morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-04-20
From: VA-635

To: Laurel CreekShelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: broken clouds

Day-5:  49850 steps.  Mountain Tom, our shuttle driver from Angel¢s Rest Hostel, dropped me off again at VA-635, where I resumed my northbound journey. I shortly met up with Fern, who I had met yesterday and spoke with briefly. We walked together for a couple of miles. She apparently lives in the Roanoke area and did an end to end last year, but she¢s doing a short section hike to check out some of the features that she missed due to the weather. A little later, Zolo passed me heading southbound. She¢s from South Africa and section hiking her way across the AT.The highlight of the day was when I crossed a parking area and found trail magic from Mmum¢s Montessori school. It was a cooler filled with fruit and drinks. After a short snack, I continued on and in about a mile I heard some high-pitched voices calling. ¢A hiker!  A Hiker!¢. It was a class from the Montessori school out for a day hike. One of the teachers said they do this two weeks per year: one week in spring, and one week in fall. They don¢t camp, but they apparently do full weeks of day hikes. I guess they were probably fourth graders. They were crazy excited and surrounded me. ¢How heavy is your pack? Where did you come from? Where are you going? What¢s in your pack? How heavy is your pack? Did you see any bears? How heavy is your pack?. You  get the idea.  It was lots of fun. And they were having a ball, with no phones and no music just a couple of trekking poles. Yesterday included a couple of pretty nasty climbs, and I admit I was pretty tired at the end of the day. Also, it was another day in the mid 80s! I set up tent in the Laurel Springs shelter area. The shelter and tent sites are literally carved out of a rhododendron jungle. There were only three of us there, one in the shelter, one in a hammock and myself in my tent. I slept well!Happy Trails!  Lone Ranger
Date: 2023-04-21
From: Laurel CreekShelter

To: Stealth Camp, mile 690.2
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: broken clouds

Day-6:  38,650 steps.  Today was warm, even from the start, and eventually got up to the mid 80s again. Not my kind of weather.Early on, the trail wound its way through some beautiful pasture land. But as is always the case, it found another mountain. The big attraction here was the open ledges at the top, which seemed to go on and on forever. They did afford some really great views, but were slow going and were obviously fully exposed to the sun. That wouldn¢t have been a problem except I was very short on water and had to nurse one and a half liters for over four hours. It was a relief to finally reach Niday shelter and camel up. I didn¢t stay there, but moved on another 2 1/2 miles to a large camping area near a creek. Made camp early at 4:30 and to my surprise, found that I had cell service, unlike yesterday. So today I¢m sending out yesterday¢s and today¢s journals!Big change in the weather expected tomorrow. Showers all day and high temperatures in the 60s. The rain will stop tomorrow evening but the temperatures will remain cool for the duration of my trip. I am all good with that. Hopefully no thunderstorms so Tonto can do his job and I can continue my treck uninterrupted. Today, I passed the halfway point. Five full days of hiking to go.Happy Trails!  Lone Ranger
Date: 2023-04-22
From: Stealth Camp, mile 690.2

To: Stealth camp mile 707.8
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: clear sky

Day-7:  48,750 steps.  The forecast was for showers and thunderstorms pretty much all day today. I hit the trail early at 6:45 AM to try to beat some of the rain, but an hour in the showers began. I unfurled Tonto, where he remained for most of the day. As luck would have it, the strongest rain, with lightning, thunder, and high winds, hit while I was crossing an exposed ridge. Nothing gets you moving like being cold and wet! But once out of the wind, he did his usual great job of keeping me reasonably dry.I stopped at the Audie Murphy monument. He was the most highly decorated service man of World War II. The surrounding stone wall is embedded with hundreds of metals, patches, dog tags, flags, etc. from all branches of the service. Murphy died when his plane crashed here in 1971.My second photo op was Dragon¢s Tooth.. Huge granite mountain-top monoliths with great views of the surrounding valley. This is a popular day hike, and even with the inclement weather, there were quite a few people visiting. Getting up to, and down from Dragon¢s tooth was a challenge. Some of the rockiest trail I¢ve experienced. Actually, a lot of fun if the rocks weren¢t wet and if you weren¢t trying to get a few extra hiking miles in.Today I¢m camped on top of the mountain. No great views, but pretty strong winds. It will be chilly breaking camp in the morning.Lastly, I¢ve been uploading additional pictures every day. Be sure to check them out.Happy Trails!  Lone Ranger
Date: 2023-04-23
From: Stealth camp mile 707.8

