morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-05
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: light rain

As I started my hike this morning, shortly before 7 am, I contemplated the fact that I was almost out of GSMNP, had hiked well over 200 miles, and hadn't yet even seen a deer. Slightly despairingly, I prayed, "Lord, I'm not trying to put you to the test or anything, but it would be awesome if I could just see some deer or a bear. I would count it as a special blessing from you and a sign of your favor." I remember using those exact words because I had nothing else to do but hike and figure out the right way to word it (as if He doesn't know what I mean =). Well, you guessed it- five minutes hadn't lapsed before I heard the crash of rocks tumbling off in the woods to my right. I looked up to see an adult black bear running away from me, about 30 yards away. She stopped right in my line of sight to look over her shoulder, and first one, then two cubs soon bounced along behind her. They had been quite close to the trail when I scared them off. I reached for my camera but the whole spectacle lasted only a few seconds. It was spectacular.It rained for much of the rest of the day, but nothing could dampen my spirits.Also met another lightweight (or ultra lightweight, if you will) hiker today. Doesn't seem to be many of us out here. But I tell you, it's nice cruising past people with loads twice as big as they labor uphill. Almost everybody I meet wants to know what kind of pack I have and how much it weighs. And I've also found my trekking poles to be invaluable. Having never used them before this year, I'm now a complete convert. They provide stability over rough terrain, balance on stream crossings, propulsion uphill, and braking downhill. I use them to clear cobwebs and hold thorns out of the way. Not to mention they hold my tarp up at night. Very handy indeed. So, Burger boys, call me a skier if you want, but until you've tried them you'll never know. They say that over the course of an average hiking day they can alleviate like 20 TONS of accumulated weight stress on your joints.
Date: 2006-05-06
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: broken clouds

Okay, today was definitely out of the norm. As I settled into the shelter for the night yesterday evening, I was reminded by another hiker that the next day was a Saturday, and that the post office would be closing at 10:30 am. Arghh!! How did I miss that? I had two options: Stay in Hot Springs until Monday when the PO reopened, or night-hike to make it in time. I was planning on taking a zero in Hot Springs anyway so I went to bed. I woke up at two something however with a bad allergy attack. (The shelter floors are loaded with dust and mice droppings. I usually put down some plastic but didn't that night because I was tired). Anyway, I got up, decided to hike the 18+ miles into town, packed up, and was on the trail by 3:30. (to the annoyance of my shelter companion- I wrote an apology in the shelter register). I've done night hikes back home but usually with the guys, and with my headlamp. This time I was alone, on a section of trail I'd never done before, and with a keychain sized single LED light. The trail is so much different at night. At times I wasn't sure if somehow I had gotten on a loop trail and was headed southbound. It was awesome =). After about two hours it started getting light, and before too long the sun came up. Believe me when I say, this was a tough hike. It felt like a death march. Almost the whole way I wanted to just lie down and go to sleep, but I had just gotten up, disturbed the other hikers by packing up, and set off, so what was the point? besides, the closer I got to town, the more silly it would seem to quit. But my feet were killing me. I had blisters that were really painful, especially because during the 25 miles of the previous day my shoes, socks, and feet had gotten soaked. At some point you just give up trying to stay dray and slosh right on through mud pits, puddles, and streams. My feet were giant prunes. But I made it! I cruised proudly into town at 9:15 am, more than an hour before the PO closed for the weekend. I had hiked over 40 miles in less than 27 hours with soaking wet footwear, and now I had the whole rest of the day to relax and recover. I checked into the Cody House Hostel, right on the trail, for $15 for the night. It's a little vacation cottage that the owners turn into a hiker hostel in the spring. It's got bunk beds and a kitchen and shower. Everything I needed. I did laundry at the laundromat, resupplied with enough food to get me to Erwin, and ate a whole 14 oz box of frozen chicken wings I bought at the Dollar General Store for dinner.Hot Springs is a great trail town. Everything is within walking distance. They don't have any fast food joints. I've heard the population is around 600, so it's no wonder one local laughed at me when I asked if there was a movie theater around (I wanted to see MI III. Anybody seen that?). I ate a ton of junk food. Candy and soda and chips. Should have eaten a salad but I would have had to go to a restaurant for that. Oh well, I'm still taking my multi-vitamins, mom. and I did buy some fruit.
Date: 2006-05-07
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: moderate rain

