morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-18
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: light rain

Finally the much anticipated Hot Springs, NC. We got into town around 2:30 and went to the Sunny Bank Inn to get a bed for the night. The Sunny Bank Inn is a great place. It is an old house built in the 1800's and run as a hostel since the 1890's. Every morning a great breakfast is served and occasionally lunches & dinners are also served. After a shower and a nap I headed down to the outfitter but they were already closed so I went across the sreet to the Paddlers Pub to get some food & beers with Kev-dog, Ray-way, Butterfingers, and some other hikers.
Date: 2004-05-19
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Zero-Day!Had a really good breakfast at that hostel (pancakes, cereal, juice, etc.). Then took a nap followed by an hour long soak in the hot springs (which is actually just a bunch of secluded hot tubs that they pipe the hot springs water to) then got a massage. Just about the most relaxing day someone could ask for. Did i mention the 3 visits to the ice cream shop too? I really think i may actually be gaining weight.
Date: 2004-05-20
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: few clouds

As usual leaving a town takes a while to do. I had jen send me my old backpack because it weighs less so i spent almost an hour trying to push and shove everything into my pack 5 different ways. I really think the mumbling of 4 letter words helped. In the end I had to stop at the outfitters to get an extra saddle bag that attached to the outside of the pack. The trail goes right through the middle of the town and of course passes the ice cream shop, so we got some road ice creams. Now this seemed like a great idea at first since it was 80 degrees out. But this was actually a very bad idea since it was 80 degrees out and we had a pretty steep climp heading out of town. My stomach felt bloated and not until after about an hour did i feel better. At the top of the steepest part of the climb was a pond so when we got there the three of us and Atlas (another thru-hiker we had hiked out of town with) decided to take a swim.
Date: 2004-05-21
From: Spring Mtn Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

Today was hot and sunny again. By lunch my feet were so drenched with sweat that my feet were squishing in my boots. Ok so that was more than you wanted to know.   We took a long lunch break before a fairly long climb in the afternoon. The long climb payed off though, we got up onto a ridgeline with views on both sides. Just after the ridgeline we got some trail magic. On the trail was bed of ice with 4 pepsi's. Scorch (amanda, who is another thru-hiker) was already there and the 4 of us each had a pop. We waited a bit for Atlas because we knew he was coming up behind us but after about 15 minutes we drank them. We were very surprised to see the pops cause it certainly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.When we got to the shelter we found out how the pops got there. A section hiker - Shoe (a retired marine) and Yogi (a mid 40's guy from new york city) were hiking ahead of us and they ran into a couple who had come out for a day hike. The couple had driven up a forest service road which was just a little ways from the trail. They had brought a small cooler with the drinks and some moonpies to leave on the trail for hikers while they were out for their day hike. The couple were on their way out when they ran into Yogi and Shoe. Yogi and Shoe knew we were coming along so they convinced the couple to leave the pops on ice. To top it all off Yogi and Shoe brought back all the moonpies to the shelter so we all could have some desert.
Date: 2004-05-22
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: few clouds

Not a real eventful hike today. I was tired out by the time we reached the shelter. We got to the shelter just in time too, right after dinner it started to rain and there was some pretty good thunder and lightning too. Thunder storms are nice to watch when you're in the shelter but not so nice to hike in. I was a little concerned over Atlas and Scorch they decided to push on past the shelter and were going to camp somewhere along the trail. Hopefully they got their tents up in time.The water sources at the shelters lately are getting worse and worse. For the first 3 weeks or so there were really nice mountain springs that had good flows and in many of them people had placed a pipe in the flow so there was a nice easy place to fill up on water without getting all sorts of floating particles in the water. The last few days though the water sources have been barely existent springs that you have to dip a cup into to get the water from and the water gets all stirred up so you get all sorts of floaties in there. I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come...
Date: 2004-05-23
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: light rain

The first 10 to 15 miles weren't too bad but after that i was struggling. Partly because it had rained and my feet were wet. Also, my right shin muscle was became soar part of the way through the day. The last mile was rough and i had a bit of a limp, but Ray-way, Butterfingers and I practiced our singing for a while. I don't think the three of us will be quitting the trail to start up a band, although it was a good way to get our minds off hiking. I just feel sorry for anyone who could hear us. At camp i sat around for a bit resting then made some dinner and felt better, then i realized i hiked my first '20-miler' day!
Date: 2004-05-24
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: broken clouds

