morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-14
From: Daleville, VA

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Well rested and feet are feeling better in new shoes. Dropped my truck with Outdoor Trails at 1000 and arranged a shuttle for James River crossing, US 501, on Sunday the 18th or early Monday the 19th. Will call Doug to let him know which day.   Hefted the newly lightened pack and headed out at 1030. Cloudy and cooler this morning. Trail was immediately better than last few days in V & R province. Made first shelter at Fullhardt Knob at 1230. Ate a light lunch in the cold wind and headed to next climb. Met 3 Southbound hikers this morning and then another after lunch, all headed to Daleville.   Left for Wilson Creek Shelter at 1330. The trail just kept getting better all day. Nice grades and plenty of switchbacks to make hiking much smoother. Finally a pleasure to be out here!!!!   Reached Wilson Creek at 1600. No one out here but me this afternoon. Broke out the new pad and set up camp in a corner of the shelter on the leeward side. Still no sun. Read for a while and then did a hot supper. Sun finally broke through right at 1930, just before dark.   No excitement today. Dogwoods and native azaleas, as well as many small wildflowers, are blooming at these lower elevations.
Date: 2010-04-15
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: clear sky

TAX DAY! Hope you all got some of your money back. I think I just spent mine in Daleville. Got to prime the economy we do!!!!!! had a restless night on the sleeping pad. Big change coming from the soft sway of the hammock. My back hurt no matter which way I turned. Hope this is not sign of things to come. Today openned sunny and warmer. Looks like 80's today for a change.   Moved out at 0800 on good trail to Black Horse Gap, the first point I come near the Blue Ridge Parkway. There were no horses, much less black ones there. Hiking was smooth and easy again this morning -Thank You Lord! Stopped at 1115 at Bobbitt's Gap Shelter for lunch and took an hour's rest for next series of big climbs.   Left at 1215 and got to Bear Wallow Gap at 1340. Took on water as it will be another 6 or 7 miles to next water source. Looks like I'm back where I was a week ago on the water issue. Also, the water at Cove Mtn Shelter is a 1/2 mile and 500 feet below the shelter. This will be a dry night for cooking, as well as for breakfast tomorrow.   Walking up the trail climbing from Bear Wallow, I saw a hen turkey running ahead of me until she reached a switchback where she decided it was time for liftoff. Cool sight. Then I flushed another grouse on top of Cove Mtn. That's about all the excitement for the day folks!   Reached Cove Mtn shelter at 1545 and set up for the night. The place was infested with Carpenter Bees. Must have been 3 or 4 dozens fighting over who got which hole in the shelter boards. Wish I had a BB gun. Would seem like old times as a kid practicing my shooting aim. So, in lieu thereof, I broke out my hiking sticks and proceeded to take batting practice. It is Spring after all and baseball is the national past time. Score: me 23, bees 0. Got 18 with end of my hiking pole and 5 that fell onto the ground while fighting each other got stomped on. Not to worry, there were still about a dozen or so left. AND one gnawed inside a board over my head all night long. Payback I guess.   While laying in my bed in the shelter, a doe walked right into the camp site at 2000 and began grazing on the newly sprouted shrubby. She came back again twice during the night. Must be something about those shrubs.
Date: 2010-04-16
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: Cornelius Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: scattered clouds

