morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-18
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Mountain Momma's
Miles today: 8.2

Four days and three hours and I finished the Great Smoky Mountains. Not too bad for an middle aged guy! Aside from a bleeding big right toe, all is great and pain free. Mountain Mamma's is true old south Americana. Aside from having hand lettered signs up everywhere to answer every possible question you could ever think of asking, which they'd apparently prefer you not to ask, the place has cars laying around the lawn everywhere. The biggest profit maker here must be cigarette's, just boxes and boxes of them take over the entire end wall of the place. I figure that must be one of the more popular past times around these here parts.I arrived at Mountain Momma's at 10:30 this morning and immediately attacked her famous GIANT Cheeseburger. You should have seen it. I almost couldn't get it in my rather large mouth. It was nirvana (Sorry Rosemary, needed the fat.) I've been told that calorie deficit should kick in around week three. Maybe then I'll start eating more, but for now, I have little desire for the food I'm carrying. It just isn't pleasing me. I followed up the burger with a BLT just two hours later and yet another burger a two hours after that - so much for not having calorie deficit I guess? Well, I'll say good night from the porch here good buddies. Ya'll take care now, ya hear!
Date: 2004-05-19
From: Mountain Momma's

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

Packed a burger for lunch today out of Mountain Momma's. Throughout the long long climb, I wasn't focused on the constant ascent, but rather the burger for lunch! I was the first one to the shelter and as I ate, thunder started booming just over the ridge. It'll be another 8 or 9 miles to the next shelter so I tried to figure what to do. I sat there listening to the booms and gathering gray sky and basically gave myself a brain cramp. I finally decided that maybe a short day was best. So, I unpacked and called it a half day.The shelter only held six, but since we all knew each other, seven of us snuggled in. We got a campfire going and laundry was hanging on twigs and branches all around the warm glow drying out the sweat. Tomorrow has a couple of big ascents, but it also has real town food just over the horizon. I just may make a big day of it?
Date: 2004-05-20
From: Davenport Gap, Cosby

To: Hot Springs, N.C.
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: few clouds

Just arrived here in Hot Springs, N.C. This is day 21, three weeks finished and 270.9 miles. If I averaged in The Approach Trail it nets out to just under 14 miles per day, which is a strong average since it includes the early conditioning stages. Today was a milestone since I hiked longer and farther than any other time in my life. Twenty-six point two miles over two whopper size mountains. Max Patch was truly unique because it is a ¢Bald.¢ There's not a tree in sight, nothing but grass - quite unusual. As you climb, the wind speeds continually increase until they're pushing 25 mph and your head is in the clouds. Yes, yet again the views were limited as they were through the Smoky's.Regardless, I'm not sore and still blister-free and the true boss of this adventure - my stomach - has been fed not once, but twice. I wrangled the last bed here at Elmer's Sunnybank Inn¢¦ a nice Victorian with eccentric rooms here and there. My room is over the tool shed, which I enter and then climb a near vertical ladder through a trap door. Then it's through another bedroom to my attic room! It has a gabled roof with it's own window, bed and desk. I like it despite the bathroom being through the other bedroom, down the ladder, out the tool shed, across the porch, in and out of the kitchen till I reach the hallway and the bathroom which several others share. Just part of the A.T. experience.Tomorrow, it's laundry, eating, conversation with other familiar and new faces and a visit to the outfitters for a new bite water valve tube¢¦ mine is growing mold! Oh, and most importantly, body rest. It will be my second zero. Hot Springs is a small valley hamlet sitting at the convergence of several mountains. If the building architecture were a tad more alpine, it would pass for a European destination.With only the one real cold night back in Georgia, as well as the date being so close to June, I'll be mailing out my winter gear and swapping the sleeping bags. This should drop my gear weight by three pounds! There's a really good chance my pack weight with food and water will hover in the high twenty's most of the time now. With that kind of reduction and my newfound leg strength, my boots will have wings!One of the more joyful little pleasures about town stops is having a bed rather than the 5/8-inch thick, 3/4 length sleeping pad. But it's not the softness or the bounce that brings me smiles; I'm rather comfortable on the shelter floors with my pad. No, what brings me joy is the fact that I can roll over on my stomach and let my feet hang down over the end¢¦ Ahhh, simple bliss!! Do it in the shelter and your imagination will conjure up all sorts of monsters to grab you by the ankles and haul you away into the woods. Do it in the security of a closed room and its sweet, sweet dreams. Anyway, I'm having a blast and getting buff in the process!
Date: 2004-05-21
From: Hot Springs, N.C.

