morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-04-03
From: Sassafras Gap shelter

To: Cable Gap shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Sunny ridge walking towards Fontana. Jacob's Ladder and a lazy afternoon at Cable Gap shelter.Woke up above Sassafras Gap to about 30 degrees and breezy. Clammy yells a wake up to me as he walks by heading out. I skip a hot breakfast and pack up. It's great when everything is so dry. Advantage: winter hiking. I'm happy to leave the crowded shelter as I head up to Cheoah Bald. Target from Britain is already at the top admiring the view. There's a great tent spot and fire ring. Would have been amazing to push up to here last night and see the sunset and sunrise. Oh well, take the opportunity when it arises!I spend the next six hours hiking over rolling ridges with Clammy, UNICEF, and Missing Person, including a challenging steep climb called Jacob's Ladder. There are a lot of blowdowns in this section. Along the way we meet Stick Figure coming out of Brown Fork Gap shelter. She's named after the stick figure totems attached to her bag.At Stecoah Gap I meet Monk, a forty-something guy heading to a hostel to nurse an injured knee. Clammy is taking it easy today, trying to get through a day without his IT band acting up. Even UNICEF is complaining of knee pain on the downhills.At 2:30 we arrive at Cable Gap shelter, over 15 miles in. Everyone's ready to call it a day, partly to rest their joints and partly because we get the small shelter to ourselves. But mostly because we want to walk the next seven miles into Fontana tomorrow morning and have time for rest and chores before we head into the Smokies.Having more time on my hands than usual, I soak my feet in the creek (downstream from the piped water source of course), and rinse out my sweaty shirt. It's warm today with the sun beating down through the barren trees. I've seen the occasional daisy or violet and now some yellow flowers. The maples are beginning to show red buds.After a late lunch/early dinner, I gather firewood and build a fire. First I dig out a pit in the pyramid of ash that's formed over the years. A fire ring rock tumbles into my ankle. Yowch! That's gonna leave a mark. Several folks come in to camp. A guy named Pura Vida (pure/good life) who's spent most of his life in Costa Rica. A guy named Gandalf from last night who smokes a long carved pipe. Stick Figure comes over to eat and shares her theracane (massage hook) that she picked up in NOC. Man that feels good on my knotted shoulder and back muscles!Overall a good day of hiking. Tomorrow: town, laundry, shower, and restaurant, not necessarily in that order.
Date: 2019-05-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Two of our sheltermates are up at 4:30, but all their racket barely disturbs me, exhausted as I am by the long miles of late yesterday. I have breakfast with Up and Over (he puts on his pack by swinging it over his head). He's a retiree from Connecticut with a decades-long dream to hike the AT. He planned to do the Long Trail first to test out his mettle in backpacking, but with the support of his wife went whole hog instead. I hike with him to nearby Blackrock summit and scramble up the boulder pile to take in the 360 degree view at the top.Shenandoah is home to three "waysides" - short-order grills - as well as two lodges with restaurants and two campground stores with food, all spaced out over 100 miles. Most days a hiker can have a restaurant meal once or even twice. It's Virginia's answer to the "deli run" in the mid-Atlantic states.We're headed seven miles to first of these food stops, Loft Mountain campstore. Here I run into Zig again. I last saw him at the trail magic I gave near Bland. There's also a guy from Devon, PA who recognizes the Valley Forge name. In the store I load up on cheese sticks. They are becoming my favorite trail snack. A couple miles later I get to the Loft Mountain Wayside. It's three minutes to eleven, so I order breakfast and then ten minutes later lunch. And blackberry ice cream of course. Yum! The milkshake machine is on the fritz but it doesn't matter because the ice cream is almost better by itself.The afternoon drags for awhile. I soak my head in Ivy Creek's falls, but it's not very hot today. I take my time and sit at all the overlooks. It ends up being a 21 mile day, same as yesterday. It's perfect hiking weather with clear skies, low humidity and temps in the seventies, cooler in the shade, and a cool breeze.On the last couple miles to the shelter I meet a section hiker named Shaina struggling with some blisters caused by her new boots. She's a traveling nurse trying to finish hiking Shenandoah. I have plenty of gauze and KT tape so I show her how I used to care for my own heel blisters and leave her enough to finish the park.A wonderful surprise greets me just before climbing up to Hightop Hut for the night. Bluegrass and Sunshine are offering trail magic. I down the coldest most refreshing Coke I've ever had. They are both thruhiking but Sunshine has developed plantar fasciitis and is slackpacking her boyfriend Bluegrass through the park while she recovers. She sees him many times a day thanks to the frequent road crossings. They remember seeing me last evening hiking down the road. I walked right past their van at an overlook.I'm in the shelter again tonight with Food Truck, Clammy, a tall red-haired kid named Tortuga and his friend Andy who's joining him for a few days. Andy's a distance runner and has been gamely keeping up with Tortuga's (and our) long days but he's obviously feeling it. It's hard dropping into the middle of a thruhike! I remember starting in Harpers Ferry and marveling at the pace many hikers from Georgia could sustain over any terrain. I felt like a snail for a long time.
Date: 2019-05-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

