morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-04-01
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter, NC/TN

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

Cell minimal away from the shelterOG notesWell I finally made my first bonehead move today. I left our fuel canister at the last shelter, we discovered this when we started dinner tonight. Fortunately a fellow hiker, "Hodgepodge," had an extra canister and gave it to us. We owe him dinner somewhere down the trail.The Smokies are very difficult to hike; the mountains are steep and high. We were a mile high on Thunderhead Mountain 5527 feet but only for a little while, then started down. The day had a lot of very hard climbs no switchbacks just straight up.The best part of today was the sun came out about 2 pm and we're all out drying our clothes and sitting in the sun. Last night was wet, windy and cold. We all cooked our dinner inside the shelter, it was the only place warm. The wind had died down this morning and we were able to cook outside. We started hiking in a cloud and didn't know if it would rain again or not. As I mentioned earlier it got sunny later on and the day turned out fine.C6 notesI'm not loving these Great Smokey Mountains. Yesterday we got to the shelter in extreme winds and cold temperatures. The wind blew most of the night, and a couple times we heard a downpour! And these mountains are hard hiking with all the uphills.We had planned for it to take maybe 7 days to get through the GSMNP, but after a challenging first day and the possibility of having to pitch a tent in gale force winds (some folks had to), we decided up do 12 to 14 mile days and get through the park as fast as we can.We hiked with Braid for most of the day today. That was nice - we learned a lot about each other and truly enjoyed the hiking company. Braid is a great man. I like him a lot, and it was nice to get to know him. This evening everyone is sitting in the sun - drying things out and conversing. This is nice.A few days ago I wrote about a mouse on my face at night. Actually, it walked across my cheek. (And, in case you were wondering, no one screamed about the mice.) After I shooed the mouse away, I buried my head in my sleeping bag, but then I got too hot. I found myself imagining the mouse's paw being a tiny soft paw, and I was able to go back to sleep.Old Goat & Check Six
Date: 2009-04-02
From: Derrick Knob Shelter,

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

Cell NoneOG notes Today we climbed the highest mountain on the AT, Clingmans Dome. We also went up on the observation deck even though we knew there was no view. C6 felt like she was going to be blown off from the wind. We stayed up there long enough to get someone to take our picture. We met a nice family from Z-ville Indiana while near Clingmans Dome. We must have looked strange coming out of the woods with backpacks on. They were surprised to hear we had hiked almost 200 miles and were planning another 1975 miles. The hike was difficult today the climbs were tough and the terraine difficult. We were also concerned whether we would get into a shelter tonight. The forecast is for 100% rain and thunder, we wanted to be inside not in a tent. Well we made it into the shelter, there are 17 of us in a 12 person shelter. Thru hikers will squeeze in another fellow hiker if it is remotely possible. Thank God for the fellowship we have out here.Things are tight and difficult to type, so goodnight for now.C6 notesWhat a day! Some extremely hard mountains. We went over Clingman's Dome today; the highest point on the AT. OG and I went up the Clingman's Dome tower even though we couldn't see anything but the cloud we were in. The wind was extremely strong, too, so we were blown sideways as we went up the mountain and as we went up to the top of the tower.On our way up to the tower, we stopped and visited with a nice family from Z...., Indiana. Didn't get your names, but we enjoyed telling you about what we're doing. Hope you enjoy our journal.It was extremely windy all afternoon and very cold. We passed a ridge runner (a volunteer who hikes back and forth over a section of the AT to see what trail maintenance is needed and to make sure folks are all right. He gave us the weather report for tonight - severe thunderstorms later and 50 mph winds. I hit a breaking point just before we came to the turnoff for the shelter. The last two miles up Clingman's Dome was a VERY HARD climb, then we had one more mountain before we reached the shelter...in the cold and blowing rain. So between the horrible weather, the difficult climb, and being worried if we would have to sleep in our tent tonight with the predicted storm, I just broke down and cried for a few minutes. OG is great with me when that happens. He has learned he can't fix such situations for me. The best thing he can do is let me have my moment and it will pass...which is exactly what he did, and it did pass. Some warm food, and I'm writing this while lying in my warm sleeping bag. OG assures me that tomorrow's hiking will be easier.This shelter is an old one. OG and I are on the top tier and there is no ladder. I hope I don't have to get up to pee in the middle of the night, but I'm sure I will. Some folks are playing a guitar and hamonica below us, and someone just sang to the last song they played. I love that.Old Goat & Check Six
Date: 2009-04-03
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: light rain