To: Zero day at Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

An unusual phenomenon is starting to emerge. It seems that as my mass continues to reduce (now 19 pounds lighter than just three weeks ago), but without any reduction in my height, my body density is increasing. Anyone familiar with just a smidge of science knows that with this scenario, the result is a stronger gravitational force. Not unlike the physics of a super massive black hole where the gravity is so immense, light cannot even escape its clutches. What I've been noticing in the past few days is that flying insects have been going into orbits around my waist and head. As I walk they are making hoola-hoop orbits that can continue for a minute or more. Try as they might to reach escape velocity, many fail and go crashing into the fabric of my clothes or worse, my face. This has happened with bumblebees, horse flies and even tiny knats. Once they stray too close to my ever-increasing gravitational force, they unfortunately face a dizzying fate.But, a lucky few do escape. Gee, I wonder if any of my new hiker aroma is luring them into these flying orbits? Nah!
Date: 2004-05-22
From: Zero day at Hot Springs

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: few clouds

For the last hour I've been holed up here in the shelter near the top of a mountain. Outside is lightening, thunder, hail and driving rain. -FLASH-CRACK- Oh, excuse me, I just jumped off of my sleeping pad. The lightening is hitting all around us here... its almost as if we were up inside the Thunderhead. -FLASH-CRACK- Yikes, so much for counting the seconds in between the flash and the crack. Up here they're happening simultaneously. I got here at 4:30 and ate by a campfire even though it wasn't dark yet. Off towards the horizon were the distant rumblings of our now nasty weather. -FLASH-CRACK-BOOM- I got out my drawing pad and started sketching it, little did I know it would become tonight's entertainment. Mother Nature can sure offer up some good theatre!
Date: 2004-05-23
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: Jerry's Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: light rain

Nasty thunder and lightening going on all around, plus heavy rain, I decided it was a good day to take a mid-day nap. I'm cold with all the moisture in the air and the best way to warm up would be to start making miles. But I just don't hike happy with all the rumblings in the sky. I'd rather sit and be anxiety free. What a bummer of a day.
Date: 2004-05-24
From: Jerry's Cabin Shelter

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: broken clouds

Yesterday was a wimpy seven miles. The thunder was popping up every hour the whole day, so I took two naps and practiced being a slug. It might have been the shortest day so far.Today however, was a different story. Blue sky made an appearance with a nice breeze and zero humidity. Belle's ankle was really bothering her last night and not much better this morning. We walked together the first hour until I got her to promise that she'd hitch a ride into Erwin, TN and let it rest. Once that was settled, she insisted on me hiking my normal speed. Its hard for me to not look out for the friends I've made. She just doesn't want anyone to make a fuss over her, so I said I'd see her either tomorrow or the day after at Miss Janet's house, which is a hiker hostel.I put the legs into another gear and started making some miles. The nice weather sure does make a difference on your attitude out here. In no time at all, I had powered past the first shelter and was at the second one at 1:15 pm for lunch. If I didn't linger too very long, I could make another ten miles before 6 pm¢¦which would make this my second longest day with 24.7 miles. By doing so, Erwin, Tennessee would now be within reach tomorrow with a smooth 16 miles. And of course, we all know what that means??? REAL FOOD¢¦not camp food. Yummmm!
Date: 2004-05-25
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Erwin, Tennessee
Miles today: 16.9

