morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-09-04
From: Calf Mountain Hut

To: Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: broken clouds

A whopping not-quite-8-miles today! Stick a fork in me - I'm done. The Hungarian Revolution was meeting a friend at the road crossing at 10:15, so he was up at 6am to make sure he would get there in time. I have a moral objection to rising before the sun, so I waited until 6:30 before getting up; it was light-ish outside, but still really dark in the shelter. Breakfast reinforced why not to rise in the dark: apparently a spider moved into my bowl during the night, and since I couldn't see, I covered it with Carnation Instant Breakfast and water, mashed it up with my spork, and drank most of it before turning on my headlamp to investigate the strange texture in my drink. I was unimpressed. But I'm a hiker - so true to form, I grimaced a lot, picked out the spider bits, fished around for other foreign matter, and drank the rest of it. I was at the road with my thumb out by 9:45, got a ride by 10, and went straight to the post office to pick up the box with my new pair of shoes. The last ones have 1,009 miles on them as of now, and they're well and thoroughly trashed; they are to the point that they're starting to crush my toes. Still though - over 1k miles on a pair of trail runners? Good job, Brooks - even if you don't support it, your Cascadias can crush some miles!After the PO I went to the YMCA for a shower, then to the town park to set up my tent ("for AT hikers only" but I'm the only hiker here - there's a wonderful couple stopping by on a bicycle trip to Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then your general assortment of homeless folks, including a guy in a refrigerator box). Then I walked back across town to the laundromat, hit the grocery store on the way back, and whiled away the afternoon waiting for dinner time. Dinner in Waynesboro is something I've been waiting for for a long time - since about August 2009 in fact. This is because Waynesboro is home to the Ming Garden, the most legendary Chinese buffet on the AT. So, for $11 I got to gorge myself on delicious Chinese food until I could barely stand. I wasn't sure I was going to make it across the parking lot, but by the time I made it to the grocery store things had settled down enough that I stopped for some beer and canned pears (I csn't explain it...I just wanted some damn canned pears) and then tottered back to the park. Great stuff. I'll stop by the Post Office in the morning then head back out and continue my walk south. The feast should power me through, oh, maybe half a day??
Date: 2014-09-05
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: light rain

The post office didn't open until 9am, so I walked down to Main Street to find a coffee shop - I haven't stopped at a real coffee shop/cafe since Rangeley, ME. I found a cute little place called Sweet Bean that's been open less than a month; they did a great mocha and were delightful people to chat with. I also spent some time talking to the two bicyclists; more fantastic people!I started walking to the edge of town around 9:30 to hitch a ride back up to the trail. I always try to get to the outskirts for two reasons: first, because I feel bad standing there with my thumb out like a bum in front of someone's house or place of business; and second, because as often as not, someone will see me walking with my pack and trekking poles and just pull over. That's what happened today; I didn't even have to hitch, and got a great ride and conversation with a local guy on his way to work. The bicyclists had just gotten back up to the BRP as I got there, so we talked a while longer then wished each other farewell and went on our separate ways south. We're basically heading to the same place, but they're going to do it a little faster than I will (I have no plans for 60 mile days, thank you very much). Today is the last day of "easy" miles before we get back into dramatic climbs; starting with the Priest tomorrow I'll be doing 3000' at a time with some regularity. The smooth sailing was nice while it lasted though!At the shelter tonight I ran into what I'm sure really are the last NOBOs; these four started off in April, are averaging about 200 miles/month, and may need to think about flipping sooner than later if they want to see Katahdin this year ... just saying ...
Date: 2014-09-06
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Hog Camp Gap campsite
Miles today: 27.9
Weather: scattered clouds