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I saw a raccoon yesterday morning hiking into town. Pretty neat. that little guy was fast! He climbed a few feet up a tree and stared at me for a few seconds before scampering down and disappearing over the hill.I slept in. I guess sleeping on real mattress'll do that to ya. Not a big deal. As long as I left town before Monday then I was still ahead of the game. I ate breakfast from my food bag, walked into the Smoky Mtn Diner to eat another breakfast, saw how packed it was, and walked out. I went up to Bluff Mtn Outfitters and bought another pint of Ben and Jerry's (they had New York Super Fudge Chunk!). I was on the trail about half past eleven, and knocked out the almost twenty miles to the Little Laurel Shelter by 6 pm. I considered pressing on but it was drizzling, the folks at the shelter seemed nice enough, and one of them had zeroed there and reported that the next shelter up was likely to be full, judging by the number of folks that had passed him that day. I do carry a tarp, but I tend to shelter-hop when the weather's bad, rather than try to set up and tear down in the rain. just easier, and not as much water-weight to carry in the pack the next day.
Date: 2006-05-08
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: Low Gap
Miles today: 27.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Highest mileage day yet. I wanted to do more but I just didn't have the energy in the morning. Funny thing is, late afternoon and into evening I had a good pace and just kept going. I think it may have something to do with me not getting enough calories. I eat whenever I have the urge or opportunity, but I still don't think I'm putting in more than 5,000 calories a day, while I'm probably burning 6 or 7 thousand. The scale at the outfitters in hot springs said I'd lost at least five pounds. Hopefully just fat. I can't afford for my body to start metabolizing and burning muscle instead of food or fat.My guidebook says that "studies of Olympic track and field teams have shown that it takes about 6-8 weeks for a male athlete doing strenuous all-day exercise to reach peak performance.... At the end of that period, several things take place almost overnight. You experience a big increase in the number of red blood corpuscles, and your body's ability to flush out lactic acid becomes very efficient." I have no idea what that means but it sounds good.Found a cool little campsite off the trail tonight. It's got an old overgrown fire ring, so I don't think it's been used this year. It sure beat the high-use area I considered stopping in though, that didn't even have any level tent sites with decent drainage. I like "stealth camping," where people on the trail can't see you.
Date: 2006-05-09
From: Low Gap

To: Nolichucky River (Erwin, TN)
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm keeping this one short cuz it's almost one in the morning and I'm tired of typing. I'm at Miss Janet's in Erwin, and I ate an awesome burrito and had a shake from Sonic. Yay![LATER] I was going to hitch into town because I didn't want to pay $4 for the shuttle, but an older guy I hiked with for part of the day insisted on covering both our fares. I felt bad cuz I do have the money, I just think it's a waste to spend it like that. But he wanted to do something for me. Normally I average like 3 mph hiking, but today I slowed way down and hiked with him for a while, cuz he has shin splints or something and looked like he could use the company. We figured out that we had met way back on like day 2, when he was completely out of water and I had given him some of mine. He wants me to come out to his ranch in Colorado, where he's going to host a wedding reception for Kenny and Julia (remember the newlyweds from day 1?) Blaze is invited too. Apparently he hiked with the three of them for a few days while I was laid up in Hiawassee. Neat, huh?Sad ending to the story though. We got shuttled into town and he couldn't find his wallet. Somehow it disappeared somewhere along the trail. Thru's pretty much look out for each other, but you have to be cautious with day and section hikers at shelters, etc. Sometimes it's just folks out looking for a freebie.
Date: 2006-05-11
From: Miss Janet's hostel

