morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-05-10
From: Allen Gap

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 5. We got a really late start from town. Leaving town can be so hard to part with sometimes. Uncle Al and Aunt Janet once again drove us back out to Allen Gap and this time we headed NoBo with full packs and 4 days of rations. It was a long 2500' climb up to the top of Camp Creek Bald. It always feels like you are in a really, really remote corner of the world, but at some point while Shawn was resting and waiting for me to catch up, he bushwhacked his way off the trail and over the SE ridge of the mountain we were climbing. He was amazed to behold a subdivision there! Remote? Yeah, not always!We made a quick stop at Little Laurel Shelter to rest my feet before continuing our upward journey. Camp Creek Bald fire tower sits atop this bald and we had to climb a long flight of steps just to reach the side trail to the tower. Exhausted from the climb and short on time we didn't stop to see the tower. We made our way to the Blackstack Cliffs and were rewarded with great views of what was now very, very remote terrain. It was an amazing climb over huge boulders, through bluffs, and rocks all the way to Jerry's Cabin Shelter.It is a small shelter with numerous campsites lining the AT trail proper to the north of the shelter. We selected a spot on the east side of the trail and paid particular care to not setup under any limbs or branches that could potentially fall on us during the night. It was late when we'd arrived (7 p.m.). The rain rolled in as we made camp and dinner and the temps began to drop. Lights out as the sun said good-night, a long day was planned for tomorrow and we planned to rise and get moving early. As the temperature dropped below freezing, my 20 degree sleeping bag began to fail to keep me warm. In my sleep, the bag no longer stayed on my pad and sleeping directly on the tent floor compounded the ineffectiveness of the sleeping bag. This caused me to have wild dreams about how REI had not tested my sleeping properly. I also kept playing mileage over and over in my dreams about distances from Allen Gap to numerous places. This was my first introduction to how a synthetic 20 degree sleeping bag was NOT adequate in early May at 4000'. Even with EVERYTHING I owned on.
Date: 2010-05-11
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 6. We woke early to rain. Shawn wanted to get an early start because it was to be a very long hiking day. But Shawn was moving slow today due to the rain. No fun to get up and pack in the rain. I got organized inside the tent to be hiking in the rain. We folded up a wet tent and headed off to climb Big Butt Mountain. Rain, rain, rain!!! The wind was wicked on top of the mountain. We stopped behind some large boulders to break the wind and eat some granola bars for breakfast. Here we were again, eating on the run and not having a good hot breakfast before a big work out! Voi! Voi! Most hiking on the way down was on an old roadbed. Shawn had pulled ahead out of sight when I found a really cool bear print in the mud. My camera was buried in my pack so I didn't bother to stop for a picture. Rats!I passed by the Shelton Grave site where several members of the same family had been killed during the Civil War. Lunch stop was at the Flint Mountain shelter. There were lots of guys there having lunch. We ate, filled water and stripped off a lot of rain crap. Lots of the kids ended up getting ride into Erwin at Hwy 212. They were looking to get to the Damascus Trail Days, a huge annual gathering of AT Hikers in Damascus, VA. Shawn and I continued on over the stile at the Hwy 212 farmer fence line, then up through a field and back down to another road where we soaked our feet in a nice cold mountain river.We were to meet at Sugerloaf Gap next but Shawn missed it and had hiked on. I stopped anyway. This 1,500' climb was killing me. We met up a bit further down the trail and got our first peek at Big Flat, the glorious summit of our current climb. We stopped at Lick Rock first to check for text messages on our cell phones, then Shawn called Aunt Janet and Uncle Al and asked them to bring trail angel drinks and food to the I-26 crossing with them for the next morning. At Big Flat, there was a camp site right at the top of drop off to our next shelter. Shawn and I stood there with a fellow hiker and debated how far that next shelter was. Should we stay at this campsite or continue to the shelter? The day was growing late and my feet were killing me. It was decided to move on. Hogback Ridge Shelter should have only been a few miles. 2+ miles. But everyone who arrived at the shelter that night complained that it was much farther than 2 miles!!! I hiked into the shelter in one stocking foot without a boot. I'd discovered my right foot is bigger than my left and when it swells throughout the day, it no longer fits in my boot! My ah-ha moment had arrived. I needed bigger boots! THAT'S why my feet hurt!!! Very painful. I will try hiking in tennis shoes tomorrow afternoon when it happens again.We had passed the 300 mile marker today. We setup our tent right behind the shelter as the shelter was filled with young kids who all stayed up late partying with a beautiful campfire. I fell asleep with the flame shadows dancing on the sides of our tent.
Date: 2010-05-12
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Whistling Gap
Miles today: 13.5

