morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-12-22
To: York, PA
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday was a gift as days come, unfortunately I was at work all day and didn't get to take advantage of the 52 degree day two days before christmas. No really, FIFTY, that's amazing for December in Pennsylvania. After starting my christmas shopping (hi-five to all my fellow procrastinators out there) and stopping in to the diner which I frequent (to say the least, I decided on the way home that I would tent it tonight in the back yard.Woot for gear testing. At the time I decided to set up my tent (around 1 AM) the weather was pretty calm, and warm. So I figured that this would be a somewhat good test to see how well I could set up my tent in the dark after a long day of hiking. I figured that three days of 4 hours of sleep due to work would make a good subsitute for one day of good hiking.I should point out that one of the downfalls of the missing link that I've experienced is that I've never been able to get it as "taught" as I'd like. Other tents that I've had I've been able to bounce quarters off of, not the missing link, maybe there's a trick that I don't know of. Anyway, so I don't have too bad of a time setting up the missing link, again it's not perfect, but it's nice outside, I figure, what can go wrong?So I wake up to 50 mph winds and torrential rains. No I'm not kidding. Maybe I should've watched the weather. Despite the insane weather that sprung up overnight, I'm still dry, and the tent is still standing, relatively impressive I suppose. However, there is room for improvement. Firstly I didn't extend my trekking poles to as far as I should've, it was dark, so that definitely didn't help. I also could've put the stakes in at a better angle, the rain softened the ground and one had pulled out by the time I woke up. Now here's a mystery: Walls of the tent- dry, sleeping bag - dry, floor of the tent: damp! Huh? I'm a bit confused. On the bright side, the awning in front of the tent did manage to keep my feet dry while I put my boots back on, and I only slept for like 6 hours or so and I felt fully rested.Onto an interesting and amazing side note. I was born and raised in and around York, PA, (I mentioned this earlier). As I was reading the ALDHA guide I found out that "Earl ¢Crazy One¢ Shaffer (1918¢2002), the first person to thru-hike the AT was also from York. How awesome is that? Maybe its somethng in the water, lord knows there's enough stuff in it.
Date: 2005-01-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I think I finally figured out a connection that I wish I would have figured out long ago. To some people this may be obvious, but to me I needed an epiphany, or at least a clarification. The amazing realization that I came to: my mind and body are connected. I'm not going to get into some crazy spiritual rant here, I'm going for a more biological and evidencial approach. Over the summer, I could get up on 6 or 7 hours of sleep, get to work, and have NO problem concentrating or staying awake. Starting in October and hitting really hard in November I've absolutely relied on coffee to stay awake and be able to think straight. Why the change? For a while I figured it was the change in seasons, maybe winter just drains me, maybe I need sunlight. Both of those may be true, but I think there's something much more important. I perform better mentally when I'm physically active. How did I come to this conclusion? Well, so there I was in Borders book store, following the advice of psat thru-hikers and picking up wingfoot's book, when i get a phone call from a computer client. Unconsciously I start walking around the store. I notice something, I am dead on when it comes to answering his questions and making suggestions. I stop moving behind some other customers who are inconsiderately moving at a snails pace and I have to stop to collect my thoughts.Bam, there it was, my epiphany. No wonder things went smoother over the summer, it wasn't the sunlight, it was me DOING STUFF out in the sunlight. This is such a motivation booster for the trail, walking day in and day out, I can't even begin to fathom how my mind will race as I make the miles. I'm definitely going to get back to planning hard core.Oh yeah, so about planning.I'm taking my time and putting a lot of effort into making *ROUGH* estimations of how far I'll be and when, picking resupply points and planning miles. I'm going to make this schedule three times for a few different reasons. Firstly so I familiarize myself with the places and names on the trail, secondly so that I don't overlook anything big, and thirdly so that I reduce my chances of screwing up bigtime. My first run through of planning is what I'm going through now, I'm using the AT data book and the ALDHA guide and guestimating on miles. The second run through I'm going to use baltimore jack's guide to hiking cheap along with trailjournals trailforums whiteblaze and every other resource to better estimate, the third run through I'll combine the two and revise if necessary. And after all this planning, I'll probably forgo most of what I plan to do. Part of the reason I chose to thru hike is to get OFF of a schedule. Sure, the places might stay the same, but they're not a mandate, and I'm sure the dates will change a good bit, but I need something to base, to aim for, and that's what the plan is for. Once I make it out to the trail, the plan is something to use as a "skeleton", so I know where I can and hope to resupply. But overall my plan is all about flexibility, it's ALL about flexibility.
Date: 2005-03-12
From: Amicalola Falls State Park

