morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-11-02
From: Neels Gap (US 19)

To: Three Forks (USFS 58)
Miles today: 26.3

The ¢last¢ full day.When I set out this morning I never intended to do a marathon, i.e., 26 plus miles. But right from the beginning the climb up Blood Mountain was totally exhilarating. A heart pounding push through fog so thick you could cut it with a knife. Finally I swept the misty veil aside and then, ¢¦ whoa. I was literally looking down at the top of the clouds. Awesome. Really awesome. Definitely set the tone for the ¢last¢ full day.Try as I might to slow down, the miles just came too easily. Slaughter Creek, Gooch Gap, and Justus Creek were all excellent campsites for me in the past, but I breezed by them today as I was in a hurry to get somewhere different for tonight. Not quite sure where yet, but usually my instincts are quite reliable. Probably an extra adrenaline rush as I am approaching the end of this fabulous journey. Rounding third base. My mind was also racing. I need to see that guy about a job ¢¦ I need to call this girl to explain ¢¦ I need to make arrangements for grad school ¢¦ you get the picture. There is a flood of things I need to do which although were successfully pent up for four months, have now come back in a tidal wave. This is not bad. It just is. My mind is clear and I am ready for it.I wanted to do the ¢last¢ shelter tonight, probably at Hawk Mountain, but it was still daylight when I got there and I simply can¢t explain the urge to continue on. Whatever the reason, once I got to Three Forks, approaching darkness convinced me to shut it down for now. I looked around, picked a nice spot under the rhodies, ¢¦. and laid down on the ground. I was speechless. I could see patches of sky through the leaves, and the points of light revealed were overwhelmingly spectacular. Perfect. Toasty warm in my sleeping bag, my mind was already into tomorrow as I stared up at the stars on this most grand night. The last night on the trail for this journey. Most fitting to be ¢under the stars¢.Thanks for reading.   ~ Dr Jekyll (Obie)PS: Most fitting for the last night to be ¢under the stars¢.
Date: 2007-11-04
To: Dahlonega
Miles today: 0.0

Epilogue.The last mile yesterday and the final salute by family and friends was nice. Really really nice. Not too much, just about right.   Some time soon (kinda like now) I need to start thanking everyone for all their support and encouragement. No doubt in my mind that an AT thru-hike is a group effort.Once we left the visitor¢s center at Amicolola, we checked into a hotel in Dahlonega, rather than having to rush back to Atlanta and other points south. That was a good move. There was plenty of beer and food, and no immediate hurry to get anywhere. Just wind down.First order of business for me was to, ¢¦ SHAVE OFF THE BEARD. Don¢t know why, but never got much pleasure out of that scraggly mess. Next was a looooong hot shower.Went out later that night to the Smith House. An all you can eat homestyle cooking similar to the Homeplace in central Virginia. Very good. Highly recommended. Kept eating ¢til it hurt. Excellent place to top off the day (and a thruhike).Sunday morning finds us cruising down I-75, back to the ¢real¢ world. Have no immediate plans for now other than to regroup for a few days, then start reconnecting with the world I had left behind. Calls to college professors and potential employers. Tying up ends that have been loose for four months.Once things settle down a bit more, I do have some lingering thoughts I want to pass along concerning the trail, i.e., the journey, and what it meant to me. And perhaps discuss a few other issues, gear for example, which may or may not help a future hiker, especially if he or she wants to hike in the same fashion as I did. I¢ll probably spread those out as a series of post journals over the next few weeks. ¢til then, I appreciate all the good vibes from the reading audience and others who may have been following along. I hope this finds you all well.Thanks for reading.   ~ Dr Jekyll (Obie)   ME-GA 07
Date: 2007-12-22
To: Warner Robins
Miles today: 0.0

