morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-16
From: Neels Gap

To: Hogpen Gap, GA 
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: broken clouds

By LeftyIt will be 5 nights before we come back out of the woods. All the hikes will be from 6-9 miles, and 4 of the days will be with our full packs. We plan to do less distance the next few days since we will be getting used to our heavy packs. This past week we "slack packed" which means we have only carried our daypacks. We have been able to do this b/c of Buoy's support and the van we drove across country. Easter Sunday we're hitting the trail for a 6 mile hike to Hogpen Gap. Mon am we will set out to do 16 miles over 2 days, camping somewhere near Poplar Stomp Gap. Tues night we will spend by the van and head back out for another 16 miles over 2 days. We plan to end up at Dicks Creek Gap. Most likely we'll be able to update our journals again on Thursday or Friday. Today, our first zero day, was oddly relaxing. Aside from venturing out of our hotel room for breakfast at the Toddle House next door, doing a few loads of wash and taking a brief stroll through Helen, we spent all the daylight hours with the lights out, the shades pulled, relaxing, napping, writing journals and hybernating.Before the sun went down mom and I went out to scout out our campsight for Sunday night. It's a great site on a stream off of 348. Had dinner tonight at an Irish Pub. Great fresh trout, Erdinger Dunkel Hefeweizen and live music. Gotta get some sleep. Last night was rough. Thankfully, Jillie is doing much, much better this evening. The sardines always seem to do the trick. Speaking of heat exhausion we met an 18 yr old thru-hiker today while scouting out our camp site for Mon night. He hiked the 6 miles we'll do Sun. When we asked if we could offer him any food or water he said that he was told by his mom who is a doctor not to eat anything for at least 12 hours since he suffered from heat exhaustion today. After just a couple of hours of hiking he sat down a top the mountain for a few minutes, after 10 minutes stood to get up and was immediately dizzy and sick to his stomach. He threw up the whole way down the mountain and is still suffering from a migrane. His mom's guess is that he just didn't drink enough water and pushed himself too much. We'll be sure to take it slow, drink lots of water and wear our hat and our sunscreen. Keep us in your thoughts. Keep your fingers crossed for Jillie too. We all want her to be able to hike with us, but it may be too much for her. The next few weeks/days we will watch Jillie very closely. We have received a lot of advice from other hikers and dog lovers. Thanks to everyone for your support. Jillie thanks you too.Hey, and to all you guest book signers - THANKS SO MUCH! It means a ton to us to hear from friends, family and well wishers. Reading your notes is the first thing we want to do once we get off the trail and into a town. Thank you for sharing in our dream and for your ongoing support. PS- I am determined to see a bear this week. Think it's my lucky week? See you in another 30 miles or so.
Date: 2006-04-18
From: Hogpen Gap

To: Uinicoi Gap, GA 
Miles today: 13.6

Our first day of rain- by Lefty & Righty.Mom, Jillie and I are sitting in the van at the Motel 8 parking lot in Helen. We stayed here a few nights ago and remembered they had a hotspot. We weren't planning on coming to town today, but just couldn't resist when we realized we were camped just 5 miles from town. We are currently camped near Unicoi Gap. During yesterday's hike we missed the spot we were supposed to make camp. We missed it by almost 4 miles. Instead of 6 miles we went 10. It was our first day with our heavy packs. Everyone did fabulously! We camped at Chattahoochee Gap. By 3am it was raining. We were all up by 7am. "This is when the real AT adventure begins," remarked Pappy. Getting up was no fun. The last few mornings have been so warm that it wasn't hard to get up at all. But this morning was different. Everything was wet, including our sleeping bags and our clothes stuck in the side of the tents. I just asked mom what else was funny about this morning. She remarked," It wasn't funny." I guess that says it all. While the morning was rough getting going, the hike to Chatahoochee Gap was beautiful, heavy packs and all. We were completely fogged in. The drizzel was light. The air clean and crisp. Not having to put all the sunscreen on for once, was a nice change. Just now- a red cardinal came to sit momentarily on moms passenger side mirror. Neat. Oh, and the butterflys have been beautiful on the trail. Big, colorful and playful. One seemed to want me to follow it yesterday for a good 10 seconds. He stayed right in front of me while I hiked. Beautiful! Jillie is a happy camper again. She's enjoying the lower milage and cooler temps. Tomorrow we begin an 16 mile stretch from Unicoi Gap to Dicks Creek Gap. We'll take 2 days to complete this. Not sure where we'll be staying on Fri when we come out of the woods. Tonight we are camped at at national forest campground off Rt 75. It's beautiful. Has a river running right through it. Pappy had a backpack clinic, fixing and fitting the back packs of Righty, Louise and Boggens (a fellow thru-hiker we picked up at McDonalds in Helen and drove to our campground).Thanks for your guest entries, calls and well wishes! -Lefty, Righty & Jillie
Date: 2006-04-20
From: Uinicoi Gap

