morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Sideshow and I were the first to get paddling this morning. Rebel and Chach were not far behind as they caught us pretty quickly. Sideshow and I had beer for breakfast. hahaha we started drinking at like 8:30 AM and it was awesome! Sideshow was getting tired of the sun in his eyes so he made a beer can visor which is some off the coolest McGuyver type stuff he's pulled yet. We saw a bunch of turtles today and we passed some farmland where a bunch of cows were chillin' in the river. By lunchtime we had had enough of this river crap. It's hot, there is no shade so we had some gnarly sunburns, we were dehydrated from all the beer we had been drinking, and all of this paddling through the still sections was really getting old. We eventually made it to the pullout point where the bus was waiting on us. We loaded the canoes and our gear onto the bus and jumped in the river to get out of the heat and wait on the other group. They showed up not long after and the driver gave us a ride into downtown Front Royal. We checked into a hotel and headed for this burger joint called "Spellonkers". Apparently there is some caves nearby and this is where all the cavers come to eat. I had a big ole burger and fries and about a gallon of Mt. Dew. I went with the group down to the outfitter in the middle of town. I have all the gear I need so I didn't buy anything. I just enjoyed the air conditioning. As Rebel and I were walking back to the hotel we saw the temperature scrolling across the sign at the bank, it said 103 degrees F , wow that's hot! I spent the rest of the day in the hotel room relaxing in the air conditoning. I LOVE A/C!
Date: 2007-06-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We checked out of the hotel and headed to the grocery store for resupply. The store had a deli and I got a panini sandwich that ruled! We got a ride to the trail from this really cool guy and his dog. After 5 miles I came to the Jum and Molly Denton Shelter. It was a really nice shelter with a shower and a porch. It was so hot and humid that once I took a break there it was hard to get hiking again. When it's this hot out no one wants to move a muscle. I pushed on through. I made it to Dock's Dome Shelter. It's a very oddly shaped shelter and it's painted white. It looks very out of place out here. It looks like rain tonight but I got the last shelter spot so I'm happy. I'm hot and miserably sweaty so I'm going to bed. Laters! Someone tell God to turn up the A/C! Apparently he's not listening to me.
Date: 2007-06-28
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Got hiking early this morning and started sweating immediately. That pissed me off hardcore. Then I hit the infamous "Rollercoaster". I had heard about it in the past but thought nothing of it.This section of trail almost broke me. Apparently the Appalachian Trail Conservancy could only aquire land 1000 ft. wide and 14 or so miles long so there wasn't much options about where to route the trail here. The trail does exactly what the name implies, it rollercoasters straight up and down over 10 mountains in a very short mileage span. It was killer, especially in this ridiculous mind-numbing heat. I flopped into Rod Hollow Shelter for lunch and water. Not long after leaving the shelter I plopped down next to a boulder at a road crossing & just sat there for an hour. I was losing my mind in this heat. Sideshow and Chach showed up and they were just as discouraged as I was. They started talking about hitching from there into Harpers Ferry, WV. I was determined to hike the rest of Virginia. I didn't want to let this state break me so I hiked on. I took numerous breaks for the next few miles until I got into Bear's Den Hostel. What a neat place this is. It is a beautiful stone building atop a mountain in the woods. There were a lot of people already here but I was totally out of gas so I opted to stay. I checked in and noticed a familiar face inside. It was Bingali, and boy has he gotten skinny. I haven't seen him since North Carolina. It was real good to see him. I also ran into Grizzle! I haven't seen him in a while since the blazer broke down that day. I cooked a DiGiorno pizza and we did some catching up. It's good to be back with my nizzle Grizzle LoL! I met Snackbreak here. She is taking some time off to get her head together so she is working here at the Hostel. She's a really cool chick with a great vibe. We hung out for a bit. She busted out her DVD collection and we all had a group movie night in the den. We watched Failure To Launch which was pretty good. Grizzle got a message from Sideshow saying that him and Chach said the hell with Virginia and hitched into Harpers Ferry, West Virginia from that road where we were sitting just earlier today. He said that he bought a new pack, sleeping bag, and some other stuff and then sent a ton of stuff home so now his pack in only 18 pounds full. Haha Sideshow you rule! Hopefully I'll catch up to him soon.BEARS DEN HOSTEL RULES! SNACKBREAK TOO!
Date: 2007-07-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

