morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-18
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: light rain

Today it was a very physically and mentally challenging day. Not only did I have to climb Roan Mountain which is over 6000 feet, but it was very cold and wet. It poured on me as I slopped through the mud trying to climb about 2000 feet in about 2 miles. As I reached the summit of Roan the rain mixed with sleet and I was soaked to the bone and cold. Then I had to climb a number of balds where the rain continued to come down and with no trees the wind was like torture. As the trail descended back down to lower altitudes the wind died down a bit but the trail was like a mud slide, very difficult to negotiate.My legs were so cold it felt like my joints were going to cease up. Eventually I made it to the shelter which is a barn that has been converted into a shelter. As soon as I got here I removed all of my wet clothes and but on the few things I had that were dry and bundled up in my sleeping bag. I am finally warming up although my feet still feel like ice cubes. So I made it one day with dry clothing and shoes and now everything is soaked again. I just hope I will finally see the sun tomorrow. It is really a mental let down when you climb these awesome mountains and have no view. But tomorrow's another day and will be a big mileage day so I can make it to Hampton TN by Saturday afternoon where Danielle will pick me up for trail days. So even though today was no fun out here I got about 20 miles closer to my goal and I am 2 days from seeing my wife.
Date: 2006-05-19
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 26.4
Weather: broken clouds

Last night I was sleeping in the loft of the barn. I zipped up in my bag about 7:30 listening to my mp3 player. The next thing I remember is I am thinking what that noise is, was it part of the song? So I slip my head out form inside the sleeping bag and realize that I am getting wet. It was about 9:30 and a monster of a thunder storm was taking place. I was about 5 feet from the side of the barn and the rain was blowing through the walls and getting me wet. Myself and the other 6 people on the top floor of the shelter moved into the center of the floor to try and avoid the rain. As I laid there and tried to get back to sleep, I could feel the entire barn moving from the howling wind.When morning came it was cold and difficult to get out of my bag. My watch thermometer read 35 degrees. I finally got moving and the day started with a big climb over Hump Mountain. The trail was covered in ice and at the summit of the mountain it was 30 degrees with unbelievable wind. But the sun was out. Yes the first time I had seen the sun in several days. The views from Hump were great. I could see Roan Mountain and it was covered in snow. I would have never expected such cold temperatures near the end of May. The sun was out and by lunch time I was at a lower elevation and back into shorts and a t-shirt. (I hope you had great weather in D-town for the CF walk) The second part of the day was full of small ups and downs nothing to difficult. It did make me happy to finally get to the shelter about 6:30 after a long day of hiking. This shelter is like a small baseball dugout with a tapered floor. There is like 8 inches of fall over about 7 feet. I am the only one here so I am going to attempt to sleep long ways and hope that I don't roll out.15 miles tomorrow and I get to see my beautiful wife and then take my first zero day. I can¢t wait.(Imagine that it just started raining. It¢s like a rainforest out here.)
Date: 2006-05-20
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Hampton TN (Trail Days, Damascus, VA)
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

I didn't sleep very well last night, I think it was a combination of the thunderstorm passing through and being anxious about seeing Danielle today. The rain was done by the time I was up and hiking and the first half of the day went by quickly. Then I entered Laurel Falls which is a neat park where the trail follows a fast moving stream for several miles. The water sounded so powerful from all of the recent rain. At the falls, there were some local people taking pictures and they said that the size of the falls is double its normal size. It was fun to hike through this section, but was very slow. The trail was one big rock scramble and hiking on wet rocks means anything can happen.Once I got through the park the only thing standing between me and my wife was a 4000 ft mountain. So it was 3 miles up and then 3 miles back down the other side where I came to Shook Branch Park.Danielle got there about 30 minutes after I did and it was amazing to see her. I think it took her a second to recognize me with the new facial hair and body odor. After stopping at Arby's for lunch, we drove to Damascus where we had reservations at a neat little Inn. The drive was about an hour and it was up and down through the mountains and winding all over the place. Because of a mistake we were upgraded to the nicest room in the Inn at no additional cost. Most of the other hikers are down in tent city, so I am living large in this nice room with a deck, Jacuzzi tub etc. We toured this small town which is not much bigger than Hot Springs. Then we went down to the town park where the vendors were set up. This was the place to be. Live music, hiking gear and arts and crafts for sale but most importantly all the fair style food you can think of. Between this food and all the goodies sent with Danielle I went to bed stuffed. (Mom - the Rice Krispie treats were gone by the end of the night. It¢s like the good old wrestling days.)
Date: 2006-05-21
From: Hampton TN (Trail Days, Damascus, VA)

