morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-03-01
From: Big Spring Shelter

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: light snow

Last night was COLD! We woke up to frozen water, frozen food, frozen Aqua Mira, more snow, and a 15 degree SHELTER-worse outside. Somehow a mouse managed to venture into the shelter without freezing to death, munch a hole through Heidi's pants, and eat her Nestle bar. Packing up was torture-our boots were frozen and Boomerang and Heidi couldn't get them on over their blisters. Our gloves were also frozen and our hands only worked for about 3 minutes when exposed. We finally left at 9 and headed toward Franklin to thaw out-Heidi and I both got pretty scared early during the hike-bad problems with our extremities being so cold they were in pain and/or totally numb. Snow made for tough hiking-we passed our 100 mile mark (and passed 1st state line on Sunday, I forgot to mention) and also received our first trail magic!!! We were all dehydrated because our water was completely frozen and we came upon a beautiful stream just past Wallace Gap with Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Capri Suns in it!!! A bucket was also hung in a tree with goodies that any calorie depraved thru-hiker would salivate over. Unfortunately our body temperatures started dropping (I actually started getting very scared-there's a fine line between cold and dangerously cold, especially when you're hiking & sweating and then stop hiking in 25 degree temps) and we had to get moving before I could write down the trail angels' names-but we signed their registry and let them know what a blessing they were to our day. (later found out thru trail journals the Smiths were my trail angels-thank you so much!!!) Our second anonymous trail angel of the day arrived at Winding Stair Gap; a local woman picked us up (our first and very successful hitch hike!) and graciously brought us to the Microtel Inn in Franklin, NC. Our day was packed with "hiker business"-dry out, shower, outfitter (I bought a luxurious new sleeping pad to keep me warm and we got our picture on the thru-hiker wall) Shoney's AYCE (I had the biggest salad I'm betting money any of you have ever seen) grocery, UPS store (my 11 ounce Z-Rest somehow weighed 4 pounds in the shipping process) grocery (my new favorite food is oatmeal cooked in freezer ziploc bags-quick cooking, lots of energy, and no clean up-all necessities when it's too cold outside to move) pizza, and sleep. I have been unable to catch up on phone calls-there's never enough time! But please everyone know how much I love and miss you!!!
Date: 2005-03-02
From: Winding Stair

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

I decided today that I love snow and think it's beautiful but I HATE hiking in it. We had to break trail today in snow up to our knees, all while going largely straight uphill. I have no idea if Wayah Bald is a hard climb on a regular day, but it was SO HARD with 1-2 feet of snow-I felt like I was just treading water all day and not going anywhere-literally baby steps up the mountains-you can imagine the words I was hurling at the mountains all day. It was still a gorgeous day, though-sapphire skies and a beautiful snowy landscape (I tried to appreciate it as much as I could...) We met up with another thru-hiker out of Franklin-Jeremy from Maine-and hiked with him all day. Very positive, cool guy-had a big smile all day long despite hiking in sandals! (I slightly envied his good humor all day) We hit a questionable trail re-direction because of a dangerous slide zone that was marked by red ribons tied on trees. By the time we got back on the real trail we all laughed about our apprehension that there would either be two big Bubbas waiting for us at the end (according to Jeremy's paranoid imagination) or a Hansel and Gretel type candy cottage with an old witch and blazing oven (Boomerang's personal paranoia) I had paranoid ruminations along both lines. Turned out to be good ole maintainers keeping us safe! Special thanks to all the trail maintainers that keep the AT beautiful-Georgia AT was especially wonderful-great shelters, bear cables, and privies! Also special thanks to Woody Sapp of the Nantahala Hiking/Maintenance Club for the ride from Franklin this morning!At the shelter tonight with Mark and Headlamp/Great Whazoo team-great guys with great stories-was really glad to share the night with them. Heading into NOC tomorrow night to rethink some motivations and maybe wait for the now to melt. One of my favorite parts of hiking is the people and "smelling the roses"-soaking in the sun and beauty of the mountains (and occasionally a little crummy weather). Our early start date and the cold are kinda preventing both. We'll see...
Date: 2005-03-03
From: Big Spring Shelter

