morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-05-21
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: clear sky

And so it begins; the AT thru Virginia. Damascus is behind me, Trail Days are over, the Grayson Highlands are now done, and what lies ahead is some 500+ miles of trail often referred to as the "the long green tunnel" that leaves many a thru-hiker with "the Virginia Blues". The weather will be getting hotter and more humid, the bugs will be getting thick and looking for victims, views and hostels will be few and far between. I need to be past Harpers Ferry before July 4 to be able to make Katahdin by October 1 so my daily mileage needs to increase a bit and be more consistent thru the mid-Atlantic states. 20+ mile days need to happen regularly. But this will have to wait.Today was probably one of my best days of the trip so far. The Grayson Highlands are spectacular high country scenery in southwestern VA, complete with wild ponies. I took my time today, and took many photos of the scenery qnd ponies along the way.There were few clouds in the blue skies and visibility was very good. The ridgelines are forested with thin spruce-fir forests mixed with groves of birch, blueberry and hawthorn. It is an odd mix of boreal and southern habitats and birds. The spruces all gnarled by the strong winds reminded me of the stunted forests along the windward headlands of Maine or the Canadian Maritime provinces. Many rock outcrops protrude from the ridges and above the stunted forests.The landscape is about half forest and half meadow and small herds of wild ponies roam throughout the entire area. The ponies are quite small, almost Shetland style, and are very tolerant of people. I found they would often walk up to within arms reach but generally ignore me as they went about feeding and moving across the meadows. The newborn foals were no bigger than Riley, my lab, and considerably less coordinated.There is no wonder this landscape has a very western mountain feel to it; big views, wild horses, gnarled and stunted spruces, rocky ridges. This landscape with its views and animals has surpassed even the Smokies as some of my favorite country along the trail so far!
Date: 2007-05-22
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: clear sky

Today I passed the 500 mile mark for the trip. It seems barely possible that I've walked that far, nor possible that I've been on the trail nearly 7 weeks now. Both seem to be real accomplishments.The terrain and trail today were relatively gentle and well graded with few climbs or descents. The weather was cool, clear and only a bit humid. About a mile before Dickey Gap we crossed Comer Creek on a nice footbridge. Just upstream of the bridge was Comer Cascade, a very pretty 15 foot high cascade. I set up my little backpacker tripod and took a few slow shuttter speed photos that turned out well.Alpine Strider and I got to Dickey Gap about noon and quickly hitched a ride in to Troutdale. The ride was in an old beat up pickup with 2 good old boys who liked hikers and were eager to talk about where we were from, what we liked about the area, and where they and relatives lived. They took us right where we wanted to go, to the Troutdale Teading Post and Jerry's Restaurant.Jerry's had an excellent half pound bacon cheeseburger. He and his wife often stopped by our table to talk since there were only 2 other customers in the place, two other hikers named Walker and Mellow. Jerry's wife asked us to sign their hiker guestbook and took our photos for their hiker photo album.When we were finished Jerry insisted on driving to the post office to pick up our food boxes and show us the church hostel. It sits on a nice hill behind the First Baptist Church and is a nice pair of bright clean rooms that looked very inviting. After bringing us back to the restaurant to repack our food he insisted on driving us the 3 miles back up to the trailhead. I just wished I hadn't sent myself so much food so I could have bought some things from his nicely stocked little hiker store in the back of the restaurant. After dropping Walker and Mellow at the trailhead he came back for us and drove us back up to the trail. A batch of 7 more hikers were waiting for a ride into town when we arrived and Jerry took them all. What a great guy who seems to truly enjoy going out of his way to help people. This was trail magic in every sense.The final 4 miles to Trimpi Shelter had a number of places where Rhododendron and Mt Laurel were blooming. Thumper was already at the shelter when we arrived along with 5 other hikers. It was a nice evening with a few clouds anf a few distant rumbles of thunder that never amounted to anything.Another day of surprises on the trail. Some days this trail just seems to reaffirm my belief in the basic goodness of people along the way.
Date: 2007-05-23
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: VA 615 Campsite
Miles today: 19.1

