morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-05-08
From: MacArthur Inn

To: MacArthur Inn
Miles today: 0.0

A pickup truck with a bunch of scrap wood in the back pulled up and asked if I was going to the Inn. The driver had a large beard with the biggest handlebar mustache I have seen. He appeared to be a construction worker. On the ride to the Inn he explained that the city council (Narrow's,VA) was going to tear down the old hotel because it was so dilapidated. The roof had caved in, the floors were rotten etc. Instead he bought it and restored it to it's previous state. It has a long colorful history including being named after General MacArthur. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up. See picture. It turns out over the years he has bought and restored a large number of buildings in Narrow's. He is trying to bring back a town in need of some help. He keeps a few rooms for hikers. Just across the street is everything a hiker needs. Grocery, restaurant, and a laundromat. With my feet battered and bruised I decided to take a "0" day. That is a day you don't hike. It has turned out to be a good decision. I was able to rest my sore body and replenish my lost calories. I also went through my pack and was able to mail back about a pound of stuff that I don't need. That may not seem like much but when your pack weighs 30 pounds dropping 1 is huge. Since I have had some leisure time I took another look at the time it will take me to get to my next supply point and i think i can make it in 7 rather than 8 days so I will not need to shuttle food ahead. You may have noticed that I haven't posted to my journal for several days. I haven't had a signal. Now I do and this will catch me up. You might want to check the photo section. I can only post one picture with each journal entry but I can put as many in the photo section as I want. I don't take a lot of pictures but I have some that you don't see with my journal.I still have to resupply at the grocery and tonite the restaurant at the Inn is open (Friday and Monday only) Don't ask I don't know why but they are open for breakfast everyday and it is very good.The next 7 days the trail goes through some very isolated area so I would be surprised if I get any kind of signal. You might not hear from me for a week. Starting off tomorrow morning for a 10 mile day.
Date: 2015-05-09
From: MacArthur Inn

To: MacArthur Inn
Miles today: 0.0

Well my hike is done. I hate to admit it but I am just not up to the task. My 72 year old body and mostly my 72 year old mind says no more. I awoke this morning at 4:30 wide awake and my mind racing. I just kept weighing the pro's and con's of continuing. I wanted to give this one more try and I have. I now know for sure that I am not cut out to do this at least at my age. I always said I would go until I wasn't enjoying it or got hurt. Well the moments of joy were far out weighed by the work it took to get to the moments of joy.I have a shuttle lined up to take me back to Black Bear where I will spend a few days doing trailmagic before I head back home. I want to thank all of you who followed along with my Trail Journal and I really appreciate all the wonderful comments.I am proud of the miles I completed and sad for the ones I missed.So long and Happy Trails.Well I guess you can ignore most of the above post as I am going back out on the AT. See my next journal entry for an explanation.
Date: 2015-06-12
To: And so Phase II begins
Miles today: 0.0

Well call me crazy but I am going back out on the AT just a month after I said I was done, finished, could not do it. I guess for the time being you can ignore my previous post. So here is what's happening.I left the MacArthur Inn and went back to Black Bear Resort to do some Trail Magic and help out around the Resort. I was comfortable with my decision to get off the trail and enjoyed my time at Black Bear. One day a shuttle from Hot Springs arrived at Black Bear with a hiker who looked familiar. It looked like Katwalk a lady I had only met once even though she and her husband live only a mile from me. She was attempting a thru hike and had gone back to pick up a section in the Smokies she had missed due to bad weather. Now she was poised to head North again. She indeed was KateWalk. We talked awhile and caught up on my getting off the trail and it turns out she was having some issues with her feet and was thinking about getting off the trail and having it checked out. Long story short she rode back with me to The Villages, Fl where we live.I checked with her now and then to see how her foot was doing and mentioned that I thought I should not have gotten off the trail to which she said she was thinking about getting back on as her foot was better and would I like to join her. So here we are.I am leaving Saturday for Dawsonville,GA to visit Jarhead, a previous hiking partner, and on Sunday will go visit one of my daughters in North West Georgia. Katwalk is in Nashville visiting family so I will meet up somewhere along I-75 with she and her husband and she and I will head up to Pearisburg, VA to continue hiking. We have no set goals other than to enjoy the trail and decide each day how far we want to go. I have always said I would hike till I got hurt or wasn't enjoying myself and that remains true.Stay tuned.
Date: 2015-06-13
From: The Villages, Fl

