morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-29
From: Kimberling Creek

To: Big Horse Gap, USFS 103
Miles today: 12.4

Got up early to get to town breakfast! We had cheeseburgers because Shakes told us that the biscuit sandwiches weren¢t very good. From there we only made it one more mile to Dismal Falls, where we stayed until about 7pm. We spent the day swimming and fishing and lounging. Erika found some fishing line and Sticks gave her a hook so she could fish. Erika caught 2 fish I caught one crawdad on our makeshift fishing rod (a stick with the line tied to it). Sticks with his real fishing rod couldn¢t catch any fish¢¦After dinner we hiked until midnight with the knowledge that tomorrow we would be into town.
Date: 2010-04-30
From: Big Horse Gap, USFS 103

To: Pearisburg, VA (Plaza Motel)
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

I don¢t want to talk about today! It was hot. We were tired. We took a wrong turn and ended up walking 40min away from the trail. Our boxes were at the bottom of the hill outside of town. The hotel room was only slightly better than a jail cell. The DQ almost gave shakes a heart attack.The good things: We got DQ ice cream. The hotel lady did our laundry, it was included and we didn¢t have to do it ourselves. There was AYCE Chinese across the street.
Date: 2010-05-01
From: Pearisburg, VA (Plaza Motel)

To: Pearisburg, VA (Bob & Diane Miles)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Bob Miles brought us to his home and opened it up to us. The Syke Brothers (Sticks & Wiggy) were there the night before and were staying tonight as well. Bob cooked us a big dinner and told us that we should try to eat him out of house and home. Bob drove us all around town to do our resupply stuff and told us that he would give us a ride up to trail tomorrow.
Date: 2010-05-02
From: Pearisburg, VA (Bob & Diane Miles)

To: Campsite Past Rice Field Shelter 
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Bob cooked us a big breakfast this morning before he drove us out to the trail.   The climb out of Pearisburg was long, hot and muggy. Shortly after we started making camp we were joined by Big Dipper, Castor, and Nefis. They shaved Castors head to make him look like he was balding. Shortly after the campfire was lit the ukulele came out and the music began.
Date: 2010-05-03
From: Campsite Past Rice Field Shelter 

To: The Captain's House
Miles today: 11.7

The Captain let us, and all hikers, stay in his yard and use his house this evening. Big Dipper, Nefis, Castor and Cowgirl ended up at The Captains as well as me, Little Spoon and Shakes. We all used his zip line to cross the brook except Cowgirl who had to wade because of her dog. After eating dinner me and Erika got into the sauna followed by a dip in the brook, I found it quiet refreshing Erika found the brook cold. The Captain was a great host; I am looking forward to seeing him in Maine this august.
Date: 2010-05-04
From: The Captain's House

To: The Captain's House
Miles today: 0.0

The Captains place is just so great that we all couldn¢t leave, everyone who stayed the night before stayed again with the addition of three more hikers. In the evening Captain took us into town to do some resupply, so we got him some soda to give to hikers to replace the ones we had drank. We spent the whole day just lounging!Sometime during the day while the Captain was at work Scout was using the bathroom and somehow managed to break the mirror to the medicine cabinet. Doh.
Date: 2010-05-06
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Sarver Hallow Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

We got to see the Blair Witch house today, an old run down house in a gap up in the mountain. The house had black hand prints and old newspaper clippings all over the walls and ceiling. Little Spoon found one dated for 1926.Our next stop was the Keffer Oak, a tree about 300 years old and 18¢ around. I climbed it! (A little)We ended our day at the old Sarver Homestead. There were some old chimneys still standing and the remains of the log home along with an old out building that was still mostly together. The place was built by a civil war veteran and four generations of Sarvers lived there. The top of the ridge and all around the old home were rock structures.
Date: 2010-05-07
From: Sarver Hallow Shelter

