morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-03-05
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Hightower Gap
Miles today: 5.5

Another day hiking in snow! There were a few patches of snow free trail, where we briefly felt like e were flying as we zoomed over these bare sections. At those spots, we could smell the sweet aroma of damp pine needles underfoot. But mostly, we trudged all day through slushy snow. We got to Hawk Mountain shelter for a late lunch. I felt really chilled even though it had warmed up some and I was sitting in the sun. I got my quilt out and wrapped it around me while Didge cooked one of the meals my friend Rabbit had left over from his CDT hike. We have been calling those rabbit food. It was pretty good. The next shelter, Gooch Mtn, was 7 miles away and that seemed like more than we could do, so there was some indecision whether to stay there or go a bit further and find someplace to camp. While there, we met Cheryl and Courtney, a mother/daughter team from Mass. Courtney had on one of those super fuzzy Patagonia fleeces- she had gotten a great deal on it, probably because it was bright green, so she looked like she was covered with moss. We also met Johnny Walker, a seriously talkative guy who had saw our Aarn packs and was "what are those? those are cool!" He had also seen Didge's musical instrument video on trailjournals. While there,we also met Pop from PA, IceFalcon, CoolTool.         Early in the hike, there are often a good number of people who come out who have no idea what they are doing and bring all sorts of unneeded crap. Hiking a couple miles uphill helps those folks quickly figure out what is unneeded and often the shelters become repositories for unwanted gear. There was an Idiot's Guide to Anger Management book at the shelter for example.        After eating, I didn't feel any better. I was cold and tired and the thought of spending another night in the cold filled me with dread. Without consulting Didge, a force sorta swept over me and I went up the hill a little to get a signal and called Mary Ann to see if they could come get us at Hightower Gap half a mile away. Of course they could and evenutally we found ourselves waiting there, shivering in the cold. We both jumped and and down and cheered and when we saw the blue Dodge truck coming up the gravel road. The tempature gauge in the truck said 34 degrees outside when we got in. It was friday night and the only restaurant in Suches was open- greasy cheeseburgers hit the spot! We are so happy to be inside tonight.
Date: 2010-03-06
From: Hightower Gap

To: Homeless and Unemployed's
Miles today: 0.0

We woke up to another great Bob breakfast. I am running a fever, I feel like total crap. I am really happy I Iistened to whatever inner voice told me I needed not to be on the trail last night. I went back to sleep around 10am and slept for 4 hours. Didge worked on altering some gear and writing journals. We have sorta moved in here- we have multiple boxes of food plus some cotton clothes and our laptop computer. Bob and Mary Ann are going to take these items with them when they move back to Asheville at the end of the month, then we'll have access to them again when we see them up the trail. I drank Powerade all day and was feeling somewhat better by evening , enough so that I was willing to commit to getting back on the trail the next day, which is good, cause Didge is feeling stir crazy.
Date: 2010-03-07
From: Hightower Gap

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: overcast clouds

H&U got us back on the trail at Hightower Gap. A lot of the snow had melted in the 36 hours or so we took off the trail. The trail condition was much better,snow free in most places, but also very muddy in some places.We made it to Gooch Mtn Shelter and set up our tent at one of the campsites as far away from the shelter as possible. There was a good crowd at the shelter- several thruhikers and a big group of section hikers out on Spring Break. We started to cook dinner and the fuel can promptly went dry. Uh-oh. I guess all the snow we melted for water wasn't figured into the fuel equation. I asked the crowd at the shelter if anyone had a canister we could use to fix dinner. One guy said - there was a discarded full canister 7 miles back at the last shelter (uh yeah thanks that helps), someone else says "you can buy fuel tomorrow at Neels Gap"- yes thanks I KNOW, neither one of those things is what I asked and does not help me right now. One of the guys with the section hiker group thru-hiked sobo a few years ago and offers to let us use his canister. THANK YOU Degoba! We will not melt snow again. Despite that favor, I found that guy to be somewhat of a jerk because he was totally cutting off this guy Stumblewolf when he tried to speak. SW had apparently started the trail with a guy he was really worried about bc he hadn't shown up that night at the shelter, he eventually hiked back to find him and make sure he was alright. I missed much of the details of the story as we were sitting away from the shelter near the fire pit to cook dinner. Something about this guy Munch Stumblewolf started with- he was out of money or forgot his wallet or something- sounds fishy to me. Also at the shelter: Gerda -an older woman from Germany, Cornpatch, Monk. Later we lit a prebuilt fire (with a note from someone named Pilgrim saying "light here"). Monk had cut off a pair of jeans into shorts and was tearing the denim up into strips to burn in the fire. My previous irritation with the stupid crap the group of guys were chattering about dissolved in the soothing flickering of the flames. Since we were out of fuel, we decided to mix up some instant breakfast for the morning. Didge hung that with the rest of our food on the bear cables. Didge says he is a good kind of tired- the kind of tired that promises and delivers a good night sleep.
Date: 2010-03-09
From: Henry Gap

