morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-06-21
From: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow

To: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I decided to take a zero although I soon learned that Rusty didn't like that term since it implied something negative and that the time we spent a the Hollow was a plus. I drank soda after soda and couldn't come close to hitting the empty can past the cone. Rusty made massive pancakes over his wood burning stove for breakfast. This place had no electricity. Rusty is amish. He had a small gas burning generator to power a tv/vcr to watch an occasional movie and listen to music, he was partial to James Brown. He had a propane system to light lanterns for light. His running water was straight from a tapped spring. There were two bunkhouses with mattresses on the ground for hikers. We decided to go into Waynesboro to get supplies which was still twenty trail miles away but Rusty was an Amish with a car. We saw Wigglestick in town who was waiting for Bubbles to drive up and directed him to come back to Rusty's when she did. When we got back there was a whole crew that had rolled in, Baktrak, Yahtzee, Aftershock, The Dude, Thoreau and Superfly. A little later we were pleasantly surprised to see Snot Rocket roll in. He had been talking like he was going to drop off and I really didn't know if I would see him on the trail again. To my surprise he said that he was "born again hard" and that kind of talk was over. I was glad to hear it. We weren't going to be leaving here tomorrow either.
Date: 2003-06-22
From: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow

To: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

At the close of yesterday Rusty had told everyone there that since today was Sunday he would be going to church. He said that we were all welcome to go. Much to my surprise most everyone agreed to take a day off and go, after all when is the next time we will have the opportunity to go to an amish service. This is something only availiable on an AT thru hike. In all 12 of us piled into the back of Rusty's truck and headed out for church. We were a ragged crew that was made to feel very welcome even without proper attire as most of us only had a t-shirt. As The Dude put it "When I met you and we had a few drinks at Four Pines Hostel and I found out you were the one who left Hot Springs at 1 A.M. never would I have guessed that we would be standing in an Amish church singing out of the same hymn book." After the service we were asked many questions about our adventure and life in the mountains. Then we were surprised by being invited back for a meal at the houses of two of the parishoners. I guess the noon meal after service is a big thing every week. I went with six others to the Miller household and were treated to one of the best meals I've had on the trail. We had venison and beef in an amazing gravy with mashed potatoes,salad, corn, homemade bread and butter, and pie with ice cream for dessert. None of us could eat another thing, an impressive feat for thru hikers. As Rusty said "they want you fed up when you leave this place", and "fed up" we were. We went out on the porch to enjoy the nice view of the valley up to the Priest, Three Ridges and all the way into the Shenandoah. The family runs a greenhouse on adjacent property and we were treated to a tour of the large facility. It was one of the nicest and neatest greenhouses I have ever seen. Everything was in amazing shape. First a sawmill and now this. we all thanked the Miller's profusely and headed back to the hollow. We decided that this was a good night to fire up the hot tub and sauna. The Hot tub was a large metal tub with a space underneath for a fire to be lit that heats the water which was piped in from a nearby stream. To get the right temperature the fire must be built up and a bed of coals developed that keeps it from both boiling and cooling. The sauna also is powered by fire, this time a large wood stove outside a small building which heated rocks inside the building which of course you poured water on to create steam. Both worked amazingly well and felt great. It was the cleanest i've felt in a long time. Everyone went to be full and happy.
Date: 2003-06-23
From: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow

To: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: scattered clouds

I knew that the time to hike was drawing near and that I needed to do some miles somehow so when the opportunity to slackpack back to Rusty's to stay another night arose I was intrigued. I had never slackpacked before and kind of had negative feelings about it. It wasn't something I ever really had the desire to do or have as part of my hike. At the same time I did want to stay here another night and this would be a good time to slackpack once to get the experience and see how I feel about it. Most everyone staying there was doing it to be able to stay another night. I broke my personal covenant not to do it and took most of the junk out of my pack. I guess it wouldn't hurt to do it once and get the feel for it. We all climbed into the back of the truck and were driven 20 miles north to where the entrance of Shenandoah National Park is and began hiking South. This was a new feeling. Some call it freedom hiking and I must admit it did feel nice not to be hauling around 50 pounds for once. We started out at a very fast pace and the miles flew by. On the way we saw Happy Feet and convinced him to come back to the hollow for the night. We told him that once he hit the Blue Ridge Parkway to skip Waynesboro and hitch right back to Rusty's. We kept up our very fast pace and in the meantime passed several hikers who we all tried to make feel bad for skipping one of the coolest places on the trail. We rolled into the two mile trail to Rusty's at just about dark and got back to the hollow in time for a sloppy joe supper that Rusty had been working on. We fired up the hot tub again and spent some time soaking. After all that hard hiking I decided tomorrow would be a good day to take another plus(formerly zero) day. In the end I decided that I would probably not be slackpacking again. It was nice and much easier, but I'm not looking for shortcuts and carrying a pack is an important part of the trail to me. In all I found that if I wanted to I could move just about as fast with a pack on my back, just not keep it up with so few breaks. I'm glad I did it once to get the feel for it, but slacking just isn't for me.
Date: 2003-06-24
From: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow

To: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

The last time that it rained was the day I got to Rusty's. Since that time the skies have cleared up and it has gotten hot. Today it was incredibly hot and humid, who could hike. Today many people finally left the hollow but Bucky, Wigglestick, Snot Rocket, Happy Feet, Double A, and Bubbles remained there with me. We spent the morning doing a job for Rusty that he thought was very important. He has always had as a trademark of his truck a set of bootprints that went all the way around the truck like a hiker had walked all over it. The truck that he currently had was new to him so it lacked this trademark. Our task was to repaint a side of the truck that was flaking a bit then to apply the bootprint decals. For the especially wet year he had the bootprints made with squirts coming out from the sides. Rusty was very excited to have his truck looking back to normal. The rest of the day was spent packing my gear a bit and amusing myself with the games of the hollow. That lasted until we got the idea to go to K-mart and buy some shotgun shells and clay pigeons and shoot some skeet. I had never shot a gun before. We used a 12 gauge shotgun to shoot three rounds of 15 pigeons each. The first time I just nicked one, the second time I blew one up and the third time I blew two up and nicked one. At least I showed improvement. Then Rusty let us shoot at some targets with a small antique rifle. Shooting guns is empowering. I asked where the AK and grenade range were but no luck. I knew that tomorrow I would be leaving the Hollow. Luckily I was welcome to come back at any time which I knew I would. Snot Rocket had gone to school at the University of VA which was very close so he had a friend pick him up and Happy Feet, Snot, Wigglestick and I went in to Charlottesville to spend a night on the town. It was a fun night enough said.
Date: 2003-06-25
From: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow

To: Calf mountain shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

Woke up in Charlottesville and all crammed into the car to go back to Rusty's where we had left our stuff. Had our last pancakes and got ready to leave. It was hard to leave this cool place but I had family meeting me in a week and I had some hiking to do, something called the AT that had taken a back burner in recent days. Bucky, Wigglestick, Double A and Snot Rocket were all going back to Charlottesville for another day off which ended up another two so Happy Feet and I were to set out into Shenandoah National Park alone. It was another extremely hot day and the humidity was a killer. I was moving along pretty slowly. I wanted to do more than seven miles but the problem was that there was a long stretch after the shelter with no water so I decided to cut the day short. Sometimes when you spend some time in a town or have a hard time leaving somewhere it is just easiest to do a few miles out. Sometimes people do as little as a mile or two just to escape the pull of town. The idea is that you are back on the road and you wake up in the woods without the distractions around you where there can be no going back. I was excited to be back in the park which was the hundred mile section that I had done the previous summer in preparation for my journey. Finally I was on some familiar ground and had some family waiting on the other side. Not to mention I was in one of the prime bear spots on the trail, I was sure to see some good wildlife. In fact you had to hang all your food from bear poles that were near each shelter in the park, some new contraptions to watch and laugh as people learned how to use them.
Date: 2003-06-26
From: Calf mountain shelter

To: Pinefield hut
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up to do a big day to make up for some lost time despite a hot humid day in the 90's. There were five of us planning to do the 26 mile day. Everyone left earlier than me. I left just after the Dude and Aftershock and caught them soon at the road. They were coming up with a scheme to hitch to near the shelter, slackpack back, then hitch back to their packs. I declined as a truck came flying up on the grass near us asking if we knew where some hiker was. Boom ride just like that. I hiked on alone. I was really hot and I was pouring sweat. I came upon some sodas left by Two Speeds(Slow and Stop), Carnethy Bob and Thistle. They were ice cold and really hit the spot. The day went on forever. I finally hit the loft mountain camp store a little while after they closed. It didn't matter there were tons of stores along the trail in the park. It was getting darker and darker as I neared the shelter. I saw a large black thing pop out on the trail far ahead then dissapear. My first Bear! I got to the shelter after dark very tired out but was greeted by a large fire built by a family doing small stretches of trail. Big day but I went to bed early planning another tomorrow.
Date: 2003-06-27
From: Pinefield hut

