morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-14
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: overcast clouds

 5/14/03Start: Wilson Creek ShelterDest: Cove Mountain helterMiles: 13.7Today is an exciting day, we started crossing the Bvlue Ridge Parkway!! Slow progress, we ¢have to¢ stop at al the overlooks and take breaks¢¦ We stopped at the Taylors Mountain, Montvale, and Harveys knob overlooks, then headed north again. The trail Parrallels the Blue Ridge Parkway, and this section has great Rhodedendruns in full bloom everywhere, it¢s awash in color¢¦ The AT runs along an old section of Stone walls built long ago by the CCC. The wall supports the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) above us (what great rock work). Now we are sitting at the Sharp top overlook. We ate lunch, then a car stopped by with a 1999 thruhiker (Grindle) and his girl friend in it. He had been telling her how hungry thruhikers always are, so they gave us treats! Next a park ranger stopped to talk to us. They were running through a few sections of the park (with their roof lights on) warning people that the helicopters were going to be spraying for Gypsy moths. He told us to stay where we were for another hour or so, then it would be safe to go into the sprayed areas (along the BRP). We argued with him.. We said, ¢You mean you are forcing us to stay here in the sun and relax?¢. He said, yup¢¦. Oh darn, I guess we just have to rest for another hour.. LOL!!! So now I am laying on my Thermarest in the Sun, journaling & reading¢¦ Life is good so far today. Note: We are 1/3 of the way done with our hike!! The Wilson Creek Shelter is at the mathematical 1/3 mark of the trail (724.2 miles, times 3 = 2172.6¢¦. Cool!!). After lunch we pushed on and at Bearwallow gap we ran into Kitchen Sink & Kismet. Kitchen Sink is out for a couple of weeks, and yes, he has everything including the kitchen sink in his pack. Kismet is a thruhiker, but she started at Harpers Ferry (she¢s getting in shape in Virginia, instead of Georgia¢¦ Very smart). She is hiking to Springer, then she¢s going to Katahdin & hiking south to Harpers ferry (She¢ll get to see tons of northbound thruhikers as she heads south from Maine). Later, we saw 1 guy dayhiking, a woman peeing¢¦ Well almost, she saw us first & was pulling her drawers up. Then we went on to Cove Mountain Shelter, relaxed and ate dinner. A bit later, who should come in? The same section hiker we stayed at the Campbell shelter with (Mountain Break). He had dome a 19.9 mile day, and had hiked for almost 12 hours! Unfortunately, he thought he had hiked 12 hours & done a 20 mile day¢¦. Both would have been PR¢s, but Wench set him straight¢¦ LOL! She felt bad telling him. Today wasn¢t a bad day, I think the long break in the middle of the day helped. My legs weren¢t tired, I was just a little overheated, but not too bad. Now we are relaxing, listening to the Carpenter Bees chew the shelter up, and the deer stomp and snort by the front of the shelter. Tomorrow we have a big climb & hopefully nice views.
Date: 2003-05-15
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: Cornelius Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night there was a really bright moon, it never really got dark. There were also lots of deer around, snorting & shuffling the leaves. I went out to pee in the middle of the night and scared a bunch of deer away (scared the heck out of me).The next morning we hiked down to Jennings creek, then over Fork mountain and the Bryant Ridge shelter. It is huge, it has 3 levels and lots of overhang areas. It looks pretty cool. Wench & I had lunch here and then hiked over Floyd mountain to the Cornelius Creek shelter. Well it wasn¢t that easy, there was this little Thunder/rain storm with fog that we had to hike through. Even in my rain gear I was soaked. As I am typing this journal entry into Trailjournals.com after my hike, I realize how much the shitty weather we dealt with on our AT hike, makes me appreciate good weather. Did I mention that Mountain Break was going 6 miles to the Bryant Ridge shelter to meet his friend April Showers (@ dinner time). When we got there for lunch, she was already there waiting for him, she was excited that he was so close (they started their hike together). ). The hike up the mountain to the next shelter started out dry, then it poured. I had to hike with my glasses off so I could see (this happened a lot this year, blind with them off, blind with them on all fogged up). When we got to the Cornelius Creek shelter, Spot and Scotland were there, and Victoria & Jason (he¢s from Ireland, but lives in Scotland). They were waiting for the rain to let up before they moved on. Wench, April showers, Mountain break & I moved into the shelter for the night. We sat & talked, cooked dinner & tucked in for the night. Tomorrow we hike to the Thunder Ridge Overlook and get picked up for trail days. We are definitely going now, we said the hell with it, we will go & show off Teds flag in the hiker parade. So good night for now. I¢m back¢¦. During the night we were plagued by the noise of motorcycles running through the woods¢¦ The jerks we said, how can they do that? It¢s illegal! In the morning when 2 hikers hiked in from behind the shelter, we realized how close to the BRP we were¢¦ Duh, we were hearing motorcycles on the road.
Date: 2003-05-17
From: Damascus - Trail Days

