morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-07-03
From: Curry Creek

To: Bobblets Gap Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

Calories: 1950ESD: 2Weather: Hot and MuggyMORNINGDespite a poorly hung food bag and scaring some large animal into stumbling with the mere clap of my hands, I and my food bag survived the night.I didn't sleep welll. My head was lower thatn my feet, and I fear I smell liek meat to hungry bears. Now that the sun has risen , I feel less likemeat and more like sleeping.LUNCHI've just reached the Blu Ridge Parkway and ealier today officially completed 1/3 of the trail. It's 12:30 p.m. and I'm halfway to my destination. I'm taking it easy. Today 10. Tomorrow 13. Then 10, 13, 12. I got a bit soft in Ann Arbor.AT CAMPI spent the late afternoon reading The World According to Garp and making farting noises with the airpocket trapped between my thermarest and my sweaty back.
Date: 2004-07-04
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: broken clouds

Calories: 2350ESD: 2 (Went for a swim with some locals ... including a water snake [shudder])Weather: Hot with a thunderstormWent swimming today in Jennings Creek to temper the stench a bit. Ran into a few other hikers - Blueberry, Spare Pocket, and One Thing. I'm sharing the beautiful, 2-level, huged porched Bryant Ridge Shelter with Slimer. The creek in singing accompanied by the gentle percussion of rain water sliding of the forest canopy. The air is moist and cool. It should be a good night for sleeping.
Date: 2004-07-05
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Thunderhill Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Calories: DunnoESD: 3Weather: Warm, Breezy, and HumidMORNINGI spent a fairly bug free night at the Bryant Shelter. Ther afternoon rains yesterday must have swept away the mosquitos. Slimer was with me last night. We listened to the fireworks from town and watched the fireflies light up the night.LUNCH at CORNELIUS CREEK SHELTERI put up my tent inside the shelter to have a bug free nap. But the bugs aren't really all that bad. I can't explain it, but hope that bugs find me repulsive.I'm planning on just 10 miles today while I get my "legs" back, so I have time for a two hour nap.DINNER at THUNDER HILL SHELTERIt's hard to only walk 10.3 miles. I'm ready for more - 13, maybe 15 - but not 17 which is required to get to the next reliable water source. Ao at 4:30 p.m. I'm stopping for the day. The is aggravating. Plus there's no shelter journal to read, and it's unlikely that anyone will join me here tonight. I've been sleeping fitfully and expect another long night.I hope I am wrong. I hope that One Thing, Blueberry, and Spare Pocket didn't pass me up today while I was dozing and will stay here tonight after what would be a short day for them. They'd be here by now, though - unless they took a zero or got a LATE start. Sniff.If it's not obvious, I'm lonely. O woe woe woe lonely. I did see two trail crew today. Hurray for tem for a thousand reasons.Everything is damp. I've been in the same wet underpants since yesterday's swim. It's humid. I sweat like made, and the shelters are shaded. My clothes won't dry on me or off me. I may start to mildew in motion. What seemed unimagined and impossible days ago is soon to be reality. Mildew will add a new complexity to my stench ... like a fine wine, nuanced with many layers.LATERAlas a hiker has arrived, just in time. I was about to carve "Dana Loves Ted" into the shelter. I scared him off though, perhaps with the companion starved gleam in my eyes. He's here, but not here, having elected to cowboy camp amongst the ticks and mosquitos 100 yards off.
Date: 2004-07-06
From: Thunderhill Shelter

To: Wildwood Campground
Miles today: 14.6

Calories: LOTSESD: 5 (peeeuuuuuw)Weather: HOT!I walked through thousands of webs today - so many that I'm afraid the paparazzi of gnats circling my head were somehow attached by gossamer threads. One web was huge. How didn't I see it? And when I broke through it, it's builder and an egg sack dangled from my hair in front of my eye. [Shudder.]I completed my longes day since returning to the trail. It wasn't too bad. My muscles seem willing but my joints and the soles of my feet are tender. They'll need to toughen up. I have a string of 14ers planned for the trip to Waynesboro.
Date: 2004-07-07
From: Wildwood Campground

