morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-06-11
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

Today, the AT crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). The brp was built by president Roosevelt during the Depression to connect Great Smoky Mountain and Shenandoah National parks. It is a two lane road that is still open to the public. The speed limit is 45 miles per hour, no commercial vehicles ore billboards are allowed, and the scenery is all woods or farms. The brp is 450 miles long. It is a very popular ride with bicyclists, and a few summers ago I spent 17 days cycling this route, plus the 102 mile route of Skyline Drive that goes through Shenandoah Natl. Park. As this route is very steep and mountainous, I changed to a new bicycle chain on my bicycle prior to doing this difficult bike ride. My BIG mistake was that I did not also change my cassette when I changed my chain. Miami, where I live is very flat, so I do not know that my new chain was not compatible with my old cassette. However, when I got to the steep mountains of the brp, my chain slipped hundreds of times as I attempted to climb the steep mountainsides. Each time my bike chain slipped, I was nearly thrown off the bike. To make matters worse.The first day was the toughest day in both distance and amount of mountain climing I had to do on my bike. To make matters even worse, it was a terribly hot day and I ran out of water. Several times that day, I considered hurling my bike off the side of a mountain. If the bike had not been so expensive, I might have done so. At the end of the day, I was exhausted and in a very bad mood. Ginny, my wife drove up to me in my truck, smiled, and said she had a surprise for me. She then handed me a HUGE glass of water SWIMMING in ice cubes. In my entire life, I have never had a more satisfying beverage. Ginny was (and still is)an angel. The next day, I went to a bike store and put a new cassette on my bike. I also made sure I had plenty of water. Although it was still the toughest bike ride I've ever done, the rest of the ride was much easier than that first day.
Date: 2016-06-12
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: Cornelius Creek shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

This story was told to me by a very colorful AT hiker who goes by the name of Crazy Horse (ch). One hot mid summer day while hiking the AT, ch decided to escape the mid day heat by taking a nap in one of the three walled shelters along tba AT. When he awoke from his nap, ch found that a rattlesnake has crawled in right next to him. The shelters are infested with rats and mice a favorite food of rattlesnakes. To a rattlesnake a shelter is kind of like a candy store. As loudly as he dared ch whispered to his hiking buddy that there was a rattlesnake right next to him. Fortunately, the hiking buddy was a rattlesnake whisperer and he knew just what to do. He banged his hiking pole against the wooden floor of the shelter. The snake moved a few inches in the direction of the vibrations. The snake whisperer kept banging his hiking pole against the shelter floor until the snake entirely exited the shelter. The snake whisperer surmised that the rattlesnake would probably rejoin its companion. What companion asked the badly shaken ch. Rattlesnakes usually travel in pairs replied the snake whislerer. Ch watched in horrified fascination as the snake slithered over to a second rattlesnake. For some reason ch gave up his habit of mid day siestas in hiking shelters.
Date: 2016-06-13
From: Cornelius Creek shelter

To: Matt's Creek sheiter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Wild bears are afraid of people. When people feed bears the bears lose their fear of humans and become very aggressive and dangerous to people. Someone has been feeding the bears. As a result yesterday three consecutive shelters were closed. As a result I had to hike nearly 18 miles to get to an open shelter. I arrived at my campsite at 730PM completely exhausted because it was such a terribly hot day with lots of steep rocky climbing. I encountered a bit of trail magic yesterday just before starting a murderously steep unshaded climb. A man was offering cans of cold beer. I am not a beer drinker but beer was all he had. I guzzled that can of beer like I was an alcoholic.
Date: 2016-06-14
From: Matt's Creek sheiter

