morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-10-16
From: Fontana Dam Visitor Center

To: Locust Cove Gap
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: moderate rain

Day 143, Oct 16, Locust Cove Gap, 18.6, Perry MasonI can see my breath. I can count on one hand the number of times during the last five months that I could see my breath because of the cold.I wore my down puffy jacket during lunch today and kept it on all afternoon, even when I was climbing. For my first time on the AT, tonight my hot dinner had cooled off before I could finish it. The prediction for tonight is 37 degrees, and that¢s for Fontana Dam, nearly 2000 feet below our elevation.This morning there was a big climb right away after Sean dropped us off. 2000 feet of gain. I didn¢t notice it. I don¢t remember it. Mona and I talked the whole time. She might say she was drafting off me, as I led the way those six miles, but I¢d call it a reverse draft, as I was carried along so easily as we volleyed life stories like ping-pong talk.Mona got picked up after those six miles for a pre-arranged resupply. We¢re all hoping she¢ll catch up for Dot¢s big completion celebration tomorrow night at Nantahala Outdoor Center.Dot has a surprise awaiting her tomorrow night. The three princesses have made her a crown. It should have arrived at the Outdoor Center today. Franky doesn¢t even know yet.At one point Mona got me talking about my legal career (Frodo: as opposed to your illegal one??) Yes, if you didn¢t know, I had a full career as a lawyer before becoming a writer. And I was a kind one, lawyer that is. And I¢m not being funny. I started making an illusion to ¢Perry Mason¢ and then, realizing that my audience was in her twenties, I added, ¢L.A. Law.¢ (Frodo: which ran on TV from '86 to '94, so not much better!) But Mona said, ¢I know Perry Mason. My middle name is Perry. I was named after him.¢ I have no recall of ever meeting a Perry before, much less a twenty-something named after Perry Mason of long-ago television fame. If Mona is pulling my leg, I don¢t want to know.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Here¢s a photo of me and a bobcat I saw.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...  Okay, it¢s a stuffed bobcat.At Hogback Camp, a tree was taking out its rage on the trail sign - see above. I wonder how many years this took.Dot and Franky have grown quiet in their tent. It is just past 9:00 pm. The temperature is falling. There is a carpet of stars overhead. I remember meeting Dot on her second day on trail. It was early June, a lifetime ago. Tonight is her last one on trail.Nite.
Date: 2017-10-18
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Wine Spring Campsite
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: clear sky

I am in a fire tower with every bit of the view I expected to get from Clingman¢s Dome, the AT high point, and didn¢t. Three hundred and sixty degrees.Green sward mountains surround us, undulating ridgetops. I¢ll take a picture (left), but it will at best give you an aftertaste, a hint of sitting 50 feet in the air on an open platform, a 3000-foot climb under your belt, and only 130 miles to go on the Appalachian Trail.Ahh, but before we leave the topic of my birthday (yesterday), I owe you one more story. I story from my birth day, the day I was born.It was 1951 in a small whitwashed hospital in Culver City, a one-high-school small town tucked like a bunion on the Pacific-Ocean-side toe of megalopolis Los Angeles. I was the first child of Don and Micky Mann, the highly-anticipated first grandchild of my three living grandparents. It was a difficult labor and the doctor was late in arriving. ¢Don¢t push. Don¢t push.¢Now it¢s a commonly-known fact that just-born babies are both beautiful amd ugly as sin, with squished faces, resembling British Bulldog Winston Churchill. My father Don, His mother Fay, and my mother¢s parents Ted and Esther had been waiting for hours. They¢d heard noises that sounded like screams. This was decades before fathers were allowed to be present for the birth. When the doctor arrived I quickly followed and they practically rushed me to the observation window, not yet cleaned up, so that my father and grandparents could see that I was fine and a boy. Grandma Esther tool one look at me and my squishy Winston Churchill face and exclaimed, ¢He looks just like Don!¢ (my father and her son-in-law)Today I am proud to say people see a strong resemblance.The rest of today was as great as that fire tower view. I almost feel like we¢re making a long walk now to the graduation stage.This morning¢s 3300-foot climb rose up into the belly of a thick cloud and then over a few hundred yards I burst into vibrant sunshine.In the middle of the day Mona caught up with me and then later in the afternoon we tied up with Franky, Aloha, and Funky Duck. Here we all are together: http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Twice today hikers came up to me with a big smile and ¢Hello, Scout!¢ Norm had stayed with Frodo and me before his 2012 PCT hike and Wet Dog stayed with us in 2015.http://www.trailjournals.com/j...    http://www.trailjournals.com/j...   There was a sobering note on trail today. ¢Danger ¢ Fire-Damaged Trail.¢ This was the first time in 2000 miles that I¢d hiked through fire-ravaged forest on the trail. It felt like Southern California mountains. But I was impressed with how quickly they¢d rebuilt sections after last fall¢s fire.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...I am cowboy camping tonight. The stars are out, visible through branches now bare of leaves.Tomorrow I will hike 8 miles and then Dot in her car will pick us up to go to the town of Franklin.It¢s chilly and cold already. I am warm in my bag. Nite.
Date: 2017-10-19
From: Wine Spring Campsite

