morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-02
From: Nantahala River/Gorge

To: Locust Cove Gap
Miles today: 9.75
Weather: overcast clouds

Its uphill all day on a very full stomach. Need to remember that next time I stop in a town or hiker's hostel and control myself at breakfast. Climbed about 3,200 feet over 7 miles then suddenly downhill until I got to a nice tent site at Locust Cove Gap. Met "Wild Bill" and hiked with him for the last part of the day. Fell on my butt after a short rain but, not hurt. Camped with "Wild Bill", two young college guys from Asheville (and their dog), a woman, her husband and her father from Delaware. Passed "Buckaroo" and "Pacemaker" (also from Virginia) on the trail.Did a drawing of the spring at Locust Grove Gap.
Date: 2006-04-03
From: Locust Cove Gap

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: light rain

Major thunder storm last night! My tent did well; no leaks. Did a drawing of the post-storm vista looking east just north of the tent site.Had a big fall just after doing my drawing. Slipped on a wet rock going down hill and flew flat onto my face on the rocks. Didn't break anything - amazing. Stopped at Stecoah Gap with several others to open up our tents and let them dry out. The sun's out now.Very tough uphill climb on the way to a place called Brown's Gap Shelter. Right in the middle of the climb my ribs on the right side began to hurt. I think I damaged them in the fall earlier.I arrived at Fontana Dam just as the sun set and it was too dark to hike anymore. The trail passes a marina where there is a direct phone line to a shuttle service so I get a ride to Fontana Village and take a room. Its too late to get dinner.
Date: 2006-04-04
From: Fontana Dam

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I'm doing my first "zero" day. My rib really hurts from yesterday's fall and I'm picking up a box which Dominique has mailed to me here.Nice place but, the food really stinks and is over-priced. This place is a supposedly fancy vacation village with rooms, restaurant, etc. The rooms are okay but, for half the money I've eaten much better at almost any greasy spoon roadside dump.
Date: 2006-04-05
From: Fontana Dam

To: Mollie's Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 9.5
Weather: broken clouds

Called Frederic before leaving Fontana and wished him a happy birthday. Fontana is the start of the Great Smoky Mountains National Forest so I had to fill-out forms for a hiking permit at the dam. Hiked up all day with a group of about 7 others. "Mountain Doer" who dined with us at Nantahala a couple of days ago is part of the group and he's been joined by a friend, "Strider", from the Boston area. He'll be hiking through the Smoky's only. It was uphill almost all day and my ribs are starting to hurt again. I either cracked or bruised the lower right side rib when I fell the other day.Suddenly hit a ridge area full of thousands of tiny white flowers amidst a grove of silver birch. The birch really are silver where the sun hits their bark. Did a drawing. This is approximately where the trail hits Tennessee and then follows the Tennessee/NC border.
Date: 2006-04-06
From: Mollie's Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

My rib really hurts so I'm only hiking about 9-10 miles. Passed by a nice series of rolling ridges with open meadows and scattered clumps of rhododendra and mountain laurel. Started a drawing at one area but, got rained out. Its been raining off and on all day.In the Smokys all hikers are required to stay at the or very near the shelters. The shelters are all pretty nice here and each has a capacity of about 12. There must be 30 people at this place tonight! Many people are on Spring Break and there seem to be a lot of south-bounders who are just doing the Smoky Mountain section.
Date: 2006-04-07
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Double Spring Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

Met a nice group of men from Atlanta, all hiking south together. The ring leader is a guy named Steve Brand, a psychologist who organizes wilderness hikes as a form of group therapy.My rib still hurts so I did a short hike today, stopping just short of Clingman's Dome. If it still hurts like this tomorrow I plan on getting a ride from Clingman's to the nearest town where I'll get an x-ray.Did a drawing of the Dome just before getting to the shelter. Only two of us at the shelter tonight! It seems crazy after a group of at least 30 last night. My companion is a woman from PA named "Stumbles".
Date: 2006-04-08
From: Double Spring Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

