morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-08-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So we are in Hanover, NH right now. Pretty cool town, though just a bit yuppie for my taste. The people have been very friendly to us thru hikers despite the nasty rumors we heard to the contrary. We'll be in Vermont by the time we get done today (only a whopping 5 miles) so to celebrate we are packing on a liter of wine each, one for tumbleweed, jack, cat and myself. Classic I think.The rain is going off and on today, so I'm not in a huge hurry to get out of town but I don't have a lot left to do except sweat which I am doing an extraordinary amount of. Yesterday was a tough day, only 15 or so miles but I was worn out. Jack was great though and helped me through the darkest part. Pretty awesome guy. Taught me about raspberries and all sorts of good stuff. Sleeping in a hotel, getting a hot shower, and all you can eat pizza definitely helped my mood too. I love towns, they make the long days in between worth it.Anyways hope to be done with Vermont in 12 days or something like that so here's hoping.
Date: 2006-04-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We are Mike and Gloria Walsh, from Auburn, Alabama. 61-year-old sectionhikers who have spent the last 15 years hiking from Springer Mountain tonear Pearisburg, VA., doing some parts of the trail multiple times. Gloriahas retired from perianesthia nursing this month, and Mike is semi-retiredas a clinical psychologist. We are free, at last, to plan our through hike on the AT beginning in late February, 2007.We have been lurking on the Trail Journals, White Blazes, etc., for several months now, and have gotten a lot of insights into how to pack lighter thanin the past. On most previous hikes, we've carried almost a third of our body weight, but we know we can't do that on the GA-ME through-hike. We have replaced some of our worn and heavy equipment with newer and lighter versions. We plan to mail ourselves a limited number of boxes, perhaps a dozen, but largely resupply along the trail. We have just learned about the "bounce box" procedure, and we think that we'll use that to mailourselves pharmaceutical supplies and other bulk supplies farther up the trail.We will continue to maintain cardiovascular conditioning by running 30 to 40 miles a week, and we may plan another marathon run before we hit the trail. (We've run marathons for the past 25 years.) We have been able to go to the gym almost every day and are slowly adding more weight training to our regimen in an effort to get stronger for hiking.We have been members of the Auburn-Opelika Running and Track Association (AORTA) for the past twenty-five years. Our club members will use a link from auburnrunning.org to follow our progress on the trail. Feel free to visit the club web-site.
Date: 2006-06-16
To: Black Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Although we have section-hiked to Pearisburg, it has been ten years since we hiked the start of the AT. We therefore decided to do a ten day training hike to Dicks Creek Gap. We spent the night of 6/15 at Hiawassee Inn, where Ron Hulbert was very helpful. We also drove to Blueberry Patch to meet Dave. Sally Smith and Joyce Monroe shuttled us to Amicalola Falls the next morning, where we weighed our packs: Gloria's was 35 pounds, Mike's was 46 pounds. We knew we were carrying about 15 pounds more than we had hoped, based on Gloria's weight of 128 and Mike's weight of 142. As the hike progressed, and Mike's left knee quickly got sore, we thought of several ways to lighten the load. Our Tioga packs, of 5.9 pounds and 6.8 pounds, had to go. Likewise our full length Thermarests, at 2.4 pounds each. And our PUR water filter at 2 pounds. We tried our Pepsi can stove and found it quite adequate for summer use, but worry that it won't do the trick in winter. We hiked slowly up the approach trail in rather warm temperatures from 62 to 80 degrees, hiking a total of 8.5 hours. The shelter was empty, except for a nest of rather immature and lethargic field mice, one of whom Gloria addled while sweeping it out of the shelter with the broom. "Mike, he is having a seizure!" The mouse got it's revenge later, biting her on the head as we slept. (Does anyone recall the literature on Hepa Virus?) We rate the water source as adequate, despite the near drought conditions in GA, using a stand-up glad bag as a water bucket to let the sediment settle before pumping. The bag worked pretty well. The flies, or gnats, were terrible at the shelter, ignoring our burning mosquito coil. We ate a satisfying Sante Fe Black Beans and Rice dish. We were visited at bedtime by a large rabbit. We had seen a black snake earlier, today, and Mike wondered if it would visit the mice at the shelter, but it did not. We slept well.Toesocks1&2 (Gloria and Mike)
Date: 2006-06-17
To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: broken clouds