To: Dicks Creek Gap, GA 
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Preacher Dude Serves up Food and Fellowship - by RightyThis morning Lefty and I came across a true TRAIL ANGEL.   Andy, aka Preacher Dude, had a tent set up in Addis Gap in a area between Tray Mountain and Kelly Knob ¢ both steep, arduous, up hill climbs. We thought it was a mirage when we came down the mountain saw his tent set up and could smell bacon and eggs cooking. WOW, what a treat.   It¢s this kind of wonderful people who make all the difference in a hard day of hiking. We sincerely thank you Precher Dude and all the other trail angels we look forward to meeting.
Date: 2006-04-22
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Deep Gap, NC 
Miles today: 15.6

North Carolina here we come - by LeftyToday's hike led us over the border from Georgia to North Carolina. It was a great day of hiking. The weather was perfect. It was drizzly and foggy in the am. Once that burned off we had intermittent showers and a cool breeze- ideal hiking conditions. Today was our longest day of hiking yet- 15.6 miles. We made really good time, 8 hours including breaks. We were so happy to find that "our house" at the trout farm was still "just ours". No other guests found there way here tonight. We feel so spoiled. This place, Cloud 9, is a piece of heaven. We feel like kings. When Righty, Loiuse, Pappy and I came home we found Buoy cooking up a magnificent chicken in red wine sauce. It doesn't get better than this. PS- We leave for a 21 mile hike from Deep Gap to Rock Gap in the morning. We'll take our full packs and spend the night on the trail. We'll probably get in 9 or 10 miles tomorrow. Will probably have internet access again Tues or Wed. We're getting good at finding hotels to park in front of to use their wireless hotspot. That's legal, right?
Date: 2006-04-24
From: Deep Gap, NC 

To: Rocky Gap, NC
Miles today: 21.0

By BuoyWith its 21 Miles this section was too long for a Day Hike. So we packed our full back-packs and divided the thing into 2 parts. The AT is giving us a break. This time the trail actually missed some mountain tops. The weather was wonderful too. Shortly before hitting Albert Mountain I went into the shelter for lunch. Like everytime I pulled out my food and the shelter log. Usually the book is a way for people to connect to each other and to report on their progress. This book was different. It only talked about ¢THE MOUNTAIN¢. The mountain that at that point I had not seen yet apparently had taken the steam out of a lot of hikers. Well I could not wait to see that Mount Albert. There was a Fire Observation Tower that I climbed. The view took me by surprise. I did not want to leave. It was a 360 degree panorama of the Blue Ridge mountains. The tower perspective was similar to the view from a helicopter. The climb down from Mount Albert was super steep and rocky. I met the rest of the team where we spent the night at Carter Shelter. We sat together with fellow hikers around the fire and exchanged bear and other stories. It was great. Skywalker had so many jokes. We laughed our hearts out. Two Dog gave me a lesson in how to hang a bear bag. I now have the theory down. The actual ¢Throwing the line over the tree branch¢ part I still have to work on. We had a great night with a warm and dry morning. We concluded this long section with another 7 hours of hiking. Everybody had a real hard time to get up Albert Mountain. After a long days hike we set up tents in Standing Indian Campground. We will stay here for two nights. This place has great showers. Dinner is coming from Burger King.
Date: 2006-04-25
From: Rocky Gap, NC 

