morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-01
From: Partnership shelter

To: Atkins Va
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a relaxing and wonderful day. It started under threatening gray skies and cold temperatures. We ate the last 2 pieces of pizza for breakfast and hit the trail with Tinkerbell and Oh2bee.The hike was pretty much routine. We kept "choppin wood" till it was time for tensies. We sat by a small stream and enjoyed trail mix and conversation with our hiking partners. Around lunch, we arrived at a restored 1800's schoolhouse. It was surrounded by low hills, grassy fields and flowers that were blooming everywhere. Spring certainly has sprung at these lower elevations. Everyone dawdled over lunch and we ended up spending almost 2 hours here soaking up the sun and cool breezes.Finally we got our energy up and finished the last couple of miles into Atkins. The big thing we were waiting on was our hiking kilts (for me and Tink). If you can't imagine me in a skirt (kilt), think again. I am trying it. Tink was all geeked up about his and modeled it for everyone. We took pictures and had a lot of fun with it.Then it was time for the trail family to move on - leaving Coyotebec and I behind again. We had planned to stay in Atkins because we needed to resupply and were planning to spend my birthday night in luxury (at least whatever luxury the Relax Inn of Atkins affords). We were tempted to leave with them, but decided to stick to our plan and catch up later in the week.Later we spent a nice supper at the Red Barn restaurant with a hiker named Jaybird. He's hiked the trail 4 times. We both enjoyed the variety of topics and just the personality of Jaybird.Well - time for relaxing....More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-02
From: Atkins Va

To: Lick Creek
Miles today: 17.0

There are a lot of things that go through your head on a thru hike. I think that lots of people believe that your mind kind of shuts down when you are in the woods. This is definitely not true.During a typical day, Coyotebec and I discuss everything from the phone calls we made before we left town to things that are going on with our friends to deep thoughts about everything from life to God.On a typical day, we are on the trail for anywhere from 8 to 10 hours. This leaves a lot of time for these discussions. Typically, the only time we're not talking is during really tough uphills that leave us winded.Today we had the additional distraction of the amazing scenery. We walked through a myriad of different scenes that could easily have filled a postcard rack. Here are a few of my memories:The bright yellow songbird darting in and out of the bushes.A field of tall grasses sweeping up a hillside with new grass coming up from below and the taller stiff dead grass standing in stiff contrast like dried wheat stalks.A 3 story tall building on the side of a creek that was very old. It appeared to be some kind of gristmill.A hillside of hardwoods in various stages of spring - producing a vibrant color palate that reminds you of a fresher version of fall colors.A picturesque country road over which only 2 cars passed during our entire lunch break.This mixture of God's creation and mans farming development made a pleasing backdrop to our day. We had 17 miles to cover, so there wasn't a lot of sitting around. We kept moving with only a couple of breaks and lunch. Today was much tougher as far as climbing and descending than what we've had the last few days. By the time we arrived around 5, we were ready to be off our feet.Potatoes, a quick spongebath in the creek, black bean soup for supper - and we were ready for bed.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-03
From: Lick Creek

To: Laurel Creek
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today marked our second day hiking alone. The trail seems to be markedly less busy with thru hikers. We may be between waves, or possibly there are just less hikers still out.We left around 6:45 with Jenkins shelter as our minimum goal. I thought that if we could arrive there fairly early and still feeling ok, that we could possibly catch back up with the trail family at Laurel creek.The AT took us immediately upwards towards Chestnut Knob. This is a 6-mile uphill that climbs 2,000 feet. All morning the wind was howling over the ridge with clouds of mist pouring over the top. We finally reached the long summit ridge - which was open meadow. The ridge continued climbing as we were treated to clouds racing over the summit. At the shelter we took our Tensies break. Both of us were pretty hungry - probably the result of our long day yesterday.After the shelter, we pushed ahead on pretty tough ups and downs until lunch. Today was very different than yesterday in that both of us were lost in our thoughts and there was very little conversation.Around 3, we encountered a southbound hiker right at the sign for the shelter. He walked in just ahead of us, and when Tinkerbell saw us he started yelling and running towards us. The southbounder was surprised and Tink reacted by wrapping him in a big bear hug. It was really funny.So we were surprised to have the "fam" reunited at Jenkins. Their plan was to push on to Laurel creek, so naturally we wanted to join in. A quick batch of Mashed Potatoes and we were on our way. Two hours later we were dragging our tired bodies into camp. Trail magic is best when its unexpected and very needed. That's what we got with cooler full of apple juice. Absolutely awesome! Camped here tonight was Tink, Hinds, Chou, Oh2bee, Boulder and Sumo. We cleaned up in the creek, cooked dinner and jumped into bed. This week is definitely going to test our long mileage ability. We have about 19 for tomorrow and 20 the next day. Whew...More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-04
From: Laurel Creek

