morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-04-14
To: step it up, ipswich
Miles today: 5.5

the children and i went to crane beach in ipswich today for the "step it up" rally on global warming. with two hours to spare before it started, and a warm windy day to enjoy the beach, we walked. near the eastern end of the beach we found a spot in the dunes to rest, have a picnic, toss the frisbee, play in the sand. we came back through the network of trails, 5 1/2 miles in the dunes and woods, and ran into the Gordeau family, walking barefoot in the sand. holly rode in the backpack, wesoly ran the trail, following the numbered and color-coded signs along the way, until, 1/2 mile from the end, he hitched a ride on my shoulders. five miles in the sand is long way for a five-year-old hiker. step it up was over, and we were sorry to have missed seeing our friends, the Eagans, but signed our names under theirs on the big banner for our congressmen.
Date: 2007-04-21
To: finger rock and the cactus sitter
Miles today: 12.6

woke early this morning to the sound of a helicopter hovering directly above my tent. the noise was so loud that the ground beneath me was shaking. after about ten minutes it moved on, but i could still hear it in the distance. apparently, this is normal for tucson. residents tune it out and sleep right through it.a while later, just before dawn, another sound again woke me. at first, i thought it was a squeaky rubber duck in the jaws of a playful dog, but it was one of many songbirds that we don't often hear back east. much more pleasant than the helicopter sound.started up the finger rock trail at 7 am in pouring rain. gentle up for 1 mile, then steep up for 4 miles, then mostly down for 2 miles to the base of finger rock. after about an hour, the rain stopped, and after a little more climbing, the trail was blanketed with fresh snowfall. saw no other person for the first five hours. stopped to warm myself, dry my clothes, eat, rest, and enjoy the view of the mountains, canyon, and city of tucson below. one million people living in the shadow of this mountain, and only one person venturing up this trail on a saturday spring morning.on the return trip, i saw a few other hikers on intersecting trails - ventana canyon, esperero trail, pima canyon. two guys overtook me on the descent from linda vista ridge, one carrying only a half-liter nalgene bottle, and the other with a 3-liter camelbak. a while later, i caught up to them. nalgene informed me, "we have a problem here." at first, i feared a twisted ankle or rattlesnake bite. but camelbak had dropped his pants and was picking at his butt. nalgene explained, "my friend sat on a cactus." ouch. but camelbak was more concerned with damage to his reputation than to his posterior. "now he's going to tell everybody." i expressed my sympathy and moved on. a while later, they passed me again, and later still, i came across them again, painfully extracting more cactus quills. this continued for many miles, leapfrogging the cactus-sitter and his announcer. there are few things that can alleviate the pains of a long strenuous desert mountain hike, but when these guys were well beyond earshot, i found that a good laugh does the job quite well.arrived back at the trailhead at 5:30. went back to the house and soaked in a 50-gallon sheep tank with a cold bottle of sol. later went to the local drive-in movie theater with wesoly, holly, leith and lesley. my first drive-in movie experience was disappointing, as we parked the minivan in the front row, and none of us could see the screen except wesoly, who fell asleep shortly after it started. note to self: convertibles, not minivans, are best for drive-ins. back in my tent, i fell right to sleep, until the nightly visit (4-for-4) from helicopters again woke me.
Date: 2007-04-27
From: AFSP

To: stover creek shelter
Miles today: 2.5
Weather: scattered clouds

so it begins. the time has come to put away the trivial pursuits of modern life, and simply put one foot in front of the other. repeat 5 million times.kieran brought me to amicalola falls state park, as promised, where i signed the register and weighed my pack. 65 pounds. uh-oh. immediately purged 13 pounds of food, clothing, and gear, to start my hike with a whopping 52 pounds. Dad and jonathan met up with me, and we started the 8.8 mile approach trail at 11 am. at springer, we saw ridge runner "many sleeps" roger dunston, who advised us to take our time and enjoy every minute of the hike. good advice. thanks, roger.we filled our water bottles and bags with filtered spring water, and continued to the stover creek shelter at mile 2.5. we cooked, ate, washed, and slept, sharing the shelter with only mice. great weather, great start to a great hiking adventure.
Date: 2007-04-28
From: stover creek shelter

