morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-03-24
From: Tricorner Knob Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm - I40
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: light rain

We awoke to find 4 inches of snow on the ground and frozen trailrunners. The thing about hiking is, if there¢s snow on the ground, you walk. If it¢s raining, you walk. And if anything else short of thermo-nuclear war happens, you walk. (In that case, you run.) After a few miles, my feet warmed up. The snow turned out to be a blessing. It provided traction on the ice and it was beautiful. The trail in the northern part of the GSMNP is mostly ridgewalking, and even in the snow we made it 7.5 miles by lunch. Treefrog and I stayed together most of the day with Show-me trailing just behind. We had a great discussion about education which helped pass the time. The whole day seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, we were standing in Davenport Gap and the end of the park. He let me use his cell phone to call Sarah. I had decided during the course of the day that if I could get a ride home at I-40 that I might as well do it. As long as I got back early in the morning, I won¢t lose any time and I won¢t have to pay for a hostel. Of course, Sarah didn¢t answer the phone so I left Treefrog and headed to Standing Bear Farm. There I saw Casino and the rest of the crew from Gatlinburg. I called Sarah again, and again she didn¢t answer. She finally picked up on the third call and after some schedule-rearranging, she agreed to come get me. The hostel was providing a shuttle to a Mexican cantina in Cosby, TN. I hitched a ride with them to get me closer to Knoxville. Sarah picked me up and we had an enjoyable evening. I cooked her a tasty Italian dinner and we vegged out in front of the TV.
Date: 2006-03-25
From: Standing Bear Farm - I40

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: light snow

I am very proud of myself. I managed not to take a zero day today. Even though I went home, I still awoke early according to plan and caught my ride back to the trail. My Mom and Nick dropped me off around 10:30am back at Standing Bear. I was moving at a pretty good pace until I ran into Show-me. Somehow i knew he would be the first one I saw. I decided to keep with him for a while. I really like him and Treefrog. They are great guys.Treefrog caught up to us just before lunch. We dined at the Groundhog Creek shelter. Just as we were about to leave, Show-Me started feeling sick. I think it was the Mountain Mama burgers because Jeremy, who also ate with us, was feeling sick too. I decided to push on through the snow. I really wanted to catch up to Casino, Hodge, etc and I was pretty sure they were doing a 20 miler. Everything was going great until Max Patch.Max Patch is a 360 degree bald with a gorgeous view. That is, when the weather is nice. Unfortunately, the snow drifts were waste deep. I ended up losing the trail and I had to put my sunglasses on just to open my eyes in the wind. I was about to backtrack when I saw Jeremy. We were going to head down to the road until Jeremy say a marker. We Fosbury Flopped our way over the 5 foot drift and trudge/scrambled to the marker. I think I missed a blaze but I don't really care. We headed north and the rest of the day was cake after that. Jeremy tried to call it a day at the Roaring Fork Shelter, but I cajoled him into pushing another 5.5 to the Walnut Mountain Shelter. When we got there, there was no room at the inn. He pitched a tent; I slept on the dirt floor. All in all, it was the most dangerous, exciting day so far. Thankfully I didn't have Freckles. I don't know what I would have done with him.
Date: 2006-03-26
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC 
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: broken clouds

It was a fairly liesurely hike to Hot Springs. That was part of why I pushed so far yesterday. The morning was mostly downhill and the snow helped cushion the shock on my knees. My wet feet were blistering a bit, so i sloed way down. Still I arrived into town by 1:30pm. First step was to call Sarah and tell her not to leave Knoxville with the dog. I want to let the snow melt a little more before I get him back. Hopefully, the Kieschnicks will be able to take him again for a bit.I got a room at the Alpine Court Hotel. Everyone else is at the hostel, but I wanted to spread out and veg out. I watched 5 straight hours of Friends and ate myself silly. Other than that, I did nothing but let me feet heal. Tomorrow, I'm hitting the trail for a short 11 mile to the first shelter. I am excited, because i am only a few days from passing my 2002 failure point. I am going all the way this time.
Date: 2006-03-27
From: Hot Springs, NC 

