morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-05-19
From: Boots Off Hostel

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: scattered clouds

May 19 (Day 57): We got up about 6:30 and dressed and went up for another great breakfast before packing up and leaving Boots Off Hostel. David insisted I take a picture of him and Grumpy before we left. I also texted Jim (the owner) last night and told him what an awesome hostel he had and that we loved it!After walking down the road we walked across to Lake Watauga and the trail followed the shoreline for a while. The Lake Watauga Shelter was closed because of all the bear activity around it. In fact, Grumpy told us if we were going to hike out at any time of day, we had to make sure that we hiked past the 7 mile "bear containment area", where bears were so prevalent.  The trail then took us up to the dam and we had to walk across that. The climb up to the ridgeline was steep and seemed to go on forever. A couple times we were able to see some pretty views of the lake. It is a long lake! We leap frogged with Mr Maps most of the day.We stopped for lunch at the Vandeventer Shelter. We sat out on the rocks behind the shelter and had a beautiful view of the lake and surrounding area.Don't know if I've mentioned lately how beautiful the flowers are along the trail. The wild rhodedendrons are finally starting to bloom. They are all pink but sometimes they seem to have darker or lighter shades of pink. They are gorgeous though.We hiked on and finally dragged into the Iron Mountain Shelter about 7:50pm! Stopped to get water and met Bearbait setting up her hammock. She had put in a 20+ day and had hoped to reach the shelter but was pooped. She said she was pushing because she was running out of food and needed to get to the Rabbit Hole Hostel to get her resupply. We offered her food but she had several food allergies. We should have stayed and camped with her but we had really hoped to do a 16 mile day so we pushed on. About a mile before the shelter I saw a bear! It ran up the hill toward the ridgeline. My first bear on the AT! We had hiked for 11 hours and 10 minutes and broke our record. 16 miles today! But we were exhausted! We had enough time to set up camp, eat a cold dinner, and hang our bear bag. We were just settling into our tent when it began to rain (Crusher had said there was only a 30% chance of rain.). It started slowly and then really began to come down good. We were warm and dry and exhausted so we didn't care. I'd worry about packing up a wet tent tomorrow.
Date: 2019-05-20
From: Iron Mountain Shelter

To: Stealth camp
Miles today: 12.9

May 20 (Day 58): So it poured rain last night. Don't know for how long as we conked out right away. Woke up today and the tent was completely dry from the winds that followed the rain.We slept in a little and didn't end up leaving the shelter until 8:50am, just as Ambassador was leaving too.We really needed water. The first source we found was way down the hill and not very good. Had to scoop it with a cup, but we got enough to make it to the next source.Saw an interesting monument to a local hermit. They called him Uncle Nick Grindstone. He died in 1923 and was buried there.We continued looking for water sources. We tried several more but they weren't very good either. Finally found one around lunchtime and had a hot lunch and watered up. We walked through a beautiful meadow. An old farm building had a giant "AT" painted on the side.We ran into Bearbait again. She had stopped at Rabbit Hole and gotten her resupply plus a shower and milkshake. David started obsessing about a milkshake. When we hit Low Gap we saw a sign that said "It's not too late to get a milkshake." We thought long and hard about getting one, but we decided to go on. Later we wished we had called for their free shuttle, tenting, milkshake, and shower.We finally stopped to stealth camp. The site wasn't very big but enough to fit our tent. A while later a woman came and asked if we had room for another tent. She had just hiked 15 miles and was exhausted. (We found out later her trail name was Kokopelli.) David got out of the tent and looked behind the tree and told her there was room for a small tent. She said she was so tired she could sleep on a pile of rocks. She set up her tent and we heard her leave to hang her bear bag. Another man walked by and David talked to him too. He went a short way down past us and found a site.We settled down for the night but I didn't sleep very well. Too noisy.Hiked 12.9 miles today, but we will have to get up early tomorrow to get into Damascus before late. We are 12.7 miles from it.
Date: 2019-05-21
From: Stealth Camp

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 13.4

May 21 (Day 59): As we hiked toward Damascus we crossed the VA/TN border. Woo hoo! Another state down!We hiked into into Damascus, VA. The trail actually goes right through town. You pass under an arch built as an Eagle Scout project by a Boy Scout. The arch welcomes you to Damascus and tells you that you are walking on the AT. We then walked over to the library. We washed our hands several times in their nice clean bathrooms. We walked the trail through town. The sidewalk going down their main street is made up of bricks donated and/or created by people. Some are really creative and others are really touching.We checked into a church-run hostel called The Place. It is donation only and clean. It had one bunk room and you used your own pad and sleeping bag. There was a shower and a kitchen with a sink. No laundry. The towel provided was actually a bath towel cut in half. Currently only one other person, named Phil, was there. The caretaker was a micro-managing, annoying, kind of creepy guy. He would come downstairs and look into every room every half hour or so. Later on Just Jim, Longfeather, and another hiker checked in too. Longfeather and a bicyclist tented outside. We went for dinner at The Damascus Diner. It was very casual but good food and lots of it. They were out of meatloaf so David had the pork tenderloin. I thought it interesting that the restaurant was run by all women. After dinner we went to the Dollar Store to resupply and ended up leaving one of our bags. Just Jim had stopped in to get an ice cream there and the lady had explained who we were and he found us. I took a shower that night and washed off the trail stink. David had fallen asleep early.We hiked 13.4 miles today.
Date: 2019-05-22
From: Damascus, VA

