morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-03-10
To: Oh NO (ROVIRUS)!!!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

After returning from visiting my granddaughters over the weekend I came home last night to my husband preparing an incredible meal for a belated birthday dinner. The food was fantastic, but somewhere later in the evening I started to not feel so well. Oh no - I think I have the dreaded norovirus. I guess the only advantage to this is that, according to the CDC, I am likely to have some immunity toward this while I'm on the trail. So, I'll give thanks that it happened here and not there. I cannot imagine having this being in a tent and away from town - especially in really cold weather. So I just didn't want to do anymore to my food boxes in case I transmit the virus, so I've spent time looking over my notes, soaking my feet in in strong tea in order to toughen up the skin, and reading others' Trail Journals who have started already. Good luck class of 15! It looks to still be cold outside.Thanks to Bob "Sir-Packs-a-Lot" Gabrielsen for his tip on the tea soak and also for recommending the Jelly Belly Sports Beans that have helped me with getting some electrolytes today
Date: 2015-03-12
To: The Final Coundown
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Just ONE week from today my husband and I will start on a trip that will lead to taking those first steps up Springer Mountain.The son of one of my dearest friends is getting married a week from tomorrow in the Boston area. We are driving from Florida to Atlanta on the morning of the 19th in order to catch a flight to Boston that afternoon to Boston. The next day we will use the early morning time to meet with my son for breakfast and then later head out to the wedding. On Saturday we fly back to Atlanta and spend the night near the airport where we will meet my hiking partner the following morning. Next stop: Springer Mountain and the Amicalola Lodge. It's time to start sending off those mail drops and getting ready to hike. I really want to thank the many of you who've written kind comments in my guestbook. I've tried as much as possible to respond to those of you who have provided email addresses and if I overlook anyone my deepest apologies. Once the hike gets started, I know I'll find it difficult to be able to hike all day and then journal. Please note that even if you don't hear back from me that your thoughts and good wishes are deeply appreciated. As I take time to wrap up the things I need to do here in Florida, I anticipate my next post will be from somewhere in the state of Georgia. It really is the final countdown.
Date: 2015-03-22
To: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Miles today: 0.0

St. James and I are back in Georgia and almost ready to head north. We drove from Florida to Atlanta and caught a flight to Boston on Thursday. My dearest friend's son was married on Friday and that was an occasion we couldn't miss. I have known the groom since he was a little guy of two and have watched him grow (and grow) into a really wonderful man. His Eagle Scout project was to design and blaze a trail in his hometown. For a bachelor party, he turned down the more typical entertainment in favor of renting a cabin in the Whites and hiking Mt Washington - in October!   It seemed fitting to attend his wedding prior to starting the trail. It was my baby boy's birthday yesterday, and we got to celebrate a day early prior to the wedding.   I am enjoying all this good food now and not worrying about the calories. Last night I got my purplish blue streaks in my hair. I remember why, about 20 years ago, I said I would never dye my hair myself.   We had purple everywhere, but were able to get the mess cleaned up. It took so long that dinner was snacks and a couple of beers. BonBon's flight is due in shortly. She can take the air train to our hotel and then we are off to Trader Joe's for food and then to Amicalola. "The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end, that's all there is. " Mr. Carson on Downton Abbey.
Date: 2015-03-23
From: Springer

To: Hightower Gap
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: clear sky

Day one on the trail. BonBon and I had a bit of a late start as we needed to say goodbye to St. James as he headed South to Florida.Considering that we drove up from Atlanta yesterday in the rain, it was amazing to see a beautiful sunny morning greet us as we woke up. We had beautiful views of the mountains as we drove up to Forest Road 42 to get to the parking lot near Springer Mountain.The parking lot was crowded; there were lots of hikers - some were day and section hikers, others, like us, aspired to get to Maine. They were all waiting to get started or in the process of coming back down and heading north.The hike up to Springer was pretty muddy and slippery in spots but really fairly easy 9/10 of a mile up to the summit. Okay so if I were in better shape it would have been easy 9/10 of a mile up to the summit. To steal a clever analogy from BonBon: the uphills are like dog years they just seem to be so much harder.We made it up to the summit and were able to take a few pictures with some prospective thru hikers that all lived in the New Haven Connecticut area. On the way back down we again met Compass Rose and her husband who are out doing a section hike. Compass Rose also has a journal on this and hopes to be a trail angel when she returns home to Massachusetts. We were both so happy to meet her.The next few hours of the hike were fairly easy most of it slightly downhill or flat and we were able to make some fairly decent time. I think we're both afraid of tripping over the rocks or roots that were out they are slipping in the mud so we still were pretty cautious when we got to any kind of a steep descent.We took a very short break at the Stover Creek shelter just to eat some lunch and drink a bit of water and then we were back off. After that the uphills seemed really up and the downhills seemed really down. we We finally finished the day ata little before 5:30 at Hightower Gap. We also met No Spring Chicken there and were able to spend some good time with her. "And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start."Maurice SendakWhere the Wild Things Are
Date: 2015-03-25
From: Gooch Gap

