morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-04-09
From: Muskrat shelter 

To: carter gap 
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Not a tough day. One milestone is that I went to an elevation above 1 mile (5280 ft). I reached almost 5500 ft at one point. My knees feel better and they felt great after a long lunch break. I aired out the tent and my stinkables and let everything dry while I took a short nap in the sun. The next 4.5 miles to the shelter were a piece of cake. A little rocky at times (I¢m so used to smooth-sailing trail so far), but my knees felt fine and my heel gave minimal pains/troubles. Lots of nice large rhododendron, but no views yet. Brewmeister, Headfirst, Matt (from Texas), and myself are staying in the shelter while others tent. I propped my feet up over my pack and let my legs rest. Spirits are ok, could be better. I can¢t wait till my legs heal over and harden up. My muscles are ready but the tendons and joints say NO! I felt like I could have passed by the shelter another 4 miles. It was hard to stop myself here at Carter. I am very anxious/excited to get my legs going so I can get my real hike on. I want to push myself, but not in a bad way that hurts me. The miles will come. I still seem to walk pretty fast, but I take frequent 5-10 minutes breaks every 20 minutes or so. This seems to help a lot along with longer lunch breaks. I am also going to hold the mileage down till after Smokey¢s at least. It is hard for me to be patient right now, but I know I must.
Date: 2005-04-11
From: rock gap shelter 

To: Haven's Budget Inn
Miles today: 3.8

Staying the night in Franklyn, N.C. Hitched in ten miles to town along with Headfirst, Super Trooper, ¢B¢-man, and Taxman. Headfirst and I are going to be staying at the Haven¢s Budget Inn. I am looking forward to elevating my legs and icing my aches and pains. AND EATING. I still don¢t think my trail hunger has peaked yet. I am eating a lot, but I think I will be eating even more once I start bigger miles. It feels good to shower and relax, but I get sick of the TV really quick. I want to be out hiking more, but I know I need to rest. I make the most of it though, can¢t complain about AC and a mattress really. I can smell the familiar Spring scents in town here. Fresh cut grass, and lots of trees are blooming. It is nice warm weather down here. And the southern hospitality is still a nice touch.   People are friendly around here.   Hopefully I will catch a Simpson episode tonight. I still have yet to see one since i began this trek.
Date: 2005-04-13
From: Franklyn Motel

To: cold spring shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

Slightly rainy, cool. Pushed miles to the shelter so that I don't have to tent in the rain only to find a full shelter. I tented behind the shelter. I am starting to pitch my tent really nicely. It was freesing cold cooking dinner in the rain, but once I was in my sleeping bag, I was perfectly fine. Rained most of the night.
Date: 2005-04-14
From: cold spring shelter

To: N.O.C.
Miles today: 11.4

Headed to the Nantahala Outdoor Center today. Walking was fine. It was a long downhill into the valley where the Nantahala River cuts through. About six miles worth of down hill walking, which tears my knees up pretty good. Apparently Nantahala means land or valley of the noon day sun because the valley is very deep and you don't really see the sun till almost noon time. This area is known for rafting, and the outdoor center offers rafting and canoe trips. The AT crosses right through it over the bridge.   Hikers stay in bunk houses close to the AT. It was nice to stay on a mattress. I was also able to do laundry and shower. The showers were in one building. Unfortunately, one of the stalls had feces smeared on the wall inside. I am surprised that someone would do that. I guess not all hikers are house-trained.   I met a lot of new hikers today. Most of them started around the same time as myself and have been hiking in groups. There is a nice area to hangout and watch TV. We had a cooler of beers as well, which someone picked up from hitching into nearby Bryson City. We are still in a dry county. Some local folks brought a bunch of guitars over and were playing, it was nice time.
Date: 2005-04-15
From: N.O.C.

To: Locust Cove
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: clear sky

Hiked out of the N.O.C. today. It was a tough climb up and out of the valley, but nothing I couldn't handle. I am sleeping cowboy tonight, it should be a clear nice night. The group I met @ the N.O.C. is tenting here as well. They include Professor/Poster Nutbag, Crazy Legs Crim, Low Bridge, Slim, Jeff and Amy, Paparazzi. Headfirst is also still with me. They are a good group and I am starting to get to know them a little better.
Date: 2005-04-17
From: cable gap