To: Catawba, Va (Catawba Valley General Store & Deli
Miles today: 11.5

We decided to take the Sarver trail off of the ridge, which brought us into a picnic, and camping area. The parking lot had an information board that taught us all about the Sarver homestead and Up the Creekers. From there we headed on to the Dragons Tooth which proved to be a challenging climb due to the heat and very rocky trail. Once we struggled to the top Little Spoon didn¢t want to go and see the view because she was so tired, but I told her I wasn¢t going to climb to the top just to skip it. It turned out to be a great view. The hike down was just as rocky but the rocks didn¢t last as long and we ended up getting a ride from two college girls. They dropped us off at the Catawba Valley General Store so we could camp in their back yard.
Date: 2010-05-08
From: Catawba, Va (Catawba Valley General Store & Deli

To: Catawba, Va (Catawba Valley General Store & Deli
Miles today: 0.0

The morning was spent waiting for The Homeplace to open.Then we ate all we could eat at The Homeplace. After the hour wait! Everyone else was dressed very nicely; we had on hiker clothes and crocs.Last we digested all afternoon.
Date: 2010-05-09
From: Catawba, Va (Catawba Valley General Store & Deli

To: Catawba Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: few clouds

We woke up this morning to find out that the ferocious wind from the day before and night had flipped over the portapoty. They told us not to use it because it was all poopie on the inside. Little Spoon still had a hangover from the 6 pack she had consumed all by herself 2 nights earlier. By mid day the wind had died down so when we reached the McAfee parking lot we stopped for lunch and Alphabets parents gave us brownies.At about 10pm we were just about asleep in the shelter when 3 hikers came walking in and asked if we could make room for them. So we got up and moved our gear into the corner, then only one came into the shelter. The two that slept on the picnic table were gone before sun up!
Date: 2010-05-11
From: Lamberts Meadow Campsite

To: Daleville, VA (Howard Johnson Express)
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: light rain

Made it to Daleville, started at 6:40 and arrived at 9:10. That is most likely our earliest start time and some of our fastest hiking. It started to rain on us so we had some motivation to get to the hotel. We were in early enough to get all showered up before Poppaw and Andy arrived. They took us to lunch at the County Cookin¢ and dinner at Three Lil¢ Pigs BBQ. We were very full by the end of the day. Thank you very much for everything Poppaw, and thank you Honey-Gu for the bags of goodies and the book. Little Spoon claimed it first so I will have to wait a week or two to read it because it took me 2 months to finish my last book.
Date: 2010-05-12
From: Daleville, VA (Howard Johnson Express)

To: Daleville, VA (Howard Johnson Express)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Poppaw and Andy left today, but only after they made sure that they had helped us out in every way that they could. After taking care of us it was picture time before anyone could leave. Little Spoon thought she could hide in the back seat and sneak home! The rest of the day was spent running errands and getting ready to get back on the trail.
Date: 2010-05-13
From: Daleville, VA (Howard Johnson Express)

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: light rain

After spending another night at the hotel after Jack and Andy and Hoss the dog and Sylvester the pussy cat left, we head out late morning only to find out my cell phone broke! There just happens to be a Verizon store right in town and we head in hoping they could help me with my T-mobile phone.Turns out to have water damage so we make the decision to cancel my plan (thankfully for free) and switch to Verizon (which Shakes has and has had plenty of signal unlike us.) I got a super awesome HTC Driod! And of course insurance since it will be living in the woods for the next several months.After that was taken care of, half the day was gone but we visited the outfitter where my nose started gushing blood all over their carpeted floor; my DNA will forever be in Daleville.Well we still needed to get hiking but are both 100% unmotivated by this point so our solution was to down some Redbull and fly. It worked! Must remember this magical juice for the next time our "give-a-s*%#-meter is negative infinity".
Date: 2010-05-15
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: clear sky

"Uphill vs. Down Hill?"Uphill! Give me a steep, unrelenting climb up where my calves, thighes and butt cheecks burn and sweat runs over every inch of my body over a less steep downhill. Even with young knees its pure torter and misery to decend. Its much easier to run down than walk but then you're risking a bad tumble.We dread any length of steep downhill. We even give it a name: bone crusher.
Date: 2010-05-16
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: James River Footbridge
Miles today: 14.4

Long uneventfull rainy day but today is the day we met trail angel, Muddy Waters! We found him at a shelter with Shakes and two other guys where he offered us a beer (and afterbite cream for me) AND offered to take us into Glasgow to resupply and see the Natural Bridge which was a good 20 minutes drive away. Talk about going out of his way to help us!We made our plans to meet in the morning and set off a little farther to camp at a dumpy campsite next to the famous James River. Oh, in the rain.
Date: 2010-05-17
From: James River Footbridge

