morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-03-28
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I¢ve started the trip early today. My flight to Atlanta was at 7:10 so it was an early start. Thanks to Memo for getting up and being ready to leave the house before 5. The day was uneventful and I eventually arrived in Franklin NC in the middle of the afternoon. The package of food and fuel that I¢d mailed myself was at the hotel waiting for me. I don¢t seem to have forgotten anything, but definitely am starting with too much food.  I¢ll do my best to eat steadily.Everything fits in the pack but the bear canister I¢m taking this time sure takes up a lot of space. And once I pack stuff around the canister it seems like my pack is ready to burst like a balloon. I¢ll have to resdistribute a bit and use more space above the canister. The weather is lovely in Franklin, in the low 60s with clear beautiful blue skies. Weather on the trail looks good till Sunday when it turns cold and wet. There may be snow on Tuesday. I start at Winding Stairs Gap tomorrow morning and head south, repeating a section I did six months ago.  The Gainesville Gang got on the trail well south of me today and are heading north.  I¢m planning to stay at the Long Branch Shelter tomorrow night. I recall it was a very nice shelter, but I¢ll probably tent until the weather turns wet. It¢s a little over 7 miles from Winding Gap so should be a relatively easy day.  The terrain will be largely uphill but not steep.  On Saturday I¢ll continue south and meet up with the Gainesville Gang if all goes well and we will likely end up back at the Long Branch Shelter Saturday night.  I¢m going to sign off and acquire some dinner. There¢s a Taco Bell just down the road from my hotel calling my name.
Date: 2019-04-01
From: Wayah Bald

To: Big Branch Campground
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: clear sky

We all slept long and well at the Comfort Inn. Machete kept us on track and we met for bfast around 6:30. I was a little late. I was really hungry and ate my fill, including 3 boiled eggs which I seemed to be craving. It was really cold this morning when we went out to the cars. We think it was in the low 20s. I felt ok with my winter gear and would be comfortable camping/hiking in this. We are little behind where we need to be as we have rooms booked at the Nantahala Outdoor Center on Tuesday night so we started off at the Wayah Bald Firetower. It was a 45 minute drive from the hotel. We arrived at 9:30 and enjoyed the glorious views. It was even colder up there as we were several thousand feet higher in the mountains, easily in the teens. Some folks had camped up there. BrrrrrrrrWe started down the trail around 10:00 and had a wonderful downhill hike for the next two miles. Along the way we saw beautiful ¢ice blossoms¢ for much of the day. These were ice formations that seemed to be growing out of the ground forming long thin crystals. There were so many of them. The last I saw was around 2:00 so they lasted a long time. Taya (aka Willow) earned a new trail name today - ice Breaker as she seemed to stumble into the ice blossoms a lot today.The skies were such a beautiful blue today. And so clear. We are expecting clouds to come in tonight and it¢s not going to be as cold. Probably just below freezing. There is a slight chance of light snow just before dawn.  We stopped for lunch around 12.  There were some good climbing trees and Beast and Ice Breaker were soon scrambling like monkeys on the trees  The hiking was wonderful today and the views were glorious. We planned to stealth camp at an unofficial campsite that was reported to have an iffy spring. So we loaded up with water at Cold Spring Shelter, 2.2 miles from the Big Branch Campsite. Water is heavy (2.2 pounds per litre). I¢ve really enjoyed needing (and carrying) less water since it¢s been so much cooler this trip. There were lots of people at Cold Spring Shelter so we rushed out to try to secure our spot at Big Branch Campsite. I was happy to take the lead and did the 2.2 miles in around 53 minutes. That¢s a quick pace in the mountains for me and not a pace I could yet sustain all day. But it felt good to turn on the speed for an hour. My cardio was good but the legs got tired. We were the second group to the campsite and got the best available sites. Unfortunately the sites are sloped. I realized when setting up my tent that I just have left the tent stakes in the hotel room. The room was very dark :(. I borrowed extras from some of the others and will be able to replace them while we are at the NOC. Dinner was hot and good. But I¢m weary and looking forward to crawling into the sleeping bag. It¢s 19:00 as I write this so not too late. It¢s really starting to cool off and get cold. We have a longer day tomorrow, over 9 miles till NOC. And it will be a cold start. The quote of the day was ¢I¢m all sewn up¢ - Said by Stitch. HahahahaSteps: 27,500Floors: 179 Total Distance: 25.1 miles
Date: 2019-04-03
From: NOC

