morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-05
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry's Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

What an absolutely miserable day today has been. Last night it rained for several hours, but stopped before I had to strike my tent. As a result my tent went into my pack damp, which I always hate.It drizzled off and on all day, which wasn't terribly fun. That 2,600-foot climb I mentioned? Almost straight up the side of the mountain. No switchbacks at all. It was a terrible climb, made worse by the fact that as I neared the top a thunderstorm bore down on me. As you may remember from previous journal entries, I find hiking in the rain to be extremely depressing.The only bright point of the day was that, just before the skies opened up and dumped on me, George and Gail overtook me. They're an older couple I've been hiking with on and off since before Hot Springs. I may have incorrectly referred to Gail as "Grace" in previous entries and photos.Anyway I had been praying to be spared the crushing depression that hits me when it rains and just as it looked like the answer was going to be "Suck it up and deal", George and Gail appear through the mist. Usually they hike a bit faster than me, but as the torrential downpour started they fell into place together with me. George and I joked around as we hiked and my spirits never hit rock bottom like they usually do in that situation. A prayer answered in the form of company to share the experience rather than having it not rain. I'd prefer it just not to rain, but I'll take company instead.The rest of the hike was just plain misery. Hiking in a steady downpour is no one's idea of fun. Fortunately it stopped raining before we got to camp, so we were at least spared having to set our tents up in the rain.So now I'm warm and dry, which is something to be thankful for I suppose. I just desperately wish that it does not rain tomorrow.
Date: 2006-05-06
From: Jerry's Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Mountain shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: broken clouds

Today was a decent day. The rain moved on sometime during the night, which was good. It was super foggy this morning, but that blew over soon enough as well. The sun came out nice and bright and I was able to stop at Flint Mountain Shelter for an hour and dry out all of my gear before moving on.The trails today were great. Nicely graded, plenty of switchbacks, just the sort of thing I look for in a trail.Originally I was not going to come out all the way to Hogback Shelter. George and Gail were planning to stop at a promised tenting area at a place called "Big Flat", after only twelve miles. Unfortunately none of us saw any such place on the trip over, so we ended up just coming the rest of the way to the shelter.Unfortunately it's not the rain that was making me depressed. The rain certainly does not help matters in any way, but today was perfectly clear and I hiked the whole day in, or near to, tears. I managed to get cell service atop Frozen Knob and talked to Mom and Lindsay, which helped a bit. When I make these calls now, I am barely able to talk at all because I get so choked up.I've mentioned in previous journals that it seems odd that I need to talk to my family so much when I was something of a loner before. It occurred to me today that this is not true at all. I haven't been alone for over five years. I had a wife whom I relied upon for this sort of support. This, then is the crux of my problem.I love my wife more than I can possibly describe. To know that she does not love me, and has no intention of continuing our marriage has turned that love into a pain that is just as difficult to describe in its enormity. That she shows absolutely no remorse or guilt or anything about this whole thing just twists the knife. My greatest concern is how to struggle on without the love of my life; hers is why the community college won't recognize her name, or getting her cat to get along with her parent's cat. I'm already just a footnote in her life while just the thought of a life without her instantly reduces me to a sobbing wreck. So, for the first time since before we were married, I'm alone and I'm seeking comfort in my family. It's not nearly so strange as I was making it out to be.Anyway, this is what I'm dwelling on while I hike. I wish I could think happier thoughts, but I just keep coming back to this.In any case, I'm depressing myself just writing all of this. I'm hoping that I'll move past this in time. Until then my next town stop is still at least two days away and the weather report for tomorrow says "rain all day".GREAT, JUST GREAT.
Date: 2006-05-07
From: Hogback Mountain shelter

