morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-09-21
From: Pinehut shelter

To: blackrock hut
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

Hit out last wayside in the shenny's today, got that famous blackberry milkshake! Sent out a few postcards from the national park while waiting for Pacer at the campground. So nice to hangout and relax, hear how pacer has been dealing with life outside the AT, doesnt sound too bad vacationing at the beach! And thanks to pacer we had BROWNIES!! I do have to admit it was sad to see Pacer leave and hike back into the woods, as we dont really know anyone on the trail around us, i think Ive said it before but missing the crew from hiking up north! Blackrock is an amazing spot! Such a suprise to come up on it, huge pile of boulders with an amazing view, overlook of so many mts, layers upon layers. climbed up on top and sat for awhile little too early for sunset but relaxing man what beauty. tommorow is our last day in the shennandoah park onto waynesboro for our next resupply. wrote a little "poem" if you can call that about my real experience out hereI stand atop a cliff in the great wilderness in the nude singing songs of wild ness into the wilder ness. I call to the creatures of the forest as the bears come frolicking, I ride the deer bareback across the wooded plane into the fog I go as the heavy dew descends fog raining down on my eyelashes thick as it freezes, the wind blows singing its own song like a lullaby....then I jump finding myself lying awake in the shelter...guess it was only a dream wait this is all a lie none of it really happened
Date: 2008-09-23
From: waynesboro, va

To: Paul C Wolfe shelter
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Yep, thats a big 5 miles for me! super nice shelter with side windows. man you gotta watch out for the acorns around here they fall and hit hard. its hard to tell if they are falling from wind or if the squirrels pick their victim and chuck the acorns at them...
Date: 2008-09-24
From: Paul C Wolfe shelter

To: Maupin shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

Just hikin along, the usual, good convo with fellow hiker challenge to chill out, relax. joked about how some hikers get "camp phobia" have to make it to a shelter (even if it means a choice between a 13 or 27 mile day)cant stelth camp and have to make it there early in afternoon, scared to hike till dark, and the only reason it was funny cause I have "camp phobia" have to make it to shelter, dont like just looking for a campsite. tommorwo is the priest mt which I have been hearing about for a long time
Date: 2008-09-25
From: Maupin shelter

To: sealy w shelter
Miles today: 18.0

so the dreaded priest climb was today...heard about this mt since we first started in harpers ferry, ohhhh man its gonna suck for you going up it southbound so many switchbacks from 900ft to just over 4000ft or so. but we prepared ourselves, armed with our mp players and music to motivate us we went up. and for the record...it wasnt that bad yeah it took about hour 45 to get up but it is just one step at a time pacing yourself! as we got further up the wind was blowing stronger and getting pretty cold, when I finished i was in tshirt and shorts stopped for lunch at the priest shelter and had to put on long pants and shirt as I could see my breath, fog setting in as rain was coming later in the day. the shelter log here was suppost to be a juicy one to read as people were confessing things b.c it was the priest shelter you know, so I was wanting to see what people wrote, but the shelter log didnt go back far enough to read what the people i know wrote, so you nobos secrets are safe as they are no longer on display to read at the shelter (at least some of them) got to the shelter little wet from the rain, settled in fast so as to crawl into the sleeping bag a shelter froom the cold, not to come out until the next morning. except for the going pee thing, man I dred getting outa the shelter in the cold rain to go pee!!! shelter was full tonight with sunday, minyon, sweet sweet, snake, and I
Date: 2008-09-26
From: sealy w shelter

To: Buena vista, va
Miles today: 14.0

Rained off and on again all day, but nothing like the down pours we experienced up north. Still blown away by how the fog creates such a beautiful picture with the trees, it hangs low, filling in all the spaces between the trees and each leaf. We have been seeing lots of apples on the trail, I look up to find the tree they are falling from but I cant find any trees with apples on them??? hard to get fresh fruit on the trail but what a wonder, the trail provides it for you first blueberries, blackberries, mulberries and now apples. I heard that one person found peaches?? The trees are just starting to turn so there are sections with mostly yellow leaves then areas with mostly red leaves. The best is when all the trees around are still green and then you have one beauty that has turned this glowing redish orange color, with the light (when it is sunny) filtering down through it the leaves seem to glow almost transluscent. Alexander Calder is an artist who created kinetic sculptures (almost like a mobile)they often had organic shapes of metal bright colors like red and then black wire that connected the shapes, anyway this one tree that comes to mind reminded me of one of his kinetic sculptures in nature!!! the shapes being the leaves and the black wire being the branches. cant wait for the whole forest to be lit up with color. We went through some bald areas, one was cold mt and the other was a ridge (cant remember the specific name off top of my head) they were mysterious with the fog but I could tell that it would be a wonderful place in the warm spring sun with wild flowers blooming, it seemed like a place you would frolik through and roll down the grassy hill, two people compared it to sound of music hill and alice and wonderland reading a book under a tree. I think it seemed like a secret garden area?? I would love to come back to this area some time. Once we got to the road to get to town, we caught a ride in the back up a truck with another hiker, Sunday. I really enjoyed watching the trees blow by, such a beautiful area so green. Made me miss the curvy roads I used to drive on all the time in CA. But we are defintly entering the south with great southern accents and missing teeth. I cant wait to experience some down home southern small cafe, with thick sweet tea and thick southern accents!!!!!!!!!!! Made it to town before the post office closed and took refuge from the rain in a warm dry hotel room. Watched the presidential debates tonight, dude guys we have a lot that is going on with our country. It was overwhelming to watch and think about all the president is responsible for and has to deal with!!!!!!!!!!! Great to dialogue with shawna about all that we were hearing!
Date: 2008-09-27
From: Buena vista, va

