morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-05-21
From: Niday Shelter

To: Dragon's Tooth
Miles today: 14.3

I don't care much for the privies thus far in Virginia. They are totally closed in, like the one at the camp, but they are not safe and comfy like that at all. It's dark and scary and there are spiders and cobwebs everywhere. I've been peeing outside and just opening the door to throw the toilet paper in. It just really creeps me out to be in there.So we are up and on the Trail 8:23am. We are trying to work on getting earlier starts so that we may be abe to stop earlier in the evening. It's an ongoing battle...Leaving the shelter it's a nice little walk, a good way to warm up and start the day. After one stream crossing we find Trail magic left by a guy named Barnabus. Cookies for breakfast are much appreciated! There is then this huge climb; it goes on and on forever, but it's great. The elevation gain is so gradual and the switchbacks are so long that you can hardly tell you're going up. I don't have to stop once the whole trip up, and I feel awesome moving along at a good clip. It may just be my favorite climb yet - right up there with the climbs in the Smokies. We have lunch down at the stream then start another climb. This one is harder because my belly is so over-full from lunch. I start out really slow before getting in my groove again. As we walk along we spot an old deer stand up in a tree and we think about climbing up to it (there were rungs up the tree trunk) and waiting for our friends to walk by and scaring them. But, after closer inspection it didn't really look safe at all so we deemed it a bad idea and moved on. Continuing on this uphill was more like a rollercoaster ride. It would take you up a couple hundred feet, then right back down a couple hundred feet. It made for slow elevation gain.Along the way I saw a couple of Lady Slippers and the Trail was covered with Lily of the Valley. They reminded me of home and Mom, as they are one of her favorite flowers and we used to pick her litle boquets of them.We meet this old man, D-Man, when we are hiking. He has got to be about 70 or 80, and he is just truckin' along. We talk to him for a bit and he tells us he is out for a few months. He is amazing! Later Brad and I both say we really hope that when we are older we are still able to get outdoors and hike.We make it to Dragon's Tooth which is this amazing rock that sticks up on the edge of the ridge. You can climb it, but I am not going to. That's just crazy talk! It's like a two mile drop straight down to the valley. Way too scary for me. Brad climbs up it, nearly to the top, and I feel ill just watching him. There are plenty of campsites and we decide to stay here as does Shout, Whisper, Stubbs, Mr. Bones and Blues Traveler. It's a fabulous spot, a bit windy, but worth it. It is beautiful! We have a fire and hang out laughing.
Date: 2008-05-24
From: Random Campsite

To: Daleville, Virginia
Miles today: 1.1
Weather: scattered clouds

It poured all night long and I didn't sleep well at all. My feet hurt too bad to get comfortable in any position. Plus, I was so dirty and sticky and smelly that I was just not feeling well. Brad woke me up early, it was after all town day. I didn't care though. I didn't feel like getting up. Brad is packed in no time and the next thing I know he is taking the rain fly off the tent. I continue to lay there and he actually videotapes my lack of motivation. I finally get up and pack all my gear. As I'm putting on my boots I ask Brad what time it is. It's 7am! That's what time he told me it was when he first woke me up! That means he had woken me up BEFORE 6am! That's crap...I'm gonna get myself a watch.We have just around one mile into town and it's mellow and fast. The Trail pops us out just a few feet from the Howard Johnson. For an extra ten bucks the guy lets us check in super early. We leave our packs outside the bedroom and get all our dirty clothes together. The boots stay outside, too. We don't want the room to stink. Stubbs and Mr. Bones show up and we share a room to help cut costs.We take showers and it feels so freakin' good to be clean! We walk down to the outfitters and oogle over all the things we would like to buy. We pick up our mail drop and Brad also gets his new GoLite bag in the mail. This one is a smaller size and hopefully fits him better, although he doesn't really like the pack, period. We swing by Kroger and get a few staple resupply items. We grab lunch at Wendy's then head back to the room. I do our laundry; they have machines at the hotel which is awesome. We lounge around wile we wait for it to be done.Brad and I, Stubbs, Mr. Bones, Blues, Shout, Whisper, Boat and Gumby all go for dinner at the Mexican restaurant across the street. Mmmm...veggie fajitas.Earlier in the day Blues was heading down to the grocery store and I asked him to pick up a birthday cake for Brad. I met him in his room and put 35 candles in the cake. After dinner when we were in our room with Stubbs and Mr. Bones, Blues, Shout and Whisper came over with the cake and we sang happy birthday! The candles were really cheap and had melted over the whole top of the cake by the time they walked the cake over and Brad had blown them out. It was perfect though, and I think Brad was really surprised. We all hung out eating cake with our hands. A tasty end to the day!
Date: 2008-05-26
From: Daleville, Virginia

