morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-14
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

The following is the honest-to-God Truth:There were mice in the shelter last night. That's not the surprising thing, of course, that's to be expected The surprising thing, is that around midnight, when, you know, it's dark, and everyone's sound asleep, and hiker equipment is scattered and hung far and wide across the shelter, one hiker - I can't recall his name - was so fed up with the mice that he up and left, taking his tent up to the top of the mountain, Cheoah Bald, banging the stakes into the rocky ground in the cold wind with a stick in the middle of the night. Which was apparently not as bad as the mice. Score: Mice 1, Hiker 0. Even more exciting than the mice was the basket of Trail Magic at Stecoah Gap. it wasn't mealtime, but I ate an orange, two bananas, and an apple, and 8 snickers bars. A bunch of hikers caught up, including Trickster and What?!. The very last folks only got apples. They were very excited to see the apples, so I didn't mention the part about the snickers. Shortly after Brown Fork Gap Shelter, milepoint 150 was reached. And there was much rejoicing.At Cable Gap Shelter, Trickster, What?! Steve and myself settled down for a cozy night. (Steve is from England, I met him at Rock Gap shelter, and apparently they don't believe in trail names). The four of us were entertained by what some might call a 'thru-ser', whose name I will not identify except to say that he shares it with a very famous cat, who told us in great detail and great length, and more to our amusement than annoyance, about how much hiking he had done, how little he was carrying, how much hiking he was going to do, and what percentage of successful thru-hikers (90%) don't use the kind of equipment we were carrying. I'm going to be like that when I grow up.I can see it now - Steech, the ultra-light, ultra-jaded, experienced thru-hiker returns to Georgia to chat with the Newbies. NEWBIE: Hi, my name's Turtle.STEECH: That's a dumb name. Out here, every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named Turtle. I counted seven in '06 alone.NEWBIE: How much does your pack weigh?STEECH: 7 pounds fully loaded. Less than your tent, from the look of things. NEWBIE: What kind of water filter do you have?STEECH: Heck, man, this Bandanna is my sleeping pad AND my water filter. OUT of my way, I got 40 more miles to do before sundown. It's going to be great fun. People are going to like me a lot, I think.
Date: 2006-04-15
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: Birch Spring Tentsite
Miles today: 12.5

Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Famous for:1. One of the highest densities of Bears in the world.2. LOTS of RAIN.3. Sometimes SNOW, even in MAY.4. Cold temperatures. 5. Bears not being shy of people6. Bears knowing that people usually carry Picnic Food.7. Which they can smell in your tent should you be foolish enough to leave an empty snickers wrapper in your pocket or brush your teeth with flavorful toothpaste.8. Not to mention a Whole Slew of National Park Regulations, all of which carry the very unlikely but theoretically possible penalty of a fine "up to $5,000".9. Oh, and it's also supposed to be very crowded. Sounds like fun. From Cable Gap Shelter, I descend for the third time from the bare leafless higher elevations where the trail usually hangs out, into the lush, blooming, verdant lower elevations where the Southern Appalachian Spring is out in full force. It is Black Saturday.I am approaching a landmark. Fontana Dam, at a height of 480 feet, is the highest dam east of the Mississippi. It is also the last thing a northbound hiker sees before entering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is also the lowest elevation, at 1710' above sea level, that we've encountered so far, just slightly lower than N.O.C. It is also the site of Fontana Dam Shelter, which has showers. I have no need of a shower, having taken one 2 days ago, and neither do I need anything from town, so, after partaking of the Easter Picnic that some trail people have laid out for us, I head into the famous ominous Smokies.I climb the 2300' climb to Shuckstack, the first mountain, at 4020' elevation short by Smokies standards. I climb the rickety tower. So far, no bears, and no rain. I arrive at Birch Spring Tentsite, which is not really a place where thru-hikers are supposed to stay, apparently, but I stay there anyway because a) some of the literature was very ambiguous on that point, and b) I didn't realize that I'd be the only soul around for miles and miles. I cook a solitary dinner, well away from the tenting area as the signs instruct, and keep a lookout for bears. Near nightfall 3 teenage guys appear. They are concerned about bears, too, and they have a hatchet for that very purpose. It is comforting to know that they are there. I sit and write in my journal, barefoot,enjoying the freedom of feet freely touching the dirt, until dark, when I settle down for what I hope is a peaceful, bearless night.
Date: 2006-04-16
From: Birch Spring Tentsite

