morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-03-28
From: Dick's Creek Gap

To: Standing Indian Shelter
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: clear sky

Dick's Creek Gap to Standing Indian Shelter 15.7Last evening when we set up our tents it was a little windy at our campsite but we expected it to die down overnight. It did not. It got windy, a lot windier. I could hear the wind roaring up the little gap we were in and my tent was getting buffeted by the wind. Around 2:00 I heard Samson say, "Hey Proudfoot, my hiking poles are blowing away". So I got out of my bag and was fumbling for my headlamp, when he called out and said not to worry about it. It turned out that he was half dreaming, but his tarp tent had completely collapsed on him. He just burrowed into his bag and let his tarp whip around on top of him. At 6:30, when it started showing some light in the horizon we started breaking camp. We helped each other because our tents would have simply blown down the mountain if we didn't hang on to them. I packed up just as fast as I could and put on almost everything I had along to stay warm. I peed just before we left and my fingers just barely worked to close my zipper. I wore gloves and mittens, but still had to walk a good two miles before I was able to get the feeling back into all of my fingers. We walked strong till 9:00 and stopped at a shelter to cook breakfast. The picnic tables were in the sun and the shelter was protected from the wind by the mountain. Breakfast was warm, leisurely, and we had the pleasant company of a few retired hikers. 4-5 miles can make a such huge difference in weather on the AT!The hiking was pleasant and enjoyable for the rest of the day. Sometimes we walked through a dusting of beautiful snow and sometimes we had no snow. We added and removed layers all day, depending on conditions. This evening we camped in a sheltered area by a creek with four other hikers, not far from Standing Indian Shelter. The forecasted low temperature for tonight is 17 degrees.Time behaves different on the trail. Last week I was riding the train to Georgia, it seems like ages ago. I thought today was Friday till mid morning, when I was corrected by another hiker. At 1:00 we were still saying good morning to people we met, till we realized is was way past morning. We measure time in days till the next phone charge and food resupply. We left Georgia today, and are now in North Carolina.
Date: 2015-03-29
To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: clear sky

It was clear and cold last night but it was one of my best night's sleep on the AT. There was a small Creek just 20 feet from our campsite that murmured peacefully all night. We did our early morning routine again and we're on the trail as soon as we could see the white blazes. We had a pleasant 7 mile hike up and over Standing Indian Mountain (5498' elevation) and down to Carter Gap Shelter where we enjoyed breakfast with Bloodhound, another thru hiker.We summitted Albert Mountain around 2:00, and climbed the 60' fire tower that was on the top. We took some snacks to the top and had lunch up there. It was clear and beautiful. We saw a big cloud of Smoke off in the distance and wondered what kind of fire it was.We met a fellow named Six pack, at the tower and walked with him to the Rock Gap shelter. We have a great group of thru hikers at the shelter this evening and are having a great time. Animal, a fellow Trail Journalist, is here, along with Shrek, Gummy Bear, Beer Man, and a few others. Most of us are planning to go to Franklin tomorrow morning to resupply and to spend the night. It should be a good time.My toes are finally feeling better. I had four of them that I regularly wrapped with duct tape to keep them happy, but today I only needed to wrap one. A near zero, or NERO, day tomorrow should pretty well take care of the toe issues.Thanks to a running acquaintance who has a lot of experience on the AT, known as 'Medic' on the trail, I knew to take a small supply of duct tape wrapped around my water bottle. Duct tape is one of those things that can be used a hundred different ways out here. It was a life saver for my toes this past week.Thanks to all who posted encouraging comments on my journal. I read them all, although I don't have the time to respond. It is those comments that will help get me through the tough times that are sure to come.
Date: 2015-03-30
From: Rock Gap Shelter

