morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-04-22
From: Curley Maple Gap shelter

To: Roan High Knob shelter
Miles today: 27.3
Weather: light rain

I did not realize Roan Mountain was so steep! I was ready for bed when I got here.It poured for several hours today and is supposed to rain for the next couple days too. Fortunately, it was 55 degrees instead of 35 when it was raining in the Smokies. I stayed warm enough to feel alright continuing to hike. Roan Mountain is a beautiful trip up, it's a primeval forest. There used to be a hotel on top that straddled the Tenessee/North Carolina line. It was legal to drink in TN but not in NC and so everyone would have to stay on the TN side of the room or risk arrest.Despite the rain, I was feeling pretty good today. My new shoes are too small though and I'll have to get a replacement.I only passed one hiker today, a SOBO thru-hiker named Uncle Kodak. I couldn't believe this guy was 62, he looked under 50.I'm staying in the highest shelter on the AT tonight! It's a full cabin. When I opened the door to enter, a guy sleeping in a hammock yelled "Hey!". He thought I was a bear!
Date: 2005-04-23
From: Roan High Knob shelter

To: U.S. 19E
Miles today: 15.2

Katahdin is just another mountain. It's not about Katahdin, there is no Katahdin. It's about this moment, right now, in front of me, none other. I caught myself seeing this as I walked up a grassy bald in 31 degree temperatures as the rain and hail pierced my exposed face and legs and huge gusts knocked me off the path. My fingers became stiff and numb quickly and I was grateful as a boulder appeared to protect me from the fierce wind and I managed to open my pack and get my gloves out. My fingers burned as the blood rushed back in.Today was a rough day, and in a sense, the reason I am out here. I often spend my life believing in the illusion I'm in control, that in some underlying area of my psyche, I can control my environment and thus remain safe. Days like today demonstrate the speciousness of my illusion.There will be many more days like this to follow. I hope to face these with strength and a willingness to face my own darkness as I face the reality of what is in front of me.I hiked for a little while with a section hiker named Andrew who has just completed a 14,000 mile bike ride. I also hiked with Jake, a guy who has paid for his trip by moonlighting as a bounty hunter. The muscles above the left knee were bothering me. Last week during a similar kind of day, the muscles in my right leg were bugging me. I think I'm going to massage the muscles in my legs after every day, especially during cold weather, with the hope that this will help keep them from getting too sore.I'm spending the night at a hostel for the first time. There are about 10 of us in a room the size of a standard motel room. I'm going to sleep on a Wal-Mart cot; the only reason that I mind this is that I'm being charged $17.50 for this. I feel like I'm being taken, but hey, I chose to come in here out of the cold by my own volition and I had a choice to stay in the shelter.
Date: 2005-04-24
From: U.S. 19E

