morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-04-08
From: Derrick Knob Shelter 

To: Mount Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I figured out this morning that I need to hike 20 miles a day if I want to make it to Harper¢s Ferry by May 21. In other words, it ain¢t gonna happen. Largo¢s going to go through my pack with me tomorrow in Gatlinberg and we¢re going to lighten me up a bit.Much better hiking today ¢ I had an extra large dose of coffee and a big dose of oatmeal. The 60% chance of rain never panned out and we had exceptional views all the way up Clingman¢s Dome. Up to Clingman's DomeChickadees serenade usHidden in the pinesI was wearing my cotton t-shirt when we arrived. Coming down was another story ¢ wet, wet, wet. Lots of snow and melting snow leftover from the last storm. I grabbed another stick for the descent and at times felt as though I were down hill skiing, schussing over one sloppy mogul after another. The shelter area is just a big mud fest, but Rob, Eric and Jessica, Franco and Benny and Largo found tent spots behind the shelter on a (wet) grassy area sheltered from the wind by the pines. Four-star privy! And lots of free food left behind by a family who called off their hike early because of the weather. I had chicken and bean chili with corn chips ¢ added too much water, so it turned into a kind of tortilla soup, but it was good. Rob was really beat after the wet, sloshy, snowy descent ¢ he¢s already asleep. Gatlinberg tomorrow ¢ food drop box and a trip to the outfitters. I¢m also ready to drop some book weight.
Date: 2004-04-09
From: Mount Collins Shelter 

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: clear sky

Good Friday. I decided not to go into Gatlinberg today. Got tired of seeing three fellows waiting for me at every bend in the trail and decided I¢d rather get to the shelter early, read and write a little, wash out my underwear, soak some lentils, and dry out my boots after all of the sloshing through melted snow. It feels great to be here ¢ lovely view. Very exposed, though, so it might be a little chilly tonight. The sun feels wonderful on my back right now, but the breeze is cold enough that I¢ll need gloves shortly. My socks and undies are suspended in the weeds. Don¢t know how dry they¢ll get today.Some kids on college Easter break are here tonight, along with Mississippi Mule and Sunset.Trail magic today: an apple from a group of tourists at the scenic overlook at Newfound Gap (though this was more of a ¢yogi¢ than trail magic) and Cokes not too far up the trail after that.Largo was telling me last night about how to get my pack down by a few pounds. He knows what he¢s doing: his pack is under 30. He has a great little alcohol stove and a mess kit that consists of the bottom of a bleach bottle (which he uses for a sink and a water dipper), the bottom of a Big Gulp plastic cup used to protect the bottom half of a McDonald¢s styrofoam coffee cup, a wire mesh circle which supports his titanium pot over his Coke-can alcohol stove, an aluminum windscreen, a bandana that he uses as a dish towel, and little else. All of it fits inside the titanium pot and weighs in at less than a pound. He wanted to do a pack shake-down with me in Gatlinberg today, but I really didn¢t feel like spending hundreds of dollars to lose a few pack pounds. I¢ll switch packs when I get home and will be carrying lots less over the summer anyway ¢ my old (much lighter) sleeping bag, fewer clothes. I¢ll switch to my old (lighter) boots, too. And I should also have a better idea by then of how much food to bring.What I¢d love to do before I leave for Providence is the four-states-in-24-hours challenge from Harper¢s Ferry to Pennsylvania. I could mail my pack home at Harper¢s Ferry, switch over to sneakers, and just carry water and snacks. Could be fun!
Date: 2004-04-11
From: Tricorner Knob Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: moderate rain

A rainy, misty Easter Sunday. No sign of Easter eggs this morning ¢ maybe the bears got the Easter bunny.Didn¢t sleep much last night ¢ needed to use the privy, but it was too cold to get out of my sleeping bag, so I was awake until 4 a.m., holding it in, until I finally caved.I was sleep-walking today, barely stumbling forward. Fortunately we had fewer than 8 miles to do. In the Smokies, you can¢t tent anywhere except in the vicinity of the shelters, and then only if the shelter is full. So far we haven¢t been crammed in a shelter with 20+ others. Big Spring Shelter on that first snowy night was as crowded as we¢ve been so far ¢ only 50% over capacity.
Date: 2004-04-12
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: moderate rain

