morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-04-16
From: Hot Springs

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

We ate breakfast at the Smoky Mountain Diner before getting back on the trail after our double zero. Our packs felt extremely heavy from our mail drop and extra snacks we had bought in town. We crossed the French Broad River on the out of Hot Springs before heading into the mountains again. On the trail, we had beautiful views of the town and valley below. Maybe it was the two zero days but our packs felt heavier than what it is possible to walk up mountains with. We had to walk ten miles to the nearest shelter and only one of those miles was downhill since towns are usually in valleys. It took us a record seven hours to hike this distance. That¢s insane. That is the slowest we have ever walked. Baby had no problem with her pack and actually walked in front of us most of the time.When we did finally make it to the shelter at 6 pm., it was windy and getting colder. We didn¢t feel like cooking so we settled for bars and tortillas with peanut butter and chocolate chips. The people tenting next to us started an amazing fire that we sat around until dark. It was so warm that we had to sit farther back after only a few minutes. Needless to say, when we climbed into our quilts tonight we were warm and comfortable.
Date: 2015-04-17
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a bad day for me (Relentless). First off, we started hiking at 10 am for 15 miles. The weather was actually nice and warm and the trail was not too hard or worn until we got to the first shelter after 8.6 miles. It was 2:30 and we still had to east lunch. By three we were on the trail again but Wistful didn¢t feel well because our lunch had consisted of mochas and chocolate chip peanut butter tortillas. Baby was on some kind of farting spree and I¢m the one who always walks behind. It was uphill for a while but soon there came a section of trail that was basically a stream. For a couple of minutes there, we weren¢t sure if we had missed the trail completely or not because there was so much water. We ended up walking through bushes and the trees nearby so we wouldn¢t get completely soaked and muddy. The steep climb to Firescald Mountain never seemed to end and when we got to the top, the trail consisted of large boulders that we somehow had to maneuver across. Up there, I fell down. Twice. The second time, it was into some kind of very prickly berry bush with way more thorns than any bush has a right to have. There were thorns all over my hand, leg, and fleece sweater. We were on the ridge line though, so maybe I should be thankful I didn¢t fall off the edge. It wasn¢t just the boulders and falling down that made it a not so good day; it was also the black flies. The minute you stop walking, they will do everything in their power to fly into your eyes or ears. We had to pull our buffs over our ears to subdue their attempts. Baby decided the best tactic was to eat them. Wistful and I have not been that desperate yet, but there is always tomorrow. We finally reached the shelter at 7 and ate our not completely rehydrated dinner in our tent. We did have a good desert of those Little Debbie brownie things that no one in their right mind would want to eat after reading the ingredients. We only bought them because they have over 300 calories per serving and don¢t weigh much.For some reason neither of us have had cell phone service since Hot Springs. This is becoming a bit of a problem since we need to tell Helenna to send the mail drop to different place in Erwin than we originally decided. We will be in Erwin in only about 4 days so we really need to get in touch with her¢¦
Date: 2015-04-18
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Camping in the woods
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

It started out sunny, we had muesli for breakfast. We met Slingshot again, from the day before, he had stealth camped about a mile from the shelter. We had a good hiking day and decided to cook for lunch rather than for dinner, (Macaroni and cheese which turned out to be so salty that we got crazy thirsty for the rest of the afternoon), because the camp site we were aiming for had no water source and we didn¢t want to carry a lot of water. We ended up camping at a nice spot with lots of leaves as ground cover. We decided to hang bear bags and had a real laugh about the dangers of that endeavor. None of us can throw a rock worth anything and we were both in danger of getting hit on the head with that rock before it would ever go over that tree limb we were aiming for. But we managed in the end if the bags weren¢t 8ft from the trunk at least they were 12ft high!Relentless had internet on her phone for some inexplicable reason and we finished watching ¢Practical magic¢ on Netflix. That was very weird, but fun. Than we called Helenna and chatted for a while. We had a very pleasant evening.
Date: 2015-04-19
From: Camping in the woods

