morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-03-12
From: Winding Stair Gap

To: Ron Haven's Budget Inn
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

First of all: 1) I realize my mileage is 13 miles ahead due to it counting the miles I put down for my pre thru hike trip to Big Bend. I'll account for that in my entry for tomorrow. 2) I went back and added a lot of pictures to my old posts. Check them out!This morning Slapp, Dragon, Woodrow and I explored Franklin looking for a place to eat breakfast. We made a left out of The Budget Inn and walked down to the Normandie which served a country style breakfast. I had bacon eggs pancakes and coffee for around $6. It was great. Inside, lots of locals started joking with us and talking about the trail. Asking us what weapons we had on us, telling us to kill all the pigs we see, talking about past blizzards, and of course, bears. Once we eat, we called the Three Eagles Outfitters to get a ride to their store. I got a new pair of shoes a size larger and new insoles. They had reasonable prices and the ride to and from the store was great. We went and resupplied at Ingles and I tried to stay as light weight as possible. All of us (except Woodrow) and Moxie got food to mail ahead to Fontana Dam. We heard resupplying there is limited. On the walk back to the budget Inn I stopped with Woodrow at an Amish market type place and got Cuban sandwiches. I also got a strawberry milkshake. All very good. Ron gave all the thru hikers a lift to Three Eagles to ship and Walmart to resupply. At this point, Fly, Roswell, Heart Rock, Wet Dog, Sugar Gnome, and Rampli were here as well. Later, Matthew, Brody, Sole Sister, Heart Burns, Rob, Kensey, and Dan got in also. I tried to give some of my mother's fudge and brownies to everyone as we all hung out and enjoyed the rest. We sat in the parking lot and drank beer as our gear was put out to thoroughly dry. Kelsey and I also used this time to pass around items to be signed--my pack and her garden gnome. At this point I'm enjoying myself but can feel myself getting anxious. When I was at Walmart I mentioned it to Slapp and Fly and they both said it was that we needed to get back on the trail. For dinner we had Vito's deliver over pizza. They were very large and good but I don't think it impressed the three New Jersey guys I was staying with. After eating we watched some bad television and packed up for tomorrow. It might be a long day.
Date: 2013-03-14
From: wayah Bald Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 16.7

This morning was miserable. Frigid temps in the teens. It was difficult to get packed up and moving and I was one of the last to leave camp. There were several long climbs throughout the day and they were all pretty tough. None were very steep but extended time uphill is always a challenge. The climbs paid off with several awesome views, the best being a 360 from Wesser Bald Fire tower. It was a long day and we hiked around 17 miles. We stopped at the Rufus Morgan shelter where Roswell , road Runner, and heart rock were crashing. We also met the legendary thru hiker camaro, her dog Chevy, as well as California, bilbo , fiddlesticks, and shutterbug. Camaro is famous for being from Canada and hiking with her dog. She was injured right away and took some time off the trail but is now right back at it. Chevy is a cool dog too. We hiked on to the NOC and got a room at the base camp. Here we found Woodrow who had been missing his fuel. Moxie, Dragon, Woodrow, and I all went to eat at the river end restaurant where we found Joe and Fly. Outside I found a forgotten box of left over quesadilla and I'm not ashamed to say that Woodrow and I enjoyed it. I got a burger and side salad and 3 beers and dragon and I split s desert of ice cream with granola ( I can't get away from the stuff). After dinner I made friends with some people in rafting school that were very interested in thru hiking. They were awesome and I had several more beers and plenty of whiskey before telling them it was way passed a hiker's bedtime and said goodnight. Tomorrow we will climb 3500 feet up and out of the Nantahala Outdoor Center. No pressure to go far or fast. I wish we had taken a zero here instead of Franklin. Good food, good company. PS while hiking lately we keep seeing ads on the trail for the Aquone Hostel. This pisses me and other thru hikers off and we plan on avoiding the shelter due to this. The hostel is in the guide book, there is no need to advertise on trees along the trail. Why not put a billboard advertising the nearest McDonald's as well? The owners of the hostel have written in my guest book. They are welcome to defend themselves, but it is a deplorable thing to do among hikers and I plan on removing any more signs I see.
Date: 2013-03-16
From: Locust Cove Gap

