morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-09
From: .5 short of Wilbur Dam Rd

To: stealth site by stream
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: few clouds

I slept so well last night. But now I'm out of NyQuil. I'm not sick anymore so buying more NyQuil might be a cry for help. I glanced at the day's hike before setting out and the elevation line looked tame. Again, I should read the writing. If I had, I would have known that I would climb steadily up for an elevation gain of 2203 feet over the first 14 miles of the day. I found this day to be exhausting. The ups were strenuous and the downs only short, Tennessee you are a fickle wench! It was also hot and the sun sapped my energy. I know, I'm a whiner! About 4 or 5 miles in, I had to navigate around a downed tree. Iron Jenn and Muscrat were right behind me. I admired Iron Jenns short hair and thought how nice it would feel to chop off my hair, which felt like a dead animal laying on my neck in this heat. I was huffing and puffing up a steep incline when two guys passed going SOBO. Brother Ty and Phoddo ( pictured here) they stopped to chat and Brother Ty asked if I realized I was heading south. My heart sank. No I said. He asked "How long have you been going this way? " a while I said, ready to catch a greyhound bus home. He laughed and said he was kidding. I wonder if he realizes how close he came to getting a broken nose...Phoddo was handing out coins-red or blue- for a Miss Janet game at Trail Days. I didn't take one since I don't plan to go to trail days. He was wearing a necktie- a sure sign of a Miss Janet devotee. The trail continued its game of up up up down until we finally reached a shelter. We decided to cook dinner here, refuel, cool down and then hike on. That was a good plan and we all felt much better with a tasty Knorrs side dish in our tummy. We hiked another 3 miles and found a place to camp. It was a stealth site- back behind the trees in a sweet little clearing close to a stream. We put up our tents and then C.Shell and I washed our stinky clothes in the stream. I thought we stunk before, but the increasing heat makes me realize that we have not yet begun to stink. Tomorrow the plan is for about 18 miles then 5 or so on Monday into Damascus. I might try to hike the whole way and break through the 20 mile ceiling.
Date: 2015-05-11
From: damascus!

To: zero in Damascus
Miles today: 0.0

I had an extremely productive day in Damascus! Started with a wonderful breakfast, included in the nights stay at Woodchuck Hostel- waffles, coffee, juice, hard boiled eggs. Lots of hikers around two kitchen tables talking about weight, gear, bears (or lack thereof) and hiking stories. I'm so happy that Hands is here! He is one of my favorite people on the trail. Real beds with sheets and blankets, very clean and comfortable, hot showers with shampoo and conditioner make this a great place to stay.I did my laundry, updated a couple of days of journals. D.no and C.Shell hiked in and showed up on the front porch around 9am. The cabins were all full here so they walked in to town to find a room. After my laundry was done. I headed to town. The walk was lovely. I crossed a red caboose next to a beautiful little River and then entered the downtown area. It was a Monday morning and not much was open. I walked all the way through town and found a place called Kilp and Kurl. It was closed but I called the number on the window to see if they were going to open today. A woman answered the phone and said she was on the way. I waited outside for her and when she arrived, she put me in a chair and cut off all of my hair. My head feels so light! I was inspired by Iron Jenn, and then my 14 year old got a short cut the day before so I decided to go for it. It will be MUCh easier to look for ticks. I stopped at the outfitters and got a bugnet, stopped at the PO and got my re supply, and ate lunch at BoBos with D.No, C.Shell, and Two Step. Whn I got back to the hostel, the UPS guy was there delivering my new pack. The clip on the load lifter of my old pack had broken a hundred miles back and they had no replacement clip so they replaced the pack (REI) I shaved 10 pounds off of my pack weight by sending some stuff home and bouncing some stuff forward. I did a few leaps in the air in the living room celebrating my 30 pound pack- fully loaded with 5 days of food and water! Woot woot! A lovely woman named Laura made a huge pot of minestrone soup for all of the guests, and I got to chop the celery. While that cooked, Woodchuck gave a bunch of us a ride to Food City. I hit a few things plus a watermelon to share. Dinner was delicious, the hikers here are all so interesting.Tomorrow we hike out- but the storms are rolling in!
Date: 2015-05-13
From: Saunders Shelter