To: Dennis Cove Road
Miles today: 23.6

During the night, the hail and rain turned to snow as the temperature dropped into the mid-upper 20s. I awoke to a few inches of fresh powder and chilly weather. The snow continued to fall in the morning and on into the afternoon. I wasn't sure what to do. Of course there was a part of me that wanted to just stay in the hostel and not do any hiking at all. There was also the part of me that just wanted to do what the group was doing, that is, get a shuttle to Walnut Mountain Road and slackpack it the 10 miles back to the hostel. But I really didn't want to stay at the $17 hostel again. Not having much experience walking in snow, I wasn't sure what to do, how long it would take, or what my limit would be. I knew that ideally I wanted to walk the distance to the Kincora hostel and spend the night out of the cold for $4. But was this to far? I talked to Andrew about this since he seems to think similarly about pushing the envelope and challenging himself. Talking to him gave me! a bit more confidence and if it was too far in the snow, I could spend the night in the Moreland Gap shelter, about 18 miles from the road crossing. There is no closer shelter because the angry locals have a penchant for burning them down. Andrew generously lent me his stove and I could use this to keep my core temp up if I got in a jam or had to spend the night in the shelter.The whole thing worked out even better than I imagined. The trail in the snow was beautiful. I laid the first footsteps for a few miles. I didn't get started until about 9:00 and so I jogged much of the first 8 miles to make up time. Even in the 27 degree snowfall, I was warmer today in my soccer shorts because there was little wind. I am grateful for the terrain; there were few steep descents or ascents and what there was, was not terribly slippery. In addition, I did not have to ascend to a height greater than 4500 feet the whole day. Nonetheless, I did make a few downhill crash landings, ending up on my butt in the snow, but this was cause for no more than amusement.The water in the hose for my hydration system quickly froze and I was left licking snow off the evergreen branches for water. When I got to the shelter, I was pleasantly surprised that I had miscalculated the remaining mileage and it was less than what I had thought. I would not have wanted to stay in the shelter last night as half an inch of snow covered the wood floor. Only one other hiker had signed the register.The temperature warmed up more than 10 degrees as I descended. When I finally hit Dennis Cove Road, I took a right to get to Kincora. Well, Kincora is actually to the left. This ended up being serendipitious because I walked the 1/2 mile to another hostel. There were few other hikers and I got a room to myself - normally, they charge $6 but I talked them down to $4. Tim, a guy who lives in one of the cabins, gave me a whole pizza. This is 4 times better than last night at 1/4th the price. More walking will occur tomorrow.
Date: 2005-04-25
From: Dennis Cove Road

To: Iron Mountain shelter
Miles today: 24.3
Weather: few clouds

It is hard to believe that almost all the snow is gone in the mountains after less than a day after the snowstorm. It still was chily though and I couldn't pull myself away from the wood stove until 9:00. Slacker! I had .5 miles between the hostel and the trail and as I started to walk down the road, a truck passed. I stuck out my thumb and lucky me, didn't have to walk the extra distance.It was a great walk today. In the morning, I passed Laurel Falls, the biggest waterfall on the AT so far. Really beautiful. The trail continues along a rock ledge next to the creek for a while.I met Tomcat and Ninja at lunch at the 321 road crossing (there are now 3 confirmed Ninjas on the trail!). This one wears a kilt and carries an external frame backpack with a stool to boot. He walks pretty fast for all he is carrying. A few miles past, the trail descends and crosses another road. As I was crossing, a luxury car slowed to a stop. Two old ladies and an old man get out and the ladies got out their cameras. They wanted to take my picture which at first I found a bit odd but they seemed like nice old tourists so I said OK. I thought of trying to yogi a soda or something out of them but then decided I was being greedy and kept on going.The early afternoon was spent climbing up a couple thousand feet and most of the rest of the day the trail bordered Watauga Lake. It was clear and I got good views of the lake below.I arrived at the shelter about an hour before dark. It sure is getting dark later these days, it was 8:00 when I arrived and there was still plenty of daylight. Everyone in the shelter was already in their sleeping bags and semi-crashed. It wasn't even hiker midnight! I chatted with Vision Quest for a few moments.I'm hoping to make it to Damascus tomorrow and I'm looking forward to flat Virginia! I love sleeping out here, I always feel like I've earned my sleep and it comes naturally.
Date: 2005-04-26
From: Iron Mountain shelter