We rolled out of bed, ate breakfast, and were hiking by 7am. We got to Springer Mountain and noted the new (to us) mail box and the new Shelter, which is a vast improvement over the slum-like dump we remember from the late 1980's. We met a trail crew and expressed our elation and gratitude for what they have accomplished on Springer. They proudly told of their plan to build a privy at Black Gap Shelter later this week. We ate lunch at Stover Creek Shelter, and along the way admired an Indigo Bunting and a pair of Scarlet Tanagers. We visited Long Falls, had our picture taken by a day-hiker, and bathed our feet in the cold water. Very refreshing. The trail was a bit skimpy on blazes where it joins the Benton MacKaye, but we stayed on course. We saw a large canine animal today within a mile of the Hawk Mountain Shelter, which Mike identified as a very large german shepherd with reddish fur, but which Gloria took to be a coyote or wolf. It was southbound, it left the trail, loped up and around us, and tracked us for a bit. When we announced our sighting at the Shelter to some ten other hikers, in three separate groups, they were much amused, and we came close to picking up some uncomplimentary trail names. That night, we heard a barred owl. No mice. We stayed in the Shelter with Scott, an Auburn U. graduate who is a chiropracter in Atlanta. His two 16 year old kids were hiking a 100 miles on the AT and he was with them for the weekend. Everyone else tented. The water source was better than adequate.
Date: 2006-06-18
To: Gooch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: broken clouds

We got a late start this morning, due to socializing with all the other hikers. Mike's knee was better, but he wore the brace anyway. We were feeling rather sweaty by the time we reached Justus Creek, and so we decided to practice our outdoor bathing skills, to good effect. On the hike, we observed a Black and White Warber, a Pileated Woodpecker and a Peewee. We arrived at the shelter and met Glenn, the ridgerunner, and his friend, as well as Dan and Dee - Dan is a retired NYC police officer who told us about his canoe trip down the Mississippi. Dee is a retired nurse. They have been living on a boat in Venezuela. We met Erin, a medical student from Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, who showed us her Hennessey Hammock, which we had read about but never seen. We also met Paul, a Georgia Tech student who is going into the Navy as a nuclear submarine. What a fun crew. And we are getting some good ideas about equipment modifications from talking with them.
Date: 2006-06-19
To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: broken clouds

We socialized at breakfast with the other hikers, and when Gloria and Dee, both RNs, learned about Paul's gashed foot - he hikes in sandals and goes barefoot in the shelter, their maternal/Florence Nightengale instincts were elicited. It was something to see! They hog-tied that boy, washed the foot wound, applied neosporin, gauze, and tape. They would have stiched it but for a lack of patient consent. We said our goodbyes and left the shelter by 7:44am. As we hiked, we continued to use our cell phones to inquire about the health of Mike's 87 year old mother, who is quite frail. We had been out of Verizon tower service since starting at Amicola Falls. Finally, at the south facing ridge, probably Ramrock Mountain, we could get a signal and Mike phoned his sister in Kankakee, IL, to learn that his sister's husband had died two days previously, and that the family had been frantically trying to reach us by phone. We attempted to phone Ron at Hiawassee Inn where our vehicle was parked,and couldn't get through. Mike had to phone back to Kankakee and have his sister phone Hiawassee to arrange for a quick shuttle from Woody Gap. This is a strange thing: we could phone Illinois and Alabama from Ramrock, but couldn't get through to Hiawassee - the phone companies up there must have some very uncooperative business relationships. Ron Hubbard phoned Sally Smith and Joyce Monroe, who were able to quickly meet us at Woody Gap an hour later and take us to our car. Ron Hubbard had freshly baked apple spice cake and hot coffee waiting for us when we got back to our car. We can't say enough about Ron, Sally and Joyce. (We made it to the funeral in Chicago, where Mike was a pall bearer.)   We really learned a lot about our equipment on this four day practice hike. We have to get lighter.
Date: 2006-06-30
To: REI in Atlanta
Miles today: 124.0