After eating a nice stack of pancakes for breakfast this morning, Grizzle, Rebel, and I hiked towards Harpers Ferry. We were very excited today because we were going to be finishing up VA, and crossing the 1000 mile point. Rebel hiked ahead of us early on. Grizzle and I got to the state line at West Virginia and we did an insane victory dance right there. We were so happy to be out of VA finally! Over 500 miles and more than a month we spent trudging through that darn state. I have never been more relieved in my life to see a state line sign as I was when I saw that one. After the sign we hiked as fast as we could in the heat for a while. After Keys Gap I hit a wall. A mental wall. The next 6 miles was hell. The worst 6 miles of my life. I had no energy and my feet hurt so unbelievably bad I was in tears. I hobbled down the trail to the WV32 crossing. I stopped for 30 seconds or so before pushing on. I have never been closer to quitting then I was right then. I almost gave up but I pushed on another quarter of a mile to the bridge where Grizzle was waiting for me. He really lifted my spirits. We took a short break before walking across the bridge. At the other end we were offered a ride to the Hilltop House Hotel in town. We got the last available room. This place was cool, it's really old but I've never stayed in a hotel with a better view. We met up with Rebel there and we all got showers and headed to King's Pizza for dinner. I had the biggest stromboli of my life and it was great. After dinner we walked down to the pub and had a couple of beers. We caught a ride back to the hotel pretty easily. It was 11pm so we were suprised we could get a ride but the guy that picked us up knew by the clothes we were wearing that we were harmless hikers. Thank God for people like him.GOODBYE VIRGINIA! YOU SUCK!HELLO WEST VIRGINIA I'M HAPPY TO BE HERE!
Date: 2007-07-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Got up this morning and went to the Outfitter at Harpers Ferry. THis is one of the coolest outfitters I have ever been to. It's an old stone building and they don't have a lot of gear but they have the best gear. They are totally geared towards ultralight AT hiking which is awesome! I bought some new shoes and a new summer weight sleeping bag. I got a bunch of other various items to send home as well. With my new gear I'll be able to drop a couple of pounds in packweight and my feet should feel a thousand times better. I went by the post office and got my first maildrop. My dad sent me back my filter with a brand new element in it and my folks sent me a suprise. A 4 gig badass mp3 player with over 300 songs on it. Yahoo! This is the best thing I have gotten in a long time. I am so excited. Listening to the deafening silence of the woods for the past 1000 miles has been cool but now I'm quite tired of it. I needed music and now I got a ton of it. Thanks Mom and Dad! This afternoon Bigby, Tater, G, Jake, Veg, Boognish, Keys, and Trailbait made it into town. We went to this nice tavern for food and some beers. Boognish's college roomate is in town and he has a car so she shuttled us up to the same pub I was at last night. They were the only bar open late in town so there were a lot of people there. We had a good time drinking beer, playing pool, and throwing darts. I met these two guys at the bar and I told them about what we were doing and they were blown away. I shoved them my pictures and told them about some of the cool encounters and adventures along the way so far. They were staying at the Hilltop House as well and we headed back there for a little fun and they invited me to come with them so I did. We went back to the hotel and hung out for a bit. One of them used to work there and he knew of a haunted room. He happened to have a key too. We went up to room #66 and went inside. Everything was serviced and clean but the room was on the "do not rent" list because of guests claiming the room was haunted. The one guy knew the story of the murder so he told us about it. We layed down on the beds and turned out the lights for a couple of minutes to see if anything would happen. Nothing did but it was cool none the less. It was late and I was tired so I said goodbye and slid off to my room.HE CALLED IT "SECRET WEAPON".
Date: 2007-07-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I got up this morning and decided to take another zero day so I could get some journals done. Rebel wanted to do the same thing so he was going to zero with me. Everyone else had plans to go into Baltimore and catch a baseball game. Rebel and I sat outside on the front porch of the hotel and jounraled for over six straight hours, which was exhausting. The nice thing was the incredible view right in front of us. The view and my mp3 player made it very nice. For dinner we had heard rumor of 35 cent wings at the pob time at the pub. I filled up on hot wings ( my favorite food) and beer and then we played a few rounds of pool. After the pub we went back to the hotel to be down for the night. Around midnight or later the rest of the gang got back from the ball game. I was sleeping and barely noticed them come in. They seemed beat. I LOVE HOTWINGS AND BEER!
Date: 2007-07-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Rebel. Snakecharmer, and I got up early this morning because the three of us got a good nights sleep last night. The rest of the group was still sleeping when we left. We went down to the outfitter and sat outside for an hour waiting for them to open. They opened up and Rebel and i mailed some stuff home. We went down to the ice cream shop downstown and got some chili burgers and some birch beer and icecream. We started hiking at noon with full bellies. We went down to the Potomac River and took some pictures before crossing the railroad tressle into Maryland. The trail goes along a gravel bike path for a couple of miles paralelling the Potomac River. It was a quite relaxing and scenic hike. After some miles we came to Gathland State Park when we met Jedi. A southbounder who lives nearby. He was having foot troubles so he was taking some time off. He was putting his time to good use because he was doing mondo trail magic for us northbounders. He gave us food and some gatorades. We made our way into Dahlgren Backpackers Campground where we were planning to stay for the night. There were quite a few thru-hikers here already. Jedi showed up with a bunch of icecream for everybody and we quickly devoured it. Thanks Jedi! After icecream and dinner it's time for bed. It's nice and cool tonight so I'll probably sleep like a baby. Laters. JEDI YOU RULE MAN!
Date: 2007-07-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Got hiking early this morning because I wanted to do a big mile day. I passed the Washington Monument this morning. I got to the Annapolis Rocks and walked the blue blaze down to the clifftop. There was a group of kids and some counselers overseeing a repelling trip. I watched this young girl take her first terrifying steps off a cliff on her first rappel. She was really scared, but once she got over the edge she did just fine. I got to Pen-Mar Park at around 5pm. The groundskeeper opened the back door to the concession stand and sold us a bunch of icecream bars for 25 cents a piece. Thanks Doug! Rebel and I hung out at the west-facing pavillion until after sunset because we thought it would have been a nice sunset. But clouds moved and ruined it. We had a nice conversation with some people we met there though. At dark we decided to night hike almost five more miles to the next shelter and coincidentally into Pennsylvania. In .2 of a mile we crossed the railraod tracks that serve as the MD/PA border. I crossed the Mason-Dixon line here. Goodbye southland. Goodbye grits, sweet-tea, biscuits and gravy. I'll be back soon enough. In the next few miles we crossed many busy roads. It was dark so we didn't mind a little excitement. We got to the shelter late and since there are two shelters side by side here, we had one to ourselves. Cool. It's nice to be in Pennsylvania finally! Hopefully the rocks aren't as bad as I've heard. THANKS FOR THE ICE CREAM DOUG!
Date: 2007-03-21
From: I will leave soon

