morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-10-14
From: Cornelius Creek

To: taylors mtn overlook
Miles today: 22.4

We have been tenting a lot which allows us to sleep in longer. But this morning before the sun had risen a large group at the shelter were up. I got angry when I heard them talking about their 5 mile hike today. Why were they up before the sun had risen for 5 measly miles?! I shook it off and hiked 5 miles to a stream, for lunch and a rest before a large incline. We passed through a section of recent forest fire and before the last big push I was feeling calorie deficient and called for a break. Food was running low so I popped the last of my snacks and made a push to get within reach of a town early tomorrow.
Date: 2008-10-15
From: taylors mtn overlook

To: Daleville
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: few clouds

"Under bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" WE Healey 1890Charged to town with dreams of cheeseburgers. A park ranger picked us up on the road and brought us to a plaza with a wendys and supermarket...heaven. "welcome to wendys can I take your order?""Yes I will have the double stack, a Jr deluxe, Jr crispy sandwich, baked potato, fries, 5 piece nuggets, frosty, chilli, of course salad (for mom) and a soda." It took two trays but only one stomach to polish it all off, followed by a nap in the field adjacent. I bought a ball cap from the outfitter, I'd lost mine on the bigelows in ME. Since i rolled into town with an empty food bag and super hungry I made sure it would not happen again. Off into the woods again with overloaded packs of all kinds of wonderful foods.
Date: 2008-10-16
From: Daleville

To: A buffet
Miles today: 18.9

We were on a mission today. It was bbq night at a famed restaurant with an AYCE menu. We had been hearing about it for days and were anxious to get there before they closed and perhaps early and eat all day. Not even one mile in I stopped on the first peak and sat down in exhaustion from the extra heavy pack. What sense does it make carrying all this food just to go to a buffet. I tried to reason with myself but there is no reason goals set on the trail. We pushed on and luckily were on a ridge for most of the day. We passed the tinker cliffs which were awesome. Allegedly soldiers that fled the war hid out in the cliffs and made trade as tinkers. We passed Mcaffes knob and missed the epic photo...oh well its over done anyways. One thing was on our minds Cataaba buffet! We got a hitch quick to the restaurant and passed a sign warning they could refuse to serve anyone for "appearance, smell..." The list went on and we knew that sign was referring to us. But we put our names in anyways and they promptly seated us minutes later. We prompted for the 3 meat deal which we choose of course, bbq along with fried chicken and roast beef. Pinto and green beans, biscuits with apple butter, mashed potatoes and coleslaw. As soon as you finished a dish it was replenished and to top it off we had peach cobbler and ice cream. We rolled to the porch and sat not even concerned that it was dark and a long way back to trail. Again the glory of trail magic a couple leaving late offered us a ride back to trial which we gladly accepted. We camped just a few yards into the woods.
Date: 2008-10-17
From: A buffet

To: Dragons tooth
Miles today: 8.0

First rain we've had since MD, it was welcomed in the springs. All night it rained and into much part of the day, we slept in. I awoke and sang loud, "waited for the rain and it finally came, waited for the rain and it finally came, waited for the rain and it finally came and came and came oh yes like compliments to a brand new summer dress." Laughter broke out from Chevys tent, I shouted out cross word clues while we waited for the rain to give. We dosed off again, the rain is peaceful to sleep in. We woke at 2 and were moving shortly after, we hiked a road to a gas station for a small resupply and some hot food. Hot food made the day seem accomplished and we camped just before the trail to the dragons tooth.
Date: 2008-10-18
From: Dragons tooth

