morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-05-12
From: Betty Creek 

To: Winding Stair Gap/Franklin
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: clear sky

   It was cold and windy in the morning, my thermometer said 40 degrees, sure felt colder than that. I had on all the clothes that I have, was barely warm enough. Could have used my gloves, but got by without them. Made a quick breakfast, packed up a wet tent and got on the trail. It slowly warmed up once hiking, I shed some layers where we got some water part-way up the first climb. We soon reached Mt Albert, the climb up was really steep, some rock scrambling was involved. There was a neat fire tower on the summit. I tried my cell phone and got coverage for the first time! I immediately called Amber, no answer.    After Mt Albert the hiking was pretty easy - not too many climbs, not very steep descents. We had lunch at Rock Gap Shelter. The spring there was great - almost no floaties, and it came out of a pipe, so it was easy to fill the bottles. After lunch we only had ~4 miles to the road crossing. We split up and the hike went by pretty quickly. I was at the road by 3:00.    Just as I got there a guy in a pickup pulled up and into a parking space. After I got off the phone with Amber, he asked if we were heading into town. He had met 3 hikers a couple miles back that wanted a ride, he told them to meet him here. So we waited for them to arrive. When they did, it was Muffin Man, Gummy Bear and the Bartender! I knew it was going to be them. He gave all 5 of us a ride into town. Stopped off at the outfitters for me to buy a new fuel canister for the stove and some dinners. Then he ran us by the post office, and then on to the hotel! He was really great. He's a trail maintainer, his trail name from when he did the trail is Oliver Twist, a really great guy.    We checked into the hotel, showered, and walked down to the Ingles grocery store to resupply. I got by only spending $15 for this one! And the food seems much lighter than last time. We dropped it off at the hotel and the whole gang was there (Be Still, Mighty Mouse, Gummy Bear, Bartender, Muffin Man and even The Mule). Me and Shar ate at Cody's Roadhouse just across from the hotel, I had a huge plate of ribs and chicken breast, mashed potato, salad, rolls and a the biggest beer ever - 32 oz that came in this giant mug. It was ridiculously large!   Went back to the hotel and went to bed.
Date: 2008-05-13
From: Winding Stair Gap/Franklin

To: Licklog Gap
Miles today: 12.3

I woke up at about 7, showered and headed out on foot to McDonald's to get breakfast. Had an egg McMuffin w/sausage and an OJ. Picked up hot cakes to take back for Shar. While waiting for the shuttle filled in a couple of journal entries online. Talked to Amber for a bit. Eventually, at about 10:00 AM, the shuttle headed up with me, Shar, Bootless, Goldbond and some other guy. Hiking commenced at 10:20. We stopped at Siler's bald for lunch, the views were amazing and the weather was perfect. I cooked Ramen. The 3 day hikers up there were nice enough to give us their water and take our trash - a little bit of trail magic to cap off a spectacular lunch.After lunch our main destination was Wayeh bald. I made it to the top by 4:15. I called Amber, and while talking to her Shar and The Mule made it up. We also called Mom to say hi, and I called the post office to have the box forwarded to Gatlinburg.Our campsite destination was Licklog gap, we made it in by 6:20, for a total of 12.3 miles in 8 hours. The couple with Justice the dog from 2 nights ago were there, camp already set up. We set up camp, ate dinner (lasagna, cookies and Spiz), hung the bear bag and relaxed for a bit. It was a nice easy, great weather, fairly relaxing day.
Date: 2008-05-14
From: Licklog Gap

To: A. Rufus Morgan Shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: light rain

I hiked in a light rain most of the morning. Had lunch on Wesser Bald, under the fire tower to get out of the rain. Got really cold while cooking as I was wet with sweat from hiking uphill in the rain in my raingear. Justice the dog and owners stopped by as I was eating lunch. Shar never showed up, I was cold so headed on without her.I made it into A. Rufus Morgan shelter at 4:00, I almost missed it as there was no sign on the trail, and it was 100 yards or so off the trail. I got lucky, I had stopped for a rest and when I got up happened to notice it through the trees. Eventually Shar showed up. I gathered wood for a fire after making a deal with Shar - I'll gather wood if she cuts it down to campfire sized chunks and makes the fire itself. Pangea eventually showed up with his 6-pack of beer - he had gone all the way to the NOC and back up to the shelter. It was raining on and off all evening, getting steadily heavier as the night progressed. I went to bed before 9, but couldn't get to sleep till about 10 or so when Pangea finally decided to call it a night. That guy gets really talkative when drinking! It thunderstormed a bit during the night, I was glad to be in the shelter itself and out of the rain.
Date: 2008-05-15
From: A. Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: light rain

