morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-04-26
From: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: moderate rain

It rained all night, and we woke up to a rainy morning. The rain continued all morning, and by the time we reached the first shelter about 4 miles down the trail, we were pretty soaked. There was a large group of people at that shelter who had spent the night there and were taking their time getting going-- 4 thru-hikers and 3 section hikers.The next section was rough-- half the time the trail was nothing but a stream, and the rest of the time it went over huge fields of rocks that really made the going difficult. By this point my socks were squishing in my boots, and I was also beginning to get chilly.In the last few miles before the second shelter, the rain began to lighten up, and even stopped for a little while. The temperature warmed up, too, and I was feeling better by the time I reached the second shelter a little before 2 pm.I had originally planned on doing 18 miles today, but last night Scorpion had said he would only do 13, since his knee had been bothering him. In addition, because of the way the shelters are spaced, doing an 18 today would give me the choice of doing 12 or 22 tomorrow, and I really didn't want to keep doing lots of big-mile days. Doing 12 today means doing an 18 tomorrow, so I figured that I might as well stop here. It was probably for the best anyway, since my socks and boots were sopping wet, and an extra 6 miles with wet feet would not have done wonders for my blisters.So we packed it in early, had an afternoon siesta, and generally took it easy. We laid our gear out to dry, though it probably won't, with this humidity. The pack of people from the last shelter ended up pressing on another 6 miles, so this shelter was mostly empty.
Date: 2004-04-27
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: scattered clouds

The day was clear when we woke up, and the Sun was even out most of the morning as we walked. My socks were still wet from the previous day, but my boots were drying, and it was looking like a good day-- well, except for the 1700 foot uphill climb we had in the first two hours.Stopped for an early lunch at Laurel Creek Shelter, about 6 miles down the trail. The walking after that was fairly easy, and a couple hours later we came upon Keffer Oak, a tree which is 18-plus feet around, and from a tourism perspective was the highlight of the day. It was a sizeable oak tree that was probably a couple hundred years old and that easily dwarfed the smaller trees around it. Not spectacular, but still pretty interesting.We also got some trail magic-- cans of soda that were stashed in a creek near Keffer Oak. We've actually had quite a bit of trail magic recently-- coming out of Pearisburg, someone had stashed a case of Dr. Pepper by a tree, and yesterday someone left a huge jar of animal crackers in the middle of the trail. Simple stuff, but still much appreciated by hikers.Anyway, the easy hiking came to an abrupt end about six miles before our destination, as the trail stayed on a rocky ridgeline for about three miles-- the trail was difficult to follow, and it ran sideways over rocks that sloped down at a 45-degree angle. Not fun walking, I assure you.To make matters worse, it had been threatening to rain all afternoon, and it sprinkled on and off as I walked-- just enough to make the rocks wet, so I didn't know how good my footing would be from rock to rock. I actually did slip and fall once, and let out a loud string of language that, well, let's just say I'm glad there were probably no other hikers around for a half mile or so.But anyway, the trail finally came down off the ridgeline, and I got to the shelter shortly after 5 to find it full-- the large group of hikers we met yesterday were now staying here. Running Bear had already gotten there and set up his tent, so I found a nearby tentsite and set my own up.Met another "trail legend" this evening-- at about 7, a guy and a girl walked up who had done 27 miles today, and had started from Springer on March 30th-- talk about putting in some serious miles! It turns out the guy is Flyin' Brian, who completed the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail all in one calendar year (2001), and it still the only person to have done so. (Those three trails together represent about 7400 miles of hiking.) Now he's hiking with his girlfriend Silvergirl, and they're trying to finish the At by the end of June so she can run an ultramarathon (that's a 100-mile run over wilderness trails). It's pretty amazing, the people you run into out here.Tonight's the first night I've set up my tent using one of my new hiking poles as the front pole-- hopefully these new poles will hold up better than my old Ultralites.
Date: 2004-04-28
From: Niday Shelter

