morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2021-03-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Why am I going stove less this year. I don't feel like heating up my dinners after a long hiking day. I also save about 1 pound (cook set + fuel canister). I use a Talenti Ice Cream jar for cold soaking my meals. I cold soaked my breakfast in 2019 and it worked well This year I'm going to cold soak my dinners. The chili bean mix requires about 45 minutes to cold soak. The refried beans and couscous take about 15 minutes.The table includes my recipes and caloric content. I practiced hiking with these meals during my Foothills Trail YoYo in January. I didn't cold soak my dinners then because the days were short and the temperatures dropped into the low 30s by dinner time.   Cal Weight (oz) Bar Kind or Larabar 210 1.3 Breakfast 12 cup oats, 14 cup Nido, pinch raisins, 14 cup walnuts 2.5 tbsp. chia 714 5.7 Snack 1/3 cup (each) almonds, walnuts, misc. trail mix, pinch coconut flakes, 1 tbsp. coco nibs, 3 dates 764 6.5 Lunch 1 scoop chocolate p-nut butter Amazing Grass Protein Supperfood, 2 tsps chia, 1 instant oatmeal pack 476 4  Total 2164 17.5 Dinners    1 1cup Bear Creek Chili mix, 34 cup instant potato. Note: the chili mix is too salty for my taste but I will probably need the salt to replace salt lost during the day. 560 5 2 1 cup Santa Fe Vegetarian Refried pinto beans (or black beans), 12 cup couscous, 2 tbsp cheese powder 650 7 3 1cup Bear Creek Chili mix and either 34 cup instant potato or 1 pack of ramen 485 4.1  Total w/ Dinner Cals weight 1. 2724 22.5 2 2814 24.5 3 2649 21.6
Date: 2021-03-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

The table below includes the addresses where I will send each of my resupply boxes. All of the mail drops are at locations within 1 mile of the trail. Page numbers correspond to the 2021 AWOL guide. I know that conventional wisdom tells you that resupply boxes are not necessary on the trail or that you will get sick of the food in your boxes. I'm doing mail drops because it makes Nero resupply days less stressful. I won't have to hitch or get a shuttle into a town and then have to walk up and down the grocery aisle looking for acceptable food. Then I will have to spend time repackaging the food. Minimart food is too expensive.   Box/resupply Location 0 Amicalola Falls State Park (Springer Mountain), GA 1 Hostel Around the Bend Dicks Creek Gap, GA mile 70 2 Fontana VillageATTN: Front Desk, 300 Woods Dr, Fontana Dam, NC 28733 3 P. 41 Hostel at Laughing Heart Lodge. 289 NW Hwy 25/70Hot Springs, NC 28743 4 p.41 Uncle Johnny¢s Nolichucky Hostel 151 River Road Erwin, TN 37650 5 p. 50 p.55 Boots Off Hostel 142 Shook Branch RdHampton, TN 37658 6 Broken Fiddle Hostel104 Damascus Drive Damascus, VA, VA 24236 7p.61 Relax Inn7253 Lee HwyRural Retreat, VA  24368Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 8p.68 Woods Hole Hostel 3696 Sugar Run RdPearisburg, VA 24134Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________  9p 102 Mountain Home 3471 Remount RdFront Royal, VA 22630Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 10 Harpers Ferry ATC. OrQuality InnP.O/ Box 980Harpers Ferry, WV  25425Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________        Or only if openAT Hiker Rick James,c/o Appalachian Trail Conservancy,P.O. Box 807Harpers Ferry, WV 25425ETA: ____ 11 p114 Ironmasters Mansion HostelAT Museum1212 Pine Grove RoadGardners, PA 17324-9078Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 12P 121 Kind of Outdoorsy Outfitters 9 S. Market St., Duncannon, PA 17020Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 13p. 143 Mohican Outdoor Center 50 Camp Mohican Road Blairstown, NJ 07825Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 14 p156 Native Landscapes & Garden991 Route 22Pawling, NY 12564Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 15P195 Hikers Welcome HostelPO Box 25, Glencliff, NH 03238Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________   16p. 205 AMC Visitor Centerc/o Front DeskPO Box 298Gorham, NH 03581Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 17p 203 Rick JamesHold for A.T. Rick James, ETA: ­­­______________c/o Rattle River Lodge & Hostel592 State Route 2Shelburne, NH 03581  18p.214 The Hiker Hut 2 Pine RdSandy River Plantation, ME 04970.Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________ 19p. 226 Shaw¢s Hiker Hostel PO Box 72  Monson, ME 04464Please hold for AT hiker Rick JamesETA: _______________________  Abol Bridge, ME  Summit day
Date: 2021-03-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Yesterday we drove 5.5 hours from Charleston, SC to Amicalola Falls State park where the famous Archway to the Appalachian Trail is located. We spent the night at the lodge and enjoyed our first sit down in a restaurant meal since the pandemic shutdown everyones normal lives. This morning I checked in with the AT register and I was hiker # 965. Nancy and I got our pictures taken by the arch and we started hiking around 9:40. The morning temperature was in the upper 30s and it was breezy. Perfect hiking weather. The hike up the falls is beautiful. The path up is a mixture of trail, road, and wooden steps. The hike definitely gets your heart rate up but by AT standards it¢s not that bad. Once you reach the top of the falls you enter the woods and can start enjoying the serenity of hiking in nature. The trail from the arch to Spinger Mountain is 8.8 miles. Once you leave the falls the trail gradually climbs up to Springer. The trail is nicely graded with only a few short steep sections. You basically climb up to a ridge line follow the ridge for awhile and then climb again. You repeat this pattern until you get to Springer. Luckily it was a cool day because there wasn¢t much water available on the trail. We stopped to get water at the spring by Black Gap Shelter. The spring was supposed to be 0.1 miles off trail but it seemed a lot longer. The spring was flowing great and it was a perfect place for a snack break. We made it to Springer Mountain just before 3pm and it was packed with day hikers. We continued on another 0.2 miles to camp in the Springer Mountain Shelter camping area. We were the first ones there and had our pick of the campsites. We set up camp and headed down the trail to get water. We were fortunate enough to see a beautiful garter snake by the bear box. The water source was flowing great. We enjoyed a juicy grapefruit that Nancy hiked in for us. Tomorrow morning we will hike back to Springer Mountain and I will touch the first blaze. Nancy will hike back to the car and I will head 2193 miles north.  Hopefully I will remain upright and headed in the right direction. Happy trails You should be able to see my Inreach location maps by using the location tab. Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.
Date: 2021-03-22
From: Ramrock Mountain

