morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2018-04-16
From: SilerÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Bald Shelter 

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 12.2

They should have an option to type in a sleep location. We slept in a type of shelter if bathrooms are considered a shelter. I¢m getting ahead of myself, though. Let me start at the beginning.I woke up around 7 and my feet were too cold to stay in in the sleeping bag any longer. I knew the best thing to do was to get up and moving, I¢m not sure of the exact temperature, but I know it was below 25. There was also about 2 inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing. I rapid started packing up my sleeping bag and mat, then I had to take a break and warm my frozen fingers under my arm pits. This is when Flagstaff got up and immediately restarted the fire from last night and I don¢t blame him. I don¢t know how he slept a wink with a 45 degree bag. While he was starting the fire I went to get our bear bags which were froze to the cables and I really had to work to get them down. By then my fingers were froze again, so I too a second to warm them by the fire and then our big bear bag that I store the things the two smaller ones won¢t fit, was frozen so I couldn¢t open it. It took me at least ten minutes to melt the ice enough to unclip it. Then of course I had to warm my fingers again. By this time Tony was up and we got his sleeping bag and pad packed up. Then I started packing up the extra clothes and other items and made hot chocolate to warm our insides. Then I went and got water for our hike. We did not leave the shelter until 10.The plan was to hike to Mt Collins Shelter and stop at Double Springs Shelter to eat which was 1.7 miles. However, when we got to the shelter no one was around and the weather was not conducive to stopping for any length of time, so we hiked on. We got to the turn off for Clingmans Dome, but opted to pass it up as we were freezing even hiking. The windchill had to be in the single digits. The water in my water bottle started freezing up just past the Dome. I felt like at this point we just needed to get off the mountain and decided to push on to Newfound Gap, not knowing the road was closed. I at a Twix and a skors on the go. The last two miles of the hike the wind picked up more and it was positively frigid. I don¢t think I have ever hiked so fast. We finally made it to Newfound Gap, where learned the terrible news that the road was closed until the next day. There were around 9 other hikers in the men¢s bathroom trying to stay warm in the semi heated bathrooms. There was no room for Tony and I so we went to the women¢s side and set up our stuff for the night. I had seen vlogs and read blogs about other hikers spending the night in these very bathrooms, but never imagined this would happen to us. I was very thankful to have some shelter, but I can¢t say I wasn¢t disappointed not to be sleeping a nice warm hotel bed. Some of the other hikers were out of food and we had a little extra so I shared some of what we had. I ate a peanut butter sandwich and went to bed.The scenery was incredibly beautiful today and I appreciated all of it.
Date: 2018-04-17
From: Newfound Gap

To: Gatlinburg 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I woke up around 7 and went next door to find out if any of the other hikers had heard anything about when and if the road would be opened. Nobody had heard anything new, so we played the waiting game. I packed up our stuff hoping the roads would be opened by 8. One of the park personnel came around about 8 putting salt on the pathway to the bathrooms. Shortly after that the plows came by and the driver said the roads should be open in a couple of hours. It was below freezing with the gusts of wind that had to be more than 20 mph, so we didn¢t stay outside very long. The roads finally opened up around 10:30. And it was amazing how many tourists arrived after the roads were opened, and in short sleeve shirts, but I guess when you have a warm car to go back to the frigid temperatures don¢t matter. We finally got a ride into Gatlinburg and the first order of business after getting a room was a warm shower, after being cold for the past 48 hours. We will be taking a couple of zeros here to do laundry, resupply, and to avoid more frigid weather that is rolling in Thursday, with a possibility of sleet and or snow. The cold temperatures wouldn¢t be so bad if it weren¢t for the wind.We enjoyed the hotels hot tub and then it was time for bed.
Date: 2018-04-18
Miles today: 0.0

