morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-05-17
From: Woods Hole Hostel

To: Blacksburg
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: moderate rain

Good mattress meant good sleep and I awoke well rested. I made my way up to the main house where coffee (they roast their own beans) was being served on the porch and had 2 cups. We all convened on the lawn for the pre-meal gratitude ritual and then I helped set up tables and settings for everyone. Breakfast was amazing and consisted of fresh bread, cheesy grits, veggie eggs, and fruit. Fresh food is unbeatable. We finished our plates and got organized before heading out into a slightly rainy morning. With 11+ miles to cover before Pearisburg, we wasted no time and got down the trail. The weather mostly cooperated until we started up a ridge climb and the sky opened up. I could see blue skies in either direction but directly above us and in front of us was a dark, heavy cloud. It poured for about 45 minutes before easing up and it was just in time for us to catch an amazing view in some cliffs overlooking Pearisburg. We enjoyed a quick snack break but didn¢t hang out too long when we spotted another cloud coming our way. We motored down the remaining 3 miles and found the road crossing that led down into town. As we arrived at Dairy Queen, glow stick spotted her friend David who had cone to pick us up. We ate a quick dq snack and said farewell to Juke box and the Fins who were getting a lift into Damascus tonight. We piled into David¢s car for the short drive out to Blacksburg. Once there, we stopped by the grocery store for beer and marveled at what a nice, normal town it was. Hadn¢t seen such modernity in a city probably since starting tge trail. It felt odd being amongst mini malls and Starbucks again. David took us out to his house which he shared with some other grad students and it had the unmistakable feel of a college crash pad. The shower was hot though and he let us do laundry so we were happy. After a couple beers on his back porch, we headed out for Thai food and ate ravenously as we do. We then toured through the Virginia tech campus and popped over to his favorite local pub. We spent a couple hours drinking pints and throwing darts well past our normal hiker bedtime. Finally, we hit the late night pizza joint where I ordered 2 giant slices of pepperoni and killed a 12 oz container of coffee ice cream. Was more than ready to zonk once I hit the couch in the living room.
Date: 2018-05-19
From: Damascus VA

To: Damascus VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It rained hard last night because that¢s what the weather does now. It was clear in the morning and despite a slight hangover I resolved to be productive today, especially with all the free services being offered. I emptied out my backpack so that I could hand it over to the osprey dolks for alteration but I threw in all the dirty clothes that I wanted to give to the One Way folks for a free wash. After I¢d dropped those off, I went over to the one Way ministry building and got a free haircut. Barber from Erwin was there and he cleaned up my Mohawk and gave me an AT line on the side of my head. When I got back to camp, Chef was stirring so we walked over to mojos and got some food. Juke box, glow stick and Andrea were there so we hung out for a bit and I ran over to the community pool for a free shower to get all the hair clippings washed out. When I got back to mojos, the hiker parade was congregating and hikers from this year and years passed started the march down Laurel Street. We opted not to arbitrarily march a mile and a half because we¢re just to cool for that. And we are all hobbling like old people right now. We hung out there for a bit, had a drink or two and eventually drifted back towards camp. I picked up my pack from osprey and they¢d done well, my hip belt was smaller and my tears had been sewn up. Thanks guys! I also retrieved my laundry from the kind ladies at the one way tent. The rest of the night became a blur of rain, mud and beer. We toured back over to the Riff Raff camp and warmed by the fire and danced under their tent until the rain has turned the world into cold soup. Eventually we stumbled back to camp and vowed to get an early start tomorrow in order to get a ride out. We shall see about that. It¢s still pouring rain well after midnight. Because that¢s what the weather does now.
Date: 2018-05-20
From: Damascus VA

