morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-11-14
From: Alec Kennedy Shelter

To: Tagg Run Shelter
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: clear sky

0.8 off-trail milesMagnificently bouldered stretch of trail between Whiskey Spring Road and Old Town Road. Sunday walkers out with their dogs. Earlier, as I stopped to peel off a few layers, a young buck approached me from behind. Didn't quite know what to make of me, even with the blaze-orange hat on. He moved his head from side to side, trying to get a better look at me through the oak trees. When I turned me head, he bolted.----------------------Last night was the closest I've come to packing in this trip for the year; it was just SO COLD. My water was frozen this morning and I didn't feel like cooking breakfast so I ate breakfast bars and Jolly Rancher candies that some kind trail angel had left in the shelter -- thank you! After the water thawed a little, I made frozen mocha slush in my water bottle. The sugar/caffeine combo was enough to get me to the Green Mountain General Store on PA94, where I had a cheeseburger and a Coke and read the Sunday Patriot-News outside on the picnic table in the 40-degree sunshine. Another beautiful day...Today, feeling sluggish, I stopped early at this shelter, spent a couple of hours making then tending a fire, then bedded down at 5:30, the fire glowing cheerily in the darkness. New moon tonight (not last night), so it may be possible to see the forecast meteor shower (the Leonids, "15 per hour, moderately bright, swift," according to Wingfoot). Doubt I'll see them from inside my sleeping bag, though... (I can't even tell if it's daylight out when I'm inside it.)
Date: 2004-11-15
From: Tagg Run Shelter

To: Birch Run Shelter
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: scattered clouds

0.3 off-trail milesTemp may have got above 45 degrees today; 34 degrees when I left the shelter at 7:45 this morning. Met two lady hikers who gave me an apple and a poppyseed ruegelach (sp?). They're both retired and are planning to do the A.T. next year, inspired by "Crazy Hazel," a 71-year-old thru-hiker several years ago. I gave them the contact info for the Hiker Hostel in Dahlonega and for Sunset, who told me he is hatching a plan to hire himself out as a sherpa/A.T. guide for single ladies of means. (Watch out, ladies! )Later on, met "Three Dog," a trail maintainer who was out with two of her dogs, a beautiful toy Australian shepherd (Blue Merle?) and a sweet old black lab. (The third dog is no more, but Three Dog wears his tags on her hiking gear.) All three of them had on their blaze-orange vests. Three Dog told me about the Hessian soldiers, Revolutionary (?) War POWs, who built the stone barn, one wall of which remains, near Michaux Street. It was quite an impressive site beside the trail -- a three-story stone wall with three rows of three windows each, still intact. Across from this there had been a CCC camp at one time (FDR's New Deal-inspired work camps for unemployed men to escape urban industrialization and live and work in the clean air), which was later used as a POW camp for German and Japanese officers. Amazing to think what we walk across every day on the trail. Passed through Pine Grove Furnace State Park yesterday, by the remains of an old iron smelting furnace, a four-story high stone chimney shaped like a fat stone jug. Pictures of the area when the furnace was in operation create an astounding contrast to the green parklands now present -- grim, grey, cokey outbuildings, a giant slagheap.Beautiful clear sky and crescent moon tonight. The trail register reports that a bat lives in the rafters of this shelter and a rattlesnake lives somewhere between here and the privy. I've seen neither so far, but think I'll save my privy trip 'til the morning...
Date: 2004-11-16
From: Birch Run Shelter

