morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-05-03
From: Hampton, TN/Braemar Castle

To: Hampton, Tn/ Braemar Castle
Miles today: 0.0

Zero day for rest. Great decision as the afternoon turns into a thunder boomer down pour. This is an interesting place, full of history. And Mr. Brown is the repository for a lot of that history. Braemar Castle was the commissary, ice house, main office, etc. for the Pittsburg Lumber Copmany from 1909 to about 1923??? They logged the Laurel Fork Valley for virgin spruce, fir, and hardwoods, including chestnut, and removed about 200 million board feet over the 15 or so years in operation. The mill was across the road at the current location of Mr Brown's store. Mr Brown's grandfather came with the company to run part of the operations. The RR cuts and roadbeds I walked in the Laurel Fork were part of the Laurel Fork RR which was the logging end of the operations. Found out that they used Shay engines on the logging trains. Pretty important info because Mr Brown has no photos of the logging engines. Put in a call to one of my railroading hobby friends who is researching literature to see if we can find pictures from this operation. Mr Brown has numerous pieces of historical literature, photos, and furniture items from his grandfather's collections during and after the Pittsburg Company left the area. Another group of hikers came in this afternoon, turns out to be "Megan", "Dozer", and "Serial". Won't be quiet tonight. Caught up on all the phone calls and home items last night and today. Still having problems with internet email responses. Will solve this issue when I get to Damascus. Logged in all photos from last 2 days. Final Note: While I was hiking over last couple of days, Spring arrived, at least in the lower elevations. Green-up is here and vistas will be few and far between from here on north. Elevations of 4000 feet are still working on getting leaves, but it won't be long. Temps are now getting moer like summer.
Date: 2007-05-04
From: Hampton, Tn/ Braemar Castle

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.25
Weather: overcast clouds

Time to get moving again. Yesterday's rest did wonders for feet and ankles. It rained all afternoon so I missed the soaking. Temps have cooled and ground is wet again - no more dust for a day or two. Low clouds this morning. Chance of showers at 60%. Left Shook Branch Rec area at Watauga Lake at 08:30 after helping Sutton Brown launch his canoe for a morning paddle on the lake. Passed Lil Sister, Rubberduck, and Baily, as well as Dan and JD at camp sites along west side of lake. All pretty much got wet yesterday and are trying to dry out their stuff. Reached Watauga Dam (TVA) around 09:30. Took some good geology photos of outcrops and Iron Mtn Fault in Rt Abutment of dam. Circular emergency spillway was an interesting difference from dams I have worked on in the past. Would not want to drop in the big sucker if it was spilling over. Could not see the outfall downstream so it must be a ways down the valley. All rock at dam and downstream is Valley and Ridge sandstones. Upstream of fault it looks like metamorphics, but could be massive limestone/dolomite. Could not get there to check it out. Large fault at junction of Blue Ridge and Valley and Ridge reminds me of same fault sequence in NW GA at Carter's dam and Powerhouse. Exposure is the same. Rain started at 10:30 and was steady, but moderate, until about noon.   Soaked through and through by the time I got to Vanderveeter Shelter - sweating inside the rain gear. Stopped here for lunch and to try and dry out a bit. Clouds broke around 1:45. Decided to head out again before any big rains showed up. JD, "Luna", "Duck Tape", and "Wrong Way" were at Vanderventer for lunch also. All left ahead of me. Not much else happening today as clouds and rain are hanging around. Arrived at Iron Mtn Shelter at 5:00 and met all the earlier traveling folks. Silver Cloud was already there for the night. Managed to dry out by getting into clean fresh clothes. Got my water for the night, ate and hit the sack. Turns out this was a relatively easy hiking day for 15 miles. Today we moved from Blue Ridge to Valley and Ridge Province. Goodbye to th southern Blue Ridge -Amen!
Date: 2007-05-05
From: Iron Mountain Shelter

