morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-02-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

This entry is to help those who need it in navigating our journal:If you would like to see the gear we are using, click the GEAR link on the left menu bar. There you will also find a link to view our ABOUT ME page, photos uploaded, maildrop locations (should you like to mail us a care package or letter along our journey), and our overall STATS.Lastly, if you would like to include our journal in your FAVORITE MENU FEEDS, click on the small orange RSS icon in the bottom left corner of the page.
Date: 2009-03-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Teigan: Only two more weeks before we leave for the trail!! All the gear has been bought, and is waiting to be used. My dad and sister are planning to hike with us for the first week of the trip. Thanks dad for the ride!! You saved us a lot of money and strife. We will leave on Sunday morning (March 14th) from Minneapolis, Minnesota and head to Springer Mountain, Georgia. After 5 days, we'll have another update for you at Neels Gap, where my dad and sister take a taxi back to springer mountain and Bonnie and I continue on the trail. (I have already told my dad that he can't offer us a ride back home, no matter how much we want to leave.) Though I don't think I will take the offer, because I am too prideful. See everyone when I return!-Teigan
Date: 2009-03-16
From: MAX EPPERSON SHELTER

To: SPRINGER MOUNTAIN SHELTER
Miles today: 0.2
Weather: light rain

Teigan: ITS RAINING!!! Everything's wet. Hallon and dad don't have pack rain flys, so their stuff is really wet. That sucks. But we all got to the shelter in one piece. Bonnie: 1st Day of hiking! Today we hiked 9 miles, but of those 9 miles only 0.2 of them counted towards our great Appalachian Hike of 2,000+ miles! We hiked the Amicalola Falls approach trail, which began with a 600 step staircase! The staircase however passed across the waterfall multiple times giving some spectacular views, so it was worth it. Once on top of Springer Mountain we met a man named "Many Sleeps" who was living up there during the hiker season (approximately 3 months) and his job was to count hikers, namely thru-hikers. Teigan and I were number 32 & 33. By the end of the day he said 37 of us had passed through. That night we stayed at the Springer Mountain Shelter where we met a Romanian guy. He was one of the most intersting characters I've ever met. He first had attempted to hike the trail beginning in Maine! That means he started at the tail end of Maine's winter! He snuck into the closed Baxter State Park, without a tent or any other shelter. He said he did it because "no one told him he couldn't". I don't think he was expecting all that snow! Ultimately, he thought he was going to die and after spending only one night down there he hopped a bus to Georgia to join the rest of us. Another funny thing was that he was using a tin cookie can (the large size that we Minnesotan's usually recieve unwanted popcorn in around christmas time) as his "bear can". He thought the bears wouldn't be smart enough to get it open. And as a backup, he had three bulbs of garlic inside it to deter animals...
Date: 2009-03-20
From: JARRARD GAP

To: NEELS GAP
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: clear sky

Teigan: Today we got into Mountain Crossings, an outfitter right on the trail. Just as we came down into the store, our first bit of "trail magic" happened. A group of people had burgers for us!! I ate two, as well as dad and Hallon, and I think Bonnie ate two as well. We checked into a cabin I had reserved previously (Blood Mountain Lodge). We watched Batman and 101 Dalmations (dad's choice). We couldn't go out to eat, since the nearest towns were 16 and 24 miles away. Domino's wouldn't even deliver to us. So we ate frozen pizzas and ice cream. It was still really good. We tried to make a fire to roast marshmallows, but could get the fire going, and just ate the marshmallows in stead. Bonnie: At the outfitter's Teigan and I did the "shakedown". It is wear the gear experts went through all your gear and told you what to get rid of and what to add. We passed with flying colors! All they found in our bags that they though was excessive was our little travel sized deoderants, which they told us to chuck (and we did, much to the loss of our senses- meaning I smell bad...). Then I met the most helpful person, Winton, he owns the outfitters. This man made my blister problems disappear! Apparently since my feet had swelled a little from all the hiking (this is normal) they had overgrown the heel cup section of my $85 custom insoles. So I had to trade out those for $35 non-custom insoles. But no big problem since I bought them at REI and REI has a guarantee, meaning they will take them back.
Date: 2009-03-21
From: NEELS GAP