To: Glasgow, VA
Miles today: 2.3
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a Nero (nearly zero) miles day. I hiked 2.3 miles, crossing the bridge across the James River, the longest bridge on the AT. Then I got a ride into the city of Glasgow where I will buy more food and resume my hike tomirrow. There is a 69 year old man who is a double triple crowner. This means he had done all three of the three longest hardest hiking trails in the US two times. He is doing just a part of the AT this year. He is averaging 20 ' A layover miles per day. I an just about the slowest hiker on the AT. I average 12to13 miles per day, and it is killing me.Many other people hike far more miles per day than I do at a much faster pace than me and most of them smoke cigarettes. I just don't see how this is possible.
Date: 2016-06-15
From: Glasgow, VA

To: Punchbowl shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

Oops, i think i forgot to tell the story i intended to tell in my last entry, so here it is. One day, I was doing my daily hike when I noticed a bird box that was painted in two very bright colors. As I got close Enough to inspect it, I noticed a plaque dedicating it to a recently deceased person that had been very active in maintaining the AT. Then I noticed lots of twigs inside the bird box Hmmm, I wonder if there is a nest inside the bird box. So I got very close to the bird box to check it out. I don't know who was more startled. Was it me or was it the bird who almost flew into my face as it made an extremely hasty exit from the bird box.
Date: 2016-06-16
From: Punchbowl shelter

To: Buena Vista Va
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: scattered clouds

As the blue ridge parkway (brp) keeps crossing the AT I feel obliged to share one more story about my bicycle trip of a few years ago on this scenic road. My wife and i stayed at an inn that offered a deluxe all you can eat breakfast buffet. There were eggs of every style made to order fancy pastries fancy meats and my favorite breakfast food blueberry pancakes. My two favorite activities are eating and bicycling. Yep. Life was good and all was well with the world. Then i had a horrifying realization. Just past the inn was a steepgrueling six mile long mountain to climb. I realized I had tomake a horrible choice. I could either stuff my face or i could cycle to the top of the mountain but I could not do both. Then i realized I could hedge my bet by eating a small breakfast. So i chose small portions of my favorite foods. The mountain was as grueling as i feared anVogtd all the way up I congratulated myself for mywise choice to eat a small breakfast. How Yvonneever assoon as i crested the top and began my well earned descent my body convulsed into uncontrollable spasms of sobbing as i contemplated all of the blueberry pancakes that had escaped my palate. Life can be so cruel and heartless at times.
Date: 2016-06-17
From: Buena Vista Va

To: Piney River mile 118
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Yesterday while hiking I startled a deer that stared at me very intently then shadowed me for a quarter of amilebefore trotting off. It reminded me of an experience i had with a deer back when i was in high school that was so strange that i would not have believed it If i had not personally experienced it. I was jogging thru the woods on some horse trails. As i rounded a bend I came across a deer. I decided to mess with the deers head by freezing and pretending I was afraid of it. The deer stared at me very intently. Then over a period of several minutes it took many small hesitating steps toward nd until it was about four feet away. It then slowly stretched its neck toward me and began to sniff me. At that point I had a horrible thought. I was afraid the deer might decide to continue its investigationofneby me by biting me to see what i tasted like. The deer then slowly backed away from me and trotted off into the woods.
Date: 2016-06-18
From: Piney River mile 118

To: The Priest Shelter
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: clear sky

A correction is in order. In my last posting, I listed my mile marker at 118. I should have said mile 818. The name of the shelter I camped at is The Priest Shelter. A priest is a catholic clergyman. One of the things catholics do is called "going to confession." You do this by going to a priest and you begin by saying, "bless me father, for I have sinned." You then tell the priest all the sins you have committed, and he then forgives you for your sins, provided you say the prayers he assigns you as your penance. Each shelter has a logbook and a pen and hikers are invited to write anything they want in the logbook. The log book in the Priest Shelter had a stern warning that it was to be used SOLELY as a confessional. Each person began his/her entry with the words "Bless me father, for I have sinned." They then confessed their crimes, each person trying to be more gruesome than the previous entrants in describing their murder, mayhem, and skullduggery. As I read these hilarious entries, my competitive juices began to flow, and I did not want to confess to anything lame, so I confessed to taking indecent liberties with a squirrel. I want the readers of this blog to understand that this was a fabricated crime. This did NOT really happen (but only because the squirrel was able to run a little bit faster than me.)
Date: 2016-06-19
From: The Priest Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