To: Springer Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: few clouds

Saturday March 12, finally made it to my first shelter. After an excrutiating 13 hour drive with no one getting more than 15 minutes of sleep, we registered at the Amicalola falls state park center and we were on the Approach trail by 9:30. This hike may be the most insane thing I've ever done, it seemed to go on FOREVER. My feet hurt and my right quad is having some issues, but no blisters so far, and tomorrow should be a shorter day. Current location: Springer Mountain Shelter, .4 miles along the AT, today we hiked 9 miles if the guidebook is correct. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, a fellow named Skip let me use his cell phone to call my dad, that was a hilite of the day. In the shelter tonight, Shane, Ellen, Pied Piper (who happens to be from Gettysburg), Ryan and Ian from Canada, Skip (tenting nearby), Raz, Travis and I. Man, am I going to sleep well tonight.
Date: 2005-03-17
From: Blood Mountain Cabins (Neels Gap)

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light snow

OK, the zero day is over, now it¢s time to hike again. Ugh what a day forit. It¢s snowing, sleeting, and just in general crappy today, greatweather for St. Patty¢s Day. We wake early, head up to the cabinheadquarters, turn in our keys, pay, and then head up to the outfitters.I send my pack to REI with a return note, send my dead sleeping pad andold boots back home with my gift for dad and then boom, break a leg, cuppajoe, and scholar show up and say hi. Now I¢ve met even MORE M-companymembers. So as I get ready to head out another small miracle, a shipmentof Waldies arrives at the outfitters. Now they¢re not croc¢s (they¢re thesame thing, just without a heel strap), but I can ghetto-rig one up and bejust as happy, so now I¢ve got camp shoes too.So out for 10 miles in the rain to low gap shelter, finally¢¦at 11:15.The hike today was surreal, it was COLD, wet and beautiful. Snow and rainhad frozen horizontally to some branches, and the area was a ¢winterwonderland¢. When we were about 7 miles in I hear something terrible:SNAP. I look down to see my trekking pole, which I have come to love inthe past few days, in two pieces. A closer inspection of the damagereveals that the trekking pole itself has not broken, just the plasticpiece that keeps the pole from extending/retracting. Fortunately ducttape fixes the problem, temporarily at least, now I have to get in contactwith REI again¢¦boy things just don¢t seem to be going my way. To makethings worse, the shelter is ¢full¢. I use quotes because manythru-hikers will tell you that the shelter is never full, you can alwayscram one or two more hikers in. However, these folks in the sheltertonight apparently haven¢t heard of that. So since the guidebook says theshelter sleeps 7, they¢re sticking with it, and we¢re forced to tent. Ugh,least favorite day of the trip so far.
Date: 2005-03-18
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: overcast clouds

