morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-10-05
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Fontana Dam Shelter
Miles today: 23.0

Another frigid night last night - right on the edge of what I can tolerate in my summer gear (40 degree Enlightened Equipment quilt and Sea-to-Summit Thermolite liner that adds ~9 degrees) without having to wear all my clothes and rain gear. I was up with the sun, and, really, the hike wasn't all that noteworthy. What is noteworthy is my encounter with a couple day hikers on their way up to the Shuckstack fire tower. They asked if I was a thru-hiker, and if I needed any trail magic; turns out they are 2010 thru-hikers Bear Blaze and Gonzo, on a few-week-long road trip from Colorado. They didn't have anything tasty with them, but said that if I was down at the Hilton when they came down, they'd take me out to dinner. Sold!I took my time at the dam, checked out the visitor center and touristed about for a bit, then dropped my gear at the Hilton and headed for the showers. I remembered them as being tepid at best, but wow - this was the best shower I've had since Duncannon. It warmed me right up and stripped away a few layers of grime. Eventually Bear Blaze and Gonzo wandered down; they weren't kidding about dinner! We swung by their campsite to close the windows on their trailer and then headed up to the lodge at Fontana Village - the only restaurant around. And man, it's a classy place, too. Without a doubt the swankiest trail magic ever. We had mozzarella sticks, trout dip with fried naan, and stuffed mushrooms, and then I had rainbow trout with asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes with a salad. Amazing. Bear Blaze and Gonzo were great - it would have been a fantastic evening just for the conversation - but they insisted on paying for everything, too. There aren't words for how awesome it was. Thanks so much guys!!!Back at the Hilton, three section hikers had shown up, but hadn't discovered the Yuengling in the hiker box, so I claimed it as my own, then set up for the night. I've already been warned that I'll need ear plugs...oy...
Date: 2014-10-06
From: Fontana Dam Shelter

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: moderate rain

Something I've never understood: when you wake up an hour before dawn, in a shared space with other people in it, why would you start talking to your buddies at full volume? Let alone start singing? The singing thing was new but the talking thing happens all the time, and it's almost always section/weekend hikers doing it...oy. Anyway, the morning started off beautiful, but by noon clouds had rolled in and a torrential rainstorm began, complete with thunder and everything. Cold, nasty, and windy - once again I donned my raincoat to stay warm. It rained all afternoon, and by the time I got to Sassafras Gap I was just totally chilled to the bone from the hike over Cheoah Bald. I had planned to get a few miles closer to the NOC, but the dry, empty shelter was just too inviting so I stayed. After some hot tea (still stretching that designer Ashville teabag!) and and dinner I felt a lot better - I actually had to shed some layers to stop overheating in my sleeping bag. Guess I'll try to make up the miles tomorrow...
Date: 2014-10-09
From:  Standing Indian Shelter

To: Deep Gap Shelter
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: light rain

Just a quick update to prove I'm still at it!! I'm in Hiawassee, last town stop, in the last state...less than 80 miles until I'm done. I'll fill in the missing entries as I can, but service has been unreliable and the weather's been cold enough for the last week or so that it's been unpleasant, and sometimes impossible to use the little keyboard on the phone!I will be meeting my sister, Anna, henceforth known as Fearless Leader, tomorrow night - we planned to meet at Neel Gap on saturday, but she had an easier time finding a shuttle for friday night. So I'll push a little farther than planned today, and hammer out one last ~30 miler tomorrow, to find her camped out somewhere. Then we'll mosey on to Springer!!
Date: 2014-10-13
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Amicalola Falls State Park
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Annnddddd....DONE!I'll fill in the details over the next couple days, but we were moving by dawn, at Springer before noon, and finished with the 8.8 mile approach trail before 4pm; a good day, all the better considering it was my sister's third day on trail!We are staying the night in Dahlonega at a motel - it was great to shower, shave, and put on my own cotton town clothes before dinner - and then heading off on the next part of the adventure. Anna is off work until the 19th, so we have a few days to spend wandering about in true fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants Miller style. Who knows where we'll end up!!As I said, I will catch up on the missing journal entries and post a more thorough wrap-up in the coming days; I'll also get all of my photos uploaded and post a link! There are lots of folks I've met along the way - sign my guest book and put in your email address (it only comes to me, it's not posted for everyone to see), if you haven't already, so we can stay in touch! Thanks for following along; stay tuned for upcoming adventures!
Date: 2014-03-06
From: Amicalola Falls Visitor Center

