morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-05-30
From: Double zero in Daleville

To: Buchanan Virginia
Miles today: 24.0

Breakfast this morning is from 6 to 9 o'clock. I was at the front door at 6:02. Eggs and toast two coffees 3 OJ's and two milks later it's on off to the woods. Feel very rested this morning.   I forgot to mention the other day that the trail passed right by the audie-Murphy Monument. Murphy was the most decorated American soldier of World War II. It was on a beautiful outlook off the trail and was interesting to see how many veterans have left their dog tags at the site. The climb out of town wasn't too bad this morning with the sun trying to break through the fog. I'm rooting for the fog because the next three days are supposed to be really hot.   This has to be a concentrated section of the trail. I have never seen so many shelters. They are built every 5 to 6 miles apart. I have stopped at two shelters already but refrain from having a full lunch. Instead I will just snack until supper time. Eating a lot of the same foods for the last two months has got tiring so I changed up the grocery list yesterday in town. Went to the deli first so I could pick out a thick ham and turkey grinder for today. Instead of being one hundred percent healthy I am now going to treat myself to the same snacks a lot of the other hikers have. It's definitely more enjoyable chewing on Skittles and Good and Plenty when you're hiking 12 hours a day. There are only a few Power Bars that I enjoy. My favorite being Gatorade protein bar with vanilla yogurt on top. Okay all this talk is making me hungry. Time to hike on, just needed a break from the baking sun.   It's now 5 o'clock in the afternoon and I've hiked a quarter mile off the trail to Bobbets Gap shelter. Two older thru-hikers who I have not met yet could not finish all the food they packed in and asked me if I wanted a steak burrito. Yes! This not only is delicious but saves me so much time from boiling water with my stove and cooking supper. So I'm taking advantage of the situation and thanked them again before I quickly went on my way. After 19 miles I still feel good and I think I'll just keep hiking until dark or I come across a real nice stealth tent site.   Didn't have a clue that I would be hiking alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway today. What a beautiful section. The trail seem to be crisscrossing over the road every mile or so. Being Memorial Day weekend the parkway is loaded with campers and motorcycles. Whenever I emerge from the woods people beep their horns and wave. There are many signs out here describing what the thru-hikers are all about.
Date: 2016-05-31
From: Buchanan Virginia

To: Thunder Hill shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

When I reached Cove Mountain shelter last night I was the only one there. This is one of the very few stops where there is no water available. That explains why this shelter is empty. While trying to map out tomorrow's agenda I kept killing these large black carpenter ants. The more I looked around the shelter the worse it got. Really nasty looking spiders everywhere. Then I started noticing the giant cockroaches once it got dark. This shelter is completely taken over by every kind of insect out here. No way I'm sleeping in here, I'll take my chances in my tent with the rain. So I packed up everything with my headlamp on in the dark and set up my tent outside. After listening to thunder for quite some time I fell asleep and to my surprise the rain never showed up over this area.   Started to head down the trail around 7:30 this morning and realized instantly that I did not have my Sawyer water filter with me. Not good. I had left it yesterday at that shelter five miles back. I also have zero water with me at the moment. There's nothing I can do right now but start walking towards a water source. It figures the first time I might have to drink water directly from the stream is in one of the worst places so far on the trail. With low elevation and lots of people around I don't really don't want to take the chance. A few miles down the trail I caught up to a thru hiker named Pirate who I barely know. We hiked together for the next mile and at the stream he filtered two 20 ounce bottles of water for me. I thanked him for the temporary fix then proceeded to jump in the Stream. My whole outlook on the day changed once I got clean and cooled off with something to drink. I had a quarter mile stretch of road work before going back into the woods but I only took ten steps in a pickup truck full of thru-hikers pulled over and asked me if I needed a ride to a campground 1 mile away. Perfect. I'm now sitting at their pool with a full breakfast. The bad news is they don't sell water filters here. My plan is to stop at a big swimming hole a half-mile down the trail. I'm sure they'll be plenty of thru-hikers there since it should be about noon when I arrive. I will just have to find someone to hike with the rest of the day and night so I can bum water off them. What a rollercoaster of emotions the first half of this day. I just had to say out loud this morning Dan, you have got to roll with the punches or you're not going to make it out here. My entire plan of doing 19 - 24 miles is completely out the window today but I guess I have to be good with it.   The search for a water filtering system did not go well today. Very stressful. I also seem to have lost all the thru-hikers I know and have been hiking alone for the good part of two days. Luckily I came across a couple of day hikers and they either filtered water for me at a shelter or outright gave me Gatorade. I hope it goes better tomorrow.   The large soccer ball you see is an FAA Tower.
Date: 2016-06-01
From: Thunder Hill shelter

