morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-10-03
From: Teahorse Hostel, Harpers Ferry

To: Blackburn Trail Center
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: broken clouds

Due to several variables we did not start the Roller Coaster today. I guess the main problem was that we stayed in Harpers Ferry last night and I forgot to purchase a journal last night. So, this morning we went to the post office and then the hunt for the journal began. I had no idea how big of a hassle it would be. We didn't leave HF until 11:15. For that reason AND because it was in the 80s and extremely humid, we hiked to the Blackburn Trail Center. It is a really nice place. I love the porch - it is all screened in and is three sides of the house. Totally awesome! We're here with Captain Gutz.I am feeling despair that we have so little time left to finish the trail. Heavyweight reminded me that we don't have to finish the trail this year, but I want to. He does too. I think we can do it if the weather holds out. Also, if my legs hold out.Heavyweight wants to do a 17 mile day tomorrow. I have my doubts about that. It would be the entire Roller Coaster plus the distance from here to get there. Maybe we can do it.The stink bugs are getting out of hand. They're frickin' everywhere! We stopped at the David Lesser (?) Shelter about 3 miles before here and they were all over the railings and register box and... everything. One flew into my face as I was relaxing. GAH! Then we went to a view and they were on the rocks and flying around. I was going to send my dress home, but since the weather was to be so warm these next few days, I kept it. I'm glad too because I'd have probably passed out today. I don't think I've sweated this much since Maine! It was just dripping down my face and neck. My arms and legs were slick with it. Yuck. I suspect tomorrow will be similar. My feet are getting used to the new shoes. It isn't terrible, but they certainly hurt a bit. I think they miss the gel insoles that I had in my sneakers. No more soft footsteps for me.Earplugs tonight. A mouse is nibbling...
Date: 2012-10-04
From: Blackburn Trail Center

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we woke up early. Captain Gutz had some medicine he had to take at 6:00 and his alarm went off. Then it went off again a few minutes later. I woke up even through my earplugs that I put in so the mice wouldn't keep me awake. We left the BTC around 7:30. It was foggy and overcast. It didn't really lighten up until about 9:15 or so. It was another sweaty day. Whew! The high temperature yesterday was about 85 F and today was supposedly 81 F.We hiked about 18 miles today (including side trails). It was pretty rough toward the end of the day. The Roller Coaster really wasn't as bad as I had feared, but I'm pretty beat. I was feeling awesome at mile 13, but I kind of petered out after that. We are at the Rod Hollow Shelter ... eating pasta sides we got out of a hiker box. There is a nice pavilion here so if it rains we can cook and eat at a covered picnic table. It is not raining, though. Just sayin' - it is a nice consideration at a shelter. We've seen several like that lately. I love it. We pretty much hiked from sunrise to sunset. I remembered the guy from a (seemingly) long time ago who said, "If you can hike Maine, you can hike anything!" Today I felt like that was true. Thanks, guy.Oh, and just sayin' WE'RE IN VIRGINIA!!!
Date: 2012-10-05
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Menassas Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: clear sky