To: LOW GAP SHELTER
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Teigan: A lot of people in the shelter this night. We ended up having to tent. we met a really nice guy from Tennessee named Turtle, because all of his stuff was green. Hallon and dad left this morning, to head back to Minnesota. Thanks dad!! It was great to have them along. We didn't stay much longer in the cabin, after they left. It was really time to hit the trail!Bonnie: Today we weighed our packs for the first time just before leaving Neel's Gap. They were each about 25 lbs. which is well below average out here. And they was with 3 liters of water and 6 days worth of food! 2nd encounter of "trail magic". We ran into a group of alumni hikers on Cow Rock Mountain. They were handing out cookies, smiles, and conversation. It was a great surprise to find something so nice on the top of the hill! Thank you "mother nature" and friends!
Date: 2009-03-22
From: LOW GAP SHELTER

To: BLUE MOUNTAIN SHELTER
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: clear sky

Teigan: Easy hike in terms of mileage, but the hills were rough ups and downs!! The random scramble of rocks didn't make it any better. However, we did get to the shelter at 1 PM. So we sat around, built a fire, even though it was the middle of the day, and talked to people. This is probably the last day we will see Pracilla (trail name "jersey girl") since we are going to move at a faster pace than her. My sister and father met her on the trail. She is quite amiable and a lot of fun to be around. We also met two marathon runners who hiked 17 miles that day!! Everything was great at the shelter, the view on top of the mountain, the food, the company... until we all went to bed. After a few hours, I woke up to the sound of mice chewing on god knows what. GROSS!! I don't know how much I slept, but not much. They kept scurrying past my head, knocking things over. It wasn't great. We woke up early the next morning to get a good head start. No more sleeping in shelters for us!! I will at least check the shelter sign-in log for reports of mice. I wrote about the mice for other thru-hikers so they would know.Bonnie: Also while we were staying at Blue Mountain Shelter a local man hiked up about 7 miles from his house to bring us candy and apples. I'm not much for fruit, but since I've been out here apples seem like giant gemstones! The two marathon runners we met were Gavin and "Monkey Wrench".
Date: 2009-03-23
From: BLUE MOUNTAIN SHELTER

To: ADDIS GAP
Miles today: 13.4

Teigan: Today was a pretty hard day. We hiked a good 12 to 13 miles. Bonnie's feet were finally feeling better. She had to push me the rest of the way to the tent site. We have seen the same people for a few days now. Its nice to get to know them. One of them has a pit bull, which likes to bark at nothing. We had a great day with weather and "trail magic". A nice man, also a marathon runner, gave us cheese burgers and candy right before hiking Tray mountain!! I really needed that Mountain Dew.
Date: 2009-03-24
From: ADDIS GAP

To: HIAWASSEE, GA
Miles today: 5.4
Weather: broken clouds

Teigan: Hey all! We are in town today, getting more food and such. We got to the road after 5.4 miles of hiking, and a truck was waiting there, picking up backpackers and bringing them into town for $5 a piece. We said we would do it if he dropped us off at the Hostel (The Blueberry Patch) first, waited, and drove us to into town as well. So he waited, we got spots in the bunks, and made our way to town. Obviously, the first thing we wanted was to eat, so we went to an all you can eat buffet, Daniel's, and stuffed ourselves for $7.50 a piece!! Nice price. After that, we shopped for food and supplies. All around, its been a pretty good day. Now we will just have to see how hard it is to hitch-hike back to the hostel (7 miles away). Bonnie: After we ate at the AYCE buffet, Teigan waddled! (I just thought that was worth mentioning). Then at the Hostel we recieved first rate treatment. The hosts did our laundry for us, and tomorrow morning we get to look forward to an amazing home cooked breakfast! And all this for a small donation of $15.
Date: 2009-03-26
From: MUSKRAT CREEK SHELTER

To: CARTER GAP SHELTER
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: heavy intensity rain

Teigan: Rain again. The shelter was full of people, so we had to pitch a tent. It turns out that the tent started to leak as well! So it was not a great night. At least we got to eat something warm! It seems that we have picked up two hiker friends, Gavin and Racheopod. They are great fun, and hike at about the same pace as us. Gavin is a 30 year old artist from San Fransisco and Racheopod is a 22 year old bug scientist from Florida. Hopefully we can hike with them for a while.
Date: 2009-03-27
From: CARTER GAP SHELTER

