morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-02
From: Standing Bear Hostel 

To: Roaring Fork Shelter 
Miles today: 15.1

The day started off with about four miles of steep uphill. But that paid off with a beautiful view along a grassy bald. Though others left before me, I was the first to reach the grassy bald. I set up my chair, pulled out my kindle, and prepared to relax a while. As others (Scribe, Kamikaze, Trailchef, Rhythm, Hothands) passed by the also stopped to enjoy the spot. But this was the first time I stopped, just to stop and sit.Later in the afternoon I caught up to Hotwheels and we both found ourselves sitting and relaxing on top of Max Patch (another grassy bald with fantastic views). As I was about to head off, another group of people there turned out to be doing trail magic. They had lots of pizza, beer, chips, bananas... It was Chimp, Tootsie and their friend Drew. While eating and enjoying life, the rest of the hikers started arriving turning it into a nice picnic on the bald. Another former thru-hiker arrived and it turns out he was the one who left out the Coke and snickers a mile back before the bald (I had been cursing myself most of the hike for not bringing out a soda for dinner and was happy to have come across his trail magic). As the party was continuing, Chimp came over with some bad news; he broke his collar bone just then while playing frisbee. They were so apologetic to have to end the picnic, but we were so grateful for the trail magic.Fitbit-------------Miles: 18.9Calories: 4600Stairs: 611
Date: 2015-05-03
From: Roaring Fork Shelter 

To: Hot Springs 
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

For a week or possibly more I've been planning to come to Hot Springs and take a zero day (or maybe two). I think my body was anticipating today to be a zero. From the start the hike was a struggle. But I persevered, and managed to make it to Hot Springs. And now I shall rest.I came across some trail magic (thanks Subman) about midway. It was an encouraging moment of the day, but it was also hard to think about the 6.5 miles I still had to go. Particularly since those miles were in hot, dry, sunny weather. Nothing at all like what I've been experiencing. Maybe this is a goodbye to the April showers.When I made it to the bottom of the trail, just outside of town, and was taking my shoes off, a section hiker I had passed came up and thanked me. He noticed the way that I shuffled down the hill and saw it as the best option to limit the strain on his knees. It puts more work on the quads and glutes, but maybe that's why my knees have yet to cause me issues.The accommodation in town wasn't as abundant as I hoped (the phone service is none existent), but I booked a double bed cottage for myself with a cute porch looking out on the river. For two nights it works, and maybe tomorrow I'll try to get another hiker to split the cost. If I do a third night though, I'll need a better financial choice.Meet up with some hikers who have been in town for five days already (Too Loud and As-You-Go). Then spent some time hanging out with Mantis and Lady Unicorn.Fitbit-------------Miles: 21.6Calories: 5100Stairs: 311
Date: 2015-05-04
From: Hot Springs 

To: Hot Springs 
Miles today: 0.0

I booked myself a room in the Spring Brook Cottages last night. They're a bit expensive for one person, but having a nice clean, comfortable room to oneself has its benefits. I sat out on the back patio looking at the river in the morning before heading out to breakfast. I joined Lowbranch for breakfast, and then got three southbounders to wash the remaining laundry I had (JJ, Digity, and ?). Meanwhile I wandered around town running some of the errands I had. It was a good productive day in town, and though I wouldn't mind sitting around doing nothing for another day, I don't think another zero is in my plans.One of my favorite things about Hot Springs was the Mystery Beer at Spring Creek Tavern. For $2.50 (the same price as PBR) they'll bring you a random beer, but the random beer is often a top class choice.Fitbit-------------Miles: 4.6Calories: 2600Stairs: 1
Date: 2015-05-05
From: Hot Springs 

To: Spring Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

It didn't take long in the morning for me to make the decision to leave town. But first I had to get breakfast, mail some stuff, and soak in a hot tub. I also wanted to get a margarita but the Mexican restaurant didn't make them (probably because the town didn't sell liquor).Before leaving I stopped by the outfitters and weighed my pack. The dry weight was 22lbs, which is four more than my starting weight. After adding food and water, it came to 42lbs. That is too much. I know some of the weight was liquid weight because I was taking a new (full) water bottle as well as a can of beer. I'm also just carrying too much food. That's just something I'll need to continue to improve.I also weighed myself and found I only lost about 2-3 pounds.It's a good thing I don't have any carrying capacity. The outfitters had some really nice t-shirts. I'd probably would have bought seven different shirts.Soaking in the hot springs water for an hour was quite nice. It only cost $15. But I don't think putting on shoes and hiking ten miles after that was a good idea. My skin got all softened up and now I have a few new blisters.Fitbit-------------Miles: 18.4Calories: 4600Stairs: 416
Date: 2015-05-06
From: Spring Mountain Shelter 

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter 
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

