morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-06-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.8

The hike wasn't too bad today. Not a very eventful one really. It's only 3.2 miles to Hot Springs tomorrow. There was a loud, rambunctious summer camp group at the shelter along with Mike, violin lady and I. They at least gave us something funny to listen to. On the trail, even a group of teenage boys and their mindless banter can be entertaining. I had probably the worst night of sleep yet! A combo of hunger, hot weather, non tiredness, snoring and bugs kept me awake all night. Hot Springs could not get here any sooner.
Date: 2009-06-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 3.2

I got up at 5 AM this morning. I just couldn't take it anymore in that shelter. I got down to Hot Springs around 6:30 and immediately stepped in the Smoky Mt. diner. Soon after entering the diner and listening to the conversations being had, I found out more about Hot Springs. A small little town where everybody knows everybody, and before work some of them stop by the diner. I don't know if they call in or the waitress just knows, but people would come in and she would just hand them their food immediately with a smile and their first name. Hot Springs is small. Their population is only 600. There's really no reason everybody shouldn't know everybody. This is the first part of the AT that runs straight through a town. It's kind of cool. No hitching required. I checked into Elmer's Sunnybank Inn soon after eating my Ginormous breakfast. The inn is quite old. It has many rooms, all filled with antiques and other breakable, fragile items. Reminds me of Dr. Kentworthy's house in Boston. Smells a lot like it too. Today was a typical town day. Shopping, both grocery and gear. Eating. Writing postcards. Updating this trailjournal and my Flickr photostream. Laundry. Barely any time to do nothing. There hardly ever seems to be time for nothing. Perhaps if I took a zero day tomorrow, but after such a short day today, I think I'd better be hitting the old dusty trail...wow, that actually makes sense in this context. But I'm going to see how good this bed feels first. I'm putting my money on freakin' awesome.
Date: 2009-06-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 11.0

I got up today feeling great. A nice sleep in a nice bed is much needed sometimes. I headed over to the diner for another gigantic breakfast and as I was enjoying it, I looked out to notice it was raining. Luckily it was one of those off and on type rains, so I managed to get the rest of my errands done and got out of town by 1:30 PM. Everything started out fine, but then the rain started. Actually it was more like a storm. One of those with thunder and lightening. It started to get really bad right when I came up to an exposed mountaintop road. When it's raining like that, your survival skills really kick in. All I was thinking about was getting under some cover, or at the very least, back in the safety of the woods. What made matters worse, though, was that the trail was poorly marked on the gravel road section. So it took longer than I would have liked to get out of that storm.Fortunately, after a while it stopped and the sun came out, just in time for me to catch a great view from the fire tower on Rich Mt. I made it to the shelter and met up with three other guys I had first met in Hot Springs. Interestingly enough, we are all SEC fans. Florida, Kentucky, Alabama and I'm Auburn, of course. They go by Gator, High Life and Cowboy, respectively. Nice guys.
Date: 2009-06-12
To: View Entry
Miles today: 21.3

After looking at the elevation chart for the days hike ahead of me I decided it wouldn't be so hard to do 21 miles to Flint Mt. Shelter. The guys from last night felt the same. I got to the first shelter for lunch and met 4 or 5 trail maintainers installing some new bear cables. Something I've noticed is that many of these guys are big time know-it-alls. Many hikers are. Apparently the trail ahead went over an exposed ridge and they were so convinced it was going to storm. Everyone of them told us to take the blue blazed, bad weather trail. A little ways up the trail we came across some other trail maintainers who said the exact opposite. "Oh yeah, take the white blazed trail over the ridge, it's beautiful". Ok. All of them never failed to mention how that section of trail took 5 years to complete. One of the guys in the second group of maintainers was a particularly bad know-it-all. I inquired if I would get a view since it looked kind of foggy today. He quipped back that "it was cloudy, there's a difference." Well. Excuse me! I also asked about the fire tower that was listed in my book up a side trail. "No fire tower, there's an observation tower, but no fire tower." By this time I had enough of this guy and I moved on. He was right about one thing. The view on top of the ridge was really nice. I stayed up there for a long while. I finally got to the shelter around 7 PM. It had been a long day of hiking. My first 20+ mile day. It never rained a bit.
Date: 2009-06-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 16.9

