morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-05-10
From: Hurricane Mtn. Shelter

To: Hurricane Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: light rain

Hurricane Mtn Shelter14.9 miles (498.4 total miles)We woke up this morning to overcast skies. It was a warm overcast, so it wasn't like any weather we've had yet this year. We headed out and immediately hit Grayson Highlands State Park. There were wide open fields with fun rock formations. It was a little slow over the rocks, but the wide open views and rolling hills were incredible.We came down one particular hill and found a field full of wild ponies. We stopped to take off our packs, and 3 ponies walked right up to us. We pet them and they licked us, looking for handouts. There must have been 15 of them, all different sizes and colors. They just wandered the fields, eating grass. We walked all around them, and most didn't mind us petting them. We enjoyed our hike through the Highlands.We wandered down another 7 miles or so to Old Orchard Shelter. We hadn't planned on going any farther, but it was early. We heard some thunder in the distance, so we settled in for a while. After about a half hour, it started sprinkling. The rains increased until it was a downpour. Thunder crashed overhead, and the tin roof was banging. Then the hail started falling hard. I felt bad for the folks behind us, but I sure enjoyed sitting in the shelter watching the ain come down. I'm not sure if it's the manditory rest or the gratitude of being dry, but it felt great to just sit back and watch it pour.The rain stopped only about 20 minutes later, and the sun popped out. It was time for another 4 miles. We headed down to the road, where we saw a van with the words "trail magic" on it. We approached to see what was going on. An '00 thru hiked (Soleman) and his wife (Andi) invited us over. They drove down from Indianapolis just to give the hikers a treat. They cooked us chili, and gave us chips and soda. We talked for about an hour, comparing trail stories and enjoying dinner.We eventually left, hiking out with Snowman and Spark Plug. We went to a brand new shelter named Hurricane Mountain. It looks fairly clear now, but we're not going to tent out and chance the rain. We are not sure how to break up the next 2 days. We only have 20 miles left to go. It is kind of nice to be forced to take it slow.
Date: 2005-05-11
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: clear sky

Trimpi Shelter10.2 miles (508.6 total miles)We woke up this morning wondering how to break up our last 20 miles over 2 days. The obvious choice was to stop at the shelter which was almost exactly in the middle. But we knew it was only 10 easy miles, and we'd be there well before noon. How would be spend our penultimate day on the trail? Someone mentioned they were hitching into Troutdale for breakfast. There was our answer. Troutdale was a trail town that neither of us had ever been to (nor do we care to go back). JoAnne took off, knowing that a real breakfast was just a few miles away. I ran along behind her, eager for a good meal. We got to the road at about 8:45. For some reason, we were both imagining an easy hitch from some friendly folks who lived in the quaint little community of Troutdale. I am not sure why we each independently came to this vision, but we were both in for disappointment.We got to the road crossing, and stuck our thumbs out for the first 2 cars that went by. Then it was about another 10 minutes before any other traffic passed. The few cars that went by seems quite disinterested in us. We waited and waited with our stomachs growling. A few other hikers who had stayed at our shelter last night showed up. Soon there were about 7 of us waiting to catch a ride into town. We saw several get dropped off out of town, but no luck going into town. After about a hour and a half, we thought of just skipping town. But we'd either be sitting at the roadside, or sitting at the shelter. And I knew as soon as we left, our ride would drive by. We waited it out. Finally at about 10:20, a truck drove up to drop of some hikers from town. He saw our large group waiting for rides, and decided to help us out. He piled us all in back, and drove us back into town. I guess "town" is a relative word, as this was just a store, and not a very nice one. It was a sort of thrift store, along with a general store and restaurant. There were piles of stuff everywhere. And it was just generally dirty. If the hikers are complaining that it is dirty, the place must be pretty bad.We ate and left as quickly as we could. We just wanted to leave. We hit a stroke of luck on our way out, as the second vehicle passing turned around and came back for us. We just hopped in the back of their pickup, and knocked on the window when we wanted to stop. It was actually refreshing to get 2 good hitches to end our trip with, instead of the scary one into Abingdon. We hiked just 4 miles to the Trimpi Shelter. We heard a loud rumble of thunder, but the storms never made it this far. In fact, it was another hot day of hiking on the trail.We hit Trimpi Shelter a little after 1:00. I wasn't sure what to do with the rest of my day. But it wasn't long until I was sound asleep for a nice afternoon nap. JoAnne found a book in the shelter about a lady and her cat who solve murders together, and she got into that. Other than swatting a few bugs, it was great to have a long afternoon wth nothing to do in the woods. I wish there had been more time to do this on our hike.
Date: 2005-05-13
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Partnership Shelter10.6 miles (519.2 total miles)Well, we are through hiking (not thru-hiking). We wrapped up the first leg of our adventure today with a 10.6 mile hike into Partnership Shelter. It is fitting, as I just did the math and figured out that for our whole hike, we averaged 10.6 miles per day. Considering all the days we were forced off the trail due to cold weather and illness, we think that's a pretty decent average.When we got up this morning, Bravo asked if we were sleeping in a zoo. There were just four of us humans sleeping in the shelter area, but we heard deer, and bugs, and dogs, and owls. It was a fairly easy hike today. We started off through a cow pasture, where we mooed at the cows. (The babies were a little scared of us.) We hiked over a few more PUDs and saw a deer. Then it was a gentle down into Partnership Shelter, which came way before we expected it.We got into Partnership at about 11:00. We are spending most of the day here with Dorothy (without Toto) and Bravo. The shelter is right next to the Mount Rogers Visitor Center, which has flush toilets, soda machines, and a telephone. So we ordered a pizza and wrote out some emails. Last Minute should be here tonight to pick us up and shuttle us to the Trail Days festival back in Damascus.So we are done with our hike, for which we have mixed emotions. We will miss all the friends we have made out here, and we wish them the best of luck on the rest of their hike. But we are excited for our future plans. In a couple weeks we'll be pedaling through Oregon, something neither of us ever expected to be doing. We know that more wonderful people and great adventure awaits us there.
Date: 2005-05-15
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0

