morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-13
From: Brushy Mountain

To: Chatfield shelter
Miles today: 8.9
Weather: clear sky

8:40 PM Chatfield shelterI am actually spending the night in a shelter. It has rained off and on all day. The shelter is dry. It is not crowded. I arrived at 6:00 PM to find the shelter comparatively empty. I had spread my wet stuff all over the shelter and started cooking my dinner when Little Chicken and Mama Bird arrived. After shifting stuff around a bit, we are all settled in very cozy.I slept very well last night. A whippoorwill was making a big racket before I went to sleep, but it quit pretty soon. I slept late ¢ 6:15. When my tent and gear is not wet, I can get packed up pretty quickly. I left camp at 8:30 for an easy walk to the Partnership shelter. I took a shower in the warm water and washed socks, bandanas and underwear in the sink. Such luxury! Of course, my damp laundry guaranteed that it would rain on me today. I can¢t count how many times I moved wet laundry into the pack cover bag and put on all my rain gear. Then the rain would stop, and the laundry would go back on the pack and the pack cover would go back into the bag.The magnolias are in full bloom and full leaf now. I saw a brilliant pink azalea today, but on the whole there were fewer flowers today. The mayapples are in bloom.Yesterday I saw a red fox in the trail. It saw me and scurried down the trail for a bit and then leaped in into a clump of bushes. It certainly is a pretty animal. Too bad it wouldn¢t hold still for my admiration.Today in the trail I saw a pile of beautiful feathers. With all the coyote scat I have seen in the trail, I am pretty sure the feathers were the peelings from a coyote snack. I selected 2 tiny feathers ¢ red at the tip, then a band of white, then gray at the base. I thought of the scripture verse "Not a sparrow falls¢¦you are worth more than many sparrows." I think of the song "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me." The feathers are tucked into the pages of my Bible. I want to remember the pattern of feathers on the trail.
Date: 2004-05-14
From: Chatfield shelter

To: Crawfish Valley
Miles today: 10.8

9:45 PM Crawfish ValleyIt has been a busy day. I left the shelter with my laundry on my pack, still not dry. Nearly five miles later, a man coming up behind me called to me. He had one of my socks in his hand that he found about a mile from the shelter. It must have caught on a branch, pulling the safety pin open. I am very glad he took the trouble to return it to me. Hikers are like that. They try to help each other.I reached US 11 at 11:00 AM. I had covered the 4.2 miles in less than 2 1/2 hours. I checked with Darryl at the Village Motel about a shuttle but he had to go to Tennessee to take care of family matters. I am not sure what we will do about the car getting to the trail when John gets here. I went to the truckstop and bought too many candy and granola bars. I shouldn¢t have bought them when I was so hungry. I had a barbecue sandwich, French fries and a banana split at the Dairy Queen.It took me 6 hours to go the next 6.3 miles. The terrain was significantly more challenging. I was able to get my camp set up before dark in the same general area where Little Chicken and Mama Bird and Gaiter Woman (?) had camped. I enjoyed my supper, which included lambs quarters that I had found near US 11.
Date: 2004-05-15
From: Crawfish Valley

To: OÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂLystery Picnic Area
Miles today: 5.5

5:50 PM O¢Lystery Picnic AreaI am actually in the AT parking lot immediately adjacent to the Ceres Ruritan picnic shelter, which is plainly marked "private property," "no camping here," etc. I had a nice leisurely hike today after a pleasant night at Crawfish Valley.The flowers that spoke to me yesterday were the regal deep pink rhododendron and the exuberant flame azaleas. I saw the dense masses of the overshadowing rhododendron as the rulers of the forest understory. Then, in a little space here and there, the thin arms of the brilliant orange azaleas would throw themselves up into the light with a color like mischievous fire. I was happily surprised by the pink lady¢s slipper beside the trail on the steep climb up to Davis Path shelter. As I was coming over Walker Mountain today, the flame azaleas helped to make a good morning. On the north slope of Walker Mountain, I saw more Jack-in-the-pulpits along the trail than I have ever seen before. I had always thought of them as something rare and difficult to find ¢ not so on Walker Mountain.Today the big deal was the frequent siting of notices that the AT is a narrow corridor of easements through private property in this area. I climbed more styles today than I can count. My sticks can¢t help me climb styles. In my pre-break exhaustion when I arrived at VA Rt. 610, I carelessly tossed my sticks over the style and Kat¢s stick fell right into a vigorous spray of poison ivy. I had to perform surgery ¢ remove all the splints and amputate the top of the stick so I could bathe away possible poison ivy contamination. I applied a clean bandana to the truncated top for my handle. Kat¢s Stick is now considerably shorter, but still functional. I strapped the amputated limb onto my pack. Soon it will go home to Decatur to rest in peace.
Date: 2004-05-16
From: OÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂLystery Picnic Area