A good night, even with the doe roaming around and making noise. Guess she really liked the greenery around this shelter. A brilliant sunrise over the Blue Ridge this morning. Almost worth a picture - nah! too lazy to get out of the sack and find the camera.   Decided to head to Cornelius Creek today. That means a 1000-foot climb over Fork Mountain and then a 2000-foot over Floyd Mountain after lunch. Got moving at 0830 and found some almost virgin timber in an area before Bryant Ridge shelter. Don't think this has been cut over since the late 1800's. Hugh white pine and hardwoods. I'm talking 30-inches diameter at breast height. Open forest with little understory, really cool. The place is eat up with turkey sign, everywhere. 3-hours and I end up at the "Hilton" of shelters. Fantastic wood construction. All mortise and tendon with wooden pegs in the entire framing of the shelter and I'm talking 8"x8" to 10"x12" timbers. The only nails are in the floor boards and roofing stringers, which are 2"x4" rough-sawn locust or poplar. Sleeps at least 10 upstairs and another 10 downstairs. The whole thing is perched at the end of a knoll overlooking a small creek - Bryant Ridge wins the award for best shelter on the trail in my book.   Took and hour for a nap and lunch and then started the long climb over Bryant Ridge and then up Floyd Mtn at 1230. Many rest stops, but I made the crest of Floyd Mtn after 3 hours and 5.2 miles. Good climbing rate for me. Thinking I might be getting the legs and lungs to do this stuff AND it is only 2 more days of trail to go. Dang!   No hikers again today and no critters. Got into Cornelius at 1545 and set up my junk. Winds and clouds are starting to whip up. Might be showers tonight. A Raven thought about lighting in a tree by the shelter and then decided to move on. One BIG crow in my book.   Slim (section hiker) from Pearisburg area arrived at 1700. Young guy about 6"4" and thinking about a thru hike. We talked about costs and time as he is not sure he has funds to do a thru. He is doing 25 to 30 miles a day, so his total time will be shorter than most of us Turns out he is another hammock camper, using an ENO single. Swami Rami from Lithuania rolls in at 1900 and sets up a tent further up the area from the shelter. He started at Harper's Ferry and is going south to GA and then will jump to Maine and head south back to Harper's. Cool guy. Fairly well used up my energy today but I feel good as I head to the Neo-Air for a nights rest. Tomorrow will be a short day (5.5 miles) so that I can get to James River on Sunday. Shelter spacing through last 18 miles does not allow a different option.
Date: 2010-04-18
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: James River Crossing
Miles today: 14.4

Last day on the trail for this section. Got out at 0830 for a day of mostly downhill stuff. Temp this morning was 38* - cold. Put on all my light thermals and long sleeve shirt, socks for gloves. Remember, I sent my gloves home from Pearisburg 2 weeks ago. Hot breakfast and then left Ken and Monty at the shelter. They are headed to James River crossing to reach their vehicle to start trip home tonight.   Really good trail today up and over Thunder Hill Ridge and then over to High Cock Knob. Last bump on the trip and it was steep in paces but only 700 feet climb from Petites Gap. Had lunch on top and made some calls to check on family issues. Left at 1200 for Matts Creek. Really great trail for rest of the trip. In fact, best piece on this whole trip. Kind of like hiking on a well groomed golf course path. Long smooth grades and contour hiking. Reached junction with the Sulphur Spring Trail at 1400. From here you can look down on the James River, about 1800 feet below. A big bend is directly below, so you can see NW and SE for about 2 or 3 miles. Down hill from here for sure.   Got into Matts Creek around 1530. Sat around waiting on Ken and Monty, as they were to text me if my truck was at the James River crossing. In the mean time, the coach for a running class at Liberty University in Lynchburg came in to sit and rest. Turns out he had a class of running students coming along who were going to run the trail 5 miles back to the Marble Spring saddle and then back to the James River, 4 guys and 2 girls.   He left and I sat and read the last of my book.   But there is no cell signal here, so my plan for a text is shot down. Ken and Monty arrive around 1700, snack and move on. I eat my last meal and running kids show up. Ah HA! Hey, any of you folks happen to remember seeing a Chevy Pickup with a UGA sticker on rear window in the parking lot. Yeah ,we saw that one, TN Plates right?? Thank you Lord. I don;t have to spend the night with only 2 miles to go. Packed my junk as soon as the runners had left and made for the river quick time stepping at 1800. Got their at 1850 to see sunset behind the ridge I had descended from Sulphur Spring Trail. Nice pics of footbridge over the James and there she was - my ride home, waiting on 'daddy". Thanks Doug for the great service.   Loaded my junk and talked with a Forest Service Ranger for a while. He was glad to hear that there were a good many grouse this early in the year. Apparently, they have had a hard time in recent years. Headed out to I-81 and going part way home. Stopped in Elkin, NC off I-77 for the night at 2200. I got plans for tomorrow.   A great day on the trail.
Date: 2010-04-19
From: US 501, James River