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: scattered clouds

This was a great day.First off, not a single bear came sniffing around my solitary tent last night, not even once, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Secondly, starting around Doe Knob, (which is definitely one of the best mountain names so far), around Doe Knob we started having slews and slews of Spring Beauty and other wildflowers carpeting the forest floor. Thirdly, the trail was mostly flat and easy. Fourthly, Easter Day dawned bright and sunny, making now two rainless days in the Smokies, which I am quite happy about. There are some gorgeous bald-type fields, and after Spence Field I climb two mountains, Rocky Top and Thunderhead, which not only have great views, but I think Rocky Top must be the famous one, from the song. You know, "Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top, ground's too rocky by far... That's why all the folks on Rocky Top drink their corn from a jar". It must be the same mountain, as I did not see a single leaf of corn.
Date: 2006-04-17
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light rain

Clingman's Dome, at 6,643' elevation, is the highest point on the A.T. This might be a lie. At least, judging from the vegetation. We have entered spruce-fir forest. But not the cold, windy spruce-fir forest of the Whites, where the trees twist and shorten and eventually disappear. No tree-line here. So if I had to guess, I'd say Clingman's was lower than most of the Whites, maybe about the height of Glastenbury Mountain in Vermont. The only thing that gives it away is the view. Well, there would be no view, because of the trees, if it weren't for the huge cement spiral that somebody put there. I climb the spiral, not a soul in sight, and brace myself against the wind. There is a 360-degree view of the entire Smokies, which we are now roughly in the middle of, and Shuckstack, identifiable by the tower on top, which was the first smoky mountain the trail crosses, looks amazingly short and small. I am out of food except for peanut butter and bagel crumbs, and that's not cool. I do have a small dinner for tonight, and a packet of oatmeal for the morning, at which point I'll hit town. Fortunately, at Mt. Collins Shelter, is one of those people that makes that weird comment, "I have too much food in my pack". It took me awhile to figure out how to deal with these people. You don't meet them often on the trail, but I've come across a few. Three or four hikers will be talking, food will come up, and someone will say, yeah, I actually have too much food, my wife put extra in my maildrop, or some such reason. Here's my strategy:Hiker(casually)"I have too much food. I went shopping hungry, and I totally overdid it."Steech: (drops voice an octave, and in deadly serious tone of voice says): "Do you really have too much food? Cuz I would buy it off you, for a good price too."Hiker: (sheepishly) Well, I don't actually have too much. Like, I'll eat it, it's just, what I meant to say, is, it's too heavy, but I do need it. Steech: (smugly) I thought so. (Or, sometimes, of course, "here, Steech, here's five snicker bars that I don't need." You never know.)Tonight, however, I don't need to resort to this strategy, because the over-burdened hiker cheerfully offers several substantial snack items to three of us who need them, and I am deeply grateful. It would have been a very long night otherwise, I fear. Trail magic when it's most needed.A hiker named Eagle has been at the shelters the last couple nights. He's an older man, with a strong Texas accent, and he's hiked the North Country Trail, the Buckeye Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. Maybe some others that I've forgotten. Somewhere in the vicinity of 10,000 miles, I think. When the subject (a common subject, it seems) of complaining about advice received from the outfitter at Neels Gap comes up, he rolls his eyes and says in disbelief, "they tried to tell me how to pack my pack!" I smile, because I had the same reaction to their superior attitude, although I had only hiked 30 miles, and not 10,000.
Date: 2006-04-19
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Okay, so I've hiked 15 days, and no rain has fallen during the day on any of the days. Today we had a rainstorm. There is nothing quite like watching purple and black boiling clouds writhing in the sky right above you from Charlies Bunion, and when the rain finally hit, by the time I had my pack cover and rain jacket on, my shorts were so wet there was no point in adding rain pants. The wind was crazy, and then it started to hail, which piled up on the ground like snow, and stung when it hit my hands. A hiker with no raingear whatsoever on came running by, absolutely sprinting. The storm, while intense, only lasted two or three hours, maybe less. The hike, while very high in elevation, on a narrow rocky rugged ridge for much of the day, had little change in elevation, and so it was good terrain for another twenty-mile day. Today I met Chardonnay and Cabernet, whose names I have seen in registers for a few days, and who got their names, "because they whine so much". So far, they win the prize for most clever trail name. Room in the shelter AGAIN, even thought it's the Smokies. WOOH-HOOOH!
Date: 2006-04-20
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm Hostel
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Right, well, I was going to quit adding these retro entries, but due to the entreaties of one Ashley Piatek, I might add one more. The day I left the Smokies was a GREAT day. I felt freedom and excitement, both from leaving the predictable and cold higher elevations, and from leaving the strict regulations of the Smokies. I could now camp wherever I wanted!!! No pressure to do miles! and the excitement of the unknown section of trail north of the Smokies. I felt that my hike, and the real adventure, had finally started, now that I had gotten out of the Smokies. I wrote in my little notebook "The Days of Warmth are Here at Last!!!!" (I was wrong of course, as we shall see in due course). To celebrate this new, relaxed feeling, I hiked 0.6 miles off the trail to the Mt. Cammerer fire tower, for a farewell vista of the Smokies, and at Davenport Gap I did something very out of character and hiked 1.3 miles off the trail to Mountain Moma's, for real, warm, food, for lunch. When I got back on the trail, we crossed our first real river, the Pigeon River, and our first interstate, I-40. Shortly after in began to pour, and although it was lovely to see the lush lower elevation flowers and trees in a Southern Appalachian Spring downpour, I was very happy to take refuge at Standing Bear Farm, a conveniently placed hostel, and my first indoor accomodation of the trip. Standing Bear Farm is a fabulous place. First and foremost, there is a roof that keeps the rain out, but beyond that, it has every item and facility a thru-hiker could want. Shower, laundry, cinnamon buns, internet, soda, apples, pizza, ziploc bags, first aid items, and food for resupply. I happily took full advantage of every one of these amenities, and fully refreshed and restored, fell asleep dry and out of the rain.
Date: 2006-04-21
From: Standing Bear Farm Hostel