What a day! We planned to meet Dann Ladd at 11:00 Am at a place called Signal Knob just south of Sky Meadows State Park. That meant we had to hike 2 miles per hour starting at 7:30. We planned to leave around 7, but didn't. Ha. Typical.We hike what I'm calling "the kiddie roller coaster." It wasn't bad, actually. Just up 50 or 100 feet and back down again - several times. We knew when we were walking through Sky Meadows. It was gorgeous! Then to Signal Knob. Well... there was no sign for the knob. We passed it and didn't realize for about .8 mile. Grrr! We hiked back up to where we guessed the trail was. Nothing said Signal Knob, but there was a sign for G. R. Thompson Wildlife Management area. After much texting, trying to phone with really poor signal, and more walking (and 2 hours) we finally met up with the Ladds! Oh, we also got a ride from some woman. YAY!We went to eat at a place that sells apple donuts, so we had to try them! I still prefer Atkin's cider donuts. Then after a nice, long, and leisurely lunch we went to Target. I was going to just get a new memory card for my camera, but ended up getting our entire resupply there!Afterwards they brought us back to where we had hiked and we packed up and moved on. The shelter was only a few (maybe 2) miles from where they dropped us off. YAY! A 13 mile day that didn't totally hurt and a nice lunch with old friends AND a resupply. That is a good day! Especially since Heavyweight's 1 lb burger was funny to behold. I swept out the shelter of a zillion stink bugs. I still can't get over how many there are. It kind of creeps me out. I was finally satisfied with my work, so I went to get the trail register. I had to flick a stink bug off the latch to the cupboard where it was kept. My scream upon opening the register box door may have been heard in the next county! The shelter book tumbled out with another book and they were INFESTED with stink bugs. Literally hundreds of stink bugs had been lurking within the pages of the shelter register. Maybe a nest had hatched? Soon the bugs began crawling across the floor toward me. ME!! I was horrified - perhaps scarred for life. I didn't like them before, but now I may never get that image out of my head. I drew a picture of it in the register book after Heavyweight cleaned it of bugs. They were everywhere! Flying into me, crawling up my legs, crawling around the outside of the shelter after Heavyweight did the best he could to sweep them out. Every time one comes near me I scream a little bit. I can't even help it. I swear, I'm traumatized. Tonight I made my first legit fire. It is still going about an hour later, so I think I done good. It isn't even 8 and the stars are out. Ahh, autumn. At least the stink bugs stop moving after dark. We're at the Menassas Gap Shelter. It was about 84 F today. I hear a barred owl. <3* * * * *There are other photos posted from today. You can't put more than one picture on the journal. Or if you can, I haven't figured it out.* * * * *
Date: 2012-10-06
From: Menassas Gap Shelter

To: Tom Floyd Wayside
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning before I got out of my sleeping bag I heard a noise in the bushes. I scooted forward and what did I see? A small black bear! I thought Heavyweight was in the privy, but he was getting the food. Sadly, he didn't see the bear because I said "Hi!" to it. Then it ran away. I feel bad because Heavyweight didn't really see the last bear either.It was a clear day until about noon. The wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and dark clouds moved in. Luckily, it only sprinkled for about 2 minutes. It remained windy for the rest of the day, but the sun came out again. Phew!My feet hurt quite a bit. Stupid feet. When we got to the shelter at 4:00 it was already full. I set up the tent while Heavyweight got water. It was not easy because the tent site was so darn rocky. I dug out several rocks so we could have a relatively comfortable night's sleep. It is pretty chilly. We saw two deer... and tomorrow we hit Shenandoah National Park!!
Date: 2012-10-07
From: Tom Floyd Wayside

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 17.5

Today was a momentous day. We entered Shenandoah National Park!! We actually woke up at quarter to 5 this morning, but went back to sleep until 6:30. We hiked to Compton Peak, North Marshall Mountain, South Marshall Mountain, Little Hogback Mountain, and Hogback Mountain. Our highest elevation today was about 3,350 ft. Oh wait. I see a 3,400 ft marking in the book. We hiked between 17 and 18 miles today. We're stealth camping at a lovely site around 2,800 ft.The other notable thing about today is the weather. It is cold. It has been overcast with some form of precipitation most of the day. My lease favorite was dirzzle. In any event, it is cold. Damn cold. I can see my breath here in the tent and it is supposed to go down nearly to freezing tonight. Waaah! The real issue is that so much of our stuff is wet. I hate wet and I hate cold. Good thing I have a zero degree sleeping bag. We tried chili flavored Ramen tonight. Not my favorite. Oh, and Shenandoah is GREAT hiking. I love it! Brrrrr.....
Date: 2012-10-08
From: Stealth Site

