morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-04-26
From: Super 8 Motel in Irwin

To: Greasy Creek Hostel ~ Friendly
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, I am having a relaxing day. Johnny's shuttle did not leave until 10:00. We got to hiking at 10:15. Yesterday I could not make 2 miles an hour no matter how I tried and I was not even carrying a pack. Today, I nearly made 2 miles an hour and I had a pack on. Go figure. Anyway, I got in here just before it started to rain. Good timing. It is supposed to rain and have thunderstorms tonight so it is a good time to be inside. Unfortunately, the weather tomorrow is not supposed to be so good either but then it will clear up and be nice. I was so hot yesterday I am quite happy to have it be cool.Greasy Creek Friendly is an interesting little hostel. It is just a small house in the backwoods with a bunk house next to it. But inside are all the comforts of home - flush toilets, showers, small resupply stocks, Ben and Jerry's ice cream (I ate a whole carton for lunch), computer access and a friendly, talkative propriotress. She will even cook dinner and breakfast for you if you want. Since I did things differently in Irwin I need to go ahead and eat a trail meal and trail breakfast to get rid of the food so I don't have to carry it so I won't be having her cook.I did improve her business though because I told others about the place, Foot Machine, Buster and Retriever all came down too to get out of the rain. Swamp Fox and Blue Sky were just here too to buy some fuel but they moved on. The only bad thing is that there are cats in the house so I cannot stay in here very long.Tomorrow is a 12 mile day with about 3,500 ft elevation gain, 2,000+ of which are going up Roan Mountain. By the way, for all you westerners who think the Appalachian Trail and eastern mountains are for sissys, here is a telling statistic. I don't have the exact numbers since I can never remember numbers but the AT, though about 400 miles shorter than the Pacific Crest Trail, has MORE elevation gain and loss than the PCT. I am quite sure there is plenty of up and downs, generally without switchbacks. Sometimes the trail leaves something to be desired in trail maintenance too, although this section from here to Damascus, VA is well kept. Bob Peoples, who runs the Kincora Hostel where I will be in 4 days or so, is in charge of the volunteers who maintain the trail and I could immediately tell today by the trail work done in that four miles. Thank you, Bob and all the volunteers who make this trail great.I will soon go back to resting my feet and maybe even my eyes too.
Date: 2007-04-27
From: Greasy Creek Hostel ~ Friendly

To: Overmountain Trail
Miles today: 14.8

Today was a super fine day! And yes, dear brother Bob, I do so enjoy what I am doing. And today was one of those days that was just super enjoyable!Greasy Creek Friendly was a positive experience and a good rest except that Connie, the woman who runs Greasy Creek Friendly, has a neighbor who is not running on all cylinders. Really. He does not think hikers should be in his neighborhood so he runs his lawnmower constantly, even in the snow, and bangs on things with a hammer or club and shouts out at all hours of the day. It actually got to be pretty funny after a while. He was a snooze alarm in the morning running his lawnmower and banging on things at 5:10. I looked at the time and decided it waas too early to get up and went back to sleep. Then he started in again at 6:10, when I really did want to get up. I guess he feels fulfilled in the morning when the hikers leave as if he accomplished our leaving with his banging. I feel sorry for Connie though.Connie was very nice and the place was interesting in spite of the neighbor. He really was not that bothersome.The rest of the day was wonderful! I kept thinking of the line in the Jewish Seder meal - "Dayenu - if God had only...it would have been enough.If the rest day had only made my feet feel better - Dayenu, it would have been enough. If only large sections of trail were so smoothe and easy to hike - Dayenu - it would have been enough. If the wildflower displays - purple, yellow and white violets, purple and white trillium, yellow lilies, a little white bloodroot and many other white flowers, blue larkspur and others - were all, then, Dayenu - It would have been enough. If my energy was adequate for all the climbs including Raon Mountain (6,285 ft) Dayenu, it would have been enough. If the spectacular views from Roan, Little Rock Knob and three lovely balds including Jane and Grassy Field were all, Dayenu - It would have been enough. If the cool weather for hiking were all, Dayenu, it would have been enough. It was all wonderful!I had lunch with and camped with Swamp Fox and Blue Sky - very nice folks from Maine 10 or more years younger than me.And our American history lesson for tonight is that we are camped at the "Overmountain Trail". This is where 1000 North Carolina and Virginia miltias crossed over the mountains to go to defeat the British at Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary War.My "nero" (not quite a zero) yesterday did me good. I hiked like superwoman and the foot pain was controlled by the percoset. I hope the next two days go as well. I am a couple miles aheadof schedule and am thinking I will try for more the next two days and arrive at Kincora half a day early which will set me up for a 9 mile slack pack on Monday which would give me a bit of rest too.I took a ton f pictures today. It was beautiful and YES, I LOVE IT!
Date: 2007-04-28
From: Overmountain Trail

