morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2022-05-11
From: Stecoah Gap

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: clear sky

I've got a 10-day stretch where I'm free and have decided to do a bit more on the trail. I'm going to try to do 100 miles from Stecoah Gap to Max Patch. This morning, I woke up at 5:30am in Cincinnati and was at Max Patch parking lot by 1pm. Fred, the greatest shuttle driver ever for the AT, met me there and was able to get me to Stecoah Gap by 3pm. Fred was the one who took me from Stecoah to Knoxville Airport at the end of my first stint. His dad started doing a shuttle service for hikers in 1991, and Fred would help out now and then. Once Fred retired, he took over the service for his dad, and he knows every nook and cranny of the trail for the first 250 miles or so. When he dropped me off, he said, "If you run into any problems, just give me a call and we'll figure something out." It eases your mind for a guy like Fred to have your back. Fred is an AT institution, and I'm glad to have met him.I started off from Stecoah GAP at 3pm and had a lot of pent-up energy from traveling, so I went much further than I thought I would, eight miles to Cable Gap Shelter. I got into camp at around 7pm, which is late for me, but I quickly set up my tent and site and was trying to sleep by about 10pm. Weather is much warmer than I remember from my stint in April, and I was still sleeping outside my sleeping bag at 10pm. It turned a little chilly after that, and I eventually ended up in my bag. This is a big difference from my first stint, where I was always dreading getting out of the sleeping bag at night and in the morning. When 50 degrees is the low, you can deal with the night and morning chill, as opposed to the 25-35 degrees in early April where I was trying to plan every morning move before I got out of the bag.
Date: 2022-05-12
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: Birch Spring Gap tent site
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I was out of camp by 7:30am and hiked the remaining 5 miles to Fontana Dam in the morning. At the restroom near Fontana Marina, I called the lodge shuttle and was able to get to the shuttle by noon to get my permit for Smoky Mountain National Forest. I did a mini-resupply at Fontana Marina (extra stove fuel, insect repellant, TP, other things that I had forgotten and didn't have enough of), and also got a deli sandwich for dinner that night. Other were enjoying beers and sandwiches at the Marina or had gone into town to spend the night at Fontana Lodge. Since I was only in my second day, I continued on. In the afternoon, I went by Fontana Hilton, which is one of the nicest AT shelters and included showers, electronics charging station, picnic tables, and beautiful views of the lake. I continued on over Fontana dam. The dam was closed to car traffic due to construction, but hikers were permitted to cross. Beautiful views from the dam and kind of a nice change of pace from the normal trail.Shortly after the dam, the trail entered into the Smoky Mountain National Forest and a steep 8 miles uphill to the Birch Spring campsite. A young guy passed me easily about halfway up - in camp, he told me he saw two bears on the trail, one which immediately went off into the woods and the other stood his ground in a stare down. What did you do? "I said, 'Good bear, nice bear, don't eat me bear,' while backing away very slowly. The bear eventually left the trail and the young guy continued on to Birch campsite. I camped next to Mockingbird, a 67-year-old who is trying to do 1000 miles on the AT. He is an experienced hiker, having previously done 500 miles on the AT and extensive hiking in Spain and Ecuador. Mockingbird entertained us with stories about learning to sail with a girlfriend who lived on a sailboat - she was scared to death of forests/wilderness at night, and Mockingbird was scared to death of the ocean at night.
Date: 2022-05-14
From: Spence Field Shelter

To: Mount Collins Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: broken clouds

