morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-05-06
From: stoney creek bridge

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Pearisburgi woke up bright and early at 6 am...definitely took advantage of thehotel room there. Anyway, james and i packed up, chatted with thegoonies, and headed to blacksburg for my zero day. We stopped by backcountry outfitters where travis helped me out by giving me a piece oftyvek that actually makes a good ground cloth for my tent - yesssss!We also had lunch with jamess cousin zack who goes to virginia tech.It was great to just relax and be a normal married couple for a day.But tomorrow im hittin the trail again so im gonna have to put mydomesticity aside again and go back to bein a gangsta.
Date: 2009-05-07
From: pearisburg

To: campsite
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: light rain

james dropped me off this afternoon. On the way to the trail wehappened across the country club place they filmed dirty dancing at -james was the one who recognized it and he was a little embarassedthat he did but i thought it was awesome. We came across an AT roadcrossing and low and behold there was wind up! We chatted for a bitand then james drove me to my drop off.t was hard to say bye to james yet again but i know he wants me tosucceed so i shook it off and started hiking. Luckily a mile into myhike i got to a shelter where wags hermes dutch and 1 pint werechillin. I also met stretch and tinman, best friends from new jerseywho are hikin together. After some convincing i kept hiking but thistime with hermes and wags. I had an amazing fall which hermes waslucky enough to witness. I definitely almost peed on myself then. Wepassed wind rocks and then found a great campsite and pitched ourtents. Stretch tinman sir richard and cricket joined us and we had agood time.
Date: 2009-05-08
From: campsite

To: sarver hollow
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: broken clouds

i hiked by myself this morning but some early afternoon streamcrossing clumped part of the goonies together - wags is entertainingwhen it comes to balancing and water so the boys stuck around towitness/help and then we hiked the last 5 miles together. We passedthe keffer oak, the biggest oak on this part of the trail...it lookedlike a white oak to me but dendro Was never my strong point. The hike up to the shelter was rough but imade it. This shelter is friggin gorgeous! It has a covered porch areaand is nestled into the side of the mountain. Me and wags rubbed eachothers feet which was both amazing and icky. Its storming out and imso excited to be sleeping in a shelter.
Date: 2009-05-09
From: sarver hollow

To: pickle branch
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: broken clouds

i hiked alone again this morning...im definitely a mornin person whenit comes to hiking and some days its great to just chill on the trailalone. I did have a great fall along the ridge that no one witnessedso that was a waste (spills where no one gets hurt are sooooofunny...i still laugh when i think about wags's skidmark fall). Icrossed the eastern continental divide. Then i ran into a sobo sectionhiker...tower. Yeah i went to high school with him. So random. I had asorta tough hike up a mountain but ran into hermes at the aubie murphymemorial and we hiked the rest of the way together. We stopped at acreek a mile before the shelter where we washed off I totally feel like a rugged mountain woman when i wash my face inpuddles. We got to camp early and hung out till bed. The packadivaswere there and one by one about 25 other hikers trickled in. Partytime!
Date: 2009-05-10
From: pickle branch

To: campbell shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: few clouds

3am wake up call. Yep, we did some night hiking. Dutch had an idea toleave super early to get to the homeplace by mid day. Eight of ustotally agreed so we found ourselves hiking at 345 am guided by ourheadlamps. Glorious. Sure we spotted some glowing eyes starring ourdirection but nothing was going to stop me from that AYCE buffet...iveheard about the homeplace for years! Well the dragontooth did almoststop me...that was a crazy mountain equipped with rungs drilled intothe rockface to climb down and all sorts of other daring decents. Wedid get to see an amazing sunrise from the summit though so it wasworth it. We also came across saint and windups tent...1 pint and iattempted to scare them but i think our giggling gave us away. We kepthiking and got to the homeplace at1030 just in time to eat. The food was yummy and we spent 4 hours onthe lawn digesting. A bird pooped on me while i was lounging under atree. Yup, hit me full force on the back of my head. Nope dunno whatkind it was. Bummer. We hitched a ride back to the trail (a super nicefamily gave us a ride to the home place and a nice couple from v techgave us a ride back) and climbed up mcafee knob whiched turned out tobe the cliffs that most folks get their pictures taken at. I rememberlooking at crystals picture an mcafee knob and day dreaming for hourswhen i should have been hammering some shingles onto challenge courseelements to make them less slick. I think we got some classicsourselves. We got to the shelter and decided we were done for the day.Today was definitely one of the most amazing days out here.happy mothers day to everyone and especially to my mom, baka, melissa,laurie and james's grandmas!
Date: 2009-05-12
From: daleville