A few days ago, I hitchhiked into the town of Buena Vista, VA to buy food. By a lucky coincidence, I got there just in time for day one of an annual bluegrass festival, a type of music which I really enjoy. While my timing was perfect, I was also unfortunate in that a rain storm occurred that evening. I then had one of my many weird but pleasant experiences. I passed a very tiny band stand. It had a roof, but no walls. Inside, a bluegrass band was rehearsing for the next days competition. Ordinarily, people would have been sitting in the grass next to the bandstand and listening. However, due to the fact that it was raining very hard, there was not a single person sitting in the grass listening to them. I then noticed that there was a single unoccupied chair on the bandstand, so I got up on the stage and sat in the chair right next to the band and became an audience of one as the rain beat against the roof and the band produced some WONDERFUL music. After the band finished their set, I chatted with them and returned to my tent. Shortly after, the rain ended. I had been told that jam sessions went on well into the night, so I got up and wandered the grounds until I found a group of jamming musicians. (Guitar, fiddle bass, banjo and mandolin.) They jammed for quite a while, and I was in heaven. It amazes me that musicians can be that accomplished, and completely unknown. To them, music is a hobby. The joke is that it is very expensive to be a musician. It is not the cost of the musical instruments as much as it is the cost of the motor homes that every musician seemed to own. The other impressive event that occurred during my stay in Buena Vista was a long conversation I had with a retired army captain. He served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He has 100% lifetime disability due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) twice. He now hikes just parts of the AT every year, because he says if he doesn't, he gets suicidal. There are many Iraq/Afghanistan vets who are spending several years hiking/loafing sections of the AT just to deal with their PTSD.
Date: 2016-06-20
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

Today, as I rounded a bend high in the mountains on the AT, I saw an old man seated on a rock, enjoying a picnic lunch. (here's the scary part. I use the term "old man", and he was my age.) I noticed he was not wearing a shirt, which is not unusual on the AT. Then I noticed that he was not wearing pants or underwear either. He wore only socks and shoes. He also had a rucksack on his back. I was stunned. What do you say to a naked man? We chatted about the AT terrain for the next few minutes. I then excused myself and resumed my hike. (I later found out that the man's trail name is "Naturist Dave," and he is a regular on certain parts of the AT) An hour later, I was eating my own lunch (fully clothed) by the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is a very popular road with tourists. I assumed that Naturist Dave liked to hike to isolated and secluded parts of the AT, and remove his clothes, where their was very little chance of him being found by many people. However, Naturist Dave turned out to be "a freer spirit" than I gave him credit for. Dave sauntered across this major tourist highway, (BRP) naked as a jaybird, just as casually as if he were going to retrieve his Sunday paper from his lawn. As he passed me a second time, I couldn't resist asking if he didn't fear arrest for his "hobby." No, he said. He had never had a problem with the police. I have a feeling that one day, Naturist Dave may find himself in front of a judge. Based on what I saw, Dave will have valid grounds for asking that all charges against him be dropped "due to insufficient evidence." At about six PM that evening, I saw my first bear. It sauntered onto the AT 75 yards ahead of me. It was a full grown bear. He simply sat down on the AT and stared at me. AT wisdom says that there are 2 kinds of bears. One group of bears will see a person and run into the woods as fast as they can. The other group of bears are dangerous because they have lost their fear of humans and they will do ANYTHING to separate a hiker from his food. I had two conflicting emotions. One was a terrible fear, because I was all alone, and the bear clearly had no fear of me. The other emotion was DESPERATELY wanting to take pictures of the bear with my camera. I did not do this, because my camera was in my backpack, and I feared that if I removed my backpack to get my camera, the bear might charge me. At one point, the bear took a few steps in my direction, which made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, because if a bear walks toward you, you are in BIG trouble. The bear and I stared at each other for about five VERY long minutes, and eventually he shuffled off into the woods. I then took a few hurried pictures of the bear from a distance. That encounter gave me a tremendous adrenaline jolt, which carried my the rest of the way into my campsite.
Date: 2016-06-21
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Tree Streets Inn, Waynesboro
Miles today: 5.0