Day 7. Shawn asked to sleep in today and I obliged. We were to meet Aunt Janet and Uncle Al at the I-26 overpass to resupply and then move on. The meeting time was for 11ish so there was no hurry to make the 2.5 mile hike to the I-26 overpass in a rush. We took our time and I was the last hiker out of the shelter that morning.It was a beautiful day, little cooler to start. I got to the I-26 overpass a little after Shawn and we resupplied from the Trailblazer. Aunt Janet and Uncle Al got to meet Alex and Robin Hood, a cute hiker couple that we'd gotten to know in the past 2 days. Aunt Janet and Uncle Al also gave two creepy guys a ride to town after our resupply. All four of us hikers didn't care for those two creepy guys and were a bit nervous for Janet & Al's safety. After our resupply and snacks, we headed up toward Big Bald, a 1,700' climb. We thought is was going to be a long climb up but actually it wasn't that bad! At one point, Shawn climbed over a ridge just to see what was on the other side. He stepped right into someones back yard!!! And here we thought we were in some really remote location. LOL It was amazing the way you just popped out at Big Bald at 5516'. What a beautiful place!! We dropped our packs and took lots of picture, got messages on cell phones and talked at length with a very old local man who lived up there and was walking his two beagles.After getting an earful, we headed off to Bald Mountain Shelter where we again ran into Alex and Robin Hood. They were spending the night there. We hustled off to our campsite at Whistling Gap to get there before dark. Shawn got there before me (of course). I arrived about 9 p.m. just as dusk was getting heavy. We made a quick dinner, bear hang, and camp chores by headlamps before crashing hard.
Date: 2010-05-13
From: Whistling Gap

To: Nolichucky River
Miles today: 13.5

Day 8. It was a nice day today. It was on the warm side. It was a really rocky climb up and over High Rocks. Poor view though the map showed a scenic outlook... ugh! Pretty hike down to Hwy 19. Caught up to Shawn at Hwy 19, nothing there but a road. It was a serious hike up to and then down to Devil Creek Gap. The trail followed a river on the way up, criss-crossing the river on reallly nice bridges. The trail had horse tracks coming down from a single horse.The tennis shoes that I'd taken from the Trailblazer at the I-26 underpass came in very handy to hike in starting mid-day when my right foot would swell too much for my boot. Unfortunately, hiking in them hurt my ankles.From Devil Creek Gap to No Business Knob Shelter, the trail hugged the side of the mountain and weaved in and out of the mountain ridges. Out on the crest of the ridge, the sun was hot and the vegetation dry and sparse. At the gap of the ridges, there would be a rain spillway that made the gaps humid and the vegetation thick and moldy and mossy and the trail muddy. The trail weaved back and forth and back and forth in this configuration for a long time. It wasn't hard to hike it but it was extremely hot. I started getting heat exhaustion and quickly learned I had to side down more often. About 0.2 miles from No Business Knob Shelter, I found Shawn. He'd been waiting for me for 1-1/2 hours at the shelter and was going for water. He took my water bottle to fill and offered to take my backpack for me up to the shelter when he returned. I thanked him and he left for water. I grabbed the pack and lit out for the shelter saying to myself, "I'll let you carry my pack over my dead body, that would be bad form!" Shawn later told me at the shelter that I never would have been able to live it down if I'd let him carry my pack! :-)I rested and had a light lunch and we headed off to Nolichucky River and Erwin. I quickly lost Shawn and struggled to climb Temple Ridge. Getting to Erwin before dark was a strong goal. I managed to arrive about two hours behind Shawn and started hiking toward the Holiday Inn where we were all staying. Ah! A shower!!! We all went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and Wendy's for dinner. Everyone went to bed early and I sat up in the lobby watching a TV newscast and reading e-mail. Shortly after I went to bed, Auntie Janet got mad at her knee pain and Al & Shawn's snoring and went to sleep in the truck.
Date: 2010-05-14
From: Indian Grave Gap, TN 395