TOWN DAY!Yesterday we pulled the big miles to make it into town early. We got in around 1130 and the trail goes right past Uncle Johnny's Hostel. So we went in and got some snacks (always my first task when i get into a town) and also got places for the night. Scorch and Atlas were at Uncle Johnny's also and we asked them about how their night in the storm went. Apparently they had an interesting night. There was a road crossing about 2.5 miles past the shelter we stayed at. The trail followed a road that went underneath a highway and Atlas and Scorch decided to wait the storm out underneath the bridge. So they went up to just underneath the road and layed out their sleeping bags on flat spots (you know the spots bums live at...). Sometime in the evening a car pulled up underneath the overpass and some guy got out and messed around with some garbage bags for a while. Then they said he hiked up in the woods then came back with no bags.... They stayed quiet since they had no idea what the guy was doing. He finally started to leave but then he apparently got a flat and had to fix it. Very wierd stuff...So after a shower we got a shuttle in to the AYCE pizza buffet place. They were not ready for us. We rode in with us 3 and Mellow Mike (another thru hiker, mid 20's and the most mellow person i've ever met, thus his trailname), when we got there Atlas, Scorch, Goofy, Shivers, Terrapin, and Kiwi were already there. Luckily the pizza was buffet style so we just helped ourselves but the poor lady who was refilling our drinks was practically running between the fountain pop dispenser and our tables. I put down about 4 plates of pizza before my stomach started getting pissed at me for all the grease, so i only had one more plate of pizza before stopping. We got a few beers on the way back to the hostel and watched a movie there.
Date: 2004-05-25
From: Erwin, TN

To: Curley Maple Gap Shelter
Miles today: 4.3
Weather: broken clouds

This is what you call a nero, practically a zero day...We went to breakfast then the post office (i mailed home my old backpack and decided i'd rather have the comfort and room of the backpack i started with). We went back to the hostel and got all packed up but instead of leaving right away we sat around the porch of the hostel talking with mellow mike (who was zeroing today) and sarah (a section hiker). i wasn't all that motivated because my shin muscle was hurting, i guess it is a shin splint? i've never had one before but i suppose i do now. It was also very hot out again. After a bit of sitting around Siren and Butterfingers went and got us some sandwiches and after eating we decided to hike the 4 miles to the next shelter to at least get out of town.It is only the three of us at the shelter tonight and we got there by 5ish so we had plenty of time to relax. Just as it was starting to get dark though, Yogi, Shoe, Goofy and Terrapin came down the trail from the North??? They didn't have their normal packs on, only little day packs. That's right you guessed it they had become....... SLACKPACKERS!!!! I had heard about these folks, but didn't think they really existed. Those four had stayed at a hostel in the center of town (miss Janet's place). Apparently she will drive you up the trail and give you day packs and you hike back to town and stay with her another night then she drops you off where you left off the next day. So those guys hiked 17 miles without their packs. The B@$tards... Now all those guys will be a ways ahead of us so i'm not sure if we'll be able to catch them.
Date: 2004-05-26
From: Curley Maple Gap Shelter

To: Clyde Smith
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We were on the trail by 740 this morning which may be our best start yet. The trail went over some really nice grassy balds today. We stopped and ate lunch under a tree on the last bald. We also relaxed for a bit at a shelter after lunch. Since we were all feeling good we decided to push on and either camp somewhere near the trail or try for the next shelter. This is about the time that i realized i never actually experienced true chafing before. Sure i've felt some discomfort before due to friction in places i'd rather not have friction, but until today i had never experience the 'raw' power of chafing...During our hike i think we interrupted flight training school for some birds. Ray-way was on point then butterfingers then me. A little bird flew in front of butterfingers and i. It made an attempt to land on a branch, missed, then kept flying down the trail and landed right on Ray-way's backpack. At this point all sorts of chirping was going on as if the birds were saying 'get out of there!'. So after sitting on the backpack for a second or two the little guy flew off.We probably would have camped today but around 6 it started to storm pretty good so we just kept hiking for the shelter. At one point the lightning appeared a little too close and we were heading up a hill so Butterfingers got out her tarp and we sat under it for a while to wait out the lightning. After a bit we pushed on and finally made the shelter. The wind before we got to the shelter was pretty bad though, the rain at one point was coming directly sideways at us. It's never a good thing when your ear drum is being pelted with rain drops. At the shelter there was just enough room for the 3 of us. Luckily it was Goofy, terrapin, Yogi, and shoe at the Shelter so we all squeezed in. The next morning Yogi was listening to his radio and he said tornadoes had touched down in the area... i guess that's why the rain was sideways.**********Sorry no entries in a while. The library was closed the day Dan was in Hot Springs. We will eventually get Dan's journal onto the web page - we're working on it! (He writes a little entry in a notebook about every day on the trail.) Anyway...he's still doing well! Different aches & pains along the way, but overall doing great. In the mean time, Steph has 'pocketmail' so her journal has been updated more frequently...Dan is in a lot of her photos as well as the stories in her journal. Go to Dan's May 10 entry for the link to her page!-Jen 5/26/2004**********
Date: 2004-05-27
From: Clyde Smith

