morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023-04-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

It¢s been a long day, by the time I sat down to write this at 6:16pm I was TIRED. I had an early flight from EWR today (yes I know, why not one of the 2 conveniently close airports 20 min away from me? The motivations of past Sandy are a mystery, lost to the sands of time) so I had the classic experience of ¢intermittently waking up through the night in fear of missing the flight.¢ This was compounded by the need to wake up 2 hours to departure to finish packing (I had only finished packing up my flat yesterday). Thankfully Mom had a cuppa tea waiting for me, which fueled my frantic shoving everything into a cardboard box.We drove to Newark in that beautiful quiet, clear, warm, wintry dawn light that I love. I unfortunately drew the worst seat possible which was middle seat last row, but I was so tired I fell asleep twice on the flight. Arriving into Atlanta was supremely bumpy, think I¢d rather walk home than fly back °¤£. I got to hotel, checked in, exploded my box to quickly check if anything got damaged in flight, and then walked to REI and Walmart to get last minute shopping in. I was staring at the Smartwater display in Walmart, and it intensely felt like I was the trainer at beginning of a Pok©mon game where you have to choose your starter - the Smartwater bottle is such a critical piece of gear and could be lasting me for the whole trip. Or at least a month, I¢m not that gross. I also searched vainly for the dried refried beans to make Skurka¢s legendary beans and rice - the thru hikers ahead of me must have cleaned them out. Other concessions to the thru hikers were the staggering walls of blister and wound care in the pharmacy section. Hours of contemplating bandages later, I returned to the hotel and repackaged food to shove it all in my bear can. Unfortunately my pack is quite tall due to a) the unstretchy nature of the fabric and b) the bulkiness of the bear can. I don¢t want to look like a knob rolling with a tall pack but I need to remember there¢s no ego in this and it¢s not a competition (lol if you know me as a person). I struggled to stay away for Succession and then passed out. Tomorrow is the big day!! Long way from 7/18/22 when I registered for this bad boy. !!Bonus Literature Corner!!Reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and 2 thoughts so far:1. At a staggering 12.3 oz I will be ripping pages out as I read in order to reduce the weight because this is heavier than my tent2. I was maybe all of 5 pages in before TE Lawrence felt the need to inform the reader that the desert¢s ¢public women¢ weren¢t to the taste of the English boys so they turned to each other but somehow it was ¢pure and sexless¢!! Sure. This of course made me turn to Google for more, where I was spoiled that later Lawrence gets captured by a bey (not ~the Bey~), and is tortured after rejecting him - which then gives Lawrence a taste for masochism and has his friends whip him for an imaginary master. There¢s a lot more to this, but beyond the purview of a public journal lol).
Date: 2023-04-10
From: Amicalola Falls State Park

To: Springer Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.0

It was a hot mess packing my pack today, I could not get it to roll at all and after the third time repacking I was already sweating without having even stepped a single foot on the trail! At that point I thought, ¢ah just fuck it you¢ll get the hang of rolling it on the trail,¢ and hustled my ass out of there to meet the shuttle driver, Ron, who is very sweet and gave me a fantastic first 5 day itinerary.I got dropped off at the makeshift visitor¢s center to register - I am hiker number 2420 ([white] blaze it) and weigh my pack (28.53lb with 5 days¢ food and no water, not terrible). After orientation I was off!It was cool but was warm when walking through the sunbeams - I can smell the first wafts of summer coming in from further south. The stairs at the falls were bad as expected, but not as terrible as hyped up on the internet lol. I find long, gradual inclines more annoying than something I can sprint up (chanting rowing calls in my head while doing so). I noticed that the trail itself is very sparkly in the sunlight due to crushed mica, how very Edward Cullen of it.I passed the official Southern Terminus on Springer Mountain (yes today was merely the 8.8 mile approach trail that does not count towards the 2,198 miles of AT) and rolled into camp at 3:30pm. I was extremely thirsty so chugged 2+L so I don¢t pass out again, as my handy Harry Potter scar reminds me. The whole day I was thinking of the beef stroganoff dinner I had packed and it was as delightful as I wanted it to be. Devoured that and a cuppa. I chatted with Will, George, Margaret, and Firecracker (and her adorable dog Griffey) at camp. I was surprised how relatively few folks were camped at the first shelter since I thought I was still in the bubble, but it was a nice ease in and after dinner I built a fire with Margaret and Firecracker, which was lovely. There¢s something satisfying on the primal level about gathering around a fire as darkness falls and the chill creeps in. I¢d give today 10/10, it was hard but exciting and rewarding. I slept pretty well with 7+ hours in total, and got some amazing views of the stars during my nighttime bathroom breaks. Reminded me of camping up high in Peru and being overwhelmed by the stars at night for their unfamiliarity, cold brilliance, and feeling of suffocation as they were pressing down upon us in the mountain. Space!!!!
Date: 2023-04-12
From: Hawk Mountain Campsite

