morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-09-16
From: blackburn AT center

To: rod hollow shelter
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 85Roller coasted: so I did the roller coaster today, as all things on this trail it ended. And this one because it was only 13.5 miles it ended quickly relatively. I heard about this back in Vermont from those two questionable sobos I met way back when and I have been slightly worried about it since then but after doing the roller coaster today I can say its nothing to worry about. Someone suggested the only reason nobos don't like it is because va made them soft, but truth is we have just had like 3 weeks of extremely flat walking ( which I shall miss immensely) so we should be just as soft.I now know officially that there is a group of 4 people 9 miles infront of me, I expect to catch the. By Saturday or Sunday. So far I have been good with my guesses, with my guess about when I would catch jere or about where I would when someone visits me.Lastly I have a new goal.Mount Rodgers by October 10, this means I must average 20.5 over the next 3 and a half weeks with no zeros, I can do this I just need to be careful about my speed. The not taking zeros thing will be annoying but the good thing is that if I make it there I can have like 2 zeros to make up for this rushed time. Goals on the trail are good and they give you something to work for that isn't the insurmountable 2168 mile distance we start with. Being. That I am under 1000 miles left officially here's a list of goals I have had as I've progressed through the atMonson Starting southern MaineFinishing southern MaineFinishing the whitesFinishing New HampshireGetting to the end of the long trail (so I don't have to deal with those "thru-hikers")Getting to the town after dalton MA to meet my parentsRPH shelter to see the New YorkersCatching JeremyGetting. To the WV VA border by Edwards birthday weekend.Now clearly my next goal is over 500 miles away and I think it's possible that this catching up to the group of four directly in front would be a better goal but I'm a planner and I just like to know the next step and Grayson highlands by October 10 seems like a good place to start
Date: 2014-09-17
From: rod hollow shelter

To: jim and molly denton shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 86Back in the groove, for the most part. That quit crisis I had 3 days ago is gone, I'm back to appreciating being out here, took an audiobook and a few albums but today was a nice enjoyable walk. There were points when I wAs atop a mountaintop meadow and I was enjoying every minute of it. I know tomorrow I will enter the shannandoah national park and I hear that's one of the most gorgeous places on the trail so color me excited. I know some might think cus I'm pushin 20 through va I'm gonna miss out on its beauty, but beauty is fleeting and so am I when I get to a mountain top.Switchbacks vs horizontal climbing: people have their disputes over what is better on the trail with most of the conditioned thru hikers siding with the old straight path being preferable to switchbacks. I on the other hand prefer switchbacks, but not for the normal reason. I prefer switchbacks despite the fact I would rather go straight up And be done with a mountain and it's torture for me to see the top but know I must keep going left and right. I prefer switchbacks because I believe if all hills on the AT we're straight up and down like they are in Maine, the ATC would just find somewhere new to add miles to keep the AT the same length. therefore every second your going up a switchback, just means it's another mountain they can't reroute you over to add more miles. That's just my two cents. Lastly hunters are a menace. Hunting and hiking are strange bedfellows. They both require primarily the same ingredients and for that reason they tend to overlap. Now this did not affect me until PA but when it did, it immediately annoyed me. Since PA walking and hearing gunshots have been hand and hand. Every time I hear a gun I just hope the trail moves me away from the sound and secondly the guy has good aim so a bullet isn't flying through the woods. the fat is not amused.
Date: 2014-09-18
From: jim and molly denton shelter

To: stealth camp after jeremys run stream
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: light rain

Day 87Push until it breaks, pushed 26 today and I felt it. The 12 hours of straight walking always sucks. Least I got a plus 4 for passing took, knee deep, human torch and another girl. I just need to make it a point to not fall behind the 20 mile per day speed so I don't need to push like this again. Today was the first triple dinner of the trip. It was a lot of food and I did not completely finish it all the way.Lastly the squirrel in the tree next to me needs to stop making nuts fall, it's creeping me out
Date: 2014-09-19
From: stealth camp after jeremys run stream

