morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-06-07
From: Brown Fork Gap

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Hiked all day in the rain. It poured all AM. At least it's not cold. Stopped at Cable Gap Shelter for lunch. Changed into dry clothes. We were soaked to the bone; poured water out of our boots! Left at 1:00. Betsy and Amy showed up as er were leaving. They planned to stay. Mike left about 30 min. ahead of us. It was a tough afternoon. All the wet clothes plus wet boots added a lot of weight. Several rocky stretches slowed us down, but we finally got to Fontana Dam at 5:00. Called the Hike Inn and Nancy came to get us. Hike Inn is Great!!
Date: 2003-06-09
From: Hike Inn

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Nancy from the Hike Inn took us to Fontana Dam. We hiked across the dasm (the highest east of the Miss. River) and we entered the Great Smokey Mountains nat'l Park. Met a young family from New Orleans and hiked up to Shuchstack firetower, a climb of over 2300 feet in 3 miles. Dorothy got some great pictures of wild flowers today. I hope they print well. Good views but the camera just can't do them justice. Met a work crew about 2 miles from the shelter who told us the shelter was under construction, but that we could tent nearby. We did and ended another great day.
Date: 2003-06-10
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: scattered clouds

The best of times and the worst of times! Climbed up to Rocky Top and had spectacular views! Could see Fontana Dam and west all the way out of the mountains. I hope the pictures capture the vistas.Then on up to Thunderhead. Beat views of the hike so far. On the other hand, this was our hardest day so far. We got to Derricks Knob Shelter at 5:30 and were exhausted. As we left Mollies ridge, we met a hiker who told us a bear had come into their camp last night while a hiker was cooking a late supper. Scared the hiker into the shelter. They all have chain linmk gates on them to keep the bears out. At Derric Knob we met Ken, a pastor from Nashville who was there when the bear came in and confirmed what had happened. Later a thru-hiker named Molly came in. She had seen abear on the trail. Her cub went up a tree and the momma woulf not move. Molly finally had to leave the trail and circle around the bear to get by. She had come from Fontana Dam in 1 day - 23 miles! Wow!
Date: 2003-06-11
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Double Springs Gap
Miles today: 7.2

Easy day, but we needed it. Got to camp about 1:30. It looked like rain and rain is forcasted for the next 3 days. We don't want to get soaked and stay that way. It is uncomfortable and can be dangerous if it gets cold. We are at 5500 ft. and going higher. There is a road at Clingman's Dome tomorrow which is 1 of 2 roads into the park. If we don't get out on one of them, we will hike out, which will take 3 or 4 more days. We are still hiking with Ken and he getting off the trail at Clingman's Dome and has car. He has offered to take us to Nashville if we want to go. About 5:30 two men and their 4 boys showed up. CD players, loud talk, arguing. I'm glad they are going south. They have a weather radio and it says rain for the next 5 days in the Smokey's. Yuk! About 8:30 the bottom dropped out and it rained hard most of the night. We decide to get off the trail at Clingman's Dome. We'll call Nancy at the Hike Inn to come get us with Ken's cell phone. She will shuttle us to Fontana Dam and then we'll ride to nashville with Ken.
Date: 2003-06-12
From: Double Springs Gap

To: Clingman's Dome
Miles today: 2.9

Got to Clingman's Dome - 6643 Ft. - about 10:30. Ken was already there, as was Skip. Skip came into Double Springs last night just before the rain began. He was also going to call Nancy for a ride, so we all agreed to share the cost of the Shuttle. It was completely fogged in and cold. Then the rain began. It took Nancy 2 hours to get there. It is a 75 mile drive and a 30 mile hike. We definitely made the right decision. 4 more days in the cold rain would be terrible. Got to Ken's car about 2:30 and on to Nashveill. Drove the "Dragon Tail" - an 11 mile stretch of road with 311 hairpin curves! Got to Nashville and Ken, who is RA at Trevecck Nazarene Univ., let us stay in a vacant dorm room. Met his wife Robin, who is a PA student there. We all went to eat at Cracker Barrel. Have airline reservations on SW Airlines tomorrow at 12:10 back to Houston. Only 1 small problem - Robboe and Elisa are at the lake house. Oh well, we'll worry about that tomorrow.
Date: 2003-05-14
To: Pre-Trail (Warrensburg)
Miles today: 0.0

