morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-05-15
From: Falls Creek Campsite

To: Hwy 30 - Trail of Hope Hostel
Miles today: 17.3

Back on the trail by 8:30 a.m. we quickly put the 600' climb and 500' decent behind us and rolled into the Deer Lick Shelters for second breakfast. It was nice to be able to use the privy. This shelter was comprised of two separate, older buildings, each being able to sleep 5 people and was right on the AT. 2.4 miles later, we stopped at the Antietam Shelter and weren't too impressed. We were unable to locate the water source at the Old Forge Picnic Area so moved on to the Tumbling Run Shelters. Pretty classy setup with campfire ring, two newer 8 person shelters, clothes line out back, GREAT tent sites, and a covered picnic table area. We stopped long enough for me to get more water from the great creek. We both used the privy and then made our way up the 1000' climb to Chimney Rocks. We sat and had lunch but neither of us made our way up to the view.It was at this point that a plan to stay at the Trail of Hope Hostel started to form. It meant an additional 3 miles for the day, but we agreed we'd make our final decision at the Rocky Mountain Shelters 5 miles from now. Since those 5 miles went rather smoothly with great terrain, we determined we would have enough daylight left to make the addtional 3 miles but were unable to reach Bob via cell phone. We decided to go for it anyway. It didn't take long for the first of what was to become many rocks of Pennsylvania to become part of the trail. Debbie had been out in the lead and when I caught up to her, I found her pondering just exactly how one gets through these massive boulder fields. I showed her the best way was to follow the most worn footpath NOT the white blazes in a boulder field. It is the most worn because that is where most of the hikers have been successful at navigating the boulders. But you still have to keep you eye on the blazes in case the worn path becomes a different trail.We cleared that first boulder field and were disappointed to discover that several more were in store. This wasn't good for us making the time we'd estimated with the fading light. Once past all the boulder fields, the trail was good, we got a cell phone signal, we reached Bob, he confirmed they had room at the Hostel for the night, and agreed to pick us up at Hwy 30.Dinner was at 9 p.m. for us. We acquired a small room upstairs with two single beds, each took showers and hit the rack. Just one tiny problem here though. This shelter did not let dogs inside either. Jackson was bedded down in garage outside and made it clear most of the night he wasn't happy about it. :-(In hindsight, we should have slack packed today and stayed at Bob Freeman's hostel in Fayetteville, PA last night as well instead of slugging 5 days of food down the trail (sigh).
Date: 2016-05-16
From: Pine Grove Furnace SP

To: Hwy 30 - Trail of Hope Hostel
Miles today: 19.8

Both Jackson and I were very happy to be reunited in the morning and agreed no matter what, we were NEVER going to be separated like that again! Breakfast done, most of our gear left in the room, borrowed slack-pack from Bob locked and loaded, and we all piled into Bob's SUV. He whisked us down Hwy 233 to the Pine Grove General Store at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. We were going to walk the 19.8 miles back to Hwy 30 today. There were several thru-hikers eating a HUGE breakfast at one of the outside tables. We dropped our gear, bought a small snack in the store, and sat and visited. They already had so many great trail stories to share.Debbie and I headed SoBo and got into a great conversation about our personal goals that we wanted to accomplish while hiking the trail this year. Much of it centered around learning about life from each other because at this point we didn't really know each other that well yet.The trail was kind today, not too rocky, not too much elevation. We stopped at the first of several 1/2 way points on the entire AT. Every year the exact mid-point changes due to alterations to the trail. Many pictures were taken at this exciting point in my multi-year adventure. We stopped at Tom's Run Shelters just long enough to sign the log book and moved on. Lunch was at Birch Run Shelter. It was nice and sunny today so we lingered. The climb out of PATC Milesburn Cabin was the steepest part today and wasn't all that bad.We got a bit turned around at the 5-way gravel road intersection as we weren't able to located white blazes. Once back on tract, we headed down into Caledonia State Park and followed the AT up the side of Hwy 30 to yesterday's pickup point. Bob's wife Sandy picked us up and brought us back to the hostel. Now about this deal I'd made with Jackson about not ever being separated again. Well, I planned to sleep out in the garage with him that night. But when we arrived at the hostel, there appeared to be an honored guest there. I did not know the lady nor was I formally introduced but you could just tell that she was well respected at this hostel. I believe she was either a large donor or a past caretaker, it was never clarified. After dinner, this very nice lady discovered that there was "a dog" in the garage and that I planned to sleep out there with the dog. She just had to meet this dog. Introductions took an interesting turn as Jackson was quickly being referred to as a Service Dog (and not by me). LOL! That dog was shoved under the covers in my bedroom so fast.....not one peep from him --- ok, so he was snoring he was so happy! Me too!
Date: 2016-05-17
From: Pine Grove Furnace SP