We had thunderstorms with hail all night and woke up to a light rain. "Stumbles left the shelter before I did. The elevation of Clingman's Dome is 6,643 which sounds like a lot but, it was a relatively easy climb. The top was shrouded in dense fog with visibility as close to zero as it can get. There is a road up to the Dome but, not a soul in sight today. My rib feels better so decide to keep going.The descent from the Dome is not hard but, the rain has really picked up and the trail is like a river. It rained all day, sometimes very hard, and I had to put as much energy into keeping out of the water as it normally takes just to keep hiking. Only one 4 other hikers pass me all day, all going south, and they all told me that they had seen only one person other than me going north. I assume that most hikers took a zero day because of the rain and went into the town of Gatlinburg in Tenneessee. That was a wrong assumption. The rain really started to dump on me and in the last hour before arriving at the Icewater Spring Shelter my feet get soaked. When I arrived at the shelter, soaked and cold, expecting it to be fairly empty, I found about 25 people there. Luckily one of them had the good foresight to start a fire and collect wood earlier in the day and there was a nice fire going when I got there. 21 of us slept in the shelter and another 5 or 6 outside in tents. The rain turned to ice, then snow, and sleeping on the ground within the shelter, I had the coldest night yet.
Date: 2006-04-09
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

In the morning everything was frozen: bear cables, tents, the drinking water in my bottles. I skipped breakfast and started hiking as soon as I could get my stuff back into my pack; only way to get warm.About noon everything seemed to have warmed up. The sun was finally out and I found a nice view looking south east from a ridge near Laurel Top. While I was doing a drawing several of the people I've been hiking with off and on start to show up and also take a lunch break here. The trees are mostly evergreens up here with the trail following a long winding ridge, sometimes very narrow, with great views to both sides. The Tennessee side drops off to a plain with a nasty looking cloud of pollution hanging onto the horizon. The other side is made up of endless rows of mountains, light blue in the far distance, slowly showing some green under the gray woods of the nearer peaks.
Date: 2006-04-10
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter

To: Davenport Gap
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

It was cold last night but, nothing like the night before. Hiked over and around several areas of snow along north slopes during the morning. Walked with Mountain Doer and Strider in the afternoon. About 2-3 miles from Davenport Gap "Silver Back" came along while we were resting on a large log. He talked me into taking a blue blazed trail to a ranger station that was near a place called, "Mountain Momma's"; the place that just happens to have the reputation for serving the biggest cheese burgers on the east coast. We had to move quickly as Silver Back believed that Mountain Momma turned her grill off at 5:30. This meant we had to hike at about 3 miles per hour. The blue blaze trail was pretty nice; following water falls much of the way down and then ending at a large rushing creek that feeds into the Pigeon River. We got to Mountain Momma's just in time to join James, Buckaroo and Pace Maker. The burgers were too big to finish. Got a room in the bunk house and did a laundry.We are now out of the Smoky Mountains.
Date: 2006-04-11
From: Davenport Gap

To: Ground Hog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

Buckaroo and Pacemaker have left the trail and James is spending the night at another hostel next to the trail but, across the river. I hiked all day with Silver Back then met up with Swiss Miss at the shelter as well as some new faces: Holly, med student from Knoxville. Still lots of rhododendra, in the gaps especially, now mixed with mountain laurel.
Date: 2006-04-12
From: Ground Hog Creek Shelter

