morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-06-10
From: church hostel

To: church hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Didn't plan on doing another zero day, but Bill, the caretaker of the hostel said there was a big ceremony going on at the church today so Clearwater and I decided to check it out. This was a very interesting mass. There are three cultures that go to this church; American, Vietnamese and Spanish. Every time the priest said a prayer, he would repeat it three times, once in each language. The Vietnamese would sing songs in their language and it sounded fantastic. The Spanish would sing in theirs, again fantastic. Then the Americans would sing. They sounded pitiful. The congregation went outside for a ritual in which they would parade to the four compass corners and say prayers. The procession was led by four men carrying the Eucharist in this big, gold, ornate chalace like structure. It was carried on what resembled a small coffin and the men carried it like pallbearers. Four other men carried a canopy which covered the 'coffin'. This was followed by girls dressed in white throwing fake rose petals on the ground. This really bothered Clearwater as he saw it as littering. There is a "Leave No Trace" ethic among hikers that is ingrained in us not to litter on the trail, and Clearwater had to resist every urge to pick up the fake petals.Afterwards, we were invited to the pot luck picnic which was a blast. The food was amazing, with all three cultural foods present. We were also entertained by a family of boys that did Celtic dancing for us. Two of the boys have auditioned for Riverdance and made the cut. They were really good.Had a ton of people show up at the hostel tonight, so I set up my tent outside. We ambled through the nearby cemetary and dared each other to sleep alone in it tonight. No one took up the dare and we all laughed at our lack of courage.
Date: 2007-06-11
From: church hostel

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: few clouds

Got up early and out fast. Bill gave me a ride to the trailhead, and by 10a.m. I was fully into my hike. Thanks Bill! Bill is an amazing man. The day before I arrived at the hostel, his sister had died. The day we were at the church he buried her. The priest told me this. Bill never mentioned a word about it and was still at the hostel twice each day to take care of the hikers. I am still amazed at what lengths some people will go to to help a bunch of stinky, tired hikers.The climb out of Pearisburg was murder, as are all climbs out of towns. But the weather was great! Once I got on top of the mountain, the hiking was superb. I LOVE Ridgewalking. Rice field is a beautiful grassy bald. It ends abruptly with cliffs and the view into West Virginia goes on forever. The shelter is just inside the woods next to the bald. I set up my tent with the breezes coming up off the ridge, just wonderful.Today I scared up a grouse hen and her chicks. Scared me to death. I'm walking along and all of a sudden about 5 or 6 birds fly out from the underbrush right next to me. Then I hear what I assumed was a badger and I see the underbrush shaking as it was heading for me. It was making an awful noise and I started backing up real fast, trying to reason with whatever was after me. Then the hen waddled out on the trail and my heart went back where it belongs. She changed her tactic at this point and started waddling away from me, making a noise like a kitten. Stupid city girl that I am, I thought she was really hurt so I go after her only for her to waddle further away. Ok, hen 1, hiker 0.
Date: 2007-06-12
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: Pine Swamp Shelter
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Weather was once again perfect. Surely this can't last. Hiked an all time record for me today, 12.3 miles. Stopped at a meadow on top of Peter's Mountain for lunch. Had fantastic views of W.V. again, nice spot to have lunch. Got to the shelter around nightfall. There are thousands of Gypsy Moth caterpillars in the trees today just munching away on the leaves. They continually poop as they eat and the poop is endlessly falling to the ground. It closely resembles peppercorns. It is falling so much that it sounds like raindrops hitting the leaves. The poop is everywhere, covering the picnic table and I have become oblivious to walking on it.
Date: 2007-06-13
From: Pine Swamp Shelter

To: Campsite
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today was another great day on the AT. The first part was a good 4 mile climb up to the next shelter, all the while it was raining poop. They were everywhere. Lots of dead caterpillars stuck to the sides of the trees. If you knock thier heads off, the guts come oozing out down the tree. It's really gross but fun too. Gotta be careful what you grab onto out here. YUCK. The next few miles were nothing buy boulder hopping. I was rock hopping better than a mountain goat. It was great fun at first but after 3 miles or so of it, it became extremely tiring. All the while I hear thunder in the distance and I kept praying to God to just get me off this boulder field before the rain starts. Slick rocks are not fun to hop around on. Sure enough, I wasn't out of the boulders for 50 yards when it lightly started raining. YEAH God!The highlight of the day was going to Wind Rock.   It's a rock cliff that sits 4000 feet high and 180* views that are breathtaking. I fixed myself some dinner and sat there for a very long time enjoying the view while eating. Another hiker was there and we made small talk before he left. I would have liked to camp there, but it is only 1/4 mile from a road and looks like it is a favorite party spot for locals. I hiked on another 1.5 miles and found a nice place to camp. Pitched my tent and as I write this, more people are showing up and camping.
Date: 2007-06-14
From: Campsite

