morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-04-21
From: Double Spring Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

It was VERY cold when I woke up this morning ¢ frost on the ground and on my tent. I had to keep taking breaks to warm up my hands while I was putting away my cold, wet tent. I ate a few rice krispy treats for breakfast and hit the trail. I was a little later than usual, but still one of the first one¢s out.The excitement of getting to Clingman¢s Dome and my primary goal / finish line for the hike (Newfound Gap) drove me today. I was happy to wake up to the sun (even though it was cold) because I knew there would be great views from the mountain peaks. There were only a few tourists brave enough in the cold and wind to go up to Clingman¢s Dome. I was just up on the observation tower long enough to walk around once and take a picture.It was really cool when I got out of the woods and across the highway and parking lot at Newfound Gap. About 20 people (many of whom had passed me when I zeroed in Fontana and then they zeroed in Gatlinburg so I caught back up) yelled, ¢BOURBON!¢ How could you not be honored by a welcoming party after walking 204 miles!!!???There are probably 25-30 hikers here at the shelter tonight. The shelter is full and there are many people tenting. I¢m taking a chance in the full shelter. I¢m hoping that I¢ll be so sleepy that I¢ll be able to overcome the snoring. I may regret it. We tried to get a fire going, but the wood was just too wet and the only available wood was mostly soft woods, no hard wood. It¢s really cold so I just retired early to my sleeping bag in the shelter to review my hiking plans for tomorrow and work on my journal. It¢s 8:53 ¢ seven minutes before ¢hiker midnight¢ so I¢ll be burying myself in my sleeping bag shortly and I¢m sure everyone else will start getting settled down, too.There was some interesting live entertainment tonight. There were two ukeleles and a penny flute ¢ they had some interesting jam sessions!
Date: 2008-04-22
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

Trying to stay in the shelter last night was definitely a mistake. As soon as I finished my journal and started to lay down to sleep, the snoring started from across the shelter. I laid there for a few minutes and then said, ¢forget about it!¢ and went out and set up my tent in the dark (and cold). Unfortunately, I found out once I got into my sleeping bag that the space wasn¢t as flat as I thought. I had to work to keep from sliding down hill up against the side of my tent all night. I did still get a better night¢s sleep than I¢m sure I would have in the shelter, though. It was really cold again last night ¢ I actually woke up shivering inside my sleeping bag at one point and had to put on an extra layer of clothes. I¢m looking forward to sleeping in a warm bed again soon!The hike today was amazing. Today was well worth every one of the 206 miles it took to get to this point. There was a lot of ridge walking with great views on both sides and amazing vistas around every bend. The first stop just a mile or so from the shelter was Charlie¢s Bunion. It was really cool and I got some great pictures there. Considering the 200 ft. drop down every side, I VERY carefully climbed out onto the rock ¢ fear is such a rush! Even though we ended up at around the same elevation (approx. 6,000 ft) tonight as we were last night, there were some big ascents and descents today.Since my birthday is tomorrow, I think I¢m going to try to celebrate with my last and longest hiking day on the trail. I think we¢re about 19 miles from Standing Bear Farm Hostel (which is just north of Interstate 40 outside of the park) and I want to try to get there and get a shuttle into Gatlinburg. My birthday present to myself will be a warm bed to sleep in!
Date: 2008-02-23
From: Low Gap Shelter GA 

