morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-04-13
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Helen, GA 
Miles today: 10.0

Total miles:50 Got into Helen, GA today. So nice to have cleaned our bodies and clothes for the first time. It was a funny site of us standing around in our rain gear in the laundromat washing everything else that we owned. Tyler went to the store and brought back 3 different flavors of chips and a 12 pack of PBR's. We stood around eating and drinking as our clothes washed. As luck would have it, there is a celebrity golf tournament in town, and all the participants are staying at our hotel. Because of this, there is a spread of cheese dip, crackers, and chicken salad that we were able to weasel our way into before dinner. Mexican food and a 32oz Dos Equis hit the spot. Oh yeah, weather was cold, super windy, and a little rainy today. Got to do our first hitch-hiking into town which was a lot of fun. It took about 20 minutes to get a ride, but in the mean time we just talked shit to everyone who passed by and didn't offer a ride. Randall made it out of the woods at Unicoi Gap just in time to join Tyler and me at the road to get the ride. Might take it a little easier tomorrow and should make it to NC within a few days.
Date: 2009-04-19
To: Miss Janet's Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

Total Mileage 107.7After Winding Gap, I came down to Hwy 64 to find Tyler, Randall, and the Dude waiting on a bus from the legendary Ron Haven. Ron is an ex-wrestler turned hotel/hostel owner who caters to hikers. Last night after we hammered some Hardee, we checked into the hostel run by Miss Janet. Woke up to a beautiful breakfast of fresh strawberries, biscuits, gravy, and grits. Taking it easy today with a zero to wash, launder, rest, and re-supply. My knee has really been bothering me the past three or four days. The pain is right under the knee cap of my "good" knee. It is excruciating on the downhill sections and ever present with each step. I am hoping it is a growing pain that will diminish like the others have, but until then I will keep inhaling ibuprofen until that day comes.Last night Tyler cut his hair into a full 10/90 mullet and was dubbed "Slapshot" because he looks like a young Gretzsky. It feels good to have one state down and be in NC. It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow; hasn't really started yet, but I am sure that as soon as we hit the trail tomorrow the sky will fall out. I'm waiting to get by new rain jacket by mail and ditch this leaky old one. I haven't been able to write too much because I forgot a pen and am so tired at the end of the day that I usually don't feel like it. Back on the trail tomorrow-Miles and miles to go-
Date: 2009-04-22
To: Sassafras Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Total 141.0 Had a good few days. We got dropped back off at Winding Stair Gap after a much needed zero in Franklin. As soon as the bus stopped at the gap, the rain started. While everyone else was fumbling with gear and suiting up, I went ahead and took off because my jacket was on and I wanted to beat the crowd into the woods. The only one to catch up was Mark. The rain was cold and consistent most of the day, so a shelter stay was the first choice. 6 miles in and the first shelter was chock full! Tyler and I set back out for the next one. Shelter #2 was also full and the only camping available was on a wind swept ridge- no thanks. On we pushed all the way to Tellico Gap- almost 20 miles. We knew better than to sleep beside by a road, but the parking space was inset in a retaining wall that blocked all the wind- I slept like a baby until about 6:00am when the rain started. The walk into NOC was pretty slow and all downhill. It was great to be back there and see some familiar sights. I called a friend I met in Steamboat this past winter, Jared, who was a guide on the Nantahala. Jared "Jeweler" is actually a former thru-hiker and I was going to get some advice on where around NOC I could camp for the night, but as luck would have it, he was at the center right across the river. Trail magic was granted to us once again and we got to stay at Hellards (NOC employee housing). It was nice to sleep ina bed that I didn't have to pay for. (Forgot the mention that last night we cooked the best meal on the trail yet; Stove top stuffing and chedder/broccoli pasta). Other than Tyler's snoring and Jared's sleep talking, I got a pretty good night's sleep. Spent most of today hanging around the NOC. We ate a good breakfast at River's End and then a burger and fries at the Burger Basket that was just magical. Only made about 6 miles out of the gorge and have a little over 20 to get to Fontana Dam, the start of the Smokies. Bear bags are hung, bag is out, just about time for bed.
Date: 2009-04-25
To: Fontana Hilton
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Total 163.7 Made it to Fontana Dam yesterday. We came down to the highway and began to walk towards the village and were fortunate enough to get a ride. The man who picked us up was "One Leg", a man who had thru-hiked years before with a prosthetic leg. He was in the area giving a speech to a car club. The club was there to ride the "Tail of the Dragon", a road with hundreds of curves in just a few miles. He was super nice and made me realize that I should not bitch about my aching knee when at least I have a knee there to bother me. We got to the store, drank Mtn. Dew, ate junk food, and did laundry. We had another string of good luck when Tyler's grandparents showed up to the store and gave us a ride to the marina. We had one of the most relaxing days of the trail thus far right there at the lake. We sat on the dock and drank beer until late in the afternoon. The greatest part about it was taking a "Bronner Bath" in the frigid lake water. (A bronner bath is the name we gave to the basic baths we took on the trail. We would just jump in, lather up with Dr. Bronners soap, and then wash off. Pretty basic, but really made you feel like a person again after taking one. Not exactly Leave no Trave friendly, but it was imperative) The water would compare to a swim in Lake Tahoe, one that you cannot sustain for too long. It was a beautiful, cool night at the Hilton on the banks of Fontana. Pretty excited to get back to the trail for the start of the Smokies. Right now I am sitting here at the store with my thumb up my ass waiting on the USPS to make their daily delivery. I was a little skeptical about a package I am waiting on to come in the first place but I don't have phone service to check and see if it was even ever shipped. Anyway, I will continue to wait and then in a few hours I will return to the PO to deal with the unpleasant clerk again. Did I mention that I had to backtrack and road walk a few miles to get back to the store from the shelter? That is the worst part of it all, well that and not having necessary gear that I need in that package. Yesterday when we were going to the lake, we saw a nasty motorcycle wreck on the side of the road. Someone had laid the bike down and it it rested at the bottom of a steep hill off the road. He and his passenger seemed mildly injured, but nothing serious. --Ready to be in the woods again.
Date: 2009-04-26
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Silars Bald Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

