morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-27
From: Damascus, VA

To: same
Miles today: 0.0

Erin says:We are headed out tomorrow to resume our Virginia adventure. We've been doing our laundry, resupplying our food, relaxing, etc. Craig even found a music store here in Abingdon near the laundromat. He had the chance to mess around on the keyboards while our clothes were drying. Craig and I have updated the photo section - thanks Dad for scanning new photos!!! We have also added photos to the previous journal entries, so check them out again! Thanks to all for signing the guestbook. Hi to Kristin and baby Caden too! It is great to hear from you, Kristin! I miss you! And a super thank you to Craig's Mom and Dad for the chocolate chip cookies! They are really yummy.More coming soon!
Date: 2003-05-28
From: same

To: U.S. 58 Feathercamp Branch
Miles today: 5.6

(Craig Says) It was an early christmas for us today! Packages galore! We received a slew of gifts from my mother (thanks mom!) my sister (thanks Kareeny!) Erin's mom (thank's erin's mom and bri for sending the package!) and an extra special gift from a certain person that can't be mentioned for fear of endangering that certain person and comprimising our mission....It's a highly secretive and deeply layered assignment we're involved in. I can reveal no more than that....We ran into the ragtag bunch we'd hiked with earlier. Aussie Crawls, Free Radical, Crowdog and Prariechicken, Weaver, Jimbotrek, and ofcourse Patty and the Fatman. (Fatman left the trail today. Moment of silence please...) Now that the Fatnut duo is has splintered the name now stands alone as just a lonely 'nut'. But she is now hiking with a new partner by the name of Peach Monkey so I guess we can start with 'PeachPatty' or 'nutmonkey' now, we'll see.Before heading out we stopped at a little dive-diner that was about as wide as a boxcar and had a cheap and delicious sandwich. It was 6:30 and we considered staying for a third zero day but didn't want to sleep at 'The Place' which was a free and crowded bunkhouse in town. Spotting a worn rusty sign with the word 'Inn' visible through the dirt we inquired with our waitress if they had rooms available next door. She said "hold on one second honey, she's right out back. I'll go check with her.." Fifteen minutes later she strolled back with a pot of coffee. She pointed to an old RV up on blocks in the driveway. "It's $75 a night for that there trailer." Erin and I tried not to blow a snot bubble and refused politely. 75 bucks! She would probably have to kick her ex-husband out of there before we spent the night...In the end we decided to hike on, even if it was only for a few miles, just so we wouldn't have to spend more money on yet another hotel. We had already stayed in town for longer than we'd planned. Which is usually the case with us. So around 6:30, with a pack full of goodies and the sun just touching the treestops we walked back into the woods and pitched our tent about 5.5 away along side a quiet road.
Date: 2003-05-29
From: Feathercamp Branch

