morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-03-12
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Pounds > Ounces > Grams = Successful thru hike Is being ultra light an important ingredient in completing a thru hike. maybe, but I don't personally think so. At first a thru hiker starts by cutting out POUNDS of gear from their pack. Out goes the camp chair. Then the portable camp shower, then the camp tarp that you never used. Do you really need those camp shoes? How about extra set of camp clothes that you wear after you get to your camping spot? Do you see a pattern in all this? Things labeled "camp" gets thrown out, because they are for camping and not hiking.Do you wanna go camping the Appalachian trail? or do you wanna go hiking the Appalachian trail? Oh by the way, all those "camp" thingies weigh about a pound each. So there you go, cutting pounds from your pack. And it don't cost much to throw them out. My pack weight, sans food and water, went from 34 pounds to 27 pounds tossing out "camp" items.Cutting ounces gets a bit harder, if not different. You run out of things labeled "camp", so then you throw out the 20 degree sleeping bag. Wait, you need that to survive the cold nights. but it weighs 2 pounds and 15 ounces. REI has a 20 degree bag that weighs only 2 pounds and 1 ounce. 14 ounces saved in your pack, but your wallet gets lighter by $280. How about that Anker battery that only weighs 6 ounces and still holds 10,000 mAh? Your old Anker 10,000 mAh battery is twice the size and weighs 10 ounces. This really happened to me. I don't work for Anker, but that new 6 oz 10,000 mAh battery is sweet. Again your wallet gets $30 lighter. This progresses onward until all of your "hiking" items gets replaced with lighter but more expensive versions. Big Agnes Sil nylon tent to a Zpacks cuben fiber tent. Aluminum poles to carbon fiber poles, etc etc etc. Now my pack weight goes from 27 pounds to 17 pounds, and even my wallet gets lighter by a gran.So how do those ultra light hikers get down to those sub 10 pounds base pack weights? Well they turn into Gear Gram Weanies. They slice that full size sleeping pad down to just their torso length. Aha a few grams of weight saved! Do you really need that full toothbrush? Cut that handle off and save 5 grams! How about those pack straps? Who needs 12 inches of strap hanging off the pack, trimmed down to an inch will save 2 grams. Do you really need that head portion of the mummy sleeping bag? Chop it off and you get a quilt. I had a pair of scissors in my hand, ready to start cutting grams, and I just could not do it. could not bring myself to destroy perfectly good gear. What if i needed to return/exchange that pack at REI because the shoulder harness broke? Cut off the head of my mummy bag? Could I do a decent job of sewing up the decapitated mummy bag? Nope, can't do it. I just can't be a gram weannie. I will carry a full size toothbrush handle, or how else will I brush my teeth with my permanently frozen arthritic hand? I cant sew for beans, full mummy bag it is. Oh how nice, it would have been to shave my pack weight from 17 pounds down to 10 pounds. but it's just not for me.
Date: 2017-03-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Just a few more things to tidy up before I start. Cancel subscriptions, put bills into auto pay, etc. I'm sure there are a dozen more things I need to do. Made a list, and just knocking them out one at a time. This almost feels like the time I went off to college dorm for my first semester. Could only handle one term of that. Too much noise, too many parties, too many distractions. Kinda like the shelters on the AT, too much snoring and tossing of the noisy air mattresses. It's bad enough that my mattress creaks when i turn, worse when 6 or 12 hikers turn in unison like a symphony. Guess I will be tenting for the majority of the trail. Plus I can have some privacy in a tent. I tend to do a pack explosion of my bag contents after I get the shelter setup. It helps to fluff out the down sleeping bag and get more loft.
Date: 2017-03-17
To: Springer Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

