morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-04-15
To: Life after the Trail: AT Aqua Lecturing 
Miles today: 0.0

The timing was not great, as the call came on the next to last day the Carnival Mega Cruise Ship Triumph was being dragged by three small tugboats through the Gulf of Mexico towards Mobile AL following a February 10th engine-room fire that forced passengers to endure five long days at sea amidst horrid and unsanitary conditions. However, the offer was pretty amazing: a twelve day cruise for two on the Grande Caribe from New Orleans to Mobile, then up the Tennessee ¢ Tombigbee Waterway to the Tennessee River, then around to Nashville via the Cumberland River, in exchange for us giving a half dozen lectures along the way.Blount Small Ship Adventures, which promotes itself as the line that "goes where the big ships can¢t" and specializes in travel through the most scenic rivers and waterways of North America, had had a regular speaker back out at close to the last minute, and were apparently hard up for a replacement. We told them we were pretty knowledgeable about Shiloh Battlefield and the north end of the waterway, but the further topics were from home, the shakier we would be. However, we could do a bang up talk on the AT, and we would pass a lot of Gulf Coast sand that had washed downstream from the Appalachian Mountains. So we agreed to take the gig.Thus it was we got our first opportunity at ¢Aqua Lecturing,¢ our first AT program given afloat. Blount's small ships hold no more than 96 passengers, and offer an informal atmosphere and personalized service that made it seem like we were cruising on our own private yacht! This trip covered about half the AT¢s distance, and with all the great food we had to be really careful not to put on any weight during the course of the cruise¢¦
Date: 2013-05-19
To: Dr. Suuz meets AWOL
Miles today: 0.0

At last report (which would be back on 9/12/12), our backyard neighbor and trail archangel extraordinaire Susan Adams was winging her way home after bidding us an emotional goodbye at Stratton Brook Pond Road (although she was still meeting and shuttling other AT hikers all the way to the airport!).Well, since mid-winter the amazing Susan has gotten up off her couch and begun transforming herself into professional walker extraordinaire, with her eyes fixed on doing the John Muir Trail this coming July. So much so that she captured 1st place in her age group yesterday in our local 5K ¢Mango Madness¢ X-country race before we left home. Combining her status as a retired veterinarian and the moniker used by her grandchildren, she has become ¢Dr. Suuz,¢ long distance hiker.As Dr. Suuz had not previously spent a night in woods, we decided a short test hike on the AT from I-40 to Hot Springs NC was just what the doctor ordered: significant but not unreasonable climbs, consistently nice footpath, and a hot (springs) tub at the end .Which brought us to the Laughing Heart Hostel, where before shuttling us back to the interstate, in passing Randy ¢Chuck Norris¢ Anderson mentioned the illustrious David Miller [as in AWOL¢s Guide to the AT] was also staying overnight while on his way home from Trail Days in Damascus.Which allowed Dr. Suuz to score an autograph from a trail legend before she even started her first section hike! Talk about an auspicious beginning¢¦
Date: 2013-05-20
To: Training for the JMT: N from Green Corner Rd 
Miles today: 0.0

Green Corner Rd to Groundhog Creek ShelterChuck Norris successfully navigated around the detours west of Hot Springs to drop us off on the AT just north of Interstate 40. Section hiking is quite liberating, as we were not restricted by the ¢hike every inch¢ mentality, and could skip the first 307 feet of the climb up from the I-40 underpass, following the gravel road almost to Standing Bear Farm. Still, we were starting out with a 4+ mile, 1,400¢ ascent up to the top of Snowbird Mountain¢¦As she was on her first overnight backpacking trip, we tried to let Dr. Suuz set the pace. Since it was a weekday and late in the hiking season, we thought we¢d have the trail to ourselves. However, we were surprised by the number thru hikers we met coming by. Seemed to us they had some catching up to do to make Mighty Katahdin by October 15th¢¦Although it made a short day mile-wise, we had decided from the start to tent at the Groundhog Creek Shelter, and were there by early afternoon. After an eight month hiatus from the trail we enjoyed the opportunity to ease on into the daily hiking routine with a very leisurely schedule for taking care of camp chores.
Date: 2013-05-21
To: Training for the JMT: N from GC Shelter 
Miles today: 0.0