Finally, after a few long days of hiking, I make it to Erwin, TN. I made it down to Uncle Johnny's Hostel and Outfitters right next to the trail beside the Nolichucky River. It was around 3 PM I guess. High Life was already there.I met Uncle Johnny. He was an older man, with a long white beard. He was originally from Mountain Brook, Alabama. I don't meet too many Alabama people out here, so that was cool. Free Bird was another guy I met there. He showed me around the place. Apparently he had started the trail in February in Maine, stopped at Uncle Johnny's a month ago and hadn't left. So he was working there now. He is one of those guys that loves to hear themselves talk, so talk he did. A lot.We took the dinner shuttle and ate some Mexican food. High Life, Gator, Violin Lady, Cowboy and I all shared a table. It was really great.
Date: 2009-06-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I took my second zero today. Well deserved, I'd say. Unfortunately it rained all day. How come all my town visits are rainy ones? Hiawassee, it rained.Franklin, it rained.Gatlinburg, went there to get out of rain.Hot Springs, it rained.And now, rain in Erwin. I guess the only exception was the NOC, but that's not really a town.Anyway. Most of the day was spent reading trivial pursuit questions aloud to whoever was sitting at the table/trying to solve this ridiculous puzzle game. As boring as it sounds. It was a great day.
Date: 2009-06-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.0

Not such a bad day for having left so late. I took the breakfast shuttle to get food in the morning and didn't get on the trail until 10:45 AM, but still managed to make the 17 miles in only 8 hours.Staying at the shelter were Passing Thru, Violin Lady (who was dubbed Farmer's Market because of the food she bought in Erwin) and another lady who was a math teacher. There a lot of teachers out on the trail doing section hikes. Passing Thru is a teacher, Cowboy is a teacher. There are several I might have met and didn't even know. High Life showed up after dark, right before the RAIN!
Date: 2009-06-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.6

Rain, rain, rain. It's always so hard to get up in the morning when it's raining and cold. I finally got up and set off at 10 AM. When it was clear that it wasn't going to stop raining. Thankfully it wasn't too bad really. I got to the first shelter RIGHT before the big rain hit. Man, am I glad I was not out in it! The thunder kept getting more frequent and louder, and I was just thinking, "just give me one more minute, just one more minute." I purified some water and ran back up to the shelter RIGHT before it started. Thunder, lightening, even hail. It stopped after a couple hours and I made my way up Roan Mt. A pretty tough climb, but my body is to the point where it can handle just about anything. The Roan Mt. shelter is pretty cool. It's the highest shelter on the AT at 6,285 feet. It's totally enclosed, with a door. I scared the three guys that were already in there with my entrance. (I didn't know whether to knock or not)Apparently they had been there all day because of the rain. I don't think I would have let a little rain stop me. No rain, no Maine, they say. One of the guys said he started the first week of May. I'm starting to catch people that started way ahead of me!
Date: 2009-06-18
To: Tennessee
Miles today: 24.5

I woke up this morning to the same howling wind that I went to sleep with. Probably the first night yet that I wasn't hot in my sleeping bag. I finally got up and going around 8:30 or 9 and headed down the mountain. There were lots of day hikers and site seers out today at Carver's Gap, although the sun was just barely poking through the clouds at times.Lots of photographers with big, expensive cameras taking pictures of the wildflowers or at least playing the waiting game with the sun. I kept on moving. After summiting Hump Mt. (which was a lot steeper than the elevation chart made it out to be) I came upon a surprising, but welcomed sight. Horses and cattle. The horses would come right up and nudge me. I kept my distance from the steers as I wasn't looking to get gored today. As I was coming down the mountain I heard a familiar sound. Thunder. Ugghh. I was soaked by the time I got my rain gear on. I took a wrong turn about a half mile down a hill before realizing it was probably not the AT. By the time I got to the shelter I was tired. But this shelter sucked. And the guys that were already there, I didn't particularly care to hang out with. So I decided to do 9.3 more miles to the next shelter after I ate dinner. I didn't leave until 6:45 PM and I was rushing the whole way there. If I got lost during the day, how would I make it in the dark? About 9 PM I had to turn on my headlamp. Some people enjoy night hiking, I am not one of those people.I got to the shelter at 10. There were already some folks there, so I was quiet as possible going to bed. Only 17.5 miles tomorrow thanks to today's effort!
Date: 2009-06-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.5

