morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-09
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Blackrock Hut
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: clear sky

Keystone and I got a ride out of town at about 8 with a guy who teaches Social Studies at the local high school. Keystone generally goes only one shelter a day, which today meant 7 miles, whereas today I was going to the second shelter, which was 20 miles away. So I said good-bye to Keystone and started off down the trail. I didn't really want to hear any more prostate cancer stories, anyway.Today was our first day in Shenandoah National Park, and it was quite pretty along the trail. The terrain and the trail conditions were excellent, as well. The only thing that slowed me down was the oppressive heat-- I think it was my hottest afternoon on the trail yet. Compounding the problem was the fact that there was no water in the 12 miles before the shleter, so I had to walk for over 5 hours in the sweltering heat with just 2 liters of water, which wasn't really enough. I was able to ration water, but it still sapped my energy.Crowded shelter tonight-- a few section hikers, a Southbounder who started at Harpers Ferry, Scorpion, and a few thru-hikers I don't know very well, including Northern Harrier, Lucky Star, and Rainbow Bright. We stay up late talking; I like this group.
Date: 2004-05-10
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: scattered clouds

I was up earlier than usual today, because today it wasn't just Scorpion who got up early today, it was everybody. I was the last person out of my sleeping bag, and that was still before 6 am.Like yesterday, the terrain was easy, but it was also very hot-- the water sources were better today, though, so it wasn't as bad. Plus, at the 7 1/2 mile mark, the trail passed next to a campstore. One of the great things about the Shenandoahs for thru-hikers is the opportunities for food afforded by various campstores, restaurants and waysides that are scattered around the park. So for lunch I had ham, cheese, and crackers, a can of Pringles, an apple and a Pepsi. Then I filled one of my water bottles with Gatorade and hit the trail again.Scorpion and I had decided to do 21 miles today, but Northern Harrier, Rainbow Bright, and Lucky Star were only doing 13-- they're all taking it easy. I was tempted to hang back with them, but I wanted to stay with them I'd have to do short miles all through the Shenandoahs, and I think that would drive me crazy. If I get to a shelter before 3:30 or 4, I tend to go stir-crazy-- so for me, big miles today.The ticks have apparently come out. People are beginning to find ticks on them, but so far I've been lucky. One Southbounder I met in Waynesboro said that he had pulled 15 ticks off him through the Shenandoahs, which made me pretty nervous, but a Southbounder last night said he hadn't seen any ticks through the whole park. So maybe I will continue to be lucky.
Date: 2004-05-11
From: Hightop Hut

To: Big Meadows Lodge
Miles today: 20.4

Well, everyone was up and moving well before 6 again today. I tried to bury my head in my sleeping bag, but that only made me hot. (It looks like I may have to cave in and get a summer sleeping bag-- the last two nights I've slept in my 20-degree Ultralite with the zipper all the way open, and I've still been too hot.)So I got up, and was on the trail before 7. It was my earliest start time in a long time, possibly my earliest start since the switch to Daylight Savings Time.There was another campstore about 11.7 miles down the trail, so that made a good stopping point for lunch. There was also a pay phone there, so I called up my Mom and talked to her about an idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a while now. My best friends are throwing a big graduation party with their family and friends on Saturday night, and I'm very tempted to catch a bus home and show up unannounced. Ideally, I could do this and be back on the trail in a couple of days (I don't want to stay off too long, or I'll lose my trail legs). It looks like it'll be possible, assuming I can figure out the Greyhound schedules.But in the meantime, there's hiking to be done. We were going to camp at the Big Meadows Campground, but it rained hard that afternoon and we arrived at Big Meadows soaking wet-- so we shelled out for a room instead. Oh, well. We saved money by lodging at the YMCA in Waynesboro, so we can afford to splurge a bit here. We cranked up the heat in the room all the way, and soon our stuff was far, far drier than it ever would have gotten in a tent.
Date: 2004-05-12
From: Big Meadows Lodge

To: Pass Mountain Hut
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: few clouds

