morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-06-09
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Rocky Row Run Campsite 
Miles today: 14.8

We left the shelter early this morning. When we stay in shelters we're usually up by 6:30 and packing up. We were on the trail by 7:15am. Otter had a rough night last night...his jaw is swelled up and he has some bad tooth pain...hope he's alright. Anyway, we were glad to get going because the bugs were already in full swing this morning. It looked like rain was certainly on the horizon, but it never came. Great day for hiking because it was overcast for most of the morning and windy which provided us with a steady breeze. We worked up a sweat by mid morning though as the sun came out and we had some good climbs. Both of us felt great today and didn't see a single hiker the whole morning. Even though we're out here to meet people on the trail we both enjoy mornings like this morning very much. Great for talking with eachother and thinking to ourselves. Do to the excellent conditions of both trail and weather we were moved fast. We had worn ourselves out pretty good by the time we made it to Matt's Creek Shelter for lunch. We had hiked right at 12.4 miles by 12pm, by then the sun had been up for about 2 hours and it was HOT! Lucky for us Matts Creek was flowing nicely, so we ate lunch with our feet in the water. I decided to jump in all the way to get my clothes clean(er) and Berry dipped her head in the water -she got a little up her nose. Freebird and John (who is from England) got there after about 30 minutes and we took some pictures. We've been hiking with them for the past couple of days. They are really cool guys. From there we pressed on another 2.2 miles to cross James River and hit VA501 into Glasgow, VA for a short resupply . Several other hikers were down by the river and gave us some cookies. They had arrived in Glasgow yesterday and they gave us the hiker need-to-know's about the area. We got a hitch pretty quickly from a nice old man and he took us to the local gas station/deli. We sipped on some cold drinks and planned out our resuppy for the next 4-5 days into Waynesboro. One of the locals told us how to find the library - and here we are- updating our journals! Soon we will head to the grocery store and then wait for Freebird, John and Otter to eat at the local diner (there is only one). Later, we all plan to get back on the trail and camp just outside VA501. We're taking it slow in hopes that Gorg, Denali and Chatter will catch up soon.
Date: 2009-06-10
From: VA501

To: Pedlar Lake Rd - trailmagic
Miles today: 17.8

Camping in Glasgow was fun. By the end of the night last night there were about 20+ hikers that hitched into Glasgow and pitched their tent, along with us, behind an old motel. The city designated the area for hikers to camp b/c the motel shut down this year. Glasgow is very small, but it was a needed stop for us and we were glad to be there. It stormed through the night and we woke up early hearing the old farm trucks going down the road. It didn't take us long to get a hitch back up to the trail head, a guy named Jim picked us up and gave us an earful of the reasons why he moved to VA from Philly. He knew a lot about the trail and made it a habit to pick up hikers along the stretch. We were on the trail by 8:30 and it was hot already. The section between Daleville to Waynesboro looks to have it's difficult moments with several 2000-3000ft climbs. Today we started out with a big one. Most of the morning was dedicated to one big climb - to the "Punchbowl". We were pleased to run into Blackbird at an overlook near the top. We took a water break with him and enjoyed the view. Then we climbed the last part of the summit together and snacked on top. We stopped for lunch at the Punchbowl Shelter and met "Ramble On". We stayed there for a half hour or so until we could take the bugs no more. The shelter sits right next to a mossy pond and the bull-frogs sing to you while you are there. As we were leaving FreeBird was coming in and he had the same plan we did- to press on another 5 miles to a marked campsite by a river. The afternoon was muggy and hot, mostly sunny. We passed Honey Do, Mo, Lucky Jo and John doing a southbound slack to avoid the northbound climb up the Punchbowl. We've been talking about doing a short slack on this section between Daleville and Waynesboro... a lot of hikers are taking that route..we'll see if it will work out.The campsite we were planning to stop at and meet Freebird and Otter turned out to be severely overgrown and tick infested. We noticed a sign on the suspension bridge across the river saying there was trail magic 3 miles north. We decided to press on to see if we could camp there. We arrived at 7pm and it was a wonderful site to see hikers gathered at a road sitting in chairs, sipping on cold soda's. We met "Renegade" and "Tomboy," who were the trail angels. They are an older married couple who have been feeding hikers for nearly 20 years. Every year they come out and camp for 1 week (or until the food runs out) and feed hikers breakfast, lunch and dinner - with all the snacks and drinks in between. We were so thankful! We pitched our tent and stayed outside with the other hikers till dark It was a great time. "Rolo" was there, who we haven't seen since before the Smokies. As we were getting ready for bed I saw a headlamp in the distance and I yelled for Otter. He was hiking fast to catch up and might have missed us altogether. Now Blackbird, Otter, Ramble On, Rolo, Marcelo and Whitebread are camped here. We'll be having eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes in the morning!
Date: 2009-06-12
From: Fish Hatchery Rd

