morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-04-05
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs NC
Miles today: 13.1

Somebody arrived at the shelter late at night, around 11 p.m. I didn't look to see who it was until I got up. It was Stone! He had set his tent up just outside the shelter last night but the wind had blown it down so he came into the shelter. I woke up early today but did not want to get out of my sleeping bag. It was soooo cold. When I took off about 9 a.m. it was still very cold and windy. Abby and Stone who passed me about an hour later are going to Hot Springs. That is my destination also, about 13 miles away. When I reached the top of a mountain, all of the tree branches were frosted over. Shortly after that it started snowing. It reminded me of Christmas. Several hours later it warmed into the mid 40's.Something funny happened on the trail near Hot Springs, I passed a hiker who was 60 years old then came up on two other hikers on the trail who were talking. One was 67 years old and the other 85!! So, in a group of 4 hikers, I was the youngest! That may not happen again.When I got to Hot Springs there were Trail Angels who happened to be Deadwoods (another hiker) parents. I spent some time with them then went into town and checked into the Iron Horse Inn. Yvonne booked the room for me and she will be coming in tomorrow, woohoo!!!!!!! Since I got in a day earlier than expected I found someone to drive me 15 miles up the trail so that I can hike back to Hot Springs. Yvonne will not get here until late tomorrow night so I can continue hiking instead of sitting around waiting all day. I can't wait to see my wife. This is the longest we have been apart since we have been together and I don't like it!!I went to the local bar and had a couple of drinks with Maria and Josh. Nice company and good conversation.
Date: 2016-04-06
From: Hot Springs NC

To: Allen Gap
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: clear sky

I got out of my WARM BED around 7:00am, got ready and walked to the diner for a nice breakfast. I can't wait for Yvonne (my wife) to arrive today, this is the longest stretch I have been without her. Since she will not arrive until night time I decided to do some slackpacking. That is when you walk without your pack and somebody picks you up. You still cover that section of the AT but without the added weight of the pack. I found someone to drive me to Allen Gap, 14+ miles down the trail and I hiked back to town. I met my ride at 9am and started walking at 9:35am. It was chilly and windy as usual. It was a clear morning and I passed about 25 hikers. I knew about 10 of them who I had met at different stages of the hike. It is amazing how even when someone is faster or slower than you, eventually you meet up again. It was a nice walk and amazing how light I felt without the pack. I could get used to this, any volunteers out there wanting to come out and pick me up each day??????????? Ha ha. It was nice catching up with some of the hikers.The highlight was walking onto Lovers Leap Rock and sitting there overlooking the French Broad River and Hot Springs, just beautiful. I could have stayed there for hours. The trail finished with a walk along the river then I crossed the bridge back into town. I am staying at the Iron Horse Inn, a renovated warehouse by the railroad track which used to be a boarding house. They did a great job on the renovation with modern facilities while keeping the old style. I washed my clothes and took a shower then relaxed a while. They have a restaurant here so I went down stairs to it and had a couple of glasses of wine while I waited for Yvonne. She finally arrive at 9:40pm to many hugs and kisses. Great to see her and spend time to catch up with all that is going on at home. We plan on going to the Hot Springs Spa tomorrow. Good day! Great night!
Date: 2016-04-07
From: Allen Gap

To: Allen Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We woke to a beautiful cool morning. Yvonne and I walked to the diner for breakfast and ran into many hikers who Yvonne had heard about and who I have not seen in a few days. Stitch joined us at breakfast and we had a good catch up. I was able to introduce Yvonne to China, Conundrum, Justin(who is now Mudpuppy) Ryan, Simon, Deadwood and his parents. We all decided that we would meet at the Spring Creek Tavern in the evening. We just had a lazy day, walked around a bit and just spent time on the internet doing some research on equipment. I think I can still get the weight of my pack down. It is hovering around 36 lbs with water and food. Since being on the trail I have talked to many hikers and gotten tips on what I could do to reduce weight. One of the things I need to do now is to replace my gloves. They are not doing a good job of keeping my fingers warm on those cold days. I started with two types of socks to hike in...Smart Wool thick hiking socks, and Darn Tough socks with liners. The Smart Wool socks worked well at first but I started getting the sensation that I was getting blisters on my toes. I didn't end up having blisters but I think it was close. I taped my toes to avoid it. I started using the Darn Tough socks and that was better. I will send the wool socks home and get another set of Darn Tough with a liner. I think I do a good job of holding my pack's weight down by limiting the amount of water I carry. There are many water sources along the trail. The big changes in weight will come when the weather gets warmer and I can reduce clothing and change out my sleeping bag. More to come on that later. We went to visit the Hot Springs Spa and it was fantastic! Hot Springs got its name because it has this body of Natural Hot Mineral Springs running through it. It was discovered in 1778 by a group of mountaineer white settlers. There were things that were found around the springs that supported the claim that the Cherokee Indians use the springs and believed in their magical curative powers many many years ago. The spa offers private soaks in the hot tubs that are placed around the river and creek around the property. They are fenced in but open to the elements. We rented one of them and relaxed in the hot, bubbling water for an hour. It was heaven! We went to the Tavern and met up with everybody plus Junco, Pat, Meagan, Conductor, Moose, Ra, China, Conundrum, Tree Hugger and others. It was a good night for catching up and telling trail stories.
Date: 2016-04-08
From: Allen Gap

