morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-06-09
From: Trailside Camping by Harrison Ground Spring

To: Punchbowl Shelter
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: light rain

791.2 miles                                                   6/9/05 Thursday                                          Day 57 Sunny-Hot Thunder&Lightning    "Happy 26th Anniversary Dear"          I Love YouGreat night of sleep. I usually do when we tent out. Up real early today we have a lot of miles to do plus a town resupply. We started out in the morning it was all down. Met up with two older guys that are hiking for a few days and in two years they hope to do a through hike. Good walking and talking to different people. Met up with Lightning and we got a ride into town for a home cooked meal-resupply and called my wife to wish her Happy Anniversary. back to the trail to do 7 more miles in the rain. Then the thunder and lightning started up too. No fun. well the 7 miles turned into 12 miles. Most of it all up. Got to Punchbowl Shelter late to find it full of bugs and a pond full of frogs that made noise all night and the bugs biting all night. Had dinner at 9:30 way past my bed time. 3 other hikers here tonight. just a long day. Hope for sun and easy hiking tommorow.                      Good night to all
Date: 2005-06-10
From: Punchbowl Shelter

To: Buena Vista VA Motel
Miles today: 10.9

802.1 miles                                                      6/10/05 Friday                                                            Day 58 Cloudy-Sunny   "It Is Hard To Hike On Mud"Well the worst night of sleeping so far. Did not sleep at all between bugs and frogs. I got up about 5:30 A.M. packed up and headed out. Hiking today was o/k. Trails were muddy from yesterday's rain. Passed through a valley that had a small town in it. The town was made up of freed slaves in the late 1800 to 1920. There were remains of old house foundations and rock walls. Today I came around the corner and a deer took off into the woods making a loud snorting noise. It was different than I have heard or seen before. then I looked down and saw a baby deer [fawn] in the trail. The fawn was the size of a cat. The poor thing was so scared so I walked around it. Got to the road and it took us more than 2 hours to get a ride into town. Checked into a motel-got cleaned up and headed into town to do laundry.-food shopped and got dinner. Back to motel to clean up my gear and called home. hiking has been good lately but very hot and humid. We hit the 800 mile mark today. 56 miles till we get to the Shenandoah's and I get to hug my wife.          Life is good in VA.
Date: 2005-06-11
From: Buena Vista VA Motel

To: Seeley-Woodworth shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

816.1 miles                                                   6/11/05 Saturday                                                               Day 59 Sunny   " I Miss our Dog"Great night of sleep. Still happy. Out of the motel and on the trail at 11:00. Today is going to be a good day the first truck stopped and picked us up. dropped us off at the trail head. big climb up to get on the ridge. then the rest of the day was small ups and downs. Trail went by good today. Shelter tonight is full. There are two youth groups here tonight. At least 25 people. 3 more days till I meet up with my wife. Life will be good. I am looking forward to hiking with someone during the day. lightning is a very fast hiker so we do not hike together. so being with her will be great. Up date- someone asked about Lucky the dog. We have talked to a lot of hikers that have had Lucky hike with them. I guess he will hike up to 150 miles from Irwin Tenn. and then he hikes back. Lucky is a hiker dog. We have been at a shelter where there is a cat that lives there. Got to get dinner and my chores done.             Good night to all and talk to you later
Date: 2005-06-12
From: Seeley-Woodworth shelter

To: Harpers Creek Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: light rain

830.4 miles                                                      6/12/05 sunday                                                            Day 60 Cloudy-rain   "Hot Dogs and Beans Are Good"Good night of sleep-I wish my air matress did not leak the ground gets hard. O/K day of hiking same old thing. We did have some big climbs today. we had a 3500 ft down today, which is hard on the knees. Saw a few hikers today not as many as we had been. We have been hearing of a lot of hikers getting off. there is a thing called the VA blues. VA is such a long state. It starts to get to you the same thing day after day so a lot of hikers drop out. VA is 1/4 of the AT. Lightning and I had a food resupply today. We had no problems getting rides. Got some good junk food. Hot dogs and beans for dinner. Getting closer to Waynesboro only 27.3 miles. Get to see the wife in 2 days. Ya hoo. Hello to EMS how is the bigger store doing? Hello to E. Sandwich Post office you guys would love to see some of the P.O. we have seen down here. They are smaller than Fran's office. It is hard to believe we have been hiking for 2 months. time is going by fast. So has the miles-only a few hundred more miles till we are 1/2 way done. Got my chores to do and to bed.    Thank you all for taking the time to read my journal and signing my guest book. I like to read them.
Date: 2005-06-13
To: Another Message From Sister Buzz
Miles today: 0.0

