morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-04-27
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: broken clouds

Day 22: The morning started about 6:30. The thunderstorms split and did not hit us during the night. We lucked out and stayed dry. I packed up my tent and stuff and made breakfast. A group of us, Luigi included began the trek to Fontana Dam which was about .75 miles from the shelter. We arrived, took pictures.. Luigi charged her phone. I had a cold soda. Cherry flavor coke.!! First soda in months. The main group took off and we wandered looking around the visitor center.   Around 10 Luigi and I shoved off and crossed the dam taking pictures. Fontana Dam was so cool to cross over. After seeing it in movies and hearing about it from trail stories to be there was a milestone in my book. We went a mile and got to the drop box and filed out our permits and dropped them in. We both had a snack and I pushed off before Luigi. She was going to listen to podcasts and wanted to eat some more food. Our packs are heavy as we are planning on going straight through the smokies and not going to Gatlinburg for resupply. We have 6 days of food. I met up with Luigi and the Royal couple caught up with me just below the blue blaze to the a fire tower. I had gone up to the fire tower and took pictures. I was only able to go up 1/2 way as the heights got to me. I took pictures and went back down to have lunch. The gang caught up and went up the side trail to check out the tower. I finished and pushed on while the 3 had their lunch. The trail in the smokies is remarkably nicer than further south. I don't know if it's because it's not a heavily used but the trail in the smokies seems more user friendly. It doesn't go straight up and down and a more enjoyable trail to walk. I arrived at the birch camp area and filtered water and pooped in the woods for the first time this trip. Yay me!! Ha ha. Moved on and the day got hot and humid. I went about an hour and checked radar and saw a rain shower headed toward me. I put all my gear on and it poured for 4 minutes and then was like just kidding.   I laughed. This was my first time in 22 days walking in the rain and it only lasted 4 minutes. At this point I'm not sure what state we are in. We are walking the border. I did not see any signs saying we are in Tennessee so I'm still stating I'm in North Carolina. The last .50 miles to the shelter was rough. A steep climb in a straight line. Got to the shelter and most people had hiked on another 3 miles to the next shelter. I didn't have the energy to. Luigi and the Royal couple showed and we cooked and made diner. Ompi and the others are 3 miles further north. They started earlier so had more daylight. Three section hikers are here and are very friendly. We are about to crash. We all will be sleeping in the shelters through the smokies as its required.
Date: 2016-04-28
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Derick's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

