morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-04-09
From: Washington Mt Road 

To: Washington Mt Road to Becket Road
Miles today: 8.5

I was drinking my coffee waiting for Sidewinder to wake up.  Next thing the fire alarm goes off.  Turns out someone burnt something in a microwave. It was time for sidewinder to get moving anyway.  We ran to the coffee shop again for a terrific grab and go sandwich and coffee.  We had a pretty far drive this morning before we can hit the trail. We parked on the top of Washington mountain and headed into the woods. Immediately we were hiking in several inches of snow. It was a dark kind of woods, which also didn¢t help the snow to melt. It was quite cold this morning and we were hiking with all our gear on.  Eventually we got to a clearing where they started Logging off the mountain. the Norway spruce trees were planted long ago and turns out they are such a soft wood that all the branches are breaking and it is not native to the area. The warm sunshine felt good. That didn¢t last long and we were back into the woods. We hiked around the bog that was in the middle of the mountains.  We came to a snow covered dirt road and we¢re taking a break before we headed up into the mountain again. Went along came this young man running Down the mountain. We thought he was a trail runner. He then told us that he just saw the moose and then it was following him down the trail and that¢s why he was running. We headed into the woods a little more cautiously, but kind of thought the guy was a little crazy.  Sure enough a little ways up the trail is a bull moose standing in the middle of the trail. We stood and watched and got some pictures, but the moose would just not leave the trail. We walked a little closer hoping it would push him away and next thing he started coming towards us. We figured that¢s it it¢s time to bushwhack around him.  It was very exciting and we never expected to see a moose in Massachusetts.  Not too much further up the trail was a shelter.  Sure enough in the log bogs there were a few mentions of the moose.  As we continued we would see tracks in the snow and poop from him too.  Who knew moose liked to hike the Appalachian.  Most of the trail today was fairly easy terrain walking around bogs and ponds in the mountains. But there were so many branches and trees across the trail that we had to bushwhack a lot of the time. Often times again we questioned if we were on trail again and often seemed to be hiking in a creek.  But it was really the trail. This becomes very frustrating and slows down our hike. I¢m glad we planned a lower mileage day because it did take us longer due to these factors.  At the end of our hike it was almost 50 degrees and I was hiking in a t shirt.  Today is Easter.  Happy Easter
Date: 2023-04-10
From: Blotz road

To: Washington Mountain road
Miles today: 2.8

It consisted of meander in through the mountain across creeks on plank boards and tiptoeing across rocks today. The trail was mostly clear with some snow and a lot of mud.  The forest was so quiet this morning you could almost hear a pin drop. There was just enough rocks and leaves that we could tiptoe across without getting wet. Today the forest was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It wasn¢t until we were almost out of the woods that the birds started chirping and the woodpeckers started hammering on the trees. Before we knew it, we were out of the woods and back to our car. 2.8 miles what a breeze.   Now it was time for the 4 Hour drive back home.
Date: 2023-06-17
To: Laurel creek shelter
Miles today: 14.3

Yesterday we started by driving from Pennsylvania to Salem Virginia. We stayed at the Quality inn. In the morning we planned on meeting our friend Broccoli Rob at a park and ride. While we waited we ready the sign that the 3rd Tuesday the clean the parking lot and cars will be towed. Great now what. Meanwhile our ride is late.  I text them and he forgot. Now it will be an hour.  We then arrange to meet at 4 Pines hostel.  Where we can park our car.  This hostel has always been a tougher crowd.   We were greeted by Donna who owns it.   She was quit pleasant.  We chatted with the hikers and workers till our ride can.  By 10 we were finally hiking.   Literally today we hiked up a mountain and down the other side.  Most of the day.  When we first started a doe and a fawn came walking towards us.  Later there were more deer very close.  Even saw one spike following a hiker.  At one point we stopped and took a break.  Sidewinder sat and leaned against a log with her pack on.  When she got up I noticed a small snake. Which turned out to be 2.  Right at the log she was leaning on.  Crazy.  We continued on but the end of the day was grueling.  I was fatigued and ready to be done. We had part of another mountain to climb to get to Laurel creek shelter.  Most of the day there was no water so we had to carry more.  But luckily there was at the shelter.  We were also lucky enough to avoid the yellow jackets nest.  Some were not so lucky.  Finally we set up camp and cooked dinner.   There are 4 other hikers here.   One is a father and young son.  I played cards with him.   They were out for a weekend hike.
Date: 2023-06-18
From: Laurel creek shelter