To: PA233/South Mountain
Miles today: 14.7

1.2 off-trail milesCame upon a gaggle (kettle?) of wild turkeys at a road crossing this morning -- conferring, no doubt, on how to avoid being someone's Thanksgiving dinner for one more year.Met two hikers en route, one a day hiker in Caledonia State Park, the other Turtle Don, a thru-hiker, completing sections of the trail while his wife slacks him from an area motel. Didn't find out until later that he was at the same place -- the Rite Spot -- where I decided to go tonight. I had met him months ago -- neither of us could remember where.I had to push myself to make it to South Mountain post office before it closed, and got there with only 15 minutes to spare. GREAT sandwich at the convenience store across the street -- and that is just about all there is to South Mountain, except for a rather shady looking "hotel"/bar and the sprawling estate of the South Mountain Restoration Center, an enormous red brick institutional-looking building with beautiful treed grounds, rolling lawns, "no trespassing" signs and a "high security" section -- rehab center? juvie hall? psychiatric hospital? The VisionQuest Center nearby, possibly affiliated, is a juvie boot camp for problem kids, I was told later. This complex seemed to comprise the greater part of the village, in any case, in a standoffish, exclusive way.After a long, four-way telephone conversation between me, the post mistress, the convenience store lady, and the Indian gentleman from the Rite Spot about how best to get to South Mountain from nearby Fayetteville, I finally got a ride to the motel, a franchise of Scottish Inns, though there is nothing in the least bit Scottish about the place. It was a cute 1950s-style line of rooms with a wavy pink neon light extending all along the edge of the roof, and a neon sign (which cost $360 to fix, the manager told me later). The restaurant space was vacant, but the manager tells me that as soon as he can find a chef he plans to open an Indian restaurant there. Now THAT would be a hiker oasis!
Date: 2004-11-17
From: PA233/South Mountain

To: Deer Lick Shelter
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: broken clouds

Lazy start to the day. Sluggish afternoon. Decided not to hike on to Penn-Mar Road in the dark. The Maryland Challenge (40 miles in 24 hours) will just have to wait for another day. Meanwhile, I have a nice fire going and the sky is clear and starry.
Date: 2004-11-18
From: Deer Lick Shelter

To: Ensign Cowall Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: clear sky

Lots of ups and downs over leaf-covered rocks today. Why did I imagine Maryland would be flat? Had an image of Washington, DC, in my mind, I suppose, instead of nearer neighbors West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Met only one hiker today, a woman out for a day hike only. When she found out I was a thru-hiker, she said, "Welcome to Maryland!"
Date: 2004-11-19
From: Ensign Cowall Memorial Shelter

To: Crampden Gap/MD572
Miles today: 21.1

Decided I wouldn't make it to Ed Garvey Shelter tonight, which would mean I'd miss the P.O. tomorrow, so I called the Harpers Ferry Outfitter and got a shuttle in for the night, a hiker room at the Hilltop House Hotel, which has an extraordinary view over the meeting of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. I could sit and watch the water for hours, buzzards flying overhead, iron mountains standing firm beside.I was absolutely knackerd, htough, after another pre-sunrise to post-sunset hiking day, and went straight to bed after a hot shower (even after the steam from the shower set off the smoke alarm in my room and gave me quite a rush of adrenaline). The folks at the outfitters, Laura and Ron, were absolutely wonderful. They picked me up at the war correspondents memorial, the only one of its kind, at Crampden Gap, in the dark and rain, and gave me the rundown on Harpers Ferry during the 12 mile drive in to town, including a run down "Spook Hill," which looks flat, but over which cars will roll from a dead stop to a good 4 mph, supposedly "pushed" by the ghosts of Confederate and Union soldiers killed there during the Civil War.When I told them I had a room at Hilltop House, they smiled -- "Well, THAT will be a REAL cultural experience." Don added, "I hear they finally put new mattresses in the hiker rooms -- well maybe not new new, but new from somewhere..."The hotel looks like a historic building from its entrance, with a spacious, wood-pillared , fire-placed lobby, and winding stairs in and among additions to the hotel over the years. The Tap Room has the best views over the rivers, 100 feet or so above where they cut through the Blue Ridge to form a trisection between Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Date: 2004-11-22
From: Crampden Gap/MD572