To: Glasgow Virginia
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: broken clouds

People that know me well will not be surprised at the following news flash. I had been carrying my Sawyer water system with me the entire time. Found it last night at the bottom of my sleeping bag stuff sack. Embarrassed but extremely relieved that I am once again 100% self-sufficient out here and hoping to catch up to Curley and M in a few days with some big miles. My double-walled Sea to Summit tent has treated me well so far. The one and a half inch inflatable Sea to Summit mattress also saved my butt during the cold weather but is now actually a little overkill for the summer season.   Packed up quickly today as the bugs are out in full force. Signs of summer in the Appalachian Mountains are everywhere and the shelters are now empty. The last journals you read in the shelter logs are mostly saying that the hikers are getting eaten up alive. It will be tenting for most of the trip from here on in for me.   I learned the answer to a new equation today. Hiking 25, 19 and 22 miles consecutively equals shin splints. They hurt. Very frustrating because I wake up in the morning and would have no problem hiking 14 hours a day doing 30 miles. I'm still so excited to get on the trail but the 55 year old body has other ideas. So after a quick 15 miles today I am now in Glasgow. This is a really neat shelter in the middle of town, completely free of charge. A large dinosaur in town represents the town that time forgot. They are doing everything they can to attract hiker money into the area.   Tomorrow's picture will be of me walking over the James River Footbridge. It's the longest bridge on the Appalachian Trail at 400 feet and a must to jump off of when hiking the AT. It took me a few minutes to climb over the railing and jump the 30 feet into the river but how could I not? Terodactyle has jumped into just about every body of water available. Like they say, when in Rome. So I took the leap.   Staying tonight with a group of hikers with a big German Shepherd who we came across this afternoon. They all got their food bags ripped to shreds and eaten by two large bears last night. As they threw rocks and yelled at the bears the response was with a look of you better cut it "were bears". And the German Shepherd did not even bark at them once. They were all in town now resupplying food and buying new bear bags. It was a pretty amazing story and we all believe every bit of it. They left their food bags hanging in shreds at the campsite to show everyone coming by what happened.   Going to sign off for the evening as it's 6:30 and I have to help everyone gather firewood. I also have a rematch with pirate as I gave him a pretty good game of chess for not playing in 30 years.
Date: 2016-06-02
From: Glasgow Virginia

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

What a great hostel last night. Otter and Stretch showed up and it was great to be with the familiar faces. Played a couple games of chess with Pirate but after 30 years I'm pretty rusty so he beat me with ease.   Getting a late start out of town. 3000 feet straight up with the shin splints so I doubt I'll make it to the 20-mile shelter. Just going to go slow and see how far I can get today. Hoping the ibuprofen will work.   The afternoon sun was brutal going up the 3000 foot climb out of town. Was leapfrogging with five other hikers and we all were stopping every 10 or 15 minutes for a break. Everyone ran out of water before we even reached the summit. When we got to the top there is a plaque in the exact spot where a little boy was found. A four-and-a-half-year-old who wandered away from school in November and his body was found in April on the top of the mountain when the snow melted. Poor Oddie. With a new supply of water and six miles of ridge walk this was probably the highlight of the day. Off in the distance you could hear a slight rumble of thunder. It teased me for about 2 hours and then the skies opened up. I might as well have dunked my sneakers and socks in the river along with most of my other clothes. The trail instantly turned to a muddy river until I finally reach the shelter. The last spot was just taken by a 19 year old from California but when I arrived she insisted we could make room or she would just set her tent up in the wet woods. She ended up with some friends and let me have the spot. I was very grateful and thanked her numerous times last night and the following morning.   There was very little fun to be had on the Appalachian Trail today.
Date: 2016-06-03
From: Brown Mountain Creek shelter

