morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-04-11
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Sawmill Run Overlook
Miles today: 11.0

We'd had a pretty good day. It was very warm and we knew we would not have an opportunity to refill our water until the end of the day. At the 11.3 mile mark we stopped at Sawmill Run Overlook to rest up. We were down to just a few ounces of water between us, I was getting more sunburned that I expected, and Tigger was really suffering from her pack. We had three more uphill miles to go before our nights stop.Tigger decided to pull out her phone and see if she could connect with her friends Rick and Betty about meeting up tomorrow at Rockfish Gap. After texting them she recieved a note back asking if it was tonight or tomorrow night (apparently Tracy's text was confusing). We all looked at each other and a spark of an idea was born. We could Zero a day early. It would solve our water problem, get me out of the sun and give Tracy a break from the pack. Rick drove up to the park and picked us up off the side of the road. I'm sitting here washed and clean with the wonderful smell of barbeque drifting in from the deck. This family is WONDERFUL! They have opened their home to us...stinky and all, and made us feel so comfortable.As for our hike today we ran into a few hikers. First we met Emerald, a section hiker. He was our first trail magic for the day. He was carrying a Snickers bar he planned to give to the first Thru Hiker he met. He met Tigger first and forgot to give it to her so he gave it to Owl and I. We graciously shared it with her at our break :O)Next we met three hikers. We didn't get their names. Two of them were finishing their hike from last year and they were hiking with a friend from Canada.Last we ran into The Unknown Hiker. I had chatted with him quite a bit through our trail journals earlier in the year. It was nice to meet him in person. We exchanged a bit of scoop about the trails ahead. Nice guy, glad I got a chance to meet him.Well, smells like dinner is about ready. Did I say how good God is yet? Tonight He is extremely good!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-12
From: Sawmill Run Overlook

To: Rockfish Gap
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Whew! That was not my favorite way to hike. We began at 4:15 PM, walking as fast as we could 10 miles south to beat the sundown. Just making it in about 8:10.The day started beautifully. We woke early (as always) at the Montoyas. What wonderful people. They have an incredible gift of hospitality. They had invited us into their home all stinky, let us shower, wash clothes, gave us comfortable beds... actually it was the kids¢ beds. Reminded me of my family¢s house when I was growing up.I woke this morning with the bedroom windows open and a gentle breeze blowing in. Outside was a bright yellow forsynthia bush with a cardinal sitting on a limb singing. It was almost unbelievable.We got up and started working on our organization. Sorting through our drop and bounce boxes, checking the maps and our plan to see how our food supply looked. By the time the family was up we had mapped out a plan for the day.As soon as UPS arrived with my package from Greg (I sent home for my old Mountainsmith pack) we would load everything up and head to Waynesboro. On the way we stopped once again at Petsmart for more food for Roo. She has become a blackhole that we pour food down. But she is strong and healthy. And a stop at the outfitters in Charlottesville in search of a new pack for Tracy. The store did not have what she is looking for, so we decided to check the shop in Waynesboro tomorrow.From there it was to Waynesboro to check into the hotel, then up to Skyline Drive to slackpack the remaining portion down to Rockfish Gap.We had an 8:00 deadline to meet our ride back into down. We had called a shuttle from a list The Unknown Hiker had given us. A lady named Carol was to meet us. I knew our timing was going to be close, and those of you who know me know how obsessive I can be about being punctual. So this hike was not enjoyable... it was just a rush from point A to point B. It's a shame too. I suspect we missed some beautiful views. At one point Tigger said "Oh, look at that!" I glanced off quickly and saw a lovely view of the valley to the west. But there was no time to stop and enjoy it.Basically today we accomplished our goal of filling in a gap...that was good. But I hope not to spend too many days like today.Carol picked us up at Rockfish gap (Thank You!!) and drove us to the hotel. We ordered take out from a Sub place. Food was excellent, but nothing compared to the night before at the Montoya¢s. We'll be comparing dinners to that for awhile! Now we are all cleaned up and reorganized. Looking forward to a quiet Sabbath tomorrow.God continues to watch over our hike. We are amazed each day by how He guides our every step. He is truly very good.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-15
From: Dripping Rock Parking Area

