morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-27
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Bailey Gap 
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: broken clouds

When I woke up this morning it was still rainy and I still didn¢t feel like walking. Maybe this is what is meant by the ¢Virginia Blues.¢ I thought it had something to do with the length and terrain of VA, but maybe it¢s more like a mental hump after the honeymoon period is over. I wonder if the SOBOs (south bounders) get the Virginia Blues in New Hampshire?Anyway, I decided that I would take a mental health morning and wait until the weather cleared up which the guy on the radio assured me it would. I laid in my sleeping bag watching hikers coming out of Pearisburg pass me by. One of those hikers was Cookie, and he seemed to be feeling the blues too. I was just finishing up lunch when he came by, and the sun was finally out, so I packed my bag and headed out after him. My pack felt about 10lbs lighter from the food I had eaten over the past 24 hours, and I got to walk with Cookie for the rest of the day. These two things combined made it a good day indeed, a complete turnaround from yesterday.I left Cookie at the Pine Swamp shelter after eating dinner and I night hiked for about four miles to Bailey Gap. It was hard to find a place to set up my tent and impossible to find a bear bag tree. I find myself in my tent with my food, wondering what¢s stomping in the leaves outside¢¦.
Date: 2006-04-28
From: Bailey Gap 

To: Sarver Shelter 
Miles today: 20.0

I wanted to get an early start this morning, but when I woke up a little before 9:00, I realized it wasn¢t to be. I talked to Jason and Jessica, who had started their journey 500 miles from Springer on the Florida Trail, for a little while before finally rolling out. It was a beautiful, albeit rocky, morning and, for the first time in a long while, I felt happy to be walking.It was too bad I had to go today because I could have taken a long nap on top of Wind Rock overlooking the Virginia countryside. At lunchtime, Carefree met up with me, and we walked together to the next shelter, which included a big uphill that kicked my butt. After filling up my water and saying goodbye, I headed across cow pastures to my final destination. An exciting moment came when I was crossing a field that contained several donkeys. One donkey got mad at another donkey for getting a little too close to his girlfriend, at which point he let out a loud ¢HEE-HAW¢ and ran in for a fight. I quickened my pace.My goal for the night was to arrive at the enormous Keffer Oak before dark so I could take a picture. I succeeded and stood in awe of the tree that would take three people to hug, for several moments before donning my head lamp and continuing to walk. Up, up, up I wnet in the dark and when I was a level spot around 9:00, I pitched my tent for the night.
Date: 2006-04-29
From: Sarver Shelter 

To: Pickle Branch Shelter 
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

What a fun day. I got an earlyish start today after listening to the radio and trying to catch up on my journaling for a while. I had to get some water so I climbed down, down, down, downhill to the Sarver Hollow shelter wishing I was a camel. It was an excellent shelter, and I sat there eating my second breakfast and watching a deer munching on the shrubs for an hour.Back at the top of the hill, I found Papa Bear taking a shoes off break, so I took another 12 hour break. So much for my earlyish start. I ended up walking the whole day with Papa Bear, and it was the most enjoyable day I¢ve had in a long time. We stopped to take a vista break in the morning on some rocky ledges that overlooked the green valley below. On the other side of the valley were mountains after mountains of green fading up to brown with the sun creating shadows within the ridges. Beautiful.After a lengthy lunch, Papa Bear decided to continue to the next shelter with me, breaking his typical early day routine. We had one really big climb at the top of which was one of those unusually placed benches where we took a break. Somehow we missed the Audie Murphy Monument, probably because we were talking too much, but at the bottom of the hill, we were rewarded for our walk with Krispy Kremes and soda that some trail angel had left. We made it to the shelter before dark (yeah!), and since it was nice, I set up my tent (yeah again!).
Date: 2006-04-30
From: Pickle Branch Shelter 

