morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-06-30
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Going to town--what better reason to get up and out of camp early?!? Well, that and being out of water. We hit the trail at 8:20 and made a straight shot for the first stream. On the way, we walked through a large hay field the farmer was preparing to bale. It was pretty cool; we don't see a lot of big farms like these in Maine. Next we met an older couple and their dog, Poppy, out doing some trail maintenance. They were very sweet and spent a little while chatting with us as we filled our water bottles. The gentleman hiked the trail in 1995 and has section-hiked a lot since. He shared some info about the upcoming trail conditions (the rocks) and he and his wife were just very charming.   We hiked on and finally crossed the Susquehanna River into Duncannon early this afternoon. Duncannon is a tiny, rather rundown little town. The only place to stay right in town is the Doyle Hotel, built around 1900 by Anheuser-Busch. It's pretty much a hiker tradition to stay there, but unfortunately over the years, it has fallen into rather sad shape. We opted to stay in a hotel out of town (the owner came and picked us up) but have found ourselves to far out to get anything done. So, tomorrow we'll head back and probably end up at the Doyle anyway! We need to do laundry, go to the post office, get groceries, etc. and we might as well enjoy the atmosphere of the hiker town :)
Date: 2003-07-01
From: Duncannon

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Here we are at the Doyle as anticipated. It's actually a cool old building with a lot of the original charm, cool wainscotting, dark woodwork and tin ceilings, etc., but definately needs some TLC. We got all of our errands done and hit the ice cream shop for lunch. They make the biggest banana splits I have ever seen! That or Sean-o's schmoozing with the young lady who works there just paid off. Either way, he and Bump ended up with massive amounts of 3 fabulous flavors covered with sauces and whipped cream. I was more conservative today and just had 2 giant scoops in a dish. After all, just 2 hours earlier I gorged on 2 eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, toast, 2 slices of raisin "Freedom" toast, coffee and oj! Have I mentioned that my "hiker's appetite" has kicked in?    The bad news is Bump's entire right leg and foot have become quite swollen. He's not in any pain, but it's huge! To be on the safe side, we got a local trail angel to take him to the emergency room to have it checked out. The diagnosis? "Maybe you've been walking too much." They gave him an anti-inflamatory and told him to stay off it and elevate it for a couple of days. So, tomorrow will find us still here. We'll see how it looks after another day of rest and take it from there. Hopefully, we'll be back on the trail on Thursday, 7/3. We'll keep you posted
Date: 2003-07-03
From: Duncannon

To: Peter's Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 11.4

We finally escaped from the Doyle! It actually felt pretty good to getback on the trail. Bump's leg looks better tonight after walking on it allday than it did last night after staying off it. Hopefully it will be okay;at least it doesn't hurt. It was pretty hot walking today and there was a bodacious climb aftercrossing the bridge, but we made it just fine. The shelter here is verynice, built in 1994 in memory of a young man named Steven Barber; the watersource however is a spring 800 ft. straight down the side of the mountain!The coolest part is that the original shelter is still here, too. It's alittle tiny one that was named after Earl Shaffer. When they put a floor init, he wanted his name taken off! What a character he was :) Earl was thefirst person to thru-hike the trail, then the first to hike south-bound, andI think he may have the record for being the oldest person to thru-hike ayear before he died. My hero!
Date: 2003-07-04
From: Peter's Mt. Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: few clouds

