morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-05
From: Pond Flats

To: stealth camp 444.4
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: clear sky

We woke to the sun shining. And it shined the rest of the day. It was hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. We started our hike today with 4 miles downhill to Watauga Lake. We took a break and saw a hiker we had seen the last few weeks. We finally exchanged names. His name is Silence which suits him well as he does not talk much and hikes quietly. He is from Israel. Of course we talked about our great trip to Israel and how Tyler wrote his college entrance essay on that trip. He was happy to hear we enjoyed Israel.   We continued hiking around the lake. It was pleasant as the trail was level for once. There were lots of fishermen on the lake. We continued hiking leap fogging with Silence. We walked across Watauga Dam. We sat and had a break enjoying the fishing boats on the lake. After this, the hiking was up hill. We climbed 1500 feet over 4 miles. The sun was shining and it was SO hot. We are thankful for our hiking shorts. We are praying for the leaves to appear on the trees for shade. It is difficult to hike with the sun so hot and little shade. The water sources were scarce today. Today's photo shows our method of retrieving our water. We filter all our water. Since it was so hot and water was scarce we felt like we were over heating.    We took an early lunch in the shade. We found a downed tree that had a branch at a good angle and it served as a back rest. We had a "gourmet" lunch today. Instead of our normal tortilla with peanut butter and trail mix, we added honey! Yes, gourmet. It doesn't get much better than this. We were hiking up hill after lunch. Lavender hit a brick wall being so hot. We took a 20 minute break to cool down. She said being so hot reminded her of her Daddy bailing hay in the hot summer heat and stacking it into the barn. No wonder he was so thirsty and hot after this job. We continued on stopping at another small stream trying to obtain water. We didn't get but one small bottle of water. We continued up and down, up and down the rest of the day. We found a better source of water where we filled all our bottles and took extra for the rest of the day.   The clouds finally came and it cooled a bit. Then we had a small shower of rain just as we were going to set up camp. We waited the shower out. We set up camp beside an outcropping of rocks. It is a great site for the night. The rain has cooled the temperature. Later the clouds cleared and we were treated to a beautiful sunset. It should be a good night sleep. Be sure to check out our photos, we saw some wild Orchids.
Date: 2015-05-06
From: stealth camp 444.4

To: Damascus 
Miles today: 24.2
Weather: light rain

We had a great nights sleep and didn't get up until 06:30 which is late for us. We planned on hiking about 20 miles today to get close to Damascus so we quickly broke camp and started hiking at 07:20. We hiked for about 1 1/2 hours when we came around a bend and saw a group of 6 hikers sitting on a log drinking sodas. There next to a tree was a large box with a cooler of sodas and a box of snacks. We of course each had a soda and some snacks. The trail magic was courtesy of the local Baptist church. After this we walked on the only section of the trail that is handicap accessible. This section of the trail was .8 miles long. This part of the trail meandered across open fields and was quite easy. Another hour later we arrived at a shelter where we filtered a lot of water because for the next 10 miles there were no water sources.    We continued hiking and then stopped for lunch at Double Spring Gap. We took a nice long rest and then continued on hiking. The trail was mostly small ups and downs, no more than 400 feet elevation changes. We were making good time today and we started to think we just might make it to the Virginia border.   We took another break at 15:00 to eat some snacks and to rest our feet. At 16:45 we reached the TN/VA border which was another big milestone for us! There at the sign it said it was only 3 1/2 miles to Damascus. Even though we had already hiked over 20 miles and we were both exhausted, the thought of a hot meal at a restaurant was driving us onward. We made the 3 1/2 miles in only 1 hour. We came into town and stopped at the first restaurant we saw, Bobos. We had chili cheese fries for a starter and then Count had a blue cheese bacon burger and Lavender had pork carnitas. Food never tasted so good!    We did a quick small resupply at Dollar General and then we hiked out of town and found a camp site along the trail. We set up our tent around 20:30 and were quickly ready for bed. We hiked 24.3 miles today, our longest day yet. As this is being written, the Whippoorwills have started to serenade us. It may be a long sleepless night. We will tell you tomorrow.
Date: 2015-05-07
From: Damascus 