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today was another tough day for me. I'm not sure If I'm still recovering from my dehydration/exhaustion or what, but I took a long time hiking the 13 miles we did today to Cable Gap Shelter. Jacob's Ladder was a nasty incline that took a bit out of me and I stopped at Brown Fork Gap Shelter to rest and get water. I also like to read and sign the registers of the shelters I pass when I have time ( I guess I always do). Moxie, Fly, and I met up and took a break at Cody Gap. Just before this I ran into Ryan and Kelly, two really nice weekend hikers who camped with us last night. Ryan hurt his knee and Kelly was having to race ahead to Fontana to get their car so she could come back and pick him up at a road crossing. Pappi helped Ryan to the road so I hope Kelly got to him ok. Once at the shelter we spoke with Roswell. I asked him who he had camped with the night before and was surprised to hear him mention Brice! Sure enough, Brice soon came into camp. So moxie and the stover creek boys have been reunited ( except joe hiked on towards Fontana today). Soon two German guys came and joined us. Moxie named them starsky and hutch. They have an awesome huge tent which is the envy of all of us. They share weight between them and say it only weighs 2 kg. We all sat around a fire for a long time tonight. The weather was beautiful and very warm. Just as people were starting to go to bed Slapp spotted a mouse on the shelter. Without hesitation I jumped up , said " Welcome to Earth!" And slapped the mouse into a log. It fell to the ground stunned and dying. I immediately felt horrible so I finished it and threw it in the woods. I'm not sure why I did it, I hate killing things, but I guess I didn't want it destroying my friends' gear and eating our food. They also carry disease so I used lots of hand sanitizer. Brice and Dragon assured me that I did the right thing, while Slapp and Moxie seemed a little shocked. I hung my own bear bag tonight as well as Fly's and Moxie's. I hope it holds! Tomorrow we have a short hike to Fontana dam. I'm looking forward to resting. Legend has it there is running water and showers at the Fontana Shelter, and you can even have a pizza delivered there!
Date: 2013-03-17
From: Cable Gap Shelter

To: Fontana Dam Hilton Shelter
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Well it was a short, easy hike to Fontana as expected. We were lucky enough to hitch a ride in the back of a pick up truck with a couple of fishermen headed from Fontana lake to the lodge. Slapp, Dragon, Fly, Woodrow, Starsky, Hutch, and I piled in the back. At the lodge we got our mail drop and Dragon and I realized we needed more food. Fortunately we found a trail Angel named Stick Chick who was just picking up Zippy and Ann who offered to give us a ride to robbinsville and back for lunch and resupply (27 miles each way!). Dragon, Woodrow, Fly, starsky, Hutch and I accepted her offer. Since it is a dry county, and it was st Patrick's day, the first thing we did was pick up some beer from the convenience store at the lodge ( resorts can sell alcohol in dry counties in NC).In Robbinsville we went to El Pacifico for lunch. We had guacamole dip as an appetizer and I ordered el hombre grande ( a chalupa, taco, burrito, enchilada , chile relleno, and rice and beans). I struggled to eat it all ( I'd been snacking in the car on the way over), but was hungry again by the time we got to the grocery store to go shopping. I picked up some chocolate bars, some pb and strawberry jelly combo ( not great-pb and honey is better), some powdered drink additives, some belvita breakfast bars, and a few digiorno pizzas. ( Since this resupply I have spoken to Dragon about good sugars and bad sugars and the different types of carbohydrates. I plan to do more healthy resupplies in the future which will help my endurance and energy levels throughout the day.)Stick Chick drove us to the shelter where we dropped off the groceries and our gear. She then took us to the marina where we got picked up by the fishermen so that we could hike the trail to the shelter. We did this with no gear, a practice known as slack packing. The shelter began to fill up pretty quickly and there were many new faces as well as some old. Brice was there, and Shutterbug, and I almost met Crow, a hiker who started on the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama, and City Slicka , a hiker from Boston who is yo-yoing ( hiked south from Maine to Georgia, then turned around and is hiking back north). It is awesome to meet so many different people and hear their stories. For dinner Woodrow and Dragon cooked the pizzas on aluminum foil over a campfire. It was great, and we each had our share of the yuenglings. We stayed up well past dark and really had a nice time. The "Fontana Hilton" is located right on the lake and the smokies begin on the other side. It was a very beautiful place to stay. This was my first night sleeping in a shelter and I slept fine, despite Tracker's ghost stories from the Wayah Bald fire tower!NOTE! There is basically nowhere to resupply in Fontana village. It's not really a village just a small resort. Pizza is not delivered to the shelter, but there are showers and running water located nearby. Tomorrow we enter the smokies!
Date: 2013-03-18
From: Fontana Dam Hilton Shelter