To: Nolichucky River
Miles today: 8.3

Day 9. Flip flop and slack packing day as we walked SoBo from TN 395 back south into Erwin. Aunt Janet and Uncle Al took us to Indian Grave Gap and dropped us off. We hiked back to Erwin carrying little to nothing in our slack packs. I tried peeing at the edge of the trail after looking for a long time for a proper place to go. I simply stepped off the path into the dry leaves and was almost eaten by ants who didn't like me peeing in their ant hill. Shawn found a black snake on the trail and when I arrived it had already climbed up into a tree. We stopped at Curley Maple Gap Shelter. On our way down, in our final descent, we came across a wild turkey with her babies. They scattered and she attached us to protect them. There was a wonderful river to follow down to the Nolichucky River where we followed the main river along a ridge, crossed the railroad grade and arrived back at Uncle Johnny's Hostel & Outfitters in Erwin. Many trains go through Erwin loaded with coal in one direction and empty in the other. Loooonnnnngggg trains, smelly trains!!! I had to go pee & poo really bad at the Nolichucky Campground and the owner was very nice to let me use his restroom even though I wasn't a guest there.So, that ends this year's adventure. Back to reality and planning for 2011!!! Goals met!!! Awesome year!
Date: 2009-12-31
To: A note on conditioning
Miles today: 0.0

So I used to be an avid runner. The emphasis being on ¢used to be.¢ I stopped running as much once I started doing big days on the trail this year and my cardio and strength training was taken care of in one fell swoop. But once summer churned to an end and my last quarter of classes had me spending weekends on my arse in the library, my conditioning has gone out the window. I started doing weekly outing with a couple of my hiking friends at the beginning of December. But a knee injury that I sustained early this year has come back in full force from the lack of continued hiking. I injured the knee while doing an intense month long training for the three big summits I had planned for last may. I was doing hikes that consisted of 1,000ft gains per mile combined with running 3-6 miles five days a week, and my knee started to act up. (with good reason). I successfully completed my three big summits though and on the last one I fell on the bad knee when I tripped on my crampon spike while descending Mt Hood in Oregon in late May. This put me out of the hiking and running routine for about a month. But in July I started doing weekend backpacks with a friend every other weekend and the knee seemed just fine. I did this throughout the summer and felt just great. I¢ve heard from other climbers that this happens to people that are new to the sport while their bodies adjust to the abuse. So I figured that the injury was just my body strengthening and that the muscles in my knee had strengthened and alleviated the injury. But then I spent a couple months not backpacking or hiking this last quarter while finishing school and I think that the muscle I formed over the summer has diminished again. So I get out every weekend now in an effort to restrengthen it. But after four weeks, I¢m still hobbling down mountain sides relying heavily on my trekking poles. My knee will be fine after a day of rest after the hike but be back in pain the next time I hike. This worries me. I do not want to go see a doctor since I figure they will just tell me to get a brace and do some exercises. I do not want to waste the money on something I can fix myself. So I plan to continue hiking every weekend and doing strength training at home during the week. I also plan to start walking the stairs near my house in an effort to adjust to daily strain on the muscles of my knee. I hope that this will work. Any suggestions are appreciated. I hope to put together a whole training plan that I will post here in hopes to help anyone else training with knee problems.Til next time!-Beth
Date: 2010-01-01
To: Planning
Miles today: 0.0

