morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-12-10
From: Brown Fork Gap Shelter

To: Wesser Bald Shelter
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: scattered clouds

I have been doing good at getting up and moving lately. Finally, after a good night hike the sun started making its way above the horizon. Clouds filled the sky and fog filled the valley's. I arrived at Stecoah Gap, which had a pretty good view, so I took a quick stop. It was only 7:30 but I was already hungry again. Once again I was on my way, about 30-45 mins later I came across some southbound section hikers who were getting their gear packed up. They were a little surprised to see me on the trail so early, but I had miles to cover. I made it to the top of Cheoah Bald in the clouds. Although disapointed I know there are more to come. I made it to the Nantahala River by 2pm so I rewarded myself with an hour break to eat. While there I stopped at the little store as well to get snacks for tomorrow. Hope to make Franklin tomorrow.-Snack Time
Date: 2007-12-11
From: Wesser Bald Shelter

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 21.6
Weather: clear sky

Getting up and going early in the morning had been really easy lately. It seems that I have gotten back into a groove. The warm mornings do help out a lot along with being solo, so I have no worry about disturbing others. After a quick 0.8mile I stopped for a sunrise break at the Wesser Bald firetower. The clouds were down low in the valleys which made them appear to be lakes. It was a great stop but I didn't want to wait around another 30mins for the sun to completely come up over the horizon. The next bald offered no views do to some clouds that had moved in the area. Next up was Wayah Bald. By the time I made it to the top the skies had cleared and the sun was nice and warm. Just a mile from the top I came within 15' of my 11th Black Bear on the trip. The views showed not only where I was going but also back to Clingmans Dome in the Smokies. The last Bald of the day was Siler Bald. I'm glad I took the side trip to the summit, as it offered 360 degree views of the surrounding area. The views were just awesome. From there I pushed hard to make it to US 64 before it got dark. I made it just before 5:00 and quickly got a ride all the way to town. Tonight I am staying at the Budget Inn which is a hiker friendly hotel.-Snack Time
Date: 2007-12-12
From: Franklin, NC

To: Big Springs Shelter
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Even though I couldn't get to sleep last night in the hotel, my body was wide awake at 5:30 this morning. I managed to get another hour of sleep mixed in before makeing my way down to Hardee's for some breakfast. That breakfast consisted of 4 bacon, egg and cheese biscuits. After that I felt the town rush. I got back to do laundry, then had to walk to the other side of town to find fuel. Once back to the room I rushed to get packed and then ended up waiting a good bit for my shuttle back to the trail. It was after 11am when I got going. I noved at a good pace for having a fresh resupply. The 20% chance of rain today turned out to be 100%. Knowing that tells me how tomorrows 40% chance will be as well. Once I got to the second shelter I knew I would be night hiking if I continued. Weighing my options I decided that I was not terribly wet and one wet night would be better than two. I also acted on advice I recieved 146 days ago and that was, "if your body says stop, then stop." For the second day in a row I saw another Black Bear. This one was also very close but ran off. There are signs alerting of a problem bear in the area, so it make you wonder more when you see one. After talking to my parents last night the plan is to finish by Monday the 17th.-Snack Time
Date: 2007-12-13
From: Big Springs Shelter

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: moderate rain

Well I've gone so long with out rain and now it seems to be plentiful, at least in the mountains. The 40% chance today did turn out to be mostly true. It only rained on me about 50% of the day. The morning sunrise was amazing. I had made it up to the summit of Albert Mtn. for the show. I watched from the steps on the firetower, which was a very windy place to be. The fog below in the basin directly below was dancing around in the wind. Later in the day I climbed Standing Indian Mountain which was the last 4,000-5,000ft peak I would go over. I took a brak at Beech Gap before ascending, which is where the rain started. From there I just walked without stopping. By the time I made it to the shelter I was completely soaked. My quilt and fleece liner had also gotten wet as well. Tomorrow is suppose to be sunny eventually and with that I hope I can push some bigger miles. I almost have to due to the fact that I now put my self on a schedule for the second time on my hike. If you are planning to hike, my advice, if you can avoid it never get on a schedule. Saturday and Sunday should be Cold, Rainy and or snowy. Hard to believe with 3 more miles I will be in Georgia. Today is my Dad's Birthday and since I can't call...well Happy Late Birthday by the time you read this.-Snack Time
Date: 2007-12-14
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Blue Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 29.9
Weather: few clouds