Weighted my pack and was 30 pounds with 2 bottles water and 4 days food. Guess that is not too bad a weight. I was hiker number 929 on the AT register. Thats almost a thousand hikers, and this was just the ones that voluntarily registered at the Amicalola Park visitor center. they have a new parking policy now. Gone are the days when you can park at the visitor center unlimited. Last year they moved the long term parking up to the top of the water fall. That location was an easy 5 minute walk to the start of the approach trail. However this year, Amicalola park moved the long term parking all the way down the hill by the front gate. There is a new gravel road, and up that road is now the long term parking in excess of 2 weeks for a charge of $55. So it is a long walk now. Everyone planning on parking here will have to do the stairs. Anything less than two weeks is now oly $5. Guess it is still a bargain if you want to leave your vehicle here for several months. Met Mothergoose whoe hiked the AT in 2013 and the PCT. She is one of the sponsors for the 2017 Warrior Hike group. A Jolly group of about 3 women and 7 men. All combat veterans. I wonder if they realize what they are getting into. At least they got the physical stamina. They all hike the approach trail incliuding the stairs. they made a fire and were merrilyng telling war stories around their camp fire. Met three wonderful camp neihbors. Laura from Maryland, Stewart from England, and Gas Monkey who just graduated from SCAD 3 days ago. We shared a round of camp stove dinner, each telling stories of ourselves. We are pretty much all planning on going as far as Hawk Mountain shelter tomorrow. About 8 miles or so.
Date: 2017-03-18
From: Springer Mountain Shelter

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Picture on the left is of the water fall that is about a mile up from Three Forks. It was a wet and foggy day on the way to Hawk Mountain shelter. Was gonna stay at hawk campground, but after looking at some of the tent pads being a bit muddy, I was thinking other thoughts. Plus the water for the tent site is 1/2 a mile down toward the end of the row of tent sites. So a minimum of a mile just to get water. After talking with the ridge runner Will and another trail maintainer, found out that Hawk mountain Shelter was open, but that they had closed off half of the tent sites in order for the vegetation to rejuvinate. There was a bunch of boy scouts at Hawk campground clearing vegetation and spreading leaves on the trail to cut down on some of the mud. I thank them for their work. Left a note at Hawk Campsite for Stewart/Laura/Gas Monkey that I was going onward to Hawk Mountain Shelter. It pretty much rained all morning till early afternoon. Stayed cloudy after that, but at least the slow drizzle of water on my head stopped. Swear it felt like chinese water torture, with rain just dropping on my head every once in a while from the tops of the trees.Laura met up with me at Hawk, but she said she was gonna hike on further since it was only 3 in the afternoon. Gotta make as much miles using the day light. I was thinking that the rain will start up again, so I stayed put at the shelter. Wondering if Stewart would catch up with me. Wishing that I could find him. but with so many people at the shelter, I didn't see him. Found out later that Stewart was actually there at Hawk Mountain that same night and was camped next to Grateful2. I wish I could have talked to him since I had a trail name for him. Stewart is a teacher from England and on his first night at Springer Mountain shelter, he was camped next to me. We both had Zpack tents and we were comparing notes, as I had a different model from his. At one point, I asked him the time, and he responded with 10 O'clock. Normally I would not have given a second thought, but I was like, no way, unless he was on England time. It cant be 10am and it couldn't be 10pm, so i asked again, and he said the same thing 10, but this time said that his watch was stopped. His brand new watch, which he had purchased for the hike had stopped moving. Laura called him "time traveler" but it didn't quite stick. Later I thought of "stop watch" but forgot to tell him.
Date: 2017-03-27
From: dicks creek gap

To: cowart gap
Miles today: 71.4

Nice leisurely walk in the woods today. Not much rain or wind. Im at Cowart gap tenting across the trail from Train Wreck, who is from central Alabama. We Must be on a jet fly way or something, heard 3 or 4 jets fly over head in the last 30 minutes or so. Its 8:30pm and dead quiet otherwise. No wind or rain, just a single lone cricket doing his business of attracting a mate. Or whatever reason they chirp all night. im doing something wrong on the mileage, the daily miles are not showing up, so had to update the mileage manually. Hope this fixes it. My avatar picture us also not showing up on trail journals. Sent an email asking help. Pretty sure i did correct thing by updating my about section and uploading a picture. Not sure what else i need to do. water is a bit scarce from dicks creek gap to here. Last two campsites had no water. We will see if the forcasted rain tomorrow changes things.
Date: 2017-03-28
From: cowart gap

