morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-05-26
From: Gravel Springs Hut

To: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 18.6

In which I exit the Shenandoah's with a bear count of six in the park.More teenage drama at the camp last night! Also a lot of noise and running up and down the path by my tent. They were up at 0500 and therefore, so was I. I did manage to doze back off to sleep for a little while, something I normally can't do. I must have been tired! I also did hear the bears foraging around in the grasses last night again. That is becoming a nightly thing here in the park. Likewise, the birds were vocal at 0200 singing their songs loudly which were pretty just poorly timed.I still managed to be on the trail by 0815 and quickly saw 2 more bears. I wasn't sure if there was one or more bears initially. About 20 feet off the trail was a bear walking at the base of a tree. Come to find out it was a mama with a very small baby who was trying to climb the tree. The baby proceeded to climb down the tree and walk in between the tree and mama. I attempted to get more pics but decided it was best to keep walking quickly by as she was pacing. Once at camp later today Texaco showed me a beautiful picture he got of the baby bear sitting on mama's back. That was a million dollar shot!As we walked we kept seeing more day and weekend hikers. People are still out all over, but many were packing up to go home. We were leaving the park today too, but not before seeing on more big bear run up the mountain rocks to the left of us about 30 ft. off the trail. Those things can move. They are very agile and beautiful to watch.After leaving the park we stopped for lunch at Tom Floyd shelter and met a couple from Springfield who left us trail magic of an apple as we went to get water. What a pain that was! It felt like a half mile (although they claim 0.3 mi.) down a steep trail and back up! More "bonus" miles! Oh well, got to have water.We walked by many fields that were surrounded by fences and government signs, intriguing imagining what goes on behind those fences! I got to Rt. 522 and made some phone calls to catch up with family then hiked the last stretch in to the shelter making it here relatively early. The bugs are getting pretty bad! The black flies seem to be back after a brief reprieve and the mosquitoes were chomping away too. So I quickly set up my tent. This shelter has a solar shower. I was looking forward to one but could not get it to work, it was 3 sided and I just rinsed off my legs instead. This shelter also has a cooking shelter. Pretty much a covered picnic table in which to cook and eat separate from the shelter, which had a rocking bench on the front porch! Pretty nice place. I met Texaco and Pneumo who were passing thru after eating dinner and there are two other hikers here tonight. Wow! A few more thru hikers are beginning to appear after a long stretch of no one.So the bear count for the Shenandoah's was 6. I've seen 7 bears total for the trip so far...
Date: 2014-05-27
From: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: clear sky

In which I got a pre-lunch trail magic and make it to the shelter before the thunderstorm.Pop tarts and a protein drink with coffee power my morning hike. They pack about 700 calories and keep me fueled for 2-3 hours. Then it's time to eat again. I would never eat pop tarts in "real" life but out here they are convenient, caloric and tasty. Protein makes the difference in sustained energy. Without it I crash in a hour and hit a wall which just doesn't feel good.This morning's walk was through a beautiful, historical state park. I could imagine the troops marching through the fields en route to battle during the civil war. I don't like history normally but experiencing it puts a whole new spin on it. It's much more interesting then. I walked through open fields and stone walls. There was a view to a valley below which I guess is the Manassas area since I walked under I-66, where I took pictures of the trucks driving over the bridge.After the park there was a lot of enclosed trail with shrubbery, thorns and trees. While we were looking for a lunch stop we stumbled upon trail magic. A cooler contained Gatorade, perfect because it was really hot. I also grabbed a banana to eat with my lunch. As we walked I said out loud that it would be nice to have a view or a bench for lunch. As we rounded the corner guess what I saw? A bench. Awesome. So that's where I ate the rest of my lunch in the warm sunshine. Not another person around, was very peaceful. The next few miles flew by. Then it started to rain a little bit and it got dark and a few rumbles of thunder clapped in the distance. The wind started blowing and I got hit by a stick. This motivated me to hike even faster to the shelter and fortunately I made it before the rains poured down. When they did I was sitting under the cooking shelter eating my food. Glad to be under the shelter's roof tonight. Another thru hiker is here tonight, Chops from Massachusetts.Get to hike the Roller Coaster in the morning. It's 13.5 miles of tightly packed ascents and descents as AWOL's guide puts it. We will see just how bad it is after all the talk about it! Off to bed and listening to the rain fall.
Date: 2014-05-28
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Bears Den Hostel
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: light rain

