morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2011-06-09
From: Vango and Abby's Memorial Hostel

To: Kincora Hostel (Hampton, TN)
Miles today: 12.4

Day 53Today was HOT!!! Well, until the hail came that is. We have been hearing thunder for days and getting through unscathed. Not so lucky today. Caroline had been saying today would be a short journaling day as nothing of interest besides DRIPPING SWEAT had happened. Then, as we stopped to catch our breath she turned and saw a deer. We stalked it a bit, but it walked off and didn't come back. Then, the storm came. We got our pack covers on and caught up with Kevin and Dylan as they were getting theirs on. It was just a light sprinkle at this point and we had a couple miles to go.We caught up with Jude and Specs as they were coming out of a side trail to Coon Den Falls. They went over a mile round trip and said it was totally not worth it. At this point it was thundering a lot, but still just barely sprinkling.We got to an out-cropping where we had a great view and could see the bands of rain in the distance. We all stood there, X3, the guys, and myself... watching the pouring rain get closer, and closer, and...yeah here!We all took off down the trail as fast as we dared, the guys were much faster than we and were going instantaneously. We passed a really cool jumble of rocks that would have made cool shelter, but by now we were about 1.5 from the hostel, so we just kept moving. And then the hail came. We stopped under a thicket of rhododendrons to try to stay protected from it, but this nickel sized hail found us pretty readily. It was POURING rain and hailing. We got soaked to the bone right away and kept getting pelted with hail. When the hail finally let up a bit we continued, but it was fairly slow going due to lots of rocks and roots.It stopped raining by the time we got to the hostel, but the damage was done and we were soaked through the boots. Oh yay, wet boots again!Bob Peoples is the owner of this hostel and he is pretty famous on the trail. The hostel is a 2 story log-ish structure attached to his cabin house and it is all covered with ivy. The ivy is so thick in fact, that in some places it has permeated the walls and is growing inside!He brought some folks into town for food and X3 and the guys and I had discussed at lunch time that hamburgers and hot dogs would be fun so that's what we did. OMG so much food, and I believe we annihilated it all!I'm not sure what is up for tomorrow, and still have no phone service. I can't remember what I had put for a mail drop addy and have no idea if anyone would have sent me anything. I'm not sure if X3 is planning on going into town or not. I won't need to resupply until Damascus. I may be eating ramen for breakfast by then, but I have plenty of food!I'm thinking a 10 mile day, there is an 1800 foot mountain in the middle there, so that should be just fine. There is a rec area with a sandy beach just before the shelter. I may need to go swimming! Perhaps if there is a town run I may go in to find a bathing suit
Date: 2011-06-10
From: Kincora Hostel (Hampton, TN)

To: Watauga Lake
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: clear sky

Day 54Today was again HOT! We had one climb to do and it was a biggie. 1800 feet up and back down over 6 miles. We started out going to Laurel Falls which was pretty sweet. We dropped about 400 feet pretty much all on rock steps and my knees were killing me! I am having to ration my ibuprofen until I get my mail drop so my knees are yelling a lot!My left knee is so swollen and stiff I can hardly bend it and my right isn't too much better. So 400 feet of steps was not fun.When I finally got down, everyone was down there enjoying themselves. Sittingbull and Specs were at the top of the falls (right where I would expect them to be).On our way out, Kevin decided he needed to go into town for resupplu. Dylan had gotten major munchies and they are low on food. So Dylan, Caroline and myself headed off. Aaand, I fell. I stepped in a bunch of great big rocks. They are all squarish there and about the size of a large micro. I slipped and (once again) was able to twist my way in between a couple so no damage was done, but, I was pretty much Turtled and couldn't move. If Caroline hadn't been there to pull me up I don't know that I could have. Dylan had come running up asking if I was ok while reaching for his camera. I handed him mine too Somehow this fall fixed my knee!!The rest of the day was just up and HOT. I guess there was an air quality alert. We could have told you that!We left time notes on my pink duct tape for Kevin so he would know when we had started and gotten to the top. He gave their water filter to Caroline and by the time we got to any water (at the top) we were out. We filtered out enough for us to get down and left a Gatorade bottle with the pink tape on it for Kevin. He ended up catching up to us about halfway down. He went all the way into town, shopped, came back, and climbed up and over and caught us! I was very impressed.We got to Watauga Lake rec area and it looked sooo inviting, but it was getting late and we still had 2 miles till the shelter. About 1 mile in we found Specs and Sittingbull (aka Jude) set up at a camp site right on the lake. They had gone to the shelter and it was full of weekend locals so we all pitched at the came site. Rocky ended up showing up!She had gone off trail for a week with her husband and started back on today. The Silent One and his cousin Salamander came and they camped ack a little and then Jellybean, SpeedDemon and BearBait camped past us a bit. We had a fun night. We had brought the hot dogs from the hostel and I still had marshmallows. Rocky was like "Who ARE you people??" Specs and SittingBull said "I know, why do you think we are hiking with them!?"The evenings best entertainment was when Rocky went to bear bag. Somehow she got a cats cradle around a bunch of branches, and then was able to work it out, but on her last pull, the rock tied to the rope came WHIPPING back and then goodness go caught in a pine! Otherwise it would have taken out one of us!
Date: 2011-06-11
From: Watauga Lake

