morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

God is blessing us so much! Miss Janet is the most amazing person. Along with Ox, of course. She is letting us stay at her place for free. We of course gave her some money. But she has taken us all over town, whenever we've needed to get anywhere. She took us 9 miles ahead on the trail so we could hike back to her place. Anyways, God, you have blessed me so much through her, work in her life. Put people in her life that will encourage her towards you. Continue to break us individually and as a group. Continue to grow us closer as a group. Unite us! And somehow show me how the physical battle is growing me. I know I'm suffering but I want to know You! I guess to know You is to suffer.But in a good way. I know I need to be seeking You more diligently. As much as I don't want to, keep breaking me until you are pleased. I love you, I need you. Help me to totally rely on you.For strength, both spiritual and physical. All for your glory not mine!
Date: 2003-04-08
From: erwin ,TN

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

ive missed a few days, obviously, but i'll try to give a recap on the past few days. on the 5th we climbed up from indian grave gap to just past uneka mt. beautiful views from a couple spots. uneka mt is very cool. looks like sherwood forest. we ended up about a mile past cherry gap shelter at little bald knob. 9.1 miles that day. on the 6th, the great climb to roan high knob, the highest point since clingmans dome. something like 2500 feet in 3.4 miles. very not easy. and i wasnt feeling very good. started too fast after lunch i think. started the climb to roan and a storm starts blowin in. rain and hail for like 3 hours. not fun. but we made it to the shelter on top. very fun stay. its the highest shelter on the a.t. 14.1 miles. onthe 7th, we thought wed be goin downhill, mostly, but no, somehow we ended up climbing a whole lot. overmountain to hump mt was a beast of a climb. but the clouds were staring to part so we had a gorgeous view. ver nice. finaly climb down some 2000 feet to 19E, where we pitched the tents and hitchd in to elk park to get some food! downhome country kitchen. so nice. good to get some hot food. we hitched back to the campsite. 15.1 miles. today...kind of interesting. raining off and on all day. trail was kind of weird. we went through a cemetary and i think a few peoples back yards. not very attractive. today just wasnt a very fun hike. nothing very pretty. but we had to do it. we were aiming for 17 miles to a shelter, but we just decided to tent it. found a good spot here at 13 miles and called it good. it is raining, but weve found some shelter under some trees. were gonna stay at kincora hostel tomorrow and there should be some good food around somewhere close so that will probably be my motivation tomorrow. and only 10 miles. so, i have that to look forward to. but now, sleep! zzzzz....
Date: 2003-04-09
To: kincora hostel
Miles today: 0.0

today...pretty much miserable! first, i woke up at around 2 am only to notice that my legs and feet are sitting in a puddle of water. my sleeping bag was completely soaked. not to mention the tent was full of water too! theres definitely a leak somewhere. good thing we were headed for the hostel. so, didnt get any sleep from then on. finally got up at like 7. its still raining and still cold. not a good start to a day. again, its good that we were goin to the hostel. but the terrain on the first 5 miles was horible. at least for me. straight up and straight down. very exhausting! we took a break at moreland shelter and ate a snickers in hopes of gaining some energy, but i think it was just enough to get me back on my feet! started back up and was quickly reminded that my body didnt want to do anything today, let alone hike 11 somethin miles. but we got to the top of the ridge (so cloudy and foggy that we couldnt see 20 ft in front of us, so theres no views) and finally started the descent down to the hostel. the trail has been so monotonous today so theres not much to say other than it was just one of those days. 3 or so miles later we arrived, with much joy and relief, at the hostel. so nice! kincora is the place! bob is so nice. i cant get over how, and why, some people do the stuff they do for us. he was willing to take us to and from town whenever we wanted. so we went to the grocery store and picked up a few things. even got some chinese food! so good. got back and did some laundry. still waiting on some actually. played some guitar and tried to make some sort of entertainment for some to enjoy. lots of fun! weve had some good laughs tonight. cire and mr. cranky pants are here for a couple days. we are gonna hike some tomorrow before the snow sets in. slackpack 14 mi or somethin like that. starting kinda early too. so we should get back here fairly early which is so nice! so i should get some rest. runnin a little low on that! asleep. zzzz! z.....
Date: 2003-04-10
From: kincora hostel

