morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-05-11
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Start: Cable Gap shelter@0820Finish: Fontana Dam@1115Weather: Sunny, temps in the 70¢s. Hotter in the afternoon.Breakfast: Chocolate CIB, strawberry pop tarts.Lunch: Snickers, Oat n Honey, Oatmeal cr me pie (OCP), lemon-lime Gatorade, Wendy¢s 2 spicy chicken sandwiches, fries, frosty.Dinner: Homemade quesidillas.Trail Conditions: Several good climbs, some rock piles to climb over. Last mile into the dam could be blazed better.Animals: Snail, millipede, lizard, squirrel, birds.People: Nancy H., J-Lo & Waterboy, Singletrack, Butterfinger, Kevdog, Brian, 3 unknown thru hikers, dam tourists, Nancy & Lauren.I rolled out of the sack around 0730. It turns out that I snored for a bit last night! I refuse to believe it until I hear myself doing it. We all had a fun morning bantering it up. Kbear and I had a good duel. Kbear seems like a nice gal, she is from Australia. Hopefully we see each other again, I¢d like to pick her brain about Sydney, where she¢s from. After chow I hit the trail.We had a good climb right out of the gate but things leveled out after about two miles. There were some fun stretches with rock piles that we climbed over. All day long I thought about just wanting to cross Fontana Dam. I had this romantic vision of myself strutting down the grassy hillside and running with my poles in the air toward the dam¢¦.to the tune of ¢we are the champions¢. Needless to say my blissful little fantasy didn¢t pan out.I hit the first parking lot at the boat launch. Shucks, that wasn¢t the dam. Then, contrary to the topo map and consistent with Ben¢s (Officer Taco) story, there was a steep pull for the final mile before the dam. The climb seem to go forever, primarily because I was so anxious to get down. I finally hit the road and followed it to the Hilton, a shelter that truly lives up to its name. I then be-bopped the final 12 mile to the dam. I was so elated to have made it here! I caught up with Singletrack and some other thru¢s and we shot the breeze and celebrated our making it this far.I have to admit when I started at Springer I didn¢t expect to ever make it this far. My Achilles was hurting really bad, I wasn¢t in the best physical shape, and just not where I wanted to be mentally. However, as I have been hiking everything has gotten better! The foot feels great and my confidence in my hike has increased as my foot has improved. Have gotten back into shape and am hiking comfortably about 2.5 miles per hour. I am more focused and determined to make it to Katahdin than ever before.I am loving my time out here. It is exciting, challenging, and immensely rewarding. I have met so many interesting people and done so many cool things. In the grand scheme of things I¢m not very far out on the trail. But in my mind I know there is nothing that will keep me from reaching Maine now. I love this experience and I am ¢ going BIG before I am going home¢.
Date: 2004-05-12
From: Nancy's House

To: Nancy's House
Miles today: 0.0

Start: Nancy¢s HouseFinish: Nancy¢s HouseWeather: Overcast.Breakfast: Egg McBiscuit, hash browns, OJ from McDonalds.Lunch: Chicken sandwich at Chick-Fila.Dinner: Left over pizza.Trail Conditions: N/A.Animals: N/A.People: Nancy, Lauren, Carol, Lauren¢s brother and dad..After I arrived at the visitors center I called Nancy and Lauren for a ride. They graciously drove from Blue Ridge, picked me up, and drove me back. As I had about a week before, I had another great time at Nancy¢s. Thank you two for your awesome hospitality.We did quite a bit of running around the State of Georgia. Lauren has been having some back pains so we cruised down Marietta to pay a visit to the Chiropractor. Lauren and Nancy both got a tune-up, so to speak. I was having some pain in my knee, so Dr. Trent, who was also the trainer for Atlanta¢s arena football team took a peak at my knee for free. It was weird, I must admit. Having never been to the Chiropractor I discovered my left hip was over rotated backwards and it was throwing my muscle alignment off all the way down my leg. He did some funky stuff to my hip and knee. Whatever it was it made it feel a heck of a lot better. Thanks dude. Lauren and I also got to lie on the Spinalator! (said in a cheesy Arnold Schwzanegger accent). It is a machine that massages your back and aligns your spine. It was fun. After the Chiropractor we headed to the hospital as Nancy needed some test to measure her iron levels.After the doctor stops we swung by Laurens house to grab some stuff. Then we went to Galyan¢s, met Lauren¢s friend Becka who had my alcohol stove fuel and Lauren¢s shoes. We got our gear and grabbed some grub at Chick-Fila. It was my first time eating there and I must say it was quite tasty. Afterwards we drove back home to bum around for the night.Last time I was at Nancy¢s I helped her buy a computer and set it all up for her. However, we couldn¢t get the Internet working right. So while I was there I spent about an hour on the phone with a tech dude and got Nancy¢s Internet operational. We checked on email and Lauren taught us how to play casino blackjack on the computer.Lauren and I watched Chicago and sipped some hot cocoa. It was a real good movie/play and I would like to see it again to pick up more on the subtle details. Later I prepped my gear and meal drops. Lauren insists that I am anal. I¢d like to think that I am prepared. We bantered over that issue for quite some time. Whatever Lauren, you just have GB envy. Lauren had to start the trail later than expected. She has hiked to Hiawassee thus far. She decided to skip the next section (she¢ll do it in the fall) and will be meeting me Sunday at the Newfound Gap and we¢ll start hiking north together. Looks like the GB challenge is on after all.After a busy day I hit the hay in eager anticipation of hiking the Smokies.