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: clear sky

We slept soundly last night in the king sized bed. We had breakfast at the hotel then went back to the room and lounged in bed watching ¢That 70¢s Show¢. We were already packed from yesterday so we had some lounge time. We talk about getting a blackberry phone with internet service that way we could update our trail journal wherever we were. We took showers, dropped our packs in the lobby and walked down to the US Cellular store. Because Daleville is so boring, as the guy working there put it, you have to do special orders for fancy stuff like that. We also tried calling our store in Keene, but contract changes need to be done in person. So, now we are hunting for a store near us next time we stop. Hopefully we¢ll come across one soon. We are so far behind that I hate to even think about it. It stresses me right out!We stop for lunch at Wendy¢s then say our goodbyes to Aaron (Shout). He is done hiking the Trail this year. It¢s a total bummer because we had really been enjoying hanging out with him. He¢s a wicked funny guy. Oh well¢¦We hit the Trail at about 12:30ish, not too bad for a leaving town day. I lather on the sunblock; the sun is blazing. I wear a new tank top and it looks silly because I¢m pretty tan, but it¢s a t-shirt tan, so my shoulders are still pasty white. Shnazzy! We have a big climb out of town. Of course we do, we almost always have a big climb out of town. It is not bad at all though. It is very mellow, with lots of switchbacks that very gradually bring us up in elevation. Thankfully we are mostly in the shade but even still I am drenched in sweat. I think it is the hottest day yet. We stop at Fullhardt Knob Shelter for a snack and to just stop sweating for a moment. Our packs are so heavy, it¢s almost painful. We move on another 6+ miles to the Wilson Creek Shelter. It is pretty uneventful getting there. We cross a couple streams and meet SoJo, a guy from Derry, NH. At the shelter Brad sets up the tent while I go to get water. It¢s about 200 yards down a steep hill but the nice part about getting water is that I can wash the salt, sweat and sunblock off my face which feels great. We eat dinner, happy to be getting rid of some weight. I go to use the privy and because it is all enclosed, which creeps me out I pee outside it and just open the door to quickly throw my toilet paper in the privy hole. As I turn around I nearly step on a huge snake! It is tan with brown spots and fat! I nearly crap myself; I have no idea where it had been while my privates were exposed, but it must have been pretty close! I have the heebie-jeebies for the rest of the night. It is a full house tonight with LOTS of people: Busdriver, Sunbeam, Sunkist, Kyanite, Brown Bag, Zach, Dear Diary, Pine Nut, Pogo, 1/2oz and some others I¢ve not met before.
Date: 2008-05-30
From: Johns Hollow Shelter