I titled this entry blessed, because I am truly blessed for many reasons: 1) to be able to do this adventure with my son, Tony, 2) to have a husband who supports me emotionally, mentally and financially on this adventure, 3) to be able to enjoy all 4 seasons, as San Antonio mostly only has two (of course I didn't expect to have all four seasons in the span of 4 days), 4) to be able to take the time off the trail when needed to recharge, heal, or get well if we aren't feeling well in our own private hotel room, and 5) all the family, friends, and strangers who are following us on this journey. There are many other blessings we have, but I think they all essentially fall somewhere under these five. I think part of the trail experience is enjoying the trail towns and the people who live in these towns. I have enjoyed every town we have been in so far, but I would say as of right now my favorite is Hiawassee, GA. I am also blessed because up until this past Sunday, we have had great weather for all the places that are known for having great vistas. Unfortunately, we did not get to enjoy one of the most well known, Clingmans Dome. I hope someday we can take a vacation in this area to enjoy all that this area has to offer, like Clingmans Dome, river rafting, and the many others that are too numerous to list. I get to enjoy and get a unique perspective of America, that most people don't. How many awesome, historical, interesting places do we bypass in our cars rushing to get from point A to point B on the interstate? I enjoyed a local Italian place for lunch today. Their spaghetti was very good along with their garlic rolls, and the ice tea was absolutely the best I've had. The best part was that it was inexpensive. That is the disadvantage of a tourist town, most places are pricey. For a variety of reasons, we are taking two zeros. The biggest one is Tony was not feeling well and the weather. It will also probably be two weeks before we take anymore zeros. I hope to make up some time. I'm about 7 days behind where I had planned on us being, but that is okay. So we will be heading back out on the trail Friday and hopefully old man winter will decide to give us a break, although I did get some awesome pictures of the mountains and forest covered in ice and snow.
Date: 2018-04-20
From: Newfound Gap

To: Pecks Owner Shelter 
Miles today: 10.1

I guess I must be getting used to hiking. The roughly 3 miles of climbing out of the Gap didn¢t feel very difficult. We got to Icewater Shelter and had lunch. The views from this Shelter were magnificent. We met Stairmaster and another thru hiker and a couple of day hikers hiking with their two year old and a baby.We had gorgeous weather and got to see more magnificent views from Charlie¢s Bunion. But that was not the end of the views. There were at least 5 other places with gorgeous views.The only down side to today is that we had to buy Tony new shoes and about 5 miles from our destination, one of his big toes really started hurting him, so it slowed us down a lot and we did not get into camp until 6. The shelter was full and there were at least 10 or so tents. I did the usual camp chores, ate supper and then climbed in the tent in my sleeping bag because it was quickly getting cold. Tony and I could not fall asleep right away so we spent an hour or taking turns asking each other random questions. Me trying to get to know him better and him me better.
Date: 2018-04-21
From: Pecks Corner Shelter 

To: Cosby Shelter 
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

We hiked from Pecks Owner Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter. We had more amazing views today. We are definitely in a big hiker bubble. There had to be at least 60 people at the shelter. And there were not any descent tenting sites by time we arrived. We ended up putting our tent right next to the bear cables and two other tenters in a very unlevel piece of ground. I hiked part of the day with Nurp, another fellow nurse. We get into so late, I really don¢t have time to talk to and get to know anyone but hopefully that will change. Nurp and Wet Sticks are the only hikers I know at this shelter.The terrain is often very rocky in the Smokies, which at about mile 7 or so is really hard on the feet, but the weather was great.
Date: 2018-04-22
From: Cosby Shelter 