To: Elk Garden
Miles today: 14.5

It was a little weird sleeping in a shelter- I have not done that since the smokies. It is a little colder- not as cozy as my tent. Bota had kindly hung my bear bag the night before so I got up before she did and got them both down. She made something hot and I ate my cold cereal and we both headed out. Bota is a really cool person. She is 28 but she looks like she is 16 ( sorry Bota!) She is hiking solo and maybe is the only other person who does not want to go to trail days. She has a boyfriend who is German and just returned to Germany and she is pondering the possibility of a move. Oh to be young! The hike today started with a steady climb. I saw some amazing reptiles, like a lizard nearly a foot long, a black salamander with white spots and a gigantic black snake that crossed the trail between my feet. It really startled me and I nearly fell down the hill. This has happened enough times that I wonder if snakes have a frogger game that they like to play with humans. It is a two win type of game: win one- cross the trail without being stomped, and win two- cause the human to nearly shit their pants. This snake would have had bonus points for causing the human to roll down the side of the mountain, wailing and thrashing, if not for my trusty hiking poles, which just barely prevented the fall.The trail went through the "green tunnel" for a while, hooked up with the creeper trail once again, and emerged on to rolling green hills with thousands of wild flowers! It was brilliant and the ones that looked like daisies made me think of my daughter Mackenzie. She loves daisies. I just can't wait to see my family! I hiked through some pastures with cows and saw Bota in one of them. We took turns taking pictures of each other with the cows. There were some more climbs up hills that looked suspiciously like Balds, bet we are not in NC, and they did have some rocks sprouting up and and a few trees. After a nice dose of sunshine, I was back in the green tunnel. Eventually I came to a camp site next to a parking lot. Normally I won't camp that close to civilians, but this campsite had a bathroom, and the one thing I have just not gotten used to is doing my business in the woods- so I pitched my tent. There was a mother daughter team there already, section hiking to Damascus for trail days. Bota hiked in a little bit later and decided to stay as well. Mom of the mother daughter team had the trail name of Bronco. She got this name because she had bronchitis when she started and was tagged "Bronch" She fitted it to make it more appealing. Her daughter was Savannah, and she just recently finished her freshman year at u of Cincinnati. They had a great repoir and I envied their time together. Bronco asked if it would be ok if she made a fire. We were, of course, thrilled. Then she broke out the marshmallows. Oh thank you trail gods for bringing these Angels of sweet yummy roasted marshmallows our way! This team had been on many adventures together and were very happy to be in each other's company. We all went to our tents and fell asleep just before pitch dark. Another beautiful day.
Date: 2015-05-15
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: dickeys gap
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: broken clouds

