morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-05-17
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: broken clouds

Day 3: We awoke to a clear, but cold morning. It was in the low 40's. We got up a half hour earlier (i.e. 6:30 am) than Day 2, with the hopes of getting out of camp by 7:30am, but left at the same time, 7:50am. We'll have to work on that!!We immediately started our first big climb of the day. Good thing it was a cool morning. After that we hiked a long gradual downhill to our first crossing of Skyline Drive. There were 3 crossings today.Soon after crossing the road, what should we see but a mama bear and her little cub. Mama turned to look at us as baby climbed up a tree. We grabbed our cameras and shot one picture. However, as we moved to get a better angle for the second shot, off they ran. We've had to hike almost 900 miles on the AT to see our first bear!! Soon after, as we approached the Loft Mtn Campground we saw several large piles of bear scat...they sure know where the easy food is!!We were pushing it a little today to try to make it to a "Loft Mtn Wayside" 8 miles away for lunch. Besides great views, picnic areas, campgrounds and pull-outs called Overlooks, the SNP also has lodges and little cafes called "Waysides" along Skyline Drive. For hikers, if there is real food nearby, you have to stop. The Waysides serve lunch until 2pm, so that was our deadline. Well, no problem we covered the 8 miles in a little less than 5 hours, arriving at 12:45pm.Boy did that cheeseburger, chicken wrap and sweet potato fries taste good. And you can't come to the SNP without having some of their blackberry ice cream. From the attached picture, you can see that we did! We shared our table with 2 thru-hikers we had met at last night's hut, Trillium and Rogue.After this big lunch and a hour rest, it was hard to get going again..but at 1:45pm we headed back up the trail.As the trail crossed one of the Skyline Drive Overlooks, we saw a gentleman with his dog standing by his car. We had seen he and his dog twice on the trail, once before the Wayside and once after. We always said "hi" and made some small-talk. When he saw us at the Overlook he said he had a couple of cold Sprites for us if we wanted them..Trail Magic!! We said "sure" and downed one right away, but saved the other for later. We have met such great people along the trail.We finally arrived at our destination hut at 4:35pm. Another 13+ mile day under our belt. There were only two people at the hut when we arrived, but 4 more showed up later. All are out hiking sections of the AT in SNP...none were thru-hikers. All those that we have spent the last couple nights with are long gone!!Animal sightings: Mama and baby bears and a cottontail rabbit
Date: 2014-05-18
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 8.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 4: Another morning in the low 40's. It makes us not want to get out of our sleeping bags...but once we do, we want to hurry up and get on the trail. We hit the trail at 7:35am. Did a better job of getting out of camp this morning.A quick hike up to our first crossing of the Skyline Drive...there would be 3 more through-out the day. Unfortunately no waysides to stop at today The trail continued to follow a generally northeasterly route, staying on the ridgeline when it could, but dropping down to cross gaps (usually crossing Skyline Drive then too) only to climb back to the ridgeline again. This created a day of hiking with multiple ups and down. Fortunately these ups and downs were in the hundred of feet of elevation change, not in the thousands that we experienced in previous years further south.Another thing we have experienced is that the trail periodically follows old, abandoned roads. The history of this area is interesting. Apparently the whole of the SNP was once privately owned. The area was known for its Chestnut trees. The families survived by selling Chestnuts and logging its wood (thus the old roads). Unfortunately a disease hit the trees in the 1910's and wiped out many of the Chestnuts. Then in the 1920's Virginia decided it was going to make the area a park. It "condemned" the land and moved over 400 families out. Later in the 1930's the CCC built Skyline Drive.We took our time hiking today because we knew we only had 8 miles to go. As you can see from the attached picture, one of our breaks was on a rock jutting out of a cliff with grand views. Not all of this hike is in the "green tunnel".Today was "hump" day because it was the middle day of a 7-day hike. We also passed the half-way point in distance as we passed the 40 mile mark..Wahoo!!.Even with our leisurely pace, we still arrived at our destination hut at 1:15pm. We were the only ones here. So we picked out one of designated campsites and got our tent set up. The nearby spring is a 4-inch pipe coming out of the hillside and with the recent rains, it is running full-bore. We took advantage of it and did some laundry (no soap, just rinsing).. The rest of the afternoon was spent repairing gear, reading and napping. Short hiking days are great!!During the course of the afternoon, two pairs of section hikers we had met at Pinefield Hut, showed up: a father and son from New York and a husband and wife from Ohio. Turns out the father and son are hiking the same schedule for the next couple of days, so we may see them at future huts. At 6:30pm 4 thru-hikers walked in: Wikipedia, Lorax, Purple Blaze and Divinci.Animal(?) sightings: lots of bear scat (but no bears) and our first tick. It's tick season and they are known to carry Lyme disease so we will have to remain vigilant.Plant sighting: We saw our first "forest" of Rhododendron. We have been seeing ones and twos but this was the first forest like we saw to the south. Unfortunately they weren't blooming yet.
Date: 2014-05-22
From: Cardinal Inn, Luray, VA

