morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-22
From: Loft Mtn Campground

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

Woke to a beautiful sunny day but again cold. Up early and out of camp by 8:00 am. We had a long day ahead of 15 miles but we got to our destination by 7:00 p.m. We stopped to warm ourselves in the sunshine and have 2nd breakfast at the Ivy Creek Overlook. There was a young woman hiker with all her gear spread out in the sun as I entered the Overlook area. She noted it had taken her 7 days to cover the 30 miles I'd just done in the past 3 days. She'd run out of vacation time to hike to the northern end of the Shenandoah's and was calling for a ride. I spotted a deer and quietly reached over and grabbed Jackson's collar as a car drove up. All the occupants jumped out and stared at what I was looking at. They quickly and nosily grabbed camera's and chased after the deer for pictures. So much for a quiet nature moment.At the next Skyline crossing I stopped to talk with a very old but very fast hiker man. He talked the normal big ego male hiker talk as I once again grabbed Jackson's collar. A big doe was crossing the Skyline behind the hiker.We stopped at Pinefield Hut along the way for Jack to get water. We should have refilled because we ran out of water 5 miles before getting to Hightop Hut for the night. A really nice SoBo hiker man gave us 1 liter of his water. Great trail magic! So many people this year, day hikers, Section hikers, weekend hikers, and thrus. There was a Ridge Runner at the Shelter named Blissful. She helped us locate one of the last remaining tent sites. We made dinner, had good conversation with new hiking friends and crashed hard and early.I don't think my SPOT posted tonight. Too heavy of a canopy. Jackson is exhausted. No blisters! FitBit notes 52,000 steps today and 317 floors.
Date: 2015-05-23
From: Hightop Hut

To: Bearfence Mountain Hut
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Ate breakfast at the shelter with great company and conversation. Blissful tells us that Lewis campground will be full so don't bother. My plan had been to stay there but it will be Saturday night of Memorial Weekend and there'll be no room at the Inn. Blissful described the difference between BACK campers and FRONT campers. We AT hikers are BACK campers because we are supposed to camp in the backcountry of the Shenandoah's. The Lewis Campground camps are FRONT campers and they are supposed to only camp in the formal campgrounds. Blissful noted that many of the FRONT campers will find their way into the AT Shelters over the next few days due to overcrowding in the formal campgrounds. Its becoming a problem, so we BACK campers shouldn't go to the FRONT camps.Side note, Jackson growled and snapped at Blissful as she approached the shelter. I was feeding Jackson jerky sticks at the time. Was he worried she'd take his jerky?With only a 12 mile day, we left camp by 9:00, a very late start. We were not even close to being last out. Uphill climb to beautiful vista. Lots of pics. Was there with elderly hiker man. 3 miles after the vista at a Skyline road crossing, we got real fancy trail magic from a nice couple. We were aiming for the South River Picnic Area for lunch and overshot by 1.5 miles.  How does this happen? Took lunch break and discovered that Jackson must be food reactivate on his first solo AT Hike as he snapped at several hikers who passed as we ate. (Mental note to ask some of my dog friends how to handle this). Worked to fix it by being firm with Jackson and not sure this is the right approach. Got water at spring and arrived at Bearfence Mountain Hut by 6:30. Tons of hiker kids here having a good party. All Thru hikers. Yes campground was totally full when we passed it. Too real world anyway! Awesome spagetti dinner. Jackson passed out HARD. We got one of the few remaining campsites as a fallen tree had covered up a bunch of the tent sites. Our tenting neighbors were Jeboots and Kate.
Date: 2015-05-24
From: Bearfence Mountain Hut

