morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-08-04
From: Katahdin, Maine

To: THE SUMMIT OF KATAHDIN!
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: light rain

JEFF HAS REACHED THE PEAK OF KATAHDIN!Jeff and his son, Lewis, who joined him yesterday, hiked the very steep and difficult hike up Mt Katahdin and reached the peak today at 11:30 am.If you are reading this, please take a moment to click on the guestbook (sign) to the left and leave him a message - then he will know everyone who has followed him during this adventure of a lifetime!Thank you!
Date: 2007-08-05
From: THE SUMMIT OF KATAHDIN!

To: Home!!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I arrived back home in Hartly, DElaware today - foot doctor tomorrow!We have added several new pictures, so feel free to check the photo gallery.I want to thank everyone who has supported me during the hike, and thank you for your messages and notes of support.For those of you who I hiked with, it was a pleasure meeting and hiking with each of you. Please keep me posted on your progress and let me know when you're done.
Date: 2006-07-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

If you're new to my trail journal, please click on the link at the left for my 2006 journal where I hiked the first half (almost half) of the AT.Just trying to figure out how to set up my journal for next year! I'm already counting the days to April 07 so I can get back to hiking! I spoke to LoneStar yesterday, she is entering NJ today, I'm jealous. I would love to still be out there on the trail, but it just wasn't meant to be.
Date: 2006-11-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

These last few weeks have been ¢difficult¢. I¢ve read about so many of the people I hiked with reaching their destination ¢ Katahdin. BraveFriend, Mountain Doer, Natty Boh, 42, September and many others.   I¢m so happy for them all. I¢ve also read with some sadness about others that just couldn¢t make it all the way to the end due to injuries. BlueBird who ended up with a torn rotator cuff like me, and Banjoman took a bad fall and just couldn¢t finish the 100 mile wilderness. I also just read that LoneStar summited on Oct 3rd.   Oh well, at least I have next year to look forward to, and I¢m starting to get really excited about it. I can¢t wait to get back on the trail. I get to do all the planning and organizing again, I really think its half the fun. My shoulder is healing well, the MRI did show a torn rotator cuff, but it was not a full thickness tear so no surgery is in the picture. I joined the local gym, so that¢s much more fun than going to physical therapy and it includes a lot of the same exercises.My plans are pretty much set in stone, I¢ll be back on the trail April 23 or 24th, I¢ll probably start back at Waynesboro and the beginning of the SNP. I have a new (used) Henry Shires Virga tarp tent that I bought off the Yahoo groups Backpack Gear Swap list. It weighs 1 12 lb. (without its poles) ¢ it¢s still under 2 lb with them. I haven¢t slept in it yet, but I did set it up in the back yard just before a rain storm and it seemed to stay dry. It also seems to have plenty of room in it, so ¢¦ I¢ll probably also go back to crocks and leave the sandals home.I gave a presentation on my hike at a Scouting retreat ¢ it had Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and a lot of parents. Everyone loved it! And they loved going through my pack to see what all I took. It was so much fun. I¢m scheduled to give this presentation to several other groups in the near future.
Date: 2006-12-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Things are falling into place. Just 4 12 months to go and I can¢t wait to get back out there. My shoulder is pain free (although I haven¢t tried sleeping on the ground yet). I¢ll have some company for the first week or so of the hike, Yes, I¢m starting back from Waynesboro to start at the begining of SNP. Bluebell (thru hiked in 04) will do the park with me, along with another friend, Carlisle, from our hiking club, his nephew and my son Josh will be along too. I¢m hoping to kidnap Josh and make him finish the trail with me, but we¢ll see how that goes. He will be out of the Army in a few more weeks and home in February! I will have to get Josh outfitted as he doesn¢t really have appropriate gear. He¢s an Eagle Scout but the pack and bag he¢s got are not lightweight.Anyway, I guess this is the third entry to get my 07 journal up no the 07 list.
Date: 2007-02-10
To: more foot/shoe issues
Miles today: 0.0

