morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-20
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: light rain

After a crappy night of sleep with some of the loudest snoring I have ever heard I awoke to rain. I quickly packed up and headed out when there was a break in the rain. The rain break was short-lived and soon it was raining again but it was a nice light rain so I decided to not put on my rain gear. After a few miles I started to get pretty cold so I decided to put on my rain jacket but not my pants. After a few hours of hiking in the rain I was soaked and the temperature had dropped and the wind had picked up. It was pretty chilly and windy as we climbed up Rock Top and there was no view as we were surrounded by clouds. The hike up and over Thunderhead was also viewless, cold and wet. We hiked the 10 miles to the shelter without stopping due to the cold and rain and arrived at the shelter around noon. As soon as we arrived at the shelter we changed into dry clothes and we decided to call it a day and hide in the shelter from the rain and cold. Conditions today are perfect for hypothermia to happen. We enjoyed a lazy afternoon playing a board game that Eric the Red had drawn on his sleeping mat called Blockade. The rain didn't let up all day and before the day was over we had 21 people huddled in the shelter trying to keep warm and dry. I found my ear plugs... yippee.
Date: 2010-04-21
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Slept surprisingly well last night, ear plugs rock. Awoke to no rain but lots of clouds and a cool morning. Another early start on the trail. The climb up to Clingmans Dome was well graded and not that difficult. The forest on the climb changed to mostly coniferous trees with lots of downed trees that were covered in moss. The forest was beautiful and reminded me of the forests around home which made me a little homesick. We rocked out the 10 miles to Clingmans Dome by 1:00 pm but decided not to go up to the dome since we couldn't see more than 50 feet and we knew there would be no views. Laid back broke one of his poles on the walk down from Clingmans and was lucky he didn't seriously injure himself as the pole snapped in half when he slipped on a log and put all of his weight on the pole. We have meet a few new hikers in the past few days, Peach and Bam Bam, Eric the Red, Chicken Feathers, Baldy and Dust in the Wind. New hikers tonight are Sugar Ray and Sky Walker. We have decided to skip going into Gatlinburg but most of the hikers we have meet in the Smokies are headed into town. Sounds like a storm is headed our way on Friday and Saturday so we are hoping to make it to a hostel before the weekend to avoid some of the bad weather headed our way. Hopefully the sun will come out soon and we will get a chance to warm up a bit as the weather has turned from hot and sunny through GA to cold and rainy through NC. So far the Smokies have been beautiful.
Date: 2010-04-22
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

Beautiful walk in the Smokies today. Pretty cool and sunny, perfect hiking weather. I am writing this journal entry a day late so I don't remember much of the terrain but I do remember that there was a long climb out of Davenport Gap up to Charlies Bunion. The day was clear so the view from the Bunion was phenomenal. I climbed up to the top of the bunion but I was not brave enough to stand up. I am not afraid of heights but do feel a little uneasy standing near the edge of a cliff. We passed a group of section hikers today on the way to the shelter as well as Snowman and Escargot - two new thru hikers we haven't met before. Everyone we passed showed up at the shelter and we had a blast chatting with the 5 section hikers. The theme of the night seemed to be about Laid Back's pink crocs and One Life's pink ipod and the jokes rolled on from there.
Date: 2010-04-23
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: clear sky

Few good climbs this morning and then we arrived at Tri-Corner Knob shelter for a break where we met local Chris. Had to laugh when the four of us left the shelter and walked the 300 yards up to the AT and then got confused to where the trail was and walked back to the shelter thinking we were going the wrong way on the trail when in fact we were going the correct direction all along. The next 7 miles to the next shelter was not that bad so we decided to hike 7 more miles to the next shelter since the majority of the terrain was downhill. The reason we decided to hike an extra 7 miles to make it a 21 mile day was the threat of rain in the forecast. It's funny what motivates a person to hike extra miles and in this case it was rain. I don't really enjoy hiking in the rain when it's cold out plus the extra miles would put us 4 miles from Standing Bear Farm. The other reason to hike the extra miles is due to Laid Back's birthday which is tomorrow and we would like to celebrate it in style with pizza and beer. I walked the last 3 miles on autopilot today. On autopilot I almost stepped on a black snake who was partly on the trail. I didn't notice the snake until it moved when I walked by.
Date: 2010-04-24
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Green Corner Road
Miles today: 3.4

