morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-06
From: Campbell Hollow

To: Moreland Gap
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Another great day of hiking, we stopped by the new Mountaineer Shelter, watched a mouse watching Evan's pack, crossed some streams, and camped at Moreland Gap shelter.At one point today, I was alone on the trail, came around a bend, and saw a small fawn right in the middle of the path. At first I thought it was a dog, maybe one of those miniature greyhounds, but there were no people around, and I could just make out the mother doe in the brush down a little further. then the baby deer started running right towards me. not knowing what to do, i instinctively held out my stick, but he just charged me, brushed against my stick and my legs, and kept going down the trail. i felt like an intruder.a little later, i was resting by a stream, and met southbounder SuperStar, who had news of our friends just a few miles ahead of us. I considered going the extra 6 miles to catch them at Kincora. But by the time I reached Moreland Gap shelter, I was tired, hungry, thirsty, so I started a fire and pitched my tent. Soon Dodd and Evan walked in, and Matt and Josh (they had gone into town the night before for hot food), and KoolAid and his friend Joe. I had met KoolAid in Hot Springs at the Paddlers Pub. He got his trail name because he carries and gives away lots of little packets of raspberry KoolAid, which he shared with all of us that night. His hike was almost over, so he also unloaded Ramen noodles and other food he would not need before he reached Laurel Fork Falls and US 321 the next day. We all had a good time around the campfire, and slept soundly.
Date: 2007-06-07
From: Moreland Gap

To: Watauga Lake
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

When we hiked into Kincora, threw down our packs on Bob's front porch around noon, suddenly our companions filed out of the hostel to give us a warm welcome. Sailfish, Jan, Halle Berry, and 3 girls I had not met came out and said they were just talking about us, wondering if we had passed them. Halle Berry gave us her pint of Ben & Jerry's, which Dodd and I devoured, and promised good times ahead in Damascus.   They were just heading out to slackpack southbound from Watauga Dam back to Kincora. We ate lunch, Evan played his Uke, and I slept on the deck of the porch until 2. Then I slowly lumbered off to Laurel Fork Falls, and up Pond Mountain, which took almost more energy than I could muster. Nearly 2000 ft. climb over 3 miles, and then back down 2000 ft. over the next 3 miles, to end up at US 321 and Lake Watauga. I called my sister Hannah, who said her husband David would be there in 30 minutes to pick me up. I jumped into the lake and rested there as the sun set and a local boy played his violin.David brought me back to his house in Boone, NC, where Hannah had prepared a big pot of Brunswick stew for us. I ate 3 bowls of stew, a pint of Ben & Jerry's, and some salad. Slept soundly in the most comfortable bed i've seen in a long time.
Date: 2007-06-08
From: Watauga Lake

To: Boone, NC
Miles today: 0.0

Very much needed a zero today. Weighed myself at 200 pounds, which is 30 pounds less than I started with six weeks ago. Hannah made pancakes, and I ate about 20 of them. Spent the day with my 4 nieces and 1 nephew. We went into Boone, where I re-supplied and bought a ukelele. Next time I see Evan, it will be duelling ukes, I hope. Hannah took us to Panera Bread for lunch, and David took us all to the Mello Mushroom for pizza, and home for more ice cream. Even so, I lost another 3 pounds today. Lots of fun playing with Grace, Heidi, Hope, Greta and Schuyler on the trampoline (same one I played on as a child), the swing set that my father helped to build last year out of local logs, and watching a home video of their recent vacation on the Isle of Palms, SC. Another night in the most comfortable bed, with the mountain breeze blowing through the windows.
Date: 2007-06-09
From: Boone, NC

