morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-04-12
From: Shelter before Atkins, Va

To: Davis Path Shelter, Va
Miles today: 7.0

Mo & I woke up to several thru hikers going by without saying hi. Then "Hike, Caterpillar, Ladybug, Natural High, The Professor, & Bobsled" all showed up around 10 am and gave us a hard time about just now waking up. Mo & I got going. Now, I have usually done the 4 miles into Atkins, Va in the middle of summer and did not enjoy the hike. Today was a different story. The fields were still without high grasses and the trees without branches; so, this turned out to be a beautiful walk with descending rolling bare hills. We got down to the Relax Inn where I washed my clothes and stood around in my pack rain cover around my waist. It drew a few good looks and whistles; but, I needed to wash everything. While here I used 20 wet wipes to improve my own cleanliness. Mo brought a 16 oz beer that I drank. When I finished my luandry, we bought 2 24 oz beers a piece and headed up to the Davis Path Shelter. Mo was all excited because there was going to be about 8 thru hikers up at the shelter drinking a bunch of beer. We had to grab alot of water about a mile before the shelter because there is no water at the shelter. It was a tough mile climb with 6 days of food; beer; and water. We arrived and there was "Trocar, Iowa Joe, Scoops, The Proffesor, Bobsled, and 2 others whom I cant remember. Now, I was not as excited about the party because there were no females to be present. Its not a party w/o ladies. Anyway, the beer was gone quick and soon Scoops, Trocar, and one other guy ran to town and ran back with a case of beer. They did the 6 miles in 1 hour 20 minutes! While they were gone; the rest of us gather rocks for a good fire pit and gathered wood for a big fire. We drank the beers and the rocks around the fire pit popped like grenades when they got too hot. I never got hit; but, The Professor got hit twice in the left eye(no damage). Bobsled got called Mary Anne several times. You know The Professor & Mary Anne on Gilligan's Island. Anyway, everyone was done drinking at dark and I stayed up building a giant fire and drinking alone. I sure missed "Complete Package" or at least "O.G." who would have stayed up.
Date: 2007-04-13
From: Davis Path Shelter, Va

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter, Va
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: clear sky

Did not sleep much through the early morning. I just watched the fire and built it up occasionally. Everyone was gone by 9am, except Mo and I. We took the morning and early afternoon real slow; like "Mo Lassus". I forgot to mention that 2 days ago while climbing north from The Partnership Shelter; I was "buzzed" by a large raptor. With The Professor's help, we deduced that it was an Osprey. It was white with rusty shoulders. I am familiar with the hawks and owls in the area; so, I know it was not one of them. As I was walking in the mist: I noticed something hurling through the air in my right side peripheral visual field. And in a 1/2 second there was this large bird that zipped by my face near my nose. Then it was gone through the trees. In it's dive, the bird did not flap his wings once. I asked Mo if he had seen what had happened. He said that he had. He said the bird dove from a nest where there was another bird. He said that when the bird was in front of my face; it turned sideways with it's talons facing my face. He said the bird could have just reached out and ripped my face off or scraped my eyes out. Since this encounter; I walk with an heightened sense of awareness. It is kind of a jumpiness. Now yesterday when I was walking; I was slightly turned around on the trail talking to Mo, when I noticed something else coming towards my head. As Mo said it, "it was kind of like a move from the movie MATRIX". With the heightened sense of awareness/jumpiness; I saw the branch coming towards my head and instantly drop my butt and lowered my head backwards. It was like doing the Lambada instanly. And with a forty pound pack; it was quite a dexterous move that reminded me of my basketball/football days. For the next 2 hours, all we could talk about were the Osprey and the MATRIX move. Well, we left the shelter and climbed about 4 PUDS before going through a beautiful valley that precedes Walker Mtn. This is one of the first farmland valleys that are are along the trail in Va. They are very picturesque with grain elevators; rolling hay fields; grazing cattle; old farmhouses; with the AT cutting through. Most of the trail through these spots were done through easements onto private land; so, I enjoy the beauty, but keep moving. We climbed up and over Walker Mtn and into a certain cow pasture where I noticed a familiar plant called a Ramp. We gathered a few and ate them with our evening meal a the Knot Maul Branch Shelter. Hiking with Mo has allowed me to introduce him to many plants like the ramp, mullen(for toilet paper), etc. He is very interested in this sort of thing. We dedided to go only about 9 miles as a rain front was coming in. We did not want to hike in the dark, in the rain. I ate a giant meal as my hunger is growing more intense everyday.
Date: 2007-04-14
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter, Va

