morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-04-10
From: Rice Field Shleter

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

The rain cleared off at some point in time last night¢¦I enjoyed walking back up to the trail to find it on a nice open grassy ridge, in which we couldn¢t see when we hiked in last night. Hiking down from the mountain I fought my way through a huge group of adults out on a hike along with a few thru hikers. Among those thru hikers I remember Diesel and The Kid one of the few father son groups on the trail. (I also ran into them on a day hike back at home in Front Royal.) When we made it into town we were offered a ride by a past thru hikers and his friend¢¦we weren¢t even hitching. Then on the way out of town the lady who runs the Holiday Motor Lodge gave us a ride even though we didn¢t stay in town. I couldn¢t have been more thankful for those two hitches as hitching for mom and me is never a fun task¢¦Mom hiked out of town with a half gallon of chocolate milk, for some reason mom loves chocolate milk while/ after hiking. We took the side trail over to angles rest were I rested while mom played her fife ? After making it back to the trail we meet a a number of thru hikers motoring down the trail, some of them stopped to talk while other just flew by thinking we were section/ weekend hikers. We finally made it to the famous Woods Hole Hostel, at first it just seemed like another place on the trail but after talking with Neville we soon found ourselves in Heaven. There hostel reminds me of being home, they let me come in the house with the other dogs and cats¢¦I did however stay leashed while in the house as I wasn¢t the best behaved. All the bi-peds helped to make the dinner consisting of homemade organic pizza, soup and bread. Mom was really happy to be back at a family style dinner table. That night at the hostel mom was trying to lift me up into the bunk room and well had a very hard time until one of the section hikers came to our rescue and helped spot her as we climb the ladder. (Thank you!)
Date: 2012-04-11
From: Woods Hole Hostel

To: Dismall Falls
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Breakfast at woods hole is one that shouldn¢t be missed¢¦mom enjoyed pancakes, fresh scrambled eggs and fresh fruit. Any time you get fresh fruit on the trail you are in heaven¢¦It was really tough to leave wood hole but we knew we had to make miles¢¦We decided to camp at dismal falls although it was the night before Easter and the guide book says it often times bring visitors by road on other side of falls. Needless to say when I got to the falls we were surprised to see huge tents (sleeps 8+ tents) and the sound of radio being played. It turns out it was a group of college kids out for the night, they invited us over for free hot dogs a offer in which mom couldn¢t turn down. We decided to set our tent up on the opposite side of the waterfall so the sound of the roaring water would cover the sound they make throughout the late hours of the night. The kids showed great interest in me¢¦they ended up giving me a hot dog and then realized that they didn¢t give me a bun, needless to say they went over got a bun and feed me that also. I don¢t know why they thought us four legs was so picky about having a hot dog with or without a bun. Mom was amazed when I crossed a fallen log over the creek to the other side. When we crossed it back to head to bed I decided to lead with mom behind me, until I realized I was supposed to behind mom. Have you ever swapped places with a person on a log over a fast cold moving creek on a wet log? Needless to say it wasn¢t fun but luckily neither mom nor I got wet
Date: 2012-04-12
From: Dismall Falls

To: Helveys Mill Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: broken clouds

Easter day in the woods! I also realized 3 years ago today I was on my first backpacking trip¢¦and now I¢m finishing my AT trek¢¦kind of hard to believe how far I have came in three years. The trail was pretty bland today and mom ended up plugging into the radio world for a good portion of the hike. We ran into a lady who also lives in the same town as us, it¢s weird living in a small town but still running into people from your town. We were totally run down by the time we got to the shelter and wasn¢t too happy at the fact that the shelter was so far off trail. We shared the shelter with 3 other hikers (extreme machine is one of them)
Date: 2012-04-13
From: Helveys Mill Shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: few clouds

First car mom stuck her thumb out to give us a ride, I couldn¢t believe it! We went to the general store where mom picked up a small bag of dog food for me as I have been eating more than originally planned for and we were running low on food. We then got a ride over to the library where mom went in and checked her e-mails. While she was inside I got scared by the guy weed quacking outside and pulled to the end of my leash and shredded my foam pad which I usually sleep on. Mom wasn¢t too happy when she came out but she knew it wasn¢t my fault and took full responsibility. When walking out of the library I ran into a lady who offered to bring us back to her house for Easter dinner (one day late) shower, laundry, and relaxation. It was a offer in which we could pass up! She gave us a ride back out to the trail but stopped to pick up two other thru hikers (alien and Swiss-miss) who were hitching. Today the trail was filled with tons of trail magic on trail I think we crossed 3-5 different trail magic¢s. It actually got to a point I knew I should stop to eat until I got to the road crossing as I would probably find free food there.
Date: 2012-04-14
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter 
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: broken clouds

