morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-05-13
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0

Today we woke up and breakfast was,¢¦ meh. Honestly, not appetizing and way too much food. After breakfast, Moose Jaw and I (Chili Pepper) talked to Gray Mare and Big Tex for awhile at the breakfast table. Gray Mare always asks people what they had to give up to be on trail. I love that. Big Tex is HILARIOUS! He had us laughing so much, my abs started to hurt! Lilo joined in not long later! We talked a lot about life and faith. Gray Mare has a powerful story. Before we left the B&B, Big Tex thought it would be a great idea to grill out and cook food at the B&B for dinner. We all agreed!!! So, LILO, Trip Wire, Gray Mare, Big Tex, Argonaut, Moose Jaw, and I went to food city to resupply and buy items for dinner. We decided on pork chops, salad, vegetables (onions, squash, and asparagus), fresh fruit for dinner. After getting everything we needed, we headed back to the B&B to drop off our food items and then grab some lunch. We went to the cafe again for another Grind sandwich. It was delicious!!! From there I stopped out the outfitter to get an ultralight chair for the trail (1 lb). I¢m so happy to have one similar to Moose Jaw¢s. I sit in his chair a lot, so he¢s happy I finally have my own. Then we walked back to the B&B to relax before we started on dinner. We sat family style at the large dinner table. We had a great time!! Lady Di asked us not to share the picture of all of us on social media, because she said it¢s so rare for hikers to do this, she doesn¢t want a bunch of other hikers to use her kitchen. After dinner we hung outside while enjoying some drinks. I left to go shower and pack up my things. Nicholas stayed out there until 10:30 and I asked him to go to bed. All in all, it was a good day! But I felt extra tired today, and my feet were pretty swollen. I was limping at the end of the day, because my Achilles. I hope my new shoes help me out in days to come. Trip Wire was so kind to spray my new shoes with permethrin. This keeps ticks away. I hate ticks and they have always frightened me!! I will do anything to keep them away!!
Date: 2023-05-14
From: Damascus, VA

To: Saunders Shelter
Miles today: 9.2

Woke up to weird vibes at Lady Di¢s B&B. Breakfast was good, Blueberry French toast, burnt bacon (which we did not eat, because it turned into dust), and egg casserole. After breakfast, we left the B&B and started hiking out of town. We called mom (aka mama Cas) to wish her happy Mother¢s Day. We had great weather today. There were some clouds, but it was more hot and humid than overcast. Left Field asked if Sarah Kay if she was a fitness model. We saw Fitz, Goat, and Whiskey in Damascus as we were leaving town, and then we hiked along the river near the bike trail and Virginia Creeper trail. We made it to shelter where Big Tex, Gray Mare, Trip Wire, and Lilo all had dinner together in the shelter. We bad a great Time with them. Rylee sent a message asking if we need headlamps for crocs, that made us laugh a lot!Side note, it always seems as if dinner time convo always leads to pooping in the woods or pooping your pants.
Date: 2023-05-15
From: Saunders Shelter

To: Tentsite
Miles today: 12.4

This morning I found a wonderful poem in the privy. Here it goes:Here I sit, all broken-hearted.Went to shit, but only farted. Then one day, I took a chance. Went to fart, and shit my pants.Today our little Tramily (Chili Pepper, Moose Jaw, LILO, Trip Wire, Big Tex, and Gray Mare) hiked to a campsite a little past a parking lot. This ¢campsite¢ only had a couple of flat spaces. And in one area, someone had an explosion of the butt and left their foot-long turd next to a rock in the middle of the ¢campsite¢. It was horribly disgusting. The fog was thick, so MooseJaw said it was spooky. With the giant turd, LILO said it was spooky poopy. HA!And of course it poured while we were hiking today and not long after we set our tent up. I hate hiking and backpacking in the rain. Today felt tough on all of us ladies. My ankle and Achilles were hurting, LILO¢s knee was hurting, and Gray Mare¢s hip was acting up. We were beat when we got to camp. It¢s supposed to thunderstorm tonight and all day tomorrow. We will see how things go!
Date: 2023-05-16
From: Tentsite