Scorpion got a late start and I got an early start today (in other words, we started at the same time). We actually hiked together more than usual today-- I found that if I walk behind him and prod him occasionally with my Leki pole, he walks at a decent pace.Our goal all day was to get to Panorama, a gift shop and snack bar that was about one and a half miles before the shelter that night. We got to Panorama early, about 3:30, only to find out it was closed until May 27th. What a rip! To make matters words, we could even look in the window of the store and see a fridge full of cold soft drinks. Heck, there were even employees walking around inside, but nope-- it wasn't open. So we trudged on to the shelter, disappointed.Also, it looks like my brief trip back home is going to happen. I've gotten in touch with Mike Evans, who runs the Terrapin Station hostel at the end of the Shenandoahs, and he's going to give me a ride to the nearest bus station, which is in Winchester, VA. From there, I can catch a bus to Washington, DC and then to Raleigh.I'm looking forward to this break for several reasons. I think it'll be fun to go home for a couple days, of course, and I'm looking forward to seeing my friends (though the visit is so short I won't be able to see everybody I'd like to), and plus, my body could probably use the time off. This is actually my first hiking day in a long time that I haven't done 20+ miles-- you know it's bad when 18.8 miles becomes a "short" day. So I could probably do with a break.The one bad side is that I'll fall well behind Scorpion, who I've been hiking with since the beginning of the Smokies. Still, when I'm gone all the people who I've passed in the last couple of weeks will catch up or pass me, so I'll get to see them all again. So I get to have a reunion with some of my friends at home, then get to have a reunion with some of my hiker friends! Definitely looking forward to it.
Date: 2004-05-13
From: Pass Mountain Hut

To: Terrapin Station Hostel
Miles today: 22.7

Today was my last day in Shenandoah National Park, and it may have been the longest, hottest day of them all. Luckily, I had a lot of motivation-- there was a Wayside with a restaurant and store about seven and a half miles down the trail, which helped speed me along-- I covered that first stretch in only about two and a half hours.After having two cheeseburgers, fries, a Pepsi and a milkshake (expensive but worth it), I was feeling well-fueled for the rest of the day. In the morning I had raced, but in the afternoon the heat made racing impossible-- instead, I just tried to keep a steady pace and make good time.I had two bear sightings this afternoon-- the first one, about ten minutes after the Wayside, came when I was walking behind two section hikers. A bear came out of the woods on the right about ten yards in front of us, then ran up the trail a little ways before darting back into the woods on the left. Then, a few hours later, I saw a dark round shape off in the brush on my right. I thought it was a big log, but then it turned its head and I saw its muzzle. I pulled out my camera , even thought I didn't have a good shot, and whistled at it to see if it would turn the rest of the way around, but when it heard me it ran off.I did get some good pictures of a black snake about four and a half feet long that had stretched across the trail. As I approached, he slithered away, but then stopped in the brush on the side of the trail, bunched up, and looked back at me. He raised his head, and I got my camera a foot or so away and snapped a couple of pictures.The walking this afternoon was easy again; no serious ups and downs and only a few rocky stretches, so despite the heat I was able to make good time, and by 5:30 I was at the hostel.Well, that's my last walking day until Tuesday. It was a good day to end it on.
Date: 2004-05-18
From: Terrapin Station Hostel

To: Dick's Dome Shelter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, I'm back. The trip went flawlessly-- well, except for the Greyhound trip from Washington to Raleigh. The people in Washington were incompetent, the bus was ready to fall apart, and we got into Raleigh an hour late. But after that, the weekend was great.Things I've learned from this weekend:1) Saying good-bye the second time can be just as hard as saying good-bye the first time.2) Sara Lee poundcake is not something to be taken for granted.3) Neither is a home-cooked breakfast.4) As much as I like the A.T., I'm still going to miss home like crazy over the next three months.Anyway, when I got back to the hostel, who should I see but Skyline and Sundance, the couple I hiked with for the first two weeks of my trip! And Lucky Dog is there as well- talk about luck! I couldn't have hoped for a better group of people to be here.So the next day I set off with the largest group I've hiked with in a long time. Skyline's pace has quickened-- I have trouble keeping up with him now, but I manage. Lucky Dog is behind me, and Sundance is between Skyline and I, so together we travel the 9 miles to Jim and Molly Denton Shelter, which is a very nice shelter with a balcony and bench outside, and two small lofts inside-- we end up staying there for a good hour and a half, eating and lounging around. While I'm there, I meet several new people, including Moonpie, Hoplite, and Squish.Lucky Dog, unfortunately, is getting off the trail after about 12 miles today. What lousy luck! He finally catches up the day before he has to get off again. He's already done the stretch from here to Harpers Ferry, so he's gonna take a few days off with his wife at home (he lives in the D.C. area).So after about 12 miles, we say good-bye to Lucky Dog. There's a thunderstorm soon after, but our timing is excellent-- we pull into a shelter at about the 14-mile mark about 10 seconds before it starts to rain. The rain is short, though, and about 40 minutes later we're on our way again.The shelter is full when I get there-- Moonpie, Hoplite, and two other hikers named The Duke of Earl and Pele are there already, and the shelter is easily the smallest one I've ever seen. So Skyline, Sundance, Squish and I set up tents. Looks like it may rain tonight, though-- the thunder is rumbling as I write this. Fun.
Date: 2004-05-20
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: David Lesser Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I went to bed last night with grandiose plans of hiking the 20.5 miles to Harpers Ferry. Instead, I slept in, and then wasted most of the morning hanging out at Bear's Den with Skyline and Sundance.We decided that rather than killing ourselves hiking 20 miles off a late start, we would wait until noon-- that's when the Horseshoe Curve Restaurant was due to open, at a road crossing about 0.6 miles down the trail. The Horseshoe Curve is a third-generation family-owned pub, so in an effort to show our support for family-run businesses, we went and had hamburgers for lunch. Ah, the sacrifices we make in the name of principle.After that, it was time to hit the trail for real, and I again made good time by latching on to Skyline and Sundance. About 4 miles into the hike I saw a sign that made me very happy-- "Welcome to West Virginia". Woo hoo! Virginia is done! All 535 miles of it, finished-- now that is a major accomplishment right there.Skyline and Sundance went to the Blackburn A.T. Center, a little hostel 0.3 miles off the trail. I decided to push on another 3 miles to the shelter, so that I could have a shorter trip into Harpers Ferry tomorrow. I don't want to spend a whole day there, so doing an extra 3 miles today means at least an extra hour in Harpers Ferry tomorrow-- probably more, since I'll get an earlier start out of the shelter than I would have gotten out of the hostel.Squish is at the shelter, along with his father and brother, who are hiking with him to Harpers Ferry. It's a nice shelter, complete with patio, cooking pavilion, and bench swing. Yep-- livin' it up outside Harpers Ferry tonight.
Date: 2004-05-21
From: David Lesser Memorial Shelter

