morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-11-06
From: Four Pines Hostel

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: broken clouds

Today could not have been better! Perfect weather - sunny and in the 60s! - and the hike was awesome, and we were moving pretty good! Started the day off with a good climb up Dragon's Tooth which is reminiscent of Maine with a lot of rock faces where we were having to use our hands. It was so much fun! I always enjoy those kinds of climbs, I prefer climbing over rocks to walking up a million switchbacks. At the top, there's a side trail to the actual "Dragon's Tooth" which of course we went to (only 0.1 off). We climbed all over the rock formations and enjoyed some great views. But I climbed up without my camera, so no pictures of that. It was fun to climb around and sit up there for a bit - I could see back to Tinker Cliffs and McKafee Knob from yesterday! We met a mom and her young son up there. It was really cool to see a mom taking the time to hike and rock climb with her son - and he was absolutely loving it! The boy was fearless and really intelligent - very well spoken for a kid, and not shy at all. He was pretty cool and I enjoyed talking to him. We hiked on and eventually started the ascent up Brush Mountain which was pretty, but so ridiculously switchbacked out that it got frustrating. It was a long climb, but there were some beautiful views and we were hiking into the sunset which was pretty neat. Near the top is a monument to Audie Murphy, a very decorated soldier who died in a plane crash near here some time after his service. The memorial was pretty, though the U.S. and Texas flags desperately need to be replaced - they are worn and tattered. Doc and I ate dinner there and we could kind of see the rest of the sunset through the trees. We night hiked another few miles into Niday Shelter. The night hike was very pleasant and tonight seems as if it will be a pretty mild night! The descent was gentle, but after 2 big climbs and descents today and the short steep climb up to the shelter, my knee is starting to act up again. Oh well! Today was a perfect day and when I wake up, it'll be my birthday! =)
Date: 2013-11-07
From: Niday Shelter

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: light rain

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to me. We waited out some rain this morning before hiking. It wasn't really a pleasant hike today, but still a much better way to spend my birthday than anywhere else I'd be! The hiking wasn't bad itself, but it was sprinkling enough to make all the rocks slippery, and there were a lot of them! And since we were on the ridgeline, we were completely exposed to all the wind, which was pretty harsh today. Especially with the rain. It was cold with the wind blowing - so overall, not really a great hike this morning. The descent into the valley left me limping pretty good, but we hitched into Pearisburg because I decided I wanted to relax on my birthday if the weather wasn't favorable. And that's what we did! It was nice to relax the rest of the evening, and Doc bought me dinner at the Mexican restaurant. Also, out of Daleville a while back, Doc took the rubber ducky from our hotel (it's complimentary) and stuck it in my pack. Thus, the war has begun. I hid it in his pack this morning. I carried it unknowingly for 22 miles, and him for 0, hopefully he doesn't find it for a few days!
Date: 2013-11-10
From: stealth site

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Another beautiful day today! The trail was lined with Rhododendron bushes (trees? shrubs? I'm not sure...) and they're really pretty even without the flowers on them because they are about the only green out here now and they contrast the rest of the forest quite nicely! Also, they tend to curve over for some reason, so they form a cool tunnel through which the trail passes - it really is kind of neat! As far as the Ducky War goes, here's an update: my 72 hours to make my move was up this morning (once you find Ducky, you have 72 hours to place him in your opponent's pack). After the 72 hours, the opponent can accuse you of "stalling" if they haven't found it and believe you still have it. If your opponent formally accuses you of stalling, you must produce Mr. Ducky from their pack. If it is a false accusation and you have in fact made your move, then your opponent receives a penalty of 10 miles. If you have not made your move, you are stalling and the 10 mile penalty is on you, and your 72 hours resets. Anyway, Doc was talking about accusing me because I had told him that I'd forgotten about Ducky the morning of my birthday, when I had actually made my move. I guess I'm a good liar, because he believed me and hadn't checked his pack. HA! As we were talking about it, I was egging him on "yeah, you should accuse me...maybe I did forget... or maybe I put it in your pack and you were silly enough to believe me when I said I didn't..." etc. So, he dropped his pack right on trail, cursing his "trusting nature" and found Ducky. Now I'm winning, my 22 miles to his 28 miles (lowest mileage at Springer wins, like golf).I realize this game sounds a bit idiotic. It's a lot of fun though!
Date: 2013-11-11
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Fort Bastian
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: clear sky

