morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-01-06
To: Retirement
Miles today: 0.0

Well as they say in southern Louisiana ¢I went and did it yesterday¢. I turned in my retirement notice. My last day of work will be February 20th and then on March 14th I will start my thru-hike. I posted on Facebook for the first time about my trip and was overwhelmed by the comments from so many friends. Thank you all¢¦..I had not planned on doing any food drops along the way due to the logistics and I wanted to keep my journey simple with no pre-arranged deadlines or places I had to be. After talking to ¢I Believe¢ and Jimmy I have decided to do a food drop at Fontana Village since I know I will be going there anyway. I may also do another one before entering the 100 mile wilderness but not exactly sure yet.So last night I broke out the dehydrator and started dehydrating a batch of spicy chicken I made. This is a great little recipe, easy to prepare and dehydrates very easily. I get most of my recipes out of the book ¢Backpack Gourmet¢ by Linda Frederick Yaffe. Tonight I will make another simple dish of saucy tuna and pasta. Cathy is going to make her Taco Soup this week for me. This is a great delicious meal when you are cold and hungry.It¢s a waiting game now but time is nearing and the trail is calling¢¦¢¦.Until we meet on the trail¢¦¢¦.
Date: 2015-02-13
To: My Team
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I am down to 5 work days left before my official retirement. This is my team that I work with and will surely miss when I am gone. As others have mentioned I am also getting a little nervous as my start date nears. Only 4 weeks left and I have picked up another hiker to do the approach trail with me. My daughter¢s friend Cate will join us also. I am sure we will all have a great time and lasting memories.I am so ready to go but will nervously wait until March 14th.Until we meet on the trail¢¦¢¦
Date: 2015-02-21
To: Retirement
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Yesterday was my last day at work. I am officially retired for 3 weeks until I start my new job as a Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. I have to give it to those that have already started to be able to tolerate the weather that they are seeing. Sure hope it improves over the next three weeks. Tonight I cooked 55 ribeye steaks for my men¢s group at my church. I had never cooked for that many people so I was a little worried but it turned out fine. I can now focus on getting things around the house ready for my absence and finish up my preparations. I also plan on hiking with my pack daily to get use to it.I¢m thinking that I probably won't realize that I am retired until I get back home. I do believe that the trail will be a good transition to retirement.Until we meet on the trail¢¦¢¦¢¦.
Date: 2015-02-23
To: Precious Gift
Miles today: 0.0

The most precious gift that anyone can give you is one that only really has a true meaning to the person giving the gift and the person receiving the gift. Cindy Crawford, Lauren Crawford Shabapour, Kelley Crawford, thank you so much for giving me Bill's Trekking Pole. I know exactly where many of those scrapes came from and will treasure this gift forever. If it hadn't been for Bill letting me tag along with him to The Winds in 2008 I probably would not be getting ready to take off on this adventure of mine. If you have read the ABOUT section on this journal you will know that I have dedicated this hike to Bill.I have also decided that I will use Bill¢s trekking pole on the Approach Trail. I will give it to my wife when she picks up my daughters and friends for her to take home for safe keeping. This will be in honor of Bill for everything that he did for me.In the picture you can see Bill¢s trekking pole that he is leaning on.Time is short (less than 3 weeks) and I¢m very nervous but can¢t wait to take that first step through the Arches on the Approach Trail.Until I see you on the trail, Happy Hiking¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦Bean Counter Class of 2015
Date: 2015-03-01
To: Sunday School Class Lunch Send-Off
Miles today: 0.0

Today was my last Sunday at church before leaving on my journey. Next week we will be out of town and the following Sunday I will be on the trail. I attend St. Andrew¢s United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. My Sunday School Class (The Remnants)took my wife and me out to lunch today for my retirement and a send-off for my journey. Thanks Donna for organizing this and to everyone who took time out of their busy schedule to come send me off. This is a great group of people that I know will keep an eye out for Cathy while I¢m gone.I will miss you over the next few months but I know I will be in your thoughts and prayers. By the way if you get new members while I am gone make sure you save me a seat. What a great turn out we had today in class.Time is getting very short before my start date and I have little time to finish my to do list but I know I will get everything done.Until I see you on the trail¢¦¢¦.Bean Counter
Date: 2015-03-13
To: Last Night Before Leaving
Miles today: 0.0

