morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-04-02
From: Brown Mtn Shelter 

To: Saltlog Gap 
Miles today: 13.0

The day started with a beautiful flat section along the Brown Mountain Creek. It is an area settled and farmed by freed slaves. The remains of their homes and fences still remain in a few spots. Soon the climbs began. We ran into a guy with a church youth group who started on the trail five weeks ago at 300 pounds. So far he's lost 60!   He can't keep up with the kids during the day, but catches up to them every night.The highlight of the day was the view from the top of Bluff Mtn. We just soaked in the sun in the grassy top.We finally went on for a couple more miles. It was a dry night; the water source at the campsite did not exist.
Date: 2007-04-03
From: Saltlog Gap 

To: Glasgow VA 
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: clear sky

WE'RE SICK OF LIPTON SIDES! I can't believe I said a couple of weeks ago that they're so good! We had a short beautiful hike that was just full of wild flowers. Then we hitchhiked for the first time. I made Bonnie stand out in front and look like a helpless woman hiker. The third car stopped and we got our ride to town! The hotel is a dump, but it has a shower and we can resupply our food across the street. And we can wash our clothes at the landramat. Town food rocks!!!
Date: 2007-04-04
From: Glasgow VA 

To: Thunder Hill
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We had a great breakfast with the locals at the motel. They told us stories about Virgina, half of which ended up being jokes. By the end of breakfast, in addition to our pre-arranged ride, 3 people offered to drive us the 7 miles back to the trail! The hiking was beautiful, with climbs overlooking the James river. We ran into our first northbound hikers from GA, The Hobbit, Groveasaurus, and the dog they rescued on the trail, Hugo.The wind is getting cold!
Date: 2007-04-05
From: Thunder Hill

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It is cold!   Our water bladder tubes didn't thaw out until noon. It's fine hiking, but getting out of your sleeping bag in the morning and getting packed up and going is brutal! We ran into Rod and Dell, a brother and sister doing their annual section hike together. They were cold and she's from Ontario. We also met our first discouraged hiker on the trail, a section hiker named Skyking. He was very cold!
Date: 2007-04-06
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Bobblets Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: broken clouds

The top 5 good things about cold weather:1. Your water stays cool (sometimes solid).2. You get to wear all your clothes, so your pack stays empty.3. Cheese lasts longer.4. You do more miles because it's too cold tostop. 5. You enjoy your farts much longer at night, because it takes hours for the smell to waft through all your layers of clothes/sleeping bag.Sorry, just trying to put a positive spin on this! Hiking was beautiful today, with lots of walking right on top of the ridge. All the locals were out by the streams checking out the fish for opening day tomorrow. It actually warmed up a littl.
Date: 2007-04-07
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Troutville, VA
Miles today: 17.0

Our first 15 plus mile day -- 17 on the trail and another 1 to the warm hotel.We ran into a scout troop on a 5 day section hike. Some of the kids didn't even have gloves -- we don't know how they survived!   Fortunately, their dog Dixie ate our left over cheese and summer sausage.The hiking was easy today, mostly along the sides of the ridges instead of going over every peak. It ended with a beautiful section through a farm medow before coming out into Troutville, VA.Time for a warm motel bed! (We added a third mail drop)
Date: 2007-04-08
From: Troutville, VA

To: Troutville 
Miles today: 0.0

Happy Easter everyone!We had a lovely day off, but missed our famlies on our first major holiday away. Doing our laundry at the truck stop down the street was quite an experience.   We never knew all the things they have in a major truckstop. We spent time talking to a woman trucker who had her truck stolen yesterday by the driver she was training! Overall, we had a lovely zero.
Date: 2007-04-09
From: Troutville 

To: Lamberts Medow Campsite
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

