morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-05-15
From: Damascus, Va Traildays

To: Damascus traildays
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 70Today I got to hike in the hiker parade. The parade is all ofthis years thruhikers and all past thruhikers walk in mass down the main streets of Damascus behind the typical parade items like beauty queens, fire trucks, etc. During thnis walk there is a running water battle between the hikers in the parade and the people lining the parade route. Mothers, kids, section hikers, etc all shooting water guns and slinging water balloons at the thrus who are fighting back just as hard. For the last seven years I have been one of the combatants on the sidewalk and always thought it was the best fun ever. But actually being in the parade carried the awesome to new levels. I can't wait till next year when I will come loaded with water and balloons to last the entire parade. I don't have enough battery life to make a long entry. Its hard to charge them when camping in tent city. I will say that trail talkers are a great group of people and the food was always great and in constant supply. Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Water Drenched Hiker Parade Dream.
Date: 2010-05-16
From: Damascus traildays

To: bailey shelter 
Miles today: 1.1
Weather: light rain

Day 71Trail Days is over and now its time to Find a ride back to the trail. Raleigh Hiker is sticking around to hike for a few days so he volunteered to drive me back, but he was ready to go so u had to get a move on. Kashmir was still sleeping so I gave his tent a shake and told him to pack up fast if he wanted a ride.   I had stuff scattered all over the campsite and kept fndng things I had forgotten on each "final" search of camp. I'm sure I forgot something.   I had a 6 pack of 24 oz mountain dews left over and couldn't bring myself to leave them behind so I packed them up too. For the record, that's more than a gallon of dew. Heavier than a gallon as well.The climb to the first shelter was supposedly only 1.1 miles long and not to steep. It felt much longer and steeper with all that extra weight in food and dew not to mention sweating out all of this weekends beer. I arrived at the shelter before 2pm and stopped for a bit of lunch and to read the shelter register. I laid back on the shelter floor to stretch out and was awoken around 3:30 by the sound of thunder. The sky was dark and I decided to wait for the rain to pass before moving on. It never stopped raining and I never moved on.I returned to my nap until other hikers began showing up. I decided to go ahead and lay out my slleping bag and stake my claim to a piece of shelter floor. Tonight there is Yahtzee and Yahtzees sister, Seeker and Seekers brother, six toes, and thin mint and two section hikers.Rain is nice when you are dry and can watch it from inside the shelter. There are a few peeps playing cards and I am reading thin mints copy of Fahrenheit 451 since all but one of my batteries are discharged and can't read on the Droid. Its a very comfortable evening. I'm watching the interplay between Seeker and her brother and find it very amusing. He is an ex-marine and retired lawyer and is very much still in the real world mode. He is in constant motion, she sits and watches the rain. He continually asks "What next?" Or "whats the plan" and Seeker just sits there. But whenever she decides to move she is ready before him.   I had that same experience with creekdancer and Brian last week. Apparently thruhikers have 2 speeds, stop and go. And its really nice to be able to enjoy the moment I am in rather than planning for the moment after this.Goodnight and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Living In This Moment Dream.
Date: 2010-05-22
From: Campsite South of Daleville, Va

To: Daleville, Va
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: moderate rain

Day 76It didn't rain last night but that didn't make our campsite any less awesome. We packed up quickly and was out early because we all had town fever. It turns out that instead of two powerlines prior to town there were 5. That meant we were more like 3 1/2 miles away rather than 2 but we made it anyway. Thinmint had got a message from her friend Creepy that she was in a room at the Howard Johnsons in Daleville and that we could use her shower. The motel also had a washer and dryer so we showered and cleaned our clothes and everyone felt human again. Another friend from my TrailTalk forum who lives nearby came by and picked up a bunch of us thrus to shuttle around. Sweet Pea Stu looked slightly shellshocked when 4 people climbed into the backseat of her little car, but we thrus will stuff as many people as possible into a car whenever possible. We hike miles and miles every day but we don't like walking when the miles don't count.So we all rode to the outfitters and spent way more time there than I anticipated. I was worried that Sweet Pea Stu was rethinking this whole thing but fortunately it was her favorite outfitters and didn't mind being there. While in the store the rain began pouring down hard so we rethought our decision to hike out that day. Next we went to downtown Roanoke for Greek food then to a movie theater to watch Robin Hood. Sweet Pea was now fully into hanging out with us cool kids and appeared to be having a good time. After the movie she took us to resupply at a real grocery store then dropped us back off at the motel. It was now getting pretty late so we repacked our packs with our new food while we watched footloose and dank a couple beers. When they changed over to the Sex n the City television show I grabbed a blanket and went to sleep on the floor.Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Greek Food and Robin Hood Dream
Date: 2010-05-24
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter 