To: Priest shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: overcast clouds

For the second day in a row the morning hike consisted immediately of a 3000 foot climb. The only thing that made it a little more tolerable than yesterday was we left early in the morning and were on the Shady Side of the Mountain. Had two Ibuprofen with breakfast and was hoping for the best. Once again this small injury seems to have completely disappeared and felt no shin splints whatsoever for at least the first 15 miles. The last seven miles of the day there was a slight annoyance but I feel confident that I didn't do too much damage to that leg.   Started receiving texts in the late morning from Bungie. Hiked with her and the gang off and on for about a month. She is now off the trail for good but wanted to know if she could drop a cooler of Trail magic for us and if we needed anything special. I jokingly let her know that I was in dire need of some dry socks because everything we have right now is soaking wet. Lo and behold 14 miles into our hike today was a red cooler at the base of the trail with a pair of wool socks in the side pocket. Unbelievable! Armed with dry sneakers and socks and a leg that feels good I've talked a couple people tomorrow into going as far as we can. I guess we're going to see what the old man has left in the tank. Shooting for a shelter 29 miles away. I realize anything can happen but that's the plan.   It's almost sunset and that means hiker midnight.
Date: 2016-06-04
From: Priest shelter

To: Shelter Before Town
Miles today: 29.0
Weather: overcast clouds

My plan of a long day seem to spread amongst the camp last night. So we have six takers that are going to try to get to the shelter 29 miles away. Unfortunately it seems everyone has changed their mind this morning now that it's 5:05. I'm shaking sleeping bags and Tents but no one is moving. So I left Camp a little after 5:30 by myself with everyone else snoring away. This morning's hike is reminding me of flying in an airplane. Hiking Above the Clouds looking down on a puffy white blanket. It's so beautiful up here at top Priest Mountain but I was brought back to reality by the handwritten note you see duct taped to the Rock. Being medivac out of the woods from a copperhead or rattlesnake bite is not on my list of things to do this summer.   The 3000 foot climb for the third day in a row proved to be the hardest yet. This was definitely the steepest Mountain I'd climbed to date. It was all rocks and roots and extremely slow and I guess I was going less than 1 mile per hour. What made it worse was there was unavoidable 2 feet high grass completely covering the trail smothered by poison ivy. Every time I contemplated stopping and putting on full pants more grass and poison ivy would show up. I've only got a very few spots and I consider myself lucky looking at the other hikers legs which are really bad.   Being one mile from Route 661 I felt confident that I could do 10 more miles and get to that last shelter. But when I emerged from of the woods I saw three of my fellow hikers and they were waiting for me. The Devils Backbone Brewery caters towards hikers with free showers, free camping and discounts on everything. Change of plans.   After a few hours of having a great time and meeting up with about a dozen fellow hikers I feel better about not trying to push for the 29 miles. Then comes the bad news. This Resort specifically made a place for us about a quarter of a mile out in the woods where we could camp but as soon as we walked out there at 8 p.m.it started raining really hard. So no fire and as I'm blogging a flash flood alert just came across for this county. The water is starting to come into my tent on both sides and for the first time I'm using my super absorbent camp towel to try to fend off the moisture. There's nothing else I can do but hope that it stops raining soon. The promise of a $5 hiker breakfast and a free ride back to the trail is the only solace I have to go to sleep tonight.
Date: 2016-06-05
From: Shelter Before Town

