morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-06-15
From: Hog Camp Gap

To: Tentsite 
Miles today: 15.0

My brother and his girls picked my daughter and i up After I got done work and we made the four a half hour trek down to Lexington Virginia where we had a hotel room for the night. He so graciously offered to drive us down  to start our hike. It was really nice to have my brother and his girls with us this year. We are doing a fundraiser hike this year. We are helping Dr. Margie Klapper from  Fox Chase hospital so she can continue her research for never smoker lung cancer. My brothers wife Janet passed away from a form of never smokerr lung cancer.  Called ALK. My brother and his girls drove us to the trail head at Hog Camp Gap and we started south bound or SOBO as it is called.  They day went pretty well and we made fast miles in the morning.  By 12:30 we had 8 miles in.  We stopped for lunch at a Brown Mountain creek shelter.  It is alway nice to rest at a shelter because they usually have a picnic table and maybe a privy and  somewhere just to rest for a while.  We usually like to take her shoes off during this time. We continued on while down 3 mile decent. Although going down is it always that hard we know that that usually means you¢re going to have to go back up. We did see one dear but that was about all. We finally got to where we were going to stop for the day which was like 12.7 miles. We were feeling good so we decided to push on.  If  we didn¢t then  tomorrow we were going to have two huge climbs. We also have plans for more miles tomorrow so this would help bring that down. The mountain we had to conquer was a 1200 feet elevation change in 2 miles.  It was rough.  I had to finally sit down and rest.  But we were almost at the top where we would set up camp. By this time we had done 15 miles.   We changed out of our sweat drenched clothes, set up our hammocks an cooked dinner.  Mine consisted of Alfredo noodles with tuna. It was very good. Then finally we had to hang our food so the bears don¢t get it.  Well how do you do that when the trees are so tall with no branches that we can get to. We did the best we could.  It is 6:30 and we are just chilling in our hammocks. It¢s too early to go to sleep.  But not much else to do.  Till tomorrow.
Date: 2019-06-16
From: Tentsite 

To: James River 
Miles today: 13.1

I slept pretty well at our campsite.  It was very breezy for a summer night. I heard something howling in the distance and hoped that it stayed where it was.  I woke up pretty early and had my coffee and breakfast in the morning breeze.  My breakfast consisted of a mixture of carnation infant breakfast, protein powder, hot choc, and oatmeal. We started our hike a little before 9. Over all it wasn¢t a bad day. We had a small down hill then basically a 4 mile climb.  Although it want too bad because it went on a slow incline and kinda wrapped back and forth up the mountain until we got to the top where the switchbacks started.  Halfway up the hill we stopped at Punchbowl shelter to lol for a NOBO guidebook he left behind. No luck. But it gave us something to do. We finally had a nice view at PunchBowl overlook. It really was beautiful. We finally created the mountain and were headed for the 5 mile down hill.  I was tough.  We were sweating like crazy.  I know down hill and tough.  It just went on and on.  Our feet and knees were killing us. We finally walked along the creek for quite some time but at this point I just wanted to be done. Finally we came out of the woods and met our shuttle driver from Stanimals hostel. The first thing we did was get on the WiFi.  We have had bad cell service the past 2 days. We then showered did laundry and got our supplies.  We noticed our friend was at the free shelter for hikes in Glasgow.  We decided to go find her.  When we walked in and she saw us she came running for hugs. It was so much fun catching up with her we went and had dinner together and we¢re reminiscing about trail days.   It was sad to say good bye but we told her we would see her in Pennsylvania. It was time to get back to the hostel and get ready for tomorrow.  We have a big day ahead of us.
Date: 2019-06-17
From: Cornelius Creek Shelter