More gorgeous weather today. It's almost too cool, but I'm not complaining. I slept better than the first night, except for Clammy's 3am wake-up call in the form of tremendously loud gas that had Tortuga out of bed thinking there was a bear in camp. Good times!Again we're heading to a campstore, this time at Lewis Mountain. The descent into and out of Swift Run Gap is relatively steep but easy going. The trail is ridiculously well-groomed here with few rocks, roots or deadfall and no washed out areas.A Quebecois girl named Rose (or Mervel) joins us at the store. We met in Fontana and again in Hot Springs. I get a couple sandwiches and drinks and feel quite full. You can get a shower here for a dollar so we all take advantage. No towel of course, but a few paper towels from the bathroom dispenser get the job done.Afterwards I hike a bit with Food Truck. He's turning 21 next month and, like Clammy, celebrated two months on the trail yesterday. He grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, home of my alma mater Penn State, and worked on a horse farm in Erie for three years after high school. He doesn't see any more thruhikes in his near future but he's enjoying this experience immensely. We take a side trail down to Lewis Falls, leaving our packs behind. It's a rocky steep 3/4 mile descent but I'm bounding over it without a pack. It deposits us at the top of an eighty-foot falls. We are literally on the edge of a sheer cliff and it's awesome. Like something out of a tropical jungle. I step away to soak my head in the upper cascades and can't find Food Truck when I return. I call around then run up the trail. A dayhiker coming down hasn't seen him. God, did he fall? Where could he have gone? I'm searching for his phone number as I descend back when I see him coming up. He had gone further down to get a side view. Whew! Gave me a scare.We have dinner at Big Meadows Lodge in the pub to celebrate his trailaversary (and because we love to eat), then we search for the trail. The staff says it's just downhill, so we bushwhack through the ferns, "greenblazing" until we hit it. Just a few hundred yards further as we skirt the campground we encounter trail magic in the form of what looks like a giant family cookout. It's a group of retired teachers from Maryland who camp here for a week every year and feed hikers. They've been doing this seven years. I'm too stuffed to eat anything but I take a beer. Food Truck downs four hot dogs and bags of chips. To be fair, his pizza dinner was kind of small.It's only four miles to the shelter, which is tucked down on the western hillside. There's a cabin for rent nearby with a beautiful view of the Shenandoah Valley and Elkton. At the shelter is the same gang as last night plus a Dane named Viking working on his third thruhike attempt in as many years and a guy turning sixty next month named Pirate.
Date: 2019-05-24
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Viking and Pirate hike past the shelter before 6, as we're still rubbing our eyes and packing up. Our plan is the same as the last couple days: hike quickly to food, stop, eat said food, hike slowly to a shelter. This morning's stop is the Elkwallow Wayside seven miles away.I'm out in front for the morning hike, looking for bears. No luck! The miles go quickly chatting with Clammy as we head over Pass Mountain, through Beames Gap, and over unnamed ridges. I pass the site where my son and I stealth camped last year. Having just seen most of the park it's a surprisingly good spot. Other than a few summits there are almost no decent tenting spots thanks to the narrow ridgeline and Skyline Drive. We got lucky finding this one.Bluegrass, the slackpacker, is hiking ahead of us and stops to pass on a warning about an aggressive bear at Rattlesnake Point a few miles ahead. Clammy and I breathe a sigh of relief - we thought he was going to report the Wayside was out of order! Priorities...I'm customer number one at the counter for breakfast. An hour later we get milkshakes and an hour after that, at 11, I order lunch. Meanwhile most of the other thruhikers from the shelter stream in like Zig, Bedpan (the guy from my neck of Pennsylvania), Smash, Nibbles, Radar, and Rose. The wayside only have supplies for 6 milkshakes and they go quickly. The milkshake machine was busted at Loft Mountain Wayside, and Big Meadows Wayside was closed entirely, so this is our last chance. You'd think the concessions in such a popular park would be better managed, but nope. Still, somehow I've managed to survive!I hike alone all afternoon, covering almost seventeen miles to the northern park boundary and slightly beyond to Tom Floyd shelter. Along the way are Hogback Mountain, Little Hogback, Hogwallow Flats, and Hogwallow Gap and I remember my son's delight at all the pig references (there's also Pignut Mountain off the AT). There are several gorgeous views over the Shenandoah Valley from rocky outcroppings on these hills as well as North and South Marshall Mountains. It continues to be rockier in this area than in the southern section of the park.I see a deer or two and hear some unidentified crashes in the woods but no confirmed bear sightings today. There are only a handful of dayhikers out and none of the other thruhikers appear to be going this far. Finally I cross Skyline Drive for the last time and walk a level dirt path to the edge of the park where my son and I ended our hike last year. We had walked out with three ladies finishing the entire park as a series of dayhikes and driven them back to their car. But now I turn to follow the AT down a craggy cliff and to the shelter. Here Clammy, Food Truck, Rose and three southbound section hikers await. The sectioners are a father with his early-twenties son and daughter. The shelter is full and Rose has the only tent site that isn't a five minute hike down the hill, so I elect to cowboy camp on the deck attached to the shelter. There may be a view of the stars later, but for now I'm fending off a horde of gnats. The joys of nature!
Date: 2019-07-30
To: West Chairback Pond stealth site
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: broken clouds

