morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-03-20
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We had Trail Magic in style today at Hwy 208 in Marchall, NC, where a sign directed us to the home of 1999 Thru-hikers Fal and Hercules (Jodie and John Nelson). They have a beautiful cabin which they remodeled after Hercules retired from piloting for Southwest Airlines. They fed us the most wonderful homemade belgium waffles, home baked bread, cookies, bread pudding a la mode, fresh potato salad, jello salad and pork barbecue. Not to mention the coffee. Clem was on his second serving of everything when we got there, and later Hatchett Jack and Bobsled showed up to share in the largesse. We spend about two hours there in this lovely Christian home, enjoying fabulous food and good fellowship. We especially enjoyed their photo album of the NOBO hikers who had stopped ahead of us, including Hawk, Otto, Ky Blue, Pilgrim, and Jennifer. The rain held off as we climbed to Little Laurel and decided to stay, having hiked about 5 hours, exclusive of the 2 hours with Trail Magic. Toesocks old foot stress fracture was starting to hurt a little and my calf muscle was sore. Today, we saw a yellow dogtooth, violets, budding trailing arbutus, and a red berry from mountain tea (wintergreen.) We heard a screech owl and a great horned owl. Later, we heard a white-eyed vireo. Juncos visited us at the shelter. Ansel visited at the shelter before pushing on, and we learned that he was leaving the trail to attend a student rally at Auburn University over the weekend for ag engineers. Next, Snakebite, a chemistry major from a college in Damascus, came to stay with us.
Date: 2007-03-21
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: Flint Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: scattered clouds

We were on the trail by 7:45, making a steep 1,200 foot vertical climb up to Camp Creek Bald. The temp was a foggy, blustery and wet 50 degrees. We then went on an extended rock scramble along an eposed ridge called Big Firescald Knob, which required vertical climbs on all fours of up to eight vertical feet in several places for a minumun of .2 miles. This was like Albert Mnt ten times over, made worse by fierce winds which nearly pushed us over. We saw ice in two places, but nothing substantial. After reaching Jerry Cabin, we treked on an old forest road that had huge rutted ponds, teeming with frog eggs that floated like flotsam on the surface. We saw some tiny flowers, including downy yellow violet, a dogtooth violet, and a tiny blue butterfly/moth. We killed our first mosquito today. We heard a yellow-throated vireo, a red-eyed vireo, and a phoebe. We saw a junco and a robin. We met a week-end hiker and a group of three others during the day. I sped to the shelter in the last mile, but there was plenty of room, as we were alone.
Date: 2007-03-22
From: Flint Mountain Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: scattered clouds

We slept in until 5:30AM, or was it 6AM? We had a hot breakfast and were on the trail by 8AM. We hiked for 6.5 hours. The sun came out, there were white clouds in a blue sky, and the wind was moderate, all making this the first really comfortable hiking day that we've had. The temp was about 59 but rose to 65. We crossed a road, entered some stiles, crossed pleasant open fields and wooded ridges. Although we climbed 1600 vertical feet, the lovely rushing brook that we followed up the ravine made the hike go quickly. We saw some campers who later stopped to have lunch at Hogback with us. From Michigan, they were Jessie (back from Qutar with the Air Force, she is starting college) and her significant other, Joel, and their friend Michael. They borrowed our stove when theirs conked out, and in return they took out our trash and gave us some oatmeal. A thru-hiker named Bubba William, a former missionary to Tanzania, originally from Huntsville but living in Western Kentucky, stopped by and we gave him some water. We had a major wild life sighting today, namely a male turkey strutting his stuff.
Date: 2007-03-23
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We were hiking by 7:45AM today, and went for 7.5 hours, having eaten a big breakfast and gotten Carefree, an 17 year-old from New York, on his way by 6:58. We saw 4 turkeys today before climbing Bald Mtn. The temperature was 65, the skies sunny and the Bald was beautiful. We stopped to take pictures of two weekend hikers, Fritz and Crossroads, and headed to the shelter. Soon, Diablo stopped by to eat, draw water and push on to the next gap. Crossroads and Fritz stayed the night, and we learned that Crossroads thru-hiked in about 2003? and worked as a surgery unit manager. Fritz is a Lt.Col in Special Forces from Fayetteville, and was the former Scout Master of the Carolina Boys, whom we met in early February. Small world. Today, we saw 4 turkeys, a fox that Jessie's dog had flushed, a song sparrow, a robin and a junco. We were bothered by black flies today. We took a photo of a four-petaled flower, pale orchid in color
Date: 2007-03-23
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