For the last week my left leg has been walking in Tennessee, while my right leg has been in North Carolina. But being here in Erwin, sort of, officially now, puts me across another Stateline. As I descended from the high mountain ridgeline toward Erwin, the views of the Nolichucky River and the vista beyond were wonderful. The trail comes out of the woods near a hiker oasis called Uncle Johnny's, where I walked straight into its store, bought two bottles of apple juice and four ding-dongs and savagely consumed the bounty in no short order. I moved on to a hiker hostel that's been gaining in popularity thanks to its hostess and owner, Miss Janet. Miss Janet's House as it's known has become a hiker Mecca where there's bodies in bunks and sofa's, kitchen and porch. This body feels like its been transported back to college days¢¦or college daze, and thus, I'm going to move on over tomorrow to a motel. Sometimes it's just nice to have ¢Postcard¢ time. The highlight of today other than the spectacular view, was going with Belle to the outfitters to help her completely re-gear. In an effort to help her ankle pain, she decided to buy all new gear to drop pack weight she's been luggin' around. In the short time of knowing her I can confidently say, that this gesture was on the grandest scale. For a self-professed ¢cheap-skate¢ to drop a grand gives you a glimpse into the near fanatical goal to reach Maine. So now when her ankle feels better instead of carrying 45+ pounds, she'll be walking with a scant 25! Sometimes you just have to pull the old wallet out and bite the bullet. Bravo Belle.I wasn't planning on taking a zero day here, but I need some different supplies and since the day sort of slipped by gear shopping, I'll take tomorrow off and then push seven big days into the legendary Trail Town of Damascus, Virginia. But for now I'll rest here in this rocker on Miss Janet's shady porch and listen to the soothing sounds of her many wind chimes.
Date: 2004-05-27
From: Nolichucky River

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: light rain

Just when you've got the fire blazin' good and its sending its glow up on the towering trees that stand all around you; where the only sound is a distant Eastern Screech Owl and the hissing moisture of the wet logs, in comes a crowd of hikers. In 28 days I've not had a single shelter to myself and now, apparently the string will continue. With darkness nearly upon us all, they all swing in to the essential camp chores. Mayhem might be a good word to describe it! Everyone loved the fire I made and then to my surprise, marshmallows miraculously appeared to bring even more warmth to the moment. Some of the hikers had no idea how to roast the little fluffy white gems¢¦ yours truly took charge and demonstrated the art of the char-and-pull¢¦ then repeat. Great fun!Although the sky is clear and the moon and stars bright, a quick listen to the radio forecast¢¦ a thunderstorm after midnight. At around one a.m. the winds started increasing and in came the storm. This morning (5-28-04) the winds were howling and rain was still pelting down. But, when I realized that the rain I heard on the shelter roof was only the water falling from the trees dislodged by the wind, I got motivated. The others laid zipped deep in their mummy's as they planned, elaborate excuses to tell themselves so they wouldn't have to go out in the nasty weather. Sometimes, you just don't want to go to school I suppose? Once I informed the group that it wasn't actually raining, the zippers began to move. Man, kids these days!
Date: 2004-05-28
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Stan Murray Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

D©j vu is the only way to describe today's hike. The morning winds blowing all the nights rain from the trees, the fog and dampness had me thinking I was back in the Smoky's. The AT had me climbing the third highest mountain of the journey, Roan Mountain. Unlike Clingmans Dome in the Smoky's, the AT's highest, which you continually climb over several days, Roan Mountain is one big fast, steep, leg up on rock then leg up on root climb. Well over 2200 feet of rugged ascent, made all the worse by the drizzle, high cold winds and 40 mph gusts. The summit was totally socked in clouds as I climbed up into them. Actually, the only good thing about it, other than it being behind me now, was the Spruce Christmas tree forest at the top. What an awesome aroma those evergreens produce. Even though the day was filled with yucky weather, it did have a wonderful silver lining. Since leaving Springer Mountain back in Georgia almost a month ago, I've seen only one red-orange Newt ( Heck, it may be a salamander or something else, I'm not slitherologist). If you've never seen them you're missing something, they're quite striking in their beauty. Anyway, today's hike had me see 46 of them! It was a day that I spent mostly looking down on the trail for them, plus I didn't want to hurt any of them. It was so cool; I couldn't believe how many had come out to the trail to hike. Well, maybe they weren't actually hiking¢¦ at the near snails pace which they move, I'm not sure they could reach Mt. Katahdin in their lifetime? Regardless of whether they were hiking or just poking around, I counted forty-six, beautiful red-orange Newts / Salamanders / Whatevers. It may have been a lousy day for weather, but it was a stellar day for seeing critters!!It's now about 9:30 pm and there's only one other hiker, Mello Mike, sharing the shelter tonight. We're both in our mummy's since the dampness and cold winds has it pretty darn nippy¢¦come to think of it; we're still fairly high in elevation as well. This 35-degree bag will get a fair test tonight! Burrr¢¦and I thought it was almost June? It's a world gone mad.
Date: 2004-05-29
From: Stan Murray Shelter

