morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-05-01
From: US 58 to Abington

To: East fork of big Wilson creek
Miles today: 16.5

we all woke up early at 4am so the girls could start the long journey back to NY.Felt really crappy still but didn¢t want to keep them  Hiked in the dark for about 2 hours through some great farm fields.Another beautiful sunny day.Came to a nice spot called Elk field where we met some day hikers who were asking me about the journey so far.One of them has section hiked the whole trail. I was still really hurting from food poisoning,but decided to hike the .5 mile side trail up to Mt Rogers.Mt Rogers is the highest point in Virginia.It has no views but a very nice neon green mossy trail leading up to it.And I can say that I did it! After Mt Rogers took a break at Thomas Knob Shelter..Its a beautiful 2 story shelter in a beautiful setting where ponies walk by.Had a bite to eat and filtered some water there.  Next couple of miles were rugged and rocky but had 360 views for miles.Reminded of scenery you would see in an old western movie.All Barr and rocky with bright blue skies.Beautiful country.I still at times think to myself,am I really doing this and seeing this?  Hit the 500 mile mark and it made me just kind of happy.Just a bad day of not appreciating everything as much as I should because of feeling like death.Took a nice break on some cliffs above Fat man squeeze.First thing I ate of substance in over 2 days.Tuna on a wrap went down and felt good.Layed down on the cliff for half an hour and just soaked in the sun.Felt really good and almost dozed off.Started hiking again and every part of my body just ached and felt exactly what I always thought being poisoned would feel like.  Pushed on through Grayson highlands.Gorgeous hike over big rock bumps with more 360 views.Only saw a few ponies.A huge military plane (osprey)flew right over us and made a wide turn around a mountain.Was really cool to see.  Met a nice couple from Oklahoma.Really like meeting people my age out here.Hope we run into them again  Ended up camping by another beautiful ice cold stream.I soak my feet in these whenever possible.Really helps with pain and swelling.An F 15 flew by low and fast while I was doing this.Must be a base close by.  We had some great visitors come by our tents.6 ponies came very close and were close by until dark .They are really fun to watch.Never thought I would tent where ponies live and graze.  Looks like daytime the moon is so bright tonight .Really was an amazing day.Just want to wake up and feel normal tomorrow.Missing my Bethie tonight.The river will help me sleep¢Listen to the river sing sweet songs to rock my soul¢-Grateful Dead
Date: 2018-05-02
From: East fork of big Wilson creek

To: Trimpi Shelter 
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: broken clouds

Slept like a baby next to the stream.No ponies in sight this morning.Another warm and brilliant sunny morning.Feeling somewhat normal and better today.  Early morning took us through some awesome gated farm fields.Had to walk right by some very intimidating long horn bulls.Some were only about 20 feet away and just staring watching every move we made.Miles of beautiful farm fields above 4000¢ with 360 views once again.   Arrived to a spot called the Scales where livestock used to be weighed and sold.Its a livestock corral .While we were going through the gates 7 ponies walked right up to us right on the trail.Of course we hung out with them for a bit.  Starting to get some strength back so we were moving along way better today.Stopped at Old orchard shelter to take a quick break.Met more section hikers there.Just after the shelter we met ¢Evil¢.He is a trail angel who was also doing trail work at the same time.He was carrying an axe and a big saw and a big pack full of food for thru hikers.Hard boiled eggs,sausage and cheese sandwiches ,and candy.Tasted so good!He also told us he had cold drinks and fresh fruit at his truck when we get to it.May not mean much to everyday people,but food is everything out here.Most of all heavy food like that, that is hard for us hikers to carry.Super nice guy.  The rest of the day was beautiful forested trails with lots of streams.Comers creek waterfall was a great spot.It was really warm today,around 80.I wanted to jump in so bad but I know exactly how frigid that water is. Followed another 4 mile very dry section of ridge up and down to Trimpi Shelter.Great old stone shelter with a huge fireplace inside.I tent whenever possible though.Just like the freedom .Thor is here and all new people we haven¢t met yet except Roadkill who took my request to play another number on his Indian flute.It was absolutely amazing to hear something so nice out in the wilderness with birds singing in the background.  Crickets and birds are extra loud tonight.Not sure why ,but really loud!
Date: 2018-05-03
From: Trimpi Shelter 

