morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-05-19
From: Thornton Gap

To: Stealth site near Byrd's Nest #4
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: few clouds

My nine-year-old son is joining me for a section in northern Shenandoah National Park. We drove four hours to Front Royal. Left the car at Terrapin Station Hostel in Chester Gap and owner Mike Evans shuttled us to Thornton Gap. He thruhiked in '95 and was a ranger in SNP for several years then a ridgerunner for ATC. My son was energetic and enthusiastic for most of the hike today. Dropped our backcountry permit at the Skyline Dr. entrance station. We stopped at Pass Mtn Hut for a break and met John, hiking from Waynesboro to Harpers Ferry. My son found a lucky penny from his birth year. Went over Pass Mountain down to Beahmes Gap. The overlook was fogged in. Trails were muddy and sometimes flooded. We hiked another half mile to a stealth site (technically an undesignated but previously used site) and tented. Made potatoes and noodles with salmon, and chocolate for dessert. Showed him how to hang the food bag, but my tiny carabiner bent under the weight of the bag and friction of the bark. Hoping it doesn't fall during the night. We used up almost all our water but fortunately we were close to a spring and filled up. Very quiet here, overlooking the green wooded hillside stretching down towards the valley.
Date: 2018-05-20
From: Stealth site near Byrd's Nest #4

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up around midnight after a rain shower to a branch cracking and falling. I wonder if that's the food bag hitting the ground? Probably shouldn't leave it for the bears! So I go down to check it and thankfully it's still hanging by its poor little bent carabiner.My son and I roll over a couple times after dawn. We try rehydrated eggs for breakfast which he is not impressed with. Hikers from the last hut are passing as we pack up. The morning hike goes well. Terrain is easy and weather still cool. My son (no trail name yet!) is motivated to reach the food stand at Elkwallow Wayside for lunch. We see a doe standing in the trail ten yards away early on. She stares at us, then slowly moves up the trail and ambles off. We celebrate the five plus miles with sandwiches and ice cream then a nap in the shade. A number of other hikers are there as well.The afternoon is tougher. The temperature rises over 80, the sun beats through the thin canopy. We take a lot of breaks and drain a lot of water. I never knew my son could drink that much. I'm conserving my water for him as the water sources are far apart. But I'm glad he's staying hydrated. As typical the last mile to the shelter seems by far the longest. But it's a welcome sight. There's a bubbling spring, plenty of room, and good company of older section and thru hikers. My son takes offers of Snickers, crackers, and brownies throughout dinner and enjoys a book relaxing in the shelter.
Date: 2018-06-08
From: Thornton Gap

To: Hughes River Gap stealth site
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: few clouds

My daughter and I are hiking the AT south through Shenandoah from Thornton Gap to Rockfish Gap over the next six days. We drive 4.5 hours from Chester County PA to Waynesboro VA, driving past the Shenandoah ridgeline for the last hour. After lunch at the Tailgate Diner, deservedly known for the best burgers in the Shenandoah Valley, we park our car at Stanimal's hostel in town.Kathleen "No Worries" shuttles us to Thornton Gap where my son and I had started north last month. No Worries attempted a thruhike this year but was knocked off by a scooter accident on a side trip to Washington. In her off-trail life she's a hiking and kayaking guide for groups like the Waldorf schools. We register our backcountry permit at the entrance station then climb 1200 feet to Mary's Rock, a spectacular full circle view. This will be the longest and highest climb of our section and we feel lucky to get it out of the way first. We meet 2016 thruhiker Mr. Fusion at the summit who is also hiking Shenandoah southbound.The trail is generally rocky but the biggest climb after Mary's Rock is only 400 feet. It is also surprisingly dry given all the rain last week. We pass the Pinnacle viewpoint. There's a crash in the bushes on the uphill side and we see a bear cub trying to make himself invisible about 20 yards away. He's quickly out of sight and we make plenty of noise to let Mama Bear know we are moving on.At the Pinnacle picnic grounds we have dinner. Here we have access to our second fully-plumbed restroom since hitting the trail just hours ago! The services are so dense in this section of Shenandoah you barely need to carry food, water, or toilet paper.It's already 7:30 as we head south looking for a stealth tentsite. There are no obviously used areas in the first mile or more. I ask a passing northbounder and he remembers one two miles away at the top of Stony Man mountain. Too far for us tonight! But we are in a small gap and on close inspection find a very small, reasonably level and relatively rock-free site that may have been used before about 50 feet off trail surrounded by fallen trees. The deadfall gives me pause, but nothing still standing looks like a threat and no severe weather is forecast.After my usual frustration hanging the bear bag we settle in for a quiet night. Skyline Drive is only a hundred yards away, but there is no one else around in our own private wilderness.
Date: 2018-06-10
From: Stealth site south of Milam Gap

