morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-10
From: Nolichucky River/Erwin

To: Iron Mountain Gap
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: light rain

Today began with an early shuttle ride out to Iron Mountain Gap...a place where the Trail crosses the road, about 20 miles north of Erwin. Famous Shoes and I had decided to slack pack back into Erwin so we could get in some extra miles and stay at Miss Janet's one more night. We arrived at the trailhead and started our hike...or so we thought. After a tenth of a mile or so, we realized that the "Trail" didn't look as if it had been used much...and we hadn't seen any white blazes since the first one at the road. We backtracked twice, and finally just went back to the road, where we discovered that the Trail went off at a completely different angle...and was well blazed. We had just missed it. Feeling only slightly foolish, we began our real hike. We had gone only half a mile or so, when Pace and Laffy Taffy approached us, going the other way. We talked with them for a bit, wished them a good hike, and moved on. Next we ran into Simon Silverheels...similar scenario (w!e scared him, though...he thought he was hiking the wrong way!). The next group of people were G.I. Gypsy, Puff Daddy and Psycho Pat. We again stopped to chat...I hadn't seen Psycho Pat for a couple of weeks, so it was great to see her again. We had no sooner resumed our hike when we ran into Happy Feet...another stop and chat session. Clearly, our hike was going to take a long time, as hiking south seemed to incorporate much more social interaction than hiking north! It took us close to four hours to hike the first five or six miles, as we ran into Hoops, Mothman, Stonehenge, Bucky, and a few other people who had been in Erwin. Finally, after about 1:00, we were able to get in some uninterrupted miles. The terrain going south was much easier than it would have been had we hiked the same section north-bound. It was also a really beautiful section of trail. One spot, at the top of Unaka Mountain, was forested in tall conifers (pines? cedar? not sure...). Famous Shoes! said it best when he compared it to a cathedral...very mystical and spiritual. It smelled like Maine to me!! The final part of the Trail for the day featured streams, waterfalls and rhododendrons in bloom (yay! They're gorgeous!). We finished hiking at about 8:15, just before the sun set, and got a ride back into Erwin. We went to Sonic and devoured massive quantities of food (which we had planned in some detail during the hike). I personally had a Sonic burger, sonic size fries, cheddar peppers with ranch dressing, a strawberry limeade and a large chocolate malt. You just can't imagine how hungry you get out here! And, I didn't feel stuffed...just comfortably full. We went back to Miss Janet's house and hung out for awhile before I hit the hay...late as usual in town...It was a good, albeit tiring day...
Date: 2003-05-11
From: Destination?? hehehe...Miss Janet's House