To: Little Irish Creek
Miles today: 14.9

Calories: ?ESD: 2Weather: Warm with a light breezeI showered at Wildwood Campground, but couldn't do laundry. It was simply too hot to wear pants and a long sleeve shirt while my shorts and t-shirts were laundered. So I still stink.DINNER @ PUNCHBOWL SHELTERI talked to an old friend for the first time since his daughter was born. The warmth in his voice showed deep satisfaction and happiness. I was a wonderful way to start my day.I cought up with Slow Barabara soon after leaving Va 501. She's a school teacher who has taken a leave of absence - unheard of in education. She says she has a wonderful principal. Her principal "doesn't know hiking, but she knows dreams." If only we could all know dreams.I had hoped to spend an evening at a shelter with her, but time demands that I move on. I have to be in Waynesboro by the 12th, so I have to average a little over 14 miles a day. Ugh! But it will be worth it. My sister will be hiking with me in the Shenandoah.AT CAMPIt was creepy walkting at dusk alone in the woods. It is so much darker in the woods. I could see bright blue sky through the canopy, but it was very dim on the trail.I'm now camped alone at Little Irish Creek. It's a beautiful spot, but still creepy to be here alone. And I've just realized that I chose another lnely campsite for tomorrow night. I'm trying toa void a 17 mile day, but to do so I'll have to camp alone ... for sure. Damn! I wonder if I can bust out 20 miles tomorrow and get to Seely-Woodworth shelter. The next two shelters are too close - 5 and 10 miles away. 20 miles is so far. Argh!I guess we'll see what wins out tomorrow, aching feet or creepiness. For now, I'm going to switch off my headlight and commence "stealth camping". Hopefully, the boogey man won't notice me.
Date: 2004-07-08
From: Little Irish Creek

To: Greasy Spring Road-ish
Miles today: 16.7

Calories: Loads!ESD: 3Weather: HOT and breezyThe walk through Brown Mountain Creek Valley and over Cold Mountain and Tar Jacket Ridge were fantastic. Brown Mountain Creek Valley was the home of freed slaves until about 1918. The trail follows a loarge creak that meanders through the woods. Cold Mountain and Tar Jacket Ridge are balds (maintained through mowing). Birds and butterflies skimmed the tops of tall grasses gone to seed. Visibility was excellent and the vistas were gorgeous.On top of that , today was a trail magic bonanza. Imet Flash and Hot Flash who gave me a Pepsi. Then I met Aubrey at Rt. 60 and again at Hog Camp. He brought me dinner!Hog Camp was beautiful. Set in a grassy field with two tree swings. I meant to camp there, but energized by trail magic I moved on.The only down sides of today were two ticks. I found one on my face, making a bee-line for my hairline, and the other on my foot, hooked in and presumably sucking blood.I did an all over body search and found no others, but they're so tiny. I'm afraid my hair could be infested. O woe. I hardly need Lyme's Disease on top of my gut troubles. I also have a mysterious bump on my back. I can't see it no matter how I twist, pinch and pull. I hope it's a pimple.
Date: 2004-07-09
From: Greasy Spring Road-ish

To: Cripple Creek
Miles today: 14.2

Calories: 1800ESD: 4Weather: Sunny and hotMy feet were really kilngme by the end of the day, stumbling along in the dark looking for a flat spot in the ravine of Cripple Creek. I eventually found an old trail or road jutting off of the AT about 1/2 miles south of the Tye River. I dreamt that when I woke it would turn out to be someone's driveway. Odd.
Date: 2004-07-10
From: Cripple Creek

To: Reeds Gap
Miles today: 11.8

Calories: ?ESD: 4Weather: Hot with HEAVY rain showerThe hike up to Three Ridges from the Tye River was 3000 feet up over six miles. And it was HOT. And the trail was obscured in some places by "people high" weeds that surely trail maintenance crews CANNOT keep up with. It was a difficult climb.There was s short cut that passes numerous waterfalls and swimming holes. I'm glad I didn't take it. The shortcut is supposedly much more difficult hiking!That leaves me to imagine that you have to hop or hold hands with the Devil to get through it. The easy way, along the AT, was hard enough.Shortly after reaching Three Ridges summit, it started to pur. I descended to Reeds Gap for 2 hours in heavy rain.I was to meet old friends at Reeds Gap for a picnic. Ha! I wrapped myself in my tent's rainfly, propped my pack by the road and waited. Tam and Troy were right on time and ferried me back to their home in Staunton, VA to shower and dry out. Yeah!
Date: 2004-07-11
From: Reeds Gap

To: Tam and Troy's House
Miles today: 0.0

Calories: DunnoESD: 0Weather: Warm and partly sunnyI had several choices this morning: 1) return to Reeds Gap with my pack and hike on, 2)slack pack from Reeds Gap to Rockfish Gap, or 3) spend a wonderful day with old friends and their two beautiful boys.Honestly, what would you do? Overly ambitious wackos need not respond.I had a fabulously relaxing and happy day with Tam, Troy, Calvin, and Wesley.
Date: 2004-07-12
From: Tam and Troy's House