Our day started with a ride from a trail angel named Homer who took us to the post office for our mail (thanks Sandy and Bill!) and back to the trail. Homer did the trail in 02 with his wife, 8 year old son and 12 year old daughter! Now when we start to whine we say, "An 8 year old can do this!"We made a quick stop in Daleville for supplies and a Mexican lunch with a big margarita. We felt that up the first mountain! We spent the day hiking with a boy scout troop from Chesapeake VA that was doing a 50 miler. Much of our time was spent with a 12 year old named Lean Two (he starts to lean when he gets tired), who asked a million adult questions of us. He now knows more about us than our famlies! We spent the night at a beautiful campsite by a stream. While we were in our tent a deer walked up within 25 yards of us, and we heard coyotes barking away during the night.
Date: 2007-04-10
From: Lamberts Medow Campsite

To: Catawba Creek
Miles today: 16.0

We woke up to another crisp morning (below freezing) and headed up to Tinker Cliffs and on to McAfee Knob. Both had beautiful views over the valley. We met Bear Seeker (Greg) who takes care of the trail near McAfee and he told us abot some of his cool bear sightings near there. His dog Lance was quite the little hiker dog (we're still having dog withdrawl issues). We later met another trail maintaier who was using a leaf blower to get the leaves off the trail! Our conversation with him was interesting because due to running the leaf blower so long, I don't think he heard anything we said.We also met several other northbound through hikers: Gut Hook, Fed Ex, and Ospry.
Date: 2007-04-11
From: Catawba Creek

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: light rain

The rain started just as we were packing up the tent, so our tent has still not gotten seriously - YET. Walked about a mile to gas station/store and got some eggs and bacon on bisquits and juice and coffee. We were able to partically run up the hills after such a good breakfast. We did Dragons Tooth, which is a section that's more rock-climbing than hiking. Since it was raining we were glad that we climbing that section vs. descending. Wet rocks = slippery rocks!   We met Tito while we had stopped for a quick lunch break. He's doing Springer to Harpers Ferry only this year because he needs to get to his summer job as a river-raft guide on the Colorado River. He has also led sled-dog tours and lived the surfer like on the north coast of Oahu. Cool! He grew up in Ocean City, NJ, so we had fun talking about all the great food places (Johnsons Popcorn, Mack Pizza, Browns Doughnuts) we miss there.I'm sure we had great views all days from the mountain, but couldn't see them since we literally walking in the clouds all day. We stopped by the Audy Murphy Memorial. It's amazing how much he survived during WW II.Shared a shelter with Sleep Ninja (he kicks in his sleep) and Moose. Neat brothers from Texas. First time we've slept in a shelter without a tent.
Date: 2007-04-12
From: Niday Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

It rained hard most of the night, but it was nice and dry in the shelter. We said goodbye to Sleep Ninja and Moose and headed up the mountain. Much of the hiking was thorugh beautiful pastures with lots of stiles (a sort of ladder that goes over the fences in pastures). At the edge of one of the pastures was a 300 year old oak tree called the Keffer Oak. It was huge and reminded us of the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter.We met thru hikers Kentucky Blue, Orange Blaze, and Tau just after the tree.There was no one at the shelter at Laurel Creek, so we set up the tent in the shelter to escape the wind and had a nice night. The privy at the shelter had quite the explanation about how duff (the partially decomposed leaves above the top soil) helps break down the "stuff" that's deposited in the privy!
Date: 2007-04-13
From: Laurel Creek Shelter

To: Bailey Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

It's interesting how one day you feel great, and the next day you feel like crap! I started off feeling a bit dizzy up the hills, and by the afternoon, I felt great. Other days, Bonnie has gone through good and bad patches. It seems to be at least partially related to food. Since our last resupply, we under bought on this trip out. Last time we over bought, and food weighs a lot! It's always a balancing act to hit it right with food and water between eating enough and carrying too much.Most of the hiking today was on the top of the ridge, but because it was so flat, you couldn't see off to either side. Fortunately, with our great song writing skills, we made up some awesome songs. For various reasons, they cannot be reprinted here.The hiking was easy today except for the very rocky last two miles. A note in the log book at the shelter said that Pennsylvania, which is notorious for rocks, called and they want their rocks back.
Date: 2007-04-14
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: overcast clouds

