morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-06-03
From: Quarter way inn

To: Chestnut knob shelter 569.2
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Quarter way inn to Chestnut knob shelter.Felt great leaving the inn after breakfast, but after a couple ups and downs was not in the best shape. My legs had felt great since Damascus and the zero but today the right it band was very irritated on the downhills. Because of such took it easy with only 14ish to the shelter. Stopped by 3 and hung out. Lots of storms came in about an hour after I stopped so maybe proceeding wouldn't have been great anyway. The hike up here was really nice with sunny ridgewalk over meadows and tons of wildflowers and mountain laurels.
Date: 2018-06-04
From: Chestnut knob shelter

To: Campsite 595ish
Miles today: 25.8

Chestnut knob to campsite at 595ishStarted hiking in great spirits on an awesome chilly day but descending soon caused some unhappiness in my right leg. Slowed down significantly and was kinda plodding along when I got to the 6 and half mile road where the slackpackers from yesterday rejoined. It was nice to see them all again as well as the hostel owner.  Kept up a slower pace on the way down to the shelter, went by it and sat at the creek to eat and hydrate. Started feeling better after that. At the Laurel creek crossing went in for a dip under the bridge and was informed I was only 6.9 miles from the store at bland. Managed to do thise and somehow felt completely better. Got to bland and had a 'mountain burger' a hamburger with a HUGE slice of bologna cooked with it. Then decided to hike a couple more miles to the next shelter (also the next water). Upon arrival at the shelter it was crowded with hikers that had a fire and we're shooting things with slingshots so I decided to keep going a birthday further with twiggyand mantragirl from quarter way inn. We hiked about a couple more miles and then found a campsite by the trail. Somehow after feeling so awful in the way down ended up hiking over 26 miles for my longest day so far of the trip.
Date: 2018-06-05
From: Campsite 595ish

To: Wapiti shelter
Miles today: 21.6
Weather: clear sky

295ish to Wapiti 617.6Had cowboy camped in light of no clouds seen all day prior. Woke up to some splendid colors in the sky. Grabbed my stuff and headed out before the two others. I had been told by several people to go and stay at the woods hole hostel which was at 624 and was considering pushing to it. Milage wise the hostel was just 10 miles before pearisburg which meant if I did a regular day I'd Nero in and then possibly another short day the next day for resupply. One sub 10 mile day for town is great but 2 back to back is not so appetizing.  With that in mind I started out before 7 however the right leg did start bugging me on the descent. Think it's definitely some left over from having sprained my left ankle,it's worst on like a stair stepper motion. But sometimes it feels just fine...I got to the road gap for Trent's grocery just past a giant suspension bridge that I swam under for a few minutes. From here it would have need 14 miles to the hostel and it was approximately 1pm. I decided to not go for it and instead hitched a ride to the grocery. Met up with rogue cartographer who had passed me in the morning and a couple others who were waiting for a package. Had a good burger and tried to resupply snacks and things in the hope that I would be able to get a couple meals at woods hole to skip pearrisberg. Hung out for a couple hours to charge my phone then got back to the trail. Ran into the girls from last night planning to go to the shelter (7more miles) so I decided I would too. Went by dismal falls and some one named frog showed me a spot to jump in from which was awesome. Had rogue cartographer take a photo of my second jump in then headed up to the shelter.
Date: 2018-06-06
From: Wapiti shelter

To: Woods hole hostel
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: light rain

Wapiti to woods hole hostelHad some excitement in the morning when a mouse emerged from twiggys backpack and ran all over her on it's way out. After that it was a pretty uneventful morning hike. For an hour kept up with Atlantis who had started 17 days after me and was crushing big miles but got dropped on the downhill.  Got to woods hole at like 930. Ran into fingerlickin who was on her way out.  Relaxing day and wonderful spot.
Date: 2018-06-07
From: Woods hole hostel