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: light rain

Our plan to get out to the parking lot by 8am was wishful thinking. We were moving a bit slow from the rain soaking and beer drinking throughout the weekend and it was 9:30 by the time we emerged from the woods and the entrance to tent city. Knowing our best bet for a ride out would be the intersection by the broken fiddle hostel, we decided to hoof it up there. Juke box was up by the lot and let us know he would be staying the night in Pearisburg before starting out again Monday. Hopefully we will see him again soon. We got supremely lucky and didn¢t even make it to our intended intersection before we scored a ride that would accommodate all 4 of us. Shaggy and Assman were brothers who thru hiked in 1998 and had come back for their 20 year reunion. They were super cool guys and we piled into the backseat of their extended cab truck. I also had their 80 pound dog chopper in my lap for the ride. He didn¢t mind in the least. We chatted with them about the trail then and now and how different our experiences have been. We got dropped at the food lion in Pearisburg and head chef and I opted for an all you can eat Chinese buffet while the ladies went for Mexican food. We all grabbed what resupply we needed and were able to score a ride in the back of a locals pickup to the trailhead. We collectively suffered the less than 8 mile hike to the shelter and fought through our hangovers to get here. I dried out my tent on a tree and went out to the field to drink a tall boy I had packed out and make a call home to mad dog and val. The sunset that followed from up there was one of the best yet. Everyone from camp came out to watch and enjoy. Head chef had packed out a 5 pound chicken from town and enlisted me to help finish it. I obliged and added an entire thigh to my bbq chicken indomie noodles. Delicious. Looking for bigger miles tomorrow, hopefully 20+
Date: 2018-05-21
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Wind Rock camp
Miles today: 20.4

Got out of camp at ten til nine this morning just behind Chef but ahead of the girls. Grabbed one last peek of the amazing valley view which was a sea of low white clouds this morning. The terrain was pretty nice this morning, soft rolling atop the ridge line. Despite the forgiving terrain, I still felt like I was dragging ass quite a bit, probably still sapped from the weekend. Knowing we were shooting for a twenty miler, I kept my head down and marched on. I met chef down by pine branch stream after 12 miles and we lunched and waited on the ladies. They arrived and just before we were all finished lunching, the thunder started up and it began to sprinkle. With 8+ miles of mostly uphill to go, we got back underway now with rain covers on our packs. The rain persisted for a few hours this afternoon and there is water everywhere. The streams, creeks, and rivers are all swollen and running with force and even the trail has been intermittently turning into a stream. The afternoon was hard earned and thankfully the rain eased up as we got closer to camp. The final 4 miles was uphill over big slick rocks and through mud, standing and moving water. Not ideal trail conditions but we arrived to Wind Rock at 7 and set up before walking up to the view spot to cook dinner. Chef and I both cooked a double package of Indomie noodles and chatted with Wilt, a girl that we recognized from somewhere earlier on the trail who also started hiking the same day that I did. Ibex and glow stick arrived closer to sunset and were slightly grumpy after the strenuous day but perked up slightly after some indomie of their own. Everyone is pretty beat and in tents by 9pm. Shooting for a 16 miler tomorrow.
Date: 2018-05-22
From: Wind Rock camp 

To: Ridge camp below Bruisers Knob
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained periodically last night, enough that my tent was wet outside and humid enough that the inside was caked in condensation. The sun was shining through mixed clouds and there was a slight breeze so that when I took my tent up to the point on Wind Rock and held it up to the breeze, it had fully dried within 5 minutes. Love that lightweight design on days when I can actually get it out to dry. The group had breakfast up there near the viewpoint and enjoyed the sun hoping it would last through most of the day. We broke camp and agreed to meet at a shelter about 10 miles in to break for lunch. We actually all convened earlier at the first shelter for snack/privy break. I took the opportunity in the dry day to super glue my trail runners in a few spots where they are staring to show wear and develop small holes. I don¢t know if these will last to the halfway mark but they have done nearly a third of the trail so far which is great. I do know you shouldn¢t super glue a hole in your shoe with your socked foot inside it. Super glue on the sock is gonna be tough to get out. The climb from here to the lunch shelter kinda kicked my ass and I wonder if I need to look closer at what I¢m eating/snacking in the morning. I¢ve noticed myself bonking early in the day recently and need to figure that out. Lunch was uneventful and we saw the weather had pushed the rain back from earlier to a 4-8pm range. Great. Just before 5 as I was walking through a pasture, it started dumping. I got drenched for about 45 minutes before it started breaking up. The group caught up and we watered up before our 2 mile climb up to camp. We passed the Keffer oak, the second oldest (or largest?) tree on the trail. It was a big damn tree. The final mile up was just that, it felt vertical and I was sweating like a fiend. We passed sunshine and captain who had made camp at the first opportunity atop the ridge. We pushed on another to our site after half a mile. Sonic was there and we all set up and got our dinner going and had a small fire. Should be clearing weather tonight and mostly sunny for the next three days.
Date: 2018-05-23
From: Ridge camp below Bruisers Knob