To: Stealth tenting on a ridge 
Miles today: 12.0

Super bright moon again last night.Was really cool ,watched it rise right from my tent.Super loud birds too,all night long they went at it with no break.Didnt get much sleep.  Beautiful sunny morning and warm again.Pretty easy trail took us through some gated cattle fields.Once again they were standing right on the trail!Not afraid of people at all.  Followed a gorgeous ridge line for miles.Huge farms way down below to the east.Took a quick break at Partnership Shelter.Great spot.This Shelter is like a log cabin and even has showers.You can also have pizza delivered to it.That is super rare out here!  Visitors center is a short distance away.A nice lady that worked there told us that this guy shuttles people into Marion Virginia for free.So we loved the idea of having some fast food and a couple of beers.The Guy was busy so he sent his son to come get us.Roadkill showed up so we told him and he was all for it too.Sparks was the sons name.He did the AT in 15 and gave us some great info.He told us about a great Mexican place to eat that had 32 oz beers.Perfect.!He joined the 3 of us for an amazing lunch and good time.He then took us to Wal mart for a quick resupply.He then brought Comfortably Numb and I back to where he picked us up from.Roadkill is staying in Marion for the night.Sparks wouldn¢t take a penny for all of this.What an amazing guy.Once again,I truly believe Southerners are the nicest people out there.  We only did a few miles after getting back on the trail.On a really quiet ridge and just saw a spectacular sunset.How do I deserve all of this?
Date: 2018-05-06
From: Stealth on a ridge

To: Va 63
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

Wicked thunder and lightning in the early am.Ended before daylight and we packed up and got out without getting rained on again!Miles took off quickly because his girlfriend was going to be picking him up later.  Sunday¢s through morning mist was beautiful and views west from ridge to huge farms in a big valley.Everything is so bright green now down low  Came to a gravel road where a fire ranger was waiting to talk to us.Told is a bad forest fire was happening for the last few days I¢m the next 4 mile area where we were headed.He also said we would have to take a detour off of the AT and take part of the old AT instead.This really bummed us out because we really want to take every step of the trail and not detour for any reason.He said we could possibly get arrested if we didn¢t comply.He was a really nice guy just doing his job.He thru hiked in 19722.So we said we would detour.Got to the spot where the detour was supposed to be and there were no signs telling us to detour so we stayed on the AT.Came to a seriously cool overlook down into a valley with farms and took a break for lunch.Wayched rain about a mile away coming towards us.Amazing how quick it forms and gets to you.Left that spot and started seeing the forest fire damage.Everything was scorched black for about 2 1/2 miles.You could still feel the heat coming out of the ground and there were still a few smoldering and smoking spots.It was really cool to witness something that just happened and be able to walk through it,but really sucks to see everything so damaged.So we made it out of that section without getting arrested and only saw 2 Danish thru hikers in the area.  We were way overdue for a shower and needed to charge our battery packs so we hit Va 52 and got a ride into Bland ,Va..Stayed at Big Walker motel which was cheap and nice and had everything we needed around us.We resupplied our food and ate in town.Had a really fun night with Santa,a 51 year old farmer from Germany. we have been running into a lot on the trail.Really cool to sit back and relax and get to know someone while drinking some great beers and eating.Duck and Weasy and Green were also all staying there at the hotel.We have been seeing them a lot on the trail too.Very fun night with great people Talked to my Bethie and had some more beers and laughs with Comfortably Numb.Great night
Date: 2018-05-07
From: Va 52Va 63

