morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-06-06
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Great day today! We hiked through part of the Grayson Highlands which is really beautiful. There are huge open bald areas with some small patches of rhododendrons and with a few trees mixed in. There are also huge rock outcroppings throughout the area. The bald areas are maintained by 'wild' ponies that graze the area. Although calling them wild isn't exactly accurate. I had pictured regular sized horses that were off in the distance running wild. Of course in my imagination I was wearing a buckskin outfit with a coon-skin hat. But when we saw them they were half the size of normal horses and I was in my smelly & dirty hiking clothes. the first group kept a little distance from us but the second group trotted right up to us and began to beg for food. They would let us pet them as they tried to lick our handsand arms for the salt. One aggressive pony began to try & eat Butterfingers. She tried to walk away as quickly as she could without breaking into a run but the pony followed her chomping at her backpack, wrist watch, etc. Luckily for Butterfingers, Ray-way and I were there to laugh hysterically at her. The pony finally broke off the chase and we headed for the next shelter.**********This entry posted on 7/5/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-07
From: Wise Shelter

To: Unknown campground
Miles today: 24.0

We were at a race against the clock today to try to make it to Partnership Shelter before the pizza places closed. Apparently there is a ranger station near the shelter and there is a phone and several area pizza places deliver to there. But even with the thoughts of large pizzas and hot chicken wings as motivation we just couldn't make it. Around 8 pm when it was getting dark out we decided to just camp since the pizza places would be closed.Today was also the day where I found my true meaning in life. It has taken me 28 years (ok, almost 29) to figure this out. But I now have a burning desire to find a cure for chafing. Ok, it isn't a burning desire, it is a burning between my legs but I still have a desire or need, you might say, to cure it. I have found out much about chafing over my first 500 or so miles of this hike. I have found there are at least 5 levels of chafing:1) Geez, that is uncomfortable.2) Oh boy I really need to get Gold Bond and/or Vasaline at the next town.3) Why the hell didn't I get Gold Bond or Vasaline at the last town?4) Holy sh$t my ~beeps~ are on fire!!5) I now question my ability to have children.I believe I have made it to level 5 a couple of times, however things tend to get a little blurry with that much pain and self diagnosis is a difficult task. I pray there is not a level 6 to the chafing chart. I fear that would be a terminal case.**********This entry posted on 7/6/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-08
From: Unknown campground

To: Atkins, VA
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: moderate rain

I left camp a bit earlier than Ray-way and Butterfingers. My plan was to hike to the next shelter and get the pizza ordered so by the time they got there the pizza would be there. Unfortunately I didn't think this plan through entirely. I arrived at the Partnership Shelter around 9:30...not exactly pizza time. I checked out the ranger station, got a few pops and some postcards, and walked back to the shelter. Ray-way and Butterfingers were there so we went back to the ranger station and decided to wait until 11 am and try once more. Well it was worth it. The place opened at 11 and we were eating pizza by 11:40. So after splitting a large pizza and 20 wings we pushed on to Atkins, Virginia.Butterfingers' mom was meeting us in Atkins. We met her at the road crossing there and she took us to Marion, a nearby town where we got some motel rooms. Ms. Micucci treated us all to dinner. (Thanks!) After dinner we did some laundry and saw the beginning of an episode of cops...A not-so-refined lady (white trash?) was going in & out of the laundromat with her 2 sons (about 9 & 10 years old). Her husband (I'm assuming) was in a car out front with music blasting. At one point the one son asked the mom something and she replied "No we can't go back there, do you want mommy to go to jail?" Then just as we were leaving a cop car pulled in and two cops were approaching the car...I'm guessing mommy went to jail.**********This entry posted on 7/6/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-09
From: Atkins, VA

To: Knot Maul Shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: clear sky

Hot today! Butterfingers' mom got us back to the trail around noon, not a good time to start hiking. Before I even got my pack on I was sweating. The trail today was nice & bad...The big pastures were very scenic but since we went in and out of different fenced in pastures we had to go up & over numerous stiles. A stile is kind of like a ladder to go up & over the fence only not that easy and with hiking poles and a 40 lb pack it is a pain in the butt.When we got to the shelter it began to rain so we strung up my tarp to have at least a small area to cook under. The shelter only had room for 2 people so I decided I would tent. The rain actually stopped but the trees were still dripping so I tried to throw up my hammock quickly. Well that was a bad idea. I picked two trees that were a little too close together which made everything sag. This wasn't a problem until it began to rain again. Since the tarp was sagging, the mosquito netting was completely under the tarp and I was getting partly rained on. So I pulled the tarp off to try & fix it but the trees were too close. Each time I pulled the tarp off it exposed the entire hammock and my sleeping bag, data book, and map. Finally I just got the tarp on as best I could and then crawled into my wet sleeping bag. I tried to lay so I wasn't exposed to rain but I was still getting dripped on. Not a good night. Probably the worst night of my trip. Luckily the rain subsided and I only woke to a damp sleeping bag as opposed to soaking wet.**********This entry posted on 7/7/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-10
From: Knot Maul Shelter