Groundhog Creek Shelter to Lemon GapDay Two of Dr. Suuz¢s practice hike was highlighted by a climb up Max Patch. We had a little haze but on the whole a glorious view, with Snowbird and the Smokies clearly visible to our rear. The top was almost crowded with day and section hikers, and Dr. Suuz was treated to her official first trail magic in the form of a cold Coke. Disaster almost struck just as we started on our way down, as X stepped in an unseen grassy rut at the edge of the trail in the middle of the still wide open bald. She turned her ankle and took a nasty fall. Although the ankle swelled to twice its normal size, forward motion didn¢t seem that painful, and X persevered onward. As a precaution, we went on past Roaring Fork Shelter to Lemon Gap, so if the ankle turned worse overnight, we¢d be close to a numbered road. X woke up to find herself still mobile in the morning.
Date: 2013-05-22
To: Training for the JMT: North from Lemon Gap 
Miles today: 0.0

Lemon Gap to Deer Park Mountain ShelterDay Three was another great day for hiking on the southern AT, with climbs over Walnut and Bluff Mountains. We stopped for a snack break at the Walnut Mountain shelter, which seemed much cleaner, and not as shopworn as on our last visit. Worried about the chance of a thunderstorm, we opted to spend the night in the Deer Park Mountain shelter. We had the place to ourselves until the fairly late arrival of three young male NOBO¢s. We offered to squeeze up to all fit in the shelter, but they said they¢d had enough shelter life coming through the Smokies, thank you very much, and they¢d prefer to tent. When the predicted thunder and rain came, bringing a large limb down in their midst, we wondered if the regretted their decision. An even later arrival stood under the shelter¢s overhang during the worst of the rain before setting up his tent. Maybe we¢ve gotten (even more) soft over the past winter, but we enjoyed the roof over our heads tonight, and didn¢t see the first sign of a shelter mouse...
Date: 2013-05-23
To: An AT tribute to Les Miz
Miles today: 0.0

Do you hear the hikers sing?It is a song of angry men.It is the sound of galsToo smart to walk in rain again!When the beating of your heartEchoes the distant thunder¢s hum,Time to wait in town for sunWhen tomorrow comes!With only three miles to go, we were anxious for an early start to get into Hot Springs, a sentiment that seemed a part of every one of the shelter log entries for the year. At first light, we had a return of the overnight showers and were glad to be able to stay dry while we broke camp. The walk to town was a wet one, punctuated by more mountain laurel blossoms than we'd hoped to see (so much so we swung through Weaverville on the way to to buy a plant for the back yard. We hope we can convince it that northern Mississippi is much like the Appalachians...).So, in conclusion, the practice hike was a great success, and we are now committed to starting the John Muir Trail on July 21st. We may let Dr. Suuz do the honors in posting our next adventures. In any case, stay tuned for more...
Date: 2013-06-27
To: Filling in Some High Points
Miles today: 0.0