To: Miss Janet's House
Miles today: 0.0

Today was supposed to be a nice, easy, 6 mile day...the start of a 4 day trek to Kincora Hostel. Then we woke up... It seemed like it would be an okay, if gray, day. I knew we weren't starting out early, so I didn't start going through my gear right away. I was at the table having breakfast...a really great fruit salad that house-peeps, Puffy and Stumble, made, and bagels with cream cheese...when it suddenly started POURING out. The wind whipped up in a good fashion, and it seemed downright miserable out. Famous Shoes came into the kitchen and asked if I really wanted to go out in this kind of weather. I, of course, thought we should, but... Okay, so I'm lying...I didn't want to start out in the rain with all dry gear, from a lovely hostel. We quickly signed up for another night in the bunks. I mean, after all, we did 19 miles the day before! We went out to a second breakfast/brunch with No Pepsi, who arrived on one of the shuttles. The waitress that we had at the! diner seemed to be on some sort of medication...she couldn't get our orders right...kept writing stuff down, crossing it out... She would forget to bring what we had just asked for, etc. She kept fiddling with her hair and saying she was having a bad day. Despite this, I had a perfectly done rib-eye steak with three eggs and some less than exciting home fries. No Pepsi finished his food first and opted to get a strawberry shortcake, to be polite...so we wouldn't be eating alone. It looked really good, but I was stuffed after my meal. We went back to Miss Janet's, where I vowed to take a nap. When we got there, however, someone was just putting "The Big Lebowski" into the VCR...I had wanted to watch that for awhile, soooo... The movie was nearly over when I heard No Pepsi say to someone outside "Oh, there you guys are..." In came Cruiser and Reason!! If I hadn't stayed the extra day, I would have missed them! We caught up on our respective hikes, and just hung out !for the rest of the afternoon. It was so good to see them!! The weather, by the way, had cleared up, and it was a most beautiful day. Famous Shoes had contacted the people he was supposed to meet in a couple of days in Roan Mtn, and they were able to pick him up at Miss Janet's now instead, so I'll see him again at Trail Days in Damascus. I planned to continue the trek to Kincora with Very Small Animal. Tomorrow, I'd get back on the Trail... Another late night...very little sleep.
Date: 2003-05-12
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Iron Mountain Gap
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The plans for today...go through my backpack and get rid of more stuff before packing up and heading out to Iron Mountain Gap on a noonish shuttle. Very Small Animal and I planned to do 12 miles today, 19 tomorrow, 15 the following day, then a quick 5 or 6 into Kincora on Thursday morning, where we would get a ride ahead to Damascus. I got up early, and Miss Janet put me in charge of cooking the bacon. She brought her kids to school, some people to the trailhead, and came back to cook the rest of breakfast. She makes a huge hot breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes every morning (she had been away for the weekend), and this would be our first. It was really great to sit around the table with all the hikers who were staying there. She had everyone introduce themselves, tell something interesting about themselves, and say who they would want to visit them on a deserted island if they had one one-week visit (non-conjugal!) per year. It was a fun morning. Right at the en!d of breakfast, however, V.S.A. ran from the table...she was sick. This had happened to her on the Trail two days before. (She actually defined a new term we call "pooking". This is when you are pooping and puking at the same time...not fun ever, but really not fun while on the Trail.) She and Mr. Pumpy had just done 80 mile in about 4 days, and she really needed to give herself a break. So, I headed out, noonish, in the shuttle, with Water Witch, Q and Jonachi. I decided to go with my original schedule of 6 miles, and was glad of it...it was hard getting back in the saddle, as they say, after 2 days of a lighter pack, one day with a day pack and one zero day. I'm still looking at ways to trim my pack weight. Water Witch said she'd help me at Damascus. She carries only 26 pounds. The day was short and beautiful, although chilly with a really strong wind. I camped at the shelter with Q and Jonachi, who are really great...they are both musicians who play bluegrass a!nd Irish music. Q plays the fiddle and Jonachi plays banjo. They both play mandolin, and since they've been on the Trail, they've taught themselves how to play the Irish whistle. We talked about music, life and fantasy writing, which they are also big fans of, and they shared their water and herbal tea with me. Jonachi built a lovely big fire that kept us warm till bedtime (9:30...a nice, decent hour!). I really enjoyed hanging out with them...we may hike together for another day.
Date: 2003-05-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today was not the best of days for me out here. I had some breakfast with Puff Daddy at the Side Track Cafe, then he headed out on his hike. I went to the talent show where Loser did a rousing rendition of "Broken Pack" based on the exploits of Rick the Lone Wolf, done to the tune of "Back in Black". It was so hilarious...Nuts, Twigs and Skidmark were his back-up singers. He also did a beautiful song that I did not recognize, about forgiveness. Loser has an amazing voice, and plays the guitar really well...it was good to hear him sing again. He will be hiking out tomorrow. Q and Jonachi also entered the talent show and won! Yay! There were some other very good musicians who performed, who I did not recognize. After the show was over, I walked with Twigs and Nuts to The Place, where they filled up their water bottles, getting ready to leave. It was really hard saying goodbye to them...I don't know when I'll see them again, as they're so far ahead of me now. I could!n't stop crying. I went to the laundromat and did a load of clothes...saw Shankadelic, Laffy Taffy and Groovy. The latter two will be heading out tomorrow from here. I said goodbye, and went back to The Place. I sat in my tent and went through my stuff to figure out what I was sending home, what I was sending ahead and what I was taking with me. I wasn't sure how I was going to get back to 19E, as I thought there was a shuttle on Monday, but there wasn't. This was when I had a meltdown... I saw Reason and Cruiser getting ready to board the last shuttle that Miss Janet was running for the night. There was one more spot on the shuttle, so I decided to get my stuff together quickly and at least get back south for the night. More meltdown trying to do that. I wanted Miss Janet to just drop me off at 19E, but she said she didn't think she would, as she was worried about me. So...back to Erwin I went. It was weird to be back there...I certainly didn't expect it. Reas!on and Cruiser were getting a room at the Super 8, as Miss Janet's wasfull, and they offered to put me up for the night. They really are taking good care of me, and I love them for it. I watched a little bit of Pretty Woman, then hit the hay...it was an exhausting, emotional roller coaster day.
Date: 2003-05-20
From: Mountaineer Falls

