morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-05-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

The tenting experience was not as bad as I thought it would be. Whether because I was just tired, the sound of the nearby creek, or just the time of night, I was not woken up by any passing traffic from the nearby road.Breakfast was served at 8:00am and it was every bit as good as all my expectations hoped it would be. They have definitely earned their reputation as having the best breakfast on the AT.I took a picture of the counter that was full of food. They had muffins, pastries, quiches, French toast, fruit, sausage, and a bunch of other things as well. If I had to guess, there were probably 25-30 people at breakfast this morning and there was so much food that there was still some left over when everyone was finished. If you leave hungry, it's your own fault.I had to wait until about 1:00pm before I could check into my room. I didn't really do much. Just kind of hung out. The room I'm staying in is really nice though. I have a few pictures, but it has a large king size bed in the middle of a very specious room. The bathroom has a jacuzzi tub which I took advantage of. I did like the jacuzzi tub at Iron Station better though. This room is inside a house that is the location of the breakfast, as well as two other rooms. I don't know of it's because they all share the same water tank, but I ran out of hot water before I was able to completely fill the jacuzzi so it ended up being more like a warm tub instead of a hot tub.I didn't do much of anything else for the rest of the day. Dinner ended up being a surprise treat. I had planned to just get something at the food truck/bar that was on property. But, at about 4pm, Steve, a guy I've been hiking with the last few days came up to me and asked if I wanted to go into town. He had been talking with a woman named Venezza who has been section hiking with her car and she had offered to take him into town.Venezza lives somewhere in Alabama and her and her husband operate a deer processing business. She said that she has to work really hard and put in long hours for about 4 or 5 months a year, but it does well enough that she is basically able to do whatever she wants for the other 7 or 8 months. So, she does a lot of section hiking with her car. She parks her car somewhere along the trail, shuttles either north or south so many miles, hikes to her car, and repeats the process until she finishes her section. I think she said this year she is going from Davenport Gap to Damascus. The trip was originally just going to be going to a grocery store because Steve just wanted a salad or something like that. Instead, we ended up going to an Italian restaurant called Bella's. I got spaghetti with meatballs with a bowl of white bean and ham soup. To top it all off, Venezza paid for the entire dinner.
Date: 2023-05-08
From: US-19

To: Upper Laurel Fork
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: scattered clouds

It's going to be difficult going back to eating fruit bars after eating the amazing hostel breakfast twice in a row. But I guess all things must come to an end and it was time to get back on the trail.It looks like I'm going to be hiking with Steve for the foreseeable future. When I make my plans for the next week or so, he seems fine with whatever I decide. It's been nice having someone to hike with and Steve is a good guy, so it's worked out so far.I haven't gotten to say it often, but the hike today was pretty mild. I was originally going to do about 9 miles and stay at one of the shelters, but even though we didn't start until about 10am, it was only about 3:00pm when we got there. This was even after we took a small side trail to see a pretty neat water fall, then took a side trail to the side trail to go up to the top of the waterfall. The side side trail was a pretty difficult climb. It had some ropes that helped, but it took about 10-15 minutes to get to the top. We did all this without our packs on, so that certainly made it easier. Since we did get to the shelter so early, we took about 30 minutes for a break and to get something to eat then I decided I wanted to do a few more miles. I'm now setup in a tent neat Upper Laurel Fork about 4 miles further on.The one thing I am concerned about is that the last I checked, it was supposed to rain and/or thunderstorm tonight and into the morning. Being in the shelter for that would be ideal. Hopefully if it does rain, it won't be much and it'll be over by morning. Unfortunately when we got to Upper Laurel Fork, there was already another group of people here, so we didn't get the best tenting spots. I'm at a spot that my tent just barely fits at, it's a bit unlevel, there's a root underneath it, and there's a slope to the left of it so if it does rain hard, it's going to run right down into my tent area. There is also a rather loud creek to my right. It may be annoying, but perhaps it will act more like a white noise machine and help me sleep better instead.Breakfast: The hostel breakfast. I got too many things to list, but it was all very good.Snack 1: Trail MixLunch: A bagel with half with Nutella and half with peanut butter.   Recovery Drink: 8 scoops of Carnation Instant Breakfast Dinner: Four cheese instant mashed potatoes with two packets of Starkist white chicken. These aren't terrible, but I have to make them in my pot. When I'm done, so I don't discard too much waste, I have to add more water and basically drink potato water.
Date: 2023-05-10
From: Boots Off Hostel

To: Unnamed Campsite
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: clear sky

