morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-04-02
From: Over Mountain Shelter

To: Mountain Harbor Hostel
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The night at over mountain was the coldest on the trail. I was deep in my sleeping bag and was doing all I could to stay warm. Will it wasn't enough. I woke 7 to 10 times on the brink of shivering. It was soooooooooo cold. How was it going to be possible for me too get out of my sleeping bag if I was already cold. Will I did and it was a terrible experience. Dovetail and I ate breakfast and put our gear away. My boots (that were completely soaked the day before) were blocks of ice. It was good thing I had opened them up as much as possible the day before because they were so stiff the soles wouldn't even move. I stuffed my feet into them and the end of the worst was upon me. We started moving up the balds. The sun upon my face felt great. My boots starts to thaw and take shape of my foot again. The wind blew as we went up and up the balds. Amazing views on all sides of us. There was no snow here and the ground was to frozen to wet our boots any more. I will live I am HUMAN!! Then we went down and down and down. Spring was wanting for us at the bottom of the mountain. The temps rose and the sun felt great... On the way down the mountain we left NC for good. I was so tired of that state it felt great to leave it... Right before the bottom of the mountain were the road to the hostel was we ran into TRAIL MAGIC!!!!! Cola and cookies passed down to my gut. Oh the pleasure of the sweet and tasty!... Because of the cold we a had decided to stay in a hostel for the night so when we hit the road we turned off the trail... The hostel was great. Clean cozy awesome... I was in the shower when I heard Dovetail talking to some people. I figures it was some other hikers. Will when I open the door there was my Aunt and Uncle standing there. WHAT! "Aunt Dolly Uncle Chuck what are you doing here!" I exclaimed. They explained that they were driving up from Atlanta after a vacation and decided to find me on the trail (they did this by talking to my mom and dad). WOW SO COOL! They took us out to eat a steak house WOW so good. Then they spent the night at hostel. What a day. Turns out God does love me. We also met Rash a really cool thru hiker also spending the night Hell yeah!CaribouWhen life is at the bottom of a cliff the is only one way out... UP AND BEYOND! Always Always look to the future to be better. Live Love HIKE
Date: 2013-04-03
From: Mountain Harbor Hostel

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was the day my Aunt and Uncle became trail angels... We woke and packed our bags. Then because we were at bed and breakfast, we ate breakfast. It was the best breakfast of my life. Mini pancakes with cream cheese and smoke salmon on them. Fresh fruit, sausage, eggs w/ cheese and peppers, and french toast with a glazed pecan spread. What more could a man ask for. God does love me very much... Then my GREAT! Aunt and Uncle became trail angels! They paid for everyone's stay at the hostel. Cool as HELL!!!! They then dropped us off at the trail head. I LOVE YOU AUNT DOLLY AND UNCLE CHUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sheded layers straight to shorts and tee shirts. It was warm and sunny. The terrain was also flat. God Loves me oh yeah oh yeah... We saw several waterfalls today and a triple story shelter... Met Larry Boy. One cool guy. We had great laughs together. What a great day... Rash showed up at the shelter that night. What a Great day!CaribouI realize more and more that my life isn't about me, but more about the people and the relationships that I encounter. The gems are in others and not myself.
Date: 2013-04-04
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Blackbear Hostel
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: snow

Okay I just wrote a lot so this will be short. We woke early and packed the fastest we ever have because it was going to rain hard today. We are now at Black Bear hostel warm and dry, out of the rain. We shared a cabin with Rash (Larry Boy went to another hostel). Now were drinking beer, smoking cigs, and watching Movies. Its raining hard and consistent. I'm glad to be here! Damascus is our next stop. CAN'T Wait!CaribouLife is a journey not a destination. -Shout out to Caroline H. Your awesome
Date: 2013-04-05
From: Blackbear Hostel