To: Swift Run Gap (Elkton)
Miles today: 13.6

We expected thunderstorms overnight but they passed us by and we wake to a dry tent and a cool morning. I cook oatmeal on a handy boulder by the tentsite. It's quiet and peaceful even though we are not far from Skyline Drive. My daughter and I hike out a little before 8. The trail is much nicer than yesterday, mostly dirt track passing through verdant understory and few rocky areas or steep side hills. The inclines are relatively mild except for some short steep climbs up Bearfence Mountain. No great viewpoints today, but it is pleasant just walking through the woods. We stop at Lewis Campground and visit the store for cold drinks where the ranger regales us with hiker stories. We make an early lunch of peanut butter bagels on the picnic table outside, beating back a hoard of gnats with a campground flyer. As we exit, a thruhiker runs full tilt by us northbound up the trail on the smooth tread. He has a minimalist pack, and I assume he is trying to set some kind of record. But other thruhikers he's passed don't know his story.A few hours later we stop at South River Picnic Area after a viewless climb over Baldface Mountain and have a second lunch of tuna. We pack up as dark clouds move in and the wind begins to whip up. We hike quickly towards Swift Run Gap where we've arranged to be picked up to stay at the Country View Motel just a couple miles out of the park on the road to Elkton. The thunder in the distant west suddenly jumps over to the east and we walk right into the center of a downpour! Our ponchos protect us fairly well and we make great time getting to the entrance station, but we are dripping wet and the rain is still coming down in buckets. The ranger lets us splay out in front of their office under the large roof while we wait. An old minivan pulls up and a guy pops his head out to see if we are his pickup. We pile into the unkempt vehicle with beat-up seats and debris scattered around. The man turns out to be the motel maintenance guy who shuttles on the side. A woman is up front and a baby, his nephew, is in a car seat in the third row. The baby looks a little unsure of us, but soon warms up when I make silly faces and growl like a bear. He starts to cry when it's time for us to get out at the motel. We get our room, a simple affair that has the key things that matter to hikers: a shower, a toilet, a soft bed, and a delivery menu. We are soon clean, well fed, and watching the Princess Bride. Meanwhile the rain has subsided. Thunderstorms are forecast overnight into the early morning, followed by showers all day. We plan out a hike between hard shelters and designate a couple of fall back points if we can't make it all the way to Loft Mountain Campground tomorrow.There are other hikers sheltering here for the night, and I trade info with a thruhiker and northbound section hiker. We have a big climb out of the gap to start our morning. Time to get some shut-eye!
Date: 2018-06-11
From: Country View Motel

