morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-04-17
From: Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs 
Miles today: 0.0

Apr 17, 2016 - I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. The plan was to hike 11 miles past Hot Springs to the Spring Mountain Shelter. The plan never happened. The bar next to the Spring Creek Tavern was serving a $4 pancake breakfast that included sausage, watermelon, apples, coffee, and snickers. I started talking to Ken during breakfast and he mentioned that someone had slept in the Spring Creek Tavern last night. I immediately wrote this off as ludicrous and continued shoveling pancakes into my mouth. After breakfast, Peach, Moonshine, Ken and myself walked past the tavern and, sure enough, Daniel was lying on the floor with a roll of paper towels as a pillow! Somehow (we never did figure out what happened exactly), all the employees went home and locked up shop with Daniel still inside. Still shaking our heads with disbelief, we made our way back to the campground and told Bad Apple what happened. He immediately ran to the bar and reached the door just as the first employees were arriving. Apparently, they were mad at first, but they couldn't help but laughing in the end. In fact, they ended up giving him a free t-shirt. Crazy stuff though. I ended up having second breakfast after I packed up my campsite at the Smoky Mountain Diner. I had my first sweet potato pancake and now I wonder why regular pancakes exist at all. With packs ready to go, we were walking up the street and were once again roped into the tavern for a beer with the Hiking Viking, who was finishing up a southbound thru hike. I'm pretty sure he will be the first hiker to complete a thru hike in the winter so naturally he's famous along the trail. Next thing you know, Weebles tells us its $10 to go tubing on the French Broad River all afternoon. Sold! And so began zero number 3. Tubing was a freaking blast. We were floating down the river with floating coolers of beer for almost 4 hours. At one point, our group of tubes collided with a cliff face and Hot Toddie's tube completely exploded. Peach quickly pulled her up onto his tube and the floating resumed. It was a gorgeous day, the water was refreshing, and the beers stayed cold. The sun wiped me out so I downed another AT Hiker burger after tubing, actually got to watch game 3 of the Red Wings - Lightning series, and then called it quits pretty early.
Date: 2016-04-18
From: Hot Springs 

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

Apr 18, 2016 - After another deluxe breakfast at the Smoky Mountain Diner, I stopped at the outfitter in town to rearrange my pack. It only cost 69 cents to add a cord so that I could strap my tent to the outside of my pack, which completely changed the way I pack it. Finally, we started hiking again. As it is with most towns, the trail began with a steep uphill for about two miles. It was damn tough after relaxing for two days. Plus, someone turned up the heat outside, which was exacerbated by the smoke from a nearby forest fire, and that made the going slow. To help me get up that first hill, I turned to music - my pump up song so far on this trip has definitely been Mother, We Just Can't Get Enough by the New Radicals. As soon as it starts playing, my adrenaline slowly climbs until it reaches a peak and there's nothing else for it except to stop and jam on some air guitar using the trekking poles. One song was enough to get me bounding up the trail in true Mountain Goat form. The next 11 miles was a breeze despite it being almost entirely uphill to Spring Mountain Shelter. Oh and never buy corn tortillas - they are actually worthless.
Date: 2016-04-20
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Apr 20, 2016 - Its almost been four weeks out here and I can already feel myself changing a bit. My friends at home will know me as a pretty organized, schedule-driven person. I love planning get togethers with friends and knowing what I'm doing and when. Well, out here, I have no schedule, no plans, no time constraint, and no monetary constraint (within reason, of course). The freedom is literally infinite. I came out here with the most flexible mindset I could muster and the results have been really rewarding. The first three and a half weeks of my hike, I just went with the flow and did whatever felt right at the moment. Every day was the first day of high school and I met so many people. Despite this stress free environment, I still developed a bit of a routine. Every morning, I woke up between 6:00 and 6:30 am and was on the trail hiking by 8:00 am. Every night, I was in my tent between 8:30 and 9:00 writing or reading. Subconsciously, it had gotten to the point where I felt I needed to be on trail by 8:00 when, in fact, there was no such need. Yesterday, I realized my routine caused me to miss out a bit. Ever since Hot Springs, I realized that I finally fell into the beginning of my trail family. As a result, in just one day, the routine was replaced by a ridiculously relaxed outlook. This morning, I slept in until 7:30, had coffee and breakfast with the family and didn't start hiking until 9:30. After we realized the rumors of Trail Magic were not true, we stopped at the new Hiker Paradise hostel and relaxed for almost 2 hours. Afterwards, I realized I was too full to start hiking, so I read my book in a shady spot for a while and Peach caught salamanders in the stream. I took a rinse in a waterfall, tripped and bent two trekking poles, collected some wild onions for dinner, and finished hiking around 7:00 pm. Once everyone arrived at the Hog Back Mountain shelter, we shared stories around the campfire until almost 10:00 pm. The difference between today and yesterday was obviously drastic and obviously, today was far more enjoyable even though I had a great time yesterday. I lived yesterday, but I savored every minute today. I don't know how long I'll be able to stick with the same trail family, but dam-nit, I'll relish all that time.
Date: 2016-04-21
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Spivy Gap Campsite 
Miles today: 15.8