To: Blackbear Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Yup you read correctly another zero, but it really does make sense. The trail is wet as can be from a huge soak yesterday into this morning. It only stopped raining an hour ago (10:30 AM). There will be snow on top of the mountains. We figured we change our zero that we were going to take in Damascus to today. The weather the next couple of day is going to sunshine and rainbows as I like to say. So why not take the zero now let the trail dry out and hike when its nice out. We will come back to Damascus next year, so even though we won't have too much time there we will be back. Also this give my dad (who is coming to visit us on Sunday) two hiking days with us rather than one day and a zero... CaribouI'm not to into zeros but keep in mind this spring has been one of the worst on records. We will still have a 100 plus miles this week... We have two 25 milers planned into Damascus. Wish us much luck.
Date: 2013-04-06
From: Blackbear Hostel

To: iron mountain 
Miles today: 24.0
Weather: clear sky

hello hello everyone!!! let me start out by saying today was the best day we have had on the trail yet! we woke up bright and early at the hostel, knowing today was going to bring beautiful weather. we got packed up and got a shuttle to the trail head. this is where we parted ways with boo boo and trail movin, two great guys we spent the day with at the hostel yesterday. we planned 24 miles for the day, knowing the terrain was not all too bad. there were two climbs for the day, one at 2,000ft of elevatoion and the other at 1700 ft. we jammed out with our i pods for most of the day, around 11 we got down to the watatuga lake which was beautiful. we hung out here for a little bit. shortly after ponch, car jacker, tarzan, and some others came down. we left here with 15 miles to go, super excited for the day to go on, being it was our first nice day; warm weather, no snow or ice, and good vibes goin all around. after about another 8 miles we stopped in a shelter for lunch, still so excited for our last 7 miles. we pushed on and got to camp around 6. today was the first day that we got to get to camp, take our time to unpack an get our food together. we got to actually enjoy dinner which i had pork ramen and mashed potatos. joe the hiker, sparks, and hoosier were there when we pulled in whom are great guys. the other group pulled in about half an hour to an hour behind us. we had a great fire, and i had been givin a cigar by this guy i met at the hostel. i decided to save it for a special occasion. today was that special occasion, our first real spring day. we eventually made way to bed getting ready to do a 27 mile day tomorrow, which was full of excitment, we get into Damascus, get into virginia, and we meet up with caribous dad and his buddy will!! today was a great day. good days everyone.dovetailsmile, live longer."The reason birds can fly and we cant is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings." J.M. Barrie
Date: 2013-04-07
From: iron mountain 

To: Damascus
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Yeah you read correctly 27 miles into Damascus. Crazy! The most I have ever walked in one day. It was one of the most accomplishing things I've ever done. With the day before we walked a total of 51 miles. So awesome! We woke with a slight chill in the air. As we got started the sun was coming up. It was beautiful to see the sun coming over those mountains. We hiked pass the group of people we had stayed with the night before. They too were also doing 27 miles into Damascus. It was definitely a beautiful start to a long day. The terrain was roller coaster like. Lots of little up and downs. We came to a wide open field at one point and could see down a valley with mountains on either side. Really cool!About 10 miles outside of Damascus... I met my dad! He flew down in a single engine plane with his friend and pilot Will. I was so good to see him after almost 6 weeks on the trail. We enbraced in a big hug on first sight. After pictures a tuna packet and a few stories, we headed for the last 10 miles. It was long and tiring. Several times we stopped for breaks. We made it though... Before we got to town, we crossed into Virgina. HELL YEAH!! Three states down. What a HUGE mile stone... With three states down we walked into town.Damascus is super cool. Everyone is into hikers a lot. With in an hour Dovetail and I had our picture taken twice. It felt so great to have reached this milestone on our hike... At dinner we ran into about 20 thru hikers. 15 of which we had met before. So cool! Rash, Tarzan, Coffeepot, Carjacker, Tosh, ect were all there. Great Great times. After dinner it was back to our awesome cabin for some well needed sleep.Oh yeah we decided to zero the next day. We take a lot of zeros, but hey Its not about the miles, its about the smiles.Shout out to Devon M. and Matt B for thinking of us and sending mail drops.CaribouOh sunny day I look upon you and pray,Won't you stay to keep me from going astray.You keep warm and will I hate snow... you get the point haha
Date: 2013-04-08
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Soo warm soo sunny. What to say? great times in town! I love life. Hope you are all enjoying the blog. Make sure you check out the 2 previous days.Caribou"What is this strange feeling. I'm not shivering. I feel warm. Huh? My feet... they... they... feel dry. This is weird. Must have been something I ate."
Date: 2013-04-09
From: Damascus