We got up fairly early, ate breakfast and headed the 0.7 miles down the trail to the NOC. Upon arriving there, I was surprised at how big it was - I had been picturing a single building, but it was an entire campus! We picked up our 2 boxes - food resupply and the bounce box (thanks Amber!!), and then headed up to shower. The showers were okay, quarter fed ($0.25 for 1 minute) and the hot faded to warm then almost cold as the minutes passed. I was glad I only fed in 6 quarters as there was hardly any hot left by the time my quarters ran out.I scavenged around the deck and found 4 electrical outlets - with the bounce box this was our first chance to recharge all of our batteries, and most of them needed it badly. While I waited for all of the devices to recharge, I repacked my food bag with the resupply items Amber had shipped to us. I did pretty good at the amounts/kinds of things in the resupply, much better than Shar who shipped half the stuff home! Shar went up to do the laundry. It seemed to take forever for the batteries to charge, but the laundry getting done was the long pole in the tent. Eventually we had nice clean clothes to put back on, and fully charged electronics. We stopped by the river-front restaurant for lunch. The pizza special (a small pizza, salad and drink for $10) sounded great, but not enough food, so I ordered a second meal (ham/cheese panini with fries) to go with it. I downed it all easily and still had room for a dessert (brownie w/ice cream, VERY good!). Finally, after 2:00, we headed back up the trail, just as it started raining. My pack was really heavy due to all of the new food. We weren't sure if we were going to stop in the shelter or not as it was only 7 miles up the trail. But, the heavy rain convinced me to stay. I arrived and found Justice and his owners, Mighty Mouse and Be Still already there. I warmed up a bit and put on my dry clothes (I had been hiking in a t-shirt, using the umbrella to stay somewhat dry). Finally, worried that Shar was going to pass the shelter as it was 0.1 miles off the trail, I ran out and put my hat on the shelter sign. Not 15 minutes later she showed up and said it was a good thing I had done that as she would have skipped the hike down to the shelter! I cooked dinner and went to bed fairly early, as it was cold, windy and raining pretty hard.
Date: 2008-05-16
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter

To: Stream/campsite
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: overcast clouds

It was a fairly cold, off/on rainy day. The hike was only going to be 15.2 miles to Cable Gap Shelter. I ate a nice lunch at the Brown Fork Gap shelter. The privy there was funny - there were a couple of entries in the shelter journal singing it's praises, so I had to go check it out. It was just a wooden platform, toilet seat and roof - no walls! I had to take a picture. Just as I was finishing up my lunch Mighty Mouse showed up, she had passed Shar about an hour ago, so I didn't figure that she'd make it to the shelter for lunch.After crossing Stecoah Gap the long, steep, seemed-to-go-on-forever uphill almost killed me! I called Amber way too many times, trying to figure out if the flowers that I sent for her birthday had showed up. Eventually, at 5:15 PM (her time), I outright asked her about them. I hated to ruin the surprise but figured that they'd be there by 5:00 or never. I now have to figure out how to get the number of the florist to call and find out what happened (and bitch at them)!I got to Cable Gap shelter, and it was packed! There were at least 8 tents already set up, and a couple of guys hanging around the shelter. I refilled water and decided to head up the trail to a less crowded campsite, figured it couldn't be far. I left Shar a note in the shelter journal and headed out. Boy was I wrong about it not being far. The only two campsites I found were on a ridge, and it was raining and really windy and I didn't want to be on a ridge all night. I eventually ended up going 3 miles to a campsite, making this my longest day yet. I quickly set up my tent, cooked dinner in it (a no-no yes, but I was tired and cold and wet and hungry...) and went to bed. Shar never showed up.
Date: 2008-05-18
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: light rain

