morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-06
From: Hike Inn, Fontana Dam

To: Birch Spring Tent Site
Miles today: 7.5

Dusk is just about over--      ¢ night is coming nigh.¢ In a minute or two I¢ll have to turn on my head- lights to continue writing. I am now in the Smokies in my tent, completely alone as I have been ever since I was dropped off around 11 O¢clock this morning. This campsite is superb and I¢ll describe it for you, but you¢ll need to indulge me and cup your hands together in the Allstate ¢ you¢re in good hands¢ fashion. There, you¢ve just created the cove in which I am camped.The AT runs along the tips of your fingers with north being toward your left thumb. The tenting area is about 300 feet below the Trail where your palms are. A natural Spring begins on the hillside, about at the second knuckle of your pinky fingers, and forms a small gurgling stream, represented by the line formed where your hands comes together. My tent is pitched a little below the callous on your right hand and on a perfectly flat site, made so by the Park Custodians who used logs to create a small retaining wall and backfilled it with dirt. Not only does this arrangement make a great tent-site but also a perfect seat in cooking platform. Now comes the hard part. Imagine that the skin on your palms and fingers is made up of soft new ferns, dispersed about every 20 feet or so, with a tree standing 50 to 75 feet high. The tops of them are now murmuring in the light breeze that¢s just come up. Throughout the ferns are small purple violets and white and pink trillium. The birds have just gone silent and there¢s hardly a sound to be heard in the cove. The sky has been clear all day -- sunny and quite warm actually--so I expect the moon will soon be lighting this entire cove. My tent is a very light mesh for bug protection so it¢s just like sleeping outside without a tent at all--I can see everything in the palms of your hand, even with only a faint glow from the parting day beyond the mountains to the west (where your shoulders are)Earlier today I crossed over Fontana Dam, and stopped in the Visitors Center to watch a video on how it was built. Mid-afternoon I climbed to the top of the abandoned fire- lookout tower on Shuckstack Mountain for a wonderful panorama covering hundreds of square miles of mountains and Fontana Lake.My day began after a 10 1/2-hour sleep, in a hot tub, then a shower and a good-bye to Jeff and Nancy Hock who own the Hike-Inn and have really been helpful and fun hosts. ¢Swedish¢ and ¢Shannon¢, whom I met the trail earlier, were at the Inn last night and we had a chance to get know one another. They both recently graduated from Colgate and he¢s thru-hiking and she¢s ¢tagging along¢ for a few weeks to keep him company. I hope to see them again along the way sometime. Now though, it¢s time to get some sleep, knowing I am in particularly good hands, for sure.
Date: 2004-05-07
From: Birch Spring Tent Site

To: Spence Field Shelter
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was the ¢Day of the Bluets¢ (tiny wild flowers with four blue petals and a centered yellow circle inside of which is a bright red dot.) They line the trail, mile after mile. Literally, millions of them. It felt like I was following the Smoky Mountain version of the Road to Oz except it was blue bluets instead of yellow bricks that was leading me on.The day was again perfect for hiking¢-warm but not hot, low humidity, cloudless skies and a lot of BOB. I¢ve read that the GSMNP (Great Smoky Mountains National Park) has more varieties of trees and shrubs within its boundaries than can be found in all of Continental Europe. After today¢s walk, I can believe it. At one point the Trail ran up a slope directly to the middle of a acre of white wild flowers that was so thick that at first it looked as if there was 6 inches of snow on the ground. Breathtaking.Spence Field Shelter, where I am staying tonight is just that -- a huge grassy field ringed with what appears to be a very old orchard of flowering apple trees. The shelter is one tenth of a mile down a side trail and it¢s an old one with a chain link fence across the front (and a weathered sign that says ¢Don¢t Eat the Humans.¢) Of the twelve of us staying here tonight, only two are inside the fenced area and the rest of us are in our tents down around the grassy knoll on which it¢s built. It¢s been a beautiful, peaceful day for a walk in the woods. I met a Park huntsman on the Trail: a true woodsman from a day long gone. He was dressed in a well-worn combination of hunting and hiking clothes and carrying a 30-30 rifle he uses to hunt wild boar for a living on behalf of the National Parks Department. Tied to his pack were half a dozen hairy pigtails that at first glance looked a lot like human scalps! He told me that he¢d be paid $50 for each pigtail he brings in when he returns from his two weeks in the woods.At noontime I stopped at Mollies Ridge Shelter where I met the local ¢Ridge Runner,¢ a fellow named ¢Gray Beard¢ his job is to walk the trails and help people who need assistance, look for people who are lost, etc. While there I read the Shelter Log and was pleased to see that ¢Coyote,¢ Wayne, ¢Flippy,¢ ¢Meanderthal,¢ Carl, ¢Yola,¢ ¢The Garlano Five,¢ ¢Blue¢ and yes, ¢Turtle Don¢ had all made it this far about three weeks earlier! Good for them! Apparently ¢Blue¢ spent four days with Jeff and Nancy at the Hike Inn to rest her sprained ankle before returning to the Trail.The big milestone for the day was having reached my third State¢Tennessee! The Trail runs up the ridge of mountains that serves as the border between Tennessee and North Carolina so some of the time one foot is in one State and one foot is in the other.The sun is down now and everyone is reading, or journaling or chit-chatting quietly. Someone is playing an Indian flute. The birds are singing taps and soon it will be sleep time in the Smokies.
Date: 2004-05-09
From: Silers Bald Shelter