To: Chestnut Ridge Pond
Miles today: 9.3

9:45 PM Chestnut Ridge PondJohn and I worked hard today. We started hiking a little late because of the ride to Bland to leave the car, then the long ride with our driver to the point on VA Rt. 42 where John had retrieved me the night before. I was tired from not getting enough sleep at the motel. I had a hard time falling asleep. Then, when it was 5:15 AM, I was so focussed on what I wanted to accomplish before setting out that I got up and started to work.We had our breakfast of oatmeal at the campsite hear the parking area at VA Rt. 42. The chief pleasure of the day for me was seeing the show of rare flowers. The flame azaleas always make me smile. Late in the day, as we were climbing up the ridge, I saw a clump of yellow lady¢s slippers.
Date: 2004-05-17
From: Chestnut Ridge Pond

To: Jenkins shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: light rain

10:35 PM Jenkins shelterWe worked hard to get here before dark, and we made it. Dinner was in the dark, but that was OK. The headlamp was working find. The best sights today were all the pink lady¢s slippers, coming down Garden Mountain. The flame azaleas kept us encouraged. At one point, high on the ridge, were some pink azaleas that smell like nutmeg or allspice. John found a lady¢s slipper on the trail that had been broken by someone¢s stick. I carried it in my sternum strap for a while but it fell out while I was storming down the trail.I fell down today. I slipped on the wet path and landed on my butt and left arm. It took a while to figure out how to stand up without taking off my pack. I did it.
Date: 2004-05-18
From: Jenkins shelter

To: Va. 612, Kimberling Creek
Miles today: 12.3

9:55 PM Va. 612, Kimberling CreekJohn and I hiked a relatively smooth trail today, but it still takes me a long time to go uphill. Even with two sticks, my knees are protesting. It is hard to keep my feet dry when hiking as fast as we needed to go to make the miles we planned. Yesterday we hiked trough a downpour of a thunderstorm. My feet got soaked. The waterproofing on my boots are completely worn off. Today I slipped on a creek crossing and fell in the creek. My feet were soaked again. I didn¢t get any blisters until I reached Virginia. Now I am nursing four of them.
Date: 2004-05-20
From: Jenny Knob shelter

To: Dismal Creek
Miles today: 12.5

4:30 PM Dismal Falls trailheadToday has not been fun for me. All my best hiking socks are still wet. I started my day with a slightly damp pair of Thorlon socks. The sun was shining when I left the shelter, but the humidity was about 100%. One really nice thing is that I saw a pink lady¢s slipper on the shelter trail as I walked up the hill. I had missed seeing it when I was crashing down the trail at dusk. I hadn¢t been hiking half an hour when rain started to pour down. My feet have been in the same wet socks and boots since 10:00 AM. The blister on my right heel is bigger than before. I have hiked all day looking for a dry place to take off my boots and get my socks dry. It was 4:00 PM when I finally came to an open spot with sun. I have been listening to heavy equipment at some sort of timber operation down in the valley below since about 2:00 PM. I was closest to the place about 3:15, which is when the "beep-beep-beep" of machinery backing up was about to drive me absolutely insane. Now I can barely hear the machinery. I mostly hear the wind in the trees and the roaring of Dismal Falls. Another nice thing is that I have been greeting in a friendly way by the hikers who have passed me today, Sierra Marmot, Chill Out, and Cuppa Joe. I fell right after Chill Out passed me. He had mentioned going to see the falls, and I started hiking faster¢clearly too fast for me. I tripped on a rock and went flying past the sticks. I grabbed a tree as I flew by, but the pack kept going. I spun around the tree and fell over backwards into the bushes. I thanked God I didn¢t fall into poison ivy. Speaking of poison ivy, I had a headache at one point today from concentrating so hard on staying out of the poison ivy. There were some stretches of the trail where it was impossible to avoid brushing against it.I have been hiking two days now with "Second Stick" and "Mama¢s Stick." I think they are going to be just fine, but obviously I can still fall down.9:40 PM Dismal CreekThe Falls of Dismal are quite nice. I¢m glad I walked down the 1/4 mile trail after I put my boots on after my dry-the-feet break. I enjoyed the hike in the evening. The trail mostly followed old roads, so the treadway was usually wide, and there was very little poison ivy. I had some worries starting about 7:15, when I didn¢t see any likely campsites. Southern Man had passed me about 6:30. He said he planned to stay at the stream that was 4 miles from the Dismal Falls trail. At 7:45, I met Southern Man coming back down the trail toward me. He was coming to check on a blue-blazed trail to see if he had passed the shelter. I assured him that the shelter was still about 2 miles further. He then encouraged me by saying there were some good campsites about 10 minutes away. He led the way across a bridge over a small tributary of Dismal Creek to a rhododendron thicket. I set up my tent with plenty of daylight left, but cooked with my headlamp because it is really dark under the rhododendron. The sound of the creek is quite soothing.
Date: 2004-05-21
From: Dismal Creek