To: Rice field shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Woods hole to rice field shelter.Back to the double digits mile days. About 18ish.Left woods hole early, skipped breakfast because I was concerned that resupply would take too long. Wasn't so bad actually but still took almost 3 hours counting the big Mexican food lunch I had too. Bad thing was that I had to get 200gr fuel can which won't fit inside my jeans so it added a bunch of bulk to my already pretty full (4 days of food) pack. Met up with twiggyand, newly dubbed mouse mamma, and mantra (newly dubbed pee pack?) who had had an eventful day since I last saw them at wapiti shelter.  The hike out of town was kinda weird going by a big factory and next to the highway for a bit. The climb out was gentle enough and we all commented on how clean our feet and legs were upon stopping. The shelter was at the top of the ridge with a sweet wide open view of west Virginia ( we're sitting on the va-wv border). We caught a dope sunset and made a fire before settling into the shelter.
Date: 2018-06-08
From: Rice field shelter

To: War spur shelter
Miles today: 25.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Rice field shelter to warspur shelter.  Day started off real nice and mellow. Had a great view off the top of a cloud choked west Virginia. Went through a nice dewy meadow that soaked my shoes and socks but it had been forecast to stay dry so I didn't worry about it too much. Crossed.over the pipeline area and up and down some rolley terrain with real nice trail throughout. Stopped for a short break at a shelter that was marked closed for overnight use due to dead trees in the area, but didn't really notice any hazards. Guess they are just being super safe. Rolled out on a nalgene bottle here, I need to do that more often.  From the shelter it was a couple miles next to a big creek. Kept looking for a spot to jump in with sun adjacent and finally found it at the bridge before ascending away. While I was playing in the water mousemomma and sassafras (reverted back to an original name I guess)passed me with intentions of going 25+ to the second shelter. During the climb I saw their packs at a water source before the first shelter, but then never saw them again. I'd been camping with them off and on since damascus ~150m and quarter way inn ~100m so they will be missed, assuming they don't just catch up tomorrow.  The rest of the climb was long and the view was not anything really worthwhile imo. There were campsites listed but I did not like any of the open ones I saw ( only 1 open really) so kept pushing on. Got into war spur shelter late by almost 8. I was the only one in the shelter but there was another person camped nearby.he seemed nice enough but got on my nerves by constantly trying to Yogi stuff from me... Not a fan. During the night was woken by some thunderstorms, doesn't appear to be that much water in the ground though.
Date: 2018-06-09
From: War spur shelter

To: Campsite ~690.5
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: broken clouds

Warspur shelter to camp 691ish. Headed out from warspur pretty early, 645ish. Got a little damp from the rain on the foliage. But it wasn't too bad. Long descent and then a big open meadow with a stream and bridge. I hung out, played in the water and had lunch here. After this another climb, had been warned by southbound people of the lack of water so I kept a couple liters. The next mountain was really Rocky. In some spots I was scrambling on the rocks at a 45 degree angle, there was even a couple spots where I got off the trail because of the mess. Saw only 2 northbound hikers the whole day when I got to niday shelter at like5, didn't see much point in sticking around there so decided to go the rest of the way off this mountain and get a start on brush mountain. At the road gap in between, ran into a lady that asked me if I knew mouse momma, so I gave her as much info as I could wished her luck and pressed on. I found out later that she did find her, so that worked out. Got about 2/3 of the way up brush mountain til I got to a great campsite and took it.
Date: 2018-06-10
From: Campsite ~690.5

To: 4 pines hostel 703.5
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Camp at 291 to 4 pines hostel 703.5Got up and to the top of brush which was awesome. It was a ridge walk but fairly wide and really nice trail with lots of laurels and nice grass on both sides. The war monument was also pretty nice. Got up and over brush pretty quick and then played in Laurel creek at like 930am in the chill, still worth it. Also filled up on water as there was not any for a while. The next mountain was a lot harder than brush, a sign said 4 miles to the dragon's tooth bit it felt like it took me much longer than one would expect.  The dragon's tooth was definitely pretty neat. There were a ton of day hikers up there so I was able to get someone to take my photo, as well as chat with people.  It had been blue skies all morning but on the way down, it was like someone flipped a switch, got dark and started thunderstorming really fast. In the 1.5 miles off dragons tooth down to the road I got soaked. I had been considering hiking to the next road junction to go to the restaurant but instead got off and went to the hostel because I was so wet. Glad I did, saw a couple people I had met before and eventually all my friends from behind showed up as well. The dinner at the homeplace restaurant was really good ayce chicken and beef with lots of great sides.
Date: 2018-06-11
From: 4 pines hostel 703.5

