morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-05-19
From: Devil Fork Gap, NC 212

To: Sams Gap US 23, I-26
Miles today: 8.7

Today was a short hiking day because we were going to Trail Days in Damascus.  Rennie, in the tent beside mine, started to stir at 5:10, and soon everyone was getting up.  I was the next to last to leave at 6:20.   For the first several miles of the hike the trail was wet, but once we reached the other side of the hill it was completely dry.  We passed a beautiful waterfall and got to one high rocky point with a great view of the receding mountains.  Everyone was done by noon, and we left for Warren's place, the Appalachian Folk School.We all took our bins out of the van and put them on tables in the picnic shelter. The plan is to go through them all and send home a lot of stuff we don't need.  I also set up my tent in the shelter so it could dry.  Warren gave Arlene and me a key to his car so that we could come and go to Trail Days.  Terri's husband picked her up to go home for the weekend.  Lizzie was picked up by a friend and is gone tor the weekend.  Bill's girlfriend Jan met him at the Folk School so they could spend the weekend together. Arlene and I then headed off to shower.  Arlene enjoyed her "Hollywood shower" (navy slang for a long and luxurious shower). Afterwards we laid down for 20 minutes to nap before heading downtown.   We met Bill and Jan for dinner at the Old Mill Inn, a restaurant overlooking a small but broad waterfall.  Randy and Rennie joined us for drinks.  Then we walked to the Methodist Church to hear Warren's presentation about his 40-year love of the Appalachian Trail.  We didn't get home till 11:30 and were totally exhausted.  That's way past our bedtime.  More Trail Days tomorrow.
Date: 2017-05-25
From: Hughes Gap, TN 1130

To: Yellow Mountain Gap
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: light rain

Today was a shorter day, and we had no detailed weather forecast except that a cold front was coming.  We knew that as soon as we stepped out of the van because it was noticeably colder than it has been. It wasn't raining when we left, but I had four layers of clothes on top: long-sleeved synthetic shirt, wind-resistant fleece with hood, rain jacket, and poncho.  We're now to the point where we're grateful for long uphills in the morning because they keep us warm.  Our aerobic capacity has increased to the point where we no longer dread them.  I started out with Lizzie, but she was on a fast track today so I soon fell behind.  I was moving slowly.  Arlene soon caught up, and we hiked together for several miles.  It was windy, and the woods were completely engulfed in fog.  At the top of the big climb there was a large bald. Momentarily we got a view of the mountains, but then the fog moved in again.  While we were on the first one it started to rain again.  The rain continued for the rest of the hike, sometimes with substantial wind.  I had taken off my rain jacket on the uphill, but now I looked for a place to put it back on.  About a mile from the end I came to a shelter and put it back on.  We hiked about a mile off the trail to camp at a road where the van could park.  Rennie, the toughest of our group, tried to put up his tent, but it died.  So tonight we are all sleeping in the van --  Bill on the box, Rennie in the front seat, and Arlene and me on the floor in the back.  (Lizzie is again staying at her friend's house.) Some of Warren's musical friends, Bob and Patty Tatum, came by about 5:45 and brought treats: hummus, carrots, apples, bananas, a mystery fruit (looks like an apricot, tastes like a plum), cupcakes and cookies. We were already  hunkered down in the van, so they joined us inside along with Warren.  We had a little party of sorts.  It was a wonderful treat to have fresh fruit.  We all had a fun time.  They said tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, then more crummy weather for the next two days. This county is on track to set a record for rain for May.  I'm sorry I had to be part of it.  Now it's time to get ready for bed, and we're waiting for a lull in the rain to go pee.  I found a plastic container with a secure lid in the garbage, so I can brush my teeth without going outside.  I'm tired of this awful weather.  I HATE cold!
Date: 2017-05-28
From: Dennis Cove, USFS 50