More rhody tunnels today and a decent, short day of hiking. TruBrit picked us up and took us to Fort Bastian - one of the coolest places on the trail! He is a really cool dude and has an awesome riches to rags story. Synopsis: he was in the military back in England, moved to the U.S., made a ridiculous amount of money (his words), then decided he didn't want any of it. Gave almost all his money away and gave away all his stuff. Bought a chunk of land (by "chunk" I mean a forest and half a mountain...) with the rest of his funds, and lives in a run down RV on his land with his adorable dog Baron. He is building an entire outdoor recreation center on his own. Log cabins and whatnot for all the structures. And literally, he is building it on his own. He has a HUGE "party tent" rigged up with a ton of tarps, where there's a big fire and a TV with movies. I got to watch him work on his cabin he's building now, it was pretty cool to see him move a 2000 pound log on his own. There's a tenting/hammock area and big, warmer base camp tent with cots in it that he let Doc and I stay in for the night. He does Wilderness Survival classes there and eventually will have a paintball course, pistol range, archery, camping, education center/main building, and mountain bike trails. Anyway, really coold guy, and puts hikers up for a night/nights, cooks breakfast, and lets us hang out around the fire with him - all for free. We watched two movies with him tonight - Oblivion and Prometheus, roasted marshmallows, and just talked with him around his fire. And pet Baron a lot. He is slackpacking us tomorrow which is awesome because tomorrow is supposed to snow/rain/be a "wintery buffet" and be really cold. So, it will be nice to be able to move fast and have a nice warm fire to come back to!
Date: 2013-11-12
From: Fort Bastian

To: Fort Bastian
Miles today: 16.7

Slackpacking was AWESOME! It snowed, but really the hiking was good until the very end when the wind picked up as we popped up over a ridge. And really, it was comfortable while moving. Stopping for lunch was cold, so it was a short break, but other than that, it was a great day! We had a warm fire to go back to, and we all sat around by it and talked about stuff. Also, TruBrit gave us potatoes and we cooked them on the coals in the fire! It was super nice to be under the giant tarps, next to the warm fire while the wind howled at the tent. I asked him more about his Wilderness Survival courses, and he mentioned an internship selection course in January where for 2 weeks he teaches people skills and watches how everyone interacts. At the end of the 2 weeks, 4 will be selected to hold full time positions with him, and others will be offered seasonal positions. I'm definitely interested in going and hope to see him then!
Date: 2013-11-13
From: Fort Bastian