To: NOC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Breakfast was simple, breakfast sandwiches. Several of the girls got packages that they¢d sent themselves. So, are packs are bursting with food. And we are actually dumping food that we have no room for and can¢t send back because we are leaving before the store opens where we can ship the stuff back. We visited the local outfitter to replace lost and broken gear. I¢d left my tent stakes in Franklin and I was able to replace them today.  We took the opportunity to go white water rafting at NOC today. It was an 8 mile class 1-3 river. It was a lot of fun. And Ice Breaker popped off the raft like a cork off a champagne bottle during the roughest part of the river.  We all had trouble finding room in the packs for everything as we packed this evening. Quote of the day is courtesy of Beast and Stitch: ¢Thank you Ma¢am¢ - then the loudest belch you could imagine....I¢m thinking of going to bed and Bear Bear is inviting me to watch her pop Giggles (Katie¢s) heel blister.  HmmmmmWe are back on the trail tomorrow and have to climb out of this deep gorge. Will be a strenuous day.  Steps: 12,000Floors: 55 (still a lot of up and down, at these were without the pack)
Date: 2019-04-04
From: NOC

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: broken clouds

We left NOC around 8:30 this morning after dumping/donating a lot of food. I think I¢m carrying enough food for at least 12 days and my 85L pack is bursting at the seams, and is heavy.  We were expecting temps in the mid 40s but it was much colder, so I dug into my pack for a sweater. Only to take it off after 20 mins of uphill walking on the trail. Our pace was steady but not fast. My left knee (the hyper-extended one) complained a bit this morning but was fine this afternoon. My right calf threatened cramping but calmed down. We met some folks on the trail. There was Sweet Caroline and Sailor from Tennessee. There was Culver from North Carolina. And then there was a family of four also from Tennessee.  The older one looked to be a teenager but the girl looked to be pre teen. They were going to pass close to their home but had no intention of stopping by the homestead. They were committed to doing the thru hike. We all wondered about school for the kids.  We arrived at Sassafras Gap Shelter around 2:30, pretty early.  We were tired from the uphill day. The forecast is for rain tonight and tomorrow. And it¢s pretty chilly. I decided to squeeze into the Shelter (hikers are packed in like sardines) while the others decided to tent. Time will tell if I made the right decision, I suspect the Shelter will be loud and disruptive. We had a good fire and a hot meal but were all getting cold as the afternoon progressed.  Tomorrow is more distance but should be less elevation gain.  The quote of the day came from this morning. Bear Bear has the reputation of having really revolting gas, often. She was telling the story how she went into a patients room in ICU and let one rip. She didn¢t to doing that and the thought he did, and exclaimed ¢It smells like I shit the air¢. HahahahaSteps: 25,000Floors: 332 (highest total so far)Total Mileage: 41.6 miles.
Date: 2019-04-05
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter

To: Brown Fork Gap
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I didn¢t sleep well in the Shelter with 15 strangers. But at least my stuff was dry. The Gainesville Gang (¢GG¢) didn¢t sleep well either. The space was tight and sloping. The rain started around 11:00 PM and continued till after dawn. There was chaos in the Shelter as folks got up and tried to eat and get organized and back on the trail. I wasn¢t ready till 9:30, really late. Some of the GG weren¢t ready until 10:30 and we left shortly thereafter. We weren¢t the last to leave. We started with a 700¢ climb over the first mile. I felt strong and did the climb at a 1.5/hour pace. Then I ran out of gas. The next hour was steeply downhill on a rough narrow trail. It was mud covered and very wet. It was treacherous. And after slipping badly a couple of times, I took a tumble down a slippery muddy rock, right off the trail. I got very muddy but wasn¢t hurt bad. It was exhausting to get back on the trail. I slowed down to avoid a repeat. The second hour, going down was at a 1.2 mile/jour pace, really slow and just a symptom of the trail conditions. Trail conditions improved though the terrain today was brutal. Lots of ups and downs. We hiked among the clouds (fog) till after 1:00. The sun peaked through as we climbed above the cloud deck. I saw Carver again today, he¢d also stayed in the Shelter. He recently retired from the Army after serving for 24 years. I also saw Janga a couple of times. I¢d met him in the Shelter. He helped me find a bag I¢d lost. Doppler (also named Steve) and his wife were also in the Shelter last night. They¢d left ahead of us. We saw them at a road intersection in the latter part of the trail today. Then again when Doppler¢s wife was returning (downhill) to retrieve water bottles they¢d forgotten.  I¢d been accustomed to being the strongest/quickest and arriving at camp first. Not today. Kay Kay, Eb, and Bear Bear all arrived before me. There was a 600-700¢ climb from the road intersection and I didn¢t think I was going to make it. My cardio was ok, but muscle fatigue was extreme. Tomorrow will be easier and hopefully I¢ll feel stronger. Today was a really sweaty day and my legs, close to my crotch got really chapped. They were painful much of the day. Hopefully tomorrow I can keep the area dry. There was a lot of elevation gain and loss today. And the quote of the day, said repeatedly by multiple people was ¢This isn¢t the top? WTF¢.  Steps: 33.000Floors: 282Total Mileage: 50.7 miles
Date: 2019-04-07
From: Brown Fork Gap

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We all slept well and the morning started cool but not cold. Fog rolled in before we left camp.  Bear Bear, Kay Kay, and Eb had camped 0.2 farther down the trail since the Brown Fork Campsite was tight and not very flat. Machete, Ice Breaker, Beast, Stitch and I went ahead and stayed at Brown Fork and made the best of it.  We were on the trail around 9:30 and met up with the rest of the crew. We did our daily picture and headed out.  The trail today gave us a bit of everything without too much of anything. There were steep slippery downs, there were steep and gentle ups, there were big boulder fields, and lots of gentle slopes. It was probably 75% down today. Everyone hiked well and we were glad the day was pretty easy. I felt better than the last two days but still am surprised by the depth of fatigue I¢m feeling. At this point last fall I was much stronger. Now that it¢s warmed up and I¢ve started really sweating my legs have painfully chafed. I¢ve been using Kay Kays A&D ointment lavishly today and it seems to have helped the chafing from getting any worse.  We saw some familiar faces today, Carver, Slim, and another Cowboy. We arrived at Cable Gap Shelter around 2:00, after going 6.1 miles. It was a lovely short day. Our pace was good. Kay Kay found us a great campsite where we could all be together, by a stream, and with a fire pit. We set up camp leisurely and started a fire around 4:30.  We avoided the smoke and ash as best we could. We boiled water and ate hot meals around 5:30 and kept the fire going till dark. It started getting chilly as the sun went down and some of the Gang started heading to bed. I¢m not far behind. I¢m listening to the gurgling of a small waterfall next to my tent as I write this.  We will arrive at Fontana Dam tomorrow afternoon. The GG will come off the trail as well. I¢ll be back on my own again. I¢ll stay the night at the Lodge and do laundry and dry everything out that is wet (it may rain tonight). I have a decision to make as well. Do I tackle Smokey Mountain National Park or do I skip it and shuttle north around it. I have Shelter reservations In the Park, but the mileage I have to do each day feels out of reach given the fatigue I¢m feeling. An option is to arrange a shuttle that takes me north of the park, and then I can hike at my own pace without worrying about not being able to make a long day and reach my designated Shelter in the Park. I¢ll make the decision on Sunday evening. As 8:00 approaches it¢s chilly and I¢m heading to my tent. There¢s no cell service so I¢ll post this on Sunday when I can. The nice thing about posting this later is that I get to add things I¢d forgotten. For instance on Friday I forget to add that during one of the times I slipped, one of my hiking poles flexed do far I was sure it would snap. But thankfully it did not. Quote of the Day: ¢Sometimes you have to clean your hooha and then burn it¢Steps: 26,000Floors: 114Total Mileage: 56.8 miles.
Date: 2019-04-08
From: Fontana Dam