Well, here it is the middle of February, getting close, but not close enough yet!So, what¢s been going on with me? Well to start with, back in the end of October I sprained my right ankle, it was pretty minor, the swelling went down in a few days and I was out jogging in 2 days. But, I still had occasional bits of pain. So, just as I was deciding to go see the Orthopedic doc and get it checked out, I sprained it again! This time I really did a number on it. I was out jogging a 3 mile loop and was 1 1/2 miles out when I twisted my ankle. The pain was really intense. I sat there and cried for a few minutes and then had to hobble the mile and a half back to my car! So, I finally did make it to the Ortho guy and I¢m now in physical therapy 3 times a week. He (my doctor) is insisting that I wear a brace on it when I run and hike. He said I would have been better off breaking my ankle as the bone would heal in 6 weeks in a cast, but I¢ve torn all the tendons and ligaments in my ankle and it will take 6 months or more to fully heal!So, my saga with shoes continues, I went on a short backpack trip with my hiking club, the ankle was ok, but with the brace on it takes up a lot more room in the shoe so I need larger shoes!I tried out my new tarp tent, it¢s not really as big and roomy as I thought it would be, but it¢s OK. It didn¢t rain that night, so I don¢t know how well it will work in the rain, but for the few times I used my tent on the trail last year, 1 lb is a lot better than 4 lbs! 2 months to go, Josh is back in the States, but he's not home yet, he's out having too much fun with his friends and working for my brother in New Jersey.
Date: 2007-04-22
To: hiking
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Well, a new hike begins! I drove from Asheville, NC to Waynesboro today-it took me 6 hours to drive what it took me 2 months to walk last year! It was also very enlightening seeing the layout of the towns I walked through from the road. When you walk through the woods and avoid the roads it becomes-and this is the best way I can describe this-as a disembodied experience. You have no concept of the layout of the land as you do with road maps. The AT maps show only a very small section of land on either side of the trail so you don't see how things are connected to each other. And you lose the sense of direction with all the twists and turns in the trail when you are in the "green tunnel". So, it was fun driving past all the towns-Hot Springs, Erwin, Damascus, Glasgow, Atkins, Catawba, etc.Josh and I are at the Days Inn Motel. Everett and Carlysle are here. We just had dinner, and we have our packs ready for the morning. I can't wait to get started again
Date: 2007-04-23
From: Rockfish Gap

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

Well, I'm not in the shape I was in last year when I was here! We left the trail head at 9 am and got to the shelter-just 7 miles-at 2 pm. We did stop a whole hour for lunch. Josh (Sniper) and I left Carlisle and Everett in the dust way back. We took the one hour lunch break hoping they would catch up, but they didn't. Several other hikers came by and said they were doing ok and had passed them a ways back. Anyway, when I was here last year the park was in full leaf(yes, I know it was late June) but there is not a single leaf on a tree to be seen! So, it's much more sunny out and HOT! Also alot of trees have been damaged by storms the last few weeks. Some areas the entire top of the canopy seems to have been sheared off. The Trail Angel Bill that gave us a ride this morning said they average 10 trees down to a mile. Alot have been cleared, but there is so much tree debris on the ground. I got a bit of a sunburn! Not good. My pack is heavy, Sniper needs to eat alot of food! But overall it is great to be back on the trail pushing the body to its limits, getting the heart and legs going. In 2 weeks I should be back in great shape!The shelter here at Calf Mt. has my journal entry from last year. Carlisle and Everett finally made it to the shelter about 2 1/2 hours after us. Two other section hikers are here.
Date: 2007-04-24
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

