morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-02-27
From: Spence Field Shelter

To: Double Spring Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: broken clouds

Beautiful day. I feel like I say that too much. I guess it is just inevitable. Pretty chilly getting up, probably high 20¢s, had breakfast and whatnot to get on the trail around 9. It warmed up fast and we were in shorts and a t-shirts by 11. Stopped multiple times today to lay out in the sun and enjoy the warmth. One of the breaks, lunch, we took a good hour to bask in the sun. We were stuffed from about a quart of mashed potatoes and gravy a piece. We went ahead and ate a dinner for a lunch since tomorrow we¢ll be in Gatlinburg, then KNOXVILLE!!! For family fun and fine foods.Passed a group of med-school students that were out for some sort of wilderness training, a SOBO, and two other random guys today. Smokies have had much more foot-traffic than usual. I think they are the most visited park in the country.Had another fire tonight because the temperature is dropping fast tonight and the shelter doesn¢t have the usual smokies tarp. Can feel the cold seeping in. The sky is crystal clear and the moon is 34 full. Surprisingly bright outside. Stood and watched the stars for 15 minutes or so after hanging our bear bags. Breathtaking. Funny how quickly one forgets to stop and appreciate the sky. The plan for tomorrow is to get up around 5:10 and hike the 3 miles to Clingman¢s Dome, the highest point on the AT, to watch the sunrise and have breakfast there. This will be our first sunrise not from a sleeping bag and with an excellent view!Kephart In The SmokiesThe morning woods smolder with fog,the damp, black leaves slick underfoot.Horace Kephart follows the prongthat pools and falls in Clingman¢s shadow,merges soon with Hazel Creek,loses altitude and thenbecomes the Little Tennesseeto flow against the continent,toward the nation¢s center wherehe¢s left six children and a wife,mapped and compassed a way to here,found this place to lose himself.Hungover, cotton-mouthed, he pauses,his hands like prayer to hold the water.Trembling its cold against his teeth,he wishes it were something stronger.--Ron Rash(Kephart was a man who played a major role in creating Smoky Mtn. Nat¢l Park. He left his family for Appalachia.)
Date: 2007-03-02
From: The Dave and Terri Nelson's House

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: clear sky

We got a late start today. Kayla and Special Adam dropped us off at Newfound Gap and after a few pictures and some (heartfelt) good-byes, we hit the trail again. There was ice on the trail and we got to the shelter in the late afternoon so we were hesitant to push on in the dark. We shared the shelter with 6 others. Four of whom were old college buddies from Univ. of Kentucky and had been coming out to the Smokies annually since 1980. They stayed up late drinking wine and liqour they'd smuggled in to the park. The short mileage for the day plus our company inspired us to get up early and hike our first official 20-mile day.2nd Version:Yesturday we had a zero in Farragut and spent most of the day updating trail journals and eating most of the food in the Nelson's house. Last night we went into Knoxville and watched a disappointing game (UNC v. Ga Tech). We stayed at Adam's apartment and hung out with our new UT friends. (I have set aside any rivarly hatred I hold for them and the beating they showed Florida on Tuesday because of their generous hospitality)<--[I'm a Florida fan]. Adam and Kayla so graciously drove us back to the trailhead at Newfound Gap despite prior engagements (class and work). We got on the trail at around 1:30 and got to Icewater Spring gap at around 3:30. We decided the ice on the trail was too trecherous to attempt any night hikes so we stayed there with 6 other section hikers. Four of which were old college buddies who'd been coming to the Smokies every year since around 1980.
Date: 2007-03-03
From: Icewater Spring Gap Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 27.6
Weather: scattered clouds