To: Springer Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Today started with an all-you-can-eat buffet courtesy of the Hiker Hostel's Thu Hiker package. Then a last half hour scramble of repacking bags for the nth time since we arrived. Every time I thought I had the layering figured out just right I would realize that one piece of gear should probably be more accessible, or that the weight wasn't distributed quite right. Final call for the shuttle rolled around though and I gave up trying to plan for every possible use-case.Meg and I had a little disagreement about whether we would do the approach trail from Amicalola Falls up to Springer Mountain. Even though it's not technically part of the AT it's only one extra day on an already five-month trip. With the help of another hiker, Isaac, I convinced Meg it would be better to do it than to regret not doing it. The trail would still be there tomorrow.After dropping half the shuttle off at the Springer Mtn parking area we continued on down to the Amicalola Falls Visitor Center. We each signed in at the register at somewhere around 260 for hikers started this year. My pack weighed in at 45 lbs - about 15 heavier than I had thought (turns out I went out carrying way too much food and twice the water I really needed) which was a little disappointing.After a few pictures under the arch (which will maybe be recovered at some point) our group of seven from the shuttle set off. The hike itself was pretty grueling. I'm still not sure how much of that is the climb itself and how much was just because it was day one. After the 604-step staircase up the falls there's another 8 miles of uphill to get to Springer Mountain and then our very first 0.2 miles on the trail to get to the shelter.About 25 minutes before we got to the shelter the temperature started dropping and it started hailing. We got in and were greeted by three spring-breakers from Florida and two other thru-hikers, Owlbear and Kayman. Shortly after we finished cooking the hail turned to snow and we all decided it was about time to call it a night and hope that our sleeping bags were warm enough.
Date: 2014-03-07
From: Springer Mountain Shelter

To: Horse Gap
Miles today: 10.3

We started off today by heading back to Springer Mountain to actually sign in at the register there. After "officially" starting on the trail we continued on under steadily-clearing skies. It was sunny by the time we stopped in at Hawk Mountain Shelter for a mid-afternoon snack. There we met Listen, Squirrel, and Coach (three women from San Diego) and I Believe. We both felt fine to push on a bit further and made it in to Horse Gap as the sun began to set.We didn't talk to very many people in the evening as it got chilly quickly. Talked briefly to a few people to confirm that no one else was hanging food given the large number of people. After two dinners of beans and instant potatoes we turned in.
Date: 2014-03-10
From: Neel Gap