Trail Days519.2 total milesWe ended our hike with a great celebration. It was Trail Days in Damascus, VA. Last Minute showed up late Thursday night (at the last minute) to meet us at Partnership Shelter. Since the shelter was almost full, he slept at the hikers's feet. Being done with the trail, and with the excitement of seeing many of our old friends, it was hard to get to sleep.On Friday morning we had breakfast, and cleaned up as best we could. Then we headed into the Trail Days festival. It didn't take long until we ran into some old friends. After chatting for a while, we moved on and ran into some more. It was pretty much like that all day. We had a great time hanging out with Moo & 42, and playing with their new twins. Finally, about 2 hours before the video presentation, we decided to take a slow walk over there. But we couldn't make our way across town in 2 hours because we kept running into old friends.Lion King's video had a very good turnout, and was well received (his video, Walking With Freedom, is a documentary on the AT that was filmed in '03, and features us and many of our friends). It was fun to watch surrounded by all the hikers that were in the film ("What was the question again?"). The crowd applauded as we reached the summit of Katahdin, which gave me goosebumps. The video got a standing ovation and sold many copies.Saturday was the big day for Trail Days. We walked through all the vendor booths and watched the talent show. We got hit with a thunderstorm right as the hiker parade was about to start. The parade was delayed by about 15 minutes, and when they finally stated it, no one bothered to stop traffic. The result was thousands of hikers walking down a crowded road in the middle of a rainstorm. What could the passing motorists have been thinking?We ended the day with the AT class of '03 gathering at the Italian restaurant for dinner. One of the hikers was kind enough to take the bill. There turned out to be about 60 of us there. We went around the room and stated our names and anything interesting that we were up to. It was great to see some faces to put with the names I had read in the register for a year. It was also fun to hear what everyone was doing. It was inspiring to see all these cool people doing more impressive things, such as planning a PCT thru-hike.We are now in transition. We are heading out to Colorado to pick up our bikes, and eventually to Oregon. We are lucky to have such helpful family to shuttle us around to airports and take care of us. We are excited about our upcoming cycling adventure. We are not sure what to expect, but that is half the fun.For anyone interested in following our bike trip, you can follow along on our official adventure website: www.MercuryWorm.com. Thanks for reading!
Date: 2005-05-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I am ready to leave! Only thing is I can't leave for another week. If you have followed the progress of the Texas Teachers for the last 3 years, you know that Dorothy and I are a couple of 56 year old teachers from Georgetown, Texas. Dorothy is a breast cancer survivor and that is the basic reason for our hiking. All the details are given in our earlier journals. This year it will only be a Texas Teacher hiking - Dorothy is staying home. She and her brother are going to spend some time with their Dad, and she had a little minor surgery that will keep her from exercising for a week or 2, so she has decided to stay home. I'm not real sure how this is going to go without my guide along. I spend half my time listening to Dorothy say "Colbert, the trail is over here!" I expect to get lost a lot. Oh well, I guess it's time to grow up and try things on my own for a while. I am also going to miss having my friend along. Somehow, sharing things seems to make them more important and a lot more enjoyable. At any rate, I will be hiking alone this year, at least until Damascus. The plan is to leave Georgetown on Thursday, May 26 when I get through checking out of school ( I teach 9th grade World Geography) and drive as far as I can towards Erwin TN, where we got off last year. On Friday I will drive to Erwin, leave the car, and begin hiking. I hope to get to a campsite about 12 miles from Erwin. From there I will take it one day at a time. I want to be in Damascus by Sat., June 4th to meet up with some friends. It will be a pretty agressive hike to make it though. Anyway, I get to leave in a week and I can't wait. More later.
