morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-04-08
From: near stream and footbridge, mile 389.2

To: moreland gap shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: overcast clouds

the hound dogs were barking all last night and now more spirited yelps were coming from them as the sun rose in the sky. i guess it was near feeding time. today's hiking went through several relos (relocations) and added some miles to the previous sections. the maps were pretty useless since they were drawn a few years ago and the elevation profiles did not match the new ups and downs ahead.by the end of this sunny day we all felt pain somewhere in our bodies. i think i pushed myself too far today but there wasn't any good place to stop before the shelter. my knee doesn't hurt now, but i'm afraid it will later. hippie reminded me to stay present with what's going on now and stop worrying about what could happen. good advice.at the shelter tonight: hippie long stockings, mousetrap, hog walker (he rides a harley), the mad german, and curious george.
Date: 2004-04-09
From: moreland gap shelter

To: dennis cove, kincora
Miles today: 5.8

eats yogi'd a fresh trout off a fisherman this morning as we left the trail and made our way to kincora hostel. here mousetrap, eats, hippie and i got bunks, showers, did laundry, and went to town to re-supply and get food for our stay.for our two nights at kincora we bought many large pizzas, popcorn, yoohoo, eggs, paas coloring kits, ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, soda, carrots, milk, and grand size box of kelloggs corn pops.we stayed up pretty late... eating, of course, and playing trivial pursuit. the hostel was full of hikers and charged with energy. we normally go to bed around 8pm, but we only have a 9 mile slack tomorrow so we stayed up late.
Date: 2004-04-10
From: US321

To: dennis cove, kincora
Miles today: 8.9

god, last night was a real restless one -- lots of snoring in the bunkroom and it was way too freakin hot to be under a 15* down bag. i think i got to sleep around 3:30. the "posse" (dharma, hippie, eats, mousetrap) were all sleeping in the same room and we elected to take the late shuttle to US321. today's adventure was a 9 mile southbound slack back to kincora hostel.the trail switchbacked up the ascent and came straight down on the descent. a knee killer. i angrily felt that damage happening. i tried to take it as gingerly as possible, telling myself i should have never done this. i was worrying again --   thinking up crap in the future about having more knee problems and having to zero and, blah, blah, blah. i stopped my mind from it's course of self-destruction and focused on how my body was doing, slowing down, and anything else that would help in the moment.well, i survived and don't feel too bad because of it. i'm a little sensitive in the knees. taking it easy before damascus should help my recovery. i'll zero in damascus for a day too. at the hostel i was reunited with grass and nuffy, two hikers i hadn't seen for about a month. also there were leki-less, lucky dog, fauna, flora (sisters), and pez. yes, pez is back on the trail!
Date: 2004-04-11
From: US321

To: iron mountain shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: moderate rain

i left kincora hostel around 8:30. bob peoples gave me a ride to the trailhead at US321. also in the truck with me were hikers who wanted to go to church this morning.the terrain today was easy but my knees were still acting up from yesterday's downhill. how i want to be free of this... to have the right knee as strong and as easily moving as my left knee. to do this i have to avoid doing anything insane with my body and at the same time work on issues around being in the moment, trusting i have support in the moment, joy, and not fighting my unconscious, which is trying to become conscious.speaking of insane... 3 out of 4 of the "bunkhouse posse", the name we gave our notorious little bunk group at miss janet's, tried to do a 40 today. FORTY MILES! eats, mousetrap, hippie, and an outsider named poptart started at 5am and are planning to walk to damascus today. for a little perspective, i'm doing that section right now in 2.25 days. they say they'll zero until i get there. of course they will, it will take their bodies 2 days to recover! i'm going to do a zero when i get there too, so that will be three for them. maybe they'll appreciate the down time.here lies the problem in traveling in groups. sometimes the group wants to do some amazing miles. you either go along with it or separate, which has its plusses and minuses. these guys have been good to me because they realize i need to move more slowly. at some point i know we'll split up. mousetrap needs to start cranking miles so he can get backto school and eats and hippie talk about doing more miles in VA. i just have to go wth the flow and see if i will synch with them or not.today's 15 and tomorrow's 16 are over easy terrain and great strengtheners for my joints. i didn't take any vitamin I today as i walked and felt just a little pain on some sections. it rained lightly most of the day and started really coming down about an hour before reaching the shelter. i had to put on my hood and my jan-liteshoe-limited-edition hefty bag rain skirt, which do more to make me sweat than keep me dry. at the shelter now it's terribly misty, 50*, and nothing is drying on its own. i'm wearing my socks to bed to dry them off (works well) and i'm going to try to sleep with my kilt the first time to see if my body heat will dry it. this will make for a damp feeling sleeping bag at first. the kilt has a lot of material and, though it's fun to wear, it doesn't dry as fast as performance clothing. that's all for today... happy easter!
Date: 2004-04-12
From: iron mountain shelter

