morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-02-03
To: Ouch!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I finally did it and I¢m pleased with the outcome although I have a few weeks of healing before I can hit the trail. On last Wednesday, I had surgery on both of my feet to remove my aching bunionette's. You may ask, "What are those?" Well they are something I hope you never have. They are basically bunions located on the 5th toe side of your foot versus near the big toe. I've had them for years and they get inflamed and cause me pain. I was becoming increasingly concerned about how they would react on the hike so I went to an orthopedic surgeon for advice. Of the options available, surgery to remove them seemed the most logical (although it's still crazy!). So last week, the Doctor cut them off...and the healing began. The pain was horrible at first. Bone pain really hurts. They gave me some pain medication that helped but ended up making me very sick to my stomach. I couldn't decide which was worse, the feet or my gut. I was out of work for the rest of the week and spent my time with my feet elevated. By Saturday afternoon I was able to try walking with the aid of crutches. The first time hurt and was scary. Think about walking with TWO bad feet. Its tough! But honestly, using my feet has dramatically helped with the healing. By Sunday I was able to get around much better and by Monday I could even walk slowly without the crutches. Amazing how the body heals. The pain has subsided. I'm only taking some ibuprofen a few times a day. I went back to work on Tuesday and have been able to get around pretty well. I get very tired by the end of the day. Carting myself around on crutches is taxing and my feet are usually swollen by the time I get home. I went for my post op appointment today and the doctor was pleased with the results and healing so far. Some have asked if the doctor knows about our plans to hike. Yes, he knows everything and our timeline. He feels that I will be back to 'normal' in 4-6 weeks. We plan to start our hike on March 19 but we can delay if I need a bit more healing time. I am optimistic that this will really help my ability to hike the trail. I keep telling myself that although it is tough now, I will be happy that the little buggers are gone when I'm on the AT.
Date: 2005-02-14
To: Healing and excited
Miles today: 0.0

My feet are healing very well. I can wear shoes now and am walking just about normally. It will be 3 weeks post-op on Wednesday and 1 month before we leave. I'm feeling great about my progress and glad I took the risk.We found someone to lease our home! That is a big relief and a milestone signifying our progress toward making it to the AT. I finish work next Thursday so we will have plenty of time to finish packing and completing our home repair list. The biggest item on the list of home repairs is to replace the carpet. We need to move everything first but we've been slowly moving items already. We plan to remove the old carpet ourselves because we want to spend some time securing the sub floor a bit more. Get rid of those squeaks! We said goodbye to a good friend on Saturday. I sold my car....It didn't go too far, just to my brother but it still was tough to see her go. It was my first car, bought with my own money. I loved my Jetta and she was good to me for almost 10 years! We plan to sell George's car too, just need a buyer. So this weekend felt like a big step in the AT direction. Very exciting!
Date: 2005-02-25
To: No more job
Miles today: 0.0

I finished up at NC State yesterday. It was hard to say goodbye to so many wonderful co-workers. I truly enjoyed my time working at the University. As things wrapped up and I left for the last time, I had a mix of excitement and sadness. For those that I met and worked with who read this journal, thank you for your support and encouragement. I will miss you all.George has been in Florida all week visiting his dad and hanging out with friends. It sounds like the trip has been great. They leave today for a rugby tournament in Ft Lauderdale. My only request was for him to come back in one piece with no major injuries that impact our hike! Forget about winning, just come back healthy.My feet are healing very well. The doctor asked that I take 2 additional weeks to allow for bone healing before I do any strenuous activity. That prevents me from hiking until one week before we leave, but I want them to heal correctly so we will adjust our hike as needed. Finishing up at my job is a major milestone and I am excited to pack the house so that we can move and begin the repair list. That will be our 'jobs' for the next few weeks until we head to Georgia.
Date: 2005-03-15
To: Out of Raleigh
Miles today: 0.0