To: Whitetop Mountain Road
Miles today: 15.7

Erin says:Tonight is one of the best nights Craig and I have had yet on the trail. It is so chilly outside - we are on top of Whitetop Mountain and the wind is howling through our tent. But we are sooooo very cozy inside. And thanks to one very special Blue Jay we have Jack Daniels we have some whiskey to warm us up and keep the foot pain at bay. It has been raining all day. Very hard. The kind of rain that soaks right through your rain jacket rendering it useless. Craig and I took a long afternoon break at Lost Mountain Shelter. We made ramen with veggies and chilled out in the shelter on our pads as the rain droned on. We were tempted to just stay at the shelter, but we decided we had to try to get more miles in. Craig took off first so that he could hike ahead to find a camping spot while I rested a while longer. Free Radical, Patience, and Snail were also at the shelter. It was funny cause they seemed amazed at my hiking gear, especially my socks - Craig and I just hike in New Balance athletic socks (polyester) and not super expensive Smart Wool socks or the like. And they work just fine.After exchanging gear stories, I pulled myself out of the shelter and back into the rain for the long and steep climb up Whitetop. The hike was so eery - it was still a tad rainy (though less than the AM) but very foggy too. The woods seemed haunted. Thankfully some of the climb was switchbacked and I got to the top without too much trouble. Buzzard Rocks is the top and I had to climb over huge boulders. No view though because of the fog. I almost stumbled onto our tent, that's how low the visibility was. Craig had it all set up and had gotten water too! It was so cold that there were no bugs to bother us.So we are cozy in the tent chatting and reading with our headlamps on. I don't feel exhausted which is nice because I feel like I am so tired at night that I never get to read. In fact, it is nearly midnight and WAY past our bedtime! I hope we get to see some views tomorrow.Thank you to Blue Jay for the Jack Daniels. You are awesome!!!
Date: 2003-05-31
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Erin says:Let it be known that this is our first official night staying in a shelter!! I know, I know, we are such tent snobs, but it is POURING rain out and there is nowhere decent to tent. Everything is puddles and mud. We are also the only ones at this shelter, so hey - we have the place to ourselves to spread out.And we arrived here at 6pm. Really early for us, we never get to shelters early. We were planning to tent originally, but it got cold out and the rain kept coming and we got cozier and cozier inside. Tonight has been fun - Craig and I have been exchanging stories about our pasts and our families. We always learn more and more about each other and the events that have shaped our lives. As for the hiking today - I set out a little ahead of Craig and he caught up to me right before the road at Dickey Gap - we both cranked out a quick 10 miles without stopping. We rested at the road in the Gap contemplating hitching into the town right nearby to get a meal. But we decided to just save money and hike on. But first we wanted to rest and take a little afternoon snooze. It never fails - it had been a nice morning, but as soon as we had our mats out and our top packs off, the clouds got very dark and it opened up and dumped buckets on us. So quickly that we couldn't scramble fast enough to get under the cover of trees before getting drenched. Ugh.But now at the shelter it seems okay because we have a roof over our heads. the rain is loud on the roof - plunking of drops. So far we haven't seen any mice. Tomorrow we are headed into Marion to resupply, do laundry, etc.Later.... as soon as Craig and I turned off our headlamps and got cozy in our sleeping bag, we could hear them. The chattery squeaking of the mice. Mice are one of the big reasons I do not like to sleep in shelters. I've heard the horror stories about how they ravage hikers' packs and foodbags. But hopefully our packs and food bags will make it - they are hung on the lines from the ceiling and have the hopefully protective tuna cans above where you hang your bag to keep the mice from jumping onto your bag. I can tolerate the sound of their scurrying around the shelter and squeaking, but I swear - if I even feel one near me or running over our sleeping bag, that's it. Craig and I are armed and ready with my hiking poles beside us. Now I just have to pop in my earplugs so I can sleep. It is still pouring out. Rain, mice.... but we are content.
Date: 2003-06-02
From: VA 16/Marion, VA

To: VA 683, US 11, I-81
Miles today: 11.5

Erin says:Okay, so we didn't make it out of Marion as early as we wanted to. It is so hard to rip yourself out of a comfy motel bed with soft sheets and fluffy pillows for the sake of sweat and big hills. But eventually we did. We had some stops to make first before we could leave town. We had to hunt for white gas for the stove - we hadn't gotten gas since Erwin, TN which feels like a really long time ago. I'm telling you - our pot cozy saves us lots of fuel. And we both made phonecalls home from a payphone by the hardware store where we got fuel. Plus we had to get to the post office to forward our town box and get out some snacks, etc.At the post office we ran into an elderly man named Denny who inquired about our journey and then offered to take us in his jeep back up to the trail. The best was when he told us he'd just have to move a few things out of the front seat to make room for us and our packs. Turns out what he was moving was a 9mm gun... which he put on the floor of the backseat. It just felt mighty freaky to be hitching a ride from a very southern older rough guy with a big gun at my feet in his truck. Craig even asked him at one point if he did much hunting and he responded, "No, I don't hunt anymore because of my back." My mind is racing in the back seat thinking, why the 9mm? But he turned out to be okay and we made it back to the trail without incident.The hike brought us to another junction where the trail goes by some sort of factory and train tracks and then a bunch of roads that all meet up - including the Interstate. We decided to spend the night at the Relax Inn right on the trail since it was getting dark out and the rates were cheap. We ate at the Barn restaurant up the street for dinner - I had some sort of weird chili cheese burger that seemed more like a sloppy joe. but it was good. now we are just chillin' in the room. off again tomorrow.LATER: trail magic! Craig and I were about to fall asleep when Craig asked me if I would take off my watch and stick it in the drawyer at the bedside table cause the ticking seemed really loud to him. So I took off my watch and opened the drawyer to find an intact copy of Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, sitting there! I am almost done reading his book Into the Wild, and I had been telling Craig that I wanted to read his other book about Mt. Everest. And walah! Here it is. Pretty cool. A tad heavy for a paperback, but hey, I'll take it.
Date: 2003-06-08
From: Doc's Knob Shelter