To: Allen Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I Skipped breakfast this morning and had an early lunch instead. It turned out to be a very lazy morning. I have been meaning to write some postcards to send to family and I finally got to it and mailed them out. If you don't get one this time around, I will catch you the next time. Hot Springs is a very small town so we are able to walk to just about anything we need. We visited the library and spent some time there then we took a drive up to the AT trail. I took Yvonne down the trail a bit to a lake I had passed a couple days ago. It was a nice spot and Yvonne enjoyed the walk and experienced the beauty and views that the hikers see. She also got to see some blazes. I didn't mention before that the blazes have to show you when to turn right and left also. There will be two marks on the tree and one will be a little raised. If the raised one is to the right you turn right and if it is to the left, you turn left. The weather forecast had called for rain all yesterday afternoon and today but fortunately for us, they were wrong. We had pretty good weather for most of the day. We saw something very interesting today. We were in front of the hikers ministry when a truck pulled up on the bridge and we were wondering what they were doing. They opened up some containers on their truck and started taking out some fish in a net. They threw them into the river! We figured out that they were restocking the waters with trout since part of the economy in Hot Springs is fishing. If you look carefully in the photo you can see the fish in the air heading to the water. I am determined to get the weight of my pack down so I have taken out what I want to return with Yvonne and I weighed my pack at the outfitters. My pack without my food is 23.6 so lets average it out to 25 since I need to add one or two small items. My food/water will add another 10 lbs but that will be reduced each day. I am looking forward to shedding more as the warm weather comes in. At the outfitter I bought some new gloves and socks then came to the room to relax. The Tavern was our choice for dinner tonight so we went there around 6 p.m. and joined Conductor and Black Bear. Dinner and conversation were good as always. I can never tire of hearing the trail stories.Later this evening we went down to the restaurant to have a glass of wine and ran into some hikers. We then went back to the Tavern and caught up with a few hikers including Tumbleweed, Jason, Nesquick, John of many names, Dennis and Bearclaw. Yvonne talked to two female hikers who were making a documentary of female hikers on the AT. It sounds like it is going to be a great documentary. You can check them out at thruatdoc.com, Patrice and Lindsey. Movies like this tend to show the beauty of the country we live in. So many people do not get to see this. Check out the movie Mile, Mile and a Half. It is a fantastic documentary about the John Muir Trail. I am sure you will enjoy it. I feel relaxed and ready to get back on the trail. I have really enjoyed my two zero days.
Date: 2016-04-09
To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

I am on my way back from visiting Oscar and I thought I would give my account of the last few days. Firstly, let me say that I absolutely did not write all that information about Oscar longing to see me!!! I want to remind you that he dictates his information to me and I just write it in the blog and 'refine' it not changing the context. Secondly, I am in awe of my husband. What an undertaking!! He has told me that he loves this lifestyle and that he could live like this indefinitely. I can see how it can be loved (to an extent). It must be liberating to know that this, hiking the trail at your own pace, is your only focus day after day. You get up when you want to; you decide how far you are going to walk each day; you decide if you are going to have a zero day or nero day(walking nearly zero miles), you have no-one to report to. You can sit and look at the beauty of the earth that you behold as long as you want to. You don't have the stresses of a 'normal' life whether it be your job or family or traffic. Yes, I think it is liberating. Of course things like where you sleep at night and how you go about using the bathroom and how often you get to shower are things that would make me think really long and hard about walking the Appalachian Trail.I have met so many of his trail friends/family and each one has such a different story on why they are here walking the trail. It really fascinates me. Our days were spent walking here and there through the town and every few steps Oscar stopped to have a conversation with hikers that he has met on the trail. At just about all the meals we had we shared a table with other hikers. It is like a fraternity of brothers and sisters on the road. I was actually amazed that there were so many ladies on the trail. In years gone by the record shows that a small percentage of the hikers are women but it might be different this year if what I saw in Hot Springs is any indication. Oscar spoke to many people and read many blogs before he left for the AT. One thing that was pretty consistent is that you will lose some weight on the trail. Even though he told me he lost weight and I expected him to lose weight I was shocked when I saw how much he lost in just 4 weeks! He looks great!!! Of course he feels like he is too skinny. This is some motivation for some of you who want to lose weight. Come and join Oscar!We stayed in Hot Springs where the main road is literally on the trail. We drove a little way out of town and Oscar escorted me to a part of the trail where there was a lake. It was quiet, serene and beautiful. While I walked with him I said to myself, "I can do this" but I know I have no desire to do this for 6 months. I will continue to live vicariously through Oscar but somewhere along the trail I will join him and walk for more than an hour. At least I have another part of the trail under my belt.
Date: 2016-04-09
From: Allen Gap

