morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-13
From: Damascus (tent - Trail Days)

To: Damascus (tent - Trail Days)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Started at: Damascus Ended at: Damascus (tent - Trail Days)Miles:0Today was a day of reunions. We bummed around all morning at the Sidetrack as gradually our friends started to show up. Most of the people we hiked out of Damascus with showed up today - Flora and Fauna, Patrick (the Sole Brother), Tinder, Camel, Burn, and best of all... Lekiless! It is soooo great to be here with the people we've been missing. And then later this afternoon our roommate, Doug, made it in. How weird but super wonderful to see someone from home, from our real lives, who knows us as Arwen and Heather and not the Camera Crew.Doug was an eagle scout, and accordingly came prepared. He pulled up in a silver mustang, takes his shades off, and grabs a cooler out of the trunk. How'd he get that thing on the plane?! Well an empty cooler's no good so we set about to getting it filled. We threw back some cold ones at Tent City, then headed over to the Mill to listen to some live music. Our favorite Virginia band is playing there all weekend - Virginia Ground. Yep, these are the guys we heard our first time through Damascus at that bonfire.What fun!!...we needed a little fun.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-14
From: Damascus (tent - Trail Days)

To: Damascus (tent - Trail Days)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Started at: Damascus Ended at: Damascus (tent - Trail Days)Miles: 0Great day. Started of by getting Arwen's foot situation taken care of. He got custom-made foot inserts called Superfeet that should keep his arches from collapsing. We also got him a new pair of shoes that's shaped for his poor little duck feet. Hopefully this'll do the trick. While Arwen was busy doing that, Doug and I enjoyed a big ol' breakfast put on by the firemen. Mmmm good. We spent most of the day meandering through town, enjoying the Creeper Trail, and checking out the vendors (and the food!) at the fair.No night in Damascus would be complete without hearing Virginia Ground. We headed back to the Mill for their show. Just can't get enough of those guys.Then we headed back to Tent City, raided the cooler, drank a few cold ones, and enjoyed the bonfire before heading off to our sleeping bags. Haven't had so much fun in ages.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-15
From: Damascus (tent - Trail Days)

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Starting at: DamascusEnding at: DamascusMiles: 0Wow. What a great day. We got our puppy back! At least for the weekend. Arwen's fantastic uncle and aunt, John and Pat, drove up from Asheville with his cousins Julie and EJ to reuinte us with Sasha. She seemed so happy to see us!They arrived just in time for the Hiker Parade. All the past AT hikers as well as aspiring 2000-milers like us line up in a big parade through the main street in town. All the townspeople and onlookers come armed with water balloons and supersoakers to douse the hikers. This year we hikers fought back the best we could with squirt guns from the dollar store. One group had a water balloon catapult with surprising power. It hurdled water balloons hundreds of feet in the air! Even the fire department got in on the action, drivng one of their trucks in the parade and hosing us down! Good thing it was so hot out today, I don't think anyone minded. The best part was when WolfCookie snuck up behind some unexpecting locals with a high-powered car wash sprayer!Unfortunately, Uncle John, Aunt Pat Julie and EJ couldn't stick around too long. But they did stay long enough for a walk around the fair and to share a funnel cake. Yum, funnel cake.Not long after they took off, Heather's sister arrived from a 10 hour drive from New Jersey. She brought down her pup, Hallie, a jack russel terrier who will be Sasha's roommate for the next 3 months. O man it was great to see my sister. We are so close sometimes I forget she's a seperate person. Really, I don't think I could get down the trail if I didn't feel that she's somehow always with me.Well once again we headed down to the Mill for entertanment. It was pourng down rain, so Virginia Ground was playing indoors on a bigger stage with a better sound system. Jen insisted we shake our booties, and it caught on like wildfire. Before long, the whole crowd was dancing. It felt great to be wearing cotton clothes (borrowed from sis) and dancing in a bar jut being happy like normal people. This time off the trail has been so good for us, I think.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-16
From: Damascus