To: Woodshole bunkhouse
Miles today: 7.9

9:35 PM Woodshole bunkhouseThe hike today was delightful. I wrote the day before yesterday about wanting to savor every inch of the trail. Yesterday the taste was bitter. Today was sweet. Sugar Run Mountain was glorious with flame, pink and fragrant early azaleas. I saw 2 pink lady¢s slippers. The one I saw at 12:30 PM today was slightly twisted to one side. I like to think she was pointing me to the place I had been seeking all the previous day¢a place in the sun to dry my wet things. I spread my socks out on 2 large rocks beside the trail. I pulled out my mattress, sleeping bag, tent and rain gear and laid them all out on the bushes. It looked like my pack had exploded on the trail. Two hikers came by during my lunch bread. I apologized for creating an eyesore on the trail, but they were each very understanding.It was heavenly to put on dry socks. I happily repacked everything and finished the climb up Sugar Run Mountain. I startled a toad on the trail, but I talked soothingly to it about it beautiful spots, and it seemed satisfied to stay there beside the trail. I remembered the young deer I saw yesterday evening. I startled it in the trail, and it moved a short distance off the trail and watched me to see if I posed enough of a threat to move it to flee. We gazed at each other for about one minute. Then I moved on. I saw no need to interfere with a deer browsing in its own habitat.I enjoyed looking out at Wilburn Valley down to Pearisburg. When I got to the rock outcroppings along the summit of Sugar Run Mtn, the rhododendron in that sunny location were in full bloom. I decided to check out Woodshole because it is so famous, and because the write-up in the Thru-Hikers¢ Companion sounded so irresistable. I thought that I could go back to the trail if it seemed inappropriate for me to stay the night. When I arrived at 6:00 PM, I was the third guest. It seemed that I might be able to sleep in a bunkhouse that had only a few people. Of course, after I decided to stay, there was no turning back. Five people arrived after I did. Now we have a full house. It is an interesting, lively crew. We are all looking forward to Ms. Tillie¢s breakfast. I did enjoy my warm shower¢passive solar heated by running through coils of black hose on the bunkhouse porch roof. Chasqui was the first guest. His shower was warm. Gator Dan was after me. He said the water was almost too hot. Minus One had a lukewarm shower. No Worries had a cold shower. I didn¢t ask if anyone else took a shower.
Date: 2004-05-22
From: Woodshole bunkhouse

To: Pearisburg - Holy Family Hostel
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: few clouds

11:00PM Holy Family HostelI am too sleepy to write, but I wanted to note that I walked 12 miles today, even if only 10 were on the AT. Now or Never and I walked most of the way to the hostel. We tried to hitch a ride, but we were 2/3 of the way to the hostel before Russ picked us up. He was headed to the hostel to pick up hikers for a dinner party. The party ran late, but laundry was one service the Smiths were offering at their house. I now have clean and dry clothes.
Date: 2004-05-24
From: Pearisburg