To: Boone, NC
Miles today: 0.0

It is just possible that i have eaten too much in too short a time. intending to hit the trail today, i began having pains in my belly, and was easily persuaded to stay another day. the Kennedy girls were delighted to take me down to the meadow to help feed, groom and muck their horse, Enoch, and their friend's horse, Aravis. it is part of their morning and evening routines to mix the medicine and carry it down the hill, through the trail that David cut in the woods, and feed these beautiful horses. then we collected manure to bring back up the hill and add to the compost pile. they took turns sitting on Enoch and brushing him down.i sent another box home with more gear that i can do without, such as my thermarest stuff-sack pillow. i enjoyed using it for six weeks, but found that wrapping my clothes bag in fleece works better as a pillow, and weighs less.by evening, my pains had subsided, and we watched the girls' favorite movie, "Facing the Giants," about a football coach in a small southern town. the Kennedys love to stay up late and sleep late. even little Schuyler sleeps until after 9 am. but the sun and the songbirds wake me up and remind me of why i'm here, and the walking i must do today.
Date: 2007-06-10
From: Boone, NC

To: Iron Mountain
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: clear sky

another delightful day with the Kennedy family in Boone. whatever was afflicting my stomach yesterday is gone now, so i packed my supplies and got ready to go. the eight of us stopped by their church, then stopped by a house that David has built and is selling this week, then rode up highway 321 to the Watauga Lake swimming area for a picnic lunch by the water. David took his son Schulyer and my backpack around to the north end of Watauga Dam. Hannah, Grace, Heidi, Hope, Greta and I hiked around the lake 4.2 miles, stopping for a rest halfway at the Watauga Lake shelter. some southbound section hikers there had news of my hiking friends, and gave us snacks. Greta and Hope took turns riding in the child carrier on my back. They were very good at calling out every white blaze they saw along the way. David and Schuyler had a little misadventure hiking down the wrong trail at first, but soon found the A.T. and met us on the trail just north of the dam. After many hugs and photos, I said farewell and hiked another 4.4 miles up Iron Mountain. Just short of the Vandeventer shelter, I took the blue blaze down to the spring and camped in a gap about a quarter mile off the trail, settling in by about 10 PM. in the middle of the night, i heard some crashing around the brush, which may have been a bear or a deer, and the owls above started hooting as it moved away from my camp. after that, i slept soundly.
Date: 2007-06-11
From: Iron Mountain

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: clear sky

the springs on Pond Mountain and Iron Mountain were mostly dry or nearly dry. water was critically hard to find along this section. at Iron Mountain shelter, there was a dry spring with a little bit of standing water in it, which i tried to pump, but my filter stopped working. i took it apart to clean it, but still it would not pump. then the handle broke off! up until now, i have been very happy with the MSR sweetwater filter pump, but now i had doubts. i had no choice but to dip into my reserve water and press on in hopes of finding a good spring. this i found just before Tennessee highway 91. i loaded up with 4 liters and labored another uphill mile under the weight of 8 more pounds. but walking through the open pastures of an old farm lifted my spirits. i came across a bench in the middle of a field of wildflowers. sat down and poured some cold spring water on my head, watched the butterflies flutter around, and played my ukulele for a while. three hours of daylight left, and 3 easy miles to the next shelter gave me some comfort. when i got to Double Springs, a group of eleven from Gainsville, Florida were camped there. the water source was excellent, and i pitched my tent up the trail a little from the shelter. The Gainsville group was section hiking for the 12th year, with a mix of high school teachers, students, alumni, and family. they were very friendly, curious about my hike, but had a high degree of bearanoia. they had seen some bear scat nearby, and heard rumors of bears. so they convened a meeting, came up with an action plan, posted bear guards, two people to stand two-hour watches throughout the night and keep the campfire going. large amounts of firewood had to be gathered before nightfall, chopped and stacked. fortunately, there was a steel wood saw in the shelter to help with this task. all of their food was gathered and piled onto the picnic table, tarped and anchored, and guarded diligently. these terrified high school students stood their watches nervously shining their flashlights into the woods at the slightest sounds, patrolling the perimeter, watching for signs of the bears that never came. when anyone got up in the night to pee, these kids were ready to attack and defend their two-day food supply. i was just glad they did not have weapons. but its always good to be cautious, i guess.
Date: 2007-06-12
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: Damascus
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: few clouds

