morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-06-19
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: light rain

I took Bob back to Alt. 40, South Mt. Inn where he hiked south to Harpers Ferry. Bob had a great day seeing many thru hiker friends who were headed north and he saw a number of Fulltime¢s boy scouts out hiking. I joined my family for a Father¢s Day cookout. At the end of the day, I picked up Bob at Harpers Ferry at the ATC Headquarters, which is located 45 minutes from my home. We looked through the AT book seeing who had checked in after us. While hiking, Bob saw Lumiere and Ruffles, Tramp, Torch, Muldoon, Flame, and Fulltime all hiking north from Harpers Ferry. Bob also saw Flutewalker at the ATC Headquarters.I didn't hike today of course, but I hiked this section of the trail in February so I'm adding the miles now.
Date: 2011-06-20
To: Alec Kennedy Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

Laura drove Bob and me back to Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Just as we arrived we saw Lady Pants and Mingo hiking in ready for the half gallon ice cream challenge. We met Cargo, Pony Express, Scarface and Red Moose ordering their half gallons. We also met Mingo¢s wife, Deb, who is slackpacking Mingo, Cargo and Pony Express across the entire state of Pennsylvania (no small feat as PA has 229.8 AT miles). We wished the challengers well and went across the way to the AT Museum, an impressive historical display with big plans for expansion. Finally at 11:30 am, we started our hike north. It was a push to make 15.6 miles with such a late start. We especially enjoyed the 2 rock mazes today except that these were near the end of our hike when we were ready to be done. The rock mazes were marked with numerous white blazes and white arrows showing the way. We arrived at the shelter at 8:30 pm where we met Bike Ryder. Bike Ryder has his loin cloth ready for tomorrow¢s summer solstice which is known on the trail as Naked Hiking Day.
Date: 2011-06-21
From: Alec Kennedy Shelter

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Due to our late arrival last night, we left the shelter at 7:30 am which was a late start compared to usual 6:30 am early starts. We hiked into Boiling Springs which is located directly on the AT. We stopped briefly at the ATC Mid Atlantic Regional Office and saw that Gene Epsy, the second person ever to hike the entire Appalachian trail in a continuous thru-hike, had signed the register a few days ago. Gene Epsy (83) is from Macon, GA, which is located 30 miles west of Milledgeville, GA where I grew up. Here¢s a stat for my older brothers (both yellow jacket grads), Gene Epsy is a Georgia Tech grad http://gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/fall05/article0.html We had a very good breakfast at Caffe 101 and ordered a deli sandwich to go. We¢ve heard great things about the Allenberry Resort Inn and Playhouse which has a big thru hiker discount, dinner and lunch buffet, laundry and swimming pool. We had only hiked 4 miles to get to Boiling Springs so it was much too early for us to stop. There is no camping in the Cumberland Valley between the two shelters (located 18.2 miles apart) except for one campsite south of Boiling Springs so we were committed to hiking big miles. Today¢s hiking was much different than any we¢ve done before. We hiked through soybean, wheat and corn fields, and a horse pasture. The terrain was easy -- flat or rolling; however, we¢re not used to hiking in the low lands where the humidity hit us hard. Late in the afternoon, we met Bob Goodnall, a trail maintainer from Baltimore, Maryland who treated us to sodas. Four times a year, he drives 100 miles to maintain this section in the Cumberland Valley where he used to live. He told us that just north of us was a hiker clothed in a double bandana loin cloth celebrating Naked Hiker day. We arrived at the Shelter and found everyone fully clothed, but our friend Boy Scout gave us a big grin and fessed up to celebrating Naked Hiker Day. He used the bandana loin cloth to cover up during road crossings.
Date: 2011-06-22
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: light rain

