morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-05-14
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter 
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Got moving this morning pretty early. I hit BigButt Mountain in a couple of miles. I think it's really cool that someone named a mountain after a big butt. This morning the trail followed a gravel roadbed for many miles. I came upon the Shelton Graves a little after 9am. There are two civil war soldiers buried right where they were killed. They were union troops from North Carolina. They were on a leave to come down and see their families and were ambushed by southern troops who buried them right where they died. A sad ending for those two. A little bit before noon I crossed NC212 and got a good picture of this Tennessee State Line sign. After crossing a stile and hiking through a farmers field I began one of the most arduous climbs since Springer Mt. It was in the high 80's and sunny & humid as crap. The trail is covered on either side by knee high plants that make the trees look like they are coming up right out of some green sea. It was beautiful. I had to stop at the top for quite some time to take a breather. It was only a few miles form wehre I stopped to Hogback Shelter but it seemed to drag on for eternity. I had a very hard time waling the easy miles from this point for some reason. I finally got to the shelter and I was so relieved to be there. I layed down in the shelter for an hour or so until BlackSquirrel got there. It was a 400 yd walk to the spring to get water. Nobody wanted to get water because it was so far away but we didn. I ate dinner and now it's time to pass out.Later!BigShanty
Date: 2007-05-15
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter 14.7

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up at 6am and got hiking by 7am because I knew that was going to be a big day. After a few miles I went under I-26 and booyah there was a cooler and some bags of trail magic. Nothing but empty cans in teh cooler but I got some much needed fig newtons & other candy bars. I was so thankful for this because my food is almost gone. The trail meandered for a few miles up a ridge then on top ofthe ridge there was MORE TRAIL MAGIC! A few jugs of cold water, some hot coffee, a dozen cupcakes, and some fresh celery & carrots. Boy am I the luckiest guy ont he trail? YEP! I enjoyed some of that for a bit before the steep climb up to Big Bald. The view from the top of Big Bald was absolutely breathtaking. At 5,516 feet you can see everything for miles. I shot a good video from the top before heading on to Bald Mtn Shelter for lunch. I got to the shelter to check the register for notes from my buddies but someone had come a few days ago & replaced the register so I didn't get what they wrote to me. Bummer. The trail was nice and rolling from then on pretty much. I stopped at the junciton of US19 where the trail crosses and ate my fig newtons & massaged my feet. They were hurtin! It was only 5 or so miles to the shelter from there so I drank all my water. A mile or so later I was thirsty after a big climb so I stopped at a stream & drank my fill from the stream. I arrived at the shelter to find Moose already eating dinner. BlackSquirrel came in an hour or so after me and I was glad he made it because his knees were bothering him. Good day.YAHOO!MY 1ST 20 MILER!!!!!BigShanty
Date: 2007-05-16
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: light rain

Started hiking at 7am again. I was dreaming of a big ole A&W burger so I made really good time into town. I came to this really nice rock vista overlooking Erwin and had an amazing view of the Notzchocky River. I was amazed because I could smell all of the restaurants in town up there. That just made me go faster. I got down to the river & there was Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel. A famous hostel on the trail. I sat on the porch for a few minutes before deciding to head into town to the Holiday Inn Express. It was only a bit over a mile so I decided to walk. 100 feet down the road I was recognized by a river guide from Hot Springs wo I had met there. He had a truck & gave me a ride to the hotel. After checking in, I got a much needed shower & changed into some clean clothes. I them walked next door to the A&W/Long John Silvers restaurant & had a monsterous burger & fries. I washed it down with the best root beer EVER! I liked it so much that I came back for dinner but this time I went with the biggest thing on the Long John Silvers menu. But before I left I got a big ole burger & fries for a midnight snack. BlackSquirrel & I went over to the gas sttion & got a couple of six packs & headed back to my room to watch the Stanley Cup finals. Once the game was over & he left to go back to his room, I demolished my burger before sleeping like a baby all night. I love a real bed!BigShanty
Date: 2007-05-17
From: Erwin, TN