Our Gainsville campers made it through the night without bear encounters, and were cheerful, if a little sleepy, in the morning. Mouthpiece, aka Joe Muir, a nobo thru-hiker, had joined them in the night at the shelter, suffering from shin splints and a 23-mile hike. he shared some water treatment with me, and we hiked together to Abingdon Gap and on to Damascus, the friendliest town on the Appalachian Trail. This claim proved true within 5 minutes of my arrival, as 3 different locals approached me, welcomed me, directed me to the hostels. I stayed at Dave's Place, a bunkhouse run by Mt. Rogers Outfitters, and represented by Wally, who lives in his van behind the bunkhouse. He handed me a key, a towel, and directed me to the only open restaurant in town on tuesdays. I found Ukulele Evan, playing his instrument at "The Place" for a group of hikers and cyclers on the back porch. We went to Dot's for a hot dinner and cold beer, and then to Larry's house for a jam session on his front lawn. Larry is a local who loves hikers and loves music, and served us all ice cream and coffee for the pleasure of listening to our merry music. We banged on his pots, rattled his spoons, played our ukuleles and harmonicas, and sang into the cool night breeze, until we tired and returned to our hostels sometime after 10:00. My bunk was uncomfortably hard and hot, so i slept on the sofa in the common room.So, do all AT hikers have a similar experience here in Damascus, Virginia?
Date: 2007-06-14
From: Damascus

To: Lost Mountain
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

Up early, out the door, stopped at Mojoe's for coffee. Asked if they had anything to eat besides bagels. Girl offered to make me an omelette. Gratefully accepted, and while she made it she confessed this was only the 3rd time in her life she had attempted to make an omelette. She forgot a couple of the ingredients, but it turned out ok, and i started hiking on a full and well-rested belly.Four miles out of Damascus, I came across 3 bear cubs and a hungry mother near the trail. I'm not aware that bears can have triplets. Was it a cubby playgroup? Do bears sometimes adopt orphaned cubs? other hikers have reported seeing multiple cubs with a single bear mother. If you know the answer to this, please post on the guestbook.Shortly after the bears, I saw a more disturbing sight coming down the trail towards me. Halle Berry, who had hiked out of The Place less than 24 hours before me, was alone and distraught. A stomach virus had struck her the night before at the Saunders shelter, probably the result of eating a subway for breakfast. she had been up all night vomiting, and felt so bad that she had to end her hike. Returning to Damascus, she was going to get a hotel room, rest, and go home. We exchanged numbers, and a few days later, she e-mailed me from her parents house in Raleigh, saying she had recovered, and was going on to her next adventure in Myrtle Beach, SC. At the Saunders shelter, I found her food bag hanging from a mouseline, with a note attached, asking her hiker friends to please take the food. I ate as much as I could, and brought the rest with me.At 4:00, despite the gathering storm clouds overhead, I shouldered my pack. Almost immediately after leaving the shelter, the rain started, along with the thunder and lightning. soon I was slogging along in the long, narrow continuous mud puddle that the trail transforms into with heavy rains. Six miles later, I found the Lost Mountain shelter, where Spyder and Mismatch were already taking cover. I had seen these guys in Hot Springs, Erwin and Damascus, but not really had a chance to hang out until now. Mismatch played my uke and Spyder shared his moonshine while we watched the rain, grateful for the superior shelters of virginia, and the Mt. Rogers hiking club that builds and maintains them.
Date: 2007-06-15
From: Lost Mountain