To: Camp at VA Route 621
Miles today: 16.0

The only weather that bothered me last night was a bit of wind right before dawn. We all did our standard routine getting ready and just before we left, workhorse showed up. Haven¢t seen him since we first were in Damascus and we chatted with him about everyone we had seen at trail days. Left camp sometime after 9 and hiked pretty swiftly past some very old cairns built by early settlers in the woods on the ridge. Kinda strange. The terrain also led along some slanted rock ledges for about a mile, offering some nice views across the valley. The weather was fine and the forecast looked good today. After about 8 miles, I came up on chef and sunshine having lunch by the creek near a road crossing. I joined them and chef and I discussed our plan of attack for resupply/zero/rain dodging for the next few days. Ibex and glow stick showed as we were getting ready to head out and opted to head another half mile up to lunch somewhere sunnier. I started the climb back up and kept a decent pace for the next 3.5 miles to the top of the ridge. Sunshine and I diverted briefly at the top to check out the Audie Murphy monument off a short side trail. The rest of the trail back down to camp was pretty good and went quickly. The camp near the county road and creek is pretty spacious and eventually we had about 8 tents and a couple hammocks. Everyone did their dinner thing and we all figured out how we¢d make it to Daleville without starving. We have plans to hit a restaurant off trail called the Home Place. Apparently one of the best on the AT, it¢s all you can eat family style southern and on thursdays they do bbq meats. I¢m about to eat my phone just thinking about so I hope it delivers.
Date: 2018-05-24
From: VA Route 621 camp

To: Catawba Mt Shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

We got out of camp by 8:30 this morning as planned. We had to get over dragons tooth today and into Catawba for the can¢t-miss restaurant, the Home Place and then still hike out a few miles to camp. Hiked strong and felt energized ascending the ridge to Dragons Tooth. It was a sunny morning and I had a big dinner to look forward to. Arrived at the Tooth around 11 and did the scramble up to the top. It offered some gorgeous green valley views and if I held my phone 2 feet above my head, I got 2 bars of 4G service. T-Mobile seriously sucks out here. After everyone had done their quick climb up, we had a light lunch as we anticipated a gut busting dinner. The next 8+ miles to the road crossing went pretty quickly as we were properly motivated by the standard animalistic hunger. Glow stick had opted not to hit the restaurant (our resident veggie head) and instead diverted to the grocery store and would meet us later at camp.Ibex, Head chef and I made it down to the road crossing at 3:30 and the restaurant opened at 4. We debated walking the mile plus and almost gave up on hitching just before we caught a ride. We were dropped off about 15 minutes til open and found Sunshine and Rocket already waiting out on the porch. We felt like the crowd outside willie wonkas chocolate factory waiting for those doors to open, the suspense was terrible. Immediately at 4pm, we hopped inside and scored a table for 5. The waitress brought our drinks and we opted to have the fried chicken and pulled pork. They rolled out everything family style and it was all-you-can-eat. Sides of coleslaw, mash potatoes and gravy, green beans, pinto beans, cinnamon apples, and biscuits with apple butter soon cluttered the table. We ordered 3 rounds of most items and were nearly silent as we went to town. It was as good as advertised and we capped it off with blueberry cobbler and ice cream. It can hardly be hyperbole for me to say it was the best $15 I ever spent. We went outside to the enormous lawn of this beautiful early 20th century farm estate and promptly laid down in the grass to nap in true hiker trash form. Families arriving for dinner regarded us with something in between amusement and disgust. We were able to score another hitch out of the restaurant from a lovely couple with a huge van with plenty of room for all five of us. From the trailhead, we hiked a decent 2 miles up to the campsite by the shelter where glow stick was waiting. We had brought her a to-go order of cobbler. Tomorrow we will get up pre-dawn to see sunrise at mcaffee Knob and then push into daleville where we hope to camp tomorrow night in or near the town.
Date: 2018-05-25
From: Catawba Mt Shelter 

