morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-09-10
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Bearwallow Gap
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: scattered clouds

It was Not-A-Moose¢s last morning out here with me, but before she left we had to pass through ¢The Guillotine.¢ Ominous. Was it like the ¢Lemon Squeezer,¢ Agony Grind,¢ or ¢Roller Coaster¢? Here¢s the photo; you judge.NAM has been great company. It will feel odd hiking by myself again. Safe travels back to Calgary.As recompense for the loss, I met some of the nicest people this morning. I greeted the first, an older couple, with, ¢It¢s so nice to hear happy chatter.¢ ¢We were bickering,¢ Mystic said, nodding toward her husband and smiling. ¢How long have you been at it?¢ I asked, willing to bet this backpacking couple had been together for decades, not just years. ¢We¢ve been bickering three months,¢ Mystic responded. http://www.trailjournals.com/j... How could I not stop and talk for 10 minutes, even though the day demanded I be efficient to make town, Daleville, tomorrow. And then Cookie Monster and Private Benjamin were really my downfall. They were so lively, happy, about to fill in a section that would give them a good portion of the trail. And they¢d seen me on Trailjournals!  http://www.trailjournals.com/j... Another 15 minutes down. I wouldn¢t change it for the world, but the 23 miles I wanted to cover today is looking less likely. And skipping lunch would violate the Prime Directive ¢ Frodo¢s ¢Make Wise Decisions.¢I wear my warm beanie all day. It got well into the low 40s last night. My feet were cold. It¢s time for my warmer sleeping bag and time to get back my down puffy jacket. Sleeping cold was no fun.The trail remains good. I heard bear hounds yelping in the distance. After dropping from 4,000 feet to 950 feet, there were some long uphills, but they weren¢t that bad. There were some good views, too, such as this one: (Frodo:  Umm.. you didn't send me a view photo for today, but here's a pretty flower)  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...At 7:17, with the sun setting, it was time to observe Frodo¢s credo, find a campsite, set up my tent, eat, then work on these pages. In the end I hiked 20.5 miles today, leaving 21.7 for tomorrow. I hope to get in to Daleville before Irma¢s rain starts falling.Off to pee and then to bed.
Date: 2017-09-11
From: Bearwallow Gap

To: Daleville
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: scattered clouds

¢Why don¢t they cut the trees?¢ How many times have I thought that on a summit that might provide an amazing view? Not dozens, but scores, maybe hundreds of times. The trail is snaking this morning. No, not so much up and down like the roller coaster, but like a sidewinder. It¢s trying to stay close to another twisty pal. The trail cleaves to Virginia¢s Blue Ridge Parkway as if they were kissing cousins at a Sunday picnic. Every few miles we cross the road, often at a ¢scenic overlook.¢ And at times the trail cuts just below one.This morning I found myself asking, ¢Why am I walking through an area that¢s pretty clear? No evidence of a fire, no power line or buried pipeline. At the second or third instance, it finally penetrated my thick head.¢Why don¢t they cut the trees?¢ So many peaks were thick with tree trunks blocking the views. Just cut a few to give us a glimpse. Here on the Blue Ridge Parkway they¢ve cut whole 100-yard-wide swaths.  Why don¢t they cut the trees?  Here they did.I am seven miles along as I write this and I need to get back up soon. A hazy sun in thick overcast (Frodo: Aren¢t those mutually exclusive?) is dimming. The wind is picking up. I race the wind. I race the rain. Will I beat Irma into Daleville, 14 miles away?I hear a bird and I think of Not-A-Moose. For months I thought a particular chattering noise was birds. ¢It¢s chipmunks.¢ She set me straight. And I¢ll now always remember that Barred Owls make a noise that sounds like, ¢Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?¢ NAM, I hope your travels back were easy and I¢m so glad you came.I¢ve been thinking that in my journal I¢ve been describing the trail less and less. Well, it hasn¢t slapped me around for a good while. Some days the climbs and descents are fewer, some days the views more, and largely it¢s been pretty good.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...  And think about where we SOBOs started ¢ Katahdin, the 100-mile Wilderness, the Presidentials and Whites. These contained some of the most startlingly tough sections to use the name trail. In the youth of our hike, our tents were touched by fire. (Frodo: Hmmm¢¦ I think you mean this figuratively, but it was more your bodies than your tents that struggled for the first weeks.)I don¢t lunch until 1:30. But at that time yesterday I had only 9.6 miles under my belt. Today I have over 14. 14! And when I hit four miles left the rest is all downhill. I can see Daleville and its neighbor Troutville. (Does that make anyone else think of the children¢s book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, that had Popperville and Bopperville and Copperville?)I actually have cell service on the way down and call my brother, parents, two cousins. How civilized.And as I register at the HoJos at 6:00 pm, the first drops fall.I only saw one other person on trail today (Frodo: THAT¢S why you made such good time!) No wing walkers.A shower, town food, call Frodo and sleep on a bed. Sleep on a bed. Tomorrow a zero.It¢s all good.
Date: 2017-09-12
From: Daleville

