morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-06-22
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

OK, so we've learned a good lesson. Don't waste money on cheap socks. Got a good start in the morning - were able to get another fuel canister from one of the other shelter refugees. Started up the mountain again. Yes, up. The trail always goes up. Even when it's supposed to go down.We made good time, and the trail leveled out somewhat. Had some amazing views again of the mountains. There was splotchy sun peeking through clouds rolling around on top of the mountain. It's surprisingly wet up there, and amazing how much grows because of it. Thick moss, dense plant and trees, beautiful aromatic flowers. Fabulous got her chance to walk in the clouds. The mist would come up one side of the ridge and roll down the other side in waves. It was a true cloud forest. So the cheap socks weren't protecting the feet too well. Right Again started feeling a little soreness and put moleskin on. It didn't help. As the day wore on it got worse until every step was painful. Fabulous had holes in the heels - Right Again was getting rubbed raw. Decided to stop off in Gatlinburg and see if we could find some good socks. We discovered that hiking miles aren't the same thing as regular miles. It's kind of like nautical miles - there are a lot more miles in a hiking mile than in a regular one. We started getting information from other hikers about how far away the road was. At first it was about 4 miles. Not too bad. About an hour and a half later we met a ranger, who didn't know the names of the flowers we were trying to identify. But a nice guy, and had a fun chat for a while about gear and other stuff. He told us the road was about 4 miles away. Hiked another mile or so and ran across a couple more people who told us it was only about 4 miles down. So we kept on hiking and eventually the trail did start going down. Came across a signe that said it was 2.7 miles away. So a half hour later when we asked another hiker about the distance he was able to say we were really close - only about 4 miles away. He must have wondered why we burst out laughing so hard. We told the next people the shelter was only about 4 miles away. We actually did make it to the road and got a ride to town. Found a room at the Grand Prix, which Diesel and Mountain Goat had told us was a great place for hikers. Got a shower, then went to NOC 5 minutes before they closed at 10. They didn't have the socks we were looking for, but we did get a few things we were after. Went for supper after that. Ended up at the Melting Pot. Wow! Ahhh! Yummy! Ate everything they brought us - even the decorative bits of veggies on the plates. OK, we were hungry. After getting some food in, we were about to fall asleep right there at the table. Got back to the room and discovered it was 12:29am. Bedtime!
Date: 2013-06-23
From: Newfound Gap

Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Right Again had a fairly good night considering the really sore feet. Went looking for better socks and found that no one in town has ever heard of Injinji socks. We need to contact the company and tell them to send a rep down here with a few dozen.Fabulous breakfast at Shoney's - all you can eat! Didn't know we could eat so much! Walked around town for a little while, then went to Ben and Jerry's and had ice cream. Got a bit of food and other supplies at Walgreens for the next couple days. Feet are better, but decided we better just stay today. When we were looking for other socks, one of the sales people said he had been a medic in Afghanistan and had never seen anybody's feet torn up like Right Again's. And Fabulous, in addition to having scraped-up feet from the socks as well now has tendonitis in the other foot. Soooo... When we get back on the trail tomorrow, we're not going to be pushing the miles. Will take it a little easier, and do 10 or less miles, depending on where the shelters line up and how the feet are faring in the new socks. We'll get out eventually. The idea was to have fun on this vacation, and other than the feet, we are. OK, the muscles get a little tired pushing backpacks up the mountains, and every morning we keep saying, "Good grief! You'd think we'd never done this before!" But other than that, we're having fun! The scenery and views and smells - everything is so beautiful and amazing! Well, we did find this one flower that wasn't as pleasant. Actually it smells worse than any flower ought to and still be called a flower. We named it the Dirty Diaper Flower, since that's what it smells like. The kind where you say, WHAT DID THAT CHILD EAT?!?We occasionally feel a little out of place in town. We're walking around barefoot and carrying flip-flops. Today we were riding the trolley back to the hotel. It stopped for a bit in a parking lot, and looked like it was going to be there for a couple minutes. Fabulous had been looking at a particular tree and trying to identify it. She asked the trolley driver if he would be there for a bit and he said Yes. So she said she wanted to go feel the tree. He said OK and she got off. Some of the people on the trolley looked at her with shock and confusion. "Did she say she wanted to feel the tree?" Yes, we said. They looked at her like they couldn't figure out what was going on or why anybody would want to feel a tree! They were totally confuddled! It was priceless!Don't know if we'll have any service at all through the rest of the park, so stay tuned for the next entries. We'll get them posted eventually!
Date: 2013-06-24
From: Newfound Gap

