morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-04-14
From: Nolichucky River / Erwin, TN

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: clear sky

We got up at 7am at the Holiday Inn Express for breakfast. The breakfast there is bottomless and wonderful. All the juice, milk, bagels, fruit, cereal, oatmeal, hot cinnamon rolls and coffee you could eat. We highly recommend it to hikers. They are very hiker friendly.We saw Fall-Out and Red at breakfast.It rained all of yesterday, and very hard last night, cloudy this morning but cleared up by 9am and the sun began to shine!We walked 1m from the Holiday Inn to Uncle Jonny's to get back on the trail where we had left it. We started on the trail at 10:30am.It was cool today, good for hiking. It never got above 60.On our way out of the hotel, we saw Rainbow & Sparticus. Sounds like Rainbow was looking for new hiking shoes, they were headed to Johnson City and had arranged a shuttle.It was a pretty easy hike today, but it started with a train track crossing. It was kind of cool to cross the tracks just before a long train. It was neat to be so close to it as it passed. We did take some pictures of it.Sandman had his knee brace on today and chose to go an extra 4 miles. He says that he likes the new knee brace.Cubby & Boston tried a new dinner tonight. It came in a box, but we had repackaged it into a ziploc. We forget the brand, but the flavor was cheese quesadilla pasta. It was very good and we will have to look for it again. We lucked out when 2 section-hikers offered us their extra package of chicken. We added it to our cheese quesadilla pasta. It made it that much better.Fireball and Squeaky Knees, section-hikers, told us about a hostel/cafe at Greasy Creak, about 6 miles from Cherry Gap Shelter. The only draw back is that it is .7 off the trail, and then of course, .7 back to the trail. They said it was worth it, but we will have to see when we get there.We are happy to be tenting tonight since after we got here, several hikers showed up to Cherry Gap Shelter. They are very boisterous and seem to be having a loud and fun time. Great for them, we probably would have just cramped their style.We were in bed at 8:15pm and it was 49 degrees at bedtime. We hope these cold nights will be few and far between. It is hard to get out of a warm sleeping bag on a cold morning.
Date: 2005-04-15
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

Cubby got a birthday present today from Boston. It was a "100 Grand" candy bar. It is always nice to get food on the trail that you didn't have to carry. She had been looking for this candy bar and couldn't find it, so it was a nice surprise.We packed up camp and hit the trail at 8am. It was cool out all day, never above 60 degrees. All the water sources were far off the trail and downhill. We had lunch at Clyde Smith Shelter, and met Raz today. We had a huge climb ahead of us, Roan Mountain. When we planned our A.T. hike, we think someone forgot to tell us about ROAN Mountain, or should we say GROAN Mountain? We climbed and we climbed and we climbed some more.Along the way we passed a woman who just finished collecting Ramps. Ramps are onions/leaks/scallions.After climbing more, we finally got to Ash Gap to refill water. Water was downhill, Sandman swears it was .5m down and then .5m back uphill.Off we went again, climbing and climbing and climbing. Finally, we made it to the top of Roan Mtn. It was a long hard climb. We got to Roan High Knob Shelter where we met up with Raz again. He had gotten there just ahead of us and was headed on to the next shelter. Chuckles and Gotta-Go were already there also and had just finished dinner and were going to spend the night at the shelter. After consideration, we decided to stay at this shelter also.This is the highest shelter on the A.T. It is an enclosed 2-level "cabin" with a door and windows. We knew it was going to be cold up there. You know it is going to be cold when you are hiking in snow a while before even getting to the shelter. In fact, Chuckles and Gotta-Go said there were hikers that had come and gone saying it would be too cold to spend the night at this shelter. We stayed anyway.Chuckles and Gotta-Go are very funny. We really wish that they had our pace/daily mileage because it would be fun to hike with them. We all stayed in the upper level of the shelter, figuring it would be the warmest place. Chuckles and Gotta-Go had us all laughing for about an hour as we traded "trail/town stories".We were in bed by 7:30pm, but not asleep until the laughter had subsided.
Date: 2005-04-17
From: US 19E / Elk Park, NC

