morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-04-05
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

After 7 days of hiking I was ready for a day of rest and The Lazy Fox in Damascus is a good place for a rest. It's also Easter so things are slow. The Lazy Fox is well known on the trail for it's country style breakfast. And today, Miss Ginny served up plenty of all the right things. She had a full house in the Fox last night and no one missed breakfast. There was a couple from Knoxville and another couple from Chicago with their two sons. Princess found some common ground with the Chicago folks regarding organizational leadership. The rest of the day was absorbed by a score of small chores. Princess managed to lay out our itinerary for the next week or so, arranged our shuttle rides and firmed up our accommodations. We'll stay here at the Fox until Wednesday when we shift our base to the Comfort Inn in Atkins, VA. We stayed there once before and we were very happy with it. Other chores included dealing with equipment problems. Yesterday one of Princess' Black Diamond hiking poles broke. We were doing some fairly easy sections when she felt something strange in one of her poles. She looked at it and thought it was OK, but moments later it simply broke apart. The poles are very lightweight carbon, and fold into a very small package. And they're very highly rated. Today, after considering all the options, she decided to buy a new pair and put her remaining "good" pole in a hiker box. The poles are under warranty, but the replacement process is long and uncertain, and she needs 2 poles tomorrow. My problem had a little better resolution. I bought a DeLorme inReach SE GPS locator that I've been carrying. I think I described it earlier - it has a "911" function, a tracking function and a messaging function. I had some trouble learning how to operate it, but then for a while it seemed to work OK. But several weeks ago I began to have trouble recharging the battery, and on Friday it quit working altogether, I couldn't even turn it on. I bought it at REI, and I called them today and they were very helpful. I hope to get a new replacement while I'm still at the Comfort Inn later this week. The only problem we encountered today was finding an open restaurant. Sunday's are usually a little tough, but today was Easter and several places didn't open at all. We had lunch at a place called "Hey Joe" and it was better than we expected. Princess isn't a big fan of Mexican food and that's what we thought it was. It was definitely a Mexican slant, sort of a burrito bar, but we found things we liked - including Dos Equis. Dinner was harder, the only thing we could find open was Subway. I like their sandwiches so I was OK with that. Tomorrow we have another long hike with rain and wind. Overall, it could be a wet week.
Date: 2015-04-07
From: Elk Garden

To: Fox Creek
Miles today: 17.1

The weather today and the rest of the week does not look good. The forecast shows a high probability of rain through Friday. The chance of rain today was 60% and it rained all day. From the time we got out of the car at 7:30 to the time we climbed in at 2:30, it rained on us - often very hard. From my perspective there were roughly three segments in today's hike, first a long climb up to almost 5,500 ft with some rock climbing, then a trek through Grayson Highlands State Park, and finally a hike through Pine Mountain Forest down to Fox Creek. The initial climb was long and steady, but not steep. At lower levels there was forest, higher levels were more open balds with rock outcroppings or knobs. The trail went directly through some of the rock formations, which made for some challenging hiking. At times we needed our hands more than poles to scramble across the rocks. One formation was a narrow rock tunnel known as "fat man's squeeze". The wind-driven rain made the rock climbing even more challenging. We also passed a side trail to Mt. Rogers, the highest mountain in Virginia. Grayson Highlands is a very popular attraction. Many come to see the wild ponies that populate the highlands, while others enjoy the long range views from the open meadows. Today, the miserable weather precluded any chance to enjoy the park. The views were obscured by fog and mist, and the wind and rain forced us to focus on our footing. We did pass by one pony grazing near a bald, but he never raised his head. The rain sodden trail turned the trek into a trudge. The third segment of the hike was through a beautiful pine forest. On a better day it would have been delightful. The trail was well maintained and marked, with a lot of variation in the terrain. The final downhill was about 4 miles long through the forest. As we approached the parking lot at the end point, we met Bill (our shuttle driver) taking DOG for a walk. Right behind them was Fresh Grounds. He had set up his trail magic tent alongside the Fox Creek lot. We took advantage of a hot dog and some mac 'n cheese, but we had to run to get back before the post office closes. We seem to be in sync with Fresh Grounds this year. He said he had 10 or 12 hikers camp out around his tent last night. Today we slack-packed NoBo, so we didn't see as many hikers as we often do when we hike southbound. We saw a few section hikers headed SoBo. We did see Gray Dog and Red Rhino with their dog, Slick just as we entered the Grayson Highlands Park. At first I hailed her as Sugar Foot, but she said that her trail name had been revised to Red Rhino. Henceforth so be it. This is our last day here at The Lazy Fox, with Miss Ginny. Sadly, we only had one breakfast while we were here (Sunday, when we took a zero). The last 2 days we arranged an early shuttle and left before breakfast time at 8. But we'll be back. Tonight we're busy trying to dry out all our gear. Tomorrow, Bill and DOG will shuttle us back to Fox Creek and we'll head north with our backpacks toward Atkins, VA.
Date: 2015-04-08
From: Fox Creek