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Sunday of Memorial Weekend. It was a good 11.5 mile hike to the next hut for the night. Beautiful weather to be hiking. 5 days into this year's Section and too many Memorial Day day-hikers for me. Wilderness? I think not! People spot us on the trail and point and talk about us like we are one of the Bears. City people sheesh!There were lots of day-hikers, few-day section hikers. All Memorial weekend worriers. They all seem to ask too many questions and take too long to move over for you to pass. Jack was very well behaved today. No incidents. Little growling at children at a look out we hung out at for 1.5 hours so I didn't let any of them pet Jack. Blissful was right, Big Meadows Campground was loaded with people.I'm here at the hut for the night with Jeboots and Kate again. Nice people we are all traveling alone. There are two deer in camp that are totally not afraid of people. Jeboots is an older woman who is interested in hiking with me. She is very sweet and got me a prime camping site and free 4 liters of water tonight. Thanks Jeboots! Kate Schme*** is a young woman solo hiking.Interesting development with Jackson yesterday that would be hard to repeat at home. He is not food aggressive at home. But on the trail if I am holding food that I will be sharing with him and someone approaches us, he will growl and snarl. Didn't recognize the pre-warning signs at first but yesterday we put a quick halt to it by firmly reminding him whose Alfa here! Scared a few hikers with my method of reprimand but that is totally unacceptable. I now see the pre-warning signs and scold him before he even growls. Training never ends. Posted on FB to see if anyone had ideas on what might be going on here. Received some GREAT advice on the fact that Jackson is actually behaving out of fear not resource guarding. He no longer has Bandit as his leader and he is afraid when a stranger approaches.New approach...Per my wonderful FB friends.... Today was way better. When I see a stranger approaching and Jack would give a low growl (warning sign he's afraid), instead of reprimanding, I'd guide him to a safer location like behind me, redirect his attention to high value treats, give him a job (ask for a trick), and with an up beat tone start talking to him making eye contact with him and not the stranger. He felt so much more confident that all was ok and would relax. What an amazing experience. Thank you so much for such awesome advice!!!
Date: 2015-05-25
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Luray, VA
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: overcast clouds

What a great hiking day!!! The morning was awesome, made good mileage in cool weather got an early start at 7 am as I have to make sure I get to my transport early enough to get into Luray, VA. It's going to be hot today. I hear it was very hot the week before we arrived and the past 6 days have been on cooler side. We've been lucky, but now the heat and humidity are returning.We were unable to get up to Stony Man Summit today, the highest point on the AT in the Shenandoah, because no dogs are allowed up there. But the next rock outcropping was Little Stony Man Cliffs Overlook and it was fantastically beautiful!!! Jeboots and I stayed up there and took pictures for a while and then we headed down.Part way down, we took a wrong turn, went about 40 yards before we realized it. Immediately turned around to retrace our steps and that's when I saw the mama bear and her two cubs 20 yards off the trail to my left.  Jackson didn't see them. I gently reached down, grabbed his collar and started slowly backing down the trail toward the AT. Jackson wanted to know what kind of weird fun game I was playing now. I stood and watched the three for 15-20 minutes as the mama crossed the path and the two cubs climbed up and down several trees. I tried to take pics but I was too chicken to go close enough. Then the tourists started showing up to see and I booked it out of there. Didn't need a dog causing trouble. There were too many tourists along the way, everybody has something to stop and talk about and ask me questions about my hike, my dog, yada-yada. But I did manage to make it timely to the picnic area to have lunch with Jeboots and Kate.Leaving the picnic area Jackson got into a tangle with a hound dog that was tied for some God awful reason across the trail. Jackson is still intact at 3 yo and this was his first scuffle. After that I started getting really frustrated with all the tourist because I couldn't make any hiking progress, I feared I would be late for my transport making the hiking stressful. Then it got really hot and I got really grumpy. Missing a rattler by 10 minutes, Kate saw the rattlers.  Got to the top of Mary's Rock where I was supposed to call my transport Dick Hostelley and was really grumpy with poor Jeboots. There were tourists everywhere with MORE questions but we got to the top and got a message out to the transporter, FINALLY!  Got a ride by Dick into town. Jeboots came too and we each got our own room to spread out in. The Best Western was awesome. We got dinner at Gennaro's Italian Restaurant next door and ate in the room watching TV. We couldn't do laundry because the motel didn't have laundry service and there was no Laundromat open. So Jeboots and I each washed all our clothes in the bathtub. Almost everything was dry in the morning. The shower was OUTSTANDING!Retrieved our maildrop from the front desk and organized all our new supplies for tomorrow before passing out on a bed in A/C.
Date: 2015-05-26
From: Luray, VA

