morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-05-22
From: VA 16, Marion, VA

To: Chatfield Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: moderate rain

5/22 chatfield shelter. 7.0 milesWe stayed up until 1 am doing chore, cleaning gear, fixing stuff and updating our journal and still were out of bed by 7:15. We packed up and crossed the highway for a big breakfast at the closest restaurant and then hit the road to wait for the in town bus. Steve the driver told us that he couldn't shuttle us up the mountain on the weekend but, if we had time, we could run the route with him and he would drop us at I-81. We managed a hitch from the gas station after 15 minutes from a nice guy with a beer in his hand.... After he couldn't get his lighter to work for the forth time, we suggested he use at least one of his hands for the steering wheel! We made it safely to the Mt. Rogers Rec. Area headquarters and the trailhead around noon, filled our water bottles and headed out as the rain started. It was gentle going and the rain ended soon as we passed a pretty farm with two beautiful horses in the field. We got a few photos for you Ruth and Elaine!  Our only other view for the day was a side cut with a makeshift bench about a mile out of the shekter but it had a fantastic view across the valley and the ridges beyond. The rhodedendrons were pitting on thier best show for us on Brushy, Locust and Glade mtns and the mountain laurels are getting ready to pop. We have a nice group herein the shelter tonight down by the creek and have enjoyed chatting about the day. The only spoiler to my day is the graffiti at the shelter. Some genius decided to use a perminant marker to write all across the front of the platform informing us of the people he misses now and the trip he wants to plan to Rhode Island in August. He was kind enough to leave his phone number and email though, so I thought I might let him know how I feel about his exploits (this translates to bombarding him with spam, phone calls and emails) Because of this, I am considering changing my trail name to Captain Avenger!DT & CB AKA Captain Avanger
Date: 2010-05-22
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: notes from DT's journal
Miles today: 0.0

May 22ndUp early today but not much sleep as we were up until 1 a.m. Some guys stayed after the AYCE and did same thing we did ¢ laundry, email, and sleep in a real bed and have a hot shower. Got picked up after breakfast by a guy drinking a beer, having no teeth and knew how to drive without his hands on the the wheel. Maybe that is why the BIBLE was on the dashboard. When he wanted to light his cigarette the ride back to the trailhead got scary. 7 miles to the Chatfield Shelter over rocky terrain and rhody tunnels. Only one view of mtns. Today. Tonight we all sat around eating and chatting at the shelter. It¢s 8:15 p.m. Night all. DT
Date: 2010-05-23
From: Chatfield Shelter

To: Happy Hiker Hostel, Atkins, VA
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: scattered clouds

5/23 Happy Hiker Hollow, Atkins, VA 4.5 miles. Last night at 3:30 am we woke to the sound of voices coming down the trail. Turns out 5 hikers had decide to have a travelling beer part at midnight at partnership shelter and ended coming through here in the wee hours. The were a bit rowdy and managed to talk someone here into joining ten for a few mire mile before heading out twenty minute later. Back to sleep got us then up at 7:00 for an easy walk to town. The trail was really pretty today and went passed the Settlers Museum Farm which us open and free to thru hikers. We sat in the school house and signed the register then turned out across some open fields and beautiful landscapes. We went down one particular hill and hear a train coming and sure enough, we came to the tracks as it was passing. After we crossed we heard gunshots and saw bullets bouncing off the field to our right( mabye a hundred yards!) and made sure the person with the gun knew we were there. Turns out he was after a troublesome fox. Over a boardwalk in a bog and then on to town were we discovered an AYCE buffet at The Barn restaurant. We ate too much and then called the hostel who picked us up and proceeded to everfeed us again at dinner. There are baby chickens in the upstairs bath tub here and they are just so cute! A great place for us to catch some rest before heading out tomorrow. CB(CA) & DT
Date: 2010-05-23
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: notes from DT's journal
Miles today: 0.0