To: Four Pines Hostel
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

Well, the new tent pole/hiking pole seems to have held up fine, which is good. These new poles are top of the line, so if they hadn't held up, I don't think anything would have. But they do, so all is well.We spent some time walking down an old road on top of a high ridge-- about a mile down the ridge, we came to a memorial to Audie Leon Murphy, the most decorated American veteran of World War II. Apparently in 1971 he died near here in a plane crash. Running Bear and I paused there for a few moments before moving on.Running Bear's shin has been bothering him-- it looks to be inflamed (possibly an infection), and so when we reaeched a creek at about the 9-mile point we stopped to have lunch and he soaked his leg. I can tell it's really affecting him-- usually he's a mile ahead of me by this point, but today he's actually walked behind me for most of the day.A lot of rocks on the trail after lunch-- we went over a particularly rocky ridge called The Dragon, which was quite scenic as we got near the top, but still pretty difficult. The climb back down was more like rock climbing than hiking, and at some point there were even metal ladders installed in the cliffside.(Note to aspiring thru-hikers: some people will tell you that the trail in Virginia is easy, or that it's mostly level walking. It is all a dirty, awful lie. Virginia is just as hilly as any other state, and the rocks in Central Virginia will kick your butt. Just some advanced warning there.)So we finally came off the Ridgeline of Death, and over a period of a few miles came down to the level of a road. Our destination for the day was a nearby hostel named Four Pines, which is run by a guy named Joe Mitchell. He has a huge garage, and has set up a simple hiker hostel inside.Joe wasn't there when we got there, but we took showers and made ourselves comfortable. When he came back, he gave us a ride to the store, and he also dropped off Running Bear and the emergency room to get his leg looked at.We got a ride back to the hostel, adn spent the evening relaxing with a bunch of hikers-- Flyin' Brian and Silvergirl were there, as well as everybody from the shelter last night, and also a few hikers I hadn't met before.At about 9 Joe got a call from Running Bear at the emergency room. Apparently he broke his leg in a fall a couple days ago, and so his wife is going to come pick him up tomorrow from Ohio. He was going to have to get off the trail in a few days anyway to attend his son's college graduation, but this could make his departure permanent. It's always sad to hear when someone leaves the trail, but it's worse when it's someone you've been hiking with for a while.
Date: 2004-04-29
From: Four Pines Hostel

To: Lamberts Meadow Shelter
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: clear sky

Running Bear came back late last night from the emergency room with crutches and his leg in a cast. He may get back on the trail in a few weeks, but it doesn't seem likely at this point. Well, I hope whatever path he takes from here, things turn out well for him.But for Scorpion and I, the trail still calls. We left about our usual times-- me about an hour later than him. I caught up to him a few hours later, and together we journeyed up to McAfee's Knob, which is a rock ledge about two or three feet thick that extends outward from a cliff face. It's a great place for pictures, and the day was clear, which meant the views out over the valleys were excellent. Virginia has some beautiful valleys, especially now that Spring is in full swing and the mountains are green from bottom to top. It makes for some great views.I stoppped and had lunch at McAfee's Knob, and sat there soaking in the Sun for a good hour before moving on.A few miles later, the trail ran along the edge of a series of cliffs called The Tinker Cliffs, and the view off those cliffs was amazing-- it moved me, for some reason, in a way that very few of the vistas I've seen have. Maybe it was the green, forested ridgelines alternating with the green, pastured valleys and the way the scale of the buildings constrasted so sharply with the scale of the mountains. Maybe it was just the overwhelming green, which has been a rare sight until now. But whatever it was, I stood there in awe for about twenty minutes-- and walking along the cliffs, I decided that this section may be my favorite part of the trail yet. The cliffs face West, so someday I'd like to come back here and camp-- there's no water up here, so I'd need more water than I have now. I bet the sunset over the valleys would be awesome, and the view of the stars from here might not be too bad either.The shelter was only about a mile and a half further. I rounded the corner of it, and startled two deer grazing nearby. Apparently this is a favorite place of theirs, because as I was getting ready for bed I heard a noise, and I looked behind the shelter and saw deer grazing. As I watched I eventually saw three more, until they were startled by some approaching hikers-- two New Zealanders, Kakapo and Kea, who I met in Damascus, but haven't seen since then. With them, it's a full shelter tonight-- them, plus three section hikers, Scorpion and I.
Date: 2004-04-30
From: Lamberts Meadow Shelter