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Craig says...It rained during the night and it felt nice to hear the water it the a roof, knowing that our tent was nice and dry inside. Occasionally I woke to the sound of squeeks and little mouse feet scurrying across rafters and floor. I hoped that they hadn't found a way into our stuff or chew through our tent..The rain had stopped altogether by morning and we inspected our gear for any signs of mouse shenanegans. We were excited to get to Pearisburg and get out our feet out of our damp and horribly stinky shoes and socks. It was warm all day, hot even, and it was a nice break from the two days of almost constant rain we'd been handed. But the trail hadn't had time to dry out so it was the consistancy of pudding the entire way down to town. Occassionally we would lose any sort of footing and just start doing 360's or slidding backwards for twenty feet or so. I slipped hard at one point and planted my hand almost up to my wrist in mud. We bushwacked to the side alot. I know that's eroding the trail, but I swear it was almost unwalkable at times. Our feet were on fire and my ankle was throbbing but towns seem to take all that away.When we got into to town we walked up a long steep hill, passed a gas station where we both got huge cups of iced coffee and snacks and got a room at the Plaza hotel.
Date: 2003-06-11
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: light rain

Erin says:We got up and out and finally left Pearisburg - me with new shoes. The day sort of seems like a blur. We are so tired we are just eating Triscuits in our tent with turkey pepperoni. We're not going to hang our food bags tonight either. I know, I know, we're such rebels. We are zonked. Plus, it is pouring out. My feet are pretty sore right now. I was practically sprinting the last mile downhill on the switchbacks to get to the shelter, partly because Free Radical was on my tail and I was playing a game with myself where I wasn't going to let him pass me. Maybe doing nearly 20 miles to start off a new pair of trail shoes isn't the smartest idea? I ache right now. It rained off and on all day. We are tenting under a huge pine tree about a hundred yards from the shelter. That shelter is packed! Some A.T. hikers there, but other hikers as well. Free Radical arrived at the shelter with us, and he is planning to sleep on the dirt floor between the two wooden platforms. Icky. I am psyched to be dry in our tent. I hope it stops raining soon. It was strange climbing out of Pearisburg this morning for two reasons:1. Some weirdo ex-A.T. hiker was roaming about asking us a bunch of questions about other hikers and whether or not they were really thru-hiking, or merely skipping around on the trail and saying they were walking each step. He seemed pretty riled up about this - he'd been in town yesterday talking to a small group of hikers that we know, and I guess this guy was planning to spend his day today staked out beside the trail to see if the hiker group was going to be leaving town as they'd told him. I think he figured the group would be hitching and skipping trail. Whatever. Who cares? He's not even currently hiking!!! But then again, this guy also told us about how he is "retired" now (he's maybe early 30s) because he used to work for Los Alamos and was exposed to mass amounts of radiation and started to go blind. He gets a government stipend. I don't know the whole story because I hung back while he followed us and talked Craig's ear off.2. We climbed up the first ridge out of Pearisburg and passed by some sort of waste-dumping facility near the trail from a factory close by. It was sort of spooky. And the signs near a creek said - "don't drink". Craig and I had no idea what half the names of the chemicals that could or could not be disposed of at the sight even were - there was a sign that we attempted to decipher at the dumping facility. Oh, sweet nature. The A.T. has some seedier sides for certain. Very interesting.
Date: 2003-07-05
From: The AT

To: Home, Nashua, NH
Miles today: 0.0

Yes, yes, we know. July 2nd has come and gone and here we still are. But for good reason! On the calm sultry night of July 1st while watching the weather channel, we noticed huge swaths of dark, dark green painting almost all of Virginia, especially along the Appalachian chain. Apparently and with no regard to hikers, a large, selfish Tropical Depression called Bill was spiralling around down there and dumping what was predicted to be up to 6 inches of rain. And it was supposed to stay rainy for five days. And still, although it would mean we would begin our next leg (AT part II) with almost a week worth of rain we decided we would go anyway. It wasn't until the next morning, almost an hour before we were supposed to pick up the rental car that we decided it was insane to voluntarilly step into something like that and we would postpone it until Bill got out of there. We're scheduled to leave tommorrow, July 6th. And save for any drastic problems we will go. Thanks to everyone who still reads this for your messages. Will write soon...
Date: 2003-07-11
From: Daleville

To: Daleville
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Happy birthday Seven Eleven!Took a zero in Daleville which would bring the count to six nights spent overall in this town during the AT trip. Lets see, three nights back in June when we left the trail. One night on July 6th on our way back to the trail. Last night and tonight. Perhaps we can establish residency and get cheap tuition at Virginia Tech. Anyway, the Daleville, Troutville, Cloverdale, area is not much more than an oasis off of I 81. A place for the weary travelor to rest his bones. Its a hodgepodge of resteraunts, supermarkets, gas stations, and hotels, crushed as closely as possible to the Interstate. To its credit it also has the first real coffee house we've had on the trail. Complete with local art, good coffee, onsite roasting, the works. I have to admit, Erin and I spent more than our share of cash there. Although to the eye, the tri-city area is a bit tough, we love it!
Date: 2003-07-13
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: few clouds