To: Laural Creek Shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: moderate rain

Got up, packed up and headed out. It was a pretty uneventful day today. Long and hard and no views. It did however, rain caterpillar poop all day again. It was overcast and raining slightly but not enough to soak me. On the way to the shelter, I saw a deer not 10 ft from me. She had no fear of me at all and just strolled off the trail and let me pass. She acted more annoyed with me than anything else. Arrived at the shelter to find it pretty full, so I pitched my tent. The guys got a nice fire going and we were all able to dry our clothes. Then it started raining so we all hit our sleeping bags. It rained really good all night but I stayed bone dry. YEAH tarpten!
Date: 2007-06-15
From: Laural Creek Shelter

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained all night and I slept through it all. It was a very misty, damp morning and rain was dripping from the trees this time, not just poop. The thru-hikers I've been with lately are all here. Nutella, Bonnie and Clyde, Captain Jack, Tuco and Dozier. We had several people join us in the early morning hours. I peaked out of my tent about 8 am and it looked like a little tent city had sprouted up overnight. A group of guys had come in at 4am. They're from Ohio and get together once a year for a long weekend of hiking. They've been doing this for 27 years, pretty cool. They proceeded to cook up some egg and cheese sandwiches with canadian bacon and fed us all. What a treat! They then pulled out a backpack guitar and harmonica and proceeded to entertain us with songs. We all joined in on a sketchy rendition of Rocky Top, mangling the words up real good as we went. It was a lot of fun and I got a late start because of it. Hiked past the Keffer Oak today. It's about 300 yrs old and has a circumferance of about 18 ft. No views today, but I did have a short standoff with some mules as the trail cut across someone's farmland. When I got up to the ridgetop, there were these mysterious piles of stones that were as tall as I was. One pile was neatly stacked in a round shape with the center open, resembling a well, but obviously it wasn't. There must have been at least a couple of dozen of these piles, some fallen over, some still stacked nicely. One theory is that farmers stacked them as they cleared the land but that doesn't make sense to me. First, why would they stack them with such precision and second, why would they be clearing a ridgetop. My theory is that they are border markers. or old Indian remains. I guess I'll never know.
Date: 2007-06-16
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: scattered clouds

As I checked out my map before heading out today, I noticed that the trail followed the contour lines, without crossing them much. I was psyched for a nice, easy ridgewalk today. I couldn't have been more wrong. Much of the hike today was on the edge of a cliff, slowly manuevering over rocks. Now, this wasn't like the boulder hopping of the other day. These rocks were more like slabs that were extremely steep and I had to make my way over them hoping not to slip the 100 ft or so down to where the brush started growing again. I couldn't imaging doing this in the rain. At one point, I could have stepped off to the left and fallen about 50ft off a cliff, or I could have stepped off to the right and slid down that rock slab. It would only take one wrong step. It felt like my feet were going to slip sideways out of my boot as I was walking easily at a 45* angle sideways. Very tiring after about 3 miles of this. On top of that, all day long I kept thinking about home and was wondering what I was doing out here when my son was leaving for college in the fall. We also just bought a house and I felt I should be back home. This feeling kept gnawing at me all day today, putting a damper on my hike.When I got to the shelter, there were a couple of guys there. One of them was the real Sled Dog. Seems that guy I met from my first day out even stole his trail name from this guy. Rumor has it he also stole a pack form Uncle Johnny in Erwin and some money from Wood's Hole Hostel. There are jerks everywhere.
Date: 2007-06-17
From: Niday Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: clear sky

Hiked past the Audie Murphy Memorial today. It was a big climb to get up there and someone had put a park bench at the top of the climb. Man, I can't figure out why some people would haul all that lumber up that climb, but I'm sure glad they did. Audie Murphy's plane crashed into the side of this mountain and a memorial was set up here. AS I sat on that bench eating lunch, I contemplated how short life was and it really got me to missing home. Again, I kept thinking I should be home instead of out hiking. I made it to Pickle Branch shelter and had the place all to myself. Still the gnawing that I should go home wouldn't go away, so I made the decision to get off the trail.
Date: 2007-06-18
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Got up and out of the shelter by 10:30. Took me a long time to leave this morning as I spent a good two hours trying to decide if I should stay or get off the trail. I knew this feeling wasn't going to go away, so instead of hiking with this cloud over my head, I got to the nearest road and hitched into Catawba. Picked up my mail drop and headed over to the general store to see if I could call for a rent a car. Turns out, the only place I could get a one way rental was at the airport.   Eunice, who works at the store, was kind enough to offer to take me there when her shift ended. Thanks Eunice!! I'm home now, and even thoughh I'm sad to be off the trail, I know I made the right decision.
Date: 2006-10-11
To: Many thanks 06'
Miles today: 0.0