Today was supposed to be an easy day (only 11.7 miles), but turned out to be one of the most challenging. I woke up and checked my voicemail, Shar had left a message that she was on the way at 6:00 or so and was 5 miles back, and not to wait on her. I texted her with our destination for the day (Derrick Knob Shelter), and was taking my time getting ready to head out, but not necessarily waiting on her. Just as I put my pack on and was getting ready to go, she rounded the bend in the trail and yelled out my name. Turned out to be a good thing, as her phone had locked up and she hadn't gotten my message!It started raining shortly after we started hiking, and pretty much rained all day long. It was cold and windy as well, made for a miserable hiking day. We got out of the rain at Spence Field shelter for lunch. I fell asleep waiting for Shar to finish her lunch, it was really tough getting going again as I had stiffened up and cooled down to the point that I was freezing cold. The rain increased in strength throughout the day. I hiked using my umbrella and rain gear - I figured out that the umbrella lets you vent your rain coat and so keep a bit less sweaty while hiking in the rain.We made it into Derrick Knob Shelter, set up tents (there was room in the shelter, but it was crowded and I was sure it wasn't going to rain all night), made dinner and went to bed. My watch still had a 7 in the hours place when I fell asleep. It was a miserably cold night, our coldest so far, and the "easy" hiking day was anything but after slogging through the mud and rain all day long. This is one of those days that makes you wonder why the heck your out here.
Date: 2008-05-19
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Newfound Gap (Gatlinburg, TN)
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a tough hike, we covered 18 miles, and also crossed the highest point that we'll reach on the entire trail, Clingman's Dome at 6643 feet. The day started out freezing cold, I woke up the first time at 6:10 AM, looked at the watch, felt that it was still cold out, and went back to sleep. I finally had to force myself out of my nice warm sleeping bag at the urging of my bladder at 7:00 or so. It was the first night so far that I had to go "full mummy" on the sleeping bag, pulling the top up over my head. Getting started was tough, but once I was up (and dressed in every piece of clothes I have with me), it wasn't too bad. We had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and cocoa, then started hiking shortly after 8. I warmed up quickly and before long was done to just one layer on top and bottom, and not long after that was sweating. We had a nice lunch at the Double Spring Gap shelter in the sun and out of the wind. As we were finishing up Bear Bait and some other weekend hikers showed up. BTW, there's a great spring at that shelter, great in this case defined as not having to hike downhill 100 yards to get to it, it was right there!Not long after lunch we made it up Clingman's Dome. It wasn't a tough hike at all. It was a bit odd with all of the tourists around, but nice views! The concrete platform was nice but very roundabout to get to the top. It was really cold and windy at the top, so I didn't stay up long. After Clingman's Dome, we had 3.4 miles to go to the Mt. Collins Shelter, or if we wanted to get all the way into Gatlinburg an additional 4.5. It wasn't a bad hike (the ups and downs weren't too steep), and we quickly came up to the shelter. Shar was game to continue on, so we headed on to Newfound Gap and a ride into Gatlinburg. It was my favorite part of the hike so far. We were hiking through this dense, dark, old growth pine forest. The ground was soft in most places. It was just a really cool hike. At one point there were tons of huge trees blown down. These were like 150 or more feet tall pine trees blown over, and when one of them goes over, it pulls up a rootball that can be as big as 30 feet in diameter! It was crazy how much dirt gets pulled up, and how many trees were down. I'm guessing that a tornado or really high winds came through a while back and knocked them all down. Neat stuff. The final part of the hike was tough, Shar was really tired, and my knee was starting to bug me a bit. I was glad to have made myself hiking sticks earlier in the day, I think they really helped.We made it to Newfound gap, and the first person to approach us to ask if we were hikers ended up offering us a ride into town. They drove us all the way down right to the hotel, they were our trail angels for the day. We had a quick dinner at Texas Roadhouse, I was too tired to really enjoy it, then went to bed early.
Date: 2008-05-20
From: Gatlinburg, TN

