morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-21
From: Camp site in grassy area

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 3.6

April 21        Today we walked 3.5 miles to the famed Kincora hostel in Hampton, TN. It was a rainy, but pleasant walk. We ran into Itchy foot and Just do it and joked for a while about falling down, stepping in pooh, and rainy days underneath a beautiful tree with white blooms.        Bob Peoples, the owner of Kincora hostel, runs the trail maintenance efforts for this section and is full of stories and knowledge of the AT and its hikers. We sat and listened to him pretty much all morning as we did laundry and took showers. Then he took us (Flanders, me, Slowrider, Hatpasser, Josh, Fremont, and Young William) into town for AYCE Chinese food and grocery shopping.        We ate the Chinese food around 3 pm, so we got dinner supplies at the grocery store and I made 2 lasagnes and Fremont made 10 lbs. of chicken. YUM! Now everyone is playing dominos. Tomorrow Ned, Fremont, Slowrider, and I are going with Bob to do trail maintenance. Hopefully we will be able to catch HatPasser and Josh, since they are leaving tomorrow and will be a day ahead of us. We will be in Virginia in just 3 days!!!                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-04-23
From: Kincora Hostel

To: Laurel Fork Shelter
Miles today: 1.9
Weather: clear sky

April 23        Yesterday we did trail maintenance with Bob. We woke up around 7 am. Fremont and Chicken Feet were fixing breakfast when Bob told us he was ready to go. So we put on our shoes and packed our lunches while we crammed down a great breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and bacon. On the way to the trail we dropped off Bishop who was headed out for the day. We got to Walnut Mt. around 9 am. We all met Ed Oliver, who is the head maintainer of their section. The section we were relocating was only 0.2 miles from the road. Ed and Bob gave us our tools (heavy duty rakes and Pulaski¢s) and a short tustorral. Then Ed ran the flags from the new section they¢d already built to the old AT, which we had just walked two days earlier. So, we dug out a brand new trail, leveling the dirt, cutting out and trimming trees. We had our first hikers on the new section just before lunch. We hadn¢t even blazed it yet. Once we finished both connecting ends and closing off the old trail, we got to paint the blazes. It was pretty exciting. In the afternoon, we did the same to a similar section nearby. Around 3, they gave us our patches and said thank you, and Bob took us back to Kincora.        When we got back, the hostel was jam packed with about 20 new hikers that we didn¢t know. It was such a zoo, we decided to head back out to the trail. We spent a little while at the beautiful Laurel Falls. We got to the shelter about a mile later. We had it all to ourselves. At Kincora we weighed our packs to find out that they are much heavier than we thought (CF = 19 lbs., Flanders = 37 lbs)!! So, since we had the shelter to ourselves, we laid out everything we were carrying. Food is our main weight problem, so we¢re going to work on bringing it down. While we had all of our food out, a very hungry mouse nearly tried to snag some before we even went to bed. We hung up our food, but we left him a little bag of GORP so he wouldn¢t bother us.                                                                Flanders
Date: 2003-04-24
From: Laurel Fork Shelter

To: Knob
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: overcast clouds

April 24        Needless to say, the GORP was gone this morning, just an empty Ziploc with holes. This morning we hit probably the steepest section so far. Luckily, it was short. A lot of people hike that section south because the other side of the mountain is easier to go up. We met Recycle(d?) when we stopped for lunch at Watanga lake. As we were leaving rom lunch, we met a local married couple, Harry & Sandy. They gave us each a beer and we talked for a while. THANKS!! The rest of the hike was fairly easy. We walked around the lake and up onto a ridge. We also spent some time remembering Lydia¢s Uncle David who passed away recently. We recalled some great stories. Unfortunately, before we got to the next shelter Chicken Feet was nearly in tears. She was so tired. Before we could find a suitable campsite, she felt rotten. Looks like she may have caught the AT ¢03 plague. We setup the tent and she went straight to sleep. I took care of the chores and ate and now I¢m off to sleep.                                                                        Flanders
Date: 2003-04-25
From: Knob

To: The Place Hostel - Damascus
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: overcast clouds