Tough day. Up before 6 to a beautiful peaceful morning with loon calls. UNICEF and I hiked over 12 hours but came up short of Chairback Gap Shelter. Two years ago I made it from Monson to this shelter, 26 miles, starting at 9am. Wasn't feeling that strong this time.UNICEF'S phone died this morning, taking all his ideas for children's books with it. Also his AWOL guide, which was on PDF only. I am now his eyes and ears (and camera).Enjoyed conversation most of the day with Two Blade and Fresh Prints, who caught up after leaving Monson a couple hours after us, and UNICEF. Two Blade is a third grade teacher looking to switch to fifth grade. She served in the Peace Corps in Colombia, where her family is from. She was having a rough day with deer flies biting us as we forded a river, rashes from her sweaty shirt, and foot pain. At one point I was in the lead and ran across a Croc in the trail. Just one of a pair. I faced the same situation two years ago in Maine. I had carried the shoe to the next shelter, only to learn it probably belonged to a southbounder who was now many miles behind me. This time we left it where it was. But thirty yards on we found the other Croc, along with a washcloth. Content to reunite the small family we left them in the trail for their owner to hopefully return.After a nice lunch we hit the Chairback range with several relatively short but killer climbs. It was here I had a little breakdown in 2017 climbing over countless boulders on Barren mountain, Fourth mountain, Mt Three and a Half, Third mountain, and more. UNICEF and I both had a difficult time today and couldn't keep pace on the steep downhills to reach the shelter before dark. The terrain, heavy packs from the large six-day resupply, and the heat and humidity slowed us down. There was also no water for ten critical miles except for a barely moving pool with yellow water. We had to drink copiously to replace the liters we sweated out, so water stops were frequent.We finally reached a flowing stream after Third mountain, filled up, and found a stealth site nearby. Cooked some Ramen and went right to bed. Gonna sleep well tonight!
Date: 2019-07-31
To: Logan Brook Lean-To
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: clear sky

