morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-24
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Saunders Shelter
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Yeah! I saw a deer today! I heard it moving in the woods below the trail, and got to see it walking through the forest. It was a doe, no fawn, alas, but did not seem to know I was there. I watched until it was out of sight.Today was another beautiful sunny day, almost too warm at times. By the time I got to the shelter, I was rationing water, because I had sucked my 1.8 liter hydration pack dry, and was working on the 20-ounce bottle I carry. I may have to add another bottle to my system. When the weather is hot and sunny, you tend to drink a lot more to replace sweat losses.The trail so far in Virginia is beautifully maintained. Unlike North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, Virginia believes in switchbacks, rather than taking the trail straight up the mountainside. Also, when the trail goes through a rock slide area, they clear a path through it, instead of just expecting you to somehow scramble over the rocks. I love Virginia!The rhodies are blooming around the Saunders shelter. There are the earliest wild blooms I have seen. The domesticated varieties you see in towns seem to bloom earlier. The whole mountainside was pink and purple. Awesome!There are several people staying here that I know. Librarian is here, so named not because she's a librarian, but because she started the hike carrying 6 pounds of books. I am usually carrying a paperback, but not a 6-pound paperback! She has since sent some home...Also staying here are a couple of guys I met back at the Rock Gap Shelter, before I went off the trail there sick. One of them was the guy I had asked to notify Crutch (who was doing shuttles from the Budget Inn in Franklin) that I would be waiting at Rock Gap for a ride into Franklin. He remembered, I didn't!There are also a group of 3 section hikers who are doing the Elk Garden back to Damascus section like I am, except they cover the distance faster. They are all three med techs back in the D.C. area.This shelter is about 1/4 mile off the Trail, and the water source is about another 1/4 mile behind the shelter, but it's a good source, a piped spring. Water sources do tend to be downhill from the shelters, so you have an easy walk down with your empty water bag and filter, but then a harder climb back up when laden with the water.Again tonight, there are only three of us in the shelter and everyone else is tenting. The area surrounding the shelter has pine trees, and the ground has a soft covering of pine needles. I was tempted to set up my tent, but there is rain in the forecast, so I'm in the shelter. Tonight will be an early night. Backpackers tend to go to bed when it gets dark. Last night was a rarity out here with people sitting around a campfire and talking until 10:30 or so.Hiking back to Damascus tomorrow. It will be my longest day with a full pack yet.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-05-25
From: Saunders Shelter

To: Damascus
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Today's hike was great, though I was dragging by the time I got back to Damascus. It started out overcast, so I put my pack cover on. It spit a little rain early in the morning, but never enough that I even thought about putting on rain gear. It was sunny and hot in the afternoon, and I was wishing it would rain and cool things (like me!) off a little. And the final mile or so was walking alongside a lovely river with rapids. I just wanted to jump in.I'm staying tonight at Suzanne's Hikers Inn where I have a lovely bedroom in the house (she also has a bunkhouse that holds four.) My maildrops arrived and I have been sorting though them, selecting what I want to take, what I want to forward ahead, and what I want to put in the Hiker Box at the Place.Went to supper tonight at the Baja Cafe, where I ran into Kiwi, who I met in Dahlonega and have seen several times since, Socket (so named because he can pop his shoulders in and out of their sockets), and Rabbit, a woman I have heard of but not met. She is known for rescueing a dog that came into their camp area. It was emaciated but had a collar on that gave a phone number to call. Someone else in the camp had a cell phone, and amazingly enough for out here, service, and she called and the owners met her at the nearest road crossing. It was still quite a ways, and she had to carry the dog up the hills. It was a young dog but not a small one. The owners had only had it a few days when it got lost and it had been missing for several months.As we all sat at the Baja eating and drinking beer, the owner's had a trivia contest, in honor of Memorial Day. No prizes, not even free beer, but it was fun. We tied for first at 14 out of 25 correct. If Rabbit had been there the whole time, instead of outside at the pay phone, we would have won, because she knew the answers to several that we missed. Oh well, since there was no free beer involved...I plan on taking a zero day here tomorrow, and will be back on the trail Saturday. Got to get the laundry done, etc.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-05-26
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Zero day in Damascus.Have been to the laundromat, the outfitters, and at the library updating the journals on their computer. Spent the evening drinking beer at a pub with Crutch, Sweatbeast, Socker, and Rabbit. I have a shuttle back to Elk Garden at 8 a.m., and my next update will be in about a week.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-05-27
From: Damascus

