morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-04-29
From: Hostel, Greasy Creek Gap Friendly

To: Hostel, Greasy Creek Gap Friendly
Miles today: 23.5

This is really a zero day. mileage is a place holder for the reasons listed below. Yesterday just wore me down. I read someone's journal from the same spot last year. At one point, they were hoping to break a leg just so they could go home and go to bed. When we woke up this morning, it was raining. Actually pouring. What a surprise. We live in Washington and love it. We live in Washington and get lots of rain. But damn!!!! This part of the trail seems to suck in every weather system in the United States. It was 42 degrees here at around 3500 ft this morning. I guess at either of the two 6000 ft spots we were supposed to hit today, it was probably colder. We know that the trail will be a mucky river of mud and water. We also heard that there have been icy conditions up at Roan during this last week. OK, enough rationalizing. The Troll family took another zero and we are (gasp) skipping over a portion of the trail. I don't really want Troll to drag me or Oblivious over multiple 6000 ft elevations in these conditions. We will rent a car and come back later to do that section. Tomorrow we are getting a shuttle up to US 19E in Tennessee. We will not be in North Carolina again until we come back. This decision was kind of hard to make. But for the body and mind it was needed. Don't worry. Today was good. We played games (Trivial Pursuit and spades) here at the Greasy Creek Friendly hostel. We got warm and dry and are ready to continue. Tomorrow will bring more hard trail, but we are almost out of the north carolina \ tennessee section of the trail. And as we all have figured out by now, this section was designed by sadists. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-01
From: Tent, Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Hostel, Kincora Hampton TN
Miles today: 6.1

I just got out of a sweat lodge with the girls (gypsy lulu, touk & sunshine). I am clean and wearing clean clothes. I had a good sweat that didn't make me stink or require me to climb up a hill. How wonderful. This morning we slept in until 8. Two reasons - we were only hiking 6 miles to Kincora and it was COLD. Yes, the 1st day of May and it was 40 degrees. What is up with that? I didn't know that the mountains in NC/TN were so cold. Packrat, one of the Greasy Creek Friendly owners, said the highest temp he had ever seen at his place was 79. I could even see my breath on one mountain as I was hiking along. The biggest surprise of the day was no rain. Nothing much to say about the hiking. More PUDs (pointless ups and downs). No surprise there. Troll and Oblivious stopped at a pond and looked at salamanders. Oblivious saw a snake in the water. Snake count is now 3 for Oblivious and 4 each for Troll and I. I found a beer on the trail (left by domino). Troll and I shared it. Extra calories. We had a mail drop here at Kincora so here we came. What a cool hostel. A $4.00 donation gets you a bed in a warm log cabin, use of the kitchen access, and a shuttle ride to town, shower, laundry, and phone. On top of that Oblivious got to help feed the horses and got to pet a bloodhound named Shadrach. I really enjoy the trail community. Today we are with Gypsy Lulu, Touk, Hairball, Snow Bunny, Domino, Sunshine, Stilts, Sleeveless, Dorthy and others. We said goodbye to Captain Chaos. He is getting off of the trail, maybe for good, maybe not. I was sad to see him go. We will see him at Trail Days. We passed the 400-mile mark on the trail today. Yea!! Only 50 miles to Damascus. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-02
From: Hostel, Kincora Hampton TN

To: Tent, between Iron Mountain Gap & Spring 
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: broken clouds

