morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-05
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Dennis Cove
Miles today: 6.3

11:30a, Laurel Fork Hostel. I'm clean, mostly dry, and my laundry is well underway; just waiting for a crack at the computer to check my e-mail. Left another message for Greg, and talked to my mom for a bit. The cats are managing: Izzy stays under the bed we used when we were there, and Soboba crys and crys. He got out last night, and mom found him cowering on the grass this morning, pressed as flat as he could get.A lot of folks headed for Kincora's today, but I wanted to try this place, especially after !cuba libre compared John's tempting yesterday to that of the devil. In conversation at Moreland Gap Shelter last night everyone started saying, the Devil this, or, when I get to the Devil's tomorrow ... How could I pass that up?Now I've had a vege burger and soda, weeded through my e-mail (sent one to Greg), and retrieved my laundry from the dryer. Town tonight, or stay here?Heh-heh, stayed at the hostel for dinner: another vege burger, plus five slices of pizza from a delivery. Did go to the supermarche and get a load of food: noodles, tuna, hot sauce, snacks. Going to try to lighten my load and send a box of stuff ahead to myself in Damascus.A bunch of guys are in the hiker kitchen, watching "Lethal Weapon" and concocting a Cinco de Mayo feast. Who've I met here? Well, Big E came in, and there's !Fly-By from PA with his dog, The Bird; Dirty Frank, also from PA (and who cusses a lot); Vagabond, who totally reminds me of Sensei Dan; Groundhog (eyes rolled when the van picked him up on the way back from Winn Dixie); a guy from Barbados, hiking with his Dalmation; and Lightfoot, from Prince Edward Island.Looks like rain all week; when I talked to mom she said bad weather was moving my way, and to be careful. She also told me about the hiker in one of the Rocky Mtn states who got his hand caught under a boulder, waited for help until his water ran out, then cut off his own arm with his knife! People staying at the hostel talked about it, too. Then Lightfoot showed us where his own hand had been severed, and reattached. Whoa! Got quite a laugh, though, when I told people how my mom had ended our phone call, "Honey, be careful, and you've got your pocketknife with you, right?" Thanks, mom!Saw the coolest orange newt on the trail today, so orange it looked like a plastic toy.
Date: 2003-05-06
From: Dennis Cove

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: light rain

Had some toast and tea for breakfast, called Greg (he sounded perky) and told him my next call would come from Damascus, mid-day Friday. Left the hostel at 9:15a, after managing to pull five pounds out of my pack. Going to just use the Chacos for hiking, as my tennis shoes aren't drying out and I've got two nails on my left foot already turned purple. When I get off the trail this year I'm writing down a list of everything in my pack so that next year I don't add extra crap to my load!Vandeventer Shelter's water souce is half a mile away! I say that counts as a no-water shelter in my book. But I tanked up at the stream south of the shelter. !Fly-By, Vagabond, and Backstrap are here, as well as two guys named Fox and Feral. Groundhog came and went, without dropping off my Nalgene bottle, drat! Oh, yeah, the Nalgene: I stopped for a quick break at Watauga Lake Shelter (Slaughter, !Tank, Willow, and Cuba Libre were there and in for the night!) and Groundhog pulled up. Since I didn't want to spend another couple of hours hiking with him (he likes to keep up a steady stream of chat on the trail), I packed up and took off. It was only as I was getting ready to cross the dam that I realized I'd left my water bottle behind.The rain, which was off and on all morning, cleared to blue skies in the afternoon. Crossing the dam I almost got blown over by the wind; had to really lean into it! It's clouding up again, and I expect we'll get some more rain tonight and tomorrow. Even so, I don't think I'll have any trouble getting to Double Spring Shelter tomorrow, and Damascus the day after that.
Date: 2003-05-07
From: Vandeventer Shelter

To: Abingdon Gap Shelter
Miles today: 22.9
Weather: light rain

Oh, lordy! It's 5:30p, and I'm at Abingdon Gap Shelter, 22.9 miles from where I started this morning. Those noodles I had for lunch really helped. Zach's Dad, Vagabond, Fly-By and The Bird, a Korean guy, and some tenters are here. Gonna put on some pants (the gnats are bad) and make dinner. Dessert? Advil!It's 8p, and we're all in our bags, and a bit giddy about Damascus tomorrow. And now I've only got 10 miles into town. I'm fixin' to have lunch in town.It's now 10:30p, and it's pouring rain; started a little after 8p. Everybody's awake, 'cause 1) excited about Damascus; 2) this shelter has a tin roof; 3) The Bird's hiker-dog nest under the shelter floor is flooding, so Fly-By brought him up onto the platform, where he shook himself off. We all laughed. He's a happy dog now, curled up on Fly-By's feet.
Date: 2003-05-08
From: Abingdon Gap Shelter