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Woke up this morning well past breakfast. More like lunch time. BlackSquirrel called Miss Janet & asked her to pick us up & shuttle us around town. In case you don't know, Miss Janet is the biggest trail angel most people will ever meet. She runs a hostel in town and is totally up to do anything for a thru-hiker. She dropped us off at Pizza Hut where we put a very large dent in the lunch buffet. Then she picked us back up & took us whereever we wanted. BlackSquirrel needed to pick up his mail drop so we went to the post office then she took us back to the hotel. I napped for a few hours & then we went next door for a dinenr & did the same thing as last night. Beer & hockey are the best things ever! We had a blast. At dinner we ran into HotLips who told us he was going home for good. We were sad to hear this but he was ready to go home. He had filled his water bucket up at HogBack Ridge Shelter & left it hanging on a nail over night. In the morning he pumped all the water he needed for the day and then looked inside the bucket to find a dead mouse that had fallin in and drowned during the night. Apparently this was the straw that broke the camels back. It's sad to see another hiker give up especially after only 388 miles. But I'm sure he'll come back out again one day. Good luck HotLips.A MOUSE IN THE BUCKET IS WORTH TWO IN THE BOTTLE...BigShanty
Date: 2007-05-18
From: Yellow Blaze from Erwin, TN

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up around 7am & went downstairs to do my laundry & enjoy the continental breakfast. After I was packed up I checked out & hung around the lobby to wait on my parents and lil brother to show up. They finally showed up & we headed downtown to the Erwin Burrito for a big ole burriot of course. It was really nice to see my brother because I missed him since leaving on April 1st. We drove into Damascus, VA for the Trail Days celebration held annually there for thru-hikers. We parked & set off on foot to find my friends who I haven't seen since Hot Springs, NC. We were walking down the street & I was spotted by ChurchMouse who was happy to see me & I him. He told me where everyone was camped & we headed that way after stopping by the Outfitter. We got to "tent city" where every thru-hiker who wasn't staying at a hotel was camped. We walked upon their tarp & tyvek monstrocity duley named "Wizard Titty City". It was a huge tent made by my fellow members of the PainTrain. This thing housed 60 or so hikers. I walked in & everyone was just hangin around drinking beer. I was warmly received by my old buddies. We all hugged & chatted & exchanged formalities for a bit. My parents had a bed & breakfast reserved fo the weekend so they left me there while they headed to Abingdon, VA to check in. The guys & I played ultimate frisbee for a while before my parents came back & took us all out to eat at the Old Mill Restaurant. Nice place with good food but the service sucked really bad. After dinner we went back to the store & bought 2 30-packs of beer & went back to Wizard Titty City to party for a bit before heading back to our place in Abingdon to crash. My lil brother & I had a really nice room & we both slept really good.IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK IN GOOD COMPANYBigShanty
Date: 2007-05-19
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Breakfast at the bed & breakfast in Abingdon, VA was amazing. We had some really nice conversation with the other guests. I answered all the common quesitons people have about the AT. After breakfast I set up my tarp tent and my dad & I seam sealed it in the yard. Not long after we got done, my grandfather & his wife showed up. It was good to see Gramps & Jay. I'm glad they got to come out & see me. We all went into town & went out to eat the Old Mill once again. We sat outside by the river & waterfall and had a very nice lunch. After lunch we had a very short walk to mainstreet wehre the hiker parade was taking place. My friends & all the hikers came by & everyone was throwing water baloons everywhere. I joined them in the parade & got soaked within seconds. We had a blast. Anytime someone on the side of the street would uncover a cooler filled with water balloons and start throwing them at us we would bumrush them & steal all of their balloons and pummell everyone in throwing distance. The only people safe were women with small children. Everyone involved had a good time though. I got my brand new granite gear pack that Gramps & Jay bought me all packed up & ready to go. Thanks Ya'll! For dinner we all went out for seafood at this little joint in town. Gramps & Jay went back to the B&B to go to bed but my folks & I went back to Damascus to party hardy for a few hours. We made it out of there alive and were able to get to bed at a decent hour.THANKS FOR PACK GRAMPS & JAYIT'S A HUGE HELP!BigShanty
Date: 2007-05-20
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Breakfast at the Inn was once again amazing. After breakfast, Gramps & Jay had to leave in order to make it to a golf tournament in time. Thanks for coming guys! My brother was coming to hike with me for a few days so he was going to stay. My parents took us to the grocery store for some last minute provisions before driving to Damascus to drop us off. We said our tearful goodbyes and my parents pulled off but not after a few pictures. It was sad leaving my mom because I knew it would be the last time I saw her until Katahdin in Maine. But it's only a few months and 1,714.5 miles away. Austin (my brother) and I walked down to Wizard Titty City where the guys were hangin out. Murdock & his family came into town for trail days and they said tht we should all go out & day hike the Grayson Highlands State Park today since it was too late to start hiking up the trail. They drove us to "The Place", a free church hostel in town where we stowed our packs for the day. We drove out to the Highlands and starting hiking from Massic Gap at US58 northbound to VA603 only 9 or so miles. It was Murdock, ByteCode, ChurchMouse, Choch, SideShow, BigBy, Austin & myself. Immediately we are blown away by how beautiful this area was. Everyone but me got good pictures because I left my camera in my pack on accident. We came to a shelter with a privy nearby and my brother blew it up. I don't know what he ate but his stomach was bother him a little bit. We all hung around the shelter fora bit to take a break before we headed back out. We crossed some beautifl streams and had to hop a few fences stiles in the next mile so that was fun. We came upon a clearing with some ponies about 200 yds off the trail. We all walked down to them to take some pictures. Murdock wanted to ride one but chose not too once he got up close & realized he could injure one by attempting to ride it. After that we hikded down to VA603. On the way down the mountain we met Murdock's family. They had hiked about a mile up the trail to kind of check out the trail and hike back to the car with us. We got to the car & said goodbye to ChurchMouse & ByteCode. Murdock's wife drove them north to where they got off the trail for trail days. I was sad to see them go because I didn't know how long or if ever I would see them again. When she got back, all of the rest of us hooligans drove back to Damascus. We got back to town & had some late night pizza this nice little Italian place in town. After tha they drove us back to tent city so we could dismantle the "Wizard Titty City" tent we had built. People were still crashing in it & said they would take it down tomorrow so we didn't have to fool with it. They drove us to The Place Hostel where we stowed our stuff. We said our goodbyes and hugged it out one last time before they left. We all went inside and claimed a bunk for the night and crashed.AUSTIN GOT HIS TRAIL NAME TODAY...SPLATTERS...BECAUSE HE DEMOLISHED EVERY PRIVY WE CAME TOBigShanty
Date: 2007-05-21
From: Damascus, VA

