morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-03-28
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I know how much y'all (practicing for the South) love injured foot pictures, so why wait for the hike? I had a planters wart on my foot between the big and second toe. I had been seeing the doctor through out the winter to have it froze off with liquid nitrogen. Well, I think he got tired of seeing me because last Thursday, he held that torch awfully close to my foot and for a much longer time than usual. When I got home I took a look at my throbbing foot to find an enormous 2nd degree burn where the wart once was. Great timing! So much for training, eh?   My first Backpacking Light article about the AT is out today! It is all about our winter, preparations for the AT, and the gear we are using. Sorry, they classified all my new articles to premium, so you need a membership to see the whole thing. I think they show a tease of it with out the subscription. If you would like a subscription, enter the code: Sunshine2012at and you get $10 off the annual price (it works on renewals too), and Sunshine gets $5 towards her CDT hike. BPL has a wealth of information on lightening your pack, with articles, gear reviews, and member forums. They even have a buy and sell forum for ultra-light gear. Think of it as everything you wish Backpacker Magazine was.3 more days!
Date: 2012-03-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We are ready! We fly out today at 6:00pm. We will be in Atlanta early Sunday morning and Golden Child will deliver us to Springer Mountian. We are packed and just waiting to go.We had a great family day Friday! I couldn't sleep past 3:00am so I finished up some loose ends and paper work. I went grocery shopping and woke up the family with the sizzling of bacon. Stay tuned for daily enteries as our amazing adventure continues.
Date: 2012-04-01
From: Portland, OR

To: Atlanta, GA
Miles today: 0.0

Part one:  We are at the airport.  So they tell you to arrive 2 hours early, right?  We did that only to find out that our flight was delayed an hour.  Oh, and we flew through security so we get to sit around for 3 hours!  Actually we don't mind cause there is just a peace of mind that comes with being on this side of security and ready to go.  It is spring break, so crowds were a concern.   Oh, I almost forgot, I had an opportunity to experience the new pat downs  and scanner everyone was so freaked out about.  No big deal!  He didn't go any where near the jewels.   We are so excited!  We learned yesterday that Salem has a new sporting goods store/outfitter!  We haven't had a real outdoors store for almost 15 years!  Salem has what 250,000 people?  The notion was ridiculous that we couldn't support one.  So now we have one, let's support it and help it succeed.  I for one am tired of driving an hour just to pick up basic gear.  It is down town on State Street. I met the owner Al today and he is more than happy to order in gear if you can't find it stocked.  That's great service.  He is also eager to learn what the outdoor community of Salem needs him to stock.  So go in there to meet him and let him know what what kind of adventures you are passionate about. I posted a picture of their business card so you have the address and other contact info now.  Oh, and that's my sloppy hand writing on the card.  He looked up some hard to find Black Diamond tips for me.  I'm going to have him order them for spares.Part two:  Long story short... US Air canceled our flight for mechanical problems.  The passengers getting off that plane said the pilot told them he was having landing gear problems and that emergency crews were on the run way waiting.    The agent said to line up because there were some seats available to connecting flights at Phenix We waited in line for over an hour only to be told that all seats were filled on the 8:00 flight.  Then they told us to leave the line and stand by incase the original plane was cleared for flight.  One hour later an agent from the other flight came over and took 2 passengers off the now front of the line (we were there one hour earlier) and boarded them.  I was not thrilled.  We waited around till it was officially hopeless and then booked a flight for Sunday morning.  We spent the night in Portland at my brother in-laws house.  We got there around 11:00 pm and left to return to the airport around 4:00am.  We were hoping US Air would comp us with return tickets for August for wasting an entire day, but they have no remorse and it was like talking to a brick wall that passed us off to other brick walls.  Yep, the old fashioned run around.  We just landed in Atlanta at 2:00pm.  We probably won't be hiking today like we originally planed.  Stay tuned, we aren't on the trail yet.  There is still time for more stupid to happen.  We can't wait for some wilderness time!
Date: 2012-04-02
From: Springer Mountian/start