Date: 2004-05-13
From: Fontana Dam

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Start: Fontana Dam @ 1240Finish: Mollies Ridge Shelter @ 1720Miles: Weather: Overcast with sprinkles in the afternoon. Sun peeked through in the evening. Strong wind at night, in the low 50¢sBreakfast: Waffles, apple juiceLunch: Snickers, oat-n-honey bar, trailmix, fruit punch gatoradeDinner: Hamburger Helper double cheese pizza, fudge round, lemon-lime gatoradeTrail Conditions: Well maintained. Rocky in spots. Long but gentle climbsAnimals: Hawk, squirrels, deer, millipedePeople: Nancy, Lauren, Baboo & Montana, Argo, Tom, 2 hikers, 2 NPS workers, Greybeard (At ridge runner, ¢99 thru hiker)Today was the tomorrow that I worried about yesterday, but all was well. I fully entered the Smokey Mountains and climbed the long awaited Shuckstack. When Ben (Officer Taco) and I first hiked the park back in 2003, Shuckstack was the steepest thing we had ever climbed. Needless to say it took us like 3 hours to climb it and we were exhausted. Since that day we vowed to return to the Shuck and show it who¢s boss. I did just that. I hiked it in 1 hour 26 minutes. Hooray, the Shuck ain¢t got s...t on this hiker.My recollection of the Smokies was it was hard. However, after hiking the Nantahallas I am thrilled knowing how easy my hike through GSMNP will actually be. While there are climbs, they aren¢t steep, just long and gradual. The trail is well maintained and it is good going.As I entered the park and was following the road I encountered a herd of like 25 squirrels all snacking on some nuts or something. As I approached them they all scurried off and scampered up tress. I looked into the woods and they were all starring at me. It was crazy. Then I saw a deer. Most deer runaway, but this one milled around in front of me. We looked at each other for a bit, and then I told him he couldn¢t have any of my hamburger helper and kept walking.I arrived at the shelter about an hour ahead of everyone else. I set up all my gear and began cooking dinner. Two day hikers rolled in and said they saw two bear. I was bummed to have missed them. Later while cooking a male deer came and walked around the shelter for 15 minutes. It was pretty cool.Two guys are smoking weed right next to me. Although I declined their offer for a hit, I am getting a contact buzz. Nice. Does inhaling second hand marijuana smoke count as a criminal offense? Perhaps I should ask Officer Taco. WWOTD?Well I am quickly losing my ability to write coherently. Hopefully we aren¢t attacked by any bears. Hahaha.
