morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-05-13
From: Cow Camp Mountain Shelter

To: Dutch Haus Bed and Breakfast 
Miles today: 12.5

Well it rained again. Blazer and I are slow packing up this morning. Never in a hurry to put on wet clothes and boots. It was a slow walk up Cold Mountain, but worth it as it has no trees. I always say the weather is beautiful, but today is the best so far. Clear blue skies with gentle breeze and mid 60¢s. Perfect hiking weather. Poison Ivy. I think that was a Faster Pussycat song in the early 90¢s. Poison ivy is my usual hiking partner. It was all over the place yesterday. It appears that some has found me again. In 2005, I took bad advice and didn¢t pop the blister. When hiking up hills in 90 degree temps, they quickly fill up with water. They became huge! We had a contest to name them. It was great fun. This time I will pop them as soon as I can. Blazer thinks it may be chiggers, but I don¢t know. The day was easy by AT standards. We decide to head down the 1.9 miles down the Fish Hatchery road to the Dutch Haus bed and breakfast. Earl and Louis charge $25 for a room, laundry, and breakfast. $12 extra for dinner. This is my third time on the AT and I have never heard a bad thing about it, not one. The dinner was chicken on a bed of noodles, veggies, some kind of tasty sauce, a salad, upside-down pineapple cake, and coffee. The company of thru-hikers was perfect. Besides Blazer and myself, there was Fly Away, boo-boo, .357 magnum, and ice man. Dinner was great as were the stories. Blazer got a room in the house while I was sent to the executive bunkhouse. I think I was too young for the house.
Date: 2007-05-14
From: Dutch Haus Bed and Breakfast 

To: Harpers Creek Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

7am breakfast was yummy. Pancakes, eggs, meat, banana, cantaloupe, juice, and coffee. My poison ivy is in full bloom. I should probably shuttle around to Waynesboro, but what fun would that be. Just like that, we were once again on Fish Hatchery road, this time going up. Flyaway and boo-boo is slack-packing 20 mile today and tomorrow while staying at the Dutch Haus. Sounds like a better idea than our hike up this road with our packs. Spy rock was a half mile from Fish Hatchery road. A little climb and we are on top with views everywhere. 5 miles more and we are eating lunch at the Priest shelter. Priest Mountain is up there. It took way longer to get down than I was expecting. It was all switched back, but it was still down. I am starting to dislike down more than up. They say if the trail is flat, you have probably wandered off the AT. When we reach the Tue River, we soak our burning feet. From there it is a long 2.5 miles to the Harper¢s Creek Shelter. It will be my first stay in a shelter out of pure laziness. I have a 34 z-rest, so it may be my last. Today was more tiring than I expected. Tomorrow we will try to get an early start on the 3 ridges of hellascious climb of 2000 feet. 85 degrees is expected. We will push as far as we can.
Date: 2007-05-15
From: Harpers Creek Shelter

To: Somewhere on Humpback Mountain 
Miles today: 14.5

Woke up early to get a jump on Three ridges, a huge climb. Plus the weather was supposed to climb into the 80¢s. We left at 7:30am, early for us. It was a long climb to the top of Three ridges. There were good views to be had. 6 miles later we make it to Maupin Field Shelter. We do lunch and thru-hikers start showing up everywhere. There is a reliable rumor a cooler full of soda and cookies is just 2 miles away. Blazer and I are off. We reach it still full. Sparrowhawk left it, he thru-hiked last year and works at the outfitter in town. While we were partaking in our frosty beverages, 2 state troopers came flying up the road. One locked up his brakes and asked us if we saw a motorcycle, which we answered ¢nope¢. They whip their cars around and went back down. Whoever they were chasing better lay low as the looked a bit cranky.It was about 5 more miles to Dripping Rock parking area. They were long hot miles over many rock, bugs, and more poison ivy. We made a lame attempt to hitch into Waynesboro early. Camping is few and far between. Blazer looks hot and tired. We push on another 2 mile before deciding to camp on the first almost flat spot. Camp Mosquito will have to do. It is terribly windy, but I feel safe in my little orange thin piece of fabric that I call tent. Early morning as we plan to run to town and NOT leave for a long time.
Date: 2007-05-16
From: Somewhere on Humpback Mountain 