To: Narrows, Va via Dawsonville and Chattanooga
Miles today: 0.0

Everything worked as planned. I left Saturday and drove to Dawsonville, visited with some friends then went to Jarheads and spent the night. As always he and his wife Tina were gracious hosts. Sunday I went to my daughters home in Cartersville visiting more friends on the way. Monday she dropped me off at Enterprise where I picked up a rental car and drove to Chattanooga. There I met Katwalk and her husband. She and I drove on to The MacArthur Inn in Narrows, Va for the evening. After dinner we called it an early night. Tomorrow we start our hike.
Date: 2015-06-16
From: Narrows, Va via Dawsonville and Chattanooga

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: scattered clouds

After a good night's sleep I was up early and took a shower. The last one I will have for several days and then had a big breakfast with Katwalk. We got our stuff together and Allen, the owner of the Inn took us to the trail head where I had gotten off a month ago and we started hiking. We had to hike through part of the town and lost the trail twice. It only took a few moments to find the Trail again. Today's hike was only 7.3 miles. That should have meant a short day and it was for Katwalk. She got to our destination at 4:00. I got there at 6:00. It was not a fun day for me. Most of the hike was uphill with two climbs of over 1000 feet. I am out of shape, it was very hot and I got a little dehydrated. I had to stop a lot to rest and cool down. Once I got to the shelter I cooled off but had all my chores to do. I didn't get to relax till about 8:00. A huge rain storm moved in but it didn't last long and we were snug and dry in the shelter. Tomorrow we have a longer hike, 12.5 miles. The terrain is gentler so I hope to do better but it will still be hot. I will be better prepaired.Kate also keeps a Trail Journal. Her take on today's hike was much different than mine. LOL.If you would like to read her journal the address is: trailjorunals.com/katwalk
Date: 2015-06-17
From: Rice Field Shelter

To: The Captains Place
Miles today: 12.6

The first night out I never sleep well. Last night was no exception. There were three of us in the shelter. Katwalk, me, and a lady named Kamickaze. About 11:30 two hikers arrived but they tented. After a fitfull night I got up about six and started my camp chores. We left about 7:30. We were camped by a meadow. When we crossed the meadow we were overlooking a beautiful valley. Now I know why we had such long climbs yesterday. It was to get to this ridge line and this view. It drizzled for about the first hour but not enough to put on rain gear.As I was hiking I began to feel a little pain in my right knee. This is not unusual especially on down hills. After a couple of hours we stopped for a break and I told Katwalk to go ahead as I was having knee problems. When I started out again my knee got worse. I had a signal so I texted Katwalk and told her I would be late getting into camp. The pain was getting worse and the only way I could go down hill was to keep my right leg stiff or crab down and even then it hurt a little. Today's terain was easier but the last couple of miles would be all down hill. As the day wore on the pain got worse and now I felt it on flat trail as well as down hillI began to realize that this was not the usual first few days of hiking pain. It is exactly what took me off the trail in 2012. A stress fracture. I took some ibuprofen but it didn't help. I knew then I couldn't continue my hike. I was on top of a mountain and had enough of a signal to text a shuttle to pick me up tomorrow about 1.2 miles beyond where we will camp tonite. Then I started the long down hill to our camp site for the night.I can't believe only 2 days and I'm done.6/18/2015When I reached camp around 5:30 I was spent. I told Katwalk I had to get off the trail and she was very understanding. I feel terrible because she skipped forward so that we could start where I left off.I had a really bad night but it confirmed that I made the right decision. The nearest place to get off the trail was 1.2 miles North of our camp site. I got up early, said my goodbyes and headed out. I reached a side trail about 1.5 hours later that leads to "The Captains Place." He has a home on a stream and let's hikers tent in his yard for free. To cross the stream you use a zip line. You attach your pack to a carabiner and then sit in a swing like seat and off you go. Really cool.Don Raines picked me up at 9:45 and took me back to Narrows where I spent the night. Friday I will start making my way back home. I am really bummed out about getting off the trail. Last time I wasn't having fun. This time I was really excited about being back on the trail and especially with Katwalk because we are very compatible hikers and I think it would have been a good experience for both of us.Well for sure this is my last attempt at hiking the AT. I am done. It's been quite an adventure but I have to resign myself to the fact that I just can't do it.
Date: 2015-01-31
To: Day to DayÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¦Trail day -20.
Miles today: 0.0

