morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-02-11
To: Pesamism
Miles today: 0.0

Pessamism. Do I know how to work the pesamism slot machine or what? push the button, pull the handle! BINGO!So Ive resolved myself to -;being bitten by a snake and dieing,being trampled on my rogue moose bull and dieing,being chewed on by a black bear and dieing,being bitten by a spider and dieing,being attacked by rabid skunks and dieing,getting eaten alive by ticks, catch lyme disease, loose my appetite and dieing,fall off the side of a cliff, and naturally, dieing,be struck in teh head by a falling icicle on my first day on the trail, and dieing,running out of vegemite, and being unable to eat american orange rubber cheese and dieing of starvation,equating american accents with glasweigan accents, and not talking to anyone for 6 months!having customs abscond with my stash of tea and not being able to drink a decent cuppa tea for 6 monthsbreak a leg going down the plane gangway at manchester airport, before even leaving the countrysuddenly realise Ive left my tent back at kiwi stu's place...land at some other airport in washington (there is 3 or something?).. and miss joy.arrive at the airport the day after Im sposed to fly outstart at springer and go south instead of north! oopsyou know james bond was a pesamist, coz he found a way out of everything and planned around things. Me, i just find even more holes in the plan to be pesamistic about!! hahahah
Date: 2004-02-18
To: Leaving Las.. wait.. England
Miles today: 0.0

This will be my last entry before I fly out. Its a funny kind of feeling right now.. The calm before the storm or something. I still have no travel insurance.. Im umming and aahing over the cost of the damn thing. Dont particuarly want to spend the GBP's on it.All packed, have been packed for eons. ok months. I have little gear bu suddenly decided its too much and dont have anything to discard tho. furthered pared my clothing list down a bit. (not much but...)...Flying out will be stressfull. It amounts to staying awake for about 2 days...10 to 3am on sunday night, I get a train to Manchester Airport (takes 3 hours) so I get there at 6am...Wait around till 8am.. fly to Heathrow and wait for another 2 hours... Fly out at 11am to Washington. Thats 8 hours or something, so I land at (time adjusted) 2pm in the afternoon (thats about 7pm to my body).. To avoid jet lag I need to stay awake till about 9pm (roughly 2am to my body) to sleep through the night to next morning.. if I dont, ill be up shit creek in a barb wire canoe.i also have to convince immigration to let me in. That will be a fun brouha when im well buggered and half asleep. hahahahah that famous line from dorothy..I love a sunburnt country,A land of sweeping plains,Of ragged mountain ranges,Of droughts and flooding rains.I love her far horizons,I love her jewel-sea,Her beauty and her terror --The wide brown land for me!no matter the country, always an aussie! Ive got my flag and texta, hopefully I'll have a fully signed flag by the end, lots of names, lots of memories. well worth the cost!g'bye engerlund. shame we couldnt have tea n scones liz, you busy running the country n all. But Ive a hike to be on. Aint no Hilliary, and Katahdin no Everest, but I'll be having fun anyway. Tea or no Tea! Well, ok Id like there to be tea, but If I have to go all the way without a decent cuppa, well, its a small price...So bye Liz, Keep the corgies fed and make sure Charles gets to bingo on time.Smoke me a kipper, ill be back before breakfast.
Date: 2004-02-27
To: Here we are...
Miles today: 0.0

