morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-09-14
From: East B Hill Road, Andover, ME

To: Hiking While Sick
Miles today: 10.1

I slept restlessly in the bunk room at the hostel. My stomach did not feel well. I had drunk ice tea during supper. The caffeine in the tea might have been acting as a stimulant.When I woke up, I did not feel well, but not so bad that I could not hike.The Post Office in Andover, Maine did not have my errant drift box. They told me to check if the box was stored over at the Post Office in East Andover. That Post Office opened at 10:30 a.m., too late for me to wait on a hiking day.I purchased trail food at two pricey general stores. There are no supermarkets in this rural town. Then Earl, the co-owner of the hostel, drove me back to the trailhead.Although I felt under the weather, the actual weather was cool and dry¢ideal for hiking. I had showered and my clothes were freshly laundered. And then I crapped in my underwear. Actually, I was hiking when I experienced a mild case of the runs.After it happened, I detoured off the trail, unshouldered my backpack, and reached for the toilet paper. What a lousy way to start a hike.Things got worse. Back on the trail, I experienced some mild nausea and felt weak. Fortunately, the terrain for most of the day was not as grueling as in past days.I tried to take my mind off of the ailments that I was experiencing, especially the potential for another episode of the runs. On the trail, piles of moose scat provided me with reminders about my condition.On two occasions, groups of thru hikers I am acquainted with passed me heading southbound. They were actually north bounders who were slack packing for the day. They had been shuttled to a road crossing and were hiking south because the elevation changes were favorable in that direction. They would be picked up at another location and spend the night in a hostel.Some of them wore day packs. Two of them wore no packs at all. They passed me looking relaxed and not tired. They greeted me with a greeting like "Hi. How are you?"What was I supposed to say, that I felt lousy, had the runs, and felt like puking? Instead, I smiled and said something upbeat.I ate a light lunch in the boreal forest near the summit of Wyman Mountain (2,495 feet). It was mossy and quiet in the woods. The thought occurred to me that when this journey ends, I am going to miss the constant exposure to these beautiful areas. As I compose this entry, I am located 246 miles from the terminus of the trail on Mount Katahdin.Late in the afternoon, I climbed out of Sawyer Notch on the slope of Moody Mountain. The climb of 1,400 feet was straight up for most of the way; it had me exhausted.I have made camp near a rural road crossing. A wide brook is flowing between my camp and the road.My digestive ailments are not as acute as earlier. My appetite is missing and I will eat only a snack before heading into the hammock. The food will hopefully help me to stay warm in the sleeping bag. The nights are getting colder.I sure hope that a long sleep will cure my ailments.
Date: 2004-09-26
From: Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to, ME

To: Mother Nature's Clock
Miles today: 9.0

I got up at 5:30 a.m., the crack of dawn. In approximately one hour, I had cooked an oatmeal breakfast, packed my gear, and hit the trail.I have been living in the woods for over five months. My bio rhythms are attuned to Mother Nature's clock. As soon as it gets dark, around 7:00 p.m., I am ready to fall asleep. I turn out the headlamp as soon as the journal entry for the day is composed.It is important that I get up early. There are fewer daylight hours in which to hike.The hiking was relatively easy today. There were small ups and downs, some flat sections, and the usual chokepoints of rocks, muck, and roots. I forded the east branch of the Piscataquis River. The crossing was an easy one.The autumn colors are starting to blaze alongside ponds, rivers, marshes, and other bodies of water. In the woods, most of the leaves are still green. I hiked nine miles to Route 15 near Monson, Maine. I began hitching a ride to that town with the intention of resupplying and staying for a night at a hostel called Shaw's Lodging. By coincidence, Mr. Shaw himself, driving a large car, pulled into the parking spot at the trailhead. There thru hikers Slimer and T-Bott emerged from the vehicle. They were getting back on the trail after staying at the hostel. I chatted with them for a few minutes. I asked Slimer where his brother Gather was hiking. He told me that Gather was one or two days back.Mr. Shaw, an elderly man, drove me to his hostel. There I ran into Hans, the chess player, plus a few other thru hikers. I purchased supplies in town and ate a hearty supper at the hostel. Tomorrow the hike continues. There are 114.5 miles to the summit of Mount Katahdin.
Date: 2004-09-28
From: Wilson Valley Lean-To