To: Campbell Hollow Road
Miles today: 18.9

What a difference a day makes as the saying goes. I woke to blue skies filled with golden morning sun. A nice change from yesterday, to say the least! With only a short 10 miles to the next shelter, the pace was relaxed. The trail led up over two ¢Balds¢ and upon reaching the first, memories of Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music flooded my thoughts. At the top of the second I dropped the pack and plopped down on the sun drenched grass to soak up the rays. Glorious, just glorious!!The plan for the day was a bit sketchy since the first shelter was at 10 miles and the next after that was an additional 18 miles. I hadn't planned on having a 28 - mile day. So what to do was on my mind, but finally a plan revealed itself before the first shelter appeared. Mello Mike arrived just after me and I proposed a way to celebrate my One Month Trail Anniversary¢¦one day early.Just a half-mile up the trail was the road U.S.19 and one half mile to the right sat King-of-the-Road Steakhouse. Even though they wouldn't open for serving till 4 pm, we decided to get there early and hangout. Then after we were fat and happy, we'd hike back to the trail and put a handful of miles in before we'd both tent for the night. Making the next shelter just wasn't a reality. So, that was the plan and Mike liked it too!I had a Rib-eye steak with all the fixin's, followed by apple pie a la mode. And of course, we both ordered TWO cheeseburgers to go for the next day¢¦ gotta' love that town food. The owner spotted us waiting for the place to open and let us come in and start eating at 3:30. Everything was delicious and we both felt like Kings as we saddled on our packs and headed back for the trail!It's now past hikers midnight and I'm snuggly zipped inside my tent in a grove of hemlocks and pines. Happy Anniversary to me! I sure hope it doesn't rain tonight; I'd like to avoid a moisture heavy tent tomorrow. Our plan is for three high mileage days which will deliver us into the town of Damascus and over our third state line - Virginia. Staying in the tent tonight is introducing me to many new sounds; it will take a little getting used to. I can hear critters walking around outside as well as the occasional field mouse, I think it's a mouse? It could also be an 80-foot anaconda looking to devour a nice hiker?
Date: 2004-05-30
From: Campbell Hollow Road

To: Kincora Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We rolled up our dew-wet tents and were on the trail by 7:30 a.m. Our goal was to do 22.1, a very do-able distance since our profile maps seemed to show a fairly tame contour. Wrong!The only way to describe today is up down up down rain rain up down up down up down rain rain up down up down¢¦Stop. Twenty miles of it! Kincora Hiker Hostel has a wonderful reputation and being so close and two miles shorter, well, Mello and I said ¢detour¢.Unfortunately, the rain kept many hikers from leaving today - hikers have become squatters. The result is that there's no room at the Inn. So we're crashing on the owner's porch tonight in our mummy's. We did however participate in their shuttling of this whole hiker hoard to town for All You Can Eat Chinese. It's nice to have some different flavors for a change. Bob People's, the owner, is one of the AT's chief volunteer leaders for trail maintenance and upgrades in the region. Anyway, it took two vehicles to get us there and that was with 13 hikers stuffed into his pickup. Yea, 13, it wasn't a typo. I believe today was either my seventh or eighth 20+ mile day. To do another tomorrow, Mello and I will most likely move ahead of all the squatters that are still here tonight - many who started a full three weeks before me. That's hard-core! But as good as that is for us, there are still many who are pushing even beyond us¢¦ The young punks !#?*!Even though I'm sleeping here on the porch, I still did laundry. My rain gear has been smelling like ammonia. Everything now is back in its proper order and stuff sack ready for an early start. Damascus is within two long days or thee moderate ones¢¦ at which time I'll consider taking a double zero? I've basically worked everyday for a month with only three days off¢¦ why I'm not even getting this Memorial Day off!
Date: 2004-05-31
From: Kincora Hiker Hostel