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: snow

Since Yvonne was leaving today, I took my time in leaving Hot Springs. We walked to the diner for breakfast in the 34 degree brisk air. It was packed with hikers and many more people. I ran into Tull Wun and his family. I was glad that Yvonne got a chance to meet him. A couple who got into the diner right about the same time as us sat down first then offered the other half of their booth to us. We accepted. We had a good conversation with them. They live in a nearby town and they were on their way to Tennessee. They get out each weekend and travel and enjoy time together. I believe that we are around the same age and were able to share stories about our children and lives. This was a very nice couple; it is really nice to meet people. Some have a lot of similarities to our lives and some are so very different. In either case, it is always interesting. We ended up giving them our phone numbers and inviting them to Baytown. They treated us to breakfast!We went back to the hotel and checked out and I took my pack to have it weighed one more time. 34.1 lbs. That is pretty good!! The temperature is going to be 24 degrees at the Shelter that I am going to tonight. I am not looking forward to that but it is going to warm up over the next few days. Yvonne drove me to Allen Gap so I could start hiking where I left off and we said our goodbyes. I started hiking and there was Trail Magic almost right away. The Trail Angel is a man who lives in a cabin about 25 miles away from the trail. He has hiked a good part of the trail, 900 miles, and he enjoys doing this. I got an oatmeal raisin cookie, a peanut butter chocolate square, chocolate milk and some chips. It stayed cold the whole day today. The higher I got the colder it got. At Allen Gap it was 34 degrees and I climbed 2500 ft. For every 1000 ft the temperature drops about 3.5 degrees. So it was about 24 degrees give or take. Add wind to that and it is COLD!I got to the shelter first and soon I was joined by three guys section hiking, Tree Hugger and a girl from Australia. There were a few other hikers but they camped in their tent. We started a fire in the shelter. All of the shelters in the Smoky's had fire places and this is one of the few outside of the smoky's that has one. Being first in the shelter has its privileges...I had the spot in front of the fire. It went out during the night so when I woke up I started it up again. I had a hard time sleeping because of the cold and my body was cold on and off. The wind had settled down which was good. I just have to look forward to a warmer day tomorrow.
Date: 2016-04-10
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

I woke up at 5 a.m. but stayed in my sleeping bag until around 7 a.m. It is really hard getting up when the temperature is so cold. It didn't take me long to get my things together and start walking. In the photos you can see the left over snow on the ground from the snow that came several nights ago.My plan was to hike 16 -20 miles today. Once I reached the shelter at mile 316, I would see if I felt up to going further. Well I didn't!! I reached the shelter at 4:30 p.m. and decided to stay inside instead of setting up my tent because I was so tired! China and Conundrum were already there then the three section hikers from the shelter last night came. There are three tenters here then Sway joined us in the shelter. Sway is a thru hiker who started in Vermont heading south to Springer Mountain, where I started. She will then flip flop and go back to where she started and head north. The hike today seemed longer than the miles I put in. Some days you find your rhythm and others, you trudge along. Today I trudged!!! Maybe I didn't eat right or something but I felt like I didn't have any energy. To make matters worse, I slipped and felt some pressure on my knee. I didn't actually fall though. I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me. It is 7pm and I am in my sleeping bag already. Maybe if I get a lot of rest tonight, it will help. Goodnight!
Date: 2016-04-11
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 15.8

