morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-10-15
From: Dickey Gap

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up to the smell of bacon. Oh, there is nothing better! Becky and Wildcat have gone all out. Homemade pecan waffles too! This is going to be a hard place to leave. After breakfast we all talk for a while then make plans to get back to the trail. Between Becky's car and Wildcat's jeep we some how get everyone there in one trip! We thank them both for the wonderful magic and say good-bye. What nice people! Pi leaves us too as Wildcat takes him back to Partnership Shelter. The weather is chilly and it spits rain all day long. We get our umbrellas out several times. It almost gets annoying. The temperature drops considerably during the day. Clouds and fog are pretty much the scenery for the day :-( No views to speak of from Iron Mtn., Pine Mtn., nor Stone Mtn. Near Pine Mtn. we meet a day hiker who said it was snowing on top earlier. Cool, maybe we will get to see it snow? Near the northern boundary of Grayson Highlands State Park we start going over many stiles and thru fences. We thought for sure we would see some wild ponies. But the weather was lousy up on the bald. Cold and foggy with wind gusts 30-40 mph. It was hard to stay on the trail at times. The trails over balds typically are more like trenches. You often have no room to even pass one foot beside the other so even in the best conditions the trail is challenging! The temperature near Wise Shelter has to be in the 30's. We're wishing we would have kept our cold weather gear instead of sending on to Damascus. We all hastily make camp in the shelter (me, Flounder, Tink, Voice, and Loot)and eat something warm. Glad I made the cozy! A weekender couple , who are tenting, come over and cook in the shelter to get out of the wind. They have good food, not being worried about weight. They share their leftovers with us. Yummy, some kind of burrito thingies. The guy mistakenly mispronounces tortilla (pronouncing the L's) and we all laugh. They are both fun to talk to. Then we put on all the clothes we have and crawl into our bags by 7:15 pm! It's going to be a cold damp night. Loot entertains us with some stories until we fall asleep. He is a great story teller because he uses so much detail. It's like a good book...it's like you are there!
Date: 2004-10-17
From: Summit Cut hwy. VA 58