To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: scattered clouds

When I went down to the shelter this morning to eat breakfast, I was confronted with a popcorn explosion. Someone had left a little bag of popcorn up on a hanger and some time in the morning it fell, sending seeds everywhere. Grateful that I wasn¢t sleeping in the shelter at the time, I swept up the mess as best I could but I still feel sorry for whoever sleeps there next.The climb up Dragon¢s Tooth was a breeze thanks to all the switchbacks, but coming down was a literal climb. There were even hand holds anchored to the boulders in some places. At one point I was trying to sit down in order to plant my foot when I fell right on my butt. I thought, ¢great, now when my feet are tired I won¢t be able to sit down either.¢ At the bottom of my climb down, I found a little chair and a cooler filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bars, sodas, Gatorade and water. It was the most creative and organized trail magic I¢ve seen yet.My last big climb of the day was Macafee Knob, and it was the easiest big climb I¢ve had so far. I felt good and there were a lot of day hikers out, and the view from the top into the Green Farm Valley below was breathtaking. I made it into the shelter at 7:00 proving to Papa Bear that I could, in fact, arrive before dark.
Date: 2006-05-01
From: Campbell

To: US11
Miles today: 16.9

A new month! And it started really early in the morning. I got freaked out by the mice in the shelter last night so I moved myself outside onto the deck area thinking they would keep to the shadows. At about 4:30, one section hiker turns to the other and says to get up, to which the other replied he was sleeping in. He did, until about 5:00 when he too made ready for his exodus by rattling bags. By the time they were both gone I was fully awake and ready for the sunrise, which began in a chorus of birds. I¢m surprised the birds don¢t wake me up every morning ¢ they¢re very insistent.I said my final good bye to Papa Bear when he left at 6:30, and then left myself at 7:30. I took a quick candy break on the top of tinker cliffs with my feet hanging off a ledge. As I downed picie sticks, I tried to imagine the incredible scene I saw before me in the past, back when Carefree says the Appalachians were as tall as the Himalayas. Would the mountain ridge that ran into Macafee¢s Knob be 4 times as large? Would the little valley below exist at all? I got up and walked through a couple of big boulders feeling small and insignificant.The rest of the day was a mad dash for town, slowed down of course by the rocks and hills in my way and the pack on my back. I decided in exactly what sequence I would do town chores, starting with Pizza Hut, and then planned exactly what I was going to eat. With this on my mind, the ups and downs seemed endless and the time an eternity.After I finally arrived and got my pizza and groceries, I walked 1.5 miles down the trail with my shopping bag to get to the hotel. This was when I decided I need to pay better attention in the future. At the intersection of the trail and the road where my book indicated my hotel, there was nothing but a crazy looking antique shop with a gigantic horse head sticking out. I ended up road walking about a mile down the road to get to the luxurious Holiday Inn Express which was less than 12 mile from the Pizza Hut. Talk about an unnecessary circle on busy streets!
Date: 2006-05-02
From: US11

To: Harvey's Knob Overlook
Miles today: 15.0

The breakfast at the hotel this morning was excellent, and I definitely had a hiker¢s share. Too much, I was later to find out after my bag was all packed. My belly was way too full to walk. This caused me to have a very slow morning. I didn¢t get to the first shelter 3.5 miles up the trail until 2:00. I took about an hour break there and talked to a group of kids doing a short section hike.By 3:00 my food was all digested and the walking became easier. I knew I¢d be night-hiking if I went all the way to the shelter, but I knew I could just stop and put up my tent if I wanted to anywhere in between. Everything was going well until I arrived at the midpoint shelter. There I found the second half of the group of kids I¢d talked to at the first shelter and they were up in arms because one of them had puked up a baby bird (from Robert ¢ It probably says picked, but it looks like puked and it makes the story a little more interesting). The poor boy didn¢t know that he couldn¢t just put the bird back in its nest, and the whole situation really upset him. It was san, and I felt awkward there so I quickly filled up my water, ate a snack, and left.While I was walking, I realized my backpack didn¢t feel right. I pulled it off and saw that the frame was bent oddly. I didn¢t have time to fix it thought because when I looked at my map, I noticed there were camping restrictions along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I didn¢t want to walk in the dark so I threw on my uncomfortable pack and walked as fast as I could.A black rain cloud followed me the rest of the evening, both literally and figuratively, so when I came to a spot of land 2 miles from the shelter that veered off of the parkway zone and had a little tent spot, I parked it. I moved quickly since it looked like it could rain at any second, and got frustrated when I broke a stake in the rocky soil. Arg! Things just weren¢t going my way tonight. I feel better now that I¢m settled and in my tent, and even though it¢s raining a little, I¢m optimistic that tomorrow will be better.
Date: 2006-05-03
From: Harvey's Knob Overlook