We made the 11 hour trip from Baton Rouge to Amicalola Park today. Our friends Butch and Nancy were at the lodge waiting on us when we arrived. Since our cabin was not ready we had dinner while waiting and after dinner I was standing at the check in desk when I heard my wife loudly introducing someone to our friends. I could not even begin to imagine who she had run into that she knew. It's a joke with us that she can't go anywhere without seeing someone that she knows. After a couple of minutes I look up and there was my brother and sister. I had no idea that they were coming. I couldn't have received a better send off surprise. Thanks Sandra and Joe. Our cabin still wasn't ready so while having a refreshment we got to face time with my nieces, husbands and children along with my brother-in-law Rick. After having to wait for our cabin for so long the lodge came through and gave us a free breakfast and our cabin at no charge. The folks at the desk couldn¢t have been more friendly.When I picked this date I didn't realize that there was a big race starting from here in the morning at 8:00. I was hoping to leave at 9:00 but will play it by ear. My daughter Stephanie and Cate just arrived so we all here at the cabin now. We had to make one other change in plans after we were told that it wasn't probably safe to drive up to the parking lot unless we had 4 wheel drive or was a veteran seasoned driver in the mud. Not wanting to make my wife drive in something she isn't comfortable doing my party will walk part way and then turn around and I will keep going. I¢m sure this is only the first time I will be having to adjust my plans.I am so excited that I probably won't get much sleep tonight. Thanks to everyone that is following me and all the well wishes I have received.
Date: 2015-03-14
From: Approach trail

To: Springer Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.2
Weather: light rain

Well I finally made it off. I had a great send off and wonderful companionship with the girls for the first 4 miles. Due to road conditions Cathy couldn't pick them up so they walked 12 way and then turned around and went back while I kept going. Met up with David from Gadsden Al who is thru hiking. He doesn't have a trail name yet. Also met Crazy Tree who is walking with David for a few days. We made it to Springer Mountain which is the official starting point for the AT at about 3:30. I took a couple of pictures and walked .2 miles to the Springer Mountain shelter. The shelter is quite small but there are a lot of hikers in tents. I was wet, muddy and hungry when I finally got here. Got my tent up, cooked dinner, hung my food (so the Bears don't get it) and refilled my water. I got out of my wet clothes and now I am dry sitting on my sleeping bag typing this journal.Tomorrow I will meet up with How Far and Beeps and hike with them. The weather is suppose to clear up and be beautiful next week. I sure hope so.I was the 420th person to sign in at The visitors center as a thru hiker this year. Not everyone signs in so this isn't really an indication of how many folks are on the trail.I want to give a shout out to Lil Trail Dancer and tell you that dreams do come true. Work hard and never give up on your dream.Although I hiked 9 miles today I have only officially hiked .2 miles of the AT. If you have any questions please either sign my guest book or send me a message. I will try to answer all of them as fast as I canBean Counter
Date: 2015-03-15
From: Springer Mountain Shelter