To: abingdon gap shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: moderate rain

yesterday i talked briefly about the issues i've been having and the physical manifestation (knee pain) of those issues. one of the issues was about how i create my experience from my conscious and unconscious aspects of self.a spiritual teacher i take class from said it this way:the knee pain is a manifestation of your inability to accept that which you are creating in your unconsciousness.... That the knee represents the flow of connection and reception between the conscious and unconscious aspects of self. i was walking along today in the rain getting further insight into this. the clouds were so thick that it had the look of twilight -- that period of time where it is not day nor night. then it hit me. the sky is symbolic of this conscious & unconscious connection. daytime is associated with consciousness, or the 'light' of consciousness. nighttime is associated with unconsciousness. twilight, where i was at the moment, is that connection point between these two realms of consciousness. so what does my connection and reception point look like? cold. rainy. hard to see. sounds like a place i wouldn't want to be... and that's how i treat my unconscious: don't go there, nothing good comes from there. but I AM going there. this thru hike is a journey into consciousness for me just as much as it is from georgia to maine. it was dark and stormy most of the morning. as i walked, i just tried being present with the conditions around me. is it ok for it to be this way? yes, i have gear for this and i expected to walk in the rain sometime. could i find some joy in the moment? yes, i could. it was fun just being where i was.mid-day a neat switch happened. the rain stopped and a 15 mph wind came from the south. the skies lightened and i could see bright sunlight on the towns and fields that surrounded me, though none was overhead.the outside world is all a reflection of self. i've said this before in other journal entries. the change in weather conditions shows i've made some movement in the flow between the conscious and unconscious aspects of self. both light and dark were present now in the sky and the rains gave way to the movement of wind. tomorrow is forecasted for more rain. it will be interesting to see what really happens as i try to stay present and see my world as a reflection of self. damascus, here i come!- - -something i observed today: old guys never sit in the shelter. they drop all their body weight on the 40 year old 1/2" plywood floor and shake the hell out of everything. one day one of them will go right through.in the house tonight: einstein, scorpion, and running bear. i hope to sync up with hippie, eats, and mousetrap tomorrow.
Date: 2004-04-14
To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

i had the option to do a slackpack today, but chose not to, because my knees lightly hurt as i came down the stairs for breakfast at the b&b. plus, we had snow/rain this morning. perfect weather for a zero day. my activity today was intense. i started on the internet - catching up on other hikers and plugging their guestbooks with little notes. the outfitter was the next on my list and i bought some new socks, a full length thermarest, large nalgene canteen, and some stove alcohol. after a cheeseburger and sprite for lunch (at dairy king) i walked to the market and bought food for my next section. my chores ended with a trip to the post office and another stop at the library to check my email.i met up with hippie and tripod after their slackpack and worked some logistics with our schedules, since she is now 18 miles ahead of me. she said she would do a short day to let me get caught up to the group. that's way cool. mousetrap might push forward though, he's itching to do some miles... at least he said he was last week. we'll see how it all comes together.tonight all the thru hikers are having pizza at the sidetrack cafe. dinner is on a donation basis. they served all different types of pizza, pasta, and dessert. i guess the donation thing makes them money even though thru hikers can really eat.
Date: 2004-04-15
From: Damascus, VA