To: Skyland Resort
Miles today: 18.0

This morning was cold! Cold and damp. It was difficult getting up, but we did. Just as we were leaving, Heavyweight noticed something odd. They nylon strap from one of his hiking poles was gone! Something must have chewed it off in the night. The other pole's strap looks like it was in the process of being ripped off as well. Crazy - and less convenient for hiking. :/We hiked. I'm sure it was the only way to warm up. Basically we can do 4, 13, or 20 miles if we want to hike hut to hut. Not convenient for us at all. So, today we hiked somewhere between a 17 and an 18. We are at the Skyland Resort. We wouldn't be here if I didn't totally freak out. The cold and the wet really get to me. It is difficult to figure out how to stay warm enough to not sweat and to not freeze. Top that with not knowing where you'll be able to stop for the night which is going to be near freezing again so you know your stuff isn't going to dry out and you'll have to put on wet stuff in the cold morning and I freak out. I didn't warm up until after I had a hot shower and put on my long johns and fleece. My body just doesn't warm up when it is this cold out. Tomorrow isn't supposed to be as cold or wet. Hopefully that is true. We are also definitely stopping at Bearfence Mountain Hut, so I don't have to guess at how far we're going to hike. Sixteen miles.It is very late now. 10:15. Must sleep. Clean. Dry. Warm. Bed. Thank you, God! For the first time today I very much doubted my ability to finish this hike. Still gonna try.
Date: 2012-10-09
From: Skyland Resort

To: Bearfence Hut
Miles today: 15.9

Today was so much better than yesterday weather-wise. We hiked almost 17 miles today including side trails. We didn't start hiking until about 9:30. It was fairly easy going, as all of Shenandoah has been, but maybe even more so!We stopped in the Skyland gift shop before heading out and found a thermometer keychain for me and Heavyweight found some gloves. I think he was happy with the purchase.Lunch was at a nice overlook where it was sunny! Then we stopped at Big meadows Wayside area. We looked in at the Visitor Center for quite a while then got our resupply. It was then that we realized we had 3 hours of sunlight left and 7.5 miles to hike still. Yikes! We hiked hard! Luckily the trail over Hazeltop was very easy as was Bearfence Mountain. We made it to Bearfence Hut in exactly 3 hours.There were two guys here already, but they are staying in a tent up the hill. They are father and son hiking the AT through the park NOBO as far as they can get. They seem to be having a good timeThis shelter definitely has mice. I just swept some turds away from our sleeping area. Lovely. There was also some earwig type of bug crawling around. Bluck!I guess we're going to try to hike a 20 tomorrow. If we start early enough, I bet we can make it. The following two days we'll do 13s. The trail looks more difficult though. We have completed 58% of the trail! YAY!My hand is getting frozen. It is also 8:40! Good night!
Date: 2012-10-10
From: Bearfence Hut

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning we saw a young buck on the trail and this afternoon we saw a six point buck. The six point guy was a lot more timid. Yesterday we saw three young deer grazing together near Big Meadows and later on an older deer. The great thing about national parks is that the animals, some anyway, aren't afraid of humans. I suppose that is also the bad part. Alas.We are at the Pine something shelter. We hiked 20 miles to get here!! Like - what? I remember thinking that I'd never be able to do a 20 over anything other than flatlands. I guess I was incorrect. My feet are killing me, though and I'm quite happy about our 13 mile day tomorrow. Today I wanted to stop around mile 14 or 15. Then dark clouds came in threatening rain, so we pushed for the shelter. I hiked ahead while Heavyweight got water. So, he walked nearly a half mile more than me and we got to the shelter at almost the same time. Crazy! Anyway, I'm glad and maybe a little proud of me... but pride comes before the fall.... Tired zzzzzzzz
Date: 2012-10-11
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Blackrock Hut
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