To: Cardinal Inn, Luray, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 8: This is called a "zero" day for a hiker because no miles were walked on the AT. However, that is not to say we didn't walk. We went back and forth to downtown twice..because this is also a "chore" day.After getting up around 7am we walked to town to a little coffee shop we saw yesterday. After a pastry and egg wrap breakfast, we went to the Post Office and picked up the resupply box we had sent out about 3 weeks ago (It was there...Hooray!!).On the way to the Post Office we saw the statue in the attached photo, celebrating the Confederacy. This is the second statue we saw of Cofederate soldiers in town.. We are definitely still in the South. According to a map we saw, just north if here was a real hot spot for battles during the Civil War.According to Dr Dick, during and after the war the town was known for its leather tanning because of all the White Oaks in the area providing tannins for the tanning process. Later farming vegetables became the main industry. In fact there is still a huge smokestack of a closed cannery that dominates the Luray skyline.Once back at the hotel, ET got the laundry together and headed to the laundromat while Spider re-planned the next week of hiking. We had originally planned to stay at a hiker hostel for the next 2 nights and hike the AT with just day-packs. Each day we we're to be dropped off in the morning by the hostel owner, then picked up in the evening at a predetemined spot where the AT crosses a road...This is called "slack packing" vs what we have been doing for the last week, "backpacking". Obviously, we can hike a lot more miles in a day this way. Unfortunately the hostel owner said he couldn't do it., so now we have to figure out how to stay on schedule while backpacking. It may also mean supplementing our food for the trail, since we were planning to eat at the hostel.By the time ET returned, the planning was done, so we headed back to town to mail home some things we decided we didn't need any more (always looking for ways to reduce pack weight!!). Then we stopped by the library to use their computer to check out our Trail Journal log (Thanks, Zak!!) and check out the weather forecast for the next week. Looks like we are good through Memorial Day but may get wet on Tuesday.Then we went to the Outfitter that gave us the names of local Trail Angels yesterday, which finally allowed us to get off the mountain, to thank them and to buy a couple things. Finally it was time for lunch. We ate at a local BBQ place. We can't be in the South and not try some BBQ.The rest of the afternoon was spent repairing some of our gear and relaxing...Spider got caught up on what was happening in the golf world.We at dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Back at the hotel we finished packing our packs so we are ready to head back to the trail bright and early tomorrow.
Date: 2014-05-24
From: Gravel Springs Hut

To: Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel
Miles today: 13.4

Day 10: We could tell we were into the Memorial Day weekend. The trails were crammed with day-hikers and weekend backpackers.We awoke to an overcast, cool (mid-40's) morning with the wind blowing, making it feel even colder. We packed up and hit the trail at 7:20am. We had several ups and downs to negotiate through the day...but we were heading mostly down. We hop scotched several people throughout the day, who had stayed at the hut with us last night.By mid-day, we passed the 100-mile mark for this hike. We are over 20% done. Wahoo! Mid-afternoon we exited the SNP. We certainly enjoyed our walk through this park. After leaving the park we immediately negotiated a steep, twisting, rocky descent down a cliff-face. The CCC engineers have certainly "left the building"!We called the owner of the hostel, Mike Evans, when we were about a mile from the intersection of the AT with US 522. Spider had made arrangements to stay at his hostel last week. When we arrived at the highway, he was waiting for us. It was a quick drive to his hostel, arriving at 4pm.We grabbed a bunk (the attached picture is of the bunkroom) and immediately took a shower. Boy did that feel good!! Runaway and. Grasshopper are also staying here. Mike shuttled the 4 of us into Front Royal for dinner at a local English-style pub. The food, drink and coversation were great. Mike returned 2 hours later to pick us up...great service!Back at the hostel ET and I dug into Mike's Ben & Jerry ice cream supply...Mmm. It's amazing how many opportunities we have found to eat something other than freeze-dried food.Animal sightings: more ticks crawling on us or our gear. We will have to continue to keep checking ourselves.
Date: 2014-05-25
From: Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel

To: Dick's Dome Shelter
Miles today: 15.2

Day 11: We awoke at 6:30am and tried to quietly begin packing our packs. Runaway and Grasshopper were already up and packing. Everyone else was still asleep. This is the norm for shelters, hostels, etc. The older hikers are always up and out first while the 20-somethings sleep late. When they finally get up, they "zoom" down the trail and pass up the older hikers!!The hostel owner, Mike, took us to the trail crossing where he had picked us up yesterday. We hit the trail at 7:55am and started our first big climb of the day..about 1000 feet. It was about 55 degrees, which was not cool enough to keep us from sweating., which we did!!One of our objectives for today was to reach the point where the AT crosses under I-66, around noon to meet some friends we haven't seen in 25 years. Bob and Sherrie worked worked with us in California, but pulled up stakes in 1989 and moved to the East Coast. We have stayed in touch via Christmas cards and letters. However, when they heard we would be hiking the AT near them, they suggested getting together. The I-66 crossing was the place we agreed to meet.So we tried to "liven" our steps as climbed the mountain since we had over 8 miles to go. Along the way we saw 2 thru-hikers we were introduced to last night at dinner, Cheese and Chocolate. As you might guess from their trailnames, they are from Switzerland!We ended up making very good time and got to the crossing at 12:30pm. In fact Sherri and Bob hiked a ways up the AT to meet us. Then they drove us down the road a few miles to a place that served great burgers: ET had the 1/2-lb Bison burger and Spider had the 1-lb of beef Bubba burger. I'm not sure Bob and Sherrie had ever seen that much meat consumed by two people so quickly!!We spent 2 hours getting caught up on what had happened in our lives over 25 years. The attached picture shows us in the restaurant. It was great to see them, but all good things must end. So they shuttled us back to the AT. We said our goodbyes and started up the trail at 2:30pm for our second 1000-foot climb of the day, only this time it was hotter. Our challenge now was to make it to our destination selter(now that we are out of SNP they are called "shelters" again) before dark...7 miles away. It's hard to step lively when you have already hiked 8 miles, but we made our best effort and reached the shelter at 6:20pm. Once again we were reminded that we were no longer in the SNP. The ups and downs were a lot steeper!!Major milestone: we passed the 125 mile mark..we are 25% done with our hike!!We found Chocolate and Cheese already at the shelter and Runaway and Grasshopper hiked in later. They had done a 19 mile day!! 9 other hikers are here too. We met 2 new thru-hikers Soul Power and Jellybean.Tonight we are camped next to a stream and will let it lull us to sleep. That's what being in the great outdoors is all about.
Date: 2014-05-26
From: Dick's Dome Shelter

To: Sam Moore Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: light rain

Day 12: By hiking several long days, we finally have caught up to our original hiking schedule that was thrown off when we couldn't use the Trail Angel to do some big miles slackpacking. But today's 15+ mile day was very different than yesterday's 15+ day.Yesterday we were able do the hike in about 9 hours. But today's took almost 11 hours. That's because today we hit the Roller Coaster. As you can seein the attach pictures, it is a series of steep, 400-foot climbs and descents. Imagine climbing a set of stairs for 400 feet, with a backpack on, .and the steps are rocky, so there is no flat place to put your foot. Coming down is the same. Now do this 5 times in 85 degree weather after hiking 8 miles.. It was one of our tougher days.Knowing we were going to have a long, tough day, we hit the trail at 7:05am. Unfortunately it was already 72 degrees. We were already sweating on the first climb!The trail for the last 2 days has been significantly muddier than anything we found in the SNP. Since we are a couple thousand feet lower it seems that the water drained off the mountains and settled into these lower valleys, making muddy bogs.Something else we have been seeing a lot in the last two days is rock fences. These are "fences" made by stacking flat shale rocks on top of each other until you reach about 4 feet high. When we saw these on last year's AT hike, we were told that these were made by slaves to delineate property lines. We wonder if the fences we wre seeing now have the same history.With all the challenges of this day, some Trail Magic happened for Spider. We had passed a group of weekenders hiking up the trail with an ice chest. We passed them and just said "Hi". However when Runaway and Grasshopper (who were some distance behind us) passed them, they offered them a beer. Runaway knew I liked dark beer so besides grabbing a beer for himself, he grabbed a Guiness for Spider. Later as we rested next to the trail, Runaway and Grasshopper caught up to us and he delivered the beer. Spider decided to save it for dinner, so he carried it through the Roller Coaster!! The crazy things we do.We arrived at the shelter at 5:50pm.. 11 hours to hike 15 miles. That's less than 1.5 miles per hour. We usually average 2-2.5 mph. That shows how tough the Roller Coaster was!As we were eating dinner, Runaway and Grasshopper arrived. We had passed them when they had stopped to take a break and we never saw them the rest of the day. Spider toasted them with his Guiness, which he had chilled by putting in the spring that supplies water to the shelter.Animal sighting: lots of brown millipedes,' the last several days. We've seen a lot on the trail and have even had them crawling on our tent. Is spring millipede "blooming" season?
Date: 2014-05-27
From: Sam Moore Shelter