   Hi everyone,I will be taking a brake from entering these journals of Cliff's [Brother Buzz] for a little while.Neil our oldest son and I will be joining Brother Buzz and Lightning in Waynesboro VA on Tuesday so we can spend a week in the forests of the Shenandoah National Park and hike along with them. We plan to hike over a hundred miles with them and finish up around Front Royal at the end. I can hardly wait! We all know Brother Buzz can't hardly wait either.I here the weather in VA has been very hot like in the 90's How do you like the photos they have been taking? Special Thanks to Linda and her friend for all the help in getting them loaded on to this site. Linda your doing a great job.We all thank you. I'll be entering Brother Buzz's journals as soon as I get back from our journey with them. Until then                               - Sister Buzz
Date: 2005-06-13
From: Harpers Creek Shelter

To: Trailside tenting by Bear Spring
Miles today: 18.2

848.6 miles                                                      6/13/05 Monday                                                            Day 61 rain-Cloudy    "Rocks Make You slip When Wet"O/K night of sleep. Just 3 of us in the shelter last night. Had a good breakfast today. I picked up a hot pocket at our food resupply yesterday. They taste o/k cold. Big climb to start the day off about 2500' almost straight up. Then we got on a ridge. The ridge was a rock ridge so far 15 or so out of our 18 miles today we were hiking on rock. When rain hits the rocks it makes it wet when the rock is wet it makes it very slippery. So it was a long day of hiking. Did get a few views of the towns down low. No animals at all today. One neat thing today was I was talking to a young couple. Asked where they were from. VT they said. I told them I was from Cape Cod. Well come to find out Jason worked for our Boy Scout Council in 1999. We both look different with our beards so we did not recognize each other. Jason said to say hello to all. There trail names are PB for her & J for him. Tonight at the the campsite there is Tomatoe Head with us. He has been hiking with us for3 days now. He is from Canada. 9.1 miles till we get to Rockfish Gap which is where you get off to go into Waynesboro VA. And yes I get to hug my wife and older #1 son Neil.            62 days since the last time
Date: 2005-06-14
From: Trailside tenting by Bear Spring

To: Waynesboro Quality Inn
Miles today: 9.1

857.7 miles                                                   6/14/05 Tuesday                                                         Day 62 Sunny and Hot   "Falling Trees Do Make Noise"good night of sleep. very windy last night very windy. some time during the night I woke up to the sound of a tree falling down in the woods. It was very close to us too close. Next I heard Tomatoe Head yell out if we were o/k we were and he was too. Back to sleep. Easy day today only 9 miles into Waynesboro VA. Got into town around 12:00 lunch time. Checked into the motel. Then wait for Sister Buzz and Master Blaster to arrive. Went out to lunch-got our mail drop and checked out the town some. Sister Buzz and Master Blaster arrived about 6:00 P.M. A long wait. So Great to see them. Out to dinner- Drove around some. Back to the motel to relax.
Date: 2005-06-15
From: Waynesboro Quality Inn

To: Waynesboro Quality Inn
Miles today: 0.0

857.7 miles                                                   6/15/05 Wednesday                                                            Day 63 Sunny-Hot   " First Zero Day"O/K night of sleep. Up for breakfast. Then into town-Laundry-Food shopping-To the Library to check out Trailjournals. Thank you so much for getting the photos up on the site they look great. when I have time I will fill in what they are of. Thank you all for signing in at the guest book. Hey Beach reality thank you for the goodie bag. It did not last. Sister Buzz said it was neat to be with us to see what we need to do when we get into a trailtown. Today was our first zero day of the hike. A zero day is when you don't hike any miles. Got my new sleeping pad and sleeping bag. I am happy now I can sleep better. The shelter floors do get hard and rough on the back. got to get ready for dinner and checking out around some more. Going to try to get to bed early tonight it will be easier on Sister Buzz and Master Blaster tomorrow.             Good night to all. I had a great day today with the family.      Thank you Kevin for helping out at home.
Date: 2005-06-16
From: Waynesboro Quality Inn