To: Black Rock Hut
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Last night Carlisle was not sure what he was going to do. The next road crossing was 3 miles ahead and I think this morning the decision was he would try to dump some weight and see how he did on the next 3 miles. If it was too hard he would bail at the road and try to hitch a ride back to Waynesboro. Everett may or may not continue hiking. Sniper and I were ready to hike at O730 am and so we left. We made it to Black Rock Hut-13 miles in 7 1/2 hours, thats with a one hour lunch break and 2 shorter breaks. Sniper sets a grueling pace but I'm keeping up with it (2 miles/hr).I woke this morning to a wood thrush with it's beautiful song! The day started out very overcast and cool(lower 60's) so it was great. At one point it started to rain a little and we put on our packas. They work great. Then the sun came out and as there are no leaves on the trees, my sunburn is worse! So far we are the only 2 at the shelter, I hope others come in.I've developed a small blister on my right heel from my ankle brace-but the strap had been twisted. It's no big deal.If Everett does not show up(and even if he does)Sniper and I may backtrack 0.8 miles to the road tomorrow and yellow blaze (hitch a ride)up to Powell Gap (about 20 miles up the road) to the spot I got off at last year. We would end up with a 16 mile day(yuck)but we would get to Front Royal on Sunday-almost 2 days early.I do not like the park for some reason-I feel very isolated from the world here! I felt this way last year too-it may have had some impact on my quitting-but there are also very few people around. There isn't even much traffic on Sky Line Drive. I liked the trail more when there were lots of people on it-and we are in front of the main "pack".
Date: 2007-04-25
From: Black Rock Hut

To: Bear Fence Mt. Hut
Miles today: 10.3

Sniper and I spent the night alone in the shelter. I slept a little better last night, only woke up once. The wasps quit buzzing around the shelter once the sun went down. We were serenaded by a lovely wood thrush and then scolded by a whippoorwill which fortunately was far away, but he carried on all night long. There was an animal scurrying around outside the shelter. I'm not sure what it was, my first thought was a skunk, but this was white and I think it had a black stripe on its back. That's the wrong colors for a skunk-perhaps a fox? I don't know if they are in this park.So, the plan this morning was to hike south again 1 mile to the road. We've done a 1 mile road walk north and have been sitting here for a 1/2 hour waiting to hitch a ride and not a single car-it's almost 9 am! I hope we can get a ride soon, I'd hate to do a road walk-an unnecessary mile of walking.Well, we finally got a ride about 10am-after we did start walking the road. The 3rd car to pass did stop-a guy from NY on his way home. He lives near Bear Mountain, close to the trail. We got out about 6 miles north of Powell Gap, where I quit last year(it's a big mother of a mountain and I really didn't want to do 16 miles a day). I'll have to pick it up later-perhaps when I come back from Trail Days I can stop here and slack pack it.Anyway, it was a nice 10 mile hike. We stopped at a picnic area for lunch then went to the Lewis Mt. Campground. I bought some sunscreen (my burn is worse still), a large cold Gatorade (which I downed), and a hat. We then had one more mile to the shelter,a much nicer area than last night. I don't feel so isolated. We also passed a bunch of section hikers and day hikers today. I saw alot of flowers starting to bloom-same ones as last year. Trillium, spring beauties, violets etc. But, the trees are still in the dead of winter and broken! It's so sad how much damage has been done to the park and what a job the PATC Club has done in clearing the trail! It is a HUGE amount of work that went into cleaning up from the recent storms. The whole canopy of the forest is on the ground.A couple of park rangers just stopped in to visit. I think they were glad to see our food hung on the bear pole. They didn't ask to see our permits but one seemed like he was carrying a ticket book! They were very nice, talked to us for a few minutes and left.Josh(Sniper) seems to be starting to enjoy himself. He is putting quotes he likes in the shelter registers and even made a comment about when he thru hikes that he will skip the SNP.So, it's just us in the shelter tonight. It's supposed to storm.Oh, when we were at the campground, we sorted through our food since we started the hike (up) through the park today and we got rid of a bunch of weight! Makes the pack nicer to carry-we don't have our "hiker appetites" yet so we don't need so much.The plan is for an 11 mile day tomorrow, followed by 15, 13, 13 which will put us in Front Royal Sunday afternoon. We may take a zero day there on Monday and try to get my mail drop from Linden. Then hike through to Harper's Ferry.
Date: 2007-04-26
From: Bear Fence Mt. Hut