To: Bailey gap shelter
Miles today: 14.6

I was so exhausted last night.  I fell asleep at 8:30. Kind of figured I¢d wake up in the middle of the night because I¢m  not used to  going to bed that early.   So at midnight I tried my phone one more time and finally had service I logged my trail journal and uploaded some pictures. Send a text or two. Then went back to sleep. Until the creatures of the night woke me.  Something was climbing on the tree above me.   Then a whippoorwill decided to chime in along with some coyotes in the distance. Finally fell back asleep and woke up at 7:30.   I felt pretty good after the exhausting day.  Today we started out late.  I think we needed it after yesterday. Our hike began with a huge climb up a mountain which was 1100 feet elevation in a mile.  It was quite steep.   It took all I had to climb it.  Then an 1800 decent.  This is not so easy either.    It was a tough mountain. Then another 2000 elevation climb in a mile and a half.  It was so steep at the top I really had a hard time.  I felt better knowing that Sidewinder was also struggling.  Then we clicked away 3 miles through high vegetation on top of the wooded mountain.   The ferns were as high as my shoulders.  With a tiny path going through.  Just when we thought we were going down we hit a huge rocky section along with more up¢s. Even though we were supposed to be going down.  The rocks were tough on our feet.   Oh and I am 2 for 2.  I fell again today.  Just another scuff.   Finally made it to the shelter.   There are a few other section hikers here too.   Water has been vey scarce and we went up to the shelter carrying a lot of water.  Let¢s see what tomorrow brings.
Date: 2023-06-19
To: Campsite
Miles today: 15.0

We were ready to hit the trail early today. , we knew we had a hard day ahead of us and rain was expected later in the day so we wanted to hit the trail early. We had a long 2 mile hike down the mountain. I pity the pour hikers who had to go up.  Although we did similar yesterday. Eventually, we got into the mountain miles at the bottom of the mountain and walk them on a river for quite a while and then another mountain ahead of us. It sure was tough hiking but we were glad to have it over and had half miles done. Then most of the hike on the ridge line we were walking among high stickers and brush above our heads.  At this point, it has started raining this year I decided to use a hiking umbrella.  It works pretty good for my upper body, but my feet were soaked. Mostly from the brush and grass. Then we hiked 3/4 of a mile through meadows and fields  on top of the mountain.  We had debris from all the overgrown grasses on us on top of being wet. About the only good thing having the rain was that we got to see if you red eft¢s today and a huge snail. After the the fields we had more mountaintop overgrowth for 4 miles eventually ending at a campsite. At this point, we just wanted to get our  gear set up before it started raining again. We were able to get set up and have dinner just before the storm started. I guess it¢s early to bed.
Date: 2023-06-20
From: Campsite

To: Cross Ave/ Angels rest 
Miles today: 9.5

I woke up at daylight to the sound of poring rain.  I pulled my quilt over my head and tried to go back to sleep. Our plan was to be hiking by 10:00am.  Hoping the rain had passed by then. It is always hard for me to fall asleep.  But with the sound of rain it wasn¢t too hard.  I finally woke up around 8:00.  Made myself coffee and stayed under my tarp. Luckily I still had dry socks to put on and then put on my sopping wet shoes.  But there is relief in sight.  We are staying at a hostel tonight.  I also quickly made myself a rain skirt before I left so I was going to try that as well. This section of trail was very dry with not much water.  We planned to carry a liter for the whole day.  Not quiet  enough but it was a cool day.  Our hike started off through the mountain top covered in high brush again.  Then into open fields on top of the mountain.  The grass again is up to our waist.  My rain skirt worked great.  Eventually we were on top and could see down thru the valley.  It was really nice even though it was dreary. We then had a 2.5 mile decent thru the mountains.  I sure did pity the hikers coming north. We did still see a lot of NOBO¢s.  We still had about 5 more miles with 2 more climbs of the day. We must be getting our hiker legs.  It didn¢t seem quiet as tough. We finally came to Cross Ave just before 2.  We hiked 9.5 miles.  We called for a shuttle to take us to Angels rest.  It is a hostel just off trail.  It was nice to shower and do laundry and have dry clothing.  We walked to the pizza shop and to ShopRite.  We chatted a while with Mischief who is an amputee hiker.  He had a fall and landed in a creek and his toes froze. It is amazing to hear all the hiking he has done with the adversity he has had to handle. He was the caretaker here for a while. Tomorrow he heads out to start hiking. We hit our bunks by 8:00. Catching up on texts with family and friends. Tomorrow 80% chance of rain.  Say a prayer it heads north to PA.  We need it there
Date: 2023-06-21
From: Angels Rest