Easter Monday. Slog today. (Gotta make coffee tomorrow morning!) But we went from a misty morning, down through rain clouds to below the cloud level to Davenport Gap. Queen Diva had left Easter goodies at the shelter there and I feasted on jelly beans, Nerts and peanut M&Ms. Thank you Queen Diva! One of the loveliest areas we¢ve passed through was before the interstate ¢- the trail followed a stream past several flowering trees, redbuds I think. Trout lilies and jack-in-the-pulpit lined the path. Very pretty.Standing Bear is a neat little compound: bunk house, shower house, library, double bed cabin straddling a stream, and an outdoor kitchen/art studio made of window frames lined up atop four wooden walls. There¢s also an outdoor bonfire area that was well used tonight by the 15+ hikers here, and a little hut for the washer/dryer, phone and internet. All mod cons! I need to get back on the internet before we leave ¢ barely made a dent in my e-mail tonight and folks are lined up to use it as I get ready for bed. If I wake up in the night to pee, I might head over there for a while.Had a whole pizza and three sodas tonight. Hope I can fall asleep.The crew here includes: Sweet Leaf, Arms, Bucket, Skirt, Dingle, Speed, Breathless, Little Tree, Walking Stomach, Sox and another young couple who came in late, Dinner Short and Fijit. Big John, whom I met at Tray Mountain Shelter back in Georgia, is also here with his dog Beau ¢ he skipped the Smokies because of the dog ban.The studio/kitchen radio doesn¢t get any radio station but NPR, so folks gathered around the fire are chatting to a background of classical music and jazz. No rain yet. Lovely evening.
Date: 2004-04-13
From: Standing Bear Farm Hiker Hostel

To: Max Patch Campsite
Miles today: 14.4

I was really rolling today. The Snickers bars really get me moving. I got tired of seeing Rob and Rael always waiting for me so I left early to get ahead of them. Was leaving Groundhog Creek Shelter at 3:30 as Rob and Rael were rolling in.   I bypassed Brown Gap, where we agreed we¢d camp, because I couldn¢t find water there and was out. I¢m regretting that now. It¢s 9 p.m., and it¢s snowing. When I passed over the Max Patch bald it was completely fogged in. I walked from one white blazed post to the next, waiting for the fog to thin enough to make the next post visible, or just follow whichever piece of ground seemed most traveled.I hope Rob¢s alright. That was a stupid thing to do, to go on ahead, even if I was thirsty. Maybe he¢ll squeeze into Rael¢s tent tonight. This is bad. It was almost dark when I got here. They probably didn¢t continue on.The trees outside are creaking in the wind and the snow crystals are hitting the tent like sand. I hope he¢s okay. I need to get warm.
Date: 2004-04-14
From: Max Patch Campsite

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: light snow

It snowed several inches last night. I took lunch at Roaring Fork Shelter, where Chris and Elly passed on the news that Rob and Rael had backtracked to Groundhog Creek Shelter when they saw that I wasn¢t at Brown Gap last night. What the hell were they thinking? That I¢d got lost? Typical!Rob arrived here while I was getting water and hasn¢t responded to any of my questions with more than one-word answers so far. He looks miserable. Okay, I¢m an idiot. I¢ll apologize tomorrow morning, when we can have some privacy; the shelter¢s full tonight. I should have left the note for them at Brown Gap, not past it. I should have stopped there, even though I had plenty of energy to move on. I should have insisted at Fontana Dam that he get his damn tent out of the bounce box. This is not working for either of us.
Date: 2004-04-15
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: clear sky