To: wilson creek shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: clear sky

we thoroughly enjoyed the hotel room this morning and in true rossstyle checked out at exactly 11. Me and wags watched videos on cmt for2 hours this morning...man i really miss music! We saw a sugarland anda zac brown band video so life was grand. I picked up some excellentbuggy sunglasses at the gas station and we took off! We had to say byeto 1 pint which was sad but who knows what the trail has inmind...hermes and dutch pushed ahead and rusticus hasnt been sightedin days but according to registers hes about 20 miles ahead. We passedmile 726.1 which is the one third marker...yeah we made a sign out ofsticks and took pictures. I was so proud of myself and the weather isso gorgeous that i dilly dallied the last 3 miles to the shelter. Itwas so relaxin to just take my time and smell the mountain laurel. Icant believe we re planning on starting shenandoah next friday! Weirdhow time is both insanely slow and fast simultaneously. A great day!!
Date: 2009-05-13
From: wilson creek shelter

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: light rain

We crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) for the first time today! Very exciting. Of course, it was foggy...is there any other way for The Goonies to check out a view? But it was great regardless of what we could or couldn't see. We took a first lunch break at the Boblets Creek Shelter which boasts one of the best privy's I've seen on the trail so far by far. Even smelled kinda cedar-y. GREAT! A few miles before I got to the shelter, I came across this awesome swimming hole area and saw a girl chilling. I chatted with her a little and found out her name is Rabbit and she's a section hiker who's been reading my journal. Random! There was also a hammock set up and she said some dude had been catching crawdads in the creek and had just gone to the campstore up the road to get some stuff for dinner. I had no idea that the guy was actually Rusticus (apparently he ditched his tarptent in favor for something with bug netting), but I totally should have figured that out. I had a rough time during the last mile or so down to the shelter - my ankle was straight up killing me out of the blue. I was a little freaked out, I won't lie. Anyway, the shelter tonight is gorgeous and has two levels and is right on a creek. And I'm definitely ready for bed!Ok, so today I'm gonna talk a little about fire for a couple reasons: 1. Some section hikers who were at Wilson Creek Shelter with us last night left camp before we did, and they totally left their fire blazing this morning. Tisk, tisk. 2. I walked through some woods that had recently been burned today. 3. The other day we saw some prescribed burning going on. 4. Smokey the Bear is a punk. Now, I'm no expert on prescribed burning (or anything for that matter), but I can tell you in a lot of cases it is very beneficial to the environment. There are numerous reasons biologist burn (get rid of leaf litter, rejuvinate the system, create habitat for certain species, prevent wildfires (what in the world is going on with you, California?), etc), and fire is actually a natural disturbance in a variety of ecosystems. However, in many cases people have hindered this process. Fire is definitely one piece of all the intricate ones that make up mother nature. For example, seeds are really cool things - some of them require going through an animals digestive system before they're ready to germinate while others have to be burned.
Date: 2009-05-15
From: Marble Creek campsite

To: Johns Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Packin up the ol' wet tent...HOW GLORIOUS! Yuck. At least it quit raining during the night. And I hear the Canes beat the Bruins in overtime during the 7th game (yeah, I definitely don't follow hockey but Saint and Windup are HUGE Bruins fans, and Ashley and Mark (brother and sister in laws) are huge Canes fans). We had a nice hike down to the James River where we crossed the James River Footbridge which is the longest footbridge on the trail. Then we unsuccessfully attempted a hitch into Glasgow, but Jeremiah Johnson and Bound came to the rescue. Bound just finished her thru-hike on May 5th in Daleville, and she drove down to bring Jeremiah to Trail Days in Damascus. She was nice enough to give us a lift to Glasgow where we ate lunch, resupplied, dried our stuff out behind the gas station, played catch, and lounged around for a while. It was kinda tough getting a ride back to the trailhead, but we were lucky to be driven by Jim and Sharon (VT grads who now live in Charlotte, NC) so many thanks! As we pulled into the parking lot we were amazed to see Hermes being dropped off too! A former professor of his lives nearby and had picked him up the day before. He hiked the few miles to the first shelter with us, but then pushed on to the next shelter because he's meeting his brother and uncle on Sunday. We're guessing we'll meet back up with him eventually, and maybe even Dutch too!
Date: 2009-05-16
From: Johns Hollow Shelter

