morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-03-31
From: All you can eat buffet

To: undecided
Miles today: 0.0

Good morning all!   Well we officially made gluttons of ourselves last night, and it was awesome! Before I get too into our last few days I have to retract a previous statement. Last entry when I said "trail magic comes in many forms" I was mistaken. A safe and healthy hike is great, but trail magic is blueberry pancakes served to you in front of a fire you didnt build. There is no way to describe the emotional boost we got from those four trail angels yesterday. Thank you again to them, hoprfully we will see them today and I can sign over my first born to repay them.   Well I think bean pretty well covered all the high points from our week so I wont run back through them again. We are going to try and get our first cameras worth of pictures developed today so we will send them on to Karen and hopefully have some new photos from the trail added to the site.   Thanks for all your support. We have lots to do this morning and need to figure out how to coordinate it all.Hope all is well. -ork
Date: 2006-04-07
From: Gatlinburg

To: Ice cream parlor
Miles today: 203.0

WARNING: WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED JOURNAL ENTRY TO BRING YOU THIS SPECIAL REPORT. The ruthless criminals known as the B.O. bandits have been spotted! At this point details are hazy but we know for sure that their olfactory insulting crime spree has now spread beyond Georgia and North Carolina into Tennessee. We also know that they have summitted Clingmans dome which is the highest point on the trail en route to crossing the 200 mile barrier. We encourage anyone who encounters these two hooligans to use extreme caution as they are both believed to be carrying WMD's in their armpits and boots! The safest and most responsible action would be to keep your distance and throw anything edible you may be carrying at them. Ladies and gentlemen we cannot impress upon you enough the severity of this situation, they are considered armpits dangerous!! The bandits may have undergone plastic surgery in order to protect their identities, above is a computer composite of what they may look like today.WE WILL NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED ENTRY
Date: 2006-04-08
From: grand prix

To: Get out of the rain
Miles today: 0.0

Hello all. We are still in Gatlinburg and have opted to stay one more night to avoid nasty weather, and to continue our eating spree. Its amazing what walking all day with thirtyfive pounds on your back will do for your metabolism. Last night we got in and headed down to the local mexican restaurant where we each demolished our own dinner and annhilated another dinner for two. Five empty plates later, our waiter spoke the only english he knew, "hungry, huh?" You bet! We would like to extend a special thank you to some trail angels that we met at the NOC. We arrived on a sunny afternoon several days ago after a 16 mile day and stopped down by the river to soak our blisters in the cold water where we met Marla and her daughter, Olivia and their heavyweight golden, Abby. Earlier in the day there had been some storms, so the three had rented the only cabin available for the night and when they overheard us discussing our tentsite, they offered us one of their rooms. We accepted, realizing that a hot shower is pretty much always in order and were so thankful that we did as a six hour stretch of heavy thunderstorms came through that night. So, THANK YOU SO MUCH to Marla and Olivia! It was extremely kind of you to extend your hospitality to a couple of stinky hikers. At this point, we have officially crossed the 200 mile mark and are sitting somewhere around 203 miles in the middle of The Smokies, which are beautiful. We seem to be having some difficulty getting our site to correctly post our mileage. For anyone just tuning in who doesn't already know, we have posted several new pictures on the photo page even though it claims there are none. Just click the little arrow to see our pretty little faces. We hope all is well with everyone reading and appreciate all your support. Hopefully you're all safe from the tornadoes that are ripping through the country. Next time you hear from us, we will have made it through The Smokies.Take care everyone!Ork and Bean
Date: 2006-04-09
From: recovery room

To: get healthy
Miles today: 0.0

Good Morning Everyone, Just a quick note to let you all know that we're going to take advantage of the "hiker's special" free night at our hotel. Apparently, as a hiker, if you pay for two nights at the Grand Prix Motel, you get your third night for free. Though we're itching to get back on the trail and into the mountains, we've decided that it would be best to rest the newly acquired shin splint that has been causing Ork some pain. Hopefully with one more day off the trail and the new boot insoles he'll be back in walking form and knocking out the miles. The rain has subsided down here and the sun is out again, so we figure we'll lay around and eat. Its a rough life we lead out here. We hope everyone's doing well and we'll update you again from Hot Springs in a few days. -Bean.
Date: 2006-04-14
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: pack repair
Miles today: 0.0

