morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-18
From: ERWIN

To: CURLEY MAPLE SHELTER
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: overcast clouds

STUCK IN ERWINReady to hit the trail running, we sat on Miss Janet's front porch for hours waiting for a shuttle back to the trail. We missed the early shuttle because we had to get to the post office first thing. Miss Janet does a great job of taking care of all her guests, but she's only one person trying to accommodate 20 or more hikers at once.The young folks were up until 3 a.m. last night drinking beer and watching a very loud TV show. Once the TV was turned off, the men began to snore. The last time I checked my watch, it read 3:59. I couldn't wait to get back on the trail for a better night's sleep in the tent.By 12:30 p.m., another hiker told us Miss Janet's shuttle would not be back for two more hours. It's approximately 4 miles back to the trail from her house so we decided to walk or hitch. We donned our packs and started up the tree lined sidewalk. After walking about a block, who do we see pull up but Miss Janet. "Change of plans," she said. "Do you all want a ride?" We were relieved to see her and certainly appreciated her kindness. At 1:00 p.m. we finally began hiking. Since it was so late, we changed our plans from hiking 11 miles today to just 4.1 miles. There is a friendly crowd here at Curley Maple shelter. I'm feeling aggravated about no sleep and a late start, so I'm not good company right now. I guess I'll sit in my tent and pout 'til I go to sleep
Date: 2006-04-19
From: CURLEY MAPLE SHELTER

To: LOW GAP
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: overcast clouds

DOWN & OUT IN LOW GAPThunder and lightening roused us from our sleep at 5:30 a.m. In the first instant I heard the storm, I knew I had to act quickly. Luckily, there was a thicket of rhododendron not 10 feet away. In case you didn't know, rhododendrons serve as excellent cover for personal business. I was able to get back under cover before the really big drops fell.Yesterday, we were stuck in Erwin; today, at Curley Maple Shelter. Lightening flashed and thunder threatened until about 11:30 a.m. Every time we got ready to pack up, lightening would flare up again. We are feeling frustrated about this second delay because we just spoke with Jeff Pratt to confirm our plans to meet at Kincora Hostel in 5 or 6 days. Jeff Pratt is the business manager for Brookwood Florida, the group home we are raising money for. He lives in Boone, N.C. and has been waiting for us to reach his area so we can get together. Between the two slow starts now, we are one day in the hole.For some unexplainable reason, I'm not feeling well today. For the first 4 miles I felt great, hiking at top speed. The suddenly, I felt nauseous, lethargic, and got a headache. It became very difficult to climb gradual ascents. Many hikers in Erwin were ill. I hope I don't have whatever they had. We stopped a mile short of our goal today. It started getting dark, and I was feeling worse by the minute. It's a shame not feeling well today. We passed many beautiful scenes along the way. One such place was a bald called Beauty Spot. Another was a dark Hemlock forest at the top of Unaka Mtn. Now that I've had something hot to eat, I do feel a little better. Maybe we don't eat enough.
Date: 2006-04-20
From: LOW GAP

To: CLYDE SMITH SHELTER
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: overcast clouds

SLUMPYThis time, we are 4.9 miles short of our goal. Mudflap is feeling fatigued. I don't feel up to par either. We're in a slump. It feels like we're still in Erwin.The good news is Railroad and Critter caught up to us. We started with them on Springer and haven't seen them since Neels Gap. We have been thinking of them all along, wondering how they are doing.
Date: 2006-04-22
From: ROAH NIGH KNOB SHELTER