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: light rain

I am ahead of schedule even though I have slowed down over then last few days so as not to arrive in Damascus before Monday May 7.   If not for the snow in the Smokies and losing those 3 days, I could have already been at Damascus. Hike is going much faster than I thought I could accomplish. However, I did a couple of long days and long miles to catch up some of the lost time. Slow getting going today. Rain and clouds still hanging low. Decided to do a short day to next shelter and hole up out of the rain. This should allow me to get into Damascus on Monday morning. Left shelter at 09:00 and rain started at 10:30 - again. It was light and stopped at 11:30. Arrived at Double Springs Shelter at 12:30. Pitched my stuff in and settled down for a long afternoon. Good thing as heavy rains punctated the afternoon. Several folks stopped to eat and/or change to drier clothes and then moved on. "Kimi" and "The Chef" arrived at 5:00 for the night. "Bogey" and "Slim" also piled in about the same time. Last time I saw them was at Standing Bear Farm. More heavy rain after dark. Mice were bad all night. They finally got to my stuff by gnawing 2 holes in my food bag - my fault for not hanging it in the trees as I usually did. There went a $35 waterproof sil-nylon bag down the tubes. Better day coming tomorrow.Special Note for May 5. Best fun on the trail in a few days at junction with TN 91. Three Johnson County deputies had an "old" drunk pulled over at the AT trailhead parking area. His 12 pack, or what was left, was on the roof of his car. There they were standing in the drizzle with him handcuffed and him telling them 50 reasons why he needed to get his car home. This was worth the time spent reading the USFS info sign, eating a snack, and watching the "proceedings". I think the deputies were having a better time than I was. Had to hide behind the sign to keep from laughing out loud at times. Tow truck finally arrived and away went the car, then he got headed into a sheriff's car and off he went.
Date: 2007-05-06
From: Double Springs Shelter

To: Campsite
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: broken clouds

Beautiful morning today - sunny and warm. Left at 08:00 to find a spot to camp about 5 miles from Damascus. Planning this to be my last night on the trail for this section hike. Damascus, VA in sight for tomorrow. Jumped 3 large Whitetails at 10:00. First deer I have seen on the entire hike. Arrived at Abingdon Gap Shelter at 11:30 - 8.3 miles in 3.5 hours. VA is apparently easier hiking than the early stuff. Took and hour and half to dry some things while eating lunch and resting. Sill going slow here - no need to get into Damascus late on a Sunday afternoon. Moved on about 4 to 5 miles where I found a campsite in a small saddle. No water here but I brought extra from Abingdon Gap. Stopped at 3:15 and set up camp. Spent the afternoon reading and writing my journal stuff. Several folks passed on by headed to Damascus. Kimi and The Chef and Bogey and Slim had already gone ahead. Tonight I used a lean-to set up for the tarp as winds did not appear to be a problem tonight. Wrong again. Wind picked up around 5:00 and got stronger into the night. Sometime around 11:00 I re-set the tarp to lower one end of the lean-to down to ground level and mostly close off one end. Temps dropped during the night but that was a good feeling. Winds kept the bugs away but I couldn't hear the bears coming. Thankfully none showed on my last night. Beautiful stars and bright moon all night.
Date: 2007-05-07
From: Campsite

