morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-03-26
To: Physical Prep.
Miles today: 0.0

(Willie)With a triumphant B-14 last night, I finished calling my last bingo game for five months! I¢m not going to say that I¢m addicted to bingo, actually, I¢ve haven¢t even played bingo since my 8th grade French class, who knows how many years ago. But over the past couple of years, Sunday night bingo at the fire house has become a fixture in my weekly routine. I¢m going to miss the players and the other volunteers, but I guess you have to make sacrifices to have a chance at the adventure of a life time right?With only a week until we start walking, I thought I¢d tell you a little bit about how we¢re preparing physically for the trail. There was definitely a whole lot of procrastination going on this winter, that¢s for sure. Man, it was a lot easier to find time to work out three years ago when I was doing nothing but sitting at home watching TV. We just couldn¢t get motivated to go to the gym to hit up the treadmill or stair climber after working all day. The solution, find another form of cross training that we could get excited about. For us, that entailed a week of skiing in the Alps! In late February we went on a ski trip to Chamonix, France. It was our first time skiing in Europe, and even though they haven¢t been having the best winter snow wise, it was still far more white stuff then I was use to. And let me tell you, a 5 hour, 15 mile ski run down the Vallee Blanche will get your legs burning. After 6 straight days of skiing our legs were in the best shape they¢ve been in, in a long time. When we got back form France we had about a month to use that strength to get into hiking shape. That meant we couldn¢t put off going to the gym any longer. Unfortunately, I¢ve had some leg injuries (strained calf form climbing and strained shin muscles as a result of bad shoes) so I haven¢t been able to push has hard as I wanted to, but I was able to get my loaded backpack on to the treadmill and the stair climber a couple of times. As far as Erin goes, she has a membership to a different gym then I go to and she¢s been keeping me in the dark as to exactly how she¢s getting ready, but I hear she¢s spent some time getting to know my dear friend the treadmill as well.For strength training we avoided the weights as much as possible. Instead, we spent a couple days a week at the Sportrock climbing wall. My goodness that¢s a good workout! Since I started climbing there a little over a year ago, I¢ve discovered upper body muscles that I didn¢t even know existed. It¢s going to be a shame watching all that hard work wither away mile after mile on trail.Are we in the best shape possible? No, not really. But don¢t worry, the trail will kick our butts the rest of the way into shape :-).
Date: 2007-03-29
To: no work?
Miles today: 0.0

(erin) Well today is Thursday and I have only one more day of work before the weekend and then we leave for Georgia on Monday. I am getting more and more excited but I am feeling a bit sad. I will miss the people I work with but I am ready to move on. Its funny cause I had not told a lot of people that I was leaving and now its here and people are wondering why they didn't know. Its a crazy thing to leave work for 5 months and some people really question why someone would want to do that. Well I am and I'm leaving on Monday!! I'm happy cause as of right now i'm not nervous. I'm ok, I know there is a good amount to still get done and this weekend I have a wedding to go too, but it will get done...and soon I won't have any worries. Just walk.
Date: 2007-04-03
To: Erin's final night
Miles today: 0.0

(Erin) Well for this entry Will and I are both writing separately so I will try not to repeat everything he says. Sunday night was a going away dinner at my house with some close friends that have always been supportive of me throughout my life. When my mom asked what I wanted to do and who I wanted over for dinner I knew exactly who I wanted to have there for my last night at home. Thank you all for being there to see us off..Monday morning we left for Georgia and arrived in Amicalola Falls State Park after midnight. Such a great place to spend one more day of normalcy before hitting the trail on Wednesday. We were going to start today but with a 70% chance of thunderstorms we decided not have our first night be in the rain. So we are about to set out on the biggest adventure of MY life. Will has done this before, he knows what he is about to get himself into and actually wants to endure it all over again. I often think about how long this is going to take and how many miles this is going to be (man I hope I can do it!) I¢m happy, but of course nervous, its nice to know that there are so many people out their rooting for us and supporting us to make it to Maine. I know that when I get a chance to check this site and look at all of the guest book entries it will keep me going...So like the song I¢ll take the first steps tomorrow...and a million more to follow!
Date: 2007-04-03
To: Willie's final night
Miles today: 0.0