We went to our favorite store, REI in Atlanta, where Andrew helped fit Mike in an Osprey Aether 60 pack, size regular, which is about 2lbs,14oz lighter than his Kelty Westcoast 4800. Gloria ordered an Osprey Ariel 55, size small, which is about 2lbs,3oz lighter than her Kelty Tioga 4000. We also bought the small Thermarest Prolite-3, each 1.5 pounds lighter and two Petzl Zipka Plus headlights. We also got an MSR Sweetwater Microfilter, which is a pound lighter than our PUR filter. In all, we shed about 9 pounds on our combined pack weight with these purchases. Next, we want to practice carrying less water - our practice has been to carry 2.5 liters each - by training ourselves to drink more when filtering, so as to carry less. Gloria bought some new thermal underwear to replace her old ones.
Date: 2006-07-27
To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: broken clouds

We got shuttled from the Hiawasee Inn to the trail-head at Woody Gap by Sally Smith. We found the hike easy today, perhaps owing to lighter pack weight because we had dropped a food box at Walisiyi. We rested on top of Blood Mountain while a deer wandered by, seeminly unconcerned with us. We arrived at Walisyi in time to check in to the hostel, where we met Papy and Riddler. Papy was a two-time thru hiker who had come from Arizona to do a section hike and who was nursing a sprained ankle. Riddler was completing a southbound section hike from Damascus - he lacks only the 100 mile wilderness to achieve 2000-miler status. We love our new gear: the Oprey packs, the water bladders, the tharmalite 3s, and the Petzl lights. Also, Mike used Vasque goretex boots, which were lighter, more comfortable and better gripping than his Merrells. The night was highlighted by a visit from the notorious three-legged bear who was intent on raiding the garbage can. This was Papy's second close encounter with a bear since the spring at Black Mountain Shelter, so he decided to carry a flare for protection. We got a shower and went to bed early, knowing that in the morning, Mike's pack weight would increase to 36 pounds, and Gloria's to 30 pounds.
Date: 2006-07-28
To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: broken clouds

This was a long, hot, thirsty day for us, as we ended up rationing water during the second half, despite having "cameled up" before departing from Walysi-yi carrying some six liters of water. The temperature was between 80 and 85. We ate blackberries along the way for both the fluid and the calories. We made it to Low Gap Shelter in 11 hours, with just 8 ounces of water in reserve. A group of boy scouts were there just ahead of us, but they graciously let us have the shelter and they tented. We all shared the water source, which was adequate. Our new MSR Sweetwater Miccofilter worked just fine. Along the way today, Gloria got stung through her wool sock by a very determined honey bee. Also, we were temporarily halted today by a black rattlesnake who was crossing the trail about 1.5 miles south of the shelter. In all, we are pleased with our new equipment and feel it will function well on the thru-hike. As we went to sleep, rain threated - it is very dry on the trail.
Date: 2006-07-29
To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: overcast clouds

At about 4am the rain came, just as Mike was "seeing a man about a horse." (Gloria just hates it when I use that expression!) Mike got down the food bag from the bear cable but delayed breakfast until Sleeping Beauty arose from her cozy Northface Cat's Meow sleeping bag. During breakfast, we noticed a large bumblebee nest at the root of a slender tree directly behind the shelter, and they clearly saw us as intruders as the sun came up and they became more active and threatening. As we left, Mike left a warning message tied to a shelter mouserope. We said goodbye to the boyscouts, who were backtracking to Whitney Gap Shelter while we continued north. We wore gaiters and packcovers today, as the rain dripped off the trees and the waist-high weeds and berry bushes. Our boots were soaked after about four hours of this, but we were thankful for the rain, hoping it would replenish the springs. The first three miles were easy today, but then a section of rock slabbing presented itself - no problem today, but we wonder how much ice it will entail in February of 2007, when next we pass this way. The shelter was full of slumbering hikers when we arrived, including a mother and son from Thomasville, GA, and two section hikers from Kennesaw, GA. Two ladies from Cardinal Hill Hospital in Lextington, KY, both occupational therapists, were tenting also. We had a pleasant visit with all of them. Hiking time today was 8 hours.
Date: 2006-07-30
To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: light rain

