morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-06-06
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Catawba, VA
Miles today: 12.6

What a day! It has been so incredibly hot today! No breezes and hiking through cow pastures so the sun is literally beating down on me. The last climb today was awful! I guess it's just the heat draining all my energy! I made it to the road at 3:45pm and tried to get a ride,however no one would even slow down so I just started walking. I had to get to the P.O. before %pm to get my food. I must say,as a hiker it is depressing when no one even slows down to ask if they can help. It is also very humbling too-like all of the sudden you are not worthy of anyone's time or effort.Well i did make it to the P.O. and man was I glad I did! I had 5 boxes!! I had 2 from my Mom(with my new shoes!) 1 from Karen Huckeba(with all kinds of homemade cookies and cards)1 from my fried Melissa Rottenburg(with all kinds of cute girlie things like face masques and lotion and teas)and the last one from a lady I don't even know out in Wyoming! Her name is Kat and she plans on doing the trek herself sometime soon! I felt like I was on top of the world! All the other hikers were in amazement by all of the food! I gave some to them and also put some in the hiker box. How cool is that! All of these people sending me stuff!I had planned on hiking out to the next shelter(2 mi)but now that it is raining I think I'll stay here. The Catawba general store is going to let us sleep out back in the shed. It's basically like a shelter(brand new) with 3 sides and a roof.Tomorrow we are slack packing into Daleville,Va. That will be nice since it is so hot!
Date: 2005-06-07
From: Catawba, VA

To: Howard Johnson Hotel, Daleville, VA
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: broken clouds

Last night ended up not being as fun as I had anticipated. First I called home around 9pm to find out that the Postal service has lost one of my memory cards for my camera. I couldn't help but to start crying because it had about 150 pictures on it including my pictures from traildays and the pictures of me painting an A.T. blaze for Hard Core trail maintenence. Part of the reason I am so upset is because I tried to insure the mail envelope with the photo card in it but the man at the P.O. said I had to have a receipt stating how much the card is worth in order to insure it. So it's lost!I am sad but have learned a valuable lesson.Tomorrow we are going to try and slack again. We'll see.
Date: 2005-06-08
From: Howard Johnson Hotel, Daleville, VA

To: Howard Johnson Hotel, Blue Ridge Pkwy, Mile 95.3
Miles today: 16.1

So I did end up doing a slackpack today from about 16 mi north of Daleville,Va. We had a trailangel by the name Del Schecterly drop us all off and then we hiked back south into daleville. Overall not a bad day but very hot! There was one good climb right during the middle of the day,but still not too hard.I have also met new hikers here at the hojo. They call themselves the Appalachian Trail Mafia and it includes 4 guys and 1 girl. Their trail names are hitman,j-walker,chipmunk,gravy and baby-steps(the girl). A very funny bunch of people. J-walker always makes me laugh by the funny things he says. They have asked me if I would like to slack with them again tomorrow but this time we will hike north and Del will meet us about 13 mi north to drop us our packs. I am probably going to because it is so hot and humid outside. The biggest reason I wouldn't is because it can become very costly.
Date: 2005-06-09
From: Howard Johnson Hotel, Blue Ridge Pkwy, Mile 95.3

To: Howard Johnson Hotel, VA 614 (Daleville, VA)
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

As you can see I am still here at the hojo in Daleville. I did end up slacking with the A.T. Mafia. We had planned on going the 12 miles,getting our packs from Del and then hiking on to the next shelter. However around 1:30pm it started raining really hard and Timshel and I got soaked! I must say that it did feel very nice though because before it started raining I was soaked with sweat. When Timshel and I made it down to the bridge at Jennings Creek(the place hwere Del was meeting us with out packs)We dried out out clothes and shoes and waited for Del and for the Mafia to catch up. Well when the mafia arrived they informed myself and Timshel that they were going back into town because they didn't want to go to the shelter soaking wet. They invited Timshel and I along and we agreed! Between the seven of us the 2 rooms only ended up costing us around $12. We all went to the Kuntry Kooking place for ayce and now we are all sitting in the room cracking up at the Dave Chapel show that is on T.V. I hope that I can continue to hike with these guys-they are too funny!
Date: 2005-06-10
From: Howard Johnson Hotel, VA 614 (Daleville, VA)

