morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-22
From: 2 mi past a road!

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

long day! good day! well, started off kinda rough and ended kinda rough. woke up to more rain. it stinks too cause i woke up at 2 a.m. to use the bathroom (funny thing...a bathroom. cause i didnt go to a bathroom, only to the big tree off in the woods!) and it was crystal clear, the stars were bright and it was beautiful! so going to bed in the rain and waking up to the rain was not fair! but we did sleep in until about 9. layed there for a half hour and then decided, after the rain was seemingly not letting up, to get up and try to get goin. so i rushed up and went and got the bear bag down so we could eat and we actually just ate in our sleeping bags! i know its not the most cuatious step weve takin but it was raining and it was cold! so we ate and packed up. me and oopu got off around 10:45! not too quick, but hey, i was tired. and the girls werent even out of their tent. it was the first time the guys were up before the girls! anyways...we got rollin and about 4 miles later we came across some trail majic! so me and oopu split a coke and kept on. we crossed our third interstate today (I-77) just to make note. and finally arrived at the shelter where lunch for the day would take place. and it was 2 already. the girls came rollin in about a half hour after we got there. as it began to rain again, we seriuosly contemplated giving up on pushing to pearisburg and just staying there and takin it easy for the next two days. but we decided to stay the course! so after almost 3 hours of a lunch break we pushed out for the next shelter, ten miles away! we booked it like weve never booked it before! it only took us 3 hours to do ten miles and i must say that im completely beat! my legs havent been this sore since the first day! but im glad we got here. its just now getting dark and im settled in my sleeping bag. oh wait, i still have to hang the food bag! then im goin to bed!!!
Date: 2003-04-23
From: jennys knob shelter

To: big horse gap
Miles today: 0.0

such a wonderful day! woke up to clear skies and the sun! so sooo nice! got right up and ate b-fast and packed up to leave by just after 8. todays hike was incredible. stayed up on the ridge the whole time except for when we crossed the roads. and it was relatively flat, all but the climbs up to the ridge from the roads which were definitely butt kickers! the best thing was that we have only one more day til pearisburg! and til we see mom! with lots of food. we didnt really stop much except for lunch. ate dinner at wapiti shelter where supposedly two hikers were killed back in 1980. scary stuff! so we did get out of there. we hiked on about 5 miles to here, where we are all happily comfortable in our tents! and so excited to get up and get to pearisburg as quick as possible! so, good day!
Date: 2003-04-24
From: big horse gap

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

a day of anticipation! im finally gonna see my mom today! i cant believe we actually pushed this hard and made it alive! well, at least not in too bad of shape. the day went by in a flash kinda. i guess i was so focused on getting here and seeing my parents that it just didnt phase me. although the climb down into town was probably the worst downhill weve ever had. straight down, 3 miles. not too fun. and not to friendly on the knees. but we made it finally. and as we were walkin down the street towards the rendevous motel we saw mom and mike drivin down the road so they pulled over and picked us up! it was so nice to be here. we got in the motel and ran into chaos and crumbsnatcher (and bear). the shower was so nice. it had been 10 days since i last showered and washed clothes. it was definitely time! thats the longest ive ever gone without a shower. anyways...i got all cleaned up and ate and ate and ate some more! i can always count on mom for really good food! she ven brought my favorite pillow! felt sooo good!we went to the laundromat and washed clothes. came back to the motel and went to bed. so nice to be in a bed!
Date: 2003-04-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

woke up to oopu eating! i look up and hes stuffing banana bread and fruit in his mouth. so, i got up too! and i ate. we spent most of the day in blacksburg, where the outfitter is. its also the home of virginia tech so it was a really cool college town. outfitter is kinda not geared towards hikers. more to the typical college student looking for cool north face stuff. so we just ate lunch down town and walked around a little. very interesting town. enjoyable. anyways...came back to the motel and met up with denmark. it was good to see her again. and she ended up goin to dinner with us. we went to o'charlies. very good. i think we all ate a little more than is humanly possible! it was good though. it was so late when we got done that i fell asleep in the car on the way back to the motel. but i got the pictures out when i got back and tried to label as many of them as i could. and then about 1, i went to bed!
Date: 2003-04-27
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: 12.5 mi to campsite
Miles today: 0.0

today was a lot of different things. it was incredibly sad when my parents left. then with slickrock not being with us due to knee problems. shes takin a few days off and meeting back up with us next week sometime. anyways...sad! but we did have a really good time on our zero days! ate so much. twas nice. and despite the being sad that my parents are gone, it was nice to not be in a hurry to get anywhere. we took our time getting on the trail cause we were gonna only do 11 miles. so we left around 1, after we could eat some more and make sure we had everything. we got to the shelter around 5 and ate dinner there. it was up on this huge bald that overlooked a small city and we were so close to the state line that all we could see was in west virginia. anyways...we made it to the campsite just before dark. we did catch some of the sunset. amazing from where we are. and its a perfectly clear night so the stars are shinin bright. just a good end to our first day back!
Date: 2003-04-28
From: 12.5 mi to campsite

