morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-05-14
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

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

Day 63- May 14, Calf Mountain Hut to Pinefield Hut, 26.2 miles. Marathon Day! The distance between this hut and last night's hut is exactly the distance of marathon! I dedicate today's hike to 3 friends and former colleagues, Amy L., Sue C. and Erin E., all runners who have trained for and successfully run many marathons. I have watched them train, encouraged them when they were discouraged and cheered their successes! I thought of the three of them many times today and used their determination and perseverance as inspiration for my marathon hike. We started walking early, 6:10 AM and the weather could not have been better for us. It was cool and the fog stayed with us most of the day. We never got rained on, only the condensation drops from the fog. The temps may never have reached 70 degrees, a pleasant and welcome change from yesterday. We crossed the Skyline Drive many times today and rarely saw a car.A highlight of today was that we saw 2 bears! I came around a curve on the trail and there in the middle of the trail walking away from us was a black bear. We think the bear must have been a yearling because it was definitely bigger than a cub but not nearly as big as mama bear which was farther along the trail, looking right at us! The yearling quickly ran off into the woods but mama just stood her ground and grazed on some of the trail-side vegetation, occasionally checking up on us. We made noise and stood side-by-side so we looked really big and took a few cautious steps closer to her. Eventually she turned around and started moseying north, not in any hurry. We followed a safe distance and kept looking behind us making sure the youngster didn't come back on the trail. Mama then turned into the woods and we were able to get past her! Such excitement! We were thrilled to have had this encounter! For you runners out there, our total elapsed time for our marathon was 10:57.24, with the half-marathon split of 4:57.59. That total time includes a stop at the halfway mark to get and purify water and eat lunch. Our positive split time was due to the fact the the course marshals failed to clear the bears off the course so we lost about 15 minutes there! At the 21 mile mark we took a spur trail to one of the famous Shenandoah Waysides for cheeseburgers (don't all marathoners do that??!!). Waysides are restaurants/gift shops spaced along the Skyline Drive for the convenience of the visitors. We ate an early dinner of cheeseburgers, fries, cold drinks and ice cream! It was so good. We were also able to get rid of our trash and charge the batteries in our phones while we ate. Unfortunately the spur trail was 1/2 mile downhill to the Wayside so with full bellies we had a slow slog back up the 1/2 mile to the AT. With all our side trails our daily total was 27.6, but we can only claim 26.2. The shelters are called huts in the Shenandoah and this one is quite busy with lots of section hikers and 4 thru-hikers. I hope they all quiet down in an hour or so because I am so tired and will be looking to sleep soon. All is well.
Date: 2014-05-15
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Bearfence Mountain Hut
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 64- May 15, Pinefield Hut to Bearfence Mountain Hut, 20.6 miles. I could have stayed in my sleeping bag longer this morning but our 20 miles were not going to walk themselves so we were up at 6 and on the trail around 7 AM. The highlight of the day was passing the 900 mile mark! Once again we walked through the clouds most of the day. The first hut we came to was about 8 miles from where we started so we stopped for snacks and to resupply our water. I also made our peanut butter sandwiches for later since the skies were looking more like rain by the minute. We ended up being able to eat our lunch under dry conditions but that all changed about 2 miles from our hut for the night. The skies darkened again and this time we heard thunder in the distance. Before long big drops of rain started falling and we ended our day walking in a downpour with thunder and lightening above our heads. When we arrived at this hut there was a section hiker here with his dog, waiting for the rain to stop so he could set up his tent. Well, it is now 2 hours later and it is still raining. We've decided to sleep in the hut but the section hiker braved the elements and set up his tent. Yesterday we finally got to meet one of the two other "Squirrels" that we'd heard about on the trail. This Squirrel is a younger guy and is traveling with a woman named Tree Frog. They actually just arrived at this hut so maybe we'll learn more about them. We figure that other hikers must refer to Jim as Old Squirrel and this guy as Young Squirrel. Jim wasn't too excited about that thought so he decided to modify his name to Gray Squirrel, like his hair! The third Squirrel is a girl and everyone refers to her as Girl Squirrel! It is good to be dry in this hut and it will be better once we've had a hot meal (chicken, gravy, rice and green beans). Tomorrow is a short day of 8 miles which will bring us to Big Meadows Lodge where we have a room booked! We are meeting our Trail Jeannie again on Saturday and staying with her at the Skyland Resort that night, another lodge in Shenandoah NP. All is well.
Date: 2014-05-16
From: Bearfence Mountain Hut