To: Watauga Lake, US 321/TN67
Miles today: 8.6

Today was a relatively short hiking day but a long day altogether.  This was a town day in Mountain City, TN.  We hiked 8.6 miles, then drove the van to the Appalachian Folk School (where Warren lives), stopping along the way to eat at a Mexican restaurant.  When we got to the Folk School  we unloaded our bins and packs and headed back to Mountain City to do laundry and buy groceries. Although we finished hiking around 12:30, we didn't get to sit down and take a break till about 8:30 this evening.We'll be staying at the Folk School for the next few days in a bunkhouse and being shuttled to the starting point of the hikes each day.  It's a terrific advantage because we can get a shower each day and have some real (restaurant) food.  Tomorrow we're leaving at 5 AM to allow us time to eat breakfast at a restaurant along the way.  My hikes go so much better when I've had a substantial amount of food and coffee before starting out.  In my real life I made a double espresso each morning, and I miss coffee terribly.  Today was the first day I got off the trail by accident.  Those who have read my journal will recall when I was hiking in Virginia in January I got off the trail about once a day, but up to today I had a good record here.  About a mile into the hike I came to a place where a trail was cut through high rocks.  I went straight ahead.  About half a mile past there I saw Bill heading toward me.  He said we were on a blue-blazed trail.  I looked and, sure enough, there were no white blazes, just blue ones.  (The AT is marked with white blazes; blue blazes are side trails such as trails to shelters and the like.)  We turned around and headed in the opposite direction till we saw a white blaze.  We had missed the double white blaze, indicating a turn in the trail, so I missed the turn downhill to Laurel Falls (see photo above).  The trail was a set of steep stone steps down to the Falls.  The falls were beautiful, and the trail continued along rocky ledges for quite a while following a river.When I got about halfway up the mountain of the day I checked for cell service and found that I had 5 bars.  Immediately messages and emails appeared. The first was one from a quilting friend saying that she understood one of my quilts had won an Award of Merit from the National Association of Certified Quilt Judges.  She wanted to know whether the group could have permission to post a picture of the quilt on the NACQA website and publish a picture of it in their journal.  I hadn't even known I'd won the award.  This was the first instance of my two worlds colliding.  It felt strange to be hiking up a mountain trying to figure out how to print out and send a photo release.  The last news of the day is that I had a shower.  I hadn't had one since last Sunday, 8 days ago. You can't imagine how clean I felt when I got out.  Sometimes when we go into restaurants in town we just marvel at the pure pleasure of sticking our hands in the sink and having hot water to get them clean.  Tomorrow another hike, another restaurant meal, and 20.5 more miles.
Date: 2017-06-04
From: Mt. Rogers Visitor Center, VA 16

To: O'Lystery Pavillion, VA 42
Miles today: 23.4
Weather: clear sky

Today was another long day of hiking, but I've started to come out of the funk I was in yesterday.  In order to save time in the morning I slept in the van, and Lizzie slept in her car.  Rennie came to the van at 5:00 to make coffee, and he made enough for me, too.  We started hiking as soon as it was light enough to hike without headlamps, which turned out to be 5:45.  The morning was difficult.  I had Rennie following me to keep an eye on me, and I was very clumsy and stumbled a lot.  I proceeded at a snail's pace so as to avoid any further mishaps.  We didn't arrive at the Barn, a restaurant not quite to the halfway point till 1:00.  I'd been fantasizing all morning about a burger, fries, and milkshake -- some serious calories -- but we were so late that we didn't eat.  A few miles earlier we had gotten some serious trail magic at the Lindamood School Settlers Museum.  This is an old one-room school built in 1894 and used until 1934.  The United Methodist Church in Wytheville had stocked the place with cold drinks, fruit, snacks, etc.  In addition, there was a large bin of other necessities such as toothpaste, tissues, AAA batteries, etc.  I ate an orange, a honey bun, a packet of Doritos, and a strawberry soft drink. This was enough calories so that I thought I could skip the diner.  Bad mistake. The whole afternoon I was hungry and couldn't get rid of the craving no matter how many snacks I ate.  The afternoon was better hiking.  I stopped stumbling so much and was able to pick up the pace a bit.  We hiked through some very pretty farmland as well as woods.  We finished just before 8 PM.  This is the next to the longest day, and I'm very glad it's over.
Date: 2017-06-06
From: Garden Mountain, VA 623