To: James River
Miles today: 20.1

Our day started early with Lee our shuttle driver from Stanimals in Glasgow picking us up at 7.  I was up early and had coffee and breakfast all ready. We took a 45 min drive to Cornelius Creek Shelter which is .2 miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We headed into the woods hoping we were going in the right direction.   Thankfully we were. We came to the shelter that was full of thru hikers and also Boy Scouts. We said hello and continued on. We had a small climb and was hoping it was the big one.  Of course not.  We then had our 1000 foot climb. It was work but it wasn¢t terrible.   We were at Apple Orchard meadow.  It was like a mountain bald.  There was a weather tower at the top.  It looked like the Epcot ball. As we started coming down the other side, bam, there was the Guillotine.   It was much bigger in person than i have seen in pictures.  It was a change of pace and also gave us something to make our hike not seem so dull. We finally came to Thunder hill shelter where we met up with 5 they hikers. Through out the day we were leap frogging with them.  It also made the day interesting. We came to Thunder ridge overlook. It was just beautiful.  We hiked on for quite a while going down hill gradually.  Almost 1400 feet.  It just kept going and going.  At the bottom we all had lunch and continued on.  We had one more climb.  At this point it was very hot and the air was very stale. It was a 700 foot climb but it was steeper.  We were exhausted by this time. After regrouping  we pushed on. We had another 8 miles of down hill to go.  We could hear rumbling in the distance and hoped we could beat the rain.  WRONG! 6 miles left and the flood gates opened up.  We were running down the mountain as quickly and safely as we could until our knees couldn¢t take it anymore.   Finally the rain slowed down.  At this point we were drenched.  6 miles down hill is very tough.  It is not physically exhausting but it is hard on the body. We finally got to the shelter and just sat for a few minutes to give our body time to rest. We had 2 more easy miles left until we got to foot bridge to cross the James River.  By this time the sun was out and it was beautiful.  We were finally done.  We hiked 20.1 miles today. Thankfully we slackpacked because we were going back to Stanimals tonight. The only problem is, we were an hour early for our shuttle.  We sat with our new they hiker friends and we put our thumbs out trying to get a hitch. It took a while but finally a truck stopped and took us all.  It was very nice.  We got to town as our shuttle driver was headed out to get us.  I finally had cell service and could call him and he turned around and picked us up at the store to go back to the hostel.  Shwew.  It was a long day.
Date: 2019-06-18
From: Cornelius creek shelter

To: Bearwalliw gap
Miles today: 15.5

Got up early to get ready for a shuttle that was coming at 7 o¢clock. We took the hour drive up to camellias Creek shelter and this time we¢re going southbound. Was getting carsick on the way up because we were on all these winding  roads and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a relief to get back out on the trail in the fresh air. This morning there¢s a slight breeze which is so refreshing. We¢re trying to make some miles today because rain is coming this afternoon again if we can push for 12 we can make. It to a shelter.  The only problem is there is no water there. We started off our hike with 6/10 mile climb going south. Nothing like waking up the lungs first thing in the morning.   It was quite an exhausting day.  Lots of climbs today and it was hot and humid on the mountain tops.  I was just not into hiking today.  I think because I was dreading the rain.  If we get caught in it today then we are wet for days.  We do not get anywhere near a town till Thursday. We pressed on.  We finally got to a road crossing with a huge stream. We sat and had lunch and wadded in the water.  It was so refreshing. After one exhausting climb we had to take a break at the top.   Not for long because we heard rumbling.  We kicked it in high gear.  We were 1 mile until the shelter.  Today my feet were bothering me.  I think the down hill is killing my heels and the uphill is bothering my big toe joint.  I manage with some duct tape on the skin to stop the rubbing. We made it to the shelter and actually had cell phone service and looked at the weather.  The rain pushed off until 5:30.  We decide to get 4 more miles in so we could stay on our schedule. One more big climb.  The only good thing about this one is that Sidewinder could pick blueberries as we climbed the mountain. We only saw one deer today and it wasn¢t scared of us at all.  We also saw a few Lizards and snails.  We finally made it to Bearwallow gap. We also beat the rain.  We hurried and got water and set up our hammocks because the rain was coming.  We just finished and started cooking when the rain started. We huddled in our hammocks and ate dinner.  I tried to hang our food so the bears don¢t get it. But once again they are all tall trees.  Maybe a bear canister is needed.  Well it¢s quite early but not much to do since it is raining and no cell service.  So I guess I will try to go to sleep.  7 pm.  That¢s a first for me
Date: 2019-06-19
From: Bearwallow gap

To: Fullhardt knob shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: moderate rain

