morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-04-25
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter

To: Waterville School Road
Miles today: 18.1

4/25I woke up to a fresh coat of snow on the ground, but it was foggy and drizzling. The Forest Service officially changed the name of he park today to The Great Swampy Mtns. I spent the first hour walking in slush and after descending out of the winter wonderland, it was ankle high mud. At least the clouds finally broke and we got some real sunshine and comfortable temps. I also got to see a rabbit today. I lunched at Cosby Knob Shelter and picked up Atom Bomb and Doc Holiday as hiking partners. We hiked together until the top of the descent to Davenport Gap, the end of the Swampies. There they dropped their packs to take a 0.6 mi side trail to a sweet look-out tower. I was going further than them so I pressed on.After the Swampies, the mud stopped and the trail dropped into a notch and followed a big mountain stream with lots of waterfalls. That right there is my most favorite thing, and the first on the trail so far. That stream feeds into Pigeon River which runs parallel to I-40. After crossing under the overpass, the trail leaves a gravel road to go up the side of a mountain and then back down to the same gravel road all within 1.0 mi. I took this road a short ways to spend the night at Standing Bear Hostel. Another bed and hot shower. They had bins to wash clothes by hand. I decided I could go until Hot Springs before de-stinkifying my threads. I did enjoy a lot of pizza and soda though! Jam Session was there taking a zero day. He was also finally reunited with his dog now that the Swampies are over. There was another dog too, and the two of them played together non-stop. It as great entertainment, especially when a squirrel decided to toy with them.
Date: 2012-04-26
From: Waterville School Road

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

4/26I woke up to a thunderstorm, just what I needed for a day of hiking. I decided to take my time before clearing out of there in hopes the storm would pass by. Butcher, Rhyno, EZRider, and I chipped in for bacon, eggs, and cinnamon raisin toast and Butcher cooked it for us. The hostel had a small grocery store on the property for hikers and the mark-ups were very reasonable. One of the guys there, Rocky (not the brother of James), has a pet squirrel, the one that was toying with the dogs. The squirrel even climbs on people!After setting out, it was a big climb to Snowbird Mtn, which has some sort of unmanned FAA building on top. It's used in some capacity for air traffic control. The top of the mtn was a large bald with a 360* view of all the dark clouds, but none seemed to be currently raining. On the way down the mountain, the skies broke open, pea-sized hail and all. It was a couple mile mad dash with Atom Bomb to the next shelter where we found Lone Star, Shakespeare, and a weekender couple. The couple told us about stinging thistle and its cure, an herb that always grows next to it that has a natural antihistamine.Atom Bomb called it quits for the day. Once the rain let up, Shakespeare and I set off for the next shelter. Along the way we hit upon some trail magic!  There was a pavilion style tent set up with chairs and a cooler full of sodas. The climb from there was to the top of Max Patch Bald and the fog rolled in on the way up. The fog played an interesting optical illusion.  The trees downwind looked as if they were moving away from me. The top of Max Patch is a giant meadow that they mow to keep it that way. It was originally cleared for grazing farm animals. At the very top, the rain started again and the wind picked up to a steady 20mph. Because the whole mountain is grass, it's hard to tell what is and isn't trail. To help they have posts with the white blaze on them, but the wood is rotting and the fog was too thick to see the next one. Luckily I didn't lose my way.When I got to my destination, Roaring Fork Shelter, I was sad to see that it was very full. All of the good tent sites were taken too. Late4Dinner, Butcher, EZRider, Shakespeare, and Rhyno were there. They did have a fire going, clothes lines around the fire to dry out clothes, and a tarp over the whole get-up to keep the tree pee off.  Given all this precipitation the past few days, the trails were incredibly muddy. Everyone's boots and pants were covered in mud. The shelter area was the worst offender. Everyone had their boots and socks off and around the fire to help them dry off, and so mud was squishing in to everyone's camp shoes and muddying up our bare feet. Just the thing before climbing into a sleeping bag.
Date: 2012-04-27
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: overcast clouds

