morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-21
From: miss janets again

To: hot springs!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I can not believe this! I am never going to get out of here. We did our slack yesterday and that was great. last night at the dance was so much fun. it ended up being me, mule, carnivor, miss janet and her friend bruno. We had to find a way to check out mullets so we were making a calender, january would walk by and soon later someone would say look look there is march in the corner. it was so funny. I also got to relive some high school dances, with a slow dance, the electric slide and even a few new line dances that i didn't know, but was soon joining in with everyone. I laughed so much and drank a bit too much too. Something about all the mullets and watching people bump and grind that made me need to drink. I think it may be the 4th time since i have been out here (2 being the past 2 nights! what is going on, first hotdogs and now this) Anyway it was a blast, i had no idea where this trail would lead me. We did not get home and to bed until 3am. It was raining hard when we woke up and soon miss janet started to fill us in on some new options, other then hiking north again. Talked mule and carnivor into staying and slack packing with us today too, we were doing another 9 and they would do 18 to do our miles yesterday too. Then tonight we hop in the van with miss janet and go back to hotsprings for the trailfest they are having there this weekend. What is going on here! I called taylor to laugh with him about all of this since he understands so well how this all goes. I started to leave a message saying how this trail is really so much more then hiking, if you take the side trails. That includes taking zero days when you think you are not, and rolling with the punches, smiles over miles, i am having a blast and just doing what ever i feel like and it is the best ever, plans do not work. Oh and to change our mind even more, after carnivor and mule got out at the 10 mile mark instead of 18, is started lightening and jody is afraid and didn't want to hike. I am all about a zero day and getting some time to organize and email. So tonight we go back to hotsprings and then stay until sunday and leave from here 10 miles up from erwin. This will be a great weekend i love this!thank you all for the great emails! i love to be able to get them and see how you all are.hope you enjoying your journey as much as i am mine!much loveRASTA
Date: 2006-04-22
From: hot springs!

To: trailfest 2006
Miles today: 0.0

well we are here! it rained so much last night, carnivor caught the flu that is going around and was running in and out of our huge tent to throw up all night. I am hoping this is the same flu that went around seattle in the fall and just now made it to the east coast, beacause that would mean i already had it. I am hoping, and going to make sure i take good care of myself. it is sorta hard to do when you are hiking 10-20 miles a day, and sometimes do not sleep well... but i think i am getting used to all of it now, it feels like a normal life. I found out that i might be able to make it to this awesome bluegrass festival in NC next weekend. Taylor went when he hiked the trail but i didn't have anyone to go with me, but mule said he would come so we are working something out to make it happen! i would be so excited! ok i am out of time but will write more if i have time before i leave miss janets tomorrow to hit the trail again for 6 days.much loveRasta
Date: 2006-04-23
From: trailfest 2006

To: beauty spot
Miles today: 2.6

ok so the deal is that even though it says 4/23 it is really 5/8 and i have not had internet since then. That means it would take me hours to write in every day! i really will try but at this point i don't feel like sitting in front of a computer. I am in damascus after taking days off for a music festival. i am way behind all my friends and was going to try to catch them, until i made new ones and a really good one that i will spend my next 2 weeks with until i am done. i can not believe how fast this has gone by, i will be so sad to leave, but i know all i need to know to be able to do the PCT in 08??? who knows really but it is a loose plan. ok so hear it goes i will do as much as i can for 1/2 hour and do more tomorrow!Well after an amazing dance party i slept great and went for the pancake breakfast. picked up and headed back to erwin, mule and i took jukebox and buds idea and used one ear each of my ipod to get some music in, and use it since i carried it all this way. went back to miss janets and wolf paw and contagious were there, we had this amazing steak dinner that people someone gave to miss janet. We heard howdie got off at some hippie farm to live instead of doing the trail. then i got to talk to the guy from merlefest and found out we can volunteer and he will send someone to pick us up and bring us there! Yipppeeee i am so excited i get to go to a festival! So we finally got back on the trail and camped on the top of a bald. I was so excited i got to see tater, sundance, the ozzy gals,kilgore,hawk eye and knock knock. we rolled down the hill and had a great sunset! it was awesome.
Date: 2006-04-24
From: beauty spot