To: Gatlingburg, TN
Miles today: 0.0

   We took a zero day today, as by the time we were done with laundry and getting our food resupply done, it was after 4:00 PM. Public transportation is nice (better than walking), but not for the time-constrained! Most of our time was spent waiting for trolleys or on them. We ran into two thru-hikers we had met at lunch the other day, they had gotten caught in a thunderstorm and gotten hailed on! Glad we were here in the nice warm hotel rather than on the trail for that!   My knee is still a bit sore, I hope the rest day today makes it better tomorrow. I bought new insoles for my boots, maybe the extra cushioning will cut down on the sore feet. And to top it all off, my left foot's middle toe has been numb most of the day. I don't know what that's all about but I don't like it! Hope it clears up tomorrow...   Quotes of the day:"Hydrate or Die" - camelback sticker in the "Happy Hiker" outfitter window."Motor Nature Trail" - on the town map, seems a bit oxymoron(ic) to me.PS: Keep the guestbook entries coming - I love reading them! It makes the time spent writing and typing up the journal worth it.
Date: 2008-05-21
From: Newfound Gap (Gatlinburg, TN)

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: scattered clouds

   The day started with a nice hot shower and good hearty breakfast of 3 pancakes, 2 sausage and 2 eggs. I did the first real hitch-hiking of the trip (and my life) - it took only about 10 minutes of standing by the side of the road with my thumb out before someone stopped to pick us up. It was a couple from Poland who had seen us on the trolley yesterday - very nice people.   The hiking was great today. The weather was just about perfect - cold at the start, but it warmed up nicely, and the clouds disappeared by early afternoon. We covered 15.6 miles from Newfound gap to Tri-Corner knob shelter. It took me just over 9 hours total - I got in to the shelter at 6:00 PM. My hiking sticks worked great - my knee felt fine most of the day, and my back never hurt today.   The only person at the shelter was Smiley, who had passed us earlier in the day. It was a really nice shelter - convenient water, nice privy, good bear cables, tarp covering the front entrance. I cooked my chicken and dumplings dinner - it was a bit of work but very tasty!   The hike was neat as we were on the ridgeline all day - slight ups/downs, but nothing too much, and great views all day long. It's gonna be a cold night - we heard in the 30s.    Note to the guidebook author: There's no water at Eagle Rocks - it really sucked going 5 miles without it due to that. Correction, there may be water there, but it's not obvious where without a topo map and compass. Don't list water sources that you can't just find easily sans map, or at least say they are difficult to find, please.
Date: 2008-05-22
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter

To: State line branch at mile 236.6
Miles today: 16.4

   Today was a marvelous day for hiking and erased any doubts I may have had about being out here. Woke up in the shelter and it was cold - probably mid to upper 30s. Shar's backpack cover had ice crystals on it! The coldest part for me was the start of the hike - my hands were going numb as I had to hold onto my hiking sticks (prior cold mornings I'd just put them in my pockets). After 10 mins or so I realized I could use my extra socks as mittens - which helped enormously.   Once hiking at a brisk pace, the cold disappeared. The trail again stayed up on the ridge, so the hiking was pretty easy - no major ups or downs to deal with. We stopped for lunch after 7.5 miles at Cosby Know shelter, another really nice one similar to last night's. I left Shar after lunch and continued the rest of the hike alone. It dropped down off the ridge and crossed out of the National park at Davenport gap. I looked into staying at the Davenport gap shelter, but decided against it. Plus it was early - only 4:00, so decided to go another 2 miles or so. I came to a neat stream crossing, behind a hill to block the interstate noise, and decided to camp there. I covered 16.4 miles in just about 9 hours of hiking.   The GPS filled up today. I'll try and see if the Green Corner hostel has a computer I can use to get the data off tomorrow.    We didn't see any thru-hikers all day. We did pass Jack the ridgerunner though.   For only the second time so far, I washed out my socks/undies in the stream. It was just too nice of a campsite! And for those wondering, I've laundered them since starting, just haven't washed them in the streams as much as I had planned.
Date: 2008-06-03
From: Sam's Gap

