morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-07-11
From: Bear's Den Hostel

To: Harper's Ferry (!!)
Miles today: 20.3

Today we conquered the roller coaster which seemed much easier than yesterday. We went down a very inordinately difficult / steep blue blaze to the Blackburn Camp Center aka the PATC caretaker HQ, got free soda and chocolate bars, talked to the caretaker who was nice, and made lunch (aka I ate the scraps of my bear can because I was running on fumes and didn¢t have enough snack bars for the day. SP  gave me a packet of pop tarts but I was determined to continue my streak of never having eaten one). Post break we set off, randomly passing Dave the Masseuse who was working on Ra and Mando and I was very jealous of their break. It was just a long day and our feet were aching but we really, really wanted the full zero tomorrow.There was a pretty bridge we crossed over into WV, and then we had a stupid uphill immediately after and then we had to road walk to the hostel which killed our already shredded feet. We crawled into the backyard of Harper's Ferry Hostel, and I sat in the backyard icing my knees while having the most random conversations with the guys there about evolutionary anthropology and Punkin Chunkin. SP wisely ordered us Popeyes and 6 28oz body armors (which ended up not being enough :( ) and we passed out early - dead.
Date: 2023-07-12
From: Harper's Ferry (!!)

To: Harper's Ferry (!!)
Miles today: 0.0

I had a lie in, went to the bakery for fresh bread and kombucha, and then went to the ATC HQ to get pictures taken for the yearbook!! Crazy being at the emotional midpoint of the trail! Afterwards we took the bus to Walmart to resupply, and then went back. I took an Epsom salts bath, read my book, and poked around a bit in downtown as I picked up my shoes from the post office and mailed home my puffy (again lol).
Date: 2023-07-13
From: Harper's Ferry (!!)

To: Crampton Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.7

Woke up earlyish to meet Respawn and Rabbit for breakfast at Waffle House to celebrate Respawn finishing his hike (he decided to get off after Harper¢s Ferry), and went back to the hostel to ice my knee and chill for a bit and I took a power nap. I woke up at 11:30 in time for lunch, and Respawn swung by to give us a hug before leaving to slack the remaining 20 miles he had. SP and I went to the vegan place in town, but the guy working there kept talking about climate change which was depressing me and made me lose my appetite even when SP was like ¢eat your veggies!¢ And tried to tell me optimistic climate facts lol. At least he tried. After this we stopped by ATC HQ again to pick up a tag for SP, ran into Happy Feet / Alabama Red Beard / etc and flipped through the yearbook some more looking for Zookeeper. After we killed some more time we headed down trail through the historic Harper¢s Ferry which ended up being really cute and reminded me of older New York suburbs and we lamented we didn¢t know it was so cute, as we could¢ve taken another zero to take advantage of it. We stopped to get custard / smoothies though, and looked through the outfitter for a light summer sleeping bag but ended up just getting gas refills.We limpidly hiked out of town (always so hard to leave town!) and Rabbit passed us and left us in the dust. We stopped for a break and ended up going down the gear wormhole and ordering new summer quilts / sleeping bag liners as the Virginian nights are OPPRESSIVELY HUMID AND SLIMY.
Date: 2023-07-14
From: Crampton Gap Shelter

To: Ensign Cowall Shelter
Miles today: 20.7

I woke up to my knees throbbing in the middle of the night, and for the very first time on trail I thought: ¢what am I doing?¢But I knew my knees just hurt and I was grumpy from the humidity and these 2 things were easily addressed - start hiking early in the morning to try and get the majority of the miles before the heat kickedin and I could just contact masseuse Dave to work on my knees. So I popped some vitamin I and went back tobed.Woke up at 5:15, groggily got out of camp (not before frantically running around looking for the privy to shit inbut SP had my TP so had to find him) and we rolled off. We stopped at Washington Memorial park to go to the bathroom againand rest for a bit, where we saw Ra and Mando, and then Respawn texted looking to meet us at a road so wekept pushing to the crossing where we saw him! He was there with his mom, and they had sandwich fixings forus. We chatted with them for an hour, wrapped up our lunch,hugged Respawn goodbye, and kept going to the next shelter for an afternoon nap. At the shelter, Pine Knob, I wasupdating my diary / booking travel info for the Seattle wedding (too many weddings!!) when a talkative section hiker rolled up and did not pick up the fact that we were trying to zone out. Slapsalso showed up at the shelter during the afternoon Cool Off. After all this we left to push to Ensign Cowell for bedtime, but when we got there it was darkand the Golden Horde and the weekend warriors were there; as thus it was a pain to find a spot. After setting up my tent I collapsed, exhausted.
Date: 2023-07-15
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter

To: Rattlesnake Run Road
Miles today: 13.3

The problem with rolling into camp after dark is you don't have time to scout out the lay of the land aka find the privy. Unlike the Shennies there are no useful maps pointing to where anything is, so when the morning movement urge strikes it's a lot of running up and down the grounds looking for it. Every privy is such a mystery in terms of newness, design, the Poop Cone that waits, number of flies, etc. As varied as life's wonders.Another early morning out, went down a long annoying rocky outcropping into PenMar park and I listened to apodcast which wasn¢t that compelling (¢who shat on the floor of my wedding?¢ I got impatient and looked upwho did it but apparently they don¢t figure it... so I dropped it). At PenMar I rested my feet a bit, and Icontacted masseuse Dave to coordinate a pickup point. We kept going after seeing the weather look ominous, and Izoomed off the last 2.8 miles to meet him (running past trail magic of Smartwater cache), however it turned outthere was a misunderstanding and there were TWO rattlesnake run roads and he was the one 4.4 miles further. R I P. We went into town to get Thai food + food resupply and crashed at a Days Inn.
Date: 2023-07-16
From: Rattlesnake Run Road

To: Quarry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.4

Back at it on trail, passing the other Rattlesnake Run Road (lol), and we stopped for early lunch at Old Forge Park which had bathrooms! Today wasn¢t that eventful but the shelter was amazing, it was alpine lodge themed with gnomes and swingsand a covered walkway between shelters. I wish I had more time to enjoy it but we got there at twilight, and the spots in and around the shelter were all taken. This would be a spot I would recommend for you weekend warriors! So charming, would love to do a zero here.
Date: 2023-07-17
From: Quarry Gap Shelter

To: Iron Masters' Mansion
Miles today: 17.2

Truly we just dissociated and put our head down until we got to Ironmaster¢s at 2:37pm which was impressivespeed; as always I am working towards my goal of 3mph cruising speed as for some reason I have the thought that I am not a True ThruHiker unless I can cruise that comfortably. For the record, that is not a thing and there is no required minimum speed but it does help to hike less hours for the same distance in order to reduce time on feet. My favorite part of today was walking through the pine forest because of the soft bed of pine needles and flatground, as well as it feeling like the forest stretched endlessly around us. We stopped for water and food at ashelter, and chatted with Bugs + Butter who were ZOOMING. We saw some old friends, Grizzly Bear and Big Boi, with their new palsMooch, Dead Dad(whose dad isn¢t dead), and Wednesday. I got a burger which was fine, and had a few bites of ice cream while watching Rabbit tackle the half gallonchallenge (while he finished the challenge, the challenge conquered him as he had to puke). Afterwards I showered and lazed around (so satisfying to finish a high mileage day early in the day and have the rest to be lazy, feels like a nearo), and I talked to the innkeeper and we bonded over being Jewish and I gotsome great hostel owner gossip from her. A dream of mine is to become part of the AT hostel information network... In the evening I sat on a rocking chair outside enjoying the evening breeze while reading Sticks and Stones¢ AT memoir -I¢m really enjoying reading others¢ trail journals while on the trail because I can compare their experiences incertain sections with my own, and relive what I¢ve done so far! Also to judge them of course.
Date: 2023-07-18
From: Iron Masters' Mansion

To: Alec Kennedy Shelter
Miles today: 15.3

I woke up at 5:44am, saw the misty fog outside and peeked at others' bunks and saw everyone seemed asleep so Iwent back to bed. Rinse and repeat until 8am.We got ready to go, and stopped by the grill to get breakfast before heading out. Several breakfast wraps laterwe finally left, and while walking through the park we saw someone had put up signs with pages of anenvironmentalist children¢s book and we ended up doing the entire side swamp trail loop to read the book. After that we hiked, stopped for lunch, and stumbled into trail magic 4 miles before dinnerwhich was a full cookout of hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon, candy, chips, Gatorade, soda, beer, andbananas - wow! The Golden Horde was already there but there was plenty for everyone, and I had my watermelon. The Horde shuttle driver told us that there would be a trail angel in Duncannonthat would let us use her kayaks for free, which was cool to hear.I wanted to press to Boiling Springs before end of the day, but when we hiked out we enjoyed a nice rockscramble and then I was sleepy, so we stopped at Alec Kennedy shelter which had reports of rattlers andcopperheads - oye. I passed out, waking up in the night to the sound of rain and mentally gloated as I knew SP went to bed without his rain tarp and would be getting wet.
Date: 2023-07-20
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon
Miles today: 10.9