We are almost there. Josh and I will be flying into Washington D.C. on Monday, May 19th. From there our friend Anne will pick us up in D.C. and drop us off at the South end of Shenandoah National Park the following day. We are still in the process of moving everything into storage; I never realized how much stuff we had until now! I really haven't had much time to get nervous yet, but I'm sure after we have checked out of our apartment on Friday it will all sink in. I am very excited though and can't wait to get started on the trail.
Date: 2003-05-15
To: Pre-Trail (Independence)
Miles today: 0.0

Only a few days before we leave. I thought I might tell everyone a little about how Josh and I decided to take this journey. One day early last summer Josh and I were sitting in a teahouse discussing what we wanted to do when we graduated in December. Neither of us knew what we wanted to do, so we decided to think of things that we did like doing. Hiking, camping and backpacking were some of the first things we thought of. We thought about it and decided that we probably couldn't make a living doing those things; however, we had an ideal break after graduation before starting "Real Jobs" to have some fun. We thought about hiking the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. In the end we decided on the Appalachian Trail based on the fact that it was a well-established trail and the length was ideal for what we wanted at the time. We had originally planned on hiking the whole 2,000 miles of the trail, which would have taken us approximately 6 months. However, as the year progressed we changed our minds and are only hiking for about 2-1/2 months now, late May to early August. Some of our goals on this trip are to grow individually, spiritually, and as a couple.
Date: 2003-05-30
From: Front Royal

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

We had our first stay at a hotel last night and it was wonderful. After nine rainy days on the trail it was nice to stay in a nice dry bed. We have met so many awesome people on the AT. Hikers out here have a kinmanship that I have never experienced before. We still haven't used our tent. The shelters out here are great; however, they are usually packed full of people...and mice. Josh forgot and left some food in his pack one night and got up to find a hole the size of a half dollar in the side of his pack. We are shooting to be in Harper's Ferry in four days so that will probably be our next update. I hope eveyone is well. Happy Trails!
Date: 2003-06-02
From: Rod Hollow

To: Blackburn AT Center
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: clear sky

We hiked the Roller Coaster today. It wasn't so fun. Ten ups & ten downs each approx. 500' for a grand total of 5,000' vertical climb, & that was only the first 13 miles. We stopped at the Bears Den Hostel & ate airplane food (it was free) & soda. Blackburn was awesome. Bill & Sarah (the attendants) had a hot dinner waiting for us when we got there. We even got dessert! NICE!
Date: 2003-06-04
From: Harper's Ferry

To: Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: mist

We have finally crossed into a new state, West Virginia! We should be in & out of Maryland with in a few days as well & starting on Pennsylvania. We stayed at the historic Hill Top Hotel last night overlooking the Potomac River. It was beautiful! We finally had a few nice hiking days, for a change. We are hoping for more soon, but it doesn't look to promising. We checked in at the Appalachian Trail Conference HeadQuarters yesterday & got our pictures taken. It was a lot of fun. We have officially been given the trail name of the "The Honeymooners" by some fellow hikers. Some of the people we have been hiking with the last few day have been Hot Dog, Wench, Siesta, Mule, Paparazzi.
Date: 2003-06-08
From: Pine Knob

To: Waynesboro, PA
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We stayed at a really nice Best Western.We crossed the Mason/Dixon line as well as the Maryland-PA border.At the end of the day we came into Pen-Mar Park & there was a live band playing w/concession stands everywhere. It was awesome, of course we stopped & had hamburgers.We also hitched a ride into town with a city council member. He was really cool.
Date: 2003-06-09
From: Waynesboro, PA

To: Tumbling Run
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Snoring and non-snoring shelters? What a fantastic idea. Good night of sleep that night. Got a ride to the trail head w/ Berney. He was a great guy that ran a shuttle service. Met up with Snappy, Puff-puff, 2-step, and Bishop.
Date: 2003-06-10
From: Tumbling Run

To: Quarry Gap
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: broken clouds

