morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-06-09
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter/Blacksburg, VA

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter/Farmville, VA
Miles today: 0.0

This morning I woke up in a real bed. It felt underserved, like I hadn¢t done the work needed to not be hiking today, but it was drizzling outside and I had no desire to be up in the mountains which were obscured by clouds.Early in the day I heard from our friends who were going to pick us up on Monday. They had decided to return today and would be at the hotel about 5pm. I figured I might as well run some errands. First I got the stove up and running (no idea why it wasn¢t working yesterday). Kroger was a .4mi walk from the hotel, so I headed that direction. Before I got there, a restaurant serving brunch and beer appeared. I went in and had something to eat. You know what they say, you¢re not supposed to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach.After eating, I picked up some resupply food and then went back to the hotel. SC was up by this time, so the 2 of us crossed the street to check out an outfitters. We didn¢t end up getting anything, but it was good to look. We packed up our things and promptly at 5pm our ride arrived. We checked out another outfitters before getting dinner and going to their place, a 2-hour drive. By the time we got here, it was well past hiker midnight.
Date: 2019-06-10
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter/Farmville, VA

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter/Farmville, VA
Miles today: 0.0

Woke up in another real bed this morning. It was damp and cloudy, and the mountains were still getting hit. Our plan today was to look at shoes and be ready to go back to the trail first thing tomorrow. In addition to getting a tour of Farmville, we visited a running store to look at shoes. I have a love/hate relationship with my current trail runners. I love everything about them except for the fact that they¢ve been discontinued by the manufacturer. So I went and tried on a bunch of shoes and then put in an order for a pair in my size. I hope these ones work out and don¢t get discontinued. We had dinner at our trail angels¢ house finished with a bite of chocolate and a Dragon¢s Milk. Not a bad way to end the day.
Date: 2019-06-11
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter/Farmville, VA

To: VA 621/Craig Creekside
Miles today: 7.5

This may be titled¢Getting Back on Track,¢ but the song I had in my head all day was AC/DC¢s ¢Back in Black.¢ For SC it was ¢Sleep on the Floor¢ by the Lumineers.Anyway, last night, SC and I went over our options. Because we had backtracked, there wasn¢t a great place for us to get back on the trail. We decided to go to the next road crossing, set up camp near a creek, and then slack pack south to the Sarver Hollow Shelter turnoff and then back. That means that while we only completed 7.5 miles of the trail today, we actually hiked 15 miles. Let me just say, I¢m glad we got off the trail when we did. Sure it was ¢only¢ 6 miles from Sarver Hollow to Niday, but those 6 miles included long stretches of rock slabs tilted at precarious angles. I can¢t imagine how difficult that would have been in the rain. Also, because the mountains were no longer shrouded in clouds, we had beautiful views.Today was also a big wildlife day. I saw 5 deer, 3 lizards, 2 snakes, and a salamander. It was a long day. I ate dinner by headlamp. We didn¢t get to bed until almost 10.
Date: 2019-06-12
From: VA 621/Craig Creekside

To: Pickle Branch Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 8.6

It was cold last night, so I was able to sleep well. We only were going 8.6 miles today, so I let SC sleep in. We got up and going just before 10. We started with a climb that offered great cell service.  About 3 miles in, there was a bench. My rule is that if there¢s a bench or chair in the woods, it must be sat in and appreciated. So, I sat on that bench for a few minutes. About a quarter mile later, another bench!SC and I met for lunch at the Audie Murphy Monument. It¢s one of those things that I¢ve seen so many pictures of from other hikers, but seeing it in person, it was bigger than what I was expecting. And guess what the monument had: 2 benches! There was a sign that said, ¢Overlook,¢ just past the monument. I took the path down to check it out and guess what I found. You¢re right, another bench. That¢s 5 benches in one day!After the monument, the trail went mostly downhill. When we get to the bottom there¢s a road and a trash can (it¢s always good to have a chance to throw away trash rather than carry it).  We cross the road and then a bridge. And what do I spy? A chair down by the creek we are crossing. I stopped and sat in it for a few minutes as well. Another highlight of the day was that I had my first blueberries on the trail. Anyway, we finally get to our goal shelter for the day: Pickle Branch. There¢s already a hiker there, a guy doing a long section hike with a friend who is about to finish his last section of the trail. The friend arrives later. It ends up being just the 4 of us in the shelter. 7 if you also count Spike, Arthur, and Tanner. SC was the only one without a trail mascot. It rained a little before bed. Pretty much everyone was in bed by 7pm.
Date: 2019-06-13
From: Pickle Branch Shelter (VA)

