morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-09
From: Chatfield Shelter

To: Knot Maul Shelter
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: clear sky

Last night a thunderstorm came at 9:00 p.m. and rained about two hours but this morning was dry and clear.I got to I-81 about 8:45 and within an hour and a half had resupplied, eaten a nice breakfast at the diner and was back on the trail. I saw a couple deer as well as walking through a herd of cows.Today went over ridge and valley geology so the trail went up and down all day. Many of the valleys were pastureland, sometimes private. That meant a lot of fences with stiles. Stiles are things that let people over or through a fence but not animals without using a gate that could be left open accidently. Stiles come in different styles. My favorite has rails forming a sharp V-shaped path through the fence. A human can turn the corner at the point of the V but an animal is too long. Those are easy to get through. Then there is a kind with a ramp running parallel to the fence on both sides. You walk up one side, step to the side of the ramp on the other side of the fence and walk down again. I guess animals can't turn around at the top of the ramp, so they are stuck on one side. The worst is a ladder type and I had to go through nearly two dozen of these today. They have two pairs of boards nailed in an X shape set next to each other over the fence. Other boards are nailed between the bottom legs of the X's to form a sort of ladder on either side of the fence. The top legs of the X's serve as handholds to steady yourself as you go over the top. So you climb one side to the top of the fence then down again on the other side. That can be a job when the rungs are eighteen inches or more apart and you have a heavy pack. I found it helped to turn around at the top so you go down facing the fence but still after enough stiles in one day it can get a bit much.To add more fun, someone said they had met a southbound hiker who had reported a ten mile stretch with no water. So I started off being very sparing with my water and getting rather thirsty only to find no less than eight water sources in that ten miles.Finally I got to the last ridge and it seemed to take forever to get to the top and then to the shelter. There was another woman alone and a couple; everyone else had gone on to a camping area four miles further on. But after 18 miles I was happy to stop. The register said a bear had been sighted a few days ago so for the first time in weeks I hung my food from a tree rather than the mouse protectors inside the shelter.
Date: 2004-05-11
From: Davis Farm Campsite

To: Bland, VA
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: light rain

Well, it finally happened. For the second morning in a row when I started hiking my stomach said "So what's for breakfast?" as if it hadn't just been fed. This time it was more insistant. By the time I reached Jenkins Shelter my stomach was growling audibly. I had to shovel in an extra 700 calories to subdue it.It looks like I am finally developing The Hunger; that ravenous thruhiker appetite that astounds tourists and is the despair of All You Can Eat buffet operators. In any event I am discovering I cannot hike 15-18 miles a day on the same food intake I had when doing only 12 miles.It became clear that my food would not last to Pearisburg and I would have to hitch into Bland to fill both my stomach and food bag.About 11:00 I ran into Andrew hiking the opposite direction. I had last seen him at Partnership Shelter about to get picked up by a local friend. He had been dropped off at Bland and was hiking back so he could get a ride from Partnership to the annual Trail Days festival this weekend in Damascus. Most hikers around here seem to be arranging to go. He also gave me two donuts and let me know a Trail Angel left a cooler of juice near the next road.The afternoon is everything yesterday was not. The Trail is well graded and smooth, placed on the shady northern side of the ridge and the weather cooler and more overcast.Almost as soon as I reach the road to Bland a pickup pulls up to drop off two hikers, then the driver offers me a ride to town. I check into the motel and find it is across the freeway from the town proper. There is just a truckstop and Dairy Queen for food here. I will hike into town tomorrow and hopefully mail my winter clothing home to save weight, then head back to the Trail.Still, I got some food, a shower, and also hand washed my t-shirt and a pair of socks. I also got a chance to catch up on news in the outside world and sleep in a real bed for the first time since Fontana.
Date: 2004-05-12
From: Bland, VA

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning I had to walk the whole 3.5 miles from the motel back to the Trail. On the good side, I mailed home 2.5 pounds of winter clothing and equipment. I sent off my midweight Capilenes, my lightweight Capilene bottoms, the fleece vest, my trusty balaclava, gloves and the heat packs I had brought for emergency warming. I kept my Goretex for now, fleece top, lightweight Capilene top, long pants, shorts, two t-shirts and three pairs of socks.The Trail was good again today except near the end but ran mostly on the sunny south side of the ridge instead of the cool shady north side. Still I got in 16.5 miles including the walk from Bland by 3:30. So far no thunder today. Someone said today's forecast has a front moving through around Saturday that might cool things up.During the night an older male hiker showed up at 10:30, after everyone else had gone to bed. Next thing I knew I heard a scratching sound near my ear. To my consernation it was not a mouse, but the man's hand sliding out of his sleeping bag toward my head. I hastily grabbed my boots from the edge of the sleeping platform and used them to shove the hand back where it belonged, then set them there as a barrier. But it was little help. The rest of him started moving toward me like a tide. I squeezed right up against the hut centerpost as far away from him as I could get, but his sleeping form kept spreading over my air mattress. He was sleeping like he was in a king-sized bed at home, not a three foot space between two tired hikers! I ended up spending most of the night wide awake shoving back anything that crept too far.Next morning he had the nerve to laugh at my discomfiture and treat it as a big joke. I was revolted. Every other male hiker has been very considerate whether awake or asleep. I have never encountered rudeness like that before on my hike and hope never to again. [This did turn out to be the only such incident during my entire hike. Weeks later I ran into him again and he apologized.]
Date: 2004-05-13
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: stealth camp
Miles today: 16.0