We were hiking by 7:45AM today, and went for 7.5 hours, having eaten a big breakfast and gotten Carefree, an 17 year-old from New York, on his way by 6:58. We saw 4 turkeys today before climbing Bald Mtn. The temperature was 65, the skies sunny and the Bald was beautiful. We stopped to take pictures of two weekend hikers, Fritz and Crossroads, and headed to the shelter. Soon, Diablo stopped by to eat, draw water and push on to the next gap. Crossroads and Fritz stayed the night, and we learned that Crossroads thru-hiked in about 2003? and worked as a surgery unit manager. Fritz is a Lt.Col in Special Forces from Fayetteville, and was the former Scout Master of the Carolina Boys, whom we met in early February. Small world. Today, we saw 4 turkeys, a fox that Jessie's dog had flushed, a song sparrow, a robin and a junco. We were bothered by black flies today. We took a photo of a four-petaled flower, pale orchid in color
Date: 2007-03-24
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Erwin
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

We were up early today for the push to Erwin, making it in 12 hours, our longest day to date. Early on, we hiked up a beautiful ravine, following a roaring mountain stream. The higher we climbed, the stream age-regressed, as it were, going back from full maturity to adolescence, where it noisily bounced from rock to rock, 8 feet at a time. Later, it was an infantile mountain brook, rolling over smooth rock, a mere 4 inches deep and 12 inches wide, barely murmering as it emerged from its internal spring. Later in the day, we trekked through a recent forest fire, and I do mean recent, the pungent smell of wet ash still in the air. Late in the day, smoke was rolling into Temple Hill gap, and we realized that there was a forest fire one mountain over from us - we beat a hasty path down to Erwin, getting there earlier than expected. I phoned an old student, Dr. Mike Floyd, a faculty member at the medical school at ETU and he and his lovely wife, Susu, picked us up and took us home to their lovely late Victorian home (1905), after a trip to the Erwin Burrito Company for supper. We bathed, and slept well. Thanks, Mike and Susu.
Date: 2007-03-25
From: Erwin

To: Erwin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

After a big breakfast at the home of Dr. Mike Floyd, my old VA psychology intern, who lives in Jonesboro, we utilized his internet connection, did laundry, and then went to Wal-Mart to resupply. Mike's wife Sue had to go to the East Tennessee State campus where she teaches third grade, to prepare for Monday, and Mike gave us the grand tour of the college, the medical school and the large VA hospital, showing us where he teaches in the Department of Family Medicine. He dropped us off at Ms. Janet's, whom he knows from several years ago when she babysat his children, now adults. We spent the day sorting out and repackaging our Wal-Mart provisions as well as the items we had mailed ourselves. (Thank you, Alvin Walls, in Auburn, for mailing our boxes.) Being the King and Queen of plastic bags on the AT, we had a bunch of news ones to replace the old, worn ones. We even carry emoluements like Norweigian Skin Cream in plastic bags to save weight. This reminds me, the Reader might be wondering how our health status has been. I cut my thumb on the windscreen of my stove in early February and Toesocks1 had to steri-strip it. It is right where my skin cracks open anyway, and I have tried to keep it lubricated. The other thumb is also cracked, making chores like stuffing sleeping bags, or even typing on my Treo, painful. I have just purchased some finger cots at the drug store, at the suggestion of Carefree, and am putting on Norweigian Skin cream on my thumbs, then wearing the cots at night. It seems to be getting better. Toesocks1 seems to be getting some plantar fasciitis, and I have the return of an old calf injury, but we are trying to stretch and are getting better. It is often difficult to find a place to stretch in a crowded shelter, especially ones without a picnic table. On the whole, however, our health is better on the trail than at home - no stuffy noses, for example. But to return to Miss Janet's, we spent rest of the day socializing with other hikers, including OT and Dr. Gadget, both section hikers. Also thru-hikers, including Ms. Janet, Ansel, Mr. Happy (who has a groin injury and is chilling out here for several weeks), Backyard Boogie, Otto and his dog Raven, and Mr. Happy. The group ate at a chinese restaurant, thanks to rides from Hanna, a section hiker, and Otto's friends Crispy and wife.
Date: 2007-03-26
From: Iron Mountain Gap