It was cold last night! My new bag liner is so wonderful and gives me just that extra I need to stay warm. Our noisy neighbors down the hill continued their very loud partying all night long. At 3 am I woke up to more yelling and shrieking. I normally don't care if people talk and hang out after dark, but this was a bit ridiculous. When I went into the privy that morning, a bird flew out from the corner. It had been sitting in a nest that had 4 blue eggs in it, maybe Robins eggs. Those poor little babies first sights will be hikers naked behinds using the potty but I guess they will stay dry because this privy had a roof.Mama Dee and Green Man hiked out, followed by Ranger. When I hiked out, I paused to cock-a-doodle-doo in the loudest most annoying screech I could muster, several times until I got a satisfying SHUT UP from the now silent neighbors tents. Heh heh. As I have said, I have a long way to go before I achieve the serenity (and maturity) of a wildflower.I was planning to go into Marion today because I miscalculated how far my new tortellinis would go and sent some forward to the Econo lodge-and I had run out of food. I only had an 8.5 mile hike, the highlight of which was a field with thousands of wildflowers.In the middle of the day, I got an email from Katwalk saying she was leaving the trail. I went and read her post on TJ and was moved by her authenticity and eloquence. Everything she said I have felt, and she expressed perfectly the hardships and tedium of long distance hiking. I thought about the beginning of this adventure, how we started together, and I smiled as I hiked. She is so damn much fun, so witty, and a monster hiker. She bravely tackled whole mountains, up and down, into the twilight, all alone. I have missed her.Katwalk- plan your Maine trip in September and finish at the big K with me!When I got to Dickeys Gap, I attempted to hitchhike the 14 miles into town. Several cars flew by me and I almost changed my mind and headed back to the trail, resigned to eating power bars for dinner, when a little pickup stopped. I saw a backpack in the back and a friendly guy called Man Of Many Words hopped out to me helped me throw my gear in the back. He lived up to his name all the way into town and told me funny stories about hikers he had met. He dropped me at McDonalds, took my picture and trail name because he keeps track of hikers he picks up hiking to see if they finish. (last year 12 hikers out of many he gave rides to finished.)I walked to the Econo where I had sent the other half of my tortellinis and checked in. You know you are in a classy place when you have to navigate around Walmart carts in the breezeways both upstairs and down. I took the $4 anywhere in town taxi to the laundromat, walked to 27 Lions for dinner- where I learned through chatting that the bartender was a school friend of my husband's best man's son. Small world!
Date: 2015-05-16
From: dickeys gap

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night Ranger posted on my TJ. I emailed and told him I was also in Marion, and he offered me a ride back to Dickeys Gap in the morning. I was really happy to not have to hitchhike! His brother had driven in from Charlotte and was driving him to the airport, and in true hiker fashion, they gave me and two other hikers rides back to the trail. During the car ride I learned that his brother knew a friend of mine back in Florida. Small world again! Ranger had brought a bag of nectarines to put at the trailhead, as trail magic, and I snagged two of them. Ranger hopes to hike the whole trail, maybe next year, but has daughters getting married and can't this year. He has section hiked quite a bit of this trail, and sections of other great trails in the US.The hike today was pretty easy, not too many climbs. My plan was to home to Partnership Shelter, an easy 13.5 miles, since I got a late start. The hike today was all through the woods. I kept leapfrogging with Mama Dee and Green Man. About halfway in, the rain started falling. It was a drenching rain that lasted more than an hour. I put on my pack cover and frog trog jacket and hiked on. When I finally got to Partnership Shelter, C.Shell and D.No were there! I was so happy to see them! As a bonus, they had a large pizza and gave me the last two slices. Partnerahip Shelter is only 2 miles from the town I had hitchhiked 14 miles to the day before so the pizza delivery guy goes there. Mama Moab was also there and she and I went into town to get a 6 pack of IPA. I was so carsick when I got back that I couldn't actually drink any. Mama Dee was staying in the upstairs section of the shelter and fell coming down the ladder. It was a horrible fall that sent her to the ground in pain. Hopefully she will be ok in the morning.Meanwhile, the BonBon/C.Shell/D.No team is back together, at least for the next two days. Their sister is picking them up for a couple of days of R& R. I'm getting the same from my sis in law from Smith Mountain Lake in a couple of weeks, so we hope to hike together again after that.
Date: 2015-05-18
From: Davis Path Campsite