To: clyde smith shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Tough day! wow lots of ups and downs, straight up and steep, finally met the 4th turkey boy "catch up" we told him our plans to go to the fest and he is going to make some big mile days to catch up. I spent the day with jody foster, ran into single malt, and feng shui, 2much and enuff were at the shelter too. I finally ate a dehydrated meal that i love! meat lasagna the turkey boys ate some with me and loved it too! There are loads of people camping i am going to try my hand at the shelter again. My tooth hurts.
Date: 2006-04-25
From: clyde smith shelter

To: over moutnain shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: broken clouds

I am writing from my tent as it is raining cats and dogs out there! Today i did not feel so hot, i remember why i hate shelters, they are hard wood flows my zlite is not the best at making a soft sleeping place and dust and mice poop make me stuffy. I also could be getting this hiker plague that is making people up and down the trail puke for 24 hours. Carnivor had it last saturday, i hear of people up and down the trail with it. I hope i can keep it at bay, a test of how well i am taking care of myself i guess. After a huge climb it started to rain so perfect time for jody and i to siesta! When we woke up the turkey boys had caught up (they sleep til 10am) So this was the day of roan mountain... i thought (looking at someones map and only listening 1/2 way as to what they were saying) that roan was 7 miles away and then a 5 mile climb up. We had been climbing all day when we got to roan and i thought oh my god another 4 hours of up, what in the world am i doing! After 20 minutes we were at the top. It was then that i realized that all day was the 5 miles up and roan was at the end of it! thank goodness. I decided i hate people with maps and don't want to look at them. The trail goes up and down over and over all day everyday period. We all ate lunch together and then hiked the rest of the way. We had so much fun we had these boxed in sections that mule decided were fun boxes and we all had dance over them or do something fun. (good memory) There were white flowers everywhere! went over a couple of balds saw sundacne and tater. We got to the famous barn shelter pretty amazing views, we camped and ate by a fire and then catch up caught up after a 19 miles day, just as he walked into camp the rain came! it is so windy i feel like my tent could fly away right now! I am so happy to be going to merlefest tomorrow!
Date: 2006-04-26
From: over moutnain shelter

To: 19e
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: moderate rain

I did not sleep so good, i felt sick, wind was blowing. It stopped in the morning for a minute so we got out of our tents, then it started again, so i went back in again. I finally left with jody to brave the cold rain it was the day of the never ending bald! with no views and wind blowing it sucked. Then i fell really bad on the huge rocks hit my elbow and could not move my arm i started to cry.. well kinda it was sorta this laughing sobbing thing. I was laughing at myself for crying and then crying because it hurt and i was cold and wet and wanted to be done hiking, i told myself to hike up my skirt and put my shoulder pads on and stop being a weekend nancy! Carnivor caught up to me and that helped as we chatted and got to 19e and low and behold trail magic! sanwiches and soda, then onto the hostel for a great shower and wait for our ride to the festival. "dusty" who hiked in 04 picked us up and brought us to wilksboro NC were we met "tadpole" 05 thru hiker. He was the guy who ran merlefest and told us what our jobs were going to be. So here is the amazing story of our trailmagic from tadpole. We got vip passes, camping with artists and patrons on grounds, a meal card for the weekend, and as we ate pizza hut that he had delivered for us we found out our job was to find holes. Talk to volunteers, try to sneak back stage, get in without showing our braclets, meet with him once a day and type up our findings! WHAT? sneak back stage, get in the good seats... try to get away with stuff. All the while listening to some of my favorite bands ever! So now i am sleeping on one of the stages since it is raining out. And i have realized that this trail really opens some amazing possibilities for you, if you are in the right place ate the right time. And i am!
Date: 2006-04-28
From: merlefest