To: Super-8, Daleville
Miles today: 22.2
Weather: clear sky

Day-8:  57,230 steps.  It was a beautiful day for a long, eventful hike. Temperatures stayed in the mid 50s and mostly sunny. Got off to my usual 7:30¢ish AM start, destination: 6+ miles to McAfee Knob.McAfee Knob is the ultimate Kodak moment on the Appalachian trail, the most photographed landmark, save the ¢Finish¢ sign on Mount Katahdin for successful end-to-enders. And it did not disappoint! It was a little crowded, as it¢s a very popular day hike, and therefore a little tricky getting the iconic photo, but I think I did pretty good.I savored the moment with a late lunch, enjoying the view, then headed out to destination number two: Tinker Cliffs, another 5+ miles. The cliffs are a long series of stone outcroppings with fantastic views. Couples and families claimed their own rocks and sat or lied down, soaking in the sun.At that point, I made the decision to continue all the way into Daleville, another 9+ miles. That¢s 4 or 5 miles further than I originally planned for today, and the longest of this section hike. But I really felt it was time for a good meal, a shower and clean laundry. I got into town at 7 PM and checked into the Super-8 (nice rooms and great hiker rates¢¦highly recommended), just a few hundred feet up the street. After completing chores I had dinner at the Mexican restaurant next door. Good food!Tomorrow I¢m thinking of hiking up to the Cracker Barrel for a big breakfast and then maybe a late check out. With today¢s high mileage, I am a little ahead of schedule, so I have some options. We¢ll see how the feet feel in the morning.Happy Trails!   Lone Ranger
Date: 2023-04-24
From: Super-8, Daleville

To: Stealth at BRH, mile-744.2
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Day-9:  36,920 steps.  Yesterday was a long, tough day,but it did get me ahead of schedule so that I¢ll be able to pair down my mileage for the remainder of the trip. Today was an easy 14 in many ways. Cool with sunny skies and an exceptionally pleasant treadway all day allowed me to slow down the pace and enjoy the scenery. It also gave me time to make camp early at the top of a mountain, near the Blue Ridge Highway. The trail will parallel that for a good portion of tomorrow.The extra time today also gave me multiple opportunities to bulk up on my caloric intake. I can¢t say that I¢ve gained any weight today, but I¢m pretty sure I didn¢t lose any. On that point, I know I¢m down a few lb¢s since the beginning of the trip. Not much to do about it as I rarely have much of an appetite the first few days.Temperatures are expected to drop into the mid 30¢s tonight, and perhaps even below freezing, but the forecast also is for calm winds. I plan on staying hunkered down until the sun finds its way to my tent tomorrow morning.Thanks for reading my journal! Happy Trails!  Lone Ranger
Date: 2023-04-25
From: Stealth at BRH, mile-744.2

To: Stealth Camp, mile-762
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: clear sky

Day-10:  44,810 steps.   The temperature did indeed drop into the 30's last night, but calm winds and a warm sleeping bag made for a comfortable night.My stove last night showed early signs of sputtering out, and since I'm not a fan of cold-soaking my dehydrated dinners, I decided a change of plans was in order. It was my intent to walk 14 today and 14 tomorrow, leaving about 5 miles on the morning of the 27th to finish the hike, shuttle to the hotel and drive home (8 hours +) during daylight hours. Instead, I decided to up the mileage and exit tomorrow afternoon, hopefully early enough to still drive home into the night, but with the option of stopping at a motel.Hiking conditions were again pretty good.....trail maintenance has been excellent throughout the trip and no imposing mountains to deal with....so I ended up doing about 18 miles and found a perfect camp site on a stream just south of the Bryant Ridge shelter. It wasn't until the next day that I found out how lucky I was, as there are virtually no tent sites near the shelter, my actual destination. For that reason, Bryant Ridge is a huge structure, able to accommodate 20 hikers on 2 levels. In fact, it's the largest shelter on the entire AT. It's an imposing sight, tucked into the heavily wooded sloping terrain with 'my' stream at it's base.There were several Blue Ridge Highway crossings today, all at scenic viewpoints for the motorists. One had the "vintage" AT sign shown here. The mileage is just a bit off....2023's official trail length is 2198.4 miles. Even more interesting is that picture of hikers with their gigantic packs. Equipment has certainly improved a lot since then! I wish that sign was dated.I hope to get an early start tomorrow for the final 15 miles to my exit at Petites Gap road. It's been a good trip so far, but now I'm looking forward to the trip home back to Mrs. Ranger.Happy Trails!   Lone Ranger
Date: 2023-04-26
From: Stealth Camp, mile-762

