morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-03-12
From: Dick's Creek Gap

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: scattered clouds

I didn¢t write a journal entry yesterday because I made a stop in Hiawassee and I had a limited amount of time to get my chores done: shopping, laundry, eating, etc. I finally had reception on my phone, so I tried typing my first entry into an e-mail. It took an hour for one entry, so I've decided I¢ll be updating my online journal the old-fashioned way, by mail. My loyal readers will have to be patient for this process.Today was an exciting day as far as days go out here. I woke up in my cushy Holiday Inn Express room this morning well-rested and ready for the cinnamon rolls I¢d been dreaming about for two days. The continental breakfast didn¢t let me down.The hotel manager, Bob, offers a shuttle (for $8) back to the trail, so fellow hiker Sparrowhawk and I had a rapid ride back to nature. I walked the first couple of miles with Sparrowhawk and after chatting for a little bit, we discovered we had already conversed by e-mail several months ago. He had read my online journal and sent me an e-mail to tell me he was an engineer thinking about becoming a teacher too. How weird!I stopped to say good morning to Steve and Thorin before I continued on my way. When I got to Plumorchard Gap shelter, who was waiting there with a cold soda? Tater and Springer! See, now you don¢t know about Tater yet because I didn¢t write an entry yesterday. He was the wonderful man who gave us a ride to Hiawassee the night before. He had thru-hiked the trail in 2000 and now, when he comes up to his cabin on weekends, he brings his dog, Springer, to go help fellow hikers out. I guess we had just missed getting hot dogs after the Cheese Factory by mere minutes. Dang, I got ready too fast for once.I sat and had a cold soda and played with Springer for a while. Then I got ready to go (let¢s not forget, I have hiking to do). I had lunch on a little grassy knob while swatting gnats. It was warm and humid today, so I guess the bugs decided to come out. While eating, I came up with a little song set to the tune of ¢Kansas City.¢ It went like this, ¢I¢m goin¢ to Carolina, Carolina here I come¢¦ They¢ve got some pretty little shelters there and I¢m a gonna sleep in one.¢ I commenced to sing this song, sometimes in my head and sometimes out loud, until I marched across the North Carolina state line. It was so exciting!Steve and Thorin were sitting on the other side, and after they had a snack and filled up their waster, I took their picture by the "Boundary Tree". I pretty much hiked the rest of the afternoon with them.Camping space was limited when we got to the shelter tonight. It seems a lot of section hikers are out because it¢s spring break time. I¢m sure this problem might plague me for the next few weeks.
Date: 2006-03-13
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Betty Creek Gap
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning I woke up at 4:30 because I was having a nightmare. I thought I might have been yelling or making a lot of noise so I didn¢t want to go back to sleep. Instead, I waited until 5:00 and got up to get my bags. Even with my standard 2 hour getting ready time this meant I was first out of camp at 7:00. First person out, I couldn¢t believe it!Today was the easiest and most beautiful (at least terrain wise) hiking I¢ve had so far. There were moss-covered glades and knobbly green rhododendron thickets. At one point I turned a corner and I could hear a waterfall and a little bird singing a happy echoey tune. It sounded like something that would be on a relaxing sounds CD.The morning was nice and sunny and cool, but that soon gave way to clouds and eventually, rain. I felt like I was practically running the 12 miles to the shelter by the end. I must have been moving quickly because I made it to the shelter by 1:30, got out of my wet clothes and dashed into my sleeping bag before eating lunch.I met some interesting people in the shelter, one of which was One-Sock Mickey. I asked One-Sock how he got his name and he said that way back on one of his previous thru-hikes he had gotten up one morning and forgot to put on one of his socks. Later on in the day he pulled off his boots and someone named him One-Sock Mickey (because he resembles Mickey Rooney). One-Sock was traveling with a younger fellow named Norwoody and they¢d been on the trail for 16 days.After a couple of hours in the shelter the rain let up and I decided to move on. I got out of my warm gear and put my damp clothes back on. Meanwhile One-Sock and Norwoody also decided to move on, so I offered to walk together. It was so nice to walk the 4 miles to the campsite at a pace different than my own, I like the variety. We chatted the whole time and the miles just flew off. A wholly enjoyable evening, and I even got some more pointers on backpacking, including tapping the ground with your hiking stick before you pee to get rid of rattlesnakes. I have to say that after that particular piece of advice, every stick and leaf in the woods looks like a snake.
Date: 2006-03-14
From: Betty Creek Gap