Better day - there were easier climbs over the last two Chairback peaks and the White Cap range. UNICEF and I crossed Katahdin Ironworks road, one of two private gravel lumber roads in the Wilderness where hikers can get a food drop, then forded the West Branch of the Pleasant River. I dropped the pack and went back to lay down in the shallow water and felt cool and wonderful until I dried off. Otherwise it was a fairly sweaty day.We met about ten Quebec girls from a camp near Leeds hiking the Wilderness. They do a section of the Maine AT each year. This is their third and final section. We passed the first five on the trail giggling over something, then found the others at our lunch shelter, waiting for the trailing group to arrive because one was carrying the crew's lunch for the day - a plastic bag full of peanut butter. They laughed and chatted in French while I power-napped in the shelter. UNICEF was concerned he was pushing me too hard. It's certainly been more challenging after three months of relative inactivity than it was two years ago when I'd hiked from Harper's Ferry to get here, but I felt ready to go after an hour. An older section hiker was planning to spend the night here after getting a late morning food drop at KI road. He's headed for Katahdin on this trip which will complete the AT for him after four years.We first saw Katahdin from White Cap mountain, a distant hump but clearly recognizable. UNICEF isn't an emotional guy but I could hear the conflict in his voice. He's got post-hike plans and is ready for it to end. But he'll miss the people and the adventure. One of the benefits of thruhiking is immersing yourself in the trail community, but that also means abruptly leaving it. Section hikers may only dip their toe in, but they get to come back again and again. We didn't reach the shelter until nearly seven, more than twelve hours after starting. Not sure how I pulled a 29 mile day in this section last time. 19 miles was more than enough today. There were two brothers tenting here sectioning the Wilderness. And a woman hiking a small section southbound from Jo-Mary road after climbing Katahdin with her husband and five kids. She hiked the southern half of the AT twenty years ago in college. She asked if we've seen Fireball, an old friend she heard was hiking nearby. He's a flip-flopper with a distinctive half gray, half black beard. UNICEF knows him well and thinks he's a day ahead.Thunder crackled in the distance during the late afternoon and evening. It rained gently while we were climbing White Cap, perfect timing to cool us off. We opted to sleep in the shelter despite the bugs to avoid wet tents in the morning. It paid off, as the bugs kept their distance as the rain started pounding the metal roof in waves soon after dark.Tomorrow should have far fewer climbs and become less rocky and rooty. I hope I remember correctly.
Date: 2017-06-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

If you're new to my journal, hello! Maybe you found me from my TEDxUCLA talk?TEDxUCLA Hike Your Own Hike If you're interested in the 2015 or 2016 AT Journals, you can access them from the "My Other Journals" tab on the left.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * It's here again! In roughly 10 days. I have my flight, but the actual date of starting will depend on my lovely friend Gish, who picked me up from the trail last year in a car full of Appalachian root beer, pretzels, and Tasty Kakes. He has graciously offered to take me back to where he collected me last summer, which feels like an awfully auspicious way to start off the third summer of hiking the AT. Plus, he's basically the Ambassador of the Keystone State, and will be able to join me for some sections! (PA family, UFC, Pilgrim, and friends along the way - You are all invited to come out and day hike with me if you want!)The Pennsylvania section is notorious for being awful and rocky (and awfully rocky). The fact that the trail runs through a Superfund site where you can't drink the water is also discouraging. But it is also the state of my childhood, and runs near some places that are very important to my family (Hawk Mountain!), so I'm pretty excited to tackle it. In planning my trip this year, I think there's a good chance of me making it to Maine, barring serious injury, fire, horrific weather, or being sucked into Zero Day vortexes. Straw from last year, and Buddha from much longer ago, have been giving me great advice about preparing for the Whites, and I've contacted some friends and the family of a former student who I'll be visiting along the way. And there's going to be a Zero Week at Lake George! So there's going to be some exciting differences to this year's hike. Also, I'll be starting so far north I may very well begin in the thru-hiker bubble.I hate goodbyes, and the goodbyes this year as I prepare to go are much harder than they were before. I'm lucky they're so hard. :-)
Date: 2017-06-12
From: Old Forge Picnic Area