To: VA 670 South Fork Holston River
Miles today: 13.6

When we went to sleep last night, we expected to get wet today. The weather weenies said it would rain overnight and again today with thunderstorms mixed in. But apparently things changed. The forecast this morning improved dramatically and we hiked 13.6 miles without a drop of precip. In fact, it was a beautiful sunrise and we had sunshine all day. Bill and DOG dropped us off at 8:40 and we finished at 1:20, and now we're waiting at the Holston River on our shuttle driver. We asked her to pick us up at 2:00, so we have some time to kill. A picture that I forgot to include yesterday is our 500 mile picture. It's not a big enough thing to warrant a permanent trail sign, the ATC only does that at the midway point. So we made up our own. Today we hiked NoBo with our backpacks. The hike was pleasant, but there was one feature that stood out, the cascades on Comer Creek. We could hear the sound of the falls as we approached and there was a side trail to the falls that we did not take. Instead, we followed the AT and it crossed the creek on a footbridge just downstream of the cascades. The falls were very close to the bridge and very loud. The trail leading out on the north side was fun too, weaving around rocks. Most of the rest of the trail was in the forest and pretty dry considering all the rain that fell yesterday. We saw very few hikers and only talked with one. He was hiking SoBo and we learned that he is with a trail club and volunteers to keep the Jerry Cabin shelter clean. He said he has about 5 days to do a section hike down to Damascus that he hasn't done before. His trail name is The Cleaner. He was anxious about the likelihood of rain around 2:00 and hoped to reach a shelter by then. The April showers have brought the forest to life and new growth and flowers are popping up all over. Princess spotted a yellow flower today that I don't remember seeing before. I've included a picture, perhaps someone knows what it is?Our shuttle finally arrived and we were able to stop at DG on the way to stock up on some essentials. Tomorrow we plan to return to where we stopped today and slack-pack into Atkins.
Date: 2015-04-10
From: I-81 (Atkins)

To: Atkins weather zero
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

After getting all set and ready to go, then listening to the weather forecast one more time, we decided to postpone our hike until tomorrow and take a zero here in Atkins. We're ok with rain, but lightening and high winds are an issue. The line of storms is scheduled to arrive here around mid-morning. I have a replacement DeLorme communicator. This will give me a chance to get it working.
Date: 2015-04-11
From: VA Rt. 42 

