morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-01
From: Boone Town

To: Watauga Dam Road
Miles today: 9.2

After a delightful night in boone, it was back to hampton for a day hike with otto. seiko showed us a great blue blaze that took us around pond flats and past some creeks and streams etc... it was the easiest 5 miles i have ever walked. we met up with bob and pat who were shuttling pogue, big un', superman, wayfarer, and mrs. gorp to dinner. after way too little arm twisting, krispie and i convinced pogue and superman to hike 42 miles into damascus in 1 day. after dinner we hiked in from 321 4 miles to the first available campsite and planned on hiking the remaining 38 into damascus in the morning.big un' has decided to go up to port clinton, pa and hike south to trail days. he has also decided that doing 42 miles in one day is stupid and painful. he might be right.
Date: 2006-04-02
From: Watauga Dam Road

To: The Place, Damascus
Miles today: 38.0
Weather: clear sky

38 miles. i think that's all i need to say. pogue, superman, krispie and i woke up at 4, started walking by 5, saw a magnifiscent sunrise over watauga lake, climbed up to vanderventer shelter, then cruised up and down and down again to damascus. krispie and i ate dinner at abingdon gap shelter and waited for superman and pogue to catch up for teh last 10 miles. pogue had decided to stay one shelter back, but superman was still down for the challange. we did the last 10 miles in the beginning of the first spring storm. that means lightning on a ridge. and rain. lots of rain. we got to the place at 11:15. NO BLISTERS!!
Date: 2006-02-28
To: Hands On Network, Biloxi, MS
Miles today: 0.0

Linc writes:Here is our first Appalachian Trail entry. This is a pre-hike entry. We are still working as volunteers with Hands On Network in Biloxi, MS, helping with the hurricane Katrina recovery effort. We hope to be starting on the trail up and over Springer Mountain in late March. Thanks for taking a look at our trail journal, and welcome!
Date: 2006-03-02
From: Hands On Network, Biloxi, MS

To: Hands On Network, Bay St. Louis, MS
Miles today: 0.0

Jeanne writes:Today, we finally got our starting date settled. We will leave the Hands On Network base in Biloxi, MS on Saturday, March 4, and go to the Hands on Network temporary base in Bay St. Louis, MS until March 16. On the 16th, we will get picked up in Biloxi by my sister and brother-in-law who live in Mobile, AL, where we will spend until the 20th finishing up our income taxes, preparing a few boxes for mailing to ourselves, packing, and visiting. On the 20th of March, Erika, one of the directors here at Hands On will pick us up in Mobile, and will drive us to Atlanta, where we will spend the night, and then on the 21st, she will take us up to the State Park, and we will be on our way!!!!!!!We will be posting info over the next week or two on our first few maildrops. We have decided that we do not want to plan all our mail drops for the whole trip at this point, rather we want to plan them as we go, so that we can be more flexible as to how much time we spend getting to Katadhin.Now that we have our starting date, we are both getting excited.
Date: 2006-03-23
From: Amicolola Falls State Park

To: Springer Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 9.0

Hello, we've finally gotten to a computer so that we can enter some trail journals. We hiked the approach trail, so many people might say that we really only hike 0.2 miles of the A.T. today, but we decided that since we hiked the 8.8 up to Springer Mountain, that we would include it in our total mileage.WE both felt pretty good hiking the nine miles up considering we had not seen a hill in months, or felt full packs on our backs since last August. It was mostly cloudy and cool. Just as we finished cooking supper, it began to snow, and we got about an inch or two. So, we did not go through the entire 2005-2006 winter season without seeing snow.
Date: 2006-03-24
From: Springer Mt. Shelter

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Another mostly cloudy, cool day.   Got a late start, but were in no hurry since we knew we were not going to put in a lot of miles. The trail was mostly downhill for the first four miles, then a gradual uphill to the shelter, where we spent the night with three other through hikers, and four others who pitched tents (three of whom were out for a three day hike - the first for the 10 years old boy, with his Dad and Dad's friend). Both our feet were a little more tired at the end of the day, but we are both feeling pretty good so far.
Date: 2006-03-25
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: broken clouds