Enough already ¢¦Well, it¢s been well over a month now since completing the journey. Didn¢t take long for me to get restless ¢ antsy to get something going again.   Soooo, been doing ¢work for stay¢ at home. Helped install a new exterior door and casing for the back of the house, and the next project is to lay down an oak floor in one of the rooms (dad is saving his ¢back¢ for hiking, ummm).Need to take a moment and thank (once again) all those who provided support for this endeavor. I¢ve said it before, but it bears repeating ¢¦ this AT thru-hike was a team effort. And the team consists of more people than you might ever imagine: the hostel owners, the shuttlers, family, friends, journal supporters, trail angels. The list is much longer than what I have here. The mountains are great, the people you meet are greater. I am still overwhelmed by the number of kind ¢acts¢ provided by complete strangers: a ride to town or back to the trailhead, a soda or food freely offered from a family enjoying a day in the park, encouraging words from guest book signers, a smile from someone when you least expect it. These kind acts and hundreds of others made it possible for me to finish, and although I cannot thank the individual personally, I can try to ¢pass it forward¢.Most of my focus recently has been on getting into grad school and/or becoming gainfully employed in the meanwhile. Happy to say that there has been success on all fronts, kinda. Funny how often what you think is for sure, isn¢t, and when you least expect it, something better shows up from left field. Bottom line is that I have several options to choose from, and now I need to try and select wisely. Or not. Quite often things have a way of just working out. Much like the trail, you learn to rely on your instincts. Sometimes you just have to let it happen, and see where it takes you.Finally, I sincerely hope this journal brought the reader some measure of pleasure, and possibly some insight as to how this traveler chose to interact with the trail and some of the people on it. Positively no regrets. Good memories all.Can¢t say it often enough,Thanks for reading.   ~ Dr Jekyll (Obie)   ME-GA 07
Date: 2007-03-15
From: Home

Miles today: 0.0

Hello to everyone that is following us on this adventure. To catch everyone up ... when we were in our late twenties/early thirties, we both completed our MBA's while working full time and had promising careers, a great marriage, good friends and family, wonderful pets, etc. Unfortunately, the jobs requried 60 plus hour weeks and we really wanted a life less focused on a corporate job and acquuring stuff and more focused on adventures and doing something more meaningful. In addition to a lot of other books, we read "Your Money or Your Life", and although we didn't agree with everything in the book, it helped us put together an action plan to leave "Corporate America" in 10 years and start to do what we really wanted with our lives. it's been 11 years since that plan was formulated. We quit our jobs about a year ago. During that year we focused on selling our house and volunteering more than full-time for a really great animal rescue organization, 11th Hour Rescue. If you're looking to do something to feel really good today -- check out the website EHRdogs.org, look at those GREAT dogs that need homes and give a nice donation that will help to continue to save the lives of winderful dogs and get them into homes. Or, if you're able, adopt a homeless pet in your area today!
Date: 2007-03-16
From: None

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We plan to start hiking on March 20th, the first day of Spring. We'll do a flip/flop from northern VA to Springer Mountain in GA. We'll then return to northern VA and hike to Mt. Katahdin in MA. We're driving to the home our our friends, Sandy and Bill, near Rockfish Gap, VA on the 19th. Bill and Sandy (being the extraordinary folks that they are) are going to drive us north to Front Royal, VA. We'll then hike back to Rockfish Gap and stay with them for a night or two. This will give us the chance to make any adjustments on gear, etc. We'll then head south ...
Date: 2007-03-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

For our friends that don't know that much about the Appalachian Trail (AT)...The AT runs from Springer Mt. in GA to Mt. Katahdin in MA. The total distance is 2,174 miles and it will take us about 5 months to hike. Most people start in GA and finish in MA. We're doing what's called a flip/flop, in which we start near the middle (for various reasons), hike to the end in GA, drive back to the middle, and hike to the end in MA. We start on March 19th and expect to finish in early September.FAQ's:Yes, we will go into town, get a hotel (or go to a hostel), take showers and do laundry about once a week.Yes, we're carrying everything we'll need for 5 months on our backs. We'll re-supply our food every 4-7 days in towns close to the trail. Bonnie's pack will weigh about 25 pounds; Rob's pack will weigh about 30 pounds.No, we're not very worried about bears. Living in Northern NJ, we see black bears on a regular basis in our neighboorhood. However, we are afraid of the dark.Here's the website for the Appalachian Trail Conservancey with more info ... www.appalachiantrail.org.
Date: 2007-03-20
From: Swift Run Gap

