morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-03-19
From: Hot Springs NC

To: Parents Rock, Hot Springs, Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Parents RockWoke up this morning had massive amounts of French Toast, and a little less milk this time, didn't feel sick this time. Oh yeah ZERO day, relaxin, well not really I kinda got stressed out today. I went with my parents to town to check out the outfitters and look around and get some lunch. So we went into town and I'm kinda doing my intravert wandering around, but my parents are with me and they're going crazy (not really) and trying to meet all these thruhikers that I don't even know that well, it's hard to explain but there were too many people and I was getting slightly overwhelmed and stressed. This partly because I'm 18 and try very hard to show that I am a self-reliant peer and not some little kid that needs to be watched over and supervised, a little weird I know; but I have a need to let people know that I am out here and doing this independently, I guess, whatever, I like to stick to the positve. I'm glad to see my parents but they stressed me out when we were in town and seeing other thruhikers. So my zero day had not had the relaxing I had quite hoed for, but it's all good.We went to the local diner for lunch, and I had the Happy Hiker, a massive double cheeseburger and fries, very good. We saw Scarecrow in town and offered him dinner and a open bed at the cabin, so we brought him with us. I bought a watch today, it was a tough decision, back home I am a procrastinator and always trying to beat the clock, always running late and such, but I never know what itme it is during overcast days and I think having a watch will help me better time out my day so that I can have more fun.All my stuff got washed and ripped out of my pack today, which is good but its all sprawled out all over the place and I had people helping me and stuff, so like my life, everything I have for the next couple of months, my equipment to survive is all sprawled out in a mess, in reality its no big deal, but in athe small world from which I am currently functioning on the A.T. its a mess, again, in reality its comparible to someone emptying your house and throwing it all in your front lawn, so to put it shortly I have a lot of packing to do tomorrow morning, I'm too tired right now.Sorry if this journal seems like a downer its really not, its been great to visit with my family and friends (thank you Lauren) they are really supportive and truly make this trip fun and possible, not to mention really helping out with the packing and organizing and sending of food drops. I love to see you both, and I'm glad you came to see me (and Gwen too) I'm off to bed, lots of packing and hiking to do tommorrow.SO many more things to write, hopefully as the days go longer I'll find time to write everything down, someday soon I'll tell you how I really feel about those shorts of mine.
Date: 2005-03-20
From: Hot Springs NC

To: Allen Gap, NC/TN (2235')
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up this morning and Mom made a pile of french toast, gosh do I love french toast, mmmhhh, delicious. I finished repacking pack and we left the cabin to get on the trail. We all said goodbye to Lauren, she was headed back to college, we said an extra prayer for her because her car's reverse was no longer working. It was really cool and encouraging that she spent the weekend to drive out from college and see me, thanks Lauren.So we loaded up in the van, my parents, Scarecrow, the dog and I. Dad dropped me off at the trailhead at the southern part of town, at the exact spot where I stopped the day before, because I want to walk by every white blaze on the trail. So the deal for today was Scarecrow and I hiked 15 miles to Allen Gap where my parents picked us up and took us back to the cabin, because they were in town one more day, so today was essentially a day hike but I carried my full pack anyways because I 'm weird like that and want to walk every step of the A.T. with my pack on, but thats just me.So we hiked along on another gorgeous day. At the end of the day my parents met us with a mile or 2 left for the day, so I got to hike with them for awhile which was very nice. We got to go back to the cabin and have another home-cooked meal, nice. I immediately layed down on the couch and fell asleep, apparently I slept for about 12 striaght hours till Gwen jumped on my head and started licking me the next morning.
Date: 2005-03-21
From: Allen Gap, NC/TN (2235')

