morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-03-11
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter 

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 13.1

With the time change I think I am going to have to start setting my alarm. Seeing sunrise is 7:30 something I didn't wake up today until 7:40. With the longer day I want to start utilizing it more. This morning was nice in the mid 40's. I actually was hiking only in my shirts. But after about two hours that quickly changed, it got breezy and started to drizzle. After a little over 6 miles I got to Max Patch, it's a summit that was once cleared for cattle and is now maintained as a bald. It is a very large area with no trees for protection. Yeah and wouldn't know it as soon as I got up there it got very windy and it poured. I just kept going until I finally got off the summit and into some protection to put on my raingear. A little to late, but at least it helped keep me warm. Thrre were many day hikers out today, Spring Break, more hikers than I have seen in the past two weeks. Today made it two weeks that I have been hiking alone. I literally have been hiking by myself that whole time. I surely am having some heavy duty conversations with myself. Lol.Coming out of one of the gaps crossing a gravel road and up the trail about a hundred feet, there was a cooler behind a tree with cans of Cola, mini Snickers bars and cheezy crackers in it. Trail Magic!!! Awesome!!!  I'm telling you it shows up just at the right times. Thank You Trail Angel.There is a section hiker staying in the shelter tonight. We talked a bit until it got dark. At least I know I can have a conversation other than to myself. Just kidding. LolOh and last night at about 1:00 the coyotes were howling like crazy. And it sure sounded pretty close. Yikes!Tonight I am safe and warm in my tent.
Date: 2019-03-12
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter 

To: Laughing Heart Hostel
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Trying to get started earlier I set my alarm for 6:15. Then reset it for 7:00. It was way to cold, it said on my weather app it was 33°. I just couldn't pull myself out if my warm sleeping bag. I'll try it another day. So I finally got moving about 8:00. I went and used the privy and retrieved my food bag off the bear cables and went back to the warmth of my tent. It's amazing how much warmer it is in there even though it's open along the bottom of the fly and the body is mesh. After eating a couple packages of pop tarts I was ready to the slow process of packing up and breaking down my tent. I left camp about 9:00, so much for an early start. Lol. That's ok I was only planning on hiking 13 miles to Hot Springs N.C. From way up the mountain the small town came into view, it still took about an hour to get there with all the switchbacks.I'm staying at a hostel tonight, I have a bunkroom that sleeps ten all to myself. There are two other thru hikers and a couple of section hikers down the hall. Tonight I met Eagle Scout, he signed in a position before me at the start of our thru hike last month. He and Wow, who I met on Saturday, went to a local tavern for dinner where we met Better Together, a couple I spent time with at two shelters in th Smoky's, and Hugs, another fellow I just met. We all had a good time sharing stories and many laughs. It's like I have known these people for quite some time but in all actually its just been a matter of days.Tomorrow I plan on taking a zero. Good thing because after all of the descending again today my knees are feeling it. I would say out of the 13 miles 10 were going downhill. Sometimes uphill is so much easier on the body.So tomorrow my plan is to get all my laundry done, by machine this time. Go to the outfitter and look to purchase a new rain jacket. Something that is more waterproof then the one I paid good money for at REI. Then to the Post Office to send home some stuff that I haven't used to help lighten the load. And to do a resupply.But most of all to just relax with a day off. It's been 15 days since my last zero, 170 miles ago.Tonight I am safe and warm sleeping in a hostel.
Date: 2019-03-13
From: Laughing Heart Hostel 