To: Quality Inn 
Miles today: 12.5

Up and on the trail by 6:30am and we are moving. Town is on the brain. Blazer claims I have been thinkin¢ about town since Daleville. It¢s a good ways to Paul C. Wolfe shelter. They changed the trail since 1999. I thought it was different in 2005, but a trail worker confirmed it. I thanked him for his work and was on my way.        The Wolfe shelter is really nice and sits in front of Mill Creek. I tell Blazer it¢s the easiest 5 miles to town he¢ll ever do. The trail goes straight up after the shelter, then it goes up again. I claim I can¢t remember hills, which I think I suppressed. The trail does eventually get easy, but it takes forever. We are trying to beat the rain.       Once at Rockfish gap, we head over the visitor center. A volunteer lady says wait about 15 minutes and she would take us into town. No sooner do we get out packs off, she comes out and says ¢Are you ready?¢. It couldn¢t have been more than a minute. So off we go and she asks if we have maps. I say I have some in the mail. She says nonsense, turns around and goes back to the visitor center and gets us maps of the whole trail. When we do get to the hotel, she goes into it and makes sure they give us the hiker rate. We thank her for everything.      I did nothing for 20 minutes then hopped into the shower. Once sort of clean, I call up Enterprise. Having a car in town is key. It¢s only 40 bucks. I would write about the hot chick who picked me up, but you¢re going to think all I do is obsess over, well, hot chicks. So a nice young lady, who could easily be Mrs. Noworries, though we can¢t marry every rental car chick or we¢d never get to Maine, picks me up. Moments later I am bee-bopping around town in a stylish, but economical Ford Focus.      Blazer and I visit Wal-Mart so I can pick up my poison ivy cream. Any generic drug (she had a list of 300) if you don¢t have insurance is 4 bucks. So instead of paying $45 like I expected, I got out for under $5. Lunch was the NY deli and the best sandwich in quite some time. It rained out most of the afternoon so I can¢t recall us doing anything else. We went to the outfitter and then out for pizza, that¢s about it. We did hike 12 miles today and we are old.
Date: 2007-05-17
From: Quality Inn 

To: Quality Inn
Miles today: 0.0

There¢s a new show on MTV or at least to me. It¢s called x-effect or something. This has to be scripted as I can¢t believe anyone would fall for this. Still it sucked away 3 hours of my life. So I don¢t know what that says about me?        Since we have a car it¢s off to get a cup of corporate coffee for Starbucks. We then shuttle Ben and Amanda back to the trail. Anther trip to the outfitter looking for ponchos. They only have one and Blazer gets it. I go with some ¢lil ducks froggtoggs bought out till I can find a poncho. I collected my mail drop and played on the internet. This is supposed to be a rest day. We are horrible at managing time. Food shopping is next. I should have took pictures and sent them back to my store. My store is nice, but Martin¢s is better. They of course have self checkouts, but you can also grab theses scan guns and scan your stuff as you shop. I have also heard that some grocery stores are experimenting with tagging food much like CD¢s and DVD¢s and all you do is push your cart through a scanner and viola! Wow, I have gotta let go. We ate at Southern Grill. A fancier place that we are used to. I went with the roast pork and Blazer got the combo platter. Might I add, the presentation was top notch. They should really tell you before hand that the green stuff was just for looks and not to be eaten.*THE DATES ON MY MAIL DROPS WILL BE OFF BY A COUPLE OF WEEKS!*
Date: 2007-05-18
From: Quality Inn

