morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-03-23
From: Neels Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: clear sky

My pack weighed in at 50 pounds this morning, including two liters (4 lbs) of water and food for a week, but not including what I was wearing ¢ my jacket with camera, cell phone and other items stuffed into its pockets. My goal has been to get down to 40 pounds with food and water. I think it will have to be gear, though, because my food load seems right this time ¢ maybe a couple of pounds too much, and maybe I¢ll have to leave the fresh veg for town visits only. Alas! Still, I bet it won¢t weight more than 40 pounds by the time we reach Rainbow Springs Campground.It¢s crowded at the shelter tonight: seven inside and ten tenting, including Greg, Jerry, Tim, Cory (from Odessa, Texas), Katie, Dirt Nap (with his two mountain feists Daisy and Clover), Sara, and Fifty. Fifty is the man who asked me to take his picture atop Cow Rock Mountain holding a sign that read ¢Happy 50th Birthday to Me!¢ He said his wife and daughter didn¢t understand why he would want to be alone on a mountain on his birthday. He¢s a soybean and corn farmer. He wore camouflage trousers and boots, and a bandana on his head with pictures of Swiss Army knives on it. Also in the shelter was David, now ¢Tinker,¢ whom I met the day I was at REI in Framingham, when Toby helped to steer me clear of buying things that I didn¢t need on the trail ¢ like maps. (¢It¢s the best marked trail in the world.¢ Indeed, apparently there is even a blind man who has hiked the A.T. with his seeing eye dog.) Tinker had sewn his own tent and seemed to be a big fan of ultra-light hiking guru Ray Jardine. They both looked doubtfully at my choice of ¢camp¢ shoe ¢ the black suede, heavy rubber-soled slip-ons I was wearing ¢ and of course were right, though I wasn¢t willing to part with them until Neel¢s Gap, by which point I was more than happy to take the advice of all and sundry. Apparently this is not unusual, as Mountain Crossings outfitters does a roaring trade with thru-hikers both at Neel¢s Gap and at Rainbow Springs Campground; moreover, they ship two tons of hikers¢ non-essential items home every year after pack shake-downs.Rob and I made use of the UPS service available at Mountain Crossings to forward a bounce box to the Fontana Village Resort at Fontana Dam, where we¢ll spend a night and pick up our food drop boxes. I¢ve put two of my three books and much of my penance of paper (tax forms and other tasks I meant to be done with before I left Providence) into the box. He put his tent in it. We¢ll see how the tent sharing goes, though I¢m vaguely uneasy about it. He¢s a nice guy, but I like my space, my independence, and the privacy that a tent affords. This feels more attached-at-the-hip than I¢d planned on for this very personal journey.
Date: 2004-03-24
From: Low Gap Shelter 

To: Rocky Mountain campsite (3810ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ)
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: broken clouds

Quick (four hours) 6-7 miles this a.m. ¢ fewer ups and downs ¢ a stroll in comparison to the past week. Tinker, Katie, Jerry, Dirtnap and others are all outwalking me ¢ I¢d like to go faster, but am not sure I could, even with 10 pounds less in my backpack.First trail angel: Chris, with golden retriever Sally, from Atlanta, out for a day hike. He brought us all Snickers bars and mailed a couple of items for me.Rob is out collecting wood for our fire (his fire) with Cory, the Odessa Kid. Our other campmate is a man who must just have decided to hike the trail. He¢s getting outfitted at Helena ¢as soon as my check comes in.¢Dirtnap, his two dogs in tow, was strolling the trail today with his mountain guitar and a light pack, most of which seems to be dog food. I passed him today atop a pretty peak, reclining against a log, his sandals and dirty toes stretched out before him, with the ditty bag of kibble rolled open for the yappers ¢ a portrait of Beatnic bliss.During the long, mostly solitary hours of hiking, I make up haiku poems, I think a lot about food, and I make lots of mental lists of things in my pack that I need to send home.The guys are watching a bunch of headlamps bobbing their way up the trail. Army cadets on maneuvers? Night hikers? It¢s a mystery ¢ one that I¢m not willing to get out of my sleeping bag to solve.
Date: 2004-03-25
From: Rocky Mountain campsite 