To: Mountaineer Falls Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night after it was dark I could see the lights of towns twinkling in the valleys far below. During the night the cold part of the cold front hit - high winds again and the temperature was 40 degrees when I got up - a bit brisk.I am glad we had such a glorious day yestrday because this morning when we went over two balds, Hump Mountain and Little Hump Mountain, all I could see was clouds which rarely lifted to see anything beyond 10-20 feet and it was windy enough to have to be careful on the trail a few places or risk being blown over. Balds can be dangerous in such conditions but fortunately the poles with white blazes on them or on rocks were mostly visible and the trail was always discernable. They were interesting mountains even in the fog.The trail in the trees was a lot of rock jumbles for a couple miles but then it became smooth and I and Swamp Fox and Blue Sky made really good time reaching Hiway 19E and Mountain Harbor B&B. I even got a ride to the B&B and my food drop for .3 miles on the highway from a man who was dropping off thru hikers from the other direction. Swamp Fox and Blue Sky went into town from Mountain Harbor B&B. M&M was there too and some others too. I will miss Swamp Fox and Blue Sky I hope they catch up later. They usually hike faster than I do so I hope to see them again.I got my food drop at the B&B but regretfully said I would not stay. The Hostel looked really neat. But this stretch is the stretch I did not plan very well and I needed to go farther. So I came all the way to Mountaineer Shelter - a total of 17.1 miles, my biggest mileage with a pack. The trail was really pretty smooth which made this possible. I got to the shelter about 6:20. There was very pretty trail along a river for a mile or so.Here at the shelter is Step and A Half, Gus, Rhododendron and GG. Tomorrow will be a slightly more reasonable 15.5 miles to cover to reach Kincora.
Date: 2007-04-29
From: Mountaineer Falls Shelter

To: Kincora
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a walk in the woods. It was the best and smoothest trail yet. I got an early start from the newest and nicest shelter on the trail. Mountaineer shelter was built in two days by 150 volunteers last year. It is very nice with three levels and lots of hooks to hang things on. Thank you to all those volunteers.The walk was through woods - in the morning mainly Rhododendrons. It was just a very pleasant walk for the first 6 miles or so with a very few gentle ups and downs. I passed "4 Intelligent Women", section hikers, and said hello. I got to the Moreland Gap shelter for lunch. Rhododendron and GG caught up with me there for a pleasant lunch which was rudely interrupted when a crown fell off of one of my teeth. No pain but it is a complication.I was tired and my feet were hurting by the time I got to Kincora. Three long days in a row made for a tired me.Kincora is a nice hostel. It is certainly not plush, but there are flush toilets, laundry facilities, showers, a kitchen, bunks with mattresses and a covered porch with picnic table and chairs for hanging out. After I showered Bob Peoples drove us in to town for shopping for resupply and dinner. Music Man, Hiking Pole (a married young couple, she is from Poland) Wonder, Stealth, Baby Steps and Chris are here. The first three did Holden Evening Prayer with me for our Sunday evening service. Wonder and Music Man are even musicians and sight read parts. Cool! Music Man is entering Seminary this fall at Andover Newton.Grasshopper came in late too. it is now hiker midnight so as soon as my clothes are dry I am going to bed. Nite Nite.
Date: 2007-04-30
From: Kincora

