morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-05-21
From: campsite

To: The Captians
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: few clouds

Day 70: My feet felt good waking up today. We finished the rest of the hill. As I got up there everyone was resting and waiting for me so I decided to keep going while they rested. I tried a little faster pace and everyone still passed me so I decided to take my time. We ate lunch at the top of a ridge line. We found two ticks on Bella so as Bluegrass went to take them off and burn them, Bella snatched his PB&J without anyone seeing. Luckily the three of us carriers out two whole loafs of PB&J sandwiches so we were not in short supply.My feet began hurting after lunch and I waddled my way to our campsite for that night. We stayed at Captains house across the river, to get there we had to zip line/pulley ourself across the river to get to his house. This by far was my favorite place we've stay. He had free soda in the fridge on his patio, a river to soak our feet, three dogs to play with, a beautiful green lawn to walk bare feet around, wifi, and a great place to camp all for free. Twix
Date: 2013-05-22
From: The Captians

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 71:We woke up doing the hiker waddle. My feet were aching but once I started hiking they became a little better. I lagged behind again and when I saw mom waiting for me at the top of a ridge, I asked her how long she's been waiting and she said 50 minutes. Omg! That's a long time! As we all started walking Coach and Mom took off and I decided to try staying with them. I jogged to get closer, almost fell but my hiking pole got stuck on a rock and jammed me in the stomach to keep me from falling. I caught up with them and was able to do five miles at there pace. Let me tell you, their pace was fast! I left them all when they were running down hill. I saw them for a split second then they were gone. At that point I was so frustrated at how slow I was going and how fast they were going. I thought to myself, "hike your own hike, I'll get to camp when I get there". I then put one foot in front of another and kept walking. We met up at lunch again and I took off before everyone else because there was a huge mountain we had to climb. It was huge. I would describe the incline between a 70-80 degree incline. I almost felt I was needing to crawl. I was extremely hot and drenched in sweat. Half way up the trail it began to pour. I put my rain cover on my bag but no rain gear for me. I wanted to get drenched it felt so good! At the shelter we strung a line stretching from one side of the shelter to the next. We hung all our wet clothes and gear. Mom somehow managed to fall in the shelter. It was an epic slow motion fall. I busted out laughing due to the fact it wasn't on the trail. There were no rocks or roots to trip her just the flat shelter surface. What a way to go down. Afterwards, she looked back and blamed it on my pillow but I did not see my pillow near her when she fell. Now the score of "falling" is: Twix 3 and Salsa 5. Yes Salsa fell one more time going down from Dragon's Tooth. It was another controlled fall and she and Coach said that it shouldn't be counted...but I am counting it.Twix
Date: 2013-05-23
From: Laurel Creek Shelter

To: Trout Creek
Miles today: 21.2
Weather: light rain

Day 72: I completed my first day over 20 miles!!The mice were out last night. I could hear them squeaking at each other and they got moms toilet paper. They love playing with TP. At 3am we heard a whipper weal bird cacawing for 2 hours. Aquaman said he loves animals and has never wanted to kill one until last night. He was thinking of two scenarios, one he will caw back at it but he figured all the hikers would get made or we would join in or two, he would get a bebe gun and shoot it. We were joking around about the annoying bird that kept some of us up. As for the hike, we had two big mountains that once again went straight up but once you get to the top we walk the ridge line so that hard climb is worth the effort and reward. During the morning, my feet got drenched from the puddles and meadows. It actually made my feet feel better so mid way through the day they were hot but still damp and i saw a puddle, i decide to jump in it and soak my feet again. The wet, pruney feeling got old after a few hours. When we got to the top of the second mountain we hung out at Audie's Monument to enjoy the sun and I dried out my feet. Everyone left and I stayed until my feet were almost dry. As I was hiking back down, I heard thunderstorms. I began running to get to camp. When I got there mom, Aquaman and Bluegrass all helped set up the tent. We then ran to get water and it began to rain. I rushed back to our tent just before I got wet. We are starting to do tick checks. Several hikers have found some crawling up them. I pray I never find one on me. I can only imagine the scream that will come out of me, not to mention the traumatizing experience.Twix
Date: 2013-05-24
From: Trout Creek