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter, VA
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It was a good decison to stay at the shelter because it began raining around midnight. When we started hiking around noon; there was a light drizzle and no winds. This day was marked by the climb up to Chestnut Knob Shelter. I could tell that Mo & I were in good shape when we hiked the 4.6 to the shelter with one stop to get water at "the spring feed pond". The 20,20,7,7,9 mile(s) days had bumped me up a level athletically. I can climb just about any hill now w/o stopping to rest. We got to the shelter and met a married couple out hiking and exploring the local boreal bogs. I showed them the Morrel(mispelled) mushroom that The Professor found. They said that it was the edible fungus and it was delicious cooked in a little red wine. The gentleman went into an oration where he was lost for a few seconds as he described the recipe for making a mushroom gravy/broth. Just as this couple left, it began raining very hard. I was not really worried about them in the storm because they had their car parked at Walker Gap. Although, that is a step descent in several places. This shelter has four walls and a door and is totally windproof. The building is actually anchored to the ground by thick steel cables. Once the rain started and given our excellent location "against the elements"; we decided to take a sleep aid and wake up real early and hike about 24 miles. This had been several days noew where we called a day short due to the weather. Mo says it has the feeling of calling off a day of grade school due to weather. It's like,"yea, I can relax; take my shoes off; and get into my sleeping bag".
Date: 2007-04-15
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter, VA

To: Jenkins or Jennings Shelter, Va
Miles today: 10.0

Niether Mo or I wanted to wake up and get going; like, groundhogs, we would poke our heads out of our sleeping bags here and there; and then back to sleep. We did this until the rain had nearly tapered down to a constant drizzle. There was not much wind and foggy. We hiked in the fog down the narrow ridge, until we hiked out of the clouds and had a beautiful view of the valley known as "God's Thumbprint" and as "Burke's Gardens". I noticed particularly how high some of these cow pastures were. You can look way up on a mtn and there will be a nice green field. The view is worthy of the names. I do not like hiking along this 10 mile ridge from Walker Gap to the next shelter north. It is a very rocky walk along the sides of big boulders; over smaller rocks; and right on the spine of the ridge. This makes it very windy; even on an average wind speed day. Well, as we start the climb up from Walker Gap; I notice that my arms had nearly no feeling. I had to stop and put on my rain jacket and backlava and zip in my long pants. Then it started to sleet. I could not tell if it was sleet or hail because the sleet was clear intead of opague or milky. It also did not seem cold enough to sleet. Basically, this sleet and wind made for a very challenging hike to the shelter. I have hiked this section 3 times and have hit 3 violent storms with high winds. It is a very exposed ridge. We did arrive at the shelter and Mo and I had some talking and thinking to do. As a psychologist, friend, co-thru hiker, trip leader, and cold person: I talked with Mo about what were we going to do with the rest of the day. The reason that I make this a little dramatic is that the weather was just terrible and we were very wet and the winds would occasionally gust up around 60 mph and blow snow into the shelter. I also knew that Mo was having difficulty fathoming doing another short mile day(10 miles at the time). Just before we made a very tough decision, Mo noticed an advertisement for trail magic tomorrow by a local church. We both nearly jumped out of the shelter in elation. We double checked: Monday April 16th at the next road crossing from 930 am to 12 noon, all you can eat. We went from trying to do some silly miles to dreaming about what kind of foods would the nice church ladies be giving us tomorrow. "School's Out, another snow day!"
Date: 2007-04-18
From: Doc's Knob Shelter, Va

