morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-14
From: woods

To: Abingdon Sheltr
Miles today: 0.0

I just glanced at my journal entry from yesterday ¢ so I thought I¢d make a point of letting myself know that today I¢ve done very well socially. Maybe the past couple days were part of the repercussions from the packed hostel. Today I had an awesome day. It started with an early morning start ¢ breakfast with Wounded Knee and Roam. Within a couple miles I was at the Double Springs Shelter. Smokey was still there from the night before ¢ she loves her leisurely mornings ¢ and Mover who had just passed me were there. We had a barrel of laughs. Wounded Knee, Roam, Hiker Biker Babe and Grunt (hiking both the AT and the PCT this year) pulled in, too. IT was about an hour break that felt like a couple minutes ¢ far too short. I was just having too much fun. I was the last of that group to leave the shelter. I was moving pretty quickly because the terrain was so friendly. Before I knew what happened I was on the group, my pack pinning me down. Oh, this fall was nasty. My knees and thighs must have hit every rock between where I lay and three feet back. Minor scrapes that sting were really all I got. I cleaned them with water then wiped them down later with alcohol swabs. At the last shelter I told Roam and Wounded Knee I would boil some water for hot tea at the upcoming picnic table at Low Gap. It was a road crossing with a small spring nearby. Hiker Biker Babe was there finishing lunch, so we talked while I pulled out gear to heat the water. She stuck around and I boiled some extra water for her. We laughed all through lunch then went across the street where Heather¢s Mom was distributing sodas and Little Debbies. I got a Little Debbie but skipped the soday. From the road we had an ascent then some flat, another ascent, more flat, some descent, then the shelter. When Roam and Wounded Knee arrived, I offered to go get water for everyone. I had emptied my pack of all else just so I could carry water back up from the spring that everyone has said was terribly far away. I just didn¢t see the sense in each of us going down ¢ might as well just send one person. Between my water collection services this night and my talk of becoming a plumber with Roam I almost got the trailname WaterGodess. The shelter and nearby tenting area is pretty full tonight with lots of folks gearing up to walk in to Damascus tomorrow for Traildays. I ate dinner with Footslogger, Jersey, Wes and Rick the LoneWolf. Takereasy came over and he and Lonewolf started having a battle of silly witts. It was too much for me to take, I excused myself and joined Roam, Wounded Knee, Stretch and Darth Vapor around another fire circle. Again, we had tons of laughs. They make me feel so happy. It¢s like I¢m the perfect 3rd to their trio. But Roam is leaving in Damascus and I don¢t hike quite as few miles as Wounded Knee. One thing is for sure; they¢re great people and I¢m totally blessed to have been hiking with them for the past couple of days.
Date: 2003-05-17
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I took a nap after breakfast at Cowboy's, but I needed to be awake by 10 to pack and send my bounce box from the post office by 11:30. I also had plans to meet Spur and Ready at the Apple House to go through my pack and remove excess items. I ran to the post office, then went to the Apple House where I met a bride getting ready to go down to the gazebo for her wedding. Spur and Ready were down there to take pictures so I went down, too. I met Play-doh along the way, we blew bubbles at the wedding. On the way back, we stopped at the boy scout table to "mine for gems." I found a nice piece of amethyst that I'll stick in my bounce box for safe keeping. Spur, Ready and Chris all helped me go through my pack and re-evaluate my needs. It looks like I will be able to get rid of a good bit of weight after Pearisburg. To help me, Spur and Ready are sending me some lighter weight gear - a smaller pack, a fleece sleeping bag, a silk liner, and a wing-stove instead of my heavy esbit stove.After that it was time for the Hiker Parade What a blast! It was all smiles all the way down to the park. Just a heads up to future hikers - the hiker parade IS NOT a parade to wear your hiking gear through the streets of Damascus and get thanked by townspeople, while you thank them for having you (because that's what I thought it was). NO! It's an all out water fight! Townspeople V. Hikers. Gardenhoses have been turned on hikers. Hikers have catapulted water ballons from distances as far as a mile...to strike unsuspecting civilians. On my walk back to the campground I stopped at the Outfitter and purchased a pouch for my camera. I saw Flow, Sprite and Goat from the very first week of my trip. When I got back to the campground, I decided to move from the campground to the hostel closer to the center of town. I uprooted myself, as did Play-doh, and we were off to town. I was packed and ready but I had a couple of errands to run at the manufacturers' tables. First things first: Dan from the Granite Gear bus had kindly made my skirt yesterday, but yesterday night I realized a flaw in the design - NO POCKET! I asked another guy, Scottie about adding a pocket. He was more than happy to do it and produced a stunning zipper pocket. When I asked about the stitching compromising the waterproof-ness of the fabric, another guy offered to tape the seams. I've got the best and MOST UNIQUE hand-crafted skirt out here. THANK YOU GRANITE GEAR!My second stop was at the Mountain Hardware table. They are sending me a new pair of gaiters to replace the ones that have a fabric flaw...resulting in a tear. Play-doh and I ended up in Abingdon for dinner at a Mexican restaurant - Exactly what I had been craving...and no where to be found in trailtowns... It was neat to get away from the non-stop activity of Damascus. Plus, the food was EXCELLENT! My favorite...chicken quesadilla followed by Flan.
Date: 2003-05-18
From: Damascus, VA