27.6 that is not a typo. We had a long day. We got up early planning on doing our first official 20-miler. The trail followed the ridge and didn't have a whole lot of elevation change. We ate a total of four meals; breakfast(oatmeal), a large snack (powerbars and granola bars), lunch (cooked ramen and pasta w/ cheese), dinner (even more pasta w/ cheese). We ate lunch at Tri-corner shelter and pushed on to Cosby Knob Shelter. We arrived at Cosby Knob to find 11 people there already. While we were assessing our options 3 more people arrived. We decided that was more people than we cared to stay with much less cram into a shelter with. So... we had already hiked about 20 miles to get to Cosby Knob, pushing on to Davenport Gap Shelter would be another almost 7. So we continued on into the night and we really felt the adrenaline pumping. Also, the night before we had noticed a full moon out and so we expected for a repeat but it didn't exactly happen that way. Supposedly we witnessed a lunar eclipse because starting out the moon was a cresent and we watched it progress into a full moon. Durning the day though whateva, scott, took one of the biggest falls of the trip and ended up with both feet in mid-air and ended up sliding on the ice on his back. Even though he took a nice fall he got up pretty fast, and we finally ended our day at davenport gap shelter. 2nd version:We got up early as planned and hit the trail. We made great time on relatively mild terrain. We arrived to Cosby Knob shelter around 5 pm. We were planning to stay here and we all quite tired after having hiked 20 miles. We were welcomed by 15 people already settled in the shelter. We finally saw the evidence that shows that Smoky Mtn National Park is the most visited in the country. Part of the crowd were some NC State students on spring break. We cooked up dinner and decided that we didn't want to cram into the shelter (especially with Nc state students). We thought it would be a better idea to push on to the next shelter about 7 miles down the trail to Davenport Gap and the end of the Smokies. We got in around 9 pm and found Sputnik (a NOBO thru-hiker) already asleep. Tired, exhausted and almost in a stupor as to the mileage we'd just done, we fell fast asleep.
Date: 2007-03-04
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Dave and Terri Nelson's House
Miles today: 2.0

We woke up to unexpected snow (about 2 inches) on the ground was continuing to fall. We were sluggish (more so than usual) to get out of our bags. We talked Sputnik into coming to Moma's Kountry Store for some "huge burgers" as we'd read about in wingfoot's. we got there around 11 am and found that it wasn't yet open for the season. Utterly devastated we headed back up the road towards the trailhead and tried to find an alternative (we were hungry and we wanted to find a tv to watch the UNC vs dook b-ball game). We reached I-40 to find the owner of Moma's Kountry store waiting for us in his van. He told us that he had felt bad he had had to turn us away and wanted to take us into town for a burger. On the way back from town we had the idea to call Kayla because I-40 was a straight-shot from Knoxville. She of course agreed to once again come and pick us up and bring us back to Knoxville. We made it there just in time to watch Carolina lay the smack-down on dook. We hadn't planned on staying the night but were easily convinced to stay.
Date: 2007-03-05
From: Dave and Terri Nelson's House

To: Walnut Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: clear sky

Mr. Nelson dropped us off after a large, hearty, and delicious french toast breakfast at the Nelson's. We ran into two groups from Bowling Green State Univ. (one hiking south the other hiking north). They were planning on crossing eachother's path on top of Max Patch. Ant jokingly had said he was hoping for snow again when we were on Max Patch (because we had hiked the section with our boy scout crew and had snow). Well he got his snow, it was still on the ground from two nights before. We had a great view on top of Max Patch it was a clear and sunny day. We met Groovasaurus on top with his girlfriend Aurura. It was windy, as most balds are, but we stayed up there as long as we could bear it. We ate dinner with the second Bowling Green group at Roaring Creek Shelter. They offered to make room for us but we pushed on to the next shelter. We wanted to make it as far as possible so we would have an easier day going into Hot Springs.
Date: 2007-03-06
From: Walnut Mtn Shelter

To: Elmer's Sunnybank Inn
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: broken clouds

