morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-12-29
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Assembled eyes: This will be my last formal entry to this 2005 hiking journal. Its purpose is simply to alert you to the fact that I have started a NEW journal for my 2009 AT hike! I'm working now to get the connections between this one and my new one squared away. In the meantime, for those of you who want to follow along, I will start my hike from Springer Mountain on Sunday, March 15, 2009. As always, I'll appreciate your company, and even more so your words of wit and wisdom. Please do sign my guest register, as whatever messages you post there will be forwarded automatically to me on the trail via my pocketmail account. You can also contact me there directly through: longhaul@pocketmail.com From today, only 75 more days. I'm so excited!
Date: 2005-06-10
From: Erwin, TN - 1 Day

To: Erwin TN, Ms. Janet's House
Miles today: 0.0

This post is simply because I just started on June 12th, and you have to have 3 posts before the site will display your journal online...the preceding day will eventually have a big re-cap of our first month or so out here, and from June 13th or so on, I'll do my best to keep up with things, as time and internet access allow...CHRIS
Date: 2005-06-11
From: Erwin, Tennessee

To: Erwin, Tennessee
Miles today: 0.0

Today was a zero day in Erwin, with Miss Janet. This post was done after the post on 6-12-05. I have to have three posts before my journal can be viewed online, so I'm just going back in to plug something in...I'll put a big post on, dated 6-09-05, that will be the big re-cap of the first month or so of the trip, since catching up all the daily entries would take years!!! So, all my future stuff, or as much of it as possible, will be on here!CHRIS
Date: 2005-06-12
From: Curley Maple Gap Shelter

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: light rain

Today has been completely funny, to say the least. By the way, I'm testing this site out for the first time, so bear with me while I work out the kinks! So far, I've coem about 300 miles and some change on the Appalachian Trail, and am currently in Erwin, Tennessee, at a hostel run by Miss Janet. It's one of the most famed places on the trail, and I could give you a million reasons why. She's the best!! I'll send everybody a big update of my adventures up to this point, both via email and through this journal, and if the journal thing works out, then I'll send emails with links to this site, so that everybody can keep up with me this way!Today, we hiked out of Curley Maple Gap Shelter, which is about 5 miles from Erwin, where Miss Janet dropped us off and said her goodbyes to us yesterday evening. We hiked last night, mostly in the dark, to the shelter, and kept some guys up all night with our fire and stupid stories about all the crap we've managed to get into since we've been out here. We got a late start today, and hiked about 5 miles into our planned 12 mile day, when he hit a road crossing where we stopped to meet up (that's me, Cody, Ben, and Grace). While taking a snack break, Miss Janet drove up to pick up some hikers that were slackpacking (that's where somebody drives you up to the trailhead, let's you hike down with only a daypack, so you can go faster, and then picks you up at a selected point on the trail), and we happened to be sitting there. She tempted us with a Chinese food buffet, and drove us in with her to town, where we all feasted for a cheap price. The weather got bad and rainy, and instead of her dropping us back off at the trailhead where she found us, she convinced us to stay at her place for only 5 bucks (normal price is 15 bucks, but we got the "no shower, no laundry" deal, at a discounted price). She'll take us back to where we left off yesterday, and we'll pick up there tomorrow.Okay, gotta get off the computer, since there's 20 million people waiting to use it! I'm gonna attach a picture or two to this post (both to test the site, and for everybody to check out). More pictures and updates will follow...CHRIS (p.s.--the trail name is kind of a long story, in case you were wondering)
Date: 2005-06-19
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 6.0

I left out of the shelter, knowing we only had a short day before we arrived at the hostel. Cody and Grace were behind me, and I was cruising at an easy pace, listening to the crack of thunder every couple of minutes. I really didn't feel like hiking in the rain, especially with a hole in my pack. After two or three miles, Cody came whizzing by, and left me in a blur, saying that he would see me at the hostel. Damn, he's fast. I hiked on, and came to an open field; I was taking a picture of some flower, when a huge lightning bolt struck somewhere nearby. It must have been hilarious to see me, because I must have jumped ten feet in the air!! I even had to laugh, trying to imagine how stupid I probably looked! I walked on, and within 30 minutes, I was at the road that led to the hostel. I only had to walk 2 tenths of a mile or so, and I was at the hostel. It's called Kincora, and it's run by some great people, Bob and Pat Peoples (no pun intended!). We settled in, and hung out with several people that we'd been hiking with, who just happened to be there. Kindman (who looks like Jesus!), Trouble (who totally lives up to his nickname), Phoenix (a super-cool girl from Maine), Peacepipe (Ben from Baltimore), and some really crotchety, rude guy named Mike, who seems more miserable with life than about anybody I've met in a long time! After a while, Bob loaded us into the back of his big, Dodge truck, and took us grocery shopping. On the way, Trouble kept flagging down local girls in their cars. It was pretty funny, because he was trying to flirt with them, but I think he scared most of them!We all got our re-supply of "trailfood" at the store, and we all went in together, and split up dinner that night; we had steak, chicken, salad, chili dogs, and lots of other good stuff, and it didn't cost anymore than ten bucks per person! The meal was a welcome sight that night, and we all had some great conversation to go along with all of it. The evening ended with some good, old-fashioned drama, which I've found is more frequent in these woods than it is in the "regular" world sometimes!! Cody, Grace, Phoenix, Ben, and myself talked until late, then I finally gave in and crashed, needing to catch up on some sleep...
Date: 2005-06-20
From: Dennis Cove (Kincora Hostel)

