morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-03-09
From: carter gap shelter

To: Walace Gap -rainbow springs campground
Miles today: 13.0

my back hurt last night and i tried to get out of my sleeping bag for some ibuprofen. i reached out the opening in my sleeping bag, grabbed the zipper tab and started pulling. not getting anywhere i thought, "these damn western mountaineering zippers always stick". katherine, lying next to me in the shelter, rolled into me briefly. i tried again and got the zipper moving and went for the vitamin I stash. in the morning, katherine asked me "why did you try unzipping my bag last night?""huh?" then it hit me. my bag is a right-zip and hers is a left-zip. we lie in the shelter side by side. when i reached out in the dark the first time i grabbed her zipper pull, not mine... and was fighting with it until she nudged me. all in the shelter broke out laughing when we realized what happened.today was probably the most fun i've had on the trail so far. i hiked with sugar daddy and deja vu for half the day and we laughed constantly and took lots of goofy pictures. today, just before we passed our 100 mile mark, it started snowing. the snow heightened our spirits and made the day more special.i really had a fun time laughing today and i noticed i don't do it that much in my life in CT. being silly heals painful feet, warms the freezing breezes, and makes friends of us all. laughter still may be the best medicine there is.
Date: 2004-03-10
From: Walace Gap -rainbow springs campground

To: campsite before licklog gap
Miles today: 13.6

i forgot to mention in the last entry that about 15 of us stayed in a yurt last night in the rainbow springs campground. i don't travel with all 15 hikers. my current group is about 5 people: wildcat, haiku, capt. hook, me, and moonpie (was katherine).about 8 others, including alex and g.g. (formerly arlene) travel together now. we all usually end up at the same camp at night.i've noticed when there's snow on the ground or very cold temps, we travel in groups. probably an instinctual thing. today we packed together because of both snow and cold.and brrrr is it chilly. it's 32* in my tent and it's not getting any warmer. my fingers are very cold as i type this. today we are not camped at a shelter area; we're in a snow covered campsite between shelters. because of the temperatures, i'm sleeping with my boots, contacts, and water bottle so they don't freeze and have a snickers bar nearby so when i wake up cold i can put more calories into my body. i'm very aware i'm making the choice to live this way, and i don't mind it. it's part of life hiking the AT in march.
Date: 2004-03-11
From: campsite before licklog gap

To: nantahala outdoor center (wesser, NC)
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

before i start today, i want to wish my dad a happy birthday. he is 70 today!it was a long one today. 16.7 miles with the last 7 miles going down 2900 feet. no wonder my left shin and heels hurt today. i am at the NOC today (weser, NC) and will be taking a zero day (no mileage) here tomorrow to rest my muscles and bones.i splurged for a cabin room while the other guys opted for the hostel/bunk bed accommodations. i wanted to have a lot of space to myself and needed to dry my tent and sleeping bag. kinda hard to do in a bunk house.i'm with wildcat, capt. hook, LWOP, and pez today. the rest of the crew should show up tomorrow. arlene is about a day and a half behind me.oh, anyone know where Grace is? could someone put Grace's last location/date on my guestbook? I haven't heard boo from her since she started.on trail today we had some interesting conversations on being productive members of society. moonpie was quite perplexed on her choice to do the trail. she felt like she's giving nothing back while the rest of the world works day after day. the conversation went in all directions including the nature of reality and living in the moment. we did not come up with anything that soothed our moonpie's concern. we will probably bring this up again tomorrow.two things for a good life: campfires and lying in the sun at last two times a day (unless your name is haiku, he burns)
Date: 2004-03-12
From: nantahala outdoor center (wesser, NC)

To: nantahala outdoor center (wesser, NC) 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

i'm taking a zero day today at the NOC. i had my second hot shower in 12 hours. this time wildcat kindly let me use the last of his shampoo since i'm not packing any. one thing that i wish i could find in hiker boxes is moisturizer. my skin gets really dry after a shower. and, it looks like i have my second sunburn on my nose and cheeks. (i did pack sunscreen, but did i use it?)wildcat and his wife are here and they dropped me at the market so i could resupply. the market would not have been an easy hitch. i recommend a mail drop here as the outfitter does not have much stuff. also check the hiker box in the 2nd floor bunkroom.wildcat also bought the group a 6-pack of guinness stout, the beer that drinks like a meal. haiku says all you need is guinness and a multi-vitamin. we'll have to test that out later.i ran back to the outfitter for some duct tape. they gave me a couple of feet for free. i hung out for a while and directed thru hikers to the sign-in office and told them where and when dinner was. a hiker, yesterday, did the same for wildcat, hook, and i. it really helps to get the lay of the land and know your time schedule (shower, wash clothes, dinner, outfitter) so you can get the most out of your stay.it seems interesting to me that i've not been able to get on the internet since i've been on the AT. either getting online didn't fit my schedule or the connection was down when a computer was available -- which is the case here at the NOC. that's all for today and i'd like to add a "thank you" to boyd for locating grace for me.
Date: 2004-03-13
From: nantahala outdoor center (wesser, NC) 