Today around noon there was an interesting suspension bridge taking the Trail over Kimberling Creek. Just after that was Highway 606. Off to the left a half mile or so was a grill and general store where nearly everyone stopped for lunch. When I got there they were out of hamburger so I had a Philly cheesesteak and a quart of chocolate milk.We had the usual thunderstorms starting at 3:00 only closer and louder than before. I was getting sprinkled on when I arrived at Wapiti Shelter.I really did not want to spend another night in a shelter with the man from last night and also I hoped to get to the post office in Pearisburg tomorrow before it closed. So I fixed my supper and waited for the thundershower to pass, then got back on the Trail. It led upward on an old logging road and I looked for a likely campsite. After nearly an hour of climbing I reached a spot where the trail left the road and cut up a ridgeline. Just past that point the roadbed had a flat spot where I could set up my tent out of the way of any late night hikers. It would save me an hour of steep climbing in the morning and put me nearly two miles closer to the post office.
Date: 2004-05-14
From: Stealth Camp

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: scattered clouds

I got going early at 6:15 a.m. The morning was damp and humid but cool enough for good hiking. I have been seeing one or two deer a day, usually in the morning. If you hold still they seem unable to decide what to make of you. One even kept making sudden movements to try to get a reaction from me that it could use to decide what I was. I also saw my second black snake on the trail. The first was before Hot Springs. That one just lay still pretending to be a rattlesnake while I stepped carefully over it. This one abruptly slithered away before I got near, getting twenty feet away in seconds.The rain started early today at 1:30. I got a good soaking just before getting into Pearisburg. It also made the ground slick. A Trail Angel left a cooler of coke and beer near the road into town. I was holding an open can of coke in one hand and my poles in the other when I slipped on the last few steps. I went down hard, spilling half my coke, jabbing a support post hard into my hip and entangling my pack so it took a while to free myself. The Trail Angel was at the road and kindly drove me to the Post Office to pick up my bounce box and summer sleeping bag and then to the Plaza Hotel. Once there I managed to get my bounce box and winter bag ready to mail off before the Post Office closed. That means I won't have to wait for it to open tomorrow before I can leave town. I bounced every ounce I could ahead to Waynesboro. I sent all my cooking equipment except my spoon, the top pocket off my pack, my fleece top and mailed my Goretex suit home. I got a 2 liter Platypus water bag from my bounce box to increase my water capacity. On the way back to the Post Office I ran into Sanguine and a friend. They invited me to go off to Dairy Queen for some food and we got caught up. Sanguine left Groseclose when I did but even though she slack packed all the way to Pearisburg she got here a half hour after I did carrying my pack the whole way.Tomorrow early I start the next leg.
Date: 2004-05-16
From: Symms Gap Campsite