To: Daleville 729.2
Miles today: 25.7
Weather: light rain

Woke up before the rooster at the hostel. But bummed around til I had 3 cups of coffee and finally left at around 810. Some combination of coffee and the food from the other day (plus my cookie breakfast?) Made me feel great. I hadn't had any IT band issues in a couple days so I just kept crushing the miles. Got up to McAfee knob(about 10m) before 1130 and chilled there til about noon. Due to the land between McAfee knob and daleville being controlled by the NPS there was restrictions on camping sort of like in the smokies. The last (furthest north) campsite was at a shelter 6 miles past McAfee knob but 10 away from town. I wasn't sure at the time which way to go with this but as the weather got progressively worse (colder + foggy) I started to hike faster and faster. The tinker cliffs which was one of VAs triple crown (along with McAfee knob and the dragon's tooth) were completely socked in when I scrambled over. Between the cliffs and the shelter was some super duper dense fog that was kinda awesome. I got to the shelter just after 3 and got water. While filtering that water mousemomma and sassafras rolled up. They had shuttled to daleville and were doing this section southbound. They provided some not great reviews of the hojos, as well as the fact that they had left town at 11 mostly climbing. With that I decided to head to town. After about an hour it started raining, it was gentle enough that in about 3 hours of rain I somehow kept my socks mostly dry, but it was constant, and since the trees were dense, I was pretty much completely soaked. Got into town by 7 and grabbed a room at the super 8, ate dope BBQ dinner at the 3 pigs BBQ house which was great and provided hikers with free banana pudding (great btw).
Date: 2018-06-13
From: Daleville 729.2

To: Campsite past Mills gap 750
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Late start out of town. Had to get new insoles as mine were delaminated as well as going to the post office .8 off trail to change my sleeping bag and resupply.Went past the shelter for a couple more miles, then set up camp.
Date: 2018-06-13
From: Campsite past Mills gap 750

To: Thunder Hill shelter 771.4
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: broken clouds

Highlight of my day was a 2.5 mile blue blaze to apple orchard falls. They had a great viewing platform of the 200foot fall. The second thing was this palatial mansion of a shelter that had multiple levels. I stayed here and dryed out my tarp and sleeping bag from the overnight rain.Spent a bunch of time with other hikers today after not seeing many before daleville. I think the weather had bunched a lot of them together. One of the ones I had met today mentioned triple zeroing with a big group in Daleville to avoid some storms. Lots of previous PCT hikers as well.  The day was kinda foggy at first but then got real nice. There was a really nice river crossing with a great swimming hole. And then the usual up and over hills.
Date: 2018-06-14
From: Thunder Hill shelter 771.4

To: John's hollow shelter 787.7
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: broken clouds

Hiked a bit with doc and hummingbird today in the morning and then stretch and big lots in the afternoon. Both groups had people that started in May so they've been making good miles. I'll probably be seeing more of them soon. Also I see in this shelter log that Az was here in the morning so maybe I can catch him too. The day turned out to be super hot so changed my plans and Resupplied in Glasgow. got back on trail at 630, but then only hiked out a mile because it was a long (10m) waterless stretch up a big hill after the shelter.
Date: 2018-06-15
From: John's hollow shelter 787.7

To: View Entry
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up early and hit the trail from the shelter at 630, big lots and stretch we're shortly behind. Was up atop bluff mountain knob by 9 where I ran into fingerlickin and a ridgerunner. After that we desended into a river VA where there was a nice.big suspension bridge. Went for a swim here. About 6 miles later at the shelter, there was a nice stream so went in again. Kept passing or being passed by the same 6 people: Dragon sticks, buckles, fingerlickin, rainbow, biglots and stretch. Also ran into a lot of people going south. A bunch of the ones I had met yesterday including snortz at the Glasgow shelter had decided to slack pack. From that shelter there was along iohill waterless section, so I filled up on water and got in one last time then headed up. The climb wasn't too bad but it was definitely warm. Ended up at about 26 miles which is probably the long so far for the at. Thinking about trying to do 29 tomorrow into a brewery.
Date: 2018-06-16
From: Hog camp gap 814.1

