morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-17
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0

Once again, I arrived into town with no phone signal. And even though Damascus has free town wifi, it's not designed to handle the amount of people here for trail days. So it took me till midday Sunday to learn that my friend Shelley had gotten me a gift certificate for The Old Mill restaurant here in town. When I found out about it my thought was "that'll be a great breakfast before I leave town tomorrow". But then I realized I needed to check their hours to make sure they'd be open for breakfast, as well as finding out how much the gift certificate was for. About 3:30pm I walk in and start talking with the manager. They were already done serving for the day and would then be closed Monday and Tuesday, not opening again till Wednesday at 11am. There was no way I was going to sit in town for another 3 days, but it was for $50 so I couldn't just leave it behind. There were some hikers further south that I knew would be coming back through town again soon, but I had no way let them know they could use it. I talked with some of the guys at the outfitters and determined a good road crossing two days out that I could hitchhike back to Damascus from. It defeated Shelley's original goal of getting me a good dinner when I arrived into town, but I'd still be able to come back and eat well.Other than that madness, I mostly spent the day sitting around doing nothing with Not Swedish, Mantis, Wildcat, and Bear Bell. They all planned to get back on the trail, but were quite slow in doing it. When they finally did leave I realized I needed to rush around town to get things done before all the shops closed on Sunday evening. Time flies when you're doing nothing...Fitbit-------------Miles: 7.7Calories: 3300Stairs: 8
Date: 2015-05-18
From: Damascus

To: Saunders Shelter
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: scattered clouds

After two zero days, and two big mile days before that, coming back on the trail today felt very euphoric. Part of it was that everything was a blur during those big mile days. Another part was just being back on the trail after two zeroes. But even though my feet were still a bit swollen and I took my time in flip-flops, it was so nice to be on the trail. It also made me want to do some more big mile days. Though I probably won't hit 37 again any time soon.I made the switch from the Sawyer mini to the regular Sawyer squeeze. This difference is amazing. It now only takes three squeezes of the bag to fill a liter of water,which previously took more than five. I am much happier with my water management now and the weight difference is only about one ounce. Fitbit-------------Miles: 13.4Calories: 3800Stairs: 226
Date: 2015-05-19
From: Saunders Shelter

To: Elk Garden 
Miles today: 14.5

Based on the miles that I want to be doing per day, my plan of a 14 mile day is pretty low. But since I decided to wear shoes from the beginning of the day, I think the low miles were good for my feet. The swelling has gone down now but I'm still not yet confident that the hole in my heel is safe from infection. I'm gonna need another day or two till I stop worrying about it.As I was getting to within a mile of the road crossing I wanted to camp at, some dark clouds and heavy rain came down. But even though I could see a bit of the road through the trees, I decided to stop and hide under rock till the rain died off. Once it finally did, I went to explore the camping options down closer to the road. That's when I came across Soulflute, Green Bay, Bull, John and others who had just pulled up in a car with pizza and beer. And they were nice enough to share. Mayor, Lucky Charm and more people showed up later and managed a ride to the general store for more pizza and beer.Fitbit-------------Miles: 17.6Calories: 4400Stairs: 387
Date: 2015-05-20
From: Elk Garden 