Another great day on the trail!!!! The trail was mostly up one hill, then down, then up the next and down, not much level walking. The weather was a mixture of sun and clouds, a cool wind, but the sun was very warm when it was out. We got a nice surprise when we got to the shelter. We thought we had about another mile and a half to go, but were delighted to find we did not. Turns out the shelter was relocated, and the map we have was from 1999, before the relocation. If we had been going by our book, we would have known different - but it sure was a nice surprise. We were happy today, as we saw some flowers in bloom: one dandelion, one bloodroot and two purpole violets. Expecting a cool night tonight as it is quite clear out. We have not seen the people we spent the first night with, as they were all planning on longer mileage days. We have decided to take it slow to begin with, and work up to longer miles, and so far we are happy with that decision.
Date: 2006-03-26
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: 1/2 mile beyond Granny Top
Miles today: 8.0

Another beautiful day, very sunny, but with a cool wind. We both felt pretty good today, although Linc's knee is giving him some trouble, and I've got a few hot spots on my two right little toes. We decided not to push it to the next shelter, which would have been a 12 mile day. We have a nice campsite near a spring. Lots of beautiful views today, with sitings of more bloodroots and violets in bloom.
Date: 2006-03-27
From: 1/2 mile beyond Granny Top

To: Top of Blood Mountain
Miles today: 5.6

Had not expected to get to the tope of Blood Mountain today, since there is no water source here. But we decided to cook our dinner down by the water source, and then hike up and spend the night up here on top, eating the remainder of our supper that we carried up. When I woke up this morning, and was just lying there, when suddenly Linc smacked his lips, and made several funny snorting noises. I thought he was awake and joking around, so I laughed out loud. This woke him up, and he couldn't understand why I was laughing. After thinking for a few minutes, he remembered his dream. He was snarling at a squirrel that was on a leash and trying to bite his fingers and toes. W were both laughing so hard that we could hardly breathe.Beautiful, sunny warm weather today. Beautiful views from the top of Blood Mountain, and a nice cozy spot to set up the tent. Also, a nice spot to sit and contemplate nature before it got too cold to retreat to the tent. We were going to sleep in the shelter, but the logbook in the shelter had an entry from a few days ago that talked about two skunks in the shelter rifling through packs - we thought we'd set up the tent instead. We did not see or hear the skunks all night. We did wake up during the night to precipitation, starting as possibly snow, but then turning to rain.
Date: 2006-03-28
From: Blood Mountain Summit

To: Bags Creek Gap, GA
Miles today: 6.6

Linc here:It clouded up last night, snow and rain showers, then misty, a little sun, 50's today. We stopped at Neel's Gap, picked up a box of food we'd mailed ourselves, bought a few small items ($24 worth) at the outfitter there, left our Primus stove in the hiker box (switching to the MSR whisperlite we found in a shelter a few days back), made phone calls, repaired a few items using the outfitters tools, gaped at all of the cars and people rushing about, and, 2.5 hrs later, slid quietly back into the woods along the trail.We walked on narrow ridge, through open hardwoods, rhododendron and mountain laurel, in clouds with occasional breaks to catch glimpses of misty ridges in the distance. Spotted lots of Juncos, possibly a Carolina Wren, still no sign of any animals, not even a squirrel.My left knee acting up again (stiff and achy), so we plan to take a rest day tomorrow to let it recover. Pain or not, we're loving this trail experience.
Date: 2006-03-29
From: Bagg Creek Gap

To: Bagg Creek Gap
Miles today: 0.0

Today was our first zero day!! We saw a total of 31 hikers go by throughout the day, six of whom we know were not through hikers, the rest we don't know. We had a beautful, sunny, warm day to relax and get a few chores done. We did some sewing repairs on some gear. Since we had brought our shower attachment for our water bag, we took the partially full bag and placed it in the sun for several hours. It warmed up quite nicely. We set up Linc's poncho tarp for a shower enclosure, both took showers, then laundered two pairs sock, 2 pairs shorts, two pair of long underwear tops and bottoms, and my underpants, all with about 2 gallons of water. It's amazing what you can do with a little bit of water. It was good to be lazy today, and both Linc's knee and my hot spots are feeling much better.
Date: 2006-03-30
To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: few clouds