To: Daleville
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I got to hear from Rolling Thunder, my original AT hiking partner, in an unusual and close way. This close tie revolves around 11 years ago, the year that Rolling Thunder (RT) was the second-ever starting PCT hiker to stay with us. Now, well over 3,000 have. In 2006, RT thru-hiked the PCT and for a good third of the trail he hiked with Three Gallon (TG). He had a front-row seat as TG fell head-over-heels for Cucumber Boy (Q), a delightful young Russian gal. They were married four years later and the ceremony officiants were none other than Frodo and I.At 1:30 today a blue Saturn pulled up outside HoJos room 105. Out stepped TG and Q.  We spent the afternoon together.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...  They are meeting Rolling Thunder next Monday or Tuesday, and they already have a resupply box for him that they actually had with them today. I wrote a note on the resupply box and gave them a bunch of AT tattoos to give RT.  I also gave TG, Q, and their son Sasha an extra hug to pass on to RT.You have heard from me often about rocks. From the open steep granite slopes of Maine that they call trail, to giant boulder fields that became ¢trail¢ by virtue of having white blazes painted on them, to Rocksylvania, and most recently the Guillotine. But you haven¢t heard from me about the random painted rocks that dot the trail once every few days. The photo above shows one. I am supposed to shoot a photo of it, carry it along, and then find another spot to put it. I wonder whose idea this was. Is it one person who keeps it up, or many?It rained on and off all day. Irma only swiped at us with the back of her hand, but it was good to be indoors. And dare I say it? ¢ Tomorrow is supposed to be mostly sunny. And warmer. It¢s five more days till I get my warmer sleeping bag again. We dodged a bullet.
Date: 2017-09-14
From: Johns Spring Shelter

To: Brush Mountain
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

There are names I look for in every register. Moose, Scrunchy, Cuckoo, Nature Boy, Tree Beard, folks I hiked with for a while, but have sped ahead. That list used to include Ethan ¢Stringbean¢ who hiked with Sean and me for a while in northern New Hampshire. For weeks I saw Ethan¢s name in registers ¢ 3, 6, 10 days ahead. But then his name disappeared. I figured he was off trail and I stopped looking for his name.¢Scout!¢ I was five miles along, filtering water. Water¢s grown scarcer. I know that face. He¢d gotten off the trail because he had a staph infection in his foot.For the remainder of the morning, all the way up to Dragon Tooth, a climb with sections that transported us back to steep Maine, we chatted. We exchanged all the best stories we¢d accumulated over the two months since we¢d seen each other. He had been stalked by a baby skunk. Not just for a hundred yards, but for two miles. He thought he¢d lost it, but then it would show up again.We had lunch together at Dragon¢s Tooth http://www.trailjournals.com/j... and then Ethan took off. He¢ll probably cover 5 more miles than I today. We may not see each other again. But I¢ll look for his name again in the registers.Yesterday and today the trail has been harder. More rocky areas, more climbs and longer ones. http://www.trailjournals.com/j... I¢ve had to adjust downward the number of miles I¢m doing, even though both days I¢ve hiked till dusk. The difference isn¢t huge, just under 20 miles instead of just over, but cumulatively it has me worried about reaching Pearisburg on time this Sunday. Imposter! A name I didn¢t expect to see in a shelter register was there this morning. Rolling Thunder. He¢s some days behind me. We hiked the first two weeks together. But my Rolling Thunder joshingly refers to himself as a heathen and this one prominently splashed ¢God Bless¢ in his entry. I sent the image to my RT who replied, ¢Imposter!¢ At Dragon Tooth I actually met the Bible-spouting clone. It turns out this Rolling Thunder was named after an Ecclesiastes quote, while my Rolling Thunder was named ¢¦ after certain body noises emanated from his nether regions.And just to complete today¢s Old Home Week crammed into a single day, at Dragons Tooth five slackpackers showed up ¢ none other than Dot, Franky, Buck, Aloha, and Funky Duck. That made making my miles harder, too, as I took a good half hour longer for lunch so we could catch up on each other¢s news. Franky has seen the light ¢ he¢s now carrying an umbrella, too-bright red.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Last thing today after a 5-mile climb up Brush Mountain, there¢s a memorial to Audie Murphy, the most-decorated U.S. soldier in World War II.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...
Date: 2017-09-15
From: Brush Mountain

