morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-05-06
From: Pearisburg

To: Symms Gap +
Miles today: 12.2

We resupplied, dryed out,rested in the AM. Peeper did some personal business preparation to get her Visa for Graduate school in Scotland.... then back to the Trail. We walked down to the trail on the Highway,as always trying to find out routine "leaving town Ice Cream" as we go. Hit the Dairy Queen, and we were off.We visited the historic Pearisburg Cemetery that was a "blue Blaze" off the trail, where Capt. Pearis and many of the Pearisburg residence /ancestors of the 1800-1900 were buried. The historic society had done alot of work to try and reclaim, document the cemetery residence, but more than 1/2 of the 250 graves where unmarked. The cemetary appeared to have hit bad times, unmowed and again overgrown. Somewhat mimiking what appeared to be happening to the downtown as well. We walked beyond the cemetary over the railroad tracks and over the New River. A Coal car train passed under the bridge as we crossed. Over 50 cars full of coal. We would hear a train about every hour as we left Pearisburg, that is an awful lot of coal! We have noted in many of the Trail towns the same experience of these coal laden trains. Incredible the quantities of coal consumption, concerning.After we crossed the river we encountered a large Chemical plant, the trail weaved it's way around, in front of the driveway of the sign reported slag heap/dump for the factory ( warning signs not to enter /trespass/safety risks). It took almost a half hour to get around the plant, sending us up into the hills and back down to avoid areas. We still were hearing the trains and the plant an hour later as we climbed the ridge over Pearisburg. We got up to the ridge and moved North, we had some beautiful views to the west and further ridges and valley farms in West Virgina. Met 2 mature Ladies "In His Feathers", and "Under His Wing", preparing camp for the night. They have been section hiking, were trying to complete Virgina this hike. They are 70 and 80 year old, sisters! I talked to them for about 15 minutes, they want to complete the trail before they die, their church supports them but the other parishioners think their crazy. " But they have a hard time just going up the Church steps, but look at us" they say. Amazing spirit, incredible women!It was a clearing day with improving weather. We found a good tent site in the evening, made and ate dinner, put up our "Bear Food Bag" ( ALL OUR FOOD THAT WE HANG IN THE TREE, HOPEFULLY TO KEEP FROM THE BEARS - YAH), then off to sleep.
Date: 2012-05-07
From: Symms Gap +

To: Wind Rock View
Miles today: 14.9

We had a nice, dry, day. Somewhat cool in the morning. Met up with "Good Penny" and "Dos", ran into another Father/daughter section climbing pair. Good to see some famialiar faces in the thinning hiker crowd.We had many ups and downs as usual, ran along a stream and were looking forward to some Trail Magic we read about in out AWOL Guide, The Captains House. The Captain was a previous thu hiker that keeps sodas and food on his back porch, allows hikers to visist and even bed down on his property. He had constructed a Zip Line to cross the wide stream to partake. Peeper and I Zip Lined over and enjoyed some sodas, The Captain was absent but we got to visit his dog. Very enjoyable encounter.We zipped back over to the trail, climbed back up to another ridge. Here we met "Sweet" and "Low". We had heard there were two young hiking diabetics on the trail, and here thay were. They are engaged,met at a diabetic camp some time ago. They were hiking with their Insulin pumps, testing frequently, he was named Low, for he liked to keep his sugars in the 70's, she has sweet for she tried to keep hers at 110. Sweet was having some recent problems for her pump had kinked and her dose was off for the day. Walking the AT as a thru hiker is hard enough, but to be a type 1 diabetic- WOW!We hiked to another ridge, climbed until 5:00 when the skies were again threatening, to avoid another soaking we put up our tents and enjoyed a beautiful Southern view off " Wind Rock". Sweet and Low, and Good Penny passed us by as we were setting up camp. It never did rain that night but we awoke to rain in the am.
Date: 2012-05-09
From: Sarver Hallow Shelter

To: Four Pines Hostel, Catawba
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: light rain