This will be a missmash of things of the last week I spose.So, right now I am in the usa! whooo! I had thought it was going to be touch and go, as the plane out from Heathrow sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes and I was thinking they were going to cancel it for some terrorist alert, but we took off in the end.This was an 8 hour cacauphony of non stop coughing off everyone around me and 3 crying babies. So, now I am sick.. a cold.. sore throat, etc...Joy and her friend Kate picked me up at the airport (Dulles), and we dropped into the 'mall' in Washington, and did a quick tour of the old Post office, whihc overlooks all of washington, the vietnam memorial, and several other memorials, which was really good.the weather was bloody freezing!From their we hit Joys parents place, which is just awesome. its so picturesque out where they live, and very warm and homely. Carol and Winston are great hosts (and Carol makes the best homemade bread!).Met some of Joys friends at a going away dinner, that was a great night out.We are now down in Greensborough at her Sisters place. We talked to the school kids yesterday, about 200 off em, and talked about the trail, etc, showed gear. kinda intimidating but interesting nonetheless.It is BLOODY cold. we had something like 6-8inches of snow or something. I dunno. lots of snow.need to do a final gear pack today.. i had mmm 31 pounds with food (no water).. but i need to shoehorn it into better packing position.currently i am sitting in my kilt looking out at the snow outside... it looks very uninviting!i have started noticing differences from home to here, culture wise. just odd little things.* lot of cars have red indicators on the back instead of orange so it looks like a pulsing brake light! * Some places do sell tea, but it tasted like a cup of hot wanter! English Breakfast tea is called British Breakfast.I had some 'brownie' the other night and it was great!!! tasted like chocolate self saucing pudding!Im rambling now so i will sign off, there is LOTS more to mention but i wont bore you all.Sunday I hit the trail, only 2 days!
Date: 2004-02-29
From: Visitor centre. Springer Mountain

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

My feelings are all a mess, this was a very hard day. My pack with food and water was 53 pounds, way way too heavy, really I need to drop 25 pounds. First thing I did was drop my whisky bottle. dinner was a quick affair and tasted of salt salt and more salt. it was tougher than I thought. lots of people were there,we had Burn, Haiku, Friendly, Sarah, Rainman, and heaps of others who I can't remember. A couple were doing a doco, and I got interviewd and filmed, so we will see what comes of it.-- Stu "Bloody Cactus" George --
Date: 2004-03-01
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a killer. Carrying way too much weight, was staggering around at one point. My knee went, popped. Hard physically, and mentally. Too exhausted to write much today. Not a lot went through my mind today beyond chants of little engine and stuff. There is some great camraderie here tonight, a few people signed my flag, and now its time to make a hot cup of tea.-- Stu "Bloody Cactus" George --
Date: 2004-03-02
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

What a bloody disaster! I left my water filter behind somewhere, lucky I had a aqumira chemical backup. We hiked all day in cloud, it was wet, cold and a looong day. Tough and slow going and painful, I did my other knee a twist but am ok. Using lots of goanna oil / deep heat. Shelter is very very busy, there is like 30 people here and we overloaded it big time. The privy here is pretty cool too, well looked after and clean. Still having a ball despite my really slow pace and pain.-- Stu "Bloody Cactus" George --
Date: 2004-03-03
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Woods Hole
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

Today was very hard. I can not put much weight on my left leg. First time we did over 8 miles today. Tough does not describe it. At the end I was going through the motions, one foot in front of the other. Sore. Pain. On the other hand the cloud cleared, it was dry all day and we had some great views, and coming down the mountain I had a good breeze under my kilt... oh and Super Burn did the life saving cell phone call for Lekiless to get his poles back.Have been thinking of pizza all day and rember what I used to buy from the local shop over 3 years ago and damn I loved it... tomorow is resupply day and I plan on getting some chocolate bars for the extra suger kick.
Date: 2004-03-04
From: Woods Hole

To: Neels Gap/Walasi-Yi
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Wow. A short day. Climbed the notorious Blood Mountain and took a load of pictures on the summit. A very very hard downhill into Neels Gap. The outfittter at Walasi-yi did a pack shakedown for me, and I dropped down to 32 pounds, and it feels awesome.We are staying in town and may or may not zero here. We had dinner in the pizza shop where the little boy locked himself in the toilet and couldn't open the door. I think he was about 3 years old. They had had to unscrew the lock of the door. We were laughing so hard. Had a great feast of pizza. Now we are sitting in the parking lot having a few beers (Blairsville is a dry county coz they dont sell alchohol here). Done a load of washing and Joy is strutting around in my kilt, first time she has worn a skirt in years.
Date: 2004-03-05
From: Still at Neels Gap

To: Still at Neels Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We did a zero day today, but boy did we walk for miles to and from the hotel to the post office and grocery store.John got his trail name at dinner, Castro, coz with all his green and beard he looked liked fidel. Oh and Joys trail name is Xena, coz she hauled so much weight like an amazon.We did a point break party as well, with Heather and Arwen and Sasha who farted out the room twice.My knee feels a bit better, the right knee about the same.
Date: 2004-03-06
From: Neels Gap

