morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-05-23
From: Virginia Creeper Trail Campsite

To: Whitetop Mtn
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

Wow what a day. We woke up to pouring down rain so we stayed in camp until about 11 when we finally packed up to head out. Before we left Cody, one if the other warrior hikers, pointed out that in the month of May we have had 15 out of 23 days of rain!! Needless to say its rained a lot! We finally hike out and we are joined by Mamma Goose and her dog Ruby as we venture out into what could be a very wet day.The day actually turned out to be pretty good. We had a long haul up to Buzzard Rock, my legs were screaming! It's clearly been way to long since I've really hiked and they were not happy about the uphill! It was a pretty grueling one and one of the longest that we have had in awhile. But we made it up to the top and it was sunny so we set our tents out to let them dry. As we were enjoying the sunshine a dark cloud began to creep up so we packed up and headed for a campsite that Mamna Goose knew about not far away. We got to the site and had just opened packs to get tents out when the rain hit. What a miserable feeling to be soaking wet in a matter of seconds and not even have your tent up so that you can crawl I side. Needless to say we were also on top of a mountain! It's a scary situation to be in. In the craziness to get everything up Nemma's tent got pretty much flooded and Mamma Goose got a lot of her gear soaked as well. So in the evaluation of our situation it was decided that the top of a mountain soaking wet was not a good place to stay the night. Luckily we had cell service and were able to find someone to come and shuttle us back to Damascus. I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow but between the three of us we have a lot of wet gear to dry out!!I'm getting a little worried that I won't be able to catch up with Nighten Gale as she is currently 40 miles ahead. I can put in the miles since the terrain is pretty good but with the weather being so crummy I'm not sure I will be able to catch up with her. I guess time will tell!
Date: 2013-05-25
From: Whitetop Mtn

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We decided to stay another night in the Vortex of Damascus... It was probably a good thing too. The day was pretty uneventful, we did a few things around town, the sun finally came out and we were able to dry out all of our stuff, and I even got to take a nap. It was a pretty great day right up until I got sick and sick I was!! I'm just so thankful that we were in town when it happened. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning, but it wasn't any fun at all! I couldn't sleep and was getting upside often that I just decided to grab my sleeping bag and a pillow and sleep on the floor, or better yet lay on the floor since the angry ball of hate just sitting below my diaphragm wasn't letting me do anything. Neema found me on the floor around 330 and made me get back in bed. I slept for a little bit and began to feel a little bit better. This morning Mamma Goose decided to hike out, while Neema and I stayed yet another night in town. There was no way I was hiking today. We are staying at the Mt. Rogers hostel, Neema found this place as we were waiting for another hostel to open up. I slept a good portion of the day and finally ate some Subway a little while ago. With some sleep and food I'm feeling a lot better. Hopefully we will be able to hike out tomorrow.While we were at Subway tonight we had a gentleman and his son come in and buy us dinner. This is the first time that I've had someone actually buy me dinner out here on the trail. Rick and Cody had just rode their bikes 50 miles on the Virginia Creeper trail. Cody was super cute as he was laying on the table half asleep, 50 miles on a bike is a lot for a 10 yr old!! Thank you so much for dinner Rick!! I hope the rest of your trip was great!!I'm also amazed at the small town mentality of people, and maybe a little worried that I'm becoming a local... Today while I was sleeping off the sick 2 locals that we had seen as we were moving places came to check up on me and make sure that I was ok. It just goes to show that there are really good people in this world!
Date: 2013-05-26
From: Damascus, VA

To: Marion, VA
Miles today: 40.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was a little interesting. I woke up this morning feeling so much better! So Neema and decided to get a shuttle up to the Greyson Highlands so that we could see the little ponies. We brought up some carrots and went in search of little ponies. We found a few of them and fed them all of our carrots. These little ponies are aggressive! They even went after our packs... As we were walking back down to the trail we got a little pony porn. The funniest part of that whole situation was that after the male pony got bucked off he stood there and gave the crowd a huge toothy grin. It was one of the funniest things I've seen out here. Once we got done playing with the ponies we decided that we would try and hitch into Marion so we could get back on track and meet up with Nighten Gale. As we were trying to get our hitch Ambassador, Ratagasta, Machine, Hammy, and Some Peach showed up with the same idea of hitching to Marion. And so begins the best hitch ever! We had tried to get a couple of girls to give some of us a ride but they didn't know where Marion was so they declined and we got picked up by a guy with a pickup. We had 7 hikers, 7 packs, 2 saddles, and a dog all crammed into the back of the truck with no tailgate. For a little while we thought that Ambassador was going to fall out if the back. The truck driver was just going to give us a ride down to the main road but ended up taking us to where the highway into Marion intersected. About halfway there Some Peaches hat flew off, we all yelled and our driver promptly pulled over so he could retrieve it. The girls that wouldn't give us a ride pulled up behind and finally wanted to give some of us a ride. We got to the intersection and Neema and I began our hitch. We got a ride from a very nice couple and got dropped off at the hotel where Nighten Gale was. We may have yellow blazed (taken a car) into Marion and missed some hiking miles but I really don't care we just needed to get out of the vortex and get back in track.
Date: 2013-05-28
From: Marion, VA

