morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-04-02
From: Southern Terminus

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: light rain

A great day of hiking with a terrible weather forecast. Everyone keeps saying that it is supposed to be so beautiful but it was another heavily overcast day. Since we started out on the top of Springer, we were up high enough to be in the cloud cover. As a result, the cloud was condensing onto the trees and , in effect was raining on us. And good Lord it was windy! The trail was a real mess for the descent. I was going quite slowly when Jay Bird came screaming past me. I could have water skied behind him! We walked together for a few minutes but I didn't want to slip moving too fast.The day's mileage is only 7.6 miles as we are all concerned about keeping our miles down for the first couple weeks. I got to the shelter first today and was in for the day at noon. As the day progressed, those that I began with all showed up, Archie,Paul,"Solar",Liz, Dot,and Bruce. We were all trying to get a fire going when a hoard of people began to show up. There might be 25 people at the shelter tonight! There are about ten tents pitched and 6 of us in the shelter. I should have tented to try to air out my wet tent, but I was not convinced that the rain was over. People I met here tonight include: Sean, Sean, Bill("Goodwill"), Rachel, Bonnie, "Texas Turtle", and Kirsten. That's all I can remember. I can't decide if I want to try to get out of the pack or enfoy the social aspect of it. All of these people must have started today at Springer.The debate is still on about the plan into Neels Gap. I want to get there by Sunday because I don't want to sacrifice food but I think preserving miles may be more important. I am just not ready to run 13 miles. 8 feels fine, 13 I'm not sure about yet. Plus, they are having bear problems at the shelter just north of Neels so it is closed, causing that day to be at least 11 miles. Just going to have to take it easy.I put my liner in the sleeping bag tonight because I was a little cold last night. Still, haven't gotten into a good sleeping rythem. Was up at 0330, wide awake again this morning. Would love some sunshine tomorrow so we can get some rays so I can charge my phone. Until then...
Date: 2009-04-04
From: North Branch Falls

To: Gooch Mountain
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Hawk Mountain Shelter to Gooch Gap, April 4th. Today, by most accounts, was a difficult day. It was so, so cold last night. I haven't been sleeping well anyway. I got into the sleeping bag at 2200hrs and was just about asleep when a mouse ran across the floor and Liz screamed. After that, I couldn't get back to sleep at 0030 and I started feeling really nauseous so instead of risking throwing up in the shelter, I put my clothes on and walked to the privy. I didn't want to throw up because I am already worried about being under nourished. I walked back and forth from the privy to the shelter for about an hour in the freezing cold before I felt good enough to return. For 2 and 1/2 more hours, I laid there absolutely freezing wondering how my sleeping bag could be rated at 25 degrees. Then finally, I fell asleep but began having dreams about someone pulling me by the bottom of my bag down a hallway. The entire shelter woke up to me screaming "help". Just charming!I got up at 0630 when everyone else was stirring and it felt good to be up and about. After a freezing breakfast, I was under way at 0800 with the other guys close behind me. Although it was cold and really windy, it felt good to be moving. The terrain was up and down, up and down. I stopped after two hours to get something to eat and Scarecrow, Solar Man, and Sean appeared. We ate for about 15 minutes and then moved on. We walked together to Justus Creek for lunch. We put our feet in the water and tried to soak up the sunshine. I left first because I prefer to hike alone. I tried my best to convince them to camp with me at Gooch Gap instead of pushing on. It's just too much mileage right now.I got in at 1600hrs but not without incident. On the way down Sassafras Mountain, I started experiencing knee pain in my knee that was not injured before. Although the pain was nothing like it was before with my other one, I know it is the exact same thing. Needless to say, I was super depressed all night tonight. It's is a shame that I let it bother me because it was an overall nice day. My plan is to stretch it, ice it, and use ibuprofen and pray. Not good for my morale! I have that strap I can use on it but I can't tell if it is doing any good. Just my luck. In other news, Solar Man, Scarecrow, and I decided on one more night in the woods to minimize mileage. Unfortunately we're nearly out of food but we are putting all our food together for tomorrow. Next on the long list of annoying concerns is the weather is making a turn for the worst right while we are going to be "playing" on Blood Mountain. This is the biggest and most intimidating challenge of the trail thus far. It has a huge ascent, a huge descent, storms, lightening, wind, and empty food bags. And then there is my painful knee. The story certainly has the possibility of being quite interesting in the next 2 days. Until then...
Date: 2009-04-05
From: Gooch Mountain