To: Alec Kennedy Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

In the morning, I hustled Jackson back outside to the garage and got him his breakfast. The Trail of Hope Hostel is associated with a mission. One of the members of the mission was an elderly homeless man who helped Bob around the Hostel and the mission building. He was deaf and Bob and Sally hoped to get him surgery soon. He had taken a liking to Jackson and supervised Jackson's breakfast while I went back inside, ate breakfast and rounded up all my gear with Debbie.Once again we all piled into Bob's SUV and he whisked us down Hwy 233 to the Pine Grove General Store at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. We headed NoBo through the park using real toilets for the last time for the next few days before skirting Fuller Lake and heading into the forest. The first 1.5 miles were on a level gravel roadbed before the trail turned east and headed up on an old forest rocky road. It was a nice hike to James Fry Shelter where we pulled up a seat to eat lunch.There was an elderly hippy hiker here who was quite full of himself and he talked a mile a minute. All his Trail stories factually added up but he didn't plan to move on today leaving me on the suspicious side so we ate and moved on. We were headed to The Rock Maze today. I didn't have much information about this formation but it sounded daunting. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived. There was a rocky flight of stairs leading up to it and then quite the adventure to follow blazes through massive boulders. Sometimes the trail went up and over and sometimes just around them. We thought we'd finished successfully and then we hit on Part 2. While navigating Part 2, a lady with her yellow lab came jogging past SoBo. She noted she did this stretch of the trail often and disappeared. It was at this point that disaster struck. Poor Debbie misstepped on a series a rocks and did a face plant on the rocks. We patched her together with two first aid kits as the woman jogger and her dog passed us going NoBo. She offered no help.With fading light and concern that Debbie might need stitches, we hustled to the campsite right before Alec Kennedy Shelter. It was a nice campsite along a river and there were three young thru-hikers here. We got pictures out to my husband and determined Debbie didn't need any stitches (whew), made camp, did chores, visited with our new friends and passed out in our tents shortly after dark.
Date: 2016-05-21
From: Peters Mountain Shelter

To: Yellow Springs Campsite
Miles today: 13.4

Today was one of those days that is just plain work! No real views, no unusual anomalies about the trail, no rain, no cold, no heat, no bugs, just rocks, walking and a 1100' climb. Up to this point, Debbie (new trail name Hobbit) and I had easily been able to pull 15-20 mile days even though we were fresh to the trail. But this "work" limited us to only 13.4 miles and landed us with the same group of hikers from last night at the Yellow Springs Campsite.Early afternoon, we started hearing loud booms and rapid gunfire far off in the distance to our right (1 o'clock). It continued throughout the rest of the day getting louder and louder BOOM! Rapid gunfire. It was almost like there was military training going on. By they time we arrived at camp we were very near the grounds where the training was taking place. The BOOMS were extremely loud. Hope this wasn't going to go on all night? By 7 p.m. it ceased! Whew!I knew today was a lot of work but my little buddy Waterboy was seeming unusually tired. Odd actually. Was he running back and forth between Hobbit and I too much? We didn't always hike together, sometimes as much as 1/2 mile or more apart. Waterboy would run back and forth between us to keep an on both of us. His paw pads were in pretty good shape, I'd been massaging them with Mushers to keep them soft and supple. As soon as the tent went up, he jumped in and passed out not even eating his bully stick (a favorite treat). He did come out briefly to down his dinner and my left overs (ok, appetite is good), but it started sprinkling as dinner was getting wrapped up so he passed back out in the tent. I wasn't far behind him either! We were officially 9.3 miles behind in our 4 day schedule and quickly running out of food for Jackson.
Date: 2016-05-23
From: Abandoned Powerline Campsite