To: McAfee Knob
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 73: When I woke up this morning I saw a few ticks on our tent, GROSS! I flicked them off and watched them fly far away. Today was nothing special except for an AYCE buffet in our future. About 8 miles from our campsite there is a hostel, 4 pines, that shuttles hikers to a buffet. We decided to put that in our agenda today. We got to the road that lead us to the hostel and there was trail magic! It was a couple plastic bags with candy and cookies and a few boxes of soda, delicious! We walked .3 miles to the hostel which was a three car garage and there were several hikers there from the night before. There were cots, recliners, couches, and fold out chairs. Simple but that's all we need. We played several hours of darts and corn hole. Then we pack 20 hikers in a truck and off we went to the buffet. There we had a big table waiting for us and the food came out almost instantly. They must do this every night with hikers. We dug into the food like barbarians. However, we were very polite on passing around the food making sure everyone got what they wanted. Afterwards, we went back to the hostel, packed up and night hiked our way to McAfee's Knob. It was passed 11 o'clock when we became too tired to go any further so we found a big rock to cowboy tent behind so it blocked out most of the wind.Twix
Date: 2013-05-25
From: McAfee Knob

To: Daleville, Va
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: few clouds

Day 74: We wanted to see sunrise at McAfee's Knob so we woke up around 5am. It was freezing. The wind was blowing extremely hard and hardly any of us got any sleep due to shivering all night but we still got up and headed towards McAfees Knob. We didn't realize how close we were. It only took us 10-15 minutes to reach the top. We sat there waiting for the sun to come up and the view was worth it all. Colors of pink, blue, yellow, green, purple filled the sky with a beautiful glow all around us. We took several pictures even though the wind was outrageous. We got to the next shelter and was planning on taking a nap but thought it would be better to get a head start on our day. The day was really tough for me not only due to the lack of sleep but because my feet were still in excruciating pain. I'm just waiting for the morning when I can't walk. Every time our group stopped I wanted to stop with them but my feet would get stiff and it hurt worst so I kept moving, tiptoeing down the trail.We finally got to Daleville and low and behold there was a Pizza Hut right across the street from the trail. I just kept walking straight into Pizza Hut with no hesitation. There was also a hotel right by the trail where Lone Wolf was already going to stay. We all talked ourselves into staying. I iced my feet that night. They were swollen, bruised and red, my poor feet.Twix
Date: 2013-05-27
From: Random Campsite

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: broken clouds

Day 76: We slept in until 9:30am today. We saw several of our hiker friends go by but none of us had the motivation to start our day. Finally, our fearless leader, Salsa, began to pack up so we all followed. We hike for a few hours then stopped at the next shelter to eat. I used the privy and this privy was the resort of all privies. It was huge with handicap handles on the side and looking down into the toilet you couldn't see the bottom. We don't have to worry for years until this thing over flows. Yes, the privies do fill to the top sometimes.the poop over flows. I, personally, have not seen this but have heard of a few shelters. We rested at this shelter for a while then continued north until we got to the next shelter. We pulled over and ate some more. We felt lazy today but still making good miles. The five of us sat there, waiting to see who will make the first move. Of course, it's typically mom. We went down the mountain and Mom and Coach decided to see how fast they can do the next three miles. Total time: 51 minutes! There was also a wonderful surprise waiting for us at the bottom, trail magic! Our very own thru hikers, Dreamer and Socks (from Lansing, MI), took a few days off to do trail magic. We ate again and several other hikers loaded up on beer. Dreamer thought they would only see 12 hikers throughout the day and he said they saw 60 hikers. We never notice that many because we're all walking the same direction and only a few pass us in a day it's amazing how many you see when you stop walking. We were all very impressed. Onward we went again to finish our last 3 miles and complete a 1000 foot climb. I got a foot cramp 1/4 of the way up while the others were stumbling up and over the mountain. We ended at Bryant Ridge Shelter that holds up to 20 people. It was a beautiful, well built shelter.Twix
Date: 2013-05-30
From: Lynchburg, VA