To: Woods Hole hostel
Miles today: 10.6

I settled down to go to sleep last night and sleeping aside of me in my bunk was a hiker kitten.  He was found on trail by a hiker.  Now he follows his hiker on trail.  You would think after hiking all day I would be exhausted. Nope I was bored but it was quiet time. It took me a while but I was fast asleep.  All of a sudden I had someone standing over top of me.  It scared the living shit out of me.   My heart was racing.  It turns out Sidewinder who was sleeping above me lost her quilt thru the space between the wall and bed and slid down aside of me. She was retrieving her quilt.   Well I didn¢t fall asleep for a while after that. I woke up to more rain. I was really dreading the day.  I got my coffee from the hiker kitchen and chatted with a fellow who got vortexed in and is doing work for stay. I told him I was dreading it.  He gave me a pep talk about the rain and to think of the good things about the rain and enjoy its beauty. I didn¢t know it. But it is just what I needed to hear.  We started our hike with a 2 mile climb.   It was steep and started out as switchbacks.  Eventually turning into straight up. The whole time I¢m hiking in the rain I am realizing that if this was a hot sunny day that I would be miserable.  I sure did appreciate the rain.  We managed to make it up with less struggle.   I think we have our hiker legs finally.  The  rest of the day was fairly easy ridge walking in the rain.  While we walked we were warm.  But as soon as we took a break for lunch we were freezing. You could even see our breath.  We bundled up and carried on.  We had less the man 2 miles to go.  It started raining heavier.  I was so thankful we changed our plans.  We are Staying at Woods hole hostel.  I beautiful old log cabin.  We took a shower and dried all our wet gear.  I even got a mini message from a person who comes in to help hikers.  My hip has really been bothering me.  It feel so much better.  Neville the owner cooks a fantastic meal.   No hiker skips meals here.  We had lentil curry,with rice, salad from the garden,a hot vegetable dish and fresh bread. It was amazing. After dinner we all chatted for a while. It¢s a full house with the rain . Time for bed
Date: 2023-06-22
From: Woods Hole hostel

To: Zero day
Miles today: 0.0

Coffee was ready on the main porch at 6:30.  I enjoyed my coffee while chatting with Jaws. An older fella who has hiked the trail and likes to work at hostels and be surrounded by the hiking community. He has been helping with meal preps, laundry etc.  later we realized he has called me to see if I needed help at our hostel. As sidewinder arose I was starting my second cup of coffee.  She announces she has bad and good news.  The weather is going to rain all day with the temps in the mid 50¢s.  She thinks we should take a zero day. We don¢t really want to lose the miles.  But we also don¢t want to hike in potential hypothermic conditions and be miserable. This is supposed to be summer and 80 degrees.  What the heck. I agreed it was the best decision.  At woods hole breakfast is served at 8:00 with a moment of silence and reflection and introduction.  We also add what we are thankful for that day. I was thankful to be hiking with my daughter. We had a glorious breakfast with eggs with broccoli, oatmeal, peach crisp, watermelon and  homemade bread. Everything thing is made from scratch and with home grown vegetables if possible.  After breakfast the rain continued which reassured me we made the right decision. I worked on texts about our hostel and caught up on what was happening. I tried to nap but just couldn¢t. Eventually I helped with laundry and meal prep for dinner. Again we had a delicious meal with fresh vegetables and noodles and homemade cookies for dessert.  After dinner Sidewinder and I made a game plan for the next couple days. We will see how the next few days work out.
Date: 2023-06-23
From: Woods Hole hostel