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light rain

Today was a tough day! Not only was it incrediby hot and buggy,We had 9 miles of climbing! We started at Jennings Creek and had 1,100 ft climb then went back down 1000 ft to Bryant Ridge shelter. This is probably one of the biggest shelters I have seen yet! It is 2 levels and has a covered porch! It was an awesome place but infested with bees and no-see-ums! After Bryant Ridge we started climbing again! This time 2,000 up to the next shelter,cornelius creek. I stopped in there and had a shack and took a peek at the shelter register journal. It is always funny to read what previous thru-hikers have written! And it's nice to use as a gage to see how far ahead some people are.After that short stop,I continued to climb another 1,000 ft(4,225ft) to Apple Orchard mtn. Just past the summit is a huge suspended boulder called the Guillotine. I don't think the pictures do it justice. It is a huge 700lbs rock that hangs over the A.T. between 2 other rocks. I must say I was somewhat scared to walk underneath it!Now I am at the Thunder Hill shelter with lil jon,charlie brown,steady-eddie and the mafia. I am tenting for 2 reasons:first there are poeple here tonight that are sleeping in the shelter and they snore-second I am getting up tomorrow really early so I can meet my parents in Glasgow,Va for the weekend! I figure I will try to be nice and not wake everyone up in the morning! I plan on leaving around 5:30 and doing 14.5m by noon. Can't wait to see my parents! I wonder if I'll even get any sleep due to my anxiety and excitement!
Date: 2005-06-11
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Best Western Hotel, Lynchburg, VA
Miles today: 14.6

I have met my parents and I am now sitting in the Best Western Hotel in Lynchburg, Va. Today was an awesome day! Timshel and I got up and left around 5:45am. We stopped around 6:30am and had breakfact(2poptarts-yummy) and them pushed on hard to make sure we were on time to meet my parents. The hiking was nice today too. Not to many climbs and not too rocky. We got down to the Matts Creek shelter around 11:15am and had a snack, I was too excited to sit around so I put my pack back on and headed down for the James River. Along the way Timshel and I noticed these little jumping things at our feet and beside the trail. When we went to examine closer we realized they were tiny little frogs! They were so cute! I mean they were like the size of my fingernail! I wanted to take a picture but they were so small that they were unable to be seen in the picture. I then tried to catch one and put it in my hand to take the picture,but their little bodies are so fragile it ended up doing more harm then good. I made sure I tapped my treking poles as I walked in order not to step on them. Whenever I tapped my poles,they would jump off the trial out of my way. They were so little!We ended up having a perfect timing moment with my parents. Just as we were crossing the bridge over the James River,they were pulling into the gravel parking area on the orther side! We walked back over the bridge with my parents so they could see the bridge memorial(the bridge was built for a previous thru-hiker whose last name is Foot. Pretty appropriate that they built a foot-bridge in honor of him don't ya think?)and then we dicided to head into Lynchburg for the night. Lynchburg is a larger town with more to offer than Glasgow. We're about to go to the movies now to see Cinderella Man. I'll writh more later...The movie was really good! Kept me on my seat and ended well. I'm sorry I'm not saying more-I'm just very tired. Going to go to sleep now. Goodnight.
Date: 2005-06-12
From: Best Western Hotel, Lynchburg, VA

To: Mom & Pops Hotel, Glasgow, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today was a sad day. I mean not too bad, but my parents had to go back home today. Of course I started to cry when they left and Timshel hugged me and asked if I was alright. I felt better after he started imitating Arnold Schwartznegger(not sure is that's spelled right). Timshel does the funniest impersonation of Arnold and it always makes me laugh.Timshel and I decided to go ahead and get all our errands done so that we could chill out during the late afternoon and evening. We got back to out room(it was so cute and it had 2 twin beds-one for each of us)and ended up watching the re-run MTV movie awards show. Well, actually, I ended up watching it and Timshel used the phone(the entire 2 1/2 hours). It was nice taking a zero today. My feet got the rest they needed and I'm out of the bug infested woods for a day(my legs could use a break from the bugs eating them all the time). Tomorrow, Timshel and I are heading back out and hiking 10 miles hopefully it won't be so hot and muggy. And hopefully we'll get to see the 3 blind mice!
Date: 2005-06-13
From: Mom & Pops Hotel, Glasgow, VA