We left the shelter at 7:00 AM with Boy Scout still asleep (yet later he would catch and pass us). We hiked through a mixture of fields and woods. Along the way I caught a glimpse of a black snake and did a double take. The snake had 1/3 of his body "standing up" looking around. I¢ve never seen a snake do that. Once he got a glimpse of me the snake dropped to the ground and quickly raced away. At the end of our hike we hiked through 5 miles of what the guide described as "very rocky" which is just a small sample of what¢s to come later in Pennsylvania, known by hikers as "Rocksylvania". At Hawk Rock we had a nice view of Duncannon and the Susquehanna River. From Hawk Rock, we hiked down a steep trail with lose rock into Duncannon. We walked through town and then directly to the Doyle Hotel, an Appalachian Trail institution. Upon entering the Doyle Hotel bar (the entrance for the hotel), we were warmly greeted by proprietors, Pat and Vickey Kelly. Vickey offered us glasses of ice water while Chef Pat announced the menu specials. I ordered a hamburger and fresh cut fries while Bob opted for Jambalaya which were both very good. We were told that we¢d have to climb "Mt. Doyle" to get to the rooms located on the fourth floor. The Doyle rooms are bare, stocked with an oscillating fan and a single light bulb. My bed was propped up on a stack of phone books. Each floor has one community room with a shower, rest room and laundry. We returned to the bar for dinner and enjoyed chatting with a lively group of AT hikers (Ramblin Man, Boy Scout, Vista, Rusty Bumper, Bravo and a number of new faces.)The Doyle Hotel was originally built by Anheuser-Busch, one of many hotels to promote their beer. When prohibition came in the 1920¢s, the brewery sold them off. The Doyle was once a grand place, but now is run down; just barely hanging on; kept in business by catering to thru hikers.
Date: 2011-06-23
From: Duncannon, PA

To: PA 225
Miles today: 8.4

We started our day at 6:15 am with breakfast at Goodies where we saw Red Moose and Rusty Bumper. We hiked our first 2 miles on the sidewalks in town and across the Susquehana Bridge. The Susquehana is a very wide river and has some interesting class 1 whitewater ripples. Next we crossed the highway & railroad tracks and then hiked a nice switchback trail up the mountain. After the climb the trail was rolling and rocky with mini ups and downs and one fun rock scramble. We met Mike at PA 225 who greeted us with cold sodas. Mike met me to take me home for Doctors appointments. Bob will hike on and I¢ll meet him on the trail next week.
Date: 2011-06-28
From: Home

To: Hamburg, PA
Miles today: 0.0

Laura is driving me back to the trail. We¢ll meet Bob in Hamburg, PA tomorrow morning. Once again, I¢ll continue hiking north with Bob and go back later and hike the section I just missed. Laura is the one who updates my Trail Journal. Since Laura will be hiking with us for a week, my journal will not be updated until after Laura finishes section hiking with us.
Date: 2011-06-29
From: Reservoir Road

To: Railroad station parking
Miles today: 5.8

Laura (my daughter) is joining me back on the trail for a week. We¢ll have two cars this week so we can do our own shuttles and enjoy car camping, pillows, dinners out and daily hot showers. A reprieve from eating Mountain House backpacking meals is a treat especially in the summer when hot meals are less appealing. We¢re going to be zigzagging around, hiking most of the AT in Northern PA, but in a somewhat random order. Today we hiked north to south, but the rest of the week we¢ll hike south to north. This morning we drove from Germantown, MD (home) to Hamburg, PA (2 hours 45 min.) and picked up Ranger Bob at the Microtel. We drove our shuttle and checked in to Blue Rocks Campground. One of the unique features of this campground is a gigantic area of large boulders (the blue rocks), which seemingly go on forever. I had a brilliant idea to take a side trail from the campground directly to the AT to start our hike today. After hiking only 5 minutes on a ridiculous 1.5-mile rock laden trail just to get to the AT, we cried ¢Uncle¢ and decided we needed a different connection trail. So we ¢punted¢ and started our hike on Reservoir Road, a nice meadow like connection trail (no rocks!!!)   Once on the AT, we of course found rocks and a couple of steep stretches, but overall this was an easy afternoon. On the trail we saw Boy Scout and later, Where in the Blazes & HBGB who had just returned to the trail after a week in Miami (talk about culture shock). We stopped in Hamburg at Long John Silvers for dinner and afterwards headed back to Blue Rocks Campground for the night.
Date: 2011-06-30
From: Parking lot

To: Blue Summit Mountain Road
Miles today: 12.5

We met the real PA rocks today and they came in quite a variety of versions: huge piles of large boulders, tall stacks of flat rocks, sections covered with smaller sharp rocks and wobbly rock slabs in single layers, etc. While negotiating one rock scramble, we met an impressive young group on an Outward Bound outing. They were traveling north (opposite direction of us today) so they asked us for information on the upcoming springs. In addition to challenging rocks, PA is known for having unreliable dry springs in the summer so instead of searching in vain down steep trails, we¢ve opted to carry extra water throughout PA.I saw my first rattlesnake today!! I caught a glimpse of movement to my right and looked down and saw the rattlesnake's tail as he crossed the trail headed to the woods. He coiled up at the base of a tree as he kept an eye on me. I kept my distance but took a few photos before slipping away. We had lunch at Dan¢s Pulpit, which had a nice view of the valley. We hiked through more rocks and were glad this was a short day for our first day with major PA rocks. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel, hot showers at Blue Rocks Campground and turned in early.
Date: 2011-07-01
From: Smith Gap Road