To: Low Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: clear sky

AT day 223.8 miles to Low Gap shelter. It was a long day of hiking and socializing. I had wonderful night on Ramrock Mountain. The sunset wasn¢t anything special but the sunrise was great. The wind was gusting and occasionally my tent fabric would bow in and hit me in the head. The coyotes were busy howling and yipping off and on. It was 41 degrees when I got up around 6am. I ate my cold soaked oatmeal concoction and then went out to the view point to enjoy the sunrise. I hiked out of camp around 7:30. Today was a great initiation for some of the difficulties the AT will throw at you, albeit on a smaller scale. There were some steep climbs, mud pits, rocks, boulders and slabs. Some of the decents like the one going down Blood Mountain required careful foot placement and a little rock scrambling. My highlight of the day was taking with two of my favorite YouTube hiking vlogers. IBTAT and Feathers. They have both completed the AT and PCT. They plan on hiking the CDT this year. Feathers is going to hike it with her pet goat. IBTAT works at Mountain Crossing outfitters in Neal Gap. I stopped there to get some snacks and water. I was hoping for ice cream but they didn¢t have any. I also got another round of trail magic at hog pen gap. It was perfect timing because it was a hot day and I was running low on water. I got to Low Gap shelter around 6pm to find tent city. I was able to locate a small tent site away from most people. The problem with putting in long days is that it¢s hard to find campsites when you roll in late. Another problem is getting all of the camp chores done at a decent hour. It¢s 9:29 as I write this. I had cold soaked refried beans, cheese and ramen tonight. It was a winner. I called the Hostel Around The Bend to reserve a room for Wednesday. Tomorrow I hike around 23 miles to a campsite around 5 miles from Dicks Creek Gap where you walk 12 a mile to the hostel. This will give me a short hiking day on Wednesday so I can maximize my recovery time during my Nero. Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.
Date: 2021-03-23
From: Low Gap Shelter 