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: few clouds

French toast and sausage for breakfast. YUM. We slackpacked 6.6 miles to Neels Gap- H&U hiked with us for a bit to Jarrad Gap, then Homeless zoomed ahead and hiked over Blood Mtn and Unemployed turned back. Along the way, we took the long side trail to Woodshole Shelter to check the register for any mention of our stuff- nada.It was the same story at Neels Gap- we dug through the hiker box ( a box where hikers discard unwanted gear and food- kinda like give a penny take a penny). We did meet Munch along the trail. We told him about losing our food to see how he'd react and neither of us picked up on any deception from him. We saw Stumblewolf at Neels Gap asked him about our stuff-he seemed defensive, cause he thought we were accusing him, which we weren't. We went over 4400ft Blood Mountain, there was some residual snow above 4000ft. We enjoyed not having the weight of our packs on our knees as we went down the steep north side of Blood Mtn. At the outfitter at Neel's Gap, we looked for stove fuel- at first there wasn't any- but then trail legend Baltimore Jack found us some and then offered a spiel of unsolicited advice about how we could make that little can last til Franklin (70 miles up the trail). It's a little bizzare to not be a newbie here- I wanted to tell him where to stick his advice, but I have to remember that 9 out of 10 hikers that walk in the door are relative newbies.
Date: 2010-03-10
From: Henry Gap

To: Hogpen Gap
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: moderate rain

We woke up in a comfy bed dry and warm. Yesterday, Bob talked us into slacking sobo 6.4 miles back to Neels Gap from Hogpen Gap today- it rained all day and it was really nice not to be camping in it. We had dinner in Blairsville to celebrate Mary Ann's last radiation treatment and the end of all treatment for her, except she has to get a Herceptin injection every three weeks for another 6 months. I didn't have to do this because I had different cancer pathology. Afterwards, we went to walmart to replace our stolen stuff sacks and ziploc containers that we cook in that were stolen with our food. Fortunately, we didn't hang the jetboil stove and pot. That would have sucked as those are nearly 100 bucks.        Didge said he felt like replacing the gear finally put that whole stolen food episode behind us. We had checked in at the hostel at Neels Gap/Walasi Yi several times to see if there was any word of our gear. We did talk to someone who had left the shelter that morning just before we got up 930ish and said our food was still there at that time and that he had thought it was abandoned and considered packing it out. We told Miss Janet about it and she insisted it must have been a bear. Yeah right, a bear with opposable thumbs who could hook the cable back to the tree. But she didn't want to think it possible that there was a thief among the hikers. I still think it a lot more likely that it was an honest mistake. perhaps. we'll probably never know what happened.Hiking in the rain today kinda sucked, but not nearly as bad as it would have had we had to camp in it.
Date: 2010-03-11
From: Hogpen Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 4.4
Weather: light rain