To: Laughing Heart Hostel 
Miles today: 0.0

I really enjoyed the zero today. Eagle Scout and I met up with Better Together and Hugs for breakfast at the local restaurant. That's funny the town is only about two blocks long. Lol.After that we all went to do a resupply. Then I went to the outfitter and got a new rain jacket. Then I went back to the hostel to relax a bit while the post office closed for lunch. Then went back to the Dollar General to pick up a few more items and to grab a box to ship a few things home that I didn't need. Whatever I lost in weight on the shipment home I doubled in my food resupply. Lol. My pack is way heavy again. I can't wait until the weather turns warmer so I can get rid of some of the heavy clothes. Then went back and got some laundry done and hung out with some new guys that came in. The new guys are Santa, Lucky and Catmando. All cool guys. Then before we knew it we went back to the restaurant for dinner. Wow the day went so fast.On another note for over the past two weeks I have had a numbness on the outside of my left leg. That doesn't concern me as much as this new issue. I'm hoping it's just from all the downhills lately. I am feeling a pain that is running down my right leg. I know this pain all to well. I just hope and pray that my sciatica does not come back. Two years ago couldn't walk fifty feet without bending over in pain. Tomorrow I head back out. Lets see how it goes. I will keep you posted. Lets think good thoughts. Tonight I am safe and sleeping in a hostel.
Date: 2019-03-14
From: Laughing Heart Hostel 

To: Laughing Heart Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

After having a somewhat restless night.I got up in the morning feeling achy. I walked down the hall in somewhat discomfort. The pain was just shooting down my leg. As much as I didn't want to have to do it, I decided that the best thing to do was take another zero. I did about an hour of stretching then hiked up about a half mile of the AT that is literally in the backyard of the hostel. Last night at dinner I was talking to Britta (Better Together) and she suggested that if I am going to be doing any long downhills to a lengthen my treking poles so I am as not so hunched over. So on that little test run today I tried it and my leg didn't bother me. As to the question George Devine asked on my guest book. I have a herniated and a degenerated L4-L5. I have been seeing a chiropractor weekly for over two years and it has been working. I did feel a twindge a couple of weeks back but nothing to this extent. I think with the two days of downhills exiting the Smoky's and about the ten or so miles of downhill entering Hot Springs has brought it on. So hopefully rest and continued extra stretching may alleviate it. My plan is to rest up and get back out there tomorrow. I like this little town and the restaurants. They seem to serve generous portions to us hikers.They are a hiker town and seem to appreciate us being here. Maybe now seeing that they have not yet endured the bubble. That is the mass of probably the couple of thousand of hikers that will be passing through in the coming weeks. They are calling for some heavy rain overnight ending late morning. Then pretty nice for the next few days. The hostel is filling up quickly with the upcoming rainy forecast.I'm itching to get back out there. Tonight I am safe and warm sleeping in a hostel.
Date: 2019-03-15
From: Laughing Heart Hostel

To: Steath Campsite
Miles today: 12.8

It rained pretty heavy overnight I was told. I did not hear anything, I put my ear plugs in on the account of a full bunkroom of snoring hikers. By the time I awoke in the morning half the room was empty and it was only 7:30. The only reason I woke up when I did was because one of the guys leaned on my mattress to unplug his phone. I should really have some one wake me up when I have them in.Well after two days rest I got back out there. Everthing went well with my leg. I was pleased with that. It was about a half mile walk through town on the AT. Then it went down along a river bank before turning into the woods and a steep climb up the mountain overlooking the river and the tiny town of Hot Springs N.C. I really enjoyed my stay there. I took it easy at first, still a little nervous if the pain would come back. After about six miles of pretty much all climbs I started to feel more comfortable. I m another hiker on the trail today, he was taking a rest standing on the side. We introduced ourselves. His name is Fireman, he recently retired from the fire department. I would see him a couple more times once when I took a break and again when he was taking another break. We agreed on meeting at the shelter. When I got there it was a mess. There were tarps a sleeping bag, a tent and all sorts of trash lying about. Another one of those it looks like a squatter might have been living there. Even off the bear cable was a recycled shopping bag loaded with who lnows what. Neither of us planned on sleeping in the shelter. We were goingto sleep in our tents, but the only flat spots were right behind the shelter. And tonight it's going down to 30 with gusts at 35 and the wind would be blowing right at the back of the shelter. Also seeing the shelter is at a high elevation we thought it would be wise to seek a stealth campsite at a lower elevation. So we decided to head out and found one about a mile and a half away. It was nice to have someone if not to hike with at least to sit at the end of the day and talk to and have dinner with.I'm happy with what I accomplished today. The legs felt fine. If I couldnt find a stealth site I probably would have pushed on to the next shelter which was over 8 miles away. If that happened it would have been close to a 20 mile day. Not sure if that would have been a wise choice. We'll see maybe tomorrow, it looks like that maybe in the cards. Tonight I am safe and warm in my tent.
Date: 2018-03-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