To: whitetop mtn road
Miles today: 21.3

today was interesting in that i did my first 20 miler and got some magic twice in a row.i said goodbye and gave ginney a hug as i left the lazy fox B&B. today's plan was to hike to lost mtn shelter and then catch up with eats, hippie, and mousetrap the following day at fatman squeeze (it's a natural rock tunnel).i got to lost mountain shelter at 4:30 and decided to go 3 more miles to a camping area near a spring. this will chop off 3 miles from tomorrow's hike and i will get to meet up with the crew sooner.when i got to the camping area it wasn't that nice... it was horizontally-challenged in most places and the spring was not very inviting. while i was looking for a place to camp, three day hikers could be seen in the distance. as they got closer one of them looked like eats. even closer, yes, it was eats... and hippie and mousetrap. they were slackpacking and should have been ahead of me already... but they were right here. they said "come on were just going a few miles further" (famous last words on the AT). well, cool, we synched up even better than i thought. so, i've already gone 17-18 miles, what's a few more? what i didn't know was the remaining 3 miles went up 1500 feet. yow! (for those at work, that's like climbing the plaza building 12.5 times)after the climb started i had to take a break. hippie said she'd carry my pack for 10 minutes. just then, the other slackpackers came up behind us and poptart says, "dude, i'll carry your pack the whole way." wow, now that's trail magic. so we got to whitetop and there was beer waiting in the snow. it was supposed to be clear so we decided to sleep under the stars.after dinner the youngins built a fire and drank massive quantities, while us "older folk" sat in our bags, had a beer, and looked at the stars.camping tonight: slim, bisquit, hippie, dharma, tripod, eats, mousetrap, fitz, slips, poptart, and gentle ben
Date: 2004-04-16
From: whitetop mtn road

To: fatman squeeze
Miles today: 8.1

the "older folks" got up and out of camp around 8:30am. the youngins, i heard, didn't move 'til 11. eats, hippie, and tripod had to go back to town to get mail drops, while mousetrap and i went north. within a mile we ran into traillite who camped off-trail. the three of us hiked together for a while and then the two outpaced me. they're doing 18 today anyway, so i don't blame them.i synched up with eats, hippie and tripod at thomas knob shelter. since we are camping out on a bald tonight, we have to cart a bunch of water with us. eats was quite overloaded already so i carried his water, which brought me up to 7 quarts. think heavy.we camped about a half mile after fatman squeeze. it's an open field where we can see both the sunset and the sunrise. the virginia sky was clear with a few clouds. it should be a nice night for camping under the stars -- probably a little warmer than last night. tonight fitz, slips, and poptart joined our sleeping bag city, while slim and bisquit pressed on to the next shelter.
Date: 2004-04-18
From: dickey gap (troutdale VA) 

To: partnership shelter 
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: scattered clouds

diamonds are forever, but it seems calluses are not. i never thought i'd be sitting at a picnic table with a pair of swiss army scissors and some sandpaper removing my dear heel calluses. they've started to dry and crack so i'm assisting my body in removing them before they get to be real problems. *sigh* i will miss them.today's miles were all slackpacked going north. i'm glad we didn't have packs today because it hit 80 degrees. i could not keep enough water in me -- granted we were doing a zippy 4 mph pace. i cannot imagine what it will be like when summer actually hits. in some ways we will get some relief since there will be leaves on the trees. right now the sun just pounds on us... no where to hide.a friend asked me why i don't say anything about the sights in my journal. two reasons. (1) i figure the pictures could do it better (2) everything is still shades of brown and grey. spring has not sprung on the trail yet. for the second time i'm spending the night at partnership shelter. this time though, i walked here. this shelter is sweeet! a solar shower, giant privy (with those metal handicap bars in it. say what?), and two floors to sleep on. there is a phone and a road in walking distance -- so you know what that means... pizza hut delivers!why does this keep looking like a roving party and not a backpacking trip? i dunno. this is just the way it's working right now. there lots of support around, so i might as well take advantage of it. some hikers skip a lot of this and just do miles and eat ramen. there will be plenty of opportunities to do that in the next 3.5 months, but how many times can you actually order pizza from a shelter? so what's going on besides the day-to-day? i've got ideas on relationships, the emotional self, working with the unconscious, the necessity of movement and change in our lives, and how all this relates to the business world. i'm not choosing to give myself time to type these in right now, but i get to live and play with these ideas in my trail life. hopefully i'll share these things in a future entry.
Date: 2004-04-19
From: partnership shelter 