Linc here:Our longest day yet on the trail. Great weather, 70's, sunny, a few clouds, so nice! It's amazing to see water springing out of the ground up here on the ridge tops. More plants emerging today, flowers too, but we can't identify them as our book doesn't cover this far south. Heard our first Phoebe today, on Blue Mountain, and had a pair of Yellow-throated Vireos serenade us from a few feet away as we sat outside at the shelter, then chase eachother in a territorial dispute. Still no sign of deer, but mice in the shelters, and recent coyote scat on the trail.The walking was often easy today, sauntering along on old, well graded woods roads. I was nauseous with fatigue by the time we made it to the shelter, just before sunset, but my knee feels totally recovered, yahoo! I wrote a short poem of sorts about the experience of walking along the Georgia ridgetops:Walkingnarrow ridge tops undulate and twisteroded in ancient past from great peaksancient bones of granite and quarts remainas lichen encrusted bouldersalong a narrow, twisting pathlined with tufts of grasspast leafless, gnarled hardood trunks,an elvin feel of old magic and mysteryas we gaze upon blue ridges on either side below.
Date: 2006-03-31
From: Blue Mountain Shelter

To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Had a very foggy start to the morning, but it eventually cleared up, and was very sunny and hot. Nice to have the sandals to hike in to keep our feet cooler.Before we left the shelter for the day, we saw a territory fight between two maile vireos (not sure if they were Yellow-bellied or Red-eyed) - it was interesting to watch. We got to the shelter early - around 2:00, and debated about whether to go for the campsite about 5 miles further ahead, but decided to stay the night and have a shorter day after yesterday's longer day.Flowers in bloom today consisted of bloodroots, bluets, violets, and buttercups. We still have seen no other wildlife except birds - no squirrels or deer - assume it's too early, as there are no leaves up here yet, and very little that it green.When we got to the shelter, Linc made a "rock oven" and we baked our bread in it. It worked pretty well, considering it was not airtight. It took about 45 minutes to cook the bread (shorter than on the cookstove). We put a fire in the oven and warmed up the rocks for a while, then scraped the fire out in front of the oven, put the pot with the bread in it, and kept the fire going outside the oven. The bread looks great. Also, the sourdough starter is much happier with these warmer days, looking more lively than it had been the first few cold days.We ended up being the only ones sleeping in the shelter, with three other people setting up tents nearby. Heard a few mice when we first went to bed, but they seemed to disappear when it started raining.
Date: 2006-04-01
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Tater's house, Hiawassee, GA
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light rain

Linc here:A hot, high 70's, sunny day. Tough climb over Kelly's Knob. Rufous sided Towhees singing "drink your tea!", calling, and scratching in the leaves all over Tray Mountain. Lots of Bloodroot in bloom, sometimes in big patches of white color against the light brown leaves and gray, leafless trees. Also, purple and yellow violets in the grass at trail's edge.At Dick's Creek Gap, we'd intended to hike 1 mile further up a mountain to a tent site. We stopped to talk with a fellow who was handing out free sodas to through hikers. We don't drink soda, but enjoyed talking with him. He had through-hiked the trail in 2000, under the trail name "Tater". He ended up inviting us to spend the night at his vacation cabin in Hiawassee. The key phrase for Jeanne was "hot shower". The cabin turned out to be a very nice log sided place, with pine walls, ceilings, floors, a stone fireplace, and rustic log and rhododendron branch stair railings. We showered, did laundry, and accepted Tater's invitation to eat at a steakhouse buffet in town with he and his wife. Our appetites haven't reached true through-hiker levels yet, but it was a great change from our typical one-pot trail meals. We slept in a huge flannel sheeted, pine log-framed bed with a view out at the ridge we had walked on earlier that day. In the morning, Tater served up a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, strawberries, banannas, and juice, before driving us the 4 miles back up to the trailhead. Generosity from strangers like this has happened to us several times in the last 8 months. It's one of the main reasons we decided to spend the winter volunteering, to give something back for all of the generosity we received on our bike trip down. But, it still surprises us every time it happens. Thank you Tater and Diane, very much.
Date: 2006-04-02
From: Dick's Creek Gap