To: hawksbill gap parking/ winchester va
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: light rain

Day 88 Helloooo hellloooo hellllooo from ios 8 land. A magical place where I had to sacrifice a hour of good web surfing in order to make my phone more like that previous piece of crap that I was using. Irony. Anyways I like to stay up to date in technology and so being able to take part in iOS 8 without waiting is one thing I am terribly happy with. It's like I said, one of the things I like most about the trail are the distinctly non trail things like being up to date with technology. Sure woods purists vomit every time they see a hiker update his Instagram, to that I say, I'll take a picture of that and #appalachiantrail to get the word out.My thoughts today1. The flatness is gone, ever since southern New York it's been flat and now we are back to hills. The hills here however are much less steep. I walked up, for two miles straight today and my legs did not burn once. Yea I'm kinda in amazing shape, some people even said I look like a younger, cooler, funnier, whiter, tastier, random adjective, annoying adjective, rediculous adjective, Sean Connery. But still 2 miles and no burn the hills are graded for a smooth ride2. Walking up a hill, is like catching a fish. I'm at the bottom, and like a good fisherman I already know by the time it's on my line, the fish has already lost. So the battle begins to tell convince the fish that you are going to win. I walk for a mile maybe more, I take a pee break, maybe even snack break, give some line, let the mountain think it will beat me down. But this only doubles my effort, I keep going, reeling until I can see it finally break above water and I reach that tree line. Then it's just causal business as I finish it off and chill with my new bass.SO ITS A BAD METAPHOR, if you wanted good metaphors you woulda realized long ago that this is a deep pit of rediculous claims, bad grammar, and terrible spelling.Tomorrow, I'm gonna write an ode to my flash 62 and my Nike avlord 10s which are kicking the bucket after some good milage.
Date: 2014-09-20
From: hawksbill gap parking/ winchester va

To: hightop hut
Miles today: 25.2
Weather: few clouds

Day 89When I was student teaching, I wasn't the best, nor second best, nor the upper tier of my classmates. I rarely exceed as the best in any given task, seeing how the observable traits I'm best at are eating and dumb comments. What I was however, the characteristic that I possessed better than my classmates was an ability to remain in control. I'm pretty unflappable, I'll say that outright. Crap happens, I keep my cool and internalize whatever feeling I get. Example: the mountain with the kid on the slack pack of the Wildcats when it was thundering. He lost his shit, freaked out and was running all over. I wasn't pleased either, but clearly there was nothing we could do about it so why not remain in control? Same thing with walking a week with a broken pack, the same week I am putting up my biggest miles thus far. Just deal with it until it ends, and it did and now I got a pack that feels like unicorns.The point of all this is today I got tested again. I forgot my guidebook either at my brothers house or in the car with my parents. The point is, it's gone and I officially have 7 days of walking till I for sure can get the book back. For those of you who don't understand the importance of the guidebook k2 likened it to the thru hikers cellphone. Now imagine it, no "cell phone" for a week. And you get it. Anyways I realized I didn't have it 2 mins after they left, they were already running late on their way to nyc(more on that later) and this would only push em at most 15 mins slower. I realized I didn't need it, first there are lots of markings in this park to tell distance, second I will probably meet a new hiker in a few days with the book, third I have a damn cell phone and numbers of people with the book they can send pics, and fourth "there's an app for that". I pursued option 3 and 4 and I can report tomorrow j will probably be almost as good as if I had the book. Now your saying winchester va again? Wasn't he just there? Yes. But I have amazing parents who drove 3 hours round trip out of the way so they could feed me, shower me(not so important) and hang with me. THREE HOURS, that's redic. In that time frame they could have watched Kate winslet, kill Leo by hogging the one floating piece of wood from an entire ship. But instead they came and got me and for that I am grateful.I'll do the ode too the flash and shoes and the bleu guard shorts tomorrow it's late and I walked big miles
Date: 2014-09-21
From: hightop hut

To: blackrock hut
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: clear sky

