morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-09
From: Marion VA

To: Marion VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Zero Day - There were several thru-hikers and some section hikers from Maine at the Partnership Shelter last night when I arrived. Six or eight boxes of pizzas and several bottles of Mountain Dew and Pepsi were cluttering the picnic table. This shelter is where you can phone for Pizza delivery and it also sports a hot shower, laundry tub, and fancy outhouse. It holds about 30 people with a large loft sleeping area. The section hikers offered me leftover pizza and soda. I ate three different kinds of pizza, some hot chicken wings, and several glasses of Mt. Dew. This was the most trail magic I had received on my entire hike so far. I took a hot shower, washed my clothes in the sink, and claimed a spot on the lower level next to a lawyer from Maine who's daughter graduated from Bowdoin College (where my daughter is graduating this year) in 1995. He and his hiking partners noticed my ultralight pack and wanted to know all about it and the homemade stove I had made. They said I should have my wife make some more packs. They thought I could sell them for $400!There is also a pond near the shelter where some of the guys went swimming! What a resort! I heard a story of an guy from Israel who spent 23 days at this shelter, just hanging out and ordering pizzas! He had a reputation of a yellow-blazer (yellow-blazers are named for the yellow stripe down the middle of the highway, thus they ride between towns instead of hike) who just got rides from town to town and never did much actual hiking. Partnership Shelter is really the Shangri-La of shelters.I saw 4 more deer today. Mr. Ed stayed at the shelter with me. The lawyer from Maine gave me a ride to my motel in Marion this morning as he was headed back to Maine after finishing his section hike. I told him if it were two weeks from now, I would ride with him to my daughter's graduation. He said I should enjoy the lobster dinner at the commencement since he and his buddies were helping to fund the college as alumni.
Date: 2003-05-10
From: Marion VA

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Zero Day - Yesterday I went to breakfast and then planned to mail my package of winter gear home, but went back to the Virginia House Motor Inn and fell asleep until about 2 PM. I must have been tired from the 31 miles the day before! My package was waiting when I arrived around 8 AM after the lawyer dropped me off. I was glad to get my trail runners to replace my boots. I put my boots, camp shoes, Go-Lite Coal winter jacket which I never used except as a pillow, and a whole zip-lock bag of other things I have never used in a box and decided to find the post office first before carrying the heavy box for several miles. I began walking towards the center of Marion when I stopped and asked a guy where the post office was. Once he found out I was a thru-hiker, he said he would take me there. His wife just got done working at a fast food place and they took me back to my motel to get my package and then to the post office. After thanking them and mailing my package, I found out where the library was and noticed a sewing alteration shop on the way back. I stopped and asked if they could repair the drawstring on my pack. The lady said she was swamped with prom dress alterations (there were two proms this weekend), but if I brought it in tonight after hours (they normally closed at 5), she would fix it for me. I got back with my pack around 6:30 and she sewed it up in 5 minutes. It was an unexpected blessing.On my way back to the motel I stopped at Walmart to get some snacks. The section hikers from the Partnership Shelter were there and saw me. They came over and told me about their slack pack day hike. Slack-packing is when you hike without your full pack. I saw one of them had a quart of denatured alcohol. I had filled my fuel bottle in Damascus because I didn't think I would be getting any more alcohol fuel in Marion or Pearisburg. I asked him if he was going to need all the fuel he bought. He said he didn't and wanted to know if I needed any. I said I did. He walked with me to my motel and gave me 8 ounces which filled up my bottle. I should be good now until Roanoke. Another bit of trail magic that was unexpected.Today I'm at the Library updating my journal and doing other personal business. It's also great to have my own phone in the motel room. It's nice to have the zero days and to be right on schedule for getting to Maine. I may just roam around town a little this afternoon and identify birds with my new Bruton binoculars. Then I'll watch some TV and get a good nights rest. The hitch out of town 5.9 miles tomorrow may be difficult since it is Sunday.
Date: 2003-05-11
From: Marion VA