To: Rock Spring Hut
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up to dense fog this morning. The storm never did come last night. There was a lone mouse in the shelter that made an awful lot of noise all night long chewing on something. Just not any of our stuff fortunately!We have hiked over 8 miles in about 3 1/2 hours this morning to the Big Meadow Lodge where we are sitting in a nice warm restaurant waiting for lunch. The hot sunny weather of the last few days has disappeared and today the temps are in the mid 40's. The trail for the most part was very easy, flat and pretty. We passed a cemetery here in the park. It started to drizzle on us so we put on our packas-they work really great-just enough warmth for the chilly day.At the lodge we ran into 4 other section hikers-turns out I was with a couple of them last year at Jerry Cabin Shelter(in the storm). Snowman and Windsock-they are out doing an 80 mile section and are headed to the same hut as us tonight.Oh! For curious minds who want to know and/or are keeping track-I'm on pair of shoes #7 now! The last pair of hiking shoes that I liked alas are too small to wear with my ankle brace. So I had a pair of Hi-Tech hiking shoes that I had bought some time back but were really too big for me at the time. Well, they fit perfectly with the brace! My ankle is fine, my shoulder is fine, My calves are a bit sore but otherwise I'm doing great.We hiked the next 4 miles to the Rock Spring Hut. The weather warmed up and the sun came out for a few minutes and then clouded over again. It's pretty chilly here but the 4 guys we met at the lodge had a nice fire going when we got here. I saw Lonestar's entry from last year in the shelter register and there is also an entry by Roja from 3/27/07. I can't imagine there is another hiker named Roja and if I remember his signature it sure looks like his.The names of the 4 guys here with us tonight are Streaker, Groundhog, Windsock and Snowman. (They) are a great bunch of guys from East Tennessee. One of them had some moonshine he passed around-pretty good stuff on a cold windy evening.It's 7 pm, they have all crawled into there sleeping bags. Josh and I are sitting by the fire upon which they piled some extra logs before going to sleep. It makes me nervous-the wind is really strong-with an unattended fire!We have a 15 mile day tomorrow. There is another campground restaurant about 4 1/2 miles north of us so we will hike there for breakfast in the morning.
Date: 2007-04-27
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Pass Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 15.3

It started to pour last night about 8 pm and didn't let up till 5 am. It sounded good on the shelter roof and I was glad I wasn't in a tent.We hit the trail at 7 am, skipped breakfast because we planned on a 4 mile hike to Skyland Dining Hall. We got there by 9:15 and sat down to a great breakfast. We almost missed the place-it was so foggy you couldn't see 2 inches in front of your face, but find it we did! The smell of good food drew us in without any trouble!The weather cleared up a bit while we were there and so we hiked on-15.3 miles today. Lots of rock scrambles and boulder hops. We passed some breathtaking views only most of them were white-cloudy/??? white. We met a few section hikers and a SOBO hiker. The view from Mary's Rock was fabulous though then it was down down down to the road at Thortons Gap and back up up up to this shelter which is quite interesting. The east side of the trail was recently burned-very recently. You can still smell the burning odor.Well, there is one other section hiker here at the shelter and he is tenting. Six weekend hikers came into the shelter as we were going to sleep, they made a big racket for a short while but soon settled down.
Date: 2007-04-28
From: Pass Mt. Shelter

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I was up at 6 am to a wood thrush and grouse drumming this morning. Josh and I hit the trail at 7:20 am and covered 7.4 miles in 3 hours! It was fairly easy this morning and while hiking across a smooth, soft level trail of soft dirt and grass I managed to trip and fall! I have no idea what caused me to fall but I was able to land on my side-no damage done.We got to Elk Wallow way-side for lunch but it was really too cold sitting still that we didn't stay long. We passed a group of Boy Scouts out for the weekend. The shelter is pretty nice except for the odor of dead animal! I found some ramps(?) on the trail and pulled a few up to add to dinner-yummy!There is an apple tree blooming here and the creek is flowing well. Lots of violets, butter cups, spring beauties and dandelions are blooming. It's drizzling a little and Josh got a nice fire going. Two other hikers came in-a husband and wife from Springfield, Massachusetts-"Where is she" and "Ed".Can't wait for tomorrow-Front Royal-a shower, laundry and a REAL bed!
Date: 2007-04-29
From: Gravel Springs Hut

To: Front Royal Quality Inn Hotel
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: light rain