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: scattered clouds

We all slept in a bit too long this morning. When we climbed out of the tent, OG Bob was gone. We never did see him again. He headed into Pine Grove for some real food and then off to Delaware Water Gap to finish his 2016 Section Hike SoBo. He'd dropped our bear hang for us and left behind some people food and note to feed it to Jackson. Most of it was OG Bob's remaining beef jerky! Jackson you got trail magic!The trail continued rocky through William Penn Shelter. We stopped in to use the privy, resupply our water, and drop our names in the shelter log book. The remainder of our walk to Fisher Lookout was nice. A thunderstorm was rolling in as we approached the lookout and the lightening was a bit intimidating while we were out on an exposed ledge.We arrived at the 501 Shelter to find our drop box on the table. I tore it open and fed Jackson and then Hobbit and I snacked on the leftover pizza from last night. We put our names in the log book and went out to the PA 501 to wait for Grace! Yippeee! Here's Grace our beautiful Trail Angel! We all piled into her van and headed to Hamburg. Grace stayed at the Microtel too. She also bought us a great dinner at Logan's Roadhouse (thank you Grace). Grace commented on how sore and tired Jackson looked and I noted that I was worried he wasn't going to make it the last 4 days of our trip. She suggested that she take him home with her and I had to agree. It wasn't good that he was so tired and I knew in my heart he'd walk with me until he collapsed. He is doing well, hydrated and loosing only a little weight. But he's exhausted and his pads are getting worn out. And now with it getting warm I'm much more worried about rattlers. Poor tired puppy!Jackson UPDATE: Please see the 1st entry in the 2017 Journal. Jackson ended up testing positive for Lyme's disease in Oct. 2016 which I believe he had since February or March of 2016. His getting tired on this trip was one of several signs he wasn't 100%.
Date: 2016-05-24
From: Zero in Hamburg, PA

To: Zero in Hamburg, PA
Miles today: 0.0

Yipee! A ZERO!!! Jackson did not hesitate for 1 minute when Grace opened the side door to her van. Without even being invited in Jackson jumped in and made himself comfortable up on the bench seat! He was DONE and he was going home and he didn't care if mom was coming or not. LOL Thank you Grace!Hobbit and I spent the day resting, repacking, drying out tents, doing laundry, re-suppy at Walmart and Cabelas, and dinner at The Cracker Barrel. I was so missing my little black hiking buddy, but received word that he and Grace had stopped for the night and he was doing nothing but sleeping. Awwww......
Date: 2016-05-25
From: PA 61 Parking, Port Clinton, PA

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: clear sky

Quick continental breakfast, check out of the hotel, and off we are in the mini-van to The Mechanical Man Stempa's home. We picked him up and drove back to the AT trailhead in Port Clinton where he dropped us off and then drove my mini-van to his home for safe storage. From this point, it was all UP for the next 1000'.The climb into Pulpit rock was steep, rocky and so worth it. About 1/2 way up, a group of young Jewish boys passed me. It appeared they were on their Senior trip. Once at the top, they all posed for a picture that I snapped for them. Then one of the boys snapped a picture of Hobbit and I. We investigated the Astronomical Park and privy and then headed out to The Pinnacle. The trek between the Pulpit and the Pinnacle was all large boulders which once again made it difficult to follow the blazes. The trail narrowed once off the boulders and followed the ridge line around to the north. As we approached the Pinnacle there was a huge pile of boulders marking the way out to the view. We dropped our packs and worked our way through the boulders. Someone noted that a rattler had been spotted earlier but we never saw one. We paused long enough for a lunch. Hobbit headed out first. Boulders aren't her forte and she wanted to get a jump on the next leg. I felt bad for her when I met her on the trail as it swung westward. She was walking back toward the Pinnacle. I got her turned around and we hiked together for a while. The trail had turned into more of an old road bed and Hobbit quickly out paced me and disappeared.I was short on water and stopped to resupply at Panther Creek. It was a beautiful spot so I lingered. A hiker going SoBo informed me that he'd seen Hobbit and that I needed to watch for the trail as it broke from the roadbed and headed west. Hobbit had reached the Eckville Shelter and texted me noting she would investigate space inside the shelter. A later text reveled that there was one top bunk left and Hobbit had snagged it. Veggie Guy was there and directions on how to find the shelter from the trail were shared. The shelter is a small shed, completely enclosed type structure in the back yard of a private residence. There is a picnic table and separate building with a toilet and shower. Two tent pads were located across the street in a quiet, nicely mowed 1/2 acre. There was one tent pad left and I snag that. Hobbit and I had dinner after dark, hung our bear bags on a hook in the back of the shelter and crashed. I received word that Grace had successfully delivered Jackson to Loretta's, he was checked over, and sent to Waukesha to the plumbing shop via Rosemary. Rumor has it that he was extactic to see Bandit, Dave, and Cheryl. I have such great dog friends to rescue my baby! Thanks guys!
Date: 2016-05-26
From: Eckville Shelter

