morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-25
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: light rain

If you keep going eventually you will get somewhere. Today I passed the 300 mile mark a little after 11:30 PM. The next major mileage point is the Virginia state line at 455 miles.I started hiking at 6:54 and it started raining at 7:13 and continued with showers and light drizzles until mid-day. Just after I passed the 300 mile mark the sun came out. And then I saw a rufuous-sided towee about 10 feet away next to the trail.Just before the 300 mile mark I photographed a robin on a grassy bald where somebody had his ashes spread on the trail. He had hiked the AT in 1968.I made it to Hogback Ridge Shelter by 5:11 PM...a 10 hour day to complete 21.3 miles. There was a lot of steep uphill and sections of rock-hopping. It was not a good day to attempt 20+ miles. But it was a good day to hike with temperatures in the high 40's.EZ-Does-It, Hopeful, Sprout, Tuscon, Wounded Knee, Gator, and Sniper are here at the shelter with me. A group of high school kids from Kent, Ohio are also here tenting. After such a long day, I'm ready to hit the hay.
Date: 2003-04-26
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

I caught up with EZ-Does-It, and since he just bought a new tarp and sent his tent home, I wanted to hike with him to see how the tarp worked, I was up and ready to go by 7, but waited for Gator who has been hiking with EZ. We got on the trail by 8 and it started raining just like yesterday shortly thereafter. The sun didn't come out much at all and when we went over Big Bald (5516')it was cold and we were in a thick cloud. We couldn't see much more than 25 feet. We descended to camp at Spivey Gap (3250') where it was much warmer. But just as we found a good campsite and set up our tents and EZ's tarp, it started to pour (some really hard rain). EZ had raised up his tarp at my suggestion and was now frantically scrambling to lower everything all at once. In his haste he forgot to remove his wet raingear when he went into his tarp. Everything got wet, not because the tarp was too high, but because EZ ran through it with his wet raingear on. He finally got everything adjusted just right and settled down for a very comfortable dinner and nights rest. In the meantime Gator rushed into his tent as I did mine when the downpour started, but Gator forgot that he left his boots outside. He spent the remainder of daylight getting a fire started with damp wood to dry out his boots. He did a good job and everyone was happy again by nightfall.The tarp was pretty neat providing a lot of space with little weight.
Date: 2003-04-27
From: Spivey Gap

To: Curly Maple Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

Birds singing woke me up at 6:15 and EZ-Does-It, Gator, and I got on the trail at 7:40. We hiked the 11.2 miles into Erwin TN arriving around noon. I hitched a ride to Miss Janet's Place, took a shower, and ate lunch at China Kitchen AYCE buffet. Miss Janet stopped by the Food Lion Grocery on the way back so I picked up a few food items to get me to Kincora's Hikers Hostel at Dennis Cove Road, three days from Damascus VA.I was able to get on the Internet and discovered that the journal entries I made April 11-25 did not make it on the website. I had to type them in again and still have a few to re-enter. When I get to the next computer, I will update the info.Miss Janet took me out to the AT and I started hiking north again at 5:09 PM arriving at the Curly Maple Gap Shelter at 6:55 PM. I decided to stay for the night since there was only one other guy there, Matt, from Oakridge TN.I saw a box turtle just as I left Erwin before I crossed the railroad tracks and then as I passed Nolichuky Gorge Campground, I startled a mourning dove which gave me the broken wing act in defense of her nest. Further up the trail I met a turkey hunter who showed me the scratches on his arms from crawling through the laurel thickets. Some AT hikers had seen 2 toms and a hen which got him excited. He later stopped by the shelter on his way home. I took his photo.It's a nice evening and I was able to get my tent dried out at Janet's, so after I finish my dinner, I'm ready for bed. It's supposed to rain again on Wednesday.
Date: 2003-04-28
From: Curly Maple Gap Shelter