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 22.9
Weather: few clouds

I wanted to be efficient today. Up early, moving out smartly, and I doubted more of my SOBO peeps would arrive and cause me to take a 2-hour lunch today, as I did yesterday. But when I reached War Spur Shelter at dusk, 7:40 pm, 23 miles on the foot odometer just as I¢d planned, I was still glad to hear Dot say out loud what I¢d been thinking the last three days and wrote about yesterday. ¢The trail¢s been harder,¢ she said. It was a relief that the young folks are thinking it, too.We have seven SOBOs here at the shelter tonight. Seven! I don¢t recall the last time we¢ve had that many in one place ¢ Dot, Franky, Buck, Funky Duck, Aloha, Flash, and myself.This morning first thing I passed an important milestone ¢ SOBO 1500 miles! Unmarked, of course. But today I couldn¢t take the time to make a marker. The first big climb today was up Sinking Creek Mountain, an odd name for a mountain. But more strange was the sign at the top that said that this is the Eastern Continental Divide. What¢s that? The sign says 405 miles to the Atlantic Ocean and 1920 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...  I haven¢t seen a sign like that before.For a weekday the trail felt dotted with people. Three groups hiked out to the 18-foot-circumference Keffer Oak, and there were two sets of section hikers. But by far the best encounter was with ¢Old Joe,¢ age 77, and his three ¢young¢ early 60s companions ¢ Todd, Ed, and Ken. They¢d made one of today¢s difficult climbs but were in fine spirits. When I first walked up one asked me, ¢Do you know where you are?¢ I answered, ¢Yes, isn¢t this the Pacific Crest Trail?¢ We talked for 15 minutes, which says a lot right there. They were the ones who told me about the apple trees on Sinking Creek Mountain. Here¢s a selfie of us http://www.trailjournals.com/j... and a photo of the apples  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...  .If I do another 23-mile day I¢ll be set up to walk into Pearisburg on Sunday morning, which is my goal.¢Make wise decisions,¢ I hear her voice all the way from Denmark where she is now.Finally, Ben has left the trail. Good riddance!I¢m referring to Ben¢s Bug Spray. There are no more flying, biting, obnoxious bugs. I sent away my bottle of Ben¢s almost two weeks ago. Tonight Dot told me she had done the same.Fall is 5 days away. Our third season on the trail. (Frodo: I hate to break it to you, but Fall starts on September 22nd this year. That¢s when the equinox is. But that should actually be good news.)Nite,
Date: 2017-09-16
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 25.3
Weather: mist

¢Bad News, guys, the zipline is down.¢ That¢s not a line I expected to hear out here. I¢ll admit, I¢ve occasionally thought that between some of the AT ups and downs a zipline would be great. But today there¢s a trail angel, The Captain, located across a 75-foot stream, who has a zipline up for hikers to cross to his backyard. He has sodas. At least for the NOBOs.  Franky was there a year ago when he hiked the first 800 miles northbound. But once again, it¢s the fate of the SOBOs ¢ there are so few of us, the angels are gone. Franky says that when he was hiking northbound he had trail magic ¢ coolers or grilled food ¢ every two to three days. We haven¢t seen trail magic for many weeks.The  longest day I¢ve hiked so far is 23.7 miles. I really wanted to do 25 today into the Rice Field Shelter. That would leave me with 8 to Pearisburg tomorrow where the Woods Hole Hostel folks will pick up most of my gear and then I¢ll slackpack the 11 miles to the hostel. I really want to get there before dinner.So today I saw the sun rise a good ten minutes after I had already started hiking. In the morning¢s chill I knocked off the first of two 1700-foot climbs. That¢s what today was, two long climbs with five to seven miles of high ridge walking before dropping down. I usually hike straight through till lunch, no breaks except to get water and do my business in the bushes. I had lunch at 2:00 today. And I¢d covered 15 miles.After lunch there was a sight that would have affected some people¢s digestion. What it will also do is make Frodo grateful she¢s married to me. (Frodo: Ah, I¢m ALWAYS glad and grateful that I¢m married to you!) It will also make the great shorts debate of earlier this summer seem such a petty thing. Viewer discretion is advised, and Princesses beware: http://www.trailjournals.com/j...During the afternoon I hiked with Dot and Franky. At one point Dot fell behind, and then she came back up the trail to us in a rush. Special Delivery. Flowers for Franky.http://www.trailjournals.com/j...And speaking (writing?) of flowers, today there were new ones I haven¢t seen before on the AT. Oddly for this time of year they are buds getting ready to open. And oddly they look like the PCT¢s blue gentian of Northern California. Anyone know what these are?  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...
Date: 2017-09-17
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: clear sky

