morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-04-25
From: Priest Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

We headed out of the shelter early this morning in hopes of catching a sunrise on top of the priest mountain. We had done the brunt of the climb the night before to get to the shelter so the morning wasn't too bad. Unfortunately we didn't quite get the view we wanted from the top of the mountain, there were too many trees in the way. However, we did enjoy a nice breakfast from the top ! The ensuing downhill was long and tiresome (something like 4 miles of switch backs), but we made down to the bottom by mid morning. The climb on the other side was quite difficult, and the hot temperatures made things even more challenging. Some great views of the mountain we had just conquered made the punishing climb a bit more acceptable. We headed down the mountain and arrived at maupin field shelter very early. We decided to stay here because we all wanted a nap after the early morning. Tomorrow we drop my friend Paul off at reeds gap and head towards Waynesboro to see our cousin Nat ! We are excited to be entering Shenandoah national park soon !
Date: 2016-04-26
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 21.0

We left maupin field shelter bright and early around 7, we made it to Reed's gap around 730 and said our goodbyes to Paul. We then climbed up humpback mountain and got good views of wintergreen. After this we had what seemed like the worlds longest downhill to Paul C Wolfe shelter. It was a beautiful shelter adjacent to a nice little creek, but we had to push on to get into Waynesboro. At the end we met our uncle Paul at the junction of skyline drive and the blue ridge parkway around 3:30. The day total came to 20 miles. He gave us heavenly brownies made by our aunt Daphne, and then took us to the local outfitter, where I got new tips for my poles. Next, we went to Misty Mountain camp resort where our cousin nat works and we got set up I'm a sweet little cabin. Paul then drove us to an all you can eat Chinese buffet. There we pigged out on everything under the sun. We were fortunate to hit a buffet with all the Chinese classics such as: pizza, ribs, and deviled eggs. After we had gone back for fourths we decided to leave. After that we went back to the campground and showered and did laundry. By the time all of this was said and done it was around 10, and we went to bed. A huge thanks to the tow Shelly men from driving is around, and allowing us to stay at the cabins.
Date: 2016-04-27
From: Waynesboro

To: hightop hut 
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: light rain

Our cousin Nat took us back up to the trail early in the morning ! We started hiking down the trail and immediately reached the border of the the Shenandoah national park ! We filled out our papers for our permit and took off down the trail. As we walked up and own the mountains it rained lightly. The fog/smoke was so thick in some places we could barely see the woods next to us. We have been promised we will see a bear in Shenandoah, but I honestly don't think I could have seen one standing right next to me today. After hiking 20ish miles we reached the section of the woods that is closed for a massive forest fire. The park service has closed off a 19 mile stretch of the trail for a 10,000 acre forest fire that started about 2 weeks ago. Apparently the fire is mostly out so they still have the trail closed to traffic. There was a shuttle provided to get around the section, but the shuttle only took two at a time. Of course Eli and David went first, and it torrentially rained on Magic and I while we waited an hour for the shuttle to return. When the car finally came to pick us up we both fell asleep on the ride to Powell gap, where we were dropped. We hiked the remaining 3 miles to hightop hut and set up for the night. The worst thing about the fire is that in order for any of us to validate our thru hike in our minds we need to walk every inch of the trail. Because of that we are going to try and come back and hike this relatively small section that we missed. So far we haven't been too impressed with Shenandoah, but we still have high hopes for it as we move north. Hoping the rain will clear up for our 24 mile walk to Rick spring hut tomorrow !
Date: 2016-04-28
From: hightop hut 

To: Rock spring hut
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: light rain