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter (4150')
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke this morning and had pancakes for breakfast, Awesome. Backpacking would be so much better if I could have real home-cooked meals everyday. We all packed up and left the cabin for Allen Gap. I said my goodbyes to my parents, they said they would come down in another 4 weeks to visit meI would compare hiking today to pulling teeth, every time I decided to stop I couldn't convince myself to start hiking again. It was Okay though I had decided to stick with Scarecrow an only do 12 miles today, and it was another gorgeous clear sunny day. So I sat on this roadbed for a long time until this guy came up and talked to me for a little while, he had thruhiked a few times, we talked for a little while then he lured me back his driveway to his house by offering me a coke, sweet. So I had a coke and made small talk and then was on my way.Stopped by a shelter for lunch, Scarecrow was there waiting and was talking to 2 section hikers. I had a flour tortilla smeared with peanutbutter and honey. I could live for years off of peanut butter. I continued hiking like it was pulling teeth for the rest of the day. There were some great views today and hopefully I took some nice self-portraits with the timer on my camera. The A.T. went right onto the crest of this rocky ridgeline, 360 degree views. I definitely climbed some elevation today. Theres still snow up here hiding in the shadows.Well I just wrote 2 days worth of journals because I fell asleep before I could do mine yesterday and my hand is cramping on me, so I will retire to my sleeping bag. Oh yeah there was trail magic at the shelter tonight, Pepsi, I shouldn't have drank it though, the caffeine gave me and Scarecrow a jolt, it'll be tough to fall asleep tonight.Wired
Date: 2005-03-22
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter (4150')

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter (4255')
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: overcast clouds

So last night just as the caffeine was wearing off and I was falling asleep, three thru hikers stumbled in through the dark and I woke up and move my stuff out of the way so they could have some space, Scarecrow did the same. These same thru hikers had done this once before a few days back. I hopefully already told you about this, anyways 2 guys and a girl, nice people, but noisy in the middle of my sleeping time. Scarecrow has a name for them, it¢s not mean, but it¢s not exactly nice, so you¢ll just have to ask me in person about them.So we only hiked about 15 miles today and got here about 3:30 PM but we still expect them to roll in here late again and wake us up. Its okay though, part of the experience, I guess, and I plan on doing at least a 20 miler tomorrow which will distance myself from them. I¢m starting to pack myself more food per day, which is keeping the hunger level down, and I am also drinking more with my meals, which for now is fooling my stomach into thinking its full. My penmanship is horrible today, I am dragging the pen and making all sorts of funny marks, sorry Mom (she transcribes my journal online for me, so you all can read it.) Dad made a new alcohol stove and gave it to Scarecrow the other day, it works a lot better than his old one and he is very appreciatory. So being in Hot springs with my parents was very stressful on me, I guess I¢ve been in the woods too long already. It wasn¢t because my parents were there, it was because I had to interact with so many people, I think, anyhow it was very weird. I got stressed out in what is considered normal everyday situations. I guess it¢s the kind of emotions a hermit feels when going into the city, crazy stuff. So it was a nice day today, not many views barely took any pictures, a couple streams and some little waterfalls. Oh and a hanging 5 gallon bucket of trail magic, I got a fruit cup, YES. Hey those three people got here before dark, good deal. It rained some this afternoon for a couple of hours. New thru hiker with us today, Overhill, I think he calls himself. Well that¢s all for now, they¢re NOISY.- Faking a full stomach
Date: 2005-03-23
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter (4255')

To: No Business Knob
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: light rain