To: Lost Mountain
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

Wow great day. Woke to sunshine and warmth. My dad and Will set out ahead of us from the cabin. After packing we met up with them at mojo's in Damascus. We had a great breakfast and really enjoyed the hidden breckfast joint there. I highly recommend it to any hiker going through Damascus.My father and will headed out first on the trail because they were going to be slower not having their trail legs yet. Then Dovetail and I headed out. Ohhhh it was so warm. There were smiles all around. So we walked in the sun, up and up mountains towards the highlands. Before we even knew it we had walked 10 miles... Okay lunch time. It was the first time on this trip that we truely enjoyed staying in one spot for more than 10 minutes. The warmth was so awesome. We sat there on the trail for a whole hour in shorts and T-shirts. All we could talk about the whole time was the fact that we weren't shivering, that we could enjoy this moment, that we didn't have to rush to get to camp and climb in our sleeping bags... We continued walking until we ran into a river. My dad and Will were breaking there. We all decided to jump into the river, but we couldn't stay in long. The water was still ice cold from the melting snow in the mountains. Afterwards we hiked on to camp.At camp my Dad and Will relized how hard this trip really is. They are both incredible runners. Both have ran 20 marathons each. Running however, you might be on your legs for hour and a half at most. Backpacking your on your legs for a minimum of 6 hours and with 30 pounds of weight on your back. Some day just try standing for 3 hours without sitting. You'll see how hard it is. Needless to say without trail legs Dad and Will were beat... I have to say here, I couldn't run more than 3 miles. Running is just as hard, its just a completely different game than backpacking. Much respect to both activitiesThis was a great night at the shelter. Wolf (resident of Damascus, former thru hiker), who had shuttled my dad and will around, showed up with 2 cases of beer, in ice, in three trash bags, in his backpack. Cold beer all around. As the night went on more and more hikers showed up. First it was 5, then 8, 15, wait 21... yea 21 hikers all at the 8 man shelter. It was so cool! Party! Cold beer for all! As the night went on tents went up. Before we knew it there was a tent city. What a great time! I love people out here! I love thru hiking! I love life!CaribouThere is no way that thru hiking will not be apart of my life. This is what I want to do. This is life at its max. I will be doing many many more thru hikes.Live Love Hike
Date: 2013-04-11
From: Wise Shelter

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: clear sky

This is going to be a short entery as I have been writing for a long time catching up our journals.Nothing to special today. Lots of woods and flat terrain. There were a few beautiful waterfalls, but thats about it. I was tired though at the end of the day. It was long and I was so pumped from the previous day it had warn me down. Lots of hikers came in the shelter. We all talked our different plans for the next day. This is were the group was going to thin. Some like Dovetail and I, were going into Marion knowing that there is a 100 miles to Pearisburg (the next big trail town). Others were going to stay on the trail. I really didn't understand how they were going to resupply because the only spot was a gas station on the side of the trail. Will if you want to eat gas station food for 90 miles thats okay, but I'm getting a bed to rest up and a walmart to resupply at. A 100 miles is a long stint. Longer than the Smokies... We went to bed early that night. It started pouring rain around 9.CaribouRain rain go away come again sometime in September.
Date: 2013-04-12
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Marion
Miles today: 10.0

Wow did it pour last night. Dovetail said it was the hardest he's ever seen it rain. The tenters that night got soaked. That really sucked and I felt bad for them. Thankfully Dovetail and I had made it early enough the previous day to claim a spot in the shelter. At midnight that night, Gummybear (a Canadian Female Thru Hiker) came up to the shelter saying her hammock was soaked. We made room for her. Damn it is never fun to be wet.That morning we started walking. It was 10 miles to the vistor center were we could get a ride to Marion. We did it all in rain. Downpours at times. It was crazy. I don't know wether to say I liked it because it was extreme fun and exciting or to say I hated it because I was cold and wet. Will whatever it was I'm in Marion now enjoying all the pleasures of town... Oh yea I did my laundry in a sink for the first time. Saved me 5 bucks.CaribouOn this trip my mind, heart, and body all have been pounded hard from weather and terrain, but it only makes me a better person. It's in our lows that we find our highs.
Date: 2013-04-14
From: atkins