To: Punchbowl Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: overcast clouds

What a great day today has been! Timshel and I got up around 9 am and got our stuff together. Then we went to the P.O. where I found out that all of my friends from my job, 2 nature sent me a goodie bag with a home-made card. This might sound cheesy but it brought a tear to my eye! It was so nice to see/read where my friends had signed and that they were thinking about me! And they sent candy too! Gummy worms, M&Ms and other fun stuff! That's like the 3rd surprise so far!After getting my stuff done at the P.O., Timshel and I let thehotel owner know that we were ready for the shuttle back to the trail when the driver was ready. We got to the trail around 12pm and headed out . We got to the 1st shelter about 2 mi in and decided to take a lunch break. And to both out surprise we ran into Moss and Sweep of the 3 blind mice! Yea! I am so happy to be with these guys again! They were also planning to go to Punchbowl shelter so we all ended up hiking the rest of the afternoon together.Once we all got the the shelter,we set up out tents and started cooking dinner. The shelter was right next to a pond(which was very pretty)that had very loud croaking bull frogs in it. They went all evening! Tomorrow we're off to Hog Camp Gap to camp out. They weather has been perfect lately! No humidity and the temp is in the upper 70's to lower 80"s durning the day and 50's to 60's at night. It's been so nice!
Date: 2005-06-14
From: Punchbowl Shelter

To: Hog Camp Gap (campsite)
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: few clouds

So today has been yet another great day. Three other hikers joined us at Punchbowl to camp out-Loon, Spoonman and Lizzard. The frogs kept me up for a while but I was so tired that eventually I fell asleep.Today's hike was nice too. The sun was shining bright and the trail was nice. We went up and over a balb mountain today which is always good because the views are so nice. The temp has been too-the humidity has held off and there has been a continuous breeze to keep me cool. The breeze also helps with the bugs it will blow just hard enough to blow them away from me.I think I finally made it into camp around 6pm and found Moss cooking his dinner. This is a really nice campsite. There is even two tree swings set up with a nice fire ring and boards to set on. I could spend a few days here just relaxing and swinging on the swing! Tomorrow we all plan to get up super early(4:45am)to try and make it to Montebello by 11am(10mi)for free thru-hiker lunch. We'll see how it goes because I'm not too much of a morning person.
Date: 2005-06-15
From: Hog Camp Gap (campsite)