To: Harpers Ferry Hostel
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

After a late start out of Bears Den yesterday, it almost felt good to be starting at a normal time-- or maybe it was just that we were headed into Harpers Ferry today, the psychological halfway point for thru-hikers. Whatever it was, I was ready to get started, and did the ten miles to Harpers Ferry in under four hours, despite a couple of showers and a large numbers of rocks on the trail. The Sun did peek through the clouds briefly, which was nice-- it was the Sun's first appearance in a couple of days.Harpers Ferry was great. My first stop was the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conference, which registers and takes a picture of every thru-hiker to come through. I am the 102nd thru-hiker, which puts me near the beginning of the thru-hiker wave.I hung out at the ATC for a while. Skyline and Sundance eventually showed up, as did Packrat, Boxtop, Wings, Feather, and the Mad German, who I had not seen since before Pearisburg.Anyway, after that it's off to lunch at a local pizzeria (14-inch pizza, all to myself? No problem!) and the post office. Then I head down to the Outfitter's-- I'm facing a dilemma with my boots. They're comfortable and I like them, but they're starting to come apart at the seams, and I don't know how much longer they'll last. I would like to switch to a sneaker-style shoe like most people wear, but I'm loathe to do so right now, since the stretch of trail coming up in Pennsylvania is famed for how rocky it is.As it turns out, the Outfitter's is packed with people, it's less than an hour until closing, and I'm tired, so I decide to forgo the new shoes for now. Hopefully my current boots will last another 150 miles or so.My destination for the evening is a hostel about a mile down the trail-- I cross the Potomac River, making my way into Maryland (my third state in two days!), and soon I'm relaxing at the hostel. It's a nice place, but I'm the only thru-hiker here tonight-- it feels kind of odd.
Date: 2004-05-22
From: Harpers Ferry Hostel

To: Dahlgren Back Park Campground
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Between the All-You-Can-Eat pancake breakfast and the Internet, it was almost 10 am when I left the hostel. The day was supposed to get hot-- into the nineties-- but thankfully, I walked in the shade most of the time and the heat never got too bad.I seem to have developed a pain in my lower shin. I don't know what the cause is, but it comes whenever I bend my ankle up and down; I just hope it's not a shin splint or a stress fracture. It's not swollen and there's no outward sign of an injury, which is good, and the pain isn't too bad (for now, anyway), but it's still an annoyance and a worry.I saw more section hikers and weekend hikers today than I've seen any day of the trip. Apparently this part of the trail is very popular, and I can see why-- it's fairly easy, with a lot of level walking, and it's criss-crossed by a lot of roads, which makes it very accessible.My original plan was to stay at a shelter around the 14-mile mark, but about 2 miles before I got to the shelter, I met some section hikers named Dave, Rich, and Cleve, and I ended up camping with them at a campground about 1 mile past the shelter. Traillite and Swiss Miss also show up a bit later-- they're the first thru-hikers I've seen since leaving Harpers Ferry yesterday.
Date: 2004-05-23
From: Dahlgren Back Park Campground