To: Misty Mountains
Miles today: 15.6

On this second day in the 100 Mile wilderness, the hiking was again strenuous.During the morning, the trail followed beside some wide and rocky streams. One of them included a waterfall.I ascended Barren Mountain (2,672 feet), the first of four mountains.The ascent was steep and rocky. On the way up, a spur trail on led me to some exposed ledges. The view was exceptional. A white mist had enveloped most of the forest and nearby mountains. The ridge of a nearby mountain rose above this white shroud. The base of Barren Mountain, visible from these ledges, was situated on the edge of the mist. On the trees down there, some colors of autumn foliage¢orange and yellow¢seemed to dissolve into the white veneer.I left my backpack at the ledges and walked back to the Appalachian Trail. I wanted to leave a note about this spectacular view to Hans, who was hiking behind me. He showed up when I reached the Appalachian Trail.When I returned to the ledges with Hans, the mist had broken up, but the view was still a good one, with a lake, mountains, and a vast forest.Hans and I hiked together during the afternoon. Sometimes we would walk and converse with each other. There were periods when we would drift apart and meet up at other viewpoints or rest spots.While descending a mountain, we heard a nearby coyote howling. We walked quietly after that, hoping to spot the animal, but it proved elusive.I have a special affection for the forests located in the passes between these mountains. A thick moss covers the ground. There are open spaces between the spruce trees.We ended up at Chairback Gap Lean-To; it is occupied by three other hikers and a dog.It was difficult hiking over fifteen miles in this rugged terrain. The extra heavy backpack also contributed to my fatigue. I wondered why I was pushing myself so hard. There are less than one hundred miles of hiking remaining to reach the summit of Mount Katahdin. Why not slow down and enjoy this wild and beautiful region?A part of me does want to slow down. The weather has been good. The scenery has been great. The foliage of autumn is appearing. The insects are no longer a problem. I am hiking in a wild area. There are moose to see during the day and loons and coyotes to serenade me to sleep at night. But there are also worries in the back of my mind. I worry about the possibility of Mount Katahdin closing early due to extreme weather on the summit; it has happened before. I worry about the possibility of sustaining a trip ending injury. I worry about rainy weather systems moving in. The longer I remain on the trail, the greater the possibility of a mishap occurring. And I am becoming tired, physically and mentally, from the demands of the trail. I am anxious for an end to this constant pressure.Tomorrow, there will be a few more mountains to climb. After that, the elevations will drop until the final day of hiking on Mount Katahdin. I am thinking about slowing up the pace.
Date: 2004-03-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

On May 18, 2004, I completed a 622-mile section hike of the Appalachian Trail, walking from Springer Mountain to Pearisburg, Virginia, 80-odd trail miles south of Roanoke. In the two weeks since my parents, who live outside of Roanoke, plucked me from the AT, I have not regained full feeling in my toes, or the supple use of my knees, my Achilles tendons still stiffen at night, and I am 30 pounds lighter than when I left, at least for the moment. I am posting my full trail journal for the information of family and friends. While many hikers update their journals continuously as they walk, providing regular progress reports, I wrote mine up after my hike was completed, working with trail notes, maps, and with other published data, particularly "Wingfoot's" book. Considering I walked somewhat less than one-third of the AT's full length over only 58 days, it was fairly easy to piece this journal together.I completed the hike I had planned in the South, although I cancelled a section hike in New Hampshire and Maine because I felt I had to get back to work. Two months of hiking out of ten or twelve is a substantial block of time and I began to feel, as I walked, that I shouldn¢t do more. From the beginning I was a section hiker, even if my hiking calendar, with a mid-March beginning, mimicked that of many "thru-hikers." Many thru-hikers (strictly speaking, those going the whole distance) assumed I was one of them as I continued to turn up at shelters and in trail towns and to share most of their experiences. As a section hiker, I know some of what I escaped by not hiking on into the summer, especially heat and humidity, a lot more bugs, and the frequent threat of rain and lightning. I know that, as one hikes northward in the summer, water becomes scarcer and has to be carried, increasing pack weight. I also know that motels become more expensive as one hikes north. I¢m sure there are many good and bad things I would have encountered that I do not know about. My hike was what it was.
Date: 2004-03-22
From: Amicalola Falls State Park

