morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-04-10
From: No Business Shelter

To: Holiday Inn - Erwin TN
Miles today: 6.3

4/10 SaturdayLocation: Holiday Inn Express, Erwin, TNMileage: Daily 6.3, Total: 338.9We had the biggest surprise of the trip today! After hustling down the mountain to the Nolichucky river to catch an arranged shuttle with Miss Janet of Miss Janet¢s Hostel we got to the bottom to find Melicca, Green One¢s wife (also my sister-in-law and the person doing such an incredible job on our food/supplies mail drops!) She decided to come south to visit for a day and even brought their dog ¢ Bogie!Rather than our expected stay at Miss Janet¢s full Hostel we ended up at the Holiday Inn Express. I got to split a room with Rockhound and had an incredibly powerful shower. A great bed and a phone right next to the bed (luxury!) and HBO on the television. Miss Janet has one of the best reputations on the trail and deserves it. Although all her rooms were full she shuttled us from the trail to her house and told us to make ourselves at home while she did a few more shuttles. We were welcome to use the shower, laundry, and she¢d find us other accommodations for the night. Amazing! Holiday Inn was great, but for $15/night, you gotta stay at Miss Janet¢s!I had a great lunch (BBQ pork sandwich with a pound of sweet potato fries) Killed the rest of Melicca¢s lunch, spent two hours on the phone and had a mediocre dinner @ Blackwood¢s BBQ (salvaged by the free banana cake for dessert) Ordered a pizza to take back as a midnight snack then spent 2 more hours on the phone. Ahhh¢¦.It was great catching up with family and friends. I spent over 2 hours talking to Heather (my fianc©e and transcriber) and was surprised by the news that she¢s planning to come to VA in a month to visit. I¢m psyched! She also played the violin a little so that I could hear our dog sing along (Ed. Note ¢ dogs will sing with any live music ¢ it isn¢t that I am THAT bad¢¦H.W.) What a wonderful day!
Date: 2004-04-11
From: Holiday Inn - Erwin TN

To: Deep Gap 
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

4/11SundayLocation: Deep Gap ¢ TentingMileage: Daily 12.0 Trip 350.9After another great 12 hour chatting with Heather, I caught a ride back to the trail with Melicca. She said good-bye to Green One and we started walking north again as Melicca drove to a family Easter Dinner. Thanks again, Cic! Great to see you!The stretch of trail between Erwin and Damascus is supposed to be beautiful. We spent much of the morning crossing streams and looking at waterfalls while climbing away from Erwin in a light rain. The hike was great and I felt the strongest I have on this entire trip! I¢m down about 7 pounds so far and my leg ailments are all fading.We camped out just before the rain started falling in earnest, cooked in our vestibules and eating in our tents; talked, sung horrible cheesy songs and had a great time.The temp's down to 45 degrees and falling, so I am hitting the sack and hoping for drier weather tomorrow¢¦.
Date: 2004-04-12
From: Deep Gap 

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: moderate rain

4/12Location: Tenting @ Clyde Smith ShelterMileage: Daily 13.1, Total: Location 364.0I woke up like a baby coddled in the mist after my best night's sleep on the trail. Absolutely amazing, given the rain and the 45 degree temperatures. This was a best rainy night I¢ve ever spent in a tent!We hiked up Unaka Mountain and encountered a beautiful zone where the wind was whipping the fog over the trees. Occasionally a gust of wind would tumble bits of the fog though the trees where it danced around the trail until it disappeared. The wind flowed up the right side of the mountain, encountered the bare branches of the trees overhead and changed from a whistle to a ripping roar before fighting free and departing with a quieter whistle.We crested the mountain and walked through a section of forest where moss covered the ground and the wind has swept up all the fallen leaves and branches away like an obsessive-compulsive gardener.J-Bird describe her mood as ¢A cat in a thunderstorm¢ and I was in the same place ¢ wild about everything. It was an absolutely incredible morning then the rains came down hard for a couple of hours and my vision narrowed to the trail ahead of me.The afternoon was all fog and wind. I hiked alone and my vision was limited to 50 feet most of the time. I kept an eye on the trail, another eye on interesting trees in the mist and set my mind to work on the volleyball season for some nice thinking time. I changed upon arriving at the shelter (getting warm and dry always comes first), then set up my tent. Food was next ¢ since I¢d skipped lunch in favor of Cliff & Candy bars in the bad condition. I had both lunch & dinner in one sitting and Wow ¢ I was full!Hikers kept arriving at the shelter. Hoplite & Slick are here as well as a section hiker & 5 others. Burn stopped by for dinner before walking on. The surprise came when Jan Liteshoe & her friend Stumpknocker stopped in for dinner. Jan hiked NOBO last year and wrote a beautiful journal ¢ by far the best I¢ve read on this website. Check it out if you¢ve got a few minutes. Stumpknocker finished a SOBO hike in February and both he & Jan were great to talk to.Nice clear evening now ¢ let¢s hope it holds!
Date: 2004-04-13
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.9

