morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-04-29
From: erwin

To: beauty spot gap
Miles today: 11.1

The alarm clock woke us at 7:30, we finally got up at 9am. We packed and decided to go. We will test marcos feet for the next 3 days. Then we are at the next hostel where we could rest if needed. There were tornado and thunderstorm warnings for today. But we hiked all day and didn't get any rain, yes I know we got very lucky! We got to a campsite where quite a few others already were camping and we decided to stay there. It is a lot safer to camp with others, especially when it is close to a road like here. We have heard about vandalism in this area and don't want to risk anything. We are both really tired. Our bodies have already gotten used to resting and weren't happy to hike again, so I guess they need to go to sleep now.
Date: 2014-04-30
From: beauty spot gap

To: Clyde Smith shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: moderate rain

It did rain last night, but just a little bit. What really scared me last night was the heavy wind. The tent side was in a forest where half of the trees were dead, so all of us were scared of falling branches or trees. One guy actually moved his tent because the tree beside it looked like it would fall any second. But we all made it through the night. We got up at 7:45am had a short breakfast, said goodbye to a bunch of really nice hikers who had an hangover and decided to zero today and started hiking. We had planned to hike 15 miles today but I didn't have the feeling I or better my body could do it. So far I don't feel any stronger than I have a month ago, people keep telling us it will get better but I don't really believe them. It's probably a lie just like Virginia is flat! We saw a couple of chipmunks and squirrels, there were also beautiful big butterflies who kept me from walking since I just have to watch them fly their circles. After 12 miles we got to a gap and had to get water. Marco had to walk for a while until he found it. I waited and I just wanted to stay right there. But we have planned to go to a really nice shelter tomorrow and it would be a too long walk from that gap. So we went on and I don't really know how I did those last 2 miles but we made it to the shelter. And then it started to rain, I'm so thankful that it didn't rain all day and started after we had gotten to this dry place. The fog comes up and it's getting cold, so I'm going to bed now.
Date: 2014-05-01
From: Clyde Smith shelter

To: over mountain shelter
Miles today: 14.5

It was foggy this morning which wasn't too bad since we had to climb a steep small mountain to start. After it cleared up and we hiked up, according to other hikers, the last 6000 feet mountain until new Hampshire, roan mountain. Unfortunately we didn't have a view since the trees grow all the way up. Then we had to hike some more miles, met a few other hikers along the way and all decided to go all the way to over mountain shelter. This is a classic American red barn turned into a shelter with the best view ever. We will definitely post a picture of it. And tomorrow the sunrise should be right in front of us. Both of us are getting really tired of the trail food and we have to find some different food that has a lot of fat and protein but is really light and doesn't spoil when it gets warm. Right now our food looks like that:Lunch: some sort of bread (tortilla, buns, pita), tuna, cheddar cheese. Unfortunately we couldn't find a good salami or good cheese. Dinner: pasta- or rice side (pasta mixed with some sauce), mashed potatoes (are great but don't have any nutrients), beef jerky, sausage (are great for the first evening but just too heavy), couscousSo if you have any suggestions for light weight, tasty food, please tell me in the guest book. We just have to be able to cook it in one pan with water. Thank you!
Date: 2014-05-02
From: over mountain shelter

To: elk river
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: clear sky

After a really chilly night we were happy to see the sunrise. All morning a chilly breeze made it feel cold even with the sun shining. We had to climb two bald mountains, the little hump and the hump mountain. We saw from far the trail going straight up. Two tough climbs and we were glad for the wind which kept us from sweating too hard. Up was a grassy but really soft path, down a whole different story! A badly maintained path, really rocky, climbing over old landslides, sometimes hardly visible. Especially the rolling rocks made it a slow hurtful walk. Another hiker ahead of us fell quite hard and was really lucky he didn't break anything. The way down was almost 5 miles and after my feet and knees hurt badly. We went to the hostel where according to our book should have been a small grocery store. It actually was a small bookshelf with mainly cookies. It wasn't difficult to decide on what to buy, so to look at the good side we didn't loose much time. We had thought about staying there since my feet hurt so badly, but they had only space on the campground and I am definitely not paying for putting up my tent. We decided to go on and hoped to find a tent site, but just couldn't find a spot where our tent would have fit in. We went on and found a beautiful place which wad unfortunately directly beside a road. Since our book warns about staying too close to a road and even locals had warned us about bad people living in this area I couldn't get myself to stay. I was in pain yes but I don't think I could have come to rest or sleep there. So we went on thinking that there are usually tent sites easy to find but we just couldn't find a spot. By now every step hurt and I decided to hike on in my sandals. We even had the energy to go a side trail to a big waterfall. After this we hiked at least another mile until we got to a river. Another couple which we had met a couple of times before was just putting up there tent and they didn't mind us staying there. So we are tenting on an old dirt road right by the river. I hope my feet feel better tomorrow. My shoulders and marcos feet are doing much better since we stretch whenever we take a break. I still wonder how our bodies keep up with what we demand from them and how fast they can recover. One more important thing: we are finally done with north Carolina! We hiked for the last couple of weeks along the border of Tennessee and now we finally hiked into the state of the famous whiskey.
Date: 2014-05-03
From: elk river