To: Johns Spring Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 13.6

I was the first one up this morning and the first one on the trail. It had rained overnight, so I was the person who had to walk through the underbrush and shake off all the water from the leaves as well as clear the trail of spiderwebs. Fortunately, SC passed me in about an hour to take over those duties. We started off hiking uphill toward Dragons Tooth. It was a long climb that got rockier as we went. There were some great views at the Tooth itself. It¢s one of those places where I¢ve seen so many pictures, but there¢s never anything for scale. It¢s a lot bigger than I had imagined. SC said she got close to climbing to the top but didn¢t make it all the way. Spike and I kept mainly to the ground around the Tooth (the gums?).I left before SC, and the trail was downhill from the Tooth. And when I say downhill, I mean it was like rock climbing but in reverse. So far I hadn¢t seen any other hikers since the shelter, and the gentlemen we had stayed with last night were headed sobo. Once I left the Tooth, I started seeing day hikers headed up.  Then, once I passed the turnoff to the Dragons Tooth parking lot, it was a quiet trail again. SC didn¢t catch up with me for another 2.3 miles. Oh, I should also mention that this was the section where my left knee decided that it was no longer talking to me, but like an easily distracted toddler, it forgot why it was mad as soon as the trail leveled off. The next stretch of trail was long and devoid of body parts of mythical creatures. There were some pretty fields and a couple of thru-hikers passed me easily on a hill. I didn¢t really stop until I reached VA 311. SC was there. I hadn¢t seen her in 6 miles. There was also a guy there offering cold drinks to thru hikers and asking for their pictures. I agreed, but also asked for a ride to a trail-famous restaurant, just 1.4 miles away. He was nice enough to oblige us and next thing we know, we¢re getting dinner at The Homeplace. SC and I ate so much! And the food was so much better than a dehydrated meal. (Spike¢s Dad also said it was cheaper, but that¢s per meal, and right now SC and I are still splitting dinners.)Our next challenge was to get back to the trail. It was the first time we tried hitch-hiking. We started in the restaurant¢s driveway, but it wasn¢t until we got to the road that someone pulled over and gave us a ride. His trail name is Kringle, and he is a local trail supporter (he even had an AT license plate). He was actually on his way to meet a friend to do an evening hike and drove a couple miles out of his way to get us back to the trailhead!We had one more mile to get to the next shelter. It was mostly uphill and it was difficult hiking on a full stomach. Just before I reached the shelter, it started to rain. I started running and managed to get to the shelter before Spike or I got very wet. It didn¢t rain long, just enough to convince us to stay at this shelter and not hike one more mile to the next one. Guthook says that the shelter fills up fast, but Spike, SC, and I have it all to ourselves.
Date: 2019-06-16
From: Mountain Pass Road, Troutville, VA/Farmville, VA

To: Mountain Pass Road, Troutville, VA/Farmville, VA
Miles today: 0.0

We just had a zero, but this one had been planned some time ago. We would spend Fathers¢ Day with Spike¢s Dad and Grandpa. Of course we also did a resupply and got some new gear (yay, titanium spoons!). No trail miles today and my feet are only tingling a little bit. SC also got to talk with her family on the phone.
Date: 2019-06-17
From: Mountain Pass Road, Troutville, VA/Farmville, VA

To: Mountain Pass Road, Troutville, VA/Farmville, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

This was another planned zero. Today was laundry and organizing food for the next few weeks. I might have also taken a bath and shaved my legs for the first time in a month. Ready to get back to hiking tomorrow.
Date: 2019-06-18
From: Mountain Pass Road, Troutville, VA/Farmville, VA