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was what I would have to call a routine day at the office. We were out and hiking by 7:15 - having nearly 20 miles to cover to our intended campsite. The trails were not very rocky (a relief to the feet!) and we made good time. 3 hours in, we crossed and interstate and took a couple of minutes to make some phone calls. This was our "tensies" (10 o'clock) break.After tensies, we pushed ahead, climbing up to a ridgeline that we followed most of the afternoon. Since this was a long section to the next town, we had gone a little thin on food to save weight. That decision is not real fun around lunch. We each ate an English muffin with a little cream cheese for our lunch. Not a whole lot of fuel for 20 miles of hiking.By 4:30, we had made it to Jenny Knob shelter. We met a southbound section hiker that is doing about half the trail. His trail name was Floyd. He is a math professor from Pennsylvania.Floyd started on March 6th, so he's been on the trail about the same amount of time as us. He had a lot of fun with the group - and even threatened to turn around and head north with us tomorrow!After a good (and filling) supper, we headed for our tarp. Another 20 tomorrow. Ugh. But then only 11 Saturday into Pearisburg.The last few nights I have been doing something a little different before bed. We've been in our tarp, and I will just lie there and look at the woods as night falls. I get so relaxed that I just fall asleep without even knowing it.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-05
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Docs Knob shelter
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: light rain

Our morning came early today. The alarm was set for 5:30, but I heard Oh2bee moving around at 5:15. Last night the Whippoorwills were going crazy. "whip-or-will, "whip-or-will, "whip-or-will,"whip-or-will over and over again. The birds were cute and entertaining for about 15 minutes - but these birds went nuts all night long. I told Coyotebec "time to get going" - to which she answered, "No- it's too early." She came around after a few minutes, and soon we were ready to roll.We hiked around 6 miles to a road that was supposed to have a grocery store down the road .4 miles. We walked the road and soon reached Trent Grocery. Tink got 2 egg sandwiches and the rest of us got hamburgers. The lady behind the counter was cooking on a little skillet like you would use at home. It didn't matter, she did a great job and we enjoyed our mid morning meal. As we ate, a variety of men that looked like they worked at the sawmill across the road came in, eyed us, made their purchases and left. The burgers seemed to cure the hunger we were carrying the last few days.After our meal, it was back up the road to the AT. We had a lot of miles to cover, so we set our sights on the next shelter 8 miles away for lunch. When we got there, the rain had begun to fall. A family of section hikers was there, but they made room for us to eat lunch. The mom of the family had tried thru hiking a few years back with her sons (who were with her today) and had made it to Bland Va, where one of them had broken his foot.After lunch, we still had 8.5 left to the shelter. It should have felt like a death march, but it wasn't all that bad till the last 3 miles or so. The rain dripped on us all afternoon. Being that this is our longest day so far, we felt like we are making progress in handling the longer mileage days. The last 4 days we have done a 17, 20, 19 and 22 miles. And we still feel pretty good (outside of sore feet!). Tomorrow we finally make it in to Pearisburg. The joys of hot showers, beds and town food will be ours while we zero on Sunday. We are looking forward to it.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-06
From: Docs Knob shelter

To: Pearisburg VA
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was the pay-off day for all the hard work we've put in this week. After 3 hours of hiking, we crested the Angels Rest - a mountain high above Pearisburg. This sight is always exciting for a thru hiker. After days of sweat and rain and freeze dried food, seeing town brings the promise of beds, hot showers and best of all - town food.We descended the mountain and hitched a ride with a trail angel almost as soon as we stepped on the road. Coyotebec and I as well Oh2bee were planning a hotel stay while Hinds, Chou and Tink were planning to go to the hostel. After checking in, we all went to a Chinese buffet that would later turn out to be not such a great idea for my stomach. When will I learn?We all spent the rest of the day handling town errands like picking up bounce boxes, working with camera chips, buying groceries and even a little hanging out. For supper, we had hummus from the grocery store - since we were too full to even consider going out to eat again.After supper, it was off to bed for us. Time to rest up and recuperate from a long week at the office. We hiked around 125 miles in the last 7 days - and have not taken a day off since Damascus, so we are very ready for some down time.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-07
From: Pearisburg VA