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 0.0

I saw Carver, Slim, Cowboy, and Guitar Man at breakfast. I was surprised as I thought they were a day ahead of me. They¢d taken a zero yesterday and were heading into the trail after breakfast. A miserable day for muddy hiking as it¢s rained most of the day. And is still raining as I write this. A young woman came up to one of the hiker tables at bfast and started chatting. She was explaining how she had too much food and that made her pack too heavy. And these had been the two most miserable days of hiking due to that. I think some of my struggle has been just that, my pack is too heavy. Shoutout thanks to Bear Bear for taking my bear canister and surplus gear and mailing it back to me. I hope the reduction in weight helps me. I saw various other hikers arriving throughout the day. I didn¢t know any of them. While doing laundry (way across Fontana Village) I met Johnny Be Good, who lives up in Maine. He was doing his second thru hike on the AT. The previous one was in 2016.  I waited as long as could for it to stop raining but eventually gave in and walked to the only place serving Dinner in Fontana Village. There I saw some familiar faces as well, Jango, Doppler and his wife. They¢d all taken a zero today due to the weather. All were planning to get back on the trail tomorrow. I saw Jango and Doppler again as I went back to the lodge. I learned that Jango and I share a birthdate (I¢m five years older). He was kind to me when I spent my first night in the Shelter several days ago and I¢m thankful I keep running into him.  I¢ve arranged for a ride to Davenport Gap, at the northern edge of Smoky Mountain National Park. The earliest they could pick me up is noon, and I should be on the trail by 2, hopefully sooner. I¢ll either stay at a campsite 5 miles in or stealth camp somewhere along the way if it is getting late. I¢ve rested a lot today, but am sore and still feeling run down. I did do some yoga to help with the soreness and will go to bed early tonight and sleep late tomorrow. At breakfast, I heard the quote of the day from from a youngish (compared to me) man who had hiked his last day on the AT. He was coming off the trail for good after completing over 160 miles. He told a fellow thru hiker he¢d been with for a while ¢I don¢t know what I was looking for....but I didn¢t find it.¢  I think the truth is that he hadn¢t found it yet. I hope he does. Steps: 8,000Floors: 27
Date: 2019-04-09
From: Davenport Gap

To: Stealth Camping
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: moderate rain

I got on the trail right at 2:00 (really a late start) and headed off. As is typically for a ¢Gap¢, it¢s a local low point. Davenport is really low with an elevation of less than 1,500¢ so it was no surprise that I went uphill, and uphill, and uphill.  I reached my first potential campsite around 4:00 after gaining 1,400¢ in elevation. It was a nice location on a rushing stream. Two hikers were already camping there. One was sleeping in the sun. The other was a young woman named Double Stuffed (because she carries two coats). It was early for me to stop so I kept going, uphill, and uphill, and uphill. The temperature was in the 70s and I was really sweating a lot, like drenched. I was able to stay hydrated but I¢m thinking I want to get an early start tomorrow morning with a plan to hike more in the cooler hours and sit out the warmest hours. I started looking for places to camp after 5:30 and soon found one. At this point I¢m around 4,000¢ in elevation. The location has a nice breeze, is close to the trail and has cell coverage - works for me. I set up camp, cooked dinner, hung my bear bag and was in my tent before 7. One hiker passed me while I was eating dinner but I didn¢t see anyone else.  It¢s gotten much cooler as the sun is going down and I¢m about to get in my sleeping bag in order to stay warm.Tomorrow will be a longer, harder day, but at least I¢ve done a lot of elevation today that I won¢t have to do tomorrow. Steps: 19,000Floors: 266 (that¢s a lot for less than 4 hours hiking). Total Mileage: 67.3 miles
Date: 2019-04-14
From: Stealth Camping