To: merlefest
Miles today: 0.0

can we say bob weir and the waybacks playing dead tunes! and then seeing them all later when we got something to eat. We met this group of guys who started to buy us drinks because we were hiking the trail.. they were super nice and took some good photos. i hope they email them to me! I saw someone i know from seattle! we got to square dance. then i ran into matt from elmers the place i stayed at in hot springs. I love this! i wish i missed hiking...
Date: 2006-04-29
From: merlefest

To: merlefest
Miles today: 0.0

So much great music today! the duhks, gillian welsh from my tent, met matt at 4 for some dancing with the wilders, then to the hillside for more great music! Back to the dance tent for laura love band (saw her earlier in the day she cracks me up!) then back to the hillside for the waybacks.. with surprise (but i knew) guests bob weir, sam bush, and gillian!! more dead tunes and even the wieght by the band that made me think of slick b since he played it at that mexican place way back when! I went backstage for this show! using my powers of sneaking i love this job. Back to the square dancing tent after that, i love square dancing i think i want to see if i can take it in seattle. Then this guy jason i had met earlier in the day told me i should try to go to the midnight jam. The tickets are 40$ but he said people give them out if you show up. So i did and within 5 mintues i was offered 3 tickets. I saw my friend from seattle again, and jason (and friends) Joe craven was great played the skull of a goat, bob,sam, duhks, and more all playing together. Cloggers and spoken word oh my! Although i was so tired i fell asleep for a bit of it. It ended at 3am. This festival is incredible i feel so lucky, what a great side trail this is! I love bluegrass!
Date: 2006-04-30
From: merlefest

To: last day of merlefest
Miles today: 0.0

another day of sunshine~ more music and square dancing. I was dancing with a guy named david and he taught me the waltz, a bluegrass waltz? spins and all it was so fun. I met some great people that way and it feels good to be able to just walk up to someone and ask them to dance. I met some amazing musicians, was on stage for great shows, danced my butt off, spent the weekend with smiling faces, and realized i am sad to go. Everyone is ready to get back on the trail, it is weird for me to leave this and go back to the woods for more camping. Usually this is my camping, i missed having my seattle festival going friends with me, but it was good to be out on my own too. Thanks so much to tadpole, dusty, and lefty!
Date: 2006-05-01
From: last day of merlefest

To: camping with a cow
Miles today: 6.2

nice day! got a ride back to the trail, and headed out with birds singing, grassy fields and easy hiking! Beautiful waterfall and the boys went for a swim in the river. It is going to be so hard for me to get off the trail~ I sat by the river and did my yoga and saw a cow come out of the woods. Later he kept coming around the campsite. It was pretty funny. i loved today!
Date: 2006-05-02
From: camping with a cow

To: morladn gap shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

i feel like i didn't even hike today! It was so easy and it flew by and i got to see a couple more waterfalls. I got to the shelter and there were messages in the log from 42 telling me to yellow blaze(follow the yellow lines in the road in a car and skip a section of the trail) she missed hiking with me so stop with the festivals and come find her. Very very tempting i must say! I do miss all the people that i feel like i know so well. I won't be able to hike with them again unless i yellow blaze. I will see them all at trail days but that is it. I have some thinking to do. Oh trail life!
Date: 2006-05-03
From: morladn gap shelter

To: the famous bob and pat peoples!
Miles today: 15.5

this worked out great!! i was up and out by 7am at kincora hostel by 9am. I was going to ask for a ride to damascus to catch 42 and then i met chewy and sleeper. We started to chat a bit when puffy nipples asked if we wanted to slack pack. I had to talk sleeper into it, but in no time we were in the back of bobs truck and heading north for a 9 mile southbound slack pack.. this will make 3 for me! I must say i do love to hike with 5 pounds instead of 30! I spent to day with chewy and sleeper and we all went swimming in a waterfall to end our day. This will be one i won't forget! So i hiked 6.5 into the hostel, then 9 south back to the hostel so i stayed the night. Chewy and sleeper left to get back on the trail. I don't know how far they will make it but i hope to see them again. I can not believe i have only 3 weeks left!
Date: 2006-05-04
From: the famous bob and pat peoples!