4/27Today was completely uneventful, though the weather was unexpectedly nice. I did 5 miles by 10:30 and 18 by 4:30. However, I did roll my ankle pretty good at the 11.2 mile mark. I was carefully climbing over a fallen tree when something snapped and my foot fell and rolled off the edge of the trail. My pace slowed to a quick limp after that. My dad was waiting for me in Hot Springs. I got a nice shower, though parts of my feet are stained brown from the mud even after scrubbing. Then we had dinner and saw Butcher, EZRider, and Rhyno there. I found out from Butcher that Wild Bill, Sunbeam, et al. are probably only a day behind us.Due to the shortness of this post, here are some mail drop ideas if you wish to send me a care package as these are hard to find (keep in mind weight please!):Nut butters, other than peanut butter, in single-serve packets.FULL calorie Gatorade powder in single-serve packets (none of this low calorulie garbage)1 to 5 Ziploc brand Ziplocs, sandwich and/or gallon sized, press and seal kind rather than zipper closure (these are super handy but don't last forever, I never need a full box worth, name brand only as they last much longer)
Date: 2012-04-28
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Rich Mtn Fire Tower
Miles today: 8.2

4/28Woke up at the hotel and took a shower. After two showers with scrubbing, the bottoms of my feet were still stained black from all the mud. Dad and I went to breakfast at the diner where we ran into Chainsaw and Lone Star! After breakfast we all did laundry at the laundromat and hit up the outfitter's for resupply. After lunch, Chainsaw had the great idea to slack pack again. We hiked the 5.9 miles to Tanyard Gap where my dad picked us up and took us back into town for dinner.  My dad is officially a trail angel.After dinner, he dropped us off again at the gap on his way back home. We hiked a ways to a side trail that goes up Rich Mountain to a fire tower. Halfway up there were Bill and a weekender couple set up with a fire going. We camped with them. Lone Star came up and decided to camp up in the tower. After we set up our tents, Chainsaw and I went up to check it out. We never made it up the tower as we wound up staying up until very late having a fireside conversation with Central Booking, Hercules, and Xena.Lesson learned: all the sores and white heads on the tops of my thighs is called foliculitis. It's nice to have doctor friends.
Date: 2012-04-29
From: Rich Mtn Fire Tower

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: broken clouds

4/29Camp in the morning was swarming with bugs. Today was a long, hot, frustrating climb. I wound up leaving Chainsaw in the dust. I did hit upon some trail magic at Allen Gap where Grubbworm's wife was handing out snacks. GW was hiking the 5 miles up to the shelter to leave more magic but it was all gone by the time I got up there. With all the heat I decided to take a long break and wait for Chainsaw to catch up. It took him about an hour. He had to call it quits for the day. At the spring there was a garter snake, my second snake sighting.The mountain got even steeper and my frustration built after leaving the shelter. At the top of Camp Creek Bald (0.5 mi above Allen Gap) was a side trail up to a fire tower. Good thing I skipped it as the tower was locked up. A few miles down there were side trails to the Whiterock Cliffs and the Blackstack Cliffs. I chose white and stopped after the first vista as the trail became treacherous. A mile later the trail went upon onto an extremely rocky ridgeline that provided excellent views into NC and TN. However, it was a very slow going boulder hopping trail and it was getting late and I just wanted to pull into camp. I finally made it to the shelter, hitting the 300 mile mark! Lone Star was there so I set up camp next to him. While making dinner, my camping spork snapped in two. Awesome. Only 3 more days until I can get a new one.
Date: 2012-04-30
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Sams Gap; I-26; US 23
Miles today: 17.1

