morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-10-09
From: George W. Outerbridge shelter

To: Allentown hiking club shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: clear sky

      Staying at Allentown hiking club shelter. I had a little surprize when I hot up this morning. I went to put my shoes on and in one of them I had about 20 acorns. Boy was someone busy last night. I forgot that I had trail magic last night. Some lady gave me an orange and pretzels. I saw a black snake ( I think) that was about 5 feet.
Date: 2006-10-14
From: Eagle Nest shelter

To: 501 shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: clear sky

         Staying at 501 shelter, which is an enclosed building. That's good because it is really windy out. Today I hit the double digits. I only have 91 miles to go. Yeah!!! It was pretty chilly out today. It hasn't been this could in a long time but I heard it's going to be warmer tomorrow.
Date: 2006-10-16
From: Rausch Gap shelter

To: Peters Mtn. shelter
Miles today: 17.5

      Staying at Peter Mtn. shelter. I think it was the longest day ever. 17 miles and no views, nothing but rocks. I think I might be getting a blister. Do you believe that? Only 4 days till I'm done and now I get a blister. To top that one of my hiking boots is starting to fall apart. I'm not buying 3 pairs of hiking boots. I'll just duct tape it. Only 56 miles to go.
Date: 2006-10-17
From: Peters Mtn. shelter

To: Duncannon PA
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: moderate rain

         Staying in Duncannon PA at the Doyle Hotel which was made famous from the early thur-hikers. It rained all day and I was soaked till I got to town. I even had some sleet and a few snow flakes this morning in the mountains. At least I have a nice warm bed to sleep in tonight. My son, daugther and grandson came up to have supper with me. What a treat. Only 3 days to go with 45 miles.
Date: 2006-10-18
From: Duncannon PA

To: Darlington shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

         Staying at Darlington shelter. Only 34 miles to go and 2 days till I'm home. Yeah!!!! Well I caught up to some south bounders at Duncannon. So I might have company the rest of the way. That would be nice. There was 9 of us at the shelter tonight.
Date: 2006-10-19
From: Darlington shelter

To: Alec Kennedy shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: scattered clouds

         Staying at Alec Kennedy shelter. WOW I did 18.2 miles in 7 hours including lunch. The trail was so nice going through the valley. Plus I didn't have all those rocks. When I got to Boiling Springs I went to the ATC office. They asked if I was Stumbles. Here Wookensticks was in looking for me, but he left about 45 minutes before I got there. Sorry I missed you. It would of been nice to see you again. Only 15.5 miles to go. I will be home tomorrow and can't wait.
Date: 2006-10-21
From: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

         Well, I'm finally done. It only took me 7 months and 4 days. I'm also glad to be home and see my family. First I want to thank my Mom and Dad for all the support and for doing my mail drops. My son and daugther for the support and for keeping my cat. Then there is work for giving me the time off and then giving me more time when I needed it. It was a trip of a life time, one that I will never forget. Thanks again all.
Date: 2006-02-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well the countdown until I start the trail has begun, 35 days. I have most of my gear, still need to get some clothing items though. I am currently in Columbus, OH and will be here until March 6th, at which point I will go to Washington, DC to be with my Parents before my dad and I head down to Georgia. I am starting to get excited, telling everyone I work with that I will be leaving work for a while (maybe forever), kinda kicked this off. It is all starting to feel very real. Will my year of planning pay off? You know it will!
Date: 2006-02-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Exactly 2 weeks from today will be my last day at work before starting my hike. This is starting to seem very real. Even though I have been thinking, planning and breathing the AT every single day for the last year I still feel like I am not organized enough. Oh well... a trial by fire on the trail might make for a better learning experience. March 10th cannot get here quick enough.
Date: 2006-03-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So I am no longer in Columbus and have made my way home to Alexandria, VA. I have also begun to get the last bits of my gear togeather and have taken over my parents living room with all my stuff. So I was suppose to leave for the trail March 10th, but since my dad is going to hike the first week with me and he has a "meeting he has to attend" on March 13th, I won't be getting to the trail until March 14th or 15th. But I am not worried... on a hike that should take me 5+ months what is a 5 day delay? Actually it kind of sucks, I am getting really antsy and I really just want to get started.
Date: 2006-03-15
From: Springer Mountain