Awesome! Awesome! I kept hearing Oblivious shout out those words. There were so many truly awesome things that we saw today. Luarel Falls. Awesome. A huge wide waterfall just crashing down into the gorge. Walking along the river and the river cliffs. Awesome. The noise of the river, the rapids. The rock formations in the gorge. Awesome. Oblivious thought they looked like castle walls. Lake Watauga. Awesome. There were Canadian Geese with 6 goslings. Oblivious tried to get close by convincing them that he was also a gosling. Although the geese probably thought it was very humorous to see a child in a kilt sit on all fours and pretend to eat grass, they didn't buy his gosling act. Lake Watauga Dam. Awesome. The boys threw rocks into the water trying to hit this floating thing or that floating thing. They also threw rocks off on the earthen canyon side. Mountain laurel blossoms. Awesome. We saw beautiful pink blossoms. At first we thought they were azaleas. But, the size of their leaves and the name of the gorge we saw them in, convinced us that they were laurels. Beaver eaten trees. Awesome. We actually saw 2 trees close to the water that looked like beavers had gnawed all around them. We didn't see any beavers, but we did see those trees. Being recognized by a stranger. Awesome. While we were having lunch at the lake, someone stopped and asked Oblivious, if his name was Oblivious. Turns out it was Mr. Crumbles, a friend of Cupcake's. We talked a bit, caught up on Cupcake and KTR. Mr. Crumbles will pass on our greetings to both of them. He also took a picture of us. The sunset at our campsite. Awesome. The colors were really rich and beautiful. We also had the not quite so awesome. Of course we had to have insane SPUD¢s (stupid pointless ups and downs). Why, we would have felt cheated if we didn't spend at least 1/3 of our day meandering in some other direction other than North. It was also something of a bummer to leave the Kincora Hostel. Bob and Pat Peoples are awesome. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-03
From: Tent, between Iron Mountain Gap & Spring 

To: Tent, Flat spot on ridge before Low Gap
Miles today: 20.2

Well early this morning I would have told you that the "Tennessee Turnpike" is pretty much a myth. I know that we finally managed to pump out some miles. OK, we managed to pump out our most miles ever. I feel that our mileage today was mostly a function of an early start. There were many 100-500 yard stretches that were flattish with not too many rocks. However, there were still plenty of joint destroying rocks. There were also loads of up hills and down hills. Until Iron Mountain Shelter, the terrain was pretty much like the northern Smokies. Plenty of ups and downs connected by decent hiking. I have to grudgingly admit that there was some really nice hiking between Iron C shelter and where we stopped for the night. The flattish spots may have actually gone on for a quarter mile at a time. The stretch between Iron Mountain and Double Springs shelter was almost turnpike-y. You have no idea how much it pains me to say that. The weather has been so odd. The sun is shining warmly, but the wind is chilling everything down. It is really nice for hiking, but terrible for stopping and getting started. Getting out of the sleeping bag in the morning is something akin to torture. Right before the Double Springs shelter, we saw a beautiful bird. I think it was a Scarlet Tanger. The bird was mostly crimson red. It had black wings and its tail was tipped with black. The underneaths of the wings were yellow. It seemed like a tropical parrot. We were fortunate enough to see it catch and eat an insect. It was completely cool. Oh my goodness, this tent reeks. I can't believe we showered and laundered only days ago. Everything we wear smells like cat piss or pus. Of course everything we wear stays on our bodies 24 hrs a day for extended periods of time. The only difference between hiking and sleeping gear is the addition or subtraction of a skirt/kilt and socks. Neoprene knee and ankle braces trap sweat and turn it into a pus scent. To make matters worse, there are some nuclear waste protein farts going on right now. Our friend Teri included some protein bars in our package we picked up at Kincora. When a protein bar leaves the body it does it with a vengeance. As you can imagine after our big day, we are tired. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-04
From: Tent, Flat spot on ridge before Low Gap

To: Hostel, The Place, Damascus, VA
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

We are in Virginia!!! We are in Virginia!!! You have no idea how exciting this simple little fact is. Being in Virginia, means that we are out of North Carolina and Tennessee. Yee-Haw. I've even heard a rumor that they are allowed to use switchbacks in Virginia. We will be in this state forever since it makes up about 1/4 of the trail. What an awesome day of hiking. Even though it didn't seem turnpike-y due to the ups and downs, we did some kick ass hiking. We were actually stopping every hour just because. We even lay down in the leaves for a catnap (ok it was a Troll nap). I am currently in The Place. It is a hostel run by the local United Methodist church for Appalachian hikers, Virginia Creeper Trail Hikers and Transcontinental Bicycle Tail bicycle riders. It is a huge old house with 2 stories and room for about 30 hikers. What a cool way for a church to spend local mission dollars. Damascus calls itself the friendliest town on the trail. So far I have to agree with them. They are also one of the prettiest towns on TE trail. Everything in town looks cute. We will take a zero tomorrow to do chores (food resupply, mail drop, bounce box, laundry, etc). We will come back to Damascus next weekend for Trail Days. Between 20 and 30 thousand hikers descend on the town. Loads of gear reps are supposed to be there so you can talk to them. We met Lion King today. His documentary "walking to freedom" is being shown Friday night. There is a hiker parade and the town throws water balloons at us. Sounds like it should be a good time. As always town is great because you get to see everyone. We saw Brownie (Hawk Mt. shelter), Nick & Dave, Padre & Silent Bob, Domino, Tex, Bottoms Up, Boots & Bluelight (Bly gap), Snowman & Scholar. It's amazing how this is just one big community. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-05
From: Hostel, The Place, Damascus, VA