To: Konnarock Crew Hdqt, VA
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up around 9 today and broke camp. Playdoh and I had breakfast at Cowboy's again. This time I got to pay - yeah! And I ate the most rich in fat food that they had available- biscuits and gravy, sausage and eggs. It was oh-so delicious. We went down to Mt. Roger's Outfitters and did some people watching before going back to his car to get my pack. Then we walked to the Post Office parking lot where I was supposed to meet up with my trail maintanence crew. Playdoh was off to DC and I was going to work on building a privy somewhere in VA. The privy we installed was at Knot Maul Shlter. I rode up to the trailhead parking with Paul, the vice president of the Piedmont Appalachian Trail Hikers (PATH) who actually maintains the 1 1/2 mile section we traversed over and over again to the shelter and back. We spent the day hauling supplies - wood, pre-fabricated walls, hardware cloth, buckets of nails, etc. up the mountain. We worked it like a relay. We carried supplies up the steepest part of the trail - about 1/4 of the way to the shelter. Others picked it up from there and carried it the rest of the way to the site. We finished moving almost everything by four when we called it quits for the day. We descended the mountain back to the cars. It took about an hour to get to Konnarock - a basecamp of sorts for trail crew volunteers. It is property of the forest service. Dinner was already on the table when we arrived. I set up my tent then grabbed a plate of food. The salad was the absolute best I've ever had. There was some other good home cooking, too. After dinner I struck up a conversation with Iron Chef. We started off talking about the race differential on the trail, then race relations in general. Our conversations turned to social change, community and friendships. As the noise level rose, we went outside to talk more. Around 10 I curled in my sleeping bag, did a little journaling and fell asleep quickly from my hard day of work.
Date: 2003-05-19
From: Konnarock Crew Hdqt, VA

To: The Place, Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up this morning at 6:30, ate breakfast and broke camp so I could leave easily after dinner. We drove out to our privy location again and hiked in this time without carrying tons of extra weight. When we first got there the leadership and delegation was very lacking. I goofed off until lunch time, thinking when someone thinks I can do something, they will ask me. No one had delegated, so I asserted myself. I ended up driving screws in to boards until 3 p.m. so that others could screw them the rest of the way in to the privy. We called it quits around 3 and headed back down the mountain. I slept the entire drive back to Konnarock. I chilled for a while and wrote in my journal and tried to ignore the movie playing loudly. They served chili for dinner, but when I ate I started feeling like crap. My stomach just really started hurting. Maybe the chili was too spicy??? All I knew was that I couldn't eat another bite. I just wanted to curl up and die. I sat and dozed on the sofa during the awards ceremony and waited until it was time to leave. John and Kitty Farley of the Mount Roger's Hiking Club gave me a ride back to Damascus. I felt so crummy that I slept through the whole car ride. When I got to The Place (the hostel in town) I slept there, too, for another hour before showering, journaling and going to sleep. On the trailcrew with me was: Aligator, Weeds, Chaos, Hey!Bob, Skittles, Corey, Paul, Clint, and Crumbsnatcher
Date: 2003-05-20
From: The Place, Damascus, VA