To: iron mountain shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

People say the 50 miles from kincora to damscus is easy, well i don't beleive them! Even more so when it is wicked hot outside, and you run out of water with no more ofr 4.5 miles! Your mind plays tricks on you and you feel like you could die! I passed the wild turkey boys, chewy and sleeper camped one mile up the trail near the lake. They were all still in their tents. I am at this shelter alone right now. I am reminded of how much there is to do when you get to camp at night. Yoga, eat, hang your food, start a fire, set up your tent, get water, and yadda yadda. I had to get a fire going due to bugs so i am glad i know how. 42 left me more messages in the logs she is 4 days ahead of me. It took a while but i talked myself into yellow blazing so i can spend my last weeks with people i already know. I can come back and hike this section later. it will be easy to do since damascus is so friendly! I was having more fun before, so i need to fix it.puffy nipples and cheeto showed up as i was about to go to bed. Yahooo.. i don't have to camp alone.
Date: 2006-05-05
From: iron mountain shelter

To: abington shelfter
Miles today: 16.0

I woke up to chewy chatting with p-nip and cheeto, he and sleeper camped 3 miles back alst night. The day was foggy then it started to rain. I got to the shelter and was going to keep going. Something in you changes when you put on dry cloths and get warm. We said we would go if the rain stopped. Sleeper caught up and p-nip and cheeto cooked a some popcorn to share and then this awful cheesecake with sandy crust we had tons of laughs! It was so funny to watch pnip make it though like a backcountry cooking show! I didn't want to sleep in the shelter, i already saw a mouse! so i made sleeper take the wall space next to me so they could run over him instead!
Date: 2006-05-06
From: abington shelfter

To: damascus
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

oh my goodness!!! we were up all night! the shelter was full of loud snoring men! Sleeper and i had the case of serious giggles and were laughing and whispering most of the night. At 230 someone had enough of the snoring and started to pack up, it took him an hour to do it. Funny thing was he was snoring too! finally pnip was like "will you leave already!!" i finally got to sleep at 330am! and then had to get up at 5am to make sure i got to town before 10am for the postoffice. pnip and i were up and out by 530. I crossed the border of tenn/VA my forth and final state! i did the 10 so fast i was in town by 9am! of course i stepped on a wet stick and fell yet again! cut open my hand and arm, and then 30 minutes later did it on a wet root! when will i learn?? it was great to watch the sunrise and the fog clear. and get into d-town. I saw some people i know still here! tsnake, and tender and balou who have all decided they are not making it to maine. wow... i set up my tent at "the place" it is suppose to be good but it is really dirty and i feel like someone would steal my stuff! sleeper and chewy got into town around 3pm.. i ran into mule and bud who hiked 40 miles into town in one day. They passed our shelter last night at 11pm! crazy wild turkey boys! they spent the day drinking on the trail waiting for carnivor, jukebox, and catch up. I decided to not yellow blaze! make up my mind already??? sleeper said he would do a 24 mile slack pack with me tomorrow. So looks like i will spend some time with him instead. He seems really nice and we laugh so much i think i will stick it out. we went for dinner and a couple drinks and chatted, then hung out looking at photos. i didn't go to sleep until 2am! i had been up since 5,that makes 2 nights in a row with not much sleep.. 24 miles tomorrow what am i thinking!
Date: 2006-05-07
From: elk garden

To: damascus
Miles today: 24.0
Weather: moderate rain

oh my goodness! this was a crazy day! when we got out of the car it was raining and freezing! i had to run over this huge bald as i was blowing away, my legs were red and numb! thank god i had my rasta legs! i wanted to get off the trail and hitch back to town. Sleeper said noway! we are out here and we are doing this! it was so hard! it finally stopped raining after 4 miserable hours! We hiked together all day and chatted. We got to the Creeper trail. A trail a lot of people take instead of staying on the white blazed trail. It is flat and pretty along a river, and the AT goes over yet another mountain! Sleeper decided we should stay on the white blaze trail, we cursed at the creeper as it was so close and inviting the whole time! I came to a tent i recognized! it was single malt! waiting out the storm. It was great to chat with her for a bit. It took us all day to do the miles. (9 hours!) We decided we had to sleep in a real bed and not our tents! so we got a room about a garage! it turns out to be pretty amazing! full kitchen, laundry, and the most comfortable bed i think i have ever slept in!
Date: 2006-05-08
From: damascus