To: Horse Gap
Miles today: 10.1

Began driving to Georgia from Alexandria, VA on March 14th at like 2:30 in the morning and arrived to the approach trail around 2pm. Here my dad and I learned that it was probably not the best idea for him to drive the car ahead of us 65 miles and then hitchhike his way back to springer mtn. so we called up a local hostel (the hiker hostel to be exact) and arranged for them to ferry our car to the point we need ed it on the trail. we also stay there for the night... totally worth the money we paid.had great filling breakfast at about 7am and were on our way to the start of the trail by 8:15 or so. once at the springer mt parking lot it is still about a mile to the actual start of the trail. once i got into the groove of hiking again i felt pretty good all day. a little stiff but good. there were some great views of the surrounding mountains and valleys, none of which would have been visible if they weren't leafless.looking to do about 12 to 14 miles tomorrow... we will see.
Date: 2006-03-16
From: Horse Gap

To: Bird Gap
Miles today: 16.7

Got a great sleep last night... I slept like a log, fell asleep at about 8:30 and slept until 7:15... I definitely needed it too. my dad and I were really flying down the trail today, got into a very good rhythm and until the final 2 miles I was very much enjoying the hike. Those final 2 miles were hell... lots of aching muscles, muscles I didn't even know existed until today.Other than the final 2 miles, today was great the miles flew by, there were even times where I got into such a rhythm that I completely forgot I was wearing a 35 lbs pack.Tomorrow we will be hiking Blood Mt. and resupplying at Neels Gap. We got a weather report that some cold rainy weather is heading our way which will not be welcomed since the following 2 days have been sunny, 60 degrees with a nice breeze.
Date: 2006-03-17
From: Bird Gap

To: Hogpen Gap
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up this morning to a really strong wind storm. I mean gusts of probably 30 to 40 mph, at points I thought our tent was going to take off into the air with me inside it. To keep out of the cold and wind my dad and I decided to light the stove in the tent and pack our bags while waiting for the water to boil. Once we broke camp it was a 1.5 mile hike to the top of Blood Mtn. At 4500ft this is highest I have been so far on the trail and offered some amazing views of the surrounding landscape. We then made our way down Blood Mtn. and into Neels Gap where we resupplied on needed food and also ate our lunch from a limited selection of Hotdogs and hotdogs. I had 2 dogs and a coke (along with a bunch of other crap), but the coke was perfect... I miss coke so much.Several miles down the trail we managed to lose the trail for the first time and walked about a 1/2 mile out of our way. At the point we realized we were lost I looked down and saw a tent pole that I new belonged to Garry because he had tented near us the night before. When we finally made the decision to make camp we came upon to fellow hikers making a fire, as we approached I realized it was Garry and Ari. I gave Garry back his pole and we had a good laugh about how we both got lost in the same exact place. They then told us how they couldn't find any water so they flagged down this pickup truck and the guy gave them both 2 bottles of water that he happened to have with him in a cooler. The also said that when they went into town the other day a lady at the post offce gave them both $20 and told them to treat them selves to dinner. WOW! Talk about your trail magic... I want some trail magic to happen to me!! HahaIt is starting to get much colder than it has been so it cold be a pretty chilly next couple of days.
Date: 2006-03-18
From: Hogpen Gap

