morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-07-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.6

Since we stayed in a hotel, we slept later than usual - until nearly 7 AM! We packed up, but with no rush and left by 8. We drove Steven's car to Rt 601 where there really wasn't parking. I kind of finagled a sot and off we went. I hadn't really studied the elevation profile for today. I just knew that the end half of our day was a gentle downhill to Rt 617. So, I was surprised when (after driving up a mountain) we started hiking up! It eventually leveled off and we flew to the Partnership Shelter. There were three section hikers there. We also stopped at the Roger's Mountain Recreation Area Visitor Center. There I got an NPS map of the AT. I might already have one, but I'm not sure.After the shelter, the hike was pretty darn rocky which slowed us down. It also had fairly steep spots. We ate lunch on top of Glade Mountain, expecting rain. We were pleasantly surprise when the sun came out. No thunderstorms on us today. We do expect rain tonight, though.As we dropped in elevation, ti got pretty hot. The end of our day was mostly winding through fields. We put our hats onto preven our faces getting sunburnt. By the time we got to the car, I had drunk all my water and some of Count's. The sweat was glistening on our arms. I was really sweaty yesterday, but I think today took the cake. We stopped at WalMart (again) to get Gatorade - our saving grace, possibly. I also got a Sprite. It might have been the best soda I've ever drunk. Then we looked for a place to sleep. We thought about hte Partnership Shelter. It was pretty nice, but I noticed that there was camping at our starting place for tomorrow, so that is where we are: Fox Creek on Rt. 603. It is really close to a horse camp. When we were sitting to dinner, a big limb fell from one of the trees!!! It was scary not near us, but close enough to where we considered putting our tent. It impaled itself into the ground. Yikes! The trees are making me very nervous this trip.
Date: 2016-07-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 11.3

I woke up around 6 this morning though I didn't fall asleep until well after 10. We packed up the tent and took off down the Virginia Creeper Trail which coincides with the AT for short stretches. It is a wide, gravel, and basically flat trail allowing bikes and horses, which the rest of the AT does not.We left the VCT and made our ascent, but slowly. My body was feeling tired. I hadn't eaten a good breakfast and supper was potato soup... I don't know if that had anything to do with it. Once we made it to the top of the ridge we didn't seem to stay very long. The wind was divine. It was also far less humid on the ridge because we were following the river. It did rain for a short while, but nothing major. We both had our raincoats on briefly.We ended our short day by 12:10 since we were already at our starting point and because I woke up so early. We drove into Damascus with no particular plan in mind other than food and possibly going to the library. Our first stop ended up being the library. I started to update my trailjournal and went on facebook where I chatted with my mom. That was nice. Count caught up on emails and looked at movie showtimes in Abingdon and Bristol. He also read one of his favorite websites, fivethirtyeight. Next we went to Pizza Plus where we got a large hamburg and onion pizza and Mountain Dew. We had 4 pieces left over. Next the grocery store to get bananas. We had no plan after that so we went back to our camping area (Feathercamp Branch). We sat down by the river with our books, but it started to rain, so we read in the car. Then it rained harder! We sat in the car reading for about 2.5 hours. Finally the rain stopped and we set up camp in a different area from last night. This location is much better - it is farther from the road and there isn't poison ivy right next to us. We passed it this morning while hiking, so knew it was here. We finished our pizza for dinner and Count checked out why the AT had been re-routed at one point. He discovered that a bridge was out. Oh Virginia, I've thanked you so many times for not being Maine. This is one of those times. <3Tomorrow we hike a 17 ... well, really a 16.9, and we will be finished with Virginia!! Part of me doubted that we could... that *I* could do it. I know Count can. He can hike much farther and faster and longer than me. But he stays with me anyway. This is love: hiking slowly to be with someone. I might be getting slight heartburn from that pizza. :(
Date: 2016-07-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.9