To: knot maul shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Hello everyone! Today was beautiful once again. We woke up and had an alrIght breakfast. We got started on our hike after that. The sun was shing so of course I was shining. We met up with hoosier and sparks and had a nice prayer together to embrace the beautiful day. We hiked through a lot of fields and open land. We had had one nice big incline which was very gradual. Today was a day for many pictures of beautiful wild flowers and beautiful scenery. Towards the end of our day we ran into Tarzan who was slackpacking with his sister coffee pot. They told us about some trail magic, we got very excited and pushed on to a nice soda. After we only had two more miles to the shelter. When we arrived, Mott and pumpkin pie were there, along with ace who was just stoppin by. Eventually hoosier and sparks showed up, along with rash. Its always great to see those guys. Clark kent came in who we had met at standing bear hostel showed up as well. We all cooked some dinner had some good conversation and eventually made our way to bed. Heavy rain came later in the night. Luckly we were in the shelter. Sparks however, tented and got very wet. Luckly hes a great man and had a very good attitude about it. Have a wonderful day everyboday. Smile, live longer. Dovetail. Things dont have to be extordinary to be beautiful, the ordinary can be just as beautiful.
Date: 2013-04-15
From: knot maul shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: mist

It rained all night and a good amount too. We were lucky though because it had stopped by the time we woken up. Sparks (a guy who is part of our resent trail family) had gotten wet in his tent. That was a bummer! He's a good guy though and still had positive spirits all day. Our day was not so great to start. I personally was very tired and that day we had a almost 2000 ft climb. It was all done in a wet fog too. On top of the mountain was an enclosed shelter called Chestnut Knob Shelter. There my spirits started to pick up. We ate lunch and I think it gave me a second wind. Then we went down close to a 1000 ft and the rest of the day was much easier... We ran into a southbound hiker who had picked his hike back up from Pa after the winter because he injured his ankle. He said he had been hiking alone for a month and a half and was very happy to be seeing nobo's. Really cool!... We finished our hike up with 1,500 ft climb and finally got out of the clouds. At the shelter was the large group of people we had been hiking with. Because the shelter was full Dovetail and I had to set up our hammocks. After setting them up we each ate a box of mac and cheese. Much needed food! I slept like a baby that night... I told Hoosier (another trail family member) that and he said, "Like a baby. So you wet the bed and woke up crying." I laughed pretty hard. "Okay" I said "I slept like an angle." hahaBed time folks I'll try and catch up the rest of these journals soon.CaribouA girl is walking on a beach with a 1,000,000 washed starfish laying on it. She is picking them up as she goes and is tossing them into the ocean saving their lives. A man walks up and says, "What are you doing you can't save all these starfish." The girl says, "I don't need to save them all. I just need to save the ones I can."Pray for Boston
Date: 2013-04-16
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Bland
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

There was the split decision to make our way to Bland. 8 of us altogether. Our reasoning was to break up the large group we were with. Our reasoning for that was the weather. It was going to be rain the next few days and there was no point in crowding the shelters. We made our way down the trail. Me in front and Dovetail right behind. We have been hiking this way for close to six hundred miles now. We're an amazing team and that's no joke. We haven't hiked more than 30 yards away from each other and no we are not tired of each other yet. We actually have both agreed that we are brothers if anything... Down the trail we ran into fresh grounds trail magic set up, but we left before we got to meet fresh grounds. Bummer... When we got to bland we had to hitch 4 miles to the hotel. Thankfully Hoosier was able to pay a Preacher that lived on the mountain 10 dollars to drive us in. Will that's all to report on for that day. Virgina by the way is beautiful. Many open farm fields to look at from the top of the mountains. CaribouLive Love Hike
Date: 2013-04-17
From: Bland

