morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-06-04
From: Campsite beside creek 1/2 mile north of US 501

To: Campsite in the vicinity of Pedlar Dam
Miles today: 15.5

Today was mostly sunny, waarm, with some clouds and a very short rain shower while we were at Bluff Mountain. The trail up to Big Row Run Rocks was nicely switchbacked, and we both felt fairly good - although ready for sleep now as we went to sleep late and woke up early this morning.We think we found a Tansy Ragwort today, and also saw Whorled Coreopsis, Wild Columbine, Virginia Waterleaf, Venus Looking Glass, Spiderwort, maybe a Golden Alexander, and many more.The Punchbowl Mountain Shelter was really nice, with a pond next to it, and a fair amount of open area. If it wasn't so early, it would have been anice place to camp and listen to the frogs when they started their evening chorus. It was a nice place to stop and cook early dinner and bake our bread.We are really looking forward to Waynesboro, as our white flour bread just does not keep us fueled for very long.
Date: 2006-06-05
From: Campsite in the vicinity of Pedlar Dam

To: Campsite at North Fork of the Piney River
Miles today: 17.4

Whew, feeling a little tired tonite - our first climb up to Bald Knob was was quite steep, but the others were not too bad. We had one of our biggest elevation gain days today at 4,900'.There were many edible plants growing on the hillside on our climb this morning - plantain, dandelion, garlic mustard, waterleaf, Spiderwort, nettle, and sweet cicely. We picked some to eat while hiking, and picked some nettle and garlic mustard to add to our mashed potato dinner.There is a Veery singing outside the tent right now, and we got to hear many birds on our walk today, some of which were winter wren, Rufous-sided Towhee, Eastern Wood Peewee, Phoebe, wood thrush, and ovenbirds.Stopped for our dinner break and bread baking at a campsite at Hog Camp Gap. There was a beautiful spring about a five minute walk from the campsite, and a nice tree swing at the campsite. However, the tree swing was a little high, and Jeanne could not get it started without being able to touch her feet on the ground, Linc was able to - must be he had more high swings when he was a kid than Jeanne did.We had a mixture for weather - sun, clouds, rain showers, warm, and cool.
Date: 2006-06-06
From: Campsite at North Fork of the Piney River

To: Harper's Creek Shelter tentsites
Miles today: 16.2

The climbs weren't too bad today, but the descent from the Priest was rocky and steep in some sections, as we made our way down 3,000 in elevation. Got some good views from overlooks.We ran into trail magic at the Tye River, in the form of grilled hamburgers and chips. We decided to stop for a burger to get us up the first 1,000 climb, of a total 3,000' climb to our next peak. It tasted pretty good, and helped us up the hill. Since we had the burgers, we didn't cook our full dinner, instead just steaming up the nettles Linc had found along the way and serving them with a little butter and black pepper - yum.We caught up to Home Cookin' and Doublezip today near the Priest shelter - not sure how long it's been since we saw them, so we were surprised cause last we knew they were two days ahead of us. They were planning to get to Rusty's Hollow hostel tonite.We ran into Bright Eyes again, having last seen her a long time ago in Brown's Gap. She actually eats healthier than us, having been able to plan some of her food and get lots of dehydrated veggies and beans, sprouted grain crackers, and grains from a food coop.
Date: 2006-06-07
From: Harper's Creek Shelter tentsites

To: Campsite 1 mile south of Humpback Rocks Sidetrail
Miles today: 15.8

We started our day with a 2,000 foot climb up to the Three Ridges, and it was steep and rocky. As a matter of fact, the whole day was pretty rocky - did we miss the end of Virginia and get into Pennsylvania today without noticing?!! Also, when do we see the flatter terrain of Virginia, we're almost through it, and it's still quite hilly.Today, I felt pretty tired, not having slept real well on our somewhat rocky tentsite, and Linc was quite a bit ahead of me as I didn't see him much, and I can usually see him ahead of me a little ways or on switchbacks along the way.We ran into No Lines and Plugger along the way - they were slackpacking south, courtesy of the B&B that was near the Fish Hatchery Road. The B&B offeres a free lunch to through hikers, you just have to walk about a mile from the trail where they will come and pick you up. Linc and I considred the free lunch, trying to decide whether we wanted to hike a mile each way out of our way, but when we looked at the map and it showed about a 900' drop down to the Fish Hatchery, we decided it was not worth a free lunch and continued on.It was hot again today, with mostly sunny skies for the morning, mostly cloudy for the afternoon, with afternoon and evening rain showers. Looking forward to Waynesboro tomorrow.
Date: 2006-06-08
From: Campsite 1 mile south of Humpback Rocks Sidetrail

