morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-11-04
From: Laurel Springs gap

To: Devils backbone brewery
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We didn't get on the trail until like noon, and it was fantastic. I slept in, made a mocha, and played guitar all morning. Kate got her sleep on. It rained for a solid block last night and her seam seal wasn't working great. Luckily it was a clear morning and everything was drying out well. Before heading out I chatted it up with this nice dude from the old dominion ATC while the group went ahead. The odatc maintains a 20 mile stretch of trail, and he described the whole shebang to me in great detail, including its history. We had passed over a stone wall which he said was miles long, built by slaves couple hundred years ago before the chestnut tree blight wiped out the whole regions chestnuts. The wall was for pigs, which ypu could just let loose to eat chestnuts. Cool to think about. Luckily hed never heard of the emarald ash borer. So hopefully that means their ashes are safe. We had camped in kind of a weird spot; this narrow stretch of forest between the blue Ridge Parkway and houses. You could tell he was excited to have thru hiker guests on his stretch. His club does a darn fine job too. I never really caught up to the rest of the folks until about half mile before the brewery rd. Crazy easy hitch too. Tealeaf was on the phone with the brewery waiting to hear if they could give us a ride when Kate just barely put her thumb out and a truck instantly pulled over and gave us all a ride. Nice guy and his cute dog. The brewery was more of a complex or campus. So much bigger than I was expecting. They had a half dozen buildings. Outdoor courtyard around a giant fire. A huge stage and grounds and all surrounded by mountains. The people were super nice and gave us the whole rundown of where we could camp for free, restrooms, hiker breakfast. Etc. We got some beers and appetizers and went to set up camp. Tealeaf and buckshot are super fun too. We all just drank and ate until close to 10. That place was hopping too. No music unfortunately, but people were partying.
Date: 2016-11-05
From: Devils backbone brewery

To: Harper creek shelter
Miles today: 8.1

Today was another fun day. I was the first up and had my hiker breakfast plate clean before the rest were stirring. It was a fantastic deal. 5 bucks for a big Ole plate of eggs, potatoes, fruit, avocado, good southern biscuit, veggie sausages and coffee. I then bought more when everyone else got theirs. And then waffles, a few orange juices, and a cortadito. The lady working gave us a mistake smoothie too. It was taking a while to get the ride back to the trail so we decided to check out the cidery a little ways down the road and just hitch back. Apparently theres a bunch of brewries in the area and mist if the folks at the cidery were doing brewery hopping tours. Super nice place. I still can't get into the ciders, no matter how dry and fancy. But it was a good bit of fun. The hitch back actually rook a while. Finally a guy picked us up in his truck with a dashboard full of ammunition and a shiney rifle by his side. He was wearing camo, in a truck, and it's the south. So even with one hand on the wheel and one on the shotgun it didn't seem that odd to me.  Tealeaf and buckshot were I think a little weirded out. I like talking to the local hunters. It gives you a good sense of how vigilant you should be with the blaze orange. He seemed excited for bear season next week. We didn't do many miles again, but it's been a lot of fun hanging out. It seems like we're pretty similar couples. It's funny to see the differences in how they manage the couple camping thing. I guess pepper and papi were a trail couple too, but they were a world apart in age, Outlook, everything. Its funny how our memories of the trail just seem more comparable since we're out there with our better halves. This shelter area is one of the crowdest I've seen. Tons of people and dogs and fires. It's really spread out though over a big ravine and Creek. Really pretty spot.
Date: 2016-11-06
From: Harper creek shelter