To: Damascus - Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Well today did not start our well, but turned out ok. I got up early to do my laundry, I went to the front desk for detergent, dryer sheets and change. They were out of detergent¢¦Hmmm¢¦I went to the convenience store next to the hotel and bought a small box ($5.00). This sucks so far¢¦. I went back to the hotel put my clothes and soap in the washer and pushed the slide¢¦.nothing¢¦.now it really sucks, my clothes are still dirty and now full of soap¢¦.oh well¢¦.back to the front desk¢¦Call Mr. Fix-it¢¦He came and said, ¢well, looks like it¢s still broken¢¦they just came to fix it this week¢¢¦Sigh¢¦.the good news ¢ the hotel washed them for me in their machines. Bad news ¢ I couldn¢t bring Wenches in to get washed. Sigh¢¦Anyway off to Damascus, to the Post office where we meet Wench, Detour and Regan (f-stop). We go our for Mexican, gas and Walmart. Then back to Damascus for the hiker parade. It drizzled before the parade, but cleared up long enough to have a dry parade. Cool. We lined up at 2pm, Out group (not me I made a pit stop/made up a Ted sign ¢In memory of Ted Soleman Anderson¢, to hold in the parade next to his flag. As we lined up I saw lots of people, ALDHA Board Members, Felix, Weather, Carrot, Sunrise and Sunset (from SC), Baltimore Jack, Mrs. Janet, Jan, Anna and hundreds more (some I knew and many I didn¢t). The main gist of the parade seems to be water..squart guns, water balloons, a big water fight through town (for some) and a cool parade too! During the parade we all took turns on the flag, there was Hotdog, Wench, Liteshoe, Amy, Anna, Bumpkin and her husband, Footslogger and his wife, and Detour. Many others came by to say hi and to take pictures. It was a serious part of a fun parade. Reagan (f-stop) took pictures of the parade form the top of a van. Some threw water from pickups parked aling the route, others squirted and water ballooned. Many town¢s people just watched form lawn chairs or their porches. But soon it was over. We took a group shot by the ATC Booth and then just walked around town, then took Wench to the hotel so she could make phone calls and do her pocket mail. At some point during the day we all dropped our Lekis off to be checked out, and walked threw the campground in the light. We saw Chameleon, Noll, Team Outward (again). Warren Doyle, Nimble Will Nomad, Camo, Never again, Spur and Ready, Yukon Rasputon, Gary, Chomp, Sly, The list goes on¢¦later at the campground, we talked to people as it rained¢¦ It poured. We offered to bring Wench back to the hotel but her stuff was already wet so she decided to stay. It would have been much better if Fly and Smoothie were there, if the rain, stayed away, if everyone was camped together rather than all spread out between campground and hotels (our group of friends). Oh well, at least Saturday¢s parade was fun (but we were ready to leave). We decided to meet at the Campground at 9 AM, pick up our lekis and leave.
Date: 2003-05-18
From: Thunder Ridge Overlook

To: Matts Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: moderate rain

A crappy day, it poured. We picked up all our Lekis at 9AM, loaded up Wench and her gear and hit the road (to breakfast at Burger King). Who did we meet there but AT Wannabe!! Cool! She is doing great, big improvements. That is fantastic! She is chomping at the bit until her doctor will let her hike again! Great to see her. Next onto 81 for a crappy rainy drive. We stopped at Roanoke to buy food for the 6 days to Waynesboro, later we stopped at Burger King for a late lunch (3PM). Then on to the Blue Ridge and Thunder Ridge Overlook. We loaded out food bags, repacked out packs in the car as it rained (we stalled hoping it would stop). Finally we could delay no more, so we said our goodbyes, and hit the trail for parts unknown (to tent in the rain). We started ata bout 4:20, we walked for an hour or so and started thinking ¢¦.hmmm¢¦ the next shelter is 11 miles from Thunder Ridge, do you think we could make it before dark. Hmmm¢¦ 11 miles in 4 hours¢¦.let¢s give it a try¢¦So we flew down the trail, no breaks, no stops¢¦.drizzling most of the way. Darned if we didn¢t get the shelter around 8:30. There were 4 people there, they moved to make us room. We ate a snack (we missed dinner, but had a late lunch), crawled into our bags and went to sleep. In the shelter: Damp Dan, Commander in Chief (his wife?), two paws (congested) and a section hiker.
Date: 2003-05-19
From: Matts Creek Shelter