Date: 2004-05-14
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Start Mollies Ridge Shelter @0905Finish: Derrick Knob Shelter@1480Weather: Overcast, windy, cool outside, occasional sprinkles.Breakfast: Vanilla CIB, chocolate chip pop tarts.Lunch: Snickers, oat-n-honey bar, trailmix, orange gatorade.Dinner: Beef & garlic potatoes, star crunch, Country Time lemonade.Trail Conditions: Very grassy along the trail, several steep sections.Animals: Millipede, gnats, bees, birds.People: Day hikers, Jay, Baboo & Montana, David, Seeker.I woke up in a cloud today. Last night was very windy and rather cool out. All of my gear was cold and damp. It was neat looking out of the shelter and seeing the mist blow by. Everything looked hazy. I ate up a decent breakfast and headed out. I walked in the cloud for the first mile until I started a descent down the mountain. Once out of the cloud it warmed up a good 10 degrees and the gusty wind died down.Today was literally a shitty day. I have never before seen so much poop on the trail before. There were enormous piles of horse, bear, boar, and deer droppings like every eighth of a mile. I can¢t help but be impressed with the bear droppings. It is not just one big pile, but rather a series of turds spread out over about 5 feet¢¦meaning bears poop as they walk. Pooping while you walk, that is what I call efficiency. This is a skill I should try mastering myself.Despite all the land mines, I made great time to Spence field in about 2 hours. I made a brief visit to the shelter where I encountered Gift Giver. He started his NOBO hike at the end of March. He has been having health problems and is holed up at Spence with some bad swelling in his calves. He took the liberty to show me, it was gross.I scampered up to Rocky Top, however, had limited views due to the clouds. The final 5 miles to Derrick Knob Shelter where just frigging annoying. It was just PUD (Planned Unit Development) after PUD. I finally arrived about 1430 and chilled a good 1-1/2 hours before the next hiker arrived for the night.While loitering at the shelter this day hiker came by huffing and puffing, totally exhausted. It turns out this hiker was named David, and was the same guy who gave me, Nightmare and Clueless a hitch into Helen. David was doing a huge day hike from Fontana to Clingmans. However, he completely underestimated the difficulty of the hike and ran out of food and water. Since he had helped me I saw it only fitting that I return the favor. I gave him two oatmeal cr me pies, some trailmix, and let him use my water filter. Re-hydrated and stocked with food he set out for Clingmans. Hope you made it okay Dave¢¦..you got a hiking lesson from the school of hard knocks.Spending the night with the same crew as yesterday. Peter and Brad are college students from UNC and are hiking the Park. Nice kids. Jay is a thru hiker and has been pulling big miles. The dude is a riot. Every other work he says is ¢f..k¢. Nice. It looks like we are all going to move to Mt. Collins Shelter tomorrow. The sun is out right now, hopefully the weather holds.
Date: 2004-05-15
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Start Derrick Knob Shelter @0811Finish: Mt. Collins Shelter@1508Weather: Partly cloudy, windy, cold at elevation.Breakfast: Vanilla CIB, chocolate pop tarts.Lunch: Banana chips, oat-n-honey bar, trailmix, fruit punch gatorade.Dinner: 4 cheese chicken helper, 2 oatmeal cr me pies, banana chips.Trail Conditions: Grassy at the start, rocky going up and down Clingman¢s, muddy on the backside of Clingman¢s.Animals: Snail, dragonfly, millipede, rabbit, squirrel, birds.People: Music man, Pete & Brad, Tomato, Day hikers. Slept in a cloud again last night and awoke to everything being damp. At about 1:00 in the morning these three moron hikers came in making a ton of noise. They stood about 20 yards from the shelter with their lights on. Then they thought they saw a bear and were yelling. Finally we told them to shut up. So at 2:00am they decide to sleep in the shelter. None of us made room and made them sleep on the ground. We got our payback when we all got up at 0600 and traipsed over them. It should be noted there was no bear, they were looking at a tree stump, and the kids were drunk.I made good time hiking getting to Silers Bald shelter in 2 hours and then to Double Spring Gap shelter in about 35 minutes. I ate some lunch and rested about an hour and then began the pull up Clingmans. I really hauled the mail and made it from Double Spring to the top of Clingmans in 1 hour 3 minutes. For some reason I felt compelled to go to the huge and ugly concrete overlook. The thing looks like a mix between a deformed Martian landing craft and a water slide. The view from it stunk, they were far better along the trail, and the yuppie tourists were giving me all kinds of strange looks. Whatever.I rolled into Mt. Collins shelter early. I didn¢t want to go on however as I am meeting Lauren for a re-supply at Newfound Gap tomorrow. I met an older thru hiker (early 70¢s I presume) named Musicman. He started in early April and has just been taking his time going from shelter to shelter. Peter and Brad showed up around 1700. They are carrying all their vintage 1970¢s equipment they rented from UNC. They are having a blast on their first hiking trip. It goes to show that¢s it not the gear, but your attitude that makes a great trip.A bunch of us were out cooking dinner and this wiley little squirrel ran out of the woods, straight for us, and started going for our food! The last thing you want to do is mess with a hiker and his food, especially when you are 50 times smaller than the hiker. After like 10 minutes of it scampering around we were able to shoo it off. All pissed off, it scurried up a tree and proceeded to make all these loud chirpy squirrel noises for about 20 minutes. Translated into English I¢m sure it would have been a litany of curse words.I am pooped from a good days hike and lack of sleep. So I am off to bed.