To: muskrat creek shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night the heavens opened up with lightning, buckets of water, and thunder to wake the dead. On the way to Muskrat Creek shelter, saw my first sections of the burnt out forest. The burn started about a few miles north of cowart gap. Anything about a foot or two on the trail was black and turned to charcoal.
Date: 2017-03-29
From: muskrat creek shelter

To: deep gap
Miles today: 4.0

Hot sunny day. Mid 70s in march up in the mountains is insane. Got to Deep Gap and got some trail magic from Mike and Susan. They came here on a section hike. They offered ice cold bottled beer and apples. Thanks Mike and Susan! Well to be completely frank, i had set up my sub7 hammock at Deep Gap and catching some rays from the sun. Was trying to get a signal on my phone, with no luck. Tried to text or call for a shuttle for zero as my left knee was acting up. They kindly offered av ride to the Hiker Hostel in Franklin, so i accepted. Im here now resting my knee and not going up or down hills. Pics of more burnt rhododendron.
Date: 2017-03-31
From: Rock Gap

To: siler bald
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

Just past the Siler Bald Shelter is the summit. Since the shelter was a half mile off trail, decided to walk up to the blue blaze trail and camp on top of Siler Bald summit. The views at night and the sunrise was breathtaking. Well worth the extra 100 or 200 meters up the blue blaze.
Date: 2017-04-01
From: siler bald

To: Rocky Bald lookout
Miles today: 13.1

Picture on the left is from the Wayah Bald Fire Tower. Notice the burnt out bare patch of dirt. The trees that remained were actually black and charred. Today was probably the best and easiest day of hiking. Forcast was in the mid 50s with no rain. Perfect hiking temperature. Plan was to get to Wayah Bald shelter. When I got there, met up with Gas Monkey, who I started with on Springer Mountain back on March 17. He told me that Stewart, the Physics teacher from England, was now going by the trail name Clock or Clunk. Wonder which it was. Ate dinner with Gas Monkey, Iron Man, Tin Man, Wilson, and Scout(boy scout). There is another Scout (girl scout) that is about a day ahead. After dinner, packed up and hiked a few more miles and ended up stealth camping near Rocky Bald lookout. The skies were clear, so you could see the stars in all their glory that night. Got a nice sunrise view right into my tent the next morning as the lookout has a nice 180 view towards the east. One thing about night hiking, red led does not work too good for seeing white blazes on trees. I had to switch to white led light and set the setting to low, so the batteries would not run down too much.
Date: 2017-04-02
From: Rocky Bald lookout

To: Rufus Morgan Shelter
Miles today: 8.8

Picture is of the view from Rocky Bald Lookout towards the east. Today was nothing but down, down, down. The last 5 miles of this section of the trail before the Nantahala Outdoor Center was steep and very rocky. Very taxing on knees. Looking at the trail guide and the elevation profile, I was thinking that an all day downhill would be the best day of my hike. Boy was I wrong. It was almost the worst. Took a huge toll on my legs, knees and feet. Got to the Rufus Shelter with throbbing feet. I was only a mile short of the NOC. but I was too sore to move. I put my camp shoes on (rubber croks) thinking I could walk the last mile to NOC in those and grab a quick burger before the resturant closed. I tried convincing Gigi to go along with my plan. She said her feet were also on fire. Ditto with the next 3 hikers that walked down. I relucklently relented to dehydrated meals. This camp site has a nice stream flowing right by it. No need to walk half a mile to the water point. There were no cable hangs for food bags like in Georgia, so pretty much everyone hung their bags from the nails that were set into the shelter's roof rafters. The camp did have a 30 or 40 feet tall tree that was cut in half, with the upper half hanging onto an adjacent tree for support. Classic widow maker scenario. Looked like wind damage, as there were no smooth saw cuts anywhere on the tree.
Date: 2017-04-03
From: Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 1.0