Day 23: Boy did it pour last night. I'm glad I didn't have to pack up a wet tent. We all woke up around 7:30 packed up and ate breakfast. When you don't have a tent to put away that process goes much better. There is no cell service at the shelter tonight so I will post this as soon as I can. We got on trail about 8:30. It was Luigi, myself and the Royal couple. The layout of the trail here in the Smokies is laid out amazingly well. It's actually enjoyable to walk it. I stopped 3 miles in at Russell Field Shelter and had my second breakfast. After breakfast we had a gradual climb up to Spencer Field Shelter where I filtered water and had a snack. I had about 6 miles in and began the climb up Thunderhead Mountain. The views at the top were spectacular. I must say the weather has been fantastic. (Knock on wood). I've only had to walk in the rain for 4 minutes my whole trip so far. I caught up to Luigi on the summit as her and the Royal couple had passed me while I was filtering water at Spencer Field.   We met up with the Royal couple a mile down from the summit where they were filtering water at the stream. They are going into Gatlinburg on Saturday to stay overnight. Luigi and I are debating if we should go in for pancakes, take a shower at the NOC there and do laundry and then get a ride back to Newfound Gap and hike the 3 miles to Icewater Spring Shelter. We are thinking that's what we will do. I moved on from our snack and we only had 3 miles to go. It was the longest and toughest 3 miles of the trip. My energy got zapped from the sun, big climbs already and the 3 more climbs we had I was practically crawling. When I got to the shelter I collapsed and actually fell asleep for 20 minutes.   When I woke up everyone was in a holding pattern. There were 7 people set up in the shelter and the ridge runner was there saying that 5 more people had a reservation. We couldn't set up tents until they showed. We all made dinner, filtered water. At 7pm she said ok I need 5 people to volunteer to go into the shelter to fill it to 12 and then the rest can tent. I volunteered, the Royal couple did and 2 others did. Luigi was able to set up her tent. Let's just hope these people don't show in the middle of the night. I'm spent. No cell coverage so no idea if Jeff made it to Seattle. Tomorrow we have Clingmans Dome which is 10 miles from here. Bed soon big day tomorrow.
Date: 2016-05-02
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 27: I actually slept in today and woke up at 7. Made breakfast packed up my stuff and got on trail at about 8.   I had a .40 mile climb up and out of the shelter which was down in a hole. Finally getting on trail I stopped at Eagle Rocks took some pictures and moved on. The big climb of the day was Mt. Guyot which was the last tall mountain in Smokey Mountain National Park at 6302 feet. The climb was steady but manageable. Once up the trail followed a ridge line which made for easy walking. There were several great view points where I got some fantastic pictures. Then I had a long downhill climb of about 3 miles to Camel Gap. Once to the gap I had another climb up Cosby Knob which was fairly steep. Up at the top I stopped and had my lunch and then dropped down again to Low gap. I arrived at Cosby Shelter and decided to push on to the next shelter which would make for my biggest day yet. The last climb of the day was Mt. Cammerer which was under 5000 feet but of coarse was the steepest of the day. Once to the top it was only 5.2 miles to Davenport Gap and all downhill. The radar showed an intense line of storms moving in from the west so I tried to boogie to beat the rain. The last 2 miles felt like 100 but at last I arrived and there was space in the shelter. I had texted Luigi that I had pushed on from Cosby and that there was rain coming. Once at the shelter I set up, filtered water and made dinner. Luigi showed up about an hour later and must have decided to push on and she beat the rain. The heavens opened and it poured. I did walk in the rain for about 20 minutes coming down the big hill but it was mostly light rain and I barely got wet. Tons of people are showing up now to the shelter who are soaked. We are trying to fit everyone. If anyone else shows they are gonna have to sleep on the floor as it is now a full house. I am so proud of myself for doing 19.7 miles today.
Date: 2016-05-04
From: Roaring Fork Sheltet

To: Hot Springs: Creek Side Court
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up to cold and rain in the shelter. It was in the low 40's and the kind of temperature you don't want to get out of your sleeping bag. I resisted the urge to not move and got up and packed, ate a cold breakfast and got my rain suit on. I said goodbye to Susan and Feather and got on trail by 8am. The rain stopped immediately after getting on trail. That was a bonus. The first 4 miles were an easy downhill and then I had my first climb of the day up Walnut Mt which was a grassy knob. Not nearly as awesome as Max Patch and it was pretty cloudy. I stopped at Walnut Mountain Shelter to take off my rain gear and have a snack. My next climb of the day was Bluff mountain which was steady long up but not terrible. Then the long descent into Hot Sorings began. It was pretty much all downhill except for two small climbs, one of them being Deer Park Mt. A couple people passed me and I passed them and they were familiar faces from the first couple of days I the trail. Finally I came around the corner and could see down into Hot Springs. The descent seemed to take forever as the town never really seemed to get any closer. I finally arrived and the trail goes right down Main Street. I called several places including the two hostels and no one answered the phone. Finally I got a text from someone named Frank saying how can I help you. It was the Creek Side Court. I reserved a room checked in. I immediately gathered all my clothes and headed to the laundromat next door. Did my laundry and the finally got to take a hot shower just because I could. Wow did that feel good. I then headed down Main Street to the diner and got cheese fries and Pizza for dinner. Relaxed for awhile at the diner then walked back to the motel. I washed all my dishes and laid them out to dry. I then lounged for a bit. At around 8:30 I walked across the street and got a hard cider at the bar across the way and passed out at around 9:30. The plan today is to grab my stuff at the post office, breakfast and then dollar general for resupply.
Date: 2016-05-05
From: Hot Springs: Creek Side Court

To: Stealth Camp site
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: moderate rain

