morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-24
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: clear sky

Started this morning considering taking a zero, to let everyone catch up. I have considered each morning since Damascus. I feel like everyone had just caught up when I left Damascus. I missed the crowd. But I'm rotten at being idle. So I got up, and the day's first twelve felt like the thirteen of the day before: Quick, easy. Three miles per hour again. (I guess this sounds funny to non-hikers. For reference, my average is around two and a half per hour.)Just before I reached the road to Atkins, there was a mile-and-more stretch that reminded me so much of the farm when I was little: course grasses, flowering dogwoods, yellow-brown earth, thick, brushy trees and thorny bushes. Just more hills. Joined Bearly and Lady for a blizzard at the Dairy Queen before doing a quick resupply out of a gas station grocery. Lady planned on pushing on farther than originally planned, and Bearly and I followed suit. Well, as it turns out, the last thirteen were very different than the first twelve, as the three of us trudged on... and on... and on. Up a hill, down a hill, across a ridge, through a cow pasture, over many, many, many stiles. Let this be called "the Day of Stiles." Hiked past sunset, into the dark and then finally we made out the faint outline of the shelter. Were greeted with a growl from a dog, but he soon warmed up. Skipped dinner for a few snacks and crashed hard. Slept hard, too.
Date: 2003-05-06
From: Uncle Johnny's

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Just wanted to tell everyone following my journals that I am safe and still out here on the Trail. It's just that I have been lazy with my town hours, which is where I usually update my journals via my pocketmail device. I am in Daleville, Virginia, and yesterday we pushed past the 700 mile mark. Just bought a skirt to hike in, and a summer bag, and now, the outfitter is letting me use his internet access.Much love and luck to all!
Date: 2003-05-11
From: Johns Hollow Shelter

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: light rain

Started this morning with every intention of doing a twenty-plus day, considering yesterday's single-digit miles, but it was not to be. Last night in camp, a Sobo named Camo came through, telling us about magic up the way, and WOW, was he right. At the twelfth mile, after a rainy morning, and after a downhill that killed my knees, I come across Little Irish Creek, where Renegade, otherwise known as the "Mileage Assassin", has set up camp for the week to feed thru-hikers. Coleman stoves, battery-operated coffeemaker, five coolers with soda, hard-boiled eggs, cookies. Lucky made me a grilled cheese sandwich, and I have been lounging in a camp chair ever since. Dinner is coming up soon. So much for that twenty. Still hope to catch Lady tomorrow at the Dutch Haus B&B, then slow up to meet Stringbean and his friends. It just means 18 instead of 13 tomorrow. So, yeah, this "Mileage Assassin" did his job. On another 4 after dinner.
Date: 2003-05-12
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: The Dutch Haus
Miles today: 18.1

Woke early with wierd dreams. I was camped across the creek from the shelter, right by the water, and was up with the light. Skipped the hot breakfast for a honeybun (460 calories for 50 cents!) and headed up a long uphill that just about killed me. And the grade would have been enough, but the wind just about blew me off te mountain. Hiked alone all day. At one point, I came across a field and to the left was a tree swing near a fire circle. So I stopped and had a swing, touched the branches with my toes. Continued on, and it was some lovely hiking. I had set up a shuttle pickup, though, for the B&B, at four-thirty, so pauses were brief. Hit Fish Hatchery Road at four, and followed the directions down to the pickup. Now I'm here, showered and my feet are swollen something fierce, being out of the boots and out of the socks. There's something they call the "hiker shuffle," which is the hobble that we all do once we are free of packs and boots. So for as much as I want the boots off each night, the only time I walk normally is when I put them back on again in the morning.It doesn't help, of course, that my boots are shot. They have gashes in them from the rocks, thorns, branches, and I can feel every stone and twig I step on through the soles. Hopefully, I'll get a new pair in Waynesboro or back at Trail Days, in Damascus. Staying at the Dutch Haus, which I think is the nicest place yet, with perhaps the exception of Elmer's. The owners do daily free lunches for hikers (who said there's no such thing?), and those who wish to stay get room, a real bed, (with quilts! hurray!), breakfast, shower, laundry, and the place is just beautiful. A log lodge, with a dining/ sitting room with floor-to-ceiling windows so we can watch the competition between the birds and squirrels at the feeders. The owners, Earl and Lois, are just wonderful. There's a good balance between their-home and our-place-to-stay which I have found rare out here. Here tonight are Lady, Bearly, Lunaire, Tampopo and Six String. Smoky got hurt and had to drop.
Date: 2003-05-13
From: The Dutch Haus