Apr 21, 2016 - Today, the target was the NoBusiness Knob Shelter about 20 miles away. This would put us about 6 miles from Erwin, TN. The highlight of the day was easily the summit of Big Bald. A bald is basically a summit that is free from trees and other vegetation. As you can imagine, this open landscape provides for some pretty stunning views. At 5,516 feet, Big Bald is a beautiful, grassy picnic spot with clear, 360 degree panoramic views. The picture shows the a view from the top with Peach walking down the summit with the trail in stretching into the background. I ate lunch up there with a few other hikers and continued on my way. About 15 miles in to the hike, I arrived at Spivy Gap to find Boomauer performing some Trail Magic. He had Natty Light and Natty Ice beers in a cooler. I haven't had one of those bad boys since school so obviously it was amazing. At this point, I was beat and certainly did not feel like hiking another 5 miles. Thankfully, the beers successfully discouraged the rest of the group also and we made camp in a pretty convenient campsite near the road that was already stocked with a water supply and a pile of dry firewood.
Date: 2016-04-22
From: Spivy Gap Campsite 

To: Erwin, TN - Cantarroso Farm 
Miles today: 11.1

Apr 22, 2016 - Peach and I were up at the crack of dawn - Erwin had an all-you-can-eat   Pizza buffet from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. FINALLY! After Big Al's disappointment in Hiawassee and Survivor's mystery pizza buffet (he still can't remember the name of the town or the restaurant, so who knows if it even happened), we finally had confirmation that this buffet actually existed. On nothing but a cup of coffee (Peach is our resident coffee maker in the morning - he uses a tea strainer as a reverse French press), we hiked 11 miles in only 3 hours and 5 minutes. We arrived at Uncle Johnny's hostel around quarter after eleven and asked the group of hikers there what the best and quickest way to get to town was. They suggested we sit tight and wait for the shuttle at 12:30 pm. Ha! Those amateurs. Instead, Peach and I set off in the pouring rain and hitched a ride in the back of a pick up truck. Dripping wet and stinking, we walked into that place for our $7 pizza buffet with huge smiles plastered across our faces. Seventeen slices later, I was forced to call it quits, but damn I was satisfied. We hitched a ride to Wal-Mart for a resupply - I can honestly say the hardest part of this thru hike so far has been food shopping. After 342 miles, I have yet to purchase the correct amount of food. I just always have too much. I just relaxed the rest of the day at our small cabin on the banks of the Nolichucky River. Naturally, I went swimming (after confirming that it was safe; apparently 'Nolichucky' is Cherokee for 'death'), took a shower, did some laundry and sipped some Yuengling. We had some of the Warrior hikers over later and ordered some food.
Date: 2016-04-23
To: Johnson City, NC
Miles today: 0.0