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We had a late start, rain makes you want to hide in your tent. Its funny we started the trip with 5 weeks of solid rain then it doesn't rain for well over a month and now we can't seem to move when its raining. We reached Dragons Tooth early and it was crawling with day hikers(mostly Virginia Tech kids). We climbed every route you saw to the peak, its good to do another activity than hiking. We grew tired of the crowd and downed the packs and headed on. About 20 minutes later I turned to Chevy and said "Either we're not on the trail or this is the worst maintained trail yet." We could clearly see a white blaze behind us and ahead of us so we continued. Once we hit an impenetrable force of briers we decided to back track. In fact we found where we went straight where the turn took a 180 turn. You think someone would take care to paint over the old AT blazes when they move the trail. We made it to the first shelter sign and a section hiker told us it was supposed to frost tonight. We made the decision to hit the shelter early and make a big fire and dry out our wet clothes. So another short day but it was a smart decision. Papa Bear and the preacher boys showed up by dark. A mennonite father and his 3 boys that I had met in NH, they were headed north then. Turns out they started in Harpers Ferry and were now heading south with a tough schedule of 20 mile days and 0 on sundays. They thanked us for the fire and shared smores with us. Papa Bear told us he had left his sleeping bag at home and only carried a fleece blanket, he couldn't imagine it was cold down here. It was I got out of my summer bag twice to build up the fire and get some warmth that night. Papa Bear was a funny sight in the morning downing all his kids extra clothes. I couldn't wait to get a warmer sleeping bag I could only imagine how cold he was that night.
Date: 2008-10-19
From: Pickle branch shelter

To: Laurel creek Rhody spring
Miles today: 23.4
Weather: clear sky

Chevy Yogi'd lunch from a few guys that were finishing their overnight. We hung out in the parking lot with them as they waited for the last of their crew, a marine who came strolling in hours later toting a rifle. A large up awaited us and Chevy complained about foot and thigh pain and his pace was slowed. We made one last push for the peak after the sun had set and found great camping right next to a spring among rhododendron bushes. Another cold night.
Date: 2008-10-20
From: Laurel creek Rhody spring

To: Top of Mtn past Pine Swamp Shelter
Miles today: 21.1

Rolled out at 10 and did not see Chevy till lunch. He was still in pain of sorts and we planed to meet at pine swamp shelter. Saw another bear making an awful noise rustling in some brush. A section of trail was closed and a road walk was the official temp route. It was an interesting walk every house had a place for weighing dear or whatever they shot. Tons of little hunting cabins and we passes my favorite "moonshine lane." It made up some time walking the road and when I came to Pine Swamp Shelter it had no roof. I decided to push to the top of the mountain and closer to town. Large ups are no way to start a hike. I made it to the top as the sun set and pitched tent in the dark. I made dinner and listened for Chevys footsteps but heard none and went to bed.
Date: 2008-10-21
From: Top of Mtn past Pine Swamp Shelter

To: Pearisburg
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Wind was crazy last night, I thought my tent with me inside would get picked up any minute. Another freezing night and I had my winter bag waiting for me at the post office. I was on a ridge for most of the day with a lot of small ups and downs. There were 2 large fields on top of mountains today but it was just too cold to soak in the view much longer than a few seconds. Down down down into town. Hitching was not working and I decided to walk into town, it was uphill 2.6 miles to the hostel. I picked up a large mail drop on the way which didn't help, but it was worth every step. The holy church hostel was an old barn that had been moved and converted into a cabin. It was very stark but had an HGTV dream home feel, simple but everything you needed. A wood stove heated the cabin effectively and I set up a fire ready for the night when Chevy would no doubt roll in. I waited for a few hours and grew impatient and headed through a large rolling field to the large wal-mart. I cooked hamburger helper on the wood stove where chevy was now sitting. After dinner we walked back to walmart and I bought a fleece blanket, I'm not messing around anymore with this cold. We returned to the private cabin and cranked the radio and played chess and cards.
Date: 2008-10-22
From: Pearisburg

To: 0
Miles today: 0.0

Eggs and waffles for breakfast! We then made the walk into town with our laundry bags. Stopped in several stores and got laundry done. Back to wallyworld (walmart) Chevy bought a pizza and I bought 5 microwavable dinners for dinner. Back at the hostel we decided to throw the new frisbee I received in my mail drop. After 5 minutes Chevy tagged a tree and it was so cold the frisbee just broke in 2. I had dreamed about it for days but short lived so we returned to the cabin and turned on "the bear" an amazing radio station. Papa Bear and the Preacher Boys showed up. One of the sons was having troubles with his leg. His dad and brothers carried most his weight and they planned on seeing a doctor in the morning. I could see the injury was plaguing his head and he got up several times to pile wood into the wood stove. It was a sauna and when the door was open I thought a jet was in the room. Hope its minor and they can move on.
Date: 2008-10-23
From: Pearisburg