To: Kincora
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: clear sky

Wonderful day! I took a 9 mile slack pack over Pond Flats. The up was not bad from the side we went up although it was very steep and slidy in a couple places on the side we went down. I called Sara from near the top and had a nice conversation as I had cell reception. I asked her to put something in my journal if she had time to let people know I was still alive even though I did not have internet accessibility.Then the trail went down to a beautiful river. The day was hot and I doused myself with the cool water. The trail went beside the river for 2-3 miles and the riverside part of the trail ended at a very beautiful and impressive waterfall. I sat there and ate my lunch. A local hiker took my picture with the waterfall. I could have stayed there sitting and staring at the waterfall for hours. But after a while I doused my shirt in the water and put it on for a cool climb up out of the gorge. The laurels are starting to bloom now and they were very pretty.I got back to Kincora to the hostel to find I have a dentist appointment tomorrow at 8:30 AM. I hope it does not take too long as I am anxious to be back on the trail.Tonight Bob and Pat Peoples, the owners of Kincora, put on a huge feed for us and there were probably 20 hikers here. It was to celebrate Beltaine - the Celtic New Year. We had Cock a Leekie Soup, Corned Beef, Irish Soda Bread, Beer Bread, Onion Pie, Potatoes, Cabbage, Carrots, Green Beans, Sodas and Triffle for desert. We ate like pigs - or starving thru hikers. (There is not a lot of difference between the two.) It was wonderful! But though we tried to practice "leave no trace" eating we could not finish it all. Then three or four more hikers showed up and I think they finished it all. Now I am tired and ready to sleep.
Date: 2007-05-01
From: Kincora

To: Tent site 4 miles beyond Vandeventer
Miles today: 12.4

Well, my tooth is fixed and am back on the trail. Yeah! Many thanks to Pat and Bob Peoples! Ah, this day was HOT! It was 86 degrees so it was not my favorite hiking weather. And, of course, it was uphill - about 800 ft. But I just went to it and it went pretty well. There were beautiful views of Lake Watauga and the valley and Lady Slippers were blooming on the trail a few places today. They are very "showy" flowers. I don't think I had ever seen them before except in pictures.Considering I did not get started until 9:30 and considering how hot it was today I am very thankful tohave made my planned mileage for the day. I am also happy to be tenting. The weather is supposed to be cooler the next couple of days. That will make me happy too - although I hope it does not rain right when I am putting up or taking down the tent.I passed Creeper and Ramthing today. Creeper had even left me a prayer in a message in a shelter log book. Nice to be prayed for always and on the trail that may happen from someone you have only just met. Amazing!Pearls and Starvin' Marvin' are tenting with me tonight. They are a youngish couple from New Jersey who are doing a flip flop on the trail. That means they are starting from the Shenandoahs and going south. When they hit Springer Mountain in Georgia they will come back to Virginia and then do the rest of the trail going north.It is after hiker midnight so now to bed and to sleep
Date: 2007-05-02
From: Tent site 4 miles beyond Vandeventer

To: Low Gap
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I am camped 0.1 miles from a road tonight. That is kind of a no no for a single woman but that is where the tent site is and the water is. At least it is on a ridge above the road so I am not visible to passing cars except when I am getting water from the spring by the road.I went 14 miles today. Strange but it seems like I am slacking off as I started late - after 8:00 and ended about 4:30. But I see no reason to go on to the next water source and shelter which is 5 miles farther.So it is not yet 8:00 and I have all camp chores done. I bathed, set up camp, ate dinner, hung my bear bag and I even had the energy and inclination to put lotion on my body.The day was relatively easy. It was just "uppy-downy" on ridges all day long. I had lunch just before a lovely meadow with views of the valley below. It was hot today. After lunch I came to a water source and doused my shirt and head and it felt like heaven. There is also poison ivy in evidence on te trail now so I am very careful where I walk and what I touch.Today was only a one percoset day. I reflected today on this incredible trail community where people become your friends in an hour or less, as Bob Peoples said on the way to the dentist, and they will help you in any way they can. Yet you are also allowed to be alone and to go ahead or stay behind as needed or desired. And somehow the trail grapevine through journals or notes in shelter registers or word of mouth makes people friends before they even meet. Yesterday Creeper left a prayer for Medicare Preacher in a shelter register and I had only met her twice passing on the trail. Amazing! It is a very unique, if mobile and constantly changing community.I hear owls tonight as I do most nights. I saw one too way back at Jerry Cabin Shelter. I think I forgot to mention that. I see deer now and again. Coyotes or racoons were making a racket last night. But I really haven't seen much wild-life.Time to rest now. 14.8 miles to Damascus tomorrow.
Date: 2007-05-03
From: Low Gap