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

Left Standing Bear Farm in the morning feeling it was time to get moving and get away from the all the lazy drunken bastards before I became one. Morning of intermittent rain and Snowbird Mountain and a handful of other hikers passing back and forth. It was just getting wetter and wetter, but then at Brown Gap there was some Major Trail Magic. About nine thru-hikers stopped for lunch. After two cheeseburgers and a hot dog and an apple and an orange and 3 sodas and a bag of chips and half a box of strawberries and a dozen or so oreos, I was the last to leave. My plan was to continue to Walnut Mtn Shelter, but knowing that 9 known people and 7 additional rumoured people were ahead of me and planning to stay there, and knowing that the shelter had room for six, and limited tent sites, and more heavy rain expected, I thought of a brilliant plan and stopped at Roaring Fork Shelter instead. I shared the shelter with all new acquaintances - among them Archaeopteryx, Clay, and Branch. They were all very nice, and it was such a welcome relief to spend the night away from the mobs. It was also nice, when the torrents of rain descended that night, to be safe inside three walls. Some nights are a lot darker than other nights, and this was one of them. I never knew before how thick the darkness can be on a cloudy, rainy, moonless starless night in the middle of the woods away from everywhere. Kind of cool, really. Also, today I climbed a lovely bald named Max Patch, which, is, of course, famous for having a memorable name. I have yet to decide if this name is dumb or cool.
Date: 2006-04-22
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Deer Park Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: moderate rain