To: wautauga dam
Miles today: 0.0

very fun-filled day! of course it rained. well, for the first couple hours. then it snowed. and got incredibly cold. anyways...we decided to have bob drive us up 14 miles and we just hiked south back to the hostel, due to the bad weather. it was a very decent hike. if the weather was nice it would have been awesome. it got interesting about 4 miles from the hostel. the snow had started to pile up, like a couple inches. and we started to split up. no one was by themselves but we just werent all together. me and speck went on a blue blaze trail, which is an alternate trail when the a.t. is under water, which it was. the others didnt. cire ended up falling off a cliff 20 ft into the river. not good! esp. at below 30 deg. he was ok, but it was still something to worry about. its perfect weather for hypothermia! the main problem was that no one knew where me and speck were. we had gotten ahead of them when we took the alt trail. cire and slickrock caught up with us and told us what happened to cire at the river and that mr cranky pants was still down there waiting for me and speck to make sure the same thing didnt happen to one of us. so, since all of us are soaking wet and freezing cold, we decided to go on to the hostel and change and then go back out to make sure the others get back. but...before we went out again they showed up! so happy. but it was just a huge mess. in the end everyone is ok, warm and in good spirits. we're looking forward to cooking some dinner and chillin out for the rest of the night. good day, good night!
Date: 2003-04-12
From: wautauga dam

To: US 421
Miles today: 0.0

i didnt journal yesterday due to the extremely miserable day that i had. the weather stunk! cold all day. rained half the day, snowed the other half. plus the snow that was already on the ground. and i was sick. i'll just say that i had to dig a hole six times! not fun. just miserable. then we got to the shelter around 6ish, and it was full. and with a group of weekend hikers. so we had to set the tent up in the snow. just miserable. i didnt even eat dinner, i just went to sleep. i was wet and stanky! not a good day or night. yesterday we did only 11.7 miles. from wautaga dam rd. to iron mt shelter. despite the miserable day we had yesterday, we woke up to the sun! so exciting! i was feeling somewhat better. slowly we got up and ate and got rollin. we were pushing to be at us421 around noon cause cire had some friends coming there to pick him up and they could give us a ride into town. and slickrocks boyfriend paul was also gonna be there so we just wanted to get there. but i of course was minus any energy cause i was sick, so it was a long day for me. slickrock stayed behind me to push me on. it wouldve been a lovely hike had i felt good. but we made it to the road around 2ish. a little late, but we still got the ride. so we came into damascus today and are staying at the place. got all the gear dry which is definitely nice. got some good food and just chilled. we did go to the local diner/bar and heard a guy play some music. i ended up playin a whole bunch of songs on the guitar on stage. so much fun. good times. ill never forget tonight. im so glad we are here. we are planning to slackpack the rest of the way into damascus tomorrow after we go to church. itll be our first church service since weve been out here. looking forward to it. its turned into a nice day. the weather is beautiful and im excited about our stay here! turned out a good day and well... good night...
Date: 2003-04-13
From: US 421