To: Country View Motel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Our shoes and equipment are nearly dry in the morning from their soaking in yesterday afternoon's thunderstorm thanks to the motel A/C overnight. A blast from the hair dryer finishes the job. It's damp and chilly outside but last night's thunderstorms don't seem to have materialized. The forecast, however, calls for light showers on and off throughout the day, and we will spend much of it climbing. I am accustomed and resigned to getting wet and staying damp for the remainder of Shenandoah, but this will be no fun at all for my daughter, a literal slog through the woods. We had intended to head out first thing, but the motel desk doesn't open until 9 and they are our link to the shuttle. That delay gives me time to examine the forecast in more detail, and a good thing! The timing is uncertain at first, with rain expected in the late morning and a big gap til late afternoon, so we plan a late start and an early stop at Pinefield Hut, 11 miles out. But the radar soon reveals that the huge front that dumped inches of rain on Ohio and Pennsylvania yesterday has shifted south and we are directly in the path of large swathes of potentially heavy rain that will be continuous until evening. So to rescue the remainder of our trip we decide to call it a zero day. We'll rest up, stay dry, and hit the trail fresh in the morning.Thruhikers have a saying "No rain, no pain, no Maine", and that was never truer than this year when there's been so much rain a hiker trying to avoid it would probably take twelve months to reach Katahdin. But section hikers have an advantage here since Katahdin never closes for us! Maybe one day we'll be ready to steel ourselves and head unnecessarily into a day of guaranteed misery, but that is not today!Since we have a hard stop on Wednesday we won't reach Rockfish Gap, but we will have a great time. I will be back for those miles on another trip. We've been covering longer distances than most section hikers we've met. Even some thruhikers would be happy to cover 60 miles in four hiking days. I am extremely proud of how my daughter has acquitted herself on this adventure and we look forward to having more fun these last few days.End of day update: it did indeed rain constantly and often heavily until about 5 so we are quite happy sacrificing a few miles today. We got to do laundry, sample motel pizza (verdict: meh) and gas station fried chicken from Bear Country Store down the road (yummy), and catch up on reading, journaling and Disney channel sitcoms. Good day!
Date: 2018-06-13
From: Loft Mountain Campground

To: Black Rock Gap
Miles today: 6.8

We wake up to cool temperatures and a rainfly wet from fog dripping off the trees at our Loft Mountain stealth campsite. Stealth because we came in after hours and are leaving very early.After eating the last of our oatmeal and poptarts we head out into the still foggy morning. The trail continues to be easy walking with few rocks and roots and little mud. This southern half of the park must be what people think of when they picture hiking in Shenandoah. There are minimal climbs today on the seven mile stretch to our exit point at Black Rock Gap. The deer are still bold in this stretch. Once shooed off trail they stay close, picking at the shrubs and eyeing us curiously. We pass a dozen or so hikers in the space of an hour coming from the Black Rock Hut so our morning is full of greetings and pleasantries. The fog lifts and blue sky and sun appear at last.We stop at Black Rock summit to take in the near full circle views from the top of the jumble of sharp-edged boulders crowning it. Here we can see north along the length of the Shenandoah park, including the 60 miles and countless mountains we crossed over the last few days, as well as glimpses of rural parts of Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Virginia plains to the east, and more Shenandoah mountains to the south. We end the hike with a long steep descent to the gap, wait as a parsfe of a dozen motorcycles pass on Skyline Drive, then encounter husband and wife thruhikers from Minnesota resting in the parking lot. We lay out the tent to dry in the sun, finish our snacks, and wait for Stanimal's shuttle to arrive.No Worries, the same driver who dropped us at Thornton Gap, pulls in and drops off a slackpacker. We pile in to the BMW (very stylish for a shuttle!) and take off south down Skyline Drive. Around the bend a bear cub is standing just off the road. We stop and snap some pictures. There's a cyclist with the same idea, but he doesn't have the mobility to escape if Mama Bear suddenly appears and we try to warn him off. He's too interested in getting a close-up.We retrieve our car from Stanimal's old hostel location and make a beeline for the Tailgate Grill for another best-of-the-Valley burger. It tastes even better than before the hike. No surprise there! With that celebration our section is officially a success and our long but fortunately uneventful drive back to Philly commences.
Date: 2018-08-25
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 24.2
Weather: few clouds