I woke up today at 5:15 AM. With lady pains. NOOOOOOO!!!!! I also had a really weird dream that Bill Murray's body was taken over by an alien. I woke Steven up around 6 and we packed u and drove to Tennessee! McQueen Gap Road. The wind was swirling through the treetops like a menace, threatening rain. The sky grew dark, and I hiked FAST. I figured the faster I hiked, the fewer miles I'd have with wet feet.We reached the border after 2.5 hours. Booyah! I swear the moment we crossed into Virginia the sun came out. Not totally, but not seriously threatening anymore. We reached Damascus by noon, so we ate lunch at one of the picnic tables in the park.Our last six miles were not the easiest, but we still did it. Count slipped with about a half mile to go, but he was okay. And WE FINALLY FINISHED VIRGINIA!!! We hugged and kissed in celebration. Three states left. We got celebratory ice cream before getting Steven's car.No joke, the second we started to leave McQueen Gap it started to rain! It poured, in fact. All in Tennessee, but once we drove into Virginia - sun! I'm not making that up. We drove to Spring Glade and booked a room at the Econo Lodge. Steven said it had good ratings. We both took showers and were relaxing on the bed when I saw a bug on the sheets. It was a roach! I caught it and put it outside in the rainstorm that has been going on since we arrived here.I'm 97% sure my right pinkie toenail is going to fall off. It is creepy, but doesn't hurt. Steven has a bullseye mark on his arm. :( We got dinner at Wendy's and picked up a few items from Dollar General. Thus ends our 2016 AT story. See you next year!
Date: 2017-07-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

2017 We drove to Maili's yesterday. It would have taken nine hours, but since it is a holiday weekend it took 12. UGH! It was awful bumper to bumper traffic on 81. I got off early at Rt 17 and took back roads for the rest of the way. Thank you, Google. I had such a nice time visiting and I didn't want to leave. We still left today around 2:30 and headed to Damascus. We met at the grocery store where Steven told me his car is making an unusual metal sound. Great. We split a very small pizza at Pizza Plus. Of course Damascus was having rain and lightning. We could see the rain pouring down and bolts of lightning hitting the mountains as we drove down Route 12. It didn't make me very excited to camp. After some deliberation we decided to set up our camp at the Feathercamp Branch on the Virgnia Creeper Trail. We camped in the same spot last year on our last day. It was still raining, but oh well. I'm a bit damp. As I was putting stuff into the tent I could smell cat pee! I was angry thinking that Hansel peed on my pack.After several sniff tests we have decided it is the tent itself! Time for a new tent. Actually, it has kind of been time for a new tent for a while. It is no longer waterproof (even though we've re-waterproofed it) and Steven's door zipper has been not fully functional in years. We knew its time was coming. We'll see how it is tonight. Of course the pee smell seems to be by my head area. Typical. I should go to sleep. It is 9:40. And unfortunately we didn't charge our Brunton charger so our Luminoodle doesn't work. Doh!
Date: 2017-07-03
From: Shady Valley (TN 91)