To: punchbowl shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

Rain off and on again through out the day, walking in a cloud on top of Rice Mt. the rain makes the greens so vibrant. Nice river walk first thing, down hill and flat. I guess there was a community of people who used to live around this creek, sometimes I get a little too used to being out in the forest and dont appreciate it but this truely was a beutiful area. A short day today as we are going to meet strange habit and her family tommorow at the foot bridge, we are really looking forward to this and are excited!!!!!!!!!!
Date: 2008-09-29
From: james river foot bridge

To: cornelius shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: broken clouds

Yeah an amazing nights sleep in a comfy bed, clean and well rested for a day out on the trail. Im going to be a day hiker today!!!!!!!! In case you are wondering, strange habit gave us a ride to the trail head this morning...we climbed up apple orchard mt, and I ate an apple on top, we walked under a natural guilotine (not sure how to spell this but the thing that chops off your head) it is a medium sized boulder that is caught or wedged in between two huge boulders. The trail had you walk right under it, scarrrrrrrrry will you be the lucky one that the rock falls onto??? not likely as im sure it has been there a longgg time. Lots of down hill which was great, part of the trail reminded me of trail in CA with the dryer deserty feel, short shrubby trees walking close to the ridge with small rocks in the sun, ahh memories. confused fellow sobos as we were headed north on trail today instead of south, and once again woke up sweet sweet as he took a nap on the trail. So you never know what is going to be coming around the next curve of trail...Shawna and I both had a small dog come running up to us and bite our feet (nothing too ferosious but you could defintly feel his teeth) i guess the dog belonged to someone maintaining the trail, but come on if your dog is going to react in such a nasty way to people please keep them off the trail...i think the dog was suffering from little dog syndrom and felt intimdated needed to try to proove himself, as tough i guess???? kinda like little guys who drive big trucks. we also had a snake that kept us from moving forward on trail, we okay I guess I was the one really scared of the snake. shawna threw a rock at it and it returned the gesture with a wild movement of the tongue towards us, so I was like man even if you make it by i dont think I could before it might come after me, and I was just being a wimpy girl when I guy who was down below on trail asked if we needed help came up and took a stick and moved it down the hill, problem solved so simply but i wasnt about to go near that crazy thing!!!!!!!!!!! and we had wonderful people waiting for us as we ended our day on trail, Karen and her husband picked us up and had cold drinks for us once again (how great are they??? SUPER GREAT!!!) They took us to walmart for a few snacks for the next few days, and let us join them for a great meal, hamburgers and VEGETABLES!! I miss eating healthy, and having a real dinner, it was so great to spend time with their family. They are very supportive of the hiker community, so giving of themselves and their time and always excited to talk about the trail, and share stories. They are so cute, Karen is so excited to spend time with us and help us out!!
Date: 2008-09-30
From: cornelius shelter