Date: 2004-05-16
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: broken clouds

Start Mt. Collins Shelter @0905Finish: Pecks Corner Shelter@2100Weather: Sunny early in the morning, turned to rain/hail before noon, cleared up and was cloudy with some sun.Breakfast: Vanilla CIB, strawberry frosted pop tarts.Lunch: Oreos, crackers and peanut butter, trailmix.Dinner: Arroz con queso, bagel with cheese and sausage, fudge round.Trail Conditions: RockyAnimals: Squirrel, birds.People: Lauren, Nancy, Jen, Postcard, Pete & Brad, Argo, Tom, Day hikers. Woke about 0600 and grabbed my food bag, remembered I didn¢t need to be at Newfound Gap until 1300 and went back to sleep. The crazy squirrel came back again and raided camp as everyone was eating breakfast. The bugger has some serious moxey.The trail to Newfound Gap was rocky, however an easy hike. There were dense patches of balsam trees that gave the trail a wonderfully fragrant scent. There were numerous markers indicating trail improvements that are to occur this season. It was irritating walking on the trail parallel to the road because you heard all of the traffic.I rolled into the Gap at 1030 and was immediately overwhelmed by all the traffic and overweight tourists wearing motorcycle shirts. I washed out my pot in the bathroom and parked it behind the bathroom building to wait for Lauren who was coming at 1300 with my re-supply. We got a heavy rain and it actually hailed for a bit. A crew of motorcyclists sat out the shower with me. We had a fun time chatting and I got their picture. Lauren and Nancy ended up arriving two hours late due to bad traffic. Lauren and I hit the trail around 3:30 pm and pushed it to Pecks Corner. We stopped by Charlie¢s Bunion and soaked up the amazing view and pressed on into the sawtooth. It was fun ridge walking with spectacular views. Lauren and I were quite hungry and tired and kept hoping to pass a rocky outcropping with views to stop and rest. Alas, we ended up just parking it on the trail and snacking. About 5 minutes of walking later we came upon a scenic view. Go figure. We had wonderful conversation all evening and made it to Pecks at 2100 just as night settled in. We ate a great dinner as everyone else slept and then snatched the remaining two spaces to sleep. We had a long day and quickly fell asleep.
Date: 2004-05-17
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: broken clouds

Start Pecks Corner Shelter @0905Finish: Cosby Knob Shelter@1615Weather: Cloudy, afternoon rain storm, sunny in the evening.Breakfast: Mountain House granola.Lunch: Trailmix, smoked sausage and cheese.Dinner: Hamburger Helper Cheesy Enchilada, Star Crunch, lemon-lime Gatorade.Trail Conditions: Rocky, trail turned into a river with rain water.Animals: Snails, millipedes, birds.People: K-Bear, Smrek, Pete & Brad, Trojector, Day hikers. The shelter came to life around 0600 and we all began our morning routines of grumbling, traipsing around in silence as our brains fired up, prepping breakfast, and packing up our wet gear from the day before. Of course I slept in as all this occurred. Lauren hit the trail at 0815 and I followed suit at 0915. A cloud covered the mountain so everything was cold, damp and hazy. In an effort to catch Lauren I put the pedal to the metal and hammered out 6 miles in 2 hours. I got to her just before Tri-Corner Knob Shelter where we rested with Brad and Pete and ate a relaxing lunch. We pushed off about 2 hours later for the final haul to Cosby Knob.The weather pattern for the last week as been cloudy and damp in the morning, partly/sunny around noon, heavy rains for about 3 hours in the late afternoon, and sunny again until sunset, then rain from about 10:00 pm to 2:00am. If you plan right it is possible to avoid the rain hiking. However, we got caught in the afternoon rain and hiked 5 miles in a downpour. We pulled into the shelter looking like drowned rats, but our spirits were high. We quickly settled in to dry clothes and warmed up.K-Bear was at the shelter. She has this awesome Tilley hat from her home country of Australia. I took it upon myself to wear it for a bit. There were also two hikers from Quebec