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Rose at 6 a.m., got huge breakfast in the restaurant by myself. Jeboots ate oatmeal in her hotel room. We packed up all our gear and took a box to the post office with Jack to mail it home. I put clothes and other gear in there that I hadn't used in the past week as it was only going to get hotter. No sense to carry it all. Toss maps in there too that I'd no longer need.We got a ride back to the trailhead at 9:00 a.m. with Dick. Four thru-hiker young men who I'd have pass me several times during the past 3 days, passed Jeboots and I on the trail going uphill and disappeared on ahead of us. Sortly thereafter, they ran into a mama bear with two cubs that charged them and reared up to scare them. Boys came running back down trail hollering "LEASH THE DOG, LEASH THE DOG!" and promptly sat down and began eating something to wait out the bear. LOL. Thru-hikers are ALWAYS eating!!!Jeboots and I hiked together most of the day and went to our first SNP Wayside, the Elkwallow Wayside. Lots of hikers were stopped here to purchase delicious treats that they sold in the Wayside store. Even Jackson got a whole hamburger all to himself!!! Almost rained on us, threatening us all late afternoon and into camp. Never did rain but we did have to hike with the hot pack covers just in case.We got late into Gravel Springs Hut scooping up two of the last logical tenting spots. I was furious with Jack who decided the water source was a good spot to cool off in this awful heat. Hut was full and I even had to wait 4 deep at the Privy before bed. Yep, the SNP is definitely NOT the most remote part of the trail.
Date: 2015-05-28
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

Zero Day. Took a Zero Day with Jeboots due to heat and humidity. Thus, I will be skipping a 20 mile section and head back up to Bears Den. I did laundry before departing the motel, then some minor shopping and it was off to do trail magic. Trail Magic was amazing. Jeboots and I stopped at Snickers Gap and Ashby Gap and did some trail magic. That is always so much fun!!Jeboots dropped Jack and I at Bear's Den Hostel. She then turned her car southbound and headed home to Florida. After reviewing maps, I decided to try hiking the Roller Coaster on Friday NoBo & slack packing style. This would give me a chance to try out the new foot technique and with less weight and we'll see what happens. So I set up transport with Strings, re-packed my gear, hung out watching a movie with some thru-hikers and crashed.
Date: 2015-05-29
From: Ashby Gap / US50/17

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 13.3

Roller Coaster. Tried a 13.6 mile hike today on a section called the Roller Coaster. String picked us up at Bear's Den and drove us to Ashby Gap. The plan was to walk NoBo right into Bear's Den Hostel. Once again it was hot and humid. The fix for my foot was perfect!!! A bandage with a doughnut hole in it!!! Unbelievable!I drank 4 liters of water over the 13.6 miles of the Roller Coaster, went pee 4 times throughout the day. So I was doing a lot better on keeping tract of myself in addition to Jackson. Also, I'd force myself to stop on uphill climbs even though I wasn't physically taxed so that I could cool down and not get overheated. Pleased with my newly discovered technique for a new set of weather conditions. I hear from the thru-hikers that they don't hike during the heat of the day but instead pull over somewhere and nap. I'll have to remember to do that in the future when its so hot/humid.Sadly, it took me 11 hours to hike the 13.3 miles. When I'd  start to overheat I'd stop and rest for 2-3 minutes and then move on. It worked ok but it took forever. This simply cannot be a good idea for me health wise to hike like this. Thus tomorrow will be another zero. I'm so disappointed. But I tried.I went to Horse Shoe Bar for dinner with 3 new friends. Drove them back to the hostel along with three others. Lights out. Failed to mention today was mile 1000 day!We will hike next out of Harper's Ferry North for four days starting Sunday. They are predicting cooler weather for that stretch. Sweet!
Date: 2015-05-30
From: Harper's Ferry

To: Ed Garvey Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: scattered clouds