To: woods
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

On the walk out of town we stopped at a supermarket for breakfast. We visited the neighboring Goodwill store where I bought a crap frisbee for Chevy to carry as punishment for breaking my good one. I also scored a Sierra Designs down vest for $5. We climbed the big mtn out of town that had been staring us down since we arrived in town. We passed 2 dry springs and decided to camp early and conserve water. Its nice and toasty in my winter bag and added fleece blanket.
Date: 2008-10-24
From: woods

To: Jennys Knob..right on the nub
Miles today: 18.0

Woke up wind blowing precipitation from the trees above and onto our tents. Slept till 9, didn't want to leave my new cozy sleeping bag. Met several section hikers and 2 Nobos finishing their thru-hike (they skipped VA.) Buffet and Mooch, a couple i presume with excellent trail names. Chevy and I got to talking about crazy parties we had attended and came across a 18oz Budlight waiting in the middle of the trail. I suspect the section hikers..soon it began to rain and we took shelter (worthless) under stairs to a bridge. We noticed a black camp van pull up and an endless line of Mennonites exit the van. It was like a clown car how many they fit in there! They all passed us and went over the bridge, stopped and came back over the bridge and all the women got back into the van while the men gathered around us with their impressive thru-hiker beards. "Our family friends are visiting and wanted to say they hiked the AT" hardly...the conversation was quickly changed to God with one comment that "you had better get some trousers you'll freeze in those shorts." Confrontation was avoided and we hit the shelter, set up our tents for extra warmth and were out listening to the loud drops on the aluminum roof.
Date: 2008-10-25
From: Jennys Knob..right on the nub

To: woods
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: broken clouds

We slept in waiting for the rain to let up. VA has been up on a ridge then 500ft up and down rollarcoaster the whole ridge, unlike PA's flat ridges. We experienced an excellent road walk traveling over a major highway where I stopped to wave at cars (the majority waved back.) We camped on a ridge off trail 5 feet.
Date: 2008-10-26
From: woods

To: Chestnut knob
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: clear sky

Great day, charging mountains until I felt some heat on my heal and stopped to duct tape it. (relieve the friction and prevent a blister.) Quick tape job and I lifted my pack and heard a pop while watching something fly into the brush. I started cursing Gregory for this is my 2nd pack and 3rd hardware fail. Another rivet had popped off the hip belt hardware and the hip belt was now no longer attached to the rest of the backpack. A little bit of an issue since you want your bags weight on your hips and this was no longer possible. Luckily a rivet had popped on me the first week I had this pack, (mind you its been replaced once) so I was carrying spare screw in rivets. The problem was not only had the rivet popped but the whole plastic piece ripped so were I to replace it in that hole it would just pop out again. There was another hole 3 inches away and I attached it to this one, and it did not seem to throw off the alignmeny much. We were back on trail, it was getting dark and we were pushing for Chestnut knob to put us within reach for town the next day. My hip belt was a little loose and I was struggling up the last mountain which was blocking out all light from the disappearing sun. I reached the top (4410ft) just in time to see beautiful oranges and a stone enclosed shelter. I walked in and was blinded by a bright headlight directly in my eyes. I held up a hand to shield the light and asked "Is Chevy here?" The one eyed monster responded "ya" with a chuckle like I was dumb for not being able to see him across the room. The offender of the blinding headlight was King Charles, a Brit who said he always wanted to go for a long walk and was doing a week section. He had more layers on than Chevy and I had combine and said he was freezing, not used to cold like this. I lighted my alcohol stove and he immediately put his hands around the flames saying "oh yes thats that stuff." I gave chevy a look and asked him to move his hands so I could put my pot on. I gave him a cup of hot water and honey which he enjoyed very much. We fell asleep listening to King Charles make dramatic "bbbbbaaaaeeerrrrrrrr" noises, I wondered what would happen if it were to really get cold and even snow!
Date: 2008-10-27
From: Chestnut knob