To: Waynesboro YMCA
Miles today: 20.0

ESD: 0 Calories: 0Weather: Hot and sunnyOK. I yellow blazed every single mile. Yup. I had to be at Rockfish Gap today to meet my sister. So I have defiled the "purity" of my hike (blah blah blah) to spend a great day with friends. I couldn't care less.I wandered around the abandoned buildings at Rockfish Gap while my sister Jeane fought traffic and drove arround one exit shy of Rockfish Gap. We finally connected at 3, dropped a bundle at the outfitter, resupplied, ate dinner, and camped at the YMCA. Although I worried over her late arrival, all was well when she found Rockfish Gap.We did however encounter a wacko in the Kmart parking lot - some naked dude in the passenger side of his pickup truck. His plates were partially, and clearly intentionally blacked out. Very creepy.
Date: 2004-07-13
From: Waynesboro YMCA

To: CAlf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Calories: 550ESD: 0Weather: Hot w/ rain showersYou see the calories up there? That's no joke. The Texas Steakhouse at the I 64/I81 convergence poisoned me. I spent most of last night puking up bright orange Con Queso Chicken Pasta.Walking today was very difficult. I was exhausted, I couldn't eat, and my head hurt. It was a long 7 miles.But the weather was mostly beautiful and Jeane loves the woods. We walked stealthfully so as to see more wildlife. And before a long nap in the weeds at Beagle Gap - flat out snoring - we saw a doe and two fawns.
Date: 2004-07-15
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Calories: 2600ESD: 2Weather: Cool and SunnyThe weather was perfect today for walking. Too cool to languish in the shade. Just the tinies bit too warm to lay in the sun.We stopped at Loft Mountain Campground to resupply and picnic, whiling away several hours laughing and talking. And we finally got a backcountry permit. We were supposed to get one two days ago.On Tuesday we took a break right next to the self-registration sign. Remember. I'd spent the previous night barfing up TExas Steakhouse chicken pasta. I was wiped out and not thinking about back country permits. A mile from the registration point I realized our oversight. Ah! But we continued to hike north concocting lies for would-be rangers. On Tuesday we did find someone else's permit, Joe Somebody. Until we got our permit on Thursday ( without lying) we'd been impersonating "Joe", wearing Joe's permit on my pack.We set up a tent tonight. Jeane refused to spend another night on the hard shelter boards. Jeane dined on Mac-n-Cheese. I on Ramen, while we talked to some campers.O ya! We saw a turtle on the trail and lots of deer. The deer hang around the campgrounds - I can only assume that people feed them.
Date: 2004-07-16
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Swift Run Gap
Miles today: 11.5

Calories: Who Knows?ESD: 3Weather: PerfectWell, I broke my sister. Last night, 1 1/2 miles before reaching Pinefield Hut, she complained that something didn't "feel right" in her right knee. Doom. This morning, her right knee was markedly larger than her left.After hobbling south on skyline drive for 1 1/2 miles, we got a ride to Loft Mountain Information Center with two fellas who were picking up their wives after their wives spent a night out on the trail. I'm afraid my sister's injusry made them uneasy about their wives' adventure.From Loft Mountain Information Center, the trail angel Tom Browndrove nearly an hour to pick us up and nearly an hour back to Rockfish Gap ... for nothing but our sincerest thanks. What a guy! Unable to hike, Jeane acted as my support crew. I slacked for the first time! Nice ... very nice.
Date: 2004-07-18
From: Big Meadows Campground

To: Pass Mountain Hut
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: light rain

Calories: DunnoESD: 1Weather: Cool with dense fogOK. I'm fessing up for all you purist. I yellow blazed 7.1 miles today. O horrors. I've yellow blazed and slack packed! O my!Well, everyday I want to go home and every day I want tjust one more day on the AT.My friend Lynne drove from Arlington today to picnic with me and walk a few miles. Hurray for Lynne. It was great to see her.I saw a big band of hikers today - Rooster, Guy, and the three Pass brothers. They're at the shelter with me tonight along with several southbound section hikers.My cold is lousy - swollen throat, runny nose, and dry, painful cough. Yuck. As a result, I'm very tired. Off to sleep.
Date: 2004-07-19
From: Pass Mountain Hut