To: Addis Gap
Miles today: 9.5

Slow start this morning. Climbing Tray Mountain (4430¢) took me nearly four hours. Lunched at lovely Tray Mountain Shelter with Big John and his golden retriever Beau ¢ I love all of the dogs on the trail so far! -- and Carol, another solo lady hiker. There was a privy, so I took the opportunity to take a ¢spit bath¢ with babywipes and to change my socks, shirt and underwear ¢ all very smelly. I feel so much better! My only concern is that my period may have started early.Later: Tough day for me. Period started (a week early!); must be the pressure of the pack strap on my abdomen, or the exercise, or both.Strange sounds in the night ¢ birds? Foxes? I¢ve never heard such a high-pitched, howling warble. Beautiful starry night with a crescent moon ¢ clear, clear, clear.Floating out of reachClouds are the faster hikers,Leaving vapor trails.Not quite right, but captures the morning¢s walk through the clouds, before the sun burned them off.Food today: oatmeal, coffee from paste, gorp, leftover lentil/veg curry, 3-4 tortillas, 3-4 oz. jalepeno jack cheese, dried apricots (left at Tray Shelter).
Date: 2004-03-27
From: Plumorchard Shelter

To: Standing Indian Shelter
Miles today: 12.2

The hunters left early this morning, before everyone else got up. Good riddance! When they started in on the racist jokes last night I finally yelled at them to shut up. The picnic table where they¢d been sitting was directly underneath the loft where Rob, Corey and I were trying to sleep; we¢d heard every word. ¢Are we talking too loud?¢ one of them asked. ¢Just stop the racist jokes!¢ A few other hikers echoed their irritation. ¢Do you want us to tell white jokes?¢ the same hunter asked. ¢No, just shut up!¢ Keith, downstairs, an ex-Marine turned vegetarian pacifist, added, ¢I¢ve been listening to this ignorant bullshit for an hour now. Just shut up and go to bed.¢ Well said. At first the hunters seemed affronted. ¢I¢m not a racist,¢ one of them commented defensively. ¢I like that Kobe Bryant. I think that guy¢s gettin¢ a raw deal, man.¢ Finally, FINALLY, they turned in. What a couple of Neanderthals!Long climb today ¢ welcome to North Carolina! Decided to push past Muskrat Shelter to get in 12.2 miles ¢my first 12 miler! I notice that the insides of my big toes feel numb at the end of each day. May need to change boots. I hope not. Hanging the bear bag was a feat tonight. Rob and I must have spent an hour between us trying to find a decent branch, untangling cord from previous bear bags that were cut down, etc.Bear bags hanging highAt dawn, red, green, blue balloons; At dusk, a gallows.Trail magic again today! Just as I was approaching the last gap before the shelter, someone had hung a bag full of grape sodas with a sign. I got the last one ¢ it gave me the inspiration to push on for the last mile or two.I did laundry in the stream last night ¢ bad hiker!!! I read later that, even with biodegradable soap, all washing and bathing should be done at least 200 feet from any water source. Anyway, it was all still wet this morning, so now there¢s a sock tree next to the tent.Started at 9 a.m. Stopped around 6:30 p.m. Made good time today (for me, anyway). Will start earlier tomorrow to beat the heat.Feminine hygiene is a MESS out here. I bled through both pairs of undies and one pair of trousers already. Thank goodness for babywipes.I lit a stick of rose incense tonight just to relax to, and brought a couple over to the Honeymooners, whom we met at Plumorchard Shelter; hiking the A.T. is, in fact, their honeymoon ¢ that takes a lot of guts. They seem to be deeply religious; hope the incense doesn¢t peg me as a pagan (or a papist).
Date: 2004-03-28
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Big Spring Shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: overcast clouds

First 14-mile day! Will be in Wallace Gap tomorrow to pick up the bounce box with rations for the next 5-6 days to Fontana Dam. Last stretch tonight was steep and rocky ¢ reminded me of parts of Table Mountain in Cape Town.Saw the intrepid Joanne this a.m., on her way up to Carter Gap. And met Dreamer, who must also be in his 70s or 80s, and had spent an hour looking for water this morning. I gave him a liter since I had two. We met up later at Beech Gap. He hailed me down to show me the creek he¢d found. ¢Hey! Water over here!¢ He was sitting in the shade of some rhododendrons, tipping gorp into his mouth from a plastic Coke bottle. Sweet man. Biggest climb today was over Mount Albert ¢ nearly vertical at the last part ¢ to spectacular views. Chris and Rael are both at the shelter tonight, as well as John Breed the Australian, and a few others I hadn¢t met before.Found myself humming ¢Waltzing Matilda¢ today. (Yesterday it was ¢If I Only Had a Brain¢ from The Wizard of Oz.) Funny things you think about on the trail. Still living on hard-boiled eggs, carrots, celery, gorp, Power bars and lentil&rice curry. Didn¢t have oatmeal today so that I could get an earlier start ¢ 8 a.m., my earliest yet. Lunched at Carter Shelter at 1:30 p.m., rested at Betty¢s Creek at 4 p.m., then arrived at camp at 6:15 p.m. My last oatmeal before resupply is for tomorrow a.m., but I¢ll still have rice leftover. I¢ll get to know quantities along the way so that I don¢t pack so much. Ideally, I should arrive in town with an empty food bag. I¢m looking forward to a shower tomorrow, and clean laundry!
Date: 2004-03-29
From: Big Spring Shelter