Day 30: Tomorrow will be one month that I have been on the trail. I got up about 7:30 showered and headed to breakfast at the diner in town. This morning was my 4th shower just because I could. After breakfast I went to the post office to pick up my packages. Unfortunately the package Jeff sent me is MIA. The biggest issue is my pills were in the package and we are not sure where they are. So Jeff is going to get the tracking number and see if he can find it. Meanwhile I headed over to Dollar General for resupply. Took my bags back to the motel room and repacked and organized. I mailed home a small box of stuff I don't need and got on trail. The trail leads down Main Street and then follows the river. It made a sharp turn and went up steeply. It was actually very interesting trail design as it followed up and over rock cliffs. I went about three miles and the weather took a turn for the worse. It started to rain and the wind picked up.   I suited up and trekked on. About an hour later the rain stopped the sun came out and it started to dry out. I went up and over three rises and was about a mile away from the shelter I was planning on staying at when it started to downpour sleet. It actually hurt it was coming down so hard. I arrived at the shelter and the sleet had stopped. The shelter was full and there was no cover for me to put my pack down. I was wet and it was windy I decided to move on to keep warm. I started to dry out but of coarse the trail followed the ridge for several miles. No place to camp to be had. After another many miles I got to a road crossing hopping there was a place to camp and again none. I got to a dirt road which had a hostel on it. The book listed that they close at 7 and I had no phone reception. Figures!   I kept walking and it started to rain again. After dragging myself up this very steep incline I came across a campsite. I frantically set up my tent as the rain started to get heavier. I threw all my gear in and am now trying to stay warm as the rain pours down. Hopefully it stops tonight and dries out. I just realized I did 17.3 miles today when I was only planning on doing 10. Jeez!!
Date: 2016-05-07
From: Stealth Camp Site Sugarloaf Gap

To: Whistling Gap Campsite
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: clear sky

Day 32 I woke up in Sugarloaf Gap at around 7:30. I made breakfast, ate and packed up my tent. I got on trail around 8:30. My first big climb was to get over big lick. Then I had downhill to hog back shelter where I met "corn". I had a snack and filtered some water. I chatted with corn for awhile and then was back on trail. My next big climb was high rock. Then a steady down to Sam's gap. When I arrived to the gap and headed towards the parking area, BJ was setting up trail magic. She had bought a whole bunch of fried chicken from Bojangles and also has biscuits, mashed potatoes and macaroni. It was fantastic and two days in a row now. After leaving Sam's gap I had my next big task of climbing up and over Big Bald. The summit was incredible and crystal clear panoramic views. Besides corn I had not seen another hiker today. Corn caught up to me on Big Bald but quickly disappeared. That guy can hike, he's a machine. I climbed down to big bald shelter where corn and his dad were. I stopped in to filter water and to sign the log book. I pushed on and had to climb over little bald and then all downhill to a campsite. When I arrived some familiar faces were there. Set up my tent, ate dinner and relaxed. The wind is crazy tonight. Holy crap. Squall line moving through with some rain. It was windy in the afternoon but this is crazy. I would guess gusting 50-60 as you can hear branches breaking in the forest. Please nothing fall on me. I met thistle and holy diver as well as 5 others who I did not catch their trail names. All were from my third night on the trail. It was nice to catch up to them.
Date: 2016-05-08
From: Whistling Gap Campsite

To: Uncle Johnny's Hostel
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: broken clouds