To: Ogelsby Branch
Miles today: 14.2

Today we resumed our hike after a 5 day break. We actually started hiking last night, but only went 10 minutes before finding a campsite and stopping before it got dark. We covered 14.2 miles today. It was tough getting back on the trail, more so for Shar than me, part of the reason we stopped so soon. I found a great campsite not far past the Ogelsby Branch stream. There were lots of flat spots for tents. I made a fire ring, and the fire gathering was easy. Met 3 people on Big Bald while waiting for Shar. The guy was fascinated by the idea and logistics of hiking that far - he had a million questions: "How do you get water?", "What do you eat?", "Where do you sleep?", etc.. We talked for a bit, Shar still hadn't shown up after 20 minutes or so so I headed on.I diced my finger pretty good with my knife at lunch. Had it backwards and the blade collapsed and cut my left hand index finger. I put a band-aid and duct tape on it.Figured out I can hang my cup on the outside of my pack, makes getting water much easier.Still having stomach issues. Hope it clears up soon or I'm going to run out of TP!We passed some great trail magic today - homemade cup cakes and coffee! I ate 5 cup cakes, they were too good to stop!
Date: 2008-06-04
From: Ogelsby Branch

To: Curley Maple Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

We covered 14.7 miles today, from our camp last night at Ogelsby branch to the Curley Maple Gap shelter. We had lunch on an overlook above the town of Erwin, you could see the river winding below. We were excited about the possibility of taking a swim when we got down there.I arrived first and found a path down to the river, where I took all the stuff out of my pockets, took my boots and socks off and headed in. It was perfect! The water wasn't too cold and it was definitely wet! It took Shar about 20 minutes to get there, I was starting to wonder where she was. She got in and enjoyed the water for a bit.It was on the way out that the fiasco happened. One of Shar's sandals popped off and started to float away. She tried to walk after it, wasn't going to catch it, the made a dive after it. It was a good effort, but she was like 5 feet short. I was dying laughing. In the dive, her other sandal popped off. I hurried as best I could to shore, but being barefoot, that wasn't very quickly. It took me forever to get my socks and boots back on. by the time I was after them they were way out of sight. I looked for a 1/4 mile downstream but there were gone. Shar was really pissed.The hike after the river was easy at the start, then a brutal uphill. I had been planning on going further than the shelter, but figured Shar wasn't. I took a nap while waiting for her. She came in and was done for the day.I cooked my Apple delight tonight. It was okay, but not worth the weight or effort. Line of the day: "Can you get me my sandals?". Shar, at the shelter, about borrowing MY flip-flops.
Date: 2008-06-05
From: Curley Maple Gap Shelter

To: Rock Overhang
Miles today: 17.2

   I stopped for the night at the Rock Overhang, after covering 17.2 miles today. I felt pretty good most of the day, other than a small dehydration headache in the morning, and the usual sore feet. Shar joined me in my camp late - she had stopped and had dinner before hiking the last 20 minutes or so. I had to make a new campsite, I wanted to stay on the ridge, hoping that the bugs wouldn't be as bad and the cooler temperatures.   Last night was miserable - I hardly slept at all. Two of the guys in the shelter were snoring, it was too hot to go into my sleeping bad, and the bugs kept biting me all night long.   Washed my socks and shirt out at a great spring - ice cold water! It was tough getting the shirt back on.    Had lunch on Unaka Mtn in a neat pine forest, it was very comfortable ground.
Date: 2008-06-06
From: Rock Overhang

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

   Today's hike was a tough one. I had planned on going almost 18, but was ready to quit after 15 or so. In the end I covered 16.6 miles, and set up camp near the Overmountain Shelter. There was a lot of uphill today, that probably explains the difficulty I had with the hike.   I didn't get to talk to Amber all day today. I tried turning on the phone and looking for service at least a dozen times, no luck though. Bummer.   The old Cloudland hotel site was kinda neat. I liked the trash can and running water - I washed my shirt out again. The idea of the mountain top hotel / summer retreat is neat, too bad it died out.    Shar hasn't shown up yet, it's almost 8:30. Wonder if she will? Probably not is my guess.   There's a lot of weekenders out today, guess that's one way to tell that its the weekend.    Beautiful weather today, although a touch hot when hiking uphill. But I'll take this over the cold any day.   The trail after Cloudland sucked! It was the old road, way too rocky. Then after the Bald, way too steep. They are working on rerouting it, it needs it.    For a while there I couldn't get any peace. Too many flies, so I couldn't stop. Then the trail went out into the open, too much sun, I was getting sunburned. From like 11:00 to 3:00 or later, I wanted to just keep hiking to keep the bugs away and not get sunburned.