To: Potts Mountain campsite
Miles today: 16.4

Wow, if this weather pattern keeps up, I'll have to change my trailname to Mouse Who Dances With Thunderclouds.We had at least three last night. At lunch in Pine Swamp Shelter one got close enough to sprinkle. As I climbed the steep hill to Bailey Gap Shelter another one moved in. I got to the turnoff to the shelter's water source, dropped my pack and went down to refill my Platypus. As I was filtering the first bottleful the thunder got closer and closer and more frequent. I quit at one bottleful, hastily refilled the filter bottle for good measure, then scampered back up to my pack and made for the shelter. A flash of lightning followed in less than a second by a loud thunderclap drew an involuntary yelp and sent me frantically flying up the Trail. More lightning followed before the shelter finally came into view. I had just enough time to introduce myself to a section hiker resting there before the sky opened and it started pouring. And now I just finished making camp and got into my tent and another one is bearing down on me! Here comes the rain....Speaking of meals, my no-cook menu is working pretty well. For breakfast I have a packet of hot chocolate mix shaken up with cold water in my spare water bottle (a Gatorade bottle I saved) along with one or two packets of Poptarts. Then peanut and dried cranberry gorp for morning snacks. Lunch is a bagel spread with cream cheese. I got the cheese in 4 oz sealed plastic packs that last two days in hopes that it will stay good longer. Afternoon snacks are Balance Bars carried in the pocket on my shoulderstrap since I am usually too busy dodging thundershowers to open my pack and get out the gorp bag. Supper is a packet of ramen noodles eaten raw out of the pack like crackers and a 3oz foil packet of Albacore Tune. I discovered the 3oz Albacore has nearly as much protein and calories as a 6 oz can of regular tuna. And my bedtime snack is another serving of hot (not!) chocolate. I find I tend to eat supper or at least part of it at the last shelter before where I camped, giving a nice rest before the last five miles or so.It is getting pretty quiet out here aside from the thunderstorms. Most thru-hikers have gone off to the Trail Days festival down in Damascus. Homeboy and Toe Break are the only two I have met and they went on to the next shelter so I have not seen them since this morning. I am camping alone tonight. And after the Mount Rogers area I have been hiking through fairly nondescript mountains. But the day after tomorrow I should start coming to Famous Stuff again. I had better be careful about the extra mileage. I learned in a shelter log that Mansooka did a thirty mile day, injured his shin and had to limp painfully to the next road and hitch to town. And he is just one in a long string of hikers who pushed too hard, hurt themselves, and had to leave the Trail.
Date: 2004-05-18
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: light rain

Today I started off running along the crest of the ridge I climbed yesterday. In many spots the trail ran right over canted rock slabs broken off in a jagged edge at the crest. I was right on the spine of the Appalachians. The left side of the ridge drained to the Mississippi and the right side to the Atlantic. That ridge will be the last time I will be in the Mississippi basin. After it the Trail stays in the watershed of rivers draining to the east into the Atlantic.I had lunch at Niday shelter and it was a repeat of my Fontana bee experience. After getting out my food and popping off my boots and socks I discovered there were bees everywhere! I inched to the very back of the shelter. Fortunately the only thing they were not interested in were shade and bagels with cream cheese. So as I ate they buzzed about my pack, my boots; everything but me. After finishing eating I gingerly crept forward and retrieved my boots and socks and put them on then slowly inched over to the rest of my gear, gathered it up and retreated to a safe distance to repack everything.After crossing a valley and climbing 1,500 feet up another ridge I came to the next attraction on the trail, the Audie Murphy Monument. The most decorated veteran of WW2, he died in a plane crash in 1971 near the site of the monument. The monument is a simple stone slab engraved with his story.Then along the ridge. My feet were starting to hurt despite my pack weight getting down to around twenty pounds. I am going to have to hang on until Daleville and go to the outfitter there and get some lightweight shoes with more cushion. I tried a trick I had read about, loosening the lower laces, tying an overhand knot to hold the slack, then lacing the upper part normally. That helped a little but not enough to really correct things.Finally I got down to Trout Creek where I found a Trail Angel had left sodas at the bridge. A grape soda helped forget how much my feet hurt and gave energy for the climb to the shelter. Just as well, because just as I got turned onto the .3 mile side trail to the shelter it started to rain. I dashed down the trail like I was possessed to avoid another soaking.
Date: 2004-05-19
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: broken clouds

What a great day!It did not start out so promising. I woke up with a flat air mattress. Either I did not close the valve all the way, or it has a leak. I will find out tonight.I got started early at 6:30. Three miles away was the next attraction, the Dragon's Tooth, and a road to a store three miles after that. I figured in about 3 hours I'd be eating real food.WRONG! That was the hardest six miles I have hiked. The Dragon's Tooth is a towering rock pinnacle at the end of a two mile ridge thrust out into a valley. The ridge is made of sandwiched strata of rock canted nearly vertical, about 75 degrees. So hiking the crest of the ridge meant going along the irregular jagged edges of the upturned slabs, a lot of scrambling. I began to doubt I'd make the 16 miles I needed to stay on schedule for my pickup.At the end a side-trail goes to the Tooth itself. I was too tired and hungry to go all the way. Instead I just got a picture of what looked like the Tooth and went back. Anyway, it is best photographed with a swarm of hikers clampered up it and I did not have a swarm of hikers handy.I figured now I'd have an easy downhill walk to the store and my reward. Wrong again! The trail down followed jagged ledges formed by layers of the steep rock that had broken away. It was the most serious rock climbing I have seen on the trail so far. It was strenuous and had to be done carefully.It was nearly noon by the time I got to the store. I ordered a sub and soft drink for there as well as 12 ounces of bolagna to pig out on today and ramen, tuna, energy bars, poptarts, a half pound of cheese and two fruit pies to feed me for the next 3 days, assuming I would need an extra day to get the 25 miles to Daleville the way things were going. But it is amazing what a big infusion of calories does to both your energy level and mindset. The thunderstorms started early today and it rained as I ate my food on the store's covered porch. Amazingly I got to the next shelter just before the next shower and the shelter before McAfee Knob just before the shower after that.McAfee Knob is a famous ledge at the top of a 4,000 foot mountain, no place to get stuck in a thunderstorm. I had a mile and a half to go, with a thousand foot climb so I was convinced I'd have to stay the night at the shelter and climb the Knob tomorrow. That would likely cost an extra day getting to Daleville.Miraculously, the weather cleared. At 6:oo p.m. I started for the Knob and the weather held!McAfee Knob was spectacular. The ledge thrusts high over a valley hundreds of feet below with an incredible view. There was no one there to take a picture of me in the classic thruhiker pose seated at the edge of the ledge like you see in books. But I took lots of pictures anyway.So I got to see everything and kept to my schedule despite the rough terrain and thundershowers. I was one happy hiker when I got to the shelter tonight. The rain just came again at 9:30 p.m. but I am snug and dry.
Date: 2004-05-20
From: Campbell Shelter