To: FRANKLIN, NC
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: moderate rain

Teigan: Raining again today. Everything we own is already wet. So we decided to push through 16 miles to get to town a day early, where we will take a zero day. At the end of the trail, at the road crossing, there were two people handing out a bit of "trail magic" with snacks and hot coffee and hot chocolate. It was perfect timing. They even called for a ride for us! Racheopod, Gavin, Bonnie and I got into Franklin, looking for lodging. Because of the rain, lots of hotel and hostel rooms were already taken! A whole hotel was full, so we went to the Saffire Inn, further down the road. It's a bit far from everything else, but I don't mind the walk. Bonnie is having problems with shin splints, so the walk is a bit troublesome for her. Tonight, we went to Cody's Roadhouse, a restaurant where you throw peanut shells on the ground. I had a cheese burger and a cold beer. It was amazing! Bonnie: Today we passed the first 100 mile marker!!! And yes, I got horribly wretched, painful, shin splints.
Date: 2009-03-28
From: FRANKLIN, NC

To: FRANKLIN, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Teigan: Today is our first zero day, and in good timing too. Bonnie's shin splints are in a pretty bad condition. She is going to wrap them, ice them, and stretch and massage her muscles as much as possible. Franklin is a nice little town. We got a hotel room here for $40 with two queen sized beds!! Its funny, because the hostel costs the same price for two people. There is a free breakfast, which I missed this morning since I don't have an alarm, but tomorrow I am taking full advantage of that breakfast. Its at the First Baptist Church here. Today, we are going to do laundry, buy some supplies at the outfitters, and get food at the grocery store. We spent most of the day hanging out with Racheopod and Gavin. I made Racheopod do impersonations of all of us. She also wrote some hilarious songs on the guitar. One of them is about how a guitar is not a good hugger, and they don't have arms so they cant hug back. It was awesome. Gavin is taking off tomorrow, so we probably wont see him for a while. I got his email address and things if we ever wanted to meet up again. Bonnie: I am stuck in bed. I tried to go shopping today and when I got back I found my foot was bigger than Grandma Dory's. But I talked with the woman who runs the hostel in town, Miss Janet, and she gave me some good advice and hope regarding shin splints. I found out that unfortunately they are the #1 reason why people leave the trail because they try to tough it out and keep walking through the pain. Then they end up with stress fractures and are forced to go home. She told me to religiously stay in bed and do nothing but ice, heat, massage, and stretch for 3 full days. And then when I return to the trail, stretch every morning and every night, and massage every night. I plan to follow these orders exactly!
Date: 2009-04-04
From: BROWN FORK GAP SHELTER

To: FONTANA DAM, NC
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was an awesome day!!! Well, the morning wasn't so great, but the end was the best day ever. We woke up at 5 AM to make sure we could catch our mail drop in Fontana. The post office closes at 12PM on Saturdays, and we didn't want to come back into town on monday before leaving for the trail. We would lose alot of time that way, and may not find a spot in the shelter. The walk at 6:30 AM was really cool. The mountains are so defined between the sky, and you could see just enough on the ground to not trip. The sunrise over the mountains were beautiful, and the temperature was just right. Well, we made good enough time (12 miles in 5 1/4 hours) to catch our mail drop. We got a hitch into town from this nice old man. As we got out of the car, he said he wanted to buy us our lunch! He gave us $20 and refused otherwise. So we took it, bought supplies, and went to lunch. Another hiker and his father were at the lodge, which had the only resturaunt within miles. We talked for a bit, and as the father and son were leaving, he said that he paid for our desserts! So we thanked him, and waited for our bill, but the waitress said he paid for our whole meal! Very nice guys. Well, we walked to the general store, bought him a thank you card, and left it for his room. Bonnie: Not to mention that the lady in the outfitter's store (which already gives a 10% discount for thru-hikers) gave me another 20% off on a jacket I bought to get through the Great Smokey Mountains, since the weather is calling for snow! Ugh- I thought I had left all that behind in Minnesota! We are taking a zero day tomorrow (4/5) then heading into the smokies on Monday. It will take us about 7 days to get through the smokies, especially since the weather isn't looking good. Wish us luck and good circulation so that we may stay warm. PS- I am however looking forward to a good old fashioned snow ball fight. I think I might have an advantage over all these southerners on the trail!
Date: 2009-04-05
From: FONTANA DAM SHELTER