We got a nice start to the day! We hiked a nice pace all the way to Chestnut Knob shelter today, the only stops we took was to talk to the fellow Northbound hikers. At the shelter I ran into two hikers who night hiked into the shelter and was just packing up and getting to head out and hike more miles. While I slept mom decided to take out her fife and played inside the shelter, it sound amazing due to the reverberation off the cement. Hiking out of the shelter we were blessed with great views on the descent down the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain we stopped at a creek for a while to enjoy another break before continuing to the next shelter.
Date: 2012-04-15
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter 

To: Chatfield Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: clear sky

Have I ever said I love walking through grass fields? Mom almost always lets me go out in front of her and run through the fields, and sometime takes out the tennis ball and lets me chase after it. Needless to say we went through a good amount of farm fields ? The water today made mom a little unnerved as most of the water was in the farm fields and the other ones had dead animals nearby¢¦needless to say mom didn¢t drink as much water as she should have but at least we won¢t get sick. The hike into Atkins was really nice and we came across a black snake in the trail tanning himself. Mom made me stop and not pass her and talked to the snake asking if it would move off the trail so we could keep hiking. Needless to say mom ended up picking me up and levitated over the snake so we could keep hiking into town. In town mom tied me outside The Barn Restaurant and went inside so she could eat a one pound cheese burger¢¦needless to say mom consumed the whole burger and was still could eat more. We then decided to hike out of town and before making it to the shelter mom was hungry and was complaining about hiker hunger. We stopped for a short bit to check out the Settlers Museum as there was a cool sign saying ___ house, free for thru hikers. When we made it to the shelter we were surprised to find the shelter filled with other hikers, they were nice to make space for mom and me in the shelter. We took the space but after they all went to bed and making the shelter sound like a chain saw mom decided to set up the tent as she hates to not get sleep whiling dealing with snoring people.
Date: 2012-04-17
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: broken clouds

Time to climb up into the Highlands¢¦we kept hearing about it but only now have made it! We hiked a decent pass throughout the woods since it was all side hill and had no major climbs. We crossed a stream that had a cascade and I thought it would be fun to get a closer look at it. I ended up getting myself into a bad situation since I wouldn¢t listen to mom and ended up sliding off a wet log, down slick rocks, and stood at the edge of a boulder with a 5 foot drop. Mom made me go back the way I came and informed me that I wasn¢t allowed to do such thing again. When we made it to the first shelter of the day I was surprised to find 3 thru hikers there that haven¢t left for the day. After talking to them for a while we realized one of them was quitting due to extremely sore feet. Mom was kind of shocked to be witnessing a hikers quitting due to sore feet as she knows he just needs to rest and heal before putting in more miles. While at the shelter another hiker came in with his dog, and for some reason I felt like the dog was threatening and so I snapped at him. Mom wasn¢t very happy and very confused as I¢ve never had any problems with dog before now. (Since then Heavy has been snapping at a good amount of dogs, I¢m not sure how to deal with this.) We continued our lovely hike going up up up into the highlands¢¦the climb was worth it due to the great open view at the top. We decided to stop at the top and take a break 10feet off the trail in the grassy meadow for a while. Mom played her fife and indulged herself in high calorie food, while sitting there quietly we had a thru hiker pass by us and didn¢t even notice us. He just had his head down looking at his feet and was moving, I couldn¢t believe he missed us since we were in a field and only 10feet off the trail. Once making it to the shelter I was disappointed to find it once again filled with hikers¢¦But luckily there was one spot open in the shelter and with permission we decided to take it.
Date: 2012-04-18
From: Wise Shelter

To: Lost Mnt Shelter
Miles today: 18.0

Time to keep putting miles under my four paws¢¦mom tells me we only have a couple days left on this trail¢¦and let me just say this trail has been amazing and my love for momma has only grown. While hiking today we crossed a lot of hikers a good amount thought we were just section hikers¢¦I didn¢t feel like it would be right of me to inform them that I¢ve done more miles than them and was almost done with the trail. Mom did have one person try to tell her things that she shouldn¢t be carrying, all mom did was knob her head and contemplate telling him that we only had 30 miles left to our thru- hike while he still had only completed 500 miles. We took our lunch break at Thomas Knob Shelter where we were greeted by a heard of ponies walking down trail to the shelter. I¢ve never seen a pony let alone been around one at a close distance. Mom kept me leashed to the shelter for my safety while she went out and pet the ponies. I ended up later having a pony approach me and ended up touch noses with it, mom was amazed that the pony walked up to me and that I was calm as ever and didn¢t care. We took a side trail today and hiked on top of Mt Rogers the highest peak in Virginia, although there wasn¢t a view it was still a impressive mountain due to the vegetation. When we walked into the shelter mom decided to go on a rant¢¦¢I¢M DONE! MY FEET ARE SORE, MY SHOES ARE FALLEN APART, I¢VE WALKED OUT OF DAMASCUS AND NOW I¢M WALKING BACK¢¦I QUIT!¢ Needless to say the 3 thru hikers gave mom the crazy look and went back to what they were doing. Later she explained that she will be completing her thru hike in Damascus tomorrow¢¦how can you not be excited.
Date: 2012-04-19
From: Lost Mnt Shelter