To: Bunnys hostel
Miles today: 23.0

I woke up for a piss and much to my surprise was greeted at the door with snow flurries. Just a dusting was on the ground but I was excited and ran in informing the others of the good news, our first snow! King Charles immediately got up and checked for himself. "F***, I'm screwed! I can't make it to town today and I'm going to freeze to death in the shelter!" I watched him pace back and forth and informed him "We are up over 4,000 feet, we are only going down from this point and I guarantee down 1000 feet its not snowing, you'll be fine." The words did not seem to comfort him and he looked at us as if he had seen a ghost while we headed out the door in our shorts. Sure enough down 500 feet the snow had stopped and it was a long down and over a few more mountain ranges. I put in a call to Gregory about this packs problems. I was nervous that they would blow me off since they already replaced one pack. Yet I explained the situation and got "well that is no good, do you have an address where we can send you another pack?" Thanks Gregory! We crossed a busy highway and rolled into a shell station where we debated a resupply and quick pitch of the tent or stay at the new hostel we heard so much about. While debating 2 other hikers rolled in, Grizz and Earthworm who announced they planned to stay at Bunny's hostel. So I made the call informing Bunny there were 4 hikers at the shell station and she came and picked us all up. Bunny whipped a dinner of sorts for us and we had a warm family meal around the dinner table exchanging stories and laughing for hours. Bunny told us she has thru-hiked the trail 3 times NOBO and tried a SOBO hike and dropped out saying it was a whole different trail southbound. Interesting...Earthworm and Grizz told us they had set an ambitious finish date and had just been throwing back miles. To Chevy, Bunny and my disappointment they had skipped spy rock, dragons tooth and the AYCE trail famous dragons tooth. I felt bad for them rushing past all the beauty the trail has now become strictly work.
Date: 2008-10-28
From: Bunnys hostel

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light snow

Woke up in a big warm bed and a dusting of snow on the ground followed by butterscotch pancakes! We all told our King Charles stories, Bunny said he had called several times asking if she would pick him up somewhere closer if he could not make it to town in the fierce storm. Bunny drove us to a grocery store for a resupply and we were back on trail. We all (chev, grizz and earth) stopped at an old school house and were joined by a blackcat who yogi'd some pepperoni from me. It was an extremely cold night and we all pitched our tents in the loft of partnership shelter. Superman showed up and ordered a pizza with Grizz and Earthworm, yes you could order pizza to this shelter. It was behind a welcome center right near a road. 20 degrees, felt much colder.
Date: 2008-10-29
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Hurricane shelter
Miles today: 19.7

Grizz, Earthworm and Superman had talked all night of a 30 mile day but Grizz's alarm went off 5-6 times and he hit snooze each time. They got up finally and left, Chev and I rolled out by 10 to meet them outside. Turned out they had gone to the welcome center to warm up. They went ahead and Chev and I passed them as they were breaking for lunch. Not much later Chevy spotted an old school bus at the top of a cow pasture. We went to check out the magic bus 50 feet above the trail and watched the 3 others pass by without even noticing it or us playing in it. It was just like the bus from "into the wild" equipped with a wood stove and mattress, very stark. We took a nap in the field and the heat of the sun before pushing up up up to Hurricane shelter.
Date: 2008-11-01
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We decided to pull a zero in this famous trail town, we had a great breakfast lounged for a while and headed to an antique store. Met Cruise who was working at a bike shop, he was a NOBO I met in Maine. We ate and ate and Chev replaced the frisbee he broke and we frisbeed for a long time. Went back to dots to catch college football. Juicebox and Godzilla played rock paper siccors to see who woul ask for the remote from a man watching a western with the volume cranked. He looked like he should have been in the western and I hoped he would not pull a six shooter. I headed home early as Juicebox stayed to finish the game, he returned with a large mason jar of local moonshine...
Date: 2008-11-02
From: Damascus