Cell noneOG notesLast night when we arrived at the shelter it was already at capacity. One thing about thru hikers they'll always make room for one more, and they squeezed us in. The shelters in the GSMNP are in the process of being renovated. The new design has an extra overhang for cooking and there is usually a tarp to close the front. The old layout of the shelter has an open front and a chain link fence across the front. There isn't much room for our gear and it's open to the weather. The side walls are stone from the 1930s and were built by the CCC. They are well built and remain the best part of the shelters. The old or new designs were built using the original side walls. Also the sleeping platforms are the same in all shelters, they are two levels. The park says they sleep 12, we have had 19 in one of them.Our hike today had an extra mile, that doesn't count towards our total mileage because both last nights shelter and tonights were both .5 miles from the trail. We try not to go that far off the trail but these two shelters were in our daily range.Today was cold and tough, we hiked to stay warm and when we stopped we got cold. C6 will describe how it went. Also today was a day with no views, the fog or clouds made it impossible to see anything. The shame of it was we were on ridges that should have had great views. C'est la vie or that's life.C6 notesAnother COLD, windy, and wet day. We were lucky last night - the severe thunderstorm that we were supposed to get didn't happen. Just a LOT of rain...which leaves everything wet and leaves water on leaves that drop down on us throughout the day as the wind blows.We did a lot of ridge walking today. That's where you walk on the top edge of the mountain, with steep sides down on both sides of you. I wanted to take a video to show what it's like, but it was too darn cold, cloudy/foggy and wet to stop. At some points the ridge was only as wide as the trail itself! Most of the time the ridge is 4 to 5 feet wide and there are trees on the mountainside, so it's not too scary. The places where it's only trail wide (maybe about 22 inches or so) with sheer drops on both sides is scary. I've been surprising myself with how comfortable I am on mountain ridges. I think it's because I'm in good shape now, my balance is much better than usual, and I have the hiking poles to help keep me from falling.We'll be out of the GSMNP in 2 days if all goes as planned. The sooner the better! Hiking in these conditions is awful. No views, one gets extremely cold if you stop even for a few minutes, everything is so wet that we're constantly hiking in mud or water, and the mountains are a challenge in these conditions.I'm looking forward to being off the GSMNP!!We were very happy to see "Red Leg" (Adin) here when we arrived at the shelter this evening. We enjoy his company, and hope to have more days hiking with him now that we have caught up to him again. He got ahead of us when we took a day off in Franklin and he kept going.Old Goat & Check Six
Date: 2009-04-04
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

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

Cell noneOG notesWe had a fuel scare this morning with our stove. I boiled water for oatmeal and then tried to relight it for cocoa. The stove would not relight and I thought we were out of fuel. Canister fuel is tempermental in cold weather. Well, the fuel froze and would not come out. We did not have a problem this evening now that the day warmed up. The canister will be in my sleeping bag tonight.The hike wasn't too bad today. We are leaving the high country so we went downhill a lot.The best part was that the temperature increased to t-shirt weather and the views are spectacular. We're looking forward to getting out of the Smokies tomorrow. We are also starting to set our sights on Hot Springs, NC and a zero day. After that we'll be cruising toward Erwin,TN.C6 notesWhat a spectacular day! A lot of beautiful Rhime ice (where cloud water forms ice crystals on everything when the temperature drops). And because it was beautiful out (sunshine and blue skies), we had a lot of beautiful views. We took a lot of pictures...hope they turn out as pretty as the real scenery, etc, was!!We had An interesting encounter this afternoon - a maintenance team on horseback went by. Four people and a packhorse with a chain saw and other gear to remove trees that fell acoss the trail. We had to crawl under one huge tree and carefully climb over another - they were heading for those trees.Nice group in the shelter this evening, and we are warm enough to be able to visit for a while. I don't feel too wordy this evening, so I'm going to sign off for today now.Old Goat & Check Six>
Date: 2009-04-07
From: Roaring Fork Shelter, NC/TN 

