morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-05-18
From: chesnut knob shelter

To: Bland, VA 
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up at a reasonable hour, mainly due to the fact that I was on top of the breakfast table. I was feeling considerably better and decided to eat a honey bun and down a liter of hyration mix (this would be the first food item and caloric intake in 38 hours). Less than fifty paces into the day, half of everything I consumed was fashionably sprayed onto the trail. It was bright red due to the hydration mix, so this probably appeared to be rather alarming for those who passed behind. Ah well... Weather was crap, wet and dreary. My good start at around 7:30 am put me on a good pace for the day despite my fatigue. The terrain was much easier than yesterday,even though it was a fair bit rockier. I got into the next shelter around lunchtime with a few other lads: GPS, Milkman, and Happy Feet. I found myself extremely hungry for the first time in ages and managed to completely destroy two entire torilla wraps with beef and cheese without incident. BOO-YA! The rest of the day into Bland (just as the name suggests) got gradually worse as worse as my leg muscles got stiffer and sorer as I progressed. I assume that this was due to my overly dehydrated state. I was originlly planning on going in to town to purchase toilet paper. Since I had been using it a lot more lately I was running dangerously low. I managed to get ride from a man who was dropping off GPS and Milkman back to the trail. Since it was out of the way for him I haggled and told him that I would buy him a sandwich at the Subway. I downed a whole footlong myself. The man and employees at Subway were very impressed that such a haggard-looking hiker would be willing to buy someone a sandwich as a sign of thanks. They told me it was good karma, and I'm hoping they are right. Good karma will keep you going out here!It was then that I opted to stay at the hotel with real toilets instead of pushing the two miles to the next shelter. I also ran into another fellow hiker who had his car there. He offered me a ride to the hotel and back to the trail early in the morning. Ace. I picked up the toilet paper and some pedia-lite from the dollar general. I took a shower in my nasty hiker clothes to give them a little wash also. This will become another favorite pastime of mine. It is nice to be in a real bed, even more so while I'm sick, and the new south park was on. perfect...
Date: 2011-05-19
From: Bland, VA 

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: light rain

Great night's sleep in a real bed. I caught a pre-arranged ride at 6:00 am with a fellow who was slack packing today. Today seems like it should be a better day in terms of my well being, although the weather was shockingly crap again, bleak and cold. Terrain was fairly simple for the most part, which helped dramatically since i still didn't fell 100% yet. Depite the miserable weather, I managed to stay fairly dry. I ran into the journalist we met at standing bear. He was heading SOBO to meet up with some others and promised lots of downhill and flat trail ahead. We'll see... it's never just flat and downhill. I was safe to be skeptical, alas there was plenty of uphill to be had. I really wanted to make up some ground and bang out big miles since I took four zeros for trail days and being sick etc. I really pushed myself today, probably overdid it. My muscles started aching far worse than yesterday. This turned into an incredibly long day. What should have normally taken far less time to hike ending up taking around 14 hours. Lame... I got into camp with just enough daylight to setup my tent, but dinner was prepared in the dark. I couldn't finish the whole dinner, so breakfast it shall be. This is also the first night I slept with my food inside my tent. Everyone says this is a big no,no. I disagree. Clutch rolled into camp later than I, so I didn't feel like that large of a turd for being the latest anus to arrive. This also marked my longest mileage day so far. Exactly a full marathon!
Date: 2011-05-20
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: light rain

Crap night of sleep. I pitched my tent on uneven ground so my sleeping positions were limited. The inside of my stupid rain fly was wet again. This is caused by condensation from my awesomeness inside the tent. I need to be able to vent this somehow. More experimentation to follow... I was so tired, that I didn'get out of my tent until 8:30 am. This already gives me a bad jump on the day. A slow and laborious climb starts off the hike with a nice 1300' gain. I started to finally find my pace that I had lost for the last week or so. I caught up Clutch for a late lunch and we both met a brand new thru-hiker named Cadilac. He had started so far north due to logistical issues. Today was his first day on the trail and it showed. His pack must have weighed around 80 lbs. Poor guy had brought everything you could think of. Clutch and I did hime the courtesy of giving him a "shakedown" (going through someone's pack to determine which items should be ditched). It was here that i decided to stop in Pearisburg. I did need a couple of food items anyway. I got a good rate at a roach motel and showered in my clothes again to give them a rinse also. My room looked like a real hiker room, as i had strung a clothes line across it to air out my tent and dry clothes. Chinese buffet for dinner and food lion for few food items.
Date: 2011-05-21
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter 
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I had made arrangements with a local shuttle driver to pick me up early and drop me back off up the hill. He only charged me a couple of bucks so it was well worth it. I got dropped off around 6:30 am but didn't feel like hiking at all. On top of that I still hadn't been able to shake this stupid stomach bug. With my lack of enthusiasm the effin 1800' climb was horendous, not to mention the abundance of poison ivy and deadfall trees that made you literally crawl underneath. Urg.... The weather was a nice improvemnt from the last few days. The obvious downside to warmer weather is the increased water comsumption. The ridgetop had a very limited supply of water sources so i was forced to carry a bit more extra weight. These sections of the trail have informative distance signs at the major intersections. However, the distances are drastically off. They display a much lower mileage than what they should read. You can't pull the wool over my eyes at this point. I know that it doesn't take 45 minutes to walk 1.3 miles! The reason for this mishap is due to the trail being lengthened by adding more switchbacks etc. They merely haven't updated the signs. This did, however, cause a few hardships amongst the hiker population. The terrain got easier as the day progressed so my pace quickened a little. The regret of not taking a zero in Pearisburg still loomed, but I'm glad to push on and get some days under my belt. I got in to the shelter before dark, but still later than I like to get in. There was still room in the shelter so I claimed one of the upper platforms. It was good to see some familiar faces; Spring, Half Man, Shuffle & Dash were all there before me.
Date: 2011-05-22
From: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter 