To: Wayah Gap,NC 
Miles today: 10.0

By BuoyToday we decided to do a second night in the campground. The hot shower and the 7 dollar national forest campground fee were the deciding factors in this. With Pappies Golden Age passport (yes he is that old) we get everything half price. Lefty was very excited about the price. She couldn't stop talking about how great it was to get a great campspot for 5 people, a dog, 2 cars, hot showers and flush toilets- all for seven bucks. A beautiful sunny morning. After an hour of hiking I thought to myself ¢What the heck am I going to write in the journal tonight?¢ This section was easy and uneventful. Unless I am getting into a food fight with a bear or something like that I will not have anything to write about. Then something funny happened. I think for all the readers who regularly run long distance or something similar to that it will be no news. This is probably something they experience all the time. For a couch potato like me it was new. All of the sudden I basically did not feel much of my body anymore. My legs were moving underneath me like they did not belong to me. I went way faster than ever before. Long uphill stretches did not hurt. While I was moving along I could focus on the wind on my face, the music from my Ipod and the smells of the forest. The miles went by in a flash and I had soo much fun. Just on the downhill parts I had to ¢wake up¢ and concentrate. Now I know why some hikers do not greet me when they see me. They would not even respond to a ¢How are you¢? They did not want to come out of the ¢zone¢ and loose their moments of free bonus hiking without pain. Tonite we all met at the Franklin McDonalds. I first ate a whole value meal and than some of us went on to the local BBQ place. Here I ordered another whole meal with dessert. You got to love it. But where is the Beer? This is a ¢Dry" County. These poor people.P.S. We were met by more wonderful trail magic not too long after we begun our hike out of Rocky Gap.
Date: 2006-04-26
From: Wayah Gap,NC 

To: Tellico Gap, NC
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: moderate rain

By BuoyWe had lots of rain last night but all of our tents are holding up well. This morning we broke camp and headed back to Wayah Gap where I dropped of the gang. We stopped at McDonalds for a big breakfast. An hour later I was at Tellico Gap starting the next 13 miles of fun. I am telling you. If you want to avoid severe weather you always have to stay close to me. While I was hiking through light drizzle the rest of the team 10 miles away was again hit by heavy rain and hail. The same with earthquakes. In 7 years of living in San Francisco I never felt the earth move once. As soon as I leave town the earthquakes hit. So back to the trail. We all had a great wonderful hike and cool weather today. Lefty decided to hike in Tevas. The result I captured on a photo (in the photo section- or just hit next photo). Do not look at the picture if you faint easily or do not like feet in general (Shana and Molly take note). It's not a pretty sight. Lefty also took some great pictures of everybody during this hike. It was Pappy and Louises' last day on the trail. I never really get into the pictures because I am a loner and walk by myself. The highlight was Wayah Bald. It features a stone tower with a great view. I had a hard time tearing myself away from that place. From here I could see Mount Albert, the Standing Indian Mountain and Deep Gap. And the best was that all three of them looked so far away. Hard to believe that we hiked all of that. I ran into Skywalker who today had his first night alone in the woods. His friend Two Dog turned back to hike to his car in Springer. We chatted for a while and he shared his Schnaps with me. Tonight we are staying at the Nantahala Outdoor Center Inn, a real nice little log cabin hotel. Our room smells like a European spa because all three of us covered our bodies in the Walgreens version of Bengay(Thanks Mari). Lefty has pain in her shin (no idea what that is for but it can hurt like hell). I have a swollen right foot and Righty has aching knees. Just the DOG is doing just peachy.
Date: 2006-04-27
From: Tellico Gap, NC 