May 23This day started about 3 hours into the day-that means 3-3:30 a.m. while we were sound asleep. 5 hikers were night hiking and happened to stop by the Chatfield Memorial shelter. At least they didn¢t stay long. We were up at 7:00 a.m. and out of camp @ 8:00. Hiked a few miles and came to historic 1890 settlers homestead. We went off trail to visit it ¢ photos will get uploaded sometime) ¢ Also with in close proximity was the old one room school house. Of course, we visited it. We sat there in the little desks and wondered about education then and now. Personally I chose then. Just ran into the 3:00 a.m. hikers- g-hippie and superman, spambo, and two others. The night hike began after a few six packs of beer. They hiked ¢out¢ and slept at the Exxon station. Wonder if this is the reason we have seen so many cop cars today. AT crossed the RR tracks here. We counted 213 rail cars. When the train had passed a guy up on the hill opposite us was shooting a rifle. At us? Who knows. Hope there were rabbits, foxes or coyotes he was aiming at. Gee all this before noon time. HMM¢¦ Wonder what this afternoon will bring. People stop and chat with us. Very friendly people down here for the most part-except for the guy with the gun! The trail lead us to the BARN restaurant ¢ AYCE SUNDY BUFFET from 11-2 for $7.99. Of course _AYCE here meant only 3 plates per customer. After lunch RAMBUNNY from the Happy Hiker Hollow Hostel came and picked 3 of us waiting at the Barn. Her meals are legend and one never leaves her table hungry. Between her dogs and baby chicks in her upstairs bathroom we had a fun visit. Breakfast was very filling also. Big Hugs to her as we left to continue our journey.
Date: 2010-05-24
From: Happy Hiker Hostel, Atkins, VA

To: VA route 22 behind the picnic pavilian
Miles today: 11.8

5/24 VA 42. 11.8 miles. Shimmy was right to recommend the Happy Hiker Hollow to us. Rambunny and Aqua were fantastic hosts and really outdid themselves. Another huge AYCE breakfast with eggs, French toast, biscuts and gravy, bacon, fruit, juices, home made jam and more. Bunny dropped us off at the trailhead @ 9:00 and off we went. A nice climb through open fields where we crossed through a herd of cows and then over at least ten stiles throughout the day as we crossed multiple fields. Over a few smaller mountains and through more cows. We got quite close to a few baby cows and took a few pics. So cute! We both were dragging butt as the day wore on. Too much food over the last 24 hours did not energize us. Just the opposite, we had no reserves after noon and had only gone 4-5 miles! We decided to try to camp near the north fork of the Holston river around mile 549 but, the lands are privately owned and no camping is allows for several miles. On top of that, we were low on water and with all the cows around, things weren't looking good. Finally, we came upon a spring but then couldn't find our water treatment tablets. Ugh. We cleared Virginia route 42 and found a cooler full of trail magic in the form of little Debbies cookies and soda at 7:30 pm near a picnic pavillian and are now stealth camped 50 yards behind it. Rain started in as we were climbing in our bags and a whiporwill is carrying on in the distance. A beautiful day with wonderful views of valleys and farms. CA and DT
Date: 2010-05-24
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: notes from DT's journal
Miles today: 0.0

May 24Tough day-fields of fields of open grazing with cows. One grey cow managed to make us feel a bit uncomfortable ¢ not only was she constantly mooing but C.B. believes she had a fire coming out of her nose. We hurried over 10 stiles today. We were tired and at mile 7 we were ready to camp. In this area no camping for over 3 miles. Cows used the trail here also so was quite messy hiking. We finally stealth camped at the VA 42 Acres Pavilion- NOT under their pavilion though. Some hikers do and have gotten in trouble. We got on some nice ground near the stream there. BY THE WAY- stinging nettles are in this area.
Date: 2010-05-25
From: VA route 22 behind the picnic pavilian

To: Chestnut Knob
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: overcast clouds

5/25 Chestnut Knobish. 10.5 ish miles. Sorry but it's hard to know exactly how far you have gone when you are stealth camping! We slept in at the picnic pavillian and had breakfast under the roof as it was showery when we got up. Out of camp at 9:45 and a steep climb to start our day. Nothing was remarkable along the trail today as it was all woods, hills and streams until late in the afternoon. The guide book called for a spring fed pond half way up Chestnut Knob and we thought we had missed it as we came up into open fields on top of the mountain. To our surprise the top had the best views of he hike and we could see for 50 miles. We found the pond and decide to filter water and eat dinner while the bullfrogs carried on. The sun shined bright as we moved on after dinner and we walk for over a mile on the open mountain fields. We are now camp at the top of the field watching the dun set and the moon rise. Somehow, no one else is here with us and we haven't seen a sole since 3:30 today. We feel like we are top of the world! One other event that was of note today was our snake encounters. First, Dutch Tape was stratling a big black snake that was across the trail sunning itself before she realized what it was. We poked at it with our hiking poles , just because we could, and it barely moved. Later in the day, Cabana Boy (AKA Captain Avenger), found another one doing the same thing only he didn't seem to care for the poking routine. Off he slithered. Ok, got to go watch the sun set!DT & CA
Date: 2010-05-25
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: notes from DT's journal
Miles today: 0.0