To: Rockfish Gap, Waynesboro
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Got up somewhat early and got started just before 8 a.m. I guess we both had townitis, because this was the fastest we have hike so far on the trail. At one point, we hike 4.1 miles in about 1 1/2 hours - of course, that part of the trail was smooth and mostly downhill, as was most of the hike today. It started out rocky, for about the first mile, then smoothed out. We only had one climb of about 800' gain.This town is a great hiker town. We got to the Gap, stopped at the bridge to get out our book to see which way to go, and a woman stopped her car and asked if we were headed into town. When we said we were going to Waynesboro, she said she'd be right back for us, she just had to drop someone off a little up the road. SHe came back within a couple of miles, drove us right to the YMCA camping area, and gave us a little tour of the town, telling us where all the important places were. It turns out that this town has a list of volunteers who will shuttle hikers from the trail to town and back, and also around town if needed. THey YMCA provides the camping free of charge, along with a towel and soap for a free shower. They say that donations are appreciated, so will give one before we leave.We spent a bit of time this afternoon on the internet trying to figure out which new tent to buy, as the zipper on our 1990 Clip Flashlight is really giving us problems. However, we've decided to try to fix it, as it is probably just the zupper pull, and Sierra Design will send us three new zipper pulls to Harper's Ferry - hopefully the current pulls will continue to work until there, and this may save us some money.Tomorrow will be a zero day with lots of errands, having to buy and package food for two maildrops for Harper's Ferry, WV and Port Clinton, PA. Good to be in town and eat lots of fruit and veggies - had a snack of tortilla chips, sprouts, carrots, yogurt and honey - tasted good. Supper was sauted broccoli, carrots, onions, mushrooms and garlic, served on Tomato-basil tortillas.It's late and time for sleep so we can get all our errands done tomorrow and try to rest up some.
Date: 2006-06-09
From: Rockfish Gap, Waynesboro

To: YMCA, Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

Today we took are second "in town" zero day since we started hiking. We did lots of erroands, and the day went by quick. We managed to get to the library twice for a hour each time for each of us on internet and got our journals caught up. We also grocery shopped for the next section of hiking, and also for two drop boxes, one to Harper's Ferry and one to Port Clinton, PA.We organized, packaged and sent our drop boxes, and repacked and bounced our bounce box. Also, got to a phone and talked with our moms.All in all a good day to get errands done, but not a very restful zero day.
Date: 2006-06-10
From: YMCA, Waynesboro

To: Campsite 2 miles N of Skyline Drive Mile 92.4
Miles today: 15.3

A Waynesboro volunteer/Trail Angel (Bill Gallagher) showed up at 7:30 this morning offering us a ride, so we quickly finished packing up and headed out. He stopped at the hardware store so we could get our fuel bottle filled up and then dropped us off at the trail. What a wonderful service they offer in Waynesboro between the Trail Angel volunteers and the YMCA camping and use of facilities.The climbing started out steep, but gradually tapered off to more gradual climbs. We had cool weather today, especially when stopped for breaks.We found wood nettled near the spring where we baked our bread and cooked our dinner for lunch, so enjoyed that mixed in.The deer in the park are quite tame so far, as we have two wondering around our campsite - one a buck even, following us around after we have relieved ourselves!!! Good to be back in the woods.
Date: 2006-06-11
From: 2 miles north of Skyline Drive Mile 92.4