To: Calf Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: moderate rain

Blazer and I wake to rainy skies in Waynesboro. We have to leave the Quality Inn as they are sold out this weekend. We decide to go to Starbucks and mull over our options. It¢s not that we are afraid we might melt, it just doesn¢t make sense to leave town in the rain. The Holiday Inn Express has rooms. Neither of us really want to stay another day. The rain is light and sporadic. Big Daddy asks ¢What are we still doing in town?¢. Oh yes! He will be dragged from town into the rain if he shows up on the trail. So we decide to leave as it almost looks as though it might clear. I return my rental car and get dropped at the Quality Inn. We then were picked up by a nice lady who shuttled us to the trail. She grew up in Oil city right around Erie-Edinboro PA where I used to live. Once at the visitor¢s center, it starts to pour. We hide out in the visitor center in hopes it might pass. You have to chuckle as we sent our good rain gear home. Blazer got a poncho and I some frog toggs. Inside there is a volunteer who just came in and has something to do with the church hostel that opens tomorrow. He asks when we started and I say I hopped on at Daleville. He made a psst sound and turns away. I now want to beat him with my poles! Cause apparently since we haven¢t hiked from Georgia we aren¢t hikers. I inform him that I thru-hiked in ¢99 and another 1300 miles in ¢05. He probably has never stepped on the trail. Maybe I¢m just cranky, but it¢s not fair to Blazer who is trying to complete his AT hike. The 150 miles was anything but easy. We decided if anyone asks we will just say we are thru-hikers, it¢ll be easier. We set off in the rain and it¢s a balmy 47 degrees. You have to fill out a permit before you can enter the Shenandoah National park. Our destination tonight is Calf Mountain shelter just outside the park. The trail was a bit slippery with rain and mud. Bear Den mountain, though full of communication towers and microwave dishes, is a beautiful semi-open summit when not covered in a cloud. The shelter has 4 people in it when we arrive, to our surprise. They seem a little shocked that we would tent. The rain picked up right after we set up. I am bundled up trying not to freeze as its 43 degrees and rainy. If I survive I will never leave town again if it¢s cold and rainy. Just as it was getting dark, I hear voices. More than normal anyway, followed by many footsteps and clattering of poles. It¢s too cold to peek out. Oh, I already ripped my frog toggs, so looks like I¢ll pick up a poncho in Front Royal.
Date: 2007-05-19
From: Calf Mountain Shelter 

To: Blackrock Hut 
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

I woke to sun shining into my tent. Most were packed by the time I dragged myself out of my tent to make coffee. Last night a Boy Scout troop came in and set up their tents in the rain. Blazer and I are the last to leave. We are officially in Shenandoah National Park. Unlike the Smokies, I actually like this one. The trail is well taken care of, privies and bear poles at all the shelters along with tent sites. Not to mention the cheeseburgers and blackberry shakes. The first overlook we come to, we have our tents and anything else wet, laid all over. The skies are blue and a gentle breeze is blowing. The trail is happy and soft. No bears today and we looked. We took a long lunch in the sun, then wandered down the trail towards Blackrock hut. I have seen more people on the trail than the first two weeks put together. Martini and Rossi, Walking Cowboy, Beach Bum are all thru-hikers here. We also have the boy scouts from last night. Blackberry shakes and cheese burgers for lunch tomorrow. Martini and Rossi have been off the trail for 2 weeks, I believe their daughter was having a baby. Beach Bum retired from Lockheed Martin just like Blazer. I think he¢s the third person from Lockheed we have met. After the AT he plans to buy a sailboat and learn to sail.
Date: 2007-05-20
From: Blackrock Hut 

To: Pinefield Hut 
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Last ones out of camp, though early for us, 8:30am. Blazer was scurrying around looking for his spoon. We may have to tie it to his wrist with a string. Lovely, and might I add almost flat walk for 5 miles. By 11am we done an unheard of 7.5 miles. It¢s a sad day when we were hoofing the extra half mile to the wayside. We got word they were out of shakes and ice cream. HEATHENS! Folks, I don¢t ask for much. Blackberry shakes and the Shenandoah¢s go hand in hand. It was too late to turn around, so we were forced to suck down lemonade with our cheeseburgers. Most of the day was sunny with a good breeze. Here and there it would get hot. We stopped at Ivy creek and put our feet in. Icy cold it was. 13 miles was pretty easy today, including a 2 hour siesta at the wayside. Beach Bum, Blazer and I are all tenting above the shelter. A south bounder with an akita (beautiful dog) and Zero are in the shelter, though it sounds as though they have company. When I tried to get into my tent, there was a deer next to it. It didn¢t seem to care what I did. So I took a couple of pics and probably could of pet it.
Date: 2007-05-21
From: Pinefield Hut 