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

We got a fairly early start and walked across the dam and into the smokies national park. Walking on pavement was very strange, but the dam was an awesome sight. It was built by the TVA in the 1940s. The hike into the smokies is no cakewalk and we ascended several thousand feet in a short distance. Soon it began to look like rain and so I skipped climbing shuck stack fire tower. I regret this after seeing my friends pictures from the tower, the views were amazing. We met a park ranger named Brian who was really friendly and answered all our questions and warned us of a storm front that was moving in. I hiked alone most of the day but fell in behind Dragon for the last stretch to Mollie's Ridge Shelter. About 15 minutes from the shelter lightning and rain opened up and we hurried up. Inside we found Slapp, Joe, Starsky, Hutch, tracker, goat, and Rocky. Brice had just left for the next shelter and Starsky and Hutch soon did the same. Woodrow, Fly, Moxie, Pappi, Trisha and Cricket soon showed up as well. Trisha and Cricket are sisters from New York hiking with their coon hound ( currently being boarded- dogs not allowed in the Smokies). Dragon got a fire going and Slapp and Tracker got water. It was really nice to have a few people willing to go out of their way to help everyone out since the weather was so nasty. The shelter has a wood burning fireplace and is pretty cozy with a tin roof and a plastic tarp over the front. There are two tiers of sleeping racks and three walls made of stone. We listened to the hail, played gAmes, talked, and ate. I had mashed potatoes and a teriyaki noodle pack which I added crunchy peanut butter to. It was great. Roswell came in late soaking wet. He was a real trooper to hike here in this weather. I definitely would have stayed in Fontana another night. We all hung our food bags and turned in early. I'm sure we have plenty of climbing ahead of us tomorrow.
Date: 2013-03-19
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.0

After a nice night in the shelter I was the last to hit the trail. I am always slow in the morning ( those of you who know me know I am always slow at everything). The first 6 miles flew by and I caught up with Dragon at the Spence Field shelter where we saw a bunch of section hikers wearing blue jeans. We climbed up Rocky Top where I had to sing the chorus of a song popular at my alma mater-- F--- you Rocky Top, go to hell Tennessee! The views from the top were great and Fly and Slapp and Roswell and Woodrow were there. Roswell and Woodrow moved on and the rest of us moved to a grassy bald on an adjacent hill and ate lunch. I cooked mashed potatoes and ate way too much. We then climbed Thunderhead and had a long descent. The rest of the day was full of strenuous climbs and descents and I soon felt it in my right knee. Fortunately we were soon to the shelter and the weather was beautiful. We gathered wood and water and I claimed a spot on the top bunk this time. I hope I don't fall and die when I get up to pee in the night.
Date: 2013-03-21
From: Newfound Gap

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Sleeping on a pull out couch sort of made me miss the ground, but it was nice to be indoors! Dragon and I made a late night beer run, and Fly joined us for one that night.The next morning we destroyed the hotel's continental breakfast. We must have sat there for hours eating and drinking coffee after coffee. We did our laundry in the morning and all hopped in the hot tub and the pool. Pretty nice for treating the soreness from hiking. Afterwards, we took the trolley to the NOC shop in town to sign up for the shuttle to the trailhead the next day. In the store we found Moxie, her son and his girlfriend, and Trisha! They had just hitched mostly down to town with a park ranger, walking the last two miles after he got a call of a hiker in distress which he had to respond to. The NOC store was awesome and made me want to spend money I didn't have on gear I didn't need. I satisfied my desire by buying a tiny tube of sunscreen which was on clearance. From there, Fly, Dragon, Woodrow, and I walked through gatlinburg and got lunch. The town was not really full while we were there but I can understand why I have heard that hikers hate it. It is full of pancake houses, shops selling toys and candy, Ripleys Believe it or not! venues, and the weird, morbidly obese people who frequent these sorts of places. After lunch we took the trolley to a food city to resupply, catching the same trolley back and then going to the hotel. Before going to the room I ran across the street and got a bottle of Sailor Jerry rum. I was worried we wouldn't be able to finish it but it ended up not being an issue. The bottle and the beer we had left were soon gone and we headed back to the smokey mtn brewing co for dinner. Slapp, Dragon, Trisha, Woodrow , Moxie, and her son and his girlfriend and I had another good meal and I ate entirely too much.
Date: 2013-03-22
From: Newfound Gap