Today was a long day. We started out at Sarver Hollow Shelter, and soon after is started raining on us again. This gets a little frustrating as we had Just dried out our gear and ourselves. Oh well. Since it was raining we never really stopped for lunch and that can make the day long. And since it was raining, and we never stopped for lunch it can make the day cold. However, we pushed on. Our reward for a long hard day of hiking was visiting the Dragon's Tooth. These were two HUGE protruding rocks that give a great view of the valley. Luckily, the rain had stopped by then and we could see the view. The last two miles down to the hostel were really difficult. Gumpy had started getting pain in his right shin the day before, and the rocky decent of the day did not help. When we finally got to the shelter, things started looking up. We met up with two of our favorite fellow thru-hikers, ¢the brothers.¢ We had not seen them in almost five weeks and it was great to see the their friendly faces in the warm (dry) hostel. To top off our evening, the owner of the hostel took us to the store so we could get pizza and wings. Yum.
Date: 2012-05-10
From: Four Pines Hostel, Catawba

To: Lamberts Meadow Campsite
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: broken clouds

We had heard for many miles before that Virginia was a flat green tunnel. False. Today was amazing. After climbing out of Catawba in the morning we passed several beautiful farm pastures. Although there were no cows to chase us here, we could look back on the Dragon's Tooth rocks and enjoy a view of our previous days work. As the day progressed we found ourselves among many more hikers out enjoying the great weather. This is a rare thing on the AT. Most of the time as we meander around the less visited parts of the wilderness with only the company of our fellow smelly thru hiking companions. However, we were headed to McAfee Knob, a popular look-out for many local hikers. The trail to this site was remarkably well maintained and much more gradual than the terrain we have become accustomed to. This was a nice surprise. McAfee Knob was a gorgeous site. It is obvious why so many people come to see the view. While Peeper found herself enjoying the rock outcroppings, Gumpy was found hugging the rocks, sweating bullets about the drop, a good sport nonetheless. Leaving McAfee Knob we traveled through a tall rock maze down the ridge. Although this path was much less traveled, it was beautiful. Towards the end of our day we found ourselves at another exciting surprise. The afternoon brought us to Tinker Cliffs, which was arguably more spectacular than McAfee Knob. The views of the valley were so incredible we decided to say and have dinner there to watch the sunset. We ended up climbing the last mile to camp with our headlamps, but it was well worth it. A wonderful day in the ¢Virginia Green Tunnel.¢We went over 700 miles for our trip today!!
Date: 2012-05-11
From: Lamberts Meadow Campsite

To: Daleville
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: clear sky

We awoke early, expected to have a short day and resupply. I had some concerns on my R leg shin, have been having pain for the last 3 days since our long day and tough hike down from the Dragon Tooth. I tookmn the day slowly, Peeper was often ahead and waited at the view sites. Pretty walk around the ridges widing down to Daileville/Troutville. We were able to look back at all the ridges we had climbed for the last 2 dasys from McAfee Knob, Tinkers Cliffs to overlooking Roanoke.Since`leaving McAfee Knob, we started to hear a hum in the woods, , I had heard the 17 yr Cicada are hatching this year. We noted an increase in the forests hum over the past few days. Many Cicada and exoskeletins littered the trail. We often found them on our packs and clothing. Sometimes the forest was so loud it was hard to think.We arrived in Daleville at noon, found almost all the hotels have been filled with the Graduating College students families. Unepected busyness. We were able to get one of the last rooms at Super 8 hotel. I expect to spend a zero day to work on rehabing my right leg from shin splints. I also found I have blown out my right hiking shoe and need to go onto my second pair. Hopefully I will have a speedy recovery with exercises, new shoes and some rest from hiking. Gumpy
Date: 2012-05-12
From: Daleville

