morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-02-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

For some reason, I¢m having a hard time writing my first journal entry. I don¢t know why, but it feels like a writing assignment I have to do and I¢m having trouble with the blank page. So, I will just start typing and see what comes out. Ha. I know when my journey is completed that I will be extremely happy that I¢ve kept a journal, plus it will allow family, friends and fellow hikers to follow along easily. The alternative is that Mark will have to send out numerous email messages to let people know where I am, but I don¢t think he really wants to do that. Will I have anything earth shattering to report? No, probably not, but I hope that you enjoy it none the less. My adventure starts on March 14 when Mark, my husband, and I leave San Antonio, Texas and start driving East. We will be driving past the trail and heading to Charlotte, North Carolina where we have family. After spending a few days visiting with them, we will head back west and Mark will drop me off at Amicalola Falls State Park on Friday, March 20 before heading back to San Antonio. I have decided to begin my adventure this way so that I have a mini vacation with Mark before I start the trek north to Maine. He is planning on flying back east to see me as his schedule allows which I look forward too. I have been separated from family and friends for months at a time in the past and I¢ve never had trouble with being homesick, but this will be the first time that I will be separated from him for anything over three weeks or so. I know that I will miss him immensely, but hopefully we will both handle it okay.I don¢t know about all you other hikers that are attempting a thru-hike this year, but I am tired of planning, thinking, training and talking about this hike. I just want to get started! Now! As more and more hikers start and I start reading their journal entries, I think this feeling of impatience will get even worse. I feel ready or as ready as I will ever be and I am ready to go. However, I am a little afraid of the cold and I¢m hoping that the March 20th start isn¢t too early for me. I live in south Texas and I love the heat and the sun. I¢m a bit afraid of cold, rainy, windy days. Will I be able to stay warm on such days? Since it hasn¢t rained here in what feels like years (this is, of course, an exaggeration), I haven¢t tested any of my gear in the rain. Once I get cold (especially my feet), I have a terrible time getting warm. What will I do without our hot tub to warm up in? How long will it take for my body to acclimate to the colder environment I going to find myself in? I think that I have the proper gear, but since I haven¢t been able to test it in the environment of the trail, I still worry a bit about it.   I guess I should answer the big question: Why on earth would I want to do this hike? The answer: because I want to, because I can. Does it seem selfish? Maybe. I¢m not looking for anything other to see if I can do it. Do I have the physical, mental and emotional toughness to complete this trail? That is the question that I want to answer.I look forward to meeting my fellow hikers. Good Luck and see you soon!
Date: 2009-02-10
To: Backpacking Groups
Miles today: 0.0

There is a relatively new backpackers group in San Antonio called The San Antonio Backpackers Meetup Group. The website is www.meetup.com/San-Antonio-Backpackers-Meetup. If there are any backpackers in the San Antonio area that would like to meet some fellow backpackers this is a great group of people. We¢ve had two trips so far, one to Pedernales State Park and one to Lost Maples State Park, with several more trips in the pipeline. Since the majority of my shakedown trips have been solo, I was very excited to join this group. As we all know, backpackers are a fabulous group of people and this group is no exception.    Another group of backpackers in Texas is a yahoo group called Simple Hikers In Texas, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimpleHikersInTexas/. I¢ve only chatted with these guys on-line, but they seem to be a great group of people as well. Another member, Jessica, is walking the trail this year as well. She is starting March 1st. Good Luck Jessica!Another group is the San Antonio TOWN Group (Texas Outdoors Woman Network), http://www.townsanantonio.org/. They meet once a month and plan all types of activities. I haven¢t been active with them for a while because I¢ve been focused on my AT trip, but I look forward to becoming active again when I return. There are chapters throughout Texas, so look for one in your area if you¢d like to join. I thought I¢d put these links out there for my fellow Texans who are looking to meet like minded people.
Date: 2009-02-11
To: Just a Hike
Miles today: 0.0

Today I went on just a hike. Not a training hike and no testing of any gear. What a fun day! The weather forecast was for abundant sunshine and a high in the 70¢s and I haven¢t been on just a hike in quite some time. I went out to Friedrich Wilderness Park, a San Antonio City Park, and hiked all the trails out there this afternoon. I carried nothing put water and took numerous breaks and enjoyed the sunshine and views of the park. There are numbered markers throughout the park that link back to a list of plants on the park¢s map which was great entertainment. It didn¢t take very long to walk all the trails, but I haven¢t been to this park before and it was fun to check it out!
Date: 2009-02-14
To: Lake Somerville Trailway -- Day 3
Miles today: 0.0