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

They say southern Virginia is easy (true) and that the central portion of it is more rugged (also true). We've definitely experienced that ruggedness this past week, and have also done quite a few big mile days. We had a nice 2000 foot climb out of the shelter this morning, and the humidity didn't really bring much to the table. Gaw, it was so sticky and yucky you would not believe! It also got kind of chilly at points, so for a lot of the day it felt like I had the cold sweats going on. Definitely yucky. I can handle hot and humid, but this wishy-washy stuff just makes me wanna take a shower asap! Anyway, we past Punchbowl Mountain which is supposedly haunted by 8 year old Otti who died in 1805 after he disappeared when he went to get some firewood. Wind Up and I made up songs, and she had a really good one going in his honor to the tune of Little Drummer Boy but we forget the words. I am adding lines to my "Hermes, Hermegasaurs" tune though...and he'll be so excited to hear it. Hahaha. After lunch, Wags and I hiked together and we eventually came across this awesome reservoir. We followed Rusticus down, and jumped in! Yeah, the water was cold and smelled kinda fishy, but it was great to get all the yuckiness replaced by new yuckiness! We finished the last few miles to the shelter and came across signs for the Brown Mountain Creek Valley. Apparently, in the early 1900s a community of freed slaves lived where we're camping, and you can see reminence of their lives here. I like history, so I was digging it. It's just me, Wind Up, and Saint in the shelter while Wags, Rusticus, and Paulman/Cup of Joe (an AWESOME couple from Maine) are tenting out. It's starting to thunder and lightning again, so I'm very glad to be in a shelter again tonight!Today's lesson: a little guy I've been seeing a lot lately - the red eft. According to wikipedia (foremost in science publications....), the red eft is the juvenile, land dwelling stage of the eastern newt. They're bright reddish orange, and you can see them along the trail where the leaf litter is moist. I've taken some sweet pictures of them, and will hopefully get them posted soon! (hint, hint James ).
Date: 2009-05-17
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: overcast clouds

We definitely planned to wake up early and get our 2700 foot climb over with before it got humid today. Yeah, I woke up at 7:45 and we didn't get out of camp until almost 9. Luckily for us, it was super cold today so it didn't matter what time we got up. We climbed up Bald Knob (not a bald) and then Cold Mountain (a bald, but not the one the book is about..that one's in North Carolina). I think those are the last balds we'll be crossing on this adventure, and yes it was once again foggy. Any bets that our Katahdin summit is going to be foggy/cold/rainy/and amazing?!? Eh, let it be cold and foggy, tomorrow we're going to the Dutch Haus! Now, I like to throw accents into conversations a lot, but the German/Dutch accent is not one that I can genuninely say I've got down pat. Apparently I sound slightly Japanese. Anyway, we did our best to be German/Dutch while conversing today, and even signed the trail registers: Gangsta Haus, Saint Haus, Windup Haus, Rusticus Haus, Wags Haus, and Goonies always say Haus. It's awfully cold already, and I'm guessing tonight is going to be even colder. Yikes! Glad I didn't get rid of all my winter gear already (that's a hint to you thru-hiker planners out there!).Today: the Tulip Poplar! It's one of my favorite trees, and I've been seeing the flowers a lot lately so let's talk about it for a minute. Folks call it the tulip tree, the poplar, yellow poplar or whatever, so it has a few different common names. It usually has a fairly straight trunk, the bark is really cool looking - once you get an idea for what it's suppose to look like it's really easy to ID. The leaves look like the outline of Garfield's face. The flowers (surprise, surprise) resemble tulips and are yellow and orange. Here's a good sight to check out if you happen to be curious: http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_litu.pdf
Date: 2009-05-18
From: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter

To: Dutch Haus
Miles today: 2.3

Yeah baby, a record (low) setting day! Apparently last night was an all-time low for Detroit (28 degrees according to Momma Wags), and 2.3 miles for the Goonies. It was really hard to pull myself out of my sleeping bag this morning, but my first shower in a week and a bath robe was all the inducemnt I needed! We got to the B&B in time for the free lunch they offer thru-hikers. DELICIOUS beef stew (beef stroganoff was one of the "German" things I said frequently yesterday). We took showers and doned bathrobes while our laundry was being done. Me and Wags shared our second romantic room of the trip which boasted it's own TV!! I watched Keeping up with the Kardashians and was so excited to see the episode where they go camping. Yeah, it's not exactly the same thing we're doing, but go team. Then I watched an episode of Lost and Oprah and fell asleep. We had a delicious dinner and right after we ran back up to our room to watch Dancing with the Stars (go Melissa!) and then the premire of the Bachlorette (Hayden and Grey: my hands-down favorite is Jake. I usually don't dig the blonde fellas, but he seems like a winner). What a glorious day. Just the pick me up I need to get to Waynesboro! And then...Shenandoah. And then Harper's Ferry. And then the halfway point! AHHHH! I'm getting too far ahead of myself though. Working on living in the present. I will tell you this, though. I'm an excellent watermelon thumper, and I'm gonna up the anty on the half-gallon challenge at the halfway point: a half gallon of ben&jerry's followed by a whole watermelon. That sounds Gangstarific!Today's quick tidbit: The scarlet tanager! We've been hearing these buddies for a while, and last night Saint spotted one at the shelter. The first time I saw one was on an ornithology (study of birds) field trip in undergrad when we went to coastal Louisiana. Birds that have just migrated across the Gulf of Mexico are petered out when they finally hit land, and sometimes just sit on the ground. We came across a scarlet tanager that could hardly move and my awesome professor (Dr. Cooper!) picked up the little fella and I snapped a cool picture of him holding it. Anyway, the male is bright red and has black wings (red and black..a winning combination anytime) and says "Chip-burr." Check out more info: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/479/articles/introduction
Date: 2009-05-19
From: Dutch Haus

To: Harper's Creek Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: clear sky

We woke up to a delicious breakfast at 7, and were out the door by 8:30 (not exactly by choice but I guess that's how it goes sometimes). We had a burly mile hike up a steep road back to the trail, but we had good food in our bellys and were nice and clean so it wasn't too bad. I stopped at the top to call James and the rest of the group went on ahead to check out the views at Spy Rock. I hiked the mile to the view alone, and halfway there I stopped midstride. "Wood peewee!" came flying out of my mouth -- apparently I'd been hearing a bird call and finally was able to id it. Have you ever seen Silence of the Lambs? Do you remember the scene where a police officer is taking pictures of a body, and the camera is really loud and obnoxious? That's what this little fella sounds like. Creeepy. The view from spy rocks was awesome, and we saw some tadpoles chillin in puddles on top. Then we headed up The Priest, and then to the Priest Shelter - folks had confessed all of their sins in the trail register. It was HILARIOUS. We definitely dilly-dallied again today, and it was glorious!So I tried to change my middle name on facebook to "Gangsta" so trail friends can easily find me...yeah, facebook rejected it. Bummer. Wags and I came up with a tentative itinerary for the next few weeks so we can tell folks when we'll be at the half-way point (June 5th!). We decided to take a Robert Parish when we finally get there. Mr. Parish played for the Celtics and was a total badass so they retired his jersey - 00. Yeah, double zero days are now officially refered to as Robert Parish's. James is planning on coming to visit me, and I'm really excited because 1. I get to see him and 2. We're gonna go chek out Gettysburg! I've never been, and I'm totally into the Civil War. Sweeeet.Today's critter: the eastern box turtle. This species was part of the inspiration for my daily profiles because we saw a few on the trail and a surprising number of folks couldn't identify what it was, and I was shocked! Box turtles are terrestrial (nope, they can't swim), and have a hinge on their plasteron (bottom shell) that allows them to close up and hide if a predator attacks. They have red or yellow eyes, and you can sex them by checking out their plasteron - males have an indentation that females don't have.
Date: 2009-05-20
From: Harper's Creek Shelter