To: Daleville
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Zero Day- recovery day for GumpyPeeper has been very patient in the past few days. We will see some of our past hiking aquaintances come through with the delay.I have also been able to see pictures of my Grand daughters prom dress, and date. I was able to talk with her before the prom; family events we have been missing. Nice to be included by phone and pictures.We expect to be back on the trail tomorrow, mothers day. Back to my Motrin, stretching exercises and icing. Enjoying the new shoes, I will have to anticipate the loss of foot support sooner so I don't have further injuries. Trail runner shoes last only 500 miles as reported by the manufacturer, I have never before tested this limit- it seems to be true.Thankfully we can get replacements at half price while on the trail.Gumpy
Date: 2012-05-13
From: Daleville

To: cove mtn shelter 
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: broken clouds

We started early,after calling our mothers,and my wife. We are a long way from them on this their day. My leg is feeling better and we were anxious to get back on the traily New shoes need some breaking in. It has been an overcast day with forecast rain in the pm. We kept walking and feeling good,when we had gone19 miles and no rain,we felt we could go until dark. Unfortunately Peeper got ahead,set up camp and I walked by without seeing her. I got to the shelter and there was no Peeper. Thankfully we had phone service. I am still waiting for her,she wanted to meet me at the shelter.more to follow..She made it, alittle wet. All is well.
Date: 2012-05-14
From: cove mtn shelter 

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: moderate rain

Wet and difficult day. Awoke in the rain, both Peeper and I were still somewhat sore from the previous day with 25 miles. Had missed dinner last night and we stayed to have a good breakfast before we started in the rain. We remain under some pressure to get some more distance under our belt before trail days and Jay, Peepers sign. other arrives. We wanted to be near Waynesboro before trail days. We have arranged a ride from a small road near The Priests MTN with "Wingin it", who contacted us from our trail journal. We will be picked up on May 18th, so we need to be at mile 820.6 by then and we are at mile 747.5.We started our hike with Peeper confused on which direction she came in from last night in the dark, it took a little time to convince her not to go south. We met Camel, a section hiker in the shelter, and once we passed him on the trail she was more convinced I was sending her in the right direction.We met Blue Fox in the first few miles, he had gone into a nearby hotel and was dropped off at the road crossing just when we arrived. He seems to keep popping up unexpectedly. We pushed on in a slow soaking rain, the trail was wet but manageable. We were able to keep comfortable moving and our shoes remained somewhat dry. We passed 2 shelters after 14 miles, still feeling good, felt the rain was not hindering us much. Poor decision. The skies opened into a Noah's flood. We were 5 miles from the next shelter, needed to have a significant climb onto thunder ridge, the trail turned into a river. We had no recourse but to swim on. We reached Thunder Ridge shelter at about 6:00 pm, and there was very little room, all our fellow thru hikers had also taken refuge. Peeper was able to squeeze in but I had to take to the tent. One of the other hikers had set up his tent in a lower area and it was already threatened by water and mud run off, I chose some higher ground under a pine tree. My previous experience in setting up the tent in the rain really payed off, in 5 minutes I was in a dryer tent, clothes off, and warming up in the sleeping bag. Peeper was doing the same in the shelter. The storm went on for over 6 hrs, past midnight, thundering and deafening rain an experience I had never encountered in a tent or otherwise. I in the tent, 20 feet away from the shelter could not hear or talk to anyone in the shelter. We again went without dinner, and neither of us ventured from our refuge. I had blown up my air mattress pad, and as the night progressed I found I was floating in a pool of water in my tent, but I was able to stay dry. Nothing else was dry. In the morning, we all were relieved that our head count was as it should be + 1, the other tenting hiker had to be rescued and squeezed in the shelter at 3:00 am when his tent was over run with water and mud. Blue fox had come after us in the night and also pryed himself in the shelter, pretty cozy in there. Needless to say, this was a day of little views and a test of endurance. A true trail day.
Date: 2012-05-15
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Glasgow Pavillion
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