4/30Though sleeping great, I woke up sleepy. The morning was mostly downhill as the trail was switching ridges, but I walked lazily. I stopped for lunch at Flint Mountain Shelter where I met Baloo and Hippity Hop, and Pappillon and her dog Yo-Yo. The dog runs way up the trail then trots back to her all day long. He'll have thru-hiked 3 times by the end of this. B and HH were talking about some farm that Rock Ocean was raving about to them. They were going to stay there that night so I decided to join them. We hiked together the rest of the day. We hit trail magic at Devil Fork Gap. Starcraft is slack packing her husband, Spot, the whole trail in their camper. She had bought some to give out while waiting for him to get in. After the gap was a big climb up Frozen Knob. On the way up, there was a 20' waterfall, the perfect thing to shower in on a long hot climb. Awhile down after we summited, an F-16 or some sort of fighter jet came zooming over the mountains at about 8000' elevation. It was sweet!We eventually made it to Sams Gap and had to hang out under the I-26 overpass for a few hours to wait for Billy to come pick us up and take us to the farm. While waiting I saw a grocery bag hanging from a post with a white blaze. It had two packs of ramen making it a double magic day! Billy showed up, took us to the gas station for supplies and then to his farm. We tented in his front yard beside a swift stream. We all stayed up late around the campfire. Billy and his wife Carrie played some real mountain music for us. A thunderhead a valley over gave us a beautiful lightning display (too far to hear any thunder). The tree frogs were going all night long. It was wonderful. To top it off, after most everyone else had passed the bowl around a bunch of times, I went to take a shower. They have an outdoor shower with hot water and I got to enjoy all of the above (minus the high) under the stars getting clean!One fun story Billy told us was how Rock Ocean got the money to drive his van. He was the zamboni driver for the Tampa Lightning. They won the Stanley Cup in recent years and he got a ring. He sold the ring to his parents for $10k. Selling it made him pretty unpopular at the job.
Date: 2012-05-01
From: Sams Gap; I-26; US 23

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: broken clouds

5/1Billy drove the six of us to a small diner for breakfast. They didn't take CCs so Billy took us back to the gas station to use the ATM. The ATM ran out of money on us which Billy told us happens a lot. When we got back to the diner, those who didn't need money were waiting outside. There were so many cars out there that we thought they were waiting for a table. The place looked like a total dive from the outside but was very nice on the inside. The funny thing was that there were no customers inside. I had two entrees for breakfast and it was awesome. All that food made the miles super easy that day.The hiking was actually very nice. There was a stiff breeze. The clouds kept us in the shade. There were wildflowers everywhere. The first summit was Big Bald which had a spectacular view, similar to what I missed on Max Patch. I lunched at Big Bald shelter where Pappillon was bragging that she had mastered the art of peeing standing up without the use of a funneling device. Interesting.The next mountain over, High Rocks, had a day hiker who told me about trail magic at the bottom. I skipped the side trail to the vista and booked down the mountain to Spivey Gap. I got there and was treated to hot dogs and soda by Napalm and Dingleberry. They're cousins. Napalm thru-hiked last year and Dingleberry joined him at that exact spot exactly a year ago for a long section. N always carried a bottle of his namesake as a fire starter. D started hiking wearing cotton underwear, so he was always digging. Every time I hear his name I chuckle. I stayed two hours listening to all their hilarious stories from their hike last year. With the sun setting I had to book it 4.7 miles to the shelter. With 4 hotdogs and 6 sodas fueling me, I was flying. Along the way I got to see a bear too! The shelter was empty when I got there. Just as I was settling in for the night, three potheads rolled. They stayed up late getting high and making shadow puppets. Oh joy. The shelter had mice too and they were squeaking all night long.
Date: 2012-05-02
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Curley Maple Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: broken clouds

5/2I woke up extra early on account of the noisy mice, seeing two of them before they scurried into hiding for the day. I rushed down the mountain and got into Erwin, TN at 9:30. I hitched into town for some town food and resupply. I hitched back after lunch and hung out at the hostel that's right on the trail, Uncle Johnny's. This was to duck the heat of the day and to use the Internet to make some calls. While there, Chainsaw showed up! He had only made it to Sams Gap before needing to head back to FL for his son's graduation. Padfoot was there and was taking him back to the cabin. Pretty much everyone I've been running with the past few days was there. Around 4:00, I set off with Butcher, Rhyno, and EasyRider up out of the gap. They had spent the night under the bridge that goes over the river.It was still really hot and it was steep. We stopped briefly at Curley Maple Gap Shelter but there were a lot of party type hikers there. One girl was about 15yo and had just run away from home. We spent a few minutes trying to talk some sense into her. They'll find her right away as she had spent most of the day at the hostel. That and she was grossly unprepared. She'll have to turn around soon enough. We continued out of there, still climbing and eventually made it to the top where the 4 of us made camp in a grassy area.Lesson learned: plan ahead the itinerary on town days. I missed out on an AYCE pizza buffet that would have been way more filling than McDonalds.
Date: 2012-05-03
From: Curley Maple Gap Shelter