To: Damascus
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Hey, I'm in Damascus, "the friendliest town on the trail," finishing lunch at the Side Track Cafe (vege burger, greek salad, brownie, ice tea). Planning to come back for dinner, too! I'm staying at the hostel associated with the Mt Rogers Outfitters (Dave's Place). Got me a pair of those foam camp clogs everyone on the trail's been sporting, a new Nalgene bottle, some postcards, an AT patch for my pack, a summer-weight sleeping bag, and a Ti cup for boiling water for tea. Dave's Place reminds me of Patey's Place instead of, say, Arnott's Lodge.Was afraid that, after a fitful night's sleep, I'd have to hike into town in the rain, but it stopped as I hit the trail, and even got sunny.Saw !slaughter et al coming into town while I was rocking on the porch of the Apple Tree Bed and Breakfast, where !Fly-By is staying. Cuba had my water bottle, bless her! Reunited and it feels so good; now I have two. Gonna sew on my patch, read a magazine, then head off for dinner.Oh! When I was talking to Greg on the phone I saw Big E come into town. He was standing in front of the outfitters, so when I hung up I trotted over. Seems they were out of room (and people were already claiming floor space at the church-run hostel) so I said it was okay for him to split my room with me. Ah, the perks of being a woman hiker: hostellers only assign you female roommates, and that doesn't happen very often. As it was already 6:30p, and Big E had had a long day, he looked pretty relieved.
Date: 2003-05-09
From: Damascus

To: Saunders Shelter
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: scattered clouds

4:00p, Saunders Shelter. An early day in after not much walking; the rhodedendrons are finally blooming, lovely purple with red-violet buds. So now it's white dogwood, orange azalea, and purple rhodedendron against the spring-green backdrop.Left Damascus about noon after sending a bounce box on to Dickey Gap, and another box of stuff (heavier sleeping bag mostly) to my mom's. Pack's down to 28 pounds leaving Damascus, including food, not bad.Dirty Frank's the only other hiker at the shelter, and it looks like he's going to move on.Ah, wait, the Post Office: went to get what should've been two boxes (one from Laurel Fork, one from SF) but neither was there. Major bummer! Called John at Laurel Fork, and it sounds like I just got here before my box did. I have no idea what happened to the box I sent from home. Hope it didn't disintegrate enroute. I'll check again when I come back for Trail Days.Now it's 6:15p, and Dirty Frank is tented behind the shelter -- wonderful tenting sites all around this place -- and Big E has come in, as well as a pair of SOBO section hikers, also tenting. Dinner tonight was a package of Betty Crocker instant potatoes; not bad with some hot sauce. And tea. Remember how I said I bought a Ti cup at the outfitters in Damascus? When I switched to the alcohol stove -- wait. Before the alcohol stove I'd make dinner using my lovely, loud Xtreme, turn it off, then fire it up again to make tea. I tried to do that with the alcohol stove (dinner then tea, then tea before dinner) but if I miscalculated the amount of fuel (at which I'm pretty consistent), I ended up with a partially-cooked dinner. So I stopped with the tea. But now with the cup I just heat water over the excess fuel after my dinner's done. Tried it out tonight for the first time and it worked like a charm!
Date: 2003-05-10
From: Saunders Shelter

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: overcast clouds

5:15p, Thomas Knob Shelter. Ugh! My feet are killing me. Today's big uphill over the shoulder of Mt. Rogers tired me out, but it was the rocky, rooty trail that did me in. I'm alread wondering how I'm going to do 21.2 miles into Dickey Gap tomorrow when this 18.6 day kicked my butt. But I feel kinda stuck since I told Greg that I would be at a phone tomorrow evening, and there's nothing else until the gap. At least I get to eat the fish steaks with my potatoes tonight. Food will be a little tight tomorrow for such a long day, but I've got my emergency dinner if it comes to that. At least I'll get a big breakfast at Fox Hill Inn. I'm dreading the hitchhike to the Inn after such a long day, I gotta say.Flatlander and Big E were here when I pulled in, but now that Flatlander has eaten dinner and signed the register, he's taking off. No sign of Dirty Frank. Might just be Big E and me tonight in this two-storey shelter.Some more folks showed up: two guys and their dog, but they're tenting just up the trail.So, I recall an article in Backpacker magazine mentioning the scenic view from the outhouse at this shelter. Well, if you stand up to pee, yes, the view is lovely. However, if you are sitting down for any reason, no view! Just another solar-powered crapper.Y'know, I just had a real crummy day today. I have a crack in the skin of my right foot (the downside of hiking in sandals) that hurts like the dickens; I think I was favoring the foot for awhile, so now my whole foot hurts. I also got a huge wave of homesickness today, to the point of tears, and I'm worried that I won't make it to Dickey Gap tomorrow, and it was really humid and sticky today. Because I'm so tired I'm worried that I'll blow myself out if I don't throttle back and do some 14- or 15-mile days. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time of it this year.
Date: 2003-05-12
From: Fox Hill Inn