To: Damascus
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: few clouds

We had a nice nites sleep. There is frost outside when we got up. We are glad we were at a place with heat! We are slacking form Hwy. 58 back into Damascus today. We take our packs over to the Lazy Fox B&B where we plan to spend the nite. Ginny invites us in for b-fast leftovers. We couldn't refuse and about dropped when we saw what was on the table. These weren't leftovers, it was a meal. We had everything: eggs, bacon, several kinds of fresh fruit, pancakes, biscuts and gravy, OJ, pastries etc. She even warmed stuff up for us! IT was delicious and AYCE! What a terat. Thanks. MRO shuttled us to the trail by 11 am. It was a beautiful trail consisting mainly of ridge walking. We peaked thru the openings we had to view nicely colored leaves but we really got not good view points. We met a nice NOBO couple doing a section from Springer, Estraletta and Richard. It was quite cool in the shade. We ate lunch on the side of a hill warming in the sun. A nice day. The AT parallels the Virgina Creeper Trail for a bit before getting on it for a short distance to cross a ravine. The Creeper Trail is an old railway bed converted to a cinder bike/walk path. We heard that you can take a shuttle out of Damascus and pretty much coast 20 miles back into town. Cool! The leaves were at peak colors, it was the weekend and the trail was busy! Near Damascus The AT is back on the Creeper. We take it as far as Dot's...the traditional- "all trails lead here" beer stop. We can't pass it up, having some brews and appetizers. We have fun picking cheesy songs from the jukebox! We agree to have a cookout at the hostel so we chip in and Voice and Tink make a grocery run for dinner. We have burgers and those grilled thingies on sticks (veggies and meat). They're called Shish....something. I don't want to embarass myself trying to spell it. You know what I mean! It's probably one of those words that spell exactly like they sound but I will refrain on this one. Anyway it was all delicious and we ate way too much! Thanks Voice...nice to be hiking the trail with a cook! Walker and two other SOBO's we had not met before were there too, Baloo and Music Man. Nice to see some more new faces. Tomorrow we all (me, Flounder, Loot and Tink) plan to mountain bike. Flounder and I have been talking with Voice since we met about doing some riding when we got here. He also is a Mountain bike junkie! I'm sure we bored Loot and Tink to death when we talked of differnt trails, bikes, suspension, brakes etc.
Date: 2004-10-18
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Another super b-fast today shared with some fellow mountain bikers from Alabama. Carol and ? sorry! At 10am. we met the "croo" at the rental place and checked out our bikes. The pickin's were slim but they'll have to do. From there, we shuttled up to Iron Mountain, saving us from making a huge climb on our day "off". We planned to mountain bike here with Voice since the first day we met him. He, also is an Mtb. junkie! We encouraged Tinkerbell and Loot to go with us. Tink said she got real nervous as we spoke of all the places we have ridden; tons of trails in FL., Tahoe, Moab, Tsali, Dupont, Grand Canyon, etc.) and when we "tech talked" like suspension, brakes, peddles, set-up, tires. She knew we had lots more experience and worried we would "kill" Loot and her. But, because we had beginners with us, we decided to do some single track with a little bit of technical (to give them a taste) but we would bail off before the trail turned wicked. Iron Mountain was perfect! They both were naturals anyway! Tink was halarious mainly from her expressions and comments. Flounder, who rode behind her, said she nearly peed her pants a couple of time from laughing. Tink loved it but she said she was scared to death...to the point where she was even shaking! Loot took one trip over the bars but was not injured (that would be a bad way to end the AT hike!). They rode some quite advanced trail with steep ups/downs, rocks/roots, water bars and some switchbacks. Some of the steep drop offs to the side of the trail would have made me nervous as a beginner too! The descent down to the Creeper Trail, which we ride into town, was a bit hairy but everyone managed. The Creeper Trail was as we heard, smooth and nicely graded down to Damascus. Pretty much effortless riding and beautiful too! What a great day and a nice change of pace. Back in town, we gathered supplies at the Dollar Store (there is no grocery in town anymore) which was well stocked. We were surprised. We all decided to do our own thing tonight as we packed for tomorrows departure. I decided to do laundry and grab us a couple of subs on the way back. Ginny dropped me off at the laundry mat. Thanks. I washed our muddy Frogg Togg rain gear too. I thought I would warm them a bit in the dryer(to speed up the drying process). BIG mistake! When I pulled them out, they were the perfect size for a cabbage patch doll! I laughed then almost cried. We couldn't go on without rain gear. What if we got into another blizzard situation? We'll have to get more tomorrow before we head out. $140 wasted - I became mad at myself. As Tink would say: A#1) I'm an idiot B#2) we would have to spend more money and C#3) we would get another late start. Life goes on.
Date: 2004-10-20
From: Damascus

To: Abingdon Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Ginny out does herself again this morning. The best breakfast on the trail and we can't see it getting better than this. Thanks so much. While we wait for our rain gear to arrive via UPS, I do some small repairs for Ginny and sweep the leaves from her porch.. Then we go to the post office to send our water filter home. We have not used it for some time. We've picked up some Aqua Mira in case the water is iffy. Also, since a few days have gone by and we have forgoten how cold we were during our "blizzard, we forward our wamer sleeping bags home. I know, it's crazy but we do plan to bring them back with us when we return from the cruise (for my parent's anniversary).   At least we have our hat and gloves now! Keep in mind that those warm bags come at a price....another pound and one half to our base weight!Our rain gear , which is supposed to be here by 10 am doesn't show 'til 2:30pm! Niether of us are happy. Voice and Tink are long gone and it is doubtful that we'll catch them today. Ginny is out doing errands so we never really get to say goodbye :-( She was so nice to us and we'll miss her. On our way out of town we stop to get some bread and run into Mere Cat. Yet another SOBO we have never met before. Seems like a friendly fellow. Maybe we'll get to talk more with him in the next few days? Then, out of nowhere who else do we see? King David! I thought we were a couple of days ahead of him. I guess all the time we spent here has added up! It's great to see him again. He is just passing thru so we plan to reunite at Abingdon Gap Shelter tonight (the first shelter out of town).Anyway, we finally got on the trail by 3pm and luckily have nice smooth trail. However, the clouds ruled the world today and we had no views (even if there were overlooks). At the shelter, we meet SOBO section hiker Slater and his dog Chinook. Later, King David rolls in too. We catch up on the latest from the trail behind us then enjoy some nice guitar music courtesy of Slater. Thanks.
Date: 2004-10-21
From: Abingdon Gap Shelter