To: Damascus VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

today...so nice! since we came in to town yesterday we got to slack pack the miles today. we got up and went to breakfast at the side track cafe. went to church, which was so nice!!! didnt get on the trail til about 1:30. it was like we was just takin a sunday walk! the terrain was fairly easy and we didnt have anything but water. it was such a beautiful day too! finally warm and sunny! perfect weather. its our reward for enduring the horrible cold, wet weather. and we have a zero day tomorrow. couldnt be better. i think im gonna try to go for an afternoon bike trip too! theres a couple places here that rent bikes and shuttle you up to a trail. so, if is not too exspensive then ill probably do that. other than that its gonna be just a big chill day! ive goten a lot of encouragement here too! i read some of nomad nimblewills book about his thru hike and was definitely encouraged by that. and ive been reading and rereading all the emails ive got from friends and family. so sooo good! thank yall!!! you are a bigger blessing than you know! so i think the sun is starting to shine is all areas of life again! the trail is once again appealing and im excited again!!! i mean weve done 458 miles!!! thats huge. as ive said before, "its the worst of times AND the best of times!" i have much to look forward to in the upcoming weeks. one, we're crossing the 500 mile mark. two, my family is coming to visit in two weeks! definitely stoked about that. but now, we are here in damascus and im gonna live it up! eat a bunch of good food and enjoy myself!
Date: 2003-04-14
From: Damascus VA

To: Damascus VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

such a good day! weather was beautiful! and not a better place to take a zero day than damascus. lovely small town. woke up to another warm, sunny and clear day! how exciting. the lord has definitely blessed our endurance! got yet another pancake from the side track cafe. so good! got the tent seamsealed, which was much needed. weve had a few mornings waking up only to be completely soaked! so maybe that will lighten up a bit. i actually did the bike trip that i mentioned before. the virginia creeper trail. nuthin too special. just a nice, easy ride. very good to get out and do something different. met up with the rest of 5-alive plus one for dinner. italian, again! so good! broke for some laundry. and thats always an interesting experience. loud music and ice cream. oh, and we got to play miss pacman at the laundromat! very nice! just been chillin since then. its sad that our day off is almost over but im glad to get going again. we'll be that much closer to katahdin! and that much closer to my family coming to visit next wednesday! cant wait. so, ill be needing some rest so we can get moving fairly early tomorrow. great day and hopefully great night!!!
Date: 2003-04-15
From: Damascus VA

To: Just past lost mtn shelter
Miles today: 0.0

today was an awesome day! first, it was our biggest day. or the longest mileage day. second, i felt good all day! well, there was that one point after the climb up fork mt i believe. it was a killer. but still on the go! its probably due to the pancakes, eggs, and ham that i ate at the sidetrack cafe before we left. so good! we got on the trail around 11:30 and just booked it so we could make it to lost mt shelter. we got there just before 8. after resting and cookin some food, we decided to keep on! so we did some night hiking. very nice. tonight is so clear out and its the perfect temperature. and the moon rose over mt rogers, which has been in our view for the whole day, but now its right in front of us. all we can see is the ridgeline against a clear night sky with a full moon just hanging above it. picture perfect. we'll get to climb mt rogers tomorrow. it rises over 5700 ft, but its the last peak over 4000 ft that we climb for the rest of virginia. very exciting! i'm definitely excited that we are here. on top of a bald bluff, clear and beautiful night! couldn't be better! wish i wasnt tired so i could enjoy it some more. but i know we'll have more times like these in the future. i'm counting on it!
Date: 2003-04-16
From: Just past lost mtn shelter

To: 3.4 mi past thomas knob shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

another beautiful day! long day, but a very good day. woke up to a wonderful sunrise. slept so good! the oatmeal for b-fast wasnt so good, but i can handle that! got started around 10. we started the climb to whitetop mt at first. definitely a beast! beautiful view at the top though! and we stayed up there for like 2 hours. ended up eating lunch up there. we even sang some songs too! fun, and in the sun! but, we had to get rollin. so at 1:00 we had only done about 2 miles. we needed to get movin. so we head for mt rogers. and this climb wasnt near as bad as i thought it would be, considering that is the highest point in va. we got to thomas knob shelter and cooked some dinner so we could keep goin. from the shelter to here, and probably some more tomorrow, is officially my favorite part of the trail thus far. incredible views and just really cool terrain. there were giant rock formations coming out everywhere and there were wild ponies walking around everywhere. got pics of a couple i think. we got to the top of one of the rock formations and watched the sun set. totally beautiful. got pics of that too! then we started looking for a campsite. found a nice, open area to camp on. very nice. its close to 10 now so im goin to bed!
Date: 2003-04-17
From: 3.4 mi past thomas knob shelter