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: broken clouds

I had a hard time getting going today. Even though I woke to only being damp I wasn't in a great mood. The fact that it was very hot and humid didn't help at all. Butterfingers wasn't feeling great either so we only did 9 miles. Our plan is to do some bigger miles tomorrow to get back on track. It was nice to get tot he shelter early though today and make some time to relax. Shared the shelter with Captain Bly tonight who is an interesting guy. He is a Merchant Marine and had some neat stories about shipping in the Mediterranean and Middle East.**********This entry posted on 7/7/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-11
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter

To: Hellvey's Mill Shelter
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up around sunrise and got some great views into the valley below, which was all fogged in except for the mountains that pushed up out of the fog like islands. It was nice getting going early to get the cool weather. We stopped for lunch at a shelter that had a "must see" privy, at least according to the guide books. Normally I try to see as little of the privies as possible but this one was interesting. Someone painted pictures on the 3 walls. The back wall had in big letters "Feed Me", so I did.After lunch we pushed on to the next shelter. Water sources were tough today. We were all close to or out of water when we got to a blue blazed side trail to water and a camping area. We should have checked the guidebook but we just started down the trail. Well it was a 1/2 mile trail down to the water and I mean down. When we got there it was on the edge of a cow pasture. Though I hate to complain about the hard work trail maintainers put in, they only put up partial fences to keep out the cows & that just didn't work. The entire tenting area that they cut out of the hillside was full of cow manure. Even worse was the cow footprints and occasional cow pies around the water source. We went up the hillside to try to get to an area without footprints. We grabbed some water but I ended up not drinking it and just waited until the next water source.We all ran out of water again about 3-4 miles before the next shelter. But someone was nice enough to leave 3 gallon jugs of water. A note on the tree said that the water was being left in memory of a guy who passed away a few days before he was supposed to leave to hike the trail.There was only one spot at the shelter tonight so I took it, but that was a mistake. The guy sleeping next to me snored like nobody's business. It was an extremely loud high pitched squeeling noise that was driving me crazy. It kept me up for about 2 hours. I tried making noises and nudging the guy but he just kept snoring.**********This entry posted on 7/11/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-12
From: Hellvey's Mill Shelter

To: VA 606 (Trent's Grocery Store)
Miles today: 16.3

Not an eventful hiking day but a memorable evening...We came out to Virginia State Route 606 and decided to head down to Trent's Grocery for some food which is 0.8 miles down the road. Once inside and eating the rain came so we just sat around for a while trying to decide what to do. London Len was with us and they have a field for camping in so we decided to stay for $2, which included a shower. As I walked around the field I realized a hammock was not going to work here. There were no trees in the field and the few in the area had tall grass or thick underbrush. The only other thing in the camping field was some old RV's and a horse trailer. So of course you're all thinking I got into one of the RV's for the night, no, no, that would have been the smart thing to do...I crawled under the horse trailer to keep out of the rain.Of course the most interesting part of the evening was still in Trent's Grocery, just before we went to set up our spots for the night this semi-scary looking hillbillie offered to drive us up the road and stay in a trailer out by his house. He came up to us out of the blue and kept trying to get us to go. He actually started to tell us about other hikers he'd given rides to and didn't seem as sketchy, but we still didn't go. The guy did like to talk though. It took us a while to slowly keep walking away. We couldn't get away though until we told him where we were from and of course he knew someone from Rochester. Apparently a former thru-hiker that he helped out. Before we left he even offered to take two of us to his momma's house to breakfast in the morning.**********This entry posted on 7/12/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-13
From: VA 606 (Trent's Grocery Store)

To: Sugar Run Gap (Woods Hole Hostel)
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: clear sky