To: Winding Stair Gap, then Franklin
Miles today: 8.2
Weather: clear sky

It dipped well into the 30s last night. Franky got a photo of frost, so you don¢t have to take my word for it. Under the stars, yes stars, snug in my 30-degree bag, even my bare toes were warm. My down jacket was stuffed away in its sack; it¢s in reserve, reinforcements should it get even colder in these remaining days.I made my three short night hikes, at 11:30 pm, 3:00 am and 5:30 am; this is normal for me. I heard one of the three young bucks camped near me get up twice to relieve his bladder. I confess I felt glad ¢ this isn¢t just the curse of sixty-plus-year-old men. And, yes, Princesses and Reuben Scout, I am talking about peeing. (I know you just wanted to hear your dad say ¢pee.¢)It was just over 8 miles to the road into Franklin, NC, and the trail felt crowded. Over those 8 miles I passed at least 15 hikers heading in. There was no more evidence of yesterday¢s forest fire burn. I¢d heard dogs baying in the distance and then I overtook four hunters. This is the third day of bear and wild hog season. They were tracking wild hogs. ¢They can get over 300 pounds.¢ He showed me his special-purpose Garmin GPS that indicates where he is and where each of his dogs is running in the forest. I wonder what Daniel Boone would think of all this.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...And just to make the morning complete I climbed a quarter mile off trail, straight up. ¢Surely this is the AT.¢ Oops. But my reward was a great bald with one of the best views in Tennessee.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Once in town, our $60 motel room, shared by 4 of us, didn¢t come with access to any town clothes. I hadn¢t sent my bounce box here; in fact, I sent it home with Sean from Fontana Dam. I really wanted to wash all my trail duds. So I marched two blocks from the motel to the thrift store. I walked out with the finest pair of forest-green shorts and shirt that 67 cents can buy. (Frodo: Aren't you going to SHOW us?)Dot wants to join us tomorrow night at a shelter one mile from the road. She has a car! She can do that! And she¢ll drive us to the trail early tomorrow; we won¢t have to hire a shuttle driver. But that means over a 23-mile day for us tomorrow! I have my Dollar General resupply done and have refreshed my stock of toilet paper. Time soon to rest. In more ways than one.
Date: 2017-10-21
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Top of Georgia Hostel
Miles today: 16.7

