morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-26
From: Dick's Creek Gap

To: Plum Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: light rain

A very measly 5.5 mile day and I'm glad it was. My knee needed a break after walking 16 miles yesterday. It felt pretty good today and I didn't use either knee brace. I managed to lose my single strap knee brace in Hiawassee, which was kind of a bummer. I'm trying to scale back my dependence on the knee support - we'll see how it goes. Hoping the orthotics will offer the right support and the muscles around my knees will strengthen up and the knee pain will no longer be an issue.I walked very slowly and took lots of pictures. I amuse myself for the majority of each day by looking for new wildflowers. So far I've seen about 42 different flowering plants. Maybe some day I'll actually be able to name them, too. It was a gray morning but the light was perfect for photographs.I carried half of a strawberry pie for Puck in my pack because he couldn't fit it in his and had that for lunch with tea when I reached the shelter. Best lunch ever. It began raining before lunch and it was cold but the forest was beautiful - so I felt miserable but lucky to be out there. Fog faded the trees out to nothing more than faint graphite renderings, growing paler and paler as they receded into the distance. As I crossed a stream to reach the shelter I spotted a cat - I thought I was imagining things but it turns out there are two - a white one and a marmalade colored one. Both keep their distance from the people here but I'll bet they eat well. Always good mice hunting at a shelter!There are 6 of us here and this shelter has three levels so we have lots of room. This is my first night in a shelter instead of my hammock and thankfully the snorers are being gentle. It's still cold and raining and the wind sounds like distant ocean waves.
Date: 2010-04-27
From: Plum Orchard Shelter

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

Last night we talked about why we were hiking - my favorite answer was "I've always wanted to see Maine". My reason was pretty simple: I'm here because I like being outside (and because I have a slightly masochistic streak!). I like a challenge, I like getting dirty, and I like the woods. If someone wanted more depth to my answer I'd have to veer off on a tangent and start describing how the yellow of a buttercup is the most incandescent, pure yellow I've ever seen, how night air in the woods has a certain feel to it, and the wind in the trees is like a presence."We came, we saw, we sheltered" is the motto of the day. I crossed my first state line with very little fanfare today. Just mist, cold, and the spattering of hail. As I hiked up into higher elevations I literally walked into a cloud. A temperamental one. I had to laugh, though, because as hail was falling around me and the temperature plummeted, if I looked over to my right the sun was shining happily on distant valleys.Not far from the Georgia/North Carolina border there is a gnarled, huge poplar tree - it looked eerily beautiful in the fog. A lot of the trees were interesting today; they lay in sprawled dealth throes everywhere on the forest floor, and thick tunnels of rhododendron grew slanting from the sides of the mountains.I planned on going farther today, but it was freezing out and I heard that the weather would be rough, and I was enjoying the company at the shelter. I'm in no rush. Maine isn't going anywhere. We laughed a lot and basically regressed to the level of eight year olds...eight year olds with very low IQs. I was freezing all day and spent 3pm to 6pm huddled in both my sleeping bag and underquilt. I'm with a new group of people right now and they are pretty hilarious. We killed time today singing "final countdown" and Lady Gaga. It was pretty amazing to hear. 38 year old Chris now has the magical trail name Lady Gaga. Lucky man.We have two people at this shelter who have been here since yesterday so I feel like I can justify my slacking off...even though it didn't start raining again until 6. I seriously regret not packing my fleece tights! I don't regret staying here...even though Kitchen Sink (now going by Moniker of Buck Twenty - his original pack weight) is the world's most horrendously loud snorer. Here's hoping tomorrow is warmer and I sleep tonight.
Date: 2010-04-28
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Betty Creek Gap
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: clear sky