To: NOC
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: clear sky

Right now I'm laying in a bed, writing in my journal, and drinking a very good beer-it doesn't get much better than this. Special thanks to the guys at the rafting school that offered me the off-the-trail magic-I've been craving a beer since Springer and it was worth the wait-Hiking for a week and a half made a light weight drinker even lighter...We woke up to 17 degree temperatures this morning and by the time we got to NOC it was almost 60 degrees. It seemed like I walked in two different worlds today. I literally walked down to NOC crying because my feet and ankle were in such bad shape and then I got her, felt the warmth of the sun, saw the very excellent restaurant, and felt like a new woman-Again, the trail is truly a study in contrast. I had the best salad and grilled cheese (see how happy I am in the picture) I've ever had in my life today...followed by a pint (almost, couldn't finish it) of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough. I spent the rest of the day sorting through a gargantuan mail drop, picking up some new gear (excellent Outfitter with a great staff-thanks guys!) because there's no reason to sleep cold when sleeping is 1/2 of what you do every day, getting clean, and talking to my loved ones. I actually went in to buy a new backpack-the GoLite is digging into my hips really badly-but the first thing I saw was a sale on a 5 degree Western Mountaineering bag (50% off-virtually unheard of). I took it as a sign from God (even though the bag is a long...pretty much 1 foot longer than me-but it's still a sign, okay?) and bought neoprene kayaking foam to duct tape to the hipbelts of my pack-my pack now looks like hobo equipment, but boy will I be sleeping in luxury!We're pushing on toward Fontana tomorrow. Heidi and I plan on waiting for the snows to melt (we caught a view of the smokies coming into NOC and they looked very cold and snowy) We unfortunately may lose Boomerang, but I want to enjoy the Smokies, not run through them trying to stay warm. The trail has taught me so much these last couple of weeks-it's a tough, unmerciful teacher sometimes-but its lessons are among the most simple in life and the most easily missed. If I hike 2000 more miles or 100 more the trail has left its mark on me-and on my feet which may never look human again...
Date: 2005-03-04
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Sassafrass Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: clear sky

What a beautiful day! Sunny, warm (relatively), and snow is melting ALL AROUND! I have to say I was really impressed with NOC-helpful outfitter, BEST restaurant so far, great mailing services (I trimmed my pack way down so my new 5 degree bag would fit) and a good hostel (but nothing fancy, so don't go planning any family vacations around the hostel itself...) We had a yummy breakfast (French Toast, egg and cheese biscuit, and about 10 cups of coffee...I'm still buzzed) and left by 10 AM for an all uphill hike to Sassafrass-so much on the AT is relative. Today WOULD have been tough (although short) mileage, but being able to walk on solid ground and not slip-sliding on two feet of snow made it a breeze! We were planning on camping past Cheoah Bald, but thought we saw rain clouds coming in (we're still spooked from the last few days of the sky falling)but we'll make a long day tomorrow. We got to this great shelter with sky lights and a REAL outhouse (I even took pictures...coming soon) by 1:30 and have been eating ever since (you can tell my hiking stomach is kicking in b/c I'm DEFINITELY talking a lot more about food)-we (Great Whazoo, Headlamp, Heidi, and Boomerang) have all had 2 dinners and are still fantasizing about Pizza and Mexican food.A little bummer news for the day-had really bad ankle/achilles tendon/heel pain-it started with the snow plowing several days ago and felt almost broken today. Might have to rest it at Fontana before I tackle the Smokies. Heidi and I tried to look at mileage (long term) and almost stressed ourselves out. It really does take away so much from the experience when you start crunching numbers-I've almost had to put long-term to the side and focus on one day at a time-Another example of how the trail is reflective of my life. It's so easy to ruin a dream when all you focus on is getting from point A to point B without appreciating the laughter and tears in between...Off to bed in my superwarm sleeping bag!! Freezing temps can't touch me tonight!!!
Date: 2005-03-06
From: Cable Gap 