To: Jarrard Gap
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: broken clouds

Day three started with us at Gooch gap and then going over several mountains to reach Jarrard gap. It was by far the most fun day that we had in the mountains. Both Bonbon and I felt like really we were beginning to cruise. We're feeling so much stronger every day; I keep humming that song by Chicago.Thank you so much all of you who sent me notes of encouragement on the blisters. You be glad that they really are beginning to heal. I feel so great when were out hiking the trail, but I'm having difficulty eating enough food which is generally never a problem for me. I have been pushing myself to eat because I know I really need the calories.Once again there were trail angels out with water and parts of the trail where the water supplies are limited. Thanks to Liz from Florida whose husband can do is also going to through hike this year. We does we really appreciate you having the water ready for us. In fact no spring chicken was also saying that she felt the best thing trail angels could provide was water so you didn't have to take the time to stop and filter on the way.The only tough part of our heart hike today was when we got to Gerard gap we had difficulty in figuring out what was the way to get from the 18th down to the gap. We knew there was a blue blaze trail that led to water in the AWOL guide it said .3 miles to the west. Using our trusty iPhone compasses we figured out that it was this blue blazed trail, but we didn't realize that the 3/10 of a mile was just to the water source not to the gap itself, so we actually walked a full mile longer. All in all it was a great day and I'm so happy to be out here hiking AT. Note to self: Bonbon is a trained surveyor, from now on she is in charge of the maps. I can hear St. James' sigh of relief all the way from Florida. "In all beginnings...dwells a magic force." Herman Hesse.
Date: 2015-03-27
From: Neels Gap

To: Tesnatee Gap
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: overcast clouds

My mom, if still alive, would have been 95 today. She passed away when she was only 55, however and I've had more years on this earth without her then with her. In some ways I think my hike is a tribute to her to show her all the things she never got to see in her short life.What a wonderful world.After going up and over Blood Mountain on Thursday, we decided to make Friday a reasonably short day. Where have we are staying at the blood Mountain cabins for a couple of nights and got off to a pretty late start in the morning, after taking the time to sleep in. Neither BonBon nor I had been getting all of the sleep we needed. Today was just an exceptional day. We've been having gorgeous weather that has been a little on the warm side and lots of wonderful mist up in the mountains. On the East Coast when that's coming off the ocean we might call it sea smoke. Up here I'll call it mountain mist to keep the alliteration going. The clouds over the mountains just make the scenery absolutely breathtaking. This morning the weather change dramatically. It was very windy, with a little bit of rain that looked as if it was trying to freeze up. We added on several layers of warmer clothing including our mittens.We had been looking forward to meeting up with Mike Stephens, who is better known by his trail name of Don's Brother. Mike was in Dahlonega for a book signing on Saturday, so he came out to hike on Friday and see if he could meet up with us.Mike through hiked in 2013 and you can find his journal here on trail journals. His hike was dedicated to the memory of his brother Don, who love the woods. Don died far too soon from ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). Mike's hike and his book have raised money for the fight against ALS. It really felt great to get back to the cabin after a short day.Today was an absolutely spectacular day on the AT I am so thankful to have this opportunity. Feet are doing great and only a little but if knee soreness at the end of the day. "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better. "mile Cou© de la Ch¢taigneraie. Via Left Turn GA>ME 2014.
Date: 2015-03-28
From: Blood Mountain Cabins

To: Blood Mountain Cabins
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

The Duke of BlairsvilleSince BonBon and I planned on taking a zero on Saturday at the Blood Mountain Cabins and had a short hiking day yesterday, we prepared a steak dinner for our shuttle driver the famous (or infamous) Sam Duke. Sam went into Hiawassee and picked up the groceries for us. As the night got darker, the temperatures really dropped, and we could see snow beginning to fall outside of our windows. We were very glad that we had decided to stay at the cabins, with a hot shower and fireplace, and not have to be out camping in this weather. It was due to be below freezing overnight, with the temps potentially dropping into the low 20s. BonBon demonstrated her cooking abilities by grilling some wonderful steaks. We also had salad, corn on the cob and yummy baked potatoes. Sam brought butter, sour cream and bacon bits to add lots of extra calories to those potatoes. Sam Duke - the "Duke of Blairsville" is a remarkable man. Not originally from this area, Sam still seems to know everybody in the hiking community and he's a wealth of knowledge about this part of the woods.   He is amazingly kind.   Having him to dinner was just a small way of giving back for everything above and beyond he provided to us in addition to shuttling us around.When he drops us off tomorrow at Tesnatee, we will really miss his kindness and way of telling stories.   His shuttle is a Toyota Highlander that he keeps clean and well maintained. He is always prompt and he is listed in AWOL. Today is a lazy day. The only hiking will be less than a quarter mile up to Mountain Crossings to re supply and get my bounce box shipped north and some unwanted stuff sent back to St. James.   We are sitting in the general store with Honda Hawk, Infinity, No Brakes and Bounder. We are planning a community spaghetti dinner this evening. We are SO thankful for this cabin ! Many are waiting in the hopes of a vacancy on such a cold day. Originally, we hadn't planned a zero so soon, but it feels wonderful now and I am really looking forward to hiking out tomorrow. "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything". Dwight Eisenhower
Date: 2015-03-29
From: Blood Mountain Cabins

