morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-04-24
From: maupin field shelter

To: paul c wolf shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, the last day before resupply so we have the lightest packs...and for some reason this time we also have the shortest day. It worked pretty good though.The mice were all talk and our stuff was fine in the morning. Lazed around and chatted in our bags for a bit before getting up. Short day, no hurry. Sadly we were ready about the same time to go. I guess when you do the same thing every day, day after day you get a little faster at it.Not really a whole lot worth mentioning today. The trail is getting flatter, we have "left" the rugged area of Virginia according to BH's book.Followed some ridges for a while and had some nice overlooks. Chilled at a couple of them. Had a raptor circling below us at one of them...and flies circling above us. The life of a smelly hiker.Hit the BRP a few times today and welcomed the trash cans.Had a rocky climb up Humpback Mountain. Some sections of trail went straight up and over large piles of rocks. Fun though. Different kind of climbing when you are going straight up with a 40 pound tumor on your back.We met some southbounders after the rocks. When we said we were thru hikers and confirmed we would be stopping in Waynesboro, they immediately launched into a listing of the AYCE restaurants in the city. Hikers understand each other, that is great information.Onward to the top. Lunched up there and relaxed for a bit. Then charged downward.After we passed the humps, the trail got nice - sloped slightly downward and incredible treadway. We were flying, somewhere between 4 and 5 mph which is pretty incredible. Granted we all wanted to get to the shelter to hit the supposed swimming hole.Made it in great time and shed the packs and clothes and headed to the stream. Raging stream just like the one yesterday. Some shallow pools so we dipped our feet.Some nice size cray fish, but I didn't have anything to keep them in so we let them be. Ice cold water felt amazing on hot feet.I took it a step further and fully submerged in the stream. It was cold but very refreshing. Scrubbed real quick and jumped out. TB and BH wimped out and left after just dipping their feet.Felt clean after my dip. The hiking all day in the sun was like being in a sauna, and the dip at the end was like the cold shower after. Felt amazing.Last day before town so we emptied our food bags and started to prepare for our resupply. We will be taking a zero in town because TB is meeting someone. However, I think this is justifiable since we haven't taken one since Damascus some 400 miles and 20 days back. That's some great progress.I ordered a new pack today. The replacement straps for my pack are doing the same thing they were before. It is simply a bad design and Arc'Teryx doesn't want to admit it. I will talk to them about it at some point, but not now. The new pack will also save me 4.5 pounds and should be more comfortable at that.Only on the AT do your clothes seem starched because of the buildup of body salt.
Date: 2008-04-26
From: waynesboro, va

To: waynesboro, va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I slept good but short last night. Up with the sun at the usual time. Hummus' tarp collapsed and he got wet, bug surprise. We dried everything out for a while and packed up because we didn't want to leave anything in the park unattended. Left the packs at the Y and hit the town.We were cruising past the PO and someone in a car got our attention and asked if we were hikers. We said yes and she said hop in. We did and she took us to the outfitter where we were headed. A bit quicker than the half hour walk.At the outfitter I had a few decisions to make. I decided to use Aqua Mira for a bit for my water in the hope that my package will yet show up. Sick of iodine. Aqua Mira is chlorine dioxide, and is pretty much what city water systems use. Also picked up some low gaiters to keep the rocks out of my shoes. Held off on the kilt for now because I was unsure of my budget with replacing my gear.The same trail angel showed up and offered us a ride to wherever we wanted to go. Our answer was Weasie's which had all you can eat pancakes. Sounded like a winner.We downed 3 plates of large pancakes and we were full. Headed back to town and ran into Riverfest, some small festival that day on the river. Not much there but Hummus and I got a canoe ride down the river a bit for free from a scout troop.Hit up Kroger for some Capri Suns and to salivate over all the food. Then the library for some more music and surfing.Headed back to the Y and chatted with some other hikers for a while. Jacks, Sofa King, and Big Daddy Duct Tape. Interesting people.TB and his visiting friend John picked us up for dinner. We went to Gavid's Steakhouse. Neat concept. You order your meat and they have unlimited salad bar and fixings and desert bar included. Large plate of salad, double order of chicken and fries, 2 plates of fixings, and 3 deserts - delicious blackberry cobbler with ice cream. We were very satisfied.John drove us to the store to grab food. Changed up my lunch again. That is the hard meal to get. Difficult to balance the weight and volume of it.John offered to buy us a beer of our choice. He had never had Yuengling so that was the obvious choice.Back to the hotel where John and TB let Hummus and I sleep on the floor out of the rain. Always good to be dry, and didn't have to sleep on the bed so we slept well.Watched some TV and drank the beers. An interesting show on The Alaskan Experiment. They dropped some groups of people in Alaska to fend for themselves for 3 months. Everyone said they were "experienced" and yet were wearing jeans and couldn't navigate 3 miles to their cabin. We all wished we could do it, would be really fun.Off to sleep.
Date: 2008-04-27
From: waynesboro, va