To: I-81 Atkins
Miles today: 12.2

Today was a beautiful day: clear skies, cool, and a light breeze. Skip picked us up at the Comfort Inn and drove us over the mountain and up Rt. 42 to the AT trailhead at the O'Lystery Pavilion. From there we slack-packed SoBo back to The Barn restaurant at I-81 in Atkins. At the start we hiked through several cow pastures. The animals seemed a little disconcerted with hikers tramping through their territory and they retreated when we went by. We passed several more farms, then crossed over into national forest territory. We did a couple of climbs, over the crest of Walker Mountain and then Little Brushy Mountain. Neither was particularly high, but they were steep in places and took some exertion. After Brushy we followed the ridge line with a series of small ups and downs. Along the way we met Tree Ninja for the first time and also Silverback who was hiking with Bowie. This is the first time we've encountered Bowie and I've included his pic. Silverback is putting in some big miles. He's meeting his wife and daughter in Harpers Ferry and he'd like to hike in rather than jump ahead to meet them.I'm seeing more flowers and flowers that I haven't seen before. A lot of small pink, yellow and white flowers are showing right alongside the trail. We're also starting to see mayapples. The plants are only an inch or two tall, Princess dubs them "Darth Vader" plants. They haven't yet started to bloom. Also, as we climbed a short hillside beside the middle fork of the Holsten River, we saw more trout lilies (the mystery plant a couple of days ago). The last few miles into Atkins were very nice. First across some meadows, then alongside a small stream. Finally the trail popped out at an I-81 overpass and we walked across to The Barn Restaurant. The Barn is a mecca for hungry hikers and features a "hiker burger" for hikers with a condition know as "hiker hunger." As we crossed the street to The Barn, we noticed a small knot of hikers shedding their packs and boots outside and recognized Mobley. We haven't seen him in a couple of days and got caught up on who's where along the trail. He said that Imp, Fern, and Chow are ahead, and he thought that Tiny Elf and Snow Zombie are just behind. He said he had been hiking some big miles (like 24 and 27) recently with his group. We didn't recognize anyone he was with, but he introduced us to Sunshine. The Barn didn't have shakes, but Princess and I shared a dish of ice cream while Mobley and his crew went for hiker burgers. Our shuttle driver, Linda (Skip's wife) was running late. Eventually we learned that she was waiting on a hiker who had injured her ankle and was probably headed for medical services. Skip picked us up and took us back to our motel. We could have walked, but after a day's hike we didn't feel like going another 3 miles. So now we're doing our standard post-hike routine: showers, laundry, food, trail journals, etc. We start an hour earlier tomorrow and have a longer, more strenuous hike. But the weather forecast is great, so we're looking forward to it.
Date: 2015-04-18
From: Sinking Creek (VA 42)

To: VA 635 (Stony Creek Bridge) 
Miles today: 18.5

We had another good hike today in beautiful weather. We did a SoBo slack-pack and saw a lot of hikers. I don't have any pics, but I'll try to list some of the trail names: Felix, Silverback, Tree Ninja, Sweet Blood, Laugh Track, Neon Mountain, Mowglie, Lorax, Archangel (I think), Second Guess, Dopey, Chef, Maverick, Wayside, and others we can't remember. We expected to see Happy Feet and Cookie Monster, but never did. The trail names are interesting, and there's generally a good story behind each. We saw several hikers we don't know, and didn't get a chance to talk with them, including some who appeared to be section hikers. Plus we saw a group of teenage boys with an older fellow, perhaps scouts. So it was a busy day on the trail.Don was our shuttle driver again, and picked us up at 6:00 am. Our starting point was 18+ miles beyond where we started yesterday and the plan was to hike SoBo back to where we started yesterday and meet Don there at a prearranged time so he could shuttle us back to The MaxArthur Inn one more time. Tomorrow he will pick us up early again and take us to where we started today, but tomorrow we'll hike north. This is our last night here in Narrows. Today's hike was harder than most we've done so far. It was long for us, at over 18 miles, and we had two long climbs, one to 3,700 ft and the second to over 4,000 ft. Our starting point at Sinking Creek was an interesting experience. Sinking Creek has expanded well beyond its banks as a result of a busy beaver. There is a footbridge that spans the original banks, but now the approach to the bridge on both sides is a marsh. The trail maintainers have put in puncheons and that helps. But puncheons can be shaky and slick, so it's still tricky. The beaver den is large, I have no idea how many occupants. I've included a pic, the pink in the sunrise was reflected in the beaver pond, but the light wasn't good. The first climb was over 4 miles long, but the steepest part was the last mile. The second climb was almost as long, 2,000 ft elevation change and steep at the top also. The climbs slowed us down and after the second we were behind schedule for our shuttle pickup. But all we had left was downhill and we figured we could make up time. We didn't realize that over two miles of the downhill were rock fields. The rocks weren't scrambles, but they seemed endless. We still made good time and were only about 5 min late. But it was a challenge. My legs and feet were beat up and the epsom salt soak this evening felt great. The MacArthur Inn has the longest bathtub I've found and that's important when you're well over 6 ft tall. The temperature today was hot for this time of year, pushing 80 at lower elevations. Tomorrow will be different with the temp hovering around 60 and rain is likely.
Date: 2015-04-19
From: VA 42 (Sinking Creek)

