morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-05-01
From: (40) Crawfish Valley

To: (41) Trail Philosophy
Miles today: 0.0

I have officially been hiking the AT for one month now. In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago since I started, and in others it has gone by at a rapid pace. When I first left for Georgia and the approach trail on March 31st, I was certain that one of the toughest challenges I would face would be the culture shock and loss of familiarity. But after a month of hiking, I can assuredly report that I have not experienced homesickness. This may come as a wonder to some, so allow me to explain. Everything out here is both real and engaging. There is always something to occupy me, and the things that I do are the kind of fun that isn¢t faked, and when I lay down to sleep at night I do not hold within me the feeling that the day was wasted, and when I wake the next morning I never regret that I am not still asleep. The people I have met during the past 572 miles have been excellent. We are often the family for each other that we are missing, and our home is where we make it. I do not feel that this phenomenon is exclusive; it can be found in all walks of life. What I do believe is that the rustic lifestyle adopted out here makes the point more obvious. For me, life in the woods does not trump societal; it is merely a unique way of living that causes the truths of life to stand out. What I like best about the trail so far has been the challenge. From doing big days, to trying to stay dry in a storm, I love anything that tests me. At the rate I am going, I shall be done sometime in August, which is fast. My speed comes at a cost though, as I leave many good friends behind. But this is the way of the trail. All friendships are formed with the expectation that they will someday end, and I meet new people every day. Besides, I can always slow down, but as long as I am on the smooth terrain of Virginia I might as well go big and give myself some breathing room.
Date: 2011-05-01
From: (41) Trail Philosophy

To: (42) Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 26.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Helm, Green Hat and I awoke early again and headed out. When we were passing through a field we noticed that all of the cows were heading towards their barn, and a minute later it started raining. It rained for most of the morning, stopping occasionally to trick us into taking off our rain gear before starting up again. Helm claims that this happens because the trail does not want us to finish. He says that the trail is prestigious and that whenever somebody finishes, the trail¢s prestige is hurt, so it tries to keep us from our goal. ¢Screw you trail!¢I had a splendid lunch: Ramon noodles, but they did not supply my hungry body with sufficient nutrients, and I was soon hitting a wall. I grabbed my spoon, ate some peanut butter, and started feeling much better. Normally I¢d have high calorie snacks to eat while I hike (a 280 calorie snickers bar will turn a hard mountain into a stroll through the park), but because the Exxon at Atkins was so overpriced I did not buy any. My food supply was dwindling, and I needed to find a grocery store soon.In the afternoon my cell phone surprised me by getting service on a high ridgeline, and I got to call my parents and grandparents before losing bars again. It was ironic that I had the opportunity to do this on the same day as my one month trail-anniversary.We ended at a shelter after 26.6 miles of rain, humidity, and steep climbs. There were several older male hikers there who were very friendly and invited me to have the last space in the shelter beside a guy named Mofo. Green Hat never arrived, but I am sure we will see him tomorrow. At any rate, I expect to get a sound rest tonight.
Date: 2011-05-05
From: (45) Pearisburg, VA

To: (46) Baily Gap Shelter
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: clear sky

I spent the night sleeping by the furnace and feeding it logs to keep myself and the other hikers warm. The next morning Helm and I were the first ones up, and it was a good thing too because we were able to catch a ride with a woman named Little Engine back to the trailhead. We shouldered our heavy packs. As it turned out, Helm had gone as nuts in Wal-Mart as I had, and his food bag weighed as much as the rest of his pack combined (maybe 17lbs?). Helm¢s feet were still sore from the 50 miler, but he seemed to being doing better in his new kickers. My own bruised feet were killing me, crushed under the weight of all my food. We stopped to snack at every shelter we passed, determined to eat down our pack weight. As always I read and signed the shelter logbooks, and in one of them saw that both Green Hat and Bud were ahead, but that we would not catch them for a day or two because of the time we lost in town. It felt strange to look in the book and see people we knew ahead of us. While hiking out of our second shelter stop, the tip of one of my Leki poles broke off. I will have to call Leki sometime about getting a replacement sent. The pole was still usable though so I continued with it, but it tended to skid off of rocks and took some getting used to. (My poles are like extensions of my arms, a wonderful improvement. Now if I can only find a way to remove my legs and replace them with wheels¢¦) Helm and I reached Baily Gap Shelter at 5, a total of 23.2 miles. We shared it with Glad Gal and Clutch, who were happy to see us again. After settling in, Helm checked his schedule and learned that he was still a day ahead, and would have to slow down even more. We had hiked our last day together. I was sad. All good things must come to an end, but that doesn¢t mean we want them to.
Date: 2011-05-06
From: (46) Baily Gap Shelter