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter 
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light rain

Day 78RAIN. It rained most of the night and long into the morning. I had set my tent fly up on a slope because there were a lot of people tenting and no good spots left. I wedged my shoes, front pack and backpack all along the low side of my sleeping mat so that I wouldn't roll sideways during the night. It worked great and I slept pretty good. I enjoyed the rain until morning when it was time to pack up. A wet tent makes for a heavy pack. As if it wasn't heavy enough already with all that food. I did eventually pack up and move out.Today was mostly uneventful except for one moment when I was hiking along staring at the Trail in front of me. A little shaggy dog came into view and when I looked up the woman hiking with the dog stops and stares at me. "I know you," she says. I said hi and tried to remember where I know her from. "You're Hyway. I can't believe it." Now I am really perplexed. "I follow your Trail Journal." So you're the one, I think to myself. Its humor like that that leaves me surprised that anyone reads my journal, but none the less, here was a living breathing fan that reads my journal because she wants to rather than because she had some connection to me. We chat awhile, me sounding pretty stupid because being recognized by strangers is new to me (unless you want to count that period where I was famous in all your better post office wanted boards) (just kidding) (seriously, don't be expecting a reward for turning me in). Renata is a really nice person, but my Droid tried to rename her Prenatal when I facebooked a pic of her and her dog Bodie. Luckily I caught the word swap before she picked up an interesting trailname. Ahh the heck with it, I think I'll call her prenatal anyway if I ever run into her again.The shelter tonight is one of the best on the trail yet. It says it sleeps 20 but I bet on s nasty rainy night you could fit 40 thruhikers under the roof. It has a great second floor and a wide porch that wraps around two sides. IG could live here or zero at least, only there is no phone or internet service here. One of my key elements for zeroing at a shelter . When I arrived there were thrus lounging and napping all over the place, but most moved on to make more miles. There were only 3 of us sleeping on the bottom floor with 3 folks out on the porch and 3 upstairs. Lots of room left over so I hung my tent fly up to dry. Its going to rain again tonight but I don't care. I'm in an awesome shelter and thinmint and creepy brought the makings for S'mores. My tummy is full from those and all the food I brought. Tonight is a good night.Goodnight and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Fifteen Minutes of Fame Dream.
Date: 2010-05-25
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter 

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: light rain

Day 79Too many uphills and too much weight and the day started with rain. The group I am hiking with are planning a 22 mile day. I went ahead and said my farewells this morning. I wont be seeing them again unless they take a few zeroes somewhere. I am a shelter rat and my choices for shelters are 5, 10, and 22 miles away. 22 would kill me and 5 would embarrass me, so 10 it is. Since my actual hiking time would only be about 5 hours I elected to hang around the nice shelter until the indecent hour of 11 am just lounging around and reading my book. The hike up the first mountain was just as awful as I suspected it would be. Eventually I made it to the first shelter where Gravy Crockett was hanging out trying to eat his foodbag lighter. He said he might hang out and eat all day. The man is a genius. I immediately became his disciple and started eating my way to a happier hike. I was tempted to roll out my sleeping bag but once again there was no internet signal so I moved on. The rest of the trail was uneventfully up and down until I came to a humongous golf ball floating over the trees. It turned out to be another one of those aeronautical complexes for tracking planes. Cool site but I didn't think they'd let me sleep there so I moved on. The trail started a serious downhill after that with what seemed like hundreds of stone steps. One spot had a boulder wedged between two large rock faces that you had to walk under. The guidebook called it "the Guillotine". Check out the pics in my album.Passing that spot meant I only had 0.9 miles left to the shelter yippie! Hurrah! There are currently 5 of us at the shelter, check that, I see a headlight coming up the Trail so there will be 6. One is tenting so 5 in a 6 man shelter. Most of today all I thought about was my family visiting me in 2 1/2 weeks. I am so looking forward to it. Of course there is the possibility that is where my hike will end either because I can't stand to leave them behind or because they just need me. Mid June has always been the point where I had planned to assess the state of my hike, the money I am spending and how our finances are handling only having one wage earner.   Such are my days on the trail when its tough terrain and its raining or super humid. Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Overstuffed Overthinking Dream.
Date: 2010-05-26
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Johns Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: broken clouds