To: Blue Mt Shelter GA
Miles today: 7.2

Day 6 ¢ Saturday, February 23 ¢ Blue Mt Shelter GA ¢ Miles Today: 7.2 Total Miles: 48.7We had a surprisingly warm and quiet night. The guys at the shelter were very quiet which was nice. Since we only had 7.2 miles to Blue Mountain Shelter, we had a leisurely morning. We didn't leave until 10:00. Right before we left, we saw DonkeyLegs going up the hill around the camp beside us and we decided that we needed to rename him. He's no longer DonkeyLegs; he's now ThoroughbredLegs. He had an amazing speed going and he was using his poles like he was a cross-country skier. We thought we would see him tonight at Blue Mountain Shelter but the register said he signed in at lunchtime and continued on and was smelling quite ripe. Not sure where his next food drop and shower is, but hopefully for the rest of the hiker community, it's soon. When we left camp this morning, we were still fogged in. Finally around 1:00 the sun came out. We had very easy terrain today so we puttsied, taking a few extra breaks. Eventually we got to the shelter around 2:00. At the shelter we had about an hour of sun before the fog rolled back in. We hung our socks, rain gear, rain pack covers, and gloves on tree branches to dry in the sun and breeze. A group of boy scouts arrived to the shelter and were nice to offer to filter water for Brakeman as they all gathered around the spring.It¢s 6:18 and time for bed. We're fogged in and surrounded by about 10 Boy Scout tents, probably about 15 kids total. We can smell their campfire but they're real quiet. We have a big day tomorrow - 15 miles - and it looks like our biggest elevation change since the beginning of this trip so we're going to crash early and try to get an early start tomorrow and see what the Georgia hills are going to dish us. We're looking forward to entering civilization on Monday - washing clothes and taking a shower. Still having a blast. Goodbye!
Date: 2008-02-28
From: Carter Gap Shelter NC 

To: Rock Gap Shelter NC
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: clear sky

Day 11 ¢ Thursday February 28 ¢ Rock Gap Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 12.1 Total Miles: 103.8We had a great night sleeping in our tent. However, when we woke up at 7:00, it was 14 degrees inside the tent. We figured it must have be single digits outside. Unfortunately we could also hear a pretty strong wind, with wind gusts around 30-40 mph. Obviously with those conditions and wind chill factors, we could not begin our hike. Therefore we just stayed in our sleeping bags until about 9:00 when the winds finally died and the temps rose to a balmy 20 degrees. At that point in time, we got up, filtered water, had our oatmeal sitting in our tent, packed and hit the trail just before 10:00. Today's highlight was the Albert Mountain Fire Tower. What luck we had to have our first totally clear day! From the tower, we had great mountain range views including those of the Smokies (we think), which were also covered in snow. The Albert Mountain Fire Tower climb was a very fun, challenging rock scramble. Poles were useless. Hands, feet, backbends, and everything else were required to get to the top.We hiked in a good bit of snow today. Rather than the 2-4" yesterday though, it was a dusting to an inch.   The other major milestone for today was that we passed 100 miles!   At Glass Mountain Gap when we realized we were over 100 miles, we stopped and gave each other high fives. Despite our late 10:00 start, we arrived at Rock Gap Shelter (12 miles) by 4:00.   Once again, Jay, Piper and Dartman join us. It's a beautiful evening. It's 34 degrees (feels like 88 to us) and it's the first time we've been able to cook and stand outside without freezing. However, we're looking forward to climbing into our tent and relaxing - it¢s about 6:00. Goodnight from finally a sunny day in North Carolina.
Date: 2008-02-29
From: Rock Gap Shelter NC