Here I am on the couch in a hotel room with Rob and Rael. I¢ve had too much Bass Ale, and just put Sweet Leaf to bed ¢ she probably drank twice what I did, and her normal friendly chattiness was getting a little loud for one of the regular patrons of the Paddlers Inn, a multi-thru-hiker named Baltimore Jack. Sweet Leaf¢s great company, former Army, a Mainer who has moved down south and now has a little southern lilt to her Maine accent. I¢ve enjoyed hiking with her. Rael indulged in ice cream rather than the bar fare ¢ good man, excellent restraint.I¢m out of the dog house with Rob ¢ just barely. (Sweet Leaf helped smooth things over before I got there. ¢She f***ed up. She¢s sorry. Get over it.¢) I¢d hate for him to think that I was malicious rather than just thoughtless yesterday, but there was definitely a passive aggressive undertone to my actions: I really don¢t want to share a tent with him anymore, and I think he¢s finally hearing that. Regardless of how I felt, though, I acted with ¢wreckless disregard for human life,¢ as the lawyers would put it, and I deserved the telling-off that I got from both Rob and Rael. (Off with her head!) Rael did add, though, that no one should be hiking out here without his own tent on his back, and he said this to Rob; so I need not shoulder the entire blame for this not-quite-fiasco. Still, I feel untrustworthy now, a bad egg, tainted. Willful girl!It¢s probably best that I leave them ¢- they hike well together ¢- and move on at my own pace. I haven¢t been enjoying the past couple of weeks, have been stewing a lot, feeling left behind, and burdensome. I don¢t want to feel this way; it¢s getting in the way of the pleasure of this hike. I want to walk at my own pace, stop when I feel like stopping, stop to look at the trees and flowers.Here¢s a good quotation (from Maine Rose¢s guide for women AT hikers), by an A.T. alum, Kelly ¢Amazin¢ Grace¢ Winters:¢It¢s easy to be dedicated, stable, and grounded if you¢re doing what¢s right for you. [I]n too many cases, you¢re secretly afraid you haven¢t found your true life, you can¢t bear to take the risk of losing the half-life you have.¢Time to ¢hike my own hike.¢ It took a leap of faith (not to mention a chunk of my savings) to get out here. Now I¢m going to do this thang ¢ my way.
Date: 2004-04-16
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Trailfest is starting tonight with an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner for thru-hikers and others, a fund-raiser for a local organization for mentally handicapped adults.When I arrived yesterday afternoon, there was already a group of hikers installed at the cafe, eating gigantic hamburgers and comparing hiking stories -- lots to do with the last two snow storms.Just had a pack "shake down" with Largo (a cross between Santa Claus and Grizzly Adams) and have taken a few pounds off the pack already. Making mileage on the trail is all about pack weight, and Largo has an ultra-light pack -- 20 pounds without food and water -- while I'm at around 35 pounds now. I weighed in at 57 before I started the trail, whittled it down to 50 by Neel's Gap. Today, I got my first aid kid down to a tiny plastic baggie, and I'm exchanging my Whisperlite stove and mess kit for an alcohol stove (made from a Coke can) and a titanium pot -- 2 pounds less, but I'll need about 2 ounces of denatured alcohol per day if I continue to cook two meals a day, and nothing more than boiling water. I'm also spraying my mesh pack with silicon to keep it from getting water logged. I'd like to pare down my clothes as well, but with the dramatic changes in weather from day to day (between 25 and 90 degrees so far), there are days when I've been wearing everything in my bag, including the sleeping bag!
Date: 2004-04-17
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