To: Walnut Mt. Shelter (old shelter)
Miles today: 13.0

Started off early with Silver Back and Holly. Came across a Trail Angel named "Apple" at Brown Gap. He was from Austin, Texas, was camping where an old logging road crossed the trail, and served us Krispy Cream donuts, juice and hot drinks for a mid-morning breakfast break. Just before arriving at Max Patch we ran into another group of Trail Angels, these, like nothing we'd seen before! A line of elderly women and men between the ages of, maybe 70 and early 90's, came marching down the Appalachian Trail in single file. I didn't count them but, there must have been between 15 and 20 of them. When they got to me the first one asked if I was a through-hiker. When I said, "yes", she reached into a bag that someone else was carrying and handed me a small sack full of home-made chocolate chip and cranberry cookies. They all smiled and then marched-on, heading south. It was like some kind of illusionary scene out of a surrealist French movie.Beautiful open meadow on top of Max Patch. Had lunch and did a drawing as other hikers showed up ("Single Malt" and someone else I hadn't seen or met before). Since there are no trees to paint the trail blazes on here, wooden stakes with blazes are set about every 100 feet or so to mark the trail. Ay about every third stake there is also a bird house mounted on a short wooden post.Clear sky and fairly easy hiking most of the day. Got to the shelter site and found the entire summit of the mountain has been logged with a sign stating that some sort of traditional farm reconstruction is taking place. Holly, Silver Back and I are staying in the shelter while "Cup Cake" is in a tent. Another tent camper showed up just at dark then, at around 10 p.m. 2 more came in. About 4 a.m. someone passed us doing a night hike. There's a full moon.
Date: 2006-04-13
From: Walnut Mt. Shelter (old shelter)

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Started out at 7:30 a.m. and got to Hot Springs about 2:30, about an hour behind Silver Back. There's an amazing change in foliage as the trail drops in elevation to around 1,300. Cherry blooms are dropping off as the dogwoods seem to be in full swing now. Ferns, which until now have been lying flat on the ground, are suddenly starting to stand up and lots of different flowers and buds are popping out all over the forest. The trail goes right down along the main street of Hot Springs, bronze AT emblems are set into the concrete sidewalk at about 15-20 foot intervals. Azaelias are blooming everywhere. Its a pretty little town on the French Broad River with a central residential area full of nice old Victorian houses, some of them being used as hiker hotels. I got a room with Silver Back at the motel in the center of town. Got it just in time as the town is filling up with hikers and other tourists. By the time we go to dinner, other hikers are finding all rooms occupied and are going to the tent site at the far side of town.Had dinner with "Wooden Sticks" and "Silver Back".
Date: 2006-04-14
From: Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I'm doing a "zero" day. Went to the hot tubs in the a.m. and did a drawing as I soaked looking out onto the river. What a day! Feels like Home Coming here. It looks like just about everyone I've met on the trail is here in Hot Springs. Bought some orange camp shoes and new soul inserts for my hiking shoes (the original ones kept coming out ever since the shoes got wet at Ice Cold Water Spring Shelter.
Date: 2006-04-15
From: Hot Springs

To: Little Laurel 
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Very long uphill climb to get out of Hot Springs. Lots of flowers coming out in the mountains now. I never saw so many dwarf irises! Must have seen a thousand of them today. Also, noticed tons of blue berry bushes on top of the ridges just out of Hot Springs. REally nice layering effect of irises, blue berries, mountain laurel, then rhododendra.Had to stop about half way today do to severe pain in both feet. The damned sole inserts the guy sold me don't fit right so I stopped and took them out. May be too late. I think I have a shin splint in my left shin now!
Date: 2006-04-16
From: Little Laurel 

To: Flint Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 12.6

My left leg really does have a shin splint and it hurts like hell! A lady hiker headed south ran into me on top of the rocky ridges at White Rocks and gave me an ace bandage. It helped a lot. I now have my cell phone which Domi mailed to me at Hot Springs so I was able to call home when I got to the top of Big Butt. They were having a Hispanic Easter party at the house.Shared the shelter with Holly and Silver Back while two guys from Michigan, both named, Nate, stayed in tents with their dog. Two of the most aloof hikers I've met.
Date: 2006-04-17
From: Flint Mt. Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge 
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: few clouds

Happy Birthday!! I just turned 62!My leg really hurts and so I only did a short hike today, stopping at 2 p.m., the earliest I've stopped yet. It was raining when I stopped. About 10 people here by night fall. Interesting trio from Kentucky with their two dogs; family of masons, father, son, grand son (early 20's). "Mountain Doer" is here along with "Danger Zone", "Baloo" and some others.
Date: 2006-04-18
From: Hogback Ridge 