We got an early start today, and found some unexpected water at a forest service road crossing - we collected a liter in about 15 seconds and used our new chlorine dioxide tablets. We also met the district manager for the AT volunteers, who told us he had just returned from a tour in Iraq. We expressed our appreciation both for his military service and AT service. The shelters in Georgia are so much cleaner and better maintained, we told him, compared to our trek through here some 15-20 years ago. We exchanged information about a hornets nest along the trail, and the bee nest behind the Blue Mountain Shelter. Oh, and about the notorious three-legged bear. We used our cell phones along the way to touch base with family members. We made it to Tray in 8 hours and found ourselves alone. The spring was flowing well and we were able to pump enough for some light sponge-bathing - away from the water source, of course. Today we had seen some spectacular flowers, including acres of Turks Cap Lillies, Sweet William, Fire Pinks, Columbine, Beebaum (red and white), Joe Pyeweed, Rhodadendron, Queen Annes Lace and Cow Parsnip. The butterflies flitted among them in many places. The menu for the evening included a 7 oz pouch of chicken (way too much) added to Ramon Noodles, and it tasted great.
Date: 2006-07-31
To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We left the shelter by 7:20am today, determined to make it to Dicks Creek Gap, where we were to get a shuttle into Hiawassee. We had an easy hike today, enjoying the blankets of flowers, the berry bushes, and the sight of a deer bounding down the mountain - how they can do that without breaking a leg is amazing. At the Gap, we phoned Sam Duke, of the Hiawassee Inn, who picked us up in his green Cadillac, and returned us to the Inn, where we had left our vehicle and some extra supplies. At Sam's recommendation, we ate at the AYCE buffet at Daniel's Steakhouse - the salad bar and the fried chicken were awesome, but we discovered that our stomachs had shrunk in just five days on the trail, so we didn't do it justice. On the thru hike next year, we think we will need a smaller pre-buffet meal for stomach stretching purposes. We are open to suggestions on this. Sam let us do our laundery at the Inn, assisted by Jo, the very nice housekeeper there. BTW, we highly recommend the Hiawassee Inn as being a very hiker-friendly place - Sam Duke and Ron Hulbert, the proprietors, were very kind to us. We went to Ingles for a resupply and repacked our packs. We included an extra 0.5 liter water bottle, as it has been hot and dry up on the trail. We also did an item analysis and decided to take out a topo map, binoculars, fire starting material, candles, and some unused clothes to lighten our load. This was a busy night, a kind of dress rehearsal of what we will need to do at every trail town on the thru hike, and we weren't finished until about 10:30 PM, a total of about five hours.
Date: 2006-08-01
To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: broken clouds

We ate breakfast at Huddle House in Hiawassee and Sam got us back to the trail at about 8:45am. We met six college students - two South Africans, one New Zealander, three Americans - who were southbound for a week following a stint as counselors at a childrens camp. They warned us not to expect water at Bly Gap. We had an easy hike to Bly Gap, our destination for the day, but the spring really was dry and we decided to push on to Muskrat Creek Shelter. That is when the hike became grim, with oppressive heat and threatening skies that eventually yielded a cooling light rain. We staggered into Muskrat Creek Shelter as our water supply was almost depleted. We pumped water from the creek and hung a bear rope - absent was the bear cable that every Georgia shelter had afford. However, the shelter design was superb, featuring a butch-block-like table under a large porch overhang. There was an owl-sized bird house on the way to the privy. That night it was cool, and we slept in long-johns. At some point, we heard the pitter-patter of little feet on the roof, then a swoosh, followed by squeaking that receded into the night. Alas, the owl had struck and the notorious resident rat, long chronicled in the shelter book, was no more.
Date: 2006-08-02
To: Standing Indian Shelter
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: broken clouds

We started hiking at 8:30am and arrived at Standing Indian Shelter in just four hours. We stopped for lunch, and decided to stay. The sun was warm and we needed to dry some of our gear, including our tent, our boots, and our clothes. We used our solar blankets to speed the process, as rain threatened. We got everything safely stowed when the rain poured down with a vengence for some two hours. We were snuggly in our sleeping bags at about 8:30 pm when three soaked weekend hikers came marching up. Marcie, a high school student, who had been lost along a network of connecting trails in a blinding rainstorm with her dad and her paternal uncle, showed remarkable good humor, considering how every stitch of clothing and gear had been soaked. Since Toesocks generally are the last to arrive at any shelter, we enjoyed the spectacle of watching someone else set up camp under less that ideal circumstances. If not smug, we were certainly snug in our bags. Will the gods someday punish us for this?
Date: 2006-08-03
To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We had an easy hike to the new shelter at Carter Gap, where a father and son team from Augusta Georgia greeted us. Dan is a physical therapist at Doctors Hospital (?) in Augusta, and his son, Mark, is starting college at U. of GA, with the aspiration to become a hand surgeon. We enjoyed them immensely. The cell phones were working, so we called home to check on the health status of our families, and we lent our phone to Dan so that he could phone his wife. We hung our own bear bags, and discovered the next day that Mark's outer plastic bag had been gnawed by a mouse.
Date: 2006-08-04
To: Big Spring Shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: clear sky