To: 3.6 mi south of warspur shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

long day! but most of them are. today, i had a headache pretty much all day. we took our time though so it was nice and we didnt have to go that far. mr cranky pants met up with us at lunch, which is crazy because he just left pearisburg this morning. that made 19 miles for him already! definitely nuts! and he was going on the rest of the way with us. anyways...we pushed on to wind rock mt., which was definitely amazing. there was a nice overlook if you climbed up onto the rock overhang, which we did. we ended up spending about 2 hrs there so we could see the sunset. the sun went down behind the ridge across from us. beautiful! we went to our campsite just past that and by this time my head was hurting so bad and i was nauseated so it was that much worse. so the last mile or so to the campsite was completely miserable, not to mention that it was dark too. and we made it a new rule, so to speak, that we wouldnt hike after dark anymore, but i guess we like to break the rules! ! but we did get here and its nice to be in the tent and going to bed. i just hope i dont feel bad when i wake up!
Date: 2003-04-29
From: 3.6 mi south of warspur shelter

To: sarver hollow shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

good day! started out rather dim, but got much much better very quickly. as we were just getting our gear packed up it started pouring down rain. and it poured hard. and only for like 5 minutes too! just enough to get everything wet. luckily we had gotten the tent packed up already so its not wet. but after that the sun came out. it was cloudy off and on all day, which kept it rather cool which was nice. i really enjoyed the weather today though. i had a great time alone when we got on the ridge. was really able to still my heart and get real with the lord. ive been really diggin down to see what my true desires are and seeking the lord in them. but today was a really good time. i hope i will take advantage of more times like today! anyways...we pushed almost 10 miles before lunch. and just before lunch we hit this amazing trail majic! mountain dew and candy bars! the best! super dave, youre the best! definitely an encouragement cause the climbs this morning were killer. so lunch was much more enjoyable with a nice cold, crisp mountain dew (in a can too!). got rollin about 2:30 and kept on til we got here at the shelter. the climb up to the ridge was a beast. 2 miles straight up. tough on the feet. and the shelter was like .3 mi off the trail and way way down. so the climb from here to the trail in the a.m. is gonna stink! anyways...it was so nice to get to the shelter before 7. i rolled in about 6:15 and man it was nice to just sit and chill for a few minutes before doing anything! played some guitar! i had an amazing time of worship. just kinda let god lead me in a couple songs. i hope some of the others joined. hung the bear bag, got some water and just sat! even was able to enjoy some hot chocolate! thats a rare thing considering we never usually get anywhere where we have time to make it. its just been a really nice evening. just hopin for good rest. im hearing some snoring already. someone must be. i think i should give it a shot!
Date: 2003-04-30
From: sarver hollow shelter

To: pickle branch shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

it was so nice to wake up dry and not cold! it was easy to get out of the sleeping bag. and the shelter was so nice with the porch and all. i got to sit down to a nice breakfast at a table. the only bad part was the anticipation of the climb back to the trail. and we got rolling before 8:30. kinda early for the past week. the hike this morning was fairly nice. it was rocky but it was all on a ridge for like 4 miles so it was nice. a couple nice views of the next ridge. ate a candy bar! always good. we had a nice lunch at a creek so we got to wash up too! we cant seem to take a lunch break shorter than 2 hours. i dont know what the deal is. so about 2:30 we got rollin from lunch. climb climb climb! 1600 feet in 2 miles. not too bad really. and as soon as we got to the top it started pourin down rain! thunder, lightning and pelting rain. we got soaked! my feet were just sitting in water for 3 hours! not fun. so i put the sandals on to finish the way to the shelter. we got here at the shelter at around 6:30 to find that it was nearly full. definitely not room for four! but...since it was raining, they were willing to sqeeze us all in. its definitely tight. 10 of us in a shelter for 6. im kinda hanging on the edge. i hope it doesnt blow the rain in cause id be gettin wet! anyways...cranky and cire are not ceasing to make us all crack up! and im tired, so im gonna try to get some sleep now!
Date: 2003-05-01
From: pickle branch shelter

