morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-04-05
From: Flint Mountain Shelter

To: Big Bald Shelter
Miles today: 19.0

Did some big miles today, just under 19. I'm here by myself, which is a welcome change. I think when I changed my plans to take an extra day getting to Erwin, I forgot to add an extra days food. Oops, no biggie. At least I won't be carrying extra food around like I usually do. Yesterday was another scare, I thought I might have to come off the trail. But like usual it was ok after a little rest, and I made up for what I didn't do yeterday. I have been listening to NPR whenever it comes in on my radio. They have been doing their yearly drive for their budget. I stopped and gave them a small donation and made sure that when they read it over the air they said it was from Buckwheat. They got a laugh out of it and so did I. More great pictures today. I only came across one other person today(1/4 of the way), he was staying on top of the Bald. It was pretty but I figured it might get a little cold with all the wind. My dinner should be done and I'm starving.Thought of the day: There is almost always a price to pay for life's shortcutts. Drugs(legal or Otherwise), money, relatinships, spiritually just about everything. Even the AT.
Date: 2005-04-06
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: just shy of Erwin
Miles today: 0.0

This is an entry letting you know that Buckwheat's doing well. He is having trouble getting through to pocketmail, even with a good signal. So his past couple of trail day details will be posted soon. So until then...Raisin Buckwheat says: say this phrase with a quick beat and repeat at least 3 times... "CLIF BAR, SNACK BAR, DRIED FRUIT"(especially strawberries) bla..aaahh!!!So the change of lunches will occur soon.
Date: 2005-04-06
From: Big Bald Shelter

To: a little ways from erwin entry
Miles today: 11.0

Morning entry: like always in the morning, as soon as I stand up, I feel the urgent call of nature. Luckily there is a privy here so I grabbed my wipes and went to take care of business. I put the wipes on the privacy wall like I usually do, except halfway through, they fell off the wall and vanished through the crack in the floor. This has been the first time I have been glad that something was full of @#$%. My arm was just long enough to extract the mountain money as it known on the trail. I went through quite a few wipes to clean myself, the bag and my hands. I hope this isn't how the rest of my day goes.Evening: Well, the rest of the day went OK. I got my second dose of trail magic. Some guys were doing some work on the trail and they left some Mountan Dew in a stream a few miles away. It was totally extreme. It was just what I wanted. I was going to stay at a shelter tonight but decided to get a little closer to town. There is a chance of rain so I found a nice spot thats tucked away so it wont get to windy. I hear there is a place in town were you can get burritos the size of your head, so I'll probably have at least two of those.
Date: 2005-04-07
From: a little ways from erwin entry

To: Erwin Tenn
Miles today: 4.0

Buckwheat stayed in Erwin today. If he sends a pocketmail entry I'll post it.Thanks,RaisinPocketmail entry from Buckwheat:Got a few nice pictures of Erwin coming down from the mountain. They have some real nice green grass. After walking through the woods so much, I have come to appreciate walkin on, laying in, and smelling grass. I skipped the burritos and had lunch at a little diner and had alot of food that normaly I would not eat. It was as greasy as it was good. The hostel I'm staying at has bikes you can you can use. It's nice to go faster than I can walk for a change.Later:There is a place Pocketmail entry from Buckwheat for Cherry Gap Shelter:I did 16.3,my ankle was unhappy as usual and I drained my supply of pain killers.It rained pretty much all day today. It was also warm so it wasn't to bad. The only thing that did suck, was it would stop just long enough to trick you into taking off your rain gear before it would start again. I got within 20ft of a deer for the second time. I spooked her and she ran about 50ft and then just looked at me as I walked toward her. Once I realized she wasn't going to run I tried to get my camera but she must of thought I was going for a concealed weapon, so she took off. The whitest tail I have ever seen on a deer. I also ran across a woodchuck. It was just running along a few feet in front of me, very unconcerned. All the animals along the trail seem to realize no one is going to mess with them. Or their all stupid. The shelter is full and Red Blaze just pulled in. When you get to shelters late you never no if there is going to be room or not. The shelters near towns have a tend!ency to fill up quick. Its still light out most everyone is already trying to sleep. I think I will as well.Ohh I also finished my book(Into the Wild). It was awesome.
Date: 2005-04-08
From: Erwin Tenn