To: Big Meadows Lodge
Miles today: 8.0

Day 65- May 16, Bearfence Mountain Hut to Big Meadow Lodge, mile 920.3, 8 miles. Let me tell you about the weather excitement we had last night after I wrote yesterday's journal entry. We walked to the hut in the rain and it continued to rain into the early evening. I think I got my teeth brushed and my last run to the privy in during a lull because shortly after we settled into our corner of the hut, with young Squirrel and Tree Frog settled into the other corner the rain became a downpour. And just as I was finishing reading for the night, Jim said it was about time for a late arrival to show up. Fifteen seconds later a thoroughly soaked RocDoc shows up and claims the middle of the hut. Then the rain got serious and continued way into the night. I have been wearing earplugs when sleep in the huts/shelters and our Trail Jeannie gave me a pair that the guys where she works use when they break up concrete! These heavy duty earplugs have silenced any noises that might have disturbed my sleep, until the rain last night! The rain came down in torrential sheets on the metal roof of the hut and the winds blew it into the hut! I could hear the rain through those earplugs and feel the rain on my face! In the middle of the storm Jim put up an umbrella by his head to keep the rain off his our heads and sleeping bags! In the morning we awoke to new rivers flowing down the mountain all around the hut. What we thought was wind noise in the morning was actually fast-moving water flowing all around. It was amazing. I almost needed a boat to get to the privy! But the rain had stopped so we packed up and started our short day of hiking. Our eight miles brought us to Big Meadows Lodge, where we had a reservation which was fortunate for us because this gave us an opportunity to dry out our gear. The eight miles were fairly easy walking except for the many new stream crossings that developed after the overnight rain. We hung out in the lobby of the lodge until the restaurant opened for lunch. We ate hearty! We were able to get into our room by mid-afternoon and after seeing that we had a nice sitting area in addition to a bedroom, we offered the sitting room floor space to two other thru-hikers, RocDoc and Trademark. They quickly accepted a chance to stay indoors and enjoy a couple of lodge meals. This day is a near-o day in hiker lingo, meaning it is near to a zero day. We've had a very casual time here, using the time to rest. We both agree that we've done some serious mileage during the past 4-5 days and a casual afternoon feels good. Plus these meals at the lodge have made a significant dent into our hiker hunger! I've added some photos to the photo gallery to the left if you are interested. All is well.
Date: 2014-05-17
From: Big Meadows Lodge