All uphill today!Started at 11:30 a.m. and put in an 8-hour day, as I've decided to do from now on to get more mileage under my belt. Was glad to start on my own, too. Felt liberating to stop where I pleased, listen to the lizards rustling through the dead leaves.Bronze-backed sun worshipperMr. Lizard, turn over.Your belly's still blue.Saw a black snake speeding by after something, too. Amazingly fast. I didn't have a chance to gasp until after it had slithered by.Charcoal slitherer,Rodent hunter, steals my breath.Now all roots are snakes.Now that we're out of the Smokies and can camp where we please, instead of just around the shelters, I can plop down as soon as I get tired, or when daylight fades. Beautiful miniature wild irises -- blue and white -- lined the trail today. In a dammed pond, the perch would follow you as you walked, evidently trained by someone who comes to feed them regularly. It was surrounded by a turkey and grouse preserve, but I saw also a large hawk fly over.I hiked past Rob/Navigator and Largo's camping spot to the shelter, and tomorrow hope to do the 15.2 miles today to Jerry Cabin Shelter. I want to move on up the trail before the hoards from the Hot Springs Trailfest head out today or early tomorrow. Also, just wanted to break free of the pack a little and venture out at my own pace more. I've been hiking for several weeks now with Navigator, Largo and Rael, and am getting a little tired of the "destination by committee" mentality.Heard barred owls mating this evening, making ungodly sounds -- like a trilled howl.I was talking with Speed and Breathless about hiker appetite this evening. I don't have mine yet -- I think because I've still got plenty of body fat to use up. The skinny guys can't believe the small size of my food bag between towns -- they wolf down two or three times what I do each night, whereas I feel I'm forcing myself to eat just to maintain my energy level. I do find that after a couple of Snickers bars and a cup of coffee, I can motor up those hills with a lot less effort.
Date: 2004-04-18
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

9:20 a.m. It's great to wake up to just the birds singing and a small number of hikers bugging out. I'm enjoying sitting here with my (seemingly bottomless) bowl of rice (from last night) and oatmeal, feeling the sun on my back. I should be mobile by 9:30, and can get in a 10-hour hiking day to Jerry Cabin Shelter, I hope, by night fall. This is the kind of peaceful morning I imagined when I set out on this adventure -- not the testosterone-driven "road trip" feel of much of my experience so far. Ah...!10:30 p.m. Stopped at Little Laurel Shelter for lunch and water -- didn't leave until 5 p.m. Ended up crossing the White Rock Ridge just as the sun was setting -- beautiful 360 degree views, could see the ponds and lakes in the valley lit up by the sky's light, then town and street lights coming on. Reminded me a lot of climbing Lion's Head and Table Mountain in Cape Town in the afternoons after school. Very dark, very rocky descent.Finally rolled into camp at 10 p.m., headlamp on, feet aching, but the last hour of it was along one of those steady paths lined with tufts of grass and with soft, leafy mulch underfoot. I couldn't see anything more than a circle of yellow light, and felt I was entering a Zen meditative state -- no focus, just one foot in front of the next. This was my first 15+ mile day...and it "only" took me 12.5 hours!
Date: 2004-04-19
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Oh my achin' dawgs! Left 15 minutes earlier today (9:15 a.m.), got into camp before 9 p.m. tonight, with a 1.5 hour lunch break. Got into Flint Mountain Shelter earlier than I expected to, took off my boots, turned Mac and Cheese into an orange soup, left by 2 p.m. Was really slow-moving after lunch. Ran into an older couple of hikers who were picking up trash on the trail; they knew all about the local flora and described several edible greens to me, Chris and Elly. Before the next two hours were over, I had feasted on ramps (like a garlicky leek), trilium leaves and spring beauties -- my first fresh veg in weeks! I'll look for more ramps to add to my soups; the trilium is just a mild-flavored green.Saw a wild turkey and a fresh water crawfish (looked like an inch-long lobster) today. Also took my boots off and soaked my feet for a few minutes in a cold stream, just across from some falling-down log cabins. They couldn't have been long abandoned -- the remains of some fairly modern (50s?) appliances and furniture were falling apart inside them. My right foot was causing me to hobble today, but at the moment, they both just ACHE.
Date: 2004-04-20
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Started at 9:20 today. Need to get out earlier tomorrow. It took me until 5:30 p.m. to get here today, and while I could forge ahead 3-5 miles tonight, it's 7 p.m. now and I don't feel like schlepping out through the dark and setting up a tent. I have enough food for a full day tomorrow and can make do without oatmeal on the morning jaunt into Erwin.Found some "brook lettuce" this morning at the first spring and picked a bagful and some more ramps to have with my Ramen tonight -- so far, no nausea or hallucinations, so I must be picking the right stuff! The ramps were DELICIOUS. The brook lettuce didn't have much flavor -- like mild dandelion greens -- but provided a much-needed infusion of iron into my diet.The ridge trail up to Bald Mountain was hung like a garland along the hillside, suspended in loops between the trees lining it. The hillside was covered with spring beauties, tiny, low-growing white flowers with purple stripes on each of the five petals. I kept thinking of the song Gene Wilder sings in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory": "If you want to see paradise,/Simply look around and view it./Anything you want to, do it./Want to change the world, there's nothing to it..."Lots of less apt songs pop into my head as I walk each day. "76 Trombones" got me marching up a hill I felt sluggish on. And each evening as I approach a shelter, I find myself singing "At Last" along with Etta James.Saw the Axe Murderers again today -- the group of older ladies who named themselves thus because their children were horrified that they were actually going to meet and hike with strangers they had met on the internet (albeit through the Women Hikers List on yahoo groups)! ZigZag reminded me that I could call her if I needed a ride into or out of Erwin from the trail. Nice ladies! The young hikers here at the shelter this evening are fast walkers, racking up 20 or so miles a day. They're also fast talkers, trying to out-cool each other over high tech or ultra-light gadgets in their packs. Innocent, full of beans, one-upping each other with friendly patter over the picnic table. The older hikers (like me), meanwhile, are already snug in our sleeping bags and ready to nod off.
Date: 2004-04-21
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel, Erwin, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Started at 8:30 this morning and went 3 hours before stopping -- easier terrain and maybe the greens for supper helped fortify me. Even so, the fleet of XTreme Hikers has already flown by me this morning, poles clacking as they schuss down the slopes.On my way down Big Rocks Mountain, I heard a bird song repeated in a high enough register for a piccolo, but I wish I had a tape recorder to keep track of all of the beautiful songs I've heard. The bird singing it perched near me in an evergreen -- yellow mask, black throat, black and white feathers. If it weren't so heavy, I'd carry a bird book with me. Every time I get into town I head for the book store to look up the birds and flowers I've seen most recently. I think that if I were schizophrenic, my hallucinations would be about birds bringing me messages through their songs and movement. It's easy to understand, being around them for longer periods of time, how Native Americans and peoples of other cultures saw birds as harbingers. At times, I feel as though certain birds are following me -- trying to communicate something important -- or escorting me along the trail when they hop along it in front of me. Even seeing the junkos frolicking among the spring beauties, it feels as if they're just there to keep me company.8:45 p.m. Good mileage today! (Mostly downhill, but it all counts!) It was great to walk off the trail and see Jester, Eric, and Jessica waving and smiling from Uncle Johnny's front porch. Ordered pizzas, had a couple of beers -- a nice way to relax after such a pretty day of hiking. Great weather today! The last birdsong I heard today sounded like a coach's "bead" whistle, blown slowly, only one note.
Date: 2004-04-22
From: Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel, Erwin, TN