4/13 Location: over mountain shelterMileage: Daily 12.9, Total 376.9It¢s tough getting out of a warm comfortable bed. Especially when you¢re hoping to avoid things you've got planned for the coming day. At least that¢s how things used to be. If I can get out my tent in 45 degree weather, start hiking in pouring rain, climb 2500 feet over Roan Mountain with the wind whistling and the trail cascading like a river and end up with a smile on my face ¢ I can do anything! Did I mentioned that I didn¢t enjoy the morning much?!?I have caught fish in less water than what was running down the trail! There were ripples, pools, waterfalls and even deposits of silt and clay. At one point my boot sank 10 inches into the middle of the trail! Rockhound called it ¢quick rock¢ ¢ you¢re just not expecting this kind of thing in the middle of the AT! Needless to say, Squish was the name of the game today!The rain stopped near the top of Roan Mountain and by the time full sensations had returned to my hands 2 miles later, the sun was flirting with the fog. North of Carvers Gap, we crossed a part of the trail that is estimated to be 2.5 billion years old. The oldest (exposed) part of the trail. There is now a chunk of this in Heather¢s rock collection. We¢re staying at Overmountain shelter, a renovated barn with an awesome view down into the valley. Burn, Hoplite and a slow SOBO hiker named Out-and-About are here as well as a friendly stray St. Bernard. My wet socks and gloves are on my stomach drying in relative discomfort as the temperature dropping out - 40 degrees and falling - luckily there¢s only a 30% chance of rain. Green One and I have a 9-mile descent in the morning before picking up a mail drop and getting back on the trail. I saw my first deer yesterday around lunch. The woods are starting to bloom and leaf-out even on the ridgelines, so there should be more animals in the coming weeks.Wet gloves and socks are not comfortable to sleep with, just in case you were wondering¢¦
Date: 2004-04-14
From: Over Mountain Shelter

To: Laurel Fork Hostel
Miles today: 8.7

Date: 4/14/04Location: Laurel Fork HostelMileage: Total: 385.6mi, Daily: 8.7miWhen your day starts around midnight with high wind forcing drifting snow through leaky boards and onto your sleeping bag, you know it¢s going to be a long day! The temperature dropped from 45* to 20* overnight and the snow got my down sleeping bag just wet enough to be cool. Not cold, not shivering, just cool enough to be uncomfortable. I woke up many times after midnight, hoping for a glimpse of the first light to signal an end to the long night. When it came at last, I found my pack, clothes and boots covered in snow. My boots were frozen solid again, letting me play one of my least favorite games: frozen vs. thawed boots. Until you really get hiking and start generating some body heat, the boots always win!Ahhhh, hiking in the springtime.Green One and I followed the tracks of turkeys as the AT gained elevation up Little Hump and Hump mountains. At the summit of the balds, the wind was roaring over 50 mph, driving us sideways as we staggered through the horizontal snow. I played hide-and-go-seek with sensation in my hands, never losing sensation for more than a mile/half-hour at a time. My brother, warm weather creature that he is, cursed the storm with all his might. Trudging through water, ice, 8¢ snow and wind-scoured grass, we crossed the summits and escaped the wind during the five-mile descent.We made it to Rt.19E and started phase 2 of the day ¢ walking or hitching to Elk Park to pick up our mail drop. Soaked and cold, Green One stuck out a doubtful thumb as we began the 2.5 mile uphill walk.Sometimes the sheer contrast between bad scenarios and good ones can blow your mind. The first passing pickup truck stopped for us, landing us in town 3 minutes later! The post office was closed for lunch, so we grabbed some snacks (hot coffee!) and waited for it to open, slouching in the heated lobby with another thruhiker named Ichabod. When the PO opened, we got out maildrop along with care packs from Mom & Dad and Heather (thank you!!!), then the PO phone rang. It was Rockhound calling for us!!! Instead of my bro and I having to find a way back to the trail and resume hiking & camping in the snow, Rockhound and Burning Boots arranged for a local hostel manager to pick us up at the PO! We could get warm, dry and clean, eat well, then get back on the trail in the morning! Incredible!!!So I¢m in a warm bunk tonight, following a burger & pizza, looking forward to a hot breakfast and a 23-mile slackpack (leaving most of my camping gear at the hostel) tomorrow. After tomorrow¢s hike, we¢ll return to the hostel to stay again before resuming our journey north.From hell to heaven in minutes! Hope is a wonderful thing¢¦
Date: 2004-04-15
From: Laurel Fork Hostel