To: Weaver Mountain
Miles today: 12.0

What an awesome day to start the trail! It¢s 70 degrees, the suns out, and the visibility is great. We hiked in t-shirts all day. It¢s hard to believe that after closing on our house last Friday, we drove from NJ to PA in a driving snow and sleet storm.We arrived in VA at our old neighbor Sandy and Bills¢ house on Monday after spending a great weekend with my sister Joanne and brother-in-law Larry. We¢re so lucky to have good friends and family now that we¢re homeless! I think we¢ve eaten enough over the last 5 days to get us through Tennessee, and possibly all the way to Georgia.About 10 yards into our start on the trail today, Bonnie found a pearl necklace laying on the ground (possible trail name of ¢Pearls¢ for her?).   She looks great in grubby hiking gear and a pearl necklace. I love the looks she gets from other hikers.We made a change to our start point from Front Royal, VA to Swift Run Gap, VA (where Rt. 33 crosses Sky Line Drive). This left us with only about 44 miles to hike back to Sandy and Bills instead of 100 and saved a lot of driving time. Shenandoah Park is absolutely beautiful. We took a break for a quick lunch about 2 hours into the hike today on a rocky overlook over the Shenandoah Valley, and just as we pulled out our food, a hawk flew up the ridge. What a perfect start to our 5 month adventure. The hiking is relatively easy in Shenandoah Park which suits us well for getting into hiking shape. We covered about 12 miles today and were pretty fried by the end. We spent the night on top of Weaver Mountain, which sort of described our hiking at the end. We picked a place to pitch the tent that ran a bit down hill. With our silk sleeping bag liners, we spent most of the night pushing ourselves back up from the bottom of the tent! It dropped to about 32 degrees at night, but we were both pretty comfortable all night.
Date: 2007-03-21
From: Weaver Mountain

To: Blackrock Hut
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We were up bright an early in the cold ready to jump out on the trail ¢ not! It was just too cold to rush things! Actually, we packed up pretty quickly and got going just to warm up. We stopped at the Pinefield hut to heat up some oatmeal and ran into another hiker, Jay Bird (you¢ll get use to the trail names after a while). He¢s done several through hikes, was nice enough to pass on a few tips, and showed us his collection of dead mice from the night before at the shelter (he carries mouse traps with him). It was a lot cooler today with a few sprinkles, but was still not bad for March.There was an ice storm in this area on Valentines Day, and the damage to the forest is incredible. Bonnie described it as looking like someone took a giant weed whacker and just knocked the tops off all the trees. Much of the forest is a tangled mess, and we owe a lot to the people that must have spent an enormous amount of time clearing the trail. For the most part, the trail is perfect, but we could see all the cutting that was done. Thank god for trail overseers! We were about to go down one section, and the overseer for that section, Dick Peacock, was out working and he immediately cut a little branch out of our way. And these guys are all volunteers!The day ended with me bonking pretty badly with 4 miles to go (¢bonking¢ is when you completely run out of energy). It¢s all part of getting into shape, and I need to be especially careful about drinking enough. Actually, Bonnie forgot to pack the mustard packs for our summer sausage, so I told her it was mustard bonk. She was feeling great, took some weight off my pack, and practically trotted ahead to the Black Rock Shelter. I got there to a nice cup of hot chocolate and a set up tent! It¢s tough hiking with the weaker sex.We ran into Jay Bird at the shelter at 5:00 and he was going on for another 7 hours of hiking before he stopped for the day! We also got our ¢dog fix¢ with Sunny the dog who was with Mark and Jason (we¢re missing Molly, Chase, and Spice pretty bad ¢ special thanks again to Terry, David and Jane, Laura and Glen, and our back up Rebecca for taking care of our crew). They were hiking in the park during their spring break from teaching. They are great guys and we had a great time talking with them.
Date: 2007-03-22
From: Blackrock Hut