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up to a hot breakfast served by Mary at the Mountain Harbour B&B. We each had our own personal egg souffle, coffee, juice, pumpkin bread, corn bread, and fruit cups.Mary's husband, Terry, then gave us a ride back to the trail head. Before we left, we took pictures of their place, it is beautiful. They have horses, goats and a wooden bridge going over a creek that runs right in front of their house.The hike today was easy. There were no big ups or downs. We had been forewarned about trash piles on the trail by 19E. But we never encountered any trash beyond your typical roadside trash. It was a nice day weather-wise.We took a little side hike on a blue-blaze trail to Jones Falls. It was gorgeous. It was well worth the .1m off the trail. We had a snack break and took pictures there.We got to Moreland Gap Shelter at 4:15pm. A bit too early to stop, only being six miles from Dennis Cove. However, Sandman's knees were hurting him, so we decided to stop here. Sandman decided he would rather stop early, hoping that the morning would be better for his knees. So, we stayed at the shelter and had an early dinner, did word puzzles for a good hour, relaxing.We are only 3 hours from Kincora Hostel in Dennis Cove. Sandman decided that he will stay there and catch a shuttle up to Damascus, VA to give his knees a longer rest break. He has decided to skip the section between Dennis Cove and Damascus. His knees just aren't holding up like he would like them to.Cubby and Boston will decide tomorrow if they will stay the night at Kincora or get a few extra miles in after leaving Sandman at Kincora.We hit the 400 mile mark today. Yippie! Only 1700+ to go.Goodnight.
Date: 2005-04-18
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: 1 mile shy of Vanderventer Shelter
Miles today: 22.6

We started our day at 7:30am on the trail. Sandman's knee hurt even when he was sleeping last night. He felt pain as soon as he put weight on his legs this morning.We hiked the 6 miles to Kincora in about 2.5 hours. From the resupply box we had sent to Kincora, Boston and Cubby resupplied their food to get to Damascus, VA. Sandman arranged the shuttle to Damascus for this afternoon. He is going to rest up his knee and rejoin us in 3 days. Boston and Cubby had a quick lunch from the food resupply box.Boston and Cubby headed back out on the trail around 11:30am. It was very warm today, up to 78 degrees. We saw Laurel Falls, they were big and beautiful. We took some pictures. We hiked along the Laurel River and then started our "leisurely" walk up Pond Flats. "Leisurely" means "it ain't so leisurely". For those of you who have ever hiked with us on previous "Wyomin'" trips, you know what this means! For those new people, it means it is steep.We got to Watauga Shelter at 4:30pm. We felt good and thought it was too early to stop hiking for the day. So we headed over Watauga Dam and walked across the top of it and UP the Watauga Dam Road. We then hiked UP the trail and then hiked UP some more, and then hiked UP some more. We went UP for hours. Eventually we got to a spring that crossed the trail and we both filled our water resevoirs the full 2L each so we would have enough to dry camp at the next flat spot that came our way.We found a perfect little picturesque campsite with just room for one tent. It had a nice place for cooking dinner and a nice sitting log. Cubby made dinner while Boston set up the tent and hung the bear bag rope. We made short work of it since night was coming on fast. We got it all done with time to spare. We were in the tent by 8:30pm. Goodnight.
Date: 2005-04-19
From: 1 mile shy of Vanderventer Shelter

To: Low Gap / US 421
Miles today: 18.9

We packed up gear and tent and hit the trail at 8:00am. It was 50 degrees to start this morning.We got to Vandeventer Shelter in 15 minutes. We met the "Odd Couple". They told us that Raz stayed with them in the shelter last night and had just left a half hour ago.It was fairly easy terrain today compared to yesterday, but still a lot of ups. We could still feel yesterday's long uphill hike in our legs today.We hiked to Iron Mountain Shelter. Got there about 11:30am and Raz was there having lunch. We decided to have an early lunch with him. We asked him where he planned on stopping for the night. He thought about Double Springs Shelter, but wanted to do a few more miles than the shelter. We were thinking the same thing, so we hooked up and decided we would all camp together at Low Gap/US 421.We left Iron Mountain Shelter and soon arrived at the Nick Grindstaff Monument. It was a Monument set up by Nick Grindstaff's family after his death. We believe the story to be the following: Nick went off to make his fortune, which he did. Upon returning he was robbed. He lived the rest of his days at this very location. The Monument reads, "Lived alone, Suffered alone, Died alone"We hiked on to Double Springs Shelter, had a snack break and filled our water up. Raz and half of the Odd Couple were there. Odd Couple planned staying there for the night. We moved on to Low Gap/US 421 to camp for the night. We got water at the pipe spring down in the gap and had to walk back uphill to the campsite! No one likes to backtrack even a step when you think you have so many more steps to do in front of you.We are looking forward to the mostly downhill hike tomorrow, 14.8 to Damascus, VA. Looking forward to zeroing tomorrow.Boston has decided that she needs more food/calories on the trail. The calorie deficit is starting to affect her physically. Her energy level is not what it should be after being on the trail for 6 weeks. It feels like your body is eating away at itself, not a pleasant feeling!
Date: 2005-04-20
From: Low Gap / US 421

