morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-06-18
From: Pine Swamp Shelter

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: clear sky

Today I¢m officially sick and tired of oatmeal. No more oatmeal. Maybe I¢ll eat Poptarts.Nice hike today. Right after I started walking, I came to signs about the Stony Creek Bridge being washed away and that it was okay to follow the paved road. I stayed with the white blazes.   Richard, the section hiker, told me earlier that he planned to ford the creek in his Crocs. When I came to the creek, I found large boulders for stepping stones and planks tied securely over some for dry passage to the other side. Richard didn¢t have to ford the creek. Oh yeah, the bridge was washed away by one of the hurricanes four years ago. Does the trail club plan to keep using the road as part of the official trail?Again today there were nice temperatures and only breezes in the high places. The trail was equally littered by pieces of half eaten leaves, caterpillar poop, and tiny light green boomerangs of maple seeds.I did not see anybody all day except for Richard, the section hiker. We are doing the same miles, so we are the only two people again at the shelter. About one mile before War Spur Shelter, I looked up and saw a bear cub crossing the trail. I froze and started looking everywhere for mama bear. The cub was oblivious of my presence. He was slowly meandering away, sometimes stopping to eat something. After taking a picture, I started singing loudly, ¢Where, Oh Where is Your Mama?¢ That got his attention and he quickly hightailed it over a rise. I continued to sing various made up songs for awhile as I hiked. Cool. Two bears in two days. Only one big black beetle today.
Date: 2008-06-19
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Today started with a 1200 foot up. I saw a doe in the woods. I told her that I¢m not going to hurt her, so she went back to eating. Then I met a southbound hiker who told me that there was a reward at the top of the hill. Cokes.I saw the trash before I saw the cooler. Someone had dumped their trash in the trash bag that was left for the empty soda cans. Animals, of course, tore it open and spread the debris around. There was a half eaten one pound block of butter in the middle of the trail. It had animal teeth marks. Why would someone leave a 1 lb. block of butter? Why would someone bring a 1 lb. block of butter hiking?Thanks to Super Dave¢s kindness, I picked an orange soda and sat down to enjoy it. When the woods get quiet, you can hear the pitter patter sound like rain. But it isn¢t. It¢s caterpillar poop. Unless you are out here, you have no idea how widespread the Gypsy Moth problem is.I met up with Richard, the section hiker, again at Laurel Creek Shelter. After a break, he left first. The trail turned from rocky and caterpillar poopy to pastures. Beautiful and picturesque. Green rolling hills with dark green clusters of trees as a back drop. Perfect blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds. An occasional red house or barn to complete the idyllic scene.I climbed 8 stiles and walked around 3 that were missing a fence, to go through the pastures. It was lovely walking. I met two southbound slackpacking hikers coming the other way. (I¢ve seen so few people lately.) One of the stiles I climbed over was next to the Keffer Oak, a 300 year old oak that measures 18 feet around. Then there was another climb up to Sinking Creek Mountain. When I reached the top, a small doe was frozen in place staring at me straight on. She seemed to be a fake plastic statue that people buy for their lawns. That is, until she ran off.It¢s getting late and I want to get to the shelter. Otherwise the walk along the ridge top was beautiful. Sunlight was coming across the ridge at a slant. It was a mellow time of the day. I passed many mystery piles of rocks.I lost direct sunlight when I turned east and headed 0.4 mile downhill to Sarver Hollow Shelter. It is a beautiful and well made one with a covered deck for the picnic table. Well worth the trip.When I arrived there was no one here. I had no idea what happened to Richard. I was out of water so I decided to skip dinner and go straight to bed (a sleeping bag on top of a Thermarest). After I got in bed, Richard showed up. He had missed the turn off. He also had decided to skip dinner but he took his headlamp with him to go look for water. After dark one more hiker showed up ¢ Big Brown.
Date: 2008-06-20
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: overcast clouds

