morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-05-26
From: Shelter, Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: Shelter, Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

Boy oh boy, was it fun to start the day out with a 10-switchback hike out of the shelter. It took me more than 10 minutes just to get back to the trail. Somehow it all just seemed very wrong. I don't even know how much further it was down to the water. Oblivious is our official water boy. He is a good kid. His camp chores are water fetching and wood fetching. He carries his own gear (sleeping bag, pad, clothes, camp shoes, rain gear, hammock, emergency gear, journal, water, and that day's snacks). Oblivious is responsible for packing up his own backpack each day. Troll and I each carry our own gear and split the community assets (food, pocket mail, pan, cups, sporks, stove, fuel, tent/hammocks, blister kit, first aid kit, vitamins, camera, etc). Troll and I do the cooking and cleaning and all the rest of the camp chores. Oblivious has started a new business venture. He fetches water for snacks. Silent Bob was the original mastermind of this plan. But many have now partaken - Brownie and Soulman, Feelin Free, and Beach Party all have traded sugary snacks for water toting. It's really kind of funny to watch. I would get him a ¢Will Work for Food¢ tee shirt, but I think that would just be too pathetic. Today we made a little side trip to see the Audie Murphy memorial. It is placed in a location near where he died in a plane crash in 1971. Audie Murphy was the mostly highly decorated solider in WWII with over 24 awards including the Medal of Honor, the Legion of Merit, and 3 Purple Hearts. It was kind of appropriate to visit just a few days before Memorial Day. The AT thru hikers' companion book had the citation for his medal of honor. I read that aloud as we looked at the memorial. It was very impressive. I can tell you that this memorial is not something that you just stumble across. There is one heck of a climb up to it no matter which direction you come from. Today we walked across rock fields at the top of the ridgeline forever. Sheer expanse of slanted rock followed by sheer expanse of slanted rock. My ankles decided that they really don't prefer to be slanted at a 45-degree angle for extended periods of time. We did get to see lots of lizards in among the rocks. Thankfully (for me) there were no snake sightings. Oblivious caught a small lizard that had survived some sort of attack by sacrificing its front right leg. It was a stumpy lizard. I think we are in the midst of a group of poorly placed shelters. This one is 1/2 mile off of the trail. About 2/3 of the way to the shelter they put a 2nd shelter sign up. I think this was to reassure you that there actually was a shelter. Then the water source! That was about 200 feet straight down a series of stairs. Not something you want to see at the end of a long hiking day. Well take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-27
From: Shelter, Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Shelter, Johns Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today's theme was climbing. We climbed up the approach to Dragon's Tooth. Lots of rock climbing. Northbound is definitely the way to go for that section. I can't imagine how it would have been to climb up the side that we went down. Many times today, I couldn't climb down. I would sit down; maneuver my legs around so that I could find a little ledge below me that I could stand up on. Basically I was inching my way down these rocks on my rear end. One time Troll and Oblivious were watching this intricate process and laughing. I asked why. Troll said, "just watching the klutziness". Oblivious said "Mom, you look like our dog dragging her butt across the carpet". That made Troll roll with laughter. Believe me, it is not the dream of every Mother and wife to have the men in her life comparing her actions to a wormy dog. We walked thru our 1st fully in bloom rhododendron tunnel. Truly beautiful. We were surrounded in green with floating explosions of bright pink all around us. It was just so nice. One of the highlights of today was our visit to the Homeplace family style restaurant. It was an all you can eat, my favorite. The 6 of us at our table went through 2 large platters of fried chicken, 2 platters of roast beef, 1 platter of ham, 2 baskets of biscuits, 2 bowls of mashed potatoes, 1 bowl of gravy, 1 bowl of green beans, 1 bowl of baked beans, 1 bowl of pasta, 1 bowl of coleslaw, 2 pitchers of lemonade, 2 pitchers of tea, 1 pitcher of Pepsi, and finished with blackberry cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream. It was quite the calorie gorge fest. It was awesome. There was some debate if the geese on the lawn of the restaurant could be stunned senseless with a Frisbee for a midnight snack meal. We are probably going to zero at Daleville. Our bodies need a little break. We are tired. Well take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-28
From: Shelter, Johns Spring Shelter