To: Campsite on Peters Mtn.
Miles today: 8.7

8:45 PM Campsite on Peters Mtn.I got up this morning at 5:30 because I was hungry, and I wanted pancakes. Now or Never was certainly enthusiastic about the pancakes. I made almost the whole box worth of pancakes. I added egg powder and whole milk powder to make the pancakes richer. They were really good. Five of us ate most of the pancakes, but at least four more people ate some of them. We used up all the squeeze margarine and most of the syrup.Making pancakes and having people rave about them was one of the most fun things about staying at Holy Family Hostel. Seeing all the maintenance tasks that need to be done was not much fun. Scrubbing a musty shower and washing rugs by hand is not a lot of fun, neither is scrubbing the insides of stinky garbage cans. But there is satisfaction in achieving a certain level of order, in which the stench of filth doesn¢t drive me to distraction.Trying to avoid cigarette smoke is not fun. That is the very worst thing about being at shelters and hostels. I had an attack of asthma on Sunday afternoon and this morning triggered by smoke. I was trying to keep all my stuff on the porch to have it out of everyone¢s way and to stay dry. Most of the smoking happened on the porch, so there were several times when I couldn¢t finish a task because I had to leave the porch until the smoke was gone. This morning, I hauled my pack and everything to the concrete pad beside the front door. It wasn¢t raining, and no one was smoking in that spot. It turned out to be a good thing that my pack was there and that I was packing up all my stuff early, because Bill came at 7:30 to see who wanted a ride. I was expecting him at 9:00. He said he wouldn¢t be back from his shuttling paying customers until 10:00. I scrambled to get my tent pulled together, balled the wet thing up in a big plastic trash bag and threw everything in the back of his truck. He dropped us at Dairy Queen, which happily had a patio. I proceeded to take up half the patio with my wet tent. I then bought hot chocolate and hash browns. I went to the post office at 8:30, leaving my pack in the vestibule of the DQ and my tent still spread out on the patio. I finally was satisfied that the tent was reasonably dry and set off for the trail at 10:00. I wish there was not so much poison ivy on the trail in damp and sunny spots near civilization. I have to work hard to avoid brushing against it. Crossing the New River Bridge wasn¢t too bad. There is a lot of noise from traffic, but there is a separate walkway, so it feels safe. After crossing the bridge, the main feature of the landscape is the Celanese factory. The noise of the machinery was continuous from the time I crossed the bridge at 10:45 AM until I was high on the mountain at 2:30 PM. Then the noise was intermittently audible until about 3:30. I can still hear the train that runs beside the river. This campsite is not as quiet as I would like, but it will do.
Date: 2004-05-25
From: Campsite on Peters Mtn.

To: Pine Swamp Branch shelter
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: broken clouds

9:45 PM   Pine Swamp Branch shelterI am too sleepy to write. Maybe tomorrow.5:30 AMNow I am too hungry to sleep, and I don¢t want to start cooking in the dark and disturb the shelter residents. I will at least wait until 6:00. I have been rained on every night for a week except one at Dismal Creek. I shouldn¢t count the night at Woodshole because I wasn¢t in my tent, but the rain on the tin roof was noisy enough to count for me. At least I didn¢t have to pack up a wet tent. I left camp yesterday with a wet tent and wet food bags in my pack. The thunderstorm during the night was very bright and loud, and lasted about 2 hours. I didn¢t want to go outside in the rain to pee at 2:00 AM. I managed to go back to sleep, but at 2:45, it was necessary to go out in the rain, or I would have to cope with a wet, messy sleeping bag. Fortunately, the sun was very bright and there was a nice breeze when I reached Symms Meadow Gap at noon. I stayed there for 2 hours with my stuff all hung out on the line until everything was nice and dry. Now everything, except the food bags and pack, is damp again. I hung the food and pack in the shelter with the Virginia Creepers, Mary and Marge. They have stayed in the shelter the past three nights with a fire going day and night, trying to dry their things from a soaking rain on Sunday afternoon. I think they would be better of packing everything out of this damp little cove and moving to a drier spot. That is what I plan to do as soon as I get my breakfast.The walk over Peters Mountain yesterday was good, but I am getting more and more ready to go home. I enjoyed seeing familiar flowers¢geraniums, violets, fire pinks, flame azaleas¢and some I have not seen before. I will hope to find their names in some wildflower books. I enjoyed seeing some unusual rock formations as compensation for the steep climb up to 3500 ft. I was very tired and out of water about 15 minutes before I got to the Pine Swamp Brand shelter, but I didn¢t want to put my pack down and get all the water gathering equipment out, which would mean that I had to pack it up again and pick up a pack heavy with water. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other until I got to the shelter. I saw the place I would put my tent and headed straight for that spot to put my pack down. I was almost too tired to speak to Professor Pete and Scrubs, but I managed a greeting anyway. I smiled at the Virginia Creepers, but didn¢t talk to them until after I had gotten my water and gotten my tent set up in the intermittent, teasing rain. I should be very grateful that the main thunderstorm of the afternoon passed me without dumping its full force on top of me. I am grateful. I have slept well the past week, in spite of the noises of the rain, etc.
Date: 2004-05-26
From: Pine Swamp Branch shelter