To: Paul C Wolf Shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: clear sky

Good grief I was so comfortable this morning I didn't want to move a muscle! But I knew we had a long day ahead of us, so I cranked it into gear and got moving. After a 2000 foot climb first thing, we saw some great views from Chimney Rocks and Hanging Rock. Saint and I were hiking together (he was in front), and all of a sudden he stopped and I heard something strange moving around in the grass directly to our right. Just as I was starting to figure out what the noise was, I heard another terrible noise and plop right in front of us. What in the world?! It turns out we came across some ruffed grouse chicks and their momma - the chicks were in the grass and their mom was performing a broken wing display in front of us to attract our attention towards her and away from her chicks. I got some sweet video footage of her shrieking. Wags and Windup caught up to us and we all hiked along together. When we came to the BRP, we found a 12 pack of cokes with a note from Bender - trail magic! Later, we passed some guys from New Jersey who also gave us a coke. We haven't experienced trail magic in a while so I was super excited to experience it twice in one day. We sat down and had our second lunch break, and that's when I discovered that Combos are the official "cheese filled snack of NASCAR." Yep. The shelter is really pretty and we're sharing it with Lulu, Carla from New Orleans, and two overnight hikers - Chealsie and Maggie.I'm really looking forward to spending time in Waynesboro tomorrow and then we're heading into the Shenandoahs on Friday! How exciting! I've definitely been looking forward to them for a long time. We've been dilly dallying a lot more lately, and I love it. I don't feel the pressure to keep going 24/7 anymore. I just like enjoying myself and taking my time. But I also like putting in big miles so now, hopefully, I can figure out a way to do both.
Date: 2009-05-21
From: Paul C Wolf Shelter

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: clear sky

The five miles to Waynesboro flew by this morning! We didn't even have to hitch for a ride - a man offered to give us one to town. Then we went to the post office where I picked up my package from REI. James got me a skort, and his momma bought me a new pair of hiking boots! Thanks so much, I definitely feel like a new hiker! We also got a package from Clumsy (the lady who gave us trail magic in Newfound gap in the smokies) - she sent us oreos and little debbie snack cakes and all sorts of other goodies! It was awesome! While we were standing in front of the post office lots of folks stopped and welcomed us to Waynesboro. One lady even gave us her phone number in case we wanted to stay at her home! Then we headed to the YMCA where they offer free showers and use of the facilities to hikers. We ran around doing all of our other town errands and are ready to enjoy the free hostel at the Lutheran church here. Waynesboro is definitely hiker friendly! We did get yelled to "Go the hell home" from an anonymous person in a car, but that ain't no sweat offa my back. Headin into Shenandoah tomorrow - hoping to Yogi some hamburgers from all the tourists out for the Memorial day weekend! And I'm definitely excited to celebrate Windup's 25th birthday on Saturday. On top of that, we're hoping to meet back up with Hermes tomorrow morning sometime! Yessss. The Goonies are back in action! Whoops - time limit is up!
Date: 2009-05-22
From: Waynesboro

To: Campsite
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: clear sky

I woke up after a refreshing night at the church hostel. Yesterday ibought a watermelon and carried it around for a few hours until wechecked into the hostel, but i didnt have a chance to cut her open andeat it. Totally bummed. Jukebox and double vision (fellow southerners)jumped on board this morning so we sliced open my melon in the churchparking lot and shared the delicious yummyness with everyone! Then wemet wags cousin andrew for breakfast at weesies. After a fun anddelicious meal we got ready to run some errands and we were stopped byleanne from the visitor center who recognized us as hikers. She droveus to target and then dropped us off at the trail head. Whatgenerosity! Me and Wags covertly decorated shirts for windups birthdaywhich is tomorrow. Then we set off into the shenandoahs! I was veryexcited to finally be here! I made a total rookie mistake by carryingway too much food - my pack weighed a TON! I guess thats what happenswhen you put a thru hiker in a real grocery store. It was super humid and hillier than i expected. To be honest the four of us were in a lot of pain. It felt like week one all over again. We stopped at the first shelter to see if hermes was there. He sure was! We grabbed him and hiked a few moremiles to a great campsite. Tomorrow we're meeting some of windupsfriends who are gonna slackpack us! Exciting!