morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-03-25
From: HEADLAMP SPRING (unofficial) mile # 314.9

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: few clouds

In camp by 3:45 pm. The Great Whazoo gets the "HIKER OF THE DAY AWARD x 2"For the first of my daring deeds, I was walking along the trail trying to adjust a strap on my pack when I inadvertently missed my footing. I spun into a barrel roll and went flying down a 75 yard steep embankment and landed on my pack. I slid about 25-30 feet down before I could get stopped. Thankfully there were no trees for me to crash into and thankfully I stopped as soon as I did. Uninjured, I tried to quickly get back up to the trail before Headlamp could discover my malady, but alas, I was too late. He came up to me firstly and asked "Are you alright" (this is our rule, you must first find out if your partner is hurt before you are allowed to laugh). When I said that I was unhurt, Headlamp went into hysterics. Secondly, in the evening at camp, I, The Great Whazoo, cleaned out my dinner pot and then threw my dishwater out the front of the shelter and directly onto my kilt that was hanging out to dry.
Date: 2005-03-26
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Miss Janets
Miles today: 6.3

Ah!! civilization. It's good to be in town. We got onto the trail at 5:25 am and began hiking in the pre-dawn hours. Driven by hunger, inspired by diners, we pressed on in the expectation that it would not be too much longer before food and lots of it, would be in our possession. We arrived at Miss Janet's ( awesome place that I will speak more of later) at around 8:15 am and they set us down to a wonderful breakfast of quiche, potatos, rolls, coffee, oj. More later, got to go for now.
Date: 2005-03-28
From: Miss Janets

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: light rain

Well, here I sit at Miss Janets at 5:30 am. We are supposed to be taken back to the trail this morning at 7 am. Outside there is thunder and lightning, the rain is pelting the side of the house like a sandblaster and the wind has been howling for a few hours. Sounds like a great day to hike. I'm going to have some coffee and a poptart, wake up Headlamp, and we'll be out of here shortly. Oh yes, the temperture, don't know. See you the next time we're near a town. The day remained cold and wet and snowy. Met HiVi and dog (section hiker) and DreamMaker + a guy with 3 children. Ate and went to bed
Date: 2005-03-29
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

5:15 pm and it's just Headlamp and I at the shelter thus far. Met "Strider", a former thru hiker who used to be called "20 miler", and Don. Strider wishes he had taken it a little slower and enjoyed it more. Also met a guy and 2 young boys from Indiana, all Christians, at a shelter. A good time was had talking with them. Will get their pics posted asap. Got soaked by a late day storm. Gee! does this kind of phenom occur often on the AT?
Date: 2005-03-30
From: Roan High Knob

To: Apple House Shelter
Miles today: 14.7

Beautiful day - 75-80 degrees. In camp by 1:30 pm. All my clothes are dry, and I'm hungry - as usual. We were on the trail by 6 am. We enjoy hiking even in the predawn hours. Round Bald and Jane Bald were beautiful. Did not go to Overmountain Shelter, (a large barn), but we did get some pics after we climbed the next mtn. Life is good on the trail and God is good on the trail.
Date: 2005-03-31
From: Apple House Shelter

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: light rain

Happy Birthday Headlamp!!! Started hiking at 5:25 am, done by 3:10 pm. Great day. Saw some beautiful country. Saw a grouse today and 4 of them yesterday. We are pumped for tomorrow. We'll leave at 0 dark thirty and be in a hostel the next day before 8 am and then on to town to "eat", "eat", "eat" and to resupply. Did I mention eating? Saw Jones Falls today. It was a thing of beauty and well worth the .1 mile to see. I suggested to Headlamp that this would be a good spot to propose to the future Mrs. Headlamp. Headlamp was not receptive to the idea.
Date: 2005-04-01
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 6.0

In hostel by 8 am. Got breakfast with Feeble Kenevel, Whiskers, Lizard, Cat, Scarecrow. They were just serving it up when we got in. What luck!! We gladly did the dishes afterwards. Went to town for an "all you can eat" pizza lunch. Headlamp & I got a 1/2 gallon of icecream "to go" to eat at the hostel. I'm now writing some postcards and do other misc. stuff.
Date: 2005-04-02
From: Kincora Hostel

