morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-09-06
From: Mile 2101.4

To: Logan Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: clear sky

Cole was grumpy this morning. I can¢t blame him really. Tired. Hungry. Oh, and cold. It has become quite cold at night and it is hard to coax ourselves out of the warmth of our quilts in the morning. So, grumpy is allowed. However, being sassy to your mother when you are grumpy is not allowed. As anxious as I was to head out early and get through this wilderness, the sass had to be dealt with. When we finally got moving, we were both a bit grumpy. It began to rain and that didn¢t help much. When we reached the shelter a mile down trail and went to gather water, it was stagnant. That didn¢t help much either. We had to navigate our way down the middle of a rock slide on wet boulders. Not helping! I thought we both might suddenly be lifted from our grump when we approached a road and spotted a trail magic cooler. Empty.We reached a wide stream that we had to take our boots off to cross. The water felt lovely. On the opposite shore there were benches to sit on. I pulled out our cooking pot and made hot chocolate for both of us. We ate our bagels as the sun shone down from the now clear sky. A couple of day hikers forded the stream and chatted with us for a time. ( I didn¢t think I would find day hikers in the 100 mile wilderness!)When we got moving again, all grump seemed to have diminished . We had a long flat section of trail but then began to climb. We had four mountain peaks that we needed to get over before our day would be done.At the next shelter we stopped for a rest. Someone had deficated on the ground right in front of the shelter. Who does that? I found a rake and was cleaning it up when I stepped in the middle of a second pile. Ugh! Cole pointed out a third so I would be careful not to trounce through it. I was disgusted and now smelled like poop. Sometimes people really really suck!!On we went, up over and down mountains. The last one , White Cap, was the most difficult and the most rewarding with her views. The sun was getting low in the sky and we didn¢t want to get caught on the rocky terrain above treeline after dark, so we couldn¢t enjoy the scenery as much as we would have liked.As we descended, a prickly bush reached out and grabbed onto my leggings, tearing a hole in them. Then...twing. I guess that isn¢t really a word, but it is all I can come up with to describe what I felt in my back. I flinched and let out a little groan. Then again.With every step down, I felt it. The shelter was not far off and we managed to reach it before dark. All of the tenting spots were full and all of the tenters had hung their food in the shelter. Say what!?!?!I guess we were sleeping in the shelter with everyone¢s food. I laid down on my air mattress.Twing. Groan.My boots were a good distance away, but I still thought I smelled feces.We got our miles in and are in a good position to get through the 100mw by Monday morning. Tomorrow should be flatter and surely will be a better day.
Date: 2018-09-07
From: Logan Brook Lean-to

To: Antlers Campsite
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: broken clouds

The tenter¢s food bags took up most of the hanging spots in the shelter last night. One last empty hanger was on the side near the wall. I hung Cole¢s backpack there with our food inside. What did it matter? The shelter was already full of everyone else¢s food. As I hung it I thought...I wonder if mice can jump. This morning I had my answer. Every bagel in one of the packages of bagels had little mouse bites.¢I¢ll eat them.¢ I told Cole. ¢There is no other option.¢ I inspected the bag to make sure there was no mouse poop in it. Then I tore off bits of bagel around the bite marks and put those bits in our trash bag.I also sent Mark a message. Please pray that I don¢t get sick. I have to eat bagels that a mouse has nibbled on. The poor man is going to be completely gray by the time we get through this adventure.I moved slowly while packing up, testing my back to see what it would do. It didn¢t like certain movements and reacted with sharp jabs of pain. I dumped the contents of my Advil bottle out and divided the remaining tablets into three piles. Three....the number of days we hoped to have left in the 100mw. Six per day is the maximum dosage listed on the bottle. I was up already up to 8. Our hike began with a continued descent down White Cap. We had another small climb and descent, but for most of the day the trail was beautifully flat. There were so many lovely bodies of water too. Streams. Brooks. Lakes. Rivers. The weather was pretty much perfect. We walked through long sections of pine forest, and I absolutely love forests filled with pine. I love how they look, I take great pleasure in smelling their aroma, and I find joy in feeling beds of needles under my boots as I walk. There could have been so much delight in my spirit today, but there wasn¢t. It wasn¢t just my foot and now my back that complained. Other little ailments that had been creeping up decided to express their presence loudly and clearly, and I couldn¢t even shut them up with Advil.At one point I just sat down on a rock and cried. Cole sat beside me and scratched my back in silence. That is what I am supposed to be doing for him, not the other way around. I hate that he has to see me like this. We are so close to the end. So close!! I¢m sure that I won¢t be the first person to limp across the finish line, but that is not how I had envisioned the end. I took a couple more Advil, bringing my daily count up to 10. Then I limped on. When next I found myself having to plop down onto a rock to rest, Cole pointed towards a sign right next to where I had sat.¢Antlers Campsite! Look Mom, we¢re here!¢51.8 miles to Katahdin
Date: 2018-09-08
From: Antlers Campsite

