morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-06-06
From: Daleville 

To: Troutville 
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up during the night in total delirium. Between the dream I was having, and the strange hotel room, and probably still a bit sick, I had a moment of disarray and panic. Even sitting up to get out of bed didn't set me straight. But when I finally stood up though, reality finally came flashing back to me.My plan was to get up and out early and walk the two miles to the Troutville Trail Days in time for the 5k race. But once that time finally came around I thought sleeping in my be better for my health.No Trace had got a rental car to drive back to NY, and I caught a ride from him over to Troutville. He dropped me off at the Post Office but it had closed twenty minutes earlier. I had expected to be there so early in the morning that I only looked at when it opened, I hadn't even thought about my laziness getting me there after they closed.I did arrive at Trail Days in time to register to go tubing down the river. They shuttled us to Buchanan where an outfitter provided us us tubes and life jackets to go float a couple miles down the river. Since the river was flowing faster than expected and we finished an hour before our shuttle was supposed to come back, I hitchhiked back to Troutville.Troutville's Trail Days was significantly more low key than the one in Damascus. It was similar in setup regarding vendors and amenities, but there were only about 70 hikers instead of the 3000+ that Damascus had.Fitbit-------------Miles: 8.4Calories: 3200Stairs: 22
Date: 2015-06-07
From: Catawba 

To: Troutville 
Miles today: 21.3

I definitely ate a bunch of stuff I shouldn't have yesterday. I spent a good portion of the night waking up to go poop. Although maybe the fact that I was surrounded by loud drunk hikers partying till 4am helped cause me to wake up more often than I otherwise would have. That and the occasional train going by, blowing the horn many times. I was totally unprepared for the train the first time it came through during the night. I woke up to the loud horn and thought "where am I, who put my tent on the train tracks, am I gonna get hit, oh gosh I better get out of this tent fast."Yesterday during the festival I arranged a shuttle ride back to Catawba so that I could slackpack back here. I wouldn't have mind skipping those miles as well but they included McAfee Knob, Tinker cliffs, and many other easy going miles. McAfee Knob is probably the most photoed place on the AT, though I personally enjoyed walking along the rocks of Tinker more.While hiking along the easy miles between road crossings, I passed by Oak and Acorn. They were being escorted out by EMTs because Oak had gotten sick and dehydrated. I was a little concerned that he got it from me while I was talking to them the other day at the road crossing, but that seems unlikely. And even if so, there wasn't much else I could do about that.When I passed through Daleville, I stopped in to eat some ice cream, followed shortly by some bbq (and free banana pudding). Of course I totally forgot how much it was going to make me need to poop. But I managed to get to Troutville no problem. Where I got a free shower and moved my tent to a location that wouldn't be blinded by lights all night long.Fitbit-------------Miles: 25.4Calories: 5600Stairs: 497
Date: 2015-06-08
From: Troutville 

To: Bobblets Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 17.0

I'm back on the trail. Putting miles behind me with a big pack on my back. Otherwise there was nothing particularly special about today. The forecast indicated intermittent rain throughout the afternoon, but it didn't start till I put enough miles behind me and got to a shelter that was suitable. There weren't many people on the trail today, and once the rain let up the few people at the shelter moved on. That left me the only person at the shelter, but I still opted to sleep in my tent.I probably shouldn't be surprised, but I found listening to the Deep Focus playlist on Spotify is one of the best things to hike to. I don't know what genre of music most of the tracks are, but it includes bands like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, and various Icelandic groups. It provides nice tranquil background music to my thoughts instead of distracting beats (that are good in their own way).Fitbit-------------Miles: 20.3Calories: 4800Stairs: 417
Date: 2015-06-09
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter 