To: Standing Bear Farm
Miles today: 10.7

Everybody at the shelter was heading to Standing Bear Farm, so we knew if we wanted a place inside, we were going to have to be out fairly early. I woke up at 6:15 and started packing. I didn¢t even take time for breakfast. We were on the trail a little before 8. About an hour into the hike I stopped and at my blueberry pie quickly. We stopped for a short lunch break at Davenport Shelter and to get water. The lunch break was shorter than we had planned because a bee there freaked Tony out, which was actually a good thing because we ended up getting the last two bunks in the bunkhouse. A mile after Davenport Shelter we came to Davenport Gap, the exit for us out of the Smokies. The Smokies were beautiful but I was very happy to exit the park. The terrain after the Smokies was so much easier on the feet. There weren¢t as many rocks or roots. It was also like we walked into Spring; everything was green and flowers were blooming. We passed a beautiful stream and waterfall about a mile from Standing Bear Farm.When we got to the farm, Rhino greeted us and assigned us to the last two bunks and gave us a tour and a run down of the rules of the place. The first thing we did was get a frozen pepperoni pizza from him and cooked it. It was one of the best pizzas; probably because we were so hungry and it wasn¢t trail food. We each had a coke too. Then I set up our sleeping area and got in line to take a shower. The shower is outside in this little enclosed building and the water was almost scalding hot but it felt so good. The bathroom was outside too and was a genuine outhouse. The also had two porter potties on the property, but they were full even though they had just been emptied 3 days before. That is how many hikers they have coming through right now. Wet sticks and Nurp were there and we met several other people: Spider, Space Bear, Blip and her daughter and daughters fianc©, 5-0, Song Bird, Meagan and her service dog, Jake, Matt, Daddy Shakira,... There were 75 people there (18 in the bunkhouse, 6 in the cabin, 1 in the treehouse and a few slept on the porches of the main house and the cabin and many others tented.)I had two freshly brewed cups of coffee, which was heaven and a package of powdered donuts. It was so nice to be in a warm environment to read a book on my kindle app, which I did for a couple of hours before going to bed.
Date: 2018-04-23
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter 
Miles today: 7.2

Today is my younger sons 22nd Birthday! Happy Birthday Schuyler! I was up before 7 but took my time having breakfast and waiting for Tony to get up. I had a boiled egg, powdered donuts and apple sauce and more freshly brewed coffee. Tony was up by 8. I had a second cup of coffee, then started packing and sorting our things. I sent some extra winter clothes home and some extra clothes Tony had. It is awesome that we could ship stuff home from the hostel. I did not have to resupply as we have enough food to get us to Hot Springs.It was either hike a 7.2 mile day or a 15.2 mile day and even though we are getting our trail legs, our feet and my knees have trouble with anything over 10, so we opted for the closer one.We left around 10 and had a mostly up hill climb all day, but it was pretty gradual and again the terrain was very nice. We passed our first Bald which has some kind of government building on the top, but I did not investigate further as the wind was really blowing making it really cold. It rained some on us but was not too bad. We are sleeping in the shelter to avoid packing up wet tents. Nurp, Rawhide, Professor, Tony and I are staying in the shelter and several others are tenting, but thankfully there is not near the numbers here that were at Cosby and Pecks Owner Shelter.
Date: 2018-04-24
From: Groundhog Shelter 

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

It rained off and on most of the night, but we were nice and dry in the shelter. I was awake and up by 6:25. I fixed coffee and grits for breakfast. While my water was boiling for my breakfast, I packed up my sleeping bag and may. Tony got up by 7:30 and packed his stuff up. As usual he did not want breakfast. We headed out by 8:30. It was supposed to rain so we had or rain gear on. The terrain was easy on the feet again, just had quite a few ups that slowed me down. The sun kept trying to peak out of the clouds, and I was praying for the sun to show when we got to Max Patch. Our prayers were answered and we enjoyed an hour at the summit and had lunch. We hiked on, passing Roaring Forks Shelter. About a mile from the shelter it started raining steady. I made the mistake of not putting on my rain pants and my pants ended up soaked. Tony was hiking way ahead of me and I came across this huge blow down that was blocking the trail. In fact when I came to the area, I had to use Guthook to help me find the trail. I was not sure when the trees fell and was very worried about Tony. I hiked the last 1.4 miles to Walnut Shelter as fast as I have ever hiked.Thankfully I found Tony at the Shelter when I arrived. After talking to a few people, we figure the blow down occurred last night during the high winds. The first thing I did was change into my dry pants. Tony got us the last two places in the shelter. I set up our spots and then cooked macaroni and cheese for supper. It started raining hard again so we had to eat in the shelter. As I am writing this it is pouring, so glad to be in the shelter. There is a father thru hiking the AT with his nine year old son. His wife and two daughters started out hiking with them, but the wife had to get off for feet problems and the daughters didn¢t want to hike without their mom. Dad is Bloodhound and the son is Luna Tick. Rawhide and Professor are here too. About 5 others are tenting, Crisis, a woman and here dog (who were also at the last shelter). I can¢t wait to get into Hot Springs to clean all our muddy stuff and eat at Smoky Mountain Diner.
Date: 2018-04-25
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter 