To: gooch mountain shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: few clouds

more great weather. met Saint Nic and the Reverend Paul along the way. trail angel at cooper gap was handing out cold beer, but i didn't know this until later that day. lively fun at the campfire. six slept in the shelter, and at least 6 more in tents nearby. cooked rice and lentils. everyone was kept awake by chris, who apparently has a bad case of sleep apnea.
Date: 2007-04-29
From: gooch mountain shelter

To: lake winfield scott
Miles today: 11.6

good hiking today, with a nice rest and lunch at woody gap. when we got to jarrard gap, we took a blue blaze 1.2 miles down to lake winfield scott, and on kieran's recommendation, jumped in. what a great way to cool off at the end of a long hot hiking day. camped there in tents. dad recalls bringing me to this place when i was just a toddler, and jonathan was not quite born. he says nothing has changed, except the old slide into the swimming area is gone.
Date: 2007-04-30
From: lake winfield scott

To: neels gap
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: clear sky

pleasant night and morning by the lake. dad and jonathan are starting to feel the hiker's pain in their feet. aside from blisters, jonathan also has some pain in his achilles tendon. we decided to climb blood mountain (highest point on the trail in georgia) and end up at neels gap. on the way up, we came across "flat feet" who thru-hiked in 1990, and was almost the one to discover the murder victims on the trail that year. he had met bill erwin on that hike, the blind thru-hiker who helped inspire my dad to join me. thank-you, dad and jonathan, for hiking the first 40 miles with me. wish you could have gone on farther. at neels gap, jonathan replenished my supply of stove fuel and blister pads. we took joyce woodward's shuttle service to dicks creek to get dads van, then ate a wonderful dinner at wylie's restaurant in dahlonega. back at AFSP, J and dad contributed 15 pounds of food and gear to my pack weight. dad brought me back to neels gap, where the Walasi-Yi hostel provided me with a good night sleep and chance to wash my clothes and body.
Date: 2007-05-01
From: neels gap

To: low gap shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

Winton Porter must have a lot of people indebted to him for his backpack advice. 59 pounds was almost too much for me to lift and shoulder, never mind to carry for another 2100 miles. winton went through every piece of gear and clothing, and helped me purge 11 pounds. he politely declined to comment on my food, saying only, "food is kind of personal," but he did give me "something to chew on" about how much food i need to bring. with re-supply points about every four days on the trail, there is no need to bring two weeks worth. and with the abundance of springs along the georgia AT, 2 liters of water is plenty enough.i left neels gap at 12:40 with 48 pounds. the rest of the stuff, i sent ahead to the NOC. soon i caught up with roxanne from seattle, who has hiked the pacific crest trail, and is going as far as pearisburg, VA on the AT. we had a nice chat at a spring. but it was too hot to stay for long. i hiked to wildcat mountain and whitley gap, again on kieran's advice, to a shelter that doesn't get much use because it is 1.2 miles down a blue-blaze. slept, cooked, ate. mike from pennsylvania stopped by briefly, we shared some lentils, then he was gone. i waited until 8:30 to start hiking, to take advantage of the full moon. the next four miles were exciting, listening to owls noisily chasing their prey. every sound and shadow seemed magnified in my imagination. when the bright moon was directly behind me, my own shadow seemed like that of another creature following me stealthily. when i heard a dog barking loudly in the darkness, i knew i must be close to low gap. the dog was barking at me, but he turned out to be a black lab puppy named "jack black" with an address in helen, georgia. he had been following some southbounders from unicoi gap, having adopted them along the way. jack's rightful owner had been contacted by phone and would pick him up when they got to neels gap. but that night, he kept chasing a hungry bear away from the campsite, where in addition to the southbounders, the rhode island hikers were camped out. i was alone with the mice in the shelter. i had dreams of my children, wesoly and holly, playing in the shelter and in the spring, laughing and running back and forth. i would wake up, sleep, and have the same dream again and again. comforting.
Date: 2007-05-02
From: low gap shelter