To: Harper's Creek Shelter 
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning was somewhat leisurely. We headed out at 10am. We grabbed a shuttle from a Mr. Williams back to the trail. Mr. Williams was a nice elderly man, he seemed to be very humble and was enthusiastic to help hikers. He asked all about our journey's. During the 40 minute drive he stopped along the road to check on us in the back of the truck. He didn't require a set price for the ride, so we all pitched in and gave him nice amount b/c we were moved by his generosity and service to hikers. He dropped us off at the Dutch Haus, which is a B&B near the trail. Lois and Earl own the Dutch Haus and all the hikers are seeing the signs on the trail for free lunch between 11-1pm that they sponsor daily for thru-hikers. Off course, the lunch was amazing and some hikers stayed at the Dutch Haus - but we were eager to get moving. Earl drove us up to Fish Hatchery Rd where we then walked 1.1 miles straight up to the trail head- nearly 1000ft...so...I guess we really didn't accomplish anything by doing our slack because we had to climb that distance with our packs anyway - didn't see that one coming!!! Yes, Otter, Berry and I learned a lot the past 24 hours. We will be very careful to put more thought into doing a slack again. The hardest part for us is not being able to move on or be on a schedule. We all realized when we had hitched into Buena Vista (as exciting as it was at the moment) that we were somewhat trapped there being dependent for hitches back to the trail head. Both yesterday and today we didn't begin on the trail until 1pm. Oh well, live and learn right? In any case, we have have a lot of fun with Otter and Honey Do experiencing all this. Although the day started out a bit frustrating for the 4 of us b/c we felt that we were more behind than ahead- the day turned out to be really good. We walked with Otter the whole day and had some of the best conversation we've had on the trail. Otter is a great friend and we look forward to the years ahead with him We were spent! I don't know if it was the fast miles yesterday, or the steep climbs and descents. We made it 12+ miles to Harpers Creek Shelter, which sits on the south side of Three Ridges Summit - a mean climb that we've had our eye on for about 2 weeks. The shelter was in a great location, tucked away in a draw with a large rapid flowing creek running through the middle of several campsites. Best part was the cool breeze that accompanied the site. We were perfectly content staying there! Freebird was already there along with some southbound day-hikers who were very interested in thru-hikers. I helped them start their fire while Otter and Freebird answered all their questions about gear, bear bags, etc. In our tent now. We're suppose to wake up Otter and Blackbird in the morning very early so we can all tackle Three Ridges. There is a big horsefly between our tent and rain fly and Berry is scared of it.
Date: 2009-06-14
From: Waynesboro, VA - Rockfish Gap

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

I'm alright folks! The spot sprang up over 24 hrs and started to lighten in color in the middle toward the wee hours of this morning. The doctor told me that it was a reaction to a bite...most likely a tick. He put me on antibiotics to treat Limes Disease, as well as instructions for some over the counter pills. He said he can't tell for sure that it is Limes but it's best to take every precaution since I won't be coming back for a check up. Thanks Mom! I'm glad I went in. We're in Comfort Inn now and will stay here until Tuesday morning. We checked in at 4am last night and they are only charging us for 2 nights (Sun, Mon) Today we will be resting ALL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankfully we are right next to Walmart so tomorrow will be our take-care-of business day. We are so excited to get some mailed packages from our friends and family on Monday. Can't wait to here from all of you!Good news, Pocketmail will be up and running again. We will hopefully get it tomorrow.
Date: 2009-06-15
From: Waynesboro, VA 

To: Waynesboro. VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It has been a day full of blessings! Town days always hold a bit of excitement because of the promise of a shower and a good meal, but Waynesboro held a different promise- packages from friends and family. Before we made it to the post office though, we had a few other errands to run. Otter met us at Wal-Mart and we waited for the bus to come by. Turns out we missed it twice and ended up waiting about 2 hours for another one. It all worked out though and we had a little time to interact with some locals. We headed to Rockfish Gap Outfitters and picked up some Dr. Bonner's soap. With the weather being much hotter these days and our forehead forecast calling for 100% chance of rain, we need to "bird bath" more than ever. No more smoldering sticky nights for us! Once out of the store we got very excited for our next stop- the post office. We caught a ride from one of the Trail Angels (Tom) and proceeded to downtown Waynesboro. Once in the post office we were thrilled to see the employee bring out 5 boxes for us. We got our pocketmail back, a bouncebox, a package from my parents, a box from the gym where Bark used to work and a box from our Sunday School class in Louisville, KY. It was incredible... we can not even tell you how encouraged we were. The boxes were full of food and drink mixes, sweets and other surprises. Some of the best items we received were the letters and photos (I, Berry, may have been a little teary). We read them all while standing in the foyer of the post office. With all of those boxes spread out everywhere we got some inquisitive looks from the locals. Overall, the boxes and their contents were great reminders of why we are doing this and a motivator to keep going. Without the support and prayers of our friends and families this journey would be nearly impossible. Well we soaked up the love as long as possible, but it was soon time to figure out how we would get back to our hotel with all of these boxes. Luckily a different Trail Angel, also named Tom was only a phone call away and he was there in minutes to help us out. We made it back and soon realized we needed to return all of our resupply food to the store, pack a new food bag, put together a bounce box and start eating! What an afternoon- Bark headed to the store and I stayed behind to pack a few things and then had some good quiet time to read and rest. It has been a wonderful day. We had been looking forward to this town before we even started our hike in April. As we head out tomorrow our bags will be filled with good things and reminders of why we are out here- thank you! Our halfway point in Harper's Ferry is less than 200 miles away, time to get moving!
Date: 2009-06-16
From: Waynesboro. VA