To: Atkins, VA - Murray's house
Miles today: 12.6

We left TruBrit's this morning sadly. Today was once again very cold, but sunny and clear. I'm pretty sure Ducky has been in my pack at least for 2 days, but it's been too cold for me to do a thorough check. So, tonight, we got to The Barn in Atkins and called a trail angel whose info we got from a register in Daleville - Murray. She met us for dinner there and is the absolute sweetest lady on Earth. Tried to pay for our dinners, but Doc successfully got to the check first and paid for hers instead since she is doing so much for us already. She took us to resupply, brought us to her home, which she shares with three dogs, and let us shower and do laundry, and then shared wine and some vegetable soup with us! She's such a great lady with a love for hikers. Her husband, George, was a thru-hiker in 1989. He died four years ago Monday, I think her hospitality to thru-hikers is a way she feels connected with him. She loves talking about the trail and hearing our stories and sharing some of her own! Both her and George were Lutheran ministers, she's retired now, but enjoys being a trail angel! Her three dogs, Gracie, Maggie, and Honey Bun, are all adorable and so sweet! And Maggie, the big puppy, is an attention hog - she can't stand anyone petting either of the other two and will come get in between you and the other dogs so that you're petting her! Murray offered to slackpack us tomorrow, which is super sweet of her, especially since she doesn't live very close to the trail! Murray and TruBrit, and the generosity and hospitality of people like them are exactly why the trail lifestyle is so wonderful! I feel like the trail really brings out the best in humanity.I found Ducky tonight. Doc has been pretty confident I'd never find him - his mistake for saying that up front because that made it easy for me to find actually. Too bad I still carried it another 39 miles so I'm at 61 to his 28. It's OK, he's gloating and so proud of his stupid little hiding spot and we're doing a 19 mile slackpack tomorrow... he thinks I'll be up to 80...so I let him keep thinking he's a genius and that I still haven't found it, when I've actually already put it in his pack. He's going to be so pissed when he finds out he fell for my poker face...again! He's still winning, but maybe I can rack up some mileage using his hubris against him. And the war continues...
Date: 2013-11-14
From: Atkins, VA - Murray's house

To: Murray's Home
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: broken clouds

Yesterday marked five months on the trail for me! I have probably a little over a month left, maybe about a month depending on mileage and weather through the Smokies. My parents are coming up for the week of Thanksgiving and will be slckpacking Doc and I and maybe other hikers who are around. I'm really looking forward to that! =) Murray made us breakfast this morning: eggs, pancakes, coffee and milk. She gave us a couple day packs and then dropped us off to hike NOBO for a day. It was cool because we got to see the SOBOs just ahead of us: Breeze, Flaco, Captain, Cool Blue, Blondie, and Shelob. Some of them are trying to be done Dec 7th which is doing about 150 miles per week. Sooo I probably won't see them again because consecutive 25s is not fun for me. Oh well! Best of luck to them-it was great to see them and chat with all of them! With daypacks we moved pretty fast, and despite our late start, we were still able to do almost 20 before having t pull out our headlamps! The rhody tunnels were cool again today and plentiful. Also, today was warm compared to the last two days! Until the sun started to go down, but we were moving and got to the Barn where Murray was waiting for us. Back at her warm home, we showered while she fixed a wonderful meal for us: ribs, potatoes, snow peas, bread, and a spinach/walnut/strawberry salad! For dessert, she'd gotten a cheesecake! The meal was absolutely delicious! We sat around the table and chatted for a whileand petted the dogs and Doc and I washed the dishes -literally the least we could do. Finally it was past our bedtime and we checked out. Murray is such a wonderful person - I've really enjoyed her company and I hope she was impacted by us as we were by her.
Date: 2013-11-15
From: Murray's Home

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Murray made us breakfast again and let us help this time! Cheese omelettes, sausage, cinnamon toast, and a fruit salad which was especially nice - forget about fruit, it's harder to get than veggies in town. It was hard to part with Murray, we had a great time. We got her contact info though and got pictures with her and the dogs. My pack felt heavy today after slacking yesterdayand not using any of my food. Worth it! The hiking was quite nice until the rain, which we got in right before it started. We did good mileage despite getting a late start, and we have started the climb into Grayson Highlands where there are ponies!! I'm looking forward to tomorrow!
Date: 2013-11-16
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: Elk Garden - stealth site
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: clear sky