To: Wolf Laurel Top
Miles today: 3.6

We finished off the pizza for breakfast at the cabin and headed up to pick up the clean laundry. Feeling clean enough to enter a Mountain Crossing, the outfitter at Neel Gap, we packed and headed up the hill to the gap. I picked up my bounce box there (a box of basic supplies that you keep shipping a week or so ahead of you so that you can restock on some things like spices or postage supplies without buying an entire spice rack somewhere). I grabbed a few things out of there, but after talking a little bit with one of the employees decided that doing a bounce box was not for me. You really have to know your pace and stick to a planned out route for it to work.Mountain Crossings also does a free pack shakedown to help you get rid of things you don't really need that will just weigh you down. I packed a few more things into the ex-bounce box and sent that home. I picked up a few small things, but was not really feeling sticking around even though it was a beautiful day.Before going to sleep last night Trix said that she was planning on getting her own tent and stove setup. Things were certainly cramped in the two person tent we were using and it wasn't helping the dynamic between us any. She was also planning on taking a zero day for her leg. Chef still had to figure out his package in Suches and ended up taking a zero as well while that got driven up to Neel Gap. Key Lime was also itching to get back on the trail though and we set up at 3:30 to cover at least some ground.Key Lime and I were more focused on talking than moving quickly and we only ended up covering 3.7 miles. We thought were further down the trail, but the place we made it to had a great east-facing view and some quality grass to tent on.Two spring-breakers from Wheaton College IL, Daffodil and Margarita, were already set up there and we were shortly joined by a father and his daughter (whose trail names I'm forgetting). The father and daughter got a fire going and we all sat around chatting until pretty late. We were joined after dusk by Russel aka Fire aka Creature.It turned out the father was a rocket scientist who had taught astronomy for a number of years and we got quite the free astronomy lesson under a perfectly clear sky. I slept without the fly on and could probably have gotten away without the tent, but I'm still pretty paranoid about keeping the down sleeping bag dry. Camping cowboy-style is not too far off on the horizon though.
Date: 2014-03-11
From: Wolf Laurel Top

To: Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 17.6

Key Lime and I got up about half an hour before sunrise, bundled up, stoked the embers, and sat down to catch our first AT sunrise. It was so peaceful sitting there listening to the surrounding forest begin to wake up as the first few rays of light started sneaking over the horizon. The morning was incredibly clear and after the sun had shown itself you could clearly see landscape to the east for miles. The angle of the sun threw every feature of every mountain into sharp relief and the contrast between the red-tinted light and darker green shadows was amazing.The rest of the camp started waking up and packing out and we ended up hiking with Daffodil and Margarita all day. There was some always-appreciated trail magic at Chattahoochee Gap put on my King Tut. It turned out that he was going to be at their school a few days after they got back from spring break - small world. The array of warm beverages was more than welcome as the wind had been picking up over the course of the day and bad weather was expected later in the evening.We had planned on making it to Blue Mountain Shelter, but upon arriving it turned out that it was totally full with more than a few tents already surrounding it. Their pickup point was only another 2.4 miles further so we decided to push on to skip the cold and rain. We arrived at Unicoi Gap after dark and waited only a few minutes before Daffodil's parents arrived.In my excitement to get to town I forgot to throw my poles in the car which was discovered upon reaching the Holiday Inn in Hiawassee. This was after three separate discussions with past thru hikers about how easy it is to forget poles, especially when getting rides into town. Fortunately there's an early morning shuttle and I didn't think anyone else would be out there too early given the weather.We hit up the Huddle House for some double entree deliciousness and then crashed pretty hard after some millage neither of us had expected to hit for another two weeks at minimum.
Date: 2014-03-12
From: Unicoi Gap

To: Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 0.0

My first zero day started earlier than I would have liked, but I hit the buffet breakfast and began catching up on emails while waiting for the shuttle. The driver, John, was very nice and drove me up to the gap, stopping at an ATM on the way. The poles were still there and hadn't been run over despite being left in the middle of the lot. The small price for the shuttle was definitely worth recovering the poles.It was chilly and wet, but the drive there and back was still beautiful with mist rolling gently down the mountains and across the fields we passed. Upon arriving back at the hotel I hit the buffet again and then waited for Key Lime to get back from some shopping. As the winds picked up and the storm worsened we kicked back in the hot tub with a 12-pack and some tunes and swapped stories for another three hours.Chef and Trix arrived a little after three and after hanging tents out to dry joined us in the tub for a bit. After a bit longer, and a pro tip from John, we rallied and hit the buffet dinner across the street. Even after the breakfast buffet and a Hardee's large combo lunch I still did some damage at dinner. We met up with Gentle Spirit afterward at the hotel room and kicked back with some more drinks until we all headed to bed. The room was covered by Key Lime's mom that night which was a bit of trail magic in it's own way.
Date: 2014-03-13
From: Unicoi Gap