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

Day 79: We had another relaxful day by sleeping in today. I forgot to mention yesterday of our quest to find a kayak and here is the reason why. Bluegrass has an assortment of kayaks, boats and a canoe. He asked us about a month ago if we were interested in "aqua-blazing" from Waynesboro, VA to Harpers Ferry, VA which is about 130 miles of the Shenondoah River. What a great option and if you wanted to, you can go back and hike what you missed at a later date. Of course, we jumped at the chance and it seems that we are not the only ones that will be aqua-blazing as there is a lot of talk amongst the hikers who are also interested in it. So on the agenda yesterday was to find Coach a kayak. We were successful in finding an inexpensive kayak at a Play it Again Sports store in Lynchburg, VA. So last night around 2:30am, we decided to take it on a test run. There is a golf course behind Grommet's house with about four lakes so we decided this would be a perfect opportunity to take it on it's maiden voyage. It worked just fine and we are now ready to go.Today, we also made stops at Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods, a Sushi restaurant, an ice cream store, a Mexican restaurant, a Wells Fargo Bank, CVS, an ABC store and a few other little stores in between. Alex bought a few things to make her a summer bag at Walmart. This consists of a Mario Brother fleece blanket and a sheet. Sharon helped her sew them together and now she has her summer bag. We will both be sending back our 20 degree bags once we get to Harper's Ferry, VA. I will update this entry with a picture of this later today.Tomorrow we will plan to get back out on the trail around noon and go about eight miles to Matt's Creek Shelter. There, we are planning to stay for the weekend so Bluegrass's friends from Richmond and Lynchburg can come see him. Then we have about 80 plus miles before we get to Waynesboro, VA where we will put in the boats. So, it is possible, we may not be able to update this journal for another 2-3 weeks (until we get to Harpers Ferry, VA) so no worries please.
Date: 2013-06-03
From: Punch Bowl Shelter

To: Cow Creek Shelter
Miles today: 15.1

Day 83: Woke up to rain and mist and didn't get on the trail till about 10am. Shortly after, the sun started to appear. The next shelter was about 10 miles so Alex decided to hike ahead. I came across a suspension bridge over a pretty large river. I saw Bluegrass's backpack in the middle of the bridge...so where was he? I heard a voice down in the river underneath the bridge where he was cleaning a fish he just caught. It was so exciting since in a very short time, he caught about four fish (but only one keeper). So we hung out here trying to catch enough fish for dinner for the three of us. A total of 10 fish were catched but two were keepers. After a few hours, I decided to hike on and catch up with Alex however about one mile down the trail, I could hear a spring. After unloading my pack, I hiked up the hill a little and found a spring that was trickling over this huge rock. So I went back to where my pack was and grabbed some Brommer's soap, pack towel and water bottle. It was great washing my hair and showering before hiking four miles to the next shelter. Once there, Twigs, Shady, Garden Girl and Morning Girl were there and said that Alex hiked off to the next shelter (Cow Creek) which is over this huge mountain. Tex, Orion, K2 and Davy Crockett left just shortly after her and planned to go to the same shelter. About 30 minutes, Bluegrass came into camp with two rainbow trout so decided to eat the trout before heading over the mountain. We added some herbivore spices to the trout and it was the best. By the time we were done eating, it was dark so we had to night hike over this huge mountain (I think it was Brown Mountain). There was no moon out to help so it was slow going especially the last half. By 12:30am, we arrived and I found a really nice long picnic table to sleep on.Salsa
Date: 2013-06-05
From: Priest Shelter