Nero into the Nantahala outdoor Center. Rain started about 8am or so. Walked the 1 mile to the NOC and had breakfast. My bill for the order of egg, bacon, hashbrown and coffee came out to $13.70, a bit pricey IMHO for breakfast. But it was delicious and the staff were friendly. They let the hikers charge up their cell phones and chat a bit while it poured outside. When I finished my meal I went outside and counted over 14 packs at the restaurant and another 8 or so packs at the NOC outfitter store. There were also about 5 or 6 hikers at the General store sitting on the ground sorting out their resupply boxes and such. the General store did not have any smokes, so Gas Monkey and Scout (boy scout) had to walk a mile down the road to the gas station to buy cigarettes. A lot of hikers were holed up here due to the bad weather. The rain continued all day, building up into rolling thunder and heavy showers. I was feeling bad for the follow-on hikers who had to walk the burnt out trail in the pouring rain. The trouble is that the wood that was normally built up on the side of the steep trails for reinforcement had been burnt out last fall. Any continued rain would keep washing away the trail support slowly. Some parts only had about a foot or two across of trail left. The majority of the trail is still in good shape, just a few small sections where the trail is starting to erode. Its the same with deadfall across the trails. Mostly, the volunteers that upkeep the trail have done an excellent job of cutting a path. But every now and then, you come across a deadfall that you have to climb over, under or around. I was thinking of all the new hikers at Amicalola Falls and Spring Mountain starting on April 1, as that Saturday was the highest anticipated number of hikers start date.Time for a Nero again. Might even extend this out to a zero to wait out the storm and let my feet recover from yesterday's short but grueling hike.
Date: 2017-04-04
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: NOC
Miles today: 0.0

Taking a Zero to heal my left knee which has been hurting a bit for a few days now. Took a double dose of Vitamin I last night. It is much better but still tinges a bit when I walk. I can see now why hikers take breaks of a week or two to recover from blisters or shin splints and such. Sometimes a simple overnight rest is just not enough.
Date: 2017-03-24
From: Amicalola Falls SP

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: broken clouds

My son David and I had left Dallas the previous evening, but our flight for Atlanta did not take off until about an hour after the scheduled time. The flight crew was coming in from an international flight which was arriving late. After picking up our bags in Atlanta, we took a MARTA train to Roswell, then a cab to the Baymont Inn & Suites. David had arranged for ¢Survivor Dave¢ (649-469-0978) to take us to Amicalola Falls State Park, the site of the AT approach trail, and he picked us up at the motel promptly at 6:30 a.m. We stopped at a grocery store before reaching Amicalola for last-minute supplies, and he had some fuel canisters for us to purchase, since we could not fly with those. Even though it was only about 8:00¢the visitor center was not open yet¢I was surprised that there was almost no one there. ¢Maybe we ARE crazy¢, I told David. We walked around back to the beginning of the approach trail and took some pictures at the iconic arches. The approach trail is not an official part of the AT, but it is not to be dismissed. As you approach the base of the falls, you start climbing some 600 steps to the top. About halfway up, we met a thru-hiker sporting a dejected look on her face, as if she was already having second thoughts about the journey she was just now beginning. After we reached the top of the falls, we still had several miles of challenging, ascending trail¢the approach trail is 8.8 miles¢before we reached Springer Mountain. We reached Springer about 2:00. I had read about the AT for some ten years, and had pictured this famous site as being larger than it was. There is the famous plaque embedded in a rock announcing the start of the AT and a scenic view, but the area was small compared to its importance. Even so, I felt like I was at a sacred place. There were several other hikers congregating about, and we took the requisite pictures and signed the register stored in a drawer in the rock. One hiker from Michigan that we met told us that he had only allotted 100 days for his hike, meaning that he would have to average some 22 miles a day to reach Katahdin, quite a challenge. We began hiking and soon met our first Ridge Rider, who introduced herself and made sure we knew about Leave No Trace concepts and keeping food out of the reach of bears. The trees along the approach trail had been barren, but we began to see some green foliage during the first section of the AT. We reached Stover Creek Shelter (mile 2.8) at about 4:30, our first campsite. Some people were sleeping in the shelter itself, but we tented a short distance away, as did about 16 other folks. Some of the first shelters we encountered had new metal bear boxes, said to have been supplied by REI.
Date: 2017-03-25
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Justus Creek
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We left Stover Creek Shelter at 8:30, after a false start. The trail is easy to follow, but you can get confused when leaving a shelter or campsite and trying to make your way back to the trail. We put our packs on and hiked past the shelter saying ¢Have a nice hike!¢ to the other campers, thinking we were headed back to the AT. In fact, we were on the path to the privy, and had to sheepishly retrace our steps back past the same campers once we realized our mistake. While on the trail, we met a thru-hiker from Chicago, one that we would see several times over the next few days. The trail later took us near the Hickory Flats Cemetery, and we met a couple who had stayed overnight in the cemetery, sleeping in a hammock.We stopped for lunch at Hawk Mountain Shelter, sharing a picnic table there with another Ridge Runner who had camped there the previous night. They patrol designated sections of the trail, offering advice to hikers. As far as I could tell, the Ridge Runner concept was exclusive to Georgia. At 5:15, we stopped at Justus Creek (mile 14.4) to camp. The area was crowded, typical of the early sections of the trail before hikers spread out or drop out. We met a mother/son duo, doing a section hike on his spring break, and David helped them retrieve a tent that the wind had blown into nearby trees. There were also some hikers from Alabama, and we met a New York thru-hiker while filtering some water at the creek. He came down to share some banana bread with us that a relative had given him for the trip.
Date: 2017-03-26
From: Justus Creek