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 3.9
Weather: light rain

I don't have any trail photos of today, so I will post the photo of the legendary Crazy Horse who was giving out Dr. Peppers and apples a few days ago.This morning I encountered the first thunder and lightning of the trail. The night was much warmer and more comfortable than the previous nights until about an hour before I planned to get up. That is when a thunderstorm decided to roll in and make it wet and interesting while we were packing up our stuff. Sigh...I start the day off again with a muddy tent.Samson and I decided to head out at first light again to get 4 miles of hiking on before we get a shuttle into the town of Franklin, NC. The Budget Inn offers free shuttle service to hikers that use their rooms while resupplying. They pick up at three different places, and we had decided to catch the shuttle 4 miles down the trail from where we camped.The trail towns along the AT seem to cater to hikers, at least the ones I visited so far have. There are shuttle drivers, low budget motels, hostels, outfitters, and restaurants advertising their services to hikers. The first thing we did was look for a restaurant to eat breakfast, after that we went to an outfitter where I purchased a bigger squeeze bag for my water filter, and Samson procured a tent. Then I walked to the post office where I was told there would be something waiting for me. My super awesome friend, Kelly, sent me tons of food and things that are needed on the trail. And a few beers!Then it was eating, grocery shopping, cleaning gear, packing gear, and more eating for the rest of the afternoon.The town is small enough and our needs are similar enough that I kept meeting hikers on the street or lounging in front of motels that I had come to know on the trail. Resupply towns are awesome!
Date: 2015-03-31
From: Winding Stair Gap

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: overcast clouds

It was a welcome break to wake up in a bed andhave access to a bathroom with a shower. But the trail is calling my name. The First Baptist Church here in Franklin does a free pancake and bacon breakfast to hikers for four weeks straight in the Spring. They alternate between pancakes and bacon, and bacon and pancakes, every other morning. They have two vans that they use to pick up hikers at the motels in town to bring them to church for breakfast. All they ask is that you sign your name and listen to about a five minute spiel during breakfast. Wonderful hospitable people. Loved the people and the food!Joke told by the Baptist Church people: how do you tell the difference between homeless people and thru hikers? Hikers wear Gore Tex.Yesterday afternoon I left my down jacket on a chair at the Outdoor 76, so I had to wait till 10:00 AM, when they opened, to retrieve the missing item. That means I have to take the 11:00 shuttle instead of the 9:00 shuttle to get back on the trail. Yeah, yeah, I can just hear my running buddies, Todd and Mark, roaring with laughter at my ineptitude.Samson took the 9:00 shuttle while I went to the hardware store and got duct tape and a Sharpie. I added more tape to my water bottle, then I also put a piece of tape on my phone and my wallet to write contact phone numbers on in case I lose those important items. I picked up my jacket as soon as the outfitter opened, then walked back to the Motel to wait on the shuttle. Six Pack, Trixy and her dog Gertrude, One Plug, and myself were on the 11:00 shuttle. (One Plug is the person who was Jason a few days ago. He got that name because he was walking for half the morning on the trail with one earplug in before he realized it.) Six Pack, Trixy, and I got dropped off at Winding Stairs and One Plug went to Rock Gap. Six Pack is a fellow journalist that I met on the trail a few days ago. He hiked half of the AT some years ago, now he is doing the whole thing this year. I liked him as soon as I met him, he has a tremendous knowledge of the trail and its history and is a really nice person with an easy laugh that makes people around him happy. He mention about going to Trail Days in Damascus next year once we have our thru hike finished, so we are making tentative plans for that already. He is a good writer. Check out his journal on trailjournals.com.Samson and I decided to meet at NOC tomorrow evening if we don't run into each other before then. I had the trail to myself for a few hours after I got started before I met a few other NOBOS (North bounders). I had a lunch break with Mr. Don on top of the stone tower on Albert Mountain. After that I walked to Cold Spring Shelter where I am tenting for the night. I was getting water in front of the shelter when I heard "Hey Proudfoot", and there was Samson. He had already set up his new tent, now we plans to start out together tomorrow.
Date: 2015-04-01
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: NOC
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