To: Petities Gap Rd, mile-777.2
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Day-11:  38,100 steps.  It was definitely chilly in the deep valley next to the cold stream when I broke camp for the last time this trip. I was up before 6:00 AM, but numb fingers slowed me down and the best I could do was a 6:45 start, not as early as I hoped. It was a challenging 15 miles I was looking at, with a 3000' climb to crest Apple Orchard Mountain, but with an additional cumulative 1500' of elevation gain thrown in along the way. I didn't know what trail conditions or cell signal to expect, so I set up a conservative default pick-up time of 5:00 PM with my Stanimal shuttle the night before. When I finally reached the top of Apple Orchard Mountain, I was running ahead of plan and was able to move my pick-up to 3:00 PM.The views today were among the best of the trip, and even the wildflowers cooperated with a terrific farewell showing. The reality of the experience far exceeds anything that can be captured in a photo.A few other final-day memories:  trail magic in the form of drinks and fruit in 2 locations; a 6-person maintenance crew with the Natural Bridge Hiking Club, including one former Seneca Falls native; treading tenderly but quickly under the Guillotine; another trail maintainer (a woman, perhaps in her mid-70's) who likes nothing better than to build stone steps and crush rock with a sledge hammer; and finally, leapfrogging a number of NOBO thru-hikers who I've come to know, at least on a casual basis.My shuttle driver, Spotter, got me to the hostel and my car at 3:45, and after a quick shower, I was on the road at 4:00 PM. I ended up driving straight through, 8-1/2 hours of driving with a couple of pit stops,. and arrived home at quarter after midnight. It was a very long day!With the completion of this LASH (long-ass section hike), I've now hiked approximately 50% (1,100 miles) of the iconic Appalachian Trail, from Bland, Virginia to mid-Vermont. That leaves approximately 600 miles from Springer north and 500 miles from Katahdin south. Unfortunately, the further from home, the tougher the logistics with these section hikes. Whether I ever have the opportunity to compete an end-to-end, it's still been an unforgettable experience.Thanks again for tolerating my feeble efforts at documenting my journey. Happy Trails!  Lone Ranger
Date: 2023-05-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Pretty long, hard day of travel and I haven't even walked anywhere yet.Got in from my final business trip last night and spent a few hours finishing up on last minute details. Got up at 7:00 this morning to find out my flight was delayed, instantly creating anxiety as i had only a two hour window to make the train in DC and Southwest just cut that in half. Flight wasn't really a problem but we land in Washington at 2:48 and the train leaves at 4:05. The train only runs once a day so if I miss this one I'm not getting to Harpers Ferry until Sunday night. I'd be a day behind before taking my first step on the trail. So, I'm in row 20 tapping my foot waiting for the slowest deplaning passengers in recorded history to get out of the way. I finally get off the plane and find that my Uber, $23 on the plane, is now $55. Oy. I walk out of the airport after a much-needed bathroom stop and come out right by the cab stand. Guy asked me if I want one, I figure why not, the taxi is right there, I'll have to wait 5-10 min I don't have for an Uber and a cab can't be more than 55 bucks right?Lots of traffic but i make it to Union Station with 40 min to go. Best, the cab ride only cost me $20. Cool. I even tipped the dude $10. I get into the station and after a few troublesome moments managed to find my way to the right gate. In the end, it worked out fine, but I havent been in a train station since Amsterdam in 2008; having the signs in English was only marginally easier.It took about an hour ago to get to Harpers Ferry. Of course, just as we pull in, it starts pouring rain. At least I know my new rain jacket works pretty well. Harpers Ferry is tiny, there's really only one place to stay here that doesn't cause 200 bucks a night and it was full. I took an Uber to a nearby town and I got a free room at the Motel 6 thanks to my hotel.com points. Very decent room unfortunately the other guests are Motel 6 quality.Had some surprisingly decent Mexican food and bought some snacks at the Dollar General so I'm set until tomorrow. Naturally, as soon as I get back to the hotel, my reading glasses break so I'll have to go back to the dollar store tomorrow. Then it's back to Harpers Ferry, over to the ATC headquarters for my photo, and a 2-mile walk to pick up my pack. Tomorrow night I'll be camping at Crampton Gap shelter, an 11 mile walk. With all the other stuff I have to do, I figure I'll be there by late afternoon. Here's hoping the rain goes away. I'm going to have to deal with it sooner or later, but be nice to figure some things out before I have to worry about getting drenched.
Date: 2023-05-21
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Crampton Gap shelter
Miles today: 11.0