Total 192.2 So the package that I waited on yesterday never came in which really upset me. Here I am with $200 worth of gear just floating around somewhere and I am not really trusting the Fontana Dam postal clerks to forward it home if it ever does come. Anyway, fortunately I did receive some incredible trail magic once I finally got back to the trailhead. After getting dropped off by the hiker shuttle, a man named James approached me and invited me to his car for something to eat before heading into the Smokies. James is a section hiker who has completed about 1900 miles of trail and knows what hikers like to eat. He set me up with a slice of homemade apple pie, two scoops of ice cream, an apple, water for my platy, honey roasted peanuts, and two Snickers. I wasn't even hungry when I showed up, but who can turn down trail magic? Fontana Dam was pretty cool to walk across, being the biggest one east of the Rockies. It was super hot when I got going; probably 90 degrees and about 1:30 in the afternoon. I had planned on leaving early to avoid this heat, but sat around the Post Office instead. It was a tough, sweaty walk through the woods, but I did get to see some wildlife. I snuck up on a big heard of pigs rooting in the woods. I saw them from a distance and then the trail doubled back around and flanked them from behind where I had originally seen them. A big black hog made eye contact with me and then bolted away. Last night two or three bears wandered into our camp looking for food. They came in around 10:30 or so and played with the bear cables that were suspending our food bags. The only thing they were able to get was NedtheFed's platypus that he left outside. Pretty straight forward day today, did about 15 miles and am bedding down for the night. Pretty excited about Clingman's Dome tomorrow, the highest point on the trail.
Date: 2009-04-30
From: Painter Branch Campsite