Day 3: FridayNo one gave that poor knocking engine any oil. Nothing like thinking you are in the wilderness and hearing an engine knock all night. I never heard it knocking during the day, but at night it was very persistent sound. I had a weird dream during the night. I was somewhere on the first leg of the AT between Springer Mountain and Neels Gap when a car pulls alongside me and says they can take me home. I jumped in the car and then I was back home in Texas, even though I was not at all ready for my adventure to be over. I was very disappointed that my hike was done, but I was most upset because I hadn¢t met any of the other hikers yet. You can imagine my relief when I woke up and realized it was just a bad dream. I woke again at 6:30 and it was 28o, but I had 4 miles to go and I needed to leave the park no later than 11am and I wanted to drive down to see the lake. No waiting until the sun started warming the day up today. I got dressed and started packing up for the day. There was frost everywhere and when I went to tear my tent down I couldn¢t get the poles to fold up. They were FROZEN! That is just not right. I guess the condensation had collected and then froze on the poles. It was just a little ice, but still. Anyway, I finished breaking camp and head for the trailhead. On my way out, I passed a large leafless tree with 20 vultures in it. There were several large leafless trees, but they were all hunkered down in the same tree. They just watched me walk past. I guess they were going to wait until the sun had warmed the day up before they headed out for the day.There is a wildlife viewing area looking out over where the pond is supposed to be that I passed by on Wednesday. I stopped today. No water, no wildlife, nothing to view. I walked on.I made it back to the car with plenty of time to spare, so I headed to the lake and had a snack before I headed back home.
Date: 2009-03-15
To: On The Road
Miles today: 0.0

Mark and I left San Antonio yesterday on our way to Charlotte. We are currently going thru Atlanta. Oh, so close to the trail and I feel it pulling me, but I must wait a few more days. I still have a few items on my to-do list, so I guess it is good that I have a few more days before I set foot on the trail. My motto has always been "don't do today what you can do tomorrow". Ends up, just about everytime, I need just one more day. You'd think I'd learn, but I never have. I did get my backpack packed. That is most important. I've never been one to worry about packing or forgetting anything, since there is always a store nearby if you forget something. Even on the backpacking trips I've gone on, I've never been far from the car and as long as I have my tent, sleeping bag and water I felt I could do without anything else for a few day. Packing for this trip has caused me much anxiety. I even used a checklist, but I was still stressing. I went to bed Friday night and couldn't remember where I put my watch. I should have gotten up and looked as it was in the most logical place. It was right there with the rest of the clothes I'll be hiking in. If it wasn't the watch it would have been something else I guess. I didn't sleep well last night either. Ugh. I hope this doesn't continue through Thursday. I will be exhausted and have to take a zero on Springer Mountain just to catch-up on my sleep. Ha. As I said earlier, due to my procastinating habits I still have a couple of things on my to-do list:1) Show Mark how to update my journal2) Learn how to correctly hang my food 3) Mail an AT map to my Mom so they can track my progress up the trail (yes, I've had this map for many months, but there is always tomorrow right?)4) Go thru my pack one more time to make sure I have everything...I think I will keep wanting to do this until I'm actually on the trail. 5) I need to add my maildrops with addresses on this site as well. I told several people I'd do that.Hmmmm....I think that's it.
Date: 2009-03-17
To: How To Contact Me
Miles today: 0.0

The best way to stay in touch with me while I am hiking is to email me at SunSeeker929@ymail.com and/or sign my guest book which is located on the menu located on the left side of this page. A quick note from you in my guest book would be greatly appreciated whenever you are thinking of me. (hint, hint) Also, feel free to ask any question you may have through my guest book or by email. I would also love to receive longer messages letting me know what you are up to sent to my email address above. Hearing what you are up to will help raise my spirits if they are low and will help combat any homesickness I may be feeling. Email and the guest book are definitely the best way to communicate with me, but if you feel so inclined to send me something by snail mail, you can access the list with addresses of where I will be picking up mail by clicking on the Mail Drops button located on the menu on the left side of the page. It's also a good idea to let me know ahead of that you have sent me something. Often items are not in the same place and if I¢m not expecting it and don¢t ask, I may not get it. I am making my mail drops stick out from the rest by placing blue tape and smiley stickers on all sides.   Packages sent to post offices should be addressed as follows:Melissa Petersc/o General DeliveryTrailtown, VA 12345Please hold for AT HikerETA: May 16, 2009Packages sent to businesses (the majority of my mail drops) should be addressed as follows:Melissa Petersc/o Hiker Hostel123 Main StTrailtown, VA 12334Please hold for AT HikerETA: May 16, 2009I look forward to hearing from you while I¢m out.
Date: 2009-03-22
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Gap Tentsite, GA
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: clear sky