To: Woods Hole Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: few clouds

Gooch Gap to Woods Hole Shelter, April 5. I apologize for being so cranky yesterday. Every bit of it was washed away by a terrific day. I woke up in a gorgeous field, having have slept all night! We were under way at 0830 and are bound for the Woods Hole Shelter. It was a fun day of hiking because there were a lot of people on the trail. I was consistently leap frogging with "Rochester Bob", "Miami Jeff", Sean #2, and a boy scout troop. Although as things go on I find that I prefer to walk alone. Scarecrow and Solar Man are picking up steam and I am purposefully slowing down. So we are hiking withing 20 minutes of each other. It is fun because we plan our breaks together and I get to break longer waiting for them. What a great surprise it was to see Liz show up while we were having lunch today. She's ramping it up as well. We are all here in the shelter tonight(minus the boy scouts), trying to dodge the rain. We want to avoid carrying wet tents down the mountain to Neel's Gap. Everyone is so excited about our first stop. The weather report is bad, bad, bad for tomorrow night so Scarecrow, Solarman and Liz ("Birdbrain") have reserved a cabin at Neel's. It costing us $15 a piece and it has free laundry service. We are all looking forward to being clean. Not to mention warm. It's supposed to be in the low 20's tomorrow night and snowing! Perfect time to be in a cabin eating ice cream. Just have to make it down the mountain 3 miles without killing myself in the rain.Since I was in such a less than perfect mood yesterday I failed to mention the totally cool people we camped with last night. "Big Shanty"(game 07),"Little Feet", and "Big Foot". They were camped at the traffic jam at Hawk Mountain Shelter but we didn't get a chance to meet. A BIG thank you to Big Shanty for all the great thru-hiker advice, the purse story and to his friends for hooking me up with extra food for lmy unplanned fifth day in the woods!Am greatly looking forward to the accomplishment of finishing this first leg of the journey. It was harder than I expected. Maybe not the terrain but certainly all the other aspects that to into it, fatigue, diet, health, happiness, weather etc. I've learned a lot in this huge 5 day beginning and am looking foware to making the future sections smoother. Until then...P.S. We have finally had contact from Walter(Midnight). His new official name is "93", because of his 93 pound pack. We have been hearing bits and pieces of information about him from people who have passed him, so we know he's been making progress. Liz actually saw him last night at Gooch Gap and said he was good but tired. She left this am and he was still sleeping. He actually called me tonight and left a message that he did 5 miles today into Woody Gap and is at the hiker Hostel tonight. He says that he intends to do the 10 miles up and over Blood Mountain(in this terribel weather)! I'll believe that when I see it. But I'd love to see how he's doing. We are all happy and relieved that he's ok. He sounded like he was having a great time from the phone message.
Date: 2009-04-07
From: Neel gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: light snow

It's too cold to be particuarly detailed today. We left Neels Gap at 0845 in the snow which we expected to last only a little while. It snowed the entire day. We rocketed out of the Gap fueled by all the real food we ate yesterday and a full half day of rest. It was hard on the trail because the ups and downs were made worse by the driving snow. It felt like tiny razor blades flying at us. Lunch was terrible, we couldn't find a place to eat so we were starved. We finally sat in parking lot at Hog Pen Gap but were too cold to eat. We got in at about 1530. There are about 14 people here. Solar's feet are all tore up and he says he's going to get off the trail for a few days. Not the best day ever. Supposed to be cold again tonight, I really am not looking foward to that. Until then...
Date: 2009-04-08
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Cheese Factory Campsite
Miles today: 13.0