OK, tenting sucks. My tent doesn¢t vent at all, as Jake and I would findout the hard way. Woke up soaking wet, rather upset, and decided to headout to warm up. Packed all the wet schnit up, and off we went heading forTray Mountain shelter. Well, at least hiking warmed us up rather fast.On the downside, hiking got real hard real fast. We raced to the shelterin order to avoid most of the crowds that were at our previous shelter,and were only passed by a group of high-school aged thru-hikers, I¢m nottoo upset about that. We get to the shelter and start throwing out aclothesline to dry our sleeping bags and my tent, figuring that theshelter will soon be surrounded by folks looking to sleep inside. Guesswe were wrong. The shelter doesn¢t fill up, most everyone went into Helenfor the night, but not us, we might resupply there tomorrow, but we¢llsleep outside tonight, comfy in the shelter. The only unusual company weencounter is a former thru-hiker and his dog pumpkin, who tell some jokesand shoot some bull before heading back down the mountain. This shelterfaces directly into the wind, but on the positive side, someone has riggedup a nice tarp over the entrance to block the wind.
Date: 2005-03-20
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Hiawassee, GA
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: few clouds

Town again today: aaalllrriiiiight as quagmire would say. The miles flew by as thoughts of town food and an actual bed danced in our heads. We got to the road intersection pretty early in the day and threw the thumbs out once more. Our first willing volunteer stopped to ask if anyone was going the other direction, we said no, so they took off for about 10 feet and then stopped and said ¢We can¢t turn you guys down, we¢ve got room for three of you¢, we decided to be nice and send Amanda, Senator and Snuffaluffagus..Snuphaluph¢¦Snufaluph¢¦Snuffy off on their way. After about 10 more minutes of waiting, Jake, James, Scholar and I get a hitch into town with an awesome older man with an even awesomer (is that a word?) sportsjacket. The four of us pretty much chilled in the back of the older little toyota pickup and the guy was even nice enough to drop us off at McDonald¢s. After James picked up some double cheeseburgers we took off uphill towards the holiday inn express.Room 103 was to be our abode for the day, so we threw the flag over the door and unpacked. Ahh hot showers, how lovely. By dark, Raz hadn¢t arrived, the four of us hitched a ride with Lori the trail angel to Shoney¢s, mmm buffet.Shoney¢s had a pretty decent buffet, but by far the highlight of the trip was Jammie, who¢s name is pronounced like Jamie, but we called her Jam-me and she liked it, or at least feigned like she liked it. Sweet tea and mashed potatoes warmed a hungry hiker¢s heart, and then it was back to the hotel room for some more Basketball (for James) and then some Adult Swim¢¦ATHF hells yeah.
Date: 2005-03-22
From: Hiawassee, GA

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

It seems like every time I leave town, mother nature punishes me with some crappy weather. Today was no exception. After some more continental breakfast we get a ride back to the trail with the Corsucant, wo hiked in 99 if I recall correctly. He had even been nice enough to loan Raz his car all day yesterday, this guy is truly another awesome trail angel. We made a quick stop at the post office to mail the bounce box, which was laden with goodies for franklin, and then we took for the trail. It was chilly, foggy, and looked like rain. An hour into the hike it was chillier, foggier, and raining. Perfect hypothermia weather. We crossed the GA/NC line today, woot, one state down. NC welcomed us with a completely rediculous uphill, and according to wingfoot¢s guide, which is by no means accurate on these matters, it doesn¢t even have a name. We¢ll call this climb the MFer for now. The MFer really drained us and then we had to hike for what seemed like forever before getting to the shelter, all the time not knowing whether or not the shelter would be full. I was half delirious by the end of the hike, I was fully exhausted. One of the few things that really made me feel half decent about the terrible weather was the occasionaly clank of a keychain I¢ve been carrying on my pack. Back in York before I left, a girl I affectionately call Vickie the Greek had given me a little going away present in the form of a little metal keychain that says ¢Good Luck¢. I¢m sure it weighs 1/2 of an ounce, but I don¢t care I¢m carrying it anyway. It was definitely a huge motivating factor, so it¢s worth the weight.After what seemed like forever we arrived at the shelter, which had some tents set up in it for some reason. It appears that Turtle and Skylark had been alone last night in Plumorchard and figured on a similar turnout for tonight. They could not have been more wrong. We managed to cram hikers in that shelter like sardines. By bedtime the shelter, which normally sleeps 6 included Skylark, Vision Quest, Bodhi, Myself, Amanda, Bones, and Turtle side to side, with Raz and Red squeezed in at our feet, and Jacob even crashing on the table. Squeezing 9 into a 6 person shelter was crammed, so James and Mike crashed in a tarptent that was still mostly under the shelter roof.
Date: 2005-03-23
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: broken clouds