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

None of us were exactly looking forward to todays hike, since yesterdays storm soaked all our boot and socks and nothing dried at all overnight. But as we progressed up roan mountain the sun came out. Roan mountain had some great evergreen forests at the top, which is very different then the types of forests we have walked through so far. At the top the sun peaked out just enough for us to take a lunch break and at least partially dry out our boots. Roan mountain is also the last time the AT goes over 6,000 feet until up in new england. After roan mountain there were some really nice balds with great views. The shelter tonight is really neat. It is an old barn that was partially converted into a shelter and looks out over a valley. Goofy, Terrapin, Shoe, Yogi and a few others are here with us tonight. Supposedly this barn was the back drop or something for the movie The People Under the Stairs....
Date: 2004-05-28
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Roan Mtn, TN
Miles today: 8.7

This morning was slow going cause we awoke to rain. Ray-Way, Butterfingers and I sat and played cards trying to wait out the weather. The first time we played cards we played 'sparts', some wierd combination of spades and hearts, this time i think we got spades right. Finally the weather let up and the sun actually came out so we made a break for it. Today we finished with North Carolina, state #2 done! We came out to a road crossing and headed into Roan Mountain Tenessee to go to the Post Office to get some mail drops. While at the post office we were trying to figure out a place to go for the night so we wouldn't have to hike back to the trail and to a shelter since it had started raining again. A father and his daughter overheard us talking and offered us to stay at their house. They didn't look like Psychos so we took them up on their offer. They stopped at the grocery store for us, and cooked us up a big spaghetti dinner too.   The father (Erik) was a colonel in the air force and was a very interesting and knowledgable guy. While cooking us dinner he told us "the bad news is your in a dry county, but the good news is your in a wet house". So he even let us open a couple of bottles of wine to have with dinner. We even were able to do our laundry, shower, and sleep in our own beds. It was a most unexpected and memorable evening.
Date: 2004-05-29
From: Roan Mtn, TN

To: unknown campsite
Miles today: 15.0

Even after telling Erik several times that we would like to treat him to breakfast we still awoke to the smell of bacon/eggs and coffee. He even cooked up an extra pound of bacon for us to have while hiking that day. After breakfast he gave us a ride back to the trail.The hiking today was a bit rough. The terrain wasn't all that bad but all day long we were unsure where we were which didn't help our morale. The trail was apparently re-routed through this area and the books/maps were just plain wrong. We did go by a real nice waterfall though which was the highlight of the day. We were attempting to make it to the next shelter but we kept thinking we were almost there but never did make it. We finally found a decent spot to camp and called it a day. We hiked with Bluebird (an approximate 40 yr old korean woman, also a thru-hiker) for part of the day and she ended up camping with us tonight.
Date: 2004-05-30
From: unknown campsite

To: Dennis Cove Road (Kincora Hostel)
Miles today: 9.6

Rainy day today. We stopped in at Kincora Hostel to get a mail drop of mine. We had planned on pushing on but the rain changed our minds. It was good that we ended up staying, because the hostel was really a neat place and we were able to spend some time talking with the guy who runs the hostel. He is head of the local trail club and was telling us about some of the crazy building codes that apply even to the shelters and privies. For the life of me i can't understand why a shelter or privy is required to be handicap accessible????? Does this make sense to any sane person? If someone can hike up to the privy I'm betting that they can figure out a way to get their butt on the toilet.... Apparently some handicap person a few years ago tried proving a point (what point i don't know) so he made a big stink and maybe even sued the ATC (appalachian trail conference). He also had about 10 people help carry him up part of the trail to one of the shelters. Actually I do know what point he proved, even if you try and help people by building shelters and privies some jack@ss will be out there to make it harder on you just because he can.
Date: 2004-05-31
From: Dennis Cove Road (Kincora Hostel)

To: Wutauga Lake Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: moderate rain

Almost didn't hike at all today. It was looking like rain and the hostel was nice and dry and a lot of our friends were staying the day there. To top it all off there was talk that 'Miss Janets' hostel in Erwin was picking up hikers to have a BBQ at Wutauga Lake for Memorial Day. Since the trail went right by there Ray-way, Butterfingers, Mellow-Mike and I decided to hike the 10 miles to the lake and meet everyone there. So we gave some money to Terrapin for beers and food. We got to the lake a little after our meeting time and didn't see anyone yet so we took a swim and relaxed for a bit, but after an hour and a half no one showed up... We decided to see if they went to the shelter because there was also talk of a rope swing near the shelter and we were just in the picnic area. So we hiked the extra 1.7 miles to the shelter but no one was there either... We had been so excited about the BBQ but never did see anyone.   I know I personally thought those rat b@stards were completely innocent and I didn't utter one bad word about those donkeys, but ray-way and butterfingers didn't have much good to say.... (As it turns out they ended up catching up with us a week later and we found out Miss Janet didn't show up till 8pm when we were suppose to meet at 4)
Date: 2004-06-01
From: Wutauga Lake Shelter