To: Hot Springs, NC 
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: light rain

Cell none - We are finding that Veizon has service nealy everywhere, and AT&T doesn't have service in places OG had service in 2006. We have heard AT&T stopped sending analog signals, so we think that's the difference. It's extremey frustrating!!!!C6 notesOG and I woke up about 2am needing to pee and were surprised to see how much snow had fallen! I couldn't get the vestibule open because there was so much snow on it! We had to push hard on it to move all the snow out of the way to get the zipper open on the tent vestibule! At first we thought that maybe 12 inches or more snow had fallen over night, but once we could get out and step away from the tent a couple steps we realized it was about 8 inches or so. I spent a lot of the rest of he night worried about being able to see the trail to get down from the mountain!When everyone woke up around 7am, we realized about 9 inches of snow had fallen over night, but we could see the white blazes and we could see the trail ident in the snow (it hadn't drifted over to completely hide the trail). We talked as a group and decided no one should hike alone because it was still snowing, so once we were ready, we set out in small groups. At one point we caught up to each other and had a group of 12 hiking in one long line. That was a lot of fun.A couple of the younger group blazed the trail - Gangsta, then Sport. Not an easy task with 9" of fresh snow, and new snow contining to fall. Way to go, girls!!We started to spread out when we came upon uphills, but even though it continued to snow all day, the overall amount of snow lessened as we went lower in altitude. I was surprised that we didn't get out of snow completely until we reached the town of Hot Springs. Even after we got into town, we still saw snow showers, but no accumuation finally. It was an intense day. We all decided to hike about 19 miles to get out of the mountains and get out of the snow. We plan to stay in Hot Springs tomorrow to stay out of the mountains until the snow passes. It was an intense, and risky, day. It's wonderful to be in a comfortable bed in a beautiful bed and breakfast tonight!!We went and had dinner with our friends who are not at the bed and breakfast. We thru-hikers have maxed out the town overnight facilities I think for tonight because the hostel and motel are full. Some thru-hikers got here before the storm and chose to wait it out. OG's asleep as I write this. I'm looking forward to a nice breakfast an a good day tomorrow getting out gear dried out and takin stock of whar we might need from the local outfitter. Good night.Old Goat & Check Six
Date: 2009-04-15
From: Bald Mountain Shelter,NC/TN 

