morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-05-25
To: Davis Path Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

Day 62 5/25/03 14.3milesTrail angels cooked pancakes this am, but by the time we were packed up everything was about gone. It's a nice day but starting to cloud up. Every one is planning on a big milkshake at Adkins. Our plan is to get to Adkins (Groseclose) and eat and then to hike to Davis Path Shelter. We changed our minds and tried to get a motel room but they were booked up, so we hiked the 3 miles to the shelter. It started to rain around 8:00pm. I'm glad we decided to stay in the shelter. There are 10 of us in for the nite. Smokey is with us again, we started on the same day. We are about ? of the distance
Date: 2003-05-26
From: Davis Path Shelter

To: Lick Creek 
Miles today: 0.0

53 hiking days 533 miles8 "0" days = 10.5 miles per hiking day61 Total daysDay 63 5/26/03 547.1 mm 14 milesThe rain stopped during the nite. We ate pop tarts and broke camp at 8:20am. We passed thru some beautiful pasture land and at VA 42 there was trail magic in the form of a cooler full of soda and little Debbie cakes. Left by the Piedmont ATC. We thought it was too early to stop at Knot Maul Shelter we visited for a minute with Dangerous Dan now known as Pops he started the same day as we did. We ended the day a t Lick Creek and set up our tent in the woods. Smokey and the Bandit are near by. We did 10-hour 18 min today.
Date: 2003-05-27
From: Lick Creek 

To: Davis Farm Campsite 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 64 5/27/03 560.8 mm 13.1 milesSlept well quiet campsite. Didn't get started until 9:15am. We hiked at a steady pace and stayed ahead of the pack. We were passed by slack packers, Puff daddy (Ackerson from Ft. Myers) and GI gypsy.   Along with thru hikers, Blue bird. We had lunch at Chestnut Ridge Shelter an interesting 4 sided bunk house. We couldn't make Jenkins Shelter before dark so we stopped at Davis Farm Campsite where we found pops already set up with barely enough room for another tent in the area. A great view of Burkes Garden. Perfect hiking weather today, partly cloudy and a cool 55 degrees mid-afternoon wind at 10-15 mph.
Date: 2003-05-28
From: Davis Farm Campsite 

To: blue blaze 
Miles today: 0.0

Day 65 5/28/03 560.8mm 14.7milesIt rained about 4:30am but was done within an hour. Ate oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. We broke camp and hiked out before pops. We met a couple from Caratymk MA. named Peterson they told they told us to call for a nite off the trail in their log cabin. When we arrived at t Jenkins Shelter we talked with Tater and Chatter who told us about Gretel coming in after dark with no packer provisions. She was slack packing with Gi Gypsies and Puff daddy, but couldn't make the 19miles before dark, Puff daddy hiked back to check on her and got to the shelter around 2:00am. We crossed Little Wolf Creek at least 20 times in 2 miles; a local church left a cooler full of fruit drinks at the trailhead on FS Rt 25. From there to US 21/52 at Bland was probably the easiest 7 miles of the trail so far. We met Lone Wolf talking with Gretel's friend Little Mac. who had driven him back to the trail. Mac offered to give us a ride to the motel. We got a room, cleaned clothes in the sink, and strung a clothes line across the motel room twice and turned up the heat. We had a pizza delivered for dinner. We called Susie and Todd and Jim Frailey trying to catch up with mom and dad to let them know where we are. We did 14.7 miles today and .5 miles of blue blaze = total 15.2 miles.
Date: 2003-05-29
From: blue blaze 

To: Jenny Knob Shelter 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 66 5/29/03 589.3mm 13.8milesWoke this morning at 6:15 am looked out to see it was raining. We walked to Dairy Queen for breakfast I had 2 bacon egg biscuits and 2 hash browns, 2 coffees and topped it with a huge chocolate milkshake. We checked out of the motel and hiked a mile back to Bland. We ran into Little Mac. in town and he offered us a ride back to the trail,. He waited for us to get some groceries at the IGA and dropped us off. As we were saying thanks and goodbye, Pushing up Daises, 2 dog nite and Michelle pulled up in a car. They have been slack packing. As we were talking Rumbler, Footslogger and Bad Ass Turtle came down the trail. A woman named Cinderella drove up looking for a hiker named Happy Feet and she offered to drive the gang to town (2.8miles). We finally started hiking at 10:50am. Raven and Sparrow passed us and a while latter Spits went by. We made very good time and passed Jenny Knob Shelter and are camped about .5 miles passed VA G 15 on the trail.
Date: 2003-08-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