To: va311
Miles today: 0.0

the first day of our official third month. definitely a good one. we climbed up to dragons tooth mt which was so cool! we even got to climb to the top of the rocks! check pictures. the climb down from the top was freakin horrid! down rock faces like 6 to 10 feet high. we just had to make our own way down. i heard that cire just trail blazed straight down the mt just to skip the rocks. good idea. anyways...it took us 3 times longer tha i thought to get down to the hostel. so...we had to book it with the showers and all that and get back on the trail to get to the restaurant to eat dinner. i did 6 miles in an hour and a half! probably the fastest ive hiked yet. but i really wanted some good food! i just ran ahead of all of the group and got a hitch to the restaurant from joe, i believe, the guy that owns the hostel. we had the best dinner! all you can eat, good home cookin! very nice! got a ride back to the hostel, which was not the original plan, but we decided to do it anyway! so just hangin out with all the folks. playin some music, drinkin mountain dew! we are gettin out on the trail at 6 so i need some rest! good rest...
Date: 2003-05-02
From: va311

To: daleville, va.
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

crazy day! we got on the trail at 6:15 this morning. our earliest start so far i believe. we started with he climb up to mcaffee knob. definitely an incredible vista! spent a few minutes up there with everybody just chillin. tried to book it as fast as we could to tinker cliffs, which were also a few incredible vistas! we climbed down to lamberts shelter for lunch. it was kinda hard to leave there. there was a nice creek right next to the shelter and it was such a beautiful day. but unfortunately we had to get going. we had 9.4 miles left in to daleville. the original plan was to find a campsite a couple miles outside the town, but we ended up just coming to town cause its supposed to thunderstorm tonight and we didnt want to be in the rain, obviously. and since cranky and cire are with us the hotel room is only like 6 bucks a piece. not bad, so we're here and we are happy! except for the fact that my feet have never hurt this bad. ill definitely rest them tonight! me, oopu! , cranky and cire went to the chinese buffet and completely stuffed ourselves. like four plates. crazy! now we are waiting for laundry. i think we'll just watch some tv and fall asleep to a movie. nice!
Date: 2003-05-03
From: daleville, va.

To: zero day
Miles today: 0.0

we rested all day until slickrock arrived. then we thought we should do at least a few miles today. 7.2 was the most reasonable we could get. specks parents attempted to drive us up to the trail, but the road was to rugged for the van to make it up to the trail. so, we started to hike up to the trail, not knowing that it was five miles up from where we were. we figured at the most a mile. and as soon as specks parents had gone it started storming so bad. we were completely soaked after 10 minutes. then, we couldnt even find the trail! so, after 2 or 3 miles we turned back. me and cire ran down to the nearest house so we could call for a ride. eventually, at around 6:30 we got a ride from a couple soo nice people. got back to he hotel and found out how far the trail actually was from where we were. anyways...another slack pack gone bad! we have just been relaxing ever since. we ate a little, and did some more laundry. watchin tv gettin ready for bed. its been a really long day! not too excited about tomorrow! oh well!
Date: 2003-05-04
From: daleville, va.

To: Wilson creek shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

such a nice, no hurry, got to do what i wanted day!!! we woke up when we wanted. we ate when we wanted. ate some more at cracker barrel! and me, oopu, cire, and cranky pants went down to the coffee shop andjust chilled! til around 2:30, 3. cranky pants is goin to spend a couple days with his sister so we had to part ways, temporarily i hope. twas a sad day. its been really a great time hanging out with him for the past...well, the whole time really. if you read this william, we miss you already. me, cire, and oopu talked about you most of the way up here today. it would be great to have you come back! but take your time! anyways...it was just sad to part. but i know he needed the break. and its funny because the lesson that was learned yesterday was to listen to ourselves and what our body is telling us. when our body wants a break, we need to take a break. and i admire william (cranky pants) for doing just that. its hard to be the one that has to admit when you need time off, and even harder, to actually leave the trail to do it. i spent all day evaluating myself, making sure that i was still out here for the purpose of seeking the lord, and enjoying myself while doing it. weve gone through so many hard times - snow, rain, sick, and so many times...lack of motivation. but have stuck with it, together, and urged each other on and on. one really awesome insight i got from talking with cire today was that there is no doubt that god is changing me, whether i realize or not. its most likely that i myself wont notice how god had changed me until i get back home and am faced with the same situations as before and see how differently i react to them. i guess since the beginning have really expected to just have a defining moment in time along the way when i notice the change. but i remember teling myself (and others) that i didnt have any expectations of what god would do. that would somehow limit him. but its nice to rest in the fact that i can be confident that god is changing me, even if i dont see it now. i simply need to run after him. ive been stressin out and wondering why god hasnt revealed any great mystery or given me special insight yet. i was just totally shaken up today and reminded what its really about, not me, but him, god. anyways...that was todays big deal for me. we got to the shelter around 8 and ate dinner and now im here, awaiting sleep. so after and good, semi-relaxing day im off...
Date: 2003-05-06
From: bryant ridge shelter