To: (47) Looking Back
Miles today: 0.0

I packed up and said goodbye to Helm this morning. He was still in his bag resting since he had a small day planned, but poked his face out of the opening for one last picture of the two of us together. ¢Have a good life man.¢¢You too.¢Helm and I first met briefly in the Smoky Mountains shelters, where I learned from him how he had ended up hiking the AT. A suit working for a financial firm in New York, Helm realized that he could no longer take his job and left. In two weeks, he lined up a 500+ mile section hike of the trail, followed up by his girlfriend¢s graduation, a summer job teaching sailing, going overseas to teach English in China, and lastly plans on returning to school to become a teacher. All that in two weeks! At the time I thought that Helm was crazy, but now I realize that he did what few others have the courage to do: start over. He has braved the unknown in the pursuit of finding a better life for himself, and I am confident that he will succeed wherever he goes. I will miss Helm. I hiked alone after the Smokies for several days, and remember writing in my journal outside of Hot Springs that it is funny how one can be completely surrounded by people, yet still feel alone. The next evening I ran into Helm again, and we would go on to hike the next 18 days together, the longest I have hiked with anyone. Helm was by far my best friend on the trail, and I hope he has a terrific summer.         I had walked less than a minute before turning to take one last look at the shelter, but the woods had already swallowed it up. Behind me was only the trail, identical in appearance to my front. I had experienced this before, but this time it felt different. I knew what it held; I had been there before. It was like I was hiking a timeline. Behind me the trail was the past, full of memories and friends. What lied ahead was unknown, at least until I hiked into it. It was my future. Sometimes it is tempting to stop on this line, to rest in the woods and let the past catch up, or to never reach my destination. But I can¢t. I have my promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. That in mind, I plunged ahead.
Date: 2011-05-08
From: (48) Campbell Shelter

To: (49) Somewhere past Carry Creek
Miles today: 25.0

I woke up this morning to a torrential downpour. Remembering my mother¢s words as a child that I would get sick if I played in the rain, I rolled over and went back to sleep. (You know, for my health and all¢¦)After a late start I ran into Bud again, and together we hiked into Troutdale. Bud is hiking big days to meet a friend of his in Lexington, so I expect to hike with him until then.Once in Troutdale, I headed straight for the Waffle House. Having been robbed of my pancake breakfast in Damascus thanks to that storm, I was way over due and ready to make up for it. Upon entering the Waffle House, I was given several dirty looks (more than usual anyway), and after a long wait that included the serving of people who had entered after me, I was approached by a waitress who asked, ¢So are you going to order something?¢ I was taken aback. Why else would I be there? She had only come up to me after I had taken out my cell phone, and looking back I realize that I must have struck her as homeless and penniless. I personally feel that my nature and the gear that I carry makes it pretty obvious that I am not (plus the trail being nearby, duh), but I can¢t expect everyone to recognize these clues or distinguish me as something other than destitute. And I suppose my scraggly beard and dirty clothes don¢t help (the beard being the source of all my strength must not be cut), oh and let us not forget how god awful I smell. But it is interesting how this same appearance on the trail gives me the identity of a thru hiker. People see an especially dirty individual with too much facial hair and they know exactly what you are doing. I have been in the woods for an unimaginable amount of time, and that has earned me respect on the trail. At times it has even made me a bit of a celebrity amongst tourists and day hikers! (¢You¢re going all the way to Maine?!? Wow¢¦¢ ¢Ask him, he¢ll know¢¦¢ ¢50 miles? What the hell were you thinking?!?¢). But in contemporary society these cues are often lost, and well, I just look scruffy!After Waffle House I headed back to the trail, and on my way passed a sign for Interstate 81 (goes by my home in Maryland). It was comforting to know that if I wanted to I could thumb it and be home in time for supper (and the new American Idol, not that I watch that crap¢¦).I hiked to the next shelter on the trail, but alas, it did not have a water source. I had gone all day without water, minus a coke I had at Waffle House, and was really thirsty. Therefore my hike had to continue, so I force marched myself down the trail until I hit a creek, where I set up my 8x6 sil nylon tarp and made a nice little camp. (I set it up perfectly this time, a fire truck could have hosed it down and I would have stayed dry. And you know those ¢splash zone¢ seats they have at Sea World? Bone dry, it was that good!) An hour later Bud joined me. He had seen two bear cubs on the trail and showed me the picture he took as proof. I was very impressed.
Date: 2011-05-09
From: (49) Somewhere past Carry Creek