WHITE BLAZE 133-137   8/4/03 to 8/8/03 0 mi.We spent the last few days doing the doctor thing. Bottom line is Seneca's hand is not completely healed and she was told it would be another three weeks and in the mean time she should receive therapy 3 times a week. Our friends, Donna and Frank picked us up and took us to their home in Cobelskill near Albany for a couple of days. We had a great time with them catching up on all the news and touring the country side. On Fri. Seneca got on a plane for home and I went back on the trail. Sad goodbyes.
Date: 2003-09-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Talked to Tom for Short this morning. He spent last night in his Mom and Dad's motor home in Gorham, N.H. He plans on being at Gentian Pond camp site tonight and tomorrow entering Me.:) He said the trail was a real challenge in N.H., living up to it's reputation as being a rough state. He is sending home 5 rolls of film, says the views were outstanding! The leaves are just starting to turn and this a.m. it was 39 degrees! Also, no more bugs! He perfers cool weather over hot, so he is a happy man!Seneca Lou
Date: 2003-10-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

hello to all , this is th first chance i've had to get on line for a long time. computers are not to common along the trail in maine. the news you have been waiting to hear is that i did summit mt. katahdin at 12:30 pm thrus. oct. 9th seneca and i attempted to go up on mon. but were forced to abort and turn arround because of ice, snow , wind and unsafe conditions. we had climbed to just below the gateway and didn't realize how close we were to the top the mountain was closed for the next two days because of snow and ice so we decided to hang around and wait for it to open. i just couldn't leave without finishing this end. when i finally got to go up it was almost like summer on top and most people say it was probably the nicest day this year. there were about 60 hikers that summited with me. we had a fun gathering at the top.we are in hanover n h at the gathering today. it is put on by the aldha (appalachian long distance hikers association ) we are attending seminars and programs etc. we will be heading south monday am. when i return home i will try to put the rest of my journal on line. thanks to all who helped make this hike so special. i'm looking forward to seeing you all soon. HAPPY TRAILS "tom for short" and "seneca lou"
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

White Blaze   Day 16 4-8-2003   RAINWe had a nice early breakfast with Dave & Jan and pecked out Bumpboy to ship to Gatlinburg. Dave dropped us back at the trailhead and we hiked in the rain to Siler Bald shelter. We found the shelter full of wet hikers, with everyone trying to stake a claim to a small piece of the wet floor. At one time there were 16 of us under cover plus 3 wet dogs. When the rain let up a little several of us set up tents and tarps. Rain is forecast for the next 3 days. It is foggy and dreary and not much fun hiking but this is part of it. We don¢t know anyone at the shelter-most of our crowd is ahead of us now since we took time off. We met a few Chaucer Spot, who is doing the trail for the 4th time. 2 dog nite-got her name because she spent the nite with her 2 large dogs in a hammock. Hope the rain ends tonight and we see the sun in the a.m.White Blaze Day 17 4-9-03 Mile 117.3No such luck. We stayed in the shelter until 11am trying to dry some equipment and pack up. The rain let up about 11am but it never cleared all day. We managed to get to a campsite just past Wayah Bald with a about 9 others. We met ¢Easy does it¢ who is doing his 3rd AT hike and ¢Wild Flamingo¢ from Florida, and ¢Fire Feet¢ a young woman who was in the Navy band. We didn¢t quite finish eating when it started to rain again. At least we¢re able to keep our warm clothes and sleeping bags dry. Word is that it may snow tonight which would be better than this damned rain. I didn¢t take any pictures today, trying to keep the camera dry down in my pack. You can drive up to Wayah Bald on a forest service road and can see for miles on a clear day. There is a really nice spring on the trail just before the campsite.
To: View Entry
Miles today: 100.0

White Blaze Day 18 4-10-03Well the forecast was right. We woke this a.m. to about 1¢ of snow and it kept coming down all day. There were some place where there was 3¢ of it. A lot of our equipment is soaked and we expect the next shelters to be full since everyone passes us on the trail (damn young punks). We heard about a hiker hostel at Tellico Gap and decided to try to get in out of the weather. When we arrived there were no signs so we walked about .5 mile past it and stopped at a cabin where we met Dave & Joanne Fussell who offered us a cup of coffee and tried to call to find out about the hostel-no luck. We hiked back to find it was closed but were greeted by ¢Fire feet¢ and ¢Clifford the big red dog¢ who had injured his knee and was not able to go on. The Fussel¢s took ¢B R dog¢ to town and we set up our tents in the lawn. It¢s 7:15pm and it is still half raining & half snowing at least there is no snow on the ground at this elevation. Tomorrow we will try to go over to Wesser Bald and reach the Nantahala Outdoor Center. It is probably because of the weather but this section of the trail from Winding Stair Gap to Nantahala Outdoor Center seems to be the hardest at least mentally.
From: Hot Springs