To: Dennis Cove Road
Miles today: 14.8

I woke up at the usual hour today...6:30. I had heard something during the night...the sound of my cookware jangling. I was sure that a bear was trying to take off with No Pepsi's and my poorly bear-bagged food, but I wasn't about to investigate. When I got out of my tent at 7, the food was still there. When No Pepsi started his breakfast, however, he discovered that his cereal had been munched on by something smaller than a bear. I think I had heard the sound of a mouse crashing down upon my pot, on the way to raid No Pepsi's food. I packed up my stuff, and started out for the day. It was a 15 miler, with a few great waterfalls, and several of what hikers call PUDs or MUDs...pointless or mindless ups and downs. The maintainers here have re-routed some of this section (all of what I hiked yesterday), and will finish up by June, so that many of the PUDs are gone. I hiked half of the day alone, then met up with No Pepsi at the shelter where we stopped for lunch. Oh, !yes...just before the shelter we hit the 400 mile mark!! There was a dog there who was begging for food from all the hikers at the shelter. No Pepsi and I were the last ones to leave, so she followed us for three miles before she grew impatient and went on ahead of us. Apparently, we were hiking too slowly for her. We got to Dennis Cove Road, and I headed to the left to go to Kincora Hostel...No Pepsi was staying at Laurel Creek Hostel to the east. We said goodbye...I'm sure I'll see him in a couple of days. This is a really great hostel...$4 per night donation, laundry, bunk, phone and shuttle service. I spoke with Bob, the man who runs it, and I will be doing a short slack pack tomorrow so that I can mail my bounce box ahead, come back here, then have some dinner. Then, he'll bring me back out so I can do the 1.5 miles to the shelter, and continue on the next day to Damascus. Hopefully two twenty mile days there...Will keep you posted! Depending on how my body's! doing, I may take three days to do the 40 miles (so, Mom, if I don't call you on Friday, that's why, and I'll give you a call on Saturday instead). That's it for now! (Sorry, a pretty uneventful day!) Hitting the hay...p.s. To all those heading to Rites of Spring, and to those already there...much love and many wishes for a wonderful gathering. I will miss being there this year...
Date: 2003-05-23
From: Campsite