Every time on this hike that I heard a particular two-word phrase I would shush the speaker. I¢d raise a single finger to my lips. Silence. I¢d freeze them with my eyes. Then I¢d look around, my knuckles poised. Soon they¢d hear a sharp rap of knuckles, as I knocked on wood. We¢d exchange a knowing glance.¢Triple Crown.¢The Pacific Crest Trail. The Continental Divide Trail. The Appalachian Trail. America¢s ¢Triple Crown,¢ nearly 8000 miles of trails.Hike all three and you¢re a ¢Triple Crowner.¢ I never thought that would be me.More people have flown in Outer Space than have completed the Triple Crown. Now I am on the verge.I left camp with Mona at 7:45 am. Franky, Dot, Aloha and Funky Duck had hardly stirred. In my pocket were the keys to Dot¢s car. She parked at a trailhead a mile south. We made quick work of that downhill and offloaded more than half our gear into her vehicle. Dick¢s Creek Gap, 17 more miles ahead, is our goal. It¢s the location of the Top of Georgia Hostel, where we¢ll resupply and stay the night.Four miles along we hit this signed trail. I¢m just going to let it speak for itself.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...You may have noticed the absence of a ¢countdown.¢ There has been no ¢six,¢ ¢five,¢ etc., as I count down the days until Frodo comes. That day is synonymous with the end of my hike. Frodo¢s arrivals I¢ve greeted with unparalleled joy. My hike¢s end will cause a welter of feelings. Touching the Springer Monument Plaque, it will not be the pure simple joy of Frodo¢s first touch. Joy, exultation, poles thrown in the air, tears, the beginnings of grief. One life will have ended.I am enjoying today for what it is. A countdown simply feels inappropriate. I see a sign ahead after 8 miles. Mona is there. It strikes a deep chord in her. Mona, a Georgia resident, has now walked home from Maine. Here I am in the photo above, entering my last AT state.It¢s Saturday and we pass people like we¢re at a county fair. Two troops of Boy Scouts, one of 12 and the other of 40. I have only seen groups that large hiking in a line on trail in old photos. Till today.We saw more and more evidence of damage from Hurricane Irma, and a commensurate amount of sawdust. Almost all the hundreds of blowdowns have been cleared.For months it feels like we have been seeing ¢Keller and Keller¢s Dad¢ in shelter registers. We were always two or three days behind. Tonight they are here. Keller just graduated high school and his Dad has been on the last two months. Dot said, ¢A big section.¢ Keller¢s dad said, ¢It¢s huge!¢  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...As I sit here in a nice hostel kitchen and bunkroom http://www.trailjournals.com/j... I can¢t help but think of last night and what tomorrow night will bring. Last night I cowboy camped and every time the wind blew, tree parts, twigs and leaves, fell on me. Tomorrow night they predict the start of a rain storm that will dump at least 2 inches of rain. We will see.I am about to pick up a hostel guitar. All is good. No countdown.Night,
Date: 2017-10-22
From: Top of Georgia Hostel

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: overcast clouds

You just got to love technology. If this were 1995 and I were on a weeklong backpack trip with my Boy Scout troop, I¢d know it¢s cloudy and feels like it might burn off or it might rain. But this is 2017, so I know there is 0% chance of rain today, that the rain will start at 2:00 am tonight, and that the lowlands are expected to get a torrential two inches of rain on Monday, but that the estimate was just notched up to a Noah¢s Ark deluge of three inches. And that¢s for the lowlands. The AT will be a lot worse. You know, maybe I wouldn¢t mind if it was back in ¢95.Three inches. Sheesh.A marathon is 26.2 miles. I¢m going to just leave that to sit and perk for a while.We have two near-thousand-foot climbs, but I am more aware of the cut-away, cleaned-up blowdowns. We would have been repeatedly slowed to scramble over and through these tossed-about criss-crossing blown-down trees. But just like the parted Red Sea (Frodo: Boy, we¢re really into Biblical references today!), a chain-sawed path littered with sawdust is open for us to pass easily and swiftly.It¢s a Sunday, but we see way fewer hikers than the near hordes of yesterday. But I did have three interesting encounters. Going to get water 11 miles along, not long past 12:30, I came upon a large Korean family out picnicking. They nearly adopted me. The few who spoke English explained what I am doing to the others.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...I had a quick efficient lunch with Aloha. We had done the math. Three inches equals one heck of a lot of rain. If we push on one more shelter than planned, only an additional 7.6 miles, then tomorrow we¢d only have to do 11 miles in the rain to reach shelter, instead of 18 miles. But what that meant for me was a 26.2-mile day, a marathoner¢s distance, my longest day on the AT. I knew it would mean night hiking by headlamp. In the afternoon I ran into Kermit (trail name) and Kermit (the Frog).  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Then I ran into a hiker who stayed with us in 2015 when she did the PCT in 2016 (Frodo: huh?) and whom I last saw three months ago on the AT. Footsteps had been southbounding, but now she¢d jumped down to Springer and is hiking north!  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...I must report, and it is with sadness, that Dot and Franky have left the trail. Franky flew home from Atlanta today. He¢d hiked all this southernmost 700 miles last year, so in a way for weeks we¢ve had the pleasure of his company on borrowed time. As for Dot, she finished the trail nearly a week ago, and it was time for her to begin the car journey home. I am so glad that the hostel last night had a guitar and the two of us got to hand it back and forth one more time, trading songs.This is only the start of good-byes. I can¢t wait to say hello to my Frodo, of course, and to my sister Shelley and brother-in-law Nahum, who are flying out to meet me at the end. But the good-byes will be hard. Aloha, Funky Duck, Mona. And especially to a two-foot-wide strip of granite, roots, and dirt.3 inches. Nite,
Date: 2017-10-24
From: Neels Gap