We left at 7:15 am, got to Front Royal about 1:30-not bad time!! We also stopped for lunch at Tom Floyd way-side. The couple staying in the shelter with us last night recommended the Quality Inn here in Front Royal. It's ok-not great but what the heck! I'm sitting here in my rain gear as my laundry is going. I've taken a wonderful long shower. The sunburn on my ears is peeling.We were very lucky-just as we got to US 522 there was a guy who was out for a day hike and just got back to his car and offered us a ride to town.It's always nice coming down from the mountains and getting into town.As usual poison ivy is growing along the trail, more plants are blooming and it's a lot greener.
Date: 2007-04-30
From: Front Royal Quality Inn Hotel

To: Linden, VA
Miles today: 8.2

We're still in Front Royal, did an 8.2 mile SOBO slack pack past the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter. Wow, what a gorgeous shelter! I wish I was spending the night there. It has a great front porch with a lounge chair, couch, and a covered picnic table. There are daffodils blooming in front of the shelter and daylilies coming up all around. I met "little one" and Dirty Sow" at the shelter. Little one is doing research on long distance hikers for her PhD dissertation in Sociology. She wanted to interview me but we didn't really have time. I'll probably meet up with her tomorrow and let her interview me.The trail was very pretty. So many spring flowers, dark green grass heavily dotted with bright sunny dandelions, velvety purple violets and sparkling white spring beauties.I'm afraid Josh is dropping out at Harper's Ferry. He is miserable. I'll miss his company but it may be easier in a way-I can't keep up with his pace. I feel responsible for his misery when we get to the shelter early and he is bored having nothing to do.As far as Front Royal goes, the outfitter is closed on Mondays. It's hard to get a hitch from the trail head (6.4 miles out of town). The Quality Inn hotel I was told will pick you up at the trail head. But that is only when the maintenance men are on duty (Mon-Fri, 9-5). The restaurant attached to the hotel is closed so.....most of the restaurants are closed on Monday and the only place we could find to eat (The Mill), the wine tasted watered down!On another note, my cell phone just died on me-in the middle of a conversation. I have no idea what happened but it's dead. And, there is no Verizon store around here. It will have to wait until Friday. I'll get into Harper's Ferry and then into the DC area for the weekend at my Brother-in Law's house.
Date: 2007-05-01
From: Linden, VA

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: broken clouds

First off, Happy May Day everyone. This time last year I was at the Kinkora Hostel helping Bob Peoples collect the morning dew(of which there was none)to sprinkle on everyone for a year of good health (and what did I have but a torn rotator cuff and a severe sprain of my right ankle!). But I still think of myself as very healthy so......Todays hike took us through some very varied terrain. We got a ride back to Linden at 9am. The first 5 miles or so the forest floor was just covered with trillium blooming. It was so very beautiful. Everywhere the eye could see-white to deep pink trillium. We passed several day hikers out to see the flowers, and one guy who was photographing them. I didn't catch his name but he had some trail magic going where you crossed under I-66 today (nothing there when we got there this morning).He had a sign for Trail Magic by Game 09???Then there was a lot of fairly easy level terrain but it was very exposed (read hot and sunny). The temps went up to 86. We hiked through Sky Meadow State Park, crossed a few very muddy streams-one of which I sank up to the top of my boots in the mud! I did manage to dip my feet in the stream a couple of times today. Oh, we had lunch at Dicks Dome Shelter-it's a geodesic dome! Very nice area with a loud bubbling creek right in front of it.Josh was much better today about going my speed. I just can't go fast if I'm doing a 15 mile day and we took a 1 1/2 hour break. I got here at Rod Hollow and just burst into tears again. I don't know if it's just the long days, there is no one else here-I hate the isolation. I don't know how others do it when they are alone day after day. I hope people start to catch up-we are going to do a 10-10-10 days (miles per day) to get to Harper's Ferry. I'll see if shorter days are better. Also tomorrow we will get to Bear's Den Hostel, perhaps there will be others there. We also face the roller coaster first thing in the morning. Oh, I forgot to mention-I saw a black snake today. It was 4 or 5 feet long and if you put your thumb and index finger together-that big around.