To: Damascus (The Place)
Miles today: 26.3
Weather: overcast clouds

What can ya say, another great day on the AT. I am getting into a routine of getting on the trail at around 8:00 each morning, a little later than my internal mother tells me I "should" be hitting it but what does it matter, I'm still hiking the kinds of distances I want to be AND enjoying extra sleep. Cool.I talked to Freedom a bunch today at my breaks at shelters. He hikes really fast for a 68 year old and he looks to be in his mid-fifties but showed me his driver's license to prove he really is an old fart. He gave me some granola bars and told me he'd buy me some food in Damascus if I was still there when he got there. How is it that people always end up offering to buy me meals? Not that I mind but it's like I'm yogiing without even realizing it myself and I don't exactly look like I'm starving, ya know :-).The hike was pretty easy today, my legs seemed to walk themselves. There was more downhill than up.There was this neat little shelter that someone had carved "Holiday Inn" onto the centerboard. It was the smallest shelter so far, with capacity for only two people. In fact, the data book doesn't even mention the shelter so it was a nice surprise.The hostel known as The Place is really great. At $4.00 a night, it's a kind service that the folks at the local Methodist Church give us. The hiker box is the best on the trail so far. I found about $25 worth of food, a week's supply, and most of the stuff I found was the same food I would have bought myself. There was even some Playdoh and bubbles but I left that.I met a hiker named Dead Animal who also thru-hiked in 1989. He talks about how much the trail has changed, how there are so many more people on the trail and he appreciated the small bits of road walks that used to be a part of the experience. Also, he mentioned that back in the day, the heavier your pack, the cooler you were.I finally met this Lion King guy at The Place. If I didn't mention, several people have been confusing me for him. I can see the physical resemblance, although he is a lot bigger than I am. However, we have very different personalities.Mateo, of Tom & Mateo, stopped by. I was glad to see him. I've been right behind them for about 260 miles, since the last time we saw each other the day I took a zero coming out of Newfound Gap in the Smokies. They're thinking of taking a zero tomorrow. We're planning on having breakfast tomorrow.Tomorrow will probably be a short day since I'd like to relax a bit in Damascus, which is as nice as they claim.
Date: 2005-04-28
From: Damascus (The Place)

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 28.0
Weather: overcast clouds

What was supposed to have been a short day yesterday, turned into a zero day. Hehe. But that's cool, I had a great time hanging out in Damascus. I ate three meals in the restaurants. Dairy King is great, one of the cheapest but good-tasting restaurants I've been to in this country. Also, Baja Cafe is cool, they just opened a month ago and an 01 thru-hiker is the owner. I hung out with Tom & Mateo much of the day and also just walked around. I don't know what to do with myself anymore when I'm not hiking! I saw Red Hat in town, and sadly she has decided to get off the trail. But she's doing what's best for herself and that's cool. Red Hat gave me a haircut! I now look like a Shakespearean page. Then I went ahead and shaved off my beard. Well, first I took a scissor to it. These hikers said not to worry, they would put in the earplugs so not to hear my screams when shaving it, but it actually didn't hurt much at all. I guess I have a strong face!One-Third (Kristine), a thru-hiker from 03 joined Tom & Mateo and me for dinner and she said I looked a lot more vibrant now than in my driver's license photo taken in 02. I feel a lot more vibrant too!Tom said we should hike together so we could be the three a-holes since people give us all crap for hiking faster than them and now we could give them crap back since we're in a group. I was down with this since Tom & Mateo know how to have a good time. When we got to the shelter about 16 miles out though, they decided they didn't want to brave the cold and possible rain getting to Thomas Knob shelter. I called them several expletives before going on, but it's cool, we're all hiking our own hike and I'll see them again. I mighta stayed but I have to get to Troutdale by tomorrow night to pick up a larger pair of shoes from the post office since the ones I'm wearing make my feet feel like I'm a bound Japanese woman. I will probably be hiking short days after Troutdale for a couple days at least...for personal reasons. Another super day.
Date: 2005-04-29
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: VA 16 road crossing (Troutdale)
Miles today: 21.2