To: Walnut Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Total 258.7 It sure does feel good to be off my feet, in my tent, and warm inside my bag. Two big mileage days have really tired me out. The trail was really frustrating this morning with numerous pointless ups & downs. The trail would march straight up a hill only to descend steeply down the other side and then the cycle would repeat itself for the next five miles. The first few hours were straining, but eventually the trail became more manageable and the scenery improved. Spring is definitely in the air. Some of the best displays of wildflowers were in the NC hills that we walked in today. Different colors of Trilium and large, lush, green leafed plants covered the ground. We made it through another famous landmark on the trail; Max Patch Bald. Max Patch is a large, grassy topped mountain that any lawn care professional would gladly call his own. The views were postcard-worthy and stretched on as far as the eye could see in any direction. I can definitely feel my hiker apetite kicking in because my stomache growls throughout the day and the foods I have been eating just don't suffice anymore. I ate 3 ramens, 2 PB & Nutella tortillas, cinnamon bun, pack of crackers, king size Butterfinger, and a Knorr with tuna today. All of our conversations seem to revolve around food lately. I am so pumped to get into Hot Spring, NC and destroy some food and beer. We have been trying to figure out our plan for the weekend stay and based on the weather we will probably tent tomorrow and check into a place early on Saturday to take a zero. -Ready for town food-No longer going by James, adopted "Otter" tonight due to my love for rivers and water. I like it
Date: 2009-05-05
To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: light rain

Total 312.9 Just slipped into my cold, wet sleeping bag to log a journal entry. Last night there was a constant, soaking rain outside my tent. I have been pretty happy with the performance of my tent in the rain so far, but last night the large rain drops that were falling would cause the condensation that forms on the inside walls to splatter on my face and bag. It was extremely hard for me to crawl out and face the soggy morning today. We had about a five mile hike to make it to the first shelter and of course it dumped most of the way. I had just checked my data and saw that I was getting close when I found Randall sitting under some thick tree limbs trying to stay out of the rain. He was happy to hear that we were less than a mile from the shelter, but disappointed that he had wasted some 30 minutes there. Had a big lunch at the shelter which soon became populated with a lot of new faces. I sat there for a while and realized that the rain was not going to slow down so I battened down the hatches and started walking. The rain became torrential soon after I set off- 9 miles of this. I bombed out the miles pretty well and made it to the next shelter. I was nearly running the last mile because some guy was coming up behind me on the trail and I did not want to get beat out on a place in the shelter. It turned out that the damn thing wasn't full in the first place and I had just put unnecessary strain on myself. Running out of light to write, probably will rain tonight and am still two days from Erwin, TN. Wet, wet, wet- soggy pack, sleeping bag, filthy and wet shoes and clothes. Left a few things on the clothes line and will have to see if I win the gamble of them getting rained on or not.
Date: 2009-05-07
To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Total 333.6 So yesterday sure took a 180 degree turn for the better. Day four or so of trapsing through the rain and we had about enough. The morning started out dry and quickly gave way to torrential rain soon after hitting the trail. Tyler's friend had been in contact and said he would be doing some trail magic; and magical it was. He was set after the I26 crossing and up some steep climbs. The weather was still sour and he was wasn't having any more fun doing trail magic in the rain as we were walking in it. After passing out a few things to other hikers he offered to take us into Asheville to stay for the night..this is exactly what I hoped would happen. Four dudes, four packs, a six pack cooler, and a wet dog all slammed into a jeep wrangler headed east; it was pretty cozy. Anyway, Asheville was sweet, we hit Burger King, laundromat, convenience store for dessert, and then visited another of Tyler's family friends, Bentley. It was nice to finally be dried out and set back on the trail with gear feeling the way it should. Today's hiking was great! Miles came very easily, even the few miles I had already walked the day before in the driving rain only to backtrack to get Randall so we could get into the city. (We were met at I26 gap by Tyler and Ryan who had gone the next mile or so to get the jeep from another gap at a dirt road) All in all I walked one section three times, oh well, a small price to pay for a night in town. The walking was really nice with a start at 26 gap and a short way to Big Bald. This bald was similar in feel to Max Patch, but the view was polluted with houses and roads. The trail intersected ith loads of creeks and streams, each of which I would drink from face first or just enjoy the sight and sound of moving water. These woods smelled incredible, often times filling the air with potpourri scents but without the fake, toxic smell. I took my time and just enjoyed the walk knowing I didn't need to be in Irwin, TN until tomorrow anyway. Tyler hasn't felt well since the start of today and didn't even eat dinner when he got to the shelter. I am afraid it could be bad water, but I sure hope I am wrong. It's a good thing we will be getting to town tomorrow. A bit of light, sprinkling rain right now, hopefully it will pass. Light fading, time for bed
Date: 2009-05-09
From: Irwin, TN