To: Reid gap 843.9
Miles today: 29.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Pretty full day. Woke up early with a crew (sticks, fingerlickin, stretch) to try and do 29+ miles into Reid gap to go to the devil's backbone Brewery. According to the guidebook they had free camping for hikers and a hiker breakfast for $5 as well as a free shuttle back to the trail in the morning. Dragonsticks, buckles and big lots were already ahead of us ( some of them had night hiked in order to hit the brewery) with the same destination in mind.  The first part of the day was pretty mellow and easy. Outside of a little navigation snafu ( I missed a sharp cutback and accidentally climbed spy rock) I was cruising. Got up and over the priest (I skipped the shelter and it's confessional- I found out about that later) because it was off trail (.1 miles). And then down to the river. This river was amazing. The suspension bridge was cool but the swimming hole directly but the highway was a highlight. Myself, big lots, and fingerlickin played in the water and then saw frogs mating, making a ton of eggs, and after a little while saw a water mocassin eating another frog. That was a truly incredible scene that we all watched riveted.  After this we had 10 miles to go, went up and over three Ridges mountain past the maupin shelter and finally to the gap.  At the gap I was arrived at 730pm and there was very little traffic. Turns out my so called easy hitch was not going to be that easy because I had arrived so late. There was a big group of ultra runner looking people so I went to talk to them. They are the support crew for Harvey a road id sponsored ultrarunner that is trying to set the new fkt. He was on his 16th day (I was on day 50). I wished them luck and was able to get a ride shortly after. The ride was from pastor Rob and he was a wonderful host.the brewery was great as well with all my friends already there. The provided free camping was good and the $5hiker breakfast was awesome.
Date: 2018-06-17
From: Reid gap 843.9

To: View Entry
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

After the breakfast and shuttle ride from the brewery we started off hot. I was going real fast at the start, just behind biglots when I saw him crest a gap and heard a big cheer. When I got up there too I saw that there was a big trail magic setup by Joe and his wife( who's name I forgot) and PB all relative locals. We all hung out here (about 12 of us from the brewery and a bunch of others from maupin field and elsewhere) for a while. They had quite the spread, including beer soda, watermelon, pineapple, candy, donuts, pancakes,sausage, cookies and lunch foods to be cooked later. I stayed for about 30m and didn't get to the lunch foods but had a great time.  Doubly fed and happy headed out to hike the rest of the way to Waynesboro to resupply and do laundry etc. We all knew it was a relatively short day as the 18 to the Waynesboro gap was nothing compared to what we've been doing. The trail though was a little tougher than it has been, lots of rocks to clamber over and hop on. Still made decent time to a shelter 5 miles from the gap. Hung out and rfilled water here and then made the last push to town.  When we arrived at the gap big lots was able to get us a ride from a friend he had met earlier on the trail. He's going to a concert in DC so he'll be out of the group for a little bit. The rest of us all plan on leaving town tomorrow I believe. We got free showers at a brewery thinking that we would camp at the town oark for free but fingerlickin and I ended up staying at Stanimals hostel after meeting up with Az. This worked out great because it turns out he hiked with Bigfoot on the PCT for 1200 miles and knows moosie, br, grinder etc all my sobohobos. Excited to talk to him about them tomorrow. I also texted most of them lol.
Date: 2018-06-18
To: Big top shelter
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: scattered clouds

It was HOT leaving Waynesboro. We got a bit of a late start since fingerlickin had to go to the outfitters. It was nice being with her and AZ again. The terrain was pretty mellow it was just real warm. Same type of hiking as through the blue ridge parkway except the road was now called skyline drive. Our choice of camp site was limited by a 12 mile waterless stretch so we decided to stay at the shelter. We pulled in around 7.
Date: 2018-06-19
From: Blackrock shelter

