morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-05-05
From: Home Sweet Home (Spartanburg, SC)

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Joey decides to take another day off the trail to rest his sore knee and ankles. Another relaxed day in Spartanburg.... good eating, visiting with family, and sleeping! While I love being back at home and miss people so much, its weird to be back in spartanburg. I feel like I'm not supposed to be back yet... I still have the desire to hit the trail and continue to walk. Its a good feeling to still have a peace about continuing on our journey, even though I'm homesick at times I still feel drawn to the trail. Though there have been some really tough days, the thought hasn't even crossed my mind to come home for good. I continue to pray each day that the Lord will keep us safe and healthy and give us the strength to press on and not give up.
Date: 2009-05-06
From: Home

To: Roan Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 14.0

Mom and I head to Joey's house to meet him and his mom to head back to the trail. We head back to Erwin... we stop by Uncle Johnny's Hostel to get the product to retreat our raingear and we eat lunch buffet at Pizza Hut with our moms. They reluctantly take us back to Iron Mtn. Gap where its very windy and overcast but the rain has stopped, at least for now. (It poured down rain around Asheville on our way to Erwin). I am ready to get back out on the trail when they let us out. I've enjoyed my time back at home and miss family and friends so much, but when I was back at home I felt like it wasn't time to be at home. After 2 days of relaxing, watching TV, and eating lots of good food... I was ready to get back out on the trail. My life for the next 4 months is out in the woods. Joey, however, seemed sad to leave comforts of home and not as eager to get back out in the rain and mud. He reminds me this is my dream, and although he may not feel like he has the same dream he is willing to share in my dream. What a great husband! I really feel like I'm learning what marriage is about through this journey... sacrifice, putting others needs above your own, loving unconditionally. Joey definitely demonstrates the qualities to me every day out here. I am so thankful that he was willing to put his dreams/plans on hold for my crazy dream. I hope to be as selfless as him as he follows after his dreams in the future....Anyways, we hike 14 miles starting at 3pm so we have to hike fast and its hard after being off the trail for 2 days. At 7:00 we still have a 3 mile climb up Roan Mtn. ahead of us. We hike as hard and fast as we can but it starts raining and the wind is cold on top of the mountain. We hear thunder in the distance and know the storm is coming soon. At 9:00pm we are walking in the pitch black and stumbling over wet rocks. I am praying that we #1 Find the shelter in the dark (many shelters are not located right on the trail and the signs to the shelters are often obscure) and #2 that we make it to the shelter before the storm b/c there are NO spots for us to pitch our tent on the rocky mountain. After 9 we hear a voice call out and it turns out to be Matt from DC. Thank you Lord! He tells us we have passed the sign for the shelter and he helps us backtrack to find the shelter. The sign is high up in a tree and come to find out we're not the only ones who've had a hard time locating this shelter. But needless to say we make it to a really nice shelter (the highest shelter on the AT). It even has 4 walls, an attic area, and a door!! It shelters us from the pour down that starts about 10 minutes after we get in to the shelter. God answered both my prayers. He has really shown me how He is our protector and provider out here.
Date: 2009-05-07
From: Roan Mtn. Shelter

To: Apple House Shelter
Miles today: 15.0

We hold up to our reputation... we're the last ones to leave the shelter at 10! Joey's never been a morning person... Roan Mtn. is still covered in fog and its cool and windy as we set off. When we make it to Tucker's Gap the clouds are starting to move out and the sun is shining! We really appreciate the sunshine after a week of fog and rain. Its a nice cool day, perfect for hiking. WE have about 5 balds (grassy areas with no trees on top of the mountains) to cross in the Roan Highlands. My favorite of the balds is Hump Mtn. We can see Sugar Mtn. ski area, Beech Mtn, and Grandfather Mtn. from its peak. On our way down Hump Mtn. we see some wild Watusi cattle (longhorns) grazing along the trail. We've read that the National Forest Service maintains the balds partly by introducing the cattle into the area. We hike on to Apple House Shelter... 15 miles total. Not a bad day... great weather, wonderful views from the balds, and the best wildlife we've seen to date.
Date: 2009-05-08
From: Apple House Shelter

