morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-04-30
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: campsite
Miles today: 16.4

Day 49: My pad is still deflating but I didn't feel like airing it up so I slept on the ground most of the night. We slept in today so mom could rest. We all tried our iPods while we hiked toady and Mitch thought it was the greatest thing. It was his first time hiking with his iPod. I felt like we took our time hiking but we were knocking out the miles. I stopped to wait for mom and she was never very far behind but it was enough to make my muscles stiff again. I said I wasn't going to stop until we got to camp, it was only 6 miles left. 3 miles go by and we reached the Tennessee/Virginia line! Of course, I had to stop for a picture with my mom! A hiker walked by and said only 40% make it to Virginia. Mitch and I high fived on being that 40%. I celebrated by eating a poptart. Mom came, we took a picture then took off for camp. Camp was a lot of fun that night. 50/50 made a fire. The two German boys, Smiling Virgin and Smokey, Mitch and a few other hikers were there. The German boys had speakers so we plugged in Mitch's iPod and listened to Bluegrass music. It was pretty cool.I went to bed around 9 then about 1030 I was woken up with the sound of Mom coughing up a lung. We had to put both backpacks behind her so she could sleep at an incline. I ended up listening to my iPod to drown out the coughing sound.Which Mom gave Mitch his trailname Bluegrass back at Uncle Johnny's but I'm still trying to get use to calling him his trailname. We also named Bella, Tag-a-long. Twix
Date: 2013-05-02
From: Damascus, Va

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 51: So today we are spending time with our friends Marilyn and Jack. So many things to do like re-supplying, laundry, cleaning gear, etc. This cold that I get is now about six days old and still a real nuisance especially with the coughing. The worst part is the coughing and keeping everyone up within a one mile vicinity. We all get up today and eat at the Blue Blaze Cafe. Today was mostly visiting the local stores and continuous trips to the Mt. Rogers Outfitters. I am expecting a box that has the next 500 miles of maps, pack rain cover and I also heard a little surprise from Jon. It should have arrived yesterday but to no avail, it has not arrived today either.We also were able to reunite with Candu, Y-Not, Bearfoot and Stand Up. It was so good to see them again. They are doing some slack packing around this area and are having fun. I hope we can meet up with them again up the trail.We are introducing all our trail friends to Marilyn and Jack. We continue to see Twigs and Guru and of course spent some time with them at the Blue Blaze Cafe. Twigs for several weeks has been interested in shaving his head. I keep saying no as I envisioned him being bald and shaving his beautiful long hair.   Well today he did it and he looks great (shows off his really pretty eyes). I am sure he will feel better hiking. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck with Alex's best friend family, Michelle, so Alex is trying to find a way to fly back to AZ for about a week. Not sure what I am going to do but we will see.
Date: 2013-05-05
From: VA 600 Elk Gardens