We got up early, and left with SP complaining about how everyone's inflatable air pads kept crinkling like a hellish chorus throughout the night. The morning hike was rocky but fine UNTIL the final descent into Duncannon which was a bigfucking massive pain in the ass and took forever. But finally we were free of this section and into a well- eserved rest, stopping for Body Armor of course before checking into the hostel where we were reunited with Colossus,Junco, and Spills!The hostel turned out to be bopping, as we saw Rabbit come in just minutes later and even Patches who stopped by for a bit before going to the other hostel. The bunks in the back for some reason reminded me of a Martian space bunker.... no idea why.The Germans invited us to go to REI with them, and I bought what turned out to be my final form hiking clothes (REI shorts + Smartwool cropped tea which helped SO MUCH with the humidity). I had time to eat so Iwent to Panera and ordered 2 french onion soups. We got back and I finished my bread boule while watching JKK season 2 with Rabbit. Dinner was with Colossus and the Germans, and afterwards I got ice for my knee while watching Tropic Thunder in the common space and then bed.
Date: 2023-07-21
From: Duncannon

To: Duncannon
Miles today: 0.0

Breakfast was at the cafenext door (it had been closed the day prior due to someone getting arrested for perhaps domestic reasons andthe owner getting emotional so closed it for the day, according to Junco) and I got an iced matcha lattewhich actually tasted like they put matcha in it! We sat on the nice sofa for a bit, I finally realized the websitetracking Karel Sebbe¢s PCT FKT attempt was in km not miles which made a lot more sense and seemed muchmore realistic to be doing ~50 mile days vs. ~100 mile days, and marveled at how soft the cafe bathroom¢s TP was.After a bit SP and I went back to grab Rabbit and pack some snacks because today we were going kayaking!! We walked over to trail angelMary¢s, grabbed the kayaks and went down the river for a blissful day floating and snacking. We got off on anisland to explore it but it was teeny; SP had a beautiful moment where he was singing ¢one day more¢ andRabbit joined in and it was very nice and everyone clapped. It really felt like a coming of age summer movie, andwas just lovely and perfect - I was very content. The islands had beautiful wildflowers of purple and yellow, andthey were a blur as we floated by as the river current was strong. I enjoyed watching the birds perch on treessticking out of the water, and wheeling in the sky, as well as the dragonflies buzzing.There were twinned islands with a Statue of Liberty replica and a folly on the other, and we hung there for a bitbefore going through the rapids around the islands (reminded me of the Johto region Pokemon games tbh) andI almost capsized and it was awesome. Post river Mary grabbed us, and we went back and put everything back.Definitely a highlight of my hike so far. We then grabbed (sadly disappointingly undercooked) pizza, snacks, and watched a couple ofmovies before bed as we were fried by the sun.
Date: 2023-07-22
From: Duncannon

To: Stealth
Miles today: 16.4

Man I¢m not used to being in bed this early, the past few weeks it¢s always been arriving at camp post dark and just collapsing to sleep when all set up. I woke up (after having to pee a billion times in the night) and rolled out with SP to get morning drinks however the cafe was closed until 8am this morning! So we went to thediner to get breakfast but it took SO long we were like ¢we should¢ve just waited for the cafe...¢ after all that wegot our drinks, then packed up and headed to the post office to mail things home (my 0F quilt and my old hiking clothes since I had the new set from REI which was lighter and far superior for humidity).Ended up being about 3lb6oz off my back, but I feel the majority of that was clothes to be honest. We rolled on, with the climb out of town being steep but ok. SP's friend met up with us and hiked with us for about 9 miles, giving us Body Armor which was awesome. We hung for abit in the parking lot (where I was lurking hoping he¢d take us for hot food but miscommunication on SP's part meantalas no - he forgot to tell his friend that yes we did want food), and hiked some more. We got to a blowdown andSP's friend was like ¢I¢m outtie¢ and turned around. After that we hiked to the next shelter tomake linner, where I tried the Firepot vegan orzo bolognese for linner, and it was ok. At least you could tell it was made with realfood, the tomato bits in it seemed very convincing. Happy Feet and Mudbug came by and we caught up with thembefore setting off to make it to our final destination for the day 5.1 miles up the trail. We did some rock hops and was able to set up camp by 8:30 and enjoyed some camp time before dark.
Date: 2023-07-23
From: Stealth