To: Low Gap
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: clear sky

After a much enjoyed zero, that included a pot luck dinner with Infinity, Sonya, Lois, Bounder and HondaHawk, we were ready to be hiking again. Our seventh day on the trail started clear and very cold. This would be our first day with full packs. Both Bonbon and I are newbies at this long distance hiking stuff, so we had decided to begin our hike at the Blood Mountain Cabins. Our initial plan was for St. James to bring us to the forest service road, hike to Springer with us, then head south as we hiked north. The FS road was not was not in great shape per the folks at Amicalola, so we had a shuttle driver, the previously mentioned Mr. Sam Duke, bring us to Springer. Like so many folks we have met here in Georgia, Sam is really special. He shuttled us to and from the trail heads, letting us hike reasonable distances, with packs only about 2/3 full. This morning when he dropped us off, we had to say goodbye. As Sam pulled away, both Bonbon and I felt a bit sad. But boy was it ever cold! We added laters as quickly as we could. I felt like a strange combination of Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story and the lady who has "fallen and can't get up,"As we hiked (and Bonbon left me in the dust), I kept stopping to gaze at the woods. I swear that I am mesmerized by how beautiful the trail is. Every day we see more plants begin to poke through the soil. Today I was totally surprised to see a clump of daffodils right in the middle of the woods Today was a short day, only about 5.5 miles. Rain is forecast overnight, so we wanted to get situated near a shelter, to be able to use bear cables and get water. BonBon says that they could see my tent from the space station. The gang from dinner last night are all here, plus some hikers from Germany and New Jersey. Several are at the shelter; we are in our tents, hoping for a better weather forecast and a good hike tomorrow. I know several of you got concerned when I didn't post a journal for several days. Please understand that sometimes I don't have enough battery or not a good enough connection to go in and upload a journal entry. Also you can read BonBon's journal as we are frequently hiking together. She is very entertaining."Every journey begins with the first step of articulating the intention, and then becoming the intention." Bryant McGill. Voice of Reason.
Date: 2015-03-30
From: Low Gap

To: Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 9.7

During the night, it sounded as if a freight train was moving through Low Gap toward where we are camping. I thought of my good friend, Gary Robbins, thinking that he would hate the storm with thunder and lightning in the mountains. At some point I was awakened with feeling a little bit wet, and there was some water coming into my tent. I hopped out and saw that I probably had not done a very good job of stiaking out the tent. When I next woke up, I was really pretty cold and wet, so I went over to BonBon's tent to see if she was dry. She was and I climbed into her bag for awhile. She was already dressed, and was going down to pick up our food bags and heat up some hot water. I am so lucky to have found her as a hiking partner. She made me stay in her tent was she heated some hot water for me and made me some hot oatmeal. In checking things over I noticed that my bag was only a little bit wet and also my long-johns top was also a damp. The day was super misty and rainy until about 2 o'clock that afternoon, and I didn't feel that I would have an opportunity to get everything dried out.So I called our friend Mr. Sam Duke and he shuttled me into the Holiday Inn Express in Hiawassee. By the time I was done spreading out all of my wet stuff, and getting my pack unpacked I was just exhausted.I went for a fairly short dip in the hot tub, and then came back and crashed. Even with the misty weather this morning the AT was absolutely beautiful and today was just another great day of hiking. "We are powerful mountain goddesses. ". BonBon
Date: 2015-03-31
From: Unicoi Gap