To: Rocky Mountain
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Overnight the temperature dropped dramatically and we awoke to frost all over the outside of our tent. I have camped in freezing temperatures before but I had forgotten how much it sucks. The last thing I ever wanted to do was climb out of my toasty sleeping bag... but it had to be done.We broke camp and began to make our way down the trail but my dad was slowed because his knee was really bothering him, so he took some ibuprofen and I also let him use my treking poles and that seemed to help.The rest of the day was made up with both the best, most fun terrain I have hiked across and the absolute worst. The best lasted about 3.5 miles and ran along an old logging road. It was very smooth with some minor ups and downs but we made great time, hiking the 3.5 miles in about an hour and a half. However right at the end of the day we came to Unicoi Gap where you literally hike almost straight down and then straight back up again. On top of this the trail was very rocky and on tired legs that sucks even more than it normally would.My dad seemed to struggle a little today and after we made camp he didn't want to eat and just went to bed. He thinks he is getting a fever, but I am sure he is just very worn out. Luckily we are fairly close to a road crossing so if he did need medical attention that wouldn't be to hard to receive. Also we only have about 14 miles until we reach the point were we left my car so he will be making his way back to Northern VA after we finish this last stretch.My boots haven't really bothered me until today and I think I am starting to get my first signs of future blisters. I will have to patch those up tomorrow morning before hitting the trail.I am going into town tomorrow once reaching Dicks Creek Gap, I am pretty excited about showering, washing my clothes and I have also heard that there is a $6 all you can eat buffet in town. I think I will be hitting that up and eating like $50 worth.
Date: 2006-03-19
From: Rocky Mountain

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a very long day. We woke up fairly early because we wanted to hike to Dicks Creek Gap so we could go into town and shower and sleep in a bed.The first thing awaiting us was a mile hike to the top of Rocky Mountain. This is not the ideal way to start a day. Once me made it to the top and then down to the bottom of Rocky Mountain we stopped and had breakfast. At this point my dad had the first food he had had in about 18 hours.From here to the end of our day there were lots of very very steep up hills. One in particular seemed like it went on forever. I would get to what I thought was the top of the mountain only to turn the corner and discover I had to continue going (what seemed like) strait up.My dad continued to feel like crap the entire day and moved very slowly and didn't ever want to stop hiking because it made him feel sick. I am sure that today was an awful day for him, I thought my day of hiking was hard and I didn't do it while feeling nauseous the entire day.Well we finally made it to Dicks Creek Gap and then into the town of Hiawasee were we got a hotel room. I had forgotten how amazing it feels to take a shower. The only negative is since I haven't seen myself in a mirror for a week I hadn't noticed that my face and arms got completely sunburned. So after my shower my face felt like it was on fire. I also have a pretty nasty blister on the bottom of my left foot. Well it is time to go sleep in a real bed. YAY!
Date: 2006-03-20
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Plumorchard Shelter
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: moderate rain

Woke up today in a nice soft warm bed and had a very big breakfast at the hotel where I was staying. My dad and I cleaned up our room and then headed out into Hiawasee to run some errands.I was able to check my email and update my trail journals page from the pub[l]ic (sic) library. Then we went to the grocery store to restock our food. I only needed about 3 days worth since my next town stop is only about 30 miles or so up the trail.My dad was also feeling quite a bit better today and was able to eat some food and didn't feel nearly as nauseous as he had yesterday.After running our errands me, my dad, The Guv, Leprechaun and Novocaine (see below for an explanation of the names) all went to Gorgin' George's hotel room to get our packs organized before hitting the trail again.My dad drove me, Leprechaun and Novocaine to the trail head at Dicks Creek Gap. Here I said goodbye to my dad and started up the trail. Since it was raining and a little cold we decided that we would only hike about 4.5 miles to the Plumorchard Shelter. The first 2 miles were a breeze, I felt good and even though it was raining I was enjoying my hike. After the first 2 miles however the wind picked up a lot and temperature dropped dramatically. Rain was literally freezing to my coat the second it landed on me. On top of this during the first 2 miles that were going so well I had stripped off most of my warm clothing because I was sweating only to have to stop several times to put these now wet and cold clothes back on. I finally made it to the shelter and it is packed... luckily it is a very big shelter so we could all fit.Hopefully the rain will stop fairly early tomorrow so we can put up a pretty big hiking day. However, if it is cold and rainy like this I might just opt to stay in my sleeping back and sleep all day.** I know many people reading my journal are not familiar with some of the odd customs that go on on the trail so I will try to fill you in when ever they come up.The names Leprechaun, Novocaine, The Guv and Gorgin' George are what thru-hikers call trail names. Kind of like a nickname for the AT. Some hikers pick there trail names before starting the trail but many get named on the trail by other hikers. I have not received a trail name yet, but as soon as I get one I will be sure to fill you in.
Date: 2006-03-21
From: Plumorchard Shelter

