morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-08-22
From: Hurd Brook Lean-to

To: Katahdin Stream Campground
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: few clouds

Sunday, August 22, 2004 Day 161, 13.4 miles (Hurd Brook to Katahdin Stream Campground) We left Hurd Brook shelter at 6:30am and arrived at The Birches shelters, just past Katahdin Stream Campground, at 1:30pm.Milestone: We entered Baxter State Park!We had a beautiful, clear, sunny day. It was a complete turn-around from yesterday. At 3.5 miles we came to Abol Bridge and the Abol Campsite. There¢s a store there where I got coffee, donuts, and re-supplied for tomorrow. I called Janet on the pay phone, and told her to meet me at the Katahdin Stream Ranger Station tomorrow about 2:00pm.We checked into the Ranger Station and registered. I was the 144th NOBO to reach Katahdin Stream, and Wildcat was the 145th. Wildcat would have been number 144 if it had been his turn to lead for the day, but it was my day to lead. We borrowed day packs from Ranger station for our ascent up Katahdin tomorrow. We spent a lazy afternoon down by Katahdin stream. When we ate supper that evening, we ¢cleaned out the pantry¢ saving just enough food for breakfast and lunch tomorrow.We¢re almost there! We sat around the fire and philosophized some before turning in. Troop 3 came in late. Again!Who¢s here: Easy Duzit, Wildcat, Tank, Bone Spur, Sierra, Rocket, Troop 3 (Hoss, Knee Forester, Southern Boy) Roobi, and Cool Hand Luke.
Date: 2004-08-23
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Mount Katahdin Summit
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: few clouds

Monday, August 23, 2004   !!! MOUNT KATAHDIN SUMMIT !!!Day 162, 5.2 miles (10.4 if you count the 5.2 to come down) Milestone: We did it!!! 0 miles to go!!!We got up early. None of us got much sleep last night. Tank said he felt like a little kid waiting to go on his first fishing trip. Bone Spur was in the Privy when he saw his in-laws drive by in their Van. The 5 of us got started at 6:45am, up to the summit of Mount Katahdin from Katahdin Stream campground - (Easy Duzit, Wildcat, Tank, Bone Spur, and Bev, Bone Spur¢s wife.)Wildcat was in his ¢Heading for the Barn¢ mode. He was leading and trying to kill us. The 1st mile was easy; then we began to climb in earnest. Sierra passed us, then Rocket passed us. We got to the top about 11:00 am. We celebrated and took a lot of pictures for about an hour. Troop 3 arrived about noon. It was a great day, clear with fantastic views! Some thru-hikers even got a little emotional, imagine that. Sierra had a gallon of hiker margaritas for all.There were a lot of day hikers there also. We got back down to Katahdin Stream campground about 2:30, in this order:Rocket SierraEasy Duzit, Wildcat, TankSouthern Boy, Knee, Forester, HossBone Spur, BevJanet, Ron, and Gail were there to greet me.We had a small party with champagne and beer courtesy of Bone Spur¢s in-laws. I said good-bye to everyone. Everybody is heading out today, their hikes are over, except for my crazy partner Wildcat. He¢s heading back South through the 100 mile wilderness tomorrow, hoping to meet up with some of his former hiking buddies like Dharma, Northern Harrier, PA Mule, and others headed North. When he reaches Monson he plans to get back (ride not walk) to Killington VT to finish walking the Long Trail.We gave Sierra a ride to Millenocket.The End!
Date: 2004-02-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I suppose a few words of introduction are in order. My name is Andrew Williams, I am 22 years old, and I graduated from North Carolina State University in December.Precisely three weeks from today, I am set to begin hiking North from Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia. From there, it is a short nine miles to the Trail's Southern terminus at Springer Mountain, or a scant 2,183 miles to the Appalachian Trail's Northern terminus at Mount Katahdin.Truth be told, I'm really a novice backpacker. The longest backpacking trip I've ever been on was ten days, and that was back in 1996. Since then, I've been on a few shorter trips, but between 1998 and last year I hardly even picked up a backpack. (Well, except for school, obviously.)Then, last Spring, my Dad and I went to Wales and spent two days backpacking through the Welsh countryside. It was rainy, damp, and our navigation was, shall we say, deficient at times. But despite (or maybe because of) all that, I learned a lot.Since then, I've done a lot of dayhikes, and a couple more weekend excursions. Not really good practice for a six month hike, I suppose-- but then, what is?
Date: 2004-02-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