This morning it was warmer than it has been for a long time, it was great to have my fingers work the way they are supposed to. I got on the trail at 7:00, along with Samson, and walked steadily for 5 miles till we got to the top of Wesser bald. We climbed to the top of the lookout tower and had our breakfast on the platform. Phone service is really poor here in North Carolina, but I was able to get a weak signal from the lookout tower, so I worked on uploading the journal entry from yesterday during breakfast. I usually create a document on my phone with my journal entry in the evening, and then upload it whenever I get service.We met a retired fellow from Maine, Turbo, who started about the same time we did at Springer. Turbo walked with us all the way to NOC, where we got a room at the hostel for the night. We plan to get a balls early start tomorrow morning and put in a long day.I sat down with my backpack and we had a long talk about how we're going to get along with each other for the next four months. I want the backpack to quit pinching my shoulders for no reason, and the backpack wants a name and a bit more respect from me. So, I agreed to give it a name and treat it with the respect it wants. In return, I am going to cut the straps off that I don't use and try not to load it with anything that isn't absolutely essential. He will be known as Mr. Maroon from here on out unless he becomes a jerk again. We'll have to see if our fragile truce holds.
Date: 2015-04-02
From: NOC

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 21.9
Weather: broken clouds

Samson I got up early and left the NOC bunkhouse at 6:00. We switched on our headlamps and started climbing out of the river valley. It is a lot easier to leave a hostel in the dark than a campsite because there is no tent to pack up and the chances of missing something in the dark is not as high. It was fun to watch the night sky slowly transition from a mass of twinkling stars to a pretty sunrise. The first five miles of the trail gains over 3,000 feet of elevation. As the trail goes up over the mountain there are five false summits. The first time I thought I was at the top I swore under my breath when I realized I had more climbing to do, by the end of the series of false summits the swearing was much louder and more profane. It took us over two and a half hours to get to Sassafras Gap Shelter where we ate breakfast and another hour or so till we reached the top of Cheaoh Bald (5062'). It was foggy at the top so we didn't even get a great view.I didn't get to see a lot of wildlife out here so far. There is an abundance of chipmunks and squirrels and I also saw a few turkey, several grouse, and a good bit of songbirds. I saw a few garter snakes today as well.We didn't meet anyone else out here until we got to the shelter for breakfast. But by the time we got into early afternoon we started catching up to a lot of thru hikers. I took a break in a gap with several trailjournalists, Papa AL and Conductor. Conductor was fantasizing about Velveeta cheese and Papa Al talked about this huge bag of fritos he was going to buy at Fontana Dam and not share them with anyone. I didn't experience any severe hunger yet, although a few days ago,the big breakfast I had when I arrived in Franklin just seemed like an appetizer.We stopped for the night at Cable Gap Shelter, and are tenting right along a little creek that is flowing down over a series of rocks. The shelter is full, as they always are, and there is probably twenty tents set up in the surrounding half mile from the shelter. There are four younger fellows sharing our campsite. Two of them are from Germany and the other two are from the states, they didn't know each other when they started but now they are traveling together. They call themselves the germwich, when they walk on the trail the Germans are in the front and back with the locals in the middle. Their trail names are Amishman, Yeti, Steamship, and I can't remember the other one.I am having a hard time getting Internet service out here. Today I was only able to get a weak connection one time.
Date: 2015-04-05
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