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: light rain

Just got off the phone with Buckwheat, he's at clyde shelter tonight and stayed at cherry gap shelter the day before.(miles cover both days) He's doing good except for that he wishes he had a book (he's going to get one soon), and his ankle is giving him problems as usual. He says that it only gets to him when he pushes to do too many miles. One thing he repeatedly says from time to time is that things will usually work them selves out. Which is a very true statement. Buckwheat's right why stress? It doesn't solve anything, usually makes things worse anyway. Well if Buckwheat should send a pocketmail with trail details I'll post it in this entry. Goodnight for now.Raisin Pocketmail entry from Buckwheat for Clyde Smith Shelter:Today sucked so bad I hardley want to write about it. Matter of fact I'm not gonna. I did 8mi, pathetic.
Date: 2005-04-10
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: little hump mountain
Miles today: 15.0

Hi I just wanted to let you know that Buckwheat has not been able to get through to pocketmail for some reason and that's why there hasn't been any updated entries. He should be somewhere around elk park as soon as I hear anything new I will post it.RaisinBuckwheat's pocketmail entry:Today was almost as good as yesterday was bad. I did 14.5 and tackled one of the last hurtles(Roan Mtn)before I start getting to the more gentle sections in Virginia. Most stories have an antagonist and apparently so do I. I don't know what this guys problem is, but it seams like he loves trying to push my buttons. One of the many reasons yesterday was not phenomanal. He said a remark to me one time with the intent that I was going slowly. I passed him today and returned the favor. Of course, an hour later here he comes at full speed trying to catch me. Making lots of noise to let me know he's coming. I get of to the side, to lett him pass and about 50 ft later he busts his ass. I'm glad he didn't get hurt, but more glad I saw it. It was even more funny to watch him try and hurry to get up like it didn't happen. Got some more great pictures today. I have a cool little camping spot for tonight. Just before the top of Little Hump Mtn. Its almost all grass with a few scrub tres! s and I'm campe in a large grouping of bolders just below the top. 360 veiw is real nice. My tarp is open to the east so if I wake up I'll be able to see the sunrise. Don't take any bets I'll be up yet though. I'm not getting up early like I used to. And what I wrote in the begging of this journey about meditating. That hasn't been going so well either. But now that my ankle has been giving me some prolems, and my days might get shorter I'm going to try again.
Date: 2005-04-11
From: little hump mountain

To: 10 past elk park
Miles today: 18.0

 Buckwheat's pocketmail entry:Today I did 18mi. I'm very happy with that, considering I had to hitchinto Elk Park and pick up a dropbox. I elevated my ankle last knight had a big improvement today. I don't know why I haven't been doing that all along, ohh thats right because I'm stupid. I got some more drugs from my DB so know I should be able to throw down some miles. I only saw one other hiker all day. We met right at the end of the day and eneded up camping together. Boxcar Jerry is his trail name. Realy nice guy. Talked for an hour or so about everthing. He's retired, walked almost all the trail back in 93, and is now doing a bunch of different sections. I had some good luck today getting into Elk Park. It was getting close to 11:00 when I could hear 19. I knew I was going to have to get a ride fast to get to the P.O. before they closed for lunch. Just as I was coming to the top of the hill to get to the road a car pulled over and he opened the door to let his dog out for a pee. I said hello and he !asked me if I was a hiker and did I need a ride. That's what hikers call trail magic. Comes in real handy sometimes. I'm also happy I have a book again. And a note to raisin. Could you please order me "3 against the wilderness" and see if you can find another book called something and then "cut throuts" about some guys in WWII who were scouts in Alaska. I think it's somebodys "cut throuts".
Date: 2005-04-12
From: 10 past elk park