To: VA 211
Miles today: 17.6

Day 66- May 17, Big Meadows Lodge to VA 211, 17.6 miles. Today was a day about people. From the moment we got up this morning we were excited that it was a Trail Jeannie day and we had 17.6 miles to get to our meeting place. We got started this morning about a half hour later than we originally hoped because the dining room opened a half hour later than we thought. But we ate a hearty breakfast, knowing that we'd have to hike a bit faster than usual. It was a perfect hiking day, mostly sunny with temps in the 50's and low 60's. The trail was very rocky once again which is tough on my feet and knees. Fortunately our ups and downs were very gentle. So what about the people? Well, because it was a beautiful Saturday in Shenandoah National Park, there were lots of day and weekend hikers out. We became mini-celebrities when people would ask how far we were hiking. Our answer is always, "To Maine!" We had to answer lots of questions and to pose for several photos! Then while eating lunch we saw Wingin' It coming down the trail! We haven't seen him since we shared that epic experience on Clingman's Dome in the Smokies. Wingin' It is now wearing a kilt and a wild Hawaiian shirt and had some good stores to tell about his hike. He is a great young man and we've enjoyed our brief times with him. While hiking along with him we saw some folks hiking towards us and the man asked us if we were thru-hikers. When we said yes he made sure his 2 grandchildren understood what we were doing. Then the woman got an amazed look on her face and asked if we were Flossie and Squirrel! She is a loyal reader of this journal and recognized us from the photos on the journal. Her name is Linda and it made me feel so good to see how happy she was to meet us! When we told her we were meeting Gray Squirrel's sister, Linda quickly asked if that was the Trail Jeannie!!! A true loyal reader! The grandchildren gave us each a homemade brownie which was delicious! Thanks to Linda and her family for making our day! Trail Jeannie met us as planned and we drove south to the Skyland Resort in the park. We have a nice room with a great view of the sunset. We ate dinner in the main dining room, including a piece of their signature dessert, blackberry ice cream pie. Yummy! We'll have breakfast there in the morning before we continue hiking north and Jeannie continues her drive to Knoxville. A note about the rain storm that blew through a couple of days ago. People at the lodge told us that the rain totals for the area ranged from 3-7 inches of rain!!! All is well.
Date: 2014-05-18
From: VA 211

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: light rain

Day 67- May 18, Virginia 211 to Gravel Springs Hut, 14.3 miles. There was a wonderful sunset which we easily viewed from our balcony at Skyland Resort before turning in for a great night's sleep. I slept 6+ hours straight which I believe is a record length of time since we started this adventure. After a tasty AYCE breakfast buffet Jeannie returned us to the road crossing where she picked us up yesterday. It is always so hard to say good bye to her but especially so today since this will be her last visit to us. She does a great job as a Trail Jeannie but we are even more appreciative of her efforts when she personally delivers our resupply. Just as Jeannie dropped us off, 2 hiker friends emerged from the woods and we hadn't seen them in a couple of days. So they helped pulled us back into the woods and we hiked with them for awhile which eased my separation anxiety! Thanks to Thin Mint and Reset for their conversation and laughter! Our 14+ miles were moderate and less rocky than yesterday. The temps were perfect for hiking (50 and 60's) and we hiked non-stop to the Elkwallow Wayside, an 8 mile section. We joined up with some other hikers to enjoy lunch on the sunny patio. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and blackberry milkshakes. Jim also gobbled up a mini-steak sandwich which he made from my leftover dinner last night. I added a double serving bag of M&M's, which I didn't share and we were set for the rest of the hike. One interesting and popular feature of this wayside was that they sold single bottles or cans of beer, quite cheaply. One can of Miller High Life was 65 cents. If you wanted the better stuff, a Heineken would set you back $1.50!!   The excitement of the second half of the day was as we came to a Skyline Drive road crossing and there were cars stopped in both directions, which we knew meant a bear sighting! Sure enough we crossed the road and there was a big bear about 10 yards off the trail and 20 yards from the road. People were jumping out of moving cars to try to get a photo! Soon a volunteer ranger showed up with an air horn, which he sounded several times and the bear slowly moved on. The register at this shelter indicates that bears are commonly sighted here. We'll see!! ( Additional note: a bear did wander through camp earlier this evening, but didn't seem too interested in us campers.)Tomorrow we head to the town of Front Royal where we will do a small resupply and spend the night in the Super 8. We had planned to take a zero day in Front Royal but Jim asked if I would delay our zero day because the weather was still supposed to be good on Tuesday. I agreed but now am wondering when I will actually get my rest day. I will say that our daily mileage for the next week is lower than it has been, but I will not give up a zero day! All is well.
Date: 2014-05-21
From: Dick's Dome Shelter