To: FONTANA DAM SHELTER
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Teigan: Hey all, Today is a zero day for us. We had an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast with Real (another thru-hiker, pronounced "Ray-al") and some other people. I was pretty decent. We are currently doing laundry and hanging out in the beautiful weather we are having currently. It is supposed to be windy tomorrow and snowy on Tuesday. So we are going to try to survive through that. It wont be anything like Minnesota, but its still cold. Bonnie: Also, we seam sealed our tent again today. We were supposed to before we left home, but forgot and went to see the movie "The Watchmen" instead, hence why it was leaking so badly. Then in Franklin during my forced stay we attempted to quickly seam seal it using a water based formula that Gavin had bought for us. But it only took 10 minutes of sprinkling rain to wash that away (literally, it washed right off). So we sealed it this time with super heavy duty silicon seam sealer. It should hold well. I have it all over my hands and it is very sticky so then dirt stuck all over my hands. It looks really gross but I can't wash it off. I'll have to wait for the skin to fall off.
Date: 2009-04-06
From: FONTANA DAM SHELTER

To: SPENCE FIELD SHELTER
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: light snow

TEIGAN & BONNIE: Left Fontana Dam today to enter the Great Smokey Mountains. We ran into a ridge runner who told us it was going to snow quite a bit, but because we were stubborn Minnesotans we thought we could handle it. So we hiked through the snow singing Christmas carols. It wasn't actually too bad considering we made it 16+ miles! We came to the farthest shelter within our reach and set up camp with one other thru-hiker (Bryce, a.k.a. Young Gun) and four section hikers. Believe it or not, in the Smokies the section hikers have "reservations" and can thus kick thru-hikers out of the shelters. I would have liked to see one of them try that in this blizzard. Two of the section hikers were a dad and son duo, both named Paul. They were extremely useful since they had a hatchet and a fire going. The other set was a young couple, one macho guy, and one useless prissy girl. The son Paul gave the prissy girl a trail name, "Privy Girl" because the only time she left her sleeping bag or lifted a finger was to go outside to relieve herself. Needless to say Teigan and I found her extremely irritating.
Date: 2009-04-07
From: SPENCE FIELD SHELTER

To: SPENCE FIELD SHELTER
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Teigan & Bonnie: This morning we woke up to buckets of snow still falling from the sky. Bryce/"Young Gun" attempted twice to move further north, but both attempts failed within the first half mile. The snow was too deep, and there was no one moving north of us so the trail was completely hidden. Since the next nearest shelter north of us was over 6 miles, no one from our shelter moved that day. However we did have a few people come from south of us (there were 2 shelters only miles away). One was our friend Dan/"Geetar Dan"/"Sundance" (he has quite a few trail names). This day was spent mainly fetching firewood and water. We both did a great job on getting firewood, our outdoorsy Minnesotan roots proved useful. We both also learned how to chop wood with a hatchet- it was good fun and a great way to keep warm. "Privy Girl" annoyingly took up space all day in front of the fire. Mind you she didn't once collect firewood. I asked her to help me fetch water one time when she was complaining about needing water, but she immediately shirked the idea. Instead Dan came along with me (Bonnie) wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a holey wool sweater. He didn't know the water was over a tenth of a mile away. Then late that night, six more section hikers showed up at the shelter. They were a group of students from a religious college. Four of them were well equiped for the weather, one was just barely prepared enough, but the last one showed up nearly hypothermic. He dropped his pack a mile before the shelter and still almost didn't make it. It didn't help that he was as skinny as a rail. His friends had to go back and get both him and his pack. The poor kid didn't have any proper gear. He wore all cotton except for his flannel sleeping bag and jacket, and a pair of wool socks (which he later burned by the fire because he wasn't paying attention). His shoes were a cross between trail running tennis shoes and sandals. It was insane to comprehend how he thought he could still climb the mountain when they knew there was so much snow and a blizzard still in progress! The only good part of their arrival was that the more prepared leaders of the group had brought us trail magic. Amazing oatmeal cream pies and cokes!Lastly, that night when we all went to sleep Dan earned his newest trail name. He had a broken zipper on his sleeping bag and found out that his replacement bag didn't arrive when he was in Fontana Dam. To remedy the situation, he had purchased an emergency blanket. If you don't know what those are, they resemble a cross between tinfoil and a plastic bag. Every time Dan moved that night the entire shelter was woken up to his krinkly noise. Hence we have dubbed him "Krinkles". I'm not too sure he's fond of the name, but we won't let him forget it.
Date: 2009-04-08
From: SPENCE FIELD SHELTER

