morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-03-29
From: Shelter, Muskrat Shelter

To: Tent, Beech Gap
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: clear sky

As you can see; we are creeping up on that double digit-hiking day. Troll is getting very worried about our stats. The next couple of days may be challenging. Tomorrow, we have to get as close to Albert Mountain as we can. It is supposed to be a straight up rock scramble. We are fairly sure it is not something you want to try late in the day. And after Albert we need to get into Franklin, NC. To make phone calls and get food. Today was a beautiful day in the 70's. It was probably our easiest day yet. Well it was Troll & Oblivious' easiest day. The climb up Standing Indian mountain did my joints in. It was a gradual slope but it was very rocky. Every time I would step on one of those rocks my foot would be at one angle or another. Every joint would stretch along that angle. By the end of that rock climb my knees and ankles were screaming. Plenty of Motrin for me. Tonight we are tenting with birdhouse bob, a nice gentleman from Ohio. Troll is tending his campfire. Troll likes to have a campfire every night that we tent. He sends Oblivious to find wood and he starts to fire building. I like campfires but I hate standing on my feet any more than I have to at the end of a long hiking day. Late in the evening we heard a cardinal singing a pretty little bird song. Birdhouse bob identified it by the song and then I found it high in a tree above our campsite. We can't tell but we think it is a female. I'm tired and ready for bed. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-04-03
From: Hotel, Tellico Gap

To: Tent, Rufus Morgan Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: clear sky

I need to start this entry out with a reiteration of my thanks to Lynn Ladyhawk and to Carl (Pete 52). Lynn drove us (Troll, Anchor, Oblivious, Humble Toug, & Squeaker) all the way out to Tellico Gap. It was a drive. Thanks again for everything Lynn. Remember, Washington, anytime. The day started out pretty nicely. We got a late start because we were all turned around with the time change. No one knew if the roads to Tellico were even passable. Luckily for us, Lynn decided to make the attempt. We were able to start hiking at 1230. We reached the top of Wesser Bald in about 1 hour. We went to the top of the observation platform, enjoyed the view, took pictures and ate snacks. Oblivious played in the snow at the top of the platform. He sent several miniature snowmen plummeting to their snowmen death. 10 yr old boys, what are you going to do with them? Since we had already hiked 1.4 miles in about an hour, how hard could the remaining 5.7 miles be? The topo map showed that the day would be mostly down with only one real incline. Have you noticed that every time, I say, "how hard could it be" that bad things seem to happen? The only up I remember was straight up. The downs were straight down. The boulder step that was higher than mid thigh on me was not the worst step down. I literally sat down, swung my legs over likely footholds, positioned my poles, and eased my way off of one rock. The steeper the straight downs got, the icier they got. The snow had not melted off of them yet. That was particularly pleasant. I know there were some gradual inclines and declines. There had to be some easier hiking in the mix today. I just don't remember that right now. It was a perfect hiking day - cool, crisp, and sunny with nothing wet falling from the sky. It just was a really long and hard 5.7 miles. Troll's knees started in again. His feet and ankles were also hurting. Every joint south of my waist has lodged its own complaint. Oblivious was tired and worn out. This might have something to do with our overly ambitious day yesterday. I suppose that today's constant struggle not to fall on my a** in the slush and slick mud may also have impacted the body. On a lighter note, I can see spring is coming. Today I saw several little flowers by the trail. There were violets (both the purple and yellow variety), wild strawberry blossoms, and small white anemone looking flowers. The boys are already asleep. My sore tired body wants to join them. Take care and we will see you down the trail.
Date: 2005-04-05
From: Shelter, Sassafras Gap Shelter