To: calf mountain shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Slept great on the floor and even slept in an hour later than normal. Got going and stopped at Weasie's again for breakfast. Got the scrapple this time along with TB. Not sure what it was when I ordered it, and TB and I couldn't agree on what it was after eating it, but it was pretty good. John picked up breakfast. Thanks for all the trail magic and shuttling John.Hit up the Dollar General to pick up some knock off crocs since mine went missing in the mail. Will be nice to have camp shoes.Wandered back to the Y since we had nothing better to do after loitering outside the dollar store for a while. It wasn't open so we went to the campsite to talk to the other hikers. After a while we decided we should just get going to beat the rain to the shelter. We called the trail angel from yesterday and she came to pick us up. She said she even skipped church because she told us she would take us back to the trail.Hit the trail ready for an exhausting day of 7 miles. This stretch is apparently the hardest trail for the entire Shenandoah stretch, and it was really easy even with heavy packs heading out of town. Hopefully that means some smooth sailing since we have some bigger days planned.Nothing really mentionable on the trail, flatish with some minor ups and downs.Got to the shelter really early as expected. We skipped lunch but found some ramens left at the shelter. They were quickly gone. 7 miles in, Hummus decided to destroy his emergency food and start in on his lunch food. I wanted to hit up the awesome trail mix from TB's dad, but I managed to hold off.A bunch of other hikers showed up. First time in a while we've shared a shelter. Also the first NOBO's we've seen since Damascus. Let's see, we have Stride and Shepherd. Also some section hikers.All the shelters now have bear poles that we are required to hang our food on. Its like a tall metal pole with some fingers at the top to hold the food bags. There is a long and heavy pole to lift the bags up there that is very awkward. Entertaining to watch people try to get the food up there. Starting to rain, may not have signal for the next few days through the national park so I'll update when I can.
Date: 2008-04-28
From: calf mountain shelter

To: pinefield hut
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: moderate rain

It rained once again last night. Guess the April showers are trying to catch up. Still looked dreary and was a little drizzly when we left the shelter so we had to use our raingear since it was a little chilly.All day the trail was amazing - flat with some slight uphills and downhills. There were even some spots that would have been rocky and the club moved the rocks and filled it in with gravel. Good stuff. We were able to move really good today.It started raining, and it rained until about 2:30, just enough to soak the shoes and everything under the raingear. When it gets a little warmer I'm totally not wearing the raincoat. Sweatbox.Since it was raining and foggy, there wasn't a lot worth mentioning on the trail. Couldn't see any of the views, and had the usual tunnel vision going with the raincoat hood.We passed an erotically shaped tree. Took some creative pictures of and with it.Saw lots of deer today. They were really tame, and we passed within 20 feet of them even with a fawn in tow.The rain stopped and the clouds started to lift in the afternoon. We came to our first view of the day more than 20 miles into the hike. First justification for a pack off break all day {besides lunch}.After that it was just a short jaunt to the shelter. We hiked with Shepherd pretty much all day today. We'll be with him for a bit due to the shelter spacing. Nice to see some other NOBOsWe got to the shelter and there is another crowd tonight. Stovie {now Uncle Pickle} is rejoining us after his feet healed up. Shepherd is here and the SET couple {Snickers and Energizer Turtle}. Another thru too whose name I forget. Plenty of room in the shelter though so no big deal.Stovie gave us some beef jerky and hand sanitizer that we can clip to our packs for easy access. Big dinner, even had a chicken fillet for the first time. Pretty good. The whole grain pasta is working well too.A big shoutout to TB's dad; your trail mix is amazing and delicious. BH and I will probably destroy our bags too soon.Woot for another bump to my high mileage. An official marathon today. Took about 8.5 hours. Pretty good, not record marathon time, but I'm happy considering my pack is heavy with food and the trail is over the hills and not on pavement.Only on the AT can you walk a marathon in 8 hours and be proud of the time.
Date: 2008-04-29
From: pinefield hut