To: Home by Way of Mt Mitchell, NC
Miles today: 4.0

So the plan for my last travel day is to divert to Mt Mitchell, NC for a quick short hike to the top. Finally arrived at the park HQs around 1230 after winding around the Blue Ridge parkway for 30 miles from Asheville. Talked with park ranger for a while and then changed clothes as wind was stiff up there. Turns out I didn't need them as most of the climb was in the lee of the mountain or in the trees. Took off at 1250 and reached top at 1350. Fairly ragged climb thru rocks and roots, sorta like south side of Roan Mtn climb and/or some of Mt Rogers area, only steeper. Got the requisite pictures on top, the survey monument and took in the full 360 views. As usual, blue haze everywhere. Back to the truck by 1500 for the reverse 30 miles back to Asheville, with a stop at the NPS Folk Art Center of Appalachia. Really nice display of local arts and crafts.   Headed up town to the Mast General Store to help the economy. Picked up a few things and headed for the road. Decided I could make it home by 2200, so I hit I-26 and headed south around 1700. Stopped in Spartanburg for dinner and gas and then laid the willow to the old gal. Made it by 2230. Another ending, but looking forward to the next journey, hopefully in June/July to complete the rest of Virginia.THE END! Rockdawg69 out for now!
Date: 2010-01-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Hello to everyone, sorry it took me so long to get this page up and running. Ive been a little busy getting all the last details squared away. I got some of my gear posted on here and will work on filling in the rest when Ive got a little bit more time. With only three weeks until my flight leaves for GA the days seem to be dragging on, I wish I could just start tommorow but im sure its better that I take my time and prepare properly. Im going for a 6 day shakedown hike starting on sunday (a shakedown hike is when you go out and test all your new gear to make sure everything is in proper working order...and another excuse to get out into the woods!). I was debating about telling everyone about myself but ive got the next 5 mounths to do that hahah. I look forward to the poeple I will meet, and the things I will see. This is going to be an extraordinary adventure! Thanks for reading.
Date: 2010-01-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Heading out tommorow for a six day shakedown hike in SNP(shanandoah national park for all you non-hiker type). Can't wait to get out into the woods and experience nature first hand. There calling for 2-3 inches of rain between sunday and monday. I'm confident that my raingear will keep me fairly dry...at least I hope it will! I've got my pack fully loaded with 6 days of food, 1.5 liters of water, and about 16 ounces of fuel for my stove and my pack is just over 30 pounds. I couldn't be happier with that weight being that I will usually only have 4 days food on my thru attemp. I still can't believe that when I finish this shakedown hike there will be less than 2 weeks until I get on a plane and fly down to GA to began my thru attemp. I would like to wish good luck amd happy hiking to all those starting the trail this week. I will do my best to keep everyone updated while I'm on the trail this week but I'm not sure if that will be possible. If I'm not able to update I guess ill see you all in a week or so. Until then, take it easy!-Rocker
Date: 2010-01-31
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday I finished my last shakedown before I began my thru hike. Spent six days in SNP and the weather was crazy! The high for the week was 63 and the low was 13, three inches of rain, snow, fog, and just about every other type of precipitation possible. It was nice to out in those conditions as it raised my confidence in all of my gear. Only 12 days until I head down to GA. Put the finishing touches on my maildrops last night. My next entry will most likely be from the trail, so I guess ill see yall soon...Rocker
Date: 2010-02-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday I sent my pack down to Amicalola Lodge in GA. I hope it makes it there on time, there calling for 1-2 feet of snow between today and tommorow. Things are finially starting to come together the mail drops are ready to go, I've finilized my gear list, and I'm training hard for this trip. Exactly one week from today I will be in GA and a few days after that I will be on the AT heading north for what will be a journey of a lifetime. I hope the trail will be in decent shape I know with all this snow it will prolly be either covered in snow or extremly muddy. Both will make for lower mileage which is fine by me. I plan on keeping my days under 15 miles for the first two or three weeks to prevent injury. Once my endurance has been built up I will dslowly increase my mileage. In peak phyisical condition I will hope to be averaging low to mid 20 mile days. That is if the weather cooperates with me. The only thing I have left to purchase is a new set of trekking poles...I broke one from my last set on my shakedown hike. I made a repair and was able to use it for another 50 miles but I don't want to have to be messing with it on my thru. Anyways, until next time...
Date: 2010-02-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well I was planning on doing a few day hikes this week but we just got hammered with 34 inches of snow! That was on friday...tommorow there calling for another 20 inches. I can't remeber a time when I have ever seen that much snow on the ground at one time. My flight leaves on friday so I'm hoping and praying that the runways are cleared off by then and the delays are only minor. They do have two full days to clear the snow so it shouldn't be a problem. My pack arrived at the lodge today...hopefully all in one piece. All I've gotta do now is pack my carry on suitcase and ill be 100 percent ready to go...4 days til GA, 7 til I start hiking. I feel like a little kid waiting for christmas to arrive!
Date: 2010-02-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well...tommorow is the big day ill be heading down to GA!!! My mind is going 100 miles an hour trying to make sure everything is good to go. Ive packed and repacked my bag i dont know how many times making sure i have everything i need. Now i just need to clean house a little bit and run over to EMS to grab a new pair of trekking poles. After my mom and i get to Amicalola Lodge we have a few errands to run then i will rest for a couple days. Monday i will take step number one of five million on my AT THRU HIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Date: 2010-02-13
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I made it to GA woooo hoooo! I'm at amicalola lodge enjoy the view and getting everything ready to go. Snowed 2 or 3 inches last night making for a beautiful morning. Hiked from the lodge down the 600 something steps to the visitors center. For anybody interested as of today there has only been 19 thru hikers the have signed to book at the visitors center. Gonna head up to neels gap tommorow to drop off my first maildrop then monday is the big day. Can't wait! Also FYI I read a sign today that stated that every yellow blaze in national forest as being changed to green. I don't know if that is new imformation but that is the first I have heard of it. I will post some pics when I get to neels gap...maybe tommorow if I have time if not I will do it sometime wednesday. Until then everybody take it easy.
Date: 2010-02-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 8.8