To: Saunders Shelter
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: clear sky

Got up & got moving at a decent hour this morning. The rest of the crew had some last minute errands to take care of. So while they did that, Austin, the SPLAT & I went up to the trail just a piece to this amazing country cooking place in town right next to the trail. We had a big ole breakfast & chillaxed for a bit on the porch drinking sweet teat. Google & Sunshine came up, followed by Josh & Sarash. They sat next to us on the porch and we all chatted for a bit. Splat & I finally got hiking at 11:30 am. Kind of late start buy hey it's only 9 miles to the next shelter. We started a steep climb immediately out of town. We stopped and had a couple of breaks on the way up. That greasy breakfast was not the best choice for hiking. After that big up the trail meandered along next to a beautiful river for miles. We could see the Virginia Creeper Trail (similar to the Silver Comet Trail) through the trees pretty frequently. We passed a bunch of college student along the way. They were out ofr a weeklong outdoor class to study the trail it's social aspect. Pretty cool class. We got to the shelter around 4pm. There wasn't but a few people ther already. There was an awesome place to pitch out tarptents behind the shelter so we opted to pitch. An hour or so later the rest of the gang showed up & pitched too. We all cooked dinner and watched the college class in some deep discussion over by the fire. We played a really cool frisbee game that none of us had ever seen before. C-Short broke out the guitar & we jammed on the thing until bedtime.I'M GLAD MY BROTHER IS HERE!BigShanty
Date: 2007-05-22
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: clear sky