To: Campsite 1.1 m North of Winding Stair
Miles today: 13.1

Today was one of those days I wish I could bottle up for future use when I¢m feeling down. I decided that I deserved lounging time after yesterday¢s long haul, so I stayed in bed until I felt like getting up. It was sunny and clear today and the temperature was just how I like it, 40-50 degrees all day. Nice and cool. The hike started with a hike up Albert Mtn which included a rock scramble and a fire tower climb at the top. With such a clear day, the views were beautiful. A sign at the top said that the surrounding area was used to test the effects of foresting on water supply. On the way down the mountain a section hiker told me that a trail angel was waiting with food and drinks 5 miles down the trail and that he would be there until 3:00. Needless to say, that sped up everybody¢s pace today.Backpackers are a funny group of people. They like the outdoors so much they isolate themselves from the world and go into the wilderness purposefully taking themselves away from the luxuries of civilization. Here¢s the funny part, after this self-deprivation of sorts, they want nothing more than the very things they¢ve taken themselves away from. This is evident any time a trail town or trail magic is mentioned. Eyes roll back into heads and drool starts oozing out when the words cheeseburger, beer, TV, and soft bed are mentioned. A lot of these things were in fact mentioned at Wallace Gap when I got to the trail angel, but after having a few sodas and an orange, I was able to resist the ¢luxuries¢ of town. Instead, a guy called Hatteras Jack and I walked down to see the 2nd largest poplar tree in the world. The tree was big, but sadly it was also dead. So does that take it out of contention?The scariest part of my whole trip came a couple of hours later when I had to cross the road at Winding Stair. So far, most of our road crossings have been forest roads or small country roads, but this was an actual highway. I felt like the frog on Frogger as I watched a couple of semi-trucks drive by. There was no incident, but I hobbled as fast as my sore feet would take me.It was 6:00 by the time I got to camp and the three other hikers were very quiet, so I did chores and zipped up for the night.
Date: 2006-03-15
From: Campsite 1.1 m North of Winding Stair

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

It was so cold this morning my Nalgene froze, but luckily I had the right gear to keep me cozy and warm. Unfortunately this meant another late start from camp.I realized today that when you tell people you¢re hiking the trail the mention all kinds of dangers ¢ snakes, bears, people¢¦ but they leave out the one that has plagued me the most ¢ dead leaves. Dead leaves are slippery and they hide the foot catches so that uneven or rocky ground looks level. This is what I was thinking as I rolled my ankle for the second time of the morning.Today I say my first bald. A bald is a hill that for whatever reason, nobody knows for sure why, no trees grow. To be honest, the balds didn¢t look how I expected them to . I pictured a big green hill I could twirl around on like on ¢The Sound of Music,¢ but instead, Siler Bald just looked like a little field, and Wyat Bald had a tower and azaleas on it so that it didn¢t look bald at all.I got to the shelter around 5:30 and tented once again. I still haven¢t slept in a shelter, but from the looks of the last few, I don¢t think I¢m missing anything. The group at the shelter tonight are Steve, Thorin, Whitey, Bravefoot, Sparrowhawk, Kurly, Swansons, and a section hiker named Josh whom I¢d hiked on and off with all day. A very nice group of people.
Date: 2006-03-16
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: NOC
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I hiked almost all day today with Sparrowhawk and had many interesting conversations, but I think I need to pace my talking a little bit when I hike with people. I feel like I spend so much time by myself having conversations in my head that when there is someone around to talk to, it all comes out in one jabbering stream.We both survived my jibber-jabber all the way to the NOC and actually time seemed to fly by. After I booked my room in the hostel I made my way over to the restaurant where I found Steve, Thorin, Kurly, Swansons, and Sparrowhawk ordering their drinks. One awesome cheeseburger and salad later I was ready to pick up my mail drop and take a shower. I was so excited to get a card from aunt Janet. It was fun to see that mail had found its way to me out in the woods. After about two hours it was deemed time for another cheeseburger, which I followed with blackberry cobbler. Both were absolutely delicious, but again, my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I ended up more stuffed than any person should be.My sad point of the day was when I found I couldn¢t get any reception on my cell phone and the area where the pay phone is was crowded with people, non thru-hikers, I don¢t know. I managed a quick call to Robert to tell him I¢d try to call him first thing tomorrow, but it probably didn¢t leave him with a very fuzzy feeling. On the plus side, I got to know Kurly and Swansons a little bit better and they¢re a lot of fun ¢ really cool people.
Date: 2006-03-17
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Sassafrass Gap
Miles today: 7.0