To: Frosty Mountain
Miles today: 0.0

My wife Lee drove me from Champaign, IL, to Bloomington, IL (about 50 miles' distance) and I took a direct early-morning flight to Atlanta. My pack had been shipped UPS some days before to Wes Wisson in Suches, Georgia. From the airport I was soon on my way up to North Springs, following Wes¢s instructions. Wes was in a hurry because he had some people to move around along the trail. Our conversation in the truck mainly concerned what it took to walk the AT, and people he had had to rescue. I said I hoped not to see him again, at least I hoped not to need rescuing. Wes dropped me off at noon at Amicolola Falls State Park, where I signed in behind two young women (sisters, as it turns out) whom I came to know as Heidi and Holly. Before arriving, I had intended to walk one mile in the wrong direction to the "Under the Hemlocks" campground, but today I found I was eager to start walking the 8.8-mile approach trail to the AT trailhead atop Springer Mountain. I extracted my pack, somewhat battered, from the box it was shipped in and filled my Platypus bladders with water. Without further ado I labored up the approach trail. Not long afterward I was exchanging banalities with (or imposing them on) Heidi and Holly as they passed me. Passing me was something they would do often at first, and permanently not so many days after our hikes began.It felt good climbing the approach trail until Frosty Mountain, which was a hard climb, and, afraid that dark would fall before I could set up camp, I found a site on the north side of the mountain. In retrospect, I should have pushed on to the top of Springer Mountain and met the hikers who had set out the same day -- the members of my class, so to speak.
Date: 2004-03-23
From: Frosty Mountain

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: clear sky

An early four-mile hike brought me to the plaques and the register atop Springer Mountain by 10:15. Yellow flowers had been laid on the plaque bearing the U.S. map. I photographed the plaques and signed the register, dedicating the hike to my wife Lee, ¢who let me do it.¢ Who let me do some of it. A couple with a dog appeared as I changed from boots to sandals. Because of hotspots on my feet produced by my boots, I would wear my canoeing sandals throughout most of the hike in Georgia. Beginning at 10:30, I had an easy descent to the road from Springer and I stopped for lunch at the Stover Creek Shelter at noon. At this shelter, two friendly undergraduates from a college in Alabama informed me they were spending the night there with their friends. I take hints well, and anyway, it was too early to quit hiking. I was soon off to Hawk Mountain Shelter. Not long after leaving Stover Creek Shelter, among the thick rhododendrons, I was being passed by ¢Kat¢ (who would come to be called ¢Catdog¢) and her dog. She was moving fast. Sometime later I was catching my breath when I was passed by another strong hiker, a woman who came to call herself ¢Lonesome Dove.¢ Already I was beginning to think of myself as a hiking geezer. By late afternoon I had propped my pack against a tree and walked ahead about a quarter mile. Where was the @&%& Hawk Mountain shelter? My sense of distance needed calibration. I came back to my pack, put it on, and continued walking, and it was not too much longer before I came upon on a group tent-camping. I couldn¢t see the shelter, but I stumbled in and found myself talking to a friendly group of what I took to be Amish. (I was told later they were English Baptists.) They told me to go a little further and by 4:00 p.m. I was at the shelter and in another sea of tents. I set up my tarp near an older couple from Texas and spoke with them and then had my first talks with ¢Homer,¢ a lone hiker from Memphis, who was also tarping.
Date: 2004-03-24
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: few clouds

This was the day I met ¢Cruise Control.¢ I met him at the Gooch Mountain Shelter, where I set up my tarp on a rather private tent pad down to one side of the shelter. We met at the bear cables and talked for a long time, meanwhile greeting hikers as they came in and sometimes as they left. We agreed essentially about many things having to do with the nation¢s political condition. I noted that Heidi and Holly were there (¢Saltlick¢ referred them as the ¢Vermonsters¢) and saw Homer arrive.
Date: 2004-03-25
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Woods Hole Shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: scattered clouds