To: Shelter, Lamberts Meadow Shelter
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: light rain

We woke up feeling so good this morning. We had a great night's sleep following our caloriefest of the previous day. Of course we had no water. Both water sources at the shelter were yucky stagnant pools. So we packed up and headed down the trail. Got water at the shelter 1 mile down the trail, purified water, waited the appropriate time to drink water, made and drank Crystal Light, played Frisbee, played with salamanders and refilled water. Then we were off to McAfee Knob. This Knob like all other knobs required lots of walking up to get there. But when we got there it was awesome. There are these wonderful rock formations that jut straight out over these amazing drops. The pictures that you can take there look like you are just out on top of the world. When we got to the top, Dorothy and Toto were leaving. Beach Party stayed a bit and took family pictures for us. She left and we had the knob to ourselves. We ate breakfast and laid on the rocks to enjoy the sun. It was around 1130 and we were lazily talking about leaving. About that time the Go Light Go Easy Crew showed up. Cuppa Joe, Scholar, Baseline, Stilts, Gypsy Lulu, & Touk. Many pictures were taken. Troll and Cuppa Joe were both freaking out over people being too close to the edge. I actually heard Troll say "young lady/man, what would your mother say if she knew you were that close to the edge". We wound up not leaving until 1530. It was such a nice place with great people. That mixed with the good night's sleep and the good food left us feeling recharged and refreshed. The next portion of the day was not so nice. There we were following what seemed like a nice and easy ridgeline. When all of a sudden there was this tremendous straight up. It was totally uncalled for. It was followed by what seemed like a series of straight ups. I gasped my way to the top. And we were then walking along tinker cliffs. Not as cool as the knob. On our way down to the shelter Troll and Oblivious saw 3 does and 1 buck. We kept seeing deer but didn't know if they were the same ones. One was even in and around the shelter camp. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-29
From: Shelter, Lamberts Meadow Shelter

To: Hotel, Daleville VA
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: few clouds

Today I think I walked over the worst maintained section of trail to date. There were sections of trail that seemed to be gullies or rockslides. I have passed section of trail tagged with flags telling the folks doing trail rehab & trail relocation what needs to be done. None of the trail at those sites was as bad as this. It was awful. I picked up fall number ten. Oh yeah, just to make this section worse we went straight up and down several times. That made the walk even more special. Of course waking at the crack of dawn with Boy Scouts was also wonderful. Troll did manage to score 2 pancakes. On a not so good note, as Troll was putting his pack on he noticed that the suspension system is falling apart. When we get into Troutville, we will try to get the pack replaced. Hopefully he has better luck with Kelty than I had with Saloman. We are looking forward to taking a zero and eating. The last part of the walk into town was nice. We passed what seemed like fields of honeysuckle. It smelled so sweet. When we got to town, we hung out with Scholar and others on a grassy spot next to a gas station. Scholar was waiting on her dad. When he got there, he had the best trail magic. Watermelon, pie, fruit, and other yummy treats. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-30
From: Hotel, Daleville VA

To: Hotel, Daleville VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a zero day. But there were plenty of chores. Troll drove Scholar and her Dad down to slack over Dragon's Tooth in his car. Then he ferried hikers all over town. He bought fuel & food. He picked up my replacement shoes and checked on getting his bag replaced. Because it is a holiday, he will have to return tomorrow to actually speak to Kelty. I did laundry at the truck stop. What an interesting place to hang around for 2 hours with no bra. Not! I washed our 1st load twice to help/attempt to laundry out both dirt and stench. After the 1st load, I crossed 7 deadly lanes of traffic with feeling free. I felt like I was playing reality frogger - with me as the frog. I traded clean clothes for the dirty ones we were wearing and got to spend another fun 2 hours at the truck stop. This time wearing a clean bra. My final chore of the day was transferring photos to CDs to mail home. Kodak really needs to include a chair with their photo kiosks. Oblivious wrote postcards. He responded to students in Havana, AR who had sent him letters. He sent postcards to friends and family. He caught up on his journal. Hair dying also happened. I got chestnut highlights. Touk went red. Fireball bleached his hair and beard. Oblivious got blond stripes in his hair. Oblivious got "kidnapped" to go see Star Wars Episode III. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-05-31
From: Hotel, Daleville VA