To: OVERMOUNTAIN SHELTER
Miles today: 6.5
Weather: moderate rain

MUDFLAP'S MUDSLIDEIt was a short yet eventful hike to Overmountain Shelter. The rain still drizzled down on hikers and trail making for very slick foot travel. This mud around here is different from the course, grainy type we get in Florida. This stuff is silty clay; slicker than oil. On one particular downward slope, no matter how carefully we stepped, the trail brought us down, one after another. First it was my turn. I fared pretty well, only landing one knee in the brown muck. Then came Natty Boh, passing Mudflap on a root bound turn. The next thing you see is Natty performing a move akin to a cartwheel, ending up on his rear-end in the mud. "Now I'll never 'hook up'," he bemoaned. Next comes Mudflap down the same treacherous section. His was an Olympic-style performance worthy of a medal. It was beautiful! He executed a quick counter clockwise spin followed by a left-sided lean over, ending with an up-side down, backward slide. By now an audience had gathered. He wasn't hurt, but he was stuck on top of his pack like a turtle on its back. Centipede gave him a score of 9.5 and we all agreed he won the prize at the mudslide event.It's a relief to have decided not to try to make it to Kincora Hostel by Monday. We just need to be able to call Jeff Pratt from Elk Park to let him know where we are and to get some food to last a couple more days. We've heard this area is not especially friendly toward hikers so we are a little nervous about hitching there. Maybe Jeff will want to come to Elk Park since we will be there on Sunday any way.There is a beautiful valley extending south from the big red barn shelter here. When I first saw it, I was struck with the thought that this is the very same valley I picture in my mind when I listen to the lyrics of Led Zeplin's "Battle Of Evermore". I would love to hear that song now. Instead, fellow hiker, Riverside, is singing "Big Rock Candy Mountain". Gotta love it!
Date: 2006-04-24
From: MOUNTAIN HARBOUR INN

To: MORELAND GAP SHELTER
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: scattered clouds

MUDFLAP'S INPUT OF THE WEEKWe started off today with a great breakfast. We had eggs with ham, cheese, and tomatoes, sausage, pork chops, cranberry pancakes, pumpkin bread, bananna-nut bread, oatmeal and fruit. It was the best breakfast I ever had. The hiking was pleasant in the morning. We went thru old pastures with blossoming apple trees. We also traveled along old mountain roads. We even went past a cemetery and a old church. We even took a side trail to Jones Falls. It was well worth the hike to it. We crossed numerous creeks and streams today. We hiked some today with Railroad and Critter. They started out the same time as we did back at Spriger MTN. Able Jack caught up to us while we were taking a break on a log. We were both tired and looking forward to the camp spot before the shelter. Somehow we missed it so we had to keep going. We were low on water so if we wanted a hot meal we had to keep movin. We finally got to the shelter a half hour before dark. I went to get water while Daisy set up the tent. By the time we ate dinner and got prepared for bed it was 10:30 p.m. We were wore out, to say the least. This was our biggest milelage day so far. As Daisy would say "Not bad for two short, fat, middle aged people." Things have been rough since Erwin. Between weather, fatigue and timing things haven't been going very smoothly. But I think we are back on the on the right track. I need to be not so regimented in our hiking. We have hiked over 400 miles and haven't changed plans to camp in a beautiful spot or stopped and just put our sore feet in a cool stream. I promised Daisy this would change. I guess I'm not the impulsive type of guy. Until next week, see you later.
Date: 2006-04-25
From: MORELAND GAP SHELTER

To: KINCORA HOSTEL
Miles today: 6.1

KINCORA: THE PEOPLES' PLACEWe walked in light rain to get to Kincora. It was an easy walk, so we took our time. After Erwin, I was a bit apprehensive about spending the night at another noisy hostel. As we entered the cabin which is the hostel, everyone was so quiet, I thought we were supposed to whisper. Hikers were sitting around reading and working on jigsaw puzzles. Bob and Pat Peoples have owned and operated Kincora for 10 years. They are kind-hearted folks who only charge $4.00 per night. They don't allow any alcohol and there is no TV, either. What a difference it makes in the way people interact with one another. It was nice to see people playing cards and board games together, then go to bed at a reasonable hour.Mrs. Peoples is a retired attorney who now works in a therapeutic horseback riding program. Mr. Peoples works for Habitat For Humanity. He is also very active in trail maintenance. Every Tuesday he takes hikers with him to do volunteer work on the trail. This Tuesday they began setting the posts for a new shelter. It will be named Mountaineer Shelter and will be completed during the "Hardcore" event after Trail Days.There are too many hikers here to name them all, but among us are 42, Natty Boh, Sleepy, Supersize, Baloo, Chainsaw and Able Jack. 42 and I have commented on the lack of females out here lately. They seem to travel in packs and we're in between packs right now.
Date: 2006-04-27
From: KINCORA