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: clear sky

I left the Curly Maple Gap Shelter at 7:04 and hiked through Unaka Mtn, a beautiful forest of hemlocks in North Carolina's State Game Lands. I reached Cherry Gap Shelter at 12:08 and took almost a 2 hour break. I cooked dinner and got some water. I realize that I need to eat more if I'm going to hike 20 mile days. So next time I resupply, I'm going to get enough fuel to cook 3 times a day and enough dinners for 2 meals a day. By eating more often today I had a lot more energy and was able to hike the 20.9 miles to the Clyde Smith Shelter with ease. My next stop for resupply is at Kincora's Hikers Hostel three days from now.I saw some neat birds today but need to look at a bird book to positively identify them. I enjoyed my hike today because of the beautiful forest and nice weather."He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose...Jim Elliot
Date: 2003-04-29
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: light rain

Left Clyde Smith Shelter at 7:42 after a hearty breakfast of hot chocolate and oatmeal. Started climbing right away and slowly made it up 2,200' to the top of Roan High Bluff at 6200'. Three more high points (Round Bald 5826', Jane Bald 5826', and Grassy Ridge 6050') and then the descent past Stan Murry Shelter 5050' to the beautiful Overmountain Shelter for the night at 4682'. It was a tough 12.8 miles.Along the blue blaze trail to the water at Stan Murry Shelter I flushed a junco off its nest. It had 5 small eggs which were off-white with a chestnut ring of blotches around the middle of each egg. I took a quick photo and went down for water. I pulled 3 ramps (ramps are wild onions that grow in the southern Applachians) and put them in my dinner tonight (ramen noodles with noodle soup). They were delicious, very mild and sweet. Tomorrow I may make a whole pot of them for dinner. They reminded me of the baby onions we used to pull from the garden and put on bread with butter and make onion sandwiches when I was a kid.I finally got a good look at 4 new birds with my binocs today. Two of them are warblers and one may have been a chat, if I remember from a bird book I had as a kid. I will look them up in the library when I get to town.Matt from Tennessee, Mountain Dew, and I were looking at the scenery from the shelter with my binoculars. I've been sweating onto my binocs which caused a layer of salt to build up on the hinge so they were hard to adjust. I poured water on the salt build-up and the hinge began to work again. However, when I moved it back and forth a few times, the hinge broke and the binocs are now useless. I would throw them away, but they have nostalgic value, so I will mail them home when I get to Marion VA around May 10th.
Date: 2003-04-30
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: 399 Mile on AT
Miles today: 22.3

A wild turkey was calling just below the Overmountain Shelter last night until dark. I also forgot to mention I saw a blue jay with a juicy bettle yesterday just before Hughes Gap. Another blue jay and a robin were trying to get the morsel of food from him. It reminded me of when a section hiker comes into camp with an overabundance of food. The thru-hikers flutter around him like starving birds until he relinquishes some of the heavier items to the never satisfied, but always grateful mob.Today I left the Overmountain Shelter early (6:30) hopong to get to US 19 hwy for lunch at the Country Kitchen. I am low on food and have to do some high miles before re-supply at Kincora's tomorrow. I know I will need some extra calories to get me through today and tomorrow. I made the 8.7 miles to US 19 by 9:42 AM and tried to hitch a ride the 1.6 miles to the restaurant. After 15 minutes I gave up, picked up my pack, and started to walk across the highway to continue north on the AT. A woman in a van stops! I get in and she drops me off at the Country Kitchen. After 2 full meals, 2 desserts, and 2 liters of sweet iced tea, I walked the 1.6 miles back to the AT and resumed hiking at 12:02. On the way I saw some red-winged blackbirds near a Christmas tree farm.I flushed a ruffed grouse off a log today as well as yesterday. I also had a deer blow at me as I walked by her. She didn't know what I was and couldn't smell me. If the wind was right she surely could have smelled me at least 2 miles away! On second thought maybe she did smell me and that's why she blew her nose so loud.Yesterday was threatening rain and today was even more cloudy. By 2 PM the sky darkened and I could hear thunder. By 2:39 it started drizzling, and by 4:30 it really started to pour. At 5:50 PM I found a patch of hemlocks that was fairly dry so I set up a stealth camp where I would not build a fire or do any cooking. I figure I can live off the 2 meals I had for lunch today. I'm laying in my sleeping bag typing this while the rain is still coming down. Some birds just flew into the cover of these evergreens to sing to me. Life is good on the AT.I'm not exactly sure where I am since they recently re-routed the trail here. I know I've hiked at least 22 miles today, not counting the 1.6 road miles back from the diner. It should be an easy 10 miles to Kincora's tomorrow. It's 7:10, time for bed. Goodnight from the 399 mile marker on the AT.
Date: 2003-05-01
From: 399 mile marker on AT