I woke up feeling great! It was 6:30 a.m. and everybody in the shelter was up by 7 a.m. I got up, packed up and was on my way in the sunny wilderness by 8:20 a.m. After two miles we got Trail Magic. Our Angel, Paul is 67 years old. He cooked some eggs and hash browns for us. He has attempted the trail 3 times and completed it twice. Amazing!I had a good hike in the morning and ran into a lady who was traveling with her dog. Her name is Tonto and her dog, Scout. She is from San Antonio. We had great views from Big Bald but it was very windy. You have to be really careful because sometimes the wind can literally knock you over.When I got to Spivey Gap at 5:15 p.m. China and Conundrum had already set up their tent. I got my tent set up and Justin, Brian and Sago arrived and set up also. Tree Hugger and another hiker came by slack packing 20 miles. Slack packing is so liberating. I am hoping to do that again during my hike.I made my self at home and cooked and ate a 3 bean chili and had a cup of tea. I visited with the section hikers, Justin, Brian and Sago until it started raining. I was in my tent and sleeping bag by 8:30 p.m. I plan to have an early start in the morning but it will depend on the rain. It should be 50 degrees in the morning. A heatwave!!
Date: 2016-04-12
From: Spivey Gap

To: Erwin, Tennessee
Miles today: 11.1

I got off to an early start today. I got up at 5:30 a.m. when I started hearing raindrops on my tent. Packing up while it is raining is very tricky and you need to plan on keeping as much as you can dry. I left the camp at 6:45 a.m. and walked in the rain most of the way. The walk was actually great! The rain was invigorating and I kept a good pace the whole way. I did an 11.1 mile hike and made great time.I reached my destination, Erwin, TN by 11:15 a.m. and went to Uncle Johnny's Hostel where I had a reservation. They have a shuttle that leaves at 12:30 p.m. to go to an all you can eat pizza place and I wanted to be there for that. Motivation!! I got my room, took a shower then the first order of business was to head to lunch!! I met up with a few hikers that I knew and many others I didn't know. One was named Turtle who coincidentally was born in my home town of Baytown, Texas. How cool is that! When I got back from lunch China, Conundrum, Brian, Justin and Sago had arrived. We hung out, did laundry and caught the shuttle to dinner at Los Jalapenos Restaurant. There was a whole bunch of us including Uncle Johnny! We walked to Walmart to resupply and then went back to the hostel. We wound up the evening standing around talking and having a couple of beers. I plan on leaving tomorrow morning around 9 a.m. I may do a 12 or 17 mile day depending on how I feel. Until Tomorrow...
Date: 2016-04-13
From: Erwin, Tennessee

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: clear sky

I did not sleep well because the guys next to me were partying until 2 am. I crawled out of my bed at 7 am got ready, had breakfast, and headed out at 9 am. China, Conundrum, Brian, Justin, Sago and Creature started out about the same time. It was a nice uphill hike along a creek which we crossed a few times on foot bridges. It sounded really nice listening to the running water. We all met up with Tom who was set up with trail magic. It was a great break...great snacks and good company. We hiked up 4 more miles to Unaka Mountain which looked really cool. It was thick with Spruce trees big and small. It looked like Christmas Tree land. A few more miles and we reached Cherry Gap Shelter, our home for tonight. All of us plus Black Bear were here. I cooked some ramen and jalape±o tuna, mmmm it was good, it was a suggestion from Sago. This is 'fine dining' on the trail!
Date: 2016-04-14
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Stan Murray Shelter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Early in the day I ran into a senior hiking group from Johnson City, TN. There were 26 members on this outing and the group name is Senior Hip Hikers! They were presented a plaque for hiking 10,000 miles. Wow! The youngest was 60 and the oldest 89!!! They were extremely nice and full of life. They were inspiring.Our original plans were to stay at Roan Mountain shelter. When we were halfway up Roan Mountain it still looked far away. It looked daunting but my attitude was...I will conquer! It is the highest elevation shelter on the AT and it was really cold and windy on the mountain!!!! Considering the weather, we decided to go 2 more miles to Carvers Gap but there wasn't good camping there. I met up with Orange Pacer and decided to go on to the next shelter which was 3 miles down the trail. We went up on a couple of balds and had great views but they were all uphill!! We passed China and Conundrum. They said they were tired and so they set up camp. We hiked on and finally arrived at the Stan Murray Shelter and, surprisingly, nobody was there. We prepared and ate dinner. I had lasagna and it was great. Brian, Justin and Sago arrived a little later and and we had just enough room for all five of us. The shelters are 3 sided and it was cold tonight so the trio set up tarps to cover the fourth side of the shelter. It was great!!! These guys are great to hang out with. We will keep in touch as their section hike ends tomorrow. They are headed back home to civilization and jobs. Today I put in the most miles in one day since I have been on the trail. My friends who started 18 days after me said their mission is to catch me. I am going to put up a fight! You are going to have to put some 30 mile days in Hitched Hikers!! Ok. Time to retire. There are 3 snorers in here but I think the tea with vodka will help me sleep.