morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-29
From: Happy Hiker Hollow/Atkins, VA

To: Campsite at Lick Creek
Miles today: 17.2

I have hiked one fourth of the Appalachian Trail!!!!!!Today has been a long, great day. Last night after I journaled, Braids and I couldn't resist the chance to watch a movie, so we watched Love Actually, which ended after midnight. We were both tired all day from our six hours of sleep, but still had a great day. The weather was beautiful - sun shining all day and warm, but with a cool breeze. We ended up taking numerous breaks, once again laying in a field for quite a while. As you read above, we passed the quarter point on the trail today. This blew my mind. I keep having conflicting thoughts, sometimes simultaneously: "What I've already done, 3 more times? No big deal!" and "What I've already done, 3 more times? Are you freakin' kidding me?!?"We're camped now by a beautiful stream. We're both cowboy camping on a tarp and are about to let the sounds of Lick Creek lull us to sleep. Tomorrow, I see my Mama!!!Postscript, April 29, 2011: How did I not journal about that morning's pancakes??? I guess I must have been really tired! So, breakfast at the Happy Hiker Hollow was just as amazing as dinner. I don't remember most of the dishes (though they were many!), but I doubt I'll ever forget those pancakes! Rambunny made us her specialty- double chocolate banana pancakes, with dark and white chocolates and big chunks of banana. They were truly amazing. Just when we thought things couldn't get any better, she pulled out peanut butter and ziploc bags and had us package up leftovers for our lunch. In case you're wondering- yes, it's totally worth it to go to Happy Hiker Hollow just for the pancakes!
Date: 2010-04-30
From: Campsite at Lick Creek

To: VA615/Wytheville, VA
Miles today: 20.6

Once again, I have managed to get really behind, so the next few entries will be just highlights.- Chestnut Ridge - beautiful!- Slept great last night cowboy camping- Off early - 7:20!- Hot day, thought I had plenty of water, but I was WRONG!- Braids and I both ran out of water with 8 miles to the next on-trail water source. By 5 miles down, we were both dying - actually feeling ill. Took the 1/2 mile trail WAY downhill to Davis Farm campsite water source.- Water break eventually delayed us over an hour, but we both got better quickly- Got to VA615 to meet Mom around 7, where we had both been shooting for 6- Mom arrived about 7:15 WITH NAOMI (a complete surprise!) after we had soaked our feet in the stream for a few- SO great to see them!- Got checked in @ Comfort Suites, got showered, and then went to Ruby Tuesday- Awesome meal!- Slept great in comfy bed, fun to be with fam, very glad Braids was there, too
Date: 2010-05-01
From: VA615/Wytheville, VA

To: VA615/Wytheville, VA
Miles today: 0.0

- Fantastic zero!- Hot tub early in the morning with mom, then joined by Naomi and then Braids - felt great!- Yummy breakfast- Took Braids back to the trail around 1. Sad to see her go, knowing I wouldn't see her til Trail Days in a couple of weeks- Back to get Mom and Naomi, who were walking downtown. Awesome lunch at Cracker Barrel, then to Goodwill to find me some lightweight shorts- Back to the hotel for laundry and lots of other chores. Sent home my down vest and fleece pants, but decided to keep my winter (15 degree) sleeping bag for now. Will switch to the summer (45 degree) one around Trail Days.- Dinner was funny. We were all excited about the Japanese Hibachi place. The long story is more fun, but basically, the place was really poorly run and had the worst server I've ever encountered (keep in mind I have worked at 3 different restaurants, including a Japanese steakhouse, so I have very realistic expectations). Things kept getting worse, so before the chef made it to the table, I went to find a manager, paid for the sushi roll we had already consumed, and left. This is the first time I've actually walked out of a restaurant, EVER. We ended up having a fantastic dinner at Applebee's, completely salvaging the evening.- Played Scrabble til midnight while I took care of computer stuff. (I won!)- Booked train tickets from Harper's Ferry to La Crosse, WI, in June to get on a houseboat on the Mississippi with Mom, Dad, Dave, and Lena for a week. SO EXCITED!
Date: 2010-05-02
From: VA615/Wytheville, VA