To: The Priest Shelter
Miles today: 4.6
Weather: few clouds

Wow, I kicked ass today. Second single-digit day in a week. Slept incredibly well in a real bed. Woke to apple pancakes, eggs, melon and orange, fres coffee, juice. And then Lois was gracious tolet me hang around the house until noon, when Stringbean, Goldberry and Lucky were coming for the free lunch, as well as Summer and Ben, Stringbean's friends from home, who have come to hike for a few days. Said good-bye to Bearly, who was taking a zero there to rest, and to allow Hotfoot to catch up. I hope catch up to him after Trail Days. Lois drove us up to the trailhead and we were hiking again at two. Of course, everyone that I was with had already done ten miles before lunch. So we walked a half mile. Climbed Spy Rock (Which was an experience, since it was my first day hiking in a skirt, and man, was it windy up there!)While we were up there, Miss Kitty caught up to us-- she and Orb had taken a zero in Glasgow, to visit some of Kitty's friends. She proceeded to inform us that Orb was right behind us and had packed out a pineapple, since Lucky had suggested it days before. So we waited, and sure enough, up strolled Orb with a pineapple head poking out of the top of his pack. We hiked on in a train to The Priest Shelter, where we set up camp, Lucky started a fire, Kitty baked a cinnamon swirl cake, and Orb cut up the pineapple. Good day, great company.
Date: 2003-05-16
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: light rain

Skipped breakfast in preparation for the AYCE pancake challenge at Weasie's in Waynesboro. Stringbean and I had been talking shit to each other for days. 19 was the women's record, set by Chaos only days before, and the men's was 24. Well, I got to six and lost a little in the parking lot. Stringbean took 7. They were HUGE. Ten seems an inhuman feat. 19? 24?!? That's just insane.Packed all of us and packs into three cars: Summer, Snail, Sally, Ben, Stringbean, Kitty, Orb, Goldberry and me, and after a brief stop for food and beer, we were off south to Damascus and Trail Days.Three weeks of hiking in under four hours. Wow. The highway signs blew by: Glasgow, Daleville, Atkins, Damascus. Listened to the new Ben Harper, Ween, Outkast. Arrived in Damascus and the reunions began: Snappy, Puff-puff, Knuckles and Gaiter, Bubbalooga, Crystal and Josh, Juke and PR, Blazin' J and Joe, Smoky. Saw the Bishop, who I'd not seen since my first hundred miles, and Notes, who I lost in Erwin. Best of all, I think, were Knuckles and Gaiter, who exlained to us that they had hiked into Damascus two weeks before, and had set up camp with the "blue-blazin'hiker trash," or, in plainspeak, the loca hobos, down by the river. The had been working at the Sidetrack Cafe,but were planning on hiking out after Traildays. We wandered until it got dark, then wandered more in the dark. Tent city was a madhouse. There were just so many people. Thousands and thousands in cars and tarps and tents and hammocks scattered between several areas in the trees by the river.Found Tampopo, Six and Smoky later, after a long and arduous search of tent city, and stayed at their camp and drank some of their beer for a while. Good to see Smoky again, since he came off. Stumbled home to my tent around one or two, afer the boys wandered off, and man, did I sleep hard. Woke with a slight headache.
Date: 2003-05-18
From: Charlottesville VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Started the morning packing up and saying good-bye to people I will have to catch up with next week: Kitty, Orb, Stringbean, Goldberry. Dad is picking me up this afternoon, and we're going to spend a few days together before I hit Shenandoah. Went down to the park, talked gear with the reps. Got some silnet to patch my raincover, looked for some replacement pants, went to get my feet looked at, but they didn't have boots that suited me, and I have to drive to Charlottsville to an outfitter who will help me out. So now I am here, everyone I know having left town. I am eating pizza and waiting for dad, who, in perfect form, will be two hours late. I am not quite sure how next week will work out: I want to catch my friends, but I have to break in new boots. So I don't know how I'll manage the miles. Such a conundrum. Come on, Dad, hurry up.
Date: 2003-05-21
From: Skyline Drive- mile 95.3

