morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-09-24
From: Watauga Lake

To: Dennis Cove Rd, Kincora hostel
Miles today: 9.7

up and out by 8, had a 2000 ft hill to climb, the hill was very easy I thought, nothing at all like maine I almost didnt even break a sweat. I was headed to kincora hostel, and knew it was only 10 miles away so I took my time and talked with all the day hikers I saw. Came up to the Laurel fork shelter at around 11 Am and there was still a guy sleeping in his tent and a HUGE Bourbon bottle sitting beside his tent empty so I figured he would be sleeping for awhile. went down to the Laurel falls, it is a nice 30 ft waterfall 1 mile from the hostel. Talked to some locals down there who were swimming and just out for a night of camping. Got to the hostel and was greeted by Bob and Pat Peoples, really nice folks and they had a really nice hostel. Took a shower and did laundry, Helped bob around the house a little bit. They were going to church later on and said they would take me to the grocery while they were there. Got more food and ate at burger king. Went back to the hostel and met Bob-Pinball-Newguy yeah he has 3 names. He did kinda the same hike I did except he started at harpers ferry and went north then back to harpers ferry and south. I was kinda glad to have someone there to talk to tonight. He washed all my clothes again cause I had accidently left mine where he thought they were dirty. Talked with him a lot then went to bed.
Date: 2005-09-25
From: Dennis Cove Rd, Kincora hostel

To: Apple House shelter
Miles today: 24.3

Woke up kinda late, me and Pinball decided we were going to cook pancakes this morning cause we found some pancake mix and we had a whole kitchen in the hostel all to ourselves. Had about 8 pancakes a piece with syrup, pinball didnt have syrup, never met anyone who doesnt like syrup on their pancakes till now. I didnt really know how far I was going to go today, I kinda wanted to hike with pinball but I didnt really know if he wanted to hike with me. Passed some section hikers out for a week from Missourri. Water was more available on this section of the trail. The trail was really easy through this section and the miles just kept flying by. Planned on going to apple house shelter but knew we would be night hiking. got dark out so we had to walk slower and then had to cook supper in the dark so that kinda sucked. The shelter was horribly dirty and was square like a box. It was really windy through the night and a huge tree limb fell on the roof of the shelter and woke me up. Pinball said he didnt sleep but 3 hours.
Date: 2005-09-26
From: Apple House shelter

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: light rain

A lot of people told me that the next 20-30 miles are the best of the south. Wouldnt you know it that I woke up to another freaking Hurricane rolling in and pretty much just sat on us all day long. Rained all day, which was kinda fun at first cause it changes a lot of things to hike in the rain, obviously my feet were wet after hiking for 5 mins cause im wearing sandels now. We got to the Doll Flats where there is a vista and a nice campsite. Pinball was takin a pic of the mtns when I spotted a Huge Black bear, Well after 5 mins of watching it and taking a couple pics it turned out to be a cow, I know, laugh it up but you can ask pinball it really did look like a bear. Got to Overmountain shelter and took a break, It was .3 off the trail but we didnt care cause this shelter was a really old barn and was totally enclosed so we could escape Hurricane Rita. By the way, Pinball is from Houstan TX and he said he talked to his wife and pretty much we got more rain from the hurricane than she did. but thats just what he told me. stayed at the shelter for almost 2 hours. Went onto stan murray Shelter and took yet another break out of the rain for about 20 mins. Today we hiked over Little hump and Hump Mtn, these are balds and are at a elevation of 5600ft the wind was blowing about 50 mph and was very cold, pinball carries an umbrella it was quite funny watching him walk with it,youll see the pics. Down to Carvers gap and got some water, some homeless looking guy asked us if we had any tobaccoo and after we said no, he asked if we had any in our cars, and we replied we dont have any cars. Got some water here for the trip up Roan High Knob, This is the Highest shelter on the trail sitting at 6285 ft it is just 3 ft shorter than Mt Washington up in New Hampshire. Got to this shelter and I really wanted to stay in it just cause it is a cool shelter cause it has 4 walls and a door. About 25 school kids were there and the shelter was only spose to hold 20 people so instead of cramming inside we decided to hike another 6.4 to another shelter in the dark wet cold night. It wasnt that bad of a hike, We cooked supper before we left the Roan High knob shelter so we wasnt hungry and made really good time. Almost got lost but finally found where we were. Had the shelter all to ourselves, Poured all night long
Date: 2005-09-27
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Curley Maple Gap shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: broken clouds