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

After the early morning arrival of Baltimore Jack and his sidekick, The Dude, we enjoyed a big, hearty outdoor breakfast at the hostel with Miss Janet holding court. We were then driven up to Iron Mountain Gap by The Dude, a realtor from the DC area, for a slack pack to Standing Indian Gap. As we traveled from north to south today, we met all our old buddies going the other way, including Diablo, Hatchet Jack, Garrett, Bobsled, Ansel, and Dice, as well as some new faces, including Orange Slice(?). In reading the trail journal at Cherry Gap Shelter, we discovered that Clem had taken the trail name of "Horn Blower", as a defense against the moniker of "Cuddles" that some of the guys were labeling him. (He moves close in his sleeping bag, they say.) We hiked through a conifer forest today, past huge cube-shaped boulders, over sands from a long-ago ocean. As we hiked, I kept feeling the urge to ask Toesocks to go faster, both because rain threatened, and because the last words spoken by The Dude, when dropping us off, were "Baltimore Jack is cooking supper tonight!" We got to Indian Gap in 8 hours, found Santa's Helper, a 63 year old retired computer whiz, standing near the truck that Otto had left for us. We drove back to the Hostel in Erwin, burst into the house, and enjoyed the aroma of hot garlic bread, chicken, pork, steamed vegetables and salad. After a hot shower, and a beer from Otto, we dove into the best meal we've ever enjoyed. It was a raucous time, climaxing in Janet giving Baltimore Jack his first haircut in about 13 months. As the reader might deduce, the Trail is hiking, but it also is food and friends. We are getting plenty of all three.
Date: 2007-03-27
From: Indian Grave Gap 

To: Erwin
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Toesocks helped with breakfast at the hostel today, cooking up her famous garlic cheese grits and brandied fruit compote. Miss Janet fixed her famous toasted eggs, which is a slice of thick bakery bread that is browned before an egg is inserted in the cut-out center for frying. With bacon, coffee, and juice, this breakfast was huge, eaten by about 12 hikers in the backyard on picnic tables. Ms. Janet got us and another couple, Ladybug and Natural High, to the Indian Grave trailhead at about 10:30 and we had a leisurely slack-pack back to the Nolichucky River in Erwin. Miss Janet sent her dog along with us for the hike, his favorite activity, and he stayed ahead with Ladybug. At Erwin, we stopped in at Uncle Johnny's outfitting company and purchased a new stove, a propane powered Pocket Rocket. Our old hisperlite is just too sooty, too heavy and too prone to flaring for us to carry anymore - we are mailing it back home. We also purchased a new bearbag. Back at the hostel, Baltimore Jack was cooking up the best meat pasta sauce that I have ever eaten - this is Five Star quality cooking, and the group really enjoyed it, along with a terrific salad and garlic bread. Toesocks gave me a haircut this evening, and I cut her hair as well - the temperatures are getting up to the 80s, and we need cooler length hair. We are mailing one layer of clothes and our old stove to Eva Timmons, Toesocks' sister.
Date: 2007-03-28
From: Iron Mountain Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Something mysterious is happenning in the woods. The unrelenting leaf litter on the forest floor, all brown, cinnamon, manilla and russet, is being infiltrated by beds of Spring Beauty, with green stems and white flowers that mature to pale blue. And along the trail are found flowering bloodroot, downy yellow violet, and amonome. Mayapple is sprouting. We made this discovery after a huge breakfast at Miss Janet's, including browm and red gravy, biscuits, and scrambbled eggs. We managed to lowcrawl the six miles to Clyde Smith Shelter, with dark clouds threatening. There we met a section hiker named Mumbles, and later a thru-hiker from Chicago named Boy who will be entering a masters program in Urban Planning at U. of I - Chicago.
Date: 2007-03-29
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Stan Murray Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: light rain

