morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-04-13
From: Snowbird Mountain

To: Brown Gap
Miles today: 8.3

9:25 PM Brown GapI slept well last night. I didn¢t even notice the highway noise. I woke up when the rain started and with the thunder and lightning but I went right back to sleep and slept until 7:00. That bus ride from Atlanta must have really worn me out. [I was sleepy all day yesterday until Drew, Marny and Nikki met me at the bus and took me to a very late lunch/early dinner. It was just what I needed. I didn¢t even get hungry again until this morning.]It was raining, pretty steadily, but I couldn¢t stay in the tent until it stopped. I needed food and water, so I packed up as best I could and was walking up the trail at 8:40. I got to Painter Branch at 9:00 and had a cold breakfast. I snacked every hour or so until I got to Groundhog Creek shelter. I took all the wet things out of my pack and made hot cereal and tea, followed by miso and cous cous. I left the shelter at 4:35 after a lively time with many folks at the shelter who had been at Standing Bear Farm the previous night.I made Brown Gap in pretty good time, 3 miles in just a little over 2 hours. At least that is good for me. I have to stop and eat a little about every hour. I need to eat to get the weight of my pack down. Tonight I had mashed potatoes and hot chocolate. Since the fuel lasted longer that suspected, I had hot wheat cereal, too. After dinner, I experience a major defeat. My bear hoist didn¢t work out. The limbs of the only suitable tree kept breaking. I worked for over an hour and never managed to get the food pack any higher than4 feet of the ground. Maybe I¢ll get lucky and not have any bear visits tonight. It is now sleeting a little. Maybe the bears will look for a warmer place than Brown Gap. It was warm last night, around 50 degrees. Not so tonight.
Date: 2004-04-14
From: Brown Gap

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: light rain

8:50 PM Roaring Fork shelterI got off to a late start this morning. I stayed in the tent until 7:30, hoping it would stop snowing. It didn¢t. There was only about an inch of snow on the ground and on my tent, but it kept on coming. I found water for breakfast without any trouble. The stove only gave me a little trouble to get it lit. I had a little more of a problem with snow accumulating on my breakfast while I was preparing it. It was interesting to watch the snow gathering on my boots while I cooked and ate my oatmeal. I had plenty of hot water after I had my tea so I drank my tang warm. Then I packed up. I spent so much time sweeping snow off and out of everything, that it took forever, but I was still shocked to see that it was 10:45 before I had my pack on and was walking away from Brown Gap. Since I had oatmeal for breakfast, it is obvious that no bears visited my campsite.I climbed steadily for 3 1/2 miles in the snow to the summit of Max Patch Mountain. I stopped once for a snack at noon. At least I didn¢t have to worry about setting my pack down on a wet place ¢ it was below freezing still. I¢m really glad I had my snack because the summit of Max Patch Mountain was an experience like I have never had before. Max Patch is a carefully maintained bald. The view is supposed to be spectacular. I had a great view of the inside of a cloud and a taste of walking through a hurricane. The wind gusts must have been at least 60 mph. I was almost blown off my feet a couple of times. The top of the bald was an expanse of windblown snow. A hiker had passed me about 15 minutes before I got to the summit and I could barely see his footprints. The trail was marked by posts, but it was hard to see one post ahead on the trail. If the cloud had been any more dense than it was, it would have been really scary. There were a few places where the trail was eroded into a deep rut, but I didn¢t find that out until I had stepped into a 6 inch deep snow drift. After that, I tried to stay on the grassy edge of the trail, but that was a lot like balancing on a rail fence, hard enough without having to cope with gusting winds.After I had reached the woods again, I was exhausted. At the first slightly sheltered campsite, I stopped to make a hot lunch. Ray-El came by while I was cooking, but he didn¢t stop to talk for long. He was too cold. He just wanted to get to the next shelter. The shelter was 4.8 miles away. I needed to eat. I left that site at 3:00 and got to the shelter at 5:30. I wold have gladly taken longer if I could have seen a likely spot to stop and rest along the way, but it was slush and muck all the way.The shelter here at Roaring Fork is designed to sleep 10. There are 12 bodies stacked in there right now. My tent is one of four here. At least I had a nice sheltered table for cooking. It is fun to see familiar faces ¢ Casey (trail name Dingle), Ray-El, Jayne, Skirt, Spoon Man (Peter from New Zeeland).
Date: 2004-04-15
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: ?? Gap
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: clear sky