To: Davis Path Shelter
Miles today: 14.2

I had a pancake breakfast at Pioneer Restaurant, checked out of the Virginia House Inn, adn started walking at 8 AM. I walked almost 2 miles until 8:35 when a construction worker picked me up and took me 6 miles out of Marion to the Appalachian Trail where I resumed my hike at 8:45. Thunderstorms were forecast for this morning and as I was climbing a hill I roused a deer up from her bed next to the trail. She was only ten feet away when she got up and moved about ten yards from me. I got out my camera and took a photo. A few minutes later the thunder announced the coming storm. It rained all morning but cleared up by noon.The trail today was very different from what I have been used to. It went through fields and eventually brought me to I-81 and a Dairy Queen! It was about noon so I stopped in for lunch. After a hamburger and a banana split for dessert I crossed under I-81 and walked another 2 miles through fields before entering the woods again. A bunch of guys wre setting up tents and told me this was the last place to get water before the next shelter. I got some water and had to carry it almost a mile up hill to the shelter. Later, a half dozen hikers joined me at the shelter. The guys staying at the bottom of the hill went back to I-81 and had dinner at Dairy Queen.The weather is supposed to be clear and dry for the next 3 days. Together with the good trail I should be able to make Pearisburg by Thursday.
Date: 2003-05-12
From: Davis Path Shelter

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Left the Davis Path Shelter at 6:35 adn arrived at the Chestnut Knob Shelter at 3:20 PM passing the quarter of the trail mileage mark at about 9:22 AM. I'm over 100 miles into Virginia and although today's 20.2 miles had a lot of climbing, the miles are coming easier in Virginia.I've been thinking about freedom, slavery, obligation, and duty today. A lot of people I've met on the trail smoke, especially young people. Nicotine makes you a slave to cigarettes, but there are many things that enslave us. We have a freedom to choose what we wish, but there are consequences to all our decisions. The consequences are what enslave us.As a Christian I am a slave of Christ. This limits my freedom too. But as a slave of Christ, I am free to live the way God intended me to live. And since God is all knowing and wise, I am truly free. I am free to know and relate properly to myself, my family and friends, God, nature, and others. Choosing things against God's will bring consequences which limit my ability to relate properly to God, myself, nature, and others.I also feel I have an obligation to God, myself, my family, my community, and my country to give back something of value. Why else am I here breathing in oxygen and spewing out carbon dioxide? It's my duty to make choices which do not limit my ability to give something of value to others. Whenever I make a selfish choice which limits my ability to freely love and serve God and others, I lose the freedom I was attempting to gain.The other thing I noticed today was how songs I haven't heard for decades seem to pop up in my head and I find myself singing them silently for miles. This is very common among thru-hikers and some even sing out loud as they hike! It's hard to get a song out of your mind once you start singing it. It's just another symptom of a busy, restless heart.
Date: 2003-05-13
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter

To: Helveys Mill Shelter
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: scattered clouds

It was cold and windy all night with temperatures in the 30's. When I started hiking at 6:25 it was about 40 degrees and didn't warm up until the sun came out just before noon. After crossing streams about 20 times I took a lunch break at Laurel Creek. There was trail magic provided by the Bastion Methodist Church (pop and apple juice on ice).I got the name and address of the older couple that I have seen on the trail since before Fontana. It is Don and Grace Glover from Asheville, NC. They are section hikers that have done most of the AT. She told me about some neat interruptive ferns on the trail ahead. They have spores which are halfway up the stems of the bracts interrupting the green leaflets.Since I've been in Virginia I noticed that there are many horse trails which crisscross the AT. Bob Peoples told me a horse organization has gotten permission to maintain the AT in the Smokies for a trial period. If the trail is properly maintained after the trail period, then horses will be continued to be allowed to use the trail. Hikers may not be satisfied no matter how well the horsemen maintain the trail. No hiker likes to dodge horse manure on the trail. It's a similar problem that Abe Lincoln addressed when the railroads wanted to put a bridge across the Mississippi River. The river boat people were against it. Abe simply asked if those traveling up and down the river had any preference over those wanting to cross it. So do Leki poles do as much damage to trails as horse hoofs?I've been seeing deer every day since I've been in Virginia. The Chestnut Knob Shelter was an old fire warden's hut and was very well constructed out of stone to withstand the high winds. The new roof is cabled onto the stone walls. It was a nice cozy feeling to be inside and hear the howling winds outside. Tenting would have been harsh outside! The privy has a commanding view of "God's Thumbprint", a beautiful valley north of the shelter.I hiked 23.8 miles today and arrived at Helvey's Mill Shelter at 4:35 PM.
Date: 2003-05-14
From: Helveys Mill Shelter