To: Crescent Pond West End
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Antlers campsite is beautiful. Last night we set up the tent right by the lake. It was very cold this morning but it didn¢t even bother me as I sat gazing across the water sipping my hot chocolate. Wouldn¢t it be lovely just to stay here for a whole day?I have seen so many beautiful places along the AT that I would like to just sit and enjoy for an entire day. But, I am a through hiker, a through hiker with a time limit. So, hike on I must. Just as I had done yesterday with my Advil, Cole was counting and dividing up his candies for the remaining two days. Once I had discovered my error with the food, I had told him that he could not eat anything without permission. After putting a little aside for an emergency, we had divided up the food into five days. Now that we were so close to our goal and confident that we would make it in time, we incorporated the emergency rations into our last two days of meals. Cole was doing the same with his candy.¢Ok Cole,¢ I finally interrupted him. ¢No more counting jelly beans. We have to pack up.¢Today felt like a second chance. A second chance to enjoy the beautiful weather, the flat terrain, the abundant water in all its many forms and the pine trees. I had more success keeping the pain to a minimum and without the distraction I was able to enjoy the day more.At one point we came upon a sign pointing us a short way off the trail towards a view. There she stood in the distance, standing on the opposite side of a lake showing off her beauty and splendour. Katahdin. She is spectacular. The sight of her energized me, motivating me to move a bit faster.We are spreading out our food so that every couple of hours we have something small to nibble on. It doesn¢t stop the feeling of hunger but it gives us a more constant flow of energy. In the afternoon we stopped for one such refuelling. Two south bound hikers past us as I curled my nose up at the cliff bar I was struggling to get down. I greeted them between swallows.They responded with;¢There is a guy just over the hill with pizza and....¢Before the SOBO could finish his sentence, Cole was on his feet and charging up the hill. He didn¢t stop running until he reached the trail magic. There was pizza, pork, bananas, apples, cookies and pop. I had a little of everything. Cole had a LOT. Our bellies were finally full.About an hour before sundown and two miles from where we wanted to get to, my body just said ENOUGH! Cole found us a stealth site. I skipped my dinner bagel and just ate a snickers before bed. We both had our eyes shut by 7pm.
Date: 2018-09-09
From: Crescent Pond West End

To: Abol Bridge
Miles today: 19.0

When I wake up in the middle of the night to pee, I grab a headlamp to see where I¢m going. Cole doesn¢t. He opens the tent flap, crawls out, takes a step or two if he feels like it, then goes. This morning when I got up I found his wet spot where his trekking poles were. I crawled back into the tent.¢You peed on your poles.¢ I laughed at him.¢I didn¢t.¢¢You did.¢¢I didn¢t!¢He peeked out the door to check for himself.¢Oh.¢¢You peed on your poles!!¢ I laughed again. Then he laughed, and I laughed some more. It wasn¢t really all that funny, but for some reason it tickled us both and we snorted and gafawed for a long time over it.We broke our own No eating in the tent rule so that we could stay warm a little while longer while we ate our bagels smothered in peanut butter and Nutella. I had packed up my mattress and was sitting on the cold floor of the tent. Eventually I said, ¢I need to get up from here or I¢m going to get piles on my butt.¢¢What are piles?¢ Cole laughed.¢I dunno.¢ I snickered,¢Well, how would you get them?¢¢I don¢t know. My grandma just always used to say you would get piles on your butt if you sat on the cold ground.¢ By now we were both laughing hard once more.These are the things I want to remember: the silly conversations and the shared laughter.We had a lot of motivation today to get moving. If we could reach Abol Bridge before it got late, we could buy dinner.We had a little bit of up and down, but the trail was easy. Still, I struggled all day.We stopped at each of the last two shelters and read through the log books. They were full of final thoughts and farewells from those who had passed through here before us. People wrote about missing home, and some wrote that they would miss the trail. They wrote about what they wouldn¢t miss too.....cliff bars! I¢m in agreement with that! Cole and I talked about these things too as we drew closer and closer to the end of the 100 mile wilderness. And then we were at the road.The restaurant wasn¢t far from there. We each had a burger and shared an enormous dish of poutine. Delicious!Hunger. I wouldn¢t miss that. Not. One. Bit.Across the street was a small state park. With full bellies we wobbled across, picked a campsite and set up the tent right beside a lake. I crawled into bed. Pain jabbed into my back over and over as I rolled around on my air mattress trying to get comfortable. Pain. Of course I won¢t miss it!Cole crawled into the tent and I immediately sent him right back outside to wash his feet in the lake. Add that to the list of things I won¢t miss; the smell of Cole¢s feet filling the tent.Originally we had thought that we might hike the next day up to the campground at the base of Katahdin in Baxter State Park, but as I laid there I wasn¢t really certain what we should do. If I was struggling to hike along flat terrain, how would I climb a mountain? Well I couldn¢t!! There was just no hiking left in me. None.
Date: 2018-09-10
From: Abol Bridge