8:50 PMI took my time getting away from Roaring Fork shelter. It was so nice to have places to hang the tent and ground cloth to dry, and a dry floor to roll up the tent and get my pack together, after everyone else was gone. I repaired a stress fracture of my stick handle with moleskin. I haven¢t needed it for blisters so I put it to another use. It is so much more elegant than duct tape. I will want to reinforce the crack with a more durable material, when I have it available.The spring beauties were out in full force today. I didn¢t see much of them in the snow the day before. I could see a few leaves poking up through the snow yesterday but that was the extent of the show. I didn¢t see any snakes today or yesterday, and I was watching for them. I saw a little brown snake with a yellow ring around its neck in the road at Standing Bear Farm and the next morning I saw a brown snake with beautiful longitudinal stripes on the path down to Painter Branch when I went to get water. I¢m not surprised I didn¢t see any snakes in the snow.I stopped at Big Rock Spring or what I think was Big Rock Spring. There was no sign, but a faint blue-blazed trail led down to a lovely spring with a nice pool before it flowed into a rock channel. There was enough sun at 4:00 PM to invite me to make my supper and wash bandanas. The spring beauties perfumed the air, and a few trout lilies nodded over the top of the spring pool. I made myself right at home in this little paradise. No one came down the trail during the 1 3/4 hours that I spent there. I enjoyed myself beyond measure. Shortly after I started back down the trail, Brian passed me, headed for Deer Park Mountain Shelter. Just a little while later, I came into Garenflo Gap, where Barbara, Gail (Caboose) and Karen(Tortoise) had set up camp. I joined the party, right there in the grassy roadbed. The fact that there was a gate at the road helped to make this an inviting camping spot for four middle-aged women. It was a regular pajama party. The main challenge was getting tent stakes into the rocky roadbed. The bear bag was successful on the second try. The first branch was too flimsy to hold the weight, but the second branch was perfect. I¢ll get this technique mastered yet. I really impressed the other women with my rope toss. It was fun to get lucky for an audience.Even though it is considerably warmer tonight, 58 degrees in the tent, I am still too chilled to keep writing. Lights out and, sleeping bag, here I come.
Date: 2004-04-20
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: Shelton Groves
Miles today: 10.0

9:20 PM Shelton gravesI got on the trail at 8:50 today. That is pretty good for me, but I was still almost the last person to leave Little Laurel shelter. The climb up Camp Creek Bald took a lot longer than the previous day, but after I had passed the trail to the tower, the going got a lot easier. I was rewarded with the sight of a profusion of blooming yellow trout lilies. I would have loved to greet each one, but I would have taken a very long time to get anywhere if I did! About 10:15, I came to a lovely stream. I washed some bandanas and hung them on my pack to dry. About an hour later, it started raining. The shower didn¢t last long, but after I was dry enough and hot enough to take off my rain gear, there was another shower. Back out came the pack cover and rain gear. When I got to Jerry¢s Cabin, I hung my line all over the shelter to try to get things dried off a little. About 30 minutes later, Mouse arrived, and I needed to rearrange my wet things to make room for her. I made my supper ¢ cous cous with chickweed, dandelion greens and roots. Two and a half hours after my arrival at Jerry¢s Cabin, I set out to walk until sunset. The Big Rocks was a bit of a challenge. The trail was not always obvious, as the lichen on the rocks was not very worn by foot travel. I had to concentrate very intently to keep my balance. Then there was an eerie twisty and winding between boulders 8 to 10 feet high. Finally I came to a sign. It read "Big Rocks View" with an arrow pointing the direction from which I had just come. I felt cheated. I was so focussed on not falling down that I didn¢t even look up to see the view. I wasn¢t about to go back. I had already seen plenty of beautiful views earlier in the day, before the rain started. The mountainsides dotted with little white clouds of the downey serviceberries in full bloom were especially nice. At the Bassett memorial, there was a lovely view of Erwin, TN. After topping the summit of Big Butt, the trail became an easy graded path, often following an old road. About 7:30, I passed Chigger and Rock Steady. About 7:45, I passed a lone man, who had passed me an hour or so previously. He was building a fire, not because he was cold, but because " a fire is always nice." I walked on, seriously examining the terrain on both sides of the trail for a likely spot for my tent. I hit the jackpot. Just before sunset, I arrived at the grave site of 3 people who had died in the period of the Civil War. Just beyond the markers was a beautiful flat grassy area with a few trees and a fire ring. The books don¢t describe the grave site as a good place to camp, but other hikers seem to have found the area as attractive as I did.
Date: 2004-04-22
From: Hogback Ridge shelter