The temperatures dropped below freezing last night and my fingers took 40 minutes of hiking to warm up in the morning. It was miserable but the day warmed up nicely. I saw my first lady's slippers yesterday, and my first trout lily today. I love when there are whole patches of wildflowers covering sections of the woods.Met several friendly section hikers and former thru-hikers today, and took an hour long sanity break on a sunny flat rock where I just lounged about and enjoyed the quiet and sunshine. A bluebird kept flying ahead of me as I hiked. It was a long day but my knee feels great and I didn't even use the knee brace.Had a fire tonight - it's going to be cold but hopefully not as bad as the previous night.
Date: 2010-04-29
From: Betty Creek Gap

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: clear sky

I'm writing this entry the day after it occurred because this was a long and eventful day that lasted from 8am to almost 3am! Earlier, if you count the time I spent unable to leave the cocoon of warmth in my hammock. I hiked with the company of two Canadians who entertained me with an almost endless variation of a capella songs. Sadly, my entertainment would be abandoning me soon because they had decided that the adventure of the trail was not quite their style and they were already planning to exit at Franklin and embark on a road trip.So after a slog up Albert Mountain for some rewarding vistas, quite a few miles later we were picked up by the inimitable Ron Haven. Ron was having van issues so in order to reach our lodging at his inn we had to transfer ourselves and our packs into the bed of a pickup truck...that also contained a mini fridge, weedwhackers, and weeds.. all hurtling down the highway with us. It was awesome. After this mini-adventure we ran errands in town and then binged on salad, pizza, and wings. Main Street Pizza was heavenly.In order to bid our Canadian friends adieu a group of us moved down the street to a wine bar. One bottle of wine later the quaint, genteel bar had transformed into Franklin's sole nightlife spot, complete with karaoke and rainbow disco lighting. And a wide, wide array of Franklin's citizens were there to partake. These people took karaoke SERIOUSLY. It was a great night until the bouncer assumed that we were running out on our tab, which was apparently $300. Things were resolved and it was a misunderstanding but the drama kept some of us up far later than we had anticipated. I actually didn't even buy a single drink...and I don't think any of us thought we were going to have more than just a glass or two of wine. It's definitely inevitable that things will get a little rowdy when singing Canadians who are quitting the trail mix with locals, a giant trophy wrestling belt, a bizarre mix of intensely sung karaoke songs, and booze called "magic juice".
Date: 2010-04-30
From: Winding Stair Gap

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

It was a beautiful morning so in spite of the late night I was up and walking around town by 9. I had an amazing chai and visited antique stores and a bakery. Sue, one of the owners of the stores, was just adorable. Actually, everyone I met in Franklin today was incredibly kind and friendly. After my antique store visits I am now obsessed with owning a chopping block - they are really visually appealing to me. After the craziness of last night it felt good to walk around town by myself and decompress. I didn't care that I was going to be late getting on the trail and things worked out perfectly in the end.Ron gave me a ride to a point about 4 miles from the trailhead, and then the owner of the pizza place I ate at last night was driving her 5 year old son Zachary to a play date and almost instantly offered me a ride. I was actually holding pizza from her place in my hands when we met - I was packing it out for lunch! Thanks to both her and Ron for the kindness and help in getting back to the trail.Nothing but positive experiences today, despite the many slogs uphill under a very hot sun with almost no shade. I loved Siler Bald; a vast hill of grass placed mysteriously in the middle of mountains and forest. I was actually so excited by this place that I forgot to look for white blazes and walked all the way up the bald with my pack despite passing a pack-free and shoeless Cotton who was taking in the view up top the smart way. Whoops. That was not a small hill, either! Then there was a grueling uphill accompanied by a dire warning about a bear who "takes packs" and appears to "show no fear of humans". Fantastic! A bear taking a pack from a hiker is almost like taking candy from a baby. No, worse. Ridiculous, hilarious, and cruel all rolled into one. I had visions of being stalked by a bear as I hustled up a never-ending hill of gravelly trail. On the way up to Wayah Bald parts of the forest were almost unbelievably pretty - fairy tale pretty - forest floor carpeted with wildflowers, flowering trees, blue sky...I almost didn't want to leave.As I hiked I thought about different ideas for art projects - my excursion to the antique stores followed by that amazing stretch of woods was really inspiring. I thought a lot about the history of objects and the history of the woods. I hiked from 1:30 to 7:30 today, hung out 'til 9, and am now writing by the embers of a fire. I can see lights of town far below, and hear small noises in the woods around me.
Date: 2010-05-01
From: Wayah Bald Shelter

