morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-03-28
From: Franklin, NC

To: Big Spring Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: moderate rain

so today was a wet wet day again. i knew it was ganna be, but it still doenst make it any easier. it stinks too cause you dont get to see any of the veiws, you just see white everywhere. oh well.getting up today and having to put on my soaking wet bra, underwear, shirt, pants and jacket was HORRIBLE! i mean horrible! it was already freezing out and then having to put on those cold wet clothes, ah, bur! it was painfully cold and not a bit dry. so i just made sure i was ready to hike immidiatly after putting them on so i could warm up. i made sure i ate breakfast in bed, packed with i could while still being in my sleeping bag, so basically all i had to do was put a few things away after changing. when i reached the shelter there was only one other guy there, neil, which i was really surprised since it was raining so bad. usually the shleters get really full pretty fast and you have to get there as early as possible to get a spot. but i got a spot and it was great. good thing too cause it poored that night. it poored hardre then i have ever heard rain come down. i was soooo happy to be in the shelter when i heard that. we had a good climb today up Albert Mountain. it was straight up. in the rain and fog and the wind was blowing. you had to actually use your hands at ssome points to hold onto the rocks as you were climbing up cause it was soo steep. it was cool though, it made you forget about the cold and rain cause you were concentrating on where your footing and poles were going. but it probly was the hardest climb yet. i was panting and cursing at the mountian at times... and there was a watch tower at the top but it was too foggy, so i didnt even bother going up it. oh and today was another big day, we walked over 100 miles today! whoo hoo! (doesnt show it on my journal though cause i havnt been keeping one for every day ive been out). but thats pretty cool. triple didgets!! look out! my left butt cheek muscle was killing me today! i dont know why it was hurting to much today, maybe cause i did a 16-er yesterday, but man, i had to stop a few times and just stratch it. my shoulders still hurting a little after hiking for a while, i mean its better then it was, but its still hurting a little. what i need to do is find some cute guy out on the trail to give me a nice back massage, muhahaha.
Date: 2009-03-29
From: Hiawassee, GA

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: clear sky

ahhh... it is good to be here. the last few days have been horrible with the rain and wind! i thought my fingers were ganna fall off at some points. but the smoldering hot shower was the best feeling. i cant wait to feel like that every time i take a shower. there are a bunch of hikers staying here at the Havens Budget Inn here. its really great. ive made even more friends! everyone is just so nice. also, im meeting up with my old friends, they are just a couple doors down from my room. doing some laundry now, then getting a shuttle to the outfitter to check our some new rain gear. mine i found out dont work too well. oops. and then its off to some place for a nice hot meal. ooohhhh i cant wait! i think it might be pizza and beer tonight, doesn't that sound amazing??? last night in the shelter there were mice everywhere! i kept thinking the ceiling was leaking cuase it was pooring raining out (the hardest ive ever heard it rain in my life) but my sleeping bag was never wet, then i realized that its just the little mice running over my bag. teehee. they're sooo cute! two of them made a nest in one of the guys backpack throughout the night. he had two of them run out and found an acorn and twigs in the bottom in a little nest form. very cute. im lucky it didnt happen to me though. when i woke up this morning it was FREEZING though! there was ice on the shelter, but my drinking water didnt freeze so thats cool. i ate my pop tart in my sleeping bag and quickly got ready to go and i was hiking by 8am. i wanted to hike my 9 miles and be in town by 11:30am, which i did, and it was real nice!a few good climbs in the last few miles, but it just helped warm me up. so far north carolina has been... well... crap actually. its been cold, gray, rainy, wet, and steep! oh well, i guess it can only go up from here! (wait.. is that a good thing or not?)
Date: 2009-03-30
From: Franklin, NC

To: Waya Shelter
Miles today: 11.0

so today was b-e-a-utiful!!! it was sopposed to rain normally, but it cleared up and i hiked in shorts and a tshirt. took a nice long lunch break with "traveling narwal" and we chatted while hiking for a while. it was a really nice day. i met up with 'light weight' and 'mr ed' too at the shelter, so it was really great to see them. we attempted to have a fire, but the wood was really wet, so we couldnt get much more than a smoke fire. not too many mice i noticed in the shelter either, so that was ap plus
Date: 2009-03-31
From: Waya Shelter