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today I left Crystal River. Tonight I am in Jaxbeach running a few last minute errands. Tommorow I will be in Atlanta, Sat I will be in Walker county GA. Monday I will camp out in Amicalola Falls park. Tues I will hike the approach trail and Wed. I will begin the AT. In all reality I am overprepared. In my mind I should have a million things left to do. There comes a time that you just have to say, enough is enough, go hike!! Well I hope I meet some cool people Mon.
Date: 2007-03-23
From: gettin there

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

well alot closer to the start, or the end now. I am still south of atlanta, had a bit of a time when the wheel of my truck decided to fall off going up I75. I only had 2 studs left when I got it under control. I just had tires put on my truck about 3 weeks ago. So anyway I call the store, TIRE KINGDOM in Crystal River and the manager didn't seem to concerned about my predicament. I am not done with them, they owe me a wheel and 50 bucks. One of my biggest peeves is auto shops that try to take advantage of people. I am lucky that I know how to deal with them. AAA towed me to this great shop where this really nice black man named david started fixing my truck. I walked over to the NAPA store bought the studs and nuts and I was up and running again. With my spare, so now I don't have one. Thankfully I wont need it after Sun.Got close to Atlanta and the traffic started getting bad so I stopped.I will be in the Appalachains tommorow.Birdi
Date: 2007-03-25
To: amicalola falls
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Tommorow I head to Amicalola and will camp at the park, tuesday i will hike the approach, oh this all sounds familiar. Anyway having a good time here in walker county. Have pretty much hiked all over this area. Lots of deer, and turkeys. I just needed to know if I was going to have any knee problems rite away, things look good for the body. Still not in the best shape but the trail will take care of that pretty quickly. I have a hiking partner, her name is Daisy she loves to chase everything. I kinda like having a dog to hike with. Maybe I will find a stray along the way that I can adopt. Well it will be a while until my next update. My freind Jamie will be transponding for me.Thanks everyone for all the support and prayers. Birdi
Date: 2007-03-26
From: amicalola falls