To: Stealth campsite
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

May 22 (Day 60): Before leaving The Place we stopped for breakfast at The Damascus Diner. There were a lot of fellow hikers there (Mr Maps, Sherpa, Hiccup, Legs, Marathon). Then we continued hiking through Damascus. To get back on the trail we had to walk up a long flight of wooden stairs.The rest of the day was tough. The hike out of Damascus was up, up, up.We finally stopped for the night at a camp site down by the river. Ambassador was with us. We almost missed the site because we came down off the trail onto the Virginia Creeper Trail and crossed the bridge. David finally saw a couple down by the river and the little path to the site. We walked down and met Good Man and his best friend, Taylor. He owns a coffee shop in Cary, NC and she has been a barista there for 5 years. They had a great campfire going. I love the smell of a campfire. Taylor and Good Man asked us if we would like a cup of coffee. David, of course, jumped at the offer. He hasn't had a "real" cup of coffee in a long while. Afterwards he told me it was amazing.Ambassador and I walked down to the river and soaked our feet. This girl had some Happy Feet that night!We hiked 13.8 miles today.
Date: 2019-05-24
From: Deep Gap

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: scattered clouds

May 24 (Day 62): Unable to find the spring last night, we just packed up and decided to get water and make breakfast at Thomas Knob Shelter (about 2 - 2.5 miles). The hike wasn't bad. At a small stream, David saw a trail and followed it out to a huge meadow. It was really foggy and you could watch the mist swirl by. It was beautiful. We had grabbed water earlier at a stream on the way up the trail so we were good on water. We continued up the trail and it opened out to a meadow. Right there in front of us was a herd of the famous Grayson Highland wild ponies! When they saw us, two of them came right over and started nuzzling our hands. They also licked our arms for the salt on our skin. There were babies too and we watched them run around and play with each other. We stayed a long time petting the horses and taking pictures. There was one horse that stood off, just watching us, at least we think so. His mane was so long it covered his eyes. We think he was probably the leader of the herd.We also hit the 500 mile mark!!We finally tore ourselves away and hiked on to the Thomas Knob Shelter for breakfast. I felt safer visiting it during the day though that really didn't matter. This shelter is widely known this year for its bear problems, day or night. They are so agressive and are constantly harrassing the campers by stealing their food bags and walking among their tents. They go after the food bags even though they're in the bear box. Last year a bear stood on top of the box and tried to flip it!The rest of the day was spent hiking along open fields, seeing more ponies and even long-horn steer. (Farmers are allowed to lease the land and the steer keep the grasses short.) The weather was gorgeous and so was the hike! Lots of long, rolling meadows, fields of flowers and grasses, and occasional rocks to climb.Another fun spot was a rock tunnel, also called the Fat Man Squeeze. You could walk around the rocks but it was more fun squeezing through them!We met the Forest Service ranger, Beth, again. We asked her about the pack on Buzzard Rocks. She said that a large group had hiked up there and a woman in the group had fallen and hit her head. They had rushed her to urgent care and must have forgotten her pack. We were relieved that the pack owner was ok.Lunch was at Wise Shelter with our day ending at Old Orchard Shelter. A million dollar day!We hiked 13.9 miles.
Date: 2019-05-25
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: Stealth campsite past VA 670
Miles today: 15.8