¢I will not let this become an obsession. I will not let this become an obsession. I will not let this become an obsession¢¦¢N first became acquainted with the concept of visiting the highest point in each of the fifty states in the early 1990s when he read a newspaper article about the difficulty of reaching the top of Jerimoth Hill, at 812 feet above sea level, the highest point in Rhode Island (and a full six feet higher than anything we have here in Mississippi). At that time, ¢Highpointers¢ considered Jerimoth Hill less accessible than Alaska¢s Mt. McKinley, because an adjoining property owner, the late Mr. Henry Richardson, prevented access to the highpoint through his driveway, the only path that led to it. The Richardsons' driveway was heavily posted against trespassingWhen we visited Nepal in 2009, a claim to fame for one member of our group was he had visited all of the state highpoints except Alaska. This fact interested N, but did not make enough of an impression for him to explore making highpointing a new hobby. Then last year while hiking the AT, we passed over the highest peaks in seven of the fourteen states along the way. Most interesting of these was Connecticut, where we discovered that while Bear Mountain (elevation 2,316 feet) is the highest summit in Connecticut, the highest point in the state (elevation 2,380 feet) is actually on the south slope of Mount Frissell, a little to the west of the that mountain¢s summit (elevation 2,653 feet). For some reason this fact got N interested in visiting the rest of those 14 state highpoints that didn¢t happen to be on the AT.Expanding the target list to the full fifty states was something that held less than no interest for X Trovert, and she made N promise that goal would not go on his bucket list. "I will not let this become an obsession. I will not let this become an obsession. I will not let this become an obsession¢¦¢ But late last winter, we did make a slight detour to summit Georgia¢s Brasstown Bald, and greatly enjoyed doing it.Anyway, you can now put two more such Trovert visits in the book, in Delaware and North Carolina. At 447.85 feet, Delaware¢s Ebright Azimuth is shorter than any state highpoint except Florida. North Carolina¢s Mt. Mitchell, however, is the highest point east of the Mississippi (6,684¢). For many years, Mt. Mitchell was topped by an imposing tower, which has now been replaced by a much shorter observation deck. So much shorter that it now appears when an AT hiker stands on the observation tower of Clingmans Dome, the elevation there is one foot higher than on the observation deck on Mt. Mitchell. In any case, as we stood on Mitchell¢s summit, we raised our water bottles, and recited the Tar Heel Toast, feeling like we had filled in another missing piece: Here's to the land where the galax grows,Where the rhododendron's rosette glows,Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great,In the "Land of the Sky," in the Old North State!For more detail on the latest chapter in the long running Clingman ¢ Mitchell saga, check out this link.
Date: 2013-07-01
To: (Past) Time to Move On
Miles today: 0.0

With today¢s turn of the calendar, we can finally say we are going to hike the John Muir Trail ¢this month.¢ As Dr. Suuz now has her Trail Journal for the JMT up and running, it is past time for us to transition over there and support her efforts to document our upcoming hike. We invite you to join us there via this link.If this is our final post here, it is indeed a melancholy moment. We thank everyone who has followed along on our (never ending) AT journey. We¢ve had a lot of fun¢¦
Date: 2014-02-08
To: How we are keeping our slack packing skills sharp
Miles today: 0.0

Down in the Delta at Greenville, MississippiX¢s first marathon, second place in her age groupOn foot for 26.2 miles from Arkansas to Mississippi, with the only ¢hill¢ being the impressive and very icy bridge over the Mighty Mississippi River Oh, the things we do to stay in shape for the next hike¢¦
Date: 2014-03-14
To: Everything still reminds us of the trail...
Miles today: 0.0

Almost two years later, it seems like everything still reminds us of the AT...Today I got notification of my bib number for this year's upcoming Boston Marathon. [This will be my first time running Boston since 1975, and at age 66, I attribute being able to return after a 39 year hiatus solely to the restorative powers provided by hiking the Appalachian Trail.] My Boston number for 2014 is 24555.¢24555¢ immediately came to mind as the zipcode for Glasgow, Virginia, where we enjoyed a great breakfast and a quick resupply after crossing the James River footbridge. While going to Trail Journals to recall the details of that day, I discovered we had somehow failed to post a picture of one of the highlights of our stop in Glasgow: a visit to the Rachel Welch monument in the center of town.Well, we can take care of that omission right now, along with including the original poster for the movie that inspired the monument¢¦ -N
Date: 2014-05-01
To: May Day - 2014
Miles today: 0.0

After several rather epic failed attempts, we finally appear on the verge of a mass of multiple plant, home grown mountain laurel blossoms in our back yard. What a welcome sight in Mississippi!Now all we need to do to cure our homesick longing for the AT is to paint a 2x6" white blaze on the nearest pine tree. I think I'll go outside and sleep in the hammock tonight...
Date: 2014-06-02
To: Playing it forward in a small worldÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ¦
Miles today: 0.0