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 26.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It wasn¢t supposed to be a 25 mile day. It started out well, even though it was a little overcast and I took my time as I walked. I saw a groundhog shortly before I stopped at the second shelter for lunch. It tried climbing up a tree and I thought to myself, ¢do groundhogs climb trees?¢ Evidently they don¢t, which it realized about 3 feet above the ground. So there it was, frozen, and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to get a good look at his face. He didn¢t agree and so began a fun game of peek-a-boo.The third shelter I came across was very extravagant and I took a long break there thinking about the big hill coming up. I don¢t¢ think many people stay at that shelter, so I surprised a bird and a squirrel with my presence. I didn¢t bother stopping at the fourth shelter because my goal was to make it to the campsite 1.5 miles past it before dark. I achieved this goal, but just barely, so I quickly set up camp. As I was hanging my bear bag, I realized I had an audience. I couldn¢t make out what it was in the dark, but it looked too small to be a bear and too large to be a raccoon. I yelled and scared it away. The next piece of business was dinner, and boy was I hungry. The gravy was just about to boil when I heard a crashing very close by, but this time when I looked up I saw about 5 sets of those medium-sized eyes. I yelled again, but this time they didn¢t leave. Alarmed, I turned off my stove and ran for my whistle, which I blew as loud as I could. When I looked up, they were gone, but by this time I was convinced they were coyotes and that they would be back next time to circle me and my gravy. Obviously, this was their camping spot, so I dumped my gravy into the fire ring and frantically packed up my stuff. I kept telling myself that canines could sense fear so I tried body building efforts to make myself angry and kept shouting, ¢Now you¢ve made me mad!¢I stormed off in the direction of the next shelter, faced with a 3.5 mile rocky walk in the dark. I was too afraid to take a break and look at my guidebook so I just marched ever onward. I got to the edge of an open grassy area on top of a hill, where I froze staring up at a huge, orange, glowing ball in the sky. The Northeren Lights? That couldn¢t be right. Faced with a UFO in front and coyotes behind, I threw down my bag and pulled out my book. Whew, just a creepy NASA research station, so on I stumbled over, down and through boulders. When I finally got to the shelter, I looked up and saw another pair of glowing eyes, and this time I heard a growl. Please let it be a dog, please let it be a dog. It was, thank goodness, but that was the last straw and I collapsed in a fit of tears next to the shelter before pulling myself together and setting up camp again.
Date: 2006-05-04
From: Thunder Hill 

To: JohnÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Hollow Shelter 
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: clear sky

Today was really uneventful, and I fully appreciated that. I slept in and left late, and was only going to walk 12 miles to the first shelter so I could be done early and let my feet rest. Unfortunately, the first shelter was infested with bees playing a crazy game of tag. It was a little too close to the sleeping area, and there was a lot of mouse poop around, so I moved on. Grizzly, Stogie, and Doogie were at the second shelter along with a couple of section hikers, so I felt justified setting up my tent out back.I¢ve been wanting to comment about the flowers for a few days now, and today, with all of the wonderful (but creepy) rhododendron blooms, it seems the right time. The flowers started coming out in force about a week ago, around the same time that the trees consistently had leaves. First the low lying wild flowers came out, violets and buttercups covered the floor. Then the flowering dogwoods bloomed. Now, spring seems to have burst forth. I saw lady slippers on top of dragon¢s tooth, with its heart-shaped bloom pointed to the Earth. The rhododendron buds burst out into clusters of purple star-trumpet flowers. Even the mountain laurel is ready to pop. I love being able to be outside to witness spring.
Date: 2006-05-05
From: JohnÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Hollow Shelter 