To: Thunder Hill Shelter 
Miles today: 23.7

reached the shelter for the night. I setup my tent in a grassy spot just past the shelter, then walked down to eat dinner at the new picnic table. There were a bunch of tents scattered about, but no one was still around by the time I got there. While eating by myself, Bookworm came and was unpacking his things in the shelter. And while he was doing that, I looked over and saw a bear sniffing at one of the tents. I asked Bookworm to confirm, and whether he agreed that we should make a bunch of noise and scare it away. He said yes to both and so we got up and scared the bear away from the tent, but it didn't really go far (the odd thing was that the people in the tent didn't even wake up). I soon realized that I left my food out on the table and my other food bag out by my tent. I gathered everything up and found a decent branch to hang the food from. While tying the rope up I heard Bookworms whistle going and him trying to scare the bear on his own, so as soon as I finished I went over and added support in numbers. This finally got a few of the other people out of their tents. And at this point it was starting to get dark. So when the bear was again spotted, it was the blue/green glow of it's eyes in our headlamps. We scared it off a bit farther down the trail, and at this point I left the drama and went to my own tent off on the side. While getting ready for bed the bear seemed to be approaching the other hikers still cause they kept yelling at it to go away. Finally three of the hikers left, leaving me and two other guys. The other guys debated their options for a while and eventually decided to hike on another 3 miles. That left me alone in the area. Here's to a good night sleep...On a less dramatic note, the past couple days there have been signs of trail maintainers coming through and trimming back the overgrown plants from the trail. I'd like to say thanks to the work these volunteers are doing.Fitbit-------------Miles: 25.7Calories: 5600Stairs: 720
Date: 2015-06-10
From: Thunder Hill Shelter 

To: No name campsite
Miles today: 20.0

I hiked the first twelve miles this morning on breakfast and two snacks. Usually, even when I wasn't eating much a couple days ago, I'd have stopped at least once in that stretch to eat more. But maybe cause I was feeling so good today (one of the few days that nothing hurt when I woke up or started hiking), or cause most of the terrain was downhill, I didn't want to stop till I got to the James River. There's a footbridge that goes across which is famous for people jumping off of, but technically it's banned, so it's the bridge you're "not" suppose to jump from. Since no one was around when I crossed the decision was easy. (if everyone is jumping off a bridge, it must be a great bridge to jump off, but you won't see me being the first one over) So I took a swim instead.There was a cooler left under the bridge by Ma'am with ice cold soda and Gatorade. It was very refreshing after a dip in the water. And when Kiley came by, I was easily persuaded to hitch into town for some pizza. It took a while for us to get a ride, but eventually David Moore picked us up and brought us in to Glasgow. He also gave us $20 for pizza. We each got a side of wings and way too much pizza (they have a Wednesday special of a large pizza for $6.75). So I hitched back to the trailhead with my leftovers while Kiley did some post office stuff. My plan was to leave the pizza with the cooler of drinks, but I returned to learn that the Forest Service agents came by and took the cooler (and fined some girls for jumping off the bridge). How do you take away trail magic? Fining people for jumping off the bridge when it's not allowed is totally fine with me, but taking trail magic, that's just a dick move right there. Especially cold drinks, in a cooler, between a river and a major road. Dick move. So I hiked my pizza out to the shelter (two miles) to give away to the nights residents while I digested my own stuffed belly and worked up the motivation to hike another five miles uphill.Fitbit-------------Miles: 21.4Calories: 5000Stairs: 420
Date: 2015-06-11
From: No name campsite

To: Three Springs Hostel 
Miles today: 16.4

I didn't leave myself with enough water the night before to have breakfast and hike uphill. So I suffered on both sides and had a small breakfast and struggled till the next water source. Otherwise it was a pretty simple day with an attempt at a non-existent swimming hole at the shelter, and a pick up from the road crossing to the shelter. I wanted to add in the additional six miles up the hill to the walk up entrance to the hostel, but the weather was so hot and humid it made being outside suck.The Three Springs Hostel came recommended by No Trace. It really is a nice place. The dinner was delicious, the company excellent, and I'm really looking forward to breakfast in the morning. The only bad part is that the internet access is limited to two hours at 6am, which makes catching up on life difficult when there isn't any phone service either.Fitbit-------------Miles: 16.0Calories: 4200Stairs: 318
Date: 2015-06-12
From: Three Springs Hostel 