To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 12.8

Up early and on the trail after a quick breakfast and some genuine ¢See ya later¢s¢, ¢Happy trails¢, ¢Stay dry¢s¢ all around.It takes only about two hours to get to the top of Clingmans Dome from Silers Bald, but it seems like a journey back in time-a hike of a millions of years. At 6,643¢Clingmans is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. When you are climbing and pass through it at 5,550 feet, the forest changes dramatically. At 5,500¢ there ceases to be any hardwoods¢no more Beech, Oak, Maple, Sassafras or Birch trees. Instead you step directly into an evergreen world of Balsam, Spruce, Hemlock, and other conifers. You enter the forest primeval. It is much darker, much more humid Moss has attached itself noticeably much cooler. At ground level moss has attached itself to everything ¢fallen rocks, tree trunks, and the Trail itself. Sounds are muted in this emerald world and an¢ eerie ¢other worldliness,¢ raises the hair on the back for your neck. The hike was strangely beautiful but with each switchback I expected to encounter some prehistoric crater starring me in the face.Upon arriving at the top of Clingmans Dome, I went to the observation tower where tourists in plaid shirts and Bermuda shorts spent more time observing me and asking questions and marveling at the fact that I was actually walking further than the distance from the parking lot to the front of the door of the Walmart. ¢Hey, Bertha, this here guy has walked all the way here from Georgia!¢ (One person actually did not know where Maine is when I told him where I was headed) I was more the scenery then the incredible view they were seeing from the tower. Even so, it was fun.I spent the afternoon hiking down towards Newfound Gap and was joined by ¢Freebird¢ while stopped for lunch. A few minutes after we began to eat it started to drizzle which soon became a steady downpour of soaking, cold, inescapable rain. By the time we arrived at Newfound Gap we were absolutely drenched. I rang out my ¢hiker to town¢ bandana and within a few minutes we had a ride into Gatlinburg. We thanked the mother and daughter who that had picked us up and did our best to bail out the puddles we had left in their backseat. We each got a room at the Ramada Inn, which is located in Gatlinburg is located in the center of town, and headed to our respective showers agreeing to meet up in the lobby an hour later for dinner.I cannot begin to describe to you what Gatlinburg is like! For now just picture it as being on the furthest possible point of the opposite end of the continuum of possible experiences from what I have been having for the last several weeks: It is gaudy, tawdry and in unbelievably bad taste. Talk about going from the sublime to the insane! But the good side of Gatlinburg is that it is affords us the chance to do laundry, clean up, and each enjoy a huge T-bone steak over some really good conversation together. After filling my belly I returned to my room and did some e-mails, phone mail and tucked myself in for a warm, dry bed and a solid night's sleep. Dry at last!
Date: 2004-05-10
From: Gatlinburg