To: Wilbur Dam Road
Miles today: 16.1

Last night after I finished writing, the people with the dogs packed up and went home! It was much quieter after that until a rowdy group of young guys came and set up all of their tents. Other people had music playing pretty loudly and were basically partying. Kind of expected since it is the holiday week. I put in earplugs and eventually fell asleep. About 2:30 I woke up because I was too hot, but if I was uncovered I was too cold. I slept fitfully after that.Around 6 AM the young guys were up and annoyingly loud - yelling to each other like no one else was around and sleeping. They were gone by 6:45 and a peaceful quiet settled over the campground. We had breakfast and packed things in the tent that we would need for the evening and covered it with the tarp. Steven said there were possible rain storms predicted for the afternoon.We got to Wilbur Dam Road and started hiking about 8:45. Up. About 1,300 feet up over the course of about five miles. Honestly, for seasoned hikers, that is nothing, but for an out of shape office worker, it was hard work. My thighs struggled after we took a break at some rocks with a partial view of the valley. We hiked up some more bringing us to about an 1,800 foot elevation gain from the start of the day.Around lunch time we could hear thunder in the distance and I was glad that Steven thought to put the tarp over our tent. Oh! We met Dr. Furious and his dog, Abby, on one of the uphills. We knew about him because we read his entry yesterday at the Double Springs Shelter. He said his name is because he's angry that he's still paying off his college loans. On one of the ridge lines when Count was ahead of me I heard a crashing-through-bushes noise near him. I walked to him where he was and asked, "Was that a bear?" He said it was and didn't even see it until it ran away.Around 2:30 we reached, mercifully, the Iron Mountain Shelter. There was a group of three sitting at the picnic table, but I went straight into the shelter and laid down. My legs were tiaaaahhhhhrrrrrrd (tired). I lay there for about 10 minutes and then sat with the group. They were section hiking for a few days. I never got their names.My legs felt rejuvinated after that because there were only smaller ups and downs. Count and I stayed together as well because I wasn't a total slug from the uphills. We made it to the car by 4:30 and drove to our tent in Dennis Cover Campground. One slightly disconcerting thing is that I didn't pee all day! I drank at least 2L of water. The sky was dark down the road. We didn't encounter rain, though. We ate our dinner and read aloud at the picnic table until it started to sprinkle. We packed up the food into the car and took shelter in the tent where we read a little more.  It is now raining in earnest, but I haven't heard thunder in a while. I NEED to say that I have ZERO blisters!! This, I believe, is thanks to Body Glide. It definitely works! YAY!
Date: 2017-07-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up around 7, but Steven was still sleeping, so I read until he woke up - around 7:30. I went to use the restroom and there was a dead mouse in the toilet. I gasped, and felt sorry for it. There were several mouse poops in the toilet, so I'm sure it struggled for a while. I fished it out with a branch and put it in the brush outside the bathroom. We dried off the tarp and tent, and were packed up and left the camp by 9:00. We stopped for coffee at Dunkin Donuts. I got a butter pecan small coffee and Steven got a coconut cream pie medium coffee. We charged our phones for a little and then drove to Johnson City Toyota for Steven's car weirdness. Of course it wasn't giving us trouble anymore. I put my wet shoes on the hood of my car while I waited for Steven to talk to someone.Then we headed to Kaylee's Laundromat. There were tons of machines, but not as much seating as I expected. We both read while we waited. Steven has a fairly large blister on his left heel. I guess something was in his shoe yesterday and irritated it. Poor Steven. :( We had lunch at Tacos & Grill which is in the same plaza as Kaylee's. Let me tell you: when they say "extra hot sauce" they mean it. We decided to see Despicable Me 3 while we waited for Steven's car to be ready. Right near the theater was a store called Plato's Closet. I said, "What do they sell there?" And at the same time we said, "Togas." Of course, Steven added that Plato wouldn't be wearing a toga because he was Greek and not Roman. The movie was cute.After that, we wanted to go to the library. I Googled "library" and directions popped up immediately - and we were close! We arrived at our destination and I knew right away that it wasn't the public library. It was a boarded up building with "NO TRESPASSING" signs that looked more like a seedy nightclub near the university campus. HA! I guess that when students say they were going to the library, they really meant the club. Anyway, we found the public library which was gorgeous. I spent some time writing on here and on facebook, chatting with my sister.After we picked up Steven's car, we drove to Bob's Dairyland where I had a BBQ pork sandwich. Steven had leftovers from his giant lunch. We tried to find a camping spot near Buck Mountain Road, but the closest we could find was at Roan Mountain State Park. When we got there, the camping store was closed, meaning we couldn't camp there at all. So, we drove to Carvers Gap where we knew there was free tenting and that is where we are now. The moths are crazy for our LuminAid.
Date: 2017-07-07
From: Buck Mountain Road