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: clear sky

Awoke to a beautiful morning with sunrise over the mountains at 06:00. Had a compelling reason to get out due to mother natures calling. Had not planned to abandon the bag this early this morning. Since I was up, I got a couple of nice photos of the sunrise. Left for Damascus at 07:15. I can get on down to town now. No longer any need to drag along. Ran into a whitetail doe coming up the trail at 08:00. Had I been looking forward, I could have stopped and got her picture. She saw me first and took off. Reached the TN-VA state line at 08:20 - 3.8 miles to Damascus from here. Wondering why there was no state line boundary marker here, only the Mt Rogers NRA marker. Have not seen anyone this morning. Either they went on into town last night or they left earlier like I did. Arrived in Damascus at 09:40. Got my picture taken at the trail sign by the owner of Cowboy's diner and gas station. Offered me a lot of info and welcomed me to town. Nice guy. Found Mt Roger's Outfitters and got my mail box with fresh clothes for the trip home. Arranged for hostel bunk for tonight with them and then set about getting shower and washing my clothes. Feels great to be clean again. Did the town tour and visited all the outfitters and stores. Stopped by the friendliest library on the trail and solved my email issues. Finally figured out I should just copy all the email addresses and respond using my home email system versus trying to use the link on my TrailJournal webpage as it had not worked properly any time I had tried it. Too much IT/IM issues with getting other folks computers to work with Outlook. Sent a birthday card to our son Thomas who will be 20 on May 9. Keep on chugging Cadet. Only 2 more years and a butt day. Packed and shipped my pack and junk home from Mt Roger's store. Bought a few things for the family and for rememberances. Arranged my shuttle down to Tri-Cities Airport for May 8. Met up with Jimmy Cricket again and ended up rooming with him for the night. Uncle Tom was in and doing a bicycle ride down the mountains on the Virgina Creeper national scenic trail. Ate dinner with Bogey and Slim, Barking Spider, and C&N. Little Sister, Rubberduck and Bailey were in the grass area tenting outside, as well as Dan and his Lab. After dinner, I had a beer with them at Baja cafe - owned by a GA Bulldawg. How bout them Dawgs!!!!! Going home tomorrow. Wonder what I will do now.
Date: 2007-05-08
From: Damascus, VA

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

This ends my first long section hike on the AT. All-in-all a really good trip. 459.5 AT miles plus a few off trail miles here and there. 43 days total time with 39 on the trail. Only 4 zero days due to weather or electing to rest. Best decision on this trip - ducking into Gatlinburg before the snow storm hit the Smokies. Simply luck as we ended up at New Found Gap at just the right time. Weather was a minor factor most of the time. The first week was unusually hot for Appalachians in March. Night of April 6th was a surprise with 2-inches of snow, high winds, and 14 degree morning temps on the 7th. Then the 3 day event in the Smokies, but that could be expected for this time of year. For the rest, there were about 4 more days with walking in the rain at variuos times and distances, none of which were severe. Missed the one bad thunderstorm event on May 3 by taking a zero. Several nights in the 20s and low 30s, but those were good sleeping nights in the bag. Ready to do it again - but some other section. Possibly NY with Thomas for a few days and then a 3 to 4 week excursion into CT and VT / NH area before Oct 1st. US Airways got me home a few minutes late after a few fits and false starts in Bristol.
Date: 2007-08-11
From: Home