Today was a long, hard, hot day. As the temperatures have gone up andthere's been no rain; water is becoming a slight issue. I say "slight"because no matter how bad it gets, I don't think it will ever compare to thelack-of-water conditions hikers experienced last year. We just need toremember that we aren't crossing rushing streams and springs every couple ofmiles anymore. We need to carry more--ugh! So, the heat and extra weight had me feeling sorry for myself. We saw a couple of neat things today. We followed an old stage road forawhile, then went thru the ruins of Yellow Springs Village, an old miningvillage that was abandoned many years ago. Next we came to 2 huge mounds ofcoal that are becoming overgrown with brush. The big one looked like a largedome as we approached it. Otherwise, the trail was about as varied as could be today. We climbedStony Mountain, traversed rocks and small boulders, crossed thru mud bogsand then dry stream beds. Some of the wooded areas were so rocky, there wereno woods. Other parts were lush and green with mountain laurel and blueberrybushes. It's amazing how quickly the scenery can change. To all our friends, journal fans and loved ones we wish everyone a veryhappy, safe 4th of July. :)
Date: 2003-07-05
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I had a much better day today. Although it was still hot and we did 17+miles, it felt so much better than yesterday. We passed another abandonedvillage this morning called Rausch Gap Village. It was settled around 1872as a mining town and railroad repair site. At one time it had 1000+residents. The mine was not productive and the railroad moved, so in 1910,the village was abandoned. Later we crossed Swatara Creek on a really cool iron bridge. Then the bigmoment I've been waiting for--we passed the 999.9 miles from Katahdin! Lessthan a thousand miles from home! Woo-hoo! Oh yeah, the blackberries are ripening. They're soooo good! We also passeda cherry tree today and I picked a handful of those too. Just when I thoughtit couldn't get much better on the trail, we pulled into the shelter to finda pizza delivery menu and Bump's got a cell phone. :) As I said, I had amuch better day today!
Date: 2003-07-06
From: 501 Shelter

To: Eagles Nest Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: broken clouds

Another hot, sweaty day! I can't believe I'm going to say this, but weneed some rain! There is thunder rumbling in the distance, but I suspect itwon't do anymore than the sprinkle of drops we heard yesterday that didn'teven reach the ground. The spring here at the shelter isn't much more than atrickle. Fortunately we found a spot that was deep enough and flowing enoughto get water. Today's highlights included picking and eating lots of blueberries andpassing a historical marker for Fort Dietrich Snyder. It was one of a chainof forts built in 1756 to protect against raids during the French and IndianWars. Sadly there are no remains to be seen, as has been the case with mostof the interesting historical sites along the way. We've been meeting new people who are catching up to us and running into afew old friends lately. Oopala caught up with us on our second zero day inDuncannon, but we left him behind to enjoy a zero himself. We met MountainButterfly at the Doyle, a lovely lady from Boston, and we ran into Ted andGordon, the "perpetual spring breakers". F-Stop is a day ahead again andSoul Train is off for a couple of days. We also saw Leapyear and Spunky atRausch Gap Shelter. Between there and 501, we met Lion King, Tater--a gentlesoul who has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, Just Bill and Billy-boy (notrelated). Tomorrow we head into Port Clinton and will spend the night. They say thetrail into and out of there is tough. I'll let you know :)
Date: 2003-07-07
From: Eagles Nest Shelter