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.3

I only woke up twice, at 11pm and 5am, at which point I decided to stay up for good. Had a nice breakfast of a weird s¢mores grits concoction, chatted with neighbors J13 and Flipper that I had met yesterday, and then shoved off by 9:15am. Getting a little faster leaving camp!Today was Sassafras which I was warned was hard and dry, so I hauled 3L of water which was the toughest part in my opinion.  A father son duo went by in matching orange, which was adorable. I chugged up and down Sassafras (calling power 30s in my head the whole time) in an hour, which is not bad! Especially with my ludicrously capacious bag. I prefer uphills as they feel safer on the knees than downhills, so am more confident steaming upwards. After that push was down to Cooper Gap where I saw the remnants of trail magic, some jugs of water left for hikers. I of course had a billion liters left so was fine. I continued onwards to Justus Creek, where I met some folks (including someone who apparently lives very near me back home! Small world). I took another dip to refresh and manage the hotspots. This was almost to camp, when I passed Devil¢s Kitchen creek I noticed its superior swimming depth to Justus¢ and made a note to come back. I rolled into Gooch Gap camp at 2:30pm and tented when I heard someone say my name and it was WGUW! Huzzah! The folks I met at Justus Creek came in, as well as J13 / Flipper, and others I had passed through the day.I felt strong at this point and could have pressed on past Gooch, but I¢m sticking to my 8mpd rule for the first 10 days so I don¢t blow up my body. Once I had set up and done my chores, I went back to Devil¢s Kitchen to swim.Post dip, I had dinner with the group which felt like being in the bubble for the first time. I learned a new game, Farkle, and got smoked at it by Joplin. I was HUNGRY today, and bonked during cooking and exploded my food and water everywhere. Don¢t worry, I cleaned it up but was very annoying. Today was a 10/10.
Date: 2023-04-13
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 4.8

In the night someone came to camp and stole bear bags from the bear boxes! That¢s a travesty on trail, as that¢s what folks carry their food in. This was the first anyone at the shelter, or that I spoke to today, had heard of that happening. Separately to the robbery, I was up during the night worried about the thunderstorms and my body as the pinky toe hotspot had turned into a blister so large it gained sentience. I was able to call and get a spot at Hidden Pond hostel to give my body some TLC and doctor that blister into oblivion. Plus shoes with a wider toebox!!Leaving the shelter I did an easy c. 5 mile hike today and enjoyed the views. At Woody Gap I got picked up, and the hostel is just absolutely perfect. It¢s a tranquil oasis and has everything you could need. Showering and laundry felt amazing, but then I felt the urge to get back on trail and keep going. But must ease in! Watch me give up on that next week and start crushing 14+ miles so I have less downtime in afternoons. I am extremely excited to go to Mountain Crossing tomorrow and do a shakedown, get new shoes, and mail stuff home. I read some more, tore out more pages, and played some games with folks including What do you Meme - had the interesting experience of explaining memes to middle aged people, and seeing how they interpreted each picture versus what they are actually used for. Consider it an anthropological study.
Date: 2023-04-14
From: Woody Gap