First order of business: go get water. Richard suggested that I take my camera with me to take pictures of the old Sarver cabin. Good idea. Finding the water took awhile. It wasn¢t easy to find a pool deep enough for dipping. I¢m taking my time this morning. I promised myself a short day when I was making that last climb yesterday. Also if I didn¢t do 6 miles, I would have to do 16 miles. Uh-uh.After the blue blaze climb back up to the trail from Sarver Hollow I met a couple of hikers sitting and waiting for their friends. I found out that today is the Summer Solstice, not tomorrow because of Leap Year. This is important because it¢s Hike Naked Day. These guys had participated but they had their pants back on when I saw them. They, however, still had their shirts off. One guy with an extremely hairy chest had a large heart shaved in the middle. His trail name is Care Bear. Awww¢¦When I hiked this section four years ago, I had forgotten the easy ridge walk. Today I remembered why. This section has the several horrid huge 45* angle slanted rock slabs. I¢m glad it wasn¢t raining and that it was better blazed this time. At one point when I was standing on a rock, I could see the valleys on both sides of the ridge with the mountains beyond. After I arrived at Niday Shelter, three other hikers showed up ¢ Sharky, Teg, and Crabapple (pronounced as Cra/bap/ple, sort of). They were the other hike naked people. They were clothed now. Sharky proudly shared that he was the one who shaved the heart on Care Bear¢s chest. Sharky and Teg went on ahead. Crabapple will be meeting a friend soon so she¢s making shorter days and staying here.Hey! Kamin and Inside-Out just came. I thought I would never see them again and here they are. And Flying J is with them! He had gotten off the trail with them to watch the Celtics game. Since then they have been hiking big miles. Today they hiked the same miles I hiked in two days. I¢m so slow.We also have Shepherd tenting nearby. His dog has methodically marked the area all around the shelter, so we¢ll have no bears tonight.
Date: 2008-06-21
From: Niday Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: broken clouds

I wasn¢t sure it would rain or not, so I put my pack cover on. It sort of acts like insurance against rain if you put it on when it is not raining. This is hiker magical thinking.Just assume that I¢m either the last one leaving or if I¢m not, I¢m soon passed by everybody.I was surprised to find Kamin, Inside-Out, and Flying J taking a break halfway up the mountain. They told me to signal when I get to the top. Before I¢ve gone far, we heard shouting from the others who made the summit. My guys quickly put on their packs and passed me.When I reached the top there was a bench to use to take a break. I went ahead and took off my pack cover when I transferred water from my Nalgene into my Platypus. The sun was shining and the trail was a wide grassy road.I was looking forward to visiting the Audie Murphy Monument. I was disappointed when I missed it four years ago. I was hiking faster than I thought and missed the turn off. I did not want to miss it this year. Audie Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in World War II. He later became a movie star and acted in a movie about himself called, ¢To Hell and Back.¢ I love the irony. He was someone my dad respected. They were both from Texas. Dad was pleased when they named a VA hospital after Audie Murphy. I wanted to visit the monument for my dad. This monument was erected here in Virginia because Audie Murphy had died in an airplane accident nearby. He was only 46 years old.I found Kamin, Inside-Out, and Flying J resting again at the turn off. They took off again after my visit to the monument.When I was coming down the mountain, the thunder started to rumble. Crabapple, who I just passed, passed me saying that she didn¢t want to be up here with the lightening. I sped up my pace too. It was a nice smooth graded down. It started to sprinkle so I put my pack cover back on.I found everyone taking a break at Trout Creek near a road. Kamin, Inside-Out, and Flying J were eye-balling a white car parked nearby by some day hikers. They were figuring out where they wanted to go. Since it was only one more mile to the shelter, I continued on. Awhile later I was joined by Richard and Crabapple. It rained but not for long. I got more wet by walking between the shrubs growing close to the trail. The sun had come out again before I got to the shelter.
Date: 2008-06-23
From: VA 624