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: light rain

Ah, Port Clinton...What can we say about Port Clinton? It bills itself as"the buzzard capital of the Northeast." Hmmm, might that be because so manyhikers have expired attempting the steep descent into town? Might it bebecause there's nowhere to get groceries and they starved to death? Orperhaps the buzzards are just attracted by the aroma of stinky hikers whohave nowhere to shower or do laundry!?! The trail guide says this littletown "has everything a hiker needs except groceries." They forgot to mentionATM, pay phone, reasonably priced lodging and dining on Mondays, and laundryfacilities! We are in a lovely, but very pricey B&B with pricey restaurant downstairs.The Port Clinton Inn and Restaurant is closed on Mondays; leaving the onlyother option--staying in the town pavillion with port-a-potty. That's okay,the inn looked like a dump anyway! We were fortunate to run across a section hiker who gave us a lift intonearby Hamburg so we could get groceries. And the B&B is actually a funplace run by a great guy who also happens to be a great cook. The food andwine kept coming and we enjoyed the wonderful company of Mountain Butterfly,Millipede and Sean-Obi Wan. Tomorrow we face the dreaded ascent back out of town. If it is anythinglike coming into town, we're in trouble! Gotta love those PA rocks :(
Date: 2003-07-08
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We got a really late start out of town today. We were waiting for the second "B" of our B&B! Breakfast was finally ready around 10:00-delicious, but late. We had planned to only go 6.1 miles to the first shelter because of the reported tough climb out of town with full packs from resupplying, so it didn't really matter. Mountain Butterfly came over to chat and to our pleasant surprise, Oopala rolled into town before we headed out.   The climb was long and somewhat steep and of course, it was hot again. But on we trucked! Along the way, we found a beautiful luna moth on the ground. It couldn't fly and appeared to be dying. At first, I just wanted to move it off the trail, but when we realized it was not going to last long, I picked it up and put it in a baggie. I have to admit, I feel really guilty because it wasn't quite dead yet. On the other hand, it was going to die anyway, and I have always wanted one for my collection. My greed won out. Now if I can just figure a way to protect it from damage until I can send it home!   We passed the site of Windsor Furnace, an early pig iron works. The path had remnants of glassy slag in it left from the iron processing. Some was shiny and black, but some was brilliant blue. We missed the old foundation that is supposed to be in the underbrush.   We finally got to the shelter around 3:00. It was a kind of dismal site and as Bump was looking through the register, he noticed that almost everyone mentioned moving on to Eckville, where you can buy sodas, snacks and ice cream. Sean-O looked it up and we discovered it also has a solar shower, FLUSH toilet, and a bunkhouse. We decided to go for it, after all, it was only 4.1 more miles. While Bump was getting water, I decided to double check, only to learn that it was actually 9.1 miles. What to do? It was now 3:38 and 9 miles would mean at least 4 hours because of the climb up to the overlook (not to mention our favorite PA rock scrambles). But...ice cream...soda...shower...FLUSH!!! Off we went and now here we are, tenting in a lovely field below the shelter. Our bellies are full of soda and ice cream sandwiches. The sweat from the day is washed away and the lightning bugs are out. What to do about tomorrow--we already did half of the miles. Maybe we'll just wing it and see what comes up along the trail. :)
Date: 2003-07-09
From: Eckville Shelter

To: Powerline before Tripoli Campsite
Miles today: 13.3

The big news for today is it rained a little! And it felt good :) Today was an interesting combination of hard and not-so-hard trail. I could almost call some of it easy, but it's never really easy. The Pennsylvania rocks have been showing themselves over the last few days and I think they really do sharpen them here! Bump developed a couple of blisters, but they're being well cared for and the swelling in his leg is doing very well, too.   We leap-frogged today with Mountain Butterfly and Fizz, both of whom joined us at this great campsite. Siesta came along and is camped here, too. We are on the crest of Blue Mountain next to a powerline crossing with a spectacular view of the valley below. The sunset was gorgeous. Sass built a campfire after dinner and we enjoyed sitting around it and talking for awhile. The smoke chased the bugs away (which were awful today).    Tomorrow we head into town, probably Palmerton, to pick up a few supplies and make phone calls if we can find a phone this time or get service on Bump's cell! If we go to Palmerton istead of Walnutport, we can stay in the hostel in the old jail. Might be fun.
Date: 2003-07-10
From: Powerline before Tripoli Campsite

To: Palmerton, PA
Miles today: 11.8

It rained again during the night and into the early morning hours, so we snoozed a little later than usual to wait it out. Nice :)    Last night was a good night. After all the guys went to bed, Mountain Butterfly and I stayed up talking by the campfire. I confessed to her that I've been thinking about going home a lot lately. It's been great having Bump here with me, but I miss "normal" life and the rest of my family. I guess I'm just tired of the daily grind out here. This is really hard work and it seems like there is still such a long way to go. She was very sweet and understanding. She gave me some advice and some inspirational quotes to get me thinking. One that hit home was something a thru-hiker told her. "There's a difference between wanting to quit and wanting it to be over. Be clear which it is you're feeling. They are very different." I know she's right. I don't really want to quit, but I definately want to be done.      Anyway, back to today. The hike started with a horrendous thing called "the cliffs". They were, they're behind us, 'nuff said. Then we walked through an area that had been pretty much devastated by pollution from mining and related processing. I believe there are high levels of zinc and other toxins in the area. It is actually starting to replenish itself and was quite pretty. The trail itself wasn't too bad either! We caught an easy hitch into Palmerton and are staying at the jailhouse hostel. It's not bad! The town is very hiker-friendly and has an ice cream parlor right across the street. Oh yeah, and a restaurant, a grocery store, library with internet access, laundramat, a soda machine that works and a pay phone! Hiker heaven :) We don't really need a zero, but are going to take one anyway. We haven't been able to do a lot of this housekeeping stuff for awhile and we are hoping Oopala will catch up to us for good. He's still a day behind and we miss him.
Date: 2003-07-13
From: Leroy Smith Shelter