To: Campsite on Potts Mtn.
Miles today: 9.0

9:20 PM   Campsite on Potts Mtn.Today was more difficult than I had hoped. It took me 9 hours to go from Pine Swamp Branch to the campsite where I planned to stay. The climb from Stony Creek to the Bailey Gap shelter was supposed to be 1.1 miles. It took me 2 hours. Other have complained in the shelter register that it was more than 1.1 miles. But whenever I needed encouragement, I would see a flame azalea in glorious bloom. The jewel of the day was rusty orange salamander with two rows of spots on its back. It was right in the middle of the trail. I have learned what stinging nettles look like. Most of the plants are about knee high at this point in the season. Now I have another nasty plant to watch out for all the time.The water filter is almost done for. It is taking more and more time to filter a liter or two of water. If I try to pump fast, the water squirts out the safety release. Today (this evening) I was standing in icy water for 30 minutes during a raging thunderstorm getting water for my supper. The more convenient water source, the pipe in the stream, was running red mud. I knew the filter would choke on that. I wonder when the filter is going to quit completely. I set up the tent in the rain, just before it started pouring cats and dogs. It would have been nice to climb into a nice warm sleeping bag until the rain stopped, but I was too hungry. It was so dark at 6:40 that I almost needed my headlamp to see my gear. Fortunately, the rain started to ease up about 7:30. I was able to sit in relative comfort to cook my supper, and there was plenty of daylight. Unfortunately, I have a lot of wet stuff, but my sleeping bag and my warm clothes are dry. I will start out hiking tomorrow in wet clothes. I hope I get a chance to dry out sometime tomorrow.The thunderstorm was announcing itself for about 45 minutes before I actually arrived at water and my appointed campsite. The thunder started to boom really loud and the drops started falling as I reached Wind Rock. There I saw a tent fairly quivering with the nervous hiker inside it. I didn¢t really fear the lightening, and I was determined to get my supper, which required reaching water. A Taiz© song came to me, "My soul is at rest in God alone. My salvation comes from God." The rhythm of the song was just right for moving me ahead to my campsite.
Date: 2004-05-27
From: Campsite on Potts Mtn.

To: Laurel Creek shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: light rain

10:30 PM Laurel Creek shelterI had grand plans for a 16 mile day, but the rain yesterday foiled my plans. I enjoyed a nearly 3 hour break at War Spur shelter. I got there in good time, 3.7 miles in less than 2 hours. The sun was bright, so I took advantage of the abundant water of War Spur Creek to wash bandanas and underwear while my tent and everything else was getting dry. It took so long to get the tent completely dry that the bandanas were dry by the time I left War Spur. The afternoon hike was wonderful. There were more flame azaleas blooming on Johns Creek Mountain that I had ever seen in one location. The same goes for pink lady¢s slippers. I counted 29 in one stretch of trail. I included blooms that were withering or partially eaten, but not all the plants.I enjoyed some Trail Magic at Rocky Gap that was right on time. I was running low on snacks so the Snickers and the Big K Citrus Drop soda was a real boost for the late afternoon push to the shelter. The filter gave up the ghost completely at Laurel Creek. The plastic pin that holds the pump handle broke when I was trying to close the filter after cleaning it. It looks like I¢ll be drinking unfiltered water the rest of the hike.