To: bearfence hut
Miles today: 20.6

Woke up to rain; we almost expect it at this point. A little chilly too, around 40 or so. Threw on the rain coat and gaiters over the shorts and T-shirt and headed out early despite the fact the we were going to have a low mile day.5 of us hiked together today, the usual 3 and Stovie who we will probably be with for a while and Shepherd. Relatively easy terrain today; some climbs but they weren't too steep.The rain luckily stopped around 9:30 but we still had to don the raingear because it was windy. Windy and 40 and cloudy. Perfect hiking weather.Some ups and downs and danced with the Skyline Drive some and we came to our first Hut of the day. Too early for lunch so we just snacked and chilled for a bit. Apparently this hut got some snow just before we arrived; I haven't seen any since the day after Pearisburg.Hiked a few more miles to a lunch spot along the skyline drive. The sun was out and the sky was blue. It was warming up and we were only 9 miles from the shelter so we took a long lunch. Turned into roughly an hour with a light siesta in there. Dried everything out including the boots. Wet boots suck, especially since my feet are expanding and are about a half size bigger than my boots. They are also ripping on the seams so maybe I can warranty them again and get a half size up.Wonderful lunch break, but we had to leave eventually. On another 3 miles to the next stop; lazy days can be awesome. We stopped by a picnic area to make use of the flushable privy and trash cans. Also grabbed some tap water. It was really starting to cool off and the clouds were rolling in again so we hit it with fury. We were going nearly 4mph for a while; the next 6 miles or so. Stovie has been off the trail for two weeks, so he kept commenting that he felt like he was running. He's usually a much stronger hiker than all of us but he was lagging today. Amazing how quickly a body can lose it.Shortly before the shelter we came to a campsite with a camp store. Bought some carrot cake and a moonpie. Very good. TB and I also split a 6 pack of Bud heavy for dinner. Loitered a bit to eat and dispose of our wrappers there.Hit the shelter and had dinner and all that. Some sectioners here tonight with us. We have a lot of inside jokes, so its entertaining to see people's reactions when we are just conversing. Cold one tonight, sorta glad the PO lost my bag so I can be nice and warm in my 10 degree. At least tonight. Probably be different tomorrow.Only on the AT do you wear shorts and a t-shirt when it is 40 degrees and raining.
Date: 2008-04-30
From: bearfence hut