To: Campsite
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 55Hot and up...and then rain! I started my day with a dip in the lake. That seemed to keep me cool for the first bit of today.At the dam, Sittingbull and I played with echos and then on the way up, up, up, we found some blackberries and Queen Ann's Lace!We just went up all day. It was sooo hot too. Sittingbull went on ahead, then The Silent One and Salamander passed me by. I was just going slow and steady.There was NO water this whole way up either. I ran into a trail maintainer (mountain squid) who made sure I knew there was a spring at the campsite before the first shelter, and to fill up there because the shelter water is very far down a steep hill.I called Mom this morning to have her put my Fenway hat into my maildrop so I can give it to Dylan. I had given him my hat to wear during the hail and he said it was comfortable, so I am going to give him my Fenway one.   I had called Mom yesterday to make sure she was going to mail my pants and WHOLE VIAL of tylenol. I was very surprised when I got to the shelter and X3 and SittingBull were there. They too agreed that the day was very rough and they were resting. I called Mom to make sure she mailed my drop, and... she didn't. It is Saturday, so, since I will be in Damascus on Monday, no use in mailing to Damascus now. This means I am going to have to resupply in town. I was really hoping to avoid town. I was just going to stay at the hostel and shower. Then I got a notification that I had to pay the phone bill Jeremy had said he would pay it while I was gone and hasn't paid any.Between the heat, the ups, my knees, no maildrop, and $300 out of my acct.... I cried again today. And then... the thunder started. I put on my pack cover and David's gators and trudged on. I got to a campsite X3 had set up at. SittingBull was nowhere to be found, and it hadn't started raining yet. As I quickly got my pack off, it started sprinkling. I said to Kevin, "The reason it hasn't rained yet is because I have on rain gear, but it will start pouring the minute I get out my tent so be prepared!"I should get paid for things like that. I pulled out my tent and the skies opened! Kevin helped me get it up and we dove into our respective tents to ride it out. And I cried some more.I worked out where to get my maildrop while I was trapped in my tent and went to call Mom to tell her, but no answer. I texted Jerm about the phone $. He said he was having a bad day. I recanted the last few days to him. I won.
Date: 2011-06-12
From: Campsite

