morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-04-26
From: Lost Spectical Gap

To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

I woke up sweating. I was up and out by seven. I ran into bluemoon and sparton. We went through a cow pasture and the cows were starring me down, but I felt at home. It was hot and I ran out of water. A section hiker gave me some of his. I guess I must have looked pretty bad. He's hiking from. Pearisburg to Harpers Ferry. He said he didn't have his trial legs yet, but he was quick. At the Catawaba parking lot there was trail magic, or what was left of it. I was out of water once again, and I could see empty bottles in the boxes. I picked up some Oreos. Then scavenged some water from the puddles. I added the last of my powered milk to my purified puddle water and sat down and ate lunch in the parking lot. I had an easy mile to the next shelter, where Jeff was. I showed him my black toe, he said centapedes and millipedes are poisonous. I climbed to Mcaffee even though there had been outbursts of rain while I took my break. On top I found it sunny and a day hiker was facinated at my endever. "what do you know what to bring?" another girl asked. I got them to take my picture, it's a famous spot. I hiked just a bit down to the next shelter. Decided t stop for the day it was just 4'o clock. It then rained some more and I watched Dispicable me on my iPod. I had my kickswith scavenger cops and trail mix.They would take their timehavw a break before a big climbthey'd bush wack,we gambled our snacks. When it started to rainwe found the weather lameso we played a game. Then decided to stay the nightoh what a delight. We played footballwhile waiting for ma and pa. My dad was an angel on the sideand gave my friends a ride. My family wanted to hike with me moreI just wanted a relaxing session galor. Hopefully they still wish to hikethere are many more days in sight. My mommy gave me a kiss for everydaythat she missed while I was away. My toe turned bluewhat can I do?Mommy can you kiss it too?
Date: 2011-04-28
From: Fullhardt knob shelter

To: Bobblets Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light rain

We started one the rained stopped. Course it would stop then start. So it was hard to tell. Lucky we were sucessful. I followed rainfly, I had to wait for him to get ready. He said he was slow so I wondered if we hiked a simalar pace. It didn't take long for him to halt and dig some debre out of hit boot. So I passed him and lead the rest of the way. He has this unique way of hiking he doesn't use his hiking poles on flats and he holds his hiking poles out as if skiing. We passed a lot of wildlife. We passed a fat snake. Which I make coil before rainfly passed. We passed a skinny green snake whch climbed up rainflys pole. It was so awesome I wanted to take it along, but rainfly said let it be. I saw a bunch of lizards and some deer. Plus more orange newts. rainfly was happy to have a hiking buddy. He told me lots of stories. How he climbed up a tree to escape an angry mother bear twice. How he attempted to thru hike in '08, but spent all his money partying when he spent a month in Damascus half of it being trail days. How he was adoptedand at fifteen years of age ran away from home. He quite school and traveled the USA camping and working just part time jobs ever since. How he worked for a carnival. How he got his GED. We hiked together the whole day. It was great. We quit hiking at four. I got a fire going. Took forever though I had to use three cotttenballs! Hey mom can you send me more Cotten balls dipped in vasaline with Harpers ferry box. I made my first pancakes. They were awesome. I set up my hamick in the shelter cuz it was just us staying there. There were pegs I hung the hamick on but just as I was saying " ah this is great" when it slipped. I hit both my elbows on the floor it socked me a bit. The privy here is wonderfully large and lighted and clean. Is big like a handicap bathrooplus it had handbars. Just to fill you in most privys are dingy spider infested dark dirty smelly cramped places and some times he contents are filled to the top and some times there are no walls what so ever. Just a john in the air.
Date: 2011-04-29
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: broken clouds