To: Little Bald
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: scattered clouds

9:45 PM Little BaldI didn¢t intend to walk 12 miles today, but it just happened to turn out that way. Last night at Hogback Ridge shelter was difficult. That whole area of Hogback Ridge and over to the other side of Sams Gap has the noisiest trees of any place I¢ve been. The creaking and crying and groaning last night caused me to lose sleep. When I did sleep I had a disturbing dream. I got up and started packing up the tent about 5:30. Even starting that early, it was 8:00 before I was finished breakfast and ready to leave the shelter. I got down to Sams Gap at 9:15 to find Drew waiting with my groceries. After I had packed the food, Drew and I went to the Little Creek Caf© and had a big breakfast. I stuffed myself. Then after I started hiking again, I was uncomfortable from the hip belt pressing on my full stomach. Then the day got hot. Even though the flowers were absolutely gorgeous, I didn¢t feel like walking. I just wanted to sit in the shade, but there was little shade available. I took a 1 1/2 hour break at 4:00. When I started walking again, I enjoyed the walking much more than I did earlier in the day. I enjoyed going over Big Bald at 6:00. I came to the shelter at 7:00, but I didn¢t want to stop there. The data book mentioned a campsite 0.4 miles past the shelter. I never saw any spot that really looked inviting, so I kept walking. Walking in the late afternoon / early evening is my favorite time. Unfortunately, I never saw a good place to camp. When it was starting to get dark, I had to put the tent in the likeliest spot I could find. My tent is set on a serious slope. Staying on the mattress will be somewhat of a challenge tonight.
Date: 2004-04-24
From: Spviey Gap

To: Nolichucky Hostel (a.k.a. Uncle JohnnyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs)
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: light rain

9:40 PM Nolichucky Hostel (a.k.a. Uncle Johnny¢s)I had my flat place to sleep last night, but I didn¢t sleep much. I heard the train whistle and the rumble of the diesel engines down in the Nolichucky Gorge about every hour. I got hungry about 1:00 AM, and that made it even harder to sleep. And then it was warm and muggy, so I couldn¢t get the right amount of cover to be comfortable until about 3:00 AM. At 5:15, I got up and started to pack up. After my cold breakfast, I was ready to leave at 7:15. I enjoyed my tea break at 9:15, which really was half way to Erwin, or actually the point where the AT crosses the Nolichucky River. I reached the river at noon, looking for a place to sit in the shade before pushing on to the campground listed in the Thru-Hiker¢s Companion. I looked across the street to a business establishment where people were sitting on a deck covered by a nice shady roof. Then I saw that the people were beckoning me to come across to them. There was Treefrog, a hiker I met at Hogback Ridge shelter. Hillbilly, a hiker who stopped in at Uncle Johnny¢s and stayed for the winter to help run the place, was the other person encouraging me to stop in. Treefrog¢s glowing recommendation was quickly changing my intention to walk another 1.3 miles in the heat to the Nolichucky Gorge campground. I went to look at the tent sites and found MC, Brian, and Dexter, the dog, at a beautiful grassy site shaded by a nice spreading tree. They were packing to leave. It was settled. That was where I would spend the night. We essentially shared the shade of the tree for much of the afternoon while they sorted through their food package sent by MC¢s mother. There were several items they did not want to take. I happily accepted several packages of pasta with seasoning, 2 cans of chicken, and some powdered eggs with peppers and bacon bits. Tonight, the group from Uncle Johnny¢s went to Amigo Restaurant. I ate an enormous quantity of Mexican food, including a delicious cheese dip and flan that was even better than what I make at home. After dinner, I went grocery shopping. Even though I was stuffed, I still probably bought too much food. I will be walking very slowly when I leave Uncle Johnny¢s with my full pack. I will have to eat as much as I can in the morning to keep from having to carry it all. I will wait until after church to leave, so that will give me even more time to eat and lighten my pack.I notice that it is easier for me to write a factual account of time, locations and what people do and say, than to describe my personal experience of those events. What should I say about my delight to see clusters of gaywings on each side of the trail as I was walking down to the river? At one point, I noticed a delightful fragrance, reminiscent of roses. I indulged myself. I stopped to smell the gaywings, much to the dismay of a couple of bumblebees. I was stunned, yet again. Such beauty and I am privileged to delight in it.
Date: 2004-04-25
From: Nolichucky Hostel (a.k.a. Uncle JohnnyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs)