To: Carver's Gap
Miles today: 18.1

Surprise, surprise ¢ it rained overnight. Hard. A thunderstorm. It was still drizzling when I HAD to get up to pee at 6:30. We got everything into the car by 7:30. That¢s when the rain began again. Hard. We drove to Buck Mtn Rd (about a 30 minute drive) to leave Steven¢s car. It was still raining. Hard. I cried. I hate hiking in the rain. We drove down to the grocery store to get bread and bananas. Then we got coffee. It was still raining. We drove back to Carver¢s Gap. It was sprinkling. We got our stuff together and set out. By this time it was 10:00. The rain stopped. It was very foggy/cloudy, so we had no views at Round Bald or Jane Bald. The trail was insanely wet. Some places it was a stream and in other places it was more like a stagnant canal. We still tried to step on stones to stay as dry as possible, but it was not an entirely successful operation.We finally started to see things other than clouds as we came out of Yellow Mountain Gap. We came to a beautiful rock outcropping where we ate lunch. We both took off our shoes and socks to let them air out/dry off a bit while we ate. Soon after we finished eating, a woman and her two dogs showed up. She was very friendly and I liked her very much. Her name was Dell and her dogs were Curtis and Cash. Steven had seen Curtis in the valley and mistook him for a sheep! The dogs were full of energy and made the hike a lot more fun. They hiked with us for about two miles. They, especially Dell, made the time pass more quickly. Count and I don't talk much on the trail, so it was nice to have some conversation. Hump Mountain was glorious! There were 360 views and puffy white clouds. We didn't stay up there too long because we didn't want to get sunburned. (You don't think about sunblock when it is super cloudy and rainy!) Then we had to hike down nearly 3,000 feet. The absolute coolest thing hiking down the mountain was that we could hear the water running underground in many places. It must have been through and around rock piles and such. There were other places where water just ran over the trail - like most of our day. We saw the family with the big white dog again today. We talked a little bit - they're nice. We made it to 19E by 5:30 and got to the car after some steep, but pretty, uphills around 7. By then I could tell that I had a bit of sunburn on my arms. I had been wearing my hat, so I hoped that my face and neck were okay. Then we retrieved my car and drove to our campsite that we reserved yesterday at Roan Mtn State Park campground. It was very crowded/congested. I made dinner and Steven looked at our atlas. We didn't have dinner until 9:00!!Tomorrow is a big "up" day. I'm nervous, but we can do it! And I'll wear sun block - our sun burns have blossomed. Our arms and necks are pretty red. We've applied aloe to them.
Date: 2017-07-09
From: Iron Mountain Gap

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 11.8

Today was originally going to be a 20.2, but changed it to an 11.8. It would have been a day of almost all uphill. Instead, tomorrow will be a 19.5.We started at Indian Grave Gap and hiked up for a few miles. Somewhere in that uphill, two trail runners overtook us. Honestly, I'm not sure how they do it. I could barely WALK up. Well, I was power-walking up the hill, but I was breathlessly panting. They flew on by me and then I caught up to Count who had gotten out the sunblock. We were about to head into a meadow, smart guy! We lotioned up, I put on my hat, and we walked on. Very soon we saw the runners again heading back down the mountain.What a beautiful view! It was aptly named "Beauty Spot Gap." We hiked on and found a group of young people hanging out under a tree. One was sitting directly on the trail and had also put his pack on the trail. His friends gave him grief when he didn't move himself or his pack out of the way for us, but I didn't mind. Then we hiked up Unaka Mountain. It was not my favorite hike ever. I took my time, especially on the stairs, and made it up. Almost to the top was a spruce tree with Christmas decorations hanging on it. It even had solar powered lights! It was a memorial tree for Max Norrell - I liked it. The top of Unaka was, once again, like hiking in New England.We decided to hold off on lunch until we got to the Cherry Gap Shelter. Unfortunately, there was a group of seemingly unfriendly guys there. So, we took our food to a log. I had been looking forward to lunch at a table. Oh well. After that was another three uneventful miles. We drove to Erwin to get more fuel for our stove and more Darn Tough socks for me. We also picked up some produce at the grocery store. Then to my car to get food and then to our campsite. We attempted to swim, but the pond felt icy! It is nice to relax at our campsite - even though our picnic table is home to tiny spiders.
Date: 2017-07-10
From: Indian Grave Gap