To: Wesler Shelter
Miles today: 10.2

it didnt rain again today! i mean, it was cloudy and looked like it was ganna rain, but it never did. thank god. im so sick of dealing with thinking wheather or not its ganna rain. ugh.it was a nice short day today. i stopped at a shelter for lunch and sat down for a while, which felt amazing!!! i got another blister though. only two so far on the trip, which is not bad at all. this ones kinda on the bottom of my foot though, ill pop it tonight. teehee.im getting known for my gas already out here. how does that happen so fast?!?! i mean, dont other people burp and fanny toot?
Date: 2009-04-01
From: Wesler Shelter

To: Franklins Hiker Bash
Miles today: 0.0

so we did it. we actually got into a limo, unshowered, with dirty clothes and after hiking 9 miles and got into a limo and road to Franklin 60 miles back for the hiker bash. it... was.... awesome!first we had some time before the limo arrived and i ate some food, did my laundry, it was great. we had some beers while wiating. then, the limo pulls up and two hikers get out of it. they had hitched a ride with our limo to where it was picking us up. so funny!skip, tapeworm, traveling narwal, bryce, truckin, jow kick ass and me pile into the limo with two cases of beer and we were off. Cathy was the driver and she was sooo freakin great! we stopped at her hotel about 1/2 way to franklin and its a elvis themed hotel. omg, it was soo cool! i wanna stay there soo bad!any ways... so we're blasting music, narwall is playing the air guitar and the wun roof is open and we're just soo pumped for this bash. we pull up in the limo tot he hotel where the bash is and everyone just laughs at us. it was great. it was about.... 4pm when we got there. we stated meeting people and drinking more and eating some good food. there was great music playing. good old bluegrass by some old southern men. the first night skip got reeeediculous and he was just soo funny to wait. and then the second night it was tapeworms turn and i cannot believe how much he drank. we ate at the mexican restaurant the first night for dinner and just stuffed our faces. i ended up sleeping in a bed of my own in Boo Boo's room, he had a room to himself and said i could stay there (he's real nice mom and dad, dont worry) so that was totally cool. then we slept in and didnt get that free breakfast the next morning at 7am. instead tapeworm, boo boo and i walked down the street to a small diner, gooood breakfast. later we went to a sushi/thia restuarant and ate our faces off. it was really fun. and followed it up with a chocoloate milkshake from the chocolate store. it was just a relaly good time getting to know everyone even more. the 6 of us are buddies now, its great. things to remember about the hiker bash:limo ridesthats a 'no-go'joe big'toeskip, "well, ya see..."skip hammeredskips gingerbread cookie storytruckins circus tent150% single!eating waaay to much at the thia restuarnt and wanting to die!! (i needed my bucket mom!)fanny tooting in hot feets face (oops)calling fanny toots 'kellys' "i kelly'd the other day..."tapeworm 'training' the dog while being waaay to intoxicatedthe large plates of foodnoah and up and adom, soo funny'yogi-ing' a free bed at booboosthe brass wizardskip falling into the tentcalling tapeworm chunks"can i just have a drag?"narwal rocking out the air drums in the limo "im not drunk.."drain babies
Date: 2009-04-05
From: Franklins Hiker Bash

