morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-05
From: Campsite at stream@mile 504.3

To: VA 16, Dickey Gap
Miles today: 3.8

As beautiful as yesterday was today's weather turned on us. I woke up a few times during the night in my tent and could only hear the wind howling hard so I thought maybe the wet weather would pass us by but then came 5:30 a.m. and the first sprinkles. Since Beekpr and I had to make a run into Troutdale to the post office and food resupply we got up first and took down our tents in the rain. As we hiked out Hatteras said he would probably come into Troutdale too for resupply and the rest of our group would move on up the trail. As we hiked toward the highway we could hear the rumble of thunder-it sounded like Godzilla walking. When it was on top of us the temperature dropped to 40 degrees and it poured and poured. When we make it to the highway we tried to hitchhike into town but only one vehicle went by us in the first 15 minutes and, since we were freezing just standing there, we decided to hike the 2.6 miles into town. The first part of the highway went up for about 1/4 mile and then turned to the left and went steeply down hill. When we make that left turn we were hit by heavy winds that cut right through us with cold. I mentioned to Beekpr that when Hatteras gets to the highway he'll probably get picked up and we'll see him flying by us on the highway. Well, next thing you know a Suburban comes up behind us and there's Hatteras in the front seat. He got picked up right away and the driver, the town doctor, was nice enough to stop for us too, and not a moment too soon since we were numb from wet and cold winds. We were dropped off by the Troutdale Trading Post, a small restaurant and store and proceded to eat a big breakfast of eggs, bacon and 5 biscuits covered with gravy. The store didn't have much for food supplies but we picked up some snack items for the trail. Since the weather was only getting worse we decided to bag it for the day and take a room in the local motel. This turned out to be our most pleasant suprise. They came out to pick the 3 of us up and one other thru hiker, "Just Dan" from New Jersey, and drove us to the Fox Hill Inn. I was expecting anything special but when we drove up a long driveway, about 1/4 mile from the highway, all I saw was this beautiful big home sitting on this pastural setting. We went inside to find it was a bed and breakfast with special thru hiker rates of only $25 each for a double (the rates are much higher if you're not a thru hiker). The rooms were huge and the views from all sides were stunning. What an excellant choice this was to wait out the storm. We'll be heading for the trail tomorrow morning to catch up with the rest of our group. They're still forcasting rain but with warmer temperatures. We don't mind getting wet as long as we're not freezing in it. Anyway, we're looking to do at least 14 miles tomorrow. Maybe more if the weather gets better. All in all though I'm glad we made this detour and found this Inn. It was most definitly worthwhile. Thank you "Full Moon" and "Celestial Spirit", two thru hikers from 1995 that manage the Inn, for the hospitality.
Date: 2003-05-06
From: VA 16, Dickey Gap

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Our day started out with a big delicious breakfast at the Fox Hill Inn and then a shuttle back to the trail at around 9:15 a.m. Thanks again to "Full Moon" and "Celestial Spirit" for a wonderful stay. The trial was beautiful as we started out with just minor ups and downs. The weather was about 15 degrees warmer than yesterday and cloudy and breezy. In other words, perfect- the temperature was in the high 50's, you can't beat that. This is the time of year I enjoy so much when hiking through the woods. The new leaves are just coming out with that beautiful light green color. We had to stop several times just to look around us to see what Mother Nature in her finest was showing us. We also strolled through some absolutely lovely pasture land where everything seemed to be blossomning. At around noon we felt the first drizzle, but we kept going until it became a steady shower and we were forced to put on our rain gear. We hiked on until we reached Partnership shelter thinking we'd find Milo, Nuke and Bram but found out they moved on to the next shelter about 6 miles up the trail. Hatteras, Beekpr, Just Dan and I have the shelter to ourselves so far and what a place. The ranger station and Hwy 16 are only 100 yards away and we can order pizza and have it delivered which we will momentarily-just amazing! This shelter also has a shower and a hot and cold water sink- now that's a shelter. We'll stay in the shelter tonight since it's going to rain according to the forcast. We'll leave early tomorrow and head the 12 miles into Atkins, Vaprobably around noon, just in time for lunch.Well, we're off to order our pizza-how's that for roughing it.
Date: 2003-05-07
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Crawford Valley Campsite
Miles today: 17.8