To: Abingdon Gap Shelter
Miles today: 40.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today was definitely an interesting day, if not the ABSOLUTE LONGEST DAY OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!Cody and I were staying with some other hikers at a place called Kincora Hostel, which is run by Bob and Pat Peoples, who, no pun intended, are really great people! Grace, Ben, Jennifer (who goes by Phoenix) from Maine, and Trouble were among those there. We decided that, upon looking at the terrain maps, we could, and should do a 50 mile day into Damascus! Great idea? Possibly. Bad execution? Definitely! We left the hostel at 9 o'clock at night!! We passed some beautiful falls (bet they were even better when you could see them!), got lost on a trail re-location that apparently even gave people trouble during the daylight, and ran into "Trouble," whose real name is Brian, at a shelter about two miles into our fifty-mile quest. Now "Trouble" is a bit of an interesting character. I had been hearing about some guy that, while hiking in the Smoky Mountains, got bluff charged by a bear. The good part is that, when the animal charged at him, he charged back at it, screaming, "what are you gonna do, bear?!!" Needless to say, the bear did not win, and he's one tough son of a--well, you know...So, we're walking in the dark, and he must have heard us, because he started screaming that from out of nowhere! After I wet my pants, we went up and hung out with him. He had already downs 8 beers that he had hiked out of the hostel with, and was trying to feed me his dinner of tuna, mixed with Lime Chili Shrimp flavored ramen. Not to be rude, I ate it. Then, I washed it down with a Busch Light. Yep, if you were thinking it, you were right; I was HURTING later!! Anyhow, Trouble is a great guy, and definitely makes the trail a bit more fun!We left Trouble, and on we trudged, into the pitch black night. We went up Pond Flats, which is a tough, steep hike in the daytime. We came down that, and skirted around Watauga Lake. We stopped to snack, and by this time, it was about 3am. Sleep sounded good, but apparently, walking in the dark sounded better, because we both kept going. About 6am, the sun started to rise, and my headlamp's batteries said "thank you." I hadn't had any water in several miles, and there didn't look to be any promising water sources nearby. Cody and I stopped at a shelter with some great views from above cloudline, then hiked on.So, now we're on to June 21st, so this post will continue on my next entry...go ahead, admit it...the suspense is killing you! You must read on!!
Date: 2005-06-22
From: Abingdon Gap Shelter

To: Damascus, Virginia
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Geez, I just typed this whole day's entry, and the friggin' computer just erased all of it!We slept really well in the shelter last night, despite the mice having a party there. I woke up to one staring at me from no more than 6 inches away, munching happily on my last Clif Bar. I wasn't about to hurt the little guy, but we did have a "discussion" of sorts, and after that, we had an understanding: he would torment me while I tried to sleep, and I would do absolutely nothing about it! We got a late start, mainly because we were still dead tired from the 40 mile day that we just did the day before! We met a retired hiker couple, Skip and Debbie, and their dog Buddy. We all chatted it up for a bit, then we left for the nice, ten-mile stroll downhill into Damascus, VA. Damascus is widely considered to be the "friendliest town on the trail, and they have a big party called "Trail Days" here every year, with current and past hikers coming together to party. We ran into some southbound hikers on the way down into town; they were coming out of Damascus, and they asked us if we were "F-Bomb and Loofa." (those are our trail names) Uh-oh. We're infamous and we haven't even got to town yet! Turns out that several people we'd been hiking with had been chatting up our legend, including Ben (Peacepipe), Grace (Two-Step), Jeremy (Kindman), and Aaron (Yellow-Blazer)...the story of our 40-miler had become an impressive subject, apparently!Well, to round out the evening, we checked into a hostel called Dave's Place (5 bucks a night and a bit on the dingy side; just my style)...then, in true thru-hiker style, we did what any intelligent person looking to re-hydrate a body that just trekked up and down mountains for 40 miles would do: we drank lots of really cheap beer...can't seem to remember that towns are for resting!
Date: 2005-06-23
From: Damascus, Virginia