We climbed Roan Mtn in the rain with temperatures falling to 48 degrees. We saw ice on Roan at the very highest parts. We crossed Jane Bald in a swirling fog and got to the shelter in 10.5 hours. It was a miserable place that day, as a south wind lifted bank after bank of fog right into the shelter. We placed our packs on the floor to serve as a water block and it kept our sleeping bags somewhat drier. Everywhere else on the floor of the shelter was soaked. We were alone in the shelter, but the coyotes seranaded us to sleep.
Date: 2007-03-30
From: Stan Murray Shelter

To: Apple House Shelter
Miles today: 9.9

We hiked for 8.5 hours today, eager to get out of the wetness of the fog on the higher elevations. WE crossed the Roan Highlands, occasionally getting good views of the distant valleys as the fog lifter here and there. The trek down the lower half of the north side involved some difficult terrain, but eventually we got to Doll Flats, after which the graded trail was easier. This is where we discovered that Spring had displaced Winter, replacing the brown leaf cover of the forest floor with a cascade of green bloodroot, downy yellow violets and Spring Beauty. And not just along the trail edges, but throughoutthe forest floor this was happening. We met up with Quiet Paul, a widowed stonemason of Portugese descent who has four children and eight adopted children, and who had contracted Lime Disease in a 2005 thruhike. We also met up with Ladybug and Natural High. All of them tented, so we had this lovely shelter, a former apple storehouse, all to ourselves.
Date: 2007-03-31
From: Apple House Shelter

To: Tent site
Miles today: 12.1

We said farewell to Ladybug, Natural High and Quiet Paul as they all pulled out ahead of us, determined to go 18 miles today. We planned only 12. Light rain during the early morning had stopped, but we dressed in partial raingear, which necessitated two stops to remove clothing as the day warmed up to about 65. We had an easy trek through farming country, easy hills, balds, pasture lands and laurel groves. We took photos of bloodroot, an unidentified yellow flower, and downy yellow violet (dogtooth violet?). As we hiked above the remote Elk River in northern North Caroline, we spied three large white tail deer drinking in the river. As we cautiously moved closer to take a picture, they sensed our presence and bolted across to the other bank, vaulting in three leaps up a 45 foot embankment and into the forest. It was an awsome sight to see their tremendous leaping ability. Later, we saw four section hikers from Lextington, KY, at the new, unpublished shelter, called Mountaineer something. We hiked about 12.1 miles and tented on a flat space in the rhodadendren, with wild turkeys goobling as we set up camp. I phoned my sister Joan, in Kankakee, IL, from the tent, and Toesocks phoned our daughter in Alabama. After we hung up, we heard the loud howling and yap of a coyote who must have been right on the trail, less than 40 feet from our tent. Toesocks was terrified, but I was strangely calm, aware that coyotes rarely harm humans. Besides, thru-hikers can fend off anything from shelter mice to bears with their trekking pole, and I had four of them - if only I could unzip tent and fly faster than the coyote could tear through flywall and tent wall! I thought of all the things I had left at home - like that Colt Series 80 .45 auto in stainless steel with the Pachmyer grips; or that Colt .357 Magnum Carry in stainless steel with the rubberized grips; or Toesocks1"s little Smith and Wesson .38 Chief Special in stainless steel with the cute little rosewood grips; heck, I even thought about our friend, Krista Hurley's Taurus .357 in stainless steel and six inch barrel that I had in our bank vault. Oh, well, I would die knowing that I had left my arms at home, but had acheived lighter packweight!
Date: 2007-04-01
From: Tent site

To: Dennis Cove
Miles today: 12.2

We hiked to Kincora at Dennis Cove in 9.5 hours. While trekking farther north, we realized that we had outhiked Spring - the brown leafcover again dominated the forest floor, although Spring Beauty, bloodroot, downy yellow violet and sprouting mayapple still burst to life here and there along the trail. The day was cloudy, the temperature was about 60, and the rain sputtered from time to time. This occasioned a strange discovery for me - whenever we stopped to put on rainhats and packcovers, the rain would immediately stop! This amazed me. Was I controlling Mother Nature, or was this experience one that Harry Stack Sullivan, a famous theorist, had termed parataxic distortion? A test soon presented itself at the end of the day as we struggled down the last ravine to reach Dennis Cove. We were looking for the stream that the Guide Book said we had to cross, but we couldn't see water in the ravine. I then had occasion to pee into the ravine, and sure enough, about 500 yards farther down, we heard water rushing and gurgling under the rocks. Wow! I can control rain and water! We arrived at Kincora, a famous trail hostel, at about 4:30, to find Ladybug and Natural HIgh, Quiet Paul, a section hiker from Michigan named Bob, the Dude, Turba (Justin), and Retro. Dave drove us thru Hampton to Elizabethton where we resupplied and bought pizza. Later, Johnny Mudd and two section hikers from Georgia showed up. It rained, but we slept snuggly - no coyotes.
Date: 2007-04-02
From: Dennis Cove