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

If you are familiar with the AT, you might be questioning my daily mileage count today. I promise, I'll explain.Today was the most emotional day I have had on the Trail. I really enjoyed my time in Hot Springs. I got a great night sleep at the hotel. I had a few great meals. It was rejuvenating. But all the while, I had something hanging over me. I have been overestimating, or "misunderestimating" my mileage on my last thru-hike attempt. I haven't been doing it on purpose, it just kind of happened in the constant retelling. In reality, on a cold, wintry day in 2002, with aching knees and throbbing legs, I hiked to the Spring Mountain Shelter from Hot Springs. In the morning, I woke up, got dressed, through on my pack and hiked the 11 miles back to town. That was the end of my hike.So today, i knew that if all went well, I would exceed that point. The climb out of the river valley was emotional, because the last time I did that stretch, I was with Sarah. We ended up having to turn back when she started feeling ill. But anyway, it made me think a lot of her and I really missed her. Despite of all the things rolling around in my head, or maybe because of them, I started out at a great pace. I had done 6 miles in about two hours when the unfortunate incident occurred.If you have never hiked the AT, you might not be familiar with the white blazes. The maintainers of the Trail paint these 3"x6" white stripes on trees, boulders, signposts, etc. All you have to do is follow them. But sometimes it isn't that simple. Today I got to a road, and couldn't see the next blaze. I ended up crossing the road a following what I thought was the trail. I was not. At first, i was cursing the trail crew for not marking the trail better. Then i started to wonder. By the time I was sure I had taken a wrong turn, I didn't know how far i had gone or where I was going. I thought that the road I was on would eventually cross 25/70. SO I opted to continue. I had no idea where I was going, but I was making incredible time. The whole walk, I was going back and forth with myself. I alternated between anger, frustration, and joy at hiking on a dry trail in sunny weather. After 2 hours, I saw a map station. I ran toward it and quickly discovered that I had just walked a 6 mile loop trail and was currently only 100 feet from where I took the wrong turn. I got back on the AT and just barely made it to the shelter by nightfall.The crew who were already there were cheering my on as I appeared over the horizon. Casino said he had followed my footprints down that wrong path for a half mile before he turned around. Oh that I had done the same. Anyway, I made it safe and sound. And I have passed my 2002 mark. I tarped with some buddies above the shelter. We even managed to find enough wood to start a fire. Actually, I watched while Hodge started a fire. But there was a fire nonetheless. We turned in around 9pm, and I slept pretty well. Today was a milestone for me. I am both happy and sad, but mostly I am hopeful for the future of my trip.
Date: 2006-03-28
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It was an unexpectedly strenuous hike today. We did the first 5.5 miles in no time at all. There we encountered a sign that directed us to a country store a half mile down the road. So we hit the road, and walked the half mile. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong road. When you come out of the woods, there isn't always a street sign. In this case, what we assumed was Log Cabin Rd was really Asheville Highway. We soon realized the mistake, which we really blame on that sign, and returned to the trail. In another mile and a half, we found a second sign at the correct road and again, took the roadwalk to the store. When we arrived at Hemlock Hollow Farm, the store was closed. As a tip to any would-be proprietors of stores near the AT, if you put a sign on the trail, you had better be open all day, every day. In this case, the owner came to the front door of the house when we knocked, and all was well. The farm is run by a husband/wife team. Unfortunately, the wife was off running errands and the husband wasn't all that familiar with the store. We ended up having the calculate our own tabs for him. He tried to charge us 10 percent sales tax to simplify his arithmetic. I appreciated his kindness, but ultimately I was a paying customer and didn't especially want to be ripped off. I low-balled my total so that his crazy tax calculation would come out approximately correct.We hit the trail again after an hour or so, and it was a nice albeit slushy hike. Then we hit the Cliffs of Insanity. I don't remember the real name of the cliffs, but suffice it to say that there is a well marked bad weather trail around them. It gets to be some pretty technical boulber scrambling. The views are great, but there were some times when I thought I was going to break or sprain something for sure. I managed to keep Hodge in my sight for most of the day, but i lost him just before the shelter. I made it to the Jerry Cabin Shelter around 4:30pm. Then we had some decisions to make. We had planned on hiking another 6 miles to the next shelter. But it was late and our feet were soaked. We probably could make it to the next one, but did we really want to? It turned out that the answer was NO. We changed out of our wet socks and shoes, and got a fire going to dry stuff out. It was a relaxing cozy night. Around 10:30pm, Casino began noisily talking in his sleep. In a booming voice, he asked Hodge "What day is Trailfest?" It woke everyone up, including Casino, and sent us all into hysterical laughter. Other than that, not much happened. Tomorrow we plan to make up todays miles by doing 21 miles to Low Gap.
Date: 2006-03-29
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Sam's Gap
Miles today: 17.0