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 23.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Up and out by 8am. King David to follow about 1/2 hour later. The mice were so bad King David got up in the middle of the nite and set up his tarp. I wish we would have! One of those little vermin scared the crap out of me last night! I rolled over placing an arm on it and felt it sqirm under me. Unfortunately it escaped uninjured when I jumped! Note to self...carry mouse traps reguardless of added weight! Needless to say , it was not a restful sleep after that. No views the entire morning (clouds) but we do meet some friendly NOBO section hikers, Huckfin and May Pop. Both members of the PATC. May Pop gets his name because at any time on the trail he has several blisters that...well, may pop! Both super nice guys. We also meet a friendy bow hunter. It's nice to see a hunter who actually enjoys the outdoors and is not just out to make the "kill". Hunting is a touchy subject for me. It's not that I am against tthe sport but I am against some of the methods being used. Some of the methods just take the "sport" out of it......it's not really hunting but more like killing.After Turkey Pen Gap, our single track trail gets wider due to 4-wheeler use (hunting) but we are rewarded with some great views overlooking Lake Watauga. In fact our shelter backs up to a cliff overlooking the Watauga Lake valley. Beautiful. Shredder, Focus, Voice, Tink and King David share the shelter with us tonight. Hopefully the mice will be more subdued. Shredder entertained us all by trying to make a candle out of cheese wax (recycling for the environment!). He tried several different wicks and used up an entire lighter but it ultimately did not work. It was fun anyway. We then were entertain by his "workout" and by Voice's belly dance and John Travolta dance. Tink topped the entertainment of with a "horrible" rendition of   "Mary had a little lamb" played on her recorder (flute). Just kidding Tink... it was cute! The sound made when she played the wrong note was strangely familar. Ah yes, remember the childrens Christmas show "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"? Well, the sound was just like the one made when Rudolphs fake nose pops off during the reindeer games. Good nite all!
Date: 2004-10-22
From: Vandeventer Shelter

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 17.5

As the early risers, we are out first and don't see the others until we get to the hostel. Beautiful day with nice temperature too. It's been strange lately. Some days the leaves are nearly all green, other days they are a rainbow of colors, and yet sometimes the trees are barren. Today is a good day... the foliage is peak! We hiked down along Watauga Lake (resevoir). A nice rope swing tempts us but the air is too cool. We have a nice lunch at the picnic area on the south end of the lake. It's quiet and we have the place practically to oursevles. The most beautiful part of the day comes when we enter the Laurel Falls and Gorge area. It would be a great day hike for anyone from Dennis Cove. Dennis Cove itself is beautiful...fall colors abound! Bob and Pat make us feel welcome right away in their hostel (Kincora). Since we are the only ones here so far, we choose the "honeymoon - executive" suite. Quite primitive but it does have a real bed, not a bunk. We talk with Bob while eating some left over pizza left by a previous guest (hiker). Thanks. Then we showered and relaxed as the others rolled in. Later, Bob takes us all into town for some food. There is a huge grocery store there and we all go wild. Back at the hostel, Flounder and I make a huge salad and devour it in no seconds flat. Delicious! Later we all eat some icecream while Focus and Shredder quiz us with Trivial Pursuit. A fun night!
Date: 2004-10-23
From: 19E slacking NOBO today!

To: Kincora
Miles today: 23.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Slacking today...whoo hoo! Everyone is up and ready in record time. We have a 45 min. drive and still get on the trail by 8:45am. Not bad for such a large group. Beautiful trail in the morning with lots of color. Voice's dog, Leo, goes wild in the cool air and free from his pack. He's fun to watch and play with. A short side trail leads to a wonderful water fall (Jones). Then the trail follows the Elk River for a bit. We can see signs where nearly 12 feet of water covered the trail during Ivan (hurricane). Glad we were not hiking thru this area then! We meet Killroy '03 and Chilly Willy '03. They are up from West Palm Beach, FL doing a section they enjoyed last year. They were following our journal and Tinks as well. They are super nice and I wish we could have spent more time with them. We pass through several areas of rodo tunnels but for the most part, the afternoon forest is more open having few leaves on the trees. The scenery improves as we drop back into Dennis Cove (nobo slack). The last 7 miles of trail was nicely graded and relatively free from rocks and roots. I was able to trail run most of it. Fun! I got back to the hostel a half hour or so ahead of the others. I was showered and had dinner ready for Flounder when she arrived! That's service! Again, after dinner, Focus and Shredder quiz us with trivial pursuit as we eat icecream and snacks. Tortoise shows up in the early evening but he's really 9 miles back and will slack that section tomorrow. It is good to see him again.
Date: 2004-10-24
From: 19 E Roan Mountain