To: Wilderness Edge Campground
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I woke up very early this morning certain that I was going to vomit. My stomach was churning and aching. Perhaps poutine and burgers wasn¢t the best choice for a stomach that had been deprived for so long. Cole was ready to charge back over to the restaurant for their all you can eat breakfast buffet. Ugh! I wasn¢t. I moved to get up. Pain shot through my back. I laid back down and tried again five minutes later. More pain.Eventually I was able to get myself up and move around. My back loosened up and my stomach relaxed so I took Cole back across the street for breakfast. More importantly, I paid $2 to get online so I could send Mark our plans. He and Evan would be arriving today to join us for our grand finale. I let him know that we weren¢t hiking today and told him where to find us. After Cole had devoured an insane number of platefuls of food, we returned to the tent. We both napped. Then Cole got up and paced around the campground while I slept some more.Eventually Mark and Evan arrived. We drove into Millinocket and set up our family tent at Wilderness Edge Campground.In the evening I sent a text to Susan to see how the family was progressing. Earlier Nick had been able to get back on the trail and they had backtracked so he could do the miles he had missed. In her reply Susan told me that Nick had to get off trail again. Tom and Gene were not quite at the hundred mile wilderness yet, and she had the RV in Millinocket....at Wilderness Edge! That lifted my spirits greatly! I¢d be able to see her again before the end.
Date: 2018-09-11
From: Wilderness Edge Campground

To: Wilderness Edge Campground
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It poured down rain all day long. In the morning Susan invited us over to the RV to get out of the rain. The whole family was there. They fed us second breakfast. The couch in their RV has a massage feature built in. Susan brought me a heating pad for my back and I sat there for a couple of hours with heat and massage working away at my back muscles.In the afternoon Evan and Cole hung out with Gene and Nick at the RV while I retreated once more to my bed. Mark did laundry.By the time my stomach began requesting an evening meal, I was feeling a lot better. Not perfect, but better. Well enough to think that maybe, just maybe, I might soon be able to climb a mountain.
Date: 2018-09-13
From: Aimcalola Falls State Park

To: Springer Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: overcast clouds

The ranger told me to take the Len Foote section of the approach trail which adds a mile to the route, but passes by the Hike Inn after about 5 miles. According to my phone I walked 10.8 miles although the trail maps say it was 9.8 miles. I tried to make my pack as light as possible but 5 days of food (10lbs) and 3 liters of water (6lbs) got my total weight up to 38 lbs. I drank every bit of the water and probably sweated out the same amount. This was the first time I hiked using poles and I will have to say they were great. They saved me from going down on more than one occasion. They also took stress of my knee which held up quite well. It is not sore and does not appear swollen. On the Len Foote portion of the approach trail I saw 15-20 people. After I got back on the main approach trail, I only passed one person. I got to the shelter at 4:30 and at 5:00 the storms rolled in. It is still thundering now at 7:30. When I got to the shelter, Andre was already here. He is doing a 4 day hike. He graduated from Penn State 3 years ago and is figuring out what to do. In the middle of the downpour a couple carrying their dog showed up soaking wet. We were making room for them for in the shelter when they decided to set up their tent. Hopefully the dog will bark if the bears show up. I helped him with his pack and it must have weighed 65 pounds. My pack fits well and I finished the day without any blisters on my feet so that has to go down as a win. It would be a long 12 days with an uncomfortable pack or shoes that did not fit. I can definitely feel the workout. I am Trying to do 16 miles tomorrow so we will see how that goes. I need to push it so hopefully I can get to Mountain Crossings before the hurricane rains hit. Not sure I can get there but if I can stay there for at least the second 1/2 of the storm I will be happy. The rain today was great since I got to rinse out my hiking clothes which were ripe after the heat and mileage today. I am guessing the trail tomorrow will be a lot sloppier than it was today. I am thinking it will be a long night in the shelter since Andre is already snoring. He told me he will sleep til 10 (15 hours!). I had a lovely meal of freeze dried lasagna. The bears have evidently figured out the cable system so now there is a metal construction box to store food and anything with a scent. Since Max the dog is 10 yards away, I am planning on him being the alert system. Other than pretty woods the only thing I saw of significance was 2 gobblers and a big pile of bear scat (near the first shelter I passed). The first day was a success. We will see how I feel in the morning!
Date: 2018-09-14
To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: clear sky