Stopped at a pizza joint along the trail. We saw a rattle snake along the trail and Alicia nearly flipped out. It rattled and she ran. I stopped her before she got back to Kansas City. Stopped to go swimming at Caledonia State Park because it was an awesome day. Water was very cold, yet refreshing. We slept at a beautiful shelter, very crowded with hikers so we slept on the porch. Rain is gone, but the bugs have now come.Met Mighty Mouse and Butcher, both Philmont alumni. I feel so left out.
Date: 2003-06-11
From: Quarry Gap

To: Pine Grove Furnace SP
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: moderate rain

We were going to stay at the Hostel, but those jerks took cash only and we don't carry much of that stuff. Sticks paid for twelve people to camp because he is a really cool guy.Watched as Llama and 2-step, Bishop and Butcher all successfully completed the half-gallon challenge (eating a half-gallon of ice cream in one sitting) Everyone but Bishop looked very sick afterwards.Met a lady and she let like 12 people come over and take a shower at her cabin. Played a game called Trail Magic with her two kids.I get sick of showering so often, but Alicia likes a clean Josh.
Date: 2003-06-14
From: Darlington

To: Duncannon (The Doyle)
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: light rain

Any hotel that carges $23 a night and $2 for a 22 oz. beer is alright with me. Yuengling all night, well at least until 9 pm. Much too tired to stay up, and we had the honeymoon suite afterall.
Date: 2003-06-23
From: Atlantic City, NJ

To: Atlantic City, NJ
Miles today: 0.0

We stayed at the Best Western again last night. Today we rode a bus into May's Landing, but got off at the wrong stop & had to walk 5 mi to the Target. We bought a three-room coleman car camping tent that we are going to stay in until my parents come July 5th. Walked on the boardwalk &
Date: 2003-06-25
From: Cape May, NJ

To: Cape May, NJ
Miles today: 0.0

We spent our first night in our new three-bedroom, 8 person, tent. It was wonderful. Now all we need is our air matress & we will be set. We spent most of today riding around on our cruiser bikes & basking in the sun at the beach. Cape May sure does feel like paradise.
Date: 2003-01-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We are having trouble deciding what our first sentence should be in Trail Journals so we should have no problem together on the Trail! (insert sarcasm) Actually we are both very excited to get our first journal entry in, as well as giving our "6 week notice", putting our truck up for sale, and dehydrating meals nightly. All that is left is the big move back east (and a couple hundred odds and ends)!Thanks for all of our friends and family who have made getting this far, and the rest of the way to Katahdin, possible. See the rest of you on the trail.
Date: 2003-01-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So we did it, we finished the dinner making process. I know it's small in the scope of everything ,but man that was a lot of cooking, cleaning, dehydrating & packaging. Now with all this time on my hands I can concentrate on more important things like how much do those little bungee straps on my coat weight, if i cut all the tags out of my clothes can i bring an extra snickers & can you dehydrate a dog - ok, ok that's mean- how about dog food?? yes, these are the deep metaphysical questions that go through my head these days. good luck preparing & see you on the trail.
Date: 2003-01-31
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

   Well, we did it we did the test pack & weight check last night. I'm happy to say that we weighed in at 26 lb.s for me and 29 lb.s for Doug, with 3 days food and full water- yeah! (We were trying for under 30 lb.s each). Hopefully we won't think of to many things we forgot; I'm for the theory if I didn't pack it last night I don't need it, unless I can talk someone else into carrying it. Everytime I log on to this site I'm intrigued by how many people, of varying interests, ages & experience levels, have come together to discuse & share their excitment for the trail. I'm not sure if it had a factor in my decision to hike the trail or not, but the more the more journals I read the more excited I am to become part of the trail community.15 more days of work, 3 days driving across the country, & 38 days until we are at Springer Mtn!
Date: 2003-03-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So we did it, we survived our move across country travelling through multiple snow storms stretching from just outside Denver to where we stopped in Pennsylvania. But at least once we unloaded our lives in PA and were able to visit friends and family. Many of which promised to send us delicious mail drops! It was great to see everybody, good luck to A&R and K&R with your up coming plans.We arrived in MD last night and have a few more minor tasks before flying to Atlanta on Thursday. We have been so busy it has yet to hit us but we'll be out there soon!
Date: 2003-03-07
From: Springer Mtn