To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 0.0

This morning I went to the long awaited, promised land aka Mountain Crossing to do my gear shakedown / shoe swap to prevent future blister issues. There I ran into Proton and Metro, who I had last seen at Gooch Gap Shelter before I nero/zeroed out to address the blister crisis - while great to see them, it gave me the yearning to be back on the trail.Elsewhere at the shop, I got to work: out went the Hokas and in came a pair of Topos with a wider toebox. More thrillingly was the gear shakedown, I was able to streamline my FAK, eliminate most paracord, take out the camera I panic-packed, and my lopsack (since I decided to commit to all my bear can - yes all 2 pounds of it). The funny comment of the shakedown was when I was sorting through my Dr Bronner¢s and Dove soap and the person helping me commented that ¢I was more concerned with hygiene than the average thruhiker¢ - that got a laugh out of me. Returning to the hostel I ran into WGUW, who gave me a huge smile, hugged, and informed me that she shed 12 POUNDS of pack weight. Dang, I¢d be smiling too at that point. The rest of the day I was rather antsy and eager to get back on trail, as my blister had resolved itself (cough with some strategic stabbing cough). While it was rainy, it wasn¢t the epic thunderstorm I was hoping for to justify the zero. At least I was able to read / shred a good chunk of my book. At this point what I long for most is vegetables. Visions of bell peppers were dancing in my head as I fell asleep and the shadow of scurvy crept across my soul. (While in the car today I was thinking about how beautiful the southern Appalachias are, especially wreathed in the morning mist and clouds moving through the mountains. It¢s a very subtle, nuanced beauty versus the aggressive BALD ROCKS CRAG CLIFF of the West. If you appreciate biodiversity and seeing different color variations of the same species, this is the hike for you.)
Date: 2023-04-15
From: Woody Gap

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 10.8

Feeling accomplished! I was so glad to be back on trail, and with better shoes. I got dropped off at Woody Gap in the morning with another hostel guest, A. My plan was to get to Woods Hole shelter and see how I felt (trying to ease in and all that jazz, no ego in thruhiking, last one to Katahdin wins blah blah blah). I got there at noon, and as I snacked on a Sunkist Buffalo chicken creation I thought to myself: ¢this is way too early to break for the day¢ so I decided to go up and over Blood Mountain. Uphill was perfectly fine - Blood is the tallest mountain in GA and the views were nice but I was just so focused on making it downhill before the rain that I didn¢t linger. Conversely, the downhill was a long 2 hour boring slog inching downward and avoiding the artificially-scented day hikers. At the bottom I checked if Mountain Crossing had room in the bunkhouse, and it did! So I had a shower for the THIRD day in the row, which was quite luxurious especially considering how hot the day was and this was my first double digit day. More crucially there was trail magic of FREE PHYSICAL THERAPY and it was absolutely amazing. They poked and prodded and examined me - I felt like a frog laid out for dissection in biology class.Post moonlighting as a scientific experiment, I chatted with an Aussie and A (now tentatively named Russet Potato) in front of the store and introduced myself to thruhikers passing by. My goal is to know everyone¢s names within a 10-20 mile radius of my hike, but I¢m pants at remembering names so we¢ll see how that goes. Trail names are so much easier to remember though, as they¢re much wackier. Today was a 10/10Hard but glad to be back in action!!! I also discovered the wonder that is lactose-free chocolate milk from Fairlife which has 23g of protein!! Smooth brain no thoughts. Might try 10-12 miles / day for next week and see how that goes.
Date: 2023-04-16
From: Neels Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.5

I woke up at 7 and decided to just roll out without cooking breakfast, so I left by 7:36. I was concerned about rain and thunderstorms today but thankfully besides some very light sprinkles when walking in the fog, it was totally fine and cool, which made it pleasant for hiking.I did a lot of ridge walking in the clouds blanketing the hilltops and it was lovely. It felt very PNW / Twilight (I¢m a monster Bella!!!) and fun ecologically. I saw a snail, some funky black and yellow millipedes, and mushrooms. I passed the folks from the bunkhouse who left before me, and got to hike mostly in peace today which was super nice. I love socializing at shelters, but during the hike itself I like to not be neck and neck with someone so I don¢t feel compelled to compete or hike at a different pace than I would prefer. I think I¢ve landed on the winning snack lineup for all day fuel. Carby breakfast bar like Nature Valley for first hour, then break after 4 hours for lunch of a Sunkist packet, and then snack on something afterwards to get me through 1-2 pm. I made really good progress and am feeling good with 2 double digit days in a row - still easing in!!I rolled into Low Gap shelter and saw more friends from Gooch Gap that I had fell behind during my nero/zero! I caught up with them over what we had missed in the past few days, and then the folks from the bunkhouse rolled in (turns out it was someone¢s birthday). Two folks I had met from the Hidden Pond hostel came in as well, and it was an interesting merging of days. The thing about thruhiking is that who you see on different days can vary so wildly based on hiking speeds, who takes a zero, weather, start dates, etc. that to see them all together is like seeing different friend groups merge. I was flying today, buoyed by the thoughts of eating vegetables and drinking kombucha tomorrow lolololol. I was unable to bribe the good hosteliers yesterday to eat their kale slaw so tomorrow will be exciting from a nutritional standpoint.Today was 10/10!
Date: 2023-04-17
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 12.4

