorite aspects while hiking. I look up and see the relationship of the terrain and trees - near, midrange, and far. On the very next step it changes, and then changes again. I just enjoy watching that 3D interplay. Kind of a childlike wonder, but I just never get tired of it. So I thought I'd take that tag.The other question is what is my opinion about a woman attempting a solo thru-hike and any safety considerations that a woman should have. I walked with a twenty-something female section hiker today and asked her that question. She's been out here for several weeks and has several more weeks to go, so I figured she was almost like a thru-hiker and could answer that question. She said there are only a couple of concerns that she has had. One has been she has not attempted hitchhiking alone. The other is she has felt uneasy at times being alone at night in some of the towns, so she has stuck with her fellow hiker friends. But as far as being on the trail, she has felt the camaraderie of all the other hikers and the way it sort of feels like a tribe looking out for one another out here. And that's my impression too. I will say that I have seen a caution somewhere that solo female hikers should not post their exact locations in a real-time manner on this or any other blog sites...to just delay the post a few days. I hope that helps those of you who were wondering about that.Today was another day full of the famous Pennsylvania rocks. But to be fair, everyday in PA there have been decent stretches of trail with a minimal amount of rocks, so it's really only about half or two thirds of the time that I'm stepping on rocks. Today was my first day in Pennsylvania that I had dry socks while stepping on dry rocks. Hey, that rhymes.Rick, the trail angel who met me yesterday and invited me to his home, today dropped me off at the trail, and picked me back up so that I could slack pack today. On top of all that, I haven't had a single blister on my feet in several days so things are really going great right now.I'm back at Rick's house this evening lying in a real bed having taken a hot shower, and it feels fantastic. Two nights and two showers in a row, can you believe it? I've got another special plan for tomorrow, so stay tuned boys and girls.
Date: 2015-06-24
From: Hawk Mountain Road and back to trail angel's house

To: PA 309
Miles today: 11.5

This is a picture of some of the slab rock I was scrambling over today. If you zoom in you can see one of my trekking poles up there at the top where I sat down and had lunch. There were miles of this kind of rock scrambling today. It was a sunny dry day which makes the scrambling a whole lot easier and fun.My special plan came through today when I met one of my best friends at a crossroads. He's up here consulting with the forest service to control the destruction of hemlock trees by the Wooly Adelgid, a tiny needle killing aphid. When I think of hemlock I think of the poison that killed Socrates. But that kind of hemlock has nothing to do with the gentle evergreen hemlock tree. My friend, a doctor of entomology, has discovered in Seattle a natural predator of the Wooly Adelgid. He is releasing the predator here in various parts of the Eastern U.S., and is saving a lot of groves of old hemlock trees. He's done some remarkable, innovative, and scientifically sound work. If you're interested, his website is www.drmcbug.com. He's not only saving the hemlock trees, he's also a heck of a nice guy and spends days on end in the woods, like I do. Speaking of science, I remembered today something I once saw that I thought was really fascinating and I just thought I would share. You know how when there's an eclipse of the sun you're not supposed to stare right at it? One trick is to take a piece of cardboard and poke a pinhole in the middle of it. Then you let the light shine through the hole, and the image of the sun shows up on a sidewalk as a little crescent. One day I was in a parking lot during an eclipse and walking under a tree. What is normally dappled light on the pavement was instead hundreds of little crescent suns. The same effect as the pinhole was happening due to the little spaces between the leaves of the tree. Pretty cool, eh? Check it out next time there's an eclipse of the sun.Tonight I'm at a motel that my friend drove me to. We had a good meal nearby and I'll have a nice sleep before getting back to hit the trail tomorrow.
Date: 2015-06-25
From: PA 309