We left high top hut around 6 today, we had to meet Larry at 1 at booteens gap, 15 miles into the day. Hiking in the morning pretty much sucked. The fog was so dense we couldn't see anything. We came to several, what I assume we're view points that were shrouded by fog. The forest seemed so dead that David pretty quickly had the idea to make a game out of how many cars vs wildlife we had seen. It quickly turned into car vs squirrels as we realized nothing else seems to exist in the foggy wasteland of Shenandoah National Park. We hiked 15 miles by 1, and met Larry at booteens gap. After we met Larry it started to rain some, and the fog persisted. We saw a vole, but David didn't see it so the car to squirrel count remain 2-2. Larry kept pace with us easily and before we knew it we had reached big meadows. There we stopped at the wayside and Larry bought us a meal. We hung out there for about an hour them got back on and hiked a mile where Larry left us for his campsite. Then we continued on three miles to rock gap without being able to see 20 feet in any direction. We got to camp that night, and didn't have to do anything besides filter some water. The Penguins play the Capitals tonight in the playoffs go Pens!
Date: 2016-04-29
From: Rock spring hut

To: gravel spring hut 
Miles today: 28.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up to the sound of rain on the tin roof of the shelter. We knew we had to get up because we had a long day of hiking ahead of us. We had two goals in mind. one, make it to the elk wallow wayside store and get a milkshake, and secondly make it to the gravel spring hut about 28 miles away. It was easy to just walk today because the fog was so thick that we couldn't see the forest around. We weren't tempted to stop at any overlooks or take many breaks. It seems like it has been rainy like this forever now, and all of our gear is annoyingly damp. Needless to say, team moral is a little low. To make matters worse, we arrived at the elk wallow store (about 22 miles) only to find that the milkshake machine was broken.... We were all devastated. Instead, we got giant cinnamon buns and large sandwiches, which turned out to be quite tasty. We started walking the last 6 miles again in the rain, and we made it to camp right around 8. It was getting dark and the shelter was full of people. They made room for us because everyone understands that no one likes getting left out in the rain. tomorrow we are pulling another big day to Manassas gap to hopefully meet our aunt !
Date: 2016-04-30
From: gravel spring hut 

To: jim and molley denton shelter 
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: few clouds

Well this morning was rough to get up because someone had been snoring loudly all night and none of us got very much sleep. Not to mention the shelter roof had a hole in it and water leaked all over my sleeping bag. We would have been way better off just sleeping in our tent. Nevertheless, we got up and started walking down the trail. We were kind of excited/ready to be leaving the Shenandoah national park because ever since we have been here the weather has been terrible. For some reason the we blame that on the park. It is my goal to someday come back and hike this section under better conditions because I hear it is quite nice.we trudged through the fog and rain at a quick pace. We ran into a few hikers that said they had just seen a bear about 50 yards off the trail. We tiptoed and scanned both sides, but didn't see any signs of a bear. I am convinced they didn't actually see one because we could not see 20 yards off the trail through the fog. We are still yet to see a bear on our hike. We left the park and made it to the Denton shelter around 1:30. Our original plan to go to Manassas gap fell through, and the Denton shelter seemed so inviting that we decided to stay there ! A shorter day to rest our legs and hopefully let some our gear dry out. Unfortunately, it is supposed to keep raining tomorrow.
Date: 2016-05-01
From: jim and molley denton shelter 

To: Sam Moore shelter
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: light rain

Today we did something crazy... We waited till 8 to wake up on a 25 mile day! Once we got going it was wet and rainy. Our shoes got wet almost immediately. Once we passed through Manassas gap we encountered a big group of section hikers, and after that we didn't stop seeing people all day. We had to be out there, but I don't really get why day hikers who can avoid the rain still get out. Anyways after that we hiked to Dicks dome shelter which was pretty neat. It was a giant geodesic bubble. We ate lunch there, and met some nice peope who were very interested in the trip. After that we met Otis a thru hiker who started in January. The sun poked out around one and we made it to rod hollow shelter around 3. A half mile after rod hollow marked the beginning of what's called the roller coaster. Ten successive mountains, all of around 600 feet that are straight up straight down. We had to do 5 of there's bumps over our last 7 miles. The last few miles are always hard, but these in particular sucked. The elevation profile definitely did not do it justice. Anyway we made it to Sam Moore shelter around 6. There we met rasa a fellow German for David, as well as rain man and frost. They were fresh out of high school as well so that was cool. This shelter had an interesting distinction it had the first privy to not have any sort of poster with directions on what to do after going #2, needless to say I was very confused. Tomorrow we go into Harper's ferry, whoooohhhhhh half way!!!! (Also no more Virginia)
Date: 2016-05-02
From: Sam Moore shelter