All day the winds were blowing 20+ mph, and at the powerline gaps, you had to lean into it to keep from falling over. We also found out that our ski shells are good in the rain for a while, but then start to soak up the water. As soon as you get damp, it gets cold!We did 23 miles on the trail, and another 1 to the hotel! It was a rainy, windy, cool day and we got to our planned destination at 4:00. We were toasted, but the thought of town food and a warm bed pushed us on another 7 plus miles. We hit town, checked into a motel, and stuffed ourselves with Mexican food!
Date: 2007-04-15
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Pearisburg
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We spent most of the day doing town-chores including laundry, catching-up on stuff we need a real PC for, trying to figure-out how to get pictures out of our PDA, etc. We've concluded that the only way we can manage our pictures while we're on the trail is to send them to Snapfish 1-by-1.It is a VERY windy, wet day so we were happy to be in town. The forecast for tomorrow is VERY bad too, so I think we're going to play in safe and sit-tight for another day.We heard from Jane and David, the couple who's been fostering our former foster dog, Chase. Chase was adopted on Friday by a great family. We haven't been able to talk to Jane, but she sounds as bitter-sweet as we were leaving him. We all ultimatley hoped to find a great home for him, but he's such a great dog, he's hard to let go of. We hope the adoption works-out well. Chase has had such a tough start in life (his former "owner" is being prosecuted as a felon), he deserves to live happily-ever-after. Thanks, again, to Jane and David. We know you guys would be as choosey about Chase's new parents as we would have been.
Date: 2007-04-16
From: Pearisburg

To: Pearisburg 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

We decided to spend a second day in Pearisburg after hearing the weather and looking up at the snow and wind in the mountains. We thought the roof was going to blow the roof off the motel last night.We were shopping at the Food Lion when we heard the news of the shooting at VT which is only 20 miles from here. It was similar to living in northern NJ on 9-11. Just like everyone there knew someone working in the WTC, everyone here seems to know someone going to VT. What a sick feeling. We're looking forward to getting back on the trail and away from this madness.
Date: 2007-04-17
From: Pearisburg 

To: Doc's Knob Shelter 
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

We headed out around noon since that's when the wind warning ended. It was still whipping pretty hard all day, but it was bareable.The day started with a climb from 1600 feet to 3550 feet, but got pretty easy after that. We enjoyed the burgers we bought at DQ on the way out of town at the top of the climb. There were patches of snow all over the mountains.We got to the shelter by 4 and enjoyed the magazines someone left there. We had the shelter to ourselves until around 1 a.m. when Zero and Molasses, two thru hikers doing huge miles, showed up. They were a riot and we had a blast talking to them. Molasses does a great imitation of Will Farrell singing Neil Diamond songs.
Date: 2007-04-18
From: Doc's Knob Shelter 

To: Kimberling Creek 
Miles today: 17.0

We started off singing Neil Diamond songs for the first 2 hours. "Sweet Caroline, BUM BUM BUM," adds so much to the wilderness experience!We're starting to hit more northbounders, and it's amazing how the information flows up and down the trail. We trade info on other hikers, news, towns, food, lodgings etc. It's probably similar to the world before mass media. And there are no ads or commercials!Much of today's hiking was along a stream, which was beautiful, but a bit wet. Sometimes you felt like you were hiking in the stream. We're glad our boots are waterproof!
Date: 2007-04-19
From: Kimberling Creek 

To: Helveys Mill Shelter 
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: broken clouds

We tented in a beautiful spot near a farm and woke to the sound of loads of singing birds and gobbling turkeys. We met a northbound couple named Martini & Rossi who we were following on Trail Journals before we got on the trail. What a bizzare experience it is to meet someone in the woods in the middle of nowhere who you were following on the internet 6 weeks ago!Thunderstorms moved in around 1:00 and it started pouring. The forecast was for showers, but it was hard rain right through the evening. We finally got to the shelter around 6:00, looked in and saw it packed with people. If we tried to squeeze in, someone would have popped out! So we set up the tent and cooked up a big pot of spaghetti with sundried tomatoes. The tent kept the rain off, but our wet gear made it pretty swampy inside. Luckily the rain stopped around 8:00.
Date: 2007-04-20
From: Helveys Mill Shelter 