To: Jarman Gap
Miles today: 12.0

We decided to cut our mileage back to about 12 miles today from yesterday¢s 15 (north bound fit hikers from GA are up to about 20 miles per day by the time they hit Shenandoah Nat¢l Park). We¢re both at least having our periods of hitting good hiking form and pace a few times a day. Unfortunately, it doesn¢t last long and it rarely happens at the same time! I¢m surprised how much hiking is like cycling. Once you hit your form, you can really move. And adjustments like changing your stride, or changing the way you put pressure on your feet, is just like changing gears on a bike. We can¢t wait for another couple weeks to get our hiking fitness.The weather is back to gorgeous today. It¢s in the 70¢s and we¢re back to t-shirts. This just isn¢t supposed to happen in March! Today, I¢m fighting slight shin splints, Bonnie has her first blister, we hurt a bit all over, but overall we¢re not in terrible shape. Once you start cruising, it just becomes a dull ache all over! Get into the pain!We had our first bear sighting today. We saw a small black bear in Jarman gap about 150 yards away running in the opposite direction. He probably heard us first and was afraid of the pearl necklace. We camped down in the gap near a stream. Our dinner was a Lipton rice and broccoli side with chunks of salmon in lemon and dill. It¢s all prepackaged stuff, but it tastes like a gourmet dinner after hiking all day! Overall, we¢re pretty happy with our food. It¢s great to be able to eat like a pig and lose weight!
Date: 2007-03-23
From: Jarman Gap

To: Rockfish Gap
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Only 8 miles to getting picked up by Bill and spending a night in a bed! The hiking was perfect again, and we ran into a few more people today along the trail out for a nice hike on a Friday. We¢re finished Shenandoah Nat¢l Park until we travel back for the second half of it in June. We¢ll miss it ¢ the hiking is beautiful and it¢s one of the easier parts of the whole A.T.Bill met us, took us down to their house, and Sandy had a big home made chicken pot pie ready. We had a great dinner with Sandy and Bill and Sandy¢s sister Mary. The shower felt wonderful. The toilet felt wonderful. Beer is excellent. Wine is excellent! It feels good to be clean!Bonnie did pick up a sore throat, so tomorrow¢s a day off of hiking. However, we have a to-do list a mile long. We can¢t wait to get back on the trail.
Date: 2007-03-26
From: Rockfish Gap

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Nothing like hitting our first "challenge or opportunity" of the trail(we don't plan on any problems)! Bonnie's sore throat turned into the flu. After a second day with a fever, we hit the Urgent Care office in Waynesboro on Sunday and after a 3 hour wait, she tested positive for the flu. She got some good meds, is feeling a little better, and we plan to launch out again tomorrow. And I'm starting with what I hope is a delightful spring cold!Thanks to our wonderful hosts Sandy and Bill, we've had great place to recuperate. Sandy won't stop cooking us great food, Bill took us all over Waynesboro on Saturday (outfitter, food store, tour of the town, out for a great breakfast and more), and we have our own beautiful room. These two are just WAY too good to us. Tonight, Sandy is cooking us steaks, rice, asparagus, and who knows what else. Our insistance on taking them out for dinner was over ruled!Our only gear change is that Bonnie is switching from her Lowa Kody GTX hiking boots to her Merrell Continuums. She's had a little numbness in her toes. We also bought a SteriPEN (UV light) for sterilizing our water. We're hoping that the ability to almost instantly sterilize water vs. waiting 4 hours for the aquimira tablets to work will allow us to carry a little less water Hopefully, that will more than make up for the weight of the SteriPEN. Otherwise, our gear has been great. We owe a special thanks to Craig and Cathy Simons for thier GREAT gear list and home "consultation" last year. Can't wait to get back to the trail -- after our steak dinner!
Date: 2007-03-27
From: Rockfish Gap

To: Humpback Mountain
Miles today: 11.5

We're thrilled to be back on the trail, though we had a great extended visit with Bill and Sandy. (Thank you AGAIN!!!)I'm getting over the flu and Rob has a cold so we're moving slow...As we started from Rockfish I saw something white along both sides of the trail and thought, "How sad that there is garbage on the trail." But instead the white was wild flowers. We saw so many beautiful wild flowers all day. The trees are starting to flower and bud.We stopped for lunch at the Paul C. Wolfe shelter. Tented in a field of Rhododendrons half way up Humpback Mountain, with a big rock in the middle of our tent!
Date: 2007-03-28
From: Humpback Mountain