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Today started out slow. All the others in the shelter got up and left early. We took our time and left by 9AM. A nice easy couple of miles across the James River foot bridge (dedicated to Bill Foot). This is the longest pedestrian only footbridge on the AT. ON the other side was an AT Hiker from Florida giving Trail Magic (Soda, Crackers and candy). His name was Ken and we sat and talked with him for awhile (he told us Jan just got dropped off by Chief) There were 2 others with her, cool, we weren¢t far behind her (but she was planning a 21 mile day). So we headed up the trail, smiling and full of soda and crackers. We stopped at Big Rocky Row viewpoint for lunch (after stopping for a break at Johns Hollow Shelter). Jan is hiking with Fly and Smoothie!! They took a few days off in Glasgow! Any way we spent the rest of the day about an hour behind them, they are going into Buena Vista for the night and we decided to go to the Brown Mountain Shelter (and do a 21.5 mile day). We figured we would be close to Jan, Fly and Smoothie and probably run into Mountain Break and April Showers (2 section hikers we met earlier) here too! Alas it was not to be. After delays for stream crossings, mud, ¢dog¢ breaks and such, we got to the shelter 1 hour after Fly and Smoothie and found out Mountain Break and April Showers were 1 shelter back at the Punchbowl Shelter ( we skipped it). Darn, we really wanted to see them¢¦ oh well and the shelter was full, so we tented across the stream (I preferred this anyway, I had 3 days of journaling to catch up on and half the shelter was asleep (did I mention we showed up at 8:30?, again a long day). So now I am in my tent journaling, after a BIG dinner (not skipping any meals). I am sore, but life is good! Note: Tomorrow is going to start out rough, a 2600 foot climb, first thing in the morning. Sigh¢¦Better than at the end of the day¢¦.
Date: 2003-05-20
From: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter

To: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, I¢ve slept on more sloped ground, but not lately. I got my best sleep from 6:45 ¢ 7:30 AM¢¦the rest of the day was mostly shitty. I never fully recovered from the 21.5 miles yesterday. My whole body hurt! My thighs burned, my knees screamed, I was hot, dehydrated, had a bad attitude¢¦ Life is not good. There was nice trail, good views, but I hated most of it. We rationed water for about 8 miles, water sources were scarce. I saw a forest service worker in a truck, so I sat and ate a snack and talked to him, told him water was scarce and he told me where the next sources were. Then he left, only to come back again and give me a bottle of water. Trail Magic!! The I walked over the next hill and there was a spring¢¦..sigh¢¦ Wench was sitting there drinking (she only had a few swigs of water over the last 4 miles). Hot sun today, so water was important. We saw sidewinder and Yogi today, then we caught Yogi and walked to the shelter with him. We relaxed and Greg showed up, then we all ate (a bit of a chill in the air). Later we relaxed and journaled and as we sat there, Fly and Smoothie walked up. Cool, we are back together again!! They said Jan was behind them¢¦Fly pulled out a small airline bottle of Southern Comfort and we all toasted our 800 miles hiked!! Total miles so far ¢ 804.8 !! Cool. Yogi is really sick now, dehydration and maybe a bug too. Needs to get to a doctor tomorrow, if he make it thru the night (he is miserable). I better wash my hands good¢¦ I don¢t want to get sick. P.S. Wench needs to take a bath and wash her clothes, she stinks ( I only smell). LOL! So finally! The Liteshoe danced in!! We are all together again!! We talked about where we had been on the trail, then trail days, etc. A good night after a painful day. Did I mention that I took 4 Advil for the first time on the trail? Sigh¢¦off to bed now.
Date: 2003-05-21
From: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter

To: Harpers Creek Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: moderate rain