It's official. We're out of Raleigh and temporarily in Salisbury. It took us a lot of effort and hardwork but we finished the updates to our house and moved everything. It took us at least 7 days of continuous work to get our house ready to lease. We found a great couple to rent the house and we wanted to make sure they had a nice place. We had new carpet put in on Monday and had the chance to see it before we left town. It looked great, I only wish we had it installed in time for us to use it! We had a few challenges with each task but overcame them all. Now that we're here in Salisbury we have a lengthly to do list for our final days. I believe we can get everything done and if we can't then we'll do our best. We leave on Friday for Georgia and will begin the hike on Saturday.My mother is bringing us to GA and my brother is coming over from Augusta to meet us. He is bringing us to the trail head. We decided to skip the approach trail for several reasons but mainly because I didn't want to overwhelm my feet too much on the first day. I saw my foot doctor for the last time last Thursday and he gave me a clean bill of foot health. My feet feel great and I hope they respond well to the hike. I can tell a big difference in the way they feel. We'll post another note before we leave and then from that point on, we'll update the journal when we can. If we can't, a family member will login to give a brief update. My Dad will be updating our photos. Thanks for staying tuned! Christine
Date: 2005-03-17
To: Off to GA we go
Miles today: 0.0

We leave tomorrow! What a week (or couple of weeks) it has been to get the final preparations for our hike finished. What doesn't get done tonight, won't! Well aside from selling our car on the way down tomorrow. Talk about last minute. Our next note will come from the trail. Wish us luck! Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Date: 2005-03-19
From: The Start

To: Hawk Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Note from Christine: We didn't stay near the shelter on the first night because we wanted to get our rountine down before being in front of lots of people. The woods are very quite. I expected to hear many animal noises. We did hear a few wolves talking to eachother. Pretty neat to hear how much they talk. As you can see in the picture, Chris and George were very excited to begin their adventure. We stayed at the Amicalola Falls Lodge Friday night and in the morning prior to leaving for the trailhead they weighed their packs at the visitors center Chris pack weiged 30# and George's 52#. Saturday was a beautiful, sunny morning in Georgia, temperature was 44 and it was expected to be 60's by midday. Mike(Chris brother and I wished them well as they walked smiling into the woods!
Date: 2005-03-20
From: Hawk Mtn Shelter

To: Gooch Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: clear sky

This was a great shelter. We tented but in addition to the shelter the built several tent platforms in the woods. The Georgia AT club has done a very nice job with updating this shelter. They had a privy (basically a place to poop) and a trail to a water spring. We stayed with a couple who is on a section hike. We also stayed with a guy we named Duralog because he brought several fire starter logs with him on his hike. Great guy but had too much in his pack. My feet hurt by the end of the day. Not from the sugery but from the pounding on the balls of the feet. My body tells me when its time to call it quits for the day.
Date: 2005-03-21
From: Gooch Mtn Shelter

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

It was cooler today. We found out last night that a trail angel was 1.5 miles ahead. Trail angels are folks that are very kind to hikers. Most are hikers themselves or have finished a thru-hike. They find ways to get out on the trail and bring treats to the hikers. This angel was at a forest service road crossing and had beer and food for the hikers. We didn't hike ahead because we were tired but those that did said it was fun. We hiked our longest day today. The trail was good in the beginning not too steep. By lunch we had finished 8 miles. The rest was tough, mostly uphill and by the end our feet were hurting. The shelter was .5 miles off the trail as well. We did have fun at camp with some other hikers. Met Smiling Joe. Great guy from York, PA. As his name implies, he smiles a lot and has a great laugh. Enjoyed telling jokes by the campfire. Some said it is supposed to rain. But we didn't end up with any. Our meals are great in the evenings. We enjoy that meal the best. I'm realizing that the sugary snacks we brought are not sitting well on my stomach. Poptarts, granola bars, etc. are not providing the right fuel for me. I crave my salty foods and cheese. We brought a big block of cheese with us (probably too big and heavy) but that is what I want to eat. When we stop at Neels Gap I hope to get some foods that sit better on my stomach.
Date: 2005-03-22
From: Woods Hole Shleter

