morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-05-23
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Chatfield Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: broken clouds

Virginia has been so enjoyable so far and everyone thinks so. Not only is the scenery beautiful but the hiking is considerably easier with much more gradual grades and not as much altitude change. There's lots of it, though, so you better be ready for 550 miles of the same state!The highlight of today may have been walking through a big field full of cows and seeing an old abandoned bus just sitting in the middle of it all. It had been gutted and turned into a shelter of sorts with a bed and a stove. It is very remenisient of the bus in the movie/book "Into the Wild" which is quite popular among hikers and adventurers.In the news today: Three deer sightings bringing the tally up to nine, and snake #7. There was talk of bear sightings but I didn't see any. Still no cell reception so I kon't know where anyone is. There are two guys here at the shelter tonight who started at Springer on April 27th. I told them I didn't want to know their names because by the time I learned them, they'd already be in Pennsylvania! They had done a 32 mile day to here. Ouch!Tormorrow is arrival in Atkins, Va. for a resupply. I had planned originally to stay there over night but the town is only 3.5 miles away from here and it would be cheaper just to breeze through. Hope everyone is well! Until tomorrow...
Date: 2009-05-24
From: Chatfield Shelter

To: Crawfish Valley
Miles today: 10.8

It was a great day to be a thru-hiker! The highlight of today was a town stop in Rural Retreat ,Virginia. The don't have much there but I was able to sit and eat two breakfast entrees while my phone charged on their outlet! Much like at Hot Spring, I had a short 3 mile hike into town and a short 7 mile hike out to the campsite. So, I got to spend about 6 hours sitting at a picnic table on the main street socializing with hikers who were coming and going. Solar, Bird and Trampoline Sean(remember him?) and I all got to spend quality time together today. It was so nice to catch up with them. They decided to live the good life and get a hotel room for the night. Me, I'm roughing it! Here ,camping tonight is a great group, Bon Bon, Drocanian, Treebeard, Pig Pen, Captain D, Lucky, Ziggy and Sailor J. In the education department today, I had a great stroll through some particularly historic areas. The picture today is of a school house from about 1890 that was supposed to have been used by Virginia's settlers. The family that settled this particular area came considerably earlier, about 1749. They were the Holstein family that later changed their name to Holton. It was neat to walk through the trail today and think about what the world must have been like in 1749.Finally, in the news, today was the worst bear-bagging day ever! My line fouled causing me to have to cut off about six feet of it and try a new tree. On the second throw on the second tree, the line wrapped itself in a knot, fouling again! Instead of accepting the loss, an angry yet determined Sailor J took off his new shirt as to keep it from getting dirty, and went straight up the stupid tree. Once I freed the line, I nearly killed myself getting down and now have scratches all over my chest, legs and arms. Triumphantly, I went to hang the bag and line broke, causing me to loose my balance and tear the strap out of my left flip-flop! I will leave my consequent loss of temper to your imagination! Am looking foward to explaining to my Uncle this situation in the context of gear replacement. Tomorrow's another day with so many more opportunities for me to make myself the laughing stock of the hiking community. Until then...
Date: 2009-05-25
From: Crawfish Valley

To: Chesnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: light rain

It was a wet, sloppy day and I spent all day playing hop scotch on really slippery rocks on a ridgeline. About 3 hours into the day, I experienced my first fall which was so sudden it couldn't be stopped. I stepped on a fallen tree and slip sideways on it. Suddenly, I was thrown hard on the ground, my poles crashing down seconds after I impacted. There wasn't even enough time for me to think my usual "this is the end of my hike" thoughts. At first I layed there waiting to see what hurt. My left hip came down really hard on a rock but did not hurt. Also, my arms were tied in knots from the disarray of the hiking poles but, they too were okay. finally I stood up and after five minutes of waiting, I deemed myself one lucky sailor and moved on.All day it rained and all day it was slip and slide on the rocks. I was concerned that my shoes were not doing their job(they have about 750 miles on them)but after conferring with Magic in camp tonight(his shoes are new), he said he had the same slipping problem too. Interestingly, Magic is the only person I have seen all day, and I saw nobody while hiking. It was pretty cool!I have been very excited about my new white hiking tank top, so much so that I had to feature it in the picture today. One of the girls in our 2nd grade class from Las Vegas asked a good question about what we wear out here. Everything that we wear is synthetic which means the fibers of the material are man made, like nylon or polyester. These fabrics don't soak up water so they are lighter and dryer. Mom got me a white shirt because black soaks up the heat of the sun. Great question! Until tomorrow, a 19 mile day...
Date: 2009-05-26
From: Chesnut Knob Shelter