Hatteras, Beekpr and I left the Partnership Shelter this morning around 7:30 a.m. As it turned out, just one other hiker came in to join us last night along with Just Dan. We had one other visitor, a young girl section hiking south bound with her dog. She claimed to have hike the whole trail a couple of years ago and was quite the chatterbox. She also had no control over her dog who walked over to my pack and relieved himself on the side of my rain cover. I believe her trail name was "Twit"!! I had her take the rain cover off and wash it in the sink-glad we were at the only shelter with one. She was too embarassed and left rather quickly after that.The hike today, although we thought it would be easy, had many steep long pitches that left us sweating big time whenever we hit the top. Just Dan stayed in his sleeping bag and left about 1 1/2 hours after the 3 of us. We hiked the 12 miles to US 11 next to the Hwy 81 interchange. There at the Rexlax Inn, just off the trail we found Bram but he would be leaving the trail at that point . He had some bad news, a good friend of this wife had passed away and he was leaving for New Hampshire. This would be the end of his hike. We'll be looking forward to seeing Bram again when our hike takes us into that state. On the way to the Atkins area we hiked through some beautiful and fragrant fields with many flowering plants. We passed an old school built in 1884 called the Lindawood School. The caretaker, Lois Litz, came out to invite us in and informed us about the history of the school. It was all very interesting.Hatteras decided to stay at the motel tonight since a friend of his from Columbia, SC will be picking him up tomorrow to spend a day. Beekpr and I elected to hike about another 6 miles and found a campsite for the night. Hatteras should catch up with us in Pearisburg next week. Our campsite is just about perfect with a creek about 15 feet from my tent. I'm going to enjoy listening to the water running over the rocks tonight. That should put me to sleep very nicely. We have a visitor with us tonight, a deer that seems content walking around our tents. She doesn't seem to be afraid of us and is probably looking for a handout but our food bags are hanging from a tree limb for the night-sorry deer. That's about it for tonight. Time to put the headphones on, listen to the radio and catch some sleep. Another adventure awaits tomorrow.
Date: 2003-05-08
From: Crawford Valley Campsite

To: Pond at mile 555.3
Miles today: 14.9

We got up this morning after some pretty heavy rain and packed up our damp tents and hit the trail around 8:00 a.m. The day started great with a few steep ascents but in cool weather but about one hour after we started the humidity shot up and the sun warmed things up considerably. It got over 80 today and with the humidity it made some of our many climbs exhausting. It's a bit hard to move at a fast pace when it feels like you're walking in a sauna. Needless to say I packed away the water, over 4 liters. Our last climb, 1,000 feet in a mile, brought us to an open field with a pond and views you couldn't believe. It was 3:30 p.m. and we decided, Beekpr and I, to drop anchor here for the night. We are the only ones here and we had the time to rinse our our shirts and shorts, hang them on some tree limbs and let the sun dry them out. We also used our bandanas in the water to rinse off as much of our bods as we could. I took a few pictures of our campsite but I don't think they will do justice to the awesome scenery here.As I'm writing this in my tent the pond has come alive with almost a deafening sound of crickets and frogs. It's actually pretty cool and I'm sure I won't have any trouble sleeping with the noise. Speaking of sleep, I'm exhausted and ready to get some shut eye. We have a long day tomorrow which should put us near Bland, VA where we'll get off the trail for a few hous and buy some food and get a meal.Well, I'm going to lay here and let the crickets sing me to sleep--'nite all!
Date: 2003-05-09
From: Pond at mile 555.3

To: Laurel Creek
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: broken clouds