To: Old Orchard Shelter 
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Had a light breakfast before starting to try hitching into Damascus. I think I might have started too late cause there wasn't any car traffic coming by. The good news was that Food Walker was still around and he was able to give me a ride into town. I enjoyed his story of his and his wife's travels before deciding to start the trail and how his injury now has him supporting his wife's hiking.I waited around for a bit till the Old Mill opened, keeping an eye out for other hikers to share my meal with. I met Cornstalk (Corn silk?) but he had just eaten, and then another couple had also just eaten. I found another hiker and offered him food, but I should have talked with him for a minute first; I might have noticed how talkative and out there he was, and wouldn't have been stuck with such unusual company for my lunch. I tried telling him how I knew Shelley, since she was the one who bought our food and drink, but he continually cut me off with off topic side rants. There were a few moments when he said very insightful things, and he was genuinely a nice person who made me smile a fair bit.After lunch I began walking out of town and hitching back to the trail. I didn't put much time into it when I passed by the outfitters and saw a shuttle of hikers leaving. I asked where they were headed and sure enough they were going to Elk Garden. But I couldn't just catch a ride, I had to pay the full fair. Which was interesting because the guy working inside, Matt, was the same I had chatted with on Sunday about getting back to town to use the gift certificate. Matt didn't have the authority to give me a discount, but he did give me one of his homemade protein bars (I ate it later and it was very tasty).Back on the trail I passed by Iiwii, a section hiker I met at the shelter the other night. I told him about my lunch and not being able to tell my story. He offered to listen to it so I told him the tale there on the side of the trail. He accurately pointed out that with exception to paying for the shuttle, everything worked out just fine.With the late start back on the trail, it took me till dark to get 15 miles in. But that included a stop to have the (semi) wild ponies lick the sweat from my arms. It also included a stop for water where my dirty water bag burst while trying to filter. Thankfully Buttercup was there (and a handful of other people) and he gave me his unused water bag. I got to take a few ounces of weight from him and more importantly I still have a bag for filtering water.Fitbit-------------Miles: 19.1Calories: 4700Stairs: 293
Date: 2015-05-21
From: Old Orchard Shelter 

To: Marion
Miles today: 23.1

Even though yesterday was a beautiful day regarding weather and I was told today would be the same with a chance of showers, I woke up to find it fully overcast. The whole time I was eating breakfast I was hoping it wouldn't start raining on me. But about two minutes before I finished packing up my gear the rain started. And it didn't stop for about 3 hours. I walked the first 4 miles in flip-flops in the rain till the next shelter. Even though I passed several people still in their tents along the way, the shelter was empty. I was envious of those people in their tents with nothing to do and nowhere to go, but I had places to be.Because my phone isn't waterproof anymore, and the rain was so heavy for so long, I stashed my phone deep in my bag. After it stopped raining, it was still buried deep, and since the skies were still overcast I left it there. But that meant I couldn't make another attempt at listening to music, nor could I use the audio note recoding of Evernote.About three miles out from the Partnership shelter I ran into Wildcat and Bear Bell. Their plan was to stay at the shelter and head into town in the morning. So after chatting a bit I moved on, only to find that Wildcat ran to catch up to me, and with someone behind pushing the pace I picked it up and we flew to the shelter. We both thought Bear Bell would be another half hour but turned out she wasn't far behind. Anyhow, they decided to hitch into Marion with me and split a hotel room.We got a double room at the Travel Inn. Certainly isn't a classy place, but does the job cheaply for a couple of hikers. They have laundry on site (which was our first priority) and the taxi service in town was cheap enough to take us to dinner. I was surprised that the place in the guide book listed as "wings and beer" only had five lager/pilsners on draft. They did have $3 margaritas though, so I got that craving satisfied.Fitbit-------------Miles: 24.7Calories: 5700Stairs: 433
Date: 2015-05-23
From: Davis Hollow

To: O'Lystery Pavilion
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: scattered clouds

I slept in, which meant I was still in bed after 7am, and then walked a mile and a half back to the Barn Restaurant for breakfast. The food was good but it didn't match the deliciousness of the cake the night before.After breakfast I stopped at the gas station for ice cream and a Gatorade, then wandered over to the Davis Cemetery. There I sat under a big oak tree and read a few chapters of Wool and ate some homemade cookies from my mother.I eventually went back to the campsite to tear down my tent and get a few miles in the day. Turns out a few miles is about ten. My ankle/shin definitely didn't feel good on the downhill, but for the most part it wasn't too bad. I would have stopped sooner but the last stretch was all through private land which didn't allow for camping.When I arrived and setup camp, Backtrack and Jokes were hanging out by the fire. I brought my food and chair over to join them. When I started setting up the chair, Jokes said "don't tell me that's a little camp chair". I replied "ok". Fitbit-------------Miles: 18.3Calories: 4500Stairs: 304
Date: 2015-05-24
From: O'Lystery Pavilion