To: Tye River
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Walt and Pat are amazing people! They gave us a wonderful meal and a cozy place to sleep. We got up in the morning, dressed, threw our gear together and were ready to head out into the cold.I walked up the stairs and found Walt watching the morning weather. He told me it was 32 degrees and going to be cold tonight again. I cringed, but went on with getting ready. A few minutes later I walked through the room and Walt and Tigger were talking. Walt had come up with an idea. If we wanted to slackpack another two miles past our planned stop, he could pick us up again and bring us back for another night at their house....warm, cozy house. So once more we had a slackpack day.Today we went over the Three Ridges. This is the steepest contour I've seen on an elevation map. It was steep, it was rocky, but it was very pretty. Owl and I drug behind most of the day taking pictures of all the new wild flowers that are beginning to bloom. The only trees that have bloomed out so far are the serviceberry and red buds. We've had an amazing view of the Shenandoah Valley since the woods have been bare of leaves. As we progressed south down the side of the mountain we could see that slight hint of green spread across the tree tops. It will just be a couple of days and the trail will be the green tunnel it is often called. I feel blessed to have seen the views of the valley that the coming northbound hikers will not be able to see... except at overlooks.We met three hikers today. A section hiker in the middle of a one hundred mile northbound hike. At the three ridges overpass we met gypsy, a day hiker. He's a vet tech and we talked over Roo's hike with him. He was very encouraging, said he thought she looked like she was doing great. The third hiker was a NOBO by the name of Lazer Chuck. He looked to be hiking strong. Seems at this point most NOBOs are either hiking strong, or they have strained something and are ready for a break...probably that temptation to do so many miles through Virginia.Tomorrow we head up the Priest. The elevation on this one looks nasty. It'll be a slow morning for me. The weather is supposed to pick up and be in the sixties by afternoon. I'll want to be to the top of that mountain by then.It's been a fantastic couple of days getting to know Walt and Pat. Last night we watched a video of Walt's 03 hike of the PCT. Tigger is itching to do that hike next. I'm not much into hikes that require ice picks, so maybe I'll be support for that one.... but that's another hike, better get this one done first!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-16
From: Tye River

To: Seely-Woodward Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

This is an unusual night. We came into the shelter area tonight and found a thru hiker, Bearfodder here with his son and six year old grandson, Rubber Duckie. They immediately told us they were Golden Retriever lovers and it wasn't necessary to keep Roo on leash. She was in heaven, she found a boy to play with! It was nice to be able to let her free to play and not worry about her. She was not leaving Rubber Duckie's side. When it came time to go to bed I called for Roo to come to the tent with me. A minute later I heard laughter come from the shelter. Tigger said 'your going to have to go look at that'. I walk back to the shelter and there is Roo snuggled up next to Rubber Duckie. His dad said it's okay, she was keeping his feet warm. Bearfodder said they didn't mind, she was fine with them. I told Rubber Duckie that she is a bed hog, but he said he would like for her to sleep with him. So...Roo is away at her first sleepover. Weird. But she's happy. I did tell them I'd need her back in the morning though.We started the day off with another amazing morning with Walt and Pat. I got up, packed up and went out to the garage to get one of my instant breakfasts only to come back into the kitchen to find that Pat had prepared an incredible fruit salad, along with some toast and cheese...I skipped the instant breakfast.After loading up packs and a quick weight check, (Rather proud my pack weighed in just under 30 pounds all full) we headed back to the trail. They drove us back to Tye River where Walt had picked us up the night before. After lots of hugs and pictures we set off on the trails. What amazing trail angels; they truly spoiled us.After that the day got kind of tough. Four miles up steep Priest Mountain. I didn't think it would ever end! But we finally made it and after a short rest were ready to move on. We felt like that was a good sign that we are getting stronger. The rest of the day was filled with ups and downs. Toward the end we were getting a little run down. Owl and I had run out of water when we came upon Tigger and Soaring taking a rest. Tigger was out of water too. We noticed a sign that said Rock Spring. Our map didn't indicate a spring here, but we decided to check it out. Sure enough, down a short path we found a beautiful spring and a campsite. We decided to get some water, but to push on the one more mile to the shelter. Good thing, Roo would have been very disappointed to have missed her new best friend.This has been a good day, tough hiking, but a good day. We saw trillians on the trail for the first time today, the moon tonight is gorgeous, and the weather today was perfect. Once again, God is so awesome!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-17
From: Seely-Woodward Shelter