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: few clouds

sooo today was horrible! we got back from the hiker bash and everyone was feeling like poop. the limo ride was very quite on the way back.we get to Fantana Dam and have a killer climbe. for some reason my pack felt extremly heavy. i know i had a lot more food than normal cause i was going to be out longer, but it was horrible! for a second i thought the brass wizard was in my pack!traveling narwal, joe kickass, truckin, tapeworm, skip and i pretty much hiked together the entire time. it was nice. they guys would even stop after a while and wait for the rest of us to catch up. at one point we joked about holding hands while hiking. it would have been nice. heehei didnt think i was going to make it the entire 12.5 miles today. we crossed the second largest dam in the us (at least i think i heard that) and did some raod hiking, which is totally boring. we passed this tower that was just .2 miles off the trail. so i figured id check it out, trucken, joe kickass and narwal siad it was pretty sweat when i saw them leaving it as i was getting there.so i start climbing it and its kinda scary. ive climed other towers before but this one was for some reason really scary. i dont think there was enough metal and wood between me and the ground of something. i actually only made it up half way, said to myself "ok, this is good enough" and came back down. im glad no one else wwas with me at the time, hehe. the other actually climbed up on the roof of the tower!!!! they're crazy!it was sooooo hot today. the first day i hiked in shorts and a tshirt actually. and yess.... i got swamp ass (pardon my french) it was horrible. i dont know why no one else seems to get it as bad as i do! ughwe stopped when we ran into a ridge runner (someone who works for the park or the AT that tallys the numbers of hikers and stuff) and the bugs were aweful! i meani could barely stand there, it was sooo annoying. and i didnt have my 100% deet on my cause when i was shook down in neels gap they had me send it home caues i 'wont' need it until another month or so. arg. \but we got the shelter adn ran into lepracon, big camera, and knees so that was really cool. today was the first day we entered the smokies. i here it isnt too bad, but the weather is what you have to look out for. so hopfully it wont be too bad. they said we're sopposed to be getting snow tomorrow, even after this beautiful day, so we'll see. there was a relaly nice blanket of little white flowers all over the forest floor while we were hiking today. they were everywhere! sooo pretty. and we saw some bors! (pigs) i guess there are wild pigs out here and we saw a couple today so that was really neat!
Date: 2009-04-06
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Dereks Knob SHelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: light snow

sooooo it started to snow today. it was actually freezing out! i just tried to keep moving to stay warm. i had on all the cloths i owned but since it was so cold i didnt have to worry about sweating.tapeworm, lepracon, big camera, knees and i stayed in the shelter together but the others went on. i was waaaay too pooped to push on another 5.5 miles. we stayed with a family on spring break that were camping, but they had on jeans and were soo unprepared for the weather. we had a nice fire inside the shelter though so that helped dry our boots and socks and stuff.when i was hiking today i turned a corner and say these 3 little brown things run away and i had no idea what they were. then i heard a noise and looked up and there was mamma pig stopping her hooves and snorting at me! she was not happy to see me thats for sure! the babies were soooo cute though. i heard that the bores can be kinda aggressive (usually only towards hunters who are stalking them) but this one had babies so i was a little concerned. i just said "its alright, i wont hurt you... im a vegitarian" she and the babies finally ran off after a few seconds. it was pretty coolt hough.in the middle of the night all of a sudden big camera starts yelling "where are i, where am i?" cause hes drunk and got stuck in his sleeping bag and was half asleep and had no idea what was going on. it was hilarrrisou. his brother leprocon was like "dude, we're in a shelter" omg, i coudlnt stop laughing. it was great.
Date: 2009-04-07
From: Dereks Knob SHelter