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: moderate rain

It had rained a little over night and we found a spell between showers to pack up and get on our way. From then on the weather just got worse. We had sort-of-lunch at Hogback Shelter and then it was just pouring! It was 4 more miles to Bald Mountain Shelter and we were soaked. There was the Bald we had to cross which would have been wonderful on a nice day, but not today! The wind was blowing so strong up on the ridge, driving the rain painfully into our faces and blowing us off the trail like leaves. The trail had turned into a muddy stream and I slipped several times in the mud. The temperature had dropped so quickly and the only thing we could do was to move forward as fast as possible to get out of this terrifying situation. Those are the times when you start questioning this adventure and wonder if you are putting yourself and your daughter in unnecessary danger. But you know you have to get yourself out of this situation and you have no choice but to fight it through and get to a safe place. When we arrived shivering at the shelter it was already full, Fair Enough wrapped a Mylar blanket around Baby, she was so cold! Everybody was really nice and after some rearranging we had a space in the corner, changed into dry clothes and cooked up some hot chocolate and chili. The shelter was built for 10 people and we ended up squeezing 16 into that space!
Date: 2015-04-20
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Erwin,TN
Miles today: 16.8

After a sleepless night in the shelter where people started to pack up and leave at 5a.m. we also decided head out. The weather forecast predicted more rain and thunderstorms for the day. We had two options either stay in the shelter for the day and wait for the storm to pass or go 17miles all the way into Erwin and dry out in the Hostel there. Another night in the shelter with more wet people coming in didn¢t appeal to us so we started at 9a.m. our hike into Erwin,TN. Surprisingly after the early morning rain the sun came out and we had nice day, except for the fact that everything was soaked including Baby¢s pack ,and therefore extra heavy. I was hoping we could get a ride to ¢Uncle Johnny¢s¢ out of Spivey Gap which was only 5 miles to hike to. But no such luck and Relentless didn¢t want to skip a single trail mile, so we trudged on and actually made good time. We arrived at¢ Uncle Johnny¢s¢ at 5.30p.m. All the cabins were full so we had to pitch our tent, which we just did in time before the thunderstorm hit. I was able to reserve a cabin for the next night, so we could leave Baby and go into town to eat. We still had wonderful hot showers before we went to bed.
Date: 2015-04-26
From: Ash Gap

To: Doll Flats
Miles today: 15.5

Since we were tenting with papa al and Conductor, we got up VERY early. As predicted it started to rain at seven in the morning and we almost got our tent packed up in time to keep it dry. We climbed the two miles to the top of Roan Mountain and it was rainy and cold the whole time. Baby had a rash under her arms so Relentless was carrying her pack. At the top of the mountain was a large meadow with a plaque that told the story of the Cloudland hotel which used to stand in that field. The hotel operated I the 1800s and straddled the NC/TN border. During that time it was illegal to consume alcohol in NC but not in Tennessee so guests had to be in the correct side of the hotel to drink their liquor. The plaque was very long and we were too cold to read everything so I will have to Google this topic when we get to town. We were looking forward to seeing the legendary Roan High Knob shelter which also happens to be the highest shelter on the AT. When we saw the steep side trail to the shelter, we had no qualms about skipping it. The day was still really cold and wet and baby was shivering. The trail continued over several bald all of which had really strong winds and were extremely cold but we all managed to keep our balance and keep hiking. We saw plenty of comfortable lunch spots where would spent hours enjoying our food and the views on a warm day. Towards noon, the rain gave way and everything was covered in a foggy blanket. We ate lunch with conductor and papa Al at the next shelter and continued on quickly hoping to out-hike the rain. We did want to stop by Over Mountain shelter which is a converted barn and is said to be impressive. On our way over the last mountain, I nearly fell off the edge of the ridge onto a bunch of very hard and sharp looking boulders. I was able to grab hold of a small, wobbly tree. I yelled at Wistful to help me up but for some reason she just stood there and watched me. When I yelled at her the second time, she finally came over and helped me up.When we got to the trail to the barn we ran into some much needed trail magic of beer, sodas and Moonpies. Wistful dropped her moonpie so Baby got some trail magic too. We also ran into Hansel and Gretel, the couple from the Black forest. After looking at the barn shelter (of which we will post pictures as soon as the WiFi is good enough) we continued down to Doll Flats, a nice meadow where we wanted to camp. The weather was still warm for a change so we enjoyed dinner outside of our tent on the grass. We watched the wisps of fog blow around above us. And enjoyed sitting outside for a while.
Date: 2015-04-30
From: campsite 