Left camp by 6:30am to get a head start on hiking a 19-mile day. In the morning, I came across a young lady on the ground being attended to by her boyfriend. There was a huge tree across the trail up about 5.5 feet, and she had hiked face-first into the tree without seeing it. "Focused!" I commented. They didn't think it was very funny (some jokes are only for me). She was sitting down and insisting that she was fine, so I continued on. I ran into a ridgerunner about a half mile later and alerted her to their situation. I met the couple again at the next shelter - the ridgerunner had stopped and provided some advice on dealing with the injury, which they appreciated. Although when the young lady said, "Yeah, I'm still a little dizzy," the boyfriend frowned and said, "You're dizzy?"  I met Notebook at the shelter I stopped at for lunch. Notebook got his name because he volunteered to carry 13 notebooks to be used as shelter journals to each of the Smokies shelters, adding about 10 pounds to his pack weight. "Yeah, I'm having a real hard time finding others to carry even one of these for me," he said. "Gotta go, Notebook," said I. The 19 miles took me through Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the AT. When I asked Notebook which part of the trail he likes the most, he said the trail from Double Spring Gap shelter to Clingman's Dome is amazing, which is the part I was getting ready to do. He was right. I've read before that there are more species of flora and fauna in the Smokies than anywhere in the US, and this part of the hike is Exhibit A to prove that. It was beautiful, very mossy and ferny and leafy and all those other scientific adjectives to describe the emeralds and greens of the Smokies. The park service protecting the Smokies has done an amazing job, and these trails are worth exploring just for the greenery. 19 miles is a lot for me, but I was doing pretty well with it. Unfortunately, my luck ran out on mile 15 as it began to rain in buckets. And kept raining for the next two hours. And turned a bit colder. This was the first time I started to worry about my rain preparation. I had my sleeping bag and clothes in a pack liner and I had put on a pack cover when it started raining, but it was really raining hard for two hours and I was getting nervous about whether everything was staying dry. My hiking shoes, socks and pants were completely soaked and starting to get pretty cold. It finally stopped raining at about 7pm, and I pulled into camp at about 7:30pm. I quickly put up my tent and checked my pack contents - everything was dry, thank goodness. I changed into dry clothes and got into my sleeping bag, foregoing the normal chores of getting water, eating dinner, etc. The temp had dropped to high 40s, and it took me a while to get warm. I think I was pretty far from hypothermia but could start to understand the dangers of hypothermia from this experience given how long it took me to get warm.
Date: 2022-05-15
From: Mount Collins Shelter

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: broken clouds

The guy I was tenting next to woke up at 4am to start an early day. I was initially annoyed but had 15 miles to do today so I quickly realized it was best to get moving. My shoes were still soaked. My socks were mostly dry but would become soaked as soon as I put on shoes. My pants were soaked, so I used long underwear and rain pants for my hiking pants. It was a new experience for me to deal with wet clothing. I put everything that was wet on my pack's outside pockets to keep them away from my dry clothes and for easy access to dry out later in the day when the sun was shining. At some point, I realized that I still had dry clothing for my top, but I was wearing the last bit of dry clothing for my bottoms - so I changed into my wet hiking pants to make sure I had something dry to change into at night.  I grimaced as I put on my wet shoes and struggled with them throughout the day. At one particularly annoying point, I decided to take them off for a minute on the trail. I struggled to get one of them off since they were so wet, but finally, with one final effort, got it off and it flew out of my hands. As you can see in the picture, the shoe ended up close to the other side of the trail. What you can't see is that there was a 50-foot drop-off on the other side of the trail. I was pretty close to donating my hiking shoe to the bears and other wildlife of the Smokies - yikes, that would have created a less-than-convenient obstacle...During the afternoon, I went through Newfound Gap, which is a huge draw for tourists because it is on the AT and close to Gatlinburg. On this particular Sunday, people were out in abundance on the trail. I was really happy to see so many people enjoying the trails given all the hard work that goes into maintaining them. Most through-hikers I had met were going into Gatlinburg for resupply, but I continued on to try to make my Wed deadline.  The weather was unpredictable today. Some hikers were calling for 0% chance of rain while others said 60%, and each had sources. It ended up as a low foggy mist that the Smokies are known for throughout most of the day. Not a soaking rain like yesterday, but too wet to dry out the clothes that had gotten wet yesterday.
Date: 2022-05-16
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was a 14-mile day, but the trail was relatively flat for the back half of the day. This made for an easier day than most. By the way, it should be noted that I've been taking about 6 advil per day, which does wonders for my knees when hiking. So when I say it was an easier day than most, I'm still doing it with the much-needed Vitamin A.I hiked a bit with Roadblock, who is a travel surgical nurse. Roadblock is in her late-50s and works on a per diem basis until she has enough money to hike the various trails she wants to hike. In her own words, Roadblock hikes slow but can go forever. I pass her on the trail, and then she passes me when I take a break. This happened several times during the course of the day. Roadblock had a huge bruise on and above her lip - she had fallen last week and was still recovering. Fortunate that the injuries didn't require stitches.  The picture shows a stone wall built to support the trail. Just amazing, I'm still trying to figure out how the park services would hike in the equipment to build this and gather the stones to be used for this long stone wall. Every once in a while, I'll see something like this and not be able to figure out how the structure got built - incredible efforts.Weather started misty this morning, but cleared off in the afternoon, and we're expecting more good weather tomorrow.
Date: 2022-05-17
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

