morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-04-23
From: Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel, Erwin, TN

To: Unaka Mountain, spruce forest
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Intended to get to Cherry Gap Shelter tonight, even if it took until 9:30 p.m., but before reaching the summit of Unaka Mountain, there was a grassy area followed by an evergreen grove and I heard Jester call out from inside it -- "Sanguine! Laura!" Walked over a carpet of moss and pine needles to be greeted with a cup of peppermint tea. So I settled in for the night, setting up my tent before it started to rain, little of which reached the ground through the spruce canopy. Watched a beautiful sunset through the trees as the sun finally reached the opening between a swirling cloud cover and the mountainous horizon.From atop the bald at Beauty Spot, I had a 360 degree view of the cloud formations, the wind blowing huge thunderheads eastward -- it looked promising for us northbounders. Heard thunder once in the west, but it never reached us.Can still hear the freight trains' lonesome horn blowing as they make their windy way through the valley below. Feels like 100 years ago. Hobbit woods beckon:A mossy, spongy, pine bedAnd spruce canopy.Getting through the trees was a little tricky last night because spruce branches project sharply at right angles from the trunks, ready to stab innocent passersby. I broke off a few around my tent entrance to prevent night-time potty-walk injuries, but still ended up with some nasty bruises.Trail magic several hours into the walk today, at Indian Grave gap. Emma, a nurse, and Christian, a Catholic associate pastor, fed us cookies, oranges, apples, celery, carrots and many other goodies. Emma's daughter is a thru-hiker and, though not former hikers themselves (as are most trail angels), these two took their Saturday off to feed hungry hobo-hikers. Thank you!
Date: 2004-04-24
From: Unaka Mountain, spruce forest

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

a.m. I've just folded up my tent and am sprawled on the ground cloth as the sun filters through the spruce canopy. I superglued my cracked toe again this morning. Don't know if it's healing but at least I'm temporarily out of pain.Humid day with lots of ups and downs. Having storms break in the late afternoon was wonderfully cooling -- could hear the thunder overhead and in adjacent valleys. Ran into the Axe Murderers again, doing another section hike; Lady Di invited me to contact her in PA when I get there. Nice offer!No sign of Jester all day. When I left him he was happily propped up against two trees, home-made fleece "jester" hat on, typing away on his crapped-out computer keyboard (the d, e, s, and r no longer register on his screen, so he figured out that he can't spell "depressed" anymore -- good omen!) in his Hobbit woods. On parting, he read me a quotation from a Henry Miller book written in Greece just as WWII was about to start -- about being so happy that you might as well do yourself in on the spot since you know you'll never again be in a more blissful state. As I packed out toward the trail he called after me: "Don't kill yourself today, Sanguine! You're not happy enough yet!" Tonight, I'm sheltering with Navigator, Sox, the Hobbits, Arms, Dave the Sailor, and a couple of SOBOs who started at Damascus and plan to flipflop at Springer -- Liz and Jason, with black lab Annie. I kidded these two when they got into the shelter so late, "So this is the romantic date he's been telling you about -- just the two of you and ten smelly hikers!"Cooked up some more ramps with beef bouillon -- tasty! I notice that my alimentary regularity picks up when I eat more trail greens... 'Nuf said.After passing through Iron Mountain Gap today, I heard what I thought were raindrops on the dry leaves beside the trail, but didn't feel anything from above. Turned out to be swarms of tiny cricket-like creatures I was disturbing as I passed; they would leap up and reland on other leaves, causing a wave of "rain."
Date: 2004-04-26
From: Roan Mountain Knob Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: moderate rain