that spoke French with some English ability too. They were on their last day of hiking thru the Smokies. It was fun listening to them speak in French, they were very friendly. A NOBO thru named Postcard arrived too. He had heard about me from other hikers and was glad to finally catch me. We chatted about our hikes. He is a genuinely nice man, I hope we can hike some in the ensuing weeks.The most special event of the day was giving Lauren her new trail moniker ¢Smack¢. It seems she is too cheap to buy real Ramen noodles (which I have vowed to not eat while on the trail), and instead she bought a generic brand called ¢Smack Noodles¢. Brad, Peter and I were giving her endless grief, all in good fun of course, and I threw out the idea that ¢Smack¢ should be her name. As Lauren hopelessly nodded her head, everyone in the shelter roared with laughter and favored the name. Although Smack as a hardcore ring to it and Lauren has taken the creative liberty to embellish the story, her trail name traces its origin to generic Ramen noodles. Nice.After cooking dinner and bumming around in my sleeping bag I called it a night. Another fun day on the trail.
Date: 2004-05-19
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: light rain

View from Max PatchStart: Standing Bear Farm @ 0728Finish: Roaring Fork Shelter @ 1908Miles: 18.5Weather: Partly cloudy & Sunny, Breezy, temps in 50¢s.Breakfast: Chocolate CIB, Chocolate Poptarts.Lunch: Ruffles, Trailmix, 100 Grand, Snickers.Dinner: Spaghetti, Philly Cheesesteak, OCP, Starcrunch, (2) 100 Grands, Country Time Lemonade, Orange Gatorade, trailmixTrail Conditions: Well maintained. Steep climbs in the morning, trail was flat after Max Patch.Animals: Rabbit, Squirrel, Birdies, Centipedes, Millipedes, Caterpillar, gnats, flies, chiggers.People: N/AThe alarm on my watch went of at 0530. I rolled out bed at 0615¢¦motivation at its finest. Once Lauren and I got up we suited up for the day and hit the trail at around 0730. We were both feeling quite refreshed after a good sleep on a mattress and a warm shower.Right out of the gate we had a steep and long climb. An early reminder that we were out of the Smokies. However, I would rather have steep trails than trails blanketed with horse dung. Over the course of five miles we gained nearly 3,000 feet. The FAA tower on Snowbird Mountain was interesting. At one point the entire mountaintop was cleared for the tower and all that remains is scrub bushes.We took a lunch break at Ground Hog Creek Shelter and slammed some grub. The night before we had purchased some Ruffles potato chips and were going to eat them atop Max Patch. However we were so hungry we devoured the bag on the spot at the shelter. We wanted the chips so bad we got into an all out wrestling match in an effort to get the last few crumbs. I won the match, however, gave Lauren the bag cause I am nice. We pushed out for Max Patch after that.Max Patch was stunningly beautiful. The views were amazing. Large storm clouds hung over distant mountains, while the sun beamed down on us atop the bald. I contemplated camping for the night there, however didn¢t want to chance the unpredictable weather. We also had planned on cooking an early dinner up there. However the bugs ate us up quicker than we could an AYCE so we set out for the final five miles to Roaring Fork Shelter. Backside of Max PatchThe final stretch of the days hike was great. The trail was completely flat and well groomed. A preview to Virginia I hope. I have yet to get a blister on this trip, however I did take my first fall. I slipped on my bad foot on mud-covered roots and crashed landed on my hip. Boom! After the fall my right heel (where my Achilles injury occurred) started to hurt. I limped the final few miles into camp. I am concerned that I may have aggravated the tendon on the underside of my heel, as when I was walking it felt like a pebble was gouging my foot. At camp I took some anti-inflammatories and stretched and soaked the foot. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is nothing serious. We¢ll see.I ate an enormous dinner and am calling it a night after my longest day on the AT.One Year Reflection