To: Ivy Creek
Miles today: 14.2

Today was a trail magic day. Trail Magic is what through hikers call it when a stranger offers something nice, usually food, but to me it describes a more general feature of life. Basically, "help is there when you really need it."It was a humid day, and maybe that's why I (linc) was feeling so sluggish, but I plodded along feeling tired and weaker through the day. Our first big boost came from a through hiker named "42" (named after the answer to the meaning of life from the great computer in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of novels). She was day hiking south with her parents, with a pack full of fresh fruit and cold beer for any thru-hikers they might encounter. Jeanne took a peach, and I a Gala apple. Delicious!Tiring again, we took a side trail to a spring by a PATC maintenance cabin to cook bread and dinner. We were finishing up the bread and starting cooking dinner when a volunteer PATC (Potomac Appalachian Trail Club) group showed up for their end of the day picnic. We hastily moved all of our food and cookware to the far end of the picnic table and tried not to look at all of the delicious, fresh food they were consuming.We didn't have to ignore the food long, as it suddenly started flowing our way. Pasta salad with red peppers and cashews, hummus, fruit salad stuffed in a hollowed out cucumber, oatmeal raisin cookies, lemonaide, more pasta salad, more fruit salad, more cookies, and a bag of baby carrots. As they phrased it, "no sense in us having to carry any of this back out to the car, you might as well eat it". We couldn't argue. That fresh food sure came at a great time. That's trail magic.Soon afterwards, our trail food dinner of rice, cheese, veggies, fish and spices was ready, and we just stuffed ourselves silly. We were so full, we didn't move very far before finding a spot to set up our tent for the night.
Date: 2006-06-12
From: Campsite near Ivy Creek

To: Campsite one mile South of Swift Run Gap
Miles today: 14.3

Well, I guess last night's campsite was not the best - we did not get a whole lot of sleep.We got into the tent and quickly fell off to sleep. Not long afterward, we heard lumbering noises, sniffing noises, and a weird "huh, huh, huh" sound, kind of like a moronic laugh. The lumbering sound wandered off, and the noises stopped, but then another one came by, making the same sound, and sounding quite close to the tent. We hollered out, and it stopped moving, we got out of the tent and shined out light in its direction, and still no sound. We got back into the tent, and settled back down to go back to sleep (it was about 10 p.m.), and we again heard sniffing, "huh, huh, huh", and jaw snapping sounds. We again made noises, it again stopped, but did not move away. Linc got out again and shined the flashlight, and it moved away a few feet, but not far. We debated what to do - as we were not too happy with its jaw snapping sounds, and its "tameness". So, we decided it would be best to move, as we would not sleep another wink all night. We thought it would be best to move down to Skyline Drive and to the Loft Mountain Campground. So, we packed up, but left our food back hanging ten feet up in the tree (figuring this would be a good test of our bear hanging skills), and headed down. We finally got settled back in around 11:30 p.m. - or so we thought. Then it started to rain and we had not put our tent fly on. So Linc got back out and put the tent fly on and covered our pack with our poncho tarp, and then we drifted off to sleep. We slept uneventfully until about 6:00 a.m. We were glad to find our food bags where we had left them hanging - so either we did a good job at hanging, or they just didn't like the smell of our healthy foodstuffs.It was still raining when we woke up, but it tapered a bit while we packed up. It did start again as we hiked, but finally tapered off for good for the rest of the day, and the sun came back out, it was cool and breezy. We decided to try camping out again rather than staying at a shelter, to reassure ourselves that we would not be bothered by bears. After talking with a ranger today, we are certain that it was bears, and he said that we did the right thing by moving, giving the bear's jaw snapping and lack of fear of us.Tomorrow will be a nero day, as we are being picked up by friends at Swift Run Gap.
Date: 2006-06-13
From: campsite 1 mile sorth of Swift Run Gap

To: Harrisonburg, VA
Miles today: 1.0

A 1 mile hiking day, otherwise known as a nero (near zero), yay!We hiked down to Swift Run Gap, dropped our packs by the entrance station to Shenandoah NP, changed our shirts, and our friends, Cathy and Charlie, pulled up in their car. They also volunteered with Hands On USA in Biloxi, MS last winter, which is where we had first met them.They drove us down to their home in Harrisonburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, pointed us to the shower, the clothes washer, and fed us a huge lunch of farm-stand-fresh salad and fruit. I'd bore people with the details of what we ate, but to us it was like going to heaven, it was SO good! We then headed out to the grocery store to resupply our trail food bags, returned to watch Brazil beat Croatia in soccer on TV, then went back to eating again. Along with another couple whom they had invited over for dinner, we plowed through platefuls of (sorry, I can't help describing the food) swiss chard, snow peas, veggies and dip, stuffed manicotti, bakery fresh bread with garlic-herb-olive oil to dip it in, microbrewery beer, and a desert of fruit-stuffed scones topped with ice cream. Wow. Then, for the first time since trail angel Tater brought us to his home in Hiawassee, GA in early April, we slept in a real bed.
Date: 2006-06-14
From: Harrisonburg, VA