To: Erwin Super 8 Room #104
Miles today: 2.4

Short day today. It started raining last night at around 2 a.m., just as I figured it would. The rain was solid and unceasing. It just never let up. I actually dragged my tent under the roof of the shelter to pack it up. Still, I was in pretty decent spirits all things considered.It was certainly not an enjoyable hike, that's for sure. By the time I got to Sam's gap, I was pretty soaked through to the bone, save for my feet. My gaiters work pretty well to keep the water out of my boots.Part of the hike I was set to do today included Big Bald, a mountain I've been dying to hike for years. Hiking it in the foggy dreary rain would have been a serious letdown.I wasn't actually looking for a ride when I got to Sam's Gap. The road that runs through the gap sees little traffic and trying to get a ride there is fairly pointless. Besides I was resolved to make the hike. The road there is also one of many that leads to Erwin, Tn., a town I was planning to visit when I got closer, so getting a ride there when I was so far out would be fairly redundant.Still, as I was crossing the road there, a car suddenly pulled up and stopped. I noted immediately that there was an ATC sticker on the rear window. The driver got out and asked how I was doing. Feeling honest I answered "I'm wet!". His response to this was "Want a ride into Erwin?"This is Trail Magic of the best kind! A road nobody ever drives on, and the only car I see is not only driven by a friend of the trail, but stops completely unbidden and offers a ride unasked.I still half wanted to refuse and press on, but the chance to get out of the rain, not to mention possibly hiking Big Bald in better weather, were far too enticing to pass up.Just as when I jumped off the trail to get out of the rain in Gatlinburg, this choice seems to have been the right one. The weather for the next few days looks good. I also ran into my friends, who are a couple days ahead of me, "Pepper", "Crisis", and "Play-doh" and hung out with them tonight. Tomorrow morning Miss Janet, the nicest woman on the trail, will shuttle me back to the Gap so I can continue hiking back here.As always, right as I hit bottom, some unexpected act of kindness springs from nowhere to bring me right back to the top. The man who picked me up was actually not from this area. He was just driving up that road to check out an abandoned house right near the gap because he wants to buy it and build a hiker hostel. What are the chances?
Date: 2006-05-09
From: Erwin Holiday Inn, Room 401

To: Erwin Holiday Inn, Room 401
Miles today: 0.0

A much-needed day today after yesterday/last night's adventure.It all started with a late start, as is usual, though this time it wasn't necessarily my fault. Miss Janet, who gave me a ride back to Sam's Gap, is very, very busy and couldn't get me back there until noon. That's fine. Miss Janet is the nicest person in the world, and that she'd go out of her way to take me back up there is awesome enough that no one can complain if they have to wait a bit.Originally I was planning to stop at No Business Knob Shelter that night, an eighteen mile hike that would leave me a six mile hop into Erwin. Starting at noon, however, would have me arriving well after dark. I was still determined to do a big day; however, and so I decided to make a night hike.As I hiked it slowly worked its way into my head that as long as I was going to make a night hike anyway, I may as well just go all the way in. At some point I decided to go with this crazy plan and dedicated myself to covering all 24 miles into Erwin on one shot.I managed to cover 13 miles before the sun set, including a huge climb up onto Big Bald. This left an 11-mile hike to do at night. The profile map showed that the terrain was mostly a rolling downhill, a relatively easy hike, so I wasn't worried about that.I strapped on my headlamp and made my way through the dark forest. The hike went fairly smoothly, though I did stumble numerous times. I never fell, which was definitely a plus. I was definitely tempted to just give up and camp out, but two factors kept me moving. Firstly there are very, very few places to really camp over that stretch of trail. Secondly, my tent was still soaked from previous rains, and I hate putting up a wet tent.So it was a great hike, all told. There's more to say, but the weather tomorrow is calling for thunderstorms, so I'll probably have another zero to say it.
Date: 2006-05-10
From: Erwin Holiday Inn, Room 401