To: cheoah bald
Miles today: 8.2

today i got a late start as dragon slayer, jason, and betty and i took our time leaving the NOC cabin.   d.s. had to go mail a package so i started up the 8 mile upward stretch out of wesser at 10:30.on the way i met up with mello (a.k.a. alex) and ate lunch on grassy top. tonight we are staying on top of cheoah bald -- a 5000 footer with great views. the wind blows strong and our fire burns very quickly. i'm a little worried about my tent or the forest catching on fire. it is very dry out here and the wind is blowing embers pretty far. (my tent will probably smell like smoke tomorrow since it's in the line of fire.)huddled around the fire tonight are dragon slayer, mountan goat, jason, betty, bisquit, slim, talks with trees, and myself.
Date: 2004-03-14
From: cheoah bald

To: cable gap shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: few clouds

i was wondering today why we all have a hard time with the downhills vs. the uphill climbs. here's what i came up with:when i go uphill, i am gaining altitude. it feels good to summit a 4000 or 5000 footer. when i start downhill, it appears i am losing all that i just gained. today i found out i unconsciously associate the altitude loss with a personal feeling loss or lack.now, none of us want to feel loss or lack in our lives, so we unconsciously try to push away the sense of loss. this, though, messes up the cycle. you cannot have the flow (gain) without the ebb (loss).(i'm going to be using ebb and flow since those words are less polarized than gain and loss.)enter: hikers, ankles, knees, and feet.in order to move up the trail, we must go up and down all the time. if we just went up (the flow, but no ebb), soon it would be too cold to live and there would not be enough oxygen to breathe -- we would not be able to travel 2000 miles. so, we need the downhills to move forward. blocking the downhills leads to nowhere. back to this gain and loss. when the hiker goes down the mountain there is a sense of loss because he has just lost what he gained. if the hiker holds this in his mind, his muscles will tighten, friction will begin in his boots, and the flow disturbed. this same fear of loss is present in my life. once i have something i really like, i am afraid to let it go for fear that it will never reappear again. this clinging disturbs the flow and fights against the ebb of he wave. the ebb, in my perception, equates to loss or the possibility of experiencing a loss, so i resist it. my mind tries to control myself, people and/or situations to ensure what i want stays put."...the one human upset is the loss of the present [moment]" -jerry stockingresisting this flow on the downhills hurts. i have the painful feet to prove it.o.k. here's where thru hiking is cool. there's lots of chances and time to make corrections as i walk. (there appears to be more space to do this here than the normal work-home-sleep-repeat lifestyle, but that's just an illusion.)as i got the "ah ha!" with this ebb and flow idea, i now understood why my body and those of my compatriots take such a beating. the blocking of the ebb is showing up in my feet.i sat for a bit in the sun and contemplated this, not just for my current thru hike, but for many situations in my life. i could see the pattern of illusory loss that i was trying to protect myself from.refreshed from the break i put my boots back on and continued down the mountain, heading for stecoah gap. there was no pain in my feet. wow, i had done some real transformational work on my break. i now have a new way of experiencing the "loss" or ebb part of the cycle.and wouldn't you know, when i got to the bottom of that 600 foot drop, there was a bright orange tent with trail magic waiting. Ox ('97) and two friends provided soda, beer, donuts, oreos, oranges, strawberries, and chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm. nothing like 3.5 donuts, oreos, and some mountain dew to fire ya up the next mountain.
Date: 2004-03-15
From: cable gap shelter

To: fontana dam
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: light rain

i woke early and started getting my things together in anticipation of sleeping at the cozy hike inn tonight. soon everyone in the shelter started moving about... well except mike and pat, they always sleep late. dragon slayer, also wanting to get moving, came up from her tent spot with 'the boys', stove, pot, and oatmeal in hand.i usually eat granola bars for breakfast, (since i don't like cooking in the morning) but i was offered three spoonfuls of hot oatmeal from her pot -- no yogi-ing necessary. (yogi-ing is getting food, usually from strangers, without actually asking for it)tonight i'll be going into fontana dam to resupply, do laundry, town chores, etc. i'm staying at the hike inn which is excellent! nancy and jeff really know how to treat thru hikers right.
Date: 2004-03-16
From: fontana dam