Woke up and listened to the news to hear the weather, cloudy skies but no rain. A lot of fog still low to the ground, We were both upset about missing all the wonderful views yesterday. The Roan Highlands are spose to be really pretty just like the Grayson Highlands in Southern Virgina. I guess I can always come back and hike em some time. Got a horrible late start this morning. Didnt leave untill 9 and was planning on doing 21. No great spots to take breaks in the morning so we hiked straight to the first shelter and took a hour long break there. Got some wonderfull water there that I didnt purify cause it was so nice. If I get sick in the next week or two I guess I will know why. Climbed 1700 ft to Unaka Mtn and still had 9.5 miles to do. met a guy hiking from Erwin to Pearisburg VA. He was a really nice guy who was being worked too hard from a friend and hadnt had more than one day off a week for the last 2 years and finally told him that if he didnt let him take a month off he was quitting. Hiked to a Beauty Spot (thats what its called) and cooked supper, it was 5 and we still had like 7 miles to do. More night hiking for tonight didnt sound like fun but we just got too late of a start this morning. Passed Indian Grave Gap, I didnt see any graves but sounded like a cool place to camp but pinball didnt want to. Finally got to the shelter about 9 and went straight to sleep. Gonna try to get a early start tommorrow to get to erwin.
Date: 2005-09-28
From: Curley Maple Gap shelter

To: Erwin, Miss Janets house
Miles today: 4.2

Out of the shelter by 7, we followed this very nice stream all the way into erwin. Saw a Train going out of erwin and had to cross the tracks. Crossed the Nolichucky river and then tried to hitch back into town. This town is really spread out but has a lot of good restaurants. we ate at some little breakfast place like shoneys, It was really good. Got to miss janets house and she was not there. Went to the grocery and I got a half gallon of ice cream and ate it all. To the library to update journals and hopefully going to eat at Erwin Burrito tonight for supper.
Date: 2005-09-29
From: Erwin, Miss Janets house

To: Erwin, Miss Janets house
Miles today: 0.0

zero day, yay!!.. rode with miss janet to hot springs and looked around town a little bit. saw some nice views and tobaccoo fields on the way back. saw a whole bunch of wild turkeys too. watched office space the movie at her house and then went to Johnson City to watch a movie and go out to eat. went to a chineese buffet and then went to see Lord Of War again. It is a really good movie.
Date: 2005-09-30
From: Erwin, Miss Janets house

To: Bald Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 16.9

Had french toast and eggs for breakfast. Didnt get back on the trail till 10:30. Had 16 miles to do and kinda had a slow start. got some nice views of erwin and the Nolichucky river. Hiked alone till the first shelter. took a small break, talked with two older men hiking, hiked behind pinball for a few miles then crossed 19w and took another break. Had to climb a couple big hills after that so I went first cause I want to try to keep my strength up so I dont get so tired easy. came up on a guy trying to start a fire with wet wood. we helped him, got a fire going then headed to the shelter. went over little bald mtn too bad its a wooded summit. Got water at the shelter spring then cooked mac+cheese, Very nice shelter here. Most shelters thru here dont have privies, which sucks but this one does.
Date: 2005-10-01
From: Bald Mtn Shelter