To: Catawba Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: scattered clouds

The nice man at the Homeplace restaurant came back at 8:00 am to unlock the door to the kitchen so we could go in and use the restrooms. It was nice to have a sink and mirror to groom myself. I was chagrined to see that I have the pink eye and yellow mucus thing again ¢ sheesh. It took a long time to heal up last time.After I packed up it was 9:00 am and I headed up the street to the General Store for coffee. Richard (whose trail name is Perager, but I couldn¢t pronounce it) had already gone back to the trail. When I came out of the store, I found Crabapple wailing for a ride back to the other store, near where we got off the trail. She found us one right away. When we got back to the store, she took off and I called my husband on the pay phone. It was so nice just to hear his voice. Crabapple is meeting a friend to hike with us for a few days. By the time I left the store it was 10:30 am. I remembered the next section being pasture. But it wasn¢t all pasture. First there were woods with cowpies. I was thinking that ¢Cowpies in the Forest¢ would make a catchy book title. Then came the pastures. And stiles. I climbed over just 6 today. The hay had just been cut and left in huge rolls. To me, they look like large rabbit pellets. Usually the trail is easy to follow through fields, but this time it took a sharp eye to see the trampled strip, even with the cut hay, where hundreds of hikers have gone before. I saw two box turtles in the fields. Then I was back in the woods with no cowpies and lots of ups.   I was ticked when I came across ¢SLO BAR¢ written on the trail. The trail after crossing VA 311 has seen lots of improvements since I hike it four years ago. The main reason is that lots of day hikers go up to see McAfee Knob. There were a dozen bridges over slanted rocks and natural steps added to the trail. Richard/Perager and I stopped at the shelter before McAfee Knob. We didn¢t think too much of this shelter after seeing nicer ones. And the privy gets no points at all. But the whole area surrounding it has bright green moss. We were joined by Perry, a section hiker from Florida. Later, Tiger Bomb and Bearmeister joined us. Bearmeister carries an unbelievable number of water bottles ¢ 5 liters. That¢s 10 pounds!.
Date: 2008-06-24
From: Catawba Mountain Shelter

To: Lambert's Meadow Shelter
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Tiger Bomb and Bearmeister left early. They are hiking all the way into Daleville today. They plan to take a zero day tomorrow. Richard/Perager and I will get into Daleville tomorrow. This has been a long section without a shower. I¢m positively grubby and sticky (Daleville, Daleville). Also, I need to get new pants in Daleville. The stitching holding the zipper to the pants has come undone. I have a big gaping hole in front. Today was an exciting day. First thing this morning was McAfee Knob. It is the most photographed spot on the trail. I went all the way to the edge and let my boots dangle. I chatted with the lady who took my picture, Ashley (trail name Oakley). McAfee Knob is also the 700 milepoint on the trail.Also, today we (Perry, Perager, and I) walked along the half mile of Tinker Cliffs. The trail went right along the very edge at times. It was thrilling. Although I didn¢t remember all the climbs we had to do today from four years ago, it was a good day. I feel so invigorated. We got to the shelter early, and it is really buggy here. I wished I had a mosquito coil to burn. We had a young buck and doe come visit with us already. I saw three does during my hike today. Long Man Walking came by for a visit. He is a young man from England. He may hold the record of the most times being taken home by complete strangers. He¢s hiking from VA 311 to Daleville today. It was Bill Bryson¢s book, ¢A Walk in the Woods¢ that got him interested in hiking the AT. Long Man Walking told me that Bryson moved back to England. A new wildlife sighting: a flying squirrel. Only Perry got see him actually fly. We got to see him cling to the tree and look all bug-eyed. He is smaller than a regular squirrel.
Date: 2008-06-25
From: Lambert's Meadow Shelter