To: Greasy Creek Gap
Miles today: 20.1

5/3Nothing much exciting during the day. I got up. I hiked. It was hot and frustrating. The top of Unaka Mtn was pretty cool as it was covered in red spruce. The branches blocked out the sun well so there was absolutely no undergrowth. The entire forest floor was nothing but a soft bed of dirt and dead pine needles. The book says that it is just like the woods in ME.The goal for the day was the Greasy Creek Friendly Hostel, reached from a road at Greasy Creek Gap. We missed it as the road is an old jeep trail, the gap isn't much of a gap, and there was no sign. At least a half mile afterwards, we ran into some people coming south. They had stayed at the hostel the night before, gotten a ride ahead and were slack packing back to make miles and spend another night there. Connie, who runs the hostel has tried to hang signs at the gap for hikers, but she has a crotchety old man for a neighbor who tears them down and hangs signs that the place is closed. We turned around and walked back because I desperately wanted a shower and laundry. It was glorious and there was much rejoicing.Lesson learned: read the guide books more carefully.
Date: 2012-05-04
From: Greasy Creek Gap

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: broken clouds

5/4The crotchety old man got on his four wheeler at 5am and rode it up and down the road revving the engine repeatedly. He eventually gave that up and switched to banging metal and mowing his lawn. He was at it until at least 9am. All because his neighbor puts hikers up for the night. The whole thing was hysterical. Apparently he's been at this for 10 years. Connie made breakfast for us one at a time due to the size of her kitchen. It was 11 am before we hit the trail. The day started out hard as it was hot, but within a few hours, the clouds moved in and I felt a lot better. Easy Rider and I tackled Roan Mtn after lunch. Butcher only came to the hostel to eat and left that previous evening and Rhyno got out of the hostel way early. Though the climb was steep, it was fun. Roan is the last 6000'+ part of the AT until Mt Washington in NH. It was a beautiful mountain covered in spruce, large boulders, and springs. It also has the highest shelter on the trail.After Roan came a series of balds that were equally as beautiful as Roan. They were majestic. I also hit upon some trail magic as a couple day hikers gave me their leftover Cliff bars. A side trail that I skipped (it was a steep up) led to the highest natural 360* view on the trail. Clingmans Dome is a tower and Mt Washington is covered with buildings. I eventually made it to Overmountain Shelter which is an old barn renovated to house about 40 hikers. It sits at the end of a valley and we had a gorgeous view down the valley illuminated by a full moon and a lightning storm at the far end. I want to get married at this shelter it was so beautiful. Seriously. Additionally, someone packed in a TON of hotdogs for a Cinqo de Mayo party there the next day. We started early and cooked them over a fire. I ate five. Another double magic day!Lesson learned: carry more cash. I had to borrow $5 to buy breakfast from Connie, but she's a mean cook.
Date: 2012-05-05
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

5/5I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. My first thought was that at least it wouldn't be hot today. Once the rain let up a little I set off. I crossed another bald in the fog, wind and rain. The wind picked up and blew all the weather away at the base of the next bald, Hump Mtn. Rather than blowing the weather somewhere else, it obliterated it. The rain clouds just disappeared. All that was left were wisps of fog in the valleys and clouds high up. Crossing the bald was tough in the stiff wind but it was still beautiful.I stopped for lunch with Baloo, Hippity Hop, and Philly Steve. There was a piece of paper stapled to a tree warning everyone to always treat their water and pointed out there was a cow carcass next to a stream just down the hill.  From here on out, the terrain became relatively flat. It and the scenery was quite lovely. At one point I noticed some very dark clouds so I decided to book it to the next shelter which was still at least five miles off. I skipped a side trail to an epic waterfall, but in my defense, I thought the sign said 1m when it said .1m, and the clouds were threatening rain. The trail also went alongside a river that would have been fun to swim in. I skipped that too. Eventually I made it to Mountaineer Falls (a trickle compared to the one I missed) and the shelter just as it started to dizzle. I also got to play 4 player cribbage that night! We drew a board on a piece of paper and used tiny twigs as pegs. This Roan Highlands section of trail is hands down the most beautiful so far. 400.7 miles completed!Lesson learned: rain be damned, go do cool stuff.
Date: 2012-05-06
From: Mountaineer Shelter