To: Tent, Peaks of Otter Campground
Miles today: 14.4

I just found my 1st tick on me. Yuck, Eww. I've never even had one before. Yuck, Eww. I found it on my ankle as I took off my socks tonight. Yuck, Eww. Oblivious found one on his leg at the Homeplace the other night. Yuck, Eww. He was also pretty grossed out by it. Troll has been anxiously checking his body for them. Yuck, Eww. We are over 1/3 of the way completed. Yee haw. Today we experienced freedom hiking. Some people call it slack packing. Heck, some people even call it cheating. I call it a really wonderful change of pace. Scholar's Dad is here visiting and hiking with her for a week. Domino's girlfriend is doing the same. They both have cars. Those cars were parked at opposite ends of today's route. I went south with Scholar & her Dad to their car. Everyone else went north to Domino's car. Scholar's Dad & I were dropped off at the campground and 3 carloads of hikers were brought to the campground. Something similar to that will happen tomorrow. The best part of freedom hiking is my pack weight. In my backpack I had 4 bottles of water, 3 snacks, and my camera. I did over 2 miles per hour the entire day and over 3 miles per hour at times. It was awesome. We got our tent back and sent our hammocks home. One tent is much easier to deal with vice 3 hammocks. Troll was able to get his backpack replaced. After speaking to Kelty at the outfitters, they just had the outfitter trade his old one for a new one. The only difference was the color of the new one - red. The wonderful rhododendron blooms continued today. We passed through honeysuckle scent. Sweet floral scents wafting over the trail, mixing with unidentified spicier scents. We also passed loads of grape vines. In a month or so, there should be plenty of grapes to snack on. The blooming blackberries should also be producing fruit. I had a really nice treat tonight. Gypsy Lulu and Touk both know one of my favorite sea shanties. Barretts Privateers. We sang it around the fire. Many other songs were also sung. I hope we sing tomorrow night as well. Well take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-06-01
From: Tent, Peaks of Otter Campground

To: Tent, Peaks of Otter Campground
Miles today: 13.7

Yes we are still slack packing. It is marvelous. Today was a beautiful day. Lots of views from the Blue Ridge parkway overlooks. It was such a lazy play day. Long breaks and good talks. We stopped at an overlook with local friends of Free Radical, Epic Flop and Spicy. They had the stereo going and there was even dancing. The weather was a bit cooler than yesterday, probably in the 60's. Oblivious saw a dead green snake. He wished it was alive but was very happy just to see it. All in all just a fun hiking day. One of the neat things about it being such a lazy day was the chance to hike and chat. I enjoyed the last part of the day hiking with Gypsy Lulu and Feeling Free. We were discussing faith, beliefs and religion. It always seems kind of confirming to me to realize that others have the same theological questions and work thru them in similar ways. I saw one of my favorite garden plants today. I can't remember the real name of the plant. I know it is called "whirling butterflies". I guess that I never thought of this plant growing wild. I enjoy the daintiness of it. I think that any plant named whirling butterflies is enchanting. Tonight we feasted. The Trolls and Domino talked about having a little cookout. So we went to the IGA in Buchanan after we were done hiking. We left with kabob materials, corn, chili ingredients, chili and beer. Of course that seemed to be a signal to the rain gods. On our way back to the campground it started to rain. It continued without stopping. The temp also started to drop. But we preserved. We cooked in the rain and feasted in the rain. We had corn on the cob roasted over a fire. We had domino meat chili and domino vegetarian chili. We had roasted sweet potato chunks. We had veggie (onion, squash, mushroom) kabobs. We had chicken breast and steak chunks. It was really good. It wasn't trail food and it wasn't restaurant food. It was like real person food. Yum! Well take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-06-02
From: Tent, Peaks of Otter Campground