To: mollies ridge shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: moderate rain

today i left the hike inn at 8:00 with lwop and harrier. nancy, from the hike inn, dropped the other two off at the dam and brought me to the post office. i sent my bounce box to hot springs and another flash card to my friend wally. nancy then dropped me at the dam so i could begin my journey into the great smokey mountains. and who would be there when i got dropped off? wildcat and swiss miss! i thought i wouldn't see wildcat for a few days since he took a few zero days. we both had to make phone calls so we went to the pay phone at the visitor's center. once there he hands me... small bottles of moisturizer and shampoo. i laughed. looks like he's been reading my journal for the past few days.we made our calls and headed up trail about 10am. thru hikers have to get through the smokies in 7 days or so. there's some kind of rules about traversing the park. today i'm loaded with 6 days of food, which is killing me since i'm already a bit too heavy. (my pack, that is, i still weigh the same as when i left)the 11 miles to mollies ridge shelter, gentler than what georgia and NC has thrown at us so far, was tiring me out. wildcat needed to go to the next shelter because he has to meet someone in 2 days. that's another 2.5+ miles and it's already 4pm. i sat in indecision for a while then told wildcat i'd catch him tomorrow. i just didn't feel right doing more miles today. with that, we shook hands and he pushed on to russell field shelter.my lack of energy today probably had something to do with my scattered and overly productive thoughts. there were so many as i hiked and i could not keep my focus in the here and now. talking with wildcat helped a lot, but when we were quiet my mind was churning out thoughts about the future:-will i be able to go to the next shelter? -will i ever see so-and-so again? -one or two zero days in hot springs?-now how do i find standing bear hostel?all this crap will take care of itself when the time comes. just as my buddy goldberry says, it will all work out. i'll put myself to sleep tonight knowing that the AT allows a certain sense of magic to make things work without any effort on my part. i just have to live in the here and now.
Date: 2004-03-18
From: silers bald shelter

To: gatlinburg
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: moderate rain

last night i woke the whole shelter with the fearful termination of a dream i was having. some in the shelter though it was a joke others felt concern that an animal or something was in the shelter. the worst part of the experience was the bleed-in from dreamtime, where i was falling into something, to where i was in the shelter - mummied-up in my down bag, unable to see or hear (earplugs) and on the top deck. this was a problem since i really could be falling off the top level. only when i pulled my earplugs and got an eye out the "blow hole" (the place you breathe out of in a mummy bag) did i get my bearings and know that the terror was just taking place in my dreamtime.hell, i freaked everyone out and was quite embarrassed by the whole thing. oh well, what can i do?our target for the day was mt. collins shelter, an easy 8 mile day. it turned out to be a 12.5 mile day to newfound gap followed by a 15 mile hitch in the back of a pick-up truck into gatlinberg. and i don't know who said it on trailforums.com, but gatlinberg definitely IS disneyland on acid. talk about overwhelming he senses of a guy who's been in the woods for over two weeks.we changed plans because of the weather. well, no, we changed plans because we were soaked and had the choice to sleep in a shelter and make all our stuff moist for the next five days or go into town, have a hot shower, and dry all our clothes by cranking the heat up to 80 while stuffing our faces with pizza. which would you choose? part of the flow of life is to be able to effortlessly change plans when things don't seem to be going the way you want. this requires a bit of flexibility and not getting caught up with the destination. yes, it's about the journey... more accurately, "the journey shouldn't suck". if we were all caught up in our plan for the day, we would be living/sleeping in continual dampness for five more days.the weather? ...started out fine with a bunch of snow. all that one needs to do is ventilate so they're not sweating up a storm and/or slow their pace to cut down perspiration.enter: wet and cold stuff blowing sideways as we near clingman's dome, the highest point on the AT (6643').now we're all wet and clammy - the skin on our fingers is white and shriveling up inside our soaked gloves. add to that a trail that looks like a river with ankle deep puddles. yummy. you're getting the picture?we don't stop to eat because we'll get cold. as long as we're moving, we're generating lots of heat to counteract the wet and cold. today the menu is snickers bars. (we eat them every day actually.   the only thing that's different today is no real lunch)never did we feel sad about our situation. we knew we could change plans if we wanted to. that might be part of he magic that is felt out here. that's all for today. time for another scary dream.
Date: 2004-03-19
From: gatlinburg