Slept in a whole extra 15 minutes this morning since it's Laid Back's birthday. Woo Hoo. We had a leisurely morning since we only had a few miles to hike today. The walk out of the Smokies and the few miles to Standing Bear were beautiful as the trail followed the Pigeon River. We arrived at Standing Bear hostel early and enjoyed a nero day. Big surprise today, Freight Train and Boomer caught back up to us and arrived at Standing Bear around noon. Hiking with Boomer and Freight Train is Deja Thru a past thru hiker out for another thru hike. Yeah another women in the group. I am excited to have another women around who may hike with us. Madness and Mayheim also showed up at the hostel and we had fun catching up with them. We went on a beer run so we could celebrate Laid Back's birthday and then arranged a shuttle to the Cracker Barrel restaurant for dinner. We had an amazing dinner with Trashman, One Life, Laid Back, Truth, Krispy Kritter and Bayou.
Date: 2010-04-25
From: Green Corner Road

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

Good night's sleep in the bunkhouse until my bladder forced me out of bed at 6 am. I decided not to go back to sleep instead I made some coffee and enjoyed a relaxing start to the day. Our group of six hiked out together today minus Boomer and started a day of climbing which reminded me of GA with the steep grade. It was an exciting day though because we climbed Max Patch which is a huge grassy bald with amazing views of the surrounding mountains. We enjoyed a nice relaxing break on top of Max Patch with a huge group of hikers. Trail magic occurred on Max Patch when a couple offered our group a bottle of wine to share. Everyone had a small glass of wine which is probably the best wine I have enjoyed on top of a mountain.
Date: 2010-04-26
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Deer Park Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: light rain

I stayed in the shelter last night and it rained. I was happy I decided to stay in the shelter due to the fact that I dislike to carry a wet tent, it adds weight to your pack. The hike this morning was flat and gentle on the feet. After the easy hike we climbed two mountains and then got to hike a long downhill stretch. After another climb we were at the shelter, 15 miles in 6 hours not too bad. We sat around the shelter for an hour debating if we should stay or hike the remaining 3 miles to Hot Springs. After much debate we decided it would be better to get up early and hike into Hot Springs in the morning and nero instead of leaving late in the afternoon.
Date: 2010-04-27
From: Deer Park Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 3.2
Weather: moderate rain