To: Knot Maul Shelter
Miles today: 25.4
Weather: few clouds

It's great to be hiking again!!! We hiked into Atkins yesterday as we all had boxes that we needed to deal with. We stayed at the Relax Inn, It's a pretty crummy place but the owner is pretty nice. Tonight we are at Knot Maul Shelter with Roadkill, Bear Cloud, Invictus, and Danger Pants. The weather is pretty warm and amazing and the group of people is pretty funny! The next couple if days should be pretty good. We are planning a 19 mile day tomorrow, I hope it doesn't kill me!
Date: 2013-05-29
From: Knot Maul Shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: few clouds

Wow what a long day! The first 9 miles flew by and we had a great lunch at a shelter on top of a hill in the middle of a grassy field, it was a really pretty stone shelter! The last miles of the day today however were not as friendly!When we looked at the terrain it looked pretty easy, other then the big climb up to the lunch shelter it should have been pretty easy. Little did we know that the last 10 miles would be up and down and over a ton of rocks! My feeties are killing me! But it's pretty great to get some big miles in. I feel pretty good today, other then my feet. I think that my pace is even starting to pick up. I don't know if its me just being in hiking shape or that the terrain is actually starting to get a little bit easier. Either way it's feeling great.
Date: 2013-05-31
From: US 62/Bland,VA/Fort Bastian

To: Trents Grocery
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: few clouds

600 miles!!! And an 18 mile day today!!! It was a good day. We left Fort Bastian at noon today and hauled butt into Trent's Grocery. It was a pretty easy day, which was good since we had some miles to make! We also ran into Chipmunk and Mama Chip today. Chipmunk is a 14 yr old girl that is hiking the trail by herself. Her mom and dad meet her and every road crossing with their truck and camper. I think it's pretty cool what she's doing! We are currently camped out near a small grocery store so that we can get breakfast in the morning and then it's onto Woodshole Hostel tomorrow. I've been hearing about this hostel for awhile now from my friend Mike who section hiked in this area in April. He loved it, so I'm looking forward to finally being there!
Date: 2013-06-01
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: US 62/Bland,VA/Fort Bastian
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: few clouds

Today was a gorgeous day! We woke up and had one thing on our mind all day long, Subway in Bland!!! We had planned to hike to Bland, get Subway, and then hike back out and hit the next shelter... Of course plans never seem to work out the way you want then too! We took a nice little break at Laurel Creek, Nighten Gale, Pyress, Comrade, and myself decided to hike in while the rest of the kids stayed behind to swim in the river... We hauled to get into Bland and as soon as we walked down to the main road a truck with All the kids in it pulled up. And so we got abducted to Fort Bastian! We even got our Subway!!Fort Bastian is currently some land owned by Trubrit. He is planning on making and outdoor school/retreat out of the land eventually but for now it's a free place for hikers to go and camp and enjoy themselves. And enjoy ourselves we did. We sat around the party tent with a huge camp fire, slept under the pines, listened to the whipper whil all night long, had an awesome breakfast, and took a day off. We got here yesterday and can't seem to leave! It's been fun but its time to hike. So tomorrow myself, Nughten Gale, Pyress, and Comrade will hike out while everyone else yellow blazes into Pearisburg where we will meet up with them in a few days...
Date: 2013-06-02
From: Trents Grocery

To: Woodshole Hostel
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I think that I'm in love!!! We made it into Woodshole Hostel today. I made really good time and was the first person in. This place is awesome. It's an old homestead that has a huge organic farm and lots of animals roaming around. I have to give a huge huge thank you to my friend Mike Swanson who has been talking about this place for months and who also paid for my stay and my home cooked dinner! Best trail magic ever!! Neville and Michael, the owners, are so sweet and have a great thing going on. They serve communal family style dinners with food from their gardens, fresh homemade bread, and good conversation. Hands down the best dinner I've had out here on the trail! I'm pretty sure that I could stay here for a very long time!
Date: 2013-06-06
From: Woodshole Hostel