To: Laurel Fork Hostel
Miles today: 23.6
Weather: clear sky

Date: 4/15/04Location: Laurel Fork HostelMileage: Total: 409.2mi, Daily: 23.6miLuxury is relative. Eggs, bacon, toast & coffee before a hike where I¢m carrying only 10 lbs is luxury to me. But 23.6 miles is still a lot of steps, especially in the mountains!We passed through areas of trail near roads and residences where locals had dumped trash and appliances. There were oil tanks in the streams, rendering them undrinkable. Beyond that stretch of trail, we walked across open meadows, over streams and along rivers for a dozen beautiful miles. We passed the location where the cover photo for the 2004 Thru-hikers Handbook was taken and tried to replicate the exact shot!After 17 miles of walking, my left knee stiffened up for a scary 5 minutes. I was afraid I was going to have to finish the walk in pain in the dark. The tendonitis flare disappeared quickly, however and I absolutely flew through the last 6 miles.Lee at the hostel drove back to the trailhead with me and we picked up Green One and Rockhound as they finished their hike, saving them the 12 mile walk to the hostel. After a quick shower, we caught a lift from John, the friendly hostel manager, to an AYCE (all-you-can-eat) Chinese buffet. $6 bought a ton of greasy food & soda before I lapsed into an uncomfortably stuffed semi-conscious state until bedtime.
Date: 2004-04-16
From: Laurel Fork Hostel

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Date: 4/16/04Location: Tenting at Vandeventer ShelterMileage: Total: 426.7mi, Daily: 17.5miStarted the morning with the eggs & bacon breakfast again. You need to know that there are two hostels on Dennis Cove Rd. Bob Peoples runs Kincora as a $4/bunk cheap but good place to stay. He also maintains a lot of the AT in the area and does a great job. But Laurel Fork Hostel is an awesome place with more services and John goes ridiculously far out of his way to help hikers. Yes, you pay more - $6/bunk ¢ and yes, it¢s absolutely worth it! John slacked us for 13 more miles today. He and his hiker-decorated van was waiting for us at 4pm with orange soda. Awesome guy ¢ check out the hostel and take the time to meet John. The morning¢s walk through the gorge to Laurel Falls may have been the best part of the trail yet. Easy walking and absolutely beautiful. We ended up doing a pretty big climb and descent after that but still had an awesome sunny 70* morning. Met SOBO flip-flopper ¢Ponderer¢ (He¢s hiking VA -> GA, then ME -> VA) as well as sisters Flora and Fauna. We¢d been following Flora and Fauna in the trail registers from and beginning and seen their early entries on Trailjournals.I¢ve dropped almost 10lbs so far, so I¢m really trying to pack in the food now. Dinner tonight was a noodle soup w/peanut butter & sesame oil added (800 Cal) followed by a rice and beans dish with some pepperoni added (700 Cal). Toss in some trail mix, jelly beans, a quart of Tang, some Milk Duds, peanut brittle and breakfast cereal and I just ate more than 2000 Calories for dinner! ¢Course I¢m in my tent, eating and writing at almost 10pm to do it ¢ I¢ll never be a fast eater!41 miles in 2 days. I¢m absolutely pooped. Bedtime!
Date: 2004-04-17
From: Vandeventer Shelter