I was tired all day today. That stupid 25 mile day just wore me out. Everything is still wet. I can't wait for tomorrow. My parents are coming to visit! We decided to meet at US 321. It looked easy enough to find. I've got to get to Laurel Fork Shelter first, however. It didn't turn out to be as easy as I thought. Mostly because I was so tired. Even little hills where giving me trouble.Tonight looks like it will be the first night in the 31 days I've been out here that I won't be sharing the shelter with anyone else, which is fine by me I guess.
Date: 2009-06-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 7.0

Ahh, nice short 7 mile day today to see my parents. Shouldn't be too bad. 'Cept for that good for nothing mountain, Pond Flats! Argh! Three miles up, three miles down. Pointless. At least I didn't have to wait too long for Mom and Dad when I got to the road. Only a few minutes. Jan and Jill even came, which was a surprise. It was like a regular family vacation.I scarfed down about two and a half pb&j sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies they had brought. Then we headed to the hotel. Took my first shower in a week. That was refreshing. Went to the store to get food and other necessary items. Ate at a local buffet. You know, he usual town stuff.I found it funny how many things they worried about, didn't bother me anymore. A dirty hotel room, a steep-ish hill, food quality. after a month of living on the AT, small things don't bother you. They might not not even be small things, but they become small things. Finished off the night updating things on the computer and watching some tv. Having mom and dad help me out with town related chores this time around sure was nice for a change.
Date: 2009-06-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.4

We all got up and going around 8:30 this morning and before I knew it, we were on the road towards the trailhead. I never enjoy going back on the trail after a town day, but since my family was seeing me off this time, it made it that much harder to get in the mood to hike. It was really great seeing them, but it was really hard to leave.At least I had music to lighten my mood. I asked them to bring my ipod, because I hadn't listened to music in a month and I was tired of trying to remember all the words to the songs I was singing in my head. It was a nice change from hearing trees swaying in the wind and other random wildlife sounds. I thought I'd do a short day today, but decided to keep going on account of how easy it was. Stayed the night with a young couple, a middle aged guy and an older guy. No one was really talking when I got there. They were all nice enough, just not a talkative bunch. I hope I meet up with some cool people soon, but something tells me the trail is going to get lonely soon.
Date: 2009-06-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.9

Today was probably one of the best days I have had hiking since I started this trip. The weather was spectacular, the bugs hardly bothered me at all and the trail was super easy to boot. I messed around taking my time. Some guy weed wacking the trail suggested I check out an old 1860's era abandoned house, so I did. I still finished the 16 mile hike by 4:30 PM. Too bad there aren't more days like this on the trail.Some guy came up an hour or two after I did. He was a rough looking guy, like he had been punched in the face a few times. But he was cool enough. Just sort of had a chip on his shoulder about hiking. This, above all things, is what keeps me going--I can't wait until I've done the majority of the trail (over 1,000 miles) Then these guys who think they are hot stuff won't be able to act like they know more than me. And I promise myself, I will never act like these guys who think they know everything and that their way is the only way.Hike your own hike.
Date: 2009-06-23
To: Virgina
Miles today: 10.2

Another nice, flat walking, day today. After 35 days of hiking, I finally reach Virginia. I did the 10 miles in 3 hours and was in Damascus by 11 AM. I decided to stay at "The Place" a Methodist run hostel. It was apparently an old, Civil War General's home. There were lots of other hikers there, and a biker. Damascus is a sort of trail hub, both for hiking and biking. I got my usual town chores done efficiently (I've gotten quite fast at that stuff) and spent most of the day eating and lounging. Damascus is home to the Creeper trail, an old railroad that's been converted into a bike trail. There are lots of bikers. It was nice not to be the only visitors in one of these small towns where you don't feel like you belong. I almost actually felt like I DID belong in this one. Damascus is used to hikers probably more than any other town. It is home to "Trail Days" the largest event on the AT. I think Damascus is definitely my favorite town stop yet.
Date: 2009-06-24
To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.8