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: clear sky

Today didn't start very early. I slept in until around 7:15 am and woke to find that Dash had managed to catch/kill two mice with his mouse traps. I forgot to mention that a few days ago it was proposed that we all start carrying mouse traps to see wh can kill the most before we reach Maine. For two reasons i didn't want to join the game; firstly I didn't want he extra weight and clutter and mouse juice around my pack (I guess that's more than one reason) and secondly, I have a bit of a moral problem with killing the wee beasties. It turns out that Dash felt a bit of regret when he had to dispose of the mini corpses. Yet another lame 1300' climb to start today. Even with my late start I got to the next shelter to find A1 and Narley still faffing around with no sign of packing up yet at 10:15 am. I admire their lack of concern sometimes. There were a number of slow paced section hikers that I passed through some very rocky terrain. My skills in these areas are far superior than most. I assumed that A1 would be really slow through the rocks as he hikes in the five finger shoes. I was severly mistaken in this assumption, as he came flying up on me just before lunch. Hot and sunny=extra hydration. Another daunting 1700' climb to start the afternoon. Whoever said that virginia was flat owes me numerous adult beverages. On the way up I passed three ladies with a dog. I remember seeing them at lunch, and hearing them talk about their car at the top of the next climb. This information seemed meaningless to me at the time. Upon reaching the top i had developed quite a thirst. A thirst that the piss warm water in my camelbak couldn't quench. It was when I walked behind their car for a cheeky pee that I noticed the large plastic cooler in their backseat. I wasn't going anywhere until those ladies with the dog got up here and possibly might offer me something that would hopefully be cold! This time my assumption was correct! I pounded two mountain dews and a coke. It was ace.   I got to the shelter early enough to press on if i had wanted to, but there was good company and good banter here. Good thing I stayed, as the heavens opened up randomly in a complete downpour. The shelter was nice and dry. Poor old Steamer came storming into camp at around 9:30 pm well after we had gone to sleep. He was drenched and shivering. We immediatedly shifted around the shelter to make room. He warmed and dried up pretty quickly.
Date: 2011-05-23
From: Laurel Creek Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 22.5
Weather: light rain

The rain had stopped by the time we were getting up. I, again was one of the later ones to get going. I took my time chatting with Steamer and packing my things up. The weather was dreary and grey, but not raining. The trail took us down through some farmer's fields which had a ridiculous swampy bog at the bottom. There was no way around the marsh, so tromping through I go. My boots were pretty fly and waterproof back in georgia. Alas, they do not have these capabilities any longer, and they are starting to peel up on the sides. I feel retierment coming soon for this pair. The average pair of hiking boots or shoes gets you around 500 miles. These now have 665... I passed Poncho trying to hitch a ride into town to resupply; I think he miscalculated his food inventory like I did in the smokies. There was a sign for "Keiffer Oak" up ahead. This is apparently the second largest oak tree on the A.T. with an 18' circumference. I've seen a lot larger trees. Unimpressed. This one did have the structure and potential for an epic treehouse, however. Unfortunately i could not faf around and build treehouses, miles have to be done. On top of these ridges there were lots of these strange man-made rock piles. These were not typical cairns one would see on a hiking trail or on top of a summit. They were massive cylindrical structures (about the same circumference as the silly old oak tree, 18' ish and 4' to 6' tall) that had obviously been there for quite some time. These were spaced around 30' apart from one another. I have absolutely no idead what their function or purpose could have been. Another rocky day in the afternoon, which slows the pace down a fair bit. Ah yes, so I came across my first rattlesnake on the trail. A small 2' timber. This guy was just off the trail on some rocks where he had been sunning. The sun had disapeared behind some clounds a whiles ago and the wind had a bit of a chill to it. This must have caused him to be pretty lethargic since he didn't rattle or take notice of me at all. The last mile of the day was straight uphill to the shelter. I caught up with Sparky and some of the others here at the river. It was Sparky who said that we would hae to fill up our water here and carry as much as we could for the night since the upcoming ridge was dry. Wrong. I carried four liters (8.8 lbs) for no reason. There was a nice little spring a few hundred yards from the shelter. I should have consulted the book before just buying what someone tells me. Ah well. The shelter was full upon arrival, but the group shifted around and made room for one more. Cheers.
Date: 2011-05-24
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: thunderstorm with light rain