I stayed pretty dry under the horse trailer, except for a little bit of dampness. After a few minutes of lying around awake I heard a truck pull up and then "Hey Rochester, is that you? You turned down the trailer to go and sleep up under a horse trailer?" He (Jack) again offered to take two of us to breakfast but we deceded to stick together. We started getting ready to head out. Since our stuff was wet we decided to use the dryer by the showers. Now this is something I would strongly discourage. We piled in 4 people's wet smelly hiking clothes into the dryer and 1/2 an hour later we had a bomb waiting to go off. I opened the dryer and almost lost my breakfast. The clothes were dry but the smell was horrific. I honestly felt light headed for a few seconds. So after some more packing we were close to heading out when Jack pulled up again. This is when I realized I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. He had brought us back some biscuits w/sausage and hash browns w/cheese. It was extremely nice of him.We finally headed out and had a nice hike today. Around 14 miles we were feeling tired so we decided to not go the extra 2 miles to the shelter and instead went down a forest service road to the Woods Hole Hostel. This was a great idea. The hostel is an old barn that is free to hikers. There is a house there also where Miss Tillie (who runs the place) stays. Miss Tillie is an 80 something (I think 86) year old woman who has had the house and barn for over 50 years. She offers homemade breakfast for $3.50. We were even greeted with pieces of cake!**********This entry posted on 7/14/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-14
From: Sugar Run Gap (Woods Hole Hostel)

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Had a nice "easy" hike into town today. OK, the hiking is never really easy but with only 10 miles it went by fairly quickly. Plus we had a great breakfast at Wood's Hole to start the day. We had a great view of the valley below from Angels Rest just before we descended into Pearisburg.Today is Ray-way's birthday so we are going to take him out for some drinks tonight. Tomorrow I am heading home for my friends Todd & Lori's wedding this weekend. Ray-way and Butterfingers are hanging out with Ray-way's grandma (Martha-Lynn) then taking a side trip to Washington DC. I'm going to pick them up on the way down. Martha-Lynn showed up early and was here when we got to the motel. Martha-Lynn, the three of us, and a bunch of other hikers went to the All Sports Cafe for beers and food (in that order). I got the Bruce Smith sandwich (buffalo chicken sandwich). Martha-Lynn treated the three of us. Thanks again Martha-Lynn!**********This entry posted on 7/14/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-21
From: Rochester, NY

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

OK, so there was no hiking today but I picked up Ray-way and Butterfingers in my rental car with no problems in DC. We stopped in Roanoke, VA for the night before heading to Pearisburg and getting back on the trail tomorrow. Had a great time at home and a blast at the wedding!!On the way down while we were looking for a hotel room we saw an ice cream place and decided to get some. We asked the girl serving the ice cream about hotels and got some interesting directions to the Ramada Inn. She started telling us which way to go then decided to draw a map. Well here's where I realized the US education system can't help everyone. She told us to take a right off the exit but drew an arrow to the left?? Butterfingers at this point tried to be nice and said maybe we are looking at the map upside down, which way was it?" She drew the map again and did the same thing. After she was done I said "which way was it off the exit?" hoping she would realize and confirm whether it was a left or a right but she only tapped the left turn arrow and said "see, it's a right". At this point we figured we would just go.**********This entry posted on 7/14/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-22
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Returned the rental car, got groceries, and all the other stuff done, and started to hike when my right calf muscle cramped up real bad. I walked about a mile and it was just getting worse so we headed back to town to get a room. We saw Atlas just before we turned around and he gave me some Tiger balm to put on it. We swam in the pool at the motel and got to bed early for getting going early tomorrow.**********This entry posted on 7/15/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-23
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

We got an early start and planned on going further but it was all rainy and foggy so we stopped at this shelter for lunch and decided we would warm up by taking a quick nap in our sleeping bags. Well we woke up at 4:30 and decided to stay the night. It was probably a good thing since my calf was pretty tight after we stopped. Tonight a boy scout troop is here, and two other thru hikers, Lightweight Joe and Turtle Don.**********This entry posted on 7/18/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-24
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Bailey Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: broken clouds

My calf felt fine today which is good cause I was a bit worried it was going to linger for a while. Had a nice hike through a meadow that overlooked a farm valley. That seems to be the theme lately through Virginia, which is a nice change of pace except for the dang stiles that we have to go up and down. Just after lunch we passed Turtle Don who is about a 70 year old guy. I felt a little bad cause he left at 6:30 AM and we left around 9:30 AM. I give the guy a lot of credit though. He only hikes at 1 mile per hour so it takes him a long time to get between shelters but he's hiked just as far as me. We stopped at a shelter to have some dinner then pushed on another 5 miles to get to the next shelter before dark. We shared the shelter with Stephen (from Iowa) & his dog Dozer, and Whitetail. All three are thru hikers. Stephen is a bit of a scary looking guy when you first meet him because of his big beard and aboriginal style earrings (the type of earrings that make a quarter size hole in your ear), but when you talk to him he is a really nice guy and fun to hang out with. Whitetail is pretty soft spoken but also a really good guy.**********This entry posted on 7/18/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-25
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: moderate rain