To: Near Palmerton
Miles today: 12.8

You see that little white dot in the trees down there? That's the next white blaze denoting the trail. And I understand that I have not even gotten to the hardest part of the rocks yet.Today was another day full of boulder skipping, which is really kinda fun as long as everything is dry. I tackled one famous section called the "knife's edge." It's a stack of boulders at the top of a ridge piled in the general shape of a sharp edge and you have to boulder scramble along the edge of the knife. Way. Up. High. I was super focused on that because a fall there would have been especially treacherous. Fortunately, it was only one or two tenths of a mile long.Most of the trail at this point lives up to its name of the "green tunnel." There are very few views from the ridge, but when I was able to see, the Amish farms down below were quite a nice sight. I also ran into a hiking club that was offering significant trail magic. I had to loosen my backpack belt following my visit with them.I'm not sure I have mentioned this before but one important maintenance item is toenail care. I keep the toenails clipped short to avoid them from cramming into the end of the shoe on downhills. That can really hurt if the toenails have gotten a little long. I'm in my tent on a rainy night in Pennsylvania and the weather is a little cooler promising a good night's sleep. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-06-26
From: Near Palmerton

To: Little Gap Rd. near Palmerton
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: broken clouds

Today I feel like I did some real mountain climbing. I put my trekking poles away and it was hand over hand up the side of almost a cliff. See my foot in the lower left hand corner? It was crazy steep and kind of a rush to climb. Once I got to the top I entered a Superfund cleanup area. For 80 years there had been industrial zinc smelting that filled the area with a severe amount of toxins causing all the vegetation to die. The cleanup has been going on for 35 years. In the photos I've seen that hikers posted years ago, the mountainside looked much more like a moonscape than what I saw today, so the vegetation is coming back. But still, pretty weird stuff. A friend of my daughter grew up in this area and her parents offered to let me stay with them for a day. They are wonderful folks who drove a distance to retrieve me from the trail this morning, and will drive me back there very early tomorrow morning. They let me borrow their car to go grocery shopping, and I'm writing this from their comfortable guest room. Good people keep showing up everywhere out here.And there's another good person story brewing for tomorrow. I'll write about that if it comes to pass.
Date: 2015-06-27
From: Little Gap Rd. near Palmerton

To: Wind Gap, PA
Miles today: 15.4

Yesterday I mentioned the Superfund toxic chemical cleanup site. Here's a picture of what it looks like walking through that area. The rest of the mountains are covered in trees but this area looks like some kind of scrubby prairie or something, due to the heavy metals in the ground. But it is coming back with some vegetation.I had another trail angel experience today, albeit a grumpy trail angel. A fellow hiker has a friend in New Jersey that had offered to come out and assist him with a couple of days of slack packing while the friend gave out trail magic along the trail. I was lucky enough to get in on the slack packing dropoff and pickup. It was an excellent day to slack pack because it was drizzling literally all day long and, of course, I was walking on rocks. At the end of the day this guy's friend drove us to a nearby town where I am staying at an interesting motel. More on that in a moment. But my hiker friend called me after dinner and said that his friend was bored and agitated about sitting around all day, since not many hikers came through to take advantage of his trail magic treats. So he left and drove back home and, uh, stranded us here in this town. That's fine though, because there are cabs here that can take us back to the trailhead tomorrow morning. So ends the tale of the grumpy trail angel.This motel is a real trip. There are only two motels in this town and one's expensive and one's not. I'm in the "not." I could immediately tell the quality of the place when I noticed the guy in the front office was behind bulletproof glass, and he would accept only cash for payment. When I walked to my room there were all kinds of goings-on in the parking lot, with people hollering at each other and hanging around outside. Since I look fairly homeless and certainly wet and disheveled, I fit right in. To be fair, some of the nicest folks I have met out here have tons of tattoos, metal body art, and crazy hair styles, so these people are probably just fine and being frugal staying here. Anytime I come into a motel I immediately spread out everything that is wet. This room within moments looked like my backpack exploded. So I will crawl into my stained and torn sheets and enjoy (sort of) this night indoors and out of the continuing rain.
Date: 2015-06-28
From: Wind Gap, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 14.6

