morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-06-08
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: nowhere
Miles today: 0.0

Ended up doing a near triple zero. A lot of hikers are injured and a lot of hikers are aqua blazing to Harpers Ferry (canoe). I'm sticking to the AT but hanging around Waynesboro enjoying the town, relaxing, and hanging out with other hikers. I hear the largest hiker bubble is in the Shenandoahs right now which I have almost caught up to. But I'm enjoying the thinly spread out line of thru hiker traffic. Town stops are a good waypoint to meet up with those near you. Don't think I'll see any of those aqua blazing ahead though. But who knows, we've all got a long way to go!
Date: 2014-06-10
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Well I've been in Waynesboro for too long. Woke up this morning and took a shower at the YMCA to discover I had a tick latched to my belly button. Been playing with too many dogs and bring lazy in town not checking myself. Time to pack up and find a shuttle back to the trail! Woooooo update: upon making it to the hwy/road crossing to get to Waynesboro, there's a posted list of trail angels who offer to go out of their way to help AT hikers get to wherever they need to get to. I tried calling a random number looking for a ride back to the trail head and Mystery Lady stepped right up to help me out. Thanks Mystery Lady! Squeezed in 4 other thru hikers that I was camped with too. I wasn't going to go very far for my first day out inter Shenandoahs. Trying not to get a heat stroke.., plus hiking through the SNP takes some planning just like the Smokies. Supposedly there's going to be rain and thunderstorms starting at 4pm so I was at my destination by 1:30pm planning on sleeping really early and getting up at like 2am to night hike n weather not at 90degrees.was in my tent by 5pm
Date: 2014-06-12
From: Loft Mtn. Campground

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: light rain

Really foggy morning. Having a hard time deciding what my destination will be since there's less options out here in the SNP if you don't want to pay money. Short 15 mile day it is!It stayed foggy nearly all day. This morning I couldn't see 6ft in front of me but I already knew exactly where I was going - the Loft Mtn Wayside for breakfast. Didn't open until 9am so I started charging my phone when Little Foot came strolling up. I have not seen him since Damascus but right now he's yellow blazing through until he gets off the trail in 2 days (I forget why).He told me about what experiencing the storm from last night was like from a hammock. I can only imagine because I woke up today to find quite a few trees toppled over! I think the only reason my tent held up was because my body weight kept it down . Little Foot was getting shoved around in the wind and the tarp he hung over himself wasn't effective at protecting him from the exposure in these kind of winds. All of his stuff got soaked except whatever was in a dry bag. He ended up going to a nearby campground bathroom and sleeping under the sink. Of course he took advantage of slapping on the hand dryers from below but the thunderstorm took out the power at some point. This was admittedly his worst night of the AT experience... And he's not friends with the dark. Around 4am people started to stumble into the bathroom and hear an unapologetic voice coming from the floor explaining how there's no running water or electricity. Yeah, he was ready for a hot meal. We stayed for 2 hours letting our phones completely charge. He worked on yoging a ride and I made it to my halfway point of the day in no time. Spent another 2 hours here sharing stories. Most of the people here were sectioners. I should have left 20 minutes sooner though because 1 mile before my final destination of the day involved copious amounts of rain coming down without warning. The kind of rain that starts a flash flood. Had just enough time to put my phone in a ziplock bag before I got soaked. That felt amazing since I've been sweating hard all day. This rain was as good as any shower which meant my poncho wasn't going to do much good besides serve as a pack cover. Within minutes the trail turned into a flowing stream. Other places filled with 3 inches of water. Fla I switched to trail runners since my boots would have gotten soaked anyway and they take forever to dry. I saw someone's tracks in the mud quickly vanishing under the heavy rain. They turned out to be Racewalker's who was just a couple minutes in front of me. We were the center attraction when we got to the Hightop Hut area as the only thru hikers and the only ones who would be hiking this late into the day. Thus we were the only soaked hikers who came walking up to the shelter as everyone gawked at us from dryness.
Date: 2014-06-13
From: Hightop Hut