My morning got off to a dramatic start with a 3 mile climb up Three Ridges Mountain, then a long descent to the Tye River, followed by the 4 mile, 3,000 vertical foot assault on The Priest. This is the first time I've been above 4,000' since VT - I was light headed, my nose was bleeding, and I was all but hyperventilating up there. Ok, so none of those things are true; but I did sweat more than I have in a long time, and it left my legs in pretty wobbly shape for a while. Originally I planned to stop at the shelter 6 miles past The Priest, but some dodgy resupply logic (6+ dinners but only 3 days worth of snacks for 4 days of hiking?? How curious...) and the possibility of catching up to some other folks gave me my second wind and I motored on another ~8 miles.As I was coming down the hill I could hear a loud group - there's a USFS road right near the campsites - and was sure i was going to be some rowdy rednecks with 4-wheelers or something, but it turns out that it's just a nice family out for a free camping trip. Lonestar and The Hungarian Revolution are here too - it's like a little SOBO reunion - I don't think I've camped with this many of us since NH. Cool stuff. Sounds like we might bounce along at the same pace until Troutville, where The Hungarian Revolution (he definitely needs a longer trail name. It doesn't take me nearly long enough to type The Hungarian Revolution on this tiny little keyboard) is taking a few days off to visit his girlfriend. The family near by came over and gave us each a Mountain Dew and an apple, banana, and half a hamburger to share - "not as good as a cold beer or 3, but a helluva lot better than this lukewarm water!" And right as the sun was setting the thunderstorm that's been rumbling off in the distance overtook us and it started raining. As long as it's mostly stopped by morning, I don't mind at all! We all agree that this is the toughest section of trail so far, at least psychologically. We're all in a slump right now, and it's nice that we all ran into each other when we needed it. "The trail provides," and all that jazz!
Date: 2014-09-07
From: Hog Camp Gap campsite

To: Punchbowl Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: clear sky

It rained during the evening, but stopped before midnight and got foggy; needless to say everything was damp and soggy when I packed up in the morning. Lonestar was up and out early, and The Hungarian Revolution and I left about half an hour later. I decided to hitch in to Buena Vista with THR to resupply, and we quickly got a ride into the grocery store 11 miles away. Then we tried to get a ride a mile back to town for lunch; we stood on the side of US60 for 20 minutes before giving up and walking in.Buena Vista itself was dead - the only place open at noon on a Sunday was the pizza place, so guess what we had for lunch? Pizza! Then we went back to the main road and started thumbing again. It was 45 minutes before a high school kid picked us up ("there's nothing to do in this town but ride around. And I've always wanted to pick up a hitch hiker.") and kindly took us the 10 miles back to the AT. Pretty tough to get a ride in a town that's an "official" Appalachian Trail Community...The afternoon was a slog - a heavy pack, full stomach, and real climbing took a lot out of me - but about 2 miles from the shelter I ran into Fiver, a flip flopper heading south from Harpers Ferry. Not only was it great to run into another long distance hiker, but she set a great pace; a little slower than I usually go, but plenty fast enough without winding me, so the miles went easier. I spent the evening chatting with Fiver, THR, and Lonestar - the first real cluster of southbound folks I've encountered since Maine. We're only a day behind La-Z-Boy, GoatGrrl, and their friend, so I might catch them in the next couple days. Planning on a 25 tomorrow; we'll see who in this crew goes that far!
Date: 2014-09-08
From: Punchbowl Shelter

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 25.1
Weather: light rain

We all got an early start (Lonestar was out first, as always), and the cool weather made for nice climbing in the morning. Everything down to the James River was nice and fast, and I had lunch just after the river crossing. The Hungarian Revolution caught up to me there, and we talked for a while. Then he took a nap and I went on; we planned to meet up at a campsite ~9 miles ahead. Long story short, I missed the spring and ended up climbing and climbing into the fog, and finally getting to a shelter 25 miles into the day. To my surprise, The Hungarian Revolution came in about an hour later, and 45 minutes after that Fiver showed up too. It's not a bad spot, except for being in the cloud and the worst water situation I've seen yet. The spring at the shelter is dry (I expected that) but they've rerouted the AT and totally blocked access to the secondary source; so basically they've made it impossible to get water here. I did some rainwater catchment off the roof and mixed my potatoes dry, and have about 2/3 of a cup left over to get me through the night. Sounds too much like fun!
Date: 2014-09-09
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Bobblets Gap Shelter
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: overcast clouds