To: Campsite near Turk Gap 
Miles today: 11.5

I'm very excited to be writing this on our new pocketmail tonight. Boy, we missed this thing!Berry and I had a nice last morning at the Comfort Inn. We got up early and spent a good part of the morning updating our journals and writing emails to get caught up. Waynesboro was a great stay for us. We weren't located in the old part of town where most of the hikers stay. I highly recommend staying on the "new" side. Everything we could need or want was in a small radius of about a quarter mile or so: Walmart, grocery stores, all types of places to eat, coffee shops, etc. The Comfort Inn was affordable with hiker rates, very nice, laundry on site with soap detergent provided, and the lobby computer was always available since most of the hikers were on the other side of town. We enjoyed our stay."Hot Feet" saw us in the lobby this morning and talked with Berry for a long time. She had a lot to say about the trail and the difficulties she is having at the moment. We hope she will find the motivation and courage to keep the course.Shortly after Otter joined us and we called phone numbers from the volunteer shuttle list until we got someone. A nice gentlemen picked us up and drove us to the post office where we mailed ahead a bounce box and I picked up my trekking poles. I had left my poles in Mr. Williams truck from a couple of days ago and he mailed them to me. After the post office we were dropped of at the trailhead.It's always hard finding the groove after a day or two in town. Our feet felt shaky, our bellies too full, our breathing different. It's a strange feeling really and most hikers know what I'm talking about, but it's hard to explain. Anyway..it usually takes me a night in the tent to feel comfortable again. In any case, we were excited to be on the trail just after noon - home sweet home!The three of us kept a steady pace all day and we found the word to be true about the Shenandoah's...easy roll'n so far. The only set back we had was taking a .4 mile trail down the mountain to register at the park entrance station since the information booth along the AT was out of register forms. It was only a 20 minute detour.The weather shows rain for the next several days and it was cloudy/windy all day but no rain- perfect hiking weather! We saw several deer and had a nice hike with Otter. We pulled off at 5:30 to tent it early tonight. Both of us wanted to settle into the evening early, it's our habit after a town day(s) Otter pushed on and is confident we'll see him in the morning. I had a chance to try our new bird bath system and it worked quite well.The bear count is now 4! While attempting to hang our bear bag cord I heard some soft footsteps in the distance. I turned around and there was a large bear heading my direction just trotting along about 40yds away. I yelled for Berry and it startled him and he took off.We are now fat and happy in our tent with a cool breeze outside. It's been a peaceful night with lots of reading, conversations and laughter with Berry. I love these times. We both do.
Date: 2009-06-18
From: Turk Gap - back to Waynesboro

To: Pinefield Shelter, VA
Miles today: 21.8

With Bark all stitched up and a good rest under our belts we were ready to hit the trail early this morning. Thanks to Tom and Alice Reider we were picked up at 8:00am and on the trail at Turk Gap by 8:30am. On the way to the trail Tom stopped by the church hostel to pick up two other hikers- it turned out to be Hatchet and Holdout. We had not seen them since Damascus and were excited to hear how they were doing. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze blowing which always makes hitting the trail much easier (especially after leaving town), but today we were more than eager to be out there.Bark and I headed down the trail and it was not long until our bear count went up by 1! Second day in the Shenandoahs and already two bears. But, why stop with just one for the day... about an hour later we saw a second bear coming down from a tree. It really is amazing to see them so close up. They seem so big and furry with these long brown snouts and yet they are very skiddish. Being so large and bulky we had imagined them making more noise, like a bull in a china shop, but they are actually incredibly quiet and soft footed until they run away. Other than the 2 bears we saw several deer who were not skiddish in the least bit. We got as close as they would let us (about 5 feet) and took some pictures.The terrain in the park has been very nice so far. Great trails and gentle ups and downs. We crossed Skyline road all throughout the day and even came across a campstore which provided a nice break with cold gatorade. I was getting pretty tired and the heat only increased our fatigue. After the store we had about 6 miles left with some ups and downs still in between us and the shelter. Bark was very encouraging as I started to lag behind and we took a few extra breaks too. It was a difficult end to what began as a great day. I usually find it a little difficult to get back into the swing of things after being in town and today was no different.We arrived at the shelter and to our surprise we were alone. We took a quick bird bath and made some Ramen before two other hikers, Birdie and Bubbles, joined us in the shelter. We helped them celebrate their first marathon day. The sun has officially set which only means one thing, hiker midnight! Just an FYI-Bark is doing great. Stitches are looking good and he is functioning just fine with his bandages and a little extra help from me.
Date: 2009-06-19
From: Pinefield Shelter, VA