Right of the bat I lead rainfly off the trail, so we had some back tracking to do. great way to start the morning off. I learned more about Rainfly. he told me about the hurricane Katrina in New Orleans where he's from. He was working on his mothers house and the building materials tripled. When the storm was about to hit he was told there would be hurricane winds for 11 hrs so he decided to stay at the High school near by, he stayed 3 days. Leaving earlier then most he went home and just so saved his dog from starvation, the dog recovered. The shelter is really sweet, it got two floors for sleeping and a deck. I made some more pancakes for supper. We may make it to Waynesborro he's scared he'll run out of food. at our rate it'll take us 6 days to get to Waynesborro. I told him I'll just make him pancakes for supper, and he can buy whatever else he needs from me. he bought another dollars worth of cheese. Today at the end of the hike my feet hurt and my leg felt strained. It was funny I was about to sit down for a break when i saw the shelter, that was cool. I've been seeing a lot of deer and Lizards.
Date: 2011-04-30
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Matts Creek Shelter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Once again Rainfly hiked with me. I was banking on going 17.7 miles to a certain shelter, which actually was 22.7 miles away, but I still thought "hey we should do that." I really didn't expect that we'd make it. we climbed a whole mountain from end to end. it was a LONG up in the morning and a LONG down in the evening. I enjoyed talking about the bible, he saw I have a New testament. He told me how he thought all churches were the same, and after going to a bunch, he realized he was wrong, that some churches have all sort of rules and one church he liked, the paster approached him and advised him saying "I don't think this is the right church for you, see we are the First Baptists, perhaps you should try the Third Baptist down the road." Now that's just wrong. Rainfly had a real hard time today, all the downhill hurts his knees and feet, he got real hungry, before I wanted to stop fro lunch, I was like "its just two more miles to the shelter." We passes the giliten which is a part of the trail where there are two rock walls with a large rock stuck above that we walk under. I met some older day hikers who asked about if I had a blog, that was nice. WE got to camp just before dark. Fat Jim was there and rainfly and him reunited, since they had hiked a bit together, it was funny watching them talk. Rain fly would say, "If it weren't for Amish I would be way back there, but she keeps me going, and keeps me at a good pace, she's a bit slow up hill." rainfly used to race up hills stop catch his breath, race up again, and so forth, I think he's learned a valuable lesson of pacing yourself. Fat Jim is named such because he's been losing weight he used to wear a XXL and now only wears a large and his tail name once reaching Katahdin will be Slim Jim. I am now worrying I may have to stretch my food a bit thin if I keep on selling food to Rainfly.Today was Rainflys longest day yet on this hiking trip, from Damascus to Harpers Ferry is his plan.
Date: 2011-05-01
From: Matts Creek Shelter

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 22.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We had a late start getting out. left Fat Jim at the road, he was going to town. Once again we had a steep climb, the higher we got up the worse the weather got, we climbed into a cloud and it rained on us. we had disputed over where we should stay, he wanted a 12.7 i wanted to go furtherm the nest shelter 22 miles and I knew I could'nt get him to do two 20 mile days in a row. I was hard to motivate him, plus I was still a bit sore. Rainfly repeat himself a lot, I guess that's what happens when one talks so much. he even told me the same story twice, about how he won Leki Hiking poles in Damascus, during trail days. I asked him to not swear, it was bothering me. On our last up, we took a break half way up and Kelsey came by. I was surprised, I though she was ahead of me. She had taken a zero in Glasgow. I hiked with her and caught up on the past week. Rainfly fell behind. At the shelter, there showed up skippy, Scavenger Rabbit, Tortuga and Yogi. They were all going to the next shelter. I was happy to see them, but decided I better stay, since i felt bad for leaving Rainfly, plus I was tired. I told him I couldn't sell him anymore food, since I was running low. I sold at least five dollars of food to him. So he was figuring out where to resupply and saw that it was right after the nest shelter, so seeing that and knowing I wanted to go, he was hinting that he may want to go. he always take a long time to decide, things so I just decided right there and then "well I'm going."I hiked with Scavenger and rainfly fell behind once again. We talked a bunch, scavenger told me how he wanted to do two 27 mile days to get to Waynesborro, I told him I would join him. I like the idea of big miles again. I cooked up the rest of my pancake mix had a whole stack, Yogi wanted one so bad. I burnt a couple, and he's like I'll eat one of the burn ones, but I'm going to have them for breakfast and dinner. I borrowed a spoon from jeff, and I gave out my last four marshmallows.
Date: 2011-05-02
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: The Preist Shelter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: broken clouds