To: Fontana
Miles today: 0.0

White Blaze Day 22 4-14-2003 162 milesGot an early start this AM. Cherry fixed us breakfast and then dropped us off at the trailhead at 7:50. A steep climb for the first 2 miles, then it got much easier. We stopped for lunch at Yellow Creek Gap which is half way to Fontana Dam. We had great views of the lakes and the ridges. We stopped for water and took pictures of the Cable Gap shelter, built by the CCC. We hiked mostly down hill to Fontana the last half mile had lots of ups and downs, really hard after 14.5 miles earlier today. This was a 10.5 hour day, longest so far, also longest distance.We met Cuba Libra and silver lining a 77 yr old couple from Ashville who were just out hiking.Daryl and Cherry played trail angels again, Michelle, Al, Josh and Mary joined.
From: Nolichucky Hostel

To: 05/04/2003
Miles today: 20.0

Today reminds me a lot of Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods". We spent the whole day under the ridge and didn't see anything but trees until we started to drop down to the Nolichucky River where every once in a while we could see the river and catch a glimpse of Erwin, TN. An interesting thing about this area is that it is where Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone spent some time. (Vision of Fuss Parker) but you'd have to be at least 50 years old to remember. We came down off the mountain to Rt. 19 right in front of "Uncle Johnny's Hostel" at 5:30 pm about 14.5 miles in 9 hours, not a bad day. We picked up mail and a food drop at Johnny's and his wife drove us to the "Super 8 motel" in Erwin (4 miles). We were hungry by now. We came into town with 1 tea bag and 1 fruit roll up and no water. We were ready to eat. We met some hikers on Main St. and ended up at Sonic Burger - a drive-in restaurant with Fire feet, whom we haven's seen for a couple of weeks. Then we went to Miss Janet's Hostel a block away to pick up our bump box. We saw a lot of hikers there - some we knew and some we don't - yet. We got a shuttle back to the motel and got cleaned up and called home. :) Mary Lou's feet need a break :(
From: Pizza Hut 

To: Rest
Miles today: 15.0

White Blaze Day 42 5/5/03   0 milesIt's raining as we get up this AM. After we got our dirty laundry together we were able to bum a ride to the Laundromat from the motel manager (thanks C.P.) Everyone we meet is so helpful. After laundry and breakfast we headed for the post office and the library where we were able to get on line and visit our site on trail journals.com. It was great. My brother Paul is doing a nice job. We got a chance to read and answer some entries in the guest book. It was great to hear from so many friends. Tonite we walked about 1.5 miles to the Pizza Hut and had the buffet. We are packed and ready to go in the AM. Hope the rain stops.
From: Roan Mt

To: 5/8/2003
Miles today: 0.0

Day 45 5/8/03Started late 9:37 am after a cold breakfast. A tough climb up Unaka Mt. set the pace for the rest of the day. A high lite was a beautiful meadow near mil 360. I saw a woodchuck and a hummingbird here. Seneca's feet are really hurting her. I don't know if she'll be able to continue and tomorrow we've got to climb Roan Mt. one of the last big challenges for a while at 6,285 ft. We did 10 hours today and made it to Clyde Smith Shelter a 13 mile day. We are in our tent again tonite. We finished setting up and eating in the dark. A really bad lightning storm missed us by about 2 miles.
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: 05/12/2003
Miles today: 0.0

Day 49 5/12/03 Mile 404.5We only hiked 5.8 miles to Dennis Cove Road (USFS Road 50). We planned on going to "Kincora" hostel. At the road we met a couple of guys who had hiked the trail in 1990. They were in the area for Trail Days in Damascus and were playing Trail Angels and I had a couple of Bud Lites while Seneca had a Pepsi. After talking with some other hikers we decided to go to Laurel Creek CG and hostel where we got a private cabin, took showers, did laundry and ate in the caf?. We are considering doing a 13 mile slack pack tomorrow. We took a shuttle into Hampton and got groceries at Winn Dixie and stopped at Subway and got sandwiches for dinner.
From: Lazy Fox B&B