You know how sometimes you just have bad days? Well it happens on the trail too. Even though today's terrain was easy, some of us, myslef included, had a lot of trouble. I think that my appetite has kicked in and i didn't have the food in my foodbag for it. By 1pm, we had done 12 miles and I was crashing. We had been talking about trying to hitch a ride at Sam's Gap to a nearby cafe for a burer or something. But that was 2.5 miles away, and I didn't know if i could get that far. We sat down in the middle of thr trail and started eating anything we could spare. Suddenly, who should come bouncing up the trail but Ramble-On and Treefingers. I had seen them briefly in Hot Springs, but they should have been ahead of us. It turned out they had gotten a ride from Pirate at Devil's Fork and had spent the night in Erwin. They were slackpacking to Sam's Gap where there was a shuttle waiting on them. The said they thought there would be plenty of room in the shuttle if we wanted to go into town tonight and slackpack the rest of the way tomorrow. I have said that there are two questions you never have to ask me. 1. Do you need any money? 2. Do you want any food? I am now adding a third. It is 3. Would you like to slackpack? The answers are always YES. Anyway, after much adieu, I am in Erwin. Precisely, I am at the Holiday Inn Select. I believe it shall be a comfy night. Tomorrow, I slackpack the last 22 miles south of town. I may stay in Erwin a few days and slackpack my way north. I should be getting Freckles back either tomorrow or Friday. I am hoping Sarah can bring him up Friday so that she can stay the night in town and meet some people.
Date: 2006-03-30
From: Sam's Gap

To: Erwin, Tenn., Miss Janets
Miles today: 24.0

What a day, what a day. Slackpacking is great. Slackpacking 24 miles, not so much. We didn't really have a chance to stop and see the sights. We got it done pretty fast though. Considering the fact that we didn't leave until 10:30am and we got done at 6pm, I am pretty happy over all.But I don't want to talk much about the hike. I want to talk about our dinner at the Elms. Miss Janet picked us up at Nolichucky Gorge and took us to this diner where the have a burger the size of a human head. I was of course famished and therefore, quite excited about dinner. I opted against the Elm Burger, after my experience back in Knoxville. Two of my companions, Hodge and Thumper managed to eat theirs and the waitress had to pay for their meal. But I digress. The point I would like to make is that the service was just better than the lunch line at Fort Leavenworth. It took us 2 hours to get our food. Two hours! By the time I finally got my burger, I didn't want it anymore. In fact, I was so sick with hunger and swiftly gulped sweet tea that I had to go to the bathroom and puke a little. Suffice it to say that I was thoroughly and completely dissatisfied. The twit of a waitress came to the table to inform us that it was her fault and that she hadn't put the order in right away. Of course it was her fault. Who else's fault would it be? Was it my fault? I wish my friend Reggie was there so we could get her fired. Then to top it all off, when I tried to pay she didn't know how to work the credit card terminal. A lobotomized monkey could have run my card through. Those machines do everything but do the job for you. I swear. I fear for this girl's future. So in conclusion, I hiked 24 miles, I'm tired, I'm STILL hungry, I want a shower, and I'm pretty sure that the last bunk was just claimed here at the hostel. Not my best day, but not my worst. I'll feel better soon.Seriously, that waitress was incompetent.
Date: 2006-03-31
From: Erwin, Tenn., Miss Janets