To: Harpers Ferry 
Miles today: 23.0

The anticipation for today's hike was live and well when we left the shelter this morning. We were planning to pick up food at Bears den hostel, get into Harpers Ferry, and it wasn't supposed to rain at all. The bears den hostel was our first stop to pick up a package. The hostel was packed with hikers and we got sucked into a break full of talking and watching cable tv. We decided we could take a long morning break because the terrain for the rest of the day looked so flat and easy. It turned out To be extremely rocky terrain which is the worst because you can't go fast and it is really hard on your feet and ankles. We limped the rest of the way into Harpers Ferry, but made it to town before the ATC (Appalachian Trail Conservancy) closed for the day. They greeted us with open arms and more importantly cold drinks. We laughed and joked around with the staff and other hikers. We looked through the old hiker "yearbooks" and found our friends Yak and Stitch who hiked in 2011. Then we all had our own photos made, and placed in the 2016 book. Eli and I were number 85 and 86 to pass through heading north from Georgia ! We headed into historic Harpers Ferry and met our uncle Larry ! Strangely enough all the shops/eateries had closed. We called our friend/best trail angel ever, Ginna Bird. You could tell this wasn't Ginna's first time hosting hikers because she knew everything a thru could ever want. She absolutely spoiled us with chicken and steak, great gluten free bread , brownies, showers, laundry, and even a bed ! Oh and I almost forget to mention, eggs bacon and ham in the morning ! It was truly wonderful, and a great halfway point treat ! Thanks to the Bird family for being so hospitable and welcoming to us, you guys are awesome ! We are looking forward to our Nero into Harpers ferry tomorrow where will the see the historical side of town and hopefully get some errands done.
Date: 2016-05-03
From: Harpers Ferry 

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today we woke up later than usual because we had the unusual reward of a zero day. We woke up in Ginna's basement. One of the best nights of sleep I've had in s while. Even crazier than the zero day is that Ginna then treated us to a delicious breakfast of eggs, ham, and bacon. . We set up our tent and dried it out some with our towels. Then Ginna took us to a sporting goods store where david for running shorts and a supermarket where magic got food. She then dropped the four of us off in Harper's ferry were we said goodbye and met up with Larry. With Larry we picked up our package at the ATC which proved to be so much food we had to stuff our faces all day long. During the process of face stuffing we also took a look around Harpers ferry. It had some interesting history, especially during the civil war, but David made the observation, that it felt like they were trying to sell us on the town the whole tour. After that we separated with magic, he went north and we went south to the VA-WV border. Here we made dinner and camped on a nice hill. The reason for all of this is the four state challenge, Virginia to West Virginia to Maryland to Pennsylvania a grand total of 43 miles all in one day. Wish us luck!
Date: 2016-05-04
From: PA border 