To: Daleville (hotel)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Starting at: DamascusEnding at: Daleville (hotel)Last day of Trail Days. Hung around town with Jen, Doug, Lekiless and Tinder mostly. Saw Takoma Tedd and Spur's slideshow and music performance in honor of Earl Schaffer, the first person to complete a thru-hike of the AT in *I think* 1947. He hiked it again 50 years later, and both Takoma Tedd and Spur knew him then. He passed away recently but left behind a large collection of poetry he wrote, mostly about the beauty of nature and the AT.We also saw the hiker talent show this afternoon. There were many talened musicians, a comedian from Texas, two guys who performed a skit, and our favorite - Dragonfly - the one man circus, who can balance a chair on his chin, juggle pins, balls, even apples - and take a bite out of them!Sadly, all the carnival vendors had packed up their booths before we could get one last funnel cake. Don't those people know hikers got to eat??!And then we saw an AT documentary called "2000 Miles to Maine." It was filmed in 2002 and primarily followed one guy on his journey. It was really exciting to see this guy get further along on the trail than we are now. Especially when he got to within 100 miles of Katahdin. Suddenly we could all picture ourselves right there, so close. It was a great way to end Trail Days. Up to this point TD has just been about relaxing, having fun, and getting away from the trail. This documentary reminded us what it's all about, and what we're here to do.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-17
From: Damascus

To: The Priest Shelter
Miles today: 4.6
Weather: light rain

Starting at: DamascusEnding at: The Priest ShelterMiles: 4.6Back on the trail again. It actually feels good to be back "at home" in the woods. But at the same time, after 5 days off we both feel somewhat out of sorts. It'll probably take us a few days to get back into the routine. We certainly didn't intend to do <5 miles today. But by the time we got back to the trailhead in Montebello, it was already 3. We were just going to take a rest at this shelter, but then a big rainstorm blew in. That was that. Arwen's not feeling well tonight - a bit under the weather. He's taking it easy in his sleeping bag, and I'm cooking dinner tonight (usually that's his chore). Hope I can keep it from burning on the bottom of the pan. It was a little tough saying goodbye to my sister and Sasha this afternoon. I hate goodbyes. But this evening at the shelter we met someone new, "Just John" and his dog Casey, a border collie. Nice to be around a sweet doggie again.Tomorrow hopefully we'll get back with the program and put some good miles in.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-18
From: The Priest Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: broken clouds

Started at: The Priest ShelterEnded at: Maupin Field ShelterMiles: 13.6Well a good day of hiking. The new super feet and shoes felt great. My feet are like new...yeah! We ran into Dave and Miranda at lunch today and hiked with them for a while. Also, LWOP and Pez came walking up as we were leaving Harper Creek Shelter. We had a tough climb over Three Ridges, but we were just grateful to make it to the shelter before a torrential downpour started. About half an hour later, a very soggy LWOP and Pez walked up. And then a few others sloshed in after that. We felt so bad for them!Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-19
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Waynesboro (Scuba's house)
Miles today: 21.1

Started at: Maupin Field ShelterEnded at: Waynesboro (Scuba's house)Miles: 21.1Big miles today, but with a big reward. It rained on us - hard - this afternoon on our way here. We got to the only gas station around, which was closed, and the dang payphone doesn't work. But a nice guy in a pickup truck hauled us up to the hotel on the top of the ridge, where we successfully reached Scuba. Scuba, hanging out at home for a weeklong break, was kind enough to let us interrupt dinner at his grandparents' to come pick us up. Scuba spoiled us! He fed us sandwhiches and soda, took us to walmart, and gave us a place to take a shower and crash. Tomorrrow he volunteered to run us to the post office and outfitter before dropping us at the trailhead. What a guy!Scuba lives in a beautiful home that belonged to his grandparents. It's good to visit with him and his girlfriend, Tina. Tomorrow we'll be meeting up with Xena and Bloody Cactus at her house to enjoy hanging out with them and doing some slackpacking!Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-20
From: Waynesboro (Scuba's house)