In 2015, I attempted a thru hike and failed miserably, quitting after just 80 miles due to an injury. I was preparing to return in 2016 for a second attempt, but as life has a tendency to do, I was thrown a curve ball when medical issues forced me to change my plans.In 2017, I sectioned hiked about 400 miles of the AT finishing in Grayson Highlands Virginia. This is where I will begin my 2018 hike on March 17. My plans are not in concrete. I will hike to Katahdin at which point I will be a successful AT section hiker. I will then decide if I want to flip flop back to Virginia, and hike south for a true thru hike of the AT. "I've got no place to be and no time to be there."
Date: 2018-03-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

I have completed 503 miles of the AT and pretty much have my gear down. Since it may be cold and wet in Virginia in March, I am adding some Possum gloves and socks. They are supposed to be excellent at repelling water. I am also switching from my Jet Boil stove to an MSR pocket rocket. The Jet Boil is great, but I'm looking to shed some weight. My base weight will be close to 13 pounds unless I decide to add some extra cold weather gear, depending what the weather looks like. I am also adding a Big Sky International pillow. It is a 1.4 ounce blow up pillow. I have always used my clothes stuff sack as a pillow, but on a recommendation thought I would give it a try. I'll let you know the verdict. I have added most of my gear to the gear section. "I got no place to be and no time to be there"
Date: 2018-03-17
From: Massie Gsp

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 510.2
Weather: clear sky

Up to 2 feet of snow on the ground at higher elevation turning to slush and mud as we lost elevation. Ran in to two hikers out for a few days that happened to be from our same town, Cary, NC...small world. We arrived at the shelter around 3:00 pm. Two young ladies out for a weekend hike were already there. Being St. Patrick¢s day they had brought with them some Guinness and Jamesons. Chops Sticks, an x marine showed up a little later and we helped the girls with their Irish treats. We called it a night around 7:00 as the sun was dissapearing behind the mountains and temperatures were dropping. Temps would drop to the mid thirties, but not before a strong thunderstorm with high winds came through around 10:00pm.
Date: 2018-03-18
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: overcast clouds

SAS (Slow and Steady) and I hit the trail around 9:00. Since we¢re keeping the miles short until we get our hiking legs, it was easy to stay in a warm sleeping bag. We had an 800 foot climb first thing to get the blood flowing. The next 8 miles was fairly easy with just a few short climbs, then we hit the final 2 miles which was straight downhill with lots of rocks. Arrived at an empty Trimpi Shelter around five. Set up camp, made dinner and called it an early night. Patches showed up around 9:00 after a 23 mile day. He is trying to reach Katahdin by the end of July as he will start Med school in the fall. Good luck to Patches.
Date: 2018-03-19
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: clear sky