To: Hawk Mtn. Shetler
Miles today: 7.6

So this is it, the first day ACTUALLY hiking the trail. We couldn't ask for a better day... blue skies, warm weather & really nice people. This morning Marty, our shuttle from Atlanta to Springer, met us at the hotel even before we had time to check out. Marty is just the first of many wonderful people we met today. We also met Andy & his parents who are from Northern Alabama. (Mr. & Mrs. White ...Andy's eating well- he ate all of his food). Then when we got to the shelter we met a man who hiked the trail last year had just can't get enouugh,a 65 man who can easily out hike us, and a few others-all with an interesting story. Wish i could write more but i've been anti-socia enough while writing this....so off to find out more about everyone. Staying at the shelter tonight is Stump Knocker, Crusty, Andy, Anonymous, Trail Frog & 12 boy scouts.
Date: 2003-03-08
From: Hawk Mtn. Shetler

To: 2(?) mile short of Woody Gap
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Great day of hiking... woke up (reluctantly of course) @ about 7 to a beautiful sunrise, just in case i needed a reminder of why i'm here. Doug was nice enough to make me breakfast while i broke camp. But still we were the last ones out of camp, that is except the boy scouts who were having a tough time getting going. As we were alittle behind everyone we were surprised to see most everyone sitting near the road crossing just after our first real mountain crossing...trail magic. The local trail club or some nice individual had left us cold soda, it was wonderful. The next time we caught up with them at a great little stream catching some sun..oh did i mention that i was hiking in shorts again today! We got to the shelter at about 1 in the afternoon & Andy, Trail Frog,Doug & i decided that it was to early to call it a day. Now we tenting on a ridge near Woody Gap. Almost time for dinner....
Date: 2003-03-09
From: 2(?) mile short of Woody Gap

To: Blood Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: clear sky

Today as well as last night showed me what a roller coaster this trail actually is. We learned late last night that Andy was taking some time off the trail. It just made me see how quickly health and attitude may change and send you off of this gem.This morning we woke up to a sunrise seen from the comfort of our sleeping bags. We headed down to Woody Gap to make breakfast. After a filling meal a two girls asked us if we were hungry... Trail Angels! Of coarse we were hungry, we're through hikers! After cookies and fresh fruit we said our goodbyes to Andy and hope he can meet up with us in the Smokeys. We continued on another great hiking day, both feeling great except Lara's knee began acting up. Made it to the base of Blood Mt and decided to go for it. After a good 3rd day of hiking we cruised up Blood - take that you tallest GA Mt on the AT! Can't get too cocky, still have the decent and a cold windy night's stay. Finished the day with an incredible sunset!Forgot to mention the best part of the day - we finally earned trailnames!3sock & Thin Mint
Date: 2003-03-10
From: Blood Mountain Shelter

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

Decented Blood Mountain before breakfast and got to Walasi Yi - (still do not know how to pronounce it). Through hikers cannot miss this store/hostel, the AT runs through the building! Here we picked up a few supplies, received our first mail drop and had our first contact with "off trail society". We soon learned that our 2nd mail drop had been destroyed by the United States Postal Service - thank you USPS.Took off from Walasi Yi, our planned 7-8 mile slow day turned to 13 miles, we will see if this was a good idea considering Thin Mint's knee apparently would rather be sitting behind a desk right now. Last 4 miles seemed to take forever, forwarning to future AT thru-hikers, DO NOT trust the trail profiles on the map! We made it to cozy Low Gap Shelter around 1800 and ran into Stumpknocker as well as a section hiker we were leapfogging during the day.Almost forgot, once again had great trail magic, an older fellow pulled into a parking lot at a road crossing and asked if we wantred a soda or beer - I still don't believe I passed on the beer! Camped with Stump Knocker, Tang, Mike (?, Andrew, Michael, Teakettle & her dogs Zeke & Little Butt & 10ish UF spring breakers.
Date: 2003-03-11
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Unicoi Gap (Hiawasee, GA: Mull's Motel)
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: few clouds