To: Jenkins Shelter 
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was the first time we had to pack-up a wet tent. However, we had a great morning because we met Auriel, a young puppy that was rescued from a gorge that day. Given the rain and the cool temps, she probably would not have made it through the night alone. The hikers who rescued her are using their hike as a fundraiser for a RI animal rescue. Their page is SKHikers on myspace if you want to support them. Thet plan to take Auriel to a shelter in Pearisburg. We pray she gets adopted. We were very tempted to just rent a car and drive her to NJ where we know she'd be adopted within an hour during an event at Petsmart, but she was in good hands and another dog may need us down the trail.We had a bright sunny day, which helped dry-out our stuff. Toward the end of the day we came to a cooler with ice-cold Gatorade that was left by a local church. It was awsome!
Date: 2007-04-21
From: Jenkins Shelter 

To: Lick Creek
Miles today: 15.0

At the shelter, we met Road Dog a section hiker from Idaho with whom we had a lot in common. We also met Hermes, a 22 year-old, an ultra-lighter that does 30+ miles a day. It was interesting to compare the world views of us 40-somethings (includingRoad Dog) to a 20-something.Met a BUNCH of north-bound hikers today... this is just the beginning of the hoard we'll walk through over the next month. We met Sanora and Cisco, honey-mooners, hiking with their dog Poncho. We also met Toe-Socks 1 & 2. They are a very cool older couple who also sold their house, etc. We were laughing about how GREAT it feels to get rid of all your accumulated stuff!   Also met Dakota, a choc lab, a weimereiner, a golden-mix, Scout, a black lab...The views today from Chestnut Knob were absoultely spectacular. We had 360 degree views of mountains, and it was just breath-taking. Though we thought we were hiking fast, we didn't get to our camp-site until 7:30. It might have had something to do with chatting with almost every hiker and every trail maintainer (bless their little souls), petting EVERY dog, and taking a long lunch, plus it was hard terrain...DUH.
Date: 2007-04-22
From: Lick Creek

To: Atkins, VA
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was one of our more difficult in terms of terrain - but we were both feeling good. It's amazing what hiking all day does for your fitness level. We were headed east, so we were going up and down different ridges all day. It was summer-like, which is a sharp contrast to the high winds and snow just a week ago. We're getting great tans, complete with white patches where our watches and hiking-pole straps lay.We met Swamp Monster (and his owner). They both looked like happy hikers.We had heard from all the NOBO's that the motel close to the trail was bad even in terms of hiker standards, which is REALLY bad given that we hikers are happy sleeping in the woods! We were happy to get a room at The Comfort Inn (about 4 miles off the trail). We were even happier to get a ride from a lov ely couple from MA. The husband is section hiking the trail and his wife picks him up at the end of the day. There are so many 'right ways' to get out here and hike.
Date: 2007-04-23
From: Atkins, VA

To: Atkins, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We had a great day in Atkins. The motel is lovely and they have a great breakfast buffet. We headed out to do 'our chores' which included getting our box at the PO (thank you AGAIN, Bill!), laundry and shopping.While at the PO, a lady offered us a ride to the laundramat in the back of her pick-up truck - COOL. We haven't ridden in the back of a truck since we were kids. Turns out that the laundrymat was closed. The kind women offered to drive to the next town (after her tanning appointment), but we'd need to find a ride back. Soooo, sitting in front of the tanning/beauty we had the thought that most salons have a washer and dryer. Sooo we politely proposed that we both get hair cuts and do our laundry. Trish and Linda promptly accepted and we got great cuts AND clean laundry. We finding such kind and helpful people that are making our hike much easier and enjoyable.
Date: 2007-04-24
From: Atkins, VA