To: Silers Knob Shetler
Miles today: 5.5

so we woke up today to such a lovely surprise. it had snowed 2 feet!!! it was crazy! and it was sitll coming down! ugh. so we made a fire and sat around it. couldnt make breakfast right away cause of water was frozen and we debated on wheather or not we should hike today.knees and i decided we wanted to get some miles in a it was only 5.5 to the next shelter. so we siad we'll hike together and get there in one peice. we warmed up by the fire first and set offfirst we couldnt find the trial cause there wasnt a blaze in sight and the trail was covered in snow so it was hard to see. we finally did and were on our way. knees took the lead cause he had gaitors (which i should have had but was told to send them home when i was shoook down, arg). we were literally walking in 2-4 feet of snow depending on the drifts. it was insane. and no one had walked before us so we were basically 'blazing' the trail for everyone else behind us. it was probebly one of the most challenging hikes of my life. every step was like taking 3 steps, it was like walking in quick sand or running in water. the uphills were the absolute worst of all cause you just couldnt get your boot to grip anytihng. the downhills were nice cause you just kinda went with gravity and if you fell you fell, so big deal. the snow caught you.it took us 3 1/2 hrs to hike 5.5 miles. at one point we were just going to fall over and give up. it just seeemed like the longest 5.5 miles of our lives, we coudlnt believe it!!! when we finally saw the shelter we just started yelling and jumping, it was the best moment of our lives we had to eat snow when we were thirsty b/c our water was frozen!we took a lot of 'tree breaks' stopping at a large tree and leaning on it to rest. the snow drifts were just insane!we walked in and there was a ridge runner staying there the night. the park had told her not to hike that day cause it was so bad out (oops). tapeworm, big camera and leprocon decided to zero at the last shelter and wiat out the snow. but im glad we hiked. i mean we made it in one peice and i met up with firecracker and met bound who was super nice. we had another fire and dried our stuff out.the ridge runner said it was going to get to 0 degrees tonight. so we decided to all sleep really really close together and snuggle to have as much body heat as possible. it didnt really work for me. i was soooo cold all night, i hardlyslept. i made a ton of cappucino but it still didnt help. i was just ahppy to be at the shelter though. knees and i were quite a team that day.
Date: 2009-04-08
From: Silers Knob Shetler

To: Mount Collins Shelter
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: scattered clouds

So today was day two for hiking in the high snow. but this time knees and i weren't 'blazing' the trail, so there were already footprints to follow and some compacted snow so it wasn't waist deep.we saw some pretty sights today since it wasn't too cloudy, the sun was actually out. at one point knees was leading and we went down a trail that didnt have any prints in it yet. we had passed everyone ahead of us that morning, but stillc ouldnt believe that no one had traveled on the part of the AT since it snowed. we kept walking and found that we werent on the AT!!! we walked 1 mile on another trail that lead us to a raod where there was a bathroom and stuff. so we went to the bathroom, found some crackers with penut butter in the mens bathroom so we ate those and i found a penut butter container 1/3 full (it was perfect for my tortillas cause it wasnt full and heavy for my pack) so i took it. there was a water foudntain but it didnt work and we were so thirsty and tired of eating snow.we found a sign that said "AT .5 mile" so we followed that and got back on it and only had 4 miles to the shelter. we made it there and were the only ones there. it was werid.so getting lost wasnt soo bad i thought, until i found out that we missed "Clingmans Dome" which happends to be the highest point on the AT. yeeaaahhh, we apparnetly took the bypass trail and missed it. we missed the highest point on the AT. ugh. kinda funny i guess. later tapeworm, big camera and leprocon walked up to the shelteer pretty exghusted. it was nice to see them. we tried and treid to get a fire started but that didnt work, there was just no dry would anywhere to be found. so we all snuggled up together and kept each other warm throughout the night.
Date: 2009-04-09
From: Mount Collins Shelter

To: Pecks Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: few clouds

today we beautiful out! the sun was shining i was sooo happy! we hit one of the main gaps (parking lots) after only 3 miles and met some people there. a really nice family gave knees and i some water, which was amazing! then this dude who was only hiking for a few days had to cut his hike short cuase of blisters so he gave us a whole bag of food. it had cheese, brownies, power bars, all sorts of stuff. it was AMAZING!!! so we kept on hiking after that and came to a large parking lot where there were just TONS of cars and people everywhere! i think it was the first day when the roads were back open since the snow storm, plus it was spring break for people so everyone was out. it was pretty funny though, people kept coming up to knees and i asking if we were thru-hikers and what its like. some people took out pictures and stuff. it was soo funny. somebodys kid asked if people fall inlove and get married out on the trail (they must have thought knees and i were together) it was so funny. i kinda felt like a celebrity for a second there. teehee, a dirty one! all i wanted though was a coca-cola and i knew somebody had to have one in one of the dozens of cars that were there, but we never got one. scored some more water though, so that was nice.it was REALLY hard to walk up hill in the compacted snow. youd think itd be easier cuase it was compacted down, but it was not! i mean, you would step down and then all of a sudden your foot would sink and fall backwards, it was like quick sand. horrible! i was getting so angry. but it was only on the inclines when that would happen. downhills were fine. we met up with mr ed and light weight at the shelter which was nice. when we got there the shelter was full of people we didnt know, except for them. it was nice meeting new people but everyone was pretty quite. there were there 3 brothers that are thru-hiking together and had a wind up radio so that was nice. queen came on, bohemian rap city, and everyone in the shelter just started singing it all at once, it was great!we saw a huge raven today, it was gigantic! i dont think i have ever seen one before!
Date: 2009-04-10
From: Pecks Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