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: scattered clouds

I had lunadry, shower, and a bed waiting for me today, so I didn't need much motivation to get going. Still, the trail wasn't easy, and there were a lot of rocky ups and downs as we traveled along the ridgeline.I saw a wild turkey at one point along the trail, running through the brush about twenty yards away. That was quickly overshadowed, though. About 2 miles out of Daleville, I was walking along the ridge when I heard something large rustling in the brush to my right. Thinking it was probably a deer, I turned to look and saw not a deer, but a bear, galloping up the hill straight towards me. It wasn't really big, but it still weighed a couple hundred pounds, and was at least as big as a person. I quickly whipped out my camera and snapped a picture, and about that time the bear seemed to notice me. It stopped, watched me for a moment, then took off running along the side of the ridge, slightly away from me, and I managed to snap one more picture before it disappeared.Sweet! A bear! I was psyched for the rest of the walk, hoping to tell someone about my encounter.When I reached the road, Scorpion was there talking with another thru-hiker named Wildcat. Scorpion and I had been planning on getting a room at a nearby Econolodge, but Wildcat was looking for someone to share a room at Howard Johnson's, so the three of us split a room there.Had a relaxing afternoon-- went to Pizza Hut for lunch, then showered, laundered, re-supplied, and managed to use the Internet on a computer in the hotel office. A good ending to a good day.
Date: 2004-05-01
From: Daleville, VA

To: Bobblets Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: light rain

There was a decent continental breakfast at the Howard Johnson's, and we spent some time doing damage to that before we took off down the trail. Wildcat was staying in town-- he's meeting his son there on Monday, so we had to say good-bye to him as well.It's supposed to rain the next three days, and it definitely looked like rain as we left-- it wasn't foggy, but it was hazy and overcast. The rain held off for most of the day, though, except for an occasional light shower.We stopped for lunch at a shelter that was just over the one-third mark of the trail. 725 miles from Springer, and 1449 to Katahdin. Another milestone there.Finally, in the late afternoon, the rain really opened up and I was pretty wet by the time I reached the shelter. Just Scorpion and I here tonight.
Date: 2004-05-02
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Cornelius Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: light rain

It wasn't raining this morning, but it was very foggy. The fog was as thick as I've ever seen it until about 10 am, when a wind kicked up for several minutes and I rounded a corner to see that the fog had suddenly lifted, and I could see nearby mountains. About twenty minutes later the Sun shone through the clouds, and for most of the rest of the afternoon it was a beautiful day.About 3 in the afternoon, we reached a new shelter that is the nicest one I've seen yet on the trail. It had three stories, including a huge covered porch with benches. It probably could have slept 25 or even 30 people easily. We stopped there and took a break for an hour or so, then continued on another 5 miles.An hour or so later, clouds rolled in and it began to rain on and off. It began to rain seriously about 5 minutes after I got to the shelter-- just made it in the nick of time. Scorpion was about half an hour behind me, though, and was soaking wet when he pulled in.I thought we'd have the shelter to ourselves again, but a hiker named Sugar Daddy pulled in a few minutes after me. He had been ahead of us, but he had forgotten his bandanna here, so he walked back 2 1/2 miles to get it- crazy. But he had chocolate and was willing to share, so we were willing to look past his insanity and let him stay.
Date: 2004-05-03
From: Cornelius Creek Shelter