I had already gotten into the habit of breaking camp at dawn and eating breakfast on the trail. I thought this might seem rude, but I was hiking my own hike and that meant getting up at dawn and doing the only thing there was to do. Today I felt fast and strong, as compared, that is, with preceding days. It was about midmorning that I encountered Cruise Control talking to another hiker at a road beside some large trash receptacles. I was on my way through when Cruise Control advised me to empty my trash. Duh. As I dropped my pack and opened it to find my trash pouch, Cruise Control took off and I talked a bit with this hiker. Eventually he asked me why I was using a frame pack. I knew there was a prejudice against frame packs. I would develop one myself as I slammed into trees, got hung up on branches, and raked snow down my back. This hiker¢s objection was that frame packs were lightning rods. This was the first time I had heard this and, for the rest of the trip, it made me more timid about electrical storms than I would have been otherwise. But, he concluded, it was not his place to fault frame packs for being lightning rods because, he said, ¢I¢m a lightning rod myself.¢ At this point he raised his left leg to reveal his steel prosthetic device. So this was ¢One Leg.¢ I was to hear about him throughout my hike. And as soon as I got home, I was to see his image spread heroically across two pages in Backpacker magazine. I do think what he is attempting is monumental.I recall lunch under the brown eagles on what my map identifies as ¢Jacobs Knob.¢ Getting to Woods Hole Gape Shelter involved a one-mile hike off the trail in the wrong direction, and the tenting wasn¢t great. Why are the best tenting surfaces always under the bear cables? Anyway, Homer arrived later and joined me down the slope from the shelter. I cooked dinner on a log behind the shelter. The life of the party was somewhere up front, but the trail was to teach me nothing about imposing myself on strangers, at least when collected into a group. ¢Saltlick¢ was already becoming friendly, and Heidi and Holly no doubt registered my presence in their silent way. Tom, who was also at Hawk Mountain Shelter, left his water filter sitting at the spring half a mile along the blue-blaze trail from the shelter and I picked it up to take to the shelter, meeting him on the way. But I am as confused now as I was at other times during the hike: was there a Tom and a Saltlick ¢ were these different people? ¢ or were they the same person? Saltlick¢s real name is Steve. I don¢t know who Tom might have been, but maybe Saltlick does. In any case, I never saw "Tom" again, but I saw Saltlick a lot in the early days, and continued reading his amusing shelter register entries throughout the hike.
Date: 2004-03-26
From: Woods Hole Shelter

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 4.1
Weather: scattered clouds

The highlight of today¢s short walk, apart from reaching civilization, was walking over Blood Mountain. Walking with Homer, I asked how a battle could be waged between Native American tribes on this steep and rocky mountain. At the top, there were some gaps in the haze that revealed the view below. There was threat of rain as we came up and we donned rain gear and rain covers for the first time.Today was to be our first town day, and I hiked with Homer to Neels Gap. Homer had arranged to stay at an off-trail lodge and I was to stay at the hostel there at the Walasi-Yi Center. Saltlick, Lonesome Dove, and some others were already there. Cruise Control was reclining on a bench and I spent much of the day talking to him. Cruise Control had hiked the full AT before and was only going to Damascus this time around. Apart from hiking, he seemed intent on helping as many people as he could to get off to a good start. Neels Gap was my first experience of the inevitable routine: to shower, wash clothes, call home, and then browse the outfitting store and buy food. I learned from my wife that I needed to draft something requested by a panel organizer for a conference I was attending in December and decided to do that in the morning.I believe Lonesome Dove engineered the trip into Franklin to the Cookie Jar Restaurant for an all-you-can-eat. Anyway, I went in with the rest (Lonesome Dove, Saltlick, Heidi and Holly, Cruise Control, ¢Tree Frog,¢ and ¢High Trailer¢). I followed Cruise Control out early hoping to buy food at a supermarket across the highway. Cruise Control was quicker and more daring than me: I gave up the attempt and went back to sit on the bench at the door of the restaurant until our group gathered for the ride back to the hostel.
Date: 2004-03-27
From: Neels Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: clear sky