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, it has been a couple of months of recuperation, taking care of family business, and planning the next part of this journey. Many of the folks I met on the spring section hike from Springer Mtn are now in CT, VT, and NH approaching the finish at Katadyn. Their journals are an inspiration. I can see them in my minds eye and almost feel the anticipation they sense as they are reaching their goal of a Thru-hike. Best wishes to the many who are still on the trail. I learned more about hiking and good techniques during the Mar-May hike than I had over many years previous, and I thought I knew a lot about backpacking. Live and learn. Good sticks are critical to long distnce hiking. They take a lot of abuse off your legs and feet, as well as saving your butt on the occasions when you slip. Thanks Leki for good stuff. Weight control on one's back has always been critical to long distance hiking. My early thoughts exactly! Too bad I didn't take this more seriously at an earlier stage. When you think you have reduced your pack weight, get some more advice from someone who has truly done the "long hikes". You would be amazed at what you really don't need and how you can make life a lot easier by reducing weight. A new, smaller pack and reduction of unecessary items has been accomplished. I am now down to about 25 lbs for 4 days travel, except for water. Dropping 10 to 14 lbs from the previous section hike in the spring should be a big change. If things go as planned for the next section, I expect to find out that I can reduce a couple of more pounds and still be comfortable. REMEMBER - older bones need a little more comfort than those of the youngsters, especially on those cold days. Most of the planning is complete for the September and October '07 section hike from the Hudson River, NY to Hanover, NH. Amtrak from Savannah to NYC and then the North communter train to Garrison Station, NY, across the river from West Point. The AT crosses the Hudson at the Bear Mtn Bridge, 4 miles south of Garrison. If there are no major problems during the hike, this should take about 30 days for 345 miles, approximately. This time, I will buy all my food supply as I travel. The only mail drops will be to pickup new trail maps and guide info. The longest section between food buys looks like 4 to 5 days, but there are a few places to stop at restaurants that will help to relieve some of those stretches. The return home is fairly easy - catch the Amtrak Vermonter near Hanover down to NYC and then Amtrak back to Savannah. With a little luck, I might even get to the Oct 6 football game at West Point, before I have to return home
Date: 2007-09-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Arrrgh!!!! Looks like hiking on the AT is over for the year. Family matters come before a walk in the woods. Life goes on and the trail is always there - next year will be here soon.So what to do now? Maybe a few short excurisons into the GA and NC mountains to enjoy the fall colors and do a couple of peaks. Weather is generally good until Thanksgiving so I'll settle for a few days here and there. At least it will give me a chance to try out the new Hennessey hammock and new pack. Should be able to start next year's section hikes at about a 25-27 lb load, including 3 to 4 days of food. Hiking will be much easier I think.For all those I met during the '07 spring trek from Springer to Damascus who are now appraoching Katahdin - Way To Go Ya'll! For those of you who are section hiking - hope to see you next spring in VA.Rockdawg Over and Out.
Date: 2007-03-08
To: Finishing Touches
Miles today: 0.0

So, I am in Nashville still, trying to figure out the things that I need to do before getting out of here. I have my pack mostly packed. There are some things that may or may not make the cut, but I still have two days to figure it out. I finally got the health insurance thing squared away (I hope) and now I just have to figure out where to put the rest of my stuff as I leave.I sent out an email today to pretty much everyone I know, letting them know that I would be gone and would hopefully correspond over the next five months, but that it'd only be via email and pretty infrequently.I am getting pretty nervous about this whole thing, as this will be the second time that I am going to take off from springer. I hope that physically my body can last longer than last time and that mentally I have matured a little more to be able to take the daily pounding and repetition.More over the weekend.
Date: 2007-03-11
From: Springer

To: Hawk Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: clear sky

made it to Hawk mountain by about 2. Met 1/4 moon, jeff, kara, and a thru hiker from last year, yukon. had so much time today to relax and enjoy the first day. what an interesting feeling, being back out here. Here we go...
Date: 2007-03-12
From: Hawk Mtn Shelter

To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: broken clouds

felt great at gooch and really pushed on hoping to make it to woody tonight and on to Walasi-Yi tomorrow. made it to woody gap, and have been on pace with Dorothy and Toto. Great folks. tenting close to the road, but its high and out of the way and close to the privy. boo yeah on that.update -- mice were CRAZY at woody. climbing all over the tent and our packs. thought bears might be a problem (yeah right... we were about 100 feet from a road) but it was the mice-ys. punks.
Date: 2007-03-13
From: Woody Gap

To: Walasi-Yi hostel
Miles today: 10.6

Staying at Walasi-Yi in the hostel, sweet. shower, sweet. all you can eat spaghetti dinner, sweet. laundry and slightly clean clothes (the laundry machine is terrible... TERRIBLE, but it was worth it for the feeling). Dorothy and Toto are zero-ing tomorrow, so we will be off pace, but it was nice hiking with them and relaxing at the top of Blood Mountain. How beautiful was that. and the hike up there? overrated. bah, killed it. down from there... wow brutal and LONG. had forgotten so much about that, except for the end when you can see the road for a half or 3/4 of a mile before you hit it. such a tease.
Date: 2007-03-15
From: Poplar Stamp Gap-ish