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Very cool day today-hiked into Fontana Dam, which is so eerie unless you do it in th middle of summer, because the place is huge but completely shut down during the winter...I felt like a bug after the last few days of mountain conquering. We got in early (10AM) and the lake was beautiful in the morning light-I saw a group of 8 hawks circling on the air currents above the lake. Elise met up with a friend of hers from Asheville, and the three of us went in to Robinsville to eat Mexican...mmmm...Austin was a very special guy and we had an afternoon of heavy conversation (which settled funny with the very heavy Mexican food) We got to the Hike Inn-Jeff and Nancy Hoch are SO great AND they managed to make my hiking clothes smell like flowers...a small miracle. I spent the afternoon lazing in the sun with Heidi and Austin, talking to Merrill (and Em who are meeting me next week) my parents who are the best support team, and my special man who I'm literally running up the trail to Tennessee to see. And then I spent an hour each sorting through my huge maildrop and cleaning up my stinky self. Aunt Erma-your cookies were the biggest hit! Thank you so much (as do 6 other very hungry hikers) for the treat and kind letter! You and Uncle Tom are so special to be sharing my journals with MeeMaw--tell her I love her!!! We went to dinner at an all you can eat chinese place (and don't worry about the stray cat/mountain chinese dining thing, I'm a vegeterian and if they can make cat taste like onions and bell pepper, we're all doomed) We went to the grocery store of course, but mom and dad satisfied all my hiker cravings with a mail drop so all I had to buy was Cadbury eggs...I LOVE easter candy! We're all twiddling our fingers over the freak storm headed toward the Smokies from Texas-it looks like Boomerang is taking off in the morning. Heidi and I are still undecided, but by the looks of my swollen ankle we'll be taking a day off. Right now the feel of sheets and a real pillow are too much to resist...I think I can hear Boomerang snoring through the wall...there's no escape!!!
Date: 2005-03-07
From: Fontana Dam

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I was in absolute shock when I checked out my trail journals page from the Robinsville Library today-thank you ALL SO MUCH for your kind thoughts, words, prayers, and wishes. You have no idea what an inspiration it is to know that so many people are thinking about me and supporting my hike. It really does pump me up and enrich my hike so much to hear from everyone-and gives me a greater appreciation for the ability to live out my dream on the Appalachian Trail. Your words will help give meaning to my hike in the spaces where my own willpower may sometimes fail.After much debating, Heidi and I have taken a ZERO DAY. Those words haunted my dreams last night and for some reason it was a difficult conclusion to come to. But now that it's done, I'm glad I did it-I got to catch up on journals (the few days that are missing are still in the mail to my dad and will be updated soon), eat a lot of food, and will soon be soaking my ankle in a big tub of hot water and epsom salt. The weather reports we've received have been vague and confused so I figure if the weather experts can't even tell what's going on, I have no business hiking to a mountain top 6,000 feet up in the air. Hopefully we'll be able to leave in the morning and make it to Newfound Gap before the next system rolls through on Friday. We're sharing our zero day with the Texans-Whazoo and Headlamp, who are as skeered of cold weather as I am-brrrrr! As well as Bill and Bandit-Boomerang confidently left this morning, so Heidi and I wished him well and said good-bye to our threesome which lasted a week but seemed to have existed much longer. It's hard saying goodbye to friends on the trail because you do develop such a deep bond so quickly-but it's also beautiful because there's always another group of great people to meeet just ahead or behind and each friendship enriches this experience even more...change is the spice of life and I encourage everyone to do it daily-it's done wonders for me the last couple of weeks.
Date: 2005-03-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Thank you to everyone who expressed concern for my own and my grandmother's health this last week. I also want to thank my family for understanding that the best consolation for me was to get back on the trail I love. I'll now be hiking in loving memory of my grandmother, Lee Kleinpeter, my Nonie who I love and will miss.To anyone who might have worried, Heidi and I are getting back on the trail to tackle the Smokies and continue our journey toward Maine.Just wanted to note a few things I noticed upon returning to the "real world"-I couldn't bring myself to put on make up even though I wore some before. My hiker appetite did not stop or slow down at all this week. I had an incredibly difficult time picking out clothes to wear; there's comfort in having 6 pieces of clothing total to pick from on a daily basis. I was VERY sensitive to air quality-I've felt like I have smoker's lungs this whole week. The real world is NOISY! especially TV-once you've been staring at mountains and campfires and trees for a couple of weeks I found television held little appeal. I noticed how obviously TV programs are designed to hold us captive and more interested in them than our own lives. It was kind of scary coming home and realizing how often I bought into it and how much life I missed sitting in front of the ole' boob tube. News programs were the worst-they used to continuously make me feel fearful and paranoid-like the world was coming to an end. But then I got on the trail and found people like the Saints and Hochs that open their homes to strangers. I realized that really nice people pick up stinky hikers sticking their thumbs out along the road-hitch hiking of all things still exists! I met strangers that like me looked like bums and ruffians that hadn't taken showers in days-from all walks of life that I might never seek out as acquaintances at home-with whom I made fast and very close friends. I realized that this world is still very full of wonderful people and it's good to live life looking for the best in them. It's important to feed our minds and souls with good news and not bad-with people and events and activity that restore our humanity and optimism. I also noticed that the relaxation I experienced on the trail stayed with me-I didn't throw the controller when I lost miserably to Dan at videogames (he noticed too I didn't freak out or cuss at anyone in traffic, even though a few people might have deserved it. I felt very centered and focused despite having a hectic and upsetting week-I felt really present at every moment, which was so important because this week turned out to be much more of a test than I dreamt it would be. But again it was also a blessing to be home when I needed to be and a blessing to appreciate where I had been for the last two and a half weeks.
Date: 2005-03-16
From: Fontana Dam