May 25 (Day 63): We began the day at the Old Orchard Shelter and got going about 7:30-ish.Today's hike was pretty nice. More of the "rolling hills" that everyone claims describes Virginia instead of the killer ups and downs that we've actually been hiking. :)We crossed through a field of cows and they just watched us as we walked past. They must be used to strange people walking through. One little calf stood in the path as I approached, like he was daring me to stay on the path. I won our game of chicken when his mom moo'd at him and he ran off. :)As it got close to lunch time we began looking for a place to sit and eat and relax. We could hear a road and I said that there would probably be a flat place to sit (and maybe even take a nap!) where the road and trail intersect. We walked and walked and finally saw a campsite so we stopped there. We ate lunch (What else, flour tortillas and tuna! David had bologna.). I said that I really would love to take a nap. I just felt so tired today. So we set up the tent in 2 minutes, crawled in, and took a nap and a 30 minute snooze. I could have slept longer, but as we are constantly telling each other: "Those miles aren't hiking themselves!" We packed up and within 5 minutes came upon the stupid road!We crossed over and saw a sign that there was trail magic on the road at VA670! That was 6 miles away and it was about 2:00. Three hours would make it 5:00. Sure, they would still be there at 5:00! So we started hiking quickly.We were getting low on water again and the sources we came upon weren't that great. I didn't want to stop because I kept thinking of the trail magic, but we really needed the water. The next source was the Trimpi Shelter. I had wanted to see it anyways because it had been built in memory of a 17yr old boy and it was made of stone and had a fireplace too. Didn't know anything more of his story than that. I hiked ahead and got to the shelter ahead of David and got water. The mosquitoes were horrible!! and I couldn't wait to leave. No one else was there. (Found out later that there was a whole group of hikers that went looking for that trail magic too. One hiker even hiked down to VA 670 and then hiked back to the shelter.)We finally got to VA 670 and no trail magic! ? So we looked for a place to stealth camp and found an old trail road (where they had rerouted the original AT trail), cleared away the sticks and stones, and set up camp.Silver lining: we hiked 15.8 miles today!
Date: 2019-05-26
From: Stealth Camp past VA 670

To: Marion, VA
Miles today: 7.6

May 26 (Day 64): We were breaking down camp when Crusher hiked past. He told us that he and Mr Maps were at the Hiker Inn in Damascus when a friend of theirs, Stargazer, walked past. They hadn't seen her since last year. Mr Maps had left the trail to attend his daughter's college graduation and would come back to hike the last 200 miles with her. (She had hiked the first 200 with him last year.) Crusher had hiked for several days with Stargazer. He also told us a funny story about her. They were at Thomas Knob Shelter with a group of others eating lunch. Suddenly a large bear comes walking up the path toward the shelter. Everyone scatters except Stargazer. She pulls out a bear "gun" (like a flare gun) and fires it over the bear's head and he takes off and she goes back to eating her lunch! We all had a good laugh at that.Hiked 7.6 miles into the Mt Rogers National Recreation HQ outside of Marion, VA. We met Six on our hike in. Before the HQ there was a shelter called the Partnership Shelter. It was built by the friends and family of Robert Baldwin, in his memory. It said he was a lover of the Virginian mountains. It had 2 levels and a shower and sink! The water was not on but still. Wow. It also had several benches around the fire pit and a separate privy. It was very nice looking.At the HQ I used a flush toilet and washed my hands several times, just because I could! I also changed into my not-quite-so-stinky camp shirt.David had changed into his camp shirt too and then we went down to the road and tried to hitchhike. A number of cars and trucks went by but no one stopped. Three more thru-hikers came down too (Surprises, Die'sel, and Thuggins). Shortly after, a car stopped and offered us all a ride bit we were a seat short, so they told us to take the ride since we were there first. Joe, a super nice guy, drove us into Marion and to the Travel Inn hotel.As we got near, David noticed Ambassador walking by. She just got in about an hour before us and was staying here too. We got our room, showered, did laundry, and walked to Mi Puerto for a mexican dinner and then Walmart for a resupply. (David saw Topoff in the laundry room and then we saw both Hoot and Topoff as we left the hotel.)We came back to the hotel and watched TV and relaxed.We hiked 7.6 miles today.
Date: 2019-06-30
From: Stealth campsite

To: Stealth camp at overlook
Miles today: 13.1

June 30: Left our stealth camp about 7:10am. Stopped at the Cove Mountain Shelter to make a hot breakfast but the shelter was .3 miles downhill so we cooked at a flat area across from the shelter sign. David is eating Zoom for breakfast now instead of 3 little oatmeal packets. (Zoom is like oatmeal only made from wheat.) It is working much better and filling him up. He is really feeling better now that we've made changes to his diet. He is also eating more meals/snacks a day. It has made a big difference in his stamina.I, on the other hand, have been really struggling. I am really tired. I also felt really blah today and have seriously considered going home. I am going to give it a few days and see if maybe I am just in a temporary funk. Then I will make a decision.We did hike into Duncannon today. The trail literally goes right through town, just like in Damascus. Being a Sunday just about everything was closed. We walked past an antique store that was open. it used to be the factory that built Lightening Guider Sleds (children's snow sleds.) The factory ran from 1904 to 1990. In the antique store they had old black and white TVs with The Three Stooges playing on them! They still make me laugh! We've been trying to hookup with Tall Cindy. She is about 15 miles behind us. She texted to ask if we were stopping at the famous Doyle Hotel, but we were already on our way out of town. I did read about it on the plaque in their little town square. There was also a huge mural that had been painted on the building by the town square. It showed highlights and events of Duncannon.We got through town and came to the intersection where you turn right and go over the bridge. We wanted to eat at the Subway and also needed water so we stashed our packs in the bushes by an abandoned trailer and walked to the Subway. We saw K-Town there too. Enjoyed a sub and soda and filled our water bottles then went back and grabbed our packs. We walked across the bridge with no problems. (It seems that there is a peregrine falcon nesting area nearby and it's not uncommon for the falcons to dive-bomb the hikers as they cross the bridge.)Right at the start of the trail we came upon trail magic. Someone had left coolers filled with ice and soda and water. There was also a box filled with snacks. We grabbed a soda and some Ho-hos.The climb went uphill and then we really hit the famous Pennsylvania rocks. We're talking giant boulders that we had to climb over! We finally got to the Clark's Ferry Shelter. David went to get water and I laid down on one of the bunks. I was so tired! We met Ladypoles, Tree, snd Spider at the shelter. They were fun to talk to.We decided to hike another 1.2 miles to an overlook that had some campsites. They view is beautiful and we should be able to see the sun rise in the morning. It was only 6pm when we got there too. Ladypoles joined us later and camped too.We hiked 13.1 miles today.
Date: 2019-07-01
From: Stealth campsite by overlook

