morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-15
From: north of VA 606

To: power line view
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: light rain

We have started to sleep better now than we did at first. During our first weeks, we would wake every hour and resituate our selves on our sleeping pad and in our sleeping quilt. Now, we both only wake up once or twice a night. We are waking more refreshed. Last night, we were so exhausted, we heard a branch break but we were so tired, we didn't even look what it was. We are now content in sleeping in the woods.   We woke this morning, broke camp and hiked 1.3 miles to Dismal Falls. We had breakfast at the falls. We even detoured off the AT to see the falls. It was beautiful and peaceful to have breakfast there. As we were off the trail last night at a deli for dinner, we had honey buns for breakfast. It amazes us that items we never are before as they were high in fat, we now enjoy. We certainly have acquired the hiker appetite.   After such an enjoyable area, we didn't want to leave. But, the trail was calling. We hiked a long the meandering Dismal Creek for a few miles, through rhododendron forests. It was peaceful and calming. It was a great hike. We even rested our tired feet in the creek for a few minutes - until they were numb! The peacefulness soon ended and we climbed. 1300 feet climb in 3 miles. We had lunch at the top of the ridge. Again, not our normal tortilla and peanut butter with trail mix lunch, but a yummy bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread. It was so good. Yes, bologna. We don't remember the last time we had a bologna sandwich. We heard thunder in the distance. We were praying for no thunder storm on the mountain top. We quickly scurried down the mountain to Sugar Run Gap, dropping 400 feet and then having to climb back out 500 feet. All the time hearing thunder. We had a few rain drops but the storm passed us by. We continued downhill for 890 feet on a very, very rocky trail. We found a very, very, very tiny stream for tonight's water. It took us over 20 minutes to collect enough water for our water containers and dinner. While we were filling our filter bag, we were discussing the African nations that do not even have access to such tiny springs. We are humbled by how much we have in America. We take for granted turning on the facet and having fresh clean water. As it had rained earlier in the day where we were hiking, it was humid. We were planning on tenting in this area. But, we knew it would be too hot to sleep. So, we continued on. We hiked another 2 miles to the top of a ridge. There was a nice breeze and an open space by a power line. We decided to tent here for the night. The sun came out as we finished dinner. So, we hung our sleeping quilts and clothes to dry in the wind and sunshine. We found a perfect place to tent tonight, a place with a breeze and no humidity. And, we are watching the sun set. What a beautiful way to end a hot and humid day.
Date: 2015-05-16
From: power line view

To: Pearisburg 
Miles today: 4.7

Well, last night's great camping spot turned out naught to be so great. The cool wind that was blowing mixed with the warm humid air and it made everything damp, really damp. We had water dripping from the inside of the tent and our sleeping bags and everything else was wet. We were very grateful that we only had a short hike into town and that we would be spending the night in a hotel.   We packed up our wet tent and stated hiking around 07:00. We had a short 1 mile climb and then it was all downhill for 3 1/2 miles to a road into town. We smelled this wonder aroma, not too sweet but so pleasant, while hiking. We rounded a corner and saw these beautiful shrub like trees covered with pink flowers. The flowers look like hibiscus but much, much smaller (see the photo for today.) It smelled so good compared to our own aroma - but, not much smells worse than us sometimes. As we started walking along the road to town, just a few minutes later, a car stopped to see if we needed a ride and of course we said yes. Again we are amazed how the Lord always provides for us on the trail. We will always be thankful for the generosity of the many people who have helped us along the way. We arrived at the hotel just after 09:00 and they allowed us to check in early which was another blessing. We first went next door to the Dairy Queen and had breakfast and then we came back and took a much needed shower. Laundry was next and then it was off to the Food Lion to resupply. We also picked up lunch at the grocery store. We had strawberries, a quart of milk, salad and Lebanon bologna sandwiches.   A nice change to our usual lunch on the trail. Later we walked around the town of Pearisburg which is actually quite quaint. We went to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner which again was very good. The rest of the day was spent getting all our gear dried out and ready to start hiking again tomorrow morning. It has been raining the past 2 hours so we are glad we are spending the night in a hotel. Hopefully the weather will be a bit drier tomorrow.
Date: 2015-05-22
From: Daleville, VA