To: pass mountain hut
Miles today: 26.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Probably a quick entry today since its late and I'm tired...It got chilly last night, the thermometer said 33 in the shelter this morning and there was frost on the food bags. It is the AT though so it hasn't been that long since it was last that cold.Left the shelter at 7:30 with high hopes for the day. An easy 6ish miles to a wayside - restaurant on the Skyline Drive. We had our second breakfast there. Rather disappointing and expensive. Bought an ice cream to make the meal more worthwhile. It was about 40 degrees outside when I ate it, and I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. We were getting some funny looks.Shepherd Yogi'd some boost energy drinks. Didn't taste that great but probably good for the body. We dallied for a while, a lot longer than we should. As a result we finally got back to the trail at noon...with more than 20 miles to go for the day. Well, it will be a late one today.Hiked on and came across some tame deer. We saw a total of 13 of them today. One of them we came within 10 feet of, and it didn't really seem to care. Don't know if it is from a lack of predators in the park or people feeding them, but it just doesn't seem right.The last 20 miles of trail was rocky, and I mean ROCKY. My feet hate me but are doing good with putting up with me. Some ups and downs, but no big deal. A lot of the trail appears to be blazed by the CCC as there were a lot of stone walls shoring it up like in the Smokies. Tons of work went into the trail here, so its a good thing the CCC did it instead of just a trail club.Some cliffs and great views for much of today. Cliff walking for a few miles. All in all we just couldn't look up a lot today because we were staring at the rocks on the ground trying to prevent a face plant.Even after lunch we took some more breaks including second lunch. We ended up rolling into the shelter around 7:30. Luckily noone else was here. Great shelter. Has the famous "kissing tree". The two halves of it have branches that look like two mouths kissing. Also has a male and female privy, definitely a first for the trail.Made a large dinner and cheated my rations towards it and away from tomorrow. Had the liter of noodles and some extra lunch. Still hungry despite having four meals. Guess that's what a marathon day does to you.All in all I feel pretty good. Little stiff after I rolled into camp but that's usual. I actually didn't feel the miles at all and could have done more. Can't imagine myself saying that even a month ago.Anyways, I'm beat and tired so I'm off to bed.Only on the AT do you eat 4 meals plus snacks and still go to bed hungry.
Date: 2008-05-01
From: pass mountain hut

To: tom floyd wayside
Miles today: 23.6
Weather: light rain

Surprisingly, I didn't sleep well even with the big miles. We all slept in some though. Finally got up and going at 7. On the trail an hour later.Some minor ups and downs and we arrived at our final wayside. We were really looking forward to finally getting a world famous blackberry milkshake. Unfortunately, they were cleaning their machine at lunch time, sounds smart to me so we had to go without. Overpriced and probably fake anyways. Bought some fries, a moonpie, combos, and a muffin for brunch.Headed out in a couple different groups; it was me and Toddy for the rest of the day. Heard about some nearby bear sightings and we were hoping to finally see one. No such luck though, just 7 tame deer.Up and over some more hills. A couple bigger climbs and some great views, but I realized the climbs don't really bother me anymore. I just fly up the hills normal speed and just breathe more. Probably just a psychological roadblock at this point.One thing that has bothered throughout the park is clearcutting. The trail went along the Skyline Drive for most of the park's length. The NPS clear-cut wide swaths so the people can see the valley below from their cars, and this is not just where there are pulloffs, its along long stretches of road. Great way to protect the park. Saw many people pull up to the overlooks and snap pictures straight from the car and drive on. To each their own, but that seems pretty pointless to me, though I'm looking at it from a unique perspective.Went a stretch without water today. Couldn't find some springs but eventually did.Out of the park. We passed the boundary and snapped some pictures of the signs. We cleared the park in 4 days. Not bad.Immediately out of the park the trail degraded. Rocky cliff. Well, I guess we are getting close to PA.In the last 4 days we have gone 97 some miles. More than 50 yesterday and today. We are a little sore, but pulled through fine, and I'm feeling good. Shepherd has shin splints pretty bad and will probably take some time off in town. Overall we have been doing really good and hiking big miles with time to spare to dawdle. Can't ask for much more.Overflowing shelter tonight. Enough room for all of us though, short day tomorrow into town to meet TB's family.Only on the AT can you watch a doe pee in the water you are going to be drinking.
Date: 2008-05-03
From: front royal, va