AHHHHH! 0.1 mile short. Today was very long and seemed like a rollercoaster ride. It was by mileage the second longest day I have done. I ought to go walk another 0.1mi just to make it 30. Last time I made it close to 30miles though I was with Farsang and we decided to make it 30, that turned into 36.5! Water sources were mostly dry right along the trail. There were some off 0.5mi but I didn't want to go that far off the trail. I finally found some water at 8:00 that night on the North side of Unicoi Gap. I had found a spring which was a puddle along the trail earlier but that water I never wanted to drink unless it was absolutely necessary. Now I should be set for tonight and a good part of tomorrow. By pushing hard I will have a shorter day to Neels Gap tomorrow. Once at the gap I will resupply one last night. I look forward to seeing Alpine and Princess Brat once again. Turns out that a whole pack of SOBO's area just two days ahead with Firework and Fast Enough. They should all finish tomorrow. This morning after another awwesome sunrise I entered the state of GA and said goodbye to NC. GA is not only the last state but I believe it is the 33rd State I have been in this year. Now the memories of those travels are starting to occupy my thoughts during the day.-Snack Time
Date: 2007-12-15
From: Blue Mtn. Shelter

To: Mountain Crossings at Neels Gap
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: overcast clouds

It's really hard to believe that tomorrow will be my last night out on the trail. I was surprised that I got myself up and going early this morning after a long day yesterday. I guess the threat of weather and the promise of a nice warm place to stay gave me some motivation. Once again I got to see and amazing sunrise. It seems as though each one tries to out do the last. Again the trail went up and down over the hills of Georgia. Before too long I could tell I didn't have the same energy as normal. One could probably expect this after a 30mi day though. Going up one of the larger climbs I met a guy named Phil that had just finished working with my cousin in Winston-Salem, NC. After a brief stop there, I could fill that the rain was coming and started moving a little quicker. I walked in the rain about 30mins. and as I was walking down the last hill a flash of lightening lit up the area, thunder followed 9 secs. later. That was the first time I had heard thunder since before VA. The first person I saw was Princess Brat and soon after Alpine when I went into the store. They were both doing great. With some food and shower I kicked back one last time in a hostel. I watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," followed by "Dr. Doolittle."-Snack Time
Date: 2007-12-16
From: Mountain Crossings at Neels Gap

To: Hawk Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 22.9
Weather: overcast clouds

As of now the fact that I will reach the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail tomorrow has not sunk in to my head. I know as I lay here tonight and as I walked today that I would have only 7.6 miles to the summit of Springer Mountain. Even knowing that, it just seems like another day on the trail. I don't feel as though tomorrow I will just stop walking. I am pulling out all the stops tonight in order to stay warm. I have had a hot dinner, some hot coco, and now have a Nalgene full of boiling hot water in my fleece liner to warm me up. Today has been cold from the start. I amde it out of the hostel down at Neels Gap a little after the sunrise. There were a few snow flakes flying through the air at that time but nothing was accumulating. Right off I had ovr a 1,000ft climb and as I continued up the snow came down more. The trees on top of Blood Mtn. had a nice frosting and my beard ended up with a nice frosting as well. As Alpine and Princess Brat had told me there were a good amount of boulders up top, it was too cold for me to hang around and check them out though.A group had stayed in the shelter on top overnight, and it looked very cold. The wind was just blowing right through. I quickly made my way down in elevation and was just hoping to get out of the wind as well. The rest of my days hike was like the other parts of Georgia, up and down, gap to gap. Even with the cold, birds seemed to be out a lot more today than what I have noticed recently. In one spot I saw: Junco's, Chickadee's, White-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird, Downy or Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Maybe tomorrow I will see some more wildlife before finishing. This journey has been awesome and it will take a while to process all that I have seen and done, but that should help keep me sane as I make the transition back to civilization.-Snack Time
Date: 2007-04-12
To: 6 Days and Counting...
Miles today: 0.0