Wow. I woke up at 6am. I slept 10.5 hours. Except for the Whip poor will that was singing at midnight and 5 am I slept great. Our day started off with a climb out of bearwallow gap.    After that we came to a view at Peaks of otter over look.  We were in the clouds.   It was such a view.  The trail continued on for many miles with views and overlooks.  We saw a small snake and some newts.  Over all the trail was pretty easy. We passed 2 shelters today.  The first we stopped for water. The second we decided to stop and eat and to decide if we should stay there or continue.   The storms were brewing so it was a calculated risk. We want to stay on target and we could get to another shelter so we pushed on.  The only thing it meant instead of the easy day it turned into a hard day.  We had a step 1000 foot climb followed by a steep 500 foot climb. As we started the first one the storm kicked in.  At first the cold rain was refreshing but in rained harder and we decided to get our rain gear out.  I am glad we did I was getting cold.  Eventually it diminished and the sun peeked out as we did our last climb to the shelter.  Well what do you know but there was a Boy Scout group there.  Great.  No really they were well behaved and quiet very early.  Today my feet are getting sore. I feel like a blister is starting on my heel.  I am trying to use duct tape on my heel to give it slip.  I think all the down hills are doing it. Today
Date: 2019-06-20
From: Fullhardt knob shelter

To: Tinker Cliffs
Miles today: 16.0

I woke up early to the Boy Scouts getting packed up very quietly.  I had my coffee and breakfast with the other thru hikers. It was nice to compare stories and to see where everyone was from. Then one of the hiker food bags was stuck in the trees.  The knot he used was so tight on the PCT hang that we couldn¢t release it. Finally after 2 of us helping he got it down.   Sidewinder and I packed up our stuff and hit the  trail because today is the day we were meeting our friends Silver fox at the Troutville exit. The hike was mostly downhill but it was very wet from the rain the day before and kind of walking on the side of the mountain going down so we had to be very careful not to slip or fall.  It took us a while to get down the mountain. It was a nice relief to see our friend waiting at the trail for us. She took us back to the hotel where we were able to get cleaned up a little bit.  We ran to McDonald¢s before we parked her car at the hotel. We now needed to walk the mile to the trail head. As we started walking we saw a truck leaving Cracker Barrel and we politely asked for a hitch to the trail head. He was more than willing to give us a ride.  Today¢s hike was pretty strenuous and exhausting for all of us. We continued on because we wanted to get to tinkers cliffs to see the sunset. At one point we all needed to pee.   Of course just when I squat a male hiker comes by.  We could walk for miles without seeing a hiker but of course as soon as I need to pee, there he is. I scrambled to get my shorts up as we all had a good laugh.  Sometimes we need this to change the dulldrum of the strenuous hike.  Yes and even sometimes boring.  As we hiked on there was a Shelter 2 miles before Tinkers cliffs. We stopped there for water. It was supposed to rain today pretty heavily but thankfully it never did.  So we continued the hard climb up the cliffs. The view was breathtaking and well worth the climb.  Shortly after the sunset we set up camp and quickly cooked before it got dark. It is now 10:30 and we are all settled in.  I hope I sleep it is quiet windy.
Date: 2019-06-21
From: Tinker Cliffs

To: VA route 624 SOBO
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: mist