To: Johns Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: light rain

Met up with Muddy Waters as planned and headed to Glasgow.Stopped at a diner for breakfast and let me tell you what, they were totally hiker UNfriendly! the diner only had two other tables and a few at the bar and some how we were "Forgotten" and didn't get a menu for 10 minutes. Once we got our menus, we were neglected for a long time after we were ready. After we placed our order, we got our beverages wich would not be replenished ever again. When our meal came out, they came out in sections... Our BREAKFAST came out in coarses! Some items were missing! congrats lady, you won yourself the worst waitress in history award. Our $40 bill left her a $2.00 tip which quite frankly I didn't think she deserved even that.Anyway, we got to the Natural Bridge and had a great time. Who knew George Washington was a survayor? Who knew Thomas Jefferson opened up a tourist attraction site? We got to se G.W.'s graffiti on some rocks and take a walk through a recreated Native American village. We also saw some wax people.Today I picked up the habbit of chewing sunflower seeds.After, Muddy Waters took us into resupply and bring us back to the trail with packs loaded with PBR.Thank you so much Muddy Waters! We had a great time with you and you were so kind to do all that for us!
Date: 2010-05-19
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: Porters Field Campsite
Miles today: 16.9

"The Hiker Walk"If you watch carefully when a hiker gets up from a sitting or laying down position, you will notice an awkward grimmacing expression on their face as they take a few short and quick stiff-legged waddles forward proceeded by longer strided stiff-legged waddles. The longer it takes to get rid of the waddle coorilates with the severity of their pain. "Mileage junkies" have a more distinct waddle, as do "mobile homes".
Date: 2010-05-20
From: Porters Field Campsite

To: Tye River Campsite
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today we hiked two hours out of our way to go to the Dutch House, a Bed and Breakfast/ Hostel, to attend their FREE hiker lunch. The place was cute and the hosts were most gracious.We were going to go for a horseback ride but it was the one day the stable didn't offer it. Bummer!Spent the afternoon and into the evening bobbing in a creek with PBR's floating around us (Shake's brought me orange juice since he remembered I don't drink much, what a guy :-D).
Date: 2010-05-22
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

Walking along the Blue Ridge Parkwa today, we found a nice patch of grass next to the road to take a break on. Being sunny, we decided to pitch the tent to try and dry it out after being soaked overnight.Well on this scenic road, many cyclists have gone by and two in particular made us laugh. After passing us lounging on the ground, one turns to the other and shouts," That has got to be the worst place ever to camp, right?!" Too funny that they actually thought we were tenting on the shoulder of a busy road.While sitting here, I got a brilliant idea to make a sign on a piece of tyvec I had that reads "Hungery Hikers". Yes I spelt hungry wrong because the company I was with couldn't agree upon its correct spelling. (By the way, we've used this sign many times and we've yet to be told that the spelling is incorrect.)We hike on and I sheepishly display my sign to passing cars, hoping for at least one stopper by the end of the day.Sure enough, a Blue Ridge park Ranger pulls over and shares his homemade cheesburgers with us. Though they were cold, they were the ultimate!Well what the heck, why not keep trying for more?!Another man stopped with some food.Then a lady from Brooklyn stops and gives us shrimp, yogurt, boiled eggs, butter, baby carrots, milk, and fruit cups. Wow. Needless to say, we ate well that night. Thank you everyone!
Date: 2010-05-23
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Waynesboro, VA (Quality Inn)
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: broken clouds

We enter Waynesboro, where the famous breakfast diner, Weezy's, is located. They have the all you can eat pancake challenger that we didn't participate in because there really wasnt an official challenge that we could figure out. One waitress didnt really know what we were talking about and another waitress told us that the challenge was to simply eat as many as you can and the record was like 36 (she didnt really know) and if you beat the record, you still have to buy the pancakes and you dont win anything. You dont even get your name written anywhere. Nothing. I dont really understand...Later that night we went to Ming's, the most amazing Chinese Buffet I've ever seen. There even was a pond with a bridge over IN the dinning hall. And I fed the fish.Matt might have eaten the fish that I fed.
Date: 2010-05-24
From: Waynesboro, VA (Quality Inn)