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: broken clouds

Got a late start this morning, however, we still had Jeanne's watch on Eastern Standard time rather then changing it to daylight savings time. Had a delicious breakfast with Tater and Diane of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, strawberries, orange juice, and a banana for Jeanne. I'm not sure which part of the breakfast tasted the best.The weather started out very sunny, and quickly clouded up, with a few showers here and there. It was cooler when the sun disappeared behind the clouds, but still warmer than the first few days.Arrived at the North Carolina border today!!!!!!!! Yay, we completed the first state, and enjoyed every minute of it, with lots of beautiful views and beautiful woods.Had planned to hike three miles less than we did, to a campsite near Bly Gap, but when we got there, the campsite was less than desirable. It was sloped, and mostly just dirt spots to set up the tent. We made it to the shelter about 6:00 (standard time), and promptly cooked up our instant mashed potatoes for supper, with fixings, and then baked our bread. We were surprised at how quickly we got the shelter from Bly Gap, as we somehow missed that we were near the top of Courthouse Bald; arriving at Sassafras Gap, thinking we still had to go up over the Bald. However, a look at the map revealed that we did not have far to go. So we had a quick snack, and then Linc blitzed to the shelter, with Jeanne barely able to keep him in sight.We were very glad that we had made it to the shelter, as shortly after we got into bed, the thunderstorms started. It was like someone turned on a faucet, the way the rain would just start and stop. Also, the lightening was very bright, and some of the thunders vibrated the ground. Some of the storms passed by very close. Lost track of how many storms went over, but it was lots of rain.Happy Birthday to Sue - which anniversary of your 29th birthday is it?Decided we'd better change our watch to daylight savings time so we would not get confused when we get to towns, so now we have the correct time.
Date: 2006-04-03
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter, NC

To: Standing Indian Shelter, NC
Miles today: 4.9
Weather: light rain

Linc writes:We had hoped to hike farther today, but the thunder started in as we neared Standing Indian shelter for a lunch break. A departing scout troop reported that their radio had indicated a line of strong lightning and possibly tornados passing over, so we sat in the shelter to wait out the weather. The skies never cleared, so five of us decided to stay the night. The weather was cool (50's), very windy from the west, clearing a little towards dusk and becoming colder.We were glad for a bit of a rest day, as our legs were somewhat tired from the 3800' feet of climbing the day before.During the day's hike, we discovered some small, opposite leaved plants along the trail with dark greenish-purple leaves, that smelled exactly like lemon pledge. No flowers yet, so we weren't able to identify them.We heard our first Winter Wren today. It totally surprised us, not expecting to hear it until several hundred miles further north. A beautiful song to match these woods and mountains.
Date: 2006-04-04
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Bearpen Gap
Miles today: 13.5

After our short day yesterday, we both felt really good, and decided to go for a long mileage day. We both feel great. The weather was warm and sunny, and we had great views from the summer of Standing Indian Mountain, after taking a short side trail off the AT to get to the summit. Well worth the short extra distance.We decided to try something new today. We cooked our dinner and baked our bread at lunchtime at a water source, then filled our bottles with water when we thought we were passing the last source we would see for the night, and then camped where we saw a nice campsite, not having to worry about whether or not there was a water source nearby. This worked out really well, We both felt really good after our dinner for lunch, and continued on at least another seven miles, until about 7:30 p.m. to a great campsite at Bearpen Gap, with a great view to the east overlooking a valley. We have set our tent up with the door to the east, with the hope of a sunny start to the day tomorrow. We'll eat our breakfast for a snack before going to bed. So far, we like this new system, and will try it again tomorrow.Today we saw our first red squirrel, and heard another Winter Wren.Off to sleep now, as we hope to get at or very near Winding Stair Gap tomorrow, so we can get into Franklin, NC early in the day on Thursday, get our chores done, and head back out to the trail.
Date: 2006-04-05
From: Bear Pen Gap

To: Winding Stair Gap, near Franklin, NC
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