To: marble spring
Miles today: 0.0

such a long day! first, we didnt get goin til about 9. the latest start in a while! and it was climbing for the first 9 miles! we were heading up to apple orchard mountain, which was really nothing special. theres a radar tower on the summit which is probably why the trail took us up there. anyways...it turns out that it was the biggest climb weve done yet. just over 3000 feet! i mean thats what we had to climb to get to the top, which was at 4220. ridiculous! and when we got to the top, we just came straight down! only then to go right back up. and down, and up, and finally down to the campsite! the most exhausting day yet i do believe. but it looks like theres gonna be a couple very similar days in the next week. so excited. and what happened to virginia supposedly being easy!!! its been the hardest yet if you ask me. anyways...we pretty much booked it to get here so we didnt spend much time doin anything fun so today was just miles. not cool. i think im quickly getting burned out. the past couple days have really been a struggle for me. no motivation. and i'm of ocurse physically exhausted, but even more, im mentally exhausted. i think i need a break. im thinking of taking a zero day by myself. kinda spending time alone and getting a chance to really think about things without everybody and everything (mostly the trail) being there to distract me. i dont know for sure though. just a thought. it was nice when we got here though. cire was already here and had a fire goin and everything. theres a nice stream and a couple nice areas to camp. we even saw a deer! and its right outside our tent right now just walkin around. very cool! got another big day tomorrow so im gonna get some rest!
Date: 2003-05-07
From: marble spring

To: punch bowl shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

bugs, bugs, and more bugs! this is the day of the bugs, i do believe. we cant seem to get away from them. knats, mosquitos, flies. you name it, they are pestering us all day. anyways...it was a very exhausting day, as i suspected. we went down under a thousand feet this morning and went back up to over 3000 ft this afternoon. and down, and up, and down, and up, and finally down again to the shelter where we are presently. however, the shelter is full so we are tentin it tonight. we didnt go into glasgow to get our maildrops. we are gonna push to buena vista and have our friends that are visiting take us to pick them drops up tomorrow. anyways...its been a very long day! very tired, and very ready to be in town tomorrow. im definitely ready for a break!
Date: 2003-05-08
From: punch bowl shelter

To: buena vista
Miles today: 10.6

a short, but somehow long day at the same time. the best thing about today was that we were gonna be taking showers, eating at a restaurant, and sleeping in a bed! so we just pushed pretty much to get to the road. and when we did, oh man! misty and stormy (two friends of all of ours) were there with drinks and food! so nice to be here for a break. they rented a house on some farm outside of buena vista, so we have our own house for the next couple days! and its so nice! big, old, just really cool. we went in to lexington, va for dinner. its a big college town. well, a military academy or somethin is there. so there is a lot of stuff to do there so i think we might go hang out there tomorrow. but dinner was good. we did laundry, so nice! and we are back here at the house. just chillin out, maybe gonna watch some tv before bed. we got some cereal for a late night snack. very good! im glad to be here, taking a break. theres no trail talk allowed for the time that we are here! so, we (or mostly i) dont get burned out. cranky pants, if you are reading, i hope all is well. i hope you are having a blast whatever you are doing, and i look forward to seeing you in maine!!!
Date: 2003-05-09
From: buena vista

To: zero day
Miles today: 0.0

such a good day. slept in a little, til around 8:30. and so good it was. had a wonderful breakfast made by none other than misty and stormy! some of the best french toast ive ever eaten! and lots of bacon. we went in to town just to pick up our mail drop and get anything we needed at walmart. got a great lunch at a place called country cookin. the name should give away how good it was. all you can eat! and we did just that, eat! came back to the house and just chilled all day. actually got some rest. vegged out in a recliner, did some readin, and watched tv! oh, and stormy let me drive her car! so much fun, especially on the country mountain road. that really made my day i think. anyways, we ate the leftovers that we had accumulated and also went down to wendys and got some hamburgers there. now, just sittin and relaxin. i hate that the day has to end. but its been really great!
Date: 2003-05-10
From: buena vista

To: seely-woodworth shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

today, not too bad. coming back from an amazing day off so i felt good. we had two really bad climbs, but we took em like champs! we went through some really beautiful country this afternoon. we got up on a few balds and it was amazing! despite the cloudy, foggy weather, it was quite nice. then, the storm began! thunder, lightning, rain, the whole bit! it wasnt pleasant. once again we were ompletely soaked. but we had to keep goin, like always. after a couple hours of it, the rain let up and, just as we got to the shelter the sun came out for a while. we did get here kinda early, around 6:30. so that was nice. we had time to dry out and all that before it was dark. and one cool thing, we saw an owl! it flew up right to the shelter and sat on a branch right in front of us! it was amazing. i guess id never seen one up that close before. it flew around for a couple minutes and finally stopped in a tree a couple yards out. anyways...very cool! now, once again, we are in the tent! awaiting rest. rest...