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Note from Christine:Nice to have a warm shower. We picked up our pace so that we could get into Neels and get a spot in the hostel. For $25 we got a pullout sofa bed to sleep on. May sound expensive but it was comfy and nice. Our other friends were there too. We hiked in with too much food. Since we're hiking a bit further each day than we expected, we had 3 days of food left in our pack. Plus we picked up our first mail drop. We need to evaluate our plan for food.We did a 'shake down' at the Mountain Crossing outfitter. Basically, one of their expert staff members (a former thru-hiker) spends time going through all your gear with you and giving you advice on what to keep, buy, send home, etc. We lightened our load a bit. We sent home one of our cook pots because we only need one, some extra medical supplies, one camp towel, a fleece jacket of George's, and some other stuff. The guy said we're doing well with what we brought and his biggest advice to lighten up our packs is to shorten our food supply. We plan on 10-11 day food supplies which can equal 20-25 lbs of food. George has to carry most of that since I max out at 30 lbs. I'm pushing for us to carry no more than 6-7 days at a time. George wants to try out a 10 day supply once to see if we can do it. I told him too that mentally, I need to get off the trail more often then once every 10-12 days. Not that I'm having trouble on the trail, its more to shower and have some off-trail time to socialize with fellow thru-hikers. I want to make it the entire way and getting off once a week or some (at least in the beginning) may be the key. He agreed to try my plan after the 10 days.We also did our first all you can eat buffet in Blairsville. We got a ride in from the hostel to the Cookie Jar (country home cooking)! Yummy. We actually didn't pig out as much as we could have. We left the next morning. Nice stop, great to talk with Bonnie and mom. Having fun!Chris and George have arrived at their first mail drop at Neels Gap which is 30.7 miles from Springer Mountain. The weather has been good the first few days while they adjust to trail life. No blisters yet,but they found parts of the trail quite difficult. They climbed Blood Mountain today before arriving at the Hostel, showering, doing laundry and getting some off trail food!! It started raining this afternoon in Walasi-Yi. They've gotten advice from the Outfitters at the center which was helpful and have managed to lighten their backpack weight with Chris now at 23# and George at 45#. They plan to be on the trail ten days before arriving at Nantahala Outdoor Center around April 1st.
Date: 2005-03-23
From: Neels Gap

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

I was dragging by the time we got to the shelter. Today my feet hurt and I felt as though I was constantly pushing. Not fun. Took some downtime at the shelter once the tent was up. I try to do that for a little while at the end of the day. We have an MP3 player that also gets radio so I try to get an NPR station, write in my journal and maybe read before socializing. When I got out of the tent to go to the shelter and chat, I found that a couple of trail angel's had come to the shelter with beer and hotdogs!! Just what I needed after a long day. Geek and Boudin have thru-hiked before and were coming back to 'repay' the kindness they received. We had a great time (lots of folks at the shelter maybe 20-25). Many people tented but the shelter was full too. This trail magic made my day. I really needed that lift and it helped me to see that even on the hard days, things can be fun. We met the Cincinnati 3 (Andrea, Andy, and Jo). More about them later.Vitamin I is coming in very handy (Trail name for Ibuprofen!). We are taking it regularly to get rid of the aches of hiking. We can feel ourselves getting in better shape though. No injuries!
Date: 2005-03-24
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Cheese Factory Site
Miles today: 13.0

Trail magic again today. Two days in a row. We're getting spoiled. Nice hike today. Our longest so far. Tented with other friends that we have been hiking with. Slippery Rock (trail name) suprised us with a portable grill, hotdogs, chips, candy bars, soda, and fruit! We still cooked our own dinner because we have so much food that if we don't eat it our packs will stay heavy. By the time we finished hotdogs and our rice dinner, I was stuffed. We actually had trouble finishing the rice. George had to save it for a few hours until he could get it all down. But you can't throw it out in the woods. It attracts animals, especially bears. On the bear situation, we haven't see any or heard any. At each shelter they have bear cables to hoist your food up high. Great service! If we tent we have a rope and we hoist the food ourselves. You need to either keep your food in viewing distance or hoist it up in a tree. We also put any other smelly stuff in the bear bag (toothpaste, wet wipes, lotion, etc). Just on the safe side. Bears are attracted to the smell and you never want to sleep with your food in your tent.
Date: 2005-03-25
From: Cheese Factory Site