To: Kincora Hostel/Trail Maintenance
Miles today: 0.0

Today it's rainy, windy, and snowy. We've dicided to lay over another day and assist Bob and Pat of Kincora Hostel in a day of trail maintenance. What were we thinking? Bob had arranged for a crew from Appalachian State University and others to participate in the day. Note: Hippy Longstockings and I are awesome trail maintainers. Really it was a great time and I learned a lot about trail maintenance and gained a great appreciation for those who contribute 100's of hours to the task. Just a word about Bob and Pat who run Kincora Hostel. Two finer people do not exist. Thanks for all your kindness. A must stopping off place on your way to Maine. P.S. Bob has a million great trail stories. Jack & Jill, Heidi, Feather, 4 Cheese, and a bunch more came in for the night. Observation: Thru hikers, for the most part, are really a friendly, caring, and giving bunch. If you come into a hostel and find that you've missed the grocery run, someone in the bunch will make sure that you get plenty to eat. That's cool!
Date: 2005-04-03
From: Kincora Hostel

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 8.9

Slack packed today back to Kincora. Slackpacking is when someone takes you out by vehicle and then you hike back to your base camp with a minimal pack. Just water and a little food. We got back to Kincora and consumed mass quantaties of food. It still amazes me how much food we can consume. We are always in a caloric defecit mode. It ought to be a good trick to stop eating so much when we get back to our normal lives.
Date: 2005-04-06
From: Damascus, Va

To: Damascus, Va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Going to skip ahead and make this entry first in case I'm kicked off the computer due to time constraints. We're in Damascus, VA, today resupplying. Staying at a nice hostel called "The Place" run by the Methodist church here in Damascus. Had my goatee trimmed by a barber today as it had become unmanageable, unkempt, and unsightly. We came in from Iron Mountain Shelter yesterday, a 26 mile hike. Felt good and we got into town by 3:30 pm yesterday. Life is good on the trail. We've met a ton of really great people, some are even as nuts as I am. I will be putting a lot more pics on my site as soon as I can find a library with the capability to download the pics.
Date: 2005-04-09
From: Wise Shelter

To: Troutdale Hostel
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: clear sky

Ran into Boy Scout troop 244 while hiking today. Nice group. Beautiful day. Got a little sun on my beautiful, white head. Into Troutdale today to resupply and hang out in the super nice hostel ran by the Baptist church. Headlamp and I had an amazing meal prepared by your's truly. Hot dogs, beans, and some Cadbury egg knockoffs. The hot dog water turned a pretty red color as I cooked them. I observed an beautiful red haze when I threw the hotdog water away into the sun.. Who says red dye is not good for anything. I also sewed 2 buttons onto a shirt today. I'm so domesticated!! Ran into Senor Nobs, and the Newlyweds (now called Blazing Ivy and Wunderlust). They told us that there were a lot of hikers sick on the trail right now. Hope they get better soon.
Date: 2005-04-13
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Bland, Va.
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: light rain

High 30's today with heavy rain. Ducked into Bland for the night. Starting getting too cold. Crossed Little Wolf Creek 12+ times today. I fell in the middle of the stream once but managed to land on a big rock and not get wet. I was a shoo-in for "Hiker of the Day", but alas, Headlamp, not to be so easily outdone, really came up with a "boner". He fell big'time into the stream, got wet, muddy, the works! Beaten again!!
Date: 2005-05-11
From: Docs Knob S.

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

For those of you who have not heard, I have gotten off the trail. I had servere numbness and pain in my left foot that continued to grow worse. I'm back at home for now, but not defeated. We will back up, regroup, look into getting orthodics, and will be back to thru hike in a year or to. I have a 100 or so photos that I will get up on this site before too long.
Date: 2005-02-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, here we are at just a little before a week until we drive to Springer! I've been so worried about making all the right plans that I just realized that I forgot how much fun this is going to be. Just laying out gear tonight reminded me of being a kid and embarking on a grand adventure. I can hardly contain myself.Things are falling into place quite nicely, and I'm now able to focus on the things that have drawn me to the AT for many years now, such as: the community of thru-hikers, the ups and downs (physically, yes, but I really meant emotionally and spiritually), the beautiful views all to yourself, and most of all: TIME. I don't have to be anywhere for anyone, and I can take my time doing things I enjoy. Namely, I can go for big walk with my wonderful wife until we climb a big mountain in Maine. ("Lord willin' and the creek don't rise," as they say, "they" being "them" or "those people," primarily Southern Appalachian people. I reckon I am one.)There is no pressure to be a consumer, benefit from injustice, participate in social apathy, or maintain status quo. Those things will be left behind, and we will seek to be purely human, to flirt with harmony and to let it transform us. How far will we go? Only God knows. Sometimes, I wish She would tell us the outcome of our hike. But if God did that, we would no longer have to put our trust in Her. (If the feminine language for God trips you out, I'm sorry. I prefer it because too many people think God actually has a penis.) (She doesn't have a vagina either.) Just stay posted, and I'll try to post as many theological reflections as possible. And if the conversation of God's genitalia is what you're going to cite as your reason not to read on, just give me another chance. I'll call God a He too sometimes.Thanks for reading. Until next time.I'm just a Tennessee Walker.Joshua Ashton Hill
Date: 2005-03-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