I woke Scavenger up at 6, he took his time. he made a fire.....made coffee.....gave me some gave rainfly some. I was feeling sick, probably from eating one of my old hotdogs last night. So I nibbled on a pancake. We planned to do a 30 mile day. I started off with out scavenger. I listened to my Ipod, listened to the book of Jonah. Then my Ipod stopped making noise. I guess it got wet. I tried to use my phone since I hadn't sent a message for a while, the stupid thing would have service but then fail to send the message. technology these days. It was like 2-3 mile of climbing 3500 ft up, I took a break at the top, and Scavenger caught up. We walked along balds and got hot in the sun. i lead for the majority of the day. We talked a lot,a bout hiking, his career back home, his next adventures, the bible, beer, and how long I'd take us to get to the shelter. We rain out of water, was a bit of a climb, later we saw if we had gone a bit further down the trail it would have saved us the climb. Once we got back to our backpacks a third one was there, I figured out it was Jeff's, too bad we couldn't tell him the climb was unneeded. At the shelter for lunch, there was a lady with two horses, plus a dog. There were 2 guys there one had attempted to thru hike but quit after 800 miles due to an injury.   Scavenger made some more coffee and gave me a cup. we cut the day short it was getting late, scavenger cooked up some couscous and gave me some, it was so good. I gave Yogi and Tortuga a pancake and they pput butter and honey on them. Skippy is the only one who didn't show up until dark, he sleeps in late. My Ipod is working and I watched a movie before bed.
Date: 2011-05-03
From: The Preist Shelter

To: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter
Miles today: 29.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Started 7:20am ended 10:25pm. inn the beginning was a steep down for miles then up for miles, I passes 3 girls who were loud, and freaking out over some mud. It was kinda funny. scavenger caught up at 5ish we hiked the rest of the way together. It got dark prematurely, because of some not so friendly rainclouds. It got rainy, and lightning was flashing. The worst part was I couldn't see my glasses were of no use being wet, and since it was dark it was already hard to see, and I was dead tried. But it was downhill, a long down hill. We almost missed the shelter, but I guess some one in the shelter saw us and shined his light our way. In the shelter I changed int o dry clothes as the rain picked up, and I ate a bagel and slept like a baby.
Date: 2011-05-04
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Waynesborro
Miles today: 5.0

i slept so well. I woke up with it raining cats and dogs. i was glad to see the rain slow and stop. As always scavenger took his time. I left earlier. The five miles took kinda long. Yogi's dad passed by and asked about his son. At the road I ate a couple of handfuls of trailmix before Scavenger showed up. We watched to the information center. There was a whole sheet of people to call to get a ride into town over 3miles away. I got a lot of "please leave a message..." and a couple "sorry but..." and the man working at the information center started calling and he he caught a ride. A sweet older lady came. Since Scavenger is from Germany the conversation was mostly about Europe. We got a room a a motel, I got a package, from the Grieners, which I had forwarded. I was impatient and opened it on the way to the library. The most exciting item was this massive bag of gumbo marshmallows. I was dumbfounded. Like wow this is sweet, wow this is like 2 pounds of marshmallows. I'm sure I'll find a way to make them fit in my pack. At the library I got really confused, in how to be able to use the computers. I had to get a visitors pass, sign in a mother computer, then be assigned a seat. I kinda did it out of order. I used up my hour, then hit the grocery store. The exciting food I got is bacon and some instant pudding. At the motel, 'Thru' left a note to stay, and he later joined us. I organized my food on the bed, and spilled some natural peanut butter on the bed. Had a shower and then a bath. Scavenger had a beer and watched hockey, which was exactly what he was talking about on our 29.6 mile day. For supper we got Chinese. One has to be smart at a buffet, is what I'm learning. Don't eat until you feel sick. And find the good food, cuz 80% of it isn't that great. There was so much food If I just got a bite of each dish I'd have to be rolled out. My fortune cookie read "You and your wife will be happy in your life" "Some species of centipede can be hazardous to humans because of their bite. Although a bite to an adult human is usually very painful and may cause severe swelling, chills, fever, and weakness, it is unlikely to be fatal. Bites can be dangerous to small children and those with allergies to bee stings. The bite of larger centipedes can induce anaphylactic shock in such people. Smaller centipedes usually do not puncture human skin." Found this on Wikipedia so it must be true
Date: 2011-05-05
From: Waynesborro