To: Gooch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: scattered clouds

April 2nd, 16 milesSpringer Mountain to Gooch Gap Shelter"Today we hiked 16 miles. We saw 97 people!(I counted) I talked with dad then listened to my iPod. We are camped at a shelter. Lots of people are here. We went up'n down.  Those are called PUDS out here, pointless ups and downs". -Sunshine  The wonderful Golden Child picked us up at the Air Port and drove us to Springer Mountain.  The closest road to beginning of the AT crosses 1mile north of the start of the trail. We met Mountain Squid at the trail head, so he hiked up the mountain with us and Golden Child and gave some last minute advice.  Once posing for multiple photos, we began our AT journey... For .2 miles to the Springer Mountain Shelter.  It was 7:00 pm and we were exhausted from all the travel.    We slept in this morning till 7:30, ate Breakfast and hit the trail at a ripe 9:00.  We took lots of breaks and you know me, a lot of chit chatting.  The trail is beautiful and at least this section really wasn't very steep or difficult.  Tho I'm hearing a lot of whining about the (gentle) elevation gains.  There are a lot of people out here from all walks of life, but the young 20's are defiantly in the majority.    There was water every 2 or 3 miles so that was never an issue.  Good thing too since it was hot and muggy.  We feel good, and no problems with our feet. Actually about a half a mile in this morning, I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness. After months of planing in town I finally realized that this is really happening.  Sunshine is having a blast and even met 2 other kids today (Mountain Laurel, 8 and her brother Night Walker 10).  We met them when Night Walker's shoe was floating past me in the creek that I was soaking my feet in. I heard a boy's panicked voice shout Sir! Sir! Can you catch my shoe?!  He was very grateful that I was able to snag it.  They are hiking the first section, But hope to talk their mom into letting them thu-hike with their dad.  We are getting up early tomorrow so we can swing through Suches, GA for ice cream and toilet paper.  No they're not related needs.  Turns out we need to pack a lot more paper when we walk by a privy ever 5 miles.  I know, I'm very excited about this!  I just had to share this wonderful news, ha, ha.
Date: 2012-04-03
From: Gooch Gap Shelter

To: Lance Creek
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: light rain

Gooch  Mountain Shelter to Lance Creek 9 miles, April 3rd   "Today we had a thunder and lighting storm. We camped before the highest point in GA. Because of the rain we only did nine miles. We camped with a lot of people. We talked and made friends. I took a nap. We had a wonderful dinner".  -SunshineWow it can really rain here!  We made good time in the morning to Hwy 60 so we hitched into Suches, GA and bought  breakfast pizza and ice cream.  We left the trail around 10:00 am and returned around 1:00.  Red Hat and Razor (local hikers) recognized Sunshine from Backpacking Light articles so they graciously gave us a ride back to the trail.  5 miles past that pass is now restricted and requires bear canisters for over night camping.  This area is only 5 miles long, so our plan was to blow through it and camp on the other side.  Not bad, it only would have been 14-15 miles for the day plus our long break.  Well, the trail had other plans.  2 miles before the restricted section, it started raining.  In Oregon, rain is more of a constant drizzle.  Not here apparently. Were decided to keep our rain gear off for a while, because it felt good after a hot muggy day. Then it dumped on us, so now it was pointless to put it on as we couldn't get any wetter.  We decided to push through the rain, but the thunder started and was fairly close.  Blood Mountain (the highest point on the AT in Georgia)  was smack dab in the middle of our course, so we decided it wasn't  safe to be on it during an electrical storm.  We found limited camping at Lance Creek and set up.  In the next hour about 30 more people did like wise.  It looked like a gypsy encampment.  Funny, most of the hikers here have been pretty territorial so far and don't really talk to others or like sharing flat spots to late comers.  Well, that all went out the window in the storm and tents were almost on top one another.  People were helping new arrivals set up in the rain and everyone was very social after we all crawled out of our caves after the rain passed. It was a great team building exercise!  I finally sensed community on this trail.
Date: 2012-04-04
From: Lance Creek