To: Erwin Holiday Inn, Room 401
Miles today: 0.0

The weather report this morning was calling for severe thunderstorms today, so I decided to take another zero here. The weather report changed like twenty times during the day, and the severe thunderstorms never really developed. I don¢t regret the extra day off, though, as it did rain pretty heavily in the afternoon, and I could definitely use the rest.I didn¢t really do a whole lot today except lay around and read a fantasy book someone left in the hiker box here. Thus there is not a lot to say about today.I do have an anecdote from the other day to relate. Towards the start of my 24-mile hike was the summit of Big Bald, one of the greatest views on the AT. All the way up the mountain, I could see that the summit was completely enshrouded in low-lying clouds, which meant that you wouldn¢t be able to see anything at all from the top of the mountain. This was incredibly disappointing, as I¢d been looking forward to climbing Big Bald for years.Right as I reached the top; however, all the clouds blew away leaving a tremendous view. The top was only clear for about ten minutes before more clouds blew in, but the timing of the clearing was just amazing. I dunno what I did to deserve the sort of luck I¢ve been receiving, but I hope I can keep it up.
Date: 2006-05-11
From: Erwin Holiday Inn, Room 401

To: Deep Gap
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Man, Erwin is a tough town to leave. Miss Janet is so nice, the Holiday Inn staff were so nice, everything about the town is great. It was even harder than usual to bring myself to leave, a fact that wasn¢t helped at all by weather reports saying it¢s going to rain for the next five days.Not a continuous rain, though. At least there¢s that, but every single day for the next week has a decent chance of rain of varying intensities. Given that I¢m up in the mountains, each of those chances for rain turns into a virtual certainty, since mountains tend to trigger rainfall.It drizzled off and on this morning, which wasn¢t terribly fun to hike in. The afternoon and evenings were rain-free, though, which helped by spirits, which always flay when it rains. It¢s not supposed to rain tonight, but I am certain it will anyway. That¢s the sort of luck I¢ve been having with the rain.Aside from the rain, today¢s hiking was good but very strenuous. As always when coming up out of a town, there was a huge climb to overcome. I have actually not quite overcome the whole thing yet. I have the thousand-foot climb up Unaka Mountain waiting for me first thing in the morning.I wanted to go sixteen miles today to put me at Cherry Gap Shelter, but unfortunately I got a late start again. Oddly enough it wasn¢t my fault this time. Miss Janet couldn¢t pick us up to take us to the trail until eleven, and I didn¢t really get hiking until twelve.Since I couldn¢t make Cherry Gap Shelter before dark, I decided to pull up short at Deep Gap, which has a good campsite with a great water source. I¢m not alone here either. George and Gail are camped here, as is a section hiker whose name I do not yet know.It¢s really cold here tonight, and my fingers are freezing, so I¢m going to leave it at this for now.
Date: 2006-05-12
From: Deep Gap

To: Greasy Creek 
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I was right about last night. It started raining at around 11 p.m. and kept at it until sometime in the morning. It was a sporadic rain, but it got everything nice and wet.Fortunately, by the time it was time to get up, the rain had stopped. By the time I had eaten breakfast the sun had come out. I left my tent up until the last moment, letting it dry in the sun. It was a rare treat, packing up a dry tent after a rainy night. It¢s actually really nice in a tent on a rainy night. You¢re nice and dry and the rain plays a nice staccato on the roof. I just hate packing up a wet tent. So to get the pleasant rainy night without the nasty wet tent was great.Today wasn¢t bad so far as the weather goes. It was freaking cold this morning, but once you started moving, things were fine. Some time after lunch all the clouds cleared out and it was bright and sunny for the rest of the day. Not bad for a day that was supposed to be rainy in the afternoon.Too bad the trails themselves weren¢t up to the same standards. It was more of that straight up and down crap that I hate. Every time there was a climb, the trail just turned straight up the slope. Given that it¢s been raining for a few days now, all these super-steep trails with no turns were slick with mud. This does not make for good hiking at all.All¢s well that ends well, though. I¢m sitting in the living room of the Greasy Creek ¢Friendly¢. As opposed to Hostel (hostile), they¢re friendly. It¢s a great little place. Not one of the better-know hostels, but definitely the equal of any of them.The presence of this hostel signifies that I¢ve started to get through the area of gigantic forest parks and into the area where the trail passes closer to private property. It means less wilderness, sure, but it means more hostels. A fair trade, to me.
Date: 2006-05-13
From: Greasy Creek 