About 2:00 a.m. I woke up to the sound of rain hitting my rain fly. In the distance I could here the thunder rolling toward us. I heard Beekpr moving around in his tent and I yelled over, "batten down the hatches". About then we were treated to a wild light show through our tents. The storm lasted a little over an hour dumping some pretty heavy rain on us. When I woke up and opened my tent flap I could hardly see Beekpr's tent 10 feet away because of the heavy fog. We packed up our wet tents and we're hiking by 7:30 a.m. The humidity was very high and very heavy all day causing us to sweat way more than usual, expecially when the sun broke through and warmed everything. The hike today wasn't bad as far as ups and downs although there were many, but the humid weather has a way of wearing you out alot faster than normal. I went through my first 2 liters of water in the first 9 miles as did Just Dan, who was hiking with us.In our guides it showed the Davis Farm campsite with water so we dropped our packs, took our water bottles and purifiers and started down the blue blazed trail. In my opinion, unless you're desperate for water, keep going to the next water source. You have to go .5 miles down switchbacks and come out to a small tentsite area and a not so good water source. We had to build our own dam to get a big enough puddle from the creek to pump water. After trudging back to the top with our water bottles we stopped for lunch and then pushed on. Near the end of our hiking day we came to Little Wolf Creek, which we had to cross 12 times. We ran into a group of maybe 12 teenage boys and adults making a crossing at number 11 which was quite wide. All of the boys got their boots flooded and one fell in completely when he lost his balance. Some stayed to see if Beekpr and I would fall in too but they were sorely disappointed. We tiptoed from rock to rock with no water over our boots. We were quite happy to make camp tonight and since we were next to Laurel Creek, rinsed the sweat from all our clothes and rinsed ourselves as well.Tomorrow we're heading into Bland, VA for resupply and a probable stop at a restaurant for some real food. We'll probably head back to the trail and gain a few more miles toward Pearisburg.
Date: 2003-05-10
From: Laurel Creek

To: Helveys Mill Shelter
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: overcast clouds

It was another hot humid day but knowing we'd be in Bland, VA in a couple of hours moved Beekpr and me along at a pretty good pace. We covered the 6.8 miles in 2 hours and then hitched a ride in the back of a pickup into town. After hitting the first soda machine we came to we proceded to the post office to mail some things out and then to the local IGA store. There were 4 other thru hikers shopping there and what a sight it must be for the local people to see all 6 of us with our food bags out along with other things from our packs and sorting out what food we just bought as we put it in our bags. We had small bags and packs everywhere. I'm not sure the reasoning behind this but one hiker bought 6 ice cream bars, wrapped them in a plastic bag after putting them into a ziploc bag. He then wrapped it in his sleeping bag thinking it would insulate them for the next 10 miles of his hiking day. As hot as it was today my money says he doesn't make it the first mile without a baggie full of ice cream soup.Beekpr and I then went to the Bland Square Restaurnat where we proceded to gorge ourselves. In the 2 1/2 hours we stayed in Bland I had 1 liter of Gatorade, 2 12 oz. cans of limonade, 2 bottles of V8, and 2 half pound cheesburgers with everything on it.We headed back to the trail and a nice couple gave us a lift back in their pick up. We decided to only go about 2 miles in to the Helveys Mill Shelter so we could dry our tents, sleeping bags and many other things that were damp in our packs. We were the only ones here and the water source was a great stream with pools and small falls. We spent some time rinsing the days sweat off and rinsed out our shorts and shirts.Tomorrow should be a much more productive day and we should get some miles in. It seems the humidity has lessened some since we arrived. It would be great to hike in a warm, dry day tomorrow but time will tell.
Date: 2003-05-11
From: Helveys Mill Shelter