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 19.5

By far the most exciting thing that happened today was before we started hiking. We were in the car, about to get on the highway and a mouse popped up from the wipers onto the windshield. I screamed in shock and said, "NO! Not getting on the highway! Nope, no, no, no." I pulled the car over near a wooded area and grabbed a paper towel from the back seat to protect me from biting. I didn't exactly catch the mouse, but I helped it off the car. First it ran up the edge of the windshield to the roof of the car where I nearly caught it. Then it ran toward the back of the car and was trying to get away from me, going back and forth, while staying near the door grooves so it wouldn't slip. It slid down the back seat window and from there, it slid with assistance from me to the ground. Luckily, it saw the woods and dashed across the street and disappeared into them. Whew!The hike up out of Spivey Gap was tough. It was very rooty and steep. After that, though, the trail was pretty awesome today. It wasn't too steep and I felt strong. We had a late lunch at Uncle Johnny's and had a Klondike Bar each. A treat - it was very hot. After lunch I was overheated and felt light headed. I stopped to cool off in a stream by rinsing my face, but that didn't last long. We came to another one and Count soaked his shirt and I dunked the top of my head in. It was wonderful relief. I felt better after that until the EVIL uphill to Curly Maple Gap Shelter. It was very steep and in the sun. I made it and sat on the trail where Count was waiting for me. I waited until my face was no longer dripping with sweat and my heart was at a normal rate. We took another break at the shelter where I ate peanut M&Ms. About 500 feet after the shelter we ran into a couple of guys resting. They were the guys we had seen the other day at Roan High Knob Shelter. They asked us how far it was to the CMG Shelter. When we told them how close they were they said, "Aww, MAN!" They only have 4.5 miles left of their section hike that they'll finish tomorrow. I find I'm slightly jealous. Their names are Pooh Bear and Tracker (or Trekker). They asked our names and I said, "I'm Applejack and he's the Count." One asked, "As in Count Chocula?" Steven responded, "No. Count Walk-u-la." They laughed. So did I. Steven had mentioned that he wanted to add the Walkula to his name. I guess it is now official. HAHA!The next two miles were fairly rooty and rocky. Not the greatest, but the final two miles were better. We started at 9 AM and finished at 6:10 PM.
Date: 2017-07-12
From: Sam's Gap

To: Devil Fork Gap
Miles today: 8.7

Today was a much better hiking day than yesterday even though we had an unrelenting 1,400 foot climb. We met Ironheart today. He seems like a really nice guy. I took his card, but I can't find it now, so it must have fallen out of my pack when I pulled out my camera. I'm sure I can find his website online, though.After our intense ascent we saw a mama bear and her two small cubs. The cubs were up a tree, but they seemed to slide down like firemen on a pole when they saw us. It wasn't quiet with their claws, but they were fast! I was very happy to see bears this trip.Count had said in the morning that due to his blisters, the big miles we'd have to hike the next two days, and the predicted rain that it would probably be best to go home. I felt relieved - my body needs a zero day. I don't recover as quickly as he does. I was happily looking forward to seeing our cats and contemplating on visiting my friend in DC on the way back since we would now have the time. Then around 12:30, he said he felt fine and would hike the 20 miles tomorrow. My spirits fell. I had hoped to spend a couple of days at home before going back to work, spending time with the cats. My mood darkened and I was starting to feel like I did yesterday a little bit. At lunch, I told Count how I felt and he agreed to go home. I called my friend Joel in DC to see if we could stay with him for the night, and he was shocked, but pleased. We hiked the remaining 2.4 miles to the car. I could tell that Count was unhappy now... which made me unhappy. We talked about it - we both want the other person to be happy. After our discussion, we mutually decided that we would stick with our current (logical) plan and go home via DC. I cried first, though. My feelings were mixed - wanting a rest, but also wanting to keep going because we hadn't reached our goal of Hot Springs. It felt like an anti-climactic ending to our trip. I feel like a quitter in some ways, but 148 miles isn't bad for 10 days of hiking. And, according to our book, we have 309.5 miles left to go!It took about 7 hours to get to Joel's. Even at 10:30 at night, D.C. traffic is a little scary. Probably because I didn't know where I was going. Until next time!!