To: Low Gap
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Lance Creek to Low Gap. 19 miles.  April 4th4/4/12"Today we hiked 19 miles. And went under the only point on the AT that has a roof over the trail. We also went a store and had pizza and soda. I never knew grape soda was good. Also we camped at a shelter".  -Sunshine  We got an early start this morning.  Or we woke up early any way.  Sunshine needs some more practice packing up in the mornings.  She has her own tent (6 moon designs Gatewood Cape) and isn't real proficient yet.  She sets it up and tares it down herself.  Once she gets better with set up, I'm going to start teaching her how to work the alcohol stove.  She didn't get much opportunity last year because there just wasn't time at night.  We seem to get to camp much sooner and have multiple extended breaks through out the day this year.  It just doesn't seem necessary to hurry at this point.   We stopped at Neal Gap for Pizza and Soda.  The AT actually passes right under the roof of the store/hostel.    Our feet seem to be doing quite well considering we really didn't condition them.  We  finally found the right foot system for us.  Keen shoes, because they run wider and have a more rigged shank than the trail runners we used to use.  This keeps our soles from getting beat up.  Supper feet insoles.  They are firm and nonporous to keep water from staying in the shoe. And Darn Tough Socks.  They are amazing.  Even when wet, my badly frost bit feet (in the past 3 times) stayed warm and they actually kept dry in the rain for quit a long time.  I also think they are just thick enough to cushion our feet from blisters!  The owls out here are spooky.  They sound like a man saying the word WHO.  Not just the sound. Then there is another bird that sounds like a monkey.  Noah or Matthew, and ideas on what bird that is?Well it's going to be a long day tomorrow, good night.
Date: 2012-04-05
From: Low Gap

To: Tray Mountain
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

April 5th Low Gap to Tray Mountain Shelter. 15 miles. "Today we had trail magic 3 times! One very nice man gave us each a snickers bar! Thanks Willy C! And a very nice man (Michael) gave me a juice! Thanks!  And we got hot dogs, moon pies, and lemonade! 1 hour later at the next pass!  Thanks Moo and Gordo"!  -SunshineWe choked. After getting caught in the rain the other night we were determined to not let that happen to us again.  This was supposed to be a 20 today so we could get into Hiawassi, GA early tomorrow morning.  However, it began to cloud up around 3:00 and sprinkle with thunder and lightning.  A local had told us earlier in the day that a big storm had been forecasted.  We put on our rain gear and rushed a mile to the nearest shelter.  It lightly rained just enough to keep our rain gear on while soaking the inside with sweat.  We arrived to the shelter, set up, cooked an early dinner, and then the sun came back out.  We had wasted too much time to try putting more miles in so we just hung out at the shelter.  There is defiantly a learning curve out here.  Hopefully we'll figure it out soon and find a rhythm so we can start putting down the miles.  Sunshine mentioned the magic today, but I wanted to thank everyone too.  Thank you angles and kind strangers!  We are 11 miles from the road to Hiawassee, GA.  We hope to be there noonish.  Wish us luck.  At this rate, it may take a few days, ha, ha.Good news!  As you know, we are raising money to provide clean drinking water for villages in Zambia Africa.  Thousands die each year from water born diseases there.  We committed to raising $4362 which is enough for one village well and a few family water filters.  A very generous anonymous person committed to matching all contributions up to our goal!  This means we can provide two villages with wells!  Think of the lives we can save together!  Please see our Active Water page at:www.active.com/donate/activewaterupick/sunshine2012at
Date: 2012-04-07
From: Plumorchard Gap