To: Curley Maple Shelter
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: light rain

Total 344.1 Had one of our lowest mileage days going back out into the woods from town today; a little over four miles. I packed in the other half of my Subway sub and ate it as soon as I got to the shelter. Town food brought in seems to taste so much better on the trail than it does when actually in town. Yesterday we got into Irwin after a little six mile stomp through the driving rain. Of course, after we got to the hotel the clouds parted and the sun appeared. On the flip side, today started out nice and then turned after being in the woods only 45 minutes or so. Tyler came down with something and had to go home for a few days. Hopefully he will recover soon; knowing him he will bounce back and be burning past us once again. Had an interesting encounter at the shelter today. A man popped in and took some GPS coordinates, snapped a picture, and walked around the shelter for a minute. He introduced himself as AWOL and I put it together that he was the author of AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, as well as The Appalachian Pages data book. It was really neat to meet him because he wrote one of Mom's favorite AT books. He left as quickly as he appeared..off to work I guess. He offered to leave Jack the updated version of the Pages at an upcoming hostel because he had been using last year's version. I've been doing some math trying to figure out how many miles to walk this week, part of me wants to bomb, but we really do not have to be in Damascus for Trail Days, because we might have a ride into town.
Date: 2009-05-10
From: Curley Maple Shelter

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Total 366.1 Beautiful day today, the weather stayed nice and clear all day which made for great walking. Had one of the highest, if not the highest mileeage days today. it feels good to be able to push these higher days, hopefully they won't hurt me later down the trail. I saw a little bit of wildlife today; the first was a grouse I flushed only a few feet away from my feet; scared the shit out of me. Under her protection were about four to six creme colored eggs. The other sign of life I saw was an owl gobbling down something he had just caught..I hope it wasn't a chipmonk. I went to take a picture, but of course when I got everything ready he took off before the shot. I ran into AWOL again at the blue blaze trail leading to this shelter. He is very sofy spoken, but overall a nice guy. There is another guy here at the shelter who keeps on rambling and talking to himself. He is one of those guys who likes to tell stories, and also vocalize each thought as they pop into his head. He also talks about each piece of gear he has and methodically recites exactly how much each article weighs as if I really gave a shit. All I know is I my starting pack weight was 32 lbs and my tent weighs 1.5 lbs...that's it!
Date: 2009-03-03
To: Waiting for April
Miles today: 0.0

Hi all. Vanessa here. We are going to keeping a journal together although we will be writing two separate journals. We will just label each entry as ours or each part of a day as ours. That way our family and friends dont have to go to two separate journals. (And if one of us doesnt write it will still be, hopefully, updated). Were getting ready to leave for the AT on April 1st and are settling on last minute things, buying some gear and what not. Today I got health insurance for both of us. It isnt really for doctors visits but more for an emergency type of situation. I hope we dont have to use it but it is nice knowing its there. The company it called Worldnomads.com (they use local insurance companies around the world, in something like 140 countries). It was $260 each for 6 months, not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive (the company REI recommended quoted $1,600!). I tried to sign on and Mike's screen name was already taken. Weird. I got the password sent to his email and yep, it was the same company we used for the John Muir Trail in 2007. Funny, I spent a half an hour looking for it in gmail but under my account. Mike is still trying to decide about his knife. The thing is he's a knife guy but also wants his pack sub-8 lbs (before food, fuel, and water). The knife he wants, Fallkniven F1, to take is 5 oz. 5 oz! Thats a lot considering. The other knife, Fallkniven U2, weighs 1.4 oz. The thing is one is a fixed blade and one is a folder (the lighter one) but folders are bad for cutting food because the food gunks it up. Im taking a Mora fixed blade knive, 3.28 oz. A happy medium. But I dont expect to break 8 lbs, Im shooting for 10 lbs.Half of our stuff is at home in Buenos Aires, Argentina and were in Los Angeles right now. So we are weighing everything we have here for our gear lists and then weigh everything else there. Will be back in the USA on March 22. Then from Las Vegas we leave to Atlanta on the 31st, our dogs are staying in Las Vegas with my mom. Then April 1st here we go.
Date: 2009-03-04
To: Order on Backpackinglight.com
Miles today: 0.0