While lots of people dressed up in their finest attire to worship their version of God this Easter morning, followed by a ham dinner with friends, I, on the other hand, got out of my tent in sub freezing temps, slid into the same stinky clothes I wore the past three days, ate a breakfast of instant oatmeal, and walked through some of the most beautiful forests and ridgelines on the AT, as I climbed to the top of Clingman's Dome. I prefer my way...well, the ham dinner with friends would be nice.When I got to Clingman's Dome, I started running into lots of cleanly dressed sightseers as I got closer to the observation deck. Just when I was starting to be put off by the way people gave me a wide berth, as if I had a contagious disease, a little boy came up to me as I was looking over my map and asked, "what is your trail name?" When I told him it was Proudfoot, he said his trail name is 'Dirty Socks', and he has some trail magic for me as he handed me a small chocolate easter egg. Then his younger sister, with some coaxing from her parents, also gave me a small chocolate easter egg and wished me a happy Easter. It totally made my day.The rest of the afternoon was spent walking through beautiful pine forests on easy trails as I made my way to Newfound Gap. When I got to Newfound Gap, just before 4:00, there was a huge feast spread out in the parking lot for thru hikers as an Easter surprise. Ham sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, cookies, donuts, chips, sodas. They had it all. Then they offered us a ride to Gatlinburg to a motel. Hobo, Jersey Girl, Samson, and I rode on the back of a pickup truck with our backpacks and the trash bags from today's feed feeling like we won the lottery.We ended the day by showering, doing laundry, shopping for supplies, and going out for more food and a few beers at Smoky Mountain Brewery.This was the best day on the trail so far!
Date: 2015-04-06
From: Newfound Gap

To: Tri-Corner Knob Gap
Miles today: 15.6

I think I'm getting into a routine when I go into town for a resupply. Get to the room, empty everything out of Mr. Maroon, take my sleeping bag liner and put all of my clothes into it except for the clean pair of socks, briefs, and rain gear, throw everything into laundry, take a long shower, put on the clean pair of socks and briefs and wear rain gear. Take sleeping bag, turn it inside out, and wipe it down. Clean Mr. Maroon if needed. Take laundry out of washer and hang it over anything that is available in the room to dry. Empty food bag, sort leftover food, make shopping list. Put semi-wet clean clothes on and go to restaurant or bar and eat till stuffed. Do grocery shopping after eating.That is the order that it should be done. However, last evening I did my grocery shopping before I ate. Big mistake! I ended up buying so much food I couldn't get it all into my food bag. This morning I left the entire package of tortillas outside the room of the two guys, Jersey Girl and Hobo, who rode into town with us. Even so, Mr. Maroon weighs way too much. And we had just started getting along with each other pretty well again. Samson and I walked to Shoneys almost as soon as they opened and put a serious hurting on their breakfast buffet and coffee. Then we checked out of our room, grabbed our gear and started hitchhiking as we walked toward Newfound Gap which is 15 miles away. We were picked up before we went half a mile by a nice couple that said we can ride on the back of their truck. They were interested in what we are doing and want to stay in touch as we head towards Maine. It is surprising how many people have no idea that there is a hiking trail that goes from Georgia to Maine, and that people try to walk the entire way in a season.It was raining lightly when we got started, and it rained off and on all day. It was a pleasant day to walk though, it didn't rain heavy enough that I had to wear rain pants. The trail stayed up on the mountain for the most part, going right down the center of the spine that connects a series of peaks. I'm sure the views would have been spectacular, but we couldn't see much because of the fog. I tend to want to walk a little faster than Samson, but our mileage goal is usually the same. We tend to hike our own hike, then meet at the shelter we agreed on. I didn't meet another thru hiker till late afternoon today. It seems like the large hiking bubble is largely behind us. The shelters still fill up a lot of times, because of section hikers and weekend hikers. We are tenting in the rain tonight because the shelter is full. I think I prefer tenting to the shelters because it is more private. When the shelter is full, you basically lay elbow to elbow on the sleeping platforms with people you didn't meet till you laid out your sleeping pad and bag. It seems to work pretty well, but you do get the snoring and farting sounds going on. I think I like the rain on my tent sound better.
Date: 2015-04-07
From: Tri-Corner Knob Gap