To: Fox Gap Road, PA 191
Miles today: 16.7

Today was a very challenging day due to the distance and rocks, rocks, rocks and then more rocks. Anytime I go more than 16 miles, I¢m drained at the end of the day and this was especially true with the addition of PA rocks. To start our hike, we ran our shuttle, but weren¢t 100% sure which way was North and there weren¢t many landmarks along the trail to confirm we¢d chosen correctly. Laura assured us that we were going the right way because of the sun's position. But I still had lingering doubts so I sure was excited 3.4 miles later to see a sign for the shelter, which indicated we were indeed headed north, our intended direction. We also had not seen a spring at 0.6 mile which we should have seen if we were going the wrong way. So I wasn't totally clueless. The A.T. Guide gives exceptional detailed descriptions of the trail so that helped a lot today. It would have been nice to run into other hikers to confirm our direction, but lately we haven't seen many other hikers (typically 0-4 hikers per day) as our numbers are dwindling and everyone is spread out.In the afternoon, I saw an enormous (6 feet long) slithering black rat snake with a bright white belly. I got rather close taking a couple of pictures when he whipped around and started hissing and then made a noise like a rattlesnake. I later googled rat snakes and read that when frightened they often ¢rattle¢ their tails by vibrating their tail in leaf litter, imitating a venomous rattlesnake. That ¢rattle¢ got my attention. I jumped in the air and took off running, bouncing over sharp rocks. At the end of the day we finally caught up with Laura who had been napping (for 2 hours) at Wolf Rocks, a rock scramble ridge shaded by rhododendron with white waxy blooms. Laura glides over rocks, making speedy progress while I go at turtle speed seemingly stepping on every rock on the path. After Wolf Rocks, we had a steep descent over large boulders. We had dinner at a diner in Wind Gap and headed back to hot showers at Blue Rocks Campground.
Date: 2011-07-02
From: Superfund Trailhead

To: Smith Gap Road
Miles today: 12.1

We started our hike early knowing we¢d be at the mercy of the sun as we¢d be without tree cover for the first 4 miles. It took us an hour and a half to hike .9 miles up a steep treacherous rock climb. At one point my knees were shaking and I told Bob I couldn¢t make it over a sheer rock ledge (not sure what I thought my options were). I couldn¢t figure out how I was going to make that climb, but Bob took my poles and talked me through it as I used my hands and feet to keep my balance and make the ascent. Meanwhile, Laura was gliding over every rock she could find off trail just for the fun of it while waiting on me. Once my nerves calmed, I took in the spectacular view of the Lehigh River below and began enjoying this unique climb. When we reached the top, the trail leveled out. We took the AT bypass trail around the Palmerton Superfund site, a deforested ridge due to zinc smelting from 1898-1980. Designated a Superfund site in 1983, remediation efforts have restored some low growing vegetation, but the area is still desolate. The blueberry plants are thriving there and we met a dozen people with buckets picking blueberries. They hiked in from the north accessing the trail from Little Gap Rd. After feasting on blueberries we continued on the trail, which followed a pleasant flat road through a meadow area. There are no reliable water sources today so we were carefully monitoring and rationing our water supply when we happened upon trail magic from Little Foot. Two ice chests filled with 12 frozen water bottles, and ice-cold apricot & pineapple juice --- what a treat!!! This was a nice energy boost which we needed as next we faced some short sections of steep boulder climbs.After our hike, we drove to Palmerton, PA where we checked in to the Jail House Hostel, located in a spacious basement of the bourough hall. This hostel is provided free by the town and is adjacent to the police station where hikers check in. We had good dinner at Bert¢s Restaurant. When we were dining there, we notice Ben (thru hiker from England) with a laptop. We couldn¢t figure out how he suddenly had access to a laptop.   He told us that the restaurant has one laptop available for hikers to borrow during their meal. Palmerton is very hiker friendly and ¢gets¢ what hikers need.
Date: 2011-07-03
From: Blue Mountain Summit Road, PA 309