To: Tye River 
Miles today: 25.4

After a tasty french toast and bacon breakfast, Timothy, Kevin and myself got dropped off at the trailhead to slackpack 25 miles. Based on the guide, and actually hiking it, the first few miles were tough uphill, but the last four were gruelling downhill. It was 3100 feet downhill, most of it slippery rock from the rain that had passed through earlier. I'm quite glad I made the decision to join the guys on slackpacking that section.There was a point midway through the day that I came upon a couple hikers with a dog. Turned out that the dog was just following them and they didn't know who's it was. I passed them then after a bit stopped to drink some water. The puppy dog came up to me then and I let her drink some of my water out of my hand. She followed me for a bit then and when I passed another hiker going the other direction, I pawned her off on them. I'd have to say though that I was really tempted by the idea of taking the dog with me for the rest of the hike.I found out why there isn't a lot of local home brewed root beer on the trail. With all the sassafras I've been seeing on the trail, I've really wanted a good root beer, but it turns out that sassafras is an endangered species and root beer isn't made with sassafras any more. Who knew.Fitbit-------------Miles: 26.5Calories: 5800Stairs: 649
Date: 2015-06-13
From: Tye River 

To: Reeds Gap 
Miles today: 10.7

Mau-Har trail. Taking that blue blaze was so worth it. It did not qualify as an easy hike, but the swimming hole and the general hike was great and far outweighed any views the actual AT would have provided. I'm quite glad my purity has already been tampered and going blue blaze for a couple miles doesn't effect my through hike.We hitchhiked into the Devils Backbone Brewpub in time for lunch and basically spent the rest of the day drinking and enjoying life.I've been waiting for Scott Jurek to pass me for the past couple days. He's working on breaking the AT record currently held at 46 days. He's a little over two weeks in now and is already close to 800 miles. It's taken me about two months to get this far so his pace is both depressing and impressive. For the past few days I've known he was close and have been contemplating what I'd want to ask him. But mostly I've been thinking about what I'd want to ask his support team (and even more, would I get trail magic from them). I've also been wondering if I'd miss him passing while I was in the privy. Well today I learned that he passed through while I was at the brewpub. But that doesn't bother me at all cause I learned that from his wife (aka his support team). I got to ask her some of the questions that have been rolling through my head. I stand by the same thing I thought when I first learned he started this goal, he's hiking his own hike and I'm sure he's enjoying it in his own way. Best of luck to him.Fitbit-------------Miles: 10.4Calories: 3500Stairs: 285
Date: 2015-06-14
From: Reeds Gap 

To: Waynesboro 
Miles today: 19.2

Spending an afternoon (and evening) drinking at a brewery can be tough on the body the next morning, particularly when hiking beforehand. But by the time I finished breakfast, which I must say the Devils Backbone knows how to make a good hiker breakfast (for only $5 too), I was feeling fine. And thanks to some of the employees and a few other trail angels, the whole hiking crew got shuttled back to the trailhead.While I was hiking along I inhaled a bug. I was coughing away and tried drinking some water to get it out of my throat. That didn't quite work and as I coughed again I vomited simultaneously. That got it out of my throat (or at least stopped it from wiggling around.There's a sign on the guard rail as you hike out of Rockfish Gap with a list of trail angels that provide a free shuttle into Waynesboro. It took a couple calls but eventually found someone to bring Fidel and me into town, as well as two other hikers, Spaghetti and Couscous. Fidel and I split a room at the Comfort Inn and went to Ming Garden Chinese buffet for dinner. It was my first Chinese food on the trail but they had a variety of different food bars setup and by the time I left I was so full I could barely move.Fitbit -------------Miles: 19.0 Calories: 4700 Stairs: 324
Date: 2015-06-15
From: Waynesboro 