To: Wallace Gap (to Rainbow Springs Campground)
Miles today: 6.0

Started at 8 a.m. and arrived at campground well before noon. Rob says I did six miles in three hours, which is too much better than I¢ve been doing to sound realistic ¢ maybe three and a half hours. We got a ride from the road crossing at Wallace Gap down the hill to the campground from a guy with a confederate flag plate on the front of his truch and an NRA sticker in the back window of his pickup cabin. Yech. Apparently, there¢s an African-American hiker, Slow Poke, missing from the trail since yesterday. That worries me after hearing the way those two bigots were talking the other night at Plumorchard Shelter. Who knows what could happen to a lone black person around here? It was a great contradiction to the racism lately in evidence to see groups of high school kids ¢ black and white ¢ hiking together over the weekend. They looked so sweet and wholesome together ¢ not to mention clean!Speaking of clean, I just had my first shower for a week and my clothes are now in the washing machine. Ahh! And we¢re camping here tonight so we¢ll get one more shower before we hit the trail again tomorrow. Bliss!The couple who run the little camp store and the campgrounds here are so nice. She gave me coffee for free this afternoon, because it had been sitting on the burner for so long. Another treat was honey on my oatmeal this morning, courtesy of Daddy Long Legs (I don¢t know his trail name, but that¢s what he looked like with his shaved head and gangly limbs). I had given him some of my Pepto tablets last night when he was feeling queasy. Other treats from the camp store: pizza, apple, V8, grape juice.I also had a few things to get at the outfitters here (a branch of Mountain Crossings at Neels Gap ¢ these folks have cornered the hiker market!): a non-cotton long-sleeve turtleneck to replace my cotton one, another fleece hat (I must have dropped mine somewhere), some sock liners (Rob¢s recommendation), and a more durable plastic spoon than the one I was using. I need to get some shorts, too, but not now.I¢ve got way toomuch food for the 5-6 days to Fontana Dam. I can¢t remember what I packed in the drop box I¢ll pick up there, though, so I can¢t risk leaving food behind in a hiker box here. (Actually, I can. It doesn¢t make much sense to schlep all of this stuff with me when I can easily buy supplies in the next town.)Still no news on Slow Poke, the African-American gentleman hiker. Hope he¢s okay.Met Pete ¢ Joe¢s son ¢ who¢s on his way into the Peace Corps in January. He¢s the one who wears the Sponge Bob Square Pants bandana on his head. Started a non-profit to get troubled kids out into the wilderness (I think) and taught Leave No Trace ethos. Neat guy!Rumors of rain overnight. It would be our first rainy hiking day ¢ time to test the rain gear. Still, yech. I don¢t fancy trudging through the rain for 12 miles. We¢ve had it easy until now.Hiker gossip is already in full swing¢¦ Blah, blah, blah. I read something about that in Maine Rose¢s book for women thru-hikers.
Date: 2004-03-31
From: Siler Bald Shelter

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: light rain

5:00 a.m. I can see my breath in the tent. I woke up half an hour ago to pee (and found I had slid all the way down to the bottom of the tent ¢ parked on a hill again) to find that it had snowed in the night. The condensation in the tent makes it feel as if it has rained inside, and when I shook the snow off the outside of the tent, it DID rain inside!I got plenty of sleep last night (I think) despite the cold, so will get up and make breakfast, air out the tent a bit before I need to pack it up (wet), get some water. Just did a toe check, too. The two littlest toes on my right foot are terribly blistered ¢ with new blisters already formed underneath the burst blisters. I did try taping them, but I don¢t think that will help just now. They¢ll just have to callous over.Evening: I¢m hungry!! Hiked 12 miles through a snow storm today. At the top of Wayah Mountain, behind a sign with outlines and labels of the mountains ahead and a caption ¢The Ever-Changing View,¢ there was a complete white-out. Wish I¢d had film left in my camera! Rob and I briefly considered staying in the stone tower, but moved on; it would have been cold on that stone floor, even out of the snow. When I got to the shelter, it was full.   Sylte and another German woman, Maria, who had a badly sprained ankle, were there with Rael, Darrell, and Galliano. I squeezed onto the apron of the shelter, at everyone¢s feet, but when another three hikers arrived, I jumped inbetween Rob and Maria, leaving the apron for two of the new arrivals ¢ Sunset and Dark Cloud. The third hiker tented in a tiny sliver of space between the shelter and the hill ascending beside it. We had nine people in a six-person shelter and one outside, nowhere near the 21 that Profile described squeezing into a shelter on one stormy night, all sleeping on their sides. We should have found room for the tenter, too.
Date: 2004-04-01
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: light rain