To: rocky mountain shelter 
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Some days you wake up because the alarm goes off or because someone snorrs so loud that it's impossible to sleep. Today wasn't one of those days. This morning it was the sound of birds which would be considered a nice way of waking up. But it was seven o'clock and after the four-state-challenge and being awake for 20 hours straight it was definetly too early. The first question i asked myself is kinda obvious. How did the Penguins play( never watched hockey before i came over but Zac and Eli introduced me to it and it's easy. Screw the Red Wings, screw the Blackhawks, root for the Penguins who have Crosby (only player i knew before) and always take off the gloves when you beat each other)? So we looked it up and thankfully they won 3:2. After that it was the normal routine except for the fact that we didn't eat anything. We had to get into Cascade, Maryland to pick up the resupply package and an italian restaurant was on the way. After a 43 mile day definetly the right way to treat ourselves.Oh boy, that was good. The people who run Rocky's are from Italy and they know how to make a proper pizza or sub. They were huge, tasted awesome and weren't expensive at all. The dream of any thru hiker.Then we got to the post office to resupply and luckily the package was already there but a new pretty unusual problem came up. Sonic and Goois had way too much food since we ate at the italian place believing that the package wouldn't make it. They ended up with eight days worth of food for four days of hiking. Because we didn't want to leave anything we decided that they would take food for five days and i would take the rest even though i already had food for four days. Luckily an older woman gave us a ride back to the trail and we didn't had too hike the 1,3 miles we had too hike to get into Cascade.If we would have been efficient we could have been done by 12 but we weren't and at least i don't regret it. We started hiking atat 1 and suddenly a 15 mile day sounds suprisingly long especially after a short night with legs which were still regenerating from yesterday and a stomach that was completely full.The only small problem was that my tent was still wet from the stealthcamping the night earlier so i wanted to hit the Shelter as soon as possible. They still had to filter four liters of water and i didn't want to wait so long so i ended up putting in my headphones and listening to music for 5 hours until I hit the Shelter. Besides the filtering they also had to order new shoes which we will pick up in Duncannon and that's more than necessary. Its sad but they still refuse to join the scarpa hype-train which right now even hits the Internet and they stayed with the Hokas( scarpas are the shoes i'm wearing and they are more durable and too a certain degree waterproof so my feet stay dry and also clean). But enough of scarpa advertisment. I hope this post fits the blog and thanks to all the people that supported us. Good night, DAS MACHINE
Date: 2016-05-05
From: rocky mountain shelter 

To: Toms Run Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we woke up at 6. Surprisingly most of our shelter mates did as well. We were pretty dukes because today was gonna be "easy" we had 30 miles, but PA is as flat as a pancake so we figured it wouldn't be to bad. Thirty minutes after we left the shelter the rain came. It reminded me of the scene in Forest Gump where it just rains and rains... And rains. The terrain was flat but we spent so much time dodging puddles we slowed down to half our usual pace. Zack and I's mesh trail runners quickly wetted through. So every step was nice and squishy. I personally started getting cold, and we decided it was best to stop early at around 18 miles. When we got into camp we filtered water and then just sat in our sleeping bags and talked and hung out. It took a day that was a real bummer and turned it into something pretty fun and enjoyable. That night we had the shelter all to ourselves so we totally stretched out and had stuff drying all over the shelter. Even though we didn't do our miles the day ended up being alright.
Date: 2016-05-06
From: Toms Run Shelter

To: carlisle PA
Miles today: 30.0

We started this morning off really excited because it wasn't raining ! And as an added bonus we were going to eat ice cream for breakfast and sleep in a hotel that night. We made it to the pine grove furnace store before they opened at 8. It is tradition that hikers participate in the half gallon challenge after passing the half way point on the trail (which we had reached the day before). The half gallon challenge is to eat half a gallon of ice cream in one sitting. I think I didn't realize how much ice cream was in a half gallon. I thought it was like a, oh let's eat some ice cream to celebrate being half way sort of thing. About half way through I was not having fun anymore.... Just a bad brain freeze. Nevertheless, I had to will myself to finish all of it because David and Eli finished theirs. We got to sign in the half gallon club book and we got little wooden spoons as souvenirs for finishing. Not sure if that was worth the stomach ache. At this point time had really gotten away from us and we still had 27 miles to hike for the day so we kicked it into high gear. I gotta say we are loving the Pennsylvania terrain because it is extremely flat compared to other parts of the trail. It is pretty rocky in some stretches, but the overall flatness makes it easy to walk a long distances. The last 10 miles of the day was walking through corn fields, which felt kind of weird not being in the mountains, but the flatness was appreciated ! We hobbled into the days inn hotel conveniently just before the hockey game started. It was great to get all our clothes washed tonight, but by far the best thing about today was the sunshine. It seemed like it had been raining for way too long. Looking forward to hearing into Duncannon PA tomorrow for a resupply !
Date: 2016-05-07
From: carlisle PA