One of the deciding factors for doing 20 miles yesterday was the impression I had, based on looking at The AT Guide, that the rest ofnthe way into Damascus would be relatively easier. It was a faulty impression. If the 13 miles I did today was easier, I couldn't tell. Instead of having to go up a single several thousand foot mountain, I had to go up and over several hundreds of feet mountains. It was like being on a really slow roller coaster. I'd go up, get to the top, then come back down just to do it all over again.There were some people at the hostel who did what is known as aquablazing. Much of this section of the trail runs next to Watauga Lake. So, instead of hiking, for a price, the hostel will provide you with kayaks and you can kayak about 21 miles instead of hiking. Once you get to your destination, the hostel picks you up and brings you back to the hostel for the night. The next day, they then drop you off at the spot where you finished aquablazing.It sounds like a good time, but I admit, and I want to iterate that this is just for me and is not a judgment on anyone else's choice, it seems like cheating. I decided I was going to hike the entire thing, so that's what I'm going to do.It's a similar feeling I have towards the idea of me slackpacking. That's when a hostel will either drop you off further up the trail, then you hike back to the hostel or you hike some distance and the hostel picks you up when you're finished. The catch though is that since you'll be staying at the hostel that night again, you don't have to carry anything other than water, some food, and a few other items. Oftentimes the hostel will even provide a lighter day pack specifically for slackpacking. Again, I'm not judging anyone else's choice. We're all out here for different reasons and have different goals. For me, I'm going to try and do it with my full pack the entire way.Not much of note happened on the hike itself. Apparently I did just miss seeing a rattlesnake though. When I got to the Vandeventer shelter there was a woman already there and she said she had seen a rattlesnake just up the trail not too long ago. I think she said it was about a half hour before I got there. It would have been cool to see, but my luck I wouldn't have seen it and it would have bitten me as I went past it.Breakfast: Almost a full bag of tropical fruit trail mixSnack: A honey bun and some trail mix.Dinner: Instant mashed potatoes with two packets of Starkist white chicken
Date: 2023-05-11
From: Unnamed Campsite

To: Abingdon Gap Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was what I thought yesterday was going to be like. For the most part, it was a pretty mild hike. Not a lot of ups and downs. I was pretty beat when I got to the shelter and towards the end the terrain did start to get a little more difficult. But I think some of my issues are a combination of the miles I've done the last few days, the heat, and not getting enough calories. Once I get to Damascus, I'm going to get more food and I'm also going to dial back my mileage a bit. I'm thinking about doing a 15/4 rule. I'll either hike about 15 miles or until 4:00pm, whichever comes first. Hopefully that will give me more time to rest and relax. It should also give me time to fix two dinners instead of one so I can get more calories. The extra food will increase my pack weight, buy hopefully not a lot.I did finally cross paths with the single mother who is out here with her 15 kids. I'd heard about them almost since the beginning of the trail. I didn't say much to them except hello. Both times we crossed paths, I was either hiking past them while they were stopped or they hiked past me while I was stopped. You can Google them if you're interested in learning more about them.The shelter that I'm staying at tonight has had bear problems the last couple of nights according to the FarOut comments. One person had their food sack crushed by bear teeth overnight, another person saw a bear hanging around at about noon, and the shelter journal was all torn up and in pieces around the area.The story that I heard is that some hunters some time ago started scattering dog food around the shelter so that they could easily kill them during bear hunting season. Well, between the time they did this and when hunting season began, the mama bear taught the cubs where to find food. So now these bears associate the shelter with a place to get food. I don't know if it's true or not, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me if it was. I've got a bear canister, so I don't have to hang anything, but there are other people here who do, so hopefully they don't get there food taken. Though I guess the silver lining is that if a bear does steal some food tonight, we'll be in Damascus tomorrow so no one will have to go long without food.Breakfast: Trail MixSnack: Peanut butter crackers and dried mangoes Lunch: (I don't remember. I'm writing thus several days afterward.)Dinner: Instant cheddar mashed potatoes with two packets of BBQ chicken.
Date: 2023-05-13
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Breakfast here was really good. Di made some kind of quiche, blueberry bread, and fried potatoes. I haven't really talked to her a lot, but she completed her thru-hike in 2019. She apparently fell in love with Damascus and decided to open up a B&B here. I think 2021 was the year it opened.I got a new pair of shoes. My old ones were just too small and I was afraid that if I kept hiking in them, I would do permanent damage to my toes and feet. The shoes I got are basically the same shoes, but I went from a size 10.5 to a size 11.5. I could immediately tell the difference. When I walk, my toes no longer feel like they are jamming into the front of my shoe. I'm also hoping this relieves some of the Achilles pain that I've been having. I won't know for sure until I get back on the trail though.Dinner ended up being fantastic. The seven other people that I'd had dinner with the night before all decided that we'd have a cookout. So, when we all went to the store for our resupply, between all of us we also got pork chops, squash, asparagus, onions, pineapple, watermelon, grapes, chips, and pie. We cooked it up and it was delicious. I missed having a home cooked meal.After dinner we all sat out on the porch and had a very wide ranging discussion/ debate on all the subjects you're not supposed to talk about. It was great and I'm a little sad that they are leaving tomorrow. They are coming back for trail days, so while they are here I may end up catching up to them depending on how far they are going each day.
Date: 2023-05-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Zero day number two in Damascus. Nothing of note to really mention. I mostly stayed at the hostel and was just lazy.The only time I left was to go get lunch at the diner and a few more things I needed from the outfitter store. At the diner I got the lunch BBQ plate which was just a plate of pulled pork with hushpuppies and two sides. I got fried cabbage and green beans. Everything was good except the beans. Which baffles me because they were really good when I got them the first day I was here. Dinner tonight was a very far step down from yesterday. I didn't feel like leaving again, so I ended up just microwaving a bowl of Chef Boyardee mini beef ravioli. I had that, a piece of chocolate pie from yesterday, and a Virgil's root beer. Like a said, a very far step down (or a drop off a cliff).
Date: 2023-05-15
From: Damascus, VA