Ahh, what to write about today. It rained last night, and thundered and such, it had cleared up by morning and Scarecrow and I headed out. We walked along this ridge for awhile, and to our left was a beautiful view of the mountains with the clouds below us, you have to see it in person to believe it, because the trees never cleared out enough for a good picture. Today is one of those days my mind is already intertwining yesterdays and today¢s hikes. Well we went up this bald right before lunch, gosh it was a beauty 360 degree view at the top and I even saw a ski resort, at least I think it was, it was pretty far away.For lunch I had flour tortillas, with peanut butter and honey. The weather got a little crazy after lunch, at one point there was fog rain, hail, and sun all at the same time, then a little later there was a 20 minute hail/rain storm, I didn¢t put my rain pants on and the lower half of my body got soaked, luckily everything I wear practically is some specially woven synthetic and it all dried out rather quickly. Tomorrow is a 6 mile hike to a road where it is a 4 mile hitch into Erwin TN. So that means tonight I no longer have to ration my food, and I can eat whatever I want that¢s left in my food bag. There are not too many things more depressing than hauling a huge pile of food around on your back and then having to ration on it, but I guess its better than running out of food and starving to death.Yeah well Overhill is here with us and is gonna wake us up real early so we can get into town by morning, hey maybe I could get a hot breakfast, mmmhhh French Toast, sorry I know I am probably talking too much about food and not enough about the other stuff that¢s going on, but its on my mind a lot, so it¢s the first thing I think to write about. Peaceful out here, Peaceful would be the word to describe it.Peace
Date: 2005-03-24
To: ERWIN, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

HEY GUYS, I HOPE IM not messing up the journal, mom has been doing an awesome job keeping this thing up to date while I have been on the trail, I'm just at the library here in Erwin, TN checking my mail and such, I'm stayin at Miss Janet's house tonight. YOu should have seen the breakfast I had when i got into town this morning, oh man it was delicious, but i didnt have my camera with me so I couldnt take a picture, maybe Ill come back later today and update my actual journal, LUnch Time. I'm doing great, hope you guys are all doing well at home. Thanks MOM for doing a great job keeping my online journal up to date. This is a great little town who knows i might take a zero day. Love you all. ROSS a.k.a. SHORTS
Date: 2005-03-25
From: Erwin Tn

To: Cherry Gap Shelter (3900')
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: few clouds

(Writing this one the day after.) I woke up at Miss Janet¢s and had a good hot breakfast, then spent the rest of the morning slowly packing up. I¢m probably carrying the most food I ever have carried thus far. I just want to eat more, lots more. About 4 of us got a ride to the trailhead and started about 11 or 12. I went fairly slowly only planning to do 4 miles to the first shelter, but I still got there way early and didn¢t feel like waiting around so I left there about 2:30 and started hiking to the next shelter, another 12.2 miles, bad idea, definitely didn¢t have enough time. I set a strong pace the first 4 miles then ran out of energy, whoops. I was even using my secret weapon, Tang, but even the energy drink wasn¢t enough, but I was able to find some Kit Kats. So I pushed on through the afternoon and into the night. Everything gets a little more confusing after dark. I thought I was lost a couple of times but apparently I wasn¢t. It was suppose to be a full moon, but it was overcast and the moon was of no help. So I made it to the shelter and it was full of thru hikers, some section hiker had a piece of steak for me, seriously, but I was in a daze and it was dark I just ate it and thanked the guy couldn¢t see in the dark. So I made some dinner and then luckily there was a overhang on the shelter with a picnic table, I slept on the seat of the picnic table and half of this concrete thing it was butted up against, confusing I know, I took a picture of it.Yeah so it was a long afternoon.
Date: 2005-03-26
From: Cherry Gap Shelter (3900')

To: Roan High Knob Shelter (6285')
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: light rain

Did I mention it¢s been really hot the last 2 days, I mean seriously shorts weather. The sweat has been pouring off of me. Tonight I¢m in the loft of the Roan Mtn Knob Shelter. It is the highest elevation shelter on the A.T. The hiking has been monotonous lately, up and down hills sometimes a view, sometimes not, but all the views are the same. I look out onto the same hills every time. I am getting sick of it and bored. Roan Mtn. Was a bit of a change though, it was a steep climb for 3 miles and I got about 6,000 feet again, the last 1 12 miles of the trail before the shelter was hard packed snow and ice, very slippery and dangerous. I got into the shelter just before dark, it was only a 15 mile day but I have been hiking very slowly because backpacking has lost its charm for me and at the moment there are long parts of the day where I am not enjoying myself. I am in the mix with a different pack of thruhikers now, KB & SB, Kado, Wels, Doc Holiday, Robin and Mississippi Alan is here as well. I got to play a game of Rummy tonight, it helped lift the spirits. In order to make the final push today to climb Roan I had to use a special combination of Snickers and an extremely strong mix of Tang. It definitely gave me the extra boost to get up the mountain, the reward was minimal. I saw a parking lot, and the beginning of a sunset. The shelter I am in tonight is more of a cabin; it has 4 sides and a door opening, but no door. It is nice to see snow again, hard to walk on but nice to see, it¢s the first snow I¢ve seen since leaving the Smokey¢s. I imagine it will be gone in a day or 2 if we continue to have these clear warm spring days. The snow has probably only stayed here because of the high altitude and it is a very dense forest, blocking most of the sun. I am starting to get tired and chilly so I will go hide in my sleeping bag and try and get some rest.
Date: 2005-03-27
From: Roan High Knob Shelter (6285')