Last night was the warmest night of the trip for me. Crammed in between all of the folks in the shelter I was warm as all hell, even took off my jacket and pants in the night to keep COOL, that was a welcome change. Today¢s hiking was mostly solo, Jake was stopping to pick up some friends and Raz was being Raz and hiking at his own pace. Before I took off I took a quick backtrack and blue blaze trail to an airplane wreck, which was cool, and then a hell of a view, which was even cooler.added:Today the goal was Carter gap, 90.7 miles into the AT. Most everybody from last night was aiming to hit the same shelter, but the weather definitely looked better for today. I should point out that last night it was awesome to sleep under a tin roof in a thunderstorm and hear the pitter patter of the rain.Included in today¢s hiking was Standing Indian Mountain. Everyone talks about how much of a kicker Standing Indian is, but it really didn¢t seem too bad at all. Lately it seems as though most things that are supposed to be super tough just end up being regular tough¢¦and that¢s a good thing. Arriving at the shelter I run into Fulro, who I haven¢t seen in a while, somewhat luckily because he is a known loud snorer. Actually I should revise that statement, I ran into Red and Fulro at the OLD carter gap shelter, there are apparently two shelters at carter gap, the old, falling apart shelter, and the new, nicer shelter. So after heading over to the proper shelter, there was quite a crew, most of which were tenting. The only people that ended up in the shelter were myself, Fulro, Vision quest and Red. However, no matter what anyone slept in, there was one thing we all had to do: hang a bear bag.So far, we¢ve been lucky, Georgia had provided already run steel bear cables at every shelter, but North Carolina, in addition to missing privies and switchbacks, was also barren of bear cables. Now, tying a rope around a rock and hanging a bag 10 feet out from a tree trunk and at least 10 feet in the air might seem easy to you, but I tell you, it is nothing close to easy. Actually, it¢s quite comical. First I get my rock stuck in a tree, and I learn the hard way about the amazing strength of both parachute cord and live pine branches. Then, after finally getting my cord untangled by throwing other rocks at the rock on the end of my cord, I am given an education into how many different ways you can miss what you¢re aiming for when throwing into a thicket of trees. Finally I managed to hang my bear bag and head to sleep.
Date: 2005-03-25
From: Franklin, NC