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: light rain

Wow! We feel pampered in our new socks! So much better!Had breakfast at Shoney's again then shared a shuttle with some other hikers back to Newfound Gap. Had a short day of about 4.5 miles up to Mt Collins shelter. There were 11 of us in the shelter, mostly college kids on break. Had a lot of fun with them. Built a big hot fire using the potassium permanganate and glycerin and a little pile of pitchy bark to heat up the wet twigs enough to burn. Talked and laughed for a while before bed. Only one pair of socks got a little melted when they fell off the rock one guy had hung them on. Finished the day with a good night's sleep.
Date: 2013-06-25
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Siler Bald Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

We weren't sure what to expect on the climb to Clingman's Dome, but it turned out not to be as bad as what we thought it might be -- certainly not as bad as the first 2 days in the park. Ate lunch at 1:00 at the top of the Clingman's Dome lookout tower. Fabulous helped a bunch of families by taking pictures of the whole family. Got to answer a bunch of questions about backpacking and be the 'real hikers' for the tourists.Finally got some downhill and are making good progress. Continued on to Siler Bald Shelter where we met Sugar Bear and Baby Lady, both chefs from Nashville out for a few days. They had a small pile of sticks but no fire so we were inspired to go out and "really" gather some firewood, which we did. Had an awesome huge roaring fire that lasted well into the night. Nothing like going to sleep to the sounds of a crackling fire.
Date: 2013-06-26
From: Siler Bald Shelter

To: Spence FIeld Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

Up bright and early at 6:50 -- going to try to get an earlier start today. Breakfast, packed up, and ready to go. Oh my! Our regular time, 20 to 9. PatheticEveryone says it's mostly downhill from here, so we start out UP. Up a bit, down a bit, then just up. Just past Sugar Tree Gap we came across a young buck who was a very curious fellow. He was not the least bit afraid of us. Posed for some awesome pictures and a video. Then when we started UP the path, he followed us quite a ways. We spent about 20 minutes with him. Up, up some more. Wish there were mile markers in the park. Bly Mountain -- wow that was very steep going up it and down the other side. Fun, fun! On to Thunder Head Mountain, I've dubbed it (Thunder Mountain trailway). Not as fun as Disneyland though. It was not as steep as Bly and had some nice switchbacks. Wow, at the top, the views were amazing! From there the shelter was ultimately down but it's surprising how many ups there are going down! Came down to another peak -- don't know which one. 360 degree views from the rocks and sufficiently clear to see a good distance, including Clingman's Dome. Finally came to a sign that said the shelter was 2 miles away. Just then there was a "bwahhh, wahh" from the bushes about 20 feet away. From just up the trail there was a responding movement in the bushes and a mama bear came bounding out on the trail towards us! We banged our trekking poles together and against the signpost. Mama looked startled, turned, and headed into the bushes. Right Again caught a movement up about 10 feet in the tree in front of us and we saw a second baby bear starting down the tree. So awesome and CUTE! Perfectly black and about the size of a large house cat. We backed up on the trail and waited about 10 minutes for the bear family to make their way out of the area. Got to the shelter without incident. Poured rain through the night -- lightning, thunder, the whole package. Fabulous!
Date: 2013-06-27
From: Spence FIeld Shelter

To: Mollie's Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 5.5

Up at 7:45. Cool this morning. Breakfast was delish. Raspberry crumble followed by hot oatmeal with blackberries. Oh we're stuffed! Leaving now -- it's 11:00. Still drippy and gray. Hoping the rain will not come until after we get to the next shelter.........There seems to be something wrong with the trail. We went down for about 1.5 miles then more downs and a few easy ups all the way to the shelter. Half way down we stopped at Russell Shelter for lunch. Got all ready to continue and it started pouring! So we sat for the next 10 minutes. It stopped and we were on our way. Arrived at Mollie's Ridge Shelter at 3:30. There were three others. We gathered a lot of wet wood and it took forever to get a fire started! One by one more people arrived. Then five more. It's packed in here! This shelter holds 15. Bummer we have to stay inside unless it fills with people with reservations. Had dinner then it started pouring again -- cats & dogs! Finally letting up and everyone is happy. It's funny no one else even offered to get wood yet there are several pairs of boots and socks drying in front of the fire ha ha. Hoping there are NO snores tonight! Picked up ear plugs in Gatlinburg just in case though. Update: There was snoring. Lots of it. Counted at least 5 people going strong all at the same time somewhere in the middle of the night. Went right back to sleep and didn't even need ear plugs. It's amazing what exhaustion will do for a person's ability to sleep through noise.
Date: 2013-06-28
From: Mollie's Ridge Shelter