To: Tent, Brown Fork Gap Shelter
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a hot thirsty high water volume day. I start each day with my 2-liter water bladder filled and carrying an additional 1/2-liter Gatorade bottle. Troll and Oblivious carry the same amount of water except Troll carries an extra Gatorade bottle. Gatorade bottles are really great - lightweight, strong, and cheap. 2 1/2 liters of water is usually enough. I usually only go through about 2 liters of water. We started the day off with a 1.2-mile straight up climb to Cheoah bald. I made it up that climb in 45 minutes. What I didn't realize is how much water I was sucking down. When I met Troll and Oblivious for lunch at locust cove gap, I thought my pack was feeling lighter due to the dinner, breakfast and snacks that had been eaten since leaving the NOC. I was wrong. Sometime around 1400 I drained my water bladder dry. This was just after I started up peak 1 of a 3-peak mountain before Stecoah gap. That was when I realized that I have been drinking water to get myself up the steep inclines. When I started hiking inclines almost a month ago - I had to stop, rest my head on my poles and pant. I stopped putting my head on my poles the first week. What I do now is hike up, stop, suck down some water and hike on. On really steep inclines I will turn downhill as I suck down my water. This gives my legs a stretch in the opposite direction. So I powered up the final 2 peaks of that climb without much water. Then I climbed down into Stecoah gap. At that point I had 1/4 liter of water left in my bottle. Leaving Stecoah gap, I saw a sign that said the shelter was 2.4 miles away. I rationed my water and climbed. I climbed up another of those blasted 3 peak mountains. They are very annoying because you only see one peak at a time. When you scale the first peak (no switchbacks) there is a little straightaway followed by more straight up. At this point I have about 2 tablespoons of water and am stopping frequently to catch my breath and try to cool down. Hey and I have another straight up remaining. Finally, I got to the shelter and someone gave me a 1/2-liter of water, which I immediately sucked down. In spite of downing 3 plus liters of water today, I only peed twice. I sweat all of that water right out. Tomorrow morning I will try to get the family to drink 1/2 liter of liquid each, before starting our day. Just a few comments for today. Water is very good. Switchbacks are also good things. 3 peaked mountains are evil. I saw 4 magic violet butterflies. Troll saw a snake. Oblivious did not. Troll and Oblivious need a keeper to stop the nightly 3 stooges antics in the tent. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-04-07
From: Shelter, Fontana Dam Shelter

To: Shelter, Fontana Dam Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Yes, we are taking another zero day. This is the famous Fontana Hilton shelter. This is such a great shelter. There is a real bathroom with heat. It is just a walk up the hill. Further up the hill and on down to the dam visitor center there are showers. Showers with warm water and good pressure. There is also the great Fontana Village Resort. It was built to house the original Fontana Dam workers. Fontana Dam is pretty impressive. It is the largest dam east of the Rockies. If you remember the dam in "The Fugitive" that Harrison Ford jumped off of, you have seen Fontana Dam. The resort seems really cool. Kind of like one of those vacation places in "Dirty Dancing". They run a shuttle for hikers that takes you from the shelter to the village for a buck. In the village, you can go to the all you can eat buffet at the village inn. You can do laundry and shop at the general store. It's all very picturesque. Today it rained off and on. Tomorrow we hit the Smokies. I am looking forward to it. It is so weird how I am perceiving things as my hiking speed goes up. I am now averaging about 1.75 miles per hour even with hills and downhill¢s. It seems like I am speed walking past every thing. It seems like I am just whizzing by all the beauty. Today some of the hikers were talking about what they notice - sounds, sights, smells. It is a very here and now world. I had sort of planned on contemplating my future options. Instead I find myself focusing on the tiny details all around me. I can distinguish the difference between the musty scent of dried leaves and the musty scent of dried pine needles. I also notice how much less I can smell while mouth breathing (panting) on up hills. No matter how you breathe you can always smell or even taste the smell of rain. I pay attention to the sound that my poles make as they strike different surfaces. I know that skittering noises on rocks are bad. I like hearing the water in my water bladder and bottle slosh as I walk. I like feeling my pack tight against my back. It is completely a here and now in this very moment world. And with the way I feel like I am screaming through it, sometimes you just need a zero to let every thing else catch up. Now if I can just find a real job that believes in zero days. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-04-08
From: Shelter, Fontana Dam Shelter