To: WATAUGA LAKE CAMPSITE
Miles today: 9.7

GHOST OF NATTY BOH DISAPPEARSLike Miss Janet told us back in Erwin, when it comes to Pond Flats "¢¦there ain't no pond and there's nothin' flat about it." No kidding! A 2,200 foot ascent in two miles is not for the faint hearted. We've been through this routine before, though. Put your head down and grind it out 'til it's over.Once at the top of the mountain, we could hear motorboats and catch glimpses of blue water between the thick woods. Soon we were approaching a huge lake in a park-like setting. Then, when we crossed 321, we could see a large group of hikers gathered around picnic tables and spread out over the mowed green grass. "Mudflap and Daisy!" a young couple called out. "We've been waiting to meet you!" I didn't understand why anyone would be excited to me us because we're relatively quiet and boring next to some of the other characters out here. "We're Ork and Bean," the young woman said, "and my mother has been reading your journal and thought we should meet." How fun this is for us to meet hikers and even their relatives sometimes through the Internet! Hi, Bean's Mom. Just wanted you to know, that we enjoyed meeting Ork and Bean very much. They both seem like very sharp young folks and they're such a cute couple!There must have been at least twenty of us hikers out by the lake this afternoon. Someone picked up some beer so the party was on. When the beer quickly ran out, Ork and The Ghost Of Natty Boh went to get some more. Ork returned with beer in short time. Natty Boh did not return. It turns out that Natty decided to hitch the two and a half miles while Ork thought it best to walk. Hours passed with no sign of Natty Boh. He already "died" once on top of Roan Mtn. (which is how he became the Ghost Of Natty Boh), and now he could be dead again! We were all getting very worried as darkness was soon upon us. After all, he left most of his gear at the lake. He wouldn't just leave his equipment like that. T-Snake and Supersize decided to call Bob and Pat Peoples back at Kincora hostel for advice or to see if he might have gone back there. Just as Mrs. Peoples was telling Supersize not to worry, Natty Boh returns! "Where in the world were you?" we all wanted to know. He said he ended up taking four different rides to three different stores all over the county on a secret quest. Thank goodness the Ghost of Natty Boh is still alive.
Date: 2006-04-28
From: WATAUGA LAKE CAMPSITE

To: IRON MOUNTAIN SHELTER
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: scattered clouds

SMALL TOWN BLUESLast night, I got a little irritated with some young locals, but I later changed my mind. After about two and a half hours of sleep I, along with everyone else at the campsite, was awakened by loud giggling, cursing and screeching young people. They came stumbling into camp in the 1:00 a.m. darkness. They sounded very drunk as they squealed and cursed some more. They finally managed to get their tent set up...right next to ours.I'm a very light sleeper, so even the earplugs couldn't block out their noise. Before long, I knew their names; Brandy, Katrina, Cody and Ford did finally settle down after a while. I think I drifted off to sleep, but then I heard a female crying. I would rather be sleeping but I pulled out the earplugs to hear what was going on. "You've got to be strong for me now," the older girl said to the younger one. "But I don't know what I'm gonna do if you leave," sobbed the younger one. "You'll always be my sister and I'll always be there for you no matter what. But I gotta get out of this town or I'm gonna drown myself in the lake," the older one continued. "Listen, when I get to Pigeon Forge and get me a job and an apartment, then you can come and then Cody, too".How could I stay mad at these kids who were suffering from teenaged angst in typical "small town, U.S.A."? Shoot, I might have tried to get out of little ol' Hampton, TN myself if I were in her shoes. Dreaming of a future in Pigeon Forge...imagine that.
Date: 2006-04-29
From: IRON MOUNTAIN SHELTER

To: HOLSTON MOUNTAIN
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: clear sky

OUR BIGGEST YETFor once in a long time, we were the first to leave camp this morning. We knew it would be a long day so we needed to get going. Our goal: to hike at least 20 miles in a day before we reach Damascus. Our pace was pretty good except that I took so many pictures along the way that it slowed us down considerably. Critter and Railroad caught up to us for lunch at Double Spring Shelter. During our conversation there, we started talking about things we miss most on the trail. For me, other than family, it's music I miss most. When I said that, Railroad asked if I would like to borrow his MP3 player for a few days. "What?! You mean I can hear music right now??" I could barely contain my excitement. "How about just to Damascus?" I asked. He showed me how to work it and I was set. Mudflap was talking to me but I couldn't hear a word he was saying. Everyone thought that was funny. I was fancy free in music world. Railroad had it programmed with rock music from the 60's through the present; a great selection. I felt all lit up inside!As I listened to the music, it was as if I bounced effortlessly up the trail. Occasionally, I would turn around to check in with Mudflap and he would be completely out of sight: I was flying! For the last five miles I turned off the music so we could walk together and communicate. It took some extra effort to go the 21.5 miles. Those are big miles for us. We are sore and tired and don't plan to do that many miles very often. We just like to know that we can.
Date: 2006-04-30
From: HOLSTON MOUNTAIN