To: No Business Shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I took some ibuprofen before starting in the a.m. and felt okay so I kept going when I probably should have stopped. Nice folks, father, son and grandson from Jacksonville, Florida, ran into me just as they were finishing a south bound section hike and gave me their left-over energy food. This kept me going, as my shorter hiking days had put me behind schedule and I was running low on this type of food. Passed over Big Bald (5,500 ft. +) which had great views, some unfortunately, spoiled by the construction of what appeared to be time-share type condos. I did a drawing earlier of what appears to be the new rural version of McMansion sprawl. Will there be anything wild left for my grand children?My leg was killing me by the time I got to a place called Spivey Gap where there was a nice, newly constructed highway. I decided to hitchhike to Erwin from there but, after waiting 30 minutes only to see one vehicle pass, I decided to hike the final 4.9 miles to the next shelter, even though it was already 7:30 p.m. The steep uphill was easy and didn't bother my leg but then, the gradual down-hill which followed was a killer. I ended up night hiking with my head lamp on for the last 1-1/2 hours, getting to the shelter at 10 p.m. Put up my tent and went to sleep after eating nothing but a cup of hot chocolate.
Date: 2006-04-19
From: No Business Shelter

To: Erwin
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: moderate rain

Torential rains with thunder, lightening and hail, started about 5:30 a.m. When it let up a bit I moved into the shelter which was about 100 feet from my tent and gradually put my gear together under cover. Started off about noon. It was all down hill and total hell on my leg.Right where the trail hits the bottom of the gorge and the river it makes a 90 degree left turn and takes you straight toward Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel where Mountain Doer, Ork and Bean, Wooden Sticks, Wild Bill, Danger Zone, and several others were sittig at a picnic bench drinking beer. They called and I responded. No need to go any further. Got a bed in the bunk room, did a laundry and had dinner.
Date: 2006-05-04
From: Charlottesville, VA

To: Charlottesville, VA
Miles today: 0.0

I have shin splints, a stress fracture and a badly bruised bone in my left foot. I'm on a bunch of drugs and am getting acupuncture treatments. If its not well enough to get back on the trail by Friday, May 12 I'm going to have to drop out. I'll be back next year.
Date: 2006-06-06
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Afton/Shanendoah National Park
Miles today: 5.0

It's been about 6 weeks since I was forced to leave the trail due to a shin splint and stress fracture and 4 weeks since I realized I would not be able to go back this year. With that unhappy decision, I went back to work (fully intending to return and do it again next year). This morning I had to drive from Charlottesville over to Waynesboro (Virginia) for a business meeting. As I left the meeting and started back home I noticed someone with a back pack on walking along the side of the road. Since the AT was only about 5 miles up the road I realized that this was probably a through-hiker so I stopped to offer him a ride. I rolled down the passenger side window and yelled out, "Are you going up to the AT?" The young man bent down, looked at me, and responded, "Bob, where the hell have you been?" I could not believe it! It was James, one of the only people I had met on the trail who never got a real trail name, and one of the first people I met, toward the end of my first day on the trail (March 21), just a couple miles from Hawk Mountain Shelter! This has got to be one of the freakiest coincidences I've had during my many years residing here on this planet!I gave James a ride up to the trail and filled him in on my whereabouts while he rattled off the names of people I knew who are still on the AT. My only regret is that I ran into him going back to the trail rather than getting off. If that had been the case I could have put him up for a few days and played Trail Angel.So, any of you out there who might happen to read this and might want to get in touch, here's the critical info:Bob Anderson, 310 12th Street, NE, Charlottesville, VA 22902; Tel: (434) 996-2457 bob@bobandersonarchitect.com
Date: 2006-02-22
To: 5 days and counting
Miles today: 0.0