We wrapped up all our wet gear, put on our wet clothes, ate a hot breakfast and moved on. We wanted to be in Glasgow before the post office closed, and we had 14 miles plus 5 miles to town to go. We did not know what to expect on the trail after the storms of yesterday. We knew there was over 4 inches of rain that fell last pm.( report from the weather station). The fog lifted after a few hours, the trails were very wet, often running streams and washed out. The streams were high, and the stepping stones were often covered. It was a wet slippery ride out down to the James River. Peeper and I moved along, we were down to the road after crossing the Foote Bridge, crossing the James River.( Memorial bridge names after Mr. Foote, though it was a long foot bridge.) We found the road to Glasgow was somewhat remote and had some difficulty in getting a ride, we finally got a ride in the back of a pickup, after walking about another 1/2 mile.James river was very high, and full of mud and debris. Hikers often will jump off the foot bridge and swim, but this would be life threating, and certainly not enticing today.Glasgow certainly is a very small mountain town, one family diner, a few stores, library and some very friendly residents. They had created a lean to for hikers, a hot shower and a very friendly environment. Blue fox later showed up again, and we had a very comfortable night sleeping on the cement, only dealing with the insects.Mail dropped sorted and need to get some miles under our belt. We had breakfast with Blue fox, found a ride from one of the local residents and we were back on the trail. We had a very nice stay in Glasgow, a newly acclaimed "Trail Town". Peeper has been dealing with some Cold symptoms vs allergies, she has started to get worse in the past few days. It did not help being cold and wet in the past few days. She does not want to slow down though, a real trouper. I will have too keep watch.
Date: 2012-05-16
From: Glasgow Pavillion

To: Brown Mountain Creek shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: broken clouds

Peeper and I know we have some miles to do to meet Wingin It for our ride to trail days and to pick up Jay, Peepers sign. other. We have 42 miles do make in 2 days, and Peeper has not been feeling well. She though did not want to change our plans, she is determined to get to Trail Days and meet up with Jay. We climbed most of the morning to the high ridges of Virgina again. Hit some 4,000 foot mountains again.( Footnote, we were told when we got to Virgina it got flatter and easier, we have yet to find either of these, they must have climbed different AT than us). Peeper continued to cough, and appeared to be having some exercised induced symptoms. I gave her my inhaler that I keep for these times, and it helped significantly. I was keeping close tabs on her. Once on the ridge we had some pretty climbs, the day was somewhat warm, but overcast clear. We moved along with no big issues, walked along a lake/reservoir, did a little cleanup wading and rest. Climbed up Brown Mountain creek camp site and bedded down for the nigh, Peeper doing a little better, and a pretty, productive day.Solemn part of the day, walked by little Ottie Powels monument on bluff mountain peak, a 4 yr old who died in the 1890's when he wandered from his school and family 7 miles away. He died of the exposure found in the spring by hunters atop the mountain, there was a recounting of the story at the Punch Bowl shelter near by, and some accounts of his ghost visiting. Sad to think of this and the loss.
Date: 2012-05-17
From: Brown Mountain Creek shelter

To: Crab Tree Falls Camp Grounds
Miles today: 21.5

We tented next to Brown Mountain Creek, had a cool night next to the stream. The history of the area was interesting, this is where in the late 1800's some freed slaves established some farms and a community. The remnants of this community remain. There were some informational plaques along the trail, this of course slowed me down. Peeper was ahead, I stayed to look through the remnants of the community. There had been a grismill(sp), farms, and many homes/foundations. Many stone walls and some terracing into the hills. Now the area was all forest, the forest service in the 1920's bought the owners out. This area appeared to offer a hard life for the occupants.We climbed a good bit of the day to the higher elevations, towards The Priests. Had some field top mountains with good views, encountered many day hikers, met a few new thru hikers, Cricket, who started the trail 4/3/12. We had some pretty ridge walking and stream, crossings. Peeper and I at the last shelter said goodbye to some of our fellow hikers who we expect will be 2 days ahead after we go to trail days, Bottomless pit and Gato. Peeper was exhausted, needed a rest.We came to Spy rock later in the day, very pretty but we were exhausted. Peeper had struggled through the day with her cough and congestion. We arrived to our meeting point with Wingin It at about 8:00. He was waiting at the remote trail head. He is a 2010 thru hiker, CPA who now section hikes when he can. He drove many back road miles to pick us up, brought drinks and good cheer. We are very appreciative. Tenting tonight and on back to Damascus for Trail Days, a celebration of the AT trail and thru hikers gathering. It will be interesting to go back 300+ hiking miles and see fellow hikers and a trail town we left behind.
Date: 2012-05-18
From: Crab Tree Falls Camp Grounds

