morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-03-01
To: The Approach Trail ...or the great AT swap meet.
Miles today: 0.0

It's our Christening. You may prefer to call it a hazing. Or maybe boot camp would be an appropriate moniker for those first 8.8 miles that don¢t even count. But as most know, The Approach Trail is just a way to get to the first white blaze for a northbound thru-hike. (Frankly, it scares the Gatorade out of a lot of hikers ¢ so much so, they avoid this tradition.)The Approach Trail does not hold the distinction of being the biggest ascent, that¢s reserved for the Greatest Mountain ¢ Mt. Katahdin. Nor is it as steep as the south peak of Mt. Kindsman or Mahoosuc Arm or Peak E of the Wildcats. And yet, what a reputation it has. No, The Approach Trail is not biggest or the steepest climb on our thru-hike. It¢s the first.Sure it¢s tough ¢ what on the AT isn¢t. And sure it¢s 8.8 miles ¢ but that¢s only a fraction of a percent relative to the distance. Of course it is a tradition ¢ like attempting to eat a half-gallon of ice cream or carrying a Springer Mountain stone to the Katahdin cairn. Candidly, it¢s one of those ¢bark is worse than its bite¢ sort of things. If it wasn¢t the first ascent I doubt anyone would give a second thought. But a lot chose to skip it and take the forest service road. The flip side to this is up north you don¢t have the forest service road option; everyone must hike 5.2 miles (up to start a southbound thru-hike or down when finished to get off Katahdin) that doesn¢t count either. But by then a northbounder will laugh at anything as meager as 5.2 miles. Anyway, if you skip the Approach Trail (hike your own hike), you¢ll miss out on a good laugh. Laugh you say with raised eyebrow? Yep. There is so much stuff littering the trail its quite funny. It¢s actually a great way to upgrade your gear. Just pick up that certain something that¢s nicer someone¢s chucked in hopes of lightening their horrific load and swap it for the thing you¢re carrying. Nothing like trading up while heading up for free. (That is if you can beat the locals who show up each year for the annual AT swap meet.)After some time on the trail while sharing a campfire and stories with others, someone will ask if you took the Approach Trail. You¢ll casually answer, ¢Oh sure, doesn¢t everyone? One of the best memories so far¢ and an odd silence will hit the moment.
Date: 2006-03-09
To: The Scale of Truth
Miles today: 0.0

The migration has begun. All this month and next (as of this posting), from all over the country, hikers, dreamers and suburban escape artists are flocking to Amicolola Falls State Park in northern Georgia. Driven by adventure, they exit cars and vans and slowly, hesitantly edge ever closer to the left corner of the Visitor Center. It is there, almost invisible to the visiting tourists, hangs the diabolical Scale of Truth. Where most would pass it with nary a glance, wannabe thru-hikers know its purpose. Intuitively, they know this toy of the devil must be confronted ¢ If not now, then on the slopes of the Appalachian Mountains.It silently mocks us all, dares us to step forward to face the result of all our decisions on gear. Those who accept the challenge do so out of naivet© more than courage. The first test comes with the lift. If a hiker fails to lift their pack onto its demon-like hook, what hope will they have on the trail? Like a bucket of cold water or the suddenness of a broken shoelace, the verdict is handed out. Oh the shame of it all. And what agony awaits the courageous. Discounted by the testosterone rich youth with a glib ¢That¢s no big deal,¢ The Scale of Truth does not take kindly to being disrespected. It knows these mountains ¢ their ways, their rhythms and their defiance of gravity. The Scale of Truth knows it will have the last word.Repent is required, if not here and now, then most likely 30.7 miles away (not counting the 8.8 miles of Approach Trail) at Neels Gap where nearly four tons of gear gets mailed home each season. But there are blessings given by the Scale of Truth too. Rare as they are, a few do pass this modern day Hydra without consequence. They have been wise and have chosen well. They will move northward with confidence and not look back. They¢ll stride with pride as they congratulate themselves on being brilliant. That is until the blisters appear ¢ those little devils.
Date: 2006-03-16
To: Romance, love and the gifts of the trail.
Miles today: 0.0