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: few clouds

Today has been a great day. Last night was cold and very windy on top of Springer Mountain. The worst part was this morning when I had to put back on my wet clothes. I was packed up by hiking by 8:30. Made it to Stover Creek shelter and the two guys I hiked with yesterday were just leaving. I stayed for a few minutes and talked to two local Georgia boys who were out for the weekend. I will post their picture when I get some cell service.I caught up with a guy from Plymouth Mass and hiked along with him for the rest of the day. Very nice guy that I hope to hike with some more. We came across our first trail magic today. Charles and his crew had all kind of snacks and water for us. People do trail magic out of the goodness of their hearts. They don't ask for anything in return they just enjoy doing it.We got to Hawk Mountain Shelter at about 2:00 and were the first hikers here. I laid everything out to dry and sit around talking to hikers as they strolled into camp. For everyone that asked me if I was hiking alone there are probably over 50 hikers here tonight. Two hikers that hiked the entire trail last year are here doing a hike to Neels Gap and provided a lot of good info to all of us greenhorns. Someone built a fire and I sit around it until I got cold and decided to call it a night.I have met folks from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Maine, West Virginia, California, Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Arkansas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and I have probably missed a few. Yesterday was very wet and tiring but today has been great. Just what I was expecting.
Date: 2015-03-16
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: clear sky

Today we off got started about 8:30. I was hiking with How Far and Dusty Pilgrim. It was a beautiful day to hike but we has two tough mountains to go over today, Sassafras and Justus. At the bottom of Sassafras there was a trail angel with gallons of water for us to refill from. Super nice guy by the name of Al Jones. (Deacon- trail name) We pretty much kept seeing the same folks on the trail today. We would pass them and then they would pass us. We had the Minnesota girls as I will call them since I can't remember their trail names, Boss Man who is going to change his trail name and his wife, Sunflower Wiawak and others that I don't have their names. It was sad that this young guy that I had been talking to this morning at the shelter came passing by us very fast on the trail and said he had to get off and go home because his house had burned down. He seem like a really bright young adult that knew what he wanted out of life and had a plan to get there.We didn't get to the shelter until about 5:00 pm and then you have to find a tent site, get water, set up tent, cook dinner, type up journal and then it's time to go to bed. We are at Gooch Mountain Shelter tonight. Tomorrow we will try to make Lance Creek. This is the last place you can camp without putting your food in a bear canister until you get to Neel Gap.
Date: 2015-03-17
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Lance Creek
Miles today: 8.5

Today Dusty Pilgrim, How Far and myself left Gooch Mountain Shelter at about 8:30 and made it to Lance Creek at about 4:00. My tent site was down hill last night and I kept waking up pushed all the way to the bottom of the tent. I slept good but work up every couple of hours having to slide back up in my tent. It was a good day hiking with great views from Preacher Rock. You have to stop at Lance Creek unless you have a bear canister until you get to Neel Gap. There are a lot of campers here tonight and everyone is tightly close together. As I am typing Gretchen from Maine is playing her and singing. She and two of her friends she met while working in the Peace Corps are thru-hiking. Today at Woody Gap 4 ladies were providing trail magic in the form of hot dogs, baked beans, and for any veteran the gave us a special cookie. Tomorrow we hope to get a bed at either the hostel at Mountain Crossing or at the Blood Mountain cabins. It time to get a bath and wash my clothes. I am starting to smell myself. Looks like we may have some rain coming in tomorrow night
Date: 2015-03-18
From: Lance Creek

To: Blood Mountain Cabins
Miles today: 7.4

We were up and going by 8:00 this morning, about 45 minutes quicker than the prior days. It takes a little while to get your routine down. You have to get all your gear backed, take down your tent, eat something, filter your water for the day and then hit the trail. I was very excited today because we were going to make my first mini goal of getting to Mountain Crossings and taking a zero tomorrow. A zero is when you just take a day off to rest, eat as as much as you can, wash clothes and take a shower. I was starting to smell myself and it was also forecasted to rain 100% tomorrow, so even more of a reason to take a zero. My plans are to take one zero each week and I have already been on the trail for 5 days now.We climbed Blood Mountain today which I believe is the highest peak in Georgia. It had great views but we didn't stay very long because we wanted to beat the "Young Guns" ( those younger than us that just fly by us all day) to get to Blood Mountain Cabins and get us a cabin for 2 nights before they got them first. How Far and Dusty Pilgrim said I was like a horse going home to the barn. We got our cabin though. For $40 each we got a cabin for two nights and our clothes washed and the owners are so nice. We tried to give them a tip for washing our clothes but they wouldn't accept it. I heard they just sold this place.Have tried to upload all my pictures but there isn't enough internet service to get them all uploaded. They have wifi at the office so I will go over there tomorrow and see if I can get it to work.So far this journey is exactly what I thought it would be like. I have having a ball and after these five days I know I can do the physical part of the trip. I will just have to focus on the mental part as I get further into the journey.Bean Counter
Date: 2015-03-19
From: Blood Mountain Cabins