To: Flint Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up to a heavy dew, A guy camping beside us saw a bear around 7:30. Hiked up big bald mtn, great views. Day hikers asked us a million questions. Pinball mentioned that there was a cafe 3 miles off the trail in about 8 miles, got to the road and there were trash cans, We emptied our trash out of our packs and just then a lady who had just moved from oregon and was originally from german came back to ther car from walking her two dogs. She agreed to take us to the cafe and back to the trail if we got our stuff to go. She dropped us off and pinball and I ate our food, I got 2 huge cheeseburgers. It was so nice that we had trash cans right there. before we left a older gentleman came up who looked like he could hardly walk, He sat down with us, he had been up in the woods digging up ginseng root. He said that a few years ago he could sell a pund of root for $500.00, He told us that it is illegal but I dont really think he cared too much. We stopped at hogback ridge shelter around 3 pm. We still had 9 miles to go. Got to the shelter around dark, been really going slow lately. 3 other guys in the shelter tonight from kentucky section hiking. they are nice guys. One of them has done about 600 miles of the trail over 6 years. The people that section hike the entire trail, I feel deserve it much more than I do. Every week that they come out here, they have to get in shape again. I started my new book tonight called Alive, about 40 people who went down in a plane crash in the Andes Mtns.
Date: 2005-10-02
From: Flint Mtn Shelter

To: Spring Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: broken clouds

Hiked up 1000ft to shelton graves, Two brothers in the civil war who lived in the south but fought in the north, they were going home for a family reunion and got killed by the confederates. Went to the top of big Butt Mtn and called my parents. Passed another grave where the ashes were spread of a man who had hiked the trail in 1968. Got to Jerry cabin shelter, there was a newspaper aritcle laminated and hanging on the wall. this shelter was in bad shape, It had trash all over the place, The article was about a guy named sam who died this year. He had been the volunteer caretaker of this section of the trail and of this shelter, the trail was all overgrown and the weeds in front of the shelter were almost as tall as I am. This article took up the whole page of the newspaper. The one phrase that caught my eye was when someone asked sam why he does his job and he said " I just love this Mtn and I would always look up here when I was a kid and I knew that I would spend alot of time on this mtn when I grow up" he wanted the Mtn to be clean and so this section of the trail was very clean. before sam started cleaning up this shelter it was the worst on the entire trail, they had a picture of this shelter and it looked very clean. Also in the article it talked about hikers and how most people pass through this area and dont even care about how clean it was back then. That is absolutely true 90% of the hikers I hiked with would complain about the few weeds growing in the trail but would not say anything about the nice part of the trail we walked on the other 80% of the time. Hiked on to blackstaff cliffs and took several pics. Stopped at little laurel shelter for water then headed to spring mtn shelter. Passed a setion hiker who told us about a hidden spring just ahead at allen gap. Pinball and I cooked dinner there just incase there wasnt any water at the next shelter, On the way up the hill I ran into 2 guys hiking and they were from columbus. They asked me lots of questions and we exchanged info. They also told me of a guy from amanda was out hiking but he just got off the trail. Got to the shelter and decided to camp so we went passed the shelter looking for a decent place for pinballs tent, Kinda cold tonight, I let pinball use my thermarest cause I didnt need it. Read 50 more pages in my book and fell asleep.
Date: 2005-10-03
From: Spring Mtn Shelter

To: Hot Springs, Elmers
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

Out of camp by 7:30. It stays dark now till about 7 or so. which really su7kcs cause I have been using my headlamp more. Went straight down 500 ft then right back up. Stopped at a firetower and took some pics./ Crossed over a freeway, bummed cause I didnt get any semis to honk at me. walked by some old tobaccoo fields and then sat on a bench beside a pond, came to pumpgap which I know nothing about other than we had just passed our 1900 mile mark, Pinball wasnt as excited as I was though. Got to a very nice view point where we could see hotsprings and the french broad river. We hurried into town and ate a huge lunch at smokey mtn diner. Stopped by elmers house and got checked in. Did laundry and went to the post office to mail some things home. Outfitter let me check email, It was $3 per half hour. Pinball and I went down to the Pub but they were closed, so we bought a 6 pack and went back to elmers house. Supper was at 7:30. Elmer has his own organic farm he cooks everything vegetarian. We ate soup, a huge salad with some really good but weird dressing. The main dish was pasta with wild mushrooms then pecan pie for dessert. He served two bottles of wine too.
Date: 2005-10-04
From: Hot Springs, Elmers