To: Saunders Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I arrived at Saunders Shelter today around four or so. It was an easy and enjoyable hike from Damascus. I probably could have gone further but decided I'd do the miles tomorrow. I plan to do 18 tomorrow to get to the Thomas Knob Shelter. When I was hiking out of Damascus today I was pretty much under the canopy but we came out in to a clearing with views of mountains and trees beyond and I couldn't control saying "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I was feeling so blessed just to be back in the mountains after such long time in town. The shelter is situated in the most gorgeous pine forest and has a pretty schnazzy jazzy privy. This morning I got up around 6:30 or so, ate breakfast with Wandering South (a hiker from NY state, hiking down the trail to NC, where he'll pick up the Mountains to Sea trail, and walk to his brother's wedding in Raleigh), then ran a couple of errands. I picked up a couple items at the minute mart, dropped my bump box at the post office and made some phone calls. I was on the trail by 11:15 a.m. and glad to be back on it!!!!
Date: 2003-05-21
From: Saunders Shelter

To: Cow Pasture before Mt. Roger's
Miles today: 17.0

I awoke to rain this morning that I thought would slack off; it never did really quit until around 5:30 or so this evening. That's what I get for boasting about having nice weather. I had wanted to get to the Thomas Knob Shelter tonight; instead I'm camping about a mile shy of it in a cow pasture. Cow patties are everywhere, just finding a clean spot to pitch the tent was a challenge. The views from here are great though. From the time we arrived until just after dinner we had great views and a brilliant sunset. Then a cloud rolled up and socked us in. I left Saunder's Shelter around 8:30 this morning and got to Lost Mountain Shelter around noon. There was a HUGE (maybe 15) group of youth and a couple adults from a local school or church I'm guessing. The leader had a lot of good stuff to say - I eavesdropped. They were talking about the pilgrimage we all face out here - our personal journey with God. How it is easy to look down on towns from your mountain outcroppings and see yourself as so far removed from that lifestyle. It is easy to look down your nose, even, at people existing in cities and towns as we travel this journey. Somehow, this traveling gives us a clarity we didn't think we had before. For better or worse, I suppose...I pushed on from that crowded shelter around two with Thomas Knob in my sights. About a mile or two from Lost Mountain I was cruising down the trail and I spotted something moving above me. At second glance I see a person under a rock outcropping - it's TABA. Cool! Instantly I assume he is pushing forward fast, so I let him take the lead. He didn't move too quickly. Instead we hiked together for about seven miles, chatting about lots of stuff about life, families, even establishing a scoring system for slipping in the mud and recovery points. It is absolutely the rainiest day I have yet had on the trail. It has been a constant drizzle all day. At Deep Gap I met Jay, a friend of TABA's; we all three ascended out of the gap towards Mt. Rogers around 5:30. The rain had finally stopped! Around six we reached a junction with a horse trail that lead through a cow pasture. Seeing as the weather had cleared, we knew the shelter was going to be packed. Greenman had told us earlier that we could expect great weather tomorrow. I suggested that we camp in the pasture...with the views. TABA agreed, then we set about coercing Jay - who eventually agreed. We had dinner on top of a big boulder and took in views of the valley below. The clouds rolled in and tucked us in for the evening.
Date: 2003-05-23
From: Wise Shelter 