My planned Zero Day turns in a Nero Day (i.e. Nearly Zero Mile Day). Rose late. Hung around hostel until 9:30 a.m. and then headed to meet Jeff in Frederick, MD. Then we drove my van to Caledonia State Park. Sadly had to park on main road instead of the long-term parking because that was full. The initial plan was to go back to Harper's Ferry and spend the night in a hostel, hiking out Sunday for 4 days. But throughout the morning's driving, Jeff and I decided to instead head out of Harper's Ferry late in the day and spend the night at Ed Garvey Shelter. So, at Caledonia State Park, I re-packed both my backpack and Jackson's and then we all went to pickup Jeff's daughter Stephanie. She drove us to Harpers Ferry and will park Jeff's truck near our Tuesday night shelter for our resupply.Stephanie took us to the ATC Welcome Center in Harpers Ferry and dropped us off. Jack and I got our picture taken for the official AT book. We were Section Hiker #180 for the year. I had to talk with the sheriff about a girl they were trying to find on the AT, her dad was worried, I knew all about her cuz I'd just been hiking with her for like 6 days! It was Kate they were looking for!!!!She's ok so we left for the 1st shelter, Ed Garvey Shelter, in on the AT NoBo. Jeff and I couldn't hike fast in the heat so ended up night hiking by headlamps. Got here at 9:30 p.m. in the dark. Bedtime! Wow!
Date: 2015-05-31
From: Ed Garvey Shelter

To: Dahlgren Backpack Campground
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Today started with a 0.4 mile hike straight downhill to the spring for water. I filled all Jack & my bottles as well as Jeff's. Jackson came with me and helped carry all that water back up hill in his pack. Thus his trail name Water Boy. He always helps with the water.Discovered there were two Boy Scout toupees here last night and I'd set my tent up in the middle of the cooking area in the dark last night. Ops.Nice but humid hike with Jeff Burt until a thunderstorm chased us up and over White Rock Cliff and then proceeded to dump on us. We arrived at Rocky Run Shelter and hung out there with other hikers until the rain quit.Before the rain, we had second breakfast and a siesta at Gathland State Park. We arrived at Dahlgren Backpack Campground around 5 p.m. Jeff and I set about camp chores of setting up tents and cooking dinner. Shortly before dark, I checked radar due to some new rumbling out in the distance. Yikes! There was a huge storm headed our way and we didn't have much time. Started throwing stuff in tent and battening down the hatches. We are now tucked in our tents as another thunderstorm rolls through. The rain is so loud that Jeff and I can't even hear each other talk between our two tents. Love sleeping in a tent in the rain but I keep checking for leaks!!! We are good, lights out.
Date: 2015-06-01
From: Dahlgren Backpack Campground

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: broken clouds

My SPOT isn't going to work tonight. It is POURING out. It started out as a beautiful day. Sadly my friend Jeff took his third spill in two days and we felt it best he not risk it to go on. He just had knee surgery 6 months ago. So sadly Jeff called for a ride home. He'll come stay at the shelter with me tomorrow night. We saw the Washington Monument today, the remote one, and then we crossed I-70 on a bridge built just for the AT. Jack and I had fun waving at all the semi drivers. They made Jack nervous so I calmed his fears by getting all excited and then he was barking at them. Too funny! Mostly nice hike today. But then the AT never disappoints so they threw in a few miles of Boulder hiking just for fun. Rain was predicted. Came wheeling into Ensign Cowall Shelter moments before the sky opened up and poured, 6:00 pm. After some quick questions and offers to make space in the shelter it was clear that the shelter was full. When we got a break in the rain I set up my tent and then cooked dinner in the Shelter as the sky continued to rain down. Am now tucked dry in my tent. And it is POURING!!! I have the rain fly totally dropped against the sides ( not staked out) because it is raining so hard that the rain splashes in otherwise.
Date: 2015-06-02
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Pen Mar County Park
Miles today: 9.5

Plan for today was to hike to Deer Lick Shelters 14.5 miles NoBo. But it was still raining when we woke. Jack and I hung out in the tent in the nice warm sleeping bag for another hour. It was nice inside the tent. After braving the weather, cooking breakfast at the shelter, and packing up the wet tent and now wet supplies we headed down the trail. The shelter water source was behind us and we hadn't stopped to refill bottles last night due to the rain. So this morning we stopped at the first spring to refill. It continued to drizzle.The entire trail into Pen Mar County Park was very rocky, but the most exciting part of the day was when we got to Little Antietam Creek and it was extremely swollen. This was about to become our first official river crossing where we'd have to get wet. I stood for a few minutes trying to decide if I should cross with or without my boots on. A young woman came along and decided to cross with hers on. Several hikers coming at me decided to do it with their boots off, and then there were a few young men who I later learned had dared to jump from rock to rock. I crossed with my boots on which now meant my boots were full of water.The rain continued to increase and I got colder as the day wore on despite the physical activity of hiking. Where did all that wonderful heat go? We stopped at Raven Rock Shelter waiting for a break in the rain. Jack and I are now sharing my sleeping bag because it's cold when you are wet and quit hiking. Nice dry camp socks on. Jack is softly snoring inside the bag. Called Jeff and he is going to pick us up in 5 miles at Pen Mar County Park and take us into town for the night to dry out. (Wimpy Section Hiker)When we arrived at Pen Mar, Jack was unbelievably overjoyed to be done and to see Jeff. He was hilarious!!!
Date: 2015-06-03
From: Fayetteville, PA