We slept until 11am as we weren't in much of a hurry to get on the trail. We figured out if we planned a short day today, it would set us up better for this next section, and allow us to stay at shelters every night. We have really missed out on meeting and getting to know other hikers thus far. After the awesome pancake breakfast, Mary Ann gave us a demo of her Vitamix5200 juicer. I would like to get one- you can do so much with it beyond just turning veggies into drinkable liquid. We sampled the green stuff she drinks everyday- potent stuff- would take some getting used to, but I'd like to get one. H&U shuttled us up to Hogpen Gap again and we headed out in the rain. It was a relatively short 4 miles and we arrived at Low Gap Shelter to find the shelter packed and there were already 13 tents set up. Stumblewolf was sleeping under the shelter even. I guess the crowd of weekend starters has caught up. There was a thru-hiker workshop at Amicalola Falls the weekend after we started and remember Nature Boy said he had passed 44 people in one day... They are all here tonight I think. We did get to meet Joe Moran (Kashmir) who is hiking for HikeStrong like we are, we had talked some online, so it is cool to meet him in person.
Date: 2010-03-12
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Unicoi Gap - Hiawasee
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: light rain

We slept in, content to let the crowd get ahead of us. It rained off and on all day. During a lull , we decided to stop and make lunch, during which it started pouring again. We made it to Blue Mtn Shelter relatively early- not a soul was there. I figured with the crowd last night, at least a few folks would have stopped early to stay in a shelter. However, the shelter was up on a ridge and was a chilly wind trap, no wonder no one was there. We managed to find a crappy sloping spot a little off the leeward side of the ridge and pitched the tent. The last thing to be unpacked, Didge's sleeping bag, turned out to have gotten soaked. (At the time I thought the moisture that had gotten on the food bags at lunch had transferred to the sleeping bag that was stuffed loosely in the bottom of the supposedly waterproof pack liner. After this incident, we got water proof sacks for the sleeping bags and were a lot more careful about putting anything damp inside the pack. But still we had wetness inside the pack liners when it rained. So we thought the pack liners were leaking at the seams and seam-sealed the crap out of them- we STILL had moisture-finally we figured the pack liner fabric itself was leaking through at pressure points. Shitty design. We ditched the pack liners and had pack covers instead.I talked to Aarn about this and they said the problem has been fixed and they sent us new liners for free. ) So its about 5pm, at this point we have two options, pack up and hike 2.2 more miles to Unicoi Gap and go into town, or suffer a cold night. Its pretty cold and wet out- but it probably won't get below freezing. In adition to my winter bag, I am carrying my summer quilt that Didge could use, he sleeps pretty warm but... I leave the choice to him and he chooses to hike to town. So we reach the road a little before dark and start hitching to Hiawassee. No love. It starts POURING... We decide to suck it up and pay the 20 bucks for a shuttle- I love cell phones, but they'll take 45 min to get here, during which we huddle under a kiosk roof to stay out of the deluge as much as possible. This is up there in my list of miserable moments during my hiking career. But finally we are at the Hiawasee Inn, which had been closed, but recently was bought and reopened by Ron Haven who owns several hiker friendly hotels in Franklin NC 50 miles up the trail. We got to dry the sleeping bag and ourselves out and eat Subway for dinner. I think the sleeping bag might be cursed- this very same bag was the one I used on my 2001 hike- just 7 miles or so north of here on the trail at Tray Mtn was where a chain of poor decisions led to me hiking in the damn thing (it had a drawstring at the feet and arm holes) - DURING a snowstorm. yes I was a dumbass. So wet down bag = totally miserable night. I totally wished I had bailed to town the night before at Unicoi Gap when we knew the storm was coming. lesson learned, this time we bailed, it would have been a miserable night.
Date: 2010-03-13
From: Unicoi Gap