To: (50) Cornelius Shelter
Miles today: 25.3
Weather: broken clouds

My alarm, deep inside my sleeping bag, did not wake me up, so Bud and I had another late start at 7am. It was a warm and pleasant day, with a cool breeze on all the ridgelines that was just what we needed after climbing up to them.Around 1pm Bud and I came across some much needed trail magic: two coolers full of soda, strawberries, and bananas. We ate the much needed fruit while sitting on a log in the sunlight and then greedily chugged the tasty soda (after days of water, the soda was like eating a rainbow or something). Our hike continued and the day grew hotter, but we soon came to a large creek with a swimming hole and a few other hikers resting by it. Bud and I jumped in to cool ourselves off and wash away the thousands of spider webs we had walked through that morning. Then we sat on the sunny shoreline eating food and relaxing. I felt fat afterwards, but don¢t tell anyone.The rest of our hike was the same old stuff: trees and mountains. When we stopped at the second to last shelter of the day to get water we learned from a guy named Moses II (Moses I was somewhere behind) that the last 5 miles to the next shelter were all uphill, and that the day after would also be very hilly. I did not believe him about the 5 miles uphill, but was soon corrected. I hiked upwards (losing Bud) for an hour and a half. How the mountain kept going up was beyond me, and I kept expecting to reach the top and find something resembling an Everest base camp (That or eventually hitting my head off of an airplane, or bumping into the glass dome ceiling of the sky). But when I did reach the climatic top, it was only to go back down the other side, and I reached the shelter just before nightfall. At the shelter was Wild Rain and Haiku, among others. I recognized both of their name¢s from the shelter log books I had been reading, and it was neat to have faces to go with the entries. The two of them stood out against the others because Haiku would write a new haiku for every day, and Wild Rain always wrote an inspirational speech to urge everyone on. (I often read ahead in the log books to see who I will be meeting that day, it¢s a blast. I had been seeing Haiku and Wild Rain¢s names for days before catching them!).Bud arrived a while later and we enjoyed a night by Haiku¢s fire, a nice end to a rough 25.3 mile day.
Date: 2011-05-10
From: (50) Cornelius Shelter