From January to August 2002 I worked as a co-op employee for IBM. It was in Summer of that year that I first had the idea to hike the Appalachian Trail. The reason it appealed to me back then was because the work was boring, and the idea of continuing that sort of work for fifty years was more than I could stand. On top of that, I met a lot of people who were young and full of life, but who lived by themselves, and whose lives seemed to have no other purpose except work.That was not the sort of person I wanted to be, nor was it the sort of life I wanted to live. But it was exactly where my life was headed.It is bad when you're sick of the working world even before you enter it?Of course, I realize that not all jobs and workplaces are equal. But I still felt that if I didn't take some sort of action, I was setting myself up for a boring, maybe even lonely life where my job would basically become my entire life. I felt like if I wanted to avoid that, something needed to change: whether it was my attitude, or the way I viewed life, or the way I lived life-- I wasn't sure.But there's more to it than that. All my life I have basically coasted along, at each stage doing what is expected of me. I got excellent grades all through school, I joined Boy Scouts and got my Eagle Scout, and I joined the swim team in high school. Each thing I did because it was suggested to me, or because it was what expected of me. I never failed, because my parents were there to catch me and push me along, and for that I am grateful to them. But at the same time, I feel like I have to break out of that pattern. If I want to live my life to its fullest potential as I define it, I can't just keep coasting along and taking the next obvious step.Enter the Appalachian Trail.Hiking the Appalachian Trail is my way of putting my life in a jar and shaking it hard. It's my way of putting a break between my childhood and my adult life. It's stepping out of my comfort zone. It's seizing the day.God willing, it will not be the adventure of a lifetime, it will be one adventure, in a lifetime full of them.That is why I hike the trail. But it's still not the whole story.
Date: 2004-02-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I have been very shy around strangers. I took a test not long ago where, among other things, it rated how shy you were, 1 being strongly extroverted, 10 being strongly introverted. I got a 10.I'm not sure why this is. I think mostly it's low self-esteem, or more correctly, a lack of confidence in my social skills. But for as long as I can remember, I've always been something of a social outcast. I have my immediate family, I have a small group of close friends, and that's been the extent of my social life straight back through elementary school.This has been good, because it's allowed me to focus on more important things, like schoolwork. But as I grow up and prepare to enter the adult world, I feel this lack of confidence more acutely than ever,and I feel like it's something that I need to remedy.Hypothetical situation: someone doesn't think he can swim. So you take him out on a boat and throw him into the middle of a lake. If he makes it to shore, he's proved to himself that he can swim.Not-so-hypothetical situation: someone is very shy. So he leaves his family and friends, and spends six months hiking in the backwoods with people he doesn't know. Will he adapt, and meet people, and maybe make some friends? Or will he isolate himself, and eventually go home because he's homesick and hasn't talked to anybody for two weeks?Hiking the Appalachian Trail is, in one sense, an exercise in self-sufficiency. No one carries your pack for you, no one hikes for you, no one makes it to the next town for you. You make your own decisions, and struggle through the pain of your own blisters. It is you, and no one else, who must wake up each morning and resolve to continue hiking, rather than head back to the comfort of home. This is an important part of why I will hike the trail: to prove to myself that I can do it. To prove to myself that I can be self-sufficient, and to prove to myself that I can accomplish something that is nothing short of awesome.In another sense, hiking the Appalachian Trail is a social venture. There is a very real community of hikers along the trail, and I look forward to becoming a part of that community. And after six months of meeting new people and making new friends, I hope to conquer that part of myself which has always whispered doubts in my mind and caused me to shy away from opening up to new people.Maybe that's a little ambitious. The thing about it is, I don't know whether it is or not! It's all part of the adventure. This is so unlike everything I've ever done, I just don't know what to expect.It should be quite fun.
Date: 2004-02-24
To: Hey, There's a Space Marked"Title"...
Miles today: 0.0

I wish I had noticed that when I was writing my previous entries-- oh, well.I got back this afternoon from a short shakedown hike: an easy 2-day jaunt through Uwharrie National Forest. It was warm (relatively speaking), which is good because it also rained for most of the first afternoon and evening. It was kind of nice walking through the rain, and it was only when the rain started to get harder, about an hour after it started, that I finally donned raingear. (Of course, the moment I got my pack back on and started walking again, the rain lightened to a drizzle. One of Murphy's Laws of Backpacking, I think.)I had something of a "Three Stooges" moment that evening. Bears weren't a concern, but I decided it would be a good idea to practice my bear bagging technique. First, I found a tree with a suitable branch about fifteen feet off the ground. Then I took a nylon cord, tied a stick to one end to weight it, then threw the stick over the branch. Unfortunately, instead of falling back to the ground like it was supposed to, the rope wrapped itself several times around the branch in a manner that was very reminiscent of Indiana Jones's bullwhip. In fact, I don't think Indiana Jones could have gotten the rope stuck any more firmly than I did. The tree was unclimbable, so I reached up as high as I could and cut off as much rope as possible, but there was still about seven feet of rope I couldn't reach.So if you ever happen to go backpacking in the Uwharrie National Forest, and you camp on the Uwharrie Trail near Big Island Creek, maybe you'll see my rope. If you happen to be carrying a ladder, please get it down for me. (Just for the record, I do make every effort to follow "Leave No Trace" ethics-- but, well, sometimes funny things happen.)Other than that moment of less-than-greatness, it was a good trip. The view from Keyuawee Trail was great despite the rain, and I made good time on both days-- I'm not sore right now, but that will probably change tomorrow. I haven't done as much conditioning work as I should have, so I will probably have to stick to shorter mileage the first couple of weeks on the AT while my muscles get acclimated.I may do one more short trip before I leave for the AT-- there's a hike through the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness I'd like to try, and I've heard the area is really nice.T-minus thirteen days and counting.
Date: 2004-03-01
To: One More Week
Miles today: 0.0