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: light rain

First day out from Erwin. it was fairly nice in the morning, but by early afternoon a sudden freak thunderstorm whipped up, seemingly out of nowhere. The temperature must have dropped a good 15 or 20 degrees, and I had to hunker down into the wind on the exposed ridge top I was hiking (the AT pretty much follows the crest of the Appalachians). It was the first time on my trip that I got thoroughly chilled. prime hypothermia conditions. Once I made it to the shelter I decided to stay, even though it was only a 16 mile day.
Date: 2006-05-12
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Apple House Shelter
Miles today: 29.9

Well I made up for the short day yesterday by putting in my highest mileage day to date. Top story: Today was the last day the trail tops 6,000 feet until it reaches the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I don't think anyone was too disappointed, although we'll probably miss these higher peaks once we get tired of VA's rolling hills. As a fitting farewell the last 6k peak decided to drop ice on me as I summited. It had been below freezing the night before and apparently the morning sun and wind was causing ice particles to melt and fall off the trees overhead. At first I thought it was hailing =) I got a pic to prove it, since it was the first (and maybe last) winter precip I've seen.The pic attached to this post shows a bit of the highlands of Roan. They really are spectacular. Reminded me of Julie Andrews and the Sound of Music movie. 360 degree views all around. In PA when you see a grassy field it's usually in a valley. I guess we don't have "highlands."Saw another turkey today. This one was a big one which flew off as I approached. A 12 gauge would have been nice, but then, it probably wouldn't have fit well in my 21 oz capacity titanium pot.
Date: 2006-05-13
From: Apple House Shelter

To: Kinkora Hostel
Miles today: 24.3

Gorgeous weather today. The sunlight filtering through the breezy tree canopy created a light show on the forest floor worth paying to see.I made it in to the Kinkora Hostel today. Probably the coolest place I've stayed yet. It's a homestead just two tenths of a mile off the trail that has room for probably 20 or 25 hikers, with showers, laundry, kitchen, padded bunks, grill, etc. Plus, the owner shuttles you into town for free to resupply. I ATE PIZZA for the first time since I left home. Lots of it. I can't begin to describe how nice it was having a whole large pepperoni pizza to call my own. Granted the relationship was short-lived, but it was nice while it lasted =). Plenty of folks stay here for a few days or more, but I put my money in the donation box and was on my way after just overnighting. I was motivated by the fact that they told me Blaze had stayed there, and had left that very morning.One month ago today I boarded a bus heading south from Harrisburg.
Date: 2006-05-14
From: Kinkora Hostel

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 31.9
Weather: light rain

Wow, two beautiful days in a row! I must be getting clear of the Smokies. New record set for mileage today. I had planned on doing two 25's to get from Kinkora to Damascus, but now I'll only have like 18 to do tomorrow, which will allow me to reach town before the P.O. closes at 4:30. Today I met Old Spice, another thruhiker with exactly the same pack as me(a first). He's fast- on one section I couldn't catch him even though he only had like a twenty minute head start, and on another section he almost caught me. We were close to averaging 4 mph, which is pretty good in the mountains wearing packs. Most folks average maybe 2 mph. This is probably incredibly boring to you guys back in the real world, but for me it was challenging and fun :-). Oh, and I saw my first deer of the trip! Two young ones- they even let me snap some dark, grainy pics! One month ago today I was finishing my trip to GA and hiking the Approach Trail.
Date: 2006-05-19
From: Dickey Gap (VA 650/ VA 16)