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: broken clouds

It was miserably hot last night. I woke up at one point literally drenched in my own sweat; it was just pouring off of me. It was not a comfortable night. It¢s already hot first thing in the morning and I stall getting out of bed. Finally packed and ready to roll I apply the sunblock cause I know I¢m going to need it. The day starts out uphill right out of the gate. I t isn¢t long before sweat is actually dripping off of my body. I don¢t think I¢ve ever sweat so much in all my life. I can actually feel beads of sweat rolling down my face and they even go in my eyes. I t is a long climb. It¢s not so much that it¢s difficult, it¢s just the heat magnifies any challenge on the Trail. I feel like my face is burning bright red and you can see the heat emanating from it. It is freakin¢ hot! My clothes are soaked and my shorts/underwear have an especially odd feeling of ¢did I pee?¢ to them. No, I did not. It¢s just an insane amount of sweat. I am continuously using my bandana to wipe my face. Finally, after over 2,300 feet in elevation gain I reach the top of Bluff Mountain. I see a fighter jet soar by doing barrel rolls which was awesome! They usually scare me because they are so loud. But between watching the jets and jamming out to Rod the Bod (thank you Dave! MP3 player with fm radio ROCKS!) I totally miss the plaque dedicated to Ottie Cline Powell. I stop for lunch at the Punchbowl Shelter and there is a story about this little boy. Way back, maybe 1800¢s, this 4 year old boy wandered off during school recess when the kids were gathering firewood. He ended up 7 miles away, atop Bluff Mountain. The town searched the woods for him, but no one thought he could have gone that far. He unfortunately died up there and his body wasn¢t found until nearly a year later. It¢s a really sad story.Leaving the shelter after lunch I run into a woman who thru-hiked in 2004, Bear Chaser. She didn¢t get her Trail name until NH, so I guess these things don¢t happen to just me. But I really don¢t want to wait that long!Using the fm radio was really helpful. I t definitely pumped me up to keep moving in the heat. We stop at the suspension bridge and put our feet in the creek. The rest of the snack-packers catch up to us here and we hang out about an hour, avoiding the last 5 miles. When we do finally get up and move we crank out the miles in no time. My feet hurt though. It¢s been a long, hot day.   We pass an area along the stream that had an informational plaque about how back in the day a group of freed slaves started a community here and lived along the river. There are still remains of old stoves and walls. Pretty neat to think about folks just living out here off the land. At Brown Mountain Creek Shelter Brad sets up the tent and I filter water. We both wash off quickly in the stream. It¢s way too cold to go all the way in, but of course Busdriver does! We eat dinner with our headlamps on; it¢s late. No fire as we are sleepy, sleepy hikers tonight.
Date: 2008-05-31
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: Buena Vista, Virginia
Miles today: 1.8

It was crazy hot again last night. I really need to invest in a different sleeping bag, probably will do that in Waynesboro. Stumpknocker was at the shelter this morning before we had even packed up. He has thru-hiked the AT six times, is a really nice guy and a wealth of information about the Trail. We head out and I am drenched in sweat in a matter of mere moments. The sun isn¢t really out but it is hot and muggy. The 1.7 miles to US60 is not bad at all and we get there in no time. There is a pull-off area and there we find Busdriver who has been trying to hitch a ride for over an hour. We drop our packs and hang out on the picnic table chatting with him and Stumpknocker. He moves on and we try to get ourselves a ride. We don¢t try very enthusiastically though. We more lay in the shade and once in awhile throw our thumb out, but we don¢t have any luck. People don¢t even look our way, or even slow down. Sunbeam shows up with her ¢hiker to town/hiker to trail¢ bandana. We hang that out and after about an hour total hitching time for us, a guy finally stops. His license plate was ¢rezcue¢, how appropriate! Sunbeam, Busdriver, Brad and I pile into the back of his small, small suv. It is not very airy and the smell of four nasty hikers nearly makes me gag. It is bad! Our ride brings us to the Budget Inn where our mail drop package is. We go across the street and eat lunch at Burger King. Sunkist and Kyanite caught there own ride with the dogs and arrive shortly after us. And then the great debate starts, as it always does when we go into town. And just like usual, it ends with everyone getting hotel rooms. We split a room with Busdriver. I have to say, a shower was absolutely lovely. I was gross. I also do our laundry, which was much needed.   We start walking to the Food Lion to get a few supplies and a guy in a truck pulls over and asks if we want a ride. Woo-hoo! We weren¢t even trying! We get some food items then stop by CVS for toiletries and also an ankle brace for Brad. Yes, his ankle is acting up again. We start walking back and try to hitch a ride for about 15 minutes before this guy finally pulls over. He brings us right to our hotel room door. Thankfully, cause it would have been a long walk back! I talk to Mom and she found a pocketmail online!!! She is going to put it in our next mail-drop. I am hoping this will help us stay caught up with our trailjournal. We go for a walk, a longer walk then we were planning on, to Todd¢s for dinner. It was decent, but we are pooped and barely make it back to the hotel before we crash.
Date: 2008-06-01
From: Buena Vista, Virginia