To: campsite by VA Creeper trail 
Miles today: 13.8

The Whippoorwills quieted enough to allow us to sleep. But, we were joined by 11 frat guys from Ohio State that are on the trail for 5 days. Their idea of hikers midnight and our idea of hikers midnight are two different things! We did fall asleep only to be woken hours later by the Whippoorwills. They obviously sleep during the day and are awake at night!   We walked to town for a hearty breakfast. It was very good to have something different then poptarts or oatmeal. We both had eggs and bacon.   Count also had pancakes. Hiking makes you have an appetite! We did a few more food purchases and then headed for the trail. We met Nurse, a hiker we had met before the NOC. We hiked with him for about two hours. Then, we split ways at the detour. Count tries to be a purist. So, we hiked and had to forge a small river to be purists. Forging was not that difficult. Since the weather is warm, the water was refreshing to our feet. Count has developed a blister on his heel. The water cooled this.   We followed along the Virginia Creeper Trail for a bit. Then, today's main climb we left the Creeper trail and climbed 1100 feet in 2.5 miles. It was cloudy today but very, very humid which made the climb a bit difficult. We reached the summit and had Subway subs which we had purchased prior to leaving town for lunch. We pushed hard yesterday to make it to Damascus. Therefore, today, we are going a bit easier. We took over an hour lunch break.    We were actually at a false summit for lunch. So, we had to hike a bit more uphill. Then, it was down hill through rhododendron. Only a few of the flowers are blooming. In a few weeks all should be blooming. It sprinkled rain for about 10 minutes. Of course, this made it more humid. We stopped for the day at 16:00 beside a river where we rejoined the Virginia Creeper Trail. We sat up camp and decided to relax a bit by soaking our feet. We actually also washed up a bit. We enjoyed the rest if our Subway sub for dinner. No instant mashed potatoes or Lipton rice side dishes for dinner. Two nights in a row we have had "real" food.Tonight, we will be lulled to sleep by the sound of the river.
Date: 2015-05-08
From: campsite by VA Creeper trail 

To: US 58 road crossing
Miles today: 3.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We had a great nights sleep listening to the babbling river. We had bear claws for breakfast, again something we had purchased in town.   We only had to hike 3 1/2 miles to the road crossing where Tyler would pick us up so we weren't in a big hurry. We left camp around 0815 and we hiked along the Virginia Creeper Trail for 0.8 miles before heading uphill through the woods. We were doing "Web duty" again this morning. This is the act of clearing cobwebs from the trail first thing in the morning. Being the first hiker of the day on that section of the trail is not a lot of fun. We are usually up and on the trail before most hikers so most mornings we do this for at least a few hours. You are constantly trying to wipe the webs off of your face. This morning was Lavender's turn. To get up to the road crossing, we had about a 600 elevation climb which wasn't too bad. We arrived at the road crossing where we were to meet Tyler early so we decided rather than just sit there for more than an hour, we started walking back on the road towards Damascus.   There were very few cars on the road but we tried to hitch a ride. After just 10 minutes a nice retired couple picked us up and gave us a ride to Damascus. Turns out they lived in Lancaster until they retired and then they moved to NC. They were very friendly and we were very thankful for the ride. They dropped us off and we only had to wait a short bit until Tyler arrived. We had about a half hour drive to the hotel and then we got to enjoy our first shower in over a week. It feels great to be clean again! We did our laundry and resupplied our food the rest of the afternoon.   The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. We would like to challenge everyone reading this to start walking. We would like you to walk 10% of our daily miles. This will help each of you become healthier. (And, you can do this without carrying a heavy pack!) We look forward to see each of you accept this challenge.
Date: 2015-05-09
From: US 58 road crossing