To: Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel, Erwin, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today I took a zero day in Erwin, Tennessee, to write some letters of recommendation for the teacher candidates I mentored last summer. Good opportunity also to rest my feet, get clean (after five days on the trail since Hot Springs), take a rest from oatmeal and lentils to have some pizza, and catch up with other folks coming through. I rode one of "Uncle" Johnny's bicycles into town, and felt as if I'd gone back in time 50 years. The hikers at Miss Janet's wanted to know whose milk money I'd stolen to get this kiddie bike with no gears and back-pedal brakes. It felt great just to lean it against the house when I went in -- no chain, no combination lock, didn't have to remove the seat or the front tire for security. The residential area of Erwin was one green lawn and rocking-chaired porch after another; a place where you can breathe easy, where you don't have to chain everything down. The library had been converted from the old town train station. At The Elms, you could get biscuits and gravy with your eggs and sausage. On my way back out of town, two elementary school boys waved me down to warn me about a dog that had just chased them -- for a moment I felt ten years old again. I stopped at the Salvation Army and bought myself a $3 polka-dot sundress to hike in on the hot days coming up.All in all, a very pleasant day off. In the evening, I had Mexican food with Scholar and Hillbilly and made a last grocery store run for Snickers, peanut butter, Lipton cuppa soups, garlic, and gel insoles for my boots (a change from the Superfeet).Next stop is Roan Mountain in 3-4 days.