To: McQueen's Knob (Disused Shelter)
Miles today: 17.4

Day 56Yes 17.4! I hit the 450 mark today!!Today as a much better day than yesterday. So much so that I felt almost manic.The weather was perfect, the trail was smooth and nothing hurt!Part of the trail today was actually handicap accessible. It would sure be nice if the whole trail were like that! That section went through a beautiful meadow and actually through an active cow pasture. I saw many very fresh cow patties, but for the life of me could not find any cows! X3 came through there not too long after me and had great pictures of hiking among the cows.I met a young man along that section named Jonathan. He was out walking with his dog. I stopped and talked to him for about a half hour or so. He has always wanted to do the trail, but life has happened to him and it will have to wait as he has a young daughter. In April his house was a total loss in the tornados. He said that his family and dog had just gotten into the basement when the tornado went over. He was not as upset about it as you might think because he has learned from that experience what is really important in life. It was a pleasure to have met him.   I got to Double Spring Shelter in the early afternoon for lunch. X3 came in just about when I was done and they decided to stay since the weather was rumbling. I decided I still had more hike in me and I could make the 450 mark today. The shelter was at 445.9.The next actual shelter is at 454.2, but I knew the "emergency shelter" was at 452.7 and at least SittingBull and MedicineMan would be there. It started raining on my shortly after I left Double Spring and I walked about 7 miles in the rain but that was ok. My boots did get soaked through, even with gators, so yeah I'm just going to switch to the shoe style vented. That way at least they will dry out faster!I got to the emergency shelter and indeed SittingBull and MedicineMan were here. The shelter sleeps 2 people and there is no water, the walls are definitely not weather proof, but the roof is sound. The rain stopped long enough for me to set up my tent, then I went to the shelter to cook dinner and it started POURING again. The guys had actually gotten a fire going, but it couldn't hold its own agains the rain.I was sitting in the back of the shelter when the guys decided to actually cook a hot meal. I realized if that stove went over in this tinderbox i would be a bad scene. Funny, burning to death had not been one of the ways I worried about dying on the AT before that!Tomorrow Damascus! I only have about a half liter of water in my camelpack (which is hanging in the shelter) so no hot breakfast in the AM, but only 2 miles to get to the next shelter for water.
Date: 2011-06-13
From: McQueen's Knob (Disused Shelter)

To: Damascus - The Place Hostel
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 57The guys were up and out pretty early (like maybe 5!). I heard them, but decided after a 17.4 I needed to sleep a bit more. I also wanted to give my tent as much time as possible to dry out. I was still out before 8am. I got to Abingdon Shelter about 9am just as Rocky was about to leave. We decided we would split a room at Damascus at "Dave's Place Hostel" but it was closed so we went to "The Place.""The Place is a self sufficient place with a bunch of just platform bunks in rooms. No mattresses, no sheets I passed into Virginia and there was a tad more fanfare than the GA/NC border. There was a fancier sign.I saw a few deer on my way today. I went fairly slow, it was nice.When I was at Abingdon Shelter I got water and made breakfast. Everyone that had been there was gone by the time I was done and I went to use the "ladies room" (pee in the woods), as I was coming out of the woods and back to the shelter area, 4 guys came up and asked (as I was "buttoning up" my pants, "Are you S'mores?!?" A tad taken off guard I said "Yep, that's me." They all seemed to celebrate a it and asked if I really do carry s'mores all the time, LOL. Apparently these guys pick someone in the registers and decide they will catch them. They caught me Damascus is a small "one road" town. A little bigger than Hot Springs. It is a crossing point of the Virginia Creeper Trail , the AT, and the Trans-American Bike Trail. It's really neat cause there are a bunch of long distance bikers (bicycle bikers) here too. It's neat to compare the difference in long distance hiking and biking.Oh, as I came into town, I looked across the street and saw a familiar dog and hiker. Turtle (renamed Chaos) and Eve are here. Eve was allll happy to see me! It was so cool. She is so neat. Turtle/Chaos had brought my camera with him! I had left it at Uncle Johnny's X3, SittingBull, MedicineMan, Grandma, Speedy, NoHurry, Bookworm, Scar, Chopsticks and a bunch more are all in town, most of them here. We had dinner at the local diner and they had a hiker special 12" pizza for $5 WOOHOO! I got that and a water I was able to do 2 toppings if I did half and half, but not regular 2 toppings, so I did half ham half pineapple and then just mixed it up We did laundry and I have realized it might be time to get new socks. When you launder your socks with detergent in a washer and dryer and they still smell like feet... yeah.
Date: 2011-06-14
From: Damascus - The Place Hostel