I was going to get off at Unicoi Gap into Hiawasee today, but Russet Potato egged me to push further so we could split a cabin with a group the next night. Which fine, I had missed the free shuttle into town and its hiker feed and thus had no more time crunch. I was feeling decent and decided to push to the next gap 2.7 miles further, and then do a slack pack day the next day in order to catch up to the group (what happened to no ego in thruhiking?). And you know what? My legs feel pulverized, trying out new shoes / sock configurations / PT-provided inserts at once was not the move and I got shin splints on the downhills. But thankfully I got off and shuttled to Around the Bend, where I ran into Proton and Metro again! They are very ahead of me (no ego in thruhiking no ego in thruhiking) but it was nice to see them for perhaps the last time before they leave me in the dust / get off when they finish their section. After showering I grabbed a shuttle to the grocery store, and I am not kidding I almost wept when I saw the fresh food. First things first, I had a delicious fried chicken from their hot bar, salad, and chugged a kombucha (that balances out right?). Once satiated I did my food shopping, and then had sesame chicken to reward myself while FaceTiming my mom to update her on my anthropological expedition to the Ingles store. When I got back I caught up on Succession (in the end¢¦ no one got a kiss from daddy), and thought about how I would love to take a zero tomorrow but alas I am slackpacking. I¢ll nero the day after.Sidebar, thrillingly I woke up at 1:41am and ate half a bag of Bugles, giving my tongue salt burns but oh so delicious. I was like a deer at a salt lick.
Date: 2023-04-18
From: Indian Grave Gap

To: DickÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Creek Gap
Miles today: 14.0

Today I slackpacked, trotting smartly over the hills. I was nervous about doing even more mileage when my the side of my left knee was fussy, but I¢m glad I did as I felt I was able to stretch out whatever was the issue. Unclear if I¢m any faster slack packing but it¢s a hell of a lot easier. I packed out some blueberries to snack on while hiking, and gave some to Lyme Tyme when I passed him. You get one guess how he got his trail name, hint: he¢s finishing his hike from last year. I got off at Dick¢s Creek back to the hostel, but to the cabin this time which was a little further down the road and had a nice view of the hills. The group then went to town to resupply at Ingles and get dinner. I had called us the town taxi but thought he said he had a Silverado and when a silver Cadillac limo pulled up I thought ¢surely this can¢t be it¢ and the taxi never called to confirm. Welp, it was our ride so we called him to come back. We got dinner at Hiawasee Brewery, where I got the house burger (eh) and fries (decent but so insanely salty), and we sat slowly baking in the sunset which was this hazy, feverish pink sun. It was definitely a strange and surreal vibe, or maybe I was feeling introspective. When we got back to the cabin I sat outside watching the pink light wash over the hills listening to the Flaming Lips, which felt very apt for the mood I was in. While hiking I feel like solving a puzzle and I¢m in the flow zone, and when not hiking I definitely get caught up in how much of an undertaking this is. My leg is still not feeling perfect, and may want to rest it some more - I haven¢t needed to take ibuprofen yet, and trying to proactively stretch before anything becomes an issue.
Date: 2023-04-19
From: DickÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Creek Gap

