morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-05-10
From: Laurel Creek Tentsite

To: Jenny's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Banged out 5 miles in an hour and twenty minutes. Flying! I really wanted to get a good start in our twenty mile day. We did some road walking, but since it was Tuesday I wasn't thinking there'd be trail magic but lo' and behold: Richard/"Comfortably numb" who has thruhiked the trail 4 times was sitting by his car offering rides into Bland as well as bananas and Powerade and Coke! Yum! Thank you so much! We hiked on, and I decided to think about what an ideal afternoon would be for me today (besides hiking). I decided it'd be super nice to be all clean with comfy yoga pants and a nice light long sleeve on and two French braids and Verge and I would go out to eat and devour marvelous fun salads then go out to the movies to see The Jungle Book and eat some sort of delicious snack (I'm thinking plantain chips and dark chocolate covered blueberries and Reese's pieces). It sounds so wonderful. A good second place to hiking 20 miles..."Just thinking about tomorrow, clears away the COBWEBS and the sorrow 'til there's none." Well, the sorrow is pretty easy to clear as there's like none anyways; the cobwebs, however, are another story. Give me big black snakes and mice and hunger and I'll be fine but the FREAKIN COBWEBS are going to be the death of me. I swear I almost lost it multiple times today. Every thirty seconds I'd walk into a new web. I was constantly wiping my sweaty, dirty, cobweb-filled face to try to clear them off. It was so gross and annoying and constant! I was on the edge of insanity. "So you gotta hang on til tomorrow, come what may!"Another thing I thought a lot about today was my very amazing best friends Bridget and Kate. You guys are so spectacular. I feel truly blessed when I receive messages from you letting me know you're thinking of me or that you miss me or that you're sending love my way. It makes all the difference in the world. So I just want to tell you how much I appreciate it, and that you guys are the absolute best! You helped me through the cobwebs!End of the day music pump up! Helped me through the last 3 miles! Passed the 600 mile mark! Woo! Got to a very crowded camp! Lots of section hikers. Played rummy with great P and Verge. Then played hearts with Great P, Verge, and Ranger Rick (a hilarious section hiker). Lots of laughs in general but also about wet clothes in sleeping bags, how his knee hurts so he asked his dad to be the one to shoot him if it came to that, and the mushroom death cloak (where you get buried and turned into mushrooms?) so funny. Bedtime!
Date: 2016-05-11
From: Jenny's Knob Shelter

To: Tentsite on a Hill
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: broken clouds

The sun did come out tomorrow!! (AKA today)What a marvelous day!! We had a delicious oatmeal breakfast, as usual. This morning, however, Great P shared a couple chocolate chips with us and we put them in our oatmeal! Mmmmm. What a treat! We then had a leisurely start and left around 9:30ish and had an enjoyable sunny hike to a road crossing six miles later where we decided to go to Trent's Grocer 0.5 miles down the road. It was so worth it! We had lunch there with a bunch of hiker buddies (ETA, Sacagewea, Great P, and a couple others), got a few snacks, and Sacagewea had a bunch of extra food because she got a surprise box in the mail from a friend so she handed some out to share! Another terrific little treat! I got fruit roll ups, a poptart, and a tuna packet! There was also the owner who was there hanging around and he was so funny and generous. He gave us each a HUGE piece of fresh watermelon--for free! So nice! We heard some section hikers talking about a terrific water fall, so I read about it on Guthooks and it mentioned it had a great swimming hole and it was 0.3 miles off the trail. We decided it sounded fun, so again, we checked it out.Again, SO worth it! What a refreshing swim. Pretty chilly but so fun. Everyone we had lunch with had gone to the falls to swim. It was another fun little side trip. By now it was 4:30ish and we'd barely gone 10 miles when we had planned for a big mileage day, so Verge, Great P, and I continued on together and had a wonderful walk full of entertaining conversation that carried us to the Wapiti shelter (shoutout to my high school mascot!) where we had dinner. Finally got to try the Heather's Choice Salmon Chowder and it was warm and delicious! Just what my belly needed. Although Sacagewea (not sure how to spell it...) tried to convince us to stay, we were set on bigger miles! So the three of us ventured on up the big hill! Again, our conversation was so lovely we charged right up that hill in the dark like it was nothing. Great P is a Great Pleasure to hike with. It seems the three of us have lots in common from movie taste, to book taste, to music taste, to similar work experiences, to similar schooling, to similar--lots of stuff! Verge and I were strangely hyper tonight going to bed, but maybe it's just good moods from a spectacular day. Happy anniversary to my wonderful sister Adrienne and my brother in law Jay! Love you both (and your puppy babies)! Good night!
Date: 2016-05-12
From: Tentsite on a Hill