To: Weary feet hostel
Miles today: 15.3

We woke up and packed our gear.   We were hitting the trail again today.   I grabbed my coffee and breakfast was ready.   Again it was mostly organic with things from the garden.  You don¢t go away hungry.   Neville and I chatted about hostel stuff and surprisingly I shared 2 tips that I do with her. Neville shared so much with me.   I really appreciated our chats and time together.  It was time to get on trail.  Of course it was up hill again.   Today consisted of mostly PUDS (pointless up¢s and down¢s)  along with rhododendron tunnels and muddy low areas of the Forrest. I did appreciate rhododendron tunnels because it kept us drier durning the rain showers.  Most of the day it felt like we were in a rain forrest from the previous days rain. It wasn¢t until the last 2 hours that it started raining again. Luckily we planned to stay at Weary feet hostel.  They serve a home cooked meal which consisted of Salad, Salisbury steak, mashed Potatoes and green beans.   Even cake for dessert.  We are now planning out tomorrow hike and I feel so lucky to be inside to I get because once again it is pouring rain outside. 15.3 miles
Date: 2023-06-24
From: VA 52

To: Weary feet hostel 
Miles today: 18.4

I actually had a good nights sleep.  Had coffee and a mango smoothie that I dehydrated at home. Our shuttle was leaving at 8 o¢clock to take us to US 52.  We decided to slackpack today.  This means we carry very little in our pack and we will hike back to the hostel.  The water sources are dry so we also want to carry more water. So we are hiking 18.4 miles.  I¢m a little worried that I can do it.  We start our hike down a paved road for almost a mile.  This is actually the trail.  We then head into the woods and have a good climb to the top of the mountain. The mountain was like a rain forest.  Everything was wet and dripping from the previous rain. It was a pretty steep climb.  But I feel like we are in the groove and handling it a lot better. We hiked at a pretty good pace today and before we knew it we had hiked 9 miles.  We had half our hike in.  Dont get me wrong it was a much easier hike today, but it was exhausting because of the length and pace we had. We stopped at a shelter to sit for a while and to have lunch.  One fella was impressed at our hiking pace and asked if we were thru hikers.  It really was because our packs were so light that we could do that.  The rest of the day was rather rocky and annoying with very little to see.  I was hoping we would see a bear in this section as I had heard of some sightings.  About the most exciting thing we saw today was a huge group of orange mushrooms.  I was too tired to go off trail for a picture. The last 3 miles seemed like forever.  It cut across the sides of the mountains with switchbacks.   It just never ended. Finally we came to a neat suspension bridge and then the road.  We had a road walk back to the hostel.  I could not wait to sit and have a cold soda.
Date: 2023-06-25
From: Weary feet hostel 

To: Stealth site
Miles today: 14.7

We left Weary feet hostel this morning at 8:30. We had to shuttle 18 miles south since we did that section yesterday.  Today we had a 15 mile day.  Of course it started up hill again. It seemed like we were going up hill all morning.   At one point Sidewinder left out a yell.   Here she almost stepped on a roughed grouse and flushed it out.  It scared the crap out of her.  Finally the trail leveled off for a while.   Then we started another climb.  As we were climbing Sidewinder starts combing back towards me in a hurry and out to the right runs a black bear. She was pretty close to it and I think they both got scared.   The bear ran a little and the sat next to a tree.  I think he was stunned. We continued up the hill as it wrapped closer to the bear.   Sidewinder made some noise so we didn¢t have anymore surprises. Eventually the trail dropped down to Jenkins Shelter where we decided to eat a late lunch and sit out the thunderstorm that was approaching.   It was a good decision.  Today I also hit my 1000 miles on the Appalachian trail as a section hiker.  My sign was made by the granddaughter of Julie at weary  feet hostel. We had another 4 miles after the shelter again up hill. It was the steepest climb we had so far this hike.  The sweat was just pouring off me.  I had to stop numerous times to catch my breath.  We finally crested the top and started looking for a stealth campsite( non designated campsite) to set up.  Luckily we didn¢t have to go too far.  We set up our hammocks, did our nightly regime and we finally had dinner.  Mine consisted of ramen and pulled pork.  It was pretty good.  We hung our food and it¢s 8:45.   Time to sleep
Date: 2023-06-26
From: Stealth site