To: Tent site on approach trail
Miles today: 0.0

Well I made it.Dale,Jane and I, to Amicalola fall this afternoon. Dale and I hiked up to the falls, they were very beautiful. We spent some time up there before we hiked down and I went to sign in. We all drove up to the lodge, what a wonderful place.Some day I will come back here and stay for awhile. The lodge is were my Mom and Dad had stayed on there last vacation together, before my Dad passed away. I really miss theme both very much. On the way up I overheard a kid telling his friend how boring hiking with his parents had been. I would give anything to hike with my parents again. After messing around at the park for a wile,Dale and Jane dropped me at the approach trail around 5:00. I hiked on for an hour and fourty-five minutes in the sweltering southern humidity, before I had enough. So tonight I will camp in a little tent site 4 miles or so from the start point. No problems with my knee, it was a hard climb up hill to the site.I am very out of shape,but I will only get stronger. I couldn't get my tent up fast enough, the flies were in a feeding frenzy. Ate Subway for dinner so the pack still ways 45 lbs 35+ food.> Sleeping good tonight > Birdi...
Date: 2007-03-27
From: springer mt.

To: hawk mountain shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 2Made it to the trail head at 11:30 A.m. Signed the log in and Started the AT. At the parking area met a fellow by the name of Mountain squid, he had trail magic. He had a bunch of stuff from a guy people are calling Cartman. Cartman attempted to hike the trail with a two wheeled cart stuffed full, Crazy!! Drank down some kool aid, ate some of my own food. I am running 1 day ahead of schedule so I have extra food.I have hiked over 10 miles today and will probably pay for it tomorrow. Met up we some guys from Maine on the hike in I kept up with theme for a while, the up hills are brutal, they will get easier. I had some water issues today, had to use a mud puttle for my source, I may have ruined my filter I will try to clean it tomorrow. Worst case I can buy another cartridge in a few days. Long creek falls was very beautiful and clean. The Maniacs and I went for a swim. There are 20-25 people staying here tonight, lots of laughing, lots of fun.
Date: 2007-03-28
From: hawk mountain shelter

To: Gooch mountain 
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: broken clouds

Day 3 elevation 3000 Gooch Mountain ShelterI slept very well last night, even though it was so hot. Some time in the middle of the night, the Army flew a helicopter over the treeline of the campsite. I bet they get a kick out of it, scaring campers. This is a typical day on the trail. In the future I won't bore you with day to day details. I wake up hearing the voices of the other campers, I lay there a few minutes and evaluate how sore I am. The air the last few mornings has been chilly so I put on my fleece. I soaked down some freeze dried fruit last night that I will mix with either oatmeal or powdered milk for cereal. This is usually enough, plus I drink as much water as I can. It doesn't take long to start sweating .Then I gather my gear let breakfast settle, and then off to fill up with water. It took a little longer because I am having to clean my cartridge more often. Today water is going to be especially important with 8-9 dry miles. My pack it at its heaviest with such a long haul. Left out with Jamie at about 9;30. The first part of the trail today was down hill. Sassafras mountain was an 800 ft climb in about a mile. The AT seems to stay on the ridge lines except to cross roads and rivers. Otherwise it goes up or down pretty quickly. The ridge ridge lines are amazing, with spectacular views, when the clouds clear. My buddy Jaimie is a city boy from Chicago, he saw a black racer rat snake and didn't even freak out. Lunch was tuna,with peanuts, crackers, dried gorp, and a vitamin drink. We all climbed another hill that was even more extreme than the one before. I climbed 100' up and took a nap on a nice rock. I woke up and climbed on,The others had gone ahead so I walked alone thru some hurricane devastation, at the power of nature. At the bottom of the mountain there was a nice stream to soak my feet in. All the Maine'iacs headed out,followed shortly by the Destin crew,two guys from U>G>A>and Jamie. As I headed out a few miles later, I entered a tunnel of green foliage for miles. Nice reward for two heavy uphills. I went up and around the valley to the Gooch Mountain Shelter. I shared a tent spot with J bird, heated up my dinner, beef teriyaki with corn , peas and green beans. Life traveler showed up, he is 20 and hiked from the approach about 20 miles in one day. We all sat around the shelter joking and making our plans for tomorrow. I went back to the tent site gathered my dirty dishes and my filter. I was able to clean the mud from my cartridge from the forest road mud puddle. Took a camper bath washed my hair and body. Back to the tent site hung out with the J-bird for an hour then off to bed. P.S.We had a bit of trail magic. Coolers full of ice cold waters. I made it to the site with a quart of my original water. Today was in the high 80's the water was appreciated.
Date: 2007-03-29
From: Gooch mountain 