To: Zero day in NOC 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

By BuoyToday we are taking our 3rd zero day. This morning we had to say good-bye to Louise and Victor (Pappy). It was sad to see them go. Thank you Pappy for helping us through the first 120 Miles of our journey. It was fun and an honor to have you with us. Who is now going to get us up at dawn every morning? Who is going to sing to us and tell us stories? And who is going to keep encouraging us and tell us that we can make it to katahdin? And congrats to Louise. 120 miles of hiking and camping are an accomplishment in its own right. To both of you. Have fun with your biking adventure. Pappy will bike from Virginia to Oregon and Louise will support him on his journey.Last night we spent the night at the Nantahala Inn. The town we are is is called Wesser, but it is more widely known to hikers as Nantahala Ourtdoor Center (NOC). NOC is a great place. An outfitting store and 2 caf©s are in the center of it. It's all right on the Nantahala River. We sat on the side of the river and talked to fellow hikers Sarge (who has done the AT 2 times before) and Matt. Lefty and Righty are re-organizing the van while I have the much better job of writing journal entries. Well the DOG has the best job like always. Jillie is just hanging out. CheersBuoy
Date: 2006-04-27
To: Lost and Found 
Miles today: 0.0

By LeftyWe thought we would begin our running tally of all things lost and found. With only 2 weeks on the trail we even surprise ourselves by how many things have already been lost and found.THE LOSTFood bag. Last seen: at Spring Mt. Shelter. Buoy insists he retreived it out of the tree, but did not remember packing it away in his pack. Found: 2 days later at the bottom of Buoy's pack. Hmmmm.Lost: Buoy's softshell. Purchased at REI's used gear sale. Aready lost. This is a very important item of clothing for a thru-hiker. Buoy says it's not lost, he just doesn't remember where he put it.Lost: Our Steri-pen. Brand new, cost over $125.00. We use it many times a day to zap our water. Last seen at Chattahoochee Gap. Buoy swears he saw ME take it out of our tent that am. My recolection is that it was HIS responsibility to make sure he hiked it out of camp. The day before he insisted that he start carrying it and the rest of us could use iodine tablets, since I wouldn't agree to us buying A SECOND Steri-pen.Found: Righty curiously found the Steri-pen the morning we left Cloud 9 in one of Buoy's hiking boots. Hmmmmm.Lost: USB cable for camera to laptop. Last seen: on our dinning room table of our Cloud 9 house in Halawasi, GA, after uploading pictures from our walmart special digital camera to our trailjournal site. I spent a good 90 minutes searching for it, including going piecemeal through 2 hefty bags full of garbage. I had everyone else in the house searching for it and we tore everything apart the next am while packing the van.Found: moments before leaving Cloud 9 when Buoy looked through the box we have with our electronic gear. He held it up and said, "This is it." I almost couldn't believe my eyes. He was proudly displaying the very first cable I had brought to him the night before while he was sitting on the couch with his feet up, drinking a beer and paging backwards through his Spiegel magazine. Ok, lessoned learned? (That's another journal entry).THE FOUND p>Found: A Blue topaz and diamond ring at the Nanatahala US Forest Service Campground near Rocky Gap. Found it as I was showering. Left a note in the ladies room with my cell ph number and went to bed. The next am gave it to the campground host. Hopefully it finds it way home. Loosing something like that is no fun.Found: A light blue REI jacket sitting on the back of a chair in the River's End Restaurant. Mom thought it looked similar to a jacket belonging to a tall German we both know. Hmmm
Date: 2006-04-27
To: Lessons Not Learned 
Miles today: 0.0