To: Shelter, Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: light rain

Today we started hiking thru the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is one of those mental milestones. Once you are thru the Smokies, you are almost thru both North Carolina and Tennessee. This park is actually the 2nd most visited national park. Troll and I certainly visited it when we were dating. The Smokies also include the highest mountain peak on the trail (Clingman's Dome) It was really good hiking for me today. I feel really fortunate to have a hiking partner for the 1st time on the trail. Typically, I am 30 minutes or more behind Troll and Oblivious. I am usually alone and must entertain myself. For a portion of the Smokies we are fortunate to have a guest. Lynn Ladyhawk (trail angel extraordinaire from Franklin) has joined us for the first 4 days in the Smokies. She hikes closer to my speed. She and I spent the day talking and panting our way up the hills. Ladyhawk must have encouraged me to hike faster than usual. I think the ways that I entertain myself were a little humorous to her. I really can't seem to stop myself from tromping thru the different types of mud like a child. Regardless, we rolled into the shelter about 8 minutes after Troll. It was another day of hiking. Ups and downs that challenge the body and the spirit. But, I must say it qualified as a fabulous day. The weather was primarily coolish. Ladyhawk and I saw a big doe cross the trail right in front of us. Pictures were taken, they may turn out. It was really neat because this is the first non-rodent or bird critter that Ladyhawk has seen when hiking. She usually does winter hiking, not spring or summer to accommodate her job. In the 2nd half of the day we saw something that truly made our day. We rounded a corner and there were flowers everywhere. It seemed like acres of little white flowers and grass. It looked like large flakes of fresh fallen snow were scattered everywhere. I later learned they were called Spring Beauty. They are a five-pedaled flower with pink veins and grass like leaves. Those flowers mixed with the silvery barked birches and the mossy logs were just so beautiful. I told ladyhawk that I expected to see an art deco fairy peeping out from behind a tree. Oblivious wrote in his journal that he was surprised not to see a hobbit. The best thing is that we seemed to walk in and out of these fields of flowers for about 2 miles. It was truly spring beauty. How do you top something like that? You come to a cute little stone shelter filled with great people. You eat, talk, hang out in front of a fire and plan your next day. People here are Dave and McKay, Torch and Trillium, Silent Bob, Milkman, Hardcore Hiker, Rigortortoise, Ladyhawk, Coach, Stilts, Nate, Lauren. The trail really is about the journey and not the destination. It's about meeting wonderful people day in and day out. It's about seeing beautiful nature close up and personal. We are having a beautiful trip and a great time. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-04-09
From: Shelter, Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Shelter, Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was intensely overwhelming. The first 6 miles were awesome. I saw my 1st real bald. It was so beautiful. A bald is a mountain that has no trees at the top and is covered with little hillocks of grass. It almost seemed like a miniature version of Van Gogh's pictures of hay harvesting in Southern France. I had to lie down and take a rest, a little grass hillock cushioning my head. I think almost everyone who passed by today felt the call to nap in the sun. I really spent a lot of the day thinking I was in some foreign country. North Carolina seems to have a lot of slate. In many places the slate was broken and crushed to the point that it seemed to pave the trail. The slate trail wound up these hillsides with gnarled moss covered trees and blankets of flowers on the forest floor. I can't describe it. If I had seen 3 posters of some of these scenes - one titled Ireland, one titled New Zealand, and one titled North Carolina - I don't know that I could have picked out the correct title. We crossed Rocky Top Mountain today where the views went on forever. Of course, with the good comes the bad. The last half of the day sucked. It all seemed straight up or straight down. Troll's knees were not happy. Not even one tiny bit. We had the tricksy multi peaked mountain top thing going. I knew we would have to go over Derrick Knob to get to the next shelter. I was convinced three peaks before the real Derrick Knob that I would see the shelter right after I went over the peak. At one point when I realized that I had to go straight up AGAIN, I told Oblivious that he could say one cuss word about the trail. Lynn Ladyhawk had seen the hill in the distance and commented that there was going to be some cussing if we wound up going over it. Oblivious asked "Who the f*** designed this trail?" I had even more colorful words to describe how happy I was to be going straight up again. Now that the boys are in their sleeping bags and Troll is moltrined up I would like to focus on the positive. The views - beautiful and amazing. The wildflowers - I saw a Dutchman¢s breeches in bloom. It is in the same family as bleeding heart. I also saw more spring beauty carpeting the forest. I learned that the dainty 4 pedaled blue flowers I had been seeing were type of bluett. They have tiny thyme like leaves. The petals are baby boy blue with a white and orange center. The friends - It was great to walk and talk and share the trail with Lynn Ladyhawk. Well I can't stop yawning. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-04-11
From: Hotel, Gatlinburg TN

To: Shelter, Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: clear sky

I really don't want to journal today. I'm tired and cranky, in my sleeping bag trying to sleep. Someone who just got here is doing something very loud and crinkly with his emergency space blanket. The cool thing is that he has only been making this noise for about 15 minutes. If you want to recreate something approaching this pleasure in your own home, have someone wait until you are almost asleep after a long hard day and then crinkle potato chip bags the size of heavy duty garbage bags by your head. Make sure they continue that process for an extended period of time. We had some awesome karma to start our day. We hitched out of Gatlinburg to Clingman's Dome. The folks who picked us up were going in the opposite direction. They went about an hour out of their way to take all 5 of us (troll, oblivious, silent bob, Ladyhawk and myself) to our destination. Once again, trail angel¢s rock! The folks who gave us our ride asked a pretty neat question. "What is your best piece of gear?¢ Troll answered that it was a tie between his camp shoes and his poles. Ladyhawk said it was her 20-degree sleeping bag. Silent bob said it was his camp shoes. Oblivious said it was his mp3 player. I said that my best piece was my poles or my camp shoes but my favorite was my pocketmail. They said another hiker told them duct tape for his feet. I really liked that question. Today we were all flying down the trail. (Excuse me - that damn crinkling is still going on. Apparently the guy always sleeps in an emergency space blanket. Everyone in the shelter will get to experience his tossing and turning ALL NIGHT LONG. Absolutely wonderful.) Oh yeah, everyone seemed to be flying. We went 8 miles in slightly less than 5 hours. It was very humid. Fortunately we seemed to be in a shady mossy pine forest most of the day. We even passed a spot were there was ice on the trail from the last snowstorm. It was pretty good hiking. I felt like a kid in a playground as I crossed over log tops sunk down in a boggy area. We had to say goodbye to Ladyhawk today. She had to go back to her regular life. I don't know what I will do. I have really enjoyed talking and hiking with her. Would it be too weird if I just keep talking as if she were really there? I don't think I would really mind being called the crazy lady in the woods. Lynn, it was a pleasure. Remember, Washington, anytime. Troll and the guy on the other side of me have some awesome 2-part snoring harmony going. Mix in some more crinkling and I guess you could call it bad jazz. And just my luck - crinkle boy seems to be a restless sleeper. It just doesn't get much better. Let me push Oblivious back onto his own sleeping pad so I can try to get some sleep. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-04-13
From: Shelter, Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Shelter, Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

