morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-16
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter

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

.4 miles after leaving the last shelter, I stopped by a stream to fill up my water bottles for the next few miles. Little did I know that these water bottles would last me all day long- about 18 miles. Shasta, H-Bomb, Mouse, and Baro all went on ahead of me, but I knew I would catch up with them....eventually. I had looked at the profile map and knew we had an easy 2 miles of hiking before a huge 4.5 mile stretch of climbing. I started my hike alone which gave me some good time of solitude to think and pray as I know God could hear my heart and thoughts. It not only helped the time go by faster, but it was a much needed time of encouragement for me. After about 3 miles I still hadn't caught up with the crew, so I stopped to shed my fleece jacket as the day was beginning to warm up and to put on some music. About half way up our 4 mile climb I spotted the crew (Shasta, H-Bomb, Mouse, and Baro) taking a snack break, or 2nd breakfast as we like to call it, by a creek. After about 20 minutes we hit the trail and I stayed towards the back of the group again. I listened to some of my several Christian music artists as I find it helpful for inspiration and for motivation as I am hiking. After our climb and seeing the beautiful views of ridges and valleys, or "God's Fingerprint" as it had been called, we stopped for lunch at the Chestnutt Knob Shelter. It had been warm all morning, but now it was starting to cool off. The rest of the day stayed rather cool, but it was a coast down to the shelter for the night. It's been yet another good day. I am truly blessed to be out here.
Date: 2006-05-18
From: Helvey's Mill Shelter

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 24.1
Weather: broken clouds

Today we set another personal record. We hiked our furthest distance- 24 miles today. We started around 9:00 this morning and made it into camp about 7:30 tonight. It was perfect hiking weather today as it was very comfortable as the sun was shining. The trail and terrain was rather nice to us as it was mostly a ridgewalk with only a few steep climbs. We came to Dismall Creek Falls, a beautiful place with waterfalls, a swimmming hole, and camping near by. It would be an ideal place to go on a hot summer day to just spend the day or even a weekend. I would love to be able to come back to this spot one day. After spending some time there, we considered camping there for the night, but we had a goal in mind and some of our crew was already up ahead of us. I felt pretty strong most of the day but the last couple of miles caught up with us. Our feet really took a pounding today and I even formed some new blisters on top of the callouses on the heels of my feet. I really thought I was past the blister stage, but I guess a 24 mile day welcomes them back. Shasta, H-Bomb, Mouse, Baro, Chardoney, MapleLeaf, Catch-up, Mule, Scarecrow, and I all made it to this shelter tonight and are planning on heading to Trail Days in Damascus or to Pearisburg, VA tomorrow. Our group will split up a little tomorrow. Baro and I decided on NOT going to Trail Days for several different reasons, but we will take a few days off on our own. The rest of the crew will catch back up with us eventually, although we are not sure when. I hope they all enjoy themselves and are safe while we are apart. It will be fun to hear each others stories when we do meet back up and continue to hike together.Thank you God for the friendships we have made on the trail. Thank you for the times we have spent together and for the influences and impacts that have been made from just knowing each other this short time. Watch over all of us as we split up for a little while and bring us back together again soon. Keep us safe, guide us along the way, and may we all turn to You in every situation. Thank you for always being there.
Date: 2006-05-19
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Holy Family Hostel
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Baro and I said our good-byes to our crew as they headed off to Trail Days and we continued on up the trail. We had been hiking with most of that crew (Mouse, Shasta, H-Bomb, Chardoney, Caberney, and Scarecrow) since the Smokies and it was kind of sad to see us split up. We will probably meet back up with them again, but it may be a few weeks or so before they can catch up to us. After we went our seperate ways, Baro and I continued on another 10 miles or so into Pearisburg, VA. We had been used to hiking with our crew, but now it was just the two of us. We stopped at a shelter for lunch and for the first time on this trip, no one else was there. Nor was anybody coming behind us. It was a weird feeling not running across any other hikers on trail this afternoon, but we knew it would only be this way for a few days. It reminded me of the feeling I experienced in college while playing basketball. Our team would always come back early from Christmas break for practices and games and there would be no one else on campus except us. It wasn't necessarily a bad feeling; it just seemed kind of empty or like a "ghost town" with not as many people as usual around. We made it into Pearisburg, but then realized the hostel where we would be staying was another 2 miles into town. Two miles doesn't really sound like a lot; but, at the end of the day, after we had already hiked 16 miles, 2 more miles was the last thing we wanted to do. We rested for a few minutes right at the edge of town in order to get enough energy to tackle the last 2 miles of the day. Mentally we had to "re-charge" as we were already in relax mode and only wanting to drop our packs and grab some dinner. After about 15 minutes, we strapped on our packs, and headed towards the hostel. Our legs, backs, and shoulders were pretty sore from the full day, but they couldn't relax just yet. The hostel was 2 miles away.....and it was all uphill. Upon reaching the hostel, we met Bill, the caretaker who let us know how everything worked around there. The hostel sat upon the top of a hill overlooking parts of Pearisburg, and Bill pointed in the direction of the stores, fast foods, library, and laundromat. We were thankful to know where things were for our usual business in town, but we were also a little discouraged when we realized how spread out the town was. Tomorrow is going to be a long day as we will probably end up walking around 8 miles or so.....on our day off. Oh well, no rest for the weary. For dinner, Bill was kind enough to drive us to the Pizza Hut we had spotted when hiking to the hostel. Baro and I sat there for about 2 hours as we ate 2 medium pizzas, an order of breadsticks, and I enjoyed several glasses of sweet tea. Our waitress was super friendly and helpful as she seemed to understand the "hiker world" and our needs and wants. We left there happy campers- with full stomachs and the waitress getting a nice tip. Tonights guests at the hostel include: Baro, me, Jambalaya, Pepperoni, and the father/son duo...Fish and Minnow. I think it's going to be an interesting night.
Date: 2006-05-22
From: Campsite near Groundhog Trail