We left the shelter just before 8.00 and hoped to make Partnership Shelter by noon to order pizza for lunch. We made good time and crossed the Holston River about 9.30 on a nice foot bridge. Just before the river we suddenly came out of the forest and into a pasture on private land. On the north edge of the meadow tucked under trees in the hedgerow was an old yellow school bus. It looked familiar and I wondered if this was an old section of trail and whether I had seen pictures of this bus. I have a copy of 'Hiking the Appalachian Trail' and I seem to remember one of the early guys, like Elmer Onstot or $oward Bassett, staying overnight in an abandoned school bus somewhere in VA - could this be that bus?We arrived at Partnership Shelter just before noon after walking 10.6 miles in 4 hours. Park Bench, a 2006 thru-hiker, was there and giving away food left over from a trail crew that had just left the area. I had watermellon, pretzels and graham crackers. The shelter has a propane shower built into it and running water behind it so everyone took showers as soon as they arrived. What a Hilton! The ahelter is about 300 yards from the headquarters of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and hikers often order delivery pizza from the pay phone on the wall outside the building. It took about an hour for our order to be delivered.The shelter was slowly filling with hikers (Thumper and Ronin among them) and we wanted to get a few more miles in so we departed about 4 PM. The next 7 miles went by fairly quickly and we got to Chatfield Shelter about 7.30. It was a small dark and damp shelter that was not very appealing with no nearby tent sites so we went another 1.3 miles and camped. We wanted to get an early start in the morning and have some time to visit the Settlers Museum that was now fairly close. The AT goes right thru the grounds of the museum.
Date: 2007-05-24
From: VA 615 Campsite

To: Crawfish Valley Campsite
Miles today: 9.6

We left our campsite at 7.30 and headed for the Settlers Museum. We quickly passed under a powerline with tall steel towers. The line was humming vert loudly making it rather spooky to walk directly between the legs of the towers. The lines were humming so loudly that we could hear them from our campsite over a half a mile away. Unfortunately the museum did not open until 9.00 so we did not stay, but we looked around the 1890's schoolhouse before moving on.At the I-84 interchange we met Big Brother and together we hitched into Atkins for resupply. This took nearly an hour for the less than 4 mile ride to town. We were dropped at the post office and my supply package was waiting there for me. We then walked next door to the laundromat and grocery store. After doing laundrt and getting resupplied I boxed up a few clothes I'd been carrying but not wearing much and sent them ahead to myself in Pearisburg. It took almost as long to hitch back to the I-84 interchange. Alpine Strider and I then ate lunch at the local restaurtant.It was about 4 PM by the time we left Atkins and headed North again on a humid and sunny aftwrnoon. The next mile or so was mostly thru old hayfields and overgrown farmland. At one point we took a short detour to the graveyard for Holstun Fancy, a 1740's settlement
Date: 2007-05-25
From: Crawfish Valley Campsite

To: VA 623 Campsite
Miles today: 22.7

Somehow I missed an entry for today in my journal and didn't notice it until just recently. Today turned out to be one of the longest days of my hike to date but was not planned that way in the morning. We got an early start and were on the trail by 6.30 AM. The trail was relatively smooth and well graded, the weather was relatively cool and good for hiking, and the miles just kept rolling by.We arrived at Chestnut Knob Shelter at 6.00 PM and took a quick break to decide whether or not to continue any further tonight. Alpine Strider headed up the trail to a campsite 7.0 miles away but in a misunderstanding I hadn't realized she had left yet so I waited another half hour for her to get back from the privy (where I thought she had gone!). That half hour proved problematic for me later on because I made it within a mile of our destination but ran out of daylight. Rather than continue by headlamp on rocky trail I decided to camp on Garden Mtn at the VA 623 crossing in the only level spot I could find.It was a long day for me, but I camped without feeling too worn out so I guess my 'hiker legs' must be kicking in!
Date: 2007-05-26
From: VA 623 Campsite