(SIGH¢¦..) Wow, could you hear that? That was the sound of my first relaxed breath in over a week. Right now we¢re sitting in the Amicalola Lodge at the base of Springer Mountain, the start of the AT, anxiously awaiting our turn to tackle the trail. To say that we¢ve been busy lately would be a huge understatement. To say that the last week has been insane, exciting, way too short, stressful, and overwhelming might be a little closer to the truth. During the day I¢ve had to work on completing all of the appropriated paper work that would allow me to go on an extended leave with out pay (LWOP), and at night I had to work on becoming homeless. It feels kind of strange to not have to go to work and to not have a place to call home. I guess technically I moved back home with my parents, at least that¢s what the post office would tell you. But in reality, my furniture is at my brother¢s house, my cloths are being stored in Erin¢s basement, and four boxes of crap are calling a friends attic home for now. Yeah, I might have saved a lot for the last minute, but hey, I¢m going on a 5 month vacation, right? I think I can handle running around like a chicken with my head cut off for a week.Getting ready might have been a little easier had I factored in not having any time to pack this weekend. Life lesson number 1 for this hiking season, if you wait until the last minute to do something, things are bound to sneak up on you. Friday night we went to Maryland for a dinner with some friends, Saturday we had a wedding to go to, and on Sunday we had to pick my parents up in Baltimore before going to a going away diner at Erin¢s house. None of which would I have like to take out of the schedule because I¢m really glad we did them, but it sure made things interesting. After a late start and spending about 12 hours in the car we finally got to the lodge around midnight. Man, are my parents the most dedicated taxi drives ever, or what? Today we spent the day visiting with my parents and walking around the falls. It did not take me long to remember how beautiful it is around here. I can¢t wait to get out there and do some walking. Alright, I¢ve got a couple more hours to cram in as many showers as I can, because tomorrow things are going to start getting smelly! I¢ll see you on the trail.
Date: 2007-04-04
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 7.6

(Willie)So it begins. Am I really out here? Am I really doing this? Today the vision became a reality as we officially set off on our hike. I think our decision to start a day later paid off because around 2:00 am a storm rolled through that even kept us awake in our hotel! Thankfully things cleared up in time for us to hit the trail. After a big breakfast my parents drove us to a parking lot .9 from the top of Springer. We were packed in the clouds and the trail was pretty wet but my parents still hiked with us up Springer and down the first 4 miles of the AT. At around noon the sun broke out and stayed with us for the rest of the day. After Springer the trail flattened and dried out a bit, which made for some great walking conditions. It was hard to say good bye to my parents at Three Forks, but after hugs, kisses, and a nice prayer by my dad we were off on our own. The next 3.5 miles rolled by pretty uneventfully and we got to the shelter at around 4:00. Surprisingly the shelter wasn't full when we got there, but we decided to spend our first night in a tent. It¢s supposed to be dry, so hopefully our first night will go off with out a hitch. Time for diner!
Date: 2007-04-05
From: Hawk Mt. Shelter

To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

(Erin) Yea I know what your saying, big miles for our second day out. My feet are saying the same thing! So today we woke up at about 8:00 in 27 degree wheather and very windy. We ate in our sleeping bags and got packed to hit the trail at 9:20am. It was a chilly day with lots of wind but still sunny out. I'm starting to understand the (PUDS) pointless ups and downs already, we had many today. We got to Gooch Mtn. shelter around 2:00 to have a late lunch. A few people came in while we were eatting that had come from the last shelter and were goign to stay the night...but we decided to get a few more miles in. We ended up at Woody gap at 5:35 where we found a camp ground, bathrooms and water. We set up the tent and then started dinner. We were shivering so much and our lighters wouldn't work with all the wind so we decided to eat in the womens room to stay warm. Not the best place to eat but it worked better then shivering like crazy. I am starting to have a few blisters but I hope they do alright tomorrow, we hope to make it to Neels gap. Its hard not to think about people at home and what they are doing. What I would be doing if I were at work and how mom is doing with her work out classes. I missed watching Lost with dad and having dinner waiting for me when I get home...Its different out here, but i'm doing good. Will and I are doing good, we don't talk much while hiking, but there isn't much to talk about. We are getting along great and not annoying eachother yet!alright time for bed...p.s. thanks bob and dandy for the notebook
Date: 2007-04-06
From: Woody Gap

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: scattered clouds

(Willie)Man am I happy about our tent placement last night or what. Let me start off by saying that the wind didn't let up a bit last night. It whipped and howled all night long! Luckily we had tucked our tent in to a nice rock corner, which sheltered us from the wind. It was still butt cold, but at least we were out of the wind.After struggling to get out of our bags, we found that our first bear bag had survived the night so we ate breakfast and started walking around 9:45. Thankfully the wind started to die down around mid-morning, so it was just gusty instead of continuously windy the rest of the day. We had some pretty nice walking today once it warmed up. We even got up and over our fist big mountain. (Blood Mountain - 4461'). The clear blue skies provided us both sun burns and views all the way back to Springer. We decided to push on to Neels Gap to try to get out of the cold for a night. Some one told us that this is going to be the coldest Easter weekend in seven years. Oh fun! Unfortunately, the hostel was full, but we were able to get a spot in a cabin instead. We were supposed to go to a catered diner, but there wasn't enough food so the hostel owner gave us frozen pizzas instead. Now after a shower it's time for bed, in a real bed!Life Lesson:When you have your sleeping bag pulled over your head, it¢s not a good time to fart. It will take a while to get through all of your cloths, but when it does, watch out!
Date: 2007-04-07
From: Neels Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: broken clouds