To: Lewis Mtn Campground
Miles today: 11.6

I forget why but I decided to make today another "short day". To make planning simpler, I decided not to try and shoot for finding a stealth camp unless it was a last convenient resort. The water situation meant springs and creeks are spread far apart. Simplest method is to just shoot for shelters which will dictate your mileage for the day. That usually means 8-16 miles or 22-30 miles. Today I was the first one up but since my aim was only 13 miles away and I've been hiking at a 3mph pace for these SNP trails, I took a long break once I got to a highway crossing. Used this as an opportunity to dry my shoes in the sun where it's hotter on black pavement. Dove right into a book and relaxed for 2 hours until my shoes dried out.Racewalker eventually came through and was upset about still not seeing any bears. He spotted bear footprints from the cubs I saw first thing in the morning sprinting off from the trail. I've been seeing at least 2 bears a day just in the SNP alone whereas he hasn't seen a single one ever since starting in Georgia.I eventually got a move on with distant storm clouds rumbling towards me made itself clear that it was slowly heading my way. The trail followed the outskirts of the storm cloud the rest of the day until it caught up with me near the Lewis Mtn Campground. I meant to only stop by here to do some laundry and grab some supplies before continuing just a couple miles more to a shelter site. Than it was brought to my attention that a tent cabin here was only $30 total and Racewalker was looking to split it with other thrus. Meh, why not! And the rain came down while I got comfortable.
Date: 2014-06-15
From: Byrds Nest #3 Hut

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: few clouds

Between the mice crunching loudly on plastic trash and another hiker's snoring I never got into a deep sleep. That's okay, that doesn't stop me from getting a good hike in! I did 12 miles before 11am to get to the next wayside for lunch. Ended up staying there longer than I expected getting Q&A'd by curious tourists or bikers. More thru hikers came through and we were all in great spirits with the mellow hiking trails and good weather. People left us alone as we hysterically laughed for 3 hours together. We all eventually found the trail again with only a few more hours of daylight left.That made it easier for me to decide today won't be a hike mileage one. We all shot for the same camping area where a local photography student eventually strolled up and asked to take individual pictures of all the thru hikers for a project. She gave us apples - sold.
Date: 2014-06-17
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 5.2

Not an exciting day. Voodoo and I knocked out in front of the tv last night. We needed it after coming out of the SNP. Neither one of us ever got a good nights sleep through that whole section. The park was beautiful though. The woods were particularly appealing, there were lots of bears, the thunderstorms hit hard (I like thunder), and general good times were had. But it's time to move on after our little retreat from a retreat. We both want to do the 4 state challenge to conquer Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania in one day. Unfortunately tomorrow is supposed to be 100 degrees! Oh well today I needed to get a few things done before hitting the trail again. I remembered seeing a sprint store yesterday when Molasses drove us around town for a quick tour. Voodoo was still knocked out while I was naturally awake and up by 7am. Might as well grab some breakfast and resupply while waiting for the sprint store to open to see if they can help me out. It didn't surprise me to find 2 extremely bored employees at sprint. Their job basically comes down to sitting around with nothing to do. Netflix and books will only last so long before it gets tiring. Not a whole lot of people pass through this store so I got their full undivided attention. But all I needed was a computer they can hook my phone up to and click restore on iTunes. It takes a couple hours so I left my phone under their careful supervision as I finished some errands and checked out of the hotel. By the time I got back they informed me that restoring my phone was the only thing they did all morning so far. Such a difficult task of plugging in a phone and ignoring it for 2 hours but I was thankful and bought them soda. I hung around and entertained them while taking advantage of their internet to redownload/reset my phone the way I had it. One of them was obviously in severe wanderlust and wanted to go do some big stuff. The other shot down all of his aspirations by suggesting "or you can just stay inside and not die." A few people would stroll in occasionally while fat jokes were being made. Horrified looks would be exchanged but the sprint employee would reassure everyone that he was well aware he is fat and it's okay to point that out. I was laughing in the corner the whole time. At some point I caught a hitchhike back to the trail absentmindedly leaving Voodoo behind to look for a ride by herself... Not cool in hindsight but she wasn't upset. We're both solo hikers. It worked out because Nora V's friend in town spotted a girl thru hiker in need (Voodoo) and came to the rescue hooking her up with a ride. All is good in the neighborhood.
Date: 2014-06-18
From: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

To: Red Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 18.4

I forgot to mention. Guess who were hanging out at the shelter last night? The Mountain Slothes. Left Field interrogated me about leaving Voodoo behind. I suppose I was slightly guilt tripped about that but Voodoo showed up nonetheless around 9pm jangling into camp because she came across bears and didn't want to have anymore of that. I meant to catch up on more sleep but this was most likely the last time we'd all be together again because the Slothes are basically done hiking and are just getting to Harper's Ferry so they can start biking their way to California using the ADT. These guys truly live like travelers at the mercy of riding positive vibes and living adventure to its fullest. When I first starte the trail, everyone I ran into that was broke but trying to hike the AT were typically not people I became fond of. But the Slothes are the kind of people I'm glad exist. I was happy for them and we stayed up longer than I should have but I didn't mind. It's part of the trail experience.I had set my alarm for 5am since today is the hot one. Yet Voodoo and I ended up slothing around with everybody until 8:30. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the hiking I did today. I mean Sky Meadows State Park felt like it was well over 100 degrees by the time I passed through and for a minute I thought I was going to have to give CPR to a very large man in a bulldozer. But that turned out to be non eventful and I was thankful for that. Onward and forward!
Date: 2014-06-21
From: Stoneybrook Farm