Today is June 21, the summer solstice. It is also naked hiker day. You may think I am joking about naked hiking day, but I assure you I am totally serious. On this day, some AT hikers hike naked for all or part of the day. If you are wondering if I saw any naked hikers today, the answer is no. (I saw Naturist Dave yesterday, not today.) If you are wondering if I hiked naked today, the answer is absolutely NOT!!! It has nothing to do with prudery. Winston Churchill once observed that one of his (Churchill's) political opponents "is a very modest man, and he has a great deal to be modest about." You see, dear readers of this blog, the deep dark, dirty secret is that I too have a great deal to be modest about. My terrible fear is that had I hiked naked, and been observed by some of my hiking buddies, I might have acquired a new trail name, one FAR, FAR less charitable than "marshmellow." I will end this semi-risqu© posting with a semi-risqu© riddle. Question: What did the elephant say when he saw his first naked man? Answer: How in the heck do they eat with those things?
Date: 2016-06-22
From: Tree Streets Inn, Waynesboro

To: Tree Streets Inn, Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today is my 63'rd birthday. I am taking a zero day to celebrate. A few days ago, (June 20) I had an emotional meltdown. The day before, I climbed Three Ridges Mountain, a brutal 2000 foot climb in three miles in a scorching hot sun. That day was a picnic compared to the day that followed. Every hiker has certain types of terrain that they dread. Some hikers hate hot weather, or steep up hills, or steep down hills. My worst nightmare is miles and miles of uninterrupted boulder hopping. Two days ago, I had 10 miles of it in a scorching hot day with gnats dancing around my head all day long. By the end of the day, I was in such a bad mood that I would have sucker punched Santa Claus if I had the opportunity. This is not a good thing, because Pennsylvania has LONG stretches of boulder hopping that make Virginia seem like a Sunday school picnic. Nimble Will Nomad, a hiking guru has a famous quote: "time, distance, terrain, the weather, and the trail itself cannot be changed. I must change." Another hiking guru, Warren Doyle says to "hike on the happy side of misery." I an just going to have to get mentally tougher about boulder hopping and remember that everyone else is experiencing the same misery as I am (except for some of those damn young twenty somethings who seem to scamper effortlessly across boulders and sharp or unsteady boulders.). I wish I had their nimbleness.
Date: 2016-06-23
From: Tree Streets Inn, Waynesboro

To: Tree Streets Inn Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

Readers of this blog, please excuse this early posting. When I attempt to post an entry from my android phone i experience huge problems. Sometimes it takes me hours to post a few entries. There is a Verizon store here in Waynesboro, so i am posting a day early and i am hoping the Verizon people will coach me to post from my phone quickly and easily. Now for the sad tale of my missing hiking poles. Fifty miles ago, I was staying at the free campground in the city of Glasgow VA. I needed to hitch hike several miles to get back to the AT. Suddenly a trail angel appeared at the campground. She would take me back to the AT but she was leaving immediately. I went to get my hiking poles. I always put them beside my tent. They were not beside my tent, so i assumed somebody had stolen them. I later remembered that i had moved my hiking poles to the bunk house when I charged my cell phone, but by that time, I was many miles away. I found two sticks in the woods that i have been using as hiking poles for the last fifty miles. A few nites ago, I lamented the loss of my hiking poles to a friend whose trail name is Freefall. Freefall informed me that my hiking poles had been rescued by a trail angel named Scratch, but Freefall did not know how I could get in touch with Scratch. I have another hiking friend named Kickit who is very well connected among the AT hiking community. Kickit gave me the cell phone number of the Michael Jordan of Trail angels, Miss Janet, and I bow my head in reverence when I say this name, because Miss Janet has been a trail angel for over thirty years. Will Miss Janet be able to rescue my hiking poles, or will I have to shell out big bucks for new hiking poles. Stay tuned for the answer to this question.z
Date: 2016-06-25
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: light rain

