morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-20
From: Campbell Shelter

To: Daleville Va. (Comfort Inn)
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: few clouds

9:42 p.m.Today? Nice. Overall, at least. We woke up at 6 a.m. because Bluebird and Abandon set an alarm. We were out of the shelter by 7:30, after watching the sun rise. About 5 miles into the day we hit Tinker Cliffs. We had seen them from McAfee the day before and although they certainly weren't as cool in themselves, we did get to walk along the rock ledge for a while, maybe a couple of tenths of a mile. We basically walked the remaining miles without stopping much. We did run into a southbounder, headed from Pa. to Ga. His name was Boy Floyd, and we stopped for a nice chat. We told him to tell Lockjaw to catch up whenever he ran into him. It was very hot--80 degrees according to Kaptain's thermometer. I got very dehydrated right at the end of the day. We hit the first road crossing (we were headed for the second) and stopped for drinks and snacks at a gas station. I checked my phone and, lo and behold, there was a message from Lockjaw. He and Team Steve were right behind us the whole time. Just a couple of hours. I called him, and he had his phone on, and that was cool. When we reached our road , Sunshine went right toward the hotel to do laundry, and Kaptain and I headed left to go to the P.O. We walked .8 on the road. Fortunately, on the way back with my two packages, we got a hitch. The guy who gave us a ride was really nice. He actually made a wrong turn and ended up at the first road crossing. There Team Steve and Lockjaw were, having drinks like we had done. He waited while I went to get them, then drove all of us to the Comfort Inn, where Sunshine had already arrived. The hotel has Internet, so that's nice. It's nice to have everyone together again. We went to dinner at Cracker Barrel and now we're just hanging out. Watching Harry Potter. Great. Quality.
Date: 2006-04-21
From: Daleville Va. (Comfort Inn)

To: Bobbletts Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: light rain

9:20 p.m.We left town late this morning. We woke up to rain and ugliness. The free continental breakfast was swamped by old people on some kind of bus tour. We went to Waffle House where we had a good meal. Team Steve and Lockjaw went to the store to resupply because they hadn't yet. Sunshine went to the P.O. Kaptain and I set off. Not much happened for a while, but later we had rain. Scratch that - TORRENTIAL downpour. Fortunately, it was warm. If not, it would likely have been as miserable as the other day. Instead, the warmth made it almost fun. We were going to meet Sunshine's friends Sticky Fingers and Kool-Aid Luke, who thru-hiked in '03. They ended up meeting us at a road crossing 3 miles before the shelter and gave us trail magic. Brownies, cookies, OJ, apples, etc. We hung out there for a while, talking and thinking maybe Team Steve and Lockjaw would show. They didn't and it was raining and eventually we headed on and they left to drive the car further down the road and get to the trail even closer to the shelter. Bluebird and Abandon were there. We hung out and ate stuff we'd packed in, listened to Luke play his little hiking guitar, and listened to Sunshine and his friends catch up. We ended up staying up pretty late.
Date: 2006-04-22
From: Bobbletts Gap Shelter

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: moderate rain

Wow, today felt short. Probably because it was. There was an enormous thunder storm last night. Early this morning, actually. Another crazy one like at Thomas Knob. The morning was very rainy, so we stayed in our bags for quite a while. We had no reason to get out into the rain. When it cleared up and we stopped being lazy, we went up to their car, which was very close. They cooked us breakfast burritos and we gorged ourselves and hung out. We walked very slowly. We stopped for lunch at Cove Mountain Shelter, which had a lousy privy and a lot of bugs, but did OK as a lunch spot. I hiked with Kaptain, Lockjaw, and Team Steve after lunch, and we went at a pace closer to our normal one. Relaxed, but not slow. This shelter, Bryant Ridge, is amazing. It is definitely the nicest shelter we've stayed in so far. There's a huge porch under a roof, plus two sleeping platforms on two levels. There are cooking spaces and lots of things to hang wet shit on. The night is wet, but it's not raining, I don't think. An Earl Shaffer reading is imminent. And a back massage?
Date: 2006-04-23
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Marble Spring Campsite
Miles today: 16.3