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Zero day.But about last night... I slept on the porch of the Blackburn AT center thinking it would be awesome. It's almost like being outside but protecting from the bugs by a screen . You could hear all the sounds of the woods and wake up to the sunrise. Unfortunately an older couple rolled out their sleeping bags next to the corner where Firewalker, Voodoo, and I were laying. That's fine but the older guy was a chainsaw snorer. Why do snorers like to disperse themselves amongst the non snorers? My ear plugs were stashed inside my tent which was buried in my pack. Whatever, I've done this hundreds of times, I'll still get some sleep. At some point I wake up to the sound of what seemed like the most ridiculous bag of potato chips in existence and wondered why this man next to us would open one up like that in the middle of the night. I didn't even open my eyes and just focused on falling back asleep. When I awoke again I thought it was what sounded like the man going for the world wide record of slapping the noisiest chip bag against a wall repeatedly. I look over and realize the man had ditched his sleeping bag for a space blanket and he was deeply snoring with half the blanket flapping in the wind.This time it took me an hour of listening to his snores and his space blanket before falling asleep again. Someone else further down the huge porch was breathing demonically as well. We are considering the prospect of starting the 4 state challenge tomorrow too. Oh well.I got up at 5am to enjoy the sunrise while making breakfast outside but the gnats quickly ruined that. Voodoo arose like she was possessed but we shared a mutual understanding of what sleep has been like for us the past 2 weeks. She grabbed her tent and moved to the yard to try and catch at least 1 good hour of beauty sleep.i should have done the same because I ended up procrastinating with Firewalker on the porch until noon. It was only an easy 12 mile hike today to Harper's so we slothed around the entire day even while hiking. I believe there's now a bunch of boy scouts out there that think we belong in a mental institution.
Date: 2014-06-23
From: Stoneybrook Farm

To: stealth camp - Shenandoah River
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Sometime after breakfast we were given a ride back to town by Nantan (known as Skillet when he hiked the AT). We were taken to the storefront market first since a member wanted to give us sandwiches for the road. While I was there I grabbed a kombucha drink and the member at the register wouldn't charge me. They are never done giving which sucks because I felt uncomfortable about how much hospitality these people gave. Everything I got out of this farm greatly overshadows how much work I put in. And the work was fun! You got to be outside all day with your friends doing farm work which btw is a nice change up from walking everyday for a 1000 miles.RodnReal was dropped off at the ATC but Voodoo and I took up Nantan's offer for Walmart. He was heading that way anyway because some supplies were needed to finish up the rest of the hiker cabins they were building. When we got dropped off at the ATC I discovered over a hundred hikers had signed in since my first arrival 3 days ago. Got my picture taken and took my place as hiker #751. I don't remember what number I was starting at from Springer Mtn but it was obvious some of the hikers in the book have skipped large portions of the trail. To each his own I guess. After procrastinating for far too long, Voodoo and I realized we need to get a move on and find a place to sleep. We were waking up at 3am to take on the 4 state challenge so we headed towards the outfitter for an early dinner before pitching our tents somewhere. Along the way we chased stray chickens and wandered into a wine store. Managed to yogi some wine from a bored employee who gave us wine tastings in exchange for story time. He was particularly interested in our stay at the cult farm. From there we hopped over to a tavern where we had dinner and a beer bucket. We intended to stealth camp near the VA/WV border so we could start the challenge first thing in the morning but alcohol kind of impairs your judgement. We ended up running into Banjo, Kat, and Daytripper and they enticed us to camp with them next to the Shenandoah River. No regrets. It was a sweet spot even though it adds considerable mileage to our already massive day ahead of us.
Date: 2014-06-27
From: Birch Run Shelter

To: Alec Kennedy Shelter
Miles today: 25.2
Weather: light rain

Passed the official AT midpoint first thing in the morning. Crushed the half gallon ice cream challenge.I'll update my resume later. Uhh, I'd write more but I mailed home my journal before I remembered there's a few days I didn't update on trail journals. Oh well.
Date: 2014-06-28
From: Alec Kennedy Shelter