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 18.3

Day 70-May 21, Dick's Dome to Bear's Den Hostel, 18.3 miles. We thought we had 19.9 miles to walk today, but that is tomorrow's mileage, today's actual miles were 18.3. The biggest feature of the trail today was the Roller coaster, a 13.5 mile stretch with more than 10 ups and downs. The elevation change was never more than 500 feet but the grades were pretty steep. Apparently the Appalachian Trail Conservancy owns a narrow strip of land in this area so there is no room for many switchbacks. The RollerCoaster didn't worry me but I was hoping that it wouldn't be too rocky. Unfortunately about half of the trail was a jumble of rocks of all shapes and sizes which slowed me down and gave my ankles and knees a real workout. We did about 3/4 of the Roller Coaster today and will complete it tomorrow when we go to Harper's Ferry. At the bottom of all the hills in the Roller Coaster there was usually a stream and the remnants of last week's rain storm were still evident. The width of the muddy area and the multiple threads of streams are evidence of the volume and power of the water that flowed through these areas. Last night when I was looking at the guidebook for today I decided to count the actual number of "bumps" we had to go over. Eight was my number and it was the way I measured our progress. Coming down #6 was the most difficult and there was a Mountain Laurel in bloom near the top of #7. Beautiful! We also saw an Indigo Bunting in a tree on the side of the trail. This hostel we are in was built as a summer home for a wealthy family. When it feel into disrepair it was turned over to the ATC and they now run it, along with the Potomac ATC, as a hostel. This beautiful building has thick stone walls with lots of windows. Upstairs is all common area and downstairs are the bunks. Our hiker special ($30) included a bunk for sleeping, a shower with towel and soap, laundry, computer and TV access, a large frozen pizza and a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I am currently working my way through a pint of Chubby Hubby! In the morning we get pancakes!Tomorrow we cross the 1,000 mile mark! And we'll stop in the ATC headquarters to have our official thru-hiker photos taken. All is well.
Date: 2014-05-22
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: light rain

Day 71- May 22, Bear's Den Hostel to Harper's Ferry, WV, 19.8 miles. After a great night at a great hostel, we were up at 5:45 AM to cook our pancake breakfast before embarking on our almost 20 mile day. There were 3 major highlights today and I will write about them in the order they occurred. Nine-tenths of a mile from the hostel we passed the 1,000 mile mark! One thousand miles! M miles (for you Roman Numeral fans)! It is amazing to me that we have walked that far. And we feel really good about achieving this milestone. Later in the day we finally left Virginia and entered West Virginia. Virginia has over 500 miles of AT trail, West Virginia has 4! And lastly we got to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in Harper's Ferry. At the ATC, thru-hikers receive a very warm welcome and are mini-celebrities to the non-hikers who are there. The ATC keeps track of the thru-hikers that stop by (and most do), takes their photos and collects the photos in a yearbook binder. Jim and I were numbers 204 and 205. So we've had an exciting day for hikers. We are treating ourselves to a night in the lovely Laurel Lodge in Harper's Ferry. Our room overlooks the Potomac River and when we have the window open we can hear the river. We walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner and another thru-hiker, Re-route, joined us for a 1000- mile beer! The trail was once again pretty rocky, but Jim says I was going real fast so maybe I will slow down a bit and the rocks won't take such a toll on my feet and legs. We are really looking forward to the next week as we have family and friends coming to visit us. Corey will hike in to where we are camping tomorrow night and then Jim's other sister, Terry, (not our Trail Jeannie) will be meeting us on Sunday night. Our friends, Bob and Sally, will be driving down to meet up with us on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday we will be spending a night with another Syracuse Cross-Country family. This is going to be fun! That's all. After almost 20 miles, I'm tired and am going to bed. We do get to sleep in tomorrow morning because breakfast is not served until 8 AM, and we usually have 2-3 miles completed by then!All is well.
Date: 2014-05-25
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Old Forge Picnic Area
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 74- May 25, Ensign Cowall Shelter to Old Forge Picnic area, 17 miles. It was another beautiful day for walking after a few rain drops fell during the night. I didn't hear the rain because of my industrial ear plugs! Our 17 miles went quite quickly and easily today. When I review the guide map for the day's hike I hope to find some landmarks or points of interest every 5 miles or so. Today there was a shelter and a park and another shelter, every 5 miles and then we'd meet up with Terry! A perfectly planned day! Today we completed our sixth state (Maryland) and started our seventh (Pennsylvania). There was a sign marking this milestone as well as the fact that we were crossing north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Because there are four states on the AT in such close proximity, some hikers try to do the 4-State Challenge. That is hike from VA to WV to MD to PA in a 24 hour period, a distance of 42 miles. I told Jim there was no way I was doing that but we know of some younger hikers who took up the challenge. This morning when we got to the MD/PA state line marker, we saw a blue tarp in the woods and lying underneath were our hiking friends RocDoc, Purple Blaze and her friend, Fresh Legs- they had recently completed the challenge and were resting on the first piece of flat ground they could find! We hadn't seen RocDoc and Purple Blaze in a week or more so we spent some time catching up with them. They hoped to find the energy to get up and walk 5 miles to the next shelter on the trail! Terry drove up from Richmond and got to our meeting place with time to spare so she started walking south to find us. One and a half miles later we had a reunion on the trail. It has been a long time since we've seen Terry and we have lots to talk about. The mile and a half to her car went quickly. We are spending the night in Emmitsburg, MD and we have reservations at a nice local restaurant for dinner. Terry will take us back to the trail in the morning and hike a bit with us before returning to Richmond. All is well.
Date: 2014-05-26
From: Old Forge Picnic Area