To: Cancora hostel
Miles today: 10.0

Well you can add today to my list of absent minded blunders. I left camp at 8:00 stopped for lunch at 12:30 and saw that my hammock was not on my pack. I instantly realized that I forgot to pack it. So I stashed my pack and hauled but to try to and get it. Shortly after I started back I realized that I had 10mi to go and I hadn't eaten lunch and I didn't bring any food. But I wasn't going back twice. I also didn't have a light so, I had to hurry to get back before it got dark. So to make a long story short I did 30mi between 8:00 and 6:30, but only ended up going north 10. I did get a snickers and a granola bar from another thru hiker. Otherwise I would not have been able to go that fast. And I did find my hammock laying right were I had left it. If I had to do it all over again, I would just leave it and buy another one. But I did feel an awsome sense of acomplishment to be able to pull that off. The bad thing is it is going to screw up my plan to get to Damascucs by friday! to get my drop box. So I'm taking a nero today to recoop.Todays Lesson: Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward.
Date: 2005-04-14
From: Cancora hostel

To: Iron mountain shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: few clouds

Today was great. Alot of it probably had to do with the fact that I started my day with a bowl of frosted flakes (their great).I ended up doing 22mi. At one point today I decided to go all 50mi to Damascus but called the PO and found out their open till 11:00 on Sat. So I will do 22 tommorow and do 6mi in on Saturday to relax and eat and clean the stank off, like every other town. It's 21:47 right now. The latest I have been up in a good while. I'm camping with a pretty big group(spoony love,cotton joe,cracker,sci-fi). We just got done playing hearts. I've had a small deck with me since Erwin. We had a pretty big fire going. Lots of laughs. Two of the Canadian group is still here BSing around the fire.Side note to dad: You have a little while before I'll get to NY, so you had better get in shape before I get there. We will only do a slow 12 mi, because I know how old you are.
Date: 2005-04-15
From: Iron mountain shelter

To: 6 short of damascus
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: clear sky

Aahhh...Another beautiful day on the AT, only 6mi short of Damascus. The walk in tomorrow is a gentle downhill slope. But I'm going to get up at 6:00 just to be safe. I got to see a bobcat today. He was crossing the trail about 60ft in front of me. I saw him first and stopped. I didn't even get a chance to reach for the camera this time. I think I was more concerned about what it was going to do when it saw me. Very pretty animal. Huge front legs and paws. It only took a second before it saw me and then took off. As soon as I started to move, I heard something moving through the woods pretty fast. It was two big dogs on the trail of the bobcat. I yelled at them as loud as I could and they stopped and turned around with that,   "we're busted" look on their faces. Those dogs are probably going to be much happier, than if they had caught up to that cat. The rest of the day was just walk, walk, walk. I am really digging listening to NPR. I think the highlight of my day is listening to the book reading. There are a few other programs that are pretty good also. I started to lose the station today. I hope I will pick it up again soon. An average day: I wake up at 7:00, make breakfast and pack up. Start walking at 8:00. Take a 5min refuel brake before lunch. Take 20 min for lunch, another stop around 3:00 and walk until around 4:30 or 5:30. Make dinner, and Chit Chat if there is anyone around. I write in the pocketmail, read for a little while, and am asleep around 8:30. Repeat until you get to Mt.Katadlin. Of course there are alot more small things that go on, and everyday is very different from the last one.
Date: 2005-04-16
From: 6 short of damascus

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: clear sky

So far I have gone 460mi in 40 days and finished with three states. That's not very fast but I'm on track to finish in reasonable time. Damascus is another great town. I was lucky in finding a good inn here. Suzanne who owns the Hiker inn was at the P.O. when I went to get my Drop Box. I asked her if she knew were I would be able to find a reasonably priced place to stay and she said I could stay with her. At first I thought she was hitting on me. But she quickly explained that she had an Inn and showed me where everything was in town. She even helped me carry my box from the outfitters. All my chores have been done, the only thing left is to have some dinner, maybe a glass of wine, finish my book and go to bed(that may have been a run on sentence). I'm going to try and do close to 20mi every day until Bland. Raisin is going to visit me next weekend, and if the weather is good, I may get to do some paragliding. This journey does not seem like I am hiking the Appalachian Trail, but that I'm walking through the woods just to get to the next town. I think it might be easier if I just get my truck and drive to each town and spend a day there. I think someone else said it best when they said "all this walking is getting in the way of their trail experience"
Date: 2005-04-17
From: Damascus,VA