Nasty weather in the morning, wasnt able to leave Amicalola Lodge until around 10 am. On the way up USFS 42 there was a dodge durango that had ran off the road. There was two guys that i believe were about my age pulling it out with a come along. To make a long story short we didnt get to Springer until about 1 pm. There was about 8 inches of snow on top of spring with drifts as high as 12 or 14 inches. That much snow combined with ice has made for some pretty slow hiking. Hopefully it starts to warm up a little!
Date: 2010-02-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 7.6

Oh do I love winter camping...especially when1.The trail is covered with snow and ice2.The windchill is in the single didgets3.The wind blows snow right into the shelter4.When you hit your head not once, or twice, but three times on the shelter roof5.When your water bottle the you put in your sleeping bag so that is doesnt freeze...spills in your bag turning it into a very large, heave block of ice.All jokes aside everything is going well, my body feels strong and every day i am getting closer to katahdin. Only two days on trail and already so much has happened. IM not able to upload pictures from this computer but i can promice you the views are amazing! The sleeping bag incident was not fun at all and made for a long cold night. HEading to the hiker hostel tommorow to shower, do laundry, and most importantly dry my bag out. The weather has really pushed all my gear to its limits and it is holding up very well. From the hiker hostel i will head to neels gap were i have my first resupply then onto hiawasse ga. Hopefully i will be able to upload some pictures from one of those two locations. Until next time...
Date: 2010-02-18
From: hiker hostel

To: Hostel@neels gap
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: clear sky

Stayed at the hiker hostel last night. What a great place to stay. The hike to woody gap was cold cold cold. At the hostel I enjoyes some chinese food for lunch and pizza for dinner. The weather has been rough hopefully it will warm up a little bit in the next few days!
Date: 2010-02-19
From: Hostel@neels gap

To: low gap shelter
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: broken clouds