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: clear sky

We got up at 6:45am and out of camp and on the trail by 7:30am. That has got to be a record for us! It must have been town fever!In 4m we reached Double Spring Gap. We did not need water, so we kept on going. We saw 1 white-tailed deer just before McQueen Shelter. McQueen Shelter is an "emergency" shelter that only holds 2 hikers, kind of a "mini" shelter. We saw 3 more white-tailed deer just after the shelter.We hiked to the next water, but it was a blue-blaze off the trail, so on to the next shelter.We arrived at Abingdon Shelter at ~10am. We had a snack, but water was 275yds DOWN and then another 275yds back UP. So, onto the NEXT water.The next water was only 1m from Damascus, and it was off the trail. So...on to Damascus. All and all, it was 14.8m on 1.25L of water. It may sound as if we were too lazy to get water, but...well...we were! But, more to the point -- We had Damascus/town fever.We picked up the pace and made the last 3.8 miles in 55 minutes. So in reality, it was an educated decision not to stop for water, but it was definately influenced by the town of Damascus sucking us towards it.We got into town at 12:40pm. Sandman had already checked into the "Lazy Fox Inn" and had a room for us all. It is a GREAT place to stay, run by Ginny (80yrs old). She is really nice. We showered and did laundry. We then headed to Dot's Inn/Diner for burgers and beer. Don't worry, Cubby DID learn from her experience in Gatlinburg, TN. 14miles + 1 liter of water + alcohol = one drunk little Cubby. Cubby let Sandman and Boston enjoy the beer this time.We briefly browsed Mt. Rogers Outfitters before it closed. We bought Sil-Net Seam Sealer to repair 3 holes in the top of the tent. Tents should not have holes in the top of them. It is a little frustrating to have holes in a new tent that has been babied and only used a half-dozen times. We should probably give Henry Shires a call, we are sure he would remedy the situation.We went to the Damascus Town Library. It is a great library. At the library we updated the journal a few days. It was closing, so we will have to finish tomorrow. We went to dinner at the Baja Cafe, excellent. We had steak quesadillas with hot sauce, yummy. We went back to the Lazy Fox for the night and were in bed at about 9pm.
Date: 2005-04-21
From: Damascus, VA

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

ZERO DAY!We woke up to the wonderous aroma of frying bacon. Ginny, the owner, cooked up a "breakfast that will ouch you" as it says in her brochure. There was so much good food, you could eat until you couldn't consume another nibble. There was pancakes with strawberries & whipped cream, cheesey grits, hash browns, baked apples, baked pineapples, fresh strawberries - kiwi - cantelope - mango - pears, scrambled eggs, biscuits & gravy, bacon, ham, OJ, and coffee. WOW! All of it was home cooked by Ginny. It's like waking up at your Grandmother's house! Yummy! To top it all off, all the food was prepared in enough quantity to feed 10 hungry hikers.After breakfast we walked a few blocks over for the "transformation". What is that you ask? Well, let's put it this way. It happened at Harold's Barber Shop. Cubby got a haircut. This may sound simple, but there is a little more to it. There were before and after pictures taken. Cubby went from black to gray in a matter of minutes. A lot of hair came off the sides, which were then pure gray. Then the top was left a little longer, which remained black. There were three old guys in there waiting for their turn for a haircut. They were laughing and watching in awe as the "transformation" happened. The old guy in the middle then says about the black on top, "You've got to go deeper." This brought out roaring laughter by all onlookers. So, Harold the barber took more off the top to get the black off in order to get to the gray. All the old men thought it blended better after Harold went deeper. Cubby now salt&pepper with a darned short haircut. It is quite a change both in looks and life for this little Cub.Today is resupply day. We went to all the outfitters and got a few hiker supplies. Then to Food City for food. We'll pack up and hike with 5 days of food. We will also pack up a 6 day resupply box of food for resupply in Atkins, VA so that we can NERO there.Sandman got goodies in the mail today from his Connecticut Yankee brother. Thank you. They were great treats for the day and for days on the trail.Sandman has booked a flight to go back home. He will be leaving tomorrow. He has decided that he needs to have his knees looked at/fixed. He is having pain even at rest now. When we arrived in Damascus yesterday he had already shipped his pack home. We thought maybe he did this so that when we arrived into town it would be too late to talk him out of it. He says this isn't the case though, he just can't hike with the way his knees feel. We will miss him on the trail but hopefully he will be feeling better in time.We need to rest up tonight so that we can head out tomorrow after another "Ginny-made" breakfast in the morning. We are hearing that the weather may be turning for the worse later today and tonight. We may be doing some last minute evaluation as to whether we should head out or not. We will see.
Date: 2005-04-23
From: Va. 859 / Grassy Ridge Road