To: Harper's Ferry, WV
Miles today: 11.0

1.0 off-trail milesChatted today with Laura, the owner of the local outfitter, for a while before her husband Ron shuttled me back to the trail. We talked about doing the Gaspee Peninsula (the international part of the A.T. in Canada) together in July 2005. From the pictures, it looks quite beautiful. A good part of it is along the coast before it heads inland to a nature preserve -- lots of elk! -- then south to Maine where the northern part of my A.T. hike ended. Would be lovely to be in French Canada -- good cheese and a baguette sounds better than Ramen noodles any day.The first eight or nine miles of the trek today were much like the days before -- rocky path along a ridge, covered with dead leaves. The last few miles included 2.6 miles along the old C & O canal towpath, the canal following the Potomac -- now little more than a wide, shallow ditch, with the tow path a narrow rise between sometime canal and river. After crossing the Potomac, the trail crossed through the National Park section of Harper's Ferry, full of renovated brick buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries, including what was once the arsenal in which abolitionist John Brown and his followers holed up after a failed attempt to wrest it from the Confederates. The path also went past Jefferson's Rock, a point overlooking the meeting of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, at which Jefferson reputedly said that the sight was worthy of a journey from Europe.Visited the ATC headquarters this morning and intern Shannon took my picture for the thru-hiker Polaroid yearbook, and I signed the trail register. It was nice to see so mamy familiar faces in the photo album of this year's hikers. Being a slow hiker has the advantage of allowing me to meet so many of my comrades.
Date: 2004-11-23
From: Harper's Ferry, WV

To: David Lesser Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: overcast clouds

2.0 off-trail milesLast trip to the P.O. this morning to mail my tent home, among other things. I figure I won't have trouble reaching (or finding room in!) shelters from here on out, though it does make me a little uneasy to be without a portable shelter. (I still have a ground sheet and nylon line, though, so could rig up something in an emergency.)Stopped back by the ATC in search of a cardboard box for the mailing, and to fill up my fuel bottle, and met two more folks who work there. They both confirmed that I was an anomaly -- such a late thru-hiker -- and when Laurie realized I'd be on the trial for Thanksgiving Day, she showed me on the map an especially beautiful spot at which to stop between here and Front Royal.Crossing the Shenandoah River this morning, I saw a gaggle of geese -- ten adults and one gosling -- swimming and fishing in the shoals. The trail ascended easily from the river and by 2 p.m. I was walking through a heavy mist, which began to drip by 4, and drizzle by 5, just after I'd reached the shelter. Rain is promised for the next two days.To distract me from the weather and the lack of companionship, I have an unabridged audiobook of Hardy's Return of the Native. Such a luxury to have someone reading to me for hours at a time. Moreover, much of story seems to involve travellers walking long distances over barrows and moors, between cities and villages and ponds and fields -- much like my own journey in other words. It makes me feel as if I'm part of the story.
Date: 2004-11-24
From: David Lesser Memorial Shelter

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: moderate rain

0.1 off-trail milesThe shelter kept last night's rain out, but the mist crept in and dampened everything. Sleeping bag, pack and ground cloth were all soaked through this morning.Rolled into the Bear's Den just after dark. Walked upstairs in this old stone castle of a summer house, built in the 1930s, to find Queen Diva sitting court with her parents, two friends and a niece, and one other hiker visitor, Katie, sitting around the fire place. They invited me to join them for a spaghetti dinner -- wonderful! -- and I crashed after a hot shower while they played cards. Nice to be able to hang my gear out to dry in the hiker room -- I'm the only one there tonight! The upstairs rooms are for non-thru-hiking guests (that is, clean people).
Date: 2004-11-26
From: US50

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: scattered clouds

A person who wishes to remain anonymous (because she doesn't believe in slackpacking) gave me a ride to US50 this morning so that I could slackpack back to the Bear's Den. We're planning to surprise Riva Queen, who's arriving Saturday, and who believes I've already hiked out.It was the last day of Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native -- lots of walking over barrows, across the heath, sitting under trees and pausing at crossroads in the story. I felt like a character in the story; it's easy to get into the mood of a book about people who walk everywhere.The "rollercoaster" trail was quite a challenge, but without a full pack, delightful.Mia, another guest at the hostel, and I joined Queen Diva for dinner in her apartment. Home cooking! What a treat. I'm making up inspades for all of the Queen Diva trail magic I missed.
Date: 2004-11-27
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