I'm having breakfast in "bed" this morning. With the rain outside and the draft inside, I thought I'd just cook indoors and have coffee inside my sleeping bag. Very comfortable.Dave was very chatty this morning, talking about his sailing life, and how the mobile community of sailing folk reminds him a lot of the AT community. He revealed a little about his life off the trail, about travels in Venezuela, and living in a cabin for several years in Virginia with his wife.By choosing to spend last night here -- and this shelter does have one of the best views I've seen -- a perfect bucolic landscape of mountains, valley, farms -- I'm taking an extra day to get to my maildrop at Roan Mountain. But it's nice to be in Jester's company, since he's taken to reading me quotations from the gospel according to St. Henry (Miller) each morning before I hike; it's a great way to start the day, with ebullient, explosive prose that liken the streets of Crete to the machinations of the universe.6:20 p.m. Tucked into my sleeping bag and fleece liner at Overmountain Shelter before dark. Had to get out of my raingear and wet clothes and into my long underwear as soon as I got here to avoid a chill.Made more ginger & ramp soup tonight with lentils and rice. Just enough fuel left for breakfast tomorrow so I need to get into Roan Mountain (the town) by tomorrow. Have heard that road crossings there are not particularly friendly -- oh dear.Stopped about a mile from the shelter this morning -- just before Carver's Gap -- for advertized "Trail Magic". An amazing couple, Brian and Torin, with children Benjamin and Clara-Ann, were cooking breakfast under a rain tarp from the back of their station wagon. Brian ("Fix-it" '97) said he'd been doing this every year on his birthday for the last four years -- "Trail magic restored my faith in humanity," he said, so he's sharing the love. He made the most delicious pecan pancakes with maple syrup -- of which I ate 9! -- and a piece of soy sausage and hot coffee. Divine! They deserve special trail angel wings for spending a rainy, windy morning cooking for thru-hikers. All of us were soaked through, but having a great time over breakfast."What is essential is invisible to the eye" wrote Antoine de Saint Exupery, and today the landscape was invisible, but Overmountain Shelter is just low enough to get a clear view of a picturesque valley.8:30 p.m. Matt (from Indiana) and Jester managed to get a fire going with the wet wood and J's pocket rocket propane stove, so we stood around it and watched the clouds zipping over and through the mountains, criss-crossing each other, bracing ourselves against the stiff winds and flying ashes, and listening to the birds telegraphing the changing weather reports to each other moment by moment. Jester read another selection from St. Henry, about calls for peace on the brink of WWII. A timely reading.
Date: 2004-04-28
From: 3.9 miles north of 19E to Roan Mountain

To: 2 miles south of Dennis Cove Road
Miles today: 16.5

Had a good night's sleep, but it still took me two hours to get from my sleeping bag to the trail today -- I lingered over coffee and journal. Need to take a leaf out of Breathless and Speed's book and be out on the trail by 7:30 a.m. Fewer hot hours in the sun!Was eager to reach Kincora Hostel today in Hampton, TN, but stopped 2 miles shy of it at sundown. Camped again with Tree Frog, a 60-70-something Texas Aggie and retired chemical engineer, who has been trying to get mileage in so that he can meet his son on time at a road crossing tomorrow.The trail today was meandering -- it felt as if I had gone from the giant superscreamer roller coaster to the kiddie coaster -- round and round and round with no change of scenery. Seemed like a scene from "The Blair Witch Project": "Didn't we cross this stream two hours ago? That's the same log!" The four-mile trail relocation/addition between Apple House and Moreland Gap shelters made the day feel very confusing. I could never get a sense of where I was with respect to where I wanted to be. But from what I understand, the trail had had to be relocated because two footbridges had been washed out with floods from last year.I was a little grumpy today because of the heat, too. Took a 90-minute lunch break beside Laurel River, which, just as I was about to dip my feet into it, Tree Frog warned me was contaminated. With what? I wanted to know, but he was already gone. Still, I wasn't motivated enough to move on, so I sat on the bank, feeling the breeze that stream beds seem to generate, and forced myself to eat the undercooked lentils I had prepared for lunch.Reached Moreland Gap shelter at 5 p.m. and was relieved to see Tree Frog there and ready to get some more miles in before sunset. So we left Crash!Bang!, Matt and Jill -- all from Indiana -- at the shelter. I was tempted to stop after another mile when I saw Benny and Franco -- two more from Indiana -- they must have all got off on the same bus! -- tenting in a beautiful green field, next to a great water source. But plowed ahead. More miles, always more miles.
Date: 2004-04-30
From: Kincora Hiker Hostel