To: A. Rufus Morgan Shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Man, am I beat. At some point on the last descent to the shelter I decided it would be fun to run with my pack on downhill. I wasn't in any rush even though rain had been threatening all day. It was just fun to go faster than 2 miles per hour for a little bit, and the terrain was soft dirt and pine needles. I think the sugar rush from the krispy kreme cherry pie I ate as a snack had a lot to due with this action as well...and after the sugar wore off I crashed hard! I had to go at a crawl even slower than my natural pace. It was through a really pleasant stretch of woods though. There were intervals where the forest smelled like dry piney incense and this alternated with sections where I could actually smell the wildflowers, like perfume. It was definitely better than smelling myself. Two days after showering I now smell like I am wearing eau de neanderthal. This scent kicks in the minute I start sweating, basically. It doesn't help that I didn't do laundry in Franklin, either. And did I mention that I forgot to pack out toilet paper? Luckily there is a plethora of leaves to choose from and I'm now less than a mile from civilization and single ply. On a semi-related note: I think I saw wild boar scat today...and if I'm right then some poor pig had severe indigestion.
Date: 2010-05-02
From: A. Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Sassafras Gap
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: light rain

Gaining 3,000 vertical feet over six miles may not sound very tough but all I have to say about today's hike is holy never-ending uphill climb! I only hiked 7.7 miles today and I am spent. This morning I waited out a few weak moments of raining then hiked the 20 minute distance from the shelter to the Nantahala Outdoor Center. The guy at the outfitter was kind enough to direct me to the non-coin operated shower. And someone had left behind conditioner! I have seriously lucked out with the whopping 3 showers I have taken in the past 2 weeks. Conditioner every time.I had an amazing Greek salad, did laundry, and felt fresh and clean for all of two hours, until I started hiking and sweating again. I saw an incredible iridescent green beetle and several lizards while walking as well as a new flower: firepink. A big storm front seemed to be moving in so when I reached the shelter I opted to stay. This is a nice two story shelter with windows for the upper level but man are those ladders rough once you stop moving and your joints stiffen up. Oh, and that genius idea I had yesterday where I ran down the trail? This morning it felt like the soles of my feet had been beaten. Luckily the pain didn't last long once I started moving.I ordered a cheeseburger to go from the NOC and packed it out for dinner. The best life decision I have made in a very long time. My sheltermates were pretty envious!
Date: 2010-05-03
From: Sassafras Gap

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: scattered clouds

The storm last night took a while to roll in but it was a good one. I had a sleepless night because the wind whipped and rattled the makeshift tarp system the boys had used to batten down the hatches. I hike by myself most days and seem to be floating between several groups of guys so I use the term boys vaguely as an interchangeable way to describe them all. Cotton and I are both lazy non-morning people so we waited until the rain ended at 11 to leave the shelter this morning. It was nice to have company enabling my daily morning procrastination - usually I laze about solo! The hike today had 2 tough climbs but some very reasonable terrain in between. I see a ton of butterflies every day and kept thinking about how yesterday the wind kept tossing and batting them about. A butterfly's everyday existence is way tougher and more impressive than a thru-hike!I'm realizing that the only times I hike "fast" are when I'm over caffeinated or ready for the day to be over and want dinner. Case in point: I hiked the last .9 miles today in 13 minutes, but only because it was easy and I was starving. Dinner is my sole motivation for speed. Tonight it was a tuna packet with cheesy instant mashed potatoes and stuffing and a ketchup packet - poor hiker's casserole.Last night's lack of sleep is killing me - it took at least a half hour to set up my hammock and I fumbled my clove hitch knots what felt like a million times. Time for much needed sleep. All things considered my body feels really good, though. Me knee seems to be getting stronger by the day. The orthotics are definitely working miracles!
Date: 2010-05-04
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: Birch Gap Spring Campsite
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: clear sky