To: Rendezvous Motel, Pearisburg, Va
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The wind finally stopped blowing last night. I cannot stress the degree of difficulty in which the wind has made my hike the last week. There were times when I would be climbing on the windless side of a mountain; while I could hear a 50 mph blowing like a "freight train" up ahead. There is something primordial in a human here. You instincts are telling you, "no, do not go up there into that wind!" While your thru-hiker self is telling you, "oh no, I have got to go up into that wind!?" To make matters worse: the wind would blow all of the snow off of the trail in the most windy spots, and leave a sheet of ice to hazard. But the wind has stopped now & it is kind of strangely quiet. We could hear the birds singing for the first time in the morning. Both Mo and I, hardly slept. We were so excited about getting into town that we kept waking up and wondering what time it was. Mo was up with more of his Neil Diamond routine. First he did it in his sleeping bag and then went out and entertained our SOBO friends. We were quick to get into town. The 2.5 miles from Angel's Rest to Bluff City is a serious descent. It is argueably the teepest descent we have faced. Mo complained about his knees hurting and my feet were hurting again; but, no pain medicine for me today! We got into town and decided to stay at the Rendezvous due to it's location. It is about .1 from the trail. The owner, "Brenda", drove us to an all you can eat Indian restaurant that I really tore up. Mo did not eat all that much. I then went to the post office and picked up the Rei Roadster tent that Mr Happy had sent me. I was also expecting a package from Colin Gooder that had compensation and my newspaper articles. It was not here and it was a blow. I soon called him and he said the package would be here by Saturday. Mo called Brenda who came and picked us up and took us back to the motel. I realized that I had hiked about 2 weeks witout a Zero day; but, I felt very strong. I was fatigued and happy to have a day or two off.
Date: 2007-04-19
From: Rendezvous Motel, Pearisburg, Va

To: Catholic Hostel, Pearisburg, Va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Mo and I slept until around 10 am. As we were preparing to go; I noticed what looked to be a maid wearing high heels. Now I have not seen alot of high heels; so, I said hello and introduced myself. Told her that I was going to stay at the church hostel and that I was a thru-hiker. She said to come by and play cards later that evening. Brenda drove us to the hostel which was about 3 miles on the other side of town. I really like this hostel. It is in the tradition of the ol' time hostels. It runs totally on donations(really, Bill Gautier the caretaker does not expect a thing from some hikers). It has a refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave, coffee maker, and all the utensils needed to make a feast. With Wal-Mart being .5 miles away on a blue-blazed trail we were going "to get out grub on"! Before we went to Wal-mart; we went to the library. I tried to update my journal and e-mail friends; but, this library has a 1 hour limit on computer time. I also had 4 computers to compete with the entire town; so, while I was in Pearisburg, I did not do much journal writing or e-mailing. We did go to the wal-mart and made several giant meals while hanging out in town. Bill Gautier, the hostel caretaker, showed up. Now, I know Bill from last year when I came through here in June. "John MacEnroe(aka Roni)" and I built I roof over the front porch of the hostel. My entire stay here last year is quite a story that I will tell at a later date. Well, we talked with Bill awhile and i learned that he was going blind. As a counselor, I usually have something to say; but, I was "at a loss for words". At times this is appropriate. Bill is 78 and still very active and did say a prayer for him this night. We met two thru-hikers in their early 20's from MN and Wisconsin, "re-mix and stash". We liked them as they were down to earth and had this great breakfeast burrito that they wanted me to put in my journal. It is a burrito with butter spread on; then peanut butter; then Nutrella(some very sweet syrup); then Honey; then granola; and then rolled up. They eat one of these every morning and said it is packed with energy. I believe it!
Date: 2007-04-20
From: Catholic Hostel, Pearisburg, Va

To: Catholic Hostel, Pearisburg, Va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Not much to note on this day except; I took several showers, dranks some beers, and talked with the high heeled woman, Sonja. Her boyfriend showed up, while I was talking with her and got a little mad. Nothing happened and i did not know she had a live in boyfriend. It seems every female around me has a mate.
Date: 2007-04-21
From: Catholic Hostel, Pearisburg, Va