To: (51) Punch Bowl Shelter
Miles today: 30.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Today Bud and I climbed to the top of ¢Apple Orchard¢, which was the highest point of elevation we will face on the AT until New Hampshire (it¢s all downhill from here, right?). While hiking I thought about whether it was feasible to hitch a ride clear back to Damascus for Trail Days, a large hiker celebration that weekend with gear venders, activities, a parade, and I didn¢t even know what else! Many of the people who I had hiked with in the past said that they would try and make it to Trail Days as well, so more than anything I wanted to go and see how my friends were fairing. Hopefully many would still be in it, as filthy as possible and still fighting the good fight.Because of how far out I was on the trail from Damascus, I concluded that getting a hitch was unlikely. Instead I came up with another and more fun option: texting my brother Kyle Downs in Maryland (not nearly as far) and asking if he was up for a road trip. I did and he was, so I had my ride! I looked at my book and determined that Waynesboro VA would be the best place for my Kyle Downs to find me, the only downside being I would have to pull some strenuous days to get there early that Friday. No prob. (Oh and before I forget, yes I always call Kyle Downs by his full name). Anyhow, Bud and I hiked all day and saw many fantastic views, met other hikers during our breaks, and even crossed over a wide river by bridge. It was a long day, and when we walked into Punchbowl Shelter that evening we had gone 30.4 miles, some 13 hours of hiking. (I would like to emphasize that we ¢walked¢ into camp, not stumbled, limped, or crawled).We shared the shelter with Spoon, Downhill, Tiger Lilly, Fuzzy Navel, and a guy with a strange dog that kept sneaking off to sit in the water. They made a huge fire while Bud and I were putting our stuff in the shelter, and then they sat around the fire playing guitar and singing songs into the night (¢Oh, Susquehanna!¢ by Defiance Ohio was my favorite acoustic), turning what would have been the end of another hard day into an especially memorable one.
Date: 2011-05-11
From: (51) Punch Bowl Shelter

To: (52) Seeley Woodworth Shelter
Miles today: 24.36
Weather: clear sky

Another early start, as is my routine now. The morning held some light rain, but it passed quickly. At the first shelter I came to I stopped and ate the last of my food, cold instant mashed potatoes, and then I hiked the remaining miles to a road to hitch into the town of Buena Vista. Bud caught up to me shortly after, and together we sat and waited. We did not have much luck finding a ride. The state was doing construction on the road and was using a pace car to guide traffic, so of course nobody wanted to stop for us and risk missing their chance to escape the hold-up. We watched gobs of vehicles whiz by, and it got to the point where Bud became desperate and started yelling ¢Please, Please, PLEASE!¢ at a passing pickup, but it did not slow. Then, 15 minutes later, the pace car came back along with the pickup! There was a Hispanic family inside, whom Bud must have really guilt tripped, because not only had they turned around to pick us up, but they had also waited in line again to get through the construction.The ride to Buena Vista in the back of that pickup was one I¢ll never forget. The road was all downhill with lots of turns, and the driver was one of those ¢I¢m in a race car¢ types, with a foot made of lead and hugging every turn. Getting blasted by the wind, and bracing the sides of the truck for dear life, I could not stop smiling. It was like riding a roller coaster!I resupplied in town at a Bp, and bought just enough food to get me to Waynesboro (traveling light for big miles). Bud found a ride going to Lexington where he was meeting his friend, and so the two of us shook hands and parted ways. ¢See you down the trail.¢ Walking out of town, I put up my thumb and was picked up almost simultaneously by an SUV driven by a guy who worked for the National Park Service and was more than happy to go several miles out of his way to drop me off. I must have really powerful thumbs.The rest of my hike was pretty brutal. My body was hitting a wall from so many huge days, but I still had a few more ahead before I could allow myself to burn out. I arrived at the shelter an hour before hiker¢s midnight (darkness at 9pm, if you didn¢t know already), a total of 24.3 miles on a town day.
Date: 2011-05-13
From: (53) Paul Wolfe Shelter