To: Fontana Inn
Miles today: 5.5

Stayed in Fontana Village today. I am sharing a room with head first. Others are also staying at the INN within the village. Some are staying at the shelter nearby. The village is fairly nice. The INN/hotel I am staying at is actually quite nice. It has great stone work on the outside as well as the inside. Lots of slate stacked up to make walls and a large fireplace in the main lounge/lobby. There are also cabins and bunk houses in the village.    I met a lady who has a time share here, and her and her husband have been coming here for the past fifty years. Her husband is really into the wild-flowers, and people come to this area around this time of year to go on walks in the woods. There is supposedly a forest other than the smokies which has a great variety of wild flowers. Guided walks are given and I see a lot of retirees here attending talks and seminars. I enjoyed my stay here and took a bunch of pictures. Played shuffle board and drank beers in the hot sun.
Date: 2005-04-18
From: Fontana Inn

To: Fontana "Hilton" Shelter
Miles today: 1.1

I basically took a zero day today. I am not staying in the fontana village tonight, but am @ the shelter nearby. Also known as the Fontana Hilton, this shelter is extremely nice with a great fire pit and view of the lake. A half mile walk to the dam visiter center offers hot showers and bathrooms (pay phones too). I decided to stay here to save money as well as experience this great shelter. Tommorow I head up into the Great Smoky Mountains with 5+ days of food.   I am excited to enter the smokies. I have heard lots of good things about them. It is an extremely diverse area with more plants and tree varieties than all of Europe. It is also home to species of salamander that only live only within the smokies.   My pack is extremely heavy with five days of food, and I have a decent climb into the smokies tommorow.
Date: 2005-04-19
From: Fontana 

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: scattered clouds

A tough hot day today. Got off to a start for the smokies around mid-mourning, maybe 9:30ish or so. Hikers cross over the dam before entering the southern boundary of the park. The dam was very interesting to walk over. Fairly large. Apparently the famed jump scene in the Fugitive when Harrison Ford jumps over a dam was filmed in a nearby dam maybe 10 minutes away. Ironically, the night we were staying @ the INN, the fugitive was on TV. Perhaps they show it weekly here.Today was the first day I got really angry and frustrated while hiking. On paper the climb into the smokies doesn't look too bad and is nothing I haven't already encountered. However, the sun was hot today by the time I was well into the climb, and my pack was feeling extremely heavy. I was really frustrated pushing up the hill with all the food I was caring. I was cursing to myself and had to stop frequently. In retrospect I probably should have just planned to hitch into Gatlinburg half way through the park. Once I was into higher elevations, the climb leveled off. I was in the 5500's or thereabouts. Great view of the lake and dam down below.I never hated my pack the way I did today. It was all worth it once I was at elevation. Coming around a bend, the forest floor went from a dull brown of dead leaves and duff to green with small white flowers everywhere. I ate lunch and took a nap for a while. I expected this to be the end of the flowers, but to my surprise the rest of the day was flowerific.It was very enchanting walking through this first section of the smokies. Thousands of pink and white petals were scattered through the green forest floor on both sides of the trail. Large birch and beech trees stood tall like silver sentinels overlooking the delicate beds below. Tufts of green grass guarded both sides of the narrow pathway I was walking on. Occasional chunks of marble could be seen glowing a bright white. Most of the day consisted of scenes like this so I couldn't complain too much about the heavy pack. We passed through a number of bald peaks. they were just open patches of golden green grass offering excellent views. It was possible to see one off in the distance, walk to it, and then turn around and easily see where the last peak was. I could see fellow hikes a mile away.
Date: 2005-04-20
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Double Spring Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: clear sky

The pack is already feeling lighter after eating a days worth of food or so. There is a very large bear population in the park. I don't think they are much of a problem to hikers, but some of the shelter have chain link fences across the front of them. Rules of the park dictate that no tenting is allowed until a shelter is full. I suppose this rule was in place to minimize impact from hikers. However, most of us tented. I was lazy and decided to just sleep cowboy and chance a bear walking up on me. Later on in the night I realized I look like a large trash bag (and probably smell like one too), so it probably wasn't the best of ideas to sleep out in the open. I doubt a bear would do anything, but you never know. During the night, I woke up and heard a noise of in the woods. Something was walking around the outskirts of our camp. Low Bridge was also awake and said he heard it do a half circle around our whole camp. I got out of my sleeping bag and turned my headlamp on. I approached the noise to see what it was, but I couldn't see anything. That was the last of the noise we heard. The next day, the Professor saw a large black bear about a mile from where we slept here.I got emotional earlier in the day. It was beautiful weather today. I was climbing up a steep climb and decided not to rest but just push to the top. When I reached the top I started to tear up. I am still not sure if they were tears of joy and relief or of sadness. It was beautiful in the park today. Perhaps I was just over exhausted. Either way I only squeezed out a few tears. It would have taken too much energy to cry a lot and I was probably already dehydrated by then. I spend all day being tough and walking through pain that by the end of it I am a bundle of emotions. I guess its good therapy though.
Date: 2005-04-21
From: Double Spring Shelter