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: few clouds

Last night, Traillite lent me an Ace bandage for my ankle. The shin seems to hurt most when I bend my ankle, so I hope that wrapping the Ace bandage around my ankle will help give it some extra support.It's another sunny, hot day here in Maryland. The walking is all under shade, though, so it's okay.I stop for lunch at a shelter about 6 miles down the trail. I hang out for about 45 minutes resting and eating, then as I leave I see Dave and Rich coming down the trail. Just behind them are Sugar Daddy, Squish, and a hiker named Rockhound, and they convince to turn around and have a second lunch with them. So I do.Got to the shelter at about the 14-mile mark with the intention of doing 4 more miles, however, Squish, Hoplite and Rockhound all decided to stay there. So I caved into peer pressure again, which actually is probably better for my leg anyway. I stay, and the shelter gets crowded as Fireball, Swiss Miss, and several other hikers all show up.
Date: 2004-05-24
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Tumbling Run Shelters
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: light rain

The cicadas were particularly deafening this morning-- at times it reminded me of an alarm going off near a nuclear power plant (not that I've ever heard that sort of alarm-- but I imagine it would sound something like these cicadas). We also got a brief preview of the Pennsylvania rocks on one downhill stretch-- Pennsylvania is feared for its bad rocks, and Maryland has given us a couple of previews in the past couple days.For lunch we stopped at Pen-Mar Park, just shy of the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. A little after that we crossed the Mason-Dixon line... sniff. Goodbye, South, at least for now. I'll be back soon enough.Later that afternoon, Hoplite, Squish, Rockhound and I were walking together and got lost when the trail suddenly disappeared. We walked a good half-mile further down a little road that led nowhere before we decided that it wasn't the trail. Upon returning to the road crossing, we found a very faded white blaze and a narrow trail leading through some tall grass. Thanks, PATC, for making the trail so easy to see.We tent at the shelter to avoid bugs-- Squish, Hoplite, Rockhound and I are joined by Happy, Alabama, and Condor.
Date: 2004-05-25
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Birch Run Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: broken clouds

One thing I don't like about sleeping in my tent is that I sleep later, and as a result get a later start-- usually by about half an hour. Now, I am not against sleeping later as a general rule, but the days have gotten hotter, and I am beginning to really appreciate walking in the early morning.Anyway, this morning was different-- I slept in, but still managed to get walking at about the same time as yesterday. I was walking with Rockhound and Squish, and we switched the lead back and forth throughout the morning as we made our way toward Caledonia State Park, our predetermined lunch stop 10 miles away.When we got there, Hoplite was already there. We had lunch in a nice shady spot and were later joined by Condor. Unfortunately, the park was locked down tight, and none of the facilities were open; there was a beautiful-looking swimming pool, but it was behind a locked gate, and there was also a snack bar that was closed. Curses!So we trudged on. Late in the afternoon dark clouds rolled in, thunder began to rumble in the distance, and we sped up our pace. About a mile before the shelter it began to sprinkle, and we sped up more-- we were probably coming down the last hill at 4 miles an hour or better. It was a nice shelter; there were bunks along the walls, and the floor was finished and sealed with urethane-- nice!About ten minutes after we made it to the shelter, the rain came down hard. I cooked two dinners tonight-- hey, I had an extra anyway, so why not?
Date: 2004-05-26
From: Birch Run Shelter

To: Ironmaster's Mansion
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up about 4:30 to a violent thunderstorm that raged for a good hour and a half before finally subsiding. That's my favorite sort of storm-- the kind that comes at night when I'm nice and dry, resting in a shelter.Rockhound is leaving the trail today. He's going to get off for a week and go to a wedding, and his Mom is meeting him at Pine Grove Furnace State Park, about 10 miles down the trail. The campstore there is famous for something called "The Half-Gallon Challenge", which any thru-hiker can partake in. As soon as you get to the store, you order a half-gallon of ice cream, and eat it as fast as you can. The reason it's here, I suppose, is to commemorate the halfway point of the trail-- the exact midway point between Mt. Springer in Georgia and Mt. Katahdin in Maine is only 0.7 miles before the park, so it's a major milestone, and a darn good excuse to stuff yourself full of ice cream.So anyway, we had been looking forward to this all week, but according to some of the shelter registers the store was closed-- and sure enough, it was. So Rockhound's Mom went and bought us all half-gallons of ice cream. Darn it, we weren't gonna miss out on The Challenge! Only Rockhound and Hoplite were able to actually complete it, though-- I got about 3/4ths of the way through before deciding I hated ice cream.Anyway, after that, we weren't walking anywhere for a while. We hung out and talked and read-- Squish and Hoplite found a couple (really lousy) books in the shelters recently that have since been circulating among the group. I've been reading "Recondo," which is possibly the worst book I have ever read, but as with food, your standards drop considerably when you're on the trail. In a day or two I may start reading "Johnny Mnemonic", the book based on the movie starring Keanu Reeves based on the short story by William Gibson.We finally decided to give up on any ideas of walking further today, and stayed at the nearby hostel-- the miles work out better over the couple of days if we do that, anyway.I'm glad we stayed, because a while later Lucky Dog, Skyline, and Sundance all show up! Sweet! I knew there was an advantage to doing low-mileage days.