To: Dennis Cove (Johnson City, TN)
Miles today: 0.0

WE have a BIG day ahead of us.. we 've planned our longest mileage of 25 miles to cover in 12 hours! We wake up and hit the trail our earliest yet.. 8:30. I'm a little intimidated by the miles, but the terrain looks like it should be gently sloping so we feel prepared. our plan is to meet Macaroni at Dennis Cove where we'll ride with him back to his house in Johnson City for the night. It starts raining about a mile into our hike and lasts for several hours. We trudge through the mud up and down small hills all day... no major climbs but the constant PUDS (pointless up and downs) are surprisingly draining especially in the mud. About lunchtime the rain starts to clear and the second part of the day turns out to be nice weather. No great views today, but we do see a really nice waterfall that is roaring due to the tremendous amt. of rain we've been receiving the past week. When we finally make it down the mtn. at 8:30 its almost dark and we've done it... covered 25 miles in 12 hours. It actually feels really good to have a 20+ mile day out of the way and to know we can do it. What once felt like a seemingly unattainable goal we've reached. Yea! Joey tells me he is proud of me for doing that many miles. At Dennis Cove we walk to Kincora Hostel where Macaroni is waiting to take us to JOhnson City. Joey, Matt and me pile into his car and we eat at Taco Bell when we get to Johnson City (Joey's been craving Taco Bell for the past 2 days.) After dinner we head back to Macaroni's house and shower, put on some comfy cotton clothes that Macaroni lets us borrow, and hang out with him and his roommate Matt and his girlfriend Jessica until after 1am! Macaroni lets us borrow some clean sleeping bags and we make a palette on his basement floor. It feels so good to be clean and dry and indoors out of the storm for the night.
Date: 2009-05-09
From: Dennis Cove (Johnson City, TN)

To: Johnson City, TN
Miles today: 0.0

ZERO day in Johnson City!! WE wake up late to the smells of Mac's cooking (he's a chef!!). He's cooked 2 quiches, sausage, bacon and biscuits for us. So nice and very yummy!! WE lounge around his house for hours just hanging out, watching TV and doing some laundry.   After lunch, Matt and Jess ask if anyone wants to go to the lake with them. Joey's face quickly lights up as he asks if they have a wakeboard. And they do!!! He gets so excited as this is his favorite summer activity and he's been really bummed out about missing the lake all summer while we're hiking. We borrow some bathing suits and head for Watuga Lake. Matt and Jess pick us up subs for lunch and we eat as we head to the lake. The lake is flooded, up 20 feet since last summer they tell us. The water is freezing, but that doesn't stop Joey from getting out there. Joe, Matt and JEss each take quick rides (water was too cold for me!) and we ride back in the boat as the rain starts, but it doesn't matter to us b/c we have dry clothes and hot showers waiting for us back at Mac's house. We really enjoy the afternoon hanging out with Matt and Jess and their dog Mills. They are a really fun couple! What a fun, unexpected surprise for our afternoon in Johnson City!! For dinner we all eat at Beef O Brady's and have a great time laughing and talking about our new life on the trail. We try to talk Matt and Jess into quitting their jobs to join us. We hope they'll at least come out and hike with us for a weekend.
Date: 2009-05-10
From: Johnson City, TN