To: David Lesser Shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 13: The suprise was on us. It turned out that we weren't done with the Roller Coaster when we reached Sam Moore Shelter. We had 7 more miles of it today. Ugh.We awoke at our normal time of 6am, but we were moving more slowly and didn't hit the trail until 7:30am. No doubt, a hold over from yesterday's extreme exertion. We immediately started a steep climb, and at 68 degrees we started our first sweat for the day.After our second climb,. We took a side trail to a hiker hostel called the Bear's Den. It was a huge stone house with a hostel downstairs and a store, kitchen, living room and sleeping area for Patomac Appalachian Trail Club members upstairs. We had really wanted to stay there, but could not have made the additional 3 miles yesterday.A few miles later we passed into West Virginia, our 5th state hiked so hike on the AT...only 9 more to go!The other milestone was that we passed the 1000 mile mark on the AT. There was a big sign celebrating the milestone. Among thru-hikers this is considered a major milestone to finally get to quadruple digits.Things finally flattened out a little after mile 1003 and we started making better time. But it was still hot and humid. Unfortunately soon after the Roller Coaster ended, so did Spider's water. Since we were now hiking a ridge, there were no streams. So we took a side trail the Blackburn Trail Center for water.When we returned tothe AT, we noticed the cloud build-up. Soon we heard thunder and saw lightning. With 1.5 miles to go to get to the shelter, the skys opened up. We stopped and covered our packs with rainproof pack covers, but decided to not put on our raingear. It would be too hot and this was a chance rinse off some of the sweat and grime from the last several days.So we continued to hike as the trails turned to streams and lightning and thunder continued. The only mishap was that Spider slipped on a rock and fell. No damage to Spider, but he landed on one of his trekking poles. He's gong to me single poling it tomorrow into Harper's Ferry where he hopes to replace the pole.We finally made it to the shelter at 6:30pm, soaking wet. We quickly got into some dry clothes and had a hot meal. There was room is the shelter, so we slept in there. We hope the weather is better tomorrow.Animal sightings: a deer and a turtlePlant sightings: mountain laurel
Date: 2014-05-30
From: Camp Hill B&B, Harper's Ferry, WV

To: Crampton Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 16: We awoke at 6am again and began packing up. It was an overcast day in the mid-50's. At 7am our breakfast was once again delivered to our little dining area. It was delicious.After breakfast, Spider finished packing and headed to the Post Office to mail off our unneeded gear. Upon his return he received some trail magic from the B&B owner, Tony. He gave Spider an old ski pole he said he no longer needed so Spider could have something to replace his broken trekking pole for the next week ..It's a little short but a whole lot better than a tree branch. We finally hit the trail at 8:30am.We walked back to the historic district and reconnected with the AT. We immediately climbed a ramp and onto a pedestrian walkway attached to the B&O Railroad bridge that crossed the Potomac River. According to the map, as soon as we stepped onto the bridge, we entered Maryland! even though there was no sign telling us that. So we stopped and took the attached picture. We are in our 6th state on the AT.After crossing the Potomac River, we exited the bridge and stepped onto the C&O Canal towpath. In the early 1800's the C&O Canal Company was building a canal along the Potomac River to bring produce from Appalachia and points West to Washington DC. The canal was designed with a path separating the river and the canal. Mules walked on the towpath and pulled the barges up and down the canal. There were a series of locks along the way to raise and lower the barges. Now the towpath is a hiking/biking trail over 100 miles long. 3 miles of it is also the AT.After these easy miles at first, we eventually had to "pay the piper" and climb 1000-foot back up to the ridge. After that, it was an undulating hike to our destination shelter.We arrived at 3:30pm and had plenty of time to do our camp chores. At this point in the hike, we have settled into a bit of a routine. When we first get into camp, we pick out a spot for the tent (unless we are sleeping in the shelter). Then ET sets up the tent, while Spider goes to the water source associated with the shelter and fills our water containers. Upon his return, Spider treats the water with iodine, then starts moving his gear from his pack into the now set up tent. ET does the same and then we both crawl into the tent and organize everything for a night's habitation. If there is time, like today, we rest for awhile. Otherwise, it's back out of the tent to fix dinner. After eating, we police the area and hang the food bags so bears can't get them. Then we get back into the tent for reading and journaling. Lights out is usually around "hiker's midnight"...9pm. An evening in the life of a hiker!!After the big push last week, we are backing off on the miles, to rest our bodies for the big push towards the end of the hike.The weather is supposed to be good for the next several days. We are looking forward to some good hiking.Animal sightings: about a dozen baby ducklings swimming in the stagnant canal water.