To: Mountain Harbor Hostel, Roan Mtn. Tn
Miles today: 15.2

Happy Easter,Unfortunately I have not been near any towns the last couple of days and was not able to make it to an Easter service, but I did read through the Easter story this morning. I left a little later than everyone else this morning, it had rained the night before and it was a little gloomy outside, not particularly appealing for a hike.So coming off of Roan was like Olympic figure skating, I got an awesome score, I didn¢t fall once. So I went straight from the figure skating into a wind surfing competition, except it got canceled due to high winds and poor visibility. It was the roughest wind I have ever been in. I was hiking over these balds and my pack cover blew off a couple of times, I had to put it away and just let my pack get rained on. I tried a couple of times to take a self-portrait so you all could see the weather but the camera would just blow over in the wind. So there was some very rough hiking but it was much better once I got in the safety of the forest.I took a bit of a detour and headed to the Overmountain Shelter, smart move, there was a bag of trail magic there; I got fresh fruit, a big juicy apple and some snacks. The shelter was an old barn that had been restored and made into a shelter, pretty neat.Did I mention how I accidentally walked off the trail, luckily I was walking along and ran into this road, then I realized the trail didn¢t pick up on the other side of the road and there were no white blazes. Luckily I only had to backtrack a minute or 2 before I found where I had missed the trail.So I continued on after I took a break at the shelter. After some more winds and a long descent I made it to the next shelter where I met up with Overhill. He had a little fire going and was quite comfortable, I chatted with him a little while and signed the register and I continued on one more mile and hiked down the road to the Mountain Harbor Bed & Breakfast, where I met up with Kado, Wels, Alan, Robin and Doc Holiday. I¢m staying in an awesome, basically guest house, they set up for hikers in the second story of their barn. There¢s a wood stove, hot showers, electricity, T.V. plenty of soft places to sleep, a little kitchen, the whole set up. I had an absolutely wonderful dinner, Ham and all sorts of stuff, forgot my camera again, gosh I¢m getting bad with that. I keep leaving it in my pack. So while hiking through that wind today I said to myself if I can make it through this with a good attitude and a mindset to continue on, I¢ll be doing alright. I¢m not quite as happy out here as I would like to be, but I think things are going to change soon.Did I mention it has been one month as of today, I¢ve almost made it 400 miles, time is a funny thing. One more thing, the lady even washed my clothes for me, now that¢s service.Ha ha life is good.
Date: 2005-03-28
From: Mountain Harbor Hostel, Roan Mtn. Tn