Date: 2005-05-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I am starting to get my gear together. I have a new Hennessy Hammock to take this year. Dorothy and I have used a Coleman 2 man tent for the last 3 years and it has worked well, but it weighs 6 lbs - the hammock weighs 2 1/2. I got the Explorer model because it was on sale and it will handle up to 250 lbs. Since I weigh 185 that will give me a little cusion. But the real reason was the price. When I set it up I was disappointed to find that the rain fly was too small. We had a pretty good thunderstorm and the darn thing was soaked! So I bought some silnylon and made a new one and it works great! It did add 4-5 oz., but I can lose that much by cutting out a couple of beers this week. I have everything packed and it looks like I will be carrying around 35 lbs with water and food. It's a little higher than I wanted, but I am also carrying 5-6 days worth of food since I am not sure where I will resupply between Erwin and Damascus. I would like to get all the way to Kincora before I need to stop.   Took a quick training run today with the fully loaded pack. Went 4 miles in a little less than 90 minutes. It was pretty flat, but it was also 97 degrees! Summer came early this year. Maybe the heat will help, 'cause we sure don't have any mountains around here. I'll go out again tomorrow for about five miles and again on Tue. for 6 miles, then I leave for Tenn. on Thur. No work on Wed. or Thur., because as we all know, rest is a vital part of training, and it is the part I do the best!
Date: 2005-05-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today was hot! I went 5 miles in 95 degree heat. It was a pretty good training hike. I carried the full pack and clicked along about 2 1/2 or 3 miles per hout. Problem is there aren't any mountains around here. Doesn't really matter anyway because I am heading for TN on Thur. and I have been hitting the bicycle for about 20 miles a day for 2 or 3 days a week for the past month or so. I think I have everything pretty well set to go. I still have to give finals for 3 days and get everyting closed out on Thur. I really am going to miss some of my kids from this year, but I am also really ready to start hiking. I think the next entry should be from somewhere between Erwin and Damascus.
Date: 2005-05-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Its'getting close! All I have to do is go to school tomorrow and have breakfast and say good-bye. I am completely closed out for the year. I should be able to get away by 9:30 or 10:00. I will drive as far as I can and then get up on Fri. and continue to Erwin. It is about an 18 hour drive. I hoped to get started by noon of Fri. but that is looking less and less likely. It doesn't matter, I will be on the trail Fri.! I will go as far as I can and then stop - probably Curley Maple Gap Shelter, but maybe a little further. With the hammock I can be a little more flexible. At any rate, I can't wait to get started. I am going to meet Bill, John and ? at Damascus on Sat., June 4, so I will probably need to catch a ride somewhere along the way somewherem, so it really doesn't matter how far I get on Fri. The pack is pretty close to where I want it - about 36 lbs. Man, I don't know how those guys who get down to 25 lbs. do it. I am using hammock, alcohol stove and I'm carrying hardly any clothes. Oh well, I am comfortabel with it. Next entry from the trail! Yea!! Until later - Texs Teacher
Date: 2005-05-26
From: Georgetown