To: Moonlight's House in Damascas, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 54: Happy Cinco de Mayo! Yes we ended up staying at Moonlight's (a hiker and a music teacher/musician) house and he provided awesome hospitality. Last night, the girls (Coach, Bella and me) were in one room and men were mostly in the living room and another room. We all woke up around 9am so guess we are not going out on the trail today. The report from Steady was there will be gail force winds (much stronger than yesterday) and on Monday are heavy, heavy rains. All hikers are trying to find rooms in Damascas and all accomodations full. Glad we are here at Moonlight's house.Donnie borrowed a bike from Moonlight and went to Food City as soon as he got up. He brought back eggs, bacon, pancake mix, bisquit mix and sausage. Donnie and Hans Solo began making breakfast and in about 45 minutes, we had a gourmet meal. It was sooooo good. While we were all eating at the table, Monk stated that today was Cinco de Mayo and we should have some mexican food for dinner tonight. Everyone agreed and quickly began our food menu. It was raining all day so we watched a couple of movies and basketball on TV. Solo cleaned the pool and we cleaned up the kitchen. Around 1pm, Coach, Hans Solo and I got on three bikes and began our trek to Food City for our Cinco de Mayo dinner. We got a little way down the road and the chain fell off my bike. I was going down a slight hill and couldn't stop but eventually did while dragging my feet. Then within a few feet of me, Coach's bike chain fell off too. Hans Solo started to put my chain on and then he went and did hers. All the way to the grocery store, her chain kept falling off so Solo switched bikes and basically rode it as he pushed with his feet like a scooter.It has been raining all day and naturally after we got out of the store, the rain really started to come down. We made it home with no problem and began to get our dinner ready. Bluegrass made his famous guacamole, Coach made her famous queso dip and I made chicken enchiladas. We also had plenty of different mexican beers.We are all now just laying around, watching another movie and contemplating on going back to Food City grocery and picking up some chocolate chip dough and some Breyers Vanilla ice cream and making pizookies. ** Update ** Yes Monk and I went back to Food City and brought back the cookie dough and ice cream. Yum. Also another late night at Moonlight. Bluegrass and I played many games of Cricket (Darts) and the rest were down in the basement jamming to some good ole rock. Moonlight on lead, Hans Solo on drums, Monk on bass and Coach and Donnie singing. They sounded great!I am assuming that we are going out tomorrow morning somehow getting back to where we left off. It is suppose to rain for the next six days...ugh. I just hope we will be able to see the wild ponies and horses up on Grayson Highlands which is just after Mt. Rogers summit.Thanks Moonlight for allowing us to move in, feel at home and take over your kitchen. It has been fun and very filling.Eight more days before Twix joins us.Salsa
Date: 2013-05-07
From: VA 600 Elk Gardens

To: Stone Mountain
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: thunderstorm with rain

Day 56: Well we are back on the trail again heading up and over Mt. Rogers (tallest elevation in Virginia). Last night, we walked down a few houses from Moonlight's to see 50/50 who is staying with Fidget. 50/50 was still there and Fidget was going to take him up to Grayson Highlands which is just past where we need to go so I asked if he wouldn't mind giving Bluegrass, Bella and I up to Elk Gardens. So 7am, we start the hour drive to Elk Garden. There it is, the restroom where we all huddled in from 60 mph winds just a day ago. So we cross the road and head up a pasture and plan to go about 16 miles to a shelter. We are greeted by a young pony who was very much a greeter and especially was very attentive to Bella. The pony started chasing Bella and would sniff and tug at his backpack. The pony followed up the hill until the gate. We hiked 4 1/2 miles to Mt. Rogers and it seemed relatively easy and we made it in no time. After we summit, we quickly came across our first herd of ponies. There were a couple of newly born foals and yearlings. Again, they were more interested in Bella and happily chewed, tugged and licked her. It was really misty and early in the morning so it was very mystical it seemed. As we hike, we came across two more herds totaling just over 30 ponies we have seen along with one long horn steer. As we continue to climb over rocks and balds, we started to see dark clouds and thunderstorms not too far away from us. Before you know it, it was raining. We were coming down the hill when it started to hail. The hail was the size of peas and felt like b b's. We were four miles from the nearest shelter. All of a sudden, in front of us was a RV. Yes, I did have a fleeting thought of checking to see if the door would be open. But what saved us from breaking and entering charges was another restroom sitting in the middle of this field just in front of this RV. So as it poured and hailed we jumped a fence and got into the restroom. The men's side was a little flooded so we used this room for hanging our wet clothes and backpacks. The women's side was dry enough to set up the sleeping bag. Awesome to be out of the rain and dry.
Date: 2013-05-08
From: Stone Mountain

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: moderate rain

Day 57: Left the dry restrooms around 9:30am and it was misting and ended up raining for most of the day. The trail wasn't necessary that difficult but a lot of ups and downs. There were no longer trails but we were walking in river so hence we are now hiking the Appalachian River. The rain was pretty consistent with light misting in between. It wasn't till later in the day that it just let loose. Since we only did 11.8 miles yesterday, we needed to put some miles in today so it was going to be a long day. You walk down a wet trail, you try and avoid as much as you can so your feet stay dryer but by the afternoon, it was useless so you just walked in the river. Today, we did start to experiment with some edible plants like roots, leaves and flowers. So like I said, we got a downpour later in the afternoon and really tried to go as fast as I could to get to Trimpi Shelter. Bella and I were about a mile from the shelter when she spotted a deer and decided to chase after it. She never left my sight but eventually gave up...thank goodness. We reached the shelter around 6pm drenched and there were only two spots left. So fortunate to stay in the shelter as it has a fireplace and Footloose already got the fire going. All wet clothes, boots and sox were laid all over the fireplace with several sox, boots and shirts getting trying to get dry. Several familiar hikers were there like Turtle Trax. Around 1:30am, a hiker came in and shined his light in the shelter and quickly disappeared into the misty night. I later found out that it was Quaker who camped one mile north. Even though it rained, it was a good day.
Date: 2013-05-10
From: Davis Cemetery 