To: Dismal falls
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: mist

Got an early ride back to where we left off the day before.Brisk morning.Forecast said rain,none in sight!  Today the trail was so nice and even flat at times.Feels so easy compared to every day so far.Flowers and leaves are really popping now.Hit the 600 mile mark today!A great feeling.Still a loooong way to go but feeling more confident in myself about finishing this whole thing.Anything can happen though so I try not to get my hopes up.One wrong move and anyone can get a bad injury really fast.  We decided at a nice little stream where we were filtering water and eating lunch to try to make it to Dismal falls to tent tonight.  Thunder and rain came but wasn¢t too heavy.Or maybe just getting used to it.Crossed a huge suspension bridge over Kimberling creek.Its a really wide creek and it is a strange green color,not sore why.Guidebook discourages drinking from it?????   Saw another one of those bright red buffs again.My awesome wife looked it up for me and found these birds to be Scarlet Tanangers.My new favorite bird!  Made it to Dismal falls where we are tenting.Beautiful wide ,15¢ y¢all waterfall that is running at full force today from all the recent rain.River leading to it is like rapids also.I know I am going to sleep like a baby tonight with the sound of the water so close.  Just walked 3/4 of a mile backtracking the AT so I could get a signal to call Bethie.Just feel better when I can talk to her and just say goodnight.Miss her and my kids terribly,but am determined more than ever to finish this whole thing.
Date: 2018-05-08
From: Dismal falls

To: Woods Hoe Hostel 
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

The ultimate peaceful sleep last night by the falls.Sound of water puts me in some kind of deep trance.Feel really refreshed this morning.Nice morning with sunrays burning through the early mist.Followed and crossed many little streams all morning.Trail was very muddy from thunderstorm yesterday.Pretty easy hiking all day though.Came to another huge burned area but found out later it was from a controlled burn which they do a lot of down here. So there is this one place I really wanted to stay at more than anywhere else on this whole trail.Its called Woods Hole hostel.Its a chestnut log cabin built in 1880.We arrived around 1 pm .Its even better than I thought it would be!We got a loft room above a living room and dining area for only$ 60.They have us a $30 break because we are through hiking.The best part Still is that it was the very original cabin from 1880.All the other rooms were added in the 1940s.The owner is the granddaughter of the original owners.Her name is Neville.They grow most of all of their own food and get all the meats locally.They offer a dinner and breakfast.Before dinner Neville asked that everyone say what they are thankful for.I said I am extremely thankful that my wife is allowing me to live out my dream of this hike which allows me to end up in beautiful places every day.The dinner was the absolute best food I have eaten in a long time,Even way before the trail.All fresh salads and dressings,homemade breads,homemade pasta and meat sauces and a spinach sauce I will never forget.Homemade ice cream for dessert.  This is a place I will never forget.Very cool time with hikers I haven¢t seen in weeks like Stretch,Rambo Juice,Hawkeye,Magic Pants and more.Santa was there and many more hikers I haven¢t run across yet.Everyone is happy to be out here and gets along great.  Can¢t beli I am sitting here writing this in an 1800s log cabin in Va while thru hiking the AT.If this is a dream I would rather never wake up from it.It all really does feel like one of those really good dreams you just don¢t want to wake from.     This whole thing is my dream.Its been absolutely amazing and I can¢t wait to see what¢s next!
Date: 2018-05-09
From: Woods Hoe Hostel 

To: Stealth tenting under power lines
Miles today: 19.4

Wonderful sleep at Woods Hole.Window in my room looked directly at a sunrise.Was a perfect way to start the day.Really hard to leave.Would have loved to stay another day!  Had pretty bad pain in my left foot from big toe back towards ankle.Painful but soaking it in streams really helped tremendously.Just have to keep an eye on it.Another pretty easy day of hiking old roads and ridge line.Made it to a really nice spot called Angels rest which had a great view down to Pearisburg Va,where we were headed to get some more foood supply to take us through the next 80 miles.Passed many day hikers on the way down who always have lots of questions.It feels good to me though to be able to explain what it¢s like to live out here  Got down to the road and tried to hitch into Pearisburg which is about a mile away.Not much traffic and no luck.Resupplied our food and headed to Pizza plus for lunch.Love all you can eat pizza and salad places.Ate sooo much.Had to walk back to the road where we got off.No luck hitching again.As soon as we stopped trying a really great older married couple picked us up immediately and brought us back.Great people.They have ridden bicycles across the country and had so many questions about the trail.  Started back into the woods only to come out to more roads and cross a huge bridge that takes you by a huge factory that makes cigarette filters and other things.Back into the woods again where I ran into a 64 year old who was asking all kinds of advice about the trail.He wants to try to do it next year.Nice Guy,hope he does it.Really beautiful hiking through big boulder fields and open forests up to Rice field shelter.This Shelter has a huge open view to the west.It was tent city so we moved on about a mile and are stealth camping under a giant power line tower with the same view the shelter had.We have it all to ourselves though!Saw an amazing sunset and now there are a whole bunch of towns lit up way below us.Its almost the sight you see when looking out of an airplane at night.Nicer though because of the mountains surrounding them.  Forgot to say I had my first tick on me today.One of the bad ones.Had the star on its back.Hate them,feeling paranoid now!
Date: 2018-05-10
From: Stealth tenting under power lines