To: Watauga Lake Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

I finally pried myself off of the comfy chair at Kincora to pack my stuff up and get moving again -- it was tough! Especially knowing that many from last night were slack-packing back there today to experience the Celtic New Year celebration and dinner with Pat and Bob.Still, it was a lovely walk along Laurel Fork Falls and river, up over the mountain and down to Watauga Lake. Was not thrilled to be so close to roads, houses, and more yelping hounds, but the steady uphill to the shelter seems to have kept out the riffraff a bit. Apart from the fact that people have not dug cat holes for their excrement -- I just stepped in something smelly -- it's not a bad little shelter. Apparently, trail maintainence groups can't build any new structures (such as much-needed privies) unless they are fully accessible to wheelchairs, even though the A.T. is not in the least bit wheelchair accessible. Because of the costs, then, no privies are built. So walking around at night is a bit like walking through a mine field, especially in shelters that are closer to well-trafficked parks. The "leave no trace" ethos wears pretty thin in the more touristed areas. The trail maintainers aren't supposed to be a clean-up crew, but many end up cleaning up unspeakable messes because of people who don't pack out their trash.I'm here with Mouse, Crash!Bang! (already asleep and gently snoring), Walking Stomach, Little Tree, Dave the Sailor, and Scholar. Glad for the fellowship at Kincora last night -- makes for stronger connections on the trail.
Date: 2004-05-01
From: Watauga Lake Shelter

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 21.6
Weather: light rain

Felt ready to go this morning, to attack the long day that Scholar had heard (from someone at Kincora) was "do-able." Thinking of it as three legs of four hours each, between the shelters along the way, was helpful. At Vandeventer and Iron Mountain shelters, I took my boots off, snacked, wrote in the shelter register, then moved on. Mileage was good because we were up on a ridge after the first climb -- gentle ups and downs mostly, never more than 500 feet in elevation changes, and all with views of Lake Watauga and the green valleys beyond -- with cool breezes and occasional drizzle. Very comfortable hiking. Thanks to Bob Peoples and his rotating crew of volunteers, the trails were in great shape, and there were plenty of well-marked water sources.Saw my first "lady slipper" today just beyond the Watauga Lake Shelter -- beautiful and perfect, though it looked more like a swollen tongue than a slipper to me.On my way into Double Springs, I saw two deer hightailing it through the woods over a hill skirted by the path. Double Springs was beautifully situated on a pine needle-covered hill side with a spring just below it and campsites above and below. Clean, too -- unlike Watauga Lake Shelter, which is too easy to access by day hikers (and so filthy with human waste and toilet paper that hasn't been properly buried).Joe, aka Wanderer, was there, chain smoking, and talking about where to head next. Seems he is used to wandering along roads and this is his first time on the trails. He had hung out his clothes to dry and had a gigantic glass jar of Folger's Crystals out on the picnic table. Said he couldn't get by without cigarettes and coffee. He is like many of the veterans who wander the trails, getting his government check automatically deposited, and living a life outdoors, unencumbered by much of the amenities I'm used to -- home, car, etc.Crash!Bang! and Scholar tented, while SamIAm, Joe, and I sheltered with two SOBOs, Oz and Beau, brothers from Winston-Salem who are headed down to the Smokies.
Date: 2004-05-03
From: The Place, Damascus, VA

To: The Place, Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up at 7 a.m. with nowhere to go today, so went back to sleep until the Sidetrack Caf© opened for breakfast. They serve beer with their all-you-can-eat breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast, and plate-sized pancakes (real CAKES ¢ they have loft!). Worth the $6. I even got house credit (for a couple of hours), in the form of an IOU, when I realized I was out of cash and had to make a trip to the ATM. Since they¢re Hiker Central, they figured I¢d be back (and, sure enough, after hitting the post office, I was back again to pick up a breakfast sandwich and coffee for Padre). Still, I appreciate the gesture. The counterperson was a fellow hiker, Nuffy, from New Zealand. There is a lot of honor among hikers. After living in cities for so long, I¢m unused to the extension of trust that I¢ve experienced out here.I spent several hours typing my journal on the internet at the library, then was back again at the Sidetrack Caf© for fresh chocolate chip cookies and a Heinekin. I hit the library computers again (no lines!), then joined Little Tree, Walking Stomach, Scholar and Crash!Bang! for dinner at the Italian restaurant. Then was back AGAIN at the Sidetrack Caf© for beer and a game of Taboo with Laura y Pablo, Beatbox, the Hobbits, Rob and some others, including Andrew, whom I met on my very first night out on the trail, and hadn¢t seen since. He remembered Pirate showing me how to use my stove¢¦seems like years ago now.
Date: 2004-05-04
From: The Place, Damascus, VA