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Wow what a day! I slept in, woke up next to my wife and didn¢t have anywhere to go. I actually get to stay in this same place and sleep here again tonight. (The first time in three weeks to sleep in the same place 2 nights in a row.) Danielle and I spent the day wondering around this neat little trail town taking care of things like laundry. We are currently in a neat little Caf© that has Internet access so I was able to update my journal and type this entry in on a regular keyboard instead of my little pocketmail. Once again I was able to read my guest book and appreciate all the support. (If you need to ask me something or need a response from me you can email me directly at klinejoe@pocketmail.com) Well I am going to go enjoy this beautiful sunny day with my wife.Later
Date: 2006-05-22
From: Hampton TN

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Well my mini vacation is over and it¢s back to the trail. It was rough saying goodbye to Danielle. Unless something changes I won't see her for a month. The hiking today was not real tough until I was off in dreamland and rolled my ankle. I stepped right on the edge of the trail and it gave way causing me to fall and roll a time or two. Making matters worse was the fact that I was rolling around in poison ivy. So hopefully I don't turn into one big rash. The ankle seems ok. I did another 16 miles after the fall and it felt ok. It is slightly swollen but hopefully it will feel better tomorrow.There were a number of hikers on the trail today. I walked with Pockets and Tonka for a stretch and they are at the shelter with me tonight. They are college students from Michigan that are thru-hiking. I also passed Buoy again. There is an interesting story behind Buoy. About a week ago I passed a hiker with a day pack going south. The next day I passed him again and thought wow that is weird. On the third day when I passed him I thought I was losing my mind so I had to ask what his story was. Buoy is from San Francisco (he has a German accent) and he, his wife and mother-in-law are hiking from Springer to Harpers Ferry, but they are doing it in a very unique fashion. Each day Lefty and Righty (Buoy's wife and mother-in-law) drop him off and then drive south and park the car. They then hike north to the point that they dropped Buoy off and he hikes south to the car and when they pass each other they exchange car keys. I look forward to passing Buoy each day; although today may be the last time I will pass him. Tomorrow, I will be back in Damascus where I will probably stuff myself and stay at a hostel.
Date: 2006-05-23
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: The Place Hostel Damascus, VA
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: clear sky

Well I am in Virginia (officially) that's three states down and 11 to go. I will be in Virginia for a long time over 500 miles. But the good news is once I am out of Virginia I am about halfway. Tonight I am staying at The Place hostel in Damascus which is a house for hikers run by A United Methodist Church. $4 for a bunk and shower is a pretty good deal. There are a number of other hikers here. I sat and talked with Flippie for awhile. He thru-hiked in 2004 and is back on the trail.My ankle was very sore this morning when I started hiking, but as the day went on it felt better. It is swollen but I am going to take it slow and attempt to stay on schedule.The weather is perfect. After getting into town and showering, I went to the pizza shop and had some wings and a stromboli. Then it was on to the convenience store for some ice cream. Now I am just sitting out in the sun enjoying the sites and sounds of this little trail town. I am trying to avoid the urge to go for more food so I will be ready for AYCE breakfast tomorrow.(This town sure is quiet now that trail days are over and most of the stinky hikers are gone.)
Date: 2006-05-24
From: The Place Hostel Damascus, VA

To: 2.5 miles past Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Last night in Damascus I ended up eating more, it was free so I just couldn't say no. The Hiker Inn owner was having an ice cream sundae party for hikers and I just couldn't resist. Let me tell you this woman understood a hiker¢s appetite. Besides your typical ice cream and chocolate fudge she had fresh fruit, freshly baked brownies and about anything else you could imagine on your ice cream. When I finally got up and got going this morning, I went to Dairy King with Flippie for breakfast. That wasn't a typo. This small little southern style restaurant is called Dairy King and I went with the King's breakfast which was enough food to feed an entire family for $4.99.So when I finally hit the trail this morning, I was feeling a little stuffed. And of course I was leaving town so that meant a pack heavy with a re supply and a big climb. But the miles went by fairly quick and I decided to push on a few miles past the shelter to shorten tomorrows hike a bit. I am tenting in a neat area amongst some evergreen trees.Today presented 2 new challenges that are only going to get much worse. It was the hottest day so far, probably in the low 80s, which really slows you down. And the bugs are getting much more active. I have several mosquito bites on my arm and its still May. But I can't complain it was only 3 or 4 days ago when I thought I was going to freeze out here so I will take this beautiful weather.
Date: 2006-05-25
From: 2.5 miles past Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Hurricane Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 25.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Today day was long! It started with some big climbs in chilly weather. Then as I came to the summit of Mt Rogers the rain started to come down. I didn't get that wet before I made it to a shelter for lunch. I ate and then hung out for a bit and then as luck would have it the sun popped out. I was really happy because I was heading into Grayson Highlands which was an amazing stretch of trail. The views were amazing and then I came over a ridge and there were a dozen wild ponies right on the trail. It was really incredible. In an attempt to get a good close-up of a pony I used my trekking pole to lure him in, as I took the photo he grabbed my pole and I had to play tug a war to pry it from his mouth.Although it was amazing, the hiking was very tough. Between the climbs the trail was very rocky. My pace was much slower so doing the big miles took me almost 12 hours. That was my longest day of hiking so far. The payoff has been great. This shelter is brand new and it probably the nicest one I have seen yet. There are 2 section hikers here and they have a great fire going. So I am just sitting by the fire getting ready to turn in for the night. It is after 9 pm which is late on the trail.Tomorrow may turn out to be an awesome day. The shelter I am shooting for is rumored to have a solar shower, and better yet it is said that you can have pizza delivered there. It is truly amazing how one's perspective of the little things in life change out here.
Date: 2006-05-26
From: Hurricane Mountain Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: light rain