To: Near Dismal Creek Falls
Miles today: 19.1

Today was a great day for a hike. It didn't rain during the night so we woke up to dry tents, which were a joy to pack, and off we went. The weather was cloudy, windy and a bit threatening but after the high humidity the wind was a blessing. We started our hike, Beekpr and I, at around 7:15 and covered the first 10 miles to Jenny Knob Shelter by 10:45. It began raining around 9:30 and putting on the rain gear slowed us down, but the trail was good and the miles flew by.After stopping for lunch around 11:30 at a washed our campsite about 2 miles from Jenny Knob Shelter we proceded to VA606 where we noticed in the guide book had a small grocery store only .8 miles to the west. When we approached the road we had the privilege of walking across one of the engineering feats on the AT, a long suspension bridge across Kimberling Creek! Once accomplished we proceded to the grocery store where we both had double cheeseburgers and they were BIG and GOOD, and then rehydrated our bodies with a combination of power drinks and fruit juices. Now this is hiking, 2 days in a row I'm eating cheesburgers. Tomorrow we're back to regular trail food but it was nice to get away from the noodles for awhile.It was about 4:00 when we returned to the trail. Dismal Falls was about 2 miles in so when we got back on the AT we dropped our packs and hiked down the blue blaze trail to the falls. The falls were worth the walk and Beekpr and I took a few pictures before going back up the trail to retrieve our packs. We walked on about another 1 1/2 miles until we spotted a good campsite about 50 feet from Dismal Creek. We washed up the best we could and set up camp for the night. Tomorrow should take us to within an easy hike into Pearisburg on Tuesday, where we'll stay through Wednesday to rest up and give Hatteras, Milo and Nuke a chance to catch up with us. The plan is for all of us to push on north on Thursday. There are so many flowers starting to bloom now in the mountains-it's an exciting time to be here.
Date: 2003-05-12
From: Near Dismal Creek Falls

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: broken clouds

We woke up this morning and opened our tents around 6:30 a.m. and the first thing I did was yell over to Beekpr, "Who turned on the refrigerator." It was around 50 degrees and very windy making it feel even colder. The temp only went to 60 today which is about a 20 degree turn around from the past few days. Anyway, it made for a great hiking day and the cool weather just energized us. The trail followed Dismal Creek for about 5 miles making that part a very pleasant hike. We then had to climb about 1,400 feet to a ridge line that we followed in small ups and downs most of the day. It was very pretty up there with some rhodys blooming and beautiful wild azaleas in purples and whites. In the next few weeks the mountains will be a blaze of colors with so many things yet to bloom. We were also rewarded with some outstanding views of the valleys and mountains surrounding us. We make Doc Knobs Shelter around 1:30 and decided maybe we'd camp at Angels Rest overlooking Pearisburg. By the time we arrived at these awesome overlooks the wind was gusting something fierce and the new plan was to take some pictures and head for Pearisburg for our first showers in 7 days. After cleaning up we headed for Pizza to stuff ourselves. Right in the middle of dinner we see Hatteras going by the window and he said Milo and Nuke were close behind, so now we're back together again. We're going to stay until Thursday morning and leave around 8:30 to continue north. After the last 160 miles that we covered in 11 days we're all needing a little time to rest our sore feet.
Date: 2003-05-15
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We left Pearisburg this morning around 9:00 a.m. Thanks to some very helpful shuttles from Melvin this morning. Melvin is the local trail angel that's retired and drives around a good part of the day looking for thru hikers to see if they need a lift anywhere. Once started we began the long ascent from 1,690 feet to 3,500 feet. Once up on the ridge it went several miles. We stopped at a beautiful clearing next to Rice Field Shelter for lunch and took some pictures of the area. About 30 minutes after leaving this beautiful spot we heard the unmistakable sounds of Godzilla again, the far distant roll of thunder. We picked up the pace when we heard it but to no avail. The thunder was coming from the west, then the north and south, in other words we were in its crosshairs. I was kidding when I told Beekpr that it was probably waiting until we got to Symns Gap Meadow, an exposed area, before it clobbered us. Well that prediction was right on and just as we got into the meadow the rain came down in buckets. This was easily the heaviest rain since the beginning of this hike. The lightning was flashing over Beekpr and me and twice we had to retreat to the surrounding woods to get out of danger. Meanwhile the rain came down very heavy for the next 2 hours. Everyone in our group had the rain soak through their boots and had to hike the next 8 miles to Pine Swamp Shelter with wet sloshing feet. We all arrived at the shelter around 6:00 p.m. and immediately hung up our wet clothes and put on some dry ones. None of our boots will be dried out by tomorrow. It'll probably take a few days if it doesn't rain but I wouldn't bet on that happening. As a matter of fact it started raining again about 15 minutes ago at around 8:30 p.m. We're all hoping it rains itself out tonight while we stay dry in the shelter.Tomorrow is going to be a tough day terrain wise so a little dry weather will be most appreciated. As usual though we'll take whatever the AT decides to throw at us and live the experience.
Date: 2003-05-16
From: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: scattered clouds