To: Kirkridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: broken clouds

After a good night's sleep, we psyched ourselves up for a short, but reportedly tough day today. Word was there was a 7 mile stretch of rocks, a steep climb out of Wind Gap and a boulder scramble over Wolf Rocks. We headed out with Mountain Butterfly determined to make the best of it.    Well, there were plenty of small, sharp rocks in the trail (after all it is still Pennsylvania) and the climb out of Wind Gap was steep, but not too long. We were doing pretty well so far. We stopped for lunch after the climb and looked over the map and books. Just 8 miles to go! On, on!    We tripped and stumbled over the little rocks as we continued toward the dreaded Wolf Rocks. The woods were pretty and we spotted a couple of deer along the way. When the rocks started to get bigger, we knew we were getting close. Then the trail turned toward what appeared to be the edge of the ridge. We started up and over the boulders. Along the rocky edge we went. Then down a little, then over a little more. Bump spied a black snake curled up right next to him! Wow, it was getting interesting-would we see a rattle snake? We started to work our way down a bit on the boulders. Then...that was it. Done. No big climb, no big scramble, no big over-under-around-or-through. And no rattle snakes. Who exactly was it that said this was such a big deal? It was almost a disappointment. It was really a big relief :)   Tonight we are at the last shelter in PA. Tomorrow we head into Delaware Water Gap and hit the bakery first. No, the farmers market or maybe ice cream. Anyway you get the picture--TOWN!!! And on the way in, just 1.2 miles from here, we cross the <900 miles to Katahdin mark! Yikes!
Date: 2003-07-14
From: Kirkridge Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: broken clouds

It was a beautiful hike into town today. The scenery as we approached Delaware Water Gap was just lovely--pine trees, moss-covered rocks, rhododendron trees. And, the trail was graded for day hikers. We did see the biggest bear paw print I've seen so far, up on the ridge before we started down toward town. It was probably 6 inches wide. Glad that's all we saw of him!   We went to the hostel at the church, which was very nice, and caught up with Sean-O and Oopala there. They were just coming back from the shuttle ride into Stroudsburg to get groceries. We decided to get some lunch with Mountain Butterfly while we waited for the post office to reopen after their lunch break. We stopped in at the bakery on the way back. Oh my GOODNESS! There were pies, cookies, cakes, tarts and turnovers of every kind and coffee! My words were, "I think I've died and gone to Heaven!" We cruised the whole place twice and settled on a giant apple turnover for Bump and a huge strawberry cream tart for me. And COFFEE. YUM-YUM-YUM. :)   We took our goodies back to the hostel and got our boxes at the PO. Bump decided we would stay at the Ramada Inn so we loaded up our packs and walked back down the hill. They have a pool! Life is good. We headed back to the diner for dinner after a swim and a shower. We met Sean-O and Oop there with Marcia and Ken, who are on the third leg of the "triple crown". They have hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail already. A very cool couple around our age and lots of fun. Then as a surprise, Stripe and a hiking friend SeaBee came in! I was so happy to see Stripe, he's been MIA since Waynesboro. Anyway, we had a great dinner and made plans to meet the guys and Butterfly for breakfast in the morning.
Date: 2003-07-15
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Campsite before Kaiser Road
Miles today: 8.0