Day to Day¢¦Trail day -20. Today I am creating the three posts necessary to begin my journal. I have been very busy since Christmas putting the final details to my gear, and helping my wife and daughter prepare to join me for a week, mid hike. I have also been excited to encourage my friend Dave to prepare for ten days with me in April. His experience is generally woodsman oriented, with little experience keeping it light. It has been a fresh challenge to keep it inexpensive, without carrying too much weight. The bottom line is we will have a great time hiking together and enjoying our friendship no matter what the challenges may be.I will step on the trail in Georgia Friday Morning February 20th. Estimates suggest that 2500 souls will begin a thru-hike on Springer Mtn. Georgia from February through May this season. My hope is to start and remain slightly ahead of this hiker ¢bubble¢. Day to day I am preparing by maintaining my health, walking as much as I can, much of it on a treadmill, and preparing life¢s involvement for my absence.Today, I am working. When the opportunity to bank a few more dollars for my trip arose I took it. Especially since my ¢job¢ affords me some down time during which I can update this journal. The bottom line as it were is these final days will be about waiting and trying to sleep amidst the excitement. I did read yesterday about a creative way to turn a deployed automotive air bag into a bear sack that so far mice have not been able to penetrate. Is it possible that a solution to the pesky chew monsters is at hand? I think I will give it a try and report as I go.
Date: 2015-02-01
To: Wound up!
Miles today: 0.0

Today I am wound tighter than the rubber band on the balsa wood glider propellers I loved as a kid. For two years now I have been preparing for this month. Recently I began vacillating between nervous and excited. Today marks the beginning of just flat excited and ready to hike. I appreciate the many well wishers as I prepare to journey to Amicolola Falls State Park in Northern Georgia. It is there that I will begin my journey of a lifetime. I will miss many things. Family and good friends, coworkers and interested onlookers among them. Eventually I am sure I will miss some of the comforts of this life. Fresh vegetables, back scratches and the Tuesday breakfast gathering come to mind. Nevertheless, I am ready to hike.
Date: 2015-02-18
To: travel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

9:15 PM. Whew!?!We arrived here at Amicolola Falls Lodge in Amicolola Falls State Park near Dahlonega, Georgia at 9:15. We left Sabina at 5:00 this AM. I guess it must have been a long day judging by the tension in my neck and shoulders but we didnt drive through anything we have not driven through before. Maybe the combination of 4 degree cold when we left home, breakfast with Bethany two hours later, snow from Athens at 9. AM until roughly noon near the Kentucky line, high winds and occasional snow from there through Tennessee followed by dark, icy leftovers from Monday in Tennessee and Georgia, and our late arrival at the Lodge have taken their toll. Fortunately, the Lodge was worth the drive. Pictures on the web did it no justice. I anticipate a morning sunrise over the valley to view as I sip a cup of coffee after a long nights rest.My emotions are mixed and have been the entire day. Excitement, nervousness, apprehension and a small dose of what am I thinking are all represented in my mind. It is fantastic to hear all the well wishes and to know that others are interested in this adventure. I am especially thankful for the prayers of my family, my church and my coworkers as I will need all the help I can get.Kathy and I will spend the day together tomorrow placing a couple of resupply boxes at hostels along my planned stops, enjoying the park here, and perhaps taking a hike up to the falls. There is much to do as I make final decisions about what to keep in my pack and what to send home. Weather will be an issue as anticipated, but the cold may delay my journey a couple days. We will look carefully at the forecast and decide Friday AM. I am equipped for overnight lows to 20 degrees but it may be colder. Either way Kathy will leave me on the trail or at a nearby hostel here in Georgia, and rejoin me in a couple months for a week together with Bethany.
Date: 2015-02-20
From: Hiker Hostel