To: Whitely Gap Shelter
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: broken clouds

Today was so rough on me, I used up all my zero day points when I blew out my right knee, just when my left knee was feeling good.Kinda felt like an ass coz i'm currently the slowest hiker of the group, and we all stopped at the first shelter after Neels Gap. Will see what tomorrow brings. Looking at a 12 mile day to get to the shelter we want to be at.We had some superb views today, really awesome, the sun was out, blue skies. I took a few photos.Something I didn't mention from Neels Gap was they found a brown recluse on my pack, a very naaaasty spider that can kill ya...
Date: 2004-03-07
From: Whitley Gap Shelter

To: Blue Mountaine Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: few clouds

Wow. Bloody hard long day. What a con, we thought it was easy, we had nice flat hike and chatted with Geek, Chicken Legs, Boudin. Very interesting snippets of info. While we were here Lekiless and Nuffy showed up. It was good to hear Nuffys Aussie accent.Then came a hard slog, our first attempt of bouldering. Very hard slog. My feet feel like a pancake. Sore and beat flat.
Date: 2004-03-08
From: Blue Mountain Shelter

To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: clear sky

What a cooold night. Went to bed at 7pm when it was black, woke at 12am and was freeezing, couldn't get back to sleep.Horefrost everywhere along the trail that's how cold it was, all day we saw horefrost and ice. We were sweating like pigs with all our layers on but it was so cold to take anything off.We had some great trail magic today, found a cooler with cokes in it. Very refreshing.There is a few folk at the shelter tonight but they are tenting.We plan on hitting Hiawase tomorrow and getting a hot tub at the hotel. Sweeet.
Date: 2004-03-09
From: Tray Mountain

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a cold day. Wearing all my layers. We had snow, ice, hail, rain. Toward the end we had a huge powder dump. The two Texans had never seen snow before and freaked out.We hitched a ride down into Hiawase, this couple pulled out out their bed and all their clothes out the back of their car and we squeezed 6 people and a dog with 6 packs into it, damn freaky.
Date: 2004-03-10
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Plum Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: clear sky

Last night in the hotel was heaven. Hot tub. Lemme repeat hot tub. Damn. Xena and I sat in the hot tub for like 30 minuutes. Pizza for dinner. The great town experience. Got to see some pictures on whiteblaze.net from Rainman and Youngblood. That lifted my spirits.We hitched out of Hiawase this morning and it took two hitches, but we got to the trail head. We had to sit in some trucker spit in the rear of his tray truck... hmm...We picked up Nuffy here and lost Castro, he went on to the next shelter.An easy day really. Dinner was spent doing songs from the Buffy musical episode.. very hilarious.Knees are broken, right ankle is busted, am feeling super tho.
Date: 2004-03-11
From: .Plum Orchard Gap

To: Standing Indian
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: clear sky

Today was a long slog. We crossed our first state border from Georgia into North Carolina. Took loads of photos. Kinda dissapointed it's just a marker on a tree then some big archway that plays music when you walk through it..Still what a confidence booster tho.On the way to Deep Gap, Xena, Lekiless and I were doing old 80s songs and tv shows. Lekiless is really a member of a boyband, he knows all the songs...We are tenting just below the mountain top under the shelter tonight, so there is 5 tents here next to a picturesque stream at Standing Indian.Xena is making me hot chocolate right now, and for herself as well. Will need to repay the favour later.Hopefully the wind won't penetrate down in the gully here.It's so much fun hanging out with these guys.-- Stu "Bloody Cactus" George --
Date: 2004-03-12
From: Standing Indian

To: Betty Creek Gap
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: clear sky

Wow, what a day. Another long one on the legs. This morning was cold but after lunch at Carter Gap shelter, the trail was awesome. Like going to the beach, where you have teatree and a sunken path. This time it was all rhodedendron towering over the path.The long shadows of the trees of late afternoon saying go down, carefully. The wind on the ridge whispering cautions. A dry brown trail on sunside, leading to a snow encrusted cold feet of the mountains backside, trail down. The ruddy trail going from thick black mud and skeletal winter trees, to red clay with pines.Xena with a haunting, lilting tune floating down the mountain.Leki doing boyband renditions and singing desperado at lunch.Camera crew with zipped sleeping bags and a dog wedged in the middle. Everyone with a smile and crinkled laughing eyes. My little snapshots of everyone on the trail today.All the aches and pains left unsaid. Everyones got em, nobody asks, we've all sympathy for each other
Date: 2004-03-13
From: Betty Creek