On Friday we crossed into Virginia where we finally caught up to our friends. We even saw Brother and Sister (now Loderunner and Apricot). We hadn=t seen them since way back before the Smokies. We stayed at The Place, a hostel run by a local Methodist Church. It was the worst hostel we have seen so far. The bunks we simply hard wood-no mats, no cushions, no mattresses. The whole place was dirty and there wasn=t any soap in the shower, nor toilet paper in the bathroom. I slept on a mini couch with my lags hanging off all night and Ned slept on a bunk.Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-04-26
From: The Place Hostel - Damascus

To: Dave's Place
Miles today: 0.0

In the morning we swept the floor and bought trash bags, toilet paper, shampoo, and soap for all the bathrooms at the Pace. We chose to do this rather. Then put our money in the donation box for obvious reasons after that we went to Dave=s Hostel and arranged to stay there. Only one dollar more and much nicer. No wonder it was full the night before! We had a great day, grilled burgers for dinner, and saw live music (just open mike, but it was good) at the Side Track Caf©. The 3 Wisemen (our long lost friends) showed up just in time for a game of euchre and a goodbye- they are slowing down and visiting home and will be behind us for awhile. Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-04-29
From: Campsite near pond

To: Wildcat Ridge Cliffs
Miles today: 18.3

Big day yesterday. I read that there would be ponies (wild ones) 19 miles away so we got up early to try and mile it there. We left the pond while Josh and Cayothe were still sleeping and we didn=t see them again all day. We climbed Whitetop Mtn. and ate lunch on a bald spot, then walked a few miles further and climbed Mtn. Rogers, the highest mountain in virginia. The climb was pretty easy, and it was a pretty boring mountain until we saw the ponies!!!!!PONIES PONIES PONIES!!!! At the Thomas Knob Shelter, visible from Mtn. Rogers, there were ponies all around. I wasn=t expecting to see ponies for another 2.5 miles, so I was ecstatic. Ned, however, was not as pleased as me. The wild ponies presence compromised our trust of the spring at the shelter. Pony- poop water combined with his lifelong grudge against ponies (one threw him off when he was a child) made Ned a rather unhappy camper... plus, he is worried about my knee.Anyway we ate YUCK-O Rice-A- Roni dinner (never eat the chicken or garlic flavors, much less mix them) and then kept going to find a spot to camp. On the way we climbed a knob off the trail and watched the sunset. We didn=t end up making the full 19 miles, but it didn=t matter because there were plenty of ponies. We camped in what seemed to be a calm grassy area, and because it was so clear and beautiful we decided not to set up the tarp. Almost as soon as we were comfortably star gazing from our sleeping bags the wind picked up. It was a strong, cold wind, so we set up the tarp. Still, because we had not planned on tarping, the wind blew directly into the tap and we had to get up at 2:30 to switch the tarp around. Not a great night=s sleep, but what a beautiful day! Wild pony land is some of the most amazingly beautiful terrain I've seen yet!Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-04-30
From: Wildcat Ridge Cliffs

To: Trail to Hurricane Camp Ground
Miles today: 17.1

Today we got up a little later than usual because we didn=t sleep well- that damn wind- and we didn=t have to do a huge day. We knew we couldn=t make it to the Troutdale P.O. before it closed, so we decided to camp a couple of miles before the hitch. We discovered a slight hole in out trap netting, bummer dude. The walk in the morning was very surreal. We walked down away from Wildcat Ridge cliffs as it started to sprinkle. We were walking at the sun, but when we turned around Wildcat was half-way hidden in the clouds. The rest of the day turned out to be beautiful. We had a long lunch on Pine Mtn. Unfortunately, Chicken Feet got a terrible rash on her calf. We weren=t sure what it was, but we think it=s sun poisoning. We ate dinner and found a barely-suitable campsite just before dark. We are only 2 miles from the hitch.Flanders
Date: 2003-04-30
From: Knob