To: Brown Mtn Creek 
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: overcast clouds

When I woke up this morning, I fully intended to go 24 miles to the Cow Camp Gap shelter, so I left early. After a long climb up to Rocky Row, I sat on one of the ledges and ate pop-tarts and candy. Actually, I took a lot of breaks this morning and tied to enjoy the hilly terrain. Stogie and I kept leapfrogging, and we both stopped at the Punch Bowl shelter below the sad Ottie Cline memorial for lunch. It was at this point that Stogie informed me the shelter I was going to was .6 miles off the trail, at which point I decided not to go there. Feeling the freedom of time, I took a nap.When I finally got back to the business of hiking, I met up with Stogie again, who was talking to two section hikers from the previous night. One of these nice gentlemen said to me, ¢You didn¢t know you were walking with a trail angel.¢ And he handed me a titanium spork. Yeah! No more broken spoon! People out here are so incredibly nice.The day went downhill quickly when the sky opened up and poured down on my head. I tried to be interested in the historical marker that talked about the community of freed slaves that lived along Brown Creek, but my soggy shoes were very distracting. I was extremely happy to arrive at the shelter, where Doogie and Stogie were already dry. Grizzly came in about an hour later, and since the shelter wasn¢t full, I pitched my tent inside and went to sleep.
Date: 2006-05-06
From: Brown Mtn Creek 

To: The Priest 
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: clear sky

The last time I talked to my dad, he said he would either meet me tomorrow morning at the river crossing, or he would walk south on the AT to the Priest shelter and meet me tonight. So I set out with that goal in mind.It was a beautiful day and I took my time so I could thoroughly enjoy it. I passed through a picnic area in the morning where I stopped to call my mom and Robert. I asked my mom to have dad bring me a hat, and to warn him that a walk south tonight would entail a 3,000 foot ascent and would be silly to do. Feeling sure he would ignore my warning, I continued my walk.I crossed some beautiful grassy areas today, and on one of them, a hilltop, I threw down my pack for lunch in the sun. I spread out all of my wet clothes from yesterday and I took a nap as they dried. This was exactly the type of lunch I had been imagining before I began on the AT.The day was easy and flew by, and before I knew it I came over a hill only to find my dad, munching on some trail mix. I gave him a hug and commented on how clean he smelled before we headed off to set up in the shelter for the night. I still had night chores to take care of, and we chatted through these. I set up my tent in the shelter again since we were the only people in there. Sad soon found the ingenious of this when he was bitten by a mouse.
Date: 2006-05-07
From: The Priest 

To: Maupin Field Shelter 
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: overcast clouds

The first full day of hiking with ¢Tagalong¢ was successful, but also steep and soggy. At least he got to try out his new poncho. The high point of the day was when he showed confusion about my powdered doughnuts and asked, ¢Do you just add water?¢ It¢s been cold all day and I¢m a little concerned about him and his non-rated, so-called sleeping bag. I¢m sure he¢ll make it through the night, he just might be a little uncomfortable. I¢m too cold to keep writing, so I won¢t.
Date: 2006-05-08
From: Maupin Field Shelter 