To: Superfund Trailhead
Miles today: 13.8

We woke up early to heavy rain and were glad to be under the cover of a roof. We left the hostel at 6am with Muffin Man and Lady Pants who we dropped off at the Superfund Trailhead. Lady Pants took cover in Laura¢s car to wait out the rain. Although I was worried about her climbing wet rocks, I knew she¢d pace herself and be all right. Lady Pants is a tough energetic generous young lady. I¢ve been crossing her path since NC and always enjoy catching up with her. Lady Pants likes to visit the historical sites and towns along the trail; otherwise she would be miles ahead of me cause she can cruise.After dropping off Muffin Man and Lady Pants we ran our shuttle and happened upon a caf© so we stopped for breakfast to wait out the rain. Today¢s hike was filled with rocks in every form imaginable. Early on we faced Knife Edge, a narrow ridge with huge rocks jutting every which a way. The Knife Edge got my heart racing, but when my legs started shaking, I just sat down and shimmied myself across and down the rocks much to Laura¢s amusement. I finally got to laugh at Laura when she miss-stepped on a slick rock and took a dramatic fall but nothing was broken. She laughed at herself and continued unabashed gliding over rocks. Next we reached Bake Oven Knob, which was a mini mountain of boulders we had to traverse. Laura tried to give me encouragement (or was she making fun of me?) and told me there was a 7 year old ahead of me struggling as much as me. But I knew his only problem was that his legs were too short for some of the rock gaps. We ate lunch at the shelter where we met the father and this 7 year old who had his own kid sized REI backpack. The two have been section hiking the AT since the little guy was 4 years old and were having a delightful time today. That was all the inspiration I needed to suck it up and get over these PA rocks.After our hike, we drove south to the 501 Shelter where we met a big group, all hikers we hadn¢t met before. This shelter is quite unique. It has individual bunks (12), a Plexiglas skylight and a solar shower. You can order pizza from the 501 Shelter and have it delivered to the nearby parking lot (0.1 miles away). Lil Mak & Popeye are the shelter caretakers and reside in a house adjacent to the shelter. I was thrilled to meet them as I had read Lil Mak¢s 2008 journal and it was one of my favorites with great advice on gear, places to stay, etc. We were all treated to ice cream sundaes provided by the caretakers, a nice way to end our day.
Date: 2011-07-04
From: Reservoir Road

To: Parking Lot
Miles today: 8.5

We dropped my van at our hike¢s end point and then Laura drove us to Reservoir Rd. parking lot. It¢s just Bob and me hiking today as Laura is driving home. After a short pleasant warm up walk, we started climbing a well-designed rocky switchback trail. Now that I¢m almost done with the northern PA rocks (7.3 northern PA miles left!!), I¢m kind of getting used to these rocks. That¢s a good thing because I¢ve learned that the rocks don¢t abruptly end at the PA-NJ line. The PA type rocks continue for a solid 2 days in NJ and reappear in sections in NY. This morning we met a local hiker, Frank, who was very knowledgeable about PA hiking and gave us lots of interesting tips about the area. At the top of our climb we checked out the Astronomical Park, which has several buildings, a big open grassy meadow and a road. Adjacent to the Astronomical Park, we had a nice view at Pulpit Rock and could clearly see Blue Rocks Campground including the big rock outcropping & smoke from a campfire. An hour later we reached the Pinnacle, considered Pennsylvania¢s finest view on the AT. There were about 30 people at the Pinnacle picnicking and enjoying the view. The rest of the hike was a pleasant surprise. The AT followed a roadbed (no rocks!!!) for 5 miles and along the way we met a number of people out day hiking to the Pinnacle. We even saw 2 people on mountain bikes. We met 3 other thru hikers today, Hot Pants, Jingle and Trashcan.After our hike, we drove home to Germantown, MD (my home). Bob¢s wife met him there and they drove to Georgia for Bob to visit home and to complete a 5-day hike in the Smokies (NC), a section he missed earlier. I¢m home to follow up on my medical appointments from last week. I had a biopsy last week (abnormal mammogram). The biopsy showed no cancer, but I was advised to have surgery within a month to excise problematic benign tissue. Since I would be hundreds of miles away in a month, I figured that it was best to have the surgery ASAP. So the plan is surgery on 7/7, follow up appointment on 7/14; drive back to the AT on 7/15 and resume hiking on 7/16. Last week I was off the trail for 5 days. This time I¢ll be off the trail for 12 days.
Date: 2011-07-05
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We¢ve decided to fast forward or ¢leap frog¢ and return to the trail 260.5 miles north near Dalton, MA. After we summit Katahdin, we¢ll return to hike these skipped miles. We¢re fast forwarding for a variety of reasons: improves the chances of summiting in mid-Sept. before it gets too cold and well before the Oct. 15 cutoff, allows my daughter and husband to hike with us in the White Mts. and my husband to join us in the Maine 100 mile Wilderness.
Date: 2011-07-09
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I¢ve enjoyed planning the next leg of our trip. It¢s a luxury having free time (though I¢d rather be hiking right now) and access to a computer to figure out logistics. Since Laura & Mike will join me at two points along the trail, I have to factor in their vacation time, travel plans, airplane flights, etc. so planning is essential; whereas, before I just hiked day to day, resupplied as I went and only had a 4 -5 day plan in place at any time. For the first time on this trip I¢m going to rely on mail drops. Now that I¢ve got a little experience at long distance hiking, I have a much better idea about what to pack in mail drops.
Date: 2011-07-14
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Bob and Anna drove up to Germantown from Blairsville, Georgia. Fulltime has decided to fast forward/leap frog ahead with us!!! Tomorrow Mike drives us back to the trail (260.5 miles north from where we last hiked.) We¢ll pick up Fulltime at Bear Mountain Motel, NY in route tomorrow.
Date: 2011-07-15
From: Home