Well we took a walk on the wild side and decided to stealth camp on Tinkers Cliffs. Hikes are not supposed to camp up there in the state park. Last night we got there right at sunset.  It was beautiful.  It was kinda late to push on so we set up camp there. We had hiked enough.  So this morning I had set my alarm set for 5:30 to catch the sunrise. Well the night did not go as planned. The winds kicked in so bad that it was howling all night.  My hammock was rocking back and forth and I was cold from the wind blowing so much. Bad idea to sleep up there. The even worse I was hoping to see a beautiful sunrise. I sat out on the cliffs wrapped in my underquilt watching for the sun to come up.  O sun to be seen.  Even worse it looked like storm clouds rolling in. I did get a few pics of clouds etc but no sunrise. So we started packing up with hopes to be on the trail at 8am and also hoping not to get caught camping at the cliffs. As we were gathering g our stuff 5 deer wandered In really close to us.  That was pretty neat. Then we look out at the cliffs and there is a rainbow. It was beautiful.  A once in a lifetime moment.   We finally hit the trail and hiked swims tough miles until we got to McAfee knob.  The last half mile was exhausting. We got to the top and took a few pictures and along cake the trail maintainer. After talking to him we found out that the knob was just up a bit more.  Oh my gosh it was huge. I have visually dreamed of this place and we were finally here. We took our turns getting pictures along with the rest of the crowd.  I did find it rude that2 women sat in the background where they were clearly in everyone¢s pictures. They were oblivious. Oh well. After the knob we still had alit of hiking to do.  Again some hard climbs for all of us. We met up with Patriot68 a 71 year old southbounder. We couldn¢t even keep up with him. We finally came out to the road where 4 Pines hostel was.  Luckily a women was dropping off hikers and gave us a ride.  Our 3rd hitch this hike. We literally dropped our gear and they shuttled us to an all you can eat dinner buffet called Homeplace.  It was as really good. Then finally got back and Silverfox showered while I started laundry. There is no dryer so we have all our clothes hanging on our bunks to dry. There is 1 shower for about 15 hikers.  So Sidewinder had to wait a while.  10 pm was lights out.   So now I lay in my top bunk Sidewinder beside me and silverfox below her.  Meanwhile 2 hikers are snoring away.  Guess there won¢t be much sleep tonight either.
Date: 2019-06-22
From: VA620 NOBO 

To: VA 624
Miles today: 7.4

We decided to sleep in and take a slower start this morning. Sidewinder and Silver Fox wanted to sleep. With the intense day of Dragons tooth ahead of us we planned on a shorter day.  We made friends with Patriot68(a 71 year old gentleman), Fox Feet and Fairweather yesterday. We all decided to slackpack Dragons tooth. We split the $20 shuttle fee to drive us to our starting point.  Patriot68 lead the way as Sidewinder and I followed the others following behind us. Overall the climb was not too bad.  We had a lot of switchbacks which made it a pretty easy climb. As we neared the top we would climb some pretty good rock sections.  Each time we would get to the top we thought we were there. But then it flattened out until we got to another rock section.  By this time 3 of us lead and the other 3 were behind just a bit.  When we would get to a hard section or a section where they may miss a turn we would wait for them. Eventually I got to a blue blaze for Dragons tooth. I waited for the others to catch up and we finally arrived at this huge mass of rocks.  You didn¢t have to climb to the top but since we got this far we had to try. I got almost to the top.  I was afraid if I went any further I would not be able to get back down.  We sat and had lunch then took the long rock scramble down the trail.  It was quite precarious at some spots.  Just when we thought we were off the rocks we came to another rock section. We joked this was the dragons tail.  Then more rocks.  By now my knees are aching from all the down hill.  We eventually hit a bunch of switchbacks leading us to the road.  We had a 1/4 mile walk to the hostel.  I was so glad to be gone this day.  It was amazing but I think it also was one of the toughest days.  Sidewinder held up well on the down hills especially with the knee issue she is having. We all ordered pizza and just chilled out at the hostel. We made some great friends today with the other SOBO¢s. We officially completed the Virginia triple crown. This has been something I have been looking forward to.
Date: 2019-06-23
From: Route 620

To: Route 620-route 621
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: broken clouds

Today we started our day by catching our shuttle at 7 AM along with our other Sobo friends.  We took the long winding road up to the trail head. By this time three of us were ready to puke. What a way to start our 4 mile climb to the top of the Audi Murphy memorial. Although the climb was not one of the worst we had this section it was very long but luckily it was not the steepest. At this point we all had our trail legs and we¢re doing really well. Patriot68 was waiting at the top for us and we all sat down and had a snack. Eventually Foxfeet and Fairweather caught up to us. They seem to like to take a slower pace than we do.  At this point we had the long downhill to get to the road where our friend Dee would be picking us up. We picked this location because it was the only road crossing that was convenient for all of us. The hike became fun because all we did was pick blueberries for Sidewinder to eat.  I also think we were a little bit perkier knowing that today was our last day and the torture was over. We have all taken a toll on our bodies from this hike. Sidewinder thinks she has a torn meniscus, I have two blisters and my knees are aching, and Silver fox¢s hip started acting up today. We got down to the bottom of the trail 15 minutes earlier than we thought. As we waited for her friend Dee the time seemed to take by which we thought was a little odd because she¢s always a little early. Upon trying to call her and text her her phone went right to voicemail. This was a little concerning for us so we tried to get a hold of her family. Now all we¢re thinking is how the heck are we going to get out of here with no ride and where the heck is Dee. I stop the car coming down the road to see if they saw her. No luck. Just then Sidewinder was able to get through to Dee and  she had trouble finding the exact location. She needed to find cell phone service but she was around the corner from us. We now could go for lunch and get Silver Fox back to her car and drive the 5.5 hours home. We completed 126.2 miles in 9 days. We had to cut our hike 2 days short for an appointment tomorrow.  We would like to thank our 2 shuttle drivers  and all her sponsors who helped us raise $4415 for Margie Clappers Lab to research Never Smoker Lung Cancer.  This hike is Dedicated to Janet Plasha 4-30-19
Date: 2019-08-11
From: West Mountain Shelter