To: Blackrock Gap (Xena's house)
Miles today: 19.5

Started at: Waynesboro (Scuba's house)Ended at: Blackrock Gap (Xena's house)Miles: 19.5Nice slackpack today with Dave and Miranda. Crossed paths with Mr. and Mrs. Hensley (Winston and Carol - Xena's parents) on a dayhike. They are in the process of thruhiking the Shenandoas. Well we were told that the Shenandos are "flat." And as usual we're finding that they're not. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty easy, the trail is very well maintained. But the sucker ain't flat. Trust us. We're from Houston. We know flat.In any case, we didn't finish up till late cuz we got a late start out of Waynesboro. Our stack of packages at the Waynesboro PO was almost as tall as me! We got cookies from my grandma, fudge from my mom & Stephen, and a new complimentary replcement hip belt from Dana Designs. Thanks everyone for the care packages!When we finally got to the Hensleys, we were happily reunited with 80% of our March 1st crew. Xena and Bloody Cactus, of course. But the big surprise was Lekiless. He's 87 miles behind us on the trail, but caught some kind of stomach bug - not giardia, but had the same effect. Xena came to his rescue and gave him a place to stay. We didn't have much time before we had to hit the sack, but we did get to look at Xena's pictures from Trail Days. There were some great ones in there. Hope we can get our photos developed soon. I've got 5 of 'em in my pack right now!Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-21
From: Blackrock Gap (Xena's house)

To: Ivy Creek Overlook (Xena's house)
Miles today: 12.1

Started at: Blackrock Gap (Xena's house)Ended at: Ivy Creek Overlook (Xena's house)Miles: 12.1A short day of slackpacking is almost as good as a zero. Better actually, because you still get your miles in. Xena and Bloody slackpacked with us today, which was nice. We got home good and early, in time to hit the grocery store and cook dinner for the Hensleys. Miranda volunteered some of her secret family Italian recipes. We had stuffed shells with homemade sauce (yum!), caeser salad, broccoli, garlic bread, and two pies Dave made for dessert. After dinner we got to watch a movie. Wow, can't remember the last time we did that. Tomorrow we'll do one more slackpack, and then it's back to the real world.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-22
From: Ivy Creek Overlook (Xena's house)

To: Swift Run Gap (Xena's house)
Miles today: 13.2

Started at: Ivy Creek Overlook (Xena's house)Ended at: Swift Run Gap (Xena's house)Miles: 13.2Today w as painful. Not the actual hiking. Just the getting up and going. It took all our combined strength to resist pulling a zero and hanging out watching movies all day. It definitely helped to start the day with a Hensely homecooked breakfast. The past two days we've been ridiculously spoiled with a wide array of breakfast foods and beverage. Coffee *and* orange juice? I mean really, we're going to be unfit for the trail.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-23
From: Swift Run Gap (Xena's house)

To: Franklin Cliffs
Miles today: 18.9

Started at: Swift Run Gap (Xena's house)Ended at: Franklin CliffsMiles: 18.9 Long day. Late start. Hiking in the dark. *&%$ post office didn't open till 11 this morning. Geezus! Don't these people know we have to hike?! Couldn't quite make it to the shelter. Too tired to cook dinner. The view from here should be nice in the morning, if we don't get busted in the night for sleeping next to a road. Zzzzz.....Sorry, we will make the journal entries more interesting once we catch up!Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-24
From: Franklin Cliffs