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0

Over dinner last night at a nice dry restaurant, I decided that because tomorrow was our last hiking day and it was once again simply going to rain, that today Jackson and I would pack it in and go home. Jeff and I had retrieved my van last night from Caledonia State Park and stayed at a motel in Fayetteville. So, this morning Jeff and I parted ways and Jackson and I headed back to Wisconsin. It felt good to get home safely after what was pretty much a successful 2015 Section Hike. Plans to hike those two missed 20 mile Section that still remain in VA during our 2016 Section Hike began forming in my head before I even arrived at home.Though I'd planned to hike a final 14.5 miles on that 15th day I returned home happily exhausted from this year's adventure. It was clear I could wrap this trip up and put down a healthy 162.2 miles total. Not the 220 I'd hoped for but a success nonetheless. I have now completed the entire Southern 1/2 of the AT!!! Next year we tackle Pennsylvania!!!
Date: 2015-04-12
From: Fontana Dam

To: Birch Spring Gap campsite 113
Miles today: 5.6

I am taking a few zero days. On my first zero day after spending a few hours with Dave, I took a road trip up to Mason, Ohio where my daughter is visiting my dear friend of 32 years, Teri. Teri is battling cancer for the second time in her life. She is with me on this journey every day, every step of the way. I don't really think I understood what she was going through until I was on this trail. When I told her I am hiking the AT, her response over the phone (I was on a mountain somewhere in NC) was "it's like cancer". I had tears. So here I am a short five hour drive north from home. My journal entries are a little out of order because I just registered for on on Monday night, April 27th, after hiking 176 miles (8% of the AT). Dave had picked me up in Erwin, TN so I could come home for a couple of days. While here at Teri's house I woke up in the middle of the night (I wasn't really asleep) and just had to write about all the amazing hikers that have crossed my path. This will be a bit lengthy but I must write it all down. My first day on the trail way back on April 12th, my very first thru hiker I had ever met was Tex. How appropriate. He was from Texas where we had just moved from. I met him at Shukstack with Dave who had hiked with me this far. A funny thing about Dave hiking with me, I am afraid to admit, was the fact that, after we had crossed Fontana Dam, I had no idea what the white blaze looked like. I laugh about this now and other hikers have heard this story. The dumb lady who didn't even have a map book. That's me. I bought one in Hot Springs. I arrive at camp and was immediately questioned by the ridge runner about my backcountry permit. He gave me a bit of a hard time and asked if I had left my permit in the box. No, I told him. That was for thru hikers, I am a section hiker. He checked my permit and grumbled but finally showed me where to set up my tent. After setting up my tent I went and sat by the fire. Several young kids where cooking and talking. Not one of them said hello to me. The ridge runner was there and gave up his spot on the log so I could join them. Since no one talked to me, I talked with him. When he found out I am a member of The Friends of The Smokies, he softened up. Part of the fee for this pays his salary. When he left, a girl named Cookie looked at me and said "where did you come from?" Well, I had been sitting there for 20 minutes having a conversation with the ridge runner right in front of her. She works with kids who have autism but is taking a break to hike the AT. There was Whookie, who has dreadlocks and carries a guitar. I enjoyed her guitar playing. There was a guy named Bagels, one named Salty,and a couple of others but I didn't catch there names, and Tex. They seemed to be in their own la la land smoking, I don't care to know what, but we all know. They passed it around and when it got to me, for some reason it went back the other way. I dunno, I wonder what gave it away? Do I look like a retired police officer or something? Was it something I said? I went to my tent.