morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-06-13
From: Rockfish Gap

To: stealth camp
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

I was picked up by a shuttle driver at 11am to return to the trail. Since I'm not going to take a zero here, I want to stay in my comfy room till the last possible minute. The shuttle driver took me back to rockfish Gap a different way than the driver the day before. I was hoping to go through town again- I heard there was a big hiker feed going on- and I had not made up my mind not to go. But we drove on the highway and bypassed town so the decision was made for me and I didn't have to wring my hands anymore. No charge for the shuttle. Waynesboro has to be the most hiker friendly town I've been in, and they have all been great.I stopped at the self registration box at the entrance of SNP and got my back country permit. These are my old stomping grounds! As a teenager I lived in Culpeper VA for a couple of years and often came up into these mountains to party and hang out. I was excited to see them again. As I started walking, it occurred to me that the trail was not...easy. It was easier- for sure- but still strenuous. I saw lots of wildlife on the hike today. Rabbits, birds of all kinds, and crazily aggressive deer. I had a stern talk with one deer who walked up to about 5 feet away of me. I told her that if there is some kind of apocalypse, humans would definitely eat her, even though she was in a state park. I advised her to be more wary of us two legged devils. She was not impressed and moved off in her own time.The trail weaved through the woods, it felt like deep forest, very lush and green. Every now and then, it crossed Skyline Drive where overlooks to no view at all were located. The best views and overlooks will be further north, up by Big Meadows. I came to a water source and looked at the book. 12 miles until the next source. That's a long way. I made my pack heavy with water because I wouldn't see it again until the next day. It was approaching dark and I couldn't find a campsite. Finally, I saw some flat spots in the woods and scouted around until I found a spot for the tent. I tried for 30 minutes to hang my bear bag in the usual comical and nearly deadly fashion I cannot seen to improve, and by the time I got he rope up, it was dark. I decided to eat cheese for dinner instead of cooking. I hung my bag and got into my tent. Large things walked about all night and I tried to guess what they were. But I didn't get out to look.I am lonely and have not seen any hikers in 3 days of hiking. Where the heck is everybody?D.No and C.Shell are resting in Waynesboro. Hopefully I'll see them again.
Date: 2015-06-15
From: ranger station- stealth camp

To: Big Meadows Campground
Miles today: 26.9
Weather: light rain

Full disclosure: I'm ahead 26.9 miles, but I only hiked 18 something.I got up early and packed out. The ranger told me to vacate my illegal site by 8am when the employees started showing up for work. I really needed to be at Big Meadows today, 25 miles ahead, to get on a more do-able daily mileage schedule for Harpers Ferry. I realized that the 18.5 miles per day required was demoralizing me. I hiked out and boy was it hot. I celebrated for a moment at the 900 mile marker. A milestone that feels good. I am almost halfway there. I stopped at Hightop Hut about 6 miles in to eat breakfast. I saw the Choirboys there! They are the guys who took pictures of me and Katwalk at Springer. We all were low energy and agreed that the Shennies are pretty boring. I don't know why they are, the woods are pretty, the terrain is smoother than usual. What's missing though are hikers. Many have gone off to Aqua blaze and many have left the trail. Some are in DC. When I got to the road 10 miles into my hike, I attempted to hitchhike quite spontaneously. I stood for about 20 minutes and did not get a ride so I hiked on. This was an unexpected crack in my armor. I continued to hike and sweat and generally feel like I would rather be doing almost anything else. I knew I didn't have the energy to reach my goal today. When I got to Lewis Mountain Campground, I had hiked 18 miles and hit the wall. I bought a beer and a sandwich at the camp store and was pondering a tent site and a shower. I was munching on my sandwich and charging my phone on the bench outside and thinking about how many miles I had to do to make it to HF on time when Dubose Egelston, the shuttle driver from Waynesbore, pulled up to drop hikers off. He is a funny guy- he tells all hikers that they stink and look ugly, but, he says- the women look a little better than the men. I asked if he could shuttle me to Big Meadows, 7 miles north. He said he would so I hopped in and yellow blazed for the first time. When I got dropped off at the wayside, I ate a Caesar salad. A hiker named ghost, doing her shakedown hike, chatted with me and dropped me at the lodge. I stepped out of her car and someone called my name. It was Phu, a hiker I met for 5 minutes at the bottom of a mountain almost a month ago. He and a trail angel named Puddles were sharing a campsite and they invited me to join them. After I set up, we went to the lodge and ate and talked and it was wonderful. They gave me a lot of encouragement and convinced me to stop beating myself up for the 7 miles. I am in a much better position to reach Harpers Ferry without the stress now, so I'm going to accept that I needed the one mile per day reprieve. Phu is recovering from a nasty spider bite. Puddles is just amazing, a hiker who understands what hikers need and gives it before we even form the thought. I am going to the Gala for Big Big World Project in DC on Sept.19. I have to come back here and pick up my 7 miles at that time, and I'm inviting all of my DC area friends to come hike that section with me. Dinner at the lodge- my treat!
Date: 2015-06-16
From: Big Meadows Campground