To: Sharp gap
Miles today: 17.5

Okay okay I shouldnt give Karen such a hard time about directions she did a great job getting us to the trail head today and picking us up!! We saw an amazing sun rise this morning on the ride out to the trail, the mountains are this dark blueish cold matte color with the bright orange pink ball of sun popping out just above them! What a treat, to see the sun rise like this. On the other side you could see the mountains popping out above a sea of clouds, the clouds looked like a white ocean and the mountians seemed to be just barley popping out above. Nice cool morning to start out hiking, nothing too crazy to mention on trail today. On the way to the trail we were talking about trail etiquette (okay surely you have noticed by now im an aweful speller, so please forgive the creative spelling) how around the shelters you should try to talk quietly around the times people are sleeping, Karen even told of a time that she was visiting a shelter and talking too loudly and woke someone up...then when we get out to the first shelter this morning at 8am shawna is talking loudly telling a story and walks right in front of the shelter where people were sleeping, one of them pops up saying hellow in a sleepy haze, oh shawna still making those rookie mistakes...haha!! Finished little before time we were to be picked up at the overlook, noticed a white big ball on top of one of the mountains far away (that was apple orchard mt from yesturday)it seemed so far away so crazy that we had walked from there. Driving back on the parkway we saw a fellow backpacker and right at the same time Karen and I were like we should pull over and offer him a water or soda that Karen had brought out for Shawna and I, so we were so excited that we were able to give this guy some trail magic!! Thanks Karen for providing the opportunity!! Trail magic doesnt really happen much down here after the northbounders come through, so it was just great to surprise some one with it!! BUt man shawna and I have hit the trail magic jackpot with staying with strange habit and her family they are so good to us, running us to the po today and the outfitters and another scrumsious dinner with them. Yep, another shower today and bed to sleep in!! Yet another wonderful slackpack awaits me tommorow, life is good!!
Date: 2008-10-01
From: Sharp Top gap

To: Daleville, va
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: broken clouds

Its october, hard to believe it, Ive been out here on this journey since the begining of June so Ive officially hiked into another season, at times it doesnt seem like that long but then again there are other times when it seems like we have been on this journey for a long while. We started out our day with a great homemade bfast of french toast and chai, so good!! Not a lot of crazy excitement today but met a few people hiking with other purposes. We met this guy on the trail who was working for national geographic putting out critter cameras, seemed pretty interesting but he moved on quickly before we could really find out much else. Another guy was picking up some geocash stuff off the trail, cause I guess the ATC no longer will allow geocash stuff in a 1000 ft corridor of the trail. I also learned what geocashing is, sorta like a game or searching for items in the woods. Walked through a small pasture area on trail...watch your step! Our friend was saying she took her dog out there to hike this section of trail and the dog rolled in a green cow pie, ewww green smelly dog, so at the next creek she had to give her dog a good old wilderness bath in the creek. Oh and speaking of dogs, shawna left a package of mint oreos on the floor of the room we are staying in, after coming back to the house from the trail we were all enjoying conversation you know and strange habits dad noticed one of the dogs was gone and went to see what was up so he then found their dog enjoying shawna's mint oreos, with tail wagging wildly. He brought the package of oreos down and asked just exactly how many oreos she thought were in there before their dog had a snack...it was really funny!! we think the dog ate somewhere around 9 cookies. what a great snack, i want an oreo!
Date: 2008-10-02
From: Daleville, va

To: Catawba, VA 
Miles today: 20.0

You really dont know what is going to be around the next corner on this trail...as we found out once again today, and actually several times today. I guess it was hike in your underwear day and we missed the memo. We saw two middleaged men at 2 seperate times just hiking along in their underwear, tall white cotton socks and pack. The first guy just acted a little strange as he kept looking behind him nervously, I dont know what that was about but the second guy we came up on, we were hiking faster than him so Shawna was like ohh we have a backpacker ahead, so I looked around her to see ahead and all I saw was a pack and then this white pair of tight white shorts and then I was like WHOAAAAAAAA I dont think those are shorts, those are see through white underwear, this is hilarious and quite honestly embarrasing...so we get closer behind them really to pass them, since shawna was in front of me i was just waiting to see how this would play out, so we are behind needing to pass them (usually I say like hello how are you so they know im behind them and then hopefullly i can pass them then but like i said i was waiting to see what would happen) so shawna doesnt say anything...just walks behind them for a few minutes waiting for them to realize we are behind them and want to pass but this is all done in silence and im behind shawna trying not to bust up laughing so loud!! cause all i could think of is how weird this is and how all she can see now is probably his huge butt crack and his tight white underwear (later she told me she was intently looking at his white cotton socks)so anyway he finally turns and lets us pass a quick hello looking up and staight forward we walk away quickly as I try sooo hard to hold in laughter that would have had me doubled over but I had to stand up straight and just walk in silence like nothing happened...But the nature part of today was amazing as we went to tinker cliffs which are huge rock boulder cliffs that have an incredible overlook, we took pixs for awhile and endured the crazy wind, felt like you would be blown off and then up to McAfee Knob which is also a huge cliff area that has a great overlook, there is a famous cliff area that you can sit on and get your pix that looks like you are just dangling over several feet of drop, pretty scary but an amazing pix and experience to sit there!! Then we went to a famous restaurant down the road called the homeplace which is home cooking but all you can eat and really great, man i was so hungry and this hit the spot!! what a great way to end a hiking day!! So tommorow we will dawn our full packs once again as we get back into our regular schedule of backpacking, I will be sad to leave Karen, strange habit and Byron (the family we have been staying with)they have been so great and welcoming, but all good things come to an end, Im just so blessed that we were able to spend so much time with them and enjoy their company, thanks guys for all that you have done for us!!! Your our trail angels!
Date: 2008-10-04
From: Perisburg, Va