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: moderate rain

The porch was interesting last night. Yet another Thunderstorm rolled in, this time at 3 am putting on quite the display. Fortunately, the overhang and wind direction kept us from scrambling. I just love the drama nature can put on. I do not love how the moisture rich air loads itself onto every surface of stuff we carry, thus increasing our gear weight by 5 pounds in some cases, and it just makes everything sort of clammy!I was the first out of Kincora, everyone else other than Carp wanted to avoid the rain that was still falling. I can't blame them, but as the saying out here states: no rain¢¦ no pain¢¦no gain¢¦ no Maine! So I walked again in the rain for half the day.At Watauga Lake I lunched on my two-day old cheeseburger. ¢Yuk¢ did I hear you say? Out here, it's a fine delicacy to be savored! Afterwards, since my final destination was only eight more miles, I hopped up on the picnic table and took a nice snooze. Crazy isn't it, sleeping on porches and picnic tables, eating several day old food and loving it. Is this is the same guy who's run advertising agencies?
Date: 2004-06-01
From: Vandeventer Shelter

To: Damascus, Virginia
Miles today: 34.1
Weather: scattered clouds

A day or two ago, Mello Mike had mentioned that there was a sort of AT Challenge that existed from The Vandeventer Shelter. The Challenge was to do the entire 33.1 miles into Damascus in a single hike.As I woke to the rain and dew soaked everything - the clouds had been blowing straight into the shelter all night - I really had no intention of taking The Challenge. Mello had lingered at the lake for a party that interested him the day earlier, while I hiked on. The cold dew and wind had the three others in the shelter that morning hiding deep in their mummy's. But, as usual, I packed up and was off by 7:30 into the foggy soup.The weather was definitely bumming me out. When I got to the first shelter, I squeezed about a liter of water out of my socks. I ate a little something that has long ago lost any taste-appeal for me and wrote an entry in the shelter register asking about where had the sun drenched strolls in the woods gone to?Like magic, the sun made an appearance and chased the pewter sky's away. My mood immediately started to move north and with it, my pace! As I reached the second shelter, I pulled everything out of my pack into the sunshine to dry and lighten up. When I pushed on, my pace was even faster and in record time I was at the third shelter¢¦ and then it was game on! ¢The Challenge¢ was within my reach and I'd knocked out 23.1 miles in only eight hours. With only another ten to Damascus and the clock reading 5 pm, I gave the boots a fresh relacing and powered on! I covered the last ten miles in 2 hours and 55 minutes and entered the Friendliest Town on the Trail while the sun still hung in the sky. Some 34.1 miles had been covered in eleven hours of hiking with a 30-pound pack on my back, that's Hard Core!! And amazingly, I feel awesome! The feet are still a bit soggy, but not sore¢¦ and after just checking into a nice B & B and getting a look at myself in the mirror, I may have lost another ten pounds today alone?Oh, have I mentioned I just crossed another Stateline? Welcome to Virginia everyone. We will be hiking here for the greatest number of miles of the 14 states the AT travels across. To celebrate, I tried out Sicily's and one of their large pepperoni pizzas.Yea, I finished the whole thing. Reaching Damascus is a huge psychological boost for we Thru-hikers. It sort of says that if you can make it here, you've got a good chance at making it to Harpers Ferry, an even bigger milestone. I'm going to treat myself to a double zero, not that I feel I need it. I just want to be proactive and impose body-rest as a strategy to keep myself strong.