It's chilly in the morning but the thermometer says 54. Still, I can see my breath. Maybe I'm just not used to the cold yet. After oatmeal and applesauce I hike out after 8, later than I expected. The sun didn't rise til nearly 7 and I slept in. Last night it was very windy and tree debris kept banging on the metal roof. That and a sharp bang from the picnic table around 3 in the morning put me on edge. Not to mention the coyote howls and the occasional scratching sounds outside. But I never saw any animals and the food bag was untouched in the morning. Most of the day I hike through Grayson Highlands. It's an amazingly beautiful area with summits of open grassland and rocky knobs. Much like the alpine regions of New Hampshire and Maine. I meet a number of the resident wild ponies, who were put here in the 1960s by the Forest Service to graze and keep the meadows from reforesting. The ponies are incredibly fat and are completely accustomed to humans, even coming up to me expecting to be petted (don't do this, or feed them - keep them wild). Free range horned cows also frequent the area. They and the ponies leave lots of presents on the trail. I am also constantly passing through fence stiles that keep the animals from wandering too far.It's Saturday and dayhikers are out in force to climb Mt Rogers, Virginia's tallest peak at 5729 feet. It's forested and there's no view but, check!, I did it anyway even though it was a mile out of my way. There are a number of backpackers out as well, nearly all for a long weekend. I don't see any long distance hikers. In one register the last thruhiker to sign was July 16th (Rocket). He'll need to be a rocket to get to Katahdin before it closes in mid-October.The weather continues to be gorgeous. Blue skies and high in the 70s. I get more sun than I will the rest of this trip and it feels good. I wish Sara and the kids were here to experience this amazing place and the wonderful views. Maybe a day hike sometime. I reach Old Orchard Shelter at 7 where two weekenders I met in the morning are staying. They are both from Scranton out for a 30 mile hike to Dickey Gap. I make another pot of instant pasta that takes 20 minutes to boil and cook. Not a very efficient use of fuel. While I'm waiting I hang the food bag. This is one of the shelters where camping is not recommended due to recent bear activity. But there's not even a bear box here, unlike the last two shelters.The sun seems to be setting later than yesterday. I've been hiking east most of the day so maybe that made the difference of a few minutes. The crickets are loud this evening. Which is fine, it muffles the snoring!
Date: 2019-03-27
From: Blue Mountain shelter

To: Deep Gap shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: clear sky

A day to dry out and tackle Georgia's toughest climbs.I wake up in a soggy tent with a wet floor. Probably from pitching on wet grass, which I thought would be soft and insulating. Oh well! Into the sack it all goes, I'll dry it out later.Breakfast at the shelter with the four section hikers and Unicef, Clammy, who's done the PCT and CDT and going for his Triple Crown, Brian, who's hiked in Peru and Vietnam, Mud Turkey, and Dirty Girl with his hot pink sparkly gaiters. Dirty Girl hiked 1700 miles to Killington in '17 and ran out of money.Packing is tricky, separating the wet gear from the dry. I try to keep the puffy, sleeping bag, and sleeping clothes dry at all costs. Finally I head over Blue Mountain with temperatures in the thirties and down to Unicoi Gap.Hikers are coming back from Hiawassee at Unicoi, having skipped into town to avoid the rain. A lady is sitting in her truck seeing if anyone needs a ride into town. The elevation profile looks like a zigzag with sharp peaks and valleys. I climb over Rocky Mountain, true to it's name, and 1300 feet up Tray Mountain. A half dozen or more thru and section hikers are slowly making their way up. Kayla is back on trail after two weeks, recovering from a fall coming down Blue in an ice storm.I stop at Tray Mountain shelter for lunch with Clammy, Unicef, and Brian. We try to name Brian Casanova since he was spotted with two beautiful women and drinking champagne at the beginning of the Approach Trail. He doesn't take to it. Some of my stuff dries in the now warm sun. In the afternoon I hike with Chris, who popped on at Unicoi. A Virginia boy who works on historical millwork in Charleston now, his boss immediately agreed to him taking six months off, telling him to go have an adventure while he's young. He also tells me a little about the rastafarian guy at Blood Mountain. He's called Quartz after his necklaces, sold his home in Atlanta and started living on the street doing Tarot readings before deciding to hike the AT. He stopped at Blood and apparently helps by maintaining the privy. He lives off donated food and the hiker box.Kelly Knob is the last climb before Deep Gap shelter and it is a long, steep one. Tougher than Tray Mountain. Several tents are set up around Deep Gap shelter and people milling in front of the building. But there is still plenty of room so I nab a spot in the second floor loft.I lay out the tent to dry in the late afternoon sun while Wishbone starts a fire. Also here is Woodpile from San Luis Obispo, California, who fell asleep quickly to earn his name. And Poptart, whose name I remember because he thrued in '17 when I was doing the northern half, and has hiked the Florida Trail and much of the AT every year since, including Springer to central Virginia just this winter.I hang out for a few hours around the fire shooting the breeze. Tomorrow four of us will go into Hiawassee at the next road crossing for a night off the trail.
Date: 2019-03-28
From: Deep Gap shelter