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a much needed day off of the trsil. We did a few errands. A local family, husband, wife and two children ages 8 and 11, that thru-hiked in 2002 are trail angels. We called them and the mother took us to the post office and Krogers. We walked back from Krogers. We sent the last of our winter clothes home. Hopefully this will make our packs a bit lighter. We figured each of our packs should be two pounds lighter. Now, we can carry more food as we are becoming hungrier and hungrier. Our backpacks waist belt cannot be made any smaller. Our shorts are very, very loose around the waist. We each are wearing cord to keep our shorts tight. The rest of the day we tried to take it very easy.   We are still sore and are concerned about hiking again tomorrow. The aches and pains will hopefully be better after a good night sleep. Hopefully the new boots will help get us going. Please, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Date: 2015-05-24
From: camp site 750.1

To: Harrison ground spring
Miles today: 23.1

We had a good night's sleep and woke around 0615 and we were on the trail by 0650. The day started off easy with a steady downhill over about 5 miles. This was the easy part of the day. From here it seemed all we did was climb, climb, climb! We stopped for a break at 0910 just before the start of the the first climb. We ate some power bars for the energy to start the climb. The first climb was 1000 foot elevation gain over just 1.6 miles and once at the top we went back down 800 feet. Then we started the big climb of the day, a 3000 foot elevation gain over the 7 miles. Right at the beginning we stopped at the Bryant Ridge shelter to filter water. We saw Champagne Jam, Easy Strider, and Die Hard there and we all talked about the upcoming big climb. Then it was time to start climbing. As we were climbing, Easy Strider saw how we were holding our hiking poles. He told us there was a better way to hold the poles. He showed us and it certainly is better. We should have been holding them this way for the past 700 miles!We stopped part way up the big climb at 1245 for lunch and had a nice 45 minute break. We layed back and had a short nap of 15 minutes during lunch which helped a lot. After lunch we continued the climb until nearly 1630 when we finally reached the top. We had seen 3 deer during this climb along with 1 snake. At the very top of Apple Orchard Mountain is a FAA tower and large radome. As we were going down from the top, we ran into some southbound hikers who told us there was a hiker feed just a mile further down the trail. That put a lift in our step and we did that mile in record time.   Sure enough there was trail magic at the crossing of the BRP. Three ladies who had previously thru hiked the trail were putting on the trail magic. They had quite a spread of food. There were hot dogs, chili, 3 different types of salads, fresh fruit, crackers and cheese, cookies, gummies and cold sodas. The ladies were so nice and everything tasted so good. We were very appreciative of the great food and hated to say good bye to the ladies but we needed to move on. We hiked another 3 miles to a spring where there was also a few camping spots and we called it a night here. We did just over 23 miles today and we are really tired.   It was nice we didn't have to cook dinner since we already had dinner from the hiker feed. We just needed to set up our tent. A few weekend hikers were here. We chatted with them a bit. There was a father and son and their spouses. The son's name was Falling Rocks. He got this name because when he was young, his dad and him hiked. There were signs that said "watch for falling rocks". His dad told him there was a little Indian boy, Falling Rocks, that was lost and they had to watch for him. And, of course he believed his dad. So, he watched for the little lost boy. That sounds like something we would do to our son. (We like to tease him.) After chatting a bit more, we called it a day.
Date: 2015-05-26
From: Robinson gap