To: a little past spring
Miles today: 22.0

From the time you start people are always talking about the sections ahead. All the talk about Virginia was how flat it was. Well, It's not that flat. I still managed to do 22 mi today. I'm going to take a little pressure off myself, and just walk as far as I feel like. There are lots of places Raisin can pick me up before Bland.   There are many people out here that are trying to get to Maine as fast as they can, I'm not one of them. I just realized that I made the mistake of getting into my hammock before I peed. It's a five minute process to get back into my sleeping bag and straighten everything out. I have a pee bottle/measuring cup, but it only holds 18oz. Only just enough to relieve the pressure in the early morning hours. I know your thinking it's gross to have a dual purpose container, but pee is sterile and cleans out easily. Supposedly you can drink it up to four times before it's toxic. I probably won't need to find out since my the longest stretch without coming across water was 5 miles. I usually only take a liter. I wait until I totally run out and then fill up whenever I come across more. There are some places further north where that wouldn't be a good idea.    I can hear a turkey gobbling further down the hill. Enough for now, it's my favorite time of the day. Reading, on the hammock, in my fart sack.Side note from Raisin:So, I just noticed that my calculation of the miles that Buckwheat has walked is off about 20 ahead. However, if you go back a couple of entries you will read, that due to Buckwheat's absent mind at this particular time, he had left his hammock at his last campsite and had to walk 10 miles back to get it, then 10 miles forward to where he had already walked. So technically the miles are correct. Really when you think about it, everyone who thru hikes the trail walks way more than the 2000 plus miles that the trail is due to walking off the trail into towns, the walk back, the walking around town, the switchbacks, etc. Too bad someone doesn't where a pedometer to find out more acurately how many miles from the time they started. But now that I've wrote this explanation, I guess it doesn't really matter if the miles are correct, It's the quality of the trail, not the quantity. Anyway that's all my rambling for now.Raisin
Date: 2005-04-20
From: a little past spring

To: cow pasture
Miles today: 0.0

Today was going pretty good until the end of the day. I passed a small spring at 4:30 and considered setting up camp but the guide sait there was water near the road and I figured it would be flatter. When got down near the road there was a sign that said the trail went through private property so you can't camp for the next .6 miles. No prob, I figured I would get water and then camp somewhere on the other side. Get to the road, no water, and a sign that says no camping next 1.4 miles. I check the guide and there is a river after 1.4mi. Get there and there is another sign that says another 1mi no camping. I guess they weren't smart enough to add the milage up. So I got tired of waking and am camped on someone's property. I had to get my water from a stream, running through a cow pasture and was geting the water standing in cow tracks, looking at a cow. I guess I'll find out if my purifier works. I treated the crap out of it, Literaly. I forgot to mention that yesterday I ha! d a couple F16's rip buy right over my head. I was high up on the mountain. They were directly over me ,maybe 100ft above the tree line. It was a cool surprise.
Date: 2005-04-21
From: cow pasture

To: chestnut ridge shelter
Miles today: 0.0

Got to this shelter a 2:00. Its a grassy top and I could see the thunderheads coming, so I decides to make it a short day(12mi). This is a nice shelter.Four stone walls and a door. It's an old forestry service building. It's raining and windy again. Just what I like to hear when I'm in a shelter. And of course after the first mile this morning there was a perfect camp site I could have stayed at last night instead of waking up to cows all aound me trying to figure out what my hammock was.
Date: 2005-04-22
From: chestnut ridge shelter