To: Lick Creek
Miles today: 14.8

We all got up today and discussed what we thought the noise was in camp last night. D.No and I decided bear. C.Shell slept through it. My air mattress has apparently sprung a leak and I woke up with a wilted mattress and my butt on the ground. Bummer. C.Shell and D.No will hike about 8 miles where they will be picked up by her sister. I am sad that we are splitting up again, but I'm taking a couple of days off at Smith Mountain Lake so we hope to get back together somewhere in Va. The trail was incredibly fragrant today. With everything blooming, the air is sweet. It is also ungodly humid. We were drenched with sweat only 5 miles in. We thought the day would be easy-ish, but it was not. Ups and downs and rocks and humidity made it a very challenging day. We came to a little farm that sat next to a wide creek and it was absolutely charming. I just want to move to one of these little homesteads. There was what D.No said was an old tobacco barn perched on a hill next to the creek, the wood rotting, the structure dilapidated and yet still a commanding sight. There are so many old structures in this part of the country and you can't help but to think of the history here, all we know and all that we don't. We passed the sign that said we were one fourth through the AT. I thought about that for a while and feel pretty good about the hike so farUp the hill from the creek was a stile to climb over and a cooler left by former thru hikers. PB&Js and Orange soda all around. What a nice treat. The trail went back into the woods and when we came to a road, that was where I said goodbye to my friends. I stopped at the next shelter and made my dinner. Deacon was there, Mama Moab hiked in, and a guy who literally ran away from his veteran care facility. He said he was tired of being drugged and wanted to live his life. His daughter is his guardian and said go for it- so they geared him up and he is hiking the trail, walking off the war.I hiked on and came to a campsite, soggy from rain, but the mileage for the day was only 12 miles. I decided to hike up and over a little mountain to the next campsite. On the not so small climb, I cursed myself as the rain fell. It quit at the top and I cruised down to a campsite with only 2 other tents, next to a gorgeous river. Next to the river were some incredibly interesting and precariously balanced stone sculptures. I went to bed on my leaking air mattress and heard large unknown creatures moving around the brush and into the water. Something kept trying to get into my backpack which was in my vestibule, so I kept swatting the tent and turning my headlamp on. I wanted to peek at the big thing in the river but I was chicken.
Date: 2015-05-19
From: Lick Creek

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: light rain

I woke up on my semi flat air mattress at 6am. I was so annoyed! I let the rest of the air out, my signal to myself to get up each morning. But I must have fallen back asleep because the next thing I knew it was 7:30. I have not been getting great sleep lately and it is catching up with me. Walking up and down mountains, not getting my veggies or hugs and kisses from my family or sleep can be hard sometimes. I decided on a cold breakfast, a power bar and water, and checked out the day ahead on the AWOL book. I am like Charlie Brown kicking Lucy's football with that elevation profile. It tricks me every time. It looks easy, it looked relatively flat. I and every other person on this stretch today was surprised. The hike started with a long 4 mile climb with a 2100 foot elevation gain. That I expected. The trail started in the woods and eventually came out on a grassy hill, like a bald, with long grass and beautiful views on both sides. I reached Chestnut Knob Shelter which was a 4 walled stone shelter with gorgeous mountain views. I made a hot lunch of quinoa, thanks to Boomerangs over generous resupply box from yestersay (he couldn't pack it all) Lots of hikers were showing up, fresh from TrailDays and complaining about how hard it was to get back on the trail after being off for a week. I hiked out ahead of them, my goal was Jenkins Shelter. It was extremely hot and humid and in my head I could hear D.No laughing at me. Back when it was cold, I had told him I couldn't wait for warm weather and he said it was going to suck when it came and he is right! I was so dripping with sweat that it looked like I had been swimming. For the third day in a row. One by one, the hikers from the shelter passed me. I am starting to notice a certain odor- from other hikers and from me. We are really starting to STANK. The trail became rocky and hard on the feet, never ending inclines and descents, up and down. Large rock outcroppings and beautiful but limited views today. The trail was mostly in the woods after the shelter. Finally, when I thought the only relief for my rock battered feet would be to chop them off with a machete, I came to the shelter. It was packed with tents but there was space in the shelter. The Packing It Out crew hiked in, Deacon was there, Mama Moab and Utah hiked in, and a big surprise- the guys who took the picure of me and Katwalk on Springer were there! One of them remembered me even with my hair cut and nearly 25 pound weight loss. They say hello Katwalk! Everyone remembers Katwalk. There were at least 25 hikers there and every single one of them remarked at how surprised they were with the intensity of th hike today. I made my dinner and went to sleep early, feet throbbing but otherwise in excellent spirits.
Date: 2015-05-21
From: Bland, VA