To: Fox Hill Inn
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I do feel better today, after a shower and laundry, and a wonderful night's sleep in a most comfortable bed. Ah! But I did wake up reluctant to move on, so after calling Greg and talking about it, I decided to stay another day. That's right, my first zero day on the trail! Seems like a shame to miss a good weather day for hiking, but ... I want to read on the sofa, and watch the birds at the feeder in the garden. I want to sit in the garden, and take another shower, and sleep in a bed one more night. I'll miss everybody at Partnership Shelter tonight, but that's okay, though I suppose it means I won't see those people again, as they'll be ahead of me on the trail then scoot back to Trail Days, which I have decided to miss. I don't want to take the time to go back there since I only have limited hiking days anyway. Maybe next year, before I start hiking.Called my mom for a belated Mother's Day, and everyone's fine there. Good to hear the cats are adjusting.
Date: 2003-05-13
From: Troutdale, VA

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: clear sky

Just after 4:00p, Partnership Shelter. What a stunning day of hiking! Great weather, good views, happy feet, and a light heart. That zero day was so worth it! And, get this: as I come strolling up to the mammoth shelter, who should I see but Tank, who says, "Bedouin! There ordering the pizza now; if you hurry you can get in on it," so I drop my pack and jog the couple hundred yards to the Mt. Rogers Park HQ, where a large crowd including Cuba, Slaughter, Willow, Vagabond, Pat, and the Blues Brothers are lounging around, getting sodas from the drink machine while Kodiak writes down people's food order. Hot rats! So everyone's here, plus I got to finally meet a bunch of hikers I'd read about in the registers: !kodiak and his sweetie !sassy, steama and the Rockstars, !redbeard, !stircrazy, !lionking, and others still. Groundhog came through and is camping a little ways down the trail; too many smokers at the shelter for his taste, he says.So now we're back at the shelter, with a ton of pizzas (including a very fine vegetarian pizza for me), a bunch of beer and soda (including a very fine unsweet ice tea for me), and everyone's chowing down like only hikers and sumo wrestlers can. And there's a hot shower at this shelter! Really, Chazin's Data Book needs to incorporate a few new keys: one for showers (Sh), and another for payphones (P).I have to say, I'm pretty stoked to be with the crowd I know again, thinking they were all ahead of me on the trail. And it was so nice to hear their enthusiastic "Bedouin!" when I came up, too. I'm just blanketed in that warm 'n' fuzzy feeling of trail camaraderie.So on the trail today was a piece of paper weighed down with a rock that read:Rattle SnakeNo date, no time, no location. I asked about it during the pizza feed, and everybody'd seen it, and had been freaked out about it. I mean, I minced down about 200 yards of trail, with my pole in hand, scrutinizing every stick, every dappled shadow, scanning for that unmistakeable shape that the monkey-brain knows so well: serpent! Never did see the snake. Stircrazy said that, when he first saw the note pointing out trail magic: "oh good, a snack!" to which Kodiak said, "Rattle Snack!"Stayed up late, past 10, standing around the fire talking to the Blues Brothers (Lumberjack and Toothpick? we'll see), Kodiak and Sassy, and the Lion King. Pleasant way to end the day.The ranger at the HQ was kind enough to tell me that if I slid my stamped and addressed postcards under the door in the morning, she'd get them in the mail for me. They've got plenty of Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl patches, but alas! no Smokies patch. Not surprised, really, but I think we're just going to have to drive there in order to pick one up.Another shorty day tomorrow, 14-something.
Date: 2003-05-18
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Trent's Grocery, Va. 606
Miles today: 6.5