To: Erwin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

It's a long way from Georgetown to Erwin! Almost 1200 miles. I got here about 12:30 and by the time I get bite to eat and get started, I have decided to only go to the first shelter, which is only about 4 miles. I shoulc be able to make it in a couple of hours without any trouble. Since the next campsite would take me about 7 hours to reach, I decided it might be pushing it for the first day. Soooo, here I am in the Erwin library. I stopped last night somewhere about 100 miles east of Memphis and found a motel. As I was walking in at about 8:30, I past a Pizza Hut delivery man. It was like a bolt from the blue! I knew it was a sign from above that I was supposed to have pizza and beer for my last supper before getting on the trail. Across the street was a gas station that sold "Coronitas", which I had never seen. That was a 6-pack of 7oz Corona's. I didn't really want a whole 6 pack, so those 6 little guys just fit the bill! Not only that, but the left over pizza made a perfect breakfast this morning. I got up about 5:00 and was wide awake, so I hit the road. It turned out to be a good thing because I hit Nashville about 6:30 and the traffic was already starting to build. It's a good thing I didn't hit it an hour later. Well, I think I will go find Uncle Johnny's Hostel, park the car, and head up the trail.Texas Teacher
Date: 2005-05-27
From: Erwin

To: Curley Maple Gap Shelter
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, it happened sooner than I thought it would - I got lost before I started hiking! I couldn't find Uncle Johnny's Hostel to leave my car. I finally asked and found it right where it had been all along. I did pick up a couple of hikers and took them to Ms. Janet's. They were from Texas and Dan had graduated from Texas Tech in 2002. When he saw the TT sticker on the car, he had to have his picture taken with me and the car. Finally started hiking at 2:00 PM. Saw a wild turkey along the way. I did my best turkey call and had the poor bird so confused ti didn't know what to do! It knew I wasn't a turkey, but it didn't know what I really was. Every time I would call, it would call back and then run about 10 feet and stop. We played around for about 10 minutes before it got tired and left. I got to the shelter about 4:00. 2 guys were there - Snake and Dillinger. Later 2 girls from Georgia showed up - Farenheit and Bag Lady. I stayed in the shelter and after I fixed supper i realized that I had everything I needed but my spoon. Oh well, I can work around that.
Date: 2005-05-28
From: Curley Maple Gap Shelter

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: light rain

Woke up at 6:00 and got an early start. th efirst few miles were easy and I made good time. It was cool and started to rain soon after I left. As long as I kept moving, it was OK. Stopped after 7 miles and had soom ramen. Beauty spot was socked in and there were no views. The climb up Unaka Mtn wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be - 1100 feet in 1.6 miles. My new favorite word is "switchback". I got to Cherry Gap at about 1:45 and decided not to push on as this is only my second day and I don't want to hurt myself. Everyone says the climb up Roan mountain is pretty tough and I will hit there tomorrow or Mon. I think I will take it easy until then. Slept in the hammock and it was great! Here with the same crowd as last night.
Date: 2005-05-29
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Stopped at the Greasy Creek Friendly Hostel. It was great! Had a turkey sandwich, got on the internet and called Dorothy. She didn't answer, but Farenheit and Baf Lady talked to her later and told her I was OK. I forgot to leave a message. I met the girls going in when I was coming out. Not a bad day of hiking - lots of ups and downs. I left about 7:45 and got to the hostel about 11:30. I had lunch and stayed there for about 2 hours. Dillinger was there when I got there and was still there when I left. Got to the shelter abvout 2:45 and Dillinger showed up about 3:00 and said he was going another 12 miles. Bag Lady and Farenheit got in about 5:30. Tomorrow is Roan Mtn. It is supposed to be one of the prettiest parts of the trail, but the climb is also supposed to be one of the harder ones. Going to Overmountain Shelter, which is about 13 miles. I'm looking forward to it. I'm feeling good and really enjoying the hike so far.
Date: 2005-05-30
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Overmouintain Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

From Clyde Smith to Roan High Knob was tough! Left at 7:30 and got there at 12:00 - 6.4 miles in 5 1/2 hours. Stopped at the top for about an hour and then headed down to Overmountain Shelter. Hiked with Snake all day and enjoyed his company. Grandpa Bob and Tucker (Texas Tech), Bag Lady and Farenheit and another couple with their dog Zowie were all there. Overmountain is an old barn and has spectacular views. In fact, today may ahve been one of the prettiest days I've seen. But it came at a price. A couple of hard climbs - one fo 700 feet in only ahlf a mile and then up Roan Mtn - 2300 feet in about 3 miles. I'm exhausted. Grandpa Bob says he heard that there is rain in the forcast for the next couple of days. I'll go to Appple House Shelter tomorrow (8.2 miles) and decide what to do from there. so far this has been a great hike, but I sure do miss having Dorothy around. I keep thinking about how much she would be enjoying the people and the views.
Date: 2005-05-31
From: Overmouintain Shelter

To: Campsite
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: scattered clouds

What a day! I have never hiked so far in one day, and I didn't really mean to do it today. Went through the Roan Highlands - absolutly beautiful! It is a series of balds with views that simply cannot be described. Hiked most of the morning with Grandpa Bob. He is 61 and just finished his secong career. He was in the army and his second career was as a high school principal in the Dallas area. His hiking partner is Tucker, a 2002 Texas Tech grad. I met them both the first day in Erwin. I had planned to camp at a site that would have been about a 14 mile day - pretty good for me in my first week. When I got there, the site was crimmy, just a grass field and nowhere to hang my hammock, so I moved on to a site that was about 2 miles further on. It was only about an hour and I had plenty of time. When I got there, there had been a fire and the site was terrible. So I move on. Grandpa Bob and Tucker had said there was a site just a little futher that they were going to camp. I don't know if I missed it or not, but the next site I found was at about 6:00 and I was pooped! I stopped and set up my hammock in a beautiful place along a little stream. About 10 minutes later, Tucker showed up and said he was pretty sure Bob had taken a wrong turn somewhere and that he was going to wait for him. I told him I was pretty sure that Bob had not passed me, so we waited. Sure enough, Bob came along in about 15 minutes. We had all gone on a short (.1 mile) side trip to see Jones falls, the highest water fall on the AT. When Bob came out, he turned back south. fortunately he met another hiker and stopped to talk to him. When he asked why he was hiking southbound, then hiker said he was going north. Then they were both confused, but finally figure out which was was north and we all ended up camping together. Rain was expected, but never materialized.