To: icewater shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: light rain

We woke up at 3:30 am to get an early start today. I wanted to catch the sunrise at Clingman's Dome about three miles away. To my surprise about 10 of us or so were awake and heading for the sunrise. Clingman's Dome is the highest point on the entire AT @ 6643 feet at the observation deck. We all were out on the trail by 4:20 with headlamps on. It wasn't difficult at all to hike in the dark. The trail is very definitive in the park, and pretty much all of the south so far. Horses are allowed to walk the trail, which groves them out even more so. I was the first to reach the tower. I was able to look over to the next peak and see a string of head lights walking through the darkness.    Sunlight started slowly peaking through as everyone arrived at the tower. It was very cold and windy on top of the tower, and was the first time I had all my layers of clothing on (minus my long johns). The sky was fairly clear, with scattered clouds blocking where the sun would be. It was still very pretty to see the day light creeping up. We were on the tower for maybe close to an hour and then some started heading out thinking the sun had already risen behind the clouds. I looked over and saw a tiny bright red sliver inch up over the horizon. I shouted to the few who had already started to leave telling them to come back. The sun started slowly emerging over the mountains. It was a large, extremely red orb of light. A perfect circle. It was amazing, and ironic that we almost missed it thinking the sun had risen by then. I have seen many amazing sunrises and sunsets, but this one takes the cake by far. It was very rewarding to see, and this is one of the reasons I am out here putting up with the difficulties and harshness of the trail (including the heavy pack). We hung out at NewFound gap for a while today. This was a gap with a scenic overlook that people could drive up to from Gatlinburg. It was interesting sitting there. People would almost croud around us as if we were some sorta spectacle. They would ask us all sorts of questions. Some people were taking pictures of us as if we were in the wild. No one had any sodas to hand out though unfortunatley. There was a bathroom at the gap, but no soda machine or payphone.
Date: 2005-04-22
From: icewater shelter

To: cosby knob shelter
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Cold rain most of the day. Pushed a hard 20+ miles as originally planned. Legs and body feel great. I have just enough food to get out of the smokies. Crazy Legs Crim, Low Bridge, and myself made it to this shelter, while the rest of the group stayed at one behind. It stormed incredibly hard at night. A mix of hail/rain and powerful winds felt as if the shelter roof was going to rip right off. I could barely hear the music from my headphones it was so loud and intense. At least it drowned out any snoring. I was worried about my food hanging outside, but it made it through the night.
Date: 2005-04-23
From: cosby knob

To: standing bear farms
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

Standing bear was a cool place to stay. I actually didn't hear good things about mountain moma's. I was able to sleep in a double-sized bed with a mattress and quilts. The bunk house that some of us stayed in was built directly over a stream. We could see the water flowing below through the floor boards. It was nice to sleep with the sound of the rushing water. The other bunk house had a wood burning stove. Neither had electricity. Laundry, internet, and phone were in a different shack of sorts.One funny story is of an older hiker who walked inside looking uncompfortable. He sat down and said something along the lines of "I hope they get toilet paper in the outhouse, I don't know how much longer I could stand using mulch." Apperently he wiped his ass with the mulch inside the privy. The mulch is there to be tossed down into the privy to help the decomposing process. It was really funny. I pland to take only two days to get to Hot Spring, NC.
Date: 2005-04-24
From: standing bear farms

To: roaring fork shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up to about two inches of snow today. We are at about 2000 feet elevation at standing bear. Pushed a good day to set us up for a downhill into hot springs tomrow. We walked through about six inches of snow at the top of the moutains. Went over max patch bald today. The wind must have been going an easy 60 mph. I have never experienced such hard winds as I did climbing over this bald. There was snow over most of it. Usually a must stay for AT hikers. It is a chance to catch both a great sunrise and sunset. However, with the snow and harsh winds, we pushed on past it. But not too many people can say they made snow angels on top of Max Patch.
Date: 2005-04-25
From: roaring fork shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: scattered clouds