1st morning on the trail. They say sleep is important. Well that did not happen much last night. My $170 hi-tech fancy sleeping pad Would not stay inflated so I blew it back up at 10:30, 11:45, 2:30, 4, and 5:30. I bought it at Mountain Crossings so hopefully they can show me how to operate it or they will replace it. I also know why people don¢t sleep in shelters. It is an interstate highway for mice. And sometimes they take a short cut straight across your body. That will definitely keep you awake. Sleeping in a shelter is much different that sleeping on my porch at Mountaintop. As instructed, I used the bear box instead on the bear cables. While the boxes might be bear proof, they are not mouse proof. My food bag had a hole chewed right through it and the mice had a feast. Fortunately, they don't seem to care for freeze dried food, only trail mix. I had my trail mix divided into individual 1/2 pound bags. They ate 2 of them. There must have been a lot of mice coming through there to eat a pound of trail mix. They also ate the trail mix from the couple who showed up in the rain. Andre was still sleeping when I left camp so I don't know what they ate out of his food bag. At least the mice eliminated 1 pound of weight for me.
Date: 2018-09-14
From: Springer Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I made it 8.1 miles to Hawk Mountain Shelter. Here I stopped for a lunch of stream water, green belly meals to go bars, a cliff bar, some beef jerky and trail mix. I don¢t have much of an appetite but know I need to eat so I can make it the next 7.6 miles. I am probably not too hungry cause this food is no good. I am going to spend the night at Gooch mtn shelter. I also rinsed out my shirt and bandana which are soaked. It is breezier today but I am still sweating like a pig. The couple from last night went the same way as me this morning. They were just in front of me pointing into the woods. I never saw it but they got pics of a momma and baby bear who had crossed the trail just in front of them. I would have liked to have seen it. They got off the trail at 3 forks which was 3.8 miles back. I have not seen anyone since then. Out for now.
Date: 2018-09-14
From: Springer Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Friday evening. They say not to push it and now I know why. I went from Springer Mountain to Gooch Mountain shelter which is 15.7 miles with a lot of elevation change. I started about 9:15am and rolled into camp at 6:15 with only about a 30 minutes lunch break. The seasoned hikers here at Gooch tonight were shocked. They said I did too much and there is no way I can make Neel¢s Gap by Saturday night. I have been trying to get to Neels' Gap to get in the Mountain Crossings Hostel in time to avoid the forecasted 24 hours of rain coming from Hurricane Florence. The veterans said I should be doing 8-10 miles per day. Based on the case of chafing I created today, I think they are correct. I am going to have to re evaluate tomorrow morning. I have smeared everything with neosporin and body glide. Hopefully a night of fresh air will improve things. Walking for 9 hours in soaking wet clothes (from sweat) was a big mistake. After last nights mouseapalooza, I opted for my tent. It was easy to set up and has plenty of room. I also set up my bear bag (PCT style) so we will see what critters find it tonight. The weather today was still warm but I¢ll take that over rain. My pack and shoes are good. No injuries there. My knee also is holding up just fine. I still have no appetite which is good for weight loss but not so good for energy. It did not help that I used too much water in my freeze dried pasta primavera tonight. It was more like nasty soup and I did not eat 1/3 of it. There are at least 15-20 folks here tonight and some are rather rowdy. However, this is the first night in camp for the ones I talked to. Most are heading south and most are doing 2-3 days. I enjoyed the sights and sense of accomplishment, but this day makes me think I am more suited for glamping.
Date: 2018-09-15
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Gap
Miles today: 1.2

Woke up this morning after another night of minimal sleep. Since the mice could not find my food and were unable to race across my body, they decided to use my tent as a trampoline. My tent does not have a fly, so I enjoyed flicking some of them far off into the woods. When I retrieved my bear bag that morning, nothing had found it, so a PCT style hang is definitely the way to go. My rash created from the previous day has not improved and there is no way I can hike much today. Fortunately, I overheard one of the hikers mentioning that he was getting picked up by a shuttle and driven back to Atlanta. I told him I would split the cost if I could ride back with him and he readily agreed. The 1.2 mile hike to Gooch Gap to meet the shuttle was more than enough to convince me I had made the right decision. I had to walk holding my jewels up out of the way so the sandpaper chafing action was held to a minimum. Shuttle driver Ron showed up right on schedule and just like that we were off the trail and on our way back to Atlanta. Ron earns every cent because I spent the ride back to Atlanta trying to decide if I was smelling myself or the hiker in the front seat who let me tag along. I know I was quite stinky, but I think he was the winner with his case of "swamp ass". I guess that is why Ron kept his window down all the way to Atlanta, or up into NC. Ron is a well known shuttle driver and frequently travels to and from Atlanta and charges reasonable rates Ron Brown 706-669-0919 Ron's Shuttle Service