Many thanks to the AT hikers of 2006 who took the time to keep a journal. You have been most helpful and entertaining. This winter, I took the time to read your journals as they were posted and tried to determine who the plus 50 year old crowd would be. I then kept track of this group of folks on their journey to the big K. It has been my pleasure to get to know you and read about your fun and difficulties. While many did not make it to Maine, they provided a wealth of information. And those that did make the final summit, I was cheering for you and happy to read of your success. For the record, of the 63 hikers I followed, 17 have completed a summit (about 27 percent) which is much better than average. You have completed an amazing feat. I will be following in your footsteps in 07'.
Date: 2006-10-11
To: Why 
Miles today: 0.0

In 2004, a friend asked me to hike the AT with him. Having a life long dream to thru hike the PCT, I agreed with the idea as it would be a great deal of fun and get me prepared to later hike the PCT. Such fun it was in April 2005 when we left Springer and traveled north. I would be the first to admit the snow was cold, the rain was wet and the trail was muddy, but the scenery was outstanding, the other hikers were interesting and intertaining, there were many days of good weather and the memories drive me to do this again. Unfortunately, at 650 miles, my feet said no more. The pain was so great I could hardly walk. I went to a doctor-plantar fasciitis was the call. With an estimated recovery time was 6-8 weeks I went home and got a second opinion. Same call and healing was going real slow so I made a decision to delay the hike until I could sort out the solution.For me, this is a journey not yet done and I have a burning desire to finish what I have started. And yes, my hiking partner "Three Feathers" or Brian Warren did make the entire journey-Georgia to Maine with a late August summit of Katahdin.
Date: 2006-10-12
To: Training
Miles today: 0.0

This summer I have done a few day and short overnight trips in the Cascades. Still have a lot of work to do to get into shape for long distance hiking and will get serious about my training now that summer is about done and I can get focused. I spend a great deal of my time working on our house that needed a lot of work. For some reason, this summer has been pretty much house focused.Basically my training will follow what I did in 05. Up and down stairs for a set number of trips and a short hike on the Forest Service land in the back of the house. Over time, I gradually increase in difficulty by increasing the number of stairs and length of hike. Also, I add a pack and gradually increase the weight to 50 lbs. And when the snow comes, I add snow shoes to the short hike. By the time I leave, I will be spending about 3 to 4 hours each day at this. I will also drop my weight from the current 195 to 175-180. In 05' I was at 175 lbs. Even in my best of shape, the younger crowd just blows me off the trail which is a comment about my speed. It is refreshing to see them enjoying the hike as they go by and reminds me of the good ol' days.
Date: 2006-10-12
To: Early Plans
Miles today: 0.0

My current thinking is to leave about the first of March. I know the weather will be a bit colder in March than April, but it makes sense to have extra travel time to accomodate my rate of travel. Not that I am slow, but I want to allow plenty of time to enjoy the hike and I can always finish earlier in the summer if I want to move up my pace. I plan to summit in late August. How much weight and what flavor of gear is a subject I keep thinking about and I will post information on what I am taking as it gets selected and set aside for the AT. On most of my trips, my pack is usually about 15 to 20 pounds without food, water, fuel or float tube/fish gear. Yep, I am one of those people who packs a float tube for the shear pleasure of it. No, I will not have a float tube on the AT. It is interesting to see how we think and talk about weight. I think in terms of three things, what I wear and put in my pockets (6 or 7 pounds), my basic pack and what I need to keep reasonably comfortable and safe (15-20 pounds), and what gets used up or replaced as I hike along like food, fuel and water (5-15 pounds). I really do not like to carry a heavy load on steep terrain so skin out at 40 pounds is about my maximum. I will carry more on easy terrain but I do a lot of thinking about it first. I am thinking that I have most of the gear I need, at least the expensive items like tent, pack, sleeping bag, rain gear. trek poles and boots. It is hard to go into an outdoor sports store and not buy stuff, one can always use more stuff! But the thought of weight and real survival need is now a much higher level of importance. I will probably upgrade some of my fleece as it is showing signs of wear and socks are always a good investment (when on sale). Most of my older gear is so out of date, it ought to be in a museum. But it does bring back fond memories while it takes up a lot of space in the closet. The technology of the new gear is impressive and has solved a lot of back packing needs and reduced weight--which is why I have so much stuff!Food will be purchased before I leave, dehydrated if needed to reduce weight, put in my packaging and/or vacuum packed. During the town days, I plan on eating fresh food to build up reserves for the next segment. My experience is that I over plan food which means we ate a lot of trail food after I left the trail in 05". I will probably do a zero day every couple weeks or so and do mail drops every 3 to 5 days when it works out that drops are close to the trial. There are some places I look forward to visiting again and will factor that into my zero days and mail drops which will modify my rate of travel.I am not sure how I am going to keep up this journal, that will come to me as I continue my plans.
Date: 2006-11-02
To: Summer is over
Miles today: 0.0