To: Rice Field Shelter, Va
Miles today: 6.5
Weather: clear sky

As journal writing goes: this will be a hard day to document. There is alot of self deprecating humor that can be taken the wrong way. Now, my name, Zero, is self depricating. The other is trying to describe a wild party at the shelter w/o sounding like a drunken, licentious, & debased reveller. Well, here goes. As we walk out of town; we walk by The Rendezvous Motel and I see Sonja and Brenda talking. I say hi to Sonja and she leaves. Brenda is giggling uncontrollably. It took me a few minutes; but, she finally tells me that she thinks that Sonja is a man. Im like, "What!" Now Im from Dallas and I know the difference between a man and woman. We have all kinds and I have seen them all. Anyway, this made for alot of humor between Mo and I as we climbed to the Shelter. He kept singing that Kinks song, LOLA. I must say that I was embarrased; but it was a woman! The climb to the Rice field shelter was one of the hottest days that we had encountered. It was probably 85 degrees. The Rice Field in from of the shelter is a beautiful bald with a large view of a West VA valley. When we arrived at the shelter, there was a group of veterinary students from Va Tech. They were partying/grieving over the mass murder on their campus just days before. It is safe to say that fun was had by all. I have talked with Mo and he has given me permission to tell about his fun. I carried a bladder of wine up to the shelter(3 or 5 liter). Mo drank about half of it, drank whiskey, Jaegger, and started smoking several cigarettes backwards. By the end of the night he was "passed out" on the picnic table by the fire. I thought about moving him; but, he was far enough away from the fire to not fall in. I was finally nearly asleep when I heard Mo fall down and I heard the fire crack. I jumped up quick to make sure he was alright. Good, he did not fall in the fire! I let him lay on the ground for awhile; then I found his bed roll and sleeping bag. I laid him on the roll and covered him with his pack. Then he vomited. I hoped that he did not throw up on himself. I went over and pulled his bedroll with him still on top of it away from the vomit. I then covered it up with dirt to keep from stepping on it. You may be thinking, "oh Zero, what a friend". To be honest, it was more selfish because I did not want my hiking buddy to wallow in his own vomit all night. Then Mo started these loud moans in his sleep, "OOOOHHHH". He finally realized that he was on the ground and then came into the shelter and moaned until after daylight. Me and "Big Al", just laughed. We were the only ones in the shelter, until he came in.
Date: 2007-04-22
From: Rice Field Shelter, Va

To: Rice Field Shelter, Va
Miles today: 0.6
Weather: clear sky

With the way "Mo" felt we spent the day here at the shelter. I felt pretty good with all things considered. This shelter is a beautiful spot; so, I did not mind staying here. The only strenuous thing I did today was walk down to the water source that was supposedly .3 away & a very steep incline. Mo and I were playing "paper, rock, scissors" to decide who was going to ge water; but, I kept winning and felt bad; so, I went to get it here. It was at least a 1/2 mile down. It was a fun day walking around the bald with "Big Al" & kidding Mo about his "shananigans" the night before. It was a beautiful day and full of big views. I did put another whole in my inflatable Thermarest. Think god that it is warm now! We went to bed early.
Date: 2007-04-23
From: Rice Field Shelter, Va