Low Gap Shelter to Cheese Factory, April 8,2009. What a long day, 13 miles. We sheltered last night with 3 marines who were acting like the 3 stooges. When we left this morning, they were all in a big fight because one of their buddies was having trouble keeping up at the pace they had set. When we got out on the trail, I think they felt it was like a big race. They literaly ran down the trail trying to keep ahead of me. After 2 hours, I caught up with the slow one. He was lamenting the fact that his friends gave him a hard time, but voiced his loyality to them as friends. I spent conciderable time thinking of some redeeming characteristics of these three. Scarecrow caught up to me at lunch, only to tell me that these guys left all of their trash in the shelter. So much for my good thoughts.Other than this short side track, the morning was quite smooth, terrain wise. The gradual grades, coupled with the sunshine made for good speed for the first 5 miles. At 10:30 I had done 5 miles. We stopped for lunch at Blue Mountain Shelter with everyone we had begun with minus the marines. Rusty, NO-NO Joe, Broken Josh, Solar, Scarecrow and myself "Sailor J". After lunch, Solarman told us that he planned to get picked up at Unicoi Gap to be taken to Hiawassee to rest his ankle for the couple days it takes us to get there. It makes me very sad because he is a good compliment to our group. I wish I would have know that he was in so much pain. When I hurt, I make sure everyone around me knows it! It is an interesting gesture on his part however, that instead of holeing up at a shelter so he doesn't miss miles on his thru-hike he is electing to skip a section as to continue to hike with us from Hiawassee. Thata says a lot.Well, Solarman got off a precisely the right time. While the descent into Unicoi Gap reminded me of the traumatic descent into Neels Gap, The annoying straight up and down of Rocky Mountain made for a mind numbing afternoon. Good photo opportunity though. The afternoon went on and on because we were trying to cover enough miles to get us into town on Friday. We were told that camping at the Cheese Factory campsite is very recommended.I was the first to arrive at the campsite, and I wouldn't have known I was there had it not been for some people with tents, coolers, grills and chairs. "Are you hungry?" was the first thing they said to me. Is the Pope Catholic was my reply! Past thru hikers "Ramen Noodles", "Carefree" and "Freedon" were cooking us all dinner! Man, you can not imagine how amazing it is to hump 35lbs of pack 13 miles and have someone cook dinner for you! And on top of that they told the best stories. We had such a great time, thank you guys so much for the "Travel Magic". They started off our morning the next day with breakfast too. It is an easy 9.5 miles to Deep Gap Shelter tomorrow. Until then...
Date: 2009-04-09
From: Cheesecake Factory

To: Deep Gap Shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: overcast clouds

It was hard to say goodbye to our Trail Angels this morning. They cooked us all a super breakfast and we were able to take our time eating it, knowing we had a relatively easy mileage day. Everyone that camped last night spent all day leap frogging each other. Scarecrow, Rusty, Bojangles, Salty Dog, Broken Josh, NO-NO Joe and me/sailor J. Unfortunately the day was not as easy for me as I would have liked. Yesterday really tired me out and not only was I starved of energy all day, I was also starved of brain power. I almost left my bear cable at the camp site and spent the first 15 minutes of the hike chastising myself for it. Then after my mornine break, I decided to leave my water bottle in the woods. Thank God I looked back and saw it. At this point, I was yelling at myself out loud when Salty Dog walked up on me and asked me if everything was alright. He seemed to think that I was being too hard on myself. My reply: NO BRAINS, NO MAINE!The sun was gorgeous today and there were some great views. The sun also made me aware that I am getting burned. And I am beginning to think my solar charger is developing a problem. Usually it does good on days like today. I have been listening to music alot, it really helps me to keep going on the uphills.We are at a shelter within pouncing distance of our resupply town tomorrow. Town not only means the resupply(which is a 4 day resupply to get to Franklin,NC), but also a real life style change. Real food, showers, repairs, post office, etc. We try our best to have the visit planned out real well before we go in so that all of the important chores get done before we leave for the woods again. Our boy Solar Man who is there healing got us a sweet room at the Haiwassee Inn with a jacuzzi! We will be living it up for a day before we all return to hike into North Carolina. Can't wait for Solar to be back on the train! Until then...P.S. Left you a picture of the shelter so you all can see what they're like.
Date: 2009-04-10
From: Deep Gap Shelter