To: Kincora's Hikers Hostel
Miles today: 9.5

The rain stopped last night after I finished my journal. Then a ruffed grouse started drumming less than 50 yards from my tent. I counted 9 drumming sessions before I fell asleep around 8:30. Then this morning I woke up to the drumming of the same bird. He got me up at 5:55 AM. I was on the trail by 6:42 and covered the 3.7 miles to the Moreland Gap Shelter by 8:30. I cooked oatmeal and had hot chocolate before heading down to Kincora's at 9:20. I made it there by 11:30...a total of 6 miles.I fell for the first time today. The trail was still wet after yesterday's rain so the downslope rocks were slippery. Instead of leaning forward, I leaned back to slow down my speed and my foot slipped. Both feet went out from under me and I fell flat on my pack. I never touched the ground! My home made pack compliments of my wife took all the force of my fall with no damage. Perhaps the inflated Therm-a-rest pad helped to soften the impact. Falls are inevitable and the outcome of this one couldn't have been better.AT Kincora's I saw two titmice at the bird feeder. Looking forward to some time in town today and lots of food.
Date: 2003-05-02
From: Kincora's Hikers Hostel

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: overcast clouds

My stay at Kincora's was great. Bob and Pat Peoples are people lovers who put people first. Money is not the motivating factor for their hospitality. They deserve a humanitarian of the year award for their kindness to hikers. I asked Bob if he had any negative experiences with hikers since he opened his hostel in 1997. He said, "Only three". One 17-year-old was stoned and Bob who has a rule that no drugs or alcohol are allowed on his premises, asked the kid to leave. The other two had a reputation all along the trail before they came to Kincora's of making trouble. They asked Bob if they could stay. He said, "No". They asked if all the bunks were taken since it appeared that no one else was there. He said,"No, there are plenty of bunks available, but none for you". Since Bob could remember those 3 incidents and only those 3, the general hiking community is a good bunch of people.Miss Janet in Erwin TN told me she liked hikers ever since her grandmother used to help them and shuttle them around when she was a little girl. She continues the services now because she enjoys meeting people from all over who are generally well educated and adventurous.I left Kincora's and continued on the AT at 11:25. Laurel Falls were absolutely beautiful. The climb up to Pond Flats was tough (1800' straight up), but it was easy cruising after that down to Watauga Lake where I stopped to eat lunch at the picnic table and water faucet. I passed the Watauga Lake Shelter around 4 PM, looked at the threatening skys, and put on my full rain gear. It started pouring immediately and I pushed on in the deluge another 7 miles to the Vandeventer Shelter where I tented for the night since the shelter was full.AT 9:50 PM I woke up and threw up twice. Then at 4 AM I woke up again with diarhea! I was not feeling good. I was wet, cold, and very sick. The next morning I had another bout with the runs and it took me an hour to get some water from the nearby spring a third of a mile downhill from my tent. I didn't get on the trail until 9:20. But I knew I had to make some miles if I wanted to get to Damascus. I couldn't stay on the trail and remain sick, so I just started walking, very slowly, with no energy.
Date: 2003-05-03
From: Vandeventer Shelter