To: Lance Creek
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: broken clouds

The overnight rain had started about 1:00 a.m. and increased through the early morning hours, and a little rain made its way into my tent. We packed up our wet tents and left about 9:30. We saw a hiker from Germany during lunch and experienced two great views on the trail. We also ran across a barefoot hiker from Connecticut that astonished everyone who saw him. Hikers generally obsess about their footwear, but this hiker had decided to attempt a thru-hike barefooted. Later, we got some incredible trail magic at Woody Gap (mile 20.6). What can you say about trail magic except that it¢s the most wonderful thing in the world? The townsfolk of the nearby communities go to the trouble and expense of setting up tables and giving hundreds of dollars of food to hikers they don¢t know and may never see again. It restores your faith in the Power of Goodness. This one, our first, was extensive, with several large tables filled with hot dogs, chips, apples, cookies, coffee, etc. The lead Samaritan was a software engineer who headed up a team of programmers. We stopped for a while, resting our feet and filling our stomachs. A few days later I told my wife back home in Texas that we had run into some trail magic and she said ¢Trail magic? What¢s that, marijuana?¢ At 5:15 we stopped at Lance Creek (mile 24.2). Like many of the early sites on the AT, it was crowded, with about twelve tents in the six spaces estimated in the guidebook. Everybody tries to accommodate everyone else, and there is a we¢re-all-in-this-together spirit among hikers. We met another German hiker, this one with a beautiful dog sharing the trail with him, taking everything in stride.
Date: 2017-03-27
From: Lance Creek

To: Blood Mountain Cabins
Miles today: 7.2

We hit the trail about 8:30, starting our trek towards Blood Mountain Shelter, a hard climb in the final mile or so. It¢s the highest point on the AT in Georgia, and one of the highest points in the state. The shelter at the summit was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934. We stopped there for lunch and photos, meeting a female hiker from Pennsylvania and a male hiker from New Mexico who had a PHD in Chemistry. The hike down to Neel Gap was somewhat treacherous since the trail was rocky and wet. We were glad when US 19 and Mountain Crossings came into view. Mountain Crossings, at mile 31.4, is the first convenient place to resupply on the AT, convenient in that the AT actually goes through a breezeway of the building. The Walasi-yi Center started as a logging structure in the early 1900s, and was converted into a stone structure in the 1930s by the CCC as the AT itself was officially coming into being. Mountain Crossings, an incredibly well-stocked outfitter, resupply and gift shop, has called the structure home since the early 1980s. David and I loaded up with food and snacks for the trail, bought some souvenir coffee mugs to be shipped home, and headed for the nearby Blood Mountain cabins where we had booked a room for the night. Blood Mountain cabins were our first off-trail lodging for the trip. A series of separate cabins (we stayed in ¢Bear¢), they were rustic¢think 13-inch TV with connected VCR¢but in a most wonderful and comfortable way. With two bedrooms, bath, den and nice kitchen, it was nice to be back in civilization. The office had snacks and a pizza kitchen which David took advantage of, and they picked up bags of dirty clothes, delivering them back to us later that evening at no charge.