To: DAMASCUS
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: overcast clouds

THREE DOWN!It sure felt good to cross another state line. Three down and eleven more to go now.We are staying at a nice Bed and Breakfast called the Lazy Fox Inn. It's a beautiful, large home built in 1903, situated next to Laurel Creek, one block removed from the main street in Damascus. This is a pretty little town with red maples and dogwoods dressing up the streets. Damascus has the reputation of being the friendliest town on the A.T. So far everyone has been nice, including the family who greeted us coming off the trail as they worked out in their yard.   Miss Ginny, who owns the Lazy Fox, insisted I wear one of her sweat suits while I did my laundry. "You'll be much too cool in those shorts and this way you can wash all you clothes at once," she said, handing me the red suit. Miss Ginny is a tiny woman, late 60's maybe, standing about 5'1". The sweat suit was a bit snug to say the least but it sure was thoughtful of her to let me wear it.T-Snake, Critter, Railroad, Mudflap and I all shrunk and ruined our expensive hiking clothes in extremely hot dryers at the Laundromat. The good news is Cowboy's convenience store across the street has an excellent deli with all kinds of fried food and humongous sub sandwiches. Two hours after lunch, it was time for supper.We went to Sicily¢s Pizza and Subs and sat down with Railroad & Critter, Brains & Braun, Just Joan, Sleepy, Natty Boh, Chainsaw and Able Jack. They had to put several tables together so we could all sit together. The waitress was entertaining and knew just how to humor a bunch of wise-cracking thru-hikers. We sat for a long time while gorging on too much pizza and bread sticks.I was glad to see Just Joan out with the rest of us. She hikes alone and has had some ankle problems for about two weeks. She and I have a lot in common and I would like to see her finish the trail. She shows a lot of strength and determination. In spite of her sore ankle, Just Joan just keeps on hiking.
Date: 2006-05-01
From: DAMASCUS

To: DAMASCUS
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

MUDFLAP'S WEEKLY INPUTMiss Ginny's huge and delicious breakfast held us over all day long. We even skipped lunch. We went to the post office and picked up our bounce bag and some care packages. We received Girl Scout cookies, snacks, summer gear and calling cards from friends and family. We went to the outfitter to buy a couple things. We even tried to get some help with Daisy's pack. Jeff measured Daisy and he said the pack is the wrong size .Her pack should be a small not a medium. He offered to swap her 2004 Osprey Ariel 75 for a 2005 Osprey Ariel 60.We told him we would come back with the pack and see if everything would fit. We did our food shopping and went back to the Lazy Fox. We met two other couples for dinner at the Baja Cafe. We had a great meal with Brains and Braun and Railroad and Critter. We even shared our Girl Scout cookies with them. We went back to the Lazy Fox to catch up our journals and to get ready to leave in the morning. Everyone in Damascus was very friendly.
Date: 2006-05-02
From: DAMASCUS

To: DAMASCUS
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

DAMASCUS: FRIENDLIEST TOWN ON THE A.T.Mudflap announced this morning that we're taking another zero day. That's fine with me. We never seem to have enough time to do everything in one day. Lately, we've been socializing more with other hikers than we did in the beginning, also. The necessity of walking everywhere in town to shop, eat, do laundry etc., enables us to meet up with other hikers coming and going, as well. It feels more like a tight knit community that way. Back home, if more people would get out and walk around, maybe we would all get along better.After another tremendous breakfast provided by Miss Ginny, I had a brief nap. I feel like taking a nap every afternoon on the trail but it doesn't happen. This was a treat. Next, we went back to Mt. Rogers Outfitters with my loaded pack.Jeff, who is the owner's son traded a nearly new, used once, Osprey: Ariel 60 for my two- year old, beat up Ariel 75. The pack is significantly smaller than my old one. I like that it does not ride low on my tail bone like my old one did. It feels compact and moves with me much better. The shoulder harness is smaller, too. It surprises me to fit into a small harness because I have never worn a small anything in my life!Since spending two and a half days in Damascus, I would have to agree that so far, Damascus is the friendliest town on the A.T. Miss Ginny is an especially kind hostess, the waitress at Sicily¢s treated us like old friends, the family of four welcomed us into town, the outfitter sent me away with a new pack free of charge and traffic stops for hikers to cross the main street. That doesn't happen where we're from. I would recommend a stay at the Lazy Fox to any would- be visitors.
Date: 2006-05-03
From: DAMASCUS