To: Blood Mountain Cabins
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today is a zero day at Blood Mountain Cabins. I have been sitting by the fire using the wifi at the office. That was so nice since it is cold and raining. I am back in the cabin now writing my journal for the day. I am using the notes app on my iPad to type the journal and then cutting and pasting into the journal. This way I don't need Internet access to type it.My youngest daughter Stephanie's fifth grade elementary class at River Oaks Elementary in Baton Rouge is following me and they have sent me some questions that I will try to answer.1. What type of animals have you come across on your hike so far? I actually haven't seen many at all yet although I have seen some squirrels, birds and one snake.2. What type of bears are you having to tree your food far? Black bears are the only bears along the AT.3. What food have you been eating? So far I have been eating cereal, pop tarts, tuna, snickers, and pasta.4. The girls want to know if you packed soap and a towel. I did pack soap and a very small towel but there are not many places you can get cleaned up until you come into a town. You start to smell pretty bad.5. Is the area beautiful? The area is very beautiful looking out over the mountains.6. Have you needed to climb a tree yet? Not yet and I hope I never have to.7. How do you sanitized your water? I use a sawyer filter that you screw on one end of. Smart Water bottle and squirt the dirty water through into a clean bottle. Next time you are at Walmart go to the camping section and look at one. I will post a picture later of it.8. Do you know how to start a fire? That I can do. I was in Boy Scouts for many years and perfected how to start a fire.9. Are there leeches in the river you bath in? I haven't seen a river to bath in but when I get to Maine where there are a lot of rivers to cross I would bet there will be some but I am not positive that is true. Maybe you can look that up for me and see if leeches are in all rivers. That would be a big help to me.Thank you for sending me those questionsI also need to correct something I posted about Blood Mountain being the tallest peak in Georgia. The tallest peak is Brasstown Baid but BloodMountain is the tallest peak on the AT in Georgia. Thanks Ashley for getting me correct on this.
Date: 2015-03-20
From: Blood Mountain Cabins

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

It was nice staying in the cabin but I won't get to Maine if I don't start walking again. We started walking in the clouds but the forecast was for clear skies later in the afternoon but you can guess what happened Rain. Got into camp at Low Gap at about 4.30, got the tent set up, cooked dinner, hung the food bag and was in my sleeping bag by 6.00. We actually have some cell service here so I took the chance to give Cathy a call to check in. I have been trying to upload some pictures into the Flickr account but that is a very slow process and haven't gotten as many uploaded as I would have liked. We went over several mountains today but we were in the clouds and not able to take any pictures of the views.Last night 10 of us staying at the cabins got a shuttle into Blairsville to eat at a great little Italian restaurant. It was really good or I was just so hungry I didn't know.After everyone stopped at Neel's Crossing we have lost touch with most of the group we were with for the first 5 days. Most of the young guns as I call them didn't take a zero day and kept going. We will probably never see them again. About the only folks camped here tonight are the 10 that went to dinner last night and a lot of folks I have never met.
Date: 2015-03-21
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Cheese Factory
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: broken clouds