There's been a lot of gnats the past two days. During my pre hike research I saw people adding a head net to their gear list. It seemed like a silly thing to add on, but maybe once I get to the black flies it'd be good to have. Although with these gnats now I think I'll pick one up at the next outfitters.Before leaving camp in the morning I got some good hugs from Mama Sunshine and Lady Unicorn. Mama Sunshine pointed out that we should be getting 8 moments of physical contact during the day. Certainly not meeting that threshold out here on the trail.My phone is a Sony Z3 Compact Android phone. One of the great benefits is that it's battery life is great. I've been leaving it in airplane mode most of the time (primarily because T-Mobile never gets service out here), but I walk into town with a decent amount of battery life remaining. The bigger benefit it is waterproof. I haven't had to worry about leaving it in my pocket while it's raining. But just the other day I noticed there is a crack in the back of the case. And now today there is a second larger crack. I called up Sony to see about getting it repaired through the warranty. They said to send it in, and they'll mail it back to the address I give. But since it may take two weeks or more, I don't know what address to send it to. I figure I can have it sent to my parents, but being without a phone for more than two weeks will be difficult. I may try looking into getting a temporary phone. Not really sure how though...Fitbit-------------Miles: 19.3Calories: 4600Stairs: 437
Date: 2015-05-07
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter 

To: Low Gap 
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: clear sky

Generally I'm ok with this, but today I wanted to see how efficient I could be to get out quicker. It still took me over an hour. But while I was eating breakfast, I realized that I don't want to rush in the morning. If by chance there is some reason for me to leave sooner, I'll just need to get up earlier. I enjoy taking thirty minutes to eat breakfast.As mid afternoon was approaching and things were starting to get hot and miserable, I found a beautiful apple tree alone in a bald. I pulled out my chair and sat under it to eat lunch and take a brief nap. The bees were out in force, buzzing around the apple blossoms. I actually didn't realize how loud it was till I eventually left and noticed how quiet it was away from the tree.I pushed on and did a 21 mile day. This included a 45 minute walk in a thunderstorm. The rain felt so refreshing, it helped wash off all the sweat from the past days. The last mile and a half were very difficult, but I needed to get to a camp site that had water. When I finally arrived, Wildcat and Not Swedish were having a late lunch, and after they left and I started settling in my tent, Zipper arrived to join me in my 21 mile day.Fitbit-------------Miles: 25.2Calories: 5500Stairs: 521
Date: 2015-05-08
From: Low Gap 

To: Erwin 
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: scattered clouds

From the beginning of today I knew I was going to push ahead to arrive in Erwin tonight. I had scheduled a dinner and breakfast for the trail so that I wouldn't need to be in town, but the benefits of an early arrival were too tempting. So after a tough 10 miles, I came to a gap and saw Sonny eating lunch after just soaking his feet in the stream. I had just stopped for lunch before that so I kept going, but I couldn't stop thinking about how good of an idea soaking my feet sounded. So when I got to another stream crossing a mile up the trail, I didn't second guess the decision to soak my feet. But the benefit of this stream was that there was a small pool about two feet deep. So after taking my shoes off, I took my shirt off as well, and emptied my pockets, and sat down in the pool and laid back to let the chilling water flow over me. It felt so good. It also rejuvenated me and made me feel like it was 9am and I was just starting the hike.My birthday is coming up on the 22nd. I was thinking about it and wondering if I wanted to be in town or on the trail to celebrate. After thinking about my 30th birthday at the bear camp in Alaska, I knew immediately I wanted to be on the trail for this one. So I'm going to try to bring some type of cake thing out of town that day, and probably some beers for myself and other hikers. But if you want to send me something to read and/or eat, this would be the best address:Jeff "Toes" Knurek C/O The Barn Restaurant 7412 Lee Highway Rural Retreat, VA 24368Hold for hiker, ETA 5/21/15Fitbit-------------Miles: 24.6Calories: 5500Stairs: 406
Date: 2015-05-09
From: Erwin 

To: Erwin
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up with uncertainty about my plans to nero or zero. I figured my best option would be to wait till about 3ish, after the heat of mid afternoon starts to fade, then walk the 4 miles to the next shelter. In the meantime, I had some errands to run.First I packed up and gave away some of my food. I got my food bag(s) down to 11 lbs (I have a bag for lunch and dinner that goes in the bottom of my pack and another for lunches and snacks to keep at the ready on top). Then I rented a crappy bicycle to ride into town, with a stop at the B&B (Cantarroso Farm, quite nice but was booked the night before) to pick up the clothes I ordered online. I went to Walgreens to cash in on the credits I got from the Fitbit ($3), and the post office to mail my cold weather clothing to my parents. There I bumped into Mantis and Cheleti who were also on bikes from the hostel. Together we went to Hawgs n Dawgs for some Tennessee bbq. It was delicious and we ate in abundance. The desserts were just as good as the ribs. It was then that I started contemplating the idea of riding the bicycle back into town and watching the Avengers movie at the cinema. But I also liked the idea of joining Mantis to the next shelter. For the next few hours I mostly planned to hike more, but about 10 minutes before Mantis was leaving I decided to stay. And so Cheleti and I hustled on bikes to get into town to eat a pizza each before the movie. And the night ended with us riding the bikes back in starlight (and headlamps).Fitbit-------------Miles: 5.1Calories: 2600Stairs: 31
Date: 2015-05-10
From: Erwin