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

So it was back on the trail today headed out of Perisburg. It was a little bit hard getting back into the normal hiking and staying in a shelter after staying with a family for a few days, but we carry on and move forward. We came across a new crew of southbounders clemson, sweet tea, spoonful, and skeeter. They are hilarious and put on a good show, harmonicas southern accents and all. It was good to see some fresh southbounder faces. A decent climb out of town today but it has leveled out considerably since, nice to have some flatter areas for awhile, maybe a chance to make up some miles.
Date: 2008-10-05
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Helveys Mill Shelter
Miles today: 24.0
Weather: clear sky

Well I started to write this journal for today and then I pushed some button and it erased it all, so here goes round 2 for today...seems that the sun hasn't been coming up until 7:15 or so makes it sorta hard to have that determination to get up early and start hiking, not to mention leaving the cozy warmth of the sleeping bag for the crisp cool morning. Granted it isnt really the cold cold air of the winter yet but it is defintly cooling off at night and in the morning. so we packed up in the dark this morning watching as it became light. We can defintly tell that the changing of the seasons is upon us each day as more and more leaves change and fall. So we started early today on trail by 8 with our pants jackets long shirt hat and gloves but by the end of the day we were back in our shorts and short sleeved shirt. Stopped off at a deli place close to trail, nice to have a fresh sandwich! And pretty much power walked the last 10 miles of the day as we raced the sunset. You never are sure who is going to be at the shelter when you arrive that day but there was a huge crew there tonight...silver potato, cracker, something else, hungarian, 4 boys from day before. I guess they have all been hiking somewhat around each ohter for a while so again it is nice to see more sobos, the biggest group we have been around since we flipped back down south. The water seems to be getting more sparce and a further walk away from the trail, but hey at least there is still water to be found! Slept well tonight...
Date: 2008-10-06
From: Helveys Mill Shelter

To: stealth camp
Miles today: 16.5

slept in today which doesnt happen much, starting little after 9am. Nice and warm to start this morning. Interesting privy at this last shelter as there is only a few slab boards that give you minimal privacy as the trail goes right by it. So the mighty pedistal has a great view of the forest but if your not careful people have a great view of you as you try to have your private moment. So as shawna and I left the shelter this morning we accidently intruded on someone elses private moment...oops! we took our time today as we took an extended lunch and found a campsite that had a swing, the AT symbol made out of bones, checker board, old car seat next to fire pit and a bed pan chair as a privy. interesting...one last climb up before we found a flat area to set up camp. So nice and relaxing today to just find a place and camp, different than having to make it to a shelter each night, so getting over my "camp phobia" had a fire tonight and able to hangout and look at the stars. we hiked with one other hiker today and i was challenged to chill out and take it a little easier not having to be on such a schedule or rather being on a different schedule to start later and end later in the day and spend more time relaxing along the way instead of blowing through trail just to get to place to stay to relax. ahh the interest in life how others have differnt ways to see life, to live life and to be. I know my tendencies are to be a little uptight, find something to be anxious about...and you know these tendencies tend to keep you from having adventures and seeing new things
Date: 2008-10-07
From: stealth camp

To: Knot Maul Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Later start again today. Had fresh apple from a tree around us, tastes so good. Nice hike up to Chestnut knob shelter. Arrived around noon and shawna is usually not too far behind me, only minutes. So when I had waited 2 hours for her to arrive i started to get a little nervous. I wasnt sure what to do, i just knew I didnt want to hike backwards and have to hike back up what I had just hiked. So I just waited, prayed, and called her just by chance she would have her phone on. I finally got through on her phone by chance and she was like Im looking for you where are you, im like well at the shelter and then the phone cut out...so I was like well...i guess Ill just hike forward so about the time i got up to start moving here she comes from the other direction on trail, i guess she had gotten off trail by accident and went down a service road that put her ahead on trail but didnt realize and another hiker asured her that she hadnt yet gone by the shelter that i was at...well he was wrong, so she finally figured out what was going on and then came back for me...but we were finally reunited and talking about the craziness of what just happened. just so glad that we were hiking together on trail again, so little set back in time today and not making it as far as we wanted but okay, we cooked dinner at a pretty creek area while getting some water and headed for the shelter! One last night before going through a town and getting a little more food, cause my food bag is getting pretty light and empty.