To: Damascus
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: light rain

I woke up this morning and thought how nice and comfy my tent and sleeping bag are. But I made myself get up with the promise of coming to town.I packed up and marched forth and up the hill. (I had stayed at Low Gap. Anything called a Gap means a climb up out of it.) But the uphills were not bad at all and I moved right along. I had 3 snack bars 5 miles down the trail at the last shelter before Damascus. Going a quarter mile past the shelter a deer stood in the path for a while so I could take its picture. It looked pretty thin to me. It needs to eat more.I am eating everything in sight. When one thru hikes, one uses a lot of calories. I am guessing that I have lost weight as I seem to look thinner in my face and others say so too. I still have my belly pooch though. It holds up my pack. When I get home it will be interesting to see if I have actually lost weight or just re-arranged it.The trail was pretty but uneventful and mostly unremarkable ridge walking until about 6 miles from Damascus when the skies opened up with thunder and lightning and a deluge of rain. Actually I liked the rain. It was cool but not cold and I was soon walking down small streams that were supposed to be trails. I did not like the lightning that was less than a half mile away and me on a ridge line. But I walked quickly and the downpour soon soaked my shorts and filled up my boots. But the cool water squishing between my toes made my arthritic and neuroma-ed and bunioned feet feel better.I have hiked many places in the rain from Colorado to Washington. And I live in Washington State. So, I sang rain songs to myself and told myself Washington rain jokes and kept quoting Winnie the Pooh - "Tut tut, looks like rain." In short, my spirits were high ad I was having a soggy good time. Since all my gear was under pack cover and I was headed for town and the land of hot showers and laundromats and hiking kept me warm so there was no danger of hypothermia, I just enjoyed the rain. Coming into Damascus the trees and shrubs and grass had that just washed look and as the warm ground met the wet rain it smelled wonderful.I am now checked into Dave's Place, a rather spartan hostel, with Third Time's a Charm as room-mate. He is leaving the trail with a broken toe but I think he is having a really hard time leaving the trail. I am clean and dry and so are my clothes. I am mostly re-supplied and had dinner with Grasshopper and his wife who came to meet him here.Tomorrow I hope to sleep late and then spend the afternoon on the internet updating journals.
Date: 2007-05-04
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today is a zero day, a day of rest. I am not going anywhere. I did get up and had my town breakfast of bagels and cream cheese and orange juice. I had dinner last night with Grasshopper and his wife and ate a steak and it was wonderful. I bummed around and organized a bit. Swamp Fox and Blue Sky walked into town and I met them at the outfitters across the street. We went to the local Dairy King where they had breakfast and I had a cup of tea. it was good to see them. Before I did that I called Rest Step. Rest Step is the hiker from Washington State who signed my journal when I started writing it. He and his wife have bought a retirement home here near Damascus. He had offered to help me in any way he could. I had been corresponding with him by cell phone about my tooth problem and he would have helped with that if I had not solved the problem before getting here. Rest Step drove over and took me to the Dollar Store where I found some Salame not carried in the grocery store. And then he drove me out to their beautiful home in the woods, fed me lunch and I have been typing on his computer updating journals for what seems like hours. AND my boots are drying in front of his fireplace! He is another wonderful example of trail magic and trail community, a thru hiker who then helps other thru hikers.I am now caught up with my journals for the moment. I may have the opportunity to write one more journal after slack packing 18 miles tomorrow if I get back before the library closes. If not, or even if that happens, do not expect more journals from me until the end of the trail as I do not think I will be going by anywhere there is computer access from here on until the end. If I do, I will add journal entries. If not, I will add them when I return home to Washington.There is a feeling of ending the trail coming before long. It seems very strange to be thinking of that. While on the trail it seems like that is all there is to the world. And it seems simple and good. The trail is just a rhythm of life. One eats and breaks camp and walks, looks for water sources, eats more, walks more, looks for water sources and a place to camp, and sleep and then begins again. And on the way you meet people and see flowers and trees and beautiful views and, yes, your feet hurt. But each night you rest and then begin again. Life is simple and beautiful and good.
Date: 2007-05-05
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: light rain