By Lefty, Righty & BuoyHi all. The past few days on the trail I (Lefty) have been thinking of all of lessons that the trail is trying to teach me, yet I continue to make the same potential mistakes over and over. When I discussed these lessons not learned with Righty and Buoy they agree that they also may need to learn some of these lessons the hard way.#1: Due to lots of sweating; sunscreen dripping in our eyes; bugs darting straight up our noses, down our throats and into our eyes; hair and dirt sticking to our brow and itchy noses -we ALWAYS have our hands in our face. The problem with this is that we also have a hiking pole gripped in each hand. You can picuture the disaster waiting to happen, right? While still hiking, we reach up to wipe a bug out of our eye- our pole suspended a few feet off the ground hits a tree along the trail and you give yourself a black eye. Yes, even with the fact that all of us have had more than one close call - do you think we have learned our lesson yet? #2: For all of my friends (and colleagues) willing to admit they have a little OCD you may find this one particularly relatable. Ok, back to the hiking poles. At least once a minute, while hiking, the pointy end of my hiking pole impales a leaf. I cannot help myself. I cannot let the leaf stay attached to my pole. I must remove it, and fast. My method is to step on the corner of the leaf and lift the pole- all while not missing a step. This usually works just fine. The only problem is that within a few seconds another leaf finds it way to my pole. Distracting, you ask? Just a little. Sometimes I play a game with myself. "How long can I let the leaf stay of the pole with out intentionally trying to remove it. There are too many leaf removal methods to mention all of them here. I will mention just one more, Buoy's method- who yes, also shares the same leaf OCD as I. Buoy, points his two poles in front of him. While they are suspended in the air he tries to scrape the leaf off the offending pole with the clean pole. Often the leaf is removed from the "dirty" pole only to find itself now impaled on the other pole. A good spill should help us to learn this lesson. But so far, it's a lesson not learned.
Date: 2006-04-28
To: The Ask, Part III 
Miles today: 0.0

By LeftyAs promised, we wanted to share some "creative" ways that you can support us in our effort to complete the entire Appalachian Trail. We will keep adding to this list as we think of things.#1: Is easy, please don't forget about us. We love hearing from you (and often). It means so much to us to get into a town, check our guest book and read your kind, funny and hopeful messages. You have NO idea how much we look forward to hearing from you.#2: Please forward our link to anyone you know who is battling breast cancer, has been touched by breast cancer or who you think may enjoy reading about our adventures. We do hope to spread a message of hope to women and families affected by breast cancer and to reinforce what was true for us: that early detection of breast cancer saves lives.#3: Help us get press. If you know an editor or writer who you think may be interested in our story, please forward them our link. #4: I can't forget about Oprah. As a number of people have suggested to me, it may be smarter to ask people to tape a week or two (or three) but not 6 whole months! If anyone's up for taping a week or two for me, let me know!Thank you!!
Date: 2006-04-28
From: Tellico Gap, NC by Buoy

To: NOC in Wesser 
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: clear sky

By LeftyToday we did a 7.9 mile hike into NOC. It is the first time we hiked directly into a town. We had already spent two nights here so there were a lot of familiar faces. The hike for Buoy was up, up, up for 5 miles. For us we had lots of down hill. It was a great hike. Last night after reorganizing the van we drove to Bryson City because we had heard there was a hotspot at the Across the Tracks bar. Mom did our laundry across the street for a couple of hours while Buoy and I uploaded journal entries and pictures for the last week. Unknown to us we had parked our van in the middle of make out city for all the 16 year olds in the county. After a good hour of uploading we realized that I forgot the car charger for the laptop. So, into the bar we went. Buoy lasted a whole 15 minutes before he bolted. He cannnot stand smoke. I spent another hour adding the pix to go with each entry. It takes forever! There are a lot of great folks we have met in NOC: Melanie, the Inn's architect, a few ladies from the snack shop, and some really friendly and helpful ladies from the River Restaurant where we have eaten a couple breakfasts and now dinner. We broke down an paid for the use of a hotspot tonight. No way around it in NOC.