To: Pearisburg,VA
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

So here goes... The whirl wind story of the town suck of Pearisburg. Nightingale, Pyress, and myself slack packed the 10 miles from WoodsHole hostel on Monday into Pearisburg. Comrade decided to skip these miles and was able to carry the majority of our stuff into town for us. So away we went. I flew through those miles, rain and everything! Cause rain it did, and a lot! I made it into town, left a note for the girls and hitched into the hotel. I ended up getting into town about 15 minutes behind Comrade and about an hour or so ahead of the girls! It was a pretty good day hiking for me. This town is a hiker reunion! There are so many people here that I thought were way ahead of us... The trail is weird like that I guess, you always end up seeing people again. We had planned to hike out on Tuesday but heard from Amazon that he would be into town on Wed. So we decided to wait for him. It'll be good to have part of our wagon wheel back together!!We've been hanging out and getting chauffeured around by Neema and her husband Bob who drove down from Philly to visit. It's been great, we make daily Statbucks runs! It's been awhile since I've had Starbucks!!!Amazon got in on Wed, I got sick today (Thursday), just a cold, but we decided to stay today. I've pretty much slept all day and I'm hoping that I'll feel better tomorrow when we finally leave thus town!!!
Date: 2013-06-07
From: Pearisburg,VA

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: moderate rain

If ever there was a day on the trail that I felt like dying, it was today!! This cold is kicking my butt! It was also a pretty good uphill climb out of Pearisburg and it was humid and drizzling. I'm hating life but will hopefully feel better in the morning! For now I'm going to bed!
Date: 2013-06-08
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: The Captain's Place
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: light rain

I feel like I'm back in week one of the trail. The slightest uphill kicks my butt and I have to stop every hundred feet or so just to catch my breath. Not fun at all!!! But I'll make it none the less, just hope that this cold goes away soon and that my energy comes back!We ended our day a few miles short of where we wanted to get to, but with a huge climb at the end if the day and me feeling crummy we decided to camp out at the Captains Place. The Captain is a guy who owns a house along the trail and let's people camp out in his back yard. The coolest part about the Captains is that you have to zip line across a stream to get to his house. It's pretty fun.
Date: 2013-06-09
From: The Captain's Place

To: VA 601 Campsite
Miles today: 14.9

Feeling a little better today, not 100% but getting better. Today was a pretty sunny and warm. We had a really great lunch spot on some rocks with a great view. I could have stayed there all day, but there were more miles to hike. We got to a shelter and had a long debate as to whether or not we were going to hike to the next shelter. But we finally decided to hike on, really wishing we hadn't! About a mile or so after leaving the shelter we got drenched! The light at the end of that tunnel was that we were soaking wet and stumbled onto some great trail magic! Super Dave was just restocking his trail magic when we happened upon him! It was just what we needed after getting drenched and at the top of a big uphill!! So thanks for the soda, peaches, and little Debbie's!!So here I am laying in my tent, on top of a mountain, in a torrential downpour with thunder and lightening! It's awesome and I'm so over this weather!!!
Date: 2013-06-10
From: VA 601 Campsite

To: VA 42/ Blacksburg
Miles today: 4.8

It rained most of the night and into this morning so we all got a late start. We decided after looking at the weather and it saying that it was going to rain all day that we would try and make it to Four Pines Hostel. Well we didn't exactly make it there. We made the miles to the road that the hostel is on but along the way we ran into another hiker, Dixie Grits, who's son was picking him up at said road and would have soda for everyone. So we hiked with Dixie Grits to the road and sure enough there was his son with soda! We we sat around talking and Dixie Grits invited us back to his house to stay the night! Our first home trail magic!!! It's been great. There are about 10 of us here and Ryan, the son, was pretty much left in charge of all of us crazy hikers and has shuttled us around to dinner and the store and Starbucks! I guess anytime his dad gets off the trail to visit he brings the stray hikers with him so Ryan is use to all of us invading his turf. But they have both been really nice to let us shower and do laundry, and run us around! It's times like this that make me so very great full to be out on the trail with so many amazing people!!
Date: 2013-06-12
From: VA 42/ Blacksburg

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: few clouds

We ended up staying for a zero in Blacksburg. It was really hard to leave the comforts of an actual home! We didn't do much but we enjoyed the couches and a few movies and then grilled out for dinner. It was awesome. So I've been having a rough time lately. I have no desire to hike anymore! I'm not sure if its the weather or being sick or what but I really just don't want to be out here anymore! It seems like we just aren't getting anywhere and I know a lot of it is that we get sucked into towns and stay there forever. I just don't know what it is but if I had a plane ticket in my hand right now I know that I would be home instead of sitting out here in my tent writing this! We only did about 10 miles today as we got a late start, tomorrow we will hopefully do more. I guess I'll hike and see what happens. But if we make it into Daleville and I'm still in this funk I will reevaluate what I really want to be doing'
Date: 2013-06-13
From: Niday Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: scattered clouds

And it's raining, again!! I don't know why I'm surprised by this. I'm so seriously over this stupid weather! Luckily for us we had just walked out of a shelter when the thunder started rolling in so we headed back into the shelter to wait out the storm. So here we sit, only having done 10 miles again today, in a shelter once again waiting for the storm to pass... This does not help my mood!
Date: 2013-06-14
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: broken clouds