To: Tent, Peaks of Otter Campground
Miles today: 13.7

I can't believe this is the 2nd of June. The high today was in the 50's. The low tonight will only be in the high 40's not the low 40's. The rain that started last night continued today. It was a cold, wet and miserable day. Where is spring? We passed 2 things of note today. The 1st was the rock formation named the Guillotine. When Gypsy Lulu was passing under it, she heard "off with her head". Gypsy jumped. Stilts laughed. The 2nd thing of note was the Bryant Ridge Shelter. It is a very cool shelter. Pretty much the rest of the day was wet, cold and miserable. This morning was kind of a comedy of errors. Three carloads of slackers were dropped off. The 1st load saw the hikers going the wrong direction on the AT for about a mile and they had to be recalled to go the correct direction. The 2nd car load got off at the wrong spot and hiked up a forest service road for about 1/2 a mile and then back down and then went in the correct direction of the trail. I was in that group. The 3rd group went off without a hitch. Troll and Oblivious were in that group. When we finished, Scholar had left trail magic at the trailhead. Hot chocolate, coffee, pie and cookies. Yum. When she came back the Troll family, Feeling Free and Serenity jammed into the Civic. Troll was in the front seat and avoided the feeding frenzy in the back. Between the 4 of us in the back seat a bag of chips, 1/2 a pie and many cookies were frantically consumed. It looked like sharks hitting chum. A group of us went to dinner at the lodge down the way. We had 9 people in the Civic. Scholar was driving. Freedom was kind of sitting on Scholar's Dad's lap. Baseline had Serenity on his lap, Feeling Free had Oblivious on her lap, and Troll had me on his lap. It looked like a clown car unloading when we got out. We took 2 trips on our way back. We certainly enjoyed the food and the dry warm heat of the lodge. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-06-03
From: Tent, Peaks of Otter Campground

To: Tent, Wildwood Campground
Miles today: 14.9

Well today was the last day of slacking courtesy of the Scholar family. It will be missed. We had Scholar & Dad drop off garbage bags of our stuff at the Wildwood Campground. We then slacked towards our stuff. Troll headed off before Oblivious and I did. He was trying to get to the Glasgow Post Office to pick up Oblivious' shoes. He also needed to do some resupply. We aren't sure what happened, but our packages weren't at the It's a Wonderful Life campground. So we needed an extra bit of food to see us on our way. Glasgow had no fiberglass dinosaurs as promised and had a poor resupply selection. So this was my 1st day walking the entire day with Oblivious. It was different. He notices a lot more and different things than I do. His sudden stops made it difficult for me to get into a hiking rhythm. Being slow like I am, changes in hiking rhythm can be disastrous. We actually had a good day together. I'm fortunate that I have such a good son. We talked about all sorts of things. He stopped and showed me stuff on the trail. We enjoyed some great rhododendron tunnels with blossoms overhead and blossom carpets underfoot. Oblivious is also really handy to have around. He held my poles whenever I needed. He kept trying to speed me up. To no avail. Diane, one of the owners of the campground, met us at the river. Troll got there early and spent the rest of the afternoon fretting about us. Poor baby. Diane took Oblivious and I to the campground. We had cheeseburgers with egg on them and milkshakes. Yum. We got a shower and one load of clothes done and it was bedtime. We worked out a 21-mile slack for tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-06-04
From: Tent, Wildwood Campground

To: Tent, Wildwood Campground
Miles today: 21.4

I am laying in my stinky tent here beside a pond. Oblivious is sleeping with troll tossing and turning. There are about a million frogs out on this pond and in the surrounding trees. They are all competing for the title of loudest pond frog. Troll had a very difficult time sleeping through the competition last night. Today was very humid and muggy. I drank over 2 liters of liquid on the trail. Oblivious over 1 liter and troll over 2 1/2. We were all sweating like pigs. The worst was when we passed through areas where the air wasn't moving. We walked 21.4 miles. It was hard. We had a hellacious uphill to the top of Bluff Mountain followed by a longer and even more evil downhill. Of course it was made more interesting by a lack of water. I was really glad to be slacking southbound. We passed the "Haunted" shelter today. We passed the memorial for Ottie Cline Powell. He was a 4 yr old who died in 1890. Oblivious saw a Luna moth today. My camera batteries were dead. I am really tired and we really are hiking tomorrow. Darn! Not really looking forward to that. Well gotta get to sleep. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-06-05
From: Tent, Wildwood Campground