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Zero day today. Many hikers who have come into town are going to take a zero today and perhaps tomorrow (Sunday, 24). The weather forecast for today and tomorrow has wind, freeze warning and snow advisory in effect from 12noon today until 4pm tomorrow (Sunday). And those warnings and advisories are for the VALLEYS!! So you know it will be even worse in the mountains at higher elevations.Our next day of hiking will take us over Mt. Roger's, this is the highest peak in Virginia, so this is one of the major reasons we are still in Damascus and may zero again tomorrow (Sunday).Our Mommas taught us to "come in out of the rain". We figure that applies to snow storms also! So it looks like we will be sitting tight for another day or so, along with many other hikers.
Date: 2005-04-24
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Another wonderful breakfast at the Lazy Fox Inn. Miss Ginny sure knows how to put on a great spread. At this rate, these breakfasts are going to add a few pounds to us, and we don't mean our pack weight.It was snowing from the time we woke up until late afternoon. Damascus got about 2 inches of snow. Glad we are not up in the mountains today.We spent the day watching T.V., Cubby was extremely disappointed to find out that the Nextel Cup NASCAR race was held yesterday (Saturday) instead of the usual Sunday race.We repacked our backpacks and got ready for an early morning departure with Lone Wolf. Lone Wolf will be shuttling us to the trail where we had left off, 14 miles north of Damascus. He will be picking us up at 7am tomorrow and we should be on the trail by 7:30am.Lone Wolf is expecting a mass exodus of hikers out of Damascus tomorrow morning due to the weather breaking tomorrow.Since we have been in Damascus we have met many hikers, to name a few Tofu & Figaro, Kitty-Litter, and Popeye. We saw Yard Sale at Mt. Rogers Outfitters with his parents. We saw that Rainbow and Sparticus had made it into town also, but we did not see them.
Date: 2005-04-25
From: Va 859 / Grassy Ridge Road

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: scattered clouds

We finally bid sad farewell to the Lazy Fox Inn, Miss Ginny, and her wonderful hot breakfasts.Lone Wolf picked us up at 7am, and we were on the trail at 7:30am.There was no fun in today's hike, just mile after mile of rocks, slush and snow. We did see the ponies at Grayson Highlands, this was the only highlight of the day. It was pretty cool to be hiking through all of them, even though Cubby has a long-standing fear of horses. But they were ponies, not horses! They left us alone, they never tried to mooch snacks from us or other hikers, as they have been rumored to do.We got to Wise Shelter at 5:30pm, cooked up dinner right away. We wanted to get off of our feet. We met Roamin' Goat, he thru-hiked in 1981. Tofu & Figaro got to the Shelter at about 7pm, we were happy to see they made it. Not Guilty and Oriental Legs were there also. We all stayed in the shelter.
Date: 2005-04-26
From: Wise Shelter