Today would have to go down as a milestone day on this adventure. There were no exciting views or things to see on the trail, but the 20 miles rolled by easily and I met a ton of cool people. Today is also marks 4 weeks that I have been out on the A.T. and I am now 1/4 of the way to Mt. Katahdin, Just a measly 1,500 miles to go. (HA)To make this day even better, I find myself at the Partnership Shelter which is a 5 star place. I have taken my hot shower, walked 1/4 mile to a visitor¢s center where there is a phone and soda machine, and as I type the other hikers here just rolled in with the food that we ordered from a local Italian restaurant so I'll let you now how it was after a bit.Well my lasagna, fettuccini, and chicken parmesan sampler really hit the spot. And it didn't hurt to wash it down with a couple of cold beers. There are over dozen others here at the shelter and it is a great time. But its the same old story, I plan on doing 25 miles tomorrow so I will not see any of these cool people again. But that is my hike and that just means there will be more cool people to meet over the next stretch of the A.T. So I am going to enjoy the rest of this evening and tomorrow it will be back to marching north and moving closer to my goal.
Date: 2006-05-27
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: broken clouds

After a nice stay at Partnership Shelter, it was back to the trail and a big mile day. I had the chance to walk into Atkins with the Wanderers. This is a father, son and daughter thru-hiking team from PA. The boy is 12 and the girl just graduated. It was really neat to talk to them and hear what their trip has been like. Brandon the youngest was home schooled this year so he could make the trip. The trail crossed under I-81 and there was a convenience store at the exit. I made the mistake of re supplying before eating lunch. So my pack was way to heavy the second half of the day. The restaurant at this exit was closed so my lunch plans were nixed and I ate some chili hot dogs instead. On the way to the shelter I had to cross through several fields of cattle. As I headed for the stile to exit one of these fields, there were several dozen cattle in my way. They didn't seem to want to make way for me to pass through and it got a little scary when they started staring me down and making all kinds of noise. But as I continued on and talked to them a bit they made room for me to pass. After laboring through the heat and up and over a few tough climbs I made it to the shelter where there are 5 other hikers.
Date: 2006-05-28
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Hot and rocky pretty much sums up today's hiking. It was in the upper 80's and there was a big climb in an open meadow out in the sun. Between the heat and the new shoes I am in round 2 of the blisters. At least I now have experience at minimizing the damage and mentally I know that they will only slow me down for a couple of days.I wanted to do a few extra miles today so the next two days wouldn't have to be so long but I got a later start and took a long break at lunch. So when I got to the shelter around 6 pm I decided to call it a day. That leaves me about 55 miles to cover in the next 2 days to stay in Pearisburg. My goal is to start hiking tomorrow by 6 am and go as far as I can and then finish the rest Tuesday. I am at the shelter tonight with Canyon man and $3. They are both college age guys thru-hiking. Well I better go and rest my feet for a big day.
Date: 2006-05-29
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Kimberling Creek (Tent)
Miles today: 30.1

To celebrate my one month anniversary on the trail I rewarded myself with a 30 mile day. Just Kidding! The trail was very forgiving of my sore feet so I decided to pass up the shelter and hike on to a stealth tent site to make tomorrows hike into civilization shorter. I should be able to hike into Pearisburg by 5 or 6 pm tomorrow giving me time to eat, do laundry and eat again. Today was in the high 80's again. I drank about 10 liters of water and I might have only going to the bathroom 3 times. So there has been no sign of rain for a few days but everything is wet from sweat.I have been taking many more breaks throughout the day and it makes hiking in the heat much easier. Today I started hiking by about 7 am and I stopped about every 2 hours to air out my feet and switch socks. I took about an hour for lunch and later stopped for an hour and a half for dinner. After dinner I hiked about 7 more miles and found a tent site and got set up before dark. I did much better finding a nice tent spot except I am fairly close to a noisy road.Today was the first time that my beard (I guess it is now officially a beard) was driving me crazy. The trail was very narrow and in many places it had a lot of growth and weeds to pass through. About every 30 seconds I passed through a spider web. For the most part I could ignore them, but when they hit me in the face and got wrapped in my facial hair it drove me crazy.Well it¢s after 9:30 and I am beat so its lights out for me.
Date: 2006-05-30
From: Kimberling Creek (Tent)