To: Skyland
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up early and went to take a shower and do laundry. The plan was to try to get out earlyish. I said goodbye to Puddle and Phu, and I am so grateful to them for helping get my head back in the right place. My stomach was feeling a little off so I decided to walk up to the lodge and eat some breakfast. To say the restaurant was slow is generous. Over 2 hours later I finally came out. A huge black storm system had moved over us and the wind was blowing. My stomach was really bothering me now and I kept ducking into the ladies room. I decided to hang out until the storm passed. I chatted with Phu, had some soup with him at lunchtime, and stomach was getting worse as the day went on, but it never rained so I finally hiked out. I felt great- knees and feet doing well. I was happy to be hiking and I think I'm getting my mojo back. There were some absolutely gorgeous views- the mountains framing the valley towns and houses, beautiful clouds, and it was just stunning. The trail went through a random interesting rocky area that reminded me of a moon walk on Mars. Without going into any detail, I will just say that the stomach situation was going from bad to worse. I was stopping every few minutes to run into the woods. Otherwise I feel good. No nausea or any other symptoms that might indicate giardia. I passed the skyland stables and all of the horses were there gathered around a feeding trough. They were big and beautiful. I took the short path to skyland restaurant thinking I could eat something to settle my stomach. While I ate, a bear started walking around outside. Everyone rushed to the windows to take pictures. The bear was not afraid of anyone and scattered groups of tourists as he just plundered through our human zone. People were getting very close to take pictures and that made me a little nervous - a little bear/human gladiator action could have been my dining entertainment. But instead, I got cloggers. A group of women performed clogging dances for an appreciative audience. My stomach was not improving and I did not relish the idea of getting out of my tent all night long, so I decided to get a room. It was a tiny little room in a cabin but had a private bathroom for which I was very grateful. I am meeting my brother on Thursday and he is going to hike a couple of days with me. Today puts me behind schedule but I'll do my best to make up some miles tomorrow. Don't know what is going on with my stomach, but my head is definitely in a much better place than it has been lately! Hike on!
Date: 2015-06-17
From: Skyland

To: stealth camp close to jeremys Run Trail
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up in my tiny little room and packed out. I went to the restaurant and had a really good breakfast. I wanted to head out early but it was drizzling so I downloaded a book and sipped coffee and talked to hikers. I finally headed out around noon. I leap frogged wih Detox all day. The day was cloudy- foggy- drizzly. There were no views at the overlooks except for mountains lost in the clouds and fog. I thought those views were quite beautiful. I feel great today. My feet and knees feel good. My stomach is still a little iffy, but not as bad as yesteday. I am really looking forward to meeting my brother tomorrow! We are going to hike for a couple of days. He is bringing me a mango because my sis in law remembers that I love them. Yay! I love mangos!The trail was both smooth and also very rocky in places. It was pretty easy though, no surprises. I found a stealth spot and ate cold tonight because of the rain. Hung my bag and now I'm in my tent listening to the rain fall. A few minutes ago something large was sniffing around. It knocked over my water bottle which I had placed about 20 feet from my tent because I got summer sausage grease on it. It started raining hard and whatever it was, It's gone now.
Date: 2015-06-19
From: Front Royal Hostel

To: Manassas Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: broken clouds

Steve and I had breakfast at the hotel and I procrastinated mightily, thinking it might rain, but we finally got on our way back to the hostel we ended our hike yesterday at. Thanks Tom and Meg for the awesome rooms!! Steve left his car at the hostel and we hiked out-starting with the .5 uphill side trail back to the AT. We had some pretty nice rock scrambles right off the bat and Steve enjoyed the challenge. He lead for most of the day and kept a respectable pace, considering this was his first day with a full pack. And the pack was on the heavy side, between 30-34 pounds. It was fun to chat and hike, and it was a really pleasant day for me. We had lots of diverse terrain- deep woods, rocky, pine needle carpet and smooth, meadows, wood walkways to cross boggy areas. We saw a couple of deer and lots of pretty flowers. I was looking for a red bird all day so I could take a picture for a friend, and I finally did see one at the end of the day but couldn't get a picture. Leda- I thought of you and your mom when I saw it.Steve and I ate subs that were pre-packaged at Food Lion for lunch. They were so gross! weird meat-like deli turkey and roast beef. I may never eat a sub again.When we got to Jim and Molly Dentin Shelter, we took a shoes off break. It was a great shelter. It had a porch with Adirondack chairs, a solar shower, separate eating and cooking covered area- wow. It was tempting to stay. Sashay, the hiker that gave us duct tape to fix Steve's flopping sole on his shoe yesterday, gifted Steve with his trail name: Lost Sole. Steve made his first shelter journal entry and I enjoyed all of the commentary about Aqua blazing. I posted a picture of my favorite comment here in pictures. We hiked on! We crossed some railroad tracks and then the trail went on the final up for the day. Nearly 1000 foot gain over 2 miles. Right as we started the climb, a drenching downpour began. Steve stopped to put his poncho on and stuck his arm through the neck hole. Ha ha! That was funny! He hiked the whole two miles like that and gave me a rude finger gesture when I took a picture of him. I'll treasure that shot. We passed a rock wall that I believe is civil war era. By the time we made it to camp, Steve was finally tired. With that side trail, he had a 15 mile day. That's a solid day, especially if it is your first day with a pack. I hereby name Steve a HICKER!
Date: 2015-06-20
From: Manassas Gap Shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 19.8