To: Peck's Corner Shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: light rain

Couldn¢t wait to get out of the tacky, touristy, silliness of Gatlinburg and back to the woods! Whew! -- So, after a big breakfast, ¢Freebird¢ and I walked to the edge of town, hung out my ¢Hiker to Trail¢ bandana, stuck out our thumbs and within five minutes were riding with Rob and Sharon in the biggest F-150 truck I¢ve ever seen, on our way back to Newfound Gap. They were a really nice couple who were about to celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary. ¢Freebird¢ and I posed by the Appalachian Trail sign for them for a quick photo before heading up the Trail. Once we went into the woods we separated from one another without saying a word. I think we both instinctively knew we each needed a couple hours of personal quiet time to recover from the cultural shock of Gatlinburg. In the afternoon I ran into "Freebird¢ at a spot called ¢Charlie¢s Bunion Rock¢, a rock outcropping offering spectacular views of the Tennessee Smokies. From there we traveled for several hours together talking philosophy, theology, and metaphysics and swapping life stories. The afternoon route was one the most beautiful sections so far. The trail followed a narrow ridge¢ some places only 4 feet wide¢ with steep pitches on both sides and incredible views to the left and right. Much of the trail through this section had been constructed by CCC workers during the 30¢s, and it is still in incredible shape. A rain shower moved in for a while at which time ¢Freebird¢ moved on. I took my time to savor the views as the Smokies lived up to their name¢ watching clouds of mist rise from the hollows, take shape and then boil over the ridgelines. It was something to behold.Dinner at Peck¢s Corner Shelter was one of my favorites, but, for the first time, a double portion of Beef Stroganoff and a package of dehydrated Pea soup (each of which was supposed to serve two people) weren¢t filling. I¢m still hungry. Hmmm. Maybe all this walking is finally changing my metabolism?¢Swedish¢ and ¢Shannon¢ (whom I think should now be called ¢Firefly¢ after having spent at least an hour getting a fire going in the shelter), as well as ¢Jazz¢, ¢Wildthing¢, and ¢Billy the Kid¢ (from Maryland¢s eastern shore) are all here, as well as a group of locals from a hiking club are all bunking down in the shelter, as am I. ¢Freebird,¢ is here too. It¢s crowded but it¢ll be dry if it rains again.
Date: 2004-05-14
From: Todd, PA

To: New York City
Miles today: 0.0

While¢Zero-ing,¢at Fontana Dam on May 5th, I made a short journal entry indicating that I spent most of my time at the Robbinsville, NC library on the phone, online, and doing emails. Well, now I can tell you what I was up to because my efforts that day have come to fruition. A couple of years ago my business partner and close friend Barb Bridendolph purchased an old farm in Todd, PA to use as a family get-away. Since then she said repeatedly that someday she¢d like to get some llamas to keep there. So, in return for all the time she has afforded me away from work to pursue my Appalachian Trail dream, I spent a good part of that ¢Zero Day,¢ locating llamas for sale, purchasing them and making arrangements to get them delivered to her farm. All unbeknownst to her.After saying goodbye to ¢Freebird,¢on Wednesday at Standing Bear Farm a mile or so north of Davenport Gap an Enterprise Car Rental Agent picked me up and drove me to Knoxville, TN where I spent the night in a motel. Yesterday I flew to Pittsburg, rented another car and drove to Carlyle, PA where I met the folks from LLamalot Farm to finalize the logistics for delivering the llamas I had purchased to the ¢B¢s Nest¢ (Barb¢s farm) in Todd. My purchase included a male (subsequently named ¢Charlie¢), his pregnant female partner (¢Abagayle¢) and their nine month old son (¢Cusko¢).Early this morning the llamas arrived and were hidden in the barn awaiting Barb¢s arrival. She was expecting to meet some friends of mine who would supposedly be staying at the farm while passing through the area on vacation. Instead of my friends, she found me standing in the middle of the road (which was itself a bit of a shock because she thought I had returned to New York after leaving the Trail). Her surprise at seeing me was nothing in comparison to the surprise and shock when I took her to the barn and as if on cue, three llamas poked their heads out the stall window simultaneously. Mission accomplished!
Date: 2004-05-15
From: New York City