The list of things I have to do seems to be dwindling at last. Unfortunately some of the last snags are fairly serious. A lot of things that I have ordered (well two to be exact - the tent and the camera) are taking their sweeeeeeeet time getting here. I have been in contact with the companies about expedited shipping but it seems the goods will likely arrive about 1-2 days before I fly. It's cool though.My apartment is looking pretty bare at this point, and I am only thinking about how this just makes more space available for the potential plethora of guests that will be here Saturday night for our (Nick and I) going away party. YES!So I will be keeping this updated pretty regularly from now on with any luck. As soon as the camera gets here, I will have some pics too.
Date: 2007-04-17
To: Watertown, on the edge!
Miles today: 0.0

Well I made it to Watertown today. It was messed up though. First, leaving everyone behind in Rochester was a major event. Very major. The hangover from the awesome party Saturday night was gone luckily, but I still felt like crap due to my ever increasing sleep debt.To understand why it was messed up, you also have to know that of the last 3 trips to Watertown (including today) I have made, I have driving during 2 nor'easters, and been arrested once. All on different trips yes. Today had the added bonus of having a queen bed strapped to the top of my car with parachute cord, 50 mph gusts of wind, whiteouts and torrential downpours, and having to drive a normally 2 hour trip in 3.5 hours because my max speed could only be about 45mph. Couple all this with having just had my normally terrible experiences at UPS pickup and you get the picture. The bed got here almost completely DRY! zomgI am beat and about to head to bed. But despite all that, I have had a great day. Been thinking about all the things in Rochester over the last few years that I am so thankful for. I guess that happens...when you don't have it anymore, you miss it and realize how things should have been all along except that you got too comfortable and didn't take advantage of things every day. Oh well. Night thoughts, I'm out!
Date: 2007-04-19
From: Springer Mountain!

To: Maine?
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Audio of Randy's phone message Well, we got in last night, everything went great on the plane and the train. We got picked up to go to the hostel where we proceeded to meet a bunch of different people - a pretty lively crowd. While hanging out we got some new trail names. A couple older hikers dubed me TNT, as in the explosive, and Justin's name is The Slick, because hes got the bald head. So, we just got a ride up here this morning to the top of Springer Mountain, well almost the top. I'm standing at the head of the AT right now at the top of a mountain. I'm looking down thousand foots drops down either side of a slippery dirt road with no guard rails that somebody is driving thats obviously done it before but thats going a little fast for my taste. We're just about to set out here, we already hiked a mile to get to here, and now we're taking our first steps on the official AT. Its been pretty great, met a guy from Israel who had sort of been all over the world, been hanging out with him a lot. Just been having a pretty good time so far, so I will keep you updated. Alright, TNT and Slick OUT!
Date: 2007-04-20
From: Day Two

To: Day Two
Miles today: 14.0

Well, right now we're 14 miles into the trail, or 15, and not going quite as fast as I want to. I'm really smoking Slick, I'm hiking way faster. But overall everything went pretty well through Springer. We (??) time at the shelter last night, a little cold, but pretty cool. Been some great scenery, lots of up and downs, lotta hills out here. They call them mountains, but they're more like hills. Hiking actually has been pretty much what I want to do, just walk all day. You sorta get bored, well, not bored, but you just want to keep walking I guess. Right now its ok. We've had some good weather, and caught a big snake today, Eastern King Snake. Met a lot of really cool people here, we're all hanging out at the shelter right now. Sort of getting time for bed, even though its still a little light out. But thats how its going - sleeping when it gets dim and waking when it gets light. The tent saga continues, and tomorrow morning I am going to head into town real early, crack of dawn, so I can make it into the post office before they close and hopefully leave some forwarding instructions to get it to the next place so we dont have to take a couple days there and we can get it Monday. That way we can keep walking. We will have to do some hitchhiking in about two days from now, I'm a little leery of it, but we'll see how it goes. Anyway, I think thats about it for now, and I will keep you updated.
Date: 2007-04-21
From: Tents and Sausage Biscuits and Gravy!