We are sitting at the Loft Mountain Wayside where I just paid $20 for a cheeseburger, fries, and two milkshakes!! Outrageous! We are sitting in the delightfully warm sun. My new thermometer is not accurate, sadly, but maybe moreso than some of the others here. I just looked at one in the store here that said it was 45F inside. WRONG! Mine says 46 F outside, but a thermometer on a building read 40F. Who knows? Probably the 40 is correct. My nose didn't stop running while we were outside. I have liberated some relish from the restaurant here. Hopefully it will hit the spot with my cheese sandwiches. I stink. I don't remember if I've written this or not, but even though we have dubbed ourselves "TEAM GRANDMA" I also think we're team "Skunk Cabbage." I'm skunk and Heavyweight is cabbage. We smell.*   *   *   *   *   *Later...We are now at the Blackrock Hut eating dinner. Earlier we also stopped at the Loft Mountain Camp Store and Heavyweight had a burger and two beers. My stomach was acting up a bit, so I was glad they had a restroom. We sat with a very nice couple hiking north. Then a fellow named Steve. Then we stopped at another picnic area about 3 miles or so down the trail. We laid in the sun relaxing. It started to get cold so we hiked on.At Blackrock Mountain we climbed up to the summit. It was very windy! We are here with MIG, who was at the shelter last night and Jim who is very interested in shape note singing. I doctored my couscous with jerk seasoning and black pepper. It was a good decision.It is getting chilly and dark. Happily Jim is going to make a fire. He has written a four book fantasy series which will be published for Kindle pretty soon! It is called The Talisman of Darien Kaur by R. James McCord. We sat by the fire 'till 8:45. Here is the Amazon link to Jim's books!http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=R.%20James%20McCord&page=1&rh=n%3A133140011%2Cp_27%3AR.%20James%20McCord
Date: 2012-10-12
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

I just got swooped at by an owl! It was pretty scary, actually. It stayed nearby and I snapped a picture of it. There are also lots of stick insects here. One was on my pants and I think I broke off its leg. I feel pretty bad about that, but I didn't know it was there. Poor guy.This afternoon we saw two squirrels run into a hole in a tree. I stuck my camera up to it and took a picture. A squirrel peeked out at just the moment I took the picture (!!) so I flashed it in the face and I feel bad about that too, but I also laughed. Poor squirrel. I also took a picture of two people sleeping in their car. HAHAHA! That also made me laugh. Hard. Seriously - "What did you do on vacation?" ... "Oh, we went to a scenic overlook and took a nap." The weather has been absolutely perfect the past few days. I'm so grateful for that. I hope it keeps up. It has been difficult to keep my mood happy when I feel slow and tired and non-motivated to hike anymore. I don't know why I feel so low when the weather is good. Perhaps because I know it is just getting colder and colder and the days keep getting shorter and shorter. That is the one good thing about hiking NOBO - the days get longer as your strength grows. Tomorrow we go into Waynesboro and Sunday we take a zero. Thank goodness!! My body has been asking for one for a while. Well, since we did our 20 mile day, so... 3 days? Or maybe since Port Clinton, PA. All I know is that I'm quite tired. Tomorrow is 7 miles. I didn't fall asleep until after 10 last night. It was so cold. Tonight will not be a repeat, I hope. There is a racetrack nearby that we can hear from here. Perhaps earplugs again...
Date: 2012-10-13
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

To: Budget Inn, Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: broken clouds

Budget Inn was the only place in Waynewboro with a vacancy. The reasons why it is budget: moth eaten curtains, busted door frame, duct taped and exposed sink pipes, 31 channels that may be stolen from DirecTV, chipped molding around sink, dented fridge, blood (?) stain on the bathroom wall, cracked sink, someone else's hair around sink plus powdered stuff - maybe soap, we were required to pay cash (!), a smokey "non-smoking" room, incorrect time on the television, scarily rumbling pipes from the other room... or in the walls, chipped/peeling paint. Hopefully we'll survive the night with no bugs... though I think there is a slug in the bathroom. Allegedly this was their "best" room.This morning, our 7 mile hike seemed to be interminable. I've been looking forward to getting here for a while for our zero, so I guess my anticipation to get here ruined my hiking. There was frost on the ground on Calf Mountain. We were looking around for signs of the bobcat, but I didn't see anything. I cried this morning and told Heavyweight that I want to go home. I'm so tired and cold. I couldn't warm up today because of the wind. My hands were freezing. The problem with my gloves is that my hands sweat inside of them and then my hands are soaked and not warm. Then the skin peels off of my hands because they've been damp all day long. I want wool knit mittens with an outer wind-breaking shell. I told Heavyweight that I am going to go home and said that he could hike on without me if he wanted to finish. I don't want him to do that, but I don't want him to resent me for the rest of his life for not finishing the AT in one giant thru-hike. He is considering it...
Date: 2012-10-14
From: Budget Inn, Waynesboro, VA