After our harrowing night of screaming winds, they calmed and I finally fell asleep. I woke up to winds again but this time not as bad. As we all were packing up everyone was talking about thinking of having trees falling on them. A few people commented that when the wind blew hard they could feel the earth move as the roots were moving under ground. Kinda of a scary feeling I'm sure. I ate a cold breakfast and got on trail by 8:30. There were only 3 climbs today. The first was immediately after camp and was called big rocks. Fairly easy climb and there was a blue blaze side trail to a pile of rocks on the knob summit. Then I had a gradual descent down to Spivey Gap where there was a cooler of trail magic. The cooler was full of trash but there was still a bottle of ginger ale and orange Fanta left. I opted for the orange Fanta. Next I had the steepest climb of the day up to no business knob. The climb first followed at creek which was fairly steep then leveled off again before rising sharply to no business knob shelter. This shelter was the first on the trail which was made out of cinder blocks. There was one more climb and then all downhill to Erwin. I came to the top of the last knob but wait it went down and then another rise. Oh come on don't do that to me, but there were 4 more like that. The trail loves to trick you like ha ha your not yet done. I finally got to the outlook and could see Erwin. After what seemed like 50 switchbacks the town finally got closer and there was Uncle Johnny's. The bunk house and cabins were full but you could tent for 11 dollars. Sold!! It included a shower and towel. I jumped in the shower first thing as this leg of the hike I was super dirty. I then out my rain pants on and threw all my clothes in the wash. At 5:30 the hostel does a free shuttle into town for free. My laundry wasn't done yet but I said screw it. To town I go in just blue rain pants and a down coat. We all ended up mostly eating at a Mexican Restaurant. I got burritos which I've been thinking about for three days. We also had time to run into Walmart before the shuttle picked us up at 7:30. I got back to Uncle Johnny's and put my clothes in the dryer. Now just sitting and charging my phone. Tomorrow I'm headed into town on the free morning shuttle to get breakfast and pick my package up at the post office. Then back on trail. I'm gonna try and run and get to Damascus Virginia for trail days. This is the 30th anniversary and 30k are expected to be there. Holy Diver, Ghost, Thistle, Karma and little John are all here at the hostel as well as the rest of the crew from last night.
Date: 2016-05-09
From: Uncle Johnny's Hostel

To: Unaka Mountain stealth campsite
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up at Uncle Johnny's around 7am. I wanted to make sure I got up in time to get the free shuttle to town. I got up and took a shower and packed up the stuff inside my tent. I then got dressed and sat on the porch area and charged my phone and other electronics while waiting for the shuttle. We loaded in and got driven to the front of huddle house. The post office was just down the street and I walked to it to pick up my package from a fellow Lyndon State College Alumn. Then I walked back to McDonald's and had breakfast. I started with chicken biscuit meal with an iced coffee and 2 burritos. Then I went back up and ordered a large iced coffee. Then I went back up and ordered a sausage egg mcmuffin. I got back on the shuttle at 10 and it drove us back to Uncle Johnny's. I packed up my tent and all my food and my pack and put on my pack. I was like good grief didn't I learn my lesson in Franklin. Ugh heavy,heavy pack again. I'm stronger this time and can handle it. The climb coming out of Erwin was actually almost pleasant I thought to myself. Then I turned the corner and it was straight up. Damn I jinxed myself. I got to the first shelter curly maple gap and had a snack and dried out my feet. The biggest difference today since the beginning of the trail was humidity. The dew point in Erwin when I left at 11 was 63. I was sweating buckets coming up the first climb. With the sun out it was hot. The climb leveled off and followed a ridge for awhile doing small ups and downs. I climbed down to Indian Grave Gap and then started back up the climb to Beaty spot bald. This climb albeit not horribly difficult was in a straight line so you could see all the way to where the top was which was a bit discouraging. Finally I made it to beauty gap and it was 360 panoramic views again. Wow. I pushed on after filling my water in the gap nearby. I then decided to climb up and over Unaka Mt then make camp in the gap below. The climb up Unaka was steep and rocky. Much steeper than what the guide book indicated. I made it almost to the summit and found a good stealth camp spot. Otter was there camping as well and we chatted while I set up my tent. Finally got situated and made a big batch of chicken flavored rice. Sat and talked with other while I made dinner and ate. Great spot under a bunch of pine trees with a nice fire spot. The wind is lightly rustling through the trees which is very soothing. The rain has held off thus far.
Date: 2016-05-11
From: Greasy Creek Hostel?? Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Taking a day off today. I slept in until almost 10 on Wednesday and woke to a train of thunderstorms. We got dressed and showered and headed to breakfast in town. It was teaming rain and I mean teaming rain. Thank god I'm taking today off. This would be awful to packing up camp in and also awful to hike in. After breakfast we all got back to the house and packed for Damascus. I took out all the things I'm not gonna need at Trail Days. I lounged for awhile listening to music. Around lunch time we drove over to Ashville NC and stopped at 12 Bones BBQ which was a local restaurant. Yummy. I got pulled pork sandwich and it was fantastic. Afterwards we headed over to REI as I am having issues with my boots with the eyelits shredding my boot laces. I have gone through 4 pairs since I started my hike. I'm afraid that my laces will break and I'm not gonna have a spare and be 30 miles from any town. So after some phone calls we were able to find the purchase under troopers membership. I remember them not being able to find or look up Jeff and my's account back when I bought them in January. So I just put it under Troopers so she could get the credit. REI was great they just let me swap out the boots. I had them measure my foot and I went with the exact same boot but in a 10 1/2 opposed to the 11. Otter ended up dealing out his trail runners as he kept getting blisters. This whole process took almost 2.5 hours. We then headed back to Hot Springs via going through the Blueridge. So pretty!! We stopped at Ingall's grocery store to buy some supplies for Trail days. Ate dinner in hot springs and then crashed going to bed early. Up at 5 am tomorrow.
Date: 2016-05-12
From: Hot Springs 