To: Rocky Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: overcast clouds

What a day! Breakfast of champions at the Gish home (same baked French toast I devoured at the end of trail last year), then Gish drove me to Old Forge Picnic Area where Straw, Atlas, and I did some serious time under a pavilion last year.As we neared, we saw the road closure sign. So my return to the AT officially started with a 1-mile road walk!It was insanely hot and humid. But familiar. I took 2 or 3 breaks to take off my shoes, air my feet. I drank LOTS of water. I kept my promise to myself to keep my mileage low.I didn't see another person all day until just before the shelter. There I met two other English teachers! We first talked about how books are too heavy to take on the trail...and then shared the books we brought! Older man who studies Religion and Philosophy - Sins of Scripture. Me - second half of Sister Carrie. And then Fletch (whose name is synonymous with so many jokes thanks to the guys from high school obsessed with the movie) said, "I brought two books by Neil Gaiman."NEIL GAIMAN!Did I whip my head so fast that it nearly cracked? Did I start gushing about American Gods? Did I ask to take a photo of him and his books (Cheap Seats and Fragile Things) by the fire?You bet I did.Set up my tent for the first time this trip, crawled in, collapsed in the heat. Day One done!
Date: 2017-06-13
From: Rocky Mountain Shelter

To: Birch Run Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The thing I appreciate about rattlesnakes is that they let you know where they are. This one was right next to the trail and caused quite a ruckus as I neared. First I tried throwing a rock to encourage him to move. Rattlesnake DGAF. I weighed my options...the foliage in the area was thick, to go around the snake would mean me scratching up my legs and seriously increasing the odds of poison ivy, ticks, and yeah, more snakes. So I hesitantly went past him, leaned as far over as I could get! (and then took photos to torment ya'll with later)Today was again stupid-hot. I drank my full load of water (3 liters) and now I'm lying on my thermarest in a clearing, eating a bowl of ramen with peanuts (no nori, alas!), and feeling pretty good. There are thru-hikers here with two huskies who have been traveling since Georgia! I've met several people who started in March at Springer. I asked the Ridgerunner at the shelter if this is the bubble, but she wasn't sure. So far, no Frankenlegs, no hiker hunger. But I know they're coming!
Date: 2017-06-14
From: Birch Run Shelter

To: Campsite at 1105.9
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm cheating a bit with today's pic - it's actually from yesterday. But you needed to see some PA rocks!Today I passed the midpoint of the AT - one of them, at any rate. Harpers Ferry is celebrated at the psychological midpoint, so I think I celebrated that last summer. And it feels weird celebrating when I've only been hiking 3 days. The official midpoint, btw, changes every year as they add switchbacks, resections, etc.Still, by whatever measure, I've done half!Today I had a lovely 15 minute foot soak in a stream and reached  Pine Grove Furnace, where I could order food (veggie wrap!), charge my phone, and get wifi! (which is how I got blog entries up so quick)I met a SOBO named Handy and we chatted for a spell about the usual: gear, food, feet, favorite places on the trail. I asked him where he thought the bubble was, and he said it's more like a lava lamp - dispersed groups of people. I like that analogy.I didn't have a set plan of where to stay for the night - too soon to cave and stay in a hostel, too far to the next shelter. So I hiked up out of the park and looked for campsites with people. They were all empty. Finally I chose one, hung my bear bag, and settled in for what was likely to be a less-than-restful night of What Was That Noise?And then a dad and his two young daughters (Icy Pop, Mosquito Bait, and Roadrunner) showed up! I had seen them briefly at Birch Run shelter the night before. Turns out, the littlest girl is nervous about sleeping in the woods...she prefers if other people are in the area."Me too," I confided.I was so glad to hang out with them! They reminded me of 12 Feet Walking from last year.Parents who take their kids into the woods are the best.