To: VA683 (Atkins, VA)
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: clear sky

bored out of my f*ing mind. i hate town food! i want to be in the forest eating ramen!the plan today was to slack for 11.6 in two groups, resupply in atkins, and do 6.x miles and camp. group one started early so as not to get beat on by the sun and to pickup the slack vehicle. we got into atkins near 11:00 and resuplied at a small grocery store. group two got in at 12:30 and wanted to eat at KFC. while enroute, some of them were not doing too well. a decadent lifestyle of beer and dehydration, IMO, seems to be the culprit; though if i ask them they just say they're tired. that's bull. these same folks were kicking my ass with mileage and vigor last week. needless to say, the subsequent 6.x miles never happened.the group chose to stay at a motel tonight. i was not into town living anymore (i hate it) and not interested in a late start (prolly 11am for this group) the next day, so i asked to be dropped off at the trail. i would hike in 2 miles to the next shelter.hippie was sensitive to my dissention and sought a solution to keep everyone together. she asked tripod to stay one more day and slack us 11 miles in the morning followed by real backpacking. she also asked the group to get up at 5am. no tv tonight. the group agreed. the section ahead has lots of ups and downs and would be nice to do without a pack. my knee has gotten much stronger since i've been slackpacking and i won't turn down the opportunity to do more. my conditions (early start, real backpacking) were satisfied for the next day so i am choosing to stay in town tonight. the only downer is that all seven of us are sharing a motel room. the overcrowding bothers me a little, but what really gets me is the reflection of lack that i see in this group of hikers. though i can easily afford any hotel room, there are reflections of me that believe there is not enough money to get multiple rooms. this tells me i have more issues to work out around lack in my life. i'll save that for another day.
Date: 2004-04-20
From: VA683 (Atkins, VA)

To: knot maul branch shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: broken clouds

i woke up this morning humming the grinch theme some. i guess that matched my mood last night. though i was crammed in a hotel room with 7 hikers with smelly gear (normal hiker smell, but highly concentrated), i did manage to get to share one of the beds.5am. yes, we got up at 5am. hippie, the den mother and princess of jelly donuts, roused the boys and got them moving and on trail by 6:30. a major accomplishment for this crew.we did an 11 mile slack followed by dairy queen, followed by a two mile trek with packs. after too many days of slackpacking, my pack felt HEAVIER than the monster i first brought up springer. and that's after i've bounced some of its contents ahead and sent some winter stuff home.and, after a short two miles, my right knee is letting me know it's still alive. it looks like weight is my enemy and i'm going to try and shave off 10 pounds in pearisburg.tomorrow is a 19 mile day. i'm worried a little bit but will let that go until tomorrow. i plan to get out of the shelter early to get a jump on the crowd and the hot sun. right now there's too many people packed together (my current companions plus sugar daddy and two guys from new zealand). shelter space is tight today since it is raining. no one wants to tent in the rain. so, this is day two of being packed in like sardines. i'm getting better at being ok with it... i'm just not into bedding down, shoulder to shoulder, with people who stink more than i do. i have to be careful here... my knee pain is a manifestation of my inability to accept that which i create unconsciously. the crowded conditions in the shelter is one of those manifestations that i feel victimized by. i am creating it, but at the same time i'm pushing the experience away. ok, this is funny-- we were all just guessing ages in the shelter. everyone's is guessing me 25-28 years old. the jaws drop when i reveal i'm 36. i'm definitely way younger in years than the rotations-around-the-sun way of counting time. that's all for today. i'm going to massage my feet and knees and get to bed.
Date: 2004-04-21
From: knot maul branch shelter