Not much rain during the night. Lost Sole and I walked over to the shelter and cooked breakfast. I made a very gooey oatmeal- everything tastes suspiciously like foot powder to me- but Lost Sole didn't complain. He said he slept ok, but after some conversation we realized that he didn't blow up his air mattress. He thought it was just a pad. Poor guy! It made me think back to the first weeks of my hike, when I was a hapless hiker, learning everything the hard way. Is there any other way to learn? You can research and read all you want, but ultimately the trail is your teacher. And the trail hands out Fs sometimes.Lost Sole hiked with me for only a couple of miles, then it was time to say goodbye. I am so lucky to have a great family behind me. Steve really put the wind back into my sails. I hiked on and came to the sign indicating that the infamous "Roller Coaster" was about to begin. The roller coaster is a stretch of the AT that goes up and down relentlessly for over 13 miles. So my first thought was- how is that any different than the rest of the trail? The elevationProfile didn't look bad. I wasn't scared. After about 5 miles of the Roller Coaster, I was tired. Dog tired. It is not the elevation gain and loss that does it, it is the relentless of it. Actually, it is just like a real roller coaster, but not fun. And you won't need a fast pass, no one in waiting in line to do it. It did make me want to throw up though. I wanted to do 23 miles today so I could hit the thousand mile mark and coast in the last 20 to Harpers Ferry by 6pm the next day. My husband was meeting me there for a few days. So excited to see him! About 17 miles in, and about 8 into the Roller Coaster, that big tropical storm moved in. The wind picked up, the rain came down in buckets and the Lightning cracked all around me. I was disappointed because I knew I would not make my goal today. I got to the shelter at mile 999.9, the nice folks in the shelter were willing to squeeze to make room for me, but the rain stopped for a few minutes and I decided to take advantage of the reprieve to set up my tent. As soon as it was up the rain came again, even harder and with more intimidating lightning. It's sheer dumb luck that this has not happened before, but somehow the perfect flat spot I set my tent up on was a drainage area that led to the creek. Water gushed under my tent, between the tyveck and the tent floor. It was like I was sitting on a waterbed. I spread my poncho out on the floor of the tent and took a video of the situation and posted it on my FB page so my friends could see what a badass I am, and maybe feel sorry for me too. My tent is a champ. It kept me dry and don't leak. Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 2- you are my rock steady most favorite piece of equipment. I might live in you forever. Tomorrow- 23 and Harpers Ferry to spend a few days wih the love of my life!
Date: 2015-06-21
To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I slept very well considering the rain that continued all night long. My tent and tarp and pack and boots and everything in between was pretty wet from hiking in the rain yesterday for a couple of hours, but I was motivated and excited for Harpers Ferry and also the 1000 mile mark only a tenth of a mile away! I made some grits with beef jerky and ate some kit Kat bars to power up. We reached the rocks that formed the number 1000 within a few minutes and took turns taking pictures of each other. What a great start to the day! It was sunny, a beautiful day for Fathers Day and Hike Naked Day. I did not participate in this special tradition because I didn't want to scar any eyes for life, and I didn't actually see any naked hikers. I did see plenty of underwear hikers, a way to hedge but still feel a naughty thrill I guess. This section of the trail is very close to several popular trailheads so I passed lots of day hikers. They smell so good. Like laundry sheets and shampoo. I wanted to tackle one and hold them down and sniff them. So sweet. I, on the other hand, smell like my daughters shinguards from when she used to play soccer.I had about a third of the Roller Coaster still left to tackle and I had run out of lunch type food. I hiked well for several hours but eventually started hitting that no fuel wall. In addition, the trail was slick with mud and the rocks were still wet and slippery. I took it slow but still had a nasty fall on a rooty area. I hit the bone on the side of my forearm and also my hip on rocks and it hurt. The trail was especially rocky and it was, I guess , Virginias last snicker at the very good joke that Virginia is easy.I bumped into Tumbles and Scout today. I have seen their cheery shelter journal entries for months and I was really happy to meet them. Lots of my friends who follow my journal have told me they like that journal as well. I was surprised to learn that they were so young, and also brother and sister. They are redheads too, making them perfect in my eyes! It is so much fun to meet people you are aware of through journaling.It was getting towards 5pm and my husband was going to in Harpers Ferry by 6 or so. I still had about 11 or 12 miles to go, but I didn't want to miss any time with Mark. I luckily got Mrs.Trailboss to shuttle me to town. On the way, she stopped to rescue a gigantic and ferocious snapping turtle from the road. That turtle snapped so fast and with so much power- it was intense! I have never been afraid of a turtle before!Mark is going to slack pack the last few miles into town with me and we are going to enjoy 2 and a half lovely days at a B&B. I'm going to bathe every day and eat good food. I'm about halfway to Maine. I can't believe I have walked this far. It is surreal.
Date: 2015-06-23
From: Harpers Ferry