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We had pretty good day today. We were out by 8 and to US 26 to hitch into Troutdale by 9. We stuck our thumbs our and the first guy to pass picked us up. He was quiet, but said he went coon huntin¢ a lot, so he was used to the smell. He dropped us off at the P.O. where we spent an hour going through our bounce box and boxing up some of our winter clothes. Then we walked to the Troutdale Trading Post and each had the Hungry Men¢s breakfast. We paid for breakfast and a few phone calls we got the first car to pass for a ride back to the trail- 2 great hitches!! This guy was much more lively. He told us about trying to steal some lumber that dumped off a track a week ago. We hit the trail and for to Trimipi Shelter just before a big thunderstorm. It was quite scary! We hemmed and hawed about whether to go on after the storm passed. Chicken Feet didn¢t want to talk in the rain. Hot showers, easy terrain, and delivered pizza finally convinced her at 3:30 and we were off again. We pushed hard and had the 10 miles done by 7:25. It¢s a big shelter- Hazmat (formerly Josh), Fremont, Just Do It, Itchy Foot, B-Roc, Det. Fri., Saucy Dog, Mule, Pig Pen, and a few others are here. We just had some great pizza, which they delivered very close to the shelter. The shelter also has a privy, a sink, and a shower. It¢s the best shelter so far.                                                                 Flanders
Date: 2003-05-01
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Davis Path Shelter
Miles today: 14.3

I have a big blister on my right heel. It hurts even though I have a special blister band on it. I try to zen the pain, saying to myself ¢This is not a joint. I do not need this heel shin. Blisters do not affect my ability to hike...¢ etc. I expect this method to fail completely once the thing rubs open. Maybe it won¢t. Cross your fingers.        Ned has shin splits. They hurt as he walks uphill, but they stop hurting as he warms up. ~End of Injury update~        Today we resupplied at the Rt 11 road crossing Mar Atkins. We hiked nearly all day with Hazmat. He had to walk slower and we had to walk faster, but I barely noticed the hiking for the talking was fun. We waited out a thunderstorm with him in Chatfield Shelter, ate dinner with him in Atkins, and now we are going to sleep here in Davis Path Shelter with him. So today is Hazmat day. Happy Hazmat day!                                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-05-02
From: Davis Path Shelter

To: Lick Creek
Miles today: 14.3

We got off to a lazy start today. Before we left, we organized our food. Way too much junk food again!!! We decided not to resupply in Bland. We¢re going to try to make it to a store after that. They only problem is we¢ll have to live off lots of sugar. The hiking was pleasant. A tad bit harder then the precious couple of days. We did get to go through lots of open farm fields. The views were gorgeous. The harder terrain, both up and down, slowed us down a bit- and so ddi all of the stiles. Since fields had cows we had to use the stiles (angled wooden ladders built over fences) to enter and exit the fields. We passed about 8 of them! We also had a little trouble with water today. We have been primarily drinking from springs since we started in Georgia, and we haven¢t been treating the water. We only passed one spring today, so we had to drink from streams to stay at the shelter and had to race yet another thunderstorm ever Lynn Camp Mtn. We setup the tarp and ate dinner while it sprinkled at Lick Creek. Last but not least- we passed 0.25 of the way today!!!                                                Flanders
Date: 2003-05-03
From: Lick Creek

To: Huntig Camp Creek
Miles today: 16.0

We woke up pretty late as usual (7:00). I found the biggest grub I¢ve ever seen, outside our tent. Before we left the campsite, i tossed the grub into the creek to see it any fish would nibble of it. About an hour later, Chicken Feet found a snail and moved it off of the trail to make up for my devilish act. At our only spring of the day we got to see a black and yellow bird splash in the spring, taking a bath. We climbed Chesnut Ridge today (2000 ft. elevation gain in 4.5 miles). Chicken Feet seemed to have many problems with pebbles and such getting in her shoes and bothering her feet. During one of her feet fixing¢s, Detective Friday, Tom of Maine, and Saucy Dog passed us. We had a good talk with Saucy Dog- a real nice retired cop. During a break, we were chased off of a ridge by yet another thunderstorm!! I thought the weathermen said it would clear up! Anyway, we sat out the lightning in a gap. After ti stopped raining, we met a very nice older couple. They were our for an afternoon hike. The lady had a very beautiful, hand-carved, wooden walking stick. We got to the shelter around 6, but as we approached there were 6 tents setup. The shelter was full and it was so crowded. We found a nice quiet spot just past the shelter. We finally got to cast new potatoes in a fire. Earlier we didn¢t have tin fol and it¢s rained the last couple of nights. They were delicious. After we finished eating, the rain chased us into our tarp. Off to sleep to the pitter-patter ....g¢nite.                                                                                Flanders
Date: 2003-05-04
From: Hunting Camp Creek