To: Damascus, Virginia
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today we had what hikers call a "zero day" in Damascus. We needed to catch up on laundry (damn, did we stink after that 40 mile haul!), send some emails, make some phone calls, and eat something not having ANYTHING to do with Ramen Noodles!!I spent a large part of my day at the laundromat, especially after I discovered that they had the arcade version of Galaga!! I LOVE THAT GAME!!! That stupid game made at least 4 bucks off of me, but it was the cheapest entertainment I've had in years! There's lots of good food here, even though the town is small...they have killer blueberry milkshakes at Dairy King, great breakfast at "Cowboy's," which is inside the Exxon station, oddly enough, and some sorta okay cheap Italian food at a place called Sicily's...Tried to rest up today, with very little activity that would upset my sore leg muscles. In the evening, we found a little bar that had game seven of the NBA Finals; we watched the game and drank some serious Dr. Peppers...Go Spurs!!!The evening ended with several of our hostel-mates having what appeared to be some sort of "love-in" on the gravel in front of the hostel...lots of foot-rubbing and massaging with strange oils!! Not my scene at all, and frankly, I was a bit frightened by the whole thing! I think it's safer in the woods than in the towns! I get way less frightened by wild animals than I do by people.
Date: 2005-06-24
From: Damascus, Virginia

To: Damascus, Virginia
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was yet another "zero day" in Damascus. We may hike out tonight, but for 5 bucks, it wouldn't hurt us to rest the legs a bit more and leave early tomorrow. Besides, it gives me a chance to try and catch up with this journal a bit more!A little laundry this morning, a lot of Galaga while the laundry was cooking, and a bit of lunch at a place called "Dot's." Great small-town atmosphere, and a heckuva old-school country jukebox.I went by the outfitter in Damascus, to see if they could help me with my 2-week old backpack, because it has a whole the size of my head in it already!!! They informed me that I had to contact the company, who would ship me a new one ahead, to my next stop. Geez. between now and then, all my crap will probably fall out and be spread all over the trail. Guess that's one way to lighten my pack load...Well, the library is about to close. I will post pictures and hopefully get this journal up and running with a little more internet time in the next town...until then, well, this is as good as it gets!
Date: 2005-06-25
From: Summit Cut

To: Damascus, Virginia
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

Today was starting to get to me, what with sitting in the town and all. It gets stagnant (<-I think I spelled that right?!). I just wanted to be hiking, but everybody else wasn't quite ready to let Damascus go, so I caught a ride up the mountain a bit, and did what hikers call "slack-packing." I picked up at Summit Cut, which is 17 miles north on the trail from Damascus, and came SOUTH, back into town.The guy that dropped me off was Sam, who's from Ohio. He was a nice guy. Apparently, he works in a nearby small town, and on the weekends, he looks for random adventures in local places. The hike was pleasant and relaxing. There are no burger joints, coke machines, or laundromats with killer 80's video games on the trail, either, so, hiking is also cheaper than being in town. The AT crosses the Virginia Creeper Trail at some points during the stretch I was hiking; the Creeper Trail used to be part of the old AT, and now it is primarily a bike trail. along the way, as I crossed the Creeper, a guy and his neice stopped me, and started asking the usual questions; the "are you a thru-hiker," and "what's it like," and all the other standard questions. This guy told me I was an inspiration, and he had me sort of lecture his neice on "seizing the moment," if you will. The guy wanted to take pictures with me, and he wanted a picture of me by myself, standing on the trail. Once again, I will be part of some poor soul's vacation pictures. It made me feel good in a way, but it also sucked a bit, because I'm not enjoying the hike the way that I need to; that is going to change, though. This was meant to be an amazing, once in a lifetime experience, and I'm going to make sure it's just that.So, after 17 miles, I got back into town at about 10pm (I didn't get started until 4pm!!); I felt better and was less tired than I would have been if I had sat around town all day!!On this trail, towns are a great and vital part of the experience, but they can also be your downfall if you're not careful. Lesson learned!Okay then. Time to leave Damascus, and get back to the trail...
Date: 2005-06-26
From: Damascus, Virginia

To: Damascus, Virginia
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today was completely frustrating! We were supposed to leave Damascus yesterday, and that didn't happen, so I did a day-long "slackpack," just to get some miles in, and not feel so lazy! Today, we all kept stalling and screwing around, plus we couldn't seem to find a ride back up to the trail! Even though the AT literally goes right through the main street in Damascus, we were going to hitch ahead to where I started my slackpack, because they didn't mind, and I didn't want to have to hike the same 17 miles twice! Needless to say, tension between Cody, Grace, and myself was a bit higher than normal, and we wound up having to stay another night in Damascus. It's not that bad, especially because the hostel's only 4 bucks a night, but I still wanted to get the heck out of there! I needed to get away for a while, so I walked off and left them , so that I could relax a bit, and make some phone calls back home. Incidentally, Damascus' pay phones are crappy, in case anybody cares!!The evening came to an end, and I was sure we'd be leaving early the next morning, so I decided to get some sleep...
Date: 2005-06-27
From: Summit Cut