To: Stan Murray Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Another great day! Weather-wise, at least. Not a drop of rain all day, and mostly sunny skies to boot. It was a fabulous day for hiking.Too bad the trails themselves weren¢t of similar quality. It was the same problem as yesterday, trails that go straight up and down the sides of the mountains, many of them without even water-bars to stop the runoff. Thus most of the trails today were steep muddy ruts.To further compound matters, today¢s hike took me over Roan Mountain, a 2,000-foot climb, largely without switchbacks. Talk about annoying.Anyway, a necessarily short entry tonight. I¢m actually staying inside the shelter, so can¢t keep this headlamp on annoying people all night. I¢ll write more tomorrow.
Date: 2006-05-14
From: Stan Murray Shelter

To: Mountain Harbor B & B, Amylea Room
Miles today: 10.4

A shorter day than average today. I¢m in an awkward area where there¢s eighteen miles between shelters, making it hard to plan a hike that doesn¢t end in the middle of nowhere. Not that I¢m a shelter rat, really, but when it rains, I like to at least be near one so I can drag my tent inside in the morning to try and dry it out before packing it up. Since it¢s been raining off and on for nearly three weeks now, being near shelters has been a large part of my planning.The bed and breakfast here is only three-tenths of a mile from the trail, and a ten-mile day isn¢t bad, per se, just below average. It¢s supposed to rain again tonight, so being inside will be nice.   Who knows if it actually will rain? The weather reports only seem to bear a passing resemblance to what actually happens. It was supposed to rain today and only drizzled a bit, though I stood on top of Hump Mountain and watched a thunderstorm batter a valley a few miles over. I¢ve just been lucky, I guess.Haven¢t been that lucky when it comes to trails, though. The trails in this section continue to some of the worst I have ever seen. Straight up. Straight down. Completely washed out ruts, muddy bogs. Just terrible.The views today were amazing, though. The views from the top of Hump Mountain almost made up for the god-awful trails leading up to it.I stayed inside the shelter last night, since it was going to rain and I didn¢t want to pack up a wet tent. Sleeping in a shelter is distinctly uncomfortable when compared to a tent, so I usually don¢t like to do it. For starters, the wooden floor of the shelter is much harder than the ground you¢d put your tent on. Secondly, it¢s five to ten degrees warmer inside a tent. Thirdly, is the privacy factor. All of these; however, can be tolerated to avoid a wet tent.The shelter last night was not the greatest though. The layout let the rain blow through the entrance. We had to all scoot to the back of the shelter to stay dry. No problems with that tonight!
Date: 2006-05-15
From: Mountain Harbor B & B, Amylea Room