To: cheese factory site
Miles today: 13.0

coming down into unicoi gap, i met a man by the roadside named trevor james. he had 600 pounds of books with him in 3 huge duffle bags hanging from a tree. he claims to have brought them from springer over the last 3 weeks. he also said he will be losing them gradually over the next few weeks. he said he was working on conditioning his body to keep carrying all that weight up the trail. something seemed not right about him, and i was glad to keep moving on. later i realized the connection between this guy and the many small burn spots we had seen on the trail between springer mtn. and unicoi gap. he is burning his books, making ugly messes on the trail, and not making any friends on the A.T.well, i made it into the cheese factory site at 8:50. bill and maxine were there, as were the rhode island delegation - bruce "gamma goat", dennis "insane camel" and john "rhode island red". they had a good campfire going, passing around a flask of rum and some found weed, and made me feel very welcome among them. pitched the tent and slept soundly.
Date: 2007-05-03
From: cheese factory site

To: dicks creek gap
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: broken clouds

got an early start and hiked up to the tray mountain shelter. there were some folks in the shelter, "shortcut" and "george", a couple who said their trail names should be "slow" and "slower". also "click" and "clack" who had not heard of the tappan brothers from car talk (is that possible?). as i arrived, they had just knocked over their oatmeal, spilling onto the shelter deck, and george, the wife, was attempting to burn garbage, unsuccessfully. i offered to pack out the garbage if they would put it into a bag, which shortcut gladly went along with. actually, summit the dog (from rhode island) ended up packing out their garbage in his saddlebags. matt from texas was tented there, and we all moved out by 10:30.i was full of energy, and hiked the next 8 miles at a good pace without stopping. at deep gap, i got water, rested and dressed my feet, and waited for the others. soon matt showed up, and gamma goat, insane camel, and RI red. we hiked down to dicks creek gap, and as we got to highway 76, Fran from Cloud9 hostel pulled up. we piled into his truck, and enjoyed all of the legendary pleasures of Cloud9. Red caught a trout, and grilled it alongside ribeye steaks, short ribs, and baked potatoes. soaked the feet, and realized my blisters were going to take at least one zero day to heal. the same was true for insane camel, who was hiking in lightweight atheletic shoes for the last 6 days. even gamma goat had a pretty bad blister.but the good food, beer, and cheer made it all good.
Date: 2007-05-04
From: dicks creek gap

To: cloud9 hostel, hiawassee
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

first zero day is absolutely necessary to get my feet back in working order. laura mcguffey has been very attentive to my blisters, and also loaned me this laptop - the first internet access i have had since starting. scott "hubcap" the southbounder showed up this afternoon, having picked up where he left off last fall in damascus. he's planning to make springer in 4 days and go hang out in rhode island for the summer. Fran is taking us into town for deep-dish pizza and a game of pool tonight. Cloud9 is as close to heaven as any hiker could wish for.
Date: 2007-05-05
From: cloud9

To: cloud9
Miles today: 0.0

ok. like many before me, i've been sucked into the Cloud9 vortex of comfort. my blisters are still healing, and it is still raining hard. nine more northbounders arrived today, with reports that trevor james had almost reached the cheese factory site with his book-burning mission. laura and fran graciously took the whole group of twelve, including themselves, to clayton for a cinco de mayo fiesta at the region's best mexican restaurant, la cabana. afterwards we kept the party going in the bunkhouse until about 11, which seems like a very late hour for hikers. its exciting to be getting back on the trail with so many enthusiastic people. four hikers from nova scotia arrived while we were out who are just doing a 10-day, 100-mile stretch from dicks creek to fontana dam. they studied the AT carefully before choosing this section for their hike. that makes me even more excited about the challenge ahead. hubcap is planning to slackpack 36 miles on sunday to neels gap, and finish his 10 month 10 day journey on monday with another 30 mile hike to springer. at that point he will light up a little gift from the bubble brothers, bibo and bobo, aka saint nic and the reverend paul, who are by now 3 days ahead of me. its going to be difficult to catch up with them unless they take some zeros soon.
Date: 2007-05-06
From: cloud9

To: standing indian shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: light rain