I stayed up quite late last night not really doing anything in particular, just talking with a couple of the other hikers. Actually one was that bike rider dude. The other guy was "I'll Try". We sat in the living room and talked about all kinds of stuff, including, "stuff that would be too old/no longer used for me to have ever experienced or used". They were quite a bit older. We also predicted stuff that would soon be on it's way out. Like the land line telephone. Talking can be as entertaining as anything else after a while in the woods. I got up and ate a huge breakfast at the local gas station/convenience store. Before I left to hit the trail "I'll Try" gave me some helpful hints about the trail up ahead (places where the trail might be confusing or hard to follow, he was a south bounder)After I set out leaving Damascus I ran across Larry Riddle. He asked me my name, where I was from, and all that, and if I needed to use his phone. (He has a phone on his front porch that he lets hikers use to make long distance calls)All of the sudden I'm making a call and eating two egg salad biscuits he had just made. He was one of the nicest guys I've met thusfar.After a relatively full-stomached hike I came to my destination for the night. There was one other person at the shelter, a guy my age named Tim. He had just started the day before going to Harper's Ferry. We talked about all kinds of stuff. Then I started reading a biography on Meriwether Lewis, which coincidentally, Tim had left at the last shelter and I picked up.
Date: 2009-06-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 17.3

Passed the highest point in the state of Virginia today. The AT didn't go to the summit. I did not take the side trail to the summit either. The Grayson Highlands were very pretty and a nice surprise to see. Tim decided to join me on my 17 mile day. It wasn't that tough of a hike, for me at least.
Date: 2009-06-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 20.0

Today was quite a long one. It's starting to get quite hot during the day. I've enjoyed a long break from rain, but today I thought it was going to end. It started to thunder around 4 PM, but thankfully it held out until I made it to the shelter. Even when it started it wasn't too bad. Not enough to get the trail muddy. Tim once again stuck with me and showed up at the shelter about an hour after I did. Nice shelter, nice nights sleep.
Date: 2009-06-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 10.6

After some long days I decided to take a short one. For a few reasons. One, I needed to rest my muscles. Two, I wasn't sure if my mail drop was going to be in Atkins yet. And three, I HAD to stay at the Partnership shelter. It's got a shower. A nearby visitors center with candy you can buy and soft drinks. Plus there's a phone outside you can use to call for pizza. I did. They didn't deliver till 4 PM. So I waited. A couple that were camping at some campground nearby overheard my mission to get some food and offered me something. I accepted, and they gave me all kinds of stuff. They were not afraid to share. Best trail magic yet. I almost didn't have room for the large pizza I ordered later. I still ate the whole thing. No one else showed up at the Partnership shelter that night. I was alone at the Partnership shelter. It took me a few days to realize the irony in that.
Date: 2009-06-28
To: View Entry
Miles today: 11.6

I woke up and got going at a relatively decent hour today, though I really had no reason to. Only going to Atkins today. I passed lots of fruit, not too much of it was ripe though. I saw my first bear today. It was only a cub, he ran away pretty quick. It is amazing it took this long to see one. 40 days. Last trip I saw one on day 1.I got to the Relax Inn, which was right next to the trail, a little after noon. There was not much to this "town" visit. There was the motel, a couple gas stations and a restaurant. That was good enough for me. It kind of sucked that there were hardly any tv channels, I kinda wanted to watch something other than the news. It was Sunday, so I guess there wouldn't be much on anyway.
Date: 2009-06-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.0