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 23.4
Weather: moderate rain

Woke at the motel, and Dad had me hiking by ten-thirty. Didn't see anyone until the shelter at the tenth mile out. Pushed on from there at two-thirty, more than thirteen miles still ahead of me. Spent them swapping from the new boots to the chacos and back again. The new boots mash my little toes, and after only fourteen miles of wear, I'm pretty sure I made a bad choice. Don't really know what to do, but I know that I have to deal with this at least through Shenandoah, and a hundred miles of foot pain is looking worse and worse by the minute.Hiked into the evening, and wow, was it a great time to hike. Saw about thirty deer after five o clock, most of them completelu unafraid of me. They just moved off the trail as I went by. One time, the brush was so thick on either side of the trail that they couldn't bound off. I ended up being the caboose of a train, chasing two deer, only feet ahead of me, down a stretch of trail. And better yet! About four miles before the shelter, I heard a crash to my left and looked to see the tail end of a blackbear off into the green. I was bummed I didn't see him first, that my first bear sighting would only be his rear, but then he stopped, turned around and looked at me over his shoulder. He reminded me of Cagney a little, the stance that he held. So he watched me and I watched him, and debated taking out my camera. But then he turned and continued on.What struck me most is how unafraid I felt. I was just excited, elated, and without concern. And I don't think it is a careless reaction. I've been thinking since Dad's visit-- I grew very anxious being out of the woods for four days, and I think I took my frustration out on him. I don't realize it, though, until I've been hiking for an hour or so, and I just feel a giant exhalation. I just feel like aaaaahhhhhhhhh... And that's what seeing this bear was like. Completely natural and appropriate. I start to realize that I am living in the woods, cohabitating with these creatures. It's an amazing thing, the loss of fear. I remember when dark woods would scare me.
Date: 2003-05-22
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Bearfence Mountain Hut
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: overcast clouds

This ranks up there with my two other worst days hiking. Broke camp late, moved slowly, due to leg and foot pain from new boots and insoles. Saw few people all day, and my last seven miles hurt as bad as the last two of my longest day-- the one out of Partnership Shelter. Additionally, it was wet, cold, and miserable. There is a silver lining though: I picked the right outfitter to buy the wrong boots from. I talked to them this morning, and they're bouncing me a new pair of boots in Front Royal, taking these ones back, muddy and with a hundred miles of wear on them, without charging me for them. And if the new boots don't work out, they'll take those back, too. They want my feet to be happy. So, Doug and Gil at Blue Ridge Mountain Outfitters in Charlottesville, you rock! Thank you so much. In the middle of the twenty, for a few miles, I was so relieved that I forgot about my feet for a moment.
Date: 2003-05-29
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Shenandoah River Bridge
Miles today: 28.9

Hallelujah, we're in the quadruple-digits, and what a way to do it.The day started normally enough. I broke camp early and began the "rollercoaster," a 13-mile section of trail that goes up and down some seven ridges. Stopped into the Bear's Den hostel, a beautiful facility owned by the ATC. Historic stone building, but the grounds were what caught my breath: immaculately groomed flowerbeds, birdbaths, swings and benches. I could spend some time there.Met Bliss there, and together we decided to go down into a restaurant a half mile on, in Snickers Gap. While there, BobMikeBob and Suebear rolled in, with a beagle in tow. It, along with another, followed them up the trail. They caught the one, but the other was so skittish that they lost it. I'd been stopped by their owner earlier, and so called up to Bear's Den and left a message for the guy.We were gifted some long-distance trail magic, from Dodger, who couldn't hike this year, but called Tracee, the restaurant's owner, and covered the first ten dollars of hikers' bills. So beer, fish sandwich, onion rings, coffee... cost me a whopping fifty cents. Thanks, Dodger!After lunch, Suebear and I ran the dog back up to Bear's Den, where we knew the owner had been looking, and then returned down the gap and moved on. Now almost five, I didn't figure I would make the twenty-one that I had planned. I decided to stop at a free hostel at eighteen, though I would probably have to tent on the lawn. And that's when it happened. I wa just sitting there, filtering water at a stream, minding my business, when BobMikeBob hike up and announce that they are going "all the way". It takes me a minute to figure out what they mean... surely not! All the way...to...Harper's Ferry? I look at my watch. Five. Hmmmm... So I hopped on the freight train. Soon after, Suebear joined too. Team Outlaw looked at us like we'd lost our marbles. But, yes, we would attempt a thirty. Hiked through dusk, past the turnoff for the hostel. Strapped headlamps on. Stumbled over rocks. Slurped through, yes, even more mud. Arrived at the shelter at twenty-one around ten, and went in for water and a break. As I massaged my feet, Red came up, having been tented there and unable to sleep. I told him the plan and he hopped on the train too. Took him ten minutes to break camp. And the next nine miles were hellish. My feet screamed, then whimpered, then screamed louder. I thumped rocks and slid. My newly-liberated ankles got a workout. Hiking turned into stumbling turned into hobbling. More than one of us took spills. But then we hit the river, and we had arrived. We would have kept going to- we heard rumors that the outfitter let hikers sleep on their porch-- but it was uncertain. And here we had a nice, wide, dry, albeit noisy highway bridge to sleep under. So we spread out the thermarests on the concrete and we were all asleep in fifteen minutes, before the timex beeped three a.m. We broke a thousand a little before midnight.
Date: 2003-05-30
From: Shenandoah River Bridge