In which I grow my mountain goat legs and hike ten miles of the roller coaster in to Bears Den Hostel.My mountain goat legs did pretty well today. I was expecting the worse and was pleasantly surprised by the Roller Coaster, which as AWOL describes is "tightly packed ascents and descents". I've heard horror stories about the dreaded coaster but found it to be alright. It was a little tedious watching foot placement on some of the rocks, roots and muck but not as difficult as I expected so far. I may have just jinxed myself for tomorrow by saying that as there are 3 ups and downs yet to go in the morning. The day was broken down into three sections and it went by surprisingly quickly.At one point today I passed a group of Road Scholars. They were a group of people hiking parts of the AT and today's hike took them 3 mile to the passed shelter and back. Speaking of the last shelter, there was a HUGE spider just hanging out on the side of the log cabin style shelter. Not only was there one huge spider but also a second one not quite as large hanging out on the slat below! Creepy!I arrived at the Bear's Den Hostel just as the sky was turning gray and thunder was rumbling in the distance which was alright by me tonight because I am indoors! So bring on the storm! Only two other hikers were here when we arrived so I got my shower and waited for the office to open at 5pm. At 5pm I could pay for my room, get laundry going and eat a pizza, a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a soda all of which was included in the hostel fee. Sweet! I'm always up for ice cream in particular these days. Besides, I need to practice for the half gallon challenge! HEHE. I ate my whole pizza also, made some phone calls and enjoyed sitting in the beautiful gazebos on the property while I talked and later ate ice cream. More section hikers have rolled in. There are only 3 thru hikers tonight. We continue to be in a stretch with very few other thru hikers around. I have to say that isn't exactly what I expected, but I also know that can change and once again am grateful for Murphy's company which has made hiking a lot more fun!The plan for tomorrow is to be up and out very early in order to get to the ATC before they close for the day. Got to have our pictures taken!
Date: 2014-05-30
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Zero
Miles today: 0.0

In which I am a tourist for the day and eat good food.....and still walked quite a few miles!I am still out here hiking and having the time of my life. I will update this journal more as soon as I am able. It will get done! Eventually. Thanks for reading and all of your support. It's awesome to know people I don't even know (and do know) are cheering me on! Thank you! More to come......
Date: 2014-06-01
From: washington monument

To: Ensign cornwall shelter
Miles today: 12.0

In which we part ways with family and friends and hit the trail.What a lovely morning it was. I actually slept in a soft, comfy bed until 0800 unlike my usual 0600 wake up with the sun. I caught up on the computer a little bit while having a cup of coffee. Then I headed down to breakfast with my parents and once again astounded myself and those around me (aka my parents) with my ability to eat food. I ate a lot! I can't even believe how much I ate! I was pretty impressed if I do say so myself and the sad part is I didn't even feel stuffed. Oh the life of a thru hiker!After packing up and a quick run into the Dollar Store for another journal, we were on the way to the Washington Monument were we stopped yesterday. The five of us hiked again up to the monument, looked around a bit, took many photos, chatted and the parted ways after a few more tears were shed. It's so great to see family and friends. It's just really hard to part ways again until next time, but it was time to get back to some serious walking and trail life.I'm so grateful we all had the chance to hang out together over the past three days. It's been quite fun and an unexpected adventure! I'm so thankful for everything my parents have done for us!Thanks mom and dad!So off down the trail we went with very heavy packs! Food weighs so much and I don't think my pack has ever weighed this much! All with food! Stuffed to the gills with food! Darn appetite has finally kicked in! So as I hiked today I ate along the way "to lighten my load". The trail was flat for the first 2/3 of the day. Then ROCKS! and plenty of them. Wait... this isn't Virginia or WV! What's happened? What's up with the rocks? So we hiked up over rocks for a while. Then up and over a ridge to the other side, then down we went. That was unexpected!Finally, we arrived at the shelter and set up our tents on the tent pad, ate dinner, filtered water, hung our food bags and climbed in our tents. Not done with chores yet. Next, it was journal writing time, a few texts were sent out, the day planned for tomorrow and finally time to crawl in bed! It's so nice to be in my tent tonight listening to the leaves rustle, the birds chirp and an occasional car zoom by on the nearby road. All is well!
Date: 2014-06-03
From: Tumbling run shelter