I had hoped to get a journal entry on the internet tonight but there was a power outage in Damascus and no internets are working, nor phones either.Today was my slack pack. It was a day of walking in the mist and then in slow, steady rain. There were interesting flowers along the way, some new ones: Fire Pinks which are a very bright red, blooming Dogwood, and Lily of the Valley, growing not in the valley but on the ridge tops. There was also one Rhododendron blooming.In the morning I thought about not going as I only got about two hours sleep last night. It was noisy in the hostel but the real reason was the eggplant Parmigiana which was delicious when eaten but sat like lead in my tummy and kept refluxing all night until I finally upchucked dinner about 2:30 am. I made myself eat a plain bagel for breakfast but just ate hard candies and water for 17 miles. I seem better tonight. I hope so and I hope to sleep well as I am very tired and the shuttle leaves at 6:30 in the morning.
Date: 2007-05-06
From: Damascus

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a very beautiful day! The sun was shining. The sky was blue. The temperature was 60. Perfect for hiking!I, however, was not in top form as what was not upchucked a couple nights ago was coming out with rootie-toot-toots today. I passed enough gas to float a dirigible.But the day was lovely. I saw a wild turkey from the car taking me to the trail head at Summit Cut. Two Dogs (my room-mate as the hostel in town, and Magic Horse, a young hiker who does pretty big miles, and I were dropped off and we began hiking. They soon outdistanced me and I did not see them again. It was a 2,000 ft+ climb up White Top Mountain to Buzzard Rocks. But the view from there was wonderful! And the walk through the woods up Mt Rogers was carpeted with yellow Trout Lilies, various kinds of white flowers and trilliums, yellow and purple. (I have been calling them purple trilliums but they are really a rich, deep maroon, almost red.) I also saw May Apples bloming for the first time (a ground plant, not a tree. It comes up with leaves like folded umbrellas which then unfurl just like umbrellas and each one carries a bud underneat (the apple) which opens into a white flower about three inches wide with a yellow center.) I also saw some red columbine.I got to Thomas Knob shelter - a shelter with a beautiful view in the back. I was the only one there at first and went down to the water source and carefully bathed in my pot and washed clothes without contaminating the water source. One just dips the water and washes away from the source, never in it. I was quite out in the open and heard some hikers coming up the trail. You can see the area from about a quarter mile away so I hurried to get decent before much could be seen.I am staying at Thomas Knob shelter with only one other hiker, Steve. He is young and enthusiastic and rather brash with a great sense of adventure. I only hope his sense of adventure does not do him in before he develops a little wisdom. Ah, the energy of young hikers!Various short section hikers went down the trail a little ways to tent as there is no tenting right at the shelter. Wrong Way and Bird's Eye were two of them. They are section hikers who have very nearly completed the whole AT. (I also met a nice ridge runner while hiking through the lilies on the way to the shelter and other through hikers passed me today too but I do not know their names. I had mentally prepared myself to stay at the shelter although I prefer camping. Maybe I was just too lazy tonight to move and take down my bear bag by the time I learned there was nice camping fairly nearby.The view was magnificent and I watched three deer for a long time. This is the area where there are wild ponies but I have not yet seen any. Maybe tomorrow.Although it was Sunday, I did not do Holden Evening Prayer tonight. With people coming and going and my overnight companion it just did not seem right to do this evening. I may crash soon as it is getting pretty cold.