To: Pass Mountain Hut 
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Started at: Franklin CliffsEnded at: Pass Mountain Hut Miles: 16.9Oh yeah, we were too tired to write about this yesterday, but we actually saw a black bear! It was nice to finally see one. It crossed the trail about fifty feet in front of Miranda, who was out in front. It went about forty feet, stopped, and turned around to look and sniff at us. I think it was a relatively young bear...but probably as big as me. It just hung out for a good five minutes. We stuck around and got lots of pictures - until it started walking back to the trail and then toward us. We decided it was time to go.Today we saw three more bears throughout the day. Two very small baby cubs darted across the trail just in front of me. My first thought was "how cute" and a split second later I thought "crap, were's MAMA!!" We stood there for a few minutes looking around but never saw her, so we kept going. The last bear was a little skittish and took off before we could get a good look at it. Wow, we had never seen a black bear before this...it really made our week.We stopped for lunch today at one of these Shenandoah tourist resturants called waysides. Wow these cotton people know how to eat. We shared two appetizers, entres, salads, chips, and a backberry sundae! Wicked Lobsta (another thruhiker) came in and came over to eat with us. We thought he was way ahead of us. He did the aqua blaze (50 mile canoe trip following the trail) and is now hiking the part of the trail he missed. He had many tales of sunny days, clear warm water, camping on islands, and bonfires. We'll have to come back sometime for that trip. WL is a fun guy, hope we see him up the trail. Good day...Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-25
From: Pass Mountain Hut 

To: Hogwallow Spring (tent)
Miles today: 16.5

Started at: Pass Mtn HutEnded at: Hogwallow Spring (tent)Miles: 16.5Today we stopped at another Shenandoah wayside - Elkwallow. We were shocked and appalled to see the prices they're charging the poor, unsuspecting tourists. At $4.50 per hot dog, we elected to purchase an entire pack of 8 hot dogs and buns for $5. We were so proud of ourselves we took a photo.So we've had some requests to share with you some of the more mundane details of our daily life that we take for granted. You may recall the entry so many weeks ago in which we pledged to try to impart only thoughts of great significance and beauty. Well we ran out of those in about 2 days as I'm sure you could tell. So now I guess we're going in the complete opposite directon. CookingEquipment: fuel tank, palm-sized screw-on stove, one pot, one lid, two lexan spoons (no forks), one palm-sized pocket knife w/ scissors, a red bandana, a lighter, and something called a pot cozy, which I'll explain later. All of these items except the pot cozy get rolled up just so in the red bandana and placed in the pot for storage. The lid goes on top and then it's stored in the the pot cozy with a rubber band around it.So this afternoon to prepare our hotdogs we got out our mess kit, measured some filtered water into our purple nalgene (a hard plastic bottle that's tuff enough to pour boiling water into), and poured the water into our pot. We balanced the pot on the stove (it's a bit pecarious and easily tipped), screwed our stove onto the fuel canister, opened the valve, and lit the flame. Once the water boiled we added the hot dogs, turned off the flame and put the pan into the pot cozy.The pot cozy is made of silver insulation material and silver tape. We made it ourselves during our stay in Asheville. Arwen says it has a high "R" value, which keeps in the heat. When we put a pot of boiling water in it, it effectively simmers the food. This way we can cook our food and save our fuel. If we were eating soup or noodles, we'd both be huddled over this one pot, spoons in hand. It's a tight squeeze with two people eating out of the same pot, but we make it work by taking turns with our spoons. When we're done cooking we wash dishes (or dish, I guess) without soap or sponge - just water and a finger. Surprisingly effective.And that's that. Dinner on the trail.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-26
From: Hogwallow Spring (tent)

To: Jim & Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Started at: Hogwallow SpringEnded at: Jim & Molly Denton ShelterMiles: 15.2Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to hike 10 miles into town, hitch a ride to the PO, make sense of the stacks of packages awaiting you, grab some lunch, wash your laundry, take a wet-ones "shower" in the laundrmat bathroom, hit the outfitter for some much needed supplies, hitch back to the trail, and hike another 5 miles in the pouring rain to the next shelter.MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-27
From: Jim & Molly Denton Shelter