Day 90Tired, and reeling I'm laying in the shelter writing today's note.I don't know if there is any one reason I'm tired, but I think it's just the wearing down of my body. Hopefully tomorrow the 20 gets knocked out quickly and i have a semi rest day.One thought I had is how everyone has a different thru hike. For example in just the week I walked with Jeremy I couldn't imagine how many more overlooks he has just sat at having a nice lunch at. Then again there is no problem with the way I'm walking and saying i did twenty miles at the end of the day is more satisfying to me then saying I chilled at 4 viewpoints. It's just I feel more mile driven and oriented than most other hikers, for better or worse.I'll do the ode tomorrow, cus I suck, I admit it
Date: 2014-09-22
From: blackrock hut

To: camper campsite in waynesboro va
Miles today: 19.7

Day 91The last day of summer has passed and not without any fanfare.I hath made it to Waynesboro va aka THE END OF THE SHANNANDOAH NATIONAL PARK WHUT WHUT. I'm glad to be done with it, it was beautiful, but what was equally as beautiful was when I walked into the visitors center and they had a topographical map layed out in the middle of the room. I looked at it and seeing the distance I had covered in the distance from rockfish gap to the va/wv border was amazing. It was as good as seeing any of those cliffs and equally as comforting is the fact I know I am 60 percent done and 30 percent done with vaAlso lets just rattle off the physical ailments that I have had trouble me this far, because why not?Tendinitis: the whites to Vermont, went away when I changed shoesLower back pain: on and off since monson Maine when I threw out my back trying to skip rocks into a rock quarryBackpack rash: hundred miles to levardis house when I realized what it was and wore a tAnk top to air out my back and took better care of itTongue bumps?: one week in pa I had bumps on my tongue and it hurt to eat anything and nothing was enjoyableSwollen feet: the whites to now. It's a thing I've accepted, I don't walk without my tevas in the morning because of itAnus itched: all of MA idk it did, like annoyingly, like walk itch walk itch. Not the best, it went away, I think I wiped with bad leavesMonkey butt: any day I do big miles, keep that butt dry or sufferThat's all I can think of, the key is for everyone of these problems I've adjusted my routine to get better so that hiking isn't miserable. Because hiking is already miserable enough, who needs to itch their ass every second to remind them that
Date: 2014-09-23
From: camper campsite in waynesboro va

To: paul wolfe shelter
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 92Currently writing my first mid day note of the trail. It is 345 and I have Been done for about 2 hours. And now your saying damn you finished your big miles fast. No.....I walked a measly 5 from Waynesboro to here. I know to keep goals out of town small and I planned on 20 but I forgot both of my iPod cords in town and there's no way I could go on another five days. Currently hard to kill is walking to the shelter with either my cords or replacement ones she bought for me. I decided to stay put because it's my last option. If I chose to walk I may have power for the next 2 days however once it would be gone I would be reliant upon hopefully catching someone, and while it would probably happen i find its best to not hope for the best case scenario. This I am here writing at 348 because I don't see anything happening which would change my mindset and make any more interesting post before I fall asleep. Long story short, I decided it was best to play it safe this time and wait for a plug.Tomorrow however I plan on going 29.6 from here to the preist shelter. Which is gonna be crazy because that means my last 10 miles of the day will be 5 down , followed directly by 5 up. I'm gonna try to start early but I can't see a Situation where I finish much earlier than like 630. We shall see.....we shall see. Also prolly shoulda bought fuel in town, that might suck
Date: 2014-09-27
From: matts creek shelter