To: Saunders Shelter
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today is the closest I've come to quitting since back at the GA/NC state line. I don't know why it was so difficult to keep going, but I got to a trail junction that either continued on the AT or went to the Virginia Creeper Trail back towards Damascus and just sat down for about 20 minutes trying to decide what I wanted to do. I ultimately decided I would get to the next shelter which was about 2 miles ahead and call it a day and see how i feel tomorrow. I'm feeling better now, but I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to go home tomorrow or not. I'll wait until morning to decide for sure.I think the main issue that I'm having is that I've realized that I don't really like backpacking. At least not for multiple days at a time. I like modern conveniences like indoor plumbing, a bed, and being able to shower daily. There are things out here that I really love. Many of the views are amazing, the community aspect of the AT is fantastic, and I've met some really great people. Usually I can tolerate the hiking enough to get through it, but it does seem to be getting more difficult.Breakfast: Quiche, potatoes, and blueberry corn bread at the hostelSnack 1: Jolly rancher, trail mix, and a Little Debbie apple pieEarly dinner: Mountain House Fettuccine Alfredo with ChickenLate Dinner: Four cheese instant mashed potatoes with two packets of Starkist white chicken.
Date: 2023-05-16
From: Saunders Shelter

To: Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up this morning feeling the same, if not leaning more towards quitting, than last night. The weather was not hiker friendly. It had rained pretty hard on and off all night and didn't let up much once the sun came up. So, I decided that I would stay at the shelter for one more day since it was supposed to be nice tomorrow and then probably go home on Wednesday. I even typed up a text message to my Mom to let her know, but because of bad reception, it wouldn't send.Then at around 11:00am my mood began to change. I was all by myself at this point just laying in my quilt. I knew the next shelter was only about 7 miles away, so at about 11:30 I started packing up my things and was hiking again about noon. And all in all it was a pretty easy hike. I think it was around 3:00pm when I got to the shelter and by then, my thoughts of getting off had receded. They aren't completely gone, but it's at least manageable I have no good explanation for any of it. I think it's possible, though I've never been diagnosed, that I have a mild form of depression and sometimes it just becomes a little overwhelming. Even before I started hiking the AT, I would get into similar emotional ruts. I'd compare it to putting a filter on a camera. When I feel this way, it's like there's an emotional filter that just causes me to experience reality in a much more negative way than I normally would. Fortunately, so far I've been able to at least handle it enough that I haven't made any rash decisions. Each time I've told myself I'd get somewhere, take a few days to make sure it's what I really want, and both times I've been able to move past it.I have joined up with Steve again. He actually showed up at the Saunders Shelter yesterday and he's also staying at the Lost Mountain Shelter I'm at tonight. I'm hoping the next few shelter stops will be pretty empty because a lot of people will be in Damascus for Trail Days. It's something that I would like to go to, but I just don't want to shuttle back and waste the extra days attending. If and when I get to Katahdin, I will probably come back next year so that I can enjoy it without having to worry about lost hiking days.It didn't rain at all during my hike and for most of the afternoon and early evening it was pretty nice out. But, starting around 7:00pm it started thundering and shortly after the rain started. It is still raining as I'm typing this. Hopefully it's finished by morning.Because of the emotional roller coaster I was on today, I didn't eat breakfast until late and I only hiked for about 3 hours and it was first dinner by the time I got to the shelter. Late Breakfast: Two blueberry fig bars and an apple bar.First dinner: Peak Refuel Chicken Teriyaki RiceSecond Dinner: Knorr Creamy Chicken Rice with two packets of Starkist white chicken Dessert: A bag of peanut M&Ms
Date: 2023-05-17
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: heavy intensity rain