To: white rocks mountain
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: clear sky

We got up just before sunrise and were ready to go at 8:30am. Today I had to find out that another hiker uses the same trailname as I do. Most probably she is the girl of the swiss couple which we heard of that is ahead of us. Her husband is called Matterhorn so I guess it must be them. I don't know if I should be mad or not, I just don't want people to get confused and mix us up. Should I change my trail name? But I like it so much and many hikers just know me by swiss miss. Or shall I just wait and see. Maybe we gonna catch up and I can talk her into taking on a different name. I saw her signature the first time today so I guess she's not using it for a long time. I don't know what to do. We had planned to hike at least 12 miles to a shelter. The trail was almost flat compared to the last two days but all the little up- and downhills didn't make it less tiring. Well, our feet are already worn out from the last 3 days, so I think that made it even tougher. Anyway we got to the shelter as planned and another hiker we had met 2 days ago was there too. We all didn't like the shelter since it was small and dirty, it was on a windy ridge and there was garbage lying around. So all three of us decided to go 2 more miles to a campsite. It is a really nice Meadow, it has a small spring close by and it has a fireplace. So we cooked our dinner and ate it at the fireplace and chatted with "toasted toad".Now we have only 4 or 5 miles tomorrow to get to the hostel. I can't wait to take a shower, I feel so dirty!
Date: 2014-05-04
From: white rocks mountain

To: Dennis Cove road
Miles today: 5.2

We woke up at sunrise had our daily breakfast containing of oatmeal and swiss miss. We had a 4 miles hike into Hampton. After other people told us about the conditions of kincora hostel with many sick people, fleas and dirty rooms, we decided not to go there. So we went to the black bear hostel. We are positively surprised about this place. It is a wonderful spot along a creek in the woods. Cabins are strategically placed to provide a sense of isolation without loosing access to the central courtyard, says Hermes. Yes, we are staying here with other hikers we met the last couple of days. Songbird and bypass are here, paul banyan and hermes who I mentioned before, toasted toad made it here with us, the Germans trail snail and wild boar catched up and are sharing the cabin with us, and there are many more. We made our barbecue tonight and I think it was one of our best, if not even the best day, on the trail. Tomorrow we will do some slack packing. We can divide the price of the shuttle and since we are a bunch it's really cheap. And we can stay another night at this beautiful place.
Date: 2014-05-05
From: Dennis Cove road

To: Wilbur dam road
Miles today: 13.0

We decided to slack pack today since we had a big mountain to climb. Most of who had stayed here last night were doing the same and it was a fun hike. It was actually a easy hike without our packs and I felt sorry for the hikers who had to carry their heavy pack. We heard that slack packing is addictive and I tell you it's true! We did 13 miles today and I didn't feel tired or worn out when we got back to the hostel. So we actually decided to do another slack pack day tomorrow and we will have to hike 22 miles! I have no idea how I will do this, it sounds awfully long but somehow I will get to the pick up point, even if I have to crawl. I really enjoy the people we are hiking with right now, they are so relaxed and seem to enjoy themselves without brawling around how fast they are or how far they went. They actually are all older than we are and know themselves pretty good plus they all worked to get here and they all have a life besides this. So this is a completely different group of people than the young ones who do this because they don't know what else to do in their life. And then there are the ones who don't have anything, homeless, jobless, freshly out of jail or in some other way messed up. So far we got lucky and we never had problems with these. I found out today that many others had problems with them. Well here's the point, when we meet them they usually just want to tell me their story, I sometimes have the feeling they sense the social worker in me. And most of them are nice and greet me happy when they see me again. So maybe it's not just them, maybe it's also about how the other hikers treat them.
Date: 2014-05-06
From: Wilbur dam road