To: Tents and Sausage Biscuits and Gravy!
Miles today: 8.0

Alright, so, left early this morning about 6 in the morning I got up and headed out by 6:30. Made an eight mile hike in about two and a half hours so I was in town by nine. Stood and stared at the groceries in this little convenience store for a couple hours before I realized Oh Shit, they have all you can eat sausage biscuits and gravy, sausage, bacon and eggs and coffee, all you can eat for four dollars! I was hoping for McDonalds, but it turned out much better. So I ate pretty much the biggest meal of my life, and then was about to head out of town. Before that I picked up my tent at the post office, so that saga is over. It made it here so I didnt have to put a forwarding request in. Right now Justin and I just met back up after I got dropped off here two miles up the road from a guy that actually lived in Rochester right near Brian's house. We talked a little bit about Strong and a couple places in Rochester where we used to go out, pretty small world. Time to head on, and hopefully get to Neels Gap sometime soon. Alright, I'm out.
Date: 2007-04-23
From: The Snakecharmer needs a beer

To: The Snakecharmer needs a beer
Miles today: 26.3

Alright so this is day 4 or 5 something like that now. I met a whole bunch of people already here. A couple of them I have to mention - Anita and Harriet. I told them I was going to get some beers but it turned out that the county that we were at last, the store was dry, so I couldnt even get a beer there. We camped out last night on the top of a little bowl, and the night before at a place called Woods Hole where there were a bunch of Boy Scouts. Since I know how annoying Boy Scouts are, since I was one, we camped out a little above them to get away from that. But I had a nice fire the last couple nights and everything - John and his dog, myself, Slick, guy named Gandalf, guy named Guppie, guy named McCray, all hung out last night at this gap. Had a great fire, chatted around it for a while, beautiful stars and everything. But hopefully I'll be able to get a beer here in a couple days, but Im more worried that the next town is dry as well, so Im out of luck. Tonight were up on Blue Mountain shelter. Were about to eat - Ive been eating cream cheese solid, 3 sticks straight, whole ones at a time - trying to keep my calories up. See how it goes, when the next town hits, we will resupply and get my second, Justin's first hitchhiking experience. Oh by the way, my trail name changed again. I am now Snakecharmer due to the fact that I caught that other snake. Someone said it was bullshit that somebody named be before the trail. That happened on the trail so now my new name is Snakecharmer. So get that changed and I'll keep you updated.
Date: 2007-04-27
From: Here comes the story of the Hurricane

To: Here comes the story of the Hurricane
Miles today: 30.0

Well, I'm alive. We went through what seemed like a hurricane last night for a long time. It rained all day, got soaked, had to sleep on the ground in the shelter because there was no room. A bunch of people came in last night around 10 at night, soaked, and tried to pack around around me. At least Slick was up on a platform so he's ok. So anyways, we're alive and we're about toPhone cuts out(recaps what he just said) Regardless of that, we're heading to Standing Indian Mountain tonight, after crossing into North Carolina yesterday, so we've only got 13 states to go, I guess. Couple nights ago we met a girl named AK and a guy named Lion, as well as a couple people with us, Gandalf and Stryder. Galdalf has a sweet Lord of the Rings tattoo, which is the insignia on the ring going around his upper arm, fitting for his name I guess. We all went into Hiawassee that day with AK, she had a car, ate a whole bunch of food, did a resupply and all that stuff. Had to hitch twice out of town to get back to the gap. I hitched out a 6-pack of beer and a steak - went to the shelter with it and surprised everyone. So that was pretty sweet. And then yesterday was pretty much a day of rain, so... Phone cuts outFranklin?... Phone cuts out
Date: 2007-05-01
From: Sardines in a Geo Metro