Hello Everyone! Well we've made it into Hot Springs with a couple of major milestones behind us:1. We survived THE SMOKIES without being eaten by a bear2. We completed our first 20 mile day!3. I successfully grew a 6th toe in the form of a blister*So we made it out of the Smokies in record time, logging our biggest miles of the trip in our last three days. After two zeros in Gatlinburg, we were ready to rock! Started out with the usual day-after-town easy miles, putting in 11. Followed those with a 20, 17.8, and then 19.6 yesterday, rolling into Hot Springs a day and a half earlier than planned. Ork's shin splint seems to be on the upswing despite the long days. Our newest SNAFU has arisen in the form of a completely detached shoulder strap on Ork's pack. I can't take this guy anywhere! Unfortunately, Dana Designs (the maker of his pack) no longer exists. However, there is a local seamstress who we're hoping can remedy the situation for us. Sadly, we have to sit around town and wait for her to get out of work before she can help us out. At least there's a local pub... Anyway, we figure a zero day and a seamstress will be cheaper than a whole new pack.This has got to be brief as there is a line for the computer, but we'll continue to update as we can. As a new feature to our journal updates, we will include a trail vocabulary word or guideline in each entry. We will call this segment ORK and BEAN'S RULES OF THE ROAD.Rule #1: It is inevitable, you can hike a 12 hour day without seeing a soul in the first 11 hours 45 minutes, then, the instant that you blurt out a profanity or off-color joke, you will round a corner and find an entire church choir with their mouth's agape. Hope all is well with everyone at home and in between. Ork and Bean*Grandma, I hear you're doling out $1.00 for each blister... what do I get for a whole new toe?
Date: 2006-04-18
From: Camp

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Hello to all!   Well we arrived in Erwin TN this afternoon and secured our tentsite for the evening. It has been a very big week for us as we have broken the 300 mile barrier! Our total mileage on this site is still off a little but we are catching it. We are actually at 338.8 right now. Our week was different as we started out of hot springs doing a 19.6 mile day, which is easily our largest day coming out of town. We had slated a 13 miler to follow for our light day of the week, but somehow that turned into a 21.5 mile day, our biggest to date. We wrapped the week up with a 15 and an 11. The fifteen was going to be a 20 but was cut short by thunder, lightning, rain, and hail. So after getting thoroughly drenched we stopped and built a fire to dry our shoes. All in all it was a very neccessary storm though, as it seemed to take the top layer of stink off. We have decided that the actual sun itself lives right here in Tennessee, as it is always 246 degrees farenheit!    All injuries seem to be on the mend with the exception of the injury to my pack. It is broken! I have many new blisters as I switched to my lighter hiking sneakers after the smokies, so while blisters suck it was a calculated move. Beans sixth toe is more like 5 1/2 now so that is good. The dental floss that was supporting my broken pack gave out two days ago and I have figured out how to hike with it so I think it will suffice, at least until maine. All in all we are great and we hope you all are too. If anyone can get ahold of Mallory, or if you happen to read this Mallory we are at Uncle Johny's and will be until tomorrow. Hope all is well, phone calls to come this evening.Ork and Beans rule of the road:today we have a vocabulary word. J.A.M. cocktails- A smart hiker starts every day with a J.A.M. cocktail, this consists of Juice and Advil because hydration and pain control are extremely important and you have to take care of number 1. And the third ingredient is Metamucel because someone has to take care of number 2!take care all, and thank you for all the words of encouragement (and pig squeals)ORK
Date: 2006-04-19
From: the wettest tent