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: light rain

Day 59: Beautiful morning as the sun beamed right on the dewey tents. I found five baby daddy long legs in my tent and Bluegrass found two ticks. You could tell that today was going to be hot and humid. I guess after a longer day before, today seemed like it was dragging. Just decided to go to the next shelter and call it a day. The terrain was really pretty with lots of streams and a few rivers to cross. I saw Stand Up about three miles before the shelter. It was great to see him. He thought the shelter was going to be filled as the thunder clouds began to roll in. There was a big climb and then about 3-4 small climbs once up on top and then down to the shelter. I really did not want to get wet again so really concentrated on getting up those hills. I only had about two more hills to go when I heard thunder and dark clouds began to enclose me. I got up those hills as fast as I could (Bella was with me) and then I ran all the way down the hill. I first ran into the tent section and then into the shelter. Again, there were only two more spots left in the shelter and we grabbed them. All our friends were there...we caught up to them; Monk, Coach, Aquaman, Banter, Even Beard and Donnie. We were all in the shelter. I threw in my pack and ran down the trail about .2 to get water. It felt really good running with out my backpack. Then one more run to the privy and back to the shelter. Just as I jumped in the shelter, the rain began. Oh it was so nice to be dry. In two days, Bluegrass's father, Mark is going to meet up with us in Bland US52. We are so excited.Laying in my nice warm sleeping bag, talking to my friends and listening to the thunder and lightning in the night...life is grand.
Date: 2013-05-12
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter

To: VA 623 then to Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 15.1

Day 61: Last night, I think I had something go over my head and run down the side of my sleeping bag. I was near the wall (facing it) in a dead sleep. Around 1:30am, I heard some crunching and then two thumps. Bella was sleeping next to me and snapped her head up. She must have seen something too. She moved her paw and hit the top of my head. I thought for sure something was coming in my sleeping bag. Well I never saw what it was, but I buried my head deep down my bag and closed up the opening and quickly fell asleep again. Boy do I sleep good out in the woods with or without critters. We left camp at 7am this morning. We had two huge hills to climb this morning and we were hoping to get ahold of Bluegrass's dad i.e. cell service. So Bluegrass took off and went over 3,000 feet and eight miles in under two hours. After about an hour, I caught up to him as he was waiting on top of one of the balds. No AT&T service so he used Sundance's cell (Verizon service). We now have to go about five more miles to meet his dad at a forest service road (VA 623) at 5pm. We made it up to Chestnut Knob Shelter at noon and then leisurely walked the ridges to VA623. We got to the meeting place 90 minutes early.We were relieved to see cars parked near the trail. We heard that VA 623 may not be passable but since we saw the cars, we knew that Mark would be able to drive up there. It was great to meet Mark. We decided to drive back down to Woods Hole Hostel which is 10 miles south of Pearisburg, VA. We thought we would park his truck at the hostel and then get shuttled about 35 miles south of the hostel so we can hike to the truck. This place was awesome. The cabins were built in the mid-1800's and is a self-sustaining organic farm. We set up our tents in the back and then ate a great dinner consisted of wood fired oven pizza, Amish ice cream (we missed this dessert), pesto spaghetti, brown rice side dish and salad. I can't wait for their breakfast tomorrow!
Date: 2013-05-13
From: US 52 Bland