To: Dick's Creek Gap / Hiawassee
Miles today: 3.6

A low-mileage "Nero" day into town to rest and load up on calories.I tossed and turned last night in the shelter. My lower back doesn't like the lack of support from my foam pad. I should probably stick to tenting on soft ground. It was in the thirties again but I'm warm in my bag. Finally I get up at 7:15 and pack in a hurry to hike four miles to Dick's Creek Gap to catch a 9:15 shuttle to Hiawassee. We arrive a little early since it's almost all downhill but cool our heels for an hour waiting for the delayed shuttle. Vagabond, a 76-year-old lady who thruhiked in 1994 and 2013, is waiting to take people to the Top of Georgia hostel just up the road, but we are set on staying in town, ten miles away. Vagabond is thinking of thruhiking again when she turns 80!The Budget Inn shuttle eventually arrives and drives us to Hiawassee. Clammy, Unicef, Brian and I split a room. $15 is a much better deal than a bunk at Top of Georgia for 35. And we have the run of town. We start with breakfast at the Main Street Diner next door that just opened Saturday. Thirty minutes later four plates are cleaned of every last crumb.Brian hikes fast and eats faster, so he is now Fast Lane. Which fits with the champagne and girls sending him off at Amicalola. He's a low-key and quiet thirty-something Atlanta native, so it's a little ironic as well.We resupply at Ingles, losing Clammy in the process, and run into many other hikers. Frog passes by. He is now known as "Air Quotes" for, I guess, the obvious reason. Another guy, Early Bird, is nursing an ankle outside the market and hiking with a middle-aged guy named Radagast after a Tolkein wizard. More are circulating but I can't keep them all straight. A reddish-gray-haired guy named Missing Person is at the motel. He's working on completing the trail for a fourth(!) time. He says he's getting a little bored since he knows every rock. Why don't you try the PCT? "Did it last year!" he replies.Back at the hotel we find Clammy, then shower and do laundry while watching brainless 80s movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Revenge of the Nerds on an appropriately old cathode-ray-tube TV. A young kid in a Jamaican knit cap asks if we've seen his misplaced pouch with cash and phone and seems pretty frantic.By 4 we're hungry again and walk a mile or so to the Mexican restaurant Monte Alban where I finish off the Hombre Grande, an enormous combination platter, plus a quart-sized Dos Equis. My hiking buddies are impressed. The walk back helps it settle. Back at the motel Jamaican-hat kid has found his valuables - in his room - and is headed off to the Mexican joint with a friend. The motel is full and several hikers are tenting on a grassy area by the parking lot. There is only one car in the lot, and it belongs to the motel.Back to resting and checking out the Gonzaga-Florida State game. Probably hitting DQ soon. Town is good.