To: BEAR TREE GAP POND
Miles today: 11.7

GUMPTION TO GOIt always feels good to get going again after time off in town. I do like my creature comforts, but we're on our way to Maine with more than three quarters of the way left to go. As usual, the trail out of town goes mostly uphill. The Virginia Creeper Trail runs parallel to the A.T. on the way out for a couple of miles. It is a beautiful bicycle path that used to be a railroad. Many cyclists come to this area for the bike trails (Damascus has four bicycle outfitters). I can see why.We considered stopping at Saunders shelter which is 9.4 miles out of town. We were quite pleased to find that we still had gumption to go some more even though we hadn't started hiking until noon. We hiked another 2.3 miles to a pretty little pond. The peeper frogs are out peeping away now. That's my signal to turn in. Good night.
Date: 2006-05-04
From: BEAR TREE GAP POND

To: WHITE TOP MTN.
Miles today: 9.4

TOWN SYNDROMELow on energy today; it seems to happen soon after we leave town every time. I think it's a case of town syndrome. I'm dragging uphill and my knees are sore. Because we're not making good progress today, we decided to be spontaneous and stop mid-afternoon on a beautiful grassy ridge overlooking a valley. We sat and watched rain storms sweep across the mountain ridges in the distance. I hope it doesn't rain on us. Tomorrow, I would like to do more miles.
Date: 2006-05-05
From: WHITE TOP MTN.

To: THE SCALES
Miles today: 14.5

PONIES OF THE HIGHLANDSIt's a good thing Russ and Kitty sent us dried apple slices in the mail. We shared them with the wild ponies at Grayson Highlands State Park. At first we only saw one near Mt. Rogers. Then after climbing over a couple more rocky ridges, we found lots of them. There were several foals sticking close to their mothers as we passed through. It was fun to watch them stand up on spindly little legs to follow their mothers. Many of the ponies walked right up to us. Some of them were down right greedy and aggressive. One of them started biting my watch and my hiking poles. Others shied away. This was definitely a highlight of our trip. Mudflap says it was his favorite part of the hike so far.It seems that every spectacular event of the trip has to be earned through some sort of test of endurance particular to that section of trail. In this case, if you want to see the ponies, you will endure mile after mile of foot bruising rocks. These rocks continue for miles before and after Grayson Highlands.As we carefully chose our footing out the other side of the state park, the skies turned gloomy and the wind began to blow. It's hard to make good time over the tricky rocks and we knew we had four or five miles left to go for our planned campsite. Well, plans change. Somehow we missed the campsite that was supposed to be a mile past Wise shelter. Perhaps we would have been wise to stay at the shelter. We had to keep going until we found a water source or we would have to eat a cold supper and hike to water in the morning. We kept on even though we were tired and our feet hurt. Next thing we know, we are out on the exposed bald of Stone Mtn. being lashed by cold wind and rain. Our energy wasn't completely tapped out yet and it's a good thing because there's no way we were going to stop up on the top of a bald. From the summit we could see a split rail fence down below, with a fifth-wheel trailer parked inside. I was disappointed because it looked like someone's personal property which meant we would have to get past that and start climbing Pine Mtn. to get under tree cover. Sometimes you just don't have a choice. As we approached the fence, we saw that the trail went straight across the grassy fenced in area. Then when we stepped out onto the grass, we noticed several fire rings all about. Then, we saw the His and Her privies. Hallelujah, it's a campground! We were so ready to stop and get out of the rain. Apparently, this is a place where they used to weigh cattle or something. It's called ¢the scales¢ in our handbook. It's home for the night to us.