To: Deep Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: clear sky

AT day 323.2 miles to Deep Gap shelter campsites.Last night was uneventful and I didn¢t check the morning temperature. I got up around 6am and was hiking at 7:20. The sunrise was starting and I made it up to a ridge to see another spectacular sunrise. The trail once again was full of good introductory AT hiker lessons. We had the same conditions as yesterday but the climbs seemed longer and steeper.I spent most of the morning hiking with a guy called Blood Beard. He was on his last day of a shakedown hike to test his gear for his upcoming PCT thu hike. He has already completed the AT. I enjoyed talking with him about my favorite hiking trails in the Sierra. We were joined for several miles by a young woman who goes by two trail names depending on who she is talking with. The PG name is Peanut because she carries two massage balls in a sack and it looks like a giant peanut. Her other trail name is Ball Sack¢. The last climb of the day was a long steep one up Kelly Knob. I remember from my 2019 hike that the last climb always seemed to be the hardest. I got to Deep Gap shelter camping area at 4:15. It was nice getting to camp early after getting to camp at 6 yesterday. I had good pickings of the tent sites.Dinner tonight was a chili soup mix, instant potatoes and crushed Fritos. My body is filthy and smells like nasty socks. I noticed the stink yesterday and smelled my socks but they smelled better than the rest of me. The days have been sunny and warm. I work up a good sweat going uphill. I actually had sweat in my eyes going up Kelly Knob. There¢s a good chance that it might rain before sunrise. I hope not. Thursday is supposed to be horrendous unless you like hiking in downpours. The hiking in rain isn¢t as bad as setting up and taking down your tent in the rain. I only have 4 miles to hike down to Dicks Creek Gap where I will have a ¢ mile road walk up to the hostel. I can get showered and my laundry done. They shuttle you into the nearest town for groceries or restaurants. The T-Mobile cell service has been poor today and yesterday. Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.
Date: 2021-03-24
From: Deep Gap Shelter 

To: DickÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Creek Gap and Hostel Around the Bend
Miles today: 3.2
Weather: clear sky

AT day  43.6 miles to Dick¢s Creek Gap plus.0.6 bonus miles to the hostel. Last nights dinner of chili soup mix and mashed potato was not a winner. It was a good thing that I bought some Fritos from Mountain Crossings to make it more palatable. The mashed potatoes seemed to feel like a clump in my stomach and they made me dig an extra large cat hole in the morning. Luckily it had stopped raining. On the subject of poop my little bidet attachment has worked great and cuts down on the amount of toilet paper I need to use. The campsite that I selected was as far away from the shelter as I could get but the youngsters were having a loud good time (as they should).. Luckily they observed hiker midnight and were quiet by 9pm.  The rain started right on schedule at 4am. It was done raining by 6am. I always like it when the weather cooperates with breaking down camp. I left camp at 7:40 and was at the hostel by 9:10. It was a joyful experience to clean the filthy stink off of my body.  I had to get a hiker woman to start the washing machine for me. I thought that I had pressed all of the right buttons but I guess it didn¢t like me. The washing machine did a great job cleaning what ever nasty stuff was making my clothes stink. I don¢t remember ever smelling so bad in 2019, but I left a month earlier so it was a lot colder. The hostel shuttled everyone into town this afternoon. Some people went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch but I eat cold beans every night and wasn¢t about to eat beans in town. I got a huge turkey sub, a pint of Talenti ice cream (for a new cold soak jar) and a venti caramel macchiato from Starbucks. I also got two new smart water bottles replacements. I mix hot chocolate and coffee in my bottles for breakfast and my protein shake concoction for lunch so I like to replace them whenever I can. Tomorrow is going to be a terrible rain event day. Thunderstorms and a flash flood watch. Most of the hikers at the hostel are going to take a zero day tomorrow. I have a schedule to keep if I want to summit on my 68th birthday so I don¢t want to get behind this early in my hike by taking a zero because of rain. I guess that I will get ahead of this hiker bubble this way. I¢m sure that there are plenty more hiker bubbles up ahead. My next stop will be the NOC in 3 days and a wake up. I should get there after a full hiking day so I¢ll get a room. After that it¢s 1 day and a wake up to Fontana Dam. I will stay a night in the lodge and pick up my 3rd resupply box. Then I will get to hike in the Great Smoky Mountains! Hopefully I will have better weather this year. Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.
Date: 2021-03-26
From: Beech Gap