Nice calm night, no wind or rain with temps in the mid thirties. A Barred owl woke me up just before dawn. Not a bad alarm clock. Had a quick breakfast, including bacon. This is pre cooked and doesn¢t have to be refrigerated...who knew!  Patches was just beginning to stir... must have been the bacon. Start of hike was down hill followed by 4 miles uphill. Nothing too steep and followed a ridge line. One advantage of hiking this time of the year is that there are more views.  The leaf less trees made for a nice afternoon on the ridge. Did not see another hiker on the trail the entire day except for my hiking buddy SAS. We arrived at the Partnership shelter around 3:00. This has got to be one of the nicer shelters which is a good thing since they don¢t allow camping. Patches arrived shortly after and began making dinner before he hiked on another 8 miles to the next shelter...that man is on a mission! The shelter is a couple hundred yards from the Mount Rogers Pat Jennings Visitor Center. We headed over to check things out, warm up and use a real bathroom. It was very nice but the highlight for hikers is Pizza delivery from a nearby town.  An hour later we were feasting on a large sausage pizza, bread sticks, and salad...not bad! Mess from Detroit showed up a bit later. He started Feb. 2nd and had spent some cold nights on the trail. Went to sleep around 9:00. A hiker showed up around 10:30 but didn¢t find out it was Steady Eddie until the following day as he was still sleeping when we left in the morning.
Date: 2018-03-20
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Atkins Va
Miles today: 11.6

We got out of camp early today as rain was supposed to start around 9:00 am with a winter storm predicted to dump 6¢ of snow overnight. As it turned out it didn¢t rain all day but was cold and windy. A couple of short but very steep climbs over the first few miles. Two twenty something NOBOs slack packers flew by us on one of the uphills. More proof youth is wasted on the young.  We picked up a 4 legged hiking buddy today. He didn¢t have a collar but looked in good health. He hung with us until we hit town at which point he took off.  Checked into the Travel Inn... you get what you pay for, enough said. It snowed less than an inch overnight in town but the mountains got around 6¢.
Date: 2018-03-21
To: Atkins Va
Miles today: 0.0

We ended up taking two zero days waiting out the weather to improve. Doing laundry and resupplying. We had shipped resupply boxes to the Comfort Inn. The AWOL guide said they accepted them. Unfortunately, they changed their policy and took them to the Post Office. The PO cannot hold packages that are returned by the recepient, so they were returned back home the day we arrived. Off to Ingles to resupply. Marion is the neighboring town to Atkins with a nice downtown historic district. Had a great dinner at the Speakeasy Restaurant.
Date: 2018-03-23
From: Atkins Va

To: Va 42
Miles today: 12.5

We got a ride to VA 42 in order to slack packed southbound 12.5 miles back to Atkins in anticipation of another snowstorm coming tomorrow. Our shuttle driver was a very nice women with an interesting background. Over the 40 minute ride to the trail head, she shared some of her life's story. She was raised in NC, where she was married at the age of 14. Her husband convinced her that she did not need to go to high school. After a failed first marriage, she remarried. Over the years her husband spent some time in prison. Her older son is currently in prison. She is caring for a 7 year old girl whose mother is doing five years in prison. The young girls family is not wiling to care for her, but does see her once or twice a month. She is a religious women and has a good outlook on life. I am not including this information to judge these people, but rather to share their stories and to keep in mind that many of us are very fortunate and often forget or choose to forget that some people have difficult lives. We were dropped off at the trail head around 9:00am to below freezing conditions. We took off quickly to keep warm. We hiked through a nice valley with farms, then next to a river before we started our ascent. As we climbed higher, the snow got deeper where eventually we were hiking in over a foot of snow. Once over the summit, we dropped down quickly and got out of snow. It was like walking through two climates today, with cold and wind on the northern side of the hills and calm and warmth from the sun on the southern side. Ran into Jeep and Hard Knocks hiking north. Also, came across five guys out for a section hike that didn¢t know about the upcoming storm, but said they had the gear to handle it. The last few miles back into Atkins was through rolling farm land. Nice to be out of the woods in the warm sun. It¢s nice of the owners to provide access through their property. Probably will zero another day. Too many zeros, but don¢t want to be out in snow storms. Weather outlook improving on Sunday with spring like temps later in the week...finally!
Date: 2018-03-26
From: Va 42