To: Abingdon shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

I got my new pack from the outfitters and we were out of town by 2. We stopped at the boarder of VA and broke out the moonshine...awful stuff why'd we get that? Oh well we were just happy to be done the 500+ miles of Virginia. We got into the shelter and got a ton of wood and had a great fire. Burned a big country log to nothing...impressive work, it is good to hike in a posse.
Date: 2008-11-03
From: Abingdon shelter

To: Vandeventer shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Lots of breaks today, lazy boys we are. We took a long fris break in a big pasture. Trail magic...in the form of water jugs, thank you for some sobo trail magic. The shelter ended up being dry so it was quite the gift. We stopped at grindstaff the resting place of a hermit who "lived alone, suffered alone and died alone." We took a long break here each giving our vision of who this hermit was. Too many breaks for we had to hike 4 miles in the dark. Still we collected fire woods and had a mediocre fire and laughs. Great view off the back of this shelter, Cruise had told us to camp here. thanks man
Date: 2008-11-04
From: Vandeventer shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We hadn't seen a water source in 24 hours, thank goodness for the water jugs by the road but we were all out now. We came to a road and checked a map that it followed down to the lake and we headed downhill. A couple headed up told us there was a ranger station with water fountains so we headed further down. We tanked up on water and checked the map to find a blue blaze or bushwhack course back to the trail. There was a trail that led to a scenic view of the damn but ended far from the trail. We bushwhacked heading down an extremely steep hill that we slid down then down to the edge or the water round the overflow and up onto the damn and onto the AT. Around the lake we came to a park where Godzilla talked someone into giving him a ride to the supermarket as we were all craving soda. He returned shortly with a 12 pack of mountain dew and we drank them while playing frisbee games. We saw a man approach us and introduced himself as Iron Phil and said he did a NOBO which ended near Damascus. I've never met someone that could talk so much about themselves, to the point that Chevy gave Godzilla a smirk and zilla just lost control and tried to hide his laughing with some bad coughing. This made Chevy lose it and the two began laughing hysterically. This did not phase Iron Phil as his story didn't miss a beat and he just focused his attention on Juicebox and me. He was nice non the less and he started giving us fishing lours and bait and things that we insisted we didn't want but reluctantly were forced to take. He left but was back in 30 minutes with 2 medium pizzas, that was pretty cool. This allowed him to talk to us for another hour or so telling us story such as, "ya the biggest miles I ever did was 41 miles." zill said "nice we did some night hiking last night" IronPhils response was "oh I night hiked once and did a 47 mile day." We all looked at each other catching what he just said doesn't link with the first story. Eventually a 08 NOBO showed up saying he had missed this section so came back to make sure he completed ever mile. He offered to give us a ride to Kincora hostel and we accepted since it was already dark. We got in and played trivial pursuit, Juicebox and I destroyed. We will slack the section we skip tomorrow.
Date: 2006-12-06
To: Decisions
Miles today: 0.0

Ok, so this is just a short entry to say that after 2 summers of doing day hikes on the AT in PA, that I've decided to fulfill a dream and hike the entire AT, south to north. As I get closer to actually starting my hike I'll write more about myself, what I do, and all that other fun stuff. Right now I just need to write out some thoughts now that I've decided I'm definitly going to do the hike.The problem now is when to do it. One good thing is that I am not tied down with a lot of debt (other than school loans, which I can defer once I start my hike), but at the same time I seriously need to save money (so I don't finish the hike in a lot of debt either) and acquire gear. A down side is that I'm stuck in a lease right now that doesn't expire until the end of July '07. I guess in theory I could do a north to south hike starting in Aug. after my leases expires (as I'll also probably have enough money saved up by that point), but I think I really want to do a south to north hike, which puts my start date back to Mar. 2008. This at least gives me plenty of time to prepare and save some extra money. Plus once my lease ends in Aug. I can move in with my parents (not ideal, but economically practical and a place to store my stuff) until I leave on my hike.Surprisingly I'm not overly concerned about quitting my job and having to find a new one when I get back. I might even be able to come back to my job.Hmmmm, so do I want to do a north-south hike starting in Aug. '07 or a south-north hike starting in Mar. '08?? Decisions.Adam