To: Holy Family Hostel (Pearisburg, VA)
Miles today: 24.4
Weather: clear sky

It's definitely a new ball game out here with the big miles and the heat. It has become much more of a mental game. Yesterday, I came across some very unhappy hikers. I guess I should have bit my tongue when I told them the humidity in PA this summer will only be worse. Today I was on the trail for almost 12 hours (counting breaks) and I did not see one other person. I did see a lot of wildlife though. I saw 6 or 8 whitetail deer, rabbits, a 5 foot black snake and the biggest squirrel I have ever seen. When I first spotted the squirrel, it was right on the trail and I thought it was a fox or some kind of cat but just a monster squirrel.My other issue today was lack of food. I did not do a very good job at the convenience store in Atkins with my re supply. To make it worse I ate to much the first day or two out of Atkins to lighten my pack. So today started with a small breakfast, a snickers for a morning break and then at lunch I had a bag of tuna and a fig Newton bar. That was it for my food and I still had 10 miles to hike. The combination of heat, hunger and sore feet had me desperate to get to town where I planned on staying at a motel right along the A.T. When I got to the small privately owned motel, I was shocked to see the NO Vacancy sign on the door. Luckily there was a chair out front so I had a seat and worked on plan B. This is when I got a hardcore dose of trail magic. It started with a motel guest giving me some iced tea. Then a group of guys (Troy, Jesse, and the father Mick) pulled up in a minivan also hoping to stay at the motel. They are starting a section hike tomorrow. After talking a bit they decided to try the hostel three or four miles from the trail. They invited me to ride along with them which was awesome. Pearisburg is not as much of a trail town as Hot Springs or Damascus. It is larger and much more spread out. Driving to the hostel we passed the other 2 motels in town and they were also full. Apparently there is some kind of factory where all of these out of town people are working. Anyway we found the hostel, which is maintained by a Catholic church, and there was room for us here. The hostel resembles a barn with a sleeping loft upstairs and a bathroom, kitchen, and lounging area downstairs. They do not have laundry here (which I needed to do badly with poison ivy and some other rash under my arms and on my sides.) The laundry was a good 2 or 3 miles from here and I was also starving. The trail angels that gave me a ride here were not through. They took me to the laundry, waited while I started the washer and then dropped me off up the road at Dairy Queen. Then they came back and picked me up from the laundry and brought me back here. So after another rollercoaster of events everything is good on the trail. Tomorrow morning I will hopefully catch a ride to the P.O. and then hit the trail with a heavy pack and a big climb.
Date: 2006-05-31
From: Holy Family Hostel (Pearisburg, VA)

To: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: scattered clouds

It would have been nice to sleep in this morning at the hostel, but I had more errands to run and I needed to get some miles in as well. The hostel caretaker stopped by and offered Deedless and I a ride to the post office. That was great except he put us to work cleaning up a bit before the ride. After a little house cleaning, I got to the post office about 8:30 and picked up my mail drop. I sorted through it and then mailed a few of my cold weather items home. I was excited to drop a little over 2 pounds from my pack. The post office was about 1 mile from the trail but it just happened to work out that the Dairy Queen was on the way. So Deedless and I loaded up with some calories before hitting the trail. I didn't get to the trail until almost 12:00 so I only did about 19 miles. I will need to put in a few big days to meet Danielle in Daleville by Saturday. She reserved a room near the trail so I can see her before I get back to PA. The heat was a little better today. This morning I read in the paper that the last two days were both record highs for this area at 93 degrees. Right now the thunder is rumbling and it is suppose to storm on and off the next couple of days.Early in my journal I talked about the characteristics of leaving town; heavy pack, big climb, goodbye to plumbing electricity etc. but I have also noticed that getting back to the trail after a town stop is pretty emotional. Getting a chance to talk to family and check my email and talking with curious town people and everything else about a break from the trail seems to really impact me as I take those first steps back out into the woods. With each town stop I feel more confident and more driven to achieve this goal.Well it is after 9:00 and I still have a mess to clean up from dinner and then it¢s off to bed in a mouse infested shelter. (You know it¢s bad when they are out running around before dark.)I almost forgot - I had my first bear citing today. It wasn't very exciting. I heard a loud rustle off to my left and when I turned to see what it was I saw the backside of a medium sized black bear darting down the side of the mountain.