To: Clark's Ferry shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: light rain

We woke up at 6 and pigged out on the intercontinental breakfast at the days inn. Feeling stuffed and happy we went back to the room. When I got back I thought to check the tracking info on our shoes we ordered. That's when we realized we were going to be in duncannon today and the shoes were getting there tomorrow. Luckily Zacks girlfriends brother lives in Harrisburg and we were able to call him and have him pick them up. Unfortunately, that all took a few hours and we didn't start our 22 miles day till 11. Luckily it was flat as a pancake. We knocked out our first 4 miles and talked to the first guy we met who started after us. We then climbed 1 out of 2 up hills for the day. At the top was the "taj mahal", supposedly the best privy on the trail. It was rather disappointing, a standard affair in the end.after that we followed the ridge for what seemed like forever and made it to Hawks rock which overlooked the sesquihanie river. We descended into duncannon and got food and a resupply from the Doyle hotel. The last 5 miles was mostly uphill out of the river basin. We made it to clarks ferry shelter around 830 where we went to bed.
Date: 2016-05-08
From: Clark's Ferry shelter

To: campsite 
Miles today: 30.0
Weather: fog

We started early this morning, as usual, and navigated our way through the Pennsylvania rocks. Today was a day with very low motivation, and I am not quite sure why. I think all the rocks and the high mileage have got our spirits low. Nevertheless we trudged on. Today we ran into a lot of thru hikers called flip floppers. A flip flopper is someone who starts somewhere (say Harpers Ferry) and goes north Maine and then comes back and heads south to Georgia. There are a lot of flip floppers this year because the ATC recommended it to avoid the massive wave of hikers that started at springer. It's funny for us because it is like being back at the start, even though we have been on the trail for months. There are all these people on their first or second day with huge packs trying to find a hiking group and what gear to send home. We laugh to ourselves, and bet on which ones we think will make it all the way. Anyways, we had fun meeting all the new flip floppers today, and sharing our basic knowledge of the trail with them.we trekked on and made it to camp early. We camped in our tents tonight which the first time we have done that in a while. Also, we camped right next to a road which was good because our friend met us there with our new shoes! Thank goodness he was able to help us because the next outfitter is over 100 miles away and I don't think I could have worn my shoes another day. My feet were splitting out the sides. I got another pair of Hoka running shoes. Thanks again to Quinn for saving the day. Looking forward to miles in my new shoes tomorrow, and getting closer to the end of Pennsylvania, the rocks are really starting to wear on me.
Date: 2016-05-09
From: campsite 

To: Eagles Nest Shelter
Miles today: 28.0
Weather: clear sky

We woke up at 6 and got going. We were doing 28 which is definitely brutal, but the terrain consisted of one uphill at the beginning and then all flat. It started raining pretty early on but we trudged and passed by William pen shelter, there we met step and a half and watched predators highlights. We hiked a few more miles and made it to the 501 shelter where we found some chewy bars. Major trail magic. We met captain jack sparrow and then hiked on. As we walked onward nothing too exciting happened, until we saw a southbounder. At second notice we realized it was SEAM headed the wrong as usual. He left us in Daleville, VA do it was cool to finally catch him again. We did the last 11 miles into camp with him catching up on all that's happened. That night we talked a lot with Jack Sparrow and watched the penguins hockey game in the shelter. The pens won and are also the reason I'm writing this blog post a few days later.