"Steech, the sun came out!", I wrote in my notebook. "After foggy, drizzly morning up to top of Bluff Mtn and down through fields of Dutchman's Breeches and May-Apple. Now, at 2510' (Garenflo Gap) the sun is out and I am sitting down in it. There is a white pine and a flowering dogwood, several in fact, blue sky, sun, cumulus clouds. Hooded Warbler. My watch is dead. I have taken a lot of breaks today, but that is okay. "Violette graziose - voi vi state vergognose, mezzo ascose fra le foglie - e sgridate le mie voglie, che son troppo ambiziose" [graceful violets, you stand there, shy, half-hidden among the leaves, and chide my desires, which are too ambitious]"I tented on pine needles behind Deer Park Mtn Shelter with Clay and Branch, Chardonnet and Cabernet, a boy scout leader, and a couple others. I hear my first whip-poor-will ever that evening.
Date: 2006-04-23
From: Deer Park Mtn Shelter

To: Spring Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Came through Hot Springs this morning. Just stayed long enough to eat some pancakes at the All-You-Can-Eat Trailfest breakfast, and to stop in at the outfitters for some ambitiously priced resupply. Crossed the French Broad River and headed back into the mountains. Took the side trail to Rich Mtn firetower. First chance to see a good view in this new section of mountains. Had to resort to some serious acrobatics to get past the   trap door to the top of the tower. Mill Ridge area was lovely. A kid at the shelter had a machete for dealing with bears. Now why didn't I think of that?
Date: 2006-04-24
From: Spring Mtn Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: few clouds

In the blue-black shade of early dawn, before the birds begin their chorus and while the shelter is yet still and quiet, the gentle sound of a man carefully whistling the theme from The Sound of Music came floating by from a nearby campsite. It could have been sappy or corny; but half-awake in the half-light in the cool mountain air it was simply surreal. I listened for a few minutes and fell back to sleep. The Camp Creek Bald firetower has razorwire, warning signs, and electric wire blocking the entrance to the top. I figured maybe they don't want people up there. Nonetheless, today provided plenty of exciting vistas, between the White Rock Cliffs, the Blackstack Cliffs, and the Series-of-short-6-or-8-foot 'cliffs' that the trail goes up and down repeatedly for a little while. The North Carolina countryside is lovely here - Shadbush is in bloom, and looking out at the mostly bare trees in the higher elevations, here and there is a lone shadbush in snowy white flowers. Not for the last time, I was reminded of an art song, from my life in the real world as a pianist and vocal accompanist, this time 'loveliest of trees' by John Duke. (Loveliest of trees, the cherry now/is hung with bloom along the bow/and stands about the woodland ride / wearing white for eastertide./ Now of my threescore years and ten, twenty will not come again/and take from seventy springs a score/ that only leaves me fifty more/ And since to look at things in bloom, fifty springs are little room/ about the woodlands I will go/ to see the cherry hung with snow.) I write the full text in a trail register, despite the very real risk of not sounding macho. Speaking of trail registers, day before yesterday in Walnut Mtn shelter, which was that wee little small tiny one that I didn't stay at, someone had written "Oh, is this the shelter? I thought it was the privy."
Date: 2006-04-25
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Bald Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 24.7

Righty-ho, says Steech, about time to stop gadding about with these 14- and 15-mile days, time for a big one. And so I did. My longest day-hike, prior to this trip, was exactly 24.8 miles, and now, if you count the additional 0.1 mile listed for the shelter trail, I have exactly tied that record. I have a goal for this trip to sometime do 30 miles in one day, but that will come later. For now, it feels good to shoot this far ahead, and release some of the pent-up energy I've had these last couple days, wishing I could go further. Chased by a thunderstorm that threatened to be about the biggest, blackest thunderstorm I've ever gotten chased by, but when it came, it just let off about three drops of rain and then chickened off and the sun came out. Kind of like those bear bluff-charges you read about. Saw some bluebirds in a field. Rested on the grassy summit of 5516'-high Big Bald. Thunderheads and appalachian mountains littered the horizon menacingly on all sides. I admired their majestic wildness whilst munching on a sizeable assortment of Snacks, and then proceeded to the shelter where I devoured a supper of exceedingly ample proportions and then fell soundly asleep.
Date: 2006-04-26
From: Bald Mtn Shelter