Important day today. I reached 1/4 of the AT! 3/4 to go...one more quarter before I reach the middle...Suddenly, this doesn't seem as exciting a milestone as I previously thought. Oh well, I press on. I was pretty much right at the quarter mark when I walked off the trail to pee and came up on a pretty good sized, black rattlesnake. Needless to say, I chose a different spot to relieve myself.The shelter was quite full tonight. There was an Asian woman I had met before in Erwin who had caught up to me, trail name, Pegasus. A teacher section hiker. Two groups of thru hikers. One group of three guys, and another group of two guys who were cousins. They started after me, by about 5 to 7 days. They are pretty cool.
Date: 2009-07-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 23.8

Wow, a new month. Hard to believe I've been out here the entire month of June. Decided to put in a long day today. The more I think about it (while I'm hiking and really bored I sometimes think about these kind of things) The more I realize, I need to take advantage of easy terrain when possible. Figuring my 8 zero days (2 every quarter) If I want to finish by October 1, a good goal to shoot for, I need to maintain an average of 17.1 miles per day. Well right now my average is 13.4. I've got some catching up to do. At least this state is easy. Got some cool trail magic today. A couple trail maintainers came by in a truck where the trail went along a service road for about half a mile. They asked me if I wanted a ride in the back of their truck to where the trail went back in the woods. So I hopped on the tailgate and enjoyed a pleasant ride that was over way too soon. They even gave me a coke! For such a long day, today was very easy and not too boring.
Date: 2009-07-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 22.6

Today I got up and started hiking ASAP. I had eaten the last of my food the night before and was headed to Trent's Grocery to resupply. I got there around 10:30 AM and immediately ordered and devoured an entire 12" pizza. I bought some beanie weenies for dinner and a few snacks to make it to Pearisburg the next day without going hungry. I finally got back on the trail after spending two hours at Trent's. The remainder of the day was pretty boring really. Spent the night in the shelter alone. Not sure where the other guys got off to.
Date: 2009-07-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 8.2

Short town day. Passed the cousins when I was entering Pearisburg. They had done 30+ miles yesterday and were already leaving the town to head on. I wished them luck and proceeded to Hardees. Then Dairy Queen. Yum.Afterward I went to the hostel. It was quite a long walk, but cheap enough to be worth it. This hostel was run by the local Catholic church. The priest there liked to talk a lot and talked to me for what seemed like forever about everything. Nice fellow, though. The library was closed because of 4th of July, so no internet. I'm going to be really behind on things soon if I don't find a computer to use. Mike called me and we actually got to talk to each other for once instead of just sending messages to each other like we normally have to do. Pearisburg had great phone service. Mike had just made it to Damascus and had decided to end his hike there. He told me about the large group he and others had formed and how they were all at a 4th of July party at the Park in Damascus. I kinda wished I was back there with them. But that would mean I would be nearly 200 miles back, with relatively no hope of finishing the trail. It's a decision that must be made for late starters such as myself -- Do I want fun or do I want to accomplish my goal? Well, ideally, both. But this is something I know not to expect. Tomorrow, I set my sights north and barrel ahead.
Date: 2009-07-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 19.3

Took me a while, but I eventually got back on the trail this morning. Lots of animal activity today. I saved a bird early in the days hike. Its foot was caught in a grouping of flower stems on the branch of a tree. It was stuck pretty good because it was going berserk trying to free itself and couldn't. So I took a stick and tried to pry it out. (didn't want to get my hands to close) After some effort I was successful in freeing the bird. It hopped around and seemed to be all right. I also spotted two black snakes 4' long, near the trail on two separate occasions today.Full shelter tonight. And the return of rain. Not too much yet at least. I can hear fireworks booming in the distance. Happy Independence Day.
Date: 2009-07-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 22.5

Passed the second largest oak tree on the AT this morning. The limbs were what stuck out to me the most. They were massive. Late in the day I passed by the Audi Murphy monument on Brush Mt, near the sight of his fatal plane crash. I wonder if the AT went up this way before that happened, or if it was redirected afterward? As for animal sightings today: Saw a snake I could not identify, it was light brown with dark brown splotches. Later, I came right up on a bear. I actually saw it before it saw me, but he scurried off in the woods shortly afterward.