May 25Got a late start but was a great hiking day. We are on top of Chestnut Knob-a bald- that wasn¢t mentioned in our guidebook ¢ and tonight under the stars and almost full moon we are sleeping without our tent fly(hoping for no rain). We are about 12 mile short of the Chestnut Knob Shelter heading north.Night all. CB & DTP.S. We are back in sassafras territory! Largest that we have seen may be 15¢. Also two black racer snakes were on the trail today. I straddled one and didn¢t realize it was a snake. Didn¢t faze either one of us. The snake nor I.
Date: 2010-05-26
From: Chestnut Knob

To: VA 623 Garden Mountain
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: broken clouds

5/26 VA 623 Garden Mountain. 6.9 miles. So our campsite was perfect last night as the sun set and the stars came out. A nice light breeze blew through the tent all night and this morning, the clouds had sunk below the mountaintops and made for a beautiful start. We were out by 8:30 and were quickly passed by a bunch of hiker who had stayed down at the pond. They were in a hurry because they had heard that the local church was doing a hiker breakfast for the next 3 days and thought that it was at the next road crossing. We all signed the register at Chestnut Knob Shelter and made the mad run 1.3 miles to the Forest service road. No Breakfast... Then we all decided it must be at VA 623 4.9 miles away. With not enough time to get there by noon, the cutoff time, we decided to stroll along for the day and camp by the road and wait for the food in the AM. So we had a slow day walking the ridge looking out at Burkes Garden, VA otherwise known as God's Thumbprint. A pretty valley full of open fields and lots of cows. We got to our road crossing around 4 and set up our camp along with Green Abe, Goldfish, Sneaky Feet and several others. By the time night fell, we were 15 in number. I have my doubts about breakfast from here tomorrow. We shall see.
Date: 2010-05-26
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: notes from DT's journal
Miles today: 0.0

May 26I didn¢t sleep too well on the bald last night. Almost a full moon and sooo quiet. This am @ 7:30 Ugly Tuna rolled on by and said ¢don¢t forget the breakfast! What breakfast? We got ourselves moving but missed breakfast at the trail junction by the Baptist Church. Thurs and Friday they are feeding the hikers again. We will be there!!!! I don¢t know why the pounds are falling off after feasts like this. Go to town once a week-eat like a pig-then back on the trail. Hopefully I won¢t have to shop for clothes when I get back. I hate to shop!! Warm weather for the finish of today¢s hike about 75-80. River left the trail yesterday. Hope she will return. *****The Baptist Church of Bland hosts a 3 day breakfast for hikers. It is about a week after Damascus. Also The Captains Place on the way to Pearisburg from Bland hosts a shindig for hikers over Memorial Day. This is the place with the ZIPLINE entrance we are told.Night all. DT
Date: 2010-05-27
From: VA 623 Garden Mountain

To: Bland, VA
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: light rain

5/27 Bland, VA. 15.5 miles. Well morning broke on VA 623 and we all lingered until 9:30 waiting for that trail magic...... DT & I were the first ones to head out hungery and make our way down the trail. We lunched at Jenkins Shelter and moved on through some nondescript trail and hit Laurel Creek VA 615. With thunderstorms coming and 6.9 miles to town we knew where we wanted to be. There is a mile. Road walk here and then the trail heads back into the woods. We are now at the Big Walker Motel getting ready to take a day off! DT & CA
Date: 2010-05-27
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: notes from DT's journal
Miles today: 0.0

May 27We are in Bland and looking for breakfast. The Methodist Outreach Ministry. Have a wonderful Memorial Day all.Hugs DT & CBMissed Rachel (CS) and her gang by one day She was here at the Big Walker Motel yesterday. One of these days our paths will cross again.
Date: 2010-05-28
From: Bland, VA