To: Lost Mountain Knob Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Didn¢t start until 2:30 p.m. today and walked until 10:30 p.m. There was supposed to be a full moon tonight, which I thought would be nice to hike by, but it didn¢t emerge from behind the mountains until 10 p.m., so I had some night hiking.Had another lovely breakfast in charming company at the SideTrack Caf© ¢ love that place! ¢ with Scholar, Kaalogi, Laura y Pablo, and served by the very lovely temporary waitstaff Zach and Willy Wallace. (Beautiful people and a bottomless cup of coffee ¢ perfect bliss! I think I¢m ready to hug the bear now, Jester.)Got my bounce box out to Pearisburg and a food box to the Relax Inn in Rural Retreat, VA (what a great name for a town!) outside Atkins, wrote a mother¢s day card, and invested in some Zanfel at the drug store (Matt and Jill swear by it as the instant antidote for poison ivy ¢ it¢s pricey, but I reckon it¢s insurance against a greater discomfort than the hole in my wallet). Spent another hour on trailjournals.com at the library, where I recognized the names of some other journallers ¢ Sox, Sauerkraut, Litefoot, Jester (of course), and Sunset, among others.Finally headed out of town at 1:30 or so, but saw that Subway was having a Tuesday special, so stopped in for lunch. Was officially back on track at 2:30 and was fully fueled for the next few hours, singing an endless loop of Wycliff Jean songs (because his CD was always on at the Sidetrack Caf©) and thinking fondly of the exceptionally fine company I had in Damascus. No wonder Tinker¢s been there for five days. I can see how people could get sucked in to town.Reached the turn-off for Saunders Shelter at 6:30 p.m. and decided to go on to Lost Mountain Shelter, six miles on, hoping the moon would come up before the sun went down. It didn¢t. I hiked in the dark for two and a half hours, turning on my headlamp only when I could no longer see the stones and roots underfoot or the white blazes on the trees. I kept seeing what I thought were headlamps not too far behind me, but whoever it was never caught up to me.It was a beautiful night. When the moon finally rose over the trees, its light was filtered and dispersed through hazy clouds; more like an aura than an orb. The owls immediately began hooting and distant dogs howled at it.At the shelter, all was quiet and dark, so I rolled out my drop sheet, mat and bag on the dry leaves and slept under the moon and stars.
Date: 2004-05-05
From: Lost Mountain Knob Shelter

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Despite my simple camp set-up last night, and a no-cook breakfast of granola bars, carrots and beef jerky, I didn¢t get on the trail until 8:30 this morning. And I think the fact that I had one eye open all night to watch for rain clouds, together with a no-coffee breakfast, made me rather sluggish on the trail today. I took a 40-minute snack break atop a boulder off trail, greeting Kaalogi and Pooja Blue as they passed. Later, I took a nap and lunch break among the spring beauties and trout lilies for about an hour.By the time I reached Thomas Knob (5:15 pm), I was ready to crash, even though I¢d planned to motor on to Wise Shelter, five miles on. It was worth it to stay though: between the feral ponies grazing behind the shelter, the solar-powered four-star privy, the magnificent views of sky and mountains, and the headroom inside the shelter, this has to be one of the finest stopping points on the trail. And of course, good company, too: Zippy, Pokey, Switchback and Mouse with me downstairs; Jester, Pablo y Laura upstairs (with the mice, who crapped in J¢s coffee cup overnight).The feral ponies are beautiful! I had a few carrots left to feed to them and managed to get some pictures (with Mouse¢s help) with some of the pint-sized foals.Another highlight of the day was seeing wild red columbine along the trail ¢ like tiny trees of miniature jester hats ¢ snow drops, and a spring-beauty-like ground cover with white flowers that look like tiny fringed lamp shades. And that wonderfully spice-cake scented shrub that I passed by last night ¢ clusters of white flowers, silvery green leaves, heavenly scent. (It may be Virginia creeper.)
Date: 2004-05-07
From: stream 4.3 miles north of Old Orchard Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: clear sky