Got moving this morning before everyone else as usual. Got my brother up and we ate some breakfast. He said his knee was a bit sore but I figured it was ok. We got hiking around 8am or so. We had a couple of easy miles following the VA Creeper Trial mostly. We came to the Luther Hassinger Memoria Bridge, it's a really long, really nice wooden bridge that spans a river. I got a really good picture of Grizzle and my brother walking it. Right after crossing it we ducked back into the woods again and started climbing. I talked to my brother and he was in some serious pain. His knee was killing him. We hiked for a couple more miles before he was overcome with pain and had to sit down for a bit. I hiked relaly fast to Lost Mt Shelter, dropped my gear and took off sprinting down the trail back to my borther. I met him on the trail and took his pack from him and slacked him to the shelter. We debate for a bit whether or not to continue hiking because of his knee. We deciced to walk another mile to US 58 and if it was hurting him still we would just hitch back into Damsascus. We ended up doing just that thankfully. He made the right decision not to go on and really mess up his knee. I'm really proud of him. So we got a hitch back to Damascus and headed for the hostel where GoldenChild was hanging out nursing his foot injury. I deciced to take GoldenChicl & my brother out for a rack of ribs and all the fixins. We had a good time and some really good food. My ada was on his way from home to pick my brother up so we hung out until he got there and around 11:30 pm or so we got a room in Abingdon at a hotel so we could crash out for the night. And I go tthe floor once again. It's all good though because my dad & bro are here and that makes me so happy.I LOVE YOU SPLATYOU'RE THE BEST HIKING BUDDY I'VE EVER HADTHANKS FOR COMINGIT MEANT A LOTBigShantyGame07
Date: 2007-05-24
From: VA 603

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: light rain

Up at 6am, hiking by 7am. Started hauling ass immediately at over 3mph. Ate breakfast at Hurricane 14th Shelter and pushed on. Took a break at VA650/va16 and watched some other hikers doing yoga in a field. I pushed on to Trimpi Shelter for lunch and some much needed water. As i was sitting there, TrailBait, Jake, Facework, and Patches came strolling up with daypacks on. They stayed at the same hostel as my Paintrain crew. They were slackpacking southbound to VA650/VA16 and are getting a ride back to Partnership Shelter for the beer and pizza party there tonight. I left the shelter and ran into them a little bit later. They were all bummed to hear about my lil' brother's departure. They headed south to finsih their slackpack and I headed north to meet them at Partnership Shelter. I told them I would beat them and they didn't think I could but I'd show em. I had some nice trail with a couple climbs and some bridges over pretty streams. I was hurting pretty bad as i neared the shelter but I didn't slow down because i was determined to beat the guys to the shelter. As the shelter came into view through the brush I could see the guys walking up from the road. I took off at a dead sprint and came running out of the woods full tilt screaming like a banshee and dove into the shelter oly feet before they could get there. There was already people there and I scared the hell out of them. But i beat my friends and we all laughed about it. This shelter is the sweetest on the trail. It's construction is second to none. Two spacious stories with running water and a hot shower. Not only that but it's right next to a road and we got a couple cases of beer. Someone had a cell phone and we ordered 25 or more pizzas from Dominoe's and had them delivered to the shelter. Beer and pizza after a very long day was awesome, I thought I was dreaming! We hada nice fire and all hung around until around 10pm and then I went up into the loft and crashed, I was sooo tired.BEER & PIZZA + HOT SHOWER = BLISS
Date: 2007-05-25
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Baptist Church Hostel 
Miles today: 0.0