To: New York City
Miles today: 0.0

I often get asked by people who are interested in my AT Journey questions about security and safety on the Trail. Many ask me if I carry a gun or if I¢d feel safer if I had one. We¢ll, here¢s some perspective on that subject.On Saturday, May 15th I returned to New York and around 7:30 pm was sitting in a cab at a traffic light at the corner of 46th Street and the Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue) which is in the heart of New York¢s famed ¢Diamond District.¢ Suddenly off to our right, the driver and I heard three unmistakable ¢pop-pop-pop¢s¢ of gun shots! Immediately people in the intersection in front of us (we were in the first car in the line waiting for the light to change) began running wildly or lying down in the gutters, while others dove for cover behind light poles or wherever they could find it. The driver and I looked at each other as if to say, ¢What do we do?¢ and then looked back out of the window just as a man wearing black slacks, a white shirt, and blazer walked across the street in front of us from the direction of the shots had come- carrying a 9 mm Glock in his hand! As soon as he had passed in front of the cab I said to the driver, ¢Let¢s get out of here!¢ and, not needing any more encouragement, he floored the cab and we ran the light across 6th and kept on going. As we crossed the intersection a few yards up the sidewalk on 6th we saw a man, face down, in a puddle of blood. Later, when I had returned to the scene to share with the detective what I had observed, I learned later that he was shot three times in the back of the head. The detective looked as if she had stepped directly out of a movie-a tall, very attractive Afro-American woman wearing high heels and a cocktail dress with her blue and gold shield hung around her neck. She had a clipboard in one hand and a Walkie Talkie in the other and clipped to her purse was a small, snub nose 38 hand gun. She had me driven to the 38th Precinct by two undercover cops where, in a squad room also straight from a movie, I gave them my statement. After the bearded guy in a t-shirt (an undercover cop) finished up typing up (yes typing my statement) he told me that the ¢vic,¢ was a Russian diamond merchant who the day before had been subpoenaed by a Federal Grand Jury investigating money laundering activities of the US-based Russian ¢Mafia.¢ Coincidentally he told me, the victim¢s brother had also ¢died of lead poisoning,¢ (as the cop put it) six months earlier after he, too, had been subpoenaed to testify before the same Grand Jury.So that is why, I feel a whole lot safer not carrying a gun while hiking the AT than on the street s of New York in daylight. If I don¢t carry one in New York for safety, there¢s certainly no point in carrying one on the Trail!
Date: 2004-05-26
From: New York City

To: TRAIL-BOUND (III)
Miles today: 0.0

This Friday, 5/28, I'll be resuming my hike of the Appalachian Trail at Bearwallow Gap, about 40 miles North of Roanoke, VA. I'm jumping ahead from where I last left off a few hundred miles in hopes of running into the "March 25th Crew" who all started together back at Springer Mountain... i.e. Coyote, Blue, Turtle Don, Meanderthal, Wizard, Flippy, Wayne, Yola, Garland 5, etc. I'm hoping to see them again and find out how things are going. My plan is to hike hike north to the middle of the Shenandoahs (Rt 211 at Luray) and then jump further up the trail to Front Royal, VA, and turn around and head south back to Luray in hopes of encountering those I've missed. I'll be going northbound from 5/28 to 6/12 and southbound from 6/12- 6/16. I anticipate taking a couple of "zero days" during this time so I can stay in touch with the office and with clients as necessary as well as to update my journal and on-line photo album. Happy trails!
Date: 2004-05-29
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Marble Springs Campsite
Miles today: 17.2