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Calories: Can't count with all the burgers and fries and candy barsESD: Could be as highas 4. The folks at Elk Wallow Way Station kept their distance.Weather: Hot, mostly cloudy with rain showers.I'm waiting out a rain shower on the middle peak of Hogback - I think. I mean, I'm sure about the waiting and the rain, but not about the location. I haven't lost my marbles.I'm on the prch of a ranger brown cabin next to 3 towers and a brick building. 2 of the towers are linked to the cabin via large wires. I'm a little afraid of what that might mean if lightening joins the mix of rain and thunder on this peak.The rain seems to be stopping. Figures. As soon as I dig everything out of my backpack to find ( and get intimate with ) a King Size Hershey's bar, the rain stops. It could be temporary, but the sky is getting brighter.I will be a shortish day today, like yesterday. I seem to have 13 mile feet, 15 mile legs, and 10 mile heart. If only I could cover 20 miles a day sitting on a log reading, writing, dreaming, and napping. I guess, in a way, I could. But not in a way that puts miles behind me.The rain has stopped. What luck to have found shelter just in time for the short shower (1/2 hour).AT CAMPI saw a bear walking on the trail toward me. I instinctively turned to walk away when I recalled that it is probably more afraid of me than I of it. I have the advantage of reason. I clapped my poles together, and it darted into the woods. I also have the disadvantage of imagination. Seeing the bear scared the wits out of me. Now I am witless, shaken, but awed. Yes. Awed.After recovering from the bear sighting, I settle into the worry of being alone at a shelter. I hope I sleep, but if not, I will at least get an early start tomorrow.
Date: 2004-07-20
From: Gravel Springs Hut

To: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: light rain

Calories:God I'm hungry.ESD: 5Weather: Hot and sunnyWords cannot fully express what my socks smell like. Wet dog, sweaty feet, mildew, rot, all rolled into one. They're pungent. My shoes are just as bad. And my feet are never dry. They're pruney, as if I'd spent the month in the bathtub. It's nasty.Leaving Shenandoah National Patk today nearly brought tears to my eyes. This trail is making me crazy. Last night, alone in the shelter, every mouse's movement sounded like the tread of a rapist on the trail. I hated it.Love. Hate. Love. Hate. Love.Again, everyday, I want to go home. And every day, I want one more day outside. Stay. Go. Stay. Go. Stay.
Date: 2004-07-21
From: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

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

ESD: 4Calories: BazillionsWeather: Hot and muggyIncluding blue blazed trails to shelter and road walking to and from town today, I¢ve finally broken the 20 mile mark, 20.5 to be exact. And I gotta be honest. It doesn¢t feel like some sort of triumph of mind over body. It hurts, mind and body. So I¢ve done it. And even though it would get easier were I to do it again and again, I¢ll pass.The Rod Hollow Shelter like the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter has a separate pavilion for preparing and eating food - a brilliant idea given that mice infest the shelters and every guidebook recommends you cook away from where you sleep. Though, of course, every self-respecting AT guidebook author knows that most of us cook in the shelters and some of us will cook in our sleeping bags if it¢s cold enough. I did.I¢m sharing the shelter again tonight with the Pass brothers ¢ Hamish, Flannel Breeze, and Bam Bam ¢ plus Rooster and Guy. There¢s also a talkative southbounder (tongue loosened by whiskey) who thru-hiked sometime in the 80¢s.
Date: 2004-07-22
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Blackburn Trail Center
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: overcast clouds

ESD: 5Calories: High thousandsWeather: Hot and rainyToday was the day of the ¢Roller Coaster¢, a 13.5 miles section with ten ascents and descents. And we¢re not talking about little, 50 feet climbs. We¢re talking about heart pounding, 30 minute slogs to viewless peaks and nearly immediate descents. I am pooped, P.O.O.P.E.D.I passed through Snickers Gap today with the Pass brothers. After a short detour (that seemed hellishly long on a hot day of ¢coasters¢) and a ride from a kind local, we all found our way to the Horseshoe Curve Restaurant. FYI. At Snickers Gap, follow the AT across Va. 7. When the trail turns right, follow the Va. 679 straight then left to the Horseshoe Curve Restaurant. Do not walk .3 miles ¢west¢ on Va. 7. It goes ¢¦ nowhere.It started to rain hard once we were inside the restaurant. Ha! Rooster and Guy had left before we arrived and were caught in heavy showers. Sometimes it pays to be slow.The food at Horseshoe Curve Restaurant was great! I tortured my gut with hot wings and onion rings. The men got burgers and fries. We filled our bellies beyond capacity and when it came time to pay, we were short ¢¦ all of us, and we couldn¢t pay with a credit card. There we sat, slack-jawed and clueless after learning there were no ATMs ¢nearby¢. Tracee, the owner, took our names, gave us a business card, and asked us to mail her the difference. A real-life I.O.U.! Many thanks to Tracee and the hikers before us who earned her trust. Tracee, your $4 is on the way!The ¢Roller Coaster¢ continued after Snickers Gap until I crossed the Virginia, West Virginia state line. The crest of the last ascent swung by a rock outcropping and view of a West Virginia valley. And, I swear, West Virginia looked different from Virginia.There¢s probably a logical reason for this. All through the Shenandoah Mountains, our occasional vistas were of the Shenandoah Valley and possibly the Appalachian ridge on the other side of the valley. In West Virginia, I would guess the two ridges merge; the valley of farms and the distant second ridge in Virginia were gone.A light rain fell and fog filled the woods as I walked from Snickers Gap to Blackburn Trail Center. By the time I arrived, it was dark, and the fog made it impractical to wear a headlamp. I was exhausted and my feet were so very tender. I arrived cranky, but to a happy group that included two new northbound hikers and a spaghetti dinner.
Date: 2004-07-30
To: Ann Arbor Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