To: (54) Trail Days 1
Miles today: 5.0

I was woken up at the crack of dawn by an older man with a weak bladder who nearly stepped on my head in his quest to go pee. I packed up and headed out, and when I passed the ¢river¢ from the night before I saw that it was actually a shallow creek, and that a three year old could have made it across. I am no longer proud of myself.I made short work of the remaining 5 miles to the road crossing at Rockfish Gap, only stopping once to wash my socks in a stream and then hanging them off my pack to dry while I hiked. At the road, I was joined by 5 other hikers who were trying to hitch into Waynesboro as well, and together we waited. A woman who had been a PCT thru hiker pulled over in her SUV and said she would take all 6 of us. The other hikers were a group, and they offered me shot gun while they sat on each other¢s laps in the back. (The running joke during the ride was, ¢Sit on my lap, we¢ll talk about the first thing that pops up.¢)The lady dropped us off at a diner called ¢Weasies¢ that offered a hiker¢s special of all you can eat pancakes, and we all went in for breakfast. It was a good time, and after eating I still had a few hours before my brother would arrive, so I went to the library and typed up a trail journal, and then I went to Kroger¢s Groceries for a resupply.I arrived at pizza Hut on time, and found Kyle Downs inside. He looked up at me as I sat down.¢Your face has hair¢¢Yeah¢¦¢We ate and caught up, then jumped into his car and drove to Damascus. When we arrived it was raining pretty hard, so we parked and played games on Kyle Downs¢s Kindle. By the time it stopped all the vendors had closed shop, so we went to the designated ¢tent city¢ to set up camp. Tent city was unlike anything I had ever witnessed. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to would be a Great Depression Shanty Town (think Hooverville, but happy and in color). It started as a large field filled with row after row of tents, a pattern that overflowed into the woods where it continued for an unfathomable distance in either direction. Kyle Downs and I chose a camping spot in the woods, after a good 2 hours of exploring the intricate network of paths and camping districts that surrounded us (If I had to guess, maybe 600 tents?). I received countless compliments on my trash bag poncho while we walked, mostly from attractive females.That night the entire city became one giant party. Kyle Downs and I walked around to all of the districts, each one offering their own entertainment, such as a large bonfire with a limbo stick line going around it, drummers playing music, people juggling fire, dancing, and more. I hardly knew what to make out of all of it, but it was wild.
Date: 2011-05-14
From: (54) Trail Days 1

To: (55) Trail Days 2
Miles today: 0.0

When Kyle Downs and I got up the next morning it was raining, so we sat around looking at the list of activities for Trail Days, and I circled all of the stuff I wanted to do. The first thing we did when the rain stopped (after navigating around the mud pit that tent city had become) was go to the Leki gear repair tent and had them fix both of my poles for free. The lady I had handed them to could not believe how much I had worn the tips down. After Leki, we walked around some more and ended up at an outfitter where I bought the AWOL guidebook for the AT (my hiker¢s companion was ok, but the AWOL graphs elevation and lists more water sources in its pages), and then we ended up at the park where all of the vendors were set up. There I bought a new light; a petzl headlamp that weighed less than an once and produced 45 hours of battery life on its lowest setting. Content, Kyle Downs and I sat down to rest, and the Trail Days Parade started up. The parade contained gobs of past thru hiker classes, and as they walked by the crowd threw water balloons and sprayed them with hoses as a joke because hikers always stink and need a shower!After the parade we visited a couple of other events, including a movie about hiking the PCT by Team Bad Wizard. It followed a pocket of thru hikers the entire length of the trail, and was hilarious! The PCT looks like a different world than the AT, stretching from the Mexican border to the Canadian. I might have to add it to my list.Throughout the course of the day, I was able to run into some of my old hiking buddies, and dozens of acquaintances, including: Trump, Cactus, Mofo, Bubbles, Origami, Sam I Am, and more, all of whom were still hiking and were able to tell me the whereabouts of some of my other friends. I was pleased to learn that so many were doing well, and that some will likely catch back up to me when I take my zeros at home in Maryland (after the 4-state challenge of course).That night the tent city festivities picked up again, and every clearing in the woods held a bonfire and crowds of people, but Kyle Downs and I were tired so we did not walk around for long. We played a text adventure on the kindle back at our tent until getting killed, and then went to bed.It felt strange to be back in Damascus. The last time I had been there was after the 50, and under very different circumstances. It had rained the entire Trail Days, but I was glad to have come.