To: Fontana Hilton Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Drove through fog and rain to the eerie and deserted Fontana Dam. Heidi and I felt really creeped out getting out of the car - partly because we had just driven to the spot that we'd hiked to a week ago, partly because the closed down and foggy Fontana felt other worldly, but mostly because we felt so out of practice with the thru-hiker thing. We immediately met Ellen going down to the shelter and four other guys at the shelter - only names I remember are Corduroy and Bret. They were all very cool and friendly - even friendlier when we announced that we baked and brought a bag of chocolate chip cookies (Heidi's Mom's great idea!) It feels really good to be back out here even though I feel rusty - I have a feeling I'll feel even more rusty hiking uphill 16 miles tomorrow.
Date: 2005-03-17
From: Fontana Hilton Shelter

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: light snow

Well, our week long delay put is in sync with all of the March 1st crowd I'd heard left from Springer. We're at the shelter tonight with 9 (including me) - Heidi, Corduroy (Chris), Billy, Quebec, Bret, Ellen, Max and Eric. Quebec, obviously is from Quebec and speaks French as does Eric (who I think wrote for a Canadian paper in the same city) - I've really enjoyed listening to them speak to each other, but I haven't had the guts to join in - their French is far superior. Bret is English and absolutely hilarious as is Corduroy, his American couterpart. Lots of accents and lots of great people - I'm enjoying the new company.I wasn't as out of shape as I was afraid I was going to be - definitely some shoulder and ankle soreness, but my legs & feet held up well - went the 11 miles UPHILL to Mollies Ridge in 4 1/2 hours - we intended to do 16 today, but the crowd was staying here and we needed the body heat in the shelter to keep us warm. It paid off because Eric managed to make a fire out of wet wood (his trailname's Firestarter). Oh yeah - I forgot to mention it's SNOWING! I can't get away from it! At least it's not as cold as the 18 degrees that caused us to leave a week and a half ago - my thermometer read right at 30 degrees at 6:10. I think the guys being rescued last week combined with snow kept the Spring Breakers away - only thru hikers here tonight. A lot of the hikers weren't expecting this weather - one guy has a 35 degree bag and the rest said this was the snowiest/coldest day they've seen, but Heidi and I are thankful it's not ours. We're thinking about pushing 16.4 tomorrow to get out of the snow ASAP. Didn't have too many profound thoughts today. Mostly had to keep reminding myself how badly I wanted to get back out here . . . which you know is hard for me to do when snow is anywhere in sight.Oh yeah! Happy St. Patrick's Day - 1st year I haven't worn green & gotten away without being pinched! In bed at 6:30 - a far cry from the bar hopping I was doing a year ago. (Later that night) Someone just came in and said the crap of a day we had turned into beautiful blue skies and sunshine - it literally looked like an Antarctic snowstorm 30 minutes ago. Also, just heard coyotes howling in the distance - absolutely beautiful sound.
Date: 2005-03-18
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Silers Bald Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: overcast clouds