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 24.0
Weather: clear sky

I got on the trail at 6:15 and heard three grouse drumming, a turkey gobbling, and saw lots of deer. I arrived at the Wapiti Shelter at 4 PM, another 24 mile day. Only 16.2 miles into Pearisburg tomorrow where I hope my new silk sleeping bag liner has arrived. I lost my old one at Pecks Corner Shelter at mile 214. I am now at mile 605 on the trail from Springer Mtn, GA where I started.One of the hikers mentioned that most churches provide free meals but use the meals to preach to those who attend. The Bastion Methodist Church picks up hikers from the trail every Monday and feeds them a big breakfast, then shuttles them wherever they wish to go in town, and gives them a New Testament without preaching to them. The Pastor is a hiker so he searched for the lightest version of the New Testament that he could find.Church people do tend to get busy with necessary organizational tasks while spiritual tasks of encouraging, comforting, and caring for the needs of the people are squeezed out of the churches programs. I see many of these spiritual tasks being done by people on their own outside of the normal church programs. It seems a lot of the real needs of people cannot be met by organized church programs, but rather through people meeting the needs of others like the Methodist church group here is doing. I sure appreciated their trail magic.One-on-one friendships are another way to meet many of these needs as well. Friendships like these are made among hikers on the trail. Trail magic commonly comes from other hikers or former hikers. It's amazing how many people are helping others on the trail. Common situations and problems bring out the helpfulness in others. And most hikers are very grateful.
Date: 2003-05-15
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Pearisburg VA
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night at Wapiti Shelter a deer appeared to be eating dead leaves near the shelter. We finally figured out that the deer was licking the leaves but not eating them. Perhaps a camper had brushed his teeth or threw out some salty water on the leaves. The deer only tasted the leaves at this one particular spot.I started hiking at 6:15 and made it to Pearisburg (16.2 miles) by 12:45. The descent from Angles Rest (3550') to town (1620') was treacherous after the half hour rain from 11:15 to 11:45. I fell again on a slippery rock landing on my pack...no harm done. I was fortunate to make it to the Rendezvous Motel before 2 PM when a tremendous thunderstorm hit with torrential rain. It's supposed to rain more the next few days.I heard a ruffed grouse drumming again this morning and flushed another one. The blooming azaleas were especially beautiful today.I've had 3 unusual incidents so far on my thru-hike. Two involved bugs and two my eyes. The first was the bug I got in my eye going up Snowbird Mtn in April which stayed there for 24 hours before I got it out. Than at the Lost Mtn Shelter as I was lighting my alcohol stove with a paper match, a flaming particle of phosphorus off the match head came straight back into my right eye. It was still on fire and didn't go out immediately, but burned in my eye. Can you imagine what a federal or corporate safety officer would do with that incident? "Don't look while lighting a match, strike match behind back or under your leg, wear safety goggles while striking a match, etc." Anyway, I don't think you have to worry about that ever happening to you. My eye hurt for a day, but is fine now. Eyes heal so fast.Then today I had a large beetle-like bug, perhaps a flying ant, ricochet off my upper lip, careen off my lower lip, and smash into the back of my throat as I was huffing and puffing up a hill. My first thought was the creature was hanging on my throat with claws or jaws to escape the dark abyss of my stomach and its hydrochloric acid. My fear was that it would wind up in my lungs and proceed to pop my air sacs like a kid playing with packing bubbles. So I immediately tried to cough it up, but to no avail. So I quickly sucked in several gulps of water from my Platypus to wash down any body parts remaining in my throat and figured that I just got some extra protein for my hike. Who needs a Snickers!So, go ahead, make my day by eating a bug. It will give you that energy boost you need.
Date: 2003-05-16
From: Pearisburg VA