To: Shady Valley
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: light rain

Last night was not quite as undisturbed and lonely as we had expected. We had a visitor, something sounding like a big dog was snuffling through the leaves close to our tent. We tried to peak through the mesh but couldn¢t see anything. Baby started growling and barking, and we heard the animal go past us and down the ravine on the other side of our tent. We are pretty sure it wasn¢t a big dog, so I am guessing it was a bear.Today was relatively easy, no steep hills like yesterday. We were up on the ridge most of the time and had beautiful views of Watauga Lake and the surrounding valley. The trees are starting to gain new leaves and it almost looks like fall with all the different shades of green and light reds in between trees in full bloom, white dog woods, and orange Azaleas. Later in the afternoon, we came out of the woods to a road crossing and our trail took us to the most amazing meadow with the sweet fragrance of wildflowers and an apple tree in flower covered with busy bees. It felt so good to come out of the woods to this open space, I had no idea how claustrophobic the forest can feel after walking through it for days on end. I am looking forward to Virginia where there should be more of these meadows and openness to hike past.
Date: 2015-05-01
From: Shady Valley

To: Damascus
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: light rain

We were eager to walk into Virginia today. The trail was pretty easy and we were quickly running out of snacks. Mooch was kind enough to give us trail mix so we would survive until Damascus. The miles went by surprisingly quickly and at the Virginia/Tennessee state line we even ran into Piper who was hiking southbound to meet us. A few minutes before we reached town, the cloudy skies started pouring rain down on us. The Woodchuck hostel wasn¢t too far away though and we hurried into the Teepee that we were supposed to stay in that night. It was beautifully painted and huge. It would have been very enjoyable to sleep in had it not been raining. The water tended to drip down in random places so we kept having to move our stuff so it wouldn¢t get wet. The owner, Chuck, said he wouldn¢t rent the Teepee out during rain after he saw all the puddles on the carpet. But it was a very nice hostel with s complementary waffle breakfast. So, far Woodchuck¢s is the best place we have stayed.
Date: 2015-05-02
From: White Top Mountain

To: Damascus
Miles today: 21.9

We had our first slackpacking hike today. What an amazing experience! Wistful, Baby, and I hiked the 23 miles from White Top Mountain back to Damascus while Piper started a little closer to town hiking 14 miles. We planned to meet up for lunch and hike together from there back to Damascus for dinner. It was fun to hike south and cross paths with all the hikers going north. We met Hansel &Gretel, the Australians, and even Will and Way. After a burger dinner we had a hot shower waiting for us at the hostel.
Date: 2015-05-03
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0