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Over 70 bug bites on my legs. OVER 70!!! I counted. They itch most at night. Thank you Downtown Brown for giving me some bug spray to take with me.Verge wasn't feeling well at all; we both haven't slept well, and we're both dehydrated, so we only did the 5 miles to woods hole. Verge has been having stomach problems for about two weeks now. We suspect it's giardia....will try to find a way to the health center while we're here.They have amazing smoothies and amazing cookie bars that they make. Yum!!We met sunshine from Rhode Island and Moxie and Sunshine from Maine and Endless from Massachusetts. Yay New Englanders! Met Longcloud and Sarah and David and the owners Neville and Michael. Both odd and helpful at the same time. Saw familiar faces like Longstride and Firecat but mostly we just met lots of new people. We went to a tiny hiker fest in Pearisburg but there was a lack of hiker food (AKA portions big enough to fill us up) so we got a group and went to Mexican. Yum. On our way back it started pouring, but it was fun. Saw jingle, Brett, sweets, wheels, shiv, tumbleweed, uno, big stick, and a couple others (Panda, Bambi, Monkey, Whiplash) all at the hiker fest too. I finally got to meet the other Legs! He seems like a nice guy! I guess I don't mind sharing my name then haha
Date: 2016-05-13
From: Woods Hole Hostel

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Heavy rain last night. Woke up and had Chai tea and donuts while sitting in a rocking chair watching the rain and talking to Goldenboy and Firecat. It was very pleasant!Anna went to the community center and got antibiotics for her giardia. I can't believe she got giardia! Just for the record, we always treat our water, so it can happen to you even if you're careful! A drop must have gone unfiltered from our steripen. Who knows.So Verge hadn't wanted to go to trail days in the first place because she figured it's not really her scene, but I really wanted to go because I thought it'd be cool to see both the people who passed you and the people who you left behind! I also thought it was a great opportunity to have fun with friends and possibly get free stuff from the booths! (Trail days is the biggest AT festival of the year where current and previous hikers all gather to see each other and have fun at random events and promotions from companies and to see trail celebrities speak) So, the plan is for Verge to stay and recover and do Work for Stay while I go off to trail days in Damascus. I feel very odd leaving her behind because we've been together all day every day for this whole trip! But perhaps a day apart would be good for our sisterly relations. So I'm getting a ride to trail days via firecat and his brother who is driving all the way down from Jersey to visit! The hostel cleared out for the morning, and I hung out with Firecat and read my book. Then it cleared up outside and was so sunny and the birds were singing and I was hanging out in the sun while ranger Rick (who arrived in the afternoon) was playing the ukelele (pictured above) and firecat was playing fetch the the dogs. It was incredibly wonderful and relaxing.Firecat's brother was supposed to come around 3:30 but got stuck in traffic and didn't get there until 8:30! Bah what a long day of driving that must have been! So we (Firecat and his brother and cousin and my new friends Lupine and Pokey and myself) all went on our way on the 2 hour drive to Damascus (we stopped for food at the waffle house) and didnt get in until about 11:30! We navigated the crazy, loud, and muddy "tent city" until we found spots for us.Sadly, we realized we rented right in a bunch of poison ivy and stinging nettles but...we'll survive! Ready for Trail Days tomorrow!!!
Date: 2016-05-14
From: Trail Days!