To: Tanyard Gap
Miles today: 2.4
Weather: overcast clouds

The rain had held off during the night. But the radar was looking pretty grim with lots of storms looming today, with more coming during the night and Sunday. I reached out to my shuttle driver and he was available to pick me up at 12 if I backtracked to Tanyard Gap. I went ahead and made the decision to backtrack and get off the trail a day early before the deluge really hit.  I had time to leisurely pack up and enjoy the morning and the site. My campsite was around 30¢ uphill from the trail, set back a ways. I noticed hikers walking by as I was eating breakfast and they didn¢t see me. When you¢re walking on the trail you¢re normally watching closely where you step, not looking up or off the trail unless there is a view to see. It was strange to watch people walk by and not interact with them. I read for a while and listened to the wind and birds around me. It was a lovely way to spend the morning. After a while I finished packing up and returned to Tanyard Gap.  While waiting for my shuttle driver I met a couple of day hikers. One was a young woman with a happy dog. She said this was her dogs favorite day and that they went for a hike once every weekend.  I got picked up and had an easy, rain filled, drive back to Asheville, NC. I booked a flight back a day early, did laundry, scrubbed myself good, had a big dinner at a local artisan pizza place, and am ready to come home and jump back into normal life. I miss my friends and family and my dog!It will be a busy week as I leave on a business trip to the ME, India, and Czech Republic right after Easter. And thus concludes another grand backpacking adventure. Total Miles: 107 miles.
Date: 2019-05-10
From: Station at 19e Hostel

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 8.8

I got out late today, but I knew I wasn¢t going far. I spent the morning organizing. Yesterday I organized my food bag, but today I needed to organize my pack. We went to a bakery in town for breakfast and that was delicious. I had some treats from friends at home sent to me at the hostel and we shared those last night and for lunch; they were awesome! Prometheus got out around 12 and I headed out around 1:30. I made good time and got to the shelter with plenty of daylight left. It was all climbing to get there of course, but I passed by two waterfalls! And the mile marker for 400!! That was so exciting. I stopped there for a bit and a guy named FKZ showed up. His name stands for ¢fastest known zero¢ because he was making jokes about beating the fastest known time on the AT and would not be able to beat it. He took a picture for me and sat for a bit. A girl named Kidney also showed up. She got her name from having kidney stones and having to get off trail. Kidney headed on with me to the falls, and we convinced FKZ to join us. He was hesitant about stopping for things like that if it was off trail, but we convinced him. It was worth it! It was a pretty waterfall. It looked like you could walk up it, and I kept thinking Prometheus must have done that earlier today because he loves adventure like that. I headed on in front of Kidney and we got to a little lake, which was also pretty. Kidney didn¢t stop and kept going, but I stopped for a pic. It was not as beautiful as those balds, but today offered some nice attractions on the trail. I hiked along and the trail started to climb, so kidney slowed down. I passed her and powered through the uphill; I wanted to get to the shelter. There was another waterfall, but it wasn¢t nearly as pretty. The shelter was really cool. It was three stories!! I was originally going to set up on the second level, but I looked up in the third-floor loft and it was cool. Prometheus and Hot Sauce were staying up there so I joined. Prometheus made a fire so we all ate our meals and hung out around the fire. We all didn¢t want to hang our bear bags because we were in the loft and a bear wouldn¢t come up there, but Prometheus decided to hang them anyway. He fiddled around with my rope for a while, trying to hang a line for us to put our bags on, but it didn¢t work, so we just did a normal hang elsewhere down the trail. We put four bags on one line and it was ridiculously heavy. We all pulled and were able to get it up, but it was a lot. It was my food, Prometheus¢ food, 25-Mile¢s food, and Speedy Queen¢s food. Hot Sauce ended up putting hers in the loft in the shelter.It was dark by the time we finished that, so we all headed to bed. It was a nice day today, but not as wonderful as the past few days. It¢s great to be with Prometheus again, although Hot Sauce has been pretty chilly with me, so I¢m not sure she¢s happy about me resolving things with Prometheus. I¢m happy to at least be with the group and enjoy these times together. Little Debbie