To: Shelter 4 miles south of Wind Rock
Miles today: 16.5

We woke up late and got going around noon. It was probably in the mid 80's and the first climb of the day was up Peter's Mtn which "kicked my butt". All the "partying" was wearing me out. I usually can climb up any mtn now; but, not today in the sun. The walk is especially difficult as the leaves have still not come all the way out yet. Making the 12.5 miles to Pine Swamp Shelter a hot one. Water was an issue along the climb and ridge walk around Peter's mtn. There is not any water after 1 1/2 miles from the shelter. Mo had a water crisis and ran off and left me to search for it. I finally caught up to him where he was so thirsty that he drank water directly from the creek. I told him and he knew that was not a smart move. He already constantly has stomach problems. When we got to the shelter. We could not believe that there was a tree on top of the shelter. Evidently, the strong winds last week brought this tree down. If someone had been on the top bunks: they would be dead. "Dice" wrote in the Register about 5 days earlier that he and 3 other thry-hikers were eating lunch when a tree snapped and fell on the shelter. He said that if the shelter would have collapsed, they would have all been crushed(pictures forthcoming). I told ya'll that there were some heavy winds the last couple of weeks. We got going after putting on a show for section hiker "Kaos". He asked how long we had been hiking because we were non-stop with the Neil Diamond skit and other things. Like "Mo" is a big William DeFoe fan; but, has not ever seen To Live And Die In LA. Anyway, we got going and had to follow a road for about 1.5 miles because a large footbridge had washed away several years ago in a 100 year flood in this valley. As we walked we met "The Captain". He lives right along this road and actually has a pulley system that goes across the river over to the AT to "ferry" hikers to and fro for "trail magic". He gave us a couple of soft drinks and chocolate cakes that we ate. We talked some and got going. Now I could tell that the road was hurting my feet. I usually change socks mid-day; but, did not today and it would cost me. It is a fairly steep climb up to the shelter from here. It is about 3 miles and we were exhausted when we got there. We did get to sleep fairly quickly after Mo went and got some water.
Date: 2007-04-24
From: Shelter 4 miles south of Wind Rock

To: WarSpur Shelter, VA
Miles today: 8.5

We woke up around 8am with the birds. The birds are finally coming alive. It is very difficult to sleep very late now. They start around dylight; sometimes sooner. Just to let you know: I felt lethargic all day long! Today would be the hardest day of my hike. Not only were my feet killing me from not changing socks; but, I was lethargic as I have been on the trip(The Virginia Blues?). I knew it was from not eating enough and drinking enough water yesterday; but, that did not make it any easier. Mo basically was having to wait on me all day. This is something that I hate and I know he had to be wondering what was up? On top of all this: I twisted my ankle and strained my achilles tendon while traversing some serious boulder fields up to wind rock. After we were up at the top; I told Mo to keep going to the Warspur Shelter and not to wait on me. It is a very easy walk along the top of Wind Rock and a very steep descent down to WarSpur shelter. It killed me! When I got there, I told Mo to go on and I would catch him at the next shelter. I was not necessarily lieing; but, I did not think that I would get my "Mojo" back this day. And I did not. I fell asleep about 4pm and woke up in the middle of the night and kind of pouted about my predicament. I had not felt this low since back at Standing Indian Mtn. I knew that I had to just try to get to The Homestead Restaurant in Catawba, Va. It is a legendary AYCE(all you can eat) along the trail. I have not been there; but, I had a hunger and lethargy that can only be cured by mass quantities of calories.
Date: 2007-04-25
From: WarSpur Shelter, VA

To: Under Powerline near Sarver Shelter, VA
Miles today: 11.0

I woke up around 10am and was really questioning hiking this day. It was going to be very warm and I still had alot of lethargy. I knew that I needed to hike or I would run out of food. I also felt bad because I know Mo would be wondering where I was. I met several hikers in the early afternoon that I liked. There was "Dr John, Toastie, Mt Cameron, 5 string and his dog" I also saw "Quatro" again. And finally "Hawk & Alley Cat" showed up. They helped me get my motor running and I started hiking around 3pm. The climb up Kelly's Knob is a climb of 1800 feet in about 3 miles. It is a 5 star climb and I did it in an extreme heat. I took many breaks up this tough climb. I finally got to the Little Laurel shelter and there was the last Sobo "Rambo Ron". He has been on the trail nearly 8 months. As people began pouring in for the night; I got going around dark to try to catch Mo. He was taunting me in the registers to get going. I was going to try to catch him this night. It is another big climb up to Sarver's Ridge. When I got to this big powerline with a nice bald and beautiful views; I decided to sleep here. It was only 1 mile from the next shelter. I laid out my flat therma rest and my sleeping bag. It was a gorgeous night with lights here and there and nearly a full moon. When I was asleep, I was startled awake. It sounded like a mouse was in my pack. When I woke up and moved it; there was a giant brown rabbit not 1 foot from me. He just looked at me and I at him. I thought about him cooking on a fire and I went back to bed with the buzz of the powerlines above me.