To: Curley Maple Gap
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: overcast clouds

8:55 PM Curley Maple GapI didn¢t sleep very much last night, but the trains weren¢t the real problem. I think my body was working so hard to digest all the food I ate. About 4:00 AM, I was so hungry again that I got up and ate 6 rice cakes with cream cheese. I could do what I wanted about eating because my food was right there on the picnic table, not hanging way up in a tree. After my early morning breakfast, I went back in the tent and fell asleep again and woke refreshed. I think I had finally gotten enough to eat.This morning, I was finished packing up by 9:15 and I left my pack at the hostel and walked to Chestoa Missionary Baptist Church. I saw the pastor walking from the church across the parking lot to a house and I guessed that he had just unlocked the church. I guessed right. The door was open and I went in and listened to a recording of Appalachian gospel music. I loved it. It was another moment of pure gift. I was so happy to be in that place at that time. After about 15 minutes the pastor and his wife came in and greeted m warmly. I was invited to lunch, which I gladly accepted. Mary, of the congregation, greeted me warmly as they arrived, a few at a time. The singing was good. The preaching didn¢t last overly long. I was very satisfied that I had paid attention to the inner voice calling me there.Lunch was very good ¢ hamburger and hot dog on the grill with macaroni and cheese and ice cream for desert. I hope they enjoyed my visit, because I certainly enjoyed being entertained so well.I set off with my full pack, which I had retrieved from the hostel immediately following church. It was a gentle walk for the first 2 miles, but the last 2 miles to Curley Gap with my heavy pack were very slow. I made it with plenty of time to cook dinner and set up my tent before dark. All in all, a very good day.
Date: 2004-04-26
From: Curley Maple Gap

To: Cherry Gap shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: moderate rain

10:00 PM Cherry Gap shelterIt rained last night and much of today. I slept great (9:30 ¢ 7:00) in my tent far up the hill from the shelter. I had hoped to avoid carrying my full pack up that stretch of trail, but the convenience of a shelter for packing up won out. I was concentrating so hard on not forgetting my stick, I strapped my sleeping bag on the bottom of my pack as usual, not thinking about the non-waterproof stuffsack. I¢ll sleep in a wet bag tonight.
Date: 2004-04-27
From: Nolichucky Hostel (a.k.a. Uncle JohnnyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs)

To: Clyde Smith shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: light rain