To: Wolfpen Gap
Miles today: 6.8

We slept in and stayed til check out- having hiked an extra 2 miles yesterday we were a little ahead of schedule. As we headed out of the parking lot into another wet gray day, a guy chased us and asked if we were headed up to Dicks Creek Gap, the other road that leads from the trail into Hiawassee. Nope Unicoi Gap, we said. He said;"well you better go buy yourself a lottery ticket, its your lucky day! " it was Ron Haven, who was headed to Franklin and passing right by Unicoi Gap. (or so he said- I googlemapped it just now and either gap was out of the way to go to Franklin, so he just gave us a ride cause he's a good guy). So we got a free shuttle back on the trail. Then we hiked 7 mi or so , up and over Tray Mtn. At first it looked like it would be a nice day. There were spots of sunshine as we were climbing out of the gap. But as we got higher, we had good views of rainclouds hitting nearby peaks and as we climbed higher we hit intermittent rain which then turned frozen. I'm 0 for 2 on getting a good day on Tray. I had a blizzard in 2001, this time it was only snowing lightly and all the trees were covered with ice and snow. No view. Coming down off Tray there were a ton of blowdowns , some of which were a challenge to navigate.        We stopped and cooked dinner at Tray Mtn Shelter. It was really windy up there and there were a bunch of guys in the shelter. My mindset towards shelters has changed a lot. I really have very little desire to stay in one. Part of it is because we're a couple and like having privacy, but often it seems shelters are in the coldest possible locations. And I have to admit I am mostly over hanging out with a bunch of stinky guys, listening to them talk about stupid guy things. So we camped on a slope between Wolfpen and Steeltrap Gap, in a much more sheltered location than the shelter.
Date: 2010-03-14
From: Wolfpen Gap

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Our longest day yet- but we still haven't hit double digits! We hiked to Dicks Creek Gap. Along the way, we saw Dr. Evil slackpacking the 16 miles between Unicoi and Dicks Creek Gap. It was nother wet day , it rained off and on. The camera stayed inside the dry pack most of the day. The only two pictures I took: one of Didge with the Swag of the Blue Ridge sign ( I also just looked up what the significance of the "swag' is- not much really- a swag is a folk term for a low point between two ridges, and once there was discussion of extending the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way past here) Took another pic of me with the sign at Dick's Creek Gap. We had a couple good climbs, then a long descent to meet H&U around 4pm at Dick's Creek Gap. Warm and dry back in Suches again- taking our first "planned" zero tomorrow.
Date: 2010-03-15
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Homeless and Unemployed's
Miles today: 0.0

We spent a good chunk of the day shopping. H&U took us to a unique store that was sort of a cross between an army surplus store and an antique mall. They sold clothes, furniture, camping gear, you name it. Didge had hiked in his silk long underwear when getting rained on the other day and they just were not meant for that and disintegrated- so the quest was to replace those with something more durable. We struck out at the first store but found something at Neels Gap. I thought we'd get stuck buying patagucci long johns at 40 bucks a pop, but we found something somewhat more affordable. That evening I worked on a slideshow video of our travels thus far and posted it to family and friends. I used a song by Great Big Sea- called Walk on the Moon. I think it really fits this hike for us- I am out here to recover from all the cancer treatment last year, even tho I hiked before, I feel like this is my one shot. Cancer has a way of making your time here seem threatened and I feel a pressure to make the most of life. "this is my one small step- this is my walk on the moon" Prior to Dec 2008, I don't feel like cancer had really touched my life. My grandma had cancer when I was in high school, but I didn't really know too many details, she recovered, it never came back. Now it seems like its rearing its hideous head everytime I turn around. Since I was diagnosed last year- we've had our friend Kim, our friend Chuck's mom, and Mary Ann. Now we just found out two members of our circle of friends had previous cancers come back and we just found out Didge's mom's cousin was just diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. Didge has lost many in his family to cancer, including his father over 10 years ago. I hate cancer.
Date: 2010-03-16
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: random campsite
Miles today: 6.8

H&U took us back to Dicks Creek Gap. There we met Yukon and LB who had hiked the PCT last year. H&U brought cookies. As usual we got a late start and I always feel so slow leaving town- its always uphill and you are often carrying a lot of food. It was sunny but cool- very decent hiking weather. We only made 6.8 miles to a random campspot before Bly Gap- we had a pleasant evening, Didge built a fire and we enjoyed a nice sunset.
Date: 2010-03-17
From: Missouri