Hung out at the shelter until it was possible to move around. We were so tightly packed in that we didn¢t get going until late. Circuit Rider and his posse came by and figured that they could get their shuttle driver, Queen Diva, to help out Maria, who couldn¢t put any pressure on her ankle to hike out.It was beautiful hiking through the snow, but without others¢ tracks to follow, it would have been a much slower hike ¢ the white blazes weren¢t always visible because of the snow still clinging to the sides of the trees. I found that I could look back to see the blazes in the other direction to verify that I was, indeed, on the trail.We finally reached the NOC at 6 p.m., an hour after the restaurant closed. I had had my mouth set for a big fat hamburger. Still, even with only trail food on the menu, it was nice to have a kitchen, with running water, to scrub out my cooking pot properly and clean up my food bag. We turned the heat up in our bunk room to dry out our snow-soaked packs, boots, etc.Jester (formerly Spur), Doug, Tinker, Rael, Galliano and Lark were there. John had to find a hotel that would allow his border collie Casey in. Jester and Doug made a beer run with some of the white water rafters and so a jolly evening was had by all. Sarge, a 71-year-old African- American gentleman, was there with his ¢keep¢ ¢ Little Engine, a southern belle, recently divorced, a Brown grad on her way to law school ¢ who seems a little like a fish out of water here, but who also seems determined to finish the trail, even if it means sneaking off to have her cigarettes outside the purview of her warden. There¢s a novel in here somewhere¢¦ Sarge is the one who coined Jester¢s new trail name after seeing him in his homemade red fleece hat with floppy devil¢s horns.
Date: 2004-04-02
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: light snow

Great breakfast this a.m. with Sarge and Little Engine to discuss the possibility of flip-flopping with her, since Sarge needs to pick up his pace. (Rael and Rob suggested to me the other day that I might want to consider flip-flopping, too. It irks me that, only two weeks into this venture, they are already mapping out my trip. Grrr.) Sarge and Little Engine are moving just from shelter to shelter at the moment, so I don¢t know if she and I would be compatible hiking partners either. Still, it¢s tempting to find out more about the intriguing story behind this odd pairing.My fifth cup of coffee helped me get to the top of this mountain, where it is already well below freezing. I got right into my sleeping bag to warm up, but my fingers are still numb. It was a mud slide coming up the hill from Nantahala. When the snow started again, I was wearing just my turtleneck and my jacket. Once I reached the top of the ridge, I started feeling the chill and found myself running, with my 50 pound pack on, through the snow, just to keep warm without stopping to put on more layers. The cold is energizing until you stop.Dinner was breakfast leftovers (biscuit, egg and sausage that I had wrapped in a napkin), the rest of my cheese, peanut butter, and the last of the tortillas, plus a Power bar (the last one until Fontana Dam, now two days away). It was too cold to stand around trying to cook. It is so COLD! The snow is still coming down outside. This is a huge shelter ¢ enough for 20 people or so ¢ with plexiglass windows level with the loft so that we can see the trees, snow and mist outside. (Mist ¢ that¢s a good sign. Maybe it¢s warming up.) In with us tonight: Doyle (the taciturn speed hiker, who is always reading a book in his sleeping bag by the time other hikers arrive at the shelter), Tinker, Doug, Rael, Chris and Elly (the couple from U.P. Michigan), John and Casey the border collie, Little Engine and Sarge, Lark, and a new guy, Largo. It¢s not quite dark yet but everyone¢s been in their sleeping bags since 2 p.m. (except Rob and Largo who are outside building a fire!).My wretched Platypus water bag opened up again today and soaked my pack, after it had got so nice and dry last night in the heated room at the NOC. The ink in my journal is melting off the pages. Better go back to ball point. And get rid of the Platypus.
Date: 2004-04-03
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter 