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

After my late start, I willed my body to keep walking even though after 2 hours I was ready to quit and rest. I had no energy. I walked very slowly and took a lot of breaks. Viking from Bamburg, Germany passed me and Dingleberry and Snot Rocket, married marine biologists from Wilmington NC also went by. A few minutes later I came around a bend in the trail and saw Viking helping Snot Rocket who had just fallen twisting her ankle. Viking went on and I helped Snot Rocket get her pack on. I followed her for awhile but eventually even she was out of sight. I was really going slow!By the time I made it to the Iron Mtn Shelter (7.6 miles), I was feeling a little better so I boiled some water and had hot chocolate and grits. After I saw I could keep the food down, I was encouraged to try the other 7 miles to the next shelter. I made it there through another thunderstorm by 5:30. Fortunately the Double Springs Shelter still had a space left for me so I did not have to set up my tent.Viking was asleep when I arrived, but later woke up and talked about East Germany. He said before the reunion of East and West Germany, East German kids learned Russian as a second language, but now English is mandatory and Russian is optional. We joked about idioms and slang in both English and German. I mentioned the German expression of having a bird in your head for being crazy or Cuckoo. Viking explained how the Cuckoo bird lays its eggs in another birds nest and when the babies hatch, the Cuckoo out competes the other hatchlings and the foster parents raise the Cuckoo's young. Pretty smart for a crazy bird.I spent the night with Viking, Snot Rocket, Dingleberry, Muwagwee, Pepperment Patty, and an older gentleman Massachusetts.
Date: 2003-05-04
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: Damascus VA
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Feeling much better this morning and glad I made it through the night without stomach problems. So I got up early, starting hiking at 6:25, and made it 8.3 miles to the Abingdon Gap Shelter in less than 3 hours. Then after a hot lunch of grits and hot chocolate, I made the next 10 miles to Damascus in 3 hours arriving at 1:10 PM. I checked into The Place, a Methodist Church Hostel, took a shower, did my laundry at the laundromat (including my pack), and got some town food which did not settle well in my stomach. I may take a day off to try and rest my upset stomach.This was the first day that it did not rain at all so I dried out my boots, rain gear, tent, and aired out my sleeping bag. The Weather Channel forecast for this area is rain for the next 10 days. It's getting cold so it may even snow in the high country.Damascus is a nice town but everything is a little more expensive than it was in Hot Springs. I really want to get back on the trail tomorrow, but I may have to rest for another day. We'll see how my stomach feels. It seems like every other hiker has the same stomach problems that I do.
Date: 2003-05-05
From: Damascus VA

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Zero Day - I still feel sick to my stomach whenever I eat anything so I am taking a day off here in Damascus VAo rest adn get caught up on my journal. I got on the Internet at 7 AM when the Side Track Cafe opened and finished updating my journal around 9. I ate breakfast and then entered an old entry that was missing from weeks ago. After that I got the few groceries that I will need for the next 4 days and filled up my fuel bottle.I ate lunch at Cowboys, the only place I felt that I got my money's worth for the amount and quality of food that I was served. I went there again for dinner and plan to eat breakfast there before hiking tomorrow morning.All in all the people do not appear as friendly here and seem to have to make their year round living off the hiking/biking crowd in a shorter period of time.
Date: 2003-05-06
From: Damascus VA

To: Lost Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I heard about the Inn The Country bakery and cafe from Mr. Ed and was going to eat breakfast there, but it wasn't open at 6 AM so I had a hikers breakfast at Cowboys instead. The Ol' Barn also supposedly has good meals.I got on the trail at 7 AM and it was easy going to the Saunders Shelter where I stopped and had a hot lunch. I flushed a ruffed grouse which actually flew down the trail in front of me. Usually a grouse puts a tree or two between you and itself, but this one would have given me a shot if I had a shotgun. I hiked the remaining 6.4 miles to the Lost Mtn Shelter arriving at 1:36 PM.Virginia seems easier than the trail has been in TN, NC, and GA. Maybe I'm just getting used to it. But the miles seem to come faster. The 2600 foot climb up Mt. Rogers tomorrow should be a good challenge. I hope the weather is somewhat clear for some photos. It's been another rainy day today starting with a warm drizzle, but now it's changing to cold and windy. It's good to be in the shelter.
Date: 2003-05-07
From: Lost Mtn Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: light rain