To: Raccoon Shelter
Miles today: 18.0

Whooho! I big congratulations to me on my biggest mileage day yet. I pulled an 18 miler, from Wise Shelter to Raccoon Shelter, in 8 hours (8 1/2 with breaks). I left Wise this morning around 8 in a dense fog. The trail took me over a couple of cow styles and up a small climb to a grassy pasture. As I trudged along in the mist, the mountaintop reminded me odf pictures I've seen of African savannahs - even if it was the top of a mountain. I guess it is the clear open spaces, with just a couple of full shade trees. As I walked further I saw the most piculiar sillhouette. Its ears almost looked like a bear - but it was too immobile. What on earth could it be? I approached slowly and cautiously. As my distance decreased, the fog unveiled a grazing cow in fog. He and at least fifty others were laying in the field as I passed. Some acknoweleged me with a harrumph. Others ignored me. And several of the calves stood up and walked over to greet me. It all seemed so magical. The morning leading up to this had been delightful - this was just the icing on the cake. As I descended that mountain and climbed the next, I walked up on Jay. We went through several styles and down through a rocky section to the Old Orchard Shelter. By then I'd already covered six miles and it was 10:30. After a brief snack, I pushed on. When we got to the Old Orchard Shelter most, if not all, of the morning fog had burned off. I saw veiws of mountains that I hadn't seen in two days. Leaving the shelter I was so taken by all the vibrant greens of the forest that were off-set by the shining sun. I was and am so appreciative to be where I am - hiking the Appalachian Trail. In spite of all the rain we've had, I'm still enjoying all the lovely minute details of my daily interactions with nature.We descended to a gap and crossed a road (where we got to dump our garbage - that's a big deal for thru-hikers) and began another ascent. It was graded very nicely to the top of the mountain. About 1 1/2 miles from our destination Jay and I stopped for a snack and recovery. There we got to see Moose Munch and chat with him for a while. (I met Moose Munch just several days earlier at Saunder's Shelter. He had been feeling very ill. I hung his food bag and kept my distance. Since then, he had been bitten by a spider and has some nasty swelling on his leg as a result.) He gave us some goodies to eat that he'd brought along on his slackpack hike. Ah! the glories of pringles! Earlier Jay, JestBill and I were talking about pizza that we can expect at the Parnership Shelter tomorrow. My mouth is already watering. And, boy, did we luck out. We arrived at the shelter around 4:30 (Wounded Knee is here with several members of his family) and a thunderstorm rolled in around 6:30. Thank goodness we had already decided to stay here. It made staying dry tons easier. Wishing for more sunny days soon!
Date: 2003-05-24
From: Raccoon Shelter

To: Parnership Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I left Raccoon Shelter around 8 or so with fury towards Parnership Shelter. With the promise of a warm shower and pizza, I was pushing myself hard. Ther first three to five miles were really tough. After I stopped for a granola bar/penut butter snack, I was good to go the remaining five miles. We got in to the shelter around 2 p.m. - slipping and slidding in the mud most of the way. We were greeted by trail angels - Tom and Dick - and their friend who is thru-hiking Crow. They told us that they would be doing a hot dog roast tonight and a pacake breakfast in the morning. Because Jay, TABA and I had hiked like hell to get here for pizza, we went ahead and ordered some. We tried to order beer with that too, but the driver guy wouldn't bring it. I could understand his not wanting to, TABA was beligerent about the whole ordeal. Luckily the agnels had brought beer. Yeah!I even got one directly when I stopped off the trail. I guess I had a total of three beers...plenty for me. Then the angels made the hot dogs. Meanwhile hikers kept coming in off the trail. I really enjoyed talking with all the people that came to the shelter - there must have been between 20 and 30 - some pushed on, but most stayed. It was almost like being in Damascus again. Along the way today while hiking with TABA, then later with Jay, I brainstormed a video game centered on the AT. (Anyone who has the $ or inclination to develop this idea should have at it...I have neither) Oh, it'd be great fun - and I'm not even a video game player. The promise is a hiker (either starting No or So). There would be variables to success like gear selection, age, ability, etc. Each person would start with the same amount of cash. The levels of success would be the states you pass through (Virginia would take forever...)Obstacles along the way would be roots that jump up and grab your feet, snakes, broken bones, blisters, etc. Of course, success would also hinge on the amount of time in towns (ie-how much money you spend having "fun" in town), pace, etc. Ohter bizzare encounters and secrets to success would be discovering blue blazine, yogiing, adbudction by aliens...the works! After the AT game is created you could do others in the triple crown - pct and cdt. Of course, this would do nothing to get those lazy video game players off their duff and in the fresh air.
Date: 2003-05-25
From: Parnership Shelter