To: Wytheville VA
Miles today: 0.0

Well, it started raining in the wee hours of the night. And, it was cold. Low 40s. We woke up to a gray cold drizzle. My clothes I had wash and put out were still wet. The conversation is something like this: "Its raining and cold. What do you want to do?""What do YOU want to do?""I hate hiking in the rain but I just took a zero 8 days ago.""Me too. So what do YOU want to do?"And so on and so forth. Nobody wants to be the wuss that calls the day. The hotel we were in was...ok. But far away from civilization. And no laundry or any other amenities to speak of. And my pillows smelled dirty and smoky. I know, complaining seems silly when we are sleeping in tents and not bathing for weeks at a time, but the hotels are expensive and a splurge and we do have some base expectations. Mama had paid for the hotel entirely the night before, so I found a Holiday Inn Express in a nearby town and called my hotel sponsor, PenTech International, who provides those rooms for me with their excess points. They happily arranged a room for us and we shuttled over. It was heaven, and the first really nice stay since Hiawassee with the amenities etc. I soaked my tired feet and legs in the hot tub and washed my clothes again. The bathtub washing the day before was not as effective as I had hoped.Our shuttle is picking us up at 9 and we have lots of miles to cover over the next few days. It is great to take a break, and I got to talk to everyone in my family as well as get some work done for my business. I am resistant to managing my affairs on this journey, but I do have to force myself to do it sometimes. A big thank you to my staff and family, who have given me this once in a lifetime opportunity to hike the AT. And to my brother Tom and his wife Meg for the super nice hotel room.
Date: 2015-05-22
From: Bland, VA

To: trents store
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: clear sky

I finally slept well! I got up and went downstairs to enjoy the all you can eat breakfast, then put my air mattress in the pool to look for the leak. I could not find it in the tub, and I still could not find it in the pool. I looked and looked. I went back up to the room and packed up and Mama Moab and I caught the shuttle back to the trail head. Staying at the Holiday Inn was like staying at the Plaza in New York. Can I just live here?The trail followed the road for a while then went into the woods. It started with a climb, not so bad! I felt refreshed after my off day. The trail was relatively smooth and I walkd for about 5 miles before I stopped for a snack. I really felt great. I continued on and after a while, I saw a familiar face. Bota was right ahead of me. We chatted and compared notes and then she took off. The weather was beautiful, a little on the cool side, and sunny. I came to a road crossing and a guy named No Pants, 2013 thru hiker, was doing a little trail magic and interviewing hikers. A little group was there and they answered his questions happily while eating fruit and drinking PBRs. A few people passed me today, and one guy pointed out that I was standing in a large patch of poison Ivy where I stepped off the trail for him. Crap. Hope I don't get the rash! I passed several nice streams today and the terrain was smooth and easy. Before I knew it I had done 18 and a half miles. I saw Bota again standing in a little campsite next to a river. She and I both loved the site but it broke our rule about camping too close to a road. We decided to cross the wooden suspension bridge and walk to Trents Grocery. They had tenting, food, and shower options. I messaged MM to let her know and we booked to make it before 8 when they closed.. Once inside, they told us they had already closed the grill. We managed to get a couple of hot dogs each, a beer, and a bag of chips. Bota got ice cream and ate dessert first. We walked back to the tenting area and it was both beautiful and creepy. It was situated next to a pasture with two beautiful horses, that was nice, but right next to the tenting areas was a graveyard for old travel trailers and campers. Their corpses were rotting, rusting, and the dirty windows were the perfect place for Freddy Krugers face to appear through the dust and mold. I thought about that while I set up my tent. MM hikes in and Utah played and jumped and ran around after getting her pack off. She is a 13 year old dog and I am convinced that hiking has kept her young. The shower room was pretty gross, but you can't argue with warm water. I decided to wait till morning to shower and hit the sack with a belly full of potato chips.