morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-06-04
From: Doc's Knob Shelter

To: Pearisburg
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I got myself up early today as I wanted to get into town. There were not many at the shelter last night. Whitecap, Lois and Clark tented nearby. The shelter only had myself and another woman in it. I never found out her name as I got there when she was asleep and left before she was up. I quickly ate a cold breakfast and got on my way by 6:30. I had 8 miles to go before I would reach town. The terrain was fairly easy. Basically it was flat or slightly down. The only climb was the short up to Angels Rest. I reached the big downhill into town at 9am and had a 2.5 mile steep downhill. I got into town at about 10. Ompi was sitting in front of the motel as he had made a reservation last night. He was sitting waiting for the room to be cleaned. We were able to get into the room around 10:30. We both took showers. I walked across the street to buy a shirt and shorts at Goodwill across the street so I could get laundry done. Ompi showered first and I went second. After I was done I said to him remind me I need to go to the post office before 4 to get the package Jeff sent me which was the backup battery charger for my phone. Ompi said to me uhm it's Saturday how late is the post office open. I looked in the guide book and it said noon. It was 11:53 and we both looked at each other and ran. I made it in time and was able to get my charger. Yay! After the post office we walked back towards the motel and had lunch across the street at a Mexican restaurant. We had nachos, burritos, enchiladas and margaritas. Yum. After lunch we headed back to the room to gather our laundry and have that done by the motel staff. I dumped out my whole bag and went through that and organized and replaced zip loc bags etc. Ompi napped and I got sucked into a tornado documentary. It was a lazy day of doing nothing. At around 5 we headed next store to the other motel and saw a whole bunch of familiar faces. Gai, Gretel, free fall, Chef, spam. Pretty much the entire bubble I hiked with the last two weeks was here at both motels. Ompi and I then headed to AYCE Chinese food. I have been dreaming about this for weeks. It was really good. With Chinese it could go either way and we lucked out. After dinner we headed back to the motel to call family and friends and just veg. The weather was severe storms and tomorrow doesn't look much better.
Date: 2016-06-05
From: Pearisburg

To: Rice Fields Shelter 
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: light rain

I slept in until 8 am which was super late for me. It was raining lightly and neither Ompi or I had the Umph to get moving. I finally got up and showered. Ompi followed suit and we ran over to Food Lion for a small resupply. Ompi only needed tortillas and I needed a bit more. I checked out and walked over to the motel. Ompi had gone to Hardee's and bought us breakfast. 4 bacon egg n cheese biscuits. That was such a nice surprise. We organized and packed up and checked out of the motel. Ompi headed out as he came into town a bit further up the trail. I stopped in Dairy Queen and got an iced coffee and wanted to let my phone charge some more. I started on the side road back to the road about 11:30. The first part back on the trail was super muddy. It was so bad I was holding onto trees trying not to fall down. I crossed lane street where Ompi originally got off trail yesterday. The trail went up a bit passed a cemetery and then back down to US 460 where I crossed the Senator Shumate Bridge. The trail went down a set a stairs and under the a bridge and into the woods. It rose sharply for a mile and came back down to Landfill Road. There were signs do not drink the creek water. After following the trail back up steeply again you see why. The creek comes directly out of the landfill. Ick. The climb was about 2 miles up and then descended shortly to VA 642. It then went back into the woods crossing private property for 600 feet before rising sharply for 3 miles to Rice Field Shelter. The sky looked of rain and it rained intermittently as I was hiking. My plan was to stop at the shelter for a late lunch and then push on. When I arrived at the shelter Ompi was there and had set up his hammock as he wasn't sure if there would be bad storms or not. I looked at the radar as I had service and saw a line of storms coming. I decided to set up in the shelter and not risk getting poured on, hail, wind and lighting not to mention the risk of having to set up in the rain. There are about 7 others here and we all are relaxing making dinner. It was an easy 7.2 miles but still 7.2 closer to Maine. Tomorrow will be a big mile day.
Date: 2016-06-10
From: Daleville Howard Johnsons