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 23.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I am a welter of feelings all day, yet 23 miles is still 23 miles. And as I leave the historic rock Neels Gap bunkhouse, that¢s the distance I face in the pre-sunrise of 7:40 am. It¢s supposed to drop to freezing tonight, but it¢s already cold. On the climb up Blood Mountain I shed my down jacket and long underwear bottoms, but the moment the wind picks up I wish I had them on again.I am nearly constantly thinking back on the events of this hike. My first day, 14 miles straight on the Maine/Canada border, sinking to mid-thigh in a bog. Sploop. It seems like an age ago.If the AT had one more rainstorm to throw at us, I am so glad it was yesterday, not today. On our allotted three daily views, the sky was clear and we could see well into the lowlands.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...I know the end is close. For one thing, I woke up at 4:15 this morning and started to make a list of items for the upcoming CDT Coalition Board meeting, and a list of research avenues I want to pursue for my New York Press CDT book. The manuscript is due Jan 15th. Yikes!Just when you think the trail has squeezed out all of its surprises, at a trailhead at mile 12 I knelt down to remove a pebble from my shoe and a car pulled up behind me. ¢Are you a thru-hiker?¢ I was concentrating on the pebble and raised my other hand. I heard car doors opening. OH MY. It¢s Franky and BUCK! And Franky¢s dog Summer. Franky flew home on Sunday, was there for all of 9 hours, then drove 17 hours south, picking up Buck along the way. Now he was at this obscure trailhead, 20 miles before Springer. Men and dog are going to hike and finish with us. At the same trailhead Mona met her friend Hollywood, and Hollywood brought trail magic. http://www.trailjournals.com/j... I think this is only the third time in two months that I¢ve had trail magic. I savored my can of Coke.We sat around a campfire till well past hiker midnight and I¢m writing this well after 10:00 pm.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Eight miles to Springer Mountain. I should see Frodo right before then. She will walk the last steps with me. Nothing would be more fitting.  ¢Nite one more time, one last time from the trail,
Date: 2017-10-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

What¢s it like to enter the door of your home after five months? I step across the threshold and hug Frodo tight. I¢m like a little kid who hasn¢t seen his parents, who¢s been away from his safe place for half a year. I reintroduce myself, slowly, almost shyly. Hello kitchen. My gosh. I had access to a kitchen so few times on the trail. Spices! Not just salt and pepper, but thirty spices, arranged alphabetically. There¢s my cast iron, well-seasoned Lodge skillet and a drawer full of pots and pans, not a random one or two in pretty bad shape. And when I go to cut an apple, the knife is sharp. Now there¢s a concept. And when I first sat on our own bed and then laid down in clean sheets, it was like a hug from my mom and dad. Frodo and I have lived here 23 years. This is all the home I ever wanted or dreamed of¢a tree to build a tree house in, which I did with our middle child Jordie many years ago. Hikers sleep there now in hiker season. I lay down my head on a pillow, my own pillow. I am home.
Date: 2017-10-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

I take the first shower. How many different places did I take a shower in this summer? Three dozen? Inside ones, outside ones, flows too weak, flows too strong, the temperature hard or impossible to control. In one, I had to play the controls like a piano virtuoso to get 15 seconds of decent warm temperature. There were soaps of all kinds. Some times shampoo was present, sometimes not. For each of these showers I was grateful. In each a fistful of AT soil washed off body. But I am in my own shower, a clean bar of Ivory soap and my Head & Shoulders shampoo.    But no moss is growing on this rolling stone. I am rolling up my sleeves right away. I have a book manuscript due in January. For breakfast, it¢s not a Pop Tart, it¢s not a Little Debbie¢s cinnamon roll, but a bowl of apple slices and carrots I cut myself along with grapes and peeled mandarin orange sections. The miracle is not only have the fresh fruit and veggies, but having the time to prepare a bowl for Frodo and myself.     I hope to write a handful of post trail entries and then will sign off.
Date: 2018-10-03
To: Kathmandu 
Miles today: 0.0