To: Indian Grave Gap 
Miles today: 7.1

I woke up this morning, walked out to the front of Uncle Johnny's hostel to find all the outlets were already in use and everyone was smoking cigarettes. Add to the fact that the back of my phone was even more cracked, and I wasn't going to leave for the trail for at least several hours, if not another day. It was rather depressing. Plus there wasn't anyone around that I was connecting with. Able and Hammer Time came to breakfast and we sat together with Cookie and MacGyver, but the quality of food was crappy so my spirits weren't really improved upon. I did sit and chat with Fox, Tree Beard, and Zip during the afternoon, but they went into town to watch the Avengers. And so I set off for the trail, knowing that if that didn't improve my mood, I probably wouldn't be able to finish the trail.The plan was to keep it a simple hike up to the first shelter. And I'd do it in flip-flops so I'd be reminded to take it easy on my ankles and I'd also not aggravate my blisters. And sure enough it was a great hike; easy and uplifting. The only problem was the water source at the shelter was crappy (figuratively, but probably literally too). So I pushed on a bit more to get some good water and finally found a decent camping spot about three more miles in. It was a camping spot to myself (finally) with a beautiful sunset during dinner.Fitbit-------------Miles: 10.0Calories: 3400Stairs: 164
Date: 2015-05-11
From: Indian Grave Gap 

To: No name campsite
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: scattered clouds

I got an early start today. That meant I was walking through spider webs for the first few hours. This was something I didn't have to deal with when I was the last to leave the shelter.I again wanted to keep my milage down today. I started by wearing flip-flops to remind myself to take it easy, but after about five miles they began to wear down my feet. I took a thirty minute rest before adding shoes and walking another fivemiles. Then I got to the shelter and relaxed, ate, read, and put my feet up. After about two hours I was ready to leave but a thunderstorm was rolling in. So I waited it out till it got sunny again, then left to do another five miles before camping. Well right after leaving the shelter I got around the corner and saw the blue skies weren't going to last long. Another wave of thunderstorms was coming through, this one looking much more severe. As I passed Monkey Business a bolt of lightning flashed the sky and was immediately followed by thunder. That was quite intimidating. But though the heavy rain lasted for the rest of my miles, the center of the storm moved on and the risk of being struck by lightning diminished.Fitbit-------------Miles: 18.5Calories: 4600Stairs: 398
Date: 2015-05-12
From: No name campsite

To: Overmountain Shelter 
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: light rain

I think I'm going to try to start voice recording myself during the day. I've found that I'll think about things to journal while hiking, but by the time I get to camp and in my tent, most of those ideas are gone. Since I'm already using Evernote to write these posts, and then when I get internet access I just copy them over, it should be easy to voice record a note in Evernote. I'll still have to transpose it to text, which will be annoying, but it should enhance the content of my journal.After lunch at Toll House Gap (which was neat because it is the remnants of an old hotel from the 1800s), I paid a visit to Roan High Knob Shelter. It's the highest shelter on the AT. It's also one of the more interesting shelters. It has four walls, two windows and a doorway, as well as an attic loft with windows. It's designed to hold 15 people. After leaving there I came across Traveller and hiked with him for the rest of the afternoon till we arrived at Overmountain Shelter. This shelter is neat because it's an old barn. There's a large loft space as well as a few places on the side that look out over the hillside. When I arrived there was a local couple providing trail magic (Patty & Bob of Sound Traveller). They had watermelon (so good) and cookies, peanuts, and other fruit. It was hard to stop eating their food knowing I still had to eat my own dinner.Fitbit-------------Miles: 24.7Calories: 5400Stairs: 554
Date: 2015-05-13
From: Overmountain Shelter 