Last big day today. Tomorrow, I hope to have a short walk to my car at Max Patch, but today is a big 18 mile day. The first part of the trail today was either flat or downhill, so I was able to complete 7 miles to Davenport Gap by 10:30am. Then it became confusing. The signage was pretty clear that the trail proceeded along the highway (rather than into the woods, as per normal), but it was so different from what the "normal" trail looks like that I kept doubting myself. What should have taken 20 minutes to move over Pigeon River Bridge, along the highway, under I-40 overpass and back onto the trail, instead took about an hour as I kept doubling back to make sure I hadn't missed a sign.  The remainder of the day was mostly steep uphill to an FAA communications tower and then eventually into camp. Weird.I broke out earphones for the first time given the long day, and it helped to occupy my mind for long stretches. Definitive 132 playlist was outstanding, as always.In camp, I met Mayor, who was the 2nd traveling nurse I have met in the past week. He also works until he can afford to do the hikes he wants to do, and then returns back to work. Also met Palatin, who is a former marine that wants to write a book about the AT after he has through-hiked.
Date: 2022-05-18
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Max Patch
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: clear sky

What I thought would be an easy 6 miles to Max Patch was more of an effort than I expected. I think I'm ready to be done. Made it to Max Patch at around 11am and started the 6-hour drive back home. With an appropriate stop at Burger King to refuel.My trail name of Furr Biscuit was given to me by Fugi, an old high school friend. Our hikes admittedly were limited to 10-20 feet to beer coolers, but I enjoyed them as much as anything on the AT. Fugi played tuba in the band, his childhood home was in a wonderfully central location in town so much time was spent at his place, he joined the marines and was in desert storm, and he was a great friend. He never liked my last name, so he developed many derivatives, such as Fry-your-burgers, Freak-your-biscuits, Furr-burglar, before settling on Furr Biscuit. Fugi passed about 8 years ago. Rest in peace, buddy.
Date: 2010-05-09
To: Backyard Shakedown
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Still trying to settle on a sleeping system for a late Spring section hike along the A.T.. Bought a 1-1/2 lb poncho liner to try as a replacement for a 3 lb sleeping bag. Decided to hold a dress rehearsal in the backyard."Hiked" the loaded pack to the backyard about 10 p.m.. Using the mini LED headlight, setup the GT lightweight travel hammock and Slap Strap micros. Rigged the camo tarp above the hammock and staked the corners down. Put the foam pad into the hammock; inflated the travel pillow and tucked between tarp and tarp line; and covered the hammock with the poncho liner.Bear bagged the food bag using the PCT technique and a low hanging branch on the apple tree. Not high enough for bears, but safe from rodents, possums, and the family dog. Clipped the largely empty backpack to the head end of the hammock to get it off the ground.Sat on the hammock and donned our long underwear over our shorts and t-shirt. Placed our shoes under the hammock and laid down. Tucked a corner of the poncho liner under the foot end of the pad and pulled it snug. Material was hanging and touching the ground. Decided to tuck the extra material on the sides under the foam pad as well. Was comfortably warm and went to sleep.Awoke about four or five in the morning. 8 mph winds were lifting the tarp and blowing across the top of the poncho liner. Could feel the heat leaving the enclosed space. Also, noted our pad had slipped and was now hanging over the hammock and beyond the tarp. Got out; replaced the foam pad; and re-staked the tarp closer to the hammock and ground. Also swung the backpack under the hammock and fastened the waist belt over the hammock to help keep the pack out of any rain. Went back to sleep after re-tucking the poncho liner.Awoke after sunrise to rain hitting the tarp. Snivel meter read 54F. We were comfortable. Checked for rain penetration. Inside of tarp was dry, as were the hammock, pad, and poncho liner. Decided to practice breaking camp in the rain. Retrieved the backpack. Stuffed the poncho liner into a compression bag and packed it away. Rolled up the foam pad and placed next to pack. Grabbed the hammock system stuff sack and stuffed the hammock and the two Slap Strap