To: Route 625
Miles today: 11.9

I woke up at 4 am to the wind whipping. We knew an early morning storm was predicted.  Sure enough a storm blew in.  It¢s always fun in the hammock with the winds.  I must have had a good hang.   I stayed dry and my tarp stakes stayed put.   We planned on hitting the trail by 8:30.  We had 11.9 miles today. We thought we had made it to the top of the mountain the night before but it just seemed like we kept going up and up. It was a lot of PUD¢s again. The terrain today was tedious with lots of rocks covered by grasses and then muddy sections and slippery rocks oh and a few baby skunks too.  We finally defended down the mountain to Walker Gap.  All for no reason. There was nothing there.   Then the horrendous climb to Chestnut Knob shelter.  This was so steep. It was 1.4 mile climb. I took such little steps I couldn¢t do anything more.  Finally we made it.  It was a unique enclosed shelter.   With views all the way around.  This is where Sidewinder hit her 1000 miles in the trail.   Congrats Sidewinder.  We then had a 4.6 mile down hill.  Over 2 of the miles was thru a grassy field.  It sure was different than being in the forest.  The end was onsite.  Our friends Dee and Jodi were driving down from PA to pick us up and spend the night.  Then take us back to our car. But there was one glitch.  The road we are ending on is a terrible dirt road with awful switchbacks and very little room for error. Luckily the driver from weary feet hostel alerted us.  We managed to hire a local shuttle driver named Craig to get us out to the main roads. The road was named Pour Valley.  It was a road with a bunch of dilapidated cabins/ homes.  These homes run off grid with water from the creeks.  We were happy to have a local who knew the area.   We are so excited to meet Dee and Jodi so we could enjoy a Dairy Queen at the location we were meeting at.  Well what do ya know.  No such luck.  It¢s out of business.   It was so good to see our friends. I just wanted to run and hug them.  But I resisted because we reeked from perspiration. First things first a shower and dinner. We will sleep tonight and go pick up the car and head home.  Until another time. 124.1 miles hiked. Special thanks to Dee and Jodi
Date: 2020-09-24
From: James River Footbridge

To: Marble Spring
Miles today: 8.0

After 5 years off, I¢m back on the AT and day 1 went pretty well. Started off following the James River and then streams and then some fairly serious elevation changes for a flat lander from Chicago. I didn¢t expect the change of fall colors here but that added to the beauty of the hike. Filtered nice cold water from one stream and a spring - nothing like it!
Date: 2020-09-25
From: Marble Spring

To: Rained all day, sheltered in place!
Miles today: 0.0

Rained (guessing 1.5¢) all day today so glad I built some extra time into hiking time into my schedule and that I brought my son¢s tent instead of the much smaller tarp tent I used last time. During the couple times the rain subsided I filtered some water and checked on my bear bag (I think there is a picture of bear bag in photos section). I¢m sure some of you who know me are thinking ¢he¢s always busy and moving- he must have gone crazy¢. The rain was (mostly) very peaceful so I tried meditating; can¢t say I was successful as my mind kept going different places but something I should probably get better at. Also listened to several chapters of one of Father Richard Rohr¢s audiobooks who I really enjoy his daily emails. Since yesterday I had elevation changes moving up and down from 600¢ to 2,600¢ and tomorrow reaching 4,000¢ probably wasn¢t bad to start slow.
Date: 2020-09-26
From: Marble Spring

To: Thunder Ridge
Miles today: 7.0

After spending all yesterday in the tent because of the rain, today¢s first task was hanging the various parts of the tent in bushes to clean and dry (see pics). Met quite a few people on trail today- mostly section hikers like me and some Virginia Tech students out for the day. Fog cleared for some great views and I re-entered civilization at an overlook off the Blue Ridge Parkway where nice smelling people  (not hikers) were taking pics (including a couple taking their wedding photos). After 5 years ¢off the trail¢ I re-started my hike with some pretty steep elevations (I took a screenshot) but I¢ve taken it slow so I¢m feeling fine and weather was cool and perfect today. Sleeping in tent near one of the appx 250 shelters along the 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail. Due to COVID I¢m not sleeping in shelters plus a comment in the online Guthook Guide says this one had ¢more mice than Disneyland¢ so even more reason to skip it!