The last month just flew past me. I have been busy getting ready for winter. Finished the touch up on the outside house painting, gathered up the lawn chairs, put away the water hose, drained the irrigation lines, and the list goes on and on. Today is the first day of snow.........but I still have a ton of things to do. The good news is the weather report is for rain this afternoon so maybe the snow will not last long. It is about 2 inches and rising. I really need another month, but I think I am about out of time. Snow season started on Nov 7 last winter and lasted until mid March.My last hike in wet snow was a perfect test for my boots, and they leaked. So I took the boots back to the dealer and they sent them to the manufacturer (Danner). I now have a new pair to start testing. The good news is that the warranty is honored. The boots are Danner Radicals which have a goretex liner. Due to my foot problems, they are one of the few boot brands that I can wear without problems. Used right out of the box, these boots have not given me blisters. I cut my inserts to fit and replaced the factory one. Seems to be the ticket---next is to make sure there are no leaks. On the first AT attempt, I started with a pair of Osolo boots with goretex liner and they kept my feet dry, but I had a hole in the bottom at 350 miles which then leaked. So I bought a pair of Montrails (GTX), but it was too late for my feet so these boots were a huge hurt on me. I later found out the soles of the Osolo boots were way too stiff and Montrail's were less stiff, but still not flexible enough. I think both the Osolo and Montrial boots are good boots, but I just can not wear them. I have one of Henry Shires' Virga 2 Tarptents for the trip. After sealing the seams, I have used this tent on several trips in good and bad weather, with and without bugs, hot and cold and it is really a great tent. We used my partner's GoLite Tarp on the first attempt and I really like using the tarp type tents-light weight and pack small. Like many folks, I find that two people in a two person tent is rather cramped so I have a two person tent for the additional space even tho I could save weight by going with a one person tent. It seems everyone likes something about their tent which is why they buy them---and why there are so many tent makers with lots of variety. I will have a smallish piece of Tyvek for shelter sleeping and tent ground sheet. The shelter floors are so dirty, something is needed to sleep on and Tyvek is about as light as you can get.I have continued my walking and am doing about an hour and half each day. Have not lost much weight, but all good things take time--the better the good things are, the longer they take.Four months to go--and counting.
Date: 2006-11-03
To: Snowing
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday it snowed all day so I camped in front of the computer and started pulling together my gear list but that did not last long. Two folks appeared at my door with a small problem. They lost control of their car coming up the highway and managed to wipe out the mail boxes. The good news, no one was hurt--just a bit of their pride. The bad news, now I need a new mail box. I called the Post Office and they found it very funny. Later I found out my neighbor's daughter lost control of his car and managed to smack a guard rail and roll it over. Again the good news, no one was hurt. The bad news is the car is a total loss, and more good news, he gets to buy a new one. Every year with the first snow, lots of folks learn about driving in the stuff--some for the first time and some who never learn so they just keep practicing. Anyhow, I did not get much done on the gear list so will get back to that in the next couple days. Yesterday I started up the snow blower and cleared the snow from the driveway. The first time is always the worst as the gravel driveway causes all sorts of grief for a snow blower. It normally takes me about an hour to clear from the house to the highway if I can keep it in fifth gear. The first time is fairly slow as rocks break shear pins and 3rd or 4th gear is the only way to reduce the damage. Today, I woke up to rain on the roof and snow sliding off. All kinds of noise when it hits the deck. The snow is still here, and most likely will last the rest of the winter, but the rain certainly makes for some wet spots where I plowed the driveway yesterday. In a bit, I am going to take my new boots for a tour of the puddles to make sure they don't leak. Maybe I can waffle stomp some of the slush off the driveway--going to be fun trying.I am going to continue working on my gear list today, but it will be a work in progress as I adjust it down to a final. And I know it is going to change once I get on the trail--at least it did last time.This weekend we are going to Olympia to visit the kids and have a birthday party. Don't you just love grand kids....It is always fun and I know I am going to miss them once I start hiking. Off to the gear list.