What a long night. Between the rain hammering on the metal roof (no plywood or sheathing to dampen the sound at all), the frequent BANG of acorns falling down, and the unending thirst, I felt like I was awake more than I slept. When the sky finally started to lighten I hopped to it and was out right after Lonestar (he came in late last night). My mission: 5.3 miles to the next shelter and water source. About a mile before the shelter the fog started to lift, and no joke, a ray of sunshine broke through the clouds and shone on the smallest trickle of water in an otherwise dry stream bed. This thing probably didn't exist yesterday, and was probably gone by afternoon, it was so small. But I threw my pack down, scooped out a little hole for the water to pool in and manage to dip out a liter. I walked the mile to the shelter with my poles in one hand and my bottle in the other, just slowly sipping on the cool water...it was so refreshing!Because of how tired I was, the rest of the day just sort of floated by. At Jennings Creek I caught up with GoatGrrl and La-Z-Boy, who I met near Rangeley, ME on the northbound leg of their flipflop. I was exactly 2 weeks behind them at the Deleware Water Gap when they flipped, so it was great to see them again. They're hiking with GoatGrrl's friend Rolling Rock Beer Geronimo, so it was nice to meet him, too.Everyone ended up coming all the way to Bobblets Gap Shelter, too! For the first time since Maine we had a shelter filled to capacity with entirely southbounders: Lonestar, The Hungarian Revolution, Fiver, GoatGrrl, Rolling Rock, and I were all in the shelter, and La-Z-Boy was hammocked outside. It's great to have such a huge crowd of awesome people around!
Date: 2014-09-10
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Once again we were all up and packing before the sun rose, and I was on the trail by 7:15am. We were all excited to get to town, especially The Hungarian Revolution - he's meeting up with some friends who are going to take him down to Salem to surprise-visit his girlfriend. I averaged exactly 3 mph all the way to town and he was right on my heels!I was at the grocery store by 1:45pm, did my resupply shopping, went to the outfitter next door to get alcohol for my stove (they filled my bottle with white gas instead...grumble...), then went across the parking lot to Wendy's for food and to steal some electricity to charge my phone.Around 4 I wandered over to the bbq restaurant on the other side of the parking lot (this is a very convenient strip mall) to eat pork, drink beer, and wait for Lonestar and Fiver. They showed up at 6:05 (Lonestar promised he'd be in town at 6...pretty good timing), and La-Z-Boy and GoatGrrl came in a few minutes later. The Hungarian Revolution is lost to town now, and Rolling Rock Beer Geronimo was feeling anti social, but otherwise we had the whole crew. They all had rooms at the Howard Johnson, so I abandoned my plans to hike out of town and stayed with Lonestar. We all converged on the room, did laundry, drank some beer, and generally reveled the way only hikers can (beer+a gallon of ice cream+Tennessee Bourbon=hiker heaven) until 2am. Where else can you spontaneously move the hotel-party to the laundry room, then to the closet of the laundry room, and have that seem "normal?" Great times - not sure if we'll all stick together much longer, but it's been a great run. Something about Daleville brings out the party in the hikers - every time I've hiked through here I've ended up staying longer than planned and having a fantastic time. More good memories and friends to add to the collection!
Date: 2014-09-11
From: Daleville, VA

To: Johns Spring Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: light rain