To: Watuaga Lake Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

We've planned to hit the trail early today, but we've all slept late. Mac cooks another big breakfast for us (eggs, sausage and yummy bread). WE wait around until about 1:30 and one of Mac's friends gives us a ride back to the trail. We hit the trail about 3:00 at Dennis Cove. THe sun is shining, the sky is blue and we feel good after a day off the trail and only 11 miles to go today. The first few miles we hike near Laurel Fork river and see a beautiful waterfall, Laurel Falls. We also see lots of pretty flowers (mtn. laurel, rhodedendron, and orange, fire azaleas). We have one pretty steep climb up Pond Flats. After the climb we hike for a few miles beside Watuaga Lake. The lake is so flooded that parts of the trail are under water up to several feet in some areas. WE have to detour through the woods in several spots. We make it to the shelter late and its packed so we tent right outside the shelter and wait on Mac and Matt. We've brought potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, garlic to make HOBO meals for dinner (roasted meals wrapped in tin foil cooked in the hot coals of the campfire). They finally show up after 9 and we get a good fire going at the shelter to cook our Hobos. WE end up eating about 10:30, but they're worth the wait. It was a fun trail experience for the first day out of a town.
Date: 2009-05-11
From: Watuaga Lake Shelter

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: light rain

The rain starts during the night... not again!! Its a steady patter on our tent into the morning. We're tired of the rain and hesitate getting out of our tent. Packing up a wet tent is not much fun. We start our day walking in the slippery mud, again. The rain starts again shortly after we start our hike, but it just sprinkles so not too bad. Everything is covered in fog. The mountains around Watauga Lake look pretty cool as we walk over Watuaga Dam. The day is pretty chilly with the fog and misty rain so we take only a few short breaks and make it to Double Springs Shelter, another big miles day (21 total miles). The sun did peep out once for us as we walked acoss beautiful green grass fields with some nice views along the way. AT the shelter we make a nice fire and dry out. All in all, not a terrible day, could have been worse.
Date: 2009-05-12
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: Damascas, VA (Hiker's Inn)
Miles today: 18.0

We have an easy 18 miles into Damascas, pretty much all easy downhills. The weather is beautiful.. couldn't ask for a better day! THe sun is shining, not a rain cloud in sight! There are cool breezes throughout the day. We enjoy days like this and have learned to appreciate nice weather even more. Ther aren't too many great views but the day is nice b/c the walking comes easy. We hike again with Matt from DC and run into Mac who has done a 40 mile all nighter!! Crazy!! We all reach Damascas about 5:45pm. We also hit our 4th state VA and take pics at the TN/VA state line. The trail goes right through the center of Damascas which is known as the "friendlist town on the trail" and is the home of "Trail Days" (a huge gathering/celebration of hiking and the trail held May 15-17 this year). There is a Hiker Feed (free hotdogs and burgers) right outside one of the Bed and Breakfasts in town. Gotta love the free food. Trail Magic is awesome and so appreciated by hikers! WE run in to some familiar faces, hikers we've met along the way (Muscles, Father Time, Kizmit, etc.) and we spend awhile chatting. When we finish eating Joey and I check in to the HIker's Inn. We have a private room b/c we called ahead and reserved the last available room. The room is nice, we have a king-size pillowtop bed! We get our laundry together for the owner of the house to do for us, only $3 a load. THen we head to the Dairy King for milkshakes with Matt from DC and Kizmit. It ends up being closed , so we head to Cowboy's, a convienience/diner store. I get a cookie ice cream sandwich and Joey loads up on a bunch of sugary candy. We head back to the house and hang out on the porch with the owner, Suzanne and some other hikers (Audra and Katie). Then we hit the shower and climb into another comfy bed. What a treat!!
Date: 2009-05-13
From: Damascas, VA (Hiker's Inn)