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

River's sleepover went well. I fully expected to be awoken in the middle of the night, typical of any little one¢s first sleepover, with Roo wanting to come home. But no, she was very happy with her new friend Rubber Duckie and apparently behaved well.I don't think I mentioned yesterday that Bearfodder is hiking to raise money for missions for his church. What a great idea! We wish him the best.Our hike today was our longest so far, sixteen miles. The last four and a half were downhill. The last two were right beside a lovely creek. Seemed like we were never going to come to the shelter...and there was the creek, so inviting. I can tell you more than once I felt like stopping, dropping my pack where I was and setting up my tent for the night. But we pushed on and came to the shelter. We have the area to ourselves tonight so we decided to sleep in the shelter. I usually sleep better in my tent, but this is simpler¢¦.less to break down in the morning.Today we hiked over Cold Mountain Bald. The views were stunning. As we approached the top a military jet (sorry not an expert, so I can't tell you what kind) zoomed overhead. Very cool.We tried something new with our food today. We stopped in the middle of the day to cook our big meal. That way when we got in for the evening we didn't have all the food prep and clean up, we just had a snack and got ready for bed. It also gave us our biggest calorie push in the middle of the day. Seemed to work well.We met several folks on the trail today. NOBOs were Spencer, Hurricane, Indian Summer, Master Alex and Alls Good, and section hiker Virginia Slim and his wife. We also met two locals out camping and had a good conversation about hiking with Golden Retrievers.We had a beautiful sunset tonight and I suspect a full moon, though it's behind the shelter so we won't see it. It's been a good day.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-20
From: James River Footbridge

To: James River Footbridge
Miles today: 0.0

Zero Day in LynchburgOn Sunday we went to church with Teresa and Tim. Afterwards we headed to Dairy Queen to take care of Owl's craving for a Blizzard. I think she has decided to try to get a Blizzard in every AT state. Not sure if we can pull that off, but it's a worthy goal. Next we were off for resupply shopping. We are beginning to narrow down what we really will eat on the trail. We were also ready to lose the heavy sleepwear for some lightweight sleep pants. In a couple hours it was back to Teresa's to finish sorting the clutter. We had Chinese takeout for dinner. It was fantastic!We are so blessed to have such amazing friends along our journey. Teresa and Tim, thank you SO much!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-21
From: James River Footbridge

To: Thunderhill Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: light rain

This was a tough day. I knew it would be tough even before it started. The elevation map revealed 14 miles of uphill. With my tendon being a little touchy I knew I would have to take all uphills very slow and careful. The earlier hills were nicely done with switchbacks, but later in the day gave way to steep climbs. It was very slow going for me. What should have been fourteen miles according to the elevation map seemed to go on and on. In the end Tigger's GPS read closer to sixteen miles.It also drizzled rain, was foggy, cold and windy...the weather was just yucky all around.When we finally arrived at the shelter it was full with four section hikers their two dogs, and CK, a thru hiker. We decided to tent.When we first arrived Tigger said we needed to head over to the shelter before setting up tents. There was a trail angel there making peanut butter and banana sandwiches. We headed over and sure enough, John had hauled in a cooler and was making sandwiches for the hikers. He had hung around waiting for us to arrive. That was the best PBJ I've had in a long time. He also had orange juice, vanilla wafers, and peanut M&Ms. Yum! Most of all it was wonderful on a cold wet night not to have to figure out what to eat along with trying to set up out tent in the cold rain. God seems to know just where to put those trail angels.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-22
From: Thunderhill Shelter

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I did not want to get out of the tent this morning. It was still cold and wet. Then the two dogs from the shelter came up to check and see what Roo was doing. Not much sleeping after that.When we finally drug ourselves out of bed, it took a while to get everything together, being so wet. It was 9:30 before we got on the trail. We stopped for lunch at Cornelius Creek Shelter. By the time we finished it was already 2:30. Our plan was to do another nine miles today and we realized that was too much. We decided to cut the plan short and go for a shorter day and end at Bryant Ridge shelter in just five miles.It was a good plan. By the time we arrived at the shelter the sun was out and the temps warmer. We were the only ones there so we were able to spread out our tents to dry. This is a fantastic shelter! It might even beat out the Denton shelter as my favorite. It's beautifully designed with room for twenty people.. a loft, porch, picnic table... CLEAN! and the privy is clean too! Pretty amazing.One hiker showed up just as we were settling in. His hiker name is Shephard. Got his name from witnessing to someone early on the trail. Very nice guy.Today we met so many thru hikers I'm losing track of names. Early this morning we met Stride with another hiker. Then this afternoon we ran into another couple, Little Debbies and Amanda. I remembered what Grasshopper and Brakeman had said last Saturday and I asked "are you the Girl Scouts?" It was so worth the expressions on their faces. Apparently this is a running joke between these couples. They were really nice and we had a nice chat... but apparently, no, they don't have any Thin Mints to sell. ;O)At the shelter at lunch there were a couple guys who were section hiking. They were very helpful to Owl in identifying a flower she had photographed on the trail but couldn't figure out what it was. Turns out to be a Cutleaf Tooth... something. It's very pretty, and did look like a tooth.Lots of new flowers have been blooming on the trail the past few days. Mountain Laurels are everywhere, dogwoods, trillians. We saw some beautiful irises coming into James River. Many we haven't identified yet. If we ever get our pictures uploaded maybe some of you can help us out. I'm always saying "Granny would know what that is...or Poppop would know...but I don't.God certainly has made a beautiful world and its all coming into bloom as we journey along.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-23
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Harvey Knob Overlook
Miles today: 17.0