To: PA 443
Miles today: 17.1

We saw Colossus 2.5 hours into our hike, and sat with him chatting for an hour. He ended up joining us for the hiking day. Notably we had a snack outside Rausch Gap that felt very LotR.Colossus convinced us to go into town and stay at the hotel thatPBJ had recommended so strongly and it was awesome tbh, we got Burger King for dinner and passed out.
Date: 2023-07-24
From: PA 443

To: PA 443
Miles today: 0.0

Woke up and had breakfast in the hotel lobby (including chorizo egg burritos which were delish) and hopped back under thecovers when I saw it was lightning out. I was going to ~wait out the weather and see how it was around 12 andslackpack~ but then someone put on EEAO and that did not happen. Turns out I really needed a zero because while kayaking wassuper fun, it was tiring. I tried the watermelon strawberry Bodyarmor (meh but at least I finished it) and gotSubway for lunch. I took a bath in the afternoon which was lovely. Later Iwas watching Selling Sunset but got overruled to put something else on, so we watched Puss in Boots: The LastWish and then passed out.
Date: 2023-07-25
From: PA 443

To: Stealth
Miles today: 16.3

Ok rolled out for good this time. It was a great day for hiking in that it was cool, overcast, and low humidity. We stopped at the 501 shelter and saw Happy Feet, Mudbug, Colossus, and Bug Bite / Crane. It was an actualenclosed building with a caretaker and a skylight in the center, with bunks and board games and books andoutlets and a water hose and a portapottie. We ordered Italian (I got a chicken parm sandwich and a root beer)and played Jenga while waiting for it to arrive. The sandwich was much better than expected (but notnecessarily... good yanno) and I regretted not getting the 12¢ version. After a little stretching and lollygagging, we headed out to do a few more miles, passing the 999.9 miles remaining mark°­ less than 1000 miles to go atthis point. We got to camp not too late, set up for the night, and discussed the game plan for the next week.
Date: 2023-07-26
From: Stealth

To: Port Clinton St. John's Church Pavilion
Miles today: 20.8

Another day up bright and early, aka I wake up at 5:10 to pee and dive back into my tent to snooze for a fewmore minutes until SP pokes me awake at 5:40. We passed mile 1200 almost immediately and hauled ass makingit to Eagles Nest Shelter by 12:30. We saw a cute porcupine waddling away from us, and took a moment toappreciate it. We had lunch and I dicked on my phone while SP napped for an hour. His feet / knee were bothering him, but we were unsure what the plan was because the hostel wasn¢treplying and we didn¢t know if we should resupply in town or at the Lookout hostel so we just decided to make amove on. I checked my phone 2 hours later and saw they had space tomorrow, and there was 2 roads before thehostel so we could get picked up earlier if we couldn¢t make the full mileage. Right before the monster descentinto Port Clinton I called in our dinner orders to the hotel restaurant in town and SP ran off. I was making good timedown until the stupidly steep part which we both agreed was the worst descent on trail. I was shouting FUCKYOU A.T. the whole time as I skidded down a slope, that frankly, was harmful to human life. Finally I made it downalive (while contemplating the Ariana Grande drama) and then walked to town where I foundSP eating behind the restaurant. I had passed a vending machine on the way there and tried to get MountainDew voltage for him and root beer for me but they were sold out. Lame. I ate my terrible burger (not as bad asWeary Feet's burger!) blankly as I was just drained from the day. The mileage was totally fine actually and my knees feltfine, it was just that last downhill killed my energy and I had no desire to tackle the 1100¢ climb out of towntonight (especially since it¢s over 1/2 a mile....... The Descent part 2: The Ascent) so we tried to stay at the hotelbut they ~didn¢t accept people after 7pm~ (dumb) and I was too tired to try and find a place elsewhereso we walked to the church pavilion to camp for the night. Crane was there and was chatty, I was not in the moodto talk at dinner, but after setting up my tent I had a little more patience to chat gear while stretching before bed.
Date: 2023-07-27
From: Port Clinton St. John's Church Pavilion