To: Daleville VA
Miles today: 17.7

We stuck to our pre-dawn wake up plan and got broken down quickly this morning. Juke box had gotten in late last night and strolled in to our camp as we were getting ready to roll out. We climbed in near dark to the top of the ridge and arrived at McAffee just before sunrise. We took a few minutes to get the obligatory photos and then settled in to watch the sun come up. Well worth the early alarm clock and plenty of other hikers thought so too. After about an hour, we decided to rally and start the hike over to tinker cliffs about 4 miles away. The trail was generally good and rolling with a few steep uphill pitches leading up to the ridge for Tinker Cliffs. I misinterpreted the signage for the correct route and wound up hiking on a phantom path at the base of the cliffs. I stubbornly followed this false route for a few minutes before realizing my error and instead of turning around, I looked for a place to scramble up the cliffs. I found a narrow crevice that led up to some wider ledges that I thought I would be able to scramble up. The rock was in complete shade and still slick with rainwater. After a moment of contemplating how to remove my pack and drag it across the ledge, I came to my senses and decided to descend and backtrack. I lost a good 20 minutes but I also didn¢t plummet to my death. I caught up with most of the crew at the top of the cliffs and enjoyed the view with a quick lunch. I had 11 miles between there and town food and I decided to high tail down the trail to Daleville.  The terrain was mostly downhill and generally good and I made quick time. When I rolled in to town, I went straight down to bojangles chicken to meet Chef. Combo meal and a side sandwich later and I was happy. Grabbed an espresso milkshake from the coffee place next door and was now in food coma heaven. The next stop was 3 Little Pigs bbq and I was so full that all I could do was drink beer. After everyone had filtered into town, we made a plan to uber out to flying mouse brewery. Ibex had confirmed with them last night that they allow camping on their property. We got dropped off 11 minutes after 8, when the brewery was supposed to close. They graciously sold us two six packs and told us we were free to set up our tents. What a country! Hoping for 16ish miles of slackpacking (hiking a section of trail without full backpack) tomorrow. Will try to leave the bulk of our gear at the super 8 in the morning and then have a shuttle come pick us up and bring us back in the afternoon.
Date: 2018-05-26
From: HarveyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Knob

To: Daleville
Miles today: 16.1

We awoke at 6:30 to get a jump on our day and so that we could get our hiking miles in before the afternoon rain. Glow stick had gotten an Uber from town after we turned in and set up her tent late night. Sunshine had also camped with us on the brewery grounds and the 5 of us started the mile and a half hike back to town. The plan was to (hopefully) check in early at the super 8 and then day pack a 16 mile section of trail north before getting a shuttle back to town. Super 8 was able to let us get in the room early and I went up to unburden my pack of the majority of its weight and strip it down to just the necessities, water, snacks, filter, jacket. When the others came in, ibex said she had gotten the shuttle driver to drive us up to the road gap this morning and then we could hike the 16 miles back into town, rather than wait for him to puck us up when we had finished. Perfect. Now we could all hike at our own pace and arrive back in town as we finished. Chef and I loved this because we wanted to do quick miles today and that¢s just what we did. By the time I caught up to him filtering water early in the day, I saw that we had already done nearly 6 miles. The rest of the day was equally fast and I listened to a couple playlists and made fast time. Before I knew it, I was crossing the roads just outside of Daleville and popped back out at the gas station next to our hotel. I went in and bought a six pack of fresh squeezed IPA and headed back to the room where chef had just hopped out of the shower. I took one myself and immensely enjoyed the hot water, though maybe not as much as I would have if I had gotten rained on this afternoon. Chef and I hung in the room for a short while before we decided to hit Panchos next door. It was one of the better Mexican places I¢ve tried out here but still wasn¢t what I¢d call good. Still searching for that great Mexican food experience on the trail. After we were done, glow stick was walking back in from the trail and ibex not long after. We mostly just lounged in the room, I drinking on several beers and the girls decided to take a walk down the road to Kroger for wine and snacks. They also resolved to get fruit, syrup, and whipped cream for the Belgian waffles tomorrow morning. I opted to take a quick dip out in the pool before it closed just to stretch sore muscles and then followed that up with another amazing hot shower. None of us is motivated enough to go out to the breweries tonight so we will save that for our zero tomorrow. Not a bad day of slackpacking/town life, I could do this more often.
Date: 2018-05-27
From: Daleville