micros. Decided to leave the tarp and food bag hung until they had a chance to air dry. Has this been an actual long distance hike, we could have packed up while keeping everything critical dry.Other than buying a new foam pad to cut down to fit the hammock, we are done acquiring and testing gear. We've settled on our cooking system: vintage aluminum pot w/lid and handle; super cat alcohol stove, spork, and cup. Plan to just boil water and use freezer bag cooking for breakfast and supper. While monitoring the weather, we'll plan our meals and start shopping for food.Next weekends forecast is for three days of rain. May decide to practice setting up camp in the rain. Need to make mistakes now and not later on the trail, away from the safety of home and hearth.
Date: 2010-05-10
To: Menu Planning
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Have started acquiring food for the fast approaching section hike. We are content to eat the same things for breakfast and lunch for weeks on end, so menu planning will largely revolve around supper.For breakfast we plan to consume two packets of apple & cinnamon instant oatmeal, 1/2 packet of freeze dried apples (mixed with the oatmeal), two large fig bars, and some fortified hot chocolate. Sometimes we'll also nibble leftovers from the previous day, such as trail mix and pepperoni slices.Lunch is a mix of quick snack items: trail mix, fruit slices candy, pepperoni slices, cheese sticks, and sugar sweetened lemonade. Lunch starts shortly after breakfast and ends at supper time. We'll take a mid-day rest break to mix and consume the lemonade with some meat and cheese. Should be no shortage of scenic vistas to pause at the first week out.For supper, we almost always start with pork ramen soup as it helps us rehydrate and replaces needed salt. We add dehydrated peppers and onions to our soup to add flavor and some vegetables. If you read my Section Hiking the Appalachian Trail, blog you know that I plan at least one Mexican night with back bean burritos and vegetarian chili. We may also try a Cajun night with dirty rice and spicy meat stick subbing for andouie sausage. We like tuna, so will try to have tuna at least twice the first week and likely more the second. Office personnel have donated mayo, salt, and pepper packets for the trip, so tuna salad will be easy to make. We also enjoy tuna and rice with butter, salt, and pepper. We're testing instant cheese mashed potatoes with diced beef and cheese sticks this week at the office. We'll see if the idea tastes as good as we imagine.We'll also add some instant banana and chocolate pudding pre-mixed with powdered milk - just add water. May split some freeze dried bananas among two pudding bags. We also down a cup of soothing warm tea after dinner, again to help with hydration.Would really like to get the menu down on paper so we can pack carefully and eliminate excess weight and free valuable pack space. Its gonna' be tight, but if we go with the poncho liner, then we should be able to use the small pack and still carry 5 days food. That should get us to our first resupply at Henicle's Market and then to Carlisle/Duncannon for our second resupply.
Date: 2010-05-11
To: Final Preparations
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Took my small backpack to the shoe repair shop across the street from the office. Asked to get two FastTab 6's sewn atop the flip over pocket for attaching the tarp and pad horizontaly. Cost $12 plus tax. Promised the pack will be ready Tuesday. A friend familiar with the business mentioned that "Tuesday" may mean what "Domani" means in Italian - don't show up expecting it done when promised.Meanwhile we have made a list of final preparations:HaircutBuy foodPack foodPick up packBankOffice vacation paperworkMow lawn10-day weather reportPack upMcDonalds (breakfast)Purchasing gear is all but over. Our wallet list shows only emergency bivy ($11), body glide ($6), and keychain strobe/flashlight/whistle ($5).Menu planning is almost complete. After buying tuna packets, genoa salami, and beef and cheese sticks this past weekend, we seem to already have most of our first week's food on hand. Hope our grocer still has the Disney freeze dried apples in stock.The big unknown today is the weather for the first 8-10 days. We're trying to go very light with a poncho liner instead of a 40F sleeping bag. Any night time temps below 50F and we'll dump the ultralight pack and poncho liner in favor of "Big Blue" and the 40F bag, an automatic 5 lb penalty.
Date: 2010-05-24
From: Little Rock, AR