To: Damascus, Va
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Mom and I were the first ones up in the shelter today and the first ones to leave¢¦Mom had the summit on her mind and well she decided the faster she hikes the faster we would get there. I understand her logic but the cold snap has finally left and well it was followed by really hot weather and I dislike hiking in the heat. Mom and me were fighting over the pace we kept and we both decided to give a little. The trail wasn¢t hard today but it also wasn¢t flat either¢¦.There was also a lack of water in the spots in which we needed it. I felt like mom was just loosing it today as at random times while walking she would get this huge smile on her face, throw her hands in the air and just shout I DID IT!!! I somewhat understand what she did but at the same time what was the big deal? We made it to US 58 where mom decided to stop pushing and just stop and sit by the creek to take it all in. While sitting there we had a number of thru hikers pass by us, some just said hi and kept walking while others stopped to talk and congratulated me on completing the trail. The hike into Damascus was hot and had no water until the end¢¦needless to say when we finally found water I jumped into it and laid down to cool myself down. Once we reached the creeper trail which lead into town mom had a smile ear to ear and felt like a queen. We had two hikers walking towards us on the Creeper Trail, so mom asked them if they would be willing to stop for a minute and take a photo. They gave us a puzzled look until mom informed them that this was our summit to our AT thru hike¢¦.then they congratulated us on out finish and took a few photos. It turns out we got to town a few hours before our parents planned on picking us up¢¦Mt Rogers was nice enough to let mom shower in there hostel even though she had a four leg. I just was leashed outside next to crazy horse while she was inside cleaning up. Once the parents got there I was greeted with tons of pets and kisses, while mom got a congratulations and a hug. We then were loaded into the car and drove back home once again¢¦.
Date: 2012-03-01
To: What? Why?
Miles today: 0.0

Once the initial astonishment has worn off, the biggest question I generally field is, ¢You¢re a sane person¢¦ why the heck are you doing this?¢ And to tell you the truth, I don¢t have one big, satisfying reason to turn my life on end and go walking. But I do have a lot of little reasons that make this seem like a good idea.Sure, I have my demons and I do battle with them everyday. They are coming along without a doubt and will most likely do some serious mind damage when taking step after step becomes crazy unbearable. I might be out there talking to myself. I might lose it a little when things get messy. But that¢s ok. The point of this walk isn¢t to overcome the little mental disasters that hide in the corners of your mind. I am taking a live-with-it approach. I just plan to be a good person and choose to become stronger for the experience despite the struggle. Being from an area where people go-go-go all the time and never stop to wonder if it is worth the effort until they are on their deathbed, I get a lot of raised eyebrows when it comes to questioning the upside. There really isn¢t a physical take-home on something like this and there are plenty of reasons to stay home and order a delicious pizza from Patxi¢s to plop down on the coffee table. All of my sweet gear is going to become garbage. I am going to end up moderately underweight and probably malnourished. I will miss out on some prime career development. I will be tired and dirty almost constantly. I will be hot. I will be cold. I will be wet. I will be thirsty. I will be hungry. And for the most part, I will be checked out of my communities long enough to be mostly forgotten. No climbing at Mule Days, no June Lake fishing trip. Damn. Things change.But think that through for just a moment. Everything is a compromise. I am going to be walking along some ancient, gorgeous mountain ranges. I am going to create a mobile community that encourages, supports, and holds itself accountable every day. I am going to make friends and have experiences I will never forget. I am going to meet and influence some of the most colorful characters in the hiking community. I am not going to touch a laptop for months. I am going to witness every sunset. I will notice the seasonal tilt of the earth. The lunar cycle will become an intimate friend.I fully expect that the struggle to balance friendship, calories, distance, solitude, convenience, sleep, and comfort will become desperate at some point when the margins get thin.My life will be stripped down to the fundamentals and I will become better acquainted with my own humanity. I will undoubtedly grow in ways I can¢t even imagine and probably never be able to explain. Still looking for an upside?I know I am in for some particularly sucky days as well as some where you won¢t be able to wipe this big grin off of my face. I will have that grin for the rest of my life and will likely find a use for what I learn otherwise.
Date: 2012-04-06
To: Resources
Miles today: 0.0