To: VA 611 Campsite
Miles today: 24.5

Somehow I missed an entry for today in my journal and did not notice the ommision until recently. Today was the longest day of my hike to date. I packed up my camp and continued on to the next shelter which was about 3 miles away and was my only water source since leaving the shelter yesterday evening. I was planning to wait at Jenkins Shelter for Alpine Strider but when I arrived found that she had already come and gone. So, I filled up my camelback and pressed on, starting a big climb up yet another Brushy Mountain. At Helveys Mill Shelter I discovered that Alpine was about an hour ahead of me and still going so I headed for the next shelter, about 9.0 miles further. I reached VA 611 about 8.00 PM and decided not to continue because of the rocky stretch coming up that I did not want to hike by headlamp. Although there was no water nearby, I had packed extra water from the last shelter in case I had to camp along the way. I'd walked the last few hours of the day with a guy named Nice Enough and we decided to camp together at a small tentsite just out of sight of the road. We had a quiet night and I slept well, though not quite as long as I would have liked because I intended to get an early start for Trent's Store's showers and burgers on the grill!
Date: 2007-05-27
From: VA 611 Campsite

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: clear sky

I camped last night just beyond the VA 611 road crossing with Nice Enough. He is a pleasant guy from the MN Twin Cities area who lived in Nederland, CO for a few years. He is a carpenter and is wondering how he'll make a year round living in Duluth when he moves there with his girlfriend after his thru-hike ends.I left camp about 7.30 and was at Jenny Knob Shelter by 8.30. Alpine Strider passed thru late last night enroute to a campsite 3 miles further on. Her plan, according to her register entry, is to make Pearisburg tonight for some unknown reason since most stores will be closed for the Holiday.I stayed only long enough to sign the register then departed for Trent's Store. I didn't need water so didn't bother going to the spring. It was fast moving on well graded and relatively gentle terrain actoss my 3rd Brushy Mtn in as many days. It's a popular name for ridges around here.I soon came to the Kimbering Creek suspension bridge. It is a high cabled bridge over a very murky looking and shallow creek.the bridge swayed up and down and side to side as I walked across it. At the far end, 2 guys came on to the bridge carrying rods, worms and an armload of beer and said they were fushing for brook trout. To me, the creek looked too slow and low in dissolved oxygen for trout, especially brookies, but they swore they caught 2 nice ones yesterday.I arrived at Trent's Store about noon having covered the 11.6 miles in about 4 hours without feeling that I was really pushing it too much. I bought an ice cream and a pint of milk then paid for a shoeer and laundry at the campground. It took until about 2.00 to finish those two tasks and get back to the store, where I immediately bought another ice cream and pint of milk. I at them while waiting for the cheeseburger I had ordered to arrive.From the store, which was about a half mile from the trail, it was about an hour walk to Dismal Falls, which was also   a ways off the trail and crowded with families and swimmers on a warm holiday weekend. I managed to get some photos of kids doing some ugly looking jumps off the rocks into the pool at the base of the falls. It is a small cascade, only about 15 feet high, with fairly low flows right now due to the drought. Big Brother had caught up to me and was the only other hiker there. He had run out of Aqua Mira so I gave him half of what I carry as a backup in case my water filter goes down again.The last 6 miles to Wapiti Shelter seemed to take much longer than it should have and my feet were beginning to hurt again. The blistes that turned into callous on the outside of both heels are both back again (blisters on top of callous) and painful when I hit a rock the wrong way. My feet make me realize that it has been a long 160 mile section from Damascus since my last break and the past 5 days have been long days too. It will be good to reach Pearisburg tomorrow where I plan to take a day off befor the next section.
Date: 2007-05-28
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: overcast clouds