By 6:00 a.m. I was seated on a stone stairway writing up something for the December conference and I was soon dictating my draft to Lee at the payphone. Then I was stuck waiting for the store to open so I could buy the food I had failed to get the evening before in Franklin. My friends moved on and I hit the trail at 9:00. From Neels Gap there is a climb and then a descent and it was on the descent that I saw a grouse thumping his wings twenty yards away, which I thought a pretty amazing sight. I saw or heard many grouse during my hike. Always, when I reported these sightings, other hikers looked at me as if I had reported seeing a rhododendron. Today I saw the wildflower "blood root" for the first time. Otherwise, the March mountains were naked, which I actually liked, because it gave one wide views of the mountain one was walking on as well as of the mountains beyond.It was hard climb out of Hogpen Gap. I met a ridge runner halfway up. I made Low Gap Shelter by 3:00 p.m. and walked down the shelter. Cruise Control, who always slept in shelters, was busy talking to a group of young hikers who apparently had already taken up residence. Saltlick and one or two of the "Andys" were there, and Lonesome Dove was preparing to push on. I erected my tarp near a lone tenter, but we were soon overrun by a Boy Scout troop. At some point during the evening, their leader offered to advise me on hiking and camping.
Date: 2004-03-28
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: broken clouds

The scout leader had told me his group was ¢thru-hiking¢ to Unicoi Gap. I determined to get beyond that point, and this would not be the last time I would be propelled by my escape instinct. I was already becoming familiar with the junkos which were everywhere in the mountains, flitting and running around. I only wished that I knew what my birding friend Rob knew about bird calls and bird identification.I came to Lonesome Dove and Saltlick conferring together and charged up a blue-blaze trail. I had made the top before I saw the first blue blaze and then I charged back down. Lonesome Dove had followed me halfway up and so we both were forced to backtrack. This was the first of several instances when I was distracted by people into taking a wrong turn, or not turning when I was supposed to. At Unicoi Gap, as Heidi and Holly attacked the next incline, I walked down a forest road and camped by a stream.
Date: 2004-03-29
From: Unicoi Gap

To: Deep Gap Shelter
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: broken clouds

Today I crossed Tray Mountain, which reminded me of Blood Mountain. I saw Carolina warblers. I recall a hard climb at Double Spring Knob. I stayed at Deep Gap Shelter with Cruise Control, Andy from Texas, the Garland 5 (a family of five), High Trailer, and another woman I met at the spring coming in. ¢Nightwalker¢ was at the shelter when I arrived, but was soon off on his night walk. It rained during the night and slightly dampened the shell of my sleeping bag.
Date: 2004-03-30
From: Deep Gap Shelter

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: light rain

Cruise Control was out by first light, wrapped in his wet-weather gear. I left soon afterward in my rainsuit. Shortly thereafter I was wet from exertion condensation, because my Marmot jacket was not as breathable as one might hope and because I had forgotten to open the armpit zippers and the wrists. I made it to Dicks Creek Gap at Route 76, and prepared to hitchhike to Hiawassee. Although I could have walked to the Blueberry Patch Hostel, I wanted to be in town, which was much further away, to take a "zero" day and use the services. "Eric," a hiker I had met at least once earlier, joined me and together we tried to get a ride. The man from the Blueberry Patch was in twice there at the AT crossing to deliver hikers and promised on his second pass to let the Hiawassee Inn people know we were hoping for a ride. Ron, the Hiawassee Inn's owner, arrived soon, undoubtedly before he got that message, and drove the two of us on in, where I arranged to stay two nights. Eric and I went through the town routine more or less together.Back at the motel I tried entering the wrong room and that is how I met ¢Geezer¢ and ¢Turtle.¢ Saltlick and Lonesome Dove were in the room next to theirs. Homer arrived later in the afternoon.Today I went on my first real eating binge, beginning at Subway and concluding at an all-you-can-eat at Daniel's Restaurant, an establishment dedicated to Scarlett O'Hara.