To: Davis Path Shelter (1st shelter outside Atkins VA)
Miles today: 18.0

I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. I think part of it was due in part to Lone Wolf and some other guy talking LOUDLY and LOTS about diabetes. I just couldn't relax listening to all their physical ailments. I also had a bit of a tummy ache from all my gorging. I awoke this morning around six to our trail angels brewing coffee and flipping pancakes. Ah, now that's a way to start the day. I was able to pack up and head out in record time. I was out by 7:30 or so. I really needed to hike alone this morning. I had gotten overloaded by people at Partnership. I cooked a warm lunch around 11 at Chattfield Shelter and waited for Jay to catch up. We hiked the last four miles to town, crossing streams, railroad tracks and fields to get to the Dairy Queen (calling my name). To start, though, we pulled in at the Barn Restaraunt. I got a bacon cheeseburger and jay got a chili cheeseburger. A former thruhiker Bamboo Bill ('02) and his wife Just Visiting joined us. It neat to hear about their potential plans to open a hostel for hikers. Bamboo told us about hiking the florida trail and his plans to hike the long trail this summer. We might even see him when we get up north. I meant to get their address because they picked up our lunch (and to think I wasn't going to eat anything originally). Bamboo Bill and Just Visiting, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!!! Then I cruised over to the Exxon to pick up lunch items and snacks, then a brownie sundae from the dairy queen. I called momma and checked in with her. Then I called my sister Tracy. It was so great to talk to her. I guess I didn't realize how close we became during my time in DC. The delay in picking Grace (her new daughter) up from China may not be necessary (as first thought because of SARS)take too long - but we still don't have all the facts yet. Tracy and I also did some big talking about plans. I hope that she can convince her husband to move down to Ashville. I would love to continue to live close to her. Well, it's bed time (8:30) I plan to get up really early tomorrow for another 18 mile day.
Date: 2003-05-26
From: Davis Path Shelter (1st shelter outside Atkins VA)

To: Clearing near a spring-fed pond
Miles today: 17.5

Jay and I hiked a tough 17.5 miles todayfrom Davis Path shelter to a clearing near a spring fed-pond. There were some times today when I really felt like stopping and calling it a day; I'm glad I had Jay with me to push me forward. My left knee was giving me some problems yesterday so I loaded up on some ibuprofin which helped tons. I had some terrible gas pains that made me feel really bad; eventually they passed too. (What a sad state)I hiked the first 11 miles of my day pretty much alone, which was nice. It allowed me some solitude and extra time to think. I had ambitious goals, too, to make it to the Knot Maul Shelter to use the privy I had built. But I had to go along the way beccause I couldn't hold it any longer. We passed through some beautiful rolling hills yesterday, through wide open cow patures and along babbling streams. And we crossed at least a dozen cow styles - climbing up ladder-like steps, then down ladder-like steps on the other side of the fence. It seemed to me like the number of rungs increased as we hiked. Is this some kind of operative bootcamp? By the time we'd done 15 miles I was ready to quit. Having pushed on through will make tomorrow easier. We're planning a 17 miler again. Then less than seven in to Bland the following day for resupply and laundry.