A guitar string must be stretched almost to its limit before it will sing the note it was built for. Driving here today, I was stretched, almost to the point of tears. I felt ready to pop at the bridge, like I was wound too tightly. Springer Mountain was totally hypothetical, a meandering of naive adventure, but now I see it. It¢s real. The trail really does start here and I really do have to leave the comfort of my cozy life. We registered a Northbound thru hike at the Amicolola Falls State Park visitor center. Our packs are weighed in at 36 lbs and 33 lbs. Michael Inow took us to Dahlonega for dinner, to a freaky cool coffee shop/caf© with an eclectic decor of local crafts (quilts, pottery) and world cultures. Somehow though, I was unimpressed. The magnitude of this thing was hitting me and all I could do was cut, chew, swallow, repeat in silence. We met up with a couple of guys at the shelter who told of a Pennsylvania man who broke his foot on the approach trail today, not even making it to Springer¢s Summit and technically without having hiked a single mile of the Appalachian Trail. It¢s a beautiful night, cozy shelter, but I¢m banking on not much sleep. I guess tomorrow we have to just start walking. I¢m just a Tennessee Walker,Josh Hill
Date: 2005-03-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

How do you find the friggin¢ AT? USFS road maps can be quite confusing. Needless to say, we got there; however, we lost a good bit of time getting started. We ended up 7.6 miles in at the Hawk Mountain Shelter. Several other folks are here for the night including a couple from Wales, a couple from Canada and Israel, and older gentleman from New Jersey (John) and a lady from middle Tennessee who calls herself DATA We went at a nice leisurely pace, landing us here at Hawk Mountain right around 4 pm. Chores took longer than I thought but that includes a nice campfire. I¢m beginning to nurse both heels for blisters. I think if we keep going nice and easy, my boots will have mercy. The stars are beautiful tonight, as is Mac and Cheese, Hannah, shelters, and privies. I keep coming back to one thought, given to me by Miss Janet of the Hostel in Erwin: ¢How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.¢ We plan to keep on munchin¢. I¢m just a Tennessee Walker,Josh Hill
Date: 2005-03-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Whew! What a day! Thirteen of the most taxingly hiked miles ever. Leaving Hawk Mountain at 8:30 we arrived at a campsite just below Cedar Mountain at approximately 5:30 p.m. We took 1 hour and 30 minutes for lunch at Gooch Mountain shelter. I hate it didn¢t work out for us to stay there, it was really nice. Anyway, from 7.6-20.6 MFS (miles from Springer) Wingfoot notes 8 Gyss. That means 8 mountains went up and down. Kind of like a roller coaster except really slow. As I write, the howling wind reminds me of a passage from David Brill¢s As Far as the Eye Can See. He writes of camping in a mountain gap in Georgia during an awful windstorm and nearby tornado. He recounts the sounds of trees and limbs crashing to the forest floor around him as he lies awake in his puny little tent, praying for the dawn¢s arrival. I thought of that account because we too are camping tonight in a mountain gap! Did I mention that we walked through 8 of them today?!? And in every one of them you could see the wrath of the monstrous wind that pushes its way through these Georgia mountains, showing no mercy. We lay now in a forest clearing with grass, a nice fire ring, and total privacy (a nice change from last night). But Brill¢s words haunt me as I think of the devastation at every gap. Once stately and magnificent, giant red oaks and hickories lay horizontal, no match for the powerful wind. All about, as I write, the decaying fibers of these grand hardwoods creak, as if gasping for the grace of a wind that turns a hundred-year old tree into a matchstick. I think that Brill¢s book is making me a little more nervous about this whole camping in mountain gap thing, especially since he ended the segment by swearing he¢d never camp in a gap again. So I¢ll go on... There are plenty more things for me to worry about during the night ¢ take last night, for instance, in the shelter ¢ ¢Are mice going to eat food from my beard? Is a bear going to jump up in the shelter? Is that ¢DATA¢ ever going to stop snoring?!¢ At least we were with people...false security, perhaps. Tonight we¢re all alone, and we have a decent campfire because God sent an agel to gather wood and leave it perfectly stacked and ready to go! We¢ll see if this camping thing is better for us than a shelter. Stay posted.I¢m just a Tennessee Walker, Josh Hill