Three things occured last night that I did not appove of. One: I did not get any sleep. Two: I was eaten alive by no-see-ums. Three: some mouse (or mice) decided it would be a good idea to hide one hundred peanuts in my left boot. I have no idea where the peanuts came from, but I did not want them. Thanks anyway. Today had a much earlier start. I wanted to get some miles in before it started to warm up. I tried hard to keep up with Special Delivery, but failed after about five miles. The climb got pretty technical. This has been the most technical ascent and descent so far. It took us over this monolith rock formation called dragons tooth. Very nice views. There were ladders and rebar handles to aid the climbing process. Treking poles were strapped to the pack. At the bottom there was apparently a little market down a road that did pizzas. Investigate this I must. The trip to the gas station ended up being a bad idea. The pizza was suberb, I ate and entire large by myself. They also had ice cream. Lovely. I, however ended up just sitting outside of the gas station faffing around, chatting with hikers coming and going all day. I sat there for four hours, Procrastinating the inevitable - hiking in the afternoon rain. Finally, after hitching a ride back to the trail head I started walking again. The next 10 miles were reletively simple. I had enough time to make it to the shelter before dark, but I realized that I was about to crest McAfee knob at sunset. I sat on the rocky outcrop and watched the spectacular show. It wasn't much more than a mile in the dark, and I made it without using my headlamp. I'm working on my wicked night vision... I was far too full from the pizza action earlier, so that made things easier. The shelter was full and a bit startled after I approached without illumination. I tented just over the hill and hoped the forecast for thunderstorms would be wrong.
Date: 2011-05-25
From: Campbell Shelter

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: few clouds

The thunderstorms were nice enough to lay off until the evening. I managed to get a pretty good night of sleep and was up for an early start this morning. I was hiking by 7:20 am, before most had even stirred. The morning was nice and somewhat cool, but made me think that this would lead into a hot afternoon. I passed a few section hikers and a chap from Lithiuania named Aruis. The pace I had today was tremendous. This was due to the fact that it was going to be a town day. I had a lot to accomplish once I arrived in town, so the sooner the better. Being a town day means that I could gargoyle as much of my remaining food as i wanted. Resupply would occur. The last ten miles before town was completely dry, not a trickle of water anywhere. I knew this going in so i cameled up at the last shelter and carried an extra liter. The afternoon was a hot beast, just as I had anticipated. I did rather well through the hot and dry section, since I planned this well. I ran up on Dash and Shuffle who had run dry on water, but we only had two downhill miles left. Dash is far more of a weight freak than I. The extra two pounds for another liter was unacceptable. The risk would be worth it in his eyes. After all, we're not hiking the Sahara. During these last two miles I came across a southbound hiker who was about to enter te hot ridge walk in the burning afternoon sun. I told him to make sure he had enough water since the ridge was dry for ten miles. He looked at me like I was a fool and said "I'll just fill up in a stream or creek". I then explained again that there was no water, let alone water fountains (or whatever he thought my sources were). There wasn't any form of H2O to be had. I'm still confused to what he thought I meant by water sources. I made it into Daleville before 2:00 pm. This gave me ample time to shower, launder clothes, and do a full food resupply. The hotel I stayed in had a coin operated washer and dryer. They did not, however, have enough change for me. They suggested that I nip over to the BP gas station next door and ask them. The BP folks apparently help them out often with this situation. When I asked the girl at the BP for quarters she said that she would get in trouble if she gave me change. The manager was around so I asked him what the problem was. He obviously had a bit of a vendeta against the hotel and hikers in general. He yelled and ranted about how he couldn't supply every hiker with change blah, blah, blah. I called him a dick and left. I was explaining the incident to the hotel manager when BP manager walks in rants again. I called him a dick once again and he left. It was all a good laugh. The hotel sorted me out with coins, and clothes were washed. Special Delivery and I did our shopping at the kroger and then carried everything to the BBQ joint for some pork action. The walk back up the hill with heaps of groceries and gatorade was far worse than I realized. The evening was spent watching garbage hotel HBO and sipping a couple of beers. Early to bed.
Date: 2011-05-26
From: Daleville, VA