To: Green Corner Road
Miles today: 18.4

After raining most of the night, the rain stopped just before dawn, making it a lot nicer for me to wrap up camp.Today is the last day in the Smokies for me. The last day and a half the trail stayed above 5,000' as it meandered along the ridges from mountain top to mountain top hopping back and forth between North Carolina and Tennessee. The views were stunning when the clouds and the mist allowed us to see.I just got over the last mountaintop as I was descending down toward Davenport when a thunderstorm hit the area. I had my rain jacket on but didn't take the time to put my rain pants on because I thought it makes more sense to just try getting down as fast as I could. The lightning flashed and the thunder clapped all around me but I was able to count to at least three between the flash and the thunder. After I was a mile or so from the top I stopped and took my soaking wet pants off and slipped into rain pants then continued down the mountain in the pouring rain. The trail turned into a small, shallow, creek as the rain water ran down the hill. After an hour or so of walking in the rain I stopped at Davenport Gap Shelter for a break. After about ten minutes Tink stopped to take a break. She told me she was scurrying across the top ridge when lightning struck the ground about 50' off to her left.This shelter has a chain link fence across the front of the shelter to protect hikers from the bear. The way I understand, at one time the shelters in the park all had fences. However, hikers felt secure behind the protection of the fences and started feeding bears through the fences, training the bears to expect food at the shelters. So, the fences were removed, hoping it would change hiker behavior. This must be one they didn't remove yet. No bear sighting by me yet.When I got down to Davenport Gap there was a car with a canopy set up and they were giving out chili-mac and cold beer to hikers. These surprises sure are nice!Samson and I stayed at Standing Bear Hostel since they are calling for rain and hail tonight. The place seems like it is stuck in time. It looks like a little backwoods place that should be in a movie. A collection of little buildings with metal roofing along a creek in a holler. Chickens scratching in the driveway. Cats that moved freely in and out of the open doors in the bunkhouse. If you wanted to do laundry, you did it by hand in a few wash tubs with washing boards and a wringer that is hand operated. The people I stayed with seemed as interesting and as eccentric as the surroundings. The guy sleeping in the bunk below me was wearing denim bib overalls, a beat up derby, and had a box with a small chick in it that he was taking care of. He had a hatchet hanging on the wall by his bunk-perhaps for self defense, or for decapitating his chicken when it got older.Even though all 16 of the bunks were full in the bunkhouse, I was comfortable and slept well.
Date: 2015-04-08
From: Green Corner Road

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: light rain

This morning I tried to leave the hostel in the dark. I had all of my stuff on my bunk so I carried it all out on the porch and packed Mr. Maroon in the moonlight. The clothes I washed last evening were still damp even though I took my paracord and made a makeshift clothesline above my bunk to dry my stuff. I bought another pair of merino wool socks from the little shop here last night so I would have dry socks to wear. I also had the chance to slack pack from the hostel today, but declined because of an agreement I have with Mr. Maroon. Slack packing is when someone shuttles your pack ahead a day's hike and gives you a lighter day pack for the day.I really like my shoes when I am sloshing through an inch or so of water, but when the water is deep, like it was yesterday, it comes in over the top of the shoes and takes a long time to dry out. This morning they are still wet from yesterday's storm.I stopped at Groundhog Creek Shelter for breakfast and did my journal for yesterday but wasn't able to upload it. I need a good Internet connection to upload photos, and that has been hard to get for the past week or so.Just before I got to where we start climbing to Max Patch Bald I ran into some trail magic. Bud, a 2014 thru hiker, had his car parked along the dirt road and was giving out apples, oranges, and beer. An orange and a Goose Island IPA later and I was ready to take on Max Patch. Quite a few of the mountain tops in this area are "bald". The entire top of the mountain is devoid of trees. There are competing theories as to why these vast grassy areas are here. Some theories suggest that they have been cleared by fires that are started by lightning and other theories suggest that they were Native American grazing lands for animals. Either way, they are beautiful to be on when it is sunny and clear like today.My toes are getting much better at this. This is the first day I don't have any taped up since I started the trail.Tonight I am tenting a little below the top of the ridge at the Walnut Mountain Shelter area.