To: Glasgow, VA
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We had to walk twenty miles to a road crossing today and then get a hitch into town to buy good, so Scorpion got up even earlier than usual-- he was awake and gone before 6:15. Me, I was finally awake about half an hour after that.Another foggy morning today, and unlike yesterday, it didn't lift before 10. And unlike yesterday, when the fog finally lifted it wasn't sunny-- it remained overcast all day. It began to rain about 3, actually, which kept up the recent pattern of afternoon rainstorms we've been having.We reached the road about 5-- Sugar Daddy didn't need to go in for food, but he decided to hike in with us anyway to get some ice for his knee, which had been bothering him. It took about 15 minutes standing beside the road to get a hitch-- the person who finally pulled over was a guy named Charlie, whose Dad has hiked a lot of the trail.So finally, over 1/3 of the way through my hike, I hitchhiked. I think most thru-hikers have to get hitches before then, but hey-- everyone hikes their own hike.Glasgow was a little town-- two gas stations, a food mart, a restaurant/motel and a church composed the core of it. There were also life-sized plastic dinosaurs all over the place-- a huge T-Rex terrorizing the BP gas station, for example. (According to the cashier at the Grocery Express, the dinosaurs were an April Fool's Joke that had gotten out of control.)Sugar Daddy hitched back to the trail, leaving Scorpion and I to spend the night at the local motel. Hopefully we can get back to the trail before it gets too late tomorrow morning-- we've got another 20-miler to do.
Date: 2004-05-04
From: Glasgow, VA

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: clear sky

We got up at 6, packed, and had breakfast in the room-- pastries, cookies, and various other snacks we had bought last night. (Nutrition? What is this "nutrition" you speak of?)After that, we went into the motel office and asked if anybody did shuttles to the trail. Someone did, but he charged us ten bucks for a six-mile ride-- seems pretty ridiculous to me. If we didn't have such a long hike today, I would have preferred to try my luck hitch-hiking.A long uphill to start the day-- the road is at 750 feet, and a few miles later we were standing on the summit of a mountain over 3300 feet tall.That uphill seemed to sap my energy, though. I dragged most of the rest of the afternoon, and for the last couple hours I was walking in a daze-- somehow I found the energy to keep walking, but mentally I was exhausted. I didn't pull into the shelter until after 6:30 pm, which is the latest I've ever pulled into a shelter. Sugar Daddy was there (he packed up and left to hike a couple more miles, though). There was also a hiker named Fireball; he's an older gentleman who had just gotten back on the trail after taking a week off to attend his son's Ph.D. graduation.I plan to sleep very well tonight.
Date: 2004-05-05
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: few clouds

Shorter day today-- we probably needed it, since the last four days have all been 18+. I wanted to take advantage of the shoter miles and sleep in, but Fireball is apparently an early riser (he was up and cooking by quarter past 5). Naturally, this caused Scorpion to wake up early, so they were both up and making noise as I stubbornly refused to get out of my sleeping bag. They were both gone by quater 'til 7, but of course at that point I wasn't going back to sleep, so I got up, got my food bag, then got back in my sleeping bag to eat breakfast.I packed up slowly, and was moving by 8:30-- my latest start in a while. Like yesterday, we started the day with a huge uphill climb; this one took us from about 1300 to over 4000 feet. Stopped to have lunch on top of a mountain called Cold Mountain (no, I don't think it's the one the book/movie was about).Yesterday I complained about a lack of energy-- well, not today. I felt great throughout the afternoon, and made good time. I was at the shelter before 4:30, which wasn't bad at all, particularly given the twenty-five minute sidetrip I made for water in the middle of the day (the guidebook just said "Spring to right"; it made no mention of the fact that the Spring was a quarter mile off the trail down a hill).It's been a while since I had this much time at a shelter in the evening. I sat around and rested for a while, and just generally took it easy all evening.A little later another hiker named Krispy Kreme came into the shelter-- he started at Pearisburg (did Springer to Pearisburg last year). He's following our schedule into Waynesboro, so we may be hiking with him for a couple days.
Date: 2004-05-06
From: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: clear sky