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: broken clouds

We had three big days, so as usual, we¢ve got catching up to do. Our daily average for the last three days was 18 miles per day. We left our campsite near Jenkins Shelter around 8. Most of the morning we spent fording Little Wolf Creek 12 times. Sometimes we had water rushing over higher than our socks. Our socks were wet most of the day, which makes the feet tender and vulnerable to blisters. We walked around ¢God¢s Thumbprint¢ which is a huge valley depression. We also passed some trail magic. Somebody left gallon jugs of water. They couldn¢t have picked a better spot. We were low and water and we were a long way from the next good source. We hiked on and off with the Maryland Posse (including Tom of Maine), Beverly, TJ and Josh. We passed up a chance to hitch into Bland. Then we crossed a bridge over Interstate 77. We were following the MD Posse down a small road and missed the trail as it headed back into the woods. The problem was about 8 horse trailers parked on the side of the road, hiding our blazes. We found the trail and a small creek, our last water source for 12 miles. So instead of eating lunch (which doesn¢t require water or cooking ) we cooked dinner. The terrain had been pretty easy and we were feeling pretty good, so we decided to try for our first 20 mile day. By the time we hit 20, we were ready to stop. The only problem was we were up on a ridge with not a single place to camp. We ended up walking the next 3.5 miles to the next shelter - Jenny Knob Shelter. We got in around 8:30 and even though there was room, the five old farts in the shelter were sleeping. We set up our tarp behind the shelter and ate our lunch for dinner.                                                                                Flander
Date: 2003-05-05
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Old Woods Road before Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: light rain

On Monday the 5th we slept in a little because it was raining and we didn¢t plan on doinog a big day. When we got up all the ¢old farts¢ had already left. We ran all our gear from the tarp into the shelter and got ready there in spacious dry comfort. Somebody left 3 blister bandaids in the hiker box so I dressed my blister up really nice. Although my blister was happy my knee was not. It had woken me up in the middle of the night screaming for painkillers. I had trouble walking for a while, but it got better as I warmed up. Still, it was the worst day yet for my poor knee - the pain would come back at unexpected times and then just go away again. I kept my system maxed out on Aleve.Anyway, we were low on food, so we walked an easy 6.5 miles to VA 606 where there is a small convenience store. WE bought them out of honey buns, gorged on items from their greasy grill and continued on our way.We took a side trail to Dismal Falls, an awesome area for playing around. I vowed to organize a family reunion there if I can ever get my PA cousins to drive that far. There were some guys packing up to leave when we got there and they gave us a grape soda and told us about their night. Frustrated by having to cross the knee deep creek numerous times, they had gotten drunk and taken turns with an ax chopping down a tree for a bridge.We were exhausted and ready to quit by the time we had gone about 11 miles but we couldn¢t find a good place to camp until just about a half mile from the next shelter, so we camped there. Pretty soon, TJ and Josh came by and we sat and talked with them and played with the beautiful husky puppy they recently found, Caddy (for Cadillac). This fun ended when it began to pour. We hustled inside the tarp, ate our deli sandwiches from the store, and went to bed early.Chickenfee
Date: 2003-05-06
From: Old Woods Road before Wapiti Shelter

To: Holiday Motor Lodge Pearisburg
Miles today: 17.0

We planned to get up very early in order to get dibs on the breakfast at Woodshole hostel (available to the first 8 people to arrive each day), but we decided instead to use our early start (I hit the trail at 6:45 and saw 3 deer and 2 grouse) to get to Pearisburg. We are trying to get close to Ned¢s house in time to see his brother before he drives to Colorado for the summer, and possibly longer. So, we had a long nasty downhill through stinging nettle to get to P-burg. I did not realize the pretty and jagged leaves were dangerous until I rubbed the poor, tender underside of my thigh against them on a pee break. Grrr. Anyhow, we got a hitch to the post office from 2 girls our age and then walked to the motel, ordered pizza, and crashed.                                                                        Chickenfee
Date: 2003-05-07
From: Holiday Motor Lodge Pearisburg