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

What a day!!! (I¢m borrowing Ranger Bob¢s favorite expression on the AT. He always sees the positive in each and every hiking day; helps me stay positive too and reminds me how lucky we are to be thru hikers.) The day started off at 9:50 am with Bob, Anna, Mike, Laura and I watching the new Harry Potter movie. I¢ve watched a lot of these HP movies with my kids and never really knew what was going on. But this time I accepted my daughter¢s challenge and read ALL the books (kind of; actually I did read a few and then finished the rest listening to books on tape/CD¢s.) The point is this time I actually understood the plot and all the background build up and thoroughly enjoyed our morning movie. Then I got great news at my follow up appointment and got the medical clearance to hike on!!!! It¢s 2PM and we¢re on the road headed North!!!!!!!
Date: 2011-07-16
From: Goose Pond Road

To: Washington Mt. Road
Miles today: 13.7

Last night we picked up Fulltime at Fort Montgomery, NY near Bear Mt. Then we drove to Massachusetts and checked into our motel at 11PM. This morning we met Roy (our shuttle driver) at the Cookie Lady's house. Roy is the Cookie Lady's husband. They let hikers camp in their yard at no charge. Roy drove us via back roads to Goose Pond Road. Along the way we saw a large bear strolling down the road, Roy's first bear sighting of the season.During our hike we passed by several ponds and boggy areas. The terrain was gentle with short ups and downs and sporadic rocks and roots, a good trail to ease me back into hiking. I've lost some stamina and speed, but it feels good to be on the trail. I feel quite fortunate to be back.   At the end of the day, we met a 2010 thru hiker who recently moved to Waters Landing Community in Germantown, MD (my neighborhood)!! After our hike we set up our tents at the Cookie Lady's house, washed off with a garden hose and drove to Bascom Lodge on the top of Mt. Greylock. We enjoyed a good meal at the lodge: tomato soup, roasted salmon, veggies, homemade bread and chocolate tartlet.
Date: 2011-07-17
From: Washington Mt. Road

To: Crystal Mt. Campsite
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: clear sky

At 6am Mike left to drive home and we started our hike. The morning hike had a number of mini ups and downs with sporadic rocks and roots. Just before reaching Dalton, MA we came upon trail magic - orange and grape sodas just what we needed to quench our thirst. It's hot today, especially in the low land of town. At 12:00 noon we reached Dalton, MA and stopped at Shamrocks Restaurant & bar for lunch and to watch the US Women vs. Japan in the World Cup Finals. At Shamrocks we saw Goldilocks, Forest, Shennanigan and Pony. The World Cup Final went into two overtime periods and ultimately P.K.'s. Unfortunately the US Women lost in P.K.'s and we left at 5:30pm for an evening hike. As we were leaving town, a nice Soccer Mom saw us hiking and brought over World Cup cake leftovers from their party. What a nice treat and energy boost for our climb out of town (It's always a climb out of a town.) We reached the campsite at 8:30pm;set up tents and crashed.