To: Daleville
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I was super excited for continental breakfast and headed down at 8:30 with chef. The girls took a few extra minutes and then joined us. We set out the fruit, organic syrup, and whipped cream on our table and took turns making our Belgian waffles. They were delicious and gone quickly. The whipped cream was tapped, the syrup nearly gone and only a few straggler berries remained. Apparently we wouldn¢t have enough fixings to repeat this tomorrow, such is the wrath of hungry hikers. We then decided to hit the pool for a bit. The menacing rain that was promised today seemed to have been pushed back so we thought it might be nice to get some rays. The four of us dipped and sunned and after a bit, Juke box rolls in with some cold beers in tow. We decided this could be a good hangout for a while, so I went and grabbed 12 more Yeunglings at the gas station and we enjoyed ourselves while the sun lasted. The clouds did finally convene and chase us inside but we were all getting hungry and eager to check out the Ballast Point brewery. We hopped an Uber (such a novelty to have that at my fingertips again) and were off. Chef opted to relax at the super 8 so Juke, ibex, glow and I rallied and went through multiple flight rounds. The brewery was an amazing space on beautiful grounds and the beer was fantastic. Also enjoyed most everything on the menu but the star for me was the butterscotch Budino pudding. Everyone cracked on me for ordering an old man dessert and then promptly shut their mouths once they tasted it. We finished up, paid our inflated tabs and ubered back to the hotel. We didn¢t do much of anything responsible today so will have to get resupply before getting out of town tomorrow. Good zero day.
Date: 2018-05-28
From: Daleville

To: Jennings Creek camp 
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: moderate rain

I got up a little after 8 and popped downstairs to free breakfast and joined chef who was chatting with Caroline at a table in the kitchenette. Had a couple bowls of cereal and a hard boiled egg along with coffee and oj. No waffle for me this morning as we had no more whipped cream and that was a deal breaker. I got back up to the room and enjoyed one more shower before getting my gear together. We had reached out to Homer for a shuttle and planned to have him pick us up from Kroger just after noon so that we could resupply there. I grabbed what I needed and then hit the coffee shop for another espresso milkshake and a turkey Reuben to go. I wrestled my once more obese food bag into my pack and hopped in the van to get back to the trailhead from the point we¢d left it on Saturday. When we got up to the lot where the trail started, we all sat down on the ground for a few minutes. No one was super motivated but eventually we all picked ourselves up and got going. The hiking was good and pretty level, the weather was super cloudy and felt like it was just seconds away from pouring but for the duration of the hike, it did not. We got down to the creek by the road crossing where we had agreed to camp after just over 12 miles. We wound up setting up on opposite sides of the creek as chef had already set up in the trees on the other side, while glow stick and I preferred being closer to the creek on the near side albeit in a smaller campsite. Ibex joined us and Juke box opted to tent on the other side in favor of a more spacious area. He worries that his snoring keeps people upand always tries to keep a buffer between himself and other tents. We all convened at their camp for dinner and chef had a fire going (primarily to cook the kielbasa he had packed out). Tomorrow looks shit weather-wise. Day rains followed by the same overnight. We also have to climb most of the day so we are tempering mileage expectations.