To: Waynesborro @ YMCA
Miles today: 0.0

My #1 priority to catch up on my trail journal. And I did. I also called my mom and got a new track phone. Scavenger and I decided to stay the night in town at the YMCA, they have free camping. It's right next to the library. I enjoyed reading a book "Things I wish I'd known before we got married" on the couch. What luxury. I bought a book 'Heaven is for real' I know there's a book 'heaven is so real' but its different. The book is about a kid that goes to heaven. Scavenger is the one who loves to read and I joined him at this book/coffee shop and picked it up. We ate at the Chinese buffet again. I didn't even know they had sushi, so this time I ate loads of it. With chopsticks too. and wasabi. I washed my laundry in the motel sink. It was shocking to see the nasty water being squeezed out of the clothes, but very satisfying to see it run down the drain. I then installed a dryer, by duck-taping a blow dryer to the wall. It didn't work that great. So...I hung them on the fence in the sun. I had my laundry washed and hanging before Scavenger and Thru had their laundry done. Which they paid for. We had to be out by 11. We got out at 11. To my dismay, the refrigerator, which was more like a freezer, which was fine for my yogurt, was kinda nice. But my carrots were solid and my mangoes later got squishy. I was challenging to squeeze everything in my pack. We just left our packs in the lobby as we ran around town.
Date: 2011-05-06
From: Waynesborro @ YMCA

To: Rusty's Hard Times Hollow
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

This morning my stuff was all wet. I slept under the stars, I did have a tarp over me but, my sleeping bag was plenty wet. The dew was probably bad since we were by a pond. So I hung it on a bench in the sun, as I watched robins yank up earthworms. I saw a beaver swim through the pond. I finished the marriage book in the library, I just chilled on the couch, stayed their till lunch time. But 1st I took a shower at the YMCA, where they gave me a towel and a piece of bar soap. The shower was warm, I went mostly cuz my hair was so oily and my dandrift was quite bad. so i dont know if its okay to use borsoap on ones head. the shower was the kind where it had a button to start the water. It would run 10 seconds and have to be started again. Back at the campsite Scavenger was still there reading. I ate a whole bag of carrots and other food. My andys mints turned in to a chocolate puddle. This man came over to the picnic table, where we were and told us how he has this shut down hostel, hikers had trashed his place, stole items, and didnt donate. He said he missed seeing the hikers. I asked him if I could come see the place, he was describing. Hes like no one has been there this year. Later he decided we would be his 1st. Scvenger cashed his travelers check at krogers and we saw lamalegs. That was weird cuz I was told he was off the trail. At the hostel a former hiker from years back gave us a tour. Goats, dogs, chickens, hot tub, potato patch, 7 springs surrounded by woods. Rusty is the only owner of an address on the blue ride park way. No other person has a drive way on a national park. We had a nice little meal, I prepared. Soup inside a bun with a hard crust. The two old guys Bob and Rusty talked a lot. Rusty was adopted by Amish after his parents kicked him out so he speaks Pennsylvania dutch. I knew a couple phrases, but he would just keep speaking dutch to me.
Date: 2011-05-07
From: Rusty's Hard Times Hollow