To: Winding Stair
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Holy smoke, our longest day yet, and my feet are dead. Ouch. Some small swelling on my ankle. Toes are numb, ooooh baby are these hiking feet or what. We saw the second biggest poplar today, its massive. Poor thing is dead tho. Still really interesting, but not as big as Californian redwoods.Town stops rock. We rode a pickup into town, by an unnamed man, well he wants to remain anonymous, but he is cool and friends with some hikers we met the other day. this time there was no spit in the back, so bonus.. nice bloke too.Franklin is nice. We did a steak sizzler thing for dinner. We gorged. My hike appetite is rampant.We are gonna zero and let fate heal. So cool. Man I appreciate hot showers like nothing before..Joys second article made the paper, so i'll try and get copies. A real writer, whoooo. Journo.
Date: 2004-03-14
From: Winding Stair

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

The generosity of people is amazing.This morning Xena and I went to church, it was a United Methodists Church, and my first time going too.It was a very interesting experience, it was a contemporary service, we did singing and some prayers and hymns and stuff. We met Frances and Joe right at the start, as we hikers stick out like sore thumbs, but they were very friendly. After the service they invited us to dinner with some others.Later, we ran into Seeker, Snickers and Nets. It's Seekers birthday tomorrow. We all had sweet tea to celebrate.We also convinced Nuffy to stay, yay, she is staying till Fontana now, so that's cool and puts our group back up to 6.That night we had dinner with Joe and Frances, wow, that was sooo rocking. Bloody awesome. Everyone brought a plate, and we had loads of food. Sweet potato pie, frito pie, and its like corn chips with beans.Great conversation and people, we had such an awesome night. Truly amazing the generosity these people had for us, thanks heaps Joe and Francis. I had a bloody awesome time at your place. really really good. Thanks for having us over.
Date: 2004-03-15
From: Winding Stair Gap

To: Sila Bald Shelter
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: moderate rain

A very easy day today, we did the postoffice this morning and sent some days food ahead to the NOC for pickup instead of carrying 5 days of food.Joe gave us a lift to the gap, which was cool, as it was out of his way.The hike today was piss easy, but means two 12 mile days. Hopefully it will stop raining during the night.Full shelter tonight, Tacoma Ted, Honey Pie, Hoss, Fingers, me, Xena, Lekiless, Nuffy, and camera crew.Looks like a very mousy shelter.
Date: 2004-03-16
From: Sila Bald Shelter

To: Burning Town Gap
Miles today: 10.9

Wow. we woke to rain, and low cloud. Hiked in cloud till lunch. So no views. Hiked over several balds. Wayah and Sila BaldDid the rock fire tower on top of Wayah Bald, then the weather lifted.After lunch we ran into Apple. Apple runs a free food trail angel. Man, he had everything in there. Sodas, hot dogs, cinnamon buns, tea, hot cocoa, in a huuuge dome.Even better, there is 11 of us in here holding fort for him. It's warmer in here than the shelter.
Date: 2004-03-17
From: Burning Town Gap

To: Nantahala Outdoor Centre
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a gear day. Cold in the morning then picked right up, kilt weather, great n warm. This mroning I felt a little guilty for leaving Apples tent of free food, without putting it all back but he was cool with it, even gave us some doughnuts for breakfast.Lunchtime we spent it on top of a fire tower on Wessar Bald, I spent 30 minutes napping up there. It was great.We ran into Brother Nature, right near the end. Had a nice chat with Nuffy on the way down.Tonight, we rented a house, 10 people. Dunno where we are all going to sleep, but anyway, me probably on the couch or somewhere.We are watching the Wedding Singer on vhs now... mmm 80s base movies rock...
Date: 2004-03-18
From: Nantahala Outdoor Centre