We were in no big hurry this morning since we had to wait for Monday¢s mail drop anyway. To kill time and simply do something else, we decided it would be fun to rent bikes and enjoy the scenery of the Virginia Creeper Trail. There are at least 3 bike rental places for this exact purpose. The trail itself was quite beautiful and it was always either downhill or completely level. Apparently, however, our bad luck was not over with the missing package. About three miles down the trail, there was a loud pop like a firework and a second later, Wistful¢s back tire was completely flat. But the bike rental company had conveniently given us a repair kit with 2 spare inner tubes. (There was also supposed to be a patch kit which was AWOL.) Wistful quickly extracted the back tire from the bike and proceeded with putting in the new inner tube. It didn¢t take much time and soon Piper was pumping up the tire. But after a few second of pumping, we all heard the faint hiss of escaping air. The brand new inner tube had a sizable and clearly visible hole in it. Now we know why they gave us 2 inner tubes! We grudgingly undid all Wistful¢s previous work to once again change the tire. This time, Piper blew up the tire beforehand though, just in case. To our disbelief and utter astonishment this second and last inner tube also had a hole in it! After unsuccessfully looking for hikers/ bikers with cell service to call the rental company, a local stopped by and used his patch kit to repair the inner tube. Finally we were able to go back to enjoying the trail and hoped the patch would hold.Just outside of town, Wistful¢s inner tube patch reached the end of its life and the tire became flat again. She ended up pushing the bike to the nearest restaurant from which Piper called the rental company to come pick up the bikes. It was a lovely day and bike ride but would have been much better without flat tires of course.
Date: 2015-05-04
From: Damascus

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We are finally leaving Damascus. The first day after being in town is always difficult, you are loaded up with food, in your stomach and in your pack, you have to change back into hiking mode and sometimes that can take a few hours. We hadn¢t planned a big day but we did stop much earlier than anticipated. The campsites around Thomas Knob Shelter were just too inviting, the ground being covered with soft spruce needles and the view out into the Highlands with the hope of seeing some of the ponies that live here. It was also good that we had stopped early, so Piper had time to set up her new tent for the first time on the trail. We had a wonderful relaxing evening.
Date: 2015-05-05
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Fox Creek
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Shortly after we started out this morning we saw a family of ponies. There were two foals and the parents. The foals looked to be just a few weeks old, still long legged and strangely proportioned. Later on, we encountered more wild ponies on our hike through the Grayson Highlands. The spruce forest had opened up to a very different landscape of boulders and meadows interspersed with some smaller spruce and lots of brambles. The wild horses here help keep the brambles from taking over and ¢mow¢ the grassy areas turning them into very soft inviting picnic spaces of which we took advantage and had a long break since Relentless had a bad sore throat and wasn¢t feeling well. The sun was out and the day was just gorgeous. It is so enjoyable to have this vastness and views of the surrounding mountains, with Mt. Rogers, Virginia¢s highest peak at 5,729 ft, being only about 3 miles behind us. We hiked until late afternoon when we camped at Fox Creek. We had the rare luxury of port a potties close by and a trash can too!
Date: 2015-05-06
From: Fox Creek

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

The morning started out beautiful. We had a nice long lunch at a stream, but around 4 p.m., a thunderstorm started to move in as we were just at the road crossing to the Trimpi Shelter. We, unfortunately, decided to go on, hoping the storm wouldn¢t get us before we made it to the campsite we had chosen. But no luck there. Buffy had warned us that the storm was only a few minutes behind us and she chose to go to the shelter. Needless to say, we got soaked within minutes and ended up turning around and staying at the shelter after all. After about an hour, everything was over and the sun came out. By then it was too late and we were too wet to want to keep hiking.We had settled in the shelter and spread out our clothes to dry, when we noticed mice scurrying around in the shelter in broad daylight. Relentless and I set up our tent after all, mice that bold in day light were bound to be a nuisance at night. We don¢t like to sleep in shelters anyway, with or without mice.
Date: 2015-05-07
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Atkins
Miles today: 21.0

We had plans to hike 16 miles today, piper didn¢t want to go that far so we split. I needed to get to a place with cell service fast, I had to talk to Helena to take care of some problems at home. Since it was just the two of us again we ended up hiking the 21 miles all the way into Atkins, VA. I just love Virginia! There are still mostly woods to hike through but there were several tomes today where the woods opened up to beautiful meadows, and about two miles before Atkins the path wound through an old orchard with trees and wildflowers in bloom, so beautiful and fragrant, I would have just laid down in the grass, lay there with my eyes closed and just savor the spring. But Relentless had some really bad leg pain and we both were hungry and didn¢t want to get there too late, since we learned that restaurants and stores tend to close rather early in these small towns.
Date: 2015-05-08
From: Atkins