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was an early start out of Damascus. The outfitter shuttled six of us up to Elk Garden, where the other five hiked south back toward Damascus, and I hiked north. The morning started off very cool, windy, and foggy. I stopped fairly quickly to shed my pack and put on more clothes. This is opposite of what usually happens, where you find that you need to remove layers when you get warmed up from hiking. Initially the hiking was through an open grassy field, then into woods that cut the wind some. Still, it was well over an hour before I had to stop and remove the extra layer I had added. Someone needs to design hiking clothes that can be put on and off without removing the backpack! Although I'm getting stronger, I still need a rock or log to set the backpack on to get into it, especially when it is heavy with 6 days food like right now.The trail was mostly uphill today, though there was no place it was terribly steep. This shelter is at 5400 feet, reportedly the highest shelter on the Trail. We are on the slopes of Mt. Rogers, which I think is the highest point in Virginia. I had imagined it as a steep craggy mountain; instead it slopes gently to the summit.Today was a short day because tomorrow I go through the Grayson Highlands, where herds of feral ponies roam. Though the ponies are feral, they are relatively tame and come up to hikers wanting handouts. I have brought an apple to share with them!Got to tell you about the privy here. There are all sorts of privies along the trail at the various shelters, and not all shelters have privies. Here the privy is across the Trail from the shelter, and not within sight. It is an elevated platform with a metal toilet on it, and it has only one wall that semi-screens it from anyone coming up the path towards it, otherwise it is completely open-air. I have taken pictures of it...See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-05-28
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 5.1
Weather: few clouds

I expected today to be really easy. The elevation profile on the map was practically flat. What it didn't show was the rocky outcrops, which some say are reminiscent of Montana. And naturally, the AT would never go around a rocky outcropping if it can send you right across the top of it! So there was a lot of rock scrambling today, requiring the use of both hands and feet, and occasionally on the downs, the seat of the pants.But it was very beautiful. The ponies were great, although I didn't see as many as I had hoped. I fed the apple to a mare who looked like she was going to give birth any day. I figured a pregnant woman needed a little pampering! I petted her and several other ponies including couple of colts.There were a lot of day hikers out today, probably because it's a holiday weekend. One group that I ran into and stopped to talk with were from Georgia, and one of the woman is Lisa Conroy's aunt, for those I work with. Lisa worked with us through a travel agency, and is now working in London. Small world...We went through Rhododendron Gap, where officials were searching for a horseback rider who was struck by lightening night before last. They had found his horse, dead, but had not found the man yet. They didn't know if it would be a rescue or a recovery.The trail went through a natural rock tunnel called Fatman's Squeeze. It was not really that it was so narrow, but the walls sloped all different directions, making getting through in a backpack a little tricky. There was a path around for those who wouldn't fit...The weather was lovely and sunny and almost too warm today, considering we were out in the open most of the day, not in the woods like we usually are. My hands and arms are getting very tanned, but so far not the rest of me. I haven't hiked in shorts yet. My pantlegs do zip off to make shorts, but so far I'd rather carry that weight on my legs than on my back. When I send home my winter clothes will be time enough to zip the legs off.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-05-29
From: Wise Shelter

To: Hurricane Mountain shelter
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: broken clouds

Two big milestones today: longest mileage day so far, and over 200 miles total!We had pretty good trail today, some ups and downs, but nothing too major. I have been intending for quite some time to define what I mean when I say "good trail". So here goes:Good trail is at least 18 inches wide. In many places the trail is 12-18 inches and that is not too bad. When it gets less than 12 inches wide it tends to be harder.Good trail is flat. That is not to say no climbs or descents, but that it doesn't lean one way or the other across the width of the trail, and especially that it does not lean sharply to a steep drop-off. Also by this I mean that there are not excessive rocks, roots, and other obstacles to be negotiated. You can take your eyes off good trail momentarily without falling flat on you face.Good trail is dry. It is not a muddy bog, or running with water until you think maybe you are off the trail and following a creek bed. It is not slippery with wet leaves, moss, wet clay or mud.I stopped at the Old Orchard shelter for a lunch break. Rabbit was there, as was a young couple, Nomad and Alice. Rabbit decided their trail names should be Nomad Hatter and Alice in Wanderland, and so she performed a ceremony to bestow the names, rather like being knighted, except instead of a sword, she used a trekking pole. I have pics...After a break, we all headed down to the brand-new Hurricane Mtn. shelter. This lovely shelter is large, clean, and smells of freshly cut wood. There are quite a few of us here, but only 4 sleeping in the shelter, the rest are tenting.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-05-30
From: Hurricane Mountain shelter