To: Soft Bed & Soft Pillows, Mt Harbor, Tn
Miles today: 0.0

Hey I¢m still here at the hostel, we all got up and had an awesome breakfast, then started to finish packing up, then it started pouring outside. Hmmm¢¦stay in a warm dry place or hike in the rain. A couple of guys went up to the house and checked out the forecast on the weather channel; they came back and said it was going to rain all day with a chance of hail. The closest shelter from here is 17 miles north and one of our books says it only sleeps 6 people and there were already 6 of us here at the hostel. We all decided to take a zero day. I was personally torn but everyone else stayed, it was probably for the best. I¢ll get plenty more chances to hike in the rain.   It was kinda funny actually Alan and I sat there for awhile contemplating, he was gonna go if I was gonna go, and I was going to go if he was going to, but neither one of us did.So today was a true zero day, I did absolutely nothing. My pack is still packed with the rain cover on sitting by the door, just like it was this morning, so I watched some movies, played some cards, ate some more wonderful food, even sat on the big couch and watched the big screen TV in the peoples house for a little while, completely relaxed, but at the same time anxious still, it¢s hard to sit around all day in the middle of such a huge task of hiking the trail. It¢s OK though I¢m on vacation, right. Maybe, kinda, I¢ll have to make a decision about that, right quick, ha you like that, that¢s right, right quick. So question of the day for tomorrow, am I on vacation? Hmm¢¦ that¢s a good one to ponder on. Well there¢s hiking to do, and I need to sleep off that wonderful dinner, Roast beef, mashed potatoes, homemade applesauce, you get the picture, yeah left my camera in my pack again today, whoopsSoft Bed & PillowsRock on
Date: 2005-03-29
From: Soft Bed & Soft Pillows, Mt Harbor, Tn

To: Kincora Hostel, Hampton, TN
Miles today: 23.8

Today I hiked from Mountain Harbor B&B to Kincora hostel. It was another beautiful day with fairly easy terrain; I hiked about 24 or 25 miles. I got to see a beautiful waterfall and I hiked along rivers and streams most of the day. I hiked with Alan in the morning and later in the afternoon, but I spent a lot of time hiking by myself. I was at lower elevations all day so there were no views, ran into a number of trail maintainers rerouting the trail.So I rolled into the hostel an hour or 2 before dark, 3 people already there, one was Doc Holiday. I took a shower and then got a ride into town and picked up some snickers for the next days hike and then we stopped by McDonalds it was my first fast food thus far, since I started the trip, it tasted real good but it didn¢t fill me up. I had a Big Mac meal, and a crispy chicken. So 3 nights in a row in a dry place, good food, and a comfy bed, not to mention I got to knock out some serious mileage, today has been a good day.
Date: 2005-03-30
From: Kincora Hostel, Hampton, TN

To: Vandeventer Shelter (3620')
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: broken clouds

Hiked into Vandeventer in the night with a headlamp. I hiked in the dark for about 2 miles until I practically ran into the shelter. Two people were already here, section hikers. I ate one of my breakfasts, I don¢t want to light up a stove and disturb them while they are trying to sleep. It¢s probably 8:00. So I had a mental breakdown today. I waited around at Kincoras hostel until Alan was ready to go, we were probably an hour or 2 later starting the day. It was another beautiful day and we got to walk by a river for awhile and see some more beautiful falls. Then about into mile 4 we started a 1500 climb, noting humongous; but still a good workout, Alan started it off with a brisk pace, very similar to how I usually attack a climb, but today I was in no mood, and Alan quickly disappeared ahead of me. I took a slower pace and unnecessary breaks; my head was just not mentally ready for hiking. I got to the top and took a long break, ate a bunch of extra gorp I got from Kado this morning, then I continued on and around the bend it went up again, that was it I stopped, stood there maybe 10 minutes, then I got out my guidebook, stared at it for maybe 20 minutes, then I got really ticked. I found out eventually I was going to the lake that the trail was going directly away from at the moment, I¢m serious, opposite direction, 180 degrees, so I just sat down for a long time, and then finally decided to have lunch. I ate more than I had rationed for lunch, could be problem down the road. So I had lots of thoughts about how stupid this is and quitting blah blah blah, but eventually after a couple of hours and a short attempt at a nap I got back to hiking mainly out of anxiety of not being near a shelter to sleep in.After about 3 or 4 more miles of hiking I got my head back into the game and picked up the pace, eventually I got to the lake and walked around about 34 of it, beautiful, got on top of this ridge about the lake and have been ridge running along side of it all the way to the shelter, hopefully tomorrow I can put in some miles and catch up to some of the people I have been hiking with.Wish me luck