It should come as no surprise, but as the saying goes ¢It finds you when you aren¢t looking for it¢¢¦or something to that effect. I don¢t want to alarm any spouses, significant¢s, boyfriends and girlfriends, but life continues to happen on a thru-hike. Life, love and romance float as a vapor on the wind throughout the world ever ready to let a special few breathe it in. A lucky few to be sure. And almost never when you expect it. Can you imagine meeting someone after several days of smelly sweating, where your cologne is ¢Thru-hike Stench No. 5¢ ¢ So much for making a good first impression. (It brings new meaning to eau de toilette!) Or I know we¢ve just met, but I need to grab my toilet paper and go off into the woods. Yep, I guess if so colorful a beginning can handle that then there may indeed be some promise.Instead of roses on their one month anniversary together, is it a surprise Snickers bar and its 280 calories of love gifted to the individual who didn¢t have to carry it? With no doors to open, could one sweep a shelter floor space for their new companion? And wonderfully, there¢s no awkward ¢goodnight kiss ¢ come up for coffee¢ moments since you know you¢re going to sleep together ¢ Even if it really is sleep.A thru-hike strips away all the posturing and games and let¢s two people really see who they are. The hardships reveal our frailty and our strengths, qualities easily hidden in the distractions of the normal dating world. Do the female thru-hikers become more self-conscious about shaved legs and do the males stop fretting over when to call them (in 3 days, next week or in the first hour after saying goodnight because they are totally and hopelessly swept off their feet and don¢t care if the world knows about it)¢¦but struggle to be cool? And how wonderful it must be to share a pot of Ramen together where the grandest of gestures to a fellow thru-hiker is ¢Oh, please, you take the last bite.¢ Yes, we¢re talking love.Being single (damn it), it must be an incredible surprise to walk off into the wilderness expecting isolation and oneness with nature and find your soul mate. You expected to see birds and bees, but not find the birds-and-the-bees! Wow, what a gift life is and the surprises by not postponing it. In 2004, I got a great adventure, fabulous memories and a wonderful book out of my journey. But that palls to those lucky, wonderful few who find their true companion. Good for you all. It brings a smile to this hiker just knowing that the world really is a special special place and that ¢happily ever after¢ isn¢t only for storybooks. Happy beginnings are good for everyone near them, not just the lucky couple, something to do with serotonin I think?Of course, town stops do take on a whole new significance other than food, don¢t they?
Date: 2006-04-06
From: Approach Trail

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 2.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Hello from the far blue mountains of the Appalachian Trail. Despite a small warning of rain from The Weather Channel, I arrived at the visitor center at Amicalola Falls State Park to morning sunshine. The promise of a beautiful day was in the air. The shuttle driver was nice enough to wait a full hour since my Amtrak arrival was behind schedule. But we arrived at the park at 8:40 am only to wait myself for the Visitor Center to open at nine. I signed the register, and then The Ranger told me to stand by The Approach Trail Arch for my photo. Photo? Seems they now document thru-hikers like Harpers Ferry. It¢s a new practice that makes it effortless for we solo hikers to hand them our cameras to do a bit of our own documentation.The trees here all have a chartreuse aura as all the sprouts are emerging from their long winters sleep. The red buds and dogwoods down low are in full bloom. So at 9:20 I pointed myself north, not too many frets, but a few, and took my first step toward Springer Mountain.The higher I went the less the trees seemed green. A gray-brown sea of bark dominated the color. That is unless you gazed out through them toward the mountain horizon. For there you¢d see beautiful blue-hue giants, one after another. The clouds continued to slowly creep overhead adding to the richness of the blue tones.Although solo, The Approach was filled with families hiking thanks to Spring break for the kiddies. And joining me on this attempt of pose next to The Katahdin Sign in Maine, about ten thru-hikers, some with trail names like ¢Greenbow¢, ¢Long Toe¢ and ¢Sees Bears Everywhere¢.And more nameless waiting to see how the AT and its hikers, will trail name them.Shockingly, The Approach was void of gear, of course those two oak logs someone thought would be nice firewood, got dumped at the five-mile mark. They had to have weighed 15 pounds¢¦ Good Golly Miss Molly!I reached the beginning plaque around 1:15 and found out from a Ridge runner working for the ATC, that I was the 610th thru-hiker to begin this season. Two years ago I was in the neighborhood of number 1500. To add a touch of DaJaVu to my start, Mother Nature released a small sprinkling of rain on me as I selected my small stone to carry to Katahdin.Anyway, I¢ve begun and tonight, my nighttime home is on a mountain at the Southern end of the greatest trail in the world. Goodnight all, from The Wonderful Wilderness known as The Appalachian Trail!
Date: 2006-04-07
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: few clouds