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: clear sky

Woke up in the motel at around 6:30. When you split a room with 4 people it's super cheap. Ompi was already up and had left the room to work on his blog. The Royal couple and myself got up showered, dressed and headed to the free continental breakfast. We gorged ourselves on bagels, waffles, cereal, eggs, doughnuts and muffins. Plus plenty of juice and coffee. After breakfast we headed back to the room to pack up. I ran down to the grocery store to do a small resupply. I also stopped in at the outfitter to ask again about my Nalgeen. The staff ran around looking out back, under the desk. I looked in the hiker box on the off chance that it may have been tossed in there. No luck. The staff hadn't seen it. I'm not 100% sure even if Free fall brought it to the outfitter or he got a shuttle to a different outfitter and it's somewhere else. A bunch of us texted him yet have not heard back. I walked back to the motel and we all packed up. We left the motel at 10:30 and we're back on the trail after crossing route 11. We walked the 1.5 miles to the next road and stopped so I could go pick up my package and Slosh could go mail home their winter gear. Ompi and Scavenger stayed with the packs. It is about 40 minutes to walk the .70 mile to the post office and back. We continued on the trail. We had a pretty good size climb coming out of Daleville and Troutville. Coming out of town always sucks as your pack is heavy and the climb is steep. We had 3 miles to go to get to Fullhardt Knob Shelter where we were going to stop and have lunch. It was nice to hike with a group. This was my first time in 700 miles I hiked with a group. We didn't stay completely together but were close. We had lunch and continued on. The climb went downhill for awhile and we stopped for water at the creek at the bottom of the climb. After our water break we had a real steep climb to the ridge and then back down the other side. The trail right now is going up the ridge and back down the other side. We did this 4 times on 4 different ridges. We finally arrived at Wilson Creek shelter at about 6:30. This was an early end to the day but on leaving town days it seems to make sense doing it this way. We set up camp and made dinner. We were all pretty exhausted and got ready for bed about 8:30. The plan is for me to shoot for 17 miles and there is a swimming hole and a campground. Ompi has a package waiting for him there. We may camp there or push on. The Royal couple may shoot for the same distance. As of 8:30 neither Ompi or myself have heard back from free fall about my water bottle. I hope he is ok as I find it weird no one has heard from him. It's lights out.
Date: 2016-06-15
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: Harpers Creek Shelter
Miles today: 30.0
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up at 5:30 to the sound of Brown Mountain Creek. It's so nice to sleep next to a creek while hiking as it always provides a great nights sleep. I got up and packed up and said goodbye to Ompi and the RC. They will probably catch up to Otter and I in about a week. I pushed off about 6:30 and had a 4 mile climb ahead of me up Bald Knob. It wasn't terribly difficult but it was a continuous up. I was pretty beat by the top and rested for a bit. I descended skipping over Cow Camp Shelter which was .6 miles off trail and pushing for 30 that was too far. The trail after this followed a ridge line with gradual ups and downs offering some nice views. It allowed for me to collect some miles fast. I stopped at Steeley Woodworth Shelter for lunch. After lunch there were some steep ascents and descents up and over Spy Rock and two more unnamed hills. I then began the climb up the priest. The trail followed an old road which made the climb not as difficult as it could be. I stopped at the Priest Shelter to filter water and to check the radar as there was a line of storms in west, West Virginia. The storms have gotten closer but the northern part had fallen apart so I pushed on. The summit of the priest was only .50 miles north and had a good view. It was hazy and mostly cloudy but I did get a good picture of the storm clouds. I then had a long 5 mile 3000 foot descent. The trail was rocky, steep and lose gravel. It was slow going and being at the end of the day between 22-27 miles I was careful not to trip. I made it to the Tye River suspension bridge at dusk about 7:45. I decided to push on as it was only 2.9 miles to Harper's Creek Shelter. It was 1000 foot climb to the shelter and it seemed to take forever. I arrived at the campsites for the shelter first and decided to set up there instead of looking to see if the shelter was empty. It was ten pm and I crawled in my tent and crashed. I did 30 miles today and that much closer to getting Chinese food.
Date: 2016-06-19
From: Little Calf Mountain Stealth Site