To: bryant ridge shlter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 94So that was that. Phone is not being dumb but prolly deleted my last 5 days of notes so blah. Anyways here's todayGot to the biggest shelter I have been to all trail. Showed up at 6 expecting a crowd, on a Saturday night, nope Chrissy alone in the woods again. It was good however, cooked my dinner on the open fire like the boy scouts of yesteryear and just enjoyed a fire all to myself. I'm just glad someone brought over the bigger logs, making fires out here isn't too difficult, what sucks is keeping them because all the bigger logs have been burnt, today there were 4 large sticks which supplied the fire that were already here, all I had to do was find the kindling. This last week I have literally not had cell coverage at night any day. It's annoying because I have gotten spoiled with signal since mass so the fact that I might be going back to scarce signal bothers me.Also one last thing I want to touch on is people who quit the trail. Ok plenty of people quit the trail, that's to be expected. They say only like 5 percent of Boy Scouts make eagle, same idea, it's difficult. And if it wasn't everyone would be doing it. Here's what I have a problem with, how do so many people drop out so fast. I've heard stories of people dropping out on the approach trail to springer mountain or those who dropped out after the hundred miles (granted, least those people actually hiked). The reason I bring this up is for me, I made a verbal commitment to hiking this trail. I told everyone I know I'm hiking this trail I imagine everyone else who hikes does the same thing. Therefore how can one turn back so quickly, clearly everyone is going to be talking about how you quit so fast. The New Yorkers told me when they got back they just hung their heads low for awhile because of that same idea. It all boils down to how I treat people. If I ha a friend who told me for years that they were gonna hike the trail then dropped off, I would give them mountains of shit. Therefore, if I drop I expect mountains of shit from them if I drop. Because good friends are real with one another. Anyways there's one of my motivations "to not get shit on by my friends"
Date: 2014-09-28
From: bryant ridge shlter

To: super 8 dalesvile va/ taylors mountian overlook
Miles today: 17.4

Day somethingAnd he's back and hopefully without iphone problems. First and foremost, whoever wrote the guestbook comment about licking things, yes I am an idiot. Secondly, everyone smiles and poses, who licks signs......exactly.Anyways in a hotel, loving wifi as always. Someone wrote in the book about how I am always complains, do I do that? Well I think it boils down to something a old section hiker asked me. He looked at me and said "is hiking fun?" And I said "well.......it's enjoyable". That's the point, I think the Appalachian trail book "Appalachian trials" said there are two kinds of fun. Fun 1 chris is playing frisbee, he drops the disc, and gets Skyed often but he finds it enjoyable in the moment. Fun 2 chickenfat is walking the trail. Everyday he walks and only sits down for an hour at most over the course of nine hours. When he sleeps he is often a little cold and wakes up about 4 or five times during the night. Then he wakes up and repeated the same activity the next day. Also sometimes his underwear is dirty. Now I'll let you guess what type of fun the Appalachian trail is. Fun 2 relates to the fact that it is fun afterward. I can revel in the good ol Maine days or New England days however when they were happening it was like a Britney with a shaved head, just terrible. Terrible beyond belief. Secondly regardless of the fact that it's fun 2 I do have what I believe is a overly negative tone in my writing, but this in no way means I'm a overly negative person. It's just how I talk, and it's often more fun for me to complain then for me to talk about how good everything is. When I played frisbee, I can promise you I said more good things about how much more fun water polo than about frisbee. I'm a sarcastic fellah and the only time that one should really worry is when I speak straights.So what I'm saying is until I start cursing out stuff endlessly you know like I have a few times ( the poison ivy post in the hundred miles, the hell week during Pennsylvania , or my favorite that 500 post in the 4 state challenge day) that's when I'm actually in trouble. Until the. That's just me ranting because I have your attention.I know it's pretty disappointing that those 3 days of notes are gone and didn't go through the trouble of rewriting them, but it takes a lot of energy to write these and I couldn't do it three times. Just know I did 30 and that day sucked
Date: 2014-09-29
From: super 8 dalesvile va/ taylors mountian overlook

To: super 8 daleville va
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: broken clouds