To: Silver Bald Shelter 
Miles today: 23.3
Weather: overcast clouds

AT day 623.3 miles to Silver Bald camp I set my bird alarm for 6:10. I knew that it would take me more time to get ready when I have to deal with wet gear. The weather was perfect AT hiking weather. Other than the climb up Albert Mountain the trail was fairly easy with long ridge walks. I got to Silver Bald at 5:30 and there were slim pickens of tent sites. I scouted the for a secluded spot but no luck. I wouldn¢t recommend this campsite  It¢s a long hike down to the shelter which means a long hike back up  Of course the next camp is about 4.5 miles away so your choices are limited unless you know of stealth spots  It¢s supposed to start raining early tomorrow morning. I have 23 miles to get to the NOC. I hope to leave early and get over the balsa before the lightning storm starts.
Date: 2021-05-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I¢m heading back to the AT to finish my 2019 thru hike attempt. I had to get off trail in June 2019 due to a severely fractured pinky finger. Yes (all you hardcore macho hikers) you do need your hands to hike the mountains of New Hampshire and Maine. I tried hiking 3 days in the White Mountains, with what I hoped was just a bad sprain, and it was not pleasant scrambling up slabs and grabbing trees and roots to help maintain balance on the slippery downhills. Some of you may know that I started out in March to hike the entire trail so that I could earn the designation of long trail thru hiker as opposed to thru hiking a shorter trail like the JMT. I was feeling strong and having a great time hiking through the beautiful Georgia and North Carolina forests. However, I found the campsites too crowded by the time I showed up to pitch my tent. I was going to be headed into the Smokies during spring break and didn¢t want to deal with anyone tent cities so I had my wife pick me up at the NOC after 7 days on the trail. Once I got home my mind started drifting back to the trail. The fact that I still had 360 miles of the trail to finish was always there prodding me to get back up to New Hampshire and finish the trail. It¢s no fun to say that you have hiked 1846 miles of the AT but didn¢t finish due to an injury. So I made the commitment to figure out a way to get back to the trail and finish the AT. I might not be an AT thru hiker but hopefully I will have finished it. I¢m extremely fortunate to have a hiking buddy (Scarlet) that lives in New Hampshire. We met Scarlet (trail name) in 2014 while we were doing our first JMT thru hike. We hiked with her most of the trail and my wife kept in touch with her. She joined us for park of our 2017 Sierra snowfest which was a choose your own route type of adventure filled with type 2 fun. She is picking me up from the airport and putting me up for a night at her home. She has a lot of experience hiking in the White Mountains and her advice so far has been invaluable. She is going to hike with me on my first day/night. Our plan is to hike up to the Mizpah Hut campsite. It¢s about a 6.5 mile hike but it is up a very steep grade with lots of rock climbing/scrambling involved. There¢s supposed to be a 4 hour period of rain that will make the trail slippery and hazardous. She has a lot of experience hiking in the White Mountains and her advice so far has been invaluable.
Date: 2021-05-23
From: Crawford Notch 

To: Mizpah Hut 
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: scattered clouds