To: Hot Springs 
Miles today: 13.3

It poured last night several times, so much so it leaked in the shelter and got Tony¢s sleeping bag slightly damp and Luna Tick¢s too and Bloodhound¢s sleeping mat. The floor slopes too, which caused everyone to slide toward the wall Professor was sleeping by, so no one slept very well. Bloodhound was the first one up and then me around 7 and then Tony shortly after. Everyone was was excited to be going into Hot Springs to get a room somewhere to dry out, get some good food and a decent nights sleep.I think Crisis was the first to leave, then Tony and me at around 8:30. The first part was a little up hill then down hill, then a long uphill. I caught up to Tony about a quarter of a mile from the top. He was taking a break. I shared one of my last Twix with him to give him the energy to finish getting up it. Then we had a long down hill. About half way into the hike Tony got really grumpy and mouthy which he later apologized for severe times after we got into town. He said it was because he was awake most of the night trying not to slide on top of Luna Tick and the rain.We had quite the verbal fight going on for about 20 or so minutes when I learned it was better to just let him vent and keep my mouth shut. Just before Deer Creek Shelter and 3.2 miles from town Tony fell and re-scraped a knee he had scraped 3 days before. He was wearing his rain pants so it wasn¢t as bad as it could have been. He said it was painful but he was able to keep hiking. About a mile from town we met Bloodhound¢s wife, two daughters and mother waiting for them. I only spent a few moments talking to them as I was on a mission to get a room, shower and food in that order and to get of my feet. I could not believe how bad they hurt. The terry was nice so maybe it was because I tried hiking too fast.We got into town around 3 and found rooms. We were sitting at Smoky Mountain Diner by 4:30 having supper. Tony had pizza and I had hamburger steak. Bloodhound and his family were eating there too. They are also zeroing tomorrow. For those not familiar with the AT, the trail runs right through Hot Springs. Their sidewalk as the AT markings.
Date: 2018-04-26
From: Hot Springs 

Miles today: 0.0

I got up at 8:30 and gave Tony until 9 to get up so we could go get breakfast. He wanted to sleep in so I went to Smoky Mountain Diner by myself. I had French toast, grits, bacon and coffee. It was delicious. Tony was awake by time I got back just chilling in bed watching TV. I cleaned the mud off our rain gear and packs the best I could and then just chilled out myself and texted with Sam. Then around 12:30, Tony and I went to get lunch. I ate way too much. I had the best lemon pie. Then it was time to relax some more before packing up our gear in preparation to hike out tomorrow. After packing we went to supper. Now I¢m just relaxing, enjoying this wonderful bed while I can. Town days help rejuvenate me and keep me on the trail especially when the weather has not been the best. It is so nice to be warm and dry and to have enjoyed a good meal. I really hope the rain has moved out by time we hit the trail tomorrow.
Date: 2018-04-27
From: Hot Springs 

To: Spring Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 10.8

It has been an amazing day. I slept until 7:30, then watched TV for a little over an hour. Then Tony and I had an great breakfast of French toast at the Smoky Mountain Diner. Then we returned to our room and relaxed about 30 more minutes then headed over to the Outfitters to weigh our packs. My pack weighed 33.5 pounds and Tony¢s was 30.5 with everything. We started hiking about 1015 this morning and of course the first part of the hike was up hill, but I did not think it was too bad. I took pictures of all the different flowers I saw. We stopped and had lunch around 1:30 by a pond. The trail had a good balance of everything, ups downs and even some road walking and quite a bit of level walking.About 2 miles from the shelter we saw a black rat snake right on the trail. It moved along after a few minutes. We got to the shelter and met Double D from Canada. While Tony set up the tent, I got water and started preparing supper. As we were finishing supper Matt and Nurp show up. There are several others here along with a group of 30 people on the hill a little ways from the shelter who are studying vegetation and what is edible.With the nice weather, no one is sleeping in the shelter.
Date: 2018-04-28
From: Spring Mountain Shelter 