I'm at the only designated campsite in the Smokies for the AT and I'm by myself. Today was a hot, buggy day. Lots of sticky inchworm threads hanging down for me to walk into. I must have brushed at least 5 worms off various parts of my body. Many flies and gnats, too. I keep seeing lizards with reddish heads and blue gray tails, and I've started seeing frogs and toads now too.I hiked into Fontana Dam by noon, took a shower at the visitors center, ate lunch, and then made it to the post office with about 4 minutes to spare until closing. Lesson learned: always call to check closing times - the guidebook said it was open a full hour and a half later than it actually was. Errands and lunch sucked up more time than anticipated so I ended up hiking out over the dam at 4, under the boiling hot sun. At the sign for the Smoky Mountain National Park I noticed something that made me happy: a herd of 8 black and yellow butterflies clustered together in the grass below the sign; it was as if they were welcoming me. Walking up the path crickets kept popping away making noises almost like kernels of popcorn - tons of them. Or maybe cicadas? Something along those lines. Whatever they were, there were tons of them hopping around.These campsites are nice but really buggy. I ate dinner right as the sun dropped behind a mountain and was so quiet a deer barely even noticed me as it picked its way across the slope and ate its own dinner. I'm saving the best part of the day for last; I was in the Smoky Mountains for less than 3 hours and I saw my first bear. I was spacing out, looking at a view when I noticed a slight bit of noise and movement up ahead...and a black bear-like form. We both looked at each other in silence and I quickly decided it would be a good idea to start singing Queen, loudly while banging my hiking poles. I don't think the bear appreciated Freddie Mercury though, because he took off. Which was a good thing, because I could only remember 2 lines of the song! It's one thing to have the neighbors call and tell you there's a bear in your backyard...and it is a whole different feeling when you have surprised a bear in his backyard, with a pack full of delicious treats strapped to your back! It was mildly unnerving but very cool.I like that I'm in an unfamiliar place where humans are not quite as dominant as normal. Of course, we'll see if I'm singing the same tune when a deer stomps through my campsite tonight and I'm convinced it's a bear! There's been warnings about a lot of "bear activity" (whatever that means) at certain shelters and sites. I think this might be one but go figure, I can't remember. Guess I'll know by morning. I hope they bother the shelter 6 miles away instead - I hear there's lots of hikers there and I know for sure that it was on the bear activity list!
Date: 2010-05-05
From: Birch Gap Spring Campsite

To: Spence Field
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: clear sky

Well, I did indeed have a late night encounter last night and it was mildly terrifying...but it was not a bear. What I left out of yesterday's entry was that about an hour before I reached the campsite I met a guy hiking southbound named Chainsaw. We talked for a while and then went our respective ways; we both were tired and wanted to reach our destinations. As I lay in my hammock in the dark that night I thought about the mistake I had made earlier; I had told Chainsaw my final destination for the night, he knew I was hiking alone, and he knew I'd be alone at the site. He was a big burly guy but I had liked his demeanor and figured that any dude with a mohawk and pink shorts and that friendly of a disposition was probably pretty harmless. I had been tired and a little careless and let my guard down, but I was fine. I mean, his trail name was because of his snoring, not because he was an axe murderer...I laughed at myself for thinking of this as I drifted off to sleep, and then I froze as a man loudly called hello into the night. I couldn't tell if it was Chainsaw or someone else, and I couldn't decide if I should respond or not. I was very clearly alone in a very remote area and it was late at night and pitch black out - after 10pm. I decided that preemptive action would be best because all he had to do was follow the path in order to find me. It was a pretty scary moment, but I responded and tried to sound alert and unafraid. It turned out to be Fields, who had a late start to his day and thought he had lost his headlamp and so had been hiking in the dark. Very friendly, apologetic for waking me, and totally harmless. But lesson learned...yet another one!Today was very hot and due to lack of sleep (the adrenaline from being unexpectedly woken up by a stranger took a long time to wear off) I had a sluggish start. The gnats and flies surrounded me whenever I stopped - I felt like pig pen. The hills were tough initially but then became more gentle and graded ...and occasionally covered in horse poop. Can't complain too much though because horse trails make for easy hiking! The trail to this shelter was very pretty: a winding path with gentle grassy slopes and flowering trees tucked in between the mountains. Illuminated by the slanting rich light of late day sun it looked gentle and peaceful. There's a small red squirrel here who shows no fear of humans...kind of like the ones back home!(This journal entry is dedicated to a certain anonymous family member who had a very traumatizing encounter with a red squirrel! Love and miss you!)
Date: 2010-05-06
From: Spence Field