To: Standing Indian Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: overcast clouds

When I woke up this morning it was still raining and cold. By the time I had packed up my gear the rain had stopped but it was still about 38 degrees. The first 3 miles were pretty miserable because no mater how hard I hiked I just couldn't get warm.About 3 miles from the Plumorchard shelter I crossed into North Carolina. And while I don't really understand why, at the time crossing into North Carolina seemed like a big deal. Maybe crossing over a state line made me feel like I was actually going somewhere, as opposed to just up and down some mountain.The excitement of entering NC didn't last long however, because almost immediately after crossing the state line you begin some pretty nasty uphills. In less than a mile you climb 500ft twice. Not fun at all.After the first couple miles in NC things smoothed out a little bit, but a lot of this hiking is over loose rocks so things were still slow going.Leprechaun got a new trail name today and several other hikers are now calling him Rambo. Novocaine was hiking with me for a while but about 6 miles into our hike today he stopped at one of the shelters and decided he was going to stay there for the night. He has been in some pain because of his hip and thigh. Hopefully I will run into him on the trail in the next couple of days.I am sleeping in my own tent for the first time tonight and it is a little cozy but I like it. It is very windy out and so far it is doing a great job of keeping me warm and out of the wind.The next trail town I will be visiting will be Franklin, NC and it is accessible from Winding Stair Gap. I have been making really good time on the trail so I will probably be in town again in less than 2 days. Which is very good because I am craving a pepperoni pizza and even though I just washed my clothes I need to clean them again already since they all got soaked in the rain storm yesterday.Since starting the AT I have had some very strange dreams and all of them have been very vivid and I can usually remember them for a couple hours after waking up. I am not really sure the reason for this but I am sure some of it is because on the trail I have lots of time to think. Lots of time. I think and walk, and walk and think. The things that I think about are often things from very distant past. Kids I was friends with when I was 5, things I did in elementary school, etc. A lot of these things come into play in my dreams too... usually linking something from my long ago past with people that I currently know. Very odd... and I am sure you wanted to know all that. :-P
Date: 2006-03-22
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Big Butt Mountain
Miles today: 12.5

Today was an amazing day!!! Woke up to a very very cold morning. At about 4am I woke up because I had to pee pretty bad and I checked my thermometer and it said 17 degrees. When I went to climb out of my tent some of the snow that had fallen on my rainfly got knocked off and went down the back of my shirt. This would normally not be cool, but the fact that it was freakin cold made it even worse.Finally woke up for good around 7:30 and tried to do all the packing I could inside my tent before emerging into the cold. By 8:30 everything was packed up and I was ready to go. It was a cold walk early but I kept pretty warm just by hiking and the miles seemed to fly by.By a little after noon I had already put in about 7 miles and stopped for lunch. I had heard a rumor that there was trail magic down the trail but I wasn't quite sure where. Overall the weather for the day turned up to be beautiful... 55 and sunny. And the trail was a blast to hike on fairly smooth with no major ups or downs. A couple miles out from stopping for lunch I came across a group of about 10 high school kids walking in the opposite direction of me. A small group of these kids was singing "We are the champions" by Queen, very loudly and very out of tune. This alone was enough to bring a smile to my face, but as a passed as asked it they could sing "Bohemanian Rhapsody" and the kids immediately broke out into the Chorus.I spent most of my day hiking with "T" and we talked for a long time about our reasons for wanting to hike the trail, as well as other stuff. Now if my day would have ended right here it would have been a perfect day. But oh no... it got better... much better!As T and I approached the top of Big Butt Mountain I saw a sign that said "Trail Magic" so I walked off the trail and there off the trail is an RV and a big fire going along with a huge Saw blade grill hanging over the fire. I am immediately offered a soda and a quesadilla. The 2 Trail Angels that are putting on the trail magic (Gatoraide and Fishing Fred) then tell us that if we stay till morning they will have pancakes and maybe eggs for us. That was enough to sell me on staying. So me, T, Rambo, Teddy Rockspin and Shinanigans all hung around the fire and talked with Gatoraide and Fishin Fred. Then to top things off Fishin Fred drags over a 24 pack of beer and tells us to all help ourselves. I am in heaven!!!Tomorrow morning we are all getting up pretty early to try and catch the sunrise from the overlook that is about 50 yards from our camp site. Then we have a pretty easy 10 mile hike before going into Franklin. But as of right now... I am really just excited about pancakes!
Date: 2006-03-23
From: Big Butt Mountain