To: DERRICK KNOB SHELTER
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: scattered clouds

BONNIE & TEIGAN: This mornings send of was sweet. All the section hikers decided to turn back to their cars and indoor heating, so they gave us their left over food. We were drowning in goodies! (Including eggs & bacon cooked on the fire).Hiking today was strenuous. There was 1-2 feet of snow outside! We left hoping to get 11.8 miles that day. It was a beautiful day out, the snow was pristine and the views were phenominal! We were breaking trail (me, Teigan, Dan, Bryce, and LeatherFoot) and it was hard work with snow depths ranging from ankle deep to waist deep. On average it stayed just around knee deep. The rocks and roots hiding under the snow unseen were like landmines to our knees. We each fell numerous times from stepping on something hidden. After hours of hiking we thought we should be reaching the first shelter (at 6.3 miles away) but nearly an hour after that we instead found ourselves at some gap, still 1.1 miles away from that first shelter! We were moving only about 1 mile per hour! So when we finally did reach that first shelter we decided to stay.
Date: 2009-04-09
From: DERRICK KNOB SHELTER

To: MT. COLLINS SHELTER
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: broken clouds

TEIGAN & BONNIE: Today was a beautiful day! (Except for the snow still on the ground which was slushy and a major pain). The most eventful thing that happened today was our climb up Clingman's Dome at 6643'. All the views leading up to Clingman's were fantastic, so our expectations for Clingman's were high! However, when we got there we found it overflowing with overweight tourists and their spawn. There is a parking lot a half mile from the top and on the top there is a spiral ramp and viewing deck tower. There were people using hiking sticks to make the trek from the parking lot (which is a paved path). Teigan overheard one saying "Boy, we sure are going to sleep well tonight". At the top of the tower, I caught Teigan staring and drooling over a little chubby boys potato chips. You couldn't draw her eyes away until the dad stepped in between them! We also had people poking at us and asking questions. We felt like part of the tourism sight. Like we were walking bears or something. It was a great big let down. So we left immediately back into the silence of the woods. Thank goodness!
Date: 2009-04-10
From: MT. COLLINS SHELTER

To: GATLINBURG, TN
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: light rain

TEIGAN & BONNIE: You'll never believe what the weather threw at us today! On top of all the snow, it thunderstormed and hailed! We were fed up with all the ice and snow and water in our boots. When we got to Newfound Gap there were trail angels awaiting us with hot dogs, soda, coffee, and any type of candy bar you can think of. There was one couple, Steve and Sharon Root, a former '06 thru-hiker and his wife. After they fed us they offered us a ride down to Gatlinburg, 15 miles away which was too tempting to pass up. So our "trail angel" friends drove us into town, found us a hotel to stay for cheap, laundered our clothes for us, took us grocery shopping & to the outfitter, and then treated us out to dinner (at an AYCE buffet). Their generosity was amazing, more than any person could expect from a stranger. Thank you again so very much for all you do! Hopefully we will see you at Trail Days!
Date: 2009-04-11
From: GATLINBURG, TN

To: PECKS CORNER SHELTER
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: light rain

TEIGAN & BONNIE: It was a crappy, rainy, cold, day today. We forgot to tell everyone about Gatlinburg. This town was described to us as both "quaint" and "shady". Having mixed expectations to begin with, it would be an understatement to say that we were merely shocked by what the town actually was. Floored would be a better description. It was like a mini disney world. There was a Ripley's Believe or Not, a Guiness Book of World Records, tourism shops EVERYWHERE, lines coming out of every building, rednecks galore, angry men following their shopping crazed wives, screaming children, it's hard to explain how awful this place was. There was a ski lift to take the tubbies up the mountian, and I even saw one large man using trekking poles to get through town! I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz! DON'T EVER GO THERE!