To: New Tripoli Campsite
Miles today: 13.4

It was nice to have it a bit warmer now than last week. It was a beautiful morning and we were all on the trail together early, Veggie Guy, Hobbit and I. The climb to Dans Pulpit was no picnic but we were getting used to the boulder climbs now. Second breakfast was at Dans Pulpit with a beautiful view. We all signed the log book and moved on. Veggie Guy was in the lead, then myself followed by Hobbit as we worked our way over boulders. Veggie Guy stepped up and over a boulder mound and disappeared in front of me. I opted to take a slightly different path up the boulder mound and jumped when I saw the rattler in my path and I started backing up very quickly telling Hobbit to backup with a sense of urgency!!! He never rattled. As to not upset the snake, I first attempted to go around him on the left but that didn't appear to be a good option. Next I tried going around him to the right. While doing this, I kept my eye on him. A few steps into my plan I heard off to my right (3 o'clock) something that sounded like leaves rattling and I froze. Holy crap it was another rattler and I could no longer contain myself. I screamed as I backed up to Hobbit a 2nd time. Veggie Guy had just walked up this boulder mound past two rattlers and neither snake had warned him. We ended up going around both snakes to the left but I was very cautious around boulders and crevices for the remainder of our Section hike! Wow!There were some spectacular boulder mounds that Hobbit and I had to negotiate on the remainder of our way to the Allentown Hiking Club Shelter. At this point the trail had once again turned into an old roadbed and was easier to negotiate. We stopped at the spring past the shelter to resupply on water. Strangely I walked past Veggie Guys backpack on the side of the trail and just assumed he was taking care of nature's call. However, when Hobbit and I arrived at the spring, there was Veggie Guy taking a nap in cool grass by the spring. He'd taken a different route in for water.AT PA 309 Veggie Guy stopped in at the restaurant for a salad. Unfortunately, I missed his text and walked right past staying on the trail. The heat was not doing me any good and I was needing to take breaks more frequently so Hobbit was now out in front and Veggie Guy was behind. As I sat and cooled off in the middle of the trail, Veggie Guy hiked passed. We were all headed to the Powerline New Tripoli Campsite. It was a very nice grassy site. We opted to stay on the south side of the powerline, though the campsite was technically on the north side. Veggie Guy volunteered to go for water and must have carried 60 lbs of water back to our campsite for all three of us!!! Thank you Veggie Guy! Hobbit and I setup our tents and I attempted a bear hang. We all had diner with a great sunset.
Date: 2016-05-27
From: New Tripoli Campsite