To: stealth camp site 498.2
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We had a bit of a lay in this morning as we weren't getting back on the trail till after lunch. We took our time packing our bags. We had a late breakfast at the hotel. Then we checked out, ran an errand and Tyler drove us to Damascus. We had lunch with Tyler before he drove us to were we needed to reenter the trail. We said our good bye to Tyler as this will be the last we will see him for a bit. No more trail angel work from Tyler! We started hiking at 12:30 and climbed all day. As it is a sunny week end, the trail is very busy with weekend hikers. Lots of hiking groups and families were out today. It makes us sort of sad to know these people can get into their car, drive home and have a relaxing evening. But, we hike on with the rest of the thru hikers. Of course, on Monday morning when others are going to work, we have the privilege of hiking and not working. Although, hiking is a job, we have breakfast, hike for hours upon hours, have dinner and go to bed. Seems like a typical work day sometimes.   We hiked to the top of White Mountain and there was a note for us taped to the AT sign post. Lavender's niece and husband were in the area hiking last weekend and left us a note. It was so much fun to receive a message on the trail. It made hiking so worth it today. Thank you guys - the note meant alot to us! We continued climbing until we stopped for the day at 18:40. We saw our first wild horse afar as we passed Mount Rogers. We are enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather tonight.   We are spending the night at 5400 feet elevation. Thankfully the sun has been out all day and it is warmer than in NC and TN. We climbed a rock to watch the sunset over the mountains.   Some wild ponies are nearby eating their dinner. It is a good evening to be camping.
Date: 2015-05-10
From: stealth camp site 498.2

To: camp site 519.3
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: broken clouds

We were sleeping for about an hour when we heard something making noise outside our tent. We realized after a bit that it was horses eating the grass beside our tent. After about 15 minutes they moved on and we went back to sleep. We woke early and we were on the trail by 06:50. The sun was just coming up and it was a beautiful morning.      We hiked for a short distance when we saw a sign that was the 500 mile mark. Hard to believe we have hiked 500 miles so far. Only 1700 miles to go!   It was anticlimactic as we thought we would be very excited. Maybe because we know there are many more miles to hike. We hiked on and stopped for breakfast at 08:00 and had some oatmeal with a power bar mixed in. The trail was really rocky this morning which makes it difficult to make good time. We were now in the Grayson Highlands state park and we were seeing lots of horses. There were lots of colts this time of year. We took a break at The Scales which is a corral area. I suppose they round up the horses occasionally.   We had a big climb of about 900 feet and then we started a long downhill section. We stopped for lunch at 13:10 at Old Orchard Shelter. We set up our tent and hung up our sleeping bags to dry in the sun. We took a nice hour long lunch break to give our feet a rest.    We had another big climb after lunch and then another long descent down to Hurricane Mtn. Shelter.   While hiking this section we saw 2 deer grazing just off the trail. They didn't seem at all bothered by us even though we were only about 15 yards from them. We watched them and they watched us before we continued on. Later we stopped by the shelter to filter water from the nearby spring. We saw Snail there by the spring. We hadn't seen him since before Damascus.   We caught up on how his hike is going and then we were on our way again. He mentioned he saw a note for us by the trail. We explained Lavender's niece left the note. He thought that was very nice. We hiked 7 miles in the afternoon and finally called it quits at a small campsite near a spring. It was 18:15 and we were both tired. We filtered water again and then got our camp set up and had dinner. We even were able to wash up a but from the spring water. It wasn't much of a Mother's day for Lavender but at least it didn't rain.
Date: 2015-05-11
From: camp site 519.3