Linc writes:Cold (around 33F) last night. We woke as it began to get light, opened the tent door and watched the sun rise over the ridge, 20 or so miles away across the valley below our cliff-top tentsite. We listened to the morning news on our little pocket radio, ate "leakfast" (lunch for breakfast), and sat out in a little leafy, sun-drenched perch on the cliff, thanked the day, and just sat quietly for a half hour or so, listening. A winter wren sang a welcome to the day, and I swear I could hear the mountains groaning in satisfaction as the sun warmed their cold bones.The weather warmed into the 60's during the day, with bright sun, a few whispy cirrus clouds, and a light breeze, perfect backpacking weather. We climbed (sometimes needing hands to get up tight spots) up Albert Mountain, and then up to the fire tower at the top to see a 360 panorama view of the southern North Carolina and north Georgia mountains, coves and valleys. We snacked on more "leakfast" of sourdough bread, peanut butter and gorp, stopped at a shelter to get water from the spring, then stopped near Glassmine Gap to cook "dunch" (dinner for lunch) and bake bread.To save fuel, we cooked lunch on a tiny twig fire, and made a small stone oven to cook the bread in. The stone oven experiment was only partially successful, so we finished off the bread on our gas stove. We also baked a small bit of dough in the ashes (a technique called "ash-cakes"). We'd never tried it before, and it worked really well, so we will try it again soon with a larger quantity. Two hiker friends, Zippo and Willow, stopped to talk with us as we cooked, before sauntering on.The hiking was beautiful, open hardwoods, mellow trail grades, patches of rhododendron and mountain laurel, violets, dandelions and bluets in bloom, and even a few cool, mossy stream crossings. At one crossing, I stopped, washed my shirt and upper body, and continued on the climb, feeling refreshed. We hearsd more winter wrens singing today.We made it to Winding Stair Gap, found a tent site, and then were given a pound of frozen venison burger by another through-hiker, Ashton, who was sharing half of what he had been given by a woman in Franklin during his trip into town to resupply. We plan to have venison burgers for dunch tomorrow, thank you Ashton!We are feeling good, despite 7 days without really resting. No blisters, thanks I think to easy days and to wearing sandals instead of boots. We keep marveling at how nice this hike is. Life is great!Tomorrow we plan to go into Franklin to buy groceries, due internet and email, and other errands.
Date: 2006-04-06
From: Winding Stair Gap, near Franklin, NC

To: Campsite near Siler Bald Shelter
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: broken clouds

After 2 1/2 hours on the internet at the library, a trip to the bank and the grocery store, we headed out of town. We got to Route 64, hitched a ride for about 20 minutes, which took us about 1/2 way up to the trail, then hitched for another five minutes to get the rest of the way there. We started hiking at about 4 p.m., got to the camping area we thought we would camp near, and they were not much, so continued on to Siler Bald Shelter. On the 1/2 mile sidetrail in, we found a nice campsite, with the water nearby, and set up the tent there. Good to get the town run over with, and back into the woods.
Date: 2006-04-07
From: Campsite near Siler Bald Shelter

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: clear sky

We got our earliest start yet - leaving our campsite at 7:30 a.m., due to the weather forecast prediction of afternoon thundershowers. We wanted to get to the campsite seven miles away, and get the tent set up before the storms moved in. We got to the campsite at 1 p.m., it was beautiful out, and we still had more energy, so we continued on. Got to the shelter, and it was empty, the forecast called for 100% chance of thunderstorms, and the tentsites were up on a ridge, so we opted for the shelter. We ended up with five of us in the shelter, and some terrific thunderstorms overnight. We had gourmet food for supper, cooking pizzas on a rock over a twiggy fire. They were delicious, and we shared four little pizzas, plus had some fresh greens for a salad. We were not at all hungry after that meal.New flower for the day was the periwinkle. Birds heard and/or seen were robins, winter wrens, nuthatches, Juncos, turkey vultures.
Date: 2006-04-08
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

We were contemplating a zero day today, depending on what the weather did - it was predicted at 100% chance of thunderstorms, tapering later in the day. When we awoke in the morning to some hard rain, it helped us to make our decision. We decided to stay put, eat more pizzas with the crust being sourdough. There were lots of people in and out of the shelter today, passing through, and many stayed the night, with seven in the shelter, and many more setting up tents.