To: Kimberling Creek, VA 612
Miles today: 17.4

Last night Rennie and I drove the white van to today's end point at Kimberling Creek.  Warren picked us up this morning at 6:00 and shuttled us back to Garden Mountain.  We started our hike at 7:10 AM.  This may have been the easiest day we've had so far.  We walked for several miles on a ridge, descended on a nicely graded trail, then headed back up to walk several more miles on a ridge.  There were only moderate ups and downs all day, and there was not too much mud considering all the rain we had yesterday.It was quite overcast and dark when we started, but the forecast was for partly cloudy later in the day.  I again had no extra layer of clothing, but I wasn't too cold.  After several hours the sun came out, and the walk was through sun-dappled woods.  Even though we walked along a ridge there were few places where we could see out to the countryside.  The day stayed unseasonably cool.  For the past several days I've been seeing occasional small flowerings of fire pink.  Other than that the wildflower season is almost over.  (I did see two very late pink lady slippers yesterday.). I got a good look at a chipping sparrow today and also saw a red-spotted eft, and a toad of some kind.We finished the hike a few minutes after 3 o'clock.  This puts our pace somewhere between two and two and a half miles per hour.  Warren asked Rennie this morning whether we had to use headlamps to finish yesterday, and Rennie told him we came in at 4:20.  I think I'm starting to get some street cred with Warren. As of the end of today's hike we are at mile 590.9.  When I rejoin the group at Catawba next week we'll be at mile 708.3.  I'm still waiting for some true spring or summer weather.  The hike is going by so fast.  My friends Kathy and Frank picked me up at Kimberling Creek, and I'm now sitting in my easy chair in my own den.  It's so nice to be home in my pretty little house.  Tomorrow I have errands to run; Thursday I'll be off to Vermont.
Date: 2017-06-16
From: Bearwallow Gap, VA 43

To: Upper Blue Ridge Parkway, BRP 76.3
Miles today: 20.3

I woke this morning about 5:00 and discovered that my tent had collapsed on me during the night.  The condensation on the mosquito netting was getting my sleeping bag wet and didn't feel too good on my face either.  When I set my tent up last night I picked a place where there was a cushy bed of moss. Unfortunately the moss was on top of a rock, so I couldn't drive the stakes in very deep.  In the past I've gotten away with some loose staking, but last night my luck ran out.  I hauled myself out of the tent, put it back up, and went back to sleep till 5:45.This is the third consecutive 20-mile day, and I was very tired from the start.  I hiked the first half of the day with Arlene and Bill.  We stopped at a nice stream to soak our feet.  I hope this will become a daily event.  The cold water feels so good a few miles into the hike -  almost like starting fresh.We've seen quite a lot of wildlife in the past two days.  Yesterday in late afternoon Arlene and I came upon two deer - yearlings, I think.  One, a male, had velvety antlers about a foot long.  Both were in full summer color.  They let us get within 20 feet and stood looking at us.  Then they turned and walked slowly up the trail ahead of us before darting off.  We also saw several rabbits, box turtles, a toad, some snails, and a tiger swallowtail butterfly (one of the few butterflies I can identify).  We passed through some interesting land today, but the physical effort of the hike left me with not much energy to write about it.  In one place we passed through a corridor of waist-high vegetation, mostly stinging nettle (see photo) with some cow parsnip hovering above.  Wild columbines were blooming here and there along the edge of the trail (see photo), and I saw some spiderwort that was pink rather than the usual purple color.  There was a light floral fragrance in this section.  Later I walked through an area that was a hillside piled high with moss-covered boulders (see photo).  Still later I passed through rhododendron thickets, then out onto a meadow where a strange golf ball-shaped FCC tower was placed.  Much of the hike today was uphill.  This combined with the mileage made me late finishing.  I got to the endpoint at 8:15 and was just able to get my tent set up before the rain started.  Tomorrow our WOW (without Warren) days start. When I started writing this a barred owl was calling, but it has stopped now. Maybe that's my cue to go to bed.
Date: 2017-06-21
From: Tye River, VA 56

To: Dripping Rock BP mile 9.6
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: clear sky