To: Pearisburg VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We had an absolutely wonderful zero day. The people of this town are amazing in their hospitality and their efforts to help hikers get around.We met Tink and Chou at a restaurant across town at 8:30. Bill, the caretaker of the hostel had offered us a ride (which we gratefully accepted since it saved us a 2 mile walk!). During breakfast, Oh2bee told us that he was feeling down. We all did our best to cheer him up and encourage him, but he was just struggling this morning. After breakfast, we asked someone at a nearby table if they would bring Oh2bee back to the hotel (which they were glad to do).We then headed over to Sunday service at the local church. Afterwards, Bill and Ruth Blevins invited us to go out to eat with them. So - we all headed back to the restaurant. Afterwards, the blevins took us out to their "barn" which was a barn shaped building that they had set up for entertaining and guests. We enjoyed playing pool, eating cake and ice cream and visiting with the Blevins. They then took us grocery shopping and delivered us back to the hostel and the hotel. Amazing hospitality!Someone said that the more you leave your plans "out there" and allow them to happen on their own, the better things will turn out. This was certainly true today!More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-08
From: Pearisburg VA

To: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: light rain

I am lying under our tarp as the light fades away. There's a creek running through the rhododendrons in front of me. Behind our tarp, the hikers staying in the shelter are starting to wind down. Dinners are cooked and people are laughing and enjoying each other. A banjo is playing in the background to complete the scene perfectly.We met Oh2bee for breakfast and then headed to the post office to mail our bounce box. When we got there, Hinds, Chou and Tink had not appeared. We did our shipping business, and Coyotebec got a call from Tink that they were running late. We decided to pick up our gear at the hotel and go ahead and hit the trail.After some route finding on the road, we finally found the trail at the New River Bridge. After the bridge, we hiked into the woods and came across Heald. He was just waking up and Annie (his dog) was sleeping on the trail.At lunch, I could tell that Coyotebec's feet were hurting worse than normal. We decided to try to call Dave to see if we could get some new boots sent up. I also changed the forefoot pads up in Coyotebec's shoes, hoping that repositioning them would give her some relief.One of the small stresses we feel all the time is worrying whether aches and pains will progress into major trip influencing problems. I have to watch myself because I always want to try to solve everything, ask her a lot of questions, and generally worry about it until Coyotebec is ready to take my head off.The change in the footpads seemed to help, and the afternoon flew by. We arrived at the shelter at 6:30 and there were quite a few folks there already. Teddy, Shenanigans, Hui, Lunchbox, Park Bench, Homewardand Figgy were there.After supper, Hindsfeet and Tink came under the tarp for a nice visit. We heard about some of the stresses Hinds is facing getting ready to be a missionary.more tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-09
From: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I am starting to see some of the mental aspect of the trail lately. A lot of hikers seem to be in a kind of malaise. I guess the newness has worn off, and we are in the middle of Virginia with nothing outstanding going on as far as exciting features or trail towns.Today was one of those days. Not that it wasn't pretty - but the scenery was like what we've seen since Georgia. The morning was foggy and cold, with no views at all. We stopped for lunch and nearly froze from the damp chilly weather. Mist was blowing up from the west side of the ridge while we sat on damp rocks eating our bagels and peanut butter. Everyone was quiet and somber through lunch.The afternoon passed quickly, and we decided to stop on the trail around 4:30 to make potatoes before finishing up the day. We pulled into the shelter around 6, set up camp and cooked. In case you are wondering what we eat out here, this is a typical day:For breakfast we share 1 cup of granola with powdered milk.For lunch we have bread or bagels with peanut butter and/or cheese.For supper, we have a freeze dried meal or tuna mac or spaghetti with sauce or something like that.For a snack, we have 1/2 cup of trail mix plus 1 energy bar per day.We are facing a 22 mile day tomorrow. This is going to be a tough one, so we are leaving by 7am. I am hoping that Coyotebec's feet do ok tomorrow...More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-10
From: Laurel Creek Shelter

To: Trout Creek
Miles today: 21.6

We were thinking this would be an epic day and it was. We hiked 20 plus miles that included the ascent and descent of 2 huge ridges.The first ridge ascended from a beautiful flowing creek after we had passed through some farmland that looked like Switzerland. At the top of the ridge, we moved quickly over nice trail. An interesting feature were the rock piles that lined the ridge.   We couldn't tell whether they were from farmers, civil war or something else. After our 10 o¢clock break, we were pushing hard to reach the shelter at the 13 mile point before we stopped for lunch. We ran into a long section of angled slabs of rock that we had to work our way through. I was sure that this would slow our pace too much to reach the shelter for lunch, but I was wrong. We arrived at 1 on the dot! This is exciting for thru hikers, because food becomes of paramount importance. We are hungry all the time now. Coyotebec and I cooked lunch for a change (very nice!), and we were soon on a roll again.The afternoon ridge was a monster. We climbed up and up on beautiful trails till we finally reached the ridge. We were surprised to see a park bench way up there. After a break, we continued on to the Audie Murphy memorial. He was a WWII hero that crashed his plane here in the 70's. We then walked the ridge before descending to the creek.We had a wonderful evening with Tink, Oh2bee and Hinds. We were all beat up and tired, but after supper, we felt refreshed. Having a hard day (and a hard 3 days) behind you will definitely lift your spirits.Tomorrow we get to eat at the Homeplace restaurant in Catawba. This is a famous trail institution. As a bonus our day will only be 15 miles. YAY!!!!More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-11
From: Trout Creek