Despite the late night, Lonestar and I were up before 7. We went down to the continental breakfast, then I packed and headed to Kroger and Mill Mountain Coffee, where I sat until 10. As I was finally heading out to the trail I ran into Fiver, who had bushwacked through the brush from the hotel parking lot to find the trail. The two of us set off, but I quickly pulled ahead and didn't see another person until the evening. The day mostly consisted of climbing around on a long, hogback ridge, with a couple exciting views. Tinker Cliffs was a gorgeous .5 mile cliff walk overlooking the valley, and at the end of the day I came over McAfee Knob, one of the most iconic spots on the trail. It's this huge spit of rock that sticks out from the cliff, and makes a really cool photo spot, if you have someone up there to take your picture! Of course I was all alone up there (a thunder storm was rolling in) so I didn't get the photo op, but oh well. Just before the Knob I met The Leopard, a section hiker heading north. We had a long chat while I ate a snack and got water; seems like he's been having a rough go of it recently - attacked by w swarm of hornets, a twisted ankle, a tweaked knee - but he's sticking with it! Luckily I packed 2 liters of water to the shelter - the spring and all nearby water sources are dry; I've got 5 miles to go tomorrow morning before I get to any reliable water. I have the place to myself tonight for the first time since Harpers Ferry, too - sort of nice, but also a little sad that I've gotten ahead of everyone. I won't be surprised if I see Fiver or Lonestar again, but I'll bet The Hungarian Revolution isn't going to catch up unless I take a whole bunch of zeros. It was great hiking with them - I had just given up on anyone from the early days catching me again, so it was perfect timing for the little group to form!
Date: 2014-09-12
From: Johns Spring Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Without anyone to wake me up, I slept in until 7:15, and was hiking by 8. I was all geared up to go 5 miles and get water from the nasty stream in a cow field, but as I came out of the woods at VA311 I saw two people standing by a car watching me. It was raining, and about 8:30am on a week day, so I figured they were serious about whatever they were up to, and I got my hopes up that they might have a bottle of water kicking around. Turns out it was Hiker Mom, a local trail angel, dropping off a section hiker who had driven out from Illinois; she asked me if I needed anything, and not only had a bottle of water, but had two gallons to drop off at the trailhead! Thanks Hiker Mom!! She was excited to run into a southbounder, and was happy to hear that there was at least a small group behind me. We chatted for a while at the parking lot, then I went off into the increasing drizzle. The rest of the day consisted of rain, then periods up in the clouds, then more rain. I'm glad I came over McAfee's last night, because at least I got a view; I couldn't see more than 20 yards from the Dragon's Tooth.Near the end of the day I came past the Audie Murphy memorial - he was the most decorated American soldier in WWII, and died in a plane crash on Brush Mtn, right near the AT, in 1971. After a pounding, slippery descent, a rainy break sitting in the grass by a parking lot, and a short climb, I got to the shelter. I've got it to myself again, so spread out all my wet stuff and cooked dinner (cheesy, SPAM-y, mashed potatoes). The rain is picking up now, and it looked like it's supposed to continue through tomorrow, so I'm glad to have a roof (a solid roof! With plywood and everything! No deafening metal tonight!) over me to keep me dry.
Date: 2014-09-13
From: Niday Shelter

To: Wind Rock campsite
Miles today: 23.1

This morning's highlights: reaching and peeing across the Eastern Continental Divide; hugging the Keffer Oak, second largest oak tree on the AT (18 feet in circumference, over 300 years old); and it stopped raining. This afternoon/evening's highlights: it continued not to rain; it got COLD - like low 50s cold, and is nice and breezy; I passed up the empty shelter and hiked a few miles up onto the ridge to camp in the clouds (amazing clouds - very low, with blue skies above them, rolling across the mountains like smoke); and I cooked a huge dinner - rice, red lentils, pepperoni, cheese and spices (one of my favorite meals, on and off the trail). All in all, a good day! I am hiking through some beautiful country now - rolling hills, beautiful farms and fields - and not even the morning rain could ruin it. Hopefully tomorrow and Monday will be nice so everything can dry out!
Date: 2014-09-14
From: Wind Rock campsite

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: overcast clouds

The temperature dropped to below 50 last night, and in the middle of the night the wind wheeled around and started blowing right into my open vestibule; guess I should have seen it coming, camping on Wind Rock and all. After the initial aches and pains and lovely feeling of pulling on cold, wet socks, the day was gorgeous. Other than one 1700' descent into and climb out of the valley, I was basically following PA-style ridges all day. I started out in my long sleeve shirt, raincoat, and long underwear, took off everything but the long sleeve shirt at the bottom of the descent, and didn't sweat a drop all day. It was wonderful!Rice Field Shelter is right at the edge of a ridge-top field, with great views down to the valley. Unfortunately, it's also very accessible to the locals; the place was totally trashed when I got here. I couldn't bear trying to clear a spot in the shelter, so I'm tented out back. There is tons of dead wood around from when someone came crashing through with an excavator/bulldozer at some point, and despite everything being wet, I got a pretty good little fire going. Other than a group of 17 Virginia Tech students who romped up to check out the view (and packed down some of the trash in the shelter - thanks guys!!) all's been quiet up here. Heading into Pearisburg tomorrow to resupply and hit up the pizza buffet for lunch - getting pretty excited!
Date: 2014-09-15
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Doc's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.0