Today was another memorable day on the trail! We finished climbing into the Highlands, and it was the perfect day for it- we couldn't have asked for better weather! The ascent was made in the fog from the rain last night, but by the time we got up, either the fog burned off or we were above it all. It was awesome! And our first time above 5000 in a while! The Highlands are beautiful and absolutely amazing - bald mountains with incredible views, meadows, rock scrambles, and ponies! We took ourtime today and really enjoyed ourselves. We dropped our packs at a few places and engaged in some rock climbing where we got some cool views as well. Lots of day hikers and weekenders were out enjoying possibly the last weekend of sunny days in the upper fifties. We saw one herd of ponies,Doc pet one and it followed us a little down the trail. We took a blue blaze trail, The Wilburn Ridge Trail, that we had heard from two sources was worth it. And they were right. It's kind of dumb that the AT doesn't take that route because the distance is the same (0.8 mi), but the blue blaze takes a high route over a rocky ridge where we got beautiful views, and we could see the AT below us the whole time, so we got the views you get from the trail, plus some. Also got to climb a more technical part which was fun. Not that the white blaze route sucks- I know it is gorgeous, but why look at rock formations rigt next to you when you could climb them?!We hiked into a gorgeous sunset tonight which we could actually see since we were mainly on balds. Also, once the moon rose, that was beautiful too, almost full. We night hiked to a camp site but ended up stopping earlier than planned because it started kind of raining, and nce we got below the cloud deck, it was so foggy we couldn't see even with headlamps. We were in Elk Garden which was a grassy meadow, so there wasn't a trail to follow, and the posts with blazes on them were too far apart for us to find our way without wandering aimlessly too much. So, we decided to set up our tents and make up the difference into Damascus tomorrow. We were above the clouds all day, so I wnder if the weather was great all day untill night, or if the weather was bad below the clouds and we were above it all day. Either way, awesome day!
Date: 2013-11-17
From: Elk Garden - stealth site

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 21.1

Since yesterday we didn't get quite as far as "planned," we were set up for a long day into Damascus. We were determined to get into town though so we could take a zero on Monday and relax a bit. We got up and hiked the rest of Elk Garden which was amusing because this morning was much clearer and the blazes were easier to see. It was kind of funny to see so easily what was so difficult to find last night. Anyway, the forest on the way up Whitetop Mtn. was beautiful, but I was out of water, and had been since last night because we stopped before getting to a source, so I was really thirsty and ready for the climb to be over where there was a spring at the top. Whitetop is a bald and we could see pretty far. Buzzard Rock and the trail down the mountain was really cool, then the rest of the hike was about like normal, nothing bad, nothing spectacular.It started to rain on us a little, but we made it to town, checked in at Dave's Place - run by the awesome guys at Mt. Roger's Outfitters - showered and put on dry clothes, and hung out at the Blue Blaze Cafe for the rest of the evening playing darts! We saw Smooth and Ninja which was cool since we haven't seen either of them in a while. Also met another SOBO, Fives, who I had seen in the registers but never met. Damascus is a very friendly town, it's great to be here.
Date: 2013-11-18
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Zero day! But a good one. Ate breakfast at Dairy King, the local diner. We got to experience the local culture and everyone was real friendly. I wandered around town and did some town chores, then Doc and I rented bikes and got shuttled to the northern end of the Virginia Creeper Trail and biked the 17 miles on into Damascus. That was a lot of fun and it was a great day for it! It was mostly downhill so I didn't even have to pedal too much. Also, it made me realize that walking is so slow - I should have just biked from Maine to Georgia =P After our bike ride we relaxed the rest of the afternoon and then went back to the Blue Blaze Cafe. It's been a good, fun zero day. After only a day here and and two nights, I feel like I know everyone here since there's not many people and they're all so friendly!
Date: 2013-11-19
From: Damascus, VA