To: Mountain Harbor B & B, Amylea room
Miles today: 13.4

I don¢t think I could imagine a more perfect day on the trail. Granted this is because I cheated, but more on that later.It¢s kinda odd that I sleep better now in my tent and sleeping bag than I do in a bed, but this is definitely the case. Whenever I stay at a place with a bead, my sleep is restless, but I sleep like a log in my tent. Of course, I¢m overall definitely more comfortable in the rooms containing the beds than I am in the tent/woods, so it¢s still no contest.Anyway, I didn¢t sleep all that well last night, but I still enjoyed my stay at Mountain Harbor so much that I was loath to leave. It didn¢t help that they served the most amazing breakfast ever this morning. I highly doubt I will find any place nearly this nice anywhere else on the trail.George and Gail decided to zero at the B & B, since Gail¢s knees have been hurting. I was sorely tempted to zero as well, but there is no way I could possibly justify it. I had just taken two zeros in Erwin, and I am feeling fine, and the weather isn¢t going to change any time soon. It was a chance comment by Mary, the owner of the B & B that led me to the answer to my dilemma. She mentioned that they occasionally provide slack-packing services for hikers.¢Slack-packing¢ is when you leave the bulk of your gear behind and hike for a day with only a light day pack. This can be accomplished in many ways. Someone could ferry your equipment ahead to another location. Someone could arrange to pick you up at some pre-arranged place and time. Or as in the case today, someone can drive you up the trail and you spend your day hiking back to your starting point.So that¢s how I came to be in the same place I was last night, but still having made thirteen miles of progress. Terry, the other owner, drove me to a place where the AT crosses a road thirteen miles north of the B & B, and I spent the day with only a fanny pack as I hiked south back to the B & B.Hiking with only about three pounds of equipment as opposed to my usual forty was heavenly. I was able to hike at practically double my usual pace, and I finished the thirteen miles in record time, even with stopping for an hour at the absolutely beautiful Jones Falls.So here I am, a full day of hiking behind me, and spending another night in the place I didn¢t want to leave. Surely this is the best of both worlds. Tomorrow Terry will drive me to that same spot thirteen miles up the trail and, continuing my hike as though I had camped at that spot.Considering the fact that it¢s pouring rain outside (it just started, it was sunny all day) I am rather glad I am NOT camped out there.I ran into ¢Librarian¢ today. She¢s been a day behind me for weeks. Since I was hiking backwards for a day, our paths crossed even though she is still behind me. Her destination for tomorrow is the same as mine, though: Kincora Hiker Hostel.
Date: 2006-05-16
From: Mountain Harbor B & B, Amylea room

To: Kincora Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

A decent day of hiking, if a little short on the miles. It¢s much easier to do big miles when it¢s not wet and cold outside! I had a package to pick up in Kincora anyway, so it¢s not like I¢d be passing the place by. Once summer comes around and this annoying cycle of constant rain blows over, though, I¢ll be giving more hostels a pass in favor of bigger miles.Had breakfast at Mountain Harbor again this morning and again it was completely awesome. It really does make it hard to leave a place, but today there was not recourse. I had to move on. Terry dropped me off at the location I started from yesterday and I began hiking north.The weather today was very cold and wet. It never actually rained, but it had not dried out from the rain last night and so every gust of cold wind and showered me with water falling from the trees. The trails were about the same as they have been for the past few days, very poorly laid out and maintained. Fortunately I will soon be out of this hiking club¢s jurisdiction.Tomorrow will start with a little slack-packing. Bob, the owner of Kincora, will ferry us nine miles up the trail and we¢ll slack-pack back to Kincora. Then he¢ll drive us back to that nine mile point again and hike north with full packs. This is because the next mountain is another of those 2,000 foot straight-up climbs, and it¢s just easier to do it southbound as the grade in that direction is not so steep.In any other section I might consider this a bit of a cheat, but the trails around here are so bad I just don¢t care.
Date: 2006-05-18
From: Kincora Hiker Hostel

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

Anyway you care to slice it, today has been a bad day. For starters I¢m about eight miles short of what I wanted to do today. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, Bob forgot I wanted to go back to the trailhead today, so I got a late start. Secondly, the initial climb up to this ridgeline was the same straight up the side of the mountain stuff that¢s been bugging me for this entire section. T thirdly, it rained all day.To be fair there were a few long periods where it wasn¢t actively raining, but the water falling off the trees at these times trended to make the distinction irrelevant.   Most of the day, however, ranged between an annoying drizzle and a drenching downpour. It¢s hard to hike quickly when it¢s cold, wet, and the trails are rivers of mud. Plus my feet got wet and that makes them hurt pretty bad.On the plus side my care package at Kincora contained my MP3 player, and listening to that all day made hiking in the rain much more tolerable. So now I¢m 25 miles short of Damascus when I wanted to be getting there tomorrow (Friday). Joe will be getting there early Saturday morning. I¢ll need to push a long day tomorrow to get into place to meet Joe.The only good thing about today was at the end of the hike, I came up on the shelter expecting to find it empty since most hikers have already pushed ahead to Damascus. It wasn¢t though; Gail and George were in it. That was a pleasant surprise. Also nice was the fact that the massive thunderstorm currently slamming this shelter held off until I got here.Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy as well. I hope I can push enough miles to meet Joe without making him have to wait for me.