To: Jenkins Shelter 
Miles today: 22.2
Weather: few clouds

I found out that Sparrow/Hannah broke her hip and had be carried off the trail. When I first read that in the shelter log my thoughts were on how I'd build a stretcher to handle that. Then when I met Wildcat at lunch and he explained how they did it (with her sleeping bag and sticks) I thought about getting off to visit her. Then when I learned she'd already been transferred to TN, I thought about getting her address to send her a card (I also thought of arranging a voice recording system like Galia did for me, but that'll be a lot of work while on the trail). I saw Mama Sunshine and she's going to get Sparrow's address.I wasn't planning on going twenty plus miles today, but there's been rumors of a big hiker feast tomorrow at the next road crossing. And although there is still a bit of limitation to the flexibility of my ankle/shin, the pain is pretty much not an issue anymore. Getting trail magic (thanks Berenstain Bear and family) was a real bonus and the two bowls of chili meant I didn't have to cook dinner tonight.Now that I can listen to music while I hike, I'm not really sure I enjoy it. There's something about listening to the outside world that's much nicer than having headphones in. It's easier to have random thoughts and let them play out, whereas with the music the thoughts usually go back to the song. That being said, it's very tempting to listen to tunes and I find myself doing it for a few miles a day the past couple days.Fitbit -------------Miles: 25.4Calories: 5600Stairs: 594
Date: 2015-05-25
From: Jenkins Shelter 

To: No name campsite
Miles today: 17.7

Last night there were burgers and chili. This morning there was a church group that shuttled us in for a hiker feast (my favorite part was the homemade maple syrup one of the guys made). Then when they brought us back to the trail, Sunshine and Nani provided us with soda and apples while we were hiking. Later Doodad drove us into town and I got a pint of ice cream. I was thinking about it and it feels like how marathon runners have people come out and cheer them on and give them food and drinks. I never quite understood that, but I certainly have been enjoying experiencing it on the trail.Fitbit-------------Miles: 19.9Calories: 4800Stairs: 380
Date: 2015-05-26
From: No name campsite

To: Dismal Falls 
Miles today: 15.6

Just after day break there was the start of a light rain. Not wanting to be caught packing up in it I hussled out and started my day. When I got to a large river with a suspension bridge, I stopped and took a quick dip to cool off. It made the half mile along the road to the convenience store all the more pleasant. I didn't need to resupply, but Trent's Grocery provided me with curly fries, chicken strips, soda, and a six pack of beer. I gobbled everything up and took the beer back to the trail with me. Whereupon the sky let loose the rain and I got dumped on. The trail became a river in spots it was raining so heavy. When I got to the falls it was still going so I found a rock ledge to hide out under. After about an hour it began to lighten up and soon after the skies were clear. Being there early provided some quite time and allowed me to pick the best camping spot in the house.I found a good benefit for listening to music while hiking: when a fly decides to hang around your head for five miles. Fitbit-------------Miles: 21.0Calories: 5000Stairs: 280
Date: 2015-05-27
From: Dismal Falls 

To: Woods Hole hostel 
Miles today: 13.4

I woke up early and was ready to leave before the rain, but the sun came out, so I stayed, read a few chapters of Wool, and drank a beer while some of my stuff dried off. I didn't leave camp till 9:30 which was a nice change to my usual pack-up-and-get-out style. It was also going to be a short day to Woods Hole Hostel.The hostel here is quite nice. I arrived and got a smoothie, took a shower, did some yoga, and helped in the preparation of a tasty pasta dinner. They run a good place here. It's seems very sustainable, and they do a good job packing in the hikers during the season. I imagine coming through the area and staying here during the off season would be a great experience.Fitbit-------------Miles: 16,7Calories: 4300Stairs: 274
Date: 2015-05-28
From: Woods Hole hostel 