To: VA 621 (Craigs Creek)
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: light rain

Today we left MacArthur Inn in Narrows, VA. Don picked us up bright and early at 6:00 am - well at least early. The sky was overcast and rain was predicted for late morning, so we carried our ponchos close at hand. Our plan for the day was to start at Sinking Creek and head north to Craig's Creek, only about 11.4 miles but we had our full backpacks. Don Raines has been a great shuttle driver for us. He's picked us up early every day and met us right on time at the end points. He knows the trail and the access points and he's provided great advice. Check him out, he's in the AT Guide for Pearisburg. The weather was holding when Don dropped us off and we headed up Sinking Creek Mountain. It was only about a thousand feet, but it was steep. Along the way we passed the Keffer Oak, the largest oak on the southern AT. At the top, we started a long hike along the ridge line. We remembered this ridge from last year. It gets progressively rockier and near the end it's very narrow and you have to climb around boulders and walk across the slanted rock surface. My biggest concern was getting across this 3 or 4 mile section before the rain started.There was good news and bad news. The good news was that we got over the scary rocks before the rain started. The bad news was that when the rain finally started Lelia realized that her poncho had slipped out of her pack, so she hiked the last 4 miles (almost 2 hours) soaking wet. When we finally got to the end at Craig's Creek (about 20 min early, we were motivated), we found that Fresh Grounds had set up his tent. So we had some cover from the rain. Mowglie and Tree Ninja were there, enjoying Fresh Grounds' treats. We related that Princess lost her poncho somewhere along the trail today and everyone agreed to spread the word and get it to us if found. Our shuttle driver for the next few sections is Homer Witcher (also in the AT Guide under Daleville). We haven't worked with him before, but he is highly recommended and we've heard a lot about him. He and his wife maintain 16 AT shelters as volunteers for the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club and he has thru-hiked the AT. He picked us up right on time and we enjoyed the conversation on the way to the HoJo in Daleville. We're taking a short hiatus from the trail for the next two days. We have a dentist appointment that we don't want to miss, so we're renting a car in Roanoke and driving back to Norfolk tomorrow. We expect to come back back to Daleville on Tuesday afternoon and get back on the trail Wednesday. So I'll check in then.
Date: 2015-04-21
From: Daleville