To: atkins
Miles today: 0.0

We decided we would stay one more night in Atkins, to rest our legs. Atkins is incredibly small and there is nothing to do here except sit on the bed and watch TV or sit outside. There is WiFi here but it does not work in our room, only outside but we really have to update our trail journal. So that¢s what we will do; and take a nice hot shower every few hours and eat.
Date: 2015-05-09
From: atkins

To: O'Lystery Pavilion
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Piper had arrived at the Motel the day before and we started out together this morning.Piper had the idea to make this a slackpacking hike, so we arranged to get our packs dropped off at the Pavilion in the late afternoon. It was sunshine and blue sky for our hike through the meadow leading out of Atkins.We had lunch at Crawfish Creek and later took a break at the Creek again where we cooled our sore feet and legs in the water and Baby had a good time getting sticks out of the creek and digging for rock in the water.When we arrived at the Pavilion there were already a bunch of hikers waiting for Paperclip to drive into town and get everything needed to grill hamburgers and hot dogs and a few cases of beer.My shinsplints and Relentless' sore legs had gotten worse and we were glad to set up camp. Later we enjoyed the burgers and the company.
Date: 2015-05-10
From: O'Lystery Pavilion

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

This morning we made the decision to take Baby home. We had talked about this for a while now and since our legs needed time to heal we figured this would be a good way to use the time we had to take off the trail. It was getting warmer and soon it would be too hot for Baby to hike, she would slow us down too much plus it is just easier without a dog being in town, not all hostels allow pets etc. Piper decided to come with us So we began to plan how to make our way back. We got a ride to the Tri Cities airport where we rented a car and then drove then 17 hours to Texas. I had totake care of a few things at home,and of course we rested our sore legs.But soon enough we got antsy and left for the trail again. Monday the 18th we started our journey back and arrived at the O'Lystery Pavilion at 3:30p.m. on Tuesday to pick up where we left off. We hiked the 3.5 miles to Lynn Camp Creek and set up our tent there in the late afternoon. Later several hikers joined us, none of them were familiar to us. Unfortunately getting off the trail means you lose the people you hiked with before you left, so "our people" of course had moved on. It felt all strange and weired being back in the woods. The other hikers all new each other and had a camp fire going in no time roasting marsh mellows to which they invited us.But we were also really tiered after 18 hours car time and went tombed early.
Date: 2015-05-20
From: Lynn CreekvCampsite

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: broken clouds

The trail had transformed in the 10 days we were home. The trees are just covered with leaves , the berry bushes are in full bloom, so are the Rhododendron, Azaleas and Mountain Laurels. The snakes seem to have come out of hibernation, we saw two today on the trail, a Garter snake and a Rat snake. Transformed are the people as well, nobody we know is hiking on this stretch of trail anymore, they all have moved on.We wanted to hike 18.6 miles today to the Jenkins Shelter, were we hoped we would catch up with Piper, who had been back on the trail since Monday. She was going slower and we were moving faster to make this happen, hence the 18.6 miles.We did meet Piper in the evening when we around 7p.m. finally arrived at the shelter. We are looking forward to hiking together for the remainder of her vacation.
Date: 2015-05-21
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Bland, VA
Miles today: 13.0

It rained off and on overnight and didn¢t let up as we started our hike in the morning. So we decided to hike into Bland and stay at the Motel there. It was an easier hike than yesterday, not nearly as rocky. Later, the weather cleared up but we still enjoyed being able to stay at the Motel¢, take a shower and eat, of all places, at Dairy Queen! There was no washing machine at the motel, but managed to wash the most important stuff in the sink. I don¢t think I¢ve ever eaten at Dairy Queen and it wasn¢t all bad. They have a good strawberry milkshake and fries. Lots of calories. Yay!!