We we made it into Hot Springs and found Sputnik staying at Elmer's. We also ran into G-man around town. Elmer's was great and we had an awesome dinner there. It's such a neat old house, I can see how so many people get sucked into staying there for so long. Other than that Hot Springs seemed pretty quiet. Most of the shops and resturants had not yet opened for the season.
Date: 2007-03-07
From: Elmer's Sunnybank Inn

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: clear sky

We Hiked out of Hot Springs today. We have already realized the worst part about going into a town is going out of it. There is always a large steep climb that greets you at the begining of your hike. Naturally it makes sense that you'd have to climb to get back up into the mountains after being in a town thats in a valley but it isn't something you realize or think about going in the town. In fact when you head into town we mostly think about food (thats fresh and we don't have to cook). Sputnik and Groovasauras are still with us. We are all trying to make it to Erwin by saturday the 10th. We are trying to make it in time to meet up with Whateva's dad on Sat. To do that we'll have to hike consequtive 20 mile days for 3 days (including today). "And there were so many fewer questionswhen stars were still just the holes to heaven."-Jack Johnson
Date: 2007-03-08
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: clear sky

Beautiful day. Spent a little bit too much time enjoying the sunlight if there is such a thing. Took multiple breaks to relax in the sun and work on our ¢hiker tans.¢ We one by one found our ways into the shelter between 9 and 9:30. We were all exhausted and struggled to get motivated to make dinner. We eventually got water, which was a quarter mile from the shelter, and got dinner made. If you can imagine, once we ate some warm food, our smiles worked their ways back on our faces and trail fellowship continued as it should with Groovasaurus and Sputnik who were comfortably already in their sleeping bags. Another ¢Comedy Hour¢ was had and we all eventually crashed.¢Ballllin¢¢ ¢ Groovasauras
Date: 2007-03-09
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today we had the hitching bug. We hiked in a few miles and crossed a road with a country diner about 3 miles down it. We waited for about 20 minutes and did not have any luck so we pushed on. We climbed up Big Bald which is a large grassy bald with some good views. There was a ski slope that looked as if it was struggling to keep the little snow that it had for obvious reasons. Had lunch at the Big Bald Shelter. Crossed another road that led into Erwin and tried to hitch in. Luckily we didn¢t have any luck and we kept hiking. Had we hitched in, it would¢ve been a pain and an unnecessary endeavor in hindsight. Sputnik was with us for most of the day, while Groovasaurus pushed on into Erwin to meet a friend of his. Whateva¢s dad is coming into Erwin tomorrow which will be nice. Erwin is a 6 mile hike in, so we plan on getting up early and getting in for breakfast.
Date: 2007-03-11
From: Erwin Holiday Inn Express

To: Beauty Spot
Miles today: 10.6

Hiked out of Erwin today. We got a late start because we stayed to watched UNC take home the ACC title. We didn¢t leave until around 4 pm. We made it to Curly Maple Gap shelter and decided to push on because it was only about 3 miles. We stopped and ate dinner in one of the gaps. By the time we finished it was dark. We got up to Beauty spot, a small bald and decided to pitch our tent there. We also celebrated our one month anniversary on the trail. A special thanks to everyone that has sent us stuff and helped us out along the way. The Wilkins, The Booms, Vito and his family, David/Terri/Kayla/Courtney/Adam, The Ellis family, and the rest of our family and friends that have helped and supported us along the way.
Date: 2007-03-12
From: Beauty Spot

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: scattered clouds

This was the second time we used our tent. This time went better than the first. We were prepared to be crushed together in such a small place. We also managed to keep the air-flow going better and didn¢t experience nearly as much condensation as the first time. The first 15 miles went by with ease but the last 5 or 6 we climbed Roan Mtn. It was a fairly arduous climb especially coming at the end of a 20-mile day. We ran into several section hikers. One group was from the Univ. of Florida, and a couple from UNC. Water was pretty scarce. The top of Roan had ice on the trail. We stayed on Roan Mtn in the shelter that was an old cabin. It was nice to have four walls and a door in some pretty windy, chilly weather.
Date: 2007-03-13
From: Roan High Knob Shelter