(Erin) Last night I thought I would have a great nights sleep in a warm bed and warm cabin but instead the neighbors decided to chop wood at midnight while yelling at his lady friend in the house! So I didn't sleep as well as planned but I was warm. We got up at about 7:30 to be ready for our shuttle back to the outfitter. Well we waited till almost 9:00 before calling and then 30 more mintues before calling again to remind them we still needed a ride. So finally at 9:30 we got a ride back to the outfitter. At the outfitter I decided I needed a down jacket (oh yea I didn't mention that we woke up to a dusting of snow and it was freezing), so I really needed the jacket. I also bought some mens boxer briefs. I know that sounds a little funny but all they had for women were thongs and for my problem I needed something to cover my butt. See, when I get cold and i'm "going comando" my butt starts to chaff when I walk. Yesterday it got so bad that I had to stop on the trail and apply some glide gel to my butt. So in any case i'm now wearing mens underwear and my butt is doing much better now. (hope that wasn't too much information) So today started out pretty cold and i'm glad I bought the down jacket. With snow on the ground we were hiking!! Some people even took a zero day cause it was too cold for them. The hike wasn't too bad, we started out at 10:40 and still got to the shelter by 5:05. My goal has been to be in the tent before 7 and tonight we just about made it. We met some nice people at the shelter, the only real talkative one was "August" that talked about his last trip of the AT. We also saw Hoku again and fuzzy monkey, gingersnap and orange moon. People seemed tired and cold so now at 7:20 we are in the tent early so I can pop my blisters and go to sleep early!miss you all!
Date: 2007-04-08
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: few clouds

(Willie)Happy Easter everyone! Man, I almost thought that the Easter bunny had forgotten about us. I woke up to find frost on the inside of our tent, but no Easter basket. Little did I know that one was going to meet us at Unicoi Gap 9.4 miles into our hike. Since it was sunny and not windy when we got there, we decided to stop for lunch. A little bit later a lady named Mother Nature came down the trail and gave us a couple bags of home made peppermint patties. Boy those were delicious! After that a guy walked over and asked if we were thru hikers. When we said yes, he asked if we needed anything. He and his wife filled our water bladders up and dumped most of their Easter basket into our packs. We had plenty to share with Fuzzy Monkey, Hoku, Fox, and Joney further up the trail. What a great Easter surprise! It was so good that it almost made me forget how cold it was this morning. Almost, but not quite. Like I said, there was a good layer of frost on the inside of our rain fly when we woke up. It kind of snowed on us when we moved around. Yeah, it was that cold, but we go out and started walking, which warmed me up after about 2 hours. The cold must have given Erin some motivation, because we were moving along at a pretty good pace. We pushed it to the Tray Mountain shelter, which gave us our first teen mileage day. There were a couple of good climbs in there, Rocky Mountain (3810') and Tray Mountain (4430') in particular, but we managed to get to the shelter around 6:40. That should set us up nicely to go into Hiawassee tomorrow.Life Lesson: Hiking gloves are not fire retardant. At least neither pair of mine are.(Erin)PS. Happy B-day Melissa and Chris. Thanks a lot Todd and Joanne for the spaghetti and meatball diner that you gave me for X-mas. It was great.
Date: 2007-04-09
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