12 noon, Va. 606. The Shelter Babies, Dottie, and I are at Trent's Grocery. We've been here since 10:15a. It's been raining since a little after 8a this morning. We've eaten (me? a whole pizza, a V8, a coffee, and a candy bar), gotten provisions, and are waiting for a break in the rain to continue on to Wapiti Shelter for the night. Only it's not stopping. Sometimes it pours. The buckle on Dottie's hip belt broke, so she's getting a ride into Pearisburg in order to get it fixed. It's seven miles to the next shelter, 16 in the morning to Pearisburg. We're trying to find a hostel, but I must have dreamed up the information I remember reading about one associated with the grocery. Weird!I'm seriously thinking of calling Greg and asking him to meet me in Pearisburg.12:40p -- well, the Shelter Babies forged ahead, rain or no. When I stepped outside to put my pack on, into the cold air, I decide then and there that, no, I was going into Pearisburg with Dottie. So I bid the Shelter Babies adieu and called Greg, who sounded very happy and relieved.It's 7:40p, and I'm at the church hostel, and it's packed with returning Trail Days hikers. There must be 20 people here, either inside or camped out on the porch or tenting. It kept raining all day, and I thought about my friends trudging through it to spend another soggy night outdoors. I feel a bit, oh, guilty isn't the right word, but something akin to that, at calling it quits early this year. I could have gone another week before getting scooped up and taken back to civilization. But the rain and missing Greg and, I think, not actually having a home to go back to all took their toll. Props to all you thru-hikers, I just don't know how you do it for months on end. I will see you next year.Postscript: as Greg and I were driving out of Pearisburg, we stopped in to check on Dottie (I was ready to give her the buckle off my pack, plus I wanted to pay her for half the shuttle into town) and who should we see stumbling out of the woods but the Shelter Babies! We crammed them and their packs into our Subaru and took them to the church hostel. So I got a picture of them after all, and Greg got to meet them, and do one last bit of trail magic before we departed for the year. A nice way to end the section.
Date: 2001-03-16
To: The Appalachian Trail, Baby!
Miles today: 0.0

Here's the deal: I've wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail for years now, but could never get the money and the time off from work at the same time. Then I read Bill Bryson's book and decided to just section-hike the darn thing. That was the fall of 2000; and by spring 2001 I was on the trail.My plan then, as now, is to section-hike using my vacation time-off from work. The first year, I was on the trail April 1 to April 12. The second year, I hiked April 13 to April 26. Next year, I'll be back hiking the 27th. And so on until I'm done.I'm adding my journal notes from last year and this, and intend to keep this online journal up-to-date on my future section hikes. -- Bedouin3/17/2001--I bought my ticket. Now I'm getting scared -- I feel like I have to actually go now that I spent $400 on a plane ticket. Still haven't arranged transportation from Atlanta to the trailhead and back.3/24/2001--Now I'm nervous. It started yesterday. I have my ride to Amicolola Falls set, and a place at the Amicolola Falls Lodge for Saturday night. Now I just need a ride back. Absolutely no appetite.3/28/2001--Yesterday I posted to BayAreaHiking with the suggestion of a pool: whoever guesses closest to my mileage wins a 6-pack of Blenheim ginger ale. Hamid says 160 miles, Bill says 130 and the NOC. He also says be sure to hit the Blueberry Patch.
Date: 2001-03-31
To: Amicolola Falls Lodge
Miles today: 0.0

I'm here.I'm in the Amicolola Falls Lodge, room 108, on a blue-and-green-check bedspread. Just got off the phone with Greg and at his suggestion, grounded myself in Georgia.REI was closed by the time we got there, and Target was a bust, so I'll have to figure out a fuel plan tomorrow, and also mail home my duffel and daypack -- no lockers to be found at the ATL airport. The weather's clear, but Mary, my shuttler, said rain is forecast through Wednesday. Nice woman, Mary -- keeps a photo scrapbook of people she's shuttled. Took me through the Steak 'n' Shake drive-through ... mmm, butter-toasted buns.
Date: 2001-04-01
From: Amicolola Falls Lodge