To: Nolichucky River, TN 
Miles today: 16.9

Cell none OG notesAfter being in the rain and clouds for so many days we find ourselves dashing to get a spot in the shelters. We decided that we would hike the extra miles and get into town instead of staying in another shelter. Then as we were hiking we discussed tomorrow's weather, which is supposed to be nice. Actually the next couple of days are supposed to be nice. Our off days have been nice days and then we are hiking on lousy days. Well with tomorrow being nice we decided not to take a zero here tomorrow. We want to hike out with the good weather rather than sit around in town. We'll zero in Damascus, Virginia, in a few days no matter what the weather is like.C6 notes Last night was a frustrating night for me. I slept against one side of the shelter, and there was a vent next to me. For the life of me, I don't know why a 3-sided building needs a vent, but someone thought it did. Well, the vent let the very cold night air keep me cold. It was halfway between above and below the plywood platform we were sleeping on, so below the wood was very cold, and next to me at that spot was very cold. I had to put a foot warmer (those packets that warm up) next to me at that spot to keep warm...after putting on nearly all my layers.At 4am my acid reflux flared up. That happens to me every so often at night; so far this is the second time since we started hiking. The last time I was able to sit up and it stopped. That didn't work this time, so I took some Zantac and had to wait for it to work...sitting up with my down jacket on, in the dark, and getting colder. Not pleasant at all.The last frustrating thing was that I had to pee and poop at 6am. It was still dark out and very foggy (we have been spending a lot of time in clouds at high elevations - last night we were in a cloud). I had used the privy before I went to bed, so I had a general idea where it was, but not so clear of an idea that I was completely confident about finding it. I started to follow some kind of path, but it wasn't a real clear path, so when I realized I might lose sight of the shelter in the fog I decided to not continue. I still had to poop and pee, however, so I decided I would have to dig a cat hole. I got my hiking pole and headed out on a clear path behind the shelter. After following it for about 20 yards, I stepped to the side and did my business. When we finally got up for the day and I went to the privy in daylight, I realized that clear path would have led me to the privy. Argh!!!!The hiking today was decent. It's nice to be in a building tonight instead of out in the cold. I hope the weather predictions are accurate for the next couple of days because there are a lot of people here who will be heading out tomorrow. So the next couple of shelters will be full and we'll surely end up in our tent. The tent is fine if the weather is dry. We prefer being in the shelter if it's raining. It's not pleasant to have to set up and pack up in the rain.Old Goat & Check Six
Date: 2009-04-22
From: Watauga Lake Shelter, TN 

To: Iron Mountain Shelter, TN 
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: light rain

Cell good OG notesI don't have anything to add today. I'll let C6 speak for both of us.C6 notesOk hiking day today. The morning had some hard climbs, but the afternoon was much easier. Nice group at the shelter this evening - Red Leg, Rolling Stone, Moonwalker, Skittles, and a man we just met today (but I don't know his trail name yet). We had a nice campfire and enjoyed visiting for a couple hours. It's cold out, but the fire helped keep us warm so we could visit. It's supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow and 80's the next day. Being so high in the mountains we'll see if we have that warmth, but at least it's supposed to be decent out. Hiking in sun is easier than hiking in bad weather.At one point today we passed a group of people doing trail work. Turns out a lot of them are thru-hikers who were staying at Kincora (Bob Peoples' Hostel, where we stayed two nights ago). Bob does trail work every Wed, and the thru-hikers who can afford a day of not hiking went with him to work today. Rolling Stone stopped and worked with them for a few hours, then hiked to here after he finished working. He said they were working in a forest area where no power tools are allowed, so they used huge hand saws to cut out portions of large trees that had fallen across where the trail will be. (They were working on a section of the trail that is being re-routed to prevent erosion.)Red Leg said he saw Old Gear (Neal) in the group of workers when he passed the group. We went by later and they were further up the new section of the trail they were working on, so we didn't see him.My feet felt better today after we got hiking. I hope they continue to improve. My emotions are fine now, so that's a relief. One step at a time and one day at a time.Old Goat & Check Six
Date: 2009-04-28
From: Saunders Shelter, VA

To: Thomas Knob Shelter, VA
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: clear sky