To: Zero day
Miles today: 0.0

5/28 Bland VA zero day. Our first day off in two weeks was very welcome as we are both beat from all of the continuous hiking. The only problem with Bland is there is nothing there. We have the DQ restaurant, Subway or the local diner(think fried food) for restaurant choices and the Dollar General and the local grocery for resupply. The best news is the two packages from home at the post office! New water filter cartridge, new underwear for CB and lots of food! We got our cloths clean in the motel sink and cleaned all of our water containers and cooking gear and it looks like two homeless people live in thus room.., We finally caught up to the trail magic as well when the folks from the Methodist church showed up here to take us back over the ridge to the church for an AYCE breakfast and we left stuffed and with goody bags to go. Back to the trail tomorrow.
Date: 2010-05-29
From: Zero day

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: few clouds

5/29 Jenny Knob Shelter. 12.1 miles. I would like to suggest to the casual reader that you go to the Appalachian Trail Conservency web page and download the thru hikers companion for free and browse through it to see how many Brushy Mountains are on the AT. Go ahead, I'll wait. (insert Jeopardy music here) ok, so now you see that someone was not very creative when they named the mountains down here. I am pretty sure we are on our six or seventh Brushy Mountain so far and we get to go over it again tomorrow four more times! We hit the PO on our way out of town and forwarded some food and gear ahead for our next resupply and then got shuttled out to the trail head. The trail follows along for half a mile on a poorly marked road and returns to the woods for a quick climb up to Helveys Mill shelter. The next 6.7 miles are basically a ridge walk that we marched along on for 3.5 miles and then crossed over VA 611. 3.1 more miles to our camp tonight and we were done for the day. No remarkable trail to talk about but, we did see are 8th and 9th snake today!  No bears, but snakes are plentiful. At least nothing venomous yet!  Bed early and we are going to try for an early start tomorrow. Food at 6 miles out!
Date: 2010-05-29
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

May 29th Great trail today. We are in Troutdale (hiker pickup boxes can be sent here) at Jerry¢s Kitchen & Goods- 276-677-3010. Friendly town. Church hostel here also ¢ just down the road by the p.o. (Bri is emailing Bob & Joy Tina as I write this) I am putting this in the mail today.Thanks everyone for your encouraging notes.Thanks kids for updates and photos ¢ we are running out of signal!! Wish I could collect rocks for River!!Love to you all- Cabana Boy and Dutch Tape
Date: 2010-05-30
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Dismal Creek Falls
Miles today: 8.4

May 30We got up and out of camp by 7:30 without either of us getting a decent night's sleep . 5 1/2 miles later we were at Trent 's. Grocery and gas station.  I walked into the store and towards the wall of refrigerated drinks.  I was surprised to find cottage cheese to go with my can of pineapple chunks. I proceeded to order two eggs,Toast and bacon with fries. Am full again. CB engulfed 3/4 of a large pizza and is eyeing some candy and honey buns for dessert. We just found out that Virginias state plant is NOT poison ivy? Go figure. Later that day: we made it all of two miles farther to Dismal Creek Falls and set up our tent at 2:30 and went down to the water to soak our feet. Lots of locals around because of the holiday and the road is 100' from the falls so easy access. We bagged our eleventh snake today down by the river! Eventually, Peaches and Bam Bam showed up to camp with us. A really cute couple from Chicago who left about a week after we did and seem to share our philosophy of enjoying the trail and forgetting the miles. We also met Freeman and his new dog, Damascus tonight. He found Damascus wondering around Trail Days and asked the locals who owned him. Turned out he was a stray and so Freeman has now adopted him. A very sweet dog who is already very attached to him. We all sat around the campfire that Bam Bam built and enjoyed some small talk and hit the sack at the late hour of 10:30. At a little after midnight, the local partiers showed up and carried on all night.  Although we could barely hear them from our campsite farther up in the woods along the noisy creek, they kept the other awake down by the falls. CB & DT
Date: 2010-05-31
From: Dismal Creek Falls