I woke up to rain, as I had gone to sleep to rain. I think there has been some precipitation six out of the last seven days, but hey, I ain't complainin', I'm just glad to be out here. After hiking a couple hours, I saw some of the (sort of) wild ponies. I already had the inklin' that they weren't really wild but the helpful info at The Scales bald cleared that up. They are really used to artificially keep the area cleared, rather than allowing forest to grow again. The ponies were introduced in the 1960s and there are about 125 of them and they get herded up and taken to the veternarian once a year. They're super cute though!Some of the register entries crack me up. One hiker wrote that since it was so cold, he killed one of the feral ponies, gutted it, and crawled inside to keep warm.Blue Eye hadn't seen me since I shaved my beard and so didn't recognize me, but NoWorries set him straight. Ha!I ran up on Dead Animal and Yappy at one of the shelters. They were sharing a thin cigar which at first I thought was a different kind of plant than tobacco. But I was wrong. I never tried this type of cigar before and Yappy said it keeps you warm so I tried it. I didn't know you weren't supposed to inhale and I almost puked, it was so gross. Won't do that again.When I finally got to the road at around 5:00, it had started to rain again. I stuck out my thumb to get to Troutdale and waited for about 15 minutes. No one picked me up so I started walking. Then the first car that passed stopped. The driver's name was Steve and he said that folks around here figure that if I walked all that distance, I could walk a little more and that's why they don't stop.Troutdale makes Damascus look like New York City, but even it is bigger than some of the places I passed on the Florida Trail. The church has a free bunk house for hikers with laundry and showers. The restaurant / convenience store is cheap and the food is good. I love all the towns on this trail, they all have a traditional flavor to them.I'll pick up my shoes at the post office tomorrow morning. I hope they don't hurt as much as these did and they're big enough this time. I think I will take a zero day tomorrow and then a short day on Sunday. I'd rather not do this, but feel like I would never know if I didn't and might sell myself short. Following my heart is hard sometimes, especially when the odds are stacked against me!
Date: 2005-05-02
From: Davis Path Shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 30.2
Weather: broken clouds

Happy one-month AT anniversary to me! I walked up the approach trail and stayed in Springer Mountain shelter one month ago today. I also realized today that if I choose to finish my hike with the AT, and don't go on to do the Eastern Continental Trail from Key West to Cape Gaspe, I am now about 50% done with my trip, about 1650 miles down, the same to go.Today was a good day. The sun didn't come out until the afternoon and it drizzled in the morning even though it was supposed to be sunny all day, so I am hoping that the rain this morning is what was supposed to happen tomorrow. So I am predicting a sunny day tomorrow!These southbound section hikers finishing up gave Tom, Mateo, and me some of their food this morning, score! A few miles into the trail I turned right and walked down a well-trodden path to get some water. Tom & Mateo followed, getting their feet wet crossing the wide creek. Hehe..they thought they were on the AT but the path only led to the creek! We saw a hiker named Tunes at the first shelter. He was taking a zero, nursing a hurt ankle. He commented that every single chick on this trail was being pink blazed. Glad I'm not doing that crap anymore.At the second shelter, I met Tennessee Walkers, a couple and a dog. Their dog had gotten lost and they took five days off to look for him. When they found the dog, he had been shot, probably by a farmer for chasing cows, but was alright. I continued on, leaving Tom & Mateo behind. When I got to Jenkins shelter at dusk, I was expecting everyone to be going to bed. To my surprise, there were about 20 people there and they were still hanging out. The shelter's full, so I'm sleeping on the ground since I'm too lazy to set up my tent, haven't used it once for anything other than a pillow! It is supposed to rain tomorrow but I can see every star in the sky so I'm thinking I'll be dry tonight. Like I said, a good day.
Date: 2005-05-03
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 23.6
Weather: few clouds