To: Catawba Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

We started the day with the road crossing at the 7.1 mile point as a target. We planned on walking this road to a store for a nice mid morning snack, then getting back up to the trail and finishing the hike into Catawba and the Homeplace restaurant.Things went a little awry pretty quickly. The trail took us through an area called the Dragons Tooth. This is an extremely rocky and exposed ridgeline with a lot of very tricky hiking. It was awesome though. We recommend this as a day hike if you are ever in this section of Virginia. We finally made it to the road (an hour late) and hiked the .5 miles to the store. We had pizza and other goodies. While we were sitting in the store eating, the delivery guy motioned through the window that he was leaving us something by our packs. It was a case of 12 Starbucks coffee drinks! This was enjoyed by Tinker, Oh2bee, Snapper and us. The rest was brought back up to the trail and left as trail magic.The last six miles into Catawba was much easier. About halfway in, a rainstorm hit hard and fast. I had a tough time getting my umbrella working (I must have had it rigged wrong), and got wet pretty quickly. We hiked in the rain for about an hour, and I was beginning to dry out.We finally made it to the road around 3:30 and found Oh2bee a ride to the post office before it closed. Coyotebec and I were able to quickly get a ride as well. The Homeplace restaurant is a beautiful place. They serve everything family style (all you can eat). The food was excellent and we filled up on Chicken, Potatoes, Green beans, Pork, Ham and biscuits. Peach cobbler with ice cream finished us off. Del, the trail angel we met in Pearisburg came over and ate at our table. After dinner he offered us a ride back to the trail.Considering all the rides and great food and trail magic we had today, it would be hard to say that this was anything less than an incredible day.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-12
From: Catawba Mountain Shelter

To: Daleville VA
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: broken clouds

Today's route took us over 2 beautiful AT spots. McAfee Knob is a rocky outcropping that hangs over hundreds of feet of thin air. It makes a beautiful picture spot. Tinker cliffs is a high ridgeline that has cool looking rock outcrops and cliff tops that go on for a mile or two. Awesome views are everywhere.After this section, we walked up and down and up and down the ridgeline for what seemed like forever. We finally reached town around 5pm. Our feet and legs were pretty sore and ready for a break. We have planned a zero day for tomorrow, so we were looking forward to town food, showers and everything else that town brings with it.We all went to a mexican restaurant across the street from the hotel, and had a great time. O2bee, Hinds, Tink, Sir Lancelot, Sanford and Snapper were all with us. We had fun toasting "Cinco de treo" (this is probably the wrong spelling) for May 12. Everyone had high spirits and a lot of fun. After food, it was time to sleep and recover.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-13
From: Daleville VA

To: Daleville VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

No big news for this zero. We wanted too spend as much time as possible resting and relaxing. We even managed to take an afternoon nap!The weather channel says that we're in for an all day rain tomorrow and into tomorrow night - Plus as an added bonus, it's supposed to rain all week long. UGGG. Oh well. We will endure it.More tomorrow...
Date: 2006-05-15
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Black Rock Stream
Miles today: 19.5

I am laying under the tarp writing this as night falls around us. Three White Tail Deer just walked through our camp. This place has a quiet, serene feel to it. Camped near us are Tinkerbell and O2bee.We walked 19.5 miles today. This distance is becoming much easier. Also, large climbs don't seem to matter much anymore either. We are definitely getting stronger. Our route crossed the blue ridge parkway early in the day, then climbed a 1000 foot ridge before dropping to a beautiful shelter (Bryant Ridge shelter) where we ate lunch. Most of the day, Tink, Coyotebec and I hiked together - discussing all kinds of things. We even talked about how we would outfit a thru hiker in our store.We arrived at the stream and set up camp. Minutes after cooking dinner, it began to rain - making us rush around getting our gear under shelter.My main concerns this week are hunger and rain. The hunger is tougher to do something about. Oh well... Trail Days is this weekend in Damascus, and we are going to try to hitch back there for it. Not sure how I will like it, but I am game.More tomorrow...