This piece of wood looks like a crab claw doesn't it? I used to play this game with my kids where I would give them a choice of two superpowers and ask which they would rather have. Then I would give them two more, and then ask them to choose between the two winners. Oftentimes I would present a big bracket of lots of super powers and see which one would ultimately win, like the NCAA basketball bracket. Many of them were lousy super powers, and I remember one was having one hand be a crab claw. So there you go, kids - there's your crab claw super power that always got knocked out in the first round. So 3D, have you had anything rip on the trail, and if so how did you repair it? I ripped a small hole in my rain pants, but had just the thing to repair it. It's called Tenacious Tape. It comes in several colors, although I bought only the clear type. It's a really strong tape that you cut to the right size, then peel off the backing. It worked great on my rain pants. I also used it successfully on an otherwise sturdy, see-through Ziplock envelope that I use for my trail guide. I've heard it works well on tents, too. Duct tape is handy to have also, but it isn't as permanent as Tenacious Tape. By the way, as a way to carry a partial roll of duct tape, I wrap a supply of it around my Gatorade water bottle.Today I hiked with All The Way again and with a young woman named Foghorn (because she carries a foghorn to ward off animals). She's a section hiker doing four or five hundred miles. This was essentially my last day in Pennsylvania. There was one tough section called Wolf Rocks. It was particularly difficult because the rocks were wet with on and off rain. I took it exceedingly slow, which is the advice I've gotten from veteran thru-hikers. I also put my trekking poles away (strapped to my backpack) so that I could use both hands to scramble and hold on to rocks and trees to get me through it. Slow and one step at a time seems to keep working for me for all of these notorious challenges. I'm at a hostel tonight that is in the basement of a church. There wasn't enough room, so I pitched my tent behind the church. It's after nine and so far the church bell has rung once every hour. I sure hope they don't do that all night long because it's right over my tent and LOUD. I understand that tomorrow we will get a day of no rain! Right now it's dry and the air is cool and perfect for sleeping. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-06-29
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Off trail campsite
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I made it to New Jersey!My first day here was sunny and mild. The perfect weather really put the joy into New Joy-zee. Let me dispel a couple of myths about New Jersey. One, not all of this state is industrial -- by a longshot. So far there's a continuation of the beautiful, sparsely populated woods and countryside that I encountered in Pennsylvania. Two, the rocks don't end in Pennsylvania. They continue on for about 45 miles into New Jersey. But they seem to have a different feel. I think it's because they are all embedded in dirt here rather then piled on each other and wobbly like in some cases in Pennsylvania. At least that's what I have found so far. Here's my tip of the day for those of you hiking. When you are in a grocery store resupplying and looking for protein bars, you will find them in boxes in the regular grocery section. Usually, though, you won't need that many. But if you go over into the drugstore section of the grocery store, that's where you will find individual protein bars. Go figure. I am comfortably in my tent on a mild cool evening and about to sleep through my first night in New Jersey. Nowhere I'd rather be.
Date: 2015-06-30
From: Off trail campsite

To: Culver's Gap off US 206
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

My friend Foghorn almost stepped on this timber rattlesnake yesterday before he alerted her with his rattle. She's a tough hiker but that was worthy of a scream.Today it finally happened. I saw my first bear! Another hiker was coming up behind me and said "Hey look!" Not 20 yards away a bear was walking toward the path that I had just walked over. It was a smallish bear probably weighing about 150 pounds. It turned and saw us and immediately ran away and I didn't get a chance to take a picture. I've been told before that if I see a bear there will be a good chance that I will only see its rear end. Fortunately, I did get a good side view before he saw us, and quickly gave us the rear end view. I'm so glad to finally see a bear. I'm also glad that these immensely strong creatures with sharp claws and teeth are skittish around humans. Today was overcast with occasional sprinkling. I skidded a couple of times on some slabs of rock but caught myself with my trekking poles before falling. I don't know why I count them, but I am up to eight falls on this hike so far.One of my best friends, an old pal from college who is currently working in nearby New York City, picked me up today and took me to REI. My steripen for purifying water had been acting up a bit and I just didn't want to take any chances so I bought a new one. I've been using it for over 3 years so it didn't really owe me anything. My friend, Bob C., and I had a nice steak dinner tonight and he will drop me back by the trailhead in the morning.