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

Once again, another kind person took us the 3 miles up the road to the trail. We were having breakfast at the Comfort Inn, and there were a bunch of business people in town for a meeting, and Bonnie just asked if anyone was running a little early. Sure enough, a plant manager from Mississippi gave us a lift. The generosity of people continues to amaze us!The hiking started in meadows and then headed back up into the mountains. It was a short day, and we got to the shelter by 2:00. Our guide listed the shelter as being by the NRA Headquarters, and all day we were wondering what the National Rife Association had to do with the trail. We got to the building and in huge letters on the building it read "National Recreation Area - Mt. Rogers." Duh.The Partnership Shelter where we stayed is famous for having 2 places that you can call that will deliver pizza. There were about 10 people at the shelter and we called in our combined order for over $100 worth of pizza. As we were wolfing that down, Shadow offered to hitch to town for beer. So it was a night of pizza and beer, and a few games of gin rummy by the fire. We partied until the late hour of 9:30 -- a new record for us after a day of hiking! The shelter also had a hot shower, and the NRA had sodas and candy. Life is good!We also fell in love with the cat living at the shelter. We sacrificed a pouch of tuna, which he wolfed-down. It killed us to leave him, but he looked pretty healthy. As we continue down the trail, we'll beg people to give up some food for him.
Date: 2007-04-25
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Hurricane Campground
Miles today: 17.0

The trails were pretty easy today, without any major climbs. We picked some wild garlic that was growing along the trail to mix in with our pasta and sun dried tomatoes for dinner. We stayed at Hurricane campground, which is about a half-mile from the trail. Numb Toes and Shadow told us about the awesome sites where you're almost afraid to drive in a tent stake for fear of messing them up. True to their description, the sites were perfectly graded with small crushed stone, nice tables and hot showers. It was well worth the $14 for a campsite. The pasta was excellent!It's been 3 nights in a row with a hot shower! We're going to have to put on some "stink spray" or no one's going to believe we're thru hikers! We also heard the joke today about, what's the only difference between a thru hiker and a homeless person.Gortex.
Date: 2007-04-26
From: Hurricane Campground

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was our first day climbing to over 5,000 feet. The weather started out beautiful, but changed to rain at aobut 2:00. We were thankful for our rain jackets (thanks for the mail drop Bill!) which we swapped out for our ski shells. The shells were perfect for the really cold weather, but were only good in the rain for a short period. After a couple hours, they started soaking up the rain like a sponge.The wild flowers are coming out like crazy again. The forest floor at the higher elevations is completely covered by a white flower (Bonnie's stopping by a library tomorrow to figure out what they are).At about 4:00 we reached the shelter, which quickly filled up because of the weather. We slept shoulder-to-shoulder, but it was good to be out of the rain. Our shelter mates were Sinage (retired woman school teacher), Breadless Horseman, Yorkie (from U.K.), Larry and one other guy. Something was chewing away at the shelter during the night, but we were all too tired to get up and investigate!
Date: 2007-04-27
From: Wise Shelter

To: Lost Mountain
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: light rain

Today's hiking was in Gayson Highlands State Park, which is famous for its huge balds on top of the mountains. We started in light rain, which cleared up in the first hour. The highlands have about 100 wild ponies which were transplanted there to keep the grass cleared (the balds are not natural, but were created mostly by logging), and they are very tame. We just waited by the trail when we saw them, and they'd come up and eat Cheerios from our hands. We saw one mom with a very young, nursing foal. We also hiked though a rock formation called "Fatman Squeeze." It's a really cool natural rock tunnel, and it was a bit of a squeeze!The wild flowers were incredible again!
Date: 2007-04-28
From: Lost Mountain

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: light rain

We thought we had a straight down-hill hike into Damascus...which it was, expect for a couple a big climbs and some rollers and a final up over Iron Mountain. But, we made good time knowing that town-food and a B&B were waiting for us.We met Little Bear (and his owner). Little Bear was one of the happiest dogs we seen, probably because his owner doesn't believe in making a dog wear a pack or even a collar!We had "second lunch" coming into town. We then got our packs adjusted at Mt. Rodgers Outfitters. We were really adjusting our pack wrong. Bonnie needed a new shoulder strap and hip belt since she's smaller than when she bought the pack a year ago. We also arrange a "slack pack" for the next day. Mt. Rodgers Outfitters is known as the best outfitter on the trail and we beieve that they are. We'll be doing some more shopping and "making" some more adjustments with them on Monday.Our B&B, The Lazy Fox, is lovely. We mentioned to our hostess we'd like to buy some wine while we were in town, so she gave us a ride down to the store and we were set for the weekend!We had a great dinner at the Old Mill.