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: broken clouds

Baro and I camped out last night by ourselves for the first time on this trip. Most hikers were still at Trail Days and the trail still seemed rather quiet and lonely with most thru-hikers still in Damascas. We packed up our gear and started hiking around 9:00 AM. We spent most of the day hiking by ourselves as we didn't see anyone else on the trail all morning. I struggled some this morning as I kept rolling my ankle on all of the loose rocks on trail. It wasn't a major injury, but it kept slowing me down. We came to Dismal Branch, where we would soon realize that a bridge was out that crossed over the creek. Fortunately there was a tree laying across the creek that we could walk across to continue on our way. Before crossing over, I decided to soak my ankle in the ice cold creek water for about 10 minutes. It not only helped the swelling and the pain in my ankle, but also provided the time for a short snack break as well. A couple of hours later we stopped at Baily Gap Shelter where we saw our first hikers for the day- Pigeon and Tatoo. At this point I wasn't sure how much further I was going to be able to hike. It was just one of those days, where I was feeling weak, unmotivated, and frustrated. Despite those feelings, I hit the trail again with Baro starting a few minutes ahead of me. I had been struggling all morning to keep up with him, but this time, I put on my headphones and started hiking at my own pace. I was more relaxed and it made a big difference. I took my time getting here to the shelter tonight. Tonights guests include: Me, Baro, Mystic, Catch-up, Brain, and Brawn.
Date: 2006-05-23
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: clear sky

Today was a beautiful day with perfect hiking conditions as it is the true feeling of spring. We decided to take it a little slower today and to put in fewer miles in hopes that it would help our crew (who had been at Trail Days) be able to catch up with us sooner. They are probably about 2 or 3 days behind us at this point, so we thought we would do a few shorter days to give them some time and to not get too far ahead of them. There hasn't been much to report about or focus on the past few days, as the trail has seemed somewhat long and less interesting than other sections. Although, one point of interest today was the Keffer Oak Tree. Supposedly it's over 300 years old and the circumference around the tree trunk is 18 feet. It was a huge tree and provided the ideal shady spot for a picnic.....or in our case- a snack. We are continuing to meet new hikers on the trail and today we met Goldfish, Cash, and Rush Hour. We had a good day today, but now we are here at Sarver Hollow Shelter. It doesn't seem like any big deal- it's just another shelter. But, it does happen to sit at mile marker 666 on the A.T. The shelter itself is really nice, but about 100 yards down the hill is an old homestead. It's ruins are all that is left. It is probably a very historic sight; but the fact that we are at mile marker 666, it's an old run down homestead, we are deep in the woods (about .3 miles off the trail) and it's getting darker and darker as I write, just invites the imagination to start taking over. The thought of ghost stories and horror movies is enough to keep us from getting a good night's rest as our minds are in suspense. If the next campsite or shelter wasn't 12 miles away, we would have probably moved on. But, instead we are taking our chances. Hopefully I'll live to see another day......
Date: 2006-05-25
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Catawba Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today we only hiked a little over 14 miles. It still sounds a little weird to say that we ONLY hiked 14 miles, but at this point in the game, that's a rather short day. This time though, it was a very long and difficult 14 miles. We climbed Cove Mountain and Dragons Tooth today which were two steep and difficult climbs. After reaching the top of Dragon's Tooth, there was the most difficult decent of the hike so far. It was nothing but rocks that went straight down for the next 2 miles or so. We were stepping and jumping down the sides of each boulder very carefully as at anypoint in time we could possibly break an ankle or a leg. It was almost like we were on the side of a rock slide and it would have probably been easier for us to have rappelled down the entire 2 miles if we had the equipment to do so. We were close to Catawba, a very small town near the trail, and once again Baro and I had food on our minds. Another classic of the A.T. we had heard about was the all-you-can-eat dinner at "The Homeplace" in Catawba. It was good-ole country cookin' and all we could eat....what could be better?! When we made it into Catawba, we met up with Maple Leaf and about 10 other hikers who wanted to experience this "novelty" as well. We ate chicken, barbeque, green beans, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and bread until we could stuff ourselves no more. After dinner, we hiked 2 miles to this shelter for the night.
Date: 2006-06-01
From: Punchbowl Shelter