To: Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: moderate rain

Well, my plan was to avoid spending time in towns during the first part of the hike as much as possible, so that there would be more time and more money available for that purpose later on, should I get tired or injured or whatever. Irregardlessly of that, today I decided to sleep in my first town, Erwin, Tennessee, being as it was by far the most efficient, convenient, and dry option available. You may remember all that rain that we didn't have yesterday. Well, it came, all night, on the shelter roof, and this morning, just as the fog was lifting and it was about to get sunny, it started again. Worst of all, my socks got wet. So you can imagine my thrill and delight when Uncle Johnny's Hostel provided for not one, not two, of my needs, but just about all of them, and all in time to be off again early the next morning. Here are the amazing things I was able to procure during my stay at this hostel: 1. Mexican dinner at a REAL restaurant, my first restaurant of the trip if you don't count Mountain Moma's, second if you do. 2. Dry Clean Socks Warm and Fresh from the Laundromat!!!! (non-hikers may not fully appreciate the magnificence of this glorious, almost divine, event.)3. A Hiker Box and a Trash Can, in which to deposit Unnecessary Items, such as Underwear.   4. A Warm Shower with Hot Water, which, hard though it may be to believe to any non-hikers reading this, is just about the best thing in life. Better than sex, possibly even slightly better than dry clean socks. Not as good as pizza. 5. A roof over my head to keep out the incessant night raining that transpired.6. And, lastly, a barrage of disgruntled fellow thru-hikers who kept up a lavish and unquenchable deluge of complaints which would have eliminated any desire, had I had such a one, to stay in town any longer. (Example: "I hate it when it rains, I hate it when people get to a shelter late and I've already got my stuff spread over the whole thing and they want me to move it, I hate it when the trail isn't flat, I hate it when there's young people, I hate it when there's old people, I hate it when there's smelly people, I hate it when I have to carry my pack, I hate it when there's weather, I hate it when I don't get cell phone service, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.)(The following morning, as I lay in bed waiting for it to be light enough to get up, and reflecting on the negative attitudes of some of these hikers, a soft train whistle sounded from across the river. From out of the shadows came a deep male voice: "Those Goddamn trains won't shut up!" It was just too much. I had to stifle a laugh in my pillow.)
Date: 2006-04-28
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: few clouds

Today was a great day. I commenced to be excited the minute I heard the word 'Lunch', and I didn't put one foot in front of the other without thinking that very thought until I arrived at the Greasy Creek Friendly. ("The WHAT??", you might well ask? Well, you know, it's a 'hostel', but it's not 'hostile', it's 'friendly', so... "Oh", you say, groaning, "never mind".)The Greasy Creek Friendly may be the most North Carolina place I've ever been. It looks a homestead right out of what you always pictured Appalachia to be, a cute farmstead type place with grass and apple blossoms and a weathered barn and the woods and mountains all around, the blue sky and the sun and welcome on the mat, and food in the kitchen. I ate a plate of nachos, three cheeseburgers, three sodas, a banana, and an ice cream sundae. And I felt right happy after that. There was one group of hikers when I got there, and then they left and another group came in, so I met quite a few new faces, Fishy, Puffy Nipples, Cheetoh, and Michelle among them, also a couple from Australia. Most of the rest were going on to Roan High Knob Shelter, as was just about the entire crew from last night, but I felt right content after all them cheeseburgers, so just ambled on the two more miles to Clyde Smith. Plus, Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest shelter on the AT, has a reputation for being also the coldest, and I didn't want to sleep their nohow. Least of all in the middle of a cold snap. I had Clyde Smith shelter to myself until just about bedtime After I had set up, I commenced to take a walk a mile or so up the trail without my pack, to see the wildflowers and watch the twilight come in. I will soon say farewell to the month of April. Forest floor is fields of trout-lily, soft grass, wood anemone, wake-robin. Dutchman's breeches, may-apples yet to bloom. Striped maples are leafing out, canopy is still bare. Thrushes are singing. This is April. The weeks of woodland wildflowers and light-green sunlight. Soon to move on.I am joined near nightfall by three new thru-hikers named Merlin, Sleeper, and Chewy. They are quiet and easy-going, and all three have long locks of hair that the real Merlin would be proud of.