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: scattered clouds

864.7 miles                                                   6/16/05 Thursday                                                            Day 64 Sunny-Windy   "Sister Buzz is cool"Great night of sleep. Up early to finish packing up for trail. Got breakfast. A trail angel gave us a ride back to the trail head. The plans today was trying to get 15 miles or so in. In Shenandoah National Park they want you to camp at the shelters. The only problems are the shelters are far apart or too close to each other. So we ended up only doing 7 miles. So 20 mile day tomorrow or as far as we can go. The water is going to be hard to get. The trail looks to be mellow not to many big climbs. sister Buzz did great on her first day. She is a wonderful woman. I love her so much. I did think about going home a little but I can't. I think Sister Buzz brought some good luck the second road crossing there was a bag of cold drinks. so we grabbed one for lunch. Great shelter- good water-and the out house is not bad either. Talk to you later got to go do our chores.            Sleep tight and don't let the shelter bugs bite.
Date: 2005-06-17
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

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

877.7 miles                                                      6/17/05 Friday                                                                  Day 65 Sunny   "Good to Have a New Sleeping Pad"O/K night of sleep. shelters are hard to get a good night of sleep in. I forgot to mention yesterday about the deer we saw. One just stood next to the trail looking at us. On the trail by 9:00 A.M. the trail is in good shape. Got to see some wild turkeys and one was with her babies. A few more deer today. there were a few day hikers out here too. We stopped for lunch and decided that 13 miles was what we were going to do today. so we stopped at Blackrock Hut for the night. Very busy around here. It was good tonight Peter Pan and snot rag came in. Lightning and I had been hiking with them before Damascus VA. Great to see them. Lightning and Master Blaster went on today another 7 miles to Loft Mountain Camp Ground for the night. I guess Sister Buzz and I will meet them at Big Meadows on Sunday. Sunday we will be meeting up with Jean S. and Grandma to camp out with them and to find our 16 cents [long story]. Looking forward to it. They are cooking us dinner too. Good day today in the woods with Sister Buzz. Getting to bed early tonight we are both tired.          Talk again soon. Hello Cape Cod and beyond. Miss you all.
Date: 2005-06-18
From: Blackrock Hut

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

890.9 miles                                                   6/18/05 Saturday                                                                  Day 66 Sunny   "First Black Bear Today"Good night of sleep-Usually do when you tent. Off we go Sister Buzz is doing great. Nice view today off of Blackrock today. Ran across a lot of trail maintainers working on the trail. The trails in SNP are in great shape. Saw a few deer. The deer in SNP are very friendly they just look at you. Most of them do not even run from you. I have seen more day hikers in this park than I have on the whole hike. Stopped at Loft Mt. campground today to go to the camp store. Had to get a food resupply and some good food we got. Last night at Blackrock Hut Snot Rag and Peter Pan came in. We hiked a lot with them in the south. Great to see them. You forget how much you miss your fellow hikers until you have to hike without them. So I miss you all that are behind us. Not far before the hut we stayed at today we saw my first bear I got a full side view of it before he ran into the woods It was good.               Life is good.
Date: 2005-06-19
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Swift Run Gap
Miles today: 11.6

902.5 miles                                                      6/19/05 Sunday                                                            Day 67 Cloudy-Rain   "Steak Tips Rule"Great night of sleep. We had deer around our tent all night. They don't bother you they just are looking for food. Had to say good by to "Davy Jones" a section hiker we were with for a few days-nice person. Today we had to hike as far as we could before about 3:00 p.m. then we had to hitch up to Big Meadows Campground. We got a ride really quick right to the campground. Walked in the 1.5 miles to meet up with Jean S and Grandma. They drove all the way from Cape Cod to cook us a real meal and to pick up 16 cents. You guys are the BEST. Thank you so so much. I owe you one. The dinner was salad-steak tips and baked potatoes. It was the best meal I have had in 67 days. After dinner we went to get 16 cents. Two years ago on a scout trip we took. With the scouts we hid a penny a nickle,and a dime under 3 rocks and I told the kids when I hike the AT I would get them. Well I did. I kept the penny for good luck-the nickle went to Jean S and the dime went to Brian P. Off to the meadows to watch the deer. No ice cream the store was closed.
Date: 2005-06-20
From: Swift Run Gap