To: North Fork Piney River Campsite
Miles today: 23.0

We past another milestone today as we now have over 800 miles behind us. It was another long, tough, hot, humid, day with rain showers late this afternoon. It's been unusually hot and dry for this time of year in Virginia, so the rain was much needed to cool us off and to help refill the streams and creeks for our water source. We were about 5 miles into the day when we were blessed with some much needed and appreciated Trail Magic. "Flash" and "Hot Flash" are part of the 1987 class that thru- hiked the A.T. and now they spend their weekdays giving trail magic to thru-hikers. They are both retired and still enjoy spending time together outdoors hiking and sharing their food and stories with hikers. Hot Flash made us some home-made tuna salad sandwhiches, then gave us chocolate cake and donuts. She politely kept asking if we wanted anything else, and we just smiled and said that whatever she wanted to give us we would not turn down. Baro and I were getting low on food, so this particular trail magic came at a perfect time for us. Looking back on it, this was a key part of our day as we would not have been able to hike as far without the extra sugar and food they provided. Mountains climbed: Rice Mtn, Bald Knob, Cold Mtn Hikers met/hiked with today: Outbreak, RailRoad Crossing, Critter, Silverfoot
Date: 2006-06-06
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We took a zero day in Waynesboro yesterday, taking care of our usual business. Going into towns after a week or so on trail is both exciting and exhausting. It can almost be like a double-edged sword at times. On one hand, we look forward to reaching town because of the "luxuries" that will be there. Food, showers, laundry facilities, and civilization in general. We always spot the all-you -can eat buffets on the way in, or we immediately go to the place with the foods we have been craving all week. On the other end, our time spent off the trail in order to "rest" becomes a day filled with chores. Eating isn't hard work. Laundry is pretty relaxing to me. Re-supplying on food for the next week has become something I can do in my sleep now. But attempting to get caught up on our journaling is not only a challenge, but also one that ends up taking all day long. There are usually only a few computers at the libraries and we are limited to one hour at a time. That seems pretty reasonable, and it is; but when there are 20 hikers plus the locals attempting to use 5 computers, it makes for a rather long day. It's not that it's hard to share- but just when I am getting in the writing "zone" my time is up and I go back to the waiting game. So, please forgive me for my lack of details sometimes. Writing anything is a weakness and challenge for me, so when I feel rushed on top of that, the result can be filled with a lack of content, poor grammar, and several typos. I will try to do my best though. Ok, now that I'm finished with that little bit of whining and complaining, I must admit that things are pretty simple on the trail. I'm reminded of just how simple trail life is on days when I am in town, or the "big cities." If I've learned anything at all out here, it's just that.....Life was meant to be simple. All I have to be concerned about on trail is eating, drinking, hiking, staying safe, and finding a place to sleep at night. And that's it! How complicated I tend to make things in the "real world" as I stress myself out over the small details that really don't matter. Why is it that I become overwhelmed with jobs, relationships, and just general "stuff?" My hope is that I will remember how simple things are right now and that I will be able to keep this same mindset when I return from the A.T. The trail has changed me in some ways, for the better, and I hope that means I will be different once home.
Date: 2006-06-07
From: Calf Mountain Shelter

To: Loft Mountain Campsite
Miles today: 22.2

So here we are....in Shenandoah National Park. We have heard all about the Shenandoahs for so long now, and have been told it is going to be "hikers paradise." People who have tried to explain the park to us have made it out to sound like the Disney World of the hiking world. Supposedly, the wildlife here in the park, are basically like pets- they will not run from you, they are not scared of people, and they will eat out of your hands. Baro and I have been joking about how this might seem like a good fairy tale. Can't you picture it...Snow White feeding the deer an apple or Bambi speaking to us! The hiking trails have been explained as being very well graded and maintained. So does this mean we should picture a yellow brick road? Well, ok, so things have not been quite like that, but I will say that the deer we saw today did not have the normal "deer in headlight" look. In fact, we are actually used to seeing deer sprint away from us, but here they just stop and stare back at us. I saw my first bear cub today! It was late in the day and we were approaching our campsite for the night. Baro, Silverfoot, and I saw this adolescent cub over to the right of the trail searching for something to eat. We immediately wondered if there was a mama bear around, but there seemed to be no sight of her. Once the cub spotted us, it immediately ran downhill and in a matter of seconds we could no longer see it. The trails in the park have been really nice so far, but they are NOT flat and smooth (at least at this point) like we had been led to believe. But, considering we hiked over 22 miles today, I guess it's safe to say that this section just might be one of the easier ones on the trail. So far the park has been pretty, but there have only been a few overlooks or scenic views at this point. The A.T. crosses Skyline Drive, the main strip through the Shenandoahs, over 20 times and many of the views are spotted from the drive. Maybe the further we get into the park, the more we will be able to see from the actual trail instead of the road. I am excited about this week and look forward to spotting as much wildlife as possible. Maybe we'll see more bears while out here!
Date: 2006-06-12
From: Grace Lutheran Church Hostel