To: Lewis Mountain Campground 
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: broken clouds

Blazer never leaves camp before 8am. So at 6:30 or 7 I usually put on my headphones and sing. Blazer at 7 said he was going down for breakfast. At 7:30am I poked my head out and realized he was already packed. Out by 8am moving down a pretty easy trail. There was a lot of uphill today, but in the Shenandoah¢s it¢s a gentle rolling up for the most part. It was hot and that¢s about all I have to say. We took lots of breaks and had lunch on High Top Mountain. We spent most of the day hiking as it was our first, as close as you can get 20 mile day. Blazer¢s counting it as a 20 mile day, but it was really 19.9 miles. Lewis Mountain campground was home for the night. As luck would have it, the store closed a half hour before we got there. Beach Bum calls us over as he has a bunk in the hiker hostel. There is room for us so we are happy. We also met an Aussie (Grogot?) and a Canadian (Bee-line) out doing a 20 day hike. Beach Bum today, while walking down the trail about 20 feet way, saw two baby bear cubs climbing a tree and the mama bear sitting below.
Date: 2007-05-22
From: Lewis Mountain Campground 

To: Rock Spring Shelter 
Miles today: 12.2

We spent the night with Beach Bum at Lewis Mountain campground. We started our day with cloud cover and cool temperatures. It was an easy walk to Big Meadows wayside for lunch. Much of the tree¢s here have been decimated (destroyed) by an ice storm last year. It is incredible the amount of damage. Almost every tree for the last 30 miles. You add to it the disease and everything else, you have a mess. I had oatmeal and 2 breakfast bars for breakfast. For lunch I added a bowl of chili, cordon blue panini, fries, 3 Pepsi¢s, and a bowl of ice cream. Oh and a 3rd bottle of Pepto-Bismol. I hurt. I blame the ice cream and will not eat it anymore I think I am lactose intolerant while I hike. I had to hold Blazer down when the waitress said they only make blackberry shakes on the weekend. Beach Bum, Blazer, and I spent about 2.5 hours at Big Meadows. Once I could safely leave, the rest of the trail to the shelter was rather scenic and enjoyable. Groget and Beeline were making pizza at the shelter. Beach Bum thought adding tuna fish to a lipton was gourmet. They took a NOLS course, which should make brother Mike proud. It will be some rough hiking the next couple of days. Today we had lunch at Big Meadows, Wednesday breakfast at Skyland, Thursday lunch at Elk Wallow, and Friday town. Oh, we snuck out of the bunkhouse before the ranger came. Blazer I believe is still harboring some guilt. Milkshakes will make everything better.
Date: 2007-05-23
From: Rock Spring Shelter 

To: Pass Mountain Hut 
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: broken clouds

Out of the shelter early for us, with breakfast on our mind. It was a pretty easy walk to Skyland. The trail was nice and skirted around the mountains. Plenty of views along the way. We passed the horse stables at Skyland and I tried to get Blazer to ride one. Nope, he wants breakfast. So let¢s talk breakfast. I had 2 eggs over easy, bacon, fried potato thing, biscuit and gravy, fruit, and lot lots of coffee. Yummy. We waited out in the sun to see if lunch was in order. I waited to see if my stomach would again implode. It was touch and go for a bit. Beach Bum took off ahead of us, while Blazer and I lounged around. We finally got our hike on just before noon. A beautiful day. The trail is crazy easy leaving Skyland and over Stoney Mountain summit, for all the tourists. It was shaping up to be a great day. The trail continued to be gentle dropping us off at Pinnacles picnic grounds. Blazer practiced his yogging, asking some picnickers if we were late for lunch. He needs more practice. At least an hour disappeared there just laying in the sun. This highly enjoyable day ended abruptly with our 2 mile rocky descent down to Thorton gap. When I say rocky, I mean the whole trail was made of many uneven and sometime sharp rocks. Blazer¢s only words were ¢Brutal¢! We crawled into Pass Mountain hut. We are now officially the only two hikers in Virginia that haven¢t see bears. Broget and Beeline saw a bear at the shelter after we left, then another on the trail. We made reservations for Friday/Saturday in front Front Royal at the Quality Inn.
Date: 2007-05-24
From: Pass Mountain Hut 