Well, it looks like my plan for one last short trip has been crushed under the massive weight of about seventeen dozen little errands and chores that have to be done before I leave. That's fine, really-- it gives me more of an opportunity to spend time with friends and family before I go.Some people have asked me if I'm excited. I am, but it's not in a giddy jumping-up-and-down sort of way. It's more a quiet sense of relief: "Finally, I can get started!" I've waited three months between graduation and starting the trail, and I don't want to wait any longer. The wait has been frustrating: I will be glad to finally be on my way.Still, I have mixed feelings as I make my way through my last week at home: there's no sadness at leaving, at least not yet, but rather a sort of surreal detachment. It just doesn't seem "real" that in one week I'm going to be starting a 2,100-mile hike.To put it another way, this trip is so large, and so unknown, and with so many possibilities both good and bad, that my mind really can't comprehend the whole thing at once. It's kind of like how on a sunny day, when you see a gathering of clouds on the horizon, it often looks more like a two-dimensional painting than a real cloudbank: your brain just can't comprehend the distances involved, so it does the best it can, and the result is a two-dimensional image that doesn't look real. Similarly, the scope of what am I about to undertake is so vast to me that my mind has trouble comprehending it, and I am left with something more like a surreal impression than a concrete picture.This can pose problems on the trail-- if you focus too much on the overall scope of the journey, it can be difficult to stay motivated from day to day. I think the way most people cope with this is to visualize the Appalachian Trail not as a single six-month journey, but as a bunch of much shorter hikes between resupply points. When you're hiking, your goal is not Maine, but rather the town thirty miles up the trail: otherwise, it's just too easy to get overwhelmed. Right now, though, it seems like that unneccessarily trivializes the whole endeavor. So for the moment, I'll take the painting.
Date: 2004-03-07
To: From Raleigh, This is Andrew... Signing Out
Miles today: 0.0

I had hoped to do a couple more journal entries before I left, but it's funny how time can fly sometimes. Actually, it's not so much that time has flown this week-- to me, this past week has felt like more two weeks. The thing is, despite how slow this week has gone by, I still had something to do each minute of it-- organizing gear, packing maildrops, finishing up work-related stuff for my Dad, saying good-bye to friends, running countless errands to pick up little things that I forgot... the errands, especially, never seemed to end. (Which reminds me, I still need to go by the ATM.)At 9 am today, I will leave Raleigh with my Mom and her cousin. We will drive down to the house of my uncle, who lives not far from Amicalola Falls, then we will have dinner and travel to Amicalola Falls State Park. We will spend the night in the Visitor Lodge, then on Monday I will start walking. I'm not sure exactly how often this journal will be updated after today, but it will be as often as possible.A few things I want, and need, to say:Thank you to everybody who has signed my guestbook and offered words of encouragement and advice. I really, really appreciate your support. Thank you.Thank you to everyone whose graduation and Christmas presents helped make buying gear and preparing for this trip much easier.Thank you to my friends, who offered me encouragement when I needed it or were just willing to talk when I needed that. And even more importantly, thank you for making life fun.Thank you most of all to my parents, who supported me in this even when they didn't entirely understand it-- for even though this journey is at least partially about me seeking independence, their support still means more to me than I can say.Thank you to everybody who has been there for me over the course of the past many years-- each of you has helped me in my life, and you have changed not only my life but also me as a person. It is the sum of all these influences, major and minor, that have brought me to the point which I am at now, and again, there are simply no words with which I can adequately express my gratitude.And with that, I end it. My next report will be from the trail.
Date: 2004-03-08
From: Amicalola Falls Visitor Center