To: Cabin Log Dr
Miles today: 5.0

Change of plans: The original plan was to hike 8.7 miles to Little Laurel Shelter, but I realized we were going to pass within .7 miles of Hemlock Hallow Inn and Hostel and that they had a store that sold pizza. Well, most hikers can¢t pass up pizza, especially when you don¢t have to walk the .7 miles. I called the owner as we were leaving Spring Mountain Shelter and asked if she could pick us up at the trailhead at noon. We arrived with 5 minutes to spare; we did 5 miles in 2.5 hours. About half way to our destination, I got to wondering if they offered slack packing and if so, then we could hike more miles and make up some of the extra days we did not hike.So new plan is we are hiking 20 miles tomorrow carrying just water and food and the owner of this hostel will drop our packs off at the next hostel. The plan is to try to hike 16 to 20 miles a day slack packing for the next 4 to 5 days. We will see how we feel at the end of the day tomorrow.
Date: 2018-04-29
From: Log Cabin Drive

To: DevilÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Fork Gap
Miles today: 20.0

We started out today at Log Cabin Dr at 7:45. We had amazing weather and terrain. We got to Little Laurel Shelter around 9:30 and stopped to say hello to Nurp who was in the process of getting ready to take down her tent. Then we continued on and came to the most amazing views at Whiterock Cliff and since it had a good place to sit, we had lunch here. Shortly after resuming hiking we came to the boulder scramble, 1.4 miles. It was fun but it really slowed us down. We finally got through it around 2 and continued on to Jerry Cabin Shelter where we hit the 300 mile Point and received trail magic from a local who was out hiking for a few days. We received carrots, snickers, tangerines and fig newtons. The trail angel had two big Greats Danes. We took a 10 min break and quickly started hiking as we still had 9 miles to hike. The last 7 were rough for Tony because his knee and feet were in a lot of pain. This really slowed us down, but we finally made it to Devils Fork Gap at 6:20 and got our packs from Hemlock Hallow Inn and Nature¢s Inn Hostel picked us up around 7.All I could think about was eating. I ate a small thing of beef aroni while waiting for Taft, the owner to cook our burgers. They were well worth the wait. Now it is time for bed, 30 miles exhausted me.
Date: 2018-04-30
From: DevilÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Fork Gap

To: SamÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Gap
Miles today: 9.0

We were up and out for another day of slack packing at around 8:30. But first I had a coffee and some Jimmy Dean sausages. The first half of the hike went by pretty quickly. The second part was more up hill, but we still finished by 2:30 and were back at the hostel by 3. The hostel has this awesome massage chair that I enjoyed. We had frozen pizza and hamburgers cooked on a grill. They were so good.
Date: 2018-05-01
From: SamÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Gap

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: clear sky

We started out around 8:30 hiking. We had another gorgeous day, although it was a little warm. The back of my neck got pretty sunburnt. I hiked most of the day with two other hiking met at Hemlock Hallow Inn Hostel, Sunday morning, who were also slack packing, Psych, who retired from the Air Force and was a psychologist and Chinook who worked on helicopters in the army and also retired from the Army.We had beautiful 360 degree views from Big Bald.While we were hiking Uncle Johnny¢s Hostel picked up our bags and then picked us up around 4:30 at Spivey Gap.We arrived at the hostel just in time to catch the shuttle to Erwin to eat at a Mexican restaurant and resupply at Walmart. We were put in a cute little two bunk cabin. When we got back in showered and then got ready for bed. The sun and hiking really tired me out.
Date: 2018-05-02
From: Spivey Gap

To: Uncle JohnnyÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Hostel 
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: clear sky

We started our hike today around 9. The first few miles went by fast, then we had climbs. Again I hiked part of the day with Psych and Chinook. When we got about 2 miles from Uncle Johnny¢s we were rewarded with awesome views of the mountains, the river and Erwin. We saw Bloodhound about a mile from the end of our hike. Luna Tick was not with him anymore, he chose to go with his mom and sisters in following his dad in a car as he hikes. When I came out at the road Bloodhounds family was just going by and saw me and stopped to say hello and ask if I had seen Bloodhound. I told them he was behind them hanging out at the hostel. Psych said he was going to get his pack and hike another 4 miles. Chinook finished just a few minutes after I did. I packed my pack and helped Tony with his to be ready to go in the morning. Then we caught the shuttle into town to have dinner at the Italian restaurant. They Tony and 3 other hikers called an Uber and went to see the Advengers.