To: Sawmill Run 
Miles today: 10.4

As recommended by our shuttle driver the night before, Fidel and I walked over to the laundromat and after starting a load of clothes, went across the street to Weezies for breakfast. Of course we both forgot about the free breakfast the hotel offered, but I doubt it was as good. While the clothes were drying I went to the secondhand store and bought a fleece throw. It was equally wide as it was tall and therefore a bit bigger than I needed so I borrowed some scissors and cut it in half. Then we resupplied, and stopped at the post office to collect packages. (my socks that were supposed to have been forwarded didn't arrive)I mailed my phone off to Sony to be repaired. In the meantime I'm using Galia's old phone as a mini computer. I won't be able to make calls or send text messages, but I rarely had service anyhow so shouldn't be much different for the next few weeks.I called Black Diamond about my poles again. The right one has been unable to collapse since Hot Springs, and though I don't usually need to collapse it, going into some big cities in the future, it'll be pretty useful. Again they gave me issues about this being a warranty problem, even saying that most people go through poles as often as shoes (no one else on the trail seems to), and that my poles weren't designed for this kind of mileage (they're called Ultra Distance). But otherwise they said they'll send me a new pair to Harpers Ferry, so all is well.Before leaving town I got lunch with Fidel and Couscous, and then Cindy came back and shuttled Fidel and I back to the trail.Our hike was going to be a short nero, but the shelter was busy and camping spots are full. So along with Mantis and a few others we set off to hike another three miles and stealth camp. Fidel and I got a good spot and the others pushed a couple miles more.Fitbit -------------Miles: 15.6 Calories: 4200 Stairs: 281
Date: 2015-06-16
From: Sawmill Run 

To: Hightop Hut 
Miles today: 31.6

Last night when I got to the shelter there was a Ridge Runner there. I asked her about the terrain in the park and if there'd be a good stretch to do a 24 hour hike. She informed me that today would be good terrain for a 30 mile day, but the rest of the park becomes a bit rocky. I told Fidel, and he was keen to join. We woke up early, at 5:30am, and began the trek.A few miles in we were rewarded with trail magic in form of soda and brownies. But otherwise we didn't take a break till we reached the first Wayside (little shop in Shenandoah that sells food and milkshakes) at 18 miles. Waysides are great in that this particular one provided me with a bbq sandwich and blackberry milkshake. After that I was good to go another 12 miles, especially at a slightly slower pace behind Fidel.When in Waynesboro, I made a change in my bedding. I still keep everything in a trash compactor bag to keep it dry, but now the bag is full of stuff. I've got an air mattress, pillow, thermal sleeping liner, silk sleeping liner, fleece blanket, and fleece pillow case. The only problem is that when I cut the fleece blanket I didn't really measure well and what I've got is more similar to a scarf. I'm gonna need something a bit more blanket sized as the nights are warm but by morning I get a bit chilly.Fitbit -------------Miles: 32.7 Calories: 6600 Stairs: 748
Date: 2015-06-17
From: Hightop Hut 

To: Big Meadows Campground 
Miles today: 20.8

Compared to yesterday's 31 miles, today would be a slower pace with more breaks. And as such we started with a five mile stretch to a picnic area for snack. Then another break at the campstore where I ate 800 calories, mostly from a single apple pie. We then arrived at the second Wayside just as the rain begins. Instead of a blackberry shake, I got the blackberry cobbler with blackberry ice cream. We didn't make it far after because we ended up camping with Timothy and Mongoose at the campgrounds.Fitbit -------------Miles: 25.2 Calories: 5500 Stairs: 476
Date: 2015-06-18
From: Big Meadows Campground 

To: Jeremy's Run 
Miles today: 20.3

Today's plan was to get to Skyland Restaurant for a blackberry shake. Fidel and I actually spent a good portion of the morning hike planning what we'd order. But we missed the restaurant's breakfast hours by 30 minutes and the lunch times didn't start for 90 minutes. There was a coffee bar which had pre-made sandwiches, so we each got one of those, and also learned that the restaurant didn't even have shakes. But when Timothy arrived we learned that instead of shakes they had a blackberry ice cream pie, so we stuck around till they opened (and it was worth it).I had stubbed my toe yesterday on a rock and it was hurting something fierce. I trimmed down the nail but it still hurt to move it around inside my shoe. I had to spend all day making sure not to stub it again on a rock.The past two days I've been finding that I've been not looking to get off trail, but fantasizing about all the unlikely things that would get me off. For example if I were attacked by a bear I could stop hiking (although my logical brain knew that a bear attack would just give me more reason to keep walking). But basically I found I was building up more reasons to stop even if they weren't likely reasons. So I listened to two more of the birthday messages Galia had arranged, and I think that wiped away all such thoughts for a while. I still have about 10 more messages that I haven't listened to yet, and then I'll be able to go back and listen to them again.A lot of people mentioned that Virginia would be flat. It is not flat. But the bigger annoyance is that there's quite a bit of rocky sections that no one ever bothered to mention, and the rocks suck.Fidel and I ended at Beahms Gap Overlook by hitching to Elkwallow Wayside to get a blackberry shake before closing. Since there wasn't much traffic on Skyline we camped back on the trail behind the Wayside.Fitbit -------------Miles: 23.4 Calories: 5300 Stairs: 418
Date: 2015-06-19
From: Jeremy's Run 