There was about six inches of snow at the top of the mountains. I got really frustrated and it was the first time my temper got the best of me. I can't stand walking in slushy slippery snow. With every step uphill, my feet slide back a few inches when I try to push with my toes. It feels like I am going nowhere and it is very tiring. I cursed out loud a few times and smashed my hiking poles against the ground on several occasions. I actually bent one ever so slightly. The snow did help for going downhill, however, half way through the day the snow was gone as we climbed down and out toward hot springs. I was almost running during the last mile or so. I passed by a few day hikers at lightening speed. They must have thought I was nuts. Some parts of the trail are designed with steps made from logs. I have gotten into the habit of walking down them backwards because it is easier on the knees. At one point to day, I whizzed past some day hikers, spun around backwards, flew down a set of stairs backwards, then whipped around again and was out of sight. I hope they don't think I was showing off.I screwed up the mileage yesterday I believe. It was only about a 14 mile day today into Hot Springs. Lowbridge, Crazy Legs, Vapors, and myself are staying at the Cody Hostel. I originally though we were going to be staying at Elmer¢s, but this definitely wasn't the place. I will zero out tomorrow. I cruised the 14 miles easily into Hot Springs. The thought of a frosty beer and burger in front of me was motivation.The trail runs right through the main street of this town, which is known for the piping hot geothermal waters that come up through the earths crust. Water from the mountains is piped into jacuzzi¢s where people can enjoy them for about $10/hour.
Date: 2005-04-26
From: Hot Springs, NC

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

We moved to a motel down the street from the hostel. We originally thought we were going to have a phone in the room but there wasn't. I would have stayed at elmer's had I known. Crazy legs and I are splitting a room. The zero day should help me out a lot. I bought two knee pad/braces today that seem like they will help out tremendously. I will be pushing out tomrow.
Date: 2005-04-27
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: spring mtn. shelter
Miles today: 11.7

First time using pocketmail device, so I may have some typos. EnjoyHot springs is basically a one street, one bar town. atleast it does serve beers. i had really great burgers at the paddlers pub. i had my first draft guiness on the trail, and it was delicious. the hike out of today was fine. i plan to do an 11,then 20,18, & 16 approximately into erwin, TN. I brought extra food in case this plan is too ambitious, but I feel good especially w/ the new knee braces I just bought. I have a new tiny patch of poison ivy surfacing on my on my right calf. Its about the size and shape of a cockroach; a bubbling festering pink cockroachthat itchs and oozes all day long. fortunatly, ihave a can of raid on my side. I sctratch open the rash, and then use rubbing alcohol. It dries right up and forms a normal scab that I can actually deal with out here. a bunch of us are at the shelter tonight. this guy Argo has a mini radio that works pretty well here. We hadall sorts of weather today other than hardcore snow. We had sunshine, windgusts, clouds,rain, hail.... I walke through it all w/ my sleevless t-shirts on. Another interesting note was wlking past the burnt remains from a forest fire. It was a prescirbed burn with the trail used as a boundary. The west side of the trail was burnt, the other side was green/lush. It seemed fairly recent because the air smelt of BBQ. I could just picture BBQ ribs and corn on the cob. The burnt section went on for about a mile or two. luckily there ws still room in the shelter and a bunch of us squezed in whie others tented.
Date: 2005-04-28
From: spring mtn. shelter

To: flint mtn shelter
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Fairly early start on this cloudy day. It rained a good portion of the day. The trail is very muddy and slippery. Today was the first day I hiked with my rain jacket on. Up to this point I have been fine with just a wind breaker on, but today i felt a bit more chilly. I was the first to leave and arrive at the next shelter this mourning. I ate lunch and layed down inside the shelter. Eventually everyone showed up from the last shelter, ate, and left. I took my time to reach the second shelter 15 miles into the day. It took a while to digest the tuna I ate since I ate two lunches worth. When I reached the 2nd shelter it was ofcourse full. I didn't keep my hopes up on there being a vacancy, but it still wasn't encouraging to see when it has been raining all day. A a fireplace inside the shelter was roaring with warm drying heat. It was about 5:30 when I arrived and starting to get darker with the overcast conditions. I decided if I was going to tent, i would chip !away another five miles while I was already wet and check out the next shelter. I didnKt have my hopes up on this shelter neither, but headed out anyway. So I left the last of the smokies group and headed off in the cold rain possibly never seeing them again. That is where the lonelyness factor comes int play. Althiough I don't doubt I will see them again.   It was getting darker and darker as I walked the final 5 miles, and sure enough as I walk up to the next shelter some guy says, "All filled up bud." I thought,'Nice to meet you to, jackass.' So I set my tent up in the rain, and by the time I was done cooking\eating it was dark. I caught up to Mr. Fusion, who I met on my first day at Josh and Lee's hostel. In my tent I had a tough time sleeping initially for some reason. Perhaps I didn't get the chance to unwind after eating and seting up. I find it hard to fall asleep if I work on something (school work for example) right before trying to go to sleep back home. I guess it still applies here. The brain needs time to slow down the momentum it has from previous thoughts. With the condensation accumulating on the inside of the tent, it was as if it was lighty drizzling inside each time a large drop would crash on the outside. I still had a reassuring sense of security. So close to the elements, yet so far.