Cell none OG notesWe had a real nice night last night. We set up our tent amoung the pine trees, and we actually had a flat spot to sleep on. Usually we have some sort of hill to contend with and end up sliding one way or another.We set our alarm for 5 am but decided it was too dark and went back to sleep for 40 minutes. We did get up at 5:40am and started packing. We actually started hiking at 6:50am. We wanted to hike some of the hike while it was cool and it worked.The shelter spacing for this leg was not particularly great. We ended doing a lot more miles than we would have liked.We are in Grayson Highlands Virginia. I think this is a state park. The claim to fame of this park is the wild ponies that live here. We have ponies walking around the shelter right now. It is pretty neat to see them wander in and walk around. We'll walk through the park tomorrow and leave out the other end.C6 notesIn case you haven't figured it out yet, I frequently type in my notes before OG types his. Before we left home we decided to keep the formatting of our entries consistent, even if I type in my entry first. This way, if someone only wants to read OG's entries, they can stop when they get to mine, and vice versa. OG's are always on top and mine follows. I've read many Trail Journals where it's 2 people writing, but you never know which person wrote what portion of the entry. I find it frustrating when I don't know who the author is of the Trail Journal entry.We're in the Grayson Highlands now and a bunch of the wild ponies came to the shelter as some of us were eating. That was fun.I'm thrilled to report on the outcome of my new pack! We hiked from 6:50am to 5:30pm today, and my shoulders didn't hurt at all until around 4pm. I'm thrilled with that! What a relief!!Still have a couple issues with my feet, but we nearly have that figured out. The drug store orthotics help a LOT, but the foam inserts are too narrow, so I can't wear the orthotics for very long at a time without getting blisters where my toes hang over the sides and end. Next time we are at a store that sells foam inserts, we'll get a pair of men's inserts and cut them down to fit (I have wide feet). I'm excited to be so close to having these lingering issues resolved. So my mental state has been very positive over the past week or more. Of course, other factors are big influences on my emotions. We'll see how successful I am with my attitude adjustment when the rain starts tonight or over the next two days (exactly when it's supposed to start is in question).Old Goat & Check Six
Date: 2009-04-29
From: Thomas Knob Shelter, VA

To: Old Orchard Shelter, VA
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

Cell noneOG notes We allowed ourselves a late start because we weren't going that many miles today. We were in the Grayson Highlands / Mount Rogers area of Virginia. The reason I stated it that way was because I'm not sure when we were in the Grayson Highlands and when we were not. We kept going in and out of Styles all day. A Style is a gatelike passageway in a fence. They are designed in a way that people can get through but animals can not.The whole area had wild ponies freely walking around. The styles were to keep them in their proper place.We are now out of that area and on our way. By the way we've now hiked 502 miles on this hike. I remember the last time we were here at this shelter C6 was hiking a small section of trail with me. It is great to have her hiking the whole thing with me this time, she now knows the feelings I'm feeling.We hiked all day with the threat of rain and thunder. About 3/4 of the way here we started to see the day change. We felt a few raindrops so we stopped and put our rain covers on our backpacks. We wanted to protect our gear but didn't want to sweat in our rain gear. We risked getting wet and luckily we didn't. The rain showers came after we reached the shelter and we've seen lightening too. It's nice to be in for the night and protected from the rain. If it is going to rain while we're out here this is how I would like it, after we're done for the day and safely under shelter.C6 notesIt's 5:25pm as I start my entry. The sun is shining and it's real pretty out. BUT...we got to this shelter just before 3pm and two strong thunderstorms with a LOT of rain came through. When the first storm came by, it got real cold. It's warming up now that the rain has stopped and the sun is out. We were happy to be dry and safe in the shelter through the storms. (Hmm, I just heard thunder behind the shelter. Even though we're in the sun, maybe we're not finished with thunderstorms yet today.) We're in the shelter with "Rehab," a man we first met at Kincora. A lady we haven't met before just arrived, too. It's not a large shelter, but at least 3 more people can fit in, if needed. It was a nice hike today. I remember some of the things we saw today from when I hiked 18 miles with OG here in 2006. We camped at this shelter then. The AT is constantly being worked on, so the 500 mile mark is in a different place this time. It was at the bottom of the hill ahead of us in 2006, so no one stayed at this shelter. Back then it was a beautiful day, so everyone went to the campsite at the base of the hill to hit the 500 miles and we were alone at the shelter. Old Goat & Check Six