Well, last night was interesting¢¦.Yogi finally lost his Mac and cheese (loudly) in the middle of the night. The he was quiet again. The day started drizzly and foggy, no one got up ¢til around 9AM. Then there was a mad rush as everyone got up and dashed the 2.3 miles to where a local bed and breakfast picked hikers up for a free lunch !! Well, everyone but me¢¦.. I just wanted to keep hiking, so I pushed on in the drizzle and fog. It was really nice hiking weather, drizzly and cool. So I finally just took my rain gear off and got wet and enjoyed being cool. I stopped for lunch at the Priest Shelter, after an enjoyable climb (not as steep as I thought). I spoke to a mother and son hiker team, out for 4 days. Then other thru-hikers came in and set up for the night (already did 15 miles by 1:30) and I headed on to the next shelter 7 miles away. I ran into Psycho hiko along the trail and I talked with him along the whole 5 mile section to the Tye River. He is German and works at a champagnery¢¦.cool. I enjoyed his company and also enjoyed hiking alone for a bit. No rush, lots of breaks, no set pace, just whatever my body felt like. No sore muscles today and my attitude got better as the day went on, so my ¢I hate this shit¢ streak ends at 1. If I hate hiking for 7 days in a row I go home, but only if I hate it for 7 days in a row (this is so I don¢t go home on a whim). I got to the Harpers Creek Shelter (expecting it to be full) and there were only 3 people there¢¦COOL! I¢m home for the night¢¦warm and dry, only 28 miles to go to Waynesboro (27.3). Maybe a long day tomorrow, then a shorter on into town for lunch. Hit the Post Office on Friday for my mail drop, then mail out boxes Saturday (a bounce box and a home box). Maybe a zero day before I head into Shenandoah. Sounds cool¢¦anyway time to read a little and go to bed. This weekend I will have to plan the Shenandoah¢s, see who will be up this way who wants to hike/walk with me a bit (should be a better graded trails here). Maybe my wife and her parents, maybe friends, we¢ll see. Have I mentioned lately, that I can¢t believe we have hiked over 800 miles!!¢¦ Cool! 2 more mountains tomorrow, then no big ones until PA. Hi to everyone left at Lucent! Hi to my family, friends and everyone I have been so shitty at keeping in touch with. Tommy¢¦. I will call you. I miss you and hopefully will see you soon. Good Night All.In the Shelter: Frenchie (Southbounder, started in Waynsboro this year, already did the North), Wench, Liteshoe, Commander in Chief, Brownie, Notes (talks to his recorder while everyone else tries to sleep), Ostrich, and me.In their Tent: Fly and Smoothie.Note: No Vomiting¢¦..
Date: 2003-05-22
From: Harper's Creek Shelter

To: Paul C. Wolf Shelter
Miles today: 22.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, I was stupid this week - 2 twenty plus mile days. Oh well, at least I¢ll get my Waynesboro mail drop before the Memorial Day Weekend (I forgot about this). Today, Wench and I hiked 22.3 miles, a new record for both of us (in stupidity¢¦. we¢ll be hurting tomorrow). But it was a great day for it¢¦overcast and cool¢¦ It turns out, that this was the longest day we did on the whole hike, we came close with a 22 miler in the 100 mile wilderness of Maine, but this one hurt more. Today we had views to hang out by, just fog (so the miles went by faster). We hiked three ridges (3,000 foot raise in elevation). And then consumed the next 12 miles before Humpback Mountain ate us up¢¦ Slippery rocks are a bitch, I strained /sprained/twisted everything I own today on wet rocks. But I¢m still going!! We ended it all with a fun river crossing of a gorged, flooded stream (glad I didn't fall in)... Tomorrow we have 5 miles to Waynesboro. Everything aches, so I just took 4 Advil so I can sleep. In the shelter are: Notes, Commander in Chief, Wench, Liteshoe, Ostrich, Siesta, 2 guys with a cute husky pup, 2 more guys who showed up late¢¦ Fly and Smoothie must have camped in the rain. Tomorrow I am supposed to switch to all summer gear, I may rethink this. It¢s been cold and rainy all week. Maybe I¢ll switch out all my gear except my 15 degree bag, I¢ll keep that (Damn, I should have listened to myself here, it would have saved me a few headaches later on.. sigh.). We¢ll see. A nice big shelter tonight, plenty of room for all. It's always such a relief, when you show up late at a shelter in the rain & there is still room for more. I have a great top bunk, life is good. Night all!
Date: 2003-05-23
From: Paul C. Wolf Shelter