Apr 23, 2016 - Today is zero number 4 and it is the first one that I physically need. My feet are starting to get beat up pretty badly despite the fact that I haven't made any changes to my equipment. Both feet have suddenly been plagued by blisters and muscle cramps near the balls of my feet. I'm thinking the causes for the sudden change include that my feet are noticeably swollen and therefore, larger or they could just be fatigued. Anyway, the rest today was necessary. I'll keep an eye on my feet and, if the problems persist, I may have to look into insoles. We were supposed to go whitewater rafting today, but we discovered the business was closed this morning. Instead, we attended a hiker feed in town organized by the church across the river from Uncle Johnny's hostel. This was by far the best Trail Magic we've received so far - they had hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, five different types of beans, multiple pasta salads and Mac-n-cheese options, fruit, veggies, and an entire dessert table. As if that wasn't enough, they had a separate table filled with food for hikers to take with them when they left. It's pretty unbelievable the trouble these people go through to help us out. Unfortunately, the killer quad is now the tenacious tripod - Moonshine decided not to take a zero today. He is leaving at the end of next week to attend his friend's wedding in Maine and he couldn't justify sitting out another day. It really sucks, frankly; I enjoyed hiking with Moonshine these past 4 weeks and getting to know him. While we're going our separate ways for now, I find it very hard to believe that we don't meet up again on this trip so I'll remain hopeful. Regardless, we will definitely stay in touch. Stuffed to the brim, Sleeping Beauty (this is Daniel's new trail name after he slept on the floor of the Spring Creek Tavern in Hot Springs), Faceplant, Survivor, Princess Peach, Hot Toddie, Bad Apple, the Colonel and myself took a shuttle into nearby Johnson City, TN to continue our 2,189 mile brewery crawl. Johnson City is home to the Yeehaw Brewing Company and the Johnson City Brewing Company. While both breweries were excellent, Johnson City Brewing Company had a very small style, close knit feel to it similar to Paradox, which made me feel right at home. I even had the pleasure of watching the Rangers get knocked out of the playoffs on live television. It doesn't get much better than that. Finally, we ended the night at the Electric Cowboy. This bar was basically a high school dance party for middle aged people. They played the Cha Cha, the Electric Slide and other classics from way back then.
Date: 2016-04-24
From: Johnson City, NC

To: Beauty Spot Gap
Miles today: 11.8

Apr 24, 2016 - I set out from Erwin today with Survivor to resume hiking north.Our first mile did not go well. Survivor started to Charlie horse in his shin, then had the trail collapse underneath him so that he fell part of the way down the hill. I reached down to grab his trekking pole and had a different section of the trail collapse. After we both picked up and dusted ourselves off, I Charlie horsed in my thigh. I'm not done yet - my foot cramps kicked into high gear and I had a real difficult time walking. We both decided to take a break and soak our feet in the cold stream to attempt to recover. We ended up catching craw-dads, which we fully intend on boiling later in the trip for dinner. The rest of the day wasn't much better, unfortunately. Plagued by foot cramps, I basically limped 11.8 miles to Beauty Spot Gap.It was very slow going - my usual 2.5-3 mph pace was slowed to less than 2. Good thing there is only about 110 miles left to Damascus where I can get some help from an outfitter. I also have this disgusting looking, grape sized blister on my left pinky toe that is very uncomfortable. I've had it for a few days now and, despite draining it each morning and night, it stubbornly will not go away. The aptly named Beauty Spot Gap, a bald a few miles short of my original destination, was too good to pass up as a campsite. A perfectly clear sky offered up a stunning sunset and an even better sunrise as I cowboy camped right on the summit. Laying in your sleeping bag and staring up at the stars as you fall asleep was without a doubt worth all the discomfort from the feet today.
Date: 2016-04-25
From: Beauty Spot Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: clear sky