To: Harper's Ferry, WV
Miles today: 1.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I have arrived in Washington D.C. I have my MARC ticket. I'm set to go to Harper's Ferry. It's been an uneventful trip, except that when I hit Charlottesville, VA, a young guy got on the bus behind me with a pair of hiking poles. Turns out he's a 'through hiker.' He's been hiking since Springer Mountain, GA to Charlottesville. He's on his way home to take care of some emergency involving his dad. Kinda gave me some more lowdown and everything. His trail name is 'Low Key.' He seems to be a really nice guy from Massachusetts. Anyway, I'm hanging out in front of the National Capitol in the shade. I'm having some refreshment. The train leaves at 5 to 5. I'll try and do another update a little bit later tonight once I get to Harper's Ferry. I talked to the outfitter on the phone before I left, and I can't spend the night on the back porch. So, I'll probably be stealth camping along the C and O Canal a little bit north of town.Update: Hiked two miles up the C&O canal to the free Huckleberry Hill Hike & Bike camp. Had the site to myself. Trail to and from is level with a good surface.
Date: 2010-05-26
From: Ed Garvey Shelter, MD

To: Rocky Run Shelter, MD
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: overcast clouds

From TrailPhone:"I made it to the Garvey Shelter yesterday after about a 10 mile day. I hiked a little bit more in the morning in and around Harper's Ferry than I had planned. I'm going to leave here about 9 local. I'm headed north. I'm going to try to make it to Dahlgren Camp for a shower and a little bit of R&R there. If I tucker out again, I may stop short at Rocky Run.Right now, I'm about 3 to 4 hours behind, definitely 4 miles short. I'm doing well. I met a couple of great 'through hikers' yesterday, including Patches the dog. I got some really bad leg cramps last night. I was cramping up coming into camp. I'm having a little problem not managing water and salt, but I think I will get it all figured out in the next day or two. I've got a big water source about 4 miles up. I just going to tank up like a camel."UPDATE: Left the Garvey Shelter around 9 a.m.. Seemed to be the last hiker out. After breakfast I had only about a pint of water left to get me down the trail to the next water source. As the spring at Garvey is .4 miles downhill and .4 miles back up a steep climb, I decided to tough it out and head for Gathland state park.Hiking down into Gathland SP, my left knee began to ache and I became a bit worried that my section hike might soon end. Fortunately, the ache went away and never returned the entire trip.I was very glad when Gathland SP came into view. I had been planning to get a soda to help get some salt into the body. The trail in Gathland SP comes down past the restrooms and two soda machines in the front. I dropped my pack on the nearby bench around a tree and prepared to get a soda. Two hikers already there informed me that the machine on the left was totally inop and the one on the right would accept and return money only. So, we filled out water bottles and after a short break, headed across the street, photographed the War Correspondents Memorial, and pushed on up the hill into the forest.Just before dark, we made it down the hill into the Rocky Run Shelter area. There was a signpost pointing to the side trail to the shelter, but there was two trails. We took the trail to the left and about halfway down noted a shelter and people across a creek. We back tracked a bit thinking we had missed a turn on the blue blazed side trail. Nope. We were on the trail, so we continued on. We soon found ourselves at the abandoned Rocky Run Shelter with a partially rotted wood swing and partially rotted deck. We dumped our pack onto the shelter floor and decided this was the place. Done. I ain't moving. We quickly located two trees and hung our hammock beside the shelter. Dug out the food bag and cook kit and made some hot mashed potatoes and soup. Bear gagged our food on a convenient bear line and called it a day.One of the hikers across the way came over to use the piped spring. The spring was on the opposite side of the shelter and water was just gushing from the pipe as if it were a broken water line.Thus ended the second day.