To: Bearfence hut
Miles today: 20.6

Woke up early again (7:30). Set out on another long day in high heat. Today went along pretty fast. I crossed the road a whole bunch of times. Shenandoah is all up near the top of the ridge with valleys falling down on both sides and the only road is called skyline drive which stretches the whole 100 mile length of the park. In fact the road was the old A.T. route which was taken for motorists when the park was proposed displacing the trail off to the woods. In fact the road has more views than the trail and many people just walk the road instead of the trail and thats what the Dude and Aftershock were doing today. I stuck to the trail being the purist that I am and walked through a "green tunnel" much of the day.   I caught up to Happy Feet late afternoon just as a thunderstorm came through to sprinkle on us. We were excited about the Lewis mountain campground where there was soda machines and 1.00 showers. We got there near dusk and took advantage of the facilities, even cooking dinner on the porch of the closed campstore. The shelter and tentsites were only a short 1 mile nighthike away. Taking showers after several days of hiking is always nice.
Date: 2003-06-28
From: Bearfence hut

To: skyland
Miles today: 16.1

Doing back to back large days in lots of heat puts your body in for a hurtin and I was feeling it today. It was a long slow seven miles to get to the grill and visitors center at Big meadows. The area lived up to its name as a vast beautiful meadow stretched out in front of the complex. Some deer were frolicking in the middle and people were taking pictures. I had seen so many deer from so close that I was very unimpressed. I have pictures taken five feet from unimpressed deer. They know when they can't be messed with. You practically have to kick them to get them out of the trail. I had a burger and fries and the specialty of the park widely raved about by hikers: the blackberry milkshake. It lived up to the amazingly high hopes I had for it. I knew we would only make it nine more miles, the exact length to the next restaurant. It was a long nine miles filled with hardship and powered by grease, but also by thoughts of the next prepared meal. We passed several more dear and another bear that popped out on the trail, much closer this time. Before anyone could get a camera out the bear was gone. The only pictures of bears anyone is getting in this park is of the running away. We got to the cutoff to Skyland restaurant and pub and found a nice grassy area a little bit off the trail to make a nice campsite on. I cooked dinner and headed to the bar where there was two guys playing old folk songs and railroad songs on the guitar and telling really bad jokes. We headed back out to camp after it closed at 11:00 and made a fire ring which was in direct violation of the park rules but we kept the flames low. It was nice to squeeze in some fun times in the middle of big days.
Date: 2003-06-29
From: skyland

To: Gravel springs hut
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: light rain

Woke up early enough today to do another big day but not before a very good breakfast at skyland. What a good camp spot, very convenient. I kind of milled about and wasted time till it was after 11 with a big day ahead of me. The Dude, Aftershock, and Happy Feet were definitely not into the idea of doing a big day today so I headed out alone as they sat around Skyland. I had heard from a day hiker to take the short very steep trail to the bottom of the stony man cliffs. Despite the late hour I took the side trip which was well worth it. The views from the bottom all the way up the imposing cliffs were pretty awesome. I took a few quick photos and headed back up. I took another quarter mile side trail up to the popular Mary's rock which was crowded and very unimpressive although maybe my reference point is a little off since I have seen the best rock overlooks all the way up the east coast. I walked on with a purpose crossing skyline drive several times along the way. I had a goal in mind to hit the last grill in the park by the time that it closed which was seven. I was on pace to make it just in time. As I grew close to my destination I heard a large movement off to the left of the trail. It was moving slowly and just out of my view, I crept along with my camera out. My suspicions were confirmed shortly when a large black bear popped out on the trail, as I pointed my camera it turned, saw me and took off running. I continued on and as I rounded a bend there was the bear again but once I appeared it took off again. This continued on for what must have been twenty minutes as I followed the bear down the trail as it ran from me every time I rounded a bend. I got a few decent pictures of a bear running away. Finally it took a sharp turn off the trail and our little game was done. I got to the grill at Elkwallow only to find that the grill part closed at 5. Oh well it served as good motivation. I called my parents who were at my Aunt Carol's in Front Royal which was about twenty miles up on the trail. We arranged to meet at the road at 1pm the next day. It would be nice to see my family. I night hiked the five miles to the next shelter seeing many eyes reflecting back at me from my headlamp along the way.
Date: 2003-06-30
From: Gravel springs hut

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up before 8 and hurried to pack my things to get to the meeting point with my parents by the time arranged. I have gotten pretty good at figuring out how long it takes me to do a certain number of miles. I headed out and moved along as fast as I could to get there. I crossed skyline drive my last few times. At one of these times my picture was taken by some tourists who usually will drive by and point excitedly at you like you were one of the wild animals. I continued on with a one track mind. It was going to be hard to get there by one. I could hear the road and it never seemed to get closer. I finally walked down to the road at about five minutes after 1 in time to meet my parents, Aunt Carol (VA), and Uncle Bob (CT) who were headed into the woods to hang up some signs greeting me, assuming that I would be late as usual. We hugged even though I smelled and went to town for a picnic lunch. We went to the house and I was herded directly into the shower. I spent the rest of the day lazing around. A little bit before dinner time we fired up the hot tub. Uncle Bob had brought shrimp, and dad bought some beers. I had given Wigglestick the number there since he was on his last days hiking. His time had run out. He called only to hear my Uncle Dick say yeah I think he's in the hot tub sucking down a beer and eating some shrimp, only to be responded by a pause and huh! Nobody wants to hear that when they are out in the woods. He and the rest of the guys were still in the middle of the park 50 miles back though he was hitching to Front Royal tommorow to catch a plane from DC. I spent the rest of the night visiting then caught up on some sleep in a real bed. Life is good.
Date: 2003-07-01
From: Front Royal