To: Old Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Ate a huge Breakfast at Elmers, We had Pecan pancakes with apple syrup, fresh apple juice, Granola, and stewed apples. Still hadnt decided if I wanted to go to NH or not for a festival for hikers. I have a ride there and back. but didnt really wanna take 5 or 6 days off the trail, didnt hike out till 11 and didnt hike out with pinball, stopped at deerpark mtn shelter for a snack, enjoying the freedom of being alone. Out of hotsprings it was a nice 3-4 mile uphill. stopped at a spring flowing very fast out of the ground near the top of the mtn, I drank about 40 oz in 1 min. Got to the top of bluff Mtn and only had 2 or 3 more miles to go. Got to walnut mtn shelter and felt great so I decided to keep going. hiked 2 more miles and got to the old roaring fork shelter. they built a new shelter about 3 or 4 miles south of here which is why this is called the old one. Husband and wife were in the shelter, doing a section hike. I have been seeing tons of people doing a week at a time working their way from south to north. The guy looked like a snorer so I set up my hammock. Cooked supper and chatted with them. Fell asleep reading my book.
Date: 2005-10-05
From: Old Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Green Corner Rd
Miles today: 18.9

Hiking by 7:30. I kinda like hiking by myself sometimes cause I can take as little or as much breaks as I want. Stopped by the new roaring fork shelter. Bran spankin new. Pretty nice one at that. came across 4 guys sectioning, said they camped up on max patch last night. Said it was really windy and told me to be careful. got up there and the winmd was blowing about 10 mph, I was so scared!! Max patch is a 4600 ft hill that is bald because they mow it. But its really pretty, I forgot to mention yesterday when I was in the outfitter before I left I ran into captain Pattagonia from up in maine, He summitted Katahdin a day before me. He had told me he left some trail magic at max patch road. Had a mountain dew and a iced honey bun, yumm my favorite, 700 calories. came up over a hill and saw a dog but neved did see anyone who owned him. got to ground hog creek shelter and took a 45 min break. The register there went back a full year. Came up over snowbird mtn and there was a air traffic control building up there. really weird looking building. hiked 5 mile to standing bear farm hostel. used the phone and called whitewater to see if he could still come and get me. the trail is 50 miles from his house. Whitewater is adam and nurse rachet is erin. They cooked me cheeseburgers, baked beans, french fries, and peach cobbler. I ate a lot. watched where the red fern grows, I did not tknow they had made that into a movie. Funny thing is Dave Mathews the singer is in it. Not real good acting I didnt think.
Date: 2005-10-06
From: Green Corner Rd

To: Cosby Knob shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: moderate rain

Adam cooked French toast and erin fixed the bacon. Adam puts peanut butter on his french toast. I didnt like that. I ate 9 pieces and he ate 4, he is not on the hiker diet anymore. Adam had to work for a little bit and erin took me to the kroger and outfitter. Packed all my stuff up and adam took me back to the trail. Adam hiked with me for 2 mile then I heasded onto davenport gap shelter. I am now in the smokey Mtns. Got there and took a break. convinced 3 section hikers to go to the hostel only 3 miles away. The smokies is just a 70 mile ridge (well the part the AT goes over). So I had to hike to the top of the ridge, 4 miles and 3000 ft of elevation up. The good thing is that once you get to the top its fairly flat. there are still 500-1000 ft climbs but not that hard of ones. It has rained all day, the smokey mtns are all smokey so I did not get any views. Some of the Shelters in the smokies still have chain link fence on the front of them to keep the bears out. Problem was people were lurring them into the shelters and then locking the bears inside so they couldnt get out. They are remoldeling the shelters and taking the fence off and adding nice porches. 6 of us in the shelter tonight.
Date: 2005-10-07
From: Cosby Knob shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: light rain