To: Hightop shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Was sorta the same as yesterday real hot and humid. Stopped by the wayside at 1030 to grab some food and a blackberry shake. Kept hiking afterwards and all of a sudden it got dark and thunderstormy. Rained hard enough that I get soaked through in like 2 or 3 minutes. Ended up at the shelter shortly afterwards with most of the same crew as last night.
Date: 2018-06-20
From: Hightop shelter

To: Big meadows lodge
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: few clouds

Day started off perfect. Nice cool weather and overcast skies made it easy to get in the 12ish miles to another camp store. Had some.beers with Az fingerlickin doc and hummingbird. On the way out a man named Joe that was preparing to do trail magic asked me for help in setting up a tarp so I helped him out for which he gave me more beer. After about an hour in the trail though it got crazy dark and started dumping sheets of rain. It rained so hard and fast that in sections the entire trail looked like a mini Colorado River.
Date: 2018-06-21
From: Big meadows lodge

To: Elkwallow wayside
Miles today: 25.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up early with Az and fingerlickin with a plan to go 26ish miles to the wayside. Then we would shuttle at 5pm to a hostel in luray to avoid a rainy night. Got on trail just after 6am. The trail went by the ridge and had lots of sweet views, however it was also really rocky so tough on the feet.  Shortly after a southbound person warned me about a bear in the trail I saw it on my left, it did not seem interested in me at all. After descending from Mary's rock where the bear was Az and fingerlickin decided to cut short to 22m but I pressed on to the wayside. The last 4 miles of trail were really mellow and motivation was in the form of ice cream so I got there in 1h15m just in time to have some ice cream before Allison from arms open hostel came to pick me up. She had something to do later so came early in hopes I would be done fast, luckily I was able to oblige.  The hostel and town of luray were both really nice. We had a nice pizza and steak salad dinner at an Italian restaurant and then sat on the balcony with some beers watching it pour rain outside.  Im meeting my friend from SD, Katherine's dad tomorrow in front Royal so getting the extra miles done today was really helpful. Plus avoiding sleeping in that crazy storm was a win.
Date: 2018-06-22
From: Elkwallow wayside

To: Front royal
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: moderate rain

Got up ate and got ready for an early (7) shuttle ride from open arms hostel. Allison was great and brought us (myself Az and fingerlickin) directly back to the wayside where she had picked me up from. We started hiking at about 745.It was raining off and on all the while we were getting ready and driving up. It was mellow rain when we started hiking. As the day progressed the rain got crazy, at times it was just sheets of rain with howling wind to boot. It was cold enough that I ended up hiking with my houdini on to cut back in the wind. There were some calf deep sections as well so we were not dry for very much of the day. We skipped both shelters we went by ( the first was .2 off) and only took a small break in the (tiny) cover of a map billboard. Did not see any bears but did see a large doe with 2 tiny fawns trailing behind. It was pretty cold and wet, That said we went pretty fast. We got to highway 522 by 245 so we did 19 miles in 7 hours which is pretty good.Katherine's dad Kevin met me at the trailhead parking lot as promised and took me to his place which was in an amazing spot atop a hill. Great views. Had a wonderful time warming up and chatting with him and his wife.
Date: 2018-06-24
From: Front royal

To: Rod hollow shelter 994.4
Miles today: 24.4
Weather: light rain

June 24 day 58Left front royal in a cab at 730 with az and fingerlickin. The zero day in fr had felt good and it looked nice and clear. The trail was super muddy from all the rain over thr last few days and any strram crissings were huge. Still, managed to stay relatively dry through the denton (really nice, with a shower, horse shoe pits and separate cooking pavilion) and Manassas shelters. After that though it got real dark and we got yet more thunderstorms. Passed up a third shelter that was off trail and continued into sky hollow state park. There was a nice sunny spot near a cattle fence so i sat for about half an hour and dried my feet out as best i could. From there crossed a highway and out of the state park. All the mud and water made for a tough day even though we just did about 23.6 miles. Got into the 4th shelter, rod hollow and set up.