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We got going on the trail at 8am and into camp at 4:20pm. It was hard getting up this morning. It is always hard to get out of a warm sleeping bag on a cold morning.Boston had to put cold wet socks on this morning, but over time they seemed to dry out.There was not much snow to hike through today, just the first couple miles. We were very happy about this, as we had had enough snow yesterday.Today's hike was fairly easy. There was a threat of rain, but it held off until after we ate dinner and got in the shelter.Oriental Legs showed up about an hour after we had got to the shelter. He said that Tofu & Figaro were headed to Hurricane Campground for the evening. Oriental Legs said that when he completes the trail he will be only the second Japanese to complete the A.T.. He is section-hiking up to Harper's Ferry and then will do another section to finish the trail starting in July. It will be quite an accomplishment when he finishes the trail this year.It was a sunny day, we had to put on sunscreen.It seems there are more streams than springs, so we need to get our filter from Supply-Guy. That way we won't have to be so selective with our water sources.
Date: 2005-04-27
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Va 683, US 11 / Atkins, VA
Miles today: 22.2
Weather: light rain

Well, we got on the trail at 6:20am, this is a record for us. The reason being, was that we knew we had 22 miles to go today and a room at the Relax Inn.We hiked to Partnership Shelter and then onto Chatfield Shelter. We got to Atkins and the Relax Inn at about 3:15pm.It rained today. That would make it only our 3rd day of hiking in the rain since Springer Mountain. We think that is pretty good, being that we will be 1/4 of the way finished with the trail in 8 more miles.The hike today was long but relatively easy. Got to the Relax Inn and picked up our mail drops and took hot showers. It is currently raining (7:15pm). We are so glad we got in early, it is raining cats & dogs out there right now. There was a double rainbow and Cubby went to grab the camera, but by the time she got it, the second one had disappeared. They were so bright and looked so close.We are doing our laundry and resupplying our food. By the way, Boston is doing much better now that she is eating more. She actually feels full after eating, see what a little more food can do for you!
Date: 2005-04-28
From: Va 683, US 11 / Atkins, VA

To: Knot Maul Shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: broken clouds

We had breakfast at Rhonda's Restaurant before leaving the beautiful town of Atkins, VA. We got off to a late start, 10:30AM so we could get our "money's worth" from the Relax Inn.It was sunny for most of the hike today, but it rained on us as we got closer to the shelter and as we were cooking dinner. The terrain was up and down all day today.Boston got her D.Q. (Dairy Queen) fix yesterday, it was super good. Although, they were out of vanilla ice-cream. They were having trouble with their ice-cream machine, so all they could sell us was chocolate. When a "Train" went there later, he got all the ice-cream he could eat for FREE because the machine was on the blink and they were off-loading all the ice-cream. Too bad we missed that extravaganza!This morning it was good to have food that was fried in oil and served with butter, things we don't get on the trail. We had eggs, bacon, country potatoes, buttered toast, and grapefruit juice. Now that is a good start to your day.It was an easy resupply at the Relax Inn. We had all of our food for the next 5 days waiting for us in a box that we had mailed to the Relax Inn. We just picked up our box from the front desk and stocked our packs. It really made the NERO seem like a ZERO.At Knot Maul Shelter we stayed with Kitty-Litter, Galloping Gourmet, Happy Wanderer, Train, and Michigan. It was a fun evening in the shelter and there were no mice.
Date: 2005-04-29
From: Knot Maul Shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained most of last night, and it was still raining when we woke up. We were not looking forward to hiking in the rain, but it had to be done. We put on our rain gear and headed out.We had a tough climb up Chestnut Ridge to get to Chestnut Knob Shelter. There had been reports of a bear hanging around the spring-fed pond near the Chestnut Knob Shelter, but we did not see one.We stopped at the Chestnut Knob Shelter to get out of the rain, so we could eat some food for lunch. When we got there, we met the Garland-5, impressive group. We hope they are successful with their hike.The rain tapered off, and we headed downhill for the first time all day. We got to Jenkins Shelter and fixed dinner while it continued to rain lightly. The privy at the shelter was a brand new and nice completely open-air privy. It was nice to use, but it the rain always seemed to pick up when we were on the pot. Sometimes we wished things moved a little quicker, and we are NOT talking about the rain! We will try to finish some "unfinished business" in the morning.We were at the shelter with Kitty-Litter and Michigan. The Garland-5 camped nearby. Galloping Gourmet and Happy Wanderer must have decided to tent camp somewhere before the shelter.