To: Mt. Rogers
Miles today: 11.8

Up early, spent all morning building a fire and drying out my boots and socks. At noon, Mismatch and I hiked out, crossing Summit Cut and a cow pasture, continuing up Whitetop Mountain. The waist buckle of my pack kept coming undone, causing the weight to fall onto my shoulders and back, and giving me sharp back pains as I ascended the mountain. At Buzzrd Rock, we caught up with Spyder, who was battling his own pains in his shins and calf muscles. Shortly after, they found a snake in the trail that was munching on one of those rare salamanders. I had walked right over the snake without noticing, but they saw it and called me back to watch the salamander helplessly wiggling its hind feet, all that remained in the free world.Just past the woods, we found a good spring. Mismatch and Spyder filled up and moved on, but I stopped for lunch, watching the thunderheads building and moving towards me, thinking how i did not want to get caught in the rain again. Had I stayed dry yesterday, I would have saved 5 hours this morning. When it appeared inevitable, I quickly put up my tent and jumped in. Soon the raindrops were pounding my tent and then I noticed the hail stones bouncing off the rain fly. It lasted an hour and a half, followed by a pleasant calm and the setting in of thick fog.I packed up and started out at 6:30, heading for Deep Gap. More cow pastures in Elk Garden, where I had to watch my step because it was getting dark and hard to see the cow patties littering the trail. Then suddenly I was back in the woods, dark and thick. Searching for a good tent site, I had hopes for Deep Gap, but when I got there, a big sign said "No camping next 500 yards. Please allow this delicate area to recover." All of the good, flat, grassy camp sites this side of the mountain were within the next 500 yards. Immediately after the no-camp zone, the trail started ascending Mt. Rogers, the highest mountain in Virginia and highest point on the AT in Virginia. Up the hill I went. What choice did I have? I was whistling and knocking rocks with my stick to alert any bears, squinting for white blazes, stumbling over every root and rock in the path, and hoping against odds for level ground. Two miles up, a horse path crossed the AT and led into an open field. I looked around and put my tent between two big boulders in the middle. the ground was not perfectly level, but the fire ring indicated others had tented here before, at 11:00, i decided it was as good as it was going to get tonight.
Date: 2007-06-16
From: Mt. Rogers

To: Grayson Highlands
Miles today: 3.3

At first light, I took a look around at the grazing cows whose pasture I had invaded in the foggy night, laughed, packed, and hiked out. soon I was facing large deer, and then, only a half mile from where i had stopped the night before, i came to the Thomas Knob shelter. This shelter was full of sleeping friends, Mismatch, Spyder, Ukulele, and Mr. Burns, who carries onions and garlic, cooks gourmet meals on and off the trail, and signs the registers with a signature burn mark. The hikers had hung their food bags in a tree behind the shelter, but left the cookware with bacon grease on the picnic table. there was little danger of bears in this section, but the feral ponies roam Mt. Rogers in herds, and shortly after I left, the ponies wandered in, eating everything in sight. they had tried to eat my clothes and boots when i passed them, so they had a great time with all of the pots and pans, poles and packs, of the sheltered hikers.Ukulele is an accomplished musician (see http://www.evankolvoord.com/Music/Musichome.htm), and Spyder and Mismatch and myself all enjoy good mountain music, so we were thrilled to learn that a music festival was going on today at the Grayson Highlands State Park, headlined by Doc Watson. Since I got an early start, we agreed that I would reserve a campsite at the park for the four of us. Besides the herds of ponies, there were hords of weekend hikers and day hikers on the mountain. Good reasons bring people here - the ponies, the horse trails, the rhododendrons in full bloom, the fine weather, and best of all, the festival!At Massie Gap, i took a side trail to the park, where i saw Kenny and Scott, section hikers from Kentucky who I had met at the spring on Whitetop Mountain the day before. they helped me find the campground and the music. I found the others at the "country store" - an obligatory ice cream sandwich stop - and hiked 2 more miles to the picnic area, where the all-day festival was in full swing. guitar competition, bluegrass band from the Netherlands, and a Hawaiian band from Ohio. Doc Watson played Whiskey Before Breakfast, Jeff Little banged out some piano tunes, and their friends all contributed to the merriment.
Date: 2007-06-17
From: Grayson Highlands