To: Trail Days!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Such fun! I don't even know how to fit in all the fun I had so I'll do an abridged version.I woke up and ran into Sweets right off the bat! Turns out we tented right near a bunch of my friends! (Sweets, Jingle, Big Stick, Training Wheels, Sundance, Songbird, etc.) So Sweets, Training Wheels, and I went to go explore and pick up her package (she was sent chocolate and a feather boa which she proceeded to wear all day--pictured above).Tons of free raffles all day! I won a free shirt and a new buff! Wahoo!Then an awesome thing happened to me; I was walking through the fair and someone pulled me aside and told me they recognized me from my blog!! He said he'd chosen ten people to follow and I was the only one still on the trail. I was blown away. 1: it's so cool he recognized me out of a crowd 2: it's incredible that I'm one out of ten people still on the trail! That's quite the confidence boost. I'm very proud of what I've been able to accomplish so far, but I definitely do not take it for granted. Best wishes to all who have been injured or have had to come off the trail, and I hope you are able to come back! (And pleasure speaking with you Gary!)Then there was the hiker parade! I got to see tons of people I haven't seen in a while! I saw Livia and Dante and the navy boys (now known as Logic, Chris Rock, and Mayo--Bear Marshall had to get off trail). I also saw Pitch it and SOS! I was so glad to see them again--I'd been wondering how they were doing! I also saw Chef Ducky and Weebles (I'd camped with them my first night on the trail) and Mountaineater! It was fun seeing all the town spray the hikers with squirt guns--as tradition calls for, of course.Had a delicious burrito and ice cream and got free new socks because mine had holes in them, got awesome new shorts and checked options for new shoes too!Hung out with the goon squad and part of "quest" and I got to meet jingle's friends Chris, Brett, Chad, and Devon. They were super nice! Chris (or Vice) hiked the trail a few years ago!Then there was hiker prom!! Sweets, Jingle, Training Wheels, Uno, Songbird, and I all danced away to the live country music band. It was awesome! Lucky and Lil Santa were there too and we voted for them for prom king and queen. Lil Santa won king but a male hiker in drag won queen (too funny). A quick visit to the old mill to see Tumbleweed and Shiv and their buddies from Ohio and then we were off to tent city! Tent city is insane! It's a crazy, chaotic little network of muddy paths in the woods by town and there are tons of mini tent communities all laid out. There were tons of gatherings of sub-parties in the tent city and a big fire with a drum circle and dancing! It was so fun! Sweets and I enjoyed speaking in British accents and confusing everyone. Jingle and I danced in the fire circle for a while and tried to get Sundance and Songbird to join in as well (medium success--they danced for a little).So much fun! So little sleep...so worth it!
Date: 2016-05-15
From: Trail Days!

To: Pearisburg
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

So I had a SET plan. I even had a plan B. I EVEN had a plan C!!! But guess what...things don't go as planned.Firecat and his brother had said they could drive Lupine, Pokey, and me back to the hostel Sunday morning, which worked great in me and Verge's plans; however, it turned out his brother wasn't having much fun at trail days. But "have no fear!" he says, his friends are driving down from Jersey as well and if his brother leaves early his friends will drive us Sunday! Jingle's friends even told me that I could ride in their truck if I needed a ride. There you have it: plans A, B, and C. Well, his brother did leave early because he didn't have fun, and his friends had even less fun and refused to hang out there and forced him to leave with them at 1 in the morning! That really stinks for Firecat...but he kinda forgot to tell me...so I woke up to him gone, texted him and Jingle and Sweets to see when they planned on leaving but they didn't reply. I went to check out their tentsite and saw that they too had gone already. Well then! Next step is to contact Verge, but I knew she didn't have service at the hostel so I called the hostel and found out she was hiking into Pearisburg without me and would meet me there. Since Lupine and Pokey were in the same situation, we all hung out and tried to figure out the best course of action (while eating delicious food at Mojo's). Turns out we decided hitching was the best option.We were about to leave when I ran into Pitchit, His wife (Anne I believe is her name), Trail Mama, and SOS. I spoke with them for a bit, mentioned our predicament and SOS and Trail Mama decided they would drive us! I was floored! How could this have worked out so perfectly after all the plan fails??? The trail delivers! But that's not all! Trail mama and SOS filled the car ride with entertaining conversation and fun stories and even bought us mcflurries. They're fantastic. What amazing trail magic. (Me, Trail Mama, Lupine, Pokey pictured above). They drove us right to the trail head by woods hole (not easy to get to!) Now it was four o'clock and I had 11 miles to hike to Verge.That's not all either. Verge was getting antsy about me being so late and not knowing where we were going to stay or if we'd hike on on the trail. Turns out she was shopping and a woman asked if she was a hiker and if she had somewhere to stay tonight. She mentioned she was working on a start up hostel and Verge (and I) could stay there if she just helped paint part of it. What?! How perfect is that?? So Verge painted for a couple hours and I got there by about 8-8:30! (A super enjoyable and beautiful hike with a lovely view and beautiful trees and mountainside lit up by golden hour). We basically had a whole house just to ourselves! We got to have a shower and do laundry and then Verge and I proceeded to have a lovely pasta sides dinner while watching the second season of Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. It was bliss. The trail delivers.
Date: 2016-05-16
From: Pearisburg