As you¢ve probably felt from me the last four days, I¢ve been pressing, trying to make miles, all of which might result in the difference of an hour or two or three today. It would be the difference between participating in the Woods Hole Hostel communal dinner or arriving after it¢s over, between being here for the late afternoon yoga or not. When I woke this morning I felt ¢I have this in the bag.¢ I was hiking at 6:55, sunrise 15 minutes later, powering the 8 miles into Pearisburg and hitting the town Dairy Queen at 10:30, with a tall Orange Julius soon in hand and a burger not long after.It felt like a day-long celebration, no matter that it included 18 miles of hiking. Just before I started the AT, Lil¢ Buddha reached out, said Woods Hole Hostel was his best hostel experience on the AT and he wanted to treat me. So, up there with meeting the Princesses, with McAfee Knob and Mahoosuc Notch, I¢ve been looking forward to this place. Neville from the hostel drove in to town to pick up my pack and most of my gear, so I could slackpack the last 10 miles. So did Funky Duck, Dot, and Franky. I got to help cook dinner and do yoga with my SOBO peeps. And now I am sleeping on a bed in a large loft in the 20-foot-high great room of a restored 1880s cabin. Happy, full of food and companionship. Thankful on the AT.Frodo: and here's a mystery photo Scout included or today, with no info: http://www.trailjournals.com/j...
Date: 2017-09-18
From: Woods Hole Hostel

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

It felt like the ¢fellowship¢ splitting up. Franky hiked out of Woods Hole Hostel last night, wanting time by himself. Buck got off trail two days ago, this time for good ¢ things at home need tending. And this morning first Dot, then Flash, Aloha, and Funky Duck hiked out. I am left here alone at this hostel in a deep cove.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j... I have no Samwise. But maybe it is I who am Samwise, for I have my Frodo with me. Always.Today was canning day at Woods Hole. And I mean canning with a capital ¢C¢. Easily more than a bathtub full of tomatoes were washed, stemmed, and quartered. I spent an hour quartering a fraction of them. After all the boiling down, using two separate professional stoves, all burners lit, pots a 5-year-old could hide in, there was enough tomato sauce to feed an army. http://www.trailjournals.com/j... And that¢s part of the magic here. It¢s also a working sustainable farm. I helped Neville call the pigs in this morning. ¢Su-eey, pig, pig, pig.¢ Out from a puzzle-box pastoral scene, these pigs came trotting, even the one whose ground clearance was less than the width of my thumb. There¢s goats, a duck, a large truck garden, and more. I was lucky to be the only guest with Neville and Michael. Thank you to them and to Lil¢ Buddha for paving the way.(Frodo:  He shaved his beard!  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...
Date: 2017-09-20
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter 
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: scattered clouds

The trail was bewitching this morning. I was hiking for 20 minutes before the sun rose, sleepy-eyed, winking through early morning mist. The mist softened every edge. It was easy to forget that I wanted to do 23 miles today.And things just keep getting better as I wind along the crest of Brushy Mountain, which the trail is sticking to for over 30 miles, with relatively mild ups and downs. And I have good cell coverage so I can reach Frodo, who has gone from six time zones ahead to three time zones behind, Denmark to San Diego. And as if just talking to her isn¢t enough good luck, as I drop into the I-77 corridor and cross over the freeway on a two-lane road, where the guidebook clearly states there are no town services for at least 2.5 miles, there for my eyes and stomach to behold is the Brushy Mountain Outpost and Caf©!! I always say you never know what¢s around the next bend and we joke about the next mountaintop having a trailside ice cream stand. But here it actually was!With a burger, fries, and milkshake in my belly, I think I¢ll go back in and order an ice cream cone to take out on the trail with me.   http://www.trailjournals.com/j...These are supposed to be a string of rain-free days. But those are claps of thunder I hear during lunch. And then real drops, not just falling leaves. But it doesn¢t last long.http://www.trailjournals.com/j...I cruise the afternoon. I call Frodo again (we cut the earlier conversation short so I could eat) and my Mom while walking on the trail. Nice, nice hiking. Done at 6:00 pm. Shana Tovah,
Date: 2017-09-22
From: Knot Maul Shelter