To: Damascus VA
Miles today: 0.0

Woke up this morning at Otters house about 4:30 am. We packed up the car and left his house by 6:30. Otter brought his 5 person tent that he had won several years ago and never used. I was like nice we will have more room than our dinky 2 person tents. We drove north out of Hot Springs on a bunch of roads I'm not sure of what route numbers. We stopped at Bojangles so I could get something to eat as I was starving snd we stopped at Starbucks in Johnson City in Tennessee to get coffee. We got in I-81 north towards Bristol VA. We got off on the Abingdon VA exit and winded our way via back roads to Damascus. We paid the 20 dollar parking permit for the weekend and bought our 5 dollar entrance fee to tent city and set up. Afterward we wandered through the vendors outside of tent city and walked down to Main Street. We ended up getting lunch at Bobo's and stopped at Dollar General go buy beer. We then headed back to the ball fields where tent city was set up. I stopped at the Vasque Booth and talked to them about the issue I had with my boots. The laces kept getting shredded by the eyelits. I told them that REI let me swap them out. But the booth gave me 4 sets of boot laces to have on me in case this pair does it too. She said she was not aware of an issue with this type of boat. Otter decided to have Osprey look at his pack as one of the clips would let go if you put any pressure on it. They took his pack and gave him a pick up ticket snd said they would put a brand new clip on it. We then caught up with little foot who ended up renting a car so she could take 9 more people to trails instead of just the 5 of us in one car. She asked if we could follow her back to Abingdon to drop off the rental car at Enterprise and then give her a ride back to Damascus and she would give Otter gas money. We said sure. After we brought her and got back we walked back to the tent and we're ready for bed at 5. We sat in our camp chairs and chilled. It rained briefly and then when I saw on radar it was gonna pour we hoped in the tent played cards and ate everything in site. Once the rain stopped I wandered over to the ministry building across from the ball field to charge my phone. Drink free coffee and eat free cookies. Otter stayed back to read his book on his kindle snd to crash. I'm just sitting here to let my phone charge. Not a lot of events going on today as this is arrival day. Tomorrow though we will go down to the vendor row snd visit the 300 tents.
Date: 2016-05-15
From: Damascus

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Not much going on today. Fairly unexciting day. Slept in till 8. Wow! That's late for me on this adventure. Once I got up I gathered everything I owned and put it in the wash. While the wash was going I took everything out of my pack. I made sure I wasn't carrying any trash or packaging I didn't need. Next I repacked my pack pulling out everything I'm sending home. I found a box in Otters garage that I could use and piled all the stuff I wasn't taking with me I it. A lot of the stuff was things I picked up at trail days and don't want to carry. I decided to use the dri-down sleeping bag and send my old one home. The dri-down is much lighter. After laundry and repacking I basically vegged and watch movies for the rest of the day. Tomorrow back on trail so not much to report.