To: 05/15/2003
Miles today: 0.0

Day 53 5/16/03 14.9 milesSaid Goodbyes to Sharon and Powell at the trailhead and we headed for Damascus.   The hike was uneventful but it was the fastest time we have made on the whole trip at better than 2 mph. We hiked into town at about 2:50pm and ran into a lot of hikers that we hadn't seen in awhile as well as some we had. The 1st ones that we saw were Kodiak and Sassy who recommended a nice place to set up our tent near theirs at the Lazy Fox B&B. A long ways away from the hiker's camp area. Then we wandered to the festival grounds and the camp area. It all reminded me of a mini-Woodstock. We went to a bar and grill called Dot's and had a fish fry dinner and beer.
From: Fox Hill B&B

To: Troutdale
Miles today: 0.0

Day 61 5/24/03 14.5 milesJanet cooked bacon and French toast for breakfast, it was good. Then she drove us back to the trailhead a Dickey's Gap. It's nice to be clean and dry again. The sun broke through and it turned out to be another beautiful day. We hiked for a while with Jersey and Pockets who had stayed at the Hostel in Troutdale. I estimated that we are about ? of the distance to Katahdin and that we will have to start hiking at least 15 mile a day to make it by Oct. 1st. That will mean 10
Date: 2003-03-09
To: Why Now?
Miles today: 0.0

Life has been good to me and one reason for this, I believe, is that I try to take advantage of opportunities when they occur. One of my favorite sayings is Carpe Diem and that sums up my approach to life. Hiking the trail is something I started thinking about when my son did it between school sessions in 91 and 92. Since that time I have done a lot of day hiking and the desire to do the AT has grown and grown. Now is the time. And I am going to seize the moment.
Date: 2003-03-09
To: Preparation
Miles today: 0.0

There are two main areas of preparation. First, the gear must be selected to satisfy the minumum needs while on the trail and at the same time must be as light as possible. Second, the body must be conditioned before arriving at Springer so there is a base on which the real trail conditioning can be built. If that base is not there, then the risk of injury is extremely high. To this end I have been trying to do a Saturday and a Sunday hike each weekend with a full pack. I have been shooting for 12 miles with approximately 2000 ft of elevation. Now since I live in Massachusetts, getting in these training hikes has been problematic. There has been much snow and much cold weather. Probably more snow and cold than we have had for many years. Fortunately, many of the trails have to be tracked out by snowshoers and snowmobiles and I have been able to accomplish my training goals the past few weekends. Hopefully this will be enough to build an acceptable conditioning base.
Date: 2003-03-11
To: Preparation part2
Miles today: 0.0

The other most important part of preparation is selecting a minimum amount of gear and making that selected of the lightest material. My goal was a base pack weight less than 20 lbs. Thanks to my mentor, Highlander II, who has continuously beat into me the importance of light weight, I will be coming in with a base pack weight of less than 17 lbs. My clothing including rain gear is 3.3 lbs, tent and sleeping bag are 5.5 lbs, backpack and rain cover are 3.4 lbs, cooking and water pure stuff are 2.3 lbs, navigation is 1.3 lbs, medical is 0.5 lbs, grooming is 0.4 lbs, and other stuff including a digital camera is 0.8. All this gives a total basepack weight of 16.7 lbs. Some of the highlights are the homemade pack cover of sil nylon ripstop weighing in at 2.4 oz, the homemade proton alcohol stove including base, stand, and windscreen weighing in at less than 3 oz, and of course the LED headlamp at 2.4 oz including batteries. This is not ultra light but I am quite happy with my resulting weight. With water and 5 plus days of food the total pack weight should be between 30 and 35 lbs.
Date: 2003-03-15
To: Cooking
Miles today: 0.0

Shown in the picture is the stove I plan on using. Again I credit the heads up on this to my mentor, Highlander II who built about six different alcohol stoves before settling on this one. The stove itself is the soda can and weighs 0.4 oz, the base which is needed to preheat the stove to start it weighs 0.1 oz, the stand weighs 0.7 oz, and the wind shield with a paper clip to hold it together weighs 1.2 oz. The total weight is 2.4 oz. It uses alcohol as fuel. It heats one liter of water in about 4 minutes using 0.7 oz of fuel. I cooked Mac and Cheese on it tonight in 2 minutes.
Date: 2003-03-16
To: Spring IS coming
Miles today: 0.0