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: light rain

Well, we find ourselves here at Roan High Knob Shelter without our friends. This is what happened... Last evening Voice spoke with his friend, Ice Cold '04 and Ice Cold wanted to do some magic for him. They, along with Tink, agreed to meet at Overmountain Shelter (the barn). Focus, Shredder and King David decide to take a zero. So, here we are at Roan High Knob Shelter! Two girls are here also, Ustacia and Amelia, section hiking from 19E to Hot Springs. It's quite cold and very windy so we don't talk much. We should get to know them better as we both plan to hike to Cherry Gap tomorrow. We take the top floor because they have set up there tent on the bottom floor. This is the highest shelter on the AT @ 6285 feet! It's actually an old fire wardens cabin. Although we did alot of climbing today, nothing was real difficult. Heavy fog and mist obstructed our views of this would be beautiful area most of the day. We did get a few quick views which inspire us to return here someday. The hike down into Carvers Gap and up Roan High Knob rewarded us with the fresh scent of pine. Reminds me of Christmas
Date: 2004-10-25
From: Roan High Knob Shelter

To: 1 mile south of Beauty Spot
Miles today: 21.0

We say good-bye to Amelia and Ustacia and plan to meet them At Cherry Gap. The top of Roan is heavily pine covered and at times the trees block out nearly all the daylight.   No views in the morning with the heavy fog and mist but we are blessed with nice hiking trail. Unaka Mountain also is densely pine covered and very pretty. The weather improves greatly in the afternoon so we decide to by-pass Cherry Gap and go for Deep Gap or Beauty Spot. We Arrive at Beauty Spot just before sunset and share the dizzying colors with 3 locals. Somehow they had managed to build a fire for warmth in all the wind. It felt good. After the sun set we hiked another mile or so to get out of the wind and set up our tent in a clearing. It is cold and shorly after cooking and eating some Ramen, we crawl into our bags.
Date: 2004-10-26
From: One mile south of Beauty Spot

To: Erwin
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: few clouds

Well, it didn't get any colder last night but we did hike with our rain gear on for warmth a bit this morning. Nice hiking through some old growth maples. They were huge! We also had a small but tollerable section of those dreaded PA style rocks. Short day and we only see a few day hikers. The ascent/descent to the Nolichucky River just before Erwin was unexpected. Just when we thought we were nearly "there", we took a right and went up and over a small mountain. We had a cliff -like descent to the river. Nearing Erwin, we then meet Fal '99 and Hercules '99. They are out looking for a friend who hike with them in '99 (Redneck). Apparently, they had just missed him but they offer to give us a ride to Miss Janet's Hostel. Thanks! Real nice people. They live near Allen Gap (about 50 miles south) and tell us to stop by for b-fast or lunch when we get down that way. That will be hard to pass up! Miss Janet was not feeling well when we arrived and was taking a nap so we decided to give her some peace and find another place to stay. Sometimes we just want a little peace too! We do some grocery shopping then catch a ride to the Holiday Inn Express (also recommended by other hikers). We can see why it is highly recommended. Super friendly staff, great hiker box, grill available for hikers, a boot wash area with towels, high speed internet, and a free pint of Ben and Jerry's! AND....their hot tub was not working so they upgraded us to a jacuzzi room at no extra charge. We have NEVER stayed in a room this nice in our entire lives! Almost too good to be true! We make ourselves a salad for dinner, make arrangements to slack a 24.5 mile section tomorrow via Miss Janet and then just enjoy the evening. We should see Tink and Voice tomorrow if things work out. They shouldn't be more than a day behind.
Date: 2004-10-27
From: Erwin (slacking nobo back to Erwin)