To: Lost Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 15.0

Its another great sunny day! We wake up late at the Inn after a great nights sleep. Suzanne has made homemade apple-nut bread and offers us some. Its really yummy! She then shows Joey her gardens behind her house. She grows and sells organic salads that look great. Joey's very interested as he wants a garden of his own one day. He's really been looking forward to having a yard of his own. We head to the library, Dollar General for resupply and Mt. Rogers Outfitters for a new pair of socks (mine got burned in the last campfire) and some gaiters (we've really gotten tired of wearing our rain pants.. too hot!) Next we eat at "In the Country". I get breakfast and JOey gets a chicken sandwich. We run into Kizmit (a former thruhiker who was just out this year hiking for 3 weeks) and her husband Todd. We join them for lunch and chat with them for awhile. They are a really nice, Christian couple who we really enjoy and wish we could have met sooner as today is Kizmit's last day on the trail. After lunch we head back on to the trail at 2:00. We have several good climbs ahead of us but they don't slow us down too much. We have definitely gotten a lot stronger. OUr breaks are few and short. Its almost like our bodies have become machines. Its really kind of rewarding to be in such good shape.. I'll never be in this good of shape again in my life. We've heard from a number of people that the average hiker burns 6000 calories a day!! Crazy! We are really trying to eat as many calories as we can , but know that each day on the trail we are at a caloric deficit. The weather is perfect for the days walk. NOt many views but nice trail along river and beside the Virginia Creeper trail (a nice graded, gravel trail for biking). WE pass Matt from DC who has done a slackpack from Elk Gardens. Slackpacking is having someone drop you off at the trail without your full pack and you hiking big miles back to town. Joey has decided he does not want to slackpack but he wants to walk every mile with his full pack and everything he needs to live strapped to his back. We will be in the minority if we decide to never slackpack. Anyways, Matt tells us Salty Dog, Blues Traveler and Matt from CT are just ahead of us. We've been trying to catch them for days and reading about them in the shelter registers (at every shelter is a notebook that hikers jot the date they were in and little notes). WE arrive at Lost Mtn. Shelter late and chat with some former thru-hikers at the shelter who are hiking in to Trail Days in Damascas.
Date: 2009-05-14
From: Lost Mtn. Shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We wake up to another day of sunshine! WE head on our way hoping to make either 17 or 23 miles today, we're not sure which shelter to shoot for as we don't know what to expect with the terrain and we have several good climbs for the day. The first is up Whitetop Mtn. where we have great views and nice rocky outcrops to climb. We meet Gar, a photographer, who is filming footage on the trail for a documentary about hiking. He asks to film us climbing a rocky outcrop. Who knows maybe we'll make the cut! We push on to Elk Gardens where we call Bryan Burton, Joey's friend who is meeting us in Damascas this weekend for Trail Days and to hike with us. We also decide to hike the 17 miles to Wise Shelter. We walk through the VA HIghlands through some high mtn. fields and fir forests. Its beautiful there, one of my favorite spots! We also see wild ponies and get some really great pics of a baby pony laying beside his mama. We make it to Wise Shelter early for us, around 7:00 and we have a nice relaxed evening. There is a group of 10 college girls from Pittsburgh staying at our shelter. They're nice and we enjoy talking with them. We make a last minute decision to sleep inside the shelter instead of setting up our tent. (The shelters can be noisy with people snoring and mousy). The rain comes in the middle of the night. It pours and is so loud on the shelter's tin roof. Boy are we glad we decided to stay in the shelter tonight!
Date: 2009-05-15
From: Wise Shelter