To: Seeley Woodworth shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Kate and I got an earlier start than tealeaf and buckshot this morning, and the time change confused me from the start. I think it was just hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it just no effect on my life. For the shorter mileage it was around 5000 feet of climbing, mostly owing to the priest. That was most of the morning getting to and climbing that one. It was never that steep, just a solid 3000 feet over 4 miles or so. I didn't stop at one view either. I really just wanted to power through it, so skipped the midmountain views. My plan was to go to the summit view and wait for everybody to have lunch. Somehow I totally missed it though! Luckily Kate found me for lunch, but we never saw tealeaf and buckshot. They did the sensible thing and we're chilling at the gorgeous rock precipice. Then it was just Kate and me the rest of the day. We needed water and called it a day at the shelter.   We thought we would've seen tealeaf and buckshot earlier and were refretting not exchanging info, so we were wondering if we might never see them again. Then they showed up! And it what I consider trail magic, someone had left a bunch of wood in ascending order of thickness right by the fire ring. I was inspired and am very proud to announce I made my 2nd fire of the whole trip. The first one was day one, Katahdin stream campground. It was pretty nice. Another sobo, molasses, that none of us had met before rolled up late too and we all sat around the fire and toasted stuff. I realized this was also only the second time I've had a toasted pop tart too. So good. BTW the photo is of a hunters blind maybe 50 feet from the trail. Bad hunters! Bad!
Date: 2016-11-07
From: Seeley Woodworth shelter

To: Buena vista VA
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Another gloriously late start to the day. We weren't hiking until 930, aka 1030 old time. It was a bit chilly last night but a beautiful day. Kate and I had lunch from tar Ridge that had a grassy knoll and a fantastic view. Thats our lunch view in the photo. There were a lot of great grassy balds today and I got a little sunburnt even. I was leapfrogging with tealeaf and buckshot most of the day. We all were going in to town to resupply, and near the end decided it'd probably be easier to hitch if we went separate. Kate and I got to the road first and while I was waiting for her it looked pretty grim. 2 cars total passed and I had zero reception. Once she got th here it was 20 minutes of a couple cars and we were worried. Then a logging truck came up the hill with a bunch of cars trapped behind it, including a sheriff, so I guess hitching is legal in va. Luckily a nice hiker picked us up from that pack and we were in town by 4. Tealeaf amd buckshot weren't so lucky. I texted her to let her know where we were at and restaurant plans, and they were stuck out there. They waited over an hour with no luck then luckily they had cell service so called for a shuttle. We didn't see them until after wed resupplied and gorged ourselves at don tequilas. They had a bunch of packages they missed before closing too so looks like we'll be getting out ahead of them tomorrow. I'm a bit bummed about that. They're a lot of fun. They really helped Kate and I get back into the smiles-not-miles state of mind. But I'm sure we'll see them again soon enough. And did I mention I love the south? Super friendly motel guy who told us it's byoonah vista. Somehow theres a mormon university here. Crazy. Loy of utah and nevada plates. And everything is nice and cheap. 50 cent pop machine that he came rushing out to make change for a dollar because he thought it might not take bills. He had apologized sincerely that the cheaper hiker rooms, ie dirty, we're taken already and that instead of 55 a night wed have to pay 59 for a normal clean room. His lead in to that was so dramatic I was bracing for 150 a might. And Bojangles is coming baby, next town!
Date: 2016-11-08
From: Buena vista VA

To: John's hollow shelter
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: clear sky

I updated my journal while Kate got her beauty rest. I had the rare foresight to get cinnamon rolls from the Amish place and two double shot espresso and cream Starbucks things, my favorite gas station iced codfee. So I was tweakin and feastin in bed. Eventually we went to Hardee's and got some egg biscuits. Not bad either. It took a good long while to get a hitch back to the trail. Tons of cars passed but not many kind souls among the weird mix of Mormons, tea partiers and southern Christians. The ride we did get though was fantastic. It was this super animated older dude in an army hat that loved talking history and poliertics. He seemed very grateful to have like minded people to chat with and as he grew excited kept hitting Kate on the arm in emphasis and wagging his fingers all over the place. In a cute, charming way. We didn't get on trail until close to 11 but we're feeling like making some miles so resolved to do a bit if night hiking. It ended up being a good chunk of elevation and I'll probably be a little sore. The first pat we followed this lovely mountain stream that had the occasional plaque with viewing bench. Then we climbed a bit around a really pretty mountain reservoir. First lake wed seen in a while. The climb up Mt bluff was a huffer and I'd guess close to 3000 feet overall. Then it was all the way back down to this shelter. We were so tired we actually slept in the shelter for the first time ever. It wasnt so bad. Not as comfortable as the hammock but no set up or take down, and all our stuff is dry. No mice wanted to snuggle with us either.
Date: 2016-11-09
From: John's hollow shelter