Day 80The trail today was excellent with the exception of the climb up to High Cock Knob. It was mostly flat or downhill which is sweet for me. At one point it probably stayed fairly flat for a couple miles wbile it looped around a big cove. I could look across the cove and see the mountains id been walking that whole morning. I am still amazed by how much distance I cover every hour. A ridge or valley that looks so far away is often behind me in less than an hour or two. The morning started nice and peaceful. The shelter was surrounded by rhododendrons in bloom and the sky was actualy blue. It was so nice that I gave some thought to zeroing there, but since there was no internet signal I killed that idea. I was out of the shelter by the crack of 10am. By the time I made it to my lunch location at the next shelter 12.5 miles away my legs were pretty tired from all the downhill walking. But 2 miles ahead was the James River and a footbridge you can jump off. I was looking forward to another swimming hole. On the way to the shelter I stopped to chat with a trail maintainer named Laura and thanked her for all they do.The hike to the James River followed along a lovely little creek that had plenty of spots for soaking in but I was moving on to the big river. The sound of a freight train practically on the Trail told me I was close. Now I was at the river and could see the bridge about a mile away. I rushed onward past massive rock formations that looked like they would tumble forward at any moment. When I reached the bridge it was empty. I had hoped to make it there while other tbrus might still be there, but no such luck. Some locals came by to swim and chatted with them while I did my jumping. Locals are great because the female ones swim in itty bitty bikinis. Not that I look at such things, being married, but some times accidents happen and they are standing where I happen to be looking.The shelter was another two miles but right after the bridge was a very busy road that led to two very close towns. Regretfully I crossed the road and hiked to the shelter. Seeker and Rich were camping short of the shelter so I stopped to chat with them. Seeker had picked up her costume for Thin Mints upcoming Hiker Halloween on May 31. (More on that later). The bugs at this shelter are bad so I am turning in early. I need to get my tent screen back if this keeps up.Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the James River Bridge Jumping Dream.
Date: 2010-05-27
From: Johns Hollow Shelter

To: BRP 51.7, Buena Vista, va
Miles today: 9.5

Day 81I woke up early and escaped the bug sanctuary around 8:30. The Trail immediately started up a 2000' climb over 3 miles. Pretty brutal for those of us who dislike uphills. I eventually crawled over the summit arriving at the same time as King Crawler and Veto. They've had a stomach virus the last few days and were moving pretty slow. The next 4 miles was gloriously flat and I flew through the understory of ferns and flowers. Bluff Mountain slowed me down again and when I finally pulled myself over the rim of the mountain I found a monument to an almost 5 yo boy who wandered away from school back in 1890 and got lost. The monument is where his body was discovered 7 miles from the school. Let that be a lesson to you kids out there. Stay in school.I rested on the peak letting my clothes dry, before starting the downhill fly to punchbowl shelter. This shelter is 0.4 miles from a parking area on the blue ridge parkway plus 0.2 miles down a spur trail, so there is always a chance for Trail magic. Then again, the trail, if there is any, might be at the parking lot. What to do? I went to the shelter to read the register and listen to the mutent frogs in the punchbowl like pond. There being no trail magic or any other people I quickly left for the parking lot. No trail magic there either. Even worse, there was no view so no one was likely to stop there. Why there is even a lot there is beyond me.There was a trashcan though and that's always a good thing. I emptied my trash then sat on the curb to eat lunch and watched the cars race by. I knew those cars had mountain dews in them but none for poor little hyway. Just as I was packed up and preparing to hike on, King Crawler and Veto came out of the woods. "My wife is on the way to give us a ride into town," says Crawler. "Do you want a ride in?" Oh lord, why do you tempt me so? I said yes. I am so weak.While we waited, Seeker and Rich came by. Rich's ankle was swollen and he was limping. He was getting off the Trail a few days early and a shuttle from the Dutch Haas hostel came to pick him up. Seeker was planning to hike the two days into the Dutch Haas alone and meet him there.Crawler's wife Jerry (sp?) is very nice person and had no problem, even after a 4 hour drive, driving us all over town. We checked into a motel, got showers, then ate dinner and did laundry. Every day should end like that, especially in a nice soft bed.Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Hill Crawling Hot Shower and Clean Clothes Dream.
Date: 2010-05-28
From: BRP 51.7, Buena Vista, va