To: Addis Gap
Miles today: 11.3

As much as I enjoyed waiting out the rain in a hot tub, I was more than ready to get back on the trail and it definitely felt too early be staying in a hotel for two nights. I'm sure my legs appreciated it after the big day before and it was good to get the whole group back together, but I hit the trail hard when we got dropped off around 10.Chef and I hiked pretty the whole day together making it to Addis Gap before waiting there for Trix and Key Lime. We met Stephen, a younger guy who didn't talk much and was putting in serious millage, and Mountain Monster, a women known for her monster hat. By the time Trix and Key Lime got there we were definitely not pushing on to Deep Gap Shelter.Key Lime built her first fire of the trip and we hung out enjoying that for a bit, but I was ready for sleep and turned in early.
Date: 2014-03-14
From: Addis Gap

To: Bly Gap
Miles today: 14.4

Chef was up and out early as usual and even though I was tented next to him I slept right through it and didn't end up leaving until around 9. I hiked most of the day alone until I got to Plum Orchard Shelter where I stopped for water.There I met Napoleon, a second time thru hiker and total boss. He passed on a few tips about keeping BO down and getting enough calcium for proper bone density increase. After stretching out a bit I headed back out to the trail and met up with Key Lime. She said that Trix had been taking it easier and might make camp further back on the trail. Without any kind of cell phone though there was no way to get in touch with her.We walked the rest of the way to Bly Gap together and crossed the GA/NC line at dusk. I'll be adding some photos from that as soon as I get them from her (not having my own camera is turning out to be more of an issue than I thought it would be). Right around the next bend was the camp site, Chef, and Treefrog. We made dinner and struggled to get a fire going while wondering whether Trix would make it or not.Around 9 I heard the distinct trill that she always uses to get my attention. Shortly afterward a headlamp bobbing along the trail began flashing through the trees. She made it! Too tired to set up camp we reverted to our initial setup and both drifted off pretty quickly.
Date: 2014-03-15
From: Bly Gap

To: Betty Creek Gap
Miles today: 19.0

Chef was once again up and out pretty early. Trix was not looking to be getting up very early and eventually just set up her own to tent to continue napping. Key Lime was out next leaving just Trix and I. She wasn't planning on going very far that day and things between us were still strained.She said that she would likely be getting of the trail, going home, and then flip-flopping the rest of the trail at her own pace. We had an informal goodbye that ended with a bittersweet "see you down the trail." While I can only speak for myself, I don't think it was the note either of us really wanted to split ways on but neither of us had a whole lot more to say.I hiked the morning alone until reaching Standing Indian Shelter where I met up with Coach and Chef. The three of us hiked the rest of the way to Carter Gap shelter where Listen and Squirrel were waiting. All of us were feeling up to a bit more of a push though and they packed up the tents and we all pushed on Betty Creek Gap in preparation of an early morning push to get to Franklin, NC.We caught up with Treefrog at Betty Creek but he was already done with evening activities and setup. We got in late enough that the focus was on dinner and sleep. There were a few other groups there and a small fire but nobody lingered out too long.
Date: 2014-03-18
From: Winding Stair Gap

To: Cold Springs Shelter
Miles today: 15.8

Trix and I talked a bit more this morning and I think we will both get a lot more out the trail if we separate our trips. The emphasis has shifted too much from each hiking our own hike, but together, to the trip being about us and figuring out where we stand on the friends <-> relationship spectrum.Chef and I needed to get back on the trail, and the shuttle was waiting so things between us were once again left with ragged edges. But at least this time there was some resolution to it, even though it wasn't the happiest in the short term.I hit the trail pretty hard to take my mind off of things and pushed to Cold Springs Shelter alone aside from quite a few elevation changes. Chef stopped to take a quick power nap as he had a much later St. Patricks's Day than I did. We're staying here with Tent Maker, First A, Tennessee, and Ginko. Not sure what are plans are tomorrow, but we're making it at least as far as NOC.
Date: 2014-03-19
From: Cold Springs Shelter