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: drizzle

Probably the toughest day hiking I¢ve ever had. 8 inches from Saturday¢s storm. Some drifts over two feet. We broke trail all day. If that wasn¢t tough enough, there were well over a hundred trees down on the trail from the wet heavy snow. That and the snow slowed our pace. It took 9 hours to trek the 12.5 miles to the shelter. The challenge was well worth it. The shelter is of the enclosed variety with four walls a door and windows. It was a welcome sight as temperatures were going to drop below 30 with high winds. First thing we did was warm our feet by drying them and jumping into our sleeping bags. It took about an hour to warm up. Light dinner as we were too tired to do much else. Started getting dark and we headed to bed. My 20 degree ZPack kept me warm all night. Didn¢t see anyone all day. The five section hikers that we had ran in to two days earlier and had warned them about the upcoming storm apparently had a rough time. They had written in the shelter log book, that if it wasn't for getting to the shelter when they did they might not have made it.
Date: 2018-03-27
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter

To: VA 623
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: clear sky

We decided to start hiking around 10:00 am since the Doppler showed 3 storms coming through in the morning. All three disipated once they got over us. That was a waste of time, however it did allow   the temperature to go up a bit. We put on our frozen shoes and hit the trail knowing that nothing had really changed from the previous day.  We were right. Slow going due to deep snow. Fortunately, there were very few trees downed on the trail unlike the previous day. As the temps increased, the snow softened and became treacherous not knowing what was below it. A number of times you would step thru the soft snow and slip on the rock below. SAS took two spills, no injuries.  We were planning to go 10.5 miles to the next shelter, but with the late start, and still recovering from the previous day we decided to take a nero. We called St Luke¢s hostel for a ride and am currently sitting in front of a wood stove writing this.
Date: 2018-03-28
From: VA 623

To: Laurel Creek stealth camping
Miles today: 8.9

Dropped off from the Hostel around 9:00.  St Luke¢s Hostel is a great place. Doc and Farmer do an excellent job. Good dinner and breakfast. We stayed in the main house in very nice rooms. Some people think the name has a religious connotation, but nothing more than the traveling saint reference. Snow melt from the previous day made hiking much better, not quite back to normal yet. We got to Jenkins shelter and decided to go another 4 miles to a stealt camp site next to a river. Temperature got cold over night. Saw no one on the trail today.
Date: 2018-03-29
From: Laurel Creek stealth camping

To: Bland Virginia
Miles today: 6.9

Took a Nero today into Bland after a short 6.9 miles. Stopped at Brushy Mountain Outpost right off the trail for a hamburger...not bad. Staying at the Big Walker Hotel. Picked up resupply box at post office. Had plenty of food left over from previous 4 days and with the resupply I will be bouncing some forward to the next town. This is my last resupply. Resupply is good and bad. Allows you to skip a trip to the Dollar General or grocery store, but dictates when and where which towns you have to go to.  Surprisingly, had some good pizza at the corner gas station. Seems like all restaurants in Bland are attached to a convenient store.
Date: 2018-03-30
From: Bland Virginia

To: Va 608 Lick Skillet Hostel 
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Bubba, the shuttle driver picked us up at 8:30 and had us to the trail by 9:00. That was after breakfast at the DQ. My niece would be impressed. Started raining lightly almost immediately, but than turned heavy for about 30 minutes. The rest of the day, depending on which side of the mountain you were on was either nice or high winds and cold. Ran into Research. She hiked the first 500 miles with her Great Pyrenees dog but decided it would be best to take him home last week. Also met Freek Out from Belgium. Freek is his actual name, but the pronunciation is Freik in his home country, so he adapted the American pronunciation. He is a freek, hiking 30 miles a day. Mongo, the owner of Lick Skillet Hostel picked us up after a 13 plus mile day...you can¢t make this stuff up.  The hostel is an old converted church. Mongo is a great guy and the hostel is very nice with a outdoor hot shower and he even does your laundry. Mongo drove SAS, Hard Luck and myself into Wytheville to have dinner at Ruby Tuesday¢s...life on the trail. Temps are expected to be below freezing tonight which is the reason we came to the hostel. Sunny day expected tomorrow. Only the third one since we started.