To: 3 springs hostel
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke during the night sweating. We still have our winter sleeping quilts. We have a summer sleeping bag going to Waynesboro, VA. It will be nice to have a thinner bag both for sleeping and for the weight in our backpacks. We eventually went back to sleep until 5:30. Breakfast was also included in the hostel. But, it wasn't served until 7:00. So, we just relaxed. We were hungry for breakfast and what a breakfast, scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage patties, bagels, yogurt and fruit. We ate until we were full. Again, what a nice feeling. Often on the trail, we are hungry. But, because of having to carry all our food, we are limited to how much we can eat.    We left the hostel and headed to the trail. We had a late start compared to our normal start. We didn't start till 8:10. The trail was over an open meadow as we started. This opened into a climb of only 400 feet. For the first 13 miles of the day, we did nuds (needless ups and downs) of 400 feet. We stopped for a break not because we were hungry as is normally the case, since we had we had a good breakfast, but to filter water and take off our boots. Our blisters are continuing to heal. So, we are trying to take our boots and socks off every few hours.   We stopped late for lunch at 13:35. Again, we weren't really hungry but we knew we had to eat. We were relaxing with our boots off when we noticed the sky was getting dark. We thought rain was coming. So, we cut our lunch break early. And, we started the climb of the day. Thankfully, no rain came. We climbed the Priest which is just over 4000 feet in 1.4 miles.   We did this climb in 40 minutes. Our lung capacity and legs have gotten stronger since we started the trail. Of course with the ascent comes the descent. We dropped 3100 feet in 4.3 miles. The terrain was very, very rocky. It was hard on our knees, feet and Lavender's hip. It was hard to get an even pace on the decent. We did have some gorgeous views into the valleys below. Finally, the trail become easier and we found a nice pace to finish the descent to the Tye River. We took a break here for a few minutes.   We crossed over the Tye River on a suspension bridge before starting another climb. This climb will be over 3000 feet when we finish.   We only did 1100 feet to a camping area. There was no breeze blowing and it was hot and very humid during the climb. We were sweating profusely. Our clothes were soaked by the time we stopped.While climbing up, we saw lots and lots of squirrels. It was about 5:00 pm. We laughed as it appeared, they were gathering food for dinner. We set up camp for the night, filtered water, washed ourselves in the creek, Count washed his shirt in the creek. We had dinner and called it a day.
Date: 2015-05-27
From: 3 springs hostel

To: harpers creek
Miles today: 21.7

We woke during the night sweating. We still have our winter sleeping quilts. We have a summer sleeping bag going to Waynesboro, VA. It will be nice to have a thinner bag both for sleeping and for the weight in our backpacks. We eventually went back to sleep until 5:30. Breakfast was also included in the hostel. But, it wasn't served until 7:00. So, we just relaxed. We were hungry for breakfast and what a breakfast, scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage patties, bagels, yogurt and fruit. We ate until we were full. Again, what a nice feeling. Often on the trail, we are hungry. But, because of having to carry all our food, we are limited to how much we can eat.    We left the hostel and headed to the trail. We had a late start compared to our normal start. We didn't start till 8:10. The trail was over an open meadow as we started. This opened into a climb of only 400 feet. For the first 13 miles of the day, we did nuds (needless ups and downs) of 400 feet. We stopped for a break not because we were hungry as is normally the case, since we had we had a good breakfast, but to filter water and take off our boots. Our blisters are continuing to heal. So, we are trying to take our boots and socks off every few hours.   We stopped late for lunch at 13:35. Again, we weren't really hungry but we knew we had to eat. We were relaxing with our boots off when we noticed the sky was getting dark. We thought rain was coming. So, we cut our lunch break early. And, we started the climb of the day. Thankfully, no rain came. We climbed the Priest which is just over 4000 feet in 1.4 miles.   We did this climb in 40 minutes. Our lung capacity and legs have gotten stronger since we started the trail. Of course with the ascent comes the descent. We dropped 3100 feet in 4.3 miles. The terrain was very, very rocky. It was hard on our knees, feet and Lavender's hip. It was hard to get an even pace on the decent. We did have some gorgeous views into the valleys below. Finally, the trail become easier and we found a nice pace to finish the descent to the Tye River. We took a break here for a few minutes.   We crossed over the Tye River on a suspension bridge before starting another climb. This climb will be over 3000 feet when we finish.   We only did 1100 feet to a camping area. There was no breeze blowing and it was hot and very humid during the climb. We were sweating profusely. Our clothes were soaked by the time we stopped.While climbing up, we saw lots and lots of squirrels. It was about 5:00 pm. We laughed as it appeared, they were gathering food for dinner. We set up camp for the night, filtered water, washed ourselves in the creek, Count washed his shirt in the creek. We had dinner and called it a day.
Date: 2015-05-29
From: Paul C. Wolfe camping area