7:02 p.m. Besides feeling guilty about the short miles, today was quite nice. Last night's shelter was so luxurious that we were reluctant to leave this morning, even though it was clear outside. Kaptain, as usual, was first up and ready to go. I wasn't far behind, but Sunshine, Lockjaw, and Team Steve slept in and were late getting out of the shelter. Most of today, the first half at least, was uphill. We gained at least 3000 feet, but it was over a long enough distance that it wasn't challenging. At the top, we stopped for lunch on a grassy patch before beginning the descent. We stopped at Thunder Hill Shelter for water, and spoke with a section hiker there. Later, we stopped at a gap with a road cross and sat down for a break, just for the hell of it. We had planned to camp here, but had considered going on to the next shelter, which would add about another 5.5 miles. We tarried at the gap, partly because it had turned out to be a nice day, partly because we wanted the time to argue in favor of the campsite. We ran into a man out for a few hours in search of morels (mushrooms), which apparently are abundant in this area and will be as we move north too. Morels are delicious, and I know what they look like; I'd be happy to have some to add to meals later on. From the gap, we slowly ascended a pretty steep 700-or-so-footer. It was probably the worst climb of the day despite the fact that we had plenty of opportunities for tough climbing this morning. The campsite is nice, but buggy. The water is close and crystal clear, which always makes a stay at any shelter or campsite much more pleasant. We'll get both a sunset and a sunrise, I think, and if we get around to it, there's a nice fire pit. We played for a while before dinner because we got in early, around 5:00. Football with my sleeping bag, and stickball with my pack cover. Two deer just approached, apparently intending to come get water from the source and then deciding against it when they saw us. My feet are itchy. The skin on my heels, ball of my foot, and toes is dry and cracked. No blisters, however. My biggest complaint about my feet is probably the numbness that seems to have taken(?) my big toes, the underside of my other toes, and the balls of my feet. These areas lack all feeling most of the time, and feel bruised if they feel anything at all. I can't quite tell how deep the numbness goes, but even if it is not an actual problem, it is unpleasant and distracting. These bugs are stupid and annoying. The deer are back. Goodnight.
Date: 2006-05-01
From: Hightop Hut

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 23.9
Weather: clear sky

9:40 pm Last night at 12:30 a.m. two guys rolled in. We found out this morning that they are two painters working on a job in the valley, who decided to hike up into the Shenandoahs and stay there for the nights instead of commuting all week. Good idea. We got a relatively early start, leaving the shelter at about 8:00. The first 11 miles or so were pretty uneventful, except that we crossed the 900 mile mark. I hiked alone for much of the morning. Around noon we arrived at Lewis Mountain Camground, which had a camp store. A box of Ritz, a half pound of cheese, and a bottled Starbucks coffee Frappucino later, I was fat and happy in the sun. We all were in a good mood, and to make things better, a guy came by and told us he was leaving that evening and that we could have what we wanted of their remaining food. Bananas, canned pineapple, OJ, minibagels, butter, crackers. It was great. The guy kept talking, though, and we felt obliged to listen some in exchange for the food. We hiked out and, only about 9 miles later, got to stop at a lodge for an excellent rstaurant dinner. I had an appetizer sample plate, which included sweet potato fries, fried onions, quesadilla, and shrimp cocktail. For dessert they had this beautiful dream creamy blackberry ice cream It was a $20 stop all told, but worth it. The last 3.7 to the shelter was half in the dark, but easy. We had to battle the stupid bear poles they have in this park, but didn't have to cook.
Date: 2006-05-02
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Range View Cabin (camped)
Miles today: 23.5