To: Lookout Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

Sigh, I woke up and was like well this tentspot place sucks. We were between a road and a train track so it was quite loud and VERY BRIGHT. SP wanted to get new shoes at Cabelas to potentially address his foot issue, but as the free shuttle wasn't coming we took a Lyft to the Dunkin¢ near Cabelas to kill time beforeit opened. I finally bought The Sunset Route to read as I¢ve been dying to read it for awhile. We chilled in a corner booth charging our stuff as I read (Iwashed my face in the Dunkin' bathroom and I was like ¢wow I am now true hiker trash¢). Sadly Cabela's did not have we needed as it was more geared towards hunting and car camping versus backpacking. However it was the largest Cabelas (in the world??) so we toured the various animal exhibits, the empty fudge store, played checkers in the kid zone, and looked atthe fish in the pond. I bought some of my trusty friend Permithrin, and then we headed out to where we ran intoThor and talked to him for a bit (he was a cool guy!).We got an ride to the hostel, where we ran into Bird and Patch who were staying there - I just missed Raand Mando as they left that morning. Today was pretty uneventful except for ordering Chinese, getting to knowMagic Falcon who is a MICHELIN STARRED CHEF and thus my new hero, and Hamilton walking in later in the day.
Date: 2023-07-28
From: Lookout Hostel

To: Lookout Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

SP's knees showed no signs of recovery, so took another zero and ordered the Chinese yet again for lunch. For dinner I went toThunderhead Lodge with another hiker, where we had an incredibly strange waiter.Really frustrating to have taken a 3rd zero this week, and I tried to appreciate the rest for my own body, but wehave been riding the line so tightly to making it to Katahdin that it makes me feel anxious as if I am losing a race against time and we have to make huge mileage per day versus having fun and enjoying the experience which is what I wanted my trail experience to be. A lot of agonizing over what to do, and if it was time to separate and start hiking ahead while my own body was holding up.
Date: 2023-07-29
From: Lookout Hostel

To: Hawk Mountain Road
Miles today: 15.0

Got shuttled back to Port Clinton so we could fill in the missing miles between there and the Lookout Hostel.Today was uneventful and slow due to SP's knee (to put it in perspective, I was passing him on downhills and I am SLOW on downhills). I met Star Waffle and First Class, who were lovely. SP realized that the rest did not help, and his knee was getting swollen at this point so we were going to have to go back to Lookout hostel and he was going to have to restit and seriously consider a flip flop or skipping up which was understandably incredibly frustrating and disappointing as he really wanted to only hike NOBO. At least Colossus and Rabbit ended up being at the hostel to provide distraction.We all went to get dinner at Thunderhead Lodge which was the tied with the Front Royal Baymont Thai place as the most delicious place I¢ve been to on trail (byFAR and that is a very low bar) and I finally got the crab cakes (after I ordered it yesterday and the waiter did a swaparoo and gave me the other option). They were fine. I also had a nice fruitysangria and we all gabbed. A good ending to a very mid day.
Date: 2023-07-30
From: Hawk Mountain Road

To: Lookout Hostel
Miles today: 11.6

Today I slackpacked with Rabbit, and while I didn¢t mean to hike with him we ended up gamboling along together chatting about everything and anything. It felt like a fun playdate versus Serious Hiking, but we went slowly, and it took us from 8:30am to 3pm to do 11 miles oops. I really do not go any faster slackpacking, I just chill out and slug along. Originally I was going to try and do 5 more miles past Lookout Hostel to the Bake Oven Knob parking lot, but then Rabbit and I decided we'd rather see the Barbie movie so we got off where the trail meets the hostel to go and look up showtimes. However at this point SP was back from urgent care, where he was diagnosed with a knee sprain and told to rest for 3 days. As this meant leaving him behind tomorrow, Rabbit and I decided to skip Barbie and hang out at the hostel playing cards with him and Colossus before all of us going back to Thunderhead Lodge for dinner. There we met a family of Irish SOBOs who started 6/12 - it included a dad, a 10 year old, and an 8 year old. They looked fresh as a daisy despite being so fucking fast - apparently the dad did this last year with his 2 older kids and they finished in 99 days so the other set of kids wanted to beat that time. Extremely impressive but also I would die.