The hike today was mostly a long ridge walk under the long green tunnel on a warm and humid day. There were occasional views from small openings and rock ledges along the ridge crest but they were limited to short distances by the heavy haze and humidity. The high temperature I saw on my thermometer was 72 degrees but I sweated almost continually all day. It was only 51 degrees at 7 AM when I left the shelter hiking comfortbly in a t-shirt and shorts. The best part of the walking were the frequent clusters of Rhododendrons in bloom along the trail. They were somewhat scattered but were very nice. For such a showy flower I can detect almost no fragrance at all. By their large size and showy color I expect them to also have a big scent, but maybe they don't need to smell much simply because they are so showy and bright.There was a nice view from Angel's Rest overlooking Pearisburg and the New River. This small rocky promentory also had lots of Rhododendron blooming all around it.It was a long but well graded descent of about 2,000 feet down into town and the valley floor. I had been told by several hikers that the trail went right past the Rendezvous Hotel where I had reservations to stay. So, I followed the trail all the way thru town, across the New River on the long bridge, and under the divided highway on the other side of the river and up into woods. Clearly I had somehow missed the Hotel that was supposed to be right on the trail. When I called for directions, Brenda, the owner and manager, said to stay where I was and she would come pick me up! It turned out that the Hotel is not really 'Right' on the trail but is about a block away and hidden from it by a car dealership. No wonder I had missed it and walked more than a mile beyond it!I got checked into my room about 5.00 PM and discovered that Gimpy was in the room next door. Brenda offered to drive us up town for dinner and show us where everything was located so I quickly changed and we were on our way. This was very nice service and I greatly appreciated knowing where I neede to go in the morning for groceries, Post Office, Library and other stores. Dinner was a pretty good Mexican restaurant in the center of town. The Hotel is located about a mile from town at the bottom of a long hill but is not too far from things, and Brenda's hospitality more than makes up for its older style and decore. She has a reputation for being very good to hikers and she certainly was to me.
Date: 2007-05-30
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Symms Gap Meadow Campsite
Miles today: 11.6

I got up about 6.00 and ate breakfast in my room then packed up all my gear and vacated the room. I then spent about an hour on the phone with Verizon Treo tech support to resolve why I couldn't access the web when I had full voice coverage and why it's proceessing speed kept dropping. They seem to have resolved the problems for now. I then spent another 1.5 hours uploading all my journal entries to the web.I hit the road (trail) about 10.30 and did the same road walk across the bridge that I'd done 2 days ago. I had little energy for a stiff climb on a humid morning, but had no choice since that's what the teail did. I bought way too much food in town and carried too much water out of town. My pack probably weighs 50 lbs going out of town. But this 9-mile stretch to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter is known to be dry and I wanted to have enough to be able to camp along the way if necessary.It was slow going out of town to the top of the ridge and 1,800 feet ascent on a humid morning. I dripped sweat constantly. By the time I arrived at the spring just beyond Rice Field Shelter my left calf muscle was getting rather sore. I had stubbed my left foot hard and tweaked my calf muscle during the ridge walk coming into town 2 days ago, and the long descent had aggravated it further.I took on 4 liters of water for camping tonight somewhere along the way, and for breakfast tomorrow and hiking most of the AM tomorrow. The extra 10 lbs was tough and by 5 PM my calf muscle was really hurting. So I decided to call it a day at the Symms Gap Campsite. Two sisters from FL were already camped there when Big Brother and I arrived. The view from the meadow on the ridge down to the valley below was very nice. After dinner I got into my tent early and got caught up on journal entries. I had talked with Mom and Dad yesterday and we agreed to meet in Daleville on Monday afternoon. So, I have to walk about 90 miles in the next 5 days. It'll be tough but should be do-able, assuming the trail isn't too rocky and my calf muscle isn't too much of a problem.
Date: 2007-05-31
From: Symms Gap Meadow Campsite