To: Harpers Ferry Hostel
Miles today: 3.1
Weather: clear sky

Started the day in the wee hours of morning, but we won't count those...Wke around seven-something, after a whopping four hours of rest, and broke camp damn fast. Hiked a couple of miles into town, and we had arrived.Harpers Ferry is said to be the psychological halfway point for hikers, though the real one is still north. I don't quite know what to feel about all this halfway business. A few weeks ago, I was sad thinking about it, but now, with this week of a) rain and b) the resulting swamp-trail, I am pretty excited.Breakfasted, went to the ATC headquarters, where I got my picture taken. I am number 171 to pass northbound through Harpers Ferry this year. One day behind Lady and two behind Stringbean.Met Nastyman and Sasquatch there, who we'd shared Terrapin Station Hostel with the week before, and since Sasquatch had his van in town, he took us to Charlestown for a resupply and we treated them to AYCE at the Golden Corral.Now I'm barely out of town, at the closest place I could find to do laundry. I am a mile and a half ahead of the crowd, and I hope that's enough to keep me moving forward. Tomorrow, the chase begins again.
Date: 2003-06-01
From: Pine Knob Shelter

To: Devil's Racecourse Shelter
Miles today: 12.7

Miles: 12.7Total: 1043.7Someone is playing a mean trick on the class of 2003. I woke this morning and the thermometer read 45 degrees. On the first of June. Bean told me that Bearly was counting, and that there were 29 straight days in May that it rained at some time. That's just cruel.Lazy morning. Left around ten, stopped up to Annapolis Rocks, met the trail crew up there, mosied on to the next shelter for a late lunch. Stopped by some big rocks and sat for a little while for the view. Hatched a plan with Bean to backpack Argentina. By the time we reached turnoff for the next shelter, everyone had set up, and a fire was going. Since it was .3 down and said to be steep, we didn't even bother going down to the shelter. Nice camp area: lots of flat areas, enough for the tents to be well-spaced apart. Cooked, sat around. Went to bed. Not a terribly eventful day, but it was very good to hike with Bean again.
Date: 2003-06-01
From: South Mt. Wilcox Shelter

To: US20 
Miles today: 17.4

Started today way too early. I got out of my tent at six-thirty, and Jersey, Nathan and the section hikers were already gone. Wicked was the only one still around. Cooked breakfast and had a lazy start. We had all day to do seventeen miles. My Uncle Dave and Aunt Joan were picking us up at seven at US20. At ten, I only had eleven miles to go. Eleven miles in nine hours? Yeah, a little ridiculous. Not long after, Bean caught up and then we caught Jersey and Wizard, and all decided to take a break in the middle of the trail. And we sat there for an hour. Then had lunch. Then got up to mosey another five miles, where we found Nathan sprawled out on the trail. Four miles to go, and there were four hours left. So we took another break. Another two miles, break by the pond. Another mile, break on the I-90 bridge. This was way cool for me. I have been driving under that bridge all my life, every time I came to visit family in Massachusetts. I got there and I felt like I was already home. I layed on my pack there on the concrete and took a power nap, while the guys threw rocks at each other. Another half mile, and in no time, Aunt Joan pulled up. Yahoo! Then Uncle David, maybe a half hour later. In the time it took for me to shower, the guys finished off a bag of jalapeno chips, and two bags of Chips Ahoy. I made a run to ChaChaCha for burritos with my Uncle, and now we are full, clean, and very, very, very comfy. A real bed tonight. Hazzah.
Date: 2003-06-02
From: Devil"s Racecourse Shelter