To: Laurel Creek
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: clear sky

Well, our luck with the weather ran out today and it rained pretty much all day. It was a difficult day even without the rain. The show stopper today was a 2100ft climb that I thought would never end. An hour after I got here it started pouring and I was so glad to be inside. It is 2100 hours now and it is still pouring and people are showing up soaked. As of now, it is Transition, Ziggy, Treebeard, Darcanian, Captain D, Ninja, Papa November, and Sailor J.Today, a big part of hiker discussions focused on water supplies, as places to get water were few and far between. Usually we get water from streams that we pass by on our way up the trail. Pictured today is a rhododendron blossom. These giant plants are said to grow near water sources ,so on days like this I keep my eyes peeled for places that they seem to be clustered. Supposedly they have different color flowers, but I have only seen pink ones thus far. Until tomorrow...
Date: 2009-05-27
From: Laurel Creek

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: moderate rain

I have been up late talking around the campfire so I will be brief tonight. The terrain was easy today so 19 miles was done by 1600 hrs. It was still wet all day though. The only good thing about all this rain is that we don't have problems getting water. My tent smells like a tuna fish, blah! Much more activity on the trail today. I passed about 8 north bounders. Lots of people were evidently trying to wait out the rain in Blard. No use waiting it out folks, it's gonna rain forever!In the wildlife department, I saw another deer today(total now 12) and also a grouse. A grouse is a big bird that looks like a turkey. It was so upset when it saw me, it ran huge circles around me while screaming. And no, it would not stop for a picture!Not much to report in the news. Solar and Bird are one day behind. Bird bought a new pack, new shoes, and a hammock(to replace her tent). She also shaved her head! All in efforts to get lighter, I suppose. The Scarecrow is about 4 days behind, almost 60 miles but making progress. Tomorrow is an easy day, 14 miles and I will be hoping for clear skies. Until then...
Date: 2009-05-28
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: scattered clouds

A rather frustrating day of rain. The trail is so wet now that one would have better luck paddling to Maine in a canoe. There is no way to keep your feet from being absolutely soaked so each step tears your feet up. The rivers are so swollen that they are all white water and so loud! It was scary getting water as I was afraid to fall in.Lots of people doing big miles today to get into town. I can't risk injuring my feet just to be dry for a day. For some reason it won't stop raining for days ,so you just have to accept the fact that you're going to be wet. For days!Okay, enough grumbling. Good news: we have passed both the 600 mile mark and 1/4 mark on the trail! I can't believe it's only a quater way done, lots of work left to be done.Tomorrow is another 14 miles into a campsite that sets me close to Pearisburg for an in-and -out on Saturday. Everyone pray for sunshine!
Date: 2009-05-29
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Angel's rest
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Last night it rained harder than it has rained so far on this trip and for the longest duration. I simply could not believe the quantity of water coming down. Evidently we were in flash flood warning zones but didn't hear about that until later. My tent did a great job of keeping the water out but there is so much water in the air that everything is terribly damp. I am worried about my expensive new sleeping bag, it's not supposed to get wet because it is filled with goose feathers. I am going to call the company from town tomorrow to see if I can spray the shell with a water proofing agent to toughen it up a little bit.As you can imagine, hiking today was quite challenging. If you choose to hike today, there was no way to avoid completely soaked shoes. In many situations I had immersed ankles, shins and knees. Dad was able to warn me about this afternoon's thunderstorms, so I ducked into Doc's Knob Shelter to try to sit out the storm. The thunder ended but the rain continued, so I walked the last 6 miles in a monsoon.The only time I laughed all day was when I was trying to cross this stream that usually looks like a trickle. Today it looked like something that belonged in a Six Flags theme park. I was standing there making a plan of how I would navigate this crossing safely(safe, not dry!)when I saw a crawfish standing there apparently pondering the same question. Maybe those animals do come out of the water for some reason or another, but this poor guy looked too scared to get back in. Here I am, hiking the Appalachian Trail and it is too wet for the animals that live in the water! Tomorrow is another day, till then...
Date: 2009-05-30
From: Angel's rest