To: Campground near woods hole
Miles today: 11.9

Left Woody gap, climbed up Big Cedar. Hithched into Suches with a guy named Paul. Romi was there so we picked him up. Jamie got his trail name, Roast Beef. Humped it with J-bird about 1/2 way up blood mountain to a campsite on the ridgeline at the approach trail for the shelter. 12 mile day. Its foggy and 43 degrees. 55 inside my tent.
Date: 2007-03-30
From: Campground near woods hole

To: Seasons Inn Hiawassee
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Finished hiking Blood Mountain 4461 feet. Highest point of AT in GA. Pretty easy hike today, the trail is pretty well maintained. The to was pretty foggy and there were allot of slippery rocks. I saw the first blooming Dogwood since getting into the Appalachians. Roast beef J-bird and I hitched in. WE went to the china buffet and stuffed ourselves. Hit the IGA for supplies, shook down the pack and am sleeping in a nice bed.
Date: 2007-03-31
From: Seasons Inn Hiawassee

To: Low GAp shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Ate breakfast at the Huddle House and caught a ride to the trail about 10:30. Roast Beef and I left out of Neels Gap about 12:30 after I sent 5 pounds of gear back. I am actually about 10 pounds lighter after last night shake down. It is much better hiking now. We booked it into Low Gap after missing the blue blaze for water at Hog Pen Gap. It was a nice full moon so we kept going till about 9:00. Roast Beef lent me his little radio and I was able to listen to the final four Fla game against UCLA. Looks like we will be playing Ohio State in the championship. Saw my first tick today, so I am paying more attention. I am pretty tired tonight so I should sleep well. My feet are doing great, no blisters yet. I think the slower pace I have decided on has allot to do with it. When I stop to rest I take my shoes off. Even going this slow I still do 10+ miles. We saw the second snake today.GATORS 76UCLA 66GO GATORS
Date: 2007-04-01
From: Low GAp shelter

To: Blue Mt Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: light rain

Day 7 It started raining about 4 a.m. it let up enough arond ten to dry out enough to break camp about 10 a.m.. Made it to the shelter at 3:30 after some pretty steady hiking. My feet were getting bad so I convinced R.B. to stop and dry out for the night. Met Weatherman and a 3 generation family from Monticello Ga.
Date: 2007-04-02
From: Blue Mt Shelter

To: Sassafras Gap Campground
Miles today: 12.2

Listened to the Gator game, I am pretty tired. Climbed Trey Mt. incredible view from the top for about 2 minutes until the biting flies attacked. 4430 is the second highest on the AT in Ga. Climbed Blue Mt. this morning to. It was 4025. It was to foggy on Blue to notice anything. I have less then 15 miles till the border. This trail in Ga has been pretty tough. Allot of steep climbs. The trail pretty much follows the ridgelines so I have gotten allot of incredible pics. Tomorrow I am heading to Cloud 9, my first hostel to pick up a mail drop. Crossing the GA/Nc border will feel pretty good.Gators have won!!