To: drying out
Miles today: 0.0

Hello Again! So last night, instead of paying the extra four bucks for a hostel bed, we opted to pitch the tent on Uncle Johnny's lawn. Stars were out and things were looking good, we even debated putting the fly on the tent. 5:30 AM rolls around with a bolt of lightning, a big clap of thunder, and buckets of rain dumping on the tent. Yahoo! Now we're in a bit of a quandry... our stuff is soaked and Uncle Johnny has offered us a bed in the hostel, which is complete with a wood stove, VCR, and The Godfather trilogy. And it's still raining.. hmmm.. While we detest these zero days, we're thinking the right thing to do might be to stay inside and lick our wounds while our gear dries out. We've also heard that there is master tailor in town, so we might try getting the pack sewn back together again, though maybe not with dental floss this time. Maybe it will hold through until Maine! I got ahold of Marmot, the company that bought Dana Designs, and was told that we'll have to try at the outfitter in Damascus to trade the pack out. If that doesn't work, we'll have to mail it in to Marmot so they can evaluate the condition of the pack and decide whether or not they want to replace it. Cross your fingers for us that Damascus will have the pack we need. In the mean time, it looks like we'll be dropping in on the tailor. Anyway, hopefully the sun will come out this afternoon to dry our gear and we can get back on the trail again tomorrow morning. Until then, we'll get busy eating burritos and watching The Godfather. Hoping all is well with everyone. Thanks for tuning in!!-Ork and Bean
Date: 2006-04-26
From: Laural Fork Lodge and Hostel

To: waterfall
Miles today: 32.9

Hello to all!    We apologize for the delay in adding to our site, we were waylayed at uncle Johnny's for longer than anticipated. We are currently in the middle of nowhere at a hostel and once again luck has looked favorably upon us weather-wise, as it is pouring rain. We are going to try and make a run for it if the rain breaks, however it doesnt look like that is too strong a possibility. We do have some good news though, we are over the 400 mile mark and as such should be able to get our trip mileage back on track. So what you see as our total mileage should be accurate.    we are shooting at Damascus in three or four days and will give everyone a full report from there. I must be brief here as the nice gentleman working at the store is allowing us to use his personal computer. Just wanted to let everyone know we are alive and still progressing towards the goal. We hope all is well in the real world and we appreciate all of your help in getting our site over the 10,000 hit mark, now our sights are set on the 100,000 hit milestone. Anyway thanks to all. And now, without any further ado...Its time for ORK and BEANS rule of the road #3.When vitamin M comes to call, the courteous thru-hiker always finds a location far enough off the trail that their privates are hidden to those passing by, but close enough that their head and shoulders can still be seen. Thus allowing them to handle any paperwork that needs tending, while still having one free hand to wave and greet passers by. After all, you wouldnt want to be percieved as rude.Until Damascus, happy trails.ORK AND BEAN
Date: 2006-04-29
From: 40 miles south

To: rest!!
Miles today: 49.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Good Morning Everyone!! Well we made it to Damascus! After taking a zero and waiting out the rain at Laural Forks Lodge, we hiked 9 miles to Watauga Lake where we had a most interesting afternoon, complete with a large crew of hikers, two passersby, 35 double cheeseburgers and one missing person. Its a long story. Anyway, we figured we better get out of Tennessee quickly so we packed up our gear and made a break for it. The "Tennessee Turnpike" is the final 40 mile stretch into Damascus, dubbed so because of its relatively easy terrain. Though we hadn't planned to trudge 40 miles, here we find ourselves, exhausted and hungry. We are going to keep this entry brief as we still have to address the pack issue, but will return later for a more thorough update. hope everyone is well.ORK AND BEANP.S. Carol, you're fifty again?
Date: 2006-05-01
From: Hotel