Today was a little bit of a bummer, at least for me - 3 Sock says even a so-so day on the trail is a great day. Anyway things started off great really nice rolling trail that was so wide it had to have been a road (one lane back country road that is) at least at one time. It had numerous stone support walls allowing the steams which were running off the mountain continue under the road. But eventually we found ourselves on the normal ups & downs and after one particular 2 mile down my knee wasn't doing very well. We've also been having problems with our water filter, mainly it doesn't work. It cracked this morning or sometime this past week & quit working this morning so water also was a problem. We knew that if we stayed with the people we've been camping around we'd be fine, as we could use their filters. My knee is the problem with that plan as these people were going pretty far today & tomorrow and i'm not sure i could keep up. So we hitched into town (second car that passed, we we're relatively proud of our hitching ability). Got a room and started looking for the outfitter. We found the McDonalds but not the outfitter. Eventually we found that had we gone to the town that was the other direction from the trail we'd been fine but they closed the outfitter in this town. Long story short we're cleaned up, fed with non-dehyrated food, i have a brand new knee brace & someone is driving us a new water filter over from the next town.
Date: 2003-03-12
From: Unicoi Gap (Hiawasee, GA: Mull's Motel)

To: Unicoi Gap (Hiawasee, GA: Mull's Motel)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Zero DaySo i'll admit i'm a little upset at the concept of taking a zero day so early. I'm going to call this ice Thin Mint knees day instead. Fortunately, we're ahead of our "shedule" by a couple of days so this shouldn't have much of a negative impact. On a more possitive side i am able to bend my knees without making a series of faces and old people noises & the nice older woman who runs the motel we're staying at is now our best friend. (Note for future hikers: Mull's Motel in Hiawassee is a little mom & pop place but it's clean and the older women that runs it is very nice to thru hikers, i think she likes the company.)
Date: 2003-03-13
From: Unicoi Gap (Hiawasee, GA: Mull's Motel)

To: Addis Gap (tenting)
Miles today: 10.3

We woke up and had another fine breakfast at Johnny's, as we are starting to fit in quite well with the locals of Hiawassee. Today we took it easy, only 10 miles, as we started 16 miles from our next mail drop. We both think 16 miles is doable but... we're trying to take things slower to rest the knees. So tomorrow we should get into the place we had expected to be our first taste of civilization. We've talked about just picking up our mail drop and keep going. But this place is known for it's blueberry pancakes & i don't think we have the willpower to pass them up. As it was a slow day & there's not too much to describe, i'll tell the story of how Doug became 3 Sock. It's not the most exciting story but it does give you a laugh at 3 Sock so.... One night while getting ready for bed Doug loses one of his socks (i should mention here that the sock has been taken off inside the tent, a tent which is just big enough for both him & i to sleep without sufocating one another). In the morning while looking for the missing sock he loses an entirely different pair of socks (still inside the tent). While I'm taking down the tent Doug comes back from the "bathroom" so proud that he found his missing sock hanging from a tree near last nights "bathroom". The other people we tenting with seemed a little scared so we explained and voila the name was born. Only Doug could lose 3 socks in one tiny tent.
Date: 2003-03-14
From: Addis Gap (tenting)

To: Dicks Creek Gap (Blueberry Patch)
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Tonight we're staying at Blueberry Patch which is an organic farm turned hiker hostel. It was a pretty easy day as we knew we were coming here but my knees still hurt, sitting here now they feel great. But i'm sure i'll feel different tomorrow when i start hiking. Right now we're sitting around the in the common room talking with the owners Gary & Lennie who just stopped in to make sure we didn't need any for the night. What more could you possibly need we have Cokes in the 'frig, fruit on the table, chips & dip (thanks to Snacks) and way to sweet sugar cookies thanks to me & the local grocery store. I almost forgot the best part, they do your stinky, smelly laundry for you- not just allow you to do it you sit it outside the door and it comes back clean & folded! What nice people. We all sat up until 9:30, late by hiker standards, talking, eating, using the phone & just enjoying being warm & dry. Staying at The Blueberry Patch is Snacks (section hiker from Indiana), King Harvest (from Richmond), Bishop & Ramman (thru hiker & parial hiker respectively from NYC),and Red & Chris (from Georgia Tech). "i'm the most bitter music purist... in nysc was awesome" quote of the day from Andy (King) @ blueberry