To: town
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

ok so this day flew by! i did not get everything done. i am super sore! i am having a blast with sleeper so we decided to stay another day! we went to the market and got food for the next day great dinners! and i am going to do a big push out of here! 92 miles... 6-7 days.. before i get off the trail again. and come back here for trail days! i can not wait to see everyone!
Date: 2006-05-09
From: town

To: d-town
Miles today: 0.0

i love sleeping in a bed... i love sleeping until 10! i like doing nothing. so here i am. i am done and it took me 2 hours! so i have to go now, pizza bites await me! i am so happy i didn't yellow blaze. Sleeper (adam) rocks and we are having a blast! I really can't believe i have a week of trail time left. I want him to come to trail days but he doesn't think he can afford it. Who knows...
Date: 2006-05-10
From: d-town

To: camp in the rhododendrons
Miles today: 9.6

So it is 6/7/06 I am going to try to update all the missed entries now. I will add to the ones that were already there, but had to earase them now, because this wouldn't work right if they were all still up. I am feeling so much better, glad to be out of the hospital, sad to be off the trail! But as the rain is falling outside all i can think is "I am so glad i do not have to hike in this!"here we go:After 2 amazing zero days in damascus we had to hit the trail again. It was interesting terrain rocks, grassy paths it was pretty easy. We saw a deer and then tons of ponies! It was pretty funny we tried to be all slick and walk up on them really slow, got all excited when we got close enough to take a picture. By the end of the day they were trying to eat "sleeper's" (adam) treking pole and get into my pocket for food. So much for wild ponies! They are so used to having hikers come through and bring them food. i forgot to though. We camped under some rhododendrons next to a stream. It started raining so sleeper came to hang out in my tent and we listened and sang along with my ipod. I also decided to take a break from my dehydrated food. I found that i would watch people eating mac and cheese, raman noodles, and lipton sides and i really wanted them! So for this week i get to eat like crap too! And i had the best dinner yet, mac and cheese with tyson chicken! oh yeah! life is looking good! I am really glad i decided not to yellow blaze, i am having a blast with sleeper! I feel like we laugh all the time.
Date: 2006-05-11
From: camp in the rhododendrons

To: campsite at old shelter spot
Miles today: 17.7

I hate hiking in the rain! I hate going over balds in the rain! I hate complaining! It started to pour about 10 minutes after i left camp. Sleeper was still packing up when i left, i could picture him with all his gear spread everywhere trying to get it all in his pack before it got soaked! He takes way longer then me to get ready in the morning, so we made a deal to just do our own thing breaking down camp and then he would catch me by the end of the day. He caught me by the first shelter and the laughs were on! We spent the rest of the day hiking together, and the rain let up. The hiking feels easy now, i don't know if it is all the laughing but this is turning out to be the best week yet! Of course since it is my last one. I wish i had more time but that is life. I am so glad i did this and had these times with all these amazing people. Everyday has been different.
Date: 2006-05-12
From: campsite at old shelter spot

To: campsite
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Suddenly i am sleeping later! What is this??? guess it depends on who your are hiking with. I hung out with sleeper for a bit this morning. Then got caught up all day long talking to people! A bunch of people are hiking south for a fews days going back to D-town for trail days. So sleeper caught me much faster then he thought he would. It was really funny when i was sitting on a log eating and he came around the corner. I really wanted to stop and have pizza at the famous shelter! I got my wish when they were putting in an order just as we walked up. It was great a nice 2 hour break and then we kept hiking. Everyone thought we were nuts. But we really like camping alone, we laugh too much. We went another few miles and set up a stealth camp. I built us a fire ring! It was the first night it did not rain on as we set up camp. So we did not need to hide out in my tent, and not cooking at night rocks too! The full moon was out and lighting up the place! There was a ton of down woods we didn't have to move from our seats to keep the fire going. What more could i ask for??? I am so happy right now!