To: Birch Run
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: light rain

In which the highlight was NOT stepping on the timber rattler 6" from our feet.We hiked a long day today to put us in a good position for the half gallon ice cream challenge tomorrow. After a sleepless we were out by 0800. The hike started out with a good climb up and over a rock ridge down to a rocky trail. Time flew by pretty quickly and before I knew it we were at Caledonia State Park. We met Dirty Harry and Fran there and had lunch while we secured our plans for tomorrow.Thereafter we hiked to another beautiful, cottage like shelter for a break. It was nose to the grindstone today watching foot placement and steps. Good thing there was no view because our heads were down watching the rocks and scanning the trail for snakes. This made for a long afternoon.Oh yeah, almost forgot... our morning excitement was almost stepping on a timber rattler, which by the way are very beautiful snakes. Not so beautiful when Murphy's foot was 6" from it's head. That was a scary moment thinking of all the "what ifs"!We now have secured a lovely spot to camp by the creek at the shelter. Our three tents are under the trees. Birds are chirping and flies are annoyingly buzzing all over the outside of my tent. Planes are flying overhead, people are chattering in the shelter and the water is babbling next to our tents. I'm hoping the sound of the water will lull me to sleep! Time to go find that out.
Date: 2014-06-04
From: Birch Run

To: Iron Mansion Hostel
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: broken clouds

In which I had a photo op at the halfway mark, visited the AT museum, killed the half gallon challenge and stayed in a mansion.Let me just say that today has been my favorite day on the trail in a while(even though most of it was spent off trail). Our walk this morning was leisurely and the terrain surprisingly nice. We made it to the official halfway for this year's mileage and then on to the monument declaring the halfway mark. I was hiking with Murphy, Dirty Harry and Fran (now Bug Bear) so we all took pictures of each other doing splits, cartwheels, head and hand stands and assorted poses.After this we pushed on to the next shelter for a quick break then cruised in to Pine Grove Furnace State Park to the General Store. Murphy and I have been planning our strategy for the half gallon ice cream challenge for days. I made our signs, we gathered our cameras, jackets and spoons and prepared ourselves for the challenge. We choose a picnic table with warm seats in the sun then proceeded into the store to select our ice cream flavor. For me there could be no chunks. Chunks take too much effort to chew. I also wanted a flavor that wouldn't be ruined by my indulgence and would slide down easily. So cookies and cream it was for me! And a diet coke to wash it down.We began the challenge and photographed it every five minutes to the end, which was less than a half hour from starting, 28:51 to be exact! The surprising thing was that I didn't feel awful at all. I felt slightly nauseated briefly but that soon passed. So onward down the path to the AT museum before it closed. Fascinating and fun. It makes how we hike today look easy and uncomplicated compared to the years before us!We walked back to the camp store and visited with more hikers and cheered them on as they did their half gallon ice cream challenge. At 5pm we walked over to the Ironmasters Mansion to check in to the hostel for the night. This place is so sweet. It's like sleeping in a museum. We got to climb down the secret stairs to see the rooms below where the slaves were hidden on their freedom run. We were even issued bed linens and towels and had a choice of bathrooms to use. This is so decadent!After cleaning up and doing laundry I was ready for more food. So we all gathered on the front porch to eat our pizzas and soda and more ice cream. The swallows had a nest in the corner of the porch and were entertaining to watch. After dark we adjourned inside and Fran entertained us by playing the piano in the parlor as we chatted, wrote in our journals and read books.What a red letter day! Life is good!
Date: 2014-06-09
From: Rausch Gap