To: Saltlog Gap north 
Miles today: 19.4

Day 82Last night we decided we would slack pack today. Jerry had tickets to a play but she decided to stick around and drive us to a Trail crossing 19.4 miles north of where we got off yesterday. I love slackpacking, especially southbound, especially when I get to walk DOWN the humongous 3000' hill. Without a pack walking the trail is practically effortless. I got to talk to at least 30 people today, most of them I have met before. I ate sweet wild strawberries and walked through fields of thousands of blackberry bushes in full bloom. That place will be awesome when the fruit ripens. I swam in multiple swimming holes. In one of them dozens of little fish pecked at my arms and legs. They must have thought they were ferocious piranha. I pretended to be terrified so as not to hurt their little fish feelings.After that, I came across Hot Flash and Flash providing trail magic. They are thruhikers from 1987 and were a joy to talk to. Ham sandwiches, lemon tea, apple pie, cupcakes and more. After I left there I was soon walking next to this incredible lake. It was huge and there wasn't a single house on the shore or any boats on the water. Very nice. I considered swimming in it but was told there was a nice swimming hole on the downstream side of the lack. There was, and I swam in it. There was also a fabulous pedestrian suspension bridge crossing the creek so I got to talk to other thrus as they passed. It was only 4 more miles to Jerry's car, but it was all uphill and a thunderstorm could be heard way off in the distance. I passed a lot more northbound thruhikers and chatted with all of them even though the thunder was growing closer. About 2 miles from the car it got very dark and the wind started howling, thunder cracked over head and kettledrummed echo all around me. Lightning was flashing and the lake above the clouds broke free and poured down on me. It was awesome! I was practically riding in the drivers seat of the thunderstorm. I was very happy and my step grew light and I began singing as I splashed along the trail. All to soon I was in sight of the blue ridge parkway and Jerry's SUV. I felt bad about being soaked but her husband wasn't far behind and he and Veto would be just as wet. Fortunately she had a waterproof tablecloth spread across the backseat.When we were all there we drove back to town and repeated the actions of the day before, minus visiting the laundry mat. Tomorrow the pack goes back on, but for now I bask in the glorious afterglow of a wonderful 19.4 mile day of hiking.Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Southbound Slackpacking Swimming Hole Dream.
Date: 2010-06-01
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter 

To: Waynesboro, Va
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 86Waynesboro, VA. Its good to be here. This is where the Blue Ridge Parkway ends and Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah Valley begins.   I hiked the 5 miles in 2 hours and arrived at the visitor center around 10 am. The new visitor center is in a double wide trailer up on a hill well back from the road. You can't even see it from the road, but I walked up there anyway to call for a free lift into town. I had planned to stay at the church hostel which meant I would have to hang around town until 5 pm when they opened. I didn't want to spread whatever malaise I had picked up so I went straight to the Quality Inn instead. I took a shower and went to bed and woke up in time to go to Mings Chinese Garden for lunch. The buffet was awesome with lots of variety. A little sushi, plenty of fruit and piled on the main dishes. I ate so much it hurt to walk. All that and a drink for less than $10. After lunch I walked back to the motel and went back to bed again where I alternated between sleeping and watching old movies.I saw on Facebook that Thin Mint, who I thought was 2-3 days ahead of me, was still in town waiting for a learner pack from Gregory since her pack frame had broke. She was at the church hostel. So I texted her and asked if they would let me register for tomorrow night today. I found out that I left my pack there when everyone left at 9am that would hold my place. So knowing I wouldn't want to be up before 9am I carried my pack over tonight. The place looks real nice. I hung around for 1/2 an hour then returned to the motel with a stop at the grocery store along the way. So now that I was armed with mountain dew, chips and dip I ended up watching old war movies until 4:30 am. Tomorrow's a zero day, but I think I am still gonna regret this. At least I slept some earlier in the day.Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Stay In Bed All Day Dream.
Date: 2010-06-02
From: Waynesboro, Va

To: Waynesboro, Va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 87So I set my alarm for 8:30am to get to the continental breakfast. Never want to miss out on free food. While I was there I arranged a late checkout of 1pm. So I returned to my room after breakfast and slept till 12:30. So I still got 6+ hours of sleep even after staying up til 4:30.I spent the first part of the afternoon doing laundry. Then I ordered a medicinal banana split before heading back toward the church hostel to find a place to kill some time. Walking by the house on a steep slope next to the sidewalk my motion was arrested by the smell of good books and aromatic wild flowers. The sign on the building said "Stone Soup cafe and book store". My feet operated on their own and pulled the rest of me up the steps through the hill of flowers to a very welcome bookstore. The place had a very homey feel. The front porch had rocking chairs as well as straightback chairs and tables. There were tables inside among the shelves of books. An open kitchen/bar was in the back and outside there were more tables and chairs. One could indeed waste an afternoon here. One did. They even had a hiker register, which I read and signed. Its the kind of place where I would have loved for my writing group (when said group existed) to have met back in Wilmington. The rest of the afternoon flew by and soon it was time to head for the hostel and get checked in. There was only 5 of us at the hostel tonight plus one other, Beans, who joined us for the traditional Wednesday night dinner provided by the ladies of the church. I am definitely between the bubbles of hikers now. The trail and towns seem empty of my people. I wonder if its due to people dropping off the trail or just the natural gap formed by the pull of people into groups, like moisture on a window forming into a bead, the glass around it becomes dry. After dinner we watched Good Will Hunting then we all turning in. The funny thing was these new cots are comfortable but super noisy every time you move. You could hear whenever anyone moved even the slightest. Maybe not funny Java but still amusing. Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Sleeping Late Stone Soup Dream.