We were all a little reluctant to get out of our sleeping bags this morning since the temperature was about 50 degrees and most of our gear, including all of our boots, were still damp or wet. One of the hardest things to do on the trail is to have to put on yesterdays wet socks and insert them in cold wet boots and then hike in them. Beekpr, Hatteras and I left first with Nuke and Milo close behind. The hike started out with a couple of miles of winding, twisting, up and down trail that had us going through low hanging vegetation that was making us and our packs wet as we passed through. After crossing VA 635 at Stony Creek we began our ascent of about 1,000 feet to Baily Gap Shelter. From here we had about a 2 mile or so walk on rocks which make it rather hazardous to look up at your surroundings in fear you'd trip on a rock and land on your face. We were extremely happy to get out of that and make it to VA613 where there were several large rocks for us to empty our packs on to dry out our gear. Our boots never dried out today and will be damp for sure when we put them on tomorrow. Because of the slow going in the rocks and hiking all day in wet boots we decided to quit early at War Spur Shelter to continue drying out our gear and clothes. More rain is predicted tonight and is the reason we're not tenting. With everthing still somewhat damp we didn't want wet tents too.Tomorrow we'll try to put some more miles on and go for Niday Shelter, about 19 miles. Now for the bad news, Hatteras is leaving the trail tomorrow for personal reasons. It's possible he might rejoin us further up the trail but I can tell you now he will be sorely missed by us all. I've hiked the last 600 miles with Hatteras and a better hiking companion and friend we'll never see. So here's to you "Hat" and I hope you can join us again soon. Good luck and give Monica a hug for us.
Date: 2003-05-19
From: VA 624 and Catawba

To: Salem, VA
Miles today: 0.0

NOTE: This is a continuation of the journal entry for 5/18/2003. 5/19/2003 was a zero day and there will be no entry.5/18/2003 (continued)About this time it started to rain. With the vegetation so close to the trail it was near impossible not to brush against it and get wetter with each step. For most of the day we walked in the clouds with no views but we knew that Catawba would be at the end of this wet day. On the first mountain we climbed we came to a sign pointing to a memorial for WWII's most decorated man, Audie Murphy, who died near the spot in an airplane crash many years ago. Around the memorial were flowers and American flags and in a tree just over the monument was the Texas state flag, his home state. It was good to see people haven't forgotten our heros.We came off this mountain and immediatly went up the next one which goes up to the popular Dragons Tooth area. The rain at this point really came down hard for the 7 miles this portion of the hike would cover. The top of this mountain stretches along a ridge for a few miles and the trail runs along a knife edge in many spots and goes from one rock climb to the next higher one as you're hiking the ridge. The wind picked up and the rain was soaking us and at this point we were both rather miserable and just wanted to get down from the mountain. After crossing what seemed like endless rock climbs we started our descent over some huge wet rocks making going down hazardous. Most of the last 7 miles our boots became totally saturated again and for most of that part of the hike water was squishing out of our boots with every step. We were never so happy as when we finally came out to VA624 and walked about .4 mile to a grocery store. We looked like 2 drowned rats going into the store ane we both poured a cup of coffee. It felt great just wrapping our hands around the warm cups. We didn't know where we would stay and tried to call a local B&B but no one answered. Fortunately for us there was a trail angel in the store buying gas when we arrived. He offered to drive us where we wanted to go and when we found out he lives in Salem, VA, about 10 miles away, we asked about accomodations there. He told us they have many motels and took us to one of them to dry out. We're taking a zero day tomorrow to resupply and finish drying out our gear. God, that shower felt good!!Our trail angel, Dave, is picking us up Tuesday morning on his way to work and will drop us off at the trail head. All we can say is thanks Dave, we can't tell you how much we appreciate your help.