To: Elk Garden
Miles today: 2.3

Mood: °Last night was nothing but horrendous thunderstorms. The wind was blowing so hard, that my (Chili Pepper¢s) side of the tent got soaked! The water was running into the tent under my sleeping mat. Big Tex walked up to us in the morning to let us know that him and Gray Mare were going to get off trail in 2.3 miles and stay at a hostel, because it was supposed to rain all day and thunderstorm again during the night. We were all on board, so Lilo, Trip Wire, Moose Jaw and I joined in on that plan. By 10:30 we were picked up and headed 45 minutes away to a hostel. When I arrived to the area where we were going to get picked up, I received some trail magic! A soda and a donut with white frosting and sprinkles! It was delicious!!We were happy to be out of the rain, so we decided to hang out at the hostel for most of the day and dry out our tents. In the afternoon we took a shuttle into the town of Marion so we could eat at the Mexican restaurant. It was delicious!!! As we were getting picked up, a horrible storm rolled in  we were detoured twice on the way back to the hostel, because there we two downed trees that covered the entire road!All in all, I¢m glad today is over. It was good to get out of the rain and dry our things, but I¢m just tired. Tomorrow should be much better!
Date: 2023-05-17
From: Elk Garden

To: Fox Creek
Miles today: 17.0

And I will walk 500 miles¢¦.WE HIT 500 MILES TODAY!!Today was AWESOME SAUCE!!! We slack-packed 17.0 miles today in the Grayson Highlands that had wild ponies and long-horns! We had such a great day! It was such a leisurely walk. No giant inclines or declines, which was a reprieve from what we are used to. It was also sunny and not raining!!! Lilo, Trip Wire, Gray Mare, Big Tex, Moose Jaw, and I slack-packed together today. We are like a Tramily now. We saw so many wild ponies today!! Easily over 40. They were beautiful and well fed! Two of them had babies, and several more were pregnant. We actually got to pet a lot of them too! We even saw some longhorns!! Towards the end of our hike we started to get hungry, so when we got back to the hostel we were ravenous. We ate so much food!Then we showered and hung out until everyone went to bed. All in all. Today was great! I was so happy we were able to slack-pack some miles. We are trying to get to a certain point near Marion, VA so we can get picked up for Trail Days that will be held in Damascus, VA.
Date: 2023-05-18
From: Fox Creek

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 12.4

We woke up at the Sufi Lodge (Grayson Highlands Inn) and ate pancakes for breakfast. As we were waiting for our ride back to trail we met four hikers that completed the entire trail last year: 7 plates, crock-a-shit, banquet, and pickles. We ate lunch at the waterfalls today and that was really nice. On our walk to the waterfall, we met Sherlock. He was really kind and chatted with Moose the entire walk to the falls. From there we hiked with Lilo and Trip Wire to the shelter. Trip Wire lost his footing and fell into a bush. It was so funny because it happened in slow motion! We caught back up with Sherlock at the shelter and eventually Gray Mare and Big Tex arrived.  We had great conversation over the fire in the shelter after dinner. We met another hiker named Hiawata. We roasted marshmallows and shared lots of laughs.
Date: 2023-05-19
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Mt. Rogers Nat. Rec. HQ
Miles today: 10.0

We were haulin¢ today!! 10 miles in 3.5 hours! We made sure to leave by 9 am so we could order pizza at the visitor¢s center before we got picked up for Trail Days in Damascus, VA. At the Visitor¢s center we chatted with Slug, V6, and Optimus. Lilo and Trip Wire tricked in 30 minutes after us, and then and hour and a half after that walked in Gray Mare and Big Tex. It was their anniversary today. 16 years! They say it feels like 16 minutes,¢¦ under water. Hahahaha They are hilarious! We love them!! Big Tex roasts everyone, and it¢s always hilarious!!!Fudge Stripe, who had provided trail magic at the end of the Smokies, picked Lego Man, Moose Jaw, and I up around 3:00 in the afternoon. Thankfully they took me by CVS to get my prescription, since I only had a couple of days left. Once we got to Damascus, we were dropped off at tent city. Tent City is an area in town where all of the hikers (and veteran hikers) camp for the weekend. It is packed with thousands of tents around a baseball field that runs into the woods. The area in the woods is known as Riff Raff. I call the area outside of the woods (where we are tenting) the Retirement Community. Most people, not all, go to bed ¢early¢ here and wake up early. The people of the woods sleep in until noon. After we set up our tents, we walked around and got food. We met so many people that we had hiked with before!! It was sooo great seeing them all!Some hikers include: Shelly & Dan (now known as Fire and Mayhem), Robin & Hiking Viking (Christopher), Rabbit, Fizz, Goat, Fog Hat, the Professor, CT, Truffle, Cow, Sticks, Lantana, etc. After filling our bellies, Lilo, Trip Wire, Moose Jaw, and I went to the Riff Raff zone. It was crazy!!! We saw Truffle¢s crew there and Goat and Lantana, so we hung out with him while ignoring all of the other shenanigans. All in all, today was a good day! Tiring, but good!! Can¢t wait until tomorrow to see the gear vendors and to take a free shower! ¢Not all elevators go to the pent house.¢ - Slug
Date: 2023-05-20
From: Mt. Rogers Nat. Rec. HQ