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: few clouds

**********New pics just posted. More to come soon, along with picture descriptions and more journal entries. Stay tuned...Jen (6/27/2004)**********We were all a bit sluggish today. We were hoping to do 20 miles today and another 20 miles tomorrow to get into Damascus where we planned on a zero day, but after about 14 miles we were ready to call it a day. When we got to the shelter there was a boy scout troop there. Actually it was only part of the boy scout troop. There were apparently going to be about 14 of them. They offered us room in the shelter but we all decided to tent. The three of us and Mellow-Mike decided to play some euchre. A little later the rest of the boy scout troop rolled in. I felt pretty bad for a couple of those kids, some of them were not exactly having fun and one kid was limping into camp due to chafing. Ouch.
Date: 2004-06-02
From: Iron Mountain Shelter

To: "The Place" Hostel, Damascus, VA
Miles today: 26.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Did the marathon into Damascus today. The feet were hurting a bit but not as much as I thought they would be. They might not be hurting as much because I was pretty excited to have finished with Tennessee, my 3rd state down! Also the trail has been really great recently as far as the types of forests go. Sometimes within a one to two mile stretch you can go from evergreens with mossy covered areas to aspen balds then to rhododendron thickets then to maple covered hillsides with thick undergrowth. Many times I'll get into a hiking zone & suddenly realize I'm in a completely different type of forest.Once in Damascus we got some bunks at "The Place" hostel which is run by the Methodist Church in town. We immediately went down to the pizza joint in town to gorge ourselves. Mellow-Mike & his friend Adam, who will be hiking with him for a couple of months, met us there. Adam's girlfriend Meg was dropping him off and had a Blazer so after dinner the six of us piled in and pretended we were back in high school and got some beer, found a parking lot, and drank a few beers. (The Place doesn't allow alcohol.)**********This entry posted on 7/2/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-03
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Zero day!Nothing too exciting today, the usual resupplying & visit to the outfitters. I am personally protesting calling non-hiking days 'zero days'. My idea of a 'zero day' would be sitting and/or lying on a couch all day without my feet ever touching the ground. Unfortunately though the grocery store, post office, outfitters, restaurants, and hostel are not all on the same block so we spend most of our zero days walking around all day.For dinner we went to Dot's Inn. We found Dave Underfoot there and sat with him. Dave is also a thru-hiker. He is from Australia and is a real nice guy. Some food and a pitcher of beer turned into 4 pitchers. It ended up being a late night. At least a late night for us hikers and Dot's Inn, we just about closed the bar down at 10:30...The highlight of the evening was seeing one of the regulars ride home from the bar on his lawnmower.**********This entry posted on 7/5/2004********************Dan has made it into another state! He is taking a zero day today in Damascus, VA. He says he 'hiked a marathon' yesterday (or the day before?), too! They hiked ~26 miles, I guess. Sounds like he's still doing great. He says it's 80s & sunny down there, a little hot for him, but not too bad. He was jealous to hear about the 60s & sunny weather in Rochester right now, though! (jealous of Rochester weather?!?!?) More later...-Jen 6/3/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-04
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

So we meant to leave today, we really did. We got breakfast then headed back to pack and go. On the way back tot he hostel we passed the do-it-yourself carwash in which was Yogi trying to powerwash the funk out of his backpack. If it works I'll be doing the same.We went back to the hostel, packed up, hit the post office, got lunch, stopped at the outfitters, and the next thing we knew it was 5 pm when we were at the edge of town. Since it was so late we decided to just head back to the hostel and leave first thing in the morning. We ended up BBQing with some other hikers and getting to bed early.**********This entry posted on 7/5/2004**********
Date: 2004-06-05
From: Damascus, VA

To: Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

We finally made it out of Damascus today. I was pretty disappointed today though. Handstand (a friend of mine who hiked the trail in 2002) had been in Damascus 3 weeks earlier and he hiked to this shelter from a forest service road a could of miles away, hid some beers under the shelter, and left me a note in the register. He sent me an e-mail letting me know [the hiding spot of the beers], but when we got to the shelter the register was new and didn't have Handstand's note and somehow someone must have found the beers. I don't see how someone found them because underneath the shelter was pretty nasty. Thanks for trying, Handstand!**********This entry posted on 7/5/2004**********