Tonight has turned into a pretty decent night. It is cold and rainy outside. We are in another one of those Smoky Mountain shelters. They force you to stay in shelters that are oddly spaced out. So you have to plan your hike around where these shelters are. Well, anyway we got to the shelter wet and cold only to find that Silent Bob had an awesome fire in the fireplace. It was so wonderful to be able to warm up and dry out. There were some day hikers here who brought all that great day hiker food. We got their leftovers. 3 Tortillas with refried beans, chicken, cheese, AND sour cream shared between 7 hikers (Troll, Anchor, Oblivious, Silent Bob, Padre, Blaze and Dready Bear). Boy, did that hit the spot. Even cooler, were the 2 beers they gave us later. Today, Troll and Oblivious spent the day hiking with me at my speed. We did the 12.9 in around 7 hours including a 30-minute break. Troll and Oblivious are usually way ahead of me. Today they got to see how my hiking speed and endurance have improved. It was good for them to see how I hike my hike. Now I think it will be easier for them to take my abilities into account when they are hiking their hikes. It was pretty cool to hike with them and see things from their perspective. Oblivious pointed out an island in the clouds. We were at an overlook and could only see the top of the closest mountain. Oblivious also asked when I was going to grow snakes out of my head. I was readjusting the buff I normally use to keep my hair covered up. I guess if you only wash your hair 5 times in one month and then finger comb it - I pretty much have a hair disaster going on. Medusa watch out. There was a lot of easy ridge running today. Of course it was mixed in with lots of muck, water, and rocks. They let horses on this part of the trail, so we also had plenty of horse crap to dodge. Oh yeah, we also seemed to be outrunning the lightening all day. Rocks are really not so joint friendly. We have 4 aching knees between us - guess whose knees those are. Not Oblivious'. Tomorrow we should leave the Smokies and be able to camp where we want. I almost forgot my shoe story. Yesterday when taking my shoes off my KEVLAR shoelaces broke after LESS THAN 230 miles. These shoes have a special lacing system that requires shoe replacement if the KEVLAR laces break. I have some phone calls to make when I get to my next payphone. I better be getting a free replacement pair of shoes or there will be multiple posts on hiker pages and gear pages on the shoe quality and the company's customer service. I will keep you posted on my progress as I hobble down the trail in my jerry rigged poorly laced shoes. Take care and we will see you on the trail.
Date: 2005-04-14
From: Shelter, Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Tent, Painter Branch
Miles today: 12.7

We are finished with the Smokies!!!! Thank god. No more being forced to stay in shelters that are oddly spaced. No more horse crap on the trail. No more muddy horse mucked trails. The incontinently placed shelter did force us to do more miles. I think that we will now be able to consistently do higher mileage days. When the weather was good, the views were spectacular. We hiked through some pretty neat and diverse terrain. The northern half of the Smokies had some pretty easy hiking. The southern half had some evil terrain. It was great to see the flowers. In a few more weeks it will be even more spectacular. But, boy am I glad to be done with the Smokies. It felt oddly anti-climactic to leave the Smokies. At Davenport gap there was no parking lot or anything. There was only a small boundary sign on a tree. Kind of odd. I think we passed the most beautiful spot thus far on the trail today. After davenport gap, we started following Tobes creek down the mountainside. The hillside was covered in wildflowers all in bloom. We kept descending and seeing all of these really beautiful waterfalls. One waterfall had the water going through a hollow moss covered log. It was one of those moments when you look for the right word- glen, glade, sylvan, etc... It just took your breath away. We saw a fed ex deliveryman there. When he does that route, he takes his break hiking that part of the trail. Oh yeah, he was also a 2 time thru hiker. This spectacular spot was right next to I40 and the Pigeon River. I am going to cut this short. I am in my sleeping bag and the temp is rapidly dropping, even though it was in the 70s today, it was 32 when we woke up. I think tonight will also be cold and my fingers are starting to hurt from the cold. My warm sleeping bag is calling. Take care and we will see you on the trail