Woke up later than usual due to a restless nights sleep. It seems getting used to 5/8 inch sleeping pads and hardwood shelter floors take some time to reacclimate to, but with the gentle breeze it was nice. Never got chilly until the early hours, that¢s when I closed up the mummy for warmth, when I did finally drop into a deeper sleep, apparently I slept right through my wrist alarm. No bother. Being down in that hollow sunlight won¢t find you till mid-morning.I left a shelter of sleeping, barely moving thru-hikers at 7:45. They were nice company last night, a lot more than my hike in ¢04 thanks to the calendar. This is prime time.Overcast sky¢s covered over what little sun existed making the mood one of blue. (Not sadness, but the color of blue) The Appalachians were blue on blue today. The journey today was tougher thanks to a particular mountain named Sassafrass that loves to chew on us. Wonderfully though as I crested this demon, the sun had tired of the clouds too and burned them away. Without a tree canopy most all of us are cooking dinner tonight with bright pink faces. The feet and legs are doing a tad better than the lungs. They want to go¢¦ but the lungs need their capacity to grow. More days like today are taking care of that.Here at Gooch Mountain Shelter the two floors are full and tents are all about. One overnight hiker brought word of heavy thunderstorms rolling in after midnight, with rain all tomorrow. It just wouldn¢t be a thru-hike without the drama of weather, as the saying goes, No Rain, No Pain, No Gain, No Maine!Although I never put an eye on it, I¢m fairly sure I heard the thundering pounding of a Piliated Woodpecker. As far as Woodpeckers go, they are the giants, and with the volume of the pounding it had to be big. A Barred Owl sang to us all at the shelter last night, but that¢s about it for wildlife¢¦ just too many hikers trudging, tripping, swearing and pounding trekking poles. Actually, I¢m really looking forward to a big dramatic thunderstorm, especially since I¢m all snug in this fine shelter. Goodnight all¢¦ and may you always have dry socks
Date: 2006-04-08
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Walasi-Yi Center
Miles today: 15.6

After some good fireside conversation followed by some lame joke telling, everyone headed to his or her temporary homes for the night. Tents, hammocks and for me, a space on the floor of the shelter. It was a starless night thanks to rushing clouds throwing a blanket over our world. The breeze was strengthening letting everyone know that indeed the predictions of a severe storm was coming. At 3: am the sky was lighting up and the breeze was transformed into a roaring gale. Although tornados were possible, fretting over that achieves nothing. It started with the odd ¢clunk¢ on the shelter roof¢¦ Hail! Lightening was everywhere and so numerous, the dark had a hard time holding it¢s own. Then, as feeling left out of all the entertainment, the gully washer of rain joined the hail! But yours truly was snug down deep in my dry warm mummy. It just wouldn¢t be the AT without some high drama from the weather. It was a blast, really. I loved it!By morning, only the rain seemed to linger. Admittedly, making it tougher to get up and motivated. But as a thru-hiker I¢¦ did. Then everyone started to stir; sometimes it just takes one sucker (me) to get the others going. Then amazingly, the rain stopped and I headed up the trail saying farewell to the new faces. ¢Dad¢s Grin¢ is out for six weeks to answer his own post thru-hike adjustment from ¢05. When I introduced myself as Postcard, his face lit up and said he loved my last journal and wanted the book. (Ahh, Gee wiz) Next out were ¢Master Plan¢ and Mike, who just became ¢Mystic¢ since he carries incense and a flute. They both caught me about two hours out and then we leap-froged one another all day as we summited Blood Mountain, the highest on the Georgia portion of the AT. Cold, gray and sunless dominated the day, more far blue mountains, that is until we hit the summit of Blood Mountain. Almost like a gift of accomplishment, the clouds parted, the sun broke through and all became right with the world. Sometimes you just have to hike to better weather. So tomorrow, the three of us are hiking out as a trio to Blue Mountains and a forecast of beautiful weather
Date: 2006-04-09
From: Walasi-Yi Center