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I'm back in Damascus. I was here Monday, but didn't want to sit around town all week waiting for Trail Days to kick into high gear late in the week. So I took off with Kenny and Julia and did another 50 miles Tuesday, Wed, and Thurs am. The Baptist church here in town offered a free shuttle back to town which we took advantage of. The Trail Days festival is pretty cool. There are lots of local merchants, arts and crafts, and other displays, which are of no interest to me whatsoever. BUT there are also a ton of outfitters and gear reps from some of the best gear manufacturers. They're doing free repairs and giving away stickers and gear, etc. The folks at Gossamer Gear want to put my picture on their website, since I'm using some of their stuff on my thru-hike. Plus they offered me a new sleeping pad since mine was getting fairly worn. Last night one of the local churches hosted a huge free "home cooked meal" for the hikers. It was great. I ate a little bit of everything, including my first salad since I left home (sorry Mom). Tonight the fire house is offering a spaghetti dinner, and Backpacker Magazine is sponsoring "Feed the hungry hikers" venison chili dinner. Not sure which one I'll go to. Probably both =).The SBC's Disaster Relief folks sent out a trailer so we can get free hot showers too. Yep, this is my kind of festival, and I'm lovin it.I'll have to post a picture of "Tent City" and "E-wok Village" (where all the hammockers are hanging out). I'll bet you've never seen so many tarps, tents and hammocks in one place. It stormed last night (see the photo section) but today's beautiful and tomorrow's supposed to be nice as well.I think my 30 minute time slot here at the library is almost up so I'll leave it at that for now. Take care y'all! I'll probably be back on the trail Sunday afternoon.
Date: 2006-05-20
To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

It's Saturday, and Trail Days is in full swing. One of the best things about being in town is being able to eat out. Damascus doesn't have many restaurants but I've hit up the one's they do have. The Dairy King has great burgers, fries, and shakes. Also AYCE (all you can eat) pancakes for just five bucks. Then there's the Baha Cafe, owned by a former thru-hiker. It's probably the most popular hangout in town. I ate two of their awesome burritos, one chicken, one steak. There's also the local pizza joint, where I ordered a "pizza roll" which wasn't nearly big enough. I should have just gotten a large pizza.I thought it might be hard to find people I know, given the size of the festival, but I've been running into friends and acquaintances left and right. It seems that at every street corner or store I run into another hiker I've met on the trail. (the hard part is remembering their names and what shelter or trail section you shared with them.) It definitely contributes to the sense of community that develops on the trail. I even got to meet some folks that are ahead of me so I can look forward to meeting up with them further north.A group of us played Ultimate this morning. It was fantastic. It took a while to get the game going but once we did it was immensely enjoyable and quite competitive. Every couple of minutes one of us would comment on how much we missed the sport and how great it was to be playing again. You'd think I'd be in incredible shape by now but I still got winded running up and down the field!One of the events of the day was AT Jeopardy, sponsored by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. I participated on one of four 2-3 person teams. We didn't win, but I got a few questions right, and was given a free ATC membership and pair of binocs just for participating. (something else to mail home =)Also worth mentioning: new shoes and insoles at the outfitters in Damascus. Yay! hoping to get a thousand miles out of these since they're a heavier duty model.Also: Free ice cream sundaes sponsored by Backpacker Magazine. uh huh!The downside to Trail Days: Drunk potheads dancing around the fire 'till all hours of the morning at Tent City. They call these "drum circles." Made me glad that I had pitched my tarp about a mile away in the yard of the church hostel!(ABOUT THE PICTURE) the kid on the far right is actually thru-hiking with his Dad and older sister. His trail name is Gear, and it has the cutest origin: Originally it was going to be just his Dad and sister hiking, but he really wanted to join them. The capacity of the tent they planned on using was listed as "Two plus gear." The answer was obvious to this aspiring hiker- "I'll be gear!," he excitedly offered. And so it was. They're from PA too (Lebanon).
Date: 2006-05-21
From: Dickey Gap

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: clear sky

This morning I walked to the grocery store to resupply, and then hung out in town waiting for the free church shuttle back to the trail. It would have been a difficult hitch since it was about 30 minutes up the interstate, and then another 15 or so into the mountains. I got dropped off just after two and made it the 14.5 miles to Partnership Shelter by about 7. I felt pretty good considering I had taken a few days off, and was still pretty sore from our all-out Ultimate game. Even so, I was glad to only have to hike half a day- it'll help make the transition back to the trail easier.Partnership shelter is probably the spiffiest shelter on the whole AT. It's located a stone's throw from the headquarters of the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area, which has vending machines, a dumpster, and a telephone, from which you can order pizza to be delivered. The shelter itself has a hot shower and a janitor's sink for washing clothes. Very Very nice. An Israeli I met in Damascus actually spent 19 days here when he was southbounding over the winter of 2002. He told the park rangers he was waiting for the snow to melt, and they were fine with it. His name is Ronni, and the stories he told were hilarious. Prior to meeting him I didn't even know that anybody tried to thru-hike the AT over the winter. It's tough. The mountains create weather and storms that are all their own. A southbounder doing the same thing this past winter (05-06) actually got turned around in knee-deep snow on top the nearby Grayson Highlands (easy to do since the highlands are bare and the white blazes are often simply painted on rocks, which in winter are buried in drifting snow). He got frostbite on a few fingers, but Search and Rescue later found and evacuated him.
Date: 2006-05-22
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: clear sky