Apr 25, 2016 - I'm going to take this moment to define the various colors of 'blazing' that exists on the AT:-White Blazing: This refers to actually hiking the AT by following the white blazes posted on trees rocks-Yellow Blazing: This refers to using a car or other form of modern transportation to skip sections of the trail -Blue Blazing: This refers to hiking any of the side trails, easier trails, or shortcuts along the trail-Grey Blazing: This refers to chasing Cougars along the trail -Camo Blazing: A term we made up to describe hiking according to the Warrior Hikers schedule, which is predefined and part of their program -Brew Blazing: This is a term I just made up to describe tailoring our hiking schedule to cater to towns that contain breweries and it's awesome. I guess it could also refer to hiking while consuming beer.-Purple Blazing: This refers to hiking while consuming wine (honestly not sure about this one, but it sounds appropriate).-Aqua Blazing: There are actually a few opportunities for hikers to rent a canoe and paddle upriver rather than hiking. -Pink Blazing: This refers to tailoring your hiking schedule according to a woman's hiking schedule with hopes of some action -Peach Blazing: This refers specifically to Hot Toddie putting in big miles to chase after Princess PeachAnyway, that was just for your edification. Today, I hiked 15.7 miles mostly with Survivor. We were struggling most of the day again. Survivor was dehydrated and my foot cramps were killing me. About two miles from the Clyde Smith Shelter, we came across a crossing for the Greasy Creek Hostel. Standing Bear was super sketchy, but Greasy Creek was just weird. While Lumpy had been a pothead that couldn't care less, Connie was a sweetheart that opened her home to hikers for a small fee. She sold resupply items, microwaveable hot food, and "Smiley-Ys" (Yuenglings) and "Smiley-Is" (Busch Ice); she didn't have an alcohol license so this was her way of 'legally' selling beer to hikers. As nice as CC was, she was also crazy neurotic, even more so than my Mom (Love you, Mom). We had to take our shoes off, wash our hands, and follow specific instructions for literally anything that happened in the hostel. I did find some relief for my feet at Greasy Creek in the form of a golf ball. Of course, Connie kept them in an egg carton in a drawer under the TV, but I'm just glad she had one. I plan to use it for massaging my feet to loosen up the muscles that are cramping. I've also been increasing my intake of vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. We'll see if it works. At the shelter, I briefly met a few other hikers: Other Brother, Swallow Tail, Your Way, Mountain Eater (way better name than Mountain Goat, though I was disappointed to find out it was after a New Zealand band), Solo, and Easy.
Date: 2016-04-26
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter 
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Apr 26, 2016 - Since the beginning of this trip, we've been hearing about a huge shelter in North Carolina that is a renovated barn. Overmountain shelter was the destination for the evening. However, we had to conquer Roan Mountain first. At just over 6,200 feet, Roan was a beast that just kept going up. When I was in the Smokies, I was "ridge hiking". Since the ridge is already at around 5,500 feet, climbing summits above 6,500 feet aren't necessarily as challenging as they seem (unless you're actually walking it, I guess). Summiting mountains like Roan involve hiking from lower elevations - in this case 4,000 feet. It was actually a pretty rejuvenating climb that took only about 4 hours. Waiting for us at the top was Roan High Knob shelter, the highest shelter on the entire AT. Peach and I got a fire going and took an extended lunch break while we waited for the rest of the kids to catch up. On the way down, some day hikers were handing out small bags of Skittles. These provided the necessary energy to climb two more balds, which naturally provided views for hundreds of miles in all directions. Finally, we arrived at Overmountain shelter, this glorious tobacco drying barn that was transformed into a shelter that houses 20 people. It came complete with a front deck, picnic tables, and an adjacent meadow that overlooked a valley that was straight out of those Hidden Valley salad dressing commercials. We made a fire and roasted some wild onions Hot Toddie had foraged in aluminum foil to go with dinner.
Date: 2016-04-27
From: Overmountain Shelter 