7:30 a.m. I¢m having cooked breakfast again this morning. It always means getting out an hour later (or more), but is so worth the feeling of relaxation, to drink coffee and catch up on my journal, clear my head for the day ahead.Slept under the stars again ¢ great way to wake up in the morning. Another gorgeous day.-------------------------------------Before I¢d finished writing that, Wild Horse and Madlibber had both passed by on the trail ¢ four miles from the shelter where they stayed last night. Yow!It was great arriving at the shelter tonight ¢ certainly the plushest of all that I¢ve seen so far. It has running water and hot showers! You can order pizza from the phone at the visitors center not 500 yards away and they deliver it to the shelter! (As one hiker commented, ¢It¢s amazing the subeconomies that develop around the A.T.¢ He¢s right ¢ the hiker hostels, the outfitters, the shuttle services¢¦ Despite the challenges of the trail itself, we¢re hardly roughing it out here!) Zippy and Switchback had arrived early and ordered pizza, which they graciously shared. Yes, this is the shelter of legend ¢ Partnership Shelter ¢ where, besides the above mentioned luxuries, there is toilet paper already in the privy; some canny hiker rigged the 20-second shower button with cord and a piece of wood to keep the water flowing; there¢s a sink for washing dishes and spitting out toothpaste, and room for 20 people. And the phone at the visitors center doesn¢t dock your phone card 15 minutes as other public phones do. Almost paradise!The pizza was yummy and although no tenting was allowed on site, the sky was cloudless and sparkling through the pines, so I slept under the stars ¢ cowboy style. A beautiful night!
Date: 2004-05-08
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Relax Inn, Atkins, VA
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

Chris and Elly¢s family were cooking four pounds of bacon this morning out of the back of their truck, so I had a real treat after my oatmeal and coffee. Still, I don¢t think I¢ve been eating as much as I should. I started the trail light-headed this morning and within 15 minutes had a tumble over a log in the trail. Heard a loud CRACK and wondered what I broke ¢ the legs and arms looked okay, just one bloody elbow. It was only my bamboo walking stick ¢ split in half. But, now that I¢m used to two sticks, I may need to invest in another Leki when I get to Trail Days.Met a number of thru-hikers heading back towards Damascus ¢ Dingle, Chef Ra, Van Gogh, LudaChris, and Zack the Snowboarder. They¢d got rides up to Pearisburg and were doing the section southbound. Good idea.Tree Frog and I had lunch with Zack and Ranger Jim at the Chatfield Shelter. After my tumble, I had eaten all four of my Power bars in the space of four hours, just to get my blood sugar up, so had only food left that needed to be cooked. A little Ramen with some trail greens got me going again, but I didn¢t leave until 3 pm. By the time Tree Frog and I got to the rendezvous point ¢ the Dairy Queen in Atkins ¢ Scholar and Sox had already checked in. My food box had indeed arrived (parcel post, too! God bless the US Postal Service!) so I can get back on the trail tomorrow and get to Pearisburg by Thursday to get a ride down to Trail Days.As I passed the southbounders today, I found myself singing hippy pilgrimage songs ¢ ¢Are you going to San Francisco?¢ and ¢Woodstock.¢ Apparently, 20,000 or more hikers converge on Damascus for Trail Days. I heard a couple of ladies talking in the Damascus library before I left:¢What are you going to do with your shop during Trail Days?¢¢Oh, it¢s such a mess then. I think I¢m just going to close down.¢I hope at least the beauty shop¢s open so that I can get a haircut.So far, Virginia has had the best shelters and privies since Georgia. (Tennessee appears to have problems funding privies ¢ so there aren¢t many, which makes shelter camping a minefield.) Saw some trail maintainers out yesterday ¢ a real construction crew with hard hats and steel cables to lift and maneuver large stones onto the trail to build a stone staircase. They had already done some fantastic work behind me on tricky terrain. And these are all volunteers, who donate a weekend a month March through September. Wish I¢d had time to stop and watch this engineering feat in progress.A day hiker was able to tell me the name of the vociferous songbird I¢ve stopped to listen to so many times: the rose-breasted grosbeak.Open your throat and sing,Telegraph weather reports, Then tell me your name.Rose-breasted grosbeak,Open your throat and sing to me,Show me your songbook.Uncurl, fiddlehead,Unfurl your feathery sailsForest ferns, awake!Saw another black snake on the trail sunning himself. He needed a little encouragement to move.