To: Damascus - The Place Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 58Today was a good zero day. The weather was beautiful, but I had to go to the library o get my pictures uploaded. I spent a couple hours in there, then went to the local diner for lunch. Chaos (aka Turtle) was in there and he challenged me to a game of pool. I skunked him.A few other hikers came in and we all talked for hours. Bookworm and Scar are a son and father that are hiking. They are pretty cool. Pilgrim and 5-Stones were also in and we all talked about everything from the trail to the national education system. Back in the hostel they are a few more bikers. It is really neat to compare notes.
Date: 2011-06-15
From: Damascus - The Place Hostel

To: Damascus - The Place Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 59Bookworm, Scar and I went to the Exxon station for breakfast this morning. Yes, I said that. They have an actual sitting area and restaurant. The Hiker Special blueberry pancakes were not bad at all. One of the bikers joined us, and he only ate about half his pancakes. I said, "You can tell you aren't hiking!" He asked if anyone wanted any and Bookworm was all over that! SittingBull adopted a dog from the local shelter and so he and MedicineMan are going to stay around till the weekend because he is getting the dog fixed on Friday. They decided to came right outside town to try to get the dog acclimated to the trail life a little. I ran into X3 and asked if Firebug could come with me down ot the park to see them. When we got here to the park we saw 2 women hikers coming into town and looking a little lost (it gets a little confusing because the trail turns onto the main street). I directed them and we started chatting. Once again I got "Oh! You're S'mores!!" Melody and Mom had apparently been trying to catch me before their section ended in Damascus!MedicineMan came up to us while we were talking and said they had the dog down the southbound creeper trail instead of in the park so we went that way to find them while MedicineMan went back into town. Firebug and I went a ways own and kept going into the woods at each path and were not able to find them. I said to him, "Your parents are going to come looking for you and we aren't going to be where we said an I'm going to get in trouble!" He said, "Nah, as long as I'm with you they won't care." I looked at him and he said, "as long as I'm with someone responsible." I laughed and said "and who's that!?" We went back to the park just as they were looking for us I think tomorrow I will hike out on the VA Creeper Trail. It meets up with the AT about 12 miles north. A few people biked it while they were here. I didn't feel the need to put my but through that
Date: 2011-06-16
From: Damascus - The Place Hostel

To: Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: light rain

Day 60I mailed my rain gear home this morning. Well, by "gear" I mean my rain jacket and the gators Mom sent me. I also put one of the cotton Ts in that I have been wearing to bed so the box has a smidge of hiker funk in it. I sealed the box with my bright pink duct tape and wrote all over it "Warning: Hiker Funk Inside!"I hiked up the Virgina Creeper Trail most of the way today. It was beautiful. It goes all along a river and I actually saw trout. There was a heron too. The VA Creeper Trail (in this section anyway) is a bike path 38 miles long I think.X3 and Scar had said they might also do the creeper, but Scar ended up not and I'm not sure if X3 left Damascus this morning. They had been planning to.I stopped at a cafe along the way for lunch. What a luxury! Also the VA Creeper has mile markers ALL ALONG the way so you know where you are! I sat outside at this little cafe and they had music. I wasn't sitting there long before "Dueling Banjos" came on. HA!!Tonight at the shelter we have Imagine tenting out back, Serrin and Scrubs (with his 6 foot Bugs Bunny balloon and welcome mat) hammocking, SpeedDemon and Trainwreck (aka Bearbait/350) Cowboy Camping, a couple sectioners are tenting out back and being very anti-social. Then in the shelter we have Scar, Bookworm, Jellybean (go Jellybean!), 5 stones, and myself.When I got here it was just Imagine (taking a nap in his tent) and 5 stones (taking a nap in the shelter) and Serrin. Serrin set up his hammock and let me try it out. I hung out (no pun intended)in there for a while and attempted to nap It was nice when Bookworm and Scar came, they actually got a fire going and gathered up firewood. Trainwreck and I went to get more and Trainwreck hurt himself (again!).I provided Man S'mores tonight. Man S'mores consist of cheddar cheese sandwiched between summer sausage on a stick and "toasted" over the fire. It was a fun night.
Date: 2011-06-17
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