This morning after surviving the rain and wind all night we packed up everything wet and took off. The first couple of hours were good hiking and the sun finally showed its face. Thank Goodness!!! The first big climb we had today was Blue Mountain and we made it to the shelter at the top and stopped for lunch. How Far, Dusty Pilgrim and me have been hiking together for the past week and Dusty developed a blister on his little toe that has been bothering him. By the way we were named The Three Amigos by our little hiking group. Dusty Pilgrim told us to go ahead and he would catch up with us later. I thought we would probably never see him again. All the way down Blue Mountain I kept telling How Far that I sure wish someone would be at Unicoi Gap with a cold drink to give us. When we got down I saw Colt 45 drinking a cold drink and asked him where he got it. He said to look in the garbage bag on the ground and he thought there was at least one coke left. Well I thought How Far and I would have to fight over that last coke but lucky for us there were two left. It sure tasted good. As we were sitting there drinking our drink no other than "The Miss Janet" pulled up in her van. Miss Janet is a legend on the trail following the bubble of hikers north proving rides for them.Just as we were getting ready to take off up Blue Mountain Dusty Pilgrim showed up and took off with us. Blue Mountain was a bear to climb and by the time we got to the top Dusty Pilgrim said he would see us later because he couldn't go any further. I don't know if we will see him again or not. That is the way it is out here, you are walking with someone for several days and become friends and just like that they are gone. I guess we are the two amigos now.As we were coming down Blue Mountain we met a young couple day hiking from Atlanta that told us that there was someone at the bottom providing trail Magic. That's all How Far and me needed to hear because we were dead tired and hungry and still had a couple of miles to go. As we neared the bottom we could see the folks proving the trail magic packing up and thought we were too late. When they saw us they took everything back out and we had two barbecue sandwiches, chips, cookies and a couple of cokes. They were the Smith Family from south central Georgia out providing trail magic. They hope to hike the trail when they retire. They were so nice and even gave me an apple and another coke to take with me.I think Cathy would enjoy providing trail magic. Maybe next year we can do some. We made it to the Cheese Factory tent site ( I assume there was a cheese factory of some kind here at on time) and there are only three of us here tonight. Most everyone either went into town tonight or to the next shelter at Tray Mountain. We did our biggest day today covering 14 miles. We have 13 miles to do tomorrow to try and get to Top of Georgia Hostel to stay tomorrow night.Everything is still good and having a great time. Until TomorrowBean Counter
Date: 2015-03-22
From: Cheese Factory

To: Dick's Creek Gap
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning I woke up to rain drops hitting the tent thinking I would have to pack up in the rain but it quit before we had to get out of our sleeping bags. Today How Far, Phillip Anderson, and myself walked together to the Top of Georgia Hostel. It was another pretty long day for us but we made it although it did rain the last hour of hiking. We got our ride to the Hostel and got a quick shower, put on our scrubs they give you to wear while they wash their clothes. We then got the shuttle into Hiawassee to the Daniel's all you can eat restaurant. I ate way more than I should have but the awkward situation was how we were dressed. Scrubs and crocs, quite a site. I do have a picture I will post when I get a chance.Tomorrow the forecast is for rain but unless it is flooding we will probably take off and make the best of it. If all goes well we will leave Georgia and be in North Carolina.
Date: 2015-03-23
From: Dick's Creek Gap

To: Bly Gap
Miles today: 9.0

We slept in the hostel last night and I had a top bunk that was very warm. Did not sleep well at all. Since the forecast was for 70% chance of rain this morning we decided to stay until we had to check out at 10 am. We did eat a good breakfast of eggs, grits, sausage and toast with real coffee. I say real because all I have had is instant. Just not the same. Just as we were getting ready to leave the sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Our goal today was to make it to the North Carolina border and we did. We are starting to hike much stronger now. It still hurts going up hill but getting better every day. We met a few thru hikers today but the crowd is much thinner since we left Neels Gap. I have been told that over 25% of the hikers quit by this point.My picture that I took of the Smith's providing trail magic won the photo of the day at #hikingtheat on Instagram. That was exciting. We made it to the camp site right passed the state border at about 4:00 and had plenty of time to get all our chores done and eat before dark. Tomorrow we will probably up our miles a few and decide if we will go into Franklin NC in a couple of days or push on the NOC.I hope everyone is enjoying my journal and if you have any questions just go to my guest book on the left side of this screen and ask me. I will try to answer all your questions.Happy HikingBean Counter