This morning was nice. We woke up, ate a light breakfast, and were out by about 8. From the shelter we hiked 4.6 miles to Skyland, one of the Skyline Drive lodges like the one we had dinner at last night. We had an excellent second breakfast there at about 10. I had buckwheat pancakes with raspberries in them and real maple syrup on top. I had a banana, coffee, and real, fresh-squeezed OJ too. It was wonderful. After that we hike towards Panorama, another wayside about 10 miles down the trail. I hiked with Lockjaw for the first 4-5 miles, then went really fast the rest of the way. Unfortunately, as seems to happen to us a lot in this park, it was closed. We were bummed, but stopped for a mid-afternoon meal there anyway from our food bags. After lazing around just a little, we set off again, planning to put in just under another 10 miles. Lockjaw and I walked together and talked about philosophy and religion, a good conversation, but one that made me cry later on. Lockjaw got cranky from lack of food though. We all met up at a third Skyline Drive wayside, this one called Elkswallow. We knew it was closed, so we weren't disappointed. We cooked dinner and had sodas from a machine(yay!) Then we hiked 1 mile up the hill to this place, a cabin that you can rent but that the public can't stay in. We were hoping to find a flat spot to camp, but we're actually just cowboy-ing it on the covered front porch. It's drizzling. There are mice. Kaptain killed two of them with my shoe; I was upset. I saw a bear today, too! At least.... I'd say it's an 85% sure bear-spotting. I saw a black thing with a face, too big to be anything else but not huge, bounding ito the woods. Cool. Front Royal tomorrow. Woo-hoo!
Date: 2006-05-04
From: Front Royal Va. (Center City Motel)

To: Dick's Dome
Miles today: 15.1

8:39 p.m. Yesterday we got a very early start, waking up around 6 and hiking out around 7. We all wanted to get to town but weren't in a particularly flaming rush. We stopped at the first shelter we passed for a snack and water, then continued. There was a hill that supposedly had a water source halfway up that was going to be our lunch spot. It was a "spring 75 ft right" When we came to a crappy stream across the trail, I declared that it must not be the one listed and that there must be one farther on. Well, there wasn't, so we reached the top of the hill and had no water. We had lunch though, and a short hike later left Shenandoah National Park and then arrived in Front Royal via a hitch that we didn't wait long for at all. We stayed at Center City Motel, which may have been our worst yet. We went to the P.O. (really far away!) , the outfitter, and the laundromat, then to an AYCE called Victoria's, which was pretty good, really. I spent way too much money in town, as usual. This morning we got up around 7:30, partly because Lockjaw's dad called him then, which was interesting. Sunshine and I went all the way back to the P.O. to bounce our boxes, the I grabbed a proper breakfast of cappucino and a cranberry-orange muffin. We then headed to the grocery store to resupply, and got a ride from a nice woman from the store to the trailhead. It was hot, hot, hot today - 80 degrees when we hit the trail at 11:30. Fortunately a good part of the trail was shaded (yay, trees having leaves!). We stopped at the first shelter for lunch. It wa a terrific shelter, probably second only to Bryant Ridge. It had a porch with deck chairs, a separate covered picnic table/cooking area, and a shower (cold) fed by a spring. I got wet, which was nice, but I was soon dry and hot again. We saw loads of poison ivy today; hopefully I haven't gotten any. We met Messenger at the lunch shelter, and he's staying here tonight, as is Chronic. We stopped later for a snack at another shelter, where there was soda trail magic and where I found out from a phone call that I got into Dartmouth. I'm really happy. I flew the last 4.4 to this shelter, which is really tiny and crappy, but it'll do in a pinch.
Date: 2006-05-08
From: Turner's Gap (Super 8 Motel)

To: Pen-Mar Park
Miles today: 27.3

8:51 p.m. We're stealth cowboy camping tonight in a Pavillionin this park, which explicitly says hikers are allowed to stay. Oh well. We slackpacked today. We started around 9:00 and hiked an easy5 or so miles until we hit a residential neighborhood with a register and trail magic by one of the houses. We also saw the first monument built for President Washington. That was a cool and historical little thing. We ate lunch on some rocks off the side of the trail. I was really antsy for lunch, so I was really glad when Sunshine turned off the trail to go to the spot. I walked listening to music for most the rest of the day. When we reached Pen-Mar Park, Betsy was there with snacks. We went to a nearby Italian restaurant where Lockjaw, Sunshine, Kaptain and I played pool and I had a delicious eggplant parm sub. The Betsy drove us back to the park and we loaded all our stuff in our packs. Lockjaw talked to his dad on the phone, and some law enforcement guys drove by and told us we wouldn't be bother if we slept in the park, even though it's not allowed. We walked over to the pavillion where we had met Betsy, and set up to cowboy.
Date: 2006-05-09
From: Pen-Mar Park