The day started out just fine. We went to breakfast and met Crossroads, a section hiker who got into the hostel last night. Our plan was to catch the shuttle to Stroudsburg at 10 to do laundry and get groceries and then hit the trail right after returning around noon. We had decided to hike to the Mohican Center about 10 miles out of town with Butterfly and meet Sean and Oop there maybe.    Well, we got the shuttle out, but then learned they only make one pickup run at 5:00 or whenever everyone is done, you can call them. We all went to the laudramat, but two of the guys wanted to go to a movie at the mall, Marcia and Ken were looking for shoes and we needed groceries. To make a long story short, we didn't get back to the hostel until almost 3:00. Sean-O and Oop were long gone and Butterfly left at 2:00 after waiting for us. We finally got packed up and headed out around 4:00, hoping now to do at least the 5 miles to the Backpacker Campsite. The trail passes through a national forest area and that's the only place to camp while in the park.    We caught up with Ken and Marcia and hiked with them to the campsite. We met the ridgerunner there and asked about water and camping options further down the trail because the campsite was pretty full with a youth group. He gave us some tips about upcoming water and shelters and told us about the campsite we are at tonight. It's just Ken and Marcia and us here and it's really a good spot. Tomorrow we'll try to catch Butterfly and the others if we can.    Oh yes, I almost forgot, Gazelle was at the hostel when we left. It was wonderful to see her again. She thought she may have had lyme disease--had the bullseye rash. The doctors weren't sure, may have been a spider bite. She's doing well and will probably catch us tomorrow. And...today we said good-bye to Pennsylvania and hello to New Jersey. Seven down; seven to go.
Date: 2003-07-16
From: Campsite before Kaiser Road

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: light rain

BEARS!!! We are tenting just above the shelter, on the old woods road and we just had a mother bear and her four tiny cubs come and visit! The mosquitos are really bad tonight, so we cooked dinner and then ate in the tent (I know, it's a no-no). Butterfly ate in her tent, too, and Sean-O was reading in his tarp. Butterfly and I both got out of our tents--she to hang her food bag and I to wash our dishes. She turned around and said, "Oh my God!" Right across from Sean-O's tent was this huge mama bear! We watchd her for a minute (second?) and saw 2 cubs in the woods beside her. She just looked at us and sniffed the air. I'm sure she was smelling my Lipton with chicken! Sean-O came out of his tarp with camera in hand. She started coming toward us. That's when we noticed the 3rd cub up on the hill. She stopped and crossed the road to our side and the FOUR cubs went running across with her. She ambled up the hill into the trees about 10 yards from us. I snapped a couple of pictures, then hurried to wash the dishes 'cause she was sniffing the air again and looking my way :0    Sean-O was trying to get some good pictures, but he made me nervous because 2 of the cubs had gone back across the road and we didn't want to appear to be between mama and babies. When the last two cubs crossed to her side of the road, we finally started banging pots and blowing our whistles to try to scare her off. She dug something up and lay down on the ground to eat it. We tried banging all of our pots and yelling and blowing whistles all at the same time and she finally just ambled away with the kids behind her!   Now our food bags are hung, the dishes are washed and in the tent with us and hopefully she won't be back tonight!
Date: 2003-07-17
From: Brink Road Shelter

To: Rutherford Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: few clouds

Our day started with Mountain Butterfly's report that Mama Bear and the kids were back around 6:00 am. Much to our delight, the bear bags were undisturbed and all of our food was still ours! We ate a light breakfast and headed up the trail to Worthington's Bakery, a mere 3.6 miles away. There were 2 big fat jelly doughnuts calling our names--and coffee :)    At the bakery, we indulged in goodies, coffee and soda and had sandwiches made to order for lunch later. We also took advantage of the payphone in the parking lot. New Jersey is a pretty cool place to hike!   It was a long, hot climb up to the trail to Rutherford Shelter; which was then an almost half-mile descent back down the mountain. We decided to look for a campsite on the ridge. Then the guys made the trek down to the water source. Nothin'. They came back empty. Now what to do? We could push on another 3.6 miles to the campsite at the State Park ($10) or make do with the water we had if no one needed to cook dinner. We chose cold dinner and set up our tents on the ridge. It's positively gorgeous looking over New Jersey from up here.    Today, Bump passed the 300 mile mark! Yeah!!! And it is my 4 month anniversary on the trail. I can't believe I've been out here that long and I really can't believe I've walked to New Jersey!   Tomorrow we plan to stop at the State Park for a quick look around, then go on to the "Secret Shelter". Depending on the time, that may be as far as we'll get. We'll just have to see!