To: Stealth Camp site by Turk Gap
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: clear sky

It was a fantastic night on Little Calf Mountain. It was the first time I have slept without a rain fly on and with the nearly full moon it was pretty cool. We woke up at around 5:30 when Otter let ghost out to pee and he spotted a white tailed deer and barked and ran off chasing it. He came back shortly there after but all the commotion I was up. Otter made coffee and I ate my pop tarts. We packed up and got on the trail about 7:30. We walked the 1.3 mile to Calf Mountain Shelter to fill up on water. This is another stretch of 13 miles of no water which kind of sucks. Sometimes even though the guide book doesn't say it you will come by a spring or creek that is flowing due to how wet it has been but not always and you can't count on that. With ghost and is two we were going to need a lot of water. We filled up everything we could carry and moved on. For 8 in the morning it all ready was hot and I knew it was going to be a tough day. We walked a few miles too Sawmill Run Overlook and took a break in the shade and had some snacks. Otter's knee was giving him grief and overall soreness was making his day tough. Coming back to the trail after having some time off always makes it tough. We carried on and had a steady climb up Turk Mountain. It was really hot and we were drinking a lot of water. The heat was making me so sleepy I didn't have the energy to move. We made it to Turks Gap where we stopped for lunch in a shady spot in the parking lot. We assessed what we had left for water and it wasn't looking to good. We really hadn't hiked very far today mostly do to the sun, heat and Otter going slow to reacclimate. We found a small campsite a bit up the trail from the parking lot and decided to take a nap. We slept for about 2 hours and woke to it being a little cooler. We weighed out our options. Otter says he didn't think he could make it the 8 miles to the next shelter with his knee as it hurt more now that he slept than before. He decided he would try and get a ride to town to fill up on water and I would stay with all our gear. I set up my tent to chill in as the black knats were pretty bad in this location. Otter texted me that he got a ride, later I found out he paid 40 bucks for a ride to town. I'm not sure if he called someone or if he asked someone in the parking lot. Any ways he made it back to Waynesboro. I made myself dinner and had enough water at least until tomorrow. After about two hours of trying to get back Otter gave up and got a room. Now we are laughing at the ridiculousness of this. He's in town at a motel and I'm in the woods with all of our gear in a tent. Luckily there is enough water for me and I think he feels bad that his slowness and soreness has gotten us into this situation. However I knew the first week with him back would be low miles. So for now I'm just going to go to sleep and see what tomorrow brings. We didn't hike very far but we did do some miles and every mile is one step closer to Maine
Date: 2016-06-21
From: Stealth Camp site by Turk Gap

To: Quality Inn
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I just realized while writing this that the date is one day behind the actual date of each entry. One of my zero's in town sometime prior I must of forgotten to do a journal entry and ended up being one day behind. I woke up at the stealth campsite at Turks gap around 6:30 am. I checked out radar and saw a line of showers and thunderstorms headed my way. I quickly jumped up and got the food bags down and everything inside the tent so it didn't get wet. I fell back asleep and woke to the sound of rain. Otter texted me around 8am to say that he was trying to rent a car and come to pick me and his gear up or just me. It was my call if I wanted to come back into town. He said he would text me when he was on his way. I drifted back into sleep and he texted me an hour later to say he had a car and was on his way and it would be 45 minutes. I started packing everything up inside the tent and luckily the rain had stopped and the sun came out so the outside of the tent dried out. After two trips I got everything down to the parking area at Turks Gap. While waiting for Otter I checked the weather and they were calling for nasty thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. When Otter showed I decided to stay in town and he offered to pay for a room for me as he felt bad I was off trail and he had extended the room he had already before he left and it was only a single queen. We headed back into town stoping at the motel to drop of our gear and ghost. We headed to Ming's Garden because heck we are back in town why not go twice. After lunch we went back to the motel and I watched ghost so Otter could go to the clinic and get his knee checked out. It only took about an hour and a half and I played ball with ghost while he was at the clinic. They think Otter has septic arthritis and gave him antibiotics and told him to keep off it for three days with today being day one. So Otter is going to be off trail for two days while he lets his knee feel better. He got back to the motel and I took a shower and watched tv for awhile. We then went to pick up his prescription at Krugers and to grab a pizza for dinner. By 7 pm we both were ready for bed and went to our rooms where I proceeded to watch tornado survivor stories on the weather channel until 10 pm as storms kept rolling through. The plan is to have Otter drop me off at Turks Gap in the morning and he will try and catch up with me.
Date: 2016-06-22
From: Quality Inn