To: Quarry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: clear sky

7 p.m. Today we woke up at the Pavillion around 7. Lockjaw took over my therma-rest, and Sunshine made pancakes from a box with his new cookset. They were really good, actually. As we were packing up Kaptain arrived from being dropped off by Betsy. We hiked out, crossing immediately into Pennsylvaian and crossing the mason-dixon line. Soon after Kaptain took off and went faster. I started hurting. My ankle, knee, and shoulder all hurt, and I was quite dehydrated too. We stopped at the first shelter very briefly and met Spiritual Pilgrim and a flip-flopper who just got on the trail. Later on we stopped for an early lunch at another shelter. At that one we got trail magic from the shleter caretaker. He was there to do maintenance and brought us sodas and apples from his truck, a terrific treat. I started feeling worse and ther terrain got rockier as we continued. We stopped for a break at the turnoff for another shelter, but it was .3 off so we didn't go. I was feeling pretty crappy, but Lockjaw and Sunshine made me drink a lot of water and I felt somewhat better. This afternoon Lockjaw and I hiked together. Sunshine walked .5 to a pizza place on a road 2.6 before this shelter. We went on to the shelter, where Lucky Pierre (a flip-flopper who started in the Shenandoahs) was already there and offered us some of his leftover pizza. Spiritual Pilgrim showed up and Lockjaw had some of his leftovers too. Then Sunshine rolled in with even more pizza. Now we're just sitting around hanging out. This shelter is reall nice, with water right in front of it and a covered porch.
Date: 2006-05-13
From: Duncannon Pa. (Doyle Hotel)

To: Random campsite #2
Miles today: 17.4

8:43 p.m. We woke up this morning, went to breakfast across the street, hit the pharmacy and P.O., and were out of town just before 10. My parents left too, so I said goodbye to them. It was really nice to see them, but I think we're all glad it's kind of back to normal (at least till Trail Days next weekend). We road-walked out of Duncannon for a while, then did a 1000-foot climb onto a ridge, where we basically stayed all day. I hiked with Kaptain in the morning. Then we stopped for a long lunch and waited for Lockjaw, who started later and is getting sick again, to catch up. After lunch I hiked with Lockjaw for the rest of the day. We chatted at first, but later on I hurt my ankle and he started feeling tired, hungry, sick and grouchy, so we just walked. We met a couple who pointed out a copperhead that they had just disturbed that was slithering away into the bushes. We got to see it though. My ankle was hurting and Lockjaw was getting impatient. We hadn't really decided exactly where we were going to camp, and I think we both feared the others would just keep going and going. Just as I feared Lockjaw was about to throw down his pack and go no further, we saw Kaptain and Sunshine. Now we're camped at the bottom of the hill we'll begin tomorrow with, and we're in our tents to avoid the bugs. It was rainy off and on today. Will it rain tonight?
Date: 2006-05-14
From: Random campsite #2

To: William Penn Shelter 
Miles today: 24.8
Weather: light rain

Today we got an early start, hiking out by about 7:25 a.m. After a climb in the morning, we walked along till lunch at a stream near a shelter about 12 miles into the day. Lockjaw was feeling sick, so he slept in a little. We didn't see him all day, but he seemed better and happier than I would have expected when he came into the shelter tonight about an hour after us. The last 7.2 miles were boring as hell. Today seemed really long, but mostly because it was. I'm fairly certain... I forgot what I was saying. Anyway, today was uneventful. Long, and I think that was the most miles with packs so far.
Date: 2006-05-15
From: William Penn Shelter 

To: Eagle's Next Shelter
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: moderate rain