Vanessa here. I just ordered some stuff from backpackinglight.com. Nothing interesting, smell proof bags for our bear bag, emergency Aqua Mira drops for sterilizing water (we are using the Amigo Pro gravity filter from ULA [7.5 oz] as our primary means but this is just in case, since we have had a water filter break on us when our super strong friend, hi Anne, pushed too hard on a Katahdin filter when it was blocked), and head nets for bug protection (just 0.33 oz or 9 grams). We have head nets but they are a heavy 1.3 oz! So now we have way lighter ones. I think that is all we need to buy except for one last trip to REI in the week before we leave for socks, a platypus bag, and maybe some little containers. I am getting more excited by the day. Mike just got his gear list from Buenos Aires and is avidly weighing clothes right now. Tonight we cooked some Knorr rice meals in freezer zip lock bags. We are planning on eating 95% or more of our meals in freezer bags because it is easier than doing dishes. We compared two systems with two different meals, one with a cozy (an insulating layer, in this case a down jacket) vs putting the zip lock in a Tupperware, which could of replaced our titanium mugs. The cozy won! So we will be going with the Anti-Gravity Gear Cozy (1.9 oz).
Date: 2009-03-09
To: REI
Miles today: 0.0

Vanessa again (Mike will probably make his entrance when we get to the trail =p ). Yesterday we went to REI again to get some stuff. Our dividend came in the mail and they had a 20% off coupon and since it was Saturday and everyone's dividend came, it was packed. So packed they were out of stuff like the Platypus bladder want (amazon.com had it though). We got $90! in our dividend, which is a lot. We got 12 Mountain House meals for the trail. We tried a few brands of dehydrated meals when we hiked the John Muir Trail (JMT) and Mt. House is definitely the best. Backpackers Pantry, the other large brand, is gross. The problem with the meals though is they are expensive. $6 each, so $12 a meal for 2! But we dont plan on more than 1-2 a week and other meals, like ramen and Lipton/Knorr meals, are so cheap.Today we are going to get little stuff like duct tape and paper for this journal. Boring stuff.Thanks Janet and Lady Di for the comments. Lady Di, I enjoyed reading your journal. =)
Date: 2009-03-21
To: Mike's Bday and Gear List
Miles today: 0.0

Happy Birthday Mike!Here is our gear list.Its in 2 pages (we split our gear). I didnt not break 10 lbs packweight. =/ 11.2 lbs. Mike broke 11 lbs. Thermarest NeoAir comes out soon, in April, and when we get that we will save 4 oz and get a full length (5'6") pad.
Date: 2009-03-22
To: Neighborhood park
Miles today: 0.0

Well this is really it, after dreaming about it for so long, the first steps on the AT are a week away.There isn't much left to do but walk. We spent an hour at the park pitching the tarp. I felt a bit stupid with dog walkers gawking at us, but we both felt a tinge pride when we managed nice tight pitch. Let's hope we can do it again in heavy rain. At Vanessa's urging, I'm writing my first entry in our trail journal. It's only fair I suppose, as she shaved her head at my urging. I figure it's one less thing to worry about, and for the record, I shaved mine too. We already have a gear list, but we still have to get our bounce box together. It will be a much less formal endeavor. In fact, I'm not even sure how big the box should be, what to put in it, or where it should ship to first.And now for your viewing pleasure..... two bald hikers!Shaved HeadsFrom Shaved Heads