To: Harrisonburg, VA
Miles today: 0.0

We decided to stay another day to continue visiting with our friends Cathy and Charlie. The day started with breakfast out at the Little Grill Collective (or was it Cooperative), treated by Cathy and Charlie who insisted that we were their guests and could not pay for even the tip. The food was excellent - whole, healthy foods like whole wheat bisciuts. Aftwards, we spent a little time on email, then off to a free noontime Classical Music show. We returned to the house for more eating - pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and various leftovers - snap peas, pasta salad, red bell peppers and zucchine with dip, spinach pastry (spankopita????), with canteloupe for dessert. Again, our bellies were full.Then we headed off to a local assisted living/nursing home facility in town for a free juried art show which we browsed through - there were some really good pieces there, and some quite interesting pieces. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up root veggies for dinner, and flour and real maple syrup for a sourdough pancake breakfast.The dinner was excellent - Charlie grilled up sone tuna steak on teh barbecue, and with our roast veggies - we all once again had full bellies. We also had leftover ice cream for dessert. Anna joined us for conversation, and sampled a little of the veggies, fish and ice cream (she had already eatn before getting to the house). Anna is a phycial therapy student who stays with Cathy and Charlie two nights a week while she is doing a clinical affiliation.It's late, time for sleep - good nite.
Date: 2006-06-15
From: Harrisonburg, VA

To: Campsite near David Spring
Miles today: 17.6

Got up early and made sourdough pancakes for all - with banana and walnuts mixed in, served with real maple syrup - they were enjoyed by all.Legs felt good after two days off, but we felt a little sleepy as we hiked. The terrain was very easy - gradual climbs, mostly smooth trails, with a few rocky sections here and there. Weather was mostly sunn6y, cool to warm, with a light breeze.We have a nice campsite here, not too far (but far enough for rules and regulations) from the stream that flows from David Spring. Quiet day on the trail - did not see a whole lot of other people. Good to be back on the trail after two days in town. We really enjoyed our visit with Cathy and Charlie - thanks so much for the short break from trail life.
Date: 2006-06-16
From: Campsite at Davids Spring near Big Meadows Cpgrd

To: Pass Mountain Hut tentsite
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: clear sky

Another long mileage day (for us), with a fair amount of elevation gain (3600'). It was sunny and warm (80's) with an occasional breeze to cool things off. For the most part, the trail was smooth and well-graded (like most of the trail in Shenandoah National Park), but the last several miles, especially the 1000' downhill into Thornton Gap, consisted of sharp rocks. We were feeling pretty good until the last few miles, but were both wobbly by the time we walked up to the shelter to hear, "Good Lord, look what the cat dragged in!" from our friends Willow, Puffy Nipples (sorry, don't ask, but that is really his trail name), and Cheetos.There were several nice views today, both east and west, but the best was a huge outcropping, called Mary's Rock, overlooking the Shenandoah River Valley to the west.After pitching our tent, we enjoyed sitting around a campfire at the shelter with old and new friends, listening to trail talk, then collapsed into our tent on our now very grimy sleeping bags. I didn't sleep well, due either to dehydration, fatigue, or some kind of oncoming illness.
Date: 2006-06-17
From: Pass Mountain Hut

To: Campsite near Spring, Jeremy Run Trail/AT Junction
Miles today: 6.9

Wow - did we feel lousy today - especially Linc. Not quite sure what hit us, but we were barely able to move. We woke up late, and were slow moving from the shelter. If we'd known how lowsy we felt, and would continue to feel, we would have stayed put. But, we made it here, set up the tent, had a snack and took naps - as best we could as it was very hot being inside the tent in the middle of the afternoon. We'd intermittently have sun and shade on the tent. Finally about 4:30 p.m., Jeanne wandered out of the tent to bake the bread and cook dinner. Linc finally came out as dinner was almost ready. After eating, and doing our usual clean up chores, feeding the sourdough, etc., we lumbered back into bed. It's still hot in the tent, but we'll hopefully cool off soon. Sure hope we feel better tomorrow.
Date: 2006-06-18
From: Campsite near Spring, Jeremy Run Trail/AT Junction