To: Deep Gap Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: clear sky

Awesome day! Hot weather and sunny. Pretty easy hiking. Arrived at the shelter early. We did climb a very hard mountain though, Kelly Knob. This is also the day that George got his name Boots (more about that in one of the other entries). Since the weather was so nice and we had extra time we decided to stop and do some 'laundry' and take bird baths. The shelter had a nice size stream so we washed out our dirty stuff and George used the bear rope to make a clothes line. Most of our friends stopped too because they were going into Hiawasee GA the next day and that was only 3-3.5 miles away. More people on the trail because it was Good Friday and a vacation day for most. Andrea got her trail name - Feeling Free - so from this point on that is what we'll call her. Jo's name is Dozer. Nothing for me or andy. But soon.
Date: 2005-03-26
From: Deep Gap Shelter

To: Camp spot just over NC border
Miles today: 12.2

Tough day today. We said see ya later to some friends that were getting off trail for a few days. Continued hiking with Feeling Free, Dozer and Andy. The trail was up and down. Most of Georgia has been like that. You have to earn every step. We crossed the NC/GA border though!! YeahMy brother had said before the hike that if I don't hike at least out of GA, he'd disown me! He was only kidding but I needed to do it! We have a picture of us at the sign so hopefully my dad will put that online soon.We set up camp just over the border. Our first rain storm hit that night. Not alot of rain but enough to get some of our stuff wet. We were with the Cinnci 3 and a family (anchor, oblivious (the kid), and troll). They are also thru-hiking.
Date: 2005-03-27
From: Camp spot just over NC border

To: Beech Gap
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Long hike but we decided to push ahead due to impending rain and we were feeling good. Dozer decided to get off trail today. She was having trouble with her ankle. She wanted to get into Franklin. The Cinnci 3 had a mail drop there anyway so Andy and Feeling Free decided to meet her there in a few days. They hiked with us to Beech gap. Set up camp in a rain storm. Everything got wet. What a way to spend Easter. We ate cold ramen noodles with the packet of spice sprinkled over the top. Kinda tasts like chips. But my stomach was not feeling great after that. Boots ate his with soy nut butter! The rain stopped for about 30 minutes. Just enough time to get our food in a tree. Then it ended up raining all night! Pouring and windy. We broke camp in the rain and cold. It wasn't much above freezing. No breakfast we just wanted to get to a shelter. Boot's clothes were soaked. My gloves were too. If Feeling Free hadn't lend me her mittens my fingers would have gotten frost bite. All I had that was dry was socks that I was wearing on my hands. I led the charge to the nearest shelter. Going 3 or so mph. Fast for us! By the time we stopped we had gone 3-4 miles. While we got water, made some hot bfast and drinks it began to snow!! We looked at eachother and said "Can we make it to Franklin today?" That was about 16 miles from our current location and would be around 20 miles total for the day. It was early and we really didn't want to stay out in the cold another night since everything was wet. So we decided to push on. I was in the lead and I don't know where I got my speed or energy from (probably the thought of a warm shower and bed) but I walked fast and didn't stop. By noon we were half-way through the entire distance and we came upon some trail magic. Just before Albert Mountain we walked up on some folks that had a camper, big tent, a roaring campfire, and bluegrass music playing. They had coffee, cocoa, homemade burritos, and candy for us to eat. We took a rest and enjoyed lunch before we started off on the last half of our trip. Awesome surprise. The folks are set up for several months to bring some magic to hikers. Great people!We had lots of snow on top of Albert Mountain. The mountain would have been a great view but all we saw were white clouds. Eventually made it to the Hwy 64 crossing which takes us into Franklin, NC. Just as we got there a guy drove up and gave us a ride into town. We arrived around 5pm! Great for a 20 mile day.
Date: 2005-03-28
From: Beech Gap