The wind pulled another 180 on me last night and blew in a dense, cold fog that saturated everything outside, but was too dense to get through my tent screen. It also blocked out all the pre-sunrise light, so I slept a little later than I had hoped to; not matter - I was still on the trail by 8:10, and in Pearisburg by 10:30. They have completely rerouted the trail between Rice Field and town, and they did a beautiful job with the trail work. It looks like a lot of it was done with a 6-foot excavator - the trail is a full 6' wide, gently graded, and sloped ever so slightly to the downhill side to let water run off, but gently enough so it doesn't bust your ankles.When I got to town I went to the Food Lion first to resupply then hit up Pizza Plus for their lunch buffet. After 6 plates of pizza I decided that I'd gotten my $6.99 worth of pizza (I held back - I didn't want to die on the hike out of town), went to the gas station for HEET, and headed out. I managed not to do myself any serious injury on the way out (I tore my MCL on the way into town in 2009), and have the shelter to myself again tonight. I packed out hot dogs and beer for dinner, so it was almost like a proper cookout up here in the rhododendron tunnel! If this cool weather continues, I may pull a few long days on the way to Damascus; stay tuned...
Date: 2014-09-16
From: Doc's Knob Shelter

To: Helvey's Mill Shelter
Miles today: 33.4

Ok, so when I said I might pull some big days, I meant a couple 26's...but 33 works too I guess!The morning miles were quick and easy, and the afternoon had me bumbling along a rolling ridge line. There were, however, three highlights. The first was running into Nine Lives, from Westchester County, NY, working on his second section-hike. He's hiked all over the place, biked all over the place, and enjoys not just traveling through places, but seeing them and experiencing them in a William Least HeatMoon sort of way. He was great to talk to as we walked for a couple miles!Highlight #2: the sun came out. I actually saw my shadow for the first time in about a week and a half; I was worried for a while that I left him somewhere a ways back up the trail. The sky's clear now, too, and it turns out there are actually still some stars up there in the sky. The third highlight: I made it to the shelter before sunset; a full 30 minutes before sunset. There were a few minutes there where I didn't think I was going to (there were no landmarks to gauge my progress by), but I cranked out the last 6.5 miles in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Not too bad for the end of an extra-long day.
Date: 2014-09-17
From: Helvey's Mill Shelter

To: Knot Maul Branch
Miles today: 33.1

The clouds rolled in again over night and hung around until the early afternoon before it cleared. Luckily they stuck around until after I did the big, 3 mile climb onto the ridge north of Chestnut Knob; it stayed nice and cool for me. I ran into RareBreed on the way up the Knob; he did a 34 mile day yesterday, but was stopping after just 10 today. I met another south bound section hiker in the cleared area on Chestnut Ridge, too - lots of traffic compared to the last few days! Then a half mile from the shelter I ran into a couple heading north - they skipped the shelter because there was no water. They were being followed around by a hunting dog...apparently some other hikers had already called the owner telling him it was wandering around. Then at about 8:30 the owner came thumping down the trail with his radio tracker doodad, chatted for a while, and wandered north looking for the dog (I haven't seen him again, so I don't know how that all worked out). This shelter is apparently swarming with mice - before the sun set I saw at least 4 different ones running about. At one point I caught 2 of them sitting up on the top plate next to a rafter; I grabbed a small stone, winged it in their general direction, and one of them dropped dead. Padre: 1. Shelter Mice: 0. Now, I'm not one to take pleasure in killing critters for no reason; but one less mouse to chew into my food bag is good for me. Maybe it put the fear into the other mice...they've quieted down a bit since...