To: edge of pasture 544.6
Miles today: 25.3
Weather: clear sky

We woke early again this morning and we hit the trail by 0645. It didn't cool off much last night so it was warm hiking first thing. The spiders must have been busy last night as we were hitting webs constantly.   We took turns going first so we both got to enjoy wiping webs off our faces. We started out with short uphill section and then we had a long 3 mile downhill section dropping over 1000 feet. At the bottom of the downhill section we passed through a beautiful meadow full of wild flowers.   We were hiking fast this morning as we were trying to hike 23 miles today to get to the I-81 crossing where we could buy dinner.    We climbed again and we got up to the ridge line where we spent the rest of the morning. The trail on the ridge line was mostly rocks which made hiking difficult and was hard on our feet. Lavender and I both have blisters on our heels. After 500 miles now we are getting blisters! Not sure why but they do hurt.    We made it to the Mt Rogers visitors center around 1140 and stopped there for lunch. We had done 12 by 12 this morning for the first time. 12 by 12 is hiking 12 miles by 1200.   We had a nice relaxing lunch break and even bought a Mountain Dew which was very refreshing on a hot day. We cannot remember the last time we had Mountain Dew. Another hiker, also enjoying a Mountain Dew, said the same thing. We left the visitors center around 1230 and started a long uphill climb over the next 5 miles. There was one particular section that was really hard, a 500 foot climb over just 3/4 mile. Once we we were finally done with our climb we started a long 6 mile descent. Part way down we stopped by a spring to filter water and we soaked are hot feet in the cool water for about 15 minutes. That felt so good on out feet!    We continued downhill and came to the Old Schoolhouse. It was a one room school house built in 1894 and there at the school house was trail magic!! A wonderful couple from the West End Methodist church in Wytheville was putting on the trail magic. They had lunch meat for sandwiches, fresh fruit, snacks, sodas and more. It was fantastic.   The bread was SO soft, it melted in our mouths. They were such a nice couple. He is the pastor of the church and their son thru hiked the AT a few years ago. There church provides the trail magic each year. We are always amazed at the generosity of folks along the AT. We only hope we are able to give back some of what we have received. We said our good byes and hiked another 2.5 miles to US route 11. We were going to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner but it was closed so we walked a bit further to the Barn restaurant.   Count had the 16oz hiker burger special and Lavender had a hot roast beef sandwich.   We came out from the restaurant and saw dark skies and heard thunder. We quickly started hiking and went under I-81 and hiked another 1 1/2 miles before we found a place to set up camp. We had hiked 25.3 miles today and we were exhausted.   Now it is time for some much needed rest.
Date: 2015-05-12
From: edge of pasture 544.6

To: camp site 563.4
Miles today: 18.8

We woke to the sound of rain. Since yesterday was a long day of hiking, we had a bit of a lay in today. The rain stopped. So, we started our morning routine. We didn't start hiking until 7:42. All we did today was climb or at least it seemed like it. The weather was overcast today and very humid until about 10:00. We started our day with an 800 feet climb. We went over the quarter of the way point today. Only 3/4 of the AT left to conquer.   After this, it was down 600 feet. Then we climbed 900 feet to go down 1000 feet. We stopped by a river for lunch. We set up the tent to let it dry from the morning rain shower.    After lunch, we climbed 50 yards and found trail magic from two previous thru hikers. So, we did what any hiker does, we ate again. There was PBJ sandwiches and Dr. Thunder to drink. We never had a Dr. Thunder before. We won't say we would buy such a soda, but it was cold and not water. We were thankful for the trail magic. Then it was more climbing; 650 foot climb over 1 mile. We dropped 800 feet in 2 1/2 miles. Another 650 feet climb over 1 mile to drop 800 feet in a mile. We ran down the trail as it was very steep. We were very tired from all the ups and downs. But, the day wasn't over yet. We climbed another 900 feet to find water and a camp site. Tomorrow morning, we will continue this climb with another 1100 feet to ascend. Yes, more ups and downs tomorrow.   We met Ice Fire and Special Ed today. We leap frogged with them most of the day. Today was snake day. We haven't seen any snakes in 500 miles and today we see, not one, not two, but three. Two were near the trail. One was large and in the stream where we had just filtered water from. It looked like a poisonous snake as it had a triangular head. We will certainly start watching when we go near a stream to filter water!! Check our photos for pics of the snakes.
Date: 2015-05-13
From: camp site 563.4

To: Trail boss trail
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: clear sky