To: Dennis Cove; USFS 50
Miles today: 15.6

5/6I've now been on the trail for a full month. Time seems to go slower out here as it seems forever ago when my world was something other than walking and trees. One reader asked what I've been surprised to miss. I've had an urge to play a fantasy RPG video game. It must be all the nature, walking, quests (all sorts of challenges people talk about doing), and the magic. I was surprised b/c I was kind of done with video games since the fall.Some of the challenges include: 24 beers over 24 miles in 24 hours, eating a 1/2 gallon of ice cream, and the 4 state challenge which is hiking from VA to PA in one day. So far none have appealed to me.I woke up, ate and hiked. Three miles in, there was a nudist-friendly hiker hostel. Just the thing when the guy:girl ratio is 10:1. Needless to say, I didn't linger. This was the last day of a section of trail that was relatively flat. The topography was just very bumpy and littered with streams and the occasional waterfall. There weren't any real climbs of any sort. It was very nice. The trail did do a lot of winding every which way making it pretty disorienting and left us without any view of the mountains. However I was able to do 15.6 miles by 2pm.I arrived at the Kincora hiker hostel then with Bill and Rhyno. We were able to shower and do our laundry by the 5pm resupply shuttle. That shuttle took us in to Elizabethtown, TN. We crammed 15 of us into a pick-up truck. We all got our own $5 Little Ceasar's hot and ready pizza and crazy bread and devoured it on the sidewalk. Then we went into the grocery store for resupply. When we all got back, some more had shown up. I think almost 30 hikers slept there that night.Kincora is run by Bob Peoples, a man who is very active in AT communities. He runs the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club which is responsible for maintaining the AT between Erwin, TN and Damascus, VA. The trail is normally pretty rigid as to following the very top of a ridge line even if steep. This club has been very active in building switchbacks and routing the trail around tall bumps in the ridge. In fact, the climb up Roan Mtn (2200' gain) is 1.8 miles longer than the book says as of a month ago. Three big cheers for Bob and all the hard work he's saved us!
Date: 2012-05-07
From: Dennis Cove; USFS 50

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: few clouds

5/7We woke up and I cooked bacon and cheese eggs for six people. It was SO good; several said it was the best breakfast they'd had since Springer. And I cooked it! We sat around for awhile and then Rhyno and I shared a frozen pizza. We polished that off and hit the trail around 10am. Almost immediately, the trail crossed a huge stream and went through a 30' deep channel loggers must have cut into the rocks. The trail followed this old logging road for a little ways, cut into the cliff face once the ground on the left dropped off. Coming out the other side of that channel, the creek was now at least 100' below us. We kept looking for a way down as we were sure there had to be some great waterfalls. Ask and you shall receive. The trail eventually descended very steeply off the road down to the base of Laurel Fork Falls, a gargantuan waterfall the was magnificent. If I had had more food, I would have made camp right there and been done for the day.Once we left, the trail started following the stream a ways, crossing it several times. Then it climbs straight up out of the gorge. It was a long steep climb but I was still elated from the beauty below. If anyone is looking for a great weekend backpacking trip, Roan Mtn to Laurel Fork Falls will not disappoint, and I will be very sad if I can't go with you. Hands down the best section of trail so far.Anyways, on the climb up, I made my first wrong turn. I turned down what actually was a new switchback TEHC is building. I realized my mistake when it started taking me right back in the direction I came from.After the climb up, the trail went right back down the other side to Watauga Lake, wound its way to the far side crossing the dam. The dam was just made out of dirt and the water went through a tunnel through the mountain to come out way down the valley. After the dam, it was a steep climb up to the shelter. All the graffiti in the shelter was about how great Bob Peoples is. "BP gives his boots blisters." "Every time BP builds a new switchback, an angel gets its wings." They were fun to read.