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: broken clouds

7 April PlumbOrchard to Carter Gap 20 miles"Today we hiked 20 miles. We camped at Carter Gap shelter. I am happy to do 20 miles finally!  It was mostly up hill. We got trail magic at deep gap, we ate coleslaw, potato salad, and grape soda. It was incredible! The AT is awesome"!       -Sunshine:-)  Finally, we broke 20 miles.  It really hasn't been as much the difficulty, or our lack of conditioning (which has certainly been a factor though) that's been dictating our low miles, as much as circumstances. Weather, town stops, distractions, ect.  We don't plan on the the high miles of last year even once we are trail hardened.  Sorry to disappoint, but we do have extra time so we plan to enjoy the trail, towns, and even some surrounding educational opportunities like Washington DC, NY City and a few historical places near by.  Today went well.  Our feet did well with the miles, despite constant incline most of the day.  We crossed into North Carolina early and ate breakfast in two states at once.  We ran into great trail magic right at lunch time.  We were already planing to eat our lunch there, but showed up just in time to see a line of smelly hikers (oh, we're plenty smelly too since missing the showers at Hiawassee) forming in front of tables filled with amazing food.  They had bar-b-qed pork sandwiches, potato salad (my favorite) baked beans, ect.  Delicious!   Later, we even ran into a hiker that wanted to talk with us.  His name is Coyote.  He hiked the first 700 miles to KM on the PCT already this year so he is conditioned and fast.  Sunshine can still keep up with any hiker as long they have interesting stories.  She's pretty chatty as last years PCT hikers can atest to.  So we walked with him a couple hours till we arrived in camp, but he continued on as he is up to 25 mile days already.  Most hikers here just mumble something and look away when we say hello.  I don't get it.  We arrived to Carter Gap shelter around 5:00 pm despite our indulgence.  The shelter was full of course and tents all around, but someone mentioned the "basement". We took a peek below to discover a sleeping platform under the shelter wide enough for two and about 2' of head room.  Perfect!  Active waterGood news!  As you know, we are raising money to provide clean drinking water for villages in Zambia Africa.  Thousands die each year from water born diseases there.  We committed to raising $4362 which is enough for one village well and a few family water filters.  A very generous anonymous person committed to matching all contributions up to our goal!  This means we can provide two villages with wells!  Think of the lives we can save together!  Please see our Active Water page at:www.active.com/donate/activewaterupick/sunshine2012at
Date: 2012-04-08
From: Carter Gap Shelter

To: Siler Bald shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: clear sky

4/8/12 Carter Gap to Siler Bald Shrlter 21 miles"Today we are camping at Siler Bald shelter. We hiked 17 miles and went to Franklin North Carolina.  We went to McDonald's and ate salads.  It was awesome! We gave a guy a trail name, Mary Poppens.  Then we hiked 4 more.  It was a great day"!      ¢Sunshine:-)We did have a great day.  We packed up quickly crawled out from under our shelter and hit the trail by 6:30am. We hiked several miles with Mary Poppens and got to know him better.  Nice guy.  He's a semi-professional boxer.  The trail was much kinder today and we made great time.  There were Easter cookies hanging in a tree at mile 104.  Oh, happy Resurrection Sunday everyone!  We put down 17 miles by 1:00pm at Winding Stairs Gap.  We hitched with a kind retired couple into Franklin.  We ate, bought 8 more cheese burgers to go, sent our journals, and even did laundry and cleaned up by 5:00pm. We caught a quick ride out of town and hit the trail.  We put in another 4 miles to camp where we were eagerly greeted by Float, Micro, and Desperado.  They had read about us and were excited to recognize Sunshine as she approached. They made room for us in the shelter and we surprised them with cheese burgers.
Date: 2012-04-09
From: Siler Bald shelter