To: Double Spring Gap
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: few clouds

Highlights: a bird swooping past me so close that I could feel a breeze from its wings, three butterflies frantically chasing each other in a woods so silent I could hear their wings flutter, the incredible 360 degree view from Rocky Top, straddling NC and TN as I walked, the fact that Sherman saw an enormous wild bear, being given a snack by a really nice section hiker, seeing a group of young girls out on their own in the woods and loving it, being given 2 dryer sheets (chemical freshness never smelled so good) by a very flattering section hiker, being asked if I was wearing a "real skirt" (yes, as opposed to a fake one), and lastly...being given a chocolate rice krispy treat from Off Kilter almost instantly after tearing up!Lowlights: waking up in a grim foul mood after multiple nights of not enough sleep, feeling exhausted, feeling really tired of having my bedtime determined by others, allowing everything I saw to remind me of someone and having that drive me into an even grimmer mood, dwelling on the past until I burst into tears at Sugartree Gap, bawling until I forced myself to get a grip and started hiking again...only to be informed a half hour later by Off Kilter and Sherman that I had somehow managed to lose all sense of direction and had been headed southbound. So I managed to add at least a mile and a half to my day of totally unnecessary hiking as well as some totally unnecessary negative emotion! I also had to re-hike my mileage for an hour with no water during the hottest part of the day.Sometimes it's really hard not to dwell when you spend the vast majority of the day alone with your thoughts. I actually managed to snap out of my terrible mood with the help of a two hour break and some company (and sympathy snacks). By the time I reached the shelter right before my destination I was in a good mood again, and the music being played by 2 weekenders made it even better. So I pushed on to Double Spring Shelter by myself as dusk fell and it was beautiful...and then I realized that I had left my tree hugger webbing for my hammock wrapped around two trees...way back at Spence Field. Some days just work out that way.
Date: 2010-05-08
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Icewater Shelter was the shelter 7 miles before Pecks Corner. I moved on from there around 5:30pm after socializing a little and now I'm glad that I did because today I found out that a hiker out for the weekend died there last night in his sleep. It was a little surreal, knowing that someone I had briefly joked around with yesterday was now gone. He was a stranger to me but it was still jarring. He was young - in his late twenties or early thirties and had seemed fit and healthy. What a difficult situation for all of the hikers there, and what a sad thing to happen.I didn't start hiking today until noon. It rained and was cold in the morning and that tends to make me lazy - that plus Crazy Dwayne tossing and turning all night before leaving the shelter at some ungodly hour like 3 or 4 am. I decided to push on from Cosby Knob Shelter along with Cotton and Sherman after eating dinner. It was freezing and I knew it'd be warmer at the much lower elevation of the next shelter, plus it would make getting to Standing Bear Farm much easier in the morning. So we left Cosby around 7pm and would have reached it around 9:30 but Cotton had left separately and once it got dark we began to worry a little and waited for her to catch up. So we rolled in a bit later but tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to be quiet.I met Flying Squirrel today, who is a ridge runner in the Smokies and is best friends with Kentucky Blue, who gave me a ride to Amicalola to begin this whole adventure. Small world! Today is also the day I poured boiling water on myself. Not so fun. Nasty burn on my thigh.