Looonnnggg day. We were paying for taking a short day yesterday. Tomorrow night we have reservations in Daleville so we decided to split the miles between the two days. We knew it would mean camping somewhere, but we weren't sure where. We didn't think it would be a big deal, we've seen plenty of existing campsites throughout the trail.So our goal was to at least get to Harvey Overlook and hopefully find a place between there and Taylor Mountain Overlook. {side note to my family...is this weird?! Harvey (mom's maiden name) and Taylor (dad's name) Overlooks are just two miles apart on the trail. I thought that was weird}So we got to Harvey Overlook at 6:30 PM after hiking 17 miles. We were pretty wiped, but it didn't look to be anywhere to camp, so we continued on. A little farther we found a spot off the trail to stealth camp. Owl, Roo and I pitched our tent on top of a big rock... a new experience, we'll see how well we sleep. The plan is to be up at sunrise and get moving quickly. Looking forward to a hotel bed tomorrow night.Today on the trail we met CJ, Don Jaun and Dynomite. Dynomite recognized us from our trail journal. I thought that was neat. We met several section hikers... a young couple, an older man and a young man with his dog Goldie. Roo liked Goldie. I think she would have liked for her to hang around longer, but they were pushing on to the shelter.Well, it's been a long day and tomorrow will come early, so I'd best get some sleep. More tomorrow.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-25
From: Daleville Howard Johnsons

To: Daleville Howard Johnsons
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Zero Day in Daleville For the past few days I've had some numbness in my toes in the evenings. By morning the numbness is gone and we hike on. This morning, after two high mileage days in a row the numbness did not go away overnight. We got up and headed to the grocery and outfitters to pick up some things. Through the morning the numbness continued to bother me.Our plan was to pick up what we needed and be on the trail by 12:30. We would go past Lambert shelter and take the Andy Layne trail down off the mountain to meet Greg about sundown. I finally concluded that I needed a down day to rest my foot. Numbness seems like a bad thing.When I mentioned to the rest of the group that I was going to sit out the day it was like rats jumping off a sinking ship. They couldn't jump on a zero day fast enough. The problem though is that we have friends planning to meet us at certain points along the way this coming week. Instead of messing with everyone's schedule, we are just going to skip this ten mile section for now. We'll either pick it up later on our trip from Georgia to Maryland at the halfway point or we'll make it up at the end of the hike. We had a discussion about how we can't do this sort of thing often, but this particular ten miles is right off of I-81 so it won't be hard to get back to.So today has been quiet. We've spent it doing laundry, treating clothes against ticks... fun stuff. Toe is still numb. Not sure why.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-04-26
From: Lambert Shelter

To: Rt 311 at Catawba
Miles today: 10.0

We slackpacked today thanks to Greg and my Aunt Dorothy. Greg dropped us off at Andy Lyne Trail to access the AT. We crossed Tinker Cliffs and McAffe Knob. I think about half of Virginia Tech was on or hiking up to McAffee knob. We passed ten or so NOBOs, stopped and had a short conversation with Pocketchange and Budge (I think), and later in the day with Ribbit and Longhorn.We came into the parking area around 3:30. Dorothy and Gene were picking us up at 4:00 so we found a comfy rock to sit on. About fifteen minutes later the sky opened up. We grabbed our poncho tarps and covered up. My poncho tarp is becoming my favorite piece of gear.Gene and Dorothy picked us up soon after and drove us to their home. After quick showers we headed out for an Italian dinner. Now we are back sorting our packs and prepping for an early morning start. It's great not to be in a wet tent tonight!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9