To: Williamsburg, VA (Matthew Meyer's Home)
Miles today: 0.0

Today, Shake's brother Matt's roommate, Stacy (I really like this part of the sentence) came to get us from Williamsburge, two hours away (Meaning she drove over four hours for us!)She took us to the Williamsburge Winery where Matt is the wine maker. Here, we finaly meet Matt and he got a glimpse of our hiker hunger (we ate his lunch for him...think of a cow falling into a tank of hungery peronahs. Thats what we did to his plate)Later, he gives us a "behind the scenes" tour where we learn all the steps of wine making and he gives us tastes from various barrels. How cool! I will never think of wine the same way again!We crash at their place for the night.
Date: 2010-05-25
From: Williamsburg, VA (Matthew Meyer's Home)

To: Williamsburg, VA (Matthew Meyer's Home)
Miles today: 0.0

Went out to lunch at a Mexican Restaurant where a guy with a cart came to the table and made guacamole dip on the spot! Mmmm...Later TJ and his young friend dine at the table next to us. By TJ I mean Thomas Jefferson. He also was digging the guacamole dip.Matt goes to work and Stacy takes us to Jamestown where we walk through a recreation of the colony and a Native American village. At one point, we boarded the ship Discovery (Maine made), and I decided we needed to rock the boat. Nobody was up for it except for Shakes but we didn't need any help anyway. Running back and forth across the ship, we manage to rock the ship. Listen to this, the man working the boat said nobody has ever attempted to rock the boat in all the years he's been working there. Shocking.
Date: 2010-05-27
From: Williamsburg, VA (Matthew Meyer's Home)

To: Grace Lutheran Church Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

Today is a sad day because we have to go back to the trail. We say our goodbye to Stacy and Matt drives us back to Waynesboro where we stay at the church hostel.They provide everyone with cotts so we dont have to sleep on the floor, which was very nice but every breath anyone took while on their cot caused it to creak and groan. It also didn't help that we were in a large, empty open room that echoed. We didnt get good sleep.Either way it was a great stay andwe thank all those who make it possible.Oh, we ate at Ming's again but I wasn't allowed to feed the fish again because "it was embarrassing".
Date: 2010-05-28
From: Grace Lutheran Church Hostel

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: light rain

First day of the Shenandoahs. We had just bought our Walmart special umbrellas and got to test them outright away. What a great purchase! No more sweating to death in our rain coats! We arrived at the shelter that evening to find city slickers had decided to go camping and test out theirbrand new gear. Two of them were even nice enough to set up their tents right in the shelter, turning a twelve man shelter into a six. Many hikers showed up and they never had the courtesy to take them down.They said they did it because they didn't like mice. Anybody tell them mice can chew through anything!
Date: 2010-05-29
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

To: Doyles River Overlook
Miles today: 16.2

Day two of the Shenandoahs.Shakes, Matt and I were walking the scenic road off and on when we ran into our 1st bear!It was a young bear grazing on the side of the road and people were all around him taking pictures. Great way to teach him not to mingle with humans!
Date: 2010-05-30
From: Doyles River Overlook

To: Swift Run Gap
Miles today: 20.4

Lunch time today we stopped under a big tree on the side of the park road. While we were there, a bearcrossed the road not far from us and a park ranger drove by and stopped where the bear was, flashinghis strobe lights. He later drove to where we were and asked us how we were doing. We asked how they deterred the bears from hanging out by the roads and near the huts/shelters on the trail. He said they shoot them with rubber bullets to try and get them to associate humans with that rather than a source of food or something not to be respectful of. Yesterday, I had wanted everyone to try and shout or throw a rock to scare the young bear rather than mob around him, taking pictures, but I didn't know what was right. I don't think people realize that they are endangering the bears lives by being friendly to them, or that bears who are frequently near shelters or buildings due to a learned habit are are relocated and sometimes killed if he becomes a nuisance.
Date: 2010-05-31
From: Swift Run Gap