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: light rain

So, I slept in till almost 7:30 today! Must have been due to the long day yesterday. I must again discuss the incredible restorative powers of sleep. Several times during the night, I woke up, having to switch from back to side to front to other side...I am the most restless sleeper I know. Every time I woke up I wold notice how much some part of me ached...my back, my shoulders, my poor knees. I was sure that I wouldn't be able to move this morning. And yet, I got up and carried on with my morning routine as if I hadn't just hiked 20 miles the day before. Go figure...anyway, my point is: sleep is GOOD for you! I know what I've said before about it being a waste of time, but I was WRONG! (and, yes, that's the only time you'll hear me admit that I was wrong about something!) So, I packed up and headed out before the others, so as to get a head start. We all kind of leap frogged throughout the day, meeting up for a break and lunch. It was a pretty day...not too hot !nor too cold, good for hiking, and the terrain was very conducive to another 20 mile day. I could see some possible storm clouds gathering right about the time we were breaking for lunch. It was definitely another hot lunch day...rice with salsa and, of course, lots of orange Tang! While we were eating, it started to rain, but not a lot. By the time Shelton and I were getting ready to go (Jason, Thomas and the dogs had already finished lunch and left), the sun had come back out and we didn't even bother to put on our pack covers. We all caught up again just at the Tennessee/Virginia line...woo hoo! My fourth state! Only ten more to go... We quickly hiked along, with the sound of thunder beginning to threaten. At less than 1.5 miles outside of Damascus, the heavens opened up, and we were drenched within minutes, as the Trail became a river that we had to negotiate. after staying dry all day, and finally having dry boots again, it was a little discouraging to be com!pletely soaked again. I knew, however, that The Place was close by, and I could soon have a hot shower. I got there and saw Double A and Blip. I took a long hot shower changed into my town dress and went to Sicily's to meet the others for dinner...I was starving! They were trying to figure out where they could stay, as The Place doesn't allow dogs. We ate dinner (sweet tea, salad and super supreme pizza!), and they called around to other places in town, with no luck, to try and find a place to stay. When we left, they were planning on trying to tent in the RV park...I wished them luck, and headed to The Place, where I talked with Blip, who I was rooming with, for awhile. I then hit the bunk and attempted to get some sleep after my second big day of hiking in a row... to be continued.
Date: 2003-05-24
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I had a difficult time sleeping last night...there was the usual issue of sleeping in a hostel, but there were additional factors. I had turned on the light to talk with Blip, however, when I shut it off, glow in the dark paint that covered the walls...GLOWED. Apparently, The Place had been used as a haunted house at some point in time. I went to the bathroom, came back, and attempted to sleep. The paint eventually faded, but I couldn't go to sleep. I realized that I hadn't taken my nightly dose of ibuprofen, without which, my legs and feet ache. I decided, due to the lateness of the hour and my need for sleep, to take a vicodin instead. I went to the bathroom to take it, came back, and as I closed the door, it felt as though someone grabbed the handle from the outside and PULLED the door shut. Great! I really WAS in a haunted hostel! This, combined with the fact that I could hear every sound from the people in the next room, made for a poor night's sleep indeed. A!dd the vicodin to that, and I was feeling rather like a large pile of mush this morning. Went to breakfast at In The Country with Blip, Slo-Poke and Vic...two eggs over easy, biscuits, gravy, bacon, hashbrowns, grits, fried apples, coffee and orange juice all for 7 bucks. I ate everything except for some of the grits and gravy. I went to the post office, picked up my drop and my new fleece (!), as well as a letter from Mom (thanks!). I sorted through the food and sent half ahead down the Trail...there's just no way I can carry 10 days worth of food, I'm not even going to attempt it. I went to the library to check my e-mail...man, I get more spam than you can imagine! Even with a junk mail filter! Glad to hear that the Annual Meeting went well. Continued on to The Place to get my laundry and headed to the laundromat...yes, my town visits are verrrrry exciting! Spent some time at the outfitters looking at stuff I can't afford, mailed my old fleece home and bought some! new socks...hopefully they won't end up in the toes of my boots, which was what was happening to the old ones. I talked to the sock man at Trail Days, and he told me the size I was wearing was too big, so I got smaller ones. Lessee...Shelton, Jason and Thomas had gotten picked up by one of the local police officers last night...and taken to a campground just outside of town. He also arranged for them to be picked up this morning. Talk about Trail magic! Shelton wrote a letter to the mayor. They found a hostel where they could camp and have the dogs, so they decided to stay tonight. There's a grill there, so I got a steak and some caesar salad fixings and joined them, as did Semi-sweet and Swampass (he left early, as he hadn't been feeling well), and we just hung out, drank a few beers and ate steak and burgers. It was a nice mellow day, after putting in two looooong days of hiking. There will be more hiking tomorrow, but for now...goodnight!
Date: 2003-05-25
From: Damascus, VA