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

Slept in. Grocery shopped. Ate at DQ for lunch after breakfast of pizza, gummi bears, and 6 Krispy Kreme donuts (for Ned ¢ cottage cheese and Coke for me). Met a real character ¢ Melvin Whitaker, who seems to spend his days driving thru hikers around town for free. All the hikers have to do in return is laugh at his dirty jokes ¢ and we¢re not talking about muddy pigs here! He drives a station wagon flying an American flag on each side and just yells at hiker looking people to find out if they need to go anywhere. After Dairy Queen, he took us back to the trail. I got two hugs and Ned got a handshake and we decided he was a very nice man.        We walked about 7 miles to get to the first shelter. Itchy Foot and Just Do It were already here with friends Tom and Lynn visiting from Michigan. They had a fire going and provided us with marshmallows to roast and we all had a very nice evening, except for the peeps we roasted, which did not stay cute and Eastery above the hot fire. Poor peeps. When we were all stuffed full of sugar, we walked up the nice grassy hill to watch the sunset, but before it began to set, the clouds began to rain, so now we are going to sleep.                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-05-08
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: near pond
Miles today: 21.9

We started early because we were sleeping with the old farts that like to be up an hour before the sun. We passed a beautiful meadow in a bit of fog, but the sun started poking out not too much later. We played tag with TJ, Josh, and their dog, Caddy. The centipedes were out in force. We ate lunch at Pine Swamp Branch Shelter with Tom, Lynn, TJ, and Josh. We were taking nice long breaks so that we¢d be rested for a big day. We met Itchy Foot and Just Do It at Bailey Gap Shelter. They were in for the night. They let us know about the most beautiful spring we¢ve seen so far. It came out right under a tree. We ate dinner at the shelter and then headed on. We were shooting for a campsite and spring to camp, but when we got there, somebody was already there. Before we could find a nice spot, it was too dark to walk. So, we whipped our headlights out and kept going. We found a decent spot beside a pond. We finished another big day, and we aren¢t in lots of pain!!!                                                                Flanders
Date: 2003-05-09
From: near pond

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: scattered clouds

We woke up and ate Ned¢s mom¢s delicious granola. Ned, in ingrate, cursed her for putting dates in it, but I ate them happily. It was a beautiful morning walk, Spring smells wonderful and the sun shining through tons of fresh, damp, green leaves is lovely.        We ended up hiking most of the day with TJ, Josh, and Caddy (our new friends and the puppy they found) and Fremont (we finally caught him a day later for his birthday). It was much fun. We got two rounds of trail magic, saw an oak tree 18 feet around, and played with a donkey.        One of the coolest parts of the day was climbing up to Kelly Knob. When we got to road crossing VA601 both Ned and I said, ¢This is very familiar.¢ We immediately recognized it as the starting point of our first backpacking trip ever, with Craig Twyman and two of his friends at VA Tech. This was the trip where I declared I never wanted to backpack ever, ever again! Climbing the same 500 feet in a half mile that we climbed 4 years ago, I remembered and completely understood that decision. It was, and still is TOUGH. But it was so very exciting to recognize the trail and even find the spot we camped back then. We ate lunch at the rocky overlook, reminisced, and talked to some section hikers.        We stayed in Sarver Hollow Shelter (.3 miles straight down off the trail) with Fremont and TJ, Josh, and Caddy. It was a fantastic day!                                                                Chicken Feet
Date: 2003-05-10
From: Sarver Hollow Shelter

To: just after Dickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.0

Again, we hiked most of the day with TJ, Josh, Caddy, and Fremont. It really sucked to go back up that hill to the trail. We didn¢t hit the trail until 9 a.m. By 4 o¢clock, we had barely gone 10 miles. This kind of thing makes Flanders an unhappy boy, but he survived, and we went the 16 miles I said we¢d go. There weren¢t many good water sources all day so we were dehydrated most of the day and at dinner we had to treat water from a big creek to drink. We normally drink from springs only, so this was the first time we had to experience the very funky flavor of creek water. We slept in the tarp to avoid yet another 12 mile walk straight down to the shelter. Fremont, TJ, and Josh all did about the same thing, though we were spaced about a tenth of a mile apart.                                                                Chicken Feet