I haven't been mentioning the weather in my journals but just so you know the weather has sucked. It rained almost every day for the two weeks before I got off the trail for the wedding and every day since I got back on, and today was no different. We had planned on going to the next shelter but with the rain we decided to stay at this one. Before we got to the shelter though we did get some great trail magic. First off, the boyscout leaders that we met the other night had an extra meal of tortellini vegetable soup with ham so they gave it to us. Then on the trail right before a road crossing we came across a couple of coolers which had cold pops and candy!!Once at the shelter we cooked up the boyscout meal. It was supposed to be for eight people but the three of us polished it off. It was a good thing we stayed at this shelter because the rain only got worse.**********This entry posted on 7/18/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-27
From: Audie Murphy Monument

To: John Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: broken clouds

No rain again today, amazing! Our mission should we choose to accept it was to hike almost 20 miles before 6 pm to get to the Home Place Restaurant, which is an AYCE home cooked meal that everyone said we must go to. Well if you notice the mileage we didn't get there, or did we...We made pretty good time for the first 5 miles but as usual took a long break so it was 11 am with about 15 miles to go. It would be tight but we could do it. (We normally average 2 miles per hour with breaks.) We then headed up Dragon's Tooth Mtn which had a great view of the valley below. It was 12:45 with 10 miles to go. We were starting to realize we may not make it. But then we realized we were thru hikers, if anyone could do it, we could. It would take a heroic effort but damn it we had to try. Or we could ditch the trail at the first road crossing (along with our pride) and hike 3 miles on the road and be there in 2 hours. So that is exactly what we did. Hey, a fat kid has got to eat. We felt a little bad about missing 5-6 miles of the trail but the damn trail did a 1/2 circle around the restaurant. So we descended Dragon's Tooth Mtn without our pride, but that was ok cause we would dine like champs tonight.The hike down from Dragon's Tooth was very rugged and a lot of fun. There were many places where you would have to sit down and slide your butt down the rocks. In one steep section Ray-way attempted to bypass the rocky area by going off the trail a little. Well the problem was he didn't exactly size up the two trees he had to go between first. He actually fit through, however his pack became tightly wedged between the trees. He tried to "beep, beep, beep" back up but that was not happening. I tried to pull on the one tree to attempt to help him escape (since it wasn't too big) while Butterfingers tried not to pee herself from laughter. My help wasn't much though because I had no strength due to my hysterical laughter. Eventually he wriggled free. Soon after, Ray-way/Siren/Trashman had acquired yet another trailname...Wideload.The shortcut was definitely worth it. The Home Place was awesome. They serve roast beef, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, cole slaw, green beans, and pinto beans. There was also fresh iced tea and lemonade, and for dessert there was peach cobbler with ice cream. They would refill anything you asked for. So after dinner we sat on the gazebo outside for a few hours to digest before hiking a few more miles to the next shelter.**********This entry posted on 7/20/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-29
From: Daleville, VA

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Yet another unplanned zero day. We slept in a little, but not too late. We were at the continental breakfast by 8:30 AM. We checked out of the room after doing laundry and stashed our packs in Slow Barbara's room (another thru hiker) since she was taking a zero day and had her room for another night. Then we hit the outfitters, got some lunch, and got food, and the next thing we knew it was 3:45 and we still had to go to the post office which was 1.2 miles down the trail then 0.8 miles down a road. Knowing we had no chance of being there by 4:30 we headed back to the hotel and got another room. Since we had the afternoon to relax, we lounged by the pool for a bit, then got some Taco Bell for dinner.**********This entry posted on 7/28/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-30
From: Daleville, VA

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: overcast clouds

AAAGGH! Leaving town sucks. There is always a climb out of town, your pack is as heavy as it is going to be all week due to the impulse food buying that always seems to occur, and there are always stops to make (post office, grocery, etc) so we usually end up leaving during the hottest part of the day. Not to mention leaving all the comforts of town behind like soft bed, cold drinks, etc - the easily-taken-for-granted things.We took a break at the first shelter about 3 miles from town. There was an elderly lady there who said she was doing a section hike. She was a nice lady but kind of wierd, and from the looks of her stuff we figured she was living at the shelter.We pushed on to the next shelter and called it a day. A little while later Moxie & Whoa showed up (a couple also thru hiking). We had not seen them since Damascus about 300 miles back. Late that night we heard a loud rustling a couple hundred feet from the shelter. We figured it was a bear but never saw anything.**********This entry posted on 7/28/2004**********