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

- Hauled butt today!- Leisurely morning, actually got back to the trail at 10:15- Really hard to say goodbye to Mom and Naomi, got a bit homesick as I hiked on- Eventually did okay- Hiked fast - one break in the morning, then to Helvey Mill Shelter for lunch and water. In the afternoon, one short break, but otherwise hiked pretty much as fast as possible, trying to get in before the storms. Hiked 19 miles (plus one to the shelter, then water, and back) in 8 hours and 20 minutes (including an hour or so lunch break!)- Got in and was RELIEVED- Walking Man East and Grace and Glory were there. Good to see familiar faces- It was a long, tough day, but in the end, all was well- Storms never came, though lots of rain through the nightPostscript, May 2, 2011: Except for the feeling of leaving Mom and Naomi, this day is a complete blur!
Date: 2010-05-06
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Bailey Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Whew! I won't go into great detail, but today was a pretty tough emotional day for me. Braids and I planned to hike 21 miles today, but spent several hours on the side of the trail with me sort of losing it. Of course, this emotional energy expended made hiking pretty tough, too. I left at 8:00 this morning, and by 4:00, had only done 12.5.miles. After the early afternoon, though, Braids had helped me cheer up, and the day took a definite upswing.Just before hitting Pine Swamp Branch shelter, we started hearing tales of "The Captain's." I hardly believed the stories, but we soon saw for ourselves! About a mile and a half past the shelter, we came to a card on a tree that simply said "Captain's." We took a short path down the hill to a seat on a pulley over the river. We sat on the seat one by one while others pulled us across over the water. Captain's is a house across the river with a big yard. A sign greeted us on the other side of the river saying, "Hikers, sodas are in the fridge on the porch. Grab you one." We sat in the yard and enjoyed our delightful sodas and chatted. We all left a little money for the Captain's soda fund and wished we could have met our mysterious trail angel. What awesome trail magic! We decided to stop our day at the shelter at 16 miles rather than night hike. Tomorrow will have to be our 21 instead.I've written so much lately about events on the trail, but I've yet to write about changes in the trail environment itself. Virginia has been beautiful! We've been treated to vistas of rolling farmland daily. Instead of constant ups and downs, the trail consists of relatively flat valley or ridge walks with big 1-2000 foot downhills and climbs every once in a while. The biggest change has been in flora. The trail is more and more green every day, and the flowers have been incredible! The azaleas are starting to bloom, and walking through them is an amazing olfactory experience. Today we even saw numerous Pink Lady Slippers along the trail. This particular flower has intrigued me greatly since childhood. It is, indeed, amazing to watch the world change around you every single day!
Date: 2010-05-07
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was a looong day, but a great one! I felt a million times better than yesterday. Braids and I hiked together almost all day, and we told stories, sang, played games, and generally had a blast together. Although having 12 hours and 10 minutes between shelters and rolling into the ending shelter after dark is definitely not my style, I really enjoyed today's hike. It was also beautiful! In the afternoon, I got to talk to Storm on the phone - so exciting! She's the one who has sent me amazing packages and writes me words of incredible encouragement constantly. Can't wait to meet her at Trail Days!I'll end today's entry by sharing with you one of our games from today. We realized that uphill climbs pass much more quickly if we play alphabet games. We pick a category, and it goes like this (for the category cities):Braids: "Atlanta"Me: "Atlanta, Boston"Braids: "Atlanta, Boston, Chicago"so on and so forth....Well, one of these games got really funny! We were on a particularly tough and long hill. We were playing a game on fruits and vegetables (or anything close, really) and still weren't at the top of the hill when we got to z. We decided to keep going (adding on starting again with A) until the top of the hill. Here is the full list of what we came up with. I hope you enjoy it!ApricotBananaCauliflowerDateEggplantFigGrapeHops (not actually a vegetable but who's counting?)Iceberg lattuceJicamaKiwiLemonMangoNectarineOrangePeachQuince (is this a real thing??)RubarbStrawberryTangerineUgli Fruit (yes, this is a real thing!)Vanilla beanWatermelonX-treme Juicy Fruit (this is where we started reaching)Yellow SquashZucchiniApple BlueberryCornDoughnut, Strawberry FilledEntertainingly large pumpkinFanta, grape flavoredGinormous TomatoHappy Hiker Hollow Banana and Two-Kinds-Of-Chocolate PancakesThis last gem of Braids' had me dying laughing right as we finally conquered the hill!Oh, also - today we saw the Keffer Oak, the largest oak tree on the Southern AT (one in New York is just slightly bigger). Its circumference was last measured at 18 feet, 3 inches, and it's estimated to be about 300 years old. It was awesome! Definitely a tree-hugging sort of day! Postscript, May 7, 2011: Wow! I had completely forgotten that was the first time that I had ever talked to Storm. I had no idea what a great friendship we would form! I love the picture on this entry. That really was a great day, although I remember being in a really foul mood by the time we got to the shelter. I'm really not a fan of coming in after dark... I'm so glad that Braids puts up with me. And yes, a quince is definitely a real thing. I googled it!
Date: 2010-05-08
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: few clouds