Up incredibly early at 6:00 am and hiking by 6:30. Both Trashman and I really wanted to stay at the Sunnybank Inn so we agreed to get up early in an attempt to secure a spot at the hostel. We hiked the 3.2 miles fast and were at the hostel by 8:00 am. The hostel was full and we were put on a waiting list we were numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8. I decided not to get up my hopes for a hostel spot due the fact it meant 8 people would have to leave the hostel before all four of us would get a bed and it is forecasted to rain today. We decided to go for breakfast at the diner across the street and had a great time socializing with Not Yet and Johnny Ringo. Madness and Mayhem also came in for breakfast and we found out the sad news that they are leaving the trail due to Madness knee problem. Bummer.. they are super cool and fun to hang out with and I will miss them on the trail. We killed some time at the local library surfing the net until we could find out if we got into the hostel or not. Laid Back and Trashman went to check on the hostel situation and they came back into the library with big smiles on their faces. Score we got into the hostel. The Sunnybank Inn is the one hostel I have always wanted to stay at on the trail and both times I have been in Hot Springs in the past I have never been able to get in. We spent the afternoon doing boring town chores and then the fun started when Laid Back and I went to the local pub for a few beers. I tried a pale ale called 420 which was very good. Soon Boomer, Grey Wander, Overload, Snowman, Escargot and Deja Thru joined us at the pub and we had fun hanging out and socialzing for a few hours. Freight Train also came into the pub to let us know he was hiking on so we attempted to convince him to stay the night and hike out with us tomorrow instead. Freight Train would not be swayed from his decision to hike on. I respect his decision to hike ahead as he only has 3 1/2 months left to complete the trail. It was hard to leave the pub but we still needed to resupply before dinner and the store closing. We had fun shopping at the dollar general but I am still having trouble deciding what I want to eat while I am hiking. Currently I am eating Pop Tarts for breakfast, Snicker Bars or Cliff Bars for snacks, bagels with summer sausage and cheese for lunch and Lipton Sides or Ramen for dinner. Not exactly exciting food choices. The vegetarian dinner at Elmers was amazing. Butternut squash soup, salad, cornbread lasagna type dish and then pound cake with ice cream for dessert. I was full after eating the cornbread lasagna dish but I still managed to eat dessert. After dinner I was so full I was in a food coma and instead of watching a movie with everyone decided to lie down and read. I only managed to read a few chapters of Skywalkers book about his AT thru hike before I fell asleep.
Date: 2010-04-28
From: Hot Springs

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

The day started with breakfast at Elmers which was nice then we were off to the outfitters for fuel. Late start on the trail around 10:00 ish. The hike today was mostly uphill and with 5 days of food I was tired by the end of the day. The views from the Rich Mountain Fire Tower were worth the .1 mile walk off the trail. We decided to have a short day today and called it a day at Spring Mountain Shelter. Fun evening hanging out with the gang, Lift n Step and Whoopie Pie. We may pull 20 miles tomorrow in an attempt to set us up for trail magic that is happening on 4/30. We will see how it goes.
Date: 2010-04-29
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Big Bull Mountain
Miles today: 17.2

Hardest day as of yet on the trail. Lots of climbing today combined with yesterdays climbing has me tuckered out tonight. We had intended on staying at Jerry's Cabin shelter after 16 miles but One Life really wanted to push on to the next shelter so he can get to the trail magic that is happening tomorrow. Trashman, Laid Back and I decided to cook dinner before hiking a few more miles to a campsite but we had no intentions of hiking the 6 miles to the next shelter. After the climb up and over Big Butt mountain we found a camp spot next to Bommer and called it a day. As I was setting up camp I put a hole in my thermarest : ( so I will have to put with no sleeping pad for 3 nights, bummer. Tonight is also the first night that the four of us are not camping together as One Life hiked on to the next shelter. Is this the beginning of a group breakup? Time will tell. Well we have 15 miles to hike tomorrow before 3 pm in order to make it to the trail magic bbq. I am not sure if we will make it or not but it doesn't really matter to me although a burger and a coke would be fantastic.
Date: 2010-04-30
From: Big Butt Mountain

To: Spring Past Sams Gap
Miles today: 15.9

Not sure what's up but today's hike kicked my ass. Still feeling tired from yesterday so I hope I am not coming down with a cold. I spent today wondering why I have been feeling low on energy the past few days. I am not sure if it's due to the higher mileage, poor nutrition or because we tend to hike the majority of our miles before lunch without taking many breaks. Most of our group like to finish hiking the daily miles by 3ish and for me trying to hike 15 -18 miles in that time frame is difficult. I guess it's time to hike my own hike and tomorrow I am going to try hiking a little different and take more breaks during the day in order to stretch the miles out.The huge highlight of the day was the trail magic at Sams Gap and it was also the reason we hiked 15 miles today by 1:30. When we were leaving Hot Springs it was advertised that there would be burgers etc., at Sam's Gap on Friday between 10:00 and 3:00 and we were pretty determined to make it. Geez what a hiker will do for a free burger. When we arrived at Sam's Gap we were not disappointed, burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, sodas, chips, klondike bars and chips. I ate two burgers, chips, klondike bar and a popsicle. For those who know my eating habits that's a lot of food me for to eat. Thankfully we only had .7 of a mile to hike up hill to a campsite so we spent 2 hrs in Sam's Gap after the trail magic just hanging out in the parking area digesting. It was hot today around 85 ish. I hope I feel better tomorrow as we are planning to hike 17 miles. I also have my first blister of the trip. I first noticed some pain as we were hiking the last 2 miles today but decided not to stop and check it out. Big mistake. Always check your feet when you feel hot spots staring. Rookie mistake and I will probably pay the price for the next few days.
Date: 2010-05-01
From: Spring Past Sams Gap