Planning is coming along. I did the first big purge of my apartment last week. I put nearly half of my books up for sale on Amazon.com and I have sold most of them. I donated the rest to the Seattle library system. I also donate half of my clothes and put a bunch of housewares in the ¢free¢ pile in the basement of my apartment building. I¢ll do the next big purge in late Feb. I¢m trying to have only four boxes of stuff to store in my friend¢s basement while I am on the trail. All of the furniture I own I got for free anyways, so I¢m giving most of that stuff away to friends of mine. I can always get more stuff off of craigslist.com when I come back. It¢s cheaper than paying for storage.I¢m also making use of my health insurance before I quit my job at Starbucks. Saw the eye doctor today. I have my yearly check up with my primary doctor on Monday as well to get my thyroid levels checked so that I can get a year prescription for my condition. And one more teeth cleaning in Feb. I¢m preparing for a year without health coverage. I¢ve also been doing some research on communication devices for on the trail. Currently I have a phone through Verizon which costs me $60 a month. This is a lot of money. Someone on Trailplace.com suggested getting a Tracfone, so I gave that company a call yesterday. It looks like it will be ten dollars to get the phone and $40 for 800 units. The lady said that each unit is equivalent to one minute or three text messages. So that¢s .05 a minute and just over a penny for each text message. Pretty cheap, which is nice!As for updating this journal, I¢m going to rely on internet at libraries, hostels and hotels for the most part. I¢m just trying to keep this trip as cheap as possible since I will be unemployed and homeless. As for my job, I haven¢t given notice yet. I¢m waiting until the end of Feb to do that since I¢m afraid my boss will cut my hours if he knows that I am quitting. As for conditioning, I just did a snow shoe hike over the weekend up to Keechelus Ridge with some friends. It was almost 3,000ft of elevation gain and about 7-8 miles roundtrip. Not terribly hard. I¢m also doing some strength training at home to help with my knee. Well, I guess that¢s it for this week. Stay tuned. Til¢ next time!-Beth
Date: 2010-01-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Did some more conditioning in the last week. I did three days of stair climbing with a 35lb pack. 386 stairs up and 391 down. I did that circuit 2 times. I did this twice last week and then again today. I also did my weekly weekend hiking adventure on Sunday to Granite Mountain. It's in Snoqualmie Pass just east of Seattle. It's a 4,000+ feet elevation gain. We only made it within 700ft of the summit due to a freak white out snow storm. But i got my heart racing and I also got to use my ice ax and crampons! sweet!Tomorow I plan to head to Best Buy to check out their Tracfones. i want to cancel my contract with Verizon by Feb 1st to save the money.i also told my boss that I am quitting finally. He took it well and is excited about my trip. It felt great to finally tender my resignation with Starbucks after being with the company for over ten years! And to hike the a 2000 mile trail no less! Felt good.Well, that's all for today. Back to work.Cheers!-Beth
Date: 2010-01-27
To: Phones 'N' Stuff
Miles today: 0.0

So I trekked it all the way up to NorthGate on the bus today to figure out the whole phone situation. First I went into Verizon (this is the compnay that I currently have a contract with) to check out their prepaid options. It was expensive, but then again, i guess i already knew that. it costs .99 cents a day for coverage (so $30 bucks a month) and .10 cent per minute used. My plan now has me paying $55 a month for 450 minutes plus unlimited texting. So the prepaid options is roughly the same amount. So next i headed to Best Buy to check out the Tracfones I have heard so much about. Thing is, they do not carry Tracfones. But they did carry other prepaid phones. i was told that i would get the best coverage through Verizon, Nextel or Sprint. Tracfone uses the Sprint towers, GoPhone! uses the Nextel towers and verizon is expensive. Check! So Tracfones are about $10 for the phone and then $40 for 400 minutes (the minutes double when you buy them so actually 800 minutes) and three months of service (you have to buy more minutes to continue service so you potentially have to buy minutes four times a year). The GoPhone! had about the same deal going on but the phones were much more expensive (ranging from $30 -$100). My next stop brought me to Target where they actually sell Tracfones. When the guy came over to help me, i told him what I was trying to do and that I need the cheapest phone possible since I am willfully planning to be unemployed and homeless (lol, the look on his face was priceless.) But then he ended sales pitch and told me to stick with Verizon since they have the best coverage. Then he gave me an idea that I had not considered yet. Finding a friend or family member that has verizon and getting them to do a family plan with me.   Hmmmm. It's $10 a month to add another line and then I'd just have to pay for my share of the minutes. This seems to be the cheapest option with the best coverage....AND i already own a Verizon phone. Fantastic! Now to figure out which of my friends or family is willing to let me piggy back their plan. Stay tuned.While at Target, I took the time to load up on some travel sized everything, protein powder (for bfast shakes), Vitamins, painkillers, ziploc bags of all sizes and some trail food for my drop boxes. i also grabbing a couple travel sized amounts of body butter, nice chap stick and razor blades to throw in my boxes (does anyone know if you can mail compressed shaving cream?). It'll be nice to have some nice smelling luxuries every once in awhile I think. Well, no conditioning today since i had so much running around to do. Back to the grind tomorrow for sure though.Cheers!-Bethp.s. The picture is from a night hike i did with some friends a few weeks ago (I'm on the right). This is part of my conditioning....and a reason to hike your ass off by headlamp just to drink a beer somewhere pretty.
Date: 2010-02-02
To: Wrapping up loose ends & conditioning
Miles today: 0.0