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

After a great afternoon yesterday with old friends the fun day was short-lived. Right before it got dark it started to pour and didn't stop all night. Everybody and everything is soaking wet. During the special hiker breakfast this morning 9 of us decided not to try to push the 20 miles to Waynesboro as more heavy rain is imminent. So we are going to get a shuttle into Waynesboro and hike tomorrow when the weather is good. A smart decision.   Was a very productive Zero day. First trip was to the Outfitters. I needed two pairs of socks. 850 miles and they are at the end of their useful life. I was also down to four original tent Stakes so I bought four more that I needed badly. I do not have a free-standing tent which means it's critical to have eight stakes to set it up. I was using sticks and anything else I could find which wasn't working well. Next stop was the all you can eat Chinese buffet. I went back for seconds and thirds. I had immediately jumped in the pool when we arrived at the hotel but now it was time for a shower with real soap. Everyone is fat and happy and all I have left is to go to the dollar store for my third pair of $1 sandals. I just keep losing them. We also just had a torrential downpour with rain sideways and 40 mile an hour winds so we feel better about our decision to stay in town today. That big mile day will have to wait for another time. Four of us have just secured an Uber ride back to the trail tomorrow. Time to elevate the feet, eat again and rest.   Also just want to say congratulations to Matthew Paradise for the second consecutive year winning the New Hampshire Golf Association players Invitational with a six under par 66 yesterday. Great job son! I wish I could have been there to see it. I'm missing more than my share of events in these five months of hiking but this truly is an Adventure of a lifetime.
Date: 2016-06-06
From: Waynesboro

To: Devil's Backbone to Waynesboro
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: clear sky

One of the best free breakfast on the trail this morning. There is supposed to be a long stretch of beautiful weather and today is a great start. On the trail by 9:15. It appears after three straight days of 3 - 4000 foot climbs straight up the terrain will be level all week. It's nice to have some encouraging mileage into Harpers Ferry next week which is the halfway point. Yeah, I can't believe we're all starting to talk about getting halfway done.   If every day of hiking was like this there'd be a lot more people out on the trail. 20 miles flew by and the wildlife was abundant. 6 miles in Otter and Stretch right in front of me had just run back to tell me they saw a bear. I missed that one but two miles further was what looked like a one or two year old bear. He stared at me from about 40 feet just long enough for me to get my camera out. As I waited for the camera to charge the bear strolled into the woods before I could get a shot off. Next up was a 6-foot black snake that I almost stepped on. It scared me a lot more than the Bears did today. I could tell it had been lying across the trail for a while because you could see how everybody was walking around it by the leaves in the woods.   Manage to find a beautiful stream about 4 feet deep which sufficed as an afternoon bath. At the very end of our hike there is actually a list of Trail angels in this town that will come and pick you up or bring you back to the trail for free. Within three minutes I had a ride and asked to get dropped off at the grocery store as I will need 5 days of food to get through Shenandoah National Park. This whole thru-hike experience can be summed up by one incident today as I was walking through this little town of Waynesboro Virginia with all my groceries. I hear hikers yelling out a window of a car driving by "Hey Terodactyle'. It's such a unique experience to travel across the country with A gang of 4000. I couldn't be happier. Waiting to see what tomorrow will bring.
Date: 2016-06-07
From: Devil's Backbone to Waynesboro