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Ate breakfast at the Dairy King again this morning - best biscuits and gravy on trail yet! Then Doc and I packed up, and I talked to the guys at MRO while Doc went to the P.O. They fixed my trekking poles for me, which was nice of them, and I got warmer gloves! They're wool ones. It took us a while, but we finally hiked out around noon. We wanted to do 18 to the shelter, so we knew we were going to do some night hiking. We crossed into Tennessee first thing!! 11 States down, 3 to go. Man, it sure is nice to be done with Virginia, it's been absolutely beautiful, but it is one looooong state to walk through! We'll be traversing the NC/TN border in a few days for a while. As the sun was setting, we could see it through the trees and the sky at one point turned a really cool color that I haven't seen before! So I can't describe it. But we had to stop and look at it for a few minutes to debate what color it was, but we couldn't really come up with it. We stopped and ate dinner on trail shortly after it got dark, then hiked the remaining 2.5 to the shelter where we found Hover Job already in his bag asleep. He woke up when we walked up, though we were doing our best to be quiet. We met him briefly in Delaware Water Gap, but haven't seen him since. He'd just taken a few days off and got back on trail yesterday. It was good to have some company in the shelter. Today was a good day! Tonight is going to be cold though.
Date: 2013-11-20
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: stealth site
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

I didn't sleep well, but I never do in the shelters. I woke up early, but despite that, still got started around 9:30. I didn't feel well for some reason today - nothing bad, just really sluggish and slow. I had to take a lot of breaks, especially on the climbs which I felt there were a lot of, even though they were short ones. We were shooting for a 20 something mile day today, and the terrain was good for it, but clearly that didn't happen, it took me forever just to do the 16. We met Hawk and Cash at a shelter where they had zeroed in place. They are two SOBOs that we had heard about from HJ but never met. We went a little past Vandeventeer Shelter, found a spring miraculously in the dark (it was a small puddle), then found a campsite right off trail before the beg desecent into Watauga Lake. This site is surprisingly comfortable and well sheltered from the wind. Bed time.
Date: 2013-11-21
From: stealth site

To: Kincora
Miles today: 16.5

We just wanted to get past that last shelter last night so that we'd have a relatively easy day into Kincora - a hostel run by Bob Peoples a little outside of Hampton, TN. He's a trail legend - does a lot of trail maintenance and is the subject of much shelter graffiti in the form of "Chuck Norris" type jokes... e.g. "Bob Peoples gives his boots blisters," and "when Bob Peoples stays in shelters, the mice bring HIM food," etc. Anyway, it was a beautiful hike, Watuaga Lake and dam were pretty cool to walk around - the views of the lake while coming down the mountain were beautiful! Another highlight was Laurel Falls. Gorgeous waterfalls and a great swimming hole if you're careful not to get too close to the falls. Too bad it's too cold for that currently! We arrived at Kincora to find out that Bob is out of town...and comes back tomorrow night. Bummer! But 2 other well-known trail dudes are running the place in Bob's absence: Baltimore Jack and Fat Chap. I wish I'd gotten to meet Bob, but it was so wonderful to have the opportunity to hang out with these guys! Doc and I actually ran into Jack back in Vermont, and he remembered as well, so that was cool. He made us dinner while Fat Chap took us into town to resupply. We had the place to ourselves, and it was awesome to talk with Jack and Fat Chap all evening, I really enjoyed their company! It's been an awesome day and I'm excited for the next section coming up!
Date: 2013-11-22
From: Kincora

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: mist

We got a late start this morning (per usual I guess) because we sat around and talked with Jack and Fat Chap. We then made breakfast, packed up, and hiked out. It took longer than normal to hike this mileage, but that's alright. It started raining pretty good and by the time Doc and I arrived at the shelter, it was completely dark, and we were soaked through! This shelter is pretty cool - it had a covered front area which was spacious enough to change into dry clothes and cook dinner. It also had plenty of places to hang our wet stuff, and it had three sleeping platforms - 2 regular sized ones, and one loft on the third story that was smaller. That's where Doc and I set up - it is more sheltered from everything. Right as we were finishing dinner, Milk Run and Cerveza showed up. We briefly met them back in Harper's Ferry, but thought they were a ways ahead. It's good to have some company! The rain is nice to fall asleep to when inside the shelter with good people. It's not too cold tonight, which is good because I know it's about to start getting much colder for good.