To: Hurricane Mountain
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: clear sky

hiked the horse trail out of grayson highlands campground, to the blue-blaze trail back to the AT. stopped by the wise shelter, where Ukulele and I played a few tunes and ate a few snacks with Kenny and Scott. section hikers are so generous with their snack food, especially when you entertain them! a long break at the Scales for lunch, where the ridge-runner-in-residence directed me to an excellent unmarked, unpublished cold spring. then on up Stone and Pine Mountains, a quick stop at Old Orchard shelter, and a dash to the "new" Hurricane Mountain Shelter. Mismatch and Spyder were there, and Ukulele was camped by the riverside a half mile below. lots of aggressive mice at this shelter, we speculated because the owls and snakes and other mice predators had not come back after the new shelter construction.
Date: 2007-06-18
From: Hurricane Mountain

To: South Fork Holston River
Miles today: 11.9

After an early start and a two-mile hike, hitched a ride from Dickey Gap into the Troutdale Trading Post for two Hungry Man Special breakfasts, followed by a big double-cheeseburger lunch. the owner took me to see the hostel at the Baptist Church up the hill, which did not tempt me. It was a trailer, divided in half, with linoleum floors, a folding chair in the corner, and a coffee maker without a coffee pot. that's it. he couldn't believe that I would want to keep hiking, even though it was just noon time, when the opportunity to sleep on the linoleum of that hot trailer was there, for FREE. but he was kind enough to bring me, and Ukulele and Mismatch and another hiker back to the trailhead. we hiked on to the South Fork of the Holston River, where I immediatley jumped in and let the cold water refresh and wash my sweaty clothes and body. there was good camping right next to the river in tall sweet grass. Uke and I got a campfire going, did some experimental photography with all the millions of stars and fireflies around, and traded stories of our lives before the trail. While we were chatting, a large snake came up to check out Ukulele's bearvault. he got a couple of good pictures before it slithered back into the grass. the only part of this campsite i didn't like was the noise from the highway across the bridge, but at least it wasn't too busy.
Date: 2007-06-19
From: South Fork Holston River

To: Chatfield Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Started early, found Mismatch camped a mile up from the river, saw snakes and deer and a painted box turtle. the first seven miles went quickly, up to the famous Partnership shelter. Mismatch and I were going to order a pizza from the park headquarters, but we were there at noon, and they would not deliver until 4 PM. so we settled for snacks and cold sodas. I took a cold shower at the shelter. Ukulele showed up and hung out all afternoon at this shelter. Mismatch and I hiked on across Brushy Mountain, Locust Mountain and Glade Mountain, arriving at the Chatfield Shelter just as it was geting dark, and just as the first drops of the thunderstorm started falling. I quickly put up my tent beside the shelter, and we sat there watching the rain, playing the ukulele, and wondering where in the hell Evan was in this downpour. Of course, he was in it a few miles back getting soaked.
Date: 2007-06-21
From: Camp, Virginia

To: Camp, Virginia
Miles today: 0.0

In the morning, Laura cooked up a big delicious breakfast for all of us. Then we brought Mismatch and Ukulele back into Marion, where we learned that the music shop was closed for good. We parted with the hikers at the post office, wished them well, and headed to Damascus. At the Sun Dog Outfitters, we rented bicycles, with a trailer for Holly, and took the shuttle up Whitetop Mountain, for a gentle 17-mile downhill ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail back into Damascus. Wesoly rode his own bike, which Laura had brought from home, and crashed only once, about a mile from the starting point. He had hit a rut and toppled over, scraping his chest on the handlebars. After a long cry and initial refusal to get back on his bike, Laura finally got him to remount and ride on. The trail parallels the AT for most of the way, and follows along a creek with many lively water falls. We stopped half way for an ice cream break. By the end, Wesoly was so comfortable riding his bike that he raced ahead of all of us and would not allow us to pass him again until we reached Damascus. When we reached the outfitter, we returned our rented bikes and jumped into the public swimming pool for a refreshing cool down and splashed around for an hour. Then we got dinner nearby at the Baja Cafe, before returning to the Gilmers cabin in Camp, Virginia. We discovered that Evan had left his trekking poles at the cabin, and had to mail them back to his parents house, but had an otherwise delightfully pleasant day. This would be the first of 15 consecutive zero days for me, not part of the original plan, but very much needed and welcomed by me and my family.