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

Late start this morning. Then we went to the Food Lion for a couple things we needed. Had lunch (hummus and pita chips and potato salad mmmmm) and then realized that the hardware store which has fuel we need was closed because the owners in surgery (wish you well!) We found a couple other hikers and asked if they maybe knew where else we could get some and they successfully pointed us in the right direction (right down the street there was a mini hiker shop).Verge was feeling horrible all day. She gets really bad cramps and has to use the bathroom quite frequently. I feel so bad for her. She's been on the antibiotics for 3 days now and still isn't feeling better. Anyone know how long it usually takes for the symptoms to go away? The docto had said you feel immediate relief...maybe it's not giardia? We don't know. Only time will tell.She craved Dairy Queen (not normal for Verge), so we split an amazing peanut butter cookie dough blast blizzard. Woah. I need more of THOSE in my life.We chilled and I finally updated my blog, and I got to talk to Bombadi on the phone (my dad). Yay! I miss that guy...and nope, still haven't caught them...they're like almost 200 miles ahead. They're BEASTS! Go parents! Anyways, we didn't leave until like four and, again, Verge didn't feel well (and my feet are adjusting to new shoes--oh yeah, new shoes! They're great) so we only did the 7 miles uphill to Rice Field Shelter. Got there as it was getting dark and there was thankfully room in the shelter for us. Goodnight! Much needed full night of rest...crossing my fingers.
Date: 2016-05-17
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Random Rocky Tentsite
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

18 miles from rice field to random stealth camp. Rainy and foggy. Lots of stops. Late lunch at shelter 12 miles in. Saw great P and moxie and sunshine and Troy and white owl. Hard to leave. Big hill. Got to Bailey gap shelter and not quite enough room in shelter so we decided if we had to tent might as well push on anyway. Got a little hangry. Possibly even got sunburnt through the clouds. Finally both fed up and hangry and was going to get dark so we tented somewhere weird and random and definitely rocky and had sticks and was slanted but we figured it out. I swear I'm actually getting worse at bearbagging somehow. Yummy pasta sides dinner with tuna. Hope bears don't eat us.
Date: 2016-05-18
From: Random Rocky Tentsite

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: mist

20 miles! Cold and rainy. Met right lane from MA. Saw ETA. Muddy. Thought about thankfulness and making a movie and, as usual, food. I'm always hungry. Got to the shelter late. Thankfully it's a big shelter with a huge roof over a nice picnic table and a big floor, so even though there was no room in the main shelter we're going to sleep on the floor. My back hurts so much at the end of big mileage days. Stupid Osprey pack. Saw lots of amazingly beautiful flowers the past couple days: flaming azaleas, mountain laurels, some purple flowers I don't know the name of, etc. I love flowers.
Date: 2016-05-19
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: light rain