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: broken clouds

Started at: Jim & Molly Denton ShelterEnded at: Rod Hollow ShelterMiles: 18.9Absolutely nothing happened on this day. We hiked. We ate. Seriously. Nothing to see here folks, let's move it along.Are you still here? No seriously, you're starting to piss me off. Please move to the next freakin page already.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-28
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Blackburn AT Center (hostel)
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Started at: Rod Hollow ShelterEnded at: Blackburn AT Center (hostel)Miles: 17.8We hostel hopped today. Hit Bear's Den by lunch, where we enjoyed pizza, ice cream, showers, and laundry. Crazy but true, we already stunk again. This is a cool place, a mansion built out of rock in the 20's. And now it's a place for weary hikers to come and get recharged. We ended the night at Blackburn AT Center, a log cabin turned estate sitting atop high terraces, from which you can see the DC monuments on a clear day. Not that we could tell, it being pitch dark and all. The caretaker welcomed us in though, and although we had missed dinner, he served us dessert. He lit candles on the picinic tables and brought out the brownies on a platter: chocolate chip sour cream brownies with powdered sugar and a cherry on top. Heaven!Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-29
From: Blackburn AT Center (hostel)

To: Harper's Ferry (tent)
Miles today: 12.6

Started at: Blackburn AT CenterEnded at: Harper's Ferry (tent)Miles: 12.6Got up this morning to do a little gardening in exchange for pancakes! The caretaker needed some weeding done, so all the hikers formed a line and picked through the periwinkle beds for an hour or so. He was offering pancakes and a day of slackpacking into Harpers Ferry to anyone who helped. We took part in the pancakes but opted out of the slackpacking because we were planning on tenting just outside of Harpers Ferry (so we would not have been able to pick up our slackpacked gear). We met Fannypack as we started the hike. He hiked the trail in 96 and has hiked the PCT as well. He looks exactly like LWOP; they could definitely be brothers. Anyway, he was nice to chat with as we walked, which made the day pass by very quickly. So we get a few miles outside of HF and realize that the campsite we were looking for did not exist. In fact there was realy no place at all to camp. Fannypack told us he had a car and wouldn't mind driving us around a bit to take care of errands in HF!! Sounds good to me. So we ate a big pizza dinner and drove around for a while trying to find a place to stay. It's Memorial day weekend so everything is booked. At the outfitter we ran into Eats who told us to contact a trail angel in town named Bluemoon. We did and he set us up tenting in one of his neighbor's backyard. Of course they asked us do some gardening work first. No seriously, we spent a while hauling mulch and spreading it around in exchange for our stay. We're just happy to have found a place to set our tent up. And Ken and Isabelle are so gracious, even letting us use the house bathroom and phone. Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net
Date: 2004-05-30
From: Harper's Ferry (tent)

To: Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Started at: Harper's FerryEnded at: Harper's FerryMiles: 0Today was a good day, filled with lots of fun stuff. We enjoyed chatting with Ken and Isabelle over and coffee and donuts this morning. Then we headed over to the ATC office, the home of the Appalachian Trail Conference. There were 5 packages waiting for us! All kinds of unbelievable goodies from friends all over. Thanks to Kelly and Lee Ann, Bushwhack and Bramble, and Josefa. We are spoiled for sure now. Also, a special thanks to our friends at Artseed, who wrote us amazing and beautiful letters and storyboards that made us laugh, cry, and think. We hope we get to meet all of you some day.While at the ATC we had our picture taken for this year's photo album. It was wonderful pouring through the album, seeing all the photos of other hikers who made it here before us. Some people we've been reading in shelter registers for months, without having met them. Xena and Bloody Cactus drove up today and met us at the ATC. We bummed around town all day, checking out this incredibly scenic, historical town. They came with us to the outfitters, where we contemplated swapping out our packs and tents for lighter models. But when it came down to it, we couldn't cough up the dough. Can't help but think of Grandma Gatewood, one of the first thruhikers, who did it with a duffel bag, a shower curtain, and a pair of keds. Surely we can get by on what we've got.Tonight we get to enjoy hot baths in the last room in the Hilltop House, an historic hotel that's seen better days I'm afraid. Tomorrow it's back to walking.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net