To: Erwin, Tenn 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I am exhausted. I didn't sleep well since I was the only one without a bed. I know, I know. I sleep on the floor all the time now. But there was excessive snoring and someone fed pizza to one of the dogs, who then got sick and puked little vomit landmines all around my sleeping bag. I stepped in in on my way to the bathroom at 3am. Suffice it to say, it was not a terribly enjoyable night.Miss Janet cooked us one of her famed breakfast extravaganzas. It was delicious. I don't usually like pancakes, but her banana pancakes were pretty good. After breakfast, I went to the bank to transfer some funds. We watched movies to pass the time, and Sarah arrived to get me around 4:30pm. I was so glad to see her and the dog. We drove to Johnson City to find a cheap hotel and ended up at the Days Inn. They were the only hotel that allowed dogs.It looks like rain today, but maybe it will blow over. Freckles says he only wants to do 10-12 miles today, so we'll get done early.
Date: 2006-04-01
From: Erwin, Tenn 

To: Deep Gap
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

Finally, the triumphant return of Freckles the hiking dog. Sarah dropped us off at the trail head around 9:45am. We drove by Miss Janet's to see if there was any action, but I didn't go in. It turns out I should have. Evidently, two hikers staying there last night went to Johnson City and returned after curfew and extremely inebriated. Miss Janet made them sleep outside in the van, and forced them to wash breakfast dishes wearing dresses and wigs. Sorry I missed that.Today was April Fool's Day and sometimes I feel like a fool for doing this. I love seeing Sarah, but it's hard to leave her. I wanted her to be out here with me and I'm sorry it didn't work out. Nonetheless, this is something I must do. At least I have the dog back; unfortunately, I also have his 11 lbs of stuff back, too. I was really feeling it on the climb out of the gorge. Thankfully, things leveled off after the first shelter. I took a break there to see if any of the guys would catch me, but I only saw Snowbird, a section hiker. I hiked on down to the first road crossing, where Quarters and Crazy Creek were giving away food. Their mail drop was heavier than they might have liked, so they were donating fudge and chicken. And who turns down fudge and chicken?Soon Casino came out of the woods and he and I hiked up over Beauty Spot together. It had a great view and even though it was cold, we sat and enjoyed a Snickers. After that, we did a short jaunt down to Deep Gap and pitched our tarps. It was a windy spot and there were a lot of locals zooming down the nearby road all night, but still it was a great spot. We got a roaring fire going and the weather was warming. Freckles has fallen into the routine. He seems to be enjoying it. And so am I.
Date: 2006-04-02
From: Deep Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: clear sky

Another short day today. I can't tell if Freckles' pads are wearing or toughening. They are definitely changing color though. He seems in good spirits, so that's good. Most of the Deep Gap crowd kept together today. Me, Casino, Stretch, and Thumper set a easy pace. We kept passing Snowbird, who was finishing up a missing section from '04. We took plenty of breaks and enjoyed ourselves. We never saw Treegirl. She had elected to press on last night and kept ahead of us all day. I don't know how she keeps up that pace with those blisters of hers. They are on both heels and the sixe of silver dollars!At Greasy Creek Gap, we hid our packs and hiked the .6 miles down to the Greasy Creek Friendly. While I don't care for the bad play on words with their name (hostel-hostile-friendly), I do very much recommend them. CeeCee, the woman who runs it, made us fantastic turkey sandwiches with Cokes, pickles, chips, and ice cream sundaes for 6 bucks. It was glorious, and well worth the extra mile.Our stuff was still where we had left it, so we hoisted our packs and pressed the easy 2 miles to the shelter. It was a nice one with plenty of room for all of us. We ate our dinners and hopped into bed. Freckles really loves to snuggle and I no longer worry about him running off in the night. He's too tired and cold to do anything but sleep. At around 10pm, a storm broke out instantaneously. Hail, thunder, and lighening sent us scrambling to collect our stuff and keep it dry. I was worried about the dog, who hates storms, but he paid it all very little attention. It lasted all night long, except for a half hour window around 3am. Freckles and I used that opportunity to void our bladders and quickly hop back into bed.
Date: 2006-04-03
From: Shelter who's name I can't remember