We got up this morning and walked over to the road and tried to hitch into Marion, VA and finally got a ride into town. Everyone but me picked up their maildrops and we headed up the road to this really nice little country cookin' restaurant called the AppleHouse Rest. I think? We slammed some food and a wonderful desert. KeyMaster was sick and was really unable to walk. SideShow carried her across the busy highway to a gas station where we were all debating on what to do with her. All of a sudden a man pulled up and introduced himself as Pastor Sage and said he owned a church and a summer camp that wasn't occupied yet. He offered to take us there and let us have full run of this place for a few days, free of charge! He left and returned minutes later with his big church tour type bus. It was awesome! The place was in Atkins so he drove us there and we dropped our gear in this really cool summer camp. We had a full size indoor basketball gym, a pool table, hot showers, bunkroom, huge kitchen, fellowship hall, and all the other buildings you'd find on a large church site. KeyMaster went to sleep immediately because she was feeling horrible. Poor thing i felt so bad for her. Pastor Sage came back at 6 PM and took us to the grocery store. Everyone except Grizzle and I bought stuff for tacos. Grizzle & I premade steak kabobs and some uncle ben's rice to go with it. We got back and grilled them up and they were amazing. Sideshow got us all a big bottle of rum and after the pastor left for the night we broke it out and had a little too much fun. I know it is not the best place to be drinking, but hey you only live once, right? It was all in good fun. Once i was well it and everyone else was too the girls decided to pluck my unibrow. We had a good time but my forehead was on fire! We went back into the gym and trew the frisbee and tried to get in the net. We developed a really cool game actually. We all hung around for a while longer before crashing out in a soft bed.THE FIRST AND LAST TIME I EVER DRINK AT A BAPTISH RETREAT. I PROMISE!!!!11!1!1
Date: 2007-05-26
From: Baptist Church Hostel 

To: Davis Path Shelter
Miles today: 14.2

Woke up and got packed up and waited for Pastor Sage to come pick us up and take us to the trail. Got a good picture of all of us to the trail. Got a good picture of all of us by the church tractor as well. One of the Deacons of the church ended up grabbing the big bus and we all piled in. We first drove to The barn restaurant on US11 in Atkins, VA. We had our packs in the woods behind the restaurant and then jumped back into the bus to head back to VA 16near Partnership Shelter where we left off yesterday morning. We slacked the 11.5 miles back to Atkins where we recovered our packs and had a burger at the restaurant. We headed out to Davis Path Shelter to crash for the night. We had a really nice hike today with a nice dinner that we didn't have to cook. Alright!Thanks Pastor Sage! You're a real Trail Angel, I see you've read Hebrews 13:2, Thanks again!
Date: 2007-05-27
From: Davis Path Shelter

To: Campsite at Pond
Miles today: 18.4

I got moving early this morning and had a nice time walking by myself for a bit. I crossed a few stiles this morning. I walked through a few nice cow pastures and tried to dodge all the huge cow patties. I walked upon some cows and got a few pics. I waited there for SideShow and BirdStar. We hiked some nice trail for a bit. It's really hot and I'm sweating hard and it sucks!! We stopped at Knot Moul Branch Shelter for lunch. We saw in our guidebooks that there is a pond near the top of Chestnut Knob Shelter. The heat was driving u absolutely batshit crazy so we all headed for the spring-fed pond as fast as possible. We dreamt of swimming all day but it wasn't mean to be. When we got there our world fell apart. When we got there the pond turned out to be a muddy, frog infested cesspool so swimming was obviously out of the question. The spring was nice though so we had all the clean water we wanted to drink. We set up camp and did some frog giggin' , but wasn't successful at catching any. We knew they were there because we could hear them everywhere. So we had a nice fire for a bit a restful sleep followed. THE FROGS ARE LOUD!
Date: 2007-05-28
From: Campsite at Pond

To: VA 615 Laurel Creek
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

Birdstar and i got up moving out early this morning. We headed up to Chestnut Knob Shelter where we ran into Trailbait who pushed on to the shelter instead of stopping at the pond like planned. The shelter has no water so she had to bum water from some other hikers there. Haha! Birdstar and I thought about pushing on to Bland, VA today. We hiked hard all day. We came out on VA 615 this afternoon and there was this cool little bridge so we sat down there for a bit. Not long after we got there Chach showed up and we cooked dinner right there on the bridge, on the road and all. Occasionally someone would drive by and give us funny looks but oh well, we're thru-hikers! We hung out there for a few hours, once we started hiking again we made it 1/10 of a mile before we came to a really nice campsite and some amazing trail magic. A couple of coolers filed to the rim with Gatorades and Propel Energy Water. We drank some and then the rest of the gang showed up right before Birstar, Chach and I were going to head out into town. Of course tey wanted to stay and peer pressure is a bitch so we all ended up camping there. We had a nice time by the campfire though. So no town, no sweat, we'll be there tomorow. PEER PRESSURE IS A BITCH!