To: On the road again.
Miles today: 1.0

Hello again to all! Well, we are just on our way out of Damascus and spotted a computer open in the library so we figured we would sieze the opportunity to say hello. The topic of todays entry is trail magic. We have been in town for two nights now recovering from our 40 mile day and have been lucky enough to have spent both those nights in the care of momma and papa Compost. Yes thats right, compost turned 23 this weekend and his folks made the trip up to see him and we were able to mooch off of their kindness for two whole days! Their generosity included two hotel stays, two breakfasts and one dinner. And I can assure you that everything else we were able to pay for we had to fight with them to do it! Roger and Gay, we are extremely grateful for your generosity, it is almost unfathomable how compost could have emerged from such wonderful people!!! If you get a chance we would love for you to sign on to our site so we can get your email address. No need to post it, we will have it just by your signing on, but I am sure our families would like to send you a word of thanks, I know we would.   Our next stop will be in Atkins VA and should be in about 5 days. We are looking forward to breaking the 500 mile barrier this week and being over a quarter of the way to Maine! As usual we are grateful for all the words of support and kindness that all of you leave in our guestbook, kind of scary to think that almost 12,000 people have stopped in to read our posts, and sad to think that there are 12,000 angry people out there who want their 15 minutes back!!!    Oh yeah, the backpack is on its way to Beans folks and the replacement pack is all ready to go (thanks Marisa, you are a life saver) so hopefully Dana will do the honorable thing, I guess time will tell.   Well I guess a real entry wouldnt be an entry without the little slice of heaven that I like to call: THE ORK AND BEAN RULE OF THE ROAD!Rule #4   100% of the time man is fallable, and as such is not genuinely trustworthy. This rule translates into all things man made as well. So our rule for today is this: When camping next to a man made lake, have respect for the possibility that if someone closes the dam, the lake may rise as much as 8 feet in the night and you will wake up with 4 inches of standing water in your tent! (Yes this rule comes from an actual experience.)Happy trailsORK
Date: 2006-05-10
From: the personals

To: View Entry
Miles today: 162.0

PERSONALS:Young, adventurous couple seeks wealthy private party or corporate sponsor to fund future outdoor expeditions. Couple enjoys long walks in the woods, large, plush sofas, all-you-can-eat buffets, and flushing toilets. Future adventure interests include PCT, CDT, international exploration, scuba, whitewater rafting, spelunking, and space travel. Interested parties must be comfortable with repeated wearing of the same socks and underwear, popping blisters, musty, acidic body odor, and rehydrated food. Applicants can expect to receive frequent nods on trailjournals, an occassional postcard, and the negatives to all photos, as well as the satisfaction of making dreams come true. If interested, please sign guestbook under handle "Sugar Daddy/Momma." Only serious inquiries, please.
Date: 2006-05-11
From: Pearisburg

To: Catawba
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Hello all,   Well we finally trickled into Pearisburg. We ended up running into a lost dog at one of the shelters along the way, and for those of you who know us you know we had to save it. So we ended up doing an eight mile day so we could get the dog to its owner the following morning, all worked out though the owner was at the rondezvous point and both K-9 and owner were elated to see each other. And even more importantly than that there is a church that picks hikers up at that very road crossing on mondays, which it happened to be, and feeds them all you can eat breakfast!!! So ultimately we stocked up on a little karma with the dog, and then cashed it in immediately with the breakfast.   In other news from the week, we have broken the 600 mile barrier which is pretty exciting as it puts us close to the 1/3 mark. Seems as though when we can get an uninterrupted day of hiking we are able to cover alot of ground these days. To celebrate the 600 mile crossing we took a .3 mile detour to a place called dismal falls. You are supposed to swim there for good luck on the rest of your trip. Of course it is way too cold and nobody seems to actually adhere to the superstition, except people from alaska. So we jumped in and quickly realized why no one else had accepted the challenge, it was freezing! All was well though we got some of our foulest smelling laundry rinsed off and more importantly ourselves.   We have been hiking with a new group lately who seem to be pushing us to bigger and bigger miles. They are faster than us but in the end with long hours and consistancy the tortoise always wins the race.   We will be departing the trail around the 19th for a week and may or may not have another chance to update until that time. We will be pushing for as many miles as possible leading up to the break, and will let you know from momma and papa beans house how we did.   Hope all is well with everyone out there in internet land, and as always we appreciate any and all sign-ins on our guest book. (especially those signed "sugar daddy/momma.") Of course it would be criminal to close without leaving all of you a rule of the road, so without further ado, its time for another ORK and BEAN rule of the road:Rule #I forget.   Any hiker spending any significant amount of time in the wilderness will quickly discover that all socially unacceptable behaviors in town, are actually status symbols in the woods. For example an ill timed gastro intestinal release in town might get you dumped, punched, or fired. Out here you may find yourself the focal point of a standing ovation, as well as a round of high fives! (By these standards we are both extremely popular.) The trick to being a well rounded hiker is to remember these subtle differences when you reach town as there is nothing more unbecoming than a snot rocket in the grocery store. Wet cleanup in aisle 3!ORK and BEANP.S. New pictures are on their way home as we speak, so there should be some new photos posted before too long.
Date: 2006-05-20
From: Momma and Papa Bean's Kitchen