Gorgeous sunny day- we've had a few of these in row now. But the temps are still cold at night, even frosty! Seems unusual to me considering it's almost June, but then again, we're in the mountains. I keep forwarding my summer-weight sleeping bag to towns ahead, even though I had planned to make the switch at Damascus. Forgot to tell you the story of the underwear flag. One of the most well-known and loved people associated with the trail is Miss Janet, who runs the popular hostel in Erwin TN known as, you guessed it, Miss Janet's =). If there were a Top Ten AT Personalities list, she would without a doubt be on it. When I was there I accidentally forgot a pair of boxer briefs in the dryer. When I reached the next hostel up the trail, I called in the hope that they might turn up, since I knew Miss Janet would be at Trail Days. I didn't really expect to see them again since every day new hikers are showing up and doing laundry, but they were my only pair of underwear and I thought it was worth a shot. When I called Miss Janet wasn't home, so I left a message with the female hiker who answered the phone. Didn't give it much thought until I got to Trail Days.In Damascus, I was meeting lots of other hikers and introducing myself. Several folks said, "Oh, YOU'RE Jumpstart?! You need to go get your underwear from Miss Janet. She had it laying on the counter with your name on it for days." Then I was informed that my briefs were flying from the antenna of her van. No kidding! Her van is plastered with AT related stickers, and I guess she figured my underwear would enhance the look. She had been shuttling hikers from Erwin to Damascus, and they had already made a couple of round trips. when I finally recovered them, they seemed none the worse for wear. So there you have it, the flying underwear story. Good thing I already have a trail name, or I might have been saddled with something like Black Flag Commando or something such!There were 28 people at or near the shelter tonight. That's the biggest shelter crowd I've seen yet. Not unusual for GA in March, but this is VA, in May. The bunching was caused by Trail Days. Lots of folks had Damascus in their sights for that particular weekend, so it should thin out again before long.
Date: 2006-05-23
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter

To: Laurel Creek campsite
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: clear sky

Today's hike involved a couple of tough climbs. I try to maintain a steady pace, even uphill, so I found myself passing quite a few other hikers. At several points along the trail there were postings about a detour further north, due to a bridge being out. Since it was warm and sunny, I anticipated simply following the blazes and fording the creek if I had to. But when I got to the detour spot, I saw they had actually scraped the white blazes off the trees, and laid branches in the way. I reluctantly decided to follow the detour (I'm what they call a "purist," in that I refuse to slackpack or skip sections, and insist on passing every white blaze). It was a little unnerving following a side trail for miles out of the way. I don't have a map or compass, and my guidebook only covers the AT, so I felt like I was hiking blind. It was surprisingly comforting when I finally did rejoin the AT. These kinds of detours and re-routs are called "relo's" (for relocation), and when sanctioned by the local trail clubs, are considered the official route to take, so it's not like I've missed a section. The bridge has been out since march, and the side trail is actually now in better shape than the original AT section, since everybody's taking it. One guy I was with came through in the dark though, and actually followed the original path. He said the stream crossing was no problem since the water was low.I "cowboy camped" tonight. That means I didn't bother with my tarp. Just laid out my ground cloth and sleeping bag and slept under the stars. I've done that a couple of times now. It's fun, but you have to be fairly confident it's not going to rain (or have a shelter you can run to if it starts coming down =).