To: Seeley - Woodworth Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The pillows were terrible last night! They were about a foot thick and felt like they were filled with rocks. I ended up not using one at all and Brad used his camping pillow. It was so dark in the room that we slept soundly until 8:30am, which was really nice. Busdriver said his pillow was comfy but his bed on the other hand, he could feel the springs poking his ribs. I guess we didn¢t have it so bad after all. We hang around watching TV, eating Doritos for breakfast and taking showers. It is a lazy morning. We pack up all our gear and thankfully my pack isn¢t painfully heavy this time. I talk to Sadie and Lucy on the phone; really missing two of my favorite girls. We eat lunch at Burger King then call Leggs who gives us a ride back to the Trail. It is about 12:30pm and we are not a very motivated group. It¢s sunny and hot and on goes the sunblock. We start right out with a monster climb. I am pretty slow moving up the first half cause I¢m feeling pretty pokey, plus it¢s really steep. I start to get my legs under me though, and move faster up the remainder. There¢s nothing like starting your day with a 2,000 foot climb! There aren¢t really any fabulous views from Bald Knob, but it¢s still a relief to be at the top. We roller-coaster for a bit, then hit Cold Mountain which marks 800 miles! Sunbeam has left a marker for us. We head down to Hog Camp Gap and find a big group of people (Zach and Crutch we know, all others are strangers) hanging out in the meadow drinking beer and roasting hotdogs. We stop for a bit and visit. The tree there has a swing hanging from it and I go for a ride. My whole spine cracks as I stretch out and pump my legs. I absolutely love swinging! For once we don¢t get sucked in-we stick to our plans and hike on. It isn¢t long after we leave that the sky turns black. The forest is almost immediately dark. The threat of rain is high. We stop and put on our pack covers and rain gear. We hike for about 10 minutes sweating to death before we decide to stop and take off our rain layers. Much better after that. We move along at a good clip, fear of rain pushing us faster. It thunders and a few drops fall, but mostly it just stays gray. It¢s great though because the temperature has dropped significantly and it is so much more comfortable to hike in. I see a bunny along the way, also a toad and a black racer snake. The snake is really skinny and about a foot long. It¢s in the middle of the Trail, motionless, so I think it¢s dead. I give it a poke with my hiking pole and it flies at me, between my legs faster than I have ever seen anything move before in my life! I¢m pretty sure I¢m shrieking the whole time. I suppose it¢s name is do to it¢s crazy speed; quite appropriate. Good to know¢¦do not poke snakes. It¢s pretty mellow to Seeley Woodworth Shelter. I smell the campfire before I even see the shelter. I love when that happens. We opt to stay inside incase it rains, it¢s just nice to not have to pack up a wet tent. It¢s late so we end up eating dinner using our headlamps.
Date: 2008-06-02
From: Seeley - Woodworth Shelter