To: Campsite near Stream
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 62: Woke up to the best breakfast; eggs, apple butter, biscuits, gravy, bread, OJ and peach crisp. We jumped in the shuttle around 9:30am and got to our destination (US 52) around 10:30am. He couldn't take us to US623 (where we left off) so we will have about 17 miles to make up sometime. We went 12.1 miles today. Mark did great with no aches or pains. When we first started, we went 8-10 miles so 12 plus miles is really good. Our thoughts were to go one mile past Jenny Knob Shelter and stay at a stream that has a good campsite. We arrived around 6pm and were the first ones. Within the next couple of hours, we had about ten tents set up. Dinner consisted of tortillas, cream cheese, olives and pepperoni. We thought of the olive addition last week and so we decided to try it...yum. Although, I must not have sealed the green olives zip loc because I had green olive juice all over my back pack. Luckily, all my stuff are in dry socks so especially my sleeping bag was not wet. Tonight was such a beautiful night. You could hear the cascading stream, see the gleaming stars and the quarter moon shined through the tall maples. It got to 32 degrees tonight. I wore all my clothes to bed and was toasty in about 30 minutes.
Date: 2013-05-14
From: Campsite near Stream

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

Day 63: I wanted to post this picture of a copperhead. It was on the trail about two weeks ago in which Bluegrass almost stepped on it. We have seen quite a few snakes such as rat snakes, garters, racers and this one.It was cold last night and this morning. Glad we were able to get to a lower elevation with no wind. I know that warmer weather has got to be around the corner. We all planned to sleep in as today was going to be an easy day. The trail has some little ups and downs but a pretty long stretch of almost flat trail. Got up around 8:15m. Just one more day before I pick up Twix in Charleston, WVA. We figured that she will need to make up over 150+ miles after we are done...ugh for her!Bluegrass got a fishing pole so today there are going to be a lot of streams to cross. Sure enough, we came across Laurel Creek (pretty big river) with a long suspension bridge. After that, there is a falls called Dismal Falls. We heard from someone that it wasn't really worth going .5 off the trail to go see. Mark headed early and we met him there a few hours later. It was the best falls we have seen. There was a swimming hole and multiple falls. The sun was out and lots of rocks to soak up the sun on.Mark left around 3pm to get to the next shelter which was six miles away. I stayed and fell asleep on the rocks. It was so relaxing. We left around 5pm and headed to the shelter. I went over lots of streams and footbridges before coming to a pond about .2 from the shelter. Another chance to fish and with the second cast, Bluegrass caught a small bass. I did a little fishing but no fish. Another time.Wapiti Shelter was a nice, older shelter. All the tents were set up and by that time it was dark. We ate beef stroganoff, broccoli cheddar macaroni and mash potatoes. Tomorrow is going to be a short day back to Woods Hostel. Stars and moon out and tonight is a lot warmer.
Date: 2013-05-15
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Woods Hole Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: clear sky

Day 64: We all got up early this morning (around 6:30pm) and started on the trail at 7pm. I am excited to pick up Alex in Charleston, WVA. There was a pretty big climb out of camp which took me about an hour. Once on the ridge there was just some ups and downs. Got to Woods Hole Hostel by 11:30pm. Mark gave Bluegrass the truck keys so I can pick up the rental car to go get her. In the meantime, we were trying to think of a trail name for Mark. He has been having trouble with this one Grommet on his backpack and wasn't sure if it was going to hold for the trip. It did and Bluegrass came up with the name Grommet.Picked up the rental car at 1pm and didn't get back till 6:30pm. We needed to go back and make up that one 16 mile section that we missed between VA623 and US52. So we parked the rental at US52 and Grommet drove us up to VA623. We got there around 10:30pm. It was a little late to drive home so we decided to walk in the woods about .2 and cowboy camp under the stars and so easy to get up and go in the morning. It was awesome. I plan to do more of this.Hey I just noticed that we passed the 600 miles mark!I need to upload some pictures so stay tuned...
Date: 2013-05-17
From: US 52 - Bland