To: Wayah Shelter NC
Miles today: 14.8

Day 12 ¢ Friday, February 29¢ Wayah Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 14.8 Total Miles: 118.6We awoke to a nice, pretty, sunshiny day and a balmy warm 32 degrees. Still feels like a heat wave for us. Our three fellow thru-hikers who stayed in the shelter beside us are taking a zero or nero in Franklin so this is the last we will see of them, or at least for a while. We all said our goodbyes and headed off on our own. Around lunchtime we stopped to have our delicious peanut butter hemp seed burrito and got out the rain gear as light snow flurries had begun. Parts of the sky looked pretty stormy and as the afternoon continued, the snow continued off and on as well.   We hiked in just an inch of snow in some areas today and in other areas up to 6 - 8". We were aiming for mile marker 115.8, Wine Spring, which had a little campsite beside it but when we got there, it had about 4" of snow. We really did not want to camp on 4¢ of snow, so we continued on. We figured we¢d go on a couple more miles to another site and perhaps it would be on the other side of the mountain and have less snow. On the way to the other site, we passed Wayah Bald Tower with a paved footpath and rest rooms! Hanging outside the rest rooms were four young guys who are thru-hiking. They called themselves "The Here Here Gang". We had been following their prints in the snow all day and had remarked as to how big one set of prints were, and we thought if we ever caught up to the owner of those prints, that we¢d suggest that his trail name be ¢Big Foot¢!We continued on to try to find the other campsite and spring. We found a crappy little spring and probably clogged our water filter getting water out of it. We still had not found the other campsite so we continued to walk after getting some water, and lo and behold we found a brand new shelter - it's probably less than a year old. It isn't in the trail guide yet and since we have it to ourselves, we set up our tent in the shelter out of the wind and snow!   Life is really good!   It's probably in the 40s in our little tent here and we're all protected. We feel like we're in the Hilton! We cooked a warm dinner although we weren't planning on doing so due to the cold weather.The falling snow has a fine texture, but it is continuing to fall pretty heavy. If it does this all night we're not quite sure what we'll have on top of our 6-8" already. We're going to assess the situation in the morning. If it looks passable, we may attempt to make it all the way to the NOC, which will be about a 16 - 17 mile day. If not, there are a couple shelters between here and the NOC. We're just going to have to wing it. So good night from our nice level platform and a warm 40 some degrees in our tent. Hopefully the snow will stop and we'll be out of this mess soon. Having a great time still though. See ya!
Date: 2008-03-06
From: Russell Field Shelter NC

To: Siler's Bald Shelter NC
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

Day 18 ¢ Thursday, March 6¢ Siler's Bald Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 14.7 Total Miles: 192.1We had another gorgeous day in the Smokies. It was clear and about 40 degrees when we awoke. The temperatures climbed to around 60 degrees as the day progressed. We had wonderful views from balds and rock outcrops and the distance was totally clear, which is very unusual for the Smokies. However, the terrain was extremely difficult today. The first day in the Smokies, I guess, gave us the false impression that we could easily handle this. We did a bit over 14 miles and our bodies are definitely feeling it. But we had yesterday and today as clear days and we wanted to push a bit hard as tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. the rain is to move in and it's supposed to rain basically all day and all night. And then it will eventually switch over to snow. So the goal was to push hard for the first two days, which were clear and then if needed slack up for the next two days in the Smokies.Unfortunately, Brakeman felt very ill all day long. How he did the 14 miles in hard terrain with basically very little to eat, I do not know but he really hung in there. It's 6:10 and he¢s skipped dinner. He had oatmeal for breakfast, a homemade bar for lunch and has been trying to drink lots of water. He thinks he's feeling better but I'm sure it's because he isn¢t hiking at the moment with a 40-pound pack with 8 days of food on his back.The shelters tomorrow are not spaced out too well. They are at 8 miles and 15 miles so with the terrain going up and over Clingman's Dome we're not quite sure if we'll hit that 15 miles, especially in an all day rain. So, looks like tomorrow may be a short day, which actually just puts us right back on schedule for where we had planned to be. So from still clear and sunny North Carolina (getting ready to have a sunset), we will talk to you tomorrow.   Good night.
Date: 2008-03-07
From: Siler's Bald Shelter NC