I slept in my tent last night and I slept so much better than in the shelter the previous night. The ground was not as hard as the shelter floor and I wasn't bothered by people getting up and down all night. The ranger did stop shooting off rounds early which I was happy about. It took me awhile to fall asleep and only woke once in the middle of the night when some coyotes started howling and making all kinds of racket. That only lasted for a few minutes and then I slept through till morning. I keep forgetting to talk about the weather. It has been fabulous! Sunny and warm during the day and just the most beautiful start to my trip. I am so happy to get a nice start. One of the trail maintainers said that he thought that today's portion of the trail is the most difficult, in his opinion, in Northern Georgia. I would be lying if I wasn't a little worried about today's trek. It went something like this: down to Hightower Gap from the shelter, up and over several small humps, down into Horse Gap, over Sassafras Mountain (highest point of the day), down into Cooper Gap, up over Justis Mountain, up and over Phyllis Spur, down to Justis Creek and finally to Gooch Mountain Shelter. Did you follow all that? The elevation chart was up and down and up and down. Well, I just took all the ups very slow and tried to really pace myself and it didn't seem that bad. We got to the shelter really early and it is 11.9 miles from there until the next shelter, so we decided to continue on to a tentsite just over the next hump about a mile or so further along. One point four miles off of the 11.9 miles for tomorrow. The hike today was a lot of fun as our little group (Stud, Yak, Wolf Man and I) were joined by Joe Kickass who knows just about every plant in these woods. Great guy and he showed us all kinds of things and seemed very excited to share his knowledge. It helped make the trip over Sassafras fun. Pretty early in the day we saw our first South Bounder (hiker walking from Maine to Georgia) by the name of Stallion. He started in October and will be finishing his hike today. He must have walked through some incredible tough weather. It was taking him mere hours to walk what took us two days. He was very excited and we were excited for him. I haven't seen much wildlife so far. Some squirrels, couple vultures soaring over head and a couple of small birds. Over all I'm still feeling pretty strong. I guess all those lunges and squats really helped prepare me. I'm still very tired at the end of the day and luckily so far no blisters. Tomorrow will be my longest day yet and I'll be hiking up Blood Mountain.
Date: 2009-03-29
From: Hiawassee, GA

To: North of Muskrat Creek Shelter, GA 
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: broken clouds

I had scheduled a shuttle to get me back to the trail and Sally showed up at 8:30 to take me back. I said goodbye to the seven hikers that are going back to Unicoil Gap and headed back to Dicks Creek Gap. I really enjoyed the hospitality that the people of Hiawassee extended to the hikers that go through their town. Great little town. The weather forecast for the day was for partly cloudy skies with temps in the 50's. I was thinking sweet; however, I only saw the sun for about 5 minutes. The day did start out nice and I even noticed some trees with buds forming. I was thinking the Spring is coming!Then I hit the Georgia/North Carolina state line. I took a self portrait and ate some lunch. So I'm finished with my first state!!! Only 13 to go. Then things got crazy! As soon as I hit North Carolina the trail started going straight up and the wind hit and the temps starting dropping! The wind was blowing so hard I only took one quick picture of the really cool tree at Bly Gap. When I was hiking on the right side of the mountain, it was a bit warmer and out of the wind. On the left side of the mountain, it was freezing and the gusts of wind were unbelievable. The fog rolled in and then I started getting pelted by ice. The ice started forming on the trees on one side, like the trees and bushes had grown ice fins. It was beautiful to see. I took lots of pictures, so if I ever get them uploaded you can see. I passed a hiker with jeans on that was putting on more clothes and he asked me what that white stuff was. Ha. It was too cold to stand around chatting, so I hiked on. Shortly after that I ran into that same hiker again. Somehow I got turned around and was headed south. Huh!?! I turned around and headed back North and tried to figure out what went wrong. There was some very sharp s-curved switchbacks and somehow I went the wrong way. I kept hiking and finally arrived at Muskrat Creek Shelter and there were a ton of hikers there; some who had looked like they had been there for some time, but Rock and that crew were not there. I decided that I'd go in search of them or just stealth camp somewhere. I hiked for about half a mile when I heard someone laugh to the right of the trail. I yelled hello and asked who was over there. It was Rock and all of them. I was so happy to see them and another hiker named Two Pack had a fire going. It was another sweet campsite that I forgot to take a picture of. Darn. Just too cold. I got my tent set up and ate dinner. Since we were stealth camping, we had to bear bag our food. I was getting cold, so went to hang my bag. It was a very successful hang and we ended up hanging several bags on my line. I headed for my sleeping bag. Did I say it was soooo cold? I crawled in my bag and listened to Many Names and Huck sing around the fire. Nice. Since it was so cold I didn't journal, just crawled deep into all my feathers.
Date: 2009-03-30
From: North of Muskrat Creek Shelter, GA 