To: Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

2/20/2015 day one "Holed Up""Dreaming about a thing in order to do it properly is right; but dreaming about it when we should be doing it is wrong." Oswald Chambers, MUFHH. I needed to hear that today. In spite of all my dreaming the "chip" my dad says I am missing fired up today in apprehension and doubt. I am sure it wont be the first time. Rather than believe a chip is missing, I prefer to suggest that it takes and extra chip, to overcome "normal". Normal would have gotten in the car and headed home. Normal would have been more upset over leaving his rain pants in Ohio after two years of prep. Normal would not sit here in a strange place alone, waiting on the next character to ck in. (Insert normal jokes here). I prefer not normal.I am in the Hiker Hostel outside Dahlonega, settled in and ready to spend the next two days reading, and resting, and repacking my gear. Kathy finally left the area after running me to an outfitter to replace my rain pants, and helping me get another set of wool base layer to hike in. Please keep her in your prayers as she travels, and as I travel.I have signed in as thru hiker #51 with a pack weight of forty pounds. I look forward to advice down the road reducing that weight but I already know it is mostly winter gear, water and food driving the 15 lbs above my twenty pound base weight. The plan today is to get shuttled to the top of Springer Mt, Sunday morning where I will begin my trek, likely in the rain. For those of you who have read my SHT journal I am thankful it is unlikely I will be hiking in an unknown beaver pond, or warding off swarms of mosquitoes. I must remember to count my blessings.
Date: 2015-02-21
From: Hiker Hostel

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Good dayGood day off trail today. Started with breakfast provided by the hostel, home cooked family style. Spent the morning debating my pack contents and have enjoyed comments in my guestbook in that regard. I will carry it all to Neels Gap where my first resupply is waiting. I made a wrap for lunch then Josh stuck his head in and wondered if I wanted to get out and tag along to town. Time to stretch my legs. Mrs. Dash (Tim) arrived last night and joined us for the ride to town. As he talked about getting supper we decided to go together on dinner fixins. Back at the hostel we pitched in assembling some new furniture, a display case and a futon. For dinner Tim made a spinach salad with avocado and goat cheese along with chicken breast and wilted spinach. Beat the heck out of the canned soup I was going to have. Tim and I are both starting tomorrow but his schedule is much more intense than mine. He is doing as much as he can in a couple months, getting off the trail to work for the summer, and then finishing the AT in the fall. I will start at Springer and hope the reported ice melts off. Nevertheless I am excited to get started. Forecast includes rain, but temps more normal in the low fifties.I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers.
Date: 2015-02-22
From: Springer Mtn

To: Hawk Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 8.1

Inception!Nine of us with room to spare. Im laying here at Hawk Mountain shelter, eight miles in on the AT. I hiked today with Mrs Dash, because he was greatly slowed by the ice. About fifty percent of the trail is ice covered, but temps are in the forties. I was fortunate to have spikes to wear on my boots, which are like tire chains for my shoes. Even with them it was good to have poles and take my time.We started the day with a great breakfast at the Hiker Hostel. The staff there are the best. By 9:30 we loaded up the four wheel drive and headed for springer Mtn. It was an interesting ride requiring tire chains and four wheel drive, as well as a driver that knows the road. Josh knows the road well, and lives by the unofficial motto that poor decisions make better stories. Today was not a poor decision so the story is just a slow slippery road for several miles. We reached the parking lot below springer mtn at 11:30. We said our thanks and good byes and set out south to Springer. The official start on the Mtn is a short backtrack. We met several other hikers and found ourselves atop Springer by noon. After photos, and quick phone calls to family, we headed back northbound on the AT. The hike today was humid and fogged in but the rhododendron is still green and the trail is as expected, rocky, rooty and muddy, where it is not ice covered. The terrain was rolling with a final climb over hawk mtn to the shelter. It is great to finally be on the trail. Tonight will be a good test of my gear as the temps will be in the low thirties, if we are lucky. The next couple days I will try to keep my mileage around eight to let my legs and lungs recondition. Not too bad today.
Date: 2015-02-24
From: Gooch Mtn Shelter