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up to a very nice view from my tent out over the valley as the sun was coming up. My tent was dry when I woke up at 5.30 but was soaked with dew by 6.30 when I packed up camp. I was under way a few minutes after 7.00, a good start for me.I made good time to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter as it was mostly a relatively easy ridge walk on good trail. It was a completely dry 7.4 miles however, making a total of 10.4 miles without a water sources along this ridgeline.There is a bridge washed out over Stony Creek so the trail has been diverted onto the road for 1.5 miles along the blacktop. There were 2 guys fishing Stony Creek from the highway bridge as I walked by. I asked what was in the creek and was told rainbow and brook trout. They were excited about the fact that the stocking truck had been there just 2 days ago and I could see they were fishing with large hunks of powerbait. Talk about chasing the stocking truck!It was supposed to be a tough and steep climb up from the road to Bailey Gap Shelter but it really didn't seem that bad, just hot and humid. The shelter had a broken roof because a tree fell on it during a storm in late April. There were hikers in the shelter at the time but no injuries thanks in large part to the heavy stone construction. From the shelter it was a long and tough 3.7 miles over very rocky trail. It took me nearly 2 hours of constant rock hopping to finish this section. Just as I finished it a thunderstorm began brewing. It bounced around the valley for a while then came and parked directly overhead for a while with lightning and light rain. I collapsed my hiking poles, tied them to my pack, and kept going because there really was no good place to hide from the lightning.The best part of the day was the Mountain Laurel in full bloom from Wind Rock down to War Spur Shelter. Many bushes lining the trail were in full bloom and covered with bright white flowers. I took a few photos but pressed on to the shelter as the light rain continued off and on all PM. But, I didn't mind the rain and was glad that the springs would be getting at least a little recharge.
Date: 2007-06-01
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: few clouds

I left the shelter about 7.30 and headed downhill. The trail crossed 2 roads in quick succession then began a steady climb towards Rocky Gap.At one point I heard a Black-billed Cuckoo calling from close to the trail. Unfortunately it stayed high in the overstory canopy, but I chased it around for quite some time before getting a fleeting look at it. I heard at least 6-8 more cuckoos calling over the course of the day. I am guessing that there are a lot more cuckoos around right now due to the Gypsy Moth outbreak that appears to be going on here.It was a steep and rocky climb up to Rocky Gap and the morning was getting humid. At the gap there was a tupperware tub filled with a variety of sodas and candy bars - Trail Magic!There was about a 2 mile stretch between VA routes 24 and 630 that was primarily in hay fields and pasture lands. It had excellent views of farmland and rural VA countryside. After so many miles in the long green tunnel, walking thru farmland and pastures was a nice change of pace and a welcome change of scenery. Just past VA 630 the trail passed by the Keffer Oak. It is supposed to be the largest oak on the southern AT, some 32 feet in diameter and over 300 years old. It is a grand old tree with massive branches arching out in all directions, some branches being larger than most trees in the area. It appears to be healthy and doing fine for a tree that has been growing since before the Revolutionary War.From the Keffer Oak it was a steep and hot climb of about 1,000 feet in less than a mile up to the top of Sinking Ceeek Mtn. I had cleverly arrived during the hottest part of the day to do the steepest climb of the day!At the side trail to Sarver Hollow Shelter Big Brother caught up to me and we hiked together for the rest of the day. Just as we were leaving a thunderstorm blew in and followed us for the next 2 hours. The 3.6 miles along the ridge crest is often along the spine of a narrow rocky ridge with many stretches of trail on rock slabs tilted at 45 degrees. It was a little unnerving walking this exposed spine during a thunderstorm with close lightning around and on rain slick rock slabs. The day ended with several miles of downhill and 1,650 feet of elevation lost.VA certainly isn't all flat trail and easy walking, but it is full of surprises and has been a lot of fun so far!