To: Wilson Creek Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We slept in a little this morning as the plan for the day was to pick up my new shoes on the way to the trail and the shoe store didn¢t open until 10. When we got to the store, the shoes were too narrow. Apparently I¢m a men¢s size 8EE in this particular brand. Ugh, why is finding shoes so hard? I did buy new socks, though. Before going back on the trail, we got lunch. Then it was time to say good bye to Spike¢s Dad and grandparents. SC and I started up the first hill and it was was like hiking through molasses. We had gotten accustomed to air conditioning and now it was really hot. We got to the first shelter and had a snack. It started to thunder before we left. After about an hour, it started to rain, but it never rained very hard and there was no thunder or lightning. I walked 2.5 hours in the rain to get to the next shelter, only to find that the shelter was full and there were about 5 tents set up. We also set up our tent, but by this time it had fortunately stopped raining.
Date: 2019-06-19
From: Wilson Creek Shelter (VA)

To: Cove Mountain Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: light rain

I was one of the first people up this morning, so I got down our bear bags and then filtered water. I made my breakfast and then took down the tent while SC ate. I was able to get going before SC, which is nice because her longer and younger legs are faster than mine. However, it took her longer than usual to catch up with me today because she was still feeling sluggish after our time off trail. It didn¢t help that it was pretty warm out.Anyway, today I felt like I was keeping up and actually passing some people. I found out later that the people I was passing were either section hikers or had just returned to the trail after being off for 6 weeks due to injury, but I¢ll take what I can get. Today we also Blue Ridge Parkway day. We were paralleling the Parkway all day and crossed it several times. This means there were trash cans, so we could unload some weight and smelly trash. Oh, speaking of smelly, at our last resupply, I had found gluten free cheese crackers. There was a clean ziplock bag in the hotel room, so I had taken the crackers out of their metallic bag and put it in the resealable plastic one. Today when I went to have some crackers, they tasted kinda funny and they smelled like perfume. At one of our breaks I had SC smell them and she recognized the smell. When Spike¢s Dad came to visit, he picked up some things from her house. Her mom had put together a bag of her things and had included letters from friends and family. SC¢s boyfriend had written a letter, sprayed it with cologne, and sealed it in a ziplock bag. This baggie had ended up in our available bags pile, and it looked like it had never been used. I hadn¢t thought to smell it first. And if you¢re wondering, I ate the crackers¢I was that hungry. I did transfer them to another baggie as soon as one was available. So today¢s hike was pretty mild. There were a lot of rolling hills as we were on a ridge all day. Because of the Blue Ridge Parkway, there were several areas with great views. It started raining about an hour before I got to the shelter. It was more serious than yesterday¢s rain, and my top half was soaked when I got to the shelter, but my feet were relatively dry, so that was good.Here at the shelter there are a couple of other thru-hikers, including one going sobo. There¢s also a father-son team doing a long section hike who are sharing the shelter. Dad doesn¢t know how to turn the sound off on his phone or that he doesn¢t need to use a headlamp while using his phone. They are carrying 90 liter packs. They are great people, like most I¢ve met out here, but I¢m not sure that son is enjoying himself. I¢m hoping they drop some of their excess stuff and dial back their attempted miles.
Date: 2019-06-20
From: Cove Mountain Shelter (VA)