To: Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 5.1

We had a bit of a lay in this morning and didn't get up till 0630. We quickly broke camp and had our not so healthy pop tarts for breakfast. We were looking forward to getting on the trail for the short 5.1 miles we needed to hike to Waynesboro.   We talked with Trudge for a bit and then Outlier came by so the four of us headed on to the trail together. We were all really looking forward to getting a good hot meal and a shower in town. The terrain was fairly flat this morning with only a 500 foot climb. We had a good time hiking with all four of us carrying on a conversation while we hiked. We were only about 2 miles out of town when all of a sudden we heard a loud growl and hissing noise. Lavender and Outlier were in the front of the pack and they both shrieked.   Just a few feet off the trail there was a bear about 20 feet up a tree. He didn't seem very happy at all with us being on the trail. We all quickly backed up several yards and then we of course tried to get a few pictures.   We tried several times to continue past the tree on the trail but the bear would start growling and hissing so we always backed off. Finally we decided to go around the bear as far off the trail as we could. We were about 20 feet off the trail when all of a sudden the bear came barreling down out of the tree faster than I ever thought a bear could move. Thankfully for us he went the opposite direction when he got to the ground and was quickly out of sight. We all talked about this the rest of the hike into town. Trudge had seen one bear before but for the rest of us, this was our first bear sighting.   The last 2 miles went by quick ss our adrenal was high from the bear and we were soon at Rockfish Gap. We were going to try and call a trail angel to pick us up but 2 section hikers offered to give us a ride into town. We arrived at the Best Western around 1000 and were very happy to be allowed to check in early. We had a few boxes waiting for us. One box was from Count's sister in Florida. It was filled with all kinds of goodies for the trail. Homemade jerky, dried apples, dehydrated tomato juice, sweet potato chips and more. Thanks Linda and Anne for the wonderful trail magic. The other boxes were our summer sleeping bag and Count's replacement Fitbit pedometer.    Of course, once in the room, the first thing we did was get a shower. It is amazing how much better you feel after getting several days worth of sweat and dirt off your body. We walked over to Five Guys and inhaled a burger and fries. Yes, we finished a medium order of Five GWaynesboro uys fries. And, we ate lots if peanuts. Oh, the good things in life! Afterwards we walked over to Walmart and did some resupply shopping.    We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and then went for our massage appointments at 1700 and 1800. Our tired worn out bodies really appreciated the massage. Now maybe we can hike 1330 more miles to Maine. The rest of the day was spent resting and enjoying the time off our feet.
Date: 2015-05-30
From: Waynesboro 