To: Linden then Front Royal
Miles today: 8.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I thought that I should get some walking done today so I decided to do the 8 mile stretch between Front Royal and Linden, which meant three hours walking to get some miles done. I spent much of the morning eating tons of breakfast then was dropped back off where I was picked up. The two uncles would canoe down the Shenandoah River while my mom and dad would get time to bring my stuff to the laundromat. Meanwhile Crowdog and Prarie Chicken who I met as Mike and Mandy on top of Springer Mountain and haven't seen since Georgia as well as The Dude were at the road and Aunt Carol gave them rides into the supermarket. There was a note saying the mud ahead was impassable and there was a detour around it. I havent missed a blaze yet and was not afraid of mud so I walked through it. I must admit that this mud was worse than most I have seen and was almost unavoidable. I struggled through to keep my feet from being totally submerged. The rest of the hike was fairly easy and I arrived at the road about 15 minutes late. I spent much of the afternoon cleaning and organizing my gear mixed in with a lot of family time. I stuffed my face again at the dinner table to the point where it was hard to move. Wigglestick called again and I went into town later on to hang out for a short while as he waited for his cousin to pick him up. His hike was over. I think he wanted to go on but knew he couldn't and would be back to finish the trail someday. The crew was broken up, it would be different without him. We hiked many miles together and shared many wet miserable days. Hopefully it would be nice the rest of the hike so I could tell him he had the worst of it.
Date: 2003-07-02
From: Linden then Front Royal

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Today started out with another massive breakfast. I had to be gaining weight fast. I was planning on doing another short stretch of trail and getting picked up much like yesterday. I was trying to pack up my gear and get ready by about noon and was being hurried. I found out that we had to leave at noon whether I was ready or not. The reason being that I was to meet a reporter from the local weekly newspaper and be interviewed. I was newsworthy. We met in the rain at the town gazebo and did a couple pictures and I told of life on the trail. Very exciting. We celebrated by going to the chinese buffet for lunch so I could again eat until I felt sick. Mom, Dad and Uncle Bob were going home today so they started packing when we got back. I decided not to walk anywhere today since the food would hold me down and it was raining anyway. We said our goodbyes and they headed back to Connecticut. It was good to see them. I spent the rest of my day fooling with gear, working on the computer and mostly relaxing.
Date: 2003-07-03
From: Front Royal

To: Snickers gap
Miles today: 26.4

Today was the day that I had to head out, not because I wanted to go or because I felt like I had to do miles but because I had a couple friends meeting me tonight. I called them up to find out what time they thought they would leave and found out that the car was being worked on and they couldn't leave until late afternoon meaning they wouldn't arrive in VA until 1:00 in the morning! I figured out that if I walked straight through till then I would be on a main road that they could meet me on. I wasn't excited about doing a 26 but I decided that was the best option so I had Aunt Carol drop me off at VA 55 and thanked her very much for all the hospitality. I headed out for a long days hike meandering along since I had until after midnight to get there. The weather was threatening but I didn't see any rain but some sprinkles. I got to a shelter after 16 miles and sat down to cook dinner as it was growing darker. This shelter marked the beginning of a hard pointless part of the trail called the roller coaster that was something like 14 ascents and descents over 13 miles. I put on my headlamp and got ready to go. Up and down and up and down......This was pretty annoying. Oh well I steadily moved toward my destination. I finally reached the road a little bit before 1. I walked over to the parking lot and saw no sign of my friends. I walked all over making sure there was no other spot and still no sign. I sat down to read my info and found that there was a payphone a mile and a half down the road. I decided that at least I could call them and have them pick me up there so I ditched my pack in the woods and headed down the dark side road. I finally reached my destination to find a large empty spot on the wall where a phone used to be. You had to be sh--ing me. I searched all over and no phone. I was very tired and hurt from the long rough day and it was going on 2 A.M. I had no choice but to walk back to the trail. Just as I was getting back there they were rolling up. I briefly greeted them then we found the only place to pitch a couple tents was directly on the trail so that's what we did.