Two nights in a row...wooo hooo! Some of the other hikers didn't like the hostel but I really enjoyed it. Thrasher, turkey, frank, tim, will, (all thru hikers)joined me there as well as several other thru hikers. The hike coming out of neels gap was rough! I don't like starting the day with a big climb...however that is exaclty what we had to do. Once on top of the mountain however all the hard work paid off! The weather was beautiful and the skies were clear. From the top of the mountain I was able to see the Atlanta skyline. As I sat on top of the mountain looking at Atlanta I thought to myself, "I wonder if the people in those building are looking at these mountains?"The terrian the rest of the day wasn't exactly what I would call easy. Snow and ice made the trail slippery. I guess I will just need to get used to that. Arriving at the shelter to a huge fire was well worth the hike. After a nice bowl of 1000 calories worth of mashed potatoes I slept like a baby...if only every day was this nice.
Date: 2010-02-20
From: low gap shelter

To: Rocky Mountain Campsite
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Coming out from low gap I hiked for about five or six miles on an old logging road. The terrian was prett flat and I was able to make good time for most of the morning. After stopping for lunch I met a couple of day hikers on the trail who had been following me on trail journals. I don't know if they were just hiking or if they came out to meet me but either way it was really cool to see people on the trail who knew who I was. After crossing Unicoi gap there was a 1.7 mile hike up the mountain to our campsite. Again, the hike was well worth it. Thrasher, turkey, frank, and I all pitched our tent on the summit and I built a nice little fire. As the sun set I the views became even better. The lights from the surronding cities made for some amazing views. The days hike combined with some amazing views and a beuatiful sunset made this my best day on trail by far!
Date: 2010-02-21
From: Rocky Mountain Campsite

To: deep gap shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: broken clouds

From the summit of Rocky mountain campsite we has just as nice of a sunrise as there was a sunset. The first mile or so was downhill and covered, for the most part, with snow and ice. After the long decent I stood before tray mountain a climb that was something like 2 or 3 miles uphill at a fairly steep grade. Slowly but surely I made it to the summit and once again the views made it all worth it. As I sat on the summit eating lunch a began to realize life is much like hiking. Its has its ups and its downs. It is always easy to down downhill reguardless of the length. Everyone wants to be on top of the mountain but doesn't want to do the work to get there. And as soon as you get to the bottem you only have one choice, give up or start climbing. And with each climb you get stronger and smarter and with each mountain you climb you gain confidence and endurance. Okay I know I am rambeling so I will get on with the rest of my day. We stopped at tray mountain shelter for lunch the headed down the other side of tray. The mountain laurel that had been ice damaged was blown down all over the trail making for some frustrating hiking. Every step I took I ran into another blwodown. Somewhere along the line my guidebook fell out of my pocket and I got pretty mad. I decided to hike my anger off and covered the next 8 miles in just under 3.5 hours. The shelter at deep gap was really nice. However it was by far the most mouse infested shelter I have ever stayed in...maybe its time to start pitching my tent more often.
Date: 2010-02-27
From: deep gap shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well...I had a great hike coming out of hiawassee. The first 5 or 6 miles didn't have any snow at all. I was amazed, that's the first time that there was a stretch that long without snow. Made it into muskcrat creek around 4:00 PM. It took a while but we built a pretty nice fire which provided a lot of warmth for us. That night the temp got well below zero with the windchill. The wind blew about a half inch or so of snow into the shelter we covered our bags in snow. The snow then melted, and once again I was stuck with a wet bag. The four of us (frank,thrasher, and turkey) all made the decision that we needed to get off the trail to dry our sleeping bags. So we took a side trail down to 64 then got a ride into Franklin NC. It was my original intent to go back and hike that section of trail but there was forest service road was closed. So that section of trail (27 miles) I have not hiked. I did however include them in my total miles so as not to confuse everyone. I will come back and hike that section at a later time...hopefully with better weather!While in Franklin Will,Thrasher, Turkey and I all decided to order snowshoes for the smokies. I got the Atlas 1030 series with has crampons on the bottom of them which will help in icy conditions. I really hope they help because they were pretty expensive and they weigh about 4 pounds. That will be by far my heaviest piece of gear. From Franklin we will push on to NOC then from NOC we will head to Fontana Dam where we will resupply before heading into the smoky mtns. Overall this has been a great experience. The snow is extremely frustrating making it almost impossible to keep a good pace. I won't be able to update for several days so wish me luck. I also wanted to thank everybody who has signed my guest book. The comments are very encouraging and I love to check them!