To: The Ellis Family Home
Miles today: 15.2

Ant finally got in touch with Annie Ellis, after playing phone tag with her for a day or two, down at Carvers Gap. We had beautiful sunny weather climbing up Round Knob and the other balds following Roan. We told Annie we¢d be at Highway 19 at 5 pm so we had to pick up the pace to make it in time. Annie and her friend/cousin Leah showed up right at 5 and drove us back to the Ellis home. We enjoyed showers and the two girls cooked some lasagna for us. We watched ¢The Last of the Mohicans¢ before going to bed. Thanks again girls!
Date: 2007-03-14
From: The Ellis Family Home

To: Kincora
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Annie and Leah cooked pancakes, eggs, and bacon for us in the morning. It was a great breakfast but we overate and it was just enough to sit heavy and keep us from our usual lightning fast past. We passed through and over Billy Gingrich¢s Eagle Scout project that is still standing and working well. About 4 years ago a group of us came out and stayed at Kincora while we helped Billy build a gate to keep horses off the trail, dig/flatten certain sections and put up barb wire. I (Slick Shoes) arrived to Moreland Gap shelter last, fairly exhausted from a 17 mile hike expecting to be able to be done for the day. I found Whateva sitting there alone at the pic-nic table and asked where Ant was. ¢Apparently he left¢ said Whateva. Ant had left a note in the journal explaining that he had arrived and decided to push into Kincora (less than 6 miles more). We read in the journal that our old friends Groovasauras and Sputnik were planning on staying at Kincora tonight. I had stayed at Kincora before and we had also heard that it was one of the must stay hostels on the trail. Whateva and I decided that despite it was so late we would push in to Kincora also. We made it there by about 9 pm and are happy we did push in. There are starsIn the southern skyNORTHward as you goThere is moonlightAnd moss in the treesDown the seven bridges road (AT?)Now I have loved you like a babyLike some lonesome childAnd I have loved you in a tame wayAnd I have loved you wildSometimes there¢s a part of meHas to turn form here and goRunning like a child from these warm starsDown the seven bridges roadThere are stars in the southern skyAnd if ever you decideYou should goThere is a taste of time sweetened honeyDown the seven bridges road -Eagles
Date: 2007-03-15
From: Kincora

To: Kincora
Miles today: 28.9
Weather: broken clouds

Bob Peoples (the owner of Kincora) came in and offered to transport us up the trail so we could slackpack back to Kincora because cold rainy weather was expected to hit late that afternoon. All five of us (us plus Groovasauras and Sputnik) took him up on his offer and Bob dropped us off at TN 91 and we hiked south back towards the hostel with only day packs. Water was scarce especially because we could only carry a quart bottle each. The first 20 miles were easy going ridge hiking. The last 8.9 went up and back down Pond Mtn the rain also started to come down as we started to climb Pond. By the time we got down Pond Mtn it was dark. We had all more or less split up at this point and one by one came back into Kincora. Bob informed us of a local pizza place that would deliver to the hostel, so we all got a large pizza and thoroughly enjoyed it. We are all very exhausted, and our ride leaves at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Pending on how we feel¢Not succeeding is not a matter of lack of strength, or a lack of intelligence, but from a lack of will.¢ ¢ Vince Lombardi
Date: 2007-03-16
From: Kincora