To: Daleville
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: clear sky

I got up after 6 am and I was hiking after 7 am. Nothing like a town visit to get me going. Although I did this section four years ago, I remember nothing of it. I might not remember it after today. (Daleville, Daleville). Ups and downs, mostly downs. Graded trails and steep river beds in the trail if it rains. A ridge walk with a reservoir on one side and a valley with an interstate on the other. Rocks that had to be climbed. Although I got an early start, it got hot and humid early. I had a new wildlife sighting ¢ a large black bird of prey with a hooked beak. He was sitting on top of a dead pine, not too far from me. Just as I took the picture, he spread his wings and took off. My camera caught him with his wings stretched out. I¢ve been seeing these birds floating on wind drafts. I got into town a little after 1 pm. I was so tired and sleepy as I was hiking. I didn¢t have my coffee this morning. A nap would be nice but I need to get all my chores done so I can leave tomorrow. I just saw Inside-Out. They are going to do a 22-mile slackpack tomorrow. Their shuttle will drop them off at a road crossing 22 miles up the trail. They will then hike back to Daleville with day packs and spend another night at this motel. I had my long needed and lovely long hot shower. Washed my dirtiest clothes while I wore my cleanest dirty clothes. I wthen had only 30 minutes to get to the post office so there I was, power walking down the highway in 91 degree heat according to the bank sign. I made it with 2 minutes to spare. Then I got two different offers of a ride. I had Kathy, the postal employee, drop me off at the outfitters. She even offered to wait for me (no, thank you). I¢ll be here awhile spending large sums of money). I bought:-new convertible pants (zip-off legs). I bought a pair that fit me and ended up with BUZZ OFF by Ex Officio. The pants are supposed to repel ticks, ants, mosquitoes, flies, chiggers, midges¢¦ we¢ll see¢¦.-new hose for my platypus. I was growing mold in my other one (poor hose hygiene)-new headlamp. My other one broke off from the strap.-new Polartec fleece jacket. The zipper broke on my other one.After shopping, I got together with Flying J, Kamin and Inside-Out. We went across the street for Mexican food and jumbo frozen margaritas.When we came back, I got on the computer in the lobby of the hotel. I had a message from You Go Girl. I was glad to hear from her. It was a s if she dropped of fthe planet. There was nothing from her in the registers. I went to my room where the TV kept me awake for a long time.
Date: 2008-06-26
From: Daleville

To: Fullhardt Knob Shelter
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: few clouds

In the morning after another shower, I took my cleanest dirty clothes and sleeping bag to the laundry room. While they were washing and drying, I had coffee and donuts and chatted with the other hikers.Back in my room, I organized my things and got a box ready to mail home some stuff. This time on the way to the post office, I asked a lady who was stopped at a light if she was headed that way. She offered me ride and even waited for me at the P.O. She then dropped me off at Kroger¢s where I needed to go. I only needed a 2 days supply of food and Nutella. I¢m meeting my husband Saturday at the Peaks of Otter. I¢m so excited that I¢ll be seeing him. After I got packed and vacated my room, I needed a break from all the rushing around I¢ve been doing. So as I was walking next door to the gas station for a soda, I heard a loud whistle. It was Perager. He came over to tell me that he is getting off the trail and good-bye. I¢m glad that he enjoyed his section hike. I was ready to leave town in the middle of the day with the temperature in the 90¢s. I only planned to go to the next shelter. It was hot and uphill for 5 miles. Sweat was getting in my eyes and making them sting. Fullhardt Knob Shelter is the last shelter on the AT that uses a cistern system from the roof runoff water. That¢s all well and good but no water came out of the spigot. No water. An approaching thunderstorm made me decide to sit tight. No dinner tonight. But I¢ll live.With the approaching storm came Flying J and Kamin on their southband slack pack. They came to the shelter for a break and to avoid the lightening. Inside-Out was not with them. He had a problem with his hiking poles and went back to Daleville. When the storm passed, (leaving no rain to speak of), we said our good byes and they headed to town.I set my tent up in the shelter to avoid the bugs. I¢m the only one here.
Date: 2008-06-27
From: Fullhardt Knob Shelter