To: Mt. Rogers Nat. Rec. HQ
Miles today: 0.0

Today is our one and only full day at Trial Days. It was supposed to be a zero, but we walked so much!!! My feet were killing me!! It didn¢t feel much like a zero.In the morning we got free showers and laundry from the church from Newfound Gap in TN. Across the street we had all you can eat pancakes from the One Way church for five dollars. They were delicious pancakes!! Then we walked around a bunch of vendors and entered many raffles. However, we didn¢t actually win anything! :( BOO! We did however get some shirts to hike in that have really neat patterns!! We both got a shirt from Jolly, and Moose got a twin shirt from Town Shirts. It has an AT pattern with Katadan, McAffee Knob, Amicalola Falls Arch, trillium flowers, etc. The company Town Shirts got started from a thru-hiker that met a group of retirees that were section hiking. At dinner they said it was time to smoke their cigars, so they all put on their button downs, sat around a campfire and smoked their cigars. So, the owner was like, we need town shirts that are button downs! Jolly started his company, because while he hiked the PCT he hated choosing between a hiking shirt and a sun hoodie. So he made a 2-in-1! They have crazy patterns, which he loves. And so do all of the hikers!! It gets boring wearing solid, plain colors all of the time!We ran into many hikers today! We saw the Australian Family! It was wonderful seeing them! We caught up on their journey and their experience at trail days. We also saw Comfort! He was having a blast at the Broken Fiddle Hostel!For lunch I had jalape±o cheddar hush puppies and chicken nuggets. We met a thru-hiked from 2013 named dirty mike. He was there with his wife and baby. He was soft spoken and super kind! I wish we could have talked to him awhile longer. Fudge stripe ran into us while we were eating lunch. We chatted for awhile. His wife had their dog in a backpack, and many people wanted a photo of their pup. Apparently this happens often! Moose Jaw and I took a nap today while it was raining. We were beat. We did end up going back to the coffee shop for milkshakes. Again, they were delicious!!All in all, it was a good day. I just wish it didn¢t smell like marijuana everywhere we went.
Date: 2023-05-21
From: Mt. Rogers Nat. Rec. HQ

To: SettlerÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Museum
Miles today: 8.6

Today was a good day! We got picked up by Fudge Stripe, his brother, and his wife this morning to be dropped off in Marion, VA to resupply before we hit trail. Unfortunately, LILO¢s knee was bothering her again so her and her dad, Trip Wire decided to take another zero for her to rest. Once we got to Marion we resupplied at the Ingles and got a ride back to trail from shuttle driver, Becky. Once we were dropped off we ate some food and packed all of our food away. Then we hit the trail around 2:15. We walked slowly today because there were so many rocks!!!! We made it to the Settler¢s Museum and camped there. This spot was amazing!! They have restrooms and a gazebo. We also were able to charge our things! As we were sitting there we could hear wild turkeys. They were cracking me up!!!Here we met the Frenchman and his big fluffy dog, Dealer. We talked to him quite a bit while making dinner. Then we set up camp, listened to the Frenchman play the guitar, and went to bed. Today was a good day!!
Date: 2023-05-22
From: SettlerÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Museum