To: Calf Mt Hut
Miles today: 7.0

I cooked up some eggs and bacon for breakfast. I attempted to clean the kitchen, the place is a mess. Cans, dishes, odds and ends everywhere. He's busy guy planting potatoes and such all alone. He is in his 70's. I listened a lot, he, Rusty has a lot to say about the Amish being 2 face, like having a phone wired to their house from their neighbors or hiring someone to drive them around. Rusty was telling me how some Amish parents operated on their children, when they clearly didn't have the skills. One incident the child died from such a operation.  Then the parents being Amish never get punished. Rusty also told us stories of people treating old folk bad. Which he hates: he watched his two parents slowly. Bob was weed wacking and cut the hose, Rusty is sure the man is losing his mind. I have a feeling he has altimers. You can't get him to stop working, and if you tell him he needs a break, it puts fuel on the fire. He talks so much, Rusty said his wife and daughter go on vacation, to get some space.On our drive to the trail, Rusty stopped to talk to a park ranger. Rusty told us never to mess with Park rangers. They have acesses to the White House, and their cars are armored like tanks. On the hike Scavenger and I got drizzled on. we disscussed energy, while passing a bunch of cellphone towers. Scavenger said the towers are bad for health. I didn't believe him until I saw a sign saying something to the extent of close proximity is damaging to health. He told me how Germany is shutting its neuclear power in 2030. He is against nuclear. I'm like hey its cheep, he's like yeah but it kills you. Good point.Scavenger totally ran out of water, well he didn't bring any water, but there was trail magic of just water bottles, he downed two. Coming to the shelter we were worried the shelter would be full, from all the tents set up. I was like perhaps they all snore, and are being considerate. Surprsingly at the shelter, were only two people, I asked why the others didn't use the shelter "oh they snore" was the reply. At the shelter I tried getting people to eat a bunch of my monsterous marshmellows. To lower pack weight. I ate a ton, the others only ate a total of 4. Two of those being eaten raw, by Scavenger. I had my first Ramen of the trip. There are all section hikers here. I was asked about if I have a blog.
Date: 2011-05-08
From: Calf Mt Shelter

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: overcast clouds

When I got up, there was only one other up. The man who stayed at the hut. He told me how his wife normally snores louder. Left at 7:40ish. I listened to music, stopped to read a bit. I cross the blue ridge parkway a dozen times a day, at one particular crossing, a man yelled out "Hey you want something to drink?" "Yeah" I say as if it were obvious. He gave me honeybuns, and oranges. I left the sodas they don't make me feel good. We talked for a long time and Scavenger never showed. Keith was the guys name, He attempted to thru hike last year, but got sick. He seems to love the trail. He wants to finish the sections he's missed and try thru hiking again. When I told him I was Amish, he's said "From Lancaster PA". I have to take a double take, wait a second I didn't say that? Apparently he reads all the trail journals. He even gave me candles to start fires. The guy also mentioned how the park rangers were trying to get rid of some homeless guy. At the shelter where I had lunch, I was scared by this man sitting in the corner of the shelter. He had all his stuff, laid out, he was laying in a sleeping bag. Something seemed fishy, this had to be the homeless guy. The guy would not stop talking, about his ex-girl friend or girls, or hiking, it didn't matter what. He did say when he hiked Spinger, which is questionable, he said some guy who gave up thew his pack over the mountain and turned around to go home. He's like "dude you had food you could have shared" When I told him I was Amish, he says "so since you're Amish does that mean you don't smoke" He was asking everyone who went by for cigarettes. I waited longer then normal waiting for Scavenger, but got impacient. Later I learned Scavenger arrived right after I left. It got dark before I got to the hut. Two section hikers are here I treated them with marshmellows, and I roasted some honeybuns and shared them. The guys were very impressed. I didn't thing Scavenger would show up, but he did at 10. He said he had left the shelter at 10 in the morning, and later called home a bunch. I'm glad he made it.