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: light rain

It turned colder overnight and it was hard to get out of the nice warm sleeping bag. As we were breaking camp, Gary from FL came by- we had last seen him the second night on the trail at Stover Creek and we had assumed he was long gone ahead of us. He is now named Notech ,as he has an aversion to all things technical, though like most hikers out here, he does have a cell phone. The weather seemed to deteroriate more through the day and we opted to stop after 5 miles at Muskrat Creek Shelter. The climb after Bly Gap was just as steep as I remembered it. Welcome to NC! We had stopped pretty early and Didge made a fire, but the drizzling rain made keeping it a lit a chore and hanging around by it made you warmer, but damp from the drizzle. This was just the second time we stayed in a shelter. One of the people we camped with was a section hiker that sounded JUST like my friend Storyteller- same accent, same penchant for telling stories ; he didn't look anything like him, but if I closed my eyes, it was like he was there. This section hiker is the first person I've met who had an easier time remembering real names than trail names, he said because he'd been a school teacher- and most names reminded him of someone he knew or a student he'd had. I find I am exactly the opposite, if I hear someone's real name, it's just a generic title- oh another John, Jeff, Mike, Michelle, Amy, whatever. Whereas, for me, a trail name is more unique, even if I don't know the story behind it, its more memorable. There are overused trail names- Turtle, Strider, Free Bird, etc. And some names to me- I just think, why would anyone take that as their name? Walking anything- come on! Try for something original!
Date: 2010-03-18
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Finally broke 10 miles today! We had a big climb to start the day, up Standing Indian Mountain. We ran into a fair amount of snow as we ascended, which slowed our pace some. We stopped for lunch at Standing Indian Shelter. I was proud of us pushing today-maybe I feel like today is the first day we actually did enough miles to make it to Maine. In 2001, ( I know I should just ban that phrase from my vocabulary- this one time at band camp- this one time in 2001...), I averaged 13 miles per hiking day to make a very average 6 month hike pace. That didn't include zeros- with those it was 11.3/day. I remember post PCT hike thinking I didn't think I'd be able to go slow enough if I did another AT hike- I just got so used to doing bigger days. Well throw in some cancer and that will change that. Anyway, I have tried not to put any mileage pressure on us, and we still have plenty of time, but I know we do need to start increasing the miles at some point. So today was good, we stayed at Carter Gap and actually saw some of the same people two nights in a row! Tomorrow we climb Albert Mtn!
Date: 2010-03-19
From: Carter Gap Shelter

To: Glassmine Gap
Miles today: 9.7

the weather was much nicer today-gorgeous really. The climb up Albert Mtn was everything I remembered- so steep! But I was surprised at how I remembered this one area midday up the climb, where the trail is just clinging to a really steep hillside, the views are great and there is some cool vegetation clinging to the hill, it sort of feels like a catwalk. We had some great views on Albert at the firetower. I don't remember being able to see the firetower before you got there, which you can in a few spots. I definately have a more developed sense of where the trail goes along the terrain now. I feel like before when I didn't have the maps I just walked wherever the white blazes led and I didn't really think too much about where the trail was going. I remember at views wondering if the trail would go over that big mountain ahead and the answer was almost always yes. I tried getting one map set and found I didn't like knowing, I found it just made me demoralized sometimes. Having become a bonafide map nerd since 2001 tho, I just couldn't picture not having the maps, plus I like to blueblaze and the maps are helpful for that.We pushed almost 10 miles to camp on a wide spot of trail just past Glassmine Gap, we had to carry water to camp here. It feels good to have done two decent days in a row! I feel like we are both starting to get our trail legs, tho I feel like my legs are a lot tighter than in the past. My calves are just painful on climbs- muscles cramp a lot easier and I have to stop a lot, but it is getting better after 2 weeks. We crossed 100 miles today!