To: Reeds Gap
Miles today: 15.5

Day 85: Today we have a really huge mountain to climb. It is like six miles long of continous up which is after a six mile of continous down. Oh how we were not looking forward to this. We heard from a few hikers that just hiked it that it was really grinding. I was looking at AWOL guide and noticed a comment on a trail called Mau-Har Trail which is about a third up this big long mountain. So we looked it up in the companion and it said that it is a blue blaze trail that takes you to some falls, swimming hole and that it was a lot more difficult than the white blaze AND it would cut three miles out of the six mile climb. Hmmmm...more difficult but cuts three miles out and it takes you right to the next shelter - Maupin Field Shelter. So what would you choose? Well of course, take the Mau-Har Trail. It was the most beautiful trail that I have been on. It was straight up at times and there were quite a few rocks to pull yourself over but overall, an AT thru-hiker would have no problems with this trail. This trail is a must see trail and I am so glad we took it. It brought us right into Maupin Field Shelter where Trouble and her dog Melky, Hobo and Matt were. We have not seen Trouble and Melky since Knot Maul Shelter where we all took a zero day along with Stand Up. Anyway, it was nice seeing them again. We continued to Reeds Gap for the only reason to visit the Devils Backbone Brewery which was six miles down the road. I met the brewery's representative in Damascas at Trail Days. They indicated that they shuttle the hikers to their restaurant and allow us to camp on their property. So we called them and at that time, they couldn't come get us so we easily hitched a ride to the brewery. We amongst about 15 hikers who made it there to eat a fabulous dinner and tried their brew. We were there by 6pm and eating dinner shortly. They closed at 9pm but allowed us to stay until 10pm. Bluegrass checked to see if we couldn't get one more beer and came back with a huge jug of beer...for free! Another big group of hikers (The Tribe) was there and they got two jugs. We all went to the outdoor amphi-theatre stage and hung out another hour or more. Salsa
Date: 2013-06-11
From: Farming Campsite

To: Large mowed campsite with privvy
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

Day 91 Left around 8am and found that four miles down the river was Elkton town. Once we got to the bridge, there wasn't really a place to put in the boats so we went down another 100 yards and was able to pull up the boats. We had to walk through a cow paster and over a fence to get to the road. Fortunately, we took our garbage with us to dispose of and we walked right into a recycle center. We were able to recycle our trash and the owner gave us a ride in the back of his pick up to the grocery store. After we resupplied at the grocery store, we stopped at Burger King and ate some breakfast and then 20 minutes later we ate lunch. We finally began to meet a few other thru-hikers. We were moving our boats around a dam and met Skillet and her friend. We also met Mellow Johnny, Samba and Carbon who were sitting at a canoe rental which is near the portage. Their canoe/kayak rental were saying that the river was too dangerous and probably wouldn't allow them to get on the river for another three days. They told us of a few really bad rapids upstream and that is why they cannot get on the river. Bummer for them.So going down the river we keep seeing ropes. We decided to borrow someone's rope so we tie up the boats. Bluegrass jumped in to grab the rope and to make sure it is plenty deep. I was the first one to jump in and quickly found out that you had to stand up on one of the knots because I ended up dragging into the river since it was so high. After about the third try, I was able to stand up on the rope and hurl myself into the river. We all took turns 1-4 times before we thought we better leave before we get run off. Well, we didn't get the miles in that we had hoped because we found too many things to do. We did some fishing too. We are having too much fun to get down river any too quickly.We found another great camping spot very early in the afternoon. There were no trespassing signs at this place. It was nice, very large mowed area and it also had an old time privvy. We took all of our clothes, tents, pads, sleeping bags, etc all spread out on this property so we could let the sun dry it out from the rain the night before. Coach and I decided to sleep under the stars. It was a very clear and beautiful night with lots of stars and fire flys Life is good. p>Salsa
Date: 2013-06-15
From: Front Royal Swamp