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

Well today was yet another zero. And it was good. We got chores done. Mail was picked up, mail was sent out, trail food was bought, town food was eaten, laundry was done (knee & ankle braces were washed), bodies were bathed and misc. things were done. I am always amazed by how many activities have to be packed into town days. Of course you always seem to miss doing something. Just walking is much easier, but not as much fun. Today Oblivious and Troll got their hair cut. It was time. Troll is going to try to grow his beard for the entire trail. Oblivious is growing the curls at the back of his Mohawk for the duration of the trail. Oblivious was my little naturalist again today. We were at the Mill by the river. We saw more Canadian geese with goslings. Oblivious immediately went into bird camoflauge mode again. He was even holding his hands in front of his face to simulate a beak. Surprisingly, once again the geese parents were not fooled by his attempts. This time he did get within 5 feet of the family. At that point, Mother (or Father) Goose charged him. Oblivious quickly retreated. Then he tried the same routine with some ducks. The ducks had no babies to protect and just got in the water. That was when Oblivious saw a beaver swimming in the water to its den. He was really excited to see his first real beaver in the wild. Silent Bob has had about 15 people come up to him in the past 2 days and comment on his teeth. This was all Troll instigated. Of course there is a story behind this. When we were hiking in the Smokies, an older section hiker lady told Silent Bob that he had pretty teeth. Silent was a little surprised to receive this somewhat Deliverance like compliment. Before Damascus, Silent and the good Padre were ahead of us for a couple of days. He tried to run, but could not hide from the Troll family. When Silent Bob was ahead of us, he left taunting messages for us in the shelter registers. So Troll left notes asking that people compliment Silent Bob on his teeth. Troll also asked everyone that passed us on the trail to give the same compliment to Silent Bob. It has been amusing to watch. It is amazing to see how many hikers are out there in skirts/kilts. Troll and Oblivious started out in kilts (sport kilts). Troll loaned his new kilt (bear kilt) to Silent Bob and is now wearing his old kilt (sport kilt). Padre just bought a man skirt (mountain hardware) like mine. Hairball has a man skirt like mine. Stilts and Ninja are in sport kilts. Gypsy Lulu and Touk are in sarong skirts. Domino and Marcello wear sarong skirts in camp. Sunshine has a camp/town skirt. Fancyfree and cupcake have the girl's version of the mountain hardware skirt. I am interested to see how many skirts there will be at trail days. Tomorrow we start our journey towards the Grayson Highlands. This is state park where there are wild ponies. We can't wait. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-06
From: Hostel, The Place, Damascus, VA