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

I got all my grocery and other shopping done yesterday afternoon between thunderstorms. Today I'm resting and updating my journal. I helped Journey get some map and driving direction info off the Internet. She needs to take a week or so off the let her feet heal. If I stay healthy, I should be able to reach US220 and I-81 to Roanoke a day early and stay at the Four Pines Hostel in Catawba. That will give me more time to hitch a ride into Roanoke and get to the bus station to go to my daughters graduation in Maine. It will mean four days of between 21 and 25.5 miles each. It's a good challenge, but not something I'll want to do week after week.If you ever get to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, check out the names of the famous graduates on its walls. You will see Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote a poem or two. Then there's Nathaniel Hawthorne. Let's see now, didn't he write a book? And after reading through the centuries you will come to Laura Blacker, outstanding German student of the class of 2003. "Oh yeah", you'll say, "I know who that is too". She's the daughter of Dirty Harry who took five days off his thru-hike to go to her graduation. She must be really special.
Date: 2003-05-17
From: VA 16

To: Bailey Gap Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: moderate rain

Left the Rendezvous Motel at 6:30 and it was raining. It rained all day and was stormy and windy all day. I started climbing around 7 and when I was almost to the top of the first mountain, around 8:30, I saw a cottontail rabbit trying to find a dry spot in the rain. That's only the second rabbit I've seen, but there aren't many rabbits in the deep woods.I didn't see any hikers on the trail today or at the shelter. I did see sleeping hikers in the Rice Field Shelter when I passed it at 9:30. Then at ten I passed a group tenting along the trail. They were not hiking yet either. The poor weather and trail days at Damascus has cleared most of the hikers from the trail.I arrived at the Bailey Shelter at 4:10...23.5 miles for the day. Mr. Ed stayed here 3 days ago. He spent the night alone. It's 7 PM and raining hard again. Time to snuggle down into my silk liner in my nice down bag. It's really cold and damp tonight!
Date: 2003-05-18
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Sarver Shelter
Miles today: 21.0

Started hiking at 6:35 after two owls woke me up. It started raining and rained hard all day. I got to VA hwy 613 and realized I lost my hat somewhere in the last 3 miles. I hiked back and looked along the trail for a half hour and then, because it was raining so hard, I decided to leave a note in the next shelter and see if the guys behind me will find it and bring it to me.Despite the hard rain I did see a doe and three fawns and a gray squirrel. During the past 2 days I saw three red efts each day. They seem to be on the move when it rains. Today the rain was extremely hard and cold. It's impossible to keep dry or stop to look at the thru-hiking handbook or get some food out of my pack. This was the worst day so far for weather. The trail became a stream and stream crossings were trecherous. I walked through water over my ankles many times. Just after the Keffer Oak tree (18' circumference), I was backing up to get a good photo of the tree, and when I turned around I stepped in something gooey. I said, "Oh Shit!" And it was. It was an 18" diameter deposit of baby poop colored (yellowish-brown) runny cow manure. I had stepped in the middle of it. Fortunately it didn't flow into my low top trail shoe. But the entire outside of the shoe was covered with the manure. No Provlem, within 100 yards just after I crossed a stile over a fence, I had to walk through another river in the meadow which was about 6" deep and washed off my shoe so it looked brand new.I was drenched, cold, and tired when I arrived at Sarver Shelter at 4 PM. There are several old homestead buildings near the shelter as well as a springbox.
Date: 2003-05-19
From: Sarver Shelter

To: Four Pines Hostel
Miles today: 21.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Left the Sarver Shelter at 6:30 and was on the trail by 6:40. The first hard climb took me over a rocky edge where I fell three times. One fall was almost hike ending. Both feet slipped on the wet rocks at the same time. My left leg fell into a V-shaped crevice down to my knee. Then I fell over to my right side with my pack adding momentum to the fall. I was fortunate that my foot came up out of the crack so my leg didn't break at the knee.The last 6 miles of the day took me over the Dragon's Tooth which involved some class 5.1 or 5.2 climbing (had to use hands often). The blooming rhododendrons and the cliffs were spectacular. I arrived at the Four Pines Hostel at 4:20 having been picked up by Joe Mitchell, the owner.
Date: 2003-05-20
From: Four Pines Hostel