Today was Hike Naked day, but it was a bust.   I only saw one person who approached being naked, a young man with a black and white shawl tied around his waist like a loincloth.  Later in the day he took off the shawl and hiked in his underpants.  Lizzie's theory is that hiking naked was much more popular before the cellphone era.  She's probably right.  The trail today was very rocky, hard to cross without the use of my broken left arm.  When crossing boulders it's helpful to use one hand to balance.  I had to go very slowly.  The climbs today were worth the effort though.  There were several rock outcroppings with wonderful views of the mountains we crossed yesterday and the farmland below.  Tomorrow is a town day.  First we hike 14.3 miles to Rockfish Gap.  Then we drive to Waynesboro.  Lizzie goes to the post office to pick up mail.  We check into a hotel and shower.  Then we do laundry and go to dinner.  It makes me tired just thinking about it.  But the good news is that I have Friday and most of Saturday off.  Last September my friends Susan and Bill hiked the first 39 miles of the AT inside Shenandoah National Park with me.  Since it is within the 12-month period for my thru hike I'm not going to redo them.  I'll skip the 22.3 mile day on Friday and all but 3.5 miles of the 21.9 mile hike on Saturday.  I hope to use my free time on Friday to find an orthopedist to check my wrist and take the cast off during the week of July 4.  I had hoped to write today about how we know where to go and how we know where we are, but I'm very tired and have a headache.  So I'm headed for my tent. Trail trivia: Often at rock outcroppings at high places I see several hikers texting or talking on their phones.  They're taking advantage of the cell service wherever they get it.  Several days ago one asked me whether I wanted to join them at the Internet cafe.   I couldn't because I had no service.
Date: 2017-06-26
From: Fishers Gap, Skyline 49.3

To: Beahms Gap Overlook
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: clear sky

Today was about as good as a day can get.  When we woke it was chilly, in the 50s, but I warmed up on the first uphill.  The temperature stayed cool all day, and there was a slight breeze.  The sky was blue with puffy white clouds.  I could see the cloud above and the shadow it cast on the earth below.  The trail followed a ridge that overlooked a beautiful valley with a mix of farms, woods, and towns.  We followed that ridge all day and saw beautiful views at several rock outcroppings.  The ridge curved, so at each viewpoint the scene below was a bit different.  At one of the overlooks we met a U.S. Park Service ranger.  He was out treating hemlock trees to protect them from wooly adelgids (see photo).  He was placing tablets around the base of each hemlock.  The tablet material then enters the tree through its root system.  The ranger said he can treat between 50 and 100 trees a day.  He also told us that 90 percent of the hemlocks in the park died in the infestation of wooly adelgids before an effective treatment was found.  I told him about the deer we saw yesterday.  He said the park service used to relocate deer who have become habituated to humans, but they have stopped because of chronic wasting disease. The disease is in some parts of the park but not others.  They're trying to prevent the spread of this disease.  About six miles into the hike we came to Skyland Resort and Restaurant, just a tenth of a mile off the trail.  Arlene and I went in for breakfast, and Bill caught up with us in the dining room.  I ate an enormous breakfast - malted waffle with blackberry syrup (1129 calories!), an order of bacon, a 16-ounce glass of milk, and coffee.  I'm trying very hard not to lose any more weight, so I take every opportunity to eat real food.  I left the restaurant so full I almost felt sick.  I dislike overeating, but that food held me over for nearly four hours before I got hungry again.  I also bought a large ham and cheese sandwich to eat later.  I hiked with Arlene.  Although we didn't dawdle we stopped at each overlook. At the last one, Mary's Rock, we stopped and ate our sandwiches.  The view here was spectacular. We watched hawks soaring and catching thermals below us.  We left there at 5 o'clock with five more miles to hike.  At Thornton Gap we got off the trail to make a bathroom stop at a rest area.  Lizzie was driving by, saw us, and stopped to say high.  She put our packs in her trunk, so we hiked the last miles without our daypacks.  We arrived at the endpoint shortly after 7:00.Berry report:  We saw lots of wild raspberries in bloom, lots of blueberries not yet ripe.  We ate some wild blackberries which are just becoming ripe.
Date: 2017-06-28
From: Compton Gap, Skyline 10.4