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: scattered clouds

It was another night full of driving rain and howling wind. When I woke up the rain had pretty much stopped but it was really windy. No breakfast, no messing around(I even forgot to stretch),just get down the mountain! It was 3 miles to Pearisburg where I spent the day doing chores and eating. I got a new bounce box put into service as my other one that has been along since Haiwassee was pretty much unmailable. Laundry got done,and luckily, Star and Pyroflat, who were staying at the motel, saw me at Hardees and offered their shower to me and that was great. Finally, a six day resupply at the grocery store has left me stupidly heavy. People were making fun of me trying to cram thirty Reeces cups into my food bag but I don't care. I have to eat enough out there and I can't loose any more weight. I left town at 1600 hours and sluggishly climbed the 1500 ft out of Pearisburg.I had every intention of hiking 12 miles to a campsite but got out way too late. The shelter ,at 7 miles, had a spectacular view of the valley and I was excited to stay there. Adjacent to the shelter was a huge bald where several hikers had elected to camp. I decided to stay in the tree line as the thunderstorms have been out of control lately. I thought we were going to get hit again this afternoon but it passed south of us. Tomorrow I need to eat alot!
Date: 2009-05-31
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Wind Rock
Miles today: 21.5

Last night I woke up at 0300 to the sound of thunder. When the gust front came through before the storm, I was excited to feel the temperature drop ten degrees. The excitement didn't last long as I realized that we were getting ready to get hammered, and there were four people camped out on the bald! In two minutes, we were in the middle of it, fierce wind and dumping rain. I heard people shouting outside but couldn't figure out what was going on. I put my head out of the tent but couldn't see anyone. The lightning and thunder was so intense, my hope was that the shouting was the people on the bald making it into the shelter. The storm raged for two hours and I didn't sleep at all waiting for my tent to blow away or get struck by lightning.At first light I was happy to see the tents on the bald still standing. When I went out to see everyone, I found out that Lucky Star and Pyro indeed went into the shelter but Otter and Slapshot stayed out there, too scared to move. Slapshot had the forsight to collapsed his tent on top of him to reduce his height to avoid to being struck by lightning. Everyone was really tired not having slept due to the storm. Because of this and the fact that I didn't want to pack my tent wet ,I didn't leave camp until 0930.It wasn't the easiest hiking day, as there was an 1800 ft drop and climb. In an effort to cover some ground, I by passed the last shelter and followed Blink and Antrack out with the intent to camp for the night. I didn't make it as far as them and am camping at an absolutly beautiful spot called Wind Rock. All by myself with a huge expanse of uninhabited West Virginia to look out at. Looking at the endless rolling mountains reminds me of looking at the ocean. So beautiful, so powerful, and so dangerous.From the education department today, I walked a lot of the day on the "Eastern Continental Divide". On the ridge of the mountains separating West Virginia from Virginia, all the water going west flows(eventually) into the Gulf of Mexico about 1800 miles away. All water on the east side flows into the Atlantic Ocean, 400 miles away. It was neat to think about when deciding what tree to use..ha,ha! Until tomorrow...
Date: 2009-06-01
From: Wind Rock

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

It was a slow day in the world of progress. Suddenly I'm finding myself in a challenging section of Virginia, especially after it's been so flat and easy so far. Today we struggled through two 1500ft climbs and descents in a row. Tormorrow is exactly the same. I think this is because, instead of staying on the same mountain ridge, we are going sideways across ridges so there is lots of ups and downs. After 8 days, it finally seems like we have a favorable weather system. I awoke to brisk north winds and much cooler, dryer air today so I am assuming a cold front came through. What a difference the sun makes in everyone's mood. The rivers and streams are still swollen out of control so crossing them still usually gets your feet wet. Well I'm too tired to continue to be entertaining, it's 14 miles tomorrow. Until then...
Date: 2009-06-02
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Stealth at Mile 694.3
Miles today: 26.1

Well folks, there's been better days for this hiker! Due to me being over zealous along with an untimely navigational error, the planned fourteen miles became 22 miles today. Knowing that I need to take it easy, it is tough to make decisions to keep hiking into the evening. But I'm trying to get myself placed so that I can be right outside of town for an easy entry on Thursday. Be that as it may, there was no way for me to predict the difficulty of the hike today. I saw the two 1500ft "holes" that had to be conquered like yesterday. But never would I ever have done Dragon's Tooth today had I known that the descent was going to be the most difficult terrain of the trail so far for me. Dragon's Tooth is this giant rock on the top of the mountain with amazing views. But coming down was a situation that you had to use your hands to lower yourself straight down. An hour of lip biting, knee killing down hill probably took a year off my life. Totally scary for me.Things kept getting worse as it got dark and I mistook one road crossing for another and thought I was 1 mile away from a shelter but I was actually 6 miles from it. Realizing my mistake, I knew I needed to stop hiking but I was in the middle of a cow pasture! Well, I'm writing with about 12 cows within a half mile of my tent. I hope they don't get bothered by my presence. How ridiculous that this trip has gone from one that inspired worry from bear attacks to one that inspires fear of cow attacks! I hope nobody sees my tent here as it's probably a funny sight!In other news(bad), I received a message from Scarecrow today and he has giardia! This is a disease we all worry about getting out here and it knocks you off your feet for a couple days. Poor guy! It seems like everyone is having a hard time with leg of the trip. Tomorrow looks hard too with another two 1000ft bumps. We are all getting beat up out here. The weather's beginning to get unsettled again. Two of the most talked about view opportunities on the trail are tomorrow, McKaffee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. But they are also very exposed so any bad weather could make for dangerous situations. Until tomorrow...
Date: 2009-06-04
From: Stealth near Hay Rock on Tinker Ridge