Today was the longest hike of my trip so far, at 21.4 miles. Although none of the AT is easy, today was the easiest terrain I have encountered on the entire trip so far. Everything came together perfectly. The trail was nearly free of rocks and tree roots, the climbs were few and short, and the weather was very cool.Also, as of today, I have hiked over 900 miles (903.4 to be exact) My wife, Ginny told me to expect a birthday surprise package when I got to Waynesboro. Anticipation of that birthday package put me in a very good mood for several days, and when I opened Ginny's package, it was even better then I had expected. She knew that I need to keep the weight of my backpack down, so the birthday gifts would have to be lightweight, and have a practical use for my hike. Ginny sent me 3 packages of my favorite cookies, a big bag of macademia nuts, and some dried mango. Those are 3 of my favorite foods. My food bag bulged as a result of Ginny's gift, and the extra weight was a PLEASURE to carry. THe biggest gift of all was in my birthday card. It is a tradition that every year for my birthday, Ginny takes me out to dinner at a WONDERFUL seafood restaurant. The fish is so fresh, it's practically still flopping around on your plate when they serve it to you. I was lamenting the fact that since I am on this hike, that I would miss this yearly treat. However, in her birthday card, Ginny informed me that we would do this dinner when I return from my trip. I am a very lucky man to be married to Ginny.
Date: 2016-06-27
From: Bearface Mountain Hut

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: broken clouds

June 15 and June 26 are kind of sad days for me. June 15 was my father's birthday. June 26 was my youngest brother's birthday. Both of these distinguished gentlemen are now deceased. My father died just six months shy of his retirement. He had more sick days than anyone else at his workplace. Dad did not believe in taking a sick day, no matter how ill he was. He was blessed with an iron constitution, so he got away with coming to work even when sick for many years. However, at age 75, his immune system no longer was as good as it once was. He got the flu, and kept coming to work, even though he got sicker and weaker. One day, he reported for work, and his boss took one look at Dad, and said "Fred, I am calling an ambulance for you right now." Dad was taken to the hospital, and he was so exhausted that the doctors wrote him off. To the astonishment of everyone, Dad rallied, and it looked like he was going to cheat the Grim Reaper. Then he got a staph infection, and passed away. My brother Dave was an extremely kind and generous man. If you were a friend in need, and you called Dave needing a favor, Dave would make time to help you out, no matter how busy he was. Dave had one fatal flaw. He had a drinking problem that he battled for years. One day he fell asleep with a lit cigarrette in his mouth. Dave perished in the ensuing fire. It is to these two fine, distinguished, and elegant gentlemen that I am dedicating my AT hike.
Date: 2016-06-28
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Pass Mountain
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

In an earlier posting, I spoke of Trail Magic. This involves people (Trail Angels) leaving free food/beverages for hikers. Sometimes people are there in person, cooking food or handing out food/beverages. Sometimes people simply leave parcels of food by the AT, with a note inviting hikers to help themselves. There is one other kind of Trail Magic that I have not yet talked about. The AT is almost 2,200 miles long. It is maintained by an unpaid group of volunteers. The AT is marked by painting white rectangular "blazes" (markings) on rocks and trees. Marking the AT costs the taxpayer nothing, as it is done by over 30 hiking clubs, composed of 6,000 members who donate 200,000 hours of labor every year to maintaining the AT. Every year, gale force winds blow HUGE trees across the AT. Trail angels cut these fallen trees off the trail. One afternoon, I was sitting on a very recently blown down tree that had fallen across the AT. I was eating a snack when two guys showed up with huge saws. THey very politely informed me that while there was no rush, they were going to remove that fallen tree from the trail just as soon as I finished my snack! If it weren't for the unpaid labor of love that these Trail Angels do every year, it would soon become nearly impossible to hike the AT. So Thank You Trail Angels!