To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: clear sky

I woke to the dark, cellar-like hostel that is the Walasi-Yi Center sleeping area. It¢s a nice place, but when the lights are out, dark takes on new meaning. That¢s where a headlamp is so valuable.Mystic followed my lead and dragged all his gear out to the common room, Master Plan then emerged too. Everyone else¢¦ deep in sleep. It was 31 degrees when I started up the first mountain, candidly, my fingers were not happy about being gloveless in the 20-degree wind-chill. As the ascent led me up (that¢s redundant) I met the sun and its welcome warmth. Not a cloud in the sky. This was going to be a spectacular day. The guys caught up and we took a nice break at the cliff vista at CowrockMost of the trail today was rocky. For some reason, those wobbly, rolly demons of the Georgia section had been erased from all recollection. They apparently didn¢t like being forgotten and spent the day punishing my oversight. Wonderfully though, my muscle memory in my legs started to come back.Blue Mountain Shelter is notorious for being a cold stopover. It sits on top of Blue Mountain where it catches even the most meager of breezes. So it could be quite frosty. (Good practice for The Smoky¢s.) But we do have an impressive fire going to warm things up. The sun has just dropped below the mountain line and hikers are turning in as ¢hikers midnight¢ is rushing in. It was a big mileage day for being only day 4, but the feet and legs are doing great. Only pain I have is in my butt from sitting on this fireside log to journal write. A bit nippy out, think I¢ll grab my micro-puff and just stare in to the hot coals. Good night all!
Date: 2006-04-10
From: Blue Mountain Shelter

To: Deep Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: clear sky

What a brutal day of ups. The three villains are named Rocky Mountain, which it was but not more than the others. Tray Mountain, which isn¢t flat like a tray at all, and Kelly Knob, who obviously has had her knob augmented to be a bigger knob than I remembered. Nuts. And what a tough tough day. It¢s not how many miles you do in a day, its what those miles are that determines so much.Master Plan headed out first on this most frosty of mornings. He and his 15-pound pack had focused on a large day into Hiawassee. Mystic and myself felt that his pace was getting us to rush too much too early in this journey. So at the first sunny vista, we dropped our packs and lounged in the beautiful limitless blue sky. Just what I needed, the knee (left) has been telling me it¢s not too happy about another thru-hike. I hate not being 100%, but sometimes its temporary, you just have to go on until it toughens up¢¦ hopefully. But it¢s got me fretting a bit since nothing ever happens to me physically, a trend I¢d like to continue.Arriving here at Deep Gap, I learned that an old AT friend ¢Damp Dan¢ who showed me so much kindness along with his wife Mary on my ¢04 thru-hike, is out here. Only a day ahead of me. So it won¢t be long and I¢m sure we¢ll connect. Between villain #2 and Villain #3 was a stand of the most wicked looking trees. These oaks (?) looked as if they¢re scraggly limbs had plucked unsuspecting hikers as they passed right off the trail. They¢re then lifted and dropped into the trunk and swallowed. By the looks of them, several lumpy oaks were still digesting them. Thankfully (for us) the trees were all full and happy and let us pass without consequence. Which might explain why we saw no one on the trail until reaching the shelter. It¢s been my observation in life that when you can avoid being swallowed by a lion, tiger or tree, it¢s a good day!Tomorrow, its into Hiawassee for my first shower on day six, and of course real town food. (I need meat. Hot, charred, delicious meat!)
Date: 2006-04-11
From: Deep Gap Shelter

To: Hiawassee Inn
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: clear sky