To: Campsite
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

Sunday morning, and I'm heading out of Damascus again...but this time in a good frame of mind, and in the right direction...heading north on the Trail. I stopped at Cowboys, a covenience store/gas station/restaurant for breakfast. I ordered the bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and a piece of fried chicken (it just looked and smelled so good!). After finishing that, along with a quart of Gatorade Ice, I started hiking. Blip was leaving at the same time, so we started hiking together. The going wasn't really that rough, but the weight of five days of food, and the pack itself after a zero day felt crushing. My lower back began to whine, and my left knee wasn't that happy either. I chose to ignore their complaints, and worked on getting into my hiking groove. Blip is the first person that I've hiked with who keeps about the same pace as me...it was very cool hiking with her! We made it to the first shelter at about 3:30...we had left at 11ish...and stopped for lunch. It !was so nice to sit...actually, I unrolled my thermarest and got really comfy lying down...we were tempted to just stay there. There were a lot of people camped out there already, though, and we had only hiked 9.4 miles...a very wimpy day. We decided to try for the next shelter, or at least a nice place to camp. At about 6, it started to rain, we had just filled up on water and we were near a nice campsite...soooo, we gave up on reaching the next shelter for the comfort of camping now. We set up our tents and commenced with the nightly dinner ritual. It's really amazing to me sometimes how much I eat out here. For dinner tonight I had pasta with pesto sauce, two cans of anchovies, some pringles, some beef jerky, Tang, raspberry tea and brownie bites (YUM!! Thanks, Seester!). Blip made pudding for dessert in a Nalgene bottle, and I was jealous...I could do that for dessert every night! After dinner, we had a lovely time trying to bear-bag our food bags. The first at!tempt was in a den of poison ivy...yike! I quickly moved away from there! The second place was good, but with my wimpy girly throws, it took awhile to snare the branch. Once I did, we easily bear-bagged everything. It was really nice to not have to camp and set everything up alone! Then, it was off to dreamland...Blip also has her journal online at Trailjournals.com. Check it out!
Date: 2003-05-26
From: Campsite

To: VA 600, Elk Garden
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: light rain

I actually slept in this morning till almost 8:00! I did wake up at about a quarter to two, needing a privy break...there is not much that is more disconcerting than having to get out of your tent in the middle of the night to use the bathroom...anything could be out there! In my case, it was peepers, who stopped peeping as soon as I left my tent and started up again as soon as I reentered it. Whew! At least it wasn't a bear! When I woke at a more decent hour, I read for a little while, then caught up on another journal entry, having gotten behind while in town. Blip had gotten up and brought our food bags down from the tree, but had gone back into her tent. She told me later that she had almost gone back to sleep, as she didn't hear me moving in my tent. We finally got our things packed up and started out at about 10. The day looked as if it would rain at any moment...gray, gray skies. As we hiked along, though, the sun came peeking through every now and then. It! was cool, warm enough when we were moving, but chilly if we stopped. We had an early lunch at Lost Mountain shelter, our original destination the previous day. The location of the shelter was really pretty, and the shelter itself very nice and newish-looking. The greatest joy for me, however, is that in Virginia, there are privies at the shelters! Woo hoo! My AT life is complete and joyful again! Blip and I continued on after lunch, getting a couple of quick miles in, during which we had to cross a field of cows...who were sitting on the Trail. Blip was a little apprehensive about walking up to them, so I went first. It turned out that they just stood up and walked away...thank goodness! I didn't really know what they were going to do! We then headed up, up, up Whitetop Mountain. Right at the beginning of the climb, we came across a patch of lady's slippers, which I've seen one or two of...there were at least ten here...very pretty!   It was not a very steep cli!mb, although we were gaining over 1500 feet in elevation, but it seemed endless. We took a Snickers break at Buzzard Rock, which was the highest point for us. We debated just staying somewhere near the top...there was a spring there. It didn't look as though we would make it to Thomas Knob shelter today. We started looking for places to camp, and ended up near VA 600, camping with some section hikers. About an hour after we set up, Shelton, Jason, Thomas and the dogs also arrived and set up. We all ate dinner and sat around talking until it got dark. I'm enjoying the mellow pace that we're keeping, and having a flexible destination, rather than HAVING to be somewhere specific. Blip and I are going to head to Grayson Highlands State Park tomorrow, where there are supposed to be wild ponies. The others are also going there, and are meeting another friend of theirs who I hope DOESN'T bring his dog...a Doberman that is not nice. We'll see... Good night!