To: Tent, between stream & Creek Junction Station
Miles today: 12.5

Today we left town with really heavy packs. You come into town with a light pack and food bag. You fill up that food bag because you need to, but it is SO HEAVY when you hit the trail again. Last night was pretty weird. Two of the hikers (Fireball and Tiny Dancer) who had pitched their tents at the place, had some things stolen. Camera, Backpack, clothes. Police reports were filed. Add in a drunk and obnoxious hiker and it made for a weird night. Today was another hiking day. Ups, downs and plenty of walking. We are back with Silent Bob and the good Padre. Oblivious was running down the trail and tripped. He skinned up his elbow, hands and knee. He washed it out with water and mom got ahold of it at the next break. Hand sanitizer and toilet paper can be used to clean out a wound. He now has bandage on his elbow and random Band-Aids. Oblivious is a pretty happy boy right now. He has a hammock. Two days ago we met some section hikers (FOG and Colnel) from Charlotte at Double Springs shelter. We talked with them for a while. We saw them the next day at Low Gap and Abingdon gap shelter. We talked some more and said we would see them in Damascus when they picked up their car at the place. So yesterday we saw them again. Troll bummed a ride to the laundromat from them. The Colnel asked Troll if he could give the boy something. It turned out to be a hammock. Oblivious is going to sleep in the hammock tonight. It is really cool. It holds his sleeping bag and wraps around him and the sleeping bag. It is so comfortable. I have already "rested" (napped) in it. Thank you so much Colnel. I'm writing my journal early today. I'm actually getting it done before supper. So it is now time to cook and eat and reduce some of the weight in our backpacks. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-07
From: Tent, between stream & Creek Junction Station

To: Tent, stream before Elk Garden
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: broken clouds

Today it was hard to get motivated. Perhaps that was because I have a little cold with a sore throat. Troll wasn't so happy when I decided to share that with him. So maybe the OTC drug haze made it a little harder than normal to get started. It was freezing (not literally) when we got up and that also made it a little slow going. Regardless of excuses, we were hiking by 0930. Today was nice as we got to hike for a while along a river on the flat Virginia Creeper Bike trail. Of course that didn't last. While we were at Lost Mountain shelter with the regular crew (Troll, Oblivious, Anchor, Silent Bob, Padre) and Boots, Bluelight and Slaphappy, we got some trail magic. Germ, who will be south bounding in July, left a 12 pack of beer. Calories that we didn't have to tote. Yes! We left half of the beers in the spring at the shelter to stay cold. It was a beautiful warm sunny day. Whitetop mountain (5400+ ft) is the 2nd tallest mountain in Virginia. We didn't go over the peak, but we spent a little over 3 miles to gain 2000 ft in elevation. At the top of the mountain there was a big bald which we had to cross in the wind. The sun decided to hide. At the top there was a huge rock formation called Buzzard Rock. Today it looked like a hikers windbreak. Several nooks and crannies had bundled hikers trying to stay out of the wind and warm up before they continued their hike. Padre found the campsite where we wound up tonight. Boots and Bluelight joined us. We had a nice campfire. The supper that I made had been pre-packaged at home and had gone bad. Boots and Bluelight traded us some stuffing for a Lipton¢s cheddar and broccoli and extra rice. We made that for supper after we buried the 1st attempt. While talking with Boots and Bluelight we found out some more info on the gear theft in town. Sundog, the last outfitter as you leave town, had replaced their backpacks for them for no charge. How cool is that. Tomorrow is Mt Rogers, the tallest mountain in Virginia and then the Grayson Highlands. There are wild ponies in the Grayson Highlands. I can't wait to see some ponies. Oblivious has been saving fruit from his trail mix for days. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-08
From: Tent, stream before Elk Garden

To: Shelter, Cowboy Camp Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! I did get my breakfast in bed (sleeping bag). I also got chocolate from Boots and Bluelight. It seems like forever ago when Oblivious shared Easter eggs with them at Bly gap. Today Troll felt really cruddy. He always seems to get a much worse cold than I do. Being sick on the trail is not so much fun. You only have the meager supply of over the counter drugs that you toted out with you. And you are still going to be walking. I am starting to feel much better but Troll was feverish off and on last night. The best part of today was the Grayson Highlands. Wild ponies nibbled me on my skin for the salt. It was so cool. Oblivious was in heaven. He had been saving the fruit from his trail mix snacks for several days. The ponies would eat the fruit and then start licking your arms for salt. One of the ponies would get behind you and try to trap you with its head against its body. Then it would start licking and nibbling. There were at least 3 foals in the little herd that we saw and played with. This was definitely one of the high points of the trip. Tonight we will take cold medicine and cowboy camp. That means we are too lazy to put the tent up and we don't think it will rain. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-09
From: Shelter, Cowboy Camp Old Orchard Shelter