16 miles to Pickle Branch! Hiked mostly on my own today. It was fun pushing myself (speed-wise). I was so hungry all day! I ate so much!! I hiked with Buffalo Soldier (a warrior hiker from buffalo I met) in the morning then after lunch I hiked with Helton from Worcester (another one of the warrior hikers). Then I enjoyed my own company for a while before running into Chicken Feet from Long Island (he's a riot--we'd met multiple times before). Then I got to the bottom of the hill and ran into spaghetti legs and sushi. The shelter was so far off the trail! Sadly, there was no shelter space and we really needed to dry out our nasty wet tent anyway so we tented. Rough evening...soaking wet tent (inside and out), wet sleeping bags, verges shredded feet...at least we have full bellies! Come on weather! 4 pines tomorrow. And dragons tooth. And 700 miles!
Date: 2016-05-20
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: 4 Pines Hostel
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: mist

Hiked to Dragons tooth! Super cool! We climbed all over it (it's the giant rock in the picture above--I climbed pretty high but Verge is more courageous in the reckless climbing area so she went all the way to the top!! Super awesome. And scary. We've officially hiked 700 miles. 700!! I feel like it's barely been over 300! Craziness. What a climb down the mountain...so hard! Very monadnock-y. A few times I really needed to use my hands and my poles were just in the way so I threw them on the ground in front of me. Then we finally got to four pines. I had a very positive first impression...but it went kinda downhill from there in terms of their communication skills. And anger. Both the driver and the owner both had meltdowns over very small issues...we were a very laid back, quiet group so I found it surprising and a little distasteful. However, the community feel, the shared loads of laundry, the free sodas and warm cookie bars, free shuttle to the home place restaurant, and the fact that it's donation based pretty much made up for the scary uncalled for outbursts. I ate way way too much at home style restaurant but it was delicious. I then had a ton of fun playing lots of cards with great P. There were so many people we knew there (ETA, Joker, Terrible Lizard, Les Mayo, a few warrior hikers, Chicken Feet, Gamel, Sprinkle Toes, Crisco, etc.). Terrible Lizard got the idea to slack pack so ten of us split the cost and we're slack packing 26 miles tomorrow apparently! Woo!
Date: 2016-05-21
From: 4 Pines Hostel

To: Daleville
Miles today: 26.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Slackpacked on our two month-iversary! Verge and I got a very late start, but we moved super fast. We got to McAfee knob (woo!) and all our other slack packing buddies were there (Chicken Feet, Terrible Lizard, Joker, Les Mayo, Tumbleweed, Shiv, Sprinkle toes, Crisco, etc.) We didn't have a view, but by the time we got to the tinker cliffs later that day we did! We also got rain later though. We decided to stay at the Howard Johnsons and share a room with Shiv and Tumbleweed. For dinner we went to food at the three little pigs with joker, chicken feet, lizard, shiv, and tumbleweed--so yummy! They give free dessert to hikers so we got a banana pudding for free! It was so amazing! (And I don't usually like banana-flavored things) I was too full to go to sleep so I went to go hang out with Hamwise, uno, and big stick in their room and watch movies. It was lovely. Bedtime!
Date: 2016-05-22
From: Daleville

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Decided we had to do a zero day because the outfitters in town was closed on Sunday's so we have to wait until tomorrow (Verge really really needs new shoes).We had a lovely day today! Uno, Verge, and I went and got haircuts! It was such a treat! It was fun chatting with the ladies and getting my hair shampooed and listening to the radio. Then Verge and I hung out at goodwill and had fun trying on cute dresses. It was like a day at home! For lunch I ate a whole container of hummus...it was amazing. Verge doesn't understand my extreme desire for hummus...but wow it was satisfying. We got back to the room and laid in bed and watched a Knights tale (with Heath Ledger), and for dinner Verge and I went to three lil pigs with great P and David. This time I got the smoked salmon and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I shared with Great P, David, and Verge too just to show them how delicious it was. Tumbleweed, Shiv, Uno, Verge and I then got a cookie pie with awesome dinosaur candles and brought it to terrible lizard for her birthday. She was so surprised and excited. Then Verge and I went and played cards and listened to music and hung out with Great P and David. I loved it. Cards and music and good company make me so happy. I stayed up too late again, but it was so worth it.