Well there's five more days before we leave for Georgia (2 working days!), and I can't wait. Can barely sleep lately waiting to get out there. Just set up this journal so that everyone can keep track of how we're doing because we know that i'm not that great with keeping in touch all the time. Me and !water monkey (Greg) will be heading out with his dad at 3 am on the 28th. His dad's the best, renting a car to drive us down there and then putting us up in a hotel for one last night in a bed before we're roughing it for 5 months or so. Just yesterday we finished picking up odds and ends including the last of our groceries and now all there is to do is get through the next couple of days. I'll try and keep up the journal while i'm out there for all of you. Well hopefully i can get through the last couple of days at the gas station, wish me luch that's where i'll need it, once i'm out there everything will be fine.sending some love to all until next time,Pheniox
Date: 2006-02-23
To: only 2 more days of work
Miles today: 0.0

Well it's the morning before my second to last day at work!!! I can't believe we got this together so fast. It was probably only about 4 months ago that we decided to do the trail. It kind of came out of no where. I had heard of the AT before but never seriously concidered hiking it, then one night just me and Greg were hanging out and it came up in conversation. I remember both kind of looking at each other after we had talked about how cool it would be to do something like that, and it kind of hit us both at the same time (we can actually do this, what's holding us back?) The next day I had to call him to make sure that we were both serious about it, and from that day on the date was set for March 1st. At first we set the date for March 1st so that we could have 5 months to hike it and that would put us up at Katahdin around early August, to give me a couple of weeks before I would go back to college (This time at College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, ME). Since then I've decided to postpone applying to school in order to completely immerse myself in the trail and go where ever it takes me. I'm really looking forward to the trail being my own equivalent to Ghandi's expieriments with thruth, or my own wilderness retreat where I will go to heal the mental ailments brought on by modern society. well that's all for now folks.Sending some love to all until next time, pheniox
Date: 2006-02-26
To: Leaving tomorow night
Miles today: 0.0

Wanted to get this last journal entry in so that my name will show up on the list before I head out there. Everything is done,just relaxing tonight at my mother's house before we go pick up my grandmother from Boston. It worked out that she is coming in from England the day before I leave, at least I get to see her for a bit before I head out. Final pack weight is 45 lbs, a little scary. But we're prepared for winter and have about 2 weeks worth of food on us right now. Hey might as well take what I can get for free! I couldn't pass up that deal. This is the most I would have allowed myself to take for weight and hopefully we can down size a bit once we figure stuff out. The last couople of days have been really nice, kind of felt in a daze most of the time because I still can't believe we're actually doing this. But I've been able to have some time of work and just hang out with good friends before I leave. Had an amazing night relaxing in a hot tub (Thanks B). Well that's about it, there will be much more to talk about once I'm actually out there. Will miss you all but looking forward to catch up once I reach Katahdin and get back home.Sending some love to all until next time,
Date: 2006-03-01
From: Approach Trail

To: Springer Mountain
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: overcast clouds

After spending one last night in a bed and eating at the Cracker Barrell, today was the first day of hiking. Watermonkey (Greg) and I started hiking the approach trail to Springer Mountain around 9:30am today. After about 5 1/2 hours of hiking, we reached the top of Springer Mountain. We actually hiked about .2 miles of the Appalachian trail today and decided to take it easy on our first day. It was a pretty tough day, the last 2 miles today were really hard. We are staying at the shelter tonight and will head out tomorrow morning. Sending some love to all until next time Phoenix
Date: 2006-03-02
From: Springer Mountain shelter

To: Hawk Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 7.6

Didn't sleep well last night. Got up at 4:30. Today it rained/drizzled all day and was foggy. The rhododendrum's down here are everywhere. They aren't like the ones at home. There are tunnels of them. They're more like trees than at home in NH. We walked through them, and then there was an opening and there were trees all around. We hiked off trail today to Long Creek falls. Watermonkey (Greg) and I found this tree that had a decay hole in it big enough for us to fit in. I took a picture of Watermonkey (Greg) sitting in it. Once we got to Hawk Mt. Shelter, they pointed me in the direction of water. I started hiking the trail and got lost. I got all beat up by the twigs and thorns. After about an hour and 1/2 walking, I returned to the shelter with no water.We met up with AJAX, JAZZYPANTS, BOULDER, WILL and SHANE. We started hiking as a group. They are really cool people.Sending some love to all until next timePhoenix