To: Sassafras Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: light rain

Today was exhilerating and demoralising at the same time and I loved it. 7 miles straight up in pouring rain. It was a hard slog and I flew uphill, everyone else struggled with sore feet. I think i'm very lucky today.We have lots of people in the shelter tonight, Tacoma Ted played for us twice, man he is absolutely awesome on his backpacker guitar. He is really good, played some Earl Schaffer poems.Making hot chocolate later..Confronted something tonight too, wrote a 3 page letter. Nuffy is ribbing me.. will see how it turns out, it's very cheesy.
Date: 2004-03-19
From: Sassafras Shelter

To: Cable Gap
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

Wow. Bloody looong bloody day.Started out slow, Leki after 3 miles managed to realise that he left his pack cover and rainshell at the last shelter.. so Nokwe has left his poles behind, his watch, his pack cover, his shell....After that we met up with Mala and Tucker who slacked our packs around another massive bloody mountain.. We cought a live blister expulsuion live on camera. Poor Nuffy smashed a huge one for us.Now we're all moaning in pain and laughter. Theme songs are going around. Young Frankenstein.. man.. it's definitely alive out here...
Date: 2004-03-20
From: Cable Gap

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was rocking. A nice short 5 mile hike to the road, quick pickup and into the Fontana Inn to meet Joys parents.Talk about spoilt, they brought us fresh fruit, monkey bread, british scones, chocolate biscuits, and loads of stuff.We tooled up on food at the Igles in Robinsonvales as there is nothing at all in Fontana, except the restaurant that opened yesterday.Dinner and the drive to Ingles was such fun. We have such great communication and we all feed off each other. Leki is amazing with his singing quips, and so fast with them too. I feel bad as my sense of humour is very.... hmm.. raw... so to speak and I give him heaps, but he laughs, so it's cool. He said it doesn't bother him, but I told him to tell me if it did.Sharing a room with the Nuffster tonight. Both of us doing pocketmail right now. I have yet to pack, she is fully packed.Tomorow we hike out with Bushwack and Bramble to do from Fontana Dam to Hot Springs. They seem to have quite a pace set up for us.Joy just brought in all her photos, 3 rolls to go over and I gave her all my digital ones... photo time. later peoples...
Date: 2004-03-21
From: Fontana Dam

To: Russell Field
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Today was the first day with Bushwack and Bramble. They hike faaast. We took several photos at the Smokey sign and dam. This was the day we split from our core group, so only Xena and I with Bushwack and Bramble are together, Leki and the others are a day behind.We scored bigtime at the shelter when they produced brie and red wine. Major style points. It was sweeeeet.A very cold night, we managed to stay warm for a while, woke to snow
Date: 2004-03-23
From: Double Springs

To: Icewater Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was harsh, I hate the trails in the Smokies. Deep ruts. Nasty ice and downhills.Managed to do both knees, hip, and wrist. Fell or collided into rock coz of the damn ice.Was a real damn low point today.. after lunch, still feeling down. Toward the end perked right up tho. One surprise, we were getting a food drop from Heathers dad, but we didn't know him... we waited, and a nice couple took us into town to buy food... when we returned, Heathers dad was there with a box for us.. sweet. We were loaded down with food.I also feel sick.ugh. pint of milk, fruit loops, kfc chicken, cocacola... belly isn't sitting well....
Date: 2004-03-24
From: Icewater Shelter

To: Cosby Nob Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was our death march day. Sgt Bushwack and Major Bramble cattle prodded us 20 miles. Our first 20 miler and the Cactus was not happy.. oooh so not happy. Did a knee twice but kept pace for fear of the lash. We did manage to climb out onto Charlies Bunion, a big old rock floating out in nowhere.Troop moral was low. Injuries were high. Talk ceased at the end, we had no energy to spare.My big bugbear about the Smokies is the ice. I hate trying to traverse the ice. It's madness. Xena slipped right on her ass. I managed not to fall today. Did I mention that I hate the Smokies... they are woefull. 6 foot deep cow trail ruts, eroded water bars. Rocks. Oh my! In the last few days, despite pain and loss of limbs, mind and pack items, we have gone over 200 miles, hit our third state of Tennessee and did our first 20.I don't even know what day of the week it is. I am exhausted. Done. Stick a fork in me.