To: interstate 77
Miles today: 0.0

When I know that this is the last day before I take a breake the miles always seem to come slowly, and today was no exception. Especially since I still had to do so many miles(22 today). At one point I knew I only had seven more to go and I kept expecting to see I77 in the distance. But every turn was just more mountains and valleys. I thought maybe I'll just come around a turn and it will be real close, a little layter I stopped to refeul and I saw what looked like little toy vehichles. It looked like at least six miles away. But I got there soon enough and now I can relax read my book(The Virginian)and sleep. Nothing much happened today except I got pissed on four about 4hrs. It was good timing though, because my feet were soaked anyway. The trail crosses the same large creek 12 times in two miles. Saw a couple gardner snakes the other day. Played with him for a little bit. Thought about trying to pick him up but I remembered I don't like pain and thought better of it.
Date: 2005-04-24
From: interstate 77

To: Wrytheville, Va
Miles today: 0.0

This is my second day of chill'n in the world of TV, movies, and food. Staying in a hotel at Wrytheville, very enjoyable.They have a Super Walmart and a 10 screen movie theater. You don't come across mecas like this on the AT. We had to drive 12mi from Bland to get here. I always have mixed feelings about going back to the woods. I'm excited to get back, but the easy life is seductive. This break came at a perfect time. It was snowing and very windy both days. Althogh it will be raining and nasty for quite awhile, it is supposed to warm up. Many people had already sent back there warm gear. I was planning to do the same thing. I guess its a good thing I didn't go to fast. I watched four movies total. The only two worth mentioning were"Robots" and "What the @#$% do we realy know". Robots was good and the other realy makes you think about things. Although, I would have liked more science than opinion and silly animation. Made me really want to re-rededicate myself to meditatio! n and Buddhism. So I think I will. The miles come quicker know and It will be easier to take the time.
Date: 2005-04-29
From: Wrytheville, Va

To: niday shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I am getting pretty sick now. Just your common cold, but still quite draining when I'm already trying to do so much. I want to slow down but didn't think I would have the food to do so. I'm at the shelter with whitey and he said there is a store 14 miles away, .4 off the trail so I might not go much further than that. Another reason I have to stop is because after stopping at a shelter today I ran across Mary Jane.I hadn't talked to her since High School.After we got reacquainted, it took me a about thirty minutes to pack up my stuff.It also took some extra time to stop every 20 min and eat all of the poptarts and treats that I had left. But the miles flew buy and my ankle felt great(so did my glacoma).
Date: 2005-04-30
From: niday shelter

To: Catawba,va
Miles today: 0.0

19 fairly uneventful miles. I stopped and got my picture at Audi Murphy's memorial. He died in a plane crash in the mountains near the monument. Alot of different terrain today. The Dragons Tooth was a pain in the butt. I needed my hands to hang on to stuff and the poles kept getting in the way. I looked at the tips of my poles and I have wore the tips off. There is an outfitter in Troutville and I definitely need some stuff. I'm also going to send some of the winter gear back. I hope the Canadians keep the cold air up there where it belongs.
Date: 2005-05-01
From: Catawba,va

To: Lamberts meadow shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Still not feeling to good. Decided to only do 15mi. Not many good places to camp past this shelter anyhow. The views today were awsome. I walked right along some cliffs for maybe a 1/4 mile. There were about 5 crows that were flying along the cliffs. The winds were around 20mph and they had their wings pulled almost all the way in and they were still hovering along the cliffs. One landed and I was able to walk within a few feet. Got lots of pics. There are lots of day hikers out now but the number of thru hikers is getting smaller. The registers at the shelters used to fill up real fast but in this one there are only 70 entries this year. Before if I stopped anywere for very long people would always pass you. Today I havn't seen any thru hikers and I've been at this shelter for over 2 hours. Tommorow when I get to Troutville I'm going to try and get everything done, so that on my zero I can just chill. I'm going to try and not watch to much TV though. I'm convinced it sucks! the life out of me. After I layed down three doe's and a couple fawns came to the creek. I wouldn't have known if the fawn wouldn't have been running all about making all kinds of noise. The mothers were probably pissed. At about 21:00 3 guys showed up with a 2ltr of coke and some subs. They asked me if I wanted some coke, of course. They had an Ipod and some speakers and I got to here some music other than the junk I brought. They decided to just have a group name(The Colorado Boys). They seem to be out here, for the reason you should be out here, to enjoy yourself.