To: Thunder hill shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I've reached the limit of my cold gear and am really looking forward to the winter quilt and fleece waiting for me in Daleville. Last night we were at 4000 feet and it easily dipped into the 20s. My 40 degree bag and down are good down to 30, but that's it. I wasn't shaking all night or anything, but it was maybe 4 hours of sleep total. Well be sleeping at lower elevation until Daleville. It was a beautiful day of ridges and a giant river, the James. Once we got high enough though I checked the news and saw Trump won. That hit me like a ton of bricks and knocked the wind out of me. I almost cried. It was depressing enough already to think it was even close. But knowing that and the fact that a lot of my family voted for him was just sickening. We were only 6 miles in or so but had to stop and have a silent lunch. I couldn't even sleep. I'm so glad that at least were out in this beautiful terrain instead of civilization. Much easier to cope.
Date: 2016-11-10
From: Thunder hill shelter

To: Buchanan va 
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was a pretty good day. And would've been a great day without two little hiccups that are almost funny now, and will be very funny as soon as my pack stops smelling like dog piss. So yeah, that's the major hiccup. I had awkwardly resupplied forcing us to go into Buchanan to get just a few more things on the way to Daleville. That's pronounced "BUCKcannon" btw. When we got to the road we had no service, there was no traffic, and the motel and resupply was 5 miles away. Two cars passed and were clearly terrified by the site of hitchhikers. And it was an hour before dark. So we were a bit nervous about our prospects. But then this wonderful trail angel drives by going the wrong direction, sees me walking down the road trying to get a signal and pulls over next to Kate. He offered us a ride in. Moved his gun to the back and said we could put our packs in the back with his his super cute dog max who rem in need us so much of Marley it hurt. (btw, Matt and Jessica we love you!) The dude was so nice that we scurried away at the motel so he wouldn't notice that cute max the pheasant hunter had unloaded on my pack. I think this pup had been holding it in for miles because my pack was SOAKED. I gave it three thorough sponge baths plus a complete dousing in the tub, but now it's soaking wet and still has a solid piss smell. The other much less serious offense was on the way to this gorgeous shelter before the road. There was this sign that said shelter this way, 200 yards that looked like a side trail. I was in a hurry as I'd been looking forward to using the privy so I saw that sign, dropped my pack and hustled down. A guy at the shelter though informed me that it wasn't a side trail! It used to be, hence the sign, but now the old trail that I thought was the real trail was a blue blaze to some road. So I had to backtrack to my pack, where Kate was waiting also thinking it a side trail, then go on back down. That small inconvenience would've loomed large had my bag not later been dunked in urine. Anyway, the hike overall was a bit freezing, but beautiful. Huge fall color ravines. And the motel guy was great. Super cheap but with a gorgeous wood lobby full of buck head and stuffed bear. There was no food around and I asked about delivery, and he was like, you got a license? You drive straight? Keys are in that black truck out there, take it wherever ya want.  So that was pretty great. Little did I know it was a beat up, stick shift, quirky truck. Even though Kate's the better stick driver, she's too scared to drive other people's cars. Granted, the last one offered to us was on a hill, owned by a coked out coke head who'd been coking it up talking to himself all night. But this one was still on me and I was hangry. So I surprised myself and very smoothly got us to food. I wasn't sure if 5th gear existed, so the guy riding my ass all the way in to town was gonna have to wait. We got back early and in bed early. It was great.
Date: 2016-11-11
From: Buchanan va 