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

I slept reasonably well, but not as well as I'd hoped considering that I was staying in a hotel. The complimentary breakfast was garbage. I know that this is pretty typical of a place like this, but they sold the breakfast rather hard upon checkin yesterday. Oh well. I was planning on a short nero today so I thought it best to take advantage of the 11:00 am checkout time by taking a cheeky mid morning nap. I packed up all of my gear and heavy new resupply of food and checked out of the hotel. It was nearing lunch time, so I thought it best to leave on a full stomach. Since the breakfast was so disappointing, I wanted to get something to make up for it. A couple of hikers and the front desk clerk highly recommended the Mexican joint across the street. Cheesey goodness, here I come. Once I was seated, I was informed that their epic margaritas were on special. This became the turning point for the progress of the day. The food was as good as it had been made out to be. I was a bit upset with my informants for neglecting to tell me how magnificent the margaritas were. I did not go hiking today. I happily stumbled back across the street with my backpack and checked back into the same hotel for another night. I had left four of my six pack of beer in my old room this morning with the idea that I would actually be hiking today. I met the maid on the way to my new room, so I asked her if she found them when cleaning my room. She seemed a little puzzled with my query. She thought that I was merely asking her to give me beers. After a lengthy explaination she smiled and handed me a bag with four other beers that were not the same as mine. Oh well, better than nothing, and I was tired of explaining this to her. I chilled in the room for a while in front of the TV. Then it was time to visit the Mexican joint for margs round two. Today turned into a nice relaxing day of not accomplishing much other than pounding margaritias. Since dinner was early I felt the urge to order a quick pizza to top the night off and have leftovers for breakfast since the hotel breakfast was crap. Good times.
Date: 2011-05-27
From: Daleville, VA

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Not a very early start for the day. I woke up around 8:00 am and plowed some of the leftover pizza. I still had four slices left, so in the backpack they went. As I was showering and getting ready I flipped on the TV and found that Shallow Hal was on HBO. I felt that I should probably finish watching this movie first, and then start hiking. I made it to the trail by 10:00 am. Not too bad all things considered. Today was much cooler than yesterday, which just made me think that taking a zero was a good idea. The climb out of Daleville was a nice, gradual 1400'. If all of the big climbs could be like this one, I wouldn't have anything to whine about. Carrying the pizza out of Daleville was the best idea for the day! I got to the 11 mile shelter and the sky looked rather threatening, so I hung out for a wee bit to see what developed. The rain came with some fury. I holed up here for the night and claimed a space in the shelter. It was the easy way out, but i felt it important to keep my gear dry so far from the next town (7 days ish). There ended up being quite the congregation of hikers due to the rain so it was an enjoyable evening despite the rain.
Date: 2011-05-28
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: light rain

The storm was fierce all night last night. I was rather pleased to have been one of the first who claimed a space in the shelter. It was still a bit drizzly in the morning, so most of the tenters were waiting for the rain to stop before dismantling. I got started around 7:30 am and passed a few others. On one of the many blue ridge parkway crossings I happened upon Jingles and his lovely wife Sherpa Shel in their RV. Jingles had apparently been caught in the storm the night before and got a bit concerned due to the lightning on the ridge. He arranged for his wife to come and get him while he hunkered down under the concrete picnic table. They were gracious enough to make us coffee and feed us pretzels etc. It was a nice bit of trail magic to start the day off. The day got progrssively more and more hot. I stopped at Cove Mountain Shelter for lunch and discovered that there was no water source on this ridge. This is the first shelter that I've been to without a water source. Lame. No worries though, it was a fairly simple descent to a very welcome swimming hole in a small river. I jumped in while wearing my clothes to give them a rinse also. Hiking in wet clothes is quite nice when the sun is beating down. The end of the day had one last 1000'climb which was fine after the nice swim. I caught up with Shuffle and Dash who had pushed on yesterday before the storm hit. They had been caught in it and had been thouroughly drenched. Poor Shuffle was wringing out her down jacket which was hopefully not ruined. The next shelter was massive. It was a two story lodge that could easily sleep 35-40 even though the book said 20. There were nine of us there tonight; Next Year, One Way, Shuffle, Dash, Poncho, Goldy, Arius and couple of section hikers. It was nice to be in early after a big day. I downed four liters of water between arrival and bedtime. I was rather dehydrated. Tomorrow will have a ridiculous climb, so I have that to look forward to.