To: Peck's Corner Shelter
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: overcast clouds

The 22nd we took the shuttle up from the NOC after enjoying another nice breakfast at the hotel. Once again I drank a little more than I should have and probably wasnt exactly at my best... Oh well!We got to newfound gap and I had to put my wool baselayer on as it was fairly cold. There was snow everywhere and the climb out of there was fairly steep and icy. Once at the end of the climb the trail went through thick forest and became very beautiful. The layer of snow on the trees and the ground was awesome to see and the temperature was hovering just over freezing with almost zero wind- definitely my favorite hiking day so far. Every view was amazing and beautiful and we all found ourselves taking in the views and hiking slowly. We finally made our way to Peck's Corner Shelter, where we got about gathering fire wood. Moxie had expressed concern to me earlier about whether a fire would be possible that night since everything was covered in several inches of snow. I told her " We ALWAYS have a fire!" And so far, that has been true, mostly thanks to Dragon and Slapp. That is something that makes our group of hikers different from the others we have encountered. When most get to shelters they claim a sleeping spot and get in their sleeping bags and just kinda sit around until they go to sleep. We immediately go about gathering firewood, cleaning up in the shelter, gathering water for the group, and doing other things to help each other out. I feel like I am really lucky to be a part of this crew and I enjoy every day I spend with them. On this night, Fly brought marshmallows and she shared them with everyone. We cooked them over the fire right before bed.
Date: 2013-03-24
To: Standing Bear Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

The 24th was an easy day just over 10 miles, almost all down hill. We woke up to the rain on the tin roof of the shelter, but it was warm out (40s) and the rain stopped as we began to hike. The whole day was sloshing through mud and water. With a couple of miles left, we saw a sign for Fresh Ground's trail magic just ahead. Fly, Woodrow, and I raced to the tent and were happy to see Fresh Ground all set up. He is always a great guy to see and talk to as he can share stories of the hikers just ahead of you. Our group all met up at FG's tent and we stuffed ourselves with salad , fresh fruit, chicken noodle soup, hotdogs, Oreos ( which I had been dreaming of the night before), and other various snacks. It is really uplifting to have a full stomach on the trail and the social aspect of trail magic is unbeatable. I met Fresh Ground on my third day on the trail and it is awesome to know that my well being and progress on the trail matters to someone like him. After some time we all walked over towards the Standing Bear Hostel. We didn't make it far before running into two southbound hikers. We chatted with them for a while before an ex thru hiker named Ball Pahk pulled up in his jeep. He started talking to us about hiking and the next thing we knew he had offered to drive our packs over to the hostel so we could slack pack the last mile or so. It was really nice to walk without a pack and the remaining distance was quickly covered. At the hostel, Rocketman, Curtis, and Gator showed us around and we enjoyed a beer with Ballpahk.
Date: 2013-04-03
From: Uncle Johnny's Hostel

To: Uncle Johnny's Hostel
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we slack packed ( left most gear at hostel, just carried food and water) from Iron Mountain Gap back to uncle Johnny's. saw snow frog, Trisha and cricket, tracker , rocky, Roswell , goat, zippy and Diddo as well Fresh grounds had trail magic set up and it was awesome. Great to hang out with him and enjoy some warm food. It is really more about the companionship than the free food. Sorry for the bad entry, stayed up by the fire too late! Im going to start writing daily entries again tomorrow. I think we will take an easy day to avoid the rain.
Date: 2013-04-05
From: Uncle Johnny's Hostel