AT hike day 16.4 miles to Mizpah Hut campsite AT mile 1847 is at the Route 302 trailhead in Crawford Notch This is where I ended my 2019 thru hike attempt due to a fractured pinky. Yes I value the function of my fingers more than a hike. Scarlet parked her car at the trailhead parking lot. We started hiking up the Webster Cliffs trail around 9:45. Our goal for the day was to hike safely up the challenging Webster Cliffs trail to the Mizpah Hut campsite 6.4 miles up a trail that wasn¢t designed for backpacking. A good portion of the trail required the use of all 4 limbs to scramble up and around steep granite slabs and huge boulders. The decents required slow careful foot placements and occasional butt skidding down steep slippery slabs until you could touch the trail with your foot. The poor trees next to the trail were used to help pull me up a huge step up or to provide security against falling on the slippery wet granite on the descents. Scarlet had a frightening fall when she slipped trying to scale a ridiculous section and ended up sliding 10 feet down the slab and going over the edge free falling 4 feet onto the trail. It was a miracle that she didn¢t break any bones. She just wiped the muck off and attacked the slab again. Luckily most of the hike was in the forest which did an amazing job of sheltering us from the 40+ mph winds we encountered in the exposed sections. We were only exposed to the wind at view points. I got blown off balance multiple times at these view points when a strong gust of wind hit me. We were fortunate because the 3 hours of rain that was forecast ended up being brief periods of light wind blown rain. We were in the clouds the entire day. We got to the hut around 4:30 pm. It took us almost 7 hours to hike 6.4 miles. Once we got over Webster Mountain the trail was less treacherous and we were able to hike a little faster. The hut was open for hikers to get water and use the restrooms. The campsite had nice large wooden platforms for tenting. A large microburst storm hit the campsite several years ago and there¢s still evidence of the damage to the trees. It also has food lockers and a privy. Today was a very stressful tiring day. Welcome to hiking in the Presidential Range!Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.
Date: 2021-05-25
From: Osgood Campsite 

To: Imp Campsite 
Miles today: 28.7
Weather: overcast clouds

AT day 3 18.7 AT miles (.3 bonus miles to camp) miles to the Imp campsite The birds woke me up at 4:30. I left camp around 5:50. I stopped at the Pinkham Notch visitor center to refill my water and buy a Turkey sandwich. Yummy. The first challenge of the day was the climb up Wildcat D. It had to be the longest and most strenuous climb yet. I put my trekking poles away and spent most of the climb bear crawling from boulder to boulder. It may have been tough but the trail looked like a trail should, not the awful mess that I had to deal with yesterday. I had a better feeling of what was to come because of the Wildcats trail. Not that there wasn¢t scary sections but overall I felt like I was back on the horse steps found in the Sierra. I climbed up the other Wildcat, Carter Dome, and 3 other Carter Mountains. Carter Dome was almost as tough as the first Wildcat Mountain. Once I summits Carter the trail got amazingly easy. Easy until the countless icy snow fields appeared. I picked my way through the snow by stepping into boot tracks left by lucky fella that showed me where not to step to avoid postholing. I did posthole one up to my knee and my foot got soaked in the cold stream flowing under the snow. Luckily most of the snow patches were in relatively flat sections and not steep climbs or decents. After I passed the summit of the last mountain of the day (North Carter) I started the decent from hell. I spent most of the time butt scooting down slick wet granite slabs. My shorts were wet and filthy. I basically eased myself slowly down until I could gain a foothold in a small crack. Not fun and very nerve wracking. I had to hike another.3 miles to the Imp campsite. I would have stayed in the shelter but two women were already there. All day I saw only one other hiker going the opposite direction and then I find the shelter occupied. I had to pitch my tent on a platform and there wasn¢t enough places to tie my tent down so it wouldn¢t blow away in the gusty winds we had. I didn¢t use a big enough rock to secure on of my guylines and tent occasionally blew in on my head. Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.
Date: 2021-05-26
From: Imp Campsite 

To: Route 2 trailhead 
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: mist

AT day 48 miles to Route 2 trailhead. Major wind gusts last night. The birds got up late and didn¢t wake me up until 5am. I climbed only one mountain today, Mt Moriah. The trail up to Moriah was a dream. Most of the trail was on long granite slabs with reasonable inclines. The climb down the other side was nerve wracking because of the fairly steep slope combined with wet slippery rocks. It took more effort descending than climbing the mountain. It wasn¢t a dangerous as yesterday. With about 2.5 miles to the trail became a beautiful trail groomed for tourists. My attempt to rock hop across the Rattle River was a big fall. The rocks I chose were as slick as ice. I feel forward and got my feet wet. I took the opportunity to clean the blood off from the numerous scrapes and gouges that the White Mountains inflicted. I¢m staying at the famous Libby House in Gorham. The house is very old so I asked if it was haunted. The only showed me a paranormal investigation show that featured the house. I guess that I might have a visitor tonight. I leave at 6 am to get back on thy trail tomorrow. I should be in Maine!  Happy Trails, Silver StreakNote: I¢m finishing the last 346 miles that I have left from my 2019 thru hike attempt. The mileage includes a week that I hiked from Springer to the NOC.