Wow what a difference a day makes. We headed out this morning and the first big thing of the day was Dragons Tooth, a huge rock structure that juts out and gives you an awesome view. It's also one of the reasons we didn't head out after the storm yesterday. You walk an exposed ridge line and then have to climb hand over foot down a bunch of rocks. It would have been less then fun doing all of that in the rain or if the rocks had still been wet.We sat up on Dragons Tooth for a little while, and I was able to talk to my mom. She usually knows what to say when I'm having a bad day and today wasn't any different. She also pretty much told me that I couldn't get off the trail. I guess mom does know best. I love that I have a supportive family and that can usually pull me out of a funk. So thanks for that!!!After Dragons Tooth we hiked another 10 miles and hitched into The Homeplace, a restraunt that serves all you can eat family style delishious food! We had all planned to hike just past McAfee Knob, but after stuffing ourselves we had some serious reconsidering to do.Chris, a friend of Nighten Gales, shuttled us back to the trail head and we decided to suck it up and hike to McAfee knob so we could watch the sunset from there.What an amazing view!! McAfee Knob is a big rock ledge that hands down has the best view that we've had so far! When we got up to the knob we were met by a bunch of friends that we hadn't seen in awhile! It was a great time and a great photo shoot! I even facetimed with my sister Jen so that she could experience just a little bit of what I was seeing. It freaked her out a little bit but it was well worth it!!Chris had brought a bunch of beer up with him, so as the sun set we all sat back and watched the beauty with a beer in hand. It was breathtaking. My mom told me earlier today that there would be something magnificent that would show me why I was still out here hiking... Well that was it, sitting on a rock ledge after having a great day of hiking watching the sunset! It truly was magnificent!!!!
Date: 2013-06-15
From: Campbell Shelter

To: Daleville,VA
Miles today: 15.4

Today was a little rough! We figured out that our original plan of getting close to Daleville today and hiking in tomorrow, resupplying and getting back out wouldn't work as the outfitter isn't open in Sunday. So we hauled butt and made it into town before Everthing closed. The day was rough because the terrain was rocky, it was pretty warm, and we didn't stop for very long all day. My feet were screaming at me!! But all in all it was a good day. After yesterday my attitude is a little better and I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back! I'm still not 100% positive that I want to be hiking but we have all decided that we are going to hike and not get sucked into towns. Hopefully this will help and we can bust out VA in the next couple weeks and finally see some progress!!!
Date: 2013-06-16
From: Daleville,VA

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm very proud of myself for today. We had all decided last night that we were heading out this morning, well this morning rolled around we had breakfast and then sat around and watched some tv until it was time to check out and then of course it was lunch time so we went for lunch... And that's where it went downhill... Comrade had lost his trekking poles so him and Pyress decided to stay another day and Nighten Gale decided to stay as well... I was hiking out no matter what, I can't get stuck in another town. So Amazon and I hiked out.And that's where being proud of myself comes into play. It would have been so easy to get stuck in town for another night but I did what I what I said I was going to. I went in, resupplied, and hiked back out. I'm sad to be leaving friends behind but I've decided that I have to hike for me. If I had stayed in town there is a good chance that I would have gone right back to not wanting to hike and I can't go through that again. I had a couple of good days coming into town and I need to keep that up. I have to say a huge thank you to Burning Daylight, I hiked with him from Springer to Fontana, the worlds of encouragement that you sent me lifted my spirits so much! You may not be on the trail anymore but I love knowing that you are still out there with words to keep us going!! It's getting texts like the one I got from Burning Daylight that makes me realize that you make some really great friends out here and even if they get off the trail or hike ahead or fall behind they are still out there looking out for you!
Date: 2013-06-17
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Jennings Creek
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: light rain

I had a good day today. I was by myself most of the day, but I think that is going to be ok. Like I said yesterday I need to hike for me. I'm sad that I don't have my hiking friends, especially Nighten Gale, but I know that she will catch up sometime, I just can't slow up and wait. I need to hike and get out of VA. Someone mentioned getting into Harpers Ferry by July 4th so that they could train into DC to watch the fireworks... This plan sounds awesome but I'm going to have to hike like crazy, 16.7 miles a day with no zeros... It's gonna be hard... Hopefully I can do it, we will see...I did 17 miles today, I was trying for 20 when the sky once again opened up and down came the rain. I was lucky and was able to get my tent set up before the storm hit. So over all it was a good day.It is a little weird, tonight is the first time in over 700 miles that I haven't been with someone that I have been hiking with for an extended time... I am with others that I have met along the trail but no one that I will ask how far or where we are going tomorrow. I'm on my own. I guess I should get use to it for a little while anyways!