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

OK, you can stop with the "jeez, what's with all the zero days" comments. HYOH, mmkay?Anyway, we checked out of "The Haven", which was more like "The Hell" for us, although once again I'll remind you to read Longhaul's journal on the same subject, as apparently we just got the short end of a stick. Anyway, as it seems, the only way we could get into town was with a ride from the Haven, so after some negotiating, we managed to convince the Haven to shuttle us to Shoneys, which just so happened to be right next to the Microtel Inn and Suites. So we checked in at the Microtel after watching to see that the Haven shuttle was out of sight and the zero day was off to a good start. The nice thing about the Microtel is that you really don't need a shuttle, it's in the middle of everything. First we ate at the Huddle House restaurant, then we headed back to the hotel before walking to the laundromat and Kmart.On the way back from our laundry/kmart trip, we decided to try and take a shortcut, and ended up on a road we guessed was probably someone's driveway, turns out...it was. As we stealthily as possible headed up the road, we hear an older female's voice ask rather impatiently "Where y'all comin' from?".Now here I have to make a confession, my first response was to ignore this lady, I can outrun her, and well, I don't care if I'm walking on her driveway, not like I'm doing damage. However, Amanda (Bubbletoes) has a nice streak in her, so she turns around, and in her nicest 'I'm a schoolteacher' voice, explains that we're just on our way back to the hotel from the laundromat. The woman replies, still quite perturbed, that this is a private road. To which Amanda retorts "I'm sorry, we're thru-hikers and we're not really familiar with town".The woman's tone changes immediately to happy-grandmother. "Ooooh, I've read about people like you in the paper, stay here a minute let me get my camera". Oh the power of the thru-hike.After our strange laundry-ish trek, we stop at the outfitters for some odds and ends and on the way back run into Jake and Raz. It was good to see the old boys again. I had left the two of them behind when Jake went a few miles off trail to meet some friends, who he had apparently just left to meet us in town. Oh the power of the thru-hike. Anyway, the six of us return to our hotel room, Jake, Raz and I split our bounce box, and we send them on their way, they're planning on zeroing at least tomorrow, so there's a good chance we won't cross paths for a while, which kinda sucks, I like those two.Lori the trail angel reappeared later in the day, she drove us around for some food and Mike and I went out for Pizza with her at the place next door called "The Factory"...Pizza at "the factory" is so-so, but it was AYCE, so I dealt.A few beers and a few hours later, we were all packed for the next day.
Date: 2005-03-26
From: Franklin, NC

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: clear sky

Every time, every time I leave town the weather hates me. And the feeling's mutual.12.1 LONG miles to Cold Spring Shelter and good lord did it suck, in the rain, in the wind, in the suck. What makes it worse...by the time we get there it's dark, and the shelter is full. Amanda and I squeeze in at the feet of everyone else and James and Mike tent it...today sucked.
Date: 2005-03-30
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: Fontana Dam, NC
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: broken clouds

Aha, the Near-o Day. Holy crap, Fontana Village is a bit weird. No fast food, no real resupply, but they have a camp store, and a shuttle that was cool enough to pick us up. We got a hotel room for the four of us, and the hotel immediately screams of the movie "The Shining". I can't really explain it, but I was waiting for some little kid to start screaming REDRUM at me when I opened the door. Oh well, it was warm. And to my surprise, Lion King had the room next door to us. So we didn't do that much in town, laundry, you know, the typical stuff. However, we did manage to score a preview of Lion King's documentary "Walking with Freedom", which is by far the best AT documentary I've ever seen. The internet at Fontana Village is rediculous, $.20 a minute for this kiosk thing that is on a dialup that can't possibly be 56K, so I didn't do much journaling, just paid a few bills. All things said and done, I am now well rested and ready to take on the Smokies, whatever they may bring.
Date: 2005-03-31
From: Fontana Dam, NC

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: light rain

Today was the big day, we were going to enter the dreaded smokies. After a quick pack up and trip to the trail, we got to cross Fontana Dam and walk past the famous sign. The weather wasn't that great, but hey, at least it wasn't snowing.Shuckstack mountain, now there's a tough climb. Uphill, uphill, and more uphill, and of course, fog, so no good views of what's to come. After a long time of hiking I got to the point where the trail split, one trail heading up to shuckstack firetower, the other being the AT. I decided to wait for bubbletoes there. She had told me earlier that on her section hike of the smokies, she was too scared to climb the firetower to the top, so now it was one of her goals for this trip. She seemed eager enough when she arrived, and the trek up the hill to the tower was fairly short. Man, that fire tower is a bit rickety, and by a bit rickety, I mean it's pretty crappy. But, after some encouragement and aided by the fact that the fog was so thick you couldn't see the bottom, we made it to the top of the firetower.Pushing off to the first shelter (Mollie's Ridge) we find out that James and Freeze Dried pressed on to the next shelter, great...now we've got more miles to do.Things seem a little better here anyway, there's a church group of teens here, and the one kid had a frisbee. Feels good to throw some plastic.