morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-05-27
From: Weary Feet Hostel

To: Campsite
Miles today: 20.4

Today was a great day! We crushed it!!! CT told us last night he was going to go 17 miles to a shelter and we thought that was a great idea, so we decided we would do the same thing! We took our time leaving the hostel. Weary Feet was just cozy. We were the last hikers out. We finally got on trail near 10 in the morning. It was supposed to rain today, but by a miracle we walked 20.4 miles without it raining at all!!! I am so thankful for that!!We originally planned to hike 17.8 miles to the shelter, but the shelter had absolutely no tenting except for a tiny spot. We wouldn¢t be able to fit our large 3-person tent, so we decided to hike on until we found a better spot, about 2.2 miles past. It was mostly Nicholas and I walking together today. Eventually, we met up with CT and Birdsong. We really enjoy talking to them! We wondered what happened to Sherlock since he left before we woke up today, but we saw him camped out about 1.5 miles before we happened upon our campsite. We were happy he was doing well! He looked cozy in his tent. At dinner, Moose Jaw and I talked to CT¢s girlfriend and ate our food. Then we planned our next resupply stint. Unfortunately we will have to carry 5.5 days of food. But it¢ll be okay. It just sucks carrying a lot of food. It makes our packs really heavy. Especially since our hiked hunger is finally kicking in. All in all, today was great, and I am so very proud of how much Nicholas and I walked today. We crushed it. CT: Toilet paper that is not covered by the ground is called a ¢TP Blossom.¢
Date: 2023-05-28
From: Campsite

To: Cross Ave
Miles today: 5.8

Today was a great day with a lot of unexpected blessings. We expected to walk a total of 13 miles today; however, the constant rain required us to change our plans. We made it from out Tentsite into town by 11:15. As we arrived at Cross Ave we found Birdsong and Merlin! Birdsong came back to trail to meet up with Moose Jaw, CT, and I! Which was awesome! Merlin offered for us to put our packs in his van so we could walk the mile to the Chinese restaurant without our packs. There we all got an all you can eat Chinese buffet. It was delicious!!! Before we knew it a bunch of other hikers filled in along with Gucci! He joined us at the buffet! It was delicious!From there Merlin gave us all (Birdsong, Gucci, CT, Moose Jaw, and I) a ride to resupply in Walmart. While we were there we saw Billy Goat with his wife and daughter! It was great seeing him and meeting his family! Resupply took a little longer than expected because we had to buy food for five days, but we also didn¢t want to overbuy our food, because that is a lot to carry!!! We packed our bear canister in the entrance to the Walmart. As we got back in the van we all chatted about what to do next. We knew it was going to rain all day and through the night into tomorrow afternoon. That makes for a tough few days. We decided to stay in town for the night but the hostels and motels were full. Then we found a hostel ran by a local Catholic Church and drove to the church to see if they had any availability. Fortunately, there was a place for all of us to sleep and shower!! Twig showed us where to go (he runs the hostel), and he even said it was acceptable for Merlin to park his van outside!! About an hour after getting settled, Twig drove Nicholas to DQ and we got milkshakes and blizzards. I got a strawberry Oreo blizzard and it was delicious!! As we were eating, CT, Moose Jaw, Gucci and I played Yahtzee. Moose Jaw mopped the floor with all of us. It was fun playing! As we took turns showering, Merlin made us cookies and then went and got us Burger King. We felt terrible because they messed up Merlin¢s order (he is Vegan), so he didn¢t get any food but still brought us ours. I hope that he finds something delicious to eat! After showering, Twigs offered to slack pack us 21 miles tomorrow so we would have somewhere dry to sleep tomorrow tonight. We all thought this was a wonderful idea, so we agreed to all slack pack together. This will be CT¢s, Gucci¢s, and Birdsong¢s first time slack packing. It should be fun!!Crawling into bed, we all talked about gear. Nicholas and I need to send items home to lower our pack weights. That might be challenging for us, but I believe we can do it! All in all, it¢s been a day full of blessings and I am so thankful! It¢s going to be a great week, I just know it!!
Date: 2023-05-29
From: Cross Ave

To: PeterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Mountain Trailhead
Miles today: 20.9