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: scattered clouds

I got going early this morning but I had no energy and I felt drained. I didn¢t get to have coffee this morning because I didn¢t have extra water. I ran out of drinking water about 0.8 miles before Curry Creek. Fortunately, Curry Creek had water while other springs and creeks had already dried up.   I was pouring sweat. During my sluggish hike, nothing seemed familiar. Where was I when I hiked this before? Noon. I managed to beat the thunderstorm to Wilson Creek Shelter. When the coast was clear, I made the long hike down to get water from a puddle. When I came back I found Crabapple here. She was doing a slackpack south to Daleville.I had originally planned to go 13 miles today. But it is just not in me today (I have 11 more miles to do to get to Peaks of Otter tomorrow). I thought if I had coffee and cooked a meal, it would give me some energy. Nope.I already noticed that the AT criss-crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway several times. I have options¢¦One delightful thing is that the plant of the day is blueberries! I noticed them all along both sides of the trail today. They are close to the ground and the berries are little and green. Occasionally there would be a blue one that I would sample. I¢m envious of the hikers coming through when they are ripe. Another quick windy storm roared through here at 4 pm. It only left a few raindrops. Oh yeah. I¢m the only one here.
Date: 2008-06-28
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Peaks of Otter
Miles today: 10.5

I woke up ready to do bigger miles today. I had my coffee and got hiking by 8 am. It quickly became hot and sweaty. According to the shelter register, there is no water for 17 miles and many concerned hikers.I did not see anyone hiking until later in the day. He was coming the other way and I told him that we must be the only idiots out on the trail. He didn¢t disagree.I got to Bearwallow Gap quickly, tried to get a ride for awhile, and then decided I would rather be walking the 5 miles than stand in the heat. Tourist places are usually hard placed to get a ride. Not everybody is aware of the Appalachian Trail. I should have tried harder. There is no where to walk on the Blue Ridge Parkway except in the skinny rain ditch. It became an uphill slog. Then it decided to pour, as in rain. I had to quickly pull my rain jacket out of my pack. The rain was cold and pelting. I was wishing with all my heart that my husband would find me and rescue me. It was close to the check-in time at the Peaks of Otter Lodge. He should be somewhere in the area. And then there he was! He stopped on the Parkway, pulled my pack off my back, tossed it in the trunk, and whisked me away to the lodge. Where to my amazement sitting in rockers on the porch were Inside-Out, Flying J, and Kamin! Just when I think I won¢t see them again, there they are. There were hoping to get a room but there was no vacancy. So they were waiting for dinner at the restaurant and then would go to a campground. The Peaks of Otters facilities reminded me of Shenendoah¢s. There was a magnificent view of Sharp Top from the dining room.
Date: 2008-06-29
From: Peaks of Otter

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

After my husband and I checked out of the lodge, we saw Flying J, Kamin, and Inside-Out waiting up at the road for a ride. My darling husband made room in his car to stuff 3 extra hikers and their packs inside. We drove them up the Blue Ridge Parkway to where they had gotten off the trail.I had told Kamin, Inside-Out and Flying-J that they need a team name so I don¢t have to write out all their names when I write about them. They picked Team Skittles. Flying J had previously bought a huge bag of skittles to eat on the trail. Then the others started munching on Skittles, too. Flying J was delighted to hear that I even bought Skittles in Daleville. So Team Skittles it is.   We all took pictures before we left.My husband and I went back to the Peaks of Otter to visit the Visitor Center and the Nature Center (excellent) before heading home. I decided to head home because I wanted to jump up the trail to Vermont. Remember, I had already section-hiked the AT from Springer Mountain to Manchester Center, VT. I started section hiking the AT with that first backpacking trip with my brother in 2000. I want to finish the section-hike this year in honor and in the memory of my brother. I wish I wasn¢t so slow. I¢ll finish this year¢s hike next year. Stay tuned.