To: Open field stealth camping 
Miles today: 20.4

Woke up to thunder and lightning in the near distance.Packed up quickly to avoid getting soaked  Today was a long day with a little of everything on the trail.Flooded section that was like walking in a stream,very rocky section that was very slow going,and some very muddy spots.A couple of heavy thunder and lightning storms during the afternoon.Some Crazy pink lightning too.Through all of this I found myself smiling and shaking my head.Am I weird for liking all of this stuff?Just makes me feel so alive to be out in all of it.  Wind rock was an excellent spot today.Puts you on top of some cliffs that give an excellent view of the north .Got to watch another thunderstorm form and make its way towards us.After leaving this spot the trail became a little easier,Nice and smoothe.Found a nice open field and set up.More rain came,Then left leaving a great rainbow behind.  Hiked with rabbit today a bit.His friend came down from NY and also gave us some nice trail magic.Fruit,cheese,sodas and more.  Feel like I really earned the 20 miles today.Hoping for 20 more tomorrow
Date: 2018-05-11
From: Open field stealth camping 

To: Midway Shelter 
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: scattered clouds

woke up early am to some strange noises.Sounded like a horse does when it breathes out loudly kind of.A little more gravelly sounding though.Like something was mad.Lasted like 10 minutes and wasn¢t far away at all.Was just too tired to get out and look   Really. Ice morning.Nice flat and down hiking all morning.Caught up and hiked with a nice girl from NJ named ET for a while.I think I told her my whole life story while hiking.Havent seen many people lately so it was nice .Really nice kid and I hope to hike with her again  Very warm today.Had lunch in a beautiful pasture.Took a long lunch break and just watched clouds roll by.  Next we stopped at Keffer oak.Its a massive tree estimated to be 300 years old.18¢ circumference.Its the biggest tree on the trail until you hit NY.There were huge black cows roaming around close by and a calf walked right up the trail. Next was Sinking Creek mtn.Pretty steep climb up.On tip you follow a ridge that has probably a hundred huge old cairns places closely together on top .Its really weird because they are so close together they really wouldn¢t have been used to tell you a direction to follow.The ridgeline then turned to all rock .Tougher hiking but the views were so great for a long open area.Saw a little lizard on the rocks..Was definitely not expecting to see lizards on the trail.Was a long dry section for the next 6 miles so we had to push on to get to the next water source.We were both pretty beat from the heat and terrain so it felt like forever to get to water.Saw some really lush and beautiful Mountain View¢s on the way down.  Found water and a tent spot @ Niday Shelter.Soaked my aching feet in an ice cold stream for a while.So cold it hurts,but helps  Met some cool new people here tonight.Savage,Jethro,Miz Man,and ET and Rabbit are here.So easy to connect with people out here.ET was about an hour behind us and saw a rattle snake on the ledges we were on earlier.She got a great pic of it.Was a big one!I am bummed,everyone is seeing them all around us.I really want to see one!  Think it¢s going to be a deep sleep tonight.Pretty quiet spot by a little stream is just what I need
Date: 2018-05-12
From: Midway Shelter 