To: Days Inn
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up at the Quality Inn after sleeping in for a bit. I got up and packed up all my gear. The forecast was for severe storms and the possibility of a Duracho. I debated on what to do. Should I stay again or should I go. Otter decided to extend the rental another day as he was still going to be here resting his knee. I hated to take another day off from hiking but felt it better to be safe than sorry. The weather channel was saying this would be a nasty event. We decided to split a room by the days inn as we found a better rate. We checked out of the Quality Inn and drove down to the Days Inn and checked in there. Once we got all of our stuff in we went and grabbed lunch and to run errands. We lounged by the pool as a few showers and thunderstorms moved through. From the looks of it I made the right choice in staying out of the woods. The storms that started to form looked to be nasty and I didn't really want to be in a tent for them. It was another day of relaxing and not doing much of anything. We went to Outback for dinner and then headed back to the motel and relaxed. Let's hope the morning is in better shape and I can finally get back on trail.
Date: 2016-06-23
From: Days Inn

To: Days Inn
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up at 4am in the Days Inn to the boom of thunder. The severe storms had made it to our area with some smaller storms coming through before we went to bed. I went back to sleep and got up about 6. I showered and packed up all my gear. The plan was for Otter to take me back to the trail and then drop off the rental car. I looked at the radar and there was a line of storms from Virginia all the way back to Indiana and they kept forming in the same location. I was now stuck at what to do. Go back as I would surely be soaked but they were calling for flash flooding and there were already some flood warnings out. I decided to stay another day as its better to be safe than sorry. Boy did I make the right call as it rained all the way to 11pm that night. Otter decided to keep the car one more day. We went out and grabbed breakfast as there was a 45 minute lull in the rain. We stopped at Target to pick up a new wall plug for my phone charger as mine stopped working the night before. We headed back to the room as it poured and poured. I got sucked into a marathon of Nightmare on Elm Street as they were showing all 5 of them on Sy-Fy. Otter took a nap and read. We finally decided we needed to do something. At this point it as time for dinner and we basically skipped lunch. We went to Applebee's did then went to the movies to see Independence Day Resurgence. When we got out of the movie the rain had stopped. OMG will I actually be able to get back on trail tomorrow.
Date: 2016-06-26
From: Bearfence Hut

To: Bryds Nest Shelter
Miles today: 22.4

Woke up at 5:30 and was like this is way too early and rolled back over to sleep. I finally got up and packed up around 6:30. Ate a cold breakfast and put my boots on. While sitting on a log putting my boots on, one of the section hikers camped nearby was drinking her coffee and said there is a bear next to you to your right. I turn my head right and sure enough there is a beat about 20 feet away slowly climbing up the hill. It stopped to look at us for a bit but then kept on moving. Finally after 900 miles of walking I finally saw a bear. I got on trail about 7:30 and walked a mile taking the side trail to Bearfence Mt view point. I had a signal at this point and updated my journal and sent out a few texts. Today's climbs were going to consist of Bearfence Mt, Hazeltop Mt, Big Meadows, Hawksbill Mt, Stony Man Mt and the Pinnacle. I went over Hazelnut without realizing it because I thought I was further back in the log book and thought I was doing the little unnamed climb before it. That made me happy. I arrived at the side trail to the visitor center and Wayside at about 10:40. I was hoping I would make breakfast and did with 5 minutes to spare. Waterfall, big sky and 3 other thru hikers were there as well. The same group I've been with the last 2 nights at the shelter. I had breakfast, Coke and a cup of coffee. Get it all in while I can. Afterwards most of us say outside at one of the baby picnic tables outside the building. I bought a small resupply mostly snacks for the next couple of days. A woman came over giving us trail magic. She gave each of us an apply and a Milky Way bar. Yay!! I pushed on about noon stopping at Franlin Cliffs to take some pictures. Went up and over Hawksbill Mt and stopped for a snack at the stables for Skyland Resort. Most of the hikers I was with were planning on staying the night here but after being in Waynesboro for three days I wanted to keep moving. I took the side trail to the top of stony man Mt to a view point which was packed. This is the highest point on the AT in Shenandoah Park. The last 4 miles I struggled as my feet were shot. With my insoles really failing I not only had a sore foot where I had fractured it ten years ago I know had two blisters forming on the pad of each foot. I took my time and kept self motivating and made it to Bryds Nest #3 Hut at around 8:15. I set up my tent, made dinner and crashed. Almost 23 miles hiked today.
Date: 2016-07-03
From: Marriot Spring Hill Suites