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: haze

5/31Woods Hole Hostel. 12.0 miles. Up and out early is working in our favor because we can get 6-8 miles in before noon and not have to wear ourselves out after. We left the Falls around 7:15 and marched along the flattish trail to Wapiti Shelter. This is the replacement shelter to the one just down the trail where the couple was murdered back in the 80's. I didn't realize this when we were there having a break with a few other hikers. As we were leaving a couple and their son showed up and we exchanged pleasantries and left. A few hours later one of the guys we left behind caught us and told us their story. It turns out 2 years ago (and we both remembered this in the news) the guy who was convicted of the murders was paroled and disapearred for a few months. He showed up at Kimberling Creek , mile 601.5, where the road crossing is and shot two fisherman and took their truck and a big chase ensued. The guy died after crashing the truck during the chase but the two fisherman lived to tell their story. One of them was the guy walking into the shelter with his wife and son! Spooky. Anyhow, more ridge walking over Sugar Run Mtn. and of course showers started as we sat down for lunch but we managed to get to the hostel mostly dry and by 4:30 this afternoon. The place is beautiful with a log bunkhouse, log cabin main house with a brand new addition that the granddaughter of the founders has added and lots of new gardens and fruit trees. They are trying to go as organic and self sufficient as they can and purchase a lot of their food and goods from a local Amish farm. We had both dinner and breakfast here and are happy to recommend the place to everyone. It is a must visit for the AT. CB & DT
Date: 2010-06-01
From: Woods Hole Hostel

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: broken clouds

6/1 Pearisburg, VA. 10.4 miles. Woods Hole Hostel was a fantastic stop for us last night. Wendy, Nevil remembers you fondly and told us she tried to give you a trail name but you ended up with Shimmy instead. Thanks for the recomendation. We had an amazing beakfast at the hostel ans were dropped at the trailhead by 9:30 and started our way towards Pearisburg. A quick uphill climb put us back on the ridge and we passed the Docs Lnob Shelter. It is tucked in low between the Rhodedendrons and I am glad we decided on the hostel instead of here. The trail is pretty nondescript for a few miles and then you come to the powerlines and bam, the view from here is expensive. Seeing as it was noon and our hiker hunger has kicked in, we sat on the precipice of rock and enjoyed some lunch and the scenery. Freeman and his newly adopted dog, Damascus, stopped and joined us. As we finished up, several others from last night stopped and took a break. The trail follows the rodge for the next 5 or so miles but you are always in the trees with just glimpses of the valley below - a common theme in Virginia. As e started down the steep drop into town, the skies opened up and we enjoyed hiker trash shower on the way in. Our first stop in town was the DQ for icecream and milk shakes! We have our room decorated with dirty gear and caught a quick dinner across the street at the Mexican restaurant. Laundry is done and of course, hiker midnight is coming fast. One thong of note is that CB's backpack has failed in the last few days- the waist belt stitching is coming undone at an alarming rate and so tonight, I called REI and ordered a new on to be delivered in 10 days to Troutville, VA. I just hope I can keep this one going that long! It is amazing how fast this stuff breaks down on the trail. To date we have had to replace: our sporks, rain gear, my backpack, one pair of underwear, our stove and one bent treking pole. We also have cobbled together DT's leaking platypus bladder. That's all for today. PS : we are here tomorrow (Wed. the 2nd) and the phone is working if you want to call us!CB & DT
Date: 2010-06-02
From: Pearisburg, VA

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

6/2 Pearisburg, VA. Zero day!A nice day off today that included a bunch of boxes at the PO. We replaced our raingear with the Packa, this was the nest move ever. Check it out on their website. We also got a package of goodies from Shimmy GA>ME 09 and stuffed ourselves with half of it's contents before we got back to the motel. Thanks Shimmy! A little resupply at the Rite Aid, Food City and Dollar store and a really nice dinner at The Bank and Food restaurant with Too Late and Too Soon. Not your typical hiker fare here either, usually a little out of thru hiker price range but we were happy to have a real meal out on the trail. Out of town tomorrow!CB & DT
Date: 2010-06-03
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Symms Gap Meadow
Miles today: 12.9

6/3 Symms Gap Meadow. 12.9 miles. We left town at 9:00 and hiked for several miles along the highway and then through some big chemical plant land. It is the noisiest and least attractive section of trail yet. Around noon we broke free of the ugliness and climbed to Rice Field shelter arriving at 3:00 to some friendly deer hanging around. We sign the register a took a few photos of the Bambi wantabe and moved on to our camp site. We pulled on at 7:00 expecting a few others to be here but they all moved on because of the lack of water. I worked a little magic down in the dry stream and managed to find a good flow and so here we are. Pee Wee showed up at 8:30 just as we were being buzzed by three fighter planes. LOUD fighter planes flying a hundred feet overhead. Lots of bunnies bouncing around up here at 3400 feet and we passed a box turtle 100 feet down the trail. Our snake count remains at 11 but the reptiles keep showing up.....DT & CB