To: Troutdale Baptist hostel
Miles today: 5.2

The highlight of today's hike was a waterfall at Comers Creek. The climb up there was not so much fun in today's heat, but the waterfall was lovely. The creek had a bridge across it that actually had railings on both sides. Most of the creeks that we cross don't have bridges at all, and of those that do, they only have a railing on one side (or no railing at all).Because of the heat, it was good to get down to Dickey Gap and get a ride into Troutdale. There are 4 of us staying at the hostel tonight. The showers felt great, and we had good food at the Troutdale Trading Post just down the road. There are no laundry facilities here, so we had to put our grungy clothes back on after our showers, so we didn't smell as fresh as the flowers of the field. But folks in these parts are used to hiker stench, so we didn't get thrown out of the Trading Post!See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-05-31
From: Troutdale Baptist hostel

To: Trimpi shelter
Miles today: 3.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a very short day, but the next shelter is 10.6 miles further down the trail, and I'm not ready for that kind of mileage yet.It was really a lazy day, reading, talking to the occasional hiker who stopped for a break. I was about out of reading material, but someone left a book at the Hurricane Mountain shelter, and I took it. Everyone who is carrying books leaves them at shelters or hostels when they are finished, and you frequently see someone reading a book that you left someplace earlier.It's quiet here tonight, no one else staying here yet, but there is still light and maybe somebody else will be here before dark.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-06-01
From: Trimpi shelter

To: Partnership shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: scattered clouds

I practically flew down the trail today, doing the 10.6 miles in just under 7 hours (that's slow for most people, but definitely fast for me). It was very good trail most of the way, and without big climbs.The Partnership shelter is one of the favorite shelters on the trail, because it is right next to the Mt. Rogers NRA headquarters, there are showers and running water right at the shelter, and best of all, you can get pizza delivered here! Boy, do we ever have it tough on the trail...I'm so jealous of some photos that some of my trail friends got today. They saw a doe standing right on the trail, and it didn't run away. Then they saw that it was nursing a fawn. They got great pics of the doe and fawn, and of the fawn lying on the trail taking a nap. Just TOO cute! The only deer I've seen near the trail was bounding through the woods, and there was no time for photos.There is a large group here of teenage girls and their leaders. I found out that it is a group of girls in the juvenile legal system (they are calling it "Hoods in the Woods", but it probably has a different official name). The girls and their leaders are starting their hike here in the morning, hiking south, and I bet those packs weigh at least 50 pounds. They all have big Coleman sleeping bags, and they are carrying amazing stuff like washtubs, dutch ovens, big tarps, etc. They are also all wearing cotton, and I saw no raingear or pack covers.Well, the pizza has finally arrived. Yum!See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-06-02
From: Partnership shelter

To: Chatfield shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: light rain

Today looked easy on the map, but the trail was very rocky which slows me down a lot. This was not the rock scramble type rockiness, but just a lot of rocks of various sizes, both embedded in the trail and loose, needing care to hike across.In the afternoon it started to rain. The rain actually felt good because the day was quite warm, but I was up on a ridge and there was thunder and lightening. That made me pick up my pace a little, but it was never real close. It was fairly light rain, and I got wetter walking through the wet foliage than from the rain itself.Several of my friends who had been at Partnership were there when I arrived, but they left as the rain let up, heading for the next shelter up the trail. Then a young man named Daniel came in. He is just back on the trail after a trip to NYC to attend his girlfriend's college graduation. Nice young man, very quiet.Tomorrow I pick up my next maildrop at the Relax Inn near Atkins, VA. I plan to take a zero day there.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-06-03
From: Chatfield shelter

To: Relax Inn, Rural Retreat, VA
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Today's hike was very pleasant. The rain (we had more during the night) brought much cooler temperatures. The only difficulty was wet and soggy trail. You try to avoid the mud, but sometimes you just have to squelch right through it.About an hour into today's hike, there was a small sign on the trail that said 1890's farm, and pointed to the right, where there was a faint path through a pasture. There was the big farmhouse and all the outbuildings, including a schoolhouse. No one was around when I arrived and the house was locked up, so I just took my pack off and made myself comfortable on the front porch swing. I was about to be on my way when a couple of women drove up. They are docents at the Settlers' Museum, of which the farm is a part. One of the women took me on a tour of the house, telling me its history and the history of some of the lovely antique furniture it contains.When I was finished with the tour, I hit the trail again. It wound through a lot of fields and pasturelands, and in many places the trail was lined with blackberry bushes in full bloom. Oh, to be here in August when the berries are ripe!On the way down to the Relax Inn, the trail crossed a railroad track that carries a lot of traffic. We have been hearing the trains' whistles for the last 2 days.The trail came out to the highway virtually across the road from the Relax Inn. One girl was here who I knew from earlier on the trail. She hurt her ankle and is going off the trail for a couple of weeks to take care of it. Feel better, Becka!I got a room, and my maildrop packages, including a surprise one from my ever loving sis. Thanks, Peggy!See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-06-05
From: Relax Inn, Rural Retreat, VA