To: Quarry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.3

Day 75- May 26, Old Forge Picnic area to Quarry Gap Shelter, 13.3 miles. Happy Birthday to Corey!We were a threesome as we started hiking this morning as Terry hiked with us up 1,000 vertical feet over 2.4 miles to Chimney Rocks. We sat for a bit on this rugged rock outcropping enjoying the view of the southern Pennsylvania hills and prolonging our time together. But alas, we needed to get our 13 miles in and Terry needed to drive back to Richmond so we said our goodbyes and and went our separate ways. We thank Terry for making the time and effort to come find us!Today's 13.3 miles were very pleasant walking. We had some small hills (after our initial morning climb) and the rocks were around but not problematic. We met 2 weekend hikers who were out for a shakedown hike as they considered starting a thru-hike next year. They asked us lots of questions about gear and logistics and I hope we were encouraging to them. A few miles before our shelter we walked through Caledonia State Park and the place was jumping. There is a huge outdoor swimming pool there and lots of picnic space and families were out in force enjoying the beautiful weather. The park also had a snack bar so we got some pop and ice cream and sat in the shade eating. We were kind of hoping for some trail magic but that didn't happen. We hiked out of the park with 3 other thru-hikers and they didn't get any magic either! Quarry Gap Shelter is an amazing shelter. It is a double shelter connected by a covered eating area. There is a small stream that runs right in front of the shelter, which was perfect for soaking my feet. There are wooden tent platforms here, but our tent is not free-standing and needs to be on the ground so we can stake it out, so we decided to sleep in one of the shelter areas. There are hanging baskets of flowers on the corners of the shelter and a locking food box instead of a bear pole. This place is beautiful! Shortly after we arrived, Jim- the Innkeeper (shelter maintainer) arrived to do some work around the place and meet and talk to hikers. He built this shelter and now is up here every weekend to take care of the upkeep. He is another one of these people we've met who have dedicated their retirement years to improving the AT-such an inspirational man. We learned a lot from him and were glad for the opportunity to thank him for all he does on the trail. He designed this shelter to keep the eating area away from the sleeping area and he says he doesn't allow mice here! We are looking forward to tomorrow when our friends Sally and Bob will drive down from Rochester to meet us in Pine Grove Furnace State Park for the Half-Gallon Ice Cream Challenge. All is well.