To: Low Gap, TN
Miles today: 18.2

Date: 4/17/04Location: Tenting at Low Gap, TNMileage: Total: 444.9mi, Daily: 18.2miThe sun just set over Tennessee for the last time on this trip. Tomorrow we hike into Virginia, our 4th state, with only 11 miles to go to the state line. Four miles later, we¢ll hit Damascus, VA. Nice easy hiking on these 70* sunny days!The terrain & scenery was uneventful today ¢ rolling up and down the ridges with farming valleys visible much of the time. We¢ve covered nearly 60 miles over 3 days and it¢s obvious in the heaviness of my legs. No real damage to my body though. Everything¢s behaving just fine at the moment. Getting into camp early enough for a relaxed dinner helped as always.We¢re camping with Semicolon tonight (Trailjournals) and enjoying a 9pm bedtime. Nice hours sleep before the stroll into town. I need to resupply food, alcohol fuel & toilet paper. I¢m also going to pick up low gaiters to keep sticks & leaves from getting into my boots. I¢ll ask Heather to send my trail hiking shoes to Troutdale (65 miles ahead) to replace my boots ¢cause we¢ll be done with high mountains (& winter!) when we hit that point. I need a haircut too! It¢s been 9 weeks and I¢m getting shaggy! I¢m going to keep the beard as a thru-hike thing, though.Damascus ¢ known as ¢the friendliest town on the AT.¢ Let¢s see if it lives up to it¢s billing! Thanks to ¢the Slackers¢ ¢ a couple who have been section hiking the AT by car-drop, leaving a car at one point, driving to another point and hiking to the dropped car. They¢re left a cooler of sodas & snacks in their truck that we¢ve benefited from 2 out of 3 days now!
Date: 2004-04-18
From: Low Gap, TN

To: ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂThe PlaceÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Hostel, Damascus, VA!
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

Date: 4/18/04Location: ¢The Place¢ Hostel, Damascus, VA!Mileage: Total: 459.8mi, Daily: 14.9miVirginia! Tennessee is behind us now and we¢re staying at a hostel run by the local Methodist church. This town really does cater to hikers ¢ lodging is just $4 and you can walk to everything in town!We had a nice walk out of the mountains in 82* sunny weather. From 20* to 80* in 3 days ¢ go figure! The best part of the walk happened about 2 miles from the TN/VA line. Walking with Rockhound, J-Bird and Burning Boots (Green One was a bit behind), we stopped by a shelter and read the hiker register. Registers/notebooks are present in all the shelters, serving as a grapevine for thruhikers. There were reports of emus in the mountains! Honest reports ¢ not jokes ¢ of emus, large ostrich-like birds. Taking that with a grain of salt, we kept walking and Rockhound calls out ¢Holy @$!*! ¢ I found emu feathers!¢ I don¢t know whether to believe him on this one! Sure enough, I take a few more steps and spot some at my own feet! 8¢ long, grayish/black feathers. Emus wild in TN, what¢s next???We had dinner with every thruhiker in town at the Sidetrack Caf©. It¢s a family-style dinner for a donation. We met Leki-Less (Trailjournals), Butthead, Timber, Patrick Deaner (TJ), Mo (her mom¢s a Tufts English Prof.), Beavis, Country, Rambin¢ Man, Rachel, Camera 1 & 2 and at least 8 others in addition to all the others we already knew or had met earlier in the day: Bramble, Flora, Fauna, Semicolon, Wandering Nunn, Wolfcookie, Dances with Wolfcookie, Burn and more. Towns like Damascus suck thruhikers in. It¢s tough to leave the camaraderie and convenience!Cool news of the day ¢ I found out during a phone call to Heather that she found & purchased a wedding dress while shopping with her Mom in New York! 7/9/05 ¢ I¢m getting married!Dairy King gets my highest recommendation. I killed a corn dog, onion rings, double burger and chocolate shake 2 hours before dinner. Mmmmmmm¢¦Corn dogggggs!!!!!!!!!
Date: 2004-04-19
From: Damascus, VA

To: Tenting by unnamed pond
Miles today: 11.6

Date: 4/19/04Location: Tenting by unnamed pondMileage: Total: 471.5mi, Daily: 11.6miSidetrack Caf© does a nice breakfast too! Ran a bunch of errands this morning including hitting the outfitter for low gaiters & liner socks. Had another great burger at Dairy King but unfortunately they were out of corn dogs ¢ I love corn dogs! Hit the post office and walked out of town just past noon. I¢d guess 90% of the hikers we had dinner with last night are staying at least another day. Hey - $30 buys all the food you can eat in 24 hours and covers lodging??? Tough place to leave!I had a great walk today ¢ still massively enjoying walking without pain. The AT is routed next to the Virginia Creeper (Bike) Trail along a river. Saw a lot of pretty wildflowers and just had a relaxing 11-mile afternoon.I showed up at the agreed-on site nearly an hour before the rest of the crew (my Bro, Rockhound, J-Bird and Burning Boots). Green One is fighting a shin splint but doing OK. I¢m looking forward to catching up on sleep. Now!
Date: 2004-04-20
From: unnamed pond