To: Campsite at Tom Floyd Wayside
Miles today: 16.7

Wow - can't believe we actually hiked this far. When we started out this morning, Jeanne felt a bit better, but still had difficulty on the uphills, and Linc wasn't sure if he could make it to the next shelter - about six miles away. We wet our heads at the spring before we started the big climb, and that helped with the heat.WE got to the shelter, and the tentsites were tiny, rocky and slopy, and the privy was the smelliest, most fly-infested one we've seen. So we opted to have a snack, and try to go on to the spring at Hogwallow Flats, and call it a day. We got there, got water, found a tentsite, baked our bread and cooked out dinner for lunch (late afternoon lunch). We got done all that about 4:30 and decided to hike on a bit further, as we were both feeling better. We figured we'd go to Compton Peak and find a tentsite there. When we got there, the tentsites were filled by the boy scouts, so we decided to go down to Compton Gap, and surely we would find a campsite there. We continued on and on, not finding any good spots to set up camp. We finally exited the Shenendoah National Park, and figured we find campsites then, but the terrain was too steep. So, we finally arrived at Tom Floyd Wayside, and they had a very nice tentsite for us. Had our snack and called it a day. On to Front Royal for resupply tomorrow.Nice day, good to be feeling better. Weather was sunny, hot, with some breeziness.Take care all.
Date: 2006-06-19
From: Campsite at Tom Floyd Wayside

To: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Short day due to trip into Front Royal for resupply today. The walk to the road into Front Royal (US 522) led us past the fences of a portion of a Smithsonian Institute exotic animal zoological reserve. It looked like a scene from Jurassic Park, and we kept expecting to see a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex come screaming out of the brush at the fence. A Front Royal resident told us that during WWII, the reserve was used as "holding camp" for Japanese Americans (assumed unlawful combatants?)Hitching into and out of Front Royal proved amazingly easy, the ride in offered before we even had a chance to stick a thumb out, the ride out being the second car that passed. People in town were extremely friendly.The town (which has a really neat quaint, historic and revitalized old town center), we used the free internet at a computer repair shop, and shopped for trail food at our first natural foods store on the trail (yum) and at a nearby supermarket.Back on the trail, we walked in the steamy heat, then in a thunderstorm/downpour, past more of the exotic animal reserve with many old field and hedgerow plants, trees and birds (and evidence of a big local fox population), then through a healthy forest full of enormous Yellow Poplar trees (hard to look up with a full pack on as you tend to fall over backwards).Arrived early at Denton shelter (a very nice shelter complete with a big front porch, cooking pavilion, and spring fed cold shower) but elected to stay with more storms obviously on the way. Spent the evening talking with another couple, Puffy Nipples and Cheetos (passing through on a slack pack), Jukebox, and father-son hikers Fish and Minnow. Minnow (the son) could recite, with correct voice inflection and complete accuracy, every punch line from any comedy movie in the last 10 years or so. We steered him towards Jim Carey in "Liar Liar".Tomorrow, we'll try for a higher mileage day.
Date: 2006-06-20
From: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: scattered clouds

This heat and humidity is amazing, like hiking in a sauna!Long mile day for us, nice to get the miles in, but a little tough on the feet. Crossed two highways at gaps (I-66 and US 50). Several climbs, no views, the trail narrow and overgrown, which somehow made the hiking much more interesting than the 10 food wide weed-wacked hiker highways in the Shenandoahs. The vegetation and bird song through here was so much more lush and varied than in Shenandoah NP, not sure why. Started seeing our first Redbud trees since down in North Carolina. Saw our first Red Mulberry trees in our lives (that we know of), ate a few Mulberries and decided that, while they're not that great to eat as is, they would make a great jam or pie. We also saw (and quickly devoured) our first Blackberries. The background symphony of Wood Thrushes singing in these forests with towering Yellow Poplars was beautiful to hear.This was Linc's second day in a row wearing his new Chaco sandals (the old $24 Target sandals having pretty much expired) and, other than some worn off skin on the toes, they seem to be great for AT trail shoes.