To: South Mountian pass rd
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up early to the sunlight shining in my hammock. I had a restless sleep again. I grabbed my bear bag and sat on the rock ledge overlooking the city and the Hudson. I made my coffee and sat and relaxed by myself. When i finished we all packed up and hit the trail. We had 9.2 miles to complete our hike. We had a pretty nice part of the trail until we hit our first climb. It was a pretty tough one. The trail leveled off and we made it to Bear Mountain.Some of us climbed the tower, and enjoyed the view.  We couldn¢t wait to hit up the vending machines. I downed 2 cokes and a Pringle¢s. That was the first time i ever saw a Pringle¢s vending machine. We then took the long long trail down the stairs. Wow lots of trail maintenance on those steps. It drops you into Bear Mountain Rec center. Wow talk about lots of people. It was a little awkward walking thru all the people. A few people asked us about our hike. We then walked thru the Zoo. That also was fun but interesting as well. Just odd being part of the trail. From there we crossed the Bear Mountain bridge and headed into the woods, and up the mountain which seemed like forever. We all could not wait till we were at the top. It never seemed to end, People kept saying you are almost there. We had another 2 mile¢s which breezed by and soon enough we were at our car. Now the 2.5 hour ride home
Date: 2019-12-28
From: NY Route 55

To: Taconic State Parkway
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Sidewinder and I drove up to Fishkill NY where we met up with Silverfox.  We Chile¢s our so we could hike in the morning.    The day started out with breakfast at the hotel. Which wasn¢t too bad.  We then drove to the trail head where we left our car and met our surprise shuttle driver Silverfox lined up. Turns out it was our friend Donna who lives near here.  She drove us North and we started our hike south.  Overall we had a really good hike. The first thing we started on was the plank boards which had a layer of frost and almost bit the dust first thing. We quickly learned that everything was slippery because there was just a slight frost. Eventually that frost turn to wetness and just made everything slippery. I fell one time because it was slick. But overall it was a good day. I stopped at the shelter to grab lunch  As we continue taking we got to an area where there were a bunch of blow downs and we heard that there was a possible tornado that had come through there at one time. Our day ended with 12 miles  I felt pretty good considering I hadn¢t hiked  in a while. We went back to the hotel and grabbed hot coffee which is just what we needed after such a cold day.  We ended the day meeting up with two of our friends from Hike for Mental Health.  We had an amazing dinner and drinks
Date: 2019-12-29
From: Dennytown Road

To: Taconic State Parkway 
Miles today: 11.1

We started off the day with breakfast at the hotel.  We had to drop off one car at Taconic State Pkway then drive to Dennytown road where we started. The hike today was much better. It Was a crisp cold morning.  So the ground was frozen and much less slippery than the day before.  Overall the hike was not that strenuous with little ups and downs here and there and we quickly warmed up as the day went on and stripped layers off as we went. At one point I was down to a T-shirt which is crazy for a December day. It probably was in the 40s but we worked up enough of a sweat which is not good when it¢s so cold so we removed our layers.  Eventually we stopped for lunch and ended up with all her layers back on. This happened through most of the day which is away I call this a bipolar day. We crossed several streams today and walk to practically around the Canopus lake.  It seem like it was never going to end.  The days seem to go pretty quickly ending by 3 o¢clock with 11.1 miles. We then had the 3 hour drive home.