To: Possum Creek
Miles today: 15.7

Today was a great day! We just moseyed out of camp. The weather was gorgeous. It was hard for us to leave!! We didn¢t leave until 11, which wasn¢t a big deal for us. About 3 miles into our walk, we passed a gas station and went under an interstate bridge. We took an hour break at the gas station. Some super kind gentleman bought us some slim Jim¢s because his buddy hiked the trail last year. As we were about to head out, Stogie and Dan rolled up. We chatted for a bit and as Stogie sat down on the concrete bench, the bench collapsed!! It was funny! We helped him fix it before we were on our way. I saw a ton of white tailed deer today! And we also saw some cattle, because we walked through a pasture. Many times we had to climb these wooden triangular ladders over metal fences along the trail. There was a lot of private property we had to walk through today. Camp was near a pavilion and privy. I¢m not sure what upset my stomach (I think it was the water I drank from my broken filter), but I was about to poop my pants. I ran to this shed look privy to go to the bathroom. It was horrible looking,¢¦ it was basically plywood with a hole and beneath the hole was a vertical PVC pipe. It was horrifying. But when you have to go, you have to go. When I went back later for a second time, a mouse popped it¢s head out by my foot. I wanted to run away, but I couldn¢t. It was a horrifying experience.Then for dinner I tried to make something new, spinach tortellini with pesto. It was so awful, I was gagging as I was trying to swallow. Moose Jaw couldn¢t even look at me, because it made him want to throw up. We were exhausted, and eating a crappy dinner late at night didn¢t help anything. HA! All in all, not a shabby day until the end with the crappy dinner and crappy privy. At least we didn¢t have any bear encounters and I did not poop my pants!!Apparently, pooping your pants is something most hikers talk about and we have met many hikers who have. I pray that does not ever happen to Moose and I. If it does, it would be traumatizing!!
Date: 2023-05-23
From: Possum Creek

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 16.0

Today was exhausting. So many inclines today! It kicked our butts! We woke up and got started around 9 in the morning. About 5.3 miles in we had to cross a creek by walking through it because the bride was washed out. That was fun! And the water was ridiculously cold!! When we got to the other side, Fizz was there with a tiny guitar! He strummed for a little while. He¢s very talented! While he played for a bit, we ate some lunch. Towards the end of our lunch we met Mug Bag and Huck Finn. Huck Finn carried a travel chess set with him!Onwards we went¢¦ went up a horrible incline that is! We ascended over 4800 ft today in total! On our way up this horrible incline, I found a cute little gnome home and snapped some pictures. As we climbed up this massive mountain, we ate some candy to give us energy. Then we got to some open plains and the shelter. The view was gorgeous. There we met Pay it Forward. He is a Triple Crowner (he hiked the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail). He was so kind. And he was wearing a sport kilt which was pretty awesome! Moose Jaw, Pay it Forward, Fizz, and I talked about life. The privy at this shelter did not have a door and had a bucket with a dead mouse next to it. It was odd. HA! Also at this shelter we met s¢mores, trip, and a photographer named Brian. Brian said we were the first couple he has met on trail, and he took our photo. He also took a photo of my shoe gaiters. They are yellow with pineapples on them. I told him I love the pattern, but Nicholas and I are NOT swingers because apparently that¢s a thing. He laughed so hard, and said he ¢wasn¢t going to ask¢, but was glad I clarified. Apparently he just heard about that symbolism not long ago. Those three were super kind!! Trip and s¢mores hiked last year! This year they are doing a small section after trail days for fun!From here we kept on trekking. Until finally we found a stealth site, and we thought ¢good enough!¢ We set up camp and found out we had service! Which was a good thing. My water filter broke and Nicholas¢s filter isn¢t working properly. We ordered some on Amazon to be shipped to a hostel we will stay at three days from now. We should be able to use Nicholas¢s filter until then,¢¦ fingers crossed. All in all, it¢s been a good day! Besides yesterday, it has been awhile since we¢ve put in these kind of miles with our packs on so we are getting used to it again. We have to pick up our mileage so we can finish end of September, but we still plan on enjoying ourselves along the way!Fun Fact: There¢s an Appalachian Trail Year Book that we can get after we complete trial.
Date: 2023-05-24
From: Stealth Site