To: Four pines hostel
Miles today: 16.8

Another nice morning walking towards a great sunrise through the trees.Pretty easy hiking all morning.Made it to a monument dedicated to Audie Murphy.He was the most highly decorated WW2 soldier.He died in an airplane crash in the 70s.  My left foot is really hurting today.May be a tendon.Need a whole day off to recover.We haven¢t taken a whole day off in 2 weeks and have been doing some big mile days.  The highlight of today was the climb up to Dragons tooth.Rugged but really impressive.Talked to a really nice ranger who was just so happy to be out there and be doing  his job.Gave us some great info about the trail too.A little side trail brings you to the actual tooth.Its a huge stone monolith you can climb.It does look like a big jagged tooth.I climbed to the top and wow ,what a view.It really is like standing on the pointy part of a fang about 50¢ high or more.Huge drops down on every side of you.Scary but I love scary.And the view was outstanding.Lots of day hikers were up there asking us all about the trail.I guess I am really looking like a thru hiker now  Super steep climb down Dragons tooth for the next few miles.Reminded ma a lot of hiking in NH or Maine.Rhododendruns were all over and in bloom everywhere.Beautiful and smell was so strong.Smelled SO good.Pretty Hot One again today.Heat really wears me down.  We decided to stay at 4 pines hostelwhich is close to the trail.As soon as we walked up the drive Midnight and Buttercup said they were going into town if we needed a ride.Really cool people and brought us to The Homeplace restaurant.Really nice place that serves an all you can eat country buffet.It was a one hour wait but Midnight said it would be worth it.Felt like a dirty homeless person.Everyone was so clean and dressed up.People were SO nice though and wanted to know all about the trail so far.Some people just can¢t wrap their heads around the whole idea of it.A lot of them think we are a little crazy I think.Dinner wAs so worth the wait.Great food and plenty of it.  We called Midnight back and he picked us up and brought us to a store so we could get some beers for later.He was telling us all about the hostel and that we could sleep just about anywhere we wanted.The hostel is a huge 6 car garage the owners converted into a place for thru hikers to stay.Midnight said he slept in the chicken coop before because it has a little loft above it.I asked if I could and he saidI should.So I did,it was awesome and quiet.The owners are extremely nice people and only take donations of what you can afford to pay.So many hikers here tonight.I know a lot of them and met and talked with lots of new ones.  Right across the road there is a little trail that takes you to a big cave.A. In here of us took a few beers and had a really fun time exploring it  Had a great time getting to know the stories  of some people I haven¢t seen on the trail before.Retreated to my chicken coop now.Glad I am staying here and ended up at this hostel.Chickens are under me but quiet and don¢t mind I am here.Hope you are all enjoying things as much as I am right now!Simple things-
Date: 2018-05-13
From: Four pines hostel 

To: Lamberts Meadow Shelter 
Miles today: 16.3

Super peaceful night of sleep in the chicken coop.Wish I could spend another night here    Going to be close to 90 today so we started early in the cool morning.Walked back to the trail and my foot started in again.Soaked it again in a cold stream which helped a little.Really have no choice but to take a whole day off and rest soon .Found some early morning trail magic which was beer .I had just one  Most of the morning took us through some beautiful pastures.Climbed some more and we saw our first bear.!It was good sized but took off like a rocket.Think we scared it ext section of trail was really crowded with day hikers.It was the trail up to McAfee knob.Saw a really cool neon green looking snake on the way up.Really slow going on the way up because of the heat and my foot troubles.  McAfee knob was everything I hoped it would be.Stunning view for sure.Got some great pics standing on the very edge.Wasnt at all as scary as people were making it out to be.Had a nice long lunch and filtered water on the way down  the knob.Talked with Jethro and Savage for a bit.Really nice people. Next few miles were like slow mo.Foot really slowing me down.Beautiful hike up to and at Tinker cliffs.Very long section of views from open cliffs.My opinion is that these are way better views than from McAfee knob,and I really liked McAfee!Just a really great day with some of the best views on the trail so far.On the way down the cliffs you walk next to some massive boulders.Makes you feel so small.  Ended up today at Lamberts meadow shelter .Staying in my tent by a small brook that I was able to soak my feet in again.There have been bear sightings here the last few nights. Update:Just as I was finishing this a good sized bear walked on the opposite side of this brook about 40¢away.Just kept looking over at us not scared and slowly walked away.First one I have ever seen so close.Wondering if he will be visiting again tonight now