You run across a lot of unusual people on the trail, but today I got quite a pleasant surprise. Left Cloud9 early and stopped by the plumorchard and muskrat creek shelters before deciding to push ahead to Standing Indian. Climbing out of Deep Gap, I saw two people hiking down just after sunset. As we got closer, I realized they were my parents, and had guessed with accuracy my location based on this journal and a phone call to Cloud9. My mother jumped into her car and went home, but my father was out to hike a couple of days with me. He stayed in the shelter, and I pitched my tent nearby. I must have had a bad dream, because in the morning my dad and carter both said I let out a primal scream arounmd midnight. I do not remember this, but am sure it was me.NC has a different feeling than GA on the trail. The mountains are higher and the trails are steeper. The rhododendrum tunnels are numerous, and the woods are full of little surprises like just-blossomed ladyslippers and wild flaming azaleas. I met a southbounder named "Windy" who was carrying a couple of the bright orange azaleas to his wife waiting for him at dick's creek. He joins her after every 3 days hiking.
Date: 2007-05-07
From: standing indian shelter

To: albert mtn. / big spring
Miles today: 14.5

Hiked downhill all day with Dad and Carter, stopping at Beech Gap, Carter Gap shelter, and Betty Creek Gap. Albert Mountain gave us our only significant uphill climb, 500 ft in 3/10 mile. The views from top of the firetower were rewarding. Had to go back and hike it again in the early morning to catch the sun rising over fishhawk mountain, where my parents live. Pitched tent in the rhodo thicket and enjoyed the campfire with Carter, John, Joel, Kenny and Fred. Great day of hiking.
Date: 2007-05-09
From: wallace gap / franklin

To: siler bald
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: clear sky

Awake at 6, I drove back to wallace gap, repacked everything, went to look at the wasilik poplar with the farkle sisters, voodoo mama and hell yeah. Hiked with Huff, Ben, Jan and Rebone through Winding Stair Gap, Swinging Dick Gap (suspicipous signage) and Panther Gap to reach Siler Bald. The sisters and I camped at the top. Hawkeyes (miss twiggywinkles) camped in the meadow with the howling coyotes, and the others, Ben, Dodd, and Siobahn stayed at the shelter. A good cheery night was had by all.
Date: 2007-05-10
From: siler bald

To: wesser bald
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: clear sky

From Siler Bald, I hiked with Ben, Dodd, and the Farkle Sisters over Wayah Bald. We stopped to admire the new shelter at Wayah, with a good spring and handicap accessible moldering privy. We also stopped by Cold Spring shelter for coctail hour (whisky sours) with the sisters, who stayed the night. We decided to hop to the next shelter at Wesser Bald. Ben and Dodd got a head start on me. I was enjoying the long tunnels of rhododendrons and mountain laurel, and didn't get to Wesser until after dark. Not able to locate either the spring or the shelter, which were nearly a mile beyond the summit, I decided to stay on top of the observation deck on the tower. Beautiful night after the wind died down.
Date: 2007-05-11
From: wesser bald

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC)
Miles today: 6.5
Weather: clear sky

In the morning, I packed up and hit the spring before catching Ben and Dodd at the Wesser Bald shelter for a breakfast session. They went on ahead of me, and I caught up with Ben resting at a rock ledge about 2 miles down, with a fantastic view. He left and I rested there in the sun with my feet elevated, as I usually do, for about half an hour. When I left, I hiked for an hour and came to a shelter that looked exactly like the one I had left earlier. When I looked at the log, I saw my own entry and realized I had been walking the wrong way. The Farkle Sisters stopped by, bearing news that Rebones had hiked 20 miles the previous day, trying to catch up with us, carrying glass pint bottles of Jack Daniels from Franklin in her pack as a gift. She had missed us by an hour, and stayed the night at Cold Spring Shelter. I decided to wait there for her. When she arrived, her feet and shoulders were badly blistered. I hiked down the remaining 5 miles to NOC with her and persuaded her to take a zero with me the next day.
Date: 2007-05-12
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC)

To: NOC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Zero day to rest, paddle, and eat. Rebones and I went down the Nantahala in Duckies, or inflatable kayaks, with the 4 Canadians on their 10-day AT trip. Ben and Dodd and Huff hiked on, while Tim and Nieth and Jan (Nathaniel) and Worldwide (Mouthy Matt) and Tim Mimbs and Sailfish (Sterling) arrived NOC. Then Kieran showed up and treated me to a very tasty garden salad and a couple of beers at the Paddlers Pub. Thanks again to my trail archangel, Kieran!
Date: 2007-05-13
From: NOC