Good day today! I woke up grouchy after not sleeping well. I was also in some fairly serious pain. Braids and I went to get water (which we skipped last night since it was so late) and then we both took a long time getting ready. We purposefully hiked separately in the morning, and this was a great time for me to listen to my iPod and get rid of my grumpiness. By the time Braids caught up as I was having lunch at Niday Shelter, I was in a fantastic mood! The rest of the day went great.My feet are still pretty rough with heel blisters making a comeback, a blister on the bottom of my left pinky toe, and the recovering badly stubbed toe on my right foot. Even so, I hiked fine. I was pretty tired by the time we got to the shelter, but I was delighted to be in before 6:00! We're here with Riverdog and four section hikers, and it has been a fun evening.I absolutely can't wait for the Homeplace tomorrow! Yum!LATE ADDITION:I just saw a bear!!! I went to the privy as part of my bedtime ritual. While in the enclosed privy, I heard something moving around in the woods. When I stepped outside, I turned to look uphill (opposite from the directon of the shelter), expecting to maybe see a deer or something. Instead, I see a huge black bear staring at me from about 30-40 yards away. We stared at each other for a moment, and then it ran away. SO COOL!!! Needless to say, I came back and woke up the whole shelter, and one guy is out re-hanging his "mediocre" food bag as I write this. This was my first bear-sighting of the hike, and I'm so excited. Now I'm too jacked up to sleep!I also forgot to mention - I saw five snakes today. They were all nonvenemous, and all very pretty. They ranged from a tiny ringneck to a 4-5 foot long blacksnake to a medium-sized one that was bright green. All in all a fantastic wildlife day!
Date: 2010-05-11
From: Lamberts Meadow Shelter

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: light rain

I'm not quite sure what to think right now, because I am not hiking with a pack again until next Tuesday. That's SIX zero days!We had a nice, quick hike (though cold and rainy) into Daleville and now we're settled inside! We have a ride down from Daleville to Damascus tomorrow evening from The Tank, who we met via whiteblaze.net. We'll enjoy Trail Days Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then (HOPEFULLY!) do intense trail maintenance Sunday and Monday with Hardcore. We'll be back on trail on Tuesday.We got a room around noon at the Howard Johnson. The shower I took was divine, as it was my first in a full week. After a great soup and salad (AYCE) lunch at Pizza Hut, I headed off to get my packages. I had the one from home, plus one from my friend Ashia. She had tried to send it to Bland, but since mom brought up my package there with her, I never stopped by the Bland post office. It occurred to me a couple of days later that I should probably call there just to check. Sure enough, they were holding a package for me. I had them forward it to Daleville and finally got it today. Ashia, thank you for such a cool package! I absolutely loved everything in it!!!The rest of the evening was spent chatting with parents and just lazing around our hotel room. We watched three hours of The Office tonight! It was nice to just sort of zone out for a bit. One big development of the evening - thanks to Braids' caring father, she now plans to hike through to the half-way point! This is a huge improvement over the previous plan to head home after Trail Days, and I'm thrilled! We won't be able to hike the entire way together, as I have a train out of Harper's Ferry June 9 to meet my family, but I am so happy for her! Here's to awesome, loving, supportive parents!
Date: 2010-05-12
From: Daleville, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