To: Sam's Gap
Miles today: 24.5

A nice b-fast at HI this morning then Miss Janet along with Boo Boo '04 (nobo), picks us up and takes us to Sam's Gap for a 10 am start. Boo Boo is just passing thru on his way back to Florida after completing his NOBO hike. Both Miss Janet and Boo Boo are kind and quite humorous. Miss Janet even brought us some day packs to use. Thanks. We were hoping for an earlier start but....didn't happen!   The ride to Sam's Gap was an adventure of it's own with the two of them and the ole Miss Janet mobile! Wasn't sure if we were going to make it at times! Miss Janet's van is plastered with great bumper stickers and would be hard to miss!The trail was just beautiful all day but again, we were stuck in the clouds 'til the end of the day. It seems like every time we get to a "bald" we are robbed of a nice view. We can barely see from stake to stake going over Big and Little Balds :-( At Big Bald Shelter we meet Scooter (sobo) for the first time. He is slowed somewhat by a 3 month old puppy he picked up "for companionship" in Erwin. Don't ask me why someone would do this?   Nice guy but shy pup! Near Spivey Gap the weather clears and we are blessed with some nice views of Erwin and the Nolichucky River. We complete our hike @ 6:30 pm. We hitch back to the HI and enjoy another evening in our huge room. We talk to Tink and agree to meet her and Voice and King David at Miss Janet's in the morning for breakfast.For those who don't know, Erwin is the only town in the US (or probably the world!) that has ever hung an elephant for murder!   That right, even as bizzare and barbaric as it sounds. In 1916, Mary the elephant (part of a circus show), killed her "trainer" in a town near Erwin. When the show came to Erwin, it was met with such controvery that the owner of the show (fearing a boycott) decided to have a trial for Mary. The elephant was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. A crowd of approx. 2500 were present to watch. They hung poor Mary from a railroad crane. The chain broke on the first attempt which also broke Mary's hip. Mary weighed nearly 10000 lbs but the chain broke because they forgot to undo the leg irons that held Mary to the railroad tracks. This also broke bones and pulled cartiledge apart in Mary's leg.   They succeded the second time around and the world was good again. ....and we call ourselves civilized!
Date: 2004-10-30
From: Hot Springs - Elmer's

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: broken clouds

Slept in 'til 8 am. and ate leftover pizza for breakfast. Then the typical... p.o., phone calls, and laundry. We felt no love again from Elmer thius morning and just say a cursory goodbye and hand over our dough. The grocery situation in Hot Springs was pathetic...maybe we didn't know where to go? The average gas station has a better selection! We stop at the ranger station to get our GSMNP permit (Smokies). The office is closed and we don't see an outside registration. Supposingly there is a big fine for not having the permit but we're not going to wait around 'til Monday to get one! They need to have a self-registration like Shenadoah NP. Only a few days to New Found Gap anyway.......catch us if you can! Back on the trail at 1 pm. Only 15 miles to The Roaring Fork Shelter. We look forward to staying here because some members of our local ATC in Florida had a hand in building it (Grace and Bunny). Collectively, they were part of a group of women who built the entire shelter, The Marching Mountain Momas.Beautiful views and a nice day. Although we have a few bigger climbs they are all nicely graded. We meet Eric, a section hiker we had met in NJ. He is bouncing around a bit and we're surprised to see him. He is in no hurry to get anywhere and just enjoys being out here. At times it would be nice not to have the "goal" to finish but then again we wouldn't see as much and may not have made the good friends we have. We catch and early sunset on Walnut Mountain about two miles from the shelter. It was calmingly beautiful. We always pause a few moments to enjoy and "soak-in" times like this. It's hard to imagine that someday soon this adventure will be over. Just over 250 miles left.The Roaring Fork Shelter is a nice one and a group of "weekend warriors" from Raleigh have set up camp. A group of guys and one girl who all work together. They are having a little party but make room for us in the shelter. Another hiker, T2 '90, is hiking a 1000+ mile sobo section. He is a real "talker" and I question to myself the validity of what he says. Before crawlinjg into our bags, we see several mice and one drops from the ceiling onto Flounders neck/back....always exciting. Should make for an interesting nites "sleep". The full moon rises shorly after dark and the stars are dazzling. 14.9 miles today.