I'm certainly glad I was in a shelter last night. It ended up raining pretty hard on and off all night. I met a couple people while hiking today that had fairly wet nights because of the wind and rain.The hike today started out really difficult. It was a 1,500 foot climb over about 2.5 miles. It's another one of those climbs that just feels like it goes on forever. But, once I got to the top, it was fairly easy for about 5 or 6 miles. Then once I got to Elk Garden, it got moderately difficult again all the way to Thomas Knob Shelter where I'm staying. It ended up being about 1,300 feet over about 4 miles. Not terrible, but still quite a bit uphill.I did take a 0.5 mile side trail that led to the summit of Mt. Rogers. I believe it is the highest point on the AT in Virginia. The biggest reason I went up there is because there is a geological survey marker and I'm trying to get photographs of as many of them as I can. If you look in my photo gallery, you'll see the ones I've got so far.Breakfast: 2 blueberry fig bars and an apple breakfast barSnack: A jolly rancher, some Terry's trail mix, and a Little Debbie apple pieLunch: 2 Sargento cheese and nut traysFirst Dinner: Mountain House Beef Stew. I don't remember if I've had this before, but I thought it was really good. The only downside is that even at two servings, it only had I think 420 calories.Second Dinner: Smoked cheddar and bacon instant mashed potatoes with two packets of Starkist BBQ chicken.There also may have been some pony poop in my second dinner. So, for the past few days, my first dinner has always been a freeze dried meal. Then I use the bag to warm up my second dinner. Well, today the bag was sitting on the table and the wind caught it and blew it on to the ground. Well, another hiker was nearby and he used his trekking pole to pick it up not knowing I was going to reuse it. So, second dinner may have had some extra seasoning.Dessert: Jolly ranchers.
Date: 2023-05-19
From: Hurricane Mountain Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: clear sky

At least for the past two days, Virginia has started to live up to its reputation as being at least easier, though still not easy.The biggest difference between Virginia so far and the previous 500 miles is that instead of going up for 800 feet, then down 700, then back up 400, rinse and repeat for 15 miles a day, I'll go up a few hundred feet and oftentimes once I reach the top, the trail will follow a ridgeline and stay relatively flat for several miles. It's why I was able to do 19 miles today in 9 hours. The only real tough section was about 11 miles in. It wasn't too steep, but it was very rocky. And the rocks were either small or angled so that the sharp edge was sticking up. So, it was difficult to get a good pace going because I had to constantly pay attention to where I was stepping. The rocks also do quite a number on the bottoms of my feet. My original plan was to get into Marion on Saturday, so I was going to stop at a tent site about 6 miles away on Friday and have a short hike the next day. We'll, then I found out that the Partnership shelter was the shelter you could have pizza delivered to. That was something I just had to experience, so I changed plans and hiked the extra six miles. It will also get me into Marion earlier and make tomorrow basically a zero day because the hostel that I'm staying at picks up from the Partnership shelter area. It also worked out because I was starting to run low on food, since I spent that extra day earlier getting my head straight. The shelter itself is very near the Mount Roger's visitor center, which is on a main road that goes into Marion about 3 miles away, which is why you can get pizza delivered. Well, when I got there, another hiker had already ordered food. The pizza place will only deliver to the shelter area if the total is over $30, so this hiker had a bunch of extra pizza, cheesy bread, and Pepsi so I got to eat some of that as an appetizer. Later, I ordered more pizza, some chicken wings, and Mountain Dew. Total, I think I ended up eating a whole 14" pizza, a liter of Pepsi, a half a liter of Mountain Dew, and three chicken wings.Breakfast: Two blueberry fig bars and an apple breakfast bar Lunch: A packet of Starkist BBQ chicken, some Terry's trail mix, and two Little Debbie apple piesFirst Dinner: About half of a meat pizza from Pizza Perfect and half a liter of Pepsi. Second Dinner: About 3/4 of a Hawaiian pizza, three honey BBQ boneless wings, half a liter of Mountain Dew, and a large cup of Pepsi that the delivery driver had extra.The pizza was decent. Not the best I've had, but better than whatever I would have eaten otherwise. They did forget to provide cups and eating utensils though, so I had to drink the Mountain Dew from the bottle and eat the wings with my pretty dirty fingers.