To: Bly Gap Campsite
Miles today: 9.0

Well, today was supposed to be a nero but ended up doing 9 miles. In my defense, I was very leisurely to get up and going this morning as I got on trail at 9:50 which is SO LATE for a hiker. However, a big breakthrough was made in packing my pack smaller as the shuttle driver pointed out how to better pack and compress the gear and now my pack is shorter than me when I¢m wearing it!! It¢s the little things in life - not that it made a big difference wearing it but I look MUCH less of a knob. After 4 miles we took an hour lunch break where I wrangled Russet Potato into a pun competition, which probably made S regret hiking with me. Lunches are much longer with others, as hiking solo I struggle to make myself take my full union-mandated 30 minute lunch, as I like to call it. Post lunch and my victory in punning, we did another 5 to cross the GA / NC border and cross the first state off our list! 1 down, 12 to go.
Date: 2023-04-20
From: Bly Gap Campsite

To: Beech Gap
Miles today: 12.1

Overhead today:Guy on the trail when he heard someone walked off to pee: ¢man, women aren¢t worth it¢Today we were hiking and I noticed signs saying we were in a bear sanctuary, but thought nothing of it. There had been reports of bears stealing food at the shelters but we were staying at a campsite so thus less crowded / less likely bears would know food was there right? Hm¢¦.Hiking over Standing Indian mountain was like passing through another fairytale, but an unsanitized Hans Christian Andersen one with the sides falling rapidly away from us as we passed through naked, sun bleached bone white trees. We got to camp and got to know better Dance Party, Snackpack, and Crypt who we had been leapfrogging the past 2 days. The water source was ¢0.10 miles away¢ but was more like 0.25-0.3 one-way but quite nice for a sponge bath, or in this case a shamwow bath. I sang lustily on my way there and back to deter any bears, but it would be fine right? They¢re shy and fear human encounters right?I went to do my last bathroom break before bed and was looking off into the distance and thought to myself ¢hm that log kind of looks like a bear, ha ha it¢s just pareidolia - oh that log just laid down it¢s a bear HOLY FUCKING SHIT.¢ I had NEVER seen a bear in the wild before and to not have the barrier of ANYTHING between us almost made me weep in terror. He was big, but fat. Extremely fat, as if he had been feasting off hiker food for ages. I slinked back into my tent and whispered for S, who groggily said ¢yes?¢ and I whispered back ¢there¢s a bear!!!¢ Alas S could not hear me, so I crawled out and went to his tent and said louder ¢there¢s a bear!!¢. That got his attention and he came out to look, and the bear looked at us looking at him, without a care in the world. He was laying down, clearly waiting for us to go to bed so he could take our food and be on his way, as if we were merely food delivery people leaving his takeout on his doorstep. The others heard our chatter and came out to look, and the bear decided to leave after hearing us but not fearfully. More of an ¢ah I¢ll come back when you¢re asleep, suckers.¢ I went back to my tent, thinking I would be too scared to fall asleep, and then promptly passed out lol. To be continued¢¦.
Date: 2023-04-21
From: Beech Gap

To: Long Branch Shelter
Miles today: 11.8

Well¢¦ the bears came overnight lol. As retold by various folks in the morning:S woke around 12 and heard a bear tearing into a bag, and ostensibly another one panting behind him. Sweet Potato (formerly known as Russet Potato) heard it too, but was waiting in his tent for someone else to screw up the courage to confront the bears. After 15 or so minutes S decided to go out, and Sweet Potato joined him. They somehow decided to pee to show dominance to the bear (lol) and act big and scary (S shouted ¢hey fucker¢). The bear grumbled off (after having shredded S¢s bag and punctured Sweet Potato¢s bag) and they went back to bed but could hear the bears circling the camp.Me, the one who had spotted the first CHONKY bear last night? Happily asleep. In the morning we surveyed the damage: Sweet Potato¢s stove was shredded and S¢s snacks were sadly consumed. After a few minutes to duly mourn their loss and redivide food to last for the next 1.5 days (and some donations from the others at the campsites), we headed out. The hike itself was fairly nondescript and easy today until the STEEP AS FUCK CLIMB up Albert Mountain and to the fire tower (which reminded me of the watch platforms at Cape Canaveral). We rolled onwards into camp and had a dank multi-course dinner. Hopefully our food and camp stays unmolested tonight (this is! Our privacy square!). The forecast calls for light showers for 2 hours, we¢ll see how that goes. Haven¢t been rained on yet!In positive news today we passed mile 100!