To: Daleville
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: light rain

Well, everyone, quite an adventure we've come through! As I write from my private room at Howard Johnsons, I'd like to assure everyone that the show will go on. Big Agnes is sending a new tent, my ribs are going to heal, it is going to stop raining, I am going to gradually forget about the tree and the fall, I got a new pair of shoes, and tomorrow I'm going back out there.One of the hikers said to me today about her last two days of hiking, "I didn't stop crying, screaming and cursing for 48 hours". It is all very humbling because ,as invinceable as we think we are sometimes, some things are bigger than us. This endeavor is really big and I never seem to know what tomorrow is going to bring. But I never knew that in the beginning either. Many times I have thought that I never would make it this far. Once again when I get back out there tomorrow, I will be so thankful for another day and another adventure.I wish everyone well and thank you all for your love and support. Until tomorrow...
Date: 2009-06-05
From: Daleville

To: Fullhardt Knob Shelter
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: moderate rain

I made the final decision to leave town this morning after studying the weather for a long time. The low pressure system was moving off to our east and I felt like the rain should have stopped by this afternoon. It hasn't stopped but I am so used to walking in this stuff now it really doesn't matter.As I'm sure everyone knows by now, everything hurts alot so no use going into that again. It's only Green Hornet, Brown Bear , Brown Chicken and Sailor J at the shelter tonight, all of us tenting. We had such a nice talk over dinner. It made me happy to be back out here again. They asked me to give a seminar on how I rig my bear cable as I do it differently than most hikers. Since I love to teach, it was a pleasure showing them my method.Five miles was all I could handle (and I did leave town quite late) but starting tomorrow I will see about getting a little more productive. Until then...
Date: 2009-06-06
From: Fullhardt Knob Shelter

To: Cove Mountain
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: few clouds

Although it rained all night long and well into the morning, it finally cleared up to be a beautiful day. Not only was it beautiful, but it was pretty easy going. Since it was so flat, the miles flew by and I was able to enjoy the sights a little bit.My favorite sight today was seeing the James River off in the distance to the west. Remember when we talked about the Continental Divide last week and the water that falls on the east side of those mountains eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean? The James River is one of three giant rivers on Virginia's western shore that empties out into the Chesapeake Bay. What are the other two? The Roanoke and the Rappahannock. After making their way to the Chesapeake Bay, it empties into the Alantic Ocean.Tomorrow is looking harder, complete with a 1000ft and 2200ft climb. Not done that since the Roan Highlands so we'lll see what happens. Until then...
Date: 2009-06-07
From: Cove Mountain

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Today's climbs weren't messing around but I am starting to feel better and had an okay day of it. There wasn't much to look at today except for trees and the "Guillotine", which is a very scary looking rock that is suspended over your head.It was so nice to be done hiking before 1700hrs but I ruined the day when my bear bag cable got out of control and put a 10 inch gash in the rain-fly on my tent. It seems that my campaign has been plagued with bad luck recently(terrible weather, getting lost, trees falling, me falling, etc.) and I'm not real sure how to change that. I assure you that I run the tightest ship possible and imagine these set backs might stop others dead in their tracks. It doesn't make it any more fun, though, and I am not looking forward to having to call Big Agnes(the tent company) for the second time this week and tell them this ridiculous story. And I'm surely not looking forward to paying for it!Before my pencil slips and puts a hole in my tent floor, I should probably go to bed. Tormorrow is another day. Until then...
Date: 2009-06-08
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Johns Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: scattered clouds

A couple big accomplishments today. First, we did the 15 miles into Glascow in time for me to call Big Agnes to get them to send a replacement rain fly. The laughed at me. If you're going to be able to laugh at something in 6 months, you should be able to laugh about it now. Next, I got resupplied at a less-than-ideal grocery store that had a huge plaster dinosaur in the yard outside. It was straight out of a Pee Wee Herman movie. I managed to eat a big meal in town and a pint of ice cream and get back on the trail to get to the first shelter(7 miles) by dark. Tomorrow is 18 miles with a heavy food bag. Until then...