To: Daleville
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We rented a car and made a flash trip back to Norfolk yesterday (some dental work) and then back to Daleville today. We switched out some winter gear for summer stuff and stopped at REI in Richmond to pick up a few things. So now we're staying at the Super 8 in Daleville. It's close enough to walk to food and supplies, and it's much nicer than other Super 8's we've visited. Looks like it's been refurbished recently and we plan to stay here for several days. So no trail report today. But I do want to thank several folks who have signed in to the guest book. Grasshopper has been very helpful in identifying the wild flowers I've been seeing in the woods. I should know more of the flora, like the trout lily and the bloodroot. The blooms are really popping now and I'll try to include more. Thanks Grasshopper. Wallace from NC provided some very interesting info on the geology associated with Burkes Garden and how it extends on up to McAfee and beyond. It almost sounds like a vocation rather than an avocation. I'm curious if some of the rock crest features we hiked through on Sunday between Sinking Creek and Craig's Creek are an extension of the same anticline? He mentioned that Dragons Tooth is, and we get to hike it tomorrow.So thanks to all of you who take the time to say hello in the guest book and add some interesting info too. I think I mentioned earlier that Princess has been having problems with her hiking poles. She started out this year with a nice, lightweight set of highly-rated Black Diamond Z's. Unfortunately, one broke while we were near Damascus. These would surely have been covered by warranty, but when you're on the trail, it isn't easy to box up a broken pole, ship it back to the mfgr and then wait and hope it's covered and replaced and mailed back to you somewhere down the trail. And what do you do for a second pole in the meantime?So she bit the bullet and bought a pair of Lekis, lifetime warranty and we thought any dealer who carries Lekis would replace or repair the pole. Then one of those came apart with a broken piece of plastic in the extension. Same problem again. We're nowhere near Damascus where we bought them. But we went past REI in Richmond and so we took them there. But they don't have a repair shop and they suggested that we send them back to Leki since we didn't buy them at REI. So now she has another set of poles. REI is great with returns and replacements, they just helped me get my malfunctioning DeLorme replaced, but there aren't many REI stores near the trail, so we'll have the mailing issue again if one breaks. At least REI will send a replacement right away if you but them at REI, while you mail them the broken pole. I have a really cheap (but heavy) pair of aluminum poles that are bent, but not broken and they work for me.
Date: 2015-04-22
From: VA 785

To: VA 621
Miles today: 17.0

We had a long one planned for our first hike after our 2-day trip back home. Two climbs: Dragon's Tooth and Brush Mountain. Dragon's Tooth is the bigger challenge for us, we prefer to do it SoBo. Princess enjoys the rock climbs up the northern side.I admit I didn't remember how long it takes to get to the top, and how many rock faces we have to go over. None of them are rock scrambles. The white blazes always suggest a path through or across or up the rocks. And sometimes several paths. It's sort of a puzzle, the hiker has to figure out the best way to use the toeholds and cracks, etc., to get through. In a couple of spots, there is just a vertical crevice up the rock with smaller rocks jammed into the crevice to serve as steps. And in a few cases where there is no alternative, rebar handholds and footholds are provided. The other side (SoBo downhill for us) is much less challenging. After passing the monolith (the tooth) the trail follows a rocky ridge across a number of smaller peaks for several miles, then turns down. Several parts of the downhill are very scenic and at one point we were in the midst of a flock of chirping songbirds. The sun was out, the temp was moderate and the hike was great. The second mountain is less dramatic or traumatic. A long (4 mile) climb, steep at first, but then moderating as it follows a ridge-line to the top, followed by a long descent. There is a memorial at the top to Audie Murphy, the most highly decorated WWII vet who was killed in a plane crash near this point. As we were crossing the top of the mountain we noticed that storm clouds were accumulating. The forecast indicated that thunderstorms were possible in mid-afternoon, so we moved quickly to get down. As the clouds thickened, the winds became very strong and gusty and I started to worry about tree blowdowns. Fortunately, none of that happened and the sky actually cleared at times, fickle weather.   Homer Witcher picked us up early this morning and shuttled us to the trail, and his wife Therese picked us up this afternoon and brought us back to Daleville. We really enjoy talking with them during the shuttle rides. They're both experienced hikers, previous thru-hikers and long time trail maintainers, so they have a wealth of information about the trail.Back at the motel we're prepping for tomorrow. We have a long, scenic hike planned that includes McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. Plus I'm breaking in a new pair of boots. It could be a bad combination.