After writing in my journal last night I turned off the light, and I swore Iheard a mouse on one of the other bunk beds. I flipped on my headlamp andlooked over in that general direction, but nothing. This cycle repeated itselffor another hour or so before I set up my tent in the middle of my room and fellasleep there.I HAD THINGS TO DO THIS MORNING, talking to my husband was at the top of mylist, and laundry ran a close second. I also found out that my wonderful momhad sent me a package, and when I got it I found girl scout cookies and thelocal newspapers! After finishing my town chores I sat on a sunny benchalongside the river reading the paper. I cut out the crossword puzzle for laterand headed up, up, up, out of the NOC. It's 7 miles uphill from the NOC to Sassafrass gap, which is a major endurance test. Imagine walking on a treadmill at a 6% grade - no big, right? Now put 40lbs on your back and do it for 4 hours. So I was ready to be done when I got tothe shelter. Oddly enough I was the only person here at 4:30, which is late inthe day to us backpackers. This made me decide to spend my first night in ashelter. There are now three other people with me, but I'm already regrettingmy decision because I feel bad about having my headlamp on, and I can hear themice itching to come out. I better not wake up with a mouse on my face.
Date: 2006-03-18
From: Sassafrass Gap

To: Brown Fork shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Per Robert's advice, this journal entry is coming to you from the confines of mysleeping bag where my fingers can be toasty warm. I was in a funk all day todayfor some reason. Maybe it was because waking up in a shelter was out of theordinary, maybe it was because when I talked to Robert this morning he seemed alittle bit sad, or maybe it was because I skipped my Carnation Instant Breakfastsince my nalgene has taken on a kind of dead rodent odor. Whatever the reason,the funk stayed with me until I crawled into my tent tonight. I figured that since I was just going to do 9 miles today I could lay around inmy sleeping bag until the outside air was a more favorable temperature. Thishappened around 9:00, which is a pretty late wake up time in my little worldhere. A nice bonus to waking up so late was that I had the shelter to myselffor a while so I used the alone time to call Robert. You see, phones aredownright evil to most hikers (some of you will note that this is my first cellphone) so a well-placed call has to be strategically timed. I don't thinkoutsiders are aware of this, as was evident at 8:00 last night when I wasfalling asleep to my music (which is on my phone) and the dang thing startedringing. It woke up everyone in the shelter since bedtime is when the sun goesdown and I know I am now on all of their lists. I think I figured out how toturn off the ringer, so hopefully I won't have that problem again. I finally broke camp at 11:00 and started my daily hike. It was a trulybeautiful day out, but even that couldn't pick up my spirits. My legs felttired and heavy, and so did I. The walk was difficult, but the terrain affordedsplendid views of the farm valley below and the mountains in the distance. Switchbacks seemed to have fallen by the waysie today as the trail brought usstraight up and then back down the ridgeline. I've heard and read that it takesabout 6 weeks to get into peak shape, or get your "hiker legs", but I alwaysfeel like I'm struggling a lot more than I should be up these hills. I feel outof shape. I even had my first fall today. I slid right down those dead leaveson my back, but didn't injure anything except my mental state. It took me 5.5 hours to walk those 9 miles which is a lot slower than I usuallyhike. When I got to the shelter it was evident it was the weekend since it waspacked with scouts and section hikers. I found a little spot for my tent andsettled in for the night. A bonus about the scouts was that they were makingenough noise in front of the fire that a call to Robert from inside my tentwould go unnoticed. I'm glad I did too, because it finally picked up myspirits. Now I'm ready for the remaining 2024.7 miles.
Date: 2006-03-19
From: Brown Fork shelter