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: light rain

923.0 miles                                                   6/20/05 Monday                                                                Day 68 Cloudy    "Klondike Bars rule"                                    Great night of evening in the rain. Up early. Lightning made me a great egg omelet with steak and cheese. Off we went Lightning was dropping me off at Swift Run Gap so I could hike the 17 miles. Sister Buzz and I hitched a ride from yesterday. 10 minutes of driving a car [I have not driven a car for 68 days] I got stopped for speeding. Yes I got pulled over by a park policeman. I was doing 58 in a 35 zone. Great way to start off the day. So I started my first part of the day hike. A few climbs today. I think I was mad about getting stopped so I really made so good time hiking. Stopped at one of the campgrounds store and picked up some lunch food and a klondike bar. Off I go again and got to see my second bear. It was great and I got some good photos of it. Got to the Big Meadows Campground to meet up with the family. Then we hiked 3.5 more miles to Rock Spring Hut for the night. It was good to be hiking with Sister Buzz again I already missed her just hiking in the morning. I am going to miss her so much. Tonight at the hut we talked with a really nice Paster and his son. They lived in VA. Also here Peter Pan,Tomatoe Head,Late Start,Navigator and a father and son out for a week.
Date: 2005-06-21
From: Rock Spring Hut

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

938.3 miles                                                   6/21/05 Tuesday                                                                  Day 69 Sunny   "Mary Rocks Are The Best"Good Night of sleep. Today first day of summer. Hike Naked Day. Good day today with sunshine but not too hot. The trail was good. Today we will be at the highest point in the SNP so that meant we had some great views and it was clear so we could see a lot. It seemed like Sister Buzz is getting into hiking she moved right along today. With this being the first day of summer hikers are supposed to hike naked. Well I got some bad news we did not see any. We did hike on a ridge today with a lot of rocks at the end of the ridge was Mary's Rocks, great views. On down to one of the Parks restaurants for a icecream only to find out it was closed for the season. I was not a happy camper. We still had about a mile to go to the hut for the night. A good day in the woods today. The hut we are at tonight has a racoon problem. They like to steal the food bags. Hope they are not to bad. Hiked today with Peter Pan and tomatoe Head. Got to do our chores and cook dinner. Talk to you soon.   Hello to Brother Fox and your family hope you are having a good summer.
Date: 2005-06-22
From: Pass Mt. Hut

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

951.4 miles                                                   6/22/05 Wednesday                                                               Day 70 Rain-Sun   "Make Sure You Go The Right Way"Good night of sleep. Yes there are racoons at Pass Mountain Hut. They came out even before we got to sleep last night. WE all are o/k they did not harm us. Sister Buzz started out before me and she took the wrong trail and headed south. When I got out to the trail I thought I would catch up to her. I was running and I still did not catch her. Well I was heading north and she was heading south. I turned around and she did too so we did find each other. Sister Buzz added 1.6 miles to her day. 7 miles into our hike and we stopped for lunch. A hot meal tastes so good and yes I did get ice cream. I was going to go back for a 2 nd ice cream but Sister Buzz said no. Easy hiking today the SNP. The trails were in great shape and the terrain was very easy. This would be a good place for people to come out to hike. We did get some rain today but not to bad. Tenting again tonight. There are a lot of hikers in the hut. About 15 of us here tonight. Last day tomorrow in the SNP it has been nice. You do see a lot of people out here. The restaurants and camp stores do spoil you so easy to get food and drinks.   It was great to be with my family I love them.
Date: 2005-06-23
From: Gravel Springs Hut

To: Front Royal VA-Pioneer Motel
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: clear sky