To: Wilson creek shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

The terrain must've been easier today because we didn't start until late and I had to double check that mileage a couple times. My pack was dry this morning but still with a heavy eau de dog piss. Luckily were in town again tomorrow early so I'll have time to do a nice vinegar and baking soda soak down. To be honest, just like the hiker stench, I got used to it pretty quickly and it wasn't a big deal. Although it's strong enough that Kaye can smell me coming with the right wind. Also luckily was the hitch we got this morning was a truck and we got to throw the packs in the back. Another really nice guy took us out of his way to the trailhead. He'd been working with the motel owner on their diner renovation. The owner saw me at the continental breakfast and told me to feel free to borrow his truck again this morning if we needed. If you're ever in Buchanan, wattstull Inn is the place to be. I think it's the only place actually so you won't miss it.  Everyone's talking bucks. I think it's the only thing I've overheard in all town conversations. Deer season is like fresh pow days for these folks. Hunters and hunting dogs everywhere. I'm not excited about being out on hunting grounds but I really got nothing against it, except near the trail. I found one bait bag just a few feet from the trail today that I took down. I don't think you're supposed to bait the deer during season days anyway. Today was another beautiful fall day, and a lot warmer than before. We're a good 1500 feet lower and less wind which helps a ton. I had a lot of new music to listen to which was great. Ryan adams and the Cardinals, cold roses. So so good. That was my jam year after college and haven't listened to it in almost as long. And Neil Youngs rust never sleeps. Some of my favorites. My my, hey hey, thrasher and powder finger. Those words to thrasher might be my favorite lyrics ever. Lastly I had some leonard Cohen. I'd seen the news he just died and thought I'd get a couple of his too. As usual I'm excited about the short mileage tomorrow. There's a brewery on the way into town too and I think even with a pit stop well get in earliesh to do chores and pig out.
Date: 2016-11-13
From: Daleville, VA

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 1.2

Technically not a donut day. Today was the historic 2nd slack pack of the trip. There's a really sweet gas station right on the trail and next to our hotel that we stopped at for some Gatorade. They smoke meat outside all day long and have a bunch of handwritten signs that advertise all these deals where they throw in a lottery ticket. Buy two sodas, get a lottery ticket. Buy BBQ, lottery ticket included! We stopped there on the way to the trail and opted for the out and back trip to get that little section we missed yesterday. Besides no pack, I didn't even have my poles and it felt so weird. Afterwards we went to three lil pigs BBQ and that was a great place. They gave us free delicious hush puppies and had good beer. Surprisingly the non meat options were pretty good too. The other things I loved about that place was they were playing good music (I heard Jose Gonzalez, Ryan adams, and bonnie raitt) and every table had pass the pigs. Kate smoked me. We hit up the Kroger for resupply and we're both super excited to get graeters ice cream. For the reset of the afternoon we just hung out, ate, and watched the steelers lose which is always fun. The slope turtle really wanted to de-urinate my pack and I'm super grateful. I think the dog piss smell is gone. My guitar case is literally a sponge though and I'm thinking I might need to have a blow dryer session with it tomorrow. That's my only complaint of the cordoba guitar/case is that that thing intensifies the moisture and the guitar usually ends up always having a little wetness somewhere. Hasn't affected the action at all though. We're two thirds of the way done and the only thing worse for wear are some rust on the tuners. Love that thing. I'm gonna end up writing one of those gushing positive letters to the company, I know it. With the cold on the way in here I was seriously considering not carrying it anymore. It's tempting when it's getting to be so cold you can't really play it except midday or at hotels. And not carrying it would be an instant 3 pound drop.  Bit after playing it today I felt ashamed of even thinking that.
Date: 2016-11-14
From: Daleville, VA