To: Cornelius Creek Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 11.9

There¢s a tree shirt I saw a few years ago in Gatlinburg, TN that said something along the lines of, ¢You don¢t have to run faster than the bear, just faster than one of your friends.¢ I¢m thinking about this tonight because SC threw a beautiful bear line tonight. It was so pretty, I took a picture of it. However, because we are staying at a shelter with a bunch of people, one of whom has their food bag basically within easy reach of a bear, we didn¢t need such a perfect hang. If a bear comes, our food is safe because the bear is going to go for that bag first.Anyway, how did we get here? Today was a tough day. It started off easy enough with a 3.2-mile downhill to a creek. SC and I took off our shoes and waded. Comments in Guthook suggested that we would see snakes there, but we didn¢t see any. Next we had another 3.6 miles up and over a hill to a shelter. On our way down, we passed a man who warned us of a copperhead near the trail. Disappointingly I didn¢t see any snakes on the way to the shelter. We stopped at the shelter to have lunch and get water. It was a beautiful shelter, but we needed to get more miles in to make it to our next pick up point on Saturday.We now only had 5.1 miles to our destination for the day, but it involved a 2,500 foot climb up a mountain that had no views. I set out slowly and listening to podcasts. I let myself stop and get a drink of water and check my progress about every 45 minutes. It seemed like it took forever, but finally I heard voices. The shelter was near. I walked up and was greeted with, ¢Sunshine!¢¢I¢m not Sunshine.¢¢You look just like her. We just saw her a couple of days ago. So who are you?¢¢I¢m Spike¢s Mom.¢¢Spike¢s Mom! We¢ve been reading your entries in the shelter registers.¢ I often use my own pen in the resisters, so my entries stand out and I get this a lot. Anyway, SC and I were surprised to find the shelter was full and there were several tents already up. Where did these people come from? Apparently most of them had spent the night last night at a campground off trail and had been dropped off at a road crossing just before we got there. We had been hiking all day without seeing anyone and suddenly we¢re surrounded.It¢s very windy and cold here tonight. We¢re in a tent and hope to sleep well. It¢s been hot and difficult to sleep the last couple nights.
Date: 2019-06-21
From: Cornelius Creek Shelter (VA)

To: Marble Spring Campsite (VA)
Miles today: 12.4

So, first of all, I woke up this morning worried that I had jinxed us by writing that stuff last night about the bear bags. Fortunately, everyone¢s food was hanging as it was last night. Today was the first day of summer, which means #HikeNakedDay. For a while SC was asking if we had to hike today, but it ended up being cold and windy, so while we saw a few people in underwear, for the most part people were fully clothed. This morning while people were getting packed up, a guy walks into camp wearing only his pack, shoes, socks, and black briefs. He had stopped to use the privy. One of the section hikers looked at him for a minute with confusion. Then he slapped his forehead and said, ¢Oh, right, it¢s hike naked day. Dude, you know that¢s only for girls, right?¢ The guy just shrugged and went on with what he was doing. I think it¢s funny that the section hiker thought he would be able to see naked girls all day and no naked guys. SC and I were fully clothed all day but Spike was naked. But then again, he¢s naked every day.Today¢s terrain looked mild compared to yesterday¢s, and we were only going .6 miles further, so we kind of lollygaged all day. We met up at Black Rock Overlook, then at Parkers Gap Road. A mile past Parkers Gap, we hit 300 miles, so we took a selfie at the spot. Next was Apple Orchard Mountain which had a FAA tower on top and a building where we were able to do some charging of our electronics.1.2 miles later there was a shelter, so we stopped there to sign the register. Then there was the Thunder Ridge Overlook which was right by a Blue Ridge Parkway parking lot where there was a trash can. Next thing we know, it¢s 3pm and we still have 5.7 miles to do. We finally get to our campsite and there¢s probably 5 tents set up. Most people are down on a lovely flat, grassy space that¢s surrounded by dead trees. We set up our tent up the hill a ways. It¢s rocky but at least there¢s no widow makers.
Date: 2019-06-22
From: Marble Spring Campsite (VA)

To: US 501/Farmville, VA
Miles today: 7.7

We woke up this morning, and none of the dead trees had fallen overnight. I got up and went about my morning chores while someone with an annoying alarm pressed snooze over and over. We were a little slow getting ready because because we had trouble getting the stove started. Poor SC had to eat cold oatmeal. We only had 7.7 miles before reaching US 501 where we would be meeting up with some friends who would take us off trail for the night. We met up at an intersection with another trail (last spot with reliable cell service), then at Matts Creek Shelter (to chat with other hikers and read/sign the shelter register), before reaching the main event: the James River Foot Bridge (it¢s both a footbridge¢the longest on the AT¢and named in memory of a guy named Foot). SC loved the bridge and asked if we could come back tomorrow and just hang out at the bridge. However, our friends were there to pick us up and showers were calling our names. Our first stop was actually an urgent care clinic. I¢ve developed a burning rash on my calves over the last couple of days. After a quick chat with a PA, I was on my way with an antibiotic prescription. Then we got lupper (lunch? supper?) and picked up a few things at Target. When we got to our friends¢ house, we took showers, did laundry, and went out for ice cream. Tonight we get to sleep in a real bed!
Date: 2019-06-23
From: US 501/Farmville, VA