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Warm temps, cool breezes, and more downhill than there had been in the entire park previously. We're pretty sure that coming from the north it's about 80% uphill getting through the park. Haven't quite figured out how that can work...As we hiked down - yes, down! actually down! - we started getting into a different type of environment. The air was warmer and more humid as we went down. On top of the ridges there were flowers on the berry bushes. Part way down there were green berries. Almost at the bottom we found the first ripe blueberries. Yes, we ate them. They were yummy!Lots of pig tracks on the trails, but no critter sightings today. That's OK. Don't really feel a need to meet a wild hog face to face.Got to the bottom of the trail and out of the park just as it started to sprinkle. It's funny how a cool rain up on the chilly mountains can make a person say Oh No, but a cool rain in the steamy humidity of lower elevations is more like Oh Yes! It felt wonderful! Turned into a full downpour as we walked toward the dam and got a good bit of the mud and sweat washed off. It let up as we reached the dam, and we were able to see a little rainbow as we stood on the dam.They have really nice restrooms at the visitor's center. Washed a bit more of the mud off there, then got a shuttle to Fontana Village. Planned to do a bit of laundry, get a shower and supper and figure out what we'd do for the last couple days. Didn't really work out quite that way - surprise!.Got booked into a room and Fabulous went to take a shower. There were some kind of bugs in the shower - lots of them! They looked like some kind of skinny caterpillar or worm. She washed them down the drain, then we noticed another couple on the floor. As we got to looking, we realized they were crawling all over the floor. We called the front desk and they sent us to a different room. We carried the backpacks to that new room, then Fabulous went to switch the keys. On the way back, she slipped on the only muddy spot down the path to the room. There was a loud POP and she landed on the ground. She called for Right Again, and it took some work to hop her down to the room. Called the manager and he came to do an incident report. The ambulance took us to Bryson City hospital, and x-rays showed a fractured tibia, the biggest bone in the leg - the one that carries the weight. Finally back to the lodge and in bed a little before 1:00 am. After all those days on the trail, over treacherous paths, with rocks and roots and slippery clay, a walkway is the last place you'd expect an injury! So Fabulous is officially off the trail and off her feet. No weight at all on that foot for the next 3 weeks. The good part is that it happened off the trail, not up in the mountains! It would have been a bit more difficult hauling her however many miles off the mountain. Stay tuned for one more entry for this section hike. We'll try to get some pictures posted.
Date: 2013-06-30
To: the end of the hike - until the next one
Miles today: 0.0

So, you'd think it would be easy to make a last entry. Say something pithy or profound. Give some amazing advice or deep lessons learned on the trail. For example, maybe some advice that could help the next hikers to have a great experience, such as:'Be as prepared as possible. It takes a lot of the fun out of things if you don't have the gear or food or clothing you need, and it could actually be life-threatening.''There's more than one right way to do things. Find what works for you.'But that seems to fall short. Maybe something helpful for a few random people already on the trails:'You don't know it all - seriously. And even when you think you do, everyone else knows better.''It's not a competition. It's an adventure. Enjoy the experience.'Of course, the ones likely to need that advice aren't likely to read it or to imagine that it might apply to them, so that would be a waste of journal space.It could be gratitude for so many amazing hikers we met:'Thank you for the friendliness, information, conversations and encouragement along the way! You're a fantastic group of people! I'm so glad our paths crossed!'Or the support folks that are there to help the hikers:'All you people who run hiker-friendly motels, shelters, restaurants, outfitters, shuttles, etc ¢ you help make the dream possible. Thank you!'Perhaps something eloquent about the beauty of the things we saw:'The views from the tops of the mountains are breath-taking. Mountains piled on mountains ¢ ridge after ridge fading into the mist.''The variety and beauty of the different wildflowers and other plants is a source of continuous amazement. Just when you think you've seen everything, it changes and you're in a whole different world again!'But nothing can capture the experience adequately. Even pictures don't do justice to the real thing. We've posted a few pictures in the photo section. Unfortunately, due to dead batteries, we were unable to get a lot of pictures, but hope you enjoy some of what's there. The most appropriate ending is probably just this:I stand amazed, God, at what you have done. Surrounded by the things you've made, I am without words.'When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?' (Psalm 8:6,7)
Date: 2012-10-29
To: prep one
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I am in the slow process of getting back into hiking shape after having extension achilles tendon and heel surgery on 13 June. I tore my achilles last year around mile 50 but kept going to mile 555 but the taste of quitting is still in my mouth. I am smarter and more determined than ever. more to come
Date: 2012-11-08
To: gear
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

well last year I took some heavy stuff, and rationalized I needed it. This year some stuff I still need to take- meds, and cellphone and charger, but other stuff is going to be much lighter. my pack weight last year was (minus food and water) anywhere from 25-30 lbs. Too heavy. I need to buy a few things- thus for Christmas I've asked everyone just for cash. I'm going to buy a solo zbags tent that weighs 16 oz, a 30 degree sleeping bag that weighs 17 oz. I plan to keep my Mariposa backpack that weights 23 oz. I am still working on a few items to get the weight down even move but I currently am at 13 lbs. that includes a 8 oz fuel cannister and TP, down jacket and long underwear, and a lot of meds, bug spray and glide that I will reduce. My goal is to be under 12 lbs. that will be so much better to hike with this time around. I am going to hike faster this time, but also stop and enjoy the sights. My theme this time is WHEN I get to Katahdin not if. my start date if I meet my physical goals I have set is 20 April. next entry will be what I learned from the physical aspect on the trail...just my thoughts.
Date: 2012-12-06
To: making headway
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light intensity drizzle