Date: 2005-03-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Why can¢t there just be free cheeseburgers right off the trail every so often? I¢ve had the most crazy cravings for a huge cheeseburger! Oh well. I guess dehydrated beans and Minute rice will have to do. Last night worked out great. Doing it again tonight. Have some bear bag issues, I guess we need a longer, stronger piece of nylon cord. We crossed through Neels Gap and ate at the outfitters ¢ way cool store! We did about 10 miles today and plan another 10 miles tomorrow. No cell phone service yet; sorry to any worry-ers. I¢m spent.I¢m just a Tennessee Walker,Josh Hill
Date: 2005-03-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Low Gap Shelter by 4 pm. Today we did about 10 miles from Bull Gap. That makes 41 MFS. We had our first taste of trail magic and slack packing today. As we came off a steep descent, a man passed us south bound, saying ¢there¢s trail magic¢ in the parking lot. I must have walked that mile in about 2 minutes, all the while shouting, ¢Don¢t leave! We¢re coming! Sho¢ nuff, when we got to the lot, there were people there from Appalachian Trail Servants. We got Doritos, Pepsi, oatmeal creme pies, and pudding. Then, they offered to slack pack us a mile (a really steep mile). Hmmm, let me think about it. OK!So tonight we landed at a shelter full of cool, fun people. Eric from Vermont, a couple from Colorado, Andrew & Amanda, and couple of guys from University of South Carolina out on spring break. Right now people are playing cards and we¢re having fun quoting Napoleon Dynamite. GOSH! I¢m beginning to feel true fatigue. As an experienced day-hiker who¢s done as many as 42 miles in a day, I thought it¢d be a cakewalk to do 15 miles per day. But backpacking is much different. Carrying 30+ pounds really works on your bod, in a different kind of way. Yes, you eat more and you just think of food you can¢t have. The common AT hiker slogan ¢No Pain, No Rain, No Maine¢ came true today as we hauled our aching bodies up and down, up and down for 10 miles, the last 3 in the rain. Personally, I think conversation of Maine is premature when you¢ve only hiked 41 miles, so I made up a new one: ¢On the AT there¢s pain, rain, strain, you¢re insane, and no one gives you lo mein.¢ Maybe there should be a similar adage about North Carolina that¢s more appropriate. The only problem is that the only word I can think of that rhymes with North Carolina starts with a ¢v¢ and ends with ¢a gina.¢Tomorrow we plan on reading the weather and our pain, probably trying for 7-15 miles. I¢m just a Tennessee Walker,Josh HillP.S. I love Hannah
Date: 2005-03-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Blue Mountain ShelterI woke up wet and cold. SNOW! You say you¢re prepared but when it actually happens to you while you¢re 10 miles in the back country, ¢It¢s pretty¢ is not your first thought. To avoid stripping down to change clothes, I just hiked in what I slept in, slowly so as to reduce sweating. Now I¢m sleeping in the same clothes again. The exact same people are at this shelter tonight, but they¢re all enjoying the warmth of a full tent. We left ours at home in favor of less weight and the ¢fastpacking¢ option, whcin is when you use a ground tarp, poles, and a rain fly ¢ yet no tent body. It¢s great for rain and snow, just not wind, something no one really even told us about.Speaking of wind, we arrived at the Blue Mountain Shelter and found a giant piece of plastic to drape across the front opening. It¢s doing the job so far!We covered only about 7.5 miles today which puts us at 48.3 MFS on our 5th night, bringing our average miles per day to below 10. The snow really slowed us down a lot because we didn¢t want to gamble with bad weather. For that reason, when we reached the shelter at 1 pm, we ¢called it a day,¢ so to speak.The brand new $25 Ultralight Drybag we purchased at Neel¢s Gap already has a broken handle strap and a puncture so our bear bag worries aren¢t totally resolved. Eric, from Vermont, uses Wal-Mart bags. He¢s quite and experiences backpacker, out for Maine again this year, after last year¢s thru hike ended in Connecticut. I haven¢t bathed in a full week. I brush my teeth about every day, whether I need to or not, and I have ¢homeless hands¢ and face. My hair is matted, my clothes are stinky, and I want a cheeseburger. That having been said, I¢m having a blast.I hope Hannah is; I think she¢s beginning to get used to it and is doing a great job with Chaya. We¢re still walking into our trail legs, so we¢re happy with where we are. As ¢they¢ say, ¢It¢s not about the miles, it¢s about the miles.¢Hannah is still making me smile. We just figured out how to zip our sleeping bags together, so off I go to cuddle and get warm.I¢m just a Tennessee Walker,Josh HillPS. Andrew and Amanda (Color-do and Scoote) have the best food ever. I¢m so jealous. I wish we weren¢t poor.