So I'm trying to update this journal weekly while I'm planning so that I don't miss mentioning anything that might be of use for future AT-ers. So it looks like I will be able to get onto my mom's verizon plan for $10 bucks a months plus $10 for minutes. So $20 a month (saves me $40 a month from what I pay now) for good coverage and the security and ease that comes with having a phone. So that's done.I did a conditioner up Mt Pilchuck with D.Baxter (he has a trail journal on here too since he is hiking the first 500 miles of the trail.) It was super rainy and soggy. Great for trying out my new layering system in AT-like weather. I've decided to hike without pants. yes you heard right, I am hiking pantless! I always wear the convertible pants on all of my hikes but after looking at my layering system (thermal tights, convertible pants and rain pants) I started thinking about the extra weight and how damn hot I will get wearing all of that nonsense. So what to get rid of? Well pants of coarse! So now I'm hiking with thermal tights, running shorts, short gaiters and rain pants. As for on top, I wear a short sleeved shirt and my rain coat, although I'm going to switch to a poncho i think to save the weight of a rain coat and pack cover. The system worked great in the soggy conditions we had on Sunday and in the 32 degree temps we had at the top of the mountain. I also figured out that the stock that I have been accumulating at Starbucks in my ten years is going to yield $3000 extra dollars for my AT trip after taxes and penalties!! That's free money folks, just for working for Sbux and will fund my entire AT trip! Hell yeah! Now i think that I can save about $2000 more before I'm unemployed and homeless to fall back on. So things are looking up there. I also learned all about rollover IRA's to transfer my retirement plan money (401K) into so that will continue to make money while I'm on the trail. Finding all of this out today really put my mind at ease. I also finished my AT schedule this week and I'm due into Baxter State Park 10 earlier then I thought, so that's good news too. That way I have extra emergency days to work with. Well, that's it for this week. Til next time.Cheers,Beth
Date: 2010-02-13
To: Sleeping in my tent!
Miles today: 0.0

It¢s been a bit since my last update. Sorry about that. So a few thing have happened in the last couple of weeks. First, I had a birthday! The big 29. I set out on a 3 day snow shoeing trip with a few close friends and my father who had flown in for the occasions. The huts are near Mt Rainier and spaced about 5 miles apart on groomed roads. The weather was supposed to be absolutely miserable so I was excited about testing gear as usual. But alas, the weather was gorgeous! Dang! Haha. Who is ever bummed about nice weather? People that are training for the AT, that¢s who. We set out on Thurs, Feb 4th (which was my Bday) to High Hut. The hut is on a ridge over looking Mt Rainier. It is solar powered with a gas for the fireplace and stove. David (D.Baxter on trail journals) packed up an entire chocolate cake and a fajita dinner for six for my bday! It was super sweet and totally made my day. I also received a new Montbell sleeping bag that a bunch of my friends threw in to buy for me! (Thanks Maile, Kelly, Sadie, Andrew, Val, John, David, Lauren, Suzanne and Elle!!) It is 2lbs lighter than my current sleeping bag, which saves 10% of my base pack weight. I was extremely touched by such a wonderful gift. We had one more night in another cabin before heading back to Seattle. It was great to see my dad out in the mountains and I was sad when he had to fly back to Chicago after the long weekend.I finally got around to doing my taxes and much to my surprise, I will be getting nearly all of my taxes back this year! It will really help with my money situation while I am unemployed and homeless the next 7 months.I also disassembled my queen sized bed and got that out of my tiny studio. I am now sleeping in my Hubba tent in my bedroom, because really, why not? Well, I think that is about it. Thanks to everyone that is following my journal and signing my guestbook. It is really great to hear from each and every one of you!!Cheers!-Beth