I woke up at 5:55 and was on the trail by 6:17. It was quite a climb right away and after awhile I realized that I was going to continue to climb until I got over Whitetop Mtn. Then after crossing VA hwy 600, I was soon climbing Virginia's highest mountain, Mt. Rogers. Near the top I passed Thomas Knob Shelter and continued through a rain squall and high winds (35-50 mph) to the Wise Shelter where I spent the night. Mt. Rogers reminded me of the High Sierra. It had lots of boulder hopping, no protection from the wind and sun (if the sun had come out), and you could see a long way.I petted some "wild" ponies and saw 4 deer and a 2-foot long garter snake during the one moment all day that the sun was out. Wait 'til it gets sunny, I'm sure I'll see lots of snakes. I saw the deer, 3 does and a fawn, before they saw me, about a quarter mile before the Wise Shelter as well as more black and white warblers around the shelter. I took a photo of another junco nest on Whitetop Mtn. It had 4 eggs and was built along the trail edge covered by a cupalo of grass.
Date: 2003-05-08
From: Wise Shelter

To: VA 16 near Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 30.7
Weather: scattered clouds

At the Wise Shelter a section hiker from New Mexico asked me where I got the silnylon material to make my pack. I gave her the phone number for "The Rain Shed" in Corvallis, Oregon (541-753-8900). They have all the materials needed to make packs. The total cost for my pack was $29 in materials. The labor my wife did to put it all together without any pattern or previous experience was more. Another section hiker (Peter Pan) made his own pack, but used straps and other parts from a day pack. He was interested in my pack as well. The large crowd of hikers from the Lost Mtn Shelter (40+) didn't all make it to the Wise Shelter, but we still had a dozen or so tenters nearby and 7 in the shelter.It rained hard all night at the Wise Shelter. I woke up and though the skies were threatening, and it was cold and windy, I started hiking at 6:25. I counted 26 ponies on Stone Mtn and lots of cows at "The Scales", an area with a corral, RV's, and grazing cattle. The trail went right through the middle of the cow dung covered corral. Perhaps the trail should do the same in PA through a Pennsylvania Dutch pig pen or chicken coop. A couple of thru-hikers were all excited about all the wildlife they had seen yesterday. I asked them what all they saw. They said they took almost a whole roll of film of the "wild" ponies in Grayson Highlands State Park. I asked them what else they had seen. They said, "Nothing else really, just the ponies". To me the ponies aren't really wildlife, but are more like pets on a farm. After many years with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, it's good to be reminded how other people define wildlife or a wilderness experience. Feral ponies are not the norm in most peoples daily lives, so to get close enough to pet one is really a wild experience.After the easy climb over Pine Mtn, I walked by the Old Orchard Shelter around 8:40. I had heard the bugs were bad around this shelter, so I elected to stay at Wise last night. The terrain was fairly gentle and I averaged over 3 mph to Raccoon Branch Shelter. I didn't stop for lunch until I made the Trimpi Shelter at 1:15 PM. Mr. Ed was just completing his lunch break when I arrived. He had hiked from the Old Orchard Shelter and was about an hour ahead of me. I took an hour to make a hot lunch, then decided to push on to the Partnership Shelter and VA hwy 16 for the night. That way I would have a long day (30.7 miles), but could take a zero day tomorrow instead of hiking the remaining 10.6 miles. The terrain continued to be fairly easy and I arrived at Partnership at 5:48 PM. I walked to the hwy and then back to the shelter. Counting the 0.2 miles to the Trimpi Shelter for lunch, I actually hiked 31 miles for the day with my pack. But only 30.7 count for AT trail miles. I just wanted to know that I could do a 31 mile day.