RivaQueen arrived with her friend Theresa this morning and it was so good to see her again. Queen Diva, RivaQueen, Theresa and I then went off to the Snicker's Gap Family Tree Farm to select and cut down a Douglas fir for Queen Diva's Christmas tree, and spent the rest of the afternoon decorating it while Queen Diva went off to DC to pick up Circuit Rider, who is currently on a two-month whirlwind bus tour of all of the hikers and other folk he met this year as part of his trail ministry work.Mia, after asking me lots of questions about the trail, came back from the grocery store with half a dozen eggs and a couple of bananas for me! She's a neat lady, worked for many years in public health. (You can tell by the fact that she uses the timer on her watch for everything -- boiling eggs, etc. -- in the same way that a nurse checks her watch when she's taking your temperature.)Circuit Rider seemed to wish he were getting back on the trail again. He's done it several years in a row, and sees his ministry work not as Bible-thumping evangelism, but rather as living a worthy life -- attracting people to the joy andpeace of Christianity by his example rather than knockign on doors. He and Queen Diva are very low key about their ministry work, focussing much more on providing guidance, support and loving kindness than on preaching scripture. It's a refreshing take on organized religion.Other guests in the hostel tonight includ a woman who works in DC for the National Council of Mayors (she had met Buddy Cianci! -- the infamous mayor of Providence who is now in the pen in NJ for racketeering), her Ecuadoran boyfriend and his two lovely children, a Navy man with his Japanese wife and two more lovely children, and a Peruvian woman who works for the International Monetary Fund. A real United Nations!This has to be my last zero day for a while!
Date: 2004-11-28
From: US50

To: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Was up all night again -- too much coffee.Straightforward hiking today. Some mud after the rains last night, but beautiful blue sky and breezes made for a great hiking day. Had planned to do 10 miles only, but pushed on, hiking only an hour after dark.The trail register recounts a bear visit to this shelter a month ago -- huh. I hung my food out of the reach of the mice, as usual, but if the bears decide they want it tonight, it is well within their reach.It was good to see Circuit Rider -- he seemed to wish he could be back out on the trail. RivaQueen and Theresa gave me a ride back out to the trail. Great to see them.
Date: 2004-11-29
From: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

To: Tom Floyd Wayside
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: clear sky

2.0 off-trail milesWas up and had breakfast cooked before 5 a.m. this morning. Excited to be entering the Shenandoahs tomorrow. Am planning to do several 20-mile days to make up for my two unplanned -- but wonderfully celebratory -- zero-days at the Bear's Den. Thanks to RivaQueen and Queen Diva for their brilliant planning and efforts to keep me there for a pre-finish celebration.-----------------------------------4:30 p.m. Was in and out of Front Royal by 12:30. Got more than one surprised look from passersby. One woman at the post office offered me a lift back to the trail. Several people wished me luck. A man outside the supermarket said, "Hey, man, how far you headin'?" When I told him I'd already done 2000 miles of the A.T., he said, "Man, that takes HEART." Amen to that. And the support of a lot of great people along the way.It's very chilly out already. I'm bundled into my sleeping bag after a brief, failed attempt to light a fire -- this is warmer than a fire would be. Hope the bears are already hibernating. I don't care to feed any.Met a section hiker, Bill, this afternoon. We got into a discussion about arthritis -- Celebrex, yay! -- that somehow led to an account of his many years of religious study -- 12 years on Christian evangelism alone -- Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. He described a new trend called "theological marketing" in which marketers go from door to door asking non-churchgoers what their ideal place of worship would be like; this information gets fed to the would be pastors, who create churches to fit the criteria that polls the best. ("Well, I like to eat Cheetohs, drink beer and watch Nascar on the box from my La-Z-Boy recliner. Can you make church more like that?") Ah, the blessings of the free market economy!
Date: 2004-11-30
From: Tom Floyd Wayside