To: Mount Collins Shelter NC
Miles today: 8.0

Day 19 ¢ Friday, March 7¢ Mount Collins Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 8.0 Total Miles: 200.1Grasshopper had a nice little scare last night sleeping in the shelter. She was lying there and all of a sudden felt something running around the hood of her sleeping bag. Her arms went flailing. She jerked around trying to fling whatever beastly animal it was off.   Luckily she did not scream, as that would have woken up everybody else. Turns out it was Brakeman trying to see where she was (in the dark). He got a good lecture, rest assured, to NOT do that in the future! It was a bit rainy when we started out and very windy. Luckily, the rain did not last long. Today, had it been clear, would have been a beautiful trail - lots of pine trees close in, very thick and the terrain wasn't actually too bad. But unfortunately for us, we probably had a mile or so of solid ice trails, which makes for very, very slow hiking. Luckily, though, that's all it is. Some of the trail was also a riverbed, literally, because of the rain and the melting snow. It's supposed to rain through 10:00 tonight off and on and then snow flurries so we're not quite sure what the trail conditions will be tomorrow. It's just 2:00 and we're already in the shelter in our sleeping bags. The rain has started again. We're at Mount Collins Shelter, which unfortunately is 1/2 mile off the trail. Today was just an 8-mile day, as Brakeman is on his third day of not feeling well and he is really boinked. We had planned either a short day of 8 miles or long day of 15 miles to Icewater Spring Shelter, but with Brakeman¢s energy at an all time low, the decision was easy. We took turns carrying his heavy pack up and over Clingman's Dome and up to the Mount Collins Shelter as well. It was a rather hard carry for Grasshopper as the hip belt was too big resulting in her carrying most of the weight on her shoulders and back. We were fearful of injuring her back, so we swapped packs every mile.We're not quite sure where Traveler or Josh & Amanda will end up tonight as they were winging it as well. Traveler might try to get down to US441 and hitch into Gatlinburg for the night. Josh and Amanda may try to go the 15 miles but it was pretty slow going and we have not seen them since we left the shelter, so they are behind us. They had probably 8 more miles to go at 1:00 so I doubt they're doing that. Our next two shelter options tomorrow are 7.5 and 14.9 miles. Not quite sure if Brakeman has 14.9 miles in him. If not, that'll put us an extra day in the Park, but we've got food (since he¢s not eating) and will be fine. So at 2:00pm we¢re signing off and we're not quite sure what else will happen today. Goodbye from the sick party. Time to rest and hopefully shake this flu bug.
Date: 2008-03-09
From: Grand Prix Hotel - Gatlinburg TN

To: Grand Prix Hotel - Gatlinburg TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 21 ¢ Sunday, March 9¢ Gatlinburg TN ¢ Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 204.6Woke up this morning to Brakeman saying to Grasshopper "Good morning, DB". Upon inquiring what DB stood for, she learns "Diarrhea Butt". What a way to wake up in the morning! Had a leisure day around the motel feeling better; not 100% but we are not having any more stomach or intestinal issues. We went out for a buffet breakfast and boy did we pig out for about an hour straight. Grasshopper ate 2 French toasts, 4 eggs, 5-6 bacon strips, one bowl of cereal, too many muffins and a fruit salad of cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries, grapes and oranges! Boy did it feel filling! For the rest of the day, we pretty much just nibbled on a few things around the room and ate Pemmican Mealpacs for dinner because breakfast was so big. I don't think our appetites are totally back yet. But we're definitely doing better. The hamburger that we ate yesterday by the way, Brakeman would say, was bigger than Grasshopper's face! It was quite big. And quite good!We did a few chores ¢ sewed Brakeman's glove, washed the silk liners for our sleeping bags, which somehow got dirty (Can you imagine?), washed our socks and seal socks and dried our boots. We are packed and ready to go. We'll plan on hitching out tomorrow. We stopped by the Outfitter today and got a piece of cardboard and have written "Thru-hiker to Newfound Gap" on it. We¢ll hold our sign tomorrow as we stand alongside the road. Hopefully we'll get a fast hitch. US441 reopened this morning. I'm not quite sure if they got as much snow as expected. Next update will be from the trail. Wish us well, and hopefully we have some energy back in us soon! Next stop is Hot Springs. Goodbye.
Date: 2008-03-11
From: Pecks Corner Shelter NC