To: Dick's Creek Gap
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

I had hoped that I would be able to get a shuttle to Dick's Creek Gap and then hike southbound to Indian Grave Gap or Tray Gap, which would've been been about 12 or 14 miles. Unfortunately, the conditions of the forest service roads leading to those places were fairly bad due to the harsh winter here. The shuttle driver could only get me back at Unicoi Gap. That left me with a 16.7 mile hike for the day. This is by far the longest I've hiked; even though I did a slack pack it was still really difficult. I think it'll be a while before I attempt miles like that again. The hardest part was being concerned that you might not get off the mountain in time before it got dark. While I did bring my headlamp and some warm clothes, I didn't have a tent or sleeping bag just in emergency heat blanket.The difficulty level of the AT is really just about what I had expected. What has surprised me a little though, is that I'm as slow as I am. My son made a comment to me the weekend before we left that if I were doing 8 to 10 mile hikes in the beginning at my usual pace I'd be done in a couple of hours! Ha!!! He wasn't thinking about doing those miles going up and down mountains carrying 25 pounds on your back.I know that as my VO2 max improves, that I will be able to hike stronger and faster. I'm totally patient with waiting for that to happen. What has been a bit of a challenge is the BonBon, the fierce mountain goddess, definitely hikes at a faster pace than me. As we try to make it to a certain place at the end of the day, I feel as if I'm pushing to try to get somewhere so as not to hold her up. I know that at this point, that I need to average about 8 miles or so a day. Water is also much scarcer than I had expected, so a decent amount of time is spent finding in filtering water. So sometimes it is hard to stop and smell the flowers and look at all the beautiful sights along the way, as you want to get to a destination to set up camp or catch a shuttle. I know that as we get a bit further along, will be able to more accurately predict how far we can go in a day. What is really amazing about hiking the AT is all of the beauty that you see, but also all of the wonderful people that you meet.Today was long and hard, but it was still an exceptional day on the Appalachian Trail. I thank all of you for your comments, tips and encouragement. It really really really does brighten my day. "My grandmother started hiking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now and we don't know where the heck she is." Ellen de Generes
Date: 2015-04-01
From: Hiawassee, Georgia

To: Hiawassee, Georgia
Miles today: 0.0

Given my long day yesterday, I decided that a wise woman would take a zero day today. It also helps that Bonbon will also be in Hiawassee today, as she's has a really short hike just this morning from Addis Gap to Dick's Creek. This will let us hike out tomorrow together again. I missed her on the two days that we weren't hiking together. I will say that it was amazingly wonderful to sleep in this morning. I first woke up about seven, got up and use the bathroom (yeah bathroom) and then returned to bed. I fell back to sleep until just after 8:30.At breakfast I saw the hikers from Nashville that I had met the other night at the hot tub and they were getting ready to set off on the trail this morning. I also met Honda Hawk and his wife who offered to drive me to the laundromat. However it turned out that there was a guest laundry here at the hotel that was more convenient and cheaper too.I was sad to hear that four of the hikers that we had dinner with the other night have already decided to leave the trail and go home. The weather has been beautiful at times but also very wet and cold that others making for a tough start. I really believe that as hard as it is to get into the correct physical condition for this hike, the toughest part is the mental aspect of everything. If all the days had perfect weather, it would be so much easier in so many ways. I can't tell you how happy I was, to be able to eat at the breakfast buffet get my laundry done and take a little snooze this afternoon it was a great way to spend a day off.Bonbon got here by late morning, and we went out and had a fantastic burger and fries at the Georgia Mountain Restaurant across the street from the hotel. I've been dreaming about burgers like this since the start of the hike.We also had dinner at Daniel's Steakhouse, and treated our favorite shuttle driver, Sam Duke, to dinner as well. The owners of the restaurant must love the movie Gone With The Wind, as there was memorabilia everywhere with Rhett and Scarlet et al. The funniest thing happened at dinner. There was a man at the next table with his wife mother and granddaughter. The granddaughter said hi to us so I said hi back and the man asked me if I was Katwalk. He was reading my trail journal. He had through hiked the trail back in 2000 with the trail name of Tater. I guess Andy Warhol would say that I just had my 15 minutes of fame.Coincidentally, a friend ofBonBon's who hiked the trail many years ago with her husband, is in Hiawassee this evening. She's going to take us out for breakfast tomorrow morning and drop us off at the trailhead.It was really nice to have a day to get caught up on all of the non-hiking things in town, but really looking forward to getting back on the AT tomorrow, headed for North Carolina. "A journey of 1,000 miles starts with just 10 digits." Gayle Forman
Date: 2015-04-03
From: Hiawassee, Georgia

To: Bly Gap
Miles today: 9.0

BonBon and I caught a shuttle back to Dick's Creek, and headed north. It was a totally splendiferous day on the trail. The birds were singing, the sun was shining and I was a happy hiker. The first "up" of the day seemed tough, but then we quickly got into our rhythm. I am far less timid on the "downs" these days. The highlight of the day was crossing into NORTH CAROLINA!!!!!!!   We are camped with a bunch of great folks. Looking forward to a good sleep. Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day.   Jane Austen. Persuasion.