To: Harpers Creek Shelter
Miles today: 14.3

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lucy!!!I can¢t believe she¢s already two! I miss her so very much and can¢t wait to see how much she¢s grown and changed. I slept great in the shelter last night and really like not having to take the tent down. It goes in the bottom of my pack so I have to wait for that until I can start packing. The day starts out quiet. We take a short detour to Spy Rock which is the huge mass of rocks that you have to do a bit of climbing to get on top of. It reminds me of Mount Monadnock a little. We hang out on top for a bit enjoying the sunshine and okay views. We move on and as I¢m sitting on a rock waiting for Brad a deer strolls out of the woods between us, maybe 20 feet away in either direction. It doesn¢t even seem to notice us, it was pretty neat. We take a two hour lunch at the Priest Shelter with the rest of the snack-packers. The register there says that you must write a confession, being at the ¢Priest¢ shelter and all. We read through the whole notebook and it is absolutely hysterical. We all write in our own confessions. Mine is that I fart in the tent at night and blame it on Brad. Brad¢s confession is that his favorite day it town day. But I¢m pretty sure everyone knew these things to be true already. From the shelter we have a 3,000 foot descent. I have been dreading it since I first saw it one the profile map. I envisioned my toes to be bloody stumps by the end of it. Truth be told, it wasn¢t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. My toes were numb by the end of it, but it wasn¢t totally miserable. The bottom brings us to the Tye River. There is a suspension bridge to get across and it is really bouncy. We stop to take our shoes and socks off and soak our feet in the river. Those poor fish¢¦but it felt really good!We have a fierce little climb to get to Harpers Creek Shelter. But it is short and the shelter is nice. We decide to stay inside again. We have dinner and a fire then to bed. I have tired feet, body and mind. Plus, I¢m really sad because we don¢t have phone service so there is no way to call and sing to my little Lucy. There¢s always tomorrow¢¦
Date: 2008-06-04
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Waynesboro, Virginia
Miles today: 5.0

Again, not a good idea to drink caffeinated beverages before bed. Will I ever learn? I drank 2 pepsi sodas late in the day yesterday (Trail magic) and consequently was up for most of the night. At about 3:00am it started to thunder and lightening and really downpour. The whole shelter was lit up from the lightening and I thought for sure a tree right next to us had been struck-that¢s how close the boom was. It was pretty scary at times, but when I wasn¢t freaking myself out, it was quite amazing and beautiful. I sat up for a long time just watching mother nature do her thing. It was the best sleepless night I have had out here.Brad was of course up at the crack of dawn and ready to go into town. He headed out before me, but I followed shortly after. I took my sweet time walking along. I continued to count orange salamanders and up to 71 (23 more from last night). IT was a really nice, mellow 5 miles and the Trail crossed a number of streams, all raging from last night¢s rain. I emerge at Rockfish Gap and see Sunkist, Kyanite and Brad at the visitor¢s center and I am told that a ride is on it¢s way. There is something called the Angel Network, a list of volunteers who are willing to give free rides to thru-hikers. The list is over 20 names long. This program is amazing! We get a ride to the Quality Inn with everyone else, but then we go to the YMCA as we were planning on tenting for free. We set our tent up out in this field under the only tree. It is so damn hot, I sweat just sitting there. We, along with Sunbeam go to the all you can eat Chinese buffet and stuff our faces. It is cheap and really good. We head back to our campsite and decide that we are not staying. It is just way to hot to be sitting in the sun. So, it would in fact not be free. We would be paying a high price given that we would be miserable all afternoon. And so we get a ride back to the Quality Inn where there is air conditioning. We get cleaned up and head back to the outfitters as our maildrop has arrived. When we checked earlier on our way into town it hadn¢t arrived yet. I made a slightly panicked phone call to mom and we figured it out. We also purchase a Z-rest that we cut in half to use for seats. It works great for rainy days when the ground is soggy. We finally remember to get bear rope. And finally I get a summer sleeping bag. It is a 45 degree Lafuma with a ¢box¢ bottom, not mummy, so it is way roomier. Brad is really jealous and I think it¢s going to be a long summer¢¦On one of our car rides from the Angel Network a local informs us that the movie ¢Evan Almighty¢ was filmed on one of their downtown streets. Also, the movie ¢War of the Worlds¢ was partially filmed here. It¢s Waynesboro¢s claim to fame.We eat dinner at Ciro¢s. It is by far the best pizza we have had on the entire Trail. We spend the night lounging around watching tv.