I've alluded to this before, but now I'm going to expand on it. Thru-hikers, when they are in the first part of the trail, often hear about how nice the trail in Virginia is, or how easy and level the walking is. "Oh yeah," someone will say. "In Virginia, you get up on the ridgelines and you stay there." Well, I am writing now to expose the Great Virginia Lie. Today was our third consecutive day with a 2600+ foot climb-- where's the easy, huh? In the afternoon, we went from 4000 feet all the way down to 1000 and then all the way back up to 4000, before coming back down to the shelter at about 2500. Plus, a lot of the climb was rocky-- not an easy day by anybody's standards.All right, I'm done ranting and raving, at least for now. It was a fairly uneventful day, actually, other than the huge climbs. Krispy Kreme actually blew out his knee on the large downhill-- when I passed him, he was going down the hill backwards, and said he would only go 2 shelters today instead of 3 that Scorpion and I were doing. Scorpion's knee isn't doing really well either-- it's swollen up some, but it apparently isn't hurting, so he's doing okay.We got to the shelter fairly late. There's a hostel called "Rusty's Hard Time Hollow" a couple miles down a side trail, and a few people have recommended it to us. But it's late, and since we're going to be in town tomorrow anyway, we decided to skip it. You just can't do everything out here.We're sharing the shelter with Fireball and a 74-year-old section hiker named The Keystone Sergeant. He likes to talk-- he told me a lot of stories about his time on the trail, but when he started to go into great detail about his prostate cancer and the various side effects of the surgery, well, I could have done without that. Still, I suppose it's better than conspiracy theories. Not by much, though.The mice are really active in this shelter tonight-- Keystone and I spent several minutes tracking three or four of them with our lights as they scamper across the rafters and over Fireball's pack. Figures that this is also the first shelter we've been in with no mouse-resistant food bag hangers.Oh, and it turns out that Keystone is also a trail maintainer in Pennsylvania. "Oh yeah," he says, "Pennsylvania is really easy compared to this. It's a lot of level ridge walking..."Pfft. Yeah, right-- like I'm going to fall for that story again.
Date: 2004-05-08
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It was the best of towns, it was the worst of towns.It was a decent-sized city, with plenty of restaurants and stores. There was an excellent outfitter's store, an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, and on top of it all the people were very friendly. Trail angels were everywhere to be found, and it was no problem at all finding someone to shuttle us around town.The hotels were incredibly overpriced, and the one affordable place to stay in town (a campground at the YMCA) was inhabited by a local drunk. Plus, the town was so spread out that getting a shuttle was virtually a necessity.Yes, Waynesboro has its positives and negatives, but overall it's a good, friendly place. Just beware of the drunk who starts talking loudly to himself at about 1 in the morning, and whatever you do, don't ask him to be quiet. He'll get all riled up and curse at you, and after a while he'll finally get settled down and start singing loudly about Jesus, about life, about whatever.So yeah, that was what he did last night. He finally shut up about 2:30, but he came back in the late afternoon today, and sat around drinking again. He was still there when we got back from dinner, so we called the cops, but he left several minutes before they got here. It's 10 pm as I write this now, and there's been no sign of him since.But enough about the drunk. At about 8 in the morning, I met a local shuttler named Len who was taking some people up to the trailhead. Scorpion and I got to talking to him, and he agreed to take us to the Wal-Mart and the Outfitter's Store later in the day. Meanwhile, Scorpion and I walked up to the laundromat, did laundry, and ate breakfast at a place called Weasie's Kitchen that does an excellent all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast.Len was great-- he took us all over town, then about 1 pm took Scorpion to the trailhead. He dropped me off at the campsite, where I walked over to the YMCA and swam in the pool, then walked to the library next door for Internet access. A while later he came back to check on us hikers (Keystone and a hiker named Nick had arrived earlier in the day), and he drove Keystone and I out to a McDonald's for dinner. Definitely a great guy in my book-- he's retired, and he does this partly for something to do, and I think partly because he likes meeting and talking to people. When the drunk came back, he took us to the police station so we could tell them the story of last night, and they said they would try to send an occasional patrol around tonight. I hope they do-- partly because I don't want the drunk keeping us awake with his talking, and partly because I just don't feel safe with him around.So yeah, Waynesboro's got a lot of great people, but I'll be ready to leave tomorrow, too. Shenandoahs, here I come!