To: Damascas - Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 66: Lots of vendor, food, concerts, tents and people. I understand that Damascas is a town of 900 people and it grows potentially to another 10,000 people or more. There are plenty of activities during trail days. We had two epic games of corn whole, the first pair up, monk and I against Donnie and Bluegrass. Monk and I won! The second game was Bluegrass and Mom against me and Monk. Mom somehow pulled out her corn whole skills and shot several 3 pointers in a row. Monk and I lost 21-19. We walked around to the different vendors looking at the newest gear and getting repairs on our old gear. Remember that hiking pole I broke the first day? I took it to black diamond and asked if they could fix it. The rep said, "let me see what I can do". He took it behind the tent and I saw a box shaking over and over almost like he was sending my pole through a magical machine and out popped a brand new pole that he gave me for free! I only had one that was broken so I have two different poles but I'm grateful they are the same size now. We also met AWOL, the author of the most used map/guide book on the trail. The picture posted is AWOL. He was a very nice, quiet, humble man.Twix
Date: 2013-05-18
From: Damascas - Trail Days

To: Damascas - Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 67: I woke up and went straight to the baptist church to get a free knitted beanie. There were several to choose from all had different color, pattern, shapes and sizes. I chose a simple white and blue one probably because the white made it look extra clean , something that I wish I was most of the days on the trail. As I was walking back, sporting my cool new beanie, I was walking behind a very tall lady. I thought it would be great to pretend it was Jennifer Pharr, author of Becoming Odyssa. Her booked inspired me to hike the Appalachian Trail. I saw Mom and Mitch on the side so I jumped over to them and looked back at my pretend Jennifer Pharr. However, at a quick glance it looked like her. Or was I just imagining it? Wishing that it was her. I told Mom that I thought it was her and mom convinced me to go ask. I walked after her feeling like a stalker. She went on one side of the vendors while I went on the other. As I went around the corner she had disappeared! I must have made it up in my mind. After a few minutes of standing and waiting for her to appear we met Twigs parents! It was great meeting them after hearing all the great things twigs has talked about. We got a quick picture and then I had to go to another vendor. I began walking and once again I saw Jennifer Pharr look alike! She was talking to a rep about a new tent so I decided to stay close so I could see if it was her. As she left, I asked if she was Jennifer Pharr. It was! I felt like I just met a superstar. My hands were shaking with excitement. I was able to talk to her for a bit and she was so kind. That was the highlight of my trip! Later on that day was a parade. Unfortunately, tragedy struck. A man had a stroke or heart attack while driving, passed out and hit 50-60 hikers. Several we're stuck under the truck. Due to the heroic efforts of many hikers and angels, they were able to lift the truck and free many of them. There were no fatalities and all our hiker friends are safe. I've decided Damascus is not the place for me due to all the devastation I have encountered here. Twix
Date: 2013-05-19
From: Damascas - Trail Days

To: Damascas - Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 68: Our plan was to initially drive back to Pearisburg, VA to drop off the rental, do some errands and get back to the trail to hike 10 miles but we all now how plans go. There were many issues with our plans. First, the post office was closed and two the Enterprise was closed and they were our ride back to the trail. Moonlight overheard our dilemma and said we could stay with him. At that moment it began to rain and our decision became very clear, we were staying in Damascus one more day. We went back to his house and Coach, Donnie and Monk were still there. They said they were going to leave but after a few hours they finally agreed to stay. It ended up pouring all night.Also wanted to add that during Trail Days, we were able to see Snail and Turtle (from Germany) again. We hiked with them prior to the Smokies however they left a few days before us in Fontana Dam. It was great to see them again at Trail Days.Twix
Date: 2013-05-20
From: Damascas - Trail Days

To: Campsite
Miles today: 15.0

Day 70: We made our way back to Pearisburg, VA early in the morning. We made several final stops to resupply and have some last meals. We're packing out seven days of food but I feel like its more around 10 days. We dropped off the car and began the trail at 12:30pm. We did 15 miles to a campsite including halfway there was this massive hill. I can definitely tell I've been off for two weeks because I am falling behind everyone else. Mom is flying by me. My feet are hurting and I can't tell if its my new shoes, my heavy pack with so much food or the pampering I've been giving my feet these last two weeks. By the time I got to the campsite I had a blister on my little toe. I popped it that night. The rest of the night I had the hiker waddle.Twix