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

Day 61Pretty much everyone had said they were going to do a 23.2 today. I was contemplating it, but my feet decided 12.2 was just fine.We had about 3.5 miles of REALLY good up today. At the very beginning of it, I ran into a couple older women that seemed to be having a tough time of it. They said they are on their 3rd day of a section hike and asked me what advice I would give to someone wanting to thru hike. I said go at your own place and hike your own hike. If I had known at that time that this was day 3 of a 21 day hike, I might have said something more along the lines of "Lighten your pack!!" as they seemed to be carrying A LOT!About halfway up I came across 2 people sitting. Apparently this was the other half of the 4 people section group. They had been waiting on the 2 ladies for quite some time. I sat and chatted with them for about a half hour. The gentleman decided to keep going and the woman decided to go back and look for the other two. I caught up with the man (never did get his name, but he was for VT so I will call him that) talked to Imagine at Buzzard Rock near the top of a white top mountain I stayed and ate a bit and they went on.I overcame both VT and Imagine (both of which are men in their 60's) and got to Elk Gardens where there was an actual bathroom! When I came out, Imagine had gotten there. We sat and had a snack together and VT came just as we were ready to head out. Still no sign of any of the woman. Imagine had mentioned how he could hear the one woman I had met with VT when he was hiking in front of them and referred to her as "The Voice". So now we have VT, The Voice, and The Slowpokes. Imagine and I headed towards the VA highlands and through one of MANY cattle/horse gates to come. I passed him pretty quickly and soon found myself hiking among cattle! It was pretty cool. Earlier in the day I had gone through a pasture, but the cows were a good distance off Tomorrow will be ponies! A group of boy scouts I met showed me pictures and videos By the time I got to Mt Rogers Summit (highest mt in VA) Side trail, my feet had had it. I decided if I really wanted to hit the summit, it would be in the morning. Not long after I ran into a guy who was staying at the shelter and was headed to the summit. He said he would take pics for me. This shelter is on the edge of and amazing, well, I guess you could call it a pasture. It's the highlands. The water source is actually corralled off to the keep the ponies from getting into it. It is a 2 story shelter, and in it I found the beach ball that the 4 guys who came up to me at Abigdone Gap Shelter had been carrying Imagine showed up, as did VT and The Voice. And the guy from the summit is staying here. He is Dr. Bonner. Really nice guy. He is just out for the one night. VT and The Voice decided to tent and still no hide nor hair of the slowpokes...
Date: 2011-06-21
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Day 65Zero day to let the blister heal. Jellybean decided to go home today. I was really glad to be there for her and to be there for the realization that it was ok. She has hiked over 500 miles, at least 100 of that was on a bad ankle. She went through the Smokies and got to see the ponies! I assured her that the trail will always be here. She called the local transit and was gone in 15 minutes. She gets to hug her kids tomorrow.I spent the day relaxing. There is a short 1/2 mile trail that goes by 2 ponds near the visitors center and I meandered on that in my crocks. (Oh yeah, I ended up doing the last 2 miles yesterday in my crocks, I can't wait to get my shoe style boots! OMG how nice to not have that weight on my feet).Anyway, today is the first day of summer and traditionally that is "Hike Naked Day." As I went down this lovely little path and the sun was dappling the plush grass through the trees, I thought "Oh! Why not!" and giggled! I looked around and saw no one and whipped my shirt up over my head! OMG! I did it! Well, kinda. As the trail went into more dense woods, I thought, "Ok I'm really going to do this" and again looked around...dropped my shorts whipped my shirt up, took 5 steps, RAN back to my clothes and got dressed again. I REALLY did it! (Kinda LOL!)When I got back to the shelter, Imagine and Tuna were there. A couple young section hikers showed up too. 18 year olds just graduated high school. OMG they are so young!We all ordered pizza and turned in fairly early.