To: jenkins shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

wow. this i what a real day with a backpack feels like. someone calculated we just slackpacked 5% of the trail last week. today was a 19 with rocks. the first nine to chestnut knob was sweet and uphill. i did my best wildcat impersonation and laid in the grass for an hour eating lunch. the next nine miles were somewhat normal except for the rocks, which totally killed my pace.my feet and knees were at about their limit for the day. my knees were tired, but the place where i injured myself weeks ago was curiously silent for most of the journey. we'll see what that feels like tomorrow. the next morning is usually when i find out if i've hurt myself or not. hippie, eats, fitz, slips, and poptart have not shown up at the shelter tonight. sugar daddy says they left chestnut knob so they probably did not reach escape velocity and got sucked into another slackpack with tripod. they're probably eating KFC and Blizzards tonight. rat bastards. ;-) actually i'm glad i'm out here. if they don't show tomorrow i will resupply in bland and stalk dragon slayer and wildcat. they're not too far ahead.in camp tonight: kea and kockapo from NZ, mick and dick, slim, and biscuit.
Date: 2004-04-24
From: dismal creek falls

To: doc's knob shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: few clouds

hippie and i wanted to get up early and get a jump on the day. i don't know if it was yesterday's activity or last night's rain, but we didn't move at our 5am start time. another attempt at 5:30 got us into our food bags, but not much further. i had to wipe the condensation from the inside of my single-wall tent with my pack towel. my towel is one of those items that i've been carrying and not used very much. this morning it paid off. it holds much more water than a bandanna and i had to squeeze it out a few times while drying my tent.the trail was easy today except for one big uphill after wapiti shelter. *sigh* my left achilles tendon was in a lot of pain today. i don't know what was up with that. if it's not one thing (knee) it's another. can't i hike without pain for one day? i really do feel victimized by my body at times. i know it's all my choices, but sometimes i'm left shaking my head saying, "now what?" i saw xena and bloody cactus today going southbound. they bailed to waynesboro when all the snow came to erwin, TN. they are finishing this section and then will start north from waynesboro.mid-day hippie and i took a break on a vista and sunned ourselves for about 45 minutes. at one point we opened our eyes and 12 vultures were circling us. holy crap! do we smell that bad? :-) when they saw us moving they moved on, probably to find something dead and smelly.the sun was hot and i got a little red on the shoulders, while hippie will probably have a burn tomorrow. no worries on that though, we are going into town tomorrow.town - Pearisburg, VA. my love/hate relationship continues. i like town when i've been in the woods for a few days. too much town and i start getting angry.this is a good town stop because i'm out of food, i haven't showered in 5 days, haven't cleaned my clothes in 11 days, and vultures are after me. the shower time is kinda normal, but the clothes are way overdue. i have a salt line (from sweat) running across my waist on my kilt.yeah, i never really talked about my kilt in the journal. i got it in hot springs after talking to a hiker named haiku who had one. it's cooler than shorts, a little more stylin' for the AT, and chicks dig them. i am currently wearing the black stuart tartan. i picked that simply because i liked the colors. down south it definitely turns heads. there are a number of kilt wearers including a few that wear the mountain hardwear kilt, which more resembles a skirt. i may try one of these when i get to waynesboro.the boys (fitz, slips, eats, poptart, slim, and biscuit) haven't shown tonight, so i guess they will get to town on monday. they may be staying at the hostel a few miles away.p.s. slim and biscuit got in around 11pm, followed by fitz. slips showed at 7am and eats has been said to have gone back to damascus. poptart is MIA.