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: clear sky

Woke up very early this morning to go watch the sunrise... I think I got some pretty good pictures as well. We then went to the fire and Gatoraide made pancakes. Oh how I love pancakes.Just before we left Lush, Snapper, Sumo and Glow Worm met up with us. Gatoraide then pulled out a cupcake that he had saved for Snapper because yesterday was her birthday... I think she teared up alittle. It was great, she loved it. Glow Worm then came over and told me about these 2 guys that I passed on the trail yesterday and said that they had been reading my trail journal but didn't realize who I was until after they had passed me. This shocked me... I didn't realize that anyone was actually reading my journal. Now that I am a mild celebrity I will have to keep a closer eye on spelling and grammar for my journal entries. Haha :-)We then made our way up Albert Mountain (5,300Ft), which we had heard was one hell of a climb... it ended up not being that bad. At the top of the mountain there was an old fire tower that we were able to climb up 3 floors. The view from here was amazing with a gorgeous 360 degree view of the surroundings.Coming down from Albert Mountain we encountered more trail magic. A guy with the trail name Frazier Fir was standing just off the trail with his dog and passed out cokes to everyone in my group. I love this trail!Around noon we made our way into one of the gaps and ran into even more trail magic. Crutch was waiting for hikers with a table full of orange soda, ham and cheese sandwiches and apples. We stood around and talked with Crutch for about 45 min and found out there was a pretty big snow storm making its way towards us. We decided not to go into town however, and hiked 4 miles to the next road crossing. Along this hike I found even more trail magic... a Capri Sun sitting in a creek that I crossed. It was a great I was getting tired of just drinking water. We then made it to Winding Stair Gap, here our plan was to camp and make our way into town early tomorrow morning.At about 7:30 crutch hiked up to find us because we were the only hikers that didn't go into town. Since Rambo only had a tarp to sleep under he decided to go into town. This left me, Shinanigans and Teddy Rockspin to debate with each other over whether we should go in as well. In the end I decided to go into town but Shinanigans and Teddy both decided to stay on the trail and will come into town tomorrow.I made it into town and got to have a few beers and watch some sweet 16 basketball. Saw a great ending to the Texas/ West Virginia game. It's really to bad that Ohio State already got knocked out... oh well.
Date: 2006-03-24
From: Franklin, NC

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Took a zero day today to rest, relax and run errands. As you probably noticed I updated my trail journal and put some pictures up as well. I hope you enjoy.Went to an all you can eat buffet with about 10 other hikers and we all stuffed our faces. That night about 20 hikers went out to the bowling alley/ tiki bar. Franklin, NC has this weird law that to sell alcohol at a bar you have to have 2 useable tennis courts... so the bowling alley has 2 tennis courts right out front... very odd.I bowled 2 games and actually did very well... 141 in my first game and 156 in my second game - I even bowled a turkey. Mostly though I just socialized with my new friends... and drank beer... lots of beer. Now I thought my friends from college could drink a lot, but thru-hikers would definitly give my friends a run for the money in a competition. At one point there was 15 empty pitchers in the middle of our group.   It was great hearing everyones stories too. My favorite question to ask is "Why are you hiking the trail?" because everyone has their own unique and interesting story. I also got to here a pretty good joke... ok it might not be good... but it is a joke. What is the difference between a homeless person and a thru-hiker? .......... Gore-tex.   Anyways....I will be back on the trail tomorrow, and that is a good thing because I am starting to get antsy and am ready to be hiking again.