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Another nice day!Hoping to get to Daleville in time to get to the outfitter, I got going at 6:15 a.m. I got to Tinker Cliffs at 9:30. It turned out to have a precipitous overlook rather like McAfee Knob. Just as I got there I met a man and woman, Junior and L.L. Fuzzy, who took my picture to make up for missing one at Mcafee Knob. The view is incredible, you can see the length of the Catawba Valley with both McAfee Knob and the Dragon's Tooth in view. The pictures done, I scooted a prudent distance from the edge and settled down for an early picnic lunch. They sat right on the edge with their legs dangling casually in space. The apparent sheer drop of hundreds of feet is largely illusion, the actual height of the cliffs is probably less than fifty feet before meeting the sloped mountainside, still it made me really nervous to see them right at the edge.After that the Trail turned away from the cliff edge south and went along the southern arm of Tinker Mountain, overlooking Tinker Creek of Annie Dillard fame. It descends and then crosses Tinker Creek before reaching Daleville. For fun, I scooped up a bit of water in my filter bottle and drank it in memory of Dillard's book "Pilgrim of Tinker Creek".Yesterday chafing was becoming a problem for the first time and today by the time I got to town I had raw spots and an angry rash. After checking into a motel I got to the outfitter only to find they had no suitable shoes or a repair kit for my mattress. I settled for new insoles. I also got insect repellent, as yesterday I saw the first biting mosquitoes of the hike.
Date: 2004-05-21
From: Daleville, VA

To: Bobblet Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Ooooooh! Today is definitely an Ibuprofin day. The insoles helped but only so much. The good news is that today was both the farthest and the heaviest. I brought along a pound of liverwurst, half a pound of pastrami,and half a pound of carrots to gobble up today to try to get some more nutrients into me.Today I reached the Blue Ridge, which the Trail now follows all the way to Harpers Ferry. And the Rhododendrums here are in bloom, the first I have seen. They are big bright clusters of purplish pink. There was the usual thunderstorm but I only got the fringes of it. It rained hard for about ten minutes. I sat on my pack under my poncho for that part with a little more success than last time, then hiked through the remaining drizzle. A shower, a night in the cool dry motel air instead of a clammy sleeping bag, clean clothes and Neosporin seem to have really helped my rash troubles and now my skin is clear again.On the other hand my feet were really sore, especially the arch and top of my left foot. That made it impossible to find a position that did not make them hurt so I had trouble sleeping. To add to things a man next to me was a prodigious snorer. My summer bag does not have a zippered pocket to keep my earplugs in like the winter one, so I had to rummage through my backpack in the dark to find them. After that I finally dropped off to sleep.
Date: 2004-05-23
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Marble Spring Campsite
Miles today: 17.2

Woohoo! My knee held together and I got as far as I hoped. Now I am 29 miles and two days from US HWY 60. My feet are sore but it was worth it.There have been so many times the last three weeks I was sure I would not be able to keep up the pace. The most recent was just this morning on the 2,000 foot climb up Floyd Mountain. I was SURE I would not get here and was mentally looking forward to bailing out at Glasgow and justifying it in my mind.Pessimism is endemic on this part of the Trail. There is even a term for it; the "Virginia Blues". It seems a combination of fatigue from so long on the Trail plus discouragement at being in Virginia for so very long and according to some, depression caused by the onset of malnutrition as the body's reserves begin to be depleted. I am a firm believer in the last factor after seeing first hand what a challenge it can be to plan and carry an adequate balanced diet, especially on five and six day legs. The more you carry the more calories your body burns carrying it.Having to stick to a daily mileage quota can be hard and force skipping things you might see at a more relaxed pace. I guess the flip side is that it gave me something to focus on and has gotten me that much closer to Maine.