964.8 miles                                                   6/23/05 Thursday                                                                  Day 71 Sunny   "Music Sounds Better In The Woods"Not a good night of sleep. We had racoons visit us twice during the night. One did get Sister Buzz's food bag-tore a hole in it and started to eat her pretzles. The second time I was able to scare it away before it did any thing. Then during the night we heard a bear out there and it was turning over rocks looking for bugs. We were camping on a hill so the rocks would roll down the hill making a lot of noise . I was waiting for one to roll into our tent. Off we went hiking our last day in SNP. Up early wanted to make it into town early. It is hard to believe that today was the last day hiking day with Sister Buzz and our oldest son. The time went by way to fast. The hiking today was not to bad. A few ups. Most of it was down into front Royal. We passed the same ridge runner that we did our first day. His name was Web Breaker. A ridge runner is a hiker that hikes back and forth just checking upon the hikers, making sure we are o/k and doing all the right things-they also note any trail work that needs to be done. He got his trail name because he gets up early and is the first to hike the trail in the morning so as he iswalking into the spider webs that were made during the night across the trail. So he is the Web Breaker. The last few days in the Park we have not seen to many deer. They seem to be more in the middle of the park. We made it out of SNP and back into the woods of VA what a difference in the trails. More rock. The sides are all over grown with grass and bushes. As we got closer we found a man at a shelter playing a back packing tpe mandolin. It had such great sound. Out of the woods at 3:00p.m. Got into town and a motel. Cleaned up-out to eat-laundry-food resupply the regular chores. I just went to say how great it was to be with my family. My wife did unbelievable hiking. She hiked long hard days and did not complain at all. It was great to have the home cooked meal at Big Meadows. Great to be hiking with someone for the week. Life is good. 965 miles down. Time is going by fast out here. Today went by to fast it is time to get some sleep.          Miss you all
Date: 2005-06-24
From: Front Royal VA-Pioneer Motel

To: Dicks Dome Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: scattered clouds

979.4 miles                                                      6/24/05 Friday..                                                               Day 72 Sunny-Hot   "You Talk To Yourself When You Hike Alone"Great night of sleep. Clean body-a real bed. Up real early. Very hard to say goodbye to Sister Buzz and Master Blaster. I will miss them. As I do with my whole family. Dropped off at the trail head at 7:30 a.m. 15 mile hike today. The heat is back very hot today back in the 90's. Today's hike went by good. Better than I thought it would without Sister Buzz. I hiked today with Tomatoe Head and Lite Foot. The 3 of us at camping at the same shelter too. Lightning today has hiked on by himself. He is doing a thing called the 4 state challenge. He is going to hike in VA -West VA-Maryland and PA all in the same day about 45 miles [he will do it] Then he is going home for the 4th of July. I will stay here and keep on hiking to make up all the miles he is getting ahead of me. We will meet up in PA. So I will be by myself until July 5th. It will be different . I will let you know. Off to make dinner and the nightly chores.          Talk to you all later.            Be good out there.
Date: 2005-06-25
From: Dicks Dome Shelter

To: Bears Den Hostel
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: clear sky

998.3 miles                                                   6/25/05 Saturday                                                         Day 73 Sunny and Hot   "Now I Know I Do Not Like Roller Coasters"Great night of sleep. First night alone. Had the whole tent to my self. As I was putting my pack on this morning I heard Brother Buzz-I looked up and there was "Bear Can". I had not seen her in over a month and a half. So we sat and talked a bit. Drifter was with her and he was on the trail a few miles up. I wish Sister Buzz could have met them. We only missed them by one day. Today we have to hike what is called the roller coaster. It is 13.5 miles of up and downs. We have been having easy in the SNP. So the climbs were hard. Some hot today. We did get lucky had a lot of springs for water. It was good to hike with Drifter and Bear Can again. We talked to a group of scouts today that were hiking and training for Philmont. Did not pass any AT thru hikers today. We ended up at Bears Den Hostel - clean and you get dinner. So life was even better Ben&Jerry icecream for dessert. Our friend Drifter is getting off the trail in Harpers Ferry. He had hiked the other half last year so he is done.