Rained all night and is still raining. Hiked up cosby knob. saw a lot of section hikers this morning. Its funnty that its raining pretty hard and Im walking in my shorts and cut off t-shirt while section hikers wear Rain pants and rain coat. they have got to be buring up in those things cause Im sweating with what im wearing. Went 8 miles to tri corner knob shelter, as soon as I got in the shelter it really started to pour, So I figured it was a good spot for early lunch, two guys came in and i made small talk with them. I left and had a 12 mile section with no breaks so I stuffed a few candy bars in my pocket. I dont really wanna know how many snickers bars I have eatin on the trail, At least 10 a week, they just taste so good. The smokey mtns has a lot of animals in it, estimated between 1600-1800 bears in I think 400,000 acres. The bears dont really scare me anymore, what does scare me is the wild boars, Just like a pig but with tusks like an elephant. One guy told me that they will sneak up behind you and stick you with their tusks between the thighs to pierce your main arteries going down your leg. so you will bleed to death, Ive never even heard of a hiker seeing on let alone getting attacked. One of my old boyscout leaders, Emerson use to hunt them and I remember him telling us stories of climbing trees to get away from them, he is such a short guy though so I think the tusks would hit him in the head instead of the thigh. Still raining when I got to charlies bunion, I hiked the .1 to it anyway to see the cloudy view. Nice straight dropoff that I couldnt even see the bottom of ca use the clouds were so low. Got to Icewater shelter about 4. 3 dayhikers there, A guy with his 10 yr old daughter who had read a book about thruhiking the AT and she wants to do it when she gets older, they left then two section hikers came ot stay the night. then 4 more came, a couple with their two kids, a 4yr old and a 10 month old, this I didnt think was too smart considering it was 50 degrees and raining, didnt get hardly any sleep from the baby crying and people snoring
Date: 2005-10-08
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Silers Bald shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Its not getting light enough to hike till about 7:20 now. someone had left about 5 lbs of trash in the shelter so I carried it 3 miles to newfound gap to the trash can. Still raining lightly, since Im wearing sandels my feet have been wet for 3 days now, kept hiking and ran into leviathon whom I had hiked with some up in VT/NH he completed his hike on 9-21 and was just doing a section hike and then heading to knoxville to the UGA/TN football game. Had to go over a few mtns then got to clingmans dome the highest point on the whole AT. at a whopping 6643 ft. It felt like I was on top of Mt Pleasant its actually a better view on my pleasant. they built this hug spiral observation tower, so tourists could come up even in wheel chairs. I sat on the benches on top and listened to people complain about the 1/2 mile they had just walked from their cars and how they cant believe that there isnt a water fountain up here. I sat up here for 2 hours talking to people. They took my picture and one lady actually video camd me and told me to tell her a story. It had stopped raining but was still very wet waling along the trail, there are always high weeds growing over the trail. Got to double spring gap shelter and only had 2 miles left to the shelter I was headed to. Talked to a guy out with his daughter from cincinnati for about an hour. Hiked up silers bald that Ive heard has some really nice views but I couldnt see anything. Talked with some college kids who didnt have their permit to be in the smokies they were going to stealth on top of silers bald. If they get caught they could loose all their gear and get $250 fines. Finished my book tonight about the urugyans plane crash and them eating all their friends. So now I got to carry a 2 lb book for nothing. I was the only on who snored tonight.
Date: 2005-10-09
From: Silers Bald shelter

To: Mollies ridge shelter
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Ziplock, one of the section hikers in the shelter last night left an hour before I did, I caught him within one hour after I started hiking. He had told eeryone going the other way that I was hiking the whole trail so they all stopped and wanted to talk. Got to derrick knob shelter, there were 24 people in this shelter last night. The shelter is only suppose to hold 12. I heard there were also some renecks there drinking moonshine. took a break here for 30 mins. At the shelter last night I found a walking stick just likemine that a section hiker had forgotten. I carried the pole with me and gave it back to him when I caught him. He was very happy. Ate lunch at Beechnut gap with him and his friend. Then had a grueling climb up thunderhead Mtn. When I was on my way down I caught some really cool views. Hiked up the old famous Rocky top Mtn. Then made a quick stop by spence shelter. Only 5 miles left to do now. |Stopped at russel field shelter for water. Then onto mollies ridge shelter. About 12 of us here tonight and as usual I get a million questions. Actually met two guys from lancaster at this shelter, We exchanged info so maybe we will go hiking sometime. Crossed the 2000 mile mark today before I got to the shelter, yipee.