Started the day a the ATC headquarters. Got my photo taken and my pack tag, then I had to walk 2 miles to get my pack which I was happy to have. It's an easy walk out of Harpers Ferry aling the Potomac River and rather pretty too. I'm in Maryland now my second state already. Picking up the pack was rough. I had to climb up the side of a hill that was so steep they put ropes there for you to pull yourself up.. But I was happy to get it with no problems.There was a guy there told me his pack was over 50 lb. He was a big dude but I can't believe that. He was rather complimentary when I told him mine only weighed 28.After a few miles you leave the river tow path and start walking up hills. It's Sunday so I saw lots of day hikers, but they gradually petered out the farther I went Just woods now, nothing spectacular.I started running low on water toward the end of the day . The shelter has an unreliable water source but there's a park with a spigot less than a half mile beforr you reach the shelter. I didn't realize the trail goes right through the park in fact I got a bit confused and thought I missed a turn. I got filled up then I had to find where the trail went from there which was not easy. The trail leading out was brutal, short but steep. Made it to the shelter about 5 and got set up. It took me four tries to get my hammock hung though. I practiced at home but I couldn't actually get in the thing until now. That made it a bit harder. Even though I just filled my bottles I was out of water by the time dinner was over. I guess I'd gotten quite thirsty.Looking ahead to tomorrow, it is 7 miles to the next water source.So I put on my Crocs and walked back to the park to refill the bottles. Climbing that steep section again sucked, I was pretty sweaty by the time I got back to campThe hammock is indeed comfortable but it was hot as hell at first and you better not have claustrophobia. It probably took me about 3 hours to set up camp, cook dinner, and go get more water. I'm sure I'll get faster. Looks like there's only one other guy here at the camp site. I only saw him when he hung his food on the bear pole. I'm glad nobody saw me struggling with the hammock but it does occur to me it might be nice to have several other tents around instead of being out here by myself.My feet and legs are a little sore but not bad. 13 miles tomorrow and there's a place for a free hot shower at the halfway point. I'll probably take advantage of that.Wildlife count: three deer, a 3-ft long black and green snake, a groundhog and lots of cardinals and butterflies.I'd say today was about 90% hassle and 10% fun. I'm sure that will improve though.
Date: 2023-05-22
From: Crampton Gap shelter

To: Pine Knob shelter
Miles today: 13.0

Day started easy, I quickly hiked 7 miles to Dahlgren backpackers campground where I got a hot shower and had some lunch. I wanted to charge my phone but the outlet didn't work so I had to keep the phone off for the next couple days.I was feeling pretty good but I think I went a little too hard on a warm afternoon and burned myself out. The last 200 yards to the shelter were uphill and pure misery. The campground had a ton of people in it and there was no place to pitch my hammock. I was too tired anyway so I just threw my stuff into the shelter with some other hikers including Julie that I met the day before and a guy from West Bloomfield named Jack.Wildlife count: zero.
Date: 2023-05-23
From: Pine Knob shelter