To: Priest Shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: clear sky

So today was an awesome day! We did end up getting up at 5am and left camp by 6:15am and made it down to Fish Hatchery rd by 10:30am(10mi) Once we all were on that toad a truch pulled up and asked us if we needed a ride. Take about meant to be-it was the gentleman who offers the "free lunch for A.T. thru hikers". He had bean bags in the bed of his truck for all of us to sit on. It was so awesome! The name of the place is the Dutch Haws and it is a nice log cabin home that is also a bed and breakfact for hikers to stay in. It reminded me alot of home-rustic-like and open and in the mountains. The gentleman name is Earl and he and his wife run the B&B. He served us pizza,nachos and corn. And odd combination but very tasty none-the-less. He then drove us into town to the store where we re-supplied and then drove us back to the rd. We had to hike about 1.6 mi back to the trail, but it was definately worth it!Once we were back on the trail,we climbed about 600ft and then went up to spy rock. It is an open rocky area that overlooks the mountains. It was beautiful up there. The sun was nice and warn and the breeze came at just the right time to keep us cool. We stayed up there for about an hour and decided to press on.The next climb up Priest Mtn was tough,however I put my game-face on and drudged on. We ended up camping above the shelter in a nice flat area. While we were cooking dinner a deer came to visit us. It was a doe and she walked right into out campsite just looking around like we weren't even there! It was pretty neat! Like being at a zoo with no glass in front of you!Tomorrow we are going down to the Tye Rivere and then up and over 3 ridges. From what I hear it is supposed to be a tough climb 3 1,000 foot climbs back to back. Sounds like fun doesn't is!
Date: 2005-06-16
From: Priest Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter (campsite)
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Well today is the first time in a long time that my legs have actually felt like jell-o. Those 3 ridges were tough. The first one had a nice vista, the 2nd was straight up with no vista and the 3rd was gentle and a view that looked back on the 3 ridges we had gone up and over.I met 2 other hikers today-Wagdaddy and umble toagh(you say like from but with a t instead of fr).The tye river was not nearly as big as I expedted but still a nice place to sit and have lunch. Me,sweep,loon,ziploc and Timshel had fun and ended up doing some funny stuff for pictures. We outlined Timshel with chaulk and made it appear as if he had fallen and died-but really he hadn't It was funny! There were signs posted for trailmagic however its not until tomorrow so we all were too early. I'm sure there will be more magic to come.Tonight we are camping out in front of the shelter, we collected firewood for a fire because believe it or not it is actually cold tonight. It's nice though to have a break from the heat. The wind is very strong and my new windbreaker is definately coming in handy. Hopefully I will get good sleep tonight and not be too cold.
Date: 2005-06-17
From: Maupin Gap Shelter (campsite)

To: Quality Inn, Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today ended up being a really nice day! I got up and left came around 7:30 and hiked alone for the first 5 or so miles. When I got to Dripping Rock parking area(on the Blue Ridge Pkwy)I found Timshel,Ziploc,Sweep and Moss sitting and waiting for Ziploc's boyfriend Jim. All of the 3 blind mice have folks coming to visit them this weekend and Jim is picking them all up to take them to Waynesboro. I sat and talked with them until Jim came. Jim made some awesome treats for us to eat:home-made fruit rolls,peanut butter balls and home-made jerky for the meat-eaters. Loon showed up eventually and we all talked for a bit. Then another hiker by the name "wildcat" showed up. He talked with us a while and then actually brought up the idea of the 3 blind mice slacking the rest of us into Waynesboro. It hadn't even crossed my mind and I must say it was a great idea! So the 3 blind mice took Timshel's loon's Wildcat's and my pack to Waynesboro and we hiked on. First we hit the stairway to haven which was a somewhat steep set of rocks we hadto climb up(using both our hands and feet) and then we went out to see humpback rocks. WOW! They were awesome! As we were sitting there I noticed 2 hawks gliding through the air on the breeze. It was entertaining to watch them. They kept circling around almost like they were riding a ride at an amusment park and kept coming back again and again. We stayed up there for about an hour and 1/2 and decided we needed to get going if we wanted to make it into town before dark.We arrived at rock-fish Gap around 5:45pm(alot sooner that we had anticipated)and this nice fellow named Russell gave us a ride. He told us that part of the ruins of the old cabin along the trail(just a couple miles back)is where his mother had been born! I took his picture because I thought that was such an interesting story. We found our packs in the A.T. mafias room at the Quality Inn and little john offered us his floor for free. We went and had dinner at Gavid's(ayce steakhouse)and then went back to crash in little john's room. I hope I can get some sleep tonight. Last night I was alittle bit chilly so I didn't sleep too well. Tonight should be good as long as no one snores>
Date: 2005-06-18
From: Quality Inn, Waynesboro, VA

To: Quality Inn, Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today I am taking a much needed zero day. I have many errands to get done today and I have to get all my stuff ready for the 5 day aqua-blaze-canoe trip. For those of you who don't know,the shenandoah river flows from south to north along the Shenandoah mtns. Many past through hikers have chosen to aqua-blaze,which means canoeing the river(it runs parallel to the A.T.)instead of hiking the white-blazes of the A.T. the atc(appalachian trail conference)will not accept this as a through-hike so we(me,Timshel,Loon the 3 blind mice,baby ste[s and gravy)have all decided to canoe and then go back and hike the white blases so that we wont be skipping any. It should be alot of fun as long as it doesn't rain on us!Tomorrow me,Timshel,baby-steps and gravy will be doing a 22 mile southbound slack-pack from Jones Run Gap(in the Shenandoah's)back into Waynesboro. We wanted to go ahead and get some miles in before we took off for 5 days. Shouldn't be too bad.
Date: 2005-06-19
From: Quality Inn, Waynesboro, Va