To: Black Hawk Shelter
Miles today: 17.0

Okay, I made it to Black Hawk Shelter. I'll count up the mileage later. I am beat. Cold air but warm sun. It's 6:30p now and it's starting to get cold. Actually too cold all day to even sit and rest -- visible breath so whenever I stopped I got too cold. Now I'm just tired. Ate most of a package of jerky today, some apples, and -- about 0.2 miles from the shelter along the trail then at the shelter table -- all my granola. I will probably eat some sausage later but I'm going to wait until I pee then crawl in my bag. No tent -- sky is clear. Though everybody else at the shelter -- 20, 25? -- are in tents or in the shelter itself. Other than distance, it wasn't strenuous hiking -- moderate at worst but mostly easy.Okay, mileage. The shelter is 7.6 miles along the AT. Add that to the 8.5 Approach Trail plus the 1.0 mile from the lodge to the start of the Approach Trail -- I just had to walk through that arch! -- and that puts me at about 17 miles today. I think I'll do a little less tomorrow. My feet hurt.I'm in my bag. I've had some of my sausage. It's just after 7p and still pretty light thanks to DST. It if stays cold like this I will be glad to get fuel in Neels Gap. Who met so far? Amanda and Court and their dog Walker; Michelle, no dog; August and his dog 'Nutter. August dropped out of college with one semester to go and is thru-hiking. Amanda and Court are sectional. Michelle I do not know.There are leaves on the ground and some evergreens (pines, a holly-like tree and rhododendron) but mostly it is bare. I heard some songbirds and saw crows and what I'd call a turkey vulture, spiders, that's it.
Date: 2001-04-03
From: Ramrock Mtn

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 11.2

In the megamid, 7:45am -- It's been raining and thundering since 5a. I've heard two people hike past my tentsite. Thought I'd wait it out but I think I'll just go for it. Might be Blood Mtn tonight if it's too wet.Goose Creek Cabins, 4:45pm -- Well, it certainly was wet! It rained all day -- thunder and lightning in the morning -- which was pretty scary. As I was packing up this morning the lightning was moving in and I was nervous about that metal pole holding up the 'mid. I pretty much went straight through to Blood Mtn and stopped for about 20 minutes at the shelter there. I didn't stay longer because I was getting cold. Man I was beat. But from there it was only 2.5 miles down hill to Neels Gap and the Walasi-Yi Inn. The hostel was closed but the woman there said a shuttle was coming from the cabins, $25/night. Yes! I threw my stuff in along with some other folks that I've been running into since Hawk Mtn, and we went to Goose Creek Cabins. Everybody was coming off the trail so it's crowded, and I'm sharing a cabin with "T" and "CW" (cry wolf) and his dog Rowdy. She's a good girl. T's the guy who, at one point, passed me going uphill and made some comment about the rain, and I said, yeah, but it's better than being dead. He thought that was pretty funny. When I showed up at Walasi to find a crowd of hikers waiting under the awning for the shuttle to the cabins, T was there and said to the rest of the hikers, "Here comes my inspiration!"Pretty funny to be sharing a cabin with two strange men, huh? I can't wait until I get to hitchhike into town!Now I'm showered and in dry clothes and sipping tea with the guys, chatting while we wait for the dinner shuttle into Blairsville. Five restaurants in town? We'll see.Our driver recommended an all-you-can-eat buffet; most of us went there. I wore slippahs at least two sizes too big I found in the hiker box at the registration desk. Now, everybody working at the cabins is extremely nice, but wow: their office is crammed with DAP (dead animal parts) and a big ol' Confederate flag. I am a stranger in a strange land for sure!So the AYCE was good, except for the chicken-fried stead and poor dessert bar, and only $6.41, ice tea included. Folks, I've spent that at Starbucks on mornings before heading into the office.Now, why is sweetened ice tea the default instead of unsweetened? Bought granola cereal and two bags of tuna at the grocery after dinner. With help from CW and T I've figured out my route/mileage from here to NOC, which should put me in Wesser early (noon?) on the 12th. Plane leaves ATL the 13th. Will get fuel and arrange a ride tomorrow at Walasi.
Date: 2001-04-04
From: Neels Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.6

Low Gap Shelter, 4:30pm -- I'm at the shelter -- well, camped outside the shelter, which is packed. I pulled in about 3p. I though I would go farther, but my feet were (and are) so painful I said that's it. T's here, and Jamie, Gerber, Jazz, Docsson and Dutch -- people I recognize from the cabins. See? Rain's good for something. T's waiting for CW and getting a little worried.These accents are tripping me out! It's not everyone, but a lot of people. For instance, Jamie pronounces "supernatural" as "super natch your ell," with the accent on the "ell."Misty all day today, except for an hour or so this afternoon when we got some sun, but now it's cloudy again. Also, because my feet hurt so much, I'm changing my expectations: instead of pushing hells bells for Wesser and the NOC, I'm going to do what I can to reach Hwy 76 and get into Hiawassee, assess how I'm doing, and probably arrange to get a ride out after passing the North Carolina border.