well, I'm about 95% certain that I will head to Bland Va mid April and head north to Maine. My ft over the last few weeks has improved 10-fold as has my cardio. I'm working on legs or cardio 4-5 times a week and doing light chest and arm workouts. One thing I found out on the trail is if you have a weak spot on your body- knees, ankles or in my case a torn achilles - your trip will be short lived if not corrected.My pack weight is currently 12 lbs even. I think in the end it will be btw 12-13 lbs including cold weather gear. I bought a Ghost whisper jacket that will do the trick to keep me warm on the trail. It weighs in at 7 oz. I also bought a z-pack 40 degree sleeping bag that weighs 14 oz and a solo tent that weighs 16 oz- including stakes, bugnet,ground cover and tie cords. I'm going with my Mariposa plus backpack so the weight of my big three (backpack, sleeping bag and shelter) comes in at 52 oz. putting that in perspective- last year my tent alone weighed 49 oz dry- when it got wet it was closer to six pounds. My base weight last year was 25-27 lbs, so I am excited about my new stuff!less weight will equate to easier times on joints and I can travel longer miles per day so I don't have to carry as much food. I could cut down a few more ounces but I think I am happy where I am at.I'm looking forward to the walk. I have to do this on my terms, last try the pain in the ft dictated the trip- and in short some days were living hell. the idea of doing the AT isn't to punish myself but rather to enjoy what nature has provided. So I am looking forward to that part. I will miss my wife, dog and the life I have here, but things are not complete until I finish what I started.Take care!
Date: 2013-04-09
From: final preps

To: wytheville
Miles today: 585.0

So in the morning we are on our way to VA. we'll spend one night in Richmond and then head to Wytheville for a few days and bum around the hills there. I'll hit the trail early Sat morn on my new adventure. I think I am about as prepared as one can be. Fate will play out the rest of the hand. I'm looking forward to the trip. the hard part of sitting around till April is reading the other journals and getting trail fever. the easy part was sitting around reading about the snow and cold wintery conditions...by the fireplace.It has been amazing the way the weather has been this year.my dog is already sensing I am leaving- she has become a picky eater again. I told her to take care of "mom" and I'll be back by Sept. I am excited to be joining the class of 13. the folks in 12 were awesome and I am looking forward to meeting the faces of the trail this year. future entries will be completed by me using my phone, which has a tendency of creating words on its own. So as you read a sentence and you stop and reread it wondering why I "slurped" well in my sleeping bag all night---well not much I can say. my wife has agreed to be my editor in chief and try and pick a word that may make better sense. to those that tried the trail and left already- enjoy the memories and smile. be proud of your feat. those still trucking forward-good luck and I hope to be among the ones that sees Mt K and Springer in one year.God Bless- be safe
Date: 2013-04-10
From: wytheville

To: Bland
Miles today: 0.0

Took debbie to the place I broke last year and where I will start this time. We then drove the back roads to Grayson park to see the ponies. Luckily we only had to climb a few hundred feet to see five full grown and two babies, about waist high and all of 40 lbs. Deb had a blast. It felt good to be out there. I still have my doubts about my ability, but I'm going to put one foot after another until I run out of trail. Thanks for all the well wishes. I know the trail is all I've talked about for the last 8 months. Tomorrow the journey begins in earnest. I'm going for about 18 miles. I can see typing with this window screen on the phone jumping all over is going to be interesting....
Date: 2013-04-13
From: Bland

To: Trents grocery VA 608
Miles today: 18.2

Good day today for the first day in the trail. Before I forget I have to thank Mercy and Bruce for having Deb and myself over to dinner and providing the first trail magic for me. Great people!Easy, well kept trail that mainly walked the ridge line. Some really pretty camps sites after Jenny Knob shelter, with water but they were about 7 miles before I wanted to quit. I didn't see anyone on the trail today except two turkey hunters. At first I thought sasquatch was coming out on the trail since they had on their camouflage. Got to cross the Kimberling suspension bridge today! Longest on the AT I think. Thanks Deb for everything. I'm missing you already. I couldn't attempt any of this with out your help and support. I'm going to walk my normal slow speed, but will do longer hours to get my mileage. I could see how folks could do big miles on this section, but I'm not at that stage yet. Take care, be safe. Spring isn't here yet, everything is dormant and dead leaves are on the ground. Hope it greens up soon.