To: Stan Murray Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Just as we were waking up in the morning, we heard the telltale "Flavor Flav" call of Treefingers and Ramble On. Evidently, during that half hour window of clear skies last night, they had decided to night hike on. Of course, when the heavens opened up again, they had to emergency bivy. It must have been touch and go for awhile, but they pulled through. We decided to aim for the Overmountain Shelter, an old barn with great sunsets and plenty of room. That involved us summiting Roan Mountain, which is the last time we'll hit 6000ft until New Hampshire. It was a long climb, which I had done once before in Scouts, so I was somewhat prepared. There is a false summit that can dupe you into rejoicing, but again I wasn't fooled. We took a break at the top in Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest shelter on the trail. According to the register, Treegirl had stayed here the night before. When we shut the door of the shelter, we found 3 bucks stuck to it with a note that said "Thanks for everything, Treegirl." We wondered what exactly she had done to earn those three dollars.The weather started to set in and we debated what to do for an hour, before opting to pack up and hoof it down to Carvers Gap. There was a privy there that I was quite excited about. In the gap, I took care of that business along with throwing away some trash. As I was doing so, a huge thunderclap hit. Everyone but me and Thumper had headed up the bald, but we were reluctant to be that exposed during a lightening storm. Instead, we hung out in the privy for awhile and waited for it to pass. Not terribly pleasant, but safety comes first.When we did decide to go, I was in such a hurry I did a bad thing. I left my bag of valuables, ID, credit cards, cash, etc, sitting in the privy. I wouldn't remember that until 3 miles later. By that time, I had crossed two balds and gotten a bit wet and muddy. At the first shelter, the Stan Murray Shelter, I opted to quit and make camp. Freckles was exhausted and wet, so i let him sleep. At this point I had to decided what to do. I tried to bribe the next few hikers to go get my stuff, but to know avail. Finally, Swiftcreek, Small Wonder, and Yoohoo arrived with the intention of staying there. They said they would watch Freckles for me while I did the 6.6 mile round trip to the gap. Fortunately, it was all right where I had left it. I did the whole hike in just under 2 hours. Not bad. I could settle down for the night with a huge weight lifted off my mind.
Date: 2006-04-04
From: Stan Murray Shelter

To: Mountain Harbor Bed and Breakfast
Miles today: 10.0

We awoke to find ourselves dusted with snow and all our stuff frozen solid. I don't know if it blew in or condensed around us, but it was cold and it was wet and it was extremely unexpected. I was rubbing Freckles every few seconds to keep him warm and took turns thawing out my clothes under the blanket. Everything went slowly and steadily until I got to my shoes. It took me thirty minutes to get them on, and then it felt like I was nearly frost-bitten. After that, I decided to stay in a warm bed tonight. I headed down the 1.7 miles to the barn to see if anyone was stille there. It turned out that they had all decided to go to the hostel as well and were sleeping in. The hike to 19e was the prettiest so far. The Humps gave great views and the sun was out and the sky was blue. I would never have expected that this moring. It was nothing but pleasant rolling hills all the way to the road. We walked .3 miles to the hostel and signed in. The hiker cabin is above the barn, and surprisingly, it's pretty cool. Their is a loft with 4 twin beds, and seperate queen suite, and a pull-out sofa. There's a full kitchen, bathroom, and a TV with tons of VHS tapes. We were clean and happy in no time. I did not like that everything was extra. Laundry, food, shuttles. Nothing was included in the $15. I opted to get a shuttle to the ATM and to resupply. I also did laundry. On the way to the ATM, the muffler fell off the truck, which might be a problem in any other state but Tennessee.The rest of the guys bought beer and Subway for dinner, while I got a microwave lasagna. Most of the evening was spent arguing over and constructing a gravity bong, which if you don't know is a remarkably inventive piece of stoner engineering. Evidently, with a plastic bottle, a little aluminum foil, a sink full of water, and some weed, you can be the MacGuyver of marijuana. I found the whole thing quite amusing. I ended up having to share the pull-out with Sidewinder. For some reason, Freckles really hares his yellow lab, Tucker. I think it's because Tucker weighs 80 lbs and Freckles has little-man's disease. There was a lot of snapping and growling, but they both settled down for the night.