To: Shelter, Cowboy Camp Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: clear sky

I love Virginia. There are rocks. There are ups and downs. But the trail is graded and they believe in switchbacks. I think we will start putting in some miles. It was hot today. I think we will try to start hiking earlier and take a nap between 3 and 4. I found out that last night I missed the owl. While I was passed out in a Benadryl haze, Troll went to talk to some of the other hikers. An owl (barred we think) swooped down and landed on a branch right above Silent Bob's sleeping bag. Lots of great pictures were taken. Not by us because our camera was back at our sleeping bags with me. Tonight was cool at the shelter. A group of us gathered around the fire and we played the words that touch game and the umbrella game. Break-a-Leg, Feeling Free, Serenity, Poet, Cup-a-Joe, Newby, Padre, Silent Bob, Scholar, Scuba and Sister Sandra, Linux, Troll and Oblivious are the only ones I can remember right now. Going to sleep with dreams of pizza. There is a rumor that you can get delivery at the next shelter.Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-10
From: Shelter, Cowboy Camp Trimpi Shelter

To: Shelter, Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light rain

Tonight I am at the most lovely Partnership shelter. It is a great shelter and we got great trail magic. Imagine a double decker shelter with windows. Now imagine a trail maintainer lady with a car who drives people to Shirley¢s quick stop. And fortunately Shirley¢s carries all of the essentials like beer, soda, chips, and buttermilk. Today was good hiking. Pretty good trail. And then they threw in some spuds (stupid pointless ups and downs). But Virginia seems to have the idea of graded trails. Graded trails are pretty good. They are kind to your joints. We are taking it easy this week in anticipation of Trail Days. So we are trying to get to Atkins by Thursday. I think that is really doable since Atkins is a big 11.6 miles away. Tomorrow we have a big 7.1-mile day planned. That leaves a big 4.5-mile day for Thursday. We have to meet Padre's mom by 1 on Thursday. I think we will make it. Tonight was too wild to describe. I laughed so much. I thought I would pee. To protect both the innocent (not too many of them) and the guilty (many, many), I will not elaborate. But I can tell you why people slow down to look at car wrecks. The pizza was awesome. It was so good. I also drank 1/2 a gallon of buttermilk. Hey it was an AT craving. The shower was awesome. I will start tomorrow off with a Pepsi from the Mt. Rogers visitor center for breakfast. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-11
From: Shelter, Partnership Shelter

To: Shelter, Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

My god, zeros are good. We got up this morning at 0530 when everyone else did. I might make note that was not by choice but by noise. When everyone around you starts talking and packing it is hard to sleep. To be fair, some of them may have not gotten much sleep due to snoring (Troll major snoring offender). By 0800 just about everyone except Cycle Hiker was gone. Cycle Hiker got some pretty cool trail magic during the night. He called his sister in Chicago to check in and left a voice mail. Well, his sister got the message and went to work. Some Internet magic later there were 4 pizza hut pizzas being delivered at 1030. Pretty cool. He shared this bounty as breakfast. Poor Cycle Hiker wound up sleeping cowboy style outside. He started the night upstairs in the shelter next to Oblivious. To say that Oblivious is a restless but deep sleeper is an understatement. He kept trying to sleep sideways, diagonally across Troll and Cycle Hiker. After being pummeled by Oblivious (literally) and Troll (snoring) and receiving pizza, he moved outside. Cycle Hiker got his name from the 18-pound bicycle that he is carrying to Maine. You kind of have to see the pictures to believe it. But what a nice guy. I can't believe how much food I ate today. And I just feel good, not stuffed. I had 2 pieces of pizza and a roll for breakfast and 2 sodas. I had a Greek salad, a gyro, and a slice of pizza, a quart of buttermilk, a Hershey bar, 2 beers and a soda. For supper I had a hotdog, a hamburger and soda. Troll and Oblivious ate similar amounts minus the buttermilk (and minus beer for Oblivious). So you probably guessed that we are not being picked up in Atkins tomorrow. Padre¢s mother is picking us up here. We will then be enjoying trail days. We are looking forward to seeing all of our trail friends. Take care and we will see you on the trail.