To: Johns Hollow Shelter (VA)
Miles today: 1.7

This morning we had breakfast, and then I got my hair cut for the first time since starting the trail. The friends we were staying with had clippers, and my hair was beginning to get long enough that it was getting hot and annoying. It¢s not as short as last time (1/8¢ vs. 1/16¢) because they didn¢t have the shorter guard and I wasn¢t willing to go completely bald.We then packed up our packs and there wasn¢t anything else to do, so we went back to the trail, stopping for a minor resupply on the way. We had left a cache of food and a few other resupply items at their house earlier, so there wasn¢t much more we needed. We were back on the trail within 24 hours of leaving and in that time we showered, did laundry, got ice cream, slept in a real bed, spent time with good people, and resupplied, plus I got medical care and a haircut! That¢s a productive 24 hours. The hiking plan for today was to go to the first shelter. It was only 1.7 miles from the road but the next shelter was another 8.8 miles and 3,000+ feet of elevation away. There didn¢t appear to be any good places to camp in between, so it seemed like our best option was just to stay here.When we first got to the shelter there was one nobo thru-hiker and a couple of hikers sobo-ing who appeared to be section hikers. All 3 moved on. A little later 2 nobo thru-hikers came through. They also pushed on to the next shelter. We were beginning to think it was just going to be us for the night when a tramily (trail family¢a group of people who hike together) came in and set up tents. There are 5 of them and apparently another stopped off in Glasgow. We went to bed while they were still eating dinner. It was a good, restful day even with everything we got accomplished. I¢m not looking forward to the climbs and weird spacing on shelters over the next few days.
Date: 2019-06-24
From: Johns Hollow Shelter (VA)

To: Stealth Campsite MM800.3 (VA)
Miles today: 11.9

I didn¢t sleep well last night. There were bugs in the shelter and it was hot. If I was under my sleeping bag, I was hot. If I exposed any flesh, I was bit. I also had weird dreams that there was something in the woods or someone was coming into the shelter in the middle of the night. Finally it was late enough to get up and ready for the day. SC and I packed up and were out of camp before several of the tramily were even awake. The first thing we had to do was climb Bluff Mountain. It wasn¢t that steep of a climb but it seemed to go on forever. We were passed by a few people who appeared to be thru-hikers, but not the people who we stayed with last night.The climb was also very hot. There were cicadas doing their cicada noise thing, which makes it even sound hot. When I finally reached the top, I admired the view briefly. Most of the views we¢ve had so far have been either clear or cloudy. This was the first one that was hazy from the heat and humidity.At the top of Bluff, the Guthook comments said a copperhead lived there. I looked around but didn¢t see anything, and it was so oppressively hot, that I kept going north to look for a place in the shade to take a break. SC stayed near the peak. After spending some time in the shade getting some water, I continued on to the next shelter: Punchbowl. A few people I had met that day were there. Two had stories and even a video of a rattlesnake they saw just past Bluff. A little while later another hiker came to the shelter saying she had seen 2 rattlesnakes and had been charged by a buck. Nothing nearly that exciting had happened to me. Punchbowl Shelter had been our goal for the day and both of my guides didn¢t list any camping opportunities until the next shelter, 9.5 miles away. But it was only 3:30 and I would need to do 15 miles the next day if I stayed at the shelter. However, a couple of people had put comments in Guthook about a stealth site around mile marker 800.3, about 3 miles away. SC finally arrived at the shelter about 4:30. I told her my plan and she was willing, so we started toward this campsite. It really was hidden and it took some searching to find it, but it¢s a good spot.We got to bed a little later than usual and we were sitting here with the tent doors open to let the breeze through, but it just started raining. It¢s supposed to storm tonight.