To: Trents Grocery
Miles today: 19.0

The theme for this journal is trail family. A trail family is a non blood related family completely formed by nature. For several days now we have been hiking with a southern boy (Rash), two Preachers (Hoosier and Sparks), a head physician (Mot), a glass maker (Pumkin Pie), and our newest member a college kid (Clark-ket). These people have been a true influence on my life. They have shown me what its like to have a true relationship (outside of family and a few other individuals). The amazing thing is I haven't known any of them for more than 2 months and already they are family. That is the reason this trail is so great. Its the views, mountains, challenges, but its were the heart lies that really matters and that my friends is the people you meet... I can't express the lessons I have learned. The only way to learn them is to come out here and do this yourself. During this day I learned a lesson from one of our friends. I won't say names nor will I tell any of his lesson because it was his lesson/story to share, not mine. I will say that what he shared with Dovetail and I was not an easy thing to share. I will say it was very personal and emotional. The thing though was it completely changed my process of thinking. It was extremely enlightening and open my mind to so much. The biggest part about it is that we had known each other for only a small amount of time, but he was willing to share such a powerful and personal story. That's the thing about the trail, there is a true connection between us hikers... The day started with us catching a ride to the trail head from a shuttle driver buba. We only had slack packs because Mots wife (visiting him from home) agreed to drive the bulk of our stuff to Trents grocery 19 miles up the trail. It was a great an easy day. We were able to look about the valleys from the mountain ridge. These were filled with fields and pastures. We were at Trents before we knew it... From there we picked up our stuff and got a ride to Wood Hole Hostel. We did this planning to get a ride back to Trents and slack pack north bound, but I'll talk more about that on tmr entry... Wood Hole is a great place. We were feed a wonderful dinner and ran into the large group again... Well I'm out of computer time for now. There will be much more on Wood Hole and our slack packing on the 18th later.Peace and UnityCaribouFor those about to rock we salute you!
Date: 2013-04-18
From: Trents Grocery

To: Wood Hole Hostel
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: few clouds

Today we woke up in a nice room in wood hole hostel. We had a great breakfast of eggs and peach cobbler made be Nevel the hostel owner. Than she took about 15 hikers out on the lawn and we all did yoga. It was really funny to see us all doing synchronized yoga. It also really made the hostel a cool experience... We didn't start our hike until 11. Dovetail and I had originally planned to do 25 miles to Pearisburg, but because of the late start we decided to only do 15 back to the hostel. At the start of the hike my leg started to cramp. I noticed two large bumps on my shin. I was confused so I asked Mot what was up because he was a doctor. He said because there was no bug bite marks that it was probably a blood clot. Sounds scary, but he said there was no risk. He gave me some aspirin and the bumps went away. Weird is the only word to describe that situation... The end of the day was hard for both Dovetail and I. Our feet hurt! There was no hard climbs, but the trail was rocky. After hiking 600 miles the arches of your feet will start to flatten out. This on top of other things happening to our feet is extremely painful. We were getting quite upset. I wanted to cry and through my bag off a cliff. There is no fun when your in pain, but its part of the game. Our feet are adjusting into endurance mode. My body is going holy crap your not going to stop walking... At the hostel my spirits lifted. I had a milkshake made by Nevel. Really good!.. We had Mexican food for dinner. It was really good! Then it was bed time. We stayed in the bunkhouse that night. Sleep is awesome!!CaribouThe adventure only starts when you get out there.
Date: 2013-04-22
To: Caribou
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Quick update. I (Caribou) am off the trail to get an x-ray on my foot. It looks like a stress fracture. I'm getting an x-ray and will be back at pearisburg as soon as possible. I will finish this hike! Dovetail is hiking on. We will be seperate from here on out. I'll update more as soon as possible. Do not worry. I will prevail. Hoosier I was about to cry coming down that hill but you lifted my spirit. I can't thank God enough for meeting you!CaribouLIFE IS A JOURNEY NOT A DESTINATION.The trail will be mine once more