To: Lamberts meadow campground
Miles today: 9.1

Town chores sucked us in again and we weren't in trail until 130. This time was a bit more momentous and everything feels very weird, scary, and exciting. We switched out our sleeping bags and air mattresses for the new under and over quilts that they just mailed us. So happy birthday to me. And thanks dad for forwarding. We also dropped a chunk of change at the outfitters switching to full on winter gear. I got a down coat upgrade plus an under armor base layer and full on mittens. I also picked up the extra fleece and new socks from the bounce box. I'm curious to see what the weight difference is. The advertised difference for 30 degree quilts for 40 degree bag and mattress should save me a pound. But old down for new, extra fleece and layer plus old gloves for new all added. I could also get rid of a shirt now too I realized after the fact. With luck maybe I stayed even. Our options for resupply though we're 50 or 90 miles, and we went big with 90, so the pack was super heavy with food. I'd guess over 40. Also not helping was I brought two beers out. A lot of firsts tonight. I've never done that but we had a whole 6 pack we never touched so it seemed like a waste. Plus we knew it'd be a short day. I just had two beers with a fancy mountain house meal (so thats 2 pounds lighter already) and am now laying in the hammock with no pad. It feels like I'm breaking the law or something. Aside from the stress of the drastic gear change and running all about Town, it was a good day. Started off with Bojangles! I was so excited about that. Then post office where we had five packages and had to bounce things, send stuff to cincy, and figure out food and gear resupply. I screwed up and left some things at the hotel too, but at the coffee shop next to the outfitter Kate had met a thru hiker nobo alum from this year with his friend who's doing a sectiony thru. They are doing a 5 day section together and offered to shuttle me around to hotel and post office to fix my mistake, which was great. They're basically doing the same stretch as us the next few days so well probably see them again. I hope so because the friend left her gingerbread and postcard she bought at the outfitters, and the store guy said I could take it since I'll have a shot at returning it to her. It'd be nice to repay the favor. It was also sobo thru hiker mini convention at the outfitters. We briefly met ICE who we've seen in the logs forever, Determined who we've been leapfrogging lately and this guy Okie who I thought I was just meeting but he reminded me we actually met near Lincoln NH just before moosilauke. That was when that nice old couple was doing their first trail magic and miss Janet showed up. It's cool to think we met briefly like 1000 miles ago then somehow not again until today. All those fellas seem like nice folks. Looking forward to seeing them again and hearing their stories.
Date: 2016-11-15
From: Lamberts meadow campground

To: Near dragons tooth
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: clear sky

Today was tough one. That extra pack weight makes itself known. After the morning we knew there'd be no good water sources for 23 miles so I had over 3L of water on top of the heavy food bags. I was feeling tuckered by lunch. A little before we got to mcafees knob, one of the most iconic trail Vistas. We got the dangling legs photos and even had the place to ourselves for a little while. From it you could see tinker cliffs across the valley that we'd climbed earlier. Those were pretty cool in their own right with the trail skirting the edge a good portion. I really liked this one view from there where you could see this Ridgeline that looked like a serpents tail that undulated off into the horizon. On the way up to the knob i saw nigel, calamity jane and forprettiest. All headed to four pines which sounds great but was not to be for us sadly. Afterwards there was a few mile trail reroute while the while the ratc cut down some dead trees by the shelter. Kind of a bummer since it put us arlund two shelters we wefe planning on picnic table lunching at. We did see some folks bouldering which was cool. I cant eait to get back into that and actially go outside on rocks. We had lunch at the mcafee parkinh lot and chatted eith a nice dude from ratc who took our trash. We hiked on amd i had just barely convinced kate to go to four pines but we had no signal when ee hoy to the road and awol said .3 while guthook said .8. That discrepancy made us bail and we hiked up the hill instead.
Date: 2016-11-16
From: Near dragons tooth

To: Niday shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We made a point of getting up early this morning and did a pretty good job. It ended up not equating to bigger miles but it was pretty nice having a chunk of daylight left at camp. We had just barely enough water to make it the 7 miles to the first stream, so there was no coffee. The trail leading up to dragons tooth was surprisingly hard too so I ended up exhausted from the get go. It was a decent amount of scrambling over granite and slate rock faces. The ridge had a lot of great views and I got a few good sunrise shots.  I ran into cupcake and mufasa going the other way slacking back to the four pines hostel so I got to give mufasa her cliff bar and postcard. The whole rest of the day I was just sluggish and sore. I never caught up to Kate who'd left lunch before me. By the time I did I wasn't about doing 22 and she begrudgingly agreed. It was nice though. We had some hot toddies and I whopped her in backgammon. Our packs should be normal post town food weight now so hopefully tomorrow I do a little better.