Yes, spring is finally coming to Massachusetts. Today I started out on my Sunday training hike on the Wapack trail at 7:15am with a temperature of 20 degF. The footing was good with the hard packed frozen snow. By 9:15, when this photo was taken, the snow had started to soften and melt and the temperature had risen to 35 degF. It was nice to be able to hike in a short sleeve Tee shirt. This photo, although not great, was my first attempt at using the delayed shutter so I can get in the picture. Obviously, I was a little slow and not quite ready for the shutter to click. As the snow softened care had to be exercised to minimize the post holing on the way back. I returned to the trail head just before noon. The temperature in the afternoon reached 55 degF. The forecast is for that to be repeated the next few days here. Yes, thank you, spring is coming.
Date: 2003-03-19
To: Time
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Currently, there is "so much to do and so little time to do it". Home must be readied for months of my absence. Work must be wrapped up and/or handed off to folks that will be filling in for me. And of course, all the hike preparation must be done. We will be leaving here on Sunday March 30th and starting the hike at Amicalola Falls on Monday March 31st. On the trail I expect there will be "so little to do and so much time to do it". It will be a vivid contrast, a very interesting change, and something that I don't have very much experience with.From a space time continuum standpoint, time is the fourth dimension. This allows me to occupy the same space as thousands of AT hikers who have walked before me. I will be honored to follow in their steps.
Date: 2003-03-24
To: Rules
Miles today: 0.0

My rules for hiking the trail are simpleRule 1 - Don't fall. This is the cardinal rule of hiking.Rule 2 - Don't get injured. My years of athletic pursuits have seen many injuries that occur when you feel like you are getting in pretty good shape and you push more. Hopefully, my past experiences will keep me from pushing too long and/or too hard. Rule 3 - Hike your own hike. I keep telling myself that hiking the trail is not a race. But a life of competition will make this rule difficult to follow.Rule 4 - Have Fun and enjoy this opportunity.
Date: 2003-03-27
To: Mail Drops
Miles today: 0.0

Mail DropsMy plan is to use mail drops only for maps, replacement sox, and replacement boots, if required. There are 41 maps for the AT with a total weight of approximately 4 pounds. My strategy is to divide them into 7 packs of 6 maps (9 oz) each. The maps are divided so that the mail drops are in towns that are very close to the trail if not right on it. ResupplyMy plan is to resupply food, fuel (denatured alcohol), and other consumables from towns that are close to the trail. I plan to just make do with what I can find. We will see how that works.
Date: 2003-03-28
To: Thank-you
Miles today: 0.0

To all my fiends at work.What a great week this has been. The luncheon Wednesday, the cake Thursday, and all the words of encouragement and best wishes from so many people at work. It is so nice to have so many great friends. Thank you all very much. To my soccer Board colleagues.Thank you all for agreeing to give me a "Leave of Absence" from the Board. Good luck this spring season and for the fall season registration and match scheduling. I'll see you in the Fall.To my family.Highlander II, thanks for all your mentoring. I'm am so much better prepared for this adventure because of your guidance and cajoling, than I would have been without it.My wife and daughter, thank you for your invaluable help in getting me ready and for your future help in sending out mail drops and transcribing my journal, respectively. And least I forget, thanks also for your future help in maintaining the homestead during my absence.There are a lot of good people in this world and I am fortunate to know more than my share.
Date: 2003-03-29
To: Transcriber
Miles today: 0.0

Hello. Trog, who is known to me as "Dad", is here with me and my brother, Highlander II as they prepare for tomorrow's departure for Georgia from Massachusetts. I am to be the transcriber of journal entries and photo downloader, etc, this spring/summer while these guys are hoofing it up the AT. Just thought I would introduce myself.
Date: 2003-03-30
To: Gainesville, GA
Miles today: 0.0

I left MA with Highlander II this morning, flying from Logan Airport to Atlanta. We had packed our backpacks and hiking staffs in boxes. At the baggage check they did a "random" search of both boxes. They approved and we went to the metal detectors and X-ray machines. They asked me to take off my boots and send them through the X-ray machine. Then at the gate, Highlander II was selected for another "random" search where he had to remove his trail shoes and had a total wand body search. At Atlanta, we got in too late for the bus to Gainesville, so we got a ride on the shuttle. As it turns out, our shuttle driver, Kelly, is a Trail Angel in mid-April at the Blueberry Patch. She was even a Trail Angel to us by stopping at Lowes on the way so we could get alcohol fuel for our stoves. Thank you, Kelly. We are staying in Gainesville tonight.