To: Carter Gap Shelter, GA
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

I slept okay last night, but my feet never really got warm. Rock's tent was close to mine and he said that I was snoring, so I must have gotten some sleep. Ha! It was hard to crawl out and there was ice all over the ground. I packed everything up and Too Tall had already taken down the food from the tree. My breakfast bar was to hard to eat, so I stuck it in my pants pocket and started hiking. It was still cold, but the weather report was for sunny skies and temps in the 60's. Today, the forecast was correct. Yeah!! It was a beautiful day. The first in quite some time. I was the first to leave camp and soon warmed up with hiking. I was hiking along and all of a sudden I see Rock and Captain D pumping water. I asked how they got in front of me and they told me I was going south. Again!?! I turned around to see where I went wrong again. It was the same thing as yesterday. A tight switchback that curves three time up the side of a hill. I need to pay closer attention. Luckily, I only walked less than a quarter of a mile the wrong way both times. Silly me. No one wants to walk the same section over during the same hike. I stopped at Standing Indian Shelter to take off a layer - it had finally warmed up. Pink Blaze Nazi walked in for lunch. We were yaking and he said that he had to get to Franklin tomorrow for food. He said that he was in Hiawassee for five days and he forgot to buy food. What!?! What really amazed me was that he started the same time as me, took five days off and is still at the same place as me. He is only 18 and has a long-legged stride and can walk many more miles a day then I can. He seems like a very nice young man. I hiked on and soon was passed by Many Names, Too Tall and Huck. I walked with them a little ways until they took off. I have decided one of my favorite views along the trail is looking down a valley while walking across especially when there are huge boulders tossed around the valley. I like it when the valley has a stream in it as well. Beautiful views. I leaped frogged with Rock and Captain D until they passed me for the last ascent for the day. I'm still super slow going up hill, but today it was early and I was in no hurry to get to the shelter. I enjoy the hiking more than hanging around the shelter. I made it to the shelter around 4:30 and there was plenty of space in the shelter. There was a 13 year old boy here who said he was waiting on his Dad. He said his Dad hiked sooo slow like only a 13 year old boy could say it. He was a cute kid. Dad finally showed up, they fixed dinner and moved on. I set up my sleeping area and had dinner. There are a lot of people here tonight, but most are tenting. I got to talk to everyone as they used the shelter to cook there dinner. The weather report for tomorrow is more rain, but hopefully it doesn't rain all day. We have gotten several different weather reports during the evening. It is hiker's midnight and time to get some shut-eye.
Date: 2009-04-03
From: Cold Spring Shelter, NC

To: NOC, NC
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: light rain

I woke to the rain still hitting the metal roof of the shelter and the view nothing but fog. I was the first to get up and the first person up in a crowded shelter has the hardest time packing up. But pack up I did and started the day's hike. I did wake up on the wrong side of the sleeping bag this morning and was a bit grumpy for most of the day. I planned on getting to the NOC and spending the night at the hostel there. There was one ascent and then mostly downhill to the NOC, so I figured an easy day. The sounds of the morning were the howling of the wind and the creaking of the trees. The views were the same: fog. Yesterday the trail itself was wet, but today it was back to being a soupy, muddy mess. Being so slippery makes going downhill a little difficult and I'm so glad that I have poles to help with navigating. The descent down was very steep in places and in one spot I actually sat down and scooted down the face of a rock on my butt. My main thought as I went from over 5000 ft to 1723 ft was that I'd have to climb back out of here in the morning. I read this evening that this climb I have to conquer tomorrow is the hardest climb south of New England. I hope I'm ready for it. I've planned a short day mileage wise to give myself plenty of time. I got to the NOC got a bunk, towel (have to pay a dollar for a towel), dinner, shower and laundry. I'm very tired, but the natives are very restless tonight. I hope they don't stay up too late having fun as I'm ready to sleep.Hopefully, I'm in a better mood tomorrow. I've stopped looking at the weather forecast, because it keeps saying sunny and all I get is foggy. I could really use a sunny day. I try to make the most of what I'm given, but day after day of fog is getting a little hard. I'm still enjoying myself though and I like meeting all of the other hikers. Night.