To: Cody Gap
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Very tired today ¢ slow going. But still faster than before. Blisters on right foot toes. Full moon tonight. Lots of wind, some clouds. But we¢re supposed to have five whole days of gorgeous weather like today¢s ¢ may even get through the Smokies without snow.Rael is camping here, as are Mississippi Mule and Darrell the ultralight hiker from Montana. I¢m feeling a bit like extra baggage. Want to branch out on my own a bit. We¢ll see.
Date: 2004-04-04
From: Cody Gap

To: Fontana Lake Marina/Fontana Inn
Miles today: 8.8

Freezing night! It was 30 degrees at 7 a.m. with strong icy winds blowing up from the valleys on both sides of the gap. Got dressed quickly and decided not to bother cooking breakfast. Hiked for two hours to the Cable Gap Shelter and cooked oatmeal there alongside a father and two sons who¢ve been section hiking the trail on their school vacations each year. Nantahala treesAre dancers and acrobatsArtists of the airArrived at Fontana Lake Marina after 2 p.m. Shuttle took us to register and within a couple of hours we¢d decided to stay two nights instead of one. Bathtub!! Laundry!!
Date: 2004-04-05
From: Fontana Village

To: Fontana Village
Miles today: 0.0

Lovely day off! Breakfast at the store (which just opened April 1, so wasn¢t well supplied). Laundry is done. Picked up and sorted through boxes and mail. Finished and mailed my taxes!! Drank lots of coffee. Took more than one bath. Rob was excited that it was opening day of baseball, so was glued to the tv all afternoon.
Date: 2004-04-06
From: Fontana Dam 

To: MollieÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: few clouds

Got more Coleman¢s fuel for my stove, mailed my cottons home, ate eggs, bacon and pancakes, then got a ride to the dam this morning where we will cross Fontana Lake and enter the Smoky Mountains. My first back country permit! Now I feel like a real hiker.I¢ve got to be careful, though. I did two things today which I would not have done had I been solo hiking. First, I yellow-blazed the 1.4 miles from Fontana Lake Marina to Fontana Dam, so never even saw Fontana Dam Shelter (or the ¢Fontana Hilton¢ as it¢s called). I would have walked it, but the van consensus was to skip it. The purist in me requires that I return before the end of the year to hike it. Later, there was a side trail up to a forest ranger tower where I thought I might stop and have lunch, but ended up following Rob past the path and on to the campsite for a water stop. I¢ve got to start hiking my own hike! Took the first step yesterday by discussing with Rob my desire to start hiking early, take a long lunch break to read and write and get out of the sun, then hike into the evening. Rob prefers to have camp set up by dark. So we decided that he would carry the tent and would set it up at a predetermined site each evening if I was lagging behind. It¢s not perfect ¢ as I¢d like to feel the freedom to bed down anywhere ¢ but it¢s a good compromise for now.Rob¢s a good guy. It¢s been helpful for me to be seen as half of a couple on the trail just because single women out here seem to get unwanted attention and are the subjects of all kinds of speculation. So far none of it has been rage-inducing, but I was glad that he was so close behind me that first night out on the trail.We climbed 2500 feet from Fontana Dam. Halfway there we were atop a grassy ridge covered with silver birch and tiny little five-petaled flowers, white with purple stripes, which I found out later are called spring beauties. There was moss all over the felled trees, glowing brightly in the afternoon sun. Very pretty.Tree-frog green moss glowsAlong felled chestnut tree trunksLife feeding on death.Silver birch shimmer,Spring beauties carpet the ground ¢ Mountain fairyland.There were some nice young men at the stone shelter who built a fire, as well as Largo, Eric and Jessica from Asheville, and a couple of ultra-light speed hikers, Flyin¢ Brian and Silver Girl, who are doing 20+ miles tomorrow. Their groundsheet was one of those silver, paper-thin emergency blankets, anchored with rocks ¢ nothing over their heads.
Date: 2004-04-07
From: MollieÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Long hard slog today. Caffeine withdrawal I suppose, though everyone else I spoke to felt it was the longest 11.7 miles so far. I did stop atop one of the mountains to read and nap, and before that took a lying-down meditation on a log surrounded by a carpet of spring beauties. I ended up walking until 9 p.m., with my headlamp on. Thought maybe I had missed the turnoff for the shelter and was a mile or two closer to the next shelter. I considered unrolling my sleeping bag and mat next to a downed tree.When I got into camp it was completely dark except for bobbing headlamps. Rob had set up the tent and he and the lads ¢ Rael and Largo ¢ had just finished eating dinner. I forewent dinner for a bagful of gorp. Exhausted. Thinking more about solo hiking.