To: Tumbling Run Shelters
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

Miles: 13.2Total: 1056.9Broke camp last today. Visited High Rock on a blue-blaze, and found 2x4 there, and he and I hiked together to Pen-Mar park, just shy of the Maryland-Pennsylvania border.And there we sat for hours. The weather gave us a break and it was suny. Kitty caught up. We layed on the grass and played on the swings, and the boys lamented the loss of Lucky, who had pushed ahead, since he carries a frisbee. Tried to order afood, but the restaurant was closed. I convinced Orb and Bean to stay for sunset-- the park had a pavilion which faced due west, over a wide valley and to the mountains far beyond. In the late afternoon, Kool-Aid Luke rolled in, then Disco, Chunky, Bliss, Snail, Sally, Sticky-Fingers, Suebear, BobMikeBob. Bean and Orb hadn't seen all of them for a while, so there was a little reunion. Kitty and Goldberry pushed on.So I cooked dinner at the pavilion, saw a completely un-spectacular sunset (clouds rolled in at the last minute), and then night-hiked another eight miles. The miles went fast; it was perhaps my most enjoyable night-hike yet, though at one pointI stepped into a hole and fell completely forward, twisting my ankle and also my wrist, which caught in my hiking pole strap. Whenever falls like that happen I freak out just a little, and then am just thankful that nothing came of it. Reminds me of how easily I could be forced off the trail. One fall would do it. We found Goldberry and Kitty camped on a baseball diamond. But I didn't feel like tenting, so Orb and I pushed another mile to the next shelters, two side-by-side, one labeled "snoring" and the other, "non-snoring". Someone understands the sleep-deprived hiker's plight. They were both completely empty, and so we took places in the non-snoring one, and I slept better than I have in a while.
Date: 2003-06-03
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Birch Run Shelters
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: light rain

Miles: 19.6Total: 1076.5The day started out innocently enough. Goldberry and Kitty woke up me and Orb on their way through. We broke camp and I was the last to head out, since I had to get water. Ten miles out, Bean would wait for me, and so around noon we went a few tenths of a mile down the road to an Italian restaurant, where I had pasta, bread and salad, and the packed out a sub for the next day.While we were at the restaurant, though, the weather turned really, really, REALLY ugly.The rain picked up, and the temperature dropped considerably. Bean pushed ahead, hiking his own pace to keep warm, and I kept moving, too-- no breaks in the second half of the day, since taking one would mean getting really chilled, and fast.I was extremely frustrated and just miserable. My spirits were really down, and I was afraid the weather was slowing my pace, that I would get to the shelter really late. When I saw the sign that read 2.3 miles until the shelter, I was so relieved!So I reached the shelters before six, and found that they were TINY. Each one only slept four, and had barely any overhang to stash gear. One was filled: GB, Kitty, Orb and Bean, so I grabbed a spot in the other, with a mother and daughter who were out sectioning (a very refreshing thing to see). Between the two shelters was another new, huge one, but it as of yet had no floor. Firefly, whose brother and girlfriend came out to hike a few days, rolled in after me. They ended up pulling plywood planks over the beams and sleeping there.As for me, I was trembling with cold. I rolled out my bag and crawled in. The mother and daughter gave me some of their dinner, which was so generous, considering that we had all been out in this weather, and were all suffering the same. I managed to coax myself out of the shelter long enough to get water and hit he privy before bed.And the night was as awful as the day. I woke up shivering throughout the night. I just could not get warm. I tried to dry out my socks by wearing them to sleep, but I was simply not producing enough body heat. So my feet were saturated and frigid all night. It was some of the worst weather I have suffered out here, only aggravated by the irony: this is June.I remember back in March, I got two sunburns in my first three weeks. Hah.