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Hiked a different style today to see if I would feel better. I decided to take a 5 minute break every hour of hiking and also to take a hour break for lunch. I felt much better today but I am not sure if it's because I took more breaks or due to all the food I consumed yesterday at the trail magic. The reason may also be due to the fact the terrain was easier today than the past few days. Surprise trail magic today at Spivey Gap. Hoover (Class of 09) and his mother had a tent setup and were serving burgers, chili, sodas, chips and fruit to all the hikers. Laid Back, Trashman and I hung around for 1/2 hr before One Life showed up. One Life's shin is bothering him today so he decided to take it slow today and hike behind us. I seriously considered camping at the gap when Hoover told us they would be cooking breakfast for the hikers and that he would also slackpack us to Erwin. After some consideration we decided to hike on another 4.7 miles to the shelter. Huge crowd at the shelter tonight about 16 people. I don't think I've seen this many hikers at a shelter since Hawk Mountain. Trashman and I got rained on as we hiked the 4.7 miles to the shelter but luckily the rain stopped before we arrived so we didn't have to set our tents up in the rain. Still on a perfect streak of not having to set my tent up when it's raining. Not sure why but I am not in a good mood tonight. I don't feel like socializing so I made some hot chocolate in my vestibule and hung out in my tent. I really hope they have a thermarest patch kit in Erwin as sleeping on a deflated thermarest sucks.
Date: 2010-05-02
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Erwin
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Nice hike down to Erwin from the shelter. The views of the Nolichucky River as I descended down the mountain were outstanding and it was a beautiful morning for a hike. I knocked out the 6 miles to Uncle Johnny's Hostel in about 2 1/2 hrs. We hung out at the hostel for a bit and I picked up a patch kit for my thermarest. We decided not to stay at the hostel but instead get a hotel room in Erwin so we went out the road to hitch into town. We tried hitching for about 15 minutes without any luck when Uncle Johnny himself drove by and picked us up and took us into town. Uncle Johnny dropped us off at the Huddle House and we all enjoyed a great greasy breakfast. At breakfast I drank about 6 cups of coffee which I thought was a perfect way to hydrate. Buzzed out on cofee we checked into the Super 8 and $90 later we had a room (rip off). Regular town chores ensued (boring).A friend of Trashman's (School Master) came to visit and we all went to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner and then to Walmart to resupply. After dinner we decided to chill out in the hotel room and watch a movie on tv instead of going to the local theatre.
Date: 2010-05-03
From: Erwin