To: Mountaineer Shelter 
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

voice note option (by default). When I get some time and internet I'll look into that some more.I keep thinking how neat it would be if the guide book also informed me of the weather. So for example, the guide book indicates the elevation changes, and when you cross streams, or footbridges, or pass by interesting landmarks. But how cool would it be if it also indicated when it'll get sunny, or the wind will pick up at this point for the next 10 miles. Totally unrealistic in the current paper format, but maybe with some future advancements in technology...I'm not tasting my food lately. That's not accurate. I can still taste when things are bad or good, but I'm just not satisfied. I keep eating and eating, but don't really feel like I'm notice it. I'll even be excited to have something (like fig newtons) and then when I'm done eating it, I don't even notice if it was any good. My thought is that I just need to get the calories in me and my body doesn't care what it tastes like.My phone situation sucks. The back is now chipping away and little pieces of glass/plastic are coming off. I thought I'd try to find someone with an old android phone that I could borrow while mine is being repaired, but I realized today that it would need to use a nano sim card. I doubt anyone I know or anyone reading this has such a phone to lend me. I'll try to find a rubbery/plastic case for my phone so at least I won't notice it getting worse. Then if I ever pass through a town with a T-Mobile I can look into some other options.There's definitely less people on the trail lately. Some of them are probably already making arrangements to get to Trail Days. But I'm spending the night in a 14 person shelter with just Journey Man and Bluto. And I've been passing fewer and fewer people while hiking.Fitbit-------------Miles: 21.9Calories: 5000Stairs: 380
Date: 2015-05-15
From: Wilbur Dam Rd

To: Damascus
Miles today: 37.8

Dirty Peanut was able to get out of camp before 7:30, and Blue Kazoo left shortly after, but it took me till 8am to leave. Blue Kazoo confirmed that she wasn't going to make the push for 37 in one day, but after second lunch I was caught up with Dirty Peanut and we did most of the remaining miles together. We had a nice stretch that included a bit of handicap terrain (the path is a certain distance wide and with only a certain degree of slope) followed by a walk through the cow fields (the cows wouldn't let Dirty Peanut pet them). We had dinner and socializied with the school group at the last shelter before Damascus. At this point we had hiked about 27 miles and it was 7:30pm. It was so tempting to join the group of people camping there and just walk in in the morning, but we had a goal and wouldn't be deterred. As we made the final push, I'd say for the next hour and a half of daylight we were averaging 3.5 miles per hour (or even faster). Which made it understandable that Dirty Peanut wasn't keen on talking anymore. I asked her a question and her reply was "you're walking your normal pace, but I can't talk and keep up with you, but don't slow down". I asked if she wanted to hear a story, but she wasn't too keen on that either. As we got in to the last mile to Damascus (after crossing the VA border, and struggling physically with each step to maintain our endurance), my IT band started to hurt. Then with just a few hundred yards to go each step became difficult. I wasn't sure I was going to make it but I knew Dirty Peanut wouldn't be able to help carry me, so I just pushed with more determination. The good news was that once we reached the bottom and the terrain became flat, the IT band didn't hurt anymore. Well, not any more than all the other parts of my body.During the afternoon part of our hike, and then later as it got dark, we talked about what our priorities for what we wanted to do upon arrival. I had charging my phone as a first priority, only because I didn't want to forget about it, but otherwise we both were set on getting a shower. So when we rolled in and the crowd was meandering about, we found where tent city was and confirmed they provided free showers. The bad news was that it was another mile walk. And the worse news was that the mobile shower truck wasn't open till the morning. I bumped into Sea Bass (formerly Sebastian), learned there was a river, and got guided in to the river and pointed in the general direction on where best to camp. I was chatting with some random guys before jumping in the river and they called me "37" before learning my trailname. It made me realize that I just did my birthday miles a week early.Fitbit-------------Miles: 38.4Calories: 7800Stairs: 780
Date: 2015-05-16
From: Damascus

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Even with a giant party, drum circles, and lots of intoxicated people, I had no trouble sleeping during the night. I was up early for a shower, got all I could eat pancakes, took advantage of the free haircut (got a mohawk), then also took advantage of the doctor service to cut open my blister (which also included a foot rub).One of the big Trail Days events is the hiker parade. Having just walked 37 miles, I figured I'd opt out of walking in it and instead joined Wildcat, Bear Bell, Faster Dad, Not Swedish, and Mantis for a beer and lunch. I did manage to rent a bicycle for the three days so that I wouldn't have to walk around town so much.Another big event (something that interested me) is the gear giveaways. You have to time it right to be there when each vender does their raffle. Some of them will also throw out free gear to the gathered audience (usually socks and such). As this was happening one time the person in front of me reached back and hit me in the eye. For a short time it hurt so bad I thought it might ruin my vision, but all was well.As the night wore on I figured I'd wander around the camp and join different groups of people and drink a beer with them. But when I first came upon Snoopy, sat down and opened a beer, I realized there was no interest on my end to ever get up again. Which was pretty cool cause we were sitting with a group that had hiked the trail the year before. And one of the guys, Turbo, runs the cottage gear company Helium Hiking Equipment. But even more interesting than that, he's the one who's built the bivi-back-sack thing my friend Kenny has been trying to build for several years. It's a small world (made smaller by very nomadic people).It turned out that this was another night which was easy to sleep with a giant party going on around my tent.Fitbit-------------Miles: 10.0Calories: 3800Stairs: 4