To: Cosby Knob Shelter NC
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 23 ¢ Tuesday, March 11¢ Cosby Knob Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 12.9 Total Miles: 227.9We woke to the upper 30s. With the daylight saving time change, we headed out about 8:00 - first light. We had lots of ice and snow for the first half of the trail today. It was slow going. It unfortunately awoke Grasshopper's Achilles tendons again. They do not appreciate walking in snow. The last half of the trail was much more clear - a bit rocky at times, but not bad. We leap-frogged Bare Fodder and Yeti all day, and arrived at the shelter about 4:00. Lots of section hikers and college students are here at the shelter. There's still room in the shelter for more hikers, so hopefully we'll have room for everybody that arrives. We're with Bare Fodder and Yeti again. Virginia Slim has yet to arrive so we're not sure if we're going to see him tonight. I have to explain how Bare Fodder got his trail name. The Bare part is because his wife is afraid he¢ll get Alzheimer's to which he tells her ¢when the time comes, strip me naked, send me out into our 400 acres, let me run around naked and nature will take care of itself¢. The Fodder part comes in because he'd probably become fodder for the bear while out there running around naked. Pretty funny.After a morning start in the upper 30s, it only rose to the low 40s today, so it pretty much was an even keel temperature today. The sky was gray and cloudy. There was a 10% chance for rain today and 30% tonight but it's almost 6:00 now and the sky has cleared to a pretty blue with just some light clouds. It looks like we might have another day of dry shoes! That's always a good thing. It seems that we have had wet shoes every third or fourth day whether we need them or not. The big news is that tomorrow we exit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It seems like we entered the Park about a month ago! It's been a long trip through here. A lot of our miles were above 5000-6000'. Tomorrow we will drop to below 2000'. We won't see 6000' for quite a while.   I'm not sure how soon we'll see 5000' again. The weather is supposed to be clear the next two days and then rainy on the third day so we're thinking of using the clear days to get ahead of schedule. The third day was supposed to be our long day, and if it's going to be rainy, it will be a bit tough to do. We're going to wing it and see how far we can get tomorrow. There's a shelter about 17 miles down the trail. We'll just see what the trail dishes us. There are plenty of campsites along the way, too, if we need them. It's 5:45 and probably below 40. It feels chilly. I think my voice is shaking so I'm going to sign off, get into all my layers and climb into my sleeping bag. Good night from the last stop in the Smokies!
Date: 2008-03-16
From: Hot Springs NC 

To: Spring Mountain Shelter NC
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 28 ¢ Sunday March 16 ¢ Spring Mountain Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 11.0 Total Miles: 282.7We were on the trail again a little before 11:00am. It felt great. We had a leisurely morning around the motel with Mr. & Mrs. Brakeman and another great meal of hard-boiled eggs, blueberry muffins and chocolate chip muffins. The muffins were delicious - very moist. We also had some milk ¢ a rare treat while on the trail! Since we did not have Nestl©¢s Quik, for the first time in about 30 years, we not only drank WHITE milk, but WHOLE white milk! Grasshopper was able to drink maybe half a cup; Brakeman did better; perhaps a whole cup. Not quite the taste we are used to, but good fuel for our bodies, which we need. It was very kind of Mr. and Mrs. Brakeman to Trail Angel us. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Brakeman for being such wonderful Angels to us, and all along this journey as our food drop team ¢ GO TEAM ALPHA!!!!The AT trail continued through Hot Springs and across the French Broad River, before ducking into the woods again. We then followed the river for about half a mile. Above us was a huge rock cliff. Eventually we climbed the rock cliff as our overall elevation for the day rose from 1300' to 3300¢.   All gentle continuous inclines, but nothing terribly rough. It was a gray day but we stayed mentally calm, as it was not forecasted to rain today. By the time we got to camp just after 4:00, more and more blue sky appeared. We stayed dry all day, which was a wonderful thing. The winds picked up a bit all day long, but nothing like the 30 to 50 or 70 mph gusts we're used to. We hiked in short sleeved shirts although it was a little bit chilly. We tried to regulate our body heat by adding knit hats or our lighter weight gloves. It was in the upper 40s most of the day while we were hiking. When we arrived at Spring Mountain Shelter, one family was already here - a mother, father and college-aged daughter who were out on spring break. They had a bonfire going and were hanging around the shelter. We headed above the shelter to set up the tent and then shortly after we arrived, a college-aged couple also on spring break arrived and set up their MSR tent near us. And we believe since we've been in our tent that perhaps another group of college kids has arrived.   It's a spacious place, plenty of room for all of us, and it's real quiet. We shared some of our chocolate Easter eggs with the spring breakers and they were most appreciative.It's about 7:00 and 45 degrees. We're having a nice glow of warmth in our tent.   I think we're ready to call it a night, relax and get ready for the next few days. The next few days are supposed to be clear and I believe we have three 15-mile days lined up so it should not be too difficult. Goodnight from North Carolina, soon to be Tennessee and not too long after that - Virginia. We're getting there. We¢re still having a blast!