Today was Count's birthday. What a way to spend his birthday - hiking the AT. Our day started out chilly as it was about 40 degrees. That made us want to start hiking as soon as we could. We started with the remaining 1100 feet climb to the summit of Chestnut Knob . We had cell phone coverage after not having coverage for a few days. We were able to finally call for Mother's day and check our messages. Oh, the small things one misses on the AT.. or, do we not miss them? Of course next was the descent from Chestnut Knob, going down about 900 feet. The trail was very rocky. Next was 8 miles on the ridge line with LOTS of ups and downs and LOTS of rocks. Lots of stubbed toes and twisted footings. It was tough going this morning. Lunch was at the bottom of the ridge line. After lunch we hiked 1500 feet drop in elevation. You would think going downhill would be easy. But, it is not. Lots of the trail was straight down, very steep causing the toes to push to the front of our boots. Yes, we both have blisters on our toes. We heard a rumor that after 500 miles, your body tells you it is hurting. Yes, our feet are hurting.    We found a stream of cool water. It was fast moving so, there shouldn't be any snakes in it. We still checked for snakes. There were none, so we soaked our weary feet in the very cold water. It was refreshing to say the least. Lavender also did the hiker laundry and washed her socks in the stream and hung them on her backpack to dry. Who needs a washer and dryer?   We continued hiking after a relaxing time by the stream. We climbed 700 feet and then we followed a logging road. Oh, it was a nice afternoon of hiking, the temperature was cool, we were in and out of the shade and the trail was easy. We thought we were on the wrong trail as we hiked without any ups and downs! But, the happy feeling soon ended.   We descended into another gap and at found trail magic. That is three days in a row of trail magic. Today, it was provided by a mother and daughter who had left a cooler of Coke. Of course, we drank a Coke. We took our can of Coke and placed it in a stream a short distance from the cooler. We also rested again and put our feet in the stream. The Coke tasted so good. After our rest, we collected our water as there are no water sources for the next 10 miles. And, we hiked up. Climbed 700 feet, found a nice tent site, sat up camp, ate dinner, turned on our phone and found we had cell coverage. So, trail journals is updated again. We watched a beautiful sunset tonight from our tent which was a nice finish to a great day.
Date: 2015-05-14
From: Trail boss trail

To: north of VA 606
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: broken clouds

We were awoken in the night by the sounds of an owl and then the Whippoorwills started singing. We were tired so we quickly went back to sleep. We slept in till 0630 and then had a nice hot breakfast of oatmeal with a power bar thrown in for a bit more energy. We were just about to take down the tent when Summit Frog came by. We have been leap fogging with him the past several days. We started hiking at 07:20 and the terrain was good for once . The ups and downs weren't that steep and we were making good time. We did the first 3 miles in just under an hour. We continued hiking and we came down a big descent to US route 52 and we were treated to trail magic. A guy who had thru hiked a few years back was there handing out bananas and bottles of Power Aid drink. We were very thankful for the trail magic. We went a short distance and came to a stream and we filtered water as there wasn't water again for 10 miles. We had a 700 foot climb next and then we had fairly easy hiking for the next several miles. We stopped at 13:05 for lunch and we already had hiked 14.5 miles so far for the day. We then had another big climb of 500 feet in under a mile. We went over the 600 mile mark going up the climb. After another long descent of 900 feet, we has yet another climb up to the ridge line and hiked along the ridge line for several miles. We finally made it to the next water source and filtered more water. Our goal now was to make it to route 606 where we could go 1/2 mile off trail to a grocery store with a deli. We made it to the road around 17:45 and crossed a suspension foot bridge over a creek. One of the coolest bridges we have seen on the the trail. We started walking up the road to the grocery and then hitched a ride from someone in a pickup truck. More trail magic! We both had a burger for dinner and we bought some food supplies to see us through the next few days. We walked back to the trail and hiked another mile or so until we found a place to set up camp.   We met lots of new hikers today, Slingshot is a hiker from Ohio who is 66 years old, Happy is a guy from New Zealand who is hiking the trail while his wife completes a fellowship in Boston, and a brother and sister from Tennessee who are hiking together, and Palomino and Rugaroo. It was a pleasant day for hiking as the temperature was cool, the sun was shining and we made lots of new friends.