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: light rain

Tenting, Thunderstorms, Town, and Tired!      What a day! Last night we tented at the Deep Gap Shelter. Woke up this morning to ominous weather. Was walking by 0830 for a quick 4 miles to the road to get a ride into Haiwassee. After about ten minutes of walking, I began to hear thunder. I was confused by it because I didn't think we were expecting storms until later. However, as time went on, the thunder got louder and louder until I realized I was going to be in the middle of it. Unfortunately, there was not much I could do, in the middle of a thunder storm, in the middle of forest, surrounded by trees! I did , however, drain my water tanks to lose 6 pounds of water weight so it wouldn't be so hard on my knees while going down and rushing. After about an hour and a half of lightning, thunder and pouring rain we popped one by one off the mountain and into our waiting minivan.      We were staying at the Haiwassee Inn and they sent their shuttle to fetch us. After a ten mile ride, we began the crazy affair of a town stop. Eating, post office, eating, grocery, store, eating, hardware store, eating, and more eating. After walking around all afternoon trying to do chores, it's hard to realize you only made 4 trail miles today. We had a great room with the jacuzzi. And in we all went,me, Solarman, Scarecrow, Birdbrain, and Trampoline Sean. We were in bed by ten trying to make good use of the comfortable space. Many thanks to Ron and Sam who made our visit enjoyable. Poor Scarecrow fell down a hill on the way back from the buffet and messed his leg all up. We don't need anyone else on the disabled list!
Date: 2009-04-11
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Muskrat Creek
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: overcast clouds

This has probably been the hardest day of the trip so far. At our morning meeting(we have a meeting every morning to discuss the day's hiking plans/destination,topography, difficulty level, points of interest, lunch breaks, etc.) We totally agreed that it would be an easy day as, although we had 11 miles to cover, the terrain was gradual and soft. We were also excited to be crossing our first state line. Well, things didn't go as planned. The first five miles flew by and we were eating lunch at Plum Orchard Shelter before noon. We left there to find an unending afternoon. We finally got to the North Carolina line and took pictures. We thought the shelter was close to us but were dismayed that we miscalculated and it was still 3 miles away.It was 3 miles of endless uphill that battered us. By this time I was so out of energy that I was getting cranky. The shelter was full and there must have been twenty people there. I don't know where all these people came from, and many of them we did not know. But they were all thru-hikers. Thankfully, there was a large clearing about 0.2 miles up the trail that our group was camped for the night. It's a little hard sometimes because you're constantly meeting new people so the sense of community isn't really strong yet. It's nice just to hang out with the people we know and not have to learn any new people. I really hope we all get more spaced out in the next week. Tormorrow's another 12 miles and I'm beat. Until then...
Date: 2009-04-12
From: Muskrat Creek

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

It was a gorgeous day full of great views and great surprises. We got out of the campsite at about 0830 this morning. In two hours, I had passed all of the people who had begun from our location. After descending into Deep Gap, I found myself in the middle of a huge production. "Happy Easter" the cook shouted at me as I came out of the woods. In no time, I had a menu in my hands and these ten people were making me breakfast and a to-go lunch! It was fun to watch hikers pop one by one out of the woods and stare in disbelief at this most amazing trail magic. I can not begin to thank Tarheel, Raven, Cook, the giant omlet making man, and everyone else who made this day so special for us. Evidently, this is the 18th year that they have done Easter Sunday trail magic.      Being away from home for a holiday always makes me a bit home sick. Although I have spent Christmases and Easters at sea, I have never had such a dynamic experience in nature that was so suggestive of the holiday itself. Easter for me isn't just Sunday, it's the whole week of rich and powerful liturgies that only happen once a year. I spent this week missing the experiences I would usually be a part of in church. Amazingly, the most imaginative liturgists couldn't have put together what I have witnessed in nature this Holy Week.      On Moundy Thursday, we had the experience of Roman, Noodles, Freedom and Carefree cooking us breakfast in the woods. Four intellectual, sophisticated doctors taking time to humble themselves and care for hikers. This act of humility was like the washing of the feet at the Last Supper and reminds me of the importance of taking care of those around me.      On Good Friday, we experienced nearly unimaginable weather. Powerful, full of fury, rain, hail, 90mph wind, tornados, and trees falling. It was like everything around us was angry or weeping.      Holy Saturday was so quiet and gray. No wind, no noise. All day just the steeliest, grayist lack of color. Late at night, just before we went to bed, we went to a rocky overhang to look down into the valley. Behind us ,a huge orange sphere was rising. It was the moon, which had been full just 2 nights ago, now represented the first light of Easter. It started oh so dimly but, within an hour it was so bright that it was mistaken for a spotlight shining into Bird's tent. The brightness continued to the most beautiful day of our trip thus far. Every tree on every mountain standing proudly against the blue sky was evidence of nature's rejoicing. Being a part of this experience in this space was more dynamic and more powerful than any time I have been in the largest cathedral or at the highest Mass. I am so thankful to have been able to celebrate Easter in Nantahala National Forest.      Unfortunately, God hasn't planned abundant sunshine for the rest of this week. We are looking at some pretty unsettled weather coming in. Am hoping to get the tent taken down before the rain sets in. 12.1 miles tomorrow and we will cross the 100 mile mark!   Until then...
Date: 2009-04-13
From: Caryter Gap Shelter