To: pecks corner shelter
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: clear sky

i spoke of reflections before... i see whatever is happening in the world as a reflection of myself. today i got a face full of things that i thought i was doing so well on. today i hiked with people who worried about things in the future, worried about time schedules, and never stopped talking.i felt my frustration at these hikers and had a hard time seeing these hikers as me. i haven't been consciously worrying about my schedule or having my mind go on and on about nothing. or, has it and i've just been ignoring it? when events come out in reflection there's usually something unconscious about myself i'm not seeing and the reflection sticks it right in my face.i hiked on, remembering what i had just experienced through observing others. reflections come and go quickly and there is no need to keep replaying the event in my head. it just puts a footnote in my mind that i can refer back to if the reflections return and then i can choose to react differently.- - -now for the travel-log ;-)we stopped by the happy hiker outfitter in town and then hit a local mini-mart so swiss miss could buy some food. while standing outside wearing our packs, a SUV pulls up and asks if we want a ride. it's big red from '02. sweet! we didn't even have to hitch back to the trail.at newfound gap we met wildcat and his friends giving out trail magic to hikers. wildcat also had a special treat for us for this evening. one catch... we have to pack the ingredients and extra fuel in 10 miles. five of us split the ingredients and made our way to the shelter.it was a very nice day considering all the ice, rain, and snow we had yesterday. i met four section hikers (weatherman, pack mule, trail boner, bearbait) who were making their way to pecks shelter for the evening -- the camp chairs strapped to their packs gave them away. a few of them were familiar with trailjournals and we talked about hikers from this year and last year. ok. we don't do this everyday like some people think, but the magic was two-fold tonight. we brought our own party food: cheese, sausage, lemon crystal lite (for whiskey sours), gingerbread mix, and whipped cream mix; and the section hikers had oysters, crackers, louisiana hot sauce, and bourbon.put all this together and it looks like MTV spring break at pecks corner shelter. we still got to bed pretty early to the section hiker's dismay.also celebrated at the shelter was swiss miss's birthday. we put a candle on a slice of gingerbread and sang her happy birthday.
Date: 2004-03-20
From: pecks corner shelter

To: cosby knob shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

in the wizard of id comics the wise old guru always sits on top of a mountain. people climbed up to hear his wisdom. in the himalayas, monks live in monasteries high in the mountains too. why the mountains? does it provide some clarity that cannot be had at sea level? are the masters of the far east just into isolationism? moses didn't go into a gap to get the ten commandments. so what is it about mountains?that's just one question i was pondering today. seems i'm more inspired by simple living and wide open places than the structures of normal life. does the structure of modern life keep us from expanding our minds? is the reason we don't use more than 10% of our brains have something to do with where we live?so many questions that i don't have answers to. the trail probably gives each person the space to expand in whatever way they want. but, you do have to choose to expand yourself.today's major expansion happened near pinnacle lead. wildcat and i found a nice patch of grass to eat lunch on. the sun was high and hot and we decided not to push on. instead we basked in the sun for a while. we were joined by three more thru hikers, followed by the four section hikers. the scene looked like a bunch of big cats sunning themselves on the Serengeti. we also entirely blocked the trail. no matter though, everyone that came by our siesta stopped and had some lunch. why is this expansive? i didn't have one worry of wasting time in the sun or wondering if i'd get to the shelter on time because i took a break. everything worked out great later in the day. i got to camp early, air-dried my bag, and ate dinner early with lots of time to journal. it's now 8pm and i'm going to turn in for the night with the rest of he thru hikers. (the section hikers in our shelter get the biggest kick out of our early bedtime)
Date: 2004-03-21
From: cosby knob shelter

To: standing bear farm
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: few clouds

today began at 6:15. harrier, as usual, was the first to stir. i think the thought of hot showers and clean laundry got everyone up early. well, except the section hikers who were with us the previous night. they lingered a bit in their bags but rose soon after we were all moving about with our morning routines.what's a morning like for a thru hiker? well, for me, i start by wiggling my upper body out of my bag and switching to my smelly hiking shirt followed by my down jacket and hat to keep warm. next i grab a wet ones anti-bacterial wipe and clean my thumb and first two finger tips. i dip them in a little water to get rid of that icky fragrance and proceed to put my disposable contacts in.now comes the chilly part. it's usually near freezing in the morning so i quickly unzip the bag and throw on my hiker shorts (which have hopefully dried from the previous day or else it's¢¦ well you can imagine wet, cold shorts) and wind pants.before the socks go on, i inspect my feet. if my heels are not taped, i'll put some duct tape on the usual blister spots. socks. boots. then go out to get my food bag. (food is hung way in the air on cables to discourage the bears). i pull out some breakfast bars and warm them in my pocket while packing my backpack. once packed, i fill my water bottles, eat my breakfast, and start down the trail.tonight, we are staying at standing bear farm. it's a neat place. very southern and the owner, curtis, is a wonderful guy. we got showers, laundry, and internet available to us in addition to some trail magic and a ride to town graciously given by wildcat's wife.