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: light rain

Last night I slept horribly at Uncle Johnny's. another hiker loaded up the wood burning stove in the bunkhouse and the temperature in my top bunk must have been over 90*. I propped the door open with a piece of wood and fell asleep to a myriad of different snoring patterns. A few hours later it was time to load up for the shuttle to iron mountain gap. I had so much food I couldn't fit it all in my food bag.on the way to the gap, Dragon showed me how you could see the interstate zooming by at 70 mph through the rusted out floor board. Awesome!From the gap we hike north, Chinstrap and 12 ounce hike south. Slow hikes north with us. IStart off slow as usual but our plan today is to just make it to a shelter six miles in where we can sit out the rain which is due to start around noon. It's a pretty hike and we pass Firehands and Kat camped out a couple miles in. We arrive at the shelter at 11am and change and get into our bags. The rest of the day is spent eating, talking, napping, and listening to NPR on my phone. Later on, Rocky, Tracker, Slow, and Cricket and Trisha showed up and the shelter was full.
Date: 2013-04-07
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: broken clouds

From Overmountain Shelter we hiked to Mountaineer. The day began with several climbs over huge balds with boulders on them. This climb looked like a scene from The Lord of the Rings. At the bottom of the balds I could just barely make out the hikers ahead of me as dots on the summit. Near the top of the bald I met a woman carrying a hatchet, some sort of suitcase, and a backpack strapped to her backpack. She told me she was heading to the summit of the bald for the night. She was bundled up in a parka and I was wearing only a bathing suit. Crossing 19E was the trashiest intersection with a road I have seen yet. But it was notable because this is where Fly ended her last hike on the AT, so she is now doing new miles. After 19E the trail went through some semi cleared/ developed land and was not as pretty until we came to Jones Falls, and then Elk River. Both were beautiful and I washed my nasty feet on the river and enjoyed the scenery for some time before heading to the shelter. Mountaineer shelter was a three story shelter with a nice bench/ table set up, a good fire pit, and a bear carved from wood. Probably one of the nicest shelters so far. Corduroy came in and got sick in the night. He slept outside in the tent. Norovirus is all over the trail and people around me keep getting it. We got word in Erwin that Woodrow was sick with Noro. Not sure where he is now but hope he catches up.
Date: 2013-04-08
From: Mountaineer Shelter

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 15.6

Fly brought corduroy water and then we all headed to kincorra hostel. We all hiked extremely fast this day. Slapp, Dragon, Fly, and I hiked at over 3mph and made the nearly 16 mile day in good time. I met AJ near the trail head and he and fly got some trail magic from a friend of Goat's. AJ went to the Black Bear Resort and Fly and I met Dragon and Slapp at the Kincorra hostel. Bob Peoples seemed like a really nice guy and I enjoyed my stay. Today I did around 16 miles from 8:45 to 2 including breaks... It was pretty easy going but still cool. I also saw a white tail deer which was cool. My first big mammal for the trip.
Date: 2013-04-09
From: Kincora Hostel

To: Campsite on Watauga Lake
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: few clouds

Trisha got sick during the night. Not sure if it was noro or not but who knows. I got a late start and didn't leave Kincora until after 10. Chinstrap and 12 oz showed up and I told them to finish the strawberry ice cream I left in the fridge. The trail started off as a rocky trail next to the river, going by rapids and Laurel Falls. It was very pretty but the rocks made me nervous about falling and hurting myself. The trail left the river and went over Pond Flats mountain. It wasnt flat. 1700 ft up in 2.5 miles but for some reason it felt tougher than normal. I had a full food bag and some luxury food items ( hard boiled eggs , cheese, tortillas, pepperoni) and I felt the weight. It was also pretty hot and I took a nice break at a spring on top of the mountain to chug some water before heading down to the rendezvous point: shook branch recreation area on watauga lake. We made camp at a beautiful site across the lake with a great fire pit and a huge stack of split wood. By the evening it was me , Fly, Dragon, Slapp, and Moxie, and we heard some noise down the river. We checked it out and found Trisha and Cricket with Roscoe, and Kat and Firehands with their pretty new dog Lucy which they found on the trail. Lucy has a collar but no tag and all her ribs were showing. She seems very happy now. For dinner I had mashed potatoes with cheese and hard boiled eggs, and a jalape±o cheddar tortilla wrap with pepperoni and eggs and pepper jack cheese. A Milky Way for desert.... This is camping!!( plenty of bream in the lake but slap wouldn't let me use his fishing kit. " It's for survival only!!"