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

TRAIL DAYS- very busy place in Damascus. Staying in the tent at the Hostel grounds THE PLACE. Many events,, talks, gatherings and some free clinic going on. Talked to an Orthopedist for my shin splints, he feels we have been treating them well and I have been getting better. Peeper has also been feeling better with her cold symptoms. Foot message, showers, parades, food ect. Getting my equipment repaired by the dealers, Sewing our clothes, fixed my hat. R and R.Back on the trail 5/20. Jay has arrived to climb with us for the next 10 days, Peeper is emotionally and physically improved! Should be some good climbing days ahead with the 3 of us!
Date: 2012-05-19
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Trail days, went to a few different forums on long distance hiking, had some good meals and met many people new and previous. Looking forward to getting back to the trail tomorrow. I did get some equipment repaired, will be sent a new tent due to issues with my two man tent. The town and the manufacturers/equip. distributors have been very helpful. Hiker Parade was very interesting, there tents to be a free for all with water baloons and all likes of water dousing. Even the police and parade queen get wet. Good to have gone...once.
Date: 2012-05-20
From: Damascus

To: Harpers Creek Shelter/camping area
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: few clouds

Left Damascus early in the morning. Wingin It drove us back to VA 826 where we left the trail on Friday am. He was extremely helpful and took his car where no car should go. Thank You Wingin It, and happy trails in your PA hike, maybe see you in Harpers Ferry.Jay is now hiking with us, we are a threesome. Took it easy on him today, he had trouble with his knees on blood mountain in GA. He has some new knee braces, hopefully they will help.Climbed the Priests, then moved on over Tye River, and climbed up to three ridges, ridge. Good bit of climbing for 1/2 a day. Jay did very well.Settled in to our camp site, had a good night except for a small burn on Peeper's leg. Jay and I cleaned the wound, and dressed it, Peeper was feeling better after the trauma and tender loving care. We slept well and look forward to a good day tomorrow.
Date: 2012-05-21
From: Harpers Creek Shelter/camping area

To: Humpback Mountain camp site
Miles today: 14.7

We awoke early, Peepers burn is doing well and dressed to keep it clean. We had a good breakfast and hot chocolate, and off we went. We had another pretty day, some clouds but generally cool, for VA in late spring. We climbed 3 ridges mountain most of the morning, had some pretty views both east and west. Some undercast in the am. Jay tends to lead the pack on the ups with his long legs, though he does seem to consume a lot of water. I still tend to lead the downs, so we tends to hike on average the same speed, Jay has been impressive to keep up with two thru hikers. We climbed back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and followed along for awhile. There was some rain recently in this area and it was very slippery. I fell a few times, and I suspect Peeper and Jay did too. We made it over to Humpback Mountain. Had some beautiful views to the west on the climb up and on the top there was an overlooking cliff tot he east and the south. Very pretty day. Camped on the cliffs and watched the thunderstorms in the south over the ridges. Sun down was very beautiful. I was able to get good phone service, got great news today from my work, I will be able to keep my office open. I feel a huge weight has lifted, and I was dancing for joy in the mountains of Virgina. I expect you all in NH heard me. Overall an excellent day, and we have yet to kill Jay.Peeper is feeling better but still continues to cough. Her burn does not seem to bother her and the dressing remains clean. We will look at it further in Waynesboro.