To: US 220 near Daleville VA
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: clear sky

I left the Four Pines Hostel at 6:25 and was on the trail at 6:35 making the 5.9 miles to VA 311 by 8:45. Fly By caught up with me around 9:15. He had just done 32.3 and 34.1 mile days from Pearisburg to get to the Hostel and wanted to hike with me the 25.5 miles into US 220 and share a motel room with me. We hiked together the rest of the day. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine. The McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs provided spectacular views from overhanging rocks. At Tinker Cliffs I got close to a young turkey vulture and got some photos. There were plenty of interesting rocks and we got to hike over all of them. Elevation changes weren't great, but the trail had plenty of rocks and lots of recent erosion so the going wasn't easy.We made it into the US 220 interchange area at 5:50 PM and went straight to the EconoLodge and then walked a half mile to Shoney's for a steak and AYCE salad bar dinner. The last ten miles of our hike was very slow since Fly By left ankle was swollen from being sprained yesterday during a fall. He also had a shin splint that was hurting. He finally decided to take a bus home for a few days to let it heal. He lives near Boiling Springs, PA. So both of us will be leaving the trail for a few days as I get a bus to my daughter's graduation in Maine. I plan to continue hiking on May 28th. In the meantime it looks like it may rain for the next week or so.
Date: 2003-05-21
From: US 220 near Daleville VA

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Zero DayWhile hiking with Fly By yesterday we saw a garter snake that had just swallowed something and had a big bulge in its stomach. I think we will see a lot more snakes when we get some sunny warm weather.Fly By and I talked about why we were on the trail and what was important in life. We both value our families and people more than jobs and busyness. We both feel the need to get away to think and make good decisions for the future. We also know we need to be around people even on the trail, but we both like to have time alone while hiking. We talked about practical ways to value the people in our lives. After that dicussion, Fly By made the decision to go home for his recouperation period.
Date: 2003-05-22
From: US 220 near Daleville VA

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Zero DayFly By and I woke up to pouring rain. It was good to be off the trail today. We checked out of the motel after a doughnut and hot chocolate breakfast and doing laundry and they let us have a key so we could get a discount at the Chinese buffet. We opened up the Chinese AYCE buffet for lunch at 11 AM since Fly By did not want to walk far on his very swollen ankle, foot, and lower leg. It looked really bad. Then we shouldered our packs and walked to the Outdoor Trails outfitter store about a half mile away. The manager, Mark Futrell, let me leave my pack there and gave us a ride to the bus station in downtown Roanoke. Before we left we got some food and I bought a new pair of insoles for my trail shoes.Mark gave us a short tour of the downtown area and dropped us off around 2 PM. Fly By's bus did not leave until 8:45 PM so we decided to go see a movie. We got a local bus to the mall and then had to walk a half mile to the theaters. We saw Matrix Reloaded which was a big disappointment...two and a half hours with lots of fighting, explosions, but no story, and no ending...you have to see the next sequel. We took a taxi back since the bus was very slow. Fly By left at 8:45 and they locked up the bus terminal and I was out in the rain with no place to sit down.I stayed in the parking garage since I didn't really want to go to a bar dressed the way I was in hiking clothes. I read and ate some snacks until they opened up the bus terminal again shortly after midnight. I got on my bus and left Roanoke around 2 AM.When I woke up I noticed some big buildings and thought they really had some neat government buildings in Richmond VA, but soon realized I was in Washington DC. I must have been tired! I got some breakfast and caught the next bus to New York. It was an express bus that did not make any stops. In New York I grabbed a quick lunch at McDonalds and caught another express bus to Boston. This bus was a Peter Pan Trailways bus which showed a movie and had more room than the Greyhound buses. In Boston I transferred to a Vermont Transit Bus which started a half hour late and arrived over an hour late in Brunswick. I mentally figured how far the EconoLodge motel in Brunswick was from the bus station, and when no one was there to pick me up since the bus was so late, I walked back to the motel in half an hour.