Where the hell does the trail actually go??http://postholer.com/gmap/gmap.phpHow many miles is it between A and B?http://www.atdist.com/What if I want to see all the places in order?http://www.summitpost.org/appalachian-trail-mileage-chart/593282How many days are there between X and Y?http://easycalculation.com/date-day/days-between-dates.php
Date: 2012-04-06
To: Not a huge fan of goodbyes
Miles today: 0.0

Moving is something I abhor.  After moving 22 times in college, I try to avoid the agony and torment of this exercise, usually by paying people to carry my things around.  But I didn't bring much with me to Tahoe and my intention was to fit it all in one car.  I made sure of this by procrastinating until the very last moment leaving but one desperate opportunity to stuff all my toys into the Subie.  My margin for error easily approached zero.  I even had to unbox my clothes and squish them in all of the little spaces, like ski boots.  Seriously.  But I could safely see both mirrors and didn't scrape the ground the whole way back so I must have done something right.  Truth be told, I didn't want to leave.  That's the funny thing about closing up shop a little early: the perceived emotional urgency increases by an order of magnitude.  I felt pulled in all of these different directions at once.  And I felt bad about managing my time so poorly.  There were so many people I wanted to see before I left and others I wanted to spend more time with.  But the sand ran out and all of those hugs will have to be hugged another day.  I arrived safe and sound in San Francisco for one wonderful evening and Sunnyvale for one final hectic day.  My stuff got moved, my pack got packed, my car got stored, and I even finished my taxes!  Things are mostly falling into place.  Although I didn't transfer all the music I wanted to bring and didn't transcribe enough songs to learn there will be plenty of time for all that later, as this Mule is on the run.
Date: 2012-04-07
From: Amicalola Falls

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: broken clouds

I awoke in time for the 7:30am breakfast consisting of fresh eggs, pancakes, juice, grits... all yum.  There were lots of smiles around that table and everybody was excited to be starting their journey.  We divided up into groups going to different trail heads. Some folks were slack-packing farther up the trail, some were starting out at Springer Mountain (Dave, Steve, Nancy, and TBD), and the rest going to Amicalola  Falls to do the approach trail.  I was in that last group along with Chop Chop, John, and Claudia adding an additional 8.8 miles and 2000' to our trips. I figure that I will likely never come back and do it so it's now or never.  It was a hoof for sure but the falls were pretty and I met some extremely encouraging folks including one fellow who reached out, shook my hand, and wished me a most-sincere send-off.  I don't even know his name but I will never forget that man.  I spent the morning climb-climb-climbing through a lush beautiful blooming forest, chock full of birds whose songs were unknown to my ears until now.  I had a pretty good pace going ANC had finally found my rhythm.  I stumbled almost mindlessly across the giant boulder atop Springer a few hours later.  I was surprised by it.  That rock held a power that I can't describe.  It muted my thoughts and all the noise from the people around it.  Perhaps it understood how significant it is, marking the southern terminus for so many hopes and dreams, tears, struggles, growth, and grit.  Perhaps it is just a rock.  Either way, I got myself together, signed the register, and moved on down the trail to check out the shelter.  I got the parking lot where we had dropped off the first batch of hikers and ran into Mountain Squid who was handing out Juice Barrels.  He comes down every year to watch the hikers come through and record their names in his register.  My hiking turned to trudging as I burned off the sugar from the Juice Barrel but eventually got to the shelter and saw Nancy's bag.  I had passed her two sons and one of their girlfriends earlier at Big Stamp Gap and didn't realize the connection.  It was a gorgeous shelter but there was a lot of daylight left so I hiked 2.8 miles on to the next one at Stover Creek where I met G.G. (Grumpy Grandma), Louis, John (from the Hiker Hostel), Mike, Jonathan, and Derek.  Brent and Piper showed up a bit later as did Lonestar.  Wild times at dinner with new-stove antics and cooking experiments, as well as some rather chill post-dinner activities around the campfire.  I downed some water hoping my headache was due to dehydration and got into my bag on the shelter's front sleeping platform before the full moon rose from behind the mountain.  I got up a few hours later to check it out and think about all the other people peering up at it.  Somebody in the shelter was buzzsawing through some old-growth so I put my earplugs in and drifted off.