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: broken clouds

Slept in a little bit again. Tried to catch up a bit on journaling since I've been falling behind the past few days. Updating trail journals online is basically not doable on a consistent basis anyways. Since it was just a 4 mile hike to boiling springs and just 14 more miles to the next shelter, I was in no rush today. Passing through Pennsylvania farmland most of the day was really neat and there were a few times I considered stopping just to write a little bit about what was going through my head. It's not the same writing at the end of the day right before sleeping. During the day I tend to get these feelings that I can only describe as getting high off life. Looking out at the scenery around me while hiking by myself and reflecting on some of the experiences I've had over the past 3 months was quite amazing. Doubled that feeling with the understanding that I'm only halfway through and there's so much more to take in! I laughed at the official halfway point. But this afternoon it sunk in. Looking back at some pictures would have amplified that experience. Can't imagine what it would be like to reunite with everyone I shared a moment with on the trail... There has been a lot of moments and so many different people at different times in different places. Sad that only some of them are still hiking on and I'm not even sure when I'd see them again on the trail if ever.Boiling Springs, PA was a particularly pretty town that provided a place for me to step off the trail for a bit. When the trail goes directly through a town, it still doesn't feel like its part of the Appalachian Trail because there's so many people walking around, there's more women, people smell nice (or of chemicals which is weird), and there's cars everywhere. Crossing streets can feel a little awkward after a few months in the woods as well. Towns are places where you play a pretend game of civilization.I forgot where I was going with this journal entry but I'm tired and it's completely dark out. I have my mosquito head net on and need to take a glance at what's in store for me tomorrow. This will do, goodnight!
Date: 2014-06-29
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 14.3

I got to Duncannon around noon but there was a detour right after the Road Hog BBQ place. Didn't really check the map so I continued through High St all the way to the River Front campground bypassing the downtown area with all the venues on main st. The campground was most likely going to be my destination for the night so when I realized I went too far and missed the town, I decided to check it out while I was there. Nope, it'll be the Doyle Hotel for me. 5 bucks to camp here when I could just go into the woods. The bathroom was just like a privy if not worse. I saw a thru hiker here, Terry who I had camped next to last night, his face said it all. He wanted to get out of this town. Kinda grimy especially compared to Boiling Springs which we had just hiked through the other day. While I was on this side of town I crossed over the river to see what was around. Found The Cabin - a strip club right on the AT... I'm sure a lot of interesting stories were started there. Turned around and backtracked 1-2 miles back towards the downtown area I missed where The Doyle was. I kept hearing from other hikers how dirty that place was. When a hiker tells you a place is dirty, that means that place is really DIRTY. With expectations set at an all time low I gotta say the place is a good place to stop. $25 for a bed, a community bathroom, a bar downstairs, and 1 night at a rundown 100+ year old building. I actually liked it and would recommend it to any thru hiker. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone else though. After shooting a few rounds of pool and catching up with bunch of people I haven't seen since Virginia, I caught a free shuttle to the grocery store to get a resupply.More pool was played before hitting the laundromat. Then some talk occurred about hitting the strip club. A lot of mystery and allure had been built up about it since there have been stories of previous thru hikers who stopped in and wouldn't tell what happened as if it was night in Vegas. I needed sleep even though BYOB strip clubs in small towns like this one sounded like a quite an adventure. Good luck fellas.
Date: 2014-06-30
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Peters Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Rise and shine! Didn't sleep that well because it was hot and I was on top of a strange sleeping apparatus. Good enough. Loitered around town waiting for the Doyle to open so I can buy some alcohol (the kind I burn in my stove to cook with) so I got a lot of journaling done for once! It was a little tedious with just 1 bar of 3G service but it is what it is. The flies also are really bad. It's not just The Doyle, seems like the whole town is infested. It got even worse on the trail. There's no rest from it. Flies while you do laundry. Flies while you're on the toilet. Flies in your food. Flies while you walk. Flies WHILE YOU TRY TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR DAY IN PEACE!!!!!!!I'm done. Screw this. Getting inside my tent and squishing anything that follows.
Date: 2014-07-01
From: Peters Mountain Shelter

To: Stealth camped south of PA 72
Miles today: 22.7

Slept right next to another heavy snorer. Not the worst snorer but this guy seems to body slam his inflatable sleeping pad every time he turns over. He's not an obese person but he's got some weight with athletic ability to produce a concussive force simply by flipping over in his sleep. I knew I was in for it before the heavy snoring began though. There was preliminary snoring in which it became clear this man runs in his sleep. By run, I mean abruptly twitch and thrash. Voodoo may have slept next to a possessed child but I slept next to a safety hazard.Most of today's hiking was done while zoned out. Auto piloted my way through the woods until I hit Clark's Creek where a man by the name of Webcatcher was serving up trail magic. I had almost forgotten such a thing existed so I was happy to take a seat and enjoy the man's deviled eggs.I shot through the next portion with that energy boost and eventually sweated myself into a stupor. It wasn't worth pushing 30miles in this heat and humidity with a chance of thunderstorms coming in. Flies are still wreaking havoc too as if my head is the Death Star and every fly is trying to kamikaze its way into my eyes or ears like they're pretending to be Luke Skywalker.