To: Bearfence Mountain Hut, VA
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up bright and early this morning (staying in the shelter tends to make that happen) and headed out by 7:00am. The bear count is now 07! We saw another bear first thing on our hike, it ran right out in front of us across the trail.Most of the day was overcast and muggy..a few sprinkles here and there in the mid afternoon. By late afternoon the sun came out and brightened our day.Today posed some difficulties. I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or what, but we had some motivational issues. Berry had a pretty hard day and we talked about it a lot. She's doing much better at the moment. The Shenandoah Park isn't what we had expected. It's a green tunnel and pretty overgrown. Lots of nettle too, so we have to watch where we brush our arms and legs.We took a good lunch break at a parking lot and layed out on the concrete using our packs as a pillow. We laughed at some of the looks we got from people driving by. In any case, the rest was well worth it. The gentleman that gave us a ride out to the trailhead yesterday told us that on the previous day he shuttled a young woman off the trail. When he described the situation it sounded a lot like Sassy Sunshine. Today it was confirmed in one of the trail logs that she is indeed off the trail for good and we are sad about this. Sassy Sunshine and Daddy Longlegs started the AT on the same day we did, they were one of very few married couples out here and we love seeing/spending time with them. Not to mention, they are our age. Sassy, you will be missed and we'll all take care of Legs for you.It really is amazing how many people have left the trail. The past two days have been quiet, no doubt due to the numbers thinning. Berry and I walked both yesterday and today not seeing any thru-hikers during our hike (we did see Bubbles and Birdie late last night). We feel fortunate to be here, healthy and moving forward. It's a testament to God's provision and protection on our behalf.Currently we are at Lewis Mtn Campground Store getting a few extra supplies before setting up tent at the hut a little under a mile away.
Date: 2009-06-20
From: Bearfence Mountain Hut, VA

To: Byrd's Nest #3 Shelter, VA
Miles today: 22.4

The Shenandoah National Park has fully redeemed itself today! We woke up to the spitter-spat-spat-spitter sound of rain and drizzle falling from the trees. We left our tent and dried it off as much as possible and hit the trail by 8:30. A little later than we like to start, but sleep was much more appealing. The clouds were all around us this morning and the fog made the rain seem all the more inevitable. The drizzle and mist started as soon as we did, and then around 10:30 the heavens opened up and rained its fury on us. After all the days of rain we have had this did not seem so bad. We actually found it pretty humorous as the Appalachian Trail quickly became the Appalachian River. We opted to not use any rain gear since we would have gotten just as wet from sweating and we thoroughly embraced the cool shower. The rain ended as quickly as it started around 11am and we pressed on as the clouds parted giving way to gusty winds and sunshine. The rest of the day remained the same, very strong winds and sunshine. It was great! The winds kept us cool and the trees kept it shady.We made it to a picnic area called Big Meadows and used the hand driers in the bathrooms to dry our clothes a little. It has definitely been nice to see and use flushing toilets. We hung our socks to dry while we ate lunch and warmed up a little in the sun. The rest of our hike went very well. It being Saturday and Father's Day Weekend, there are a lot section hikers and weekenders out. Skyline Drive is full of cars and the parking lots are crawling with adventure seeking tourists, cameras wrapped around their neck. We ran into one family who was very excited and intrigued by our thru hike. It was fun to answer their questions and share some of our experience. The trail finally opened up to some great cliff views today. Looking right out into the valleys and farmland- truly spectacular. With about 2 miles to go we stopped for dinner at Pinnacle Picnic area. Once again we were treated to a water spigot and flushing toilets- quite a treat after 80 days of squatting and filtering water. We have enjoyed the winds today, even just the sound in the trees. Bark and I filled our stomachs at dinner and then hiked out the final 2.1 miles to our planned destination. About an hour later after all the ups and downs over the very rocky terrain, our stomachs were less than excited about being so full- I wouldn't take it back though. The shelter was once again empty so we decided to tent inside of it due to the mass amount of bugs. The winds are still blowing pretty stong and we have a beautiful sunset view right outside of the shelter opening. A great end to an even better day. I (Berry) refuse to succumb to the Virginia Blues!