OK, So it's just not easy to do 16 miles in the Smokies. Today absolutely kicked my butt. We left at 7:30 AM and didn't get in until after 3:30 (slightly slow for us, but it IS the Smokies and it's NOT a race). I'm not even going to say we'll make 16 miles tomorrow . . . but we're gonna try . . .again. It was a beautiful morning and we had beautiful views from Rocky Top. My energy plummeted afterwards for some reason and the rest of the day I ran on sheer brutal willpower. The last hike up to the shelter was grueling. I think Heidi was a little dehydrated and felt it worse than I did. The big group from last night called it quits at Derrick Knob, 9.6 miles in - just Corduroy, Heidi, Max and Shatter, a trailrunner who caught us naughty thru-hikers trying to hang our food bags in the shelter. We came across a lot of the gear that the four guys that got rescued last week tossed on their way out -it was really creepy. The bags were rectangular camp bags and did not look warm - I wish someone could have helped those guys prepare better.We all are pretty worn out tonight - my ankle is still causing me problems and is swollen again tonight, so I'm overdosing on ibuprofen and tying my bandana around it. Corduroy is making us laugh so hard right now I'm not thinking about my ankle and am having a tough time thinking about my journal, so I'll sign off and enjoy my company.
Date: 2005-03-19
From: Silers Bald Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We finally did our big miles today! Heidi almost talked me into going to Gatlinburg at Newfound Gap, but we pushed on - Newfound was a really strange experience - it's Saturday so there were a TON of tourists at the gap holding their noses and pointing at us stinky, dirty hikers. Not really, but we were getting strange looks - one kid asked his dad if we were ice skaters - not sure where that one came from. Another lady asked us if we slept outside and when we said yes asked us how we survived. Alpine, if she'd proceeded to ask what we ate I would have followed up with the barbequed squirrel story. Seriously though, I love the curiosity - I used to be the one asking a million silly quetions, too.We went over Clingman's today, my second time hiking the southern half of the Smokies, and again it was too cold to stay more than a minute at the observation tower - I prefer the views from Rocky Top & Silers Bald anyway. All of our hike today was filled with blow downs, snow, and LOTS of ice - I therefore busted by arse LOTS of times. Corduroy last night realized he was low on food and forced us all to chant various affirmations that there WOULD be trail magic today and it worked! About a mile from Newfound some wonderful angel left bananas, grapes, Oreos, Gatorade and socks. It really pepped Heidi and me up. Trail angels are wonderful. Icewater Spring Shelter is really beautiful - we're here with about 10 section hikers (just Heidi, Max and I for thru-hikers). One of the section hikers, Good Indian, thru-hiked in 2002 - really nice guy with whom we've shared lots of stories. You know he's a thru-hiker when he leans over my sholder to check out my newest blister and doesn't balk when Heidi plops her soggy socks next to his sleeping bag! Also our first Smoky Shelter with privy - the mouldering privy had very explicit instructions that used the word POOP several times, which I thought was hilarious - I hope the picture comes out. The Smokies have been really challenging - NOBOs be forewarned the park is one long 70 mile uphill for us (and pray you don't have to do it in snow) but it's the most rewarding (we hit 200 mile mark today!) and it's spectacularly beautiful, so if you hit them during good weather, slow down and enjoy it! (and make sure to bring lots of food b/c they take a LOT of energy and your metabolism really starts freaking out 200 miles into the trail -I can't promise that will power & chants will create trail magic for everyone!)