There was a huge difference in temperature between last night, which was down in a hollow (or haller, if yer frum tha south) and the night before on a summit. Must have been ten to fifteen degrees warmer?True to form, I was first out with Mystic close behind. We left a shelter of sleeping hikers in our wake. It was nice knowing that the day would be no longer than 3.5 miles down to the road where I¢d pull out, stretch out my ¢Hiker to Town¢ bandana that had served me so well before. But alas, it took over 30 minutes till Phyllis pulled over to pick us up. She says she always likes to help out the hikers ¢ God Bless You, Phyllis!The caretakers of the Hiawassee Inn are still as nice as they were two years ago. A great place to crash. They¢ll be shuttling us up to a steak place at six, so that¢s what¢s for dinner. But the true point at hand is what¢s for breakfast? (Glad you asked) Up to Hubble House for three eggs, two orders of bacon, hash browns, biscuits with butter and a side order of biscuits with sausage gravy. A large OJ and coffee. Yummy, how long till lunch?After a stop at the local grocery store, I came back to the motel where I found a scale. Seems the last 66.6 miles, not counting The Approach have sucked ten pounds off me. Hallelujah!The knee is tender, sort of, but this day of rest is good timing. It¢s actually called a ¢nero¢ which means ¢near zero day¢.On the way to breakfast, Mystic and I spotted Master Plan heading for us. He quickly apologized for pushing on and then went on to explain that he really wasn¢t planning on pushing on farther than our plan, it was simply a case of being smitten by a pretty smile.Apparently as he approached last nights sign to the shelter, just opposite it were two wonderful, attractive trail nymphs that waved ¢hi¢. Being a healthy male who¢s just spent a week in the woods, that apparently touched a nerve, if you call it a nerve. Anyway, Master Plan walked right by the shelter sign in a wonderful fog of smitten ness only to realize later (2 miles later) he passed it. Ah, Spring! Love is in the air. See, I told you. You just never know do you.We¢re glad to see him again; the trail does have a way of making people disappear. Tonight we¢re all sharing a room and head out tomorrow to pass one of the milestones of a thru-hike ¢ The first state line!
Date: 2006-04-12
From: Hiawassee Inn

To: Standing Indian Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: overcast clouds

When we were dropped off back at the trailhead, we pretty much spent the whole day climbing. It starts with a little up, then followed by another, only later to be joined by a medium up. The trail however was one of smooth dirt and forest mulch ¢ nice on the soles.Unfortunately those ups don¢t stay up, they go down into areas called ¢Gaps¢, which just means your going to go back up again. A little or a lot at times, but always UP.At roughly three hours and thirty minutes of these ups, downs, gaps and back ups, I came to a small plank of wood attached to a trailside tree. On it was four letters and a separating bar. Engraved in the plank was N C / G A it was the first Stateline on the Appalachian Trail. All of Georgia is now to my south, all of North Carolina is to my north and that is where I now write. Welcome to North Carolina everyone. Truly one of the most exciting milestones for a first timer is their first Stateline, it says I¢m doing it, I¢m making it. (What ya know, maybe I can do it?!) We¢re now in the formidable Nantahala mountains, a rugged stretch of peaks and trails that lead us for many days to the southern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but that¢s getting ahead of it. The Nantahala¢s bring us up to much higher elevations such as tonight. Here at this shelter we¢re sleeping at 4760 feet, which is higher than Blood Mountain back in Georgia. Others a day or two ahead will be up at 5000. Constant though are the giant Rhodendrum tunnels down in their valleys. Quite impressive and unusual to walk through, they can turn a normal sunny day into some amazing darkness. It seems I¢m the only one still up (9:43 pm) So I bring this to a close.Good Night from North Carolina of the A.T.
Date: 2006-04-13
From: Standing Indian Mountain Shelter

To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Another gorgeous weather day, great luck.   Eight days and haven¢t been rained on yet.It was such a smooth trail with only the one nasty climb of Albert Mountain¢¦ where I took a snooze on the summit.   It was one of those days where I was able to snap the hiking sticks together and just walk this winding pathway. As a result my mileage today was more typical of a month farther in the hike.The best part of reaching this full shelter and all its younger hikers was I caught Damp Dan. We hadn¢t seen each other since that nice dinner he and Mary treated me to in Manchester, Vermont.   It was great to sit and chat with him, but not while he used his stinky stove fuel called Espit. (PU!)The crowd here is twenty-something and fun and full of energy. It seems all seven, or is it eight or nine of them are heading into Franklin for goodies. So are my two hiking buds, Mystic and Master Plan, but they plan on getting mail drops and hitching back out to meet me that night.Tonight¢s entertainment came at the expense of a wonderfully sweet dog-named Toby. His owner in an effort to keep Toby warm during the rain has a special designed canine rain-slicker for him. As a practice run-through, she put it on Toby to model it, which brought the house down with laughter. Toby looked like ¢little yellow riding hood¢ in his high-tech garment.   And brave Toby just tolerated all our fun.   At least he¢s tried it on and is ready when it comes, which it most assuredly will, but hopefully our great string will continue¢¦ cross your hiking sticks on that!