To: Elk River Campsite 
Miles today: 15.3

Apr 27, 2016 - I woke up to yet ANOTHER ridiculous sunrise - a little later than usual as the sun peeked out over the mountain to the northeast. As always, coffee and breakfast followed and then the walking began. About 6 miles in, we crossed out of North Carolina for the last time and into Tennessee (the trail actually follows the border between the two states for a while until it finally leaves NC). That's 2 states down and 12 to go. Just nine miles in, Peach, UConn, and I hit the jackpot - a deep stream in the middle of the woods. Hoping Gamelle (a really nice older lady that has actually section hiked the entire AT) didn't catch us, we all stripped to our underwear and took full baths. Then, we hitched into nearby Roan Mountain, TN for a meal and a small resupply to get us to Damascus, VA in about four days. Our meal was at the Smoky Mountain Bakers, which was highly recommended by Gamelle. This hole in the wall bakery specialized in brick oven pizza, choice baked goods and bread. Naturally, I got a buffalo chicken pie and crushed the entire thing (Tim, I'm up to 55 slices after Erwin and Roan Mountain). So good. Another six miles of freaking uphill with a full stomach brought me to a small campsite on the banks of the Elk River, which instigated a swimming session. Two baths in one day! I'm proud to say I've gone swimming in every body of water so far that's been large enough with the exception of one pond that was super sketchy and full of snakes. I finished my chores (setting up camp, collecting and treating water, taking a bath, etc.) just in time because a wicked thunderstorm swooped in and unloaded buckets of water onto our campsite. The storm was nuts; as I looked out my rain fly, the lightning was visibly striking the ground nearby. I've been extremely lucky this year seeing as I've only been rained on twice in our first month, but it sounds like this month I'm about to find out what the expression "No Rain, No Maine" actually means. I was talking to another thru-hiker and he mentioned that his buddy had experienced 28 consecutive days of rain. Insanity. Unfortunately, my tent 'sweats' so I actually get dripped on inside quite a bit, but honestly, it's not that bad. The worst part is always packing everything up in the morning while it's still wet.
Date: 2016-04-28
From: Elk River Campsite 

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Apr 28, 2016 - Luckily, the sun came out this morning to help us dry out our gear. I woke up to a nice puddle in the bottom of my tent which wet my pad and sleeping bag considerably. I'm pretty sure this was from a combination of condensation and a tent site that was conducive to pooling water. It was a slow morning and we didn't get hiking until almost 11. I, of course, went swimming for some time while my stuff tried to dry off. It's amazing how much heavier your pack is when everything is wet. I crossed mile 400! The terrain was pretty easy today, but between the blister on my toe, which is borderline infected, and the muscle in the bottom of my foot, walking was awful. I can't get this damn blister to go away - I drain, clean, dry, air out, bandage the blister at least twice a day, but I guess sticking it in a filthy sock and shoe every day has its price. The muscle in the bottom of my foot is getting noticeably worse. There were a few times today when I just had to stop. I'm afraid it may not be cramps, but something a little more serious.As bad as I may think I have it, I just have aches and pains, which are expected on a 2,200 mile hike. Plus, with some rest, my issues should go away. Other hikers have been experiencing far worse pain on a daily basis. Two of the Warrior Hikers, Amelia and Wookie, have had severe pain in their leg and foot, respectively, for over 300 miles. They've both been to the hospital to determine if there is anything fractured, torn or otherwise seriously damaged. I think it takes one kind of toughness to play through pain during a lacrosse or hockey game, for example, but it takes a much more impressive type of toughness to get up day after day, and walk 10-20 miles in significant pain without any real hope of the injury improving. I mean, we still have more than 3/4 the distance to go and these two just keep pushing and making their miles. More than that, they're still smiling and exchanging stories around the campfire at the end of each day. They really are an inspiration to the rest of us.
Date: 2016-04-29
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Black Bear Resort 
Miles today: 6.7

Apr 29, 2016 - I would consider today a nero - I only hiked about 6 miles to Dennis Cove Road near Hampton, TN. The Warrior Hikers had cabins reserved for them at Black Bear Resort just a half mile west of the trail. Peach, Survivor, Hot Toddie, Toddie's friend Erica (Juicy as she's recently been named because she has a really nice ass), and myself were planning on staying in the cabins. First thing's first, though - I had to hitch a ride into Hampton to pick up an antibiotic prescription for my toe, which is slightly infected and showing no signs of improving. Peach, Survivor and I managed to get a ride from an 81 year old day hiker named Ralph. As nice as Ralph was, the only word to accurately describe this guy is senile. The short trip over the mountain was insane - Ralph was constantly honking his horn, slowing down for no reason, speeding up to catch cars and he never stopped talking. Anyway, glad to be alive, I obtained my prescription and a disgusting amount of McDonalds for lunch. Back at Black Bear, the Warrior Hikers' cabins were very tiny so we just purchased tent sites for $10. Good thing, too, because somehow, just about every hiker 1-3 days ahead of us was staying there that night. The evening turned into a hiker party with what must have been 50 plus hikers. It was an absolute blast.