1:00 pm:What a lovely, relaxing morning! We both slept in and had the great luxury of turning on the news while still in bed. We eventually went down for breakfast and slowly went about packing our packs. I went ahead and sorted out my resupply and made a rough plan for the first week north of here. It was fairly strange doing this knowing that I'm not actually dipping into all that food until next week. We checked out at noon and have several hours to kill until Tank arrives this evening. We're basically migrating around. We hit the outfitter Outdoor Trails, where, to my great relief, Braids finally broke down and bought some new socks. Now we're sitting at the coffee shop drinking sweet iced apricot tea. We plan to sit here until we're hungry, then move over to Bojangles for lunch. We'll sit there for a while until we've worn out our welcome, and then eventually head back to the hotel where our packs are stashed. It's a pretty entertaining afternoon, and absolutely lovely not to have anywhere to hike!The Following Morning:The rest of the day passed nicely. We enjoyed Bojangles for quite a while and eventually made a frightening trip under the interstate to get to CVS to burn photos onto a CD. I'm so very glad (and a little surprised) that we didn't get smooshed by a semi!Around 8, Tank rolled up in his '78 VW bug convertible to give us a ride to Damascus. We got dinner and had a fun ride down. Tank, thank you so much for getting us to Trail Days!!! We rolled in to the Hiker's Inn, which is an absolutely amazing place, and conked out quickly. We both feel so insanely lucky to have such a beautiful place for our TD home base. Thanks again, Longhaul! You are beyond amazing!Ahh!!! I just realized that I apparently failed to write about an absolutely HUGE occurrence from the 11th. What a goober!So, Braids and I had just been in Daleville for an hour or two when I got a long text message from Longhaul. As it turns out, Longhaul booked a room at the Hiker's Inn for Thurs-Sun of Trail Days far in advance. He had already paid for it, but would not be using it since he is off the trail with his injury and not coming to Trail Days. Intead of getting a refund, he decided to "bequeath it" to a friend. Others have agreed that this is "classic Longhaul." He is simply that kind of a guy. I somehow became the recipient of this incredible act of kindness (and, of course, Braids did, as well). I told Longhaul when we spoke that I would love the room but had trouble with the "already paid for" part of this arrangement. He told me that it is his Trail Magic. At these words, I could not argue and am simply accepting his unbelievable generousity with a very heartfelt "THANKS." Longhaul, as I said, you are beyond amazing, and I am thrilled that you will soon be back on the trail!!!On the Loose feels very full of love today....Postscript, May 18, 2011: I miss Longhaul.
Date: 2010-05-13
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Happy Trail Days! There's so much going on that my Trail Days entries will have to be short, but here goes:Today was great! We had a lazy morning, including having our grits for breakfast on the porch of the Inn with Red Hat, Nature Boy, and Suzanne. Grits may not sound very exciting, but they're delicious when made (in a kitchen!) with real butter, real cheese, and fresh cracked pepper! Thanks, Suzanne!After a fascinating film called "In the Company of Moose," we went out to watch the hot dog and cake eating contests. Notice how I say "watch" the contests. Well, once we got out there, I decided it would be a good idea to actually sign up! Half an hour later, I spent three minutes shoving my face into and consuming most of the half sheet cake in front of me. The resulting video is hilarious, but I felt awful for a few hours afterward.We went to an amazing homecooked dinner at the Baptist Church, followed by a staged reading of North to Maine, the first ever full-length play about the AT, written by Filadelphia, who hiked the entire trail in three large sections. It was so good! I was very impressed with his writing, and both Braids and I enjoyed it immensely.Throughout the day, we enjoyed just sitting around chatting with other hikers, seeing old friends we haven't come across in a while and meeting new ones. At one point, I saw two of my trail heroes walk by - Tagless and Tag Along, who wrote one of my all-time favorite journals. I ran up and introduced myself, thrilled to be in the presence of "celebrity." So far, Trail Days is an awesome experience!
Date: 2010-05-14
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