To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 5.0

Trail day three.I awoke at 1 am for my usual necessary trip and found a dusting of fresh snow as it began to fall. When we all awoke, seven in the shelter, there was two inches and still falling. On departure from the shelter we now had three inches, but boot steps to follow as I was part of the last group out. I have enjoyed hiking the last couple days with Ironman Bill, just Pete and Curt from PA. We all are approaching the start with the 8 mile conditioning frame of mind for a couple weeks so i appreciate pacing with them. We decided with the snow, and what seemed to be falling temps, we would contact the hiker hostel and have them pick us up at woody gap. We hiked the five miles through snow, and many blow downs, but made the gap by 12:30. A short wait and we were on our way to Suches for a mail drop for Bill and Pete, then back to the hostel to monitor weather, reevaluate gear, and send home the extra. It takes a very short walk carrying everything to decide what really needs to be carried. After a shower and a trip to town I will decide, based on overnight weather, if I will set out again tomorrow. I don't see going alone, but I could be interested if the elders decide to set out. I guess I can always reevaluate after a good nights sleep. Silverback
Date: 2015-02-25
From: Woody Gap

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 10.6

Trail day fourI enjoyed the benefit of a pack "shakedown" last night thanks to Derek at the Hiker Hostel. Basically I volunteered to let him use my pack as a training example for the rest of the hostel residents. After a few minutes of embarrassment (ok, not so much) my pack was four pounds lighter and nine new thru hikers had a lot to think about. My hiking friends Bill and Pete reevaluated their packs and sent a box home as well. Weighing my pack before we set out this morning I was now 37 lbs, with four liters (too much) water and two days food. Our plan was to hike from Woody Gap over Blood Mt to Neels Gap, home of the historic building through which the AT actually passes. The building houses the Mountain Crossings outfitter, and a hostel. Our hike today was perfect. 35 degrees, three inches of fresh snow on the trail when we started. The hike brought us all our first views of the Georgia Mts since it was overcast, but visibility was clear for miles. Our challenge was to get up and over Blood Mt before the snow was forecast to start again around 4 pm. We reached the peak of Blood Mt, and enjoyed the views from the historic shelter there by 2:30. We noted the clouds shifting through the valleys below us and made our way down off the Mt towards Neels Gap. The snow started as we descended into the cloud cover and we hiked our final 90 minutes in pretty heavy snow. As we reached the road at Neels Gap we were being taped for Atlanta television news for the second time this trip. They videoed these four crazy hikers coming off the AT in the snow. We made our way to the outfitter where Exodus and I had a resupply waiting. I placed mine here last week when Kathy and I were getting things set here for my start, and Exodus had mailed his before leaving PA. We had also called and reserved a cabin below the outfitter since with four of us it was less expensive than the hostel. That turned out to be a decent decision as we are comfortable with a furnished cabin with kitchen, and were able to catch ourselves on the evening news. Pretty strange adventure so far.Tomorrow we expect, if forecasts are good, to awake to six to ten inches of fresh snow. Interestingly, the only way to move in Georgia when it snows that much is to walk. So our plan is to walk to the next shelter, about seven miles out in the wake of a whole string of younger hikers that will hike beyond our destination. Its good to have trail breakers. Muscles are sore, but spirits are high as we enjoyed great views and a fantastic 11 mile hike today. Looking forward to several clear days in the forecast and some moderate hiking to condition ourselves.Silverback