What a beautiful day to hike! Glorious sunshine and low humidity made the morning is uphill terrain hardly unnoticeable. Flowers in their glory abound and there are sections where the forest floor was covered with ferns for as far as the eye could see. When the wind blew, the ferns swayed in undulating waves, giving the effect of the surface of a calm green ocean lying beneath the trees. I stopped for lunch at Cornelius Creek Shelter and then on to Apple Orchard Mountain at 4,025 feet.An hour or so after lunch I saw ¢Pegasus¢s¢ pack sitting against a tree next to a blue-blazed side trail with a sign marked ¢Overlook.¢ I dropped my pack next to hers and went to check it out. A hundred yards to the west the woods gave way to a collection of large boulders beyond which mountains and valleys sprawled. Using my monocular and the crude but effective sketch in the guidebook, ¢Pegasus¢ and I were able to pick out where we had been hiking and gained glimpses of the country ahead. With great delight we watched three turkey vultures, two black vultures and a falcon soar in front of us in silent grace for almost an hour (such peace and beauty)I hiked the rest of the day with ¢Pegasus¢ and while she stopped to make lunch for herself, I spread out my drop cloth in the middle of a brightly lit grassy field, kicked off my boots and collapsed into a pleasant nap.When I woke up, she had finished eating and like me was feeling strong and refreshed. Enjoying our combination of intermittent conversations and separate peace, we chose to extend the day¢s hike on to Marble Springs. En route we were treated to sight of Guillotine Rock, a large pointed boulder; perched directly over the trail that was wedged between other boulders to form a narrow passageway 30 or 40 yards in length, under which we walked. Along the way we stopped to enjoy vistas from outcroppings, as well as, to savor the glowing beauty of sunset in the central Virginia mountains.We arrived at Marble Springs Campsite after dark and quickly found places amongst the trees and other sleeping hikers to set up our tents and to prepare a quick meal before calling it a day. My tent site is not far from Meanderthal¢s hammock and only a few yards from a couple of other tents belonging to ¢Gia¢ (Guy-ah) and ¢Beast¢. A pleasant feeling of fatigue overtook me as I downed a big bowl of rice with chicken and now sleep was just a few moments away.
Date: 2004-06-05
From: Waynesboro, Tree Streets Inn

To: Waynesboro, Tree Streets Inn (NYC bound)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning, I borrowed The Tree Street Inn¢s van and drove "Stretch" back to the Rockfish Gap Visitor's Center where he waved goodbye and headed off into the fog to continue this Thru-Hike to Katahdin. I wish I could go with him, but my plans have changed due to new business opportunities back in New York City. So, instead of continuing my hike from here through to Harrisonburg and then eventually up to Front Royal, as I originally intended. I will now be heading to my sister¢s in New Market VA, and from there back to New York for at least a week. My hope is to return to the Trail on the 12th of June. Until then¢¦!
Date: 2004-06-14
From: Loft Mountain Campground

To: Blackrock Hut
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

Surprise! I woke up to BOB¢s bright shiny face for the first time since I can remember. Fern was already up and we quickly decided to forgo our camp breakfast in favor of a hot breakfast at the wayside restaurant about a mile away. We hitched a ride right to the door before even leaving the campground, and were soon enjoying pancakes and eggs. Similarly we got a lift back uphill within a minute of leaving the diner. What good fortune. Unfortunately, BOB went back to his recent hiding spot behind the clouds right as we set foot on the Trail. The showers held off until after we arrived at the Blackrock Hut, which is where we¢re spending the night. We plan to sleep in the shelter rather than in our tents to give Fern the chance to experience this aspect of Appalachian Trail life.Since we arrived, the picnic table in front of the sleeping platform has been the hubbub of conversation and activity. The Shelter itself, though, is still fairly empty as most folks prefer their tents. We were in the company of ¢Shepard¢ (A Lutheran divinity student from Minnesota), ¢Austin¢ (who got sick on Austin brand cookies within a few days of starting his trip) ¢Raven¢, ¢Enigma¢, ¢Tortoise¢ (a flip-flopping SOBO Thru Hiker) ¢Lefty¢, ¢Michigoose¢ (reportedly the female version of a Michigander), her sister, ¢ Sistergoose¢ and three Brits here in the States for a friend¢s wedding: Amy (aka ¢Butch¢) ¢Shotgun¢ and ¢Rookie¢. The crowd is of young and most is now trail seasoned thru-hikers filled with wild stories, bizarre dinner preferences and cryptic views of weather, terrain and places past and future. All are good people, comfortable in the wilderness and comfortable in their own skins. Nice company for a summer evening in Virginia.