To: Damascas, VA for Trail Days
Miles today: 7.0

The rain stopped during the night and the sun is back out! Its nice to have several days of good weather in a row. THe rain can really start wearing on you mentally. We have just 7 miles to cover today to get to VA 603 road where we're hitching a ride back in to Damascas for Trail Days. The miles come fast and are mostly downhill. When we reach the road there is a car waiting in the parking lot with 2 girls who've been out hiking and were just dropped off at their car. One of them is a former thru-hiker from 2005. They ask us if we need a ride back to Damascas, they're heading back for Trail Days. Perfect timing. We pile in with our packs in our laps and head down the mtn. THey drop us off in Tent City (a campground just outside of downtown Damascas that is the hangout for hikers for the weekend). THere are hundreds of tents pitched in clusters, grills, and smelly hikers hanging around. We see many familiar faces from along the way. We run in to Sled Dog, Bonnie, E.O., Gaucha, Phoenix, Lion King, Blues Traveler, Matt from CT now Dragon Breath, Basher and Salty Dog. We set up our tent near Salty, Blues and crew. We hang out at Tent City for awhile and then head back down to Main Street where the different events are being held. We decide to watch Lion King's documentary film on Walking the ADT (American Discovery Trail) an over 6000 mile trail he completed last year. WE enjoy the film. Lion King is a character, very funny, always entertaining. AFter the movie we meet Bryan and Rachel who have come to visit and hike with us for the weekend. WE meet them outside the Outfitters, get showers at The Place Hostel (Matt from DC has cleaned the bathrooms for us! Such a nice guy!) After showers we eat with Bryan and Rachel at Quincy's Pizza. THe pizza is great, service is really slow, but we enjoy catching up with Bryan and Rachel over dinner. We are so excited to see them. Its great having people from home visit us. WE miss people the most being out here. After dinner we head to the First Baptist church who is hosting a free coffee house. They have tables of homemade goodies and coffee with flavored creamers. I am in heaven!!! I pig out on warm cherry cobbler with ice cream, brownie, choc. pound cake and coffee. YUM! Finally we head back to Tent City and scout out a spot for Bryan's HUGE 6 person, 6 foot tall tent. WE take our tent down to make room for his and we all pile in with plenty of room. Bryan and Rachel go to sleep about 11:30 and then Joe and I hang out by the huge bon-fire and watch the hippy hikers dance around the fire to the tribal sounding drums. Its definitely an experience. Tent City is loud .. drums playing around the fire late into the night, people laughing, partying... definitely not our scene, but we've had the Tent City experience at Trail Days now.
Date: 2009-05-16
From: Damascas, VA for Trail Days

To: Hurricane Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Its the second day of Trail Days... we wake up early to a drunk guy yelling and playing a trumpet... the joys of staying in Tent City. Bryan, Rachel, Joey and I head to town for some delicious pancakes at Cowboys, a local convienience store that also has a restaurant. They are the best pancakes I've ever had!!! We run in to Gaucha there. Its been since Hiawassee since we've seen her. Its good to run in to familiar faces at Trail Days. After breakfast we head to Food City to resupply and then head back to Tent City to pack up. we tell Blues Traveler goodbye and take some pics with some friends we've made but don't know if we'll see again.. we're gonna have to pick up our pace to finish the first of Sept. Joey and I head back downtown to Sundog Outfitters where the start of the hiker parade begins. The parade is traditionally a very informal gathering of current and previous thru-hikers who march downtown and the locals gather on the streets to watch.... and then the fun starts... hikers and locals bring out water balloons, water guns, hoses, etc. and a huge water fight begins! Matt from DC, Macaroni, Groove, One Step and others have borrowed a shopping cart from Dollar General and filled it with water balloons, water guns, water jugs, etc for the parade. The parade is another fun trail experience and we are glad to have participated. After the parade we get some subway and milkshakes from Dairy King and meet a very nice couple from the area who have a son "Paparazzi" who hiked the AT in 2005. They take us back to the trail head where we left off at Fox Creek. They are so generous to drive us the hour and a half up some backcountry roads to drop us back off at the trail. Its people like them that keeps us hikers going! We give Rachel and Bryan their first experience on the trail hiking almost 4 miles to Hurricane Mtn. Shelter. Along the way Bryan yells out "bear." We stop in time to see a bear or two down the mountain running away. I only get a short glimpse, but can now say I did see a bear and it did what I hoped it would... RUN. When we get to the shelter its pretty full with the college girls group, so we decide to tent beside the river down the trail a bit. WE all get set up and Salty Dog shows up just before dark. Its good to have him back with us. We've missed him! WE cook our dinners and start a small fire just before the rain comes. Its nice when the rain holds off just long enough for us to get set up for the night and crawl into our dry tents.