To: ??
Miles today: 20.0

9 April, Siler Bald Shelter. 21 miles" Today we hiked at least 20 miles.  It was steep but there was trail magic to make it all better! They had  burgers, and little Debbies!  Also we learned about some tablets that make a drink like Gatorade only sugar free. We are camped in an old shack. We thought it was a shelter but it is abandoned.   So we went cross country.  But it is almost dark and we need somewhere to camp. There is nowhere to camp so we will sleep here.  When dad was making dinner we saw a headlamp. We shouted out to the person and no response. Then we saw another and another. Then it looked like a million stars. So we turned off our headlamps and saw they were fireflies!"                 ¢Sunshine:-)Actually we have no idea where we are. No, no we're not lost.  We just don't know where exactly we are located along the trail.  We saw a structure 50 yards below the trail that was too big for a privy, but small for a shelter.  We thought we were close to the shelter marked on the book so it made sense. Whatever, it's a roof.  Depending on where we really are, we are 1 or 2 miles from a store (Nantahala Outdoor Center).  There was a nice cool breeze today, so Sunshine wasn't paying attention to her water intake even though we had a lot of direct sunlight.  She had plenty of water with her, but apparently wasn't drinking much.  She complained of a head ache and I noticed she was flush.  It appeared to be early warnings (not serious yet) of dehydration so we stopped at a shady stream for her to cool off and gather more water.  Over an hour, she slowly drank our remaining 2 liters of water and I collected and treated 5 more liters.  Once she was feeling better, I put all our water in my pack, and we walked a half hour when were surprised by trail magic.  Great timing.  There was a great group of outdoors enthusiast putting on a BBQ.  There were people from the near by Nantahala Outdoor Center, REI, and the local brewery.  They were very kind to Sunshine and even gave her some electrolyte tablets.  They are called "Noon".  They're small, light, and sugar free.  No they don't have appertain in them Teresa.  We'll pick some up tomorrow morning at their store when we get there.  We stayed with the angels an hour or so and hit the trail.    We took frequent and lengthy breaks and drank lots of water throughout the rest of the day.  We didn't make our destination, but we always error on the side of caution when it comes to her health.  I am happy to report that she's doing just fine.  Please don't think that my daughter is ever in any danger, she's not.  I took a 2 week life saver course (similar to EMT training) in the Army (in addition to the first aid crash course in basic training), taught several first aid courses in Boy Scouts and Royal Rangers, and have kept my CPR/First aid certification current since age 12.  I assure you, she's plenty safe with me. In fact, I had a sever heat injury in Korea (my squad leader wouldn't listen to me when I was telling him I was becoming dehydrated in the scorching sun) requiring an IV, so I know what to look for.
Date: 2012-04-10
From: ??

To: Brown Fork Gap Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: scattered clouds

10 April  ??? To Brown Fork Gap. 19 miles.    "Today we hiked 19 miles. We camped at Brown Fork Shelter. It was mostly up hill. But we took a long brake at a shelter for lunch! When we left NOC we started hiking up hill. We were all happy and then we saw a man stopped. Then he said ' there's a little snake here'. So dad took a look at it and saw it was a 5 foot long tree climbing snake! It was jet black and was slithering around without care in the world!"              ¢Sunshine  We had our little shack all to ourselves. We woke up early, and passed the throngs of tent campers 2 miles later at the real shelter as they were stumbling out rubbing their sleepy eyes.  We continued easily one last mile to NOC and entered the restaurant at 8:00 sharp just as they were unlocking it.  We left our packs outside all by themselves as there were no other hikers yet.  Just rafters getting ready for the river.  We had an amazing breakfast at a reasonable price and took care of our Internet obligations.  [Which reminds me, Thank you to everyone who donated to Active Water on our behalf.  We are almost to $800 which is really $1,600 because someone generously agreed to match every dollar donated.  We are almost halfway to purchasing a well for a village in Africa.  We now have a chance at two wells!  Who knows how many lives your generosity will save in the future years!]  So one hour later we step outside to see at least 30 packs lined up neatly against the restaurant wall.  It was a funny sight.   Because of this jump on all the others, we had the trail mostly to ourselves today.  It was wonderful.  The weather was delightfully cool and breezy.  It even sprinkled periodically through out the day, but not enough to warrant rain gear.  The first 6 miles out of NOC were persistently up hill.  Sunshine did great and remembered to drink her water.  (Oh, the electrolight tablets I told you about are called "Nuun", pronounced Noon.  We picked some up at the store.  Sunshine likes them so they'll help keep her hydrated.)  We lingered a bit too long at the last road which had DR. Pepper and Swiss cake rolls out for the hikers.  We figured we had a real good chance of getting into a shelter tonight because of our lead. One mile before the shelter the trail became unreasonably steep and we began to slow.  Steep hills are Sunshine's kryptonite.  She slows down dramatically, sometimes to my frustration.  We saw a hiker behind us maybe 100 yards and gaining on us.  This is usually a welcomed sight.  This time we knew if he passed us, that any hope of sleeping inside on this very windy and potentially rainy night would be gone.  Sunshine kicked it into overdrive and I could see him falling further and further behind as she powered up the hill.  We arrived a full 15 minutes ahead of him and the others gladly squeezed together making just enough room for two.  We do feel bad for him, but we are grateful for the cover.   Wow, I just got bit by a monster spider wile finishing this.  I'll tell you how that turns out tomorrow.