To: Pearisburg 
Miles today: 11.1

I had a great breakfast at Woods Hole hostel and started on my way. As I passed the first water source I made note of where the next ones were. But apparently I passed those without even realizing it, so I got to the top of the hill with six more miles to go and no water sources. Thankfully there was a spring not listed but with signs on the trail. The bad news was that as I was squeezing the water through the filter, I burst another bag. That's two bags in one week. This time I was alone and thirsty. I decided to sacrifice my water bottle and use the filter as an add-on to the bottle. It works but definitely only as a short term solution.I saw my second bear today. It was a few yards to the right side of the trail and then ran across to the left and kept running. I yelled "you better keep running" as an empty threat.As I arrived into Pearisburg, I made the evaluation that the big toe on my left foot may be broken. It was bothering me yesterday but I thought it might just be an issue with my flip-flops. And as I hiked out of the hostel in the morning and it was aggravated, I again thought it was a flip-flop issue. But after switching to shoes and hiking about three miles I started to notice that it hurt different from the pain that my ankle/shin had been causing. And after 11 miles, I reached the road into Pearisburg, and quite I knew I couldn't do any more. As I was trudging up the hill into town, a car pulled over and Bob Lease offered me a ride cause he saw me struggling so much.At the post office I picked up my new trail runners and ran into Wildcat and Bear Bell. Even though they were going to push on, they decided instead to stay the night and take it real easy the next few days. I also met up with Mantis who was taking a zero to have his foot checked out at the clinic. Mantis and I split a hotel room and got dinner and beers. I spent most of the evening using crappy internet to try arranging a place to stay in Blacksburg via CouchSurfing.Fitbit-------------Miles: 17.0Calories: 4600Stairs: 215
Date: 2015-05-29
From: Pearisburg 

To: Blacksburg
Miles today: 0.0

I managed to get a couch in Blacksburg to stay at. So the morning was wandering around Pearisburg to get food and hang out with Mantis, Wildcat, Bear Bell and other hikers. Then I began hitching to Blacksburg. I was in one spot that didn't have any traffic going in that direction so I walked across town to get a ride.I got a ride from Liam (he's going to be moving to Portland next week), and he dropped me off at the Indian restaurant in next to the university (Virginia Tech). After lunch I walked over to the park and took a nap. Then waited for Barbara (my CS host) to get out of work. Turned out she and her boyfriend (Adam) were gonna make dinner and had me go online to find a recipe to make. We took a trip to the grocery store for the ingredients and made a chicken cashew dinner. They ended up going out to the bar while I stayed in and rested my foot.Fitbit-------------Miles: 7.1Calories: 3000Stairs: 28
Date: 2015-05-30
From: Blacksburg

To: Blacksburg
Miles today: 0.0

I was just going to bed last night with plans to sleep on my air mattress in the billiards room when Barbara and Adam came home. Barbara insisted that I sleep in her bed instead, which led to a very nice night of sleep and more importantly sleeping in till 8am. Barbara came home to let the dogs out and we sat around watching The Office via Netflix. Eventually we went out and got lunch then prepped for the barbecue party.I went out and got a massage. Since I didn't have an appointment my only option was right then for 40 minutes. It was so worth it. The therapist focused solely on my legs and he knew what he was doing.Barbara and Adam had a group of friends come over for a bbq. The key entertainment was playing Stump. This is a game where you take a tree stump, each person sets a nail in the stump, and you take turns twirling a hammer in the air and trying to knock each others nails into the stump. And of course all while drinking beer.Fitbit-------------Miles: 3.7Calories: 2700Stairs: 7
Date: 2015-05-31
From: Blacksburg

To: Pearisburg 
Miles today: 0.0

I again slept in Barbara's bed while she stayed at Adam's. This time though I woke up and let the dogs out. Then I spent the morning getting packed up and watched more Office when Barbara came home. Before she left for work, Barbara dropped me off at the highway so I could hitchhike back to Pearisburg (took two hitches to get to get there).Meet up with Zip and Squeek when I arrived at the Holiday Motor Lodge in Pearisburg. I was looking to split hotel room, but no one else I know arrived. In the mean time I sat around with Zip and Squeek and her mother drinking beers and eating pizza. Before the motel office closed I booked a bed in their bunkhouse. It was actually a really good deal. They have a big room of about fifteen beds, and only four were in use. It also had two toilets and two showers. Without it being full it's a much better deal than splitting a room.Fitbit-------------Miles: 2.8Calories: 2400Stairs: 10
Date: 2015-06-01
From: Pearisburg 