8:53 PM Clyde Smith shelterI slept remarkably well in my damp sleeping bag. I wore all the dry underwear and sweaters, so not much of me had to actually feel the clammy wet bag. It was dry by morning. It was windy in the morning, so I was able to get most of my clothes dry by the time I was ready to leave camp. The sopping wet socks took longer to dry, so they rode on the outside of my pack, fastened with safety pins. The hike today took more out of me than I expected. The elevation changes were not that big, but the trail seemed to go up and down a lot. Iron Mountain could be called Rusted Steel Mountain with all the old appliances and pieces of cars dumped along the way. As I was walking down toward Iron Mountain Gap, I picked up a Gatorade can and a beer can to pack out. Very soon I saw a beer bottle, then a large blue industrial container, then a very strange construction of particle board, chickenwire and strips of colored knit material. I puzzled over what the construction could be. Then I saw that a piece of mesh stretched over the chicken wire had many round holes, all the same size. I think it had been set up for target practice. The fact that it was in plain sight of the AT seemed a little threatening. I didn¢t pick up any more trash after I saw the beer bottle. If I tried to clean up all the trash I couldn¢t walk under the load.I fell again today. This time I was going up a very steep hill, concentrating on using the stick to help push me up and take the stress off my swollen right knee. My right toe caught on a root, and I fell flat on my stomach. I didn¢t have far to fall because the slope was so steep, and I didn¢t hurt anything. The pack frame took most of the impact from the fall, but I had to lie there in the dirt for a few minutes to rest and figure out how I was going to get up. I knew I could take the pack off, but I didn¢t want to if I could figure out another way. I finally decided to crawl to the bank at the side of the trail and push myself up on it. It worked! I had thought about walking further to camp after supper, but the fall made me decide to camp beside the shelter. I don¢t think I¢ll get to Elk Park on Thursday. I¢m in my tent because I want to be warm. It is 35 degrees outside at 9:20.
Date: 2004-04-28
From: Clyde Smith shelter

To: Jane Bald
Miles today: 8.8

10:00 PM Jane BaldI wanted to hike 12 miles today, but the terrain was just too much for me. It took me 4 1/2 hours to get from Hughes Gap (elevation 4,040 feet) to Roan High Knob shelter (elevation 6,286 feet), a distance of 3.3 miles. Of course I wasn¢t walking the whole time. I took breaks to eat, and I had to go down a long steep trail at Ash Gap to get water. I have to include breaks in my average speed, so I was definitely less than 1 mile per hour on that stretch. But I perked up after dinner and left the mountaintop shelter at 7:15. I was glad to get out of the gloomy spruce forest and begin walking up Round Top Bald at sunset. The best camping spot behind a small grove of spruce trees was already occupied, and it was close to the road, so I kept on walking, looking for a place to camp until it was almost too dark to see. The wind was picking up quite a bit, and there was little shelter from the wind. I found a nice level grassy spot right beside some rhododendron bushes for a little bit of a windbreak. Hanging a bear bag was a little bit of a challenge. After I broke a branch of one pitiful little tree, I gave up. I put the food in my pack and hung it from a sturdy rhododendron branch about 1foot off the ground. By then the wind was up to about 30 mph. I figured that bears would not expect any food there at that time, and with the wind blowing so hard, they would have a hard time locating it by scent.I rarely mention the people I meet at shelters and on the trail in this journal. I have to get my brain on a different track to think what to write. One person I am sure I¢ll never see again was a hiker that came in to Clyde Smith shelter as I was making my dinner. He had hiked 25 miles that day, had started the trail on April 6 and hoped to be finished by the end of July because he is to be in his friend¢s wedding in his hometown of Frankfurt, Germany. He is a lively, friendly young man. I¢m sorry I won¢t see him anymore. I suspect that he will finish the trail in the time he has set. My best wishes go with Sauerkraut from Germany.
Date: 2004-04-29
From: Jane Bald

To: Apple House shelter
Miles today: 12.3

10:00 PM Apple House shelterI did it. I made my goal today in just a little over 11 hours. The wind flapped my tent incessantly all night long, but I slept because I was so tired. I dreamed that I forgot to wake up Rosemarie for school and that it was 9:00 AM already. When I woke and checked the time it was 4:42 AM. I didn¢t go back to sleep after that. The wind was just too loud. At 5:30, I started getting dressed and packing up by the light of my headlamp. I brought my pack into the vestibule of the tent to pack it, to be out of the wind. By the time I was ready to take down the tent, the sun was almost up. I usually roll the tent up very carefully. Not so in 30-40 mph wind. I just made sure I held onto it tightly enough so that I wouldn¢t have to chase it into the rhododendron bushes; then I balled it up and stuffed it all in the sack. I hiked 2 miles to a shelter to make breakfast, but the wind was still a significant obstacle to comfortable cooking. The Stan Murray shelter is not a place with a lot of amenities. The next shelter was only 2 miles after that. The Overmountain shelter is an old converted barn. It is lovely, and the view is spectacular. I would love to go back there just to see the view again. In the afternoon I climbed two 5000 foot mountains. I am tired.