To: Ensign Cowell shelter
Miles today: 9.0

After the hard day yesterday, I thought it might be a good idea to cut this one a little bit short. Looking at my options, I noticed that my original destination, the Ravens Rock shelter, was at the top of a very steep climb. I don't want to do that at the end of the day when I'd be tired. I woke up to the sight of a huge spider on the wall of the shelter. The hiking wasn't particularly notable other than a couple of rocky bits. I reached the shelter about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Julie and Lisa another hiker who was at Crampton Gap said they were going to stop there but I guess they decided to go on to Ravens Rock because the place was empty when I got there.The maintenance guy came by after a couple hours and gave me a big bag of Gummy Bears. It's amazing how generous people are. I ate a few then gave the rest to some other hikers who showed up including three who started in Georgia back in March. Then a girl came by with a bunch of fresh picked strawberries and handed those around, boy were they good.My cough is really bad at night. Fortunately, my hammock was not close to the shelter or I would have kept everybody awake. Things that have been great: Tuna with mayo - heavenlyWeather - perfect. 60s-70s, sunny, no rainHiking poles - absolute necessity. Save me from a number of falls alreadyStuff not so great:Hacking cough - i may have to go the doctorKnee pain - one of the other hikers had a compression sleeve he recommended it I'll get one tomorrow and see if it helpsThe food mostly sucks - I didn't eat much the first few days. Most hiking food is really awful or maybe I just don't have much of an appetite because I don't feel like eating candy bars or trail mix either.Wildlife count: zero
Date: 2023-05-24
From: Ensign Cowell shelter

To: Rouzerville, PA
Miles today: 10.0

I wanted to get up early and make good time because I had to get to Rouzerville for a package before the post office closed at 4:30.The first bit was very easy, hay fields and relatively flat terrain. Then I hit the climb up to Ravens Rock shelter. Boy, I'm glad I didn't try to do this yesterday, it was steep. I stopped there for some lunch and change my socks. It was at this point I realized I left my new rain jacket at the last shelter. Bummer.I thought I had an even steeper climb ahead of me. That turned out not to be true, but there was a very steep rocky drop. My left knee has been hurting and it's worse on the downhill so that was very slow and difficult. Once I got to the bottom it was pretty easy and I raced to make it to the road by 345 pm. The post office is about a mile and a half from there and I didn't know if I'd make it but a guy stopped and offered me a ride. He already had another hiker with him named Eight Lives. I got my box and he took me to the hotel where I checked in. I went out and had some dinner then stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things, including a knee brace.I'm only slightly behind at this point since I considered stopping for night here anyway. Back on tomorrow we'll see how I do with the knee and the cough.Wildlife count: three deer.
Date: 2023-05-25
To: Tumbling Run shelter
Miles today: 8.0

Had breakfast at the hotel got my package mailed and caught a ride back to the trailhead from a guy who used to live in Allen Park and Taylor, right at Van Born and Pelham. I didn't start hiking till about 10:00 a.m. and made it to the shelter about 4:00. There's a mom there with her kid, he just graduated from the University of Michigan.Not sure if the knee brace is helping or not but about half the day I had no pain at all, unfortunately other times it felt like I couldn't put any weight on that leg at all.I packed up my Under Armor base layer because it's been very warm, of course as soon as I mail it the temperature drops into the mid 40s. Fortunately, at the last minute I decided to keep my silk underwear which was nice. Also very happy with my down quilts, I didn't get cold at all. The sleeping quilt was expensive but has been worth every penny.
Date: 2023-05-26
To: Quarry Gap shelter
Miles today: 12.0

Same deal as yesterday with the knee. Put in 6.6 miles by lunch, more than halfway, but it took me almost 5 hours to go to the last 5 miles. I did spend almost an hour at a state park dumping some trash, washing up in the restroom and trying to get my phone charged. I shouldn't have bothered.The shelter is the nicest one I've seen so far all the other hikers are taking photos, it was so cool. I'll post one later.The mom and the Michigan kid are here so is a guy named Buckle that I met yesterday. He's in his seventies but he keeps passing me up the trail, I can't keep up with him. He's already done at least one thru hike. Trying to go to bed but this lady showed up with two young girls and they're making all sorts of racket. Hikers are usually asleep by 8 or 9:00, I think these people are just weekend campers.Wildlife count: 1 salamander. Or newt?