To: Lehigh Gap
Miles today: 12.0

Today was going to be both exciting AND a workout. We had the Knife Edge, Bear Rocks, and Bake Oven Knob on tap. ALL ROCKS! LOTS OF THEM! Then it would be off to Lehigh Gap. Hobbit and I woke to find Veggie Guy already packed and gone. He texted us to say be careful on Knife's Edge, that the rocks were slippery from the overnight rain we'd received. We packed and made our way down to the Knife Edge. I was excited and Hobbit was nervous. But we made our way slowly across, one boulder at a time, not rushing it! AND WE DID IT! It was a ton of fun!Bear Rocks wasn't quite so dramtic. However, the climb into Bake Oven Knob was a project. Rock boulder steps again like the Pulpit. We stopped for a break and a snack at the top to both rest and enjoy the view. There were a lot of day hikers here enjoying the climb, view, and sun. But Hobbit and I were in for a surprise. We hadn't expected Bake Oven Knob on the backside to be as hard as the Knife Edge but it was very difficult to negotiate. As we were pondering how to negotiate one particular section, an elderly gentleman and his wife literally came skipping past. I told the woman that her technique was amazing and it was. She was like a little spider hoping from rock to rock using her poles for great balance! Wow!To finish off the Bake Oven Knob stretch Hobbit and I stopped at the Bake Oven Knob Shelter for lunch and here was this great couple that had just passed us. We would come to know them as Chatterbox and Graham. They were both from London, had started their flip-flop in Boiling Springs, and Graham had thru-hiked in 2006. Chatterbox is a very charismatic hiker and we almost instantly became friends. The trail turned to an old forest road for the remainder of the trek to George W. Outerbridge Shelter which made for a nice hike down the AT. When we arrived at the shelter, Chatterbox and Graham were there and we sat for a snack and some good conversation while they made dinner. They planned to spend the night at this shelter.Hobbit and I pressed on and dropped out on the PA 873 crossing the bridge over to the Lehigh Gap side of Lehigh River. Veggie Guy had been waiting for us down by the river for quite a while and he joined us on the north end of the bridge. We all walked up to the Superfund Trailhead and waited for Mechanical Man to pick us up. Mechanical Man suggested the Kunkletown Pub as a good place for dinner and we stopped there on the way to his residence where we spent the night. It was a great dinner and we all ate too much, Veggie Guy, Hobbit, Canary, and Mechanical Man. We then made our way to Mechanical Man's residence where he has his garage setup for hikers to spend the night.
Date: 2016-05-28
From: Lehigh Gap

To: Little Gap Rd.
Miles today: 4.7

We had originally planned to hike one more day but decided that today would be enough hiking for 2016. We planned to just hike the hard part of this leg so we wouldn't have to face it again in 2017. Today is the Lehigh Gap climb!!! We got a bit of late start as there were a lot of hikers here at Mechanical Man's house. Mechanical Man drove myself, Hobbit, and Veggie Guy to the Superfund Trailhead and dropped us there. Then Mechanical Man made sure my mini-van got parked at the parking area on Little Gap Road. Veggie Guy put his backpack and some extra water in my mini-van and took a key to the van so he could pick it up on his way past the van. He was going to continue on NoBo on the AT even though Hobbit and I would be heading home.As we prepared to head out at the Superfund Trailhead up walked Chatterbox and Graham. We all chattered excitedly about this climb. Chatterbox, Graham, and Veggie Guy disappeared quickly up the trail while Hobbit and I took our time. We were methodical and stopped often to enjoy the view from this fabulous spot. It was very rocky and very steep and I was very happy that Waterboy was NOT with us. There were parts where you had to use finger and toe holds to pull yourself up to the next ledge. At one particularly hard part, Hobbit's arm reach was too short and I had to reach down and grab her backpack and assist her to the next reach. We were pretty proud of ourselves when we got past the hard parts. This was by far the hardest point for me thus far on the trail. Squirrel tells me that it is going to get harder!!! Voi! Voi!It was very hot today and as I'd noted earlier I don't do well in the heat. It was truly a good day for a short hike as much of this leg was completely out in the open. Lehigh Gap has been stripped of its foliage due to the zinc smelting done there from 1898-1980. Hobbit got turned around at one point but was able to catch back up with me before we reached my mini-van. We were elated to have completed our 2016 Section Hike and headed to the nearest ice cream stand for some tasty, high calorie treats.After washing up a tad in the restroom, we headed the van back down to Lehigh Gap to experience the Gap via car. Very impressive. We then took the I-476 through the Lehigh Valley Tunnel just to take in the vastness of where we had hiked yesterday. After our detour we headed the van NoBo toward home pulling out GPSs to see just where we were. We were amazed at both how close we were to New York City and just how far HOME was. We drove until dinner time, got a hotel room, and caught an AYCE dinner. Wow a full tummy, bed, shower and AC sure can feel great!