To: Cotton Clothes!!!
Miles today: 135.0

Hello from Massachusettes!!   Ahh, we've just arrived off a long drive up from Virginia to Momma and Papa Bean's house. It was kind of crazy to cover 70 miles in an hour, as opposed to the three and a half days we would carry food for! We're officially 1/3 of the way through the hike and are thankful to be here in a familiar home for a bit of a break. Our canine companions proved to be equally excited to see us as we were them. Thanks again to the Beanfolk for caring for our buddies, they look healthy and happy!!   We've broken through the 700 mile mark amid endless days of rain, rain, and more rain. The past few days have been kind of quiet out there on the trail as everyone has been gearing up and heading down to Damascus for trail days this weekend. We've been enjoying the quiet though, as it means that when we get to a shelter in the rain there is space to set up for the night.    Good news on the backpack front!! Dana Designs is officially on the Ork and Bean S**t List, taking 4-5 weeks to evaluate and repair the pack. We've got to return the loaner pack to AK by June 1st for their hiking season (thank you so much to Marisa and her wonderful gear store). However, it looks like Papa Bean's pack might just work out for Ork, despite the size difference between the two. Ork here is going for the 2006 record for wearing the most packs!   Anyway, we'll have plenty of opportunities for updates while we're here for the next week waiting for Momma Bean's college graduation (yeah, Mom!). For the time being, we're going to shower, put on some cotton clothes, and keep eating fruit salad. Tomorrow Papa Bean is cooking us a full Thanksgiving dinner!! Trail days sounds really fun, but turkey dinner sounds a hair better. Oh, speaking of hair, Ork is on his way to a homemade buzz cut!    We hope everyone is staying dry out there, as it was raining the entire way up from Virginia. Thank you all for your continued support on our guestbook, its very encouraging to see how many people are following us out there. If anyone has any suggestions for entries, or questions, feel free to post them; we've got lots of walk-free time in the next week. Ork and BeanP.S. There are some new pics posted, though the page continues to claim there aren't any.
Date: 2006-05-22
From: Cotton Clothes!!!

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is Ork Orkilson Coming to you live from the lovely home of momma and papa Bean, where we are currently monitering the consumption of all the thanksgiving dinner leftovers. Yes that's right, thanksgiving in may! Details of how this wonderful meal could have gotten so lost are still sketchy, but it is believed that the turkey failed to follow the white blazes to November. Possibly taking a blue blazed trail right here to May. What we do know for certain however is that all benifactors of this wayward turkeys mistake are quite pleased with its faulty sense of direction. Other members of the thanksgiving day spread that followed the gobbler to May were, mashed potatos, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, steamed vegetables, and pie. In fact the only members of the thanksgiving entourage that werent present for this most unexpected surprise were the pilgrims and the indians, whom my sources tell me had to get off the trail due to blister problems.   The consequences of this most unusual mishap are reverberating throughout the holiday world as the tooth fairy and the easter bunny were both spotted purchasing GPS, and santa has gone as far as having ONSTAR installed in his sleigh. We can only hope that all upcoming holidays, as well as their representatives will be more careful when navigating there way to their appropriate destinations. If you happen to see a lost holiday representative please take the time to point him or her in the proper direction. Thank you!Ork OrkilsonP.S. Thank you Dennis for the wonderful turkey dinner, it was excellent. and for all of you out there in internet world I can proudly tell you that Momma and Papa Bean as well as Bean and I ate a 15 pound turkey yesterday leaving only enough leftovers for one plate today!