To: Stealth Site
Miles today: 14.2

Today was a wonderful morning. We woke up and had some caffeine and then proceeded to get around. As we were packing up our bags we saw CT hike by our little stealth site. He stopped and chatted with us while we finished packing up the rest of our things. Then as we were about to walk, Sherlock came upon us as well! We were so excited to see them both! So, all four of us started to walk together. For lunch we stopped at the shelter and ate some tuna and had some hot chocolate. We were running low on food since the next day is resupply day. This is a good thing, because we don¢t want to carry more food than you have to. After lunch we walked some more. Until we hit a water source to filter for our packs. Around this area Sherlock camped. The three of us continued on for another 4 miles. We found an incredible little site with an amazing view. We watched the sunset while making dinner. One more hiked arrived, Gucci, and he set up his hammock near us. We all chatted before going to bed, and we talked a lot about good shows to watch.Today was a good day!
Date: 2023-05-25
From: Stealth Site

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 14.9

Mood: °Today felt tough! The first 3 miles were a breeze, but after our resupply the rest of the miles felt challenging. When we finished the first three miles there was a little store right off trail that we got breakfast sandwiches from song with something to drink. Then we had a shuttle driver take us (Chili Pepper, Moose Jaw, and CT) into the tiny town of Bland so that we could get food from the grocery store. That resupply only took 15 minutes, so our shuttle driver, Chuck, took us to a diner in Bastian.From the diner we went back to trail and packed up our food. As we were packing up our food we saw Sherlock and Birdsong. We chatted with them for awhile before we got back on trail. Sherlock walked with us today. He¢s quite the conversationalist and fun to talk to! Birdsong walked with Moose Jaw for a little while as well!As we were about to leave to start hiking after resupply, we received some trail magic! Since we were full we mostly asked for waters and wet wipes that keep our big bites from itching. The walk was tough!! My ankle was killing me, so I was so happy that we finally made it to camp. We set up our tent because we knew it was going to rain in less than an hour after we arrived. At the shelter was Huck Finn, Mud Bag, Birdsong, Sherlock, Mortgage, Gucci, CT, Moose Jaw and I. We all ate dinner together and laughed a lot. The young bloods (24 years old and younger) taught us the new lingo like Timmy, no cap, bet, HIM, that guy, etc. We were cracking up hearing their definitions of each word! We also laughed a lot at the various names people will call us outside of our actual trail names.Then hiker midnight hit and we all went to bed! I was exhausted and I was happy to finally be horizontal.
Date: 2023-05-26
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Weary Feet Hostel
Miles today: 6.2

Today we slept in. Which was nice, because we were kept up by someone snoring in a tent near us. It was so loud we could hear it over the rain and our earplugs. Poor guy even woke himself up from his own snoring. When we finally woke up, we just hung out in our tent until we decided to pack up our things. It rained pretty hard last night, so when we finally got our things out of our tent we flipped our tent over to dry. Since our tent was on an incline, water got between the tub of our tent and the ground tarp beneath it. Also, somehow water got into our tent and the bottom of our mats were soaked. We wiped them down with a pack-towel. The rest of our tent dried in the sun.As we were waiting for the tent to dry we met a hiker named Merlin and his dog, Wade Wilson (from dead pool). Merlin named his dog Wade Wilson, because the first toy his pup picked out was a white unicorn (movie and comic reference). Merlin was super kind, and he pup loved me. And he loved playing in the water too!Finally around noon we started hiking towards the hostel (Weary Feet) we knew we would be staying at. We hiked the 6.2 miles in 2 hours! When we arrived we received a tour. Then we showered and did our laundry. There were a ton of hikers there that we knew and that we hung out with including: CT, Birdsong, Sherlock, Gucci, V6, Slug, Optimus, etc. We all had a great time spending time with each other. CT¢s parents actually came to visit, so we met them during dinner. The hostel cooked everyone spaghetti for dinner and it was delicious! They even gave us all a large slice of cake!!While Nicholas chatted with everyone, I went to our room to fold our laundry and relax. My feet were swollen, so I needed to prop them up. Today was wonderful!!! It was so nice to be able to have an easy day! :)