Erin says:Today we did a little blue-blazing along the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). And it was great! The BRP tends to have much better views of the mountains and valleys than the trail does. Plus, it was more stimulating to alternate walking sections of trail with sections of road. It thundered and rained today. We raced to get to Bobblets Gap Shelter and made it just as it started to pour. Nice to not get soaked for a change. We knew it was supposed to storm today because we met this really nice, yet spastic, section hiker this morning as we were getting prepared to leave Wilson Creek Shelter. He told us that he was carrying a weather radio and that a storm was expected to roll in at 2pm. Well, the storm actually came more like 3:15pm, lucky for us. This guy we met this morning was so nice and laid back. He kept telling us to take our time and enjoy hiking, to not worry so much about getting from here to there. The same stuff we here from most other people we meet, but he seemed really energized about life and hiking, so it stuck with us more.Craig and I napped for a few hours this afternoon during the rain at Bobblet's Gap Shelter. We woke up when another section hiker, Romin', arrived with a large dog. They were planning to spend the night at the shelter. We were pretty disoriented when they arrived because we'd been sleeping. He told us all sorts of useful info about places we were going to come upon in the next 100 miles. But of course now we can't seem to remember anything about what he said.Craig and I decided to grab water and continue on to the next shelter. We walked a bit more on the BRP to Bearwallow Gap and then climbed back on the A.T. over Cove Mountain to Cove Mountain Shelter. We were hiking pretty fast because I was surprised when we came upon the shelter. My feet had been so sore earlier in the day, I still can't believe we ended up hiking 13.7 miles! We are the only ones at this shelter tonight. We just ate a non-water-needed meal of tuna salad with Triscuits, turkey pepperoni, and cheese. Very good. We will tent inside the shelter because of the bugs. I have bites everywhere. We are almost out of bugspray. Later: A deer has decided to befriend us at this shelter. It is totally dark out and this deer is just hanging out next to and behind the shelter. It is not scared of us at all. It has come to within five feet of us, just hanging out eating leaves and snorting.
Date: 2003-07-16
From: Marble Spring campground

To: Glasgow, VA U.S. 501
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Erin says:We woke up this morning to blue skies and a gentle breeze. However, Craig had listened to the radio yesterday and it said it was going to be hot today - above 90 degrees. We packed up pretty quickly for us, I was on the trail by 10am after waking up at 9:20am. Not too bad. I left a few minutes ahead of Craig while he was "tending to business."I hiked to Matt's Creek Shelter, 5.5 miles from our campsite in an hour and 50 minutes. Not too shabby! I'm getting my legs back, much more able to hike at faster spurts. I think part of my swiftness was due to the fear of encountering any snakes along the way. I just wanted to keep moving as I climbed over rocky trail. I could look out over the hills at some points along the way and was astonished by the haze. Yuck.Most of the hike to Matt's Creek was downhill, and I ran the downhills as best as I could - dodging rocks and tree routes. I did pause to eat some big, fat blueberries along the way. I encountered three goblin turkeys too. They are huge birds!I sat reading for a short while at Matt's Creek Shelter before Craig arrived. We hiked together for the last 2 meandering miles as the trail follows the James River. We then crossed the James River footbridge. This bridge is the longest foot-use-only bridge on the A.T. After the bridge is the road to Glasgow. We had to wait almost 30 minutes to get a hitch, but a really nice guy finally picked us up and brought us to Glasgow. On the way we asked him if the post office was near the Wright Place Motel where we were planning to stay. He sort of chuckled and said, "Oh, yeah."If you blink, you could miss the entire town of Glasgow. It is a very small strip town, smaller than Hot Springs. And the funniest part about this sleepy town is that a local artist has fashioned paper mache-esque dinosaur statues that are placed all over the town. There is a stegosaurus on the lawn outside the motel. A huge T. Rex hangs out of a 2nd story window on an abandoned building near the library. There is a brontosaurus head peaking over the top of the gas station. It is pretty funny. What a quirky town!We checked into the Wright Place Motel around 2:30pm. We have a tiny little room reminiscent of a college dorm room. Two twin beds. Fluorescent lighting. No phone. But it works for us. There is a shower with good water pressure. And we are sticky and dirty from hiking and using much bug spray.I just got back from doing our laundry at the laundromat two buildings away. At least everything here is closeby. Craig was going to re-supply for us, but the grocery store here is too tiny. Everything is very expensive. We are going to stay the night and then hike on to Buena Vista, a larger town 21 miles away to re-supply. We have another meal anyway.