To: Hostel, Dutch Haus Montebello VA
Miles today: 16.3

I am sitting here in at the Dutch Haus in a cruise liner bathrobe. The Dutch Haus people hand you a bathrobe and a laundry basket. You go to the shower, put your dirty laundry in the basket and then chill. Just a little bit later your clothes are washed and you hang them on the line. We ate a most excellent supper (in our bathrobes). We punished Brownie and Soulman in spades (in our bathrobes). I feel like I am spa'ing.   We had a good day today. It was bothersome to have to carry a full pack. It was heavy. Luckily things seemed to click. We met up with trail magic. It was the same guy (redneck) that we met on April 2nd at burning town gap. We got some good food - salmon and pork chops. When they were cleaning up someone brought a tortilla with bacon, cheese and some unidentified substance. I tried it and loved it. The unidentified substance was the leftover salmon skin. I love salmon skin.   Today we hiked with the Garland 5. This was probably the 1st time that 2 ten year old thru hiker children from 2 different families hiked together. Oblivious and zing seemed to enjoy playing together. Every time we stopped, they started playing Frisbee. I think we will hike with them tomorrow and part of the next day. The kids should enjoy that.   So far Virginia is going pretty well. No blues yet. Of course those words may come back to haunt me.   I think we skipped spring and went straight to summer. Today it was hot and muggy. Oblivious and I hiked without shirts. My moving comfort bra is a great sports top. We even got a late afternoon deluge, which didn't cool anything off; it just made it muggier.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-06-07
From: Tent, Tye River VA

To: Tent, Tye River VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Wow; I ended my journal yesterday on this melancholy note. Wondering about my baby and his journey to adulthood. He and his dad had been out chasing fireflies. We don't have them in Washington State, so they are really cool. We had just gone to bed and then! MAGIC!!!   Someone with a southern accent asked if Hoppy was there and if we wanted any beer. You could have seen the hackles on Troll's neck rise when he thought that some local yahoo was out around our stuff. But then the voice said hey I thru hiked in 93 and I'm down here to do a little magic. Just knowing that this voice was part of our community made everything ok.   We had soda, doughnuts and beer. Sonic Hazy came in. We sat around and talked with O'keepa and his girlfriend Bev. Then around 1130 Hop Along and Birdie showed up. They brought soda, fruit, food and beer. We didn't wind up going to bed until 0230. It was a good night.   We woke up very late this morning and packed up. But we just couldn't make ourselves leave the magic. So we wound up staying and taking a zero. Oblivious got a bee sting (on his butt). We saw an unknown type of snake lazing on a rock. We helped with magic for other hikers. Thanks Hoppy, Birdie, O'Keepa, & Bev.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-06-08
From: Tent, Tye River VA

To: Tent, Dripping Rock Blue Ridge Parkway
Miles today: 15.4

We actually hiked today. Man Oh Man was it hot again. The sad part is that I know the temps aren't exceeding the mid 80's. But you mix that with humidity, pack weight and trail terrain and you get instant sweat. And lots of it. Troll was giving Oblivious "loving hugs" with a sopping sweatshirt. Believe me, NO ONE wants a "loving hug" from Troll when his shirt is completely soaked in sweat.   We met a group of kids getting ready to leave on a short hiking trip. They were just heading south for about a week. They were quite amazed to hear how long we had been hiking (since 16 mar) and how many miles (over 800) that we had done. They were even more amazed to learn that oblivious had been hiking that long and far.   Troll & Oblivious had just left Maupin Field Shelter and I was still there getting ready to leave. A hiker named Section came in and announced that he had just seen the coolest thing that he had seen in a long time - A kid in a kilt with trekking poles. I had to smile.   We met new people today and saw an old friend. New folks include Circuit Rider and Sherlock, Pilgrim, Section and 2 retired angels (Gordon & Sue) from Michigan. Old friends were TDS (totally different subject) back up to us from shoe problems and poet back from her brother's wedding.            We picked and ate wild sweet strawberries. Yum. Tomorrow we should be in Waynesboro. Only 150 miles till Harpers Ferry. I can't get over the fact that I now say - that's doable. It's only 150 miles. I know I can do that. And it won't even take that long.   Well take care and we will see you on the trail.