To: Dennis Cove
Miles today: 0.0

We went to the internet cafe in Hampton today with Retro and Bob, and Linda (of Kincora) picked us up. We learned that she is a retired VA attorney who spent 10 years doing therapeutic horseback riding with disabled youth and young adults. She also explained that Kincora is from the Irish castle and translates as "close to the heart." We later cleaned up at the hostel with Retro helping, our contribution toward maintaining the Trail, since we couldn't help the crew going up to Abington Shelter to put in a new floor. Later, Santa's Helper, Otto & Raven, and Lady Bug & Natural High showed up. The latter had slack packed. We repacked and will hike tomorrow.
Date: 2007-04-03
From: Dennis Cove

To: Wautauga Lake Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: scattered clouds

We bade farewell to our friends at Kincora and left at about 8AM in cool temperatures. The walk along Laurel Falls was incredibly beautiful, taking us through canyons of rock, over bridges that spanned the roaring creek, and past beaver dams and campsites. These beaver were amazingly ambitious, having felled trees of more than 24 inches in circumference and attempting some that were 36 inches. We met a dozen home-school students and their parents from Kingsport, TN. We also met a thru-hiker named Bird, who started March 1 and who caught up with us. The climb up Pond Mtn was difficult - steep and with poor footing for a 1600 foot vertical climb. The temp heated up in the afternoon, and the black flies tormented us mercilessly - until we remembered our old Southern remedy, Skin-So-Soft. At Wautauba lake we were harrassed by a very large dog who seemed to be at a tent site with a inconsiderate owner who was slow to call it off. At the shelter in about 8.5 hours, we stayed with Retro, who was welcome company. Thunderstorms were predicted, but we slept snuggly.
Date: 2007-04-04
From: Wautauga Lake Shelter

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: overcast clouds

The thunderstorms began at midnight and continued for three hours. We started hiking at 7:30am in cool temp of about 50 degrees. Soon, we heated up and were taking off our rain jackets but keeping the pack covers on. We trekked along Wautauga Lake, past beautiful redbud trees and lake views. We crossed the dam where three hikers overtook us: Retro, Pa Burt and Bird. We climbed about 1200 vertical feet, taking time to take a picture of a box turtle hiking southbound on the trail. The rain clouds were eventually blown off by the fierce north winds, turning the day sunny but quite cold, around 53 degrees. We ate lunch at Vendeveter Shelter with Lady Bird and Natural High, and Snakebite. We made it to Iron Mtn Shelter in about 10 hours, where Retro and Snakebite were already settled. Lady Bug and Natural High tented nearby. We hade trouble with our water filter and eventually switched to a chlorine tablet, straining the water first with the famous blue bandana. Freezing temps were predicted tonight, and so I slept with the water filter and one liter of water in my sleeping bag.
Date: 2007-04-05
From: Iron Mountain Shelter

To: Abington Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Hiking today was a test of endurance and fortitude - the temperature was 30 degrees but the 20 mph winds blew fiercely all day, chilling us to the bone. Most affected were our hands, because we had sent our best winter gloves home already. We each wore the two pairs we had, plus hand warmers, and only the chemical aides saved us from frostbite. We set out at 7:30am, in a race to get close to Damascus before the predicted snow showers hit. Retro and Snakebite caught up with us, as did Ladybug and Natural High,. We had great views of Shady Valeey but had to keep moving and really couldn't linger to enjoy it. We got the the shelter to a scene of chaos. The shelter looked full and there were a dozen boyscouts eating supper. Retro and Snakebite made room for us in the shelter, encouraging the Tennessee father and his daughter and friend to make room as well. So we were a snug 7 in a 5 person shelter. The section hikers started a fire, so we were warm but well smoked. Three others tented, but the boyscouts hiked out. We slept with the waterfilter and one water bottle as cold temps were predicted.