To: dick's dome shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Slept through the night last night, but didn't feel as rested as I do on the trail. Odd. Up and got a shower. Got to packing and decided to send a couple more things back with my old pack.Hit up the continental breakfast at the inn and ate a bunch. 2 yogurts, 4 cinnamon rolls, 2 bowls of cereal, 2 waffles, banana, and apple. Mailed my pack back home at the PO, hopefully I won't miss it.We were getting ready to leave when the Alaskan Experiment came on TV. This delayed our departure an hour. Can't get enough of that show. Afterwards our time at the inn was up and we had to leave. Said goodbye to Shepherd and rode back to the trail with TB's dad. Took two trips and on the second they showed up with lunch. I never refuse food. We said good bye and hit the trail around noon.A big thanks to TB's parents for the room and all the food. Nice meeting you guys.Started out next to a Smithsonian Zoo of some sort, but didn't see any animals. We were finally hiking in the "long green tunnel" that is the AT in the summer. We were at lower elevations than we had been at consistently for pretty much the entire trail. The forest floor and canopy was a solid green, and the floor was dotted with the color of wildflowers.A hot day, but the cover helped out a bit, though it holds in the humidity. There were huge patches of Trillium along the trail, and a large number of dayhikers were out to see them. Nice to have a change of scenery.Took a couple breaks at a couple shelters along the way. We saw a rat snake coiled up in the rafters of one, and saw warnings of rattlers and copperheads in the trail registers. Haven't seen any yet but hopefully we will soon.Unfortunately tick season is well underway. We saw a couple before today, but there were many more today. Oh well, time for tick checks.Got to the shelter a little late because we dawdled a bit. The book said it was a four person shelter. We got there and low and behold, it was a four person shelter. There was a person there with their tent set up in the shelter. She moved it and volunteered to camp. Fine with us, especially since we may have strong storms tonight.The shelter was a 3-D shape. If it was continued past the floor it would have been made of 20 equilateral triangles. Don't know what it's called, sign my guestbook if you know what it is.We were journaling and were bombarded by junebugs. Stovie was going crazy bashing them. It was a battle royale, and we just gave up on journaling and put it off for tomorrow {AKA now}.
Date: 2008-05-04
From: dick's dome shelter

To: crescent rock campsite
Miles today: 21.5

Didn't rain at all last night, at least the weatherman was wrong again. Apparently the mice were active last night, but I was apparently out.We had no idea where we were going today, and had a number of options. We hit the trail at a leisurely pace with plenty of breaks.Flat terrain for a while. Once again we were in the green tunnel for the entire day. Today it kept us cool because of the wind blowing through. Really different from the last couple months of hiking.Hit the first shelter for a break and some privy bombing. We get there and see cans of fruit and soup, and granola bars and some fruit juice. First trail magic in a while, and we were glad to see it even though our foodbags were way too full. I had the Italian wedding soup and a granola bar. Unfortunately it is heavy to pack out, but we weren't going to leave it.After the shelter we entered the infamous "Virginia Rollercoaster". This section of trail is on a narrow easement, so it is a series of steep ups and downs with no views. There are ten climbs and descents, and each one was 3-400 feet. Fun. An approximation of the terrain is below./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/We were really excited to see that on the elevation profile, and it was really steep for large portions of it, but we did well, and it wasn't that bad. I think at this point the hills aren't physically challenging to us, but they still are psychologically when we see something like that on the elevation profile.Trudged through this for a while and took some breaks because we weren't rushing and had plenty of food to kill.Stopped at Snickers Gap and all had a snickers. Why not.We past a most wonderful sign. It announced "Welcome to West Virginia." WE ARE DONE WITH VIRGINIA. It is the longest state, and it is hard to believe you are really going somewhere at times. Really happy to be done with it, and we got our group pictures at the sign. 535 miles in a month flat. I'll take it, and that was even our initial goal when starting out from Damascus. Really proud, but hard to explain.Went on a tenth to some high rocks and decided to cowboy camp. Weather looks good, hopefully we don't regret it.Had dinner sitting on the rocks watching the sunset. Doesn't get much better. Clear sky right now so there are great views of the stars. Perfect night at the moment.I had a cooking invention today I will name the "Yeti Backcountry Hot Pocket." We had plenty of food so we were chowing down. I wrapped up some cheese and pepperoni in a tortilla and fried it in some olive oil in my pan. Actually resembled a hot pocket, but tasted much better in my opinion. Worked out good enough, I would probably do it again.