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Date: 4/20/04Location: the loft @ Thomas Knob ShelterMileage: Total: 487.8mi, Daily: 16.3miThe Virginia Creeper Trail is absolutely beautiful. The AT shared the trail for a while today, flat path along a rushing river. I was sad to see the double-blaze (a blaze is a 2¢x 6¢ white mark that¢s painted on trees, posts, rocks or other materials along the trail. A double-blaze ¢ one atop the other ¢ signifies a change in the trail direction or alerts hikers to other important info.) The Creeper Trail continued on its way and the AT headed for the hills.We¢re staying at 5400ft tonight ¢ the highest we¢ll be until we hit Franconia Ridge in NH over 1300 miles north. Thomas Knob Shelter has a loft that we¢re occupying ¢ we came in through rain and changed, cooked and ate up here. The clouds have since cleared and there¢s an amazing view of about six ridges of mountains visible now.The really cool thing about today is that we¢re now north of Mt. Rogers. That means winter is over. Done. No more 20* nights, no more snow. It will NOT be missed!The last few days have revealed many new flowers, butterflies & an abundance of birdsong at sunrise. Spring is here. I love Virginia!
Date: 2004-04-21
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Stealth camping @ Dickey Gap
Miles today: 21.0

Date: 4/21/04Location: Stealth camping @ Dickey GapMileage: Total: 508.8mi, Daily: 21.0miThe Grayson Highlands, north of Mt. Rogers, may be the prettiest spot on the east coast. The first 4-5 miles of today¢s walk were incredible, strolling amongst ponies in a landscape closely resembling the grasslands of Montana. Please check the photos of this place, then come visit! Wow!I¢m still feeling real strong with no injuries to report, so had no problem walking from 7am to 6+ pm today. Burning Boots and J-Bird have to pick up their dog in 6 days, so took off early to attempt a number of 20+ mile days. When Green One & Rockhound decided to camp after about 18 miles, I pressed on today. Since I was unable to find any established tent sites, I¢m camped 50 ft. from the highway within a quarter-mile from the gap. My first night camping alone after almost 40 days on the trail and I¢d rather not be listening to traffic out here. Distance from roads equates to safety. Regardless, I¢m looking forward to a good nights sleep and hopeful for an easy hitch into Troutdale in the morning to get our maildrop.One other notable spot today was a natural rock tunnel just south of Grayson highlands call ¢Fat Man Squeeze.¢ Rockhound cracked us all up last night by renaming it ¢Fat Man ¢ Go Around!¢The evening birdcalls and barred owl calls were heard at midday today but are silent now. Must need to reset their clocks! My first whip-or-will call of the trip just came floating through the gathering darkness at 8:30pm. Very cool![Writing at about 8am the next morning while waiting for Green One] OK- the whip-or-will got annoying. All night? Maybe it called only while I was awake. There were come beautiful wood thrush calls first thing in the morning, however¢¦
Date: 2004-04-22
From: Dickey Gap

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Date: 4/22/04Location: Heaven: Partnership Shelter.Mileage: Total: 523.5mi, Daily: 14.7mi Town days are great and horrible at the same time. Bacon, eggs and biscuits & gravy ¢ awesome. Phone call to Heather ¢ always wonderful! 14 lbs of food added to my pack ¢ absolute misery! The effects of breakfast on my stomach were also absolute misery today! Trying to make miles on a town day is tough too. We got lucky on the hitch into town but I got stranded for an hour on the way back and didn¢t get on the trail again ¢til about 1pm.The hike was fairly uneventful today. Rolling mountains opened up to birch/beech forest. When on the ridges, there were usually farms on both sides of us. It¢s always peaceful when you get away from the road and the noise. The terrain allowed me to really haul butt today. I hiked the 14+ miles in just over 5 hours. Feeling strong. Green One is still suffering from shin splints, so we¢ll play miles over the next few days by ear.The shelter we¢re staying at tonight is obscenely wonderful! It¢s nicknamed the Taj Mahal for a reason! It¢s 5 years old, built to last forever with 2 sleeping decks and has a solar shower. Shower? Hot water? It¢s been 4 days since my last shower in Damascus and I thought I was going to have 9 days of salt and stink on me before the next one. Instead, I¢m clean and feeling fine right now! Oh ¢ did I mention that a tenth of a mile down the trail is the headquarters of the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area building? With a phone? And a pizza place that delivers?!? Ayuh. I¢m writing my journal entry tonight while plowing through a large pizza and a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, having just called and chatted with Heather again. Life is awesome!Met up with Scuba, Good To Go and WillieGoat today. Good To Go¢s grandfather just died, so it was a sobering evening and time for all of us to reflect and offer support.