Today was a great day (besides sleeping horribly due to other people snoring and the leak in the roof). Our slack pack was great! It only rained on us in the beginning of our hike, but we hauled!! By the end of it our shoe gaiters and legs were muddy from the amount of rain the past feels days, but we got to wash it all off in a nice hot shower! While I was hiking I saw a doe with a fawn, and they were so cute!!! We were playing tag on trail for about a mile. I would catch up to them, they¢d scurry away, and then the cycle continued. It was so precious!! Birdsong, CT, Moose Jaw, and I finished at the same time, and a nice woman from town picked us up and dropped us off at Dairy Queen! We got some ice cream, and then Twig came to pick us up and take us back to the hostel. Merlin made us all a vegan dinner that was delicious, and all six of us hikers broke bread together. It was a wonderful time. Before we knew it, it was bed time. We were all ready for it! Today was a really good day. We were so happy the rain held off and that we were able to put in some big miles and make up for our low mileage day yesterday.
Date: 2023-05-30
From: PeterÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Mountain Trailhead

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 12.4

Today was horrible. It rained a lot and our bodies were hurting. We cut the mileage short today, because of the pouring rain. We also slept in the shelter. Today was one of those days where we didn¢t feel like hiking and it was challenging to keep from being negative. I hope sleep
Date: 2023-05-31
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 18.4

Today I (Chili Pepper) woke up feeling terrible. I had a hard time sleeping in the shelter last night, because my body was aching so badly. No matter which way I slept, my body was hurting. Moose Jaw let me sleep in until 7:30. That didn¢t feel like sleeping in to me. We left camp by 9 in the morning. Thankfully the rain held off, but we had a tough incline to start. When we were almost to the top we received trail magic from Super Dave, which was a wonderful gift! He was awesome! He had a mini grill and made us hotdogs. It was wonderful! Then things became not so wonderful. It was extremely rocky today. My body was hurting when we had seven miles left to walk. It was an extremely rough day. I wanted to walk faster to camp, but my body wouldn¢t let me. It was nice at camp because Truffle, Cow, I¢ll Be, Merlin, CT, Songbird, and others were there. Their cheerfulness made things a lot better. And apparently everyone was hurting pretty bad, as well  it¢s always reassuring to hear the day was hard on everyone else, because it makes you feel not alone in your misery. The trail is not always sunshine and rainbows. It¢s grueling and requires a lot of work as well.So, I¢d say that all in all today was meh. I¢m hoping my body feels better tomorrow.
Date: 2023-06-01
From: Niday Shelter

To: Four Pines Hostel
Miles today: 16.7

Another rough day today. Mostly due to the amount of incline we had to hike and the amount of rocks we had to scramble up and down. The best part of today was that we hit 700 miles!!! I am so extremely proud of ourselves. ¢o  So, today did make me laugh a little. Not even 2 miles into the day, we hard to cross a stream. I (Chili Pepper) tried to rock hop across it, but the water was flowing above most of the rocks due to the heavy rains we have been getting. Moose Jaw tried to convince me to put my crocks on so I don¢t get my shoes wet, but I didn¢t want to have to take off my pack to do that. Well, as I tried to turn around my foot slipped into the water, and I said screw it!! So, I just marched thigh deep into the water in my hiking boots across the river. Moose Jaw told me that when we get to things like this I need to view them as something to be enjoyed and to experience rather than an obstacle. Later in the day, after we were heading down from Dragon¢s Tooth (a beautiful rock outcropping with an overlook) and we had to scale down some rocks. It was tricky and Moose Jaw was NOT having it. I then turned to him and told him he need to ¢enjoy the experience and not treat the rocks as an obstacle.¢ We laughed SO SO hard at that. Different things really take our patience away while on trail. At the end of the day we walked to Four Pines hostel to tent in their yard and take a shower. When we arrived they had venison burgers that Nicholas and I ate. We were the last ones to arrive for the day. There were SO many hikers here. At least 35 hikers. We are still in the hiking bubble. I doubt we will ever get out of it, but that¢s okay! We saw a ton of people there that we hadn¢t seen in awhile so it was a lot of fun!!All in all, today was okay. It had its highs and lows. We did get trail magic (some watermelon) today and that was a wonderful surprise!!
Date: 2023-06-02
From: Four Pines Hostel

To: LambertÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Meadow Campsite
Miles today: 16.6