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: light rain

In which pizza for dinner motivates our hike for today.It rained all night and I think I slept well because of its great white noise. The rain is so soothing to listen to or maybe I was just tired. I finally left around 09 and had an uneventful walk today. I am happy to report that there were no snake encounters or sightings today! Yay! There were plenty of rocks however and poison ivy and thorns and rocks. They were very slippery rocks and leaves which made for some challenging times.So as I hiked today I was looking out for snakes, rocks, wet leaves, thorns and poison ivy while swatting bugs away from my eyes, nose, mouth and ears trying not to fall and loose my balance. I couldn't have walked a straight line if you paid me today! I'm sure this was very entertaining to watch from afar.So we made it to the shelter around 6pm. Brian and Kentucky were already here. We claimed our bunks, set up for the night, fetched water and checked out the privy. Now for the main reason we came here. Pizza!!!!!We studied the menu, made our selections and proceeded to place the call to order...answering machine. Oh, no! We tried again and again and again. 8 times in all we called. We want our pizza! Well come to find out they are closed on Mondays and guess what day it is? Yup, Monday. We tried the Spanish restaurant's number, answering machine! The same machine as the pizza place. Every restaurant in town is closed on Monday! No town food for us tonight. Bummer and disappointing! But on the bright side I'll lighten my pack tonight by eating what food I have. Town food will come another day. So off to bed I go.
Date: 2014-06-10
From: 501 Shelter

To: The Pavilion
Miles today: 24.1
Weather: overcast clouds

In which I feel battered and beat up by the time I arrive at the Pavilion.Our goal for this morning was to get up at 0600 for a long day of hiking in to Port Clinton. Well that we did just not quite as we intended. I woke up at 0400 to pouring rain again. Not just pouring rain but pouring rain! The hardest rain I've heard since I've been out here, which by the way is three months today. So I stayed in bed until 0700 when the rain finally stopped although it continued to rain from the trees.Murphy and I left first, followed by Brian and Kentucky. The good news is that there were no snake sightings today. That's the benefit of a cloudy, wet day. The bad news is that although the terrain was relatively "flat" it was all rocks, wet, slippery ones at that and they were EVERYWHERE with no reprieve!My feet were red, swollen, bruised, sore and just plain hurt. It was 4pm with 9 miles to go yet when we stopped for water at a shelter. We got word that Brian was 1.5 hrs ahead of us so onward we plodded. I had 6 extra pounds on my back, 4 hours until dark and a long way to go. So in our typical fashion we said "let's do this" and we kicked on the after burners and turbo hiked non-stop through nothing but rocks, which sucks by the way. It hurts, it's tedious and saps all my energy constantly scanning the horizon for obstacles. No time for views which is good because there are very few in Pennsylvania and what might have been a "peek a view" was socked in clouds. So it all worked out in the end.As if the rocks weren't bad enough the descent going into Port Clinton was killer. I think it's been the steepest descent yet. Add in the wet rocks and leaves and it was a little scary walk and sometime slide down that mountain. Finally, we made it to the road then had a half mile walk to the Pavilion which literally is a pavilion across the street from the river owned by a church where hikers can camp for the night. On paper this sounds great but in actuality was a little sketchy.Thankfully, we met Brian here and reluctantly decided to stay here for the night. It was dark already. At one end of the shelter a big tent was set up where someone was living "temporarily". At the other end were 3 SOBOs who had been here for a few days partying and had sprawled out everywhere. We were the 3 lone NOBOs sitting on the picnic tables in the middle of the shelter trying to fix food and crash for the night. I was so tired I didn't even want to cook so I snacked. Brian had his bed set up next to the picnic table. I still wasn't convinced this is where I wanted to stay, but it was dark and here we were and we didn't want to leave Brian either. So Murphy and I set up our tents next to each other and tried to shelter our space. This would protect us from bugs and add another layer of protection from people. There also was a very busy road up above with constant load noise from trucks and cars. Ugh!At 9pm we retreated to our tents with knives in hand and gear ready to roll in a moments notice if need be. I was pretty sketched out at this point and praying for safety.
Date: 2014-06-11
From: The Pavilion