To: Fontana Dam shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Yea! Today is my 2-week anniversary and tomorrow I'll be entering the muchanticipated Smokies. The Smokies are notorious for their bad weather, and for aweek you could hear hikers say, "sure, it's nice out now but wait until we getto the Smokies." I was definately back to my normal cheerful self today, and although I was still the last one out, even after the boy scouts, it was at the much more reasonable time of 9:00. The terrain today was much easier than the last 2 days and my feet felt good (although my feet were sore). I went past a rocky outcropping this morning that was similar to one I had seen on the way up from the NOC. These rocks were green and mossy, looked wet, and sounded like a waterfall. On closer inspection I could see that the wetness was actually caused by hundreds of teeny tiny waterfalls, all following their own little path down the rocks. I stood there entranced for several minutes before moving on. At lunch time I ran into Mountain Goat and Uberdude from several days ago, andthen I lived up to my trail name by boiling over my ramen noodles and proceedingto spill them all over my lap. At first I thought, "Ack! I'm wet!" and then Irealized that something had inspired me to wear my rain pants today. So the onlyharm done was some wasted noodles. I walked along and chatted with Uberdude for the rest of the afternoon, and timepassed quickly. At 4:30 we had reached the Fontana Dam marina where his dad wassupposed to pick him up, but I still had a mile to go before the shelter. Itwas a tree graveyard for most of that mile, and I started to worry about what ashelter in such a high profile place (near the road) would be like. No worriesthough because as I rounded the corner I could hear laughter from other hikersand there was Kurly and Swanson's! The shelter here is really nice but I,alone, opted to tent.
Date: 2006-03-20
From: Fontana Dam shelter

To: Birch Springs Campsite (#113)
Miles today: 5.9

Today has been unusual. The Great Smokey Mountains welcomed us today with anentire day of rain. This rain caused me to make a couple of bad decisions, butI'll get to that in a bit. I was out of the shelter area at about 9:00 thismorning, and man was it nice to have an actual bathroom instead of a privy ortree for once. I made my way to the visitor center to take care of my permitand to call Robert when who should I run into but Low Ket, Name Changer, andSteve, who had already taken care of the things he had intended to go home todo. After a very dissatisfying call home, during which I was disconnected and lost my minutes, I hiked across the dam into the wilderness of the Great SmokeyMountains National Park. It seemed fitting that it was raining today, but as westarted to head up into the mountains it also started to get cold. My goal for today was Mollies Ridge and Steve thought he may even go farther, but after about 6 miles we were at the first campsite and both of us decided we were too cold and wet to go on. We hurridly pitched our tents and then spent the next couple of hours trying to get warm and dry. I was beginning to accomplish this goal, but it seems that Steve was not. Around 2:30 he let me know that he was getting colder and colder and that he was going to pack up and head back to Fontana Dam. I offered to go with him and he said no, but I know in my heart that this was a mistake and I should have gone anyway. Now all I can do is lay here and hope that he made it back safely. After he left I forced my arms out into the cold air to try to get something to eat. I also grabbed my guidebook so that I could see how I would have to adjustmy mileage for the next couple of days in order to reach Newfound Gap by 10:00am on Thursday where my father-in-law was supposed to pick me up. I realized mysecond mistake. Since the GSMNP requires that you stay in a shelter area atnight, my only option is to hike 17 miles tomorrow. That will be my longest dayso far, and it might still be raining. I still had enough time to make it toMollies Ridge. But I thought that breaking camp would likely get all of my drystuff wet. I wish I wouldn't have stopped but you can't go back in time so allI can do is learn from my mistake. I'll keep my fingers crossed that tomorrowis a somewhat dry day so that the 17 miles won't feel so painful. After I ate my lunch I asked the rain to stop for 15 minutes so that I could runout to hang up my bear bag and go to the bathroom. It didn't, but I was somehowable to manage the two things without getting too wet. I hoped that if I didn'tdrink any water that I would be set for the night, but I can already feel mybladder filling up again. It's going to be a long night.
Date: 2006-03-21
From: Birch Springs Campsite (#113)