To: Swim Bald
Miles today: 17.5

Today started off going downhill. Aside from a one mile climb the morning was a steady decent and by the time I met up with Chef at Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) my left knee was talking to me loud and clear through a double dose of ibuprofen. The first thing I did there was pick up a knee brace which was a pretty immediate improvement.We hung out there for a while enjoying the sun and taking a load off. I finally got around to getting my Smoky Mountains backpacking permit, checked in on a few emails, and made the switch from my attempt at building a blog over to this Trail Journals account.We met up with Ginko again and the three of us grabbed a burger at the restaurant there. Our table overlooked the Nantahala River and we had a great view of the white water kayaking course. The temptation to stay the night at the hostel and screw around at the adventure center for a day was certainly pretty strong.We ended up heading out at around 5:30, a bit later than planned. With the sun beginning its decent we started on the 7 mile climb hoping to reach Sassafras Gap Shelter and reconnect with Gentle Spirit and The Herd. It was slow going though and Chef's knee was telling him no. We ended up night hiking the last 1.5 miles of the day to camp somewhere a bit before Swim Bald.
Date: 2014-03-20
From: Swim Bald

To: Cody Gap
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: clear sky

Catching the sunrise from a clear summit is always motivation enough to get up and get moving despite the pre-dawn darkness and chill. Today was no different and hit the official Swim Bald just in time to catch the first rays shining through.Chef and I both like to wait on breakfast until after putting in two or three miles and usually that coincides nicely with the sunrise. Today, however, we pushed on hoping to catch up with The Herd at Sassafras Gap Shelter. We arrived ten minutes too late, but still in time to catch West as he was leaving and let him know we were coming for them. Breakfast was made, water was collected, and in Chef's case gear was dried as his water bladder had burst in the bag during the morning miles.Back on the trail an hour later I pushed ahead of Chef for a few miles and once again caught the last straggler of The Herd, Rabbit this time, at Stecoah Gap. Rabbit pointed out some trail magic before hitting the trail and I stayed to enjoy some peanut butter and Cliff bar with AMP [angry medium-sized person]. Also hanging out and kicking back were Adam, Justin (Big Mac), and Zacksquatch. Rolling in a little later were Violet and Flood, and minutes after them Chef. He arrived just in time for a second round of trail magic to arrive, this time including fresh produce and soda.I stuck around a bit longer to enjoy an apple and banana before pressing on to face Jacob's Ladder, a climb of 600 feet over half a mile. That was without a doubt the most physically grueling part of the trip thus far and by the end of it I was stopping every ten to fifteen steps to catch my breath.Not too far after the summit was the Brown Fork Gap Shelter where The Herd was stopped to graze, as herds are known to do. I joined them there and continued the last three miles of the day to Cody Gap. There was some confusion about whether I was Chef by one of the newer members of the herd and we thought he would be waiting for us at the campsite. It turned out he was still a tad behind us, but rolled into camp not far behind.Rabbit would have missed the campsite entirely were it not for the signature Herd call. One member will belt out an extended "Heeeeerrrrrddddd" to which any other members within earshot will respond with a synchronized "Hoo! Ha! Hooo! Ha!" Rabbit initiated a call up on the next ridge and was guided down into the valley by the chorus. Safety in numbers folks.There was some debate as to whether the flora covering the entire campground was poison ivy or not. This motion was brought to the table after most of us had already set things up and put our gear down all over it so there wasn't really a choice but to roll with any ensuing punches. Fingers crossed it was a misidentification.A communal fire was built by the ladies, Flipper and Violet, and a water spout raised from a shallow trickle by Moose and in no time dinner was taken care of and cigars and stories were making their way around the fire. It didn't take to long for the temperature to drop and well before dark most of us had retreated to tents for the night.