8:23 p.m. Today alternated between fun and boring. We woke up, had pancakes, and then hiked 4.1 easy miles to the 501 shelter. The 501 was really cool. It has 4 walls and a skylight and an indoor table with chairs and you can order pizza from there. Team Steve had left us trail magic - sodas and apples - when he got off there to go home. That was nice. We got to the shelter at about 10. We thought that maybe at 11 the pizza place would open and we'd wait and eat lunch there. We hung out there at the shelter. We invented a new game: Indoor Wiffle Cricket. So much fun. When 11 and then 11:30 rolled around, there was still no answer at the pizza place, but then there was a recording saying they were closed Mondays. Damn it! So we ate a normal lunch and ended up leaving the shelter at about 12:15 with 15.1 miles to go. By the way, it rained all morning and was cold, gloomy, and ugly. We all set off listening to our mp3 players, but mine died after only about an hour. The 15.1 miles were excruciating. Boring as hell. There were some rocks, but so far PA hasn't been as bad with rocks as everyone cracked it up to be. But all day was flat and just woods. No views, no hills, very little water, and no real variation of scenery. Fortunately I caught up with Kaptain 4 miles before the shelter, so we chatted until we got here. The shelter was .3 off the AT on a blue blaze, which was a pain in the ass, but when we got there it was a pretty nice shelter and we met some section hikers who we played wiffle ball with. I had yummy spaghetti with sauce and cheese sauce and parm for dinner. Apparently I really suck at pitching a wiffle ball.
Date: 2006-05-16
From: Eagle's Next Shelter

To: Windsor Furnace Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: light rain

8:33 p.m. Today was kind of different. We woke up, packed up and hiked 8.6 identical miles to Port Clinton PA. In Port Clinton we ate lunch at the Port Clinton Hotel, then hitched first to an enormous "oufitters" called Cabela's and then the grocery store. Cabela's was crazy. It was this gigantic store, almost as big as LLBean, that had about a million dead stuffed animals in it and an aquarium and a restaurant and a cast iron skillet as heavy as my whole pack and thousands of fishing rods. We anticipated a really tough hitch to the grocery store, but then a really nice Cabela's employee gave us a ride there, and then all the way back to Port Clinton. We got back to town at maybe quarter to 3, but had decided to wait around and eat dinner because we only had 6.1 out of town. So we hung around and went to the Peanut Shop, a candy store, and read and relaxed and then ate dinner at the hotel. Then we hiked out, up a big hill and reached this shelter pretty quickly. Two girls out for one night are here.
Date: 2006-05-22
From: Lehigh Gap (Team Steve's house)

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: few clouds

7:54 p.m.   Yesterday evening we just hung out at Team Steve's. Dried our stuff, ate, used the computer, I talked to Lockjaw on the phone, etc. This morning we got a decent start and after eating at Dunkin Donuts, we started hiking. We went up a big steep rockpile of a hill. That was kind of fun, but it was very very windy so I got kind of worried about being blown off the mountain. After that we hiked on a barren wasteland (Superfund site) that has basically no trees and rocks instead. But it was flat and it was different than the usual trees and trail of PA, which I'm bored of. Later on today, however, we went back to the usual boring trail. Today was very very short though, so that was nice. The water at this shelter was far away. It's going to be a cold night.
Date: 2006-05-23
From: Leroy A. Smith Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap (Church of the Mountain Hostel)
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: broken clouds

9:22 p.m. Today we got a ridiculously early start. I hiked out at 6:30 a.m. I was alone for most of the day, and didn't meet up with Kaptain or Sunshine until 13.8 miles in at a shelter where we ate lunch. We saw a guy with really short cutoff shorts and a huge pack who was going about .5 mph. From that shelter we cruised 6.4 easy miles into Delaware Water Gap. It was only about 2:30 when we arrived because we started so early. The hostel we stayed at was really nice. Simple, but very welcoming, with comfy couches and a hot shower. We went on a expedition to try to get a ride to the nearest grocery store, which is actually in the next town, too far to walk. We saw a van full of hikers, but they were coming back from the store, so we stuck out our thumbs. (Moses, a guy we met last night was with us too.) The second car that passed picked us up, a woman alone in a sedan, the most unlikely suspect. She was so nice, and took us to the store, waited, and took us back. We ate at a pizzeria, which was pretty good. Then back to the hostel, where I met a bunch of hikers that I've been reading about for the first time: Jolly Green Giant, Pebbles, Fat Camp, Moleman, Coconut Monkey (who I'd met of course, but hadn't seen in a while), and a couple of others. We all hung out and had a great time. It's been a long time since we've really seen other thru-hikers, and we only caught up because they did Hard Core trail maintenance after Trail Days. So we all hung out, tried to rip off Sunshine's half-dead toenail, and went to a bakery nearby that had delicious cookies and things. Lockjaw got delayed a bit with his start today because his pack got lost in his plane change. So he only hiked a tiny bit today. Hopefully he'll still be able to catch up by Saturday.