(Erin) This morning it was much better to wake up; a little chilly but manageable. We still had poptarts in the tent snug in our sleeping bags but it really wasn't too cold. We took down the tent and got packed and were hiking by about 9am. After hiking for about 3 miles we found a dry pack with a trail guide, journal and checks...important stuff if you ask me. So Will hooked it to my pack and we kept going. We chatted along the way about what kind of reward we should get for finding such a valuable bag, like say a blank check or dinner. Well a mile or so later we met the person who had started to hike back up to find his lost bag. It was Sir. Privy Winks, he was happy to see us with his bag. (no reward was given) So we walked down to the gap for a snack and then started hiking again another 5 miles or so to Dicks Creek Gap. We had to first hike up Kelly's Knob where when we reached the top we both said "hi Kelly", so I hope she heard us in Alabama. We went a little further and I had my first graceful fall of the hike. Down-hill in the mud, not so easy, so I slid a little on my butt. We then hiked up Mtn. Powell so of course in honor of my other friend we said "Hi Melissa" when we reached the top so I hope you heard us up in W.V. After a long way down the mountian to Dicks Creek Gap we were welcomed with a cold soda and a ride to Cloud 9 hostel for the night. A nice man going by the name of "Big Ol'boy" drove us to the hotel and showed us around camp. We stayed in the camper next to the owners house with our own kitchen, bathroom and shower. Quite a nice place if you ask me with a bunk house, trout pond, hot tub, internet, shuttles and dinner. Well in any case, we had Subway for dinner and then caught up with organizing our gear, food and catch up online.Well I should shut up, this has been a long enough journal entry for today!
Date: 2007-04-10
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: light rain

(Willie)Today was a very momentous day for us on the trail. We passed three different milestones in just 11.6 miles. First up on the milestone list was the 74 mile marker. That gave us a mere 2,100 miles to go. (I know, kind of lame for a milestone, but every achievement helps you to push on to the next one.) Next up, about 8.6 miles in we finished up our first state by crossing the Georgia - North Carolina border. One state down and only 13 more to go! Lastly we successfully completed our seventh day of hiking. One whole week on the trail!Yeah, today was a pretty successful day, but it got off to a rocky start. When we arrived at the main house of the hostel for our 7:30 breakfast, the cook was still asleep. So, even though we had already paid for breafast, we made our own. Yum, toast and left over garlic bread! Breakfast was finally ready around 9:30, but by then we were already on our way to the trail. All in all, except for the missed breakfast our stay at the Cloud 9 was very pleasant. The owners were very friendly and helpful. Not a bad place to stay.Once on the trail, we were just looking forward to that state line. I knew it was in a gap so every time we went down hill I would look for the border, only to have to head back up again. Once we did get into North Carolina, it was clear that Aunt Pat and Uncle Leon haven't done much to make the trail any easier in their home state over the last couple of years. It was welcome to North Carolina, now hike up this 4600' mountain!Now it's about 9:20 and I'm in our tent hoping that it doesn't rain tonight. One weather report said it would and one said it would wait until tomorrow. Oh well, we'll have to wait and see. It's starting to get windy ...
Date: 2007-04-11
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: light rain

(Erin) First day of rain, what fun!! It rained all night and then was drizzling in the morning. We had breakfast in the tent and then took everything to the shelter to pack it up. We started down the trail at 9:45. It drizzled all day long and sometimes it started to really rain. At the following shelter only 4 miles away we had a early lunch so that we would have some cover, then kept going till after 3pm. We had thought that we could push futher then we did but with the rain and crapy weather we got to the shelter and decided to stay the night in the shelter. If I can push out 16 miles or so we can get into Franklin tomorrow and I can be in a hotel nice and warm!!p.s. Just a little side note to people with cell phone on the trail. I know that we are suppost to "hike our own hike" but personally it can ruin other peoples' experiences out on the trail. Last night I saw and had to listen to 3 different people talking on their cell phones at the shelter. It makes me question why others are even out here. I don't mind that people have cell phone, but be courteous to where and when you talk on them.
Date: 2007-04-12
From: Carter Gap Shelter

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: clear sky

(Willie)We're really starting to learn just how much the weather can change from day to day up in the mountains. Yesterday was cold and rainy, but today we woke up to sunshine! It was still kind of windy, but at least the sun was out. We just won't mention about how it can shift the other way, like how it's suppose to snow in a couple of days. This morning we were lured out of our sleeping bags a little earlier then normal to answer the call of a night in a hotel. Just like last time I was on the trail, Franklin, NC convinced us to push for our longest day yet. The biggest obstacle of the day (besides walking 16 miles) was Albert Mountain (5220'), which has one of the most rugged ascents in the south. Luckily, the steep stuff only lasted about 20 minutes, so it wasn't too bad. Once we reached the summit we were treated to some great views from the top of a fire tower. Since the wind was still whipping around we only stayed for a few minutes and a couple of pictures, then we were off to Franklin.About 1.5 miles from Winding Stair Gap we ran in to Ron Haven on the trial. Ron is a really nice guy who owns a couple of hotels in town. He called his wife and had her meet us at the trail head to shuttle us to the Saphire Hotel. After we got checked in, Ron drove us to diner, our first All You Can Eat (AYCE), to the super market, and then back to the hotel. Like I said, he's a really generous guy, who's willing to do just about anything for hikers, even ones who aren't staying at his hotels.