To: Quality Inn, Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It has been decided. Heavyweight chose to come home with me. I feel sad and like a failure, but also relieved. Heavyweight said that he seriously considered hiking on, but he'd feel lonely without me. I am so glad because I want to finish the trail with him, but I have no heart to do it right now. He is such a great guy. Now we can finish the trail together someday. Thank God we're not at the Budget Inn again. It was horrible, but we ate at El Puerto yesterday which wasn't bad. We get the train home tomorrow from Charlottesville. I think that is the town. I feel so conflicted about this.
Date: 2014-03-24
To: Section Hikers
Miles today: 0.0

Many things have happened since my last journal entry. Heavyweight and I got married about six months after we got back (YAY!), we moved into an apartment, we're back at our old jobs, and we've both gained quite a bit of weight (I'm up 15 lbs). Upon returning home, I didn't want to do ANY physical activity. I rested on the couch or my bed and sat at my desk at work. My feet hurt for about a month (at least every morning) and it was painful for my knees to walk even on a slight downgrade for at least three months. I wondered if my knees would ever get better. I'm much relieved that they have (seemingly) fully recovered. My work informed me that they would not be allowing me to take another extended break from work to finish our hike. This was disappointing, but understandable news. With all the bustle of a wedding and honeymoon, moving, and being newly married, I couldn't even think about continuing our hike. As time passed, it gnawed at me a bit more each day. So, plans grew. Slowly. Finishing the trail, for some reason, is something I HAVE to do in my life. So, I requested some time off from work - one month - in the hopes that this smaller amount of time would be acceptable to them. IT WAS!! So, Heavyweight and I will drive down to Virginia in mid May and attempt to hike the remainder of Virginia in one month. We are contemplating taking two cars to make hiking faster, but that adds complications of hiking to a parking lot. The details haven't been worked out yet, but we're both excited.Now to just lose some of the excess weight...
Date: 2014-03-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, We have two weeks left before we're hiking again. We haven't trained enough, we're both fairly overweight, and we haven't planned very much of what we're going to do. Am I nervous? Oh yes! What do we have? Dinners for 1/2 of our trip.ClothingShoesPacksHiking PolesSleeping bags and bed rollsWe haven't done this in so long that I can hardly remember what we need!What we need:More foodA couple of missing pages from our AT GuideVitamins & GlucosamineStrength!!!Wish us luck!
Date: 2014-05-19
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.4

Well, Heavyweight and I are back on the trail. We are sectin hiking now since we failed to complete the trail in one big swoop. This section will be for a month and we hope to finish Virginia in that time. We have a little bit over 400 miles to go to complete the goal!Today was pretty much the quintessential weather for hiking. About 70 degrees F with a cool breeze and partly cloudy. Just beautiful! We hiked 14.4 miles today. We saw wild azalea, purple flowers that I don't know, and white and yellow and other purple flowers. We also saw one lone lady slipper. There was also a smattering of poison ivy hiding in the plants around the trail. We will have to be very careful to not get it.I had two ticks on me today. One was crawling on my arm and the other was burrowing into my forehead. Luckily I saw it in the car mirror. We also saw a pheasant. I like that kind of wildlife much better than ticks. Oh, I saw a STINK BUG in McDonalds this morning. I hope that isn't a pre-cursor of things to come.We drove in D.C. rush hour this morning which was crazy. There was a one lane bridge that Steven did not appreciate. We were separated for a while when driving, but everything turned out okay.So, we have two cars so we can slackpack these 400 miles. Are we lazy? No. We want to cover more miles than we could with packs. It is distance-economical.We are sleeping at Schadenfreude Lake Campground tonight. Not really, but I can't remember the name. We are in site A6. We are hearing what I assume are whippoorwills. I don't think I've ever heard any before this year. It is Sherando Lake where we are staying.Tomorrow we start off with about a 3,000 foot elevation gain! It is going to be brutal. We are both pretty tired after today, so tomorrow will be a test of will and strength. I'm not particularly looking forward to it.