To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: light rain

There's not too much to write about today except for alot of blood, sweat and tears. I awoke to pouring rain and had to pack up in it. Just like at Springer Mountain. My tent weighed about twice it's normal weight. It was a long 12 miles and included one section up Albert Mountain that you had to climb with your hands. At the top there was a fire tower with supposedly great views but the fog was so bad today you couldn't see 100 yards down the trail. The shelter is quiet tonight. Sharing it tonight is Solar, Bird, Scarecrow, Trampoline, Rusty, Old Man Time, Cricky, Bojangles and myself. Our group is set to reprovision in Franklin tomorrow. The guys are planning to stay the night in a hotel but I am coming right back to the trail to keep from blowing another hundred dollars in town. We are staying in a hotel in Fontana anyway. They will catch up! Until then...
Date: 2009-04-14
From: Rock Gap Shelter

To: Silar Bald Shelter
Miles today: 7.5
Weather: heavy intensity rain

Today was a very difficult day made tolerable only by an army of trail angels. We began the day hiking four miles down into Winding Stair Gap. We listened to the ominous rumbles of thunder approaching. It was like de ja vu from last Friday when I was choosing between my knees and my life scurrying down a mountain, bound for town. After the excitement subsided, we found trail magic at the bottom of the mountain. A stand was set up with drinks and snacks, perfect! The Scarecrow skillfully hitched us a ride into town with super trail angel Ben(he is our picture for the day). Five of us rode in the back of his giant truck and he drove us the 10 miles into Franklin,N.C. Scarecrow, Solar, Bird, and Trampoline checked into a motel for a night to doctor their wounds. Thankfully, I am faring better than the rest of the fleet so I decided to just resupply and get back on the trail. Never fear however, I'm not leaving the gang behind. I am just avoiding a night in town where I would spend a hundred dollars on food. We always discuss the game plan the night before we set out on a new section and tonight is no different. The plans were discussed by text messages this time. I am going to do a nice short day tomorrow to let them catch up. It will be nice because there seems that there will be a couple good view opportunities with clear weather. So am hoping to post some pictures of mountains for a change, not like some other pictures I took when the weather was bad or the locations were not optimal.Anyway, it took me about 3 hours to do my town chores, post office/grocery/post office(again). A big thank you to trail angel Ladyhawk for shuttling me around town and the good conversation. Ladyhawk was able to pick me out of a crowd, identifying me as a thru-hiker and pulled over to give a hand. I could tell she was a passionate hiker and one day I hope she gets to do her thru hike. I know she'll be good at it!The final trail magic was when Susan saw me wandering around town trying to hitch a ride back to the trail and she called her husband Jeff and had him take me the 10 miles back. A super thank you to them. And thanks Jeff for the lesson on grouses. I heard 3 of them doing their loud, banging sounding mating call tonight, so cool!I leave you now before I freeze, in hopes of smooth hiking and spectacular views tomorrow. Until then...