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: broken clouds

Bill had told us about a rock pile that we could avoid by a quick blue-blaze... Well, after we did this crazy rock scramble we said, "I bet that was the rock pile Bill was talking about." Good views of Wintergreen Ski resort, but as Bill told us, the resort was starting to get a little close to the AT.Met a hiker that started that started in S. VA, was hiking north to The American Discovery Trail. (Later, Lois at the Dutch Haus will tell us, this hiker was trying to help a stray dog he found on the trail. Get ready 11th Hour Rescue - we're in prime dog abandonment territory!)Finished the day by RUNNING across the meadow of Reeds Gap and then up and over a ridge while a thunder storm was brewing!!! We arrived to find the Maupin Field Shelter empty so we set up our tent inside the shelter. (For non-hikers, shelters tend to have mice - so setting the tent keeps the mice off you while you sleep.) It rained hard during the night so we were thrilled to be a shelter. Our tent is still untouched by real rain...for now.
Date: 2007-03-29
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: The Priest
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Met a pack of private high school kids and their group leader at the Harpers Creek Shelter where we had stopped for lunch. They were out for a multi-day hike that their leader runs every year. Seems there school has a week each year where the kids need to take an enrichment trip, do community service, etc. Hiking is an excellent learning experience about how little you need in life, especially for kids that can have about anything they want.We crossed the Tye River at 997' altitude. We hiked about half way up The Priest, our first real major climb (4063' altitude) and found a great tent site. It's very hard to find a tent site out of sight of the trail (as we should) right now because there is no undergrowth yet.
Date: 2007-03-30
From: The Priest

To: Montebello, VA (The Dutch Haus)
Miles today: 8.0

We started our day by getting up and finishing our little climb up The Priest. It was a "bit of a climb". We had our breakfast at the Priest Shelter. We then hiked on to Spy Rock. We were feeling a little tired so we considered not doing the rock scramble to get on the top the rock, but we're glad we did. There were spectacular 360 degree views up there. We sat and watched the hawks go over head and talked about how we wish we had some experts with us while we hike. We need Bill to tell us what hawks and birds we're seeing and we need our brother-in-law Larry to tell us what wildflowers we're seeing. We suspect Larry could also tell us about the cool rocks we're seeing too.We're really roughing it tonight as we're staying at the Dutch Haus B&B after only an 8 mile hike.
Date: 2007-03-31
From: Montebello, VA (The Dutch Haus)

To: Salt Log Gap
Miles today: 8.0

We're living the good life!! We had planned to head out this morning, do two more days and then do a "zero" (day without hiking). Lois, our wonderful hostess, suggested that she and her husband, Earl, drive us a ways down the trail and then hike an easy 8 miles back vs. taking zero. So, that became the plan! And it was a very easy 8 miles! As we were close to the end, we came across a family of four walking with a goat. They said it wasn't their goat; that it just starting following them and they and the goat continued up the trail. Turns-out the goat is a pet of the friends of our inn keepers. Our inn keepers and the goat's parents went looking for her. As I write this, she hasn't been found, but everyone's hopeful she'll find her way back tonight. Thought for a while there, we might be sending a goat north to our friends with 11th Hour Rescue.We met a great couple at the Inn last night that were celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary. We had a great time with tehm and they shared some of their champange with us. We don't get much champange out on the trail.We're being spoiled here at the Inn. Dinner last night and breakfast this morning were great and whatever is cooking for dinner tonight smells great. It's going to be hard to leave in the morning but we better get back to real hiking after this lovely visit.THANKS TO EVERYONE THAT'S WRITTEN IN OUR GUEST BOOK!! One of the toughest aspects of doing this hike is that we miss everyone. It's great to hear from you!!!We have added our first mail drop in case anyone wants to send us anything!P.S. The goat was found! His owner found him at Spy Rock with the family he followed. He was just enjoying the view. Life returns to normal in Montbello!
Date: 2007-04-01
From: Salt Log Gap

To: Brown Mtn Shelter 
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

We had a nice hike in the fog today! We couldn't see anything off the mountain, but we think the view was good. The trail was visible, but we had a cool blowing fog on us at a few spots. The weather cleared by the shelter, which was in a wonderful little hollow on a stream. We ran into a group of people setting up cameras for a wildlife study along the trail (our friends Sandy and Bill are setting up a camera as well). The cameras have IR sensors and will hopefully get shots of the critters along the trail. It's being led by several groups including the Smithsonian.