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: clear sky

Got an early start, though not quite as early as I had hoped. It turned out to be okay, though, because the Approach rail was not as difficult as I had imagined it (well, except for the first mile). I was disappointed that the Falls were not visible from the trail, although the trail did go near them.I was the second thru-hiker of the day at the Visitor Center, although throughout the day I was passed by several more hikers. I met two thru-hikers, both of whom were named Sean, as well as a female thru-hiker named Misty.I was very nervous as the day went on, and quickly recognized that a lack of confidence might become my greatest adversary. But after meeting the other thru-hikers, as well as a few sectioners, I quickly forgot my nervousness, and it gave way to the realities of the outdoors.
Date: 2004-03-09
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Today it was sunny and warm, it rained, it snowed, it sleeted, it hailed, and there was a thunderstorm. One particularly unique moment was a brief sun-rain-snow shower.Luckily, the crazy weather didn't start until after we had woekn up and had packed up and were on our way. In fact, it was nice most of the morning, which was (coincidentally) the easiest hiking.Spent most of the day within shouting distance of Misty, as we seemed to be the two "slowpokes" out of Stover Creek Shelter- everyone else was off like a shot.Stopped for lunch about five miles down the trail, at a small stream running across the trail near Hawk Mountain. About two minutes after starting out again, it began to snow, which shifted to rain, which stopped after about twenty minutes. About ten minutes later it started again, thus setting off the pattern of crazy weather that persisted through most of the afternoon.I had initially thought I might stop at Justus Creek, about eleven miles from Stover Creek Shelter, but a particularly nasty bout of rain and snow made setting up a tent much less appealing. So along with Misty and a group of section hikers, I hurried the final mile to Gooch Mountain, where we found the 12-person shelter almost full to capacity. Luckily, the people there were nice guys, and squeezed in to make room for us.
Date: 2004-03-10
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Wood's Hole Shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

What a change from yesterday-- the sun is out, and it's beautiful while still cool enough to not be too hot while hiking. I write this from near the summit of Big Cedar Mountain, on a rocky outcropping with a view that seems to go on forever.Last night eventually saw twenty people crammed into the twelve-man shelter, which we were able to accomplish by moving the picnic table outside from under the front awning. The night was cold and interrupted frequently by snoring, but there has still been no sign of shelter mice.I've come up with a new name for mountains-- from now on, I'm calling them opportunities, as in "That looks like a really big opportunity up ahead!" or, "Only two more opportunities to the next shelter." This came after I groaned on one particularly hard mountain, and when I openly complained I was reminded to keep a positive attitude. So, from now on, "opportunity."I am also pleased to report that, whereas on the first day I spent most of my time thinking "What the heck am I doing?", by now the overwhelming doubt has settled down to an occasional twinge. I've also become better at isolating parts of the hike, so I can look ahead to, say, Fontana Dam, NC without looking all the way ahead to Maine. So for now, my goal is Fontana Dam, and I'm not thinking further ahead than that (about two weeks from today). One step at a time.Spent most of the day hiking w/ Paul and Laura, a thru-hiking couple from Ohio. We leapfrogged back and forth with Misty and a couple other hikers, and upon making it to the shelter, we found that instead of having to fit twenty in a twelve-person shelter, we only had to fit nine in a six-person shelter, something which was again accomplished by moving the picnic table.
Date: 2004-03-11
From: Wood's Hole Shelter

To: Rock Spring Top
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: broken clouds

The climb up Blood Mountain was long but not too hard, thanks to the Georgia Trail Club's liberal use of switchbacks.It was an interesting climb, as most of the trail higher up was lined with short, scraggly trees that seemed appropriate for a mountain named Blood. Higher up, those gave way to (suprisingly) green vegetation, and the trail became caked with snow and ice leftover from Tuesday's storm. At the top, the view was almost 360 degrees.The climb down, however, was another story, and apparently the GATC ran out of white paint shortly after the summit. By the time we rolled into Neel's Gap, we were ready for a break.Originally planned on stayting the night at Neel's Gap, but the day beckoned and so Paul, Laura and I did and extra 3 miles and camped on a nice-looking ridge.Also, Misty dropped off for a day to rest her knee, which had been swelling. I hope she catches up.
Date: 2004-03-12
From: Rock Spring Top

To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

It was really windy last night. The tent came down once, but after re-staking it and reinforcing the stakes with heavy stones, it was fine. Still, the wind howled all night, and I spent most of the night awake.In the morning I packed up and got out as quickly as possible. Made good time in the morning, and didn't stop for lunch until we reached a shelter 7.7 miles away.I think I'm starting to develp a thru-hiker's appetite. I've been hungry a lot recently, so rather than eat what seemed an "appropriate" amount for lunch I ate until I was full, and found that as I result I did much better in the early afternoon.The hiking in the afternoon was also fairly level, as the Georgia Trail Club had apparently figured out how to run the trail on the side of mountains, as opposed to just up and down them. Also spent a large portion of the day within smelling distance of a 600-acre controlled burn that the Forest Service was doing, and over a couple hills was able to see the valley, which was completely full of smoke.