To: Waynesboro 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Oh, a zero day. One asks, what happens on a zero day.. Here is our typical nero (a near zero day or hiking less than 5 miles for the day) or a zero day. We take stock of what food we still have. This time, we had very, very minimal food remaining. When we first started we were carrying so much food; like two weeks worth of food. We certainly didn't eat that much but thought we would. Now, we have hikers appetite where we need to carry more but can't carry enough. This time, we had the food supply issue a little to close to not having enough food. Next, we make our list. What food do we buy? For breakfast: dry cereal, poptarts or oatmeal. Often we add a protein bar to breakfast for the protein we need. A morning snack consists of cheese crackers and a granola bar - which we share. Then lunch: flour tortillas, peanut butter or Nutella and trail mix. We have added ChexMix or Combos.   An afternoon snack: M&M's and an energy bar. Dinner is either Lipton rice side dish or instant mashed potatoes. We found a bakery outlet today and scored. Three honey buns with icing, 540 calories each, for $1.00. We wish we could carry more food. The amount of calories in that store was a hikers answer to calories. When we first leave town after resupply, we have cheddar cheese which is eaten within the first two days - yes it is unrefrigerated, a few pieces of fresh fruit, these are so heavy they are eaten within the first two days. Doesn't that sound healthy?!?! Could you imagine if we had you over for dinner and served you instant mashed potatoes with cheese that has been unrefrigerated for two days? You would think we were crazy. If you want to join us for dinner this week, we will be in Shenandoah National Park. We also take stock of our other expendable supplies - vitamins, powder, toothpaste, wipes (We were told this week from a section hiker, Google, to dehydrate these. This makes them lighter. Than add a few drops of when ready to use. Good idea!) . We roll toilet paper as we don't carry the cardboard roll -extra weight. We wash lots of our supplies. 1) Our ziploc bags - we reuse them because we don't want to buy 30 bags and only use 5. 2) Our two sets of clothes: hiking and night time - a total of 14 articles of clothing. Our one friend is doing the 333, 33 pieces of clothing for 3 months. We are doing the 76, 7 pieces of clothing for 6 months! 3) Our one cooking pot and 4) our 3 utensils - 1 knife and 2 spoons. 5) our water bottles and 6) our water filtration system. We also take care of any business. Then, we try to relax. We actually said this week, we need a vacation from hiking. Hiking is now our job - we start hiking at 7:00 and end at 6:00; an 11 hour job, 6 days a week. That is a glimpse into our nero/zero day.NOTE: Any of our Leesburg area friends - we are fast, as fast as one can hike over mountains carrying heavy backpacks, approaching Route 7 west of Leesburg. Are any of you willing to take two stinky hikers into their home for a night and feed them a meal? We would be grateful for any takers.
Date: 2015-06-03
From: Bootens Gap

To: Skyland lodge
Miles today: 13.3

What a great night's sleep we both had last night. It was so nice staying in Anita and Gerald's home. We woke just after 0600 and packed up all our gear. We had our tent out in the garage all night drying out and it was finally dry. We went downstairs and talked with Anita for awhile before breakfast.   She had put our boots in the dryer because they were still wet. That was so thoughtful and much appreciated.   Anita made us a wonderful breakfast, eggs with pork loin and homemade cinnamon bread. It doesn't get any better than this. The homemade bread was fantastic. We sat and talked with Gerald and Anita for a bit and then, unfortunately, we had to head back to the trail. We said our goodbyes to Gerald and then Anita drove us back to the trail. On the way she showed us some of the other farms they have around the area and a bit of the local area.    We arrived at the trail head around 0900 and had to say goodbye to Anita.   It was hard to say goodbye to family. We started our hike out with a climb of about 600 feet and then back down several hundred feet. It was misty and cool up in the mountains and we were getting quite wet from the water dripping from the trees and the wet grass about long the trail. We arrived at Big Meadows at 1130 and stayed there until they started serving lunch at 1200. We were back on the trail at 1300 and the weather hadn't improved while we were indoors.    The next several miles were very rocky.   The rocky trails are really hard on your feet and you really need to be careful when it is wet because they are very slippery. We saw a deer and a turkey this afternoon. The weather stayed misty and cold and we were getting wetter and wetter as the day progressed. We got to the Skyland resort around 1600 and decided we didn't want to tent tonight since our tent was dry and it was still rainy. We checked at the lodge and they had had a room available so we decided to spend the night. The temperature was 50 degrees. Between the fog, rain and cool temperature, we were calling it a day. We only hiked a bit over 13 miles but that was enough for today. The weather was taking its toll on us.