To: zero
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

In which we got a shuttle into Hamburg and eat our way through the day having survived our night. Last night was my least favorite night on the trail. There certainly was no sleep and I was never happier to leave a place than this! The SOBOers kept coming in and out of the pavilion all night long. I think they finally passed out around 0500. Some other town dude came in around 0300 coughing and yelling loudly, someone kept flicking a Bic lighter, the hammockers came under cover when it started raining again. There was constant noise all night long and I didn't sleep a wink, well maybe one or two winks but not much more. Oh yay, someone was sleep talking and that was very amusing! Murphy and I even whispered back and forth to each other during the night in solidarity. The birds didn't even sleep as they cheerfully chirped all night too.Happy to have survived the night we all packed up quickly at 0730 and called Dad (who I had a lunch break with in NC when he was hiking)to shuttle us to Hamburg. What a stressful and unenjoyable night! Not one I care to repeat anywhere. All the more reason to hurry up and get out of PA! So now on to the good stuff...Today has been thoroughly enjoyable. I do believe we were sitting in the lobby of McDonald's eating by 0800. Sipping coffee and eating "real" food was a great way to start off the day. Then we meandered our way over to Cabela's and spent some time walking through the aisles finding nothing we really needed. Around 1100 we crossed 4 lanes of highway and headed to the hotel. Luckily we got to check in early and dropped off our packs.Now we find ourselves crossing the four lanes of highway again to go to Red Robin for some pitless fries and ranch dressing....and burgers of course. I never dreamed that I would enjoy fries and a burger the way I do today! And I enjoyed them greatly! Next we walked over to the Verizon store and eventually to Walmart for a resupply. Talk about overwhelming! There were so many choices of food to eat. Too much food, so little time! What do I want to carry with me this time? I'm sure we easily spent over an hour in the store alone staring at all of our food choices. After buying too much food we went to check out and saw Kentucky and Looper. We chatted for a bit then walked back to the hotel with a big gooey donut to eat.We did laundry, showered, made phone calls and by 8pm we were ready to eat again. So out we walked to Wendys for food and a frosty to go. It's been a lovely evening sitting watching "so you think you can dance" with my feet elevated. My feet are still on fire and sore but tonight they are also clean and dry. I'm also ready for a good night's sleep in a bed with pillows in a safe space! I'm also not getting up early since we don't have to check out until noon and I'm going to eat my way through the breakfast bar!
Date: 2014-06-12
From: zero

To: zero
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

In which we wimped out and decided to take another zero day to avoid the rain and watch the world cup.Brian, Murphy and I actually slept until after 0800. Amazing! Better yet it was a great night's sleep, the first in over 5 nights. The first item of business was to check out and destroy the breakfast bar. I think we put a pretty good dent in it and it was good! We packed up and Brian headed back to the trail. It was now pouring and our motivation to hike today was dwindling already, especially since it was game one of the world cup. We watched the Today show, then Kelli and Michael and it continued to rain. My feet are still sore and swollen and red. The thought of having clean, dry feet for one more day sounded more appealing. What's the rush after all? Another day here meant another shower, more food....and so I caved. We stayed and it's been a marvelous day.We walked over to Walmart again for more errands. Then we hit up Wawa for subs and chips, which by the way were soooo good. Finally, we watched the world cup. I sat around all day with my feet elevated and actually rested. But now time for more food. I mindlessly ate a whole bag of baby carrots Brian gave me. We ordered a pizza since it still was raining and watched some movies. I've really enjoyed sitting around all day. Something else I wouldn't have done in "real" life. I got another shower and my feet are actually less swollen tonight. I can even crack my toes. Progress!I've eaten more chocolate, done some writing, dreaming and a little planning for the next leg of this journey. We will head back out into the rain in the morning for a 21 mile day up and over the next mountain ridge.