To: low gap
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: clear sky

Wow, we made it! We hiked 22 miles today! We got up at 6:45am and left shortly after. I rode the first time in the trunk of a truck. We sat on a mattress and had a warm blanket since it was a cold morning. It took us about one hour to get to the gap where we wanted to start from. Mountain mama, marco and me were the only ones doing the 22 hike, 4 others did 16 and we were supposed to catch up with them. We tried really hard and did about 3 miles an hour, with the pack we can only do 2! So we took only short breaks and just tried to go as fast as possible. After about 10 miles I got a blister on my left heel, which had been great so far, and tried to tape it as good as possible. So after 16 miles my feet started killing me. We made it to the shelter where we had planned to meet the others to call the shuttle. They didn't even give us time to take a break or to get water because they had already called for the shuttle too early. Which ment that we would have to go 4.5 miles within 1.5hours, after 18 miles and with hurting feet, running out of water, I knew I couldn't do it. So two hikers were really stressed out and were mad at us, but the others told us not to worry and to go our own pace, the shuttle would for sure wait. Well for the ones who know me, you can imagine how pissed I was. I mean I was hurt, hungry and thirsty and would have needed a break. If someone would have said something directly to me about hurrying up or being too slow, I would probably have ripped his or her head off. But they didn't, they only said it to others, good for them...The good thing about it, we made 22 miles and we have a few more friends on the trail now!
Date: 2014-05-07
From: low gap

To: spring
Miles today: 12.9

Finally we left the beautiful black bear resort. If you ever plan to stay in Hampton, TN then stay there! We hiked 13 miles today. At the first shelter we caught up with Ines and Volker, we could not have planned it better. We had a great hike, awesome weather, good distance and a nice easy trail. Unfortunately I felt sick and couldn't get me to eat lunch, so I just went on hiking. I must have hiked faster than usual since marco was scared something might have happened to me when he didn't catch up as fast as he expected.Today we crossed the Tennessee/Virginia State line! Good bye Tennessee, hello Virginia! It will be a long time that we stay/hike in Virginia. We got to the tent site early and after putting up the tent and getting water I was actually able to take a break. I rested in the tent and marco made tea for us. I started to feel better and had some dinner. We will go to bed early and tomorrow we will only hike 2 miles and we will be in damascus!
Date: 2014-05-08
From: spring

To: damascus
Miles today: 2.1
Weather: scattered clouds

We got up and hiked to damascus. It was difficult to find a place to stay, we finally found a room which we can share with toasted toad and the Germans. Shared the room is affordable. We even have our own shower, we can use the hot tub and we get breakfast in the morning! Marco wanted to buy new shoes, so called trail runners. They would be a lot lighter and maybe would be better for his worn out feet. We had been told the outfitters here are great. But they are not! They have a really limited choice and they have no men shoes in his size. So no new shoes for him. We are disappointed. But its not only the outfitter, there is no good restaurant here, the laundry is closed, and many stores and houses are empty and for sale or rent. And this is high season. The trail days, a big festival, is next week. I really don't want to know how this town looks like out of season. We had planned to come back for the trail days. But we found out that every place is booked out. There would be a campground but I don't think we will come back. We heard that it's more like a young people thing, getting drunk, smoke weed and just getting wasted. But that's not what we are here for. So we will keep hiking and hope to hear some good live blue grass somewhere else.
Date: 2014-05-09
From: damascus

To: laurel creek
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Leaving town this morning was difficult, it just has too many amenities. We had a great breakfast at the b&b, then we went to the outfitter again where marco tried more shoes but decided not to get any. Then we had coffee because the coffee shop has wifi and we hadn't answered all mails yet. We actually never have the time to check emails, answer them, check Facebook, update our journal and upload pictures. I write the journal every evening offline, that speeds at least the update of the journal up but still takes too much time. So i am really sorry if you have to wait for us answering you.After coffee we went to subway to get a sandwich to take with us for lunch. Then we finally headed off. We hiked the creeper trail instead of the AT. They actually cross a couple of times, the creeper goes along a creek and the AT climbs up and down two hills, so there will be people saying we didn't thru hike the AT correctly. But we don't care, we did the same miles as the AT and it was definitely prettier and a great alternative. We found a pretty spot to camp right beside the creek. There we saw our first crayfish and raccoon tracks. Now I hope to see a raccoon tonight. Toasted toad told us they steel everything they find, looking for food. He even saw one once opening a tent! We can't leave anything outside tonight. It looks like rain tonight, hope the thunderstorm doesn't hit us.
Date: 2014-05-10
From: laurel creek

To: mount Rogers
Miles today: 14.0

I slept really well and I didn't hear or see any raccoons. The tent was dry, what i am happy about, I don't like to carry a wet/heavy tent. Just when we finished packing it started to rain. It's Saturday and we hoped for trail magic. But it rained on and off all day and trail angels obviously don't like rain. So no extra food for us. It was a hard hike today, marco wasn't motivated at all and didn't take the lead often. He hiked with toasted toad most of the time. We had an only uphill day and we just tried to go as far as possible. We arrived close to mount Rogers at six and decided to put up tent there. Just when we were finished with our dinner it started to rain again and we went to bed early. Now I will plan our hike tomorrow.We are in the land of wild ponies and horses but haven't seen any yet, we hope to see them tomorrow. Good night!
Date: 2014-05-11
From: mount Rogers