To: Fishers Gap
Miles today: 16.3

Spent a lot of time on the park road instead of the trail today and yogied. A memorable yogi was by a young Wisconsin couple and their child, along with their friend. They had read our sign, turned around and drove back to us, giving us all kinds of goodies and PBJ's. We had a good talk with them before they were on their way and we later ran into them again.We hiked into Big Meadows Campground (which is a big deal in the Shenandoahs) and spread out ourplethora of food on a grassy knoll behind the lodge. Today we scored real well. (Matt even got someYuenglings).Later that evening, I found a deer antler from an 8 point buck while looking for a place to tent for the night. Sweet!
Date: 2010-06-01
From: Fishers Gap

To: Byrds Nest #3 Hut
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: broken clouds

On this day, we met Willy Walker. Willy Walker was such a wonderful man to be around. He might not realize it but we very much enjoyed his company; we regret having not exchanged addresses with him. I got to share my enthusiasm in finding the antler with him as it is a hobby of his and he showed us a spearhead he found on the trail. I was so jealous! I had been searching for so so long. He also told us of the many others he had found. Unfortunately, he had to make the very hard decision of finishing the life long dream of his to hike the trail or quit before he damaged his knee further and never be able to hike again. I hate to use to word quit because I don't mean it in that sense, but he did end up getting off the trail. There's a saying that you don't need to hike every inch of the AT to get the experience.
Date: 2010-06-03
From: Beahms Gaps Overlook

To: Compton Springs
Miles today: 17.8

"POST HOLING OR COBWEBS?"In a trail register we came across one day, someone asked "Would you rather break trail in the snow and post hole all day or break trail of all the cobwebs?" Most people responded "post holing". Honestly, I think that question is greatly affected by the time of year it was asked. Because there was no snow, and the cobwebs were in full force, I believe that factor attributed to their answer. Either that or, unlike us, they have never broken trail in the snow. Post holing is way worse, people! But don't get me wrong, the cobwebs get so bad sometimes that neither of us wants to lead and when I end up leading, I wave my trekking poles in front of me like bug antennae to cut down the webbage. Sometimes it's so bad, some people never want to be the first to leave the shelters in the morning. Though not spoken, it's obvious when you start seeing people milling about aimlessly even though they are all packed up.
Date: 2010-06-05
From: Manassas Gap Shelter

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: broken clouds

Today Matt noticed that on our map there were a hand full of "RUINS" listed on a long side trail. We both like seeing old houses and foundations so we decided to take that one even though it was several miles longer. BIG MISTAKE TO OUR DISAPPOINTMENT. The trail was way over grown, and we only found one "ruin" in the dense JUNGLE. To make things worse, that "ruin" was an old rusty metal hunting shack that was all shot up. Oh well.We also found Shakes today. He had been missing for 5 days.
Date: 2010-06-06
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Bears Den Hostel
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We experienced the Discovery Channel live today. We actually watched a DUNG BEETLE prepare his perfectly round ball of fecal matter from the source and roll it with his hind legs down the trail. In fact, we also watched the beetle roll WITH his ball when the trail became too steep and threatened to take his ball away.Yes. We caught it on video.Todays section of trail included "The Roller Coaster". It's exactly what you picture it to be.PIECE OF CAKE, YOU PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO DO TO THRU-HIKERS!We spent the night at the Bear's Den Hostel with Shakes, Squeeze Cheese, Phil from Maine, Number One Son, 96 and a few others. It was really quite the place.
Date: 2010-06-07
From: Bears Den Hostel

To: harpers ferry, WV (C&O canal town path)
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: light rain

A big group of us organized a slack pack out of Bear's Den to Harper's Ferry. We all woke up very early and were out hiking by around 6 or 6:30 am. We hiked exceptionally fast and did the over 20 miles by around 1 pm. When we got to the ATC building we were around the 250th NoBos to have arrived there this year. We also got to meet up with Reverend who we hadn't seen since he got off the trail a while back. Good to see familiar faces!
Date: 2010-06-08
From: Turners Gap, MD 

To: Harpers Ferry, WV (Behind Comfort Inn) 
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: clear sky

Reverend gave us a slack pack today which was glorious! I am actually sore in the abs today after yesterday's fast paced hike!In the evening, we tented behind the Comfort Inn where Reverend and Shakes stayed, next to a cemetery. We also saw about a half dozen or more deer there.