To: Manassas Gap, VA 55
Miles today: 13.9

Today is another town day.  Our hike was only 13.9 miles long, and we were done a few minutes past 2:00.  I'm now sitting on the laundry room floor in the Hampton Inn waiting for my laundry to finish and getting a few minutes of privacy.  We've already eaten (lunch around 2:30), showered, and gotten our groceries.  At 8:00 we're meeting to decide whether to accept an offer of help from an Expedition member of an earlier year.  She has offered to bring us food when we finish tomorrow or, if we stay at Bear's Den Hostel, cook us a meal there.  She has also offered to let us stay at a mansion overlooking where the two rivers meet in Harpers Ferry.  It's a Victorian house that someone bequeathed to the ATC and has million dollar views.  She has rented it for us.The logistics of this are a nightmare.  We have a 20-mile day tomorrow and a 23.7-mile day Saturday, the day after we would stay in the Harpers Ferry place. Ordinarily we'd get up earlier than usual and be on the trail at 5:30 instead of 6:00 for such a long day.   But staying somewhere other than the starting point of the hike means shuttling both the northbound (Arlene, Bill, and me) and the southbound hikers (Lizzie, Rennie, and Patti).  This would mean a later start than usual on a really long day.  And this is the day before we all go on a six-day break.The hike today was not as spectacular as the previous two days, but it was sunny and pleasant.  I saw a pretty yellow wildflower that I don't know.  We met some Jehovah's Witnesses at a road crossing who were proseletyzing and giving out cold water and granola bars.  We saw a lovely shelter, the Jim and Molly Denton shelter, that had day lilies, a solar shower, and a separate picnic shelter.  And we ended at a spot where road repair was going on, and one of the workers had been a thru hiker years earlier.  This hiking life is so full of interesting people and things.  I feel really fortunate to be hiking the trail and seeing, smelling, tasting, and hearing this path.
Date: 2017-06-29
From: VA 725/VA 55

To: Morgans Mill Rd.
Miles today: 19.1

Today is our two-month anniversary of being on the trail.  We're at mile 997.1, so we'll cross the 1,000 mile mark early tomorrow.  It's hard to believe that we're this far along already.  In some ways it seems like we just started; in others it seems we've been doing this forever.  I feel strong and happy.  I know this isn't real life, but I'm enjoying it while I can.  The hike today was through woods and fields and over piles of rocks.  In the morning the trail was in woods much like we've been hiking in for several weeks.  There we met Kirsten, a trail maintainer from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.  She was trimming both sides of the trail with a string trimmer.  She's one of hundreds of volunteers from various hiking clubs who maintain the trail. Each section of the trail is maintained by a specific club.  Kristen is responsible for a one-mile section that includes the AT and part of an intersecting trail. Since I was with Bill, the ultimate people person, we talked to her for quite a while.  She times her trimming so that the trilliums that grow in her section have had most of their growth for the year before she cuts.   We passed through Sky Meadows State Park (see photos).  Some of the meadows were open with trees at either side.  Another meadow had trees interspersed, which provided shade on a hot day.  Another section was being overtaken by various shrubs and bushes and lots of wild grapevines.  I find all of these places very appealing.  We've been seeing some huge trees recently, and I stopped to take pictures of some.  At one place I heard the cracking sound of a tree about to lose a limb or fall.  I ran past it and yelled back to Arlene to warn her.  Bill passed the tree later and said it was moving.  We met a hiker who had hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain last year and was out preparing for another such hike.  We saw a small black snake, a ring-necked snake, I think.  The end of the hike was the first several miles of a place called the Roller Coaster.  This is a 13.5-mile section of PUDs (pointless ups and downs).  Lizzie opined that it had to be given an imaginative name because the trail there is so boring.  This part of the trail has some relatively steep sections with rocks to negotiate at the top of each one.  I got off the trail at one such rocky place but quickly got back on.  It would not be a place to hike at night.  I arrived at the endpoint shortly after 6:00.  There our trail angel, Nancy Lake, had set up to provide us some wonderful snacks.  She brought hummus, guacamole, chips, crackers, deviled eggs, cheddar cheese, salsa, carrots, cookies, and a cooler of cold drinks.  Lizzie, Bill, Arlene, and I sat around a table eating and hearing stories about previous Expeditions. Nancy was a member of the 1995 Expedition and has been providing trail magic for other Expeditions ever since.  We laughed a lot and ate a lot.  I'm now settled into my little tent for the first time in many days.  Lizzie is going to hike northbound with us tomorrow so we can cross the thousand mile mark together.  I'm looking forward to it.