On the way north to do a section hike through Shenandoah and beyond, Dr. Suuz and I swung off of I-81 to attempt some trail magic where the AT crosses U.S. 60, just east of Buena Vista, Virginia. Remembering from 2012 the rather steep 800¢ climb up to the highway from the Brown Mountain Creek Shelter, I thought this might be an appreciated spot, and I was not disappointed, as when we pulled into the motorist wayside, we saw a number of assembled hikers, forlorn and dejected in their hope of any Trail Magic at this road crossing, and on the verge of heading back out for the remaining 2,000¢ climb up to Bald Knob. However, a quick holler got them to reverse course and swarm the car, even before we had a chance to unpack a cooler or set up a table. As a thru hiker, I had not appreciated the remoteness of this location from any support services, except for parking and excellent cell phone reception; and our offerings seemed much appreciated. During our brief stay we had a chance to provide 16 hikers with sandwiches, chips, cookies, brownies and cold Cokes. They all seemed in great shape, and we would not be surprised to see some of them passing us during the next two weeks, several hundred miles up the trail. We also bumped into Piney, a fella we first met when we were last here, almost two years ago to the day. Piney had provided much local Appalachian Trail lore from the nearby area, and had taken N five miles back down the mountain to procure some cold sodas to fortify us for the afternoon climb. One could get the feeling sometimes the AT is indeed a small world¢¦-X.
Date: 2014-06-04
To: Back on the trail again...
Miles today: 0.0

Rockfish Gap to Calf Mountain ShelterReaders who followed our John Muir Trail Journal last year will remember how Dr. Suuz ended her thru hike prematurely when a knee injury descending Mather Pass earned her a helicopter extraction from the High Sierra wilderness. She was not ready to let one setback nip her hiking career in the bud. But, if truth be told, she was worried about future long distance hikes. What if the knee failed her as suddenly as it seemed to on the JMT?When a section hike with her sister fell through, Suuz mentioned trying a solo hike to X Trovert. Her friend would have none of that! Together they planned an AT hike north through Shenandoah National Park and a little beyond.With more than a little concern, especially about some a few 13-plus-mile days in the hiking plan, we set off from Rockfish Gap in Waynesboro, Virginia, on the morning of June 4. We hope to hike for 15 days, ending up at Bear¢s Den in northern Virginia where we¢ve left our car. After 7.6 miles today, mostly ascending 1000 feet with a few steep descents, we arrive at Calf Mountain Shelter by mid-afternoon. We're sharing the Troverts' new Big Agnes Copper Spur 2 tent--X carries the tent, fly and groundcloth while Suuz packs the tent poles and stakes. Though we plan to tent camp as much as possible, we have seen strong thunderstorms in tonight¢s forecast and opt for sleeping in the shelter tonight.While X sets up our sleeping bags, Suuz gets her first chance to collect and filter water (other than a pre-hike collection test in her water garden). It's easy peasy with a good flow from the spring¢s pipe making for quick collection of four liters. The only mishap is the toppling of a full 2L Sawyer bag from a precarious perch on a log, spilling most of its contents and soaking Suuz. She hopes that Mother Earth, a young through hiker who arrives at the spring just after the mishap is not offended by a few choice words uttered. Other through hikers and a few section hikers arrive and settle in later in the day, some in tents and others filling up the shelter. We start collecting trail names in hopes that we will see some of them on the list of 2014 through hikers in the ATC Journeys magazine next spring. Well past hiker midnight, folks are still gathered around the picnic table in front of the shelter, swapping stories and tunes on a small guitar one hiker carries on the back of his pack. Cyclone the Real Humdinger, a gal with a great voice, entertains us with a couple of songs and passes the guitar to her partner Sherlock, who plays a few riffs. Despite some snoring by other sleepers, the lighting and thunder and driving rain through the night make us happy we¢ve chosen the shelter for our first night on the trail. -Dr. Suuz and X
Date: 2014-06-05
To: A bear and the dreaded whippoorwill
Miles today: 0.0