To: Sardines in a Geo Metro
Miles today: 55.7

Alright, well, its been a few days now since my last update. The night after the storm we moved on, probably about 11 miles and didnt get to a shelter or anything just camped out because we were having great weather at that point. After that we camped out again. We were pretty much camping out with Bobcat, Anita, and Harriet the whole time. They were doing good pace with us so we had good company. Galdalf and Guppie have moved on, they tried to do 22 miles in the storm and I dont really think it happened. We ended up in Franklin the next day, so so far we've been hitchhiked by Beekeeper and this lady named Jaceula?, who took us into Franklin with Sleddog. We got out with a couple guys in the back of a Geo Metro, barely packed in with packs squeezed on our laps. Franklin was great, hit a grocery store and had all you can eat Shoney's. The next couple days we were in shelters, saw some nice views and everything. Weve been up at 5300 feet so far and we're about to hit the Smokey Mountains in a few days, so we should be up even higher. Everything has been going great - we've seen a couple homeless people on the trail - theres even bums out here which is kind of amazing. Havent seen any more snakes. Been learning how to get the solar charger working thats sort of been the reason for the low updates - my battery died and Ive had a hard time recharging it. Last night we stayed at Nantahala Outdoor Center, got our first night at a hostel. Drank a whole bunch of beers with the other hikers, had a ton of food, its been great, picked up some new gear. We're streamlined heading for Fonatana Dam here in a couple days. Keep you updated, Snakecharmer out!
Date: 2007-05-02
From: Dammed Tomorrow

To: Dammed Tomorrow
Miles today: 7.0

Well, Im sitting at the side of NC-143/Sweetwater Road. Last night we stayed in a shelter about 7 miles in. We did go, we were going to take a day off at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, which I really miss. I love that place, all the food and the people and the beer and all that. Were on the trail, Im glad Im back on it. Were about a day outside of Fontana Dam at this point, which is where we will be tomorrow. Probably go into town, get some food and so on. Got a mail drop coming in I think. Then we hit the Smokey Mountains. So far so good. Last night we were at another shelter with Sleddog, Anita, and Harriet again. Were sort of pacing with the same people, it seems. We saw ??, showed up, about a day behind us. Things are going well, and Ill keep you updated. Good weather so far, we've only had one day of rain in the past two and a half weeks, so I cant complain about that. Anyways, Snakecharmer out!
Date: 2007-05-02
From: Take your pants off or get your feet in the car!

To: Take your pants off or get your feet in the car!
Miles today: 0.0

Alright, so sitting on the side of a North Carolina road gets you in some weird situations. I got down here about 2.5 hours ago, met an old couple with a dog. The nearest hitch was about 7 miles away. I was waiting for Slick, and a bunch of bird watchers showed up and gave me some food, which I split with him. I chilled with a guy named Whistler for 10 or 15 minutes before he moved on. Then we were visited by our friendly redneck Conway Patterson from North Carolina. He drove up trashed, came out of the car with some Buds, came over and sat with me at the picnic table and just started talking. We talked about pot, talked about black people, talked about Christianity. He was a pretty back woods kind of guy. His attitude on all those subjects were pretty much ?racial?typical? But he did give me a couple beers, he was a nice guy in terms of hanging out. Gave me his number, his name, Tree Man and Cowboy. He will come rescue us with his horse up on top of a ridge if we ever need it. But the amount of stuff that came out of this guys mouth just blew me away. And the way he treated his woman in the car wasnt exactly chivalry. He kept threatening to either take her pants off or get her feet back in the car. So, you get the picture. Anyway, Snakecharmer out!