To: Pass Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 23.6

0.2 off-trail milesI think this is a record for me, mileage-wise. I started out at 6:40 a.m. and hiked until 8 p.m. -- over 13 hours on my feet. Yow! The forecast rain held off until mid-afternoon, then kept up at a steady drizzle until late in the night. I walked for three hours in the dark and the rain -- that was quite enough of that, thank you very much. Tomorrow will be a shorter day.The ranger checked my park permit, said "There are bears, but they won't give you any problems." Also ran into Bill again. He didn't press the conversation when he found out how far I was going. Also met two coeds who shook my hand in congratulations and were curious about females hiking solo on the A.T. ("Safer than town!" I always say.)I passed a young buck on my way into the Shenandoah National Park this a.m. He barely twitched at the sight of me, taking me in, but minding his own business of foraging. I got within ten feet of him, easily, andhe never turned tail. Apparently, the deer and bears in the Shenandoahs are so used to human visitors that, if you don't watch them, they'll eat your food right off of your picnic table. RivaQueen has pictures of a bear (back in June) that was so brazen among the tourists that he had to be darted and carted away by the park rangers. ("A fed bear is a dead bear," is the latest maxim of the state parks, warning visitors that bears that get used to human food because of careless visitors may ultimately get to be such a nuisance that they have to be put down.) All of the shelters in the park have bear poles -- 10-foot-high hangers, 30 or so yards from the shelters -- on which overnighters must hang their food bags before retiring. Saw a few icicles today, reminding me of my first week on the trail in Georgia, eight months ago.
Date: 2004-12-01
From: Pass Mountain Shelter

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: broken clouds

0.4 off-trail milesSlept in until nearly 7 a.m. after a late night. Was almost too beat to make dinner, but was glad I made the effort in the end. Thankfully, the spring was right behind the shelter and not down another dark, slippery trail.The last of the rain showers ended by 8, and the wind and an hour of sun helped dry out my rain gear, pack cover and boots from yesterday's rain. Late start at 9:30, which means another night hike ahead, but it felt good to relax a little.Beautiful trail today ascending the contour to Mary's Rock, winding up the outside of the mountain like a swirl of soft-serve ice cream. (Hiking seems to bring out the food similes in me...) Very windy, as Bill predicted yesterday. The wind atop Mary's Rock nearly blew me off the trail. In my effort to recover my footing, I jerked my head around so fast that I ended up with a crick in my neck and shoulder for the rest of the day. I lay down on a flat rock to try to stretch itout, only to find myself mesmerized by the clouds' movements overhead. For a good 15 minutes I lay there watching cotton batting wind and unwind itself in balletic and acrobatic twists, leapas, grasps, and releases. A circus parade then went by -- trapeze artists grasping each other's arms in midair, an elephant trumpeting, a monkey wearing reindeer antlers and driving a clown fire engine. Honest! It was all there in the sky.Lots of blown-down trees, branches and treetops along the ridge, wind like a tsunami, making the trail into an obstacle course. I managed to drag a few smaller branches off the trail. Others I had to scramble over or wade through. Had to keep my ears open for creaking and cracking noises around me.-----------------------------------------Beautiful starry night. Town lights below are glittering like pirates' treasure. The water in my Nalgene is icing over.Reached the shelter and had fetched water from the spring and was in my bag cooking dinner by 7:30. The mice are very aggressive and numerous here. I found one on top of my food bag -- right next to me! -- when I had just turned away to adjust my sleeping bag. They've already made inroads into my pack, which I hung up in hopes of keeping them out. I expect I'll have to shake them out of it tomorrow morning before I pack. I think they're trying to distract me from my macaroni and cheese dinner just long enough to carry it off. Horrid little beasts! Barbarian hordes!