Today was tough!!! The past week has been tough, actually. So much incline!! We walked to McAfee Knob and through Tinker Cliffs today. We left Four Pines hostel a little late and started the long uphill journey. My feet were killing me when we finally made it to camp around 7:30. McAffe knob was gorgeous. We hung out up there for awhile before we continued our journey. Tinker Cliffs was the extremely challenging part of the day. Even though the views were beautiful, the uphill was ridiculously steep and over a mile long. Plus we had to carry a bit of water since we wouldn¢t be passing any water sources for over 8 miles on trail. We were happy once we reached camp. Merlin had found a really nice site that a bunch of us camped at. He also got a fire going. It was a beautiful area and one of the best tent sites so far! The water was flowing right by camp, and it was a great flow! It took us no time to fill our dirty water bags. We can¢t wait for a couple of days off soon. Putting in all of these miles has been challenging, and our bodies are starting to feel it. We need to make sure we are still taking care of ourselves!
Date: 2023-06-03
From: LambertÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Meadow Campsite

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 9.2

Today was a good day outside of Nicholas¢s foot hurting him and my Achilles hurting me! We were on trail moving by 8:30, which is great for us!! I was so proud of us getting around so early. We hiked with CT and Birdsong into Daleville, VA. Thankfully it was an easy 9 miles. Once we got to Daleville, we chilled by the gas station after getting some drinks for 30 minutes. Then we walked to a restaurant for some food. Uncle Smokey met us four there and joined us for lunch. It was a BBQ joint that was delicious! Plus they gave the hikers free banana pudding!! From there we briefly stopped by an outfitter and then Uncle Smokey took us back to his place. He made a wonderful dinner that included filets, cucumber salad, and a baked potato. We can¢t wait to stay for a few days and catch up and rest up!Also, we are one-third the way through trail! Go us!!
Date: 2023-06-04
From: Daleville, VA

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Today was horrible, and I felt like absolute death. I (Chili Pepper) woke up at 6 in the morning feeling nauseous, and ended up having diarrhea while vomiting nearly all day long. I was so worried I had the norovirus, but Uncle Smokey said it was likely a stomach bug (and thankfully it was,¢¦ no one got the norovirus, thank goodness!!!) I felt miserable all day long. I couldn¢t move, and I could drink anything until the evening. I only ate one piece of toast. I hope I feel myself tomorrow. Thankfully Moose Jaw feels just fine!
Date: 2023-06-05
From: Zero Day

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a million times better than yesterday!! I felt much better, and I focused on rehydrating all day long. We went to REI to get myself fitted with a better pack and to replace Moose Jaw¢s mat with one that doesn¢t actually leak. We got myself a new pack that should hopefully fit better. The problem is my lack of hips, so nearly all of the hip belts are too big on me. While we were running errands this was a conversation between Moose Jaw and I:*we see and hear a mustang zing by*Nicholas: You like how that mustang sounds?Me: Ummm, sure?Nicholas: You seem like more of a BMW girl. Me: I would agree. I don¢t need to show off that I¢ve got umph. I just need it to get the job down. When I press the gas, I just want my car to go. Nicholas: I agree. You¢re more of an assassin, not a barbarian like me. Me: *cracks up* I¢m flattered. This evening was wonderful! We got dinner with Uncle Smokey, Grandmommy Twine (it was her birthday), Uncle Chris, Stephanie & David Hunt. It was so great seeing them all! Then afterwards we got milkshakes and hung out with Uncle Smokey. It was a great day!!
Date: 2023-06-07
From: Zero Day

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Today was absolutely wonderful!!!! My best friend Meredith came to visit us with her three week old baby, Indy! All three of us went to get pedicures, and it was fabulous!!! The massages were great and my feet finally feel soft again. Harvey, my nail tech was hilarious and treated me like a queen! He did a phenomenal job. Nicholas and I took turns holding Indy, and Mer and I caught up on lots of things. She looked great! Would have never guessed she had a baby recently! I missed her so much! After pedicures we went and got Chick-fil-a. We love our nuggets!!! Then we headed back to Uncle Smokey¢s house just to chill and take care of some things and chill. It was such a relaxing day, much needed too!
Date: 2023-06-08
From: Daleville, VA