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Harpers Ferry has been wonderful. Light Horse Inn was incredibly comfortable, romantic, and the breakfasts alone were worth the cost of the room. We had massages too, which was interesting because apparently I have lots of knots all over my back. I felt like an overcooked noodle after the massage. Harpers Ferry is a very interesting and authentic historic town that values and promotes its unique history. We really enjoyed walking around and exploring. I bought a new pair of boots that are low cut like trail runners, but they are considered boots. I said goodbye to my Salomans. They have 1023 miles on them and were a tremendous asset to my hike. They saved me from so many sprained ankles! My new pair are Oboz, and the thru hiker that sold them to me swears by his pair.Last night in town was a blast! Our friends Barb and Earl were on their way home from a camping trip in NY, and when they found out we were here they drove over on their way home to have dinner with us. We went to a farm to table restaurant called the Canal House and I had them best dinner I have had on this trail. Check it out of you are in Harpers Ferry. It was a fun night and I felt so lucky to have people I love share a part of this journey with me. I hit the trail again today and I have to admit- it is daunting to think of the challenges ahead. But I am also excited to move on. Ill miss my husband- my rock- my number one support guy- but this 3 months will fly like the last three did. In one week, I'll be at my brothers house in PA and I'll spend a couple of days with my youngest daughter. She is flying up to see me. So I have that to look forward to then it's balls to the wall. Katadhin.
Date: 2015-06-24
From: Harpers Ferry

To: crampton Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Bittersweet goodbye today. I didn't see Mark for 3 months and it will be 3 months before I see him again. It was hard to hike away from him and I walked backwards like a cheeseball and waved at him until he was out of sight. He has never expressed anything other than enthusiasm and confidence in me about this hike. He is taking care of our 14 year old, helping with financial stuff at my shop and dealing with his own life too. He never makes me feel selfish for doing this and he never indulges my negativity when I'm in a bad place. I'm here, still hiking, because of him.Good news! Virginia is finally easy! Because I'm in Maryland now. Virginia is FINALLY FINISHED!! Maryland has been very pleasant so far. I didn't hike out until after 2 so I only got in about 11 miles, but it was a very flat and gentle 11 miles. I was walking in my new Oboz and I had a signal so I was texting while I was walking. I twisted my ankle on a rock and went down with all of my weight on my knee and it bled impressively. Day hikers stared at my bloody leg and I enjoyed the attention and odd looks. The path paralleled the B&O canal, a perfect name for a canal that has a lot of thru hikers walk near it. The river was on the right of the trail and the canal on the left. Lots of tubers were in the river, enjoying floating on a river that looked fast and swollen. It was the Potomac and Shenandoah combined and it was massive.Eventually the trail went back into the woods. There were some rocky spots and some uphill grade, but it was mostly smooth and easy. About 6 miles in, I stopped at the Ed Garvey shelter. I ate some snickers and drank some water and chatted with a few section and thru hikers. This shelter was the one where a guy was killed by a blowdown or branch that fell in a storm earlier this year. So sad. And sobering.I kept going to the next shelter and passed a really nice park that had an interesting mausoleum. They guy that wanted to be buried there had it built 20 years before his death. He ended up dying and being buried in PA. The mausoleum stands empty as a reminder that life is uncertain but death is not.At the next shelter, I found a great tent site and chatted with Tumbles, Scout, Boston, and a MD ridge runner.he hiked that AT last year and gave us lots of good info. I'm snug in my tent and Mark brought my sleeping bag back so I am very comfy. I miss him but I'm heading north!