so we woke up to a thunder storm this morning, knees and i decided to wait out out the rain and it stopped at about 11am. so we started hiking and we were good to go. it didnt rain on us once the entire day. we were soooo lucky. we met some older man on the way out fo the shelter who was saoked to the bone and we up on the ridges with the thunder and lightening, so i was pretty damn happy to not have been in that.it was 5 miles to the first shelter and it was a horrible 5 miles! the slushy snow and mud was just impossible to get a grip with your boot! my adrenilin was starting to rush after sometime cause i was just getting so annoyed of it. when we hit the fist shelter for lunch we were so tired and cold we decided to cook a hot meal for lunch. it was nice and gave us the energy we needed for the next 8 miles or so. we spead through the 8 miles actually real fast. they were way easier than the frist 5 for some reason. not as much snow. but the trail was pretty much a stream itself cause of the rain and snow melting. right whne we hit the shelter it began to pour, we were soooo lucky and soooo happy! i was in such a groov hiking that i couldnt even feel my legs after a while, i was just going, it was kinda nice. i also fell for a second time on thsi trip. but i was very happy to have dry socks that i put on the outside of my pack the day before and let the sun dry them. so that was really nice to have dry socks to put on at the shelter.
Date: 2009-04-11
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Standing Bear Hostle
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: broken clouds

so we got up farely early today so we could quickly get into the hostel, shower, and just get settled. it was a cute place, like a cabin. the showers were HOT and wonderful. mr ed and light weight were in a cabin and knees and i were in the bunk house. they had a ressupply area there with great stuff, but it was really expensive. so the owner was ganna take us to the gas station to get some beer or whatever else we needed. on the ride down he told us that he hates it when hikers down ressuply through him and spend money at the gas station. that we need tot hink about where our money is gonig and that he has a fimily to feed. at this point, none of us had baught any food from the hostle cause we wanted to save money and get it at the ghas station, but after hearing this speech from him we all felt we had to buy from him.so when we got our beer and got back we each baught a degorno pizza and he had a pizza cooker which we cooked it perfect. we played some jenga (which mr ed and light weight had never seen before) i lost, ugh.then the 3 brothers, andrew, pusher and a few other dudes rolled in at about 8pm. they all got some beers and we sat aroudn a fire for the next few hours just drinking and laughing and having a great time. it was really nice to meet all those new poeple.one of them doesnt have hiking poles and he slipped on a log a few days back and fell on his hands a split open one of his palms. so for the past two days he was in the woods with this gash on his hand and it was sooo painful he said. it looked nasty! it was swollen like 10 times the size. they were ganna stitch it up with dental floss that night, but decided that it might be infected so he went to the hospital the next morning to get to looked at.
Date: 2009-04-12
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

so today was easter. weird to be doing this on easter, i never thought when i was younger that one easter this is how id be spending it. it was a really really nice day today! high climbes though, but it was alright, i felt really good. i was a bit hungover from the night before but nothing to bad, i think i sweat it all out early on. we got to a place called max patch and it was this bald and hooooollllyly cow it was amazing. you could see almost 360 it was just mounttains all around you. it had to of been one of the prittiest sights ive seen since ive been out here. im glad i had such a sunny day for it. we saw some people riding horses today on some side trails, they were so cute! it was a hard hike today but i felt really good. i felt strong and healthy, so i was happy about that. we met up with mr ed and light weight and mountain man at the shelter. mountain man is this old man, probebly upper 60's lower 70's, hes soooooo cute and thru-hiking. its amazing