In conclusionI have done and amazing thing. In 13 weeks, I have walked over 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. And I have done it alone, though only technically, for I always had the relentless love, patience, and support of my lover, my friends, and my family. And of course, I had the comraderie of fellow hikers and the assistance of townspeople, ridge runners, rangers, maintenance crews, and trail angels.Now that I have finished and moved indoors, I am reminded through ethereal moments, like glances into my past, of what I will miss. I will miss raucous bird song in the morning and the insistent whipperwill at night. I will miss the smell and taste of mountain air and the sweetness of spring water. I will miss the order and simplicity of the Trail and the broad acceptance of those who share it. And what I will not miss, I hardly remember.People ask, ¢Where were the best places to hike?¢ They were not places but times. I tell them, hike in the snow when hoar frost trims the trail and coats leafless tress, when the vistas are long, unobscured, and white. And I tell them to hike in the fog when the mist and you play peak-a-boo with the forest. Walk in the rain when the woods are saturated with color and your footsteps are accompanied by rain drops. Stop and close your eyes on a hot summer¢s day and listen for the crescendo of insects. Dress for the weather, but resolve to be cold, wet, or hot so your discomforts can be forgotten and your senses keen.
Date: 2004-06-09
From: Maine

To: Atkins
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Today is my nineteenth birthday and I am so excited to be getting on the trail! Dyed my hair after waking up and getting my pack together. Took a shower, took one last look, and drove away fighting with Jon. Oh well. I tried to make it easy for him, but he just doesn't quit.
Date: 2004-06-13
From: Atkins

To: Pearisburg
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up around nine, ate breakfast, went and waited for a hitch for about three hours. This lady in a little Mitsubishi picks us up, on her way to see her boyfriend, in WV. She lives in Knoxville, but had just visited Florida. She had coral fingernails, just like my mama's. We actually went past Pearisburg, to Ghent, and ended up getting a hitch with this businessman in a Navigator. He owned a spring water bottling company, a natural gas company, and an ice factory. Crazy stuff. Made me think of Bruce Lee. "Ha ha ha... that was dope? Dope in ice?" I love the way we translate things into English. Anyway, he took us all the way to Princeton, which is just southwest of Pearisburg. We hitched at rush hour in a police-led intercection. Young girl picked us up, took us to the edge of town, I sat in her baby seat. Got picked up by a pickup, then another. Then Cliff lost his tarp, and he and Tippy went back to get it and passed us on their way back waving. We got a hitch in three seconds, and into Pearisburg we went. Stayed at the hostel, met Underfoot and drank a 24 oz with him... he's Australian, loves traveling and music, works on co-ops and organic farms all over the world, a really wonderful man. Hiking out today with Icebreak and The Dude. It feels great! Hope everything works out- his pack weighed in at fifty lbs!                         I'M BACK, WORLD!                                                   Seraphim
Date: 2004-06-13
From: Pearisburg

To: Catawba
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: broken clouds

Hard day... at least it felt like it. But I kept going, listening to my discman, I finally reached my view... obstructed by fog. But then it parted just long enough, like a stage's curtains velvety parting, and I enjoyed the fruit of hiking all day uphill. Icebreak said it was like being chastised. Came into the shelter in the fog- Underfoot! He had hurt his knee and had to stay for a few days. Going to sit back, smoke a clove and smell the incense.                                                          Seraphim-------~*