*in case you were wondering Virginia tomato challenge: Step 1: 1 tomato every day you are in VirginiaStep 2: the last day in Virginia you eat asana tomatoes as days you were in Virginia I had a lot of calories today I large pizza hut pizza I a a three Klondike bars a leftover Thai food I ate barbecueand had about 70 ounces of beer and a liter of coke. Long story short, the fat, was fat today. It's prolly for the best, I've lost over 26 pounds nowI trail ran today as I did yesterday. As I was trail running the thought came over me that I can officially not say I hiked the Appalachian trail. Hiking has a certain connotation involved with it, hiking like the word sport implies something. Sure you can be a rhythmic gymnast but that does not mean you do a sport to 90 percent of the population. I trail ran, I didn't have poles, a pack or any essentials that did not rhyme with daughter. Trail running and hiking are completely different, one the objective is to just move, the other is to move for multiple days. Trail running is the ill prepared, afterthought of hiking. It's impossible to trail run for multiple days, that's why no one says they are "trail running" the Appalachian trail. Everyone, even the speed people say they are hiking it. Anyway my 99 percent hiking 1 percent trail run attempt of the trail doesn't grind my gears at all, I'm no purist, just a thought.Also foosball, Tom Brady's getting whooped. Thanks a lot thanks a whole lotI'll repeat one of the things I wrote in one of the entries that got deleted, cus all I did was sit on my ass all day and I have a bit of energy to think backGut check: that's a seamen ultimate term. It was something to "check" you still had the guts, fight, inner push that's oh so important in sports. Well those two days I did 30 ( the one I failed, and the one I actually did 30) served as gut checks for me. They were not even completely necessary, gaining little miles every day is the same as big miles once. But it boils down to that same bravado I showed on the conneticut challenge and 4 state challenge days, the answer to the question "why not". If I can do the big miles, why chip away at it like some sort of cole miner Hoping the cave won't collapse and instead just push he lever down and see what we have at the end of the day. I walked 30 the second day, took 13 hours straight and sucked but I did it and now, in true "fun 2" status I can look back on that day and just smile. My point is, it's worth it to gut check occasionally, exceed your expectations of yourself, or at least meet them, so you can be realistic about yourself in whatever that goal is.
Date: 2014-09-30
From: super 8 daleville va

To: stream after cataba mount
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: few clouds

Day 98The latest I slept last week was 10 as I write now it is 950 and yesterday was 12 sleep time, so what I'm saying is town will mess me up.Town was awesome, but as always I had the old remorse of losing family like a college kid dropped off the first day. It was that, and the remorse of not drinking the whole 2 liter of soda before I started hiking.The plan was 25.7 to a hostel, I went 23.8 to a stream. It was because of a lot of things.1 before this stream, my last chance to refill on water was at 1230, and I got here at 8002. I woulda payed the hostel guy3. I would have showed up late to the hostel4. It's only 1.9 away, getting the extra rest today was the thing I wanted to do.What we learned once again, gonna do big miles, plan it out and give yourself time. I was in the hotel this morning lolly gagging around and left at 9. If I had moved with any urgency I could have made it here in daylicht.Alright a joke then I'm gonna read the maze runnerWhy did the aquatic mammal drop out of school?Because he was tired of getting manateased
Date: 2014-10-01
From: stream after cataba mount

To: sarver hollow shelter
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: clear sky

Lastly ranger stack and Thor are infront of me by a day now. They are a 55 year old ex military guy and his 28 year old son hiking the trail. Now I've passed many people (if I cared to figure out my plus minus I could tell you) but so far after passing people, only 1 had passed me back so far (forager). If I pass someone that means my speed exceeded theirs and the only way for them to catch up would be for them to change the speed which they were going and go to mine, obviously. Now the thing is I'm 100 percent sure ranger stack and Thor did not speed up. I last saw them at the 501 shelter in Pennsylvania the day I started the hell week to get to va. I have averaged roughly 21 miles a day since then, which sounds easy, for thru hikers, but that is a quick ass pace. There is no way they could hike that speed, and I would bet they have trouble averaging 15. Now I like them as people but as hikers, kinda scum. If in the end they want to consider their hike a ¢thru hike¢ then they need to go back. I have issues with that, my swelling feet and my 21 average over the last month have issues with that. The trail is about commitment, like I said in the last blip, and if you are taking shortcuts and skipping around, what trail are you hiking? Cus their is only one Appalachian trail