To: Dancing Bear
Miles today: 21.3

Morning came early. Bob once again being ¢The Man¢ that he is, realized that he would be later driving into Damascus later this afternoon and offered to help us slack pack. So we were able to head out in the rain with just a daypack. The hiking today was on easy terrain but seemed quite difficult due to the cold and rain. We only stopped once, which was for lunch, and it was rough due to the lack of body heat being generated. My body temperature dropping was noticeable and my hands felt as if circulation had ceased. This brings up the downfall of slack packing in inclement weather ¢ not being as prepared as one would be without the typical full pack. Once I got moving again however, and held my hands against my body underneath clothing, I warmed and my mood greatly improved. Imagine that. About three miles outside of Damascus, the rain switched to a wet snow. Once we arrived in Damascus, we picked up our packs in the outfitter and met my dad on the main street. We got settled in at the apartment and began enjoying the luxuries of civilization. Had a good home cooked meal and watched some basketball. We have definitely lucked out as far as getting off the trail. Have timed our stops incredibly well as far as weather and basketball is concerned. You know, with those being the two most important things to consider¢¦Taking a zero tomorrow which I am sure will only consist of food and basketball. No complaints there¢¦
Date: 2007-03-17
From: Dancing Bear

To: Dancing Bear
Miles today: 0.0

Woke up to a light snow that did not stick much. Went down to Dave¢s Place, a hostel, and invited Sputnik, Groovasaurus, and Aurora (Groovasaurus¢ girlfriend) to breakfast. They ended up coming and we had a huge brunch type meal with French toast, bacon, sausage, fruit salad, grits, monkey bread, and eggs. Overwhelming amount of food that some how managed to all get eaten. The rest of the day consisted of some trips to the outfitter and library and some March Madness. The three others came over again for dinner which was equally good as breakfast. A good time was had by all. We are all appreciative for my/Ant¢s parents for coming up and providing everything. Ended the night watching the UNC v. Michigan State game. HHEELS WON!!! GO HEELS!!!! So now we have our next town deadline. Have to get in to a restaurant or something to watch the game.¢That¢s essentially what hiking is; walking where you can pee.¢ ¢ Sputnik
Date: 2007-03-18
From: Dancing Bear

To: Lost Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 15.8

Woke up well rested after a well-deserved and needed 0 day. The usual fantastic Nelson breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon was had. Went and sat outside the local coffee joint and updated this journal by "borrowing" wireless. Finally got food divied up and stuff packed. Hiked to the outfitter to get gas and then back to the Damascus arch for pictures. Finally headed out around 1. Hiked the VA Creeper trail because it seemed to be more scenic and an easier grade. It used to be a railroad track, so the hiking was easy. Arrived at the shelter around 6 and enjoyed daylight, which is something that we haven't done in a while. Forgot how nice it is to get to camp with daylight left. In for a cold night."And if they had the words I could tell to youto help you on the way down the roadI couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats'cause it's all been said beforeMake the best out of the bad just laugh it offYou didn't have to come here anywaySo remember, every picture tells a story don't it"-Rod Stewart
Date: 2007-03-19
From: Lost Mtn. Shelter

To: Wise Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Got up earlier than usual since we went to bed when we are usually getting in. Night hiking is fun and all, but I would like to get back in the getting up with the sun routine. As with everyday thus far on the trail, I find myself noting how beautiful everything is. I feel truly blessed to be out here. This is probably the section that I will revisit first once the thru-hike is complete. The Grayson Highlands are incredible. I had high expectations from what I remember when I came with scouts 4 years or so ago, and they were shattered. We found some trail magic (trash left by lazy spring breakers in Thomas Knob Shelter and made a big lunch). Flank Steak (we had), mac and cheese, egg noodles, and a can of chicken pot pie soup. One of the meals we can serve in our theoretical trail food restaurant...right. We also found nutty buddies and a couple packs of crackers. After we had lunch, we encountered the wild ponies and fed and pet them for a good while. A highlight of the day, and the trail too. Got some good pictures, took a ton of them. Groovasaurus got into the shelter about two hours after us and relayed the news that Sputnik is off the trail. He has a stomach virus or something along those lines and was planning on getting off due to other reasons soon anyways. Being sick just made the decision as to when easier for him. Wish we could've bid farewell, but hopefully we'll meet back up with him in Jersey when we go through that section. "...for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."Matthew 6:9.