To: Gravel Spring Hut 
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

No real hurry today and I can¢t say why. I packed up and headed down to the shelter for breakfast. 4 more hikers came in after we went to our tents. Nice day for hiking, though a little on the warm side. The hike was nice to Elk Wallow wayside where we planned lunch. The trail in north Shenandoah isn¢t as wide or graded, but still noticeably easier than the usual AT. We arrive at the wayside with Beach Bum waving us in. He has already had breakfast and is just finishing up lunch. I had a cheeseburger and fries. On the way here we saw deer and turkey, but still no bears. We did however see a Chihuahua wearing goggles and a helmet, so I took a picture of that. The afternoon was terribly hot. Lunch has slowed us down. We headed for Gravel Spring hut. We threw around the idea of doing another 3 miles then set up our tents. Blazer, Beach Bum, myself, and some people out for a couple days, are tenting. Down at the shelter is the Canadian and Aussie, a family of 4 heading south in the Shenandoah¢s, a ridge runner, and I thought I heard .357 Magnum talking. Dinner was tasty Lipton, some Oreo¢s, and a beer. I packed 3 bottles of Yuengling out of the wayside for Beach Bum, Blazer, and moi. Believe it or not, this is only my second beer on the trail, including towns. I also had a tick, which I removed piece by piece. I really need to practice that.
Date: 2007-05-25
From: Gravel Spring Hut 

To: Front Royal (Quality Inn) 
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

We are up with the sun in hopes of getting to town by early afternoon. The hike up Compton Peak is hot and it¢s early in the morning. The next 2 miles are the happiest, flattest, widest trial on the AT. Once you cross the Shenandoah National Park boundary, the AT shrinks to a thin and might I add, rocky trail. Blazer and Beach Bum think they put all the rocks they couldn¢t use in the Shenandoah¢s right here. The trail drops right down a huge rock to Tom Floyd wayside. We have done 10 miles by 11am. The next 3 miles were hot, buggy, and tough. We follow the Nat¢l Zoological Park Research Center for most of it. It is closed at least the on the side of US 522. The trees as soon as you leave the park are huge. I mean they are really big. Most in the national park were small, diseased, or so badly damaged from ice, they would take forever to recover. These trees look as though they haven¢t been logged in a 100 years. We arrive at US 522 3.5 miles out of Front Royal. We try hitching for about 20 minutes, but no one seems to want 2 dirty hikes in their overpriced leather equipped SUV¢s. We start to walk towards town. About a half mile into it, a flatbed dump truck of sorts pulls over. Blazer hops in front, and I hang on in back as we are delivered to Quality Inns¢ doorstep. We have air conditioning, refrigerator, microwave, pool, and internet. It¢s hot here. We walk to the post office, then the outfitter. Blazer was less than happy with the outfitter. I was disappointed that they had no ponchos, but am seldom thrilled with outfitters. Blazer though the alcohol for his stove was expensive. If I were an outfitter along the AT, I would give away alcohol for stoves. It¢s cheap and odds are the hiker will buy other stuff. So on to K-mart to buy some running shorts and some light weight pants. Well, there is absolutely no reason I can think of why K-mart should keep their doors open. There is a reason Wal-Mart and Target are superior. We couldn¢t find anything of value that would be useful to us. Blazer is having his shorts sent out. I hope to find something at Wal-Mart near Harper¢s Ferry. Summer is fastly approaching so I am not worried about the poncho so much, as I don¢t use rain gear once it¢s warm enough. The ¢lil ducks (frogg toggs) I bought in Waynesboro were shredded by the time I walked in here. They said be careful with them, but they tear if you breathe too heavy. Pizza Hut delivered dinner tonight. Ham and pineapple pizza, my favorite. So I finally feel clean, full, and soon to be rested. Blazer really wants me to make it clear how much my ¢lil ducks (frogg toggs) sucked! In fact he wants them pulled from the shelves and bamboo stuck under the nails of the outfitter for selling it to me.