To: Rice Field Shelter 
Miles today: 6.9

After talking with Zip last night about hammocks, I spent the morning researching a switch. Zip is having trouble sleeping and that's why he wanted to switch, but the weight savings sounded really appealing to me. But since I'm a tall person, I would need a bigger hammock that weighs more, and unless I spend lots of money on switching out the other accessories, the weight saving is minimal. That and the fact that I don't know the first thing about setting up a hammock, I decided making the switch mid way on the hike might not be ideal.I was ready to start hiking again first thing this morning, but since I ordered a replacement water bag online, I needed to wait for the UPS driver. So after checking out I went to the other hotel and just sat out front reading. About an hour and a half later I saw a UPS truck pull out of the hotel I stayed at and realized I'd been sitting in the wrong place.But I got everything set and hiked in seven miles to the first shelter. The toe didn't really bother me at all which was nice. I did get a bit dehydrated but managed to find water in time. Instead of camping at the shelter, I walked across the field to camp over the West Virginia state line with what would have been an amazing view (it was rainy and foggy pretty much the whole time).Fitbit-------------Miles: 11.2Calories: 3500Stairs: 248
Date: 2015-06-02
From: Rice Field Shelter 

To: Wind Rock 
Miles today: 20.4

I woke up to a wet morning. There wasn't any rain, but there was so much fog and moisture that me feet were wet all morning. When I got to the first shelter to have lunch, I took my socks and shoes off to dry them. Just as I was about to push on the sun came out. I quickly took advantage and took my shoes off again and pulled out my tent to dry off as well.The rain held off the rest of the day, and just seconds after I set up my tent the rain started. The best part was that while the sun was setting behind the rain clouds, the entire sky turned orange.Fitbit-------------Miles: 23.5Calories: 5200Stairs: 420
Date: 2015-06-03
From: Wind Rock 

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter 
Miles today: 17.1

I feel like I'm in a weather loop. It's cold and foggy in the morning, then the afternoon is hot and partly sunny, causing all the moisture to rise and turn into thunderstorms and rain during the evening. The only catch, today it never turned sunny. I'm pretty sure that there was no actual rain today, but this is the wettest my feet have ever been (while wearing shoes).After long day of being wet, I did arrive at a nice shelter. Spyglass was the only person there (and he agreed that the skylights made it seem like there were electric lights in the shelter). Since it was already 5pm and I hadn't seen many people on the trail, I decided to sleep in the shelter. Shortly after making that decision, Downhill arrived to make it three people. Then Mushu and Janezilla arrived to make it five people and a dog. And as we're all about to go to sleep, two more arrived. My thoughts of a quiet night in an empty shelter were squashed.Fitbit-------------Miles: 20.3Calories: 4600Stairs: 372
Date: 2015-06-05
From: Salem 

To: Daleville 
Miles today: 20.8

I still didn't feel very well upon waking up in the morning, but a night of sweating out the fever in a bed felt good. But I kind of knew I would want to be hiking again after tomorrow and being in Troutville for the Trail Days seemed like a good step in that direction. So I arranged for a hotel room at the Howard Johnson in Daleville, and walked over to the highway to hitchhike in. Standing there on the side of the road I didn't quite feel good, but I also felt much better than I had for a while. By the time I got to Daleville and dropped off at the hotel I actually felt pretty good. I was really impressed with how punctual the 24 hour sickness can be.In town I walked around doing some errands. Eventually I felt up for some food and the bbq place came highly recommended. I met another hiker there, No Trace, who was in worse shape than me. He was a section hiker who had his pack break two days before. And as he drove out that morning to finish off some more miles he was in a car accident almost head on that totalled his car (thanks to air bags he walked away ok).I was eager to do laundry because 1) my socks smelt terrible from being wet for so many days and 2) everything was covered in germs. But even though they had the most convenient washer/dryer in Daleville, Howard Johnson was not the place to do laundry. Because the socks smelled so bad, everything else came out smelling bad. The dryer barely worked. Not what I was hoping for.I lost 20.8 miles. By getting off at Craig Creek Rd and going to Daleville I skipped about 40 miles. But I'll be able to get back to Catawba easily enough which would leave me with some lost miles. I guess I can no longer consider myself a purist. Although, I'll probably continue hiking thinking that I am still a purist. It'll help in keeping me from skipping other miles for no apparent reason.Fitbit-------------Miles: 6.9Calories: 3000Stairs: 25