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

I stayed up pretty late last night and was up early this morning at 6:30 even though I wanted to sleep in, arrg. I guess my body is now used to waking up at 6:00 am every morning. We had a relaxing morning at the hotel as we were in no rush to hit the trail since it was raining. Once the rain stopped I went to the post office to mail a bounce box to Damascus. I have decided to bounce some of my gear for this section to see if I can do without it. If I can do without it I will send it home from Damascus. After the post office we went to the Huddle House for another greasy breakfast and then back to the hotel to check out. The hotel wouldn't give us a late checkout so we had to be out by 11 am (rip off). The customer service at the hotel was not very good either. We decided to try hitchhiking back to the trail instead of paying the owner of the hotel $20 to shuttle us. We walked from the Super 8 up to the main street where we were told it would be easier to hitch from. As soon as we walked on to the main street two guys in a pickup truck stopped and asked if we needed a ride. Sweet a ride before we even stuck out our thumbs. Thank you mystery guys in the truck. Back at Uncle Johnny's we hung out for a bit chatting with the other hikers before we hit the trail. It was a nice hike out of Erwin even though the majority of the miles were up hill. There are lots of hikers on the trail again today and we met 4 new thru hikers we have not seen before. Both are couples To Late and To Soon the other Tootsie Pop and Tunes. I didn't get a chance to talk to them much but I am sure I will see them up the trail. Late in the afternoon we took a break at Indian Grave Gap and a car with two women stopped. Too Late asked them if they had any cold sodas in the car and the woman responded, sorry no. It looked like they were about to pull away when she stopped the car and said wait I have this. She got out of the car and from the back seat pulled out a 2 litre bottle of Dr. Pepper. Sweet Trail Magic. The six of us enjoyed a class of Dr. Pepper by the road side before the climb up to Beauty Spot. Beauty Spot was a bit of a disappointment. It is a big grass bald but there were no views from the top. I guess I was expecting something spectacular with a name like Beauty Spot. Tent city again tonight.
Date: 2010-05-04
From: Deep Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

Fairly easy day of hiking with beautiful weather, sunny and breezy high in the mid 80's. Most notable scenery today was walking through an old apple orchard and the apple trees were in bloom. It was beautiful. I found a book to read at Cherry Gap Shelter so I decided to take a nice long break and read the book. It's called Beauty by Brian D'Amato, it's fluff reading but it's nice and relaxing to have something to read other than the guidebook. I think from now on I will carry a book with me but probably something a little more educational or of interest. I was surprised to see three hikers today who I haven't seen since Neel's Gap. One was Bobby who is now Mr. Fox and the couple we used to refer to as the hippie couple who are now Evergreen and Prometheus. Originally the hippie couple were hiking with a friend Theo who's trail name is 5 Stones but he is now a few a days behind them. I am not sure if I will see the three of them again. We seem to be meeting new hikers everyday. It's interesting how the trail works and you will meet someone and then not see them for weeks and then somewhere down the trail you will bump into them again. It's one of the great things about the trail. Tomorrow we get to climb Roan Mountain which means we climb 2000 feet in elevation in 2.5 miles. The climb should be interesting.Some sad news today One Life's shin and ankle has been bothering him so he is probably going to take a few zero days when we get to Kinkora hostel. This means our little hiking group the Fab Four will officially be splitting up. Sad but that's life on the trail.
Date: 2010-05-05
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Bradley Gap
Miles today: 16.0

Started the day with the climb up Roan Mountain. It was a good climb which forced me to stop and take several breaks on the way as some parts are pretty steep. Overall the climb wasn't that bad and the last part was through an evergreen forest with lots of moss so it was beautiful. After Roan Mountain we descended to Carver's Gap which was beautiful as it was a grassy mountain. From the gap we climbed a bald and the views of the mountain were outstanding. The hike to Overmountain Shelter was nice and easy. Overmountain shelter was our intended destination for the day but we decided to hike a few more miles as it was only 3pm when we arrived. We climbed little hump mountain which is all grass and again the views from the top were amazing. We then descended into Bradley's Gap which is between Little Hump and Big Hump mountains and decided to camp in the gap. Today we decided that we are going to hitch into Roan Mountain in the morning for breakfast. This will be the first time we have attempted to hitch into town for just a meal and then get back onto the trail and continue hiking. I am looking forward to it and hoping for a easy hitch in the morning.The sad part of the day is we didn't get to hike with One Life. He was still in his tent when we left this morning and we didn't see him all day.