To: Paul C. Wolfe 
Miles today: 16.1

I thought Tagalong would be awake long before me this morning, but those climbs must have really tired him out because he slept in until 7:30 ¢ getting almost 12 hours of sleep. It was still really drizzly and foggy and it was no fun to put on cold, damp clothes and shoes. Tagalong kept trying to convince me that my problem was that I didn¢t have a poncho.We stopped at a wayside picnic area to have second breakfast. Dad got excited when he found a stalk of asparagus, which he promptly ate. Trough the fog we could make out a couple of hikers going south, and we learned about 10 minutes later from Pebbles, who was also going south, that it had been Jebus and that he had my hat! They were slackpacking back to the Montbello Bed and Breakfast but said I would probably meet up with them in Waynesboro. Yeah!The hike was a lot less hilly and strenuous today although there were some rocky climbs. Unfortunately the fog prevented us from seeing any king of view. Dad had to listen to my incessant chatter all day. It had built up over the past week. It was nice when we finally got to the shelter which was a nice two story building tucked next to a quaint little creek junction. There was a group of six section hikers already there and they gave me some tacos. (Who packs tacos? Score!) Later, Grizzly came in and asked, ¢Question ¢ it¢s not night hiking until what?¢ To which I replied, ¢Until you turn your headlight on.¢
Date: 2006-05-09
From: Paul C. Wolfe 

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 5.0

Shower and clean clothes day! We left early so we could get to town early and eat some breakfast. We got to Rockfish Gap with Grizzly around 9:00 and had just arrived when a car pulled up and an angel who was part of the Waynesboro Trail Angel Network offered us a ride. The first stop was Weasie¢s, where I participated in and miserably failed the all-you-can-eat pancake challenge. The women¢s record was 19 pancakes, but seeing as they were about the size of my face, I only ate about five. The rest of the day was spent eating and doing chores out of our Quality Inn home base. The best part of the day was when I was flagged down by a group of hikers containing Jebus and I was reunited with my rogue hat, which he found hanging on a tree.
Date: 2006-05-10
From: Waynesboro

To: Calf Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: few clouds

Once again I wasn¢t able to finish all my chores in a day so this morning was another late start our of town. We were having a hard time getting a ride back to the trail and were almost resigned to walking the four miles back when a very nice man pulled up with a truck full of flowers and offered us a ride. It turned out his son had attempted a thru hike back in 1980.Back on the trail, my pack was once again too heavy, and my left foot really started to bother me. The heat only added to these irritations and I got grumpy ¢ I didn¢t want to be walking. Luckily we only had seven miles to walk and the shelter came up quickly.I wanted to tent tonight so dad decided it was a good idea to try out the fly-only tent setup he brought. Unfortunately, he hadn¢t really understood what tent components were required for this setup, and I was much amused by his attempt to hang the fly from the trees. After deciding the arrangement wouldn¢t really protect him from the elements, we took it back down and ate dinner.There is a different bear hanging system at this shelter and I laughed my head off trying to hang my bag. I gave up after a while and opted for the standard tree method. The same comedy show was repeated multiple times later as the shelter filled up. Yeti and Hermes were the only ones who proved successful. I love sleeping in my tent, but we¢ll see if it rains tonight and my story changes. I¢m also a little concerned about the dead tree I¢ve guyed my tent to and hope it doesn¢t fall over in the night and tip my tent on end.
Date: 2006-05-11
From: Calf Mountain Shelter 

To: Blackrock Hut 
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: light rain

When I woke up this morning it was raining on my tent. While that kind of sucked, it was at least a light rain instead of a downpour and I didn¢t have too hard of a time prying myself out. We headed out into the fog and drizzle around 8:45, last as usual for me.The day was wet and uneventful and was characterized by a lot of small but painful uphills. After the failure with dad¢s ¢tent¢ last night, we had decided to walk shelter to shelter, which means we¢ll be having 13 mile days until dad leaves, so we were done hiking today at 3:00. Robert had sent me a Gummi pet rat in my last mail drop which I promptly named Isaac. I ate him as a snack tonight and found a bunch of rat facts on the wrapper. My favorite was that a rat can hold its breath for three minutes and tread water for 3 days.