To: hurricane mountain shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: few clouds

Woke up in a wet tent, well the outside was wet, not the inside! We were in the middle of a cloud and couldn't see far. At least it wasn't raining. The weather got better by the hour and in the afternoon we even had sunshine. We hadn't went far when we came across the first wild ponies. They are really cute and they don't let you pass without petting them. Yes we know we shouldn't because they are wild, but at least we didn't feed them like day hikers do.By looking at the map we thought it would be easy to do 15 or 16 miles. But you can't see how a trail looks like, like rocky, steps, grassy or so. Today the trail was extremely rocky and we went less than 2 miles an hour. Our feet started to feel soar earlier than usual. But then we planned the next 2 days, realized that we are running low on food and that we want to be in town as soon as possible. Then we hiked an extra 2 miles. We saw a beautiful deer and a baby snake. But we couldn't find a tent site! Usually there is at least one every mile, but not when we needed one. We had to hike more than a mile to find a place where we could set up our tent. It is not a good place but enough for toasted toad and our tent. We had dinner and are now going to bed.We are still not happy with our food situation. I am more or less hungry all day and we both lost weight. We have to figure that out fast. In the next town we have good big grocery stores, I am really looking forward to do a big shopping- fresh food! Happy mothers day to all the great mothers, like our two! We miss you!
Date: 2014-05-12
From: hurricane mountain shelter

To: tent site road va.601
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: clear sky

Woke up because the sun was shining into our tent. What a great start in the morning. Summer has started here I think. Temperatur is getting high and we sweat as soon as we start hiking. Today was humid too and we really look forward to take a shower tomorrow. In the morning a girl told us that someone will do trail magic for her today, unfortunately we didn't get there. Later we found out that she has hiked all 3 long trails in the US and that she does 20 -25 miles a day. Trail magic was probably at a place we will pass in the next couple of days :-(We are heading into Marian tomorrow, toasted toad made reservations at a hotel and I look forward to have a room I'm only going to share with Nobody! Our own shower and bathroom, breakfast in the morning, great! I wanted to tell you about our water cleaning system a while ago. Many hikers only use one thing to clean their water, we use two. Since the noro virus spreads fast on the trail I think we do the right thing. We collect the water in a platypus we use only for dirty water. Then we press it through a sawyer filter into our 1liter water bottles, then we kill the viruses by using a steripen (uv-light). So far we had no stomach problems, so we keep doing it this way. I can recommend both water cleaning systems, I just think one isn't enough!
Date: 2014-05-13
From: tent site road va.601

To: Marion
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: broken clouds

We got up early so we could catch the 11am shuttle to Marion. After we had hiked a mile we realized that we could make it to the 9 o'clock shuttle if we would hurry up. So we did. Marco almost ran to the pick up place in case the slower hikers like me would be too slow and he could make them wait for us. We actually all made it in time but some of us had never hiked so fast before. We were able to check in early in the hotel, had a shower and went to do laundry. We washed our sleeping bags and I look forward to sleep in a good smelling sleeping bag. We resupplied and went for dinner with a bunch of hiker friends. The food wasn't good but the company was fun! Now we are sitting on the continues wrap around balcony at the hotel, having drinks, chat and listen to great music while a bad thunderstorm passes the city. We are glad we aren't in a tent tonight but the weather forecast for the next couple of days isn't any better.
Date: 2014-05-14
From: Marion

To: Davis path campsite
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: broken clouds

Today didn't go as planned. We wanted to sleep in, start hiking in the afternoon and make a night hike in the full moon. But the weather forecast put us off this plan. Plus by now we are so used to get up early that we can't really sleep in anymore. We woke up at 6 but stayed in bed and kept dreaming until the alarm woke us up at 7:30am. We packed and went for breakfast. Then we called the town bus to bring us to the post office. We had decided to send our warm gear to Harpers ferry (official half way point). Like that we got rid of at least 5 pounds of gear. The bus made a huge round tour and we almost missed our shuttle out of town at 11am. I am glad that we have less gear to carry. We will have to carry much more water in the weeks to come, which will add heavily to our packs. So we started our hike around 11:30am. We made many breaks. Thanks to the church who provides great trail magic at the settlers museum! You've got everything a hiker needs. I had an orange and took a safety pin (I'm pretty sure I will need it sooner or later on the trail).We had dinner at a restaurant beside the trail (at an interstate). That made us running late and we hiked on even when the sun went down. It got dark fast in the forest and I was glad when we reached the campsite. Unfortunately the site isn't as great as it says in our book and it was hard to find an even spot for our tent. By now we are really fast with putting up our tent and get everything ready and I think about 30 minutes after we had arrived we were able to go to bed. We had hoped to see some wildlife since we were hiking at dawn. The only wild animal we saw was a young rabbit.