To: Waynesboro - Quality Inn
Miles today: 5.0

After another cool night, in a cool shelter, we hit the trail in the rain (again). We were headed to Waynesboro and good food, hot showers, laundry and a dry warm room. YES!! We slept a little late, and didn't start hiking until 9:05, but finished the 5 miles in the fog at 10:50.... Hmm... Motivation helps. At the Waynesboro road crossing, I said hi to 2 bicyclists (loaded for touring), headed by in the fog, as we emerged from the gloom of the trail. We then groped our way west towards the visitors center (the fog was like pea soup, and me, hiking without my glasses on.), and after a few misses (amazing how you can lose buildings in the fog), we found the visitors center in the fog (if not for neon signs, we would STILL be searching for it) and the 2 cyclists. We dumped our packs and entered the warm dry building to get information on Waynesboro and escape the cold mist for a while. What a friendly reception we got, they called a volunteer shuttle to take us to town, and we started talking to the cyclists (they are going cross country to San Francisco). One cyclist was from Florida, the other from South Carolina¢¦ What are the odds? Wench ¢ Florida, Hotdog ¢ South Carolina¢¦ Hmmm¢¦. It gets better¢¦ The guy from SC lives 10-15 minutes from me in Greenville, SC. Small World. Wish I remembered his name¢¦ Bill? Pete? Hmm.. Sorry¢¦ In a bit, our Volunteer shuttle showed up & took us to the hotel (Quality Inn), after telling us where things were in town. Even better, after taking us to the hotel, she drove us to the Post office and then to a restaurant to eat. A very cool trail angel. Once we put away a large pizza & looked through or mail drop boxes, we showered , gathered up our stinky clothes and headed to the laundry. Who says thruhiking isn¢t exciting? ;-) Funny, we met a young lady doing her laundry, that didn¢t know that spandex was see through when stretched¢¦ She bent over to empty her dryer & there it was for God & country to see, a full moon. Must have been washing her underwear¢¦. Sigh¢¦ Then there was the hiker that was washing all his clothes & was just wearing a rain jacket and silk boxers. He sat there with a bag on his lap. You can¢t make this stuff up. Anyway, back to the hotel where I packed up my Winter gear to send home, unpacked my Summer gear from my mail drop boxes, planned our shopping needs (outfitter, food, etc.). Looks like I will carry a lighter load (5-10 pounds less) starting Sunday. I will also be wearing trail running shoes (if I don¢t find light boots at the outfitter). After a steak dinner (I¢m trying to gain weight, I lost too much too soon), desert and a beer, it¢s back to the hotel for more packing and journaling. Now, 5 months later, I¢m fighting to keep the weight off¢¦. I was down 50lbs in Maine, but only 45 on Katahdin. So far I gained back 10 (and holding).
Date: 2003-05-26
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: light rain

A whipperwill at 5:30 in the morning is not a nice thing to wake up to. But there it was, so most everyone got up at 5:30. Later, at a more decent hour, Wench, and I finally started to stir. We finally hit the trail¢¦ another nice day. Fog & cool in the morning, some sun in the afternoon. We hiked to the Loft Mountain wayside (grill) for lunch (translation: no snack breaks), it was down a 12 mile side trail off the AT (Steep). All this for a cheeseburger, fries and a soda. Yes, it was worth it. Later, we hiked back up to the trail & then on to the next Hut (Pinefield). I felt guilty, doing a short day, but I couldn¢t do another 20 miles to the next Hut (too far). There was 1 section hiker at the shelter when we got there and 2 more arrived later. The last 2 are teachers from South Carolina, one (Eric), is the Adventure racing partner of the guy who runs Half Moon Outfitters in Greenville, SC (Bought all my Patagonia there). Small World, I just sent them a post card, and before I started on the AT, I was talking to the guy about an adventure race he ran in Georgia (the same weekend in January I did the approach trail¢¦ COLD!!!). Now on the trail I meet one of the guys he was racing with. Later, 2 other people show up with no packs and say hello, then go back to their car to get us treats (they found out some of us were thruhikers). Cool! They were ¢Too hot to handle¢, a 1999 thruhiker, and his friend Cathryn. You won¢t believe this, but they came back with ice cream cones & sandwiches, cookies, candy, and firewood for the fireplace. What great trail angels. Now they are gone, and we are all sitting around a nice campfire journaling. Cathryn went to Whittenburg college and just graduated, ¢Too Hot¢ went to Hocking college and got an outdoor related degree with a minor in Horse handling/Driving. He teaches Horse driving and works out west driving Chuck Wagons & such (cool). Randy (section hiker) is here with us again (2nd night). Also at the shelter is Jennifer, out for 5 days in SNP, she¢s from Maryland. Note: The mice are active early today (well at least one little one is (running by our feet & in front of the shelter). Now I¢m going to relax & look at maps of tomorrows section. Good night all. Note: There WERE mice last night. Wench & the guy on the upper level on her side both had them jogging all around them. No one else even noticed. Anyway, I hope I¢m a bit warmer tonight. Hmmm¢¦. I WASN¢T!! I was on the edge of being too cold all night, at least until the Whipperwill woke us up again at 5:30 (it¢s a conspiracy!).