To: Quality Inn, Waynesboro, Va
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: light rain

Today started off being a nice easy walk through the Shenedoah national park. The trail was graded nicely no big rocks and no big uphills. I got to see several deer along the trail too! They let me get so close to them,I could've reached my hand out and pet them. I've heard that many people have ged them in the past which causes them to be less afraid of humans. While they are cute and it is fun to have a "wild" animal eat out of your hand,it really does hurt the deer in the long run. That's why there are so many signs posted:it is unlawful to feed the wildlife!The hike stayed good up until the Shenandoah national park boundary came. Seriously,It was like night and day in the difference in the terrain of the trail. The trail turned into big rocks with steep uphills. I guess its a good thing we went ahead and got this out of the way before we take off the next five days.
Date: 2005-06-24
From: Quality Inn, Waynesboro, VA

To: Aqua-blaze
Miles today: 58.0

So I have decided to summarize the past five days of canoeing into one hournal entry.We had so much fun!We had 14 people that went;snotrag,lighting rod,swamp donkey,lady mustard seed,dogtag,jellybean,loon,ziploc,timshel,me,moss,sweep,baby-steps and gravy.all of us except the first four mentioned have decided to go back and hike the ShenandoahsThe first day(Mon)we went about 11 miles. Tried out a couple of rope swings that did not work and camped in an awesome site with a privy! We found a goose egg too! The second day we had out first portage-that was the pits! We went about 15 miles and camped at another nice site where we found a stray dog. The dog appeared to be pretty healthy but looked really straggly-fun to play with though!We also went under a low water bridge. Good thing the water was extra low we all floated right underneath it. We tried to go to john's(the canoe co owner)house so he could drive us to the grocery,however no one was home.The third day we had a dam portage. This one was hard and tricky at the same time. We had to lift the boats up over the dam and then carry them down some pretty big rocks to the water. Not fun. We did end up camping at a cool place though,right near a huge rope swing! The next morning we all got up and did it. Definately one of the scariest things I have done in a while! I think we ended up doing 17 miles.The fourth day was supposed to be one of the toughest days on the river due to the rapids,however the rapids were no rapids at all because the water was so low. We still had fun though. We ended up going 12 miles and decided to camp in a cow pasture area. Sounds weird but along the river there are many farms and most of the farm owners have picnic tables and fire rings set up for boaters to use.The fifthe and final day we only had 8 miles to go. We awoke to the cattle coming down the field toward our tents. It was strange because everytime I would look away the cows magically got closer and closer. As i was helping ziploc with her stuff and taking it down to the river we both noticed the 1 and only bull cow. He was huge and staring right at us. I was not about to wait around to see what he would do! We made the 8 miles by 10am and then john had us shuttled back down to Elkton where we started. From there we got a ride from a gentleman named Lyle(who works for the trail-angel network in Waynesboro,va)back down to waynesboro-Overall-a great week I just hope my legs don't punish me tomorrow when I start hiking again.
Date: 2005-06-25
From: Aqua-Blaze

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a very hard day! I think the five day canoe trip has definately caused some of the pain that I am feeling right now.It probably was not a good idea to come back on the trail and do a 20 mi day,however I have to do some bigger days in order to be in Harpers Ferry on the 2nd to meet my parents.I have met some new hikers tonight at the shelter-THX and Lady,Scarecrow,Minnie,Grande boy, and still walking. It was cool to meet them because they have been behind me this whole time. When I told them my name they said that they had seen me in the shelter registers. People I don't even know,know me. That's weird sometimes but it doesn't bother me. It's just how it is out here. Loon,Timshel and I plan on doing a 20 mi again tomorrow. I hope my feet and legs can make it! going to sleep now...