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Eventually today became a beautiful day, but when I woke up this morning it wasstill raining. I was ready though, I could do it, 17 miles in the rain- noproblem. An hour and a half later I was a bit less optimistic as my frozen wethands tried to break down my tent. I actually had a one-sided conversation withthe world during which I defiantly claimed that a little bit of bad weatherwouldn't stop me - no sir. I'd show them, I would shove all of my wet stuffinto my wet pack, roll my tent around in the mud and hoist the whole mess ontomy back. Like I said, the weather eventually became beautiful, but the beginning was pretty pathetic. I made it the whole 17 miles, even over thunderhead mountain, but only just before dark after it had started raining once again. The landscape finally changed today, the mountains became very smokey looking (duh) and the balds were covered with grasses like I had imagined them. I'd like to write more today but I'm cold, sore , and truly exhausted, so I think I'll try and fall asleep within this shelter filled with strangers.
Date: 2006-03-22
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

Clingman's Dome is the highest point on the whole AT and that is where I foundmyself today. The views from the top of the dome made the bad weather from thepast two days more worthwhile. It was a nice reminder as to why I'm out hereand I swore I could see all the way back to Springer. The day started with some crazy weather and a bunch of majorly disgruntledhikers. We're not sure whether to call it a snow storm or an ice storm, butwhen we woke up everything was white and all of our stuff was frozen solid. Afew productive souls were able to wrangle themselves out of their sleeping bagslong enough to grab down all of the bear bags and start a fire in the fireplace. The fireplace thenbecame a de-ice zone where everything to gun-shaped socks tofrozen water bottles were thawed. My two problematic frozen things were my bear bag and my platypus hose. The hose I had to let thaw out in its own time, but I tried to break the sheets of ice off of the bear bag and then I used my fingers to melt the cord and cordlock. It wasn't very effective - my bag was still frozen when I pulled it out of my pack tonight. So, much groaning was going on and talk of doing small miles, but I knew where Ihad to be tonight. Also, being an ex-Wisconsinite, I knew that once we gotmoving we would warm up and it wouldn't feel so bad. So I did. I took mystandard 2 hours, but for once I was one of the first ones out. It ended upbeing a truly beautiful day with all the white-capped trees and the only thingthat beought my good spirits down a little bit was the large quantity of ice Ihad to slip down on the backside of Clingman's Dome and Mt. Collins. It meantanother late night at the shelter, but I feel much better and warmer than I didlast night. I had wanted to say the other day that I picked up a really excellent book from the NOC hiker box called "Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat, and it saved me from going stir crazy the day I was stranded in my tent. What I found even more interesting was this inspirational poem I found tucked away inside:"Origami Emotion by Elizabeth BarretteHope isfolding paper craneseven when your hands get crampedand your eyes tired,working past blisters andpaper cuts,simpky because something inside youinsists onopening its wings."
Date: 2006-03-23
From: Mt Collins Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: broken clouds

No real journal entry today. After hiking 5 miles I was picked up by mywonderful father-in-law and whisked away to their brand new house outside ofPigeon Forge where I am currently clean, fed , laundered and sleeping in a nicewarm bed. Thanks Dale and Beth!I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has written in my guest book and hassent me e-mails. It really helps to know I have people cheering me on. Iwanted you to know that even though I haven't had time to reply to them, I'veread all of your messages and I truly, truly, appreciate them.