To: Relax Inn, Rural Retreat, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Zero day at the Relax Inn.I really did intend to get back on the trail today, and do a short day after a visit to the post office to send some winter gear home. But something I ate upset my tummy a little, and they couldn't shuttle me to the post office until this afternoon, so I decided to stay another night.I am feeling fine this evening, so will head out in the morning. There are a lot of hikers staying here tonight, so I'll have company on the trail in the morning.Next update will be in about a week.See you on the trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-06-06
From: Relax Inn, Rural Retreat, VA

To: Davis Path shelter
Miles today: 2.7

Today was a very short day to set me up right for upcoming shelters. Sometimes shelters aren't just where you want them to be!It was an interesting walk, partly in the woods and partly through fields with hay bales and cattle. The AT has easements where it has to go through privately owned property, thus the fields with the cattle. And cattle mean that there are stiles of some sort to cross in and out of the fields. My favorite kind is a fence forming a very tight U-turn that cattle and horses cannot negotiate. There were two others today, more like the cattle guards you see on open range country out west. One was concrete and very scary to cross. It looked like a sure leg-breaker, because the bars were far enough apart that your foot could slip through. But I managed to cross after muttering nasty things about the lineage of whoever designed the thing!There is no water at this shelter, so after I arrived at the shelter and got my sleeping pad and bag set up, ate some lunch, and hung my food bag, I went back 0.9 miles to the spring that is the water source for here.For camp, I filter my water into a 4 liter bag that remains folded up when not in use. That 4 liters is enough for my supper and breakfast, and to replenish the water containers for the next day's hike. For hiking I carry a 1.8 liter hydration system with a hose and bite valve, so that I can drink and walk at the same time, plus a 20-ounce bottle.Then I hiked back to the shelter, saying hello to various hikers as they passed going to the shelter further on (most people do much bigger mileage than me). Then Y-not came in for the night. I had met him earlier on the hike. We are the only ones at this shelter tonight, and we had a lovely campfire. Apparently this shelter does not get as much use as some of them, because dead and downed wood was plentiful in the shelter area. Frequently we do not have fires in the evening because the dead wood has all been used up in the immediate shelter area, and folks are too tired to go very far to collect it.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-06-07
From: Davis Path shelter

To: Knot Maul Branch shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Another longest day yet!I think Virginia should be known as "the Stilish State". Today's stiles, and we crossed 8 or 9 of the things, were all the type where it is basically a ladder, inverted V shape, going over the fence. I hate the devil-inspired contraptions! In most cases I have to remove my pack, dump it and my trekking poles on the other side of the stile, haul my poor tired aching body across, put my pack back on, only to repeat the whole process in a few hundred yards.The high point of the day was when my good friends Crutch and Sweatbeast caught up to me. I knew they would today because an early morning hiker going by the shelter while I was packing up said they had camped by the spring last night. They caught up to me at the stile that marks the 1/4 of the trail finished point (of course, this does not apply to me, because I skipped that big section south of Damascus). They are staying here tonight, Sweatbeast here in the shelter and Crutch is tenting.Today's walk was fine until the last mile or so. Then we had a steep rocky up that just about did me in! But I'm here now, there was still room in the shelter, and after resting for a few minutes and drinking 20 ounces of Gatorade, was ready to make the 0.5 mile trek north on the trail for water.There are 5 of us in the shelter, and a lot more camping nearby, including "the Brits", two young British women over here to hike the Trail. I had met them way back when I was in Franklin for so long. There were three of them then, but one hurt her ankle and had to get off the Trail.Tomorrow will be a shorter day, just 9 miles.See you on the Trail!granny franny
Date: 2006-06-08
From: Knot Maul Branch shelter

To: Chestnut Knob shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today was very nice hiking in spite of intermittant rain. It looked bad on the map's elevation profile, because it was almost all uphill, but there weren't many steep sections. Again, we were hiking partly in the forest and partly across fields. The rain was refreshing. It never rained hard, and it would have been hot for the last 2-3 miles across the grassy bald that approaches the shelter if the sun had been shining.This shelter is like no other on the Trail. It is an old stone building with 4 walls, windows, and a door. Most of the shelters are 3-sided, completely open on one side. There are 7 of us here, which is a perfect fit. We could probably accomodate 3 or 4 more, but it would be very crowded. The others who are here tonight are Leah, Crutch, Sweatbeast, Y-not, Grizzly and T-Bone.At one time there was a fireplace in this building, but it has been boarded up and plastered over. The roof is held on with cables that go under the foundation. Apparently the wind can get really strong up here!Ten miles tomorrow for me. The others are planning a longer day because they want to get into Bland for a maildrop Saturday morning while the PO is open. So our happy little group is splitting up, sob.See you on the Trail!granny franny