To: Atkins, VA
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

Why is the lead photo above of two water bottles, rather than of the brilliant orange and pink cloud sunset? Because the sunset was over the truck ___ (Frodo: something I can¢t decipher) in Atkins, Virginia, as I spent a night in a motel. And the water bottles are more meaningful to me.To filter my water I¢ve used a Sawyer Squeeze the whole trail. It lives attached to a liter-size ¢Smart Water¢ bottle that I fill from pond or stream. Then I squeeze that water bottle, hard, four or five times sustained, for each liter of clean water I¢ve drunk on the trail. Think about compressing and expanding a water bottle over a thousand times over the past four months. On the left is what remains of my water bottle. ¢Keep it,¢ Franky chimed in. ¢Get rid of that disgusting thing,¢ Dot responded. Any guess which side Frodo comes down on? I know for sure she will be happy that I¢ve swapped it out.And today during 15 miles of hiking we passed the 34 mark. Actually it said 14, because the trail is northbound-centric.  But regardless, somehow I missed it. We had 15 miles of well-maintained trail with ups and downs, but none like that photo I posted last week of a sheer vertical length of trail that prompted a journal reader to write to me, ¢Seriously?¢At the Atkins trailhead there¢s a famed restaurant ¢The Barn.¢ Here are before and after photos of Franky demolishing a full one-pound hamburger.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...  and  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...It¢s the first day of fall and the trail announces it loud and clear by dressing up:  http://www.trailjournals.com/j... You couldn¢t even see it for all the leaves. And on the serious side, it will make it harder to avoid stepping on roots and rocks, and harder to find the trail when it¢s sketchy. But the changing colors are darn pretty.I town I did the fastest 3-1/2 day resupply I¢ve ever done at the Dollar General store. Slam, bam, thank-you, Ma¢am.Happy Fall!
Date: 2017-09-23
From: Atkins, VA

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: few clouds

Happy ¢National Public Lands¢ Day! Now, I had no idea it was a special day when I started hiking at 7:05 am. Nor did I have any idea an hour later when the trail went right past a ¢Settler¢s¢ Museum and an 1800s schoolhouse. The desks were arranged inside and they allow hikers to spend the night, laying out their pads and bags in between the wooden desks. There¢s a framed reprint of 1870 student punishments. If boys and girls played together, 4 lashes. For wearing long fingernails, 2 lashes, and for every foot above 3 feet that you climbed in a tree you got 1 lash per foot. A few miles later, at the next shelter, a hiker had made a list of hiker punishments. For squabbing (Frodo:??) with northbounders, 4 lashes. For bitching about the White Mountains, 4 lashes, For enjoying Connecticut 5 lashes.At 10.5 miles the trail came to the Mt. Rogers Ranger Station and Visitor Center. I still didn¢t know it was National Public Lands Day and this was where I was going to have lunch. I know it¢s a Saturday, but the parking lot looked particularly crowded. Then a Forest Service greeter gave me the news, ¢We¢re celebrating National Public Lands Day, and we have free hot dogs and chips."  Hot dogs, grilled!And after the hot dogs, there was a booth with rattlesnakes, copperheads, and others. I¢ll bet Frodo¢s glad they only handed me the 5-foot black snake. (Frodo: Well, yes, but I wasn¢t really worried that someone from the Forest Service would hand you a rattlesnake!)  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Hey, Princesses, that snake was longer than any of you are tall. Which one of you would have held it? I¢m betting Sophia.It¢s a Saturday, so I actually ran in to three hikers ¢ a crowd ¢ during the afternoon¢s ten miles. One of the hikers was Pencil Pusher, who we shared a shelter with back in the Shenandoahs.There are so many places when we hike along a ridge that I know just 50 feet away, through the thicket of trees, there are great views. But it never happens. I¢m used to it, but still marvel at this green tunnel.I finished my 21 miles by just after 6:00 pm and found Funky Duck at the Trimpi Shelter. Some rather barrel-chested guys of my vintage, weekenders, have set up inside the shelter. Making wise decisions, I set up my tent. (Frodo: He thought they looked like big snorers!)Tomorrow we will brush up against 5000 feet and at day¢s end will enter the Grayson Highlands, where they have free-roaming ¢wild¢ ponies.Nite, all.