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

After spending even more time goofing around, we FINALLY managed to get a ride out of Damascus, and back towards the woods! Our first hitch didn't quite take us as far as we needed to go, so we had to stand on the side of a mountain road a good bit longer, trying to beg passers-by for a bit further of a ride. We finally caught on with a really nice lady who was familiar with the AT because she hiked a bit; she dropped us off at nearly 6pm, and so we were off.We made the first 4 miles in great time, and hung out at a peak called Buzzard Rock, near the summit of Whitetop Mtn, I think. Whitetop is Virginia's second highest point, at just over 5,500 feet. The views were great, so we relaxed a bit, then hiked on; the rain started to come down, which made it a little cooler; that was good. We next stopped and met at a road crossing about 7 miles into our day, and it was getting dark. The next four miles were a climb, and in the dark, it was gonna be fun!We crossed the road and into a field with LOTS of really fresh cow patties. We stepped over them, around them, and straight into them! Then, as we're walking in the pitch black night, we start to see eyes; lots of eyes! Then, you could kind of make out the silhouette of the big, goofy beasts that the eyes were attached to: cows...lots of cows! Apparently, we startled them, and so Cody tried to appease them a little. It worked well enough that they let us pass, and so on we walked. Grace's headlamp was pretty bad, so she switched with Cody, who then began to fall down, because he couldn't see so well. Mine's always lousy, so I'm adjusted to stumbling around in the dark! We walked near the summit of Mount Rogers (Virginia's highest point), and climbed for what seemed like forever. We finally got to Thomas Knob Shelter, at somewhere around 11pm. It was really dark, and kind of eerie, but you got the feeling that it was really pretty there. We cooked, woke whoever was there up, and then went to sleep, disgusted because the water source was a stagnant pool of dead mosquitoes...
Date: 2005-06-28
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Virginia 603
Miles today: 12.0

Today was absolutely amazing! When I woke up at Thomas Knob Shelter, the view was nothing that I could've imagined the night before, in the dark. The fields were open, grassy balds, with views in all directions. We hiked out, Cody first, then myself. Grace left a bit later. Not even a mile into the walk, I turned a corner into Rhododendron Gap, where I saw little ponies, trying desperately to get into some backpacks that a group of hikers had left on the ground while they were resting. They came right up to me, sniffed and nibbled on my hands and arms, hoping that I had some Twinkies or something. No dice, guys. I got lots of great pictures of them, including when three of them decided that Cody was the saltlick that they had always dreamed about!! That was some funny stuff.Cody and I hung out for a while, filtered some water, and watched more ponies. Some people were riding horses on a nearby horse trail, too, and Cody had met some of them, so he was telling me about it.We hiked on, and after 5 minutes, I had already lost Cody, and was just enjoying the scenery. Truly amazing, open fields, sort of what I imagined the AT to be before I started. We entered the Grayson Highlands State Park, and soaked up some beautiful views, until the dreaded trees came back! I was actually kind of annoyed that I had to go back into what we hikers call "the green tunnel" again, because after all that open scenery, the trees can be a bit depressing. I caught up with Cody a couple of hours later at Old Orchard Shelter, after more great walking on some balds, coupled with a bit more walking in "the tunnel." We talked a bit, and decided that, at the next road crossing, Virginia 603, we would stop at the horse campground, where the horse-riders that Cody had met earlier, were staying. They had told us to stop by for a minute, and so we did.They were some really cool people! They gave us beer, listened to our crazy stories, made us food, and then gave us some homemade moonshine that was some of the best stuff I've ever had (thanks, Pat!). Grace caught up to us about the time that we were getting 'shine, and they gave her some too; crazy stuff they called "apple pie." It was some good stuff, but it was definitely strong! We decided that it was worth carrying back into the woods with us, so into the packs it went!After much deliberation, we decided not to hike the 4 miles more to the next shelter, and decided to stay there, at the horse campground. The dew was bad, and had we slept on the ground, our down-filled sleeping bags would have been soaked, and that pretty well makes them useless. Cody and Grace had a fine moment of butting heads over how to set up our tarp-tent (which we inherited from William, aka "Churchyard Drunkard," whose journal is also on this website), and then we all decided to just say "screw it," and sleep on picnic tables. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...maybe I am a drifter! We cooked a late dinner of, surprise, Ramen noodles, and then retired to our tables, for some well-deserved rest. Great day...long, but really good...