To: Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 5.6
Weather: overcast clouds

landed in Unicoi and stopped in Helen. Nursing a left knee issue. it sucks, but so far not so bad, but it is worrisome. Staying in the Motel 6. nice. its got a king size bed for 40 bucks a night. not bad, not bad. Also ate at Bigg Daddy's tonight. Yeah, its got two G's but hey... not so bad. the food hit the spot as did the beer. Had a Terrapin Golden, which I found out tonight is brewed in Athens. interesting really.Will try to make it to Tray Mountain tomorrow.
Date: 2007-03-16
From: Unicoi Gap

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 2.7
Weather: light snow

okay. so knee pain sucks, and makes for a 2.7 day. crap. got a ride from some great guys. Matt and Brad, adventure racers from outside Atlanta. They were scouting at Tray Gap and gave johanna and I a ride down and to Cloud9 hiker hostel. really needed the rest and ended up drinking and watching basketball and enjoying myself. really got me out of the dumps that I was in after having both knees act up.Cloud9 is awesome.but on the plus side, I got my trail name today. I told Johanna she should go on without me if she wanted and she said, "No, I need you around for the bears. You are kind of my Rodeo Clown." and thus a trail name was born.
Date: 2007-03-17
From: Indian Grave Gap

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

yep. didn't go anywhere. stayed the day and night at Cloud9. Saint Paddy's party was great. tented tonight. didn't stay in the lap of luxury king size bed from the night before. tenting was free. a penny pinching move for sure, considering that it is going to be 20 degrees tonight. where are all of the summer days?!?
Date: 2007-03-18
From: Indian Grave Gap

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: clear sky

SLACK PACKING. uh oh. taboo. no pack. whatever. it made tray and kelly knob really fun and nice hikes. it was beautiful at the top of kelly. staying at cloud9 again. probably a short day tomorrow to protect the knees. but they held up well today for those 13, packless.
Date: 2007-03-19
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Made it all the way to muskrat creek shelter tonight after threatening to stop at both Plumorchard and Bly Gap. Ha. Oh well, the feeling of getting there was pretty strong today. but I will tell you that the last 2.8 today was TOUGH, tough, tough. Over Sharp Top and Courthouse Bald really took it out of me. I remember this shelter from last time. This is where we met the macon boys and had our hot vodka and kool-aid drinks. mmm mmm mmm. The company here is good tonight and I am looking forward to a good nights sleep and maybe an easy-ish day tomorrow.
Date: 2007-03-20
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: few clouds

Another 12 and change today. Tried to get a spot in the new shelter, but alas it was full. The delapidated rat-trap it is. I hope I can get some sleep tonight as I have been exhausted trying to keep my knees from getting worse on these two hikes. The water source here was straight down hill and really burned my knees up to get to it. That and I had a backpacker's pantry for dinner that apparently (I guess I forgot how to read when I packed it) contains 30 ounces of food when hydrated. 30! yikes. had to bury some of it. Onward tomorrow... hopefully to franklin.
Date: 2007-03-23
From: Rock Gap

To: Wine Spring
Miles today: 11.9

We thought we'd do a short day out of Franklin today, going from Rock Gap to Siler Bald, but we hit Siler Bald early on, decided to push on knowing there wasn't another shelter for 12 more miles. We reclined for a bit at the base of Siler, taking in the sun, and enjoying a moment in the grass without the packs on our backs.So we were at the mercy of the data book and its listed "campsites." We spent the day looking for campsites and trying to find water, which we found a strange little source of USFS 69, which more looked like rain runoff than a water source, but it did the trick. We pushed on from there in the late afternoon, straight up a hill until we found a good campsite. We ended up at Wine Spring, we think, where the Bartram trial and the AT collide for the first time, and were joined by the Dude.Dude is from Saratoga Springs, NY and is out to hike the trail because its better than the other jobs he had. He and I stayed up chatting next to the campfire and trying to knock ourselves out with rocks intending to hang bear bags. That was a little startling. Overall a good day on the trail, really.