We had an easy approach to Albert Mountain, but the scramble up Albert was as challenging as we had remembered from 15 years ago. We looped our hiking poles on our wrists, and used both hands to grasp the shrubs and rocks, crawling up. We wonder how it will go under posible icy conditions next February. It might be worth it to blue blaze it then, and return to complete it after reaching Maine. On the way down Albert, a flock of some 7 grouse scared the Bee-Jeebers out of us as they came exploding across the trail and off the mountain. We ate lunch at Bear Pen trail and pressed on to Big Spring Shelter. The spring appeared dry, but the shelter notebook assured us that there was water flowing some 400 yards down stream. We hiked it, and discovered the marvelous rock pool that some previous hiker has engineered. We pumped some six liters. We had the shelter to ourselves, all was quiet, and we saw very few mice.
Date: 2006-08-05
To: Rock Gap
Miles today: 5.4
Weather: light rain

We got an early start and had an easy hike to Rock Gap, where our shuttle would be meeting us. We ate lunch at Rock Gap Shelter, and marveled at the butterflies and hummingbirds that flitted within the massive hillside of Beebaum and Turk's Cap Lillies. (A few days later, we saw a photo on the Weather Channel, taken at Rock Gap, on the same day we had been there.) With extra time, we took the 0.7 blue blaze to the Wasilik Memorial Poplar Tree, which was massive, but quite dead. As we waited for our ride, we met two sets of day hikers with connections to Auburn University, where we live. We also saw a section hiker named Furious George, and a thruhiker named Sam from 2004 doing a section hike. We were delighted when our shuttle drivers, Sally Smith and Joyce Monroe, of Hiawassee, showed up with an ice chest of cold brewskies. How is that for southern hospitality, aka, trail magic? God bless these transplanted Florida State Seminoles. This ends a ten day test of our new equipment on the AT. We plan some cold weather experiences prior to February, 2007, when our thruhike begins.
Date: 2007-01-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We've made our final equipment and supply purchases, we've made our alphabatized load lists, we've developed a six month itinerary, and we've packed our 15 mail-drop boxes. Well, almost. Some of our 12X12X12 Priority Mail Boxes are spilling over with "stuff". What do do? See the attached photo...we are open to suggestions.For our family and friends who may be unfamiliar with the blue tabs at the left. Just click on any that interest you and the screen will open. And if you want to send us an E-mail via this forum, just click on the Sign the Guestbook tab. We continue to run a few miles daily and work out at our gym, HealthPlus, almost daily.   Additionally, we thought it might be nice to try to gain some weight at one of those pig roasts in Hawaii. We leave in ten days for the Islands. We love retirement!
Date: 2007-01-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We have gotten a Canon Power Shot SD450 ELPH camera from Matt and Julie Adams (Mike's sister and Brother-in-law) which is very light. We added a SanDisk Ultra II Plus USB 1 GB, which plugged directly into the computer at the local library to send the photo of Mike. The SD fits the Treo700w but we haven't learned to acess it yet.
Date: 2007-02-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Time is near. We plan to leave on Feb 11th from Springer.This hiking trip has been a dream for us for about 25 years.Now we are retired and can do this: no job and no house. We are homelessso what better place to be but on the trail? We want to enjoy ourwalk so we will start slowly and get slower as we go.(:>)No rush.When we finish our hike we will pick up our RV which will thenbecome our HOME. We will return to the trail to do Trail Magicfor the SOBO. (PS: We couldn't get our pack weight down any more, and so went to Hawaii for two weeks to increase our body weight with roast pig, pineapple and poi. Oh, and did we mention the beer and MaiTais?)