So far, Trail Days isn't quite as crazy as I expected, though I imagine I'd feel differently about this if I were camped in tent city. As it is, I'm having a blast!We got all signed up for Hard Core this morning. I was told I'd be fine if I was there by 8 (for sign-ups that start at 9), so naturally, we were there by 7:30, just to be sure. This turned out to be a lot of fun, as we met new friends, but also completely unnecessary. We found out this evening that a friend showed up at noon and still got a spot. Haha!Afterwards, we headed back for our first taste of Suzanne's incredible breakfast at the Hiker's Inn. It was amazing! We are so thrilled to be staying here!The day consisted of lots of chatting with friends, thrift store shopping for the parade, gear repair, and medical screenings. Braids and I each took a few pieces of gear to the renowned gear repair booths at the campground. These folks were amazing! HUGE thanks for getting us all squared away! I also took advantage of the free medical screenings by the Baptist Church, which also included a foot massage. Amazing! Thanks for all you do, guys!Braids' mom arrived this evening, and we had a nice evening of dinner at Quincey's with Red Hat and simply sitting around telling stories.I also finally got to meet Storm, Rocket, and Grommet, as well as see Persistent again. This was all beyond awesome, and I hope to hang out with them more tomorrow.Loving Trail Days! Postscript, May 18, 2011: This year's Trail Days was far crazier than last year's, as we were trying to cram in visiting with 6 and a half month's worth of friends into 1 day on Saturday. It was exhausting and a little overwhelming. With the exception of the five people with whom we shared a cabin, I basically just got to hug each of my friends and maybe talk for about 2 minutes. That wasn't quite the catching up I was hoping for, but it was still wonderful to see them, in the flesh, and get warming hugs. I think that now I just know that if I can go to TD next year, I should try to stay closer to town and stay longer, so that I can have plenty of time to just sit around and hang out.
Date: 2010-05-15
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Yawn! It's been a fabulous, exhausting day, and I am SO tired! Breakfast was, once again, absolutely amazing. Afterwards, I set to a long process of organizing and mailing four different packages from the post office. I also enjoyed strolling around all of the booths at town park.The afternoon brought the famous Trail Days hiker parade and the hiker talent show. Both were a blast! Braids and I dressed in the matching hippie costumes we found at the thrift store and even walked the whole thing barefoot. The were quite the hit! Usually, all of the hikers are separated by class, but this year, no one organized it , so we were just one jumbled mass of hikers. I didn't get as soaked as I expected from the water balloons, guns, hoses, and buckets but it was still definitely a great time! I've aslo learned to watch out for water balloons that don't burst. I got nailed pretty good in the face by one! After the parade, we were still so hot (and dry) that we joined several others in swimming in the river by the park. Fun, Fun!The hiker talent show was great! Some were incredibly talented (Braid, GAME 2009, and two others performed an amazing song that he wrote on his hike, winning first place), some uniquely talented and entertaining (The Crusher played "O Canada" on his nose flute), and some were just downright bad (comedy, anyone?). Regardless, props to everyone who put him or herself out there!After picking up the last bit of repaired gear, we returned for Suzanne's delicious barbeque at the Hiker's Inn. She cooked burgers and dogs with fantastic potato salad and other go-withs. Thank You Suzanne!Contra dancing the night away was absolutely amazing, and I'm grateful to Braids and "Mama Braids" for letting me introduce them to this great pasttime!Now to Sleep!
Date: 2010-05-16
From: Damascus, VA

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

Oh my goodness! Today both kicked my butt and kicked butt! This was day #1 of Hard Core. It was extremely hard work, but incredibly satisfying. We made 1900 feet of brand new trail in mere hours! It was astounding to hike down all this new trail at the end of the day and marvel at what we had done. All of this began as plain ol' woods, and when I hiked down, it seemed like the trail had been there for months. The highlight of the day- I got to pain a white blaze!!! It was so cool!We had a great dinner and received our coveted Hard Core patches, shirts, hats, and Nalgene bottles. I will treasure them all! It was amazing to work today alongside people doing their 10th year of Hard Core (meaning they've done every single year?)I'm exhausted and need some sleep before tomorrow!G'nite!Postscript, May 18, 2011: Braids and I were both sad that we couldn't do Hardcore this year, but are hoping to make it work next year.