To: Stealth campsite with Needles
Miles today: 15.5

July 1: Stealth camped with Ladypoles last night. We were up by 5:30 so we had time to break down camp and then eat a snack while watching the sunrise over the Susquehanna Valley. It was really beautiful!We left camp about 6:30 and hiked to the Peter's Mountain shelter. It was the biggest shelter I can remember seeing. Two floors and the picnic table was in the shelter so you could eat dry if it rained. The only downfall to this amazing shelter was the trip to get water. It said is was .2 miles down, but that included 300 steps! Down wasn't too nad, but coming back up was exhausting especially carrying 5-1/2 liters of water! Several day hikers came in and we had a nice chat with them. Then in walks Tall Cindy and Cowboy!! We have been trying to meet up her for almost 2 days. We were so happy! Also, she has a trail name now! Her sister gave it to her - Braveheart. We made plans to meet on the trail later and camp together tonight. Then David and I headed out.We hiked for a while and when we stopped for a break, Braveheart and Cowboy came along. We all hiked on. We met Hiccup and Sherpa and Ladypoles later on too.We ended up stealth camping at a lovely site covered with pine needles. Someone had moved the large flat rocks around to form reclining chairs with backs. It was so nice to sit on something other than a log. There is also a porcupine that hangs out at this stealth camp. Previous hikers nicknamed him Needles. We were all in our tents except Cowboy, who was actually cowboy camping by just sleeping on a mat with his sleeping bag. All of a sudden we heard him say "Hey! Get out of here. Go on." Needles had come to visit! By the time i got out of my tent to see him, Needles was hiding behind a tree. Maybe Cowboy can get a picture tonight.We hiked 15.5 miles today. We are slowly getting our hiking legs back.
Date: 2019-07-02
From: Stealth campsite

To: Stealth campsite past Swatara State Park
Miles today: 15.3

July 2: Woke up at 5:20am because we make a breakfast and we didn't want to hold up Braveheart or Cowboy. They can break camp faster than we can. We started hiking about 6:40. (Cowboy said Needles didn't come back to visit him the rest of the night.)Today's hike wasn't too bad as far as terrain, but the temperature went up to 92 degrees and the humidity was brutal. When you're hiking in a green tunnel there isn't much breeze. The bugs seemed to love Braveheart because she wore her bug net over her head part of the day.We met some new hikers (new to us) named Jeopardy and Letters. Also ran into Freebird while we stopped for lunch. He is quite a character and loves to tell stories and jokes.Came to a section of the trail with a detour due to beavers damming up the river and flooding the trail. You could hike that section but you would have yo wade across the river. We decided to go with the detour that ran parallel to the AT trail. It was about .6 longer but it was a forest road so it was flat and well maintained.We had to cross several busy roads and walk under I-81. Wouldn't have wanted to try and cross that, running with a full pack and trekking poles!Water was a big concern today. Several of the water sources were dry so when we found one we filled up and cameled up.Walked through part of Swatara State Park. It was a nice hike with just a few ups.After leaving the state park, we crossed a large foot bridge that ran over Union Canal. There were several benches so we took a break. There was also a trash can so we unloaded all our trash. That is always nice. Less weight to carry!Then we walked under I-81 and started up, up, up. We were all drenched with sweat and exhausted by the time we got the 1.2 miles to the stealth camp. We were able to set up and eat a cold dinner before the rain started (30% chance of rain. Yeah, right!). We had heard some thunder and then it poured buckets for about 45 minutes.But we hiked 15.3 miles today. We are going to get up early and put in at least 17 miles tomorrow so we can be in Hamburg, PA in the afternoon of July 4th.