To: Front Royal, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I just wanted to say a quick hello to everyone who is keeping up with my journey and reading my journals. It's been a few days since I have had internet access and today my time is extremely limited. Our crew (Baro, Mouse, Silverfoot, Donkey, Hot Springs, and myself) all plan to be in Harpers Ferry, WV by Thursday, June 15 so hopefully I'll have a little more time to record my updated journals then. We are continuing to have a great time out here as we have already hiked 955 miles in a little over two months! Once in Harpers Ferry, we will have passed the 1000 mile mark and will be only a few days from the actual A.T. midpoint! YEAH! It continues to be an unbelievable and amazing journey, and I am extremely grateful to share in this opportunity that God has blessed me with. In some of my previous journal entries I have tried to be realistic about all that we are experiencing. Some days are harder than others, and the physical, mental, and emotional demands are real. BUT, some of the challenges that require so much from us, are also the same challenges that have the biggest rewards. The physical strength and endurance to hike between 15-20 miles a day is a result of the "training" we have been doing each day over the past couple of months. The mental toughness and will to carry on, despite any obstacles, comes at the end of each day with the feeling of accomplishment. The emotional stability to approach one day at a time is strengthened in knowing that friends and family back home are pulling for you and wanting you to succeed. The friendships built with other thru-hikers on trail serves as a constant "traveling community" and becomes our home away from home. We are a team out here- and we will do anything to help each other reach Mt. Katahdin in Maine. All of these things combined give us confidence and hope in knowing we can reach our goal. And that is real, too. God has extremely blessed us with this opportunity and I must not forget or take for granted the time He has given us to enjoy each and every day. Things can get tough and I can whine and complain- but deep down I must realize that He is at work in me and I should be grateful for the trials and challenges. He is working IN me so that at some point He can work THROUGH me. I've enjoyed the past couple of months and I look forward to seeing how things will unfold over the next 1000 miles. I will try to do a better job of updating my journals and keeping everyone informed of our progress and experiences. I hope everyone has a good week. Until next time........
Date: 2006-06-15
From: Rod Hollow Shelter

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We've made it past the 1000 mile marker! YEAH! After hiking an easy 12 miles or so this morning, we made it into Harpers Ferry, WV around 2pm. Virginia was a nice place to hike, and I enjoyed my time there; but, after 550 miles and 5 weeks of being in one state, I am so glad to be out of there! So here we are, at the physcological mid-point of the A.T. It's hard for me to believe! I went to the outfitter as soon as I got to town to pick up a couple of packages. My mom and grandmother sent me some early birthday gifts and Mrs.Hartline sent me a letter. I sat on the front porch reading my letter and eating some cookies that were sent in my "goodie" basket, while waiting to meet up with Baro, Mouse, Silverfoot, and Chardonnay. We were all planning to go into Washington D.C. which was about 60 miles outside of Harpers Ferry, to relax and enjoy our weekend. A few of our ideas on getting there fell through and we all ended up going our seperate ways, deciding to just meet back on the trail in a couple of days. Silverfoot and I walked up to the ATC, the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail, and found about 15 other proud hikers just sitting around soaking up the idea that they, too, had just reached a major milestone. I went inside and proceeded to have my picture taken to be placed in the 2006 thru-hikers album. I flipped through the album, looking at all the polaroid shots of everyone who has come through Harpers Ferry this season. Out of probably 2500- 3000 hikers that will start at Springer Mountain, GA this season, I was number 367 to make it to the midpoint. I'm so proud and yet grateful to have made it this far. I have loved my time out here and looking back, the past two and a half months have really flown by. We've been told that if you can make it to Harpers Ferry, then there is a very high percentage you will succeed to Katahdin. What good and encouraging news! The next 1000 miles will be interesting. I have never been to the northeast and am looking forward to the hike and to the different culture. This is all new territory to me now and in a lot of ways that is very exciting and refreshing. We're halfway there....to Katahdin....each step of the way we will be that much closer.