Lions and tigers and the HIMALAYAS, oh my! Inside I am doing cartwheels. Mount Katahdin is 5,289 feet. The Appalachian Trail high point, Clingmans Dome, is, 6,644. How will it feel to sleep three times as high? You know what¢s pure joy? On the PCT and the CDT, with a glee nearly sinful, I loved every I time I could answer a question with: ¢Canada.¢ I am hiking to Canada. I got my inner five-year-old spinning cartwheels on the AT last year, every time ¢Georgia¢ was the answer. My feet are carrying me to Georgia.Feet, are you listening? Can we take one more big leap of faith? Can we step to the edge and jump off one more time?¢Everest Base Camp.¢Saying that is worth all the packing and planning.¢The Himalayas.¢ That¢s fun to say, too. Yesterday, I got to name drop this one: ¢Next week we¢ll step off a plane in Kathmandu.¢ The summit of Kala Pattahr is 18,514 feet. Frodo and I hope to stand on it in three weeks. Does the number 18,514 really mean anything to us now? Can we begin to feel what it will be like to be four thousand feet higher than we¢ve ever been before?This is a BIG bucket list item for my Frodo. But her path to this one has been strewn with boulders. Five months ago, she was wearing one of those big, black, nearly-to-your-knee, ugly boots. It was on for five weeks. Two months ago she woke up with shooting back pain¢someone else had to tie her shoes. And three years ago she was diagnosed with Parkinson¢s. I just got up to hug her and tell her, ¢I really admire your attitude, I admire everything you¢ve done, the lengths you¢ve gone to getting ready for this trip.¢  As for me, it¢s not the elevation that keeps me up nights. The last month we¢ve made three trips up high, spent eight nights sleeping at or near 10,000. On two trips we hiked above 12,000 feet and on the third I summitted Mt. Langley, 14,050 feet.  What worries me? Actually I feel sheepish, silly and embarrassed about it. I¢m still wrestling with it. Will it be okay if I share it in another entry? In the meantime, let¢s get my inner five-year old spinning cartwheels again. Scout: ¢Everest Base Camp.¢  Barney Scout MannSan Diego, CA
Date: 2018-10-06
From: Home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0

Frodo here. As we did for our 2007 PCT thru-hike, we will be keeping a joint trail journal for our Himalaya trek. Not sure if we¢ll both write entries for most days or if we¢ll alternate days; we¢ll have to see as we go along. When Scout finished the AT a year ago and had earned his Triple Crown, people would ask him what his next trail would be. His answer? ¢Whatever Frodo wants.¢ What a guy! So I, of course, jumped right in to dib him for a trip to the Himalaya, which has been #1 on my bucket list. I figure I need to do the more strenuous bucket list items sooner rather than later, since I¢m not getting any younger. That includes a trip to Patagonia and hiking hut-to-hut in the Alps. That doesn¢t mean I have to do everything myself. I don¢t feel I have to prove anything to anyone ¢ I¢ve thru-hiked the PCT for goodness¢ sake! ¢ so I am not above having someone else carry my stuff. We¢re doing this trek with a small group through Wilderness Travel. They deal with all the logistics (often a real hassle), schlep our stuff from lodge to lodge (we can bring 33 pounds each!), and cook for us. We¢ve been happy with their pre-trip service and have heard good things about them, so we¢re hopeful it will be a well-run trip. Our group will include one other couple, who are from Flagstaff, and three solo hikers ¢ a guy from Aspen, a woman from near Sacramento and a woman from Virginia. We¢ve been reading some books and blogs and notice in the online photos that, even inside the Sherpa lodges, everyone is really bundled up. Also, we are told we won¢t have access to laundry facilities on our 3-week trek. So we are pretty much using our weight allotment to bring lots of layers and extra longjohns. I hate being cold, so hope this works out. Guess I¢ll just have to get used to having less-than-pristine underclothes. Although those of you reading this journal likely know us as Scout and Frodo, on this trek we plan to be Barney and Sandy. The 5 other folks in our group won¢t be familiar with the long-distance hiker community and the tradition of trail names. Plus we¢ll be eating and staying in Sherpa Lodges with other groups and individuals and I can just imagine the confused looks as Scout calls across the common room, ¢Hey, Frodo¢ and it¢s apparent he¢s talking to me. It also feels a bit presumptuous; like saying, ¢We¢re special; we have trail names and you don¢t!¢ So, Barney and Sandy it is. Hope you¢ll adjust okay.