Date: 2005-03-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Tray Mountain Shelter, 4200 feetToday we were honest and open with each other: we were not having fun. It was too cold for fun. Everything was frozen this morning: our hands, our feet, the drool in my beard, and my boots were were so stiff they reminded me of my Nordica downhill ski boots. Late start ¢ 10:30. That puts here at the Tray Mountain Shelter by 3:50 p.m. Colorado and Scooter are still here with us and we¢ve met a couple of guys from Virginia as well as an older gentleman from Phoenix, Arizona named Ken.   We¢re thinking of gong into Hiawassee to camp at the Hiawassee Inn (for $13 we get free shuttle, a tent set, an opportunity to resupply, do laundry, and take showers.) Hopefully we can get to Dick¢s Creek Gap by noon so we¢ll have a little time in town. Pray for Hannah¢s knee, it really hurts on the downhills. If the weather gets better, I¢m sure we¢ll have more fun, but if it stays cold (it¢s supposed to) then we¢ll keep having to remind ourselves: No pain, no rain, no Maine. We¢ve come 56 miles from Springer in 6 days. It¢s now the longest backpacking trip I¢ve ever been on. As Colorado says, ¢We didn¢t come to the AT to get soft.¢ That¢s right. I¢m getting pretty tough. It¢s been 7 nights since I slept indoor or taken a shower. I have blisters as big as silver dollars on my heels But I¢m one tough SOB! I¢ll just keep trying to believe that. I¢ve began to realize that it¢s very difficult to have a normal, caring relationship with Hannah. It¢s like we¢re both just trying to stay alive. No time or energy for sweet time. I¢m sure we¢ll end up spending more money, just for the sake of comfort and privacy. It will be worth the debt if we ever finish!I¢m just a Tennessee Walker,Josh Hill
Date: 2005-03-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I write tonight from the comfort of a warm bed at the Hiawassee Inn in Hiawasse, GA. Today we covered about 10.6 miles and were picked up by a shuttle at Dick¢s Creek Gap. Ron and Sam are very hiker friendly, even to the point of giving us each a free beer upon our arrival. These guys are truly pros at accomodating hikers. It was really cold again today; as we walked from Tray Mountain shelter at 7:50 a.m., it was up to 27 degrees. I find it a dangerous game we backpackers play to ¢hike for warmth.¢ Ideally you wear something that will get sweaty and save your warm clothes for when you stop. Wet clothes and stopping is way bad! So we hike for our heat. When we¢re not walking, we¢re shedding, bundling, and piling in our bags for preservation of what Thoreau called ¢the vital heat.¢ The key to maintaining this vital heat is food. Calories burned equals heat. It¢s interesting how tuned to the needs of my body I have already become. For instance, I know that you can have too much cold water if you¢re not either hiking or in a bag. You just develop a feeling for what your body needs and doesn¢t need. (My body definitely needed the food we ate from the China Grill in town!)I want to take a minute to give a little advice to anyone thinking about hiking the AT: Georgia is tough, cold, and very windy. Bring a good bag and mat (don¢t bring anything rated over 20 degrees) and bring some Chapstick/Vasoline. The Vasoline is a little more versatile (blister care/prevention, wind burn prevention, chaffing relief.) So that¢s the info now one bothered to tell me: wind is your constant foe.I made what I think to be an astute observation today regarding the guidebook: while planning a thru-hike, one is afforded the luxury of thumbing through the pages all at once, while when you¢re actually hiking, the pages go by so slowly. It¢s been a week. We¢re on page 3. After 66.6 miles, we¢ve walked 3% of the Appalachian Trail. Overall, morale is great. We¢ve enjoyed a much needed night in town and look forward to crossing into North Carolina tomorrow!I¢m just a Tennessee Walker,Josh Hill