To: Tentsite
Miles today: 4.1

We ate lunch with Uncle Smokey before we headed back to trail. On our way back to trail, we of course stopped at Chick-fil-a. We were hungry and it¢s our favorite fast food joint. Uncle Smokey dropped us off at the gas station right next to trail. We sat in our camp chairs while we finished our food. We are so thankful for everything that Uncle Smokey has done for us and for letting us stay with him. He spoiled us with food and a cozy bed. We had a wonderful time with him!!As we were finishing up our food we saw Toaster! She just got off from 11 zeroes. She went back home for awhile. She looked great!! We were so happy to see a familiar face!! Since we got a late start, we only hiked four miles and then set up camp. For some reason, we were exhausted. It felt weird being back on trail. We do miss the comforts of civilization, but I know we have many more miles in us!!Also, come to find out CT got sick as well and took 3 zeroes. We are so happy he is feeling better!!
Date: 2023-06-09
From: Tentsite

To: Tentsite
Miles today: 18.2

We cranked miles today. We were super proud of ourselves since we took so much time off, although my feet were killing me! We walked along the Blue Ridge Parkway for part of our hike today. It was parallel to trail, except along the road you could actually see the views. That was nice!!We received some trail magic from Apple Man. While we were there drinking some gatorades, there was a horse named Copper. Beautiful thing! We took photos with the horse! And then on our way we went. At camp we met Father and Son who are thru-hiking together. They swapped some meal ideas that seemed tasty. As we were getting around for bed, a dad and his three sons stopped by our camp to say hi and chat for a little bit. They were just hiking for the evening and wanted to know more about thru-hiking. It was a great chat!! The family was from Ohio (I am assuming they are Amish), and they were on vacation in Virginia. They were really nice!! At camp we also met Masters. He¢s a really chill hiker as well. All in all, a good day back, but my feet were screaming. Glad to be off of them for the evening!
Date: 2023-06-10
From: Tentsite

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 19.9

Mood: °Today was a good day, but it was tough! We climbed nearly 5200 ft in elevation today, and it was a long mileage day for us. But thankfully, we had many breaks throughout the day along with a long lunch to rest our feet! We forgot how much impact our feet take everyday. Especially on long mileage days. This morning about 3 miles into our hike I almost stepped on a rattlesnake that was chilling across the trail! I was shocked! It didn¢t rattle at all, and at first I thought to myself, ¢this is a weird looking branch.¢ I¢m so happy that I was watching my feet. That would have been bad!We saw some views today but not many. There was still a haze over everything it seemed. At lunch we met Beargasm and Ozark. They were hiking together. We also saw Just Dan again. His wife is visiting him so she was slack-packing him so he could get some miles in. Apparently, he was sick as well for 24 hours. Something is going around. At lunch we saw Lilo, Poptart, and Zee. They were having a grand time in the shelter. It was a really nice shelter!! ¢The Taj Mahal of shelters.¢I¢m super happy to make it to camp, take off our shoes, and eat dinner. Tomorrow will be an early day for us. We are going to try to get into town in the early afternoon. We will see!!
Date: 2023-06-11
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Stanimals - Glasgow
Miles today: 14.7

Today had its ups and downs but it ended on a great note!! We woke up early today and started hiking around 7:15 in the morning. We made it about 15 miles into town by 2:45 in the afternoon. Which was great for us since we took over 2 hours worth of breaks. The rocks at the end of our hike were absolutely killing our feet. But once we got our packs off of our shoulder and crocs on our feet we felt much better!When we got picked up to go to the hostel we found out that our reservation got mixed up and we no longer had a room like we thought. Thankfully, the gentleman struck us a deal and let us tent in the backyard at a reduced rate. This fee included laundry and shower. I was happy with that deal. Once we got to the hostel, we set up our tent and then went to the only restaurant in town. The local pizza place, Scotto¢s. Our server Elijah was the absolute best!! He made my (Chili Pepper¢s) day!! He genuinely wanted to hear about our hike, and we talked about anime shows with him. He would be a great voice over for anime fight scenes! He had me cracking up the entire time! He also gave me ice cream with a candle to celebrate my birthday a day early! All of the hikers in the back room we were sitting in sang to me. Hikers included: Masters, Simple, Radar, Bandit, Toster, Beargasm, Ozark, Stogie, Just Dan (now Bob Ross), and a few others. After I blew out the candle, Elijah grabbed it and was like ¢baby girl, I¢m gonna need that back.¢ I was cracking up! I also told Moose he had to start calling me baby girl exactly how Elijah called me it. I sure dang felt special!! As we were checking out, Elijah said he missed us already. Nicholas and I said we already missed him too and we gave him a big hug! Everyone needs an Elijah in their life!!!After dinner we resupplied at the local mini grocery and dollar general. We got what we needed to be on trail for 4.5 days. Then we hitched a ride back to hostel. We did our chores (showers and laundry) and I painted my fingernails. I found some fingernail polish in the hiker box (a hiker box is simply a tub with food or other hiker items that hikers and the general public donate that they do not need). Then a bunch of us hung out outside on the covered patio until late just chatting about anything and everything. It turned out to be an excellent day!
Date: 2023-06-12
From: Stanimals - Glasgow