To: Franklin
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: light rain

(George's entry)What a fun and eventful week we have had...here's the recap...I received my trail name "Boots" Christine, myself and some other thru hikers were enjoying the view and taking a break from atop Kelly's knob (which was over a 1000' climb) when along came two day hikers and their dog. One of the hikers we were with, Chickadee, saw this dog lift his leg and almost mark his territory on my pack before the day hiker stopped him. So down the mountain we went to the next camping area and shelter for the night. Upon arriving in camp we drop our packs and start with the nightly routine (preparing dinner, getting water from the stream etc.) I get 20 feet from my pack when I hear the day hikers yell at the dog NO! and I turn around and there the dog is...very close to my pack, I think... that¢s odd and go about my chores, only later to find out the dog was making a second attempt to wet my pack...the dogs name was Boots.3/26 - SaturdayWe make the trek 75 miles out of GA into the homeland of NC and camp at the first campground over the border getting our tent setup just before the first rain of our trip begins.Easter SundayOur first day in North Carolina was not our best. It started out cold and still raining. A nice climb out of camp got us warm and the weather didn't improve much with light rain and a lot of fog all day. 8 miles in at about 2:30 we came to the shelter that was already full with hikers getting out of the rain so we pressed another 2 miles to the next official campground. With it still raining and light out through the fog we pressed on another 2 to Beech gap. After getting camp setup in the rain we changed into our last pair of dry clothes and had an appetizing Easter dinner of raw romin noodles with the spice pack sprinkled on for flavor (I added a bit more to my raw noodles with some soy butter spread over the top)With us at this point were two other hikers Andy and Feelin' Free both in the same dilemma as us.By Monday everything was basically wet so we pulled out the trail book and maps and looked at our options. There was a shelter at 3 miles, 10 miles, and one at 15 miles which would provide us cover from the rain but no relief from wet clothes or the cold so the last option was to hike 19 miles to US 64 and hitch a ride to town...and that's what we did. (I would like to add that most people do not hike anything near a 20 mile day until they reach Virginia and more level land, but we were motivated.) The rain turned to ice and from ice to snow but we pressed on and made it into town before dark.So here I am in the Franklin, NC library with dry clothes and a full belly of some real food courtesy of the Shoney¢s buffet.We will write more in 3 days from the NOC and expect some pictures of our first 100 miles soon...G
Date: 2005-03-30
From: Franklin

To: Campsite after Wayah Bald
Miles today: 10.5

NC hasn't been too good to us with weather. It wasn't supposed to rain but it did. Nice all day then a storm at night. We didn't set the tent up for rain so Boot's bag got wet. Wayah Bald is very pretty. It has an observation tower on top that allowed us to see where we had come and where we are going. We say Clingman's Dome mountain, the highest point on the entire AT. Should be there in a few days. Also saw Albert's mountain were we had been a few days earlier.
Date: 2005-03-31
From: Campsite after Wayah Bald

To: Wesser Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: moderate rain

Heard there might be rain again so we hiked to a shelter. Decided to say in the shelter. Our first night staying in the shelter. Shelter's have mice and other critter's and that hasn't been something I want to deal with. But rain isn't good either. It was Boots, Feeling Free, Andy and I. Mr Clean Sr arrived later on and one other guy was there. The shelter experience wasn't bad. I do need ear plugs though because others snore and can keep you up. Did hear mice but they weren't everywhere and didn't crawl on us. Heading into NOC tomorrow. Get to see my Mom on Saturday!
Date: 2005-04-01
From: Wesser Bald Shelter

To: Wesser/NOC
Miles today: 5.6
Weather: moderate rain

Mostly downhill into NOC. It rained during the morning so the trail was wet and the tree roots were slippery. I ended up falling once and broke my hiking pole. The poles really are helpful for helping you take weight off your knees and assist with up and down hills. Having only one was wierd. Luckily we will be able to stop today at the outfiter at NOC and get it repaired or call the manufacturer.Feeling Free and Andy are not planning to stay the night. They need to be in Gatlinburg by next weekend. Will be hard to see them go.We got a 2 bed room in the hostel. Took a shower and went for lunch. The sky looked like rain so Feeling Free and Andy decided to stay. Hung out most of the day. Mom comes tomorrow at noon to pick us up.