To: Mosby 
Miles today: 28.2

Since we skipped the miles last night, we hitchhiked back to make up the five miles (we left our packs at the Wayside). While we started hiking I had to stop and adjust my shoe. While doing that I heard a noise that didn't quite sound like a bird. I looked over and saw a bear climbing down a tree about 10 feet away. I called out to Fidel who was ahead and while he was walking back the bear reached the bottom of the tree and got lost in the undergrowth. But then I looked up and saw the cub climbing down. Sadly I wasn't quick enough to take a photo.Hiking back without a pack we were able to average 3.8 miles per hour. Which is actually about the pace I usually do when I'm walking fast with a pack.We got back to the Wayside just after breakfast started, had a big egg and bacon meal and finished it off with my last blackberry shake.Today was the end of Shenandoah. Fidel and I averaged 20 mile days through the park.As we approached the town of Front Royal and a busy road crossing with fast moving cars we had the option of going to the Cabbin hostel. Having showered and laundry the night before I didn't really see the benefit of staying there, but once we turned the corner and started uphill the sky turned dark from the imminent rain. And sure enough, not even a mile past the hostel, the sky opened up and we got dumped on. It felt like some tropical setting with the thick vegetation and high humidity turned rain. The good thing though was that the rain stopped by the time we reached the camping area and so we were able to setup dry-ish and switch to dry clothes.Fitbit -------------Miles: 28.9 Calories: 6200 Stairs: 528
Date: 2015-06-20
From: Mosby 

To: Myron Glaser blue blaze 
Miles today: 18.7

I've had this feeling since leaving Shenandoah that we've been walking through a narrow corridor between people's backyards. Before Shenandoah we were in the Blue Ridge Mountains and before that everything was so rural, but now there's a strong presence of population moving in on the trail.I was a bit low on snacks (had enough food to get to Harpers Ferry, but snacks make it easier to do big miles without many breaks), so I hitched into the convenience store in Linden while Fidel waited with the packs. Then when we got back to the trail on the other side of the highway underpass, there was trail magic in the form of sodas and snacks (but it was nice to leave some behind for other hikers).Fidel had checked the weather forecast and it showed a 90% chance of rain at 3pm that went back down to 0% at 5pm. So my thought was that we should find somewhere to hide out for that time, and then hike the rest of the evening. So as we approached Sky Meadows State Park just before 3pm, I suggested we go to the visitors center ,and hide out there. It turned out to be two miles downhill. And though it looked like rain when we started down, there was no sign of rain when I reached the bottom. Since I had rushed ahead in hopes of not getting wet, Fidel ended up down a different path than me, so I set my pack down and ran around looking for him. After about a mile of running in the heat I caught him just outside the visitors center. He had the good idea of hitching a ride back to the trail instead of walking back up that hill. A park ranger, Vanessa, who was getting off shift gave us a ride (and a couple sodas).As soon as we got back to the trail, it started looking like rain again, so our goal was to try finding somewhere to camp before the rain started. Anywhere to camp. About two miles in we still hadn't found anything and so we took a blue blaze side trail to a locked cabin. On the way down we came upon two girls hanging out at a creek. I asked if they knew about camping next to the cabin and it turned out them and their friends had rented the cabin (and therefore no, we couldn't camp within 100 yards of the cabin). But the blue blaze trail was a loop back to the AT so we followed it around. As the rain started to begin we settled on camping right in the middle of the trail. It was the only flat spot and it should be noted that the forecast had been updated to heavy rain throughout the whole night.Fitbit -------------Miles: 23.2 Calories: 5100 Stairs: 414