The night was miserable, I hardly slept at all since it was so cold. Pretty much the only gripe I have about my gear is that my sleeping bag isn't what it claims to be. The Kelty Lightyear 25 degree bag is more like a 40 degree bag. I would have splurged and bought a better bag had I known. Oh well, just a bit more coldness and then summer will be here, supposedly. Everyone else said they hardly slept either regardless of how warm their bag was. I was in such a foul mood this morning because I hardly slept the night before. It was a nice sunny day finally though but a gray one would have matched my morning mood better. I thought the ATC was playing a dirty joke on us as we crossed the same wide creek 6 times in a mile span. The creek, because of the recent heavy rains, were extremely wide and there were no bridges, makeshift or constructed. So the only way to cross was to wade through ice-cold water. I felt like I was on the Florida Trail again, but I don't want to sound like I'm moaning because I am just glad to be out here. They serve the best hamburgers in Bland, really cheap too.I'm going to keep this entry short. So the food enlivened me and I made it 10 more miles or so to this shelter. I'm considering a long day into Pearisburg tomorrow but we'll see. The other hikers around the campfire are playing the make a sexual noise if you burp game and it's a lot of fun listening.
Date: 2005-05-04
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 30.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Man, another night of not-so-great sleep. There was this section hiker who was, well, quite fat. Another thru-hiker warned everyone in the shelter that this guy would probably snore really loud. Until this point, I've had a bit of a smug attitude towards hikers who get ticked off at snorers; my thought has been, "If it's keeping you up that much, hike more miles!" Until now. This guy sounded like a jet engine, and he was lying right next to me. This was like no snoring I'd heard before. Rich, a thru-hiker who made the smart decision and tented, said that the ground was shaking. I finally couldn't take it anymore and I pulled my pad out to the grass about 100 feet away. I could still hear this guy, but managed to sleep some.I wasn't all that rested in the morning, so I don't know how I managed to pull another 30-mile day. I acted as carrier pigeon for these two cool chicks, Julie & Angie, and brought a note ahead to two of their friends who were hiking a bit faster and had left them behind.The Wapiti shelter was about 14 miles from the shelter where I slept last night. I kept on going and going and going like the Energizer bunny. I started to get a bit frustrated because I thought then that I would not make it to Pearisburg. Finally I caught up with another hiker and asked him how far he thought it was. Turns out that I had passed it three miles back and I must have been zoning out at the time!Hiking up Pearis Mountain, I also kept on going and going and going! The AT was recently rerouted to diverge and go straight up the mountain rather than keep along a ridge. But there is no double blaze or marker to indicate this. After about 25 minutes of walking along the old trail, it began to dawn on me that I hadn't seen a blaze in a while. I had to walk all the way back up to get back to the trail. Doh! That's what I get for hiking in a daze.I enjoyed the dusk descent. I saw five deer along the trail. I could see the lights of Pearisburg down below. When I finally got down to town, I found the closest stealth-site possible, and collapsed asleep. A shorter day tomorrow!
Date: 2005-05-06
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Bailey Gap shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a good day coming out of town. I didn't push myself much, just walked pretty relaxed. No sign of Tom & Mateo, I think they probably did a short day today since they were staying with a friend in Blacksburg. Maybe I'll see them at Trail Days, if not sooner.It's not supposed to rain until next Thursday, sweet! By then I'll be riding down to Damascus for Trail Days.I had the trail mostly to myself today since the hikers coming from town had some errands to do first. I liked it like this, not seeing anyone. I listened to "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn all day on my iPod, an important book that offers an approach on history from the point of view of the oppressed, rather than the victors. I was just getting dehydrated this afternoon when I ran into Skillet and Bottle, who kindly offered me some water.Hurricane Jeanne destroyed the bridge at Stony Creek and there were signs a few miles before suggesting an alternate roadwalk. I decided to chance it, knowing I'd have to walk a few miles back to do the roadwalk if I couldn't ford it. It ended up being quite shallow and fordable but icey cold and slippery. I took off my shoes and socks and crossed barefoot, my feet becoming almost numb by the time I'd crossed the 50 feet of slimey rocks. Yesterday turned into a zero. Pearisburg was rather spread out and I spent almost the whole day walking around doing errands. I was exhausted by the time I got back up the hill to the hostel. The Chinese buffet was quite good and a great value @ $5. I was feeling a bit sad during my zero day. I like to hike at my own pace and do my own thing but it gets lonely this way sometimes. Normally I'm glad to be on my own, totally hiking my own hike. But I have a good time when I hike with Tom & Mateo for example, and I miss that.Anyhow, I had a decent day today. The Odd Couple is at the shelter with Skillet, Bottle, and me. They are an entertaining uncle and nephew team. More good days ahead!