To: Stealth camping
Miles today: 11.0

Got a late start on the trail but I'm still going to try to get 15 miles of quality hiking in today.   Now that I've entered the Shenandoah National Park the deer and bear seem to be abundant. I'm guessing with all this High Grass the ticks are also abundant. Two hikers I know have already been to the doctors for their Dyoxcillyn. The trail through the park is very nice except the two foot tall grass is now 5 feet and it is unavoidable. Sometimes it completely crosses over the trail and you just have to brush up against it .I have been doing many daily tick checks.   Got lucky today as the one brief downpour came just as I was walking by a big rock cave. I ducked in and waited the storm out. 20 minutes later an approaching southbound hiker on the trail stared at me and then asked how I stayed dry. He seemed a bit jealous as he was soaking wet.   It's now 7:30 p.m. and as much as I would love to keep hiking it is starting to get dark. I was not looking forward to stealth camping by myself again as I'm still not comfortable being completely alone at night. Just as all these thoughts were going through my head I spotted two tents set up off the trail in the woods. I was so happy to hear that one word from them, as they called out. Terodactyle! They were the first hikers I've seen all day and at the perfect time. So now I have Bougi and Sailor Jerry to keep me company tonight. The bears will have to eat all three of us. And I think I can outrun these two hikers ( haha ).
Date: 2016-06-08
From: Stealth camping

To: Hi Top Mountain shelter
Miles today: 30.0

I knew it was going to be a long day. But the weather is perfect and the trail conditions are great so my goal was to catch up to my crew. Now that were in Shenandoah National Park you have to take the good with the bad. The good is that there are a lot of deer, bear and the terrain is easier. The bad is that there are a lot of people, cars and ticks. Some could say there aren't many people and cars but I'm used to seeing no one.    When I came across the three bears today, the two little cubs ran right up a tree and then right back down before going away with mom. Later on in the day I practically had to shoe a large buck that was on the trail 10 feet in front of me. The trail circles around large campgrounds in the park. Sometimes you will come within 20 feet these people's campsites. It's strange to be walking by all these families. I can tell they have no idea who we are and what we are doing. I don't believe they even know they are on the Appalachian Trail itself. Even though the terrain was not steep today, 30 miles is 30 miles and I am dog tired!
Date: 2016-06-09
From: Hi Top Mountain shelter

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: clear sky

Woke up this morning and started to put on my long pants to fend off the ticks. Immediately my knees asked me to not do another 30 mile day for a little while. So I agreed with them. Then spent over 1 frustrating hour to login my 5-minute journal entry for yesterday. Service is horrible in this National Park. Please be patient with my entries sometimes the voice activation device does not work properly and the words come out jumbled or misspelled and I can't get service back to edit my journal.   Hiked the first few miles with Pebbles until she pulled away from me. Caught up with IPA around Mile 10 as he was eating a sandwich on the trail. Asked him what he was doing because Slow Jam mentioned his uncle would be at Mile 11 with hot dogs and Trail Magic. IPA stopped eating immediately and we beat feet for the campground. Sure enough one of the first things we saw when we took this side Trail was Slow Jam and his uncle cooking. After a warm-up of two hot dogs some watermelon and snacks we then went directly to the camp store across the street and ate again. For only the second time on the trail I am completely full have no room for anything. Today at mile 20 is the visitor center where they're promising Blackberry milkshakes and giant cheeseburgers. Maybe I'll be back over 140 pounds by the end of the day ( haha ).   It figures that it's now 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I have not come across any grass for the first time in 2 days. So much for wearing the long pants today. Also forgot to mention yesterday that I have crossed the 900 mile marker.
Date: 2016-06-10
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Pass mountain hut
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

Woke up for the 3rd morning in a row to a crystal clear blue sky. It means a lot to us hikers since rain is our mortal enemy out here. We no longer even point out the deer to each other as they are so abundant around this park it's like seeing someone's dog.   Took a nice little nap today on the trail. With all the sun I'm getting and some beers around the fire last night I'm completely drained today. Wish I could sleep here all day but I have another 12 miles to go to catch up to the gang.   It's another beautiful hiking day. I would say perfect but as soon as you stop on the trail the black flies start to swarm. With 6 miles left to the shelter I'm thinking about a smoky fire, long sleeve shirt and bug spray for the night. If that doesn't work I will have to retreat to my tent very early.   As is usually the case the last six miles of the day were the hardest. The hot temperatures and afternoon sun started to take its toll on everyone. Surprisingly when I arrived at the shelter there were no bugs and four women who had been out on a one-week Retreat had tons of food left over which we eagerly accepted.