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 15.1

Mood: °Yay! Today is my birthday and we hit 800 miles!!!! Woohoo!! Today was AWESOME! I slept in until 8:30 and then went to the kitchen and got some apple and blueberry pancakes. I smothered those bad boys in syrup and gobbled them down while sitting outside. I slept wonderfully! It could have been the eye mask and ear plugs though. A bunch of us hung out all morning to let the rain subside before we hit the trail. Plus we all had to take turns taking the shuttle back to trail. Toaster, Masters, Moose Jaw and I shared a ride back to trail and started hiking around noon. We quickly fell into our own paced and Moose Jaw and I hiked on our own. We had a ton of incline to do, so we wanted to take our time. At one point this GIANT moth (which I thought was a butterfly at first) kept landing on me. It was beautiful! It was black and white with a neat red pattern. Obviously, I felt like a princess. You know, we (along with many other hikers) were told Virginia was flat. That was a flat out lie. So many ups and downs¢¦ large elevation gains and ridge running on rocks. We will have days of nice trail, and then days from hell. Dear Virginia, ¢quit playing games with my heart¢¦. With my heart.¢ (Backstreet Boys Reference)Eventually we caught back up with Maters, Toaster, and Bandit. We all wanted to hit 800 miles today. As we were walking we passed a low hanging bird¢s nest and Toaster got an amazing video of the baby birds in the nest! It was awesome! And then not much later we walked by a low hanging hornets nest. Good thing Radar gave us a heads up so we didn¢t walk into it. Radar and Barbecue hike a lot together. They are super kind and sort of quiet, but most people are quiet compared to Moose Jaw and I. Since we wanted to hit 800 miles, we got into camp late (around 7:45). We were all kind of rushing to get our chores done and make dinner. Camp was near this beautiful creek. Stogie, Bob Ross, and the Quebec couple were already there when we arrived. There wasn¢t a ton of talking, but we all finally got to bed. It was a wonderful day full of some amazing views and time with great people!
Date: 2023-06-13
From: Stealth Site

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 17.1

Mood: °Every time a root or a rock jumps out at us Nicholas says ¢sniper.¢ Then I always reply, ¢sniper, no sniping¢ (Play off of Dora the Explorer).Today was a great day. Our feet felt better today, which was huge for us. We woke up and was out of camp by 9 in the morning. We then crossed this awesome pedestrian bridge and walked around Lynchburg¢s Reservoir. On our way to our lunch break we talked to section-hiker, Stitch. He¢s from Alabama and got his name from getting stitches in his side from walking. He¢s super kind and shared lots of stories about his traveling around the world. We really like him! He¢s a trooper too. He¢s doing a great job hiking!We continued on and climbed this steep incline in Virginia. It was tough. Before it got to a steep part we saw a rattlesnake (we think it was a rattlesnake) with Stitch, and then we got some trail magic! Someone left a box of dehydrated berries!! It was a great surprise!!Eventually we ran back into Ranger Dan, Toaster, and Bandit as we were going to get some water to filter. We were so excited to see them! As we were getting water, Barbecue found an awesome campsite. If it was further, we would have camped with him!! As we were about to leave, we ran into Stitch again and chatted with him for about 20 minutes before we covered the last 4 miles to camp. Those miles went quick!! Then we found a crappy Tentsite with Toaster and Bandit. It was at an incline and there were ants everywhere. But we made do! We¢ve camped at worse places.  We all ate dinner together and laughed a lot about trail and how it has turned us into mountain people. All in all, it was a great day! We are super blessed to be out here and have the support of family and friends. We miss everyone, and it¢s hard work out here. But we are having a wonderful time!