To: troutdale
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

another long day! we woke up around 6 for an amazing sunrise. one of the most gorgeous ive seen. then, i went back to sleep! for a few minutes anyway. actually got up around 8. me and oopu decided to hang back and try to soak up some more of the incredible view from where we camped. so we got rollin about 9:30. we actually werent too far behind the other 3. the trail kinda got frustrating. we kinda just went around mt rogers for the first 8 miles. so we could see the ridge where we camped for hours. it made me think thati wasnt getting anywhere. anyways...we moved on and caught up with the rest of the group just short of old orchard shelter. we decided to push on to troutdale so we could eat with the duchess and earlyriser. in the process, my knees and ankles are killin me! so we hitched a ride from this guy who had a mud-hauling truck. so we got a little dirty, but im not complaining. we got some food and hooked back up with cire and mr cranky pants. and we werent planning on staying at the baptist hostel, but after carefully considering our options - trying to hitch back to the trail at 9:30 only to have to set the tents up in the rain or...stay at the hostel in the dry, warm shelter! - we decided on the latter. who wouldnt! so we're here. the girls are sleeping in an old church building and us guys are out back in a soon to be bunkhouse with no bunks! so im happy. im warm and im dry. what else is there! tomorrow should be a fairly easy day. we are heading for the partnership shelter where you can take showers and even order pizza! but, i think we might just pass by and go a couple miles past the shelter. anyways...that will come tomorrow. for now, a good night!
Date: 2003-04-18
From: troutdale

To: partnership shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

woke up to the sound of rain pelting the tin roof of the bunk house. not a very encouraging sound. and it was only about 35 deg out. so we are back to the cold and wet weather. but thats part of the trip i guess. so we got up and tried to get rollin. around 10 we went out and tried to hitch a ride back to the trail. an to our surprise, a truck pulled over and picked all of us up! not as bad as i thought. so we headed out. i took my time for the first four or so miles. i guess i just needed some time alone. had a few things on my mind. fixed some lunch at trimpi shelter. tried to stay warm with some ramen noodles! started from there kinda slow, but...me and oopu started bookin it cause we just wanted to get there! so good to see the shelter ahead and know that we could stop and finally rest. getting off the feet was good enough! my feet and joints have really been killin me the past week or so. and whats cool about this shelter is that you can order pizza! theres a visitor center right next to the shelter, which is next to the road. so, we all split a large pizza. so nice. now, just chillin, talkin with cire and cranky. goin to sleep!
Date: 2003-04-19
From: partnership shelter

To: Davis Path shelter
Miles today: 0.0

such a good day! kinda cold and sketchy when we got up this morning, but as we got going things started to look up! oopu and i kinda hung back til about 10. but we booked it pretty fast to catch back up with the girls. the trail wasnt really that impressive til late this afternoon. we met for lunch at chattefield shelter and just kinda took our time there. we were heading for rural retreat to pick up a maildrop and grab somethin to eat, but we didnt stay like we had planned. we pushed on. but...the descent down into town was beautiful! we got up on top of the ridge that overlooked the town and it was incredible. such a change in scenery from what weve been seeing for the past month. the trees are starting to bloom and the flowers smelled sooo good, especially since we totally reek! and you could see ridge after ridge in front of us. except for they're more like rolling hills here. i think we are starting to get out of the big ranges. anyways...we sat up on a huge grassy hill that overlooked the town for a few minutes. amazing! i just love virginia! at least so far! the food in town was good. they had a dairy queen so i had to go get an oreo blizzard for dessert! and man was it good. but we hit the trail once again. we crossed our second interstate (I-81). kinda interesting. as we were getting off the road and back on the trail you have to cross over this little barbwire fence. wouldnt you know, i got hung up and tripped over it and ended up ripping my pants and cutting my leg. not very pleasant. but we moved on, with a bleeding leg. but its not too bad. tis but a scratch. a mere flesh wound. ok, anyways...me and oopu made it to the shelter only with the power of singing 80's rock songs. i think "pour some sugar on me" was the best. definitely got a kick out of hackin that one! but we got here and managed to get the bear bag hung. twas not easy all having completely full food bags. i think all 6 of ours (we have cire with us tonight) weighs 100 pounds, maybe a little more. almost took the branch down when we pulled it up. took 4 of us to pull it up too! other than that stressful couple of minutes, it is really nice to have the shelter to ourselves so we can talk and chill no matter what! oh, and i did sew my pants back together! that was a sight to see im sure. hopefully my nice stitch work will hold up for a while. now...im off to bed. good day, good night!
Date: 2003-04-20
From: Davis Path shelter