To: Cheoah Bald
Miles today: 8.1

Kieran hiked with me up to Sassafras Gap shelter, a distance of 7 miles and elevation gain of 2600 ft. He even carried my 50-pound pack for a mile, just for "the experience," which he has had a lot more of than I ever had. He saw a rattlesnake on the way, which I missed because he was ahead of me. Then he hiked back to NOC and drove home to Atlanta, was comfortable in his local pub by the time Mimbs and I were pitching our tents on top of Cheoah Bald. Stunning sunset. Sleep soon after.
Date: 2007-05-14
From: Cheoah Bald

To: Cable Gap
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The Farkle Sisters had left NOC a day earlier than us, but left lots of Farkling Niad magic along the way. There were Dove chocolate eggs laid carefully in a perfect birds nest of twigs, right in the trail up to Sassafrass. Several hikers found and enjoyed the eggs. Rebones got the last one and replaced it with a hershey kiss, which Kieran found on his way back down to NOC, and consumed with pleasure. On Swim Bald, there was found a family of pinecone people converged os a rocky ledge, with Farkling goodness about them. And there were instructions written in the trail, using twigs and pebbles, to "look," to "kneel," and to "smell" various mountain flora in bloom. When I finally found Gretchen's walking stick at Stecoah Gap, I realized with sadness that the Farkle Magic was over, at least for this year. They hike together for two weeks every year on the AT, and Stecoah Gap was their planned endpoint for this hike. Thank-you, Farkling Niads, for your good cheer and botanical wisdom.But the good times were kept alive that night by Marsha and Nathan, the nomadic hippies we met on the trail. We camped at Cable Gap shelter with them, Tim and Nieth, Worldwide, Sailfish, Ben and Dodd and Rebones. Visiting the shelter that night were Alright (Jeremy) with his unusual bearbag, and another dude with an ultralight pack. These guys were going 22+ miles per day and seemed to be in competition with each other. Nathan shared the remainder of his Canadian whiskey with us, but refused to take any of the Jack Daniels that Rebones had carried so far. He had some good stories about his many hiking adventures. I camped in an invisible thicket just above the spring.
Date: 2007-05-15
From: Cable Gap

To: Fontana Hilton
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: clear sky

Easy fun day going into Fontana. Re-united with most of the crew from Cloud9 for a good gathering at the legendary "Hilton," a shelter that sleeps 24, and has electricity, bathrooms, and daily garbage removal. Not to mention a lake you can swim in, which we did, but Rebones twisted her ankle on the steep slope from the shelter to the swimming area, causing her to miss at least 3 days of hiking. We were sorry to leave her behind, but heard she got excellent medical treatment from the Fontana Resort. The rest of us (I think there were 14, including Nathan and Marsha, grilled hotdogs and enjoyed cold beer by the camp fire. I snored loudly in the shelter that night, but tried to wake Tim when I heard him snoring out loud. Shelters make people snore because its uncomfortable to sleep any other way than on your back. Nathan and Marsha slept in their van, and invited everyone to stay another night for a big BBQ party before they headed to Maine.
Date: 2007-05-16
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Mollies Ridge
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: moderate rain

Ben, Dodd and I decided against staying in Fontana another night, and headed across the dam and up into the Smokies. At Birch Spring Gap, also known as campsite 113, I saw a yearling bear getting chased away by ATC ridgerunner Jimmy. I was grateful, because I needed to get water from the spring where the bear was foraging. It rained for most of the 11-mile uphill hike to Mollies Ridge. When I got to the shelter and started pulling off my soaking wet socks, boots, and clothes, Ben brought me a pot full of hot miso soup. What an angel! Ben, I will always be indebted to you for that timely soup. The 12-person shelter was full, and park ranger Dan was camped behind it so he could go out at night and hunt for the wild pigs that have been rooting and destroying the ground. Lots of snoring in the shelter. Wish I could pitch my tent, but the Smokies don't allow it.
Date: 2007-05-17
From: Mollies Ridge

To: Derrick Knob
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: clear sky

Very pleasant hike with Ben and Dodd, with very pleasant breaks at Russel Field, Spence Field, and Rocky Top. Shortly after arriving Derrick Knob shelter, Worldwide Mouthy Matt showed up having hiked the 22 miles from Fontana in one 12-hour stretch. He took zeros the day before and the day after, though.