Calf Mountain Shelter to Blackrock HutExcept for a couple of springs on the first mile north of Calf Mountain Shelter, neither X¢s AWOL pages nor the AT Hiker App on Suuz¢s phone, show other water sources between our starting point this morning and the next shelter, Blackrock Hut. We leave camp supplied with liquids for the day, about two liters of filtered spring water apiece, some of it flavored with Gatorade powder. Even though it¢s only our second day on the trail, we know we must trek 13 miles to get to Blackrock Hut and the water we will need tonight. So much for easing back into hiking. Fortunately, the profile is forgiving. After a steep 500-foot descent we gradually climb again with many little ups and downs during the afternoon. We cross Skyline Drive, or approaches to it, seven times today, which becomes routine as we hike through Shenandoah National Park. Arriving at Blackrock Hut, we choose one of the campsites cleared in the woods near the shelter. Per our pre-hike agreement, X sets up the camp while Suuz collects and filters water. Big Agnes CS2 makes her debut as this will be the first night the Troverts¢ new tent shelters hikers. A young German is camped on a tentsite near us, and a few others drift in later to claim spots in or near the shelter. We greet Cyclone and Sherlock, the musicans from last night, and Mew Mew, a section hiker from Colorado we passed and chatted with earlier in the day. As we are cleaning up after dinner, Cyclone calls from the path near our tent, ¢Have you seen the bear?¢ A large black bear with a greying face is grazing on vegetation just across a narrow stream running alongside the path. It slowly works its way along the bank, paying no attention to the humans who are trying to capture him on their camera phones. Though Sherlock says he's glad the bear appears to be adhering to a vegetarian diet like himself, none of us leaves the path to get a close-up shot.We are just drifting off to sleep when a whippoorwill begins calling--not the peaceful intermittent call we hear at home, but a loud nonstop cacophony, rapidly repeating its name over and over and over. Then the raucous tweeter is joined by two more, making sleep almost impossible.We get a a few hours of fitful sleep when the birds quiet down for a bit. When X makes a nature call in the wee hours, she hears one of the dreaded birds start up again from trees just overhead. Others camped at Blackrock Hut that night agree it had been rough trying to sleep. Flinch and I Believe, two women hiking together, blame the whippoorwills for their oversleeping the next morning and an uncharacteristically late departure from camp. Who would have thought the most menacing creature on the trail at hiker midnight and beyond would be the dreaded whippoorwill?-Dr. Suuz and X
Date: 2014-06-06
To: Showers, laundry and food make us happy hikers!
Miles today: 0.0

Blackrock Hut to Loft Mountain CampgroundAfter getting back on the trail today, X and Suuz climb a steep half mile and stop to scramble up the tall boulder pile at Blackrock. They take in views all around in the clear morning air. It¢s the beginning of another great day on the AT.Several times today we see bear scat of rather sizable proportions in the trail but do not encounter the large bears who deposited it. A crashing in the underbrush near the trail briefly startles us, but it turns out to be a turkey hen dashing away as we approach. Following their mother are three small airborne poults struggling to fly on newly feathered wings. There is an abundance of other wildlife, including a variety of songbirds serenading us throughout the day. We hear towhees and one of Suuz¢s favorites, the reclusive but melodious wood thrush. There is another intriguing birdsong which reminds us of childhood slide whistles. Try as we might, we never spy the bird and, unable to identify the crooner, we refer to it simply as "the whistlebird.¢We hike a little over seven miles today, arriving at the Loft Mountain Store in time for an early afternoon lunch. We are happy to find our first mailed resupply box waiting for us behind the checkout counter. After purchasing sandwiches, string cheese, chips and milk, we adjourn to a shaded picnic table outdoors. Cyclone and Sherlock arrive and join us at the table. We enjoy the company and the conversation with these millennials who are on leave from jobs in Jupiter Beach, Florida. After lunch, we check in and reserve a tent site for the night. The site has a bear box to keep our food safe from critters, a break from the bear poles we¢ve used at the shelters. The campsite is fairly close to a restroom with hot and cold water and not too far from the camp store. We set up camp, then return to the store to use showers and do a load of laundry. Refreshed by warm showers and multiple shampoos, we indulge in adult beverages and snacks in the late afternoon sun while waiting for our clothes to finish in the dryer. We chat with Opus, a through hiker we met while providing trail magic June 2. He is the first of many on our trail magic list who will pass us as we hike north through Shenandoah.Clean and fortified with store bought food, we turn in for a peaceful night--much needed after last night¢s sleep deprivation.Dr. Suuz and X