To: 3.4 mi short of chestnut knob shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

happy easter!!! got up kinda slow around 8. didnt get on the trail til about 9:30. so, it was a slow morning. we needed water too so we were tryin to book it 4 mi to the next water source. after going straight up and straight back down about 5 or 6 times we did make it there. i was already gettin worn out! and we discussed what the rest of the day would look like. and we decided we wanted to shoot for chestnut shelter, which would be 20.1 mi for the day. weve never gone past 18 so it was a stretch. and little did we know that it would be some dang hard terrain. up and down. up and down. over and over. we must have crossed over 6 mountain ridges. not the best day to pick to do 20 miles. it was just over 11 mi to the nearest shelter and it seemed like it took forever to get there. we ate lunch before the shelter actually under a tree in the middle of a cow pasture. it was pretty amazing though. we climbed down from one ridge onto the pasture and it was so beautiful. the sun came out and it was just a really fine lunch. so, we make it to the first shelter and get water and push on. by this time im totally beat! the sun had drained me and i just needed to rest. good thing everyone felt the same. so, we ate dinner in the valley just before the climb up to chestnut ridge. thats when we decided that its probably best that we didnt keep goin cause we were just worn out. and if we kept on then we wouldnt be worth much tomorrow. so we went on just about 3 miles and set up camp. so, we have a huge climb first thing in the morning. and its pretty much downhill from there from what i hear so i guess we want to go for 20 tomorrow now. maybe a little more. so, i need some rest. goin to bed...
Date: 2003-04-21
From: 3.4 mi short of chestnut knob shelter

To: 2 mi past a road!
Miles today: 0.0

man it was a rough day! woke up to rain! always exciting. and we had to climb 1600 feet right at first. and it was not fun. we got started by 8:30 though so that was good. anyways...it was a pretty miserable morning, and early afternoon. we got to chestnut shelter at like 10:30 and took a break. it was pouring down rain and we wanted to get 20 miles today. so the girls went ahead, as usual, and me and oopu ran out about a half hour after them. and we did run too! at least for a mile or so. it was cold and rainy! we had to get out of it. around 2 the rain started to let up and the sun was startin to peek out. so we sat and ate lunch. and man, that break did wonders to my energy level. from then on i felt so much better and we kicked it on to the next shelter. got there around 5. took a short snack break and went on 6 1/2 miles to the campsite. intersting piece of trail. we crossed the same creek 12 times. and it wasnt a small creek either. we got wet. everyones feet were soaked. two more miles to go! but it was dark. and we found some trail magic! apples, grapes and orange juices! so refreshing. we finally made it to a campsite around 10. and now weve done our 20 miler. we get to sleep in tomorrow. we only have to do two 17 milers and then we have a half a day on thursday goin in to pearisburg. and mom will be there waiting! i wish it were tomorrow. or shoot, tonight!!! it raining again. we had to set up the tent in the rain and hang the bear bag in it! not fun. good to be settled now! and im goin to bed!