To: Marriot Spring Hill Suites
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up today at the Marriot and boy did I sleep well. The bed at the hotel is so comfy I wanna take it with me. We got up and showered and headed out. Our first destination was back to Harper's Ferry so we could go to the National Park. We still have our national parks pass from last year when we went to Yellowstone. We got to Harper's Ferry around 11 and parked in the visitor lot and took the shuttle over to the town. We walked the streets and shops. I took Jeff over the bridge I walked to go over the Potomac River. We walked up to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy so he could see that. I saw Cake there and Captain Planet. We had lunch in one of the restaurants in Harper's Ferry and took the shuttle back to the parking area around 3. Our next destination was Anteitum Battlefield National Park. It was a really interesting location and reminded me of Gettysburg. We headed back to the hotel and stopped for a snack and at Walmart so I could resupply. Tomorrow he may stay another night and slack pack me if the weather is as bad as they say it may be.
Date: 2016-07-05
From: Foxville Road Crossing route 77

To: Anteitam Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

I woke up today at around 8am. Slept in a bit as we had asked the hotel for a late check out. I got up showered and went down to the free breakfast letting Jeff sleep. Got back to the room bringing Jeff a coffee and began to pack up all of my stuff. We loaded up the car and headed for more coffee. Iced coffee this time as it looked like it was going to be a hot day. We stopped at a restaurant for breakfast and then we're on our way to mile 1055.5 where Jeff picked me up. I swapped out stoves at this point going with the jet boil vs my wood burning stove. At this point I'm so exhausted at the end of the day I don't want to be trying to lite a fire. Jeff and I said our tearful goodbyes and I was back into the woods. It was muggy which so far this has been the muggiest it has been on the trip. The uphills were slow going. When I reached the high rock trail and was on top of the ridge the trail became very rocky and horribly marked. It was like they gave up on this section of the trail. It was the first time the whole trip I lost the trail and within a half mile I would lose the trail 3 times. Where there was so much lose rock it was easy to lose the trail, however with a poorly marked path it made it that much harder to follow. We had not quite gotten into Pennsylvania yet. I entered a state park and was able to fill up on water. I saw chef resting at picnic table and it was the first time I had seen him since Fontana Dam. I pushed on and came to the Mason Dixon line and the Pennsylvania/Maryland bored. Hurray!! The Yankee is home. I descended for a bit and then had an abrupt steep uphill for about 700 feet in elevation gain. With the humidity the climb was brutal and I had to make several stops. I finally crested and came down the other side crossing several streets on the decent. The trail leveled off a bit and went into the deep woods again with no road crossings. After one small climb the trail slowly descended with three shelters within a 6 mile stretch. I choose the middle shelter Antietam which I arrived at 8 pm. Waterfall was there and we chatted while I set up in the shelter as no one was in it. This shelter is near a road and a state park so several people tenting nearby. They are kind of loud but I'm too tired to care. I made dinner ate and am about to pass out. Tomorrow I should reach the 2016 half way point of the AT