To: Chestie's Place
Miles today: 13.0

Day 95: We left the "swamp" around 9:45am. Just didn't sleep well last night with the disruptions and not being by the boats. So the big thing that happen today was...we found an Old Town Discovery 158 canoe. I was in the kayak and Coach and I were in front of the canoe. What appeared on the left side of the bank was a canoe that wasn't tied up but just sitting there were no one lived. I went over there and it looked like it must have gotten away from it's owner. The canoe came over and confirmed that this canoe is lost so we decided we were going to be pirates and take over this vessel. We went upstream and asked a few people who were out near the river and they didn't know who the boat belong to so we claimed it. We tied each kayak to a canoe and Coach and I got into our new canoe. We were going down the river when we thought we were heading towards some tree debris so were trying to figure out how to get around it as it looked like it was laying over most of the river. We began paddling fast and it ended up being a road that the river was just under. Both canoes kind of ran into it and were not able to go over it. Over to the side, there was a man fishing and we just noticed he was waving us to stop...of course, it was too late. We were able to get the canoe and kayaks over it with no problem and luckily no dents.Not too long down the river, the person that watched us ram into the dam came up to us and offered his lawn for us to camp in. His name is Chestie and has a motorized Mokia that he fishes off from. We accepted his offer and followed him to his lot. He had a really nice lawn where we pulled the boats in and promptly went to a neighborhood store to get hot dogs and beer.We started a fire and ate almost 24 hot dogs. His neighbor, Pete came over to visit too. Pete's property is about three lots down and his family was all there for the weekend.Salsa
Date: 2013-06-16
From: Chestie's Place

To: Last Night Campsite
Miles today: 20.0

Day 96: So I am the last one out of my tent. I see everyone just standing around holding on to their TP. What is going on? Well Chestie's place is really nice but there are no woods to go into to. It was kind of funny because everyone had to go but no where to go. So I walked over to Pete's place and asked if he had a place for us to go so he let us use his RV. So as we were meeting his family, Pete asked for us to go to the town fire hall for breakfast. Heck yes we want to go so we hopped in the back of Pete's pick up and off we went for a super size breakfast. It was awesome.We want to give a shout out to Carissa and Kirstie who are sisters that are planning to hike the AT next year after they graduate from college. It was great hanging out with Pete's family. Thanks to Chestie and Pete...it was great meeting you all.Salsa
Date: 2013-06-17
From: Last Night Campsite

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 96: We had a great but sad day today. I loved so much being on this river and feel so blessed to have this great opportunity. Thanks to Bluegrass for asking us to go with him and to use his boats. Thanks to Mark and Sharon for transporting the boats to us at Waynesboro and Harpers Ferry. Twix and I both loved this experience and we learned so much about the river from Bluegrass.We were out on the river for over nine days. All our campsites were pretty good except maybe for two; the swamp at Front Royal and the cow/geese pasture. Our last campsite was my favorite. It wasn't mowed but it had the best view out of our tent door. I stayed awake with the fire for an hour because of the moon, fire flys, stars and hearing the waves lap up onto the bank. I was going to cowboy camp but decided to go back into the tent. Once in there, I could see the same beautiful site from my tent door. It really makes you feel so happy going to sleep outside, in the woods, near the river. What an awesome experience we had.Salsa
Date: 2013-06-18
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Chestnut Hill
Miles today: 1.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 97: Sharon picked us up at Bromery Park. The boats were cleaned and loaded on to Sharon's truck. We headed into Harpers Ferry to get a room at the Quality Hotel. Thanks Sharon for helping us out.We were excited to know that Jim and Ann were coming to visit with us. They have been visiting Evan at Georgtown U. We went out for a Mexican dinner. That was all really yesterday so today we are planning to go to Appalachian Trail Conservancy. AT thru-hikers go in and register and receive a number. My number is 565 and Twix is 566. This means that Twix is the 566th hiker that has made it to Harpers Ferry for 2013. They take our picture